#good job making this meme I shall begin using it as a way of feel of emotion lol

[hauntingmiser]

I love this

I love this eternally

Me: "I swear to God, as soon as you finish your playthrough of Persona 5 Royal, NO ONE in this Discord server will be safe from my Dr. Takuto Maruki memes/fanart/general brainrot." Friend: "I'm afraid." Me:

"You should be."

[mugenmcfugen]

Sort of a rant to myself about... myself I guess?

You could say this is just pure venting piece, but if you don’t mind reading seemingly random rant, be my guest.

Thing that I’m perplexed about for like, past year or two is my inability to start this own personal project. And I’m pretty sure I’m just my anxiety sabotaging me over and over again. And in true fashion of overthinker, I just ruminate at times why I don’t start this project, instead of, you know, just picking up my pencil and starting drawing/writing? 

Am I wrong to have too many questions about my own story/characters/philosophy/setting? At what point do I say ‘’Ok, I’m happy with this storyline, it’s time to start something’’? I guess no one can answer this question for me but me since the answer is different from person to person... At times, I tried not to overthink it *that* hard, and if anything I stopped being harsh on myself for not starting it. One thing that attributes to my current unwillingness  to go at it is my current full-time job, which I really like (and it feels pretty goddamn good not to freelance for once, secure job is secure), but still, I feel like that shouldn’t be reason to keep me from doing it.

I guess what is keeping me back is realization that story I have in mind is kind of a big chunk of bite for someone who didn’t do a lot of comic/manga storytelling... I know I would have it easier if I took on something smaller in scale, something way more simpler, but my mind keeps going back at that first story I have in mind. 

And then there’s insecurity about my art style... which, mind you, I’m well aware that my skill as artists is more than enough to start this. I *know* I have it... and yet, I’m scared of that black and white world. Like, I want to keep it simple, even though there’s no rule in comic book story telling that says ‘’you shall do your comic in this way or you shouldn’t bother with it!!’’, however I’m way too much inspired by manga artists that I wanna give it a go in that classic manga manner. In that aspect, one of people I admire the most in all comic/manga industry is ONE, that guy had the balls size of the Jupiter to just say ‘’fuck it I’m gonna do this’’, and he fucking made it... And I’m gonna sit here and admire him, while I here have over trillion doubts about myself.

And now my eyes go back up trough this wall of text and I’m thinking ‘’Goddamit, I’m not even half way trough the rant’’, and I still have so much on my mind. 

Am I lazy? Am I that scared? Am I victim of my own perfectionistic tendencies? 

I know if I were in my 20ties this  would be way different, 30ties bring its own share of worries and making sure you don’t fail... but I also know this is tad bit of extreme worry and my mind just panicking about project that I barely even touched!

Oh wait, I did start something, but by the time I drew first draft I really didn’t like the beginning of it.

One thing is sure, my brain is trying to use logic to solve brain issue that’s highly unlogical! I feel like that math lady meme.

Maybe I should doodle my rants to break the ice? Lmao.

*Maybe...*

[lunatens]

into the woods

-

requested by anon <3 thank you so so much for your patience!!!!

prompt: "great job genius, you got us lost again"

word count: 0.6k

genre: fluff

pairing: kim seungmin x gn reader

“great job genius, you got us lost again. i thought you said you ‘knew these trails like the back of your hand,’” seungmin says as you pass by the same wonky-looking tree for the...third time? maybe fourth? to be honest, you’ve lost count at this point. you drop yourself onto a rock nearby with a heavy sigh.

“sorry, seungmin, i really thought i remembered the way back!!” you pout.

“what am i going to do with you and your hopeless sense of direction,” seungmin comments, sighing as he rummages through his backpack.

you kick your feet around in the dirt, waiting for seungmin to find whatever it is that he’s looking for. after a long winter, the weather was finally nice enough this weekend for you and your boyfriend to go on a walk in the woods together. the air’s still a little chilly, and you giggle at how cute seungmin’s rosy cheeks and red nose are.

the beginning of your hike was wonderful; taking pictures of each other, walking down the muddy trail hand in hand, enjoying the fresh air and warm spring sun. unfortunately, despite having been to these trails before, you can’t seem to remember the way back to the trailhead. you blame it on getting lost in conversation, although you both know you can’t navigate to save your life, and it’s seungmin’s first time here so he’s not much help either. you can only hope you’ll run into someone else out enjoying the fresh air, or maybe you’ll miraculously stumble your way back.

as seungmin continues to look through his bag for god knows what, you decide to take a quick look at the pictures you’ve taken so far. as you scroll through your phone, you come across a candid of seungmin tripping on a tree root, and you can’t help but giggle at the photo.

“hey seungmin, look at this,” you call your boyfriend over. you shuffle to the side to make room for him to join you on the rock.

“you got that on camera??” he asks in surprise, and you nod as you laugh, zooming into the picture to see his goofy facial expression.

“i’m gonna have to send this to the groupchat,” you say, and seungmin’s eyes widen in horror.

“no!! they’ll make me into a meme and i’ll never live it down,” seungmin whines.

“give me a reason not to send it and i’ll consider it,” you propose.

“...because you love me?” seungmin suggests, leaning into you with a smile.

“i can’t argue with that,” you reply. “i’m really sorry i got us lost, minnie,” you say, feeling a little badly. the sun’s starting to dip below the treeline, and you know you should try and get back sooner rather than later.

“i mean, i got to spend more time with you, so i think it worked out in the end. plus i found this, so we should be able to get back no problem,” seungmin says as he pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket. you examine it, confused at first but then recognizing it as a map of the trail system.

“i completely forgot, i printed this out the other day when you mentioned you wanted to come here; who knew it’d actually come in handy!” he jokes. “let’s get going, shall we?” seungmin gets up from the rock and sticks his hands out to help you up. he keeps one of your hands in his as you walk down the trail, his warm fingers laced in yours making your heart flutter.

“i love you, seungmin,” you say with a content sigh, leaning into him.

“i love you too, even if you can’t tell left from right and up from down,” he jokes, and you think to yourself maybe it’s good to get a little lost once in a while.

[kamari333]

Got tagged by @starsgivemehp for this meme!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

I'll go backwards from last update, if thats okay? First paragraph of each first chapter...

mind the tags and be responsible <3

iNVaDeR FeLL: The Nightmare Begins :: The Irken Empire (which had retained its name even after the shift in management brought about by the events of Operation Impending Doom I) was more alive than it had been in years. Signs replayed message after message redirecting convention-goers how and where to attend the Great Assigning in the Main Convention Hall on Conventia, one of the many planets conquered and repurposed for the good of the Empire. The teleporter ring was blazing almost as brightly as it once did before OID1, only this time, it brought to the surface not Irkens, but Monsters; creatures of every shape and size. They came not only from the 'kingdom' that had overtaken Irk (they called themselves 'Fell'), but those from the 'kingdoms' of conquered worlds as well, which had been expeditiously subjugated in a fashion worthy of the Irken Empire.

How Dance Got a Picture of Lust Covered in Kittens :: "there's sammaches in th' fridge," Red mumbled, feeling the lunchbox lid click shut under his claws. "'r if ya want some'n lighter, there's soup in th' freezer. just gotta nuke it..."

Burlesque Noir :: Lust peeked around the curtain to look out at the crowd, as he had done so many times before the last few days. The speakeasy was full and vibrant and alive as it was every night, as swanky a joint as Grillby could make it and still keep it safe. As packed as it was, however, Lust didn't see any sign of his favorite patron.

It Could be Worse :: Life... Could be worse.

An Anthology of Dreams :: Sans was at his desk, as always, analyzing his latest attempt at a synthetic soul compound. His last two-thousand-and-twenty trials had been devastating failures, but even Dr Gaster was intrigued by his steady progress.

The EMV Anthology :: Red had a love-hate relationship with the holiday season.

An Anthology of Nightmares :: Sans stumbled out of his room just in time to escape. He had no idea what was coming, he only knew his years of fighting for his life underground was screaming that he had to move his bony ass if he wanted to live. Just as he crossed the threshold of his bedroom into the hallway, there was a loud crash. When he looked back, his whole room was gone.

A Growing Future :: Red stumbled out of the house, squinting at the glare of sunrise peaking like a glinting knife over the neighbor's rooftops. The air had a crisp chill to it, made all the more shocking by his lack of a shirt, but he knew it would be overly warm in only a few hours, and there was a lot of work to do.

Kinktober 2020 : Kamari333 Edition :: HI FOLKS! Beyond this point you will find 72.5k words of pure, unadulterated, self indulgent, Undertail-themed SIN, ~57.7k of which was prewritten in September, the rest in October, all written and published for Kinktober2020. This year, due to conflicting schedules, the sin was written in September, to be published on time in October. Please note that there may be plenty of typos, although I will/have since gone back and fixed some of them since I'm garbage and read my own stuff, and this year I have been indulging in the use of my lovely betas!

A Night in the Woods :: Red bit back a curse as he once again had to detangle his phalanges from the flimsy tent material. Stupid-ass cheap plastic bullshit, so thin he could breathe on it wrong and watch it disintegrate, but the packaging said it somehow kept out wind and rain, and that was honestly all he could have asked for. That, and perhaps that the piece of shit stop snagging on his claws every five god damn mother fucking seconds, fuck-

Arum :: The room was pitch black, save for a nearly indiscernible ambiance that glowed low and dim like the twilight right before the true darkness of night. The walls and floor of the room oozed with a viscous substance that stank of fermentation and rubber. At the end of the room, upon a throne of black stone, sat a diminutive figure from whence the slime seemed to originate, itself drenched in it to the point of blackness save for the singular glow of one lavender eyelight, shining like poison in the darkness.

Poignance :: Sans Blueberry pulled on his modified gloves, rolling his shoulders to make sure his makeshift pauldrons were cinched tight enough. The scalemail he wore under his chestplate made a soft noise, not quite the clink of chainmail, but not quite the hiss of cloth or leather either. He fingered at the tiny plates over his torso before pulling his bandanna back on around his neck, grateful to Alphys again for donating her sheds, and Undyne for reinforcing them so they wouldn't turn to dust.

Those Feelings at the Bottom of a Bottle :: Ink carefully managed his supply of emotions, keeping his usual level of orange (excitement) and yellow (happiness) as he made his way back through the house. The crowd of people, with their ever-vivid colors and gold-glittered eyes, made it easy to blend in and keep himself inconspicuous to the ever watchful guardian. It was like a game of hide-and-seek: Ink hid, and Dream looked for anything potentially amiss.

A Skeleton Plague Doctor in Lord Dream's Court :: Falsi woke up from a restful sleep on his examination table, shifting under his thick black blanket (one of the few luxuries he was allowed, usually kept hidden away in his bedroom with all the other small luxuries he had managed to keep, like his collection of skulls, his beast fur pelt, his mask, and the tapes and videos of a more personal nature he had collected over the years). He slid down to the floor, thankful once again for the mercy of a windowless apartment, as he folded his blanket and stumbled into the adjacent room: his bedroom.

Bad Day :: Edge was used to getting ominous messages from Red at odd times. It was just the nature of any relationship Red was involved in.

Burlesque (Censored) & (Uncensored) :: Of all the bars Red frequented in Ebott City, this was his favorite.

Happily Ever Laughter :: It was almost midnight. Papyrus had been sitting at Muffet's bar, enjoying his third (or was it fourth? Fifth? Hard to say) glass of Spider Cider, when he got the call. He pulled out his phone, surprised. That was his brother's ringtone. He flipped it open. "heya, bro. wazzup?"

Egg on Arrival :: Slinky could feel it in his bones: the hum of his future, the tremble of his soul. Even if it was still cold as balls outside the nest, his internal clock said it was spring.

I think I'm Paranoid :: Red came back into the livingroom, popcorn in one hand and a six-pack of coke in the other. He lingered, taking in the scene in front of him.

Another Me :: Lust fiddled with the TV remote idly as he mentally went through the available channels in his head. He didn't dare cable surf, not when He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named was so prominent, and Pink's relentless job searching made his schedule so erratic that he could show up at any minute. The sight of the blackout curtain over the bookshelf (which served as the house's movie collection's honored display) reminded him of how understanding Papyrus had been of the need for temporary censorship.

...oh my some of these are terrible for catching the readers attention XD (why are all my hooks like 3 paragraphs in gdi).

EDIT: i forgot to tag folks! um... @deku-lily @silverryu25 @bonerpuns @msmkcreates @jellyficsnfucks @jellyfish-swims-through-gold @tkwolf45 @nanenna @dana-chan325 @skerbaderbadoo @keelywolfe ...im terrible with names and can't remember anyone else's handles ;-;

[rpmemesbyarat]

RP Meme from "A Bug's Life"

Where's the line?!

Do not panic. Do not panic! We are trained professionals. Now, stay calm.

We'll be stuck here forever!

I don't think we can do that.

That's it, that's it. Good. You're doing great. There you go!

Watch my eyes! Don't look away.

Just be confident, dear.

That's our lot in life. It's not a lot, but it's our life.

What did I tell you about trying to fly?

It's not my fault she's so stressed out.

I'm always acting like the sky is falling.

You could have killed somebody over here.

Please forgive me. I'm sorry!

My invention will speed up production.

Oh, another invention?

Aren't you looking lovely this morning!

I'm sorry, I was really just trying--trying to help.

I can make another one.

I'm beginning to think nothing I do works.

Great. One success.

I'm never gonna make a difference.

Being little's not such a bad thing.

Everything that made that giant tree is already contained inside this tiny little seed. All it needs is some time, a little bit of sunshine and rain, and voila!

You've gotta work with me, all right?

You might not feel like you can do much now, but that's just because, well, you're not a tree yet. You just have to give yourself some time. You're still a seed.

DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW A ROCK WHEN I SEE A ROCK?!

You're weird, but I like you.

C'mon! Keep moving! Keep moving!

It was an accident?

Where's the food?

Are you sure it's not up there?

Are you saying I'm stupid?

Do I look stupid to you?

Oh, I see! Under new management. So it's your fault.

First rule of leadership; Everything is your fault.

I swear, if I hadn't promised Mother on her deathbed that I wouldn't kill you, I would kill you!

Shut up! I don't want to hear another word out of you while we're on this island. Do you understand me?

Well, how can I answer? You said I couldn't say another word.

Listen, if you don't keep your end of the bargain, then I can't guarantee your safety.

Someone could get hurt.

You want her? Go ahead. Take her.

Let's ride!

I'm sorry for the way I am. I didn't mean for things to go so wrong.

I was just trying to help.

Then help us-- don't help us.

Perfect? What's so perfect?

Why didn't I think of that? Oh! Because it's suicide!

Who would do a crazy thing like that?

Wait a minute. What did we just decide here?

I won't let you down, I promise, I promise, I promise.

I should help repair the damage before I go.

Get back, you horrible beast!

I have no fear!

I have been in outhouses that didn't stink that bad.

This is ridiculous. What a disappointment!

You! Come here! I want my money back!

I hate performing on an empty stomach!

What's the point of going out there? They'll only laugh at me.

You parasite.

I am a cute little bumblebee! Here I come!

Candy corn! Here, let me help you to finish it.

They are poo-poo heads!

The stage is the other way, dear.

I'm gonna pick the hairs out of your head one by one!

Take your best shot!

That's no way to speak to a lady.

I heard that, you twig.

I demand to know who said that!

How dare you! Ingrates!

I only got 24 hours to live and I ain't gonna waste it here. Come on.

Aah! I've just about had it with these losers! Flaming death!

Water! We need some water!

You're all fired.

Burn him again!

Don't look at the light!

I can't help it! It's so beautiful!

Oh, sorry! Oh. I'm really, really sorry. That was an-an-an ac-ac-accident.

I'll show ya who's tough!

Oh, will you shut up?

Someday I will be a beautiful butterfly, and then everything will be better.

Farewell, my friends.

Shoo, fly. Don't bother me.

Not so tough now, are you?

Get up and fight like a girl.

What part can I play?

Justice is my sword and truth shall be my quiver!

No, no! I want to watch this!

Thrust, parry, lunge!

Me thinketh it's not working!

Help! Help! Get me out!

You can explain the details on the way.

Whoa, you're vicious!

This is insane.

Quit shoving!

We need a miracle!

Run for your lives!

Once again, our reputation precedes us.

Oh, my ticker!

Bingo! We gotta sweeten the deal.

You should be proud of yourself.

Oh, aren't they adorable!

Okay, honey. You're up.

I'm making a speech.

Shouldn't I come too?

No, classified in the D.M.Z. Gotta go A.S.A.P. You know, strictly B.Y.O.B. Bye!

Are you kidding? Do you know what this is? This, my friends, is false advertising. How dare you!

Give me some time, I'll come up with a plan.

Just go tell them the truth!

The truth, you see, is bad.

I will be branded for life.

If you could squish me, that would be great, because, uh, when they find out, I'm as good as dead.

I really do think I should be part of this meeting.

You can't go! I'm desperate!

I gotcha! I gotcha! I gotcha, I gotcha!

Somebody do something!

I'm going to snap. I'm going to snap.

Suck it in, man!

That, my friends, is the sound of applause!

We voted you our honorary den mother!

You're too kind.

Don't tell 'em I said that.

Boy, that's all I'd need, another royal blunder like that.

I know what everyone really thinks.

Thanks, you're sweet. You're wrong, but sweet.

Nobody really believes I can do this job.

I haven't been that nice to you, and I'm sorry.

Aren't you sweet?

I outrank everyone here. Remember that.

Now you're gonna cry, right?

Please, don't cry. Please.

Keep up the good work.

I mean, why take the risk?

I didn't think it was such a good idea myself. It wasn't even my idea.

They talked fancy to me. I got confused!

Why go back?

Didn't that hurt?

Any sign of those fiends?

Okay, I've told everyone you'll be stationed deep in the command bunker.

Party quiets down, I sneak you out the back way and then you're outta here forever.

He's not fully trained. I mean, house-trained.

It seems we've been booked for an extended engagement.

They're back! Get ready, everybody! Get to your posts!

Battle stations, everyone. This is not a drill. Come on, everyone, you know your jobs! LET'S GO, GO, GO, GO!

You mean, you're not warriors?

You mean to tell me that our entire defensive strategy, was concocted by clowns?!

Tell me this isn't true.

This couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time.

You lied to me! And like an idiot, I believed you.

I just wanted to make a difference.

Tough crowd.

You think this is a game?

You don't want to make him mad. Believe me! No, no, no.

You're staying with me, Your Highness.

Quick! To the clubhouse!

Have you checked over there?

I love our job.

I'm gonna be rich, rich, rich I'm gonna be rich, rich, rich

I'm rich, rich, rich That's who I am

The circus life isn't so bad.

What are you talking about? It was your idea.

I just make things worse.

I've made a living out of being a failure.

You have rekindled the long-dormant embers of purpose in our lives.

They're rounding everyone up.

I promise to start thinking about paying you

Okay, I'll pay ya! I'll pay ya!

WAIT A MINUTE!

I think I'm going to wet myself!

I guess we could use a little entertainment.

On with the show!

The circus, the circus! I love the circus

That's the signal. That's the signal!

A magician never reveals his secrets.

You've got to make it work!

Don't let it get me! Don't let it get me!

Oh, my eye! Help me!

Oh, the pain!

There goes my magic act!

WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?!

I'm the one you want!

Where do you get the gall to do this to me?

I hate it when someone gives away the ending.

