#and I want to start a document of project ideas based on the visit + my readings

[whentherewerebicycles]

crashed around 10:30 last night / woke up at 5:30 still feeling pretty wrung out. but I honestly think it’s just the intense comedown from *gestures vaguely* everything—lots of emotional ups and downs this spring plus extensive travel and trying to engineer a baby or whatever. I think having the signed offer will make me feel a lot better, as I’ll be able to switch fully into excited looking-ahead mode. but oh man… I am so excited. I am sure that, like all jobs, this job has its own issues and frustrations that will reveal themselves in time, but mostly I just feel this immense, immense wave of relief about getting to do values-aligned work that uses my knowledge/creativity/skills. I’m also nervous but excited about moving into a real leadership position for the first time. my bleh current job felt like such a massive step back in terms of responsibilities and agency—largely because of my lead’s micromanagement and refusal to trust me with anything, but also just because I think the role was much more junior than I realized going into it. ahhhhhh I’m just SO EXCITED to get to work with smart people who care about learning on cool projects that help students. I’m even excited to figure out who the difficult eccentric academic personalities are ahaha. god and I hope I make friends!!!!! work friends!!!!! I got really good vibes from the two women I’ll be working with most closely and I am also excited to work with the two profs who were on the committee, who seem to have one of the most delightful odd couple friendships I’ve ever seen. just!!!! ahhh!!!!!!!!! and I’m gonna be people’s BOSS for the first time so that is going to be a whole new fascinating skillset to learn!!!!!! ok I’m rapidly talking myself out of my post-stress haze and into giddy excitement ahaha so I think maybe today I’ll spend some time journaling about the future to gently help ease myself out of the “work is pointless misery” mindset and into the kind of headspace I have been longing to get back to (work is a joy! work is hard but gives me purpose and meaning!!). whooHOOO let’s GO!!!!!!!!!!!

[writing-rat]

Partner Project

Pairing: Amber Freeman x Tara Carpenter

Content: Fluff

Summary: Tara and Amber are assigned partner projects for Romeo and Juliet when feelings are found

It was English class, and Tara was bored out of her mind. The one thing she hated learning about was Shakespeare and that was most of what class was about currently. She looked towards her friend Amber, who was leaned back, trying to look cool in front of others. It wasn’t really working however, but Tara ignored that. She knew that Amber was listening to the teacher and would help Tara at her house tonight. They were going to Amber’s house that night to watch movies and also give Tara a home cooked meal. Ever since dad left, their mom wouldn’t cook for her and Sam, only Sam would cook for Tara. She was long gone since Tara was 11 so she relied on cheap, grocery store food and whenever she would visit her friends. Once they all caught wind of it, they decided to help her out but not trust her in the kitchen since she nearly burnt down Mindy and Chad’s own kitchen. 

“Split off into a group of 2 now. We’re having a partner project due in 3 weeks,” the teacher spoke. Tara blinked before she was standing up and quickly moved beside Amber. Amber just rolled her eyes, but Tara saw the small smile on her lips.

“Hey loser. Wanna pair up?” Tara asked. Amber smirked.

“You wre just wanting to use my brain aren’t you?” Amber teased, as Tara blushed and nodded. 

“Of course. And also, we are hanging out tonight anyway,” she spoke. Amber nodded, before wrapping an arm around Tara’s shoulder and leaned into her. This was their thing, they were really close and tended to hug and touch in class all the time. It was to the point that everyone thought they were together, which they denied. Tara didn’t know why her heart had beaten faster at the time and even now. She just assumed it was because she was touch starved.

“The project is based on the themes of Romeo and Juliet. I would like a detailed presentation, talking about all the themes with some quotes too,” the teacher spoke. “I will leave you to talk to your partner now,” the teacher finished. Amber and Tara immediately turned to each other to start spitballing ideas out about dinner. It finally became a choice between a curry, a chilli or a pasta. 

“How about chilli? You make the best chilli,” Tara spoke with a grin. Amber smirked and nodded.

“Chilli it is,” she responded and squeezed Tara’s shoulder. Tara blushed and smiled as she leaned further into Amber, embarrassed and hoping that Amber couldn’t hear her heart.

-

It was a week into the project and they hadn’t even started yet. They had been hanging out and watching the whole Stab series instead, with some of Tara’s choices like The Babadook and Halloween as well as Barbie. They also started the Spider-Man series again. Tara got the idea after seeing Amber’s Spider-Man boxers, not that she would admit it. That night however, they were sat next to the couch, laptops on the living room table and talked while they worked on the document too. 

“How do you know when you’re in love?” Tara then asked suddenly, as she was on the theme of love. “Like, in general. Not just for Romeo and Juliet,” Tara added on quickly. 

“Oh, you think you have a crush? Well, you get nervous around them, you get clammy hands when you’re near them and your heart beats faster,” she spoke. She also explained more symptoms, as Tara was slowly but surely realising she had a crush on Amber. It hit her like a ton of bricks and she didn’t want to ruin her friendship with Amber. “So who do you have a crush on?” Amber asked. Inwardly, she hoped it was her, but she wouldn’t ask.

“Mindy,” Tara immediately lied. She knew that Amber wouldn’t try to hook her up with Mindy since she was already taken by this girl that recently transferred from New York. She was named Anika. Amber raised an eyebrow then nodded. 

“Sucks. My crush doesn’t like me back, definitely,” Amber spoke, working hard on the presentation and shutting down. Tara blinked in shock, but saw the danger signs of Amber about to explode so she stayed quiet. She knew what Amber could be like.

After an hour, they were almost done as they had spent a solid 3 hours on it. “Want to watch a film?” Tara asked, smiling happily. Amber, now calm, nodded.

“Sorry for shutting down. You know how I am with rejection,” Amber apologised.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. Whoever it is… they’re missing out. Even if you are a loser,” Tara teased. Amber slapped her arm gently and smiled. 

“What do you want to watch?” Amber asked. 

“Oooo, let’s watch Across the Spiderverse,” Tara spoke. Amber nodded, smiling then put it on. 

-

After the film, Tara unfortunately had to go home as Christina wanted her home for some reason. Tara was nervous, but knew she couldn’t hide from her mother’s wrath. At the doorway, she smiled at Amber as she has grabbed all her stuff. “I’ll see you tomorrow then at school,” Tara spoke. Amber nodded. 

“Of course,” she spoke. Tara was instinctively leaning in then kissed Amber before she left. It didn’t even hit her until she was halfway home and widened her eyes. While walking, she started to text Amber. 

Meanwhile Amber was having a gay crisis. Her crush had kissed her, but she liked Mindy. She didn’t know what to think to the point that she hid herself in her room to think. She was also embarrassed she was reacting like that so she was glad Tara was gone. She heard her phone ding, seeing Tara’s name and was quick to read it. ‘I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to kiss you. Can we talk about it tomorrow?’ Tara had texted. 

‘Of course we can! And it’s fine, we all make mistakes!’ Amber was quick to respond, before she figured it was a good time to go to sleep. She would need to be stable.

-

The next morning, Amber picked up Tara as she was leaned back. Tara was hobbling as she was going over to the car, which was concerning Amber. “You don’t need to pick me up,” Tara remarked once she was in the car. 

“I wanted to. I wanted to talk early with you as it worried me all night, but I am now worried about your health,” she explained. 

“Look… I lied about liking Mindy like that. I… like you instead, I want to be with you and I was just scared of saying. There, that’s why I kissed you,” Tara explained, embarrassed as she was covering her face. Amber smirked and was nodding.

“I like you too,” she spoke casually. “What happened now?” She asked. 

“My mom… she was drunk and angry and she decided to punish me for nothing really. I forgot to do the dishes and she beat me over it. I’m fine though,” she spoke. Amber flared up in anger. 

“You are staying with me mow. After school, I’ll come with you so you can grab all your stuff and we are going to not interact with your mom anymore,” Amber explained. Tara blinked in shock before she nodded, smiling and kissed Amber’s cheek. Amber just grinned and held her close.

“Does this mean we are together now?” Tara asked. Amber nodded.

“Only if you want to though,”’she spoke. Tara modded and kissed her gently as her answer. Amber smiled and kissed back.

[plannerproperties]

How Can I Book an Apartment at Prestige City, Sidharth Vihar?

Booking a home at Prestige City in Sidharth Vihar is an exciting and rewarding step for those looking to invest in a modern, luxurious lifestyle in Ghaziabad. This project, developed by the esteemed Prestige Group, offers a range of 2 BHK to 4 BHK apartments equipped with top-tier amenities and excellent connectivity. If you’re interested in making Prestige City your new home, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to book an apartment and what to expect during the process.

1. Research and Explore the Project

The first step in booking an apartment at Prestige City, Sidharth Vihar, is to gather detailed information about the project. You can start by reviewing the floor plans, apartment sizes, available configurations, and amenities offered by the development. Make sure to also explore the strategic location near NH-24 and its proximity to key areas like Noida, Delhi, and Greater Noida.

Understanding the project and how it aligns with your requirements is essential to making an informed decision. Reach out to our team for any specific details you need about the apartments, pricing, and the overall Prestige City community.

2. Schedule a Site Visit

Before making a final decision, it’s always a good idea to visit the actual site. A site visit will give you a firsthand look at the construction progress, surrounding environment, and upcoming infrastructure in the area. Seeing the project’s location and the early construction phases can help you visualize your future home and get a sense of the neighborhood.

Our team can assist you in scheduling a convenient site visit to Prestige City NH-24. During this visit, you’ll be able to speak with representatives, ask questions, and get a clear understanding of the project’s timeline and key features.

3. Select Your Apartment

Once you’ve explored the project and are ready to move forward, it’s time to choose the apartment that best suits your needs. Prestige City Indrapuram offers a variety of layouts and configurations, ranging from 2 BHK to 4 BHK units, so you can select the one that fits your lifestyle. Whether you need a cozy 2 BHK apartment for a small family or a spacious 4 BHK for more space, Prestige City Sidharth Vihar has options for everyone.

If you need assistance in selecting the right apartment, our team is here to guide you through the available units, help you understand the floor plans, and provide advice based on your preferences.

4. Complete the Booking Process

After choosing your apartment, the next step is to initiate the booking process. This involves filling out the necessary forms, submitting identification and financial documents, and paying the initial booking amount to secure your chosen unit.

Our team will walk you through the paperwork and assist you in completing the documentation smoothly. You’ll also be given a payment schedule outlining the future installments, which are typically aligned with the construction progress. This makes it easier to manage your finances as you prepare for your new home.

5. Stay Updated on Construction Progress

After completing your booking, you’ll want to stay updated on the construction progress and possession timeline. With the project currently in its early construction phase, the possession of Prestige is expected in approximately four years. Regular updates will be provided by the Prestige Group, keeping you informed about key milestones and developments.

Call to Action

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Conclusion

Booking an apartment at Prestige City, Sidharth Vihar is a straightforward process designed to make your home-buying experience smooth and hassle-free. From researching the project to completing the booking formalities, each step is aimed at helping you secure your dream home with ease. Contact us today to learn more about this exciting project and make Prestige City your new home.

For More Info, Contact - 8929718728.

Visit - Prestige City

[processandproductionmaryamasif]

Project Proposal and Timeline

My objective throughout this project is to use my knowledge and newfound interest in postcolonialism and more specifically in the islamic and religious history side, to create provocative and engaging works. I want to create power dynamics throughout my working process, focusing heavily on narratives, historical events in relation to postcolonialism, and create a broad body of research and experiments to guide me through my artistic journey. I got hooked onto the ideas surrounding postcolonialism when it was first introduced to us through our Critical practice lecture, hence why I’ve chosen it as my preferred route. I am heavily inspired by artists such as Imran Qureshi and Shazia Sikander, two artists who use textiles and religious concepts to create beautifully enticing works. I also strive to work with textiles as well as mosaics as both techniques will produce outcomes similar to historic pieces of art. The technique flows in tandem with the narrative imagery and they both are of equal importance.

January - It's already quite late into January. My plan for the remainder of January is to research further into my chosen route. I have chosen postcolonialism and would like to base my research around my chosen theory, my artistic influences and my unique processes of working. All in all I want to have solidified (or at least some) solidified ideas for carrying out my project. I plan to order some supplies this month that will help me in my creative flow. Having everything at hand now means I don't have to worry about it when I'm deep into the making process. I plan to also take research outside of my home, hopefully visiting some museums to get a clearer idea of the paths i may want to take, and how far I could possibly go with my ideas.

February - I plan to create many experiments using different mediums and techniques, my aim is to have a range of diverse working methods that I can narrow down and begin to use as developments. I not only aim to change my working styles,  but also narratives and imagery. The evolution of my experiments will be documented as well as my research. The idea is to make quick, insignificant pieces of work that I can kater develop if it fits with my theme, or abandon. 

March - By March I plan to take a step back from my experiments and do some self reflection. Make sure my tumblr blog and any outstanding work is completed. In this stage, I would like to decide possible places and ways I’d install my work. Doing this early on in the project builds a base for my developments as I also take into consideration which experiments have the most impact. I aim to edit and take pictures of my experiments installed and in different locations. This part of my creative process should only take a week or less. I will make decisions of what work to progress with and take it to the development stage. Considering its impact on narrative, installation, my theme and its overall significance, what sets it apart from other works. This will undeniably be the most busiest month when it comes to my project. I aim to get started on my finals by the end of march. 

The remainder of April - April will be the month of wrap up. I will be working through my finals and a steady pace. Being time conscious but also keeping an eye out for the quality of my final work produced. I will update my tumblr in tandem with the c reaction of work. Considering sites for installation and connecting it to how traditional work was presented/installed. 

[how-to-work]

Navigating Funding Options for Startups

Starting a new business venture is an exciting but challenging endeavor. One of the most critical aspects of launching a startup is securing adequate funding to support its growth and development. Navigating the funding landscape can be overwhelming for entrepreneurs, as numerous options are available, each with its own set of advantages and considerations. If you want to know about How to Promote Your Social Media Account, Visit My Article. Now we will explore various funding options for startups, from bootstrapping and crowdfunding to angel investors and venture capital. By understanding the characteristics, requirements, and potential benefits of each option, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions that align with their business goals and objectives.

I. Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping refers to starting and growing a business with minimal external funding. Entrepreneurs often rely on personal savings, credit cards, or loans from family and friends to finance their startups. While bootstrapping requires discipline and resourcefulness, it offers several advantages. It allows founders to maintain control over their business, retain ownership equity, and develop a lean and efficient operation. However, bootstrapping also has limitations, such as slower growth potential and limited access to capital for large-scale projects or expansions.

II. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding platforms have gained popularity in recent years as an alternative means of raising capital for startups. Through platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe, entrepreneurs can showcase their business idea and solicit small contributions from a large number of individuals. Crowdfunding offers several benefits, including market validation, early customer engagement, and the potential for substantial funding. However, entrepreneurs must invest time and effort in creating compelling campaigns, and success is not guaranteed. Moreover, crowdfunding campaigns may require offering rewards or equity shares, impacting future decision-making and ownership.

III. Angel Investors

Angel investors are high-net-worth individuals who provide financial backing to early-stage startups in exchange for equity ownership. These individuals often have industry experience and can offer valuable mentorship and networking opportunities. Angel investors typically invest their own capital and make decisions based on their personal interests and preferences. While angel investment can provide startups with a significant infusion of funds, entrepreneurs must be prepared to share ownership and relinquish some control. Additionally, finding the right angel investor and negotiating mutually beneficial terms can be challenging.

IV. Venture Capital

Venture capital (VC) firms invest in high-growth startups with significant market potential. They provide substantial funding in exchange for equity and often take an active role in guiding the company's strategic direction. Venture capitalists bring not only capital but also industry expertise, a vast network, and access to additional resources. While VC funding can fuel rapid growth and expansion, it also comes with rigorous due diligence, stringent requirements, and high expectations for return on investment. Startups seeking venture capital must be prepared for a more formalized process, including pitching to investors and negotiating complex terms.

V. Government Grants and Subsidies

Many governments offer grants, subsidies, and incentives to support entrepreneurship and economic growth. These programs can provide startups with non-repayable funds, tax credits, or low-interest loans. Government funding options vary by country and region, focusing on specific industries, technological innovation, or social impact. However, securing government grants can be competitive and time-consuming, requiring extensive documentation and compliance with eligibility criteria.

Navigating funding options is a critical task for startup founders. Each funding avenue has its own unique advantages, challenges, and considerations. Entrepreneurs must carefully evaluate their business needs, growth objectives, and long-term vision to determine which funding option aligns best with their goals. It is essential to consider factors such as ownership dilution, control, mentorship opportunities, and growth potential when making funding

[silkchiffon]

some of my simmosa headcanons:

amy does the aster flores thing where she has a look for whenever she wants to be kissed.

jonah has letterboxd. he also runs an account for amy (named “my girlfriend amy” which appropriately gets changed to “my wife amy” once they get married) that blows up because she has funny things to say about films but no patience to document them. meanwhile his account has the patron tier, over a thousand films logged, and cleverly articulated reviews with meticulous ratings but only 9 followers.

amy wore the ring that jonah stole to get her measurements a lot while she was in california. mostly as a reminder of the mistake she’ll inevitably understand that she made but also because it’s strangely comfortable to have on.

jonah started a podcast right after the breakup. he stopped recording episodes after accidentally letting marcus move in with him and i’ve got no idea what it would be about but i think he would set up the stupidly costly mic that he bought online in front of amy’s plants and pretend they were his audience.

amy gets super into video games again over the pandemic. in between binge watching shows and attending corporate meetings, she becomes a real acnh woman, much to the dismay of emma. when she and jonah get back together, she forces him to play lovers in a dangerous spacetime. they kill it at that game in spite of whatever argument might ensue.

a list of some shows i think jonah has watched: succession, severance, the west wing, the wire, lost, black mirror, charmed.

the recall room stayed even after they converted cloud 9 into a fulfillment center since no one else knew about it, so amy and jonah still sneak in there sometimes for the fun of it. when they visit dina and the others for the first time, they disappear after ten minutes and everybody thinks they either got lost or crushed by some packages. (let’s be honest, they’re having another town hall moment.)

couples costumes they would do: elizabeth and philip jennings, climate change (she’s a polar bear and he’s a melting ice cap), romeo and juliet (specifically from the baz luhrmann movie obviously, though this is based off an original script of the pilot that has a nod to the fish tank scene, even though it was actually between jonah and dina but that is not important.)

so they’ve both always absolutely been bi to me. it’s an unspoken thing at work for jonah, so amy is the first person he actually tells, voices aloud that this is who he is a person, and that’s what she’s signing up for when they finally start dating. and it gets gears turning in her head. this is a lot of projection on my end but i think amy looks back at the women she filed away as formative role models in her head and wonders whether there was something more there. remembers how she always thought someone like missy jones looked so gorgeous but thought that had more to do with being blinded by her talent. jonah helps amy figure out her feelings for women once he finds out she thought staring at them all the time was a normal thing to do.

they have the same taste in people. i have a whole episode made up in my mind about them figuring this out and the discovery spiraling to the point that they have everybody in the break room naming truly anyone to see if they both have a crush on the person or not. they have multiple whiteboards with the most complicated system ranking countless celebrities and the whole thing ends when jonah asks amy if she actually finds him attractive but she successfully avoids giving him an answer by making out with him. she does btw but she would never tell him because it would go to his head immediately and he would never let her live it down.

amy wearing name tags with different names every single day is her way of playing around with gender but nobody is ready for that conversation yet.

[nopefun]

Interview #495: Quince Pan

q: Give a short introduction of yourself: a: I am Quince Pan, a documentary photographer born in 2000, currently based in Singapore. I am now waiting to enter university to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

q: What is your series "JBM" about? What was the process of making the series? a: “JBM”, my family’s abbreviation of “Jalan Bukit Merah”, is a documentary photo project centred on my maternal grandmother, Lau Giok Niu, her cultural heritage and her HDB flat where I spent my childhood under her care. It is my first exhibited series and also my first serious long-term documentary project.

In 2015, I followed my grandmother to visit her hometown in Fengwei, Quangang District, Quanzhou City, Fujian, China. Bringing my camera along on the trip, I noticed that instead of shooting purely for fun or beauty, I would include certain objects (for example, a calendar on the wall) in my frames because they had historical significance. I submitted those Fengwei photos as my portfolio for the 2016 Noise Art Mentorship (Photography and Moving Images). I got selected, and my mentor, Jean Qingwen Loo, urged me to pursue a project which I could speak authentically about. Through her criticism, I learnt to further prioritise meaning over style. My grandmother and my childhood were topics close to my heart, especially as she cared for me during my childhood and gave me the gift of the 头北 Thâu-pak dialect, a unique variant of Hokkien from the Quangang District. Eventually, “JBM” was born as my mentorship capstone, and was exhibited at the “Between Home and Home” Noise Art Mentorship Showcase at Objectifs in 2017. I haven’t stopped shooting; that’s why it’s an ongoing long-term project!

“JBM” contains a range of visual styles, ranging from photojournalistic fly-on-the-wall documentations of heated family discussions and visits by distant relatives from China to more tender images of sunlight at the void deck where my late grandfather’s wake was held in 2006. Rituals and festivities are anthropologically significant, so I pay particular attention to Chinese New Year, the Qing Ming Festival and the Winter Solstice, which my family celebrates. I also look at how other photographers document their families: Bob Lee, Nicky Loh, Bernice Wong, Brian Teo and Nancy Borowick.

More broadly, “JBM'' extends beyond photography and is a family history project. Since 2013, I have been researching the Quangang district, 头北 Thâu-pak dialect and my grandmother’s clan. I discovered that other descendants from her clan established an ancestral temple in Singapore, which initially stood on Craig Road but is now housed in a flat in Telok Blangah. I already did some fieldwork, interviews and preliminary documentation, which led to an article I published in April 2021 in Daojia: Revista Eletrônica de Taoismo e Cultura Chinesa. Maybe I will explore this in greater depth in future photo projects!

q: How did you get into photography? a: When I was around seven years old, I loved to play with my father’s Fujifilm compact. As a young student, I hadn’t heard of terms such as “light painting”, “Dutch angle” and “rule of thirds”, but those were the techniques I subconsciously used in my photographs. 

I entered the Noise Art Mentorship, as previously mentioned. During the school holidays, I worked as a media intern at Logue and as an assistant at Objectifs for the “Passing Time” exhibition and book by Lui Hock Seng. Through these work experiences, I learnt so much from Jean Loo, Yang Huiwen, Ryan Chua, Lim Mingrui and Chris Yap: news angles, editorial writing, scanning and touching up negatives and slides, colour management for print, liaising with clients and issuing invoices, among other skills. As part of the Noise Art Mentorship, I was given a copy of “+50” by the PLATFORM collective, which opened my eyes to diverse approaches within the documentary genre. I started to regularly attend talks at Objectifs and DECK, where I got to know people in the local photography scene, particularly in the documentary tradition.

q: You also do videography. How do you see it in relation to your photography? a: Videography requires a different way of seeing and thinking compared to photography, because video has additional temporal and auditory dimensions. With photography, I don’t have to think about how long I want a scene to be, what foley and B-roll I want to overlay, or have a storyboard in my head before heading out to shoot. In that sense, photography is more reactive to and receptive of situational contingencies because it requires less pre-planning. 

Also, photography can be a solitary endeavour, but it is quite difficult to make films alone, and the schoolmates I used to make films with have since embarked on separate paths in life. However, photography and videography share the same basics as visual media: composition and sequencing.

Fundamentally, I see myself as a documentarian, and this applies to any medium I work in, be it photography or videography, or even writing. The end goal is to record and share history by telling stories from lesser-known perspectives. Thus, the topics of my video projects are similar to the topics of my photo projects; sometimes I do both side by side! The films I made were all documentary shorts of places which do not exist anymore, such as the Hup Lee coffee shop at 114 Jalan Besar and the old Sembawang Hot Spring before NParks took over the site from MINDEF and redeveloped it. 

Currently, I am working as a videographer for Sing Lit Station’s poetry.sg archive. Thankfully, this job can be done solo!

q: What or who is inspiring you right now? a: Bob Lee, for being an amazing father and spreading hope and joy to others through his images. Alex and Rebecca Webb, for pairing literature with photography. Tom Brenner, for approaching photojournalism like street photography. Sim Chi Yin, for her international achievements and being both an academic and a practitioner. Brian Teo, for being an eminent contemporary. Last but not least, Kevin WY Lee’s advice, “CPR: Craft, Point, Rigour”, which I try to benchmark my work against.

q: Upcoming projects or ideas? a: Nothing concrete on my mind so far. I am just going to see where life takes me and what topics life makes me want to explore or talk about.

q: Any music to recommend? a: First and foremost, my fight song: “倔强 Stubborn” by Mayday. A close second, Queen’s 1986 “Under Pressure” live performance at Wembley is a transformative experience. The catchy “他夏了夏天 He Summered Summer” by Sodagreen brings out the grandeur in the mundane. “Silhouette” by KANA-BOON and “Everybody’s Changing” by Keane remind me of the fragility of life and time. I also like The Fray, Kings of Leon, Last Dinosaurs, Stephanie Sun, Tanya Chua, and the Taiwanese indie band DSPS.

his website.

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[whotaughtyougrammar]

For the writer asks! 1, 3, 18, 20

I’m sending good vibes for 1, that it flows smoothly soon based on the writer memes.

Thank you for the good vibes 🙏🏼🙏🏼 And thank you so much for the ask!

1) Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

OH BOY WHERE TO START LMAO

I’m working on a few things right now, which is funny because I used to be a one project at a time sort of person, back when I didn’t write as often but putting pen to paper was paradoxically easier.

The “first” (technically second, you’ll see what I mean) big thing is:

A “multiverse” story. This sounds like something that I came up with after watching Everything Everywhere All At Once, but I’ve been working in this since before the movie came out 🤣 Of course, Daniels had thought of the concept for this movie long before this was even a blip in my mind, but I digress.

I think I mentioned this before, but I kind of like the idea that out of all the families, the Close/Streeps/Freemans are just… utterly mundane and non-magical (not really the case anymore eyeroll ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), but I still wrote a ficlet where Morgan basically implies she knows the gender of her child through a dream. I took that and spun it off into, “Morgan visits her alternate selves through her dreams and is comforted and finds closure in the choices she’s made in her life,” (or something like that, I don’t usually like to deal too seriously in themes and prefer writing vignettes or scenes) I mostly just wanted to write down some of the AU ideas I’ve come up with without committing to several fics at a time because as much as I love my AUs, and as much as I like writing fics, there’s only so much time and energy I can put into them without ignoring basic necessities 😅

I have a basic “prologue” done but not much else. What I want to do next is figure out which AU I want “featured.” As big as this idea sounds, I really do want this to on the shorter side (if it exceeds Heart’s wordcount and is not considered done by then I may cry lol) and I’m not including the completely outlandish universes like the bodyguard AU or the figure skating AU. I definitely want to include Morgan Foster-Freeman, and mercenary Morgan from my Monsters and Mommies AU, but other than those two I’m still in the planning stages.

The “second” big thing I’m working on is:

A Glenn and Morgan love/origin story that I’ve been working on on-and-off since fucking 2020 (!!) I have a few scenes fully written out and even an old outline of what I wanted to happen (it’s so old I was still calling Morgan “Michel” or “Mysterious Significant Other”).

I have a lot of problems with this one lmao.

One is it takes place over a pretty long period of time—I specified they’ve been dating around 5, almost six years in “Everyday Words Seem to Turn into Love Songs”, and they didn’t immediately like each other when they first met (I’ve always been pretty firm with this bit of headcanon), so the timeline for this one, tentatively titled “You’ve Got a Pulse and You Are Breathing” would have to span at least 7 years, and maybe even longer.

Another problem I had was formatting. I was having trouble deciding if I wanted this to be one long document/short story (my preferred format) or if it should be split up into chapters. As I went on, I was even starting to doubt whether I even wanted to do such a comprehensive “origin” story that went from point A to point Married to point Canon, and considered doing it in semi-related short ficlets like “In A Sentimental Mood,” or as a 5+1 format, specifically something like “5 times Glenn had a shitty date, and 1 time Glenn still had a shitty date but it led to something infinitely better” (a lot of “Pulse” involves Glenn’s dating troubles, not only from being a pan/bi Asian man in the 90s and 00s having to deal with biphobia and racism, but also being aspec and not being able to put into words why certain parts of dating don’t appeal to him without sounding like he’s stuck-up or a “freak” or like there’s something wrong with him.)

But I think the biggest problem I am having right now is simply the fact that I think I psyched myself out 🤣 I wrote “Everyday Words” in… a day? Maybe two days? It was simple and cute and so easy to do, one of the few times I just wrote first and edited later, that I figured I could write up a “But how did they meet,” story in maybe a week, and now it’s two years later, the campaign is over and it’s on to the next one for a majority of people, so many scenes written that may not even make it into the final product and the only thing I’m sure on is the title, and even that might be changed for the final product 🤣

I still have so much love for this fic, it feels like my baby basically lmao, that I feel nothing less than perfection will do it justice. It would be very funny but also poetic if the first meeting of Glenn and Morgan ends up being my last fic written for the fandom, but I don’t see that happening—I still have plenty of ideas left to write!

Smaller things I am also working on (that I have actually started and are not just ideas I want to write eventually) are: A Carol and Morgan bonding thing that will hopefully segue into some sort of Carol/Mercedes thing, and a social media fic of fans speculating on Glenn’s love life (Single? Straight? Dating? Bi?? Secretly married??? Something else?????), Morgan’s general cryptidness (Dancer? Actor? Pianist? All of the above? None of the above? No really, how does one woman hold so many jobs at one single time?), and generally being weird and parasocial. So you know, just your average day on social media.

3) What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

There is a scene that I’ve never written but has always stuck out in my head in my abandoned Glenn in mourning fic, where after the funeral, Glenn is accosted not only by Bill, (obviously thinking that now that the ol’ ball and chain is in the ground Glenn is suddenly OK with having his father around again), but also by Morgan’s side of the family, either by her sibling (who I think was her sister and not her brother at the time I was thinking of writing this) or her actual parents, who are basically threatening to take Nick away from him.

Bill is handled fairly quickly and easily, but a legal matter is something else entirely, and in a panic, Glenn goes to see his mother and basically starts verbally whaling on her once the shock of what happened wears off and lets her have it, demanding/screaming that she help him because, according to Glenn, she owes him for never being an adequate mother and treating him like an inconvenience until it was too late, but eventually his rage subsides and his grief takes over and he begs her, much more plaintively, to help make the problem go away, swearing that he’ll forgive her for all her past transgressions and never bring them up again if she helps him with the custody problem. She agrees, and he never hears from Morgan’s side of the family again. (which sounds ominous written like that, but everything was dealt with legally I swear lmao)

18) Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

I recently reread “Everyday Words” and though I consider is part of Musicverse canon, a part of me feels like it’s a completely different ‘verse, simply from the amount of (implied) boning that happens 😂 I came up with the idea of Ace Glenn very early in the series run (my series and canon series) but it wasn’t in my head when I wrote this evidently (it was probably while I was writing “Pulse” did the idea firmly plant itself in my head, which was basically immediately after I finished this). Chalk it up to being away from each other for extended periods of time, Glenn being (generally) sex-favorable and sex being an easy way of establishing intimacy.

A lot of the story beats in “Heart” were originally going to be part of other things (Glenn mentioning that his mother taught him guitar was originally going to be part of “Pulse”) or were going to be smaller ficlets. The bit where Morgan gets sick in Heart was originally going to be its own short ficlet, and so was the scene of Glenn talking about his failed “date”/realizing something was “up” with him irt sexual attraction (it was originally a morning after scene), so I’d consider all those plotlines I’ve abandoned, or more accurately, merged into one.

My friend also made a throwaway joke about an AU where the meet-cute is both of them dumping bodies into the Gowanus and their eyes meet, which isn’t an AU of my adult store AU per se but it is a joke I can see Morgan making as she’s trying to puzzle out how much she wants to say about her occupation .(“So how are you going to introduce me to your friend’s kids?” “I don’t know, I’ll just tell ‘em we met when we were dumping bodies into the Canal. They’ll get a kick out of that.”)

20) Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I have a few, but the one that sticks out for me is probably the headbutt. The scene of Glenn headbutting Bill in “You Send it All Back to Me” is a call-back (call-forward?) to a scene in “Pulse,” where Glenn attempts to punch somebody and gets punched back for his troubles. Morgan fixes him up while criticizing his technique and advises him to go for a headbutt next time instead for a variety of sensible reasons. Glenn is skeptical and is in the process of “Well, Actually”-ing her when she surprises him with a headbutt to demonstrate—not hard, just a sudden forehead touch that stops him in his tracks and forces him to reconsider his talking points and also realize that Morgan’s eyes are not black like he originally thought but brown, and that this close he can see how they sparkle when she’s amused and how deep and dark and mesmerizing and beautiful they actually are and—oh no.

[remakethestars]

RAVENCLAW 💙🦅🤎

Headcanons.

❝Even in the blackness, light can be found. My enemy can be outsmarted.❞

— Alex Hirsch, Journal 3

This is my house, y'all; buckle up!

Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, & Slytherin. Headcanon masterlist.

The door'll let you in for witty responses.

We prop it open during exam season, when everyone's coming back from dinner, on party nights, & when no one can solve the riddle.

Questions become more difficult to answer after curfew.

Everyone waits outside & pretends not to know first night until the first-years figure it out.

Today's riddle & answer posted on the back of the door every morning; check before you leave just in case.

Sometimes you find the prefects debating over what the answer is; no one leaves the common room until someone's figured it out, so sometimes, the entirety of Ravenclaw is late to breakfast.

Again, if we absolutely can’t, we’ll prop it open.

If the door’s propped open and you remove the prop, we’ll use the guillotine on you.

Everyone has at least one hill to die on.

There's a podium by the fireplace with a record book on it of all the books in Ravenclaw's library that you can ask for help finding books from (pages flip in their own). 

If you’re in a reading slump, describe what you're looking for; we've probably got it!

If you don't like writing & highlighting in the books, it'll disappear while you have it, but everyone's free to mark in them. 

So good at reading their own messy notes and the notes their friends wrote they can read a doctor's handwriting.

And there are notes everywhere. As organized as some Raveclaws wish they could be, you can't make notebooks & journals as organized as Google Doc & Word documents. Unless, ya know … someone made a spell for that — hold on, I gotta write that down!

Professors find notes — ideas for spells & potions — on the back of homework & tests. More knowledgeable teachers will add their ideas or advice before handing it back.

Everyone leaves a copy of their favorite book with annotations before they leave seventh year. 

There's a coffee/tea cart in the common room. 

Hallways to the dorms are covered in graffiti from students long passed.

Dorms branch off based on your year. 

Girls can walk into the boy's dorms & vice versa. 

All rooms are extended for more space.

Beds are built into the wall like window seats & have bookshelves where the head and footboards should be. 

Dark blue curtains can be drawn shut if you're feeling introverted. 

Trunks go under the bed, so they're kinda high off the ground.

Cast an extension charm if you’re claustrophobic.

At the end of every year, everyone congregates in the common room, someone casts glisseo on the stairs to Ravenclaw tower, & everyone slides their trunks down (it's called "the trunk shoving").

No one gives a single sh¡t about house points.

Ravenclaw’s are always blowing something up & losing points.

Dramatic about stubbing their toe, but super casual about ending up in the hospital wing because they "wanted to test a hypothesis."

If you have a question or don't understand something, ask it loudly in the common room; someone will undoubtedly answer or direct you to another who can.

Just don't use bad grammar, or sixteen people will correct you in unison. 😅

Learn (a) new language(s) in the common room 20:00–21:00 Mon.–Fri.

Tutoring sessions are in the common room at 21:00–22:00 Mon.–Fri. Or ask for private lessons to work around your schedule.

If a particular teacher's sh¡t, we host a class in the common room after dinner.

Also, there're just classes for random stuff: art, budgeting, codes & code-breaking, cooking, dancing, darning, fencing, ice skating (in the winter months), knot tying, lock picking, makeup, Morse code, muggle martial arts, sewing…

First years are all offered a class on note taking.

A lot of us do our homework on Friday night so we don't have to worry about it all weekend, so there're no party activities tonight, but you can play a muggle board game if you want.

Karaoke on Saturday nights.

Dungeons & Dragons on Sunday nights.

D&D’s swapped out for a play once a month; screw the theater ban! (For an explanation of Hogwarts’s theater ban, see Albus Dumbledore’s notes on “The Fountain of Fair Fortune” in The Tales of Beedle the Bard.)

Morning yoga in the common room — feel free to join; we'll teach you some poses.

Ask around; whatever you're looking for — info, candy, contraband — someone probably hands it out, sells it, can get it for you, and/or can tell you where to find it.

Pass around a spell that allows them to clean themselves. Who has time for showering?

And a potion that gives them the same feeling & energy as if they slept. Who has time for sleeping?

Yes, we're building a guillotine in the common room.

Please don't utilize it in the decapitation of any living person or thing (unless it's the Snape or Umbridge)!

Our next project is a carousel. With working lights & everything.

Yes, we're building a house of cards in the common room; please don't blow on it.

Be quiet until noon on the weekends or get hexed.

Thank Merlin they teach sign language in the common room every year & everyone knows enough to get by.

Parties are highly regulated.

People volunteer to walk people back to their dorms & put up protection charms so you don't get assaulted. Those people are vetted with Veritaserum first to confirm the authenticity of their intentions.

People often get into academic debates, which can get a bit loud; just silencio them & move on.

The entrances to the dorms are hidden behind moving bookshelves.

The Ravenclaw copy of Hogwarts: A History will tell you more than you realized you needed to know; there're enough notes in the margins to make a second book, including how to enter the kitchens, how to sneak out if the castle, how to find the Room of Requirement…

They've located more secret passages & rooms in Hogwarts using spells they created than the Marauders were aware of.

First-years are told how to put extension charms on their backpacks so they're not heavy — that's a crap-ton of stairs.

There's an incredibly thick book by a armchair near the fireplace that's full of testaments of Ravenclaw's alumni. "What's one thing you wish you'd known when you started Hogwarts?" First-years are encouraged to flip through it.

And taught a low-concentration spell for levitating books while laying down so your arms don't get tired (flick wand to turn page).

Common room's extended to fit all kinds of activities (and the bookshelves).

Some third-years built an aquaponic system on top of one of the window seats; take a cucumber, if you want, or stop to look at the fish.

Again, explosions are not uncommon. (Please don’t drop any explosives in the fish tank. As water isn’t as compressible as air, this will kill the fish.)

Everyone just kinda glances over to make sure you’re okay before going back to what they were doing.

There's always a record playing.

They host a hike through the Forbidden Forest once a week, because what even are rules?

If you hear an intelligent conversation taking place, feel free to sit down & listen or jump in!

The wind whistles against the windows all year round, but they've been charmed to keep water out.

Played The Floor is Lava before it was a meme.

There's a two-way mirror on the wall above the fireplace. There's a muggle television on the other side. No one's sure whose T.V. it is, but a lady comes in in the mornings in hair curlers & watches the news.

She puts in V.H.S. tapes of Disney movies at the start of term. Hypothesis says it's for the first years & this person's a half-blood or a muggle-born.

Sometimes, people work together to solve the Friday crossword in The Daily Prophet. It's the hardest all week.

Look at each other like they're the camera in The Office when someone says something stupid.

Oh, boy, if someone's found a really good mystery book… That sh¡t’s getting magically copied & passed around. We discuss theories at meals, pass notes in class, & set up a murder board in the common room.

Actually, Ravenclaw house has solved a number of murders in its free time.

Visit my Ravenclaw YouTube playlist & Pinterest board.

DISCLAIMER ━━━ These headcanons are what I consider to be canon in my fanfictions. They may be others’s headcanons I’ve subconsciously filed away in my noggin. If one’s yours and you want it removed or credited, please send me your post and let me know.

[polymathicdragon]

Terms of Endearment

A Bagginshield Fanfic (also available HERE on ao3)

Summary: Khuzdul terms of endearment are pretty common and Bilbo has heard them all, though he's a little wary of using Hobbit terms of endearment as he's not sure how well they will translate. But after so many years of being together he decides he can't help himself anymore...and it turns out to be the best decision. 

Rating: General audiences

This story is all because I had a random headcanon based on this tiktok. I posted it into our Bagginshield discord and it ran away from there and I knew I needed to write it!

I wouldn't have been so excited to write this without so many amazing ideas and Hobbit endearments from my friends over on the discord. They include: @the-game-is-up @curiousartemis @lesbiankiliel @imsoconfused16 @mulasawala @mandolinearts

Story below the cut!

Bilbo had settled into his new role as husband and King’s consort well, he had tried hard to make sure that he understood and respected Dwarven culture and customs, while also sprinkling in a bit of Hobbit sensibility where he could. Thorin had always called him sweet terms of endearment in Khuzdul, which he now understood much better having learned the language and its meaning, and Bilbo would smile and reply in kind. It wasn’t that Hobbits didn’t have terms of endearment, but he didn’t think that they’d quite translate well, so he let them slip from his mind. Until one day, he couldn’t help himself.

It was one of those rare occurrences that Thorin and Bilbo actually had a day to themselves, which seemed to be less and less as the years went on and the mountain fared better than it ever had. Bilbo was laying in bed still, covers strewn around him, while Thorin had gone to grab them breakfast. As he returned and handed Bilbo a steaming cup of tea, Bilbo grinned.

“Good morning honeycake,” he said as he took the cup from Thorin’s hands.

At first Thorin just nodded, “You’re wel--” but then blinked, “what did you call me?”

Bilbo just laughed and Thorin cocked his head a bit but just let it go, instead climbing up into bed with his own tea and as they enjoyed a quiet morning together.

---

It was a few weeks later and Thorin had been working late at his desk, pouring over paperwork. A pile that no matter how long he sat there, never seemed to diminish. Bilbo walked in quietly, placing his hand on Thorin’s shoulder.

“Hello, my lovely potato.”

Thorin leaned back, smiling up at Bilbo, “Hello, ghivashel.”

“How are things going?” Bilbo asked.

“As well as usual,” Thorin sighed, then he looked up at Bilbo, a small smirk, “Am I a sweet potato?”

Bilbo broke into giggles and Thorin dragged him into his lap, placing lingering kisses all over his face and neck.

---

And so it began, Bilbo didn’t want to overdo it so he waited for the right moment, whenever Thorin was distracted doing something else he would break out a Hobbit endearment.

Thorin was sitting in his favorite chair, reading a pile of documents. Bilbo came in from a meeting and walked up to him, reaching out his hand which Thorin took instinctively.

“Hello, my handsome parsnip.”

“Hello,” Thorin said, distracted still as his eyes scanned the document. Until it seemed he had processed what Bilbo actually said. He blinked and shook his head, looking up at Bilbo, “What is a parsnip?”

---

Bilbo found Thorin one day in his forge, he had been working on a project for weeks and had come to bed late most nights, smelling of smoke and metal. It was a smell Bilbo had long gotten used to. He stepped carefully into the forge as Thorin pulled a piece of metal out of the fire. Thorin smiled at him, lifting his hammer in a slight wave.

“Hello my darling mushroom king,” Bilbo called, a smile plastered on his face.

Thorin paused, setting down his hammer, a slight frown, “Now that’s just offensive.”

Bilbo laughed as Thorin put down the red hot metal he was working with and pulled off his gloves to come over to Bilbo. Bilbo took his hands, “But you're my mushroom, a rare one at that. And I’m so lucky to have found you.”

Thorin leaned down and kissed Bilbo, pulling him into his arms, “As sweet as that is amrâlimê, I hate mushrooms.” Bilbo laughed into his chest.

---

Thorin had been in council meetings for the past two days, they were hosting Men, Elves, and Dwarves of the Iron Hills, hoping to expand trade agreements in the north and also strategize safety and security. Orcs had appeared more frequently recently, coming from the north out of Mount Gundabad. Thorin felt like the headache forming behind his eyeballs would blind him permanently. Bilbo had been in meetings as well, and so they had barely seen each other at all. Finally everyone was free to have an informal lunch together, giving everyone a much needed break. Bilbo swept into the main dining room alongside some Elves and Dwarves. He walked over to Thorin and couldn’t even help the fact that they were surrounded by others.

“How are you my sweet-tasting cantaloupe?” Bilbo said, taking Thorin’s hands.

A few heads nearby turned to look at them, clear confusion on their faces. Thorin’s jaw dropped, his eyes wide, “What?”

Bilbo just smiled. Thorin groaned, a bit mortified, “Why can’t you just call me normal names?” he whispered.

Bilbo frowned, feeling a bit offended, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song, it would be a merrier world.”

Thorin softened then, realizing his error, “Of course, ghivashel. You are right, I’m sorry.”

---

Thorin had been away for far longer than he ever wished. He had needed to visit the Dwarven kingdom in the east to rebuild trade agreements and secure allies as rumors had begun that an evil was building in the south. He finally arrived home late, much later than he would’ve liked. There was little fanfare as it was the middle of the night. Thorin departed from his companions, heading straight to his rooms. There was no way that Bilbo would still be awake. As Thorin opened the door to his rooms, he saw that the fire was still going. The door to their bedroom opened and Bilbo’s face lit up, and he quickly strode towards him.

“You’re finally home! My prize-winning tomato!” Bilbo said as he wrapped himself around Thorin. As strange as it was, Thorin’s heart soared at the endearment, pulling him in tight, never wanting to let go. Somehow, he found himself falling more in love with Bilbo every time it happened.

---

Bilbo was tucked comfortably under the covers, waiting for Thorin to climb into bed. Bilbo had let his eyes droop a bit, sad that they had just been so busy lately as to barely see each other before exhaustion overtook them both. It seemed they would be this busy forever, and he thought about what it would be like to convince Thorin to retire and they could travel and live in the Shire. It was a pleasant thought.

He heard the door to the bathroom open and he opened his eyes. Thorin’s hair was loose and wet on the ends from where it had dipped into the water of his bath. He was only dressed in loose pants and Bilbo couldn’t help but stare. He’d seen his husband naked hundreds if not thousands of times by now, but it always made his breath catch, and the familiar feeling tingle down his spine. Bilbo was hopeless and grinned like a lovesick fool, which Thorin caught on as he climbed into bed, giving his own winning smile.

“Well hello my sexy roast beef,” Bilbo stated, more sultry than he expected.

A slight blush came to Thorin’s cheeks as he looked at Bilbo for a long moment.

“Can I marry you for a second time?” he said, his own voice deep and husky.

Bilbo nodded but the words he meant to say were lost as Thorin pulled him in close, kissing him soundly.

---

Thorin had told Balin he was taking the afternoon off. It had been one of the first nice days after a hard winter and he had hoped to catch Bilbo by surprise and spend a restful and carefree day and evening with his beloved. The possibilities were endless and he knew that this kind of day would be a hobbit dream.

He went first to the kitchens and got a quick dessert that he had pre-planned with Bombur that morning and then went to their rooms. He found Bilbo writing at his desk. Thorin quietly set down the pastries and wrapped his arms around Bilbo from behind.

“Hello my gorgeous steamed cabbage” Thorin said, hoping he had gotten the endearment correct. As far as he could tell after many, many times it was a positive and loving adjective and then a vegetable or fruit of some kind. He wasn’t very well versed in growing anything, but it was the first one that came to mind.

Bilbo stilled in his arms, the pen where it had been moving even as Thorin wrapped his arms around Bilbo had stopped, the ink pooling a bit on the paper.

Then what sounded like a laugh, followed by a cough from the Hobbit in his arms. Bilbo put the pen down and turned slightly in his chair.

Thorin knew immediately by the mirth on Bilbo’s face that it was not correct, “steamed cabbage?” Bilbo said flatly, though amusement played in his eyes.

“Have I offended you, ghivashel?” Thorin pulled his arms away, frowning.

Bilbo started, and then stopped, a few times trying to find the words. “I’m not offended, but it just...your heart was in it…”

“But it doesn’t quite work…” Thorin supplied, disappointed.

Bilbo stood, smiling and took Thorin’s hands, “It was a good effort, but you should stick to Khuzdul, my perfect potato.”

[popcorn-kitten]

new hiveswap info and development timelines just dropped on the Kickstarter ✌️

Over the years, a lot of misinformation, as well as deliberate disinformation, has spread around about the history of Hiveswap. The purpose of this post is to clarify these matters for backers who've been wondering what the truth is.

The Kickstarter was planned by the What Pumpkin business development team in mid-2012. One member of the team was a crowdfunding specialist who led the planning process and managed the contracts with the developer. Prior to the Kickstarter opening for pledges, What Pumpkin worked out a plan for a flexible game concept that could be refined according to how much the campaign ultimately brought in. As Hussie was still working on Homestuck full time at this point, the plan was to hand over his game concept and story outline to a development company that could deliver the project.

The crowdfunding campaign finished out at a gross total of $2,485,506, as well as a gross total of $207,930 from PayPal pledges. But because of platform fees, as well as the costs of producing and shipping merchandise to backers of the campaign, the effective budget was significantly lower than the gross pledged total:

The above deductions from the gross total do not include taxes.

After determining the final budget for the game, What Pumpkin signed an agreement with the contracted game company (hereafter “GC”) to develop Hussie’s game concept. WP and GC entered into a development contract on November 30, 2012, shortly after the conclusion of the Homestuck Kickstarter. WP paid $788,000 to GC in late 2012 for development.

Because there was an understanding that delivering the complete game development documents would take some time, during which it would be difficult for GC to make meaningful progress on the Hiveswap game build, GC inquired about getting involved with other Homestuck-adjacent projects to do immediate work. WP let GC know about the Act 7 animation plans. With an assurance that this work could be done in parallel with a flexible timeline and would not impact the development cycle of Hiveswap itself, Hussie and What Pumpkin saw this as a good opportunity to establish a working relationship with this organization prior to the start of development and agreed to contract GC to do animation work for the Act 7 project. WP and GC agreed that this project would have a separate budget from the Hiveswap Kickstarter money, paid for from WP’s regular operating funds. As the existence of this animation itself would not be revealed until its release in 2016, this was not publicly announced at the time. GC and the lead animator on the project specifically requested not to be credited upon release of the animation.

Hussie initiated the “Megapause” on April 14, 2013 in order to devote his full attention to finalizing the Hiveswap development documents. What Pumpkin soon provided its story documents so that GC could formally begin core systems development. In July of 2013 WP and GC mutually agreed to push back GC’s deliverable dates without penalty. Hussie would share an update in 2013 detailing the state of predevelopment:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/708686

In 2013 following receipt of WP’s deliverables, GC enthusiastically assured WP that it was positioned to begin development. GC would deliver its first prototype in early 2014.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qSXwWKD5Km1yL-3Cj_W5IevW-IA978zJ/view?usp=sharing

This prototype, linked above, was sent to WP on 2/18/14. At this point, it was becoming a significant concern among backers that WP had yet to show proof that the game was being made, so WP was looking for any sort of tangible progress update from GC that was suitable to share with the public. But Hussie and WP found the quality of the prototype somewhat alarming, and decided that sharing any shots from the game would only cause embarrassment for GC. Nevertheless, WP was still willing to assume that this was a very early draft of something that would develop into a more promising product soon, and gave GC some more time to improve on it.

But the improvements didn’t come. No other advancements on the prototype were ever made. After waiting weeks with no update other than assurances that progress was carrying on smoothly, Hussie initiated the “Gigapause” both to take care of personal matters and later to get directly involved in the development of the game himself. He decided to move to southern California from the east coast in hopes that working directly with the GC could help them overcome whatever obstacles they were facing with Hiveswap’s development. GC responded positively to the prospect of Hussie’s involvement, but when he made the move and tried to coordinate a time to visit the GC offices and meet, GC insisted it was a bad time due to office renovations and a busy schedule. Here is a timeline with quotes from emails exchanged between Hussie and GC:

May 12, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“Just letting you know I actually moved to the west coast recently. I'm only an hour or so away from LA now.

I could drive down and check out the office, see how things are going with the game and animation in person some time soon. Is there a time that would work for you guys? In a week or two maybe?”

May 15, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“That's awesome about being on the west coast. It'd be great to have you come to the studio.

Dev has slowed a bit on our end, as we wanted to take a step back and really evaluate what was needed and the best way to achieve the features that have been coming online in the docs. We're continuing to break that all down so we can build and plan most effectively moving forward. We also wanted to find some simple formats for input from your writing team for dialogue content and are getting that squared away.

The best time to come by would actually be right after E3. Things are a bit nuts until then.”

May 18, 2014 - from Hussie to GC

“[Name redacted], sounds good. I'll set aside some time after E3 to make the drive down. As we approach the date, just let me know what works for you.”

E3 was June 10-12, 2014. GC did not invite Hussie to visit at this time.

Hussie and WP representatives were in LA over July 4th weekend, 2014. When they inquired about visiting the offices again they were still not welcome. A GC representative insisted that they meet at a restaurant instead. Yet GC continued to telegraph that they were receptive to the idea of inviting Hussie to the office well into the summer:

Aug 18, 2014 - from GC to Hussie

“We'd love to set up a new time for Andrew to come to the studio as well as a skype chat to meet the other team members.”

Despite apparent enthusiasm about meeting with Andrew in their email correspondence, GC continued the pattern of refusing to meet at the office or supply any signs of progress on the prototype.

Over that summer, GC delivered several pieces of concept art that WP had been requesting since January. Hussie did his best to present this publicly as a positive development as WP felt it would be counterproductive to the project and harmful to GC to publicly detail the development troubles at the time.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/883860

There was no indication from GC that the Act 7 animation project was in any way in conflict with Hiveswap development. GC was enthusiastic about taking on this project, and bidded against other animators for the contract. They saw it as a useful tie-in to concept art work on Hiveswap, as GC leadership conveyed in an email to WP in early 2013:

WP also does not have any reason to believe that the Act 7 project in practice created a conflict that was not disclosed by GC to WP. Act 7 was a 2D animation project, and Hiveswap at the time was a 3D game, so it did not pull GC’s programmers or 3D artists away from work on Hiveswap. GC never mentioned the development needs of a separate project at all to WP, or cited any such reason as distracting from work on Hiveswap; GC instead repeatedly provided WP with various assurances that everything was still fine with Hiveswap.

Had GC communicated that they had scheduling conflicts or some other impediment preventing them from developing Hiveswap, WP would have terminated the contract even sooner.

WP moved to terminate the agreement with GC late summer of 2014, and Hussie pivoted towards establishing a new independent game studio while consulting with a designer who had stepped up into a leadership position during the GC development period. That individual lived in NYC, which is why that location was chosen to establish the new studio rapidly. They helped build the studio through a local network of professional contacts. While this “What Pumpkin NYC” studio shared a name with What Pumpkin, it’s important to note that all of WP NYC’s studio staff save for the aforementioned individual were hired without any prior affiliation with WP and thus had no association with the GC contract. WP documented this development on Kickstarter on October 30th, 2014. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/14293468/homestuck-adventure-game/posts/1035099

At this point, negotiations were very amicable; both parties agreed the project simply wasn’t turning out to be a good fit for GC, and were both ready to move on. There were no signs given at all that WP was about to have trouble recovering the remaining funds.

WP is legally permitted to discuss details of the resolution of the dispute only under very specific circumstances. WP may make additional disclosures outside of this post to individual backers in accordance with legal obligations.

Following resolution of the GC contract, in Spring 2015 the WP NYC studio was running at full capacity on Hiveswap. The main problem was the fact that WP management was blindsided by the revelation that much less money would be coming back than expected. The WP NYC project manager had designed the schedule based on the good faith presumption that most of the development funds would be recouped. When it was finally revealed the return was far short of what was expected, and the repayment plan could in no way keep up with the schedule as currently drafted, it threw the project into a period of chaos as plans were quickly redrawn. The length of Act 1 was slashed, and other modifications were made to try to fit the rest of Act 1 into the newly shortened runway. But in the end, the revisions still weren't enough to save the game as it existed, and the studio needed to be closed in order to reserve what funds remained to finish the project in some form.

This may have come across as a sudden or spontaneous decision. Part of this is because the WP NYC senior staff and WP ownership were doing everything in their power to save the project, including injecting WP regular operating funds into the project, until it was determined that going any further would be disastrous for the future of Hiveswap. Another is that WP was legally unable to give any detailed disclosures about the financial troubles, even to many of the WP NYC staff.

It should also be noted that originally the NYC studio was not going to be permanently closed, but only frozen for a reassessment of the project. But during this freeze period, there were some dramatic events. One staff member behaved in a destructive and threatening manner. For the protection of those involved, details shouldn't be disclosed. But these events made navigating the post-freeze issues impossible. Communication between ownership, management and staff broke down because of these events, and the freeze turned into full closure. This version of the project was then abandoned for many reasons, including these events.

Some misinformation claims that at the time the WP NYC studio was shuttered, its iterations of Act 1 and 2 were complete. This is wrong. Act 1 was very far from a shippable state and absolutely no work on Act 2 had been completed besides some concept and 3D art. Here you can see a video documenting one of many major bugs with critical path progression in the final build produced by WP NYC, where it becomes impossible to re-focus on the Simon Says toy if Joey fails and then exits out of the puzzle:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M2mmkMx8Wkwp1VU_5IpMKDvngmUFS0IG/view?usp=sharing

At the point the WP NYC studio was frozen it was still difficult to finish a full run of the critical path without the debug tool, and the UI was far from complete. With that build, Act 1 ended the moment Joey passed through the portal on Earth. The current version of Act 1, where Joey makes it to Alternia and meets Xefros, is more indicative of the original length of the NYC version of Act 1. Not only did it need to be slashed from what the original script proposed, the NYC version of Act 1 still wasn't that close to resembling a shippable product after those changes were made.

Because of the amount of time and resources already devoted to this project, WP was initially very reluctant to lay anyone off or scrap the work being done. It was for this reason that the studio stayed open for months after the contract with GC was resolved; WP made every effort to deliver a game with that team, but at the time WP NYC was shuttered, the funds just weren't there to keep the studio running at its current burn rate and schedule slips. The game was never going to reach delivery with the funds available. The studio urgently needed to be frozen for a full reassessment, and then it was closed after the freeze due to the reasons stated above. This was the only course of action that could have saved the project.

To WP's knowledge every artist whose work was used in the final release of Act 1 was included in the credits. The final version of Act 1 was in large part built off concept art and storyboards drawn during the WP NYC era, and many of the artists who made them continued to work on the team that produced the final version of Act 1; the roadmap for the completion of Act 1 was specifically planned because WP had determined that the existing 2D concepts could easily be refined into a final product that would both be visually appealing and more economic to produce. Unfortunately due to the transition to 2D WP no longer had a place for the 3D artists or the original 3D engine, and all of those assets were dropped. They were not used as a basis for the finished assets in Act 1, and visual similarities to WP NYC 3D assets are due to the fact that final Act 1 assets are in large part refinements of the original concept art. Any artist whose work was used incidentally was included in Additional Contributions.

Both the GC and NYC phases of Hiveswap were setbacks to the overall fulfillment of the project, but not insurmountable. WP reorganized the budget to establish a new version of the studio, and Act 1 was released two years after the closure of NYC.

As an addendum, WP has identified the primary source of a disclosure to a well-circulated document of the Hiveswap development process. WP has been aware of a pattern of false claims this former employee has made since the end of their employment at the beginning of 2014. As this individual was not present during the end of the development contract with GC, nor the WP NYC development period, all of the information they have shared is based on speculation and conjecture.

At this time, WP does not wish to invite more controversy into the lives of anyone previously involved with this project, and considers these matters to have been resolved long ago. The goal for years has been to turn the page on flawed attempts by earlier studios, and simply move forward and bring Hiveswap to completion without sparking the chaos, disruption, and threats to personal safety that would have resulted from disclosing many of the details stated above. Doing so would only make it more difficult for the staff to rebuild the project during these periods immediately following the termination of the GC agreement and closure of the NYC studio. Since preservation of the project was the primary responsibility to the backers, making destructive disclosures that put the project at risk along the way would have been at odds with that responsibility. This policy also served to protect individuals from personal or professional harm, including those who were responsible for serious setbacks with the project. Please respect the privacy of any persons affiliated with GC and WP NYC.

[lokiondisneyplus]

Loki is the latest Marvel Studios TV series in the long-running franchise and it’s currently ongoing with five episodes so far available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia. For previous breakdowns of Loki episodes, check out Episode 1 here, Episode 2 here, Episode 3 here, Episode 4 here and Episode 5 here.

If you want a non-spoiler guide to Loki, you can head on over here.

Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia, we were lucky enough to be the only Malaysian media to participate in a roundtable interview with Loki Costume Designer Christine Wada and Loki Production Designer Kasra Farahani.

This interview with Loki Production Designer Kasra Farahani has been edited for clarity.

Keep in mind that we’ll be discussing some elements from all five episodes of Loki so far, so there will be spoilers below:

Q: You’ve previously worked on Black Panther and other MCU movies. How different was the experience of working on a TV set instead of a movie’s? Were there limitations?

Yes, I’ve worked on several Marvel projects. For me, this is the most fun one, maybe because I’m in a different position than I was on the other ones. But also, just because this project is unique in a couple of ways.

Number one; it’s literally in its own timeline from the rest of the MCU. It’s separate from the stories we’ve all enjoyed and seen in the MCU so far. The other thing that this one has that’s really great is the amount of visual and narrative variety. We have this kind of base in the TVA that we spend a lot of time in but also we have all these exciting different places in the world that the story takes us to. These were great worlds to design and to imagine.

In our case, there was no difference. The thing about the Marvel series is that it’s pretty much like Marvel movies; in terms of their creative ambition, in terms of the way they’re scheduled, the fact that we have one director.

There was not much about it (Loki) that resembled an episodic project, except for the fact that it was six hours of content that we were trying to make, so it’s a very long project.

In terms of resources, I didn’t ever feel that we were unduly stretched. Always, when you get a creative brief like this, there’s always a period at the beginning of every project where you’re reconciling the creative brief and the resources that you have. That has been the case for every project that I’ve ever worked on regardless of the size. There’s this beginning phase where that’s the case and oftentimes, it’s in that process where you come up with some very great creative solutions that are a direct result of some of the limitations, actually.

Yeah, I wouldn’t say that we had some extraordinary limitations in this case (for Loki), but that’s generally true for all projects, in my experience.

Q: What were you inspired by when making designing the sets of the TVA with its retro-futuristic and anachronistic aesthetics?

In the source material, the TVA had a lot of different things going on, but one of the strong themes also was this armada of desks, which is kind of typical of a post-war era bureaucracy look. There was a grain of that in the source material but a lot of it also came from the show’s creator and writer, Michael Waldron, who described in the original document I read before interviewing for this job.

He described the TVA as a kind of mix of Mad Men meets Blade Runner. Part of these two strong visual references for us. On top of that, me and director Kate Herron, even before we met and spoken to each other, were inspired by Terry Gilliam’s Brazil also as a strong influence because of the anachronisms that that story had and also because of the clear presence of this strong monolithic bureaucracy, which is something that we have in the TVA also.

For the TVA, we were looking a lot at wanting to create a world that had a paradoxical feeling, being an imposing monolithic architectural space that has brutalist elements in them and had almost Soviet modernist elements to them. The colour palette and the materials and the whimsical patterning were much more like American style modernism.

The result was hopefully when you’re in an environment like this, you don’t know whether to feel terrified or invited. Hopefully, it creates that feeling in both the characters and the audience; this kind of cognitive dissonance in not knowing whether they can trust the TVA or not. That’s the narrative objective.

The writers came up with these ideas and the idea with that was to kind of create the bubble gum wrapper in the Renaissance era (Loki Episode 2) and the futuristic shovel in the early 20th-century farm field (Loki Episode 1). These ideas were placed there to create a trail of clues for the TVA to follow before they have clarity on Sylvie’s identity. But for the anachronisms generally, that was something we tried to do throughout the TVA to have all kinds of strange things from different timelines and different worlds popping up in terms of props, like the Infinity Stones in the mail cart and stuff like that.

Q: What was it like working with Tom Hiddleston, who is a producer on Loki?

It was very exciting to have this opportunity to take the character and his storyline in a different direction. It became all the more exciting when I read the scripts and I saw the type of journey they were going to take the character on.

Tom is a professor of Loki, basically. After all, ten years or so of playing the character; he knows it better than anybody and he has an in-depth understanding of the character and his backstory; the character’s family relationships and he was really helpful in giving a little talk to all the department heads about the background of his character, which was very informative.

Q: Recently, Loki series director Kate Herron said that 90 percent of production sets were physical. Does this include the world of The Void, and can you tell us more about how you brought it to life?

That’s true. That was what was unique about this show, because of my own design approach, and my goal in creating this large monolithic brutalist environment, I felt strongly that the sets needed to be built kinda wholly and that they needed to have the ceilings in-tact. This was also supported by Loki cinematographer Autumn, in that the way of her own style of photography is very wide and low-angled photography, which is why for both of our creative goals, it made a lot of sense to build these sets like completed and 360-degree environments.

For the TVA, that was almost always the case, with the exception of when you saw outside a window. With the Void (in Loki Episode 5), a lot of that was built practically as well. What I can tell you is that we build a large piece of this landscape on a soundstage, which was about 150 feet by 200 feet of undulating wilderness terrain. In that, we would bring in these different scenery elements on different days to make it feel like different places within the Void.

For example, one day there was the bus stop terrain where we meet Loki. One day it was the giant head. One day it was the drive-in movie theatre where we find Sylvie. All of these things were brought in and we shot there over the course of seven days. The terrain was designed in such a way that depending on what angle you shot, it felt like a very different place. Backgrounds were put in during post-production in visual effects. The Loki palace, where the Loki variants kind of hang out, the bowling alley, all of that was also a 360-degree built set as well.

Q: What was the most challenging set of the entire Loki series that you had to work on?

We had a lot of very ambitious sets but I think the city of Sharoo at the end of Loki Episode 3: Lamentis was a very technical set. The goal was to create this virtual one-in, that appears as a single shot. This was a very involved and elaborate process of choreography, basically.

All the different departments were involved to make this happen because as we watch the sequence, we see tons of actors running around, there are explosions happening, the camera’s panning up to see the planet above crumbling and asteroids pelting the surface.

There was a lot of planning that went through at the very beginning. We brought the paper models of this to Autumn, our cinematographer and creative director, to use to plan some of their shots. One day, we had some more information that fed back to the art department where we developed more involved and elaborate drawings and models which again, fed back to them. In this way, we had kind of an iterative conversation to arrive at what the design was.

So, as we start to build the set, many of the department heads came to visit and check the progress. We rehearsed what the shot was going to be, so we could exactly fine-tune the set to meet the needs of this shot and see where the edits needed to be. In order to do this, we needed to adjust the exact width of the roads or move a piece of scenery here and then figure out exactly, okay, there’s going to be an explosion coming out of the ground here and another explosion coming out of the building here and this is when the camera looks up to the sky and sees the planet explode. This is where the window breaks and this is where the guy jumps out and grabs him and there’s a fight.

There are many, many people involved; Monique Garderton, our stunt coordinator, Kate Herron, the director, and also the special effects team, and of course, visual effects, deeply involved, and Richard Graves, who is kind of our AD (Assistant Director), the circus leader of all of it, organizing everybody to kind of work on this thing altogether. It’s the sort of thing that involves so many different departments that it can only really be discovered when working in a big group together.

I would say that was maybe the most challenging technically because there were so many logistical parameters and so many moving parts.

Q: What are your thoughts on diversity in the production of the creative industry?

I think that it is critically important. As somebody who is myself an immigrant, I was born in Iran and my family moved here when I was quite young. I’m super happy to see the direction that the industry is going in. I think Marvel has been particularly excellent in providing leadership in this way and I honestly have to give a lot of credit to Kate Herron, our director.

Almost more than any other project I’ve been on, she prioritised inclusivity and diversity. I mean, lots of people, don’t get me wrong, it’s on every project and on everyone’s mind, but I think Kate went above and beyond because it’s so fundamental to her worldview and she’s such a sensitive soul in this way. One of the many ways in that it was such a joy to work with Kate and I’m very proud of the many different ethnicities we’re representing, and how many women we’ve had. In our art department, we had close to fifty men and women.

It’s important and leads to better creative results that are more fully realized and more representative of what the fans really want.

[glowonu]

untitled love song by henry

woozi x reader, a little song fic based on this sweet tune~~

fluff, 1.6k words

There’s no title I just wrote this as it came Your eyes, your nose, even your lips I wanted to make it into a song My heart fluttered all night in front of the piano All day, I think of how your eyes and smile will look As you listen to this song And without knowing, a full day passes

Jihoon groans into his hands before looking up at the screen again. The lyrics that paint the document in front of him glare back at him confrontingly. He can’t believe that you’ve overwhelmed his emotions to this point. It’s as if he had blacked out, only to wake up before a page full of poetry about you. 

He misses you dearly, you’re away on an interstate internship for your masters and he hasn’t seen you in so long. Pictures of you are embedded in his mind and the soft way you smiled at him in the last video call can’t help but to remind him how he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. 

He chuckles and closes the document before Bumzu or Soonyoung can get even the tiniest glance at it. He hums before realising that you have talked about this before, and after your internship you do only have a semester of study left, maybe it isn’t such an insane idea. 

Jihoon clicks back to the song he’s actually supposed to be writing, but the poetry of you plays on repeat in the back of his mind. He hopes you’ll like it, a weird sort of adrenaline rushes through him as his eyes catch the document thumbnail on his desktop every so often. 

Girl you keep driving me crazy I can’t believe I’m in love If only I could have you, oh baby

You smile at him over the phone, showing Jihoon around the park you’re currently sitting in with a promise to take him there sometime. Your internship isn’t too far away, realistically either of you could catch the five-hour train to see each other, but both of your schedules are packed to the brim, full of commitments and deadlines. 

Jihoon watches you fondly and whispers out a soft “I miss you,”

Your gaze softens, and you quieten down. “I miss you too baby,” 

The line quietens, and you simply gaze at each other through the phone screen. Jihoon hums a breath of thanks to the engineers who made it possible for him to still be able to see your gorgeous smile as you grin at him, your smiling eyes sparkling at him.

“I’ll be home soon love, just in time for our anniversary! You won’t miss me for too long now!” 

Later that night, Mingyu laughs at him. “Man, you’ve been dating for what, 3 years now? And it’s still like you’ve got a high-school crush on her,” 

Jihoon chucks a pillow at him, and Mingyu shuts up with a loud ‘Oof’. 

I’m singing, In all of these notes My truth is there Only one in the world It’s a love song for you I want to touch your heart Till there are tears in your heart The only and best love song for you When you smile at me I think of a sweet melody

There’s a small blessing in the odd placement of this day off occurring in the middle of the week. While Jihoon would have appreciated a long weekend to go visit you, he secretly appreciates having the Wednesday off to hide away in his studio to work on his little surprise for you. 

He uses the original lyrics he had made up earlier but tweaks them for the new purpose of the track. He wants to make sure that you know how honest, sincere, and deep his love is for you. On a normal day, with a normal project, he is already a massive perfectionist, with this project, he almost feels nauseous thinking about how you might react. 

It’s late in the afternoon when you call Jihoon, his phone flashing with a photo Minghao had taken of you curled together backstage at a show. He yawns before answering the call, your smiling face taking up the window of his phone screen. 

“Hey Hoonie! How’s your day off been?” You start, bright and happy, you barely let him answer as you chat away about all you’ve been up to. 

“Have you been working on a song?” You ask as you finally notice Jihoon’s surroundings. Jihoon’s cheeks bloom pink as he nods. 

“Just a project that will probably end up for another group,” Jihoon says, a little white lie. You merely smile, ignorant to what the project really is for. 

Jihoon goes on to talk about his members, and when he imitates Chan, you can’t help but to laugh uncontrollably. 

Jihoon thinks he has a new idea for a melody. 

I’m in love with you Ooh I’m in love with you You know Girl you keep driving me crazy I can’t believe I’m in love If only I could have you, oh baby

It's finally only a few weeks until you get back, and Jihoon is vibrating with a mix of excitement and nerves. He’s been to too many shops in any free time he has had. And yet, nothing seems to be the right fit for you. It’s been the same with recording, he’s tweaked every note, beat, and pause, to make sure everything inside of his heart is expressed in the track. 

In the end, he decides to strip it all back. He pours his heart out onto the piano, and everything starts to come together. Gone are the extra elements to the songs. He leaves it at his voice and a soft, emotional piano instrumental. 

And that evening, as he shops, Jeonghan trailing along with him, he finds what he’s been looking for.

I’m singing In all of these notes My truth is there Only one in the world It’s a love song for you I want to touch your heart Till there are tears in your heart The one and only best love song for you

Finally. 

Finally, you’re back together again. 

You yack your head off to him in the car, on the way to a hole-in-the-wall diner from the train station. And he listens contentedly, appreciating the way your voice sounds, now not limited by how good his internet connection is, or the audio quality of your phones. 

Your face lights up as you arrive at the small diner, the menu includes some of your favourite comfort foods. Looking over at Jihoon, your heart jumps into your throat at how fondly he gazes at you. You both fluster awkwardly as you enter the restaurant. 

“I have a gift for you,” Jihoon announces after you finish up your meals. It’s late, and the two of you are the only ones left in the restaurant. 

Your eyes widen, and you protest as you wipe some food off of the side of your mouth, but the way your hair falls on your bare face as you sit with one knee up makes the weight in his pocket seem all the more perfect. 

Jihoon chuckles at your protests, and passes his earphones to you. “Listen,” 

Confused and hesitant, you take the earphones, and once you put them on, he plays the track on his phone. As the notes play, you listen to Jihoon sing. You listen to him open his heart for you, you listen to him express every detail of his love and affections, you listen to the pure emotion that he holds for you and you alone. 

Before you know it, the song is over, there are tears trailing down your cheeks, and you sniffle helplessly as Jihoon leans across the table to use his sleeve to wipe away your tears before holding your hand gently. 

“I love you,” Jihoon says, 

You sob, somewhat pathetically, as you laugh, “I love you too,” 

“I,” Jihoon starts, then takes in a shaky breath, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He continues, eyes trained on you as you watch him, listening intently. “You know my heart, and I think that song was an explanation enough. I don’t think I could imagine my life without you.”

You’re frozen, and as he pulls a box out of his pocket you can’t help but grip his hand a little tighter, before letting it go. 

He opens the box, and a simple but elegant ring stands out against the dingy diner, and your lazy day clothes. “So if you’ll have me-”

“Yes,” You laugh wetly, as the tears run down your face, “Yes, of course,” 

“Hey, I haven’t even finished asking you yet,” Jihoon laughs, and sneakily wipes away a few of his own tears before slipping the ring onto your finger. 

Ooh This song’s for you I need nobody but you It’s crazy the way that I feel Oh oh oh I love you, all of you With all my heart, I’m singing this love song

It’s the early hours of the morning as you walk along the Han river, hand in hand, the ring glinting on your finger prettily. The both of you don’t want to go home yet. 

You start humming along to the song Jihoon made for you, he smiles and sings along. As you walk under one of the light up bridges, he pulls you close to him, and presses a soft kiss to your lips. 

My truth is there I want to touch your heart The one and only best love song for you.

[recurring-polynya]

For the AU request, whichever one(s) you prefer (for RenRuki of course):

the X-Men universe

the Mafia/criminal underworld

the circus

as FBI agents (the X-Files world perhaps)

So, I got this ask, and I immediately wanted to go for X-Files, because I was hugely into X-Files when I was a tween/teen, and I think that my actual first published work of fanfic on the internet might actually be X-Files. (I didn’t even post it myself, I was like 12 and I didn’t have the internet at home, but a friend of mine posted it on Usenet for me, I have no idea whatever became of it). Anyway, I was going back and forth in my head who I wanted to be Mulder and who I wanted to be Scully, and then I got this ask:

@ulkoilla​ said:

I though the 10 would be full in about 1 microsecond so I didn’t even try :D This is maybe not AU enough for the purpose but I'd love to see your take on Bleach world where the shinigami work among humans as if they were in gigai -> they'll have to balance the supernatural, perhaps violent elements of their life with the modern day laws and such (like in Supernatural). Renji and Rukia have ofc gotten in trouble with the non-supernatural law (meet: Detective!Aizen?) and are on the run…

It suddenly occurred to me, What If: X-Files World, but Renruki are the cryptids. And it suddenly popped into my head exactly who I wanted to be Mulder. Anyway, I am sorry missrambler, if I messed it all up, I hope you like it anyway.

Also, I somehow thought that I would save myself some trouble by combining two prompts, but then it ended up… really long. (Forty! Eight! Hundred! Words! Go to Talks-Too-Much-Jail, Polynya!!)

PS: This takes place in D.C. because it’s X-Files and also because I am familiar with D.C. and I never get to write about places I know about. A half-smoke is a local delicacy that’s halfway between a hot dog and an Italian sausage. They are delicious.

Read on ao3 or ff.net

👻     👻     👻

Ichigo Kurosaki had known that an office with a view of the Smithsonian might be too much to ask, but he had not expected to take have to take two separate elevators down to sub-basement C, and walk past a storage room, two broom closets and a weird old vending machine full of brands of snacks he swore he hadn’t seen since he was a child.

Maybe Agent Inoue has a huge lab, he told himself. Maybe it needs to be 50 meters below ground because she collides large hadrons down here or so that her work can’t be picked up by spy satellites.

He had to turn sideways to get past a rack of wire shelves full of banker’s boxes, but there, on the other side was a door sporting a handwritten cardboard nameplate reading “Special Agent Orihime Inoue.”

“Come in!” a voice called inside, just as he raised his hand to knock on the door.

Ichigo blinked twice, and then went in.

The office was cluttered, mostly with more cardboard boxes, but books were also stacked precariously on top of boxes on top of books. The walls were plastered with maps and graphs and photographs of hazy blurs in front of staircases. There was a large poster showing a UFO, with the words “I WANT TO BELIEVE” in block caps below it.

A woman with long chestnut hair twisted up into a bun and held in place with three pencils was hunched over a metal box full of diodes and transistors and other things you would buy at Radio Shack. Or rather, that other people would buy at a Radio Shack. Ichigo had never set foot in a Radio Shack in his life.

“Er, good morning,” Ichigo said, as the woman looked up and blinked at him owlishly. “Agent Inoue? I’m Ichigo Kurosaki. I’ve been assigned to work with you.”

“To spy on me, you mean,” Agent Inoue corrected, cheerfully shaking his hand with great vigor.

Ichigo bristled. Yes, he had been directed to ‘provide additional documentation on Agent Inoue’s activities,’ but that hardly counted as spying. She was known to be somewhat scatterbrained, and having an organized person around would probably be a great benefit to her. “If you have any doubts about my qualifications or motivations--”

“Oh, don’t take it personally!” Inoue replied, slotting a lid onto her electronics project, and attacking it vigorously with a jeweler’s screwdriver. “Just because you’re a spy doesn’t mean you aren’t a nice person. Also, I read your file, you have a very interesting background! Degree in literature with a focus on folk legends. Teaching at the academy for the last few years while working on your book.” She took a momentary break from her screwing to fix him with her big, soft brown eyes. “Tell me, Agent Kurosaki, what do you think happens after you die?”

Ichigo froze. “I would be buried? Maybe there would be a funeral first?”

Inoue started laughing so hard that Ichigo was sure he caught a tiny, adorable snort. “Sorry, sorry! I wasn’t clear!” She sniffed, and wiped a tear from her eye. “Do you believe in continued existence after the death of the body? An afterlife, religion-based or otherwise? The existence of ectoplasm, cold spots, spirit photographs, EVP?”

“Are you talking about… ghosts?” Ichigo asked hesitantly.

“Yes!” Orihime replied with a nod. “Ghosts.”

“We-elll…” Ichigo drew out. “I believe that people believe they observe certain phenomena, as part of the cycle of grief and--”

“Just say ‘no’ if you don’t,” Inoue interrupted him.

“Er, no. I don’t.”

“That’s okay. Are you good at carrying heavy things?”

“Am I... I guess?”

“Perfect!” She shoved the box into his arms, and Ichigo’s knees almost buckled under the weight. “Let’s walk and talk, I want to go get a reading over near Franklin Square before 9 am. We’re gonna pass a really good half-smoke cart on the way, do you like half-smokes?”

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“Take a look at this,” Inoue said, her cheek half stuffed with sausage, jabbing a finger at the LED read-out of her mysterious box.

It was rather hard for Ichigo to see, because he was holding the box and the readout was on the other side, but he did his best to crane his neck around. “What am I looking at? The squiggles? I’m sorry, it looks like nothing to me.”

“Exactly right!” Inoue announced, waving her half smoke in the air. “Not a sniff of spiritual residue!”

Ichigo pressed his lips together. “Um… is that good?”

“It is interesting,” Inoue corrected. “Five days ago, a sixty-four year old woman had a heart attack while sitting in that bus shelter.” On every day since, I have been able to record EMF fluctuations, and on Sunday, I was able to get a voice recording that sounded like a woman reciting a grocery list. But this morning, nothing! Nada!”

“Well, uh, ghosts gotta move on eventually, right? Otherwise, just about everywhere would be haunted, right?” It’s not that Ichigo had suddenly started believing ghosts or anything, but there was something about Agent Inoue that just made you want to go along with her and see where all this panned out.

Inoue shot him a finger gun. “Or, they get moved along.” She shoved a folded paper map at him. “You can put that thing down.”

Ichigo eased the Spirit Detect-O 9000, or whatever it was called, to the grass and accepted her map. It was a street map of DC, meant for tourists, emphasizing all the local transit routes and popular attractions. There was also a great loop marked on it in orange highlighter, zig-zagging back and forth through the city. There was a little ‘x’ marked on Franklin Park, with “Tuesday, early morning” written in a bubbly hand.

“What is this?” Ichigo frowned. It didn’t seem to match up with any of the metro or bus lines. It didn’t even match with the sidewalks, it appeared to cut straight through large buildings like the convention center.

“As far as I can tell,” Inoue said, her brown eyes very solemn, “that is the patrol route of our local grim reaper.”

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“So I actually got interested in grim reapers,” Inoue explained, once they were back in the office, “while I was investigating violent ghost phenomena.” She was eating a bag of corn chips that she had gotten from that ancient vending machine by punching it and then shoving her own arm up the chute. (She’d gotten Ichigo a bag, too, but he was too afraid to eat them.)

Ichigo was sitting at a cluttered table that Inoue had told him “could be his desk.” Half of it was taken up by a large aquarium full of rocks and a water bowl, but no life forms that Ichigo could detect. The other half was covered with back issues of “Ghost Hunter Technology” magazine. “You mean like poltergeists?” he asked.

“Not exactly. Poltergeists are noisy, but they aren’t usually able to kill their targets.”

“Kill? Ghosts can’t kill people, aside from, like scaring them to death,” Ichigo scoffed. “I mean, folklorically speaking. As we established earlier, I am not a ghost-believer.”

Inoue tipped her head to the side. “They do, actually, it just tends to get blamed on something else.”

“By ghost-non-believers.”

“By everyone, really, and that’s what’s so strange.” Inoue pulled a fat binder from a stack of seemingly identical ones, and tossed it open in front of Ichigo. “Edison, New Jersey, 2014. An elderly woman dies ‘of a broken heart’ a week after her husband dies of cancer. Coincidentally, a telephone pole falls on her house the same night and rips a hole in her house.” She turned a page. “Norfolk, Virginia, 2017. A young woman dies in what the police rule as a suicide, despite the fact that she made a 911 call 48 hours previous, expressing fear of her ex-boyfriend. Three days later, the boyfriend is dead of mysterious causes. Coincidentally, his apartment complex suffered significant damages from ‘a wild cougar.’”

Ichigo squinted at the pictures. The walls of the building were scored with what did appear to be scratch marks. “Hell of a cougar.”

“Exactly! And I’ve got dozens of these historic cases. But about four months ago, I was able to investigate one myself-- a young man named Joe Wallace. He lives here in the city, over near Dupont Circle. Wallace had cut off his toxic dad years ago, and refused to visit him in the hospital as he was dying. Four days after his father’s death, a truck crashes into his house in the middle of the night and then drives away before the police can arrive.”

“And he died.”

“No!” Inoue held up one finger. “Scratches and bruises, but he doesn’t die!”

“Okay, great. So what does he remember?”

“He remembers a truck crashing into his house.”

Ichigo scratched his chin. “I am confused.”

“Look at this!” Inoue stabbed a finger at the pictures. “These are claw marks, not vehicular wreckage! There’s damage on the second story window! Wallace had scratches and defensive wounds, as if he had been fending off an animal! And look here, at the damage to the walls of the bedroom!”

“What am I looking at?” Ichigo asked, squinting at a photograph that looked like it had been blown up past the point of recognition.

“There were cuts and slashes in the walls and bedding as though someone had been fighting with a sword.”

“Like a Medieval Times sword? Was the guy a Medieval Times enthusiast?”

“More consistent with a katana. Do you like Medieval Times?”

“No one likes Medieval Times.”

“I like Medieval Times. You’ve probably never even been. But back to the ghost! Why would Wallace remember a truck crashing into his house, when nothing about the scene is consistent with that story?”

“He was...lying?”

“His memories were replaced.”

“His memories were replaced,” Ichigo echoed.

“Yes.”

“By… aliens?”

Orihime heaved a deep sigh. “By a grim reaper.”

“A grim reaper with a samurai sword.”

“How on earth did you come to this conclusion?”

Inoue raised one eyebrow. “Because when I placed him under hypnosis, Wallace didn’t remember anything about a truck. He did remember a monster with batwings and a mask made of bone and his dead father’s voice who tried to kill him, except that he was saved by a tall man dressed in black. The man had bright red hair and fought the monster with a sword that was also a whip and then he wiped Wallace’s memories.”

Ichigo stared at her. “You can hypnotize people?”

Inoue gave him a long-suffering face. Ichigo had the sudden flash that he was going to be seeing that face a lot in the days to come. “Yes, I am a certified hypnotist.” Inoue’s phone suddenly started playing “Tubular Bells”. “Oops, that’s an alarm. Come on, we have a meeting with some important people. Do you like diners?”

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Agent Inoue apparently did not care for public transit, but she walked very quickly. Ichigo was concentrating so hard on keeping up with her that he nearly collided with her back when she stopped very suddenly.

“You don’t mind if we make a quick stop, do we?” Inoue asked.

“You said the meeting was with important people.”

“Oh, don’t worry about them!” Inoue pursed her lips. “You see that bodega right there?”

They were in a part of downtown that was mostly mid-to-upscale restaurants and government buildings and FedExes. But sure enough, there was a dingy little bodega nestled between a Mexican-Indian fusion place and an Au Bon Pain, the windows stuffed with t-shirts from the last administration and a variety of cell phone chargers. The overhead sign read “Urahara Shop.”

“Y...eah…” Ichigo replied.

“That place is a hotbed of supernatural activity.”

“Is it?” Ichigo asked.

“I am almost positive that it is a supply point and meeting place for grim reapers, monster slayers, cryptids, alien hunters, and lycanthropes, but the owner is on to me.”

“I see,” Ichigo said levelly.

“Can you go in and pretend to be a customer? They have lots of good candy you can look through. Inoue dug in her purse and came up with a fiver. “Here. Buy a scratch ticket or something.”

“I’m not buying a scratch ticket, they’re a scam.”

“If the big guy is working the counter, he’ll glare at you until you buy something, so be prepared.”

As Ichigo pushed open the door, he realized he’d never actually agreed to any of this. Agent Inoue’s secret hypnosis powers, once again. Whatever. It was a bodega, there were a thousand of them in DC. They all had the same Nats t-shirts and coffee mugs with pictures of the Washington Monument on them. Ichigo pretended to be interested in a rack of comics. He tended to prefer indy comics over the big publishers himself, but even so, he didn’t recognize any of the books. Maybe they were by local authors.

Up at the front of the shop, a tiny, dark-haired woman was giving whatfor to the man behind the counter, a tall fellow with pale, straw-colored hair sticking out in tufts from under the saddest hat Ichigo had ever seen, a shapeless, battered bucket, striped green and white.

“Well, I can sell you a new battery for your phone, Miss Kuchiki, maybe that would help.”

“Not if it only lasts as long as the last one you sold me! I really need to get in touch with my partner, except that even if I could get my phone working again, his battery is probably dead because everything you sell is the same crap!”

“Ah, that’s too bad! You know, I think Mr. Abarai was in here a few days ago… I wasn’t in at the time, but Jinta said he came in, asking about…”

The man trailed off, and Ichigo glanced up to see the shopkeeper looking directly at him.

“...metrocards. But as you know, we don’t sell metrocards anymore.”

The woman made an aggravated noise. “You’re so useless! If I write him a damned note, will you give it to him if he comes in?”

“Oh, of course! Anything for you, Miss Kuchiki!”

The conversation trailed off as the woman hunched over the counter to angrily scratch out a note.

Ichigo stuffed the comic he was flipping through back on its rack. He skipped the enormous display of bedazzled flip-flops and started perusing the surprisingly extensive selection of gum.

“Here!” the woman finished and shoved her note at the shopkeeper. “You’re the worst, you know that?”

“Have a wonderful day!” the shopkeeper tootled, giving her a little finger wave.

Ichigo felt bad for the woman. “Er, excuse me?” he said as she passed.

She turned to scowl at him. For such a tiny person, she seemed to contain a remarkable amount of rage.

“Do you need to call someone? You can use my phone, if you’d like.” He held it out like an offering.

The woman blinked at him for a moment.

“I didn’t mean to be nosy! You were just kind of loud and you sounded worried about your, um, partner.”

“I’m not worried about him, I just need to find him.” Her face softened. “Thanks, Mister, but I can’t reach him on a regular phone. Don’t worry, I’ll track him down eventually.” She turned to leave, then stopped to jab an accusatory finger at Ichigo. “And that’s professional partner, not… you know! Whatever!” She stomped out.

What a strange, tiny person.

Ichigo selected a gum and walked up to the counter.

“Oooh, dragonberry lime, good choice!” the man trilled. “Anything else I can get you? Bottled water? Fanny pack? Spare phone battery?”

“I’ll pass,” Ichigo replied dryly.

“I imagine it’s against FBI policy to let a stranger use your cell phone,” the shopkeeper said sweetly.

Ichigo’s brows furrowed. “This is my personal phone. And how did you…?”

The man gave a chortling laugh that sent shivers down Ichigo’s spine. “Because headquarters is three blocks away and only an FBI agent would wear a suit that square.”

Ichigo took his change and his gum and shoved them both in his pocket. “Yeah, well, your hat sucks.”

The man laughed harder. “Doesn’t it, though?”

Once he was outside again, Ichigo handed Inoue the gum and her change. “The owner of that place is a creep.”

“The guy in the green and white hat?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s Urahara. You’re right, he’s the owner. Were there any other customers?”

“Just the short lady. You must have seen her come out. She was ripping Urahara a new one for some dodgy cell phone battery he sold her. I think she must have been NSA or something. She said she was trying to get ahold of her partner, but she needed a special phone.” As he said it, Ichigo realized it would be pretty odd for an NSA agent to be buying cell phone batteries from some shady bodega.

“No one came out,” Inoue replied.

“She definitely did! I heard the bell over the door ring.”

Inoue regarded Ichigo very seriously. “Agent Kurosaki. I was standing here the whole time. You were the only person who went in or out.” She looked at the gum. “Ooh! Dragonfruit lime! Do you want some?”

  👻     👻     👻

They were late to the meeting.

Two men were waiting for them in the back corner booth. One of them had pinched, pointy features and piercing blue eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. His chin-length haircut was pretty dramatic, but not as dramatic as his pure white trench coat. A cup of black coffee sat on the faded Formica table in front of him, but it didn’t look like it had been touched.

His companion was an enormous, good-looking Latino who was shoveling pancakes into his face.

“Inoue,” the dramatic guy said. “Who’s this?”

“This is my new partner, Kurosaki,” Inoue replied. “Kurosaki, this is Uryuu Ishida,” she indicated the white trenchcoat guy, “and Chad,” Mr. Pancakes.

“Also known as the ‘Lone Archers,’” Ishida specified. “We are apolitical actors who are interested in revealing the truths that are regularly hidden from the general populace by secret forces that conspire within the machinery of the American government.”

“You can just call me Chad,” said Chad.

“Good morning!” the waitress said. “Can I get you folks anything?”

“Oh, yes! I’m getting mozzarella sticks! Do you like mozzarella sticks, Kurosaki? They’re so good here!”

“So’re the pancakes,” added Chad.

“I’ll just have a coffee,” Ichigo announced. He glanced at Ishida’s cup. “Black.”

“Double mozzarella sticks, please!” Inoue chorused. “And a cherry coke!” She leaned over to Ichigo and spoke out of the side of her mouth. “I’ll give you a mozzarella stick.”

“Do you want some pancake?” Chad offered to Ishida. “I never think to offer.”

Ishida waved him off with a hand. “Agent Inoue. At great personal peril, I was able to obtain a sample of the item we discussed.” He slid a small paper packet across the table. “There are two tablets inside, but one should be sufficient for your purposes.” Ishida leaned forward, his mouth set in a firm line. “I was cautioned very strongly against using this, unless one had a firm plan for handling the… consequences.”

“I understand,” Inoue replied, stuffing the envelope into her purse.

Ichigo wanted to ask more questions, but the conversation shifted very quickly to some USGS floodplain maps that Ishida wanted Inoue to obtain for him that were apparently not available from the public webportals, allegedly because of filesize. Ichigo could practically hear the air quotes around the word “filesize.”

“We’re going to look for Jersey Devils next weekend,” Chad explained, sounding pretty excited about it.

“There’s only one, Chad,” Ishida corrected. “It’s just ‘Jersey Devil.’”

“There could be more than one,” Chad shrugged.

Thirty minutes later, they departed. Inoue had an order of mozzarella sticks in her purse. Ichigo had an armload of backissues of the Lone Archers’ ‘zine, which was, conveniently enough, titled The Lone Archer. There was no doubt in his mind that at least Ishida was completely off his rocker. The jury was still out on Chad… he struck Ichigo as the sort of guy who just went along with Ishida’s nonsense because he was a good friend and also liked taking camping trips and doing layout for ‘zines.

“So what was that thing they gave you?” Ichigo pestered. The idea of that little paper packet had been burning a hole in his brain the entire time.

“You busy tonight?” Inoue asked, raising an eyebrow slyly. “Between 10 and 11?”

“What are we doing?” Ichigo asked cautiously, wondering if he would be able to charge his time.

“We’re going to try and attract an angry ghost.”

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“Are you… sure this is… a good idea?” Ichigo asked for the sixteenth time, as Inoue focused the thermal camera on him.

They were in an old, abandoned lot that had formerly served as a Metro service facility. It was pretty spooky all on its own, filled with train cars too dilapidated for salvage.

It was 10:25pm. Inoue had set up no less than 17 different pieces of ghost detection equipment. Ichigo was questioning his life choices.

“You told me you don’t believe in ghosts. If ghosts don’t exist, then what could possibly go wrong?” Inoue posed.

“Well… that’s true,” Ichigo granted. “And, for the record, I still do not believe in ghosts. But in the Pascal’s wager sense of things, I am considering the ramifications of what happens if there are ghosts that exist, regardless of my belief in them.”

“And?” Inoue asked.

“Well, you said that these ghosts have hurt and killed people before. It seems like trying to attract one without having any method of, um, fighting it, seems kind of… irresponsible?”

“Ah, but you see, I’ve specifically picked this time and location to coincide with the grim reaper patrol routes I’ve been mapping out. Our friendly neighborhood psychopomp ought to show up just on schedule to fight the angry ghost for us. We’re doing them a favor, as I see it.”

“How so?” Ichigo exclaimed.

“It’s not like we’re creating an angry ghost out of nowhere. We’re just attracting an existing one to our location. We’re saving the grim reaper the trouble of having to hunt it down.”

Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was it so difficult to argue with Inoue? Possibly because she was so incredibly earnest in all her beliefs, and all her arguments were in completely good faith, it’s just that her logic came from some other dimension. This woman has solved multiple, high-profile murders, including several that were ice cold, Ichigo reminded himself. So she’s quirky. I am sure I can learn a lot from her.

“Okay, everything is in place!” Inoue announced, placing her hand on her hips. “Go hide behind that pile of moldy seats!”

Inoue took Ichigo’s place at the center of her recording equipment. “Agent Orihime Inoue speaking,” she said, for posterity. “It is 10:28pm. I am crushing one tablet of a substance called ‘Hollow Bait.’” She crunched the little white tablet, which looked an awful lot like an Alka-Seltzer, between her fingers, and then made a flying leap for the rotting pile of damp, orange upholstery that Ichigo was crouched behind.

“So, just out of curiosity,” Ichigo started. “How long would we have to wait, theoretically, with nothing happening, before we would declare this a bust?”

Inoue pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Usually, I would give it about two hours, but if you’ve got somewhere to be, I don’t mind if you leave early. It is nice to have company for a change.”

“No, I don’t have anywhere else to be,” Ichigo replied. “I mean… sleeping, I guess.”

Inoue gave a charming little laugh. “I don’t sleep very well. And hunting for ghosts is more interesting than most of the stuff on Hulu.”

The way that she said it gave Ichigo the distinct impression that Inoue was, well, lonely. But that didn’t seem correct. She was weird, sure, but she was also friendly and talkative, and, er, well, she was extremely cute. Surely she had tons of friends.

“How’d you get into ghost hunting, anyway?” he tried to be conversational.

“Hmm,” Inoue hummed noncommittally. “Let’s just say there was an incident in my teen years, where my memories don’t match up to the property damage.”

Oh. Ichigo wondered if he should apologize, when suddenly, a cold chill ran down his spine and a sound like a roar echoed in his ears, except he didn’t actually hear anything. “Did you hear that?” he gasped.

“It’s the EMF detector,” Inoue nodded, scrambling for the reader and Ichigo realized he could hear a faint beeping.

“No, not the beeping, it was like a… a… scream…”

“You heard a scream?”

“I didn’t exactly…” Ichigo trailed off as he heard two more, coming from different directions. “There’s more than one. Monster screams. Not human screams.”

Inoue stared at him, eyes wide. “I don’t hear anything. Have you ever been tested for latent psychic ability?”

There was a sudden change in the air pressure, and a fetid, rotting smell, even worse than the Metro seats. Ichigo grabbed Inoue by the shoulders and rolled out of the way, just as the pile of junk they had been crouched behind compacted like it had been through a car crusher. Or smashed by a giant foot.

“Whoa!” Inoue exclaimed, trying to push Ichigo off of her so she could see what was going on.

Ichigo blinked through the night. He couldn’t see anything, but there was an area of space that looked thick and hazy, like it wasn’t refracting the harsh glow of the sodium street lights quite correctly.

“We have to get out of here,” Ichigo gasped.

“Can you see it?” Inoue asked, her eyes wide and excited.

“Not-- not really,” Ichigo replied, pulling at her arm. The air blurred, and Ichigo had the sense the thing was jumping at them. He could tell it was fast, but he couldn’t see it, he didn’t know what to--

“Howl, Zabimaru!”

It was both there and not quite there, a liquid blade made of glass and starlight, that snapped through the air at the invisible thing. The monster bellowed, and whipped around, charging at a dark figure standing atop one of the old Metro cars.

“Pick on someone your own size, ugly!” the man bellowed, and as Ichigo squinted, he realized that their savior was dressed all in black. He was tall, and his hair was pulled back in a spiky ponytail. It was bright red. He was also wearing sunglasses, even though it was the middle of the night. They were pushed up on top of his head, to be fair, but Ichigo had a feeling this detail would stick with him.

“You can see that guy, right?” Ichigo asked Inoue desperately. “The guy who’s fighting the ghost? The guy that looks just like the guy in your report?”

“There’s a guy?” Inoue asked. “No. Where is he? Can you usually see ghosts?”

“I don’t even believe in ghosts!”

“Well, maybe you don’t believe in them because you can see them and you don’t want to, did you ever think of that?”

“I don’t think now is the time to interrogate my personal traumas!”

Suddenly, there was another drop in pressure, and Ichigo had the sense of heavy breathing and sharp teeth. “Inoue. I think there’s another one.”

“Well, can you get the guy to come fight this one, too?”

“He seems busy,” Ichigo squeaked.

Something black flashed by his vision, and there was a loud crack and a sound of something screeching in pain. A second dark-clad person had arrived, landing softly on sandaled feet. There was the same unreality to her, a sense that she wasn’t entirely there, as well as a certain familiarity that Ichigo couldn’t place. Her sword was bright in the darkness, like moonlight reflecting on snow.

“Oi, there you are, you big dummy!” she shouted at the first man and Ichigo realized with a jolt that it was the angry woman from the bodega. “I’ve been looking for you for four days!”

“I had a problem with my gigai and maybe you should check your texts once in a while!” the tall guy shouted back. Ichigo refused to think of him as a grim reaper. A grim reaper would not wear sunglasses.

“My phone died!”

“Can we-- ow! -- discuss this later? I’m glad you’re okay, I missed you. Why are there so many Hollows in this train yard?”

“You’re such a sap! And the Hollows are here because some stupid humans got ahold of some Hollow bait.” The woman turned, and glared at Ichigo. Her eyes burned with blue flame, like the burner of a gas stove.

That would have been the last thing Ichigo remembered, if he had actually remembered it, or any of the things that came before it.

  👻     👻     👻

Ichigo was sitting at his desk.

Inoue was sitting at her desk.

The sun was streaming in the window. The clock on Ichigo’s phone read 7:12am.

Inoue frowned. She examined a coffee cup on her desk. She took a hesitant sip, and then made a face. “Why are we here?” she wondered softly.

“I hate to pull an all-nighter,” Ichigo said, stretching, “but it sure does feel good to be caught up on paperwork!”

Inoue regarded him. “Kurosaki,” she said, “how long have you worked here?”

Ichigo frowned. “Well, I guess this is my second day.”

“Right. So… how much paperwork did you have to catch up on?”

Ichigo blinked. He very distinctively recalled working through the night-- his hand cramping, the incredibly spicy Thai food they’d ordered, Inoue’s seemingly infinite Boy Bands of the 90’s playlist. “I… was helping you, I guess?” Come to think of it, why was he filling out paperwork by hand, anyway? His laptop sat next to him, the lid closed. It wasn’t even plugged in.

Inoue’s fist slammed down onto her desk. “Gosh darnit! They wiped my memories again!!”

[anangelicday-mrwolf]

Wolfsbane : Noblesse Fanfic (post-ending)

(previous chapter)

Chapter 48 – Much More Dangerous Than They Had Envisioned

“Welcome.”

The doctor greeted Tao and M-21 as soon as their shoes tapped past KSA’s front door.

The two men were donned in their signature black suit, the uniform of school guards and RK.

Yet unlike before, their shoulders were heavy with frigid atmosphere oh-so-visible-and-tangible.

The doctor felt nothing, although the situation was more than enough to make him feel disappointed that they are being icy to him.

He knew he was in no position to throw such emotional tantrum.

As for Tao and M-21, they could see.

They could see from the doctor’s superficially well-mannered attitude that he was very inclined to greet them with Taesik as well but could not.

It is late night, with most personnel of KSA back at home. However, words will surely spread once even a single soul spots how both KSA’s director and doctor are groveling at someone at the door, and it would be only a matter of time until every soul figures out that something is going on in their nest.

As much as they are ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-percent sure what the circumstances are all about, they did not want the lesser people to find out before the remaining 0.01% is completely mapped.

Also, in consideration of the weight of the circumstances, it was only natural for them to remain cautious until the very last moment.

“Would you like to go there now...?”

Usually he would have been referring to the director’s office. But this time he meant otherwise, and they did not need to exchange words to know that.

The purpose of Tao and M-21’s visit lay in Yuhyung’s lab.

Tao insisted they search the place before its owner returns to Korea, which gave them only a night to carry out the task.

For that reason the doctor did not wait for their response, although he did ask for it.

Which is why the waiting time inside the ascending elevator could not possibly be more awkward and stifling.

Which was only natural for the doctor to try to let in some air to the murky atmosphere expected only at the runway towards the battlefield.

“Uh... By the way, is there something up with Mr. Takio?”

M-21 started upon the name of his teammate, and Tao followed suit by rolling his eyes in a curious fashion.

Takio was tending to his duty outside during the time they were unveiling most of Yuhyung’s secret at company of Lunark.

When they decided they should head to KSA, he did not hesitate to volunteer as well.

To their concern and puzzlement, he was nowhere to be seen, but they could not afford to wait for him.

At last they made it to Yuhyung’s lab, enclosed by a new alloy door that replaced the one that Yeonsu stomped on.

The doctor unlocked the room with his employee key card, and Tao and M-21 held their breath as they directed their scrutinizing gaze into the dark lab.

Overall, it was basically a replica of the scenes the two men had familiarized themselves with during their times at Union.

But of course, there was a difference in size and magnificence, probably because of difference in resources.

Soon enough their hands got busy as they committed themselves in heated search through desks, drawers, and bookshelves for what they could spy with their eyes.

Which did not surrender anything, to nobody’s surprise.

“Yes, this happens to be an official research content we are running at the moment.”

They wasted their time asking for doctor’s confirmation with the documents, graphs, and printed screenshots they could pick up, to ultimately return them to their original places.

Naturally their eyes were drawn to the computer in slumber.

“Do you think he left something if anything in there? Based on the series of testaments, he may be a hopeless clown in daily life, but even you admit that he is no ordinary person when it comes to research.”

“He must have. Computer-friendly’s that practically treat computers as equal to their flesh and bones – yes, the sort like me – tend to leave in one way or another the most important data inside their computers. Partially because our pride depends on how well we build the firewalls and vaccine programs against potential thefts or leaks.”

Tao quoted with a voice close to desperation than confidence.

After he pushed the button to awaken the computer, they came to think that perhaps Yuhyung added a feature that automatically detonates his computer when it is turned on during his absence.

Which is why for the 3 seconds of waiting their heads whirred with thousands of scenarios, of which none was brought into reality, to their mild astonishment.

Notwithstanding, the very first screen that welcomed them froze them in their shoes.

“Password...?”

They could not understand how they could forget.

Even outside the industry of espionage or secret intelligence, in modern world personal information is held as valuable as a common gold mine, and it is only customary for people to lock their computers with personal passwords.

The fact that they were staring at none other than Yuhyung’s computer fanned their anxiety.

“...I think I’ve seen the similar kit at Union. No, this isn’t a repertoire exclusive to the Union. You know, the data are all blown up if anything other than the set password is input.”

M-21 diverted his enlightenment-seeking eyes towards Tao.

“I can dissect this thing if I want to. But in the meantime, he might receive an automated notification on the infiltration attempt on his ser...”

“Excuse me. One moment.”

The doctor finally broke his silence to step in.

Without even glancing at Tao, who was shoved to the side before he knew it, the doctor typed in three letters strange to Tao’s and M-21’s eyes.

The monitor blinked to give way to the screen plastered with a variety of icons, to Tao’s delight.

“How did you know what the password is?”

“...I chose the name of the colleague who used to be closest to Yuhyung. He was sacrificed during massive city destruction, the inception of Yuhyung’s dark ambition.”

The atmosphere sunk into the dark faster than light, and Tao warmed up the joints of his fingers and in less than a breath opened the file Yuhyung had most frequently rummaged.

“What in the...?!”

Tao moaned, skimming and comprehension over as anticipated from an expert, and the doctor and M-21 madly wiped the monitor with their eyes, to not long after unhinge their jaws in mimicry of Tao’s expression.

“...Why don’t we talk to the director now? I don’t think this is something we can handle by ourselves.”

“...Very well. This way.”

The three humans trotted across the hallway, their movements so swift and forceful that anybody could have seen that nothing could stop them.

They soon came face-to-face with Taesik, his facial profile petrified to maximum due to the fact that they entered before the sound of their knocks was completely gone.

“So, what did you find?”

Prior to their visit, he was already notified of the contents they deduced with Lunark.

And of course, his mind fried by utmost fluster, he appealed how much he did not want to believe them.

Which did not last long, given that they were from the RK and Lunark herself.

Nevertheless, it was obvious he could not throw away the last glimmer of hope, made so very pronounced by his fingers clutching the edge of his desk like a falcon, gaze precariously ghosting over their faces, and body crooked forward like a hunchback.

Feeling slightly guilty at how he must totally annihilate his meaningless hopes, Tao unzipped his lips for the testimony.

“Please listen carefully, sir. I am terribly sorry to say this, but... It looks like Mr. Jang has been in secret alliance with the Union.”

At then Tao and M-21 got to learn how a rapid cancer patient diagnosed with less than a day to survive would appear, seemingly every shadow and shade in the universe transported onto his face, his lips abruptly stupefied and unable to demand if they can swear.

The doctor, who had also seen through the change with his boss, added with a voice barely free from a quake.

“It’s true, sir. It’s more than a presumption. We just found from his computer contents available only once one comes in contact with the Union.”

“I-is that true? Just what did you find...?”

“We already heard from Ms. Lunark what Mr. Jang had gone through during destruction of Seoul. And this ideology he has come to harbor ever since.”

Taesik gave a tense nod, reminded of Yuhyung’s idea of mandatory body modification for all incoming agents, which never fail to give chills to every piece of his spine whenever his memories are refreshed.

“And Mr. Jang had not aborted his idea. He’s been proceeding with a secret study, based on his major and his specialty in KSA, with help from the data from Union.”

“S-so... What is this data from the Union...?”

“Simply put, it’s... It’s rapid body modification. Or should I say, rapid pseudo-body modification?”

“What do you mean...?”

“As you’d know, the amount of resources required for body modification is beyond any human imagination. Especially time. Even perfectly modified humans would often take time to stay under observations or experiments or sign up for multiple modifications. Personally, I’d say time is the most essential resource in body modification.”

Taesik kept attendance to Tao’s words, his countenance full of inquiries.

“Which is why Union in the past studied a way to shorten the amount of time needed for body modification. It happened before I found myself at the Union. And before the M-series project, of which M-21 was part. The Union wanted to find a way to induce rapid physical changes that will temporarily yield power somewhat reminiscent of those from modified humans prepared from lab tables and tanks.”

“Is it safe to assume it’s a mechanism related to how DA-5 used to enhance physical qualities with pills?”

“Precisely. In fact, D that DA-5 used to ingest is what Aris refined from this project after it was canceled. I figured it out while hacking Union’s past data for fun. The purpose of this project was to provide weapon for humans whose bodies are clean from modifications to exercise superhuman power, no matter how small.”

“Listening to you, there’s no doubt it’s a useful technique. But is there a reason why this project was canceled?”

“As Union agents formed this unofficial caste system among them that separated the modified from the unmodified, voices against blessing ordinary humans with powers of modified humans became dominant. Not to mention how causing physical changes begotten solely through body modification on unmodified humans as well was extremely unstable and full of side effects. So it was only logical for the researchers to shred and burn their papers and charts. No one before Aris managed to see the light in this study.”

“...I see. That reminds me of this gas that Mr. Jang had once been developing.”

Tao, M-21, and the doctor flinched as soon as Taesik nodded and quoted.

“...Actually, we have something to tell you regarding that weapon.”

“We found traces that prove he had been handling the file on that weapon until the moment he left for Lukedonia. And we found traces of edit and copy from the files on research on implanting artificial bodies with artificial intelligence.”

Taesik’s face turned pale, other faces just as pallid.

A Union study that sought a way to imbue unmodified humans with powers on par with those of the least qualified modified humans.

A study on a weapon that will work only on designated targets, from none other than a person who advocated obligatory body modification for prospective KSA agents.

The data on the former was discovered inside the computer that belongs to a person who pursued the latter.

To top it off, Yuhyung’s research files on artificial intelligence was edited and copied, when they all remember that Rael and werewolves had violent contact with Union weapons against heads of clans.

So there was no more reason for them to stick to suspicions.

“If only I had examined his USB... It turned out that the reason why QuadraNet failed to come to life lay in Mr. Jang’s USB, which was revealed to be the secret USB once used by the Union. There was network hacking program hidden inside, and I’m sure he planted the program himself as he was working at Lukedonia and the werewolf realm. A secret USB can bypass most of vaccine programs utilized nowadays because it’s too outdated. Though it’s partly because I trusted him too much and deemed usual check-up useless.”

“It’s not your fault, sir. We should have been more careful with...”

Nothing will change even if they exchange apologies and forgiveness; the best they can do right now is to prevent something that might happen very soon.

With conclusion drawn in gloomy acceptance, Taesik bobbed his head.

“Can you get him now?”

“We should. We must.”

“We’ll be counting on you two.”

Just like that, Tao and M-21 turned on their heels, to catch the man who turned out to be much more dangerous than they had envisioned.

*****

As KSA was staging a moment as fatal and vicious as the moment a bomb is about to fall onto ice, Yuhyung finally made it.

Once again riding Rael’s back in a comical way, his face however was not at all comical.

His shaking hand was grasping his personal device that was playing the footage sent from his lab, equipped with cameras that had been working just a minute ago.

(next chapter)

The rapid pseudo-body modification is my creation, of course. But I’d say it wouldn’t be strange to find out Union actually had such technology, given that DA-5 could enhance their physical capabilities by ingesting the D. Actually, I had forgotten about the DA-5 when I began composing this chapter, and I remembered what DA-5 could do in the middle of my composition lol. Anyways, now the RK know, and Yuhyung knows as well. All that’s left is for them to capture and pummel the cause of all this, but as you’d know, it won’t be easy. Yes, I’m saying the RK and their allies would have a really hard time following this chapter. Sorry, my beloved characters. :’(  I hope you’d stay tuned for more!

[a65232-joshywoshy]

Colorado Crybaby

Chapter 12

          Penny carefully maneuvered the van out of the parking garage. Having lived in the Denver area all her life, she knew exactly where Buckley was from here. She had glanced at the paperwork in the folder she was given while walking out to the van. They would enter through the main gate on East Mississippi, but from there, she would have to ask. The only other clue from that point was:

     Phoenix Project

     Sunlight Tower

     Nth Floor

     Penny had no idea what that meant. She asked everyone else in the van about it, but no one had been on base to begin to theorize it. Rachael read the papers as they drove. Robert wanted to look at them but got carsick easily, so he decided it was best not to. Kim glanced over the information, but didn’t feel motivated enough to memorize anything.

    “So… Kim. Welcome to Imagine Innovations. I promise you, this is not something that happens all the time around here. You’re very special to go on a trip like this. I’ve been with this company for years and I’ve only just now gone to a special project like this.” Penny seemed slightly in shock that they had gotten this opportunity. She had heard that only the best at the entire company had ever gotten a chance to assist on a special project.

     “I see.” Kim said. “Well, this is definitely a first day of work that I’ll never forget.” She was smiling, happy to be a part of this adventure.

     Rachael was in full detective mode. She studied the papers, trying her best to memorize them. The papers mostly detailed the project goals and staff involved. There was very little detail about this ‘Computer’ they would be working on. Occasionally she would glance up to see where they were, but she was already lost. She hadn’t lived in Denver long enough to memorize any major roads yet. For this particular day, she was relying very heavily on Penny. Even though Rachael was the second most experienced in her department, she felt as though she was least experienced with navigating this city. She wasn’t good at navigating any city, even her hometown, without some kind of assistance.

     “Kim, he said you were good with computers, right?” Robert was curious about her abilities.

     “I’m good at software, and only on certain operating systems. I’m not the best with hardware. Hopefully this is just some kind of server rack or something. I just don’t understand why their I.T. guys can’t figure this out. And if they can’t figure it out, what makes us special?” Kim didn’t really feel like she had anything of value to contribute to the group.

     “And why ask a guy with medical experience for help?” Robert asked rhetorically. “I don’t know if the boss man is a genius or crazy. I’m really leaning towards crazy at this point.”

     “We should talk to the project lead when we get there.” Rachael was still looking at the paperwork. “James, is his name. He should know how we can help.”

     “That sounds like a plan.” Penny didn’t look away from the road. Most of her attention was on the road. She wasn’t driving recklessly, but she made sure not to sit behind slow traffic. There was an odd sort of pressure to do well for Mr. Pendleton that she felt. It was like she wanted to make a parent proud. He wasn’t her father, by any stretch of the imagination, but she felt it nonetheless. 

     There was some time where they all rode in silence. Everyone was thinking, trying to piece together as much as they could in an effort to solve a puzzle that wasn’t even in front of them. After a few more minutes, they arrived at the main gate.

     “Good afternoon, Ma’am. What brings you here today?” Military Police in fatigues were stationed here, checking all vehicles coming and going.

     “We’re here for the Phoenix project. We’re with Imagine Innovations.” She showed the man her I.D. that she pulled out of the manila folder, then the cover sheet of the documents. The man spoke into his radio, communicating their arrival to some official on the base.

     “Unit three niner, party of 4 headed to sierra 1. How copy?”

     The reply was louder than his voice, simply because the radio was loud. Penny and Rachael could clearly hear the voice on the other side.

     “Copy. Standby for escort. We’re putting fresh eyes on sunlight.”

     “Solid copy. Standing by for escort.” The man looked up at Penny. “Ma’am, If you could wait here, we’re gonna have you escorted in to where you need to go, okay?”

     “Yes, sir.” Penny had never been around this kind of military presence before. Neither had Rachael. They both looked nervous. Kim was paying attention, but had seen too many military movies and knew this was all standard routine.

     “I have a cousin that I visit at Fort Bragg all the time,” Robert said. “This is standard stuff.”  

     A military humvee pulled up on the other side of the gate and turned around to face into the base. 

     “If you’ll follow them. Have a good day, folks.” The officer backed away from the van and Penny drove forward. The humvee drove ahead with Penny keeping pace behind. 

     “I’ve never been escorted into a military base before.” Penny said. She was still slightly nervous, but she also had an excited energy about her now. 

     “It’s just like the movies.” Kim said, smiling.

     They drove only a few minutes before arriving at a tall building where the humvee parked. Penny parked the van and everyone got out. A man stepped out of the humvee who wasn’t wearing fatigues. 

     “Good morning, folks. I’m James Howard, the project lead here. Come on in.”

     Everyone exchanged good morning’s and handshakes, then they followed him inside the building.

     “We’re going to need you to leave all your belongings here. You won’t be needing them.” He motioned to a folding table set up in the lobby as a makeshift staging area. “This includes cell phones, wallets, everything. It’s all in the interest of preserving intellectual property, of course. Okay. With everything here, we’ll head on down.”

     After placing all of their stuff on the table, they followed him down a short hallway to a single elevator with very wide doors. The wood grain in the elevator and the architectural design of the building seemed to suggest that the building had been built in the 1950’s. It seemed to have not been well past that date either, as a few cobwebs lined the ceiling corners. As the elevator doors shut, James put in a key above the buttons and turned it. He then pushed the button for floor “N”. 

     “Finally, some privacy.” James turned to face everyone as the elevator went down, no doubt towards a basement of some sort. “Welcome to project Phoenix, a joint collaboration between Imagine Innovations and the 566th Intelligence Squadron of the United States Air Force. This is the brainchild of Howard Pendleton and Doctor Javier Vasquez. You’ll probably understand this better as a holodeck type device. Basically, the thing on Star Trek where you can tell a computer to put you in any time or space and boom, you’re there. The only problem is... “ James chuckled “it’s kind of embarrassing, but the most brilliant mechanical and I.T. minds in the state can’t figure out how to make it work. So we needed a different approach. Completely off the wall, out of the box ideas. That’s where you 4 come in. You think differently than we do…”

     Behind him, the elevator doors opened to a room with pipes, wires and cables and panels lining every wall. Buzzing and humming could be heard everywhere. LED panels and laptop screens were everywhere. Six technicians were all busy with their tasks, none of whom looked at the visitors. They were all too focused.

     “So… think differently.” James gestured to the room. “I suppose we could start in here, though.”

     In the middle of the room was a smaller room with a single, heavy door on it. Inside the room, the walls, floor and ceiling were featureless save for their dark green color. 

     “This is the room where a user will experience the holodeck type environment. Simplex 1000 can give you a brief overview.” James ushered them in the small room.

     A computer generated voice sounded from speakers buried within a maze of wires and cables nearby. “Welcome to the Phoenix: Post Holographic Optical Enhancement of Neurologically Imaged Xerography. Original designation, Simplex 1000. Programmed to manage the hologram and monitor conditions of human occupants such to allow their continued safety and enjoyment.”

     “Whoa. This is Star Trek stuff.” Rachael said. 

     “Yep. That’s what we do.” James explaining things as if this complicated machinery was his toaster; a simple machine that everyone should know and understand. “Could you all just hang out in there for a sec? We’re going to start one of the support machines. You’ll hear some humming. Nothing to worry about. I need to get something behind the door, too. So I’m going to move it real quick. It doesn’t lock, if you’re worried about that.”

     They stepped inside the large, dark green colored room. It had featureless metal walls, interrupted only by the entry door. James closed the door behind them. It was pitch black.

     "It's so dark in here." Robert said quietly. His voice boomed in the enclosed space. "Why did we agree to this again?"

     "Because money pays the bills and the CEO thinks we’re talented," Penny said. She started to sound a little stressed. She didn't like the dark. She wasn't afraid of it, but this kind of dark was beyond nighttime darkness. There was no light to see at all.

     A humming began and it started to grow in loudness and intensity.

     "I guess that’s the machine James mentioned?" Kim said.

     Everything went white.

     To Rachael's horror, the room was now bright white and everyone was gone. The humming had stopped. There was no sound at all. The metallic smell was gone, too. There was… nothing. Rachael didn't feel anything touching her feet anymore, either.

     My feet? I was wearing shoes. She looked down to see her bare feet. She had been wearing shoes when she walked in. Her pants were gone as well, but around her hips was a diaper. Her shirt was replaced with a yellow crop top with a rubber duck on it. I certainly wasn't wearing that! Her thighs were odd, too. They were much fatter than normal. She looked at her hands and arms, too. Her hands were more bony and knobby than before. Her arms were fatter. What happened? Why did I change? Where's Penny?

     She frantically looked around at everything. There were no shadows, no features, just white. There wasn't even a floor. Rachael wasn't falling, but she felt… suspended, as if in water.

     Where's Penny? 

     Rachael called out. "Penny? Kim? Anybody?"

    Only silence. She looked down again. She was still in a diaper. She slowly reached her odd hand toward the diaper to touch it. Her hand went inside of it.

     A hologram. Her hand had gone inside of it, as if it wasn't there. But what about her hands? Her thighs now seemed much larger as well. She slowly reached down to her thigh. Instead of the skin she expected to feel, she felt the fabric of her suit pants. So I AM still wearing my clothes. I just… look different. Where is Penny?

     She called out to Penny again, louder. She listened carefully for banging or some other kind of noise that might mean someone was here. Still silent. The thought of Penny dying crossed Rachael's mind. It was a terrible thought. I miss her, Rachael thought. I want her back. I need to see her again.

     With that, Penny popped into existence to Rachael's left.

     "PENNY!!! Are you okay?"

     "Rachael!" Penny looked over at Rachael. "Yeah. I'm fine. Whoa. You look, different. That's a cute diaper. Where did you… what happened to your hands and legs?!?!"

     Rachael now knew that whatever she felt, Penny could see what Rachael was seeing. "Nothing, actually. Your diaper's pretty cute too."

     A similar situation had happened to Penny as well. Her breasts got bigger and her legs now had cellulite all over them. Her feet had become much larger. She was wearing a slightly too short baby blue t-shirt.

      "Ah!" Penny blushed as she tried to cover her diaper. "What do you mean, 'Nothing happened'? Look at you!"

     "It's a hologram or something. Watch." Rachael slowly lowered her flattened palm over the front of her diaper. When her hand should have stopped on top of the diaper, it kept going, eventually disappearing completely behind it.

     Penny did the same with herself. "Mine too. This is weird."

     "It's some kind of holographic projection, I guess. The diapers make sense if someone's messing with us, but I don't understand my weird hands and your cottage cheese legs."

     "No way." Penny looked over their bodies again. "I've never told anyone, but I always thought my legs looked fat, and that my boobs were too big for my body. But that means that either someone knows more about us than we realize, or they've got a direct feed into our brains. Where's Kim?" Penny called out to her "Kim! Where are you?"

     "Did you hear me when I was calling you a few minutes ago?" Rachael stopped to think about it. Maybe she's right in front of us. Penny was to my left when we walked in. That should mean that Kim is right in front of us. Rachael tried walking. It was as if something was holding her in place. She could move freely, but there was nothing for her to move on or against.

      "No, I didn't." Penny was trying to move around now, "Why can't we move?!"

      "So Kim probably can't hear us. How long was it before you saw me?"

     "A few minutes?"

     "Did you do anything in particular to get to me?"

     "I tried swimming to you, but that didn't work."

     "What about mentally? Did you do anything special mentally or emotionally?"

     "Not really. I don't think."

      "Hmmm… You showed up right when I thought about missing you. I wonder if I do the same for Kim…"

     Rachael closed her eyes and focused. She hadn't known Kim for very long, but it would still be sad to lose someone to a corporate project like this. She wanted Kim back.

     Penny screamed. Rachael opened her eyes then she screamed. Before them was a black, dragon shaped creature. It had 2 arms like a person, but they were covered in black metallic spines. It stood on 2 legs, with a thick, long black tail behind it. Two horns on its head also looked like they were black metal. It's belly was smooth, with a scar diagonally across it. Below that was…

     A diaper? No way. Rachael studied the dragon creature more carefully. The creature didn't seem to be charging at them or even make any sound to suggest aggressive intentions. The  dragon seemed passive, even though it stood twice their height.

     Kim's hair. It has Kim's hair. 

     The creature had similar hands, though gray, that looked like Kim’s. The mouth was the same, as well.

     Rachael cautiously spoke. "Kim? Is that… you?"

     The large black eyes looked up at her. Then the face smiled. "Hey, Rachael. Penny." The voice was still Kim's regular voice.

     "Kim?!" Penny was in shock. "You're a… dragon… type thing."

     "Kim, quick question." Rachael started making connections in her head. "How do you view your inner self? Have you ever done or said something that made you feel like a monster?"

     "It's…" the large black eyes looked away. "It's complicated."

     "No details necessary. I figured it out. Girls, we're looking at our own internal view of ourselves. Like, a digital representation of our mental self... which is why I look the way I do." Rachael looked down at her diaper again. “Penny, Kim popped into here when I thought about missing her. So I need to do the same for Robert now."

     Rachael thought about mourning for Robert, then he appeared. 

     All three girls gasped. Robert’s body was transparent. At least, they assumed it was his body. At first, they saw Robert as himself, the man they met at the office. A shorter woman his same age with red hair on her head then appeared in his place. She wore a long green dress and had a look of disgust on her face. The next person to appear was a male teenager wearing black clothes, short black hair and eye liner. His face looked agitated. Another person was a short Hispanic female who wore cargo pants and a bandana over her hair. She was smiling. Lastly, there was a small male child, dressed only in underwear who looked terrified. After the child, the cycle restarted with Robert’s original self. All of the people were somewhat transparent, as if they weren’t fully there.

     “Robert… you…” Rachael didn’t understand how this could align with anyone’s mental imagery of themselves. “We think we’re looking at our own mental image of ourselves… but you…”

     Robert looked despairingly at each of them, then at his chest to watch the changes happen. Every person that took his place seemed to move exactly as the original Robert did. 

     “D.I.D.” Robert said softly.

     “What?”  Rachael and Penny were even more confused.

     “Dissociative Identity Disorder.” Kim answered for him, with a nod of understanding.

     “Most people call it split personality disorder. Now everyone gets a front row seat to the freak show I really am.” Robert looked at the ground, as did the other people that he seemed to be. “These are my alters. The fractions of my personality.” He said their names as they popped into existence. “This red haired girl is Sarah. She is my focus. Teenage boy here is Luke. He just kinda acts out. Imelda, for when I need to get stuff done. And Robert, and... me.” 

     He said his name when the boy had appeared.

     “The kid has your name?” Penny asked.

     Robert sighed. “The kid is me. 5 year old me that’s about to have his world shattered into a million pieces.”

     Everyone went silent. They understood what he was implying.

     “I’m so sorry,” Rachael said softly.

     “It’s okay. Life sucks. So I guess we got this stupid holodeck going. Now what?”

     Rachael felt a bump from something. It felt like a physical bump, but nothing had touched her. She felt an emotional presence pull on her attention.

     “What was that?” Rachael asked.

     The room went black and the loud humming returned. It started to get quieter and softer as the Phoenix seemed to power down. The door opened and technicians walked in to begin checking everyone’s condition. 

     No one was injured or even uncomfortable. With the light coming in from the doorway, Rachael could see that everyone was back to normal. Everyone was wearing business suits again. Everyone was a normal human being and there were no strange sensations surrounding Rachael anymore.

     “That was our first successful test.” James had walked in. “Is everyone okay?”

     “Yeah. We’re fine. Right guys?” Rachael waited for everyone to confirm. “We’re fine.”

     “Congratulations. That’s a huge step forward for all of us. Thank you. If you’re all good to go, then you’re done for the day. We have a ton of data to crunch now. I’ll let Mr. Pendleton know how things went. Given your success, he may want you back here tomorrow. I have all of your numbers, so I’ll be in touch tonight if we need you again tomorrow or not. Elevator will take you right back outside. Don’t forget your stuff on the way out.”

     James turned to stare at a laptop screen just like the other technicians were. They seemed transfixed by whatever data they were looking at. 

     The four of them got back into the elevator silently and rode it back to the lobby floor. They had just seen each other in an extremely intimate light and the moment was too fragile for talking. 2 friends and 2 near-strangers had a look into each other's minds that is usually reserved for lovers in a romantic relationship. At the very least, those were details reserved for an intimate conversation between the closest of friends. Now that information was on full display. They had been ushered away too fast to ask if what they saw was also seen by the technicians. Such an outpouring of information was even more exposing. Even more compromising. They could ask tomorrow. 

     A ding sounded as they reached the ground floor again. Still silently, they gathered their stuff from the table and walked outside. No one wanted to talk yet. Penny unlocked the van and they climbed inside.