#blonde joey incoming

[joeylikemoney]

i did both =_=

white woman crash out do i buy a vape or spend the money on hair dye

[soddinghelp-blog]

Striking Back

1899

Being a news girl who spends her days hawking newspapers on the dirty streets of Manhattan. You barely make enough to scrape by day to day. So, when your paper suppliers Pulitzer and Hurst decide to raise the buying price of newspaper bundles from 40 cents to 50 you decide to join the brewing strikes.

America x reader 

Chapter one.

The sun rose in the smoky hazy sky of Manhattan and Joey was curled up asleep on the steps of an old building. You let out a sigh of relief, you had been searching all night for him.

You gently shook his boney shoulder. Joey blinked open his eyes. “Hey. You have any food?” he asked hopefully. He had large brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. The clothes he wore were dirty and miles too big, Kid Blink’s old clothing that were too small for him. You ran your grimy fingers through tangled hair. You knew the answer was no, you had not a crumb on you. “I’ll... I’ll get you something. Just stay here” you promised.

Joey nodded dumbly and was asleep again. You rose unsteadily to your feet. You patted your pocket; you took comfort as you felt the shape of the rusty penknife against your palm. If you were lucky, you wouldn’t need to use it.

Ever since the strike started. You had no income, not a penny in your pocket for food or board. And as you said to Kid Blink last night. “If we don’t win this strike real soon, we all starve.” Kid Blink looked you, his face hardened. “Beg, borrow, steal. If we yield to this price hike we definitely will starve” You knew at 60 cents a bundle you need to sell 100 papers per day just to break even.

You had been pacing the streets for a while now, looking for a good target. Someone rich looking, someone who was naive enough to not flee at the sight of your grungy appearance. Someone-

Your ears pricked up as you heard a cheerful whistle, you turned to see a man striding along, dressed to the nines in Vicuña Wool and Japanese denim. He was swinging a Harrods bag.

Someone... like that...

He had a young face, a happy face, a face that looked like it had never seen hardship. Cheerful blue eyes framed with gold rimmed glasses. Oh yeah, this guy was a trust fund boy.

You eyed the Harrods bag. Whatever was in there could be sold and the money could buy some desperately needed bread. Your hand drifted down to your pocket, where the knife was. You weren’t gonna actually hurt the guy, just scare him. Still robbing people, even rich trust fund boys seemed wrong.

Joey’s gaunt face flashed through your mind, that put any hesitation out of your mind.

You stepped into his path, flicking out the blade, sunlight glinting off its wickedly sharp edge. “Hey. Nothing personal, just give me the bag” you said flatly. The carefree look had now fled his face replaced with startled confusion. It was only then you saw he was reaching for the gun holstered on his side, concealed under his jacket. You panicked. Throwing yourself forward onto him. You didn’t mean to, but your weight had driven the knife into his stomach. Taking advantage of his pain and shock you grabbed the Harrods bag with bloodied hands and scrambled to your feet.

---------  

You and Joey were sharing a fresh loaf of French bread in the alley when Kid Blink showed up. Kid Blink was a rough looking guy, all scarred up, with hard marble like blue eyes and brown hair that was chopped haphazardly. He wore an eye patch over one eye, he never spoke of how he lost his eye. Kid Blink face of the strike, the guy you don’t want to cross. He took one look at the fresh bread and said, “Who did you rob and what did you take?” his tone was steel, his glare was accusatory. It took a lot to of effort not to flinch away from that unforgiving gaze.

You shrugged trying to seem casual. “Some rich guy. Glasses, blue eyes, blonde hair. Probably six foot” You ignored the second part of the question. Kid Blink didn’t need to know everything.

He shoved you backwards, sending you stumbling. “YOU IDIOT. You robbed Pulitzer and Hurst’s top investor. Alfred Jones…” for a moment he seemed too furious to speak. “If he’s seen your face and knows you’re with the strike then You’ve just doomed us all.”

It was your turn to get angry. “ME?! I’m not the one drenching paper stands that don’t support us and burning delivery carts! YOU THINK HURST AND PULTIZER WILL BE HAPPY WITH THAT?!” you roared back, sauntering close to Kid Blink. Joey was watching both of you nervously, cheeks stuff with bread. “At least I didn’t STAB THE TOP INVESTOR” Kid Blink snapped. He then snatched the half-eaten bread out of your hands and stuffed it into his mouth. You sat down on an overturned crate.

“If you are right, and this guy was Jones.” You said slowly “He was the who suggested the price hike. He was never gonna be on our side to begin with….in fact… You should be thanking me for stabbing that sonvabitch”. Kid Blink rolled his eyes. “This isn’t the time for wise cracks. Still, we’ll see how this whole thing plays out in the press. Before we make any moves”

You startled, feeling confused. “Press?”

“Oh yeah, I can see the headline now “innocent man attacked by gutter rat””. He said smirking. You took off one shoe and hurled it at his head, Kid Blink ducked as it the wall behind him with a clack, “this gutter rat has given you dinner you stupid sot!” you shot back.

If there is demand this can be turned into a series.

[anotheronechicagobog]

My One Chicago Headcannons Part 1

Cornelius Rhodes either killed his wife or orchestrated it somehow, and Connor found out or saw and knows his dad covered it up and he can't do anything about it

Connor gives 90% ofhis income away to charity cause after he was exposed to the injustices of the world he felt like he really had to do something and is well aware that money actually does have a lot of effect on social justice and change

Helen Manning (Natalie's MIL) showed up to her son's wedding in a white dress and had some weird attachment to her son

Natalie is fluent in Italian and has been teaching Owen

Maggie was blocked from her family group chat after she sent her 1,000 meme and her aunts and uncles got tired of feeling old so her cousins and nieces and nephews created a group chat called Maggie’s memes cause they think she’s hilarious

Will Halstead violated people's DNRs because he wasn't there for his mother when she was sick/dying and he feels really guilty and needs therapy

Sharon loves heavy metal, she listen to one song like 30 years ago by accident and fell in love with the genre and when Maggie one day walks in and sees her bobbing along to Black Sabbath she looks really surprised but then Sharon shrugs, pauses the music, and asks whats up, and Maggie just kinda tucks the info away and is just happy that she knows Sharon even better now

Dr. Charles has a therapist, but isn't completely honest with her I don't think because he did some seriously bad shit to Reese that was obviously connected to his failures as a father to his daughters

Reese would have been better suited in literally any other practice of medicine but psychiatry but she made a rash decision after a bad day, encouraged by her manipulative bf, and just accepted psychiatry cause it was the best thing that came along after she dropped pathology

Joey was a POS who purposefully dated med students cause they were so naive

April Sexton wanted to be a doctor but was bullied into being a nurse by her family because they thought that her make brother deserved a better job than her because of their genders

April is so holier than thou because she found some power in social standing at her job and holds onto it for dear life to deal with the failure of her personal goals

Kevin gets invited to all of Kim's family functions (so did his siblings when they lived with him) and the entire family has basically adopted him as an older brother

Kim and Adam (separately) mail presents to Vinessa and Jordan for their bdays and holidays

Jay was totally a mommas boy and was taught to cook and bake by her (Will burns water somehow and it's shocking that he's a functional adult) he also knows how to sew and knit and made baby blankets for Owen Manning when he was born, Louie when Gabby started fostering him, Terrance Boden when he was born, and Makayla when Kim decided to foster her

Hailey can also cook and bake but it's almost strictly Greek food and the basics (she tried making bouef bourguignon once and it tasted like pigeon farts, don't ask) she;s also an amazing singer and Jay swears that she’s part siren

Platt has a vacation house in Southern France that she tells no one about, but it’s where she and Mouch went for their honeymoon, and she let’s the Hermann’s and Boden’s use it for vacations every once in a while but they’re sworn to secrecy

Voight is bi and secretly had a crush on Al almost the entire time they knew each other and he’s been taking care of Michelle since he died and Olivia (his DIL) got remarried and he hates her new husband but won’t say anything cause he knows it’s just because Justin’s dead

Voight likes some people in the world, like Platt and intelligence, but Daniel (his grandson) is the only person he actually loves and lives for at this point (if Olivia asked him to retire and move close to them for Daniel he would at the drop of a hat but he knows she wants space after what happened to Justin)

Severide’s favourite drinks are the fancy fruity ones but doesn’t drink them cause he doesn’t want to get teased about it (one of the only things Benny instilled in him, internalized toxic masculinity) so Sylvie orders them and gives them to him sometimes as a sign of friendship after he divorced the blonde he married in Vegas cause she didn’t go with him

Matt was in the foster system after his mom shot his dad not becasue he didn’t have any other family, but because no one in his family wanted him, so he actually has a massive family with lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins that he hasn’t seen since he was fifteen

Matt keeps in contact with Louie and his dad (Gabby just couldn’t and everyone understood) and gets invited over for Sunday dinner sometimes, and Louie’s grandma makes him call her ‘mom’ and treats him like a son and Matt is so grateful

Stella LOVES cars, she’s super into them and Top Gear is one of her all time favourite shows

Sylvie would be okay with getting pregnant and having a biological child but she really wants to foster and adopt kids cause even though she was six she remembers just how bad the foster system was

Sylvie has a green thumb and knows carpentry cause her grandparents taught her

Mackey loves country music and knows how to play guitar cause she likes to play along

Joe is really good at painting, some of Chloe’s favs are his acrylics but he prefers watercolours

Mouch actually became fluent in Japanese and does part-time work as a translator for the CPD

Hermann hates silence. He works in a firehouse and then goes home to a house filled with his wife and five kids, if he ever actually gets a moment of peace and quiet he blasts music, sometimes he dances too and it turns into dance parties whenever his kids catch him

Boden carves and paints wooden birds after his dad died and asked Casey to make a mobile for Terrance out of the ones he’d made and makes a special carving for everyone he loves on their birthday they’re Donna’s favourite gifts and she literally has a specific shelf for them

Gallo only likes cheese on pizza and quesadillas and the real reason he and Violet broke up was because cheese was her favourite food and she’d put it on everything (even though he gave an impromptu marriage proposal after the green eyed monster made an appearnce, she actually liked him and wanted to work on the relationship after she obviously said no, but cheese was a deal breaker for him)

Ritter is 100% a Dog Dad, Tuesday has five different beds, far too many toys to count, and he buys her gourmet dog food and treats, but it;s okay becasue Eric spoils her too

[shoichee]

GoMs + Kagami, Hanamiya, Teppei as Pokémon Trainers

Pokémon x Kuroko no Basket Crossover

Headcanons on KNB characters if they were trainers

For only the “Generation of Miracles” (plus Kagami), I wanted to show that they are prodigies in the pokémon universe by each giving them the appropriate specialty legendary/mythical pokémon respective to their anime counterpart abilities/personalities.

Also, as GoMs in the pokémon universe, I was careful to also choose some of their respective pokémon based on base stats and the consideration of type variety, unless a team had most pokémon sharing a type for a reason, in addition to already choosing pokémon based on their pokédex entries.

I have also given pictures of said pokémon suited to each KNB character below the cut.

Warning: spoilers on KNB characters, it’s a given

Kuroko Tetsuya 

his lack of presence would directly translate into the pokémon world pretty nicely and would make him pretty attuned to ghost pokémon floating about, but that won’t necessarily mean he’ll have a full team of ghosts

I feel like he would accidentally just pick up the mythical pokémon, Marshadow as a kid without knowing its reputation and would just let it follow him around like a buddy… and then they would become an official trainer-pokémon relationship later on // they’re both tiny and usually unnoticeable; they’d be best friends

he’d definitely have a Zoroark, since these pokémon require very strong bonds with their trainers, and they’re infamously known for their illusions and trickery; for Kuroko, he probably saw right through a Zorua’s (pre-evolution) tricks back in the day and then it became intrigued by him and joined him along the way before evolving into the Zoroark we see present day // this is a tribute to Nigou as well, since they’re both dog-like/fox?????

surprisingly, he’d have a Hatterene just trailing behind recently; Hatterenes hate extreme emotions emitted from humans and I’d feel like it would just be lured in by his dry personality

Hatterene’s color scheme is literally the same blue and pink like Kuroko and Momoi, so Hatterene is very much a Momoi who chases Kuroko around while he doesn’t mind it at all

his 4th pokémon, Vanilluxe, came to be when he spent hours hiding in the tall grass for a Vanillite (pre-evolution) to show up; he was willing to go out of his way to catch one because he wanted an ode to his love for vanilla milkshakes

all in all, he would be the trainer who is able to instantly connect and make friends with other pokémon around without even trying; ironically, he would have the most variety of typings in his team because of that

he’s the protagonist trainer who would always be the first to openly stand up against the villain teams and foiling their plans, but he would need the support of the other GoMs (cough) to take down the team bosses

he would definitely be friends with N (BEST franchise character)

he’s a “youngster” trainer like a “youngster joey” vibe KDJWORKWKW but like he’s pretty OP by the end of his journey

Kise Ryota

Cinderace with its hidden ability Libero is perfect for our blondie; Libero is an ability that allows the user to become that type of the move it just used until it uses a move of a different type, and then it’ll switch to that next type (I thought about Greninja with its Protean ability at first because it’s the OG ability and it's the exact effect just a diff name; but Cinderace’s design is a soccer motif and it reminded me of Kise in the old Teiko days)

Kise would very much be a renown model in the pokémon universe, and he’d idolize Elesa (from Pokémon B/W and B2/W2); both are blonde models too LOL (except she dyed her hair black in B2/W2)

so he’d have a Luxray (non shiny OR shiny, both suit him), because since he looks up to her so much and she’s an electric-type gym leader, he’d probably have an electric-type of his own

I would think he’d have a dragon-type pokémon like Haxorus to connect him with Aomine (a dragon-type trainer) since in the anime, Aomine was Kise’s mentor and role model in basketball; it would give him a fighting chance with Aomine if they ever faced each other in a pokémon battle

he would have a shiny Sylveon, and he would love to dote the ever living fuck out of it and feed it poképuffs (maybe from Murasakibara’s café LOL) and sing with it, and every time it sweeps someone’s team with its Moonblasts, he’ll cheer it on so much BDHWIRWI it also adds a certain connotation to his idol reputation as this “approachable guy” with his adorable Sylveon too

this guy has an idol status not just in the beauty/fashion industry, but also in the sports world (especially in Unova’s sports stadium in Nimbasa city)

he’d meet tons of other models and fashion icons like gym leader Nessa, champion Diantha, etc. WHEW JUST SAYIN

he would have his face plastered everywhere on trainer PR videos and even getting offers for some minor acting roles in Pokéstar Studios

one day, while he’d be at the studio, there was a whole commotion how the studio and the museum had their deliveries mixed up because the studio had the real meteorite while the museum had the well-made prop of a meteorite; and uh, it turns out this meteorite had the alien virus that pretty much had its DNA mutated into a Deoxys

long story short, being a very experienced trainer, Kise would manage to catch it after hours of chasing it in the wild areas nearby

over time, he and this particular Deoxys would come to have enough mutual respect for each other to be able to battle as a proper trainer-pokémon duo

that being said, he won’t resort to using it unless it’s life-threatening; note: he changes its Formes using a chunk from the meteorite in the studios he broke off (Deoxys [and its many forms] is further reference to his versatility as a basketball player)

Midorima Shintarou

as a man who seeks for good luck and fortunes he’d stack up on a Chimecho for sure and… 

Togekiss; he used to have its pre-evolution Togepi to solely to try to make it stand up while sleeping for good luck (according to the pokédex), and the more he kept trying, the more he made it attached to him and before he knew it, he had a fully evolved Togekiss // he’ll NEVER admit that he loves it to bits, though

this might be unexpected at first glance, but he’d have a Mega Absol; hear me out, it’s called the “disaster pokémon” according to its pokédex, however it is only named so because it warns others of disasters when it appears SO IT WOULD WARN MIDORIMA OF INCOMING BAD LUCK

he’d probably receive a Rowlet from Momoi as a gift from her laboratory, and he didn’t have the heart to abandon it; he’d evolve it to a Decidueye… and just… keep it (this pokémon is a reference to his no-miss shots)

ultimate good luck bringer: Ho-Oh ✨

would have the most “balanced” team out of everyone in terms of type-coverage (reference to him having the most coverage in skills for basketball, from shooting to absolute defense to having ball-handling skills)

he’d totally avoid Akashi’s Kadabra (pre-evolution of Alakazam)—who will be mentioned later down in the list—because it’s said to bring bad luck, as well as avoiding all the Ninetales because he doesn’t want to risk accidentally pulling off one of their tails and be cursed

he’ll avoid caverns as much as possible (but it’s impossible to avoid them all) because those are the habitats of Golbats (who will supposedly give bad luck if one bites you) but if there wasn’t a leeway for him, he will literally LATCH onto his Chimeco and keep his Togekiss and Absol out of their pokéballs to guard him LMAOOO

I would feel he would constantly strive to fill up his entire pokédex, so he’d be a pokémon master in training in a sense; he’s someone who wants to prepare himself for any situation and opportunity, so being a pokédex filler would always provide him an encyclopedia on potential pokémon to either stay away from or catch more of because of certain luck factors

make no mistake though, he’s a seasoned pokémon battler, don’t fuck with him

Aomine Daiki

an intimidating Garchomp would be his ace™️ pokémon, ummmm have you SEEN its base SPEED stat??? it’s a monster

we’re gonna go overkill and give this man a Mega Rayquaza just for the sole fact that he’d be the “ace” trainer of ALL ace trainers and veterans alike

however, because of his “lack of practice/training” like in the anime, he’d probably just stick with these two pokémon, since usually Garchomp already sweeps everyone’s teams without a sweat

homie is probably napping on top of one of the laboratory roofs (probably the one Momoi works in) or escaping to a nearby cliff or hill to relax and keep a lookout for any promising trainers that pass by him

is a trainer who pretty much kept one-shotting all the trainers throughout his journey in the region (aka that’s us protagonists when we play against NPCs)

he would also be that trainer who wiped the floor with the current champion so badly that he felt that all his “training” leading up to that moment didn’t even feel rewarding (plus there’s those countless trainer battles before where it didn’t feel thrilling), and so, he just left the league after, waiting for the day a sufficient rival could show up in his life

he’s definitely cleared the challenging battle systems of each region (probably back when he still had some passion for battling and had a good full team): Battle Frontier, Battle Tree, PWT tournament, Battle Manson, Battle Tower… you name it, he’d probably be done with most of them, if not, all

Murasakibara Atsushi

he’d have a Bewear, Appletun, and lots of variants of Alcremie’s just hanging around him

note: you should search up all the variations of Alcremies yourself, hint cough, it’s 60 variations total

maybe he’d have a Snorlax chilling nearby because it’s so huge

Murasakibara would be a Pokécafé owner AND HE’D HAVE HIS BULKY BEWEAR AND HIS SNORLAX GUARD THE SHOP, YOU CAN’T ARGUE WITH ME 

or he would UNLEASH his G-MAX forms of Alcremie’s

and he’ll just use his pokémon to make the tastiest poffins, poképuffs, and pokécurry

he’ll never bring out his final pokémon, Melmetal, unless it’s an absolute emergency and his shop is in danger

he would love Kuroko’s Vanilluxe, in a sense where he would always impassively joke about eating the ice-cream pokémon and Kuroko would just constantly hope he’s not being for real

he wouldn’t be motivated by ambitions like other trainers would have, he just wants to chill and loaf around all day; if someone pissed him off about he was a “weak” trainer or how they were becoming overly cocky when talking about their goals, he’d be right there smiling and ready to annihilate them | (• ◡•)|

Akashi Seijuro

Espeon would totally fit him as his first pokémon; its eyes are very reminiscent of his feline irises, and it’s tiny in size but a very powerful sweeper when set up right AND THEY’re ~calm~ while being capable of either sweet or very calculating later on / LIKE PET, LIKE OWNER

Tsareena; this one has a literal attitude of a queen and its pokédex is pretty terrifying in which one kick from its legs “leaves a wound in the opponent's body and soul that will never heal”... sound familiar?

Nidoking, cough I wonder why I picked this guy he’s a king, but jokes aside, it’s here to add more type variety to his team, and it’s mostly there to be a status inflictor (aka poisoning) and hazard setter with traps for his opponents… sound familiar with how he initiates his shogi strategies?

Mega Alakazam. that’s it. this pokémon has 5000 IQ like ?? would totally wipe the floor with Akashi in shogi if it tried

you thought Aomine had an overkill legendary, but Akashi has Hoopa, who’s capable of a Confined form and Unbound form, representative of his two contrasting personalities 

he’s an ambitious trainer aiming to become a Pokémon Master, and he’s one of those feared prodigies that all the region champions just lowkey sweat hearing about him coming to wreck their leagues apart

his pokédex would be damn near completed

he looks more into a pokémon’s utility and how it can fit into his strategies; it just turns out that most of the capable/eligible pokémon he ends up picking are psychic-types because they all tend to have extremely high intelligence to pull them off

Momoi Satsuki

Mega Altaria fits Momoi’s aesthetic of being cute, but very dangerous if you underestimate it, and I wanted a cute connection to Aomine who I primarily headcanoned to be a dragon-type trainer, so Altaria is a dragon-type pokemon that I picked out (perfect alternative would be Mega Gardevoir if she never met Aomine)

Blissey is a pokemon that brings happiness to anyone that eats their eggs, and it very much fits Momoi’s personality

Tapu Lele is a totem pokemon that has incredible knowledge, and is known to be able to outsmart any opponent during battle, referencing her pre-cognitive defense research abilities

she would definitely be constantly mistaken as a pokémon “Beauty” (yes that’s a trainer title), but in actuality, she’s training to become a pokémon professor as an assistant 

Momoi’s “professor specialty” would definitely be her researching about a pokémon’s current stats (plus their EVs and IVs) and would pinpoint their level of potential and thus, predict their growth (and the steps taken for a certain type of growth) // she’d probably become really famous in the world of competitive battling because a lot of trainers would try to approach her to help “train their teams”

Kagami Taiga

I think he would ironically have a Lopunny because it used to be Alex’s but she just left it in his care and now he has this prankster bunny that’s basically an Alex 2.0 to other pokémon in its vicinity ?? but it has hops like Kagami so

a hotheaded, short-tempered guy like Kagami would have an Incineroar (they… kinda look the same) 

Krookodile would be very much up his alley… its offensive stats are also not something to take lightly, especially when paired with moves like Earthquake and Foul Play

Kommo-o would be a pokémon that embodies Kagami’s personality very well: it seeks to battle only strong opponents for the reason to defeat the “darkness,” and its presence is more than enough to scare the weaker opponents away; Kagami has been mentioned as the “light” many times throughout the series, and his piercing gaze on the courts generate suffocating pressure on the opposing teams // it’s also a pseudo-legendary pokémon on the same base-stat caliber as Aomine’s Garchomp (hinting at their game against each other) ( ᐛ )

last one I’d find really amusing to give for Kagami would be Victini, the adorable mythical pokémon said to bring only victories for its trainer… and it’s a reference to his ascendance to the top of the Winter Cup after defeating all the GoM’s teams

oh yeah, I forgot Mega Lopunny existed so I’ll just attached that right below

anywho, so he’s a rising pokémon trainer who wants to become a pokémon master… but only for the battling part LOL like he doesn’t believe in “catching ‘em all” so to speak because he’d be someone who would believe in winning battles with the pokémon you truly bonded with; in other words, he’d probably only catch new pokémon if he feels a certain connection with them

but because of that, he doesn’t have much info on other pokémon besides his own, and it bites him in the ass when he has to try to figure out ways to take down opposing teams

reluctantly would team up with Kuroko after finding out many of the competitions require double battling but he doesn’t have a single strategy for it, and then Kuroko would pop out of nowhere and offered a hand to be his double battle partner until he learned how to double-battle on his own

spoiler alert, they totally start becoming travel companions in exploring the world together

of course Kagami would have battle strategies, but he isn’t like Akashi where he would actively look for the appropriate strong pokémon for his strategies; he makes strategies to accommodate his existing team

Kiyoshi Teppei

HE HAS A LUCARIO, NOT ONLY THAT A MEGA LUCARIO; they both seek for justice and they’re extremely loyal, and they both are able to read their opponents very easily 

HE ISN’T CALLED THE “IRON HEART” FOR NOTHING, I CAN SEE HIM WITH A SHINY METAGROSS JUST BEING AN OFFENSIVE TANK YET BEING ABLE TO SWEEP, JUST LIKE AN ACE WOULD

he would live a double life: a shopkeeper of his grandparents’ pokémon item/antique store by day, pokémon ranger and patroller by night

he would keep his local area safe (ง'̀-'́)ง

yes, I only see him as a steel-type trainer

he’d be so precious with his pokémon and meticulous in his care for them: he’d probably shine his Metagross everyday or brush out his Lucario’s fur, just because !!

and his pokémon would be fiercely protective of Teppei in return, mostly because they noticed he has bad knees and they don’t want him to strain them any further(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)

Hanamiya Makoto

no debate, he’d have a shiny Hydreigon… dude that pokémon is an absolute nightmare to level up and evolve, let alone tame, but back when it debuted in Pokémon B/W, it was the most OP pokémon out there // shiny variant of it because it has a similar color scheme to the Kirisaki Daiichi basketball team, and he’d probably have a shiny version just to flaunt it off and piss people off

Salazzle with a hidden ability Corruption, where it allows it to poison any pokémon regardless of type or ability; again, it’s to piss the trainers off in battle

and finally, a Dracovish; a person like him would totally have this inherently fucked up pokémon just for the sole purpose to disturb the hell out of his opponent trainers, but make no mistake: it’s an underdog sweeper 

look, he’s an admin of some sinister villain team and he has his other Kirisaki Daiichi starter players as his personalized grunts (they’re like a specific sect of the villain team; e.g. Shadow Triad or the Seven Sages of Team Plasma)

you might wonder, why don’t I give him a “spider” pokémon, since the webs are the analogy used to compare to his strategies in basketball? too many villains have Ariados in their teams and Galvantula is a friendly, fuzzy tarantula soooo it wouldn’t fit Hanamiya at all

I don’t think he would have any deep motive to be villainous other than to just enjoy people getting fucked over by his own deeds and actions; sometimes, it isn’t so deep

“it’s your boy, Guzma Hanamiya” if you get this reference I love you

End Note: “Mega” forms and “G-MAX” forms are not separate pokémon, but rather, temporary power-ups during battles; they are just shown to show the differences in appearances compared to their original forms when they transform.

[belladonnaandulriched]

the artist | chapter thirty-one

“I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.” -salvador dali

“Holly?”

Blond Dave's voice rang through my ears. He sounded as though he stood about a mile down a sewer pipe. I opened my eyes a little bit and saw his hazy silhouette standing over me. Hazy in the face of the incoming daylight. His blond hair dangled down from his head and towards my chest.

“Holly?” he called again. His voice came in closer to me as I woke up more and more. My back and my hips really hurt, to where I wondered if I could even move them. I heard a soft groan next to me. I blinked a few times so my vision returned to focus. Dave's face entered my view and I could make out the look on concern riddled in his eyes.

“Holly—hey, are you alright?”

“I—” I cleared my throat and rolled my head to the side a bit. A dull pain emerged at the base of my neck. “—I think so?”

“Well, you're talking to me right now,” he said to me in a gentle voice, “you're definitely alright. How do you feel?”

“My neck hurts,” I told him. “As long as I didn't hit my head—”

“You and Joey were about a few inches from smacking your heads on the curb, but you just so happened to land in the right spot.”

“Where is Joey, anyway?”

He groaned out from the right of me. I rolled my head over for a look at him: it all happened so fast that I have no idea how he managed to land on the ground unscathed. But he groaned in agony as he rolled over onto his back and let himself breathe.

“Fuck—” His eyes closed and his chest heaved from the rush of adrenaline. There was a crack in the crown of his helmet, and I could feel mine was broken as well.

“What the hell happened?” Dave asked me.

“We were—” I shifted my weight on the pavement. “—we were coming down to the garden on that bike. And Joey told Lars and me that he wasn't feeling good.”

“Next thing I know, the front wheel hits a rock, and I lose my balance and go flyin',” Joey filled in for me in a pained voice. “I didn't break anythin', though—just—just—”

“In a lot of pain,” Dave filled in.

“Yeah—” Joey grimaced and lifted himself up on his forearms. I could see a road rash on the outside of his left wrist; he grimaced again and pushed himself into an upright position. He turned his left arm over to look at the rash on his skin and wrinkled his nose.

“Think I sprained my wrist,” he confessed; he pulsated his fingers and he winced at the feeling. “Not the first time that's happened but—fuck.”

It hurt my back to do so, but I lifted myself next to him, while Dave backed away from us to check on Lars and the bike: I looked past Joey to see Lars had landed in a bush on the other side of the street and the bike lay on its side near the storm drain. I tried to sit myself in a cross legged position but a sharp pain surged through my hips, so sharp that I yelped out.

“What?” Joey asked me, concerned. “What happened?”

“You okay, Holly?” Dave called over to me.

I leaned back with my legs stretched out which helped a bit. It didn't hurt when I was laying down but I was in agony if I even so much as sat up next to Joey.

“What happened, Hahlly?” Joey asked me again.

“It hurts to sit up,” I groaned out. I tried to push myself upright and it felt like someone stabbed me in the lower back. I yelped out again and almost thrust myself back down onto the pavement.

“Oh, shit,” said Joey.

“Yeah, that's not good,” Dave replied, “we've gotta get you to the hospital. You could've cracked some vertebrae or your pelvis.” Lars grunted and groaned inside of his helmet as he slithered out of the bush.

“You got yer phone on ya?” Joey asked me.

“Yeah, it's in my jeans pocket—” I told him, and he reached into my front pocket for it. His fingers were gentle even on the other side of the denim: soothing and gentle even in the face of pain. But he took out my phone and opened the lockscreen, where he was faced with the lock number.

“Zero seven two zero six four,” I said to him.

“Interesting choice'a numbers,” he said in a soft voice as he tapped on the screen. The light from the phone shone over his face as he dialed 911 and I could make out the somber look in his eyes. I needed to come clean with him, but I also liked keeping the secret from him. I was seeing Chris as well as seeing him and Lars.

He held the phone up to his ear and waited a second. I peered past him to see Dave helping the disoriented Lars to his feet.

“Uh, yes, my friend an' I were just in a bike accident and she might'a either broke her pelvis or her back,” Joey said in a single breath. He hesitated for a second. “Uh—” He looked over at me with his eyebrows knitted together.

“Where are we? I dunno where we are.”

“We're by the garden in Tacoma,” I told him.

“We're just outside of Tacoma,” Dave called out.

“Just outside'a Tacoma,” Joey told them. He then turned to me.

“Where exactly?”

“I don't know,” I confessed to him.

“You've lived here yer whole life, you dunno where you are,” he cracked. The person on the other end said something, then he returned to me. “Y'know where the Five freeway is from here?”

I shook my head.

“No.” The person said something. He returned to me.

“The five oh nine?” I shook my head.

“No.” The person said something. He returned to me.

“The Puget Sound?” I shook my head.

“No.”

“Joey!” Dave called out.

“Wait up—” He lowered the phone and turned towards him. “What's up?”

“We're just passed the cemetery—the Pacific Coast Highway,” Dave shouted from the end of the street.

“The Pacific Coast Highway just passed a cemetery goin' down to Tacoma,” Joey echoed it. “We're like right in the middle of the street.” He paused. “My name? Joey Bellardini. My friend's name is Hollywood. Yeah, I'm from outta town. Stuck here in th' Northwest without any means'a gettin' home.”

“Which means we didn't even go that far,” I remarked; we were within a mile of the actual garden, and yet I swore I saw neon coming up on the right of us. Unless their post collapse garden had expanded that much or the plants were that bright in the darkness, I swore we were there.

“Okay, we'll be waitin' for ya,” Joey told the person on the other end. “Bring food, too—neither of us had breakfast yet an' why we wiped out is 'cause of that.” He paused. “Okay, thank you.” He hung up and handed me the phone. “Help is on the way.”

“Thank you,” I said to him. I tucked it back into my jeans and that was when Lars stumbled towards us. He pried off the helmet and gasped for air.

“Y'alright?” Joey asked him.

“Holy fuck,” he declared in a broken voice. In the incoming morning light, his skin was washed out and pale from fear.

“Yeah, that was—” I started as I shifted my weight on my elbows: apparently I hurt my shoulders, too, given they ached from the accident. “—that was something.”

“Besides, Dave,” Lars started as he shook his head about to loosen up his hair at the back of his head, “how'd you even get here?”

“I was going back up to the speakeasy to check on you guys and I saw Holly and Joey laying on the ground. Then I saw the bike—”

“Shit, the bike!” I shouted.

“What about it?” Lars asked me.

“It's a cop's bike,” said Joey.

“Yeah, they see it, they'll probably think we stole a cop's bike!” I exclaimed.

“Okay, so what should we do with it?” Lars asked us.

Dave turned his head the patch of grass up the street from us.

“Hang tight,” he told us. He hurried over to he bike and picked it up from the pavement: the crash had dented the body a bit and the front wheel was crooked, but the three of us watched him walk it up to the graveyard on the back wheel. He strode over to the bushes on the outside of the fence and lay the bike down in there. He hurried back to us when the whine of ambulance sirens off in the distance caught my ear.

“If anyone asks, I already took the bike home with me for repair,” Dave told us once he entered earshot.

The medics arrived in their protective masks and they helped me and Joey off of the pavement: I was in such agony that I couldn't even stand up. They lifted me onto a stretcher while Joey and Lars both stayed seat on the back of the ambulance with blankets around their shoulders and cups of hot chocolate in one hand each.

The first thing they did for the three of us was to test us for the virus. Negative across the board. Dave tested negative, too, despite having visited Stone in the hospital.

And apparently we were headed for the same hospital where Stone had checked into: I saw his face in one of the rooms as they led me into the radiology room. A lead apron over me and glasses over my eyes to protect me.

Within time, they had my X-ray. Joey and Lars were in the room next door being checked on as I could hear their accents compliment each other as the nurse showed what had happened to me.

She helped me back onto a stretcher and guided me to a room with a bed. She and another nurse lifted me onto there and hooked me up to a couple of monitors and a bit of pain killers.

“Three patients here,” she announced, “—two male, one female, no clue what their ages are. Both boys are from out of town: one is from upstate New York, and the other is I think German. The New York boy who was driving the bicycle lost consciousness due to hunger and hit a rock and the bike high sided. He extended his left wrist out to break his fall and wound up spraining the ligaments within as well as receiving a rash on the outside. The girl sustained a hairline fracture to her pelvic bone as well as her coccyx—”

“My what?” I asked her.

“Your tailbone.”

“My ass,” I muttered. “I broke my ass.”

“—the second boy didn't receive any injuries, and the vitals of all three are stable. Coronavirus tests came back negative for each of them.”

I was unsure if it was the morphine, but Joey looked a lot softer and sweeter than normal once he entered the room to check on me. His face looked fuller and rosier than normal, and it took me a second to realize they had cleaned up his skin and put his one arm into a sling.

“Just ate a bunch'a ice cream,” he told me as he took a seat to my right. “Gonna get sump'n real here in a second.”

“And—you didn't bring any for me?” I asked him.

“The nurse is comin' back with some,” he assured me.

“Not the worst thing that's happened to me, I guess,” I muttered under my breath. Joey knitted his eyebrows together and set his free hand on his hip.

“Hate that I sprained my wrist an' got a li'l rash here an' my darling artist can't even so much as sit up.”

“You sprained your wrist, Joey,” I pointed out, “you have to use just one hand for a while.”

“I usually use one hand anyways,” he smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled at him.

“Is there never a time where you're not thinking of having me do the Artist on you again?” I asked him as I could feel my speech slurring.

“Yeah, when I'm sleepin'.” My eyes blurred with sleep. It was hard to keep them open.

“Them drugs gettin' to ya a bit?” he teased me.

“Uh—”

His brown eyes were big and luminous, much larger than they seemed before. For a second, he turned into Chris as his black curls fanned out from his head and his face appeared much more handsome than normal. His skin glowed with the radiance of the incoming sun. He became the sun as gold and red feathers sprouted from around his head to form a crown. He was as warm as the sun on the Italian Riviera. So much more handsome. So much more gorgeous.

A beautiful man. Too beautiful in fact. Too beautiful for me to want to fuck, either.

“You aren't real,” I said aloud.

“I'm as real as the nose on yer face.” His voice scattered about for a hundred years. Different shapes and colors from all around him. He became something else. He became everything and nothing. Orange spots emerged from the wall behind him to take on the shape and swirl of Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

He raised his free hand to push a lock of the serpentine corkscrews on his head behind his ear and his arm extended out, as skinny as a willow on Christmas. His fingers were long and slender and loaded with spiderwebs. He was becoming so beautiful it was terrifying.

“Hahlly?” That upstate accent was as jovial as the spots on the wall and the ones on my blanket. He leaned in closer to me and those brown eyes became black holes. He resembled a painting, one of those oil paintings that were made down to the detail to where they looked very real. He turned into a painting right before my very eyes.

“This pain yer feelin—it's gonna go away here in a second,” he told me as those dark lips took the form and texture of blood pudding.

“A second?” I asked him.

He turned his head and the hair on the side of his head resembled to ribbons the size of Finger Lakes.

“Get 'er some ice cream,” he told the moth at the door, which came towards me to lay me down flat on my back. I was motionless and still so I let him do it to me. The light in the room turned into a soft haze that swallowed me whole and covered me in a blanket. I closed my eyes and I was met with a dark forest. The trees morphed into fountains that spouted bright red water. Red water for blood. Blood on the pain. Blood on the table. Blood on the tree branches as they nudged me towards the sun on the horizon. The full moon hung behind me with a red and white glow on top of itself.

Joey was the sun. Lars was the moon.

Chris was everything.

Everything and nothing.

Paint with my blood. Paint with the breaks in my bones. Paint with everything.

I woke up to see Chris himself standing over me. His black curls dangled down towards my face; but for a split second, I swore it was Joey. But the morphine allowed me to see the fuzz of a mustache over his top lip.

“I was hoping when you'd awake,” he told me, “I was just about to take Joey and Lars back to the speakeasy.”

“They can't,” I said, “they can't go back. I can't go back—not like this.”

“You guys gotta get back to the speakeasy, though,” he insisted.

“But why, though?”

“Yeah, it's locked, Chris,” Lars told him from across the room.

“Your parents are there and they're kind of freaking out because they missed the art show and they got word that you were in a bike accident.”

The morphine meant nothing at that point. What was I going to say to them about my cracked vertebrae, much less the fact I was seeing three boys at the same time.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Sammy and Norman. One of them gets drafted? The goodbyes, the worry, maybe never get to see the other again ?

Summary: The battlefield took his arm and a finger, and maybe a little bit of his sanity, but that studio took much more from everyone else. It took their mind, soul and body.

---

Dread had been a creeping stalker from the moment he'd witnessed many of his neighbors being called upon to help in the war efforts. It had followed Sammy around like a wolf in the shadows, making him fret for what he considered an inevitability of sorts. As the man of a household it only made sense that he'd be singled out as another viable soldier despite being the least capable sort to be found in a war.

A man of the arts, with careful and gentle fingers. Cannon fodder at best.

It was a harrowing feeling, because it truly made him fear for what may happen to his dear little sister without him around.

So really, one should be more sympathetic when his turn did come up and his only reaction was to fall to his knees in despair.

He had two days to make preparations. Then he'd be sent out with the rest of the sheep to the slaughter.

-

"You're leaving?!" Joey Drew, as slow as he was to move about without that silly looking cane of his, was much too fast getting to his feet for Sammy's liking. He shot up from his seat like a serpent ready to strike at any moment.

The safety of a desk between a scared mouse and a vile snake was a comfort.

"I don't have a choice in the matter." The blond kept his composure despite knowing quite well what Joey was more than capable of doing if he felt like he'd been crossed. He'd rather be scorned by the devil than be labeled a traitor to his country.

One of these outcomes had a 50% chance of survival. "I've been drafted. In two days I'll be sent off to die in a nonsensical war."

"But your obligations to the studio! We need you here to put a tune to the cartoons!"

"My obligations?! Joey, I've been drafted. I can't kindly decline!" Sammy exclaimed in disbelief. "It's not like picking what you want to eat at lunch. If I try to skirt around this I'll be as good as dead."

"If you go you'll most certainly be dead, and then who's going to compose for the studio?!" Joey's tone had a hint of accusation, as if Sammy wanted this to happen. Might as well blame him for the war while he was at it.

"It's a fucking cartoon, Joey! My life is worth more than your stupid pictures!" His blood was beginning to boil. "I'm leaving and that's that. I'm dropping off the rest of my scores so Jack can finish them up, and I'm conducting the band one last time today. But tomorrow I ain't coming in because I'm helping my sister move out."

"You can't do this to me! How am I supposed to find a composer on such short notice?!" Joey slammed his hands on the table. From the looks of it, he was seething.

"Figure it out. You're the boss aren't you?!" Sammy turned away from the shaking Joey and walked out of his office. He felt strangely lighter on his feet. For once, arguing with his employer didn't make him feel vulnerable.

It was great, despite the circumstances.

-

"I can't believe you're going to war... Sammy that's..." Jack's reaction to the news was a tearful one. It was quite sobering after getting a little giddy from getting under Joey's skin with no real consequences. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Aww... I'll miss you too, you big softy." The blond gave the shorter and pudgier man a pat on the shoulder, allowing him to squeeze his midsection in a tight hug. "You're going to be the man of the house now. Don't let the band trample over you... Those savages can sniff out weakness like a pack of hungry hyenas."

"They're not that bad. You're just easy to rile up, is all." Jack teased, laughing when Sammy gave him a pointed look.

"You know as well as I do that Joey will go after the head of a department if the lackeys slack off." He ignored the few glares he got from said 'lackeys'. "And this bunch gets what it deserves for being a bunch of children on the job."

"Can you leave sooner?!"

"Fuck you too Johnny! I hope your pipe organ falls on you!"

Jack cackled, which got a few other band members to crack up as well. Sammy too found himself smiling. Despite the frustration of leading this group of hellions through a carefully composed song, he'd miss the few occasionally humorous banters and mishaps.

He'd especially miss his good friend and pal. He could only hope the stress wouldn't get to Jack while he was away.

-

People either gave him knowing pitiful looks, complimented his bravery in confronting Joey over his leaving on such short notice, or gave him a vague 'nice working with you, good luck' sort of gesture.

Word had spread through the departments and Sammy felt genuinely impressed at how quickly people went from detesting his presence to sucking up just to save face. No one wanted to be that one guy who was a dick to a soon to be dead patriot.

Susie absolutely smothered him with tearful kisses and tight hugs. She was a mess and, in return, he felt a mess as well.

He didn't want to leave...

"I'll see you off tomorrow." She whispered in his ear during a particularly long hug in the recording booth. "For good luck."

"Thank you doll..." He held on to her for as long as he could. "I'm going to miss this."

"Getting cried on?"

"Just being with you. You make my world so much brighter..."

"Sammy Lawrence you're such a sap, I love you." Susie giggles into his chest.

"Love you too Susiebell."

They'd parted ways, Sammy to collect his belongings and Susie to freshen up in one of the women's bathrooms.

On the way he encountered Norman while passing by the stairs that lead to his booth.

"Who'd have thought..."

"Hm?" He looked up at the projectionist who was staring down from his vantage point. Norman backed off and went for the stairs, meeting him halfway.

"My pa was military. He did things a particular sorta way." Norman explained "Includin' raising his kids in a rather peculiar fashion."

"That would explain your... Eccentricity." Sammy rolled his eyes, which got a laugh out of the older man.

"N'aw. I'm just the weird one... My siblings are pretty normal folk." He chuckled "But I digress. Thing is, my pa would wake us up at 5 in the morning, to do drills with us. 'Case of emergency he always did say... There's a war out there now and yous would think they'd call on me to help."

"Haven't they?" Sammy frowned.

"No." Norman's smile gradually faded. "My eye. It ain't no good, so they decided to call on my little brother instead..."

"....Shit."

"Uh-huh. Was lookin' for ya to tell ya. Your sister can still move in. Nelson's just gonna be the head o' the house instead."

"What about income? Who'll pay the rent and bills?" He felt uneasy about the situation. "They're still too young."

"I'll help with expenses ta best I can, but my little niece and nephew is looking for work. I'd advise your sister do ta same. Times gonna get rough Sammy."

"They are... Thanks Norman." The blond worried his bottom lip. "For helping."

"Well I'll be... Sammy Lawrence thankin' me for being a decent fella. What a day."

"Fuck you."

"You offerin' dinner first?"

"GOD!" He threw up his hands in defeat, which got a good hearty laugh out of the projectionist. "I'll be around your brother's tomorrow then. Good luck with Drew. I got a feeling he'll be extra surly in my absence."

"Can't imagine why. Poor Grant will go nuts if he hires an entire orchestra's worth o' folks to substitute yous."

The music director laughed and went back to what he'd been set to do. It felt nice to hear that he was worth an entire orchestra in someone's eyes.

He hoped Norman wouldn't have a hard time.

-

Saying goodbye to his sister felt like a death march in its own right. He spent the entire day helping her move her belongings to the younger Polks's house. Her two friends were good help, and they even offered him tea and told him to rest whenever he got winded.

The boy, Nelson, warned him that he'd need to train his resistance if he wanted to survive the military drills. The family cat was much more sympathetic, seeming less worried about his physical capacity and more content with having a warm lap to sit on and a set of dexterous fingers to give it some good scratches.

When they'd finished, Sammy had taken his sister out to lunch. They'd run around town just having fun, something he'd rarely been able to do while working at the studio.

Then came the time to go.

To his surprise the train station was packed with a few studio workers.

Susie, Norman, Jack, Wally, Emma, Shawn, Grant and even a few of the band members had come to see him off.

He wasn't ashamed to admit he cried like a baby getting to say goodbye all over again. It felt good to be cared about, even if he wasn't the easiest person to be around of. The only other person that cried just as hard was his poor sister.

"Please come back, I can't lose my grumpy brother." The pleading broke his heart. He couldn't promise he'd come back which was what made this so upsetting.

"I'm not grumpy, just misunderstood." He retorted playfully in between hiccups.

"You're a grumpy butt, grumpiest goof there ever was." A tearful chuckle. His little Abby was flushed and covered in snot and tears. They were both very gross criers.

"Slander! I'm a misunderstood suffering artist." They pulled away and Sammy made sure to take a handkerchief from his pocket and begin trying to clean his sister's face. "Be good to your little friends. I'll try to write to you as much as I can..."

"I will... Please be careful Samuel." She pulled that old doll he'd given her and handed it over to him. Seamus had seen better days, well loved that he was. "Both of you have to come back."

He took her doll and smiled a sincere but rather sad smile.

"I'll do my best Abigail."

His best was not enough, but damn if he wasn't a stubborn son of a bitch. He'd return with her doll, even if he had to drag himself all the way back.

-

Henry gave him a sympathetic look as both descended the lift with Boris looking at them uneasily. They'd pleased Alice enough that they'd gotten the tommy gun from her to complete the last task on her list of demands.

Sammy glanced at the cartoonist with a sad and tired expression. His prosthetic pinkie tapping against his ruined prosthetic arm.

It had already been clunky enough. After a few hits from a Piper, it had become virtually useless other than as a makeshift instrument.

"Are you ready?" Henry asked.

"No... But I never am for this part."

The lift stopped on level 14, and Sammy walked forward. Stamping his feet and kicking up as much ink as possible.

The shrill screech of the Projectionist filled the room as the twisted horror that Norman Polk had become ran forward to evicerate whomever dared intrude upon its domain.

Henry shot it down effortlessly and left Sammy to kneel beside the fallen beast.

The blond sighed sadly, staring at the dying creature with pity, before gently brushing it's back. He could hear Henry moving around, collecting the hearts.

"Shhh... Hush now." He continued to comfort what had once been a friend, feeling the burning gaze of Alice upon him. Judging him. "Sheep, sheep, sheep, It's time for sleep. Rest your head. It's time for bed. In the morning, you may wake. Or in the morning, you'll be dead..."

If it appreciated not being alone as it died, the Projectionist didn't give any indication. But the gentle pawing at his leg made Sammy hopeful that something of Norman remained to thank him before the poor creature went limp for good.

It would reform with no memory of his kindness, but it made his soul feel less heavy with guilt.

"Such a pity." Alice taunted from above. "If only you'd cared and stayed... Maybe less of us would have suffered so greatly."

"I doubt that Susiebell." He replied, uncaring if he would end up enraging her for denying her new identity. "I doubt that..."

The battlefield took his arm and a finger, and maybe a little bit of his sanity, but that studio took much more from everyone else. It took their mind, soul and body.

What was left made Sammy feel hopeless.

[grumpyalpacaman]

Nexus Notes - Chapter One

"I already told you, you big dumb bastard, that energy core regulator isn't worth 3,000 Credits. It's not even close!" The young woman slammed her hands down on the clerk's table. Her eyes set in a narrow glare, she scowled between loose strands of bright red hair that fell in front of her face.

Behind the ramshackle stand of partially gnawed scrap metal stood the enormous shopkeeper.  The device she so coveted was tightly gripped in his huge, clawed hand. Dangling cables swayed to and fro and the polished chrome casing reflected the blinding glare of the sun. 

The taurus were the inhabitants of the planet Kakataka in the Aldebaran star system and the largest, most cantankerous of all sentient species in the galaxy. They were also notorious hoarders.

It erupted in a flurry of guttural growls, its ruddy brown scales rapidly scraping and clattering against one another to create a series of accompanying clicks. The chattering noises he emitted elicited a whir of life from a machine strapped to his broad, tapered chest. The gadget lit up and started to translate in a low, robotic voice.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Nexus. This a rare treasure. There is nothing else like it on Pantainos."

"Zakka, you are so full of shit," she said, as she reached into her lab-coat and withdrew a small pair of oval-shaped glasses. Slipping them over her nose, she peered past the imposing, alien shopkeeper to the staggering pile of discarded mechanical trinkets and components behind his kiosk. “I can see two more in the back from here!” Frantically, she removed her glasses and stuffed them back into her coat.

"3,000 credits or no regulator." 

The young woman stood up as tall as she could and crossed her arms over her chest in her best attempt to look authoritative. She was short and scrawny by human standards, not to mention leaning on a cane and absolutely minuscule compared to the seven-foot monster before her. "Listen here, you idiot, you have no idea what that's worth to me and you're just going to eat it anyway! So hand it over for a fair price and stop impeding scientific progress."

Without warning, the shopkeeper opened his jaws for the first time, the lower portion of his face splitting into two and spreading out in a slavering, triangular maw. Then, he chomped into the device in his hand. His shredding teeth crunched and tore the metal apart with ease as he ripped off a chunk and swallowed it before hurling the remnants straight at Nexus's head.

With only a moment of shock, she narrowly ducked under the incoming projectile. The move sent her stumbling and she barely managed to catch herself with her cane to avoid an untimely fall, face-first onto the cold steel ground. If the yelling earlier hadn't drawn the attention of the other merchants and customers that populated the market, this certainly would. Within moments, Zakka had dunked one of his whopping lizard paws into a pile of scrap parts and used it as a shovel to hurl yet more junk at the girl.

"Whoa! Is this how you treat all your regulars?" Head held low, she scurried away from the bellowing Taurus. Gears and batteries skittered across the ground and peppered her lab coat. One unfortunate stray something or other even bounced harmlessly, but no less annoying, off of her forehead. "Zakka, you Lunatic," she yelled as she departed the market square.

She looked back over her shoulder more than once on her way back to her apartment, just to make sure there wasn't an angry alien reptile behind her. It wasn't until she was nearly three blocks away that she stopped to catch her breath, leaning against the wall of a building and wiping her brow with the sleeve of her coat. Just from that short run, her muscles ached and her chest burned with exertion. "I left my apartment for that damn regulator and the dumbass took a bite right out of it," she said between gasps. “Still, I hope nobody calls the police on him. He may be a seven-foot, spiky asshole, but he’s still got the best stuff in the entire city. And perhaps more importantly, he doesn’t ask ridiculous questions like, ‘what are you gonna do with this?’ or ‘do you have a license for this highly unstable radioactive material?’”

She spent nearly a minute bent over and panting before rising back up and fanning out her coat to relieve some of the intense heat. “What I would do for a breeze right now. Just a little one.”

Pantainos City, built in the most habitable, lush part of the colony planet for which it was named, was in Nexus's own words, "Too damn hot in the Summer to be conducive to intellectual pursuits." So then why, she often wondered to herself, had the United Earth Federation decided to build its premier academies here? Pantainos was one of the UEF's earliest and most prosperous colonies and had become a grand centre for training and education in the past several decades. Academies and accompanying campuses for humanity's most prestigious schools in the fields of science and military had developed here and dominated much of the city. The best and brightest across all of UEF space were sent here to learn.

But far from the glamorous universities and labs at the city's centre, Nexus walked along the ill-tended streets at the fringes of the sprawling metropolis as she made her way home with a scowl on her face. Not that her neighbours could tell the difference between her usual scowl and today’s, extra perturbed scowl. 

The moment she stepped into the lobby of her apartment and felt the cool, temperature-controlled air hit her face, she let out a long sigh. The familiar sights of the dusty floor, the seemingly permanent ‘out of order’ sign on the secondary elevator and the ever-expanding patch of mould on the far wall were just about the only means through which she could differentiate this and every other apartment building on the black. Nexus whispered a silent thanks to the closest thing she knew to a religious figure, Joey the maintenance guy, that one of the two lifts remained operational. If given the choice between the stairs and sleeping on the crumbling bench in the lobby, Nexus would have to spend some time seriously weighing her options.

With only a brief stutter of resistance, the elevator ascended to the second floor and deposited her in the hallway to find yet another annoyance. "Great. If the heat and the taurus weren't bad enough, some ass-clown piled a bunch of boxes in front of my door!" she thought. For some reason or another, cardboard shipping boxes of varying sizes, piled six high, stood right up against the entrance to her apartment.

Without another thought, she stomped forward and delivered a swift, hard kick with a flip-flop clad foot to the side of the box mountain. Much to her chagrin, the pile barely moved. So, she took a step back and shoulder checked it with the entire, fairly insubstantial, weight of her body and this time she sent it tumbling to the floor with an appeasing clatter. She grinned down at her handiwork, hoping there was something both fragile and valuable within.

The commotion brought someone running almost immediately as a man stepped out of the open door across the hall, looking concerned. His expression promptly shifted to surprise and confusion as he spied Nexus standing over the upended pile of his belongings.

If he put on a uniform, he'd look like he walked right out of a military recruitment ad for the Federation. She thought immediately of a very large and very stupid dog. He was like a man-shaped golden retriever and just as blonde.

"Did you knock over my boxes?"

"Oops," she replied with a shrug as she reached for the keycard in her pocket.

"The hell, lady? I keep important stuff in those."

"Well then maybe you shouldn't keep 'em in front of my door." By this point, she was already daydreaming about punching him in his stupidly handsome face. Though she was pretty sure she’d break her hand on that square jaw. 

He furrowed his brow and attempted to speak up but upon noticing the cane in her hand, he suddenly became very stiff and cast his eyes toward the floor. "Uhm... Sorry," he said as he kneeled and started to gather up his things, shuffling them out of the way for her. "So that's your apartment then?"

"Yep, 37B," she said with the absolute most disinterest she could muster while jabbing a thumb toward the numbers posted behind her.

With an armful of boxes, he stood back and extended his free hand toward her. "I'm just moving in next door. I'm Parker Walsh."

Her eyes drifted back and forth between his hand and his face for several seconds. "Are you suggesting I make physical contact with you?"

"Generally speaking, an offer to shake hands with someone would imply that, yes." Yet more confusion was starting to creep into his voice.

"Ew.” Rolling her eyes, she turned, swiped her card over the electronic lock and stepped into her apartment.

"Ouch," he shot back. "Can I at least have your name?"

"Nexus," she said as she slammed the door behind her.

"There is no way that is your real name," he yelled with his lips scant inches from the door but to no response.

"Parker?" said another man, sticking his head out of the open apartment. He was thinner and less chiselled than his friend but with a sly, fox-like countenance. "What are you doing out here?"

Parker shrugged. "Neighbour girl kicked over our boxes."

"And so you quit unpacking to come out here and flirt with her?"

"Not at first."

"But you did flirt with her?"

"She didn't even give me a chance. It’s just not fair."

"My heart aches for you, brother. Now get back to work. We need everything set up by tomorrow."

"On it." With boxes in hand, he started back toward his apartment, taking one glance at the door behind him as he went. "Well then. See you around, Nex."

The moment she stepped inside her apartment and flicked on the lights, she felt her legs start to shake. She grumbled softly, finally allowing herself to wince at the constant pain she felt in her muscles and eased her body into the wheelchair lying in wait by the door.

Inside her apartment, where one might normally find furniture, decorations or just about anything, Nexus had cables, power generators and several large processors stacked against the wall. In the corner sat a desk with a pair of computers, razor-thin glass panes mounted on swivelling stands. Nexus produced a third, smaller device from inside her coat. With a few swipes on the surface, her chair wheeled itself over to the desk. Once situated, she began sliding her fingers across the dual screens and they came alive with images and information. Her eyes darting back and forth between them. Within arm's reach of her chair sat the single greatest scientific achievement of mankind, an espresso machine. The divine tool was accompanied by a mountain of discarded flavour pods, generally counting among the excessively sweet variety. Though that didn’t stop Nexus from addition several more teaspoons of those godly white granules once the machine had finished its business.

All this technology (save the espresso machine) was connected to a strange, ceiling-high object in the middle of the room. The device occupied the vast majority of the available floor-space. It appeared to be a huge mechanical ring of some kind; that stood eight feet high and across. At the moment, it was deactivated.

She looked upon the centrepiece of her chamber briefly, shook her head, and returned to her work. "Damn Zakka, always a pain in my ass."

It wasn't long before she noticed she had an update on her post on the local University forums. She wasn't exactly a student, but where else was she going to share her hypotheses?

"Oh fantastic, this idiot," she said with mock excitement when she saw who posted. "Hello, Student 681966, a man so boring he uses his student ID as his screen name." Nex skimmed over his latest dull refutation of her work and rolled her eyes. 

"Your ridiculous idea of a potential intersystem artificial intelligence program has no bearing in modern computer science. Even the most simple-minded of your species is aware that software is limited by hardware.

You persist in the idea that your entirely theoretical sub-space processor would alleviate this issue and allow a program to move freely between systems, but this has in itself a litany of issues. There is no evidence to support the idea that information can travel freely between sub-space and normal space. How do you propose such a device would maintain a fixed location within sub-space? In addition, the power requirements would be astronomical.

Fixed sub-space pockets have never been found to be a remote possibility and tests have resulted in failure, every single time. The only possible use for sub-space is point A to B travel through fixed gates."

With a guttural groan of frustration, Nexus swept a hand back through her sweat-matted hair. "This guy has no imagination."

Reclining in her chair steepling her fingers, Nex pondered the list of possible rebuttals. Everything from explaining the potential power of a flywheel energy storage system in the absolute vacuum of sub-space or reference to the sub-space tests performed by Earth scientists decades earlier that implied the possibility of direct access to sub-space beyond simple two-way passages. However, when she received a sudden response from a rather important contact, she decided to let her opposition stew for a little while.

Anxiously, she opened the message with a tap of her finger and pulled the contents up on-screen.

"I have acquired the information you requested."

That alone was all she needed to send her mind alight with fireworks. There was some more afterward about releasing the hold on the promised payments and how to contact him again. She absent-mindedly tapped out an affirmative response and delved into the attached files with all haste possible.

A few weeks ago she'd contacted someone who claimed to have worked on some classified Federation experiments performed on Pantainos. She'd been making a few inquiries about them and they had become a subject of great interest to her, even though they never got off the ground. What they were attempting to develop and why it failed is still unknown to this day, but Nexus's digging had told her that it had something to do with personal-sized sub-space gates, as opposed to the massive rings that transported ships across the galaxy.

"I was right," she muttered to herself after nearly twenty minutes of poring over the contents. "Schematics, test results, dates and locations."

She gleaned from the notes that they had managed to design a miniaturized sub-space gate, though from what she could find, it wasn't able to sustain itself before collapsing after only a few seconds. Several pages appeared to be missing, including details of who was involved and the purpose of the experiments, but all the technical data she needed was right here in these files.

Again she gazed upon the massive mechanism in the centre of her apartment, this time with new excitement and rattling nerves. She bit her lip and considered her options before giving a small nod of affirmation. "To hell with the regulator, I've got work to do."

She wheeled over to the huge ring and pushed herself out of her chair. For hours she consulted the new specifications and adjusted her machine. Multiple trips were made back and forth between the device and her computer and she went through around a dozen cups of coffee and sixty teaspoons of sugar. She scoured every crate of spare parts she had lying around (which was no small number) and the clamour of her tools filled the apartment until the early morning.

She awoke with a start around noon the next day. She had passed out in her wheelchair with a collection of her tools sprawled across her lap and around her wheels. She yawned, grumbled and rubbed the sleep from eyes shadowed by black bags.

Blinking rapidly, Nexus looked at her device, consulted the schematics and then back to the device. It was a match. Better than a match even. She felt she'd improved on the old schematics. "I did it?" She brushed back a tangle of red hair and chuckled to herself. "Of course I did it."

Still coming to, she mumbled out a few commands. "Computer, begin recording a new log now. " A small robot, not unlike an ambulatory tripod, came alive. There was a lens built into the machine’s head, which promptly veered in Nex’s direction.

She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled toward the terminal mounted at the edge of her ring-like device. "Sub-space portal NG Model-1, test 27, sans energy core regulator. Upgraded system to further compensate for the Verdricci effect. Added new subsystems to target a specific location within sub-space, based on new research documents. No more firing off randomly. Begin activation now."

Triumphantly, she punched in the key sequence to start up the machine and listened with glee as it whirred. Lights flickered on around the ring and sparks coursed across the empty space in the middle.

Staring into her would-be sub-space gate, Nexus's hands shook excitedly. "Alright UEF, let's see what you were up to."

The machine's laboured noises intensified and she could feel a charged tingle on her skin. Then, all at once, a disc of torn space appeared inside the ring, contained and stable. Her smile vanished, only to be replaced by a slack jaw and wide eyes. The sight beyond the portal sent shivers through her body and made her stomach churn. Floating in the vast emptiness of sub-space, was a cylindrical device surrounded by lifeless human corpses.

[waywardsignnsa]

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻

repost,  don’t reblog !

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

FULL NAME.    Emmalyn Ivy Anderson (Bengal later in canon) NICKNAME.   Emma GENDER.    cis female HEIGHT.     5′4 AGE. 26 ZODIAC.   Leo SPOKEN LANGUAGES.  English, French, ASL, Spanish (Hindi and Urdu later in canon)

𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

HAIR COLOR.    blonde EYE COLOR.    pale blue SKIN TONE.    white, semi tanned BODY TYPE.    semi-athletic, broader hips VOICE.   a mixture of accents that sometimes makes it hard to pinpoint the origin DOMINANT HAND.    right POSTURE.   relaxed SCARS.    circular scar to the right of her belly button from a bullet (there is an entry and exit scar) TATTOOS.  script on her left arm, script on her right arm that blends into a tattoo for her daughter, tattoo on her ribs BIRTHMARKS.    none MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S).   her eyes and smile

𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 !

PLACE OF BIRTH.    somewhere in Kansas HOMETOWN.    Southeastern Canada SIBLINGS.   David & Connor Anderson, Todd Rebane PARENTS.   Mikayla Anderson, Joey Hamilton (Steven Anderson (deceased))

𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 !

OCCUPATION.   Manager of a tattoo parlor  CURRENT RESIDENCE.  new york city, united states CLOSE FRIENDS.    Dodger, Seth, Caroline, and others I’m sure I just can’t brain RELATIONSHIP STATUS.   verse dependent (canon she is married to Caspian Bengal) FINANCIAL STATUS.    high income DRIVER’S LICENSE.   yes CRIMINAL RECORD.   in Canada she has a couple arrests VICES.   alcohol

𝐬𝐞𝐱 & 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION.   bisexual (self proclaimed ... really she’s pansexual but) PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE.    submissive |  dominant  | switch. PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE.    submissive  | dominant |  switch.   LIBIDO.   pretty high but she doesn’t partake in casual sex TURN ON’S.    good lord ... a lot but it really depends on the person cuz it changes based on who she is with. Like with her canon husband she’s highly turned on by his hands, but with another that wouldn’t be a thing.  TURN OFF’S.    being gross in general (vague I know sue me), being degrading in bed, being a selfish lover LOVE LANGUAGE.   TONS of nonverbal communication. She is VERY big on physical affection, so there is lots of touching no matter where she’s at with her s/o, small kisses, always telling her s/o she loves them before she leaves, fussing, doing lots of small things that she would come to know her s/o likes (cooking favorite meals, bringing over favorite snacks, lots of small things) RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES.  Emma takes relationships very slow for the sake of her daughter ... and for her own sanity. She has a tendency of falling hard and fast for people that she wants to be romantic with, but rarely will she ever act on that tendency until she is more certain and confident that this relationship could last. She doesn’t want a fleeting thing, she wants something that will last, somebody that will love her daughter and be in it for the long run. 

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG.  move like a soldier - Kristina Maria

HOBBIES TO PASS TIME.   cleaning, rollerblading, playing with her child, roaming the city MENTAL ILLNESSES.  depression, alcoholism  LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED.    left PHOBIAS.    SNAKES SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL.   5/10 is the true level. Puts on a 8/10 appearance VULNERABILITIES.   her daughter, the rest of her family, her friends, guilt

TAGGED BY:  @artifexed (thank you so much <3) 

TAGGING: @hcppiier @ruptorune @unearthlyxones @tribeof @nolaroots (all of your blogs) @shefell  @shesboundtolose @thekarass AND ANYBODY THAT WANTS TO LSKADJF

[gaylegohell]

paciencia y fe

Love is but a song we sing

Fear’s the way we die

You can make the mountains ring

Or make the angels cry 

California, 1960s. Joey Diaz, surfer, accidental hippie, aspiring pilot, spends the day with his best friend Calvin one last time. 

Warnings: drug use

Joe has spent the morning in the fields before taking over for his sister manning the roadside stand. His Tia Gloria tidies around him, muttering to herself and sweeping the dirt while half a dozen of his tiny cousins play some made up little game involving cowboys. It’s madness most days, having so many family in one place and never having a moment’s peace. He knows he’ll miss it.

Joe’s family had mixed reactions when he told them he had made the decision to join the conflict in Vietnam. His father was supportive. It was the good macho thing to do-- he had one older brother overseas already and the farm could manage without him. Better to have a soldier in the family than a hippie.

He doesn’t tell them he has bigger ambitions than the family farm. He doesn’t tell them he can train to be a pilot and hopefully open up as many opportunities he can get being Hispanic. He doesn’t tell them he’s going because Calvin has already been drafted.

Calvin leaves in a week and Joe is more broken up about it than he could have imagined.

They’d been fast friends since crashing into each other surfing-- literally. They both went after the same wave from opposite sides and collided inside the barrel.

Calvin was sweet and kind and dropped out of school to work the surf shack at Huntington and chase the surf from Manhattan Beach to La Jolla. He was effortlessly cool and had a pack of girls constantly at his heels. Despite that, he only ever wanted to spend time with Joe. Joe often wondered why until Calvin met him behind a rocky outcropping a month ago, tearfully telling him he had gotten drafted, and kissed him.

“Ay! Mijo! Wake up!” Tia Gloria slaps the counter in front of him, interrupting his thoughts. “Pay attention,” she frowns, gesturing to the girl waiting in front of the cash register holding a basket of strawberries and a polite smile.

“Ah, sorry. Strawberries,” Joe smiles tiredly. “30 cents please.”

---

Traffic is a breeze as he coasts down Harbor Boulevard in the rusty, beat up farm truck, SEASIDE FAMILY FARMS in peeling paint on the door, and his surfboard balanced precariously in the bed. The weather cools and the air smells of salt and fog as he drives closer to the ocean and further away from the troubles of reality. The ocean had always felt like a second home. A safe harbor.

April is quiet-- the weather is warm but the ocean is cold. Not a lot of tourists out which is just the way Joe likes it. He settles against the rocks near the pier and fumbles with lighting a cigarette against the wind. He takes a few deep drags, and watches the surf. Only a few brave souls are amongst the waves and the chop today. He wonders vaguely if Calvin is among them.

Joe slings his sack over his shoulder and decides to pick his way across the shore to the surf shack near the pier. The wind is picking up and the salt air stings his lungs. It feels good.

The beach is a little more lively near the pier, but the food and surf shacks are all quiet.

Joe’s heart flutters a little when he peeks into the surf shack and finds Calvin, leaning over a table waxing a surfboard and chewing gum. The little radio behind the cash register gives them the latest weather reports along the beaches.

“Hey Calvin,” Joe smiles. Calvin looks up from his surfboard and his freckled smile brightens the whole shop.

“Hey amigo! What’s shakin!” Calvin immediately pulls Joe in for a tight hug.

“Nothing new,” Joe smiles, “How are you? New haircut?”

Calvin’s already traded his unruly mop of blonde hair for a tidy buzzcut. It suits him, Joe thinks.

Calvin laughs. “You like it? You’re next, amigo,” he teases, ruffling Joe’s curls.

“Oh hey--let me close up shop here, wanna hang out?” Calvin asks but he doesn’t wait for an answer. In minutes the register is closed, the radio off, and the door locked with a “Gone surfin! Back in an hour!” sign taped to the front.

“You’re not out surfing today?” Joe asks. He fishes in his bag for a basket of strawberries, the lumpy misshapen ones they can’t sell at the stand. It’s a stupid waste, thinks Joe--they still taste just as sweet as the perfect ones, even if they are a little ugly. He offers some to Calvin who takes an eager handful.

“Nah,” Calvin says, “the dawn patrol swells were better. ‘Sides, I’ve been busy helping my old man get the place ready for me leaving.”

Joe nods, mouth full of strawberries.

“How’s your old man?” Calvin asks quietly. They make their way along the beach, past the tourists.

Joe shrugs. “He doesn’t talk much. Proud to have another soldier in the family I guess.”

They pause under the the pier, leaning against the cool damp posts, sucking on strawberries.

Calvin throws a stem into an oncoming wave.

“This is the stupidest thing I think you’ve ever done, Jose,” Calvin teases.

“Strawberries under the pier?”

“A hippie going to war.”

Joe frowns with mock indignation. “I’m not a— why does everyone think that?”

Calvin laughs, bright and gentle. “Look at you!” He gently tugs on Joe’s shoulder-length hair.

Joe looks down at his faded jeans and too-tight t-shirt with a cartoon strawberry saying STRAWBERRY PICKING IS FUN. “Hmm,” he frowns.

“Besides,” Calvin says, “I’ve seen your record collection.”

They stand side by side against the pillars until they finish their strawberries and the incoming tide inches towards their toes.

“You wanna come over?” Calvin asks after a few moment’s silence. He’s watching the waves, mind a thousand miles away.

Joe looks at his watch, thinks briefly about the madness waiting for him at home.

“Yeah, I do.”

--

Calvin’s house is just a short walk from the beach, a tiny bungalow where he lived with his WWII veteran father and Hawaiian mother. They were kind and easygoing and let Calvin had run of the house, and Joe loved the time he spent there, whether they were listening to records in Calvin’s room or smoking in the backyard.

Calvin’s backyard was one of Joe’s favorite places— steps off the beach, sheltered by bougainvillea and oleander bushes, an outdoor shower and a shed full of whatever surfboard projects Calvin and his dad were working on.

“You want a smoke?” Calvin asks, rifling through the shed before even waiting for Joe’s reply. It was sometimes an infuriating habit but that was Calvin-- once he had made up his mind about something that was it.

Joe settles onto the grass next to a lawn chair, stretching out his stiff legs and back. Calvin sits in the chair next to Joe and hands him a joint.

“It’s the good stuff,” Calvin assures him, ruffling his hair. Joe takes a deep drag, exhaling slowly into the sky. Calvin’s right: it is good. Calvin winks and takes a deep puff himself.

They’re lying side by side in the grass now, looking towards the sky, sharing the joint. So much of their time together was spent in comfortable silence, which Joe enjoyed.

“I worry about you,” Calvin says soft and quiet. Joe isn’t sure he heard him at first.

Joe props himself up on his elbows. “I’ll be fine, my little brothers will take care of the farm--”

“No,” Calvin interrupts. He sits up, handing the roach to Joe, “I worry about your hippie ass. You’re gonna show up looking like that,” he gestures to Joe, “and you’re in for a world of hurt.” Joe searches Calvin’s face for any hint of a joke and finds none. Calvin is serious-- a rarity for him. Joe stares at the smouldering joint in his hands. He doesn’t know what to say.

“I just…really care about you,” Calvin says. It’s practiced and careful. Joe’s eyes search Calvin’s, and finds them full of hurt and longing and worry. Joe reaches up and gives Calvin a soft pat on his knee.

Calvin quickly rubs his eyes, blinking hard and fast. “Stupid smoke,” he murmurs. “Stupid sand.”

Embarrassed, Joe looks away. He watches an emerald hummingbird hang motionless in the air above the bougainvillea, its wings a soft green blur of movement. When he shifts his body to get a better view, the tiny bird buzzes away into the dusk.

Beside him, Calvin clears his throat at last. “Well, if you’re gonna be a soldier boy, you’ll need a haircut,” Calvin smiles, trying to lighten the mood.

“Sure,” Joe smiles. He sits up, untying his bandana. “Let’s do it.”

-----

The setting sun turns the sky orange and pink as Joe sits on the lawn chair shirtless, while Calvin works away on his hair. Calvin is gentle as he untangles Joe’s hair with his fingers.

“Now be careful with my beard and mustache,” Joe says, stroking his facial hair, “I worked hard on that!”

“You’ve been working on that as long as I’ve known you,” Calvin teases.

“It’s good,” Joe insists. “Muy guapo.”

Calvin rolls his eyes.

The clippers make short work of Joe’s hair and in no time at all he’s sporting a slick new haircut. A breeze plays across his bare neck and makes him shiver.

Calvin brushes a few stray curls from Joe’s shoulder’s, eyeing him up and down. “You look

great,” he smiles, but there’s sadness behind it.

Joe quickly runs his hands across his head and shakes like a dog, sending stray hairs everywhere. It makes Calvin laugh.

“Go hit the shower, you’re a mess!”

----

The backyard is cleaned up, Joe rinsed off in the outdoor shower and drying off in the grass.

Joe and Calvin are sharing another joint and shotgunning Coke, watching the sunset. Calvin’s mom is making something delicious. But it’s getting dark, and Joe needs to go home.

“I’m gonna miss this,” Calvin says, taking a long drag from his joint before handing it to Joe. He declines, standing up and brushing the wrinkles from his jeans.  

“I’m gonna miss you too,” Joe says quietly. He playfully jabs Calvin on the shoulder. Calvin catches it and draws him in for a tight hug. Joe embraces him back.

“You know where to find me,” Calvin says, finally breaking out of their embrace after several minutes.

Joe nods. “Somewhere on the beach,” he smiles.

Calvin smiles back, his eyes wet.

“Totally.”

----

After bidding goodbye to Calvin’s parents, and giving another tearful quick kiss to Calvin, Joe hops back in his truck and drives slowly away, watching Calvin wave from the beach in his rear-view mirror.

He smokes through the rest of the pack of cigarettes with the window down-- he hates to think what his family will say when he shows up late for dinner, hair shaved, and smelling like pot. He realizes with a pang he left his favorite red bandana at Calvin’s house. Maybe Calvin would keep it for him. Joe tries to not think too hard about what the future would bring for Calvin. Or even himself, for that matter.

All he can do is go forward.

[residentgoodgirl]

It would be easy to imagine that after participating on a reality show, one either returns to television via all-star spin-offs like the Challenge or simply resumes their “normal” life. A recent article in the New York Times about Real World: New Orleans alum Preston Roberson-Charles, however, highlights the difficulties cast members can face after filming. After some of his particularly unflattering behavior made air, he received a lot of negative feedback — but more importantly, his mistakes were now searchable online. The digital footprint of his time on the show made it almost impossible for him to find a job, leaving him homeless for two years. While an extreme example, his story did not surprise me; as a former cast member on the MTV reality show circuit, I have seen dozens of participants experience similar consequences after their time in the spotlight.

At 18 years old, I was cast on The Real World’s sister show, Road Rules, and ultimately participated in seven seasons of MTV reality programs. For me, a white, perky blonde, the show provided an income, adventure, and (mostly) positive attention. Most of my seasons were filmed before the rise of social media, and I largely avoided being GIFed and memed. Participants who are portrayed as aggressive, promiscuous, or villainous, however, can struggle upon returning to their life, leaving them caught in the strange state of being semi-famous, yet alone. And people who lack financial resources or misbehave on the show (at the not-so-subtle behest of producers) are often forced to choose between entering the cycle of reality appearances or risk financial devastation. We don’t hear the stories of reality TV trauma, though, unless they end up in a “Where Are They Now?” listicle or their mugshot or death announcement makes it onto TMZ.

Some cast members experience financial woes, health issues, professional frustrations, and substance abuse relating to their appearance on television, and are left with few resources to handle the challenges (no pun intended). This is particularly true for people of color, LGBT folks, and women on the shows who are often portrayed as accessories to the main event, while the white, straight, cis men are heralded as the shows’ unofficial heroes and mascots.

—

The mythology of reality tv begins with Mary-Ellis Bunim, the executive producer of soap operas like As the World Turns, teaming up with news producer Jon Murray who pitched a documentary-style program by promising, “[Producers] were not going to step in. We will chronicle what happens to [the cast].” The mix of soap opera drama with documentary voyeurism was a hit.

The Real World made a name for itself as a groundbreaking documentary series, both in its inclusion of people from underrepresented groups and its unflinching portrayal of controversial subjects including abortion, gay rights, and racism. The early seasons included the show’s signature drama, but seemed to have a higher cultural purpose. The creation of its competition spinoff coupled with the mainstream success of Survivor and other series changed the tone and direction of the franchise. Producers felt the pressure, and cast members paid the price.

Producers control every aspect of the filming environment, and when they perceive a lull in the action, they accuse us of being boring and “not making the most of the experience” — which is code for: “Do something interesting.” These implicit directives lead to fights, hookups, and bullying among the cast.

When placed in an environment where bad behavior is incentivized, cast members often exhibit unsavory behavior, and the magic of editing exaggerates the high-intensity personalities. If the behavior is scandalous enough there can be consequences in terms of professional viability and personal relationships in real life, but those concerns seem insignificant from inside the bubble. Additionally, cast members receive mixed signals regarding their behavior. Contracts include punishments for violence, yet the physical and verbal fights that arise are used to promote the show. Furthermore, violent cast members are often invited to return for subsequent seasons. What is punished in the moment is often rewarded in the long run.

Much of the drama, violence, and sexual activity on The Real World and The Challenge results from heavy on-set alcohol consumption. Producers forbid the use of recreational items like books, phones, computers, playing cards, and crossword puzzles, but they provide virtually unlimited amounts of alcohol, which creates a frat-house atmosphere that naturally acts as a lubricant for hookups and other shocking antics. This party lifestyle isn’t restricted to the house, however, as high-profile cast members are sometimes paid thousands of dollars to do “bar and club appearances” after their show airs.

Nate Blackburn, who appeared on The Real World: Seattle, claims his wild on-camera persona as the life-of-the party bled into his real life. He felt pressure from fans to be an exaggerated version of himself off the air, which led him into years of drug addiction and alcoholism. “Drinking and being funny and just being wild was my identity from of the show, and people knew that,” Blackburn says. He also describes a deep insecurity that he would hide with drugs and alcohol. “I felt like if people really knew who I was, they wouldn’t like me…so I had to put on that mask.” Blackburn eventually got clean, and now works full-time helping other people get sober.

Not all cast members are as lucky as Blackburn, however, as the deaths of Joey Kovar (The Real World: Hollywood) and Ryan Knight (The Real World: New Orleans) demonstrate. Kovar told the Chicago Tribune that part of the reason he was cast on the show was because of his “honesty about using drugs and partying,” which raises questions about the ethics of such a casting decision. Knight also struggled with addiction, and ultimately died of an accidental overdose after filming Season 26 of the Challenge. According to a source quoted in the Boston Herald, ‘“He felt stuck, like he was just waiting for the next Challenge.”’

The system of recycling the cast members like Knight who provide the best (and most scandalous) storylines encourages the individuals with the fewest resources in real life to misbehave as a means of job security. The “all-star” re-casting process occurs on numerous competitive reality shows like Survivor, The Bachelor, Top Chef, and RuPaul’s Drag Race, and if participants see reality television as their only potential income, they are more likely to behave in a way that will ensure future invitations. That behavior is also what makes it more difficult for them to thrive in the (real) real world, creating a vicious cycle.

The producers of these shows are also under pressure to stand out in an ever-growing sea of entertainment (reality tv and otherwise), so they must continuously up the ante to ensure “the most dramatic rose ceremony ever” or “the most difficult final challenge.” To create drama, producers often push cast members to their physical and emotional breaking point.

The physical challenges, while exhilarating and potentially financially rewarding, have their drawbacks, and they leave many participants with injuries that extend beyond filming. In the last few Challenge seasons alone there have been broken bones, a ruptured spleen, dislocated fingers, and one person was knocked unconscious, fell 30 feet into water, and was filmed floating lifeless until he was pulled out and taken to the hospital (this was used as a promotional clip for several weeks before airing). “Minor” injuries are treated with ibuprofen and eyerolls from some producers who refer to contestants who request care as “high maintenance.” The “perfect” injury requires an ambulance (great for on-air suspense), but doesn’t result in a lawsuit or death. Less severe injuries interfere with production, but don’t provide story.

One participant who experienced a life-changing injury was Tim Beggy, who originally appeared on the second season of Road Rules and returned for several seasons of the Challenge. Beggy was an accomplished marathoner, triathlete, and Ironman competitor. That all ended, however, after a Challenge elimination round gone wrong. He was placed in a enclosed triple-pane glass box suspended in the air and, to win that week’s challenge, had to punch his way out faster than his opponent. Beggy explains, “I don’t believe the game was tested properly…because as the broken glass piled up, it chewed through the ‘protective’ gear, and turned my knees and patellar tendons into hamburger meat. For up to a year later, I would get large bumps on my knees, pop them, and glass would come out. I went from a guy running marathons to the old man limping from one ill-fated Inferno.”

For many, however, the worst pain is not physical, with many cast members experiencing emotional and psychological difficulties related to their time on television. I am among the many who was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety due to my time on the show and a violent encounter with a cast member off-set. My psychologist equated the experience of filming the show to the Stanford Prison Experiment, which explored questions of power, torture, and relationships using unethical means. But because television shows are under no obligation to be ethical, the methodology of their social experiment is designed to create the same effects without concern for the well-being of the participants. Other cast members have experienced PTSD as well, and Frank Sweeney (Real World: San Diego) sought counseling after the show (an option less available for cast members from lower socio-economic backgrounds) and said coming off the roller coaster of tv created a “complex post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Beyond addiction, injuries, and mental health concerns, cast members encounter logistical difficulties. Some legally changed their names, others paid to have their Google search results scrubbed, and many avoid social media in an effort to regain control of their lives, careers, and identities. Some were told by potential employers that they were not hired because they appeared on the show. In an age of branding, many companies don’t want to be associated with “trashy” tv stars. I was told I was rejected from a law school despite having competitive scores and credentials, because my presence would be a distraction to the other students and would “lessen the credibility” of the institution.

Reality creators often frame the experience as an “opportunity” for participants and a “springboard” to bigger and better things. Unfortunately, for many of us, it’s a springboard into an empty pool. At best, our time in the spotlight becomes a story we’re forced to retell at cocktail parties. But having an edited version of your best and worst moments on national television can leave some participants vulnerable to financial and emotional ruin. For many of your favorite tv “characters,” things don’t truly start “getting real” until they are home picking up the pieces of the reality wreckage without a camera crew to document it.

The casual viewer may imagine that being on a reality show is just a parenthetical aside within the larger story of someone’s regular life — a brief, if exciting, pause from the narrative, from which you can quickly resume normalcy. The truth is that these experiences are our real life. They aren’t separate. We form relationships and rivalries and experience pain and redemption, and it’s all on the public stage. People aren’t interested in listening to z-listers bellyache about the difficulties of being famous for nothing, but the reality (!) is that producers and networks get rich off the personal narratives of the casts then leave them worse off than they found them. We become your memes and gifs while we’re being diagnosed with PTSD and filing for bankruptcy. Your guilty pleasure is our literal reality, and it’s unseemly to whine about the price we pay — even if the experience leaves us broke and broken. As it turns out, fifteen minutes of fame can be expensive.

[jamesgalgano]

TIS ONCE WAS US, BUT NO MORE

This once was us, but no more

By james a. galgano

I met my love at an old backyard party one summer’s night

At first glimpse I gravitated to her eccentric nature blond beauty unrepentant

After party we rode together in front of truck with friend

We argued lightly on various topics but there was no pretending I was intrigued

By her attitude and assertiveness which at ghat time was a welcome sight

Though we never met for a \while after that she remained forever on my mind

Until we met again at my brother’s party in is rental backyard in Scottsdale

Where I invited her to concert to see doctor john at Celebrity theatre in Phoenix flight

There we found we shared in discussion same dreams and tears through past years

After the concert we were driven to my brothers place where for the first time I kissed her face

But she said she needed to go home we took her where I kissed her again goodnight

I returned to my brothers to sleep when a knock on his door revealed her welcomed grace

That’s when I knew I loved her until the end of time of which h we will never replace

After this encounter we moved in together with my cousin Joey and three other men

I slept in the living room donna in the master bedroom my area separated by drapes

With three months we were together inseparable and pronounced our love for each other true

We devoted ourselves to each other as young lovers are supposed and usually do

We plotted our paths and future each and every night secure in each other’s loving heart

Until we moved to small cottage in back of trailer park beneath shade trees in Tempe

There we spent years in bliss together I going to college dish washing, she worked in factory

I sold lids and psychedelics to make ends meet one perk was they also bought my art so sweet

When government charged in taxes. we decided to marry reluctantly to get money for bills

Though both atheists married by a judge my mother paid him to put gods name in his speech

We both endured through our laughter which continued through reception at parent’s place

Where we partied with her love in my arms, I found my love at last forever and kissed her face

Then I was injured on job needing operation due to hernia received operation by Nixon’s doctor

Shaved below by gay orderly who foolishly professed his love for me. I did not reply

For the next years I recovered and watched time drift by upon queen sized bed she beside me

Day and night until my fool recovery and I searched again for new job for what seemed eternity

Obtaining numerous jobs whose disappearance arose, when I was complete

This dragged on with opportunities my brother provided for more than any other ever paid me

She even joined in when she was off from her job in factory until she was accepted to A.S.U.

Then obtained there also a secretary, soon after i became film library tech also there until 1982

When she told me, she was pregnant we talked about it and agreed to do what she wished

But they told us time to abort expired unless we could go here there was nothing, they could do

That is when I promised her to do anything to care this new life soon to be our son, Godot

We diligently practiced for natural childbirth for this day of deliverance to come true

We went and saw ‘Reds” with a friend after we were dropped off her water broke

Our friend took us to hospital where natural childbirth was not possible they afterhours said

I brought camera to save precious moment in time but stopped watching c-section performed

Transfixed upon the moment our son was born finally one January 11th morn it was raining

I grew more in love with her devoted my life to ensure my son would have every opportunity

Gave up my higher education to get custodian job to pay for bills and benefits for all eternally

But we needed assistance and invited girl who worked with us to join us moving to new place

In hopes we could get wife through college as she obtained more important paying job soon

We with the new income we were able to secure better care for our son while we both worked

And she continued her education to be what she wanted I became Union Rep then President

Together we built the union we three together with diligence to include all wanting protection

We inundated the university with ads to join with offers of beer and insurrection

More employees left or right joined from professors to groundskeepers and guardians like me

She and our roommate were able to sign up those never dreamed all wanting protections

By 1988 our efforts grew the union but unfortunately complications arose because of my desire

Wife began to shrug off care for son I made foolish decision to do all to save our kingdom come

That I saw when my affair with our roommate begun at first quiet and discreet

My love I still belonged to woman I was married to but was driven by desire and devotion

To this young woman’s assistance and devotion while I was under fire for my activism directed

Upon all the wrongs every employee at this university now faced without our voice sought

With new-found support love and devotion, I moved our union forward to 21st century

But we were all threatened by our unios actions we pushed to include all university employees

Because our union local was only one to promote racist governors recall then to impeach

For our efforts we were harassed and driven to leave to san Francisco where she was employed

Fortuitously together we three chose to move to san Francisco bay close by the sea

There together turned to politics to elect Jesse Jackson, then Michael Dukakis where we lived

We took one precinct and drove all whop needed rides to polling place until all voted

Our precinct received highest vote totals due collective vigilance togetherness insured success

Then there was the earth quake my son and I were at world series game that night

The earthquake took hold of our life as my son and I witnessed the city under duress

Together we travelled by bus to get home through each filled bus on our way we saw

Human nature at its best and in the raw then we were forced to leave by landlord’s, avarice

First to Pacifica, San Bruno then all hell broke loose our roommate became sexual predator

Her sexual intent for my wife heaven sent, I chose we separate from that torment and pain

We forcibly removed her from our love without need to explain hurt she caused now forever Leaving us alone now never before again together behind heaven’s door we never knew

Waiting renewal of love which never showed its face now where we did reside alone together Alas, the die had been cast our love for each other did not last for my foolishness and crimes

Still, we remained in love together as if it would last for all time until you left me heart and soul

Leaving me once more to find one true love who would love me as you once forever tried

But realizing all I have done to keep us together tore us apart from what we knew our love true

That’s the moment you left me forever though I never left you now your love still forever mine

But I was left alone forever without her love ever again mine she left for another I never knew

Where we remain alone together with a love, we longed for but alas never knew

That is how my love now remains here alone you are lost with no other now so true

Where my love is lost searching for one true other to nbe the same my life and lover

[aion-rsa]

Supergirl Finds Her Voice and Nia Finds Her Power

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This SUPERGIRL article contains spoilers for Season 6, Episode 10, “Still I Rise.”

Supergirl Season 6 Episode 10

This episode felt simultaneously packed and like it barely moved along. Suddenly Nia, Nyxly and Orlando’s stories were all off to the races at once, and with Supergirl’s journey using her public platform as the main thread, there’s still so much left to cover. It felt like a possible backlash against Supergirl may have been left on the cutting room floor, and it was never really clear if that veggie promo went viral in a good way or a bad way, because every time someone mentioned it their reactions were cut short.

In a welcome move, Orlando and Joey’s story continues. In something of a meta commentary, Supergirl’s writers have figured out that if they’re going to tackle a series of systemic issues, it’s better to filter them through the same pair of siblings over the course of a few episodes, rather than packing in new backstory and trying to get us to care about new people each week. And unfortunately, it’s all too real that folks who have interacted with one of these systems (foster care, prison) have had touchpoints with others (affordable housing, eviction, gentrification, recidivism).

The show’s take on housing rights is fairly sophisticated, in that it involves the concept of low-income housing for returned citizens, a critique of gentrification, and the impact that housing can have on many other aspects of life, from recidivism to family reunification, e.g. Orlando’s quest to get Joey out of the system. Kara’s arc here is a bit of Allyship for Dummies, but it’s a vast improvement over the previous episode, and there are probably still plenty of people who need to hear lines like “my voice isn’t what’s needed right now,” “sit with your discomfort,” and “maybe I step aside and give my platform to someone else.”

It is a bit weird that this activism is coming top-down from Supergirl – realistically, no community development project like this would have unanimous approval – but at least in this episode, the writers clearly know it. People of color who actually live in that neighborhood hopped on that livestream and let Supergirl know exactly how they felt about a blonde alien telling them what’s best for them. Ultimately that community discrepancy (and that all-white city council) weren’t addressed, but it seems like Supergirl will be staying with Orlando and Joey’s story for a while, so perhaps we’ll be hearing more about that.

Supergirl adroitly brings back one of the alien “zookeepers” from the flashback episodes. Back then, Brainy, Nia, Kara, Alex and their high school friends took on Mitch and Naxim, eventually sending them right into a DEA trap in South America. Here, the pair have split, and one half of the delinquent duo teams up with Nyxly, whom he catches in the hopes of impressing his former compatriot so that they can start up the menagerie again. She then charms her way into working with him to set a trap for Supergirl.

It must also be noted that Kelly’s journey toward Guardian continues to be strong, and her training sequences are even stronger. It’s great to see Kelly continued to be tied into the rest of the stories and her buddy cop vibe with Kara is wonderful. As you were, Dansen.

As far as Nia’s deal with the devil – or an imp, as the case may be – it seems a offsides for Nyxly to add multiple conditions after the fact. Omitting her bad blood with Supergirl is expected from a character who always keeps her deals and sticks to the letter of the law, but leaving out the fact that Nia won’t be able to leave the room or communicate with anyone outside of it is pushing it. Mxy would never.

Nia’s time with her mother brought about some long-overdue lessons about interpreting her dreams and, more importantly, being true to herself. The vision Nia had about Maeve was a tough one, and I’m glad her mother referred to it as grief. Nia lost her sister to Maeve’s transphobia and in addition to the pain of Maeve’s mistreatment, there’s also the real loss of her sister to mourn, and the way Nia made herself small in the hopes that it would somehow convince her sister to work through her own issues. I expect we’ll see some sort of reunion between the two sisters, though I’m wary – Nia doesn’t have anything to apologize for, and she isn’t obligated to welcome her sister back into her life, either.

Almost immediately, Isobel told Nia key pieces of information: never exit a dream in fear, and there are no distractions in the dream realm because everything has meaning. Considering Nia ends almost every dream by waking up stressed out, thank goodness she got to see her mother, even if it came at a price. Hopefully what she learned will kick-start her development even further. Nia repelled Nyxly using very strong power – possibly stronger than she knew she had? She certainly surprised the imp. It will be interesting to see where Nia goes from here. We know from Brainy that she is far more powerful than she even realizes, so hopefully we get to see some of that soon.

In a refreshing surprise, Kara applied her life lessons about supporting formerly incarcerated folks and the various factors that lead to recidivism to Mitch, rather than keeping the sociopolitical lesson bound to one plot. Few superhero shows have examined their role in the carceral system, with the Flash creating his own private prison for meta humans and Oliver Queen’s interest in prison reform drying up rather quickly after he returned home himself. With a character like Mitch, it would be easy to keep things light and fluffy. Instead, Supergirl used time travel to show the long view of recidivism and the fallacy of prison-as-rehabilitation, in the space of just a few episodes.

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On the bright side, we can all look forward to the return of Mxyzptlk!

The post Supergirl Finds Her Voice and Nia Finds Her Power appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2X1SY5b

[writerleo86]

Armor Champions Super R - Episode 161 (Do Not Copy)

   Inside an old cave underneath the ruins of the enemy's hideaway, the three champions -- Billy, Carla, and Desoto -- confronted a foe from the latter's past.

   Desoto of the BlackShadow pointed his right finger to the enemy as he reported "Dis is da bastard dat ruined Joe's life over-and-over!"

   The cowboy lowered his head as he asked "Ain't dat right, Kyle Troi?"

   The white-haired warrior now revealed as Kyle Troi gave out a sinister smile as Billy of the IceDome informed Carla of the GoldenGrail "Joey's ex. That answers how he knows the same abilities as Joey."

   Troi explained "Agis Basileus came to me out of the blue. Once I heard about this Angel of the New, I wanted in. I provided not only weaponry, but the science behind what has made us invincible."

   "You used your poisons..." Carla implied. "...to learn about everything from the Golden Eye of Hypnos to the boy that had the blood with its remains intact."

   After everything was revealed, Billy gave out a quick chuckle and responded.

   "You're an idiot if you think Joey will go back to worthless worms like you."

   Carla turned to the boy in blue armor who stood at her left side.

   She thought "What is wrong with you? This is not the boy I met at the cookie shop."

   Then the girl in yellow armor faced forward as she thought "This is a cruel and unbalanced version. What happened to the Billy these people loved and admired?"

   She finally gave out a shocked look.

   "Could it be?" She cried.

Carla's thoughts:

In a dark room filled with large shelves of books, the courageous Jede of the CosmicFire ran toward the opponent Sir Laiyun as he carried his long red katana.

As he was close, Jede took the cover off the sharp red blade. Then he swung the blade to his enemy. The entire body of Laiyun had split into two halves and they created a large explosion.

During this, the smoke had brushed into the blue eyes of the champion, Billy of the IceDome.

   After that, the girl held her right hand over her heart and stared at Billy of the IceDome with fear in her eyes.

   "No!" She cried. "That explains his outbursts. This trait... This vicious trait came directly from him!"

   Desoto of the BlackShadow turned to her and asked "Wat's goin' on Carla? Why so gloomy?"

   And Carla told Billy "Stand down!"

   Billy turned to her and the frightened Carla backed two steps away.

   "Stay out of this, Carla!" Billy yelled in anger.

   "Wat da hell Man?" Desoto questioned. "Da hell's yer problem?"

   "Desoto!" Carla cried. "Move away quick!"

   Desoto turned to her once again and asked "Da hell's goin' on?"

   "Look at his eyes Desoto!" Carla directed.

   Then Desoto faced Billy once again. And the cowboy in black armor stood in awe.

   "Wat's dis?" He cried.

   The color of Billy's eyes had turned from a peaceful blue to a gloomy black.

   "We need to get Billy out of here at once!" warned Carla. "If I am right, we are in real danger!"

Armor Champions Super R -- Episode 161:  The Fallen Angel Arc -- The Wrath of the Fallen One

   "Hey!" Troi yelled. "Eyes up here! I'm not finished with you, Desoto. In fact, I just started!"

   And Desoto told him "Shut ur hole! I'm gettin' to ya in a minute!"

   "What?" The enemy cried. "Do I look like chopped liver to you or something?"

   A black wave soon rose from Billy as he stared at Troi.

   "Lay one hand on my friend!" Billy yelled. "And I will KILL YOU!"

   Desoto slowly backed away as he asked "Wat's goin' on wit' ya Billy?"

   "It's Laiyun!" Carla informed the cowboy. "He might have transferred his essence into Billy!"

   "Laiyun?" questioned Desoto. "Ya mean da old guy Kaballa beat back at dat big balloon? How?"

   And Carla said "Sometimes a dark wizard is able to place his aura into a host's body. I am certain that was what Laiyun did once he was vanquished by Jede."

   "No way!" cried Desoto. "Dat's why Billy's been like dis? He's gonna turn out like dat old bag?"

   "I cannot be sure," answered Carla. "It is possible. That is why we must get Billy to withdraw from this battle. He will indeed kill if threatened."

   The black aura around Billy's body grew larger as the area began to shake.

   At the ruins of the hideaway, the other champions led by Jede of the CosmicFire had felt the entire ground shake as well.

   "What is this?" questioned Relena of the CosmicFire. "An earthquake?"

   "No," Joey of the EnergyTree implied. "That's not it!"

   "He's right," replied Gei of the RedPlanet. "This is no quake. I can feel a strange power nearby."

   "Truly?" asked Nina of the GreatRose.

   "No way!" cried Jede of the CosmicFire.

   "I feel this ki as well," Kody of the HardRock described. "And I have never felt anything like it before."

   Then Aaron of the SilverLight wrapped himself with his arms and cried in fear "This power. It feels just as cold as the one we are fighting. But this... It is also vengeful and more destructive."

   And Jede asked "Could it be coming from where Billy, Carla, and Desoto are fighting the other foe?"

   The scared Aaron lowered his head as he continued to feel the evil ki.

   "This power..." He cried. "This power is as dangerous as Azazel. We must all stay alert!"

   The clueless Nemo held the head of his father's body as he looked into the sky.

   "What is that?" He cried. "It is scary! A chilling force is out there!"

   Inside the cave, the possessed Billy faced the questioned Troi with a wicked smile on his face.

   Billy began to chant "Polgoleszhunta, Polgoleszhunta, Polgoleszhunta!"

   Parts of the earth rose as both Carla and Desoto watched in horror. Next, a large wave of wind blew from Billy to the enemy Troi who held his wrists to his face.

   "What is going on?" Troi yelled. "I have never felt a strong and demented power like this?"

   Second, Billy spread his arms out as he looked up. And he slowly stepped forward as large balls of black fire flew from him to his opponent.

   "What is this guy?" cried a feared Troi.

   The black-eyed Billy faced the enemy once again with an wicked grin as small specs of white lightning came from his body along with more balls of fire.

   "BILLY!" Carla screamed. "STOP!"

   "Why, Carluko?" Billy asked in a soft voice. "Why should I stop when I have just begun to play?"

   The determined Desoto of the BlackShadow hurried as he yelled "STOP IT BILLY!"

   And a large explosion began to vaporize the whole cave.

   Minutes later, the smoke began to clear.

   "DESOTO!" Carla screamed. "BILLY!"

   The smoke finally faded and Carla stared forward.

   "What?" She cried.

   The demented Billy was held by the arms of a caring but different Desoto. His body was muscular than before as his eye were green instead of blue. His hair was a lighter blond and in spikes. And a fiery golden energy had surrounded his entire body.

   He held onto his friend Billy as a calm Desoto said "I got ya Pal. Let it out."

   The black aura surrounding Billy slowly faded as he cried "Let me do this! Let me kill him Desoto! I can end this!"

   "Is he?" Carla questioned. "Is Desoto? Has he transformed into a Super-Kainobi like Billy and Aaron?"

   The golden energy continued to rise as Desoto held the destructive Billy in his arms.

   And the eased cowboy said "It's okay. Feel my glow, Billy. Get dat damn power outta you."

   The black aura finally disappeared as the boys lowered to their knees. Tears soon came from his black eyes as Billy stared at his friend in fear. Then Billy wrapped his arms around Desoto's waist. And his eyes had returned to blue as Billy began crying.

   Desoto turned back to normal and continued to hold Billy. A relieved Carla walked toward them with her hands together.

   "What's happening to me?" cried Billy.

   And he leaned his head onto Desoto's chest.

   "We'll figure it out," Desoto told him. "You'll be okay."

   "What about Troi?" Carla responded. "He escaped when the explosion happened."

   "It's fine," Desoto answered. "Billy scared dat bastard off. I'm sure we ain't gonna see him no more."

   "Do you believe that?" asked Carla.

   Desoto faced her and thought for a moment. Then he responded "He better. Troi ain't a sucker. He knows he's beat."

   At the ruins, the other champions continued to watch the merciless Azazel who floated at the other side along with his servant Agis Basileus.

   "Whatever had happened over there seems to be finished," reported Kody of the HardRock.

   Aaron of the SilverLight blew out a large breath as his right hand was on his chest. And he said "That's a relief."

   The emotionless Azazel continued to wait as Basileus reported "No message has come from him. But this is Troi I speak of. Perhaps he decided to play a quiet game with the three meddlesome lambs."

   He stared at the remaining heroes and responded "And it appears the lambs here have not decided on a move against you, Milord."

   Then the undead aristocrat gave out a soft chuckle and implied "It is possible that they all have gathered that there is nothing to do but to let God set this course, with due respect."

   Suddenly, Azazel folded his arms on his chest as his eyes closed. He soon spread his arms apart and a barrage of silver energy in the form of feathers launched from his eight wings.

   The champions began to see the swarm of feathers flying toward them and Joey of the EnergyTree called "Incoming!"

   Kody of the HardRock hurried before his team and began striking many of the projectiles one-by-one using the front end of his long blue staff which emitted orange energy.

   Meanwhile, Relena of the CosmicFire blew a barrage of small pink fire from her palms which burned the rest of the enemy's projectiles.

   "You must all stay focused!" Jede informed his team. "We have no idea of what he plans to use next. We should attack from this range, and only this range."

   "Not a problem!" Joey told him. "Long range is my specialty after all!"

   Second, Nina of the GreatRose blew an even larger stream of purple gas from her mouth to the villains. As a cloud formed around the team of Azazel and Basileus, Joey of the EnergyTree fired an arrow of yellow energy from his bow.

   "Dead Silence..." He whispered. "Annihilate!"

   And the projectile created a large explosion once it reached the ghastly barrier.

   Next, Aaron of the SilverLight formed a globe of silver energy around each hand. He threw his fists forward and blew a barrage of small energy balls into the explosion.

   "Light Release..." He yelled. "Great Heaven's Wrath!"

   A pair of small orbs resembling suns spiraled clockwise around the front of the champion in mahogany armor -- Gei of the RedPlanet.

   "Scorch Release..." He called. "Twin Rotating Tears!"

   And the energy orbs flew into the explosion as well.

   The swift Basileus flew out and floated by the left side of the large smoke.

   "Why you insignificant pups!" He yelled. "The lot of you would be wise to yield instead of signing your names into a death seal!"

   Before he was able to attack, four small balls of purple energy fired at Basileus.

   "What the devil?" He yelled.

   Basileus dodged every projectile by performing pirouette spins. Then he spotted his attacker -- Desoto of the BlackShadow. The cowboy in black armor appeared to him from a quick flash and punched the left side of the undead warrior's face using his right fist that emitted black energy.

   "Take dat Bastard!" Desoto yelled.

   Basileus was finally launched like a rocket into the ground.

   Another champion -- Billy of the IceDome -- appeared at the other side of the large smoke. He formed a large ball of silver energy from his palms and blew the projectile at the target as a blue light was emitted.

   "Ice Release..." Billy yelled. "Silver Wolf's Howl!"

   Carla of the GoldenGrail flew to Billy's left side and and fired a large ball of silver light that was surrounded by blue energy.

   "Light Release..." She called. "White Heron Strike!"

   And another explosion happened in the sky.

   Aaron of the SilverLight flew down to his leader and asked "Do you think we got him? Or put a dent on him at least?"

   Jede of the CosmicFire placed his palms forward as he told his teammate "I wish it were easy as you put it."

   Then he formed a diamond using the fingers on both hands and blew out long spears of dark fire from his mouth after he shouted "Breeding Chaos Scatter!"

   After spreading out his hands, leaves made of green energy whirled around Joey's right hand as he turned clockwise. And he blew the stream of leaves toward the explosion.

   "Lightning Release..." He whispered. "Wintergreen Hurricane!"

   Aaron of the SilverLight rose his hands as a globe of silver energy formed around each hand. And he threw his fists forward which blew out a barrage of small silver balls.

   "Great Heaven's Wrath!" He called.

   Billy of the IceDome held his hands forward and blew a medium ball of blue energy that was followed by a blue light.

   "White Timber's Eyes!" He yelled.

   Lots of sand rose around Kody of the HardRock from the ground. The sand soon formed into a large sphere of orange energy. And a long projectile of the same energy fired from the sphere.

   "Earth Release..." Kody yelled. "Atomic Flow Technique!"

   Another explosion took place at the area which formed into a thick fog.

   After the smoke slowly cleared, the team found their enemy Azazel standing at the same place with burned feathers falling from his long wings.

   "As I replied earlier," Jede told his team. "I wish that this was easy."

   "Look at that!" Relena cried. "No dent on him at all!"

   "At least not his body," Joey reported. "Parts of his wings had turned black!"

   "He got burned!" Desoto yelled. "Dat's good right?"

   More feathers fell from his wings as Azazel watched every champion while he didn't display any emotion.

   "How are we going to beat this guy?" asked Gei.

   Billy lowered his head and yelled "Shit! Is he even mortal?"

   A disgusted Carla turned her face to the right side and asked "Is there something else we can do?"

   "We should think of a plan while we still can," Nina implied. "The demon grows stronger at every second."

   "Now we know why all the deities had kept him caged," Aaron responded. "Azazel is too dangerous to ignore."

   "I cannot understand this," cried Kody. "We all received this new power from the lady Mystic. We are supposed to be stronger than before. But how is it that neither of us cannot penetrate this menace?"

   "Dis shit ain't right!" yelled Desoto. "We got did power for nothin'?"

   Joey lowered his head as Carla implied "We were all given these powers for a reason. I know that there is something we haven't tried. We just need to find out what."

   "Perhaps..." Jede informed them. "Maybe we should exercise what I have said for so long."

   "You mean working as a team?" asked Relena.

   "Maybe Blaze is on to something," said Joey..

   "Wat?" cried Desoto.

   Joey turned to his cousin who stood by his right side. And the boy in green armor responded "I think Jede's saying that we should give our powers to him."

   "Wait!" Aaron replied. "That may work. We used that attack against other enemies and succeeded."

   "What attack?" questioned Gei.

   Then Kody explained.

   "If we were to lend our powers to him, Jede may be able to finish this enemy by using a great attack with his sword."

   "What do you all think?" asked Jede.

   "Is that possible with this guy?" questioned Aaron.

   "It's worth a try," said Billy. "We give our energy to Jede. And Jede blasts the enemy to outer space. I'm game."

   "There are seven of us," Kody told Jede. "Perhaps this plan may either work or give us time. We must try something."

   "I'm convinced," said Relena.

   And Gei said "Make that nine."

   "We shall help," Nina told the team. "Receiving energy from the nine of us should be more than sufficient."

   "Cool!" Desoto cheered. "We got da A team wit' us!"

   The calm Jede faced the malicious Azazel and told his team "With the powers from the nine of you, I may be able to give some amount of damage to the Devil Incarnate at least."

   He soon gave out a confident smile and said "Or we may at once vanquish him. But we only can do this together, as a group."

   After that, the nine champions had made a circle around him as Jede of the CosmicFire took out his long red katana. Jede slowly uncovered the shining blade of the weapon from its cover as the others joined hands. And the team closed their eyes as Jede held the sword with both hands.

   Jede praised "By the help of Lady Mystic and the other deities... I hope for this plan to work."

[b0blegum]

Game On (a request)

Author: b0blegum

Pairing: Monsta X x Reader (or more to Minhyuk x Reader too)

Rating: PG!

WARNING: Bullying

Genre: fluff?

Status: more than 1 part possible

Okay, it is a requested fic. I was at first really confused on how to make a bullying story, so again, i changed plot more than five times lmao and ended up with this one, which i think the most proper to be published.

And since i already write the trigger warning for this fic, i hope those who are underage and easily triggered with any forms of bullying will scroll this post through and enjoy yourself looking at silly videos or photos of our boys, Monsta X.

Hope you like it!

“You okay?” The blonde haired guy on the screen worriedly asked when he noticed something in your upper arms.

“Of– course. Why did you even ask, Hyukkie?” You awkwardly laughed. Not to him, but to yourself.

“That. I saw… your upper arm. That’s not you experimenting with make up again, isn’t it?” He brought his face closer to the camera.

“N–o. Why would I put make up on my arm, you silly?” Subtly, you tried to hide the blueish-purple mark he meant by rubbing it.

“Well, you did do that on your thigh, once.” He answered quickly.

“That’s for halloween, for God’s sake, Minhyuk.”

“Whoa– no need to be angry, (y/n)! I’m just saying.” He chuckled. “I remembered. Completely that it was for halloween, even though you ended up staying at the dorm, right?” You rolled your eyes at him and flattened your lips.

“Yes.” You answered lazily. “Oh, by the way, Minhyuk. Can we talk again later? I am soo hungry that I really need to eat something.”

“What time is it there?” The blonde looked like he’s looking at the small numbers on the upper right side of his laptop. “Here’s 1 pm so there must be–“

“Eight.” You saw him your cute Gudetama bedside clock. “How many time do I have to say this, Grandpa? I am 17 hours behind. I am from the past. You’re from the future.” You joked.

“Stop calling me grandpa, will you!” He scoffed. “You’re the one who always forgot about everything, including my birthday, which I have it every year.” He teased.

“Whatever, Minhyuk.” Rolling your eyes, you lowered the screen a bit. “Alright. I really have to go. Bye for now?”

“Bye, (y/n). I miss you!” The boy smiled brightly, but you just replied him with a short by before closing your laptop screen.

Sighing deeply, you looked at the reflection of yourself on the mirror you placed next to the door. A horrible mark that was too visible to anyone not to notice, took your attention.

“Concealer won’t help anymore.” You lulled your head back as you rubbed the still stinging bruise.

Breaking the silence in your dorm room, your phone vibrated. It was a text from your bestest best-friend, Lee Minhyuk. The blonde guy who just hung up on you on Skype.

What’re you cooking? Suddenly I feel hungry… but Kihyun is not home L

You closed your eyes for a couple of second, leaving the chat unreplied before you scrolled through your photos, looking for an old cooking picture to send it to him.

[PIC_1312]

There u go. The usual. The quickest. Because I have group meeting in an hour.

The chat was immediately read by him and in no second, a new chat is coming in.

Again?? Are you not fed up eating spaghetti?? Don’t you have side dishes in your fridge?? Meat?? Don’t you miss korean food??

Yes. Yes you do miss korean food. Yes you do want to eat foods from the place you spent years of your childhood in, but it’s just you’re either too tired to cook them or just too busy with college’s assignments.

Ignoring Minhyuk’s chat. You limped onto your bed and about to curled into a cocoon under your fluffy blanket when a loud knocking sound startled you.

“God.” You clenched your fist. Already know who was coming.

“I know you’re in there. Open up quick, turtle!” You sighed hearing her shrill voice.

“On my way.” You whispered. You didn’t want to shout back, because if that happened, the bruises is not going to be visible in your arm and legs, but also some other place on your body.

Opening the door, you tried to look as strong as you could. As if you didn’t have a tennis ball sized of bruises.

“I ran out of foods and my friends will be coming over tonight.” The girl who shared the same hometown with you looked at you intensely into your eyes. “I need 50 dollars.”

“Fifty?” Your eyes widened as you involuntarily let out a word from your mouth.

“Come on. Clock is ticking and I am waiting. You know I hate waiting and I know you know what will happen if you keep me waiting.” She leaned on the door frame with her arms crossed on her chest.

Biting your lower lip, you turned around to find your wallet.

There was only one bill left in it. Two twenty dollar bills and a ten dollar bill. “This is what I have left for this month.” You whispered.

Walked back to the door, you put a pitiful expression. “I ran out of money. Sorry.”

The girl scoffed and shook her head. “You know what I hate more than waiting?” she waited for your silent answer. “A liar.”

She barged into your room and began to looking for the thing she wanted. She walked straight to your desk, where she saw your wallet and immediately looked inside. “Oh, yes! You really don’t have money, do you?” She pulled out your last 50 dollars and threw your wallet.

“Pl–ease! That’s my last 50 dollars! Please, I don’t have anymore money, i’m begging you!” You began to cry, when she immediately shut you up by covering your mouth.

“Shut up! Don’t be so loud, you moron!” She said in a low voice, uncovered your mouth.

“Please–“ you kneeled down and keep begging at her.

“I’m saving for a trip to Vegas, because my dad won’t lend me the money. So, I keep all my allowance and i’m still taking this.” She stepped forward before she turned around and lowered yourself to the same level with you. “And this is for a liar.” Without mercy, she slapped your cheek, leaving a prominent red mark that made you squinted your eye due to the stinging feels. “Thanks, bitch!”

You dragged yourself, leaning to the nearest wall behind you, sobbing while covering the still red mark on your face.

This was not the first time she did this kind of thing to you. This happened since a year ago. Ever since you accidentally spilled some curry sauce on her t-shirt. But later you knew it was not the sauce on her t-shirt that made her mad, but coincidentally, she got dumped by her boyfriend and that day was actually her birthday, so… she just need a place to let out her anger and there was suddenly the unlucky you, tripped with your own shoelace and spilled some sauce. Fortunately, this girl you spilled the sauce on was hell popular, since her dad is running on entertainment business and she often hung out with lots of celebrities and you, unfortunately just a girl who left your hometown to get a better education, but didn’t manage to made lots of friends because of how how shy you are around new people. So, the girl successfully took advantage of that and made you as miserable as ever.

Your room was dark. Yes— you intentionally did that. You just wanted to be in a complete silence for awhile while sobbing under your blanket and thinking what did you do to deserve all this bullying.

You always were shy in back in those school days where you were still in Korea, but no one really bullied you— well, now you thought it was because Minhyuk was always there to stepped up in front of you and that he always was a cheerful mischievous little boy, so anyone would want to become friends with him. But now that he was miles away and was a popular kpop group member, you know he can’t always be there for you anymore.

Your phone vibrated,  breaking the silence between you and you. Grabbing your phone, you looked at the screen.

Hyukkie

6 Missed Call

You got 10 texts from Hyukkie

Quickly you turned off your phone and put it back on your nightstand.

Lying to him was better than telling things that have happened since you moved to the dorm and started college. You just didn’t want him to worry and want him to only focus on his work.

Days passed. Yes, you passed the rest of the month with the money you found between the pages of your book. It’s only 20 dollars but enough to fed you for two weeks by buying cheap instant noodles.

Joey, the korean-american girl who bullied you, didn’t show up at your dorm nor bullied you at campus, you didn’t know why, but that was rarely happened.

Throwing your books on the bed, you sat on your desk, flipping the screen of your laptop.

Just as soon as your Skype status turned into Available, an incoming call is up.

“Hiiiiiii!” It’s the blonde guy again.

“You’re at the company?” You asked, noticing the background. It was the practice room.

“A simple hi would do, but yeah, i’m at the company. We just finished rehearsing.” He threw himself on the couch and made himself comfortable.

“You must be tired.” You nodded.

“I am.” He put one arm behind his head. “(Y/n), actually there’s something I need to tell you.”

“And… what is that? You looked serious, i’m scared.” You chuckled.

“You know I have a month worth of free time until we begin again preparing for comeback,”

“Yes and?”

“Well, Jooheon told me that we should go to LA,”

“Seriously? Are you guys really going?” You became pretty excited and suddenly you heard Jooheon singing at the back, something that has the word LA in it.

“We… bought the tickets and—“

“Oh my God! When?” You almost jumped out of your chair from this great news.

“Uhm… tomorrow.”

“You must be kidding me. Why so suddenly?” Your eyes widened at this another unexpected surprise.

“Because we missed hanging out with you and want to see you really soon!”

“Ugh, so cheesy.” You rolled your eyes.

“Unnie, i miss you so much!” The youngest stole Minhyuk’s phone and started acting cute. Yes, he always called you unnie because you told him once that he was like a sister to you.

“I miss you too, sis. Oh my God are you guys really coming?”

“Is that I.M I see on the screen?” A girly voice startled you that made you quickly force closed your laptop.

Turning back, you’re just as shock as the girl who stood at your wide opened door. “E—h,”

“Was that I.M? Do you know them? Personally?” She walked in, eyes locked on your now closed laptop.

“They– uh it wasn’t him. I don’t— you know I.M?” You curiously asked.

Joey shook her head subtly, “Wait, so that really was I.M? From Monsta X?” She asked again. “You know them?”

“Joey, I need you to get out of my room, please.” You said. Hiding your laptop behind you. You never said more than a word to her before and this was the first time you did it. Right after you finished the sentence, you remembered that she’d be mad and started to bully you again.

“Wait, hold on. Just tell me the truth. You do or do not know Monsta X, personally?” She asked again, emphasizing the last word.

Both of you were silent for couple of seconds before you finally nodding slowly.

“Holy shit!” She held her own head, as if it was going to burst anytime soon. “I should tell the girls. Oh my God!”

She repeated Oh My God multiple times, while you just stood before her, looking at her in surprise, when suddenly, the idea popped up in your head.

“Jo, you do know Monsta X?” You carefully asked.

“Of course! They’re like the hottest boygroup nowadays, duh?”

“They’re coming to LA tomorrow.” You smirked, already sure that your idea will be a success. Joey’s eyes widened as if it was about to popped out of its sockets.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I’m just as surprised as you are, but I can make you meet them.”

“Holy fuck.” She covered her mouth. “How? Oh my God.”

“But you need to do one thing in return.”

“Yes, of course. Anything, you name it, i’ll give it.”

“Stop bullying me.”

Joey suddenly stop squealing and raised one of her eyebrow.

“That, I cannot do.” She turned into her usual self in less than a second. “You deserved to be bullied, excuse me, miss.” She turned around quickly and immediately left your room.

You were left in disbelief. You were wrong when you thought giving her a free pass to meet Monsta X would stop her from bullying you.

“Ugh, I hate my life!” You slammed the door before you jumped onto your bed.

Hyukkie, i’m sorry something came up. I had to go, so I hung up.

You replied his text that was received ten minutes ago, right after you roughly flipped down the screen.

Alrighty, we know you’re busy with college, (y/n) ;)

Oh, anywayyyyyyyyy

[PIC_5621]

WE’RE DONE PACKING! Can’t wait to see you!

You smiled as you look at the picture he sent you. Seven luggages ready to be carried far away from South Korea.

I’m stoked! See you boys!

p.s don’t forget to tell Changkyun to bring his milk. Baby should have enough milk on board

You hit the send button.

“It was 5 PM, the boys should’ve arrived already three hours earlier, but why none of them were replying to my texts?” You tapped your phone screen, waiting for at least one of them reply to your text when suddenly, one text did appear.

(Y/n)! Come down! We’re waiting at the bench near the entrance door.

It was from Minhyuk. Finally.

Entrance door?

You squinted your eyes.

Your dorm! We’re down here. Come on!

In just a second after you read his text, you grabbed your jacket and rushing down. And yes, seven beautiful boys whom you really missed were there.

“Hey, boys.” You greeted them with a big smile plastered on your face. All of them greeted you back and immediately gave you a hug one by one. “How’s the flight?”

“As always. Tiring.” Wonho fixed his beanie.

“By the way, (y/n), why did you never tell us that you have such cool friends?” Jooheon put his arm around your neck.

“Friends?” You repeated.

“Cool and beautiful.” Hyungwon added. “Speaking of the angels itself…” He shot his eyes passed you. Turning around, you were more than surprised to see who was walking.

“Sorry, to keep you waiting. There was line, so…” Joey smiled to all of the boys. “There you go.” She and her friends immediately gave them a refreshing americano. “Oh, (y/n). You’re finally here!” She hanged her arm around your neck. “Where were you? I tried knocking on your door.”

“U– uh,” you startled.

“Anyway, have you guys had lunch? I mean proper lunch, because I know airplane foods suck.” Joey took a step closer to the boys.

“Well, funny because we were about to ask you guys to join us and (y/n) for lunch,” Shownu collu answered. “So are you guys free?”

Joey looked at her friends, she was deadass smiling so bright, but was clever enough to change into a normal one.

“Of course we are plus, we know some good restaurants around here. So why don’t we go right now?” Joey led. Everyone was smiling, excited to explore LA without having a tour the next day.

“(Y/n),” Joey walked back to you. “You told me if you meet me with them, I have to stop bullying you, right? So why don’t we make another deal?”

“What is it?”

“Whoever stole their heart, is winning. If I win, I won’t stop bully you, but if you win, well, you got what you always wanted.”

You replied with a silence.

Winning their hearts? Is she kidding? I mean, I am friends with them for years. Is she killing herself?

“Deal.” You answered confidently.

“Well then,” she smirked. “Game on.”

[sillyheadcannons]

Going on the, “Bendy will protect a child at all costs” HC, imagine before Henry was drafted into the war, he and his wife had their first set of twins, but due to the fact that Henry was still an animator at that time and worked for another job to bring more income in so they can get a real home, until than, Henry and his family stayed with Joey Drew.  Who despite his occupation, was never a big fan of children. As far as Bendy is concerned, kids are the main reason for a toon to live and entertain for them, so often the Bendy happily volunteered to babysit Henry’s 7 month olds!  Henry was unsure about this, I mean yes Bendy will have adult supervision with children since Bendy couldn’t quite understand how babies were so different from the usual age his entertainment is targeted for, but surprisingly Bendy was quite careful with the tots!  Even if the children liked to pull out of curiosity, they were fascinated by Bendy’s incredibly... well, flexibility!  Joey Drew was still being incredibly salty towards Henry’s wife since, he feels as though she ruined his chances to tell Henry about his true feelings for him. (this will eventually lead to there final big argument that breaks their friendship they’ve had as kids, but that angst is for another time ;3c) 

Imagine Joey’s patience wearing thin with Bendy taking his special pens and getting the children to draw with him, but one sneaked off to draw on the wall instead.  Now, Joey is used to the ink stains on the floor and walls from Bendy running about, but these were HIS work pens.  He takes the pens away forcefully and yells in his frustration at this young girl that resembled her mother’s blonde curly hair and face.  The little girl is crying, and Bendy is PISSED AT JOEY.  Bendy cradles both twins in his arms, trying to shush them gently.  Bendy was upset that he didn’t know much else besides making older kids and adults a-like laugh, these kids were far too young to understand after all. All Henry can do is carry one at a time, rubbing each one’s backs to calm them down.  Bendy, however will not let this slide but saved his plans for later. Drew knew that he fucked up for both his once best friend, and own creation.  

-Admin Lei

[thefutureismina]

Roland cursed under his breath and threw the car in gear, grateful that Mr. Kaiba had a mild obsession with luxury sports cars. The Ferrari roared to life as Roland caught up to Valon easily, and kept roughly a car’s length distance between them. An incoming call echoed through the car and Roland answered on the second ring.

“Mr. Kaiba, sir.” Roland was professional as always, even under the present circumstances.

“Roland, is Ms. Valentine alright?” Kaiba’s voice seemed both concerned and utterly annoyed in a way that was uniquely his employer.

“Yes sir, she has refused my services, but I’m following her. They are headed downtown on a motorcycle. Should I continue?” He asked, keeping a close eye on the blonde.

“Hey Roland!” Miss Muto’s voice was a breath of fresh air. “Is Mai ok?”

“Yes, Miss Muto. Should I follow her?” He was still looking for instructions and felt unsettled at leaving Mr. Kaiba alone, despite the fact he was safely secured in the mansion. 

Mina paused, thinking it over as she looked at Seto, who was perched on the king sized bed in his bedroom, looking impatient. “She has a helmet on, yes? And no longer wearing that dress?”

Roland smiled softly, appreciating how Mina cared for everyone’s safety. “Yes, Miss Muto. She has changed and is wearing a helmet.”

“Then we can leave her. Mokuba is staying at Kame Game Shop tonight. Do you mind checking on his state before you finish for the evening?” Mina asked sweetly, crawling on the bed behind Seto and placing her chin on his shoulder, feeling him relax instantly.

“Yes, Miss Muto. Will there be anything else, Mr. Kaiba?” Roland asked, allowing more space between him and the motorcycle.

“That will be all, Roland. Thanks.” Seto’s voice echoed in the car, and the call end tone followed.

Mai glanced behind her, no longer hearing the purr of Kaiba’s Ferrari behind them.

“Looks like Kaiba called off his dog” Valon’s voice vibrated against her hands, and she nodded against his back.

‘I wonder where we’re going’ she thought as they sped downtown. Valon angled the bike down a side street, and doubled back towards the park, stopping by the swing set and shutting off the bike’s engine. He glanced back at the gorgeous blonde who still had an iron grip on his waist and covered her hand with his, giving it a light squeeze.

Mai blushed and released him, grateful that her helmet covered her face so Valon couldn’t see how absolutely starry-eyed she was at the moment. There was something to be said for how he had come into his own in the last few years, and she couldn’t wait to wait to see what his plan for the evening was.

Removing their helmets, and swinging their legs off the bike, the two walked in comfortable silence through the deserted playground. Valon glanced at Mai nervously, subconsciously licking his lips. Her violet eyes seemed to sparkle in the lights from the street lamps and it made Valon’s heart pound in his chest. He led the blonde to a bench by the swings, and they sat together taking in the night air.

Tristan and Joey entered the park on the other side, none the wiser that Mai and Valon were also in the park. 

“Honestly, Joey, you and Mai just need to get together, just the two of you, and talk it all out. Not in those outbursts of yours. You need to calm down a bit.” Tristan said, looking at his friend.

Joey sighed, palming his face as they trudged across the damp grass. “I dunno dude, I made such an idiot of myself in there. She hates me, I know it. I messed up.”

Tristan elbowed him. “No more than normal though, Kaiba’s right.”

“Kaiba?! What the hell does he know?!” Joey yelled.

“Easy, easy there bud.” Tristan gripped Joey’s arm, stopping the blonde from moving forward. “He was joking. And as for what he knows? Outside of Yugi, he’s the only one of us to have a clue as to how to settle down.”

Joey scowled, wrenching his arm from Tristan’s grip. “Yeah, well I don’t see him offering to help me.”

The two young men walked onward, stopping short as Mai and Valon came into view.

“Oh hell nah. Not tonight. Not this nonsense.” Joey stormed forward before Tristan could stop him.

Left alone to face the admirer, heart pounding, mind blank she could only stare at his rugged beauty. His attire changed no longer the armor like apparel he once sported. Looking him over she admire how well he looked in the black leather and blue jeans. Simple suited him." Gosh Mai, I didn't mean to clear the room. I guess I took what you said too seriously about "drop in whenever" hah. " Meeting her gaze with a slight blush.

" I didn't think you would. However I am glad you did. This night has been a disaster maybe you are just what I need. Mina is a star cook would you like some food?" Relaxed now, he was so calming to be around. Walking to the kitchen to fix a plate. " That would be lovely, so tell me now...what made this night a disaster?" Plopping himself up on the counter top behind her. Her posture stiffened, head lowered, reflecting on events happening earlier in the evening. Turning to him with a plate of lasagna. Chucking at his ease to make himself right at home.

" Wheeler." Was all she needed to say. Valon choked on the last bite. He knew this was a dicey subject. He could see the distress in her face. " Oy, let's just leave that be. How about we go for a ride around town? Like old times? I have an extra helmet for you." The spark now returning to her eyes. " It has been some time. I could use the fresh air afterall." Putting away the remaining leftovers. He smiled " As stunning as you look darling, I think you'll need to change into something more comfortable."

Throwing on a pair of old Jean's and her thigh high boots along with a black longsleeve v neck and she was ready to go. Valon waited by the front door. Holding her purple jacket open. " This sure is a cozy looking thing. Purple suits you." He was so genuine In every word to her. Giggling her response " I actually go that today isnt Mokuba the sweetest?" Sliding into the coat very proud of it.

He roared with laughter " That boy sure is somethin. If he was closer to our age I sure say he would have swept you off your feet." Arm around her waist now as they headed toward the elevator.

As she took her place behind him on the bike, Mai noticed a familiar vehicle barely out of sight. ' Mina dear, Kaiba's protectiveness is rubbing off on you' " Everything alright?" Noticing she was staring into the distance. " I think we have a chaperone. Pull up next to that grey car." Pointing a street over. Leaning against him, hands on his waist they cruised up to the parked car. Mai, knocking on the window. To her surprise is was Roland. " wow they are so untrusting they send his personal body gaurd to babysit me?" Her face hot now. Before he could utter a word Mai laid into him. " Listen I appreciate what my friend is trying to do but this is absurd. I'm in no danger.." her grip tightening around Valon. " Good luck keeping up." The devilish laugh echoing on the wind as Valon took his cue and gunned it.