A piece of dirt! No, I'm wrong. You're lower than dirt.

Ideas are very dangerous things.

So who's the weaker species?!

It's you who need us!

We're a lot stronger than you say we are! And you know it, don't you?

Oh, this was such a bad idea!

Quick! After them!

Go that way! I've got an idea!

Come on! We've gotta hide! No matter what happens, stay down!

All your little stunt did was buy them time!

I finally get a second to relax, and I gotta get out of my chair.

I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna cry.

Shutting up.

What's with the rock?

Now it's getting mushy.

Finally, I'm a beautiful butterfly!

You better start flying!

I am flying! And from way up here, you all look like little ants!

[365days365movies]

January 19, 2021: Léon: The Professional (Epilogue)

Hey, look! An elephant in the room! We should address that, huh?

So, recently, actress and Léon star herself Natalie Portman was interviewed about acting in this movie, and she said that the movie itself was fine to act in. It was the response to that work from...y’know what, perverts - let’s not dance around that - that she wasn’t the biggest fan of. It changed the roles she was willing to accept, and her acting style in general. Which makes absolute sense for her to do.

But now, you may understand why this film is...awkward. Because let me clarify something: this is a good movie! But, especially with relatively recent revelations from Hollywood in the last few years, you know that some people enjoyed this movie in a WHOLLY UNACCEPTABLE fashion. Which is...well, again:

Because of that, this film was gotten a lot of negative attention, then and now. And, let’s also be fair here: I’m not a fan of the fact that Luc Besson put Natalie Portman in this...uncomfortable position in the first place. It’s a little squicky to be putting a 12 year-old in that context, is what I’m saying. Roger Ebert agrees, in the closing statement of his review on the movie:

But always at the back of my mind was the troubled thought that there was something wrong about placing a 12-year-old character in the middle of this action. In a more serious movie, or even in a human comedy like Cassavetes' "Gloria," the child might not have been out of place. But in what is essentially an exercise - a slick urban thriller - it seems to exploit the youth of the girl without really dealing with it.

.Yeah, I agree with that. But OK, if we take that uncomfortable aspect away from the movie (and it is possible to do so), then what did I think? Well, let’s get into that, shall we?

Recap

Cast and Acting

Strap in, this one’s gonna be long. Three parts, and a coda at the end.

OK, first I gotta talk about Léon, or rather Jean Reno as Léon. Here's the thing about these heroic bloodshed protagonists; they’re always these cold, reserved badasses with armored hearts that have been closed off by a personal tragedy, from when they were more innocent. But with Léon, we never see that tragedy; we have no idea what makes this man who or what he is. And yet, he still has dimension as a character, hidden depths within an unknown past, and also a surprising innocence injected into him. He genuinely enjoys going to see old movies, he’s teaching himself how to read, we only really see him drink milk, he cares deeply for his plant. And, before Mathilda, he’s lonely, and you actually feel for him? THis is, by the way, despite the fact that the first sequence of the film is him MURDERING A BUNCH OF PEOPLE. And despite that, I really did feel for him in the end there. And while the directing and writing take a part of this, GODDAMN does Reno do an amazing job! He perfectly portrays the nuances of this character, but puts on an incredibly badass demeanor when he needs to. Reno deserves more credit as an actor in the USA, because he’s astonishingly great in his movie, seriously.

And then...then there’s Natalie Portman. See, back in the wild, wild west of the ‘90s, child actors were ALL OVER THE GODDAMN PLACE. And the vast majority of them weren’t very good, let’s be honest. But in her turn as Mathilda, awkward preteen crush and all, Portman KNOCKS it out of the goddamn park with this portrayal. And by the way...THIS IS HER FIRST ACTING ROLE. Yeah. Holy shit. She’s brilliant, and I’m a little mad that she didn’t get an award nod AT ALL for this role. She’s fantastic, seriously, it’s insane. And yeah, her character and the dynamic with Léon definitely makes me uncomfortable...but maybe it’s because Mathilda is surprisingly believable, acting with a surprise innocence of her own. Seriously...amazing job to Nathalie Portman.

If Reno was understatedly nuanced and complex, and Portman was talented and emotional, Gary Oldman was BATSHIT INSANE. And holy shit, is he a wonderfully engaging and terrifying villain. This is Oldman dialed up to...eh, 8? You get him dialed up to 10, and I’m pretty sure you get Dracula. But he’s a HELL of a lot of fun here, honestly, if also extremely creepy and frightening. He steals every scene that he’s in, with his speeches, mannerisms, and affectations. He upstages, well...EEEEVERRRYYYYYOOOOOOONNNNNE!!!

And is everybody else in here good? Yeah, they are, but they’re completely drowned out by these three. The acting in this film is wonderful all around. 10/10. I mean that, 10/10.

Plot and Writing

If I had a single word about the writing, it’d be...French. There are some lines, ESPECIALLY Mathilda’s lines about love, that definitely sound more French than American. After all, this is a French film, and the writer is Luc Besson himself! And other than that...the writing’s fine. Plot’s fine, too, straightforward and all that. I really don’t have much to say about the plot, if I’m honest. And if I had one negative thing to say...yeah, the childhood crush thing is still super uncomfortable, honestly. Still, put in context, it’s a little bit better. And I should mention that, while it’s SUPER CONTROVERSIAL here in the good old US of A, this wasn’t nearly as big of a deal in France. And I should also mention...it’s mildly autobiographical. Yeaaaaaaaah, that blonde girl in the very beginning of the movie is actually Besson’s WIFE. You know...the 17-year-old, who’d known Besson since she was 12 and he was 29, and they started dating when she was 15, and the had a child a year later, before this movie was made. Y-yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

 7/10 here, nothing bad, nothing great. Basically average heroic bloodshed plotline, with some...other elements.

Directing and Action

Fun fact: Luc Besson’s reception in his home country is mixed, especially early in his career. This is because his directing style is focused far more on spectacle and bombast than it is on emotion. Definitely more American in style than French. And this movie definitely has some of that, although it’s definitely not as crazy as some of the other movies on this list. But some of the shots here are weird, some of them here are crazy cool, and most of them are just great. But this movie still focuses more on emotion and character buildup and revelations, than it does on action. Which is great, but this is Action January, so how was the action? This takes off of the gun-fu genre, with essentially all of it focused around gunplay. And the interesting thing is, while these aren’t the most bombastic action scenes, its the emotion around them that keep you on the edge of your seat and invested. So, weirdly, this might be the movie that’s integrated the action scenes with the movie’s overall emotional tone the most seamlessly. Well...of the English language movies, anyway. Overall, 8/10 here!

Production and Art Design

START SPREADING THE NEEEEEEEEEEWS, because it’s New York, New York! Most of this film was filmed on location, and it shows! As someone who grew up going to NYC on a regular basis, it definitely feels authentic to ‘90s New York. Which, of course, it is. Costume design, for Mathilda especially, is good, although one or two of her outfits feels a little over-complicated at times. Still, no complaints, really. I love Léon’s tiny glasses, and Stansfield’s suit (plain as it may be). Really, this movie is simply an authentic feeling New York, and there isn’t too much else to say about that. 8/10 again. 

Music and Editing

Music’s definitely good, including this song by Sting that we hear at the end. Editing is mostly OK, although there are some weird cuts here and there. And...I’m not sure I have much to say about this category. Oof. Sorry, honestly, this is probably a sign of good editing, since it wasn’t obvious. And as for the music, I remember it...but it was mostly overshadowed by the events of the film itself. So...7/10?

80%! And I’m satisfied with that, honestly!

This movie is built to make you a little uncomfortable while watching it. But, I still believe that it’s a movie to be watched. Good action, prominent emotional development, great acting. This one’s good, and give it a watch! 

Luc Besson, Luc Besson. You gave me a French English-language heroic bloodshed action movie about an older man saving a girl a generation or so younger than him, that also produced a well-known meme on the internet. More, please!

January 20, 2021: Taken (2008)

[scribbledquillz]

I was tagged by @m-m-m-myysurana for this AO3 / fanfic author meme - thank you so much for thinking of me, my dear!

How many works do you have on AO3?

I'm currently sitting at twelve, though two of them are long fics that I've unfortunately had to abandon. I also have a one-shot that I initially thought would only be a drabble I'll most likely be posting there once it's complete, but we shall see.

What’s your total AO3 words count?

Oh man. I've never actually looked at this number until now. My total word count is 142,894. Holy cow.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Yikes. So I've only recently gotten back into writing fanfic regularly again, which means my new main work (Your Fire Burns in my Veins iffin you'd like to check it out. ;3) which I'd say is the best show of my current writing skill is not among the fics I've gotten the most kudos on. What I'm getting at is if you click on these, know I'm really glad that you're interested in them, but also wincing, lol.

1. Under The Stars - An old fluff piece from the very beginning of my infatuation with Revka and Zevran as a ship. Written as a "drabble" prompt that got out of hand fast.

2. To Conspire With an Antivan - Alas, one of the two long fics I needed to abandon, hence why I won't link to it. It had promise, but my writing and pov on so many things have grown past what I was doing in this fic, and I'd rather let it lie than try to go back in to fix it or start over.

3. Acquiescence - Ohhhhh thar be F!Hawke/Fenris angst here. I wrote this for a kink meme fill (are those still a thing? am I just showing my age here?) forever ago.

4. In Plain Sight - I've written a lot of smut in my day, but I'm only now realizing how little of it I've actually posted. Aside from needing to fix that (I'm shameless) this is one of the few that was shared - another Revka / Zevran piece pre reworking both of Revka's origin and timeline. Still plenty spicy - Zev gets some special attention behind a tapestry. *wink wink*

5. No Way Out - Ok. Look. I love zombies. And what do I love more than zombies? Writing F!Hawke and the Kirkwall crew in an apocalypse. I regret nothing.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely! I want the readers who take the time to comment to know how much their words mean to me and how big a motivator they are for me to keep writing when I doubt myself or the stories I'm telling.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Well, given that my fic where my mage Hawke is captured after the Chantry explosion and made tranquil is one of the two long fics I needed to abandon, I'd say Acquiescence would have the most angst. Though I wanted to go out of my way to show there was no bitterness or anything of the like involved at the end - more just sad acceptance. That being said the rest of my fics do (and will) continue to end with a more hopeful conclusion.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Since I haven't finished YFBimV (and won't for some time) I'd have to say it would have to be my one-shot Reassurances. It was a gift fic with an OT3 of Hawke, Fenris and Isabela, and was just such a nice, soft moment for the trio to reaffirm they're all exactly where they want to be.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

I haven't as of yet, and most likely won't. It would have to be a very specific type of crossover.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Oh thank God no. I've got a thicker skin than I used to when it comes to my writing, but I'd definitely still cry like a baby.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Heh heh heh. Yeeeep. And I intend to write more. >:3 I've done mostly f/m smut, but also f/f as well.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, and ngl I think I'd be more flattered than angry if I did - not flattered enough not to report it, but still flattered.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not a fic, though the timeline of YFBimV was developed (and continues to be developed) with the help of my friend @pathosian, who was so kind as to let me borrow her Kerrigan Hawke to play Barbies with.

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Zevka Zevka Zevka Zevka Zevka Zevka Zevka Zevka

But I also deeply appreciate any Zevwarden ship out there because my man deserves happiness. I also really love Fenris/Hawke (especially mage Hawke), and am getting more and more invested in Varric/Adaar as I think up my new Inquisitor. Out of DA fandom I am also an unrepentant Zuko/Katara shipper. But lbr - I love ships in general.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Ahhh I mentioned them above. Some things just aren't meant to be, sadly.

What are your writing strengths?

I really feel like I do a good job at nailing down character voices. The way they speak, their body language, the expressions they tend to make, and if writing from their POV what their internal monologue tends to be in any given situation.

I also feel really confident in my ability to write highly emotional moments; describing the physical response an emotion brings out in a character, how they react internally vs how they express their reaction outward, that kind of thing. It's my favorite part of writing fic.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Ugh. Action. Not just in fight scenes (though those are a hell of a struggle) but in calmer moments too. I always second guess myself if something is too detailed or not enough when it comes to writing out how something happens.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It doesn't bother me personally. I do use it a little myself, but generally only as flavoring, or (favorite trope ahead) when a character isn't ready to give words to how they feel about something/someone and so say it in their native tongue instead. *cough* Zevran *cough* I use it pretty sparingly, though.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I'm having a sudden, violent flashback to 12 year old me giggling to myself as I write bad Harry Potter fanfic under my blankets at 1 am on a school night.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Oh gosh. I had the most fun writing No Way Out (because zombies) but is it tacky to say Your Fire Burns in my Veins? I've been shipping Revka with Zevran for aaaaaages now, and it's really satisfying to finally be putting the whole of their story to word rather than just bouncing around disjointedly in my head.

Thank you so much again for the tag, @m-m-m-myysurana, this was a lot of fun to do!

I'll go ahead and tag: @heniareth, @lorioganneb and @calebara as well as anyone else who wants to have a go at this! Please tag me, I'd love to read your answers. :3

[sebastianshaw]

RP meme from "Chapter Four: Aspects and Renown" in The World of Darkness Ratkin Breedbook

"What you can actually do is far more important."

"The experience is little more than a challenging contract to prove one’s mettle."

"Not everyone can stand so much isolation and seclusion."

"Along the way, they work whatever scams and schemes they can to survive."

"After all, mavericks are known just as much for their quick wits as their stealth and subterfuge."

"Some do this to escape lives they cannot stand; others quest for ideals they may never achieve."

"If there’s a great place nearby to find food, adventure, or perils that threaten the young, a wise scout or spy will find them quickly."

"Relationships on the road are temporary and superficial."

" A scout or wanderer who hasn’t seen an old friend or lover in years immediately picks up the relationship exactly where it left off."

"Each year, they move from city to city, use and discard temp jobs like old clothes, and evolve a series of personas for different situations."

"Not all of them are impoverished and homeless; as long as you know where to find crash space, you’re never really helpless."

"They are fascinated by places inhabited by other creatures, especially humans."

"Some are smart enough to emulate the people they live near; others come up with bizarre explanations to explain human activity."

"Instead of a straightforward military report on the strength of predators in the area, the data must be condensed into a format even a small child could understand."

"When problems with the physical world grow too great, it’s tempting to just vanish into the ephemeral realms for a while."

"These alternate identities aren’t very flashy, just the sort of quiet identity that no one questions."

"It can also draw attention from police officers, irate merchants, and hostile humans."

"This isn’t my world. I just hide in it. If you’re looking for a place to run, talk to me."

"This isn’t my world. I just hide in it."

"If you’re looking for a place to run, talk to me."

"Seers are the keepers of ancient secrets."

"A human is still a human, and can never be trusted."

"Just because they’re victims doesn’t mean they’re virtuous; they’ll still rip you off when you least expect it."

"They seek wisdom the human race has discarded or left behind."

"They make their lairs in areas where the police fear to go, where the only law in both physical and spirit worlds is survival."

"Her body remains in the physical world; her spirit watches what transpires around it in the spirit world."

"You worry about fighting what you can see. I’ll worry about fighting what you can’t see."

"If they feel strongly enough, they will enforce their beliefs as they best see fit."

"Unfortunately, when passing judgment on their own kind, they have restraints placed on their activities."

"These harsh practices have millennia of precedent."

"They reason that it’s better to have a few small, secure ratholes to hide your equipment and yourself than to go to the trouble of defending a larger turf."

"Many secretly enjoy “pronouncing sentence” on anyone who offends them thoroughly enough."

" Justice is far more important. . . and unfortunately, far more subjective."

"Most know they can’t change the world by openly practicing violence; if anything, they’ve got to be really secretive about their revenge."

"Epic carnage is best left to less sophisticated creatures."

"The threat of one of the local politicians getting killed is usually enough to dissuade them from disagreeing any further."

"They do not disguise themselves when pursuing an assassination, as they will not apologize for what they do best."

"We had a contract. You broke it. Now I’m going to make your life a living hell."

"When rage flows freely, violence reigns."

"Some have the wisdom to choose their battles carefully; others don’t care who dies when battle lust seizes them."

"Peace is nothing more than a temporary cessation of the ways of war."

"Developing martial skill involves far more than just killing things — sometimes it involves crippling them, weakening them, or demoralizing them.

"These soldiers don’t just slay; they also use their knowledge of chaos to confuse their enemies, striking in the night when madness reigns."

"All of them pride themselves on discipline and composure. . . until rage overwhelms reason."

"Warriors of both sexes are mildly insecure, and feel the need to show off their martial prowess."

"What? Just because you’ve got an army surplus jacket and a pipe bomb, that makes you a man?"

"Any fool can pull a trigger."

"Saving the world requires true warriors."

"Technology isn’t evil, after all. It’s just in the wrong paws."

"Many are convinced that if they don’t watch their actions carefully, someone from a local laboratory will capture them and experiment on them to find out why they’re so smart."

"Wherever technology thrives, these rats will move in to scavenge it."

"Humans have a fetish about continually acquiring more stuff, newer stuff and cutting-edge state-of-the-art tech."

"The struggle begins with fierce discussions about technological innovations, and rapidly breaks down into name calling and slander."

"Two machines enter; one machine leaves."

"Whether they tinker with ancient computers or rusting cars, they have an insatiable need to fix anything that’s considered unsalvageable."

"Sometimes, she’ll spend the whole day collecting knickknacks just to see what she can build out of them that evening."

"Genius has its price."

"Each one has a physiological trait that identifies him as the gene freak he is."

"Dark powers tutor them in forgotten arts of destruction."

"He’ll be deposed by forces he’s summoned up, but can’t put down."

"Turn your head and cough. Oooh! I’ve never seen it that color before."

"Not all of them are swashbuckling heroes, but all of them are delusional about their origins and their heroic prowess."

"The conflict of egos can become so intense that bystanders get hurt from the fallout."

"Dueling etiquette demands satisfaction."

"Anyone who hears this tale will swear that it is true."

"My good sir, adventure is my middle name!"

"What? You don't believe me?"

"Keep her pointed in the right direction, and she’ll masterfully eliminate your enemies."

"If you’re not careful, she’ll blow up right in your face."

"Any place populated by the desperate, frustrated or down-and-out is another good choice — not only does it make for a good place to hide, but it has its share of potential allies seeking vengeance. . . or potential victims at which to vent your anger."

"They’ll need a really powerful common enemy to unite them; otherwise, each will suspect the other of conspiracy."

"Many come from criminal backgrounds, broken homes, abject poverty or the sort of banal borderline existence that breeds cynicism and contempt for just about everyone."

"Each one has a surprising degree of truth to it."

"It controls all forces of order."

"The balance of the world will not be restored until we destroy everything that smells of stasis, stability or the status quo."

"Hey, nobody saw me do anything. Besides, he had it coming. . . he pissed me off. What? You talking to me? You talking to me?"

"Hey, nobody saw me do anything. Besides, he had it coming. . . he pissed me off."

"Hey, nobody saw me do anything."

"Besides, he had it coming. . . he pissed me off."

"What? You talking to me? You talking to me?"

"You want a piece of me?"

"Chant the creed, kid, and learn. . ."

"I shall seek revenge against those who prey upon my kind."

"I will survive so that I may breed."

"I must respect strength and exploit weakness."

"I shall grow stronger through conflict."

"I will learn from the mysteries of the spirit world."

"I will revel in the visions the spirits grant me."

"I shall nurture, instruct and aid the young."

"I will trust my own kind before I trust outsiders."

"When someone is responsible for injustice, I will make sure someone pays."

"Legality is a subjective concept at best."

"Fighting to survive is difficult enough."

"What else could heal the world?"

"They’re doomed to self-destruct."

"The day that the buildings come crashing down, I’ll dance in the streets."

"Survival comes first."

"Mankind’s days are numbered."

"The strong breed. The weak die. Does that sound harsh? That’s evolution."

"Instinct will tell you when to kill, so follow it."

"We need an army to overwhelm our enemies."

"I still do not know if this is wise."

"If only the strong breed, then you must prove your strength before you can reproduce."

"Don’t be some addle-witted wharf rat who breeds with any half-dead body in the sewers. You, soldier, are the paragon of your race."

"Such egotism!"

"That is nature's way."

"That is nature’s way. If the population of creatures in any one area is too high, a few can be killed or a great number will starve."

“Property is relative. If I can take it, it’s mine. If you can’t defend it, you don’t deserve to have it."

"They buy far more than they need, go to great lengths to defend what they have, and insist that they have the right to determine who owns what."

"If you own more than you can carry, you’re wasting what others can use."

"Betray others before you betray your own kind."

"We’re running into the world together, kid, so we’ve got

to stick together. You ready to go? Um. . . you first. . .”

"You ready to go? Um. . . you first. . .”

"We’re running into the world together, kid, so we’ve got

to stick together."

"I just feel this rage in my blood that’s been there since the dawn of time. And I just feel like acting on it."

"Show me your true face, and it’s my call whether I want to slash it off."

[maverick-guy]

2012’s successor, quarantine life, the Philippine government, and everything else in between

To begin with, 2020 seemed dreamlike – this year was somewhat a clash of heavenly entities and hellish forces. The universe was not kind to us this time. Doing activities and routines outside were put to a halt, but with humans' confinement in their houses, it made our situation worse. 2020 has been a fast yet long year, and we may all feel that time now is linear.

Allow me to borrow a line from the 1972 film Grease: This is the life of illusion, wrapped up in trouble, laced with confusion.        

Most would agree that the words above sum up the year 2020. An unfortunate series of events have taken place – from the Australian Bushfire crisis, the Iran-US conflict to earthquakes in Mindanao and the eruption of Taal Volcano in Batangas – and these events have transpired in the first quarter of 2020. It seems like a frightening state to begin the year.

Afterwards, life was starting to be okay. People were adjusting with initial solutions to problems and ready to start anew, but coronavirus emerged. Reports say the first local coronavirus case struck in January – and due to a rise in positive cases, collective fear transpired in March, thus declaring coronavirus as a pandemic.

During the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in March, changes were relatively minimal since people could continue their businesses at home. But some of which lost their jobs resorted to starting food businesses or grieve because of said situation.

It's funny yet disturbing to witness that the government officials thought of matters that are supposed to be "important", but negate the needs of ordinary citizens. There were also debates about the enforcement of travel ban during the first quarter of 2020, but to our disdain, it was never taken seriously. In the end, we suffered a lot from their gambit during people exclaiming for assistance.

People get nervous each time the government transitions to the loosened GCQ. Businesses, travel, and movement imposed some restrictions, but there's the liberty of people to go out and do [unimportant] stuff. Some boomers also mentioned that this pandemic is a divine intervention, telling us to step up our faith and keep praying until we see the hope of day. So weird to think of.

As time passes by, everyone has set and bat their eyes on social media. With boredom and temporary pleasure, the rose of TikTok dance challenges has become a trend, along with experimenting DIY recipes and snacks. The creation of support and humorous Facebook groups has also been a craze, helping us cope while in quarantine by sharing memes, tips, tricks, tutorials, and advice according to members' inquiries and concerns.

Though these temporary distractions made us somewhat feel on edge, social hurdles increased such as unemployment rates. A few lucky corporate employees are compelled to the transition to work from home; and for students to continue their education online. Some were not ready for this sudden change of lifestyle as they may lack the resources and mental capacity to keep moving forward. Along with financial issues inflating, hopes and dreams feel deteriorated.

2020 did not feel the need to stop, as it delivered more than we ever expected. There is the shutdown of ABS-CBN, the demise of George Floyd, hence advocating the socio-political movement #BlackLivesMatter, and the implementation of the Anti-Terrorism Bill, as it being unconstitutional inflicted dangerous implications towards the society.

Throughout the ber months, people thought of celebrating the holidays is something we all looked forward to, yet another shooting incident caused by the police emerged. Jonel Nuezca, an off-duty police officer, shot his two unarmed neighbors, Sonya and Frank Gregorio, due to a heated discussion over right of way and the use of a boga. The untimely shooting incident emerged on social media, along with netizens expressing their protest with the acronym A.C.A.B (All Cops Are Bastards), and the hashtags #StopTheKillingsPH, #JusticeForSonyaGregorio, among others. These phenomena struck us of the social realities we ought to face.

Not to mention some of the heart-breaking deaths of celebrities this year: NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, actress and singer Naya Rivera, and YouTube vlogger Lloyd Cafe Cadena, made us feel disposable. Netizens can’t help but spit these words with spite: GRABE KA, 2020!

Once a new year has come, people always claimed that it would be their breakthrough. 2020 was the most anticipated year for redemption, but unexpected turnovers left us clueless on what’s in store for us in the following days, dominating anxiety and resentment. It is then claimed that this pandemic may change our lives forever.

People could go all night, overthinking about the simplest and pettiest stuff. With chaos going on, the utmost priority should be safety, security, and survival. One's daily routine felt timid, hence the desire to feel free again. People are now forcing themselves to perform their duties and just call it a day.

No one gets ready for a pandemic. There may be warnings beforehand, but it isn’t the ordinary citizens’ fault – it’s the government’s accountability to look after. As much as possible, I do not want to sound overly political, but the government’s incompetence affects the rise of numerous COVID cases each day – why plenty of Filipinos still suffer and plenty of then-employees remained jobless.

It’s a good thing that searching for new ways to thrive is an innate feature we acquire. However, I also do not want to glorify our resiliency, as being a Filipino is commonly construed as “resilient people.” If there comes a similar situation in the future, people should use their “resiliency” to stay at their homes, and be careful at the very least. But one thing that needs to be changed is the decision-making and planning of our government officials. The birth of our chaos came from them, so it shall end from them.

We are close to bidding farewell to 2020, yet the glimmer of hope seems far away to be achieved. Ambiguity lingers as we ask ourselves “What does 2021 have in store for us?” Are there people still looking forward for more pains and unfavorable events and perceive them as a leeway to unlock the tool of growth and our power to keep moving forward? Are we still going to settle for the bare minimum and keep our “resiliency” intact?

With all these points elaborated, this now begs the question: did the world really end in 2012? Or these unfortunate events are just unusual to us and we are, more or less, capable of taking action to undermine our demons?

[selectedhq]

oh  ,  wonderful  !  welcome  welcome  ,  let’s  get  this  show  on  the  road  ,  shall  we  ?  not  like  we  have  the  rest  of  our  afterlife  to  dwell  upon  ,  am  i  right  ?

well  ,  i  would  like  to  officially  welcome  you  to  the  good  place  .  i’m  sure  you  are  all  wondering  why  you  are  here  ,  but  we  will  get  more  into  that  later  as  we  experience  the  afterlife  as  a  whole  .  take  a  look  around  ,  these  are  your  neighbours  ,  friends  ,  significant  others  &  your  community  members  .  during  your  time  on  earth  ,  all  of  us  here  at  the  good  place  ,  had  taken  it  upon  ourselves  to  watch  you  carefully  &  take  careful  consideration  in  picking  you  ,  specifically  .  we  have  our  own  point  system  ,  which  you  will  see  on  the  screen  behind  us  ,  where  you  would  gain  simple  points  such  as  holding  a  door  for  someone  or  handing  some  money  to  someone  that  was  less  fortunate  as  you  .  we  did  track  some  of  the  negative  things  that  you  have  done  in  your  life  ,  but  they  ----  usually  balanced  out  the  good  .  the  overall  existence  of  this  place  was  built  with  you  and  for  you  ,  you  were  chosen  for  a  purpose  &  we  hope  that  purpose  will  become  clear  to  you  during  your  stay  here  .  now  ,  we  shall  begin  with  the  briefings  .

LOCATIONS

i’m  sure  that  you  have  noticed  that  this  place  is  quite  large  !  we  have  many  establishments  throughout  this  town  &  they  were  all  made  to  fit  the  likings  of  our  fellow  community  members  .

𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓  𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄

where  you  will  find  a  lot  of  marine  life  and  water  .  i’m  sure  that  many  of  you  who  have  enjoyed  water  during  your  time  on  earth  have  found  yourselves  situated  in  a  home  directed  that  way  .  you  will  find  canoes  and  row  boats  that  will  allow  you  to  enjoy  some  peace  on  the  lake  ,  as  well  as  a  beautiful  waterfall  just  around  the  bend  .  while  here  ,  we  encourage  you  to  take  a  look  around  the  ponds  ,  we  have  some  amazing  fish  that  would  love  to  have  some  of  the  food  that  is  sold  in  the  downtown  area  .  we  also  encourage  you  to  take  a  nice  hike  up  the  waterfall  ,  with  a  cliff  right  off  to  the  right  .  once  you  hit  the  destination  ,  maybe  have  a  wonderful  picnic  with  a  loved  one  or  try  some  cliff  diving  if  you  were  much  too  frightened  before  on  earth  .

𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐓  𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄  

the  wooden  area  that  many  people  enjoy  when  they  need  some  peace  and  quiet  .  there  are  a  few  households  within  this  neighbourhood  ,  usually  selected  for  people  who  enjoyed  the  seclusion  and  warmth  of  being  connected  to  nature  .  our  local  greenhouses  are  kept  up  there  ,  you  can  find  some  wonderful  plants  that  you  could  take  home  or  take  a  few  selfies  with  the  help  of  kimmy  to  hang  up  in  your  home  .  we  also  have  the  community  garden  out  that  way  ,  where  you  can  grow  your  own  vegetables  or  even  help  gather  some  ingredients  for  the  restaurants  as  some  extra  credit  options  towards  gaining  more  points  (  yes  ,  you  can  still  gain  them  here  !  )  .  we  have  a  few  trails  within  this  area  as  well  ,  where  you  can  feel  one  on  one  with  nature  once  again  ,  where  the  sun  will  beat  on  your  face  ;  you  can  practically  hear  the  bugs  buzzing  around  you  !

𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇  𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄

where  many  of  you  may  usually  find  yourselves  ,  it  allows  itself  to  be  integrated  with  the  downtown  area  just  behind  you  .  you’ll  be  able  to  see  the  large  households  that  are  within  that  area  ,  where  many  of  our  community  members  are  staying  ,  either  by  their  lonesome  or  with  someone  they  believe  to  be  close  to  them  .  in  the  north  side  ,  you’ll  find  a  lot  of  educational  things  ,  including  our  school  for  the  afterlife  .  the  school  is  still  working  out  some  last  minute  kinks  alongside  our  trusty  kimmy  ,  but  will  be  up  &  running  within  the  next  week  ,  so  make  sure  that  you  take  some  time  to  visit  the  campus  &  take  a  good  look  at  the  classes  that  will  be  offered  .  we  would  love  to  keep  you  educated  on  things  around  the  good  place  during  your  stay  here  .  while  school  can  be  quite  boring  ,  i’m  sure  we  can  rope  you  all  into  attending  with  the  small  bribery  of  flying  !  you  have  all  witnessed  it  briefly  during  our  halloween  event  ,  but  we  will  be  having  mandatory  flying  lessons  for  everyone  who  joins  the  school  in  the  beautiful  courtyard  out  back  .  you  like  gymnastics  ?  well  we  can  find  you  some  balance  beams  .  football  ?  well  what  is  the  afterlife  without  some  tackling  ?  cheerleading  ?  well  you’re  in  for  a  treat  because  i  sure  would  love  to  hear  some  fun  rhymes  !  you  name  it  ,  we  got  it  .

𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇  𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄

is  currently  under  construction  ,  so  we  do  ask  that  you  avoid  that  area  at  this  moment  .  the  weather  is  not  corresponding  correctly  to  the  systems  we  have  put  into  place  &  we  definitely  do  not  want  a  mix  up  with  any  of  you  .  so  please  ,  we  ask  that  you  do  not  move  past  the  colourful  rainbow  tape  that  is  surrounding  the  south  side  until  the  construction  of  that  area  is  done  .  we  are  working  very  diligently  to  get  it  up  &  running  as  i  am  sure  many  of  you  are  hoping  to  find  yourself  located  in  that  wing  !

𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍  

the  place  that  you  will  always  find  yourself  wanting  to  come  !  we  have  a  little  bit  of  this  &  a  little  bit  of  that  for  everyones  liking  .  there  are  local  restaurants  around  town  that  will  serve  you  anything  that  you  could  dream  of  !  many  of  which  could  be  your  favourite  meals  ,  favourite  drinks  ----  oh  &  did  we  mention  the  endless  options  for  desserts  ?  if  you  look  around  ,  we  also  have  endless  froyo  stations  ;  many  of  which  will  have  flavours  that  create  a  very  similar  feeling  to  joy  &  happiness  .  ever  wonderful  what  it  would  taste  like  after  getting  straight  a’s  on  your  exams  ?  what  about  the  feeling  of  warmth  after  being  outside  in  the  cold  all  day  ?  well  i’m  sure  we  can  mix  up  something  for  you  !  we  also  have  entertainment  sectors  such  as  bars  ,  clubs  ,  even  a  movie  theater  to  play  your  favourite  movies  from  when  you  were  on  earth  !  bookstores  ,  florists  ,  clothing  stores  ,  you  name  it  !  it  may  look  a  bit  confusing  on  the  outside  ,  with  you  questioning  our  tastes  but  we  have  never  questioned  you  &  i  cross  my  heart  that  the  moment  you  walk  into  any  of  our  stores  ,  you  will  always  find  something  tailored  to  your  specific  tastes  !

i  am  sure  that  you  all  have  many  questions  ,  we  are  here  to  always  help  you  !  we  shall  go  over  the  wonderful  rules  that  we  have  in  the  good  place  &  what  is  deemed  appropriate  .

RULES

there  will  be  a  zero  tolerance  violence  policy  .  although  we  do  not  have  the  jurisdiction  within  the  good  place  to  arrest  ,  but  you  will  be  losing  points  with  violence  .  

you  are  free  to  ask  kimmy  any  questions  that  you  deem  necessary  ,  but  they  must  be  appropriate  .  kimmy  will  refuse  to  answer  anything  that  is  not  needed  .

as  stated  earlier  ,  we  will  not  allow  anyone  in  the  south  side  of  the  good  place  at  the  moment  .  if  found  there  ,  you  will  be  brought  into  my  (  michael’s  )  office  &  punishments  will  be  discussed  between  the  architects  .  

WHAT  IS  THERE  TO  DO  ?

well  good  question  !  you  are  able  to  sign  up  for  the  local  school  classes  that  kimmy  will  listen  later  in  the  weekend  ,  we  do  hope  that  we  get  some  good  responses  !  we’ve  worked  hard  to  coordinate  the  classes  !  we  also  allow  you  to  work  in  the  local  agencies  ,  but  please  be  aware  that  money  is  not  a  thing  in  the  good  place  !  you  do  receive  points  towards  your  community  involvement  &  that  will  boost  you  up  on  the  scale  in  the  architects  system  .  we  welcome  you  to  join  the  local  clean  up  group  that  dedicates  themselves  to  cleaning  up  any  possible  garbage  that  is  fluttering  on  the  streets  ,  or  maybe  you  are  interested  in  the  party  planning  committee  ,  which  is  usually  run  by  tahani  but  we  would  love  to  have  more  people  join  &  put  in  their  ideas  !

LITTLE  THINGS  TO  NOTE  

be  aware  that  the  good  place  is  tactical  to  your  needs  &  wants  .  if  you  don’t  enjoy  someone  using  a  curse  word  ,  then  your  mind  will  blank  it  out  &  possibly  replace  it  with  a  new  word  .  if  you  are  fluent  in  another  language  ,  we  have  all  implanted  a  translator  in  your  mind  .  although  someone  might  be  speaking  english  to  you  ,  they  could  actually  be  speaking  french  or  spanish  but  you  are  able  to  translate  it  instantly  .  

housing  units  are  there  for  your  liking  ,  if  you  would  like  to  move  in  with  someone  ,  we  will  allow  that  but  please  run  it  by  kimmy  or  myself  (  michael  )  to  let  us  know  that  you  will  be  moving  so  we  can  use  your  old  home  for  something  enjoyable  for  other  community  members  or  reinvent  it  into  a  new  home  for  someone  that  will  be  joining  us  .

lastly  ,  we  do  not  want  to  overwhelm  you  today  ,  so  if  you  ever  have  any  questions  please  let  kimmy  know  !  kimmy  is  programmed  to  know  every  answer  in  the  universe  &  she  will  be  at  your  beck  &  call  .  all  you  have  to  do  is  call  her  &  she  will  appear  to  answer  anything  that  you  need  .  the  architects  are  quite  busy  making  sure  that  this  place  is  designed  properly  ,  which  allows  kimmy  to  answer  questions  for  us  .  anyways  ,  without  further  ado  ,  please  !  explore  all  the  fun  things  that  are  surrounding  you  ,  we  can’t  wait  to  begin  planning  more  things  !

SOME  OOC  DETAILS

this  plotdrop  isn’t  as  dramatic  as  the  future  ones  will  be  ,  but  we  tried  to  answer  most  of  the  questions  that  have  been  floating  around  !

this  plotdrop  is  to  show  you  the  amount  of  things  that  your  character  can  do  around  town  &  the  jobs  that  they  could  do  if  they  want  to  boost  their  points  (  like  characters  that  don’t  believe  that  they  belong  here  -  they  might  want  to  boost  their  rating  by  helping  around  the  community  )

as  said  !  if  any  characters  or  muns  have  questions  --  ask  kimmy  !  make  sure  that  you  follow  the  blog  for  kimmy  ,  where  you  can  send  messages  to  ask  her  about  things  around  the  good  place  or  questions  about  anything  you  need  to  be  answered  !  she  will  definitely  answer  to  the  best  of  her  ability  ,  it  will  allow  the  architects  to  start  fixing  up  that  nasty  south  side  . 

if  asking  kimmy  a  question  ,  make  sure  that  you  start  the  question  with  ‘hey  kimmy  !’  so  that  she  knows  to  appear  to  answer  the  question  you  type  in  the  askbox.

you  are  welcome  to  continue  your  event  threads  ,  we  just  ask  that  you  don’t  make  any  new  starters  at  the  moment  for  it  .

we  will  also  be  introducing  meme  days  this  weekend  ,  so  definitely  keep  an  eye  out  for  that  one  !

if  you  have  any  questions  that  kimmy  can’t  answer  (  something  ooc  that  could  be  bothering  you  )  then  don’t  hesitate  to  message  the  main  admins  ,  we  will  make  sure  to  help  you  out  !

[ashflynns]

☄〔 HUNTER SCHAFER, TWENTY ONE, TRANS FEMALE, DREAM TRAVEL 〕╰ ASHLEY FLYNN just came over half - blood hill . you know , the child of HYPNOS who was claimed two months ago ? i’ve heard chiron say that she is PLAYFUL & EMPATHETIC , but if you ask the aphrodite kids , they’d say she’s LAZY & TACTLESS . i’d say they remind me of sleepy smiles and under-eye bags, messy buns and an unmade bed, running from your problems with bare feet & trying to hard to keep your friends but losing them anyway, especially since she’s FOR THE NEW CABINS . ( ✎ joey , 24 , she/her , bst . )

*insert nice graphic here aka for the love of god someone find me a photoshop link*

hi! its your resident sea witch joey here ready to bombard you with an encyclopedic knowledge of the greek pantheon and uk criminal law?? i guess??? if u dont already know, i’m the one with six (6) cats. i combined my task and intro because im LAZY and bad at intros so i’ll use paige’s stats as a crutch whoops. ash is the lazy laid-back stoner friend everyone needs. she has no trauma because she DOESN’t DESERVE IT so maybe the real trauma will be the friends we make along the way.

𝕓𝕒𝕤𝕚𝕔𝕤 .

name :  ashley finn

nicknames : ash, whatever cute names u wanna give her

birth date :  4th february (aquarius squad speak up!)

gender :  trans female

pronouns :  she/her

ethnicity : white

nationality : irish american

hometown : ?? idk american towns SUE ME but she’s from SOMEWHERE in oregon

demigod abilities : sleep manipulation, dream manipulation, dream travel

cabin number & godly parent :  cabin fifteen, hypnos

how did their godly parent meet their mortal parent? :  hlhglkhg so i thought it’d be funny if they met when ash’s mum participated in a sleep research study. i think i’m hilarious.

𝕞𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 .

faceclaim : hunter schafer

height :  5′11″

hair colour : blonde

eye colour : blue/green.

dominant hand : leftie!

distinguishing features : her hair’s actually super curly she just straightens it a lot bc curly bedhead is a bitch to brush through in the mornings.

dress style : ugh this is gonna be hard to explain but like. you know those alt hippy stoner girls?? like that. likes baggy clothes and neutral colours. a lot of quote unquote ugly clothes with clashing prints. band t-shirts and whatnot.

𝕔𝕒𝕞𝕡-𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 .

go - to  weapon : HAH implying she willingly participates in capture the flag. she’d go for a xiphos because it’s the most basic dfkjg

ambrosia :  garlic bread. yeah she’s that kind of bitch

favourite camp location :  zephyros creek!

their opinion of their godly parent :  really unbothered tbqh. but she’s a very laid-back person to begin with. a ton of her school friends had absent dads. if she hadn’t come to chb so early then maybe the whole ‘i have powers with no explanation’ would’ve caused some resentment but hey, he’s a god. he’s a busy man. and being raised by a single mum made up most of who ash is, so it’s not like she’d change anything.

age they were claimed :  this year baby!

how they were claimed :  look dad’s timing was off but as far as he was concerned he claimed ash when percy made the deal. ash kinda always knew it was gonna be him so it was no surprise.

stance on the new cabins : for  the  new  cabins.

their opinion on lyssa pentelute :   as far as ash is concerned, lyssa’s whole shtick is just an excuse to shit on the kids who don’t have to suffer the same way she did. so, uh, she’s kind of a bitch? i have this in a bit more detail down below.

quests :  i’m gonna tentatively put no for now (unless anyone else on quests decides they’d like to have dragged ash along!)

𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪 .

positive traits : playful, empathetic, laid-back, friendly but not a pushover, patient

negative traits :  lazy, tactless, aloof,  spacey, struggles to express said empathy, lack of focus

mbti :  Iinfp-t, the mediator

alignment : neutral good

hogwarts house :  hufflepuff

kinsey scale : JUST ASK IF SHES A LESBIAN OKAY?? THE ANSWER IS YES.

archetype :  somehow she matched equally with the innocent child and the wise old man *insert so what is the truth meme*

what candle scent are they :  vanilla

goals & desires :  well this one was tricky bc ash is a simple girl with simple needs and really just doesn’t want anything to change. she wants a life without the pressures of work and commitment, but that’s just not gonna happen, is it? her short-term goals are to practice fighting that urge to stay in bed all day and try to be a bit more productive. it’s not going well.

fears : explained more below but basically she has a fear of destroying all her relationships due to a lack of connect with the world

hobbies : when she’s not napping? probably gaming, going on nature walks, baking treats.

habits :  biting nails is the worst one. spacing out. you know that thing where you just?? stop focusing your eyes?? but you’re still tuned in to the conversation? that.

𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 .

so hear’s the short version kfjglkdfgjd ( for NOW ):

ashley’s mum, niamh, is third-gen irish immigrant. ash didn’t have a luxurious life or anything. they mostly lived off benefits or whatever niamh could pick up from her extremely lucrative dog-walking business. how she met hypnos was a literal joke. they met when she participated in a fucking sleep study and i guess they hit it off. typical story of dad fucks off/single parent yadda yadda. there’s no real ~~trauma~~ to ash. yeah, transphobia sucks and high school really sucked all but her mum’s been super supportive since she first came out and no one at chb has given her shit yet. niamh’s still around and ash goes back home every couple of months to visit her. they have a pretty good relationship. it’s all cool.

i feel cliche saying she was a ‘dreamy’ girl but dreamy or spacey really is the best word for it. mixed with your typical demigod adhd you get a kid who really struggled with school. well, it’s not like she struggled - ashley’s a smart gal - but the teacher’s struggled with her. i guess it was hard for them to understand that ash actually does her best thinking when she’s asleep.

struggles to keep friends - maintains a persona of aloofness and apathy but actually cares way too much. the narcolepsy hinders her ability to form proper connections ( although she’ll argue the sCiEnTiFiCaLlY pRoVeN fAcT that napping with someone for half an hour does more to build trust than anything else ). and no one’s really that fond of ash popping into their dreams. maybe they shouldnt have so much to hide, huh?

her biggest ‘’’ inner struggle ’’’ shall we say is the pressure to be productive. let’s face it, she IS a lazy bitch, and that’s pretty much an inherited nature. getting a job sounds like hell, she sucks at combat training, she really could NOT be bothered with camp politics and god wars and whatever else. why can’t she just sleep and dream walk all day? monster’s are out there man, she’s gonna die some point soon anyway. but that doesn’t mean  she doesn’t feel guilty about it all. it’s kinda hard not to.

so, moving on to the ISSUE AT HAND. so when you walk through dreams and you sleep for 20 hours of the day, it’s not hard to figure out who your dad is, even if he never turns up. like, seriously, who else would it be? so yeah, sure. she was only claimed a couple of months ago. but she wasn’t completely in the dark like some of her other campers, and she respects that, truly. she got the luckier end of the stick and its not hard to understand the resentment among the minor demigods and the unclaimed.

HOWEVER, she’s very much FOR the new cabins. as explained above, lyssa’s a bitch whose taking her mummy issues out on others. ash loves bunking with the hermes kids but she’d like a space of her own and at the end of the day who the fuck is lyssa to make that decision?

𝕖𝕩𝕥𝕣𝕒 .

pinterest! (its a wip there’s not much IM SORRY)

spotify (now this is the one thing i will never let u down on)

wanted connections coming soon!

[hermannsthumb]

18. wine tasting that leads into 9. Ghost tour, drunk ghost tour!!!

from autumn fic meme here: 18. wine tasting + 9. ghost tour

this one was especially fun bc i am a biggggg fan of ghost tours myself, and i got to make up a bunch of fake lore for the “haunted house” hehe. you can decide where this is set……. (content warning for alcohol!)

—————————————–-----------------------------------------

One of the rare occasions that Hermann actually acknowledges that he and Newt are a thing and lets Newt use romantically-coded words like boyfriend or love or feelings to refer to the two of them–instead of just a terse and incredibly vague this is my partner, Newton when he needs to introduce him to a colleague at work–is on their anniversary. Not that he’ll call it their anniversary, of course. It’s always that time of year again or their special day or flowers thrust quickly at Newt and a kiss pressed to his cheek while he’s brushing his teeth in the morning. Anniversary is too serious. Too intimate. And God forbid Hermann Gottlieb be intimate with someone; it took a month after they got together for him to even take his shirt off in front of Newt. Newt doubts he’ll even let him use the word when they eventually get hitched.

Anyway, it’s that special Time of Year again, Their Day, and Newt has taken it upon himself to book them a weekend getaway. Their first weekend getaway. Usually, for Their Day, they just sit at home and make out or something until their forgotten dinner burns in the oven, but Newt’s determined for them to start acting like an actual couple. Actual couples do things for their anniversaries, like go out to fancy overpriced restaurants. Or have beach vacations. Or rent a room in a cozy mountainside inn (surrounded by beautiful autumn foliage) for a weekend for a wine tasting.

“Yes,” Hermann says, “but most couples don’t go out of their way to hunt down a wine tasting in the most–allegedly–haunted inn possible.”

“That’s because most couples are boring,” Newt says. “We’re not boring. We’re cool.” He clinks his wine glass against Hermann’s. “And don’t say allegedly. It is haunted. I did my research.” He takes the suggested tiny sip of his wine (a sweet dessert wine that tastes more like straight-up honey than any wine Newt’s ever had before) and forces a measure of false casualness into his voice. “They, uh, have ghost tours and everything.”

Hermann groans and sets his glass down. “Oh, Newton, you didn’t.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Newt says.

Newt does know, and he did. Wine tastings are fun and all, and it’s a nice excuse to get Hermann to gussy up a little (because that grey suit he’s rocking tonight combined with his tidied hair is making Newt feel all kinds of hot and bothered) but they’re also a little boring. And gross. Spitting into a bucket for two hours while a bunch of wine snobs sniff their glasses and eat tiny crackers? Boring. Newt’s preferred method of ingesting wine is sticking a curly straw into a box of Sunset Blush Franzia and waking up on the bathroom floor twelve hours later. He just thought–well–he could spice up the experience a little. Especially since it’s October. People do these sorts of things in October. It’s seasonably appropriate.

“Look,” Newt says. “The ghost tour starts at eight, right when this ends, and it’s only an hour. Only around the inn. I already bought us tickets when I booked the place–”

“Newton,” Hermann groans again.

“–but we don’t have to do it!” Newt says, in a way that makes it clear he’d really like to do it. “I just thought it could be fun.”

Hermann scowls at him a bit more, but his shoulders sag. Probably doesn’t care enough to put up more of a fight. “We have a gas fireplace and a bathtub the size of a bloody swimming pool in our suite,” he says, “and you’d rather creep around in the dark and play paranormal investigator. I shall never understand you, Newton.” He takes a long sip of his wine. He doesn’t spit this one out. “I’ll be picking where we go next year. Now fetch us more red.”

“Next year,” Newt echoes happily.

“Don’t push your luck,” Hermann warns.

They have more red, and then they have more white, and then they round it out with some rose, by which point Hermann seems to have given up all pretenses of the tasting factor. Hermann is not tasting; Hermann is imbibing. Copiously. “I revoke my earlier complaints,” Hermann declares, after sloshing half a glass of prosecco down his poor clean shirt and grey suit, “this is a marvelous idea, Newton. I’m–” He sloshes more prosecco onto the tablecloth. “Enjoying myself. A great deal.”

Oh, jeez. “Oh, jeez,” Newt says. “Hey, babe, uh, maybe you should lie down for a bit, before–”

“No,” Hermann says. “I feel very fine. You ought to try this.”

He swings his glass towards Newt, and refuses to allow him to push it away until he’s had a sip. “It’s good,” Newt says, because of course it is–every single bottle here has been fucking great, and fucking expensive, as shit. He gets another taste of it (and about three other wines) a second later when Hermann swoops in and kisses him with no small amount of tongue. “Hermann,” he mumbles, “people are staring.”

Tipsy Hermann is a different breed of Hermann that never ceases to straight-up weird Newt out. It’s like all Hermann’s carefully constructed layers of repression finally unravel like a ball of yarn, like someone’s finally popped his cork and tossed out his filter and let every single mushy, horny thought he’s ever had come pouring out. Tipsy Hermann is handsy. Tipsy Hermann is flirty. Tipsy Hermann calls Newt things like lover and pretty thing and even just ooh, Newton with a little giggle and twirl of Newt’s hair.

Newt thinks he probably should’ve been keeping a closer eye on how much Hermann was drinking; he thinks this especially when they move on from the tasting (with two newly purchased, at Hermann’s insistence, and unopened bottles of the prosecco in Newt’s tote bag) to the ghost tour, and Hermann can barely keep himself upright, even with all his weight shifted to his cane, and Newt has to practically hold him. He’s going to be pissed at Newt for his hangover tomorrow. Because of course he’ll blame Newt.

Their tour guide is a young woman, probably an undergrad at the nearby college working the gig part time, dressed up in old-timey Victorian-looking clothing with an actual lit candelabra. She seems to enjoy her job, at least: she explains the logistics of the tour with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of wild, animated gestures. (It’s an hour long, they’ll be walking up and down no more than two flights of stairs, one of the tour’s usual stops will be off-limits tonight due to construction, please silence your cell phones, she’s excited to be their hostess tonight!) “You sure you can manage?” Newt whispers to Hermann.

Hermann reaches up and tugs at Newt’s earlobe. “Certainly,” he says.

A hard maybe.

Their tour guide leads them to the narrow front lobby, and they file in in a circle around her as she begins to explain the inn’s origin. It was built in 1823 as a manor; it was converted into the building it is now during the 1870s; the room they’re in now was originally the parlor. “The painting above the fireplace is as old as the house,” she says. “It’s been hanging in that same spot since 1823.”

“Bloody ugly painting,” Hermann snorts.

Newt swats at Hermann. “Dude,” he hisses back.

“I’m only saying,” Hermann says. “They ought to burn it.”

Their tour guide didn’t hear, thankfully, and has gone on into describing the paranormal events of the former parlor. “You can still catch whiffs of his cigar smoke,” she says (referring to the original owner, whose name Newt missed, thanks to Hermann), “and some people have even claimed to spot a dark figure sitting in the armchair in the corner–” It’s faded emerald and ratty as hell, with a small velvet rope blocking it off from the rest of the newer furniture, “–also an original piece of the house, and his favorite spot while he was alive.”

The tour guide leads them down to the creepy basement next (haunted by the ghost of a former maid who’d been brutally murdered by the eldest son of the house–her lover–in 1859 and buried there), up to the kitchen (where servant bells still go off, despite the system being nonoperational and purely for show since the ‘70s), over to the bar (hidden behind a sliding wall throughout Prohibition and only recently re-discovered, where stools move on their own and translucent patrons flit around after closing) up more stairs to the former master bedroom-turned-unoccupied grand suite (where faucets turn on by themselves and strange shadows glide across the antique mirror), down the hall to the nursery-turned-honeymoon suite (where toys turn up out of thin air and ghostly babies cry in the middle of the night).

“‘S all rubbish,” Hermann declares at that bit. Still not loud enough for their tour guide to hear–not yet, anyway–but loud enough that a handful of people in their immediate vicinity turn and frown at him. “Ghosts are rubbish. Not real. I reckon they put--” He waves his hand. “Speakers, in the vents.”

“We fought off giant interdimensional aliens,” Newt says, grinning despite himself, “and ghosts are what you have a problem with?”

Hermann immediately gets snooty. “Kaijus–” (Newt cringes, because come on, how many times does Newt have to explain you don’t need the s?) “–had a logical reason for being here. And there was proof. Loads of it.”

“Stop being such a buzzkill,” Newt laughs. “This is just for fun, dude. No one gives a shit about proof.”

“That much is obvious,” Hermann sniffs.

“Is there a problem?” their tour guide suddenly says. She looks completely earnest, too, not angry at them for talking–like she’s genuinely worried Hermann’s upset or offended about something. 

“No,” Newt cuts in quickly. He wraps his arm around Hermann’s waist and pinches his side to shut him up. It has the opposite effect of what he wants: Hermann doesn’t look affronted, but instead, very pleased at the sudden touch, snootiness evaporating. Of course. “Forgive my partner. We, uh, just got done with the wine tasting, and he missed the memo on spitting.” He cracks another grin.

There’s a small chuckle throughout the crowd that turns awkward fast when Hermann turns to him and says, in a faux whisper (too loud, too flirty, face too close to Newt’s), “I thought you preferred when I swallow.”

Newt chokes on air; he turns bright red. “Hermann!”

The tour ends on a mildly disappointing note. Their guide takes them up to the attic and passes around quote-unquote EMF detectors, with the promise that almost every group (to date) has caught something up here with them, but after twenty minutes of waving the little boxes around with not even the smallest beep it’s very clear their group will not be joining that number. If Hermann was sober, he’d probably say I told you so. He’s not, so instead, Newt says goodbyes and thank-yous for both of them, and Hermann collapses face-first into their ridiculous canopy bed almost the very second Newt gets him through the door of their suite. He doesn’t even bother to take off his shoes first. Or drop his cane--he’s still gripping the handle.

Newt shucks off his docs and tie, moves Hermann’s cane to rest against the clawfoot bedside table, and flops down next to him. He pokes Hermann’s shoulder. “You are not allowed to blame me for this tomorrow,” he says. “You got it?”

“Whatever for?” Hermann mumbles, sleepily, into his pillow.

“The hangover you’re absolutely going to get,” Newt says, “and for dropping sex life bombs on a group of strangers. That was all you, buddy. All you.”

Hermann turns on his side to face Newt, though he doesn’t bother opening his eyes. “You’re being awfully loud. Will you turn off the light, please?”

“Ugh. Fine.”

Newt has to shuffle all the way across the room to switch off the ancient floor lamp, and by the time he gets back, Hermann is already halfway to snoring, mouth open, drool at the corner of it, dress shirt rucked up from his waistband. It’s impossible to stay mad at him when he looks this cute. “I love you, you weirdo,” Newt says fondly, and leans in and kisses his forehead.

“Mm,” Hermann agrees.

[wexhappyxfew]

Hey sunshine bean! 🌻🌻 i hope you’re having a wonderful day! I’d love to know the kind of research you’ve done for Natia! And historical figures who’ll be in the book please!? My history-loving ass is so excited for this 😍 And I certainly wouldn’t complain if you were to offer up any memes 👀

AH SUNSHINE BEAN I LOVE IT!!! <3 and hello!!! aw thank u! i’m actually having a really good day today and i hope you are too! and you’re questions, yes ma’am - i am SIKED to answer them! :) thank you so much for sending in such a lovely ask, as always, and even just giving me the chance to chat about natia as a character, it means the world to me, i always appreciate the time people take to send in asks!! <3

and a meme? COMING RIGHT UP

And since this is longer than I expected it is under the cut!! <3

And OK!! LETS GET DOWN TO BUSINESS (anyone catch the Disney reference LOL I HAD TO)

Let’s just say, at about every sentence, there’s some form of tiny research going on - whether it be for location, how long to a location, proper spelling - LITERALLY ANYTHING - and it is something I truly am LOVING about the entire process specifically of this book. My two others books were focused more on planning and involved characters, this is really focused on Research because unlike my other two, this is focused on the Polish Resistance, a very involved, complex group which had so many different layers and jobs and capabilities during their time in World War 2, especially in the Warsaw Uprising which makes me super excited, as always!! I’m such a nerd I swear, but this stuff just hypes me up! LOL 

And something I really love about this story is, we enter right at a moment in time where this group of Resistance Fighters had been fighting for nearly 5 years as a whole - so consider this - they have experience in the field, together, with their weapons, with their operations - all of it. It’s nothing new to them, which is heavily portrayed, and it is something very ‘normal’ to them if that makes sense, in the fact what they do, they’ve done it nearly a hundred times - it’s nothing new. And that makes me excited, because it’s not just this newfound discovery - it’s a group of tired, fed-up people who just want a war to end - something different from my two other books who deal with characters who don’t experience was for the fist section of the book. These characters have been living war for 5 years and when we enter, it is evidently seen. 

And man the research for the Polish Resistance if so encapsulating and fascinating to read about! Just everything they did from small operations to executions of Nazis was just, it is such an interesting topic to read about and then get to include in the story. But my main focus was Natia Filipska who, is actually based on the Polish-SOE Agent Krystyna Skarbek or better known as Christine Granville. In the fic, I’m dedicating a chapter to this incredible woman that has loads of information and quotes and connections, just to truly show the deep connections I really tried to make between the two. Which as you can see I am VERY excited about because Krystyna Skarbek did so many daring and fearless missions in her time that were very inspiring for the story of Natia. But I can not exploit those daring missions quite yet, just for the sake of how I have Natia portray similar ones in the story! 

Historical Figures who will be in the book YES! I added this on at the end hoping maybe someone would be curious and I AM SO HAPPY YOU ASKED ANGE!!! 

Just to list a few historical figures that I use throughout the main first half of this book are Kurt Gerstein, Nikolaus Barbie, Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, Stefan Rowecki, Leopold Okulicki, Emil August Fieldorf, Antoni Chrusciel, Captain Jozef Zabielski, Major Stanislaw Krzymowski, Political courier Czeslaw Raczkowski, Elżbieta Zawacka, Anna Zakzewska.

Did I mention this is just in the first half of the book? LOL

Kurt Gerstein was a German SS officer and head of technical disinfection for the Insittute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS, who tried to give out detailed reports to the Allies in hopes of them discovering the true horrors of what the Nazis were doing within the concentration camp, attempting to inform them about the Holocaust, but they never reached their full potential and his reports never made it, no matter how many Allies he interacted with. His role in THIS story, especially in the beginning I feel is more of a rather mysterious one, especially in Natia’s case since suspicion and mystery heavily stem from him as well as plenty of questions - I am very excited for you all to really see the connection between the two of them as Natia works undercover plenty of times and has interactions with Kurt - but you’ll see more on that.

Nikolaus Barbie or Klaus was an SS and Gestapo functionary during the Nazi era who was virtually known as the “Butcher of Lyon” for different things that I will not state he did, during his time. His connection with Natia is smaller but he plays a part in her story as well. 

Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski, Stefan Rowecki, Leopold Okulicki, Emil August Fieldorf, Antoni Chrusciel were all Polish Generals and Leaders in the Polish Resistance Movement, the Underground, or the Home Army in various ways that directly affect Natia, her siblings and her small group of rebels in their own ways and their stories are intertwined with Natia’s own - but I shall say no more on that yet!

Captain Jozef Zabielski, Major Stanislaw Krzymowski, Political courier Czeslaw Raczkowski, these 3 were some of the main leaders within the Polish Paratroops - the Cichociemni, which was a highly fascinating group to research and put the Flip Children into it in the early part of the war. 

Elżbieta Zawacka was the only female member of the Cichociemni and her story connects eventually with Natia and Klimeck’s at a certain point as the 2 other sole female members of the Cichociemni - her story is so entirely fascinating to research. She was incredible. 

Anna Zakzewska is a member of the Polish Home Army whose story eventually HEAVILY affects Natia in a way that I can’t say quite yet, but all I can really say is her story really intertwines with Natia in the first half of this book. But I can’t say much else or it will spoil it AH! 

ANDDDDD I do happen to have 1 meme for you at the moment, as I am giving them out sparingly but it is one that is Natia Filipska to a ‘T’ basically LOL 

Natia:

And I will leave you with that....

thank you so so much for the ask ange this was truly so much to fun to answer and to pull out some of my research notes that i have taken day AH THANK YOU!!! have a lovely day my friend! <3

[sceptilemasterr]

Catalysts Play Open Heart: Chapter 8

Summary: The Vaanti have an unusual way of opening doors, Michelle gets trolled with a Tumblr meme IRL, and Michelle and Quinn continue to fail at hiding their increasingly-obvious relationship. Not to mention the usual hilarity and chaos, as always!

Previous Chapter: Link

Note: The things in bold are scenes from the actual Choices chapter. Ian (x Estela) and Alyssa (x Jake) are my twin Endless Summer MCs.

Warnings: Alcohol use, swearing, marijuana references.

“Seraxa!” exclaimed Varyyn in surprise, as the front doors of The Celestial slid open to reveal the Vaanti war leader and a troop of other warriors, all of whom were holding up a large log. “What has happened? Is something wrong?”

“Also, y’know, you don’t have to bash the door open,” Jake commented, joining Varyyn a moment later. “Doorbells do exist.” He emphasized this statement by jerking his thumb obviously in the direction of said doorbell.

“Was the door not intentionally locked as a test of our courage and conviction?” asked Seraxa, tilting her head quizzically.

“...What.”

“Don’t mind him, Seraxa,” said Diego a moment later, joining them at the doorway. “What’s wrong?”

“Varyyn,” Seraxa said, standing at attention. “We were able to locate the Guardian called Furball, as you had requested of us. However, the creature panicked and ran away when we approached, disappearing into the jungle.”

“That’s great!” exclaimed Diego. “Er, I mean… great that you found Furball. Not great that he ran away again. I… you know what I meant.”

“Indeed,” agreed Varyyn with a nod and a smile to reassure his husband. “Seraxa, where did you last encounter Furball?”

“In the western jungles, not far from the village,” Seraxa informed them. “Should we continue the search?”

Varyyn nodded. “Tomorrow morning, myself and the Catalysts shall join you in your efforts. Return to the village until then; it is too dark to locate Furball in the jungle with any accuracy. Thank you for informing us.”

“Yes, my elyyshar.” With that, Seraxa and the other warriors left as suddenly as they had appeared, taking their large battering ram log with them.

Varyyn, Diego, and Jake looked at one another awkwardly. “Well, that was a thing,” said Jake. “We’d better catch Fantastic Mr. Fox this time…”

“Let’s hope so!” agreed Diego. “Varyyn’s right though, it’s too dark to do much right now. We’ll start first thing in the morning.”

“For now, let us rejoin the others,” suggested Varyyn. “So that we may continue the story. With luck, we shall be able to complete at least one additional chapter before we must sleep.”

Jake shook his head, amused, as the three of them headed back toward the main lobby where the projector was set up. “Who would’ve thought everyone would get so into this?” he asked nobody in particular. “Even Varyyn, here.”

“Wait, Jake, you just called him by his actual name!” Diego pointed out excitedly. “Wow!”

“What? No I didn’t,” Jake insisted.

“Indeed you did,” said Varyyn. “You referred to me as ‘Varyyn.’ It is quite the departure from your usual method.”

“No I didn’t, Legolas,” Jake insisted again.

Diego said nothing, but smiled knowingly as they approached the ring of couches around Zahra’s projector setup. Raj was still there, asleep in his chair exactly where they had left him. Aleister and Sean were engaged in a conversation about math, of all things, from what Diego could tell, while Grace was showing Alyssa something in of one of her many textbooks. Much to Diego’s surprise, Alyssa actually seemed genuinely interested in whatever it was. “What was that noise all about?” asked Sean, looking up from his discussion with Aleister when he noticed Diego, Jake, and Varyyn approaching. “Everything’s okay, I’m guessing?”

“We bring good news,” Varyyn informed Sean and the others. “Seraxa has located Furball in the western jungles. I informed her that we will join them in their continued search in the morning, as it is too dark to effectively search for him at this time.”

“That’s great! Sounds like a plan, Varyyn,” said Sean.

“Not t’mention… we’re all too drunk to, uh, ‘effectively search at this time,’” said Jake, flopping onto the couch, right next to his wife.

“Except Estela,” said Alyssa, frowning in the general direction of the dining area. “She hasn’t had a drop to drink since we got here! Talk about a party pooper; she must’ve been spending too much time with my brother lately. Or her brother. Somebody’s brother, anyway.”

“Excuse me, but just what, precisely, are you implying?” asked Aleister defensively. “I do imbibe, you know. Moderately. On occasion.”

“The hell are you complainin’ about, Princess?” Jake asked. “All that means is there’s more of the good stuff left for us!”

At that moment, the door to the wine cellar swung open, and Zahra entered, followed by Craig, who was laden down with a large number of bottles. “Speakin’ of which, I brought a lot of the good stuff,” Zahra said as she and Craig approached the group.

“You mean I brought it,” complained Craig from behind her, setting down the bottles on the table in the center. “And now my hands hurt. Ow.”

“Oh, quit whining and start drinking,” said Zahra. Craig’s expression immediately switched to one of happiness as he opened the nearest wine bottle by hand and poured a gigantic glass for himself.

Zahra raised her eyebrows at the sight. “Wow. You’re actually maturing! This time last year, you would’ve still been drinking from the bottle.”

“What? Oh, thanks for reminding me, I forgot! I can go back to doin’ that if you want-”

“NO!” shouted Zahra and Alyssa simultaneously. Craig’s eyes went wide and he immediately resumed pouring his glass.

Just then, the doors to the kitchen swung open, and the smell of freshly-baked cupcakes wafted into the lobby, followed closely by Quinn and Michelle, each bearing a tray of said cupcakes. “Guess who made cupcakes for everyone?” said Quinn excitedly, a huge smile on her face as she set her tray down on a set of coasters that Grace had strategically arranged.

“Oh, oh, I guess: Quinn!” said Craig, as Michelle set her own tray down.

“No shit, genius,” snarked Zahra.

“That does smell quite enticing,” Varyyn said to the two newcomers. “May I?”

Quinn nodded, picking up a cupcake and passing it to the Vaanti leader. “Of course! We made plenty for everyone!”

“Cooking with love, am I right?” said Raj, who had woken up in response to the smell of cupcakes. As Michelle and Quinn started blushing and stammering furiously, he looked around the room at everyone who had arrived. “Hey, are we all here? Should we start the chapter?”

Alyssa smirked. “Sure, let’s go!” she said.

Michelle looked around the room, then frowned. “Aren’t you forgetting someone? Specifically, Ian and Estela?”

“Technically, that would be two someones,” Aleister corrected.

“...‘Sometwos?’” suggested Diego.

“What? No! That is most certainly not a word in the English language, and to be quite honest, such a word would be essentially a violation of…”

“I mean, at this point, those two might as well be one person,” said Raj, as Aleister continued to blabber on about linguistics. “‘IaStela?’ ‘EstIan?’ I dunno, what would we call them?”

“I think ‘Dragon Hero’ beats either of those,” said Jake.

“You’re just saying that because you came up with it,” Alyssa snarked.

“Princess, that… I… what… okay, you got me,” admitted Jake with a sigh. “But you gotta admit, it does sound pretty cool on its own.”

“Whatever. Let’s just start without them. They’ll figure it out next chapter.”

“Somehow, I get the feeling you would be pretty upset if Ian wanted to start without you,” said Grace. “Wouldn’t you?”

“That wouldn’t ever happen. He’s too nice to do that… ohhhhh,” said Alyssa, as realization dawned on her. “I hate to admit it, Grace, but you’ve got a point. Alright, fine, we’ll wait for them.”

Grace smiled. “I knew you’d do the right thing, Alyssa!”

“I mean, it’s impossible to stay mad at Grace for long,” Sean observed. “Right, Alyssa?”

Before Alyssa could reply, the doors to the restaurant slid open, and the two remaining Catalysts entered the lobby. “Wow. Everyone else is back already?” asked Ian.

“Good timing,” said Jake. “Princess here was about to start without you two.”

Alyssa slapped her husband in the shoulder. “You traitor…”

“Oh my god. Quinn, you are incredible,” said Estela upon spotting the cupcakes, racing over and grabbing one from the tray. “These look amazing.”

“Aww, thanks!” said Quinn. “Michelle helped too!”

“Oh, don’t sell yourself short, Quinn, these were all you,” said Michelle. “I just followed your lead, really.”

“No, Michelle, you did great! Such an amazing job-”

“Just kiss already,” said Alyssa, a bit louder than she meant to, sending Michelle and Quinn into another fit of blushing. “Oh my god, you two are worse than my brother and Estela were, and I didn’t think that was physically possible,” she muttered under her breath.

“Uh… okay, then, how about we start the next chapter? Everyone okay with that?” asked Michelle, desperate to change the subject. Before anyone could actually respond, she grabbed Quinn’s time-shifted phone and opened the Choices app once again. “Well, too bad, because here we go anyway.”

“Wait, were we voting?” asked Craig randomly, as Michelle began the next chapter of Open Heart.

Open Heart: Chapter 8

Make-Believe

“Oh, no,” said Diego as the title screen appeared. “That music does not sound good.” “Not to mention, it’s really hard to dance to,” said Raj. “I liked that upbeat music from the other chapter.”

“Ha, that’s true,” observed Quinn. “The other music was definitely better for dancing!”

You glance through the window blinds, into the room where Dr. Banerji rests…

Dr. Banerji: …

“Aww, he looks so sad,” said Grace. “It must be hard, being a doctor and having a terminal disease like that.”

“I’d feel so helpless,” said Michelle, shaking her head in sympathy. “I can’t even imagine going through that, even without being a doctor.”

“Well, this is a rather somber way to begin this chapter,” Aleister observed. “With luck, perhaps our character will be able to find a cure for Dr. Banerji’s condition.”

“That would be nice,” said Raj. “Wonder what he has? Maybe our Michelle can help somehow!” He looked at the real Michelle with a big smile on his face. “‘Sides, we all know she can do anything…”

Dr. Ramsey: I’ve been trying to figure that out for the last month.

MC!Michelle: Dr. Ramsey…

“Okay, if anyone doesn’t pick ‘how can I help…’” warned Estela the moment the choices appeared.

“It would be irresponsible of us to say otherwise,” agreed Varyyn.

“Well, duh!” said Alyssa. “We shouldn’t just do nothing, if we have the choice to do something!”

“Huh?” asked a very confused Craig.

Zahra sighed in exasperation. “How the hell are you confused by that? She made perfect sense.”

“Certainly, the wording may have been grammatically incorrect, but the message was clear,” said Aleister. “If we are capable of assisting with this situation, the best course of action would be to do so.”

“My grammar was perfect!” Alyssa protested.

“Well, I agree with everyone,” said Sean. “If we can help, why wouldn’t we?”

“Oh, for sure,” agreed Michelle. “Alright, who all votes for offering to help?” The vote was decisively unanimous. “Wow. Guess we have a clear winner.”

“A unanimous vote. That’s a rare sight,” said Diego as Michelle selected the choice in question.

Ethan’s pager beeps. He checks it with a grimace.

“Pager?” asked Zahra, surprised. “When the hell does this take place, the ‘90s?”

“Believe it or not, we actually still use pagers quite a lot in the hospital,” Michelle informed her. “I know, it seems behind the times, but it works well enough.”

“Huh. I would’ve thought hospitals would have, like, some kinda super-high-tech somethin’ or other,” said Jake. “The more ya know.”

“Additionally, I am quite certain that the mention of pagers has occurred previously in this story at some point,” Aleister said. “Is that correct, Michelle?”

Michelle frowned. “I… I mean, it has to have been mentioned, right? I honestly wasn’t paying that much attention to the pagers.”

“Well. Michelle doesn’t even know. My point stands,” said Zahra. “Who the hell still uses pagers?”

“Like I said. Hospitals do.”

“Why?!”

“I don’t know… because reasons?”

Craig nodded sagely. “Wow. I never thought about that before. Makes sense.”

“I… HOW in the hell did that make any sense at all?!” demanded Zahra.

“I concur with Zahra,” said Aleister.

“Hey, ‘because reasons’ is a good enough answer for me,” said Raj. “Besides, does this really matter that much?”

“Yes,” Zahra said without hesitation.

Michelle sighed. “Why does this always happen? Can we just play through the story for once without getting sidetracked?”

“Aww, but that’s no fun,” said Craig.

“Besides, I want to know why the hell hospitals still use pagers,” Zahra reminded everyone.

“WE KNOW,” said Jake.

Quinn reached over and grabbed a cupcake from the tray on the table, offering one to Zahra. “Here, want one of my cupcakes? They’re really good…”

“Huh? Uh, sure, why not.”

As Zahra started eating the cupcake, Quinn nudged Michelle. “Go ahead. While she’s distracted,” she whispered, winking at her. Michelle smiled gratefully and continued the story, while Zahra’s mouth was too full for her to protest.

MC!Michelle: Dr. Ramsey! You can’t just tell me one of the greatest doctors this country’s ever seen is dying and then… walk away. You want me to keep this a secret, but you won’t even tell me what ‘this’ is.

He rubs his stubbled chin and sighs.

Dr. Ramsey: Come by my house after work tonight. I’ll explain everything, I promise.

Meet Ethan at his place?

“You know what, guys?” asked Michelle, turning back toward the group with an excited look on her face. “I think it’s time we actually picked a Dr. Ramsey diamond choice.”

“Seconded. We have to find out about Dr. Banerji!” said Estela. “We all agree, right?”

Quinn frowned. “I get it, Michelle, but… as usual, we still don’t know what the other diamond choices will be…” she reminded them.

“Yo, Aleister! What are the other diamond choices?” asked Craig.

Aleister looked over at Craig with a perplexed expression on his face. “What? Me? Why on Earth would you think I would have any possible way of knowing what the other diamond choices are?”

“Uh, ‘cause you can tell the future, duh,” Craig stated, as though this were the most obvious answer in the world. “Who else would I ask?”

There was a long silence as everyone (except Craig) looked at each other in complete and utter confusion. “Grace,” said Aleister finally, “do you have the faintest idea what he could be referring to? I most certainly do not have prescient abilities of any kind; one would think such a fact would have been made apparent well before now.”

Grace shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine,” she admitted.

“Hold up, didn’t he say something about you seeing the future during the last chapter?” Raj asked. “You guessed what he was gonna vote ahead of time, or something. Pretty sure that’s what it was.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Sean. “Raj, I think you’re on to something. I remember a conversation like that too, actually.”

“See? I’m right, Aleister can tell the future!”

“What? No, he can’t tell the goddamn future,” said Zahra with an exasperated sigh, once she had finished the cupcake from earlier. “That settles it, I need a freakin’ drink.” She picked up her glass and took a long sip.

“Hey, you cheated!” Alyssa protested. “Diamond choices aren’t drinks!”

“I propose we just make ‘Craig says something stupid’ a new drink rule,” suggested Zahra.

“Sure, if you all want to die of alcohol poisoning by the end of the night,” Michelle snarked.

Everyone laughed at this comment. Including Craig.

“Actually, now that you mention it,” Raj said, “we should be drinking now. It shouldn’t cost money just to meet Dr. Ramsey for dinner, so this counts as an unnecessary diamond choice, right?”

“Oh yeah!” said Jake. “Wow. I’d definitely forgotten all about that rule. Well, you know what that means… drink, y’all!”

Most of the group took a sip of their respective drinks. “Heh. Saved by the Jake,” said Zahra. “And Raj, too.”

“You’re welcome,” Jake said in response. “And are we gonna be votin’, or what?”

“I’ve got it this time,” said Alyssa before Aleister or anyone else could beat her to it. “Though we all know what’s gonna win… we can’t miss this chance!”

“You are behaving far from impartially…” Aleister said.

“I know, and I don’t care,” said Alyssa. “Who votes for the best option, a.k.a. ‘Let’s talk tonight?’” She raised her hand immediately, followed a moment later by Michelle, Zahra, Diego, Estela, Ian, Aleister, Grace, Sean, and Varyyn. “Alright, we win. Michelle?”

“Wait, we didn’t do the other choice yet!” argued Craig.

“You’re right, but… there aren’t enough people left to win the vote,” Quinn said. “Ten of them already voted. They win no matter what.”

“I know, I don’t care about that,” said Craig. “I just wanted to raise my hand.”

“Uh, Craigslist, you can just do that anyway, y’know,” said Jake. “You don’t need a vote to raise your hand.”

“Wait, really?” asked Craig, before randomly raising his hand. “Whoa!”

“Alright, we’ve got our vote, let’s keep going,” said Michelle, ignoring Craig’s strange astonishment at being able to raise his hand without a reason.

“The mystery deepens! This is going to be so exciting!” said Diego with a huge smile, as Michelle purchased the diamond option.

“Aww, he smiled when we picked it! That’s adorable,” commented Quinn when the purchase happened.

Dr. Ramsey: And I mean it, Michelle. Not a word of this to anyone.

He touches your arm, staring at you gravely.

Dr. Ramsey: Not even Harper Emery. Promise me.

You swallow, realizing the magnitude of what’s happening.

MC!Michelle: …

“You weren’t kiddin’ when you said ‘the mystery deepens,’ Underdog,” Jake said to Diego. “Shit’s gettin’ real.”

“Wait, can Diego tell the future too?!” asked Craig, who was still waving his hand in the air randomly. “How crazy is that?”

“Listen, nobody here can freakin’ tell the future!” shouted Zahra.

“Uh, technically, they kinda can,” Raj reminded her, pointing at the twins.

Alyssa blushed, shrugging her shoulders. “We can’t actually ‘tell the future,’ just send things forward and backward in time,” she corrected.

“Besides… always in motion is the future,” added Ian, quoting Yoda. Diego air-fived him at the reference.

Craig suddenly gazed at the twins, inspiration dawning on his face. “Hold on a sec. Dudes… if you can send Quinn’s phone into the future… what if we looked up sports scores on it, and bet tons of money on the games? WE COULD ALL BE GAZILLIONAIRES!”

“Excuse you, but ‘gazillion’ is most certainly not an actual number,” Aleister said.

“Ah, who cares, you get what I meant,” Craig grumbled.

“And we are not using our powers like that,” Ian insisted. “We’ve been over this. Like, at least 25 times by now.”

“Where’s your sense of fun?” asked Alyssa. “Did you leave it next to your sense of humor, or something?”

“Besides,” said Grace as Ian rolled his eyes at his sister’s comment, “that wouldn’t be fair to whoever we bet against! They don’t have magic time powers on their side.”

“Thank you, Grace!” said Ian. “See? At least someone’s sensible around here.”

“As tempting as it is, Grace has a point,” admitted Michelle. “We can’t keep relying on the twins for stupid things.”

“How is ONE GAZILLION DOLLARS stupid?!” demanded Craig.

“And I repeat, ‘one gazillion’ is not an actual number!” argued Aleister once again.

“You know what? I think this story is really ramping up the mystery,” Sean said loudly, completely out of nowhere. “I vote ‘I promise.’ Who else agrees?”

There was a momentary awkward silence as everyone suddenly remembered the choice they were supposed to be discussing. “Hey, time twins, which choice wins-” Craig started to ask, before Zahra smacked him over the head with the rolled-up newspaper from before.

“I mean, the choice here is obvious,” said Michelle. “Who would ever pick anything besides ‘I promise?’”

“Same here,” said Quinn.

“I honestly kinda like ‘I’ll see you tonight,’ both for the flirtiness and because it’s a total troll move,” admitted Jake.

“Too late, already picked,” said Michelle as she selected the ‘I promise’ option.

“I VOTE FOR SOMETHING!” shouted Craig, launching his hand into the air again.

“Michelle! You cannot simply override the principle of democracy whenever you feel-” Aleister started to protest, before Grace placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a knowing look. He immediately calmed down.

You emerge from the under-construction corridor to find Zaid bearing down on you.

Zaid: Unless you decided to quit medicine to become a foreman, I’m not sure what you could possibly be doing in there!

MC!Michelle: Oh, um, I was…

“You know, I’m low-key disappointed that ‘yes, I actually became a foreman’ isn’t one of the options,” said Zahra when the choices appeared.

“That would definitely be a great response,” agreed Sean. “Seeing what we’ve got, though… I say ‘lost.’”

“Well, ‘lost’ would be way funnier, so…’” said Raj.

“Not that either of these options are convincing excuses for being in a restricted area,” Michelle said. “That said, I’d also go with ‘lost.’”

“Oh, definitely, same here,” agreed Estela.

“But wouldn’t ‘looking for a quiet place to study’ make at least a little more sense?” asked Grace. “Those are hard to find, after all. Once at Hartfeld I somehow ended up in a maintenance hallway during finals week, looking for a study spot!”

“Why am I not surprised?” said Ian. “Actually, you know what, I’m voting for that one too.”

“She’s got a point,” admitted Alyssa. “‘Quiet place to study’ gets my vote.”

“I trust Maybelline’s judgement on this one,” said Jake. “I’m goin’ with ‘lost.’”

“What?!” said Alyssa. “Did you even hear what Grace said?”

Jake sighed. “Yep, I heard her, but she ain’t the one who’s been in an actual hospital,” he said.

“That is not a reason to vote,” argued Alyssa. “Besides, looking for a place to study is at least some kind of excuse.”

“But d’you really think Zaid would believe that?” said Jake. “I mean, really?”

“He’d believe it more than ‘I’m lost,’” said Alyssa.

“What? But how-”

“Alright, enough. That’s one vote for ‘lost,’ one point for ‘looking for somewhere to study,’” interrupted Michelle. “Who else?”

“Those two argue like a married couple,” Craig ‘whispered’ (extremely loudly) to Zahra.

“Almost like they’re actually married or something, dumbass,” Zahra snarked back. “By the way, you still need to vote.”

“Wait, we’re voting? No fair!” said Craig. “Uh, I vote the study thing!”

“I, for one, concur with Grace,” put in Aleister. “Any reasonable response would certainly be preferable to claiming to be ‘lost,’ after all.”

“Agreed,” said Varyyn. “After all, any answer is better than no answer at all, as claiming ‘lost’ would be.”

“But ‘Lost’ is a pretty good show… at least until the end,” said Diego.

“What?”

Diego sighed. “Never mind,” he said. Then he thought for a moment. “You know what? I’m going with ‘quiet place to study,’ actually,” he decided. “...Was that everyone?”

“Not quite,” said Grace. “Zahra and Quinn still haven’t voted!”

“Props to you for keepin’ track, because I sure as hell wasn’t,” said Jake. “Little Mermaid? Skrillex? You gonna vote, or what?”

“Cool it, Jack, I’ll vote when I vote,” said Zahra, with an added death glare for good measure.

Jake turned to the others in confusion. “...Did she just call me ‘Jack?’”

“I… guess I’ll vote for ‘lost,’” said Quinn. “Like you said, Jake, I trust Michelle’s judgement.”

Zahra sighed and leaned back in her chair as everyone looked expectantly at her. After several long moments of not saying anything, she laughed. “Oh, man. Your faces! That never gets old.” Then she shrugged. “And I vote looking for a study space or whatever. There.”

“Okay, now everyone’s voted,” said Grace.

“That has got to be the most chaotic vote we’ve ever done,” Sean remarked. “Which choice won?”

Grace thought for a moment, counting up the votes mentally. “8-6, ‘quiet place to study’ wins,” she announced.

“Well, that took unnecessarily forever,” said Michelle as she selected the ‘Looking for a quiet place to study!’ option.

Zaid: You really expect me to believe that? Do you think I’m a complete idiot?

“I told you so,” Michelle said.

You hurry off toward the elevator. But as you go, you can’t help but look back at the blocked-off corridor and think of Dr. Banerji all alone…

“Phew, dodged a bullet there, for sure,” said Jake.

“Talk about sad, though,” said Quinn. “Dr. Banerji in that room, all by himself…”

“All by him-seeeeeeeeeeelf,” Craig started singing, VERY badly.

Thankfully for the other Catalysts’ ears, Zahra picked up a cupcake and jammed it into Craig’s mouth. “Thank heavens,” Aleister said.

Zahra smirked. “Thank Quinn over here. She’s the one who gave me the idea…”

Quinn looked away, embarrassed. “Sorry, Zahra. I was just-”

“Hey, it wasn’t all bad. It was a small price to pay for a new way of shutting Craig up.”

“You’re not… mad at me?”

“Heh. Do I look mad?”

“Besides, nobody could stay mad at your adorable face for long, Quinn,” Michelle added, causing Quinn’s face to turn almost as red as her hair.

Craig finally swallowed the cupcake in his mouth, and immediately reached for another one. “Whoa! These are awesome, thanks, Z!” he said, stuffing the next one into his mouth as well.

Zahra whistled in appreciation. “And it’s a long-lasting method of shutting him up, too,” she observed. “Alright, let’s get on with the story!”

You step off the subway and rub your arms as the cool night air hits you. You pull out your phone, following the directions on your map app to the address Ethan sent you.

“I have to say… ‘map app’ is really awkward to say out loud,” Michelle said. “I feel like a Dr. Seuss character.”

“Or the Aflac duck,” suggested Craig helpfully, after swallowing the second cupcake. “You know: MAP APP!” He said the words in an imitation of said Aflac duck.

“What the hell is your brain, Craig?” asked Zahra.

“Awesome, duh,” he replied, without missing a beat.

He shrugs as he closes the door, glancing at the stunning views as if he’d forgotten they existed.

Dr. Ramsey: I’m barely ever here. Wine?

He pads into the kitchen. There’s a bottle of wine on the counter, already more than half-empty. Two glasses sit beside it, one already full.

MC!Michelle: …

“Yes, please!” blurted Zahra, taking a gulp from her own wine glass shortly after.

“Seconded,” said Raj.

“Hell yeah,” agreed Alyssa and Craig simultaneously.

Jake held up a hand. “Alright, new rule: if ‘Yes, please’ wins, then we all get to drink.”

Zahra shrugged guiltily. “Whoops. Too late.”

“And you all get mad at me for drinkin’ at the wrong time…” Craig muttered.

“This is absolutely underhanded! This is bribery of the highest order!” protested Aleister.

Jake smirked. “All’s fair in love, war, and voting on app games, Draco.”

“Besides, what if not everyone wants to drink?” asked Ian, despite he himself holding a half-empty wine glass in his hand.

“I mean, no one’s forcing you to be a stick in the mud,” teased Alyssa. “You do what you want.”

Michelle smiled, shaking her head in amusement. “Alright, well, I think we all know what’s going to win,” she said. “Do we still want to vote, or should I get on with it?”

“Get on with it!” everyone (except Aleister) said.

“Yes, get on with it!” quoted Diego in a British accent.

“Are you honestly suggesting we override democracy for such an inane reason? I can hardly fathom such a…” protested Aleister.

As he continued rambling in the background, Michelle selected the ‘Yes, please’ choice. “I mean, everyone except Aleister voted to just pick the choice,” she pointed out. “13 to 1, ‘vote’ lost fair and square.”

“Did we just vote on whether or not we should vote?” asked Diego. “Whoa, plot twist!”

“Vote-ception!” said Raj. “Awesome!”

Before Michelle could start reading the next line of the story, Jake lifted his glass above his head. “Hold up, Maybelline,” he said. “First, we gotta drink, y’a--”

“Y’ALL!” shouted Craig before Jake could finish. Immediately after, he took a huge gulp of wine.

“We just had this discussion last chapter,” groaned Zahra. “Stop saying ‘y’all!’”

“Too late,” said Craig with a huge grin on his face.

Dr. Ramsey: To the unknown.

[WINE: Clink Ethan’s glass.]

“Wow, talk about a very fitting ‘drink, y’all,’” said Jake as he and the others laughed at the timing of the one-option choice.

“Well, I’m not complaining,” said Zahra, leaning forward to refill her glass. She glanced over to her left at Estela, who was eating one of Quinn’s cupcakes. “Want some?” she asked, holding out a fresh wine glass to her.

Estela shook her head, looking away. “Thanks, but no,” she said.

“I’ll take hers!” shouted Craig.

“You already have some, moron,” Zahra snarked. Then she turned back to Estela. “Hey, uh… I know I’m total shit at this kinda stuff, but… you okay? This isn’t really like you.”

Estela smiled and waved off Zahra’s concerns. “Thanks, Zahra. I’m okay though, really.”

Zahra shrugged. “Whatever, then. Still… y’know if something’s wrong, you can talk to any of us, right? We’ve all got your back.”

“I know. But there’s nothing wrong with me. Promise.”

“Cool. Just checking.” Then Zahra leaned around Estela, looking over at Ian, who was currently chatting with Diego about Star Wars. “Yo, time boy,” she said, and he turned at the sound of her voice. “You’d better be takin’ good care of Estela, understand?”

Zahra followed this with a death glare in his direction, but Ian just smiled reassuringly. “Always,” he said, as he and Estela exchanged a loving glance.

“Alright, alright, just makin’ sure. Not that I care that much,” Zahra added unconvincingly, turning back to where Craig was now debating with Raj over whether cheese tastes more ‘yellow’ or ‘green.’ Upon realizing what their argument was about, she facepalmed. “Why…?” she asked nobody in particular.

* * *

“So! We gonna keep goin’ or what, Little MerMaybelline?” asked Jake a short while later, glancing pointedly at the armchair that Quinn and Michelle were now sharing.

The two of them were sitting so close they were practically in each other’s laps, chatting animatedly about something or other. At Jake’s comment, they leapt apart so fast that Michelle dropped Quinn’s phone. “I… uh… what? Yeah, of course we’ll keep going,” stammered Michelle as she bent down both to retrieve the phone and to hide her blushing face while she recovered herself.

“Seriously. Just kiss already,” muttered Alyssa much quieter than before, having learned her lesson. Jake laughed and gave his wife a long kiss. “…Not exactly what I meant.”

“Oh? You didn’t want me to kiss you, Princess? Is that what you ‘meant?’”

Alyssa rolled her eyes and smiled. “You know full well what I meant. But your kiss was nice, too.”

“Alright, alright, let’s go,” said Michelle, still blushing heavily. Quinn, for her part, had picked up one of the cupcake trays and was rearranging the cupcakes, probably more to have something to do than because the cupcakes actually needed rearranging. “And Zahra? I’m sure Estela’s fine, I wouldn’t worry about her. Everybody ready?”

Everyone went quiet… well, almost everyone. “But if bleu cheese tastes ‘blue,’ then does that mean mixing it with regular cheese would make it taste ‘green-’” Craig was saying. He instantly shut up when he noticed everyone staring at him. “Right, okay, back to the story.”

MC!Michelle: Dr. Ramsey… what’s going on? What’s Dr. Banerji’s diagnosis?

Dr. Ramsey: I don’t know.

MC!Michelle: But you’re the best diagnostician in the country!

“OH MY GOD, DR. BANERJI’S PREGNANT?!” shouted Craig.

Everyone stared at him. All Michelle could possibly say in response to this was simply: “What.”

“Dia-go-stritian,” said Craig, attempting to pronounce ‘diagnostician.’ “Isn’t that the doctor that treats pregnant people? Is that what Dr. Ramsey is?”

“Diag-nos-tician,” enunciated Michelle. “And you’re thinking of obstetrician. A ‘diagnostician’ is-”

“A ‘diagnostician’ is when a line is on an angle, but not horizontal or vertical,” said Raj with a big grin on his face.

Michelle sighed. “No, Raj, that’s… that’s ‘diagonal,’” she corrected. “A ‘diagnostician’ is-”

“A type of huge reptile that lived in the Mesozoic Era,” said Diego, catching on.

Michelle rolled her eyes. “Diego, that’s… that’s a dinosaur,” she said, completely serious. “A ‘diagnostician’ is-”

“That place in Harry Potter where they do their shopping,” said Jake.

“Whoa, I didn’t know you were a Harry Potter fan,” said Craig.

Jake gave him an incredulous look. “You kiddin’? I call him ‘Malfoy’ and ‘Slytherin’ all the damn time,” he said, pointing to Aleister.

“Oh yeah,” said Craig.

“Anyway,” put in Michelle, “you are thinking of DIAGON ALLEY, you idiot. A ‘diagnostician’ is-”

“Those little black rectangles with white dots on them that you can set up to knock over in creative ways,” said Sean.

Michelle massaged her temples in frustration. “I… what… no. Those are dominoes. A ‘diagnostician’ is-”

“My favorite animal!” chirped Quinn excitedly. “The one that lives in the ocean and does flips!”

“You too?!” demanded a flabbergasted Michelle. “How did you get ‘diagnostician’ and ‘dolphin’ mixed up…” Her voice trailed off as she realized everyone (save a bewildered Aleister) were struggling to contain their laughter. “Oh. Come on. What do you think this is, a Tumblr post or something?”

Unnoticed by anyone, a certain crabby crustacean popped its head up outside the window for a moment.

“Took you long enough,” said Raj over the din of everyone’s laughter. “But man, that was great! You should’ve seen your face!”

Michelle tried and failed to suppress a smile. “Alright, I admit, that was pretty good,” she said, laughing along with the others. “But getting back to the original topic,” she stated, once her laughter had died down a bit, “no, Dr. Ramsey is not an obstetrician. And most certainly, Dr. Banerji isn’t pregnant, and neither is anyone else, so can we please change the subject?”

“Seriously,” agreed Ian quickly, “let’s just keep going.”

Craig’s face fell. “Aww…” he said. “I thought I was on to something.”

Dr. Ramsey: I told him I was going to tell Dr. Emery. He chased me down and begged me to keep it to myself. I’d never seen him beg before. The idea of anyone knowing he was sick… almost seemed to break him.

MC!Michelle: But…

“Wow…” said Quinn softly. “This just got deep.”

“Least that explains why he told us to keep it a secret,” said Jake. “Man, what would it be like to be a doctor, and be sick? It’s gotta be like bein’ a pilot riding a crashing plane….”

“That you probably crashed,” snarked Alyssa. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.” Then she went back to serious. “Realistically, though, I get it. Sort of like we were talking about with Remy before; sometimes it might be harder knowing exactly what’s happening, but not being able to fix it.”

“Knowledge is sometimes a double-edged sword,” agreed Grace. “Which, come to think of it, is kind of the other side of ‘ignorance is bliss,’ you could say!”

“Hmm,” said Aleister thoughtfully. “While I do concede you have a valid point, I must maintain that it is at least better to be informed than not, even in such a difficult situation. The outcome will be the same regardless, no?”

“Everyone has their own way of looking at these kind of things,” observed Michelle. “Me, personally, though, I would want to know. Even if it’s something there’s no cure for… well, who knows? We of all people know better than anyone what kind of miracles are possible.” She gazed lovingly at Quinn, who smiled back, knowing full well which specific miracle Michelle was referring to.

“Well said, Michelle. Well said,” agreed Aleister.

Raj stretched and let out a huge, loud yawn, startling everyone. “Uh… sorry?” he said as everyone stared at him. “When you gotta yawn, you gotta yawn,” he added with an apologetic shrug.

Sean pulled out his phone to check the time. “Whoa!” he exclaimed. “It’s already way past midnight. Raj, if you’re tired--”

“Nah, I’m fine!” Raj said, waving away Sean’s concerns. “Besides, we can’t just stop mid-chapter!”

“Yeah, that’s illegal! ...Or something,” said Craig.

“We could just power through this chapter, and then go to bed,” suggested Grace. “I’m feeling pretty tired too, now that we mention it.”

“Same,” admitted Diego. “But first things first…” he said with a grin, “…who votes ‘Why would he feel that way?’”

“Wow. Diego of all people bein’ sneaky with the votes? That’s a first,” said Zahra.

Diego blushed as the others laughed good-naturedly. “You’ll find I’m full of surprises,” he quoted in a remarkable imitation of Luke Skywalker.

“Now that is definitely not a first,” said Jake. “Oh, also, I vote ‘Why would he feel that way’ too.”

“Oh, right!” said Craig. “We’re voting! Uh… wait, no, I vote the one about Dr. Emery.”

Michelle sighed. “Look, just raise your hands if you like the one Diego asked about!”

“That would be ‘Why would he feel that way?’” clarified Diego, who raised his hand, as did Jake, Zahra, Aleister, Estela, and Varyyn. “Okay, and ‘Dr. Emery deserves to know?’” The rest of the group raised their hands: Sean, Craig, Michelle, Quinn, Grace, Raj, and the twins. Diego mentally counted up the votes. “Aww, my choice lost. Well, guess we’re going with the second one!”

“Wait no, sorry, Diego!” said Craig. “I change my mind then!”

“Craig, you can’t just change your mind because Diego’s sad,” said Zahra.

“Yes you can!”

Zahra sighed, putting her head in her hands. “...Why do I bother?” she asked aloud.

Diego laughed and shook his head. “I appreciate it, Craig, but my choice wouldn’t win either way, so it’s fine! Michelle, would you do the honors?”

“Thanks, Diego,” said Michelle, selecting the winning choice.

Dr. Ramsey: Perhaps the old her would have taken my side. But today, she’s the administration. Her duty is to the board of directors now. But it must be done. When there isn’t a path, you make your own.

MC!Michelle: Alright, but…

“First of all, can I just say,” said Michelle the moment the choice appeared, “hospital administration sucks.”

“I can believe it,” agreed Ian. “I definitely understand where he’s coming from here.”

“You’d think the people in charge of a hospital would care more about their patients… and their employees, too,” said Quinn, “but in my experience… yeah, no.”

“Sad but true,” said Michelle, shaking her head, “sad but true.”

“I do like Dr. Ramsey’s line at the end there,” put in Estela. “‘When there isn’t a path, you make your own.’”

Ian smiled warmly. “That’s Estela, all right,” he said, pulling her into an embrace. Everyone smiled at the two of them (except Alyssa, who mimed vomiting instead).

“I want that on a t-shirt,” said Diego. “Talk about inspirational!”

“You do not need a t-shirt, as I have said before,” Varyyn said to his husband. “You look much better without one.”

“Varyyn!” said Diego suddenly, his face turning bright red. “Don’t say that in front of everyone!”

“What?” asked the elyyshar innocently.

Aleister cleared his throat. “If we are quite finished, I would just like to say-”

“VOTE TIEM NOW,” declared Zahra in a sarcastic ‘caveman’ voice. “Yeah, we know.”

“Before we actually vote,” said Michelle, “let me just say that finding out what the tests show is way more important than anything else. That should be our choice, here; who else agrees?”

“Pardon me,” said Aleister, “but you cannot simply-”

“Have you been in medical school for the past two years?” asked Michelle. At Aleister’s stunned silence, she continued, “Didn’t think so. So anyway, who votes ‘what did the tests show?’” Michelle, Quinn, Jake, Raj, Sean, both twins, Estela, Grace, Diego, and Zahra raised their hands (while Aleister made some weird noises of protest in the background.) “Yep, that’s what I thought.”

Dr. Ramsey: It was like a game I’d mastered. A… a competition against death I was winning handily. And now… I lost Dolores, and I’m going to lose Naveen. The two people on Earth I gave a damn about are the two people I couldn’t save.

MC!Michelle: …

“So many choices, so little time,” remarked Diego as yet another choice appeared. “Well, actually, they aren’t timed choices, so we’ve got all the time in the world, but still, generally, they’ve been coming faster than normal, so you could still say ‘so little time’ to mean…” His voice trailed off as he noticed everyone looking at him quizzically. “You know what? I’ll stop now.”

Varyyn rested a hand on his shoulder. “It is all right, Diego,” he said. Then he turned to the group. “‘A competition against death…’ such a thing can never truly be won, can it?” he mused. “A hard lesson to learn. ‘Some choices must last.’”

Everyone took a moment to bow their heads in memory of Ximaedra. “He’s right,” said Michelle finally. “In medical school they gave us a talk about that. How our job is to keep people happy and alive, but no human on Earth can live forever. We’ll all fail at some point.”

“Must be rough for someone like Dr. Ramsey,” said Raj. “He’s so good at what he does… failing like this must be even harder than usual to deal with.”

“I feel like Dr. Banerji isn’t the only one who ‘doesn’t want to be saved,’” Quinn observed. “Dr. Ramsey also feels like he’s given up. I… I can understand why.”

“It’s such a sad situation,” commented Grace. “Both doctors must feel so helpless.”

“Yeah…” muttered Zahra. “This sucks.”

“So, shall we take an actual, unbiased vote this time?” asked Aleister, looking pointedly at Michelle. “Since there was clear interference in the previous one.”

“Excuse you, Aleister, but advice is not ‘interference,’” Michelle argued. “Just because I had a suggestion on the best choice to pick doesn’t make the vote any less fair!”

“How absurd. Do you have any concept of what you are-”

“Alright, enough,” said Sean, gently but firmly. “Aleister, shouldn’t you take the vote?”

Aleister looked up in surprise. “Hmm? Er, yes, my apologies. You are quite correct. All in favor of the first selection?” For ‘Dr. Banerji means a lot to you,’ Estela, Ian, Varyyn, Raj, Zahra, and Aleister himself raised their hands. “And for the second choice?” Alyssa, Jake, Diego, Michelle, Quinn, Sean, Craig, and Grace all raised their hands for ‘It seems like Dr. Banerji doesn’t want to be saved.’ Aleister quickly counted up the totals. “It would appear the second selection has won the vote,” he declared. “Shall we?”

Dr. Ramsey: He doesn’t know what he wants. He’s given his life to his work. He never married, he never had children. And now he’s alone, facing an illness he can’t even put a name to. Wouldn’t you be terrified? Wouldn’t you think it was easier to run from the problem?

“This chapter is just… all the feels,” commented Diego.

Michelle nodded. “No kidding. I feel so bad for Dr. Banerji….”

“I just have to say, right now,” declared Alyssa, looking pointedly at her brother, “thank God for Diego and Estela… and me of course. Otherwise you would’ve ended up just like this, Ian.”

Ian promptly turned a bright shade of red. “‘Lyss!” he shouted indignantly. “I wasn’t that bad! Come on.”

“I may not have known my own sibling for as long as you have known yours, Alyssa,” said Aleister, “but I must concur. It is quite fortunate that the two of them have found each other, or she may have shared a similar fate.”

Now it was Estela’s turn to blush. Followed shortly by a death glare toward Aleister, naturally.

Alyssa shrugged mock-innocently. “What? It’s the truth… you definitely had less friends than me in grade school. ...And middle school. ...And high school. ...And college-”

“It’s not a competition,” groaned Ian.

As they all continued to banter, Raj leaned over to Craig. “Man, I love this show,” he joked, pulling out another random bucket of popcorn. Craig eagerly grabbed a whole fistful of popcorn and shoved it into his mouth.

“If we’re done,” said Michelle sternly, and the arguing siblings (and siblings-in-law) stopped talking abruptly. “Can we please continue?”

“Aww,” groaned Raj and Craig simultaneously. Zahra slapped Craig in response.

He hunches forward, bowing his head. You watch his shoulders rise and fall as he steadies his breathing.

MC!Michelle: (What do I do?)

“Shameless flirting, drink, y’all!” declared Jake triumphantly, raising his glass.

“Oh man, I’d completely forgotten about that rule,” admitted Raj.

“Dude, you came up with these rules in the first place!” Zahra reminded him.

“Oh yeah,” Raj said sheepishly.

“Well, I think it only counts if we actually take the flirting option, right?” said Quinn.

Sean laughed. “True, otherwise we’d all probably have died of alcohol poisoning by now.” He looked around at the group. “So, what do we choose?”

Michelle sighed. “Given that one of these options counts as a drink, I think we all know what’s going to win,” she admitted. “But anyway, who votes ‘Promise to help him?’” She raised her hand, and was joined by Ian, Estela, Aleister, Sean, and Grace. “And the shameless flirting option?’” This time, Jake, Alyssa, Raj, Zahra, Varyyn, Craig, Diego, and Sean. “Whoa. Closer than I expected,” she said as she tallied up the votes. “But still, the predictable outcome.”

“Alright, drink, y’all! For real this time!” proclaimed Jake excitedly. Most of the Catalysts took a sip of their drink of choice as Michelle selected the chosen option.

The next morning, you’re heading to meet your new patient. You notice a small crowd of surgical interns gathered in the hallway. Bryce stands at the center, grinning.

“Wait, what?” asked Raj. “That was… abrupt.”

“Awkward transition is awkward,” commented Diego. “But I wonder what Bryce is so happy about? Either way, I’m just happy to see Bryce again!”

“Amen,” said Alyssa.

MC!Michelle: What happened?

Bryce: There was a complication, and the general surgeon was taking too long to arrive. So I stepped up and asked Dr. Tanaka to tell me what to do. I saved the patient and scored a solo surgery. Win, win.

MC!Michelle: That sounds like you’re making…

“Whoa,” said Sean. “Bryce’s pretty impressive.”

“Hot, too,” added Quinn with a giggle.

“Well, I think we all know what Sean’s voting,” snarked Zahra. “It’s pretty much exactly one of the options.”

Sean glanced up at the screen. “Ha. True,” he laughed. “Nice one, Zahra! Alright, who else agrees with ‘A good impression?’”

“What, we’re voting already?” asked Craig. “Uh… I vote that one!”

“That was quick,” Alyssa observed.

In addition to Craig and Sean, Quinn, Ian, Diego, and Grace all raised their hands to vote. “And that makes six votes,” said Sean after a quick count. “Alright, and the other choice?”

“Bryce is impressive, I admit,” said Michelle, “but from what I hear about surgery, it’s pretty cutthroat. Bryce should be careful.” She raised her hand for the ‘Some enemies’ option.

“Agreed. You can never be too cautious,” said Estela, raising her hand as well.

“That’s our Estela for you,” said Diego with a smile.

Estela shrugged. “What? It’s true.”

“She’s got a point,” agreed Jake. “I’m votin’ for that one too.”

“Indeed, it is quite prudent to remain vigilant, especially in a hyper-competitive environment such as surgery,” agreed Aleister.

As Alyssa, Varyyn, Raj, and Zahra added their own votes to the group, Sean counted up the remaining votes. “Well, looks like ‘some enemies’ wins,” he declared.

Craig cheered. “Yes!” he exclaimed.

“Craig… you voted for the other one,” Zahra pointed out.

“Wait, really? Aww...”

Bryce: So, are you coming to Boston Common tonight?

MC!Michelle: That big park? What for?

Bryce: They do this thing called Classics on the Common once a month where they play an old movie on a big outdoor screen.

“Why is it blue?” Craig asked, referring to the words ‘Classics on the Common.’

Raj shrugged. “Why not?”

“Whoa. That’s deep, man,” Craig said, nodding sagely. Zahra gave him a confused look.

“This ‘Classics on the Common’ thing… I gotta say already, I am so down!” exclaimed Diego. “If there’s a choice, I’m definitely voting yes.”

“Sadly, I’m suspecting a diamond choice,” said Michelle. “And we’ve already spent our diamond choice this chapter. Though it was definitely worth it.”

Diego frowned at the realization. “Aww… I hope you’re wrong, Michelle.”

“You know, I have offered repeatedly to purchase as many diamonds as you might req-”

“WE KNOW,” everyone except Aleister and Grace said simultaneously.

Bryce: I already told your roommates, so… maybe I’ll see you there?

MC!Michelle: …

“Boom! YES!” shouted Diego excitedly. “It’s not a diamond choice!”

Michelle smiled mischievously. “I’ve never been so wrong in all my life,” she said in a British accent, a big smile on her face.

Diego lit up instantly. “Michelle… was that a movie reference?!”

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

Quinn smiled. “Either way,” she said, “I’m also glad we don’t have to miss out on a scene with Bryce. So that makes two of us!” She air-fived Diego.

“Be that as it may,” said Aleister, significantly louder than was necessary, “we do still need to take an actual vote on this choice.”

Jake sighed. “Y’know, Slytherin, this would all go a lot faster if you’d quit insistin’ on random votes,” he said.

“They are not ‘random’ votes,” Aleister insisted with a huff. “They are vital to the continuation of democracy-”

“In a phone game? Come on,” groaned Alyssa. “Let’s just get on with it!”

“If that is how you feel, then you should cease your constant interruptions and permit me to continue with the vote!”

Alyssa and Jake looked at one another awkwardly. “Huh. He’s got a point,” Jake admitted finally. “Alright, let’s just do this.”

“Well. That was unnecessary, wasn’t it? All in favor of ‘save me a seat near you’?” Quinn and Diego’s hands shot up instantly, followed shortly by Estela, Ian, Raj, Alyssa, Grace, Michelle, Sean, Craig, and Varyyn. “Very well, and all in favor of ‘I’ll check my schedule’?” Aleister himself, along with Jake and Zahra, raised their hands.

“I think it’s pretty obvious who won,” Raj commented.

Michelle nodded. “Yep. And I can’t say I’m complaining.” Smiling, she selected the ‘save me a seat near you’ choice.

Bryce: Great. Fair warning, I talk during movies. A lot.

“Just like you, Varyyn,” Diego commented, glancing sideways at his husband.

“Why?” asked Varyyn. “Is it unusual to speak during a film?”

“Well, usually people are quiet when they’re watching movies,” Diego explained. “But I don’t mind it when you ask me questions! It’s kinda fun to explain movies to you, actually. It’s like I’m watching my favorites for the first time, all over again!”

Varyyn smiled. “I… I thank you, Diego,” he said, unsure of how else to respond to that.

“People also sometimes talk durin’ movies that they’re makin’ fun of,” Jake added. “Like the ‘so bad it’s good’ types.”

Diego laughed. “True! Good point, Jake.”

“You mean like we are doing right now with this story?” asked Varyyn.

Jake and Diego glanced at each other, then shrugged. “Sorta,” admitted Jake finally. “Close enough, anyway.”

“Ah. I see.”

The nurses direct you to a young woman waiting in the E.R. A guy the same age sits beside her. He reaches out to shake your hand, pumping it enthusiastically.

Rowan: Doctor! Hi!

MC!Michelle: Wow, hi. And hello…

You check the chart.

MC!Michelle: Willow?

Willow: That’s me. And this is my twin brother, Rowan.

MC!Michelle: Willow and Rowan? Those are both…

“Pokemon professors!” Diego blurted out.

Ian laughed. “You’re not wrong,” he said. “But somehow, I don’t think that’s what they were going for.”

“...Weird names?” guessed Craig.

“Also true,” Raj agreed.

Quinn raised her hand excitedly. “Ooh! They’re trees, right?”

Michelle struggled to contain her laughter as she nodded. “Quinn, you don’t have to raise your hand, you know!” she said. “But you’re right, and that’s definitely more likely than the other two guesses.” Diego and Craig frowned, and Quinn broke into an excited grin.

Willow: They’re hippies.

Rowan: Total hippies.

MC!Michelle: Really?

“That explains a lot,” Zahra stated.

“Gotta say, I love that ‘what kinda hippies’ is an option,” laughed Raj. “I know where my vote’s going!”

“Same here, man,” agreed Craig. “Who else?”

Stunned at Craig actually taking a vote normally, there was a momentary delay before Alyssa, Jake, Raj, Diego, Varyyn, Quinn, Michelle, Sean, Ian, and Estela raised their hands. “Whoa,” said Zahra. “Did that just happen?”

“Did what just happen?” asked Craig.

Zahra sighed. “Never mind,” she said. “Guess we know which choice won.”

Michelle nodded. “Yep. Nice job, Craig!” she said.

“Nice job on what?”

Willow: They met at a Willie Nelson concert.

Rowan: I have a baby photo of us wearing matching ‘Legalize Weed’ onesies.

“Dude! I like this family already,” said Raj.

“Of course you do,” snarked Zahra.

Jake laughed. “Seriously, though, that’s awesome and hilarious. Awesomely hilarious?”

“Or ‘hilariously awesome,” suggested Craig. Jake high-fived him.

“Wonder what these two are in the E.R. for?” asked Grace curiously as Jake, Raj, and Craig continued their random discussion in the background. “They didn’t say…”

Michelle shrugged. “Only one way to find out,” she said as she proceeded to click ahead in the story.

Willow laughs, nervously itching her skin.

MC!Michelle: How long have you been feeling itchy, Willow?

Willow: Hm? I, uh… I’m not sure.

Rowan: She’s had it for a few weeks now.

You step closer and notice the spider angiomas darkening under her skin.

“Eww!” shouted Alyssa. “She has spiders under her skin?! That is disgusting!”

Michelle shook her head. “It’s not actual spiders. A ‘spider angioma’ is just the term for an area with blood vessels under the skin, that spread out like spiderwebs. Combined with the itching, this could be a liver problem.”

“Why do medical conditions have such weird names?” Alyssa asked nobody in particular.

“Plus those two things were written in green! They must be important,” Quinn pointed out.

“Good thinking!” said Michelle. “I bet there’s gonna be a choice about their diagnosis coming up.”

MC!Michelle: Push your hands down on your sides just like this. That’s right. Now I’m going to give you a little tap.

You lightly strike one side of Willow’s abdomen, resting your hand on the other side.

“The hell is that test for?” asked a confused Jake.

“It’s called a fluid wave,” explained Michelle, instantly recognizing the test being performed in the story. “If she… er, me… er, ‘we’... are doing that, they’re probably suspecting liver disease too.”

“I’m confused,” said Craig.

“That’s our Michelle for you,” said Quinn with a smile. “She knows her stuff!” Michelle’s face immediately turned a deep shade of red.

Aleister sighed. “I… suppose we can once again waive democracy for the inevitable medical choice ahead,” he said. “I trust your judgement, Michelle.”

“Er, right. Thanks, Aleister,” said Michelle.

“Hang on, Aleister, wasn’t that already a rule for medical questions?” asked Alyssa.

“Erm… hmm… I am… not certain what you might be talking about,” Aleister stammered unconvincingly.

Rowan: Yeah. He was kind of sketchy.

Willow: Totally sketchy. Just because my chest hurts doesn’t mean you have to conduct the entire consultation with my boobs, right?

You look between them, suspicious.

MC!Michelle: …

“Alright, who was this guy?!” demanded Jake. “Even I know he should be fired, like, yesterday.”

“Amen to that,” said Estela. “Let’s get his name.”

The other Catalysts all nodded their assent to that simultaneously. Sean glanced around at the group, then shrugged. “Well,” he stated. “That was an easy vote. Let’s find out who the hell this creep was.”

“On it,” said Michelle as she chose the ‘What was his name’ choice.

MC!Michelle: What was his name?

Willow: Doctor… Smith.

Rowan: John Smith.

Willow: Maybe Jonathan.

“Well, that really narrows it down,” said Zahra sarcastically.

“If that’s even really his name,” said Estela. “Something smells fishy here.”

“Oh,” said Raj sheepishly. “That might be me.” He held out a plate of fish sticks he had been eating. “D’you want any?”

Estela waved the plate away as everyone laughed. “No thanks.”

Raj shrugged. “Suit yourself. More for me, I guess!” He emphasized this statement by popping two fish sticks into his mouth.

Michelle frowned. “You’ve got a point, though, Estela. I wonder if they even saw a doctor at all. They’re acting kinda evasive.”

“Sure is mysterious,” agreed Sean. “I bet they’re hiding something, but what?”

“Maybe they already got a diagnosis, but didn’t like what it was?” suggested Grace. “They could be looking for a second opinion.”

“That’s a good point,” said Alyssa. “Hmm…”

“Well… shall we proceed, then?” asked Aleister. “Certainly our questions will be answered as the story progresses.”

“I sure hope so,” said Diego. “Unless they pull another ‘Patient X’ and make us wait a bunch of chapters to find out the answer.”

“I hope not!” said Quinn. “But at least we can keep going through all the chapters right away…”

“Yeah, imagine having to wait an entire week between chapters!” said Diego. “So glad we don’t have that problem.”

“You’re welcome,” said Alyssa smugly. Everyone laughed as Michelle started continuing the story once again.

MC!Michelle: Willow, I’m afraid it’s not the flu. It’s likely you have hepatitis C.

“Aww… I was hoping they’d let us guess the diagnosis,” Michelle complained. “We haven’t had a question like that in a while now!”

“You would’ve gotten it right anyway,” Quinn reassured her with a smile, taking Michelle’s hand in her own. “Hopefully there will be other chances!”

“I hope you’re right. Thanks, Quinn.”

“Hey, what if the reason they’re being so evasive is because they’re not vaccinated?” suggested Sean. “There’s a vaccine for hepatitis, isn’t there?”

“Yes and no,” answered Michelle. “There’s vaccines for hepatitis A and B, but hep C doesn’t have a vaccine yet. Good guess, though.”

“Huh,” said Sean. “Well, then I’ve got nothing.”

MC!Michelle: You don’t have insurance, do you?

The twins look at each other again, helpless.

Rowan: ...No. We don’t.

Willow: Usually when I’m sick, I just hope for the best and wait for whatever it is to go away. But my symptoms just kept getting worse.

Rowan: Mass Kenmore wouldn’t even look at Willow without insurance.

Willow: And we definitely can’t afford twenty-eight grand a month!

MC!Michelle: Yeah, it’s…

“So glad there’s an option for ‘Total bull,’ ‘cause that’s what I was gonna say,” said Zahra once the choices appeared.

“For sure,” said Craig. “That sucks! What are they gonna do? ...Also, does that count as a drink?”

Everyone looked at Jake expectantly, as Zahra shoved Craig in the shoulder in response. Jake shrugged. “Sure, why not,” he said. “Drink, y’all!”

“Maybe there’s something the ER doctor can do,” suggested Michelle, as she took a sip of her drink. “One of the doctors who came in for a guest lecture last year talked to us about alternatives for patients without insurance.” She shrugged, glancing back at the screen. “One way or another, guess we’ll find out.”

“Hold up,” said Alyssa, holding up a hand to get everyone quiet. “Alright, so, for this choice… everybody better vote ‘Total bull,’ understand?”

There were some murmurs of assent from the majority of the group, and some noises of protest about democracy from Aleister.

“That’s what I thought,” said Alyssa. “Alright, Michelle, we’re picking ‘Total bull.’”

“To be fair,” admitted Aleister, “I would have chosen the selection in question to begin with. I simply protest the principle of the thing, nothing more—”

“WE KNOW,” everyone except Grace and Aleister himself said simultaneously.

Michelle spared an apologetic glance at Aleister before selecting the choice in question. 

MC!Michelle: Wait. Don’t leave yet. I’ll… I’ll see what I can do.

Rowan: You’ll help us?

MC!Michelle: I can’t promise anything. But I’ll try.

Willow: Thank you, Dr. Nguyen.

MC!Michelle: First things first. We can’t give you your treatment until we know what genotype of hep C you have. I’ll need to draw blood…

“Hey, that word ‘jean-o-type’ is in green! That must be important!” shouted Craig when the line appeared.

Michelle’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow. That was honestly a great observation, Craig!

“Seriously? Thanks!” said Craig with a huge grin on his face. “So, what does it mean? I didn’t know whether or not your name was ‘Gene’ affected your health…”

Michelle and Zahra exchanged a meaningful glance. Zahra facepalmed. “And we’re back to normal Craig,” she snarked. “Should’ve figured.”

“Genotype,” not “‘Gene-o-type,’” clarified Michelle. “You know, ‘genes.’ Genetics. That kind of thing.”

“Ohhhhh,” said Craig, clearly still not understanding at all. “That makes perfect sense.”

“Sure it does,” said Michelle sarcastically, as she clicked forward in the story.

You spot Ines walking toward you.

Ines: Hi, Michelle! All done in the E.R.?

MC!Michelle: Yeah, I was actually just looking for you!

Ines: At your service! What do you need?

(What do you do?)

“Whoa, Ines gets a whole-body picture?” asked Quinn. “That’s surprising.”

“Doubt it has much to do with this scene, though, since it’s not a diamond choice,” Sean pointed out.”

Quinn’s face fell. “Right. Yeah, true,” she admitted.

“Everyone? Trust me. Never lie to a resident or attending,” said Michelle. “We should absolutely tell the truth here.”

Jake shrugged. “Fair enough,” he said. “I don’t see why not.”

“It’s like they say: honesty is the best policy,” said Grace. “I agree.”

“Very well, shall we vote normally, then?” asked Aleister. “All in favor of Michelle’s suggestion?” The vote was unanimous. As Michelle selected the choice, Aleister huffed and crossed his arms. “There, you see? Was that so difficult?”

“Yes,” said Jake, smirking. Aleister scowled at him.

Ines: One of the hardest things to learn is that you can’t treat everyone, MC. As a doctor, your responsibility is to find a way to help the people you can help.

She puts a comforting hand on your arm and walks away. You lean against the wall, a wave of disappointment crashing over you.

MC!Michelle: (What am I supposed to do now?)

“What, seriously? You can’t do anything?” shouted a very frustrated-sounding Estela. “That’s bullshit.”

“Right?” agreed Zahra, frowning. “Ugh.”

Michelle shrugged apologetically. “Sad but true, that really is the way medicine goes,” she explained. “Ines makes a good point here. It’s true that we can’t treat everyone. It’s a rough lesson to learn, but an important one.”

“And what, you just accept that?” asked Alyssa. “That can’t be right! C’mon, Top Gun, you agree, right?”

Jake shrugged helplessly. “I ain’t in med school, Princess,” he admitted. “Maybelline knows what’s up.”

Alyssa frowned. “Ugh. So unfair.”

“That’s life,” said Michelle.

“Guess life isn’t always fair, either,” said Sean. “Besides, looks like your character has enough on her plate right now. What with Dr. Banerji and all.”

“True,” admitted Michelle. “Wonder what’s next?”

Sienna: Well? How do I look?

MC: Like you walked out of a time machine! You’re dressing up for the movie?

Sienna: I hear it’s a fun thing some people like to do at Classics on the Common, and I wanted to give it a shot!

She gives a little twirl.

Sienna: I actually thought you might want to dress up too. Look what I picked up for you…

Classic Hollywood: Turn back the clock.

“‘Turn back the clock?’ Sounds like your specialty, Wonder Twins,” Craig joked.

Ian rolled his eyes. “For the millionth time, we can’t actually go back in time,” he said.

“Anyway, can we talk about how awesome Sienna looks? And Michelle’s character, for that matter?” put in Quinn. “Check out those outfits!”

“Too bad we spent our diamonds for this chapter already,” Diego reminded everyone. “Because otherwise, I think we should definitely dress up if we could!”

“Right?” agreed Raj. “I bet the others are all gonna be dressed up, too… can’t wait to see their looks!”

“Well, unfortunately, Diego’s right,” Michelle said. “One diamond choice per chapter, remember.” She declined the outfit as Aleister reminded everyone yet again that he was willing to purchase more diamonds.

You take in the impressive selection of sweet and savory treats in the center of the blanket.

[PICNIC BASKET: Don’t mind if I do!]

“Another one! Drink, y’all!” proclaimed Jake.

“This scene is remindin’ me of Raj’s picnics,” said Craig. “In all the best ways!”

Varyyn nodded. “Indeed. Raj’s cooking is always impressive. As this week has shown us once again.”

Raj grinned broadly. “Thanks, dudes!”

“Speaking of which, we should have another picnic sometime while we’re here!” suggested Quinn, grabbing Michelle’s hand excitedly. “How about at the beach near the airstrip, where we went on our first day here, remember?”

“Uh, actually, that was me an’ Raj with you, I think,” Craig pointed out. “Meech wasn’t there.”

Flustered, Quinn withdrew her hand and blushed. “What? Who said anything about Michelle? I was just, erm, talking about us in general, you know, like-”

“Aw, c’mon, even I can see it,” teased Jake. “’Little MerMaybelline’ is definitely a thing.”

“What are you even embarrassed about? It’s us,” said Ian. “I mean, it’s kinda silly that you’re hiding anything at this point.”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” added Estela.

Michelle frowned. “That’s something, coming from you two,” she said.

“Wait, what?” asked Raj, as it suddenly became Estela and Ian’s turn to get flustered. “Am I missing something?”

“No,” said Estela, Ian, and Michelle simultaneously.

Raj shrugged. “Huh. Okay then.”

“How about we get on with this?” suggested Estela abruptly, as Michelle went ahead and continued without waiting for a response.

Landry: Wait… did you ask out the girl from next door?

Elijah: No! I just… told her we were coming and that she should come, too.

Bryce: Dude, that’s totally a date.

Elijah: No way… It’s just me being a… friendly neighbor.

MC!Michelle: I think you should…

“AWW~! THAT IS SO ADORABLE!!!!” squealed Quinn in an incredibly high-pitched voice. Zahra and Jake covered their ears in response.

“Quinn used Screech! It’s super effective!” said Craig in the Pokemon announcer voice.

“Also, speaking of couples who are in furious denial…” said Diego, glancing pointedly at Michelle and Quinn.

“Uh-oh… Diego said it, it must be true!” said Alyssa with a grin. “It’s meant to be!” Michelle and Quinn blushed even deeper at this comment.

Diego shrugged sheepishly. “Hey, it worked for these two couples, what can I say?” he said, gesturing toward the twins and their respective spouses.

“...Well?” asked Zahra, looking at Michelle and Quinn expectantly along with the rest of the group. “If you’re gonna date or whatever, just say it. Don’t sit around stammerin’ like Time Boy over here.”

“That was years ago, come on,” said Ian, rolling his eyes as Estela stifled a laugh.

“Well, I mean, I… we… er…” said Quinn.

“I’m not really--” Michelle started to say.

Thankfully for Michelle and Quinn, they were interrupted by Aleister suddenly getting to his feet and clearing his throat loudly. “Er-hem! Have we all forgotten entirely about the choice at hand?” he asked, gesturing to the screen.

Michelle let out an involuntary sigh of relief. “Phew. Saved by the Aleister,” she muttered to Quinn, who giggled.

“Very well,” continued Aleister. “All in favor of the first selection, raise your hands.”

“Yeah, me!” said Craig. “I say go for it, Michelle and Quinn!” There was a brief silence as he looked up at the screen. “...Oh. Um, I meant Elijah. Yeah. Definitely meant to say Elijah.”

“Hey, we were all thinkin’ it,” said Jake. “And I say ‘go for it’ too. Who else?”

As the vast majority of the Catalysts raised their hands for the ‘go for it, Elijah’ choice, no one was quite sure whether everyone was voting about Elijah’s situation in the story, or Michelle and Quinn’s situation in real life. Regardless of which scenario was on everyone’s minds, the vote was the same: 13-1 in favor of ‘go for it, Elijah.’ “I see we have our answer, then,” proclaimed Aleister (his being the 1 vote against). “Michelle, would you do the honors?”

“If it’ll get us off of this topic, sure,” she said, as she selected the choice.

Elijah blushes, but shakes his head.

Elijah: Nah… she knows it’s just a friend thing.

“And in related news, Elijah continues to be you, Ian,” said Diego in a stereotypical newscaster voice. Ian shrugged sheepishly as Diego continued, “Now on to the weather. How’s the weather today, Varyyn?”

The elyyshar stared blankly at his husband, clearly confused. “Hmm? The weather is quite pleasant this evening. As it often is on La Huerta, ever since Vaanu’s departure. Why do you ask?”

Diego sighed. “We’ll work on that routine later,” he said, as Varyyn continued to look confused. “Don’t worry about it!”

Jackie arrives as the lead actor appears on the screen.

Elijah: Jackie! I thought you said you were studying at the library.

Jackie: I needed a break.

MC!Michelle: (What do I do?)

“There she is,” said Zahra excitedly. “About time she showed up in this chapter.”

“Whoa. You’re excited,” Craig pointed out.

“No I’m not.”

“Uh-huh. Sure you’re not. Anyway, let’s tell her to sit by us!”

“Let’s not do that,” argued Zahra.

“Well, I’m with Craig here,” said Raj. “The more, the merrier! Who else?” Besides himself and Craig, Raj saw Estela, Alyssa, Jake, Diego, Quinn, Michelle, and Sean raise their hands. “And looks like we’ve got a winner, 9 to 5!”

“Workin’ 9 to 5…” sang Diego randomly.

“...And Diego’s singing. It’s definitely getting late,” Zahra muttered. “Alright, Michelle, let’s just get on with this.”

“Karaoke night tomorrow?” suggested Craig. Zahra wordlessly stared at him. “Okay, okay, just a suggestion…”

Jackie: So… Wayne’s a no-show again, Sienna?

Sienna: He’s working tonight, if that’s what you mean.

Jackie: Seriously, Sienna. When are you going to wake up and dump that asshole? You deserve so much better.

Sienna looks like she’s been slapped. She looks to you for help.

MC!Michelle: Whoa…

“That’s my girl, Jackie,” said Zahra. “Tellin’ it like it is.”

“She could’ve said it a little nicer, though,” Quinn protested. “Sienna’s gotta be feeling awful!”

Zahra shrugged. “Doesn’t change the facts.”

“True,” Estela agreed. “We all know Wayne’s an ass. Maybe this is what Sienna needed to realize it, too. I say ‘harsh but fair.’”

“Definitely,” said Zahra.

“Hey, since Jackie’s actin’ like Zahra again, does that count as a drink?” asked Craig. “Also, I vote ‘harsh but fair’ too.”

Jake nodded. “Oh, definitely: drink, y’all!”

Alyssa shook her head, setting her glass down. “I’m getting too tired to drink any more,” she admitted. “Rain check, guys.”

Zahra shrugged. “Fair enough,” she said. “Alright, who else agrees with us on the choice?”

When the votes had been tallied up, the final result was a close one. 8-6 in favor of ‘harsh but fair,’ with Zahra, Estela, Craig, Jake, Alyssa, Aleister, Michelle, and Varyyn all voting in favor.

Elijah: Oh, Michelle, did you ever find out more about Patient X?

All eyes turn on you, intrigued. You freeze up and stammer.

“Well, this suddenly got awkward,” Michelle observed. “I mean, we can’t say anything to them, so…”

“We should make something up!” suggested Ian. “Say it was a mutant! Or a zombie! Or a mutated zombie!”

“...Or a zombified mutant?” Diego added.

Ian grinned. “Love the way you think!”

“Somehow, I don’t think they’d believe that,” deadpanned Alyssa.

Elijah: Is it the President? You have to tell us now!

MC!Michelle: …

“Oh, man, I forgot about that!” said Raj. “The President who’s also secretly a vampire!”

“PLOT TWIST: DR. BANERJI IS SECRETLY THE PRESIDENT,” said Craig.

“Best. Excuse. Ever,” said Ian. “That should definitely be one of the options…”

Aleister huffed. “Why you all continuously insist on acting absurd, I haven’t the slightest idea,” he said.

“Aw, c’mon, lighten up,” said Craig, tossing a pillow at Aleister.

As neither Aleister nor Grace had Estela-level reflexes, the pillow smacked him right in the face, leaving him to stammer indignantly as the rest of the group laughed. “I… how… heavens! You absolute buffoon, Craig!”

“Hey, it’s your fault for being so serious all the time,” said Craig.

“Just for that, I am rescinding your voting privileges for this round of voting,” declared Aleister.

“Wait, he can do that?”

“Technically, no, but who’s gonna stop him?” said Raj. “‘Sides, it’s just one vote. What were you gonna pick, anyway?”

“The first one!” exclaimed Craig excitedly. “Just tell ‘em who it is!”

Zahra rolled her eyes. “Maybe it’s a good thing you don’t get to vote,” she said. “That is the absolute worst choice imaginable.”

“Says you.”

“Says common goddamn sense.”

As the two continued to argue, Aleister stood up to take the vote. “All in favor of what is, quite frankly, a terrible choice?” he asked, referring to the ‘It’s Dr. Banerji’ option. Aside from Craig, who went ignored, no one raised their hands. “Hmph. At least the rest of you have some sense. Now, all in favor of feigning ignorance?” This time, he was referring to the ‘I don’t know anything’ option, for which Alyssa, Jake, Quinn, Raj, and Diego all raised their hands. “And finally, the clearly superior choice?” he asked for the ‘I really can’t tell you’ option: he himself and Grace raised their hands, accompanied by Estela, Ian, Sean, Michelle, Varyyn. (Zahra, busy arguing with Craig, didn’t vote at all.)

“Huh. Aleister, since when do you have such strong opinions on the different choices?” asked Michelle.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“I don’t know, usually you just read out the choices. That time you were pretty opinionated.”

“Might have something to do with Craigslist chuckin’ a pillow at him,” suggested Jake.

“Whoa, that really threw off his groove, then,” Diego said.

“Wait, so does that mean someone else got Aleister’s personality?” asked Alyssa. “Are we gonna have some Freaky Friday shenanigans now?”

“I hope not,” frowned Sean. “Once was enough.”

“I assure you all, I am Aleister,” Aleister assured them all.

“Either way, looks like we’ve got a winner,” Michelle interjected before the conversation could get any more out of hand. “Let’s keep going. I’m starting to get tired…”

Diego nodded. “Yeah, same here,” he admitted. Michelle chose the ‘I really can’t tell you’ choice, as Zahra and Craig continued to argue in the background.

Landry: Does it have anything to do with the diagnostics position?

“Wait, there’s a position for that squid monster from Star Wars?” asked Raj.

Ian laughed. “No, you’re thinking of ‘dianoga.’ ‘Diagnostics’ refers to a large-”

“Funny, but no, we are not doing this again,” interrupted Michelle before they could restