#and with only 4 players left id be happy with only 2 of them as the winner

[jimalim]

Australian Survivor ends this week and depending on the outcome I will either be insane (good) or insane (bad) about it so just putting that out there now

[howlsofbloodhounds]

hii so as wick said you are the killer guy. ive learned a lot abt him through you i think, and if i make or reblog smthn abt him and then *you* reblog it im like "!! i did him right i got the character right!!"

so as such ive gotta ask. ink and killer. both are aware of someone watching them, making choices for them to further the story as they please. the creators/players. but both have different opinions of them. i wanna know what you think would be like- differences/similarities between their views. would they get along on this subject, would they not (i dont think they would tbh), etc.

im sorry if this isn't very coherent im still asleep 😭😭

Hiii! 👋 I always enjoy reading or seeing anything you make about killer, id reblog and like every single one.

And I agree with you that this is a subject that ink and killer wouldn’t really agree upon, simply because their experiences with the creators/players are very different.

Other than the obvious ones, where Ink has a positive outlook on creators and Killer doesn’t really, Ink also needs creators to stay alive and healthy. And if I remember correctly, Ink was not made by creators specifically to protect AUs. That’s a choice he made on his own, to not only ensure his own survival, but to have a purpose and feel like his life has meaning.

Ink had some agency in a way, and was happy to do something as grand as protecting entire universes. No one’s gonna be able to really stop him if he decides to shrug his shoulders and retire from protecting AUs one day, no one but himself really.

Meanwhile, Killer’s Determination would not allow him to do that so easily. Just look at Stage 4.

Killer did not have any real agency or a say—Sans did not agree to anything like gaining Determination or ‘fusing’ souls—and he was “created” and cultivated for specific purposes; to kill, to entertain, to be a partner, to do a Genocide. To destroy timelines and worlds in a way. If you interpret the Angel in the prophecy to be the Player, it can be said that Killer was made and cultivated for the purpose of being our avatar.

He enacts our will. We want him to kill? Do a Genocide? We want to be the Angel of Death and liberate the Underground by emptying it completely? He is one of our means to do that.

We want to complete the game, try every single avenue and maybe even create our own paths, regardless of how it actually affects the structure of the world/game? He’s our means to do what we normally couldn’t. To do something new.

Because we aren’t doing it. He is, by following our commands. Proceed.

Killer is our right hand, Frisk is the left, and Chara is the feeling we have when we level up, when we gain more stats; they guide and support us on our way eventually, as they do for Killer too; until Killer decides one day that he no longer needs them and needs something new. They are our means of interacting with the world.

Which means Killer could also have the dual purpose of being Chara’s partner, meant to accompany them along on their journey. Perhaps Sans was just the Player’s favorite character, or we just wanted something new. And Chara wanted a partner, a friend, a companion.

I’m sure there’s an ending out there where Killer never turns on Chara and the two of them find a way to leave their timeline to continue on elsewhere. Perhaps by Erasing it and moving on to the next world, as Chara says at the end of the canon Genocide route.

Only we don’t have complete control over Killer, because he is not supposed to be our Avatar. Killer is not supposed to exist, yet he does because we wanted him to. The whole reason Killer’s Stage 2 exist in the state that it does is because it represents Sans fighting back against the Determination SOUL.

Because Sans never wanted this. Ever. We just made him think he did. Something New was Snowgrave before Snowgrave.

We took him and shattered him completely and arranged his parts in a way that suited our desires and built him back up in our preferred image before freezing him in that state. And we did it by first taking everything from him, including himself.

Ink doesn’t remember anything after he tore up his soul, and even if he did, why would he chose anything differently? He and his universe were nothing but incomplete, rough sketches that were abandoned.

Ink came from nothing, and now has everything.

Ink finds purpose with the Creators and admires their works, seeks to protect their AUs and their scripts from anything he perceives as an anomaly.

Killer has a purpose for existing. He just wishes he didn’t. I’m sure that, at his lowest points, Killer would give anything to go back to being nothing.

( @alyimoss ).

(Also maybe an odd opinion but I honestly feel that this particular part of Something New is the reason why it would’ve worked a bit better in a game format rather than a comic.)

(And you know. I can see a little scene where, like..Ink says something about how the Player prefers “Killer” over “Sans” now. So Killer must feel very loved by us.

And of course, as is often the case with Killer, his emotional investment and reactions about/towards the Player during conversations with people like Ink would differ based on what Stage he is in.

Stage 2 is unlikely to be able to feel much intense emotions or opinions about us, and is therefore is able to approach this type of topic from a more detached, apathetic lens. A sense of resigned acceptance, even. He exists because we want to play, so he will put on a show.

I’m sure he’d have strong feelings about it in all the other Stages, but it’s not like Stages 3 and 4 are exactly capable of sitting down and having clear minded full conversations about it.

That’s more Stage 1’s thing, with all the emotional baggage and all. Because it’s not like knowing why really changes anything for him; he still did it, it was his hands. He does have a tendency to hurt himself for us, as Color has said.)

[deliciousangelfestival]

My Problematic Girl - Chapter 3

Character: College!Steve Rogers x Rich!Female Reader

Prologue:  Steve has lived being nobody in this prestigious university. He just wants to graduate and get a job to get more money to pay the bills for his mother's surgery. 

But his life turned upside when a new student attended his class. His quiet and dull life became dangerous and full of surprises.

×××

She exhaled the cigarette smoke from her lips. She still doesn’t care even though he told her he has asthma. 

She looked at Steve and said, “Bark for me.”

Steve felt humiliated, and his pride was crushed. But she held his life and secrets. He had to bury his dignity to the ground, and he murmured, 

“Woof.”

******

I would appreciate any comments and feedback you can give me. 

If you want to be tagged in this series, please tell me.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5 , Chapter 6, Chapter 7 ,Chapter 8 , Chapter 9,-

Main Masterlist || Buy me Ko-fi

For a brief moment, he could understand what "happiness" means. His struggle to find a sponsor has been resolved. 

But when she mentioned that ID name, Steve felt naked.

His life is exposed to the whole world. His biggest fear has become a reality. Someone in the uni knew his secrets.

He grabbed Y/N's hand and dragged her until he found a quiet place. 

They weren't running, but Steve had to catch his breath. He felt suffocated. Like someone strangled his neck.

When he found a spot to talk, he released her hand. "Is this the reason why you ask me? What do you want?"

Y/N widened her eyes for a second; then, she chuckled again. "Turned out you can get angry too." 

Steve felt his head going to explode, "You…!!!"

She raises her arm to stop him. "If you think I want to blackmail you. You are partially correct."

Steve's trust in her crumbled, and he stepped away from her. He covered his face with both hands. "Are you going to tell the university?" 

Since she is close to Tony, there's a high chance she will tell him. 

Y/N was taken aback; she seemed offended. "Pfft, no. Why would I want to do that?"

Steve lifted his face; he became more confused. "So, what do you want from me?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Right now, nothing." 

She took out her phone and started texting. While she was looking at the screen, she said, "I will inform you when I find a perfect location for your exhibition."

She doesn't bother with the way Steve look at her. "Word of advice, don't be afraid when someone knows your secret. Ignored them."

Steve clenched his fist. "Seems like you have experienced."

Y/N smirked at him and left. She left him with many questions and doubts.

Back at his apartment, Steve threw his bag to the floor and threw himself to bed. He wished he could turn around time to the day, but Y/N came to the class and ignored her. 

But it's too late now. 

"Bzzt"

"Yoo punk."

Steve sighed heavily; at least today, he could hear a familiar voice.

"What is it, idiot? Did you get hit in the head today?"

"This kid. Don't you want your best friend to become a famous quarterback?"

Steve chuckled. He's talking with Bucky, who studies in other cities at Imperial University. It is also a prestigious university like Stark but is more competitive and has a strong alumnus of doctors, lawyers, and football players. 

Bucky got accepted because of his football scholarship. Both of them are only able to meet on holidays. 

"Hei Bucky."

"What? You sounded like you got hit by a bus."

"I prefer to get hit. Today I meet a b**h."

"Tell me!!!"

Steve sighed heavily; he couldn’t tell everything to Bucky. He only tells him there’s a new student, which gives him stress. 

“Hmm, she sounds like a person I know. Perhaps I’m wrong. Just be careful, Steve.” 

Yeah, he should be careful. He doesn’t know what Y/N has under her sleeves.

A few days later.

Y/N didn't come to the university. It's better that way because he doesn't know how to feel when he sees her, angry or awkward. 

But once again when Steve felt relieved for a moment. Something will come again to disturb his peace. 

'Vroom'

The engine's sounds were loud, taking every student's attention, including Steve, walking towards the gate to go home. 

It was a black sports car, and it stopped beside Steve. He finally knew who the owner was when the car window went down. 

It's Y/N. 

"Get in." 

Steve wants to ignore her but doesn't want to get into trouble and make her mad since she knows his secret. So he gets into the car. 

When he sat down, the smell of expensive leather made him feel rich. The dashboard design also has impressive craftsmanship. No wonder why people like to collect sports cars. It felt like collecting luxury toys. 

"Where are we going?" 

"To the location for your exhibition."

"Huh…"

(An example to show the space for Steve's art exhibition)

'She wasn't joking.'

Steve thought while he walked around the empty studio. This place is huge. It's bigger than his apartment.

"A famous photographer and other artists always rent this place." A property agent is talking with Y/N. He keeps talking about selling aspects to convince her. 

Y/N crossed her arms and nodded. "Send me the contract."

The agent was pleased. "I will send it tomorrow."

"Good. Leave."

After the property agent left, Y/N walked toward Steve while taking another cigarette. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah. Who wouldn't? Every artist would kill to get this place."

Steve still can't believe it.

Nobody from his class could afford this place. Then he remembered nothing in this world is free. "What exactly do you want from me?"

Y/N smiled at him. "In the world of the arts during the Medieval and Early Modern eras, many artists had a wealthy sponsor of their work, a system called patronage. Like Da Vinci and Mozart."

That part is true. Back then, the Catholic church and the pope hired many artists and sculptured to design the church building. They could afford food and a roof over their head. But some artist doesn’t have a good Patreon. Like Van Gogh, who only ate bread and drank wine. Everyone started to adore his art after he committed suicide. 

She inhaled and exhaled the smoke from her lips. "I felt offended you doubted my sincerity, Steve." 

He coughed and cleared his throat; the tobacco smell was too strong.  "But, why me? There's another talented student from the class."

Y/N shook her head. "I already like your 'special work.' Then when I met you and saw your other painting, I knew I had made a perfect choice."

Her compliment made him flattered, but he had to stay on guard. "It's not just an exhibition; you want to sell my painting."

Her face brightened, and she snapped her finger. "That's right Steve. And you will get 80% share."

He gasped; that was a fantastic offer. "You seem confident; do you already have a potential buyer?"

She nodded, "There's a lot of people who want to do money laundering."

‘HUH?!’

Steve raised his eyebrows. Did his ears fool him? 

Did he just hear that? The way she said it is like, 'Tomorrow is Friday.'

"What?"

Y/N confidently answered, "I’m going to use your painting for money laundering."

Steve knees became weak, that made him unable to stand anymore; he thought:

'Dear God, he always prayed for an answer to his financial trouble. But what kind of angel He sent to him? '

Thank you for reading. I hope you like it.

If you have any feedbacks or want to join the tagged list, you can tell me.

I will always be grateful for those who reblog. Thank you so much.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5 , Chapter 6, Chapter 7 ,Chapter 8 , Chapter 9,-

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[ireallydontunderstandpeopleatall]

trip and sick

so i been wanting to update to remind myself of how sick i was but i have not felt good enough to, but now i am well enough and have found the time.

so i did go on that girl trip to LA end of aug into sept, basically labor day weekend 2024 it was so much fun but also so expensive and tiring. it was 4 days total with the first and last day as travel days but next time i will only go 3 days total because i just need to get back to my dog, day 3 was a rest day after the music fest that was the reason we had gone because C wanted to enjoy the music her and my old friend Daniel listened to while he was alive and daniel is my friend who had just lost his life in july 2023 and that was when me and C reconnected bc i wanted to support her and i was bothered and shocked to hear of his death.

anyway at day 3 we had a beach day and i was starting to get irritated with C which I had anticipated bc i tend to get cranky when i get homesick and also need to get back to my alone time. well at the evening of day 3 i just had extreme stomach issues, not that it hurt but i felt irregular and i kept having to go poop and there was an instance where i pooped then lie back down and felt the need to immediately go again and it scared me and my heart rate was also showing as higher and i was worried something was actually wrong with me that would kill me if i didnt seek medical attention and i would not be able to get on the plane day 4 to get back to my son and my dog. so i ended up calling the emergency authories to come check on me bc i know they will do that without taking you to the hosp right away. this kind of bothered C and i thought she was not going to speak to me again and would hold a grduge against me but she did say " i wish you would have talked to me about it instead" and that she felt sad that i did not think to consult her first but my thought is that she is not a medical prof. anyways the fire dept showed and hooked up their machines and said it sounds like food poisioning and to keep hydrating and try to rest and i had brought gatorade so i chugged it after they left and i felt relieved so i was able to get some shut eye. i did ruin C's chance of getting up early to do beach day again bc this was at 2am she was woken up so oops.

but overall it went well, friday when we flew in we partied so hard that we stayed up until like 4am and our 3rd girl Danielle got so white girl wasted it was so fun and funny and we had a beach visit at 1am and she fell, scraped the skin off her knee and elbow which we did not know until the day after i felt so bad like we didnt take care of her good enough, when she fell she dropped her wallet which has her ID and cash and she was going international from LAX after day 2 of our trip with her BF. so it was absolutely necessary that we found it and she was too drunk to be upset but C and I went on a hunting mission. retracing our steps I found it and held onto it and we back to the beach boardwalk and put my shoe down to put them back on so we can leave but upon setting them down i realize i had lost a shoe. so we leave Danielle at the boardwalk and we go looking for my shoe which i was like, no it's ok i dont care and i brought extra but C was being very sweet and persistent about it. when we gave up and went back to boardwalk, Danielle had drunkenly walked off and we were so worried like omg wtfffff. well some basketball players pointed out her direction and i found her talking to 2 girls and one guy THANK GOD instead of a bunch of guys. so i collect her while wearing my 1 shoe and i swear to god these people must have thought we were nuts. so that was the highlight of day 1 lmao. btw club we went to was so banging, speak easy at the basement level which is pitch black and a dope DJ. so cali club vibes i miss those days and was happy reliving it with these ladies.

we went to the fest day 2 and it was so massive and so packed i felt like i was at EDC again, i did not know cali did festivals like that and would love to do it again, it was such a success, the people were friendly and music was great. it was a whole experience.

anyways i was able to get up and on the plane day 4 and get my ass back home but side note, UNited airlines seems like they are just out to kill you. flights in and out were so fucking scary thought i was not going to make it home to my family after being away for what felt like a week and thought the last obstacle was going to be a disaster or a statisic.

ok so i got sick when i got home and it could have been from the packed festival, the coughing girl next to me on plane or sharing a joint with the ladies and the local boys of LA, not sure. oh also i took shrooms festival day and had a panic moment when it hit, felt like my world was spinning out and i had anxiety but it calmed when the ladies allowed me some time to gather myself. i give into peer pressure to easy and C even told me when i called the paramedics that i do not "have to keep up" and its like she saw that was trying to and she accepts me if i dont and it was everything for me hearing that, like she sees me.

anyways i have a sore throat when i get back home but idk i assume its mild dehydration. and i feel ok maybe still running off adrenaline. well 1 friday later and i take my son to waffle house and later in the day like 4pm i start feeling sick like i want to throw up. it settles, i am able to eat a bit of dinner take a dicyclomine during dinner, i go to sleep late like 3-4am. for the next 2 days im feeling a bit weak and my stomach does not want to eat but i no longer want to throw up and i wonder if it is bc of dicyclomine and when i eat i feel sick and im tired and weak. this goes on for like 3 days. then day 4-6 i feel like shit just weak and tired af i have chills, i test for covid its negative. i have diahrea for like 4 days and then lose stools. i take mucinex and it helps my symptoms but i just have this deep brain fog like i just cannot concentrate and my body hurts and i'm hot and cold at times. headache and just feel like shit. one night i felt so sick and gross and did not feel better until i started breathing through my mouth and it improved so i may have been slightly suffocating or lacking oxygen without realizing?? and i am an ex smoker so i always have that worry of breathing problems and heart problems. any way i am taking my temps daily and monitoring heart rate on this smart watch. my temp was never high and would be around 97.5-97.8 so that was a relief but some nights and days i felt so horrible i wondered if it was my last days. i am a hypochrondriac i admit, especially losing 3 people in a 1 year time to sudden deaths, i fear sudden death. so at first i suspect stomach flu bc my stomach felt terrible at first but then it felt like normal flu bc of the body pain and headache. but then the brain fog, tiredness and feeling weak felt like covid. i took my dog on walks twice during this time and i felt so horrible after, i would think i was better then walk the dog then felt so winded and knew i was still sick, it was just like when the doc said he thinks i have long covid bc i got tired easily after covid. so i was worried it would last forever.

I never thought i would recover but then the next friday, which is like 7 days from when it starts i was actually able to play with my dog, do an activity and not be tired after so then i did another activity and found i was still ok. so then saturday i was finally able to change my fitted sheet and i was ok after and thats when i knew i was getting better bc when i was in the thick of it, i could not even imagine changing my sheets and just said to myself ill have to deal with musty sheets until i get better bc i could not clean my room or do any tasks really, each day was a struggle and i was so tired. so today is sunday and i still feel pretty ok even though i have not taken mucinex and i was able to change my sheets twice today bc smores made a mess. and it has been a good day and weekend and i have still been trying to take it easy so i dont overwork myself but i am doing good so far and i am so happy to be out the other end of this. like i have not been normal since i got back and it sucked.

[sirenjose]

Missing Player-ID: 157716441

Hidden Story/Epilogue - Part 2

Main Story: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Hidden Story: Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Plot Analysis: Part 1 Part 2

Puzzle Solver Analysis

Look again at the board. Touching different parts of the board gives you clues.

With the board, you poke/circle all the places the girl has been to.

Then look at the back of the map for the correspond letter. Which spells out “email me”.

Say this to ***** for more dialogue.

Detective mentions he looked at the places he’s visited before on the map and found the message left by the girl, and asks if he’s supposed to message her. *****: “Interesting, so why not try it?” Detective: “I don’t know her email address.” ***** suggets he check for a mailbox on other platforms.

You can find girl’s Weibo watermark on Taobao (the place that sold the dice).

“Cat’s claw”. You can find her email here: aoki_liu@163.com. @163 is the suffix for the netease mailbox.

You get this message after sending that email a message.

“Strangers, thank you for your help. At the end of the game, she escaped with them. I guess they gave her a sense of security. After they all disapepared, I found her. She had lost everything, but she could still talk. It was a relief for her to talk about it. Try to recover the last game at midnight, and I’ll judge whether you’re worthy.”

Go back to the game now.

To restore the last game at midnight, you need to find the girl’s account.

There’s only 1 game in the record.

Just play from 11-12 in the evening.

You get a letter after. Align question marks on different pages. Align the 16 squares of the key with the 16 squares on the page. The word it’s pointing to is “broken”

There are question marks on pages 12, 32, 36, and 48. Putting the words together spells out: “Broken childhood”.

Detective asks ***** if the girl left these words on purpose. *****: “It’s my little surprise for you.  But more important is the story behind it.” Detective: “What does ‘broken childhoon’ mean?” *****: “It’s literal. It’s the inner world beneath the exterior, the past that you don’t want to look back on. I’ve got some old stories about her here.” Detective: “Can you share it with me?” *****: “Souls wandering on the edge of different personalities, even unconsciously, will send out distress signals. Find the plea left by her. If you want to understand her, start by reading the message from the girl.” ***** then mentions using something to change Xs to Ys on the back of a map. Use on thing to change the X at the back of the map to Y.”

Get the PTSD/CAPS paper, and line up the straight lines on the papers with the X looking marks of the other page to form Ys. Reading the words next to the dots on the paper gives: “Hollow Out Frame Number >= 30”.

So knock out numbers greater or equal to 30.

There will be corresponding letters on the page behind the PTSD table after doing this. Spells out: “don’t beat me”.

Detective: “Did she stay?” *****: “It seems you are suitable for listening to this story.”

“September 9th 1992 The man I've never met always gives me a glimpse of fantasy when I'm vulnerable. What does he look like, do I look like him? My mother might have kept a picture of him, but it was so long ago that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t dig into my memory to find out what he looked like. Was he a gentle man? I still remember my mother describing their story to me with great emotion, but I can’t remember exactly what she told me. Although I had never met him, I could feel the happiness in her words - if one had seen the story of the man and could not remember what was said, one could clearly perceive the happiness. Such a person must be gentle. If I could meet him, what should I tell him? I should tell him what happened to my mother ...... and tell him that she was wronged in his absence. I feel for her. As for me ...... I’d rather not let him have too many worries. He’s a hero to his country and a hero to my mother. He’s already too tired. And… I’ve found a way to reconcile with myself in the dark basement(?). They gave me companionship and encouragement in my most desperate moments, and allowed me to persevere without him. Do I hate the devil? Of course! After making him disappear completely, they all advised me to leave the hatred behind and just run away, as far away as possible. They all said that if I kept the hatred, the person I hated would not really leave me. But it's not easy! The excruciating pain, the festering wounds, the black bruises ...... they know too! They've been through it with me! No more, thankfully, no more: a new world, new friends, no more wounds, no more shouts, no more nightmares. If my mother had known, she would have been pleased that I had met a good man. He would have given my mother what she lost – a happy family. And my child would not have to see their father only in memories as they does now. When they think of their father, they must be filled with happiness and pride. I'm sure they are. But I'm really curious what their father was like.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There seems to be a photo, but the face is obliterated.

“Poster for the Patient Support Group(?): We are a voluntary, academic, non-profit social organization formed and registered by medical professionals and caring citizens in the city. As the city's first mutual aid society for patients with mental illness, ‘We Walk’ and its predecessors have a history of more than 27 years, and through the continuous exchange of information and the sharing of an excellent mutual aid platform... ‘We Walk’ has grown to become a platform for patients to exchange information and share their experiences.”

(*Unsure of translation here?) She’s gone…finally…finally… Out the door to the turn left, turn left… turn left It’s the direction of the subway station… The car… car… should be gone. There’s blood all over, blood all over, blood all over! It’s hard, hard, hard to remove… It’s not as bad as his clothes… and hat. All of them are brownish yellow brownish yellow Even if you rub it, you can’t see it. It must’ve been intentional, intentional, intentional Don’t come back, don’t come back, don’t come back Disappear forever, She should have disappeared with him long ago.

It doesn’t look very complete. Is a word missing here?

[heyitsyn]

Manager!Seijoh

a/n: im a seijoh stan and theyre my little plant babies

for more seijoh content, check this masterlist out!

this is so long oml i hate myself

theyre an actual boy band istg

lets be honest, they probably thought you were just another oikawa fangirl

they thought you just wanted to be closer to their captain bc you were another delusional girl who wanted to live out her fantasies

lmao im not trying to be salty

but when you just stared blankly at oikawa tooru after he called you a beautiful flower,

stageplay hinata calling you a mugwort

the team just about threw themselves on your feet

tbh you werent really there to get a boyfriend or for oikawa

you just needed an after school club and the other teams already had managers

the only sport that didnt was the boys volleyball team

imagine why

you were actually a little wary, since you knew of oikawa, being a first year yourself, and you were aware of his psycho fangirls who could probably kill you

but you needed a club that would last you for the next 3 years to graduate

it was kunimi who actually recommended being a manager

you were in his class and you noticed him sleeping in the morning so you gave him your energy bar

‘thanks’

you shrugged and smiled

thats why he tolerated you more than others

you were nice and you were the only one who noticed his tiredness, even the teacher left him alone, and did something about it

sometimes, you even gave him an energy drink

‘can you tell me why youve been so tired lately? i dont think ive seen you wake up until lunch’

he opened the snack and started munching while replying

‘early morning practice for volleyball is still a big adjustment. our captain demands us to be there 6 in the morning sharp and if we’re even a minute late, we’d have to run laps. like for every minute youre late, you have to run those amount’

oh my why is kunimi talking so much

but i love kunimi and first year seijoh boys rights in this household is valid

you furrowed your eyebrows

‘but yall are still growing and you need all your sleep. if i were there, id yell at your captain’

he grinned slightly, imagining your short height beating up their captain

‘meh. you want to be our manager? i saw you looking at the clubs board yesterday and we dont have one so you could take the opportunity and beat him up then’

ofc you agreed bc kunimi was best boi and you just wanted him to have enough sleep for once

after class, he waited for you to finish packing up and when you finished, yall left the classroom

until another guy with a spiky hairstyle joined you and you noticed him as the guy who sometimes came over to eat lunch with kunimi

‘oh, hello l/n-san’

you smiled gently

‘drop the formalities, kindaichi-kun. its only fair.’

he nodded before walking beside kunimi

‘kindaichi, l/n might be our new manager’

the onion head excitedly looked at you

‘really?! yes! so we dont have to fill our bottles ourselves anymore!’

kunimi glared at him and slapped his stomach

‘shes our manager, not our maid’

you laughed but placed an arm on him

‘its okay. i was a manager for my middle school volleyball team so i know a little bit about being one’

the two shared a look

god, they really hit the jackpot

as yall walked closer to the gym, you noticed the big pile of girls huddling at the corner

kunimi sighed

‘l/n, ill warn you ahead of time of our captain. hes kinda,,,, too much’

but you flashed him a smile

‘hes not the first one ive handled’

oml player-chan!!!

so when you opened the door and entered the gym and oikawa hit you with his normal antics, you just stared at him

‘okay and?’

hanamaki and mattsun howled before rushing to you and grabbing you in a hug

‘girls like her really exist!!’

you gave kunimi and kindaichi a signal of help and they nodded before gently prying the senpais off of you

‘senpai, please’

you gave kunimi a grateful nod

coach irihata went up to you bc wow, kunimi has a friend with of another gender?

‘how can we help you, miss?’

‘im l/n y/n, first year, and id like to apply as the manager’

internally, the coach sighed bc you werent the first one to apply

the reason they havent had a manager for years was bc of oikawa’s fangirls hiding themselves under that false facade

but he saw you brush off that comment oikawa make with no hint of fluster or blush on your face so he decides to give you a trial run, in guise of seeing if you could handle these chaotic boys

‘do you have any experience as manager? or do we need to teach you the ropes?’

‘i was a manager for 3 years in my middle school volleyball’

he nodded

‘ill give you one month. a trial run of a month to test the waters’

you agreed and your trial run began

kunimi mentioned that morning practice starts at 6 am sharp so you set your alarm for 5 to get ready and get to school on time before the boys

you remembered how to set up the nets so you quickly put them out (using a step stool bc we short) and ran to get the basket of balls

their water bottles were filled and you were in the middle of lugging the big basket of towels when the third years entered

the 4 of them usually came earlier than the rest so they saw you dragging the basket of fresh towels and wipe your sweat before smiling at the work youve done

iwa was so happy bc it was usually him who did this stuff and now that he had someone do it for him, it was like a god-send

oikawa’s eyes shone and he waved at you

‘yohoo, y/n-chan!’

you cringed at the loud voice of the famous oikawa tooru

‘hello, oikawa-san’

he chuckled at your politeness before hugging you

‘you did all this for us? youre so cute, y/n-chan!’

instead of the normal blush and love-struck eyes, you were actually very uncomfortable of the sudden skinship and you quickly ran to the side when iwa hit him at the head

‘shittykawa! leave her alone!’

‘iwa-chan!’

makki and mattsun stood next to you as the boys did their usual fight

‘is this all an act or are you really not attracted to oikawa?’

mattsun shot him a surprised look bc why was he so straightforward

but you just shrugged

‘hes cute, i admit. but ive seen much cuter and the boys in my middle school team was basically full of him so,,, and i hate guys who think theyre all that just bc theyre blessed w a pretty face. if anything, ill probably go for iwaizumi-san’

pop off S I S T E R!!!

you just won the heart of these two

slowly but surely, they all came to accept you and iwa straight out loves you bc you maintained this routine for the whole month of your trial run

and you still remained indifferent of oikawa’s advances and he was even impressed and slightly agitated that you werent paying attention to him

‘y/n-chan, one date! just one!’

you huffed before looking up from your clipboard

‘i like men, oikawa-san. not boys’

that comment made the guys shriek

‘y/n-chan! youre just a first year! you dont need a man!’

‘youre not a man, oikawa!’

you left oikawa to be tormented by his teammates and went to go and hand over the report to the coach

he was impressed by the notes you made bc they were ones he even missed

like the split-second of hesitation that kindaichi usually has that goes unnoticed but you immediately saw

or the wince oikawa has whenever he so much as jumps an inch

you could even tell the difference between iwa’s spike and if he was being easy or he was going full-out

this added on to the fact that the boys loved you and irihata actually saw kunimi try more 

but he thinks its only to earn your praises

‘y/n, youre officially the team manager’

yall celebrated at the normal hang-out spot which was the ramen shop and it truly shocked you at how much these boys ate

granted, this was the first time you ate together but you didnt expect them to eat nearly 5 bowls each

you could only finish 2 and you already feel like throwing up

‘honestly, how do you guys not gain weight after this?’

the table you sat at, iwa, kindaichi, mattsun, and kunimi, looked at you and shrugged

‘i work out’

‘i run’

‘i fast’

‘i poop it out’

lmao im sorry i cackled too hard at this

you stared blankly at mattsun’s answer who said it so seriously that you snorted a laugh

they watched you and your laughter bc you havent really expressed yourself as much 

so they made it their goal to see you laugh more

‘y/n-chan! you need to eat more!’

oikawa shouted, clearly food drunk, but you shook your head aggressively

‘i only planned to eat one bowl but he just had to shove another down my throat’

‘but you need to grow, y/n-chan!’

‘i want to grow taller! not wider!!’

As a manager:

oh boy

you basically grew into kinda their mom

‘oikawa-san! you need to rest your knee or youre going to hurt yourself! i will drag you home myself!’

‘kunimi, if you try to get this one more spike, i’ll buy you a bag of those caramel bites you like’

‘iwa-san! if you hit oikawa-san too much, youll destroy the little braincells he has!’

‘yahaba-san, nice dump!’

‘is your knee okay, watari-san?’

yall really forget that watari and yahaba exist sometimes smh

it was part of the work

keeping up with seijoh

so to keep them encouraged, you gave them praises that they always demand for and they always turn to you whenever they did something good

mattsun gives you a look whenever he blocks iwa’s spikes and you give kindaichi a head pat whenever he blocks some too

bc of how you are with them, sometimes, they forget that you are actually just a first year

they get shocked whenever you walk in with kunimi and kindaichi and talk about the current homework bc it slips their mind that their hard-working manager was actually just a 15-year-old girl

so, they try to ease the burden whenever they can

like iwa offering to help you whenever you have to take their jerseys to the laundrymat

or offering to help you with your assignments since theyve only been through it once

more like watari, yahaba, and iwa bc the matsuhana are clueless and acts like they completely skipped that grade

also

!!!!

oikawa’s fangirls ltr dont leave you alone!!!

now, its known that youre the manager of the volleyball team bc oikawa has boasted about your efforts and such

this obvs ticked off a bunch of girls bc they were jealous that you got to spend more time in a single practice with their precious oikawa-senpai than they have their entire lives

more than once theyve cornered you to threaten you to stay away from their senpai or youll have something coming for you

you never take them seriously bc you can fight too and you just give them a look and push them away

but this one time

TRIGGER WARNING-START

okay tea

the self-proclaimed president of the oikawa tooru fanclub, kenta miyo, cornered you at the bathroom with her other minions

you were just washing your hands and drying them off when she marched up to you and grabbed your hair before tugging it back

obviously you were surprised and shouted

‘oi! what the hell?!’

‘you slut! you need to stay away from my tooru, got it?!’

ehm what

you hissed and wrenched her arm from your hair and pushed her away

your hair was now a mess and you were fuming, already sick and tired of the torture these girls put you through

‘he belongs to himself, not you! so stop being delusional and leave me alone already!’

she signalled for the girls to hold on to you which you slapped away but they forcefully grabbed your arm while you kicked at them and struggle to get out of their hold

jesus what do these girls eat

miyo watches you struggle with a smile and cackles

‘oh? no fight anymore, little kouhai?’

you glared at her

‘i dont want to beat yall up bc id get yelled at by tooru so you need to let me go or regret it’

at the mention of his first name, her eyes widened and her face twisted and she slapped you

‘oi! respect your senpai, you brat! dont you ever say oikawa’s first name!’

your lips curled

‘oh? thats funny, because he actually told me to call him that since he wants his cute little manager to be very comfortable with him’

you achieved a feat that she has been working to get her entire high school life and miyo was not happy

‘ive been with him for 3 years and you just suddenly show up out of nowhere and call him that?! i dont think so!’

she had her hands around your neck and you gripped her arms, making her wince

but you laughed at that comment

‘heh, thats pathetic, isn’t it? here you are, my senpai, who has been vying for his attention for 3 years only to be ignored yet a mere first year, who shows up out of nowhere, has been asked to a date nearly a million times every day. that must be tough’

she shrieked at that comment and threw you on the floor, making you accidentally hit your head at the edge of the sink

yall im actually so bothered by this scene and im wincing as im typing

you bit your lip to prevent any sound of pain to escape bc you knew thats what she wanted to hear from you

but you werent going to give her the satisfaction

instead, you looked up at her, hatred swirling in your eyes

‘youre freaking psycho, you know that? once tooru and hajime knows about this, theyre going to give you hell. they wont ever let this go bc im the manager of their prized team and their little baby sister. so go ahead, do what you want with me. bc i paid too much for these nails to be tainted by dirt like you’

saiyo, a girl you noticed to be watari’s classmate when you went and visited him, nervously tugged on miyo’s jacket

‘miyo, we should go-’

‘SHES BLUFFING. AND HERE, SINCE YOUR SOCCERFIELD FOREHEAD IS BLEEDING, LET ME HELP WASH IT OUT’

and she poured over a carton of banana milk over you, making you wince at the sticky and cold liquid

the tough facade was crumbling and you were now screaming for help in your head, hoping that stupid theory from yahaba about team telepathy to work

but it didnt

TRIGGER WARNING-END

when miyo and her girls left, you sat on the floor, soaked and sticky and bleeding

then you begin to cry angry tears

you were angry that you were being treated like this just bc you were a manager

you were angry that you let them do that to you

you were angry that you prized your nails more than punching her square in the nose

you were just angry

periodt

staggering on your own feet, you stood up and leaned on the sink, eyes widening at the dripping red liquid from the gash on your forehead, staining the porcelain sink

you were stupid and unconsciously touched it making you wince 

‘shit, that hurts’

you whined quietly

there was little you can do with toilet paper and water to clean yourself up but you managed to at least stop the bleeding

you knew you had to be put on concussion protocol just in case bc you that hit was quite hard but at the moment, that wasnt your concern

practice has already started and this was the first time you werent present for daily practice

this was confirmed at the constant buzzing of your phone in your skirt pocket which you didnt listen to and instead, started thinking of ways to go to your locker and get your stuff and fake being sick but at the same time, not be seen and relayed to the team

time was ticking and you had to come up with a plan fast before oikawa will send the team to come looking around the building for you

once you looked at your reflection and smiled big, you decided it was enough to not show the pain you were in right now

girl im hurting for you

you peeked out of the bathroom door and saw the coast was clear so you quickly ran to your classroom, which was thankfully empty, and quickly grabbed your things

but as you were packing up, the tears just kept falling

it didnt stop as you bolted down the stairs, using your cardigan to hide your face from the public

once you were safely out of school grounds, you finally took out your phone and reviewed through all the worried and concerned texts from the team group chat

but you just replied, ‘im fine but i just feel really sick right now. girl stuff’

you smirked, knowing that would keep the boys away

but oikawa had to go and ask you to call him

‘y/n-chan! do you want oikawa-senpai to come over with chocolates and ice cream?! wings or no wings?!’

your jaw dropped at the question and clearly scandalized by the question

the team was too as shouting began and you could faintly hear iwa scream, ‘oh my god, shittykawa!’

‘im seriously okay, oikawa-san. i just need to be alone right now and ill try and get some sleep. good bye’

then you hung up

there was no way you could tell them

they were in their last year anyways so doing something about it wouldnt matter

and you were strong 

but apparently not strong enough to fight them off though

you would cover the wound with concealer and continue on with practice tomorrow as if everything was normal

but there was only so much you could take

just yesterday, they trashed your locker and a week ago, they took your bento and threw it away

you even got into a fight with this one girl but she scampered away, too scared to do anything alone

so you were actually just tired and want everyone to leave you alone

believe me, youve thought of quitting sometimes

but youve actually created a bond with these boys

like when you take hanamaki to get cream puffs whenever he loses against iwa in arm wrestling

or when yahaba calls you at ungodly hours to express his worries for next year and to fill oikawa’s shoes

it was simple moments that you shared with each player that kept you from not leaving

soon, you found yourself crying again and the looks pedestrians were giving you was starting to make you uncomfortable

a girl, with her gross hair in a bun, puffy eyes with a bleeding wound and walking down the street

that was a sight

so you cut a corner to an alley by your house to escape from the judging eyes and you were too busy wiping your eyes to see a boy who was crouched down on the floor and ended up walking over him

omg my baby kyoken hello luv!!!!

you gasped and you were surprised and quickly apologized

kyotani was originally about to yell at you, no matter what, but he saw the state you were in and concluded you were either from a fight or was beaten up

he recognized that and decided to just glare at you and go back to feeding the stray dogs and cats

you breathed a sigh in relief when he didnt yell at you bc that wouldve been the last thing you needed today

‘sir, im sorry for hitting you. if there is something i could do for you, dont hesitate’

he ignored you and you focused on him paying attention to the strays

going into your backpack, you had a milk carton and a sausage stick from earlier

you used your thermos lid to serve as the milk bowl for the cats while you peeled open the meat and used your scissors to cut chunks of it for the dogs to have some

kyotani watched as you went into action to feeding the animals that people usually ignored

he knew you

well, he recognized you

when he watched from the top of the gym, he saw you as their manager who ran around and helped everyone

sure, he still didnt trust you 

but he watched you grin and smile as the animals started to eat

‘im in a hurry right now so i have to go but ill feed you again tomorrow, okay? you too, stranger-san. ill bring food for you too’

then you stood up and ran away, probably in a hurry to fix that wound

he wouldve offered to treat it for you but he remained silent, watching the cats mewl at the now empty lid

the next day, oikawa was worried for you and when he saw you at early morning practice, he practically glomped to your side

‘y/n-chan! you okay?! oikawa-senpai was so worried for you!’

you cringed but nodded

‘im okay, oikawa-san’

‘senpai, y/n-chan! call me senpai!’

‘im not going to feed into your kink, oikawa-san’

*cue everyone busting a lung*

to this day, no one still knew what happened to you

you kept it quiet and you were sure you got everything handled

except for one person

kyotani was smart and for some reason he knew you got beat up by the fangirls and the perpetrators were easily found bc he saw them huddled around your locker, probably trashing it again, and lets just say, 

no one is def going to mess w you now

back to manager moments!!

during practice matches, the boys rally around you to prevent other teams from sweet-talking you

they make sure no one gets past them and always have excuses to get your attention

you knew what they were doing but you pretended not to, heart warming at their protectiveness and hunger for your attention

even though you have your own jacket, the team gives you theirs all the time like oikawa has his special team jacket w his name at the back and when he feels threatened by schools like johzenji, he makes you wear it

‘youre mine, y/n-chan and i want that blondie to know’

‘ehm, no, oikawa-san. im iwaizumi-san’s’

oikawa screamed

lmao training camps w them is CHAOTIC

YOU WANT TO CRYYYYYY

OIKAWA IS CRYING BC IWAIZUMI IS BEATING HIM UP, MATSUHANA ARE FREAKING OUT THE FIRST YEARS ABOUT THE GHOSTS IN THE WOODS AND NOW KINDAICHI REFUSES TO LET GO OF YOU, WATARI GOT LOST GOING TO THE BATHROOM AND YAHABA IS SCREAMING ABOUT THE WEATHER MESSING UP HIS HAIR AND MAKING IT FRIZZY

reminder: threaten to quit everytime they get too much

your hugs are the best!!!!

you have a special hug for every player

oikawa gets his favorite which was the normal arm around the waist with your arms around his neck while he snuggles in your neck

iwa gets flustered easily so you hug him from behind so you cant see his flustered look

mattsun actually likes the jumping in the air so he catches you type of hug

makki is more tame and has his arms around your shoulder with his chin on your head

yahaba is the twirly kind where he just picks you up and swings you around

watari also gets flustered easily so he likes the one-arm hugs

kindaichi gets blushy at the slightest touch from you but he gives you a hug from behind you himself where he can bury his face in your hair while you caress his arms

kunimi, now he likes it when you squeeze him extremely tight bc it makes him feel loved and feel alive

kyo doesnt even talk to you what makes you think you can give him a hug

their lost for shiratorizawa really broke them though

you made them their own bentos for nearly a week to keep them encouraged and gave oikawa extra attention to keep him from sulking or practicing late

‘oikawa-senpai, lets go watch that new movie later’

‘S-S-SENPAI?!’

then the arrival of our baby kyoken

yahaba was moody the whole practice and you were currently trying to keep him from spiking a ball to someone

‘even just today, he’s late’

‘who?’

‘that stupid dog’

he just keeps mumbling and grunting

and then the said dog arrived

you peaked out from behind iwaizumi, who protectively went in front of you

shock ran through you and you pointed at him

‘puppy-kun!’

lmao puppy what

youve called him that since he refused to tell you his name, but you call him that bc he paid special attention to this one baby beagle

he raised a hand in greeting and you gave him a smile

‘youre a player here, too?!’

he ‘glared’ at you but nodded stiffly

the team really thought that he would lash out at you but he is surprisingly tolerant

the power of the manager

he still hasnt talked to you but he does respond to you and even helps you with chores, still not talking ofc

hes so tsun tsun and he deserves my heart yall

however, youve heard him talk to iwaizumi, and iwaizumi only, so youve heard his voice before

ngl, you were flustered by how gruff and deep it was

then their loss to karasuno

bruh, it was KARASUNO

the entire team fell apart and after the match, each of them ran away from you to stop lashing out

you were also on the verge of crying, seeing the broken look on your third years

your precious third years

you decided to give them their own space but you heard a loud banging sound from the bathroom

yahaba and watari were outside, clearly trying to talk to someone in there on coming out but it got louder

okay you were lowkey like, ‘hm, i should not be here’

but you recognized that voice

you knocked at the boys door to be respectful

‘kyo-san? its me, y/n’

he was silent but he did unlock it

you took this as a sign to enter and you gave yahaba and watari a smile

‘i’ll be fine. go to kindaichi and kunimi. they need your comfort right now’

tbh, you were surprised the bathroom was still intact but you saw the stall door at the very end being rattled and shaken

you remained by the door but you wanted to go to him

‘kyo-san, please come out so i can treat your injuries’

he expected you to say those words like ‘its okay’ or ‘theres always next year’ but you didnt

instead, you knew he was hurt and wanted to help him

he continued to give a few punches to the wall and the door before emerging

you wordlessly treated the wounds and offered your hand

‘im here, kyo-san. dont worry, im right here’

at the ramen shop, you told them to eat as much as they want and wordlessly gave them your card, slightly crying inside bc you know this was going to be like over a hundred dollars

but you were treating the boys bc they deserved it

you sat beside kindaichi, who was just sobbing and apologizing, so you were wiping his tears and holding his hand under the table

this precious babie

bruh i was sobbing when i watched this part like uuggghhhh

after dinner, you walked with the other third years, knowing they would go to the gym, so you gave everyone else your special hugs before sending them home

‘text me when you arrive safely, okay?’

‘yes, mom’

‘KINDAICHI WHAT’

oikawa’s speech made you cry bc despite only knowing them for not even a year, you already feel like a family

you didnt want your family to be broken but you knew they would all go their separate ways eventually

there was a big hug pile of third years on the side where you took a picture and sent it to the group chat

you had to eventually go home after helping them clean up and when you checked your phone, a fresh batch of tears rolled down

each from every person on the team but with the same sentence and same words

‘we love you, l/n y/n. thanks for everything.’

ngl i dont think this was that good and its like 8 in the morning and im extremely tired

i want to do karasuno, nekoma, and fukurodani but im so exhausted i cannot right now

[driflew]

i wrote wooden mausoleum on sunday-into-monday, so im counting it for this week. as such, we will now get 6 facts about wooden mausoleum!

1. the reason it's named "wooden mausoleum" is because i had just written that line when i realized i had been listening to my playlist on shuffle for the whole of the time i was writing it, meaning i had no idea what songs id been playing and thus could not use my normal naming method. so i just tossed a noun in and went for it

2. i sat there for a good minute like... huh how am i meant to kill ren? i want martyn to get him when his guard is down--i really want it to be when ren is going for some sort of physical affection--but how would that work? only to have the Thousands of touches that have been scored on me in fencing flash in my head all at once, and was like "ah. im a fool. have martyn take a step back and stick his point out. works every time."

fencing is the best thing that's ever happened to my idiot ass as far as fighting scenes go, i think

3. it only occurred to me later that ren probably got blood All Over martyn when martyn killed him like that. lucky for you all i didnt think of it in time, huh? or that description would have been far More. maybe ill write it for fun sometime

4. this bit, "Etho smacks Ren's back behind them, unhooking his arm from Ren with some happy send-off Martyn doesn't hear," is definitely specifically Etho telling Ren to go to Martyn, which is something Etho absolutely spent his last few minutes alive feeling quite terrible about

5. i dont know if Ren heard Martyn or not, or if Ren understood why Martyn did what he did. i dont even know if Ren lived long enough to register what Martyn did. i think, though, if he had, he'd have understood, and he'd have forgiven Martyn for it.

yknow how the players canonically hang around a while post-death as "ghosts" ?? i imagine Ren was probably tailing Martyn after his death. if he didnt understand before he died, i imagine that, after watching Martyn drag him home, he probably got it well enough

6. today i found a note on my phone for an alternative martyn betrayal fic plot line which, if i had to guess based on the timestamp, i probably wrote right before falling asleep (and promptly forgot all about). this was the note:

scar dies first, grian “scar NO” and charging for martyn. loses bc his shield is no match for the red winter axe + what does he have to move for if he isn’t able to keep scar alive? (he’s still on yellow tho, will have a life left? which is interesting) (will need to figure out how this goes to get etho and bigb alive while killing grian, bdubs, tango, impulse, scar)

very clearly didn't do anything with these ideas At All in WM, but it's pretty fun to notice much later lmao

[askomori]

Since mod is offering hot takes I’d like to know what in your opinion is most likely to be the actual ending. Not by what you’ve read on the internet but judging from your own thoughts and your own experiences with these kinds of feelings. Do you genuinely believe Sunny would head out to talk to his friends? Do you think it all would be enough to get him to confront his past? Or do you think he’s more so destined to stay locked up in his bedroom and his dreamworld?

LONG POST............... KEK

>Do you genuinely believe Sunny would head out to talk to his friends?

honestly, not until sunny starts healing from everything that happened. he didn’t leave the house for 4 years even though kel never stopped trying to check in on him. even if all his friends received the truth well and didn’t hold it against him, that severe habitual isolation doesn’t go away overnight. maladapted coping mechanisms that arise from ptsd, especially ones that overtake your personality, take a tremendous amount of willpower to overcome. he would need years of working through the trauma in therapy.

he wasn’t ever a sociable kid, he was sort of awkward and uncomfortable around other people. mari was the one who helped him make friends, and you can see throughout the photo albums that he got more comfortable around them. its terrible that she had to die in that way because not only is mari not there to support him anymore, but the guilt is driving him into total isolation.

because i understand him well, i can identify that a lot of this is explained by schizoid personality disorder. (one thing this criteria list i attached below doesn’t explain well is the description “desires” nor “enjoys”. the misconception comes from, by nature of the disorder, being unresponsive to therapists, and often they may outright say they don’t want relationships because they’ve given up. it definitely presents that way though, and sunny definitely presents that way, with dropping out of school and not responding to kel’s attempts to help him.

i needed to clear this up because otherwise id get a bunch of people who don’t understand the disorder going “but he had friends when he was younger!”) 

^the criteria for reference. (more on szpd if you’re interested: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559234/). 

(authors note: i love the flat affect representation because i never see that in media) (another side note: i love the juxtaposition of sunny’s flat affect and omori’s extreme emotions. its very accurate to someone who is terrified of showing emotions due to a trauma that involved them)

>Do you think it all would be enough to get him to confront his past?

luckily, moving out of the house that mari died in will be really good for him. and moving towns will also help him learn how to go outside again, because he no longer has the extra hurdle of worrying about seeing his old friends like he did for years before he told them the truth. he has space to sort through his feelings at his own pace without the unintentional pressure sunny felt because of his friends (ahem, kel) who were just trying to help and wanted him to be happy.

after finally getting the weight off his chest about the truth, he has a good start on confronting the past. there will be ups and downs, but i believe in him.

>Or do you think he’s more so destined to stay locked up in his bedroom and his dreamworld?

in the bad ending, yes. but in the true ending he accepted and embraced omori, the part of himself he thought was irredeemable, the part of him he was in his own psychological civil war with. (jfc this visual made me cry.)

 i know this isn’t a fluffy feels good answer and it made people mad when i answered this in a fandom server haha... but its realistic. to gloss over the painful truth of this game is to flat out disrespect the themes it portrays. this game is a tragedy, its not pleasant, but that’s what its like when you go through trauma and debilitating mental illness. its not realistic to just have one conversation in the hospital and all of a sudden everyone lives happily ever after. his friends will need time to process the truth as well.

but! i believe in everyone to resolve everything that they went through. they can bond through their shared pain and understanding each others perspectives, and i know they’ll come out the other side stronger.

—

EDIT: I JUST REALIZED you asked if the real world events of the game were realistic. yeah fr when he left his house and stayed out all day and then did it again thrice i was like ok he built different... i could never

but if kel was knocking on sunny’s door every day since he learned sunny was moving, then it is a possibility sunny would give it a chance and would have built up the courage after a while because “im moving in 3 days so why not”.

remember: waiting for something to happen?

—

EDIT 2: so i’m playing the hikikomori route and i like af that the player gets that choice. so far, this route is accurate too. i highly recommended playing both routes.

—

please do not be ableist in my askbox in response to this! i will literally crazy murder you!!!

[mn0tes]

TATTLE GAMES🐮

⚠️May contain SPOILERS of The Promised Neverland (TPN) ⚠️

“Let’s run away together”

What is the “Identity V” mobile game?

Identity V is a survival horror multiplayer game designed for children 12 +. The story revolves around a detective who is solving a mystery behind a sinister game held within an abandoned manor. The game setup revolves around matches between 4 survivors and 1 hunter or 8 survivors and 2 hunters (depending on the mode). Basically to win, the hunter must kill 3 or 6 survivors or at least 3 or 6 survivors must escape before the game ends. The player can level up his/her characters by playing and winning matches. The rewards earned from the games can be used to upgrade the skill of the characters, receive items, obtain costumes, and many more.

Why I advice TPN fans to play this game and participate in the event?

If you are an avid TPN fan, I advice you to start playing this game before the “The Promised Neverland” crossover event takes place sometime in February or early Spring of 2021 but the exact date is yet to be announced. I just estimated those dates based on the deadline of the pre-registration. In my opinion, to fully enjoy this event, you’ve got to be familiar with the controls, mechanics, and intensity of the game before the awaited event so that it wouldn’t surprise you. 😉 Let me tell you, the game is intense especially for gamers who aren’t used to this genre. It’s an adrenaline pumping game that involves a lot of running around, hide and seek, and prompt decision making that will get new users addicted to it. All I can say is, a good battle strategy comes in handy in these games. Sounds familiar? Yeah! Just like in TPN, your practically playing tag with your enemy. Your strategy as a killer or a survivor matters a lot if you want to win and reap the rewards of your victory. For me, this game reminds me a lot of the Goldy Pond Battle Arc but unlike in the Manga, the number of players (hunters and survivors) are greater in TPN. Emma and the other survivor’s task is different compared to the game because they have to stay alive within the alloted killing time instead of just deciphering machines and activating exits to escape the game area. In Emma‘s case though, they are literally trapped and living in Goldy Pond, the bloody arena! They can’t escape! I’m excited to see how this plays out in the event because NetEase Inc. might alter the basic mechanics of the game to follow the main story of TPN so it’s something to look forward to. Another thing to look forward to are the costumes, items, and other rewards that are based on the TPN characters that you all love and cherish!!! 🥳 HOW COOL IS THAT! 🤩 Fans may get a chance to earn Grace Field costumes or maybe an Emma sleeve. 😭 I’m looking forward on seeing an Emma-looking survivor doll running away from a Leuvis-looking hunter doll or maybe a Norman-looking survivor doll rescuing an Emma-looking survivor doll. 😍 Heck, I think it’s the other way around but it’s still soooo CUTE. 🥲

How do I take part in this event?

It’s easy, just bind your game ID number in the pre-registration page. It’s totally free too!

How do I obtain a game ID number?

The game ID can be obtained if your already an Identity V player. The game ID number is shown underneath your user name in the settings menu. If your not a player, you need to download the mobile game first and start the game. Don’t worry, your not going to be thrown in the killing arena right off the bat.

What is the Manor IQ Test?

The Manor IQ Test is a teaser game for fans to enjoy while waiting for the crossover event. It’s a super hard, time pressured IQ Test that enables fans to experience the difficulty level of the test the premium cattle kids have to take every morning. I advice switching on the sound effects because it adds up to the creepy factor and the pressure of getting a perfect score. 😰

How to get a perfect score in the Manor IQ Test to avoid getting shipped out?

If your a fan of the series, you know the importance of getting a perfect score in every test. Perfect score = another day to live (in their case, it’s 3 months to live until the time when they turn 12 and their hard earn scores are deemed useless). 🤬

I feel you Ray 😣 so, I’m sharing the answer key to you guys. 🤫 Following this will ensure you to earn a “perfect scorer” title. 😬

Several Survivors stand in a line. If the Explorer is 15th in line counting from both left and right, how many Survivors are in the line? Answer: 29

Emily is older than Martha, and both of their ages contain the number "2". The sum of the two numbers in Martha's age is less than 4, Martha is two years younger than Emma, and the sum of these three ladies' ages is 74. How old are Emily, Martha, and Emma? Answer: 32, 20, and 22

What number completes the pattern? Answer: 16

There is a box in front of you that contains an abundance of perfume, syringes, and flashlights. You can only get one item from the box each time you open it. How many times do you need to open the box to guarantee two of the same item? Answer: 4

What number completes this pattern? Answer: 3

Figure 1 (front view) and Figure 2 (top-down view) are two views of a structure built with cubes of the same size. At least how many cubes are used to build this structure? Answer: 17

Mike the Acrobat has 6 juggling balls- 2 black, 2 white, 2 red. The Mind's Eye takes 4 random juggling balls out of his room each time and always puts one back before taking another. After four entries/exits, what are the chances of her getting 2 black juggling balls, 1 white juggling ball, and 1 red juggling ball? Answer: 4/27

Which figure completes the pattern? (circle, triangle, and square ver.) Answer: (the first option) square, triangle, and circle.

Fold Cowboy's lasso twice and cut it from the middle. How many sections are there? Answer: 5

Survivors A, B, and C have different professions; one is a lawyer, one is a magician, and one is a painter. The Hunters made guesses about who does what: Hell Ember: A is the painter, and B is the lawyer. Bloody Queen: A is the lawyer, and C is the painter. The Ripper: A is the magician, and B is the painter. It turns out that each of them was right about one of the survivors. Therefore, what is the correct profession for each Survivor? Answer: A. Magician, B. Lawyer, C. Painter

Which figure completes the pattern? (boxes and lines ver.) Answer: (the last option) square with a horizontal line in the middle

Each icon below represents a number. What is the sum of the three icons? Answer: 8

How many sides are there when a tetrahedron is attached to an equilateral square pyramid with the sides that share the same area? Answer: 5

Based on the information below, what is YY? Answer: 0

What figure completes the pattern? Answer: (the third option) The triangle with four triangles in the center

After getting your score, make sure to scroll down to unlock the special chapter.

Enjoy and Be creeped out!

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Because the reality is you’ve been shipped out!

Yes! That’s the hard truth the TPN characters faced. The scores didn’t matter! At the end of the day, their still meat, a merchandise that must be consumed. The demons and caretakers gave them false hope that there is a way out, a chance to have a future but holding on to that illusion and fake happiness will lead the kids to their doom. It’s such a cruel world! I hope that they will be able to capture that sad reality of deception in the upcoming event and I know they will. The other dilemma that’s been perfectly portrayed in this game is “Work together vs Betray your comrades to ensure your safety”. Have you ever wondered why it’s not required for all 4 survivors to escape the game? Well, it’s just practical and realistic that way, right? But it also mean that the three players can offer up their last teammate as sacrifice to distract the hunter while they escape. (Just like what Ray thought during the Jail break Arc, he was willing to be the bait to distract Mama while the others escape.)

I’m looking forward in seeing you in the game as my teammate or AS MY VICTIM!!! Don’t worry, I’m still learning the game so I’m usually a dumb hunter or an airhead teammate. 😓 (Sorry but I’m working on it!)

If you noticed my username “MN0tes” in the game, be kind enough and let me know maybe we can even create a group or something. 😎

[thehereticaldeserthermit]

𝕆𝕦𝕥 𝕆𝕗 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣 ℚ𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤

ROLE PLAYER GET TO KNOW YOU PROMPT

Alright TDC Community It’s time for a task, 

and this time we’re all going to get to know each other a little better. 

Under the cut, you’ll find forty out of character questions split into two parts: OOC about your muses, and OOC about yourself! Answer what you’d like, add more if you’d like.

When you’re done TAG some of your writing partners and keep FUN going. 

-there is no pressure to participate

-IF You Are Reading This And You’d Like To Participate Consider Yourself Tagged My Friend! 

Much Love,

TheJesseWhoLurks

I tag @lyr-taxidermist  @theghostofharar  @hurdygurdyskeksis  @urskekyagvi  @skekmal-the-hunter  @skekso-the-emperor  @gourdplayer   @hedonistschambers  @ulvanmaudra  @littlebluezoologist @the-wandering-urru  @queenofthetides  @juliejewel24 @thecastleurru

OOC About  Your Character(s)

1.     What do you want to get out of playing this character(s)?

The reason I wanted to write for Gra was to meet fellow fans that loved the world of TDC as much as I do, I wanted to find fellow writers. I wanted to steep myself in the fandom. You can easily consider me skeKSis obsessed but I am growing a fondness for their counterparts -slowly ❤

2.     Describe your character(s) with three words.

Passionate | Erratic | Trustworthy

3.     What made you decide to write this muse?

Originally I was going to pick up The Ritual Master, he’d been my OG fav from the movie BUT Gra kept ... poking me with his scepter? Like; I live in the desert, you live in the desert, Ima recluse, you’re a recluse =we are simpatico. I think The Heretic picked me because he simply would not leave my mind when I considered him as a possibility. 

4.     If you could change one event in your muse’s life (in their main or canon verse), what would you change?

Canon. I mean they left us kinda hanging there. We really do not know what happened do we? They are simply, just not there anymore. I do not want them to perish, I want them to make it to the finish line and become urSkek. It breaks my heart to think they did not make it.

5.     If you could tell your muse one thing, what would you tell them?

I would not say anything, just hug him REALLY tightly and probably not let go until he gives me a chitter-laugh.

6.     If you could give your muse one gift, what would you give them?

I would like to give them...ME. 

7.     If you had to take one positive thing away from your muse, what would you take away?

I do not want to take a positive thing from the fibers that make up Gra. I feel they are very interwoven in his tale. Removing one would make another untether. If I could take away or diminish a bad trait Id have him not be so stubborn and or impatient but then again he would not be Gra now would he?  

8.     If you could “borrow” one aspect of your muse and apply it to yourself or your own life, what would you borrow?

His determination, passion. Damn son. You get things done. 

9.     Do you genuinely want your muse to be happy? What do you think would make them most happy in life?

Yes. He’s gotten his ass handed to him, I think he might be owed a slice of peace and happiness.  What makes him most happy? He’s already showed me; his relationships whether its friendship, extended family or a lover those are treasures he holds near and dear to his heart.  

10. Do you enjoy putting your muse through angst? What do you think would break their heart the most?

Usually I prefer to plot out angst rather then let it completely run a-muck because you never know what your partner is comfortable with, what might trigger them in a detrimental way and simply set fire to a plot unintentionally. 

I already know; it literally is ... break his heart. 

11. What do you love about your muse?

His dynamic energy, the wild fire, the mystical chaos, the creativity is off the charts. His sharp distinguished features, the way he looks shamanistically feral as compared to his brethren and their Garthic garb. His use of the color red. His scratchy rasp of a voice. His laugh. 

12. What do you hate about your muse?

He is a high maintenance muse, he is demanding and screeches loudly for what he wants. 

13. What about your muse amuses you?

The fact that he is a skeKSis. This brings a whole slew of challenges to the table for a writer. Case in point, I was writing a reply one day and I went to put something in along the lines of ‘he arched his brow and blah blah’ THEN he hit me! He has no eyebrows to arch, ahhh! I have to stop and think about how to write out expressive traits or reactions that are not of the usual human reaction tone.

14. What about your muse makes you sad? 

How fragile his heart really is after all the shit he’s endeared. 

15. How would you describe your muse to someone about to meet them, in person, for the first time?

Get Ready For A Wild SURPRISE!

16. Would you like your muse as a person if you met them in real life?

Yes, I like creative souls. I cherish them. 

17. In what ways are you better than your muse? In what ways are they better than you?

I do not think I am or he is better than the other. 

But I will say he is a handsome devil, for a skeKSis. 

18. Why do you think you connect to your muse?

Creative. Outcast. 

19. What aspect of your muse’s personality is most important to you? What aspect of your muse’s personality do you think is most important to them? Is it the same? Why or why not?

His passion and drive. I’d say its the same answer for us both. All of the accomplishments he tackled probably had their stacks of obstacles with each to-do. You’d have to have an unending supply of passion and drive to keep going, to complete all. He really is a work-a-holic and a busy body skek.

20. Has your character(s) changed over the time that you have been playing them? How have they changed?

Not yet but I am sure he will, creative liberties will be taken since I only have a a episode or two to work with -am I right? 

About You!

1.     What is your name? 

Jesse. 

2.     What is your profession?

secret shit. 

3.     What do you do to relax?

I write. Play video games. Naps are divine. Hot coffee and watch YT videos. DOodle. Desert combing walks. Long hot baths. Organize things xD

4.     What is your favorite treat (desert)?

All kinds, I’m not picky. I love me some chocolate lately. 

5.     Favorite movie

Too many to list. Its October right now. All I want is Hocus Pocus, some Harry Potter and Practical Magick at the moment. Tis the season. 

6.     Favorite book

I do not think I have a favorite. BUT I will admit that I have a copy of The Dark Crystal that I STOLE FROM A LIBRARY YEARS AGO! I have kept it all this time, its falling apart and its aged with beauty and I adore it  ❤ I also have a Jim Henson book about puppetry and his works, there is a page from TDC and if my memory serves me right it has the concept art of skekGra in it sooo sooo I was looking at skekGra YEARS AGO AND HAD NO CLUE the conjunction that would line up in the future! I really neeed to go find this book but its in a storage shed that will be a fresh hell to get to =[ *

7.     Favorite vacation spot

Anywhere where its either very green and or by some body of water. Ocean, river, lake. Yes, good. -not very many humans around save for present company reading thiiiis. 

8.     Favorite Disney movie

Are you kidding me? Too many to list, although I will say The Sword In The Stone did play a part in Gra’s Crystal Skimmer named Archimedes after the grouchy old owl. 

9.     How did you first get into role playing?

Years ago. I started writing on face book. I wrote for a pirate believe it or not, he was my first muse and he holds special place in my black heart and probably always will. But I am disinclined to acquiesce the gift of further details about this scurvy cursed muse, Ha!

10. What was your first platform? If it was something other than Tumblr, what made you get into Tumblr?

It was face book, before they got all crazy about accounts and security. I moved over to tumblr because writers were incredibly rude and rapid fire RP-ers. One liner sentences and I’m like NOPE I need a novel length. 

11. What’s a grammar rule you find yourself breaking or ignoring a lot?

Sometimes I have a touch of dyslexia, sometimes I typo, sometimes I am too tired to proof read, sometimes I make blunders. But I tend to focus on my mistakes rather then other peoples. I just go with the flow, I just write no matter what their level of ‘proper grammar’ IS because I’d like to think that maybe they are just starting out, maybe they will fall in love with writing and maybe they will be the next author who creates a world we all fall in love with and want to immerse ourselves in.  

12. Are there any languages besides English in which you think you could comfortably roleplay?

I do not RP in other languages. However I did have a muse at one time who was French, I would throw in little phrases but it was never entirely done in French and I do have a British muse at the moment, so again I will use slang and little sayings to make them well rounded as best as I can. Those are just little details I like to include that many others might skip on but I thrive for deets. 

I do however have role play writing partners that are from ALL over the world which is amazing to me. 

13. Do you listen to music while your write?

ALOT. I have tracks specifically for skekGra, that take me to his frame of mind. Even TDC soundtrack at times, the puppet show song and the blue flame part 2 are on replay a lot. 

14. Are you a morning, day, evening, or night writer?

I am all over the place. My life is very hectic. I’d like to say its usually in the afternoon of evening for me, the house is settled down and things are silent but thats not always how it works out. Oftentimes I will sit down and write a reply or two, then dip to do mundane human things that adults do, then return back for a few more replies. 

15. How does tiredness affect your writing?

Kills it. The weekends I work long hours therefor my brain is like WHAAAT. 

16. What is your biggest obstacle to writing every day, if time doesn’t count?

It is always TIME. Sometimes stress levels can be an obstacle too, no lie. If something major is going on, I just throw my hands up like ‘I got nothin’’ and thats that.

17. How many drafts is a paralyzing amount?

Oh damn. Been there done that. I am much more picky about it nowadays. I try to limit skekGra to a certain number of replies because he also has to allow room for other muses. 

Currently: Gra has ten replies on tumblr -no actually 11 &&& 4 on discord. I am two shakes away from cutting HIM OFF! lol. 

18. Is there anything character-wise or writing style-wise that you can’t stand?

I’m open to different characters, I have written with a lot. I love a writer who has style, I appreciate the effort.  

Etiquette, manners and consideration are oftentimes LACKING as of late. 

19. What kind of anonymous questions are your favorite?

ANYTHING as long as it is not anon HATE. 

20. What is your weakest point in writing? Angst, fluff, dialogue, etc.?

T I M E not having enough time to write the angst fluff and dialogue, smut too lets be real. It really is a bummer to me when I  do not have the time, I work, I have a a lotta responsibilities, my life is like a hurricane a lot of the time so TIME is my weakness, oftentimes I am super J E L L O of people who are online all day, every day, always there I’m envious and I get writers FOMO which makes me laugh but its so damn true I could ugly laugh cry about it. 

[reelybadfnafocs]

Here I go (oh boy, sorry for the terrible English, I’m actually Brazilian so this is hard) (i was about to be like holaaaaaaaa otro latino but then i remembred yall speak porch of geese fml. anyway hi. mod mangles on the case)

Name: Dolly the Dog

Species: Dog

Gender: Female

Job: The narrator of the shows/babysitter

Purpose: To help with the narration during the shows and to take care of the lost children in the establishment. Children are instructed to, if they ever lose sight of their parents, stay close to the stage and play with her; the parents are instructed to look there first. If the parents don’t come back to take their child, one of the employees has to discover where the child lives and take the poor kid home. If the kid is not comfortable with the employee, they can take their favorite animatronic to accompany them (this was only permitted after one incident, in which a girl made a scandal because she didn’t wanted to go with the day guard to her house). while i think the concept of a kid showing up to someone’s house with like a 6 ft furry robot is funny, i don’t see this really panning out in practice. as iffy as i am about it, i think the “babysitter/lost child center” thing can stay as is, but i think employees would defer to calling parents first (if the child is old enough to have memorized a phone number/have a phone), local authorities, or CPS.

Creator: Sarah Brown (another OC), the owner of the establishment and the creator of all the animatronics.

Location: The Showtime Funland, a restaurant for all the family (but specially for their children). It’s a vibrant, cheery and colorful place, where there are seven animatronics: Ollie the Owl, Billy the Bird, Fany the Fish, Charlie the Cat, Dolly the Dog, Happy and Lucky. Happy and Lucky are the only human-ish animatronics, and both of them are out of order during the game, and the others are the main actors of the stage, where they tell stories with musicals during the meals on the restaurant or just stay on the playground with the kids; the only one who can’t go to the playground during the day is Dolly, who’s programmed to stay and take care of the children waiting for their parents.

Where: On the stage; she sits on the front of the stage, on the right, and narrates the story that’s being performed.

Age: She’s the oldest animatronic: seven years of functioning. Her character is older than that, because of her old version, but since it was malfunctioning in a way which wasn’t even possible to take lightly, she was replaced by her new version. Her character is 14 years old. this is a little unclear to me…has she been in service for 14 years, or is the character supposed to be like a 14 year old child? i don’t think animatronics really need ages tbh but i dont see any issue with this either, so you can scrap this detail if you feel unsure about it.

Haunted/not: She is not haunted, but her program is malfunctioning; her AI is not recognizing the faces of the employees during the night for “unknown reasons”, and she attacks them as if they are “threats to the establishment”, in a way that she wasn’t programmed to do; she was supposed to call the police if any intruder came, but she becomes aggressive during the night because of someone meddling with her system.

During the game: The first thing the game shows is a cutscene, where the night guard is guided through the whole building by the day guard (called “Steve Hughes” by Annie, but it’s not known if this is the same day guard or not), and is introduced to the animatronics and told a bit of the story behind the establishment. It was created by Sarah Brown, a famous inventor, and was a well known establishment since its opening during the 80’s. During its history in business, there where countless robbers and stupid teenagers trying to get in and mess around with the things inside Funland, so the night guard was supposed to deal with these problems; but the animatronics, after a terrible incident in which the night guard was attacked by a robber, received a new AI capable of recognizing the faces of the employees and to give the night guard an alert if there was any intruder. The night guard is left alone to watch the cameras while listening to “Annie”’s recordings, since she was the last night guard, and discover about the malfunctioning of the AIs. In the third night, Annie quits, leaving the player with her guide about how to avoid the animatronics and with some recordings of how to flee if there’s something happening during the night (like a fire, for example) without getting caught. First, only Ollie and Fany are threats, but through night two and three Billy and Charlie too start to malfunction; in the end of night three, Dolly starts to do so as well. In the fifth night, Happy and Lucky also leave the deposit where they are hidden to attack the player. On the sixth bonus night, Annie left an odd recording of her and Sarah talking about the AIs of the animatronics, and Sarah implies that she knows of someone who would “do anything to make his business bigger than mine again, and wouldn’t hesitate to sabotage my creations”, as if she knows about the malfunctioning.

During the nights (3-5 (and bonus night)): She is the most predictable and organized of the animatronics, always making this specific path: first she leaves the stage, where she normally is, then goes through the playground (and stays there for a while), passes by the kitchen, through the deposit (where the audio doesn’t work, but the camera does), and then to the left corridor to the night guard’s office. She never changes her path, but as the game progresses she begins to become more and more fast and, since the other animatronics are more unpredictable, it’s harder to pay attention to her movements. Annie says, on her second recording, that she’s afraid of all the animatronics besides Dolly, since she is “the less threatening”; but, on her guide to escape on night four, she seems to have changed her mind (or it was a previous recording, before she labeled Dolly as “predictable and almost harmless”), it doesn’t chronologically make sense to have this be a previous recording, unless you intend to imply that annie went back and remade recordings for nights 1-3 right before she quit in addition to the night 4 guide. saying that “it would be best if you pay attention to her, since she’s fast and difficult to see without the flashlights”.

Skill: She tries to kill the player, first at the end of night three until night five (and the sixth bonus night). Dolly has a very advanced AI and is equipped with a recognition system, at least a hundred plays and stories on her memory, a voice system that helps her to change her voice when needed, the ability to sing, dance and interact with humans properly, and a system that can regulate her body heat. i was gonna say a hundred seems a bit much but idk how many stories the storyteller-esque animatronics are programmed to have tbh. if youre aiming to make the restaurant one of those cheaper places, id recommend scaling this number down.

Personality: During the day, Dolly is incredible cocky and arrogant when it comes to her role as the narrator, and she proclaims herself the “star of the show”, something her old version had but was even worse, coming to the extreme of pushing another animatronic off the stage and destroying it completely after getting annoyed by the poor robot. She’s kind with the children and the adults alike, but acts more politely with the elder and more sisterly with the younger audience; she says, during the game, that it’s horrible to never be able to go to the playground, but that she loves to take care of the lost children. During the night, she becomes a very aggressive but organized animatronic, something that her personality has during daytime as well; she is often annoyed by the others, since they sometimes go against the script for comic relief. Dolly is the most talkative of the animatronics during their attempts to kill the player, often bragging about her role as the narrator and star of the Showtime Funland and threatening to “end the show” of the night guard.

Appearance: A black and white dog (white on her mouth, chin, hands and belly), with big, glowing brown-yellowish eyes. Her ears are long and fall by the sides of her head, and she has paws instead of feet, but still has hands. She wears a magician hat with a blue bow on it, and sometimes during her show takes it off, just to reveal something inside of it that can help during the play (for example, a sword so that the protagonist can slay the dragon or a pie to the little protagonist give as a gift to a friend); she also wears a blue bowtie that matches her hat’s bow.

ok, final thoughts:

i was going to comment on how high-quality these animatronics seem to be, but given that you go out of your way to describe Sarah Brown as a very competent mechanic(? is that the right term idk), i think ill let it go. this seems like one of those higher end fancy-ish restaurants so most of this can slide, unlike if you were to make the location be some sort of cheap or dirty diner.

no notes on the story, i think it works well. the game seems to have kind of a steep difficulty spike towards the latter half with nights 3, 4, and 5, but thats not really an issue i think because you deal with more shit on fnaf 2 anyway. there were some iffy bits here and there, but nothing too bad that was worth pointing out or changing, so overall this is a solid character! good job :D

~mod mangle

[pikashadow]

Last Year’s Summer Sky a Diamond no Ace fanfiction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Rating: T

Pairing: Sawamura/Narumiya

Words: 7,599

Author Notes: Here’s chapter 4!

I hope y’all enjoy it!

Chapter 4: A Cloudy Sky

Kazuya felt puzzled.

And he didn’t get puzzled.

It was late at night, and he found himself walking to the vending machine, hoping a drink could quench his thirst and help him sleep.

Thanks to Chris-senpai and the other senpai’s help, everyone felt well prepared to take on their semifinal opponent.

But he couldn’t sleep, thinking about Sawamura’s recent behavior.

Sawamura never used to go off campus as much as he had been doing recently.

He knew Sawamura was a good kid.

It was impossible that Sawamura was doing something indecent or something that would harm Seidou’s reputation.

So that left only one thing.

Sawamura was dating someone.

Kuramochi had told them about his supposed girlfriend, Wakana, but even Kuramochi didn’t think she was visiting that often.

It wasn’t as if Sawamura was letting his relationship affect baseball, and although he felt a little curious despite himself, he never bothered to ask him about it, deciding to spend time thinking about the summer tournament instead.

… Until last night.

He had thought after their reflection meeting that Sawamura understood he was an important part of their team.

And that Kantoku valued his strong heart.

But yesterday, his mood was so gloomy.

It was obvious that he was still thinking about the Yakushi game and how he did. And although Sawamura tried to act cheerful and his normal idiotic self, everyone could see through him.

The frustrating part was that nothing they did worked to cheer him up.

(Even Chris-senpai couldn’t cheer him up, something that made a lot of them do a double take.)

He had stayed gloomy all day, and just as he was thinking someone (most likely Kuramochi or Jun-san) would explode and scold him, his phone rang.

To their confusion, Sawamura literally pounced on his phone, eyes lighting up a little at the caller id.

They talked a little, Sawamura trying to act like his normal self. Whoever it was on the other line obviously said something, and the annoying part was that Sawamura… immediately perked up, almost back to normal.

Sawamura had walked off to continue his phone call in private, but when he returned, he mentioned that he was going out with someone and that he didn’t need anyone to save dinner for him.

It was a date.

Obviously.

They all knew it, although he didn’t know if Sawamura knew that they knew.

(That guy could be oblivious about certain things. And then other times, he was surprisingly perceptive, so unlike his normal idiotic self.)

Today during practice, Sawamura was his normal self.

And although he pushed himself a little too hard, especially right before their next game, he looked happy. And determined.

Kuramochi had told them that Wakana had messaged Sawamura, telling him that she and some of his teammates from middle school were going to come watch their next game. So they knew the thought of that must have fired him up.

But he didn’t think that was the only reason.

Last night, he stayed up late, studying the Yakushi game scorebook, as if that would tell him why Sawamura still felt down about what happened. And as he walked back to his room after a trip to the vending machine, he came across Sawamura.

Sawamura was coming back from his date, but what made him freeze was the look on his face.

He looked so happy, a disgustingly soft look in his eyes. His cheeks were a pretty red.

And the smile on his face… was one he had never seen before. The smile was probably one he reserved for his significant other.

Sawamura clearly didn’t see him standing there, obviously lost in thought about his date. He even walked right past him, not even acknowledging him (much to his irritation) and laughing softly as he remembered something.

Sawamura had a good time on his date.

Good for him.

And it was good he was back to normal. It meant that he didn’t need to step in and try to cheer him up.

(… Which wouldn’t have gone well.)

So he felt happy and relieved that he managed to dodge a bullet.

And yet, he found himself wide awake, puzzled as to why he couldn’t sleep.

He had already dismissed some reasons, but the annoying thing was that his mind kept thinking about Sawamura.

As he approached the vending machine, he froze at noticing the figure sitting on the bench, the light from the vending machine easily lighting them up.

Speak of the devil.

Of course it had to be Sawamura of all people.

His eyes narrowed as he noticed his flushed cheeks and sweaty face.

That idiot!

Was he practicing late at night?

He strode forward, about to tear into him.

(Because didn’t this idiot realize that their semifinal game was tomorrow? How many times did they have to scold him not to overwork himself?)

“You’ll watch me pitch tomorrow, right?”

He froze at the sound of his voice, thinking stupidly that he was talking to him at first. But then he noticed the phone in his hand.

Sawamura didn’t seem to notice he was there, frowning at the ground as he talked on the phone. “I know. I just meant… Never mind.” He bit his lower lip, almost pouting. A few moments later, he scowled, kicking the ground in front of him. “Well too bad! Furuya isn’t pitching tomorrow!”

Kazuya’s lips twitched at his overt jealousy.

Who was he speaking to? Especially this late at night?

Sawamura smiled, laughing at something.

And while he wasn’t close enough to hear what was being said, the light from the vending machine easily lit up Sawamura’s face, his eyes widening at the smile on his face.

It was the same smile from last night.

The smile he reserved for his significant other.

Sawamura rolled his eyes, but it was good-natured, his smile still on his face. “I’m assuming you’re in perfect condition then. My senpai are eager to see you play tomorrow.” He rubbed the back of his head. “… I am, too, of course,” he admitted, cheeks flushing.

His eyes widened even more (if possible).

Sawamura was dating a baseball player? Someone who was playing tomorrow?

Why didn’t I think of that?

He felt like hitting himself. He had never considered the possibility of Sawamura dating a baseball player.

Much less the enemy.

With how much Sawamura liked baseball, he didn’t know why he never thought about it before.

He supposed it could be worse.

It wasn’t like he was dating Mei or anything.

He nodded to himself, and although Sawamura was at fault for talking on the phone in such a public place, he found himself turning around and walking away, wanting to give him some privacy.

(For some reason, he felt irritated that Sawamura hadn’t noticed him yet, hoping that by the time Sawamura finished his phone call, that feeling would go away.)

“Narumiya, wait.”

He stopped in his tracks, eyes wide.

Did Sawamura just say… Mei’s name?

He found himself turning around, mouth opening without his permission. “What the hell?”

Sawamura froze, looking in his direction. His mouth opened as he stared at him, shocked.

… Did he just say that out loud?

Panic (of all emotions) shone in Sawamura’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared, leaving anger in its place.

“I’ll call you back later, Narumiya,” Sawamura said, turning to look at his phone and missing the way his eyes narrowed. “I promise I will! Give me ten—no, fifteen minutes! I’ll explain everything, I promise!”

Mei apparently agreed, Sawamura giving him another promise to call him (and sounding exasperated much to his amusement) before closing his phone.

He stood up, taking a few steps in his direction, glowering at him. “Miyuki Kazuya! How dare you eavesdrop on my conversation!”

Thankfully, he wasn’t yelling at him, maybe trying to keep his voice down since it was so late. He knew that if it were any other time, he would be yelling at him.

Kazuya shook his head, holding up his hands to show he didn’t mean any harm. “It wasn’t on purpose.” When Sawamura only huffed, giving him a suspicious look, he almost huffed himself. “It’s true. I was coming to get a drink.”

���So?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “So what?”

“How much did you hear?” Sawamura waved his phone around, as if he needed a reminder.

His eyes narrowed at that. “I heard enough to know that you’re dating the enemy.”

Sawamura rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue. “So we are starting with that.”

He blinked a few times, confused. “What do you mean?” He couldn’t help but notice that Sawamura didn’t sound surprised. So Sawamura knew that everyone would assume he was dating someone. His eyes narrowed again, not giving him a chance to answer. “What are you thinking, dating him?”

“I’m not giving him any of our information if that’s what you’re asking!” Sawamura shot back.

“That’s a relief,” he said sarcastically. “I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that.”

Sawamura pointed at him. “You don’t even believe me!”

“Can you blame me?”

Sawamura huffed, visibly gritting his teeth. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying that you shouldn’t date him. Especially right now!”

Sawamura shook his head. “This again?” He clicked his tongue again. “Why do you even care? It’s not affecting baseball.”

For once, he had a point.

Why did Kazuya care if Sawamura chose to date Mei?

But then he remembered what kind of guy Mei was.

He sighed, causing him to look confused. “I don’t know why you chose to date him during the summer tournament of all times, but you should break up with him.”

Sawamura opened his mouth, about to say something. But then he seemed to think better of it, his mouth closing. “You can’t tell me what to do,” he said mutinously. He frowned, looking at the ground. “You wouldn’t understand anyway.”

… What did that mean?

He took a few steps forward, not missing the way Sawamura looked at him at the sound of his footsteps. “Look, Sawamura. I know you said it’s not affecting baseball, but what about the final with Inashiro?”

“What about it?” Sawamura jabbed him in the chest. “And if you’re going to accuse me of throwing the game just because I’m dating him, save it!”

Somehow, he wasn’t surprised Sawamura would assume that was what he was trying to say. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but a part of him felt relieved hearing that.

He also wouldn’t admit out loud how he hoped Sawamura, with his penchant for proving him wrong, didn’t prove him wrong when they actually played against each other, reluctant to trust him completely, as he knew what kind of guy Sawamura was.

“No, that’s not what I’m trying to say. That guy… Narumiya won’t be able to separate your private life from baseball. He’s that kind of guy.”

Sawamura let out a frustrated huff. “Why does everyone keep saying that? We can work on it. Together.”

… Who was everyone?

Maybe his friends?

Did Kominato and Furuya even know about Sawamura’s relationship?

He couldn’t help but reach out, placing a hand on his shoulder. His pitching shoulder. “He will bring up you guys’ relationship when he loses. And he will not hesitate to hurt you.”

Sawamura shoved his hand off, jabbing him in the chest again. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t want it to affect your pitching,” he said automatically. And while that was the truth, he couldn’t help but feel that that answer wasn’t the whole truth, confusing him.

Sawamura let out another frustrated huff, looking away from him. “It won’t! I refuse to let it!” And before he could respond, he nodded to himself, looking at him. “I won’t break up with him.” He held up a hand to stop him from protesting. “I like him, Miyuki Kazuya.”

Anything he could’ve said died in his throat as he stared at him, mouth opening a little.

He… liked him?

Sawamura liked Mei?

How…?

Why Mei?

… Kami-sama, this was worse than he thought.

“Can’t you see I’m trying to look out for you? Break up with him!” he said, irritated. He didn’t even know why he felt so irritated, only understanding that he didn’t want Sawamura to date Mei.

But that, apparently, was the wrong thing to say.

Sawamura glowered at him, stepping so close to him he thought he was going to grab him. “You, of all people, don’t get to tell me who I should or should not date!”

“Oh, so you’re saying you don’t care if he hurts you? If he makes you cry?”

Sawamura crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I don’t know if you’ve ever liked someone, Miyuki Kazuya, but getting hurt in a relationship is always a possibility.” His frown deepened. “I could accidentally hurt him for that matter.”

He would normally tease him and say that it was because he was an idiot, but he didn’t care about teasing him right now.

Seriously, what was wrong with Sawamura?

It was as if he wanted to get hurt.

“Quit thinking about him and think about yourself for a change!”

How ironic. I’m telling a pitcher to think about himself.

Sawamura uncrossed his arms, stomping on the ground (and almost his foot). “Never!” He flushed, as if realizing what he just said, but he didn’t take it back.

“What about the team? I’m not going to help you hide your secret.”

And to his confusion, that panic from earlier shone briefly in his eyes again. But it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving anger in its place. “Then tell them! I don’t care! I’m not going to hide my relationship with him from the team!”

Yeah, he could see that conversation going well.

… Oh. Now I understand.

But before he could reply, Sawamura’s phone rang, causing both to look at it, surprised.

“That’s probably Narumiya. That guy’s so impatient,” Sawamura said, rolling his eyes good-naturedly.

And as if forgetting they were in the middle of something, he walked away from him, smiling goofily at his phone.

“Wait, Sawamura! We’re not done yet!”

Sawamura turned his head to glower at him, holding up his phone. “We are done. You’ve already let me know how you feel about me dating him.” His voice was dangerously low, a huge contrast to his normal booming voice. And if he were anyone else, he might have shivered from those intense golden eyes, reminding him of whenever he pitched. “Don’t worry. I’ll prove it to you during our game with Inashiro. That I’m serious about baseball. And him.”

He turned his head away, already opening his phone. “Sorry about that. You called at just the right moment, though, since I’m done talking to him.”

And while he could’ve chased after Sawamura and demanded that they continue… whatever it was they were doing, he didn’t move, mouth opening a little.

Did Sawamura just… brush him off?

For Mei?

What the hell?

ZZZ

Getting into an… argument (he wasn’t even sure if that was the right word) with Sawamura the night before the semifinal game… probably wasn’t his brightest idea.

In his defense, he didn’t think Sawamura was actually serious about dating Mei.

But Sawamura was as stubborn as he was stupid.

And if he were honest, a huge part of him had… doubted his feelings for him at first.

Because there was no way he could like Mei, of all people.

But everything that happened recently… Even how he reacted last night…

He must really like him.

And it baffled him.

What did Sawamura even see in that guy?

A part of him worried that their already strained relationship was going to affect the semifinal game.

But he needn’t have worried.

Sawamura didn’t let it affect baseball, and besides glancing at the stands a few times (although he couldn’t tell if he did it because of his friends or if he was looking for Mei), it was as if last night had never happened.

As if Sawamura forgave him.

(… Which he didn’t understand. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t feel the need to apologize for how he acted, believing he was in the right.)

He still wanted to talk to Sawamura (just the two of them) and finish what they started last night, but so far, he hadn’t had any chances to speak to him. One of their teammates was always around, and he couldn’t ask to speak to him alone without arousing some suspicion.

(He already noticed Kuramochi regarding him with a contemplative eye, making him curse inwardly. That guy really was too observant at times. It wasn’t as if he was that obvious… right?)

And Sawamura…

He had been expecting Sawamura to still be angry with him.

But Sawamura was his normal idiotic self around him.

During their game, he listened to his signs and didn’t shake his head. And besides the time when he brought up what happened during the Yakushi game, he didn’t glare at him. Even once.

He didn’t know what he was thinking.

(… Which irritated and bothered him. He was supposed to be able to read his idiot of a pitcher.)

Maybe, just maybe, Sawamura was telling the truth when he said he wouldn’t let his relationship with Mei affect baseball?

He still felt a little skeptical, though.

Sawamura was a guy who pitched with his feelings.

How would he react if he had to pitch against Inashiro?

Against Mei?

Fortunately, they had their pitcher relay. With Furuya and Tanba-san pitching, they wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Even if Sawamura seemed determined to prove that he was serious about baseball (and Mei), he probably wouldn’t get his chance to.

(And right now, that was a good thing.)

It was just his luck that he happened to run into Mei (and his teammates) outside the bathroom.

To his surprise, Mei was his normal self around him.

He thought Mei would show some sort of reaction now that he knew about their relationship. But he couldn’t see a hint of anything.

(Was he always this hard to read?)

Thankfully, they didn’t stick around too long, Mei only wanting to tell him that Inashiro would win and that he would regret choosing to attend Seidou.

As they were leaving, he couldn’t help but throw out a comment, wanting some kind of reaction out of him. “Don’t you want to wait for your boyfriend?”

To his satisfaction, Mei stopped in his tracks, turning around to look at him. “What do you mean?”

He pointed with his thumb to the bathroom. “He’s in there right now. You want me to tell him you’re here?”

But Mei only scoffed, narrowing his eyes. “Do you really think I’m that gullible?”

His lips twitched as Mei’s teammates nodded, all of them (except Shirakawa) almost looking exasperated.

He felt tempted to ask, wanting some blackmail material. But unfortunately, now wasn’t the time. “Well, do you? I’m sure he’d be happy to see you.”

… That was an understatement, going off Sawamura’s reaction from last night and when he got back from his date.

And even earlier, Sawamura had foolishly shouted that they were going to win, getting Mei’s attention.

He couldn’t have been the only one to notice as Mei immediately looked in his direction and smiled.

(Sure, it was his competitive and probably condescending smile. But he still smiled.)

While he hadn’t looked behind him to see Sawamura’s reaction, he knew Sawamura probably felt pleased (maybe even smug) at getting Mei’s attention.

“Shut up, guys! I’m not!” Mei shouted at his teammates, giving them a betrayed look before looking at him. “When you say it, it makes me think you’re lying.”

“But I’m not this time,” he said, raising his eyebrows at his suspicious look. He got off the wall, taking a step toward the bathroom. “Wait here. I’ll go get him.”

Mei scoffed, turning around. “Forget it. I’m not waiting around so that you can mess with me even more.”

And after giving him a warning glare that he didn’t understand, Mei walked off with his teammates following him, not looking back.

Even though Mei had to have heard Sawamura’s loud voice when he exited the bathroom, he still didn’t look back.

Kazuya led the way back to their bus, eyeing Sawamura out of the corner of his eye. “… You’re not going after him?” he asked softly, not wanting Kominato or Furuya to hear him.

“So you can tell me how much of an idiot I am? No, thank you,” Sawamura muttered mutinously, crossing his arms.

He raised his eyebrows. “Since when has that ever stopped you?”

Sawamura looked at him as if he were the idiot, causing him to feel offended. “I’m not going after him when we’re going to face him in two days, Miyuki Kazuya.”

… Huh. Maybe he’s not as stupid as I thought.

“Don’t you want to see him?”

Sawamura gave him that look again, huffing. “Of course I do!” he hissed, obviously trying not to yell at him. “But I’m not going to do it right before our game! What kind of person do you think I am?”

“An idiot,” he said dryly.

Sawamura yelled at him until they reached the bus, making Kominato and Furuya look at them as he laughed hard enough for his sides to hurt.

Maybe he was worrying for no reason.

Sawamura didn’t choose Mei over the team, which made him more relieved than he cared to admit.

Maybe it would be alright if Sawamura pitched against Inashiro.

(He refused to admit how relieved he felt at knowing that Sawamura remembered what happened last night. And was still angry with him about it.)

ZZZ

A part of Kazuya had wanted to tell the team about Sawamura’s relationship with Mei right away, if only to see their reactions.

(And he had told Sawamura the truth. He wasn’t going to keep his secret for him.)

But the longer he thought about it, he couldn’t help but wonder if he could… get something out of knowing that information.

If he decided to keep his secret, maybe it wouldn’t be as much of a pain as he thought it might be.

“Oi, Kuramochi. Did Sawamura tell you anything about his date?” Jun-san called out from his spot on the floor.

It was the night before the finals, and everyone was hanging out in his room (as per usual).

Sawamura and Furuya had just left the room to buy drinks for everyone, which meant perfect timing to gossip about their idiot mood maker.

Kuramochi looked up from his game, shaking his head. “He didn’t tell me anything. I almost can’t believe he’s been quiet this long,” he grumbled. His eyes lit up with mischief. “Come to think of it, I think he left his phone here. Let’s see if we can find something.”

Kazuya’s lips twitched as his teammates immediately agreed, everyone crowding around Kuramochi as he opened Sawamura’s phone.

And while he already knew about Sawamura’s relationship, he found himself curious despite himself, invading Kuramochi’s personal space to look at the phone.

(It was just for blackmail purposes. Nothing else.)

But everyone’s barely hidden excitement and impish glee immediately disappeared, like someone deflated a balloon, at the most recent contact name.

“… ’White Hair’? What the hell?”

He wasn’t sure who had spoken at first, a bit in shock himself.

Because what was Sawamura thinking?

Everyone knew his nickname for Mei.

Why would he choose to use that contact name for him?

He really was an idiot.

If he was the type of person to facepalm, he would’ve done so. Without hesitation.

“That brat is dating Narumiya?”

As expected of Jun-san. He was pretty sure that was a new record time for him exploding.

He couldn’t help but remember the panic that briefly shone in Sawamura’s eyes.

If he was so worried about the team finding out, why didn’t he choose another contact name for Mei?

It was quiet for several moments as everyone seemingly thought over what they just discovered.

“We don’t know if he’s dating Narumiya for sure yet,” Tetsu-san said a few moments later.

Jun-san gestured to the phone held in Kuramochi’s hand. “Don’t defend him, Tetsu. We can all see that guy’s name on Sawamura’s phone.” He clicked his tongue. “Well, his stupid nickname anyway.”

“Right now, we’re just assuming things about their relationship. We should at least look at a few messages first,” Tetsu-san said, giving him a look.

Jun-san clicked his tongue again, looking at Sawamura’s phone. “… Alright. Let’s check and see if Sawamura is dating him.” He cracked his knuckles ominously. “Then we can get angry.”

“You already got angry, Jun.”

“Shut up, Tetsu! I know you’re just as curious as the rest of us!” Jun-san poked Kuramochi in his shoulder roughly. “Oi, Kuramochi! Hurry up and open some of those messages!”

Kuramochi nodded quickly (much to his amusement). “Yes, Jun-san. Let’s see…” He pushed a button, making the screen scroll down. He let out a surprised noise. “Sawamura’s been in contact with him for quite a while. Look, this one is timestamped before the summer tournament.”

“What! What’s it say?”

Kazuya furrowed his eyebrows at hearing that.

Sawamura had been dating Mei that long?

… Come to think of it, Sawamura had been going off campus a lot more recently.

And it started not long after their round robin with Inashiro and Shuuhoku.

His mouth opened a little.

Didn’t that mean they got together not long after they first met?

Mei was just as much of an idiot as Sawamura.

(Not that he was surprised.)

“It says ‘we’re having a practice game on wednesday. you should come and watch!! you’ll get another chance to watch a true ace in action’,” Kuramochi read aloud, eye twitching. “He even added a winking kaomoji.” He sounded disgusted.

Jun-san nodded, huffing. “That sounds like that brat to me!” He cracked his knuckles again. “Who’s in favor of jumping Sawamura when he gets back?”

“Wait, Jun-san! We’ve only read one message!” Kuramochi protested. He almost sounded… reluctant.

It was strange Kuramochi didn’t want to tackle Sawamura when he got back, normally taking delight in executing his wrestling moves on him. He looked after him (like a proper senpai should), but he sensed that wasn’t the reason for his sudden reluctance.

Before Jun-san could yell at Kuramochi, Tetsu-san nodded, his action causing Jun-san to look at him. “Calm down, Jun. Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Even Tetsu-san sounded reluctant.

No, maybe not reluctant.

Maybe… skeptical was the right word?

Jun-san huffed again, but he didn’t argue (or yell at Kuramochi).

Kuramochi (probably sensing another explosion was on the way) quickly opened Sawamura’s reply to that message. “Let’s see what Sawamura said. It says ‘you’re crazy if you think i’m going to skip practice for you’,” he read aloud. “He even added an angry looking kaomoji.”

It was so quiet Kazuya had to look around, confused why no one was saying anything. It wasn’t until he caught sight of everyone’s skeptical expressions that he realized what was going on.

They were starting to doubt that Sawamura was in contact with Mei, probably thinking that the contact name was a coincidence.

And he supposed he couldn’t blame them for thinking that.

His senpai had seen Sawamura interact with Mei once.

He and Kuramochi had seen Sawamura interact with Mei twice, but even Kuramochi looked skeptical.

Maybe they were thinking that this person was just one of Sawamura’s friends.

“Kuramochi, how much do you know about Sawamura’s middle school friends?” Tetsu-san asked, as if he read his mind.

“Not much, Tetsu-san. I know that Wakana was one of them,” Kuramochi said, frowning. “I also know some of them came to cheer for Sawamura during our last game.”

Tetsu-san let out a contemplative noise. “And do you know about any of his other friends? If they have white hair? Or are the ace of their team?”

… Ah, that was true.

No one knew for sure how many friends Sawamura had. He could have a lot more than he was telling them.

Kuramochi shook his head, letting out a frustrated noise. “He doesn’t talk much about his friends from back home. And the only times he talks about Wakana is when I catch him on his phone, talking to her.”

How did this go from believing that Sawamura was dating Mei to everyone not believing it?

And it happened so suddenly.

“We could always ask Sawamura-chan when he gets back,” Masuko-san said.

But everyone else immediately shot that suggestion down, clearly either not wanting to pry too much or assuming that the person Sawamura was talking to was just a friend.

Kuramochi looked through Sawamura’s phone some more, reading a few more messages.

To his surprise, none of the messages seemed to even hint that Sawamura was dating Mei.

It really was as if they were just two friends talking to each other.

He could see it in everyone’s faces.

No one thought Sawamura was dating Mei. Or even in contact with him for that matter.

He felt so bewildered.

How the hell did Sawamura get so lucky?

“What about the nickname?” Ono asked hesitantly.

His senpai shrugged, claiming that the ‘White Hair’ from these messages was probably different than the ‘White Hair’ they knew all too well.

… Was everyone serious right now?

Kuramochi looked at him, waving Sawamura’s phone around. “What do you think, Miyuki? There’s no way this guy could be Narumiya, right?”

Should he tell them the truth?

Didn’t they deserve to know?

But for some reason, he found himself… hesitating.

Before he could answer, the door opened, Sawamura announcing that they got the drinks.

Saved by the bell (or in this case Sawamura).

Predictably, Sawamura was upset they were snooping through his phone.

Instead of bringing up who they actually talked about, Tetsu-san mentioned how Kuramochi was curious about Sawamura’s girlfriend.

He wondered if he was the only one who noticed Sawamura wasn’t lying when he said Wakana wasn’t his girlfriend.

He couldn’t have been, right?

Sawamura couldn’t lie to save his life.

All they had to do was ask any question about Mei, or even ask the name of his significant other.

And they would know the truth.

But no one said or asked anything.

They were probably assuming that Sawamura was dating someone else.

Someone in Tokyo.

And not Mei.

How would everyone, especially Sawamura, react if he told the truth right now?

He didn’t have any reason to keep Sawamura’s secret, and yet, his tongue refused to work.

An image from last night came to mind, panic shining briefly in Sawamura’s eyes, looking as if he wanted to run. Or cry. Or both.

He shook his head at himself.

There was no way that was the reason why.

It was for blackmail purposes.

And only that.

ZZZ

Kunitomo didn’t get paid enough to deal with situations like this.

It was the morning of the finals, everyone getting ready to board the bus.

And he would join them, of course.

Only after he had a quick chat with his ace.

Some of his players had approached him a few days ago, concerned that Narumiya was letting his personal life affect baseball.

His ace’s personal life was none of his business.

But it became his business if he was letting it affect baseball.

So instead of confronting him right away, he chose to observe him, trying to see if he could spot anything off with their ace.

He didn’t spot anything that would concern the other players, but he also didn’t want their concerns to go unheard.

Which was why he stood in his office before the summer tournament finals game, waiting for Narumiya to show up.

When Narumiya entered his office a few moments later, he looked genuinely confused. And maybe even a little exasperated (not that he would admit it). “Masa-san said you wanted to see me? This must be important if you’re doing it before we leave.”

“Some of your teammates have been concerned about your behavior recently,” he said, deciding not to beat around the bush.

Narumiya furrowed his eyebrows, pointing at himself. “Mine? Why?”

“They’re concerned that you’ve been letting your private life affect baseball.”

To his surprise, Narumiya scowled. “Is that so? I don’t know where they’re getting that from. I even told them last night not to go easy on him.”

Narumiya was dating someone from a rival team?

… No, wait.

It was none of his business who he decided to date.

“So you’re saying their concerns are unwarranted?”

Narumiya shrugged. “I would change my behavior if their concerns were warranted.”

He didn’t doubt Narumiya would. Narumiya was their unparalleled ace, and he took his responsibilities as ace seriously.

“I see.” Unfortunately, he couldn’t just accept that. “What about if your private life does affect baseball?”

Narumiya narrowed his eyes, pointing at himself. “Have you seen any indication that I’m not taking my responsibilities seriously?”

If it were anyone else, he might’ve scolded them. “Answer the question.”

Narumiya huffed. “I won’t let it.”

“But what if it does?”

Narumiya shrugged nonchalantly, giving him an easy grin. “I’ll break up with him. It’s no big deal.”

He said it so matter-of-factly. Like he didn’t even care about the guy or their relationship.

Should he feel worried?

Even if he did feel worried, it was none of his business. And while he wouldn’t hesitate to listen to any of his players’ concerns, it didn’t feel right to lecture him about relationships.

Especially a few hours before a big game.

It wasn’t as if it was a problem now.

“Then let’s get going. We don’t want to be late.”

“Finally,” Narumiya muttered.

It wasn’t until much later that he learned exactly who Narumiya was dating.

ZZZ

Kazuya changed his mind.

Knowing about Sawamura’s relationship with Mei was as much of a pain as he thought it would be.

They kept looking at each other.

While the game was going on.

Thankfully, it was just quick looks, so he didn’t think anyone else realized what was going on.

He was aware that Sawamura didn’t want to lose to Inashiro. And that he thought of Mei as his rival.

And with Sawamura’s loud voice yelling his biting comments, everyone would probably think that Mei was looking over at him because he was annoyed by the noise.

But they were still looking at each other.

He wouldn’t be surprised if Kuramochi (with his observant eyes) caught on to what was going on.

He couldn’t help but notice that although they kept glancing at each other, Mei focused on his pitching and showed them no mercy.

Which, as far as he was concerned, was good.

Great even.

(It wouldn’t be a satisfying victory if they didn’t beat Mei at his best.)

Would it change if Mei had to pitch to Sawamura, though?

And he still wasn’t convinced that Sawamura, if he somehow got to pitch, would focus on baseball.

And not his boyfriend.

He didn’t know why he felt surprised when Sawamura did get a chance to pitch.

Clearly, the universe was out to get him for some reason.

He knew it was coming, especially with how Tanba-san was struggling, but he still couldn’t believe the situation they were in.

Sawamura was pitching in the finals. Against Inashiro.

And Mei was the next batter.

Of course he is. I don’t know why I’m surprised.

With how Sawamura felt determined to prove that he was serious about baseball (and Mei), he probably should’ve seen this coming.

To his surprise (and relief), they only gave each other a long look before seemingly focusing their attention on the game, Sawamura’s eyes already on him, patiently waiting for his signs.

Before now, he felt skeptical about what Sawamura was saying.

Because it seemed like Sawamura really liked Mei.

And he wasn’t sure if Sawamura could set aside his feelings and focus on his pitching no matter who he was up against.

But now…

Watching him strike out Mei and keep his focus on his pitching for the remainder of the game…

Sawamura was serious about baseball.

And Mei.

(He even noted (gleefully) that Inashiro and Mei looked surprised at Sawamura’s cutter. And by the look on Sawamura’s face, he knew Sawamura felt smug at surprising them. He himself had smirked at Mei’s angry expression, taking great delight in seeing it. And if Mei looked angrier by his proximity with Sawamura, especially when he gave him rare praise, then that made it even sweeter.)

But like a lot of things in his life, all good things must come to an end.

He couldn’t help but watch as Sawamura bowed weakly to Inashiro, unseeing and dazed.

Mei, with tears running down his face, was openly looking at him, as if he didn’t care if the rest of Seidou caught him staring.

Losing was a bitter pill to swallow, but he felt determined to learn from their loss.

The fall tournament was fast approaching after all.

But as he stared at Sawamura, he couldn’t help but think back to when he first found out about their relationship.

Yeah, he vehemently disapproved of it, and he wanted Sawamura to break up with Mei.

(If he was telling the truth, he still wanted Sawamura to break up with him.)

And he hadn’t believed him when Sawamura said he was serious about baseball. And Mei.

But this…

This was not what he wanted.

ZZZ

Mei got what he wanted.

(Of course he did. He always got what he wanted. … Most of the time)

It felt wonderful to beat Seidou, especially when they were so convinced that they would win.

It didn’t matter that it was a close game.

It didn’t matter that they almost lost.

What mattered was that they won.

They were going back to Koushien.

He should be feeling happy. Ecstatic even.

But whenever he looked at Sawamura, his heart clenched, hating the dazed and unseeing look on his face.

After his interview, he quickly caught up with Sawamura, managing to snag his hand and stealthily pull him away from his team and into the bathroom.

(… Okay, maybe he wasn’t as stealthy as he thought, Kazuya immediately noticing what he was up to and giving him a warning glare. But Kazuya was the only who noticed.)

Once they were alone, he gave Sawamura’s hand a gentle squeeze, trying to get him to look at him.

And while he felt a little concerned that Sawamura gave him a weak squeeze back, he mainly felt relieved.

Other than the look on his face, Sawamura was doing better than he thought.

He probably wasn’t even that angry with him.

“Look at me,” he murmured, tugging at his hand a little.

He had to wait longer than he wanted, but Sawamura finally looked at him.

“So I won,” he couldn’t help but point out a little wickedly. “Like I knew I would.”

Sawamura’s free hand curled into a fist even as he smiled shakily at him. “Yeah, congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Mei said nonchalantly.

And while he was a selfish jerk and could be mean-spirited (even to Sawamura at times), he wasn’t stupid.

He knew how much the game meant to him.

What it meant to lose.

So for once, he was going to keep his mouth shut and not say anything stupid like…

“Aren’t you happy for me?”

… that.

Shit.

Sawamura gave him a dirty look, causing him to grin.

“I didn’t mean to say that. It just… came out.”

Sawamura snorted, rolling his eyes. “Of course it did.”

… Okay, he deserved that.

“Just… forget I said that. I didn’t bring you here for that anyway.”

Sawamura raised his eyebrows. “Oh, and here I thought you wanted to rub it in. Sorry for doubting you,” he said sarcastically.

He huffed, tugging at his hand a little. “I won’t apologize for winning.”

“I don’t expect you to. But if you brought me here just to rub it in, I’m leaving.”

He shook his head, tightening his grip a little when it looked like Sawamura was about to let go. “I brought you here because you look awful,” he blurted.

Sawamura gave him another dirty look, but instead of saying something, he only huffed, gesturing to the stadium, as if he had forgotten where they were.

And why they were there.

“You can cry. I know you’re not alright.”

Sawamura frowned, biting his lower lip, looking away briefly before looking at him. “That’s not… I’m not… I can’t.”

He stepped closer, reaching out for his other hand and uncurling it. “You can. You’re allowed to beat yourself up.”

Sawamura’s eyes watered for a few moments, as if about to start crying, but then he blinked furiously, not letting any fall. “I can’t,” he said, shaking his head before turning his head to glare at the wall for some reason.

“I know the feeling, you know,” he said, causing Sawamura to look back at him. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I let everyone down at last year’s Koushien.”

“That’s…” Sawamura pursed his lips, looking away briefly. He opened his mouth, about to say something. But then he seemed to think better of it, his mouth closing.

Why was he being so stubborn?

And after he took the time to show that he understood what he was feeling.

“You’re allowed to cry, knowing that you let your team down.”

Sawamura squeezed his eyes shut, giving his hands a weak squeeze. “Stop it. I shouldn’t… Not here.” He shook his head, letting it fall forward.

He gave his hands a gentle squeeze. “You’re allowed to feel upset. You lost.”

“I said stop it.”

He let go with one hand, grazing his chin before grabbing it and tilting his head up. “I’m here, you know.”

Sawamura tightened his grip on his hand, almost hurting him as he shook his head, refusing to look at him.

Maybe there was another reason he couldn’t allow himself to cry?

… Was it because of him?

Impossible.

But come to think of it, Sawamura thought of him as his rival.

Maybe that was why?

He let go of his chin, placing his hand on his shoulder instead. “I won’t judge you. I promise.”

“I said stop!” Sawamura pulled away from him roughly (much to his surprise). A few tears escaped, causing Sawamura to wipe them away hastily.

And before he could say or do anything else, Sawamura proceeded to walk away, pausing by the exit for some reason.

“Call me!” he called out. He didn’t know why he stopped, but he knew he had to say something. Sawamura didn’t turn around, but he nodded. “We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. Just… Call me in the morning, okay?”

“Okay,” Sawamura agreed, voice quiet.

And then he left, leaving him alone in the bathroom.

He cursed, tempted to punch a wall.

What the hell?

All he wanted to do was check up on Sawamura, and he had pushed him away.

Literally.

But in all honesty, he wasn’t worried.

He knew Sawamura would call him tomorrow morning, and he knew Sawamura would bounce back from losing to him.

He shook his head, lips twitching.

His optimistic attitude was one of his best characteristics.

ZZZ

Eijun couldn’t stop his tears after seeing Leader break down in the bus.

And if he cried even harder at the thought of his boyfriend, then no one else had to know.

He would… call him in the morning.

… Yeah, he’ll do that.

He’ll do that and… apologize. And make sure they were going to be alright.

Because he didn’t think he could take it if everyone was right, and they ended up breaking up because of this.

In fact, he refused to let that happen.

He would cry over this loss and blame himself for ending his senpai’s summer.

But he wouldn’t dwell on it forever.

He had to get stronger.

Especially if he wanted to become the ace.

And especially if he wanted Narumiya to acknowledge him as his rival.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Author Notes: I hope y’all enjoyed the fourth chapter.

So this was a shorter chapter than usual. I really wanted to write more, especially for the Seidou and Inashiro game. But I couldn’t think of anything else to add. I also wanted to add some more to the Eijun and Mei moment we got after the game, but I really wanted to follow canon and have Eijun break down in the bus instead of breaking down in Mei’s presence.

Writing from Miyuki’s point of view is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. And I managed to add in a few things that will come up later, which makes me happy. I’m still trying to get the hang of writing from his point of view, though.

We finally got Miyuki’s reaction to the Eijun and Mei relationship. Were y’all expecting Miyuki to react like that? By the way, this isn’t the last you’ll see of Miyuki. He’ll show up some more in the next couple of chapters.

What can I say about the next chapter? All I’ll say is this: yips and Mei losing in the fall tournament.

See y’all next Saturday!

[mca-attack21]

Riverdale: Deadly Definitions 8

Series based on season 1 of Riverdale. It’s Reader x Archie. Find the first 7 parts here: Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4   Part 5   Part 6    Part 7        @l4life

Polly was missing and everyone was looking for her. There were two sides to this war, the Coopers and the Blossoms, what a surprise. However, when it was released that Polly was pregnant with Jason’s baby all would unite with a common goal: to find and care for the young Cooper. 

Eventually Betty discovered Polly’s hiding place and was able to care for her sister. Since the Cooper’s wanted Polly and not the baby, and the Blossom’s wanted the baby and not Polly, she had no choice but to find sanctuary elsewhere. So, she moved into the Pembroke with Veronica and Hermione. 

To attempt to fix things between the two families, Veronica had suggested that they throw Polly a shower. Betty said that she and Jughead would be happy to help. To which Jughead made a snarky comment on how being in a relationship was tarnishing his masculinity. You would have loved to help with it, but you were spending all of your free time trying to find out ways to help Archie and his dad.

Clifford Blossom bought out Mr. Andrews’ Crew. Work was coming to a halt and there was nothing Fred could do about it. With the equipment and lack of workers, he was losing money. His entire business was in jeopardy. You spent your days calling other construction crews to see if any could loan members or needed work, but it was no use.  

So you and Archie came up with a plan. Archie talked to the football players and you talked to Jughead and Kevin. And after practice they all showed up to the site to help out. Mr. Andrews was shocked, but thankful. 

“Meet your temporary crew. Some of Riverdale’s finest.” you say as you pass out helmets.

“I appreciate it guys, but-” Mr. Andrews tried.

“But nothing dad, we are here to help until you get back on your feet.” Archie interrupted. 

“Okay, well then let’s get to work,” he smiled.

And so, that was what you did. All of you would go out and help clear the debris.  It went great for the first four days, but nothing good can last in Riverdale.

“Come on Jughead, I can lift more than that” you joked.

“That’s fine Y/n, go ahead and laugh. But remember that the pen is mightier than the sword.” he returned.

“If you can lift the pen” you shot back, ducking to avoid the rock he flung in your direction.

“How are you and Betty?” you ask as you go to join him.

“We are good. It’s kinda weird not to be the lone wolf anymore, but it is nice to have someone. How are you and Archie?”

“Things are great.” you answer as you make it back to the door.

“Okay everyone, thanks for your hard work this week. I have pizza here and there is pop in the fridge, help yourselves.” Mr. Andrews said.

All of the guys started to eat when you realized that you forgot your phone. “Hey, i’ll be right back, I left my phone on one of the machines” you spoke getting up from your seat next to Archie. You jogged out to where you knew your phone was when you saw two men with crossbars going at the sites generator. In what you would later admit was not your finest moment, you decided to yell at them to get them to stop. One of them came after you and punched you in the face causing you to fall to the ground and then you were being kicked in the stomach. The second one was still working over the generator and yelled for the other guy that it was time to leave.

“As long as you keep working,we will keep coming back” he spat before giving you one last kick to the head. The crew came around the corner after hearing the commotion, catching the end of it.  You powered through the pain and tried to take a picture of them with your phone, but it was all so blurry to you.

“Oh my god. Y/n are you okay?” Archie freaked out. You tried sitting up but yelped in pain.

“Just stay down Y/n. Jughead go get the truck. Kevin, call your dad tell him to meet us at the hospital. The rest of you go home.” Mr. Andrews ordered and they didn’t dare argue.

Your focus was going in and out, but you knew that Archie was by your side holding your hand telling you would be fine. 

“Dad, are you sure we should move her?” you vaguely heard Archie ask. 

“We have to get her to the hospital son” he said.

So Archie carefully lifted you up, which caused you to shriek. He apologized profusely as he positioned the two of you in the back seat. Mr. Andrews and Jughead climbed in the front and took off. Archie refused to take his eyes off of you. “Y/n you’re doing great, we are almost there.” he said squeezing your hand.

“I’m fine Archie” you tried but it turned into coughing which made you whimper. 

“Shhh, don’t say anything. Just focus on my voice.” he replied. He continued talking to you, reassuring you that everything was going to be okay.

Jughead and Mr. Andrews were silent. Ten minutes later they had reached the hospital. Archie carried you in and the nurses took you away. He couldn’t believe that this was happening. His dad had to drag him back to the waiting room where he sat and stared at the ground in disbelief. It wasn’t long before Sheriff Keller showed up and Mr. Andrews left with him to go back to the site and go over what happened. 

“You know she is going to be okay, right?” Jughead asked taking a seat next to Archie. When he received no response, he continued, “She is the strongest person either of us have ever met and it always looks a lot worse than it is.”

“You’re right, I just wish I was there for her”

“Archie there is no way you could have known what was going to happen” 

Jughead sent a text to Betty and Veronica telling them what had happened. They said that they were on there way. When they got there they went to Archie and pulled him into a hug. Before long, his dad returned. 

“What did Sheriff Keller say?” Archie asked.

“That he would have to wait to talk to Y/n, but there wasn’t really much to go off of.” his dad answered, “Any news?” 

“Not yet” he sighed. 

So his Dad took a seat and the five of them waited in silence for an hour and a half until the doctor finally came out.

“Is anyone here for Y/f/n Y/l/n?” he called out.

“We are” Archie answered rushing to his feet, “how is she?” 

“She has a couple of fractured ribs, we had to pop her shoulder back into socket, and she has a mild concussion with some cuts and swelling on her face. She is going to be sore and need to be on bed rest for the next week, taking pain meds. All things considered, she should be fine.” he explained. “Now then, which one of you is Archie?”

“I am sir” 

“She has asked to see you,” the doctor informed. So Archie went back with him to see you.

“There he is now” you told the nurse. 

“He is a cutie” she smiled which made Archie blush, “I’ll leave you two be, hollar if you need anything.”

Archie was extremely relieved to see you. He hated seeing the bruises on your face, but you were okay and that was what really mattered.

“Hey Archie” you smiled.

“Hey Y/n, I’m glad you’re okay. How are you feeling?” he asked scanning over your injuries.

“Well considering the meds are kicking in, better by the second.” you reply. 

“I’m so sorry, I should’ve been there for you. This shouldn’t have happened.” he said not meeting your eyes.

“Hey, look at me. I’m okay. This wasn’t your fault. Come here,” 

When he came over to the side of the bed you shifted over enough that he could sit down (which was a feat in itself). 

“Y/n, I don’t want to hurt you” he said hesitating. 

“What? Do I look that bad?” you joked, “I’m fine Archie, seriously.”

He slowly laid next to you careful not to move you too much. 

“I love you Archie Andrews, you know that?” you asked as you rest your head on his chest.

“I love you too Y/n, get some rest,” he answered. 

The next morning you were awoken by your nurse who informed you that she kicked Archie out so she could give you a full work up. He went to the waiting room where Jughead and his dad were sleeping. He guessed that Betty and Veronica had went home and would be coming back later that morning. He woke his dad up to ask if the doctor had said anything else. His dad informed him that they were planning to let you check out today if everything went as planned. Archie shared his plan of you staying at their house in his room until you were better and his dad agreed.

When the nurse came out, Archie decided to wake Jughead up and let him go see you. He followed the nurse back to your room. 

“Hey Y/n, how are you doing?”

“Great. Do you know where my phone is?” you asked immediately.

“Hello Jughead, I’m so glad to see you,” he mocked, “I’ll never understand the white girl obsession over cell phones. You know that they completely breach you privacy rights. It a-” 

“Seriously Jughead, it’s important. Archie said you might have it” you persist.

He pulls it out of his back pocket and hands it to you, “Wanna tell me what I’m missing?” he asked. 

“There,” you answered showing him the photo you took, “License plate and one of the guys walking away which means they can estimate his height and weight.” 

“You amaze me” he said taking your phone to look at the picture closer. “Do you have any idea why they were there?” he asked.

“Actually, they were trying to destroy the equipment. I caught them in the act and tried to stop them. And then the guy in the picture said to tell Mr. Andrews that their boss would keep sending them until he stopped working on the project.” you recall. 

“So it only makes sense that they were sent by Clifford Blossom” Jughead added.

“Not necessarily, with the buyer being anonymous, we don’t know what kind of enemies he or she may have. This could be bigger than we know” you replied with a yawn. 

“Well, Sheriff Keller will be coming by later to get a statement. Can I send these to my Dad to see if any of the Serpents can ID them?” he asked.

“That’s a good idea. Can I ask you to do me a favor?”

“Of course. What’s up?” 

“The nurse said that I could be checking out today, can you go to the trailer and get some of the clothes I left there?” 

“Yeah, you want me to grab anything else?”

“Nope, just the clothes.Thanks Jug” you answered yawning again. 

“Okay, I’ll be back. Do you want me to send Archie back in?” he asked.

“Yes please.” 

Jughead went back to the waiting room and told Archie that he was going to get your clothes and that you wanted him again. Mr. Andrews offered to drive Jughead seeing as there wasn’t really anything else for him to do. When they arrived, they both went in which startled FP. “What are you guys doing here?” he asked.

“Y/n is in the hospital and I’m grabbing some of her stuff” Jughead answered.

“What happened? Is she okay?” FP asked.

“My site was ambushed last night and she got caught up in it. She has some fractured ribs, a concussion, and dislocated her shoulder. She should be checking out today though.” Mr. Andrews answered. 

“You have any idea who did it?” 

“No not really-” Mr. Andrews started.

“Actually Y/n took a picture of one of the men and the truck they were in. I was hoping you could ask around.” Jughead interrupted. 

“Yeah, of course.”

“Okay well we better be getting back” Jughead said carrying a bag of your clothes.

“Let me know if there is anything else I can do” FP replied watching as they left.

After talking to the Sheriff and the Doctor again, you were able to leave. When Jughead and Mr. Andrews got back a nurse helped you into your clothes and explained to you what to expect as you went home. She handed you a prescription and brought a wheelchair to take you to discharge even though you tried to convince her that it wasn’t necessary. Archie helped you into the truck and the four of you went back to the house. Getting up the stairs to Archie’s room was a struggle, but he was there every step of the way. 

When you made it to the bed you were exhausted. His dad had went to Pop’s to get food and Jughead went to get Betty and Veronica who were waiting next door. 

“Hey Girl,” Veronica said as she entered the room.

“Hey V” you answered.

“How are you doing?” 

“I’ll be fine. Where’s B? Snogging her boyfriend?” you laughed which hurt incredible bad causing 

you to wince.

“Are you okay?” Archie asked immediately.

“Yes, but for future reference it hurts to laugh with bruised ribs” you answer.

“I just wanted to let you know that my mom wants to cover whatever your insurance doesn’t cover so you don’t have to worry about anything.” Veronica starts, “and if there is anything else I can do for you, all you need do is ask bestie” 

“Thanks Veronica, it means a lot.”

“Hey Y/n, I’m so glad you are okay” Betty said 

“Thanks Betty, how’s Polly?” you asked.

“She’s doing better. Here baby shower is tomorrow, but we can move it to later if you want.”

“You don’t have to do that, I’m sure you already have everything set up and invited people. Just tell her that I’m sorry I can’t go” you replied.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I am. Plus with the Blossom and Cooper feud I’ll probably have more fun watching netflix” you joke.

“I’m going to get all of the notes and homework for you so you don’t get behind, is there anything else that I can do?” she asked.

“Not that I can think of, but I’ll let you know.” you smile.

“We are going to work it out so one of us is always here after school and on the weekends” Jughead spoke.

“I appreciate it and love you guys, but I’m seriously fine. I don’t need any special treatment” you reply.

“You act like you wouldn’t do the same thing if it were any of us in that bed instead of you” Archie said.

“Well-” you started.

“Well nothing, let us pamper you for once.” Veronica interrupted. 

You guys continued to talk about the town happenings and personal problems until Mr. Andrews returned with the food. Betty, Veronica, and Jughead used that as their cue to leave and go finish setting up Polly’s baby shower. So you, Mr. Andrews, and Archie ate dinner in Archie’s bedroom. Afterwards Mr. Andrews told you to yell if you needed anything and then headed to bed. 

Your boyfriend thought that he was going to sleep on the floor. You would’ve laughed at that but it hurt too much. “What do you think you are doing?” you ask.

“Well I figured I would sleep up here so if you needed anything I was right here.” he explained. 

“Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in your bed? I’m pretty sure it is big enough for the both of us.” you reply smiling.

“Are you sure?” he asked. 

“Of course. But can you grab a couple more pillows?” you were supposed to sleep in an upright position to avoid putting pressure on your ribs.

“Yeah. I’ll be right back.”

As he went down stairs you tried to maneuver your way out of the bed. You needed to use the bathroom and did not under any circumstance want to ask Archie for help. You learned how hard it was to stand up when your shoulder was off limits. It was fine though, you pushed through and made it to the bathroom. When you returned to the room you realized that it was time for you to take more medicine. The only problem was that you couldn’t get past the child safety lock. You were defeated and turned to Archie who was re-entering the room. “I need help” you pouted. 

“Here,” he said taking the bottle and placing the pills in your hand. He then set the pillows on the bed and helped you climb in. 

“I feel like a child,” you sighed. 

“You’ll be fine. Besides, I liked you as a child” he said trying to cheer you up. There was silence for a while, neither of you knowing what to say. You looked over at him and he was already sleeping. He looked so peaceful when he slept. When you looked at him you just thought of how much you loved him and how lucky you were. You had to wait for your meds to kick in before you would drift off. It would be the worst night of sleep that you had. Every time you moved either your ribs hurt or your shoulder hurt. You’d jerk yourself awake and then have to catch your breath. You were just glad that as much as you were moving around that you didn’t wake Archie.

It was going to be a long week, you could already tell.

[szopenhauer]

Would you ever chew gum after someone else already has? noooo, yuk

Earrings or a necklace? necklace

Have you ever wished on 11:11? I do smth else/have different tradition

Have you ever listened to the Goo Goo Dolls? Iris, even recently

Have you ever watched Lost? nah

Do you have pictures of your exes? I think I deleted them

Do you have Ozzy Osbourne on your mp3 player? I don’t listen to him but I liked to watch Osbourne’s family tho

Do you read romance novels? the only one I could count as a romance was Five feet apart

Did you draw pictures for your crushes in preschool? no :o

Have you ever not asked someone out cause you were scared of rejection? yep

Have you ever liked someone just because of their appearance? had some crushes like this, especially celebs lol

Pink or green? green but pink with green looks interesting

A bracelet or a ring? depends

Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter? LOTR

By airplane or bus? bus

What’s the last thing you binge watched? She-ra

Do you watch youtube videos or tv shows more? yt videos

What are you tired of right now? everything

Have you ever gotten rid of something and then regretted it? If so, what?  several things, personal

How does your stomach feel right now? silence before the storm?...

Do you live in an apartment that has inspections? I don’t live in an apartment

Do you hate taking naps during the day? yes and no

Who in your immediate family has the best natural hair? my grandma has, she never got grey hair nor dandruff etc.

Do you know anyone who thinks they’re more talented than they are?   obvi

What is the origin of your last name? polish?

Have you ever been inside a Victorian mansion? I wish

What was the most boring field trip you ever went on? hmm...

What are your favorite types of videos to watch on youtube? music videos, thrift hauls, interiors, fashion, funny stuff...

What’s a DIY craft project you want to try? I’m not into DIY

Are you a hoarder? yep

Do you ever call yourself stupid in your head? often

If you were to start a collection, what would it be? not counting those I already have? for example - znicze

Would you ever give your daughter the middle name Marie? I could, especially if it was a boy :P as it’s legal to call him Maria if it’s the middle name lmfao

Do you have a relationship with God? some sort of it

Have you ever “fired” a doctor? could say so

Who is the prettiest Asian youtuber that you can think of? I don’t watch any Asian youtubers

What was the temperature where you live today? less than 30 Celsius but it felt colder

Is your sleep schedule all messed up? umm...

Did you wear green last St. Patrick’s Day? I don’t celebrate this 

Food: Are you adventurous or do you stick to what you know? stick 

Do you know both of your biological parents? I do

When was the last time you wrote so much your finger ached? last night

Do you store a lot of pictures you’ve taken that no one else has seen? ppl close to me saw them

When did you first start using the internet? regularly or very first time?

Do you prefer tents or staying in hotels? prefer hotels

Do you have any family traditions for certain holidays? Which? personal

Do you enjoy clowns / street performers or are they creepy to you? some I like

Have you ever had a teacher who would just babble about nothing? for example - we had a priest who was always talking about war times or his night dreams :D

Do you ever look at a word and think that it looks odd? hahaha it happens

Did you ever dream about being an animal? plenty

Which vowel occurs most in your whole name? A

What’s your favourite colour on a dog? dunno

Do you prefer Skirts or Dresses? dresses, I can use them as tunics

Have you ever been told you are fake? once :(

Can you do cartwheels? not well

Do you like the name Sara? no longer...

What’s your first name without an r, e, s or l? doesn’t change

What’s your age plus two divided by 4? 7.5

Do you know someone named after a month (April, May, June)? used to know May

Stop typing. What do you hear? someone is mowing grass as every other day ugh...

What was the last book you read that also is a film? Five feet apart

How often do you get a new purse or a new wallet? whenever I feel like it but I thrift them so it’s not like I spend lots of money

What is the most money that you have ever spent on getting your nails done? few PLN for a nail polish and done them myself lol

Does it matter to you if your girlfriend drinks? I wouldn’t date an alcoholic, someone who is drunk a lot and then do stupid stuff, pukes, have hangovers often, spend all their money on alcohol, smells like it, gross!

Has a little kid ever fallen asleep on your lap before? nah, just cat

If you heard your best friend’s significant other was cheating on them, would you tell them? Even if you couldn’t prove it? I’d mention that to them

Do you plan on having both your parents at your wedding? if they want to attend...

Have you ever stayed on a ride at a theme park to ride it again? nope

Where did your mother and father meet for the first time? in front of the church

Would you rather read books or magazines? depends

Have you ever had your cheek pinched? I hate that >.>

Do you own any plaid pants? I have a pair of plaid leggings and pajamas

Do you talk in your sleep? nah

Have you ever fallen off a horse? never been on a horse to fall

Can you pick things up with your toes? I do this often

If you are a girl, do you get bad PMS, or is it not so bad? my PMS were usually worse than my period

Would you rather have your shirt be too long or too short? too long

Are you the type of person who can shake insults off easily, or do they tend to stick around in your brain & bother you? stay forever

Do you like clothes with ruffles on them? usually not

Were you happy when you woke up today? I wasn’t

Have you used the opposite sex’s bathroom in a public place before? had to 

Do you rent movies frequently? I don’t have money for that

Do you quote movies or songs to answer survey questions? very rarely as it’s annoying

What is your name spelled backwards? Annazuz :3

How do you think the world will end? people will destroy it?

An alien ship lands at your house, and they want you. Do you go with them? 

If you were in a horror flick, would you be one of the first ones to die? I think I would survive or die saving someone

What movie has been taken WAY too far, as far as sequels go? most of them but it’s more shows’ thingy

Do you get a fake Christmas tree each year, or a real one? fake, I’m against using real ones

How long would you have to know someone before tying the knot? it’s not about length of time that much

Would you embarass yourself if you met your favorite celebrity? probably :x

If a person had a glass eye, would that scare you? no idea, hope not as I don’t wanna make them feel bad, sorry in advance

Are you a twin? am not

Do you get paranoid that someone’s looking at your through your window? my neighbor sometimes does so...

Mountains, oceans, or forests? forests

When was the last time you “de-haired” your hairbrush? recently?

Are any of your great grandparents still alive? they’re all dead

Where’s your significant other? visiting her dad

How much blankets do you sleep under? 1-2

Is a hair dryer a necessity for you? it is

If you were atop a tall building, would you throw stuff at people below? don’t do that!

Do you believe we really landed on the moon? I don’t give a shit

Name a movie everyone else thought was funny, but you couldn’t stand: majority of comedies tbh

What topping do you HATE on pizzas? same, I’m more into simple food

Got any interesting wigs? bunch

Can you resist temptation? most often

Would a credit card get you into trouble? if I lost it, I would be paranoid about it 24/7, omg I just got scared I’ve lost my ID and bus card 

Truth or dare? truth?

Which is more annoying: sequels or prequels? *shrug*

Do you use rechargeable batteries? when I did they were blowing up, didn’t charge back or smth like this so I prefer normal ones thank you very much

Describe the chair you’re sitting in. Is it comfy? it's so old there’s barely anything left to sit on but I have no cash for a new one nor can get that kind of chair anywhere so... 2 pillows under my butt have to be enough

What would you do if you thought someone was following you? try to lose them

[survivor-mesopotamia]

Ep. #4 - “I’m extending a bridge to you” (Zach)

There is zero upside to being captain. If captains are swapped, then I'm basically screwed, and if they pick, then I have to reveal my allegiances to people still in the game. I absolutely do not want to be captain. I'm not crazy about Zach being it either, I'd prefer it to be someone like Kyle or Grace, but if Zach is going to push for it we will see what happens

https://youtu.be/9jTSUqwcuPU Confessional 7 (Round 3 #2)

Voting out Chrissa was probably one of the hardest votes I've ever had to encountered, and it honestly really hurts. For me, voting her out was the best strategically because we talked the least. And by the time tribal started, I ended up in alliances of 3 with Will & Megan and JJ & Julian respectively. Given the ranking system, we are all expecting some sort of tribe swap, which might be best for my game so long as I have someone else on my tribe with me. However, JJ recently got into a lot of trouble. Stuff about sending nudes because he "perceived there to be consent". Yikes. Apparently other people know about it too, which makes sense because this call happened in tengaged about it. We are thinking he might be removed, but we don't know what's to happen yet. I think most of us are running under the assumption that he'd be voted out next tribal should he not be removed. It's pretty gross what he did, and I definitely won't be aligned with him any longer. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTzwD-rR8Ws&feature=youtu.be

I am happy JJ is out of the game, both because he deserves it based on his behavior and because one less number. The tribe challenge has me worried. I hope it is a challenge with Zach representing us, because he is good and it also keeps him a bigger target than me. If it's a swap, I'm very nervous and will probably have to paint myself as being on the outs if I end up in a minority, which would almost certainly happen relative to the other two tribes. No matter what, the backstabbing is probably going to start very soon, so buckle your seatbelts everyone.

Confessional 9: https://youtu.be/WhBt-uWOdEA Confessional 10: https://youtu.be/1ZbVWE-2AqM

volunteering for the summit bc im bored and wanna just be a bit risky. i feel like if a twist gets leashed upon me, it'll be surface level. Praying for the best!

Tribe Summit - https://youtu.be/46NdXf1N37U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeX4PKTjQlw&feature=youtu.be

https://youtu.be/96RCT99DDWI Confessional #8 (Round 4 Confessional #1) Contents: JJ's removal, the summit, Kyle's removal, new tribe.

Holy shit so we've had a tribe swap and two removals. Both kinda shocking and completely out of the blue what had happened. Oddly still not the craziest thing I've seen done on either end of org playing but still. So far with the new tribe I feel I got the good end of the stick with zach and Collin and myself staying together for the most part kinda wish we had all stayed together because of you know being out numbered by returning players there's the enitial Holy shit fuck I'm screwed feeling but so far the tribe seems pretty cool. Which is odd and weird from what I've heard for Tumblr games from my understanding they're the more cutthroat game but so far everything has kinda been predictable in placements just as an outsider looking in but ya know. So far I'm really enjoying Abby she seems pretty cool and like I could work with her for a while but yeah that's all for now

post swap BIG boy confessional https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyooK5AHp1Y&feature=youtu.be

https://youtu.be/6IrXzJm6qNk

---

https://youtu.be/MoJSBeUUdWQ

https://youtu.be/CSKB4qzvWU0 Group Confessional #1 Catching up on Each other's games and preparing for what the swap has in store for us

Uhm hi so a lot has happened and I'm sorry I didn't do confessionals before describing it all but yah -Not sure if I did a conf for the last round but basically the challenge was more flash games (yay fml) and my tribe flopped yet again (yay) -We decided to vote out chrissa unan but chrissa apparently voted for me so that was cute, already breaking my goal of not getting votes so early THANKS CHRISSA -Then JJ got removed from the game for sexually harassing ppl which is NOT COOl but then my tribe was down to four members and thats just sad luv -Then there was a random ass ranking for this summit thing and i was like wtf i dont know but I kinda figured id be getting voted as the team captain for my tribe which like eeeek could potentially put a target on my back but also i like these people and i think they like me so i'll just accept it -turns out the other tribe captains voted in were Johnny and Zach and I was like well thats cute tbh i think i like both of them (i have been on zoom calls in friend groups with zachary lately and although he is pretty quiet he seems like a nice person) (and i think i know johnny from a sequester mini before and hes a brother of aepi which is basically the partner fraternity to the sorority i was in called aephi and so were basically connected by greek life blood because hes a pi and im a phi and yas Jews -Okay anyway i volunteer to not be a tribe captain because 1. i didnt want the blood on my hands for picking a tribe (memories of svalbard ahhhh) and 2. i wanted to be on johnny's tribe hehehehe. so i did that and then i let johnny pick first and guess what!! he picked me first on his tribe!! even before anyone from his og tribe!! i thought that was weird but really cool -the new tribe seemed pretty cool and chill and i thought i was digging everyone BUT THEN kyle makes fucking COMMENTS ABOUT JEW STEREOTYPES and i was like SIR and i kinda missed everything in the heat of the moment but basically kyle got removed and im not surprised he did because to my knowledge, i already know of three fkn jews on our tribe (benji me and johnny) and we have a jew host so like why kyle would make comments like that is beyond me but WHY DO I KEEP GETTING PUT ON TRIBES WITH CRAZY PPL -anyway right now i adore johnny and i want to work with him i feel like he and i vibe so well together and we are already planning on making a stoner alliance with abi and jay from his OG tribe lmfaooo -i also like grace and julian on my tribe and benji so far is really cool and isabelle is a sweetheart so i really just hope we dont lose the next challenge and have to vote someone out because i like these people so far and i wanna get to know them more -this has been a really mentally difficult week both in game and in real life and im sorry i havent been doing more confessionals but ive really just needed a huge break due to everything thats been going on 

I've locked in a five person alliance with original An (Johnny Isabelle and Benji), plus Adam. Johnny I'm connected to with Trace, Isabelle and I somehow both go to Georgetown, and I like speaking with Benji. I don't know how this alliance interacts with original alliance, that's future me's problem, but I really like this group

---

If Megan “may have accidentally” found out information from the other tribe, then I “may have accidentally” decided to shift the target onto her. Somebody not purely abiding by the rules of the game is somebody I won’t completely trust

So JJ and Kyle both got removed. OOP!!! Now to figure out how messy this game is gonna be. Will Will and I be able to play middle for our first tribal and get to choose between returnees and newbies? hopefully. More on that scoop later! 

https://youtu.be/vGd9Ik49CmU Confessional #10 (Round 4 Confessional #3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stpzz7-cKUg

Confessional 11: https://youtu.be/ad2R99H1g1k

https://youtu.be/PjodrB6CgLo

---

https://youtu.be/y0n7YKB0EF0

NOOOOOOO HOW COULD WE OF LOST we had everything planned i do feel kinda safe I've talked to abby mostly and i think i have a girls alliance in the works with her but for now being the only two female identifying people on the tribe. We have to pull in some boys but we've got our old tribe mates which lucky for me is my main alliance from that tribe not having Michael is a big yay because love him but pretty sure he was planning on flipping on us to work with some people from the an tribe but ya know it is what it is and hopefully this is the only trival Council we have to go to and hopefully from the sounds of it it's Eric going home so hopefully that's the case and i don't end up voinv home because FYCUCJUCK THAT SHIT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9YueU_paNg&feature=youtu.be

---

Of the players left on my tribe, I think Megan is the biggest threat to my game, with many cross-tribe ties. Last night, I began laying the groundwork with Johnny of eventually making her the target, without expressly stating my desire to vote her out. We'll see how this plays out, but I want Megan out first

---

From the other tribe, I badly want an original An to go. It takes away an option from the Ans on my swap tribe and locks them in more with me, while preserving my options. On the flip side, a Triforce member going is the worst case scenario for the exact same reason as above, this time benefiting original An. Original Enlil going is fairly neutral

https://youtu.be/7IpJ1SC2ah8

So we lost :( It really sucks bc i put more effort into my lip sync than I think I ever have before. And of course with losing comes tribal, the first tribal for some people on my new tribe. I don't think I've done a confessional since we swapped so I'll just run down how I feel about everyone. Monty/Abby - Just gonna bunch these two together since they were on my original tribe. While they weren't in my alliance, I bonded with them like I bonded with everyone on An. We made an alliance immediately at Ea and I feel real good about facing this swap with them. Part of me does worry they knew about that original alliance and they'll throw me under the bus though. Will - Okay so I was completely blindsided by the fact that I already knew Will before the game! We played at least 1 ORG together and I remember him a little bit from just being in the community. I feel like I've really hit it off with him again and working with him feels natural. He was the first one who threw Cameron out as a vote to me last night and a lot of people really latched onto that plan. So he's definitely charismatic and influential. Eric - I've known Eric for quite some time actually. He's someone who's very easy for me to trust. Like I really hope I'm not getting the wrong read on him but he just feels honest in our conversations. He did kinda suck in the music video challenge tho LOL so I feel like he could be in danger if we go to tribal again. Cameron - They're who I'm voting out tonight. I've had no contact with them outside of the tribe chat at all. And our interactions in the tribe chat I just feel...idk like every time I talk they give me some snide remark. Zach even told me that Cameron barely spoke to him and Collin on their original tribe. So it just feels easy, if a bit TOO easy, like I'm scared it's secretly me somehow. So I guess the upside to anxiety is you never get blindsided cuz you always think it's you. Zach - I've been talking to him more often these last few days and he is wayyy smarter than most 15 year olds I've interacted with. He knew it was Cameron immediately when I started talking to him about the vote (Though I suspect it's because Will told him). He's told me more info about his original tribe than I really thought I'd get out of him. He's basically telling me that it was Zach/Collin/Kyle vs. Cameron/The rest of the newbies. So like it makes sense that he's willing to just let Cameron go. However this situation is worrying because Zach's position is almost EXACTLY my position in a game I played very recently (703 San Andres). I've seen firsthand how a competent duo in the minority can upset the majority if just one person in that majority makes a mistake. So I'm not gonna promise Zach anything just yet, I don't want him to sell me out. But I would like to see him stick around even if we lose another time. Collin - Okay I REALLY like Collin. He's super nice, he basically compliments me every time I talk to him. Which is nice, but I know he's playing that social game. And he's playing it WELL. I think if all goes well at tribal, then I'm gonna talk to Collin about really working together going forward. Basically my overarching plan on this tribe has been to make sure that if my name comes up, there will always be someone to shut it down. And I really feel like Collin, Monty, and Eric would especially keep me safe. 

Cameron left.......it sucks, because it takes away my options, but among the Enki's it is the least bad scenario, since I was closer with Collin and Zach. I don't hold it against them for voting against Cameron, do what you gotta do, but I am nervous for them. I'm not throwing any challenges or anything, but I hope they survive, and I'm less nervous about myself losing than them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kWts3h2n9s

hi hi hi so far so good on the Ea tribe! i dont think anyone know about zach and i so we're remaining in the clear hehe (he has been a little difficult to corral tho) i feel like im making good connections so far so hopefully ill remain utr and if we go back to tribal i wont be a target, and if we dont i hope the other tribe takes out a big target for us

Have I mentioned that I love winning? It's just so great that nobody knows me and Monty are working together and we're subtly pulling the strings - Jay thinks he came up with Cameron's name, great he's the mastermind now and we can target him. Collin and Zach want to form a four with me and Eric - great, that keeps me and Monty apart so nobody will know and we can still vote separately. Eric's an easy target for everyone so we (Monty) just get the other returnees to target him (if we lose again) and then I can use that to flip Eric on Abby or Jay and it's just... so delicious. It's so easy to take everyone out one by one when nobody knows that you have a solid F2 already.

https://youtu.be/CVG2Z_-XjBM from this past round

https://youtu.be/yMGLsGhv6wc Confessional 12

https://youtu.be/ylahV3wyXrs

Cameron voted out 7-1

[per-ineptia-ad-astra]

This isn’t the kind of thing I normally do around here, but it seemed like it might be a bit of fun. I’ve absolutely no idea if it’s something you all would be interested in, though, so let me know if you like it or not—if not, I’ll just leave it as a one-off and go back to the regular memes to fill the time while I’m working on Space Seed.

Recently I’ve been playing resource management/base building type games a lot, which I suspect stems from the fact that managing resources in my real life is going rather less well, the latest of these being Stonehearth, a cute voxel game where you guide a group of beady-eyed little people into building a village for them to live in. I’d played a fair bit of it over the past winter but hadn’t touched it in several months, enough time for there to be a couple of updates to the content*, so I decided to see what had been added in the interim.

*Technically the officially-approved-but-player-created-mod-expansion.

But once I got around to selecting my starting villagers, I ran into the same problem I always have at these moments in games—what to name everybody? I’m a massive overthinker about this sort of thing, you see, the sort who will spend ages scouring Wikipedia to find the most thematically appropriate set of things to name all the characters after. On this occasion, though, as I stared aimlessly around my desk trying to come up with something, inspiration struck in the shape of the copy of Star Trek: The Classic Episodes that I still hadn’t put away. Or possibly it was the Data Funko Pop. Either way, I thought, well, why not…?

[ID: A screenshot of the ‘Customize your party’ screen in the video game Stonehearth. On the left are five miniature profiles for cartoonish voxel versions of Kirk, Sulu, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura. Their Mind, Body and Spirit stats are, respectively,  4/5/4,  3/2/6, 4/3/4,  6/2/5, and 3/4/6. On the right is an appearance customization screen with Uhura selected.]

And thus was born a quest to see the crew of the Enterprise through their colonization of wherever the hell it is they’ve ended up this time. Or at least, some of the crew of the Enterprise. I don’t think my computer could handle simulating the full four hundred and thirty of them.

Stonehearth villagers (or ‘hearthlings) have three stats—Mind, Body and Spirit-- as well as up to two traits that influence their behavior. In the starting roster, you can’t directly alter their stats or traits, but you can randomly generate villagers individually or as a group for as long as you want until you get something you like, and can change their names and appearances freely. By default, all the villagers are workers, but with the right items they can be promoted into special classes, such as warriors who defend the village, crafters who make necessary items, or resource-suppliers like farmers and trappers. My starting selection of characters was based on the roles that I judged most important to the getting this colony off the ground. (It may be helpful to keep in mind throughout this, though, that I am not very good at Stonehearth.) The traits I just kind of took where I could get them, since it would have taken an enormously long time to roll for the absolute most character-appropriate ones.

Kirk has the traits ‘Night Owl’ (he’ll stay up later at night and sleep more in the day) and ‘Jokester’ (he likes to tell jokes to the others, which has a chance to increase their moods). I was unsure what to do with him at first, since there’s not really any kind of leadership position for hearthlings. In the end I decided he would make a good Knight, a heavy armor combat class. After all, protecting everyone else in the group at the risk of his own life is a pretty Kirk-ish thing to do. He’ll have to spend some time as a Footman, the basic combat class, before he can promote to Knight, though.

Sulu has the traits ‘Green Thumb’ (he gets a happiness boost from being around plants) and ‘Pack Mule’ which means he can carry more than usual. This is a good combo of traits for a farmer, and since Sulu likes plants he seemed like the most natural choice for that role.

McCoy has the trait ‘Pessimistic’ which makes him more affected by things that cause negative mood modifiers, because of course he does. His class was far and way the easiest to pick: he’ll spend some time as a Herbalist, a crafting class that can make bandages and medicines, until he can promote to Cleric, a combat class that can heal.

Scotty has the traits ‘Gregarious’ (he enjoys talking to other villagers more) and ‘Animal Companion’ (he spawns with a pet, in this case a raccoon named Cactus). Alright, perhaps not the most Scotty-ish of traits, but hey, he had good stats. Scotty’s going to be a Carpenter, the staple crafting class for the Ascendency faction, who use wood as their primary resource. (There actually is an Engineer class, but it doesn’t come into play until much later and the Carpenter is considerably more important for the early game.)

Finally, Uhura has the ‘Empathetic’ trait (she gets a negative mood modifier from being around other villagers who have negative mood modifiers) and is going to be a Trapper, a class that traps animals for meat and fur and can promote to the Shepherd, who raises livestock animals. A bit of a stretch, I know, but hey, there’s no communications-based class, and someone had to be a Trapper. Plus, Trappers have a chance of bringing animals home as pets, which is what started The Trouble With Tribbles, so, hey.

With the starting roster confirmed, all that remains is to first pick a starting resource package—I’ve gone with the Merchant Caravan, which will give us some starting food and gold as well as the promotion items for a Trapper, Footman and Herbalist—and then roll a map. Eventually—after spending far too long generating and re-generating maps—I’ve settled on a nice location by a lake, with plenty of trees, and mountains nearby to dig for ore and stone in. The only downside is it’s a bit exposed, so hopefully nothing too big attacks before we’re able to build some walls.

[ID: A screenshot showing a zoomed-out grassy landscape near a lake, with a message box reading “Click the banner to choose your settlement’s location.” At the bottom of the screen is a blue banner that reads “Click me to place your town banner.”]

Soon after selecting our starting location, a messenger bird arrives with a letter.

[ID: A screenshot showing a message box with a voxel bird displayed above it, titled ‘A Bird...Messenger?’ The box reads “An odd bird arrives with a letter in its beak, stamped with the official seal of the Ascendency.” In smaller text: “The bird also carries a nametag, which reads ‘Harold’. Below the box are two options: ‘Open the letter’ and ‘[skip] We know what banner we want.’]

The letter reads:

Dear Expedition 142,

I hope this letter finds you well. By my guess, you’ve likely set up camp by now.

As your Capital Liaison, it is my honor to preside, remotely, over the official Founding of your Outpost! I trust that you had ample time to choose a name on your journey.

As you know, every new settlement must choose a Banner.

This Banner reflects your spirit and vision, the uniting factor which brought the Expedition together!

What future did you foresee when you embarked on your quest for Township?

Hold in your mind a vision of what your Town will one day be. Your Banner will set that course, but it is up to you to finish it.

Choose well, my friends. I eagerly await your reply.

Yours,

Mer Burlyhands

We could choose a banner of Vitality, which plants to grow faster and trees to drop more wood; Strength, which increases the amount of ore you get from mining and makes hearthlings not mind living in cramped spaces; or Cunning, which makes traders visit more frequently and traded items sell for more.

I choose the Banner of Vitality. The name of the town, of course, is Enterprise.

[ID: A message box titled ‘Outpost Established!’ which reads: “Proclamation of Outpost: By Unanimous agreement of the citizens, we declare Enterprise to be an outpost striving to be at one with the environment. Trees produce 25% more wood. Plants and crops both grow 25% faster. Plants have 2x their normal Appeal.”]

The messenger bird drops off some extra starting food supplies before leaving. Now it’s time to get to the business of actually building this town. Colony. Whatever.

First off, promotions for everyone! Except Sulu. It’ll be a bit before we can promote Sulu. Sorry, Sulu.

[ID: Four cropped shots of message boxes which read “Promote to [Carpenter/Herbalist/Trapper/Footman]. In honor of steadfast efforts and resilience, we hereby advance [Montgomery Scott/Leonard McCoy/Nyota Uhura/James Kirk]. 4th Day of Bittermun 1000.�� Below the text is a stamp icon which reads ‘click to approve.’]

Then we establish a stockpile—a designated location for items to go—and cut down some trees. We’re going to need wood to make buildings and furniture, as well as for fuel.

After a bit of consideration, I decide to move the hearth closer to the lake, near to where our first building is going to go up. For the moment, however, night is falling, and everyone gathers to rest around the fire.

[ID: A screenshot showing voxel-McCoy, Uhura, Sulu and Scotty sitting around a campfire on the shores on a lake.]

...everyone except Kirk, who, for reasons best known only to himself, has fallen asleep in the stockpile.

[ID: 1. A screenshot showing voxel-Kirk laying asleep on the ground in a stockpile full of logs and food supplies. 2. A zoomed-out screenshot showing how far away Kirk is from everyone else around the campfire.]

Thus was founded the town/settlement/colony/localized disaster area known as Enterprise. What could possibly go wrong?