#did somebody do this cause it was kinda the first connection i'd made but i had to wait for me exam to get over etc.

[freensrcha]

— your name engraved herein

[insertsomthinawesome]

25, 26, 29, 30

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

I actually don't think that's ever happened to me! I had somebody on deviant art once say my artstyle was like theirs. i think that's about it tho? There was somebody here on Tumblr who said my first WOlfwood drawing was like a combo of 98 and Stamp and I was like???? I did not do that on purpose. xD (am honored tho. 98 Wolfwood is a good lad from what I know.) 26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended OOH. THis is another one I feel like I should know but am drawing a blank.

OH I KNOW I KNOW I REMEMBER: THIS PIECE ON DEVIANT ART People kept thinking me giving Reigen black wings meant I thought he was evil when more I was trying to say he was tainted by his own questionable deeds! I totally get why people were thinking that tho xD A very understandable reaction and the title of the piece also used to be "Not What he Seems" So it came off WAAAAY more antagonistic towards Reigen. 29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically Somebody beat you to 29 so I'll copy that answer here: "OOOH. OOH I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD KNOW THIS BUT MY BRAIN IS DRAWING A BLANK. oooh I feel like, I'd have to say Probably Jak & Daxter and Monster Hunter. I LOVE both. But like hmm. I've had very brief periods of times of trying to draw for them or thinking about doing so. But I've never really done so. And with J&D it was SO LONG AGO. They're both very beautiful and inspiring in their own ways. But I don't think either has really ever made me sit down and be inspired artistically??? I think it could totally happen tho." 30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

OOF oh no xD

THIS piece of Albedo From genshin Impact. I was always pretty proud of this!! And I thought it'd do WAY better. SOmtimes it just be like that tho! :D The other one would be THIS This was my first post to tumblr tho, so Honestly I understand why nobody saw it xD Also its in this middling phase I had with art where I was still kinda figuring out a LOT of techniques and stuff (and I've learned a thing or two about fashion design i hope 8/) But honestly I'm still really proud of it? It took a lot of effort and it was a very self indulgent piece that connected with who i was then (loving Undertale) And who I'd been in the past (Loving Blinx, Sonic, and Ratchet and Clank) So there's a lot of like, nostalgic and warm emotions attached to it that make me wish it'd done better. (also cause I HATED doing backgrounds and I put a lot of effort into that one) BUT at least its still special to me!! :D And again these things just happen sometimes. I prefer they be obscure than I force people to like them. And who knows? Maybe somebody will dig them up someday and love them :)

[tacticalcinnamonroll]

Okay, so fun fact.....I actually kinda did this, but in a way that came with a little extra weight on it. Back in 2001, I was so wrecked by a super bad breakup, that I went into therapy over it, and started going into a lot of other, deeper stuff that I figured might have played a factor. The whole time I felt like the therapist was talking to somebody else, and not actually me, because she seemed to be treating every problem I was having like a surface level, almost non-issue. Just incredibly superficial handling of everything. Oh, I just needed to get on internet dating, and then I'll see how many people would just LOVE to date me. She promised my inbox would be full of interest in just a day. Yeah, no. Didn't happen. On her terrible advice, I made accounts on 2 websites. Still talked about how badly I was bullied as a kid for being just WAY too different, how I just couldn't feel genuinely connected to others, like I felt like I was always on the outside of a glass wall looking in at the rest of the world and how hard it was to actually make real friends. All she heard was things I wasn't actually saying. While absolutely nobody contacted me on those sites.

So, then, she just decided (having seen NOTHING of what I'd posted) that I probably had just badmouthed myself on my profile and if I just put my best foot forward, I'd have over a hundred messages right away, like this other patient hers did. Yeah, her other....obviously neurotypical patient. I WAS putting my best foot forward. My best, blatantly autistic foot. At the time it never occurred to me that I was practically what a textbook arguably-female example might be (if they'd bothered to have one) of a form of autism that used to go under the name of the Nazi who was actually trying to find out where the line was between the kind of autism that could be exploited for labor and the kind that was put in the death camps. Why would it? It was 2001. I didn't know shit.

My concept of everything was also being rocked by thinking that therapy was supposed to be talking about all the DEEP stuff. The trauma, the not fitting in, the massive self-esteem issues, the futility of platitudes, and the unshakable sense that there was something profoundly different about me that made that glass wall the rest of the world is behind soundproof, too. And not in that trite, "I'm not like the other girls" way used superficially by a lot of people in the years since. No. this was I Am An Alien Anthropologist And The Mothership Is Dad's Side Of The Family, Also My Gram Clearly Abused Me In Some Kind Of Way - I Need To Talk To Somebody Who Can Take This Very Big Shit Very Big Seriously.

I also didn't know that I could fire a therapist who missed the mark that widely and handled me like the sorority girl who was away from her wealthy family for the first time, experiencing the wider world and just needing the validation of random men on the internet to make all her tiny little worries go away. Which is also a pretty horrific way to handle anybody, 'cause none of that is healthy. I was an adult, with a full-time job, well out of college, and still completely wrecked. I went into DEBT talking to this pair of absolute clownshoes for over 18 months before she decided I was somehow, magically all better. I really wasn't. Nothing real had actually been dealt with, I'd learned nothing, and she was still sure that "finding the right guy" would somehow just magically fix everything else. She was supposed to be the expert, but she just lazed back and resorted to bullshit reality show crap instead of doing her damn job.

The first guy I dated right after seeing her, in 2003 was actually one of the two worst (yeah, the guy who thought he was a vampire/werewolf with psychic powers that he used in order to battle the area's numerous Satanic cults - which he literally thought was happening...comes in third worst). This jerk started out, like they do, seeming like a great guy. But, no. He turned out to be particularly opportunistic and ultimately abusive, but I escaped him because his moves were not very tactically chosen so I was actually able to get away very easily, since he hadn't finished securing control yet. Everything that helped me there was just the power of common sense (because he was making none) and the distance of a telephone call with a good 2 hours of highway between the actual phones. Which allowed me to just hang up on him when it clicked in the middle of a call that he was a complete bastard. And then when he called back seconds later, I picked up the receiver only to slam it right back down on him even louder. No amount of handling him any less rudely was going to work. He was already ramping up on the crap. And moreover, it was pretty safe to do this in my own apartment, to which he had absolutely no keys, and I knew he was too lazy to drive all that way to either yell dumb shit at me or generally be unable to kick my ass from the wrong side of two locked doors.

Fast forward 6 years of vaguely coping, not finding answers, and also dating other guys who seemed right at the start, but always morphed into very much the wrong ones. Including the werewolf/vampire guy. Actually including all the other guys I ever dated. None of that garbage was worth it, and I was just...done. Also, I was still having a lot of trouble figuring out what that glass wall was all about. Finally hit upon something I'd never heard of before, online. Read books, lots of material people with the diagnosis wrote about their experiences. Saved up a lot of money to what I did next, because I knew insurance wouldn't cover it. I'm too old for insurance to cover this, because they only cover kids. As a kid, I was undiagnosable, because the diagnostic criteria didn't exist yet for where I am on the autism spectrum.

I found the state's leading expert in autism, with 9 years of post-doc work in the field. And she had her office just a city bus ride away from me. The waiting room was clearly geared towards children, which figures, because most folks get their diagnoses as kids these days. But, GenX didn't have that benefit. Met her, did the intake paperwork, and she was greatly impressed by how much research I had done. She wasn't used to talking to someone so well informed. Set up a day of testing. And it did take most of the day. It was October of 2009. And I got my answer. It was called "Aspergers Syndrome" then. It's part of Autism Spectrum Disorder now, mercifully. Yay, DSM-V. And, of course, a bit of co-morbid Disthymia, because of course. That tends to come along for the ride when a person spends most of their life undiagnosed with something that big, and treated like a sack of crap for being such a "weirdo."

During the intake, I made sure to mention that therapist I had earlier who I knew had missed the biggest thing about me that lay at the center of my entire way of seeing the world and functioning in a society. And the expert asked me if I'd like her to contact that therapist, to get her view, and if it came to it, to school her. (Yes. School her. Those were her words.) My reply? "OHMYG-D, YES. Yes, please. Take her ass to school!" My despair over that therapist's basic psychotherapy skills was probably not very well veiled.

Anyhoo.

During the review after all the testing and the legwork regarding the perspectives of others during my childhood, when we discussed her conclusions, she filled me in on the conversation she'd had with that therapist. And yeah. She took that woman to SCHOOL. After reviewing my file in-depth with that therapist and going over those notes and whatnot, the expert just slid in a little, "hey, didn't it ever occur to you that a woman describing her lifelong experiences this way might actually be describing...something that sounds an awful lot like autism?" The expert told me there was a long pause on the line before the therapist answered. And then, finally a meek answer, that, no, she'd never considered anything like that. Therapist was advised that it would be a good idea to read up on things like that, and be prepared.

So, I helped in some little way give at least one therapist on the ground a snapshot of what ASD looks like in an arguably female patient. And the state expert who helped me so much let me experience the edification of knowing that I'd been able to make that kind of a difference that could, someday, help somebody like me going forward. And also, a little bit of payback on the supremely unhelpful therapist whose grossly superficial approach to my entire reality is the kind of thing that can cause someone a level of despair that could lead to far less happy outcomes.

This is the power of awareness. And when somebody gets it wrong, they absolutely should be informed - especially if there's somebody higher on the food chain who can deliver it along with a nice dollop of education.

This maybe sounds mean, but I think we should be able to send doctors “hey, you were wrong” letters.

I was misdiagnosed with asthma when I was 12 and took asthma meds daily for seven years, and then it turned out I hadn’t had asthma in the first place; I actually have a different breathing problem. I don’t think the doctor who told me I had asthma (my pediatrician, who I was no longer seeing by that point) ever found out she’d been wrong. (This is one of at least four misdiagnoses in my life, from a variety of doctors, that I can think of off the top of my head.) Similarly, my first therapist told me she didn’t think I was autistic because I wasn’t obsessed with trains. I don’t think she ever found out that I am, in fact, autistic, because I wasn’t seeing her by the time I was diagnosed.

I get that it might be demoralizing to have someone contact you specifically to tell you that you messed up, but I think it would be useful for doctors to have data on how often they misdiagnose patients, especially since some doctors tend to think the patient is generally wrong when attempting self-diagnosis. It would be useful for my former therapist to move me from the mental column of “people who erroneously think they’re autistic” to “people whose autism I did not notice when they were right in front of me.” It would be useful for my pediatrician to realize she needed to look more closely and listen to kids when their breathing symptoms weren’t the classic asthma ones.

Doctors can get on their high horse and refuse to believe patients a lot of the time, and the power dynamic makes that dangerous in plenty of situations. I think it would be helpful to have a way to at least alert doctors when we have proof they messed up.

[blockgamepirate]

Feel free to ignore, if you don't feel like answering! But I'm so interested in your thoughts on the newest Wilbur-stream and what it revealed about his character. I'd love to hear your insights (if you have any particular insights, that is!) Always appreciate your analyses!

Aww thank you!

Tbh I have a lot of thoughts but nothing properly sorted yet. (Also idk how original any of my thoughts are because I’ve barely been reading other people’s thoughts. I’m just kinda dealing with some minor health issues rn, it’s draining all my energy.)

I guess the clearest part is that this confirmed a lot of things about past-Wilbur, that he did in fact lie to Phil (I mean I didn't doubt that but it helps to hear it) and that it likely was because he didn't want Phil to worry/be disappointed in him which is basically what I assumed.

Also that L'Manburg really wasn't as serious for him as he used to imply, although I think part of that might also be that it's been 13 years since he cared about it and being trapped in limbo would probably make anyone re-evaluate their priorities and maybe realise that the specific country wasn't as important as what that country represented for him. Which is a healthy conclusion to come to. I don't think it's all about the re-evaluation though, I've always read Wilbur's relationship to L'Manburg as less noble than what he wanted others to believe. A tool to "stick it to the man" kind of makes sense. What he didn't say explicitly, but what I think was pretty heavily implied, was also that it was a tool to gain power for himself, to benefit from division on the server. (See also the very last scene with Quackity's letter.) He’s an opportunist and L’Manburg was an opportunity for him. I think he did get invested in it along the way, though, I don’t think all of that was fake.

The way he manipulates Tommy is also pretty similar to how he originally got Tommy on board with his potion scheme and later L'Manburg. The difference is that Tommy is much more aware of it this time so we'll see how it goes. Right now he seems to be falling right back to his role as Wilbur’s... idk, sidekick I guess, but he’s also at least somewhat aware of the fact that it’s happening.

Other stuff is more complicated.

I think the most relatable part of Wilbur's character now is just how happy he is to be alive and to meet other people again, which makes a lot of sense. And for all that he made fun of Ranboo, he seems to be starting out trying to have good connections with everyone, he basically apologised or otherwise reconciled with everyone he met, or at least tried to be somewhat diplomatic. I think that's basically him trying to start over and get a sense of where everyone is at right now, for future plans. My guess is that both in character and out of character Wilbur knows that allegiances might be very different this time around. Although he still wants to include Tommy. I'm curious to see whether that's going to happen or not, Tommy is so wary of Wilbur but then again I know the two of them like to stream together so they might actually end up having their characters team up despite everything and hooooo boy....

That said I hope it won't be too much like the Pogtopia arc, I hope Tommy will have a bit more plot agency and not mainly just exist to criticise Wilbur and to try to convince him not to do what he's planning to do. (I was always really disappointed that the Tubbo, Tommy, Niki team up never happened after the Red Festival. IMO it was built up and then it just went nowhere, idk if it had something to do with irl issues or if it just didn't fit the plot outline but in any case it was a missed opportunity.)

Wilbur living with Phil is kinda... I have mixed feelings because I'd love to see them interact more but I'm pretty sure it won't end well and I don't know which bad ending is going to be the one that happens. I just care about Phil's character a lot. And oh god the Syndicate...

I have NO IDEA how Wilbur is supposed to know about the Syndicate and I'm not a fan, honestly. There better be a really good explanation for it because Wilbur didn't just know vaguely that there was some kind of anarchist society that had formed which could be common knowledge what with how unsubtle those nerds are, but he even knew what it was called, which implies that either somebody snitched or there's something weird going on.

I'm kinda worried because I wanted the Syndicate to actually get to have SOME development before it had to face a crisis.

Also damn you Wilbur for that "government" comment, I don't have the spoons to go through those debates again. I don't particularly care what his intent was, it's painful either way.

I guess overall I'm both excited and worried because I do like Wilbur's content and his character (well, except when I don't) and I genuinely love his style of storytelling which was already a huge breath of fresh air, but I hope it won't end up sidelining other plots. Quackity has barely even gotten started and the Egg arc hasn't yet had a full conclusion. I hope they'll all be tied together, rather than just happen awkwardly in parallel. (I know Dream promised plotlines would be tied together but Dream has promised a lot of things that turned out to be misleading, I don't trust him lol)

(I mean I personally don’t even care that much about the Egg plot, it’s really just not my thing, but it’s there and it would just make it even less satisfying if it basically just ended with the Banquet. It was built up as such an existential threat and it really hasn’t been that at all. Something that ominous kinda needed to actually take over the entire server, or at least cause a proper bloodbath, otherwise it just loses its menace.)

I don't know, we'll see. What I'm hoping is that Wilbur's first plan is to break Dream out because that's been a long time coming and would be more interesting than just "Wilbur starts a new scheme with Tommy". I mean he's obviously going to start a new scheme, but I just want the prison break plot first. And I'm guessing now that Wil lives with Phil, Techno might also be involved which would FINALLY resolve the "favour" which has just been hanging in the air for ages, and hopefully also some of the tension between Techno and Dream's characters which goes back even further. And Techno's character, as an anarchist, just should be anti-prison in general.

Idk, like I said, I lots of thoughts, nothing properly sorted yet.

[rewrite-canon]

Fifteen Minutes

Monster Prom // No Pairings // 2609 Words // Lyrics by Mike Krol

“What if I told you that the world was gonna end? And you had fifteen minutes to spend with me or your friends?” Vicky sings, bobbing her head to the tune that seemed to be playing in her head.

“What lame shit are you singing now?” Damien demanded, flicking a finger at her.

“None of your business,” Vicky bristled. “Why do you care anyway?”

I sucked in a breath. Vicky was really pushing it now. I think she is the only one with balls low enough to question Damien. Besides me, obviously. Well, Vera and Brian were plenty badass for it too. But only because Vera had enough brain cells to manipulate the way she said it that it looked like she wasn’t confronting him, and also because Brian gave no fucks whatsoever about Damien’s chaotic behaviour. Even now, I shudder to think of some of the arguments Damien and Brian had had.

And speaking of the devil and his green mates, they were huddled together in a manner that only meant no good. Now, Damien had swivelled around to face Vicky, a sneer on his face. I was sure his eyes would flare in rage at her question (they were always somewhat flared with rage), but instead they narrowed and Damien just frowned.

“Because you're distracting me, Brian and Vera from devising a plan to ransack the new substitute’s office with horny epileptics from hell for when he starts looking at our attendance records,” Damien said, gesturing to Brian, who had looked up blankly, and Vera, who was wearing her trademark scowl.

I should've known. Damien had always had a weird soft spot for Vicky (and Oz and Scott, but everybody had a soft spot for Oz and Scott).

“And steal his things,” Vera added. “I heard ghouls were filthy rich.”

“Great,” Brian rolled his eyes sarcastically at her. “So you're just going to waltz into Mr Devido’s office whilst he's being assaulted by epileptic demons and take your time picking and choosing what's valuable enough for your standards, unaware? Great plan, Vera. I thought you were supposed to be a grand schemer.”

Meanwhile, Vicky went back to humming her little tune. Miranda, who was in the middle of braiding Liam’s hair as he was browsing his phone (a seemingly pure act, if you ignored the fact that he was reading erotic gay smut and she kept rambling on her father’s new murderous conquests), looked up at her and smiled warmly. She soon picked up the few words Vicky sang, and began to sing it too, Liam then unconsciously murmuring them too after a while.

“I am, you ungrateful toad,” Vera snapped in the meantime. “Would you be paying attention to anything else around you if you were being grinded on by demons having seizures?”

Brian seemed to mull it over, then he said, “You’ve got a point.”

Polly, who had her head laid in Oz’s lap (poor Oz was trying to do homework, and ignore the heinous acts his friends were planning to commit) and her feet were resting in Scott’s lap (Scott was just chewing on a football, only to stop, look up, and smile adorably at everybody) and was complaining loudly at how bored and sober she was, and how she hadn't got completely wasted in seven hours.

“Seven hours!” She cried out, either to Oz or Scott, but it might as well of been no one, because no one was really listening. “That's the longest I've ever been without drugs and adrenaline coursing through my undead body! Can you imagine? And it's because I'm hanging out with you borings fuckheads. I mean, I'm literally in the lap of somebody doing fucking homework. I haven't even said the word ‘homework’ in centuries. And I'm not even on Oz’s lap in a sexual way so what even is the fucking point–?”

“–And you had fifteen minutes to spend with me or your friends?”

<!— more —>

“What the fuck are you singing?!” Damien roared at Liam, who jerked in alarm, Miranda, who just grinned evilly, and Vicky, who just rolled her eyes at his drama. “It’s going to make me go insane!”

“More insane than you already are?” I prompted, not being able to help myself.

Damien’s scorching eyes turned to me, and I snickered. He’s so easy to piss off.

“Amira,” he growled at me, “tell Vicky and company to shut the fuck up. They respect you for some reason.”

“It’s because she has really fucking good music taste,” Polly answered for Damien. “Like, it’s seriously good.”

Everyone collectively nodded, and I blushed.

“Wow guys,” I said, feeling this was a good time to talk about Rex Orange County’s new album, “it’s not that–”

“What would you guys do if you had fifteen minutes left in life?” Scott blurted, a troubled (yet absolutely adorable) expression on his face.

“I'd probably try to fuck up the world even more,” Polly said immediately, grinning at the thought. “I think I'd try to burn down everything, spray some secret concoction to get people incredibly horny, watch them get at it as they're burning to death, and I plan to do this all while riding a donkey casually.”

“To be honest, I'd probably try to finish this first and foremost,” Liam said, holding up his phone. Then he smiled goofily. “This shit is good.”

“Would you spend it with me and friends?” Scott said, wide-eyed.

Polly and Liam looked at him, at his vulnerable face, and I knew what they were going to say before they said it.

“Of course!” Polly said enthusiastically. “Yeah, doing all that with you guys would make it even more rad!”

“Yeah,” Liam added, but then blushed in that cute, shy way. “But I don’t know how much you guys would love reading this with me.”

“I’d love doing everything with you both,” Scott grinned, his mood instantly picking up, as Polly choked at the statement. He then turned to look at Damien and Oz.

“How about you two?” Scott queried, and I laughed a bit about how Damien’s face scrunched up as he started to think about. No doubt he was using his maximum brain power.

“To be honest, I’m probably the one who is ending the world,” Damien remarked, and everyone started to nod their heads in agreement. “So, sorry about that in advance.”

“I’d probably have to finish this Monsters' History homework first,” Oz said, gesturing awkwardly at his essay he was writing out, “and then I’d probably straighten up all my debts and then–”

“Oh my Satan, Oz, shut it,” Damien said, massaging his temples, as if Oz’s statement caused him physical harm. “It makes me sad, that you would say that. And it also makes me impeccably annoyed with you. And now I feel hostile.”

“When do you not feel hostile, though?” Vicky and I said at the same time, and then we grin at each other and high five.

Damien glared at us, whilst Oz is quick to defuse the fire.

“Well, sorry Damien, but I'm just being honest,” he said quickly, drawing Damien’s attention to him (which is kinda ballsy, if I do say so myself). “But what I do know,” Oz continued bravely, under Damien's smouldering gaze, “is that I wouldn't mind ending the world with you, Damien.”

It's hilarious, seeing Damien’s naturally red face get even redder, and to see Oz realise what he just said and sputter innocently. Vera, however, is not pleased.

“Oh,” she said, sniffing in jealous offence (that takes me all the willpower I possessed not to burst into giggling fits, and I could see I wasn't the only one struggling there, because Polly was just barely keeping it down), “I see how it is. You would destroy the world with Damien, but not with me, Oz?”

“What? No! Of course I would want to do everything with you–” and then Oz’s voice died and Polly finally lost it, which made me burst as well, and the next thing you know Vicky was also giggling along with us. Even Brian seemed to be smirking.

Vera glared at us, which made Vicky and me shut up, and Brian just lost his amused expression naturally, but Polly was undeterred.

“For the record,” Damien said in a weird, insecure, shy tone that made him sound like an entirely different person. “I don't, you know, mind doing homework or whatever nerdy stuff with you, Oz.”

And now Brian was the one sputtering.

“Oh you fucking snot,” he spat, and both Damien and Oz flinched before they could get any more flustered (watching those two try to interact and connect was the funniest shit ever, everyone agreed). “So when I asked for you to hang out with me when I was doing my homework, do you remember what you told me? You told me to get fucked!”

Was it just me, or did Brian genuinely sound hurt? It must've not only been me, because Scott started to pout and put a gentle (albeit big and hairy) hand on Brian’s shoulder, which at least made Brian relax at his touch a bit (if anyone had the power of friendship at their fingertips, it was Scott). Even Liam looked up, vaguely distraught.

“That was only because you had Liam and Miranda over,” Damien, sniffing indignantly. “And if I went, I knew you wouldn't stop making heart eyes at Miranda, so I blew it off to commit tax fraud with Amira. But if you really wanted me to come, then you should've just, you should've just–”

Damien looked at a loss.

“Told him how you really felt?” Vicky prompted, and Damien snapped his fingers.

“Yes!” He exclaimed. “That.”

“What would you do then, Brian and Vera? If you had fifteen minutes?” Miranda asked this time, her eyes shining with curiosity.

“Spend all the millions I’ve earned to hire a gang and assassinate anyone who had ever crossed me,” Vera said without hesitating. “Then, I shall have them skinned and made into fabulous purses. And then I will sell those purses to earn me even more money, and use that to buy us all really expensive, furnished mansions, with servants and multicultural cuisines and everything, so we can live the rest of our lives in absolute luxury.”

Awww. That was actually quite adorable. Vera cares about our lifestyles too!

“And you plan to do this all in fifteen minutes?” Liam asked, deadpan.

“You'd be surprised at how efficient I am,” Vera sniffed, but I didn't think I'd actually be that surprised.

“Definitely not hang out with Damien,” Brian sniffed sourly after Vera had shared. “I guess try to finish off ransacking the new substitute’s office with horny epileptics with Vera. And then, I don't know. Relax and await my death.”

“Well, that's fucking depressing,” Polly murmured to me. “And I didn't know I was capable of getting depressed.”

I snorted. Was she still astounded about how somber Brian was?

“Wouldn't you still have to hang out with Damien to continue your plan with the horny epileptics, though?” Liam asked.

“Well, yeah, fine,” Brian said, not making eye contact with his demon friend (who was trying to make eye contact with him, and honestly, it was shocking how much Brian and Damien got into their own squabbles). “But I don't have to talk to him. That can be Vera’s job.”

“I'm not being your owl!” Vera hissed at him, and she actually hissed. Her small green snakes on her head did too, showing how much she detested the idea.

“What if you were paid?” Miranda queried, probably just out of curiosity, but Vera’s hissing ceased immediately.

Before Vera could discuss any specifics, Vicky butted in.

“I’ve thought about this one,” she said smugly, and no one was surprised. Number one, Vicky had thought about scenarios for everything. And number two, she probably would've thought of this before if she knew the song beforehand. “I would make it my life's goal to find the tastiest flavour of ice cream in all the dimensions! And once I find that ice cream, I will use a device that I would have Calculester make me, that clones the ice cream! And then I will bring all the ice cream back to this dimension and invite all of you guys over and we can eat the ice cream together!”

Everyone seemed to enjoy that idea, except one frowning ghost.

“Um, hello?” Polly asked, raising a hand and gesturing to herself. “Did you forget about me?”

“Of course not!” Vicky exclaimed emotionally. “Caculester is now working on a device that makes food into incorporeal substance that you can digest, Polly. Because, seriously, it breaks my heart that you can't eat. It really does.”

Polly seemed satisfied enough with that answer.

“How did you get Calculester to do that for you?” I ask.

Vicky winked. “Let's just say I turned on my unwavering charm to that library computer. And he didn't stand a chance.”

“If I had fifteen minutes left, I would want to be coronated,” Miaranda said, poshly. “I would invite you all to my coronation, of course. And then once I am mermaid queen I will throw an amazing national party for all of us to enjoy, whilst forcing my endless numbers of slaves to fight each other to the death for our entertainment! Oh, I can see it all coming together!”

Miranda’s expression turned dreamy, which was cute but also quite disturbing since she was thinking about bloodshed. Damien started to nod in approval, though. He seemed to like the idea. Bloody royals.

“I would want to take all of you to the park, where we can have a picnic, and hold hands, and give each other gifts to show how much we care for one another!” Scott said, his tail wagging happily. “And then we can sing songs and die happy with each other, knowing that we love us!”

Scott was so adorable, everyone looked misty-eyed. Vicky leapt up to wrap her arms around Scott, her affection for him seeming to be too overwhelming for her (Scott didn't complain, though). Brian was smiling, and seemed to forget about his brief argument with Damien, because now they were both grinning at each other. Liam was even beaming.

“Ew,” Vera finally said. “I can't believe you all liked that.” She pointed a finger at Scott. “Say that again and you will give me diabetes. I just hope you know that.”

But we all knew she secretly liked the sodding friendship story Scott came up with.

“What's diabetes?” Scott said, bushy eyebrows creasing.

“How about you, Amira?” Oz piped up, and all eyes were suddenly on me. “You haven't said what you would do.”

I mulled it over for a bit, but then spoke up without there being much mental contest.

“Probably make you all listen to the new Rex Orange County playlist,” I said, and Vicky and Damien sniggered.

“You're so predictable,” Vicky giggled.

“What can I say?” I shrug, breaking into a smile too. “My reputation precedes me.”

We all sit there in contented silence for a bit, just enjoying and treasuring one another.

“There's just one problem,” I said, drawing everyone's attention again. “How would we plan to do all of what we all want to do in fifteen minutes? Seems impossible.”

Brian started to smirk, and then Miranda started to smile, and soon Polly was also grinning.

“We’d figure it out,” Brian said. “I bet we would. We've already done so many impossible things in our weirdass lifetimes.”

I shared a smile with him.

“Yeah,” I said finally. “Fifteen minutes is nothing for us.”