#chameleon so i picked it up easy and then it became how i speak. but i used to suppress it constantly (and still sometimes find myself doing

[iliveinprocrasti-nationn]

the thing about podcasts for me is that i actually have a really hard time listening to them and have tried to get into at least 20 if not double that over the past few years but have never been able to get through more than a few episodes and that’s usually after forcing myself. this is true for all except one podcast. because i have only ever been able to listen to and enjoy that single podcast, i listen to it on repeat and have been since 2020. i have been informed recently that this is not something that happens with other people

[greysfall]

My 4444-word review of NEO TWEWY (with personal illustration + heavy spoilers)

My overall critical score for the game is 7.5/10, while my personal enjoyment score is 8.5/10. This review is posted as I have 80% completed the game, got the secret ending and achieved the Angel psychic rank. I’ll first start with the main pros and cons as follows.

PROS:

-        Enjoyable as a whole, still upholding the first game’s spirit in world building and sharing the same backbone - which was mostly revealed in the Secret Reports, it’s impossible to grasp the story without reading them.

-        The new cast and new game is charming in their own way

-        The old cast’s return is one of the biggest highlights for sure, it was fun and impactful. Everyone stays true to themselves and also had their own stories wrapped up nicely.

-        Boss designs are cool, new pins are fun to use and collect

-        The connection between the old and new cast is well written and executed, including but are not limited to the tension between the old and new protagonist, the weird but fun interaction between the 2 Composers, the new friendships revealed and formed

-        Sho being in the main cast is something so uniquely TWEWY and uniquely Sho

-        Still good music

-        Still many fun side quests, some of them really uphold the same quirky spirit of the old game and some are surprisingly touching

-        Many new nice stores and yummy looking foods to explore

-        The map is really easy to memorize for me, it’s fun to travel around the “current” Shibuya to see all the differences compared to the past

-        The social network is crazy and interesting to read through

-        Has an anti-frustration system to help 100% complete the game more easily and earn money faster, so post-game is relatively managable.

-        Overall, I really feel the efforts the team poured into making this as their passion project, not just during the development process but for all the last 14 years. They showed the vision of what they wanted to make, at the same time giving something to both the old as well as new fans.

CONS:

-        The biggest problem with the game is scenario writing. The story is so heavily back-loaded. The director himself thought it would be better to balance out the tension flow by adding more at the beginning but gave in to the scenario writer in the end, probably due to time pressure. This results in an underwhelming execution of characterization and lots of wasted potentials for the first half of the game.  

-        I struggle to view it as a stand-alone game, since the backstory and the old cast both play such an important role in the core of the game. If someone plays this game without having played the OG, they can only enjoy it on surface value at best.

-        The new cast is nice but most of them aren’t quite as intriguing as the old cast, maybe it’s cuz they’re all too nice deep down that they lack a little bit of an edge, of that batshit craziness that everyone in the OG used to have? I think some characters (Fret, Nagi) ended up weaker in terms of characterization because the writer is too afraid of making them unlikeable – which kind of backlashed cuz they only became likable in the most expectable way to cater for a specific group of fans. I would have wished for the other team leaders to be more crazy too, had they not suffered 30+ loops of the Game…

-        The CAMERAWORK IS HELL.

-        Gameplay does get tedious at certain points with all the time travels.

-        Shiba is so badly written as a villain, some Shinjuku characters should be given more screentime cutting into Shiba’s– like Hishima or Kaie or even, Hazuki (though his limited presence also solidified his importance).

-        Some of the main character designs, for example Beat’s hairstyle and his food reactions are hilariously bad. What’s the point of covering up most of his unique facial features?

-        Some of the minor/side characters’ design are too cool for them to have such a small role (eg: Ayano, Eiru). Ryoji did get much screentime but is nowhere as fun as Makoto was.

-        Overall the scope of this game is made a little too big for the team to handle as perfectly as the last game that was very compact, it felt somewhat rushed in development too so the missing pieces are clearly there in the final picture

The entry fee versus paying for it all in the end

An important difference between the Neo game and the original Shibuya game was that the Shibuya rule asked for an entry fee that is the Player’s most important asset, stated as a chance the Composer gives them to reexamine themselves. Meanwhile, the Shinjuku rule neither encourages nor allows personal growth and ultimately aims to erase as many Players as possible. It’s a pity we were never introduced to the full Shinjuku rulebook, as it seems like the system there focuses more on building up power and a grand government to compare with the individuality-driven system of Shibuya.

When you have to compare the new game and the original game (OG), this is an important factor to consider. Also, the OG has a serious storyline running through and through, locked with a different partner/GM creating unique atmosphere for each week and you don’t get to see your old partners again until the end. NEO’s team system does not allow such deep insight and communication between the Players. All of your teammates are always there throughout, the dynamic does change with each new addition but it is not as prominent as a partner change.

Another important factor is how the OG was built from scratch for a new platform as “something no one has ever seen before”, while Neo recycled a lot of old unused ideas from the previous development (check out this interview for more details). The development team for NEO lacks 2 key members and had a change of writer so the final product is not as strongly bound together as the last game.

The new cast is definitely inspired by today’s teenagers (from the view of creators), compared to the old cast they’re more sociable and always seem to take whatever works for them despite feeling unstable inside. They are all innocent and genuinely nice kids, avoiding to hurt each other to a degree that they end up keeping some sort of distance. They’re also unable to communicate at deeper levels, always stagnant at this half-baked stage of equilibrium without any motivation to get to the core of things. That is the cost of entering the game without an entry fee, without even dying or having a reason to be there/to fight seriously. These kids were stolen from the RG into a Game that was decidedly the worst environment for them to change or develop, just wandering around cluelessly to find a way “out” until tragedies started to unfold one by one and they ended up being charged the total sum of the price for their actions – ultimately losing everything in the end.

That is, I believe, a story arc which can resonate more to the youth of today rather than of my generation. If the message of the old game was to “listen”, enjoy life to the fullest and accept to trust others, the message of the new game is to “speak up” from the inside, trying to understand yourself and take actions instead of just going with the flow and finally, to take responsibility for such actions.

If Neku was handpicked by the Composer for being the special one with an all-dense soul to ensure victory of the game then Rindo was just a normal kid chosen out of random by Kubo to be his back-up plan, who just happened to have a high enough imagination to awaken the incredible power from his pin. Rindo was then officially chosen by the Composer as Josh picked up and handed the pin to him again, this time not as Josh’s personal Proxy – but as the Proxy to represent the normal people of Shibuya and via whom he could gamble if humans can fight for their own fate.

The underworld heroine and the hero with little of his own

Shoka is for me a refreshing and layered heroine. She’s the kind of character that took at least 3 trials of creators to form as a complete individual – that included Nomura who gave her the base design and Reaper background, Gen who gave a more cunning touch and the writers who made her English dialogues more punchy. Dishonesty equals “tsundere” is such a cliché, so the English writers tried really hard to avoid that trope in my opinion, while still letting her good intention come through.

She serves as the character who is informed of everything the players should have known, and there was almost nothing she could do about it. Almost. Until she met Rindo.

They were drawn to each other by sharing a state of “not having anything of their own”. They both started out with not being able to truly know themselves, Shoka even hated her RG life but also managed to mature from that stage before Rindo. She must have vibed with Shiki’s love and passion in the Gatto Nero threads, initiating her connection with Shibuya and understanding herself more. With Shoka as Swallow, they were able to open up to each other and offer mental support… but was still not getting to the centre of their problems because for all this time, Shoka could not tell Rindo the most important things about herself.

How did Shoka feel when she met Rindo at the UG? She probably didn’t want to hope that he would live the day until she witnessed the Twisters’ potentials. From the very beginning, they were both incredibly conscious of each other and also constantly frustrated that the person they happened to “notice” was such a condescending bitch/a clueless loser. The Shinjuku Reapers are overall quite drunk in power and uncompassionate to Players, Shoka included. She is also a master of dissociation, which results in her constant boredom, tone swings, haughtiness and subconsciously distancing herself from the friend – the boy she cares about – from false hope, as she judged from facts that it was a hopeless situation where nothing could ever be. Maybe she is naturally a bit of a chameleon just like her name suggests (Shoka 紫陽花 = hydrangea, the color-changing flower), so putting on an act and always dissociating herself from what’s important was easy, while hiding her contradiction was impossible. It was the ex-Reaper Beat who broke it out to her, that she should decide whether she really cared and wanted to do something for a change. He knew how it felt like to cross that line, and knew she wanted to too.  

Shoka is endeared by many of the Shinjuku Reapers and has shown independent acts of kindness (the Shinjuku ghost), proving that her kind and truthful side is as real as her harsh and dishonest side – which makes her a nice mirror to the previous heroine Shiki, who also embraced a dichotomy of self-complex and self-love within her character. In the end, she was the first of the new cast to ultimately accept all that is important to her and independently made the decision to help save Shibuya despite all costs.

She was jealous at Rindo’s interaction with Tsugumi and Kanon but remained silent cuz she wasn’t at a place to have any say about it. She also didn’t reveal about Swallow because that would only add an awkward irrelevance to their current situation, as she was too ready to face erasure at the end of the Game. She only wished to “play a game” with him, be it FanGo or the Reapers’ Game. The tension that the team could only feel at the end, she’s felt it the entire time. The song “DIVIDE” is applicable to not just one bond in the game, but it always makes me think of theirs. There is always a “divide” between her and Rindo throughout the course of their journey, as the living and the dead, as a Player and Reaper, as someone who has a place to return to and someone who doesn’t, someone who knows little but wields too much power and someone who knows a lot despite not being able to do much.

“If only I had the chance to connect with you on the other side

But time goes on, and without us realizing it

The battle is getting heated

Time goes on, and without us realiazing it

Divided again”

To be honest, maybe I didn’t grow any affection for the new main cast from Rindo’s perspective but from Shoka’s. Since I started to sympathize with Shoka, I started to see the boy in a more “real” way. The real Rindo, behind his peaceful façade with others, would lash out on Shoka for her unfairly harsh attitude while none of the others cared. He could also subtly feel that mantle of unspoken secrets from her, her own contradictions, the unresolved chemistry between themselves – and not knowing what to do with it rather than to feel angry with all the unfairness he could not process. (As a Libra too, he’s triggered the most by unfairness!)

It is actually a positive development as he’s at least “reacting” to something strongly now rather than to keep evading his problems. During my replay, I clearly saw the difficult situation Shoka was in, her remaining harshness after the Motoi incident was due to her internal struggle with a mission to save her own life, versus a chance to really be with the team. Her decision was to do both at the risk of losing favour from both sides. Rindo started to accept her layer by layer, as the person who resonated the most to her contradicting nature from the start and knew that via learning her resolve, he has learnt his too.

