#but it worked with vash BECAUSE vash is pretty much an open book as a character. you can easily tell what he's thinking and feeling

[blueskittlesart]

In defense of the original, while I do agree the episodic vibes were a bit much at times, and it was something I kinda had to work my way through slowly rather than binging all in one...

I do kinda prefer the more gradual approach to laying out the information; getting to know both the setting and who Vash is as a person and the different facets of both, before getting the context that lets it all click into place. Plus the main quartet having ample time to grow together so that later developments have stronger emotional weight.

I will agree that Knives definitely suffered in focus, and I am interested in how Stampede handles him, but admittedly he wasn't really what I watched Trigun for in the first place. ^^;

yeah my gripe is less with the way the setting and characters were handled and more with the way the. actual plot was handled. it honest to god felt to me like they realized about halfway through their run that they didnt have enough episodes left to get the backstory in in a cohesive way so they just shoved it all into one episode and pretended that that explanation didn't create more questions than it answered. you spend 20 episodes teasing your audience like "ooooh what is vash?? clearly hes not human!! clearly there's something going on!!! don't you want to know whats going on?? keep watching and you'll totally understand whats going on!!" and then your big reveal is that. He Is Not Human. which is something that any idiot who has watched the last 20 episodes has already figured out. the question the audience ACTUALLY has at that point in the runtime is what, EXACTLY, is vash, and what the context is behind the conflict he and knives are in. the backstory episode explains that Knives Is Here, and it gives context to the setting and everything, but it pissed me off that it STILL didn't answer the actual mysteries i cared about, i.e. vash's real identity and the thing with the gun and his fucking arm and knives's motivations and everything. maybe that gets answered in the last episode that i neglected to watch but personally I prefer a story where i UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON by the time the final confrontation hits. with trigun it got to a point where vash was going out for the final battle with knives and i STILL didn't know who vash was, who knives was, where they came from, or what the hell their motivations were. that just made that final confrontation seem so wholly uninteresting to me that i didn't even feel like watching it. it was like "hey look vash is fighting a cardboard cutout that he is Afraid Of. Why? lmao idk man. probably has something to do with that weird spaceship that shows up in one whole episode before this point. not going to tell you how tho." I think some writers have this tendency to think that mystery = good writing and that not revealing anything to your audience will consistently draw them in for more, but that only works for so long. after 20 episodes of virtually net 0 information it got to feel like I was being strung along and like my questions were never going to be answered, so I gave up on the show in the final hour. Again, i'm not saying it was BAD necessarily and i understand the context in terms of writing and production that led to the show being produced that way but i think it really noticeably suffers due to the fact that it refuses to give the audience ANYTHING but crumbs of information for about 80% of it's runtime. that being said. i did genuinely like a lot of it. it has its moments. im not trying to discourage anyone from watching it or anything lol i just think stampede is a little more successful in keeping the viewer engaged in the story throughout by constantly feeding you bits of information and actually answering your questions as they become plot-relevant.

[catbountry]

It's been a year since the premiere of Trigun: Stampede. The series, despite the fears of the fans of the '98 anime, actually turned out really good; Yasuhiro Nightow is a big superhero comics nerd, and wanted to have this new anime adaption be an adaption similar to the adaptions of the MCU, back when those movies were consistently enjoyable, and I daresay a bunch of the people watched Trigun probably were either already anime fans, or they were nomad fans who may have been really into the MCU at one point.

I have a lot of thoughts on an American perspective on Vash the Stampede as a character, with a lot of comparisons to American comic book superheroes. And while Trigun wasn't my first anime, I was hooked on it, as someone who grew up around Batman and Spawn's 90's popularity. During my first Otakon in 2001, I must have seen a dozen Vash's and Wolfwoods. I remember the year there was a Wolfwood cosplayer whose Punisher gun was shaped like the Star of David instead of a cross, making him a rabbi. That shit was amazing. The larger point is that I've loved this character for more than half of my entire time being alive, and I haven't seen a lot of discussion of Trigun viewed from a more political lens, and why it resonates so much with Americans (or at least me, who is an American) in particular

Buckle up, kids, this is gonna be long and rambly.

There was a period of time where I watched nearly every single new MCU movie in the theater. It was exciting seeing adaptions of comic books that would have probably never gotten a movie before the success of The Avengers. And I don't think it's a mistake that the most comic book-y of the movies are usually the best; Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel remain as probably my favorite MCU movies. Nightow was working directly with the studio making a new Trigun anime and reportedly got the crew to watch a bunch of Marvel movies to set the tone for the anime as an adaption; it's why Vash got a completely new redesign that freaked all us old fans the fuck out. Though it appears that once again, Trigun tried and failed to get that massive Japanese audience that most successful anime have. But boy, oh boy, do us westerners fucking love Trigun, especially us Americans. Nightow's love of superhero comics bled into Trigun, and it just so happened that he was incredibly influenced by Spawn, Hellboy and Batman as much as he was influenced by Akira Toriyama and mechanical art. McFarlane Toys released a Vash figure that is McFarlane'd the fuck up. Nightow loves all superhero comics but especially the Blade trilogy.

Just look at this and imagine being 13 years old and seeing this on a screen for the first time with the instrumental hard rock opening.

Also, I wouldn't actually get around to reading Spawn until I was an adult, but you know what? It's pretty good. The writing is definitely weaker than the art, but holy shit, that art goes hard and I still think that shit's cool as fuck.

As stated before, around the early 2000's Trigun was considered peak anime, though it's been more overlooked in recent years in favor of Cowboy Bebop, an anime that has aged gracefully by comparison. But while Bebop has that sort of timeless cool and level of quality that drew the attention of filmmakers like the Wachoski sisters, Trigun has that very specific kind of adolescent sense of coolness that comic book fans get, especially back in the 90's before this sort of thing would be smothered to death by MCU's Joss Whedoning of superheroes. Spawn, Hellboy and Batman are still cool. And Trigun also has a shitton of guns, obviously, given that Vash being an incredibly OP gunslinger in a world where everybody has guns.

And America loves guns.

I think the contrast of Vash's pacifism while still wielding a gun is extremely interesting because it's not something you see very much (I bet if I watched more westerns, I'd have a better idea if this is a trope in them at all). Batman does not use guns and doesn't kill people, which is why there's still discourse around Tim Burton's Batman films to this day still; I don't think Kevin Smith has budged on this. Other more morally grey superheroes will use guns (by this definition I'm counting The Punisher even if he doesn't have any superpowers, unless you count severe PTSD as a superpower). And a lot of them had huge surges in popularity in the 90's around the time Nightow was making Trigun. Vash posed like Batman or Spider-Man looking brooding (like the gif above) happens a lot in the earlier issues even though that's not really his character.

Several years ago, there was an attempt by a conservative thinktank to discredit a bunch of Hollywood actors saying that gun violence in America is a serious issue and contrasted their statements scenes of them shooting guns in movies, but if we're being real here, gunplay in movies can be really fucking cool. Again I invoke The Matrix, or movies by Robert Rodriguez and John Woo. Look at video games, and compare the decline in violent crime that's been happening here since the 70's and 80's, as culture warriors bemoan movies and video games for becoming more violent. Remember when Wayne LaPierre, vice president of the NRA, brought up fucking Splatterhouse as a reason why Sandy Hook happened? Do you know what Splatterhouse looks like?

It looks like this.

You know how these guys constantly say the only way to counter a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun? Usually, the inference is that if the "good guy" with a gun shoots, he's shooting to kill. Deadpool and the Punisher would shoot to kill. But Vash is constantly trying to avoid it. And I remember as a teenager finding that really cool? And the manga and anime don't shy away from how impractical Vash's pacifism is. It's a bit more realistic than Steven Universe's ending, but also Steven Universe was made for children.

I know Avatar: The Last Airbender is often invoked when criticizing Steven Universe's philosophy, but I haven't really seen Vash's similar philosophy criticized in the same way, and I think a lot of that has to do with the presence of Wolfwood, who is the "I think we're gonna have to kill this guy" guy. I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen art of this yet. I may have to get on that. I already drew Vash horrified at the Trolley Problem.

Vash is a character designed with maximum coolness in mind, but also an overpowered being who is capable of killing millions, and in the anime, he somehow destroys July City without killing anyone directly, but the destruction of the city led to a bunch of people dying. He's so deeply committed to not wanting to kill anyone that he's probably killed more people than he would have if he just shot Knives. The best Batman stories acknowledge that Batman's refusal to kill Joker has similarly results in the deaths of people Batman could have prevented if he killed one guy, and this could also apply to Vash's relationship with his brother Knives, who was kind of destined to be a mass murderer with a name like that, let's be real.

Online, we tend to joke about bringing out the guillotines, or justify not feeling an sympathy for billionaires who die in a sub trying to view the Titanic. But if you were given a gun and a real human person begging for their life, what would you actually do? Do you honestly think that you would be the ethical Death Note user?

Vash has guns but he chooses not to kill people; he prefers to not even use them unless he has to, instead opting to run away and look cool doing it somehow.

He really, really doesn't want to kill people. He doesn't become numb to people dying. It hurts him every single time he watches someone get killed. In reality, most of us that aren't sociopaths would be distressed at the thought of killing someone. The only reason armies in real life work is that they become inoculated to the idea of violence and dehumanize the enemy. Vash is no soldier. He is idealistic, he is empathetic, and he sees every human being as a person worthy of life. Batman refuses to use guns, as that's how his parents were killed in front of him. Vash has to use guns in order to protect people from getting killed. He has the ethics of Superman but the tools of a comic book antihero. He's the logical conclusion of an shonen anime protagonist in a world that chews up anyone with that kind of optimism and hope and spits them out. And yet... he still keeps going. He remains committed. He's still cheery, goofy, lovable Vash.

Batman used to kill people, in the earliest comics. With the Comics Code Authority, no superheroes could kill people. In the 80's, comics were getting darker and edgier, taken more seriously. While Alan Moore's Watchmen delved into the moral complexities in a world with superheroes that was similar to ours, Frank Miller was keeping Batman consistent, even as Gotham got darker and uglier.

Batman is a vigilante. The police can be helpful or they can fuck up everything, depending on what's needed for the story. In Batman Year One, there's a scene where Batman crashes a party attended by the elites of Gotham, politicians and mobsters mingling.

Seeing this during the Bush presidency blew my mind. I don't want to get into just how perfectly the members of his administration seemed to resemble a rogue's gallery of sorts with the shared goals of making a lot of money and bombing the shit out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I was extremely anti-war even before the 2000 election as a very opinionated 14 year-old watching, Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and feeling relieved that a grown-up was able to see through all the bullshit; it helps when the guy who's against the war and killing people is funny. I remember writing in my diary at 12 years old after Columbine happened that I wanted to take all of the guns and melt them down in a pot, similarly to that scene in Superman IV where he throws the entire world's nuclear arsenal into the sun. But also that same year I would fall in love with The Matrix... and not long after that, Trigun.

Again, we come back to the idea of someone using a gun, a weapon designed to kill people, and using it in pursuit of the exact opposite. That resonated with me. I myself was very idealistic, and the political climate of my teenage years seemed to do almost everything to stamp that out of me. Things feel just as fraught two decades later, but in slightly different ways. Pacifism is looked down upon, as indicated by the backlash to the ending of Steven Universe, and how one crazy lady called Rebecca Sugar, a Jewish person, a Nazi for writing it that way. But for Steven, things worked out. For Vash? Well, he still has hope somehow, despite everything. I think the fact that he strives to protect human life, even when someone is a complete monster, is admirable in that it cuts to the very basic desire to not see people hurt. But we're also selfish, and scared, and sometimes it's hard to conceive of a solution to a problem that doesn't involve violence. Seeing dead bodies on TV or the internet upsets us, but we're often paralyzed by feeling like we can't do anything, and even if we tried, we'd likely perish in the attempt. We desire revenge, punishment for those who transgress by inflicting violence, and we can rationalize using it against the right targets. Vash the Stampede would have a fucking breakdown dealing with the state-backed violence that's been a part of geopolitics pretty much as long as there have been states and geopolitics. Vash would try and solve the bombings of Gaza with an impassioned plea for both sides to stop fighting before he would somehow wind up making things worse and it would eat away at him inside, no matter how brave a face he puts on as he tries to find some kind of hope in a hopeless situation. And... you know what? I kind of wish more people would be like that. Maybe if there were enough people like that, these sorts of things wouldn't happen in the first place. I wish more people could look at human suffering and feel compelled to try and stop it, not discriminating against one side or the other, trying to understand why people are doing what they do. Seeing anti-war protestors in Tel Aviv brings back memories of protests against the start of the War on Terror, and how hated America was internationally during those years, even when most Americans approved of the war. Michael Moore was booed at the Oscars for condemning George W. Bush and the War on Terror. It's terrifying that those in power want us killing each other and have conditioned us to support it. I want so badly for human beings to come together to just stop the violence, but it feels impossible, like we're destined for failure, like we might somehow make things worse or become worse versions of ourselves full of hatred and ugliness. But we should want to try, even if it's hard or unprofitable or we have no idea how to even do it. Somebody actually dedicating themselves to trying to fight our violent impulses out of love is appealing, and if they're more powerful than use, and can do more... well, I want the biblically accurate angel with every mental illness willing to martyr himself over and over again. But it is more fun when he's Bugs Bunny about it.

[personal-blarghe]

I finally watched Trigun Stampede. Speaking as someone who really, really loved Trigun (1998) and watched it + Badlands Rumble multiple times growing up, nothing holds to that nostalgia. But I really liked it! The animation and art is so, so pretty. The framing, the combat scenes, it's all just really impressive and gorgeous. The original was also very impressive visually, especially for its time, so that feels like something that held up. It looks like how a Trigun revamp should, I think. (A little disappointed by Vash's sexy hair because he was sexy DESPITE his goofy hair damnit, but yeah like. it looks good on him. whatever. also the old coat was cooler sorry.)

Not sure who out there wants to talk about this and not just look longingly at Vashwood art (fair) but I really enjoyed that it was so fully different. Different takes on the story and a different but still fully contained story structure so that I wasn't 100% sure what was going to happen or how things would play out. I haven't read the manga yet (I really do mean to get around to that one day), so I can't speak to which show is more book-accurate, but it was neat to see some of the same stuff happening but have it be handled differently enough to keep me on my toes. I particularly loved the fuller backstory and more fleshed out angles of the main conflict, and especially the worm perspective. I did a little reading on the wikis and it seems this is the more manga-accurate lore for Zazie the Beast, and I enjoyed that part of Stampede a lot. It did sort of bring up more questions than it answered (ok so what happens to the worms if humans and plants learn to get along and they terraform the planet?), but then it also left a big open door for more story that I really hope we will get. Excellent setup and worldbuilding overall.

The art change for the Wolfwood backstory was also really neat, and again, I enjoyed getting more and fuller backstories in general. I loved the contrast of that soft fuzzy artstyle to his gritty present day, and and I loved, loved how bloody and gory the show was overall. I don't watch a lot of anime these days but the blood spouts felt very 90s to me. I did miss a lot of the old Wolfwood angst though. His whole cult was still there as a villain (I don't think they called them the Gung-Ho-Guns though, too silly?), but the twist of his character arc was so heartbreaking in the original and it's very understated in Stampede. Of course I love that he's not dead (yet?), but his role in the story felt a lot less significant.

I think my recommendation would still be to watch 1998 first. Stampede has a huge tonal shift. It almost isn't goofy at all, which is fine if you already have the silliness of OG Vash in your heart and know that side of the characters, but I did miss it. A lot of the comic relief got pushed to Merryl which I didn't love, but I did like what they did with her arc in setting her up to go from naive kid employee to the one in charge. Interesting to see kind of a prequel for her while the rest of the story is not "prequel" to Trigun so much as just a kind of all over rehash of some of the same events and some different ones.

I think with having more episodes, Trigun (1998) was able to pull off a better slow burn on these goofy characters with traumatic pasts and all the fun little whiplashes you can get out of seeing the goofy idiot turn serious, but it also suffers from bad anime tropes and being From the 90s. Stampede is pretty much just serious, which worked very well in its limited story time, but I missed the goofs.

Without having actually read it, I would say that Stampede feels like it is probably more manga accurate. And while it was self-contained in a satisfying way, I like the open ending and the many new questions I have. Like, wtf happens to all those pregnant plants now? Vash didn't undo that as far as I could tell, they were very much still pregnant with Knives' baby independents. Did they die? Knives clones for season 2? Maybe not quite clones because of Vash's involvement? Not getting into the general grossness of that, (it's pretty gross!) but it's definitely room for more questions about freewill and souls and mutual dependency. Can't wait.

Anyway, I liked Trigun Stampede and I will be very excited to get more. (Wolfwood death scene that defined me as a person when?) All in all, Trigun remains a 10/10 and I will probably finally go read the manga now, it's about time.

[penguinmerchant]

Fool in the Moon binding

All right, time for a successful binding post, how about that? This was for @arahir's amazing work, Fool in the Moon. As you can probably tell by the rest of my feed right now I'm a little obsessed with Trigun at the moment (it's okay, it's normal, I feel normal things about all of these people, I'm not obsessing and listening to the soundtrack 24 hours a day, I haven't watched the whole thing twice in two weeks, all of my targeted ads on my computer aren't about plants right now, I'm fine) and suffice to say this story was just an emotional gut punch. It's so good, you guys. Go read it.

Anyway. The binding.

This was my first time using holofoil vinyl, and it turned out AMAZING. Look how pretty it is. And the color change in the light is just crazy.

Here's the back. Sorry I don't know how to make a gif, or I would totally show you guys how it shimmers and ripples. At certain angles it's green, blue, purple, orange, sometimes you can get it to be all of those at once, it's a really neat effect.

Also, I love the effect it gives when you open the book up (hard to do once it's bound with the textblock, but doable. This picture was taken before I cased in).

You have to squint your eyes a little but it's supposed to be reminiscent of Vash's sunglasses, and the way (spoilers? maybe?) his face looks when the plant lines come out. I think it's just the super neatest thing.

Here's the endpapers and the title page:

Isn't the title page just the coolest?

And here's a pic of some section breaks:

I just made them with the draw tool in Libreoffice, I wanted it to reflect the lines of the endpapers and maybe (?) look like dunes. Either way I think it turned out really great. I kind of maybe wish that I could have incorporated some of Wolfwood's imagery into this, but the design pretty much made itself and I'm super happy with it. Plus at the end of the day everything is about Vash, isn't it? He's Vash the Stampede! (I'm not crying YOU'RE crying!)

Anyway, I figured out the reason my previous book was so crooked was because my guillotine is messed up. It can't cut straight (which is...kind of the point) but it does okay on smaller works like this. So this one cased in very nicely. I used the 5 mm gutters again, and duo bookcloth (magpie I want to say?). The cricut vinyl came in a sample pack and unfortunately didn't come with a name (the sample pack was called Berry something), but it's very similar to Siser's Rainbow Pearl HTV, which is what I used for my copy. Once again the siser was a pain to use, with little bits flying off everywhere and wanting to wrinkle underneath the iron. I don't know why I keep buying that brand. But it worked in the end, and the effect of the holofoil is so cool I'll probably use it again. Endpapers are from Mulberry paper, I love those guys so much.

Let me know what you think! And if you have any questions please feel free to ask, I could talk about bookbinding stuff all day!

[dreaming-gamer]

Eyy! Now, I have a proper V HC request, hihi!😍😍😍❤❤❤🙈🙈🙈 The gang ( include anyone you want ) introducing V to his very first cosplay convention!😍😍😍❤❤❤ I'll patiently wait, my dear. I love your V HCs so much😍😍😍❤❤❤

Hello dear! <3<3<3 Thank you so much for liking my headcanons and the request! :D :D :D I’m sorry this one took so long, I should have posted this one much earlier but better late than never? *sweats* 

In any case, here we go! <3<3<3

Random headcanon: Cosplay convention

Nico:

Nico is the first one to jump at the idea when she finds out V has never been to a cosplay convention. She loves those because people just let their creativity flow and she is among them. Creating an impressive cosplay that lets her display her genius, oh that’s right up her alley.

Of course the work on the van and Nero’s Devil Breakers go first, but the Queen of Machines can juggle that and more if needs be. If she’s going to a convention, you can bet she’s going to show off something that’s flashy and functional.

She’s all for helping the others find something they want to dress up in as well, they don’t even have to take something as spectacular as she does, if they don’t want to. If they do, she’s all for helping them with something on the more mechanical style as sewing and fabrics aren’t her thing.

Honestly, she just wants her friends to come along, try the event out. If someone really doesn’t want to dress up, she won’t push the suggestion too much but if she can work on them for a bit, they might open up to it. She’s the one to convince V to come along, claiming she can find just the right character for him.

Though Nico is able and considered fixing a workable Gundam costume (complete with rockets and guns, could it get better?!), she ultimately chose Mei Hatsume from My Hero Academia as her own cosplay character because let’s face it, it would let her show off more of her creations.

The costume itself she found online, cheap and the inventions are the important part, so that’s all good for her. A prototype is customized to function as a flying skateboard for anyone who wants to try, an Overture is remodeled to set off (harmless) fireworks rather than demon-killing sparks, a Dr Faust replica with built-in video and audio to teach you Michael Jackson moves on the go, she brings an array of different inventions and many are a success with younger audiences.

Nero (& Kyrie):

Nero’s never been to a cosplay convention, he’s just as new to them as V is. As a kid, he wanted to dress up and go to gatherings like that because it looked fun and hopefully no one would look at him funny, as they did in the Order.

Now that he feels more secure in his own skin, having come to terms with his heritage and how he can use it to protect his family, Nero doesn’t feel the immediate need to dress up for the convention but when Kyrie mentions it might be fun, he falls for the suggestion.

Whenever the orphans’ clothes get holes, Kyrie fixes them with her sewing but she is uncertain she has the skills and the time to fix herself and Nero matching outfits in time for the convention, when they have both decided they’ll go. And Nico has convinced them that they’ll have the most fun if they dress up.

Nero is supportive, he’s fine with whichever costume Kyrie wants to do, he doesn’t push and he’s fine with just going as they are as well if it spares Kyrie some trouble, but the kids are very insistent. And Kyrie sometimes has a hard time saying no to them.

Knowing it’s one of Kyrie’s favorite Disney movies, Nero suggests Beauty and the Beast for the two of them. Kyrie wants Nero to have fun and get the whole experience by dressing up, but at first, she is a little bit hesitant about his suggestion. She never wants Nero to feel like she doubts him or his humanity ever again.

They have been through a lot and so, they just talk it out, ending the discussion with soft whispers of love and care and in agreement over their choice.

As for their costumes, they don’t buy anything new. They check their closets for anything unused or something that can just be adjusted. In their eyes, the details don’t have to be perfect as long as they are both having fun. Kyrie also has a field day trying to put make-up on Nero’s face for the Beast look. Honestly, she does a good job. And the clothes she adjusted for Nero’s blue Beast attire, as well as her own blue and white dress for Belle, look great and she feels proud over her work.

At the convention, Nero will make sure to keep an eye on her, make sure she won’t be dehydrated or stay on her feet for too long in queues. It’s mostly unexplored ground for both of them, but they have a lot of fun just people-watching and following the three orphans under their care around, as the boys point out characters that they know everywhere. If the boys don’t recognize someone, they’ll run right up and ask.

Their camera roll is full of pictures of other cosplayers and the kids posing at the end of the day. And Nico snuck in a few pictures of Nero and Kyrie as well.

Dante:

It’s a party, Dante’s interested, enough said. He doesn’t mind grabbing the most ridiculous outfits if it gives him the love of the crowd. At a convention, people of all ages gather so it will be some simple, awesome fun.

As for him choosing a cosplay, the Dr. Faust hat has made him realize he rocks wearing a hat so he initially thought of cosplaying Alucard from Hellsing but after realizing V would cosplay another Alucard, he switched gears. Actually, Dante might just prefer cosplaying a character that likes having fun, just like he does.

By coincidence, he found Vash the Stampede from Trigun and though there is no hat involved, hey, the guy rocks red just as well as Dante does and he uses guns. Does Dante know anything about the character? Not really but that doesn’t stop him from rocking it. Plus, Dante already has red clothes, it’s just a matter of going into character because adjusting those clothes, he knows not how to do.

At said convention, he instantly clicks with a Deadpool cosplayer and they dance to Michael Jackson songs. They also photobomb some cosplay shoots, all in good fun. He lives for the spirit of people just having fun and humans just being humans, gathering thanks to a common interest.

Dante is the type who comes to a convention with several outfits. Or at least he would, if he had enough money for it. Since most of his paycheck goes to keeping the gas, water and electricity at Devil May Cry running, he resorts to simple, but effective ways to show off character, both his own and from other series.

V:

When the idea of going to a cosplay convention is first introduced to him, along with what it actually entails, he’s a bit skeptical. Nico telling him that there will be a ton of people doesn’t really sell him on it as he’s not that fond of crowds. But hearing that many will dress up as characters from stories they enjoy catches his attention. If he agrees to go, maybe he should be sure to make the most of it. And when Nico notices that shift in his demeanor, she keeps pushing him to join, juuust a bit.

For V, cosplay sounds like a way to show appreciation for characters and the stories they star in. Being the big fan of literature and poetry that he is, this aspect of the event does trigger his interest but when Nico gives him the idea to try out cosplay himself, she suggests that he shouldn’t go with cosplaying William Blake. Griffon laughs out loud at the mere idea but his suggestion of V cosplaying as a Disney princess (the orphans under Nero’s and Kyrie’s care have tried to show the avian various Disney movies, further adding to his arsenal of nicknames for V), is equally shot down.

V does want to put some thought and care into who to cosplay, but he also acknowledges his lack of sewing skills and is not too into the thought of buying a costume for himself with his limited funds. Kyrie offers to help but he is hesitant to accept it, seeing how she is trying to make something wearable for both herself, Nero and three little boys.

Ultimately, Nico and surprisingly, Dante become his greatest helpers. The childhood home of the sons of Spardas might have mostly fallen apart, but there are still some of their father’s old black robes in one of the rooms. It needs some adjustments, being too big on V’s lean frame, but the length is pretty spot on.

Nico demonstrates an automatic multi-tool that includes both measuring and sewing capabilities, as well as a laser pointer and a demon alarm that accidentally trips when Griffon is present. V doesn’t ask why she saw the necessity to put all of those functions together, but in the end, two of them are helpful for their situation. And she will show it off at the convention, as part of her genius.

How Dante does it, V doesn’t know, but one day, a long blonde wig is delivered to Devil May Cry, perfect for his decided cosplay. Turns out Dante’s flirt with the lady at the costume shop was helpful.

Ultimately, V feels very satisfied with his appearance as Alucard from Castlevania. The black robes are a different material from his regular leather vest but it’s still in black and thus, he feels right at home in it rather quickly. The long blonde wig takes some more time to adjust to.

What he had not anticipated were people asking to photograph him in this getup but thankfully, V took his time to research his character’s lines and mannerisms. Alucard is a gentleman, so V doesn’t find it very hard at all.

During the convention, Nero and Kyrie have enough on their plate, keeping an eye on the boys, so Nico usually stays close to V. Their chosen media are not anything alike, but that hardly matters. Nico is easily swept up in the excitement of the convention and seeing her makes V think that letting loose once in a while isn’t so bad.

Griffon stars in V’s cosplay as well, dressed up as a bat.

The next day, V will be a bit socially exhausted. Expect him to keep to himself with his book and tea for a good remainder of the day.

[hetalia-high-school-au-ask-blog]

Introduction!

This is all the information you need to know for this AU thingy!

So this AU is gonna be huge. All the hetalia characters I can think of will make an appearance. Now this will be mature, so if you are not comfortable with DARK topics, do not read it. This is my warning. 

Ships that will be in this (in no particular order):

Alfred x Arthur

Matthew x Gilbert

Ludwig x Feliciano

Lovino x Antonio

Yao x Ivan

Kiku x Heracles

Roderich x Vash

Feliks x Toris

Matthais x Lukas

Berwald x TIno

Emil x Li

Vladimir x Milen

Romeo x Anthony 

Some ships may be added or removed.

World Academy is a school in Washington D.C. It strives to be very accepting and very open, having many different people from many different countries. It has amazing sports programs, as well as art and drama programs. It's a huge school filled with different people, all with different interests. Because of this, the school has many sports from all over the world, such as soccer/European football, American football, and Australian football. The school has the highest grades in the area, and most students are well behaved, thanks to the high discipline by students and teachers.

Now I will give a little blurb about each character in the context of this AU.

Alfred F. Jones(America)- Alfred is an energetic young boy, your classic jock. He is a big sweetheart, with a heart of gold, and would die for his friends. He loves to cook, but enjoys some good chicken nuggets from McDonald's every once and awhile. He is also a VERY big fan of American football, and loves to play with his buddies. Despite being a popular jock, he would never bully someone for anything, especially for their sexuality, since he himself was bi. His life seems perfect, but is there something dark under the surface?

Arthur Kirkland(England)- Arthur is a prim and proper young man, with a bright future ahead of him. He is the student council president, and is feared throughout the school, since he holds the power of a staff member when it comes to punishing misbehaving students. He also has a secret sporty side, not playing on the school's official teams, but for fun on club teams. No one knows about this side of him, and he'd prefer to keep it that way. Very very gay for all the jocks in the school but refuses to admit it.

Matthew Williams(Canada)- Matthew is timid. You could tell from a mile away, if you could spot him. He was shorter than his older brother, Alfred, and is outshined by him in every way. The one thing he had a better grip on were his grades, which mattered very little to his parents. He too had a secret that even Alfred didn't know about, and he knew if he revealed this secret, Alfred would be pissed. Likes to refer to himself as demi, but is more gay than he realizes.

Gilbert Beilschmidt(Prussia)- Gilbert is a very loud and obnoxious boy, constantly harassing both boys and girls about numbers and flirting relentlessly. He hated following rules and would often disobey dress code, and be disruptive during class. Sometimes he'd straight up ditch class and waltz back in the food with no care in the world. He's protective though, especially of his little brother, and who he thinks needs it. He's pansexual, like the entire BTT.

Ludwig Beilschmidt(Germany)- Ludwig is serious and tough, not taking shit from anyone. He is the student council's vice president. He doesn't hold as much power as Arthur, therefore is less feared, but he makes people aware that they shouldn't break rules. He's a hunky man, and attracts many suitors, but he only has his eyes on one boy. A certain art student with a cute curl, and adorable smile. Demi sexual (or felisexual)

Feliciano Vargas(N. Italy)- Feliciano was an art student with an uncontrollable love for pasta. He is a bubbly and happy boy, and is rarely seen without a smile. He is one of the best artists in school and is commonly tasked with making murals and posters for events. He is quite popular for it. His best friends are Ludwig and Kiku, though he feels guilty about Ludwig. He won't deny that Ludwig looked a lot like his old crush from middle school, and kept him around for the fuzzy feeling. Though, he loves Ludwigs company either way. Gay for Ludwig, but doesn't really know yet.

Lovino Vargas(S. Italy)- Feliciano's meaner and more aggressive brother. He is considered by many to be an "evil twin," since his and his brothers personality clash. He does have a few soft spots though. He loves tomatoes, and his love for pasta is almost as big as his brother's. He is outshined a bit by his brother's artistic skill, and his ability to speak to others. It made him feel he was lesser, and he lashed out because of it. He still loves his brother, despite the fact he feels inferior to him.

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo(Spain)- Musical nerd. He loves the classic musicals, and the new musicals as well. Often found singing in the drama room and will no doubt perform any musical song you ask him too. He can play the guitar, and likes to learn his favorite songs and Lovino will play tambourine along with him. One of the happiest and positive boys in school. Pansexual, like all of the BTT, but really likes Lovino.

Yao Wang(China)- Secretary of the student counsel so he is very serious about rules. One of the oldest kids in school, but pretty short. Most people know not to mess with him though, because he takes karate classes, and already has a black belt. He's kind of a neat freak, and wants everything to be perfect. Spends most of the time in the library organizing books and gossiping with the librarian.

Ivan Braginsky(Russia)- Ivan is one of the tallest and scariest guys in school, but is honestly very sweet. He doesn’t try to scare people, but ends up accidentally doing so because he is bad at anything social. He has a few issues, but is genuinely trying to fix himself, and understands people’s views of him. He has a big attachment to his sister, Katyusha, and keeps the scarf she made for him when they were children.

Kiku Honda(Japan)- Kiku is an odd boy. He has a fascination with art and mythology of all cultures. He also values his own life and culture and will happily tell people about it. He is the treasurer of the student council, and is pretty closed off, thanks to his massive love of anime. He tries to not let it bother him too much. His favorite mythology to learn about is greek mythology, since it is so far from his home country and is so different .

Heracles Karpusi(Greece)- A quiet and reserved boy, but incredibly horny all of the time. Often thinks of his friend Kiku in sexual ways, but is often unfazed by it. He quite enjoys these thoughts. He is Kiku’s main source of mythology information, since he himself is greek and they share a mythology class. He hates this guy named Sadik, and has hated him for a really long time because they were an item at one point. He doesn’t like to think about it.

Roderich Edelstein(Austria)- One of the most snobby rich kids you’ll ever meet. He thinks he’s better than everyone else and really only cares about himself. He was the previous president of the student council, but lost the election to Arthur this year. He is still upset about it. Now he spends most of his time playing the violin and piano. At this point he is only concerned about his image to colleges and nothing else.

Vash Zwingil(Switzerland)- Gun crazy, and very protective of his adoptive little sister. He has been in love with Roderich for years, ever since they were children, but has started to hate the person that Roderich has become, but is still madly in love. No one except his sister knows, and he would like to keep it that way. He does get it through to Roderich that he should treat people a bit better.

Feliks Lucasiewicz(Poland)- Very… comfortable with himself. His family is very christan, and he knew he was gay from an early age, and knew his family wouldn’t be supportive. So to give a gainate middle finger to his family, he began to cross dress, and ended up really enjoying it. He often gets mistaken for a girl, and is flirted with. He finds this cute, but usually tells them there’s no point. He is quite desirable among gay boys in his school.

Toris Laurinaitis(Lithuania)- The main writer of the newspaper club, and very shy. He was abducted by Feliks, and has grown a weird crush on him. He thought he was straight for the longest time, but this boy confuses him. He is slowly opening up more because of Feliks, and they go horse riding together a lot. He loves these rides because it’s an excuse to get even closer to Feliks.

Matthais Kohlar(Denmark)- A literal crackhead. He is often caught either in the middle of something bad, or about to do something dangerous. Whether he is always high or just reckless is never clear. He has broken practically every bone in his body, at least once. He is a massive headache to take care of but he's a pure hearted guy who loves his friends. Like this dude should jump off a cliff for the sake of friendship.

Lukas Bindevik(Norway)- Reserved and closed off. He is very mysterious and is often caught talking to himself. He grew up without siblings or friends, and his parents are divorced. He had no contact with his father, and only grew up with his mother, and therefore grew mother-like tendencies. He can be very protective, and is good at talking people through their problems, even with his minimalistic speech.

Berwald Oxenstierna(Sweden)- The tallest and most terrifying guy. He's 6'4 muscular and has this resting bitch face that could strike fear into the hearts of WWE wrestlers. But he is actually a giant teddy bear when it comes to the people he cares about. He's big and buff, his hugs are great. He likes to sing to himself while he's working or lost in thought, and many find this charming, earning him many suitors in the process. He's too dense, and too gay for a certain Finn to realize how popular he is.

Tino Vainamoinen(Finland)- One of the most positive and loveable boys in the world. He is only 5'2, and a little on the cubby side, but he is very confident, not afraid to show off his body. He may seem innocent, but on the inside is one of the most kinky shits. He loves a good pounding and will let you know. He will go into heavy detail about his sex life when he's drunk, making people laugh, or be uncomfortable. He's got his eyes on a certain Swede though. He’s also on the hockey team.

Emil Stielsson(Iceland)- Emil is a new kid. He had lived with his single father since he was an infant, not knowing anything about his mother. His dad never told him. But he came to this school this year. He was very awkward around new people, but found comfort on social butterflies talking to him. He is lowkey kinda emo and is stuck in his emo middle school. He is learning how cringy he had been.

Li Xiao Chun(Hong Kong)- A social butterfly. He somehow ended up being friends with every clique in his school from his broad range of interests and friendly personality. Though he does sometimes get fought over because of just how loveable he is. All the different cliques he's friends want to hang out all the time, but because he has so many friends, his schedule is usually filled. He never fails to make time for his newest friend, Emil.

Francis Bonnefoy(France)- The. Biggest. Man. Whore. He has been with practically everyone in school. Most notably his friend with benefits for 2 years, Arthur. Francis had fallen in love, but Arthur never returned the feelings. He always pressed a bit, to see if there was a chance Arthur changed his mind, but never forced him into it.

Alory Kirkland(N.Ireland)- In college. He’s the oldest of the Kirkland siblings (26). He’s very annoyed most of the time, the simple sound of people talking can make him angry. His little brother, Arthur, is the worst. For some reason that boy in particular could be breathing too hard and it would annoy Alory. He’s so glad to have moved out, away from his loud chaotic family. He loves them but he prefers it quiet.

Allistor Kirkland(Scotland)- The second oldest of the Kirkland siblings (24). He's also in college, but constantly visits, unlike Alory. He’s also much happier and peppy. He was never a role model though, always getting in trouble when he was a kid. But, he was the fun one for sure. He also likes to take his siblings golfing, since that is something that he does love to do. He can get competitive with everyone there.

Reuben Kirkland(Wales)- The most chill of the Kirkland siblings. He’s 22, and will visit every once and awhile. He doesn’t talk a lot, and really only spoke after he turned 16. He and Allistor got into all kinds of trouble as kids. He is an actual role model though and would apologize. When he doesvist, he likes to cook for the whole family, since he’s the one who can do it correctly in their family.

Dwight Kirkland(Hutt River)- He is LOVED by his grandparents and aunts and uncles because he sucks up to them when he’s with them.Because of this he is always sent piles of money, and ends up with about ~1000 dollars a year. He loves to flaunt his money in front of his other siblings and spoils himself with it. This is why no 16 year old should have this much money. They’ll use it on stupid things.

Jett Kirkland(Australia)- The athletic one of the family. He loves to swim, surf, and to play australian football. He has broken too many bones to count and has almost died multiple times thanks to being reckless. Kaelin had to perform CPR one time because he almost drowned. He still continues, even if he almost dies. He is quite dumb and will tag along with Alfred. They have many… misadventures. Let’s hope he doesn't die before he goes to senior year (hes 18)

Kaelin Kirkland(New Zealand)- One of the only people who can keep Jett from actually killing himself. He is a movie review youtuber, and spends most of his time in his basement, researching and recording for videos. He is also lowkey obsessed with sheep. His entire room is sheep themed, and it has caused every friend he’s invited over to laugh and call him cute. He doesn’t like being called cute. Acts older than he is (17).

Peter Kirkland(Sealand)- In middle school(12). He is still obsessed with disney and princes. He is convinced that Alfred is a hidden prince and will try to expose him. Also crushing hard on Alfred. He tries his best to be recognised by his peers, but his efforts are futile, since he just annoys the people around him.He trie ]s to ot let it bother him but he’ll be the first to admit that it did hurt him a bit. 

Wendy Kirkland(Wy)- She is quite aggressive. Jett taught her different ways to pin someone to the floor, and she’ll test these ways on Peter. Arthur tries to stop them, but Jett and Kaelin will make bets on these kids. Wendy always wins, because Peter doesn’t know how to fight back. Other than that, Wendy is very artistic and draws a lot in her free time. She impressed the people around her.

Romeo Vargas(Seborga)- Similarly to Matthais and Jett, he can’t keep himself out of trouble. He got stuck in a tree, and the fire department had to get called to get him out. He may have done this on purpose just to get carried by buff firemen, but that’s unclear. He’s the youngest and most reckless Vargas brother, but spends his time volunteering at the middle school as an assistant, and met Peter and Wendy through it.

Im Yong Soo(S. Korea)- He’s sorta a perv. He can get a little touchy at times, and will constantly flirt with any living breathing human. Kiku finds this annoying,but he knows Soo means nothing by it. He has a tendency to grope when drunk, resulting in a hard slap to the face from Kiku, who was not so nicely touched. Soo apologies\es profusely after he sobered up, knowing that what he did was wrong.

Natalya Braginskaya(Belarus)- Very creepy and has… incestous tendencies towards her brother. She is the one personwho can scare him and is constantly pestering Ivan to date her in secret. She hates Yao’s guts since she knows that Ivan has a crush on him. Thankfully weapons aren’t allowed on campus, otherwise Yao would not be alive. Seriously the girl is unhinged and needs help.

Katyusha Braginskaya(Ukraine)- She’s a very loving and caring big sister, but after a long series of events, she barely speaks to Ivan anymore. She knows he still loves her though thanks to him wearing the scarf she made for him when they were kids everyday. They are slowly working on rebuilding their relationship, but it’s a slow process. She desperately wants that relationship with her brother back.

Sadik Adnan(Turkey)- He absolutely hates Harecles’s guts from some stuff that happened in middle school. They constantly fight, usually behind the school, but sometimes find hospitality while bathing. They have normal conversations in the showers, but are at each other’s throats any other time. He breaks the dress code a lot by wearing a hat to hide his face most of the time, and refuses to take it off.

Gupta Muhammad Hassan(Eygpt)- Selectively mute. He can hear just fine but he doesn't talk at all, preferring to speak over text and emojis. Even then, his monotone personality shows through his texts, where he gives single word responses only. He's very reserved and all that's known about him is that he had something to do with the Heracles and Sadik drama that happened. He refuses to talk about that, text and all.

Lillia Zwingil(Lichtenstein)- Vash's younger sister, and the light of his life. She is very loving to her brother, making food for him every day and seeing new clothes for him in home economics. She also likes to go hunting with Vash, despite her dainty and cute persona, she has a wicked aim, thanks to Vash teaching her. She's also the only one to know his crush on Roderick.

Eduard Von Bock(Estonia)- Hacker man. Well sorta. He likes to work on computers but he'll admit that it's hard for him to work. Not necessarily because he's bad at it, but because his internet is slow. He does his best, but sometimes downloading a file tha tag takes three days only to be told you don't have enough space makes you want to punch a hole straight through the computer.

Ravis Galante(Latvia)- He small and just pushed around by the bigger boys a lot. He is often bullied for his height and shy stutter, and had no way to stand up for himself. He'll begin to speak, but either get shut down or chicken out. So he spends most of his time in the library, sitting in the loneliness. He did like friends, it just made it hard when the entire school hates you.

Gianna Bonnefoy(Monaco)- She's Francis's half sister and is just as flirty. She loves to make everyone around her blush in her presence, either by radiating beauty or making inappropriate comments. Francis will tell her to stop, which is really code for, keep going it's entertaining. She liked to braid people's hair, weather they're boys, girls, or anything in between. If you had hair she wanted to do it up all nice.

Vladimir Popescu(Romania)- Obsessed with everything paranormal. 100% believes in ghosts and likes to go out ghost hunting. He will go to abandoned asylums or hospitals to try and find spooky activity. He can get extremely jumpy and scared when it comes to ghost hunts, and has screamed like a girl on multiple occasions. When he's not doing that, he plays D&D, and is very good at it. He DMs.

Milan Hinova(Bulgaria)- He really likes yogurt. He and Vladimir go on ghost hunts and he is actually very calm. He doesn't believe in ghosts and will brush any sort of paranormal activity off as wind or the state of the building they're in, and is like Vladimir's protector. They'll often record and post videos of these ghost hunts. He doesn't play D&D, but will come to the sessions to hang out with Vladimir.

Anthony Gunner Jones(Molossia)- A sweetheart around his parents and when he's alone, but foul mouthed and angry with his friends. Alfred and Matthew's cousin, who they really like. He will get very flustered and embarrassed if he's complimented, and will punch people in the arms when he feels it's appropriate. He also volunteers at the middle school as a gym assistant, and has a GIANT crush on Romeo.

Thank you for reading.

[ronanbloomfield]

After 2 a.m.

by Ronan Bloomfield

I see him. Everywhere. On the kitchen counter, legs dangling off, talking to our friends. His hands, on her waist. His eyes, searching, curious. His laugh, loud but unoffensive. He makes the whole room focus on him. Vash, in all his curly-haired, dark eyes, wide smile bravado, made his way into our circle without so much as dropping a sweat. I should’ve brought more liquor if I knew he’s the one Michelle brought for a date.

New Year’s at cousin Mark’s town house is a huge deal this year. He announced that he won’t let anyone pass inside without bringing a plus one. I brought Patrick. Mark wasn’t so thrilled about that since Patrick happened to be my cat.

At the countdown, everyone seems pretty wasted. A clear sign of Mark’s year-end objective is people making out in the open with careless nonchalance. My job is to take decent snaps of everything indecent that’s happened.

Vash sweeps in and out of the room, towing Michelle, whose neutral expression always seems to be lying across between bright and blasting; a firecracker never running out of sparks. There was phrase in Latin I always use to describe her, in omnia paratus, ready for anything. Standing by the sideline and noticing everything, I made room for the pulsing life of the party, without being in the party.

After the countdown, Vash, the center of this universe, gave a toast to welcome another decade.

“May misfortune follow us all the way through,” he raised his cup. We booed.

“And may it never catch up,” he continued. We drank to that.

Unless they’re Irish, who else makes up stuff like that when they’re only 16% sober?

Mark’s house eventually got quiet as people slumped into couches and the available rooms. Some couple mysteriously disappeared halfway through eating the 2020 cake.

It’s 2:15 a.m. and after drinking booze more than both my fingers can count, I am officially tipsy. It sucks. I just can’t get drunk enough to not mind the empty cups and bottles lying around the living room, the wine spilled on the kitchen floor, throw pillows askew on the couches; every mess I spot seems to loom in on me and vacuum what’s left of my sobriety.

I grabbed the trash bag and made my way through every spot that we partied on. The room is spinning too fast for me so I slowed down and played a soft music from Spotify. I let it travel from the living room to my last destination, the kitchen.

“I didn’t know they invited a Monica Geller!” a voice behind me said a little too loud. I turned around only to find Vash, still standing straight and slightly red in the face.

I continued my work, scrubbing the sink immaculately clean while he sat there, by the kitchen isle, watching. I looked at him once, no twice, yeah alright, 14 times to make sure he wasn’t about to fall off from the high stool he was sitting on.

“Seriously,” he belched, “how can you be cleaning after drinking that much alcohol?”

I ignored him. I am not known to be famous with small talk. Or any talk, for that matter. I’m the silent twin, fluent in the quiet, overshadowed by the loud personality of my other half. I spoke only once, when he asked what my cat’s name is and since then it’s been Vash and his surprisingly loquacious alter-ego. He took it as his job to fill the gap in the air and talked about, yep, SpongeBob.

“He taught me how to handle my autistic younger brother. Man, he’s the best.” I’m not sure if he’s aware that he’s still talking while petting Patrick.

He went on, still talking, and followed me to the front porch where I deposited three bags of trash. I sat down by the stairs because it has been unbelievably exhausting as much as it was satisfying.

“By the way,” he sat right next to me with Patrick on his lap. “I believe we haven’t been officially introduced. Michelle said she would... but you know Michelle.”

I nodded. Of course, I had to share a womb with her.

“Anyway, I’m Vash.” He extended his hand, which is strangely old-fashioned for a guy just two years behind our age.

“Michael,” I said in reply.

We shook hands. And I wished it felt as simple as flesh touching flesh. Instead, it was a Stupefy spell which backfired. I withdrew my hand quickly, not eager to do anymore self-damage.

I believe in deep talks. But most of all, I believe in the deep talks held in the dark. That’s why sitting there by the stairs, the cool air on my face and the stars carefully mapped out above us, it felt easier to say something rash.

“I knew you from college.”

His eyebrows arched upwards. “Oh?”

My throat felt dry all of a sudden. “Yes,” I looked down. “You once slept… on my books at the library.”

His face broke into a grin. “For a minute, I thought you were going to say I slept with someone and you knew about her.”

I laughed with him too enthusiastically.

“Hey, I’m so sorry about your books. I can’t even remember that since I made passing out in the library a habit.”

“Don’t worry,” I said dismissively, “I was just using it for props, anyway.”

He laughed. It was gentle this time, syncing with the soft music still playing. We stayed like that for five minutes during which Patrick transferred to my lap, purred and fell asleep.

“I think I’ve noticed you somewhere around campus, too.” He glanced sideways at me, a smile overstaying its welcome is on his face.

My heart doesn’t know chill. It’s threatening to leap out of my chest.

“Did you give any speech back then?”

I wiped a hand on my face and cursed. At that, he let loose a provocative snicker.

I have been roasted all my adult life because of the drunk speech I gave to all scholars in our university on our senior year, and I still can’t get out of the hot seat fast enough and unscathed.

“Can there be one person, just one person in this world, who doesn’t know that story?”

“Hey,” he said, arms gesticulating, “just fulfilling my character flaw.”

I shrugged, not having anything to say anymore. This isn’t the deep talk I had in mind. The heat on my face is still subsiding when he continued.

“Were you…” he paused as if he’s actually traveling down his memory lane.

“Were you in theatre?”

I nodded.

“You didn’t play any character.”

“Oui.”

“You just directed it.”

“Careful on the ‘just’.”

“You’re right, you’re right. You were THE director.”

“Better.”

“You were the platoon leader first and second year in ROTC.”

I looked at him because now, I just realized he’s reciting things about me from his memory and I thought he just met me tonight.

He bit the inside of his lower lip and thought some more. His eyebrows are knit together in complete focus. I can’t believe this. Michelle, you tattletale.

“You almost drowned in swimming class.”

“You got excellent academic credentials.”

“You’re a good impersonator; your piece of Tyrion Lannister could land Oscars.”

“You’re funny enough and you notice everything it’s almost freaky.”

I want him to stop. This is not helping me get a grip. But he continues, unaware; his face getting sharper in the background as I was starting to get out of the haze that clouded my better judgement. This was a stupid, bad idea. Nothing good happens after 2 a.m., I knew that.

“You think sunsets are overrated.”

“You think feelings are, also.”

“You don’t like coffee or girls. Or—”

“I think I’m falling in love with you.”

He stops talking. I continued.

“I might have already, way, way, way before we met.” I feel really close to vomiting at this moment, but what the hell.

“Seeing you tonight is weird and I know what you are. You’re the boyfriend of this month or this season, depending on what my sister decides later.” My breath isn’t catching up the right way but that didn’t matter.

“I know what I’m not. I’m not really a stranger to you, am I?” I finally had the nerve to look at him. He looked like he hasn’t breathed in since I interrupted him.

“Please say something so I don’t let my cat scratch my face willingly.”

[mindlikeaninja]

A/S/L??

@queen-o-castle tagged me in this Get-to-Know-You post, and it made me so reminiscent of high school Hotmail email chains with my friends which were then immediately uploaded to my Xanga page that I just had to do it. Besides, who doesn’t like talking about themselves and pretending like people care?? Have fun stealing my identity!!

Also, in true email quiz chain fashion, I’m going to tag a person or two that I know, but also a bunch that I have a Tumblr crush on and think they’re amazing and I just want to draw doodly hearts around their usernames. I’m gonna go change my AIM away message and get butterflies when I hear the door opening .wav file play.

@caffeinewineo​ @lostandfoundinthebackofmymind​ @l0vegl0wsinthedark​ @bixgirl1​ @wilwheaton​ (because you never know, maybe he misses Xanga too) @bunjywunjy​ @pearl-likes-pi​

Name/Alias: Melissa. I have had so many usernames in the past (but this is my super secret Tumblr blog so don’t go stalking me okay??) like mgmdrums, tsoliastra, melissapocalypse, and my favorite from the days of Yahoo, djfanatic (short for Daniel Jackson Fanatic).

Birthday: March 29th. Shared with the lovely Marina Sirtis, the brilliant Eric Idle, and the indomitable Lucy Lawless.

Zodiac: Aries af. My sister is way more into it and could tell you shit about my moon signs and I don’t know, what Jupiter’s moons were gossiping about when I was born or something. I just know I’m stubborn and genuinely have no fucks to give.

Height: 5′ 7″. My whole extended family is tall.

Hobbies: Playing the same 2 video game franchises repeatedly (Mass Effect and Dragon Age). Rewatching the same shows/movies repeatedly. Rereading books I’ve already read and occasionally sneaking in a new one periodically. Sleeping (legitimately, depression is a bitch). Eating (the weight gain has happened, might as well run with it. Well....not run, obviously. Sit with it, maybe). Cuddling with my 4 cats. Starting projects/hobbies and then getting bored with them after a week or less (drawing, making candles, knitting, etc.)

Favorite colors: I don’t know that I have a specific one anymore, but blues are probably my most frequent go-to. I like deep, darker colors. Eggplant, a rich burgundy, deep emerald, etc. Pastels are too nice for me, and I’m not really a neon person.

Favorite books: This is a deep, deep well of obsession, so here goes: The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold. It’s 15+ book series that primarily follows Miles Vorkosigan, a brilliant strategist who probably has bipolar disorder and is a mix between Sherlock Holmes, Vash the Stampede, and Tyrion Lannister (heavy on the Vash, he gets in more trouble than seems physically possible, and on the Tyrion for multiple reasons). Except it’s so much more than that, and I’m obsessed with this series almost as much as I am Dragon Age and Mass Effect, and I wish more people had heard of it. If you’re at all interested ask me ask me ask me and I would love to talk to you about it. Or don’t, because I might not shut up. ------ Beyond that series, I like the Artemis Fowl series, the Ender’s Game series, and the Outlander series (I love long, long stories) just to name a few. Another favorite that even less have heard of than the Vorkosigan Saga: The Saga of Pliocene Exile/Intervention/The Galactic Milieu Trilogy, by Julian May. It’s a sort of convoluted and confusing series to explain, but it’s 3 series of books that utilize time travel (spoiler) and so the end of one takes you back to the beginning of another and it just loops. It’s amazing and I love it so, so much. I’m so sad that nobody seems to have ever heard of it.

Last song listened to: "Piano Man”, by Billy Joel. It actually was on the radio, which bears mentioning because he’s my favorite musical artist of all time and I have every single one of his albums on CD and know all the words to almost all of them (I don’t know his Attila stuff, mainly because the quality is....not great).

Last movie watched: Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus. It made me very, very happy.

Inspiration for muse: I’m not very creative, so I get less “inspiration to create via muse” and more “inspiration to clean my house because someone’s coming over”. A lot of the new things I try are things I’ve seen my friends doing and it seems fun, or I feel like I should try to do something to better things for my cats. I used to play piano and percussion both pretty significantly (got a scholarship for them, and was actually pretty fucking good at it). But I don’t play anymore, and that was pretty much my only artistic output.

Dream job: I loved working on a college campus. I was an admin assistant for student conduct and what was basically the students’ social worker. I’d love to have some sort of administrative role in the student support services arena. I don’t know that I need to be the one meeting with them face-to-face, but I want to be involved in it somehow.

Meaning behind my URL: I love webcomics (seriously, I have probably 30 different webcomics that I’m currently keeping up with, maybe more, and a bunch more that have ended that I read when they were still going). One of them is Sheldon Comics, by Dave Kellett.  His strip on Aug. 11, 2006 is as follows:

It just stuck with me. Okay I’m done. And I’m sorry.

[dreadnought-despair]

[CHAPTER 1 - Library - 016]

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As expected from going to bed so soon, I woke up at butt'o'clock in the morning. At least the first thing I heard today didn't have to be MONO-9000’s annoying cackle… I could take a shower in peace!

The blaring alert went off a few minutes after I stepped back out into the bedroom– just in time to drown it out with my hair dryer. It was highly unlikely that MONO would have paid any attention to my petty act of defiance, if he was watching at all, but sometimes it’s the little things that keep you going.

By the time I’d finished drying my hair (why did it have to be so thick) it was time to head over to the library. Things seemed weirdly quiet as I made my way through the hallways and the cafeteria… it wasn’t that early in the morning, was it? Surely people would be eating breakfast by now, under ordinary circumstances. I opened the door to the library to find…

…well, not a whole lot. Honoka was there of course, and Riko and Yusra, Kapono, Aoi… Sal, too, despite his earlier protesting. Even Tiffani had managed to drag herself out of bed before noon. But… that was it. I could see why some of the others would be hesitant to come, but where was Vash? Or Jurou? Or Nik?

They all sat around the small round table in the corner, and I dragged one of the empty chairs over there for myself.

“Well… that’s half of us!” Honoka piped up, her voice sounding a little hollow amidst the smaller-than-expected crowd.

“Figures.”

“I-I’m sure some of them just overslept…”

“…”

“…”

I was reasonably sure that’s what Ishi was doing, at least, but the others didn’t seem terribly convinced. Salvatore seemed to deliberately avoid eye contact as he twirled his pen.

“… I don’t want to have to repeat myself. Should we wait for the stragglers?

"Hmph! I got 2 hours of sleep last night and I still dragged my ass out here! If they aren’t coming, they aren’t coming. Get on with it, I’m here for some drama.”

We looked around at each other nervously as Tiffani munched on some popcorn.

“…I suppose we should get started.” Yusra folded her hands neatly in her lap.

“Just… around the circle, then? Like it’s show and tell?”

“Why don’t you go first, Tiffani, if you’re so excited about it?”

“No.”

“Oh c'mon darling, it’s only fair! If you want in on the gossip, you gotta be ready to spill some beans of your own.”

After some badgering from the rest of us, Tiffani finally relented with a snarl.

“Fine! Fuck you guys. Fine.”

“…I was cheer captain in middle school.”

“Y-you were what?”

“You fucking heard me! I’m not saying it again.”

I, unfortunately, was the first to break the stifling silence. I had sworn before I even stepped in the room that I wouldn’t laugh at anybody’s secret, but I just– a cheerleader? I couldn’t help but let out an undignified snort.

“Pfft– oh my god? I-I’m sorry I– I’m sure you were great at it I’m just–”

“Hey Tim. Guess what? Guess what I got right here?” With a vengeful grin, she waved her letter in my face and began to read loudly. “‘Timaeus Woodworth stole a book from his school’s library–’”

“Hey! I was in the third grade! A-and I paid the replacement fee!”

“Third grade...? What book was it?”

“…Magic Tree House #7...”

Maybe I should’ve been a little more miffed as the huddled crowd erupted into laughter, but I found myself laughing with them. There was an unspoken relief that maybe all our worrying had been over such childish secrets– I could feel the tension in the room start to dissipate. I didn’t mind being the laughingstock if it put the others at ease in a dreadful time like this.

“Okay, seriously though, we should probably just tell our own secrets.”

“Yes, it would be unfair to the absentees to not allow them a chance to explain themselves.”

“…I s-suppose that’s fair.” Honoka’s brow furrowed a little, but she nodded in agreement. I wondered briefly whose secret she knew.

“Whatever.” Tiffani crumpled up her paper and tossed it to the garbage bin. She missed by a few feet.

“…Yeah… Who’s next?” Kapono peeped up from his scarf at the crowd.

If we went in the current order around the circle, then Sal would be next… But surprisingly, Riko spoke up instead. She glanced around the room, her face flushing a little.

“I, uh… I... cosplay sometimes. I won second place at a cosplay contest last year. At San Diego Comic Con…”

“At SDCC? Wait– holy crap!” Aoi gasped and clapped a hand to their cheek. “I thought you looked familiar! I watched that contest! W-were you the Voyager-era Romulan commander with the scalemail sash–”

Riko’s face lit up like a flashlight.

“Oh my god you recognized it? That’s my favorite uniform design but no one ever knows what it is–”

“The craftsmanship was amazing! I’m so jealous! All I’ve got is a crappy storebought Next Generation science officer uniform–”

“Thank you! Scalemail is such a pain in the ass to work with but it was totally worth it–”

She froze as if she just now remembered there were 7 other people in the room with her. We were all too stunned by her sudden shift in demeanor to say anything.

“…Of course, if you people breathe a word of this to anyone I will murder you in your sleep. Understand?”

“Y-yes ma’am!”

“My lips are sealed, dear. But there’s nothing wrong with having a hobby, y’know!~”

“It’s, um… Y-you don’t get it.” Riko sounded unusually subdued as she leaned back in her chair. Yusra piped up quickly, as if to spare her further embarrassment.

“…I’m afraid my secret is not quite so interesting! Papa’s corporation is a regular donor to Hope’s Peak Academy. I prefer not to tell people that, for fear they might think I bought my way into the school… but your trust is far more important than my pride.”

“Hmm… you think that’s why you were kidnapped with us?”

“It could be? I fear I don’t remember enough of my time at Hope’s Peak to say for certain.“

Sal was silent for a moment, then started writing in his notebook again. He’d been taking notes almost nonstop through this whole meeting, even when no one spoke, as if his pen had a mind of its own. It was a little strange, I thought… was he even taking notes?

Ah well, none of my business. Next in line was Aoi, who seemed to hesitate a little more than usual before they spoke.

”…Uh, well, my given name was Akiko. I was designated female at birth. Suprise?“

"Akiko…? Huh.”

“Yeah. It’s a nice name, just… too feminine for my liking. I’ve been Aoi for a few years now.” They shrugged. “I’m more annoyed that MONO was petty enough to dig that up than anything else, really.”

“He does like the petty bullshit, doesn’t he? This isn’t even, like, fun gossip. You guys are so boring.”

Sal laughed humorlessly, more like a scoff. "In a situation like this, I’d say boring is a good thing.”

Honoka was next in line, though I already had a pretty good idea what her secret might involve. She wrung her hands nervously as she spoke.

“I’ve… never actually performed a full show on stage.”

“Huh? But what are you all dressed up for then?”

“B-because I like to dress up... And it’s important to look professional for my students!” She brightened up again-- she must care about them a lot.

“Students? Well no wonder you’re a SHSL! It takes twice the talent to teach others than it does to perform.~”

“Ah...! That’s--” she stammered over Yusra’s kind words-- “y-you’re really giving me too much credit...”

Honoka nodded quickly to Kapono, trying to divert attention from herself as her cheeks turned red.

“A-pha-si-a… from…” Kapono rapped his knuckles on his forehead a few times. “Injury… at a dig...” He paused for a few moments, and his gaze sank to the floor.

“I… don’t like, um… talking about it.”

“That’s okay, I understand.”

“Yeah, we don’t need the details. Just making sure you aren’t a serial killer or something.”

"Did you have to put it like that...?" Why did everyone just assume there was a serial killer? It wasn’t funny...

And finally, we found ourselves staring at Salvatore, the last one in the circle. He looked back at us with an uncharacteristic silence, then pouted comically.

“Ah, I was hoping I wouldn’t be the only one with a big showy confession to make… I’m not used to being in the spotlight! But here we are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean–”

“My name and talent are fake.”

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed, if it weren't for Tiffani crunching away at her popcorn.

“Er… pardon?”

“Aha! I was wondering about that.”

“…Wh-what?! You can’t be serious!”

“It’s true. As far as you all are concerned, I don’t have a name. Sal is fine. But to the corrupt and despot rulers of this world, I am known by my penname… Janus. SHSL Investigative Journalist.”

Wait wait wait. Hold the phone. That Janus? Not the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and endings, but the-- the one in the news--

Tiffani’s grating cackle snapped me back to reality.

“Holy shit! Oh my god! What kinda shitty B-movie am I watching right now?”

“Laugh all you want, darling, I can prove it! Who wants to see notes on my latest international child trafficking ring takedown? You won’t believe which high-profile politicians were involved this time!~”

His laugh had a strange, bitter edge to it. He might have been ribbing Tiffani, but there was no question he was deadly serious about his confession.

And the contents of his notebook left no room for doubt– each page he flipped through was chock full of intricate notes and diagrams that would put a conspiracy theorist to shame. I caught a glimpse of the map of the Dreadnought from the Electro ID, covered in words… how much had he learned about this place?

“Or you can just ask Riko– you’ve got my secret, right?” He snapped the notebook shut and leveled his gaze coolly at the tall girl.

“…How did you…”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out yet, darling? The distribution isn’t random at all! If you anglicize our given names and put them in alphabetical order…”

Our new resident detective cracked his notebook open again, to show us a list he’d already written on a fresh page:

...He was right, wasn’t he? Riko had Sal’s secret, Tiffani had my secret, I had Vash’s secret... Was that really all it was?

“That seems… unusually straightforward.”

“I’m sure MONO wanted us to figure it out fairly quickly. Makes it easier to pick a target if you know who knows your secret, doesn’t it? And it gives you an advantage over the ones who haven’t picked up on the pattern yet…”

“He must not have expected us to work together as much as we have--”

“Th-that’s all well and good but… why should we trust you?” Honoka’s voice was shaky as she spoke up, but she stood her ground. “Why can you just– tell us all this? Won’t you get in trouble?”

"More trouble than getting kidnapped and forced into a murder game?” he snapped.

“…Fair.” After a few moments’ deliberation, she backed down, but some of the others still seemed pretty wary.

“It is a bit, um, far-fetched, you know…”

“You can fucking say that again.”

“Of course I can’t make you trust me, dear. But I simply have no reason to hide anymore! If our kidnapper knows this much about me already, then lying to you doesn’t do anything but make me look more suspicious. I’d rather lay all my cards on the table.”

Another hesitant silence, finally interrupted by Riko.

”…I believe you.“

”…Me too...“

“So what?” she growled, cutting Kapono off. “Are we supposed to just stand around gawping at your superior intellect, Mr. Holmes? Or are you going to do something about all of this?”

“Now now, is that any way to treat your new informant? You can’t rush this kind of relationship!~” He giggled coyly-- apparently that flamboyant personality wasn't all just acting-- but quickly grew serious again.

“I’m just as eager to escape this place as you are, but I won’t divulge any theories until I have more information. Panic over mere conjecture won’t help us. And when the time comes, I’d rather speak to a full audience... Everyone has the right to know what’s going on.”

“...Can’t argue with that.” Aoi nodded and tucked their hands in their sleeves. I didn’t blame them-- what on earth could we say, in the face of such a bizarre claim? Tiffani, however, was not so easily swayed.

“I’m still not buying any of this bullshit. We’re not in a fucking spy movie.”

“I-I’m not sure either... We barely even know each other, and you just told us all your secret identity?”

“I mean, our kidnapper already knew who I was. My cover’s apparently been compromised from the start. But once we get back to terra firma, all I need is a new name and a new face and I’m back in action.”

“...N-new face?”

“Tim, honey.” Sal-- Janus? laughed and drew a circle around his face with his finger. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you think any of this is real.���

Now that he mentioned it, I could see tinges of plastic in his hawk-like nose, the roots of his bleach blond hair... I didn’t have much reason to doubt him anymore. My problem was more conceptual than anything else-- if this was really Janus standing before me, the vigilante whistleblower who’d evaded capture or even recognition for years, then how the hell did our kidnapper get ahold of him in the first place?

That wasn’t something any of us could answer right now, though. Instead we sat in awkward silence, mulling over all this new information, till Yusra finally spoke up.

“So... that’s all of us, huh?”

“All of us that showed up.”

“What do we do now...?”

"Well, I don’t know about you, but I think I’m gonna go check on Ishi... just to make sure nothing’s wrong.”

“A-alright.” Honoka looked like she was about to say something else, but stopped herself. Instead she stood up and looked around the table. “Everyone... stay safe, okay?”

“...”

“...”

“...Yeah.”

We didn’t have to say anything to know exactly what she was worried about.

I dismissed myself from the room and headed back to the dorms, still pondering the events of the meeting. Aside from Sal's dramatic revelation, the others didn't seem to have much to hide-- that was comforting to know, at least. But it only made me more worried for the students who didn't show... Some of them might have overslept, but we couldn't know for sure.

Not unless I asked them myself, anyway. Maybe after I found Ishi, I could go check on the others, too?

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[torisfeather]

Also on AO3

It was in the middle of the morning. Kiku had gone out for some fresh air and, true to himself, had settled on a bench in the playground, in the shade of a tree, to read. Except…

"Kiku-chan!" Kiku looked up. Alfred smiled at him, a coke can in his hand. The Japanese boy couldn't open his mouth before he sat down next to him. "Wait… A biology book?!" the American exclaimed when he saw the cover. "Kiku-chan, it's Sunday, we've had like a week of lessons and you're already studying? Aren't you a little crazy?"

Kiku seemed a little uneasy and looked away. "I'm used to… starting early," he said hesitatingly.

"What the fuck…" Alfred said. "Well, whatever floats your boat. "He finished his coke and threw the empty can into the nearest trashcan, yelling "GOAL!" when it successfully disappeared into the black plastic bag. "So?"

"So what, Alfred?"

"Tell me! What did you do yesterday? Did you find yourself a club?"

Kiku stayed focused on his book and kept silent for a moment. "I joined the journalism club."

"… That's all?"

"Yes, why?"

Alfred breathed a sigh. Kiku couldn't tell if he looked rather disappointed or relieved. "How many are you? Two?"

"We're three."

Alfred snickered.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just a pretty ridiculous number of people for a club!"

"It's completely fine!" the Japanese said, slightly offended, before speaking up again. "How many are you in your student help club?"

"Six."

"That's not a lot either."

"It's more than three!"

Kiku let go of the issue. He wouldn't fight about such futile things. That a club had three or six members was about as important at the percentage of snow in August on the Mississippi River. He glanced at his friend, still laughing a little with that genuinely happy smile on his face. "You look happy that my club has so little people."

"Huh? Why would you think that?"

"A feeling."

Alfred scratched his head. "It doesn't really make me happy… I mean, it's not a real journal team, they only publish a few pages a month and there aren't even sexy pictures. Plus, they never tell about my HERO exploits, they just talk about things nobody cares about, it's not fair!"

"Oh, so it's grudge…"

"Wha…" Alfred seemed about to choke, his eyes exaggeratedly wide, wiggling without visible intent. "Absolutely not! A HERO never holds a grudge, unless there's a good reason!" He was so ridiculous Kiku let out a tiny laugh that he tried to hide behind his hand. Too late. Alfred noticed and gave him a large smile. "I knew you could actually laugh! You should try to do it more!"

"Huh…" Kiku hesitated for a while and then eventually chose not to answer.

"But about what we were saying… Journal club isn't the best to make friends."

"Hum? Why? Ludwig-san and Feliciano-kun are both quite friendly."

Alfred laughed again. "Ludwig? Friendly? Are you serious?"

Kiku thought for a moment and had to refrain from giggling again. "I have to admit it isn't exactly the best adjective to define him."

"No kidding? Plus two friends can't be enough."

"You know, Alfred, I believe it's better to have few solid friendships rather than many hazardous acquaintances."

Alfred looked at him like he was reflecting on his words. "Come again in English?"

Kiku had to refrain himself from face palming. "Quality is better than quantity."

"Oh, okay, you couldn't said that earlier!" The American started to laugh and Kiku just smiled. Alfred's good mood was contagious. Silence fell again between the two of them and Kiku went back to reading, thinking they were done. "So it's my HERO duty to help you in your quest for friendship!"

The black-haired boy sighed. "I assure you there is no need for this now, Alfred. I believe I can fit in just fine."

"But… You don't have a lot of friends and…"

"And I like it that way, thank you," Kiku interrupted a little sharply.

Alfred went quiet and looked at him with a sad little pout. "So you don't need me anymore?"

Kiku gave him a surprised look and smiled before his puppy eyes. They were probably about the same age but Alfred acted so much like a kid… "Why would you say that, Alfred? You are the one who told me we were friend, aren't you? It doesn't matter if you are helping me or not!"

The American's eyes sparkled and, without warning, Kiku was prisoner of a pair of arms seemingly trying to crush him. The Japanese felt his face go white, then red, started shaking, reflexively struggled, tried to calm down, observed the situation, put things in perspective and, finally, dared to put his own arms around Alfred's waist after making a lot of efforts to see this as normal for occidental culture. Give him a big hand, it was difficult but he finally managed to hug someone back!

He realized far too late that he had dropped his book. When Alfred let him go, he was too fast for him and grabbed the book instead of Kiku. But instead of giving it back, he looked at the page the Japanese boy was reading. "What's so interesting in th…?"

He stopped. His expression went from curiosity to surprise to amusement in a couple seconds. Kiku shrunk back into his seat, mortified. There, between the biology book's pages, he had slipped a doujinshi to use the studies as an excuse to read it. Alfred smirked at him. "So you know that technique too! I'd rather do that to read comics in class but hey, you do you…" He laughed loudly and turned the manga's pages. Kiku was as red as a poppy, trying to disappear into his own shirt. Alfred suddenly stopped laughing, squinting his eyes to take a closer look at the manga. "Kiku?"

"Y-yes, Alfred?"

"What is that guy doing with the… Wait, what is that thing? Is that a skewer?"

Kiku looked at the page he was talking about and blushed even more. He really didn't think he'd ever read this kind of stuff with someone else… Alfred was looking at him insistently, waiting for an answer. Kiku took a deep breath and whispered an explanation in his ear. Alfred blushed as well and winced but didn't seem too disgusted, much to the Japanese boy's relief.

"You read very weird stuff, dude," he commented as he took a look at the rest of the manga. He laughed several times, avoided a few pages that looked too "weird" for him and asked plenty of questions Kiku did not want to answer. After a couple minutes, he looked up and gave Kiku a look that was way too serious for his character. "Kiku… Don't tell me you're in the crazy-yaoists club?"

"Um… Let's not change the subject, Alfred…"

At the very beginning of PCD, that Monday morning, Luna had taken a few minutes to announce that their yearly September Ball would be held on next Saturday. She had watched as the students' eyes sparkled, as the girls started chirping about the kind of dress they absolutely had to wear, as the boys started talking about who they'd invite. She smiled fondly. Then the lesson began, like the week before, with an intensive tiring session. But as their last strengths left the kids, her mobile phone rang and she left the room to pick up. When she came back, she looked perturbed. Like divided between annoyance and worry. To the point where she actually didn't realize the students had all taken advantage of her being gone to take some rest. She started to give her instructions for the lesson, like nothing happened.

Everything went smoothly. Those who knew their powers gladly worked on them and the others, which meant Vash, Lily and Mei, spent the session watching horror movies, since the teacher was obviously too shaken to surprise them like last time When the bell rang the end of the lesson, Feliciano innocently asked Luna what was on her mind but she sent him off a little dryly, which didn't comfort the Italian boy.

Thankfully, the next day, she seemed to be back to her usual mood, so the problem might not have been that bad.

The first journalism club session was quite short as Ludwig had declared that the first week would be dedicated to finding interesting topics for the school newspaper. Since he was taking the small number of members and their inexperience into account, he had put the publishing date at the end of October so that they could produce quality articles. To make it short, the journal was composed of a front page article on which they had to cooperate, as well as several smaller topics they could manage separately. Ludwig was taking care, ever since he had joined the club, of the "practical advice" page, focusing on studying methods and health. Kiku had inherited the "criticism" page, which was actually to his liking. Lastly, Feliciano was in charge of the "school info" page. He just had to report whatever was happening in the school, which was akin to a simple rumor page.

Ludwig had then started a brainstorming to find a topic for the front page of their October edition. But with a pasta-obsessed boy and an otaku who would only submit very Japanese topics, the research was not going well. Because no, "pasta popularity by country" and "the ten best places to celebrate the hanami" were not suitable topics. He decided they would simply think about interesting topics for the rest of the week and pick one at random the next Monday.

Then Feliciano woke up and they had a snack while talking about September Ball.

On Wednesday afternoon, during free time, Gilbert put his plan to execution.

He had to do without any accomplices this time. Antonio had been kidnapped by Bella and Francis was in detention for "exhibitionism". Granted it wasn't socially accepted to go skinny dipping in the school's swimming pool during swimming practice but a detention for that… It's not like it was the first time, they should be used to it by now.

He was carefully walking through the empty corridors, making sure he was as silent as possible. Mostly because he didn't want to get caught, but also because, if he listened carefully, he could hear the discreet sound of footsteps following him since noon. He smirked as his destination came into view: the kitchen. Francis had told him it was completely empty between two and four in the afternoon. Cooking club didn't start until then, and the cleaning staff was long gone already. Gilbert stepped into the room, tip-toed further in, as if checking no one was there. Then came back and closed the door.

Now came the work part. The albino boy walked up to one of the many numbered cupboards in the room and started checking them, one by one. He found numerous interesting things, such as bags of ingredients with unpronounceable names or diversely shaped cake pans, until he found what he had been looking for: a bag of flour.

He walked back to the door with his loot but, instead of leaving, he just opened the bag and started spreading its content all over the kitchen floor, making sure he didn't leave a single clean space. For good measure, he threw the rest of it across the room, and watched the results unfold.

At first, nothing happened for several minutes. Gilbert was waiting, standing in a corner, but his idea seemed to have failed… Pfft, as if! He was awesome, all his ideas were consequently awesome, and thus had to work! Thankfully for the albino's ego, after a while, two footprints suddenly appeared. They quickly made their way towards the door. The mysterious stalker was running away once more. Gilbert had an impatient grin. The hunt had started.

He teleported in front of the wooden door. The footprints in the flour stopped suddenly and tried to take a few steps back to run in the opposite direction. Except whoever this invisible person was, they had forgotten a crucial detail: flour makes tiles very slippery.

A large white cloud raised in the air when the invisible person fell onto the ground. Gilbert jumped on the hole that fall had created in the white powder and kind of managed to restrain the spy by sitting on them. He felt them struggle but not manage to shake him off, which made him smile even more.

"Behold the way you were tricked by the awesome me!" An annoyed growl answered him as his prisoner slowly calmed down. It was almost like they were sulking, which made the albino laugh. "So, won't you show me your face, Birdie?"

A long moment of silence followed his question. Gilbert wondered if he had heard him well and wanted to repeat himself when, finally, his stalker slowly appeared. He could first see their blue student jacket form some sort of transparent veil above the tiles. Then their beige vest appeared underneath, then their white shirt. Their brown tie took a while to show up at his collar. Then he could see a pinkish neck, pretty blond locks, and the lines of a slightly chubby face, like a child's. His ruby-colored eyes traced their large, round jaw, their full lips and straight nose, and ended up diving deep into huge blue purplish eyes. He drew back a bit, taking in their half-annoyed half-sheepish face and decided, after taking a good look, that this boy was the cutest stalker he had ever seen.

He was very disappointed when the boy ended up not turning completely visible. He was staying in a transparent state which, although allowing to see his face, made it difficult to make out clearly his silhouette; he looked like a ghost. A very cute ghost.

After a while, he turned completely invisible again and Gilbert whined.

"I can't stay invisible for very long, it takes a lot of focus," the ghost explained in a voice as transparent as he was.

"What's your name, Birdy?" Gilbert asked.

"Matthew."

"Why are you following me?" Gilbert was determined to get the truth out of him.

Matthew hesitated for a few moment before answering. "I… I spy on problematic kids on the principles' behalf. I might have to tell them about what you did here."

Gilbert gave him, or at least looked at the spot where his head was before, a doubtful look. He was awesome enough to know a lie when he heard one, and Matthew had hesitated too much to be sincere. "And the real reason is?"

Matthew went quiet for a minute. "I'm looking for confidence," he finally said. Gilbert did not move, waiting for him to keep going. Matthew sighed and explained. "As you can see, it's pretty hard to notice me," he said. "I have a hard time being visible and everything I touch, from my clothes to Kumayolo…"

"Who?"

"Over there." Gilbert turned and noticed, further away, a white teddy bear sniffing the flour and sneezing quietly. Matthew had probably let go of it when he fell. "Anyway, everything I touch goes invisible too, so it doesn't help. Most people in the school don't know I exist, or forgot from not seeing me. S-so I try to get others to notice me but…" You could feel from his tone of voice that he was blushing. "I can't, I'm too silent," he said like it was a secret. He then stopped for a moment. Gilbert tilted his head, not getting where he was going. "So I followed you to try and understand how I could be noticed. I mean, you're one of the most famous kids in the school. The Bad Touch Trio, all that stuff. Everyone know your name, even if it isn't to say nice things about you. So I thought that, by observing you, I could learn to be the same. It's stupid, I know."

Gilbert gave him and incredulous look. Then dropped to his side, freeing the blond boy, and started laughing nervously. Matthew didn't move. The albino was guessing he hadn't told him the entire truth but he'd make do with his explanation for now. "So that's why you've been following me for weeks?!" he exclaimed, shaken by his uncontrolled laughter.

"Y-yeah?"

"Dude you should've just asked me right away, Birdie! You need awesome advice to become awesome!"

"Wha… Oh, ok, sorry…"

"Don't apologize! It just took longer than it should have, that's all!" Gilbert stood and reach out towards the space where he thought Matthew was. He felt his hand in his and pulled to help him up. He himself stayed visible, which meant Matthew's ability only affected objects. Kuma-what's-his-name was a teddy bear so, even if it moved, it still counted. "So, Birdie, in my awesome generosity, I will teach you everything you need to know to become almost as awesome as me! Kesese…"

"Um… Really, Gilbert, you don't have to bother…"

"Don't worry, Birdy! I was bored anyway!"

"Why are you calling me Birdy?"

Gilbert stopped and thought. "It's a nickname I used for you… I guess it stuck because… You're hard to catch, and you fly away as soon as I find you, like a little bird." Matthew didn't answer, Gilbert assumed that meant he liked the nickname. "Well, then. Lesson number 1, Birdy! When an awesome dude makes an awesome mess, he proudly faces the consequences. So we're going to leave the flour here and go before someone sees us…"

"Um… Aren't contradicting yourself right now?"

"No, why?"

"We could at least sweep the floor, there are people working here that have better to do than cleaning…"

"Yeah, but we also have better to do."

"But…"

"Second lesson, Birdy!"

"But…"

"Wanna go to September Ball with me?"

"But… What? What does this have to do with anything?"

"Well that's rule number 2! An awesome guy never goes to a party alone! So, Birdy? What do you say?"

"…"

"Birdy?"

"…"

"That's when you say 'Oh Gil'! I'd love to go to the party with you! When are you picking me up?' and you fall into my arms crying happy tears."

"Wh… Y…C… Y-y-you really think anyone'd do that?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing!"

There was another silence. One could almost hear the gears turning in the blond boy's head. "Ok, fine," he eventually said. "I'll go with you…"

"Yeah! That's cool, Birdy!"

"On one condition." Gilbert stopped. Matthew walked to a closet, opened it, took two brooms out and threw it to the albino. "We're going to sweep the kitchen."

Gilbert scratched his chin and pretended to think. "Blackmail, huh? Cool, I didn't even have to teach you lesson number 3!" He felt a light hit on his arm and laughed. "Feisty, aren't you, Birdy?" he said before starting to sweep the flour-covered floor.

The invisible blond boy was intriguing. He couldn't remember the last time someone had managed to make him clean up one of his shenanigans. But hey, it wasn't such a heavy price to finally have someone entering the party with him. Even someone invisible.

"The time is up, you can all stop."

Francis sat his pen down and checked the list of feelings he had detected among the students. Arthur let go of Carwin's hand and hurriedly put his gloves back on as the older boy kept talking with his Shadows. Yao blew off the tea light candle he was training with and was finally allowed away from the fire extinguishers. Eduar closed his laptop before Young Soo and Hyung Soo's attentive gazes. Gilbert went back to his human form after going through all the animals he could think of all morning. Antonio stopped playing with his force fields and Bella lowered herself as delicately as she could to the ground.

Luna was noting her observations on a notebook that she always had with her, as she watched from the corner of her eyes the fourth year students preparing to leave. She had a small smile as she noticed the progress some had made during the summer. Bella, for example, had been levitating for a whole hour without batting an eye, a new record. Unfortunately, others seemed still unable to progress…

Francis handed her his list and she let him go with a little "good job".

"For those with two powers, we'll work on them next week," she announced as she read. "Carwin, excellent work but remember to make sure you have control before summoning more. Eduar, good work, you can leave. Yong Soo, Hyung Soo, you'll do what you've seen next time, try working it during the week-end…" The students she called would listen what she had to say to them and then leave immediately with their stuff. That was how Luna's classes usually ended. "Bella, very good, I'm glad you practiced. We'll work on precision together. Antonio, Gilbert, you did well but stop playing during the class, you're here to work. Yao, Arthur, you both stay."

The two boys shared a look, slightly anxious. It also was common for her to keep one or two students to speak to them, but it wasn't usually to congratulate them… The rest of the class left the room, leaving the two students alone with the teacher. She went and sat at one of the tables that had been pushed against the wall and gestured at them to do the same. They complied, nervously.

"Who wants to start?" she asked with a firm voice that said yes, you are being scolded. The two boys shared another look and Arthur pointed at himself. Luna nodded and told Yao to go and wait in the projection room. He obeyed without a word, which only added to the heavy atmosphere that had settled. The English boy waited, uneasy, for her to start. "So? You still can't control it?" she asked with a troubled face.

"No, still can't."

"Still as powerful?"

"Yes, I believe it's even growing stronger…" She looked at him in the eyes, waiting for him to continue. "I made sure not to touch anyone outside of my family, don't worry. Although it's hard with that damn frog who uses all his time to spoil mine and keeps harassing me and…" Luna cleared her throat and Arthur realized he was rambling. "Yes, so, as I was saying, even with touching anybody, I feel like it's getting stronger. I can't explain it it's like… I don't know, drugs getting stronger without a change of dosage."

"It must be growth," she said almost to herself. "And you still can't calm the effects?"

"No, impossible," Arthur grumbled, pulling on his gloves and bringing the teacher's attention on them. "Are they new?" she asked.

"Um… yes, I lost last year's ones…"

"And you're wearing them already?"

Arthur didn't answer and blushed. Luna smiled and wanted to ruffle his hair, but remembered he didn't want to be touched. She stopped herself just in time, which the English boy was thankful for. "Don't worry, I know why you're wearing them. You know it's a permanent capacity, like Matthew's…"

"Sorry, who?"

"A second year student. You know, the invisible little guy? Alfred's brother?"

"Alfred has a brother?"

"Oh, whatever. So I was saying… yes, permanent capacity, so it's hard to control, but I am sure you'll manage in a few years. You just have to keep working on it."

"Yes, miss…"

She gave him a blinding smile and nodded at him to leave. She watched maliciously as he gathered his stuff. "One last thing!" she said before he could disappear though the PCD room's door. "I'm certain this power will be useful to you, so you might want to test it? Your little 'frog' seems rather receptive…"

Arthur almost choked as he glared at his teacher who burst into shimmering laughter and shooed him away, taking note of the redness that had appeared unexpectedly over his cheeks. Oh how she loved teasing the students about this!

She got up and went to open the projection room's door. It was Yao's turn to sit in front of her, as he obviously tried very hard to control himself. He probably thought she was going to scold him about his non-existent progress. He wasn't exactly wrong, but she didn't want him to have a new fit. She had to weight her words and to be tactful, while still telling him the truth. She took a few moments to think as the Chinese boy grew impatient. "Yao," she eventually said. "Don't worry, you work well, even if you are not progressing very fast. This is what I want to talk about."

She dangled the list Francis had written in front of his eyes. Next to his name, Yao could read Very tense since the beginning of the session, but that's not usual. Anxious and defensive. All of this has to do with his power + being confused about his feelings. Personal note: needs a hot bath with lavender oil and relaxing music. "Can't he mind his own business, aru…"

"He still needs to practice. If I'm correct, it was almost the same thing last year. And the one before that." Luna sat the paper down and gave him a beautiful smile. "Would you talk to me about this?"

"No, ma'am, sorry…" Yao looked away and bit his lip awkwardly.

"I already told you that, if you wanted to control yourself, you had to make peace with your emotions. I didn't tell you to force them away."

"I know, aru…"

"You need to understand, Yao, as long as you won't be calm during the exercises, you won't be able to progress and everything will stay erratic and unexpected. I know it's something difficult to do for someone with a past like yours, but we need to avoid putting others in danger. If you fight it, your power will fight you too, do you understand?"

"Yes, aru…"

"If you have trouble controlling them, it simply means you are not accepting your powers as a part of you. After three years of training, you should already be able to manipulate candle flame away from the fire extinguishers, you know? Same thing for…"

"Miss!" Luna stopped. Yao's face was red and his eyes glistening with tears. He couldn't listen, as always… "Miss…" he repeated, in a lower voice, trying very hard not to snap at her. "When I found out about this capacity you say is "part of me", I set my former school on fire, aru. Kids almost dies because of me, aru. And when I got here, I had to find out about some other curse that I had to live with, aru. So don't tell me these… things are part of me. I don't want to be a freak!"

"Yao. Calm down." Yao ignored her and started gathering his stuff. He did not want to talk about this, not now, not ever. He felt his pulse raise and was clever enough to sit back down and breathe, so he wouldn't illustrate what he had just explained. "Yao, rejecting your capacities won't make them less dangerous."

"I know, aru! Put I still can't accept them, aru!"

"Then you're in a dead-end."

He stood without answering and headed for the exit. He tried to think about something else, kittens, plush toys, flowers… Something cute and peaceful that could calm his thumping heart. He needed to get those problems out of his head.

Ivan was waiting at the door. Tâ mâ de!

He was alone. Which meant he had left his friends/scapegoats/servants/others to stay with him a while. Double tâ mâ de!

Yao could always pretend he didn't see him but it was pretty hard to say that to an almost seven feet tall guy standing right next to the door. Especially when the playground was empty because everyone was having lunch.

He could also try to dig a hole and bury himself alive so he would have to endure the Russian's presence and the very unpleasant his body tended to have in his presence. Right now, it seemed like the most enticing option. Unfortunately, there were material limits so he would have to choose another option…

"Yao-Yao~!" The Russian boy's playful voice interrupted him in the middle of his thoughts. Yao felt his large hands cover his shoulders and shivered. His heart started beating harder. He already wasn't very calm, but now the situation had gone from bothersome to dangerous. He started power walking towards the cafeteria like nothing was wrong, making sure he was breathing evenly. Ivan followed him.

"Sorry, Ivan, but I'm really not in the mood for anyone's company right now, aru," he said with a blank voice.

"Eh? Even though I waited for you all this time?"

Yao checked his watch. Classes really did end fifteen minutes ago. "You didn't have to, aru."

"But I wanted to be with my little Yao-Yao!"

The shivers increased. Bad omen. "Well I don't and that's it, aru! And stop it with the nickname!"

As only answer, Ivan caught up to him and closed his arms around him, slowing him down. He held him tight. "But Yao-Yao want to be with me too, da?"

Yao couldn't react immediately. He could feel the Russian boy's warm breath on his neck, the sweet scent of his scarf, the strange exchange of temperature between their bodies, through their uniforms, a surprising side-effect of their respective powers. Part of him wanted to hold onto that large back and accept the embrace. But the rest of him was freaking out at his heart going crazy, at the shivers increasing again, and at the ball of heat blossoming in the depths of his chest. He only hesitated for a second. He kicked the Russian in the legs, freeing himself, and ran as fast as he could to the closest bathroom. Once more, Ivan didn't chase after him. He just watched him go with a bitter eye, sighed and walked to the cafeteria. By himself. He'd have his chance anyway. He knew it when he saw him the first time. Yao would be his. But not like his friends. The Chinese boy would be completely and entirely his. Someday.

Locked in one of the stalls, curled on the toilet seat, Yao wanted to cry. He was breathing as deeply as he could, gripping the fabric of his pants to try and steady himself. Why? Why did he have to hide such a shameful thing? Why was this happening so often these days? Why couldn't he just have that kind of affection from Ivan? He knew he could be cruel when something wasn't to his liking. He knew he was probably a little mad. But he also knew how frighteningly nice he could be with him. With this sort of kind dominance that made his head spin all the time. He had been hiding for three years and controlling himself was getting more and more difficult every time his roommate tried to get close to him. Until when would he be able to keep it a secret?

All these questions weren't helping at all. His blood was boiling, the heat had claimed his entire body. His muscles and bones were a little sore, as always. There was nothing to do. He had to wait. Wait for his body to stop being a jerk.

He startled when he hear the bathroom door open. Slow and silent steps walked on the tiles and a pair of black flats stopped right in front of his booth. He heard three knocks on the panel but didn't move. "Occupied," he said with the most normal voice he could manage.

"I know, Yao. Let me in."

It was a woman's voice, low and calm. Yao recognized it immediately. He stood, trembling, and unlocked the door.

It was a woman in her forties. She was slender, and a little hunched but you could feel she had once been very tall. Her skin was dark and her hair was blond, a darker blond than her sister's. The long blue dress she wore was hardly hiding the weakness of her body. However her almond-shaped eyes were filled with colors, shimmering like stars.

Gaia came in, closed the door and held him close. No word was spoken. Yao let her, thankful. He even let a tear roll onto her shoulder. She just held him silently. She knew. She always seemed to know. "You don't have to be ashamed, you know…" she whispered.

Yao didn't answer. He knew that, if he was to open his mouth, he would start sobbing.

"I know you don't want anyone to know but nobody will judge you for being different. Because everyone is different here."

He shook his head. Her words felt so right and yet…

"You don't want to accept it. I know. The problem isn't about others. It's about yourself. Unfortunately, you'll soon have to accept yourself."

"When?"

"Soon." He wouldn't hear more. She probably didn't know about the details either. Little by little, he felt the heat leave his body. His heart had calmed down. Feeling this, Gaia stood back a little and looked at him straight in the eyes. She gave him a wonderful smile and played with his brown hair for a moment. "Better?" she asked.

He nodded. Without another word, she left the booth and started walking slowly towards the exit. "You don't leave your office very often," Yao commented.

"That's true," she said, still walking slowly. "But I cannot let my sister take care of everything by herself. And I've had more than enough of all the paper work."

"Do you need help to go back?"

She stopped and looked at him with a sad smile. "I can still go by myself, thank you. I am sick but not disabled yet."

He watched her leave. He felt a little lighter. Gaia was great at cheering her students up. She was always at the right place at the right moment and always knew what to say. With an appeased sigh, he headed back towards the cafeteria.

[trevaleyn]

Tag People You Want To Get To Know Better

Favourite Anime/Manga

 Trigun - Vash the Stampede is the man with a $$60,000,000 bounty on his head. The reason: he's a merciless villain who lays waste to all those that oppose him and flattens entire cities for fun, garnering him the title "The Humanoid Typhoon." He leaves a trail of death and destruction wherever he goes, and anyone can count themselves dead if they so much as make eye contact—or so the rumors say. In actuality, Vash is a huge softie who claims to have never taken a life and avoids violence at all costs. With his crazy doughnut obsession and buffoonish attitude in tow, Vash traverses the wasteland of the planet Gunsmoke, all the while followed by two insurance agents, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, who attempt to minimize his impact on the public. But soon, their misadventures evolve into life-or-death situations as a group of legendary assassins are summoned to bring about suffering to the trio. Vash's agonizing past will be unraveled and his morality and principles pushed to the breaking point.

Dragon ball Z - Do I really need to put a synopsis here? Guess I will just to be safe.  Dragon Ball Z follows the adventures of the protagonist Goku who, along with his companions, defends the Earth against an assortment of villains ranging from intergalactic space fighters and conquerors, unnaturally powerful androids and nearly indestructible creatures. While the original Dragon Ball anime followed Goku from his childhood into adulthood, Dragon Ball Z is a continuation of his adult life, but at the same time parallels the maturation of his sons, Gohan and Goten, as well as the evolution of his rivals Piccolo and Vegeta from enemies into allies.

Darker than black -  Ten years ago, a mysterious spatial anomaly now known as "Heaven's Gate" appeared in South America, shortly followed by the opening of "Hell's Gate" in Tokyo altering the sky and wreaking havoc on the landscape. The real stars disappeared, replaced by false stars. During this time, people possessing various special abilities—called "Contractors"—emerged, each capable of different supernatural feats. Each Contractor has a corresponding fake star, which reacts to their activities. As such, Contractors are usually identified by their star's Messier catalogue number. Kept secret from the masses, these individuals are known to murder in cold blood, smothering unnecessary emotions with logic and rationality. Their incredible abilities, however, are gained at the cost of their humanity; Contractors are thus named because of an involuntary compulsion to "pay the price" each time their power is used, which can range from eating particular foods or completing meaningless tasks, to self-harm and changing their bodies in peculiar ways. Various nations and organizations around the world train and utilize Contractors as spies and assassins, resulting in violent battles for valuable objects and information.

Favorite Video games

Legend of the Dragoon - So many memories here.  The story begins when Dart, the protagonist, is heading home from a five year long journey to pursue the black monster, who killed his parents and destroyed his birth city, Neet. On the way, he is attacked by Feyrbrand, a mantis-like dragon controlled by the Sandora, a rebel faction in the Serdian civil war. Dart is saved by a mysterious female heroine named Rose, though they soon part ways. When he arrives at his hometown, Seles, he discovers that it has been destroyed by Sandora, and that Shana, Dart’s childhood friend (and later in the game, his love interest), has been taken away. Dart sets out to rescue her. Throughout the game, he is periodically joined by people that he helps along the way.

Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask -  Majora's Mask takes place a few months after The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time[20] and begins with Link searching for his departed fairy, Navi.[21] While riding through a forest in Hyrule on his horse Epona, Link is ambushed by the masked Skull Kid and his fairy accomplices Tatl and Tael, who steal both Epona and his musical instrument, the Ocarina of Time. Link follows them down a dark cave, where he confronts the Skull Kid, who curses him by turning him into a Deku Scrub. Tatl stops Link from going after the Skull Kid as the latter escapes with Tael through a door, but is then separated from them when the door closes behind them. Realizing she needs Link's help to find them, Tatl insists that they work together. Link follows the Skull Kid through the cave into the inside of the Clock Tower in the land of Termina. There, he meets the Happy Mask Salesman, who seemed to have been following him. The salesman offers to help Link heal his curse, in exchange for which he must retrieve both the Ocarina of Time and the Majora's Mask from the Skull Kid. The Skull Kid, having stolen the Majora's Mask from the salesman, became possessed by its overwhelming power and transformed into an uncontrollable fiend who inflicts certain misfortune on others, the worst of which is an impending apocalypse: the moon is now set to collide with the world in approximately three days time.

Dragonball Xenoverse 2 - Really one of the best fighting games I’ve ever played and it doesn’t take itself too seriously.  Two years after the events of the first game, the protagonist receives a special mission from Elder Kai, which involves correcting history after it has changed. On the way there, they meet the Supreme Kai of Time, a deity who watches over time, and her bird, TokiToki. After meeting Elder Kai, they are granted their first mission, which is to correct Goku's battle with Raditz after he's been enhanced by dark magic. Meanwhile, Towa and Mira, the people who've caused history to change, have gathered allies, Turles, Lord Slug and a mysterious Masked Saiyan, from different parts of the timeline. During the Attack of the Saiyans Saga, Turles attempts to intercept Goku to prevent him from assisting the Z Fighters against Nappa and Vegeta, only to be stopped by the combined forces of the Time Patroller and Goku. During the battle, Trunks and his partner, the protagonist from the first Xenoverse game, try to capture Turles, but he escapes before the Time Patroller can stop him. The protagonist then returns to the Time Nest after defeating Great Ape Nappa and Great Ape Vegeta, correcting history. There, they are introduced to Trunks and his partner, and it is announced that TokiToki is laying an egg, which gives birth to another universe.

Favorite Books

Under the dome - I loved this one, read it in highschool. It’s a thrilling story about one town being isolated by outside forces, how it changes, how good and evil can flourish and ultimately as time goes on how small civilization changes in isolation. Also sci-fi and it’s Stephen King so, yeah.

The Grapes of Wrath - Definitely a slow read but it teaches you a lot about people and times and junk.  Tom Joad and his family are forced from their farm in the Depression-era Oklahoma Dust Bowl and set out for California along with thousands of others in search of jobs, land, and hope for a brighter future. Considered John Steinbeck's masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath is a story of human unity and love as well as the need for cooperative rather than individualistic ideals during hard times.

The Landover Series - Six books in total, I grew up reading these, they were pretty great.  The Magic Kingdom of Landover series is a series of six fantasy novels by Terry Brooks following the adventures of a former trial lawyer named Ben Holiday, and the collection of friends and enemies that he encounters when he purchases a magical kingdom. The location of the novels centers in a fictional world known as Landover that is populated with numerous magical and fairy creatures. It takes its name from a humorous reference to The Wizard of Oz, particularly its "land over the rainbow." It is a small world, surrounded on all sides by fairy mists which connect it to many other worlds, including Earth. Landover is a rural kingdom, populated by humans, gnomes, kobolds, and various other fantasy creatures, who often form separate societies. Their rulers, while answerable to the king, are allowed a certain degree of autonomy. Also inhabiting the land are the dragon Strabo and the witch Nightshade. Landover is protected by the Paladin, a magical knight who is a projection of its rulers. In the absence of a worthy ruler, the Paladin disappears and Landover falls prey to a physical decay known as "the Tarnish", which slowly spreads from the king's castle (Sterling Silver) to the rest of the kingdom. The Paladin's is one of the few magics in the land that can stand up against that of Strabo or Nightshade.

Favorite Television shows - 

This section was hard mostly because I watch movies and anime.

Brooklyn 99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJFerFxmPPM

Parks and Recreation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNlL9FWs_KA

Hell on Wheels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN2y6l51Sqo

Last song I listened to

Chelou - Halfway to Nowhere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgP9tzt9_Z8

Tagged by @thefuckingsun

Tagging @lucky--lance @kelzthalassunwhisper @thepubsgnat