#and the last 10 are routes i enjoy a normal amount

[simcardiac-arrested]

oo im curious !! in your stp princess, adversary is first and eye of the needle is last..!! whatre your thoughts .. tell me, soldier ..

like i said the thing with these rankings is that i thoroughly like all the routes and i wish i didn’t have to put one above the other or have any of them be ‘last’… But if i had to explain then it’s like—EoN feels like a pretty open-and-shut route to me. it feels like there’s a clear path of choices you need to follow ? (i.e. set her free) at their cores adversary and EoN are about different things, and I Personally enjoy the ‘fight each other to the death forever’ concept a lot more even though it’s technically not the ‘correct’ perspective (it’s sooo damn fun though) i do also enjoy and appreciate the thematic importance of setting EoN free, i’d just rather hang out with adversary if anything :)

[ellies-cycling-notes]

Day 22: Kalamazoo to Warren Dunes

Distance Covered: 88.10 miles

Total Time (including rests): 9:09 (8:21am-5:30pm)

Time spent riding: 6:51

Average Speed: 12.9 mph

Apples Eaten: 4 (honeycrisp - 7/10, honeycrisp - 6.5/10, honeycrisp - 7/10, honeycrisp - 7/10)

An alright ride today. I took a route that was rather out of the way, cause it spent a lot of time on bike trails. It was hot again today, for the first time in a while, but I had good shade for a decent amount of it. I took the ride a little slow, taking 3 evenly spaced, rather long breaks about every 20-25 miles.

The time on bike trails was rather pleasant, except for that the Kal-Haven trail (from Kalamazoo to South Haven) was closed for the last 15 miles, which my mapping app didn't know, so I had to reroute onto state roads. The wind wasn't too bad most of the time, even when it was a headwind.

Of my 3 stops, the only one of note was the second, where I stopped at a Culver's for lunch and spent about an hour there. I got a cheeseburger and a chocolate concrete, which were both rather good (Culver's is probably one of the only fast food places I actually like). I might actually stop by another one for lunch tomorrow, cause I'm running low on food, don't want to do a shopping run, they have food I enjoy and am slightly craving, and usually have an outdoor place to eat, so I can put my bike there and won't have to worry about watching it. I'll probably make the actual decision on the ride tomorrow.

Wow, I can't really believe that tomorrow is the last day. It's been a good trip, especially the second half, and I'm kinda relieved it's coming to an end. Part of me will miss these posts, but as I mentioned awhile back, sometimes the stress of thinking about what to write gets to me.

I spent a lot of today's ride just focusing on the riding. Normally what I do is compartmentalize it as I ride, thinking about how far I have to go, and how that can be expressed in smaller or larger terms, and then by the time I've finished thinking that way, I check how far I've traveled, and repeat the process. It's not something I'm good at describing, cause it's something that just happens, without me thinking consciously about it.

I'm staying at the Warren Dunes Campground today, and it's the first of my campgrounds which I've stayed at before. It's just how I remember it, down to being laden with mosquitoes. I've had to slap quite a few, and I'll have to make sure none get in my tent, but other than that, atmospherically, this is one of my favorite campgrounds. Despite that, it's probably one of the ones I'll spend the least time at, cause I got here somewhat late, and I expect I'll leave somewhat early tomorrow, given it will be my last day.

Design Notes

I did quite a bit of design-thinking today, mostly about Cardcasting. I think I've mentioned it before, but I'll be going into a slightly deeper dive here.

Cardcasting

Cardcasting is a card-based magic system, intended (probably) for a tabletop roleplaying game. The way magic works in this system is that spellcaster have a deck of element/mana cards, which they draw from to determine what spells they can cast. Each card has an element on it, and counts as a quantity of "1" of that type/element of mana.

There are seven elements divided up according to 2 supercategories:

Action - describes how the type of mana interacts with a substance, the categories are Creation & Destruction

Substance - describes what type of substance is being interacted with, categories are Matter, Energy, and Soul

Thus, we have the elements of "Create Matter (CM)", "Create Energy (CE)", "Create Soul (CS)", "Destroy Matter (DM)", "Destroy Energy (DE)", and "Destroy Soul (DS)". The seventh element, which does not fit into any of the categories, is "Dimensional", or "Spatial/Temporal (ST)", which deals with manipulations of space and time.

Spellcasters (the term used for anyone who uses an Element deck) cast spells by drawing a certain number of element cards from their deck, and using some number of those to cast a spell which uses the drawn type/quantity of elements. Each spell has a level, determined by how many element cards are needed to cast it.

I don't yet have a good idea of the scale of spells with regards to spell level, which largely stems from the multielemental nature of most spells. For example, take a spell that sculpts stone. It could require just CM mana, as one creates stone in a certain shape, or it could require just DM mana, to remove bits from a block of stone, which would probably be the more efficient option. However, it's probably even more efficient to cast that type of spell using both CM & DM mana, allowing for refining of the shape of the stone in more ways than just chiseling away. However, that means that the spell requires at least 1 CM card and at least 1 DM card, so it automatically must be at least a level 2 spell. As such, it is difficult to find a spell that makes sense as a level 1 spell, for it truly has to be most efficient as a single-element spell.

I do have level 0 spells, or cantrips. These are spells which are cast using a card from your deck, but the card is then returned to the deck, so all they really require is that you know how to use that type of mana. Some examples include:

Timer - A dimensional cantrip that sets a timer in your mind to notify you when a certain amount of time has passed.

Calm Self - a destroy soul cantrip that calms rampant emotions in oneself. Has no effect on magically-induced emotions.

Match - a create energy cantrip that creates a small spark for a flame where you touch. If not used on something extremely flammable (like paper), the touched object will not catch fire. Does not really have combat utility.

Another example of spell I've thought of that becomes more effective/efficient as more elements are added to cast it is a simple healing spell, used to heal a cut with a knife (just as an example). At the lowest level, it would either be a CM spell, in which case you recreate the flesh covering the wound, essentially forcibly forming a scab, or a CS spell, which would help close the wound internally and deal with the pain, but would do nothing to the appearance from outside/possible future wounds in the same spot. Combine the two, and now you have a spell that fully heals the wound and make it look good as new. Then, if you add in ST magic, you are able to simulate a speeding-up of the healing process by manipulating time, allowing for a heal that has a lower chance of becoming a vulnerable spot or getting infected, because it's as if the wound has healed naturally in a sterilized environment. And this isn't even getting into the craziness of adding DM to kill any infections that might already be there, CE to help the bloodflow through the wound, etc. I'm starting to feel like this system may be too open-ended.

I also want to talk a little bit about spellcasters getting stronger in Cardcasting. I'll note that I don't actually know the mechanics of how Spellcasters become stronger, just that if they were to become stronger, these are things that would chnage. Spellcasters have either 3 or 4 axes upon which they can get stronger, depending on how you look at it, and each of those has its own downsides.

Learn more spells - the simplest way for a spellcaster to become stronger is to learn more spells. This one doesn't actually have much of a downside, but it doesn't really increase the strength of a spellcaster, just their versatility. Learning higher level spells is a different point.

Cast spells faster - when a spellcaster casts a spell, they spend a certain amount of time drawing a certain number of cards. If they are able to draw more cards faster, they will be able to cast higher level spells at a rate closer to how they used to be able to cast lower level spells, making them stronger. This has the downside of causing a spellcaster to run through their deck more quickly, so they can't cast as many spells in succession before needing to rest.

Have a larger pool of mana - a spellcaster's pool of mana determines how many spells they can cast before needing to rest, and is essentially the same as the size of their deck. If a spellcaster is able to add more cards to their deck, they will be able to cast more spells between breaks. However, this will decrease the consistency of their deck, as with a larger deck you are less likely to draw the exact element you need.

Versatility of mana - this is the axis that might not actually be considered its own upside. Spellcaster can learn how to harness more elements, which might allow them more versatility in the spells they can cast, but similarly to the last point, it would also greatly diminish the consistency of their deck.

Hope you enjoyed my rambling thoughts today! One more day, then I'm home free!

Previous -- Today's Pictures -- Next

[kookstempo]

i'll make this feel like home - myg

pairing: min yoongi x reader (tcad yoongi)

genre: fluff, angst

word count: 4.2K

summary: your fight with yoongi helps him figure out what he wants for the future.

warnings: a fight between our golden couple, some curse words here and there, oc ignoring yoongi for a while.

a/n: hello, my loves! this takes part between to catch a dream and three, so please make sure to read tcad before this one because there are a couple refererences. hope you enjoy!! and as always, thanks to my wonderful jo for being encouraging and loving to me.

masterlist.

You have never been stood up before.

Never as in… never, not even once. It had taken one hour for you to figure out Yoongi wasn’t coming. For dignity purposes, one would let only fifteen (or maybe twenty) minutes pass before assuming their partner wouldn’t show up and leave, but dating someone like Yoongi, 15 minutes was still a good enough amount for you to not give up.

After that twenty-minute mark, everything started to roll very, very slowly for you - or at least that’s how it had felt. The last two sips of wine eventually became four, telling the waiter you weren’t ready to order yet repeated two times, and you watched two couples ordering dessert. That was the moment you decided you had had enough and that Yoongi definitely wasn’t showing up.

Asking for the check, you pulled out your phone and checked for any notifications from him.

None.

With a sigh, you opened your chat with Hoseok and started typing.

you [19:50]: hey, would you happen to know where yoongi is?

you [19:51]: we were supposed to have dinner together and he never showed up.

Surprisingly fast, you received two notifications from Hoseok. And they left a sour taste in your mouth.

hobi [19:54]: hey! uh, i guess he didn’t really follow my advice in the end. he’s still in the studio.

hobi [19:54]: he told me he was gonna text you, now i assume he didn’t.

Well, his assumptions weren’t wrong. Sour taste becoming more prominent in your mouth, you tried your best to think about the most positive outcomes for this. Maybe he had fallen asleep and that’s why he hadn’t texted you, or he had run out of battery and he had left his charger at home.

No. That had been yesterday, and he now has a spare one in his studio for those emergencies.

Now the question was: should you drop it and go home? But how bad would it be if you went to the studio to check up on him? Maybe he would have the answer to your questions and everything would go back to normal after knowing why exactly he had decided to leave you stood up. Slamming the check on the table after signing it, you got up from your seat and thanked the waiter, hurriedly walking to the exit and looking for your car.

The engine roared loudly like your thoughts. You had told him in the morning you had a reservation for the two of you, right? Yeah, of course you had. And he had hummed in reply while taking a big bite out of his toast.

Not like you were there with him, but the phone had picked up the sound of the crunchy toast. Before your mind could spiral more, you put the studio’s address on the GPS and let it guide you to your destination.

The minute the system showed you your planned route for the night, a notification popped and disappeared swiftly, followed by a new one.

yoongi [20:04]: won’t be able to make it

yoongi [20:04]: sorry

Fast forward to the present, the cold air is the only thing keeping you company as you make your way inside the building. The receptionist is alarmed at first, not expecting visits this late - and it’s not even 10:00 p.m - but when she realizes it’s you, she becomes calm. That is until she realizes this is the first time you’re visiting the building at night, and now there is confusion painted on her face.

“Hey… Is it okay if I go to Yoongi’s studio?” You ask her in a rushed tone, taking another deep breath to not let your anxiety get the best of you.

“Yeah, sure. One would assume you don’t have to ask anymore since you two are dating.” She giggles, trying to lighten the mood.

When she notices you don’t giggle with her, she stops laughing.

“I mean, I’d say the same. But apparently that has changed since I was stood up today.”

In a certain way, her words reassure you. You two are dating, yes. But that also means that you can be stood up many more times other than just this one because there is nothing official between you two, nothing serious. And until then, work is always gonna come first. And you can’t blame him for it, but you can still feel hurt.

She clears her throat, filling the awkward silence.

“You can go up. Hope whatever happened between you two gets solved.”

The ride on the elevator is where you rehearse what you want to say to him, how you’re going to say it, and when. Knowing he’s still inside that room lets you know he is stressed, so you don’t want to be straightforward and create more heat than necessary. The ride gives you enough time to come to terms with yourself.

The ding of the elevator startles you slightly. Gulping, you get out of it and walk around the already familiar hallway, arriving at Yoongi’s door. You knock on it thrice and loudly so he is still able to hear it even with headphones on. You clutch your car keys hard, tapping your foot against the floor anxiously. Just as you’re about to knock on the door again, he opens it.

“Y/N? Hi, uhh…” He stammers, opening the door a little wider for you to get inside.

You are not going to have this conversation outside, obviously. The way the empty takeout boxes are the first thing that greets you makes the sour taste come back.

“How are you? Busy, I assume?” You murmur in the most controlled tone you can, you had decided you were going to let the conversation get there and not jump into it.

“Yeah… We had a meeting today and the due date was moved one week earlier than the original plan,” Yoongi explains, going back to his chair in front of the computer.

“But how come Hoseok already left the building?” You take a seat on the couch, gathering all the empty containers to throw them away and clean the area.

Yoongi turns around in his chair and raises an eyebrow. “How do you know he already left? You saw him?”

Playing with your bracelets, you let the words out slowly. “No, I know that because I texted him an hour and a half ago to ask him if he knew where you were.”

“I mean, where else could I be if not here?” He chuckles, turning to face the computer once more.

The sarcasm is enough to make you feel angry.

“At dinner with me, just like we talked today in the morning,” you spit.

He stands up and walks up to where you are seated, eyeing the piled up trash from his dinner. He knows what you are talking about, it’s clear by the look on his face that the memory of the talk you had is running through his mind right now. He takes the boxes from the table and drops them in the trash.

“Oh, that.”

“Yeah, Yoongi, that. I get that you were and still are busy, but it would only take a minute as a maximum to leave a short ‘won’t make it to dinner tonight, sorry’.” You mock the last part, deepening your voice as if to match Yoongi’s.

“I do not talk like that, for starters. And I didn’t just decide not to go–”

“Then what happened, huh? Because I was left alone in the restaurant for like an hour until I realized you were definitely not showing up,” you hotly interrupt him, crossing your arms over your chest.

“That is what I was going to explain before you interrupted me,” he takes a deep breath and sits down next to you. “I got too sucked into my work after that meeting and I lost track of time.”

“The minute you decided to order some dinner, didn’t you remember then?” You ask in disbelief.

There’s silence from him. He seems to be thinking about how to answer that.

After what seems like a century, he replies, “I meant to… It doesn’t matter if I did or did not remember, love. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to go because of that meeting.”

You still don’t know if he remembered or not in that exact moment - you cannot hold that against him yet. If he didn’t, it’s not that big of a deal, but if he did… He’d left you sitting by yourself for an hour, looking like a fool.

“If you did remember,” you start, looking at the ceiling. “The proper thing would have been letting me know at least at some point during the day… Not an hour later.” You mutter the last part, sighing.

“Are you implying I remembered, decided to be a douchebag, and left you there on purpose?” Yoongi scoffs, running a hand through his hair. He eyes his computer, and that is enough to set you off again.

“I am not implying shit, Yoongi! All I’m saying is, if you cared enough about me, about us–”

“There is no us, Y/N! Do you think that just because I let you in on what was bothering me, that night at the club, that’d make us a couple?”

Wow. What a low blow.

“I never said that, it’s not what this conversation is about, I just—“

“You just what? Thought you’d come here and play super girlfriend for me for one night I’m stressed? Let me break it to you, it’s not the first time I've been like this. I’m sure as hell it won’t be the last time. And I’m not gonna interrupt a choking deadline for some dinner.”

He is the one mocking now. He said more than five words and all you were able to pick up from it was ‘I did remember and you are not going to take me away from my job’.

“I was not trying to play super girlfriend, as you’d call it. I just came here to see why you hadn’t come to the restaurant…”

“Well I think I just told you - I had a meeting, have a very important deadline, and no time for a dinner that is going to keep me away from my job.”

Yep. Looks like your conclusion wasn’t that far away from the truth.

You open your mouth to say something, anything at all, yet no words come out of you. As you grab your purse and car keys, Yoongi gets up and sits down in front of his desk again - basically letting you know the discussion is over.

You shake your head at yourself when you feel the tears wetting your eyes. You are not going to cry here. Grabbing the door’s handle, you look at him one last time before leaving the room and the building.

He remembers the moment after you left - he had returned to his work like nothing had happened. Something felt off, though. Like somewhere along that talk, he had committed a mistake, and couldn’t point the finger to where. Shaking it off, he put on his headphones again and continued with his work until he felt barely capable of keeping his eyes open, and decided to take a nap at the studio, that way he could recharge and drive home safely.

When he woke up the second time, around 8:30 a.m, he grabbed his phone and noticed there was no text message from you to wish him good morning. None at all. ‘Huh, that’s weird’, he thought to himself; you usually text him around this time even if he hasn’t woken up. Perhaps you’d slept in late, there was nothing to worry about.

8:30 becomes 13:50 in the blink of an eye, still no messages from you. You’d probably gone out and forgotten your phone!

No, that has never happened before… Fuck.

He sits down with a thud on the same couch you had been sitting on last night before you went radio silent on him. Considering the fact that he is supposed to be having lunch right now, he can have some me time and think through every second of that discussion.

In a certain way, he knows that what he did was wrong - he had been looking forward to meeting you for dinner almost all day, getting some relief from his hectic schedule, even if he’d have to go back to work after that; right when that meeting ended, you were the first thing that crossed his mind. The fact that he wasn’t gonna be able to see you that night killed him, but he had to go straight to work on the album or someone else was going to kill him if he didn’t get the job done.

Which reminds him of the fact that the clock is ticking, and he needs to get his shit together.

Yoongi tries to call you after the third day of silence from you. He is greeted by the picture of the two of you he has on his wallpaper when you let the call go to voicemail. He stares at it in disbelief and confusion - you have been ignoring his messages, now his calls.

Yoongi doesn’t know how to make things better. Starting with the fact that three days have passed and he hasn’t figured out what went wrong during the conversation.

He spent the night at the studio yesterday. Somewhere during the day, he had hoped he would hear from you after seeing the many texts and couple calls from his end. Continuing receiving nothing from you, he opted for staying in the studio, not wanting to bear the silence from his apartment, too, knowing you weren’t going to be there.

You weren’t going to be there just like you aren’t present now. It’s killing him.

Throwing his head back against the chair, he rubs his eyes and taps his foot against the floor. He is stuck, does not know how to move forward with you and with the beat he is currently working on. The food on the coffee table has gone cold by now, Namjoon had dropped it off almost two hours ago; he had brushed him off with a quick ��thanks” when his band member had scolded him about not forgetting to eat.

That had sounded just like something you’d say, coming from a way deeper voice than yours. He ponders the question of when had he allowed work to consume him in such a deep way, if he had lost his touch with music and that was the reason why the melody wasn’t flowing naturally for him.

He loves his job, of course. Yet, the memory of the last time something like this had happened… he doesn’t want to go down that road again - neglecting hours of sleep, food, figuratively tying the rope around his neck so tightly, something he loved had become exhausting for him.

The other day, when he was giving himself shit about not writing and being behind in his work, you had been there. Your pretty smile, your eyes full of genuine concern for him, to lend him a hand in the best way you could.

Something in you had told Yoongi you were trustworthy. You weren’t going to quit when times got rough because you were a warrior, and someone loyal to the people you cared about. And you had managed to prove him just that every single day after that, even if it hadn’t been intentional.

However, now? Now, things had gotten rough and you had gone silent. Yoongi is not disappointed in you, he realizes finally after days of thinking about it. The movie runs in his mind again, he pauses it on a crucial minute.

A grimace takes over his features when he remembers how he had told you there was no “you and him”, how he had practically broken what you two had and let you know work would always come before you.

It may be too early for him to make that call, it may not. No one knows what the right timing would be in this situation, but he can see a future with you. He isn’t opposed to the idea of a future with you.

And for that to happen, he has to, needs to start making some time for you if he wants this relationship to work.

There is something about you - more than one thing, if being honest with himself - and that something has him head over heels for you. He had noticed that night at the bar that he had let you in on what was troubling him very easily, and that surely wasn’t him deciding to go all in, it had been you and your charisma.

And Yoongi wants that, he wants to be with you.

He expresses his regret and disgust with a shake of his head, puffing out a breath. At least one part of what he is stuck on is starting to roll forward. Gathering his thoughts and coming to the conclusion that he needs to take matters into his own hands, he gets up and walks to Hoseok’s studio, knocking on the door.

Said man opens the door, takeout box in his hand.

“Yoongi? What’s up?

“I need your help with something.”

You don’t expect the text that comes at seven in the morning, especially who sends it. As you make sure your boss is not paying attention to you, you open the thread.

hobi [07:00]: hey, do you think you could swing by my studio later after you’re done with work? i wanted to see if i could borrow your vocals for this new track.

Hoseok. Jung Hoseok, wanting to borrow your vocals for a track. Pff, you were definitely dreaming.

you [07:02]: lol but why me, don’t you have someone else for that?

The silence on his behalf meant two things: you had either busted him or he was busy as fuck. Your meeting was over. You were back on your desk, busying yourself with the huge pile of paperwork.

hobi [08:30]: this is for the demo version, pls pls pls. it’ll only be like an hour :(

He’s asking for a favor; you had talked about doing vocals for them once - drunk as fuck, both of you - and it looks like it has been taken into consideration now, though. Deciding not to give it much thought, you sent out a short “yes, i’ll be there”, proceeding to pay attention to the task at hand.

“Ah, Y/N! Hoseok told me you’d be coming tonight, here is the password to his studio since he didn’t know at what time you were going to arrive. You know where it is, right?” The receptionist asks you while you shake the rain off of your umbrella.

Yes, you do. His studio is right in front of Yoongi’s.

“Yup, I do. Thank you.” You grin at her and grab the piece of paper with the password scribbled on it, making your way to the elevator after that.

The last time you rode the elevator, you weren’t expecting the night to end the way it had. Hell, you weren’t even expecting to pick a fight with Yoongi.

Sure, the way the topic had come on was… not the best. But having whatever you guys were broken up out of the blue had left you in pain. wishing you had minded your own business and just texted him to know if he was okay, perhaps even having the conversation some other day where you wouldn’t find him so stressed.

Bracing yourself for the walk up to Hoseok’s studio, you get off the elevator and turn on the corner of the hallway, keeping an eye out for the famous doormat with the cat holding its middle finger up, so you’d know you’re in front of the correct door.

What you don’t expect, though, is for Yoongi’s door to be wide open and the lights inside Hoseok’s studio turned off.

‘Just ask him’, you tell yourself. As you pop your head inside the room to ask Yoongi if he knows where Hoseok is - and three nights ago you were asking Hoseok if he knew where Yoongi was, huh - you are greeted with the sight of a beautiful sunflower bouquet on one side of the table, and on the other some to-go containers from the restaurant of the old dinner reservation… the one where Yoongi never showed up.

“We were both thinking the food was gonna get cold before you showed up.” A deep voice behind you says, letting their hand slowly hold your waist and leaving a chaste kiss on your cheek.

Yoongi. You know it’s him because his hold feels familiar, and you’d recognize his scent from a mile away.

“W-where is Hoseok? He wanted me to meet him–”

“I had him lie to you to get you here,” he confesses, softly pushing you inside the room so he can close the door.

“You did what? Yoongi, that is not fair. I don’t want to talk to you and I think I made that pretty clear.” You pull out your phone and point at it, scoffing.

Who does he think he is? Baiting you to get you here, buying a bouquet of sunflowers because you once told him roses were boring to you, and getting food from a restaurant the two of you love?

Well, you’re screwed. He is trying, and it’s getting to you.

“Y/N, I know this is not the most favorable situation for us to talk, but I couldn’t sit around knowing that the woman I love is out there pissed at me, not answering my texts or phone calls, blatantly ignoring me.” He blurts out of nowhere, words leaving his mouth as if he is desperate.

Love.

Love?!

So. Min Yoongi tells you there is no “us” three nights ago, and now he is dropping the L-bomb? Could this night get any weirder?

“What– Yoongi, don’t joke with shit like that.”

“I am not fucking joking, Y/N! I love you, and I am sorry for ever treating you like shit and making you feel like you came in second place,” he takes a deep breath and walks up to you, holding your hands in his trembling ones. “It is hard for me to set boundaries between my shit and work, you know it. But you, darling, you make all the hard work so worth it.”

You sniff quietly, looking at him the best you can through the tears. The words hit you, but the person they’re coming from makes the moment even more special.

“I promise to make of this a new place for us. To erase that ugly memory you have of what I said to you with the certainty that I will fight to make some time for you and I, because I’m in this, Y/N. I’m sorry for ever making it seem like I wasn’t, because that was far from what I wanted to express.” Yoongi squeezes your hands twice, pulling you closer to his body.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“I don’t want to be told off again when you feel stressed, you know? It sucked.” You giggle between the tears, letting yourself go and hugging him tightly.

You receive a dry chuckle in response and his arms loop around your shoulders. He takes a deep breath and slowly walks you two to the coffee table. You notice there are some cushions thrown on the floor and two empty glasses.

“That was a very shitty move from me, I know. But I am in this, I just hope you are, too, even after what happened. I may not be able to leave this hell and go have dinner with you, but I will make sure I communicate and figure out a way to make it up to you.”

“You also said something between your apologies… Did you mean that?” You question him shyly, taking a seat on one of the cushions and eyeing the sunflower bouquet.

“Are you asking me if I meant what I said? I love you, Y/N. It doesn’t matter if you’re not ready to say it back, because again,” he emphasizes the word, rolling his eyes playfully. “The timing is bad, but I mean it.”

The words are stuck on your throat. You know you’re there, but you’re so caught off-guard, you barely manage to spit out a reply.

“I’m in this, Yoongi. We are in this together and we will make it work.”

You pull him to your body, making space for him to sit next to you and enjoy some minutes of peace and calm.

Literally, minutes.

“Would you be pissed if I told you I have to get back to work as soon as you’re finished eating?” He discloses, cleaning the corner of his mouth with a napkin.

The old you would reply with a snarky comment, but the new you swallows it.

“A little, but if you let me stick around… maybe not.”

You receive no verbal reply after that. It’s when Yoongi sits back down in front of his computer and pats his lap that you get the gesture and timidly make your way to him, getting comfortable there.

“Yup, this is way better than radio silence from you.”

[angel-riki]

Dazed & Dreaming {Ch. 2}

summary: Y/N's life was always quite normal, some may even consider it boring. However, Y/N enjoyed her simple life and the little pleasures it brought. Unfortunately, that all changed the day she found out her best friend's biggest secret. Her discovery leads her down a rabbit hole of a new and confusing world she never knew existed. She must now navigate this new life filled with love, fear, and the supernatural. What awaits her down this path?

pairing: enhypen x reader (vampire au)

warnings: light swearing

word count: 1,569

chapters: [Ch.1] [Ch.3] [Ch.4]

~~~~~~~~~~

You bit into your second piece of toast of the morning as your phone buzzed in your pocket. After rummaging around for a few seconds, you retrieved your phone. You smiled at the notification, it was from Jake.

Jake: "We're here :)"

You quickly typed out and sent your reply as you hurried to finish the rest of your breakfast,

Y/N: "Ok, omw!"

One huge bite of toast and a painful swallow later, you were gathering your things and scurrying out the front door. You half-jogged down your driveway until you reached the car, greeting the boys like usual,

"Good morning," you said cheerfully as you climbed into the back seat.

Heeseung had been giving you rides every morning now for a couple of weeks, it had become your daily routine. And even though you insisted that you could walk, the two boys wouldn't take no for an answer. You eventually accepted their generosity, however you still felt a bit guilty. Fortunately, this new routine had allowed you and Heeseung to grow much closer over the past weeks. Now, you considered him a friend instead of a mere acquaintance. This was a relief as you had gotten much more comfortable around him. Although, Heeseung was just good at making everybody feel comfortable. He was just so charming and kind. This made it a lot easier for you to manage your nerves, but a lot harder for you to keep your crush on him from growing.

*****

The bell rang, signaling that it was time for lunch. Relief washed over all of the students' faces as they were freed from a horrendously boring lecture. You shared that relief as you packed up your stuff and strolled out of the classroom. You made a quick pit stop at your locker before heading down to the cafeteria.

After grabbing your food, you walked into the bustling dining space. Gosh it's so crowded, where are they? You scanned the tables until you noticed someone waving at you rather enthusiastically. Shocker, it was Jake. Heeseung was beside him, smiling and waving at you as well. You waved back before heading over to where they were sat. You set your food on the table and pulled out the chair in front of you. As you sat down, you noticed that Heeseung didn't have any food. How strange, you thought.

"Heeseung, where's your lunch?" You asked, knowing there had not been enough time for him to have already finished eating.

"Oh, I'm just not hungry today is all," he said awkwardly.

"Are you sure? You can have some of mine if you'd like," You offered.

"That's okay, thank you though," he smiled.

Something was odd about his demeanor after you brought it up, but you couldn't put your finger on it. You decided to stop interrogating him as you turned to Jake,

"How was that math test you had earlier?" You asked.

"Good! Aaand I may or may not have written down that one formula I can never remember on the inside of my hand..." he replied.

"Smart move," you giggled.

"I know," he said, grinning proudly.

You rolled your eyes as you began eating your lunch. Your school lunches were mediocre at best, but it could be worse. Another day, another stale pb&j. As you ate, the two boys started rambling about their after school plans. Apparently, there were a few other boys that they hung out with quite often. You had never met them, although Jake had mentioned them here and there. Listening to their conversation, you suddenly felt a slight sadness come over you. It wasn't that you were jealous, you were just afraid that one day they would get sick of you and leave you behind. They had other friends, but you didn't. Jake and Heeseung were all you had. You shook your head as you tried to expel the negative thoughts. Why am I getting upset over something that hasn't even happened? They would never do that anyway, you reassured yourself.

Before you knew it, lunch was over and you were running late for your next class. You were speed walking down the hall when you turned a corner and ran directly into something. Or some one, rather. You looked up to see who you had just harshly collided with. You recognized him from your english class, yet you had never spoken to him before. You realized you didn't even know his name.

"Ah, I'm really sorry!" You apologized, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment.

Seeing him up close like this made you wonder how you hadn't paid more attention to him. You had never noticed how handsome he was. He had a very sharp jawline and thick black hair that dangled just above his eyes. You also noticed there was a beauty mark on the side of his nose. Wow, his nose is like, perfect.

"It's alright. It's not every day that I run into a cute girl," he replied coolly.

You thought you were flustered before? Well now you were REALLY flustered. You opened your mouth to respond but before you could speak, he cut you off,

"Your lip is bleeding," he said, his face suddenly full of concern. His skin seemed to be growing paler.

"Oh, I didn't notice," you said, reaching up to wipe your mouth. You must have slightly busted your lip when you ran into him. You looked down and noticed a little trail of blood on the back of your hand. Thankfully, it was only a small amount so you weren't too worried. You looked back up at the boy and you noticed he was staring at your mouth rather intensely, almost as if he was in a trance.

"Uh...well I better get to class. Sorry, again." You apologized one last time before hurrying off down the hall.

Weird.

*****

Your class seemed to go by faster than usual today. Maybe it was because you ended up being almost 10 minutes late after your little incident in the hallway. Or maybe, it was because you couldn't stop thinking about that strange boy. Either way, you were relieved that class was over. However, that relief quickly left you once you realized what your next class was; English. You really didn't want to see that boy again after your previous meeting. You were still quite embarrassed and his reaction just made you even more uncomfortable. You sighed as you reluctantly accepted the inevitable.

Once you were seated at your usual spot, you pulled out your notebook and a pencil. You scanned over yesterday's notes as your teacher began the lesson. Everything was fine for a bit, until you began feeling eyes on you. Maybe you were just paranoid, but you could've sworn you saw that boy from earlier staring at you every so often. You attempted to pay attention to the lesson, but you couldn't. He was making you incredibly on edge. You put your head down in frustration. God, can't this day just end?

*****

You tapped your temple with the end of your pencil as you tried to make sense of your chemistry textbook. Although you were reading the words on the page, you weren't absorbing or internalizing any of it. You sighed and defeatedly closed your textbook as you decided to call it a night. You had been at the library studying for hours, you hadn't even noticed how dark it had gotten outside. You packed up your belongings and threw on your coat and scarf before heading out of the library. A shiver passed through your body as you entered the cold evening air. You began walking at a faster pace than usual, trying to get back to some warmth as soon as possible.

After a couple of minutes of walking, you could feel your cheeks stinging and you could see your breath in front of you. I need to get home faster, I'm freezing. You thought while looking around for a shortcut. You found a path down the edge of the forest that seemed to be the quickest route home. You sighed as you hurried down the deserted trail. As you continued on your way, you started to get an eerie feeling. Perhaps it was just the setting you were in, but you were considerably creeped out. You never liked walking alone at night, I mean, who does? Suddenly, as if on cue, you heard something behind you. You whipped your head around as you scanned the area for any potential danger. You didn't see anything but you could've sworn you heard another set of footsteps following close behind you. Maybe you were just being paranoid again. You turned back around, sufficiently scared at this point as you anxiously jogged the rest of the way. You sighed with relief as you made it to your house safely. You opened the front door and locked it behind you, not daring to look back out into the night. After shaking off your uneasiness, you headed upstairs and changed into your fuzziest pajamas before crawling into your warm bed. You quickly melted into the soft blankets as you drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ooooh, spooky ending! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter which was full of foreshadowing ;). I know it's taking a while to get all the boys introduced but I promise it'll happen soon! Thank you for reading! I’m also uploading this series on wattpad if you’d like to support it over there!

~Elle <3

[btsmosphere]

Just in Time | PJM

~summary:

Once was just good timing, twice a happy coincidence. But can you leave it at just that?

Jimin x female reader

~word count: 3.3k

~college au, new year au, strangers to lovers, fluff

Rating: G

Warnings: drinking, swearing, kissing a stranger

~a/n: another bingo square!! This time, the prompt was ‘new year’s kiss’ - perhaps a little early for new year, but who cares? I hope you enjoy this dose of fluffy strangers to lovers, featuring best wingman Jin and Hobi as a liability!!

5 minutes.

The time showing on the television screen was somewhat lost in the other lights swirling around the dark room, but it was still perfectly visible. And you were still perfectly alone.

Not that it bothered you.

Not at all.

There were plenty of other students in the room around you who weren’t coupled up, too busy singing, dancing and drinking. Rationally, you knew buying into the whole cliché of a new year’s kiss was silly, but with just the right amount of alcohol in you, you found yourself feeling downtrodden.

Turning your back on the screen, you swayed some more, weaving your way through the other bodies dancing.

Lost in the song playing, you let the time slip your mind. Laughing as the music came to a stop, everyone belting the last note out of tune, you spun around only to be greeted with the clock again.

2 minutes.

Averting your eyes, you squeezed through the thrum to get to the drinks. On route, it seemed some couples towards the edges of the room weren’t particularly bothered about saving the moment for midnight. Scurrying past as fast as you could, you finally reached the sanctity of the bar.

Pouring out a drink, you took a sip to test it. Deciding it would do, you hummed along with the song playing as your eyes scanned across the room.

Tonight had been fun, but you were mainly here to avoid the depressing notion of a New Year’s Eve by yourself. Although everyone here was in your year at college, you barely recognised a face.

With no one to distract you, it was inevitable that your eyes gravitated back to the screen.

1 minute.

Taking another sip, you slid away into the crowd again. For the first time that night, the dancing had stopped and there was no more questionable singing. Instead, the music turned down low, chatter filling the space as the clock ticked closer.

30 seconds.

Moving towards the wall, you tried to squeeze around someone, only to trip as your foot caught on theirs. But before your drink could even spill, hands latched onto your upper arms, holding you steady.

Startled, you looked up at the handsome stranger you were suddenly very close to.

He responded to your awkward laughter with a smile of his own, still gripping your arms.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

His abrupt question left you replying before you could think.

“Y/N.”

“Y/N,” he smiled, then tossed a glance sideways at the clock, “kiss me.”

You blinked.

“What?”

“Kiss me.”

Turning your own head to look at the time, your panicked look was in vain as the room was suddenly filled with chanting.

10 seconds.

“I promise I’m not bad,” he quipped, stealing your attention again as the room announced the approaching strike of midnight.

“Five!”

“Four!”

“Three!”

“Oh, fuck it-“ you muttered.

“Two!”

Your lips crashed together, and you found he wasn’t lying at all when he said he was good. Surrendering to him completely, you allowed him to tug you closer as his lips moved perfectly against yours, wiping your mind of the people around you.

One of his hands came up to your jaw, gently but firmly holding you in place as he deepened the kiss, sending chills through your entire body.

All too soon, the cheers were fading around you and his movements slowed. Reluctantly following, you allowed him to linger for a moment before pulling away.

You were sure you must have stared at him for at least 2 years before you snapped back to your senses when he flashed a brilliant smile. Forcing yourself to breathe, you returned it. Next, thinking you should probably attempt to come off as a normal human, you removed yourself from his arms, despite being so captivated by this stranger’s eyes you could barely think.

Oh yes, this stranger.

“Thanks,” he breathed.

“No problem!” your voice came out much higher than normal, making your face burn. Clearing your throat, you tried again, “what did you say your name was?”

“Oh! I’m Jimin,” he stuck his hand out, “Park Jimin. Good to meet you.”

Bursting into laughter, you took his hand anyway and shook it.

“Okay,” you grinned, “see you around, Park Jimin.”

Somewhere between fifteen and ten minutes.

You weren’t sure where exactly, since you had no clock anywhere near you. And anyway, you had more pressing matters to deal with.

“Come on,” you groaned, tugging Hoseok’s arm further around you.

Despite your best efforts, his feet weren’t on the same page, not making it underneath him in time to stop his weight tugging you down yet again.

“Look, just up here,” Seokjin spoke from his other side. He was pointing to the corner of the road where their taxi would be picking them up.

For some reason, this year you had been persuaded out with your two friends to a club: a decision you were sorely regretting having been kicked out at a quarter to midnight given the state of the younger one. You were certain you would be spending the strike of midnight alone on the street outside instead, freezing and waiting for your own taxi.

At long last, you shrugged Hobi’s weight off you, propping him against a wall as the taxi rumbled towards you.

“Are you sure you don’t want to just crash at mine?” Jin asked once more.

“No, it’s fine, really,” you smiled as you opened the door for him, “I have to be home for my parents coming tomorrow morning. Good luck with him.”

Laughing dryly as Hoseok struggled inside, Jin gave a quick wave before clambering in himself, and then they were off.

Looking around you, it was evident the safest place to wait would be back on the main road. So, doubling back towards the club, you pulled out your phone to order your ride home.

7 minutes.

The closer you got, the more noise you could hear emanating from the club. With a sigh, you parked yourself on the other side of a streetlight, leaning against the wall to hopefully stay out of sight of the irritated bouncers who had just ejected you.

Just behind you was the side alley of the club, a few people crowding outside the fire exit for air.

Finishing up your order, you sagged back against the wall, briefly poking your head around the corner. A round of laughter rippled through the cluster of friends that stood there.

You turned back to the main road, not wanting to intrude. Your cab should be here in five minutes. Oh, and look at the time.

5 minutes.

It felt like much longer than that as you stood waiting, muffled bass from the club and chatter from the people outside providing the soundtrack for your slow descent into hypothermia. The brick wall you leaned against definitely wasn’t helping, so you pushed away from it, hugging yourself.

There were 3 minutes left when you looked back down the alleyway.

People were filing back inside, surely to see in the new year in a room full of bright lights and cheering students, rather than outside on a bare road in winter.

But then one of them looked around.

You would recognise that face anywhere.

At first you thought he didn’t see you, but when Jimin patted one of his friends on the shoulder and excused himself, you realised he was coming straight towards you.

“Y/N!”

Smiling shyly at him, you pushed some hair back behind your ear before returning your arm to your side for heat. His smile never left his face as he came to stop in front of you.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked, taking in your shivering state.

“Waiting for a taxi,” you explained, glancing over your shoulder to the road, “I kind of got kicked out-“

Jimin’s eyebrows raised as his smile overflowed into a laugh, prompting you to explain yourself.

“-well, my friend got kicked out, and, you know, I had to see him out…“

“When does your taxi get here?” Jimin interjected softly, stepping forwards.

Breath catching for a moment, you gulped. Then shook yourself and turned over the phone in your hand.

“1 minute.”

“It’s one minute until midnight,” he spoke.

Barely meeting his eyes, you nodded. In fact, with less than one minute now, you were sure he was about to go back inside again-

“Lucky coincidence I bumped into you again.”

As his hand lifted to gently graze your waist, you loosened your arms, suddenly warmer.

The start of the countdown filtered through the club’s front doors to the pair of you. With no time to check your phone again, you trusted in the booming voices from inside, letting your hands travel up Jimin’s chest to his shoulders as the final ten seconds of this year were announced.

“Just in time?” you breathed.

“Exactly,” his breath came back, hot across your face and barely a second before he closed the distance.

The faint cheering from the building behind you fell on deaf ears. You were too busy drinking in the feeling of Jimin’s lips on yours, in perfect motion that left you dizzy.

It would be a lie if you said you had never thought about last year’s kiss ever again, but this felt so much better, so much more real than even your memories could conjure. His fingers clamped on your waist, igniting your need for more as the kiss grew hungrier, his tongue swiping at your lips and your eager submission, hands now clasped behind his neck as you desperately pulled each other closer.

Just as you rose to your tiptoes, the distant hum of an engine.

Keeping your lips attached to Jimin’s until the last second, you only broke apart when the taxi drew up right beside you. It took everything in you not to dive straight back for more.

Panting slightly, your eyes locked for the briefest of moments, his hands still in the air where he had been holding you.

But then you tore yourself away.

“So you’re like, some mysterious girl who kisses people and vanishes into the night?”

“No, Jin!” you laughed into your phone, “I don’t kiss just ‘people’!”

“Oh, so he’s special?”

“Yes! Wait, no-“

“You did say it happened last year too, right?”

“Well, yeah,” you sighed, flopping back onto your pillow, “but it’s just one of those things, right?”

A pause.

“I mean, it is a weird coincidence,” he agreed, “maybe it’s meant to be!”

Even over the phone, you could tell your friend had a shit-eating grin on his face.

“You’re no help,” you grumbled.

“Okay, sorry, sorry,” he conceded, “so are you going to try and find him?”

“I don’t know…” you sighed, “would that be weird?”

“Do you like him?”

“…well, I wouldn’t say I didn’t like him-“

“Okay, so you like him-“

“That’s not what I said!”

“It was close enough. So what do we know about this guy?”

“Well… his name is Park Jimin, he’s in our year at college… um, yeah. That’s it.”

Needless to say, your half-hearted search for Jimin didn’t get very far. Before long, he was once again at the back of your mind as you dragged yourself through another semester of assignments and exams.

Park Jimin and his wonderful midnight kisses were a thought reserved for the more lovesick nights, where you lay awake in the dark, wishing to see him again.

But then you would fall asleep, and in the morning you would be preoccupied once more and fail to do anything for your love life.

And then came final year, Park Jimin seeming more and more like a distant fantasy. You were drowning in work, so much that even Jin could barely talk you into going out at the weekends anymore. Determined to do well, you set yourself on the most stressful course.

Which was probably why you were being informed about Jin’s party two months in advance.

“No last minute excuses, no pretending you have to study all night, especially in the middle of a holiday. You are coming,” he announced as you read over the post it note he had smacked onto your calendar.

“Okay,” you rolled your eyes, “but only because it’s new year.”

“And because you love me so much?” he batted his eyelashes.

“Your ego doesn’t need any more feeding,” you scoffed, though a smile did make itself known on your face.

“Aish, so ungrateful,” he complained, “you better be there!”

“I will, I will,” you consoled him. Apparently he was satisfied because he let you chase him out of the door, leaving you alone with your laptop.

Of course, you forgot.

That was the problem with promising to go to a party with two months to spare.

It was only because your friend couldn’t contain his excitement from babbling out of his mouth that you had been reminded with two days to spare. And maybe you had no one to impress, but you still wanted to look good.

Two wardrobe emptyings later, you were left with no option.

Hoseok was the first of your friends to pick up his phone, which is how you ended up tugging him out of the café at the front of the mall (which he insisted you go to as payment for him being a noble friend and helping you shop), but not before he had eaten no less than five nutella pancakes.

Once you finally got around to the shopping part of your shopping trip, he was very useful to have around.

Several times he forced you to try on clothes you never would have looked at twice on the hanger. But somehow, all of them worked. More than worked, in fact. Looking at yourself in the mirror, you twirled around in the latest outfit admiring how it looked as Hobi chucked yet another item over the top of your cubicle.

Turning your eyes to the new addition, you saw lace. A lot of lace.

“Isn’t this a bit too fancy? It’s just a college party!” you yelled.

“Just try it!” he called back.

Sighing, you decided it would do no harm , so you slipped out of the previous outfit. As you placed it back on the hanger, ready to try the new one, you heard ringing.

Scrambling for your phone, you found the screen blank.

Then Hobi’s voice outside ended the ringing instead. You heard him greet whoever it was as you ditched your phone again in favour of the dress he had picked out for you.

“Oh come on, you have to be there! It’s important!” Hobi carried on in the background as you struggled with the back zipper.

Tuning him out, you straightened up and looked in the mirror.

“Damn,” you breathed. Hobi was right about this one. But so were you: it was a little too fancy for a lowkey new year’s party.

“I told you about Y/N, right?”

The moment Hobi said your name over the phone, you snapped your attention away from the mirror. Tiptoeing towards the cubicle door, you pressed your ear up to it.

“Yes, she’s going to be so surprised! Yes, I’m sure she does. Don’t worry! I’ll see you there, okay? Okay?”

As it became clear he was hanging up you scurried away from the door, casting one last longing look into the mirror before changing back into your own things.

“How’d it go?” Hobi grinned as you walked out, arms full of his fashion advice.

“Good, thanks, yeah,” you nodded, noticing his phone was safely away again.

You definitely weren’t meant to hear that conversation.

Whatever it was, you had no idea, and so wasted little time dwelling on it. Dropping off the unwanted items, you slid the lace dress onto your ‘yes’ pile in your right arm.

“Hi!”

“Y/N!”

“Happy new year!”

“Woooo!”

A chorus of friends yelled greetings as Jin opened the door. Waving briefly, you hurried inside and shed your coat, still clutching the wine bottle you intended to drain.

“Looking good!” Hobi screeched, nearly knocking you over from behind as he swooped in to give you a hug, before holding you back at arm’s length, “not the lace?”

“No, I told you, too fancy,” you laughed at his fake puppy eyes, “now let’s go get drunk!”

Normal laughter returning, he slung an arm round your shoulder as you walked into the main room.

It wasn’t as big as the parties back in first year, and certainly not as high-intensity as clubbing, but it was still a decent sized party. People littered the hallway and the kitchen, chatting and drinking, while a cluster still danced in the living room, and few crazy brave souls were outside, of all places.

By the time midnight was close enough for you to think about, you hadn’t made much progress on your wine, but you were still having fun ignoring the advance of the clock.

Or you were, until Jin grabbed you and steered you towards the door with 5 minutes to go.

“Are you kicking me out?”

“No, dummy,” he grinned as soon as you were parked in front of the door, “happy new year!”

“Happy new year to you too…” you mumbled, perplexed.

But Jin didn’t take any notice, instead reaching for the door handle and tugging it open, looking inexplicably smug-

Park Jimin stood outside.

You were dreaming. You had to be dreaming. All you could do was stare at him.

After all those nights you had just imagined him, it was amazing to see him standing right there. Right in front of you.

A shy smile painted his lips, but at your silence his eyes slid hesitantly over to Jin at the door.

“Uh… hi?” he said.

“Oh my god!” you squealed, finally finding your voice, “Jimin?”

“Happy new year!” he smiled, still tentative.

Instead of a response, you flung yourself at him. As Jimin hugged you back, finally relaxing, you missed Jin giving him a thumbs-up and sneaking away back into the living room.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re here,” you rambled, stepping away, though his hands still rested at your waist, “what the- how-?”

“Jin wanted to surprise you,” he chuckled, “I’m on the same dance course as Hobi, and he came asking, saying his friend Y/N had some mystery guy she wanted to meet…”

“Oh no,” you blushed, hiding your face in your hands, “please don’t think I’m creepy-“

A light laugh cut you off. Pulling your hands down, you were blessed again with Jimin’s gorgeous smile, eyes creasing as he looked at you.

“I wanted to find you too,” he whispered.

“Well, here I am,” you smiled, moving closer to him. Just then, he looked down, checking his watch.

“One minute.”

“This is familiar,” you laughed.

Taking a deep breath, you ran your tongue over your lips.

“It won’t… it won’t just be for midnight this time?” you asked softly.

“If you’d like that?”

Biting your lip, you nodded quickly, bouncing on the balls on your feet.

“Do you want to go on a date with me?” you asked.

“Now that, I’d like to see,” Jimin smiled, hand rising to cup your jaw as the roar of numbers started up in the next room.

But for all you cared, they could have been on another planet. You were enraptured as Jimin leaned in, closing the gap between you, and not for the last time. Savouring his lips, you looked forward to the many more times you could do this, now you had finally found him.

Maybe you did have cause for that fancy dress, after all.

Thanks for reading! Leaving a reblog instead of a like really helps me, I appreciate ever reblog!

@aianloveseven​ @preciouschimine​

Contact me to be tagged in new work!

[offda-rails-art]

Here is part two of “Lochlans spook” 👇

Again⚠️gore warning⚠️ this is a horror story

Not long after Lochlan made his way past the herd of deer another odd occurrence happened. The first thing he saw up ahead was a lone coyote racing out of the direction Lochlan was headed. The coyote seemed to be on a mission to get somewhere. The animal’s eyes bulged from its head, his mouth gaped open trying to take in as much air as possible, and every muscle in its body showed as it sprinted in the opposite direction it came. Lochlan was about to conclude that the animal was simply on a mission for a hunt. But then, more animals sprinted forward going the same way the coyote was headed. Foxes, rabbits, more coyotes and deer, even birds flew right past Lochlan. The big engine was the last thing the animals seemed to care about, they all ran in an almost harmonious fashion. They weren’t chasing each other but they were running away from something. Lochlan felt a pang of anxiety deep in the depths of his boiler. He had never witnessed something so strange, what on earth are they running from? He thought and as he traveled closer in the direction the animals sprinted from he felt something he never felt before, fear.

In his lifetime Lochlan had truly and honestly never felt fear. He was so big and powerful that what could he fear? And as awful as it sounds Lochlan didn’t have normal “engine fears” either. He didn’t worry about collisions like many feared. Many engines that collided often had died from either injury or impact, but Lochlan was so large that any engine that collided with him would be doomed and he himself would most likely be untouched. If anything others feared him because of his size and mass.

Lochlan was so shellshocked with the new feeling that he didn’t know how to react. Something was scaring him. He blanked out for a moment and then came to a screeching halt, his cargo slammed into him, his engineers were nearly thrown from their seats, and any product that was in the rows of cargo trucks was surely tossed around and destroyed. Lochlan stared blankly ahead, his headlamp hardly illuminating anything in the pitch black. Now that he stood still he listened to all that was around him. His anxiety got worse when the only sound around him was nothing. No crickets, no birds, nothing. Pure quiet. Something was out there, hunting.

Lochlans engineers took a moment to collect themselves from the sudden unexpected halt. “What the hell was that all about?” His fireman asked and rubbed his head in thought.

“I don’t know, but I’ll go see what the issue is. Perhaps Lochlan will let us know.” His driver said and hopped down from the cab and started a long walk to face his engine. Lochlan meanwhile stared ahead of himself he listened in as best he could becuase he could swear something was calling his name. His driver interrupted him. “What’s the issue big boy? Are you hurt? Is something wrong?” He asked.

“I don’t know sir. I just can’t go any further.” Lochlan replied never taking his eyes off the track ahead. He felt the air get cooler with each second. His driver seemed to notice that too, he crossed his arms over his chest and shivered.

“Can’t see squat out here in this dark. Alright Lochlan I’ll try and find the out-

“I think you should go back in my cab now. It’s getting to cold out here and there’s no sense in trying to solve a problem in the pitch black.” Lochlan interrupted. More dread bubbled up inside of him. His driver looked at him curiously, he held his arms tighter to his chest bracing in the cold.

“I suppose your right, goddamn why is it so cold? It’s the middle of summer.” His driver groaned then turned on his heels to rush back to the warm cab. Lochlan’s fireman poked his head out of the cab window.

“Is everything alright? What’s going on?” He shouted down to his colleague. He felt the bitter cold nip at his face and noticed his breath show up in the air.

“I don’t know, but it’s to cold out here and I cannot see an inch of light anywhere.” He hurriedly climbed into the warm cab.

“I noticed that too. Should we radio for assistance?” The fireman asked.

“Go ahead and try but I guarantee you won’t get any signal out here.” He sighed and plopped himself down in his seat. The two did try to radio but had no luck. After hours of trying to think of what to do they both decided to stay in the cab and wait till early morning when at least an ounce of light would come out.

Lochlan sat on the tracks never taking his eyes away from the pitch black ahead. He listened carefully and heard an unsettling sound. A low grumble mixed with what sounded like an elk bugling echoed around him. Elk calls could be eerie sounding but this was no elk call, what made him come to that conclusion was his name being called after each grumble.

“Lochlan?” The voice asked trying to get a response. Lochlan didn’t dare answer. He narrowed his eyes trying to see what called his name. “Lochlan?!” It asked again this time sounding agitated, a louder grumble followed. Lochlan nearly jumped out of his pistons when silence followed and then a loud “LOCHLAN!!!! LOCHLAN!!! LOCHLAN!!!!!” The voice roared. He still didn’t answer. Just beyond where his headlamp could reach a figure came into view. A buck stood on the tracks ahead, its dark piercing eyes stared back at him in a way no animal would. Lochlan gritted his teeth, he watched the deer and his eyes went wide when the animal opened its mouth.

“LOCHLAN.” The deer mouthed in perfect English. The four legged animal began to twist and morphe into a horrifying creature. It’s bones broke then dislocated growing massive upright legs, front legs turned into massive human arms along with a long skinny malnutritished human torso with ribs poking out. Flesh clung to its horribly mangled body and with each body part that morphed into place it grew and grew and grew until it towered over Lochlan. The flesh disappeared from the deer’s head revealing its skull with bulging red human eyes. A long tongue rolled from its mouth dripping drool and all. A skinny boney finger cracked, twisted, then pointed to Lochlan in a sickening beckoning motion. The creature stepped forward, it’s massive body lurched with each step. The low grumble noise came again, this time it shook Lochlan to the core. The creature’s jaw opened wide in a smile. “Lochlan?” It asked again seeming to want a response. Lochlan refused half out of sheer panic and the other part not being able to form words at all. He’d never ever been this terrified. The creature wasn’t satisfied with the silence it received, its jaw formed into a frown.

Lochlan watched each step it took, and now with the horrific creature just one foot away he did the only thing his body let him do. Close his eyes. The creature bent down lowering its face to Lochlan’s. “Lochlan?” It asked in almost a whine to get a rise out of him. No response and the creature grew significantly irritated. Lochlan felt it’s hot breath assault his skin, it’s breath stunk of rot. The whole beast itself was a massive rotting corpse, maggots wriggled around what flesh stretched over its body. The creature breathed in his face, it reached a hand out and touched Lochlans cheek. A sharp claw traced over the flesh on his face, Lochlan could swear he felt whatever maggots that were imbedded in the beast’s hand crawled out for a moment and graze his own skin. He still didn’t dare open his eyes. The creature sat there for what felt like hours, each breath it took a low grumble followed. Lochlan was terrified, his eyes refusing to open. Even when he felt a sticky wet tongue roll over his face. The creature got irritated and with a loud annoyed huff it got to its feet, gave one last loud bellowing screech and just like that it disappeared. Lochlan kept his eyes clamped shut the rest of the night, he didn’t open them until he could see a very small amount of light shine through his eyelids. Birds chirped and crowed and things seemed to be a bit normal. He kept his eyes opened and looked around.

Lochlan had started up with no issues at all, the incident that happened during the night when unnoticed by his engineers who had seemed to have slept through the whole thing. The two men looked their engine over best they could and asked how he felt before starting off back down the route. Lochlan rolled down the track cautiously still shaken up from what happened earlier. He frowned when he noticed on the sides of the track further down the line dozens of cattle spread out in the field. They weren’t laying down, they were quite literally scattered about. The scene was brutal, every bovine was covered in massive claw marks, many looked disemboweled, some missing limbs, some missing heads. Lochlan felt his breath hitch as he rolled by slowly. Two very confused cowboys surveyed the field of cattle. Lochlan’s engineers looked out the window of his cab and scratched their heads at the brutal scene. They chatted about what could have possibly done that but Lochlan knew exactly what did that.

“Well?! What did you think? Pretty weird right? I’d rate that on the list of odd things I’ve seen as a.... 3? Maybe 4? Out of 10 of course.” Lochlan said as he concluded his story. The group beside him looked horrified. Donner looked as though he was about to pass out or throw up, maybe both.

“Jesus Christ Lochlan?! You drop a bomb just like that on us?!” Red asked, his mouth agape still from shock at what was said.

“You wanted a horror story, yes?” Lochlan asked innocently.

“I’d just like to know what makes you rate that a 4 out of weird things you’ve seen?” Cracker Jack asked.

Lochlan only smirked.

End.

Thanks for reading💖💖 I hope you enjoyed.

[local-cry-baby]

It's A Promise (Barry x Reader)

so sinnoh remakes (and premakes?!) has been confirmed and of course the first thing I had to do was write a short fic on one of my favorite rival of all time

Sorry but I had to ten year old me had a massive crush on this character lol

writing; short story

word count; 2781

genre; friendship & hurt/comfort (very subtle romance)

reader; gender neutral

au; takes place after the events of DPPt (also Barry has freckles if that counts)

summary; your plans for summer has been hijacked by a certain hyperactive boy

Image

Half asleep you heard the Starlys chirp and trill and the Kricketots chime in harmony with one another, announcing the arrival of morning. You shifted slightly in bed, pulling the covers closer to you and yawned. The best feeling in the world you believe was hearing the sound of the world rousing to the start of a new day and knowing you didn't have to wake up along with it. With a content sigh you roll on your side, slowly drifting off to sleep...

Tap! Tap! Tap!

You furrow your brows slightly at the sound but quickly relaxed, smiling softly to yourself...

TAP! TAP! TAP!

You assume it was just a Starly or two messing outside your window so you chose to ignore it, opting to pull the covers over your head. You sighed again, this time in annoyance, as you try to fall asleep...

Click! Scree!

"Psst! (Y/N), are you sleeping?"

Your eyes open in disbelief as you immediately recognize the voice and just process the fact that he happen to somehow open your bedroom window to ask the obvious. 'Say it ain't so.’ You turned to face your window to see Barry there, arms resting on top of the sill as he watched you with a curious expression which was soon beaming with excitement once he saw you. "Oh good, you're awake!" Like you weren't sleeping to begin with.

"Wha? Barry what are you doing here?" You asked groggily. "Aren't you suppose to be at Pastoria City with Wake?"

"It's summer, duh! Crasher Wake gave me the week off and since your school is closed for vacation I thought it was perfect to catch up and hang out together this week!" Barry had this lively vibe around him that practically made him glow like a ray of sun leaving you dizzy with exhaustion. You plop back in bed with a groan knowing your plans to sleep in till afternoon for the whole week was ruined. "So at first I was thinking of going to the Great Marsh like we use to for old time sake" Barry began as he climbed right in sitting at your windowsill. "But I heard today would reach the hottest temperature ever in Sinnoh history!"

"Really now?" You asked in a monotonous voice. How hot can it possibly be in the coldest region in the world.

"Get this, 72 degrees! Can you believe it?!" As someone who was born and raised in Hoenn, a region where temperatures can reach up to the high 90s during the late summer you weren't exactly impressed. "So change of plans! We're going to spend the day at Sandgem Beach so pack your things!"

You glanced at the digital clock on your bedside. It read 6:22AM. "Barry it's too early! Can't we go like at 10 or something?"

"No way! We have to go now otherwise it'll be full if we go any later!"

"When is Sandgem Beach ever full!? You can barely even call it a beach!" You turned away from your friend, wrapping yourself up in your blanket. You were not getting out of this bed.

"Come on (Y/N)!" Barry whined. "We haven't hung out in so long! I literally spent all night planning this week out and you're just going to turn me down?! If Lucas and Dawn were here they would've agreed in going!" You can hear the irritation in his voice but underneath it was a hint of dejection. Shortly after your journey with the trio came to an end things changed. Dawn moved to the Kalos region a year ago to continue her study on Pokemon and just a few months afterwards Lucas left to Unova for reasons unknown though you had a hunch that it had something to do with that officer Looker. Barry spend most of his days at Pastoria’s gym, training intensely with Crasher Wake. As for you your parents never supported your dreams of becoming a Pokemon Trainer and your battling skills were left to be desired so you dropped it to continue your studies and follow a more reasonable career.

Although you didn't look at him you can feel him gazing at you, presumably with a pout or with Lillipup eyes. You groaned in defeat. "Fine."

Barry barely let you finish your sentence as he responded, "Really? Awesome! Don't forget to bring your Pokemon along with you, alright? And don't show up late otherwise I'll fine you!" With that he jump out your window and let out a yelp. "Don't worry! I'm alright!"

You sighed, wondering how anyone could have so much energy so early in the morning as you practically dragged yourself out of bed to start the day.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Sandgem Town was quiet, the majority of the residents still asleep or just starting their day. You haven’t been in Sandgem in quite a while yet walking down the somewhat familiar road invoked a nostalgic feeling. You paused, looking at the houses on the street till you spot the familiar lab down the road. Professor Rowan’s lab. It almost felt like yesterday when you took your first step through Route 201 alongside your friends Lucas and Barry (although the latter practically raced his way there) to get here with your first Pokemon, Riolu. You couldn't help but smile at the memory before going on your way to Sandgem Beach. And, as you predicted, it was empty saved for Barry.

He stood at the edge of the boardwalk, his back facing you as he perform some stretching exercise. His team was already out of their Pokeballs, enjoying themselves. Infernape was meditating, Roserade, Snorlax, and Staraptor were sunbathing, Floatzel was swimming, and Heracross was attempting to bury itself in the sand, seeking warmth. Taking out three Pokeballs from your belt you released your team: Lucario, Lopunny, and Vaporeon. Your Pokemon looked around their surroundings before glancing up at you in surprise. When was the last time you actually brought them somewhere that wasn't home or your school’s campus? “Go on you guys. Have fun!” With that said your Pokemon went off to do their own thing.

Lucario sat beside Inferape, joining it in meditation and Lopunny bounded excitedly over to its long time crush, Roserade, the Bouquet Pokemon vastly annoyed that its peace was disrupted as it escaped from its crushing grip. Lastly, Vaporeon decided to take a swim, dipping into the ocean and blending itself into its surroundings, disappearing from sight.

The commotion between Lopunny and Roserade caught Barry's attention as he looked over to notice you. "Too slow!" He yelled running over to you. Not even giving you a chance to say something he grabs your arm and drags you over to the boardwalk. Once he lets go he begins to take off his shirt.

"Ready for what?" You asked.

“Barry!” You never saw your friend shirtless before so you couldn't help but feel flustered. Though he didn’t seem to care as he carried on anyways. As you assumed, Barry had a lean figure, what you didn't expect however was the amount of freckles he had. Although Barry had freckles dusting his cheeks and nose they were barely noticeable compared to the ones on his back and shoulders which were far more prominent. Realizing you were staring longer then normal you quickly turned away, trying to hide the awkward blush.

Luckily, Barry didn't notice. "Ready?"

"To swim!"

You look down at the blue water before dipping a bare foot in. It was ice cold. "It's freezing!" You exclaimed.

"It's not that bad!"

"Thanks but I pass" you said, waving a hand dismissively.

Barry pouted but it was soon replaced with a mischievous smile. "Alright then, suit yourself." He said, surprising you. Barry wasn't one to easily let things go without trying to convince you first. He's up to something, you know it. You were about to ask but he had already left your side as he jump right into the water, splashing you head to toe causing a sharp gasp to escape your lips from the sudden shock of being doused in icy water. Barry pop back up to the surface with a triumphant smirk, his bright eyes gleaming with playfulness.

"You suck!" You yelled causing him to laugh as he dived back underwater. Soaked to the bone there really was no point in staying out of the water in hopes of drying off soon, not with this cold breeze that made it impossible to warm up. You remove your hoodie and shorts revealing your (color) swimsuit before setting them down on the boardwalk and slipping into the water. Since you were already cold the frigid water didn't get to you, feeling more welcoming then before.

You looked around for your rival, trying to spot the blonde in the murky water but only saw his Floatzel which was lazily floating around. "Barry?” Something suddenly grabbed onto your ankle causing you to scream in surprise and flailing to get away, kicking away whatever touched you.

Barry appeared right beside you, clutching his left cheek. "Ow! Seriously?! You just kicked my face!"

"Well you shouldn't have grabbed me like that!" You said. He only stick his tongue out at you before swimming over to the boardwalk, crossing his arms and resting his head atop of it. You watched him as he stared up at the blue sky with a content expression, droplets of water clinging on to his hair as it shined in the morning light. Seeing him like this gave you the same flustered feeling from before. You couldn't quite wrap your head around as to why though. You’ve known him since kindergarten. So why all of a sudden you felt awkward around him?

"What’s up?" You didn’t even realize that he had stopped gazing up at the sky in favor of looking at you.

“What do you mean?” You said, turning elsewhere though it was in vain since he already caught you this time around.

“You were staring at me just now. It was pretty weird.” You try to think of something to say, mainly to defend yourself but to your relief he changed the subject. “So how’s school?”

You shrugged. “It’s alright. Senior year isn’t difficult compared to the other years since we’re more focused on applying for college.”

“Do you know where you want to go?” You noticed his words were a bit quiet and reserved unlike his usual chipper and noisy self.

“Well I was hoping to go to University of Unova since it’s known for having the best (career) course” you explained. “Though my parents aren’t too keen on me going that far so I might just stick to Goldenrod University.”

“I know that but...” He trailed off for a moment, thinking of what to say. “Can’t you just go to Canalave College instead?”

“Goldenrod!?” Barry’s sudden sharp tone made you flinch. “Why so far?” He was looking at you with a hurt expression that made you feel guilty despite the fact you didn’t do anything wrong. At least, you felt like you did nothing wrong.

“Well compared to Unova which is practically halfway across the world. Johto is just south of Sinnoh.”

“Barry, Canalave College doesn’t even have programs on what I’m going for.”

“Ugh, this is why I’ve always hated school” Barry grumbled, letting go of the boardwalk just to sink further into the water leaving just his eyes visible to you, glaring down at nothing in particular. He almost resembled that of a pouting child.

You didn’t understand why he was so upset about your plans or why he was trying to make you change your college decisions. Unless… “You don’t want me to leave?”

Barry barely let you finish your sentence as he quickly got up. “It’s not that!”

“Then what’s the problem?” You pressured.

At this point Barry wasn’t even looking at you, opting to just randomly glance around the area. “There is no problem! It’s just...” With a sigh he finally looked at you. Honey colored eyes stared at your (e/c) ones, his cheeks gaining a bright shade of pink. “I thought even though Lucas and Dawn left at least I still have you around.”

You couldn’t help but frown. You didn’t realize just how attached Barry was to you and the others until now. Naturally you felt bad but you certainly couldn’t change your plans for him either as much as it hurts you to see him like this. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would be this upset about it but it’s just how it is. Eventually we have to go our own way to live our lives. Right now you’re training with Crasher Wake to become one of the best Pokemon Trainer ever. At some point you’re going to leave Sinnoh to follow that dream, right?” He remained silent but nodded in response. “Just because we’re not going to be together like old times doesn’t mean we’re no longer friends. You’ll always be my best friend no matter what.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I was being over dramatic.” You couldn’t help but smile when you saw his expression brighten. That was until he started giggling leaving you perplexed.

“Huh? What’s so funny?” You asked

“Sorry I just found the whole ‘you’ll always be my best friend’ bit kind of cheesy.”

“I was trying to cheer you up you douche!” You snapped unable to control your blush of embarrassment as Barry continued laughing. Seeking petty revenge you bought your fingers to your lips and let out a sharp whistle. Without warning your Vaporeon splashed out between you both before spouting water right in his face. He sputtered in surprise as he attempted to shield himself.

“So that’s how it’s going to be huh?” He challenged before calling for his Floatzel who immediately appeared by his side. Already getting the cue of what was going on the Pokemon retaliated by spraying sea water over you by spinning its propeller-like tails. Oh, it’s on now. Barry however was already a step ahead of you as he mounted onto his Pokemon’s back. “Good luck trying to catch me Slowpoke!” He taunted with a smirk before promptly swimming away from you. You knew Vaporeon was nowhere near as fast as Floatzel but you sure as hell weren’t going to let him get away so easily. You got on Vaporeon’s back and began swimming after the two, unable to contain the childlike excitement and determination you were getting from the chase.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

For the first time since you moved to the chilly region you truly felt the warmth of summer in Sinnoh. You and Barry sat on a bench right outside Sandgem Beach, not bothering to change out of your swimsuits as you ate popsicles and watch the afternoon go by. Residents glance at you both with odd looks since beachgoers rarely, if ever, visit their town but neither of you mind at all. After having that impromptu water fight you both decided to have a Pokemon battle, for old time sake. Of course you lost but you didn’t mind. Its been so long since you felt the fun and adrenaline that battles gave you that you completely forgot why you enjoyed them so much in the first place.

“Hey (Y/N)?” You looked at Barry who took a small bite from his orange creamsicle. “I know I said it was cheesy but is it true? I’ll always be your best friend no matter what?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.” You had just finished your (flavor) popsicle, dumping the stick in the trash can beside you. He remained silent and although he said he was fine you notice still a hint of sadness in his expression as he stared off in the distance. Placing a hand on his shoulder you diverted his attention to you as you beamed at him. “It’s a promise.”

There was a sudden shimmer in his eyes and you wonder if he was tearing up when he quickly rub at them. “It better be otherwise I’ll fine you ten million PokeDollars if you replace me!” You couldn’t help but giggle, Barry joining in.

“So what’s the plan tomorrow?” You asked.

“Well I was thinking the Great Marsh maybe. If you’re fine with that.”

You nodded. “I bet I can catch more Pokemon then you.” You smirked when his smile faded into an annoyed expression.

“As if! I’m totally going to kick your ass!” He said swatting away your hand when you attempted to ruffle his hair just to irk him.

Needless to say, you were pretty glad he woke you up this morning.

[casualotptrash]

Fixes to the Persona Series

Oh boy I hope you all are ready to talk about this for the hundredth time!

My recent tirade about the FES vs Portable discussion started to make me think about what I think could be done in the next coming installments of the series to make it either feel a bit more fresh or just as an overall improvement. Now, I know many of the things I’m about to say have been said time and time again, but...this is my post so I’m going to give my opinion on this :)

Enjoy and feel free to vent with me about your biggest gripes with the series, because I’m always ready for a salt-fest.

(This post will pretty much have any spoilers about Persona 3, 4, and 5 (including Royal) so beware if you haven’t finished those)

To clarify right off the bat, anything I don’t mention in here as something I would fix I either don’t think it is a problem or I just happened to forget it.

1. Player Gender Options

(Royal Spoilers)

Starting off with a great one, I think that an improvement to the series would be to allow an option between a male and a female MC. I don’t think this choice would affect the story in Persona 3 or 4 very much (and we’ve seen that with Persona 3), but I have imagined and seen so many fanfics about how it would actually be a really interesting twist for Persona 5. For most of the story it probably wouldn’t matter too much, but it could impact the first palace so much. The first palace/story arc is already one of the best arcs in the game, so imagine if the player could relate to Ann and Shiho on an even deeper level? To be clear, I’m not saying the player has to be sexually assaulted or something, but I imagine Kamoshida would at least treat the player more like Ann rather than just a delinquent nuisance.

Also, and this just came to mind, but picture this: in the third semester Maruki actualizes things that he thinks will make others happy. Obviously, Joker and Akechi are against this. In the game itself there are a lot of clues to point that Joker does care about Akechi, and does want to see him again, but in the end they both agree that they need to fight for the real world that they worked for, not for a fake reality. If Joker was a female, they could still go the route of doing this (especially if romancing Akechi was an option? Or they just hint at them having feelings but Akechi doesn’t want to commit because he’s a self-loathing boi who needs to work on himself first).

Alternatively...what about a badass narrative of a girl, in a powerful position as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, fighting against a man who believes he knows what’s best for her and tries to appease her by just bringing back Akechi? Kinda like a “Yeah fuck what you did, you just need Akechi/a man and he’ll make you happy” type of thing. Obviously this would all be subtle, because I do think Maruki has good intentions, but he also blames himself for all of the hard things Rumi has gone through and may internalize that as women needing a “strong man” to protect them. Of course this might seem too preachy for people, but I thought it was an interesting idea to run with and that some people could relate to the whole “Woman trying to think and do things for themselves? Nah just sit in your little fake world and be happy, thanks.”

(Sidenote, Sae would be such a good role model...after her change of heart of course. You crush it girl.)

However, I do understand that this could be a lot of extra work, especially when the game is so long and tedious. That’s why I would also be fine with the strategy of “switching off” per say. By that I mean if Persona 5 has a male MC, then Persona 6 would have a female MC, and if a 7th game was made (in 2040 or whatever) then it could go back to a male. This would eliminate the issue of having to record all the voice lines twice or any other extra work that would come with having to make both genders an option. Honestly I know this option doesn’t matter too much to people, they just want an MC who is either a self-insert or actually a character (more on that later), but I do think it would be a very nice inclusion especially for the female fans of the game. It kind of sucks that three of the most popular games in the series all have male protags, and the female protag who was introduced often gets shafted for very dumb reasons. (Oh no, you have the option to romance a kid that most people don’t even choose or like, that means she’s a p*do! :I I know this comment is normally a joke but seriously it’s not funny).

2. Setting of the game (not transfer but also maybe involve the other games?)

(Spoilers for the Arena games and Persona 5/Royal)

So there are two main points to this suggestion: where the game takes place and how it relates to the other games.

As we all know, the three latest entries in the mainline Persona series have all followed a certain trend. They are all high schoolers, who transfer to a town, and know basically no one there. This formula has been repeated for the last three games, and while they are still great games, I think this trend needs to change. Any amount of switching this up would be better than nothing in my opinion. For example, the MC could be a new college student who goes to a new place for college (if they wanted the MC to move somewhere), and there meets the party members who are a mix of people who also don’t know the area (new to the college) and those who do know the area/some people there. This would appease people who have been really wanting an MC to not be a high schooler, while also giving the feel of meeting new people and seeing a new place.

On the other hand, the next game could take place in the MC’s home town, where plot stuff happens and they connect more to the people they already knew (aka party members) to solve the plot stuff. They could be in high school or college, either I think would work, but it would appease people who don’t just want to be a transfer student each time and also have some connection to the characters prior to the game. However, this would be difficult to do given the current “flow” that the games have, that is that the MC doesn’t know anything and has to ask a million questions. It would be very strange to go up to someone you have known most of your life and ask them a basic question, which is why that style of storytelling(?) would not fit well with this and other methods would need to be used.

Now, for the second point, I understand that they don’t make strong connections to the other games because they want each game to be able to be played as a stand-alone, and not to hold people back by forcing them to play the other games to understand this. Makes sense, but usually what happens is that people play one game in the series and then try another game, if they really like the one they started with. After playing through the ones they want to, and if they like them, then there is an appreciation for the series as a whole. Of course Atlus sneaks in little references here and there, like having the P4 gang go to Iwatodai or some TV news announcements on P5 that allude to Adachi and other characters, but those cant always cut it. One of the biggest letdowns I would come to know is the fact that the Shadow Operatives are not mentioned at all, outside of those small references, in P5.

Persona 5 literally has the PT’s broadcasting all of their heists, and includes major government officials like Shido. There are also the mental shutdowns/psychotic breakdowns, which also have people confused, along with how the PT’s steal hearts in the first place. I don’t know about you all, but this seems like the perfect opportunity to get the Shadow Operatives involved. This is like...literally what they were made for? Investigating persona/shadow activity and such, and we already know that the PT’s deeds reached at least Hawaii so it would be strange for the SO’s to have not heard anything. There are headcanons that they were blocked by Shido or something, which is pretty interesting to think about/develop, but it was only thought up to make an excuse for why they aren’t there. Persona 5 introduced a lot of people to the story, so yeah some people would probably be very confused about who the SO’s are and stuff, but it could payoff in the long run for long-time fans and those who play the other games after.

Depending on the story of P6, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to start including casts from the other games into newer ones...especially when each game introduces 8-9 new characters per game, and those games usually get made into spin-offs that include the characters made in the previous games! Counting only the characters introduced in the previous games (3-5), Persona Q2 has 33 characters (11 P3, 10 P5, 10 P4, and 2 P3P, this includes the velvet room assistants for each respective game). That’s a ton! Sure, having new characters each time is part of the fun, but I believe there is definitely a way to split them up. I don’t think it would be too much of an issue to have a smaller party member group (you can only have 4 fight at a time anyway), that way there is still the enjoyment of seeing new characters, while also filling up some of those spots with preexisting ones.

3. Characterization

This kind of piggybacks off of the second point, but personally I think they need to stop with the self-insert protags. First, like I mentioned earlier, it kind of messes up the “flow” of the game since they have to pretend that the character doesn’t know anything because the player doesn’t know anything (yet). For example, how many times did the option to say “Probation?” or “Expelled?” or something like that come up as a dialogue choice in P5? Too often, in my opinion. I assume anyone over the age of 15 would probably know what those things mean, but in case anyone doesn’t they have to make it an option to say.

Adding onto this, it also seems like people start to like the characters a whole lot more when spinoffs or movies/animations come out that really expand on the character, because in those games/mediums the player is taken out of the self-insert role. I would say out of the three games, the Persona 3 protags have the most characterization in game through their dialogue. I haven’t watched the movies, but I heard it fleshes the MC out a lot more. In Persona 4...well, I see what they’re going for but I also feel like Yu has the personality of a cardboard box. The animations definitely helped out this one, as did Arena, and I’ve seen other people agree that they liked Yu a lot more after playing/watching those things.

As for Persona 5, I think they tried to give Joker some characterization (and oddly enough “Joker” has a lot more to him than Akira/Ren, but he still fell more on the side of self-insert. P5 the animation is...of questionable quality, but I think Xander did a good job in the Dub (which is the one I watched) in trying to make him feel more like a human being. I haven’t played Strikers, but I assume it goes more on the route of P5 because you’re still controlling Joker. Oddly enough, I feel like the dancing game gave him the most characterization? Call me crazy, but his dance moves and voice lines just ooze of his suave, friendly, and supportive attitude. I wish that they took whatever those voice lines embodied and just put them into the game, because I would like Joker a lot more than I already do (which, to be clear, I do still like him a lot).

Although this doesn’t have much to do with the characterization, it would also be nice if Atlus could just put the “canon name” in the game while also still having the option to choose your own name. Again, this might add a little more work but maybe if someone chose the “canon” option then their name could be spoken in voice lines, but if they don’t then the names would be left out (except for text) like usual. Honestly this is mostly up to personal preference because I like some of the “not canon” names more so I would want to use those if I could, but I also don’t like having the characters just randomly cut off in the end of sentences when they’re saying your name. Just kind of breaks immersion, which is probably why I really like Joker because at least they say “Joker” quite a bit.

(Little rant, but why do the PT’s get like two group names? At first Morgana defaults to “The Phantom Thieves of Hearts” but then when you get to choose the name of your team, that name is what shows up instead. However, everyone still calls you the “Phantom Thieves” and the gang refers to themselves as that too! I get naming the group is kind of cool, but I would have preferred if they were just called The Phantom Thieves (of Hearts) and that way their name could be spoken in dialogue too.)

4. Choices matter...please? (romance and regular dialogue)

This might be easy or difficult to implement, I’m not so sure because I’m not a game developer, but I really wish choices mattered more in this game. I feel like most of these suggestions (especially later on down the list) are just little things that could be added to the game that would really amp it up, and this is one of them.

When I talk about choices mattering, I do not mean that dialogue should be so open that there are branching paths and that your choices affect the story. What I mean is that you could choose two different options and not get the same exact answer. I get that this isn’t always the case, but when it is it feels very strange. In this same vein of things, please stop with the illusion of choice because everyone sees right through it. I didn’t really see this as much in P3, and I still need to finish P4, but it was definitely apparent with P5. I felt that so many times in the game there were two options that were just “Option A” or “Synonym for Option A” as the choices.

Along the same lines, I think it would be great if romance choices were actually acknowledged. Again, there is a little of this in P3 and P4 where some party members comment on your relation to the other party members (Ex. Junpei saying to take care of Fuuka if you date, Yukari stating that Akihiko probably wouldn’t want FeMC going on a group date if they’re dating, and Yosuke coming to assumptions about who Yu spends the summer festival with), but they are very few and far between. I also saw no evidence of this at all in P5, which was pretty disappointing. In fact, in Persona 5 Royal if you are dating Ann and go on the Christmas Date with her, she makes some comment about not wanting the others to find out about them. Like...girl, considering someone can finish Ann’s social link as early as June or so on NG+ I’m pretty sure your friend group would notice if you’ve been dating for 6 months?? I know that romance is definitely not the focus of the game, but if you’re going to include it why is it shoved into the farthest corner and never touched?

Don’t get me wrong, it is cute to see the romances in the game play out and such, but on the same hand I can see how much better it could be. In reality it kind of sucks to romance someone in the Persona games because no one acknowledges it, and you only get like 3-4 small scenes in each game to spend with them (beach in P5, festival in all, Christmas in all, valentines except for 3, White Day in P5R). Just imagine if you could take a walk in Kyoto with whoever you romanced, or were able to take your partner to the Jazz Jin in P5R and they would get like special date dialogue or something? Very very small additions, but it would go a long way in making the romances feel a bit more connected.

5. LGBT Romances

I went into this in some detail in Part 3 of my FES vs Portable debate post, so I to save your eyes from reading more I’ll just quickly say that Atlus definitely needs to add in more LGBT romance options because it’s ridiculous at this point. The fact that you can’t romance any guy (because all of the MC’s are male, this is not including the FeMC stuff because that’s not typical in the Persona series) but can have a whole harem (despite what they may do to you) is just ridiculous. They’d rather let you date a fully-fledged adult than someone of the same gender.

Also they’re cowards for scrapping the Yosuke romance and that’s that :)

6. Fixing Social Links

Link to the stand-alone post about this section.

I literally was going to include this in this post, but this section alone (which I knew was going to be the biggest) was almost as large (a few hundred words off) than everything prior to this point put together. I’ll make a separate post with just this section soon, but this criticism of mine can basically be boiled down into the fact that the main growth of a character should happen outside of their social link in order to avoid tonal whiplash in the story, and that this will fix the problem of some characters feeling “one-note” if you do not do their social links/confidants. Essentially, go back to the P3 method.

However, something that needs to be fixed for all of the games is that you shouldn’t only get social link points for saying what the person wants to hear. I get the train of thought that if you say what they want to hear they will like you more, but that’s not how real friendships work? Obviously you shouldn’t be saying something that offends them and think it will raise your points, but sometimes people just need to hear things?

I can think of three standout examples: Nozomi in P3 (Gourmet King), Mishima in P5, and Shinya in P5. Nozomi’s link is a hot mess in of itself, but it was very frustrating to at one point just be like “Hey can you chill?” when he’s trying to induct you into a scam/cult or whatever, and it reverses the social link. Like ok buddy fuck you too, I was just trying to say no and that you need to stop scamming people?? For Mishima in P5 (I’ll go more in depth on him in a later post), it’s just kind of strange that you can clearly see him starting to obsess about the PT’s but you can’t really tell him he needs to stop until the social link demands it. Even then, the only way to get points is pretty much to go “Wow Mishima, you’re the best! You’re the reason we exist! We love you!!!” and it just feels kind of wrong. Shinya’s is very much along the same line as that, except you basically have to do something even worse and encourage him to keep being a bully? Thankfully P5 doesn’t reverse confidants, but I probably would have done so with Shinya because I kept telling him he shouldn’t bully others until I realized how to get points with him. It just feels wrong to encourage such behavior until the character suddenly realizes they’ve been acting wrong. No shit, I’ve been trying to say that.

I think social links need quite the fix to them, but this is definitely one of them. Strong, real relationships are not just built upon telling the other person what they want to hear.

7. Have Characters Hang Out

This is mostly a suggestion based off of P5′s downfall in this aspect. I think that P3 and P4 did a good job at showing the characters hang out in other aspects, or hang out separately outside of the MC. P4 had a lot of good group hangouts, but not many scenes without the MC. P3 had the opposite where members kind of hung out together a bit, but also showed or mentioned them hanging out without the MC. However, P5 didn’t have much for the group hangouts and also I can’t really recall a single scene of the party members hanging out outside of the MC.

Along with all of the problems I mentioned earlier with the cardboard cut-out personalities, I feel that this contributed to P5′s group feeling a bit less cohesive. Obviously when they all hung out they acted like a real group of friends, but it’s hard to see it as legitimate when 95% of their hangouts are just meetings for the Phantom Thief stuff. The only times they hang out outside of the PT stuff is the TV station, the fireworks festival, helping Futaba + the beach trip, and the culture festival. Like I said, I can’t recall them hanging out together outside of being with the MC/PT business, although I could have missed some stray text message if one was mentioned.

In this aspect, P5 feels like a small step down from P3 and a huge step down from P4. I think some of the events in P4 are a bit unnecessarily long, but at least they go through the effort of showing that the group is also a real friend group, not just people trying to solve the murder. Strikers may be a step up from P5, but I haven’t played it yet so I can’t judge that.

Also bring back school trips to prior locations of Persona games. Imagine P5 group going to Inaba and it turns out this is the small country town that Joker came from? And they sprinkle in references to P4? *chefs kiss*.

8. Remove/Change Certain Tropes

(Spoilers for the babe hunts, stupid ass hot springs scenes, and Ryuji abuse after certain palace)

By that spoiler tag, you can probably tell that this is the category I’m most passionate about. I can deal with social links feeling a bit disconnected. I can deal with the MC being a self-insert. What I cant deal with anymore? These. Dumb. Ass. Scenes.

Let me explain (insert Sojiro voice here)

Every game has three main tropes. One, the babe hunt scenes. Two, the hot springs scenes. Three, one character being dunked on by everyone else. I’ll go through each, scream about my feelings about them, and why they need to change.

First, the babe hunt scenes. I don’t have much of a problem with this trope to be honest, I just think it could be done better in some games. I actually think the one in P3 was quite funny, because the group treated it like an “operation” which added a bit to humor. Truth be told, I was just a bit disappointed in P3P FeMC route when you didn’t have your own version of the “babe hunt” thing. I know Yukari and Mitsuru aren’t the types to go hunt for boys, but perhaps the MC could have suggested it as a fun idea. In P4, this scene happens in Okina and largely remains the same as the P3 formula, but I think it lacks just a bit of the humor that the P3 one had. Lastly, in P5 this scene happens during the beach trip but compared to the others it’s pretty...lackluster?

It shows a montage of Joker, Ryuji, and Yusuke talking to girls but no actual dialogue goes on. After talking to three or so, Yusuke disappears and this is when Joker and Ryuji meet the two “flamboyant” men again. This time, the men either chase them down or call after them (?) depending on if you’re playing Vanilla or Royal. I don’t like how they use these men in the first place, but on top of that it kind of takes the “babe hunt” out of “babe hunt” if you don’t actually...hunt for babes? Like no actual dialogue is spoken when trying to convince the girls, which was most of the fun in the other scenes. You don’t even have free reign to walk around at the beach, and the scene is formatted in a more cutscene type of way.  It just makes P5′s babe hunt fall flat in many ways, and overall I finished the scene with a strong “meh.” The only good things about this was watching Makoto and Ann defend themselves and Yusuke with the lobsters.

Now for the hot springs scenes....hoo boy.

Simply put, in my opinion, these scenes suck ass in almost all of the games. P3 is the least egregious in my opinion, for a couple reasons. First is that it shows that Junpei and Ryoji were kind of trying to peep on the girls, and Akihiko and MC were just dragged into it. They have some funny dialogue, and in FES and Portable they even included the option to try and evade the girls. I found the little evade minigame to be really fun, even though every time I can’t help but fail because I want to say “It was a cat!” I find it interesting that there is the option for the men to get off scott-free, and that their dialogue after the trip is over changes slightly because of this.

On the FeMC side, I also find it fun that you have the reverse of the minigame and actually seek out the boys. My only letdown with this entire scene is if the boys are caught. I get it, it’s supposed to be funny with Mitsuru executing them and such, but as a reasonable person with a brain it seems really dumb to me that Mitsuru would just punish all of them when it’s just Ryoji and Junpei’s fault? This is nothing against Mitsuru, but her actions just seem so...exaggerated for some reason? Like Mitsuru is usually smart, and even if she is embarrassed I don’t get why she would punish innocent party members. A huge disappointment for me was that the FeMC isn’t able to stop Mitsuru from doing this either. Not even a choice to try and encourage Mitsuru or discourage her (so both options would be available). You just kinda sit there and watch, even after Akihiko say “It was a misunderstanding!” or something. For me it was especially strange because MC was dating Akihiko at that point, so why wouldn’t I try to hear him out? Just struck me as kind of dumb.

If I thought that was dumb, P4 and P5 were out to really make me roll my eyes and sigh in disappointment. Unlike P3, which has most of the scene being pretty good besides the very end where Mitsuru punishes the boys, the P4 and P5 scenes are all bad. This is not the first time anyone has said it, and won’t be the last, but they aren’t funny scenes in the slightest.

In P4, it’s actually the girl’s fault that they’re in the hot springs when the boys walk in. They stayed over their allotted time and into the time when boys are supposed to be in there. So what do they do? Get flustered, yell at them, and throw buckets at the group. Oh, and they don’t listen to the boy’s protests at all. Really.

Who thought this was a good idea?? The girls even realize after that they were in the wrong, say they should apologize, but I don’t think they ever show a scene of them apologizing after. This whole scene, like the hot springs ones in general, are just exaggerated (ie. throwing masses of buckets) to be funny, but they really fail in my opinion. It just serves to make the player kinda angry (since they’re usually on the receiving end) and make the girls look wildly unrealistic and dumb. I have never really thought that needless physical abuse is funny, so these scenes are just the bane of my existence apparently.

There actually isn’t a hot springs scene in P5, but they did add one in Strikers.

If they wanted to still do these scenes, maybe they could switch from making it “just beat up the boys” into something else. For example, the girls could try to peep, or walk in on the boys. Equality y’all, sometimes girls can do those things too (but still don’t beat them up. Just don’t beat anyone up). If none of that happens, or maybe that’s how the scene ends, the rest of the scene could just be a chill, relaxing scene between those involved. Essentially, how the scenes go before the whole “lets beat up the boys” thing comes in.

Lastly, on basically the same vein as why I don’t like the hot springs scenes, I’m starting to get real sick of the “let’s shit on this one character” trope. In Persona 3, I don’t think it’s that bad because they kind of do it with Junpei but they also give him a lot of character development, and eventually the sort of hostile shitting on him turns into just gentle teasing.

For P4 I still don’t think it is too bad, because Yosuke is kind of the one being shit on but he also does the same to the other people in the group? I suppose the only thing that really sticks out to me is how Teddie abuses Yosuke’s wallet (making him buy/pay for a lot of stuff with his hard earned cash), but I also don’t like Teddie at all in the first place so I may be biased about him. Oh well, he still shouldn’t do those things and I don’t really find it funny but to each their own.

However...this problem walks and rocks the fucking runway in Persona 5. Namely, this happens with Ryuji. The most obvious aggressor in this is Morgana, because him and Ryuji butt heads so often, but the other thieves kind of do it as well. Obviously they don’t do this all the time, but it’s extremely frustrating when they do. Morgana getting into arguments with Ryuji at the drop of a hat get old very quick, and the other thieves poking a bit of fun about how dumb Ryuji can be is also not that riveting. Despite all of that, the scene that highlights all of this is the scene after Shido’s palace collapse.

You all knew this was coming, but I couldn’t resist talking about it. The scene is so tone deaf in so many ways that it takes away all of the emotional impact that they were trying to build. Even the first time I watched this scene, in which I didn’t think they would kill off Ryuji, I could still sympathize with the group being concerned about him. Then when he shows up they...just beat him up and leave him unconscious next to a pole while they walk away? Wow.

On all subsequent playthroughs I just skip this scene, but I truly cannot understand why that was the angle they went for. Were they trying to insert some humor right after an emotional scene? That can be done in certain cases, but....why??? It’s so unbelievable it’s almost laughable. It’s not even like the bath scene where the the girls think the guys are trying to peep on them. It’s simply because he survived which I assume is what they wanted!

“Oh no you made us thought you were dead (even though he didn’t because he couldn’t control any of this), we’re going to beat you up!” Now you just make the characters look like irrational idiots.

Seriously Atlus, stop doing this. In most cases it just serves to make the player kind of frustrated, and in this case it it literally takes all of the emotional weight out of the scene and makes me think worse of the entire female cast. Please. Stop.

Well that’s the end of that. I don’t think I said anything too revolutionary, although my opinions about the social links and characterization might get me some flak. I just want the characters to be more than one personality trait... This was a really long post again, so kudos to whoever made it to this point!

Next time, on Dragon Ball Z Casual’s pointless posts: something Persona related :)

[furry-emblem]

You know what, after talking about how biases and stuff mess with 3H discourse, I'm going to go over my biases and personal experiences with each major faction leader because I feel like it. I don’t really want people arguing with me on these, but I would like to hear other people describing their experiences with these characters because that’s always interesting to read about. I'm listing the characters in order of how much I liked them.

Byleth

Also known as erotica, keyboard smash, Sothis, another keyboard smash, BoobBoob, and Boobama. I really dislike them. I’ve never been particularly fond of silent or self-insert protagonists. At best, they signal to me that the game isn’t going to bother with its story or character writing (and that’s fine when that’s the case), while at worst, it’s the writers taking the most important character in the story and then throwing their hands up and saying “we don’t need to write this one.” Byleth feels like the ladder and it’s to the detriment of pretty much everyone around them. Like, even considering that silent protagonists are supposed to be characters that the player projects onto, Byleth doesn’t do a good job at this because there’s enough canonical descriptions of them that you can’t really roleplay, but there’s so little going on that they don’t stand on their own two feet. So it’s like having a piece of cardboard dictate the fate of the country. They also primarily function as a wall for characters to exposition dump their backstories onto, which isn’t very interesting to watch. Like, 3H would have been better off without Byleth in it. 0/10.

Rhea

I just haven't had the chance to see a lot of her stuff, so I think I'm missing some of the stuff that makes people like her (and I'd prefer to not have that spoiled for me). Haven't seen her supports or the Church Route, but she just hasn't left me with a good impression. I don't like how possessive she gets of Byleth. Like, it creeps me out a little. I'm also a bit disappointed that you never get to play as her. I want the pope to bitch slap people (except not my people). I remember her being an antagonist in CF felt kind of forced to me when I first played because her reactions felt a bit silly. The problem wasn't whether they were justified or not, the problem was lack of context given and the fact that she was saying stuff like "You will BURN in the PITS OF HELL" while standing perfectly still and making this face >:(. And I just couldn't take that seriously for whatever reason because it felt cheesy and I didn't really understand what was going on. It also soured any endearment Rhea showed towards Byleth to me on future routes because her actions in CF gave me the impression of her being obsessive and controlling of Byleth. Like, she acted entitled to their loyalty, expected them to be something they never asked for, and flipped the fuck out when they rejected. It reminded me a lot of some abuse I've gone through and it made me dislike the character. Now that I have more context on the character, I get why she reacted so suddenly and violently because CF kinda threw all of her triggers at her. It feels like she dug her grave in that route, but she dug it in a way that resembles a Greek Tragedy more than anything else. My second route was Claude's route, which thoroughly disappointed me in terms of its writing. When Rhea was exposition dumping her backstory, I was like "I'm boooored," so that really didn't help my opinion of the character. I also don't really like how she gets damsels in three out of four routes. I still don't actively like the character very much because she left a really sour taste in my mouth, but I understand that I'm missing information and that there are reasons to like her. I'm open to learning more about her, but she just really rubs me the wrong way.

Yuri

I never finished Cindered Shadows and I have no real opinion on Yuri. I thought he was a girl when I first saw him and I think he's fun to play as in gameplay, so I guess there's that. I don't really see myself replaying Cindered Shadows if I even finish it because it lacks a lot of the major things I liked from 3H.

Seteth

Does he even get to count? Like, he's not in charge and Rhea should've probably been the leader of Silver Snow. Haven't played that route yet. I like Seteth. He's got good dad energy and also he's my wife (specifically in Verdent Wind). He's got good vibes. Also, if you kill Flayn in Crimson Flower, his English voice acting when he's like "Flayn Noooo" gets to me. I still really like Seteth. A solid 8/10 for me.

Dmitri

I wasn't following Three Houses advertising at all, so I didn't know anything about anyone going in. I was originally just going to skip him entirely because he looked boring and had shitty hair. So I did his route last. Partially out if curiosity for the character, partially because I might as well do every major route since I'd already done Claude and Edelgard, partially to get to know some of the Blue Lions, and partially because some of Edelgard's backstory is only revealed in this route and I was curious about that. Dmitri's route definitely has the best writing out of any of the routes. I really like how personal the route is and how much it focuses on how one specific event impacted all of the characters in it. There are some big problems I have with the route and Dmitri, like how the game uses psychosis to represent Dmitri being murdery and how him changing his mind felt more like Byleth's decision than his own due to their conversation being pretty bad. But overall, he has the best writing. I'd strongly recommend playing through his route if you haven't just because the writing's rather good there. The reason why he's ranked below Claude and Edelgard, however, is pretty simple: I just don't vibe with him. Like, the hero archetype bores the hell out of me, even when it is subverted like it is here. I also just didn't relate to the character on really any level while I did with Claude and Edelgard. The amount of Edelgard slander in his name also annoys me, but I don't think it really impacts how much I like Dmitri. He's a well written character that I just don't vibe with. I also remember his death in Verdant Wind and being like “wtf was that??” Like, the writers killed him offscreen.. twice. In the same route.

Claude 

I really enjoyed Claude as a character. He left a good first impression on me and I almost picked him for my first playthrough because he’s hot and sassy. Two good traits for any character. I ended up picking Edelgard, though, and he left a good impression on me during CF. I like that he held the alliance together and had a contingency plan for if he lost that battle. When I played his route, I ended up going Hard Mode NG+ Casual and I stuck everyone on a dragon. I did find it funny that throughout the school phase, Claude learns bow stuff repeatedly, then in one of the last months, he went up to me and was like “hey, can you start teaching me in axe and flying?” Which he had nothing in either. Then timeskip happens and he comes waltzing in on a dragon. Claude is where all the good memes in the fandom go. That said, I really disliked his route because Claude felt like an afterthought in it (because he literally was). I don’t like that I got out of the route and it felt like I didn’t know as much more about the character going out than I did going in. Some of that is because I didn’t see a ton of his supports, which is where pretty much all of the character work is. I like how Claude is open minded and actively tries to seek out the truth. So, overall, I found his route a bit disappoint but I still really like him because he’s a fun character.

Edelgard

I fucking love Edelgard. She was my first pick and therefore the character that introduced me to the game, and by extension, the series of Fire Emblem. I picked her because she’s pretty, she looked ready to fistfight god from the word go, and she seemed like the mascot of the game so I figured the writers might put a bit extra effort into her route (they didn’t, rip). My very first playthrough was actually a Normal/Classic run, but I had to abandon the run because literally everyone died four hours into the save (I swapped to Normal/Casual). Edelgard ended up carrying me through my first playthrough. I stuck her on a dragon and she killed literally everyone and everything. In my most recent playthrough of the game, I did CF and made her an archer mage dancer for the memes and that was also a ton of fun to play with. Her gameplay feel had a role in me liking her (like, Dmitri is also very powerful, but it was my third playthrough and I knew what I was doing better by then, so him being just as OP as Edelgard didn’t really influence my opinion on him as much as it did her). 

Besides the gameplay, Edelgard’s probably the major character that I relate to the most. Every character on this list (except maybe Byleth or Yuri, I know literally nothing about Yuri tho) has experience with trauma and is coping with it in some way. Edelgard copes by villainizing herself and shutting off her emotions, but despite that, she’s still a low-empathy person who’s still very compassionate person who cares about others and is trying to do the right thing. She also generally tries to express some amount of compassion to her enemies, even if it’s little more than saying “it sucks that Dmitri had to die.” She’s not as open-minded or as truth-seeking as Claude is, but she still tries to keep herself open to other viewpoints and will readily accept any she deems as valid at a moment’s notice. I just really like that about her because I share a lot of those traits in common with her. I also like the idea of her being someone who’s willing to do evil things to bring good to the world. That’s not something you normally get in a protagonist and I think that’s a cool idea. 

I still found her route to be very awkward, especially with no context. Like, I missed the line where Edelgard’s like “yeah, btw, I’m the Flame Emperor,” so I was just wondering what happened there. It’s an anticlimactic way to end the main plot of the first half of the game. I also didn’t really get Rhea’s angle at all. So the route just felt a lot like “I guess I’m doing this now??” In other routes, I found her deaths to be very hard hitting. The death in Verdant Wind only really got me because I really liked Edelgard and she was my original student and I could feel how much she wanted to make her future a reality and how her failing meant all of those sacrifices she made and the evils she’d done would now all be for nothing. I get that impression with Azure Moon’s ending too. 

Most of my appreciation for the character does come from her support conversations. I like how her chain with Bernie has her trying to learn how to not scare her off. Her interactions with Dorothea in their support chain are kind of sad because Dorothea is trying to show her admiration and love for Edelgard in a way that makes sense to her but then Edelgard’s low view of herself causes her to reject the offer. I really liked her Manuela support too (haven’t seen Hanneman’s but I’ve heard that it’s good). I like how with Manuela, Edelgard learns why people are religious and she that being religious doesn’t make you weak. I like her Linhart support where he calls her out for trying to dictate his life and she responds by trying to overhaul some of her own systems and assumptions about him, which leads to her giving him a role to the empire that also properly accommodates for his needs. I like how with Ferdinand’s supports, he has to learn to let go of their rivalry, but once that does happen, Edelgard takes into account his ideas and roles with them. I think it’s funny that she and Hubert flirt with each other by sending each other credible death threats. Edelgard just has a lot of very good supports. Don’t get me wrong, Claude and Dmitri also have supports that are good (I thought Claude’s support chain with Petra was cute and I really like Dmitri’s support chain with Flayn), but Edelgard’s supports go a long way to paint her as someone who is flawed but still really admirable.

Edelgard is definitely one of my favorite fictional characters, and I’d love to see more characters like her in the future.

[jesonomi]

Fate/EXTELLA Link Review

Judging this game by three different approaches: As a Warriors Game, a 100% completion game, and as an Astolfo game. 1. As a Warriors game, pretty alright. Would rate above One Piece 4 and Fire Emblem Warriors. Perhaps a bit below the Berserk Warriors game. In my opinion, less tedious than Fire Emblem, and more replay value than One Piece due to item collecting/ease of character swapping compared to One Piece's almost purely money-based progression system. Gameplay feels better than Umbral Star by quite a bit, although normal attacks feel weak and incredibly inefficient compared to your active skills. This unfortunately makes how good characters feel live and die by the skills given to them. Some characters just innately feel weak and clunky due to the hitboxes or functions of their active skills, while others embody the coolness of the Fate series. Progression is through levels and skill/item collecting. Characters can be leveled up to match your max leveled character through in-game currency, which is earned in extremely large amounts. The skills/items, referred to as "Install Skills" are general stat/effect bonuses, and you also earn a ton with each mission. Getting another of the same skill increases the level of it, creating a copy of it and starting the process over when reaching the max level for the skill. Some skills totally outclass others, but ultimately I liked seeing them roll in at the end of the mission. (Pro-Tip: Stack Defense and spam way higher level missions to level up quick. Would not recommend doing so if you enjoy challenge, however.) Plot is okay. You're most likely to get the dullest and most standard ending first, then the slightly more interesting alternative ending, and then after that ending you're able to go through the third route/ending which is more interesting, I guess, but also oddly disconnected with the other route. 2. 100% completion is tedious... but not exceedingly mind-numbing. There is a reasonable amount of repeats, but for the most part you are selecting different missions. Most missions will probably only need to get replayed 3 or so times (First playthrough, Very Hard difficulty, and Extra Mission repeats). Biggest time sink is having to go back and do missions again on Very Hard, and clearing all the Extra Missions. Biggest tedium is having to get ALL the servants to max bond level (repeating the same one minute mission and clearing their side objectives over and over) and then having to go to each servant later and clear out all their dialogue. And also crafting all the items. I definitely started to hit the mind-numbing wall around the last third of the hours. Swapping characters (better be choosing the smoother characters) alleviates some, but then eventually it might just be easier on the brain to pick one of the best and wiping through everything. Definitely recommend stacking defense and boosting levels to max ASAP as soon as you unlock Very Hard/all the Extra Missions. Leveling does not take that much time with this method. 3. As an Astolfo game, honestly, pretty mediocre. They star a decent amount in the plot, which is nice, but gameplay-wise they are one of the weaker ones. I think Area of Effect attacks are absolutely king in this game, and Astolfo has like... one and a half. The one is not that great. The half... is considered half for a reason. But at the same time is somewhat important for dealing decent damage to Servants. But also unreliably? Playing Astolfo for a bit early on is fun but other characters just feel so much better I never really wanted to go back. Very cute when you don't let that bother you, though. As a one and done: 7/10 Going through all routes and maybe some more: 8/10 Doing 100% Completion: 7/10 As Astolfo Appreciation: 5/10.

[charlieslowartsies]

Huge Christmas Sale (Raffle Prize!) *New Finish on Sale*

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays lovelies!  This is bigass post, so here’s a Read More! Reduced commission prices below :>

Update 12/10: Colored linearts are closed!! A big thank you to all who grabbed one and the lovely signal boosts, and there’s plenty of other slots left~

This has certainly been A Year, hasn't it!? I'm thankful my job is already social distanced, (and my part timer in forestry /definitely/ is lol) and I'm thankful for the clients that have stuck with me and the new ones I've met just this year <3 <3 Last year, I did the sale and then immediately caught the flu and was down for like two weeks, this year I'm making sure I run the sale early--so I can enjoy time with my recently retired mom (we live together, don't worry!) and so I can get any Christmas gift commissions out asap for the gifters! I'm also keeping the sale running into Saturday so everyone has a chance to snag a slot if they wish. I always get to test my chops during a big sale, so let's get right into it~ Thank you so much for looking!! Sale Ends: December 12th 12am EST. Raffle Prize: A colored lineart of up to 2 characters! (Clean, NSFW, whatever the winner wants ;) ) -Due to the raffle, slots will NOT empty :) -nsfw ok, some gore ok -fanart, ocs, furry, ok -feral or anthro ok -NO upcharge for nsfw pieces -digital .PNG sent to your inbox/wherever you tell me -I will send out invoices from Paypal -email me at [ chrsjonsey [at] gmail.com ] or IM me here or ping my Discord: CharlieMcarthy#4456 Raffle Notes: -Raffle tickets are per every commission piece. (one commission=one ticket, and so on and so forth) -There currently is no limit to tickets -Winner chosen via an online randomizer on: Sunday, the 13th around noon -Winner has 48 hours to respond, I'll always choose what route we discussed the paid commission for, (ie, if we talked via Discord, I'll ping you there first) -Important: depending on amount of sales, your prize MAY come after Christmas. I will let you know. $10 Sketches (+$5 Flat color, up to two characters) 1. CLOSED 2. CLOSED 3. 4. 5. 6. Colored Lineart: $20 (up to 2 charas, extra charas are $6) 1. CLOSED 2. CLOSED 3. CLOSED 4. CLOSED 5. CLOSED Painting: $35 (up to 1 chara, extras are $8) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Experimental Piece: $50 (1 character, +$10 per extra chara, this finish will take longer than other tiers, see details below) 1. 2. 3. Expiramental Example 1 Expiramental Example 2 Expiramental Example 3 Experimental Pieces: These pieces are a great way for me to have a relaxed commission that I can freely play around with. The client who chooses one of these will be able to guide me in any direction they like, or let me take the piece with minimal instruction. But it is important to remember these finishes will not be uniform. Perhaps the only similar things will be my style, but each example was finished at varying times, with various brushes, and thus are all unique to themselves. Fixes will be kept to small, easy adjustments and anything major will be extra unlike the other tiers. Experiments normally start in the $80 range and increase from there, so I'm hoping $50 will entice some people for a special treat, while still giving me time to get the pieces done before Christmas. If you would like me to improvise on something in the piece, please let me know upfront. Otherwise, whatever examples/descriptions you give me I will adhere to best I can~ *NEW* Character Design Page: $80  (1 character design, one fullbody with two smaller examples beside, see examples+notes below) 1. 2. Character Design Page Example 1 Character Design Page Example 2(NSFW WARNING) Character Design Notes: I'm offering these for this sale only, just testing the waters. You can have a colored lineart or a painting of your subject, your choice. One of the examples can also be a nsfw shot of parts just lemme know ofc~ Like the Expiramentals, these babies will take the most time, that's why I'm only offering two. I likely won't offer a discount on my character design pages, (which start at $100 and go up) until next May or June ;)

[criminalrambling]

Checkers and Coffee

Pairing: spencer reid x reader

Rating: G , fluffy! Some mention of a stalker, typical unsub stuff but story does not take place during a case. Enjoy the cute!

__________________________________________

The Charleston sun was still rising, not yet heating the air to sweltering, and the morning smelled of coffee and salt water. Most people would have been asleep at their vacation homes at this time of day, but you happened to be seated in a cozy booth at the local diner across from a certain tall, tousle-haired Doctor. The rest of his team had left earlier that morning on their jet, but unrelated to their recent case, they were transporting two Marines back to DC and two people needed to wait for a later commercial flight… you’d all drawn straws, and the lucky agents to stay behind were yourself and one Dr. Spencer Reid. 

You’d checked out of the hotel, but hadn’t wanted to go to the airport just yet. So you’d convinced Spencer to join you at one of your favorite places for a few cups of coffee and breakfast. It must have been the lack of sleep combined with lack of coffee that caused you to challenge someone with an eidetic memory to a strategy game.

“You really think you can beat me?” His brown eyes glinted as he raised his left brow and smirked. 

You rolled your eyes and nudged the round crimson game piece one space forward. “It’s checkers, Spencer. Not chess.”

“True,” he responded, scooting forward a black piece of his own. “But there’s still a significant amount of strategy involved. Did you know that versions of checkers were played as far back as 3,000 BCE? Archaeologists found evidence of a similar game in the Iraq city of Ur, and there have been other versions played throughout history. Though I’m not sure any of those versions involved a fabric board…” 

His sentence was cut off by a grey-haired waitress who took your breakfast orders with military precision and a smile. You didn’t place a dainty order either. If Spencer thought you were a gluttonous cow, then so be it… breakfast was the best meal of the day, and you didn’t make it to Fleetwood Diner nearly often enough. You were pleased that Spencer took your suggestion of pancakes as part of his order, though his were plain and not the blueberry ones you preferred. 

“Playing checkers at the Fleetwood Diner is tradition in these parts. At least, in my family it is.” You countered, jumping one of his pieces and trying not to gloat as you snatched it off the board. “Your turn.”

“Well, if it’s a tradition in the Y/L/N family then I’m happy to partake.” he shrugged, and gulped down more coffee out of the stout, thick handled cup. “Is it just me, or does coffee taste better when it’s served in this kind of mug?”

You grinned and looked over your shoulder to see where your waitress was. “Not just you - I love diner mugs. In fact, a couple of Fleetwood ones may have mysteriously made their way into my kitchen cabinet.”

“A federal agent, admitting to thievery!” Spencer laughed. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through your body at the sound of his laughter and the way his wide grin made his eyes crinkle.  You hadn’t heard that laugh in several days, maybe even a week? Despite the busy workload in the intelligence department of the FBI, you’d taken off for South Carolina as soon as your sister had called asking for your help. The BAU had come down a couple of days later after you’d phoned JJ, the panic and emotion in your voice convincing her to bring the team to your hometown to help. The fact that everything had worked out… well, the fact that you were even able to smile was truly something to be thankful for. 

Your sister’s 6 year old son James had gone missing from the University day-care that he attended after his half day of kindergarten. It turned out that one of her former students, now going by a new name, had targeted her. He was jaded since she’d turned him down shortly before her wedding 7 years ago and coveted the life she’d built. After 3 days of dedicated work on the geographical profile, James was found in an abandoned warehouse. He had been unharmed but was very dehydrated. The UnSub was located a few hours later as he was en route to the University, where he would have… well, done something terrible to your sister. 

“I owe you one,” you smiled back, moving another piece. “And not just for keeping my diner mug secret. There’s no way I could have handled this one out without you and your team. It means the world- thank you.” 

“Oh, I’m sure…” he started to brush off the commend, looking a tad sheepish before you cut him off with a look and placed your hand on top of his, squeezing gently. He gulped. “You’re welcome.”

You withdrew your hand awkwardly, hoping to whatever higher power there was that your cheeks weren’t changing colors. The two of you continued moving your checkers pieces, and you downed the last sip of your coffee before reaching for the pot the waitress had left on the table. 

“The only flaw of these mugs… they aren’t nearly large enough.” You joked, trying to lighten the mood. 

The corners of Spencer’s mouth turned up slightly. “I was debating doing some research through the biomedical engineering program at Johns Hopkins… There has to be a way to inject coffee straight into the bloodstream.”

“Might even earn yourself another PhD, smarty pants.” you played along, teasing him. You loved the way he lit up at the banter as you went back and forth.

“One can never have too many PhDs.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“No PhDs, and yet you’re winning at checkers.”

“Are you letting me?”

“No. Do you want me to?”

“No!” You gasped. “I like to win fair and square.”

“Oh, that’s too bad…” He smirked, and double jumped your pieces. “I might just have to make a comeback.”

“You son of a…” 

“Pancakes!” chimed your waitress, swooping them down to your table. They looked perfect, as always, and your mouth watered. You knew they would taste even better. “And the blueberry, with extra crispy bacon. Syrup is on the table, anything else I can get you?”

“More coffee?” You and Spencer said in unison, looking at each other in embarrassment when you realized it had happened. 

“That would be amazing, thank you.” You told the waitress as she took the empty pot from your table and said she’d be back momentarily.

You ate in silence for a few minutes - both due to the delicious food and also to take in what you were feeling. Of course, you felt relieved that your family was healthy and safe. Genuinely thankful for the smarts and skills of the BAU, especially those of the man across from you. You also felt… nervous? Oh dear, were those butterflies? 

Of course, you knew Spencer prior to his arrival in Charleston to help with the case. You both worked at the Bureau and everyone knew the BAU team. You’d been with Spencer at a couple of functions (not together, just… there at the same time), and had gotten to know a few other members of the team over the years. Your department frequently passed cases their way, so you worked with JJ and Penelope most often. You’d always found Spencer handsome, but figured he was either already seeing someone, well out of your league or just… not interested. 

But now, after spending the last several days in close quarters and under emotional stress, you felt that something had changed. The entire team was great, but Spencer in particular had been sweet, supportive and focused on helping you and your family. And when your nephew had finally been found, he'd been the one to talk to him, probing for details that would help in the UnSub’s capture. He'd pulled a magic trick to make James laugh, and you could immediately see how much he loved kids. Something about that combined with the extra time together… well, now that you weren't so anxious about your family, your attraction to him was ramping up into a desire for more than just the casual acquaintance you had before. 

But did he feel the same? 

The coffee arrived and you finished your last piece of bacon. 

"So, uh.." Spencer started, fiddling with a sugar packet. "What time is our flight?" 

"10:30.” you replied, sipping your coffee. It was just after 7:00. “So we should probably be there around 8:45 or so and it takes 45 minutes to get there…we can grab our checks if you want to leave a little extra time to grab our luggage from the hotel.”

“Okay, yeah. That would be good.” He flagged down the waitress quietly. “Can I get the check? Thank you so much.”

She handed over the seafoam green order slip, to which was paper clipped a crisp white receipt. He scanned the total briefly and handed it back with his card tucked inside faster than you could even move to pull out your wallet. You pulled it out anyway, feeling a bit flustered. 

“What do I owe ya, Doc?” you joked, flipping through the cash in your wallet. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he responded, the pitch of his voice rising ever so slightly. “My treat, Y.N. Besides, isn’t it normal for a gentleman to… well, not that this is a… um, never mind.” He looked back to your now-forgotten checkers board, his lips narrowed together in concentration. 

You grinned, hoping that you had heard him right. “I love a breakfast date. Even better than a coffee date, really.”

His tongue brushed over his lower lip and he looked back up at you before responding. 

“What about dinner and… well, it’s not a movie, but I happen to have an extra ticket to a poetry reading on Thursday if you’d like to join me and…”

“I’d love to.” You smiled at him, feeling absolutely giddy at the prospect of a romantic date later in the week.“We can figure it out while we wait at the airport.”

His whole face lit up, and he followed you out of the restaurant. A couple of hours later, your head would come to rest on his shoulder while you napped on the flight home, and Spencer would feel very pleased indeed that he’d switched straws with Morgan to get this extra time with you

[thedarkstrangeson]

(pa)Jamas

I impulsively wrote something, enjoy!

AO3

Ships: Jamas(a.k.a Thomceit)

Warnings: None! It’s pure fluff. There is, however, as singular curse word.

In which: Janus' space heater breaks and there's really only one place that is going to be warm enough. Unfortunately, that place is taken.

Words: 1232

There was a conundrum in the dark side of the mind palace. Despite being mid-April, there was a chill. This was, regrettably, nearly always the case, although Janus could usually get around it with layers and a space heater. 

Until the heater broke.

Now, he was stuck here, a cold-blooded snake boy, with nothing to warm him up. It was far from ideal. But he wasn’t going to give in on searching for help just yet, so he rolled over and pulled the covers tighter over his head. 

5 minutes later, he was still shivering. Fuck. Going up to the “common” room would normally be out of the question, as it was more of an exclusive, light sides and thomas only sort of room. But… they did know his name. Thomas did attempt to trust him. Maybe things could be different. Or, maybe he just wouldn’t run into any of them! Everybody had been sticking to their rooms since the video, and it was the middle of the day. Ideally, everyone would be busy and he could just curl up on the couch until he warmed up, before leaving. Nobody would even know he had shown up! The plan was flawless.

Groaning, Janus pushed himself out of bed. But he was not about to head up there with not even a bit of warmth, oh no. He pulled the comforter around him until it resembled a tortilla for a snake boy burrito an extremely intimidating villain’s cloak, surely stocked with plenty of hidden weapons. 

Cloak trailing behind him, he made his way up the stairs to the common room. Even just halfway there it was already getting warmer, and Jan was just about ready to melt into a nap on the couch for the next several weeks. It couldn’t be a bad way of passing the time. 

Coming into the room he glanced around furtively, before beelining it to his target. The room was empty, thank goodness, so instead of taking the dignified route around to the front of the couch, he rolled right over the back of it.

Into something warm, squishy and wriggling. Oh, it was talking too.

“Hey! What the—”

“Oh, hello there,” said Janus, not at all prepared for this encounter, “I was expecting to find you here. Who are you, by the way?”

“Um, Janus, it’s Thomas.”

“Of course, of course. I’ll just be taking a nap here, then I can get out of your hair.” 

“Janus,” said Thomas carefully, “You’re on top of me.”

“Ah yes, that,” he paused, “Deal with it.” Thomas was undeniably warm and Janus was not about to lose his new personal space heater. At least not until he stopped shivering.

“I guess I didn’t have anything planned… Janus, why are you so cold?” He could hear the tinge of concern in Thomas’ voice, and he was not about to navigate this in his current state. So he said the only reasonable thing.

“I’m not cold.”

“Sure, Jan.” Thomas shifted around to let Janus lay next to him on the couch, although there really wasn’t enough room for that. Janus hissed at the loss of body heat and extricated an arm from the snake burrito blanket comforter. Reaching out wildly, he soon found Thomas’ arm and pulled it around him.

“Now you’re sstuck.” Thomas chuckled, and Jan could feel the deep rumble even through the comforter.

“I suppose I am. Can I have some of that comforter?” Janus considered it. It would be difficult to get out of the blanket, but it could be worth it because there’d be more warmth with both of them underneath.

“I guesss you musst.”

A few minutes of intense wriggling later, and the end result was worth it. The comforter covered both of them, and Jan was pulled tight to Thomas’ chest. Dimly, he thought that it should be the other way around. It was his job to protect Thomas, after all! But the warmth was comforting, and he was not about to try to right this, at least not now. So he did the only reasonable thing, and pushed a little closer before closing his eyes. This was still a perfect nap opportunity. 

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~

“Thomas, you have been asleep for approximately the last 93 minutes, if you do not get up now you will enter into another sleep schedule and it will be more difficult to wake up later, therefore—” Logan blinked as another head emerged from the blanket burrito, “Greetings, Janus.”

“Thanks, Logan. I guess I should get up, there's stuff to do,” said Thomas, yawning. Janus, however, hissed and tried to disappear further under the blanket. He may have warmed up, but he was not about to go back to the cold part of the mind palace just yet. 

“Sstay?” His voice sounded smaller than he had hoped, but it seemingly worked. Thomas brushed the hair out of his eyes, and Jan melted into the touch.

“I do have some shows to catch up on, don’t I?” Thomas smiled down at him. “Logan, I’ll get up early tomorrow to catch up, alright?”

“This seems to be an adequate use of your time. Although, you may want to find Janus some better pajamas. His are well-worn, to say the least.” 

“No, they’re not,” said Janus.

“I’ll go get you something fleecy, alright?” said Thomas. It took a lot of persuading, but he eventually managed to extricate himself and return with a set in soft yellow plaid. Janus was maybe a little too happy to see them, but he changed as quickly as possible before smooshing himself back next to Thomas, upright this time at least.

“What do you want to watch?”

“Phineas and Ferb,” Jan responded without any hesitation.

“As you wish.”

They marathoned a non-trivial amount of the show, with commentary from each. Both of them knew all of the songs, of course, and Janus took every opportunity to criticize Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s lack of villainous success.  Of course, nobody could tell that Doofenshmirtz was his favorite character. It definitely wasn’t obvious. 

But, time kept moving and it ultimately became a little too late to be able to justify staying up any longer. He was warm, and there really was no other reason to stick around. Jan tried to do it as simply as possible.

“I have, err, scheming to get to, Thomas. Besides, I am warm and no longer in need of your body heat.” 

“Oh, um, alright Jan,” Thomas seemed almost disappointed, “Well, maybe we could do this again sometime.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Janus pulled his comforter back around himself and tried to look intimidating.

“Sure it won’t. How about Friday?”

“Thursday.”

“Deal.”

Janus nodded imperiously, before setting off back down the hallway, his comforter swishing across the floor.

“Good night, Janus,” Thomas called after him.

“Good night, Thomas.”

Upon arrival at his room, Janus nearly stepped over the package at his door. His thoughts were most definitely elsewhere. But he was curious, so he opened it up to find his space heater, repaired. A note in concise blue pen spelled out his name, and the repair date. Janus plugged it in, but he was definitely not planning on telling anyone it was back in working order. The excuse was too good. And he wasn’t exactly averse to another late night with Thomas.

Overall, the adventure was an 11/10 flannel pajamas.

[segafan37]

Shadamy Snippet: Emergency Meeting Pt. 1

Author's Note:

This Shadamy snippet used to be a Teaser Snippet for Chapter 6. I wasn't planning for it to be part of the story at all. It was just a old deleted scene that I wanted to share to give you, the audience, a broad idea about the upcoming chapter. However, after my sister read the teaser, she insisted that it be apart of the story. So, after some tweaks, the former Teaser Snippet is now apart of Chapter 6!

I hope you enjoy it! 😁 Art by @drawloverlala

Inside Dodon Pa's Mansion

[Normal p.o.v.]

After Metal and Rouge parted ways to look for Devious, Rouge started wandering through the different crowded rooms and corridors of the mansion. There were four levels to the mansion and Rouge was currently on the main floor. Metal ventured to levels 3 and 4, leaving Rouge to explore the others.

King Donda Pa was never one who lacked in abundance and his mansions were likewise. Each one was styled to attribute the environment that surrounded them, and the one Rouge was in was no different.

The mansion was large and fanciful, displaying the breath of winter. The hallways were long and wide and painted a calm blue. Tall windows filled the rooms and corridors showcasing the fierce blizzards outside. 

The halls were decorated with broad tapestries of cream and royal blue, and the floor was polished marble. The rooms were equally vast with crystal chandilers, honed marble floors and many assortment of decor to accent the rooms.

Rouge scanned the multitude of faces as she made her way throughout the main floor. Everywhere Rouge went she was surrounded by Mobians, both good and bad. Everyone seemed cordial enough, but the bat knew better. She could just feel the tension in the air. 

Rogue would have been lying to herself if she said this whole affair wasn't the least bit unsettling. It was just a matter of time before something or someone causes the inevitable. 

 It took a whole hour, but she had finally explored all of the main floor. Rouge still hadn't found her man though. It was time for her to switch tactics.

Just then her communicator picked up a male voice.

"We can't celebrate yet. We still need Rouge to do her part." 

It was the voice of Slinger the Ocelot.

"Don't you worry your pretty head about me, Ocelot." Rouge cooed, "I'm already in the mansion, and I've got to say, this mysterious dealer knows how to put on a party! I'm surprised that Dodon Pa even allowed this event! But seeing that he never takes sides...I guess it's not too surprising."

"Hey Rouge!" a female voice squealed through her eyepiece. 

Rouge immediately smiled. It was Salkia, her sweet little student. Well, she wasn't little anymore, but Rouge couldn't get the cute little 10 year old out of her head, who wanted to learn how to kick but. 

"If any of the food looks good, save me some! Okay!?" Salkia asked.

"Will do, honey!"

Slinger gave out a groan.

"Just stay focused, alright!"

Rouge rolled her eyes. She could tell he was in one of his moods again.

"Relax, Slinger. No need to get snippy!" she said.

"Yeah! We all know you're jealous!" Salkia added. 

"Mm hmm!" Rouge smiled.

Slinger released another groan, which made Salkia giggle. She knew she shouldn't be teasing Slinger when he's like this, but he's been acting like a big grump the whole day. And she was tired of it! 

Salkia and Rouge continued to pester Slinger with their giggles, until he finally spoke.

"That's not the reason why!" Slinger argued.

This made Rouge and Salkia both fall silent. They knew what he was talking about. [Author: Chapter 4 reference] No one spoke for sometime.

Rouge sighed and decided to change the subject and break the awkward silence.

"By the way, what do you mean by 'Rouge needs to do her part'? You two are the ones assigned to get the package! I'm just here in case there's a slip-up."

"And to secure our escape route!" Slinger emphasized.

"Which I already have covered!" Rouge insisted, "Now you stay focused on your job, while I stay on mine."

Slinger sighed. "Fine. We'll contact you when the package is secured."

Rouge's communicator went silent and she continued to make her way through the crowd, as different fragments of conversations caught her ears. 

"I wonder what makes this relic so powerful?" asked a female.

"Whatever it is I bet it's worth a fortune!" another spoke.

"Everyone's assuming that this relic has power, but for all we know, it could be a hunk of junk!"

"Well, if that were true, then Dodon Pa wouldn't have allowed this event to take place in his mansion in the first place."

Well, would you look at that!, Rouge laughed to herself. It seems everyone's here to get their hands on the relic. Huh! Too bad none of them will have a chance to see it!  

"What I really want to know" a male's voice began, grabbing her attention, "is who this mysterious dealer is? He clearly doesn't care who gets the relic as long as he's getting paid. And I for one, don't trust those kinds of people. If I'm going to get that relic, I need to first know who I'm dealing with." 

"Smart guy." Rouge whispered, as she approached the stairs to the second floor. 

"Okay Rouge, enough eavesdropping. You got a Mobian to find." 

Once atop the second floor, she looked about and immediately identified this level as the party floor. The music was louder here and gambling tables, slot vendors, pool tables and the like were scattered throughout the joining rooms. Rouge felt like she had walked into a casino.

Rouge peered over the corridor's open railing, and took one last look at the faces below, trying to find the one Mobian who would know how to pinpoint Devious. But she had no such luck. Rouge sighed. She knew it was a long shot. This guy was wanted after all, but Rouge couldn't ignore her strong hunch that he'd be here. 

Rouge gritted her teeth in frustration.

Where is he!?

Time was of the essence. She and Metal only had a limited amount of time to locate Devious, before Salkia and Slinger collected the relic. If her sources were correct, the best and only person who could find Devious quickly would be his favorite broker.

Rouge looked over the crowd again, but she still couldn't spot her man.

That cat could be hiding anywhere! I better check in with Metal to see how he's doing.

"Metal, honey? This is Rouge. Do you copy?"

There was no answer. 

"Metal, come in! This is Rouge. Did you find anything?"

Still silence. Rouge was about to try again, when a deep sinister voice startled her from behind. 

"Looking for someone in particular, my dear?"

Rouge spun around to come face to face with the infamous psychic magician Mammoth Mongul. 

His large tan trunk was almost touching her nose. Rouge could smell thick expensive cologne and winsted.

It was never easy to frazzle this bat; she has faced many dangers before, all without hesitation. Some, even close to death, but Rouge also knows when she's met her match. 

The hairy elephant towered over the bat, making her appear small and insignificant. Mongul's dark green orbs pierced through Rouge's teal eyes, paralyzed her. She remained in his gaze for ten full seconds.

A small smile slowly crept on the mammoth's face. Was Rouge terrified? Yes. Did she want to scream and fly away to safety? Yes. Was she going to show it? Not on her life!

The Bat released herself from Mongul's spell; eyes sparkling with defiance, as she matched the beast's smile with her own.

"I'm surprised at you, Mongul!" Rouge scolded, "You of all people should know not to be here! It could be dangerous for you." 

Mongul smiled at the bat's attempted threat, and decided to give one of his own.

"My dear, Rouge. I appreciate your concern but I can assure you that I am not the one who is in the least bit of danger."

"Is that so?" Rouge questioned, trying to sound unaffected by his words, "Well, even still! I would think you would send one of your mindless followers to get the relic for you to save you the trouble."

"Don't be so quick to judge, bat. I have sent one of my men to take care of the relic. I'm here for a different reason, and being here is no trouble at all."

Rouge raised a painted brow, "Oh?" 

"Yes. Just like you, I'm looking for someone, a colleague of mine." Mongul leaned down to bring his face closer to Rouge's ear. "And perhaps", he whispered "my colleague is the same pink cat dealer you're looking for." 

Rouge took a step back. 

How does he know about Locky!? 

Rouge swallowed, as her heart raced.

"I'm sorry, who?"

"No need to hide it, Rouge! Someone of your acquaintance told me all about it."

Rouge gasped.

Oh no, Metal! 

"No need to worry about your robot friend, my dear; he's perfectly safe. But I know he'll appreciate your concern." 

As he said this, Mongul's eyes met Rouge's and his distinct facial features began to pixelate before her. It was just for a brief moment, but Rouge could clearly see the face of her comrade. 

"..."

"..."

"Metal, …" Rouge whispered, "I'm gonna knock your bolts right out of you! And turn you into scrap!"

Metal Sonic quickly returned to his cloned form and moved out the way, before a slap could be delivered to his face. Some guests saw the scene and were shocked at Rouge's bravery.

"Why so anger?..." Metal Sonic questioned. His voice was just above a whisper. "Did I scare you?"

"Shut. Up." Rouge growled.

"Okay, okay! I just came down to tell you some news." Metal rose to his full cloned height and peered down at Rouge.

"Then start talking!"

"Not here." Metal instructed, still holding Mongul's deep voice. "Follow me."

Metal brought Rouge to a quiet room somewhere on the second floor. It wasn't like the ballroom, like the other rooms Rouge been in. This was a study. It was large in comparison to most studies, but it was still a study, none the less. 

Once both were safely inside with the door locked, Rouge turned to Metal.

"Now, talk!"

"Why are you still angry?" Metal still was using Mongul's voice. 

"Metal, stop with the cloning for one second and talk to me!"

Metal sighed, and returned back to his normal self. Rouge let out a small breath she didn't realize she was holding. Rouge folded her arms, waiting to hear her comrade's message.

"I was surprised at how many Mobians came to Dodon Pa's Mansion." Metal said simply." 

"That's what you wanted to tell me!?" Rouge screamed.

"Rouge, if you do not wish for us to be discovered in a restricted area, I suggest you lower the volume of your voice." 

"I'll start lowering my voice, when you stop messing around! Now, tell me why you brought me here!?"

There was a silence in the air, as each stared at the other.

"I found him." Metal calmly spoke.

"What?"

"I found him." Metal repeated, "I found Locky."

.

.

.

Exsert from Shadamy fanfic "12 Years Later: A New Dawn". You can read the rest of this chapter and more on Wattpad, DeviantArt, Quotev, or Webnovel.

[travelfooldk]

 Lockdown trip to kasol   

                  Hears! This is a silly trip tour with DK.

I am going to share my experience with all of you from my amazing trip to Kasol as a solo traveler. At the time of the declaration of lockdown, I do not know how lucky I was or if my inner soul wanted to stay in the places where my soul belongs. I am from Delhi Ncr and a travel blogger. My tickets are already reserved for the Maldives, but nature doesn't want me for you. So I decided to use my days off in some peaceful places where I meditate without chaos and my life happy. 

I left home at night and I have no idea where my next happy destination will be then I booked a cab to majnu ka tila from which I was going to get a bus for kasol but I thought destiny didn't want me to reach there then I asked a travel agent for any bus that is going to leave for any destination then he told me there is one bus which is leaving for bhuntar so I took a bus to Bhuntar. It was near Kasol, from there you can expect to reach Kasol within 2 to 3 hours by local bus. Then after arriving around 10, I had breakfast and took the bus to Kasol. 

After arriving in Kasol, the weather means that this is your life and to live it, make new friends. And I was on my way to find the hostel. Its name was The Hosteller Kasol. 

Website: booking.com

As it is not the first time I visited Kasol, I already had an idea of ​​places to eat and relax. I was traveling alone, I thought that staying in a hostel is never a bad idea at cheap prices. And experiencing hostel life and making friends is another level of adventure. There were 2 bunkers, 2 people were already there.

I met up with my roommates and chatted a bit to introduce ourselves, as they were also solo travelers. I wasn't bored because I found two amazing people with whom I was supposed to enjoy the whole trip. We had fun and a great time. Then I met with more fellow travelers then we planned our next day to go on a kheerganga hike with them. They gladly welcomed me to their group.

And IT'S TIME TO GO FOR TREK! FINALLY 

We all planned to meet at the AT starting point ("barshaini") as the hike started from there. Then we all gather and start a hike. 

We all clicked many photos and videos on the way to kheerganga. It was such a nice experience traveling with people you hardly know anything about. 

There was a beautiful panoramic view along the way. We took 3 or 4 breaks along the way and had some snacks to fill up our hungry tummy. Due to the steepness of the hike, it became exhausting but adventurous. I experienced snowfall and that sight bought me some life. And the best part is that I was the one who got to the kheerganga first, but getting to the top is quite difficult. After we got there we had some snacks and went swimming and relaxing in the hot springs. It took around 5 hours to reach the top. It was a great relief to get into the hot spring water. All sore muscles got relaxed and felt fresh after that bath. I highly recommend going to the hot springs after reaching kheerganga. We rented a tent in kheerganga. It was very cold at night. There was a bonfire arrangement, listening to music, dancing, and talking.

Source - https://www.instagram.com/dk_travelfool/

P.S - Chilling at kheerganga with these lovely people.

The next day the weather was awesome as it was a sunny day so I enjoyed staying outside the camp for a while with fresh air and bird sounds chirping. We took some photos and videos and then we went back to Kasol. 

We took a different route on the way back. It was a walk from town. I think it was a little easier compared to where we came from. After reaching the starting point of the trek, which is Barshaini, our group broke up as some had other plans but 2 of them, which were the brothers, were heading back to Kasol so I also went back with them and we stopped at Gurudwara Manikaran and spent some time there. We meditated for a while and had food there. It was so peaceful. Then we booked a hotel in Kasol as we were tired and decided to go back to Delhi in the morning. We had fun on the last day as there was a great cafe and everybody was watching ipl on the big screen. We had fun watching the match. Then we parted ways after reaching Delhi. 

Hostel

You can check out lots of hostels select according to your requirement and budget. You can check out the hostels in the above website booking.com

Food

If you are a budget traveler you can opt for Dhaba there is only one famous Dhaba which price is normal (approx. 200 per person) and their lots of food stalls as well in which you can try otherwise money is no matter then would suggest Panjtara they have amazing food but the rate is comparatively high and it is a nice place to chill out.

Camping in kheerganga

1200 per person

with guide

Inc-dinner and breakfast

P.S.- If you are trekking for the first time and want to know about the places more then suggest taking a guide. Took bus from Majnu ka tila. Mostly you will get the bus for Manali and kasol from there only. 

Bus ticket – 1200 (One way)

Hostel – 650 per head

Hotels -2000 (sharing 3 people) at last day which we stayed 

Things to do in kasol

Trekking (There are 3 to 4 treks which you can do and stay there as well)

Chill out near the river side

Panjatara (They have singer singing and music in evening)

Enjoy local foods

Park

Visit manikaran (Gurudwara)

Local hash (If you want to do)

Enjoy hostels life and interact with strangers

Enjoy the nature

Local shops(If you love shopping)

Days- 3 to 4 days is enough to visit kasol

P.S – There you won't find more than 2 or 3 atm and most of the time these ATMs don’t have cash so suggest taking some cash with you otherwise there are some travel agents also who give cash in exchange for card payment but they will charge some amount in exchange. 

You can check out my profile dk_travelfool on Instagram for travel videos and photos.

[kk095]

Last Ride

Here's my latest story! @defibresuslover247 gave me the idea and @eyesfixedanddilated gave me a few pointers along the way. I hope everyone enjoys!

****

Brooke was a 22 year old with a full, busty figure, dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes. She was a southern girl, born and raised in eastern Tennessee. She was always a bit of a tomboy and enjoyed outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, and riding ATV's.

The night of the incident started off normally. Brooke’s older brother Mike had received a nice tax return that year and decided to splurge a little bit by purchasing a new ATV. Since he knew his younger sister was into riding ATV's, he invited her to try it out with him.

The two siblings went out into a vacant 20 acre lot on the outskirts of town. This particular plot of land had plenty of hills and open areas, so a lot of ATV enthusiasts in the area enjoyed riding there. When the 2 of them got there, Mike parked his blue Ford F150 along a dirt path about 50 yards or so from the road. Mike got the ATV out from the small trailer attached to the back of his truck and the riding began.

For the first hour or so, the 2 siblings were having fun in the outdoors. They were zipping up and down the hills, through the dirt paths, and had a few beers along the way. But as time went on, the drinking and lack of light once the sun set took its toll. While Brooke was riding the ATV by herself, she went was riding downhill at a high rate of speed, losing track of her speed. Her chest hits the handlebars before she goes flying off the vehicle. She lands hard on the ground, striking her head and left side of her face. While tumbling down the hill, the ATV rolls violently down the hill, stomping right over Brooke’s right femur before continuing on down. Brooke screamed at the top of her lungs, feeling her right femur snap like a twig and slightly protruding through her jeans. Brooke’s wild trip down the hill came to an abrupt stop when her left arm and ribcage smashed into the side of a tree.

“Holy shit… BROOKE?!” Mike shouted from the top of the hill after watching the event unfold in horror. “Brooke?! BROOKE?! You ok?!” Mike yells as he starts to run down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, Brooke was screaming out in agonizing pain. She could see a bone fragment penetrating through her jeans on her right thigh, and her left arm was badly broken. She felt a bit dizzy, and could the stinging from open cuts and blood on the left side of her face. Her left humerus, which broke the fall into the tree at the bottom of the hill, was swollen and had some obvious deformities. Brooke tried to get up, but she obviously couldn’t. She sat on the ground squirming and crying, begging her brother to help.

When Mike got to the bottom of the hill, he was taken aback by his sister’s injuries. He stood lorna deer in headlights for a few seconds before whipping out his cell phone to call 911. The call was transcribed as the following:

911 dispatcher: 911, what is your emergency?

Mike: I need an ambulance! My sister’s hurt real bad!

911 dispatcher: Sir, please remain calm. Can you tell me the location of your emergency?

Mike: we’re on that vacant lot off of highway 501 with all the hills and paths! You gotta hurry, I think she’s hurt bad!

911 dispatcher: alright sir, police and EMS are en route. Can you tell me what happened?

Mike: She flipped off the ATV and rolled down the hill. There’s a bone sticking out of her leg!

Due to the extent of her injuries, the 911 dispatcher instructed Mike to refrain from first aid and just stay with his sister to keep her calm. Since the vacant lot was outside of town, it was going to take the ambulance at least 10-15 minutes to arrive on scene. But with the amount of pain Brooke was experiencing, those 10-15 minutes would feel like an eternity.

When EMS arrived on scene, they found Brooke screaming and crying in agony and Mike panicking, feeling semi responsible since this was all his idea. The medics instructed Mike to step away and give them space to examine Brooke.

The medics noted a few injuries immediately: open right femur fracture, left humerus fracture, facial+head lacerations, and some bumps on her head. The medics placed a c-collar since a spinal cord injury was within the realm of possibilities. The medics then removed Brooke’s socks, shoes, and snipped off her jeans so they can reset the open femur fracture. Brooke winced in pain while the 2 medics wiggled the pants off after making a few cuts with trauma shears. Next, the medics reduced the open femur fracture, which cause Brooke to scream loudly in pain for a second. Once the bone was below the skin and somewhat in its ’s normal place, the laceration from the bone protrusion was bandaged up and the area was splinted off. The next order of business was to focus on the humerus injury. There was obvious swelling and deformity, consistent with a displaced oblique fracture within the humerus. The upper left arm was also reset and splinted, causing Brooke a great deal of pain. After the arm was treated, the medics quickly bandaged up some of the head lacerations and abrasions and began setting up 2 large bore IVs. After IV access was obtained, normal saline was hung, but the medics refrained from administering pain medications since alcohol was smelled on Brooke’s breath, and there were beer cans scattered across the ground just up the hill. Brooke’s top was then cut off, sparing her black bra and matching underwear. A 5 lead ECG with a portable heart monitor was set up to obtain readings for her vital signs. On scene, Brooke’s vitals were: BP 87/49, Pulse 121, o2 saturation 94%. Brooke was placed onto a backboard and taken over to a gurney, and taken into an ambulance.

Mike begged and pleaded with EMS to ride in the ambulance with them, but they told him he couldn’t. “THAT’S MY FUCKIN SISTER! LET ME IN!” Mike shouted belligerently. One of the cops on scene offered a compromise: since he had too much to drink, they’d drive him to the hospital.

During the first part of transport, Brooke was a little short of breath, so an o2 mask with high flow oxygen was placed. The medic in the back of the ambulance lowered their stethoscope onto the girl’s chest and listened to her heart and lungs. “heart sounds good, but we’ve got diminished breath sounds on the left. Might be a tension pneumo.” The medic announced to the driver afterwards. The medic also noted that there was swelling and bruising on the side of her chest along her left ribcage, consistent with possible rib fractures or dislocation.

Over the following 10 minutes or so, Brooke’s condition changed a bit. Her GCS dropped to 10, and became a bit disoriented. Her systolic BP dropped into the upper 70s, and her heart rate was approaching the 130s. With this in mind, the medics became concerned about a potential head injury. The medics checked her pupils: right pupil was reactive, and the left pupil (injured size) had the early stages of dynamic oval pupil. Essentially, her left pupil had a slight oval, or almond shape. This is typically associated with eye trauma, optic nerve injuries, or brain bleeds originating from the back of the head. Since there wasn’t sufficient evidence of trauma to the eyes/optic nerve, it appeared a head injury was within the realm of possibilities. “Hey, what’s our ETA? GCS dropped to 10 and we’ve got a DOP in the left eye. She needs a head CT ASAP.” The medic in the back of the ambulance called out. “ETA 4 minutes. Hang in there…” the driver replied. The ambulance continued speeding down the road, sirens on full blast while Brooke continued to struggle in the back. She was squirming around and groaning in pain. “Miss, you gotta stay still for me, ok?” the medic said calmly, attempting to reason with brooke. Brooke began crying again while fidgeting around and kicking her healthy leg out. “Miss! You gotta stay calm!” the medic said more sternly, grabbing ahold of Brooke trying to hold her in place. Brooke quickly became inconsolable and demonstrated an altered mental status. “she’s definitely got a brain bleed or something…” the medic thought to themselves. Brooke needed to stay still due to her femur fracture, and because a spinal/neck injury hasn’t been ruled out. Since there was no getting through to Brooke, the medic decided to push a round of rocuronium. This medication is a strong muscle relaxer and paralytic agent, so it’s used as a chemical restraint when patients consume alcohol since alcohol doesn’t mix well with other agents commonly used.

Within 30 to 45 seconds, Brooke was knocked out by the medication. Since she was now unconscious, the medic decided to perform rapid sequence intubation on her for airway management. With a laryngoscope in 1 hand, the medic maneuvered a 7.0 ET tube into the girl’s airway. Once it was at the correct depth and place, the tube was secured with a blue tube holder, and an ambu bag was attached. For the remainder of the ambulance ride, Brooke remained hypotensive and tachycardic, and her GCS was still bouncing between 9 and 10.

Upon arrival at the ER, the medics gave the trauma team a brief rundown of Brooke’s condition as they wheeled her into an available trauma bay. Once in the room, Brooke was transferred onto the table and examination began. She was immediately started on blood transfusions- 1 unit A+ and 1 unit O- with 250 units of rhogam, 1 unit of platelets, and 1 unit of FFP. Multiple specialists were paged for consults, including: orthopedics, neurosurgery, and trauma surgery. While waiting on the specialist to arrive for their respective consultations, initial examination began. A FAST scan was performed first. The chest portion of the exam showed trace pericardial effusion, minor to moderate abdominal bruising but nothing potentially lethal, and the pelvic section came back clean. Multiple x-rays were then ordered: the x-ray of the arm confirmed displaced oblique humerus fracture, which would likely require surgical reduction with rods and pins. The chest x-ray showed 2 broken ribs and 1 dislocated rib on the left side of the thorax, along with bruising and swelling in the intercostal area. The chest x-ray also revealed a left sided tension pneumothorax with pleural effusion, which appeared to be caused from air escaping into the chest cavity, which pinched and pressed up against the lining of the lung. The next x-ray was of the femur fracture. The fracture was quite extensive, which required surgical reduction and many months of physical therapy in order to heal properly. The x-ray of Brooke’s head showed no evidence of a c-spine fracture, but there were some contusions on the skull and there didn’t appear to be any fractures; a head CT was still necessary to get a better understanding of her head injuries.

In the meantime, the trauma team decided to do what they could for her. The first order of business was to deal with the tension pneumothorax on the left side. The treatment for this was placing a chest tube in order to evacuate any air or blood. The procedure started after the area in between her ribs was sterilized. A 1 inch incision was made in the skin, followed by an additional one to cut through any fat and underlying tissue. Once a decent opening was created, a 36fr chest tube was placed into the incision area, and navigated deep into the pleural space. There was a small amount of blood drained from the tube, but a substantial amount of air exited the tube, allowing proper lung expansion once again.

Another concern arose in the coming minutes. The lower half of Brooke’s left leg was a bit discolored and cold. Her dorsalis pedis pulse was weak, so compartment syndrome was a legitimate issue here.

When orthopedics arrived, they wanted to set up pressure monitoring in the thigh to see if compartment syndrome was indeed taking place. But the orthopedic surgeon and neurosurgeon were in a bit of a disagreement. “if we don’t monitor her leg, she could lose it!” the orthopedic surgeon said. “well if we don’t get a head CT, she could die! I’d rather her lose her leg than her life!” the neurosurgeon replied smugly. The trauma surgeon offered a compromise: a fasciotomy in the emergency department. Typically, this is a procedure reserved for the operating room, but this was an emergent situation that required a quick decision. Everyone quickly got on board and the procedure was started in a moment’s notice.

Betadine was squirted on the right thigh and the bandage was removed from the splinted compound fracture. A scalpel was used to make 2 deep, long incisions in the thigh. Once the skin was incised, the underlying fat and tissue was cut out so proper bloodflow and blood drainage could take place. Her right calf and right foot immediately became a more normal complexion, and the dorsalis pedis pulse was stronger than it was just a minute or two ago. The freshly opened area was then irrigated with saline and prophylactic antibiotics to decrease the chance of infection, and the wound was somewhat closed with the shoelace suturing technique.

After the fasciotomy, Brooke’s blood pressure began to take a rapid nosedive. Vasopressors were pushed in an attempt to increase BP to a more stable level, and more blood products were hung. While trying to maintain BP, the young woman began to have a tonic-clonic seizure on the ER table. Brooke jerked and flopped erratically, biting down on the ET tube and grunting every few seconds. Her toes clenched up, wrinkling the soles of her size 8.5 feet. To combat the seizure, the trauma team acted quickly by injecting 1 dose of lorazepam intravenously in order to stop the convulsions. It was my like the tv shows where the medicine take immediate effect. In reality, it takes about 45 seconds for the meds to kick in. In those 45 seconds or so, Brooke’s twitchy, spasmodic movements slowed down incrementally until she finally settled down and stopped seizing.

After the seizure was controlled, Brooke was covered up and transported to radiology for a head CT. The GCS drop, altered mental status, DOP, and seizure were all associated with a brain bleed. Once in the CT scanner room, Brooke was transferred into the table and hooked up to a portable ventilator since nobody could be in the room with her during the scan. Prior to the scan, she was given another dose of vasopressors to keep her blood pressure semi stable since she was hypotensive. Pupil reactivity was checked before the scan as well- left pupil was sluggish and still oval shaped, and the right pupil was constricted.

The head CT took about 8 minute to complete. The results of the scan were interpreted quickly: there was a subdural hematoma in the left temporal lobe. The size of the bleed was definitely noteworthy, so the neurosurgeon wanted to drill a burr hole to alleviate the pressure in the cranium and then monitor Brooke with an intracranial pressure monitor to see if an additional surgery would be warranted.

Once the plan was made, Brooke was once again whisked away and back to the trauma bay for a quick burr hole and ICP monitor insertion. The procedure quickly commenced upon return to the ER. A portion of Brooke’s hair was shaved off on the left side and the pasty white skin was sterilized with a small amount of betadine. The neurosurgeon took a surgical drill and drilled 2 holes. The first one was made in the left temporal area to alleviate pressure and create immediate blood drainage. Thick, gooey blood oozed out of the small, circular hole in her skull after it was drilled. The coagulated blood was suctioned out, allowing proper release of the fresh blood from the active bleed. The 2nd hole was drilled in the left parietal area. The purpose of this 2nd hole was for insertion of an ICP monitor and to allow room for additional draining in the event the bleed worsened. After hole #2 was drilled, the ICP monitor was inserted and set up by the neurosurgeon, and a few small drainage tubes were inserted to help drain additional blood in an attempt to restore normal pressure within the skull. The next step of Brooke’s treatment was to take her to the OR for surgical reduction of both her femur fracture and humerus fracture.

Up in the OR, Brooke was hooked up 5o a ventilator and prepped for surgery. The anesthesiologist had some concerns about her blood pressure before surgery, so it was advised that trauma surgery would sit in on the surgery, and have neurosurgery on standby. With her BP still low, a repeat echocardiogram showed that the trace pericardial effusion had worsened in the past little while. Before the surgery started, the trauma surgeon performed an infrasternal pericardiocentesis. The quick procedure drained a decent amount of blood and slightly improved Brooke’s vitals, buying the surgical team enough time to work on the orthopedic injuries.

The orthopedic surgeon began with the humerus fracture. The original plan was to hold the bone in place with some plates and screws, but once the doctor got in there, they noticed damage to the proximal head of the humerus. When there’s damage to that portion of the bone, they have to replace it with a titanium joint that’s held in place with screws. Essentially, it’s like a hip replacement in your arm. It’s not a common situation, but it happens every so often, and the surgical team was prepared for that curveball. Part 2 of the orthopedic surgery was the femur repair. A long, thin metal rod was inserted into the femur after the medullary cavity of the bone was essentially scooped out. With the rod in place, the fractured portions of the bone were lined up and then held in place with small plates with titanium screws. Overall, the orthopedic portion of Brooke’s treatment went well, but since she was hemodynamically unstable and required monitoring for a head injury, she was sent off to the ICU for monitoring.

Brooke’s first few hours in the ICU were uneventful, but changes started to occur overnight. Around 3am, her blood pressure began to drop once again, along with an alternating QRS complex on the EKG. The ICU nurses decided to page a rapid response since the changes were concerning. When the trauma surgeon arrived, they pushed a round of vasopressors and hung 1 unit of FFP since there may be some residual bleeding and damage. The doctor’s next order was a repeat echocardiogram to monitor the progression of the pericardial effusion. The echo showed that Brooke was experiencing cardiac tamponade, so once again, an infrasternal pericardiocentesis was the way to go. The needle aspirated a combination of both clotted blood and fresh blood, but cardiovascular function slightly improved after the procedure. Brooke’s pupils were checked afterwards; they were sluggish but reactive, and the dynamic oval pupil was slowly going away. The ICP monitor was showing normalizing pressure in the skull, so it appeared the head injury was on a slow and steady course towards healing. The main concern was the chest injury at that point.

Approximately an hour later, Brooke began to struggle once again. Her blood pressure was still low and her chest tube output decreased. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that there was a blood clot lodged inside of her chest tube. Treatment for this is disconnecting the drainage portion of the chest tube and suctioning the lumen of the tube out until normal output returns. But when the tube drainage is disconnected in trauma patients (because a larger chest tube is required), you run the risk of re-aggravating the tension pneumothorax, so this has to be done rather quickly so excess air doesn’t get into the tube or the patient’s chest cavity.

With the trauma surgeon supervising, the drainage portion of the chest tube was disconnected. A suction tube was placed into the chest tube and the chunk of clotted blood about the size of a pea was slurped out, allowing normal flow and drainage to occur once again. But even after the chest tube was reconnected, Brooke’s blood pressure was still low. A 3rd echocardiogram was ordered, showing a sizable tamponade in the lateral portion of the pericardium. With this continuing to occur, and getting worse, the trauma surgeon decided to page cardiothoracic surgery and immediately take Brooke up to the OR for an exploratory thoracotomy and pericardial window.

While wheeling Brooke out of the ICU, her blood pressure suddenly became dangerously low. “shit, she’s gonna code. We need to get her up there ASAP!” the trauma surgeon blurted out with urgency. The ICU team wheeled Brooke through the corridors at full speed and into an available elevator. No more than a second after the elevator doors shut, Brooke became pulseless. The heart monitors showed pulseless electrical activity, so ACLS protocol promptly began. One nurse began pumping away at Brooke’s bare chest. The 22 year old's chest sunk deeply from the strength of each individual compression. Her chubby body and large, natural breast jiggled around a bit while another nurse injected epinephrine and atropine into one of the IV sites.

A nurse got on top of the gurney and began straddling the young woman, delivering strong, repetitive compressions. A few moments later, the elevator doors swung open and Brooke was wheeled out and into the main hallway of the OR floor. “whoa, what happened?” one of the nurses at the main nurses station asked, surprised to see an active code out in the open.

The team continued wheeling Brooke through the hall, compressions ongoing. Once in the correct operating room, the code was paused for a moment in order to transfer the woman onto the OR table. The monitors chirped loudly while Brooke’s limp body was transferred onto the table. Once on the table, CPR was restarted by one of the surgical nurses. “oh boy… what a mess. We’re gonna have to open her up ASAP. Get me a thoracotomy tray…” the head surgeon called out as they walked into the room. Since the heart monitors still showed PEA, CPR just went on. Redness and bruising started to form on the center of her chest in between both breasts due to all the hard compressions she was receiving. There was a popping sound that occurred during each individual compression since a few of her ribs became fractured or dislocated. The nurse that delivered compressions could feel Brooke’s cold, clammy skin through her gloves while everyone else in the room was scurrying around and barking orders at each other in what seemed like a moment of organized chaos.

While the surgical techs set up a thoracotomy tray, an OR nurse pushed the next round of intravenous meds since Brooke just crossed the 4 minute mark of the code. The meds didn’t have an immediate effect, but were able to convert Brooke to v-fib after approximately 45 seconds or so. With defib pads already attached to Brooke’s bare chest, they were charged to 200j and a shock was delivered. Brooke’s limp body jolted abruptly on the table in response to the quick dose of electricity. Since no change occurred, CPR resumed for several seconds until the defibrillator pads were recharged.

Seconds later, everyone backed away from the table and a 300j shock was delivered. Brooke’s back arched, forcing her chest up in the air, making her breasts bounce around. Shock #2 failed to convert Brooke from v-fib, so the surgeon took over and made the executive decision to open her chest via a left anterolateral thoracotomy.

Betadine was splashed across the left side of Brooke’s chest in a moment’s notice. With CPR ongoing just inches away, an incision was made in the 5th intercostal space. The cut began just to the left of Brooke’s sternum and extended laterally. The incision continued under her left breast, and ultimately came to a stop a few inches away from her left armpit. The next step was to separate and cut through the underlying tissue in order to create an opening for the rib spreader. This took about 15 or 20 seconds since it was done at a hurried pace. With that out of the way, the finochietto rib spreader was placed in the gaping cut, and the actual opening of the chest began. A cracking sound was heard regularly while the knobs were turned, forcing the 22 year old’s ribs apart.

The OR team was greeted by a rush of blood from the chest cavity upon cracking the chest. Suction was applied to the area and a 2nd chest tube was inserted for additional drainage. With the excess blood out of the way, a pericardiotomy was performed. A quick cut was made into the lining of the heart, which leaked a combination of fresh blood and coagulated blood. The incision in the pericardium was extended to deliver the heart more effectively, and a few small drains were placed into the incised portion of the pericardium for continuous tamponade drainage.

After these critical first few steps, external compressions were swapped out for internal massage. One of the doctors wrapped their hands around Brooke’s heart. They pushed hard and fast in an upwards motion with both their thumbs on the left ventricle in order to force blood through the aorta and out to the body. The doctor could feel Brooke’s heart twitching in their hands as they desperately attempted to reverse the dire situation.

V-fib still persisted after a cycle of internal compressions and another dose of meds, so the internal paddles were called for. The large, spoon shaped paddles were charged to 20j and placed directly against the desperate, spasming organ. After everyone backed away, the first internal shock was delivered. A dull, wet thump was heard, followed by her torso twitching a bit. Her heart fluttered for a second from the direct jolt of electricity, but it quickly returned to its erratic spasming from before. Internal compressions were resumed while a vascular clamp was placed on the descending aorta near the diaphragm. The purpose of this is to temporarily redirect bloodflow back to the heart, brain, and lungs since those organs are most essential. After the large vessel was clamped, the internal paddles were prepped once again, and placed around each side of the young woman’s heart. Shock #2 was a but stronger at 30 joules, causing more noticeable reaction. Brooke’s torso flopped slightly and her toes curled up, wrinkling the soles of her size 7.5 feet. This shock failed to correct the deadly arrhythmia, so resuscitation efforts went on. A cycle of internal massage was performed while the internal paddles were recharged to 40j. After the paddles were good to go, the third internal shock was delivered. The same dull thump as before filled the room for a moment while Brooke’s battered body twitched on the table. The monitors began chirping again, continuing to show v-fib.

The same cycle of internal compressions, shocking and meds continued again…and again…and again, but the OR team just couldn’t get their young patient’s heart to restart. Despite a 26 minute code, Brooke passed away in the OR, with her time of death being called at 5:02am. The monitors were switched off and the ambu bag was detached. Additional equipment such as the EKG electrodes and IVs were removed in the eerily silent OR. Brooke’s naked, battered body laid on the table. Her heart sat motionless in plain sight during the basic postmortem preparations. Eventually, the chest tubes were removed, the ICP monitor was taken out, and the chest was closed up. A cover was placed over Brooke’s body, and a toe tag was placed before sending her off to the hospital morgue, bringing a sad ending to the case.