Later into the game, she even got too much of his attention. Maybe even without knowing she’s Swallow, he’s familiar with her thinking direction and Swallow had always been closer to him than any other friend. It was only after she had to betray her important ones twice that she could start being truly honest. The scene when she died a 2nd time left a strong impression in me, the little reveal let Rindo know that he is also losing Swallow as he’s losing Shoka – and that only death could drive the last secret out of her. Her final “Later, loser” echoed through Rindo as it was the final truth, with only him remaining to hear it: they had actually, already lost everything.

Rindo was the boy who never dared to face all that matters to him until he lost it all, fighting an unfair battle in the faith that they would somehow still win. Shoka was the girl who always knew what was dear to her, but never dared to think she could be together with them ever after and still threw her all into a battle she knew was losing. I think they stir each other on naturally to fill out their gaps, similar to what the Shibuya game partner systerm would have aimed for. The end reward was a little divine intervention to help close up the divide between them once and for all.  

During the game there was not enough space to process anything personal so at the ending when they officially became “friends”, it was an important affirmation of their bond. Some people complained it was friendzoning but it’s not, they just have arrived at the perfect place to start something more. “From now on, we will truly be together” – I read it as that kind of message.  

The heroine from a lost battle, with her story taken away

After reading the secret reports and playing the game to be surprised of how small a role Tsugumi had in the main game despite being the “Hype-chan” thought to be a major character of the next TWEWY installment, many fans would feel sad at a missed opportunity to see the Shinjuku arc in full depiction.

It was shown clearly that, a Shinjuku arc was very carefully planned out and is a vital part of the whole story, yet it could not be made due to various circumstances behind the development scene. I would assume, that the team were not able to make a TWEWY game that ended on a despairing note, but it already happened in their mind, thus becoming a mental burden that forced them to break away from it and started the game anew with NEO. A significant part of NEO became the healing arc for the Shinjuku characters, especially for Tsugumi though I really wished more emphasis should have been placed on her rather than Shiba. We didn’t even get to see her brother – Shinjuku’s Conductor who had a vital role and instead was given the clueless Shiba, who had absolutely no idea what’s going on all the way until the last day in NEO. It’s as if Tsugumi has had her story stolen away from her, because her own battle ended with a saddening loss.

I think every time the game creators look at Tsugumi, they would feel that sadness too. Maybe to them, she is a bigger character than what is seen by the fans, as despite their failed effort to depict her story, she’s lived in their mind for all these years through periods of destruction, healing and rebuild.  Though it is a pity we could not get to experience the full scope of the Shinjuku story, the creators was clear about the place they wished for it to arrive at.    

Individuality, connection and the social network

The team system adapted from Shinjuku rulebook does not allow much room for personal development, as the team dynamic is closer to a work relationship forced to bear results, than a spiritual bond to max out all corners of understanding as found in the partnership system. The old Shibuya system allowed only 1 winner and 1 week limit per game, while the new rule declares for a 1 winning team and only the team at last place will be erased – the other teams will enter another loop. Furthermore, whichever team to challenge the unwinnable Ruinbringers will face the risk of ending up dead last followed by erasure. As a result, the longest-standing teams are most likely not the strongest ever recorded, but the ones who have figured out a strategy to simply survive until something changes, enjoying their newly found social constructs while they are at it. Basically, it is a system to hypnotise players into the illusion that they are still “living”.

Therefore, we as players would not get to the core of each Player individually as fast and directly as we did in the last game. The Twisters were able to stand out not because they’re powerful, they only started to have a real chance after growing enough to each form a meaningful and personal connection to another teammate. It did not come as a team, nor did it intiate from the existing friendship between Rindo and Fret. In fact, I did not find much solidity or anything truly note-worthy about the main team and new characters within themselves until they started clashing with other team members, Reapers and new recruits from week 2 onwards. Rindo found his personal development with Shoka (via a clash with Motoi and pretty much a mini dating sim between them), then via the confrontation of his role with Neku; Fret found his with Kanon then Nagi, the team learned about the real Neku via Beat, Neku entered the UG via Coco’s wish to save Tsugumi… it was not the team but their personal links that empowered them to fight and solve each of their problems.

The other team leaders may have failed because they did not form such personal links, after 30+ hopeless loops Fuya’s team all fell apart to pursue their own interest even at the cost of erasure, Motoi quit his KOL façade to work like a dog for the Reapers (probably to save just his own ass not his team), while Kanon dropped her tricks to find changes via honest cooperation in acceptance of a fair loss. The despairing note in that is huge without making much of a scene because their failure didn’t happen at their best effort to “win”, but in their last attempt to find a way “out”. Even Shiba got his way “out” in the end thanked to his personal friendship with Hishima and Tsugumi.

Something has shifted in the mindset of the game creators in the last 14 years, as both games are about “connection vs individuality” but the last game focuses more on connection between just individuals and this one on the overall network that is formed out of those individual connections.

The introduction of Beat into the main cast was truly the bridge between old and new, they helped each other out in several turns before officially recruiting him. Beat is a character whom a lot of fans including myself have felt somewhat concerned about after Neku disappeared from the RG, so when the new kids welcomed Beat with warm and organic interaction and Beat seemed happy, I started to feel like I wanted to help them out too! I think the overall team chemistry is enjoyable enough for new players, but I could warm up to the new kids more from the pov of a returning character – whom I’m glad to be Beat, as the older brother figure who is genuinely kind, fun, serious and upbeat at the same time; who is needed and needs the kids in return.

The social network is a fun and refreshing feature. You can read all of the crazy tidbits about Shibuya and the links each character have formed with the town people, it’s also fun to visualize how the characters act off screen. Characters’ profiles provide extra insight into their background too, like how it reveals Tsugumi has been friend with Coco during her time in the RG. During the game when not all characters have showed up, you can sometimes guess which empty spot will belong to whom. For example there is a 1 character linking to Neky that is not linked to anyone else, so I could guess that was Joshua, and that another character linking only to Joshua was probably Hazuki, hinting that the 2 Composers are related before either of them even showed up.

Hazuki only showed up for 5 minutes, but his presence is so vital and true to the game that I think he is the most memorable out of the new cast. The two Composers have such an intriguing bond, with their yin/yang or phoenix/dragon themes, opposite color design, the sempai/kouhai tone and the way they keep some sort of distance/work relationship as if it’s mandatory between Higher beings, yet at the same time they can talk so casually because they are truly equal – and different from one another. I have written a separate meta on them here.

Some people pointed out, that all Shinjuku characters’ names and themes are based off Hanafuda cards and the Phoenix in Hanafuda belongs to the Paulownia suit – which is Joshua’s name flower. This is so interesting because it feels like the creators somehow saw it as a sign to interweave the Shibuya and Shinjuku storylines together. Though it doesn’t come out much on the surface, it’s fascinating nonetheless considering both Josh and Haz had at some point interfered with the other town’s affairs.

“Shibuya tour with Haz” was such a special scene, as it happened between 2 characters who do not/no longer have a reason to care about Shibuya, on the subject of what is worth saving about Shibuya. Hazuki carried out the purification of Shinjuku and stepped in to restore Shibuya just as part of his job and unlike Hanekoma or Joshua who both possess profound understanding of humanity, he really didn’t know humans at all. Rindo’s irrational wish invoked in him a sense of curiosity, to try gambling on something irrationally and learning a bit of what his senior have experienced. With all the pieces put together, it provides an overview on Higher beings as a whole, and that Joshua and Hanekoma are really the odd ones out with Hazuki being somewhere in between them and the rest.        

The old friends

It’s easy to have returning characters overshadow the new cast as they have already matured out of their personal story arc and stayed in our hearts for all this time. In the end, I have managed to enjoy both the old and new cast separately and altogether, and they will both find their own place in our memory of this game for the long term.

Sho is truly as crazy as ever, the game wouldn’t be the same if Sho is any less of what he is. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like Neky or Beat is younger than Nagi at all, with moments when it seems like Neky has aged 14 years instead of 3 years. His friendship with Coco surprised me pleasantly, and their interaction together with Beat was fun to watch. Rhyme’s found a new dream and her friendship with Kaie is precious too, especially considering that she can still talk to him online after the game ended. Josh and Neku’s interaction suggested that they have resolved the past and are on equal terms now, they even parted ways in good spirit and I don’t feel any worry about them like I did before.

Neku and Shiki’s reunion scene was beautiful, theirs is such a special bond that it has grown and supported them even without being able to see each other. I am so happy to see them all again and that they stay true to who they are, albeit looking more grown up, cooler and happier than ever before.  

Overall, NEO can’t become a classic on par with the OG, but is definitely a good sequel and a good game in its own rights. I’m happy with whether or not there will be a 3rd game to complete the 3 monkeys theme, but if there will be – I hope the creators can really find the time to learn from the last 2 games and start over with a fresh mindset and strong core.  

[shooting-starry]

Trust me. Love me. Shoot me.

Atsumu Miya x female reader

Summary: Atsumu finds himself with a young woman who is more that what she seems.

A/n: Writing this was fun. It was fun. Please enjoy the awkwardness and watch me try to build character dynamics. Yay ::) please do not repost, but feel free to reblog or like!

Warnings: drugs and alcohol mentioned, weapons mentioned, Atsumu gets punched lol, I didn’t edit yet again

Masterlist

Previous//Next

The minivan was quiet, except for Bokuto’s light snores. Akaashi was driving with Kuroo in the passenger side. Kenma was sitting in the back on his switch, and occasionally pushing the sleeping Bokuto off of his lap. Y/n sat behind Akaashi, passing maps and snacks to Kuroo. Atsumu was directly beside you, looking out the windows as the buildings  turned into fields then back to buildings.

Akaashi was planning to drive to the Nekoma headquarters, where a majority of Fukurodani  also stayed. Nekoma preferred to stay in Tokyo’s countryside. It was close enough to the city, but remote enough for no one to care. It was a strategic location.

When the minivan pulled to a stop, not a a rest stop this time, a tall warehouse sat in front of the group. The tall metal walls started down at the very mini minivan, the windows were ominously empty. The warehouse had a spooky feeling to it, it felt as if no one had been there for years, yet every single step was being carefully watched and criticized.

The first time Y/n came to the warehouse, she was terrified, but none of the boys knew. After all, she had to keep her reputation as a force to be reckoned with. The rumours which shrouded Y/n were always enough to scare someone out of their wits. She was often described as a ghost who disappears into the shadows, blends in with the crowd and masquerades herself as anyone, then strikes when you think you are safe. She became anyone, a local grocery store worker, a waitress, a prostitute. She manipulated people to get what she wanted, then killed then. She camouflaged herself in the crowd and went unnoticed. Because of this, she was dubbed “The Chameleon ”. Y/n fed off of this respect. The fact that when her name was mentioned, people would visibly shiver. She didn’t care if she was called a monster. As long as she got praise and the respect that she deserved.

The 6 boys got out of the car and made their way towards the dark warehouse. Kenma knocked on the door, 6  rhythmic knocks, before the large sliding door slide open with a crash. Kai welcomed the group in, hesitating when he saw the 6 foot blond. Apprehensively, he let him in. The warehouse smelled like marijuana and alcohol. Y/n noticed that Lev and Yaku had yet to return. As the group entered the building, people from all angles yelled out in greeting to the group.

“Hey Chameleon! Did you kill anyone yet?” Yelled Yamamoto, along with other calls to the group such as, “Hey Owl!” (Referring to Bokuto and his strength, or his hair. No one has ever been brave enough to ask), or “Raven, I need your help on this assignment!” (Akaashi was dub this for his intellect. This man is smart). Other voices called for “The Hyena” (Kuroo was named this for his hyena like laugh that you would hear right before he killed you) and “The Caracal” (Kenma got this name thanks to his crazy kill methods. That man can be unhinged. Just take away his switch and get ready to die).

Y/n walked through the warehouse soaking in every word, but not replying to any. Right now she didn’t want to be the happy, friendly Y/n. Right now she had business to do. She kicked open a metal door which lead to a large office. The office wasn’t fancy, but inside sat the bosses of Nekoma and Fukurodani. As Y/n walked in, followed closely by the boys, keeping Atsumu behind them, she swiftly slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

The two old men looked up at her and the boys before their eyes landed on Atsumu. They looked surprised to say the least.

“L/n, why did you bring him here? Now were have to kill him.” Said the first old man, Nekomata. He was a carefree old man who was often smiling. Despite his appearance, Y/n knew that he could kill someone in less that a second.

“Nekomata, he is part of the Inarizaki family. If we killed him then they would be after you. So instead I propose we keep him here until his leg heals, then we make the trade with Inarizaki. They get back their man-child, and we get they alliance. Doesn’t that just sound wonderful? Akaashi and Kenma help me think of this.” Y/n asked, speaking in her sweetest, most convincing voice. She knew the last part was a lie. Kenma didn’t care about what happened to Atsumu, and Akaashi didn’t want to keep him around any longer than necessary. You just hoped he didn’t realize.

“Well L/n,” spoke the other old man, Yamiji, “I think its a good idea, except your safe house was destroyed because he was there. And how will we convince them to come, without an attack?”

“Well that’s simple, we can stay in the hotel in the city. The five of us can stay there with Atsumu. And I can take care of an arrangement.” Y/n said slyly. “I will even give you sometime to consider it. It is so much more beneficial to return him than to just kill him. Don’t you think?” She finished, leaving the room, with the boys, close behind her.

After about 10 minutes, both Nekomata and Yamiji stepped out of their office. Everyone in the warehouse, even the wasted men in the corner, stood up, as a sign of respect. Y/n had a more friendly relationship with the two men, and all parties were much more informal with each other.

“Y/n, we will let you go. Make sure that you trade him off in 3 weeks or else we will kill him.” Said Yamiji. “But, it is under the conditioned that the hotel he doesn’t get injured. We will send him off unharmed.” He finished, still staring at Atsumu.

After Yamiji’s speech, the warehouse burst into talk and gossip. “Can you believe the Ferocious Five have another assignment?” Or even “Why are the Ferocious Five getting such an easy assignment? They just have to make sure the dude doesn’t get hurt”. The group walked quickly to the store room. Inside there was the wall of guns and a separate wall for knifes. The drawers under the display of other weapon are held devises which were only common in spy movies. Y/n took multiple knife and hid them on her body. Two for each boot, one in each sleeve, and another on her ankle. She also took a tube of lipstick and a small jar of pills. Y/n loved the lipstick. If it got into your blood stream, it would kill you in a few hours. It would start to seep your energy within minutes, and then it would kill you. She also went to the hidden closet and grab different clothes. She grabbed a formal dress and a cute little picnic dress. She also grabbed a long coat, glasses, a collared shirt, dress pants, jeans and multiple pairs of shoes. But of course she also threw in a pair of loose fitting sweat pants and a sweatshirt. She grabbed a duffle bag and placed the clothes in the bag. She also found a few different purses and bags which she added to her bag.

After she had packed everything she needed, she regrouped with the boys. Kenma was fiddling with 6 cell phones and his bag rested on his feet. Akaashi was nearby, calling the hotel to book the rooms (He seemed very tense when he was talking on the phone). Bokuto and Kuroo were busy stuffing a bag full of food. Atsumu was staring at the ground, daydreaming about something. Y/n paced towards him, pick up a Polaroid camera on the way. She fisted her hand and punched him in the face. Hard.  As her fit collided with his cheek, he groaned at the contact. A bruise was starting to for on his right cheek in a red mark formed on his face. Atsumu looked at her with a look disbelief while she shook out her fist.

“What the hell was that for? Ya crazy bitch, ya just said that A would be unharmed?” He yelled, while Akaashi in the corner was trying convince the hotel employee that nothing was happening.

“I just needed you to form a bruise, besides you’ll be fine. Now sit down so I can cover it with some makeup” Y/n ordered.

Compliantly, Atsumu sat down, while Y/n grabbed a foundation, concealer and a pallet of nude eyeshadows to help hide the redness of his cheek, and a blush. Carefully, she applied foundation across his face. After blending it, she applied concealer under both of his eyes and on his cheek. The concealer hid the red cheek while giving his skin a flawless sort of look. Next, with a small brush, Y/n altered the colour of the bruise, holding her face uncomfortably close to his. As she move from each product, she became more aware of the closeness. She could feel his breath on her hands as she fixed little parts of his face. As he looked more alive and functional, the more she realized his beauty. His dark eyes focused on hers as she scanned his face for any flaws in the makeup. She had covered his scar on his face, to make him look like any normal person. His skin looked clear and hydrated, and his cheeks were slightly blushed. Perfect. He was perfect and ready to go.

Together they stood up, Atsumu a little slower and more clumsy, and walked towards the door. Kenma handed everyone a cell phone, each person's number already entered in. Akaashi grabbed his bag and a bag of medical supplies and placed them in the car. Bokuto then took the rest of the bags and left them in the car (He was upset that Akaashi wouldn’t let him grab his bag too).

Once the group was in the car, Akaashi assigned the room to people. He explained that each room will have two bed. They were all on the different floors, but he would need to check them in.

“Bokuto-san and I will be in room 303, Kenma-san and Kuroo-san will be in room 204, and L/n-san and Miya-san will stay in room 405. Also, we will not be able to switch rooms. I was able to get the last three rooms for the next 3 weeks.” Akaashi explain as he drove the minivan.

The car ride was short then that mornings, once the fields turned to buildings, Bokuto got excited. He knew that the car ride was almost over (He was like a small child after an hour car ride). After another half hour. Akaashi pulled into the parking lot of a large hotel. After grabbing the bags, which Bokuto insisted on doing, the group walked into the hotel, and was greeted by the sitting room. It was a beautiful room. There were exquisite decorations along the walls. On the ceiling there was a beautifully complex chandelier. There were many people in the sitting room, drinking water or talking to each other. Akaashi, confidently walked up to the counter. The group was sitting on a large couch when Akaashi returned. He handed each person a key card for their room.

The group piled into an elevator and slowly got off at their floor. First Kenma and Kuroo got off, then Akaashi and Bokuto. Finally, there was just Y/n and Atsumu. The 30 seconds of the elevator going up were excruciatingly awkward. Neither said a thing, but a few glances were stolen when the other wasn’t looking.

When they got off the elevator, Y/n held both people’s bags as the looked for the door which read 405. When they found the door, Y/n slide the key card into the reader, after shifting all the bags onto one hand. They opened the door, they were met with long windows and a flat screen TV. There was a closet to the right of the door and the bathroom door to the left. There was a small desk against the door and a large glass panel separating the bathroom from the bedroom. In the bedroom, the bed was decorated in white sheets and many throw pillows. But there was a problem in the room. There was only one kind sized bed

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@kayleighbeccaa @jojowantstocry  @m1lfluv3r

[comfy-whumpee]

Ellis AU: Dark? Timeline

@whumpiary @ashintheairlikesnow @wildfaewhump @lektricwhump

You asked and I delivered.

CN: still got a ltitle bit of pet whump in this, also some intimate whumper / potentially spicy undertones. Harvey’s in it.

Someone liking him too much had never been a problem before.

Too little, yes. Frequently. It was impossible to be loved by everyone, but Ellis wasn’t a perfectionist. People could be sorted into the categories of salvageable and lost causes. Those who wouldn’t like him and would never like him were cast off like plucked petals from a flower. Those who could like him, would like him. It was easy, when he knew exactly what they thought of him.

But this was an entirely different issue. A man had seen him, and decided to take him. Someone with an ego – well, that was fine, he had tangled with egos before. But not just an ego. Someone with resources, a large, private house, clear wealth shining through his possessions, and physical strength that outmatched Ellis’s willowy prettiness.

Having spent most of his life as a chameleon, ensuring he would be loved and therefore safe from the dangers of socialisation, Ellis was...at somewhat of a loss.

The man’s name was Alistair Engels, and he lived alone at 4 Wicker Road, a sprawling house at the end of a long drive in the countryside outside of town. He spent most of his time working in his office, researching and compiling information about organisations. Ellis hadn’t yet pieced together what those were, but he would get there. He could see the man’s every move and hear his every word. His secrets would fall.

He’d never done this before, used his power in this way. Mostly it just greased the wheels among his friends, let him head off criticisms and – work on his flaws before they became problems. It was an ideal system. He always knew what they were really thinking about him.

But that wasn’t the secret here. He was the secret here. A stranger had locked him in a cupboard and tied him down to a chair, and seemed intent on...

He wasn’t sure of that, either. Yet.

Alistair Engels enjoyed reading historical and military fiction, watching action movies, and working out. He was a boxer, and the eldest son of three. He financially supported his parents, and had two sisters, a nurse and a banking clerk. He went out once a week with friends, and usually ended the night fighting, beating up someone his friends wanted roughed up for some reason. Alistair never asked questions, so Ellis never heard the answers.

All the while, Ellis was in his cupboard at home, blindfolded, gagged, bound and waiting.

It was probably supposed to be scarier than it was.

-

Ellis sat perfectly attentive in his chair, head raised towards Alistair, expression smooth and open. “...must treasure Master’s touch,” he said, soft and sincere. “I must treasure Master’s marks. I must love Master as he loves me. I am Master’s pet and I need to be kept.”

He had put up a token resistance, just enough to make it seem realistic. Then, he had given in, and the man’s ego explained the swiftness as evidence of his manipulative skill. Funny, really.

“Good, sweetheart, very good,” Alistair crooned, moving his hand to slide down Ellis’s cheek. Ellis, watching through Alistair’s own eyes, was prepared not to flinch, to lean into the touch as the rules demanded. “Let’s get you out of this cupboard, hm? You’ve been such a quick learner, darling.”

Ellis smiled, measuring the strength of it carefully, watching as it lifted the fading bruise on his cheek. “Thank you, Master.”

“Shh, shh.” The hands moved to undo his restraints, arms and then legs. “Here, poor thing. You must be stiff.”

He was. The relief of being helped to his feet was real. The panic at his legs collapsing was instinctive. He grabbed onto Alistair, and felt strong arms loop around him, catching him partway down and then hoisting him up into a carry.

The man was a good hugger, Ellis had to give him that. He settled into the hold, tucking his face into the crook of Alistair’s neck, and thought about where in the house he could go, to escape.

-

The keys to the doors and windows were kept in Alistair’s trouser pocket. At night, the keys were locked inside his wardrobe. The key to that went under Alistair’s pillow. Alistair was a light sleeper.

There were knives in the kitchen, and the drawer they were kept in was also locked. The key to that was kept with the door and window keys.

The windows were screened almost all over by lace privacy curtains. Even if he moved those, the street at the front of the house was rarely passed, and nobody would worry about a face in a high window looking out.

When Alistair went out in the daytime, he took the keys with him. When he went out at night, leaving his sweet pet on the bedroom rug to sleep, Ellis was locked in the bedroom, and the keys were taken out.

There were phones in the hallway and the office. He was never allowed into the office. The key to the office was on the ring too.

The hallway phone had a pass code. Alistair never used it, and Ellis never found the pass code. He tried to reset the phone, but that didn’t work either. It was connected to the one in the office, and he couldn’t reset both.

That was his first mistake. He didn’t find out until later, when Alistair came home and rang the little bell he had taught Ellis to respond to. Ellis arrived in the living room to see him smoking, and looking displeased, and went to his knees at the man’s feet and waited.

This was going to hurt.

Alistair enjoyed his smoke for a little longer, and then leaned down, and pulled Ellis’s left hand up onto his lap. Along his wrist and spiralling down were cigarette burns from violations of the twelve rules he’d demanded of his captive. Ellis was good at ignoring pain even without his power to take him out of his body, but these moments were difficult for another reason. He had to pretend.

“Rule seven,” Alistair said, pressing the tip into Ellis’s inner forearm, searing the thin skin with an audible hiss. His voice was always calm.

Pain bludgeoned against his nerves. He didn’t have to fake the tremble in his voice. “I-I must always ask Master for permission. Thank you, Master.”

The cigarette was put aside. Ellis looked up, searching for the warmth that always came after the disappointment, that told him he was forgiven.

Nothing. A hard stare. Ellis dropped his gaze and watched himself through Alistair’s eyes, making sure he looked sad and scared and sweet.

The moment dragged on, as pain beat at his focus. The heat in his arm spread all the way to his fingertips, and throbbed in time with his pulse, a drum against his skull. Ellis waited, listening to his breathing, the man’s breathing, and the heartbeat in his ears.

“You don’t touch the phone,” Alistair said.

Cameras. Of course there were cameras. How could he have missed it? “Yes, Master.”

“Perhaps I got ahead of myself,” Alistair murmured, slipping a hand through Ellis’s hair. Ellis leaned into the touch immediately, knowing it was what he had to do. “I wanted you to be good, darling. I gave you the benefit of the doubt.”

He didn’t speak. Rule five. If Alistair didn’t like him, he would know what to do to fix it. But Alistair did, liked him so much he wanted to keep Ellis in his house like a goldfish in a bowl. Ellis didn’t know how to fix that. Yet.

“No matter,” Alistair sighed. “I’m sure you’ve worked out by now that there is no way out of here. You’re mine, precious thing. And believe me, you’ll learn. In time.”

-

When Ellis finally met Harvey, he was ready.

You should see him, Harv. He’s just precious. Took to it like a fish to water, adores me, does everything I tell him. He only tried to escape once.

Really? Well, you really know how to pick ‘em.

He was wearing pyjamas. Nothing special, he was always wearing pyjamas. But today he had the sleeves down over his hands, the collar askew to show his marks, and a little hair over his face to complete the picture. Shy, sweet, pretty thing.

What a pretty picture. Those marks, you made them?

Of course.

Sick bastard, you are, Harvey had commented, intrigue hanging on his words.

He knocked lightly on the door, leaning into the doorframe as though he were nervous. He had every right to be, really, given what he’d seen of Harvey through his captor’s eyes. The nerves were as easy to ignore as everything else, though. Ellis had spent months here, playing the part required of him, waiting for his chance. His pain, his fear, his shame, his devotion – all were held under the water.

He had a new part to play.

I’d like a little fun with him. You owe me.

...Just don’t break him, Harvey.

He opened the door, five foot nine of muscle and smile. Ellis had never seen Harvey without a smile, through all of his observation. Green eyes looked up to his, and then raked down again, and Harvey stepped back.

Ellis peeled away from the doorframe and moved inside. There would be no cameras here.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Harvey’s arms were around him. Ellis leaned into it absently, letting his tailored instincts take over, leaving his mind free to work. He made the connection to Harvey’s senses instinctively, and allowed the man’s vision to layer over his own.

As he watched, Harvey looked at his scars. He lifted Ellis’s wrist with a hand to stretch them into the light. Ellis stayed lax, pressed against him, head resting on his shoulder as though he were submitting to whatever looks and touches Harvey desired.

“Well now, pretty thing,” Harvey murmured, head tilted down, voice close to Ellis’s ear. “Aren’t you his perfect empty doll?”

Good. There were few people who could see through Ellis, but it had been a long time since he’d had to fool anyone but Alistair. He tipped his head further back, looking up to Harvey’s face so that his wide eyes could be appreciated. Harvey obliged, gaze moving from his scars. “What do you want, Master?” he asked, in a voice as airy and sweet as whipped cream. Delectable. Consumable.

In his second vision, Harvey’s eyes moved to his lips and throat and back to his eyes. Ellis heard his cheeks move into a wider smile. “I like someone who can entertain me.”

It was easy to be inviting, when he knew what Harvey liked. Ellis dragged himself away from the body at his back, and Harvey allowed him to slip free of his arms. He moved slowly towards the bed, hands locked together with the sleeves still hanging low, head dipping to move his hair forwards again. Shyly alluring. Easy to pin and hurt, as Harvey planned.

He turned his back, deliberately. He watched as Harvey darted forwards, sensing a blind spot and seizing the chance.

Ellis sidestepped his arms a fraction before they closed around him. He turned as he did so, facing Harvey again, and smiling for the first time since he’d entered the room.

One eyebrow raised, Harvey looked back with interest bright in his eyes. Ellis smiled at him directly, meeting his gaze, and then stepped forwards again, arms going around Harvey’s neck. He allowed himself to be pulled against the man, and rested his chin on that broad shoulder.

“What do you want, Harvey Crossland?”

There was a brief pause in the hand stroking over his hair. Then it resumed. “You don’t need to worry yourself with that. I’ll take care of getting it.”

“And the feud with Armand?”

Ellis felt muscles tense against him. The stroking stopped. Harvey’s voice softened menacingly, hand rested on the small of his back, holding him in place. “What do you know about that, little one?”

Ellis nuzzled against Harvey’s neck, the way Alistair liked. “I know how to find things out. Even with the way he keeps me here. I know Armand wanted to take over your money laundering. I know he has a history of theft. You hired your oldest friend to investigate whether he was trustworthy, and found that he wasn’t. Now he’s claiming persecution, and you can’t get him to quiet down.”

“He tells you everything.”

“He doesn’t tell me anything.” Ellis smiled, and his expression washed out of feeling on cue: “I’m his perfect empty doll.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to be yours,” he said simply. “I want to do more. I’m a researcher. I want to help.”

“Your Master does his job perfectly well,” Harvey stated, but it wasn’t in a tone to shut him down. There was a spark in his voice. There was desire.

Ellis hummed, tilting his head so his words ghosted against Harvey’s ear. “But I can do it better.”

[aion-rsa]

Future State is the Next Evolution for DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes

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This article contains spoilers for Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1

Never let it be said that Brian Michael Bendis doesn’t know how to keep busy. The prolific writer has had his hands full since coming to DC in 2018. Arriving with much fanfare on both Superman and Action Comics, Bendis also relaunched Young Justice, co-created a new DC mainstay in Naomi, wrote the excellent Batman: Universe, shepherded the Event Leviathan mini, and more. All of these books introduced new characters, re-tooled existing ones (such as aging up young Jonathan Kent to his mid-teens), and set various wheels in motion throughout the DC Universe.

And in the midst of that he also rebooted the team with the largest roster in all of comics, the one that brings with it the most complex web of continuity, the one that requires the most amount of worldbuilding by virtue of its 31st century setting. I am, of course, talking about the Legion of Super-Heroes.

It’s been a little over a year since the launch of Bendis and Ryan Sook’s ongoing Legion of Super-Heroes book, which kicked off in the Superman titles, brought the now Legion-aged Jon Kent along (any good Legion needs a Superboy…it’s the law), showcased some truly spectacular new character designs in Sook’s art (new costumes and regular redesigns for Legionnaires may as well be the law, too) and established what the 31st century of the current DC Universe looks like these days. In true Legion fashion…well, it’s a lot.

The book seemed to reach a stopping point with its twelfth issue, taking a brief hiatus. But not too brief, because as part of DC’s Future State initiative, which offers tantalizing glimpses of the DC Universe to come across the entire line, Bendis returns to the 31st century with the two-part Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes, this time aided and abetted by Riley Rossmo on art. And like Sook before him, Rossmo followed one of those unspoken Legion laws and gave a bunch of the Legionnaires new looks. Great new looks.

But…isn’t Legion of Super-Heroes by its very nature ALREADY a Future State book? Not exactly, and fans of the recent series will find plenty of surprises even as it picks up on story threads from the main series. Oh, and if the roster wasn’t big enough already, there are some Legionnaires you haven’t seen yet, and some fan favorites everyone has been waiting for. Bendis told us all about it…

(This interview has been edited for length)

Den of Geek: Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 kicks off with a time jump from where we last saw the team in Legion of Super-Heroes #12. What can you tell us about that time jump?

Brian Michael Bendis: We were going to do a time jump after the first 12 issues, regardless. That was the plan because it’s in the DNA of Legion where you don’t have to, if you don’t want to, there’s no reason to stay [in one time period]. You don’t have to do monthly, to monthly, to monthly, like you would on Superman or Batman because it’s a shared universe and anything that happens in one book affects all the other books.

Whereas Legion, because it’s a thousand years in the future, you can do five years later. You can jump and bounce around and show the story from different perspectives. So the jump was always on the list of things to do with Legion. And then DC called and said, “Hey, Future State!” And I’m like, “Oh, great. Already in my notes.” It was all already planned. It’s the future, of the future. I liked that, so I leaned into it hard.

The issue isn’t clear about how much of a time jump it is, though.

No. The hint I will give is that it’s not as big of a time jump as people might think, considering the dramatic changes that have happened around them.

Is that time jump, and whatever it is that happened, tied to the “Great Darkness” that was being teased in the latter part of the main run? Or is this a separate event?

It is a separate event, but it doesn’t stop the momentum where they’re headed. They’re concerned that this is The Great Darkness. They’re like, “Oh, this is The Great Darkness. We can deal with it.” And then they go, “Oh, shit. This wasn’t The Great Darkness. This was just a mild case of darkness.” As bad as the event was, there’s something else coming. They live in almost…not fear, but in dread of what this Great Darkness is, how it may manifest itself, and whether they’ll be ready for it when it comes.

It’s funny, when I spoke to you before the launch of the book, I had asked you about the potential to touch on existing Legion stories. At the time, you were like, “No, we don’t want to do that,” and you specifically mentioned The Great Darkness Saga as one where “people know what’s going to happen.” And clearly you’ve found a way around that.

I think when we brought back Secret War or other things at Marvel, you want to find something that fits the label, but elevates. You don’t want to just repeat the beats of something people have already seen. I personally like it when, if you don’t know anything about the history of the Legion, it completely works. But if you know everything about Legion, we’ve got something for you. That’s been my goal from the get go.

You had said that the time jump was already probably going to be baked into the book anyway.

It was. It was like my third note when I was making my notes for Legion. It was like, “oh, and we don’t have to follow a linear timeframe.” We can tell stories from anywhere in this period, even going to prequel stories and then stories that go before they were all gathered as well.

How much of the specifics of that were in place before it became Future State? Was Riley Rossmo on art already on the table? Or did that happen later?

No. I’m very happy to report that Riley was the first name requested, and he immediately said yes. I had worked with Riley on a couple of things. There’s something about his work that very deeply speaks to me. I just was like, I would like to see more Legion with him.

I said, “This is a grand opportunity. Just go nuts.” That’s what you want for someone like Riley, to give him an excuse just to use all his tools and all his imagination. He took it from there.

And the script was really like… sometimes you write scripts, and they’re emotional, and sometimes they almost take on a list of drawing prompts. I was just prompting him to go as crazy as he wanted to go, and I would then take the ideas from there.

How did you settle on which Legionnaires would be part of this? Did Riley have input into that as well?

I 100% said to Riley, “Who do you want to draw?” I do this with anybody I can. If there’s any space in which we can meet. I’m like, “What would you like to draw?” I’ve learned through many years and many collaborations that just asking brings a level of craft and quality to the finished product that everyone gets excited about. When an artist points to something and says, “I want to draw that,” they’re telling you, “I’m going to draw the hell out of it and this is going to be amazing.” So I always try to make it work.

He had a list of characters, some of which I already knew he was going to pick from our past work together. I was able to use most of them. Also, I told him what the hook of the story was, so it was easy to cast. There were some character needs we had, like Saturn Girl, but he had already picked them.

One of my favorite things about the Legion in general, and then particularly about this run of it, it’s always about how the characters evolve and how the costumes get redesigned on a regular basis. This was the first opportunity since Ryan Sook did the designs in the main run for that to happen. Did you discuss any of Riley’s designs beforehand?

I told him “Here’s what’s happened to them, here’s who did it, here’s why, and make your choices. Here’s what’s motivating the character.” And then sometimes he came to me with designs where I went, “Oh, I can write a whole of stuff about that.” So, yeah, it was a nice mix.

It’s nice to see the Duo Damsel change happen.

See, I agree with you and I hated it at the same time. One of my favorite storylines of all time is the Duo Damsel thing. But it’s also like the biggest tragedy in comics to me. It’s like a haunting thing. It’s losing a limb but it’s a whole person. So, I was excited to write it and dreading it at the same time. I knew I would feel it and I knew that Riley would bring a lot to it too.

You’re able to encompass that whole thing in just a couple of panels too. It was really powerful.

Well, if I remember correctly, that’s how they did it back in the day too.

Yeah. It was like, she came back and they’re like, “Wait, you’re alive.” It’s like, “well, kind of…”

Yeah, and no one knows what to say. It’s just so unique, the tragedy.

There’s a lot of characters who appear in this issue. Shadow Lass, Ultra Boy, Brainiac 7, Saturn Girl, Colossal Boy, Chameleon Boy, Cosmic Boy, Timber Wolf, Blok, Duo Damsel, Bouncing Boy, and Element Lad. I rattled off the people that I know for sure because they’re throughout most of the book. And then page eight and nine, there’s this spread and there’s a few Legionnaires that I can’t quite identify. Is that Shrinking Violent and Polar Boy? Who are some of these others?

That’s the Substitute Heroes. Time jumping was number three on my list of Legion notes, but I think the Substitutes was number eight. May I say, hilariously at the announcement of this relaunch of a Legion of Super-Heroes, the first comment was, “Substitute Heroes.” I was like, bring them. We don’t want the Legion, we want the Substitutes. I was excited to bring them in here, and it seemed like a good place. And also, Riley was the right person to infuse them with new energy.

Who’s the guy wearing the Superman crest and the hood?

You will find out next issue. A payoff’s coming.

On page 23, you give Bouncing Boy possibly his most badass moment ever. How long have you been planning that Bouncing Boy moment in your head?

Riley made it the most badass moment ever, I will say. If you really do some pseudo-super-Legion science, he really does add up to be the most powerful Legionnaire. I just thought it was a great way to celebrate that character, which I love.

That panel’s great. I almost want to see it in 3D.

Everyone gets their moment and then every once in a while, just something really special happens in the collaboration and you’re like, yeah, good. I absolutely wanted Bouncing Boy to have that kickass of a moment.

I have one more question about one of the mystery Legionnaires. There’s another great shot, another great spread at the end of the book. There’s a guy who is carrying a laser sword of some kind. I don’t recognize this character.

That’s Ferro Lad and his sword. He has a sword now. I love that design.

There’s one more issue of Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes out in February, but there’s no Legion in DC’s solicitations for March and April.

But there are Legion plans coming. Legion is a hard book to make. There’s 34 lead characters, and we try to shove as many of them on panel as often as possible because that’s one of the best parts of the Legion is the scope of it.

I think you can kind of tell from the jam issues and the fill-ins and the level of quality, attempting to keep it at the highest quality possible, yet still delivering that very special Legion feeling…instead of fill-ins that may not be up to the quality that we were doing, we’ll stop, get a story ready to go, and solicit it when it’s time. There’s more to come.

I know that’s frustrating for some people and some people just want it monthly. I get that, but not all books are created in the same way. It’s art. Even though it’s commercial art, it is art. The pandemic also takes a lot out of the schedule. When we’re ready, we’ll put out more. We’re planning stuff that connects to what’s going on in Justice League as well. Not to connect the two, but that is 100% within what’s happening.

Do you already have your artistic collaborators lined up for the next arc of the book?

Yes.

You’re not going to tell me, are you?

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

No. It’s very, very good news. I’m absolutely delighted, but honestly, I don’t want the person stolen. Sometimes that has happened to me. I don’t mean to be vague, but right now, I don’t want to oversell something that is down the line.

One of the cool things you did in the main run of the book was introduce legacy characters that fans don’t usually associate with the Legion, like Dr. Fate and particularly Gold Lantern. I want to know what kind of feedback you got from fans on those.

Well, I was actually quite delighted. I thought the purists were really going to hit us hard on any additive stuff, but most Legion fans know that almost every run of Legion has had the added characters to the roster.

It gets frustrating only because when there’s been a lot of time in between Legion books, so some of these fan-favorite characters from past runs don’t get as much face time because you’ve introduced Gold Lantern and “oh, Gold Lantern is standing in front of Ferro Lad. We want more Ferro Lad!” Which I understand, so you better make sure Gold Lantern is interesting enough that no one feels slighted because it’s not Shadow Lass. I must say the additions, particularly of Gold Lantern and Dr. Fate and Monster Boy, all seem to go over very well and I was grateful for that.

Our biggest pushback was on redesigning the costumes. That comes with every Legion redo as well. So I pointed that out. But part of it is that some of the biggest fans in the world have already dedicated cosplay, and we messed up their cosplay. This happened in the X-Men too when we redid Magneto’s costume. People were screaming at us. We’re like “Oh, because you bought the helmet. Okay. I’m sorry. I get it.”

But I just don’t think they take away from each other. I just know from Legion past and other franchises I’ve worked on that anything you’re earnestly adding to it is good, even if it’s got pushback in the moment. I live in a world with the things I’ve gotten pushed back on the hardest ended up being huge movie moments that everybody applauded 10 years later. “Good job on creating Ronin!” I’m like, “Really? Where were you when it debuted? Because people were ripping my face off.”

So compared to stuff like that, I think the Legion fans have been just really, really generous and cool about where we’re going. I think they can tell we’re real Legion fans and we’re not messing around, and we’re taking it seriously. Even though you may not agree with every choice we’re making, you see we’re making loving choices.

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is on sale now. We’ll have more from Brian Michael Bendis about his upcoming run on Justice League very soon!

The post Future State is the Next Evolution for DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ceaRTK

[soughtout]

i’m almost me again, she’s almost you ..... ....  i laugh like me again, she laughs like you

Merlin’s beard, what is ( CHO CHANG ) doing out at this hour? For a ( HALF BLOOD ) who is ( 17 ) years old, ( SHE ) really ought to know better. You know, I hear that they’re aligned with ( THE ORDER ), but that could be just a rumor. I do know that ( SHE ) is ( CIS FEMALE ) and a ( RAVENCLAW ) alumni though. They’re very ( RESOLUTE ) and ( KIND ) but also quite ( RUTHLESS ) and ( DISTANT ), which could be why they remind of ( FALLING ASLEEP UNDERNEATH THE STARS, SLOWLY REALIZING THAT THE WORLD HAS NEVER BEEN KIND, A GLIMMER OF HOPE IN THE DARK AND THE WAY YOU ALWAYS SMILE, EVEN THOUGH YOU’VE NEVER FELT MORE ALONE THAN YOU DO RIGHT NOW. ). Some people say they’re the spitting image of ( MING XI ), but I’ve never heard of them. 

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS.

Cho was born in Kinsale, Ireland, to a muggle father and a witch mother. They divorced when Cho was four years old, but remained on amicable terms, for Cho’s sake.

Her parents originally came from China, but they came to the UK during the 1960s as children (along with Cho’s grandparents) due to the economic regression and the famine that took place. Cho has visited her parents’ birth place a couple of times, but she has never lived there herself. Cho’s parents also never met while living in China.

They lived in a small cottage in the middle of the town. Her father was a shopkeeper, selling herbs, antique books and candles to the locals. Her mother was a mediwitch as well as a registered nurse, and tended to both the muggles and the wizards of their little town.

Cho is an only child, technically, but her mother was in the habit of taking in foster kids when Cho was growing up, so their house was always full. Cho considered and considers some of the ones that stuck around for longer periods to be her siblings, and refer to them as her sisters and brothers. If anyone asks if she has any siblings, she will say yes.

She spent a lot of time playing Quidditch growing up, and was always careless, reckless. Bruised knees, scratched skin and black eyes were common occurrences. Cho was always ‘one of the boys’, and was eager to prove herself. Often a little too much. She’d push herself too far, and have to run home to her mother, to get stitched up.

HOGWARTS YEARS.

She shows up at Hogwarts and gets immediately sorted into Ravenclaw. No one in her near vicinity is surprised. It makes sense, and she’s relieved. Cho likes when she can make sense of things, when she can understand. When things add up.

But the truth is, Cho would have done just as well in any other house, like  a true chameleon. 

During her second year at the school, she joined the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, as their seeker. From that moment, she lived and breathed Quidditch. It was her lifeblood, the thing that motivated her. She constantly pushed herself harder than she ought to, and kept ending up in the hospital wing. But she played a good game.

Was very popular while at the school. Cho was known as easy going, and kind. She was sweet-natured, bright, optimistic, always smiling, never went looking for a fight, softness personified. So what if she was slowly becoming a walking, breathing stereotype of a girl? She was all too aware of that, too. But it was a comfortable thing to be ---- well liked, well protected, well looked after. 

She would change, during her fifth year at the school. It would be the best and worst year of her life ---- she’d fall in love, but she would also let other people to destroy her, piece by piece, little by little. 

So, Cedric Diggory was her first love ----- and like all first loves, it was intense, electric. Cho would have done anything for him.

But would never be allowed to. And his death left a hole in her heart, a sliver of ice in her soul. Some of that inherent kindness, that warmth that came so naturally to her, was extinguished that day. 

She went home for the summer, spent most of it in despair. Refused to leave the house. Not even Quidditch excited her, anymore.

But Cho Chang had always been a girl of determination and resolution -- so she picked up the pieces, tried to put herself back together. Went back to the school for the autumn. To find out that everything had changed.

The people who she had thought were her friends, the people who were supposed to have her back, be there for her ( like she had always been, for them ), barely seemed to notice her, anymore. They stopped saving her a seat in the cafeteria. Made plans without inviting her. Whispered behind her back ( ‘ why is she still crying, like all the time? ‘ ). Pretended not to see her when she waved at them from across the room. A few people remained in her corner, but her former girl gang (most likely NPCs) wanted little to do with her, now that she was such a downer.

So Cho sought comfort elsewhere. Tried to find new friends. Buried herself in books. Wondered where the hell her popularity went. 

So she entered a relationship with Harry Potter. Her feelings for him were chaotic, tumultuous. Unsorted. Throughout their short relationship, her feelings were clouded by guilt, by sadness, by the way other people whispered behind her back, confirming all her worst fears. 

Mostly, Cho just longed for closeness, for comfort. For hope. 

During her sixth year at the school, her grades and her Quidditch performance suffered terribly. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t concentrate. But she pulled through, by the skin of her teeth. 

She still joined Dumbledore’s Army, mostly for Cedric’s sake. And in the room of requirements, she found some of that hope she had been looking for, so desperately !!!!! She came alive again, little by little.

But then someone who had remained loyal to her, throughout everything, was thrown out. And everything was turned on its head once again.

So she came back for her seventh year, right? At this point, she was kind of bitter, and less trustful of people. She kept everyone at an arm’s length. She no longer cried, no longer woke up screaming from nightmares. So her old friends let her back in, as if nothing ever happened. As if Cho could ever forget, what they did to her.

That year, Cho was mostly just fueled by a silent rage. She had never played Quidditch as well as she did that year, and she had never been quite as ruthless on the court ( or off the court, for that matter.... ) as she was then.

She had learned something about loyalty the year before. It’s earned. So Cho didn’t feel particularly bad about backstabbing several of her classmates, that year. If they’re cheating on their exams, that’s hardly her fault. Or if she just happened to know who’s cheating on who, and somehow just happened to have that leaked to someone she knew couldn’t keep their mouths shut. But who would suspect Cho? She had always been a shoulder to cry on, a sweet voice, a warm hug.

Was kind of.... fucked up..... by the way she was frozen out during her sixth year at the school. Refused to cry at anything. Was always smiling and laughing, trying to emulate the old Cho, the trope that she had once been unable to shake, but was now desperate for the comfort of. 

AFTER HOGWARTS.

Cho graduated with good grades and with talent scouts from two major Quidditch teams showing interest in her and her talents. So on graduation day, she signed with Tutshill Tornadoes, and became their new aspiring seeker.

She moved into a flat in London and adopted two cats and a toad.

Spends a lot of time painting, and probably isn’t particularly good at it, but she finds it peaceful. It quiets her mind, makes her less tense.

Joined The Order on a whim. It’s not really the type of thing one should do on a whim, of course. But Cho has always had a bleeding heart, one that’s made of gold, and as the war became more and more imminent, Cho could hardly sit by and do nothing. So despite her reluctance towards using violence, Cho is now a member of The Order. 

PERSONALITY / PERSONAL STUFF.

Let’s talk about the duality of Cho Chang !!!! On one hand, she is so so soft, so sweet, so kind. One of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. But then there’s the other side, that probably shouldn’t be there. The determination that had once been selfless has been poisoned, become entirely selfish, entirely self serving. Cut throat. Ruthless. She has been thrown under the bus enough times to know how to do it right.

On the one hand, Cho is loyal to a fault. The ride or die kind of loyal. The would die for you if you asked me to, kind of loyal. But only if you return the favor. If not, she’s fickle. 

Knows that she has a pretty face and a sweet demeanor, and isn’t afraid to use it to get what she wants. 

Kind of in the bad habit of keeping people at an arm’s length these days. Reveals little information about herself that’s of any real importance and is always questioning other people and their motives, even if she technically knows, deep down, that she can trust them. A seed of distrust is rooted deeply within her.

So so brave, but also so so tired of having to be !!!

Has never killed anyone and suspects that it would ruin her, if she had to. Cho always tries to disarm, disarm, disarm. 

Her patronus is a swan and I love that for her !!!!!!

Hasn’t cried in almost a year !!!!! Just can’t !!!! Do it !!!!

Bad at visiting her parents but thinks of them a lot and sends them weekly owls !!!

Feels the most alive when she’s up in the skies, flying.

Would fight a man for her friends.

Mostly finds comfort in books and art. Finds equal comfort in poetry and pretty words as she does in facts and knowledge.

Very bisexual !!!!! Has also found that she prefers girls to boys, these days.

Kind of sarcastic? 

Pitch black humor. Gallow’s humor always.

Speaks with a slight Irish accent !!

CHARACTER INSPO.

sansa stark, izzie stevens, meredith grey, every song written by hozier tbh, taryn duarte, willow rosenberg, queenie goldstein, elena gilbert. 

SOME CONNECTIONS ( i’ll elaborate on this tomorrow ).

a roommate !!!!!

quidditch rivals???

old quidditch team mates!!!

a couple of best friends !!

ex girlfriends !!!

enemies !!!

ex friends !!!

[jolie-auletta]

Lose Yourself, To Find Yourself.

So, I had the honour of being part of an international women’s day seminar yesterday. Hosted by the beautiful Gaia Rose, at her annual awakened woman gathering.

Part of a 7 woman strong team, I made my first public speech.

Stood in front of 50 women I didn’t know, I spoke about something that had impacted my life. How I fully and completely lost myself, but found my true self by doing so.

So here goes;

When I first found out I was going to be speaking today, I was an anxiety ridden mess, I was almost automatically filled with all kinds of insecurities. What if my story isnt as exciting as everybody elses. What if people judge me. What if I dont even inspire any one?

And as normal as that thought process is for someone who has never spoken in public before, it isnt actually very logical.

While I was writing this speech I sent it over to my friend to read over and I told her I felt somewhat guilty for mentioning someone from my past.

I am literally about to say things to a room of strangers that I've never even said a loud before!

But that's when it hit me, I want to be part of teaching our daughters and the next generation of women to not be afraid of simply speaking the truth!

I was always an intelligent kid. I taught myself how to speak other languages, play musical instruments, top of the class.. so I should have been a grade A student, gone to uni and I could have been living 'the dream' right now.

I know that the dream is just perspective. The dream is what you make it. But what I’m trying to say, is I could have had a smooth and easy life, if things had been different.

I don't dwell on that though, devine alignment is something I speak of often. All that is meant to be, will be.

My secondary school days were awful. I started later than I should have, so perhaps that had something to do with it? I don't know. But I felt like I was just always having to try harder than normal, just to make friends. Constantly seeking approval from my peers, constantly trying to be ‘one of them’.

What I've realised it comes down to, is I've just never had good social skills. Which no body believes when I tell them because I come across so confident and eccentric!

But honestly I'm what I like to call a social chameleon. I can blend in with any group, but it's all down to analysis of behaviours and mimicking. In a sense it's just acting.

And that's what school was like for me, I shuffled between groups, making friends then falling out with them over things I just didn't understand at the time

It's like I just didn't know how to integrate with people , or be myself.

So along with feeling like I has no real friends.. I was actually bullied too. The entire time.

I remember having to leave school early just to avoid confrontation. The worst part is, I didn't tell a soul I until I was 25? So a whole 10 years went by without even telling my own mum that I was bullied!

That's something I really regret now. Because I believe it all stems from there and if I had reached out to someone, it could have all been different.

Anyway, the last year of school rolled round and I'm obviously so happy to leave!

But then this fear kicked in. What if I get bullied again!?

So I had an ingenius plan. (in hindsight this was not an ingenius plan at all)

I firstly completely went off radar. I chose a college in a new area, where no one would know me and heres the ingenius part. I made a new personality. Who is the most unbullyable person, I thought? All my previous bullies where quite 'rude girl' personas, so thats when i pieced everything together and decided who I’d be.

And it worked. No one picked on me and I was actually popular.

The mask was working, but that’s all it was, a mask.

I was still constantly seeking approval from people, always trying to be what I thought other people thought was cool, not what I actually thought was cool.

About 8 years ago, i was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and BPD. I was on medication but I took myself off of them when I fell pregnant. I did see a psychiatrist for a number of years, but I'm due to have another evaluation because I tick a lot of the boxes for autism!

This was literally a lightbulb moment! When I found out I could be on the spectrum- everything in my life made sense. And it turns out its really common for women with autism to go under the radar, or be diagnosed with depression, anxiety or bipolar/bpd like I was, and that's it, autism isn't even considered.

I am quite obviously high functioning, but every day scenarios like dealing with my emotions, sensory predicaments and simple socialising are a daily battle for me.

I have done A LOT of self healing and I have made a lot of progress, but I have come to the conclusion that whether I'm one, none, or all of the above , I just don't fit in a box and that's okay!!

I found my release in music, it was a coping mechanism, a world to get lost in.

But this leads me onto the second part of my story. During my music years, I met someone who would change my life.

A narccissist.

As i said before i do believe everything happens in devine order and its all lead me to where I am today. And I don't even hold a grudge towards this person. What's done is done.

And we were actually friends for a long while before getting together, we were best friends in fact, I can't even fault the friendship.

But the relationship was TOXIC!

The mental abuse was off the scale. And he also introduced me to cocaine. Now, in the beginning, it was all fun and games. Parties, recreational and I had no responsibilities in life so I thought why the hell not.

But it became more than that. He got me involved in not only taking it, but selling it too.

The entire relationship became based on that.

And ultimately it was detrimental to my soul.

I didnt even recognise myself. My family didn’t recognise me. It was like I had all these layers of personality I had invented to hide behind, but I couldn’t even remember who I was underneath it all!

I became more and more involved in this crazy lifestyle, so much so I ended up in prison because of it.

Honestly I look back and just think, how could I be so STUPID. It took me so long to admit that I was in a controlling and abusive relationship.

This guy had a hold on me. The kind of hold only a narccissist can have.

This wasnt some teenage crush where i 'loved' him so much and I'd do anything for him. I was a crushed soul, bowing down to a dictator.

I did what he wanted, when he wanted. I didn’t even exist. It was all about him.

My mental state was in pieces.

Im honestly so embarrased to tell people Ive been to jail. I mean even saying the word jail. It makes me cringe. I rarely tell people. There are family members that don’t even know!

But that prison freed me. From the jail that was my own body.

Its almost heartbreaking to think of myself all alone in a cell, no friends or family , but I had time to be on my own. With ME! The actual me, not the me I had been playing the part of for the last god knows how many years.

I honestly remember the day the penny dropped, it was when I put my nose ring back in. It sounds so crazy, but when I put it back in, all the pieces of me started to sort of fall into place too. I wore the clothes I wanted. I wore my hair how I wanted and I was starting to love being me again.

The mask was off! I existed again! And that was a beautiful feeling!

I can’t believe I’d kept up this charade for so many years! I should have been an actress, seriously 😂

So fast forward to today, I have a daughter, My Isabella Amethyst. I honestly love her more than I ever thought was even possible and she has played a major role in me becoming the person I am today, because she deserves me at my best and no less.

Another point to make is… As some one who was too foreign for the white folk; yet too white to be black… my whole life I had never fit in to a ‘group’.

I started researching my ancestral heritage and had a deep spiritual connection with the Italian and Spanish parts of my DNA. I even discovered I had Amerindian and oceanic DNA. Which was amazing and even more soul grabbing for me, it gave me a sense of belonging.

A lot of people say wow jode, you've changed so much!

But i am now, who I actually was before I was pressured in to believing I wasn't good enough as myself! Before I invented a new me, just to fit in with everyone else!

So along with becoming a parent, Ive managed to start my own holistic business too!

I do everything I love now, everything that makes my soul happy. I say yes to my intuition and say no to anything that doesn't serve me. We as women have to learn put ourselves first! We have to learn to trust ourselves, love ourselves and actually learn to be a bit selfish!

Life has given me some lemons, as they say. My world was incredibly sour at times and I have found my self in the darkest of corners, alone. But as clische as it is, after the darkness comes light.

I can wholeheartedly say that although I may not be 'living the dream' I could have been, if I had chosen all the 'right' paths in life, I am infact HAPPY. My soul is content and I am ME.

No matter what any of us have been through in life, we not only grow through it, we can flurish beyond it. These awful things happen to us, but they do not define us.

Sometimes we just have to lose ourselves, to find ourselves.

[galivantingg]

Behind Those Eyes

Chapter 9

I was at a weird point in my life. Through the haze of midterms I registered the date and suddenly all my actions became more and more sluggish. Aella died last year. Exactly a year ago. The first few months after had passed in a haze of tears and starvation, then the light at the end of the tunnel: Legion. He picked me up and helped me find myself again. I owed him so much.

"Cammie," Jay said quietly, dropping her textbook on the desk next to mine. Oh boy.

"Jay," I spoke steadily, but don't let that fool you. I was more then definitely screaming very loudly in my head.

She huffed a little, then spoke. "Why didn't you tell me," she couldn't even look at me.

"I'll explain at the cave, there's a lot I need to tell you, but I am sorry I kept this from you. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how. I've been keeping these secrets for so long, it's hard to share them." I looked over at her, gauging her reaction. She nodded once, then flipped open her textbook. At least she was sitting next to me.

Our teacher walked in and pulled down the screen projector, much to the confusion of his students. "The principle pissed me off at yesterday's meeting and since we're so close to winter break, we're watching a movie!"

I love this class.

. . .

We weren't as lucky in our other classes.

By the end of the day, I had decided that not only did Jay need the truth, Quinn and Roan needed truth too. Which meant revealing Kiki and Penny. I had also decided that even though my teachers had assigned our midterm projects, I can risk not handing them in until at least early February. I had other things to think about. Like Christmas. And my inevitable mental break down.

Jay had to walk her dogs first, but then she would meet me at the cave. That gave me time to prepare what I was going to say, and let Kiki and Penny in on our little truth fest. I chewed on gummy worms anxiously, better than chewing my thumb. At exactly 4:43 (she was late), Jay walked into the living room to see Quinn, Roan and I sitting on the couch. I tried a smile but my heart wasn't in it. I was just full of nerves, I didn't want to do this.

I hate talking about myself. I hate letting people in. I didn't even like how well Legion knew me. Maybe I've always been this way, maybe it's because of what happened to my family, or to Aella. Maybe it's because of the Director, lying to me, prying at my cracks, trying to take advantage of a young child. Once again, it seems to be a theme, the mood felt sombre. Jay walked over and sat next to Quinn, expressionless. I cleared my throat, thinking of what I had rehearsed.

"So before I tell you guys everything, there's two other people who want to join in, if that's okay?" Nods around the room. I called out and Kiki and Penny came into the room, sitting near me. At least I had their support for sure. They slowly pulled off their masks, almost in sync (that's a little scary) to reveal two faces that we were all familiar with.

"Huh," Jay said, looking thoroughly stumped.

"Okay this is so not fair," Quinn said, looking just a tiny bit mad. "So you think it's okay to keep who you are secret, but you get to know who we are?" He has a point.

"Quinn," Penny tried.

"No," He shut her down. He took a deep breath, composing himself, before speaking again. "I'm here to find out the truth from Nessa, then I'll decided whether I want to hear from you two." I found that a little harsh, but then again so was recruiting one of your best friends and not telling him that you understood what he was going through. Becoming a hero wasn't easy, it was so hard. The amount of stress we put our bodies through, the amount of stress we put our minds through. No salary can make up for it, but it can ensure some things. Like they'll get the best healthcare, and they will be honoured by everyone.

Everyone who knew.

"Okay," I said, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen. All eyes turned to me. "I guess I should start talking." I cleared my throat again, wishing I had washed down the gummies with water. Too late now. "I'm Nessa, and I've been Chameleon for 10 years. I was stuck by lightning when I was young, and it killed," I paused, trying not to choke on my words. "It killed my entire family. I was visited by the Director a few years later, and that's how the Agency started. I didn't have a home, so I lived in the cave, and spent my time testing my powers."

I clasped my hands together tightly, and felt a hand squeeze my shoulder. "Two years later, Waya, Aella and Swallow were inducted. The big three. You all know what happened to Swallow." The Director hadn't made the announcement, Waya and Aella had. One of the many reasons I dislike that man. "Aella and Waya took me in, we were like a little family. Then the Last Battle," I did choke on my words here. It was still too fresh.

"I'm sorry," I sniffled rubbing my face. "The Last Battle, Aella died, and I didn't know what to do. That's why Chameleon disappeared for months, and that's why Nessa wasn't at school the first few months."

"Ness," I heard someone say. I couldn't tell their voices apart anymore. I could barely hear anything. I couldn't see anything. Sobs wracked my body, and I felt arms loop around me, cocooning me in a sea of support and love. We stayed like that for seconds or minutes or hours until my cries faded. Everyone pulled away slowly, leaving lingering squeezes.

"I should have told you, there's no excuse for it." I said.

"Nessa," Jay began. "I'm still miffed you didn't tell us, and I'm sure the others are too, but we can understand why you didn't. Was it the right choice? No, but it was the choice you made, and you're making a choice right now. Thank you for telling all of us this, I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must've been to not only go through that but to live a lie. You don't have to lie to us anymore, I promise." She reached over and rubbed my arm, looking right at me while speaking.

It was like I could breathe again. This enormous weight was lifted off my chest, the ropes around my lungs were loosened, my head didn't feel as heavy. I started to feel truly happy again, like everything was going to be okay.

So of course something has to ruin that peace.

All six of us look up as the alarm goes off, listening for the computer to tell us the situation. "Mime and Peculiar spotted, twenty kilometres south of our location. Hired hand count, thirty. Threat level, eight. Backup required." Well that sounds fun.

I stood up, roughly brushing away my tears, the familiar anger building up inside of me. "Let's go get them."

. . .

It was chaos.

When me and Mo got there, the others either trailing behind or staying back at the cave, we spotted Waya and Legion making their way through the wall of muscle standing between us and the two villains. My eyes threatened to go out of focus with rage, and I bit back a scream. I dropped Geronimo off near Waya and Legion, and took off towards the back off the pack, flying above their reach.

I heard the telltale sound of Houdini appearing and glanced back to see her standing with Starbright, Met and Pluto. Good, I didn't have the willpower to stay away from Mime much longer. I focused back on my target circled twice, and dropped right down behind them. They were jumping up and down slightly, apparently looking for something, or someone.

"Hey there," I snarled. They turned around, shock registering on their faces. I grabbed Peculiar and took off into the sky, throwing her as far forward as possible. Phoenix swooped down and barely caught him, the two of them slowly falling to the ground, landing almost on top of Rellik. Whoops.

I dove back towards Mime, who was now slinking backwards, trying to disappear into the crowd. "Oh no you don't!" I yelled, reaching out for her collar. I latched on and pulled her up into the sky, taking off towards the river. The exact river where she had killed Aella last year. Let's hope Mime dies this time. I set her down with her toes barely touching the edge of the cliff.

"Cammie, no!" I heard Waya's voice behind me. I knew he was coming towards us, but I didn't dare take my eyes off this villain.

"Yeah Cammie, no!" Mime repeated in her high pitched voice. I shook her collar again, watching as she scrambled to find footing on the ledge.

"You," I breathed, feeling Waya come up behind me. Risking a glance I saw his eyes hard with rage and his posture tight. He may not want me killing Mime, but he's fine if she sweats a bit first. "You killed her," My voice was rigid with rage. "You killed my best friend."

She tilted her head all the way to the side. "Which one was that again?"

I screamed in her face, shaking her again. Her cold laughter rang out loud and clear, and it was then I registered the lack of fighting happening behind me. I watched Mime's eyes trail across a line, meaning the others were there.

Funny, everyone who was there last year was here again.

"You know her! She was my best friend and you killed her." I bit out, my eyes blurring either with rage or tears. I couldn't tell at this point.

She just laughed again. "Splash!" she shouted, rubbing it in my face. "Poor little Cammie, no more best friend for her!"

My throat was raw from screaming but I did it again anyway. All I could do was scream. Scream and fly. I pushed up off the ground, holding Mime tightly in my hands. "Splash," I whispered, loosening my grip. "No more Mime."

I let her go, my wings beating as she fell and fell and fell, all the way down, until she wasn't falling anymore. Instead, she was floating. Floating. Hovering. At a complete standstill in the air, waving up at me. That's a new one.

"Hey Cam," I heard behind me.

I whirled around, seeing a woman in a red suit, floating in the air behind me. A woman in a red suit, with long brown hair and green green eyes. Oh so familiar long brown hair and green green eyes. Oh so very familiar.

"Martha?" I choked out. This couldn't be happening. No. She wasn't real. Mime was dead and so was Martha.

And suddenly I was the one who was falling falling falling, staring at my best friend, floating in the sky like an angel, a ring or red surrounding her. She looked beautiful.

Then darkness.

[medicalmarijuana-news]

High Horoscopes | February 2017

Now monthly: The HIGH TIMES astrological forecast, complete with strain recommendations!

Ask Aelie anything! Find her on Facebook and Twitter.

ARIES

White is the color of raw cotton, the hair of our grandparents, soft kittens that bounce on toilet paper and Casper the ghost. It is crisp linens, a flag of surrender, racist pointy hats and robes, clouds, and snow. It is the absence of color and yet it contains all colors. It is heavy with implications in society, politics, mythology, psychology and art. It is lighter than air. White is complex, as are you. There is no way through this month without blinding yourself in the bright light of revelation. A woke moment is upon you. Keep a grip on yourself during this time or the white you see could be from the padded cells of a hopefully symbolic sanatorium. Strain recommendation: Green Crack

TAURUS

Brown is the color of hair, eyes, skin, fur, and Mother Earth. It is natural things like tree bark and poop. So much of our living world is brown. It is comforting, organic and wholesome. It is real. It is your color this month. You are incapable of fakeness right now.  You are so you: all over the place, all over your face, inescapably you. Some like it; some don’t. No matter: keep your chin up and get on with the business of doing you, to-the-max. And there is a lot to do. People need telling off, others need inspiring. You’ve been procrastinating but now’s the time to make your mark. You will be heard, believe me. Strain recommendation: Super Blue Dream

GEMINI

Pink is the color of little animal noses, party dresses, cotton candy, some people’s lips, genitalia and skin, a rare steak, a monkey’s butt, a flower. It is sensitive and raw, much like you are this month. Careful not to upset the pinkness of you, your friends and family are walking on eggshells. You are not the strong pink of the women’s march knitted pussy hat: you are the easily offended and hurt by everything light pink of a scraped knee. I send many pink candy hearts your way in hopes that some compassion will ease the sting of this month, but I also offer you a pink ribbon to remind you that many have it much harder than you right now. Strain recommendation: White Rhino

CANCER

Black is the color of hair, of fur, of skin and the night. It is the stuff of myths. It’s powerful and clean, containing all and consuming everything. Like white, it can represent almost anything to anyone, from mourning to fashion, from outer space to the sacred place behind our closed eyes. It holds all colors and is the absolute absence of it. It is taken seriously. You wear the color black on your soul this month. You are everything and nothing. You are the ALL. Rarely are you more capable of achieving what you desire. You have the strength and gravitas to make big things happen. Pick your direction, and GO, GO, GO. Strain recommendation: Tangerine Haze

LEO

Yellow is more than the color of Donovan’s true love’s hair. It is the sun, the moon, the stars and cake. It’s Big Bird and buttercups, jaundice and pee. Most yellow things are as frivolous and carefree as a Tweety Pie eating a banana. Your yellow month has arrived, and I encourage you to make the most of it. Be silly. Speak in nothing more than dad jokes and limericks. Give no fucks. Everything must slide like water off a rubber ducky’s back. You will be forgiven for peeing in the pool because you can’t help it: the cosmos have nothing serious planned for you at all. If something heavy does come down on you, put on your yellow rain coat and take it with a spoonful of golden honey. Strain recommendation: Honey Bananas

VIRGO

Green: nature abounds with vibrant shades of it. Verdant fresh cut grass: that is your smell this month. Spring forward, fresh and awake to all possibility. A brand new mindset is upon you, clean and unjaded. Beware however, green is also the color of gangrene, rot and infection. Keep your health up, take your vitamins and charge forth with the vivacity of a zesty lime. It’s no fun to be that person who refuses to shake hands in cold season, but you’ll have to take the social hit to secure your wellbeing. There is so much to do and this young frog needs to jump! Strain recommendation: Red Headed Stranger

LIBRA

Orange rhymes with nothing and not many things are naturally orange beyond the namesake fruit, pumpkins, some flowers and birds, and those rare freckly-faced beauties. It is a special color because it is somewhat scarce while also being the color of an element central to our survival as a species: Fire. You have an orange aura about you this month. We are, in fact, at the start of the Chinese year of the Rooster; being similarly hued might not be a bad thing. But what does Orange mean to you? Whatever part of you that is absolutely unique is the orange bit, and that’s what’s shining right now. Nurture it, love it, and revel in it.  Be proud to be a ginger! Strain recommendation: Super Silver Haze

SCORPIO

Purple will always be associated with Prince. He, of course, chose it to underscore his Princely name, as it is traditionally the color of the monarchy. I’ve also heard it described as the color of mental instability, dreams, sensuality and pain.  It is somewhat rare in nature though prevalent in objects meant to resemble desirable things: like flavored juice, candies, paintings of sunsets, semi-precious jewels (with the exception of the rare Purple diamond) and hair dye. You can be royal or you can be a reasonable facsimile at a reasonable price. Most people won’t bother to investigate any deeper than what you choose to present on the surface, so either way, it’s your call. Strain recommendation: Blue Dream

SAGITTARIUS

Beige is often knocked as being bland and insipid. Sometimes simple can be good though: it is a staple of a classic wardrobe for example. And beyond fashion, beige fur is a very handy natural camouflage for animals in a desert location. All in all, it is a safe and somewhat boring choice. Some people are beige, as is sand, paper and dry long grasses. If you haven’t guessed, the theme here are things that are mundane; exactly how your month should be���a careful, uneventful, lame month of regular household duties, easy work and a bit of telly before early nights to bed.  You might as well act like you have the stomach flu and only eat weak tea and toast. Take it easy, you need the rest—to heal and to prepare for what’s to come. Strain recommendation: Purple Urkle

CAPRICORN

Blue is the color of almost everything. Ask most people what their favorite color is and they say blue. It’s the stuff of dreams, clear waters and bright skies.  It’s too big to fail; it’s all they said it would be but more; it’s everything but the kitchen sink. It’s overwhelming and calming at the same time. This is your month in a nutshell. Endless streams of paper boats floating on still waters. Hunker down, take it one page at a time, enjoy the breaks, breathe deeply and hug your animals a lot (people are animals too).  By this month’s end you will master the blue, and it will elevate you as reward. Strain recommendation: Blackberry

AQUARIUS

Gray used to be considered depressed, institutional, and monotonous: basically Kafka’s The Trial if it was a color. Then it became the new neutral: accent walls and button down shirts popped up in grays. After that it got kind of cool, like Black’s little sister who’s just old enough to party and is bringing some new Scandinavian friends with her to the museum rave. These days it’s cozy: a fuzzy microfiber blanket and a Weimaraner dog on a rainy day in a beach house. After an eternity as the stalwart color of stalwarts, it has drastically changed personas many times in the last 15 years. What a surprise it has turned out to be. This is your gray time. You are a chameleon, switching up your tactics and tones with the ease of a variety show performer. This should come in handy as you navigate the many worlds you visit this month. Strain recommendation: Panama Red

PISCES

Red is a heavy hitter color—it connotes passion, rage, fear, sex, hell, love, heat, boudoirs and Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and clown noses, fire trucks, cherries, hearts and blood. You are dripping in red, my Pisces friends. So many oohs and aahs to be had this month. How exciting, painful, wonderful and terrifying. Brace yourself, eat well, grab whatever sleep you can: a rollercoaster is picking you up from work and a waterjet is dropping you off. A tidal wave is your shower and a cyclone your hair dryer. It’s elderberries and ackee for breakfast, puffer fish for lunch and Sannakji for dinner! But without the risk there is no chance for reward! Strain recommendation: Agent Orange

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