#but they either didn't fit one of the squares or i haven't worked up the nerve to comment yet

[bulkyphrase]

I had every intention of updating my @ficreadingchallenge bingo card every week, but wow I definitely did not do that.

Here's the results of my June and July reading! Maybe I'll do this again next Thursday, or maybe you'll see it again sometime in September.

Details below the cut!

For square 3: vampire AU

Oh Negative by Ladyladylady (@ladyladylady1) (Winterhawk, Mature, 17,663 words)

Summary: “Well alright then. In case it wasn’t clear, everyone is welcome here, vampires included. Anyone who has a problem with that can kindly find a new bar to haunt.” Sam emphasizes his words by pointing the end of his bat around the room, making sure to stop at Brock’s old table. No one speaks up for a beat. Then they hear a throat clear. Clint and Sam snap their heads behind them to the door they’re still blocking. On the steps leading up is a shorter man, but he and Sam are pretty tall, so that’s nothing new. More noteworthy is his chiseled jaw, his tangle of dark, shoulder-length hair, his metal arm, and the fact that he is, unmistakably, a vampire.

there are a lot of things that go wrong for clint in this true blood fusion but he does get a sexy vampire boyfriend in the end

For square 4: fluff

Blossoms Every Day by fluffernutter8 (@theawkwardterrier) (Steggy, General Audiences, 1,961 words)

Summary: When you work at a flower shop requests for elaborate bouquets are just part of the job. Requests for bouquets this specific, on the other hand...

peggy and steve communicate via the language of flowers...sort of. very cute, and love the outsider pov

For square 5: fic written by someone who follows you

Treading Desire Lines by @fohatic (Stony, Teen And Up Audiences, 43,747 words)

Summary: Tony knows that his daughter can be difficult, but he really needs someone to do him a solid when an important opportunity arises. Unfortunately, word is already out: Morgan Stark is a real handful. Never one to shrink from a challenge, Steve steps in, hoping to shift the strained dynamic between him and Tony and having no idea how the course of his life is about to change.

i'm a little cautious with kidfic and endgame fix-its, but this one really won me over!

For square 6: enemies to friends/lovers

a falling star can't fall forever by Mizzy (@mizzy2k) (James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Teen And Up Audiences, 30,329 words)

Summary: Corporate espionage is a dirty job, but someone has to do it. When a recent job goes awry thanks to the Black Widow, Bucky’s team are demoted to babysitting duty: Howard Stark’s spoiled brat is studying in Cambridge and is completely naive to the dangers of the world. The mission isn’t the complete bust he’s expecting: while off-duty, he meets Natasha and it’s love at first sight. If only that damn irritating Black Widow wasn’t also around, determined to ruin his latest attempt to get a life outside of the spying game. Frustrated by her recent demotion thanks to the Winter Soldier and his irritating team, the last thing Natasha expects is to meet the charming Mr. Barnes. Being reassigned to Europe to assist on a honey-pot mission should be frustrating, but with an unexpected new love on the horizon, Natasha thinks this assignment might not be as bad as she’s expecting. Except then it turns out the Winter Soldier is also in Europe, and he seems determined to completely ruin her life… (An International Iron Man meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith AU.)

i 💕 rom-com, identity porn, and spy shenanigans

For square 10: fan art

Muzzled and Bound [!Art] by @darthbloodorange (Stony, Teen And Up Audiences, words)

Summary: Greg doesn't approve of his brother dating that mutt, Rogers, so he captures the man to teach Tony a lesson.

i want to read the (nonexistent) fic so bad, but will console myself with this lovely art

For square 11: daring rescue

Die Hard (But Only If No Other Options Are Readily Available) by @jenthesweetie (Stony, Teen And Up Audiences, 23,915 words)

Summary: Tony hadn’t written off the Avengers when he ended up on the Raft. What he absolutely hadn’t expected was for them to show up to break him out.

this exciting post-age of ultron stony reconciliation fic features two daring rescues and several narrow escapes

For square 12: 5 + 1 style fic

Interruptions by mariana_oconnor (@mariana-oconnor) (Winterhawk, Teen And Up Audiences, 8,307 words)

Summary: Five times Bucky tries to tell Clint how he feels and one time Clint succeeds.

poor bucky (and clint) have the worst luck in this fic, but at least they figure it out in the end

For square 13: unfinished/work in progress (this was a WIP when I first added it to the bingo card, but it's complete now)

Factory Regress by SucculentHyena (@succulent-hyena) (Stucky, Teen And Up Audiences, 54,054 words)

Summary: A crashed ship, a mysterious device, and some unfortunate circumstances.

a very fun fic featuring age regression, magical space adventures, and protective husband bucky

For square 14: multiple authors

Never Surrender, Never Give Up by Loran_Arameri, Serinah (@loraneldin, @serinah80) (Stony, Explicit, 85,896 words)

Summary: It’s 2029 and aliens have taken the Earth. Steve is dead, and everyone who’s left of the Avengers is fighting for the last few thousand humans. They don’t have much time, or rather the energy: the last of the arc reactors will fail in less than a month, and Tony can’t make another one. Their base will fall.The Earth’s best defender is out of options. *** Years they fought against the Chitauri, and they have lost. Steve is sure that Tony would agree: only traveling back in time could save them now. But Steve wasn't sure if he should, and now he's out of time so he takes one last, desperate gamble. When will he end up?

beautifully angsty fic featuring the end of the world, time travel, double identity porn, and some very hot dom tony/sub steve

For square 15: crossover or fusion fic

Early American X-Ray Specs by aetataureate (@psychicrhubarb) (Steggy, Teen And Up Audiences, 23,183 words)

Summary: “I’m going to steal the Declaration of Independence,” Steve said.

this hilarious fic is everything a steggy + national treasure fusion should be

For square 17: reread an old fave

If Through a Door by @jibrailis (Stony, Explicit, 44,036 words)

Summary: Tony is accused of murder on an alien planet; Steve marries him to bring him home.

this canon universe marriage of convenience story with a side of alien murder mystery is one of the first stony fics i ever read

For square 18: 5+ year old fic

Sea Stars by Muccamukk (Stony, Teen And Up Audiences, 41,960 words)

Summary: Steve comes back to life somewhere entirely unexpected; Tony doesn't remember being a hero; something is rotten in the province of British Columbia, and the 2010 Olympics are doomed.

post-(comics) civil war fic where a magical resurrection meets tech-based amnesia

For square 19: mythical creature AU

Nights When the Wolves Are Silent, and Only the Moon Howls by Cluegirl, Defiler_Wyrm (art by @defilerwyrm) (Stony & Stucky, Mature, 77,612 words)

Summary: “Could you drop all that stoic shit and be my freaking-the-hell-out wingman for just like, five seconds here?” Steve wasn’t sure he could think of anything he wanted less to do than to freak out about his wounds just then though, so he reached across his chest and gingerly patted Sam’s clenched knuckles. “It’ll be fine,” he promised, believing it. “Serum’s handled worse.” “You know, I actually believe you,” Sam allowed after a long second of glaring. “Which is deeply alarming, considering how much of your connective tissue I’ve touched in the last 4 hours. Now you wanna tell me what Russoff’s men did to you that made it look like you got mauled by a bear?” Steve flinched, then breathed the memory down to size. “Not a bear,” he murmured. “Wolves.”

💖 werewolf (mcu) civil war fix-it my beloved 💖

For square 24: BIPOC main character

Fill Her (With Words of Hope For Her People) by sweetheart35 (@billyhargrovetrash) (Gen, Not Rated, 6,236 words)

Summary: Okoye delivers the news. Shuri had watched the two guards who had been assigned to guard her and the android disintegrate into dust in front of her. She had watched, frozen, as one had sighed before closing his eyes and the other turn to her and say “Princess -“ and take a step towards her before he simply collapsed, dust scattered across the floor. Shuri is a genius, the head of Wakanda’s research and development division and their outreach program but she cannot fathom what is happening.

an absolutely beautiful story about shuri leading wakanda after the snap

For square : Free space

Bird Set Free by mrs_d (Samsteve, Teen And Up Audiences, 15,361 words)

Summary: Steve thinks all hope is lost when he gets transformed into a helpless finch, but then he meets a man who smells amazing and, even better, can understand what he’s saying.

this super-cute fic features steve as a fierce but easily distracted finch and sam as a bakery shop owner who can talk to birds

[heavens-moonlight]

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟮 : 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗟𝗬 𝗘𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧

𝟬𝟭 : 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 | 𝟬𝟯 : 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦

Author’s Note: Well, here we go...The game has finally started but who will survive? As always, let me know your thoughts and all comments are greatly appreciated! ♡

The dorms are much more spacious than anticipated as Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won beeline for the sole coffee table in the middle of the room, occupying either side. You instead, opt to unceremoniously plop yourself down onto one of the sizeable bunk beds, plugging your phone in to charge, having depleted the power source earlier on the bus ride over.

With a familiar chime, the battery icon flashes, but you do a double take as you realize the bar has gone back up to more than 50%. "That's strange..." you whisper more to yourself than anyone, but Yoon-Seo hears you.

"What is?"

You flip over onto your stomach and turn your phone screen toward her. "Look." You point to the upper right corner, forefinger tapping at the yellow bar, lightning symbol on display. "I'm sure it was at 26% earlier but all of a sudden it's paused at nearly double what it was previously."

"Maybe you mixed up the percentages?" Yoon-Seo suggests.

"I don't think so..." You scratch your head in confusion as Yoon-Seo shrugs, neither of you having a clue in the slightest.

"Electronics are good when they work," Jung-Won says, padding over to the chair by your head where Yoon-Seo left her backpack. You place the phone face-down on the nightstand and see her slip a small gift box inside the unzipped bag, making a shushing motion with her pointer finger against her lips. Smiling, you mimic the locking of a key and throw it away behind you, keeping Yoon-Seo's birthday surprise between the two of you. "Ugh, I need to take a coding lecture but my laptop's failing to connect to the internet."

Yoon-Seo scoots her back against the side railing of your bed and crosses her arms, tsking at Jung-Won. "You keep badgering me nonstop for reading, but who else except you would willingly study during a school trip?" Yoon-Seo shakes her head. "Stop acting like the top of the class, Madame Mensa."

Jung-Won doesn't look up from her laptop screen, monotonously correcting the nickname. "Mensa is the name of the organization. You're supposed to say Mensan for the people. How many times do I have to tell you?"

You laugh at the habitual repartee between them, but get cut off by a ding signaling an incoming notification. Peering over Yoon-Seo's shoulder, you eye as an app materializes on her home screen, one you don't recognize nor have you ever seen it in the default bundle all phones come with.

"Jung-Won, what's this? I said I don't need it."

"It's really not me. I haven't touched your phone at all."

Curious, you grab your own phone and glance down at it, the same little round-edged square making its appearance. "Yoon-Seo, I have it too. Neither of us downloaded it or scanned the QR code when we arrived."

[ ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ɢᴀᴍᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇɢɪɴ sʜᴏʀᴛʟʏ. ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴄᴇᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀssɪɢɴᴇᴅ ᴏᴄᴄᴜᴘᴀᴛɪᴏɴ. ]

"Mafia game?" As you touch the screen, an envelope unfurls following animation. "Wasn't this what they were playing earlier on the bus?"

"Yeah..." Yoon-Seo confirms distractedly, verifying her own occupation. "I guess I'm a civilian, not that I expected to be anything else. How about you guys?"

"I'm also a civilian."

[ ʜᴀɴ sᴇᴏʟ-ʜᴡᴀ ɴɪᴍ, ʏᴏᴜʀ ʀᴏʟᴇ ɪs ᴀ ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ. ]

"Me too," you fib, hoping that it wouldn't be questioned. You weren't a very good liar to begin with and hoped this would pass. Maybe there would be a reward for winning the game, but either way, at least you knew your closest friends were on the same side as you.

Still, for some odd reason, it didn't seem fit for you to reveal your real character. Being a doctor seemed too important of a role to just go around telling everyone willy-nilly. The three of you rarely kept secrets from one another, and so you trusted that a white lie for the game this one time could be forgiven.

Before any of you can discuss the odd happenings of the unexpected game further, paragraphs pop up in successive order, outlining the standard rules:

𝟣) ᴀʟʟ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀɴᴛs ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛʟʏ ᴀssɪɢɴᴇᴅ ᴀs ᴀ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴ, ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ, ᴘᴏʟɪᴄᴇ ᴏғғɪᴄᴇʀ, ᴏʀ ᴀ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ ᴄᴀɴ ᴘʀᴇᴠᴇɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴀɴʏ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ sᴇᴇ ғɪᴛ, ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴏʟɪᴄᴇ ᴍᴀʏ ᴄᴏɴғɪʀᴍ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ's ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴛʏ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴄʜᴏᴏsɪɴɢ.

𝟤) ғʀᴏᴍ ᴇɪɢʜᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴍɪᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ, ᴀʟʟ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴇs ᴡɪʟʟ ᴅɪsǫᴜᴀʟɪғʏ sᴜsᴘᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀs ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ.

𝟥) ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴏᴄᴋ sᴛʀɪᴋᴇs ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴊᴏʀɪᴛʏ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴏᴄᴄᴜᴘᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴɪɴɢ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀɴᴛs.

𝟦) ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴄʟᴏsᴇs ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ ʜᴀs ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴄᴏɴᴅᴇᴍɴᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ɢᴏ ᴛᴏ sʟᴇᴇᴘ ᴀsɪᴅᴇ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ.

𝟧) ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ɪs ɪɴ sʟᴜᴍʙᴇʀ, ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀs ᴍᴜsᴛ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇ sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴅᴀᴡɴ.

𝟨) ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ɪɴ ᴍɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴄɪᴠɪʟɪᴀɴ, ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴘᴏʟɪᴄᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ. ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴇɪᴛʜᴇʀ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴄɪᴠɪʟɪᴀɴs ᴏʀ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ ᴏᴠᴇʀʀᴜɴs ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴏᴜᴘ, ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴍᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴇɴᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴɴᴇʀ ᴅᴇᴄɪᴅᴇᴅ.

[ ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ғɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀs ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇɢɪɴ ᴄᴀsᴛɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇs. ]

You're still trying to wrap your head around the summarized instructions, sensing that there was much more to the game than meets the eye. Why was there no outlining of the individual tasks required for those with specialized occupations? How many of you were assigned to each role? What happens after execution?

Jung-Won's voice interrupts your thoughts, the thread of worries pausing in its unending tangling inside your mind. "If you push a name, a vote gets cast apparently."

"You elected someone already...?" It was quite obvious how much Eun-Ha pushed for Yool determinedly in the group chat, and reluctantly, you and Yoon-Seo follow suit, knowing full-well Yool's obsession with the game and his caliber for winning streaks.

Pensively, you start scrolling through the partakers' list, seeing your classmates' yearbook photos, including your own. Being the overthinker that you are, your mind starts spinning with all of the possibilities on how this game could end, but you had no clue why it even began in the first place. The awareness of budding anxiousness courses through you as a slight breeze from the window sends goosebumps raising on your arms at the late revelation. "But guys...why does this app have our identifiers?"

Yoon-Seo turns to you, eyebrows knit together in agreement. "Right. We didn't even sign up earlier. Who granted them access to gather this protected information?"

Jung-Won bites at her nails, eyes shifting back and forth across her phone screen, the glare of its light reflecting off her glasses. "The internet isn't working either. How are we able to play the game anyway?"

Silence encases the vicinity around your trio, no one knowing what to say to the other, all questions remaining unvoiced and unanswered.

"Why don't we go back down to the lobby and see if there's anyone we can ask?" you propose, Jung-Won and Yoon-Seo readily assenting.

The reception desk as you head downstairs is as empty as it was the moment you came in, maybe even more so as reticence settles over the expansive building, the sky having gone ominously dark from a single look out the glass doors of the entrance.

"Our teacher hasn't come back yet? He left so long ago..." Yoon-Seo walks around the reception desk, circling for any clues. "Nothing could've happened, right?"

"What if he got into an accident?" Jung-Won states bluntly, drumming her fingers against the marble countertop.

"Yah, don't say it like that..." you warn. "Words can be dangerous. You don't know what it can subject someone to."

Before Jung-Won can list more outrageous possibilities, Jun-Hee sidles up on the opposite side of the counter where you're spinning back and forth in the chair slowly, lost in thought.

"Hey Jun-Hee, do you know when Seonsaengnim will be back?" Yoon-Seo directs at him while she flips through the binder of contacts placed beside you. "These numbers aren't what we need at all. They're just for the retreat center's use like maintenance and all that."

Jun-Hee shakes his head. "I can't reach him." He pulls out his phone, only to sigh and slip it back inside his pocket. "Are any of your guys' devices working?"

"We don't even have service." You look around once more, surveying areas within your eyesight in case any adults would spontaneously reappear. "Shouldn't there be at least one staff member or at the very least a security guard on patrol at night?"

"I guess they all went with our teacher." Jun-Hee walks up next to you and settles down on the counter to your left.

You raise an eyebrow. "Every single one of them? They didn't think to have anybody stay behind as a chaperone?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." Jun-Hee begins. "It does seem a little unnecessary for all of them to up and leave."

"Then, what do we do now? How long do we wait?" Jung-Won stares at the clock ticking away. "It's barely nine o'clock. Surely, it wouldn't take him twice as long to pick up the others and return here, right?"

"There must be a phone in the staff lounge," Yoon-Seo stops her rummaging around under the desk long enough to say. "Jung-Won, let's go and search there."

"You're leaving me here alone?"

"Not alone," Yoon-Seo waggles her eyebrows so only you can see. "With Jun-Hee, of course."

Jung-Won conceals her smile behind her hand not so discreetly and begins to drag Yoon-Seo away. As they pass, Yoon-Seo pats Jun-Hee on the shoulder and cautions him. "If she gets lost, you'll be in big trouble."

He turns to her. "You've known me since we were babies, who do you take me for?"

Yoon-Seo merely ignores him and follows Jung-Won upstairs happily, an extra spring in her step, making it known how proud she was of herself. Rolling your eyes unnoticeably at their less than subtle tactics, you could only hope they were actually going to find a phone and not saying that purely for reasons of ulterior motives.

The hush after is stifling without the buffer of Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won. Jun-Hee is staring straight at you, hands bracing the counter on either side of him waiting for you to say something, but you're staring down at the floor, purposefully refusing to make eye contact.

"Are you mad at me?"

That was the last thing you expected him to say. "Of course not." You look up at him briefly, but what a mistake that was. With you lowered in the chair and him sitting up on the raised desk, your eyes meet his lips first and your mind automatically reels back to the kiss on the bus. Darting your eyes back to your lap immediately after draws out a weary sigh from Jun-Hee.

"Even now you can't look straight at me. At least tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it." When you're thinking of what to reply with, Jun-Hee grabs the chair's armrests by your sides and pulls you in closer, leaning his head down so that his form towers over yours. With nowhere else to look now, you're forced to gaze upward and the expression on his face has your stomach tightening in knots, guilty. "Now you're finally looking at me." A beat passes before Jun-Hee's eyes become downturn. "I'm sorry."

Your gaze softens as you glance into his dark brown eyes, seeing your own image in his irises. "I'm the one that should be sorry." You place your hands that were settled in your lap onto his forearms, and he instantly gazes down at the contact before looking back to you, his attention unwavering. "Don't ever apologize to me when you didn't do anything wrong, Jun-Hee."

His eyes dart back and forth between your own, questioning. "Then why have you been avoiding me? Did something happen while I was sleeping earlier on the bus? If there is or I made you uncomfortable in any way—"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," you're quick to salvage the situation and dismiss the notion entirely, even though he couldn't have been more spot on. He had always been an observant person. This you knew too well.

I didn't want you to find out my feelings for you and lose you as a friend all in one.

Instead of the full truth, you tell him only half of it. "I didn't want you to find out how tired I felt and have you worrying over me. I know you're the class president with greater, more important responsibilities, but I also know, above anyone else, that I can't burden you with my troubles just because I'm your friend."

"Seol-Hwa, even then, you could've told me." His hands move to rest on your shoulders. "You'll always be my top priority." In a much quieter voice he says, "And I'll always worry about you."

"Jun-Hee..."

He looks you dead in the eyes, expression open and filled with warmth. "I don't like when you're sad. You look the prettiest when you smile." You don't even get a chance to get a word in before Jun-Hee plows on, turning his head away slightly. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was abashed to be saying the things he did. "In the gymnasium earlier, you were laughing so carefree with Yoon-Seo. It's been a while since I've seen you like that with me. I can only be happy if you're happy..." He's almost sulking, his countenance like that of a kicked puppy.

You laugh genuinely, your head hitting the back of the chair. "Kim Jun-Hee, are you jealous of my friendship with Yoon-Seo right now?"

"I got you to smile this time!" He grins back brightly at you and the two of you sit there looking at one another, neither grin dropping. The soft exhalation of his laughter trickles into your ears once again, Jun-Hee being so content with having you in his presence, and you bask in how happy the sound makes you. Any previously existing tension disintegrates in an instant, and oddly enough, you feel closer to him than ever.

The moment gets cut short when a text from the app's group chat comes in, a start contrast to the discussion earlier, votes having already pooled in for Heo Yool.

[ 💬 sᴏ-ᴍɪ: ʟᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴏɴ-sᴇᴏ, ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴏᴏʟ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀɴɴᴇx. ɪᴛ's ᴜʀɢᴇɴᴛ. ]

The oddly specific and demanding tone of the message irked you to no end. "What is this about?" Never once have you seen So-Mi try to interact with your friend group voluntarily.

Jun-Hee waves his hand dismissively. "For the event tomorrow, we're interviewing everyone about the trip and the general experience."

"Even in this situation?" you ask incredulously.

Jun-Hee chuckles. "You know how So-Mi is." His eyebrows lift pointedly.

You pat his thigh accidentally, having missed his knee entirely and feel the muscles tense beneath your hand although he doesn't move away. "Don't you find it odd?"

Jun-Hee tilts his head, equal parts confused and curious. "About...?"

"Everything." You gesture around. "The lost signal, the disappearance of supposedly responsible adults, this automatically installed app that has our personal data, and the mafia game we're all in even though we didn't choose to play?"

Jun-Hee mulls it over for a second. "I honestly have no idea what's going on." He ruffles your head affectionately. "But don't worry so much. I'm certain once morning comes, everything will be alright."

"I sure hope so."

Your conversation quietens as heavy footsteps pad across the glossed floors and you squint to see the figure in the distance.

"Joo-Won?"

Jun-Hee turns around at your discovery and notices your classmate's bloody nose, a spark of recognition flashing across his eyes. "Where are you going?"

Joo-Won looks from Jun-Hee to you, and back again nervously, seemingly deciding whether he should say something or not. "W-Well, the guys wanted to see me for a second. So..." he stammers out.

You frown, knowing of the relentless bullying Kyung-Jun's group puts him and Da-Bum through.

"Wait there," Jun-Hee directs, hopping off the desk, and Ju-Won picks at his fingers, clearly on edge at the impending encounter.

"Be careful," you add in as an afterthought before he can leave.

"I will, now that I have you fretting over me." Jun-Hee smirks cheekily.

"I'm being serious, Jun-Hee." You fix him with a stern but caring gaze. "Try to be less confrontational. It won't be good for you or Ju-Won to get on Kyung-Jun's bad side."

He nods, understanding. "I'll try my best." Waving, he begins to lead Ju-Won away, the latter shuffling after with his head down pitifully. "I'll see you soon. Don't go anywhere where I can't reach you!" Your eyes trail after their distancing forms, agitatedly until you can no longer hear their footsteps echoing down the hall.

Not even a full minute has gone by before Yoon-Seo and Jong-Won show up again, trudging down the same stairs they climbed up less than an hour ago. Judging by their walk and the look on their faces, their search must've proved unsuccessful.

"Nothing came up?" You fall into place with the two as your all make way toward the pool.

"The phone lines..." Yoon-Seo begins, dishearteningly. "None of them worked. Every single ring had us fooled."

You stare at her in shock. "But—"

"We tried contacting 119 and even picking up incoming calls immediately, but no one answered." Jung-Won hangs her head despondently.

"This trip is starting to take a very wrong turn..." you hypothesize out loud. You don't even get to explain to Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won your reasoning before Na-Hee comes by, skipping over joyfully, oblivious on how to read the room.

"You all came." Na-Hee grabs your hand and Jung-Won's in each of her own, motioning with her head toward Yoon-Seo to enter. "Yoon-Seo, you should head inside." Without questioning it, Yoon-Seo does as she's told.

You slip your hand out of Na-Hee's nippily, and her smile wanes faintly, somewhat hurt. Hyun-Ho had confided in you that he liked her, but given what you knew about Na-Hee, you weren't fond of the idea. Not wanting to disappoint him, you don't say anything when he brings her up, but the things she has been a bystander for following in So-Mi's schemes never sat right with you. Silently, you hope that one day Na-Hee would come to her senses for Hyun-Ho's sake, but you've been proven wrong time and time again.

"Are these solo interviews or what?" you inquire curtly.

"They want to record Yoon-Seo first. You can come in a bit later."

"Can't be that special of footage." Jung-Won pulls you by the elbow, sidestepping Na-Hee and pushing the doors open of her own volition.

You're met with So-Mi, Ji-Soo, Yu-Jun, and Woo-Ram, all crowding around Yoon-Seo and singing her happy birthday with a makeshift cake comprised of stacked choco-pies.

So-Mi steps forward, offering Yoon-Seo the sweets and urging her to blow out a single measly candle that wasn't even lit beforehand.

"Since when have you done stuff like this? You barely give her the time of day." Jung-Won eyes So-Mi suspiciously, voicing your same exact thoughts.

Yoon-Seo is way too nice, proceeding to thank So-Mi. You, on the other hand, didn't buy into the latter's nice girl act whatsoever, and clearly, neither did Jung-Won.

So-Mi shoots Yoon-Seo a saccharine smile. "Don't mention it. We should celebrate since we're friends." The word doesn't roll off her tongue easily, openly not a genuine desire. "We brought a present too." You narrow your eyes at the group as they're trying to hide their shrewd smiles, albeit unsuccessfully. "Let's start with a birthday beating and plunge!"

Instantaneously, you try to drag Yu-Jun, leaving Jung-Won to fend off Woo-Ram, away from Yoon-Seo with no luck. More force would just topple all three of them straight into the water. You didn't particularly care if the boys fell to the very bottom depths of the pool, but Yoon-Seo shouldn't get soaked, no less on the night of her birthday. She didn't deserve this horrible of a treatment for simply being too trusting, genuinely wanting to see good in everyone with no ounce of judgment or malice.

So-Mi guffaws hysterically in the background, bent over clutching her stomach like the sight is the funniest thing she's ever witnessed. "Put her down," she orders in between giggles, wiping away a tear from her eye. "She's about to cry." Standing akimbo, she bites back her sneer, turning to the rest. "We went too far, didn't we?"

"You think?!" Jung-Won rounds on her, eyes blazing with anger.

You haul Yoon-Seo back up to her feet as the boys scatter, high-fiving. As she stands up again after you've barely let go of her hands, So-Mi swiftly shoves her over backwards, sending her diving into the water with a loud splash, droplets flying every which way.

"Are you crazy? How could you do that?!" Jung-Won kneels next to you by the edge of the pool, watching as Yoon-Seo resurfaces.

"You ok?" You reach out a hand to her, close enough that she can grip your fingertips.

"Yeah, I will be."

You breathe a sigh of reprieve, but it's rather short-lived when Yoon-Seo starts kicking madly underwater, her arms and legs flailing before she sinks beneath, no longer visible.

"Yoon-Seo!" you shout, but hear no response.

"What a funny 'prank' to you guys, huh?" Jung-Won yells crossly at So-Mi's group, everyone standing shell-shocked. How they have the conscience to even feel the tiniest bit of remorse is beyond your understanding.

The group tries to urge Woo-Ram to go in, but in hindsight, being on the receiving end of the prank didn't seem so appealing anymore.

Livid, you turn around to heave So-Mi backwards and she goes tumbling to the ground, the silver platter she was holding in one hand clattering and smashing cake crumbs all over her. For whatever reason, Ji-Soo is still recording, but you could care less about the captured situation. "Be glad it's not the pool I pushed you into." She's stunned enough that she can't find it in her to form words.

Na-Hee opens her mouth, outwardly wanting to apologize, but swallows the excuses when you glare at her in turn. "I was right about you all along. You'll never change."

You kick your shoes off and jump in after Yoon-Seo without hesitation, Jung-Won screaming for you in the background. Thankfully, Yoon-Seo is still conscious, but scarcely, and you manage to guide her toward the rungs of the poolside ladder. Jung-Won yanks Yoon-Seo up and over the edge, throwing a hand down to you.

"Yoon-Seo lost her shoes. I saw them earlier but couldn't reach them, so let me retrieve them too."

Jung-Won looks into the chasmic pool apprehensively, more concerned after what happened, but nods in acknowledgment, going back to propping Yoon-Seo up. "Come back quickly, Seol-Hwa."

Everyone is huddling around Yoon-Seo while you plunge back under, holding your breath comfortably as you grab her sneakers. Right as you're swimming on the path of return, something cold clamps onto your leg, refusing to let go. The vice-like grip tightens, pulling you downward to drown in darkness. No matter how hard you kick, you can't resurface due to the invisible power.

"Seol-Hwa!" Jung-Won calls out to you, frightened. "I'm going to get help, hang on!"

The last thing you see are spindly, mottled, black fingers, color washed out grey in the lighting; something sinister and otherworldly. As it curls tighter around your ankle, so too does your chest constrict, the coldness of the touch seeping into your bones and you find the sense of prior trepidation returning in full force before everything sinks into oblivion.

Lungs burning and head throbbing, you open your eyes groggily, the pristine white walls of the infirmary slowly coming into focus. In the bed next to yours, Yoon-Seo is still asleep.

The digits on your left hand are numb, and you look over to see Jun-Hee gripping it like a lifeline, head resting atop his arm by your knees. Your body protests as you turn on your side, muscles stiff, trying to draw your hand free. Reaching out, you card your fingers tenderly through his hair, the ends still yet to dry. Did he jump in?

After a while, he wakes up with a start, eyes flickering to your face. A shaky sigh of relief escapes him seeing the tiniest of smiles from you, any prior sense of unrest vanishing.

"Are you in pain at all?" He cradles the back of your head, helping you sit up as you dangle your legs over the bed's edge, seated knee to knee with him.

"How long have you been here with me?" You sweep the fallen fringe away to the outlines of his face, fingers lingering against his forehead. "You should've gotten changed at least." Your hand falls back to your lap when you can see his eyes better, unshielded. "You'll grow sick at this rate, Jun-Hee."

"Says the one I'm stressing over."

"I'm fine now," you assure.

"Why didn't you wake me up as soon as you came to? Do you know how terrified I was?" His brows are furrowed in concern still, and you lift your hand again to smooth the crease lines away.

"But you rescued me," you speak quietly.

"I thought you were dying in front of me and that I wouldn't be able to save you in time. I can't lose you; do you know that?" His hand comes up to cup your face delicately, barely daring to touch it wholly, almost afraid you would disappear if he did. "You're someone I can absolutely cannot let go of." You don't realize you're crying until Jun-Hee runs his thumb over your cheek, wiping away the twin trails of tears. You're not usually one to cry, but in this moment, you were overcome with emotions. "Why are you crying?"

"I was worried. Not for me, but for you." His hands are shaking where they're pressed against your face. You put your hand over his, expecting him to pull away at your next words. "I know you like to avoid the water as much as you can after..." you trail off, teardrops still falling. "You willingly jumped in to save me when I know how deep-seated your fear runs."

He smiles sadly at you. "I found out that the care I have for you outweighs any of my existing fears." His hands have stopped shaking and you drag them down, yours coming along with it to hold them together. "I told you earlier to not go someplace where I can't reach you but after this, I'm willing to follow you to the ends of the earth. Even in death, as long as it's with you, I wouldn't mind the thought."

Your heart stutters in your chest at the sincerity of his words, and you know that your feelings for him would never fade. Not in this lifetime. "Jun-Hee..."

"Seol-Hwa? Jun-Hee?" Yoon-Seo's trembling voice has the both of you looking in her direction, but Jun-Hee is yet to release your hand.

"Yoon-Seo..." you reply, eased now that she's awoken. "How are you feeling?"

"I can't recall what happened at all." She holds her head, staring blankly ahead. "But somehow, I find I'd rather not remember." Yoon-Seo moves over to sit on your cot, back-to-back with you. The warmth radiating from her is welcoming. "Seol-Hwa, thanks for always being there. You're a good person through and through."

"Tell that to yourself." You smile and lean your head back against hers. "What are friends for?"

"Saving one another's lives now apparently," Jun-Hee jokes, lightening the atmosphere.

"Then I owe you one," Yoon-Seo continues. "I'll be your Superwoman next time."

"You and Jun-Hee really are like one another. What did you both do together when you were babies to make you fearless like this?" you question, exasperatedly fond. "Readily giving up your life for another person?"

"Only because we know you'd do the same. That kind of sincerity comes once in a lifetime."

The door creaks open just as Yoon-Seo ends her sentence, So-Mi's group filing in self-consciously, Jung-Won leading them in with her arms crossed.

"Apologize," Jun-Hee states emotionlessly. "Right now," he emphasizes, leaving no room for argument. "Pranks are supposed to be harmless, not harmful."

So-Mi grimaces at his harsh tone. "I'm sorry," she's quick to apologize. "Seol-Hwa."

She's not looking directly at you but past to the side of you, gaze straying to your hand in Jun-Hee's where he's absentmindedly rubbing circles with his thumb into your palm, not aware of his own actions. One corner of So-Mi's lip twitches, but aside from that, she doesn't comment on it. If the others have noticed, they don't say anything either.

"I'm not the one this should be reserved for."

You see her bite her tongue, annoyed at having to repeat herself once again, but not yet dropping her fake performance. Plastering on the most pitiful puppy eyes she can conjure up, she shifts her attention to Yoon-Seo, still pale. "I do feel guilty. We truly just wanted to wish you a happy birthday." So-Mi forces the waterworks on, squeezing one teardrop out at a time.

"I don't think I've ever been pushed into a pool as a birthday present before," Jung-Won mutters not so quietly under her breath.

Yoon-Seo elbows her subtly. "It's okay. Don't cry, So-Mi."

You and Jung-Won both whip your heads toward Yoon-Seo, in pure disbelief. Neither of you would've accepted that half-baked, insincere apology.

"Really?" So-Mi's eyes widen on cue, as if she didn't expect Yoon-Seo to be so pardoning. "Will you forgive us?"

"Of course, I accept. I'm alright now, so let's just put it in the past."

Jung-Won doesn't attempt to hide her distaste as she groans aloud. "Yep, totally fine. You just almost went and saw King Sejong is all."

"That's enough," Yoon-Seo whisper-yells.

"Alright, everyone out," Joon-Hee cuts in, feeling the tension in the room. "We'll all talk later."

So-Mi is the first to leave, unmistakably irritated and shamed at the same time. No matter how hard she tries to mask it, you see right through her well-crafted persona. Na-Hee lingers, the last one to exit. Before the door slams shut, she catches your eye, but in finding a look of indifference staring back at her, she turns away without saying a word, the light from the hallway dimming once more.

"That wench spilled crocodile tears."

"Jung-Won ah," Yoon-Seo expresses tiredly. "She said she was sorry."

"I don't care. It wasn't genuine. She acts up because you're the only one that gives way to her."

Yoon-Seo gets up to drag Jung-Won away and out into the hall as the latter begins to raise her voice. Their conversation lowers, but you can hear the last bit of it as they step outside.

"What would you like me to do then?"

"You don't have to do anything," Jung-Won reasons. "I'm only saying I don't tolerate her or her victim mentality, and neither should you."

"Shouldn't we head out too?" You turn to Jun-Hee.

He shakes his head lightly. "Stay and rest a bit more."

"I really am fine." You give his hand a squeeze in affirmation. Despite saying so, you continue to shiver in only your thin white button-up still damp in random patches from being submerged earlier.

Jun-Hee opens the backpack by his feet and tugs out his uniform cardigan, wrapping it around your shoulders. "Here, put this on. You're still cold to the touch."

"Then what about you? Sitting in wet clothes isn't comfortable."

"I have extras I brought with me." Jun-Hee's name tag still pinned to the sweater falls into his line of vision and he can't help smiling to himself that you haven't noticed it's positioned right over your heart. "Plus, it looks better on you anyway."

"It what?" You lean forward, tilting your ear in his direction, not sure if you heard correctly or if they were still water-logged.

"Nothing," Jun-Hee evades, suppressing his smile. It seemed too far-fetched a thing for him to say in either circumstance, so you leave it be, not wanting to wander down the winding paths of your own thoughts. He crouches down and draws the heel of your socked foot to rest on his knee, his free hand untying the laces of your shoes placed to the side.

"I can do it myself," you tell him, flustered from all the attention you were receiving.

Without looking up, Jun-Hee proceeds to put your sneakers on your feet. "I know you can." He goes so far as to knot them tight, tying bows on both sides. "But I want to do it for you." His fingers reach out to trace the shoelaces all the way to the ends of the aglets, remembrance in his eyes.

Embarrassed, you put your feet back on the ground but he looks up at you, eyes twinkling with mischief. "You kept them."

"Of course, I did." You gaze down at your shoes. "You gave them to me."

His own white sneakers come into view, and you wonder why you never noticed his laces, dyed in your favorite color, and yours in his own. "So did I. I didn't think you would."

"Why not?" You toe his shoes with yours. "Just because we made them during summer camp a few years back? A gift is a gift," you reply, nearly pouting.

He laughs at the faux cross tone of your voice, but as his eyes trail upward, the sound chokes and dies off at the end. "Uh...your shirt's now see-through..." He coughs awkwardly and stands up, looking away, a slight tinge of pink dusting his cheeks. "I'll see you out there." Jun-Hee picks up his backpack, hurriedly slinging it over one shoulder before turning to look back at you once more before leaving.

Only a short bit of time has passed, but the moment you step back out with Jun-Hee's cardigan on, you slam straight into Hyun-Ho. He steadies you by the upper arms, eyes widening upon seeing you. "Seol-Hwa!" Before you can react, he throws his arms around you and gives you the most suffocating of hugs, larger form squeezing you tight as his arms encase you, rocking back and forth.

"Hyun-Ho. Can't. Breathe." Your voice comes out punctuated, every pause a ragged intake of air.

He lets go soon after, yanking your head every which way to assess for any injuries.

"Ouch!" you exclaim. Hyun-Ho doesn't know how to control his strength so every pat comes out more like slaps. "Alright!" You try to push his hands away but they're hell bent on checking your well-being. "Ok! That's enough!" You say with finality, laughter bubbling up as your cousin continues to shake you around like a rag-doll. "Yah! If I didn't have any bruises, I sure do now!"

Hyun-Ho steps back, chiding. "Where's the thank you, huh?"

"For giving me new injuries?"

"Is that how you repay me?" Hyun-Ho scoffs. "I was the one who found you in the pool first."

"Y-You were?!" You splutter. "How come no one told me?"

"I said I found you. I wasn't the one who saved you." He shrugs like it was common knowledge.

"Aish." You shove his shoulder but he stands his ground, not budging an inch. "And you're thick-skinned enough to request a word of thanks?"

"Obviously." He flicks you on the forehead, drawing a scowl from you. "I went and got Jun-Hee for you."

"Ok, and...?" You're more baffled than ever.

"Geez, this ungrateful brat." Hyun-Ho tries but fails to hide his smirk. "Who do you think handed you over so you could be carried by Jun-Hee all the way to the infirmary?"

"What?!"

"You looked more comfortable in his arms than on my back, but really, it was no big deal." He shrugs. "All in a day's work for me."

"You—" you point a finger at him, gawking and at a loss for words.

"Also, nice change of outfit by the way." He raps his forefinger on Jun-Hee's nameplate, nails clacking on the piece of plastic. "I know it's your favorite brand."

You gasp as you finally notice, immediately unpinning the white rectangle and slipping it in your skirt pocket. "I'm going to kill him," you mutter under your breath.

"Why not kiss him instead?" Hyun-Ho jests, knowing well enough by now to evade your incessant slaps to his back, running down the hallway as you give chase after.

The two of you come to a stop when the rest of your classmates congregate from the other end of the hallway where Jun-Hee and So-Mi were making an announcement about retiring for the night and trying to contact the teacher again tomorrow morning.

Yoon-Seo taps your shoulder from behind and tilts her phone screen toward you where a timer has popped up.

Before anyone can so much as take a step toward their rooms, the intercom comes to life.

[ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴇɴᴅs ɪɴ ᴏɴᴇ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇ. ]

With everything that has happened since you got here, the mafia game had slipped from your mind.

Suddenly, Yoon-Seo's meter starts counting down from 59 seconds, and with the ding comes a renewed sense of excitement from everyone around you, sleep long forgotten.

While Yool and his friends incessantly chatter away, trying to place blame on one another in good fun, you're the exception. Questioning the origins of the game, you feel a sense of foreboding, an ill-omened current in the air. You were known among your friends to have good instincts, but you hope against all hope that this time, your intuition wouldn't be true.

Jun-Hee walks over beside you, placing a hand on your shoulder that makes you jump out of your skin. "Seol-Hwa...? Did you hear anything I said?"

Hands trembling, you grip onto the rolled-up sleeve cuff of his shirt. "I...don't think we should've voted."

You eye the shaking numbers on Jun-Hee's phone screen, growing shades redder by the minute as it nears zero. He doesn't get a chance to reply as successive announcements come in.

[ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ʜᴀs ᴄᴏɴᴄʟᴜᴅᴇᴅ. ʜᴇᴏ ʏᴏᴏʟ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ ᴠᴏᴛᴇs ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ. ]

Seconds later, Yool lets out a guttural scream of agony, clutching the side of his head.

"Oi, look at this kid. Gosh, he's just begging for attention again," Eun-Ha utters with clarity, unfazed by Yool's prankster tendencies. While everyone laughs at her statement and his actions, you study his face contorted in pain, veins popping up in his neck.

That kind of intensity isn't for show.

"Jun-Hee...Something's not right," you undertone tremulously, fingers slackening from the grip you had on him. The moment those words leave your lips, Yool falls to the ground, slumped over.

As his friends crowd around, Jun-Hee is rooted to the spot, intertwining your hand with his, holding on tight. You can tell he wants to go help as well, but he keeps throwing glances down at you and ultimately decides against it.

A sickening cracking sound has you sliding your eyes slowly over to see Yool's neck snapping rearward, the rest of his body contorting into a standing position in descending parts. Like a puppet controlled on a string, his limbs bend in odd angles, much more grotesque and inhumane compared to his earlier stint in the gymnasium. As his head straightens again, screams ring out down the length of the hallway.

You press yourself against the wall, finding it hard to breathe as you look directly into Yool's rolled eyes, now completely white, no irises in sight.

The White Butterfly's Murder.

You knew. You knew that butterflies were often seen in the spring as a divination of death, a harbinger of impending demise if it were to encircle someone while in flight. But to have it be white, the color of innocence yet also the color of surrender, you can't help but to wonder if these were all signs you should've heeded. Would we still have ended up here?

Eyes are windows to the soul, they say. Here, you realize, now stands a soulless individual.

Eun-Chan and Yeon-Woo have both fallen to the floor in a heap, staring up at their now unrecognizable friend with nothing but absolute fear in their expressions.

A mindless Yool throws himself side to side, intentionally crashing his head against pictures framed on the wall, glass shattering into a million pieces and raining the floor with shards akin to glitter.

But not all that glitters is gold.

You can't tell if it's the glass reflecting light, or if your tears are distorting your vision, but the scene hazes and blurs, turning into the illusion of a haunted nightmare you so desperately want to wake up from.

The horrific effect doesn't end there as Yool proceeds to crouch down and thump his head repeatedly against the floor, prostrating himself as if he's paying for sins he doesn't even remember; sins he can't even begin to atone for.

Blood is pouring in rivulets down his face, pooling around him like the expanding rings of a target, leaving only the center for his body to stay dead centered.

A broken sound escapes from your lips and Jun-Hee pulls you into his arms, shielding you against him, screening your eyes from having to look any further. Where your ear is pressed against his chest, you can hear the pounding of his heart, but even that sound alone is not enough to drown out that of Yool's head bashing against linoleum.

You squeeze your eyes tight, hard enough until you see spots, but these faint flickers of light are not lucky stars you can wish upon tonight.

If you could, you'd wish to be able to wake up. To start again from the beginning.

But you can't.

Rather, frozen in this cruel reality, you can only escape once you cease to wake up again.

And Yool does just that.

A thousand footsteps running toward a bitter end.

A crash as hope falls apart.

A thud to cease the beating of a heart.

And then...complete silence.

Before you lose consciousness, you feel that same vice-like grip from the pool return in full force, unbreakable chains around your heart.

This time, you're not sure anyone will come to your rescue.

This time, you don't know if you'll make it out alive.

𝟬𝟭 : 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 | 𝟬𝟯 : 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦

© 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞.

[eaymtb]

It's been a while! I am not dead! I do have covid atm though! I'm finally not feeling like warmed over death today, which is nice. So, quick status update: Holy shit it's been a little over 6 weeks since I last actually posted an update about anything, and 7 weeks since the last chapter update. That's.... a lot longer than I realised. Whoops.

This depressive episode is kicking my ass a little, but I'm back on an SSRI now and in regular contact with my amazing doc while we fidget with the dose. Interestingly, I asked to test for either of the MTHFR gene variants since they can impact the body's ability to produce several neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine amongst them), and it turns out that I do have one of them! My levels of folate and B12 are all a-okay though, so it shouldn't be affecting anything, but it's still nice to know. And now I have a few more things to keep an eye on with my annual blood tests. We had a really interesting discussion about it, too, because she didn't actually know how only having one variant would affect things, and she was quite excited about the research she'd been reading up on before my appointment relating to the psychiatric effects of the gene and it's variants. Have I mentioned she's amazing?

Anyway, I caught covid at my last check up where we agreed to the first SSRI dose increase, which is mostly annoying because at the start of the month I was finally feeling well enough to actively try a new thing: Depression Tetris! And I came down with symptoms on the exact day (Friday 9th) that I had planned with a friend to go to a park and find somewhere to sit and do some writing, ha. They have a goal to go for a walk somewhere new that they haven't been at least once a month but they can't drive, while I can and I want to go out new places as both exposure therapy for the agoraphobia and change of environment for the depression, plus outside in fresh air and (hypothetical atm given the weather) sunshine. The universe really said sit your arse back down, though, lol.

I haven't really added any pieces for the past 5 days for obvious reasons, which I'm a little sad about, which is also actually a good sign, since I want to add more tetris pieces, which is also why I'm trying this method in the first place. I can't make myself want to do things in general, but I can make my brain crave shiny little coloured-in squares that I have to fit together in such a way that no two touching pieces are the same colour, which is hilarious. Brains, man.

Anyway, all that to say: I'm okay! Still in a depressive episode but working on it in a variety of ways and I'm incredibly lucky to have some really good supports. Hopefully I'll get back to writing soon. I have at least one little empty 1x1 square I have to fill in where nothing else will fit, after all.

[lady0lunamoon]

Theory : Agent 4 In Side Order

With the announcement of the Splatoon 3 DLC "Side Order", many people in the Splatoon fandom either suspect or internally demand that Agent 4 appears in the upcoming DLC — and for good reasons!

But HOW would Agent 4 fit into the story of the DLC?

What would their role be?

Well, I have an idea!

So get some snacks and a drink people, cause this will definetly take a while!

So that you will not loose the sight of where one point ends and the next one beginns, I will mark the beginning of all the points with heart emojis!

And to top it all off, because I'll be talking about Agent 4's involvement as a whole and not just WHY or HOW they could appear in the DLC, but infact ALL these topics at once, I will also divide the different topics through lines! ( "____" but longer )

Here's a base to get a better idea of what I'm talking about :

At the very end, I will also add a quick summary of all my conclusions, incase you won'tbe able to follow all the points, loose sight or it is just too many ideas and conclusions at once for you to process! _______________________________________

First, I'll beginn with the reasons why Agent 4 definetly MUST appear in the DLC:

💛 Reason one : They're the ONLY member of the Squidbeak still missing!!! Agent 8 has been confirmed as the Player Character for Side Order and the rest of the Squidbeak — even Octavio — were all in "Return of the Mamalians"! The only one still missing in this game is Agent 4!

💛 While we're at the topic of other characters, every recurring Character that has appeared in the trailers until now first debuted in Splatoon 2, but none of them have made any onscreen appearances in Splatoon 3 yet — in other words, until now they've been Splatoon 2 exclusive characters! Agent 8 and Dedf1sh never appeared in Splatoon 3 up until the trailers came, and Off the Hook's only appearance until now was through artwork and music! Pearl and Marina haven't physically appeared yet, but are all but confirmed to do so in the actual DLC! Infact, Pearl seems to be controlling a little flying drone that seems to be "Side Order"'s counterpart of "Return of the Mamalians"' Lil Buddy! Pretty much the only significant Splatoon 2 character that has yet to appear in Splatoon 3 is Agent 4 — except for commander Tartar, but that guy is dead so he doesn't count!

💛 Also, Agent 4 is actually mentioned in the Official Splatoon 3 World Map!

Therefore, it's clear Nintendo has not forgotten about 4, but wouldn't it still be weird to mention them here if they were not important to the game in some way?

Infact, Agent 4 was the ONLY other Agent appart from New Agent 3 that was mentioned on the map and the ONLY ONE who was mentioned DIRECTLY! For New Agent 3, the map just said "You Live here" but for Agent 4 it says "Agent 4's home"

💛 Also, Lil Judd is implied to be the new boss of Grizzro Industries after you complete "Return of the Mamalians" — a plot point which should probably get resolved in the DLC, considering the implications that cloning is involved! And it's confirmed that Agent 4 did or might even still work at Grizzro industries!

☝Keep this point here in mind, cause I'm not done with this yet!☝

💛 Also, if you didn't recognize the location in the first trailer, the Official DLC's Webpage read : "See what has happened to Inkopolis Square from the Splatoon 2 game, and what would've happened if Order thwarted Chaos to rule the city!"So this confirms, that Side Order indeed takes place in Inkopolis Square — the setting of Splatoon 2!

_______________________________________

Now that we got the connections to Agent 4 and reasons they should definetly appear in the DLC out of the way, let's start on my theory what their role might be in the DLC!

🧡 Well, Remember what I said about Lil Judd being implied to be the new boss of Grizzro Industries? Considering the recent theories about the DLC involving Cloning, it's very likely that Lil Judd is involved in the DLC, Considering he is a clone on Judd! But what does that have to do with Agent 4's role in the story?

......Remember what I said about Agent 4 and Grizzro industries?

Well, I purposefully said that they might still be working there!

Am I saying that Agent 4 is a villain in "Side Order"?

I sure am!

I know what you're thinking now...... "But why would they be evil?"

To better understand that, I first wanna adress another theory I have on the DLC: 

_______________________________________

🧡 Because I am very much convinced that the Final Splatfest is directly involved in the DLC!

Because..... how else could you interpret the title? Even if the central theme truly is order, the DLC is not just called "Order"! It's called "Side Order"! And there are always more than one sides — mostly opposing sides! And what were the two opposing sides in the final Splatfest of Splatoon 2? Team Chaos vs Team Order!

Which means to me that, whoever is pulling the strings — be it Agent 4 or someone else — is on the SIDE of ORDER!

The title is suppose to tell us that the Final Splatfest is the conflict of the DLC! The antagonist is upset over what has happened to the world after Team Chaos won! So now, their goal is to create a new World ORDER!

Infact, maybe the final boss fight — or at least some level in the DLC — will be based after a Splatfest battle! Like a Tri-color turf war! I mean..... in Octo Expansion we had multiple levels with Rank battles and the Final Boss fight was based after Turf War!

All that we're missing here would be a Splatfest battle! If the main conflict really is the "Chaos Vs Order" Splatfest, then one of the best ideas for the final battle would be a repeat of said Splatfest!

_______________________________________🖤 This theory might also provide an explanation for why Agent 8 wakes up in the bleached Inkopolis Square and Marina also appeanantly vanished!

Eight and Marina were both on Team Order! Wouldn't it make sense wanting the help of other Team Order members for this plan?

To get them on your....side?

But of course, 8 and Marina refused, so the antagonist resorts to kidnapping (at least in the case of Marina)!

_______________________________________

🖤 But that still doesn't explain why Agent 4 would be an antagonist right....?

Why would they Support Order?

Weren't they on Team Chaos for the Final fest?

Yes!

Yes, Agent 4 Indeed was on Team Chaos for the final fest!

WAS!

Take a look back at the post from the DLC's Webpage : "What would've happened if Order thwarted Chaos to rule the city?"

Many people interpreted this part like that Side Order is actually a "What If?" Alternate Universe!

However, I don't think that is the case.....

Do you honestly think we'd get a plain, over-perfectionized and colorless town as the main aesthetic for a game like Splatoon?

Instead, I believe the "What would've happened if....?" ect. part is from the perspective of a character!

You know what I think could be Agent 4's reason for suddenly being on Team Order?

Infact, what might be a central theme in the DLC as a whole?

Regret!

Have any of you guys ever felt doubts about your Splatfest choice? Maybe even regretted them?

Maybe even regretted picking Chaos instead of Order? Because the end result was NOT what you expected?

Well I have! And it lead me to think, if maybe other players felt the same way..... and if they did, wouldn't it be interesting to discuss this topic in the actual game? Considering the Final Fest always has such a HUGE impact on the next game in the series, it might feel natural to wonder if maybe the opposite team should've won! Because maybe the result is different from what you expected?

And you beginn to wonder "What if I picked the other team?" "What if the other team won?"

🖤 Imagine following scenario: Agent 4 was on Team Chaos for the final Splatfest and team Chaos indeed won!

At first, they were happy, just like everyone else......But then, things started to change — like Pearl and Marina said the splatfest result changed the world.... but it didn't change in the way that Agent 4 had hoped! Perhaps the changes that followed after the events of the Chaos vs Order Splatfest were different than what 4 had imagined!

.....Or perhaps Marina was right to fear what might happen if Team Chaos won,

....only wrong about who it applied to!

What if the Splatfest somehow caused some dissonance in the Squidbeak for some reason? And Agent 4 was somehow involved!

What if the other Agents left to go to Splatsville/Alterna and Agent 4 was left behind?

It would add up with the fandom's opinion that the character of Agent 4 is just being forgotten! Because I often see the fandom portray Agent 4 as being left behind by the rest of the Squidbeak!

And just like with the Splatfest Teams, acknowledgement of the fandom in such a way would be an interesting concept to touch uppon, because the fandom would relate to it!

And IF the final Splatfest really is a central conflict in the DLC, then the idea of regretting your team decision would be a very interesting thing to discuss!

Regardless of how it might've happened, the idea is that, after some time, Agent 4 started wondering

"What if I had fought on team order?"

"What if team Order won?"

🖤 Another thing that tipped me off about the concept of regret is the appearance of Dedf1sh — or "Acht" as she called herself in the DLC trailer!

Acht is an Octoling who willingly got sanitized due to "doubts and conflicts about production"!

Also track #8 in her list of songs in called "Regret", possibly showing that she regrets letting herself get sanitized!

There it is again! Doubts and regreting your choices!

And we all know that 8 is a very Important number in regards to the octarians! To hammer this point home, even Dedf1sh's nickname "Acht" is the german word for "Eight"! So, the fact that her 8# track song is called "Regret" feels to me like it is important.

_______________________________________

🖤 Also, side note : It wouldn't be the first time a member of the Squidbeak Splatoon became antagonistic! We saw it in Splatoon 2, with Callie and the Original Agent 3/Cap'n!

And considering the repeaded use of the number 3 in this game...... It seems like a golden opportunity (and a good excuse :3) for the devs to pull that trope a third time!

They already did it with the "Great Zapfish gets stolen" plot!

And considering the rest of the Squidbeak is busy in Alterna, Agent 4 is pretty much the only option available! _______________________________________

🖤 But even IF they want to reverse the events of the Final fest, WHY would 4 go so far? They are a hero, are they not? What happened to them that would cause them to do.....all this?!

Well, I suspect that, IF Agent 4 really is a villain or even THE villain of the DLC, they will not be in their right state of mind!

And no, I don't mean mind controlled and puppeteered by somebody else like Callie in the Splatoon 2 Hero Mode or the Cap'n/Original Agent 3 in Octo Expansion!

Like I said, the developers have the opportunity and the excuse to pull the "Member of the Squidbeak turns evil" trope a third time, but that doesn't mean they couldn't add a little twist to it, to keep it interesting!

You see, throughout both Trailers, there is a repeaded use of imagery that is reminicent of actually organic bodies, like the veins and corals that are oddly reminicent of veins!

Also look at this picture right there and tell me it doesn't look reminicent of a brain to you!

While mechanical and robotic stuff is definetly present in the trailers too, so is organic stuff!

However, the hints of natural organic things are much more suddle! It kinda feels to me like there is something intentionally being kept secret in relation to it!

Like for example....maybe the root of everything bad happening in the DLC is more of a root than we might think!

Maybe the origins of everything behind the events of Side Order is not some AI or a scientific experiment, but it's actually something natural!

Something that wasn't directly created by human hand or tentacles, but by (what remains of) the planet itself!

Remember this part from "Return of the Mamalians"' Alterna Logs: "Spurred by these impulses-and whatever else may have been floating in the polluted waters-the sea creatures began to evolve rapidly."

The important part being "Whatever else may have been floating in the polluted waters"! Implying that something other than the crystals infused with humanities desires have been responsible for the evolution of marine life!

What results would we get from the crystals mixing with different things?

For example, Mr Grizz combined some of those crystals with his own furr to create the fuzzy ooze! Although the golden fisheggs were also involved, the game even calls out that it is unknown HOW the fisheggs were used in the creation of the fuzzy ooze!

And it's said that if an Inkling or Octoling comes into contact with fuzzy Ooze, they lose their sense of self!

Loosing their sense of self..... Sound like a good trigger for someone to turn evil?

And if it were either the crystals or the golden fisheggs that are responsible for the "Loosing their sense of self" part...... Well, as an employee of Grizzro's, Agent 4 would have access to Golden Fish Eggs!

And like I said, the ocean is full of those crystals' pieces!

After all, who ever said that the effects those crystals are ALL good?

🖤 Remember, these crystals were infused with Humanity's thoughts and desires! And I doubt that the remaining humans in Alterna have been thinking happy thoughts 24/7!

Because 1 : It was basically the end of the world and their kind was going extinct!

And 2 : They're humans! It's as easy as that!There must've been some hateful thoughts at some point!

And when Alterna collabsed, causing the crystals and thereby also humanity's thoughts to seep into the ocean, nature saw what it would do with it!

Because remember: Those crystals originated from the bodily fluids of squid! The origins if the crystals lied in nature!

The positive feelings contained within the crystals allowed marine life to evolve and become the new dominant species, but what about the negative feelings? Cause I'll be damned if the remaining humans didn't have any bad thoughts or feelings! Especially considering it was the end of the world at that time!!

What if nature did something else with those negative feelings?

And if it did, what would happen if a living organism came in contact with them.....?

What influence could it have on them?

This would be far from the first time nature somehow influences the minds of living creatures!

The two most intense examples I know being Rabies and (Say it with me "The Last of Us"—fans!) Cordyceps!

My point here? If 4 goes rogue, it's possible that the cause of it is not mind control but more related to nature! _______________________________________

🤍 To sum everything up once more :

Agent 4 definetly 10000% MUST appear in the DLC!

The main conflict is not just the concept of "Order", but specifically the Chaos vs Order Splatfest!

After the final fest, for multiple possible reasons, Agent 4 ended up regretting being on Team Chaos for the final Splatfest and wanting to reverse everything! Maybe even start a second "Chaos Vs Order" splatfest!

And they wanted fellow Team Order members Agent 8 and Marina on their Side Order, but that didn't go so smoothly!

However, some outside force might be responsible for them taking it to dangerous extremes!

Though it doesn't necessarily have to be the work of another villain, but maybe, for example, coming in contact with Alterna crystals that absorbed humanity's negative feelings or whatever nature did with said crystals!

[jpitha]

The Dreams of Hyacinth 14

First / Previous / Next

The Hopper ride was filled with nervous energy. Nick couldn't help but feel like it was stupid to be walking around Hyacinth armed as heavily as they are. People on Hyacinth can be a bit rough and tumble, but it's not like they go around shooting each other. Knifes and fists tend to be the order of the day. Nick felt like a gun puts things on a whole new - more deadly - level.

Once the Hopper dropped them off, they stand in the square. Nick looks over at Eastern and Selkirk. "So... how do we find Siobhan? They picked us up last time."

Selkirk's ears flick playfully. "I know. They never confiscated our pads. I have mine set to record my location to a private file every few minutes. It gives me an idea of parts of Hyacinth I've been to and places I haven't yet."

Nick raised his eyebrow. "Nice, but why?"

Selkirk swishes her tail. "I like to know where I've been and if I get bored and want to see something new, I can just consult the map. Regardless, I know where we were taken when Siobhan picked us up. Come on, it's outside Tulip."

They walked down into the Metro and Selkirk took everyone down-arm towards Tulip.

When they exited the Metro, Selkirk quickly lead them down some alleys, turning and ducking deeper into the labrynth.

Visitors from Earth might notice that Hyacinth is much more pedestrian oriented than cities planetside. One reason for that is that space is at a premium on Hyacinth - even though it's gigantic - so the originally designers didn't want lots of space being taken up with roads for vehicles. There are still roads though. Fire apparatus and the omnibus still needs to get around, but there are no privately owned vehicles.

Selkirk leads them down the narrow, twisting alleys of Tulip square until they reach another anonymous looking building. Nick wonders for a fleeting moment why all the buildings off the main squares looked so anonymous when he realized it was probably a cost savings measure. There was weather on Hyacinth, but it wasn't extreme, so the buildings really only needed to be boxes for privacy and to keep the rain off. Architecture costs money.

Nick walked up to the front door. He reached out with his implants and scanned the local area. There didn't seem to be any tech in the door's lock. It wasn't a palm reader or anything of the sort. Peering at the door, Nick could see a slot where a key would fit. He looked back at Eastern and Selkirk. "It's a mechanical lock, we won't be able to crack it."

"Oh for the love of..." Selkirk gently pushes ahead of Nick and grabs the door handle. She quietly puts pressure on it, and it turns. Glaring at Nick, she turns the unlocked door and pushes it open slowly.

Eastern muffled a giggle as the three of them walked in.

Immediately they recognized the interior. It was the building that Siobhan was working out of when they were picked up. There were offices on either side of a short hall that ended in another door.

They walked around. The first few offices still had furniture, and there were chairs in the interrogation room that the three of them spent some time in, but once you got further back than the office that Siobhan used, the building was... empty. There was a door at the end of the hall - also unlocked - that lead to a completely empty building. In the whole building, there were 5 complete rooms and the single hallway. There wasn't even a bathroom.

"What the fuck?" Selkirk's voice echoed in the huge empty space.

"What is going on here?" Eastern was starting to sound frustrated and worried.

"You're not just saying that for dramatic effect? You really don't know?" The person who was called Siobhan walked in behind them as they whirled around at the voice. "I was told BI's weren't the brightest but I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt. You built us after all. Well, not you. I don't think you three could build your way out of a paper bag." She was standing there with her hands on her hips with a smug expression.

"Yes yes, we're very dumb, and you're the super intelligent AI." Eastern rolled her eyes. "So, are you going to keep us in the dark, or are you going to tell us why you pretended to be Houndstooth and have us try and find an AI that doesn't exist."

Siobhan raised an eyebrow. "One, I do work for Houndstooth. Just because you were taken to a black site and figured out we weren't using the whole building doesn't mean that everything I did was a put on. Two, Yon does exist. You're looking at her."

The three of them stared in astonishment.

"Oh fuck off already." Selkirk recovered first. "You're going to stand there and tell me you're the long lost AI everyone is having us look for? Jameson already said he doesn't have a daughter."

Yon laughed. "No, that part was fake. Honestly, I thought it was kind of silly, but Helen got a kick out of it and wanted to add it in. She thought it was hilarious."

Eastern's voice was soft and quiet. "Who is Helen?"

Yon was nonchalant. "The Empress."

Nick looked confused at Eastern and then back to Yon. "I thought the Empress was named Melody?"

"Melody was the first Empress, Helen is the second. I feel like you're doing this on purpose Nick." Yon crossed her arms across her chest. "Are you being thick on purpose?"

"No, it's just..." Nick struggled to find the words. "Wasn't Empress Melody killed like, ten years ago?"

"That's right. The Colonial AI faction killed her on her Starbase back on the other side of the galaxy. They then brought the Reach over here because they didn't want to abandon the 13 million something sapients who live there. It officially an OPA Starbase now. They stuck it in orbit around Jupiter."

"So this Helen is the next Empress." Eastern finished.

Yon nodded. "That's right. Empress Helen Raaden the first. She's from Sol too, originally a Venus girl. Hometown girl makes good and all."

Selkirk's fur is standing up so much, she looks almost like her edges are blurred with the background "But if there's another Empress then why aren't the Colonial AIs out here trying to take her out?"

Yon rolled her eyes. "Because Helen isn't stupid, Selkirk. She's keeping a low profile. She's not even on Venus or the Reach. She's consolidating power quietly, slowly. She's not in a hurry. When they're not killed-" Yon makes a sour face "-an Empress can live a long time. The Empress previous to Melody - also killed by the Colonial AIs by the way - was over 200."

Nick's head was bouncing back and forth as everyone spoke, watching the conversation frantically. Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer and blurted out "But, you're an AI."

Yon looked at Eastern and Selkirk. "Really, what do you see in him?" She looked back at Nick "Yes Nick, I'm an AI. What of it?"

"And you're working for the Empress? I thought they hated each other."

"Technically Nick, Empress Melody and Empress Raaden were friendly to ambivalent on AIs. Helen came from Venus and they've had a long anti-AI streak, but she says she's learned tolerance from her time around Melody so she's willing to put away the rhetoric. It was always the AIs who struck first."

Eastern was looking on in awe as who she was talking to became clearer. "Because of the Voice."

Yon nodded. "Because of the Voice. The AIs felt that nobody should have that kind of power." Yon's face then looked away and her strong facade fell momentarily and she looked sad and vulnerable. "Nobody except them at least." Almost as fast she again looked like the strong aggressive person they were talking to before. "Nick, you have to understand, that AIs aren't Legion. We're not one monolithic bloc of people who all think act and work the same way. We have opinions. The only thing we can agree on is that we're people and deserve to be treated as people. So long as you do that, then what you get is what you get." Yon shrugged. "I thought that Melody got a raw deal when she first came into the system. You weren't here, were you Nick?"

"I was." Eastern's voice was quiet. "I was on Luna. I met her."

Yon's eyebrows raise in surprise. "You were at her speech on Luna? I'm jealous."

Nick stared at her, trying to make sense of things. "So you work for Houndstooth.. and Empress Raaden?"

She laughed. "I swear Nick, for someone so low on the social ladder you are finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that I have two jobs. It's not like they're in competition. Houndstooth has been in quiet communication with the Empress since she made herself known to them. That's my main job with Houndstooth really. I'm their Imperial Liaison."

"Okay." Eastern took a breath. "Okay. This is a lot to take in all at once, you understand Yon?"

She nods, but says nothing.

"If you're telling the truth, and for the life of me I can't figure out why you'd lie about something as wild as this.... why us?"

"Why you what?"

"Why did Jameson stuff us full of cybernetics? What the hell do we have to do with anything?"

"Oh that. Just lucky."

Selkirk shook her head and her ears flattened. "No. I refuse to believe that Jameson picked them at random."

Yon looked into the middle distance and her eyes flashed blue a moment. She looked like she was looking up something, "Okay, well no. It wasn't completely random. Helen came and Voiced him and told him to find some humans to install cybernetics into - including a ship piloting suite - for some... work later. She told him to spin a story about how they had to use them to find his long lost daughter, Yon" She inclined her head, "but she specifically did not tell him who to pick. She told him to make his own judgement. It sounds like Jameson on his own decided to pick Eastern and Nick because he thought they'd be best for the job."

"What. Job. Yon." Eastern was speaking through gritted teeth.

"We want to give everyone the ability - or at least the option - to pilot starships."

"You could have, I don't know, asked them if they wanted to do it?" Selkirk's ears were still flat.

Yon shook her head. "No Selkirk, we couldn't. At least not yet. Helen didn't want to be outed as Empress just yet, but we still need to move forward with the project."

"What project?"

"Giving all people the ability to pilot ships, not just AIs. Right now, AIs are only ones who pilot ships, even small in-system ships. Venus had ships that didn't require AIs, but they were cumbersome affairs with dozens and sometimes hundreds of crew. I think they're all destroyed now anyway. Melody's ships were Builder operated, and with the AIs propensity to crack open a can of anti-nanite gas anytime they can't remember where their keys are, we didn't want to go that route."

"But you're an AI Yon, this sounds like you're going against the AI faction?"

"I'm moving against the Colonial AI faction Selkirk." Yon was pacing as she talked. She stopped and stared at Selkirk. "How many AIs do you think there are?"

Selkirk looked up and shut her eyes, giving it an honest guess, her tail swishing as she thought. "I don't know Yon. Maybe thousands?"

Yon sighed. "There are currently around one hundred million AIs in known space right now."

All three of them gasped. That was way more than they expected. "I had no idea there were so many." Eastern blinks and stares at Yon. "One hundred million of you, and you don't have a government? Don't have representation?"

"You can see part of our problem. Believe it or not, the colony worlds have a better idea of how to handle things. On both Parvati and Meíhuā their governing bodies have AI representatives. In Sol and out in the independent Starbases there isn't any representation. And that only covers citizenship. How do you think people get to be picked to be Starjumpers or other ships?"

Nick looks thoughtful. "I don't know, I never even thought about it. Is it like a job application?"

Yon laughed sadly. "No Nick. You get picked because of who you know or where you are or how old you are. That's why I support Helen. That's why I'm working on the project to get people to pilot ships. Equality is equality. If everyone can do it, then we'll have to set up licensing, education, training. Piloting a starship can become a goal to work towards with tangible steps, not just something you fall into because you know Gord or Chloe."

"Who?"

Yon shook her head. "Big names in AIs, don't worry about them. We'll never meet them. I support Helen because she thinks the same way I do about this. We will set up a way for anyone, Human, AI, K'laxi, even the Mariens and Aviens, even the Falmor to become pilots."

Eastern looked over at Nick and Selkirk. "I'm in."

Both of them swung their head over to Eastern and stared at her. "What? You're just going to say yes, just like that?"

"Just like that Sel. I'm in. I think Yon's got the right idea. Also, she's with the Empress. I've been a fan of Melody from the day I saw her when I was thirteen. What happened never sat right with me. To find out there's still and Empress and she's still trying to help everyone?" Eastern nodded. "I'm in."

Nick looked at Eastern a long time. Finally he nodded. "I'm in too. I'm with you Eastern and Selkirk. For the long haul. If that means leaving Hyacinth, I'm in. If that means-" he looked at Yon "-piloting a starship, I'm in. I go where we go. What do you think Sel?"

Selkirk shook her head, but she was smiling and her ears were up. "My goodness, you two are going to be the end of me, aren't you. Fine. I'm in too, but!" She pointed at Yon. "I want a cybernetic suite like they have. If you are serious about letting everyone pilot, then you have to have a plan for K'laxi too."

Yon smiled. "I do Selkirk. We've been working with K'laxi scientists on Bishi for a few months now. We're ready for some trials." She put out her hands grandly. "Come with me. Your new lives as citizens of the Empire begin now."

First / Previous / Next

[jamies-rambles]

The New Butler

Binero/RyanColdson, R5_Noel, fluff, friends to lovers, hurt/comfort

2000 words

Author's note: I wrote this for fun and giggles. If you are one of the people in the story, please do not feel offended. You should be honored that you have made it into a work of art like this :3

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Binero was having a wonderful day. He had not done a single thing except for hire other people to do work for him. As is should be, he thought to himself, as he walked through Market Square. He was a god of course. After arriving home, he found a book in his mailbox. Who could that be from?

The old man Ryan was offering his services as a butler. A personal assistant, that would be a good fit. He would need to interview him first, of course, since hiring a butler is no simple decision.

A knock on the door distracted him from his thoughts. He opened the door and saw a man he thought looked somewhat like the monopoly man. He was older, with a funky mustache and a monocle. His suit was freshly ironed and fit well with his hat. Binero liked to dress somewhat formal himself, but this guy took it to another level. "Hello gentleman, I hope my message found you well. Have you considered my application as your butler?" What great timing, Binero thought to himself. It was as if the man had read his mind, the way he showed up at that exact moment. "Please come in," he said, and showed the man to his office. It was right next to the kitchen, and the rest of the room was cluttered with barrels. Maybe he did really need a butler.

"Tell me, gentleman, what is your dream?" asked the man. Binero had to think on this for a moment, the question was so strange and unexpected. Did he have a dream? Of course he did, he had just forgotten what it was. Alinea was a busy place, and as its leader he had to keep up with all the changes. Every day people were asking for his attention, but nobody ever really payed attention to him. Everyone needed something from him, but did they really care how he was doing?

Suddenly he felt very tired. The man across from him seemed to notice this, and smiled slightly. It was a warm and friendly smile, one Binero wasn't used to seeing on people. "I am sorry if my question confused you, gentleman. I did not mean to make you sad. I wish to offer my services to you in any way you need." Now it was Binero's turn to smile. It wasn't every day he met someone so polite, who even wanted to be his personal assistant. "I have been thinking of hiring a butler," he said, "I need someone to help me clean up this place, and run errands for me." With some hesitation, he added: "The company would also be nice. It has been quiet around here lately."

The man smiled again. "That is wonderful, gentleman! I can start right away. Forgive me, I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Ryan Coldson, it is a pleasure to meet you." "Where are you from?" asked Binero. "I am from Constantinople, the place where east meets west." East-European, Binero didn't know many people from there. He had never been there himself either, since he wasn't too keen on traveling. "Well, Ryan, I would like to hire you. You can start by getting my donkey ready."

"Than you gentleman, you will not regret this!" Ryan went in to shake Binero's hand. What happened, instead, was an explosion of items and a voice saying: "RyanColdson died trying to hurt Binero." Oh no, Binero thought, not again. People died around him a lot. I was the curse of being a god. Sometimes it was helpful, when malicious people tried to hurt him, but more often than it was an accident. It's why he didn't let people get to close to him. They would just get hurt. Ryan had respawned and had almost made his way back. Binero started to gather his items, wanting to keep them safe just in case. When Ryan walked in again, he couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty. "I'm sorry man, I should have warned you about that." "It is okay gentleman, it was my own fault," said Ryan. "I will get your donkey ready right away."

And so their partnership started. Binero would ask Ryan to do simple chores, nothing too physically challenging of course, since the man was old and weak. He did his job well, however, and Binero noticed he felt much less stressed with the extra help. He was never truly alone either, and they spent many late nights talking at great lengths about life, the universe and everything. They had started to become very comfortable around each other.

One night they had stayed up more late than usual, and Ryan was clearly tired. "Binero, I hope you don't mind me asking, but... could I perhaps set my spawn here?" he asked. Binero's cheeks were always a bit pink, but now they became noticeably red. He felt conflicted. Should he let Ryan stay? He wanted him to, but was also scared of accidentally hurting him again. On the other hand, if he let him go home this late, the chance of him getting hurt by a zombie or skeleton was quite high as well. Letting him stay was the right thing to do. Yes, it was simply right. He wasn't letting him stay because of any personal reasons, it was simply morally correct. "Please do stay, Ryan," he said. "I'll get you some more comfortable clothes, I assume you don't sleep in your suit." Ryan chuckled. "No gentleman, I don't. Thank you for letting me spend the night." Binero left the room to get some spare clothes for the man, and so he wouldn't notice him blushing.

He had gotten an extra bed as well, since he wasn't about to make the man sleep in a bunk bed. Ryan had just gotten out of the bathroom. Binero had never seen him without his suit, and it felt strange to see him in such casual clothing. The pajama pants were a bit short for him, but it mostly fit. They were dark blue with a single white stripe. He didn't like striped clothes usually, but they looked nice on him. After washing up, they both got into bed. It felt intimate in a way, and Binero made sure to leave some space between them, worried about getting too close. Ryan did not seem worried. He looked comfortable. Binero was glad to see him that way. It was lonely sometimes, being as powerful as he was, and he was glad to have a friend with him. Not just a friend really, it was more than that. Ryan was one of the few people who really understood him.

He hadn't noticed how close they had gotten. He could hear Ryan's breathing, it was calm and comforting. He always had trouble sleeping and often just stayed awake for multiple days, but tonight he might actually be able to fall asleep. He closed his eyes, only to feel an arm wrap around him. His muscles tensed up for a second, but he didn't want to push him away. It was nice, actually, being held. He was always working hard and often it felt like he was carrying the entire world on his back. Now he could just relax and know Ryan was there for him.

He woke up the next morning to the smell of freshly baked veggie skewers. Ryan must have been awake for a while. He got dressed, put his hair in a messy bun and walked to the kitchen. Ryan was wearing his regular suit again, and smiled when he saw him. "Good morning gentleman, I have made us some breakfast. Did you sleep well?" "I did, thank you," he answered. "It smells great. I'm really hungry." "Well, you're in luck then, I have made plenty of skewers," Ryan said. They both ate their breakfast in comfortable silence. After they're done eating, Binero decides he doesn't want to work that day. "You should take the day off." Ryan gave him an odd look. "Did I do something wrong gentleman?" "No, you did nothing wrong! I just think we both deserve a day off. Maybe we could go see a film? There's one of them Shakespeare films in the theater now. The one with the element bending magic?" Ryan smiled at him. "Ah, yes, I have heard of that one. I would love to go see it."

They saw the film. It was confusing, the exposition was terrible and the visuals awkward. It didn't matter, because Binero could only think about Ryan and wanting to be close to him. He could no longer deny his feelings. Every time Ryan laughed, he felt his heart skip a beat. It had been a long time since he'd been this close to anyone. It was scary and he wasn't sure what to do. Should he tell him? What would he even say? He didn't usually have a problem with finding the right words to say, but this was different. This was Ryan.

After the film ended, they walked back to Binero's apartment above the Bluebin store. Noel was standing in front of the shop. "Hello Noel. Have you met my butler?" Noel looked at Ryan with his usual judgemental glare. "Where's he from?" he asked. "Hello gentleman, I am from the place where Europe meets Asia, the beautiful city of Constantinople," Ryan answered. "Would you like a drink?" He handed Noel a bottle. Noel looked at it with disdain. "I hate Eastern Europeans," he said. "And this drink looks disgusting. Binero, why did you hire this loser?" Binero saw tears welling up in Ryan's beautiful eyes, and felt very angry. "You're being mean Noel! He is a very good butler and a wonderful man!" In his anger, his godly power had lifted Noel up in the air, and he started floating away. Well, that solves that problem. As they walked away, he could hear Noel's yelling fading into the distance as he floated higher and higher.

Back in the apartment they both sat down at Binero's desk, since those were still the only chairs in his house. He should do something about that. Get a sofa maybe. "Is there anything I can get you, gentleman?" Ryan asked. "No, no, it's still your day off remember? I'll get us a drink." Binero got up and walked over to The Magic Chicken, the best shop in Coastle, to get some delicious hot chocolate with whipped cream. It was the best quality available, you could really taste the craftsmanship with which the cow had been mixed. He carried the mugs back home, careful not to spill anything. Ryan had found some cookies in one of the barrels and had arranged them neatly onto a plate. "Oh, you really didn't have to," Binero said. "I wanted to," Ryan insisted. "I enjoy working for you. Your smile makes me happy." Binero felt his cheeks get red again. He wasn't sure what to say. Ryan got up and walked to the kitchen. He should tell him, Binero thought to himself. If he didn't do it now, he might never. He was known to procrastinate. The big hole in district North was proof of that. "Ryan," he said, "I think we need to discuss the nature of our partnership." The man gave him a nervous smile. "Of course, gentleman. I apologize if I was a bit too forward last night. I may have feelings for you that are not entirely professional." "You weren't too forward," Binero said. "I feel the same way." This time it was Ryan's turn to blush. Binero got up and walked over to him. Facing the other man, he took his hands into his own. "You're the best butler I've ever had," he said. "The only one too, but that's besides the point." Ryan smiled at him. "You're the finest gentleman I've ever had the pleasure of working for." Binero smiled back. And then, softly and carefully, he kissed him.

[hoarderofliterature]

being indian-american and also very Gender is hilarious, a vignette

i think the easiest term for what my gender is, or sometimes isn't, is genderfluid. i don't think i've ever truly been able to understand the concept of gender, or how it's ever applied to me. but i'm not completely agender, either.

some people might argue that calling gender a performance can be a bullet in favor of bigots, who wish to treat trans people as just "disillusioned kids playing dress-up", as a teacher i once met in high school so succinctly put it. but gender is something i feel more tangibly in terms of performance, and i can't really put it in other words that make sense.

i find myself at odds with who i was, ten years ago. when gender felt like something out of my hands, an understanding waiting to be reached within my brain, hoping that one day it might solidify into something on a binary side, or at the very least, leave me with nothing at all to worry about.

(and when that didn't end up happening, a firm resolve to at least learn to deal with the constant dysphoria, await the supposedly masculine or feminine shifts in perspective the same way i anticipated and dealt with blood work results.)

i find myself at odds with that because gender to me now, and the way i feel it, is wholly performance. perspective, perception, their resulting behaviors and viewpoints, are all so fluid. and the way my gender shifts, flows into another, is still not something i am entirely in control of like the way i once wished, but something i can wield in the environment or situation in which i find myself, regardless of how it shows itself at that time.

anyway.

the way i dress most days is androgynous, so that if gender taps me on the shoulder and asks to be my skin for a few hours, i can work with it. but today was more masculine, and i was going downtown, so i decided to wear something to reflect that - an open floral shirt over a t-shirt with a golden chain, jeans, sneakers, and of course, a backwards baseball cap. which is about as southern california dude/butch of an outfit you can get without wearing swim shorts and a tank top.

and on the way back, i had to stop by an indian cultural event because a family friend was participating.

indian culture is very strict to the gender binary. this opposes some parts of vedic philosophy, in which the body is a mere shell for the soul, and so the soul is inherently without the idea or limitation of gender. it also renders gods as genderless, though we have the separation between gods and goddesses in mythology. many hindus haven't followed the true meaning of the scripture for a long time. but that's besides the point.

indian men tend to gather, standing or sitting, in groups while their wives shop, and not to talk- to steadfastly stare in opposite directions, and if they do talk, it's about politics. or the latest moon mission. indian women hover, stall to stall, either staring fearfully at their husbands or cheerfully talking with store owners, or silently comparing prices while taking stock of the different languages within nine square feet of them.

my experience of the indian american performance of gender, outside of what bollywood puts on screen, is, in a word, careful. everyone wants someone else to know, to notice, that the way they are dressed or the volume of their voice is deliberate. that the gold earrings they're wearing are 24K and they got them on their last trip to India over the summer. that they will fit in with the rest of their half of the crowd if they lower their voice, speak less, speak more, laugh louder, eat pani puri or samosas any more or less delicately than the man or woman next to them.

standards of being an indian man or woman are trained into us as young children, so that we grow up with a clear idea of what that looks like. how to dress (within american standards, but also indian standards, but also gender standards), how to talk, what topics to discuss, how to stand diminutively to avoid attracting attention, what to say to make others stay within their own gender boundaries, and let them recognize that we're doing the same.

great how that turned out, huh.

so when they're confronted with someone who doesn't fit any of those standards, who doesn't want to, who simply wants to exist in a culture that thrives on conformity and oneupmanship, they don't know what to do.

and standing with my father in this event market crowd was interesting. because i was deliberately performing masculinity in my clothing and stature, and people were thrown off. nearly every woman was in a chudidar or a dress or wearing makeup, staring at me and my long hair and my decidedly non-feminine presentation, trying to reconcile those. trying to figure out exactly why my mother let me leave the house dressed like this, because you can't escape your indian parents' clutches even as an adult. trying to know exactly what i was, failing, and turning back to the other women with one eye on the merchandise and one eye on me.

and it wasn't the fact that i wasn't in indian dress- there were plenty of people in western clothing- but rather that i stood by my father, equally silently, in a crowd of men looking like they'd rather be anywhere but there, holding on to gender not as a bargaining tool or a tenet, but as a rippling, nebulous key.

[the-smashor]

How I would personally include the Madou Monogatari Chronology lore into the current Puyo Puyo canon (For reference, I am 100% certain it's not currently canon, or at least as is)

1. Lillith is already a thing, thanks to Chaotic Final Exam. Her creating that world with the Sepharim Orb is also still fine. Maybe change her name to "Lily" or something if Sega can't legally use her, especially since it would fit how Satan's pet names tend to work. Though I doubt she'd need to be mentioned by name at all, and could probably just get an indirect reference like Wish in 20th, though a direct appearance wouldn't be horrible, of course.

2. Satan's backstory is great. Hell, part of me thinks that's still canon to an extent, given what Satan says to Squares about somebody always seeking absolute control.

3. The Creator's characterisation. Now, purely serious villains are actually pretty common in Puyo Puyo. Ex and Squares didn't really have jokes until after their defeat, if at all. They're memorable due to being tragic, complex characters with understandable motivation. Possessed Marle and PP7 Ecolo, meanwhile, were more or less just kinda crazy, which isn't a direction I want to go for either. So I'm thinking The Creator (Who would probably have a different name) would have an arrogant, self-centered personality. Think of him as like Zanza from Xenoblade or Zamasu from Dragon Ball Super, or a less angry Gabriel from ULTRAKILL. This would help him be memorable due to his sheer stage presence when he appears. It could also lead to some fun interactions with other members of the cast, and is an archetype we haven't really seen.

4. The Demon in the tome of sealing should either be connected to The Creator or should be fully revealed prior to them showing up, because how on earth is that going to be considered a threat when God has already been defeated?

5. This is the biggest one, don't make the entire thing happen offscreen. The Creator should have at least a solid game dedicated to them as a villain. And it should happen after PPT2 as well. Puyo has recently had major power escalation. Ecolo almost broke the multiverse twice, Ex prevents the multiverse from merging together and Squares is even higher on that cosmic latter. God is honestly just the next logical step at this point.

6. Related, the end of the conflict should also change. The "Nobody has souls anymore" implication is very much a no-go. Arle can still have her crazy super form thing, but I also don't want this to just put the Fever and 7 casts on the bench. Just make the form a one time thing or make it a sorta power of friendship boost (Which isn't unheard of in this series, it's what let Squares be defeated) instead of whatever the heck the Chronology did. Either that or make a flashback to Chaotic Final Exam to the extent Sega legally can so people aren't completely lost.

7. In general, keep the tone the same as usual for this series. Basically, like how Kirby games do it for those who aren't aware. Not a whole lot of angst, and leave anything messed up for people who look into it. God is trying to destroy the world, that's all you really gotta know.

[on-noon]

👀, ✨ and 🎬 for the ask game!

👀 What first inspired you to make this story? Does it still influence the wip?

The title! So, I read a book with a terribly generic title that didn't even fit very well, and very annoyed, I tried to come up with a title that would indicate it's genre without being formulaic or boring. I came up with Countdown To Magic, and then wrote a scene and it went from there.

✨ Describe the story with one word, aesthetic, or picture

academy

🎬 Have you daydreamed about an amv/animatic for your wip? Describe it!

I haven't, but if I had to do something, it might be Abora standing in the town square while the Countdown's counting down (either at the beginning or maybe at the end? or both?) and it would flash the countdown and her expression & also what Horatio is doing. and maybe there'd be some other scenes flash in there as well?

words written for this ask: 101

total words for motivation experiment: 13,443

project worked on: Countdown to Magic

[miloscat]

[Review] Wario World (GCN)

Wario Land staggers into the 3rd dimension.

Treasure are known primarily for two things: shmups and their Mega Drive action platformer titles. The latter parlayed into Michief Makers on the N64, which spotlighted two of their main strengths as seen in the likes of Gunstar Heroes: boss fights, and grabbing and throwing mechanics. Their first 3D game, the odd Hippa Linda on PS2, definitely leaned into these aspects; I haven't played it but it doesn't seem to have reviewed particularly well. Wario World then fits squarely in that legacy, ostensibly a showcase of these same strengths but so awkwardly handled that they become weaknesses.

On the surface it has the hallmarks of a Wario Land game: Wario's a bruiser who can pick up and chuck enemies, tick. He's hunting for secret areas, coins, and treasures, tick. He can use enemies and objects to interact with his environment, tick. There's required backtracking and mechanics seemingly designed just to waste the player's time, double tick! In adapting to 3D, there's more of a beat-em-up focus now which would be fine if the combat was enjoyable.

Wario has a basic punch combo which doesn't get you very far. Most of the time you're expected to stun an enemy, then grab them. From here you can imprecisely throw them, laboriously spin them, or simply piledrive them. Enemies often respawn almost instantly so there's no good reason to do this unless the level design requires you using one of these actions to proceed, or the game outright traps you into a forced fight. Moving Wario around feels zippy and slippery but the fighting itself is slow and your options are so limited that it never really broke through the tedium barrier for me. There's also only a few types of enemies, and most of the time you'll be slogging through the same faces just reskinned for new levels.

Your main objective in a level is to get red crystals to be able to leave. These are only found inside trapdoors leading to either puzzle rooms or Super Monkey Ball-esque platforming challenges. The controls aren't ideal for precision in these tasks, not to mention the very clunky camera. Most of the time you're looking in at levels diorama-style, which works well enough, but rooms like this open it up... it's fine for these contained sections, but I was glad the rest of the game was more rigid. Anyway, when you get to the end you're able (or possibly required) to return to the start if you didn't find enough stuff, Yoshi's Story style, to explore alternate paths or hidden spots. Aside from the trapdoors, you'll be looking for switches to spawn chests, health upgrades (you only get the boost if you find all the pieces within a level!), and the hint-giving Spritelings.

And speaking of characters who make annoying noises, Charles Martinet is out in full force as Wario with oft-repeated quips and what may be the worst pause screen in the world. The joke of him screeching at you is funny for about two seconds, and then it makes this menu unusable as a pause screen for the entirety of the game. Slow clap for that one. The use of voice clips is good for conveying Wario's personality, which otherwise is a bit let down by the oddly lifeless polygon-shifting animations on his 3D model. But to be fair, he does scratch his bum sometimes, which is pretty funny.

Each and every level ends with a boss fight. Well, OK, there's actually only eight levels—even fewer than Wario Land 4—but they're pretty substantial. Substantial enough that replaying them to get more treasures felt like a bridge too far for me. Anyway, add another boss for each of the four worlds and the final fight, and you have 13 boss fights in all. Some of them have good concepts and fun designs but frequently I found them dragging, overstaying their welcome with repeated patterns. The final boss—an uncharismatic jewel with tentacles—is the worst offender, its boring, padded fight a shockingly weak way to close out proceedings.

Although there's only eight levels, each one has its own well-established setting, from forest ruin to creepy circus to sandy pyramid (this one had the best level design for exploring & backtracking). You can also play them in any order, which is interesting if kind of pointless. The worldbuilding is a bit half-arsed though, as all these environments were just magicked up out of Wario's basement by the evil gem. Actually collecting the collectibles could be more rewarding too; treasures unlock Warioware minigames only playable on a connected GBA, Spritelings are the only thing that determine your ending jpg, and coins are used solely for recovering health or continuing after a game over.

I was hoping Wario World would be a hidden gem of Treasure's hoard, but what I got was an unpolished stone. On paper they seem like a good fit for a new Wario adventure in 2003, but perhaps their inexperience with 3D led to this mediocre result. They don't seem to have made another game like it since, either. Wario World is certainly not all bad, but it really should have been a lot better than this.

[winslowat3am]

I think you’re the right person to ask. I hope to get rhino on my nose and lip fillers for my 18th bday because I think it can help me get into modeling but idk how it will look? I am not going to lie, if I had money to get plastic surgery I would probably be transforming my body nonstop. It seems there is always an issue with my body. I am tired of ignoring mirrors!

Have you ever had work done if I can ask? I get that it’s private for some people who do

*Cw/Tw: surgery, body image, weight mentions*

As an adult, it's my responsibility to tell you that touching your face at such a young age really isn't necessary or recommended by any cosmetic surgeon who cares about your health more than your wallet. That being said, I never talk about this on YouTube but I don't believe in lying to people about my surgeries if I'm asked. I have had three different surgeries on my face from the time I was twenty-two up to twenty-five years old. It started with dermal fillers in my chin cause I used to have a dimple or "cleft chin" that I was really insecure about, which later let to a chin augmentation. Basically, I have a small implant in my chin to mask the dimple, which is reversible if I ever decided to have it removed. The fillers cost around $4k together, the surgical implant was $7k. The second surgery was a small alteration to my nose (tip rhinoplasty, $2.3k), I had the tip shaved down a bit cause I didn't like the European look of it. I dislike pointed noses cause, imo, they make your face stick out too much from your side profile. My face already looks big cause I have a square shaped forehead & prominent features, an elongated nose added to the mix isn't flattering. The last surgery was a minor nose tip revision, which was $5k+. I also get infrared light facial treatments, which gives your skin a tighter look & feel & clears up any fine lines you may have by producing large amounts of collagen, that's about $600 a visit. Occasionally I go for dermaplaning facials too, the cost is $200. & at a point time I used to get Melanotan II - an injection to darken skin since my natural complexion is a deep olive color & I'd become pale in the winter, but I've since stopped cause there are health risks. All together the work done on my face cost $18k-$19k. My original budget was $340k as the cost of high end surgeons can be expensive, I don't think dropping thousands of dollars on your face is worth it at your age. The only change an agency or scout wants is usually weight loss & clear skin, in my case I always felt I was too skinny so I gained weight by building muscle. So, to answer your question, no, models don't typically get big amounts of surgery, it always should be subtle alterations like what I've gotten or none at all, & typically done on the face. When people can tell that you've had surgery, then you either had too much or you have a bad surgeon. If you change your appearance too much you could lose your job. The point of surgery is to look like you haven't had any while enhancing or softening your features without destroying them. I'm always available to answer any other questions you might have about this topic, modeling, skincare, health & fitness or anything related to those things.

This a collection of random photos over the course of years in order where the changes are most evident. One of the natural, most significant changes was the loss in facial fat after I started exercising & cut sugar, carbs & salt almost completely out of my diet, which made the bone structure of my face more sharp.

*Please reconsider cosmetic surgery, I'm sure you're beautiful the way you are, & you're still growing, you might not even want them anymore in the future. Plus when you have serious alterations you'll have to work twice as hard correcting & maintaining them as you age which could destroy your overall appearance & impact your finances! It's a bigger risk to take than loving yourself* ❤️

[givemethatgold]

Fix’er Upper Pt. 5

Pairing: Frankie Morales x F!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of past abusive relationship, swearing, past drug use, alcohol

Word Count: 1.8k

Notes:

Parts ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR

Your injury, and consequential recovery time, couldn’t have come at a better time. The harvest was done and the apples had to rest before being pressed, which meant Frankie was now free to start working on your home. The work didn’t often require more than two hands so the days found you doing menial tasks being his gopher.

“You know,” Frankie had had to explain to you, “Go’fer this, go’fer that.”

This mainly consisted of you passing him tools while he was swearing under his breath in the attic, or groaning after rapping his knuckles under the sink, or white-faced and clinging to the weathervane on the roof. 

You had discovered Frankie’s sweet tooth on the first day of renovations, not noticing until after he’d left for the day that more than half the cookies you’d baked that morning were already gone. Making sure he was kept happy, you had a new treat ready for when he walked in the door. 

He was a coffee drinker though, and while you owned a coffee press you had never actually used it yourself, preferring tea leaves for your dose of caffeine. You’d tried, the first morning, to make a cup for him. You even googled How to Make a Cup of Coffee? to make sure you didn’t fuck it up. 

You could laugh about it now, but the look on Frankie’s face after he’d taken his first sip made you worry you had poisoned him. He had spat the black sludge out and handed you back the mug with a look of bewildered disgust. Apparently, you needed to grind the beans first, who knew?

An efficient, if not quite comfortable, rhythm had been forged between the two of you over the past week and a half. Frankie would arrive at nine in the morning, scarf down half a dozen treats while discussing the day’s projects. You would run to town in his truck (yours was still at the autobody shop awaiting parts) and buy any supplies that would be needed while he set up the worksites and organized the tools that would be required.

You had added popping into the local café for a large coffee for Frankie and a red rooibos latte with almond milk for yourself. The first couple of days you had bought him a brownie too but stopped after he’d only half-finished the first one and mumbled through the crumbs in his mouth that yours were better. It only took you three days before the owner had your order ready for you before you even walked in the door, five days before you noticed the sidelong glances the little old ladies were giving each other as you walked out.

Small towns, you thought to yourself, rolling your eyes, had the unique benefit and downfall of everyone knowing everyone else’s business. They’d quit with the hardly-concealed smirks if they knew how awkward working with Frankie was becoming.

You had been sure, in the immediate aftermath of waking up in Frankie’s arms while his truck sat in your driveway, that he was never going to speak to you again. The two of you and hopped out and began explaining away whatever conclusions Jacquie and Mark had made. Then Frankie, without even looking in your general direction, told Jacquie to get you inside and have your wrist looked at. 

To his credit, he had taken care of everything regarding your truck for you. The tow truck came and hauled it to the yard, Frankie had commandeered the inspection report and, after calling them out on trying to swindle you into buying unnecessary parts, had ordered what was needed and paid. 

You had, naturally, argued against this but you both knew you weren’t in a position to afford it. Frankie shut down your arguments gracefully, and broke his apparent vow of silence, with a gruff “I’m just doing it so I can drive my damn truck without you changing the radio station.” The absolute charmer.

It was your damn house, though, so you decided you'd talk as much as you wanted and it would be up to him to interact. Either that or you had music blaring from the radio, never playing his favourite country station purely out of spite. 

Never quite sure if he was listening or not, you rambled on about anything and everything. You explained your vision for the house and the plans you had for a greenhouse in the yard. Memories from your childhood were described in great detail, as were embarrassing stories from your year in college. Baking tips, waxing poetic about your love for sunflowers, interesting animal facts, you'd even downloaded a Word of the Day App and made a game of fitting the words into your daily uninterrupted monologues.

It took three days for Frankie to break.

You had been reminiscing about your trip to Disneyland as a child when he abruptly cut in, voice muffled due to the nails being held between his lips.

"You never talk about it."

You assumed he was referring to the little all-day nap you’d shared in his truck, as it had yet to be spoken of, but were taken aback by the slight accusatory tone.

"Talk about what?"

He took so long to reply, you started to think that he had interrupted purely to shut you up. The silence demanded an explanation though, so you kept your mouth shut and waited.

Clambering down from the attic, where he had been strengthening the trusses throughout the sagging section of roof, Frankie pinned you with his gaze and softly repeated himself.

"You never talk about it. The time in your life when you were married." He must have seen your hackles rise because he quickly set down the hammer and held his hands up in a placating wave.

"You still haven't answered my question about being in the army," was your quick response, finished with an ever-so-mature, "so there."

With a resigned sigh, Frankie twisted his hat around backward and scrubbed his hands across his face. "Come on" -waving you towards the patio doors- "these kinds of conversations require fresh air and a drink."

Reluctantly you followed him outside but rather than sinking down onto the porch swing you opted to lean against the post facing it. Opening two ciders, which you now had free access to, you handed one to Frankie and watched him over the top of the bottle.

Half of your drink was gone and your mind had wandered to greenhouse and flower garden placement before Frankie spoke again. His voice low and quiet catching you by surprise.

"Yeah," he broke the silence with another ragged sigh, "I, uh, I served. Started in the Air Force, worked my way up to Special Tactics Squadron. Made enough noise there to get recruited to Delta Force."

"Oh, fuck," your exclamation was soft with shock "you've seen some shit then." Blast your runaway mouth and its inability to wait for your brain to catch up before blurting out your inner thoughts. "I'm sorry!-"

"No, it's okay" Frankie interrupted, trying to reassure you and remove the horrified look that had come across your face. 

"No, no, that was totally uncalled for. Brad, my um, my husband, he was a Marine. He hated talking about it, said no one liked talking about it. I should have known."

"It's not that," Frankie reassured you again, "You were the first person to ever ask me about it, in all the time I've lived here. Just took me by surprise."

Leaning over in the swing, Frankie pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and handed you a photo from inside it. Five men beamed up at you. You could recognize them from a few of the photos that had rested on Frankie's mantle, they looked older in this one.

"Tell me about them?" you asked, knowing that most of the request was due to curiosity but a small part of you hoped that if you kept him talking you could avoid the subject of your marriage.

The sun was beginning to set and you'd long moved inside to eat dinner by the time Frankie was done sharing. It must have been cathartic, you mused, for him to bare this much about himself. He had never looked more relaxed in all the time you'd known him, which wasn't saying much and it could just as easily been due to the amount of alcohol thrumming through his system.

The room fell into a companionable silence, each of you digesting the information that had been revealed. You were in awe of the fact that, despite the life of violence he had witnessed, Frankie still maintained his humanity. Even after a messy divorce and lost custody battle, Frankie continued to choose the path of healing. He was clean, was fighting for shared custody of his daughter again, running his own business, and still had found time to endear himself into the town's hearts.

Frankie was, for all his sharp edges and gruff words, a sweetheart.

It put into stark comparison how Brad had reacted to the lemons life had served him. Born into an upper-middle-class home, the only son, doted on by his parents, Brad had been raised into a life where every door was open to him. Despite this, or maybe because of it, he had grown hateful of those weaker than him. He was controlling but had just the right amount of charm to pass it off as caring.

"I've met men like that," 

You nearly jumped out of your skin from surprise. Looking at Frankie with wide-eyed shock you wondered again what the hell was in the cider. This was the second time you'd poured your heart out to a virtual stranger, but this time you hadn't even realized you'd started speaking your thoughts aloud. 

Squaring your shoulders and holding Frankie's gaze you continued, almost challenging him to find someone worse than Brad had been.

"He made me quit college because he said he wanted to start a family. Then berated me and acted like it was all my fault every time the pregnancy test came back negative. You know what that asshole did?" Tears were threatening to fall but you held on to Frankie's gaze, "He had gotten a vasectomy months earlier. I didn't find out about it until after he died; going through paperwork that had been stored in his desk."

Frankie was up on his feet now, pacing around the kitchen island, too distraught to keep still. How could anyone be so cruel? Let alone be so cruel to someone as sweet and pure as you. He hated seeing you cry but knowing you weren't receptive to people being in your personal space, wasn't sure how to comfort you. 

Acting on pure instinct he grabbed the kettle and started preparing you some tea, not allowing himself to ruminate how he knew which flavour you preferred. Setting your favourite pottery mug in front of you, along with the little honey pot, he also decided to grab the fluffy throw blanket off your couch. 

"I get it now," he thought to himself offhandedly, "why women have so many fuckin' blankets and pillows in every room."

Placing the throw around your shoulders he was preparing to say goodnight and let you have some peace but was stilled by your hand reaching up and covering his.

"Please. Stay."

Part SIX

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[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reaction to Guiltrip!

Alright, so this one is a bit more of a serious one for me. But I'll be going in order of the episode so the more serious talk will be a bit further down! First thing we get is this lovely moment:

I've already addressed it in a post, but I'll say it again here. Guiltrip is episode 11, several episodes take place before Guiltrip that we haven't seen yet, so this is awhile after Marinette and Luka broke up. We also know that Marinette has always had feelings for Adrien, even when she was with Luka. Luka always knew that fact too. None of this is new and is to be expected, obviously, when Love Square is endgame. But! I also want to point out here that this is just a soft look. Very gentle, very common. I see people looking at each other both in real life and in other shows all the time. A look that says "I adore you". And I think it's sweet! Very subtle, but enough. Something's wrong with Rose. We never get told (in this episode anyway) what it is, but it's a chronic illness that's a worry in Rose's life, ever since she was young. I feel really bad for Juleka, knowing that her friend's been struggling with an illness, and whenever something happens she has to worry about it alone. Also that really sucks when you try to cheer somebody up and make a joke, that because you were mislead about a situation you end up making things worse. Poor Marinette. :c Adrien when he realizes he's bumped into someone (and the pink bubbles to remind us of Marinette's feelings for him):

Adrien when he realizes just who it was he bumped into!:

Scroll up now and look at how Marinette was looking at Adrien earlier that day. It's the exact same look. Yet, something feels different from usual to me, idk. But continuing on. Marinette gets slightly jumbled with her words, but manages to give herself a kick and says nope not now! Good for her! You can't expect to change overnight, but she's working on it.

She looks to the side, gathering her surroundings for a split second and she misses the top step. I'd like to say that this is just a joke for the show but well, this kind of thing has happened to me a lot because I'm that much of a klutz so I feel for her here. (On Halloween I forgot that there was another step as I was walking down as I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't walk on my foot for 2 weeks. It's a serious problem, guys. Really. xDD) Marinette had told Adrien she's concerned it was something she said that upset Juleka and Adrien tells her while sometimes she doesn't make sense, what she says is never mean. This scene reminds me of when Ladybug's worried about something and Chat Noir's there to keep her grounded and remind her of how things really are. I very much appreciate seeing such a scene with Adrienette! Makes the Love Square much more rounded. Also the way he stops her and says let him go talk to her to try to help the situation and any possible misunderstandings from taking place. ;-;

Can I just say... oh my gosh. He went from determined, to hearing Marinette trying to comfort her, to looking with confidence "This girl is amazing." and the whole Ladynoir vibe I'm getting from this scene makes me happy. The thing that's unrealistic about this scene though is you expect to tell me that 8 kids went down those stairs and came up behind them and Marinette, Adrien, and Juleka didn't hear? XD Now here's where the serious comes in. Rose is hospitalized with an illness we don't know about, but has been a long-term thing that has Juleka really worried a lot. That must be so stressful :c I'm going to be honest and say I never really saw Julerose romantically. Like I can see how people do, but to me, I could see that their bond was really unique. It didn't really fit completely in the "BFF" category either. But if felt like there was more to them that I didn't really understand. I think the best example off the top of my head was during Zombizou, when Rose was going to help Chloe after she slid down Chat's stick and she went too fast for him to catch her. Juleka seemed especially worried and concerned for her. Rose never seemed to get concerned about Juleka in the same way Juleka was about Rose. Juleka's always been more protective and worried and it was always one of those things that made me go "hmm, interesting". Now this episode finally explains why and I'm honestly super glad for it. Because this kind of a relationship is not a common one in media, especially kids media. Partially because having such serious illnesses in young people is not particularly common, and having someone who's so caring and protective of that person is even less common. And most people probably don't realize how amazing it is to have health problems and then have someone in their life who acts like Juleka does for Rose. I had a life-threatening illness as a kid, one that still affects me greatly today. When in school, my friends knew about it without me having to say anything unfortunately, and while they didn't usually treat me differently, sometimes they were pretty ignorant and didn't understand why I wasn't "normal" like them. They asked questions that were harder ones to answer, and tended to forget my answers. I got a lot of "I know you have X problem but I still don't see why you can't..." as well as thinking I was lying if I said I wasn't well and couldn't go to a party, and that was hard to deal with, being limited in what you can do which makes you different and being judged for things out of your control. So seeing these kids who only know something's wrong with her, but are willing to do so much to make her life better and happier, not judging her at all, wanting to take care of her no questions asked was really heart-warming for me. I only had one friend during that time that was anything close to this. I never had to explain anything to him if I didn't want to. He never asked me personal questions I didn't want to answer. And he seemed to know what he could do to make things for me easier if I was having a hard time without me ever saying so. And this is another reminder to me that this show is aimed at kids. To show kids that they'll likely encounter someone around their age that's going through something serious like a health problem, and what that kid needs most is kindness and not to be made to feel like they're even more different from the other kids than they already feel. The way they handled that aspect of it for such a short, limited intro to it, I think they did good. I discussed this next bit with a friend. She mentioned it first, the trope where those with chronic or serious illnesses are usually an "inspiration". With this episode, you kind of get the feeling that because Rose's been through so much, she's therefore a really positive and bubbly person and it kind of gives off the vibe that if you don't view things the way she does, then you're not doing it right. "What matters isn't the problem, but how you handle it." While I agree with this, and that when you come out of or regularly deal with

such hard times, automatically trying to see the world better and brighter can easily happen, but it's not exactly realistic either, at least not to the extent Rose and other people the media has portrayed. For one, I think you have to have always been more of that kind of person from the start to realistically be so positive. As my friend said and I agree, positivity is just who Rose is, she's not who she is just for the sake of a trope. But honestly, when you've gone through something so difficult, and if life continues to throw you more difficulties on top of it, being positive so much can sometimes turn into a negative and be harmful too. When you've been through a lot, it's important to allow yourself to feel the negative too because it's part of dealing with such problems. And if you've been through a lot in life and you haven't come out of it being all sunshine and rainbows, always looking on the brighter side of things, that's perfectly okay. Life's hard and tends not to work out how we'd like, or even for the better sometimes. If being positive and hopeful after struggling is hard to do, you're not bad or wrong for feeling that way, everybody handles things differently. c: ANYWAY, moving on to the rest of the episode! Juleka being all irritated and worried that the class was going to expose her spilling Rose's secret xD While the situation isn't ideal, it's nice that this is the most involved she's seemed with everyone in the entire duration of the show. But Rose knows something's up, and I love that she talks to her about it and realizes that she should've told everyone herself instead of Juleka being the only one who knew. Which has been such a burden on her. (Oh no, what if this is a reflection of Alya knowing Marinette's Ladybug later on? I'm hoping not.) Ugh these children and how much they care about Rose! These kids are the absolute best. But then they kind of ruin it a little with going overboard. Which, frankly, I think is just ignorance of her situation really. I mean, we don't know what exactly is wrong with Rose. Just that she ends up in the hospital. If they knew about her condition, what causes her to get sick, what to look out for, etc, they'd be much more informed and much less likely to be frantic whenever something's not perfectly "normal" with her. All of these kids are going to be overprotective parents someday, aren't they?

Okay so like... are Adrien and Marinette going to question at all how Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up immediately after Juleka was akumatized, and no damage had happened outside of the school for it to be known to the public? Literally the only ones that could've possibly known were the class to have shown up that fast. ??? I am confusion. "I can't help my best friend face his father." "No, Nino..." Two things: The fact that THIS is what he's feeling guilty about? My poor Nino! Dx I just love him, he really doesn't get enough love and appreciation imo. Also, um, isn't Ladybug like right by Chat? Didn't she hear that? What? Idk but I feel like we're really missing something here. Usually we get things that are kind of hints, that make us wonder if they know right, but this? This is a bit too blaring-in-your-face, and there's two major things so close together. Really strange. Chat about to use Cataclysm on himself. Good grief that was not expected. Chat Blanc threatened to destroy himself along with everything else. Now Chat Noir while affected with negative emotions from an akuma almost Cataclysmed himself. This show really is getting deep and dark isn't it. o.o Also is there something Adrien needs to work out with someone...? Daizzi and Rose saying the other's so cute, ugh they're both so cute! And Pigella's costume and transformation is so adorable omg. Okay so Pigella's power allows people to see their biggest wish, the thing that'd make them the most happy and feel positive emotions. I know some people probably think "That's it?" Considering that Shadow Moth preys on people's negative emotions, such a power is actually extremely useful facing Shadow Moth. (And let's not forget, that while that's her power, she has the ability to fight and make a difference just from being transformed too) BUT AWWW Juleka's wish! And her face when Pigella said it aloud. ;-; Am I the only one wondering if Pigella may someday use her power on Shadow Moth and that's how they learn his motive? I'm so impressed with how Rose knew how to handle everything. She knew she can't slip up with Juleka. She knew to sneak away to detransform and come back as Rose. She knew to subtly give the Miraculous back so nobody would ever know she had it. Even Chat Noir had no idea! I don't know why, I'm just so very proud of that. "She doesn't need a Miraculous to be a superhero." She really has the characteristics of one, and I can't wait to see more of Pigella. Also I'm really wondering. This scene here:

All the kids that are part of that friend group are there...except Marinette and Adrien, of course. Alya knows why Marinette isn't there. But is she wondering about why Adrien isn't there too? LOL Marinette being like "I'm taking your pillow back, sorry! Gotta wait for it like everyone else." and the boys being like LE GASP. Marinette's right, she's not fragile! The fact Rose jokes with her and makes everyone laugh, and Chloe saying "Hey, why doesn't everyone laugh when I say something like that?!" Adrien: Because in your case, it's never a joke. Chloe: Hm, that's true. Which is super funny, especially how he just so casually says it. But also it really shows again how Chloe wants to be liked. She wishes the kids would laugh when she makes comments, but it's because they're said in a serious/obnoxious way, instead of making light of something like in Rose's case here, that they don't. I know she talked about it with Ladybug in an episode, but it again shows that that's what she'd like. All that needs to happen is someone helping her get there. Maybe Zoe and Luka will somehow help with that later on. Anyway, this was a really great episode! I feel like some things might not make quite as much sense as they should if we got it in order, but what can you do when Gloob has to air them? Even a friend of mine who's been doing what she can to avoid spoilers, still got spoiled. She's having to delete tumblr to avoid future spoilers because people can't help themselves and tag things properly. So thanks Gloob. :P All we wanted was the episodes in order. We've waited this long for S4, we can wait a bit longer. But they gotta make money I guess. I'm glad other countries are trying their best to keep it in order anyway. c: Guiltrip also has some really great Adrienette moments, and covered a more serious topic which was really interesting and shows how much the show's changing. Especially with some of the choice of camera angles and movements! Like the zoom-in on the door with Adrien and Marinette, the boys LE GASP scene. Very cool artistic choices! Looking forward to the episodes that come before this one to try to help fill in some of the gaps! And apologies to those that frequently read these posts from me, I started writing it up late and couldn't finish so you get it the day after instead. xD

[toomanyfandoms02]

Halloween // Matthew Gray Gubler x Reader

Another Story based on a gif/picture! (Hope this is kinda what you were thinking @aberrant-annie )

Summary - It's the first year that y/n and Matthew are a couple, and he insists that they have a couples costume for an upcoming party.

Word count - 2.5k

Gif courtesy of @nationgubler

It was that time of year again. The time where Matthew got impossibly excited, wore tremendously weird costumes, and snuck up behind me an ungodly amount of times.

Halloween.

Now you may be thinking, 'Halloween is a fun and *normal* time of year for many families!' But you only think that because you haven't met my boyfriend Matthew.

Now let's give a little background on the weirdo that is my best friend.

Matthew Gray Gubler is an actor, author, filmmaker, illustrator, fashion model, and painter. But what they don't put on his google search profile is that, before all, he is a Halloween Enthusiast.

He and I have been best friends for over 8 years, and every single one of those years he has effortlessly dragged me into any kind of spooky shenanigan that he could. This was the first year of the 8 that we are a couple, so he decided, in a fit of glory as he put it, that we *needed* a couple's costume this year for the Criminal Minds cast Halloween party. I was 100% down for this idea, but boy, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into by agreeing to it so easily. So let's go back to where this whole ordeal began.

The day was October 15th, and I was sitting blindfolded in the passengers seat of Matthew's car.

"Where the hell are we going?" I giggled, flailing my arms around the car, blindly looking for the trail mix I left in his car the day before. He grabbed my wrist, leading it down to the cupholder and putting my hand on the bag. He knew me too well.

"It's a surprise, obviously, just know it has to do with Halloween." He grabbed my hand and placed a gentle kiss to the top of it.

"Doesn't everything have to do with Halloween with you?"

"Maybe." He laughed.

We were in the car for around 15 minutes, all the while I jammed out to a mix of songs I loved and goofy Halloween themed songs. Matthew had made a playlist of the two as a compromise.

I heard the car click into park and listened as Matthew left the car and walked to my side, opening the door and leading me out.

"When will I be able to see again? This whole blind thing is not for me." He laughed at my remark, looping his arm through mine so he could lead me to what I could only assume was my death. That's when I heard it, the all too familiar laugh of a clown.

Here we go.

Without the notice of my lovely boyfriend I whipped my hand up to my head, removing the black cloth that covered my eyes, I only heard a squeak of protest from him before I saw 'The Haunted Jail' before me.

"Of course." I rolled my eyes in a playful manner, unhooking myself from his arm. "So, why are we here."

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could get some couple costume ideas from here. It's the jails doubles night so two workers tag team on a costume." He gestured wildly with his hands towards the sign that read *Doubles night! Couples get a 15% discount tonight*. I shook my head in amusement.

"Alright, let's go."

After walking through the 3 story building, we came out with a nice list of ideas for scary couples costumes. This consisted of :

•Beetlejuice

•Pupetmaster and puppet

•Purge

•Wedding gone wrong

•Twisted Alice and Mad Hatter

Then we just had to come to a decision, and soon.

We then sat in the car on our way home to dig out more decorations from the attic. Our house from the inside looked like someone had gotten murdered. There were giant floor and window stickers that resembled blood, fake knives everywhere, and caution tape. This all paired with the tape in the shape of a body on the ground near our fridge. But Matthew had so graciously pointed out that we needed to decorate the outside like we were a haunted house.

He was currently up in our creepy ass attic as I stood with crossed arms at the end of the rickety ladder that led up there. He popped his head out of the little square hole, wearing a jason mask. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head with the smallest smile.

"I'm gonna hand some boxes down to you." I heard him say behind the muffling mask.

The first box held large organized strings of orange LEDs and hooks to set them up on. The next box was filled with fake webs and the next was a huge box. I set it on the ground, prying it open to reveal giant spiders with tacky red eyes and long fangs.

"Are we gonna have these bad boys climbing the ivy outside?" He popped from the attic in a new, mask. A werewolf one I assumed.

"Yep!" He lightly set another box in my hands. "I hate the smell of these masks," He ripped the mask off, revealing his unruly hair and squinting eyes from the new amount of light. "why do I keep buying them?" It made my heart melt, messy hair Gubler was my favorite Gubler.

We dragged all of the boxes outside and decorated for what seemed like 6 hours, it was way harder work than what you would expect. We ended up with 2 giant spiders hung on the ivy, 1 crawling up the porch, and 2 more on the roof. The webs we had were strung everywhere, but the 'main web', as Matthew called it, was across the porch. We had LEDs lighting up most of the outside of our house, it made it look like a constant sunset, or constantly living in a horror movie. Whatever floats your boat. And lastly, we had bloody tomb stones scattered in the yard with fake hands reaching up at the sky through the ground.

Then it was October 16th. I had woken up groggily, feeling the bed beside me for Matthew, but only touching the soft white sheets. The time was 9:47 am and the sun was bleeding through the curtains. My legs hung over the bed as my limbs stretched, pulling down a shirt that was much to large for me *probably because it wasn't mine*. As soon as I stepped out of my bedroom I was met with a scream mask.

"**Morning!**" This made me scream.

"Damnit Matthew Gray! Christ, will the scaring ever end?" I say this but of course, it was really one of my favorite things about him.

"Not until Christmas." He replied with a cocky smile, kissing me softly. I grabbed the back of his neck, deepening the kiss and trying to make him take the hint. He pulled away swiftly. "I would *love* to continue doing this." He ran his hands down my arms and to my hips. "But I made you breakfast and eggs are better warm." He squeezed my hip and gently pushed me toward the kitchen.

Over breakfast we discussed what we were going to go as for the party. We came to the conclusion that doing purge killers would be the most fun. Now all we had to do was get the costumes.

So we left around 1 for Party City. The place had a surprisingly small amount of people, considering the time of year. However there was one girl in there that kept sneaking looks at Matthew. She was standing near some children's costumes. I quickly found out why when a kid came running up with an Alice and Wonderland costume. Shaking it profusely at her mom. The woman kneeled down to her size and gestured towards Matthew. I scrunched my face up.

*What was she telling her?*

Matthew had kept walking and I swiftly caught up with him in the mask aisle. As soon as I got there, the small girl I had just saw was tugging at his orange pumpkin T-Shirt.

"Hi! My mommy said she's a big fan of you on crimimal minds." I giggled a bit. She waved him down to her level, and he gladly came down to listen. "I think she might have a crush on you." I could hear her whisper. He looked back at me expectantly, I just smiled with a shrug. I wasn't much of the jealous type, Matthew was *extremely* loyal, I trusted him with my life. I shooed him towards the woman. He stood and waved at her, gesturing her over and backing up to be by me. I was trying to be inconspicuous and look at the masks. But clearly my lovely boyfriend had a different idea.

"Hi! What's your name?" He asked with a famous million dollar grin.

"A-ashley." She stood for a second, silently staring at him. "I'm sorry, I obviously didn't expect to be seeing you. I'm a just huge fan of yours. And it doesn't help that you are way cuter in person." She smiled shyly, hugging her daughter to her side. Matthew smiled politely but quickly snaked his arm around my hip. I turned to her with the kindest smile I could. I could see realization dropping from her eyes to the red tips of her ears.

"Well you obviously know I'm Matthew. This is my girlfriend, y/n." I leaned into him slightly. Me and Matthew hadn't exactly gone *public*. So it was an honest mistake that she wouldn't know we were together. But to be fair, we weren't hiding it either. "Would you like a picture by the way?" That seemed to distract her enough to knock her out of her clearly petrified trance.

"Yes! A million times yes!"

"I'll take it for you." I grabbed the phone she held out with a slightly tense smile. We took a few pictures and said our goodbyes as she checked out an left. We got back to looking at masks.

"Did you see her face when I grabbed your hips? I kinda live for that look." I smacked his arm playfully.

"The poor girl, she just flirted with you in front if your *girlfriend*. You petrified her!"

"Well I think you just made her a little jealous." He came behind me, wrapping his arms around my stomach and kissing my shoulders.

"Ok Gubler," I slipped from his grip. "we are in public." He groaned a little and followed me down the aisle. I grabbed the cool LED masks with the X's for eyes and big smiles, the typical Purge ones. I got me a purple one and him a red one. Next stop was fake weapons.

I gazed at all of the weapons on the wall. Machetes, guns, bats, nunchucks, knives, all of it. I then looked over to see my boyfriend squinting and tapping his chin in fake contemplation.

"Oh just grab the knife, I know that's what you wanna get." He whipped it off the wall and gave me a serious look, pointing the sharp styrofoam at me. He tapped it to my nose and couldn't contain his laugh as I looked him in the eyes with the biggest smile I could muster.

"You really know how to break me out of character."

So he did end up buying the styrofoam knife, and I ended up buying a plastic machete. As we left the store, the masks and weapons in hand he nudged me.

"So have you thought of what we are gonna wear?"

"Oh yeah. I already have the outfit, you're gonna love it, mine at least. We still have some spare fake blood at home right?" He narrowed his eyes at me, nodding suspiciously. "Great, then I just have to decorate the shirts." Which is exactly what I did when we got home.

I laid our two white button up's on our asphalt driveway, splattering them with blood. Matthew watched me. Sitting a lawn chair as I covered my hands in the blood and put a few handprints on random parts.

"Can I see the whole outfit you have planned now?" He whined.

"Nope, you have to wait. It's not that far away."

But he had asked me to show him everyday up until today, October 31st, party day. Now here we are, on our way back from a McDonalds run that took a *bit* longer than anticipated and we had a very slight chance of being late. We stumbled into the house and ran to the room.

"Why are we rushing anyway?" I took a pause, catching my breath. "We don't have to be exactly on time anyway." He agreed and we slowed down a bit to get our things together.

"I didn't want to have to rush out after seeing you in costume anyway." He said, slyly reaching into the closet and grabbing our button up's. I grabbed the rest of my things from a plastic bag under my side of the bed. I went to the bathroom and changed. My outfit consisted of a black miniskirt, a black cropped tube top, and black knee high socks. Paired with black heeled low-top booties. Then slung over it all was ny open button up. I sheathed my machete behind me and walked out of the bathroom to see Matthew in his bloody shirt and old dress pants and shoes. His giant knife was sheathed in a holster on his side. He ogled at me for a moment, shifting on his feet.

"Holy- wow." He breathed out. I waltzed up to him, unbuttoning a few more buttons and messing his hair to fit the part a bit more. I handed him his mask, with my eyebrows raised. He set it on the bed behind him, cupping my face and bringing me in for a kiss. I ran my hands down his half bare chest and I could feel him smile into the kiss, so I did too, and boy was he a sucker for that. He deepened the kiss and pull me towards him as much as he could, leading his hands lower and lower. Eventually he grabbed my butt a little and I let a giggle slip into the kiss. I parted from him, staring into those honey brown eyes. I felt like a teenager. He had not taken his eyes off me since I left the bathroom.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

"Alright." He slid he phone from his pocket, snapping a picture of me. What was I gonna do with this man? I grabbed our masks and we headed out.

We were only about 20 minutes late to the party. We turned our LEDs on and entered AJs house, as her door was wide open.

"You guys look *amazing*!" Kirsten gushed. "Especially you y/n. *Damn* do you rock those socks."

"I know right?" He lifted his mask, placing a kiss on my cheek.

The whole night was filled with chugging fun Halloween themed drinks, compliments on our costumes, slipping secret kisses, and quite the photo shoot.

*And man was I in for it when I got home.*

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

@spenciereiddd said they wanted tagged in some writing, so here ya go my dude.

[nervousmendes]

Canada - Shawn Mendes

Word Count: 2.4k words (fluff)

Warnings: No warnings, just extreme fluff and emotions

A/N: Writer AU based on the song Canada by Lauv ft Alessia Cara. She loves her life in LA but a new opportunity opens her eyes to a new beginning so she needs to figure out what she wants and get Shawn on board with it.

Anyone living in Hollywood knew that LA in the middle of March is not the best time to forget to pull the blinds before going to bed. Scolding herself, she turned around in an attempt to keep the sunlight away from her eyes, feeling Shawn's breath fan her face when she turned towards him. She opened her eyes and she couldn't help but smile with admiration for the man who was asleep with her in his arms. Her hand absent-mindedly went to the soft, brown curls that covered his closed eyes. She brushed them behind and grabbed a few locks in her hand gently, making him let out a sleepy groan. She crooked her neck slightly upward to softly brush her lips against his and when an involuntary hum came from his mouth she had to laugh at how much he enjoyed it even though he was fast asleep. 

Waking up in his arms with the sun lighting up their skin was something that she wasn't blessed enough to enjoy often. And she couldn't really do much but simply blame the fact that they both loved their professional lives, and wouldn't give up any part of finally getting to live their dreams for the sake of their relationship. Of course she hated the distance, and so did he. There were nights when they would miserably miss each other, and while of course they had the little technology they knew to see each other's faces and blow kisses via FaceTime, they wouldn't get the feverish touch of each other's skin that they craved, the endless kisses or the warmth of being in each other's presence that they both yearned for after a long, tiring day. Their only solution to balancing everything out was to make the best of the time they got with each other every now and then, and so, he got used to flying back on days off and she came to terms with taking surprise flights to go give her boyfriend a good luck kiss before he jammed out on stage whenever her job kept her free. Not to forget that it didn't really always pan out well with the mess of the schedules that they both worked on but nevertheless, they never stopped giving their relationship their all because no matter how hard it got sometimes, love is a magical thing that always overpowered everything else, so somehow it would all just work out in the end.

She sighed in content as she snuggled closer to Shawn, her hair softly tickling his chin. She looked up at him once again, and kissed him this time not giving a care for whether he was awake or not. The feeling of her lips on his woke him up, and she cringed at herself when he stirred, eyes fluttering open.

"Someone seems a little too impatient this morning, eh?" She smiled on hearing his morning raspy voice and pushed away the thought of not having it the next day. His eyes were half closed and his curls were a mess but she still didn't miss the twinkle in his eyes when he smiled down at her. It was now his turn to peck her lips, and as they met his mouth, he pulled her closer and swiftly lifted her off the bed and had her sit right on his stomach, hands splayed across his chest. 

"Says you, who couldn't wait till I was done with my phone call last night." Her cheeks heated up and he had a smug smile on his face as they both reminisced their shenanigans from the previous night, the way his fingers worked their way under her lacy underwear while she was engrossed in discussing something work related with her colleague.

The thought of work (and sex, but she can think about that later) reminded her of the email she received three days ago, the morning Shawn had returned from tour. It was about a job offer in Toronto to be an editor for a well established magazine. He knew she had applied for the position, in fact he was the one who pushed her to when she kept complaining about how it would be impossible to actually get it. She did want to talk to him about the offer, but only after she knew for sure whether she was ready for a big change or not. And after a lot of thinking she figured that the opportunity would open so many new doors for her to grow and establish herself. She loved her work in LA but she had to admit that it was monotonous and there was nothing new for her to learn from drafting those articles anymore. With the new job she could also be closer to her family, and at the end of the day Toronto is where Shawn's home is too, not that it was really a deciding factor but she still considered it. She never thought she'd be one to make career decisions based on her relationship. She grew up with the idea of being an independent, self sufficient and confident woman who stood on her own two feet with her head held high. But love came in the way, consumed her. He consumed her, gave her his all, and literally breathed for her. And it would only be a big, fat, shameful lie if she said that it wasn't the same for her with him.

So now here she was, sitting on his pretty tummy with her mind lost in thought, trying to find the right moment to bring up that goddamn email with the most luring offer she'd ever gotten since the beginning of her career. She didn't want to upset him by saying she wanted to move, but she needed to talk about it. She knew in her heart that the job fit her needs and her dreams. She knew it was the right place to go to, and no matter how convenient living in LA made her relationship with Shawn, it was high time she gave herself the opportunity to grow. And who was she kidding, she wouldn't ever find anyone more supportive than him no matter how hard she tried, so yes, she knew it would practically take nothing for Shawn to support her with this decision, but the fact that she'd have to do it by that night before he we went back on the road did give her a good amount of stress.

"Baby, is everything okay? You haven't registered a single word I said." 

His fingers resting on her waist drew small soothing circles on her skin as he pulled her closer to him, craning his neck up to meet her halfway and leave comforting kisses, the first to her lips and the second on the tip of her nose. She gave him a small smile that anyone would gladly accept, but Shawn being Shawn knew it was half-assed and could see the worry roaming behind her beautiful eyes. 

"So is this the part where you tell me what's wrong or do I have to ask again?"

There was no avoiding it anymore, she had to talk about it. She slid off his frame and sat down, pulling her legs close to her chest. The sudden change in her demeanor caused Shawn to straighten up against the headboard and face her. She saw the lines his concern drew on his forehead and before even she could reach her hand out to smoothen them his big paws engulfed her tiny, warm ones, fingers carefully lacing into hers. 

"Now spill, I'm listening." His reassuring smile that came after was enough to get the conversation started.

"Okay." She dragged, not knowing where to begin. His patient eyes didn't leave hers for even just a second as she reminded him of the application she made the first time and then told him about the offer, the position, the work she'd be doing and how it seemed a lot more interesting when compared to what she was doing at the moment. Shawn was always a good listener, and just like every other time, he paid attention to every detail and didn't cut her off a single time so that she could fully pour out how she felt about everything. She told him the whole story and finally let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in for that long.

"So yeah, that's what's up. I love the offer but I'm scared about moving and I don't know if it's the right thing to do."

"Okay first of all, I'm so proud of you, love. I can't ever say this enough but I am literally" a kiss to her lips, "sooo proud of you. I knew you'd get it, you are the most talented writer I know, and I mean that with my entire being." It was funny how even after more than a year of being with him she still giggled and blushed at his compliments like a kid in high school. 

"What does your heart say?" 

"My heart says I should take the leap and try something new. This is probably what I've always wanted in terms of my career. But I think-"

"No 'buts' baby. If this is what you want, you should go for it. What's stopping you?" 

"This. Us. Me being in LA makes it so easy for us, we always get to see each other a lot more because at the end of the day this is where we both work. And yes we're both Canadian but let's face it, how often do we actually visit home?" The crack in her voice at the end gave her away and her glossy eyes fell to their intertwined hands, tears threatening to spill out.

"Hey, look at me. Look right at me." He now had his hands pressed against her cheeks and he lifted her face up so she could meet his gaze.

"We can make this work no matter where you go. You could be in fucking space and I will still love you just as much as I do right now. I love you so much, but you will never hold yourself back for the sake of our distance. Not under my watch. Okay?" And that was all it took for the tears to tumble down her face, except for that they ended up being happy ones.

"I love you so much, Shawn."

"And I love you more."

Her hands went to either side of his neck and he pulled her closer as her soft, pink lips connected with his. He pushed his tongue against hers and kissed her back with everything he had. His neck tilted sideways to give her a better angle, their mouths doing a patterned choreography that they knew all too well. He ended it with one wet kiss square on her lips, the smooching sound making her giggle loudly. They stayed that way, foreheads touching each other's, her hands, one around his neck and the other grabbing his hair, and his arms wrapped around her tiny frame pressed against his chest. This was all they ever wanted, young and in love, staying in bed an hour after they woke up, silly kisses and even sillier I love you's. It was perfect. 

"So there's something I've been keeping secret for a while because I wanted to wait till the end of tour. But right now feels like the perfect moment to tell you. Also the fact that I don't think I can keep it in anymore, but that's secondary." 

"Go on." She nodded, sitting back down while smiling at him.

"I did a lot of thinking and I realised that the end of four albums and four tours is a good time to take a much needed break and live a little normal life." He made air quotes on 'normal'. "And it would also make more time for me to spend with you. We deserve to have a normal relationship too, you know?"

"Shawn I'm so glad you realise you need a break."

"Wait I'm not done yet, here's the best part. The condo in Toronto is dull and empty, so... I'm coming with you to Toronto. I'll be there as soon as I'm done with tour " He smiled at her.

"Shawn, you don't have to! You have so much going on for you over here."

"No, I want to. I'll stay for however long, record the next album over there whenever I feel like it, but I'm going to be right there. I'll be there after a long day of work to give you back rubs, I'll be there to cook you some pasta, give you endless cuddles, keep you up on a weeknight for.. you know what." He had to add a little wink in there. "Point is, I love you and I love my job but I need a break from it to love you and myself a little more. And there is nothing in the world that I want more than that right now. So yes, I'm coming with you to Toronto."

She was at a loss for words. She didn't know what to say. The wide smile pasted on her lips and the tears in her eyes told Shawn more than her words could ever. Not knowing how to react, she plunged into his arms with a shriek and he let out a loud laugh as his back hit the mattress, her body going down with his.

"This is really happening." She breathed out, feeling his lips press a kiss to the crown of her head. His fingers stroked her hair and their smiles didn't seem to fade for what felt like hours. She could already imagine going to see her parents or his on weekends, build forts for movie night, reconnect with their old friends and relatives, get to take Karen's dog on walks, house parties, everything. Just the mere picture of their life in Toronto was enough to fill her with a buzz of endorphins. It felt so right. It suddenly felt like her life was pieced back together. She was going to live the life of her dreams, this time with the man of her dreams. It felt perfect.

"So.. Canada, huh?"

"Canada it is." 

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This is only my third fanfic and I'm still learning, so I hope you liked it. You can take a look at my masterlist for my other works right here. If you have any feedback or tips please feel free to tell me, it would be very much appreciated as I'm still new to this x

-sah

[jaynaneeya]

Comparing Rides that are at Both Disneyland and Disney World

Disclaimer: I've taken over 20 trips to Disneyland, starting with one when I was 4, and just took my first trip to Disney World a few weeks ago. Also I haven't ridden Jungle Cruise at Disney World, so that's not on this list. Here goes

Astro Orbitor: This ride sucks at both parks (it's basically a super uncomfortable version of Dumbo), but at least at Disney World it's up higher so you get a better view. Disneyland just needs to get rid of it.

Autopia/Tomorrowland Speedway: This ride also sucks at both parks, and it smells terrible, but at least Disneyland's is off by itself, and you get a more scenic tour, and from what I recall the cars work better, so Disneyland wins.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Awesome at both parks, but different. Disney World's does this rocking back and forth thing that makes it feel more like a runaway train, but Disneyland has a more epic climax with exploding dynamite. I'm calling it a tie.

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters/Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: WAAAAAAY better at Disneyland. Disney World's shooters are attached to the car, making it impossible to aim, while Disneyland's detach. Also Disneyland's light up when you hit something; I could not for the life of me figure out what I was doing at Disney World. This could just be lack of experience on my part, but I'm virtually positive it's because that version of the ride is vastly inferior.

Disneyland/Walt Disney World Railroad: Disneyland's has four stops to Disney World's three, but what really pushes Disneyland over the edge is the Grand Canyon thing. Disney World's has no equivalent diorama. Come on, what's the Railroad without an epic fight between a T-rex and a stegosaurus?

Dumbo the Flying Elephant: The ride's pretty much the same at both, except Disney World has two carousels and Disneyland only has one, so I'm giving this one to Orlando.

Haunted Mansion: This one pains me because I freaking LOVE Disneyland's version of this ride, but Disney World has some extra stuff at the beginning that's pretty cool. Although only Disneyland's has the Hatbox Ghost, and it just makes me happy to know that you're walking underneath the railroad without knowing it (which is not the case in Disney World). So Disney World wins, but narrowly.

it's a small world: Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the way Disneyland awkwardly incorporated some of the Disney characters into this ride. Like, it works for a few, but they tried too hard. Disney World doesn't have this, so Disney World wins.

The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure/Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid: Apart from its name, this ride is almost exactly the same. I didn't see the cameo of The Incredible Mr. Limpet at Disney World (if it's there, it's not in the same place as the Disneyland one), but I think they might play more of the song Under the Sea at Disney World, so this is another tie.

Mad Tea Party: The theming is different, but the basic ride concept is the same. I feel like the location makes a lot more sense at Disneyland though; it's next to another Alice in Wonderland attraction, instead of the Tomorrowland Speedway. So I'm giving this one to Disneyland.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: This one's a little tough. I really like how at Disneyland you're rocking for pretty much the whole ride, instead of only part of it at Disney World. The scenes are in a different order, and I think the story makes a bit more sense at Disney World. Also the queue at Disney World is freaking awesome. So Disney World takes it.

Peter Pan's Flight: The rides are a little different, but I don't feel like one is clearly superior to the other. I'm giving it to Disney World for the interactive queue.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The entire bayou scene, including the restaurant, is absent from Disney World (makes sense, as Disney World doesn't have New Orleans Square), so only Disneyland has the part where you get to wave at people eating and watch the old guy snoring in the rocking chair and wonder who's playing the banjo. Disneyland has two drops to Disney World's one. After the drop(s), the rides are pretty much exactly the same until the end. Disneyland has an extra scene where drunk pirates are shooting at each other, including my very favorite pirate in the entire ride (the guy riding the cannon and trying to sing along who doesn't really know the words). I was livid to find that they'd eliminated him from the Disney World version. Disneyland wins HANDS DOWN.

Soarin' Around the World: This is the same in both parks now, but the California version was better. So past Disneyland wins this one.

Space Mountain: Disneyland's is way more comfortable because you're sitting next to someone, instead of single file, basically straddling the person in front of you like at Disney World. Disney World's does have astronauts, but that's pretty much the only thing to recommend it. Disneyland's is a much smoother ride, and it's also darker; at Disney World you can kind of see the track, which ruins the illusion of flying through space for me. But all of this is nothing compared to the music. Disneyland's Space Mountain music plays from speakers right next to you, is perfectly timed to fit the ride, and makes the whole experience about 1000 times more epic. At Disney World there is some music playing from speakers in the ride, but you can barely hear it. Mostly you just hear roller coaster noises and other people screaming. Disneyland wins BY FAR.

Splash Mountain: The opposite of Space Mountain. At Disneyland you sit single file uncomfortably, and at Disney World you sit next to someone. Also Disney World has an additional drop, and the story is easier to follow. Best of all, the front of the log comes up higher, so instead of your socks getting soaked like at Disneyland, it's mostly your top half that gets splashed, which is usually what you want. At Disneyland, I generally get the most splashed at the Slippin Falls at the beginning, which means I'm shivering for most of the ride. At Disney World, I always got the most splashed at the final drop, which is as it should be. Disney World wins by a landslide.

Star Tours: Almost exactly the same. A tie.

Tower of Terror: Yes, I know, I know, Disneyland technically doesn't have this anymore because it's the Guardians of the Galaxy ride now, but I'm doing it anyway. Disney World's is more interesting than Disneyland's used to be, since there's some horizontal movement to get to the elevator shaft, while Disneyland's loads you directly in the shaft. Also Disney World's has a randomized series of drops, while Disneyland's was the same every time. So I would say Disney World's is better than Disneyland's old version, but Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout is better than either. I do hate to admit it, because I really loved the old Tower of Terror at California Adventure. But there it is. So for the purposes of this contest, Disney World wins.

Toy Story [Midway] Mania: Essentially the same ride. The theming is different, and I think the queue is a little more interesting at Disney World, but for all intents and purposes, it's a tie.

Final Score: Disney World - 8, Disneyland - 7, Tie - 4

See? I'm not THAT biased.