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earlgreymon · 4 years ago

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#digiweek2021: a story 12 hours away 🕵️‍♀️

if you follow me long enough, you know i changed my profile picture very often. yet as i built the digiweek page and realised that we both use characters outside adventure as profile picture (jenrya being from tamers and izumi from frontier), i tried to keep it that way so that our participants know that we are embracing all the digimon series and not just one.

___

hi, this is sky.

so apparently, i didn't pass out.

there's a lot of things i want to tell you about Digiweek; about what happened before it actually started, about what happened during the week itself. note that this will be more like a VERY LONG rambling and appreciation to some people that's been very helpful to me. and yes, despite the picture above, this will be from my own point of view, not sam's (@tangledupblue).

more stories, bloopers, things that caused quite a ruckus, and screenshots this way!

on your mark,

the idea of this event came up after i constantly nagged about wanting to have a general otp event. you know i'm a die-hard multishipper and not all of my ships have their own event because they're either crack or minor ships. considering i'm old too tired to involve in every single otp weeks, i thought it would be nice to have an event where i can show some love to my favourite pairs at once.

when i found out about an event called digiotpweek existed, i really wanted to participate. hell, i was willing to help to organise the event since i currently have more free time after graduating and returning to my home country. i tried to mention them a few times in my post, expressing my interest and hoping that i'd get a response, but i didn't.

i came to lynn (@dutchforstrangers) who happened to participate digiotpweek a few years ago and also wanted to join should there is a similar event as we wait for the taiora week to come. was thinking about creating a new similar event, but it felt like stealing because we didn't actually ask digiotpweek for permission to use their idea.

our discussion somehow ended up with: how about creating a similar digimon event, but a more general one without specifically referring to pairings so that everyone who loves digimon can participate?

i started to think about the idea more seriously. it'd be a perfect opportunity too especially odaiba memorial day was coming in a few months. one of the biggest drives for me was when someone reblogged my graphics with a tag saying they were quite shock (in a good way) to find a post about digimon in year 2021.

i was like, "hey, we're here! we're pretty much alive!!"

but honestly, i was in doubt at first. i'm a new player here; i just literally made this earlgreymon blog last year thanks to lockdown. although i had some experiences organising online events (such as secret santa challenge in a roleplay forum i participated), tumblr is a different league and tbh it's a pretty scary place haha! when i organised an online event, it was with and for the people i've known previously and speak the same language. i could imagine a tumblr-based event would be more diverse in terms of participants.

yet again, i've been here almost a year and the people in digimon fandom has been very supportive :") so i thought to give it a try, but first i have to measure the hype because what's the point of concepting a whole event but no one wants to participate??

i began with conducting an interest check here. again, thank you so much to all of you who had filled the form!! i couldn't give you the whole result, but here's the part i thought would be interesting to share:

we have 23 participants in total and there's one (1) person who did not follow adventure. i was like confused and amazed (in a good way) at the same time. it's also interesting to note that any other universe outside adventure didn't even get 50%.

during this survey, i took a mental note that digimon is not only about anime: it's also about video games and even comic books. so that's why when i received this one input, i knew i actually had a very strong stance. yet again, when they said they wanted to drop out of the event, i couldn't help but feel disappointed in myself HAHAHA. sorry guys, i'm bad at handling rejection, especially i have a tendency as a people pleaser. but i consistently told myself that i will never make everyone happy.

anyway. i knew i cannot make everyone happy, but i can learn. and since i only watched adventure, 02, tamers, and frontier (a bit of watching savers and once played rumble arena quite religiously), i have to reach out to someone so i could make prompts that were applicable to all universe. the only person i knew playing digimon games was simon (@v-dramon) so i asked him a few questions before actually writing down the prompts.

in terms of conducting a tumblr event, i decided to reach ayushi (@ashandpikachu) who was the person behind tri week 2020 and gen (@animegenork) who is the captain of the takari week. the questions were more technical because i was unfamiliar with tumblr ecosystem (e.g. should i make a sideblog? should it be a separate account?).

and finally, i knew i have to search for a comrade to have some opinion about stuff. i preferred to search for someone who lived in a different timezone because i realised i'm in a very odd timezone compare to other people in digimon fandom. i was about to ask lynn, but i was too shy and afraid i was going to meddle with her time (sorry lynn, i really hope you're not offended >///<).

so what i did was.... passively waiting for someone to come and volunteer. i was a total chicken, i know.

but someone did come. one fine day, sam messaged me saying that she'd be willing to help. i thought about her being in the american side of the world, and i said, "perfect. let's get to it."

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get set,

the original google docs for digiweek! yay!

when sam joined in, i actually had set out the general concept of the event already. i had assigned some prompts to certain days, taking some ideas from the survey as consideration. i had also written down some narration to elaborate the prompts further to sam, in addition to serve a personal note to myself because i'm a very forgetful person.

these narrations eventually became the prompt walkthrough that we had posted before the event because we thought like it would help the participants to brainstorm :D

i was also taking a peek at some of the digimon events such as tri week and the otp weeks. i was more comfortable with general/one-word prompt model, but i was also interested in questions format (like digimon 30 days challenge and 02 appreciation challenge, credit to respective owners) because i felt like questions can be adopted more easily by someone who doesn't want to make fanart/fanfic. as you know, we ended up using both formats and i should say it's a pretty good call.

i was quite firm to keep this event as general as possible. that was why we regretfully had to strike some prompt ideas like "crest" and "odaiba" because these terms are very, very adventure-centric. however, i myself also proposed some weird prompts myself which made sam frowned in confusion lmao.

for example, on day 4, the original prompt was "evil" HAHAHA. this was because i wanted the antagonist to obtain more spotlight (a.k.a. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE DAY TO WORSHIP ETEMON-SAMA) for the sake of diversity. sam proposed to change it with "heaven/hell" or "day/night" so it would emphasise more on two contrasting things, but we finally settled on dark/light. also, originally, "home" should be on day 6 and "dream" should be on day 7 before we switched them.

we wrapped up things quite quickly. with the help of ayushi, we managed to adopt tri week's rules so we could focus on other things. i started to build the digiweek blog, we also discussed the timeline, and finally we launched the digiweek blog on june 20th! woohoo!!

while i queued some announcements, sam mostly handled the askbox. we also tried to actually work on our submissions, but not because we had the headstart advantage (trust us, we were also slacking off with our own submissions). we needed to make sure that it was doable to make seven contents in one month (although of course we did not expect all the participants to constantly submit something every single day) because if we weren't able to do it ourselves, it was possible other participants would also struggle.

we were very excited to receive some positive responses, and the amount of reblogs was amazing! of course we also saw those who said that they couldn’t make it due to some stuffs, and yes we’re sad. i’m trying my best as #SkyFromMarketing to persuade some people to still join, especially people that i enjoy their contents so much. i didn’t know if eri (@himetsundere) would be busy or not during digiweek, but look: i need at least one (1) mimato content on digiweek and i knew she wouldn’t disappoint 🤡 i also acknowledged that noct (@sorasfishing) was very busy with rl, but we managed to find some way for her so that she could still participate—and gurl, look at those fabulous makeups...

we also giddily discussed how to answer every time there's a question came to our askbox. however, it wasn't all rainbows because we did face some questions that made us feel uncomfortable.

one time, we received a question from anon asking why we prohibited incest. we had a VERY long discussion about this, but after some careful thought, we decided not to answer this because:

we stand firm with the rules. we both have siblings and we are uncomfortable with this. with incest, there was also a huge possibility of non-consensual age gap relationship content which is also a red flag.

it's not like we necessarily prohibited you to write/draw about incest; we just won't reblog it.

since it was asked anonymously, we weren't sure if the question was pure out of curiosity or just trolling us. we did not want to take the risk by starting controversy even before the event started. no offense to the anon who actually asked this question, but if you really wonder why we actually prohibited it, above is our reasons.

unfortunately, not long after we decided so, sam received another anonymous question on her personal blog; now asking whether age gap is allowed on digiweek. that was where we decided to turn off anonymous questions momentarily. at least if anyone wants to question our stance on this, the best way is to come forward without hiding behind anonymous.

i personally felt that this was appalling. look: there are two mods in digiweek, but when it comes to this event, we are one. we’re in the same boat. when my co-mod received a personal offence because of digiweek, you’re offending me too. i won’t take the whole credit for digiweek because sam and i worked equally hard for this.

to avoid some bias, i turned off the option to let everyone see who's the person behind a post or a reblog on digiweek although if your ‘keep reading’ turns into some spanish words that was obviously reblogged by sam. we also worked in a shift that we kept private (we hinted it once, but we never exactly tell you our shift, right? ;p) because again, i believe you didn’t have to know who’s reblogging your submission.

now that we finished with the event, i think we could share it, huh?

___

go,

i am a perfectionist. sam has her own ocd. that’s why we quickly agreed on one thing.

spreadsheet. we have to keep the track of the submissions with a spreadsheet. this might sounded extreme, but the spreadsheet was actually helpful to know which submission has been reblogged and by whom it was reblogged. the spreadsheet also let us know if we had reached 100th submission and so on.

yellow is sam, pink is me. takari forever.

in addition, the spreadsheet helps because we worked with a shift, so every time we started a shift, we could just take a look at spreadsheet and see how far our comrade had come. it is interesting to note that the time difference between jakarta (gmt+7) and mexico city (gmt-5) is 12 hours, so we actually always have the same time and the difference is only on am/pm. if it’s 10pm in jakarta, it’s 10am in mexico city. this is where we’re relieved i’m no longer live in australia because imagine the extreme time difference...

we always begin our shift at 7am our respective local time, which means i started my shift at 12am gmt and sam started her shift at 12pm gmt. it’s easy to mark the shift change because that’s when we both always post our own submission. so if you see me posting a submission on earlgreymon every 12am gmt, that was when sam ended her shift by putting my submission on digiweek’s queue and vice versa.

the funny thing is i’m an early bird, so i was always on my best period as i started my shift. however, sam is a night owl, so she always started her shift as a zombie. that’s how this meme show up lmao.

also, we always started to reblog contents for the new day at 7am gmt. we carefully chose this because as per our knowledge, the westernmost participant is in PST, so we tried to wait for our digipals in PST to actually enter the same day. the beginning of a new day will always be marked with digiweek reblogging my submission (except on day 1 and day 7) because i was always the first to submit my content lol. #leadingbyexample #lifeofGMT+

nevertheless, timing wasn’t a big issue. our biggest hell was tagging.

we understand that there’s a lot of naming variation in digimon. fusion and xros wars. jyou, jou, and joe. taiyama, taito, and yamachi. again, as perfectionists, we were trying our best to put some attention to detail, so we decided to put up a system for our tagging:

we’ll put tags in order of #digimon, #digiweek2021, #day [...], #universe, #characters, #relationship, #[@/submitter], #typeofcontent

and yes, all lowercase

we’ll use the japanese name on digimon fandom wikia, but for human characters, we will also look up fanfiction.net

we won’t use pair names and replace them with ao3′s relationship tagging

i won’t even bother to explain how we would decide if a post should be tagged as a certain universe and relationship because until this very day, i’m still hella confused...

but anyway, the event went on. on our first day, we were too excited so we reblogged everything AT ONCE lmaoooo. realising the traffic was so dense, we tried to reblog stuffs every 20 minutes or so.

the event itself went pretty well. mods didn’t have many differences for the whole week. usually, our problems were how we should tag a reblog (again), whether a content violated our rules, and if a content should be given a trigger warning. for these reasons, some posts will be reblogged quite late because we had to wait for one another to wake up first. once, sanni (@seventeenlovesthree) posted a taishiro fanart that we thought is in a borderline due to age-gap romance. and yes, we are very sensitive to this topic due to the questions we received previously as i have told you above. i sincerely apologise for the inconvenience, sanni :(

the heaviest argument would be on day 4 when someone posted a political content. tell you the truth, i was veryyyy uncomfortable because i didn’t thought someone will put a political issue on an animanga/game-related event. but sam convinced me that it is a peaceful protest and it was more of a cultural stuff. i was quite adamant about my stance not reblogging this, but she managed to change my mind even with some precautions i wanted to be fulfilled lmao thanks for tolerating me.

on to the bright side, WE DIDN’T THINK THAT THE AMOUNT OF SUBMISSIONS WOULD SKYROCKET TO MORE THAN 300!! like i had predict that it wouldn’t be more than 100, but we broke that record on third day and that was crazy!! people, are you ok?????

not gonna lie, i am SUPER OVERWHELMED. sometimes i would go crazy and made hilarious mistake. as you know, i’m not that attached to tri, so characters like daigo and maki aren’t really familiar to me. when i had to tag maki, i almost really tagged her as kappa maki because i didn’t know her name.

the worst part was when i reblogged jill’s (@sunnquy-lavendrr) submission, which was a taishiro submission. i SWEAR TO GOD i thought i have tagged #koushiro/taichi in the post, but jill sent a message saying that i forgot to tag em. when i checked, apparently i was tagging them with #KOUSHIRO/IZUMI LMAOOOOOOO.

aaaandddd finally.... we didn’t expect that the range of the content was very diverse. we received not only fanfics and fanarts, but also makeups, cover song, poems, and especially your raw, beautiful stories of you and digimon. we’re so happy that you share the story with us :)

___

finish line,

digiweek 2021 is over. we will still accept late submissions, even though maybe we’re not going as responsive as the week itself. there’ll be some housekeeping to do but... yeah, this crazy week has basically ended.

i’m not sure whether we will have another digiweek for now. that really depends on the post-event survey. and even if we have another one, there’s no guarantee i can become the mod again. i have a history of going m.i.a. from tumblr last year and history might repeat itself. but hey, if i’m not the mod, sam is still here. and even if sam cannot become a mod again, we’re always welcome if you want to adopt the event and keep the digimon spirit going!! do reach us out or if we both really, really going m.i.a. from tumblr, go and try your luck by reaching out @/pyokoromochi on twitter or even email me at fearlassglow@gmail.com.

now, firstly, i want to apologise if i have made some mistakes during the event, whether it’s deliberate or not. this event is far from perfect, i know. i am sorry if i have ever offended you and i shall learn from the experience itself.

i want to thank every single participants that i cannot mention one by one. not only those who participate in the actual week, but for those who had filled the interest check and stay with us until the very end. thanks for all the inputs and your enthusiasm.

i want to thank lynn, because if i didn’t talk to her at the first place, we wouldn’t even have the event :) you’re rock, lynn. sorry for not be able to help with the taiora discord, but i hope it’s gonna be thriving and excited to see more taiora content woohoo.

lastly, thank you to sam. i understand if you want to choke me sometimes and probably scream “this will be easier if you speak spanish!” 🤣🤣🤣 thanks for volunteering to this tedious job, but i couldn’t ask for a better partner. we’ve talked a lot during these couple of months, even some talks outside digimon itself. thanks for always supporting me and having my back. te quiero mucho, mi amigo!

thanks if you’re reading until the very end. stay safe and merry like a butterfly wherever you are, my digipals <3

#munpost #digiweek2021

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mkstrigidae · 4 years ago

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Current WIPs and Fic Concepts

I promised I would do this yesterday, and then I forgot!!! (I was very sleep deprived). Anyways, here are a bunch of the WIP premises that I have in my 'unfinished drafts' folder. Most have at least a few pages written for them, but I love them all! ☺️💕

- A Santa Clarita Diet AU (Jonsa) Takes place in sunny southern California, where a shitty dinner at a mediocre restaurant turns into a huge problem for Jon and Sansa when Sansa's heart stops beating. Although she seems fine, Jon is flabbergasted several days later as he watches his wife- who alphabetizes their pantry and refuses to let anyone wear shoes in the house- rip the throat out of one of the sleazy new partners at their law firm, eating half of him before anyone processes what's going on. Hilarity ensues as Sansa's inhibitions and filter disappear, Arya ropes an extremely confused Gendry into helping figure out what the hell is going on just because he moderates the zombie forum on reddit, and Jon tries to deal with the fact that the woman he loves more than anything is now a humanitarian. He really could use a drink. (This one is actually mostly complete, but i need to refine a few things- i really love it. It's as gory and irreverent as the show, so viewer discretion advised, but it's a BLAST to write).

- A Thor/MCU AU (Jonsa, Steve Rogers/Sansa)- Asgardian prince Aegon is banished to Midgard after one too many arrogant decisions, and is promptly hit by a van containing Dr. Sansa Stark, Dr. Barristan Selmy, and Margaery Tyrell- two astrophysicists studying wormholes and Sansa's best friend and pseudo-intern. Marg yells at him, he yells back, Sansa tases him, and Barristan didn't sign up for the kind of heavy lifting that getting a 200+ pound slab of muscle into the back of a van takes. And then Aegon's younger brother, Jon, shows up, in the middle of an identity crisis because, apparently, he's adopted. He wasn't intending to stay, but he's rather drawn to Dr. Stark and her brilliance, and against her better judgement, she starts to trust him, and maybe even like him. This story is in about three parts so far- the first is based on 'Thor' and the second on 'The Avengers' and are fully Jonsa, and the third started as a family bonding story between the Stark kids and Tony (Ned and Tony are second cousins, and Ned was really supportive of Tony in rehab without expecting anything in return), and accidentally turned into a Steve Rogers/Sansa Stark story, which is a pairing i am HERE for. A lot of this one is written, but it needs some fill in before publishing, although it's one of my favorites that i've written to go back and actually read.

- A Star Wars AU (Jonsa) where Sansa and Arya are Alderaanian princesses who are off planet when Alderaan is destroyed- Sansa as a senator and Arya as a pilot, both working for the rebellion, and jon is a smuggler who does not know how all of these people got on his ship and why two princesses are sassing him. His copilot, Tormund (yes he's a wookie), thinks it is hilarious. I started this one just the other day, and it's already thirty pages long, most of them involving Sansa and Arya sassing people. Dany is a leader in the rebellion, Roose Bolton is the emperor, and Barbrey Dustin is a disgruntled former jedi trying to live in peace on a remote planet until another Stark crashes into her life and harangues her into teaching again.

- A witches/magic AU (Jonsa) where the Starks run an apothecary and spellcasting supplies shop. Jon had been completely in the dark about magic before his mother confessed to being born into a family of witches. He finds himself traveling to her hometown, trying to understand her world more clearly, and what it means for him. On the way, he develops something of a crush on the red-headed shop clerk who brews the best headache potions in town. Featuring lots of magical shenanigans, this is one of my favorites in the folder :)

- A 24 hour diner AU (Jonsa) where Jon is a local mob boss, and Sansa works the late shift at Seaworth's diner to buy textbooks for the PhD she's working on in botany. Sansa's running from memories, and Jon has a soft spot for the red-headed waitress who always remembers how he likes his coffee.

- An East of the Sun, West of the Moon AU!!! (Jonsa) This is one of my fav fairy tales, and of course i couldn't resist Jon as a direwolf striking a deal with the starks!

- A Roomates AU (Jonsa)- Arya, Jon, Tormund, and Sam have been renting the same house together off Winterfell's campus for years- but when Sam moves in with his girlfriend, they need one more person on the lease. Sansa, about to relocate to Winterfell for grad school, finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her and that her housing plans have fallen through, all on the same day. Needless to say, she's a bit upset when she calls Arya to relay the news. There's a simple solution here, if Arya and Tormund can stop teasing Jon about his crush for five minutes. (any excuse to write tormund and arya roasting jon, tbh).

- A Fae AU (Jonsa)- When Sansa, a baker living in the city, washes her face in an enchanted spring on a camping trip, she gains the sight as a result. Suddenly able to see the fae underworld all around her is disorienting and terrifying. Sansa tries to conceal it- afraid of what might happen if the fae around her know that she can see them- but slips up, and catches the attention of Jon Snow- one of the lords of the unseelie court.

- A nuclear winter wasteland AU (Jonsa)- (?? I don't even know how to describe this premise, haha) where the Starks are living and running the Free Winterfell settlement in Siberia after a worldwide nuclear meltdown. Before the fallout, Sansa was one of the world's preeminent researchers in plant genetics and pathology, and works at the settlement to create newer, disease and radiation resistant crops to distribute for free to other settlements, aiming to break up the monopoly that Lannister Corp has on the market. Jon is a scavenger, searching throughout Siberia for his sister Rhae who disappeared several years previously. When he runs across Arya Starkovna, helping her fight off another band of radiation ravaged scavengers is just instinct- he doesn't think twice about it. In thanks, she brings him to the Winterfell settlement, where her brother Robb offers Jon sanctuary and resources, in exchange for serving as a bodyguard for Sansa when she travels to other settlements. Sansa is not particularly thrilled by this arrangement, but given that multiple parties seem to want her dead, she doesn't have much of a choice but to accept his company.

- A reincarnation AU (Jonsa)- of sorts. Robb is an archaeologist who finds a strange set of runes at a site up north, and immediately calls in Jon Snow- a historian and expert in said ancient language, as well as an old university friend of Robb's. When he arrives though, Robb shows him their most valuable finds- two mysterious ice blocks, with what appear to be perfectly preserved bodies from over a thousand years ago. No one could ever have imagined that either of them were still alive, but when the ice melts, revealing two very alive girls, the entire crew is instantly buried in NDAs, and given an assignment from the Westerosi government to figure out what the hell was going on. Sansa and Arya wake up, extremely confused about the world they live in, trying to adapt and mourning all that they've lost, even as the people around them wear familiar faces.

- Soulmates AU (Jonsa)- (Yes, another one, I love this dumb trope) Trauma surgeon and medical resident Sansa Stark is having a very bad day, and ends up meeting her soulmate during what she thinks is a mugging gone wrong. Fortunately, he’s not the one mugging her, just an intervening bystander, but she ends up slightly shot nonetheless. Sansa’s fretting about bleeding on the upholstery in his car, but Jon is a bit more worried about her injuries than the blood stains. He’s a bit confused when she threatens him if he takes her to a specific hospital, nearly has a nervous breakdown when she insists on doing her own triage, and is very charmed when she insists on ice cream after taking pain meds at the hospital. On Sansa’s part, she’s a little less concerned about being shot, and a bit more concerned about whatever weird first impression she’s making to her soulmate while high as a kite on pain pills. (this one just needs some tweaking to be postable- I'm not sure if it's going to be a oneshot or a series, but i love what I have already)

- A Demon/Archivist AU (Jonsa)- where Sansa works in the university's historical archives in Oldtown, and is learning to restore old texts with her fellow student and friend, Alleras (Trans Sarella is an amazing concept). When Joffrey Baratheon shows up with a pile of old books from his family's library to donate, Sansa is eager to get away from his sleaze, and accidentally takes one of the books home with her in her rush to leave. Unbeknownst to her, it's more than it appears, and when she leaves it open overnight, she accidentally summons forth Jon- an ancient, powerful, and extremely annoyed demon who is under a curse, and now hers to command. As Jon and Sansa try to get used to this new normal, the Lannisters (unaware that Joffrey had donated the tome) try desperately to find the book and it's owner, wanting Jon's power for themselves, and putting Sansa in considerable danger unless she can figure out how to break Jon's curse. Fortunately, she's a pretty good researcher, even if Jon is initially a bit of a grump. (This is based on a total wish-fulfillment mary-sue type premise for something I wrote when I was thirteen, and I revisited it and wanted to see what it would look like if i took it very seriously, and i am really enjoying it so far. It's a love letter to the terrible, heartfelt writing i was doing in middle school that created the foundations for my writing today, and so much fun).

The one that I am MOST excited about though:

- A Pacific Rim AU!!!! (Ned/Cat, Gendrya, Braime, Sansa/Jon Umber)-Twins Sansa and Robb Stark have always been completely in tune with each other, and when your parents are Jaeger pilots and your mother invented the neural handshake, what option is there but the Jaeger academy? Sansa studies to be an engineer, but ends up copiloting the Jaeger 'Winter Wolf' with her twin brother, after they lose Ned Stark to cancer. When Robb is ripped out of the conn-pod and killed by a kaiju while he's still connected to Sansa, she barely manages to kill the creature before stumbling back to shore, traumatized, grieving, and swearing that she'll never pilot again.

Unfortunately, the Kaiju don't stop just because Sansa does, and when the end of the world is imminent, Marshall Catelyn Stark orders both her daughter and former pilot Jaime Lannister (who lost his twin and copilot, Cersei, several years previously) back to Hong Kong for one final stand. Forced to face both her demons and an irate Arya, furious that Sansa had abandoned the rest of them after Robb's death, Sansa and Arya have to figure out how to pilot Winter Wolf together before the apocalypse comes for them all.

Featuring Marshall Catelyn Stark (commander of the Hong Kong Shatterdome, inventor of the neural handshake, former Jaeger pilot, and BAMF), Sansa x Jon Umber (Yes i know it's a rare pair but i've always kind of loved the idea of them, even though we know so little about him), Kaiju parts dealer and smuggler Petyr Baelish, bickering kaiju biologist Dany and theoretical mathematician Jon Snow, LOCCENT officer Theon, lots of snark, lots of angst and heartfelt conversations, and a weird friendship between snarky-grieving-asshole Jaime Lannister and kind-quiet-grieving Sansa Stark, who are the only two people in the world who know what it's like to lose a copilot and a twin in the drift.

Thanks for reading guys!! There are more, but some of them I just don't know how to explain quite yet, haha. I'd love to hear what you guys think about these!

#my writing #fanfics #fanfic wip #jonsa #jonsa fic

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macuilsung · 4 years ago

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@armatization asked via munday asks!!! (open!):

1 and 12 for the munday meme 👁️_👁️

———

1. at what age did you start RPing?

To put a number on it... I think I was either 13 or 14 years old? For reference I’m turning 28 soon, so... yikes, that’s almost half a lifetime ago for me! It was around then I really started exploring the internet on my own and came across some video game-centred forums. I started RPing by that time!

To no surprise of anyone who knows me... yes, it was the Sonic fandom. No, the site in question doesn’t exist anymore, so GOOD LUCK FINDING MY (retroactively speaking, now that I’m not a teen) SHAME WRITING ANYWHERE, SUCKERS-

———

12. what do you think about AUs?

the short of it: THEY’RE FUN AND I OUGHT TO EXPLORE THESE MORE, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR, ME?!

the long of it: Kinda like what I answered for 30, I feel AUs are prime ways in exploring new sides to a muse you likely wouldn’t get otherwise, though like crossovers, what I’m willing to write comes down to how familiar I am with the source material or setting. Something like “college AU”, “coffee shop AU”, “reincarnation AU” or what have you? Sure, simple is fun and I wouldn’t mind digging into it more if my muse is into it! But bear in mind my reply speed is... inconsistent, sometimes being YEAH HI HERE’S SIX REPLIES in one sitting to a ghost town in my brain for the next.

AUs based on other franchises though... WELL-

Granted, I know I did a shit job of advertising this one at all (given I’ve only spoken about it with Sylph at length a long while ago, MY BAD GUYS) but I’ve actually got a fully written About page for a Persona 5-centred AU on the blog? Yes, your boy has a competent amount of knowledge on the series as I’ve played both vanilla P5 and Strikers, and watched the original P4 anime. TL;DR, Forwin’s Persona is based on the titular character from The Count of Monte Cristo and in this setting, he’s the son of the diplomat who got murdered in the subway incident at the start of the game bUT YES YOU CAN READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE (link ordinarily found at the bottom of the Verses page)!

Thus far, I’m also considering AUs set in...

Bleach (as a Fullbringer because of his aptitude for magic, or a Quincy because of his archery skills and nobility/bloodline? still unsure but I’m leaning on the latter)

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (you can’t tell me he wouldn’t have the torigonda-playing Ursula as his Blade, but which Titan would he hail from, I wonder...)

Pokémon (maybe with a whole team of sound- and music-themed Pokémon like Primarina, Rillaboom, Exploud, Meloetta, etc.?),

...but I’m not committing to anything super concrete as of yet and I’m also open to ideas for other settings, so who knows?

Might as well get this one out of the way right now: I know Genshin Impact is hot at the moment and a fair few of my mutuals are super into the game, but as much as I’d like to join in on the fun, I try to avoid playing too many gachas because I know how I can get at times with those types of games... so instead I’m just sitting here completely lost over the lore I’m seeing sprinkled on the dash but hey, at least everyone else is enjoying themselves-

#armatization #{ playing this one by ear 🎶 replies 🎶 }#{ composure behind composer 🎶 ooc 🎶 }#{ ooc: i didn't expect to go as hard on the AU answer but ALAS- }

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letterboxd · 4 years ago

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How I Letterboxd #7: Cinemonster.

Hooptober’s head honcho opens up to Jack Moulton about his love for Texas-born horror director Tobe Hooper, the joys of running Letterboxd’s most beloved Hallowe’en community challenge, and the “terrifying, magical” experience of seeing Frankenstein at the age of four.

“You can’t spell October without Tobe.” —Cinemonster

Cinemonster, known to his family and friends as David Hood, is a restaurateur in Pittsburgh by day, and the head honcho of Hooptober by night. Now in its seventh year, the horror film challenge sees participants set their own 31-day viewing agenda of 31 films, curated according to a list of criteria set by its creator.

‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ (1974), directed by Tobe Hooper.

With over 5,000 films logged on Letterboxd and a growing collection of posters, DVDs, Blu-rays, laser discs and film memorabilia, Cinemonster is a literal monster of cinema. He has created more than 500 lists, including a ton of year, director, actor, actress, franchise and memoriam lists.

What brought you to Letterboxd? I found Letterboxd while I was doing a Google search for a horror film that I had forgotten the name of. I ran into a list that Hollie Horror had made and wound up starting a profile and it went from there. That would have been a little over seven years ago.

How freakin’ cool is last year’s Hallowe’en Easter egg with the dripping blood from our logo? [Pro members get this added to their pages by mentioning #horror in their bio.] I’m a fan.

Unfortunately I haven’t heard of a single one of your four profile favorites! What’s urging you to highlight these films? They are just lesser-seen and have something good or great about them. Eyeball is a great little underseen Umberto Lenzi film. Death Machines is an awkward, weird and wonderful film with kung fu and blood. Massacre at Central High is one of my favorite films and sadly lacking a disc release of any kind—anyone who has seen Heathers will recognize a couple of things if they watch it. Rituals is a criminally underseen stalked in the woods film from the ’70s.

In this this list description, you explain how the original Frankenstein (1931) hooked you into horror at four years old. Can you describe what you most remember about that life-changing experience? It was both magical and terrifying. The space, the creature, the little girl. I had trouble sleeping for weeks afterwards. No matter where I am in the world, if there is a screening of Frank, I’ll go. I watched most of the major universals by the time I was six or seven. I saw Alien and Jaws 2 with my folks and those stuck with me. Cable and a local UHF station showing Hammer films on Saturdays are what really allowed me to get sucked in.

‘Frankenstein’ (1931), directed by James Whale.

The horror films of 1980 and 1981 were the most impactful and are the ones that mean the most to me to this day; Fade to Black, Night School, Motel Hell, The Fog, Alligator, Altered States, Terror Train, Death Ship, Scanners, An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, The Funhouse, Dead & Buried, Hell Night, Wolfen, Ghost Story, The Pit and Evilspeak. I saw all of them five to ten-plus times on cable as a kid. They’re still all high on my list. I am glad that Fade to Black is on Shudder. People need to watch it. More relevant now than then.

What exactly provoked you to start Hooptober seven years ago? I moved into an old spooky house and had a backlog of Blu-rays to watch and the 4K of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was about to come out. I’d done some interactive stuff on Letterboxd previously and had a decent amount of people involved. I was also at a point in my life where 31 films in 31 days is tough, as it is for a lot of us now. So I thought ‘Why don’t I do something that starts a little early, clears some of my list out, and has some parameters that don’t feel like I am handing out an assignment?’ I grew up in Texas, Tobe [Hooper] is close to my heart, and with all the Hooper I owned and the 4K coming out, I decided to christen it with his name. You can’t spell October without Tobe.

What’s the most members that have participated in a Hooptober? The number of people who participated was a little more than I expected, but that wasn’t what I was surprised by. I never thought of it as a recurring event until I started to hear from people the following summer about ‘the next one’. I just kinda chuckled after about a dozen people had asked and I said out loud to no one, “I guess I’m doing another one of these”. We are well over 700 this year, and still climbing.

‘Fade to Black’ (1980), directed by Vernon Zimmerman.

Where do you get the ideas for the rules for films to consider watching? At this point, I look back at past years so that I don’t repeat myself. I look to the current year for inspiration. Is there a film from a sub-genre that was prominent? Was it a strong year for output from women, Mexico, Asia, Black filmmakers, something cultural, and so on? I may focus on effects creators, an actor or writer on a whim. I try to keep an eye out for blind spots I haven’t covered. Shudder, archive.org, the big streamers are all resources. Sadly, rarefilmm no longer exists.

In last year’s interview with Merry-Go-Round magazine, you mentioned plans to turn Hooptober into a film festival. How’s that going? In a post-pandemic world, how can we keep independent niche film festivals thriving? The world has not been agreeable, obviously. I’m not even sure how viable something like that will be next year. I’ve been taking a look at streaming options. Post-pandemic will require more creativity and outside-the-box thinking, and will probably continue to feed some drive-ins. Been a while since more than a handful of people wanted to put money into a drive-in, which is nice to see.

I’m going to do a tweet along to The Witch Who Came From the Sea in October, and I’ll give you an exclusive here: The George Romero Foundation and I are doing online Horror Trivia on October 11. I had been doing it live with them here in Pittsburgh until the pandemic.

Based on this year’s rules and conditions, if there was one essential you-can’t-miss film you could force all your participants to add to their challenge, which film would it be? Demons, Eve’s Bayou or The Witch Who Came From the Sea.

‘The Witch Who Came from the Sea’ (1976), directed by Matt Cimber.

What have been your own greatest film discoveries through your Hooptober adventures? A Tale of Two Sisters, I Drink Your Blood, Blood Diner, and though it is a bit of a cheat to list this one, The Amusement Park. It’s cheating because it didn’t exist as something that I or anyone else could have watched, prior to when I saw it.

Do you have any acclaimed horror movies still lingering in your list of shame? Eyes Without a Face, Upgrade, Cure and Scream 4.

Have you ever completed one of your own Hooptober challenges yet? Errrrrrrrrr, one. I’m on track this year.

What about the participants over the years—any Letterboxd friends you’ve made who would you like to give a shout-out to? Aaron, Sarah Jane and Chris Duck are people that I talk to outside of Letterboxd. There have been a few others over the years. Slappy McGee has helped me with Hooptober the last two years. They are great. Javo and David Lawrence are pretty great, too.

Before Hooptober, many of your lists invited discussion with your followers. In what ways is Letterboxd the ideal forum to foster a community of film fans? Fans exercise their fandom in so many ways. The platform is so flexible that it allows you to utilize it in a small and personal way, in a promotional way, or to dive into the community pool and see who’s out there that shares something with you or can show you something. The more people that we are exposed to and listen to, we are all the better for.

Which of your review—from any genre—are you proudest of? The Invisible Man or The Hustler, probably. I have a capsule of Hud that I like.

So, you’re the horror guy. Nobody is denying that. You are Cinemonster, after all. But when I look at your top movies list and see that Singin’ in the Rain is your all-time number one, I’ll need you to explain yourself. I go back and forth between that and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They are 1A and 1B in some order. Singin’ in the Rain is a perfect film and the studio system at its best. I will ignore your implied insult. ;)

‘Fear of a Black Hat’ (1993), directed by Rusty Cundieff.

It’s true, even a horror aficionado needs some levity in their life. What other comedies pick you up from a dark place? Fear of a Black Hat always does the trick. Same with The Awful Truth, Murder by Death, Hollywood Shuffle, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Blazing Saddles, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Black Dynamite.

Who has been keeping you company during this tough year? I have watched thirteen Spike Lee films so far this year. I’ve taken a break the last few months, but I’ll probably knock out five or six more. With the exception of 25th Hour, everything is a revisit. It’s been a joy to go back through everything. Crooklyn is much stronger than I remembered, and Bamboozled just gets better and more impactful as time passes. I have loved Spike since the day I saw School Daze. His films have always connected with things that are important to me and to those that have been around me. Lee is still grossly under-appreciated as a narrative film director and a documentarian.

We’re bowing down to your epic Blu-ray and DVD collection. Which ones are your most prized possessions? Make us jealous. I have an Anchor Bay DVD of Dawn of the Dead signed by the cast and George A. Romero, a steelbook of Battle Royale, the first Slumber Party Massacre set before they had to reprint the box, the original Star Wars trilogy on Blu. I’m sure there are things I’m not thinking of. I have a lot of out-of-print and laser-only stuff. I’ll never get rid of my Holy Grail, Ghostbusters and Akira Criterion laser discs.

A selection of Cinemonster’s signed memorabilia.

I have a copy of Painting with Light signed by John Alton, John Waters and Steven Soderbergh I’ll send you a picture of. I used to collect movie posters, and I have the original Revenge of the Jedi one-sheet and the Drew Struzan Squirm poster. I do love those.

From your top directors list, let’s put one horror director on a pedestal. Who does the genre better than anyone else and why? George. They’re always topical, intelligent, thoughtful, personal and sometimes prescient. At their best they hold up both a mirror and a crystal ball. He was writing found-footage scripts in the early 70s, for god’s sake. Tobe is grossly under-appreciated. James Whale and Mario Bava could scare you in so many ways.

So, thinking beyond Ari Aster, Robert Eggers and Jordan Peele, which up-and-coming horror directors are you most excited about? Issa López, Gigi Saúl Guerrero, Benson and Moorhead, Shinichiro Ueda, Na Hong-jin, Julia Ducournau, Nia DaCosta, Jeremy Gardner and Leigh Whannell.

The 2010s were a great decade for horror. We have more money on-screen, moving away from the low-budget films of the 2000s. Which favorite horror film of the last decade inspired you the most? Get Out. What Jordan did for generations to come is unmatched in this century.

Chucky from ‘Child’s Play’ (1988).

Which probably-too-long horror franchise gets too much flak and is top-to-bottom a great time? Child’s Play. Chucky has always been treated generally as second tier. [That franchise] has tried a lot of interesting and out-there things during its lifespan that had no business working, but did.

I know it’s been a slow year but you haven’t logged many 2020 movies yet! Which is your most anticipated horror movie of 2020 or 2021? Peninsula, for sure; I love Train to Busan. Then Candyman, The Dark and the Wicked, Grizzly II: Revenge, Bad Hair, #Alive, After Midnight, The Platform, Bulbbul, Underwater, Shirley and Swallow.

Interview by Jack Moulton. Follow Jack on Letterboxd.

#letterboxd #how i letterboxd #cinemonster #el cinemonster #elcinemonster #horror #horror films #horror genre #tobe hoooper #tobe hooper #hooptober #hoop-tober #halloween #halloween films #halloween challenge #letterboxd challenge

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cockbiteproductions · 5 years ago

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all prime numbers in the Misc section and all multiples of 10 in the other sections

we shall go backwards as the question list was posted backwards...... (and also why i rbed it.... why is it backwards? i dont know but i love it. edit: now that ive seen question 1 it looks to me like one of those forum profile copy pastes where you fill out the entire thing and put it in your profile.)

200: My crush’s name is: hmm...... well. i would rather not say!!!! they could see this post!!!!!!! and we do not want that happening.......

190: My 1st job was: lifeguard in the summer after 9th or 10th grade i think? it was decently fun. i grew up swimming competitively so the swimming part was a breeze. the remembering what to do if someone is drowning part? a bit harder. memory bad. what to do if someone has a potential broken spine/head injury when they’re in deep water? i don’t know bud. but it involves 3 whole people to get them out. 2 in the water, one person at all times holding their head in line with the rest of their body, the other one strapping them to the board (these two people in the water switch off, too) and then one person standing on the side of the pool looking very concerned. also don’t tell anyone but sometimes if i had like a 6 am shift i would get really groggy and almost fall asleep on the stand.

180: Marriage is: whatever people make of it but unfortunately bogged down with like a lot of societal expectations. to me it just sounds like hanging with your “best” friend until you die but a lot of other people interpret it differently.

170: What did you do yesterday? LOL wouldn’t it be nice if i remembered. wait no i do remember. i woke up “early” and watched a dnd livestream and struggled through buffering from my shit wifi. then i took a nap. then i had a chipotle burrito that was way too spicy. and i played a lot of minecraft. and i wrote a bit. and i also did like another 2-3 pages of the codecademy html intro course im working on.

160: Soul mates: nope. [taylor mason voice] i don’t believe in the concept of a soul. you are compatible with some people more than others and that’s based on your values and interests and personality. nothing Soul about it. it’s fun in fanfic and fiction though, but that’s because it’s fiction.

150: Blondes or Brunettes: brunettes..... i like brown hair! but blonde is nice too.

140: Mac or PC: clown face emoji. mac. It’s A Unix System. more convenient for me. my current mac is a giant piece of shit though. though i think that’s my own fault for keeping all my old files from my old mac. shoulda started over. i think i might try to get this one factory reset or something.

130: Wal-Mart or Target: idk walmart. i go there a lot during college. walmart just has a larger selection. i used to go to target a lot as a kid though because my mom liked it more. i think it’s like slightly more bougie?

120: Gay Marriage: fuckin go for it pals. sad that it took as long as it did to become legal.

110: My Neighbors: they are nice i think. the ones to the right are teachers or something. the ones to the left are.... idk. their kids were like maybe 5 years older than me and my brother when we were growing up though and sometimes they would indulge in us tiny annoying kids and hang with us

100: Cried in front of someone: when the finale of the clone wars came out a few months ago and i was sobbing and i ran into the living room to tell my roommate and friend that i was sobbing. i was sobbing. i also recorded myself watching the entire eps and i Sure Was Sobbing.

90: Texted: actual sms text, yesterday in response to a friend who texted me a tik tok. instant messaging like 20 minutes ago to milo. i havent responded yet because im answering this and i cant multitask for shit.

89: Who makes you laugh the most: me obviously. i think i’m fucking hilarious. me aside, @redvsblue is the funniest person on this planet. also my friend holly irl who shares my incredibly dumb sense of humor. also you!

83: The most difficult thing to do is: hmm........ in general or for me personally? idk..... a lot? i am not a very courageous person. so i guess being brave.

79: First time you had a crush: >:( not appreciating this line of questioning that lines up with the prime numbers/mult of 10. i will not be saying as they ALSO follow me on tumblr. though they don’t use it often. shout out to middle school.......

73: Tomorrow: hopefully wake up around 1 pm at the latest. make a plum smoothie. play some more minecraft and get more netherite (new update slaps). do more coding tutorials. get some writing done. the same ol same ol.

71: Next Summer: hopefully i will have a job lined up for the fall and the pandemic is Over. i would like to just [do nothing] for the last summer Ever before job starts. if i don’t have a job then it’s Job Hunting Time.

67: The person that makes me cry the most is: what the fuck...... like in a bad way? good way? cry of laughter? sadness? me, probably. my own damn brain be like “well it’s time to think about Yourself and be sad!” i know. very narcissistic of me. also dave filoni (director, producer, writer on clone wars).

61: My Car: not really mine. i just use it. beige 201? toyota camery. my brother tried to convince my dad he needed it more than i did last school year. my brother, who lived on campus in boston and flies to school from nc when he goes there, needs the car more than me, who lived off campus and drove to and from school to get back to nc, thinks he needed the car more than me. what a guy.

59: The movie I cried at was: last movie huh......... when was the last time i saw a movie? idk probably the rise of skywalker when leia died. i don’t know. i sure as hell didn’t cry at cats.

53: How do you like your steak cooked: i am vegetarian.

47: Who’s your best friend: @worthyghouls i guess. but also concept of “best friend” is so weird. No Best Friends. just lots of people i am good friends with. feels weird to all my other friends to pick One of them and be like “well i like you more than everyone else” :)

43: Do you have a 5 year plan: only in the vaguest vaguest vaguest sense. i would like to graduate with my bs degree. i would like to live in a city (doesn’t have to be a super big one. where im at rn is fine). i would like to have my first or second job i feel comfortable doing related to the degree i am getting. i would like to live in my own apartment (with roommates)/not with my parents. i would like to not be rent burdened. i would like my roommate to know how to take care of a cat or be okay with helping me learn how to take care of one. i would like to have a cat with said roommate. and that’s about it tbh. not very ambitious, i know. i just want a simple life......

41: Have you pre-named your children: bold of you to assume i will have children. no. if i ended up with child it would be like that tag on ao3 called “accidental baby acquisition” and i would name it on the spot.

30: Actress: hmm..... lauren marcus. lauren lopez. does fiona nova count if she’s going to be in rvb zero? also lindsay jones. aubrey plaza. idk. not many actresses i follow from project to project. it’s more i will see them in something and appreciate them in that role immensely.

20: Holiday: halloween is pretty chill. just getting candy from strangers? dope. scary aesthetic? amazing. i also like christmas just for the sole fact that i get time off from [life].

10: Restaurant: a favorite restaurant??? who has one of those???? i sure don’t. and i’m not gonna say something cringey like olive garden or mcdonalds. i simply do not have one.

#not rt #teresa answers stuff #tyty for sending in #soph with the primes as always...#nothingunrealistic1

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vuure · 5 years ago

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Embrace your past and get to know your friends’ fandom origins!

Rules: Post gifs of your fandoms / ships starting with your most current hyperfixation and work backwards. (Bonus points if you share any stories about how or when you got into that ship! But not necessary!!) Then tag anyone whose fandom history you’d like to learn about!

@ilackallhonour has tagged me in this, and usually I’m really bad at actually joining in, but this one really got me thinking back on all my old fandoms and hyperfixations. I didn’t really do shipping until a few years ago, might have something to do with my recently discovered ace-ness :’)

I always had fantasies that I was part of the world of that particular hyperfixation at time. Of course very heroic and awesome, and very close to my favorite character. Alas, real life is disappointing in that regard.

Merlin/Arthur, I never watched the show when it first came out. Mostly because I can be a bit stubborn and when a lot of people keep telling me that I should totally watch something because I will love it, I refuse to watch it. Don’t know why I’m like that. Turned out, I totally did love it, and binged it like crazy. Also shipped Arthur/Merlin like crazy. Was really disappointed in the ending, and thus, turned to fic. For me, when I’m really obsessed with a show or book I just cannot let go and will read fic until eventually my fixation dies out.

The Umbrella Academy, I don’t really ship anyone, except maybe bromances, and their sibling relationships (Five and Vanya <3 Klaus and Diego <3<3). Man, I love this show, I binged it when it first came out, immediately watched again, got other people to watch it, and watched it again so I could talk to them about it some more. Of course turned to fic, but got a bit eww-ed out, because there was a lot of shipping going on and I didn’t dig it (too each their own, though).

Black Sails, uuuugh I can’t with this show. @Ilackallhonour actually got me curious about it because all the stuff she posted and reblogged. And damn, was it a life changer. I’ve always had a bit of a weird obsession with ships and that time period, but more from Dutch, and VOC perspective. Still, the setting immediately hooked me in, but I really stayed for the story, the characters…Silver. Oh damn. And Silver/Flint, oh double damn.

Sterek. Really, I can’t even say I liked Teen Wolf that much, although I did enjoy the first few seasons. But I stayed for every glimpse of Sterek I could catch. The first time Derek shoved Stiles into the wall I was screaming at my TV, NO WAY there are no people shipping that. Dude, that’s so canon it hurts! But well, the show turned into a big dumpster fire, and I found the online fandom. Got an AO3 account just so I could bookmark and comment and give out kudos so my favorite Sterek fic. And there are tons of fics. I can admit it, I was an addict. I can’t go on AO3 without drowning back in fandom hell, so I keep off it. Really, it was a problem. I was reading fic ALLLL the time. When I should’ve been working, sleeping, socializing, etc. Followed so many Sterek blogs on Tumblr, but wanted my sanity back so unfollowed them all. Sorry @andavs, I still love your blog, and your art, and your fics sooooo much, but it was too big of a problem *sigh*

Harry Potter, of course. My favorite character was Fred, and got very upset when people tried to convince me he was exactly the same as George. NO HE ISN’T! He’s the idea guy!! Lol. It’s been a while since I’ve read the books, and not sure how much of that is true anymore. Back then I didn’t really do shipping, but now I’m a Drarry shipper, haha. The fics are just so goooood.

Gilmore Girls, duuuude. This show shaped my life. Every time I’m one a re-watch I’m like…oh thát’s where I got that from! I copied character traits and sense of humor and stuff into my own personality. Didn’t like the new episodes much, but that won’t destroy my love for the Gilmores.

Veronica Mars, same as with Gilmore Girls really. Huge impact on my life. Love the snarkiness, and yeah did have some ships in there. Actually did like the new season (though I hated the movie), but they did LoVe dirty man.

I should put Supernatural in this list too, although I feel like I abandoned the show and am not a true fan. I was obsessed with it for so long though. Those first seasons were so great, I loved the relationship between Dean and Sam (in a platonic, totally brotherly way because I do not like incest-y things) and the normal everyday hunting things part of the show. But than all the demons and angels en Gods came and I got a bit tired of the endless cycle of dying and being brought back to life, evil turned to good turned to evil turned to good thing. I’m of the opinion that shows should have an end. Just like three or four seasons, tops. Just finish it with a good, solid ending. Don’t drag it along until it dies an ugly death.

And now unto some total different things, that shaped my childhood. Hard to find a GIF for these books, but what is fandom without some cool art ^_^

Tomorrow when the war began, by John Marsden. I was obsessed with these books, and read them over and over again, even now I’m not tired of them and could get lost in them before I finished the first page.

Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan. This series really got me into the fantasy genre back then. I had no idea of any of the fantasy cliché’s, or Arthur legends yet, so I wasn’t tired yet of all the same old tropes. I find it a lot harder now to read them, but back then I saved money to be able to buy them as soon as a new one came out, and re-read the entire series up till that point before I read the new one.

Cats the (broadway) musical. Me and my little sister watched the movie version of this show over and over again, every time focused on a different cat. We knew all the lyrics, we knew all the cats. We knew every little thing there was of them to know. We named our black cat (we ..I demanded a black cat) Misty, for Mistyfollees (she’s a girl you see, so we couldn’t name her Mistofollees). I even wrote some fic for it, haha.

(note: I tried really hard to find another GIF but there’s none) Elfquest, oooh Elfquest. This was my truest and biggest obsession, I think. I created my own elf characters, joined online RPG forums to write stories about our own characters, met up with other fans, dressed like a favorite character. A lot of the friends I have now, I met at those forums. I’m still low-key trying to collect the better-looking English paperbacks of the series, but am in no hurry to finish it, and don’t really read them anymore anyway. And my ship? Skywise/anyone, haha. I love Skywise so damn much. And his and Cutter’s relationship is everything (who’s Leetah? Fuck Leetah).

Tagging @stormnyk @andavs (I tagged you already anyway, sorry ;p) @imperfectimpostor96

#such a long post #I dont think I posted anything this long here before #sorry #personal #fandoms #tag game

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annakie · 5 years ago

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An Annotated Mass Effect Playthrough, Part One

A lot of these posts are going to be just my impressions, things I love, cool things to point out, I don’t know. Rambles about how much I love this game and everything about it.

To start off I’ll talk about my OC a little bit, and how I got into Mass Effect. Then we dive into the prologue.

List of Posts: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

My OC

So we all have our Main OC Shepards. Mine is Annakie.

Annakie is a name from an MST3k episode that I have loved since the first time I saw it in the early 90′s. I started using the name Annakie in IRC shortly thereafter, specifically in the SciFi channel’s IRC server, which used to be fairly active back in the day. And by the day I literally mean circa 1995. They used to host some pretty cool, especially for 1995, events there, like authors and writers of their shows would come in and do Q&A’s, including Kevin, Mike and Bill from MST3k. Kevin Murphy recognizing where my nick came from immediately was a moment of pride for me.

So I’ve basically always been Annakie online, even after knowing that it’s a real actual name some people have, I’ve still managed to snag it most places on the internet. And most of the time when I play a new game, I start out playing Annakie, or one of two or three other names I regularly use sometimes. But naming my first Shepard Annakie and having her look more or less like this every time I play is just... what I normally do.

Also I normally play goody two-shoes the first time I play through any game with moral decisions. The first time I played through Mass Effect, though, she was an engineer. I think the second time onward she’s always been a vanguard.

She’s a Spacer, because I love having her mom alive and get to talk to her. I like that she didn’t start from trauma. But she’s a sole survivor, because I like how that shows how strong she became. I also like that it gives her extra incentive to hate Cerberus later on.

Discovering Mass Effect

I’ve been gaming since I was seven in 1982 when my parents brought home our first Atari 2600. When RPGs became a thing I liked JRPGs a lot on the family Nintendo and some action RPGish games like Super Metroid, but when Western-Style RPGs like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights came out, I found my true video game love.

Before Mass Effect, my favorite game was Knights of the Old Republic. And it’s still way up there in my list of favorite games of all time. And I really loved Carth Onasi. Although I’d loved other video game love interests before him, Arin Gend, Valen Shadowbreath, Celes/Locke... Carth was my favorite. That also inspired me to try my hand at fanfic for the first time. That never saw the light of day and I’m pretty sure I lost it like 3 hard drive crashes ago.

So when I heard that the same company that made KotOR was making a new, non-Star Wars space game, I was excited. Until I went and looked at some of the trailers, gameplay preview videos, etc, and saw no female protagonist option. I must have looked somewhat early on because even on message boards I looked at the answer was “they haven’t said anything” or “I don’t think so”. And I was *crushed*, then stopped paying attention to that video game. After it came out, I heard it was a pretty good game, but if you could only play a guy, I wasn’t that interested.

It wasn’t until 2009 when I finally got an XBox 360 and realized I had no idea what games to play on it that I didn’t already have on PC. I joined a game trading thread on a forum I was on, and bought a few titles, and someone was selling Mass Effect cheap, so I thought... what the hell, I’ll probably like it even if I have to play a dude.

A few nights later I was curled up on my couch with controller in hand and... hmm this music is pretty good. OK New Game... Create Profile... wait what? Custom or default Female character? You can play as a woman?!? WHAT?? Damn, I should have looked at this game more closely. Okay.

So I made my Annakie Engineer... and honestly I don’t remember what origins I picked then... but the game started.

I recognized one of the first two voices I heard but couldn’t place it. And then a third guy was talking over these space scenes and someone walking scenes and... hang on, is that Seth Green?!?! Neat! Real cool space imagery here, great music... and then the intro was over and another guy started talking.

That. Is. Carth. Onasi’s. Voice.

I SCREAMED.

Then I stood up walked into my office, sat down at my PC, googled “Carth Onasi Voice Actor Mass Effect”, found the character’s name, then googled “Kaidan Alenko romance”. Found the wiki page, saw the answer was yes, and screamed again. Really, really mad at myself. This game had been out for two years. A space RPG where you can play as a lady and the same voice actor I already ADORED was in it playing another romanceable character. I knew then, two minutes into the game, that I was going to fucking LOVE THIS GAME and I should have played it TWO YEARS AGO.

I went back, played all night, and for the next several nights until I beat the game. And then joined forums and everything I could get my hands on to find fellow fans, then replayed the game, and played again, and again, and again until I had all the achievements. Then I bought it on PC so I could get all the achievements on PC and be ready to import saves for when Mass Effect 2 came out.

The one good thing about waiting so long to play ME1 was, I only had a year to wait until ME2. That year was basically all about Mass Effect for me.

The Prologue

Anyway, while we’re here, let’s talk about the prologue.

First off, who else, the first time you played, when in character creation you heard the “Profile Corrupted!” message thought you fucked something up or maybe your game disc was bad. Anyone? Not just me, right? I may have restarted my Xbox.

The class descriptions I think are a little wonky. I chose Engineer the first time through because I like utility classes and I like healing. But the classes don’t really... play that way I guess. Hitting F to heal (or whatever it’s mapped to on the controller) doesn’t really matter, and a couple of classes have access to First Aid. Nobody is really a “healer”. Hence switching to Vanguard later.

The prologue itself does a really great job, though, of setting up the game, and the world. It starts with the great move of telling you a little bit about your own character, helping you to understand those choices that you made “Spacer” “Earthborn” “War Hero” “Sole Survivor”, That was a good move. It took me until my second playthrough to connect those two guys talking about me to being Anderson and Udina.

Also, nice that they explained what Mass Effect actually *is* and placed you in a year, so you have an idea how far ahead this game is from our own time.

And then this...

Majestic.

But it’s great how they start with a shot of you, looking at Earth

then you see Jupiter, with an establishing shot of the spaceship you’re in. (OK I didn’t get a great screenshot of this, I’m using gifs that are going in a gifset posting tomorrow)

And then you fly by Neptune

Then... wait what the fuck is this thing?

Along with Seth Green talking to... someone? And the movement through the ship, giving you glimpses of Jenkins, Pressley, crewmates doing their jobs, the camera constantly sweeping, something big is happening! Something exciting! You’re not sure what all of it is but... it sounds cool!

The camera swings around on the person you’ve been following, and you already kinda know it’s your character, but there you are, in a very cool sweeping reveal.

The music swells. Then the big glowy weird scissors thing... eats the spaceship and spits it back out.

It’s all so effective. It’s kind of breathtaking to watch even for what must be like my 30th time, not exaggerating.

And I can never wait to do it again. What a great way to start this game.

#mass effect #annakie's mass effect stuff

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crewhonk · 7 years ago

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Flora and Fauna (one)

In which Y/N receives a gift, and Bucky says thank you

Lots of Stucky int his one! Fluffy, healthy stucky relationship!

Warnings: nsfw themes

words: 2.8K

prologue

__________________

Flora and Fauna, 346 Park Avenue, Manhattan New York

It was another cool, rainy August day for Y/N Y/L/N and she wasn’t even able to walk down the set of stairs from her apartment down to the garden space below without walking back up for another thick sweater. The cool air-conditioned space of her home gave way tot he almost sweltering heat of the plant store below, allowing all of the plants there to thrive and dance in he presence. Her baggy denim overalls and a loose green shirt flowed as she walked, and the chains around her neck tinkled with every step. She walked through the crowded aisles of the store, and brushed her fingertips over each and every leaf she passed, making them greener and more lively than seconds before.

Her soft fingertips landed on the open to close sign and flipped it open, tracing the protruding lines of the paint that her little cousin had created. Her cat, Oscar, brushed around her ankles as she blinked out into the already-busy streets of downtown New York.

“Hey, Kitten.” She hummed, bending down and scooping the fluffy cat into her arms with ease. The fur gave him a deceiving appearance, and while he looked to be around ten pounds, he truly only weighed four and a half. He licked her chin and wiggled out of her grasp when she walked closer to the front desk, sashaying his way over to his food and water, on the far side of the counter.

It was a rapid series of knocks that truly woke her up. She hurried to the back, making sure that nobody would walk in on this cold, rainy day and swung open the rickety screen door to find a large moving truck and an obese man, sweating but smiling pleasantly.

“Hello,” she spoke, ushering him inside and away from the rain. He gratefully stepped inside and shook her hand with his own dead fish handshake. “What can I do for you, Sir?” She smiled, wiping her hand on her green apron.

“There’s a shipping here for you, from one S. Rogers?” He squinted at the clipboard in his hand, and she blinked up at him at him stupidly.

“I didn’t order anything— I can only afford one shipment a month. I got one last week and—“

“Ma’am.” The old man stopped her with a smile, and a heavy hand to her shoulder. She furrowed her brows at him and was about to ask what was really going on when he opened his mouth to speak. “Everything is paid for— all you have to do is sign on the dotted line, and help move all the plants in, and you’re good to go.”

“What?” Y/N found her chest blooming with warmth because whoever this Rogers guy was had spent well over one thousand dollars to get her a truckload of plants that were already keening for her attention.

The moving process took about one hour, and she spent the rest of the day rearranging plants and shelves to make them all accessible. In that time, she managed to serve several customers and only trip over Oscar three times, each accompanied by a ‘dammit, cat!’.

By the time noon rolled around, she had arranged the green, leafy, and floral additions in a way that took her breath away. The humid air was so thick with fresh scents that Y/N swore she was almost high on the fumes. She picked up her shattered phone and took a few pictures for her rapidly growing Instagram page, editing them and uploading them quickly.

‘heres to the kindness of strangers. Thank you, S. Rogers, for the surprise shipment :)’

_________________

Avengers Tower, 200 Park Avenue, Manhattan

Steve Rogers was sure this was the third meeting of the day, and the regular coffee he kept getting from the kitchen down the hall was doing nothing for his drooping eyes and his wandering attention. Wanda had suggested tea, but Steve wasn’t too fond of the drink— too boring in his opinion. Tony was off rambling about some local group wreaking havoc on local enhanced individuals, and Steve really should care, he really should but when there were threats all over the world, it seemed that one little New York hate group was a simple little parasite that would eventually befall itself.

He sat back in his rolling chair, legs spread and arms folded across his chest and felt a warm zing of electricity when Bucky’s flesh hand landed on his upper thigh— nothing sexual, just an absent touch that had made Steve fall for his best friend so many eons ago. The other man's thumb raced patterns against Steve’s jeans, and he found himself relaxing even more under his lovers' touch.

“You as bored as I am?” Bucky wrote on a pad of paper, nudging it in his direction and watching Steve fight back a childish grin.

“Probably even more bored, Jerk.” He wrote back with a wink and flashed Bucky a tiny smile when he heard him huff out a laugh. Steve noticed a notification popped up on his phone, and he held it under the table as he pressed his thumb onto the home screen to check it.

‘flora and fauna has posted a new picture’

He saw the inside of the store in the new picture, brimming to the roof with the plants he had sent her, and a happy smile spread across his face, tapping the heart at the bottom of the picture and commenting ‘glad u liked them! :)’ quickly. Steve had failed to notice the absence of Bucky’s hand on his thigh as he clicked on her page, scrolling absently for a few minutes.

“Hey, Cap. Eyes up, yeah?” Starks' voice brought Steve out of his heart eyes moment, and he blinked a few times to find everyone looking at him with expressions of disbelief on their faces.

“Sorry, Boss.” He replied quickly, placing his phone face down and sitting with his posture straight. Bucky, who was still looking at his love, shook his head and glanced at the Captains phone, curious as to who he had been paying attention to.

“You too, Elsa.” Tony threw a pen in Bucky’s direction, which Bucky caught and tucked behind his ear, smirking when Tony gave him his ‘im running out of patience’ look before searching for another pen and continuing his lecture.

He and Tony, while still tense around each other had begun to develop a relationship akin to step siblings that had moved in together when they were midway through teenage years. It was awkward a lot of the time, and the picked on each other, but they protected each other in a way that was unspoken. Not healthy, but not exactly unhealthy either.

The meeting adjured rather soon after, and Bucky and Steve left side by side, heading together to train the new recruits who (in their very personal opinion) were worse for wear.

“Steve?” Bucky asked, once they got into the change rooms and swung open their lockers across from each other. Bucky found his heart beating quickly in his chest.

“Yes, Sweets?” He replied, shucking his shirt over his head and turning around to look at his boyfriend of eighty years.

“Am I enough? For you?” He asked, his voice wavering slightly. Steve looked sharply towards him and stepped over the bench that separated them, dropping his Under Armour shirt on the ground and immediately cradling his face in his large, hard hands. Before even saying anything response, Steve planted a soft kiss on Bucky’s lips, brushing the tips of their noses together and pulling away with a nip to his bottom lip.

“What the hell do you mean by that, James.” He whispered, brushing his thumbs over his boyfriends' scruffy cheeks. He kissed the tip of Bucky’s nose and continued peppering kisses over his cheeks, forehead, and jaw before finding his favorite place in the crook of Bucky’s neck— right over his pulse point.

“I just— I feel like you’re— we’re missing something. It’s been eighty years, I know and I wouldn’t want it any other way, but I don’t know. I feel like there needs to be more to us.” Bucky rambled, wrapping his arms around Steve’s narrow waist and pulling him closer.

“I will love you until the end of the line,” Steve mumbled against his boyfriend's neck, nipping and kissing the sensitive skin behind his ear. Bucky hummed under his touch and gripped Steve’s rapidly growing hair with his metal fist, pulling him closer with a purr. “If you want to find something more for us, I will gladly accept that. No judgment, no fear, all love. I ould be more thanhappy to find someone to share our love.”

“Promise?” Bucky’s voice shook not only with emotion and relief but with arousal at his boyfriends’ ministrations.

“Always, Buck.” And with the high of previous worries lifted from his shoulders, he sank to his knees and properly thanked Steve Rogers for being the best boyfriend out there.

__________________

Flora and Fauna, 346 Park Avenue, Manhattan

Y/N had locked the door an hour ago, flipping the homemade sign to ‘closed’ and continuing to sweep and water all the plants that needed to be taken care of. The National played loud over the store speakers, and Y/N danced around with her broom, spinning it around and singing into the end of it as if it were her microphone. It hadn’t crossed her mind that people could still see her bounce around with the antique watering can in one hand and Swiffer duster in the other until she spun towards the door and let out a tiny frightened yelp.

Because there, about to pull on the stores front door was one Winter Soldier. She watched him tug at the handle once, twice and a third time before he cupped his hands around the glass and peered in, eyes immediately finding her own.

She was frozen for only three seconds before she dropped the Swiffer to the floor and slid the watering can onto the front desk before nervously wiping her hands on her pant legs (she had since taken off her apron), and fiddling with the keys, struggling to fit them in much to Bucky’s amusement.

She flung open the door and openly gaped at the former assassin. She had long been a fan of the Avengers, and when James Barnes went through his legal trial, she had followed it religiously, always taking part in online forums and supporting those who wanted him to walk as a free man. She could see how much the legal trial still affected him, as the bags under his eyes were prominent, and the hair he had tied back in a velvet scrunchie (wanda had gotten them for him) looked a little too shiny to be clean.

“Oh my God, hi. You’re James Barnes- I followed your trial last month and I’m so happy you got acquitted.” Her hand burst forth, and he took it warily with his flesh hand, her eagerness to meet him throwing him off guard. If Y/N hadn’t been so excited, she would have noticed the way her body immediately reacted to his own. She would have noticed the way her arm hair stood on end, and the way snakes seemed to slither in her lower stomach. She would have noticed the flush of her chest, and the dilation of her pupils as she took this huge model of a man in, drinking him in for everything he was worth.

“Bucky. Please, my name is Bucky.” He smiled down at her. If she had missed the way her body reacted, he did not miss it, and held back a smirk at the way she fell into a pile of mush in his hand. He didn’t miss the way his own body exploded, a chill went down his spine— one that had only taken place late night in his and Steve’s bed, among heavy breaths and whispered words of pleasure.

“Bucky, okay.” She breathed, excited. The way she said his name made his mouth feel too hot and his lips parted in reaction. “What can I do for you, Bucky?”

“I was going to get some flowers for someone. They recently became open to an idea that I’ve wanted for a while, and I want to show them how much I appreciate it.” He said, smiling widely and holding her hand in both of his. Was this really going to be that easy?

She broke out into a wide smile that made Bucky’s heart hammer in his chest. He thought it really may actually be easier.

“Maybe some roses?” He asked, wiping his combat boots on the welcome rug and showing his hands into his pocket. He still wore a leather glove over his metal hand, not yet ready for the Wakandan prothetic to be showcased to the world.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust and scoffed under her breath. A reaction that made his eyebrows shoot into his hairline and his eyes widen.

“What was that for?” He asked, a smile pulling at one corner of his lips. She turned back to him and leaned against the counter, sipping her heavily sweetened coffee and staring at him emptily through her lashes. He ignored the way his lions reacted to the look.

“Roses are tacky so I don’t carry them.” Her reply was short, and the curt response made him throw his head back in laughter, filling the room with joy. Y/N would be damned if she never wanted to hear that laugh again.

“Oh yeah? What flowers would you get to express gratitude then?” He thanked her quickly as she gave him a mug of coffee and waved him into the back to where the extra floors from the shipment this morning were.

“These are some flowers I don’t have on the floor yet, so I usually use them for deliveries. I love Sweet Pea flowers for thank you. They’re very real and when they’re in bushels they look kind of messy, but that adds some sort of beauty to them? Kind of like showing gratitude, I guess— messy but beautiful all the same.” She smiled, motioning to the pots of Sweets on one of the middle shelves. He walked forward and his flesh hand traced the soft, odd-looking flower, and Y/N would be lying if she said she wasn’t surprised by the care he took in admiring it.

“What do you mean? Thank you’s are messy and beautiful.” He said, leaning in a smiling the flower. They swayed under his attention and Y/N smiled softly— the flowers in her shop seemed to have spirits of their own, and it wasn’t just coincidence they danced when she was in a room.

“Well, no real thank you is graceful and well put together. Those are usually the ones that aren’t genuine.” She spoke softly, sipping her coffee and smiling at him with a closed mouth when he looked over at her. His eyes scanned her body up and down and when he met her eyes, she was blushing under the weight of his gaze.

“You’re very smart, you know.” He said, picking up the pot and wrapping his clothed metal arm around it. “What’s your name?”

“Y/N Y/L/N.”

“I’ll get these, then Y/N Y/L/N. You’re one hell of a saleswoman.”

“Oh, you can just take them. A gift for you.” She smiled, watching as he walked over to her, digging in his jean pockets for a bill.

“No, I could never—“

“I’m serious, Mr. Barnes. Take them.” She whispered. He was suddenly very close to her. He took her hand in his own, and slipped a hundred dollar bill in her fist, backing away through the green room door.

“A tip for you, then. It was wonderful seeing you, Y/N.” He called out as he left the store, leaving Y/N shaking in the back room with a rush of excitement and joy.

It wasn’t until Oscar brushed up against her, purring as his tail wrapped around her calf, that she broke out of her reverie and scooped him up in her arms, jumping around and squealing in a way she hadn’t since One Direction had announced they were coming to New York for the third time.

“That just happened! Oh my God, Oscar! That happened!” She yelled, frightening the cat to his very core. She didn’t care though, because she had just given Bucky Barnes sweet pea flowers, a coffee, and a smile.

Tags: @emolordisme @sergeantjbuckybarnes @prettybubblesintheair @shynara51 @dizwinchester

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yet-another-autistic-blog · 6 years ago

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The Journey

I started my autism journey a few months ago, but realistically, it's a journey I've been on my whole life. Two of my best friends noticed that I was having a rough time dealing with life, so they encouraged me to seek out mental health help. I was scared, but I knew they were right. I made the appointment, and quickly was diagnosed with severe anxiety and mild depression. I was put on an antidepressant, started going to therapy, and was put into a 6-week "Understanding Anxiety" class.

At first, it was helping. The medication took a while to kick in, but when it did start working I noticed my appetite getting better, and I was having much less frequent "panic attacks." I put that in quotes because I later realized they were actually meltdowns. The therapy kind of helped, in the sense that it was nice to finally talk to someone about how my narcissistic mom messed me up in a lot of ways (that's a topic for another post). The class was more helpful than the therapist because it gave me concrete strategies and tools I could use.

As I started working on my anxiety, I realized there were issues I was struggling with that didn't fit into the anxiety box or the depression box. Since there's a family history of autism in my family, I started looking up more information about it. Most of the early stuff I read described how to diagnose autism in children, so I almost gave up, but I decided to google "adult female autism" and found several articles written by women on the spectrum. Many of the things I read seemed eerily familiar.

I started a list of reasons I might be on the spectrum. It was supposed to be a pros and cons list, but the few things I wrote on the "reasons I'm not autistic" side were just self doubts without much substance. The other list soon grew much larger than I had anticipated. I tried to think back to my childhood and revisit old memories in an autistic context. For example, I remember my mom being bothered that I walk on my toes "because it's a sign of autism." I still walk on my toes because I thought that was a dumb reason not to. I remember my mom getting angry at me when she would ask me a question and I would take too long to respond because I had to think about my answer. I remember getting overwhelmed by too much sound, too much light, too strong tastes, too uncomfortable clothes.

When the list reached nearly 3 pages long, I decided I needed to talk to a professional about my findings. I knew that 4 kids in my family had official diagnoses (2 of my brothers + 2 of my cousins), and that a few adults in the family were suspected to be on the spectrum. I decided that I was going to be the first adult in my family to get a diagnosis. I figured that Step 1 would be to talk to my therapist at our next session. I organized my list into categories, and made sure to include at least one memory from childhood for each category. I printed it out, put it in my bag, and went to the therapy appointment.

I took a few deep breaths to calm my anxiety, and I told her about my suspicions. I tried to tell her verbally some of the reasons, but I started feeling anxious again as she didn't seem convinced. She reasoned that because I've been able to hold down a job for 3.5 years and I feel empathy when my boyfriend feels bad, I can't possibly be on the spectrum. And besides, even if I was, apparently Kaiser doesn't do autism diagnosis in adults. And even if I was able to get a diagnosis, they don't have any programs to support autistic adults.

I felt crushed. I thought I finally had the answer to a question I had been asking my whole life: "What the hell is wrong with me?" Then I realized, the therapist was not an autism expert. She's probably only familiar with the stereotype of autism, not the subtleties. I knew that people on the spectrum are capable of feeling very deep empathy. I knew that even though I was successfully holding that job, I was still struggling with specific aspects of that job, like phone calls, writing complex emails, etc. I realized that I was able to learn more about autism in a month of online research than this woman learned in all her years of school.

I honestly don't remember the words of the rest of the appointment. I remember slipping back into my mask, because I no longer felt safe. I remember that it was suddenly much harder to make eye contact than it had been previously. I remember thinking about the printout in my bag. I never even mentioned it to her because if she didn't even understand that people on the spectrum can feel empathy, then she wasn't going to understand the subtleties of what I had written. I said whatever I needed to say to fill out the clock until our session was over. We made a follow-up appointment as usual because that's just what you do at the end of an appointment, and I was certainly not going to break routine and create a conflict. I cancelled the appointment online later that day because I had lost all my trust in her.

Since that appointment, I continued to struggle with the autism question. I spent hours reading forum posts, blog posts, articles, etc. Eventually I came to these conclusions:

1. It's highly likely that I have Asperger's / Autism Level 1, and I've just been masking well enough that nobody caught it.

2. An official diagnosis would be helpful for confirming what I already know, but there aren't really any support services for adults I would be able to take advantage of, so it's currently not worth the thousands of dollars it would take to get diagnosed outside of Kaiser.

3. If I struggle with the same things autistic people do, and if their coping strategies also help me (stimming, taking more alone time, engaging in special interests, etc), then it makes sense for me to use the label.

Speaking of labels, I know that Asperger's isn't the official name anymore. However, it's much easier to refer to myself as an Aspie than a "person on the autism spectrum." If that bothers you, feel free not to follow my blog. If you are autistic, suspect you might be autistic, want to know more about what it’s like to live on the spectrum, or just want to see me type words, feel free to follow. My journey isn’t over. It’s just getting started.

#autism #aspergers #actuallyautistic #personal #autism acceptance

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amazildoessomethingstupid · 6 years ago

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We Did It Bois!

youtube

WE GOT DAT ANON HATE! I actually had to double-check cause I wasn’t sure if I turned on asks for this blog, apparently not. Fuck, man I’ve been missing out! This mad lad had to go over to False Idol to leave a comment anonymously. And since I don’t want that blog getting cluttered let’s respond to it over here shall we? Let’s see what this man has to say.

Oh I’m sorry, was my use of the “N-word” inappropriate? I thought it was quite clear, I was making reference to a joke that’s been a part of the public conscious and internet culture for like a decade now. And I’m absolutely certain if I used that old artifacted to shit meme you wouldn’t be offended!

Oh wait, no.

There we go. That cool? You get the joke?

I mean, it’s literally the same words, same usage, same context, and demeanor that’s meant to be conveyed! I actually shy away from using slurs in a purely derogatory way, because that’s not fun or funny. And if you didn’t catch on, the whole point of these rants is to have fun, while tearing into the comic where it deserves! But oh no, I can’t say the N-Word even if its clearly done as reference to a popular meme! Even if it’s done in a positive sense, in approval of a character and their actions! How dare I as a brown man use the N-Word! That’s only for black people! I should stick to the slang words of my own culture that no one gets or would interpret as a joke, right you fucking cuxika haoli?!

And as for the cocksleeve comment, oh sure. I’m sorry, did I hurt the feelings of this fictional teenage girl? By calling her a shameful lazy plot device? Forget the fact I was carpet bombing these “kids” with F-bombs like LBJ in ‘nam, calling a fictional girl in a comic a narrative cocksleeve is just too far! Even though I clearly stated what the term represented, and how it’s not actually a sexual term in the context of the rant, this is clearly me calling this fictional girl a sextoy. How dare I? I should use a softer word, or descriptor in this instance, to lessen the impact of its use, make it less intuitive as to what it means, like all the words you people come up with! But oh don’t worry, I know what you’re saying. Alright! Fine! It’s a harsh word! I even stated as such in the rant, I should’ve used softer words. Kinda like how my friend says I shouldn’t call Paulo a Cop-Out Gay, but instead use the term “queerbaiting” because that definitely has the same impact and gets the point across so much better.

And while we’re on the subject of fictional character ages, you do realize Sam (the cat I use to represent myself in these rants) is like 13, right? And hell, in the rant I’ve not only battered her to a broken pulp.

Bu I also shot this fictional 13 year old girl in the face!

drink alcohol

and attempt suicide! (although Taeshi’s done that too...)

Oh man I actually forgot where I was in this ask, what’re they going on about now?

If you’re talking about the reaction images, you do realize that these are all speed sketches right?

I literally made this whole page of reaction Sams in like an hour. Thus the lack of polish, or that much detail. This entire series is just a fun side thing to break up monotony (and punish myself for when I start to slack off). Not to mention, if being good at an art medium was the only way you could be a good critic of said medium, then I guess Red Letter Media, Doug Walker,and Brad Jones are all hacks. Not to mention all the other independent movie, music, and art reviewers too.

(although I’m sure you’d probably be the guy who’d argue that RLM are all hacks anyway)

and I like how you’ll insult my art and writing, but the only actual complaints you have are on the words I’ve used. And a lame insult to my art. And you say I don’t know how to write a story, but you don’t insult any part of my story or writing.

You don’t even have to look at all of it either! I had a little snippet right in the rant! It’s right there, you think I can’t write a story, or character? Why don’t you criticize these scenes I pulled from my own comic? And don’t worry, I’ll let you critique it even if you draw worse than me! Cause I’m just a nice guy like that~

But I see you’ve written more, so let’s see what that’s about.

Excuse you! I’ll have you know I’ve been drawing these fancomics for almost FIVE years now!

And yeah, guy. It’s called perseverance and dedication to the craft. It’s what happens when you have a hobby that you love, and spend time working on. It’s how you can go from this

to this

From this

to this

I know 4 years seems like a long time to progress, and it is. But y’know what? That’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve spent 4 long, straight years on this stuff, and that’s a feat that too few artists are able to accomplish. I’ve seen so many astists and webcomics, fan projects, fall apart and not even reach one year before they burn themselves out or give up. Artists much greater than me, who honestly deserved to have their stories told, and visions seen. And you can say whatever you want about me, but y’know what? I can proudly say, I finished a long-form story comic. I said what I wanted to say, I made the comic I wanted to make. And that’s something that too many artists don’t live to see. And hell, that’s something Taeshi can’t say!

I still have work to do, (clean up my lines, work on backgrounds more, be better at plotting scenes...) but I know that if I keep pushing at this rate, and bear in mind what I should improve; the next 4 years will only get better. The only reason I’m not better now, is because of my time on the forum and being pressured by people like you to give up and not pursue what I love doing. Instilling a sense of insecurity and self-doubt I didn’t have before. But then again, it’s because of that, that I learned to look so deeply into my own stories to figure out what’s wrong and work on it. To look at BCB and see its own flaws and to call Taeshi out on that, and to not make those same mistakes myself.

and even better

It’s what’s made me smart and tough enough to not just take a punch, but throw it back at you.

But now to the final comment!

“No note Joe”?

Oh my god, what do you even say to something like that? Is that really the best insult nickname you could come up with? Is this the kind of lame ass insults you make when you restrict what words you can use? Jesus! That doesn’t even make sense! I know what a one-note person means, I can assume what a no-note person means, but I don’t know what that would have to do with however many people actually care about my art. Dude are you okay? I mean this in a serious way, I don’t mean to insult really but...

Are you mentally deficient? are you actually retarded? If so, I admit I do feel a little bad about this.

but also

> Only you, and what, three other people give a shit about your stank artwork and attitude.

BRUH

SuitCase WISHES there was only 3 people who are like me.

But that’s the problem isn’t it?

You really believe that I’m the only one who thinks this shit. You honestly think that I’m just a random outlier who is just bitching on the internet. Let me tell you, I’m not alone. And for a long time, I thought I was. When I started doing comics almost 5 years ago, fully believing I was alone. But what I learned from those 4 years making comics, working on the canon, and now doing these rants was that I wasn’t. That there are people who feel these frustrations. Not all of them, maybe not to the same degree as me, but they are there. And what’s sad is that I’m probably the first and only person they’ve heard talk about this shit. To say the things they’ve been thinking to themselves, and hiding from people like you, because they know if they tried to voice their opinions they’d get shut down the same way. I’m not championing anyone, I’m not trying to be a role model, or want to be some icon of controversy or dissent.

I just got no more fucks to give, and a lot of shit to say.

I’d also like to mention, because someone brought up the point that this person is probably just a troll. And I shouldn’t respond, but calling/assuming someone’s a troll and ignoring them is exactly what SuitCase does, and if there was someone I’d like to think I’m better than, it’d be fucking SuitCase. Besides, I’ve already got the next update for False Idol colored and lined, and ready for words, and the next update after that sketched up and ready for lines. So I can spend the time to meme the hell out of an asshole. And if you think I ain’t gonna take the opportunity to make fun of a guy who can’t properly criticize, argue, or even insult me.

Then you really.

on some shit.

(Part 2 of the rant will be coming soon)

#rant response #ask

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hanneswrites · 6 years ago

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it’s been so, so long (chapter 4)

Chapter Title: Lay my head, under the water; Aloud I pray, for calmer seas

Pairings: Sam Winchester/Gabriel | Dean Winchester/Castiel | background Crobby

Rating: T

Word Count: 1.8k

Chapter Summary: Dean-centric chapter with a bit of focus on both DeanCas and Bobby/Crowley. || Feathers are found and decisions are made.

Three Weeks Later

Dean sat at the kitchen table, twelve individually spaced black-as-night feathers laid out before him as he thumbed through the yellowed pages of a somewhat-ancient text on trickster gods. His eyes kept blurring, not quite able to read the words in front of him, but his fingers turned the pages all the same. The night outside is loud--crickets singing and the far-off sound of cars whirring past on a rural highway. Bobby had headed off to catch some shut-eye a few hours ago. Sam was in the living room, searching for something on his laptop with the television going at a low hum. This should feel normal. Should feel good, even. Sammy was safe, Bobby was alive and well, and the world wasn’t ending. Or, at least if it was, he didn’t know about it. Cas wasn’t here. Cas hadn’t been here in a few weeks. Almost a month. And there was a heaviness in Dean’s stomach, a constant breathlessness in his lungs. It didn’t feel right without Cas here.

Chilled night air drifted in from the open kitchen window, tugging lightly at the pages of the text he hadn’t been able to focus on for hours. Dean closed the book and let his eyes slip shut.

It was colder, all those nights ago. A bit muggier. They were hunting a pack of werewolves, trying to get back into the swing of things after dealing solely with the apocalypse for close to a year. The pack was active near Bobby’s house, so they settled down, enjoyed the comforts of having their own bedrooms for once. Hunting werewolves would be a walk in the park, almost ingrained in them by now, like riding a bike. And yet, as Sam and Bobby both eventually surrendered to sleep, Dean sat at the kitchen table, guns laid out, meticulously cleaning and checking and reassembling. Castiel was beside him, sitting too close, his knee resting against Dean’s thigh as he stared out the window. If they weren’t alone, maybe Dean would have told him to move.

An hour passed, and Dean had cleaned all of the guns he had brought in with him. The clock on the stove read 2:18am and Castiel was still beside him. His hand was on Dean’s arm, stilling his hand before he could move to start cleaning the first gun for a second time.

“It’s clean.” Castiel said, and Dean relented, though Castiel did not move his hand. They stayed like that for a few minutes, bile rising up into Dean’s throat as his heart beat quicker and quicker until Cas took his hand away. He started on the first gun again, and Castiel’s hand moved to his thigh, warm even through the thick, lined fabric of his jeans. Cas didn’t say anything else that night, but he stayed with him until morning, got up from his chair around 8am and started a new pot of coffee.

People always talk about realizing you’re in love like it’s some grand event. Like it washes over you when you least expect it, like a grand romantic gesture would suddenly have you struck head-over-heels for someone. And Dean was sure that for some people, that may be how it happened. But loving Castiel? Realizing that he was in love with Castiel? Felt like breathing. Felt like laughing. Felt like something that had always been there. Felt like home . It was nights like these, nights where his anxiety, his paranoia overwhelmed him and made him feel like he couldn’t breathe, that really nailed the coffin. Soft reassurances, warm comfort, no pushing, no prying, just letting him work through it on his own, but still there if he felt he needed help.

They returned home from the hunt without injury and Castiel guided him to his room, settled him down on his bed and told him to sleep. He did not protest when Dean pulled him down into the covers with him, apart from pausing to slip off his shoes before curling around him and entwining their fingers together.

Dean jolted back into awareness as Sam shuffled into the kitchen, the old, worn-down floorboards creaking beneath his feet, coffee mug in hand and a golden feather sticking out of the pocket of his robe. Groggily, Dean wondered if Sam was aware that the feather was there. They seemed to show up in the oddest of places; places where they shouldn’t be able to be without someone having noticed them being placed there. Every day there seemed to be a black feather tucked away somewhere Dean knew it hadn’t been the previous day. They hadn’t talked about it, but Dean knew that the same thing was happening with Sam. Golden feathers hidden away in his clothes, his shoes, his bed. Each feather Dean saw was less pure-gold and more of a shining amber, though he was half-sure that may be his mind playing tricks on him. They had been cooped up in Bobby’s house all week, reading text after text, poring over websites on angel feather lore, only to find nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just the odd historical reference to wings as a whole, or whackjobs on religious forums talking about how “angel feathers were messages from God himself” or “it means He is near”.

“Find anything?” Sam’s voice was rough and Dean got a sudden, unbidden urge to pour some honey in Sam’s coffee.

“Nope.” Dean said, snapping hsi book shut. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to will the drowsiness from them.

“Same here.” Sam said. He recoiled as the coffee touched his tongue, nose scrunching up in bitter distaste.

“Is that coffee still showing up?” Dean asked. If they weren’t in this situation, if Cas was still here, if the threat of not knowing where he was or if he was hurt wasn’t looming over him like a reaper, Dean would probably have teased Sam about getting addicted to trickster coffee. Probably would have been more concerned about it, really. In all reality, they didn’t actually know where the coffee was coming from or what exactly was in it and Dean probably should be more concerned about that.

“Yeah. Every once in a while. Less and less though, lately.” Sam said, and then gestured to the feathers Dean had laid on the table, “More feathers?”

“Every day now.”

“Anything new?”

Dean looked at the feathers, touching his fingertips to the edge of the one that had arrived just this morning.

“Hot--eh--”

“GedUnPaDonGonGraphUr.”

“ Dean.”

“ Bond.”

Shaking his head, Dean chuckled softly, “Just a bunch of broken syllables, my name, and the word ‘bond’.” Dean could see Sam perk up at “bond”.

“That’s...interesting.” Sam paused for a moment, “You know, you’ve been getting a lot more feathers than I have.”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe the feathers have something to do with a bond? You and Castiel would obviously have a stronger one...for a variety of reasons. It would make sense that Gabriel and I would have a weak bond. But…” Sam trailed off, eyebrows knitting together. A minute passed and Dean was growing impatient. He wanted this to be done; he wanted Cas back.

“But? Out with it, Sammy.” Dean snapped.

“Have you been receiving anything other than feathers? Noticing anything missing from your room? Feeling anything strange?” Sam asked, his voice soft, like he didn’t want to bring this up.

“No?” Dean answered.

Sam hummed and took out his phone, scrolled through something and eventually put the phone up to his ear.

“Hey, Crowley.” Sam said, and Dean’s blood ran cold in his veins.

-=-=-=-=

Crowley appeared in the living room about 30 minutes later, hellhound in tow, smiling like a goddamn child on christmas morning.

“It’s been much too long, darling.” Crowley drawled, eyes focused intently on Bobby. The old hunter sighed and flopped down on the couch, downing the rest of the beer in his hand.

“You saw me this morning, ya old bastard.” Bobby said, expressly trying to ignore all of them. Dean frowned, moving more toward the center of the room, inching in between his surrogate father and the demon.

“Love you too, Robert.” Crowley grinned wider and then turned to face Sam, “What’s so special that you needed to call me in, Moose? It’s not like you to call me up for just an evening chat.”

“Cas is missing.” Sam said, “Do you know anything about angel feathers?”

Crowley considered them for a moment, eyes searching for something in Sam’s face before snapping himself up a glass of whiskey.

“Get into a scuffle with your boyfriend and he goes missing, so naturally, ask the king of hell to track him down and solve all your problems, eh?” Crowley smirked, focus now shifted to Dean.

“ Crowley.” Bobby all but growled from the couch, and Crowley chuckled.

“Angel feathers are pretty powerful stuff. They have traces of grace in them. There was a saying in hell, back when I was first recruited, that said something along the lines of: if you need to kill an angel, stab a feather through their heart. Not sure if that’s true, but always worth a shot.” Crowley said, absently patting what Dean assumed to be the hellhound.

“Anything about communicating through them? Leaving messages? Clues?” Sam asked.

“Back in the day some angels used them to convey messages to humans in their charge without having to physically manifest.” Crowley said. He sat on the couch next to Bobby, shooing the hunter’s legs out of the way so that he would have enough room.

“Could you use Darla to find him?” Bobby asked as something seemed to nuzzle into his lap.

“Hellhounds aren’t really equipped to find angels. Not enough scent to them.” Crowley said.

“What if we got some of Cas’ feathers?” Bobby said.

“Uhm. Ex cuse me?” Dean said, “We’re not using a hellhound to track down Cas.” Sam shot him a look, like he should keep his mouth shut and Dean glared back. There was no way in hell he’d he giving one of Cas’ feathers to Crowley, let alone a fucking hellhound.

“Maybe. No promises.” Crowley continued, ignoring Dean in favor of leaning back into the couch, refilling his empty glass with another snap of his fingers. “It’s been a while since you invited me onto a case. If I help you, what do I--”

Bobby cut him off, “You get to be invited back, idjit.” Bobby folded his feet into Crowley’s lap and Crowley huffed in defeat.

“ Fine.” Crowley grumbled.

Tagged: @archangelgabriellives

#sabriel #samgabe #sam winchester #spn #supernatural #supernatural fanfic #my fanfic #hannes writes #2018 #it's been so so long #wip

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wwwdotinternet · 2 years ago

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The Backrooms

Many people have likely seen the image above somewhere, possibly accompanied by the following words:

If you're not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the Backrooms, where it's nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in

God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you

This image, along with the caption, were posted to 4chan on May 12, 2019. From there, it has blossomed into a huge system of creativity and horror. But first, while trying to find the original post, I found that the image has been posted a few times, and first appeared on the site in 2012, according to the Lost Media Wiki. The original original post doesn't exist anymore, and isn't archived, but I found this info interesting.

Anyway, let's get into it. As I said, the image became very popular as a creepypasta, which are scary images and stories spread across the internet in chatrooms and forums. The backrooms seemed to spread mainly because of the unique sense of horror it gave you; the idea of an infinite maze of yellowed hallways with nothing to be found creates a sense of existential dread. This type of horror is called "liminal horror," and is based around the places that are supposed to be moved through, not existed in. The best example I've found is the feeling you get in a hotel hallway late at night, if you've been in one. Liminal spaces and creepypasta are topics I want to talk about in the future, so stay tuned!

As the concept of the backrooms became more popular, people started creating "levels," which were newly "discovered" sections of the backrooms. People would create new levels based off of other liminal spaces, and write as though they had discovered a new themed level, like level 15, themed around white laboratory rooms. The official Backrooms Wiki has thousands of pages containing information on the lore of the backrooms, with >999 levels, >999 entities, and organizations formed within the backrooms, such as The Eternal Repository and The Followers of Jerry. There are also many stories written about people living in the backrooms, and a number of joke levels, such as the viberooms. There is a large amount of content to explore.

Of course, when large groups of people get extremely invested in something, infighting begins. Some people thought the backrooms should stay as its original post only, to preserve the original feeling of the image. Others disliked the joke floors and many, many memes that were created. However, the fandom has mostly settled, and people are actively editing the wiki to this day.

There is one large event to note, however. Around 2 years ago, the owner of the r/backrooms subreddit blocked all of the moderators after arguing about how the subreddit and Discord channel should be run. Following this, the r/TheBackrooms subreddit was revived by the blocked moderators, who made a post explaining the situation and requesting that no drama happen between the subreddits. The only main difference between the two now is that r/backrooms's posting rules say that it does not follow the rules of the wiki.

The backrooms is a really cool concept, and I would encourage to you to do a deep dive into the wiki. Also, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend Kane Pixel's YouTube channel, which has multiple short films about the backrooms. He is even working with A24 to create a feature-length movie! Finally, there are also some really interesting games involving the backrooms, like the backrooms game on Steam.

And remember, keep an eye out for almond water

#the backrooms #liminal spaces #fandom #horror #wwwdotinternet #i love dream pools #i will talk about them #creepypasta

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lillaxtrigger · 6 years ago

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Young hope: Chapter 14

Out in the dusty wastes stood a lone diner on the side of the road. Outside were a pack of black vehicles parked out in its lot. At the outdoor tables sat various well dressed agents, eating breakfast with one another. “So, you hook up with Jimmy on the weekend or what? Bet you guys were pounding on each other all night.” one of them asks, piercing his fork through his eggs. “Naw man, too much to drink. I just went home and slept off my hangover.” “You gotta lay of the scotch, mate. It’s killing your social life.” A miserable groan escapes the officer, affirming with; “I know. It’s the tenth time I skipped out on Jimmy. Wouldn’t blame him if he just moved on with his life. I’ve been trying rehab these past few month, but it’s been doing jack shit to my…to my...”. “Jack shit to you’re what, bro?” “Hold on. Think I see something.” The agent pulls out a pair of binoculars and looks out towards the horizon. His other looks behind and wonder what his partner might be trying to view. Out in the distance, a single speck leaving behind a trail of dust crawls its way up the road. It seemed to heading towards the diners direction. “Holy shit!” the agent with binoculars exclaims. “What? What da ya see?” The agent hands his partner the binoculars and tell him to: “Take a look for yourself.” Peeking through the spectacle, he witnesses a long haired man of Asian descent dressed ridding through the roads on a motor bike. “Is that fucking Chase Young!?” “It’s motherfucking Chase Young, bitch!?” “We gotta warn the boss!” At his partners request, one of the agents hurries into the diner.

Sitting upon the counter stools, an orange haired man munches on his morning ham. On his side, a green haired woman sips on her morning cup of joe. The other, a white haired man, enjoying the rich creamy taste of his bagel Around them, countless other agents enjoy their various breakfasts, laughter and merriment ensuing throughout the humble diner. The agent outside rushes inside, stirred in a panic as he swiftly approaches the trio sat upon the counter. “Boss! Boss! You’re never gonna...” On the verge of his terrible warning, the man come down with a maddening cough. The man in the middle hands the agent his glass of milk to quell the coughing fit. Swigging down the morning drink, he soon continues with his dire message. “You’re never...gonna guess who’s coming up on the horizon. It’s Chase Young.” The happiness and joy that waved through the airs of the diner are cut down in an instant upon hearing the very name. The three sitting upon the counter are unfazed by the news, the man in the middle gazing beyond the agent that ran inside.

A smooth, yet sinister voice rings out, greeting with: “It’s been such a long time since we last met, hasn’t it Todd.” The agent looks behind him and sees the infamous man right upon his back, jumping backwards and landing on the floor as he crawls back. “Or would you prefer your other alias...Agent 344.” A faint smile forms upon the head agents lips, them greeting the villain before him with; “Hey there Chase. Mind telling me what brings you here on this fine morning? If your planning to settle the score, I’m afraid I’m a little preoccupied with breakfast at the moment.” “Another day. I come baring a piece of news. News that you in particular might be interested in.” Pulling out a tablet, the infamous malefactor scrolls through the page of a news website. “A day ago, an article came out concerning a troubling development within a quaint metropolis called Townsville, one that was ultimately solved by a group of teenagers, would you believe it. Normally I have little to no interest in the affairs of measly worms, but someone in the article fancied my eye.” Presenting the front of the device to the trio, the tablet showed a news feed featuring an article with the catching tagline: “Local high schoolers solve kidnapping crisis” The picture aside the reading featured a group of teens standing in the front of the town hall, earning the mayors congratulations. “One of them reminded me a lot of you when you first confronted me.” 3 kids within the shot draw the trios attention, Todd himself left quite astonished. A blue haired young man dressed in white, a smile planted across his face. A purple haired youth missing an arm, his depressed glare drawing away from the camera. An orange haired lass sporting overalls, a fake grin to hide her hints of worry. “Isn’t that...” the white haired man wonders. “Well, I’ll be damn.” the green haired woman goes. Upon the site of the blue boys goofy demeanor, the famous agent gives his own smirk. “Nice going kids. You’re on your way.” The tablet returning Chases person, he hears his adversary deliver his own message. “Well Chase...If you just came out all this way just to show me that...” Most of the agents within the diner compose themselves, ready for anything. “Then I’m afraid I just can’t let you leave here...not like this.”.

A bowl of banana split ice creams slams itself down upon the counter. The infamous villain stares down upon the potassium enriched dessert as Todd and the green haired girl sit aside. His rivals laughter filling his ears before the agent insists: “Come on Chase, eat up! It a party. Dig in.” Grasping the desert spoon aside the bowl, he turns his gaze over to the beatific man to his side and questioning: “Didn’t you just eat have breakfast?” “Aw, come on. Who cares? There’s always time for ice cream, right.” the famous agent remarks before chomping down on a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich. Looking through the surrounding diner, Chase partook in the view of the opposing agents around him enjoying themselves to the variety of desserts. From frozen bars, to ice cream cones. From bowls full, to ice cream cake, everyone seem to be in glee over their frozen dairy treats. With this site, the villainous man shrugs off the odd circumstance and scoops up a spoonful of the split set before him. The sweet cooling flavor of the treat relieves his senses.

“So, how have things been, Chase? Those kids of yours doing well?” “Drake and Shen Mi have been doing quite well in their training. Steadily growing these past several years.” “How old are those two now? Last I check, Drake was around 12, I think?” “Drake and Shen Mi are both 19 and 13 respectively.”. “That old, eh? Heh...Kids growing up so fast.” “What about your kids, Todd?” the green haired woman woman. “Mine, well…I-” “Do you even remember the last time you’ve seen your family?” the white haired man adds. “God, I can’t remember. It’s been years since I last visited them...maybe around 10 or so? SUPERIOR’s always got me flying around the world. Always something happening. Sure do miss them.” “You could always retire.” Chase suggests. Upon letting out a light chuckle upon the notion, the agent mentioning how: “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Chase?” Letting out a heavy sigh at the end of his laughter, Todd looks looks upon the sheen of the counter top. He’s met with his own heavy expression in the reflection of the marble as he declines with: “Nah. With all the heroes around retired to raise their own families or pursue their dreams, someones still gotta be around to protect the world. I’d love more then anything to go back home to my family…They probably hate me for leave them for so long…But...”. Lifting his gaze above the counter, he then shares his thoughts for the future. “It’s a hope of mine that with this new generation, a league of heroes may rise and take the mantle. And let me catch a break.” “Lest you forget, that with a new league of heroes, and alliance of villains shall form among them.” Chase warns. “Yep, but...I’ll just leave them with the new kids...” Withdrawing a deep breath into his lungs, Todd cuts back with: “In the mean time… What say we cheer for the success of the new generation?” With that claim, Todd presents his ice cream treat to his longtime rival in a similar manner one would toast a wine glass. Chase gives a slight smile and returns the gesture with his dessert spoon. “To the new generation.”

Within the shadow of a lone room, a single light shines down upon Roy as he prowls through a table full of documents and pictures; the laptop at the end logged onto a magical siting forum. “That bitch has to be out there somewhere. I ain’t stopping til I find her.” the purple merc growls. The door behind him opens, pouring in natural daylight from behind a dark figure. The purple merc blocks his eyes from the glow, the sunshine irritating his vision. “Roy, what are you doing in here?” a familiar voice rings out. The boys vision adjusting to the natural glow, he finds Mally awaiting in the doorway. “Oh, hey Mal. Just trying to track down the fiery cunt of a witch that took my arm’s all. How you doing?” “How am I? Roy, you haven’t left this room for several days. You haven’t been to school or your mercenary job. Plus you stink. Like actually stink. For hell almighty man, take a fucking shower!” the girl demands. “Pfft, fuck school, always waking me up in the middle of classes, keep telling them that’s how I learn shit, but they don’t listen. And my merc work can wait. Aside from the money I send to my mom, I got cash to burn for months on end. I ain’t coming outta this room, til find that magical bitch beast.” “And what’s you’re plan once ya do find her, huh? Kill her?” “Oh, I ain’t just gonna kill her. I’m just gonna collect the debt she owes for inflicting me with my newly found disability: one freshly ripped off arm. Might just attach it to where she blast mine off after I beat her to death with it. How’s that for irony!?” Roy declares. “Insanity be more like it.” the voice in his head pipes up. “I’m not insane! You’re insane dammit! You been driving me crazy ever since you wormed your way into my head!” Holy shit. This is worse then the orange haired skater feared. She could not help but stare in wide eyed disbelief as her purple brother screamed to himself. Turning back to the desk with a composing breath, Roy insisted that: “If both of you will excuse me. I got work to get back to.”

Letting out a sigh herself, Mally declares to the violet mercenary: “I guess I can’t really get you outta here, can I? Not unless I offer this!”. “Offer wha-!” A gaze back to his adopted sister had shown her in possession of Roy’s purple hood, nearly restored to its former glory, baring the only exception being the stitched up arm socket. A longing stare painted across the mercs face, he begins to slowly approach, his single arm reaching out for his treasured apparel. “You...You fixed my hoodie? Even stitched up the arm hole.” “Yep, took Tore a couple days, but he knitted and patched it up as good as new.” “Gimme Gimme Gimme!” Roy rapidly demands as he reaches for the hoodie. Mally halts his desires to reunite with his beloved hood, putting her hand over his face as he tries to nab the article of clothing. “Come on. Just let me have it, already!” “Ah ah ah! Not so fast. You want this back, you gotta do as I say.” her sister demands, pushing him away. “Oh piss off!” “Don’t you piss off me! I’m doing this for your own good. Unless you rather not see your precious hoodie again? Probably best to donate to a needy child who can use it to shield themselves from the bitter cold of the nightly air.” “Just go with the girl. It wouldn’t hurt to indulge her.” the voice urges. The purple merc lets out a loud groan as he claws his own face, admitting defeated. “Fine, you win. What do ya want me to do?” “First, you’re gonna do everyone around the block a huge favor and take a god damn shower already. After that, I’m taking you on a little trip.”

Right after cleaning himself off, Mally led the purple merc to the dwellings of Serena’s shop. Colorfully enchanted fumes rise from the alchemic bottle and beakers as the brewing witch herself sort through her assorted collection of elixirs. “So, got anything that might help us out?” her orange haired customer wonders. “Unfortunately, I don’t have anything that can aid your missing limb dilemma. However, I do hold an assortment of anxiety and stress relief potions among my wares. Care to try any of those? Both girls gazes turned towards Roy, he lets out an apathetic breath and admits: “Whatever. Got nothing to lose. Hit me.” Tossing a blue elixir towards the boy, the merc catches it in mid air and pops the top off. “Bottoms up.” he decrees before drinking the entire bottle. “Um...” Serena tries to chime in, worry drawn on her face. After he down the last drop of the mystic elixirs, Mally stands curious and asks if he’s: “Feeling anything?” A glance at the front of the bottle, the label show itself to read: “Anxiety antidote”. “Not really, just this weird burning sensation in my sto-” Suddenly, the boy drops the bottle and covers his mouth; the glass shatters to piece upon impact with the concrete floor. “Roy! What’s the matter!? Is it working?”. The boys face turning a shade of navy, a bellow of blue flames spout from his maw, illuminating the basement in a soft cerulean glow.

After that sudden fiery expulsion, Roy starts coughing up blue smoke in the aftermath as Serena puts out the leftover flares. “What the hell happened!?” Mally exclaims. “I’m...not sure. I’ve never seen something like this happen before. Then again, I’ve never seen anybody down an entire bottle, so that might explain it.” the witch concludes.

Clearing his lungs of any pollution, he takes a much needed breather and remarks with: “God damn, my throat hurts.” “Feeling any better?” Mally asks. “Hmm...” Wondering if the potion that he had just injected had any psychological effect, he test such a theory, by taking a glimpse of the spot where his left arm use to firmly sit and concludes that: “Nope. Nothing.” “Huh...Kay Serena, bring the next bottle.” “What!? Aw hell naw! You’re not making me chug another one of those things down!” Roy denies. “Don’t worry. You should be totally fine...Barring you don’t gulp down the whole thing.” Serena reinforces as she pulls out an orange potion.

After letting out an irritated groan, he takes the elixir from the witches hands. Drinking the citrus mixture by a couple gulps, his mouth smacks at the taste. “Anything?” Mally wonders. “Is this orange sod-” Before Roy’s answer could fully escape, a sudden pain inflicts the boy, his palms resting upon his temples. Out from the boys purple noggin, tree branches sprouted from the sides of his head; the sudden imbalance causes him to fall to the floor. Looking down upon the merc, she wonders if they should continue with this increasingly endangering elixir endeavor. “Mmm...Maybe one more.”

A quick saw and file of the wood later and Roy takes a seat back, rubbing the temples of his head to check if not a splinter was left. Serena presents him with one more potion to try Serena him to: “Try this one.” Staring into the purple hue of the elixir, he swipes the drink from the brewers grasp, settling with: “Fuck it. Third times the charm.” Taking in a cautious sip of the brew, he proves careful to only let a few drips of the potion down. “Well?” Mally wonders. A few moments come to pass before the next predicament unfolds itself. Roy begins to tremor furiously; the vibrations that the boy gives off shake the entire shop. “What is happening!?” Mally asks. “My precious shop!” Serena panics. The bottles and beakers set all throughout the room the begin to shake, the countless glass clacking with one another. Serena acts fast to catch any bottles that venture off the shelves and threaten to break upon the hard concrete floor. “Roy! Make this stop!” It takes not a single moment for the merc to resolve this quaking predicament. Floating above the concrete to halt the earthquake, the shop ceases to shake in conjunction. The ladies in the room share a sigh of relief once the quake had stopped in its tracks. “Glad that didn’t last long. For a second there, I thought the whole house was gonna come down on…What-what are you doing?” Mally turning to her purple brother, she finds Roy to be still vibrating among the air. “I DoN’t KnOw.” he admits, the uncontrollable shaking distorting his voice. She approaches the purple angel and with but a simple connecting touch, the house begins to tremble once more. Quickly withdrawing her grasp, she shakes off any leftover vibration and turns back to the witch. “Is this supposed to happen?” “No. All of the potions we tried seem to be rejecting him. I don’t know why. I doubt any more might work.”

“That’s it! I’m bouncing outta this goddamn brew bonanza!” the boy shakes on objections. “Wait! Wait! Roy! Roy! Listen. We’ve only just started. Ya can’t give up now.” “Why? You heard her. None of these potions will do jack shit for me.” “I know, but I got other friends I can take you to. This recovery cruise ain’t sunk yet.” “Fine. But this whole shaking shit fit better not last long.” “Oh, don’t worry. The potions effects should wear off momentarily...maybe.” “Alright, lets get going.” Hearing Serena give a fake cough, both turn towards the witch to find her presenting her awaiting palm. “Those potions weren't exactly free.” Catching a quick glance from his orange haired sister, Roy pulls out his wallet with an escaping groan.

Once the shaking had ceased, the two head over to another one of Mally’s friends, hoping a certain boney buddy of hers can help with Roy’s endeavor.

Inspecting the spot where the young man’s arms once stood, Vivian lets out a pondering; “Hmmm” “So, think you can do anything?” Mally asks them. “Damn, you were right. It is just gone. Not even a fucking stump’s left.” After her less then thorough inspection is complete, she attempts to comfort the disabled angel. “Anyway, Best not piss yourself, mate. My arm pops off all the time. It ain’t that bad.” “Doesn’t yours reattach?” Roy responds. “I’m sure yours can too. Just gotta sow the damn thing back on. Where’s you’re arm anyway?” “Disintegrated.” “Oh...Well fuck, guess that’s out the window.” “Ain’t there something you can do.” Mally wonders. “Ummm” A quick moment to wonder and an idea pops into the skeletons head. With a quick part of their socket, Vivi sticks their skeletal arm onto where Roy’s once sat, the merc irking upon the sudden attachment. Gazing towards the newly attached limb, the merc finds the arm to be uncomfortably dug into his person. “Um...”.= “There we go. Now you looking damn spiffy, son.” “Don’t you need that?” Mally worries. “It ain’t for keeps. Just letting him borrow it. He gets it on weekends, and I keep it the rest of the week. How’s that sound, big guy?” Roy stands, taking in the site of the boney limb as it moves about without his input. With the limb giving him a thumbs up, Roy concludes that: “Yeah, this isn’t gonna work.” “Why not?” Mally questions. “Yeah! Think you’re too good for my arm, asshole!?” “Well, beside the fact that it can easily shatter in my line of work, I need a limb that I can reliably control. Especially in a fight. This, ain’t gonna cut it.”. The boney limb suddenly falling out of Roy’s socket, he adds: “Also that.” “Fucking...Jeez.” Vivi quietly remarks. “Well, guess we’ll go somewhere else. Sorry for wasting your time Viv.” Mally apologizes. “Hold the fucking phone. I might have one more thing I can try. Hate to use the damn thing, but for you Mally, I’m willing to give it a shot.” “Okay, what is it?” “Just...wait there for a second. Kay?” Vivi says before rushing out of the living room.

Once Vivi absconds from the living room, Roy turns to his sister with a sudden suggestion. “I’m not sure we should stick around.” “Roy, listen. I know Vivi can act, uh...Bluntly...but they can really come through for us in a pinch. Trust me. You just gotta relax.” A sharp blade enters Mally’s line of site, coming into the living room attached to a black pole. Vivi soon enters, the scythe firmly in their grip. “Okay, lets get this shit done, bitches!” “Uh Vivi, what are you plan on doing with that scythe?” “Listen kid, I appreciate you trying to evening me out. But I’d rather have the arm I have left, thank you.” “No no no, listen. This ain’t just some regular ass scythe, see. It’s powered by the souls of the damned.” “Liking the plan so far.” Roy adds. “And I’m gonna try and use it to make ya sprout a new arm.”. “Are you sure you know how to use that?” Mally questions. “Duh, of course. I saw my grim reaper bitch use it a ton a times.” Wielding the scythe like a rifle, she aimed the tip with the blade towards the purple merc. “Now hold still while I shoot ya ass.” “Hang on! I don’t know if this is gonna hurt-”

A lime green ray sprouts out of the tip of the scythe at the merc, sending waves of nightmarish energy coursing through his very being. As this horrible process was developing, screams of pain escape Roys mouth, muffled by the sounds of screaming souls. The zapping finished, the young man falls in a smoking mess, Mally rushing to his aid. “Roy!” She lift the merc from the floor, concerning with: “You feeling okay?” “Yeah, think I’m fine.” “Feel any different?” Vivi asks. “Don’t think so. Just this weird feeling on my left sid-” An intense feeling suddenly befalls the young man, urging him to grasp the spot where his arm was; grunts of pain slipping past his teeth. Witnessing her brothers side convulse and, Mally slowly begins to back away wondering out loud: “What’s happening!?” “Guess the scythes working its magic.” Vivi guesses. The young mans grunts evolve into full blown screams as he writhes on the living room carpet, his left side violently pulsating. At long last, something erupts out from Roy’s arm spot, flying across the living room and landing behind the arm chair with a squishy plop. Nearing him once more, Mally inspects Roys left, finding no visible injuries to speak of. No blood, no guts, cuts, bruises, but alas, not even a nub to pass for a limb; the side completely clean. “Roy, a-are you alright?” she cautiously worries. “Auugh! Fuckin hell, that hurt!”

Amidst reviewing her recovering brother, the orange haired skater hears her skeletal friend attempting got nab their attention with: “What is it?” Mally asks, turning to the half skeleton, finding Vivi’s disgusted gaze to be fixated behind the chair. Leaving the purple mercs side to approach, she looks to where Vivi’s site was locked; horrified by what she had found. “What is that?” Mally questions in a contemptuous fashion. “I have...no fucking clue.” After recovering from his painful agony, Roy gets up and takes to the others side, wondering: “Ahh...What are you two going on about back he-...What in the ever loving name of hell is that horrid pile of shit?” Before the abhorrent felt trio stood a small mound of skin and flesh, laid in a pile behind the arm chair. “Did...that come out of me?” “Guess...Guess it did.” Mally stutters to answer. “The hell do you think we should do with it?” Vivi questions, poking the horrid heap of meat with the blunt end of the scythe. Upon the constant nudges, the terrifying beef mound begins to rapidly convulse; all of them stepping away and anxiously awaiting what the wayward meat might do. All of them look on with utter repugnance as the flesh before them sprouts a countless set of limbs from its sides. A jagged set of chompers rip open upon its top, a gurgling scream escaping the newly formed maw. With its newfound appendages, the terrible flesh blob scuttles out of the living room. “...That ain’t good, is it?” Mally wonders. “Nope.” Roy reinforces. “Quick, after it!” Vivi commands.

Peeking within the confines of the clean kitchen, the trio scan around for any signs of the meaty heap. Cautiously, they slowly enter the cooking area, preparing themselves for wherever their horrid hunt might pop out. Mally turns to the aid of her purple brother, hope that he might sense its presence. “Alright, Roy. Where do you think it might be?” “No clue.” “What do you mean no clue? Can’t you sense its energy or something?” “It’s a pile of undead flesh. Can’t sense its life force if it doesn’t got any. Take ya friend for example. Can tell they’re not playing with a full tank if you catch my drift.” “Hey, piss off, my tank is plenty full.” Vivi retaliate.

Mally ventures about the kitchen, wondering where the grotesque pile of inhuman matter scurried to. The sound of soft gargling coming from above, she looks atop the fridge, finding their prey burying itself with the contents of a cookie jar. “Guys. Look. I found it.” she whispers to her friends. Taking in a view of the preoccupied undead before them, Roy readies his aim, the mercs pointing finger prepared to fire. “Careful. Just need to take the shot while it’s-” “I gots this!” Vivi blurts. The sudden shout alerts everyone in the room towards Vivi’s direction, including the mound of flesh as it lift itself from the jars contents. The half skeleton bolts towards the ice box, brandishing the unholy sycthe in their hands. Their orange haired amigo jumps aside from their readying upward slash, astonished how cleanly of a cut the weapon had made to the appliance. “Did I get the little shit?” Vivi asks. Aside themselves, the disgusting abomination scuttles across the counter top. “Hit the deck!” the two hear Roy warn, aiming his finger towards their escaping target. Quickly ducking under, the duo evade the purple mercs shadowy beams. Several shot are fired in the meat monsters direction, each shot missed breaking a part of the kitchen. In it’s escape, the flesh growth could be seen scuttling out towards the hallway. Mally jumps over the counter, wielding her hockey stick in pursuit of the small horror.

In her chase, the hockey wielding hero attempts to quell the undead blobs venture, swinging her weapon about the cramped walls of the hall. None of her attempts succeed, instead shattering and breaking the picture frames decorating the hallway in her failed assault. Dammit! Just stand still already!

The orange haired lasses pursuit of the nightmarish imp leads her into the confines of a strange bedroom, taken aback by the bizarre décor laid strewn within the dwelling. Whoa, what the hell’s going on in this part of the neighborhood? Glowing sphere, weird looking statue, odd shaped necklaces around the mirror. Almost like the lass had stepped into the chamber of a mystic gypsy. Its a wonder if some of this stuff is even man made. Right in Mally’s peaking wonder, Vivi rushes inside in a maddening fluster. “Hey, hey, hey! Why the hell are ya trying snoop through my room for!?” “I-I saw that flesh thing come in here.” “Alright, lets waist this bitch, where’d it-...What-...what’s with all this weird junk?” Roy questions. Gazing towards the night stand, the merc finds a glowing crystal ball; the terrible souls within streaking through the gemstone. “Is that a mother fucking soul sphere? Where the bleeding hell did you nab one a those?” “Just get the hell outta my room! I’ll draw out the little bastard out and you flank it!” Vivi demands in a red fluster. “Aight, jeez!”

Both guest having absconded from her dwellings, Vivi slams the door shut with a nervous sigh. God, why did that damn fleshy piece of corpse shit have to crawl its way in here? The better question being where said cadaver imp might be lurking. A quick protrude through their closet shows the meat mound to not be hiding within. Ain’t there. Looking under her bed proved to be useless, as the creature was nowhere down there. Not there either. Dammit, where the hell is it hiding? Hearing the sound of scuttling steps behind them, the half skeleton turns about to find a glimpse of her hunt taking shelter behind the dresser. Gotcha now, bitch. With little hesitance or caution, Vivi slashes the scythe down upon their dresser, the wooden drawer splitting in half. They catch the undead horror show scurrying away from the broken piece of furniture and fleeing towards the back of the bed. No you don’t! A reckless swipe towards the soft mattress and the bed was sliced in two, the sentient growth crawling its way to the ceiling fan. Come on! Once more, Vivi wields the damned weapon, swinging the sharp blade overhead. The strike sends the fan crashing upon her person as the meaty monster scuttles away. God dammit!

Vivi’s two guests await to ambush the horrid mess of flesh outside the bedroom, the occasional echo of destruction reaching beyond the door. “So, you see anything in that girl or what?” the purple merc asks his orange haired sister. “Who, Vivi? Well, uh...She nice, cool, hyperactive, crazy. I like her a lot.” “A lot, huh? More then that red head your thirsty for?” “Chloe? No, I- Pfft, thirsty? What makes you think I like Chloe like that?” Mally attempts to deflect with a bombastically fake laughter. Not a single word escapes Roys tongue, his obviously knowing look being more then enough of a response. Her fake guffaw quickly dies down, and is soon replaced with a weary sigh as she wonders: “Is it that blatant?” “Oh, your thirst for red cream soda is very clear.” “I-I mean, Vivi’s really really awesome, but...I’m just holding out for Chloe. Ya know?” “Why not just have both of them? Like a...banana, strawberry and cherry fruit punch Sunday.” “A-at the same time!? I-I don’t know. I haven’t even had one girlfriend before. Not sure I could handle two at once.” Mally responds, her face red like a tomato. “Come on. How hard can it be? I mean I hookup with more then one person from time to time.” “Flings don’t count Roy. I mean like actual relationships. Have you ever actually been in one that wasn’t just a hookup?” “Um...Well...Oh, there was-...No wait, that didn’t happen...Huh...Guess not.” “Then may you ain’t the best guy to give out advice like that, are ya?” “Probably.”

Right then and there is when the bedroom door unexpectedly slices in half, the fleshy horror, scuttling past in their surprise. “Quick! Get it!” Vivi shouts.

Quick to the chase is Mally, who witnesses the hunt retreat back to the living room. Back at the scene of the crime, the hockey wielding hero spots terrifying growth upon the TV screen. Hurling her weapon towards her target, the horrid creature scurries away from the flying stick that instead impales itself in the television. Vivi is next to enter the scene, locking her site onto the living pile of flesh as it crawls behind the couch. The strawberry blonde flails their blade at the monster, slicing the sofa in pieces as she finds the mound of meat scurrying away. Roy comes in not a moment sooner, finding the abomination born from his flesh held up on the ceiling. Swiftly, the merc waist no time dispatching his hell spawn with a full blown blast of darkness, but blowing a massive hole in Vivi’s roof in the destructive process.

Vanquishing the hideous growth, the three bask in the pleasurable cloudy sky above from the broken roof. “Huh...guess that fucking happened. Maybe another might work.” Vivi wonders, aiming the scythe once more towards Roy. “No!” both of their guests blurt out. “I-I mean. No, thanks Vivi. I’m sure you’ve done all you could. We’ll just go somewhere else for help.” Mally tries to relay. “Alright, but my parents are gonna freak the fuck out when they see their house trashed like a crack junkies favorite hiding spot. Probably cost them upwards of...I don’t know, 10,000 bucks or some shit.” “Oh, We’ll be happy to cover for any damages to your home might’ve received. Right Roy?” Mally avows, looking towards her one armed brother. An irritated growl escapes the purple mercs mouth as he reluctantly takes out his wallet once more.

Upon exiting from the abode, Roy tells Mally: “Right, now if there ain’t no more torturous situations you want to parade me through today, I going back home. Wasted enough time and money as is.” “Hang on! I’m nowhere near done yet. There’s still a couple more people I wanna take you to.” “Oh come on, who else could you possibly have left to put me through the wringer?”

“Of course I’d be happy to help.” Kingsley happily offers. “Your kidding, right? Why’d you drag me to his sexy twink ass? I already said I don’t want a robot arm. It’d break the first moment I’d punch some bastards jaw clean off.” “No, but I can help in others ways. I’m not just a technician, you know.” “Just give him a shot, Roy. He has pulled off miracles for us before. Maybe he can with you.” Mally advises. “Fine. Work you’re magic, miracle worker.” “See Roy, your problem is that your obsession for revenge is purely a psychological affair. No amount of potions or magic can fix that. What you need is a good old fashioned psycho analysis.” “And you’re gonna be my psychiatrist? You even certified?” Roy questions. “Well...Not exactly. But I’ve been meaning to get into psychiatry for a while now. This could be just the dive in I need.” Turning towards his sister, the purple merc is greeted with a sincere smile, a clear sign of desiring acceptance. “Just give him a chance. You never know if might actually help.” the voice in Roys head echoes. Letting out weary groan, he surrender to the prospect of therapy. “Fine, lets just gets circus performance over with.”

Resting upon the gentle memory foam of the boy geniuses bed, Roy lets himself sink into the softness of the mattress. “This beds comfy as balls.” At the bedside, Kingsley himself sits with laptop in lap, ready to take note of whatever psychological info may sprout. “Right, so where should we start first? Childhood? Job? Mental state? Hit me.” Roy offers. “How about we not go down those revenues today. For now, lets just talk about your arm. How did losing your arm make up feel?” “Pissed. How else?” “Okay, um. In what way? Like sad angry, crazy angry, what?” “Angry angry.” “Alright, rough start. That’s fine. Um, how do you feel about, hnn...Circe?” Kingsley asks. “Probably same as you do. I mean she did shoot a hole in your chest.” “Oh, so you’re feeling really scared about her. Is that right?” “What, no. I’m talking revenge. Getting her back for what she did to you.” “Okay, but uh…Are you sure that revenge is the best option?”. “Are you saying that she shouldn’t pay for what she almost did to our friends?” Roy rebuttals. Failing to muster a response, all Kingsley could do was stare nervously at his patient. “Hmm...”.

Outside, Mally awaits for the session to end via a makeshift waiting area; a small bowl of delicious suckers rest upon a table between the seat. Sweeping the bowl of sweets in her grasp, she digs through the various flavors, hoping to uncover the one she desires. Come on. It’s gotta be in here. Pulling out a cherry sucker, the orange hair lasses face beams with joy. Yes. The tarty sweetness of the red fruit is always a taste to enjoy. Hesitating not a moment longer, she unwraps the little treat and pops the candy into her mouth. As she enjoys the succulent flavors of the sucker, a voice chimes in from her side, asking the lass: “What are you doing?” A gaze to her left gives her a view of Cayenne staring her down. “Just waiting for Roy’s to get through his therapy session.” she responds. “Therapy?” “Yeah. Kingsley helping Roy get over his lost arm.” “Huh. Didn’t think Kingsley was a therapist. Maybe he can sort my shit out when he’s done.” Cayenne wonders, taking the seat next to her guest. “Got some issues to work out?” “Some.” “Wanna talk about em?” “Nope.” Failing to bait anymore words forward, Mally instead offers the bowl of suckers to the spice queen. Cayenne glances down the dish full of tasty treats, tempting at the prospect of picking a flavor.

“How about we just go through some hypotheticals, huh? What’s you’re plan on tracking her down.” the purple mercs psychiatrist wonders. “Well, I’ve been going through police reports, sightings, forum boards, deep web searches, all the nooks and crannies I can stick my dick into non stop.” “And how long have you’ve been at this?” “Don’t know, about several days now.” “How all that working out for you?” Roy averts his gaze from him upon the question, not a single answer escaping from his mouth. An all too clear sign to the novice therapist that his patient is hesitant to admit his lack of progress. “Nothing, huh?” Again, the one armed merc fails to muster a single word, only giving his therapist a disappointed groan for a response. “Roy. That’s fine. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re not gonna find somebody in hiding in about a week.” Seeing his patient refusing to even glance in his direction, Kingsley opts to fish for one more answer. “Why don’t I ask one more question, before we wrap this up, huh? What do you plan on doing when you find Circe?” Upon the question reaching his ears, the purple merc begins to rise from the memory foam bedding. “Oh ho, that’s an easy one. First thing I’m doing once I find that mystic witch bitch is tear her arm right outta her socket in the most horribly painful fashion imaginable. I want her to feel the exact kind of pain she gave me.” Standing on the side Kingsley was sitting upon, Roy slowly begins turning his gaze towards his therapist as he continues. “Then, I’m gonna sow the arm I ripped off where mine was and slap her senseless with it til she’s nothing but a sobbing mess of tears and blood.” Slowly beginning to creep his way towards his therapist, Kingsley starts to back away from his patient in kind. “Honestly, I’d say that be what anybody wants if they’d gone through the same shit I did. But apparently that just makes me coo coo for cocoa puffs, don’t it? Now do I look like a cuckoo bird to you, Kingsley?” Met face to face with the merc sinister gaze, Kingsley struggles to come up with even the faintest of answers towards his awaiting patient. Finally, he takes a breath and lets out a request. “Can you excuse me for a moment?”

The boy genius sudden abscond from the makeshift office catch the girls awaiting outside off guard, who watch as he slams the door shut tight in his haste. “Nope.” Rising from her waiting room seat, Mally questions the frightened therapist with: “What happened? Did you find what’s wrong with him?” Drawing in another deep breath, Kingsley clasps both hands together as he prepares to admit: “Mally, I’m going to be complete transparent with you. I was not prepared for how far off Roy was at all. He needs to see an actual therapist, preferably behind a 12 inch sheet of reinforced glass.” “So...nothing then.” “I’m sorry Mally. I can’t help him.” Looking down into the carpeting of the halls, the worry that her brother might fall into the depths of his own revenge fueled madness echoes through the poor girls thoughts.

“Dude don’t need therapy.” Cayenne chimes in. A quick turn from behind, they witness the spice queen rise from her seat. “You got any ideas?” “Guys pissed about his arm getting blown off, right? Just needs help blowing off all that steam. All that’s that tension and stress’s probably driving him fucking nuts.” After a hearty bite that breaks the sweet in her mouth into tiny piece, she struts over to the bedroom door with a smile full of smug and glare full of sass. “So why don’t you two wait out here while I go make the purple jack off inside feel all better.” Cayenne closing the door behind her, both orange heads turn to one another. Wonder what she might have in store to help with Roy debilitating mentality.

Not a second later, the wall beside the bedroom door erupts in a mess of dust and wood. The clouds settling to reveal Roy, laying upon the wrecking of the opposite side. Coughing out the wall dust, he looks towards the hole in the wall with an irritated demeanor. Out from it, Cayenne walks with a taunt in waiting. “Come on, ya purple bitch. That all ya got? Or did losing your arm make ya suck at fighting even more?” Not a single moment does the merc hesitate to lunge towards the spice queen, kicking her out the bedroom window and into the luxurious backyard.

Upon landing in the middle of the garden, Cayenne witnesses her purple foe in following and dashing straight down towards her. She dodges out of the way, leaving Roy to stomp on the rose bush, the petals scattering upon impact. The merc then shoots out a ray of darkness out of his single hand, which Cayenne easily deflects. She sees Roy dashing towards her, and prepares to counter. Instinctively, he tries to punch to the left, but with no arm on that side, all that is left is for him to be smashed into the ground by Cayenne. Roy tries to quickly get back up from the blow, but his uneven balance makes him jump to the left. Getting his footing back, he sees Cayenne rushing toward him. After blocking two of her kicks with his legs, he dodges a punch coming to his right. He tries to counter, but again with no arm, he can’t. Cayenne takes the moment to punch Roy into the fountain. The garden décor shatters upon impact, the debris falling upon the boy.

Getting up from the rubble, Roy sees Cayenne slowly approaching. He takes a huge chunk of the broken fountain and chucks it in his opponents direction. Cayenne easily destroys the oncoming stone, the shattering clouding her view. From the dust, a foot plants itself firmly on her face, sending her flying across the garden, breaking a fence and a garden decoration or two. Upon getting back up, a gleeful smile is drawn upon the spice queens face. “You cheeky bitch.”

Both rush towards one another, Cayenne goes on the attack, but Roy ducks under and kicks her aside. As Cayenne skids away, she quickly fire red beams from her eyes at her opponent. Roy blocks the beams with a single hand, but is having difficulty holding it back with only one arm. Cayenne quickly pursues as Roy holds the ray back. The intensity of the beam growing stronger on approach. The merc distracted, she punches him square in the stomach. While in his range, Roy grabs Cayenne hair and delivers a hard headbutt to her face. Both fighters go reeling back from the blows, trying to regain themselves. Once stable, they witness the other smiling. “So, guessing from that smug ass grin of your, you enjoying yourself?” Cayenne asks. “Little bit, yeah.” Roy admits. “Good. Cause I ain’t holding back anymore.” “Funny, I thought this was all you had.” “Heh heh, I was gonna say the same thing.” The two of them begin to charge towards once another, ready to get serious.

Before the clash could carry on any further, Mally steps in between the approaching duo with an urging: “Stop!” Both halt their midair collision right in the nick of time, inches away from the interacting orange lass. “What the hell, kid? Why’d you stop us like that?” Cayenne complains. “Yeah, I was actually have fun for a second there.” Roy adds. Rushing out from the back door, Kingsley sprints in the scene, pleading: “She’s right. You gotta stop. Cayenne, remember what I said about getting rid of stress like this?” “This ain’t nothing like those club fights, Kingsley. It’s just a sparing match. No need to get so bent outta fucking shape.”. “Then what do you call that!?” Mally questions, presenting all the destruction they caused as counter evidence. “...Practice.”. A quick groan escaping her lips, Mally turns to her black winged brother and question. “Roy, be honest. Is all of this actually making you feel any better?” “Well...No. I mean it’s fun, but still feel like shit. Think I might just go home and lay in bed...forever.” “Wait a sec. Kingsley might’ve had a point about your whole arm thing being psychological... I think I might have one more person I wanna take ya to.” “Oh he-hell no! If it involves any more painful experimentation on my part, then you can fucking forget it sister.” “No no no. Trust me, I think you’re gonna like this.”

“Um, what about the backyard?” Kingsley wonders as the gardens burn and the broken fountain leaks. “What about the backyard? You’re fucking loaded, mate. This kinda shit right here probably cost you guys peanuts.” Roy mentions “Not unless you got a sue happy dad like mine. One time he found a fly in his soup at a restaurant and sued the whole place for literally everything. Even the employees.” “He sued the employees?” Mally wonders. “He sued “for” the employees.” “Why the hell she ain’t paying for it then? Damn bitch kicked off the whole backyard brawl.” the merc questions, an accusing finger pointed towards the spice queens direction. “You think I can pay for all this shit? Naw, man. I’m flat broke.” With next to no choice on the matter, the purple haired young man takes out his wallet once more to pay for his shenanigans.

A knock at the door upon a quaint suburban home sounds forth, Mally and Roy awaiting for the residence of the abode to answer, with a new party member joining for the occasion. “Thanks for showing us where your cousins staying Mel. Don’t think we could have found the address on our own.” “No prob. Just watch whatcha say around my aunt. She’s nice, but can be a very...temperamental woman” “In what regard?” Roy wonders. “Just watch how ya talk, kay?” The door opens, on the other side was a jolly round man, greeting them with a friendly smile. “Hey there, Melvin. These your friends?” “Yo, Uncle Hoagie. Is Hank home?” “Yep. The boy’s right inside, come on in.” The man of the house leads them within the humble abode, half full box littering some of the floor board. “Sorry about the mess. Still unpacking from the move. Just make yourselves comfortable.” His guest taking their seats, the man announces from across the living room.” “Kay, baby. Just tell em to wait in the living room. I’ll go get him.”

The father having left the scene, Roy finds it the perfect time to ask Mally: “So, why exactly did you drag me here again?” “Because, I wanna show you how you losing an arm isn’t the end of the world. And I think I might've found the guy who can finally burn through your doubts.” “Really? Cause the only thing you managed to burn through today was my bank account.” “That stuff was just spare cash to you anyway.” “I was gonna buy cool shit with it!” “What the hell did you say, boy!? I don’t care if you lost ya arm, you ain’t gonna be cursing in my house!” the mother shouts, the sudden demand making all of them jump from their seat. “Warned ya.”

Within one of the homes bedrooms, Roy enters to find the dwelling to be decorated with blue prints, devices, half built machines, and odd looking collectible cards. Not to shabby for a mechanic. Kind of a mess though. On the far end of the room was a desk with various mechanical tools and parts with a boy in a red cap sitting behind. “Heyo! You must be Roy. Mally told me all about what happened to you. Losing your arm and stuff.” the boy greets. “You Hank? Tell me, what exactly does she think you’ll do to make me feel peachy. Fight me, shock me? Poor boiling milk on my head? Come on, I’m ready for anything here. Bring it.” “Nah, nothing like that. I’m just tell ya how I felt when I was in your shoes.” “You? What makes you think I know what I’m going through?” “Oh...” The boy comes out from behind the desk, revealing himself to be sitting in a strange looking wheelchair. “I think I have some experience under my belt.” The sudden reveal catches Roy off guard, making him ask the handicapped boy: “You- You’re legs. They give out on ya?” “Well, kind of...It’s kind of a long story. Why don’t you take a seat.” A quick scan around the room proved to not have a lot of places one might rest. Whole room cluttered with half built gizmos and gadgets, there’s barely anyplace to sit. “Uh, where at?” “Um...Don’t know. Wanna borrow mine?” Hank offers. “What?” “Heh, heh. Just kidding. Just push the stuff off my bed. It’s fine. As the handicapped had requested, Roy pushes all the clutter weighing his bed to give himself a seat. Why’s he got all this junk everywhere? Think he’d give himself more room to wheel around. “Sorry about the mess. I’ve been meaning to clean up for a while. But I’ve been kinda busy. Anyway, I wanna tell you about the time I’ve discovered two of my greatest passions.”

“When I was really young, I was inspired with what my dad had built in his youth. I wanted to build stuff that was just like his, maybe even better. So I got to work. Building contraptions and gizmo with all my spare time. It’s there that I discovered my love for aviation. I wanted to build the best planes I could. I’d spend all day and night with all kinds of designs, weeks tinkering and tweaking to make sure they were the best they could be. Even test them out myself. And let me tell you, the first time I soared through the open air, the clouds in my head and the wind in my face, it was magical.

But then, at the ripe age of 8, disaster struck. Something went horribly wrong during one of my test flights. The inside of my cockpit was sparking, the controls weren’t working, the emergency eject wasn’t responding. It sent me into a whirling panic as I desperately tried to fight back for control. But before I knew it, I hit the ground. Dragging myself out from the wreckage, I’d lost all the feeling in my legs. It wasn’t until I was dragged to the hospital that I found out that I’d been left paralyzed from the waist down. I could no longer walk, run, or even stand. After that, I fell into such a horrible depression. Thinking that bound to wheelchair, I couldn’t do anything. I lost my drive...for building...for flying...and maybe...even for living. But one fateful day, when I was in the deepest pit of despair, I met a very famous man. An inventor, bound by the loss of his legs like I was. He personally showed me to his lab, presenting wonders that I would’ve never even dream of.

If he could make such ground breaking achievements without his legs, then what was stopping me. I hesitated no more. I got back in the game, my drive skyrocketing higher then ever before. I’ve made countless machines, gizmos and gadgets galore. Planes that have soared over the highest mountains and though the cloudiest skies. I don’t think I’d even be alive if it weren't for that man. He taught me one of the greatest lessons I ever heard. That in spite of body, your heart and mind, have no limit. And thanks to that, I was able to stand proud once more.”.

After listening to the boys heartfelt story of recovering depression, he realized what he said in last statement. “Wait...Stand proud?” Hank begins to snicker, the laughter escaping through his nose. “Can’t believe you caught that?” “But...Doesn’t it suck? That you can’t use you’re limbs anymore? That the burden may never go away?” “Yeah, at first it did, but I found work arounds. I built machines that can help me with everyday life. Help me get up stairs, go to the bathroom, even modified my chair to do a whole bunch of awesome stuff. Go off roading, stick to walls, launch missiles, even fly.” “Fly?” “Yeah, wanna see?” Hank asks. Throwing caution into the wind, Hank eagerly presses one of the buttons on his wheelchair. The seat takes flight, lifting him above the carpet floor and gliding him all across the room. “Pretty cool, huh! I can do this for minutes on end!” Smoke soon starts to come from the bottom of the chair and before he knew it, the boy had crashed back to the floor. The impact shaking the entire room, knocking over several machines down on the floor. “Heh, provided with fuel of course.” Helping Hank of the floor, both of them hear his mom shout: “Hank, what’d I tell you about flying indoors!?” “Sorry mom!” he apologizes. Getting back in his chair, Hank finishes with: “What I’m trying to get at is that losing my legs wasn’t the end of my world, and losing yours arm shouldn’t be the end of yours either.” Roy examines his left side, rubbing the spot where is arm used to be in contemplation.

Upon his exit from the bedroom, the purple merc is greeted with Mally and Melvin, awaiting for him in the hall. “So, feel any better?” Melvin asks. With an honest smile drawn across his face, he confirms to them that: “Yeah...I think I do.”. “So, does that mean you’re not gonna go after Circe?” Mally wonders. “Oh no. I’m still out for revenge. I’m ripping her arms off the moment I find her. But...I can let that happen in its own time. I’ll wait.” “Eh...Close enough. Least you’re feeling better” The girl throws Roy his fixed hoodie, the well earned, sentimental garment that he immediately dons. The stitching of the hood blanketing his skin makes him take in a deep breath, sighing with a sort of euphoric relief that he hasn’t felt in such a long time. “That’s the ticket.”

The wheelchair bound genius coming out of his room, Hanks wonders: “Did it work?”. “Looks like it did.” Melvin answers. “Awesome. Glad I could make your bro feel better Mally. Oh, before I forget!” Hank proclaims. Pulling out a yo yo from one of the compartments in his chair, Hank tosses the toy toward Mally. “Mally, catch.” Catching the seemingly harmless toy, the girl inspects reflective chrome finish, asking: “What’s this?” “It’s a new gadget that I made for you to test out. It’s a yoyo that can attach itself to any surface at will. With the combination of the high impact steel shell and ultra reinforced string, that gizmo should be strong enough to lift a heavy duty cargo hold.” “Awesome! What’s it called?”. “I...don’t know. I guess the grapple yoyo. I’ve rarely been good with names.” Hank admits. “Well, I guess to mark the occasion, how bout, I call it...The Royo.” Everyone simply stares at the girl as she presents the yo yo over her head. Melvin breaks the silents by chiding: “That’s even worse.”. That insult makes Mally lower the gadget, a loud groan escaping from her mouth. “Just call it the grapplyo. It’s punchy, memorable, and gets the point across. Just like my di-”. “You betta not finish that sentence!? Else I’m gonna whoop yo ass!” Hanks mom shouts, making everybody jump.

Walking from the front porch of humble dwellings, the adopted sibling turn their attention to one another, Mally asking Roy: “So, that you’re not coo coo for cocoa puffs anymore, You joining us for this dance thing that Tore’s girlfriend invited us to.”. “Nah, rather just train somewhere. Get used to this new setup of mine, ya know.” “Alright see ya.” the orange haired skater finishes before on the cusp of taking off. “Hey Mally.” Roy tells, making his sister halt in her tracks. She turns towards the merc, asking with: “Yeah?” “...Thanks.” With a warm smile, the skate jockey returns the thanks with: “No sweat.” Both of them part their separate ways, Mally blading her way through the streets as Roy takes to the skies.

As he flies away from the geniuses abode, Roy takes in a deep breath of suburban air. “So, I take it you’re back to your usual masochistically deranged self?” the voice in his head questions. “You know it, baby.” “Good, I was beginning to worry for a moment that’d you finally snap.” “Speaking of worry. I need to ask you a couple things. Starting with you’re name.” “Pardon?”. “It’s pretty clear your not just some voice in my head. Ever since I’ve been struck by that pink stone in the fortress a while back, you haven’t left my head since. And where most internal voices would drive someone to madness, you’ve only seemed to be trying to fish me out of it. What are you really?” “Guess I can’t put anything past you, can I? Very well, I supposed you at least deserve to know who I am.”

As the black winged angel flies out toward the waning sunset in the horizon, the voice that has been pestering him for so long now finally reveals herself. “My name is Hera. And I am a goddess.”

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At last, the next season of Young hope is here. Let's hope I can stay consistent for a little while.

Anyway, first chapter I think I start us off would be about Roy dealing with what happened to his arm and the ways one could cope with the suddenly finding yourself with that kind of disability. Also figured this would be the best way to introduce Hank since he acts as a sort of console for the purple merc. Probably the best way I've introduced a character yet, to be honest.

All of this was inspired by that one Kim Possible episode with the wheelchair guy.

Hank belongs to: @kururu418

#Young Hope #lillaxtrigger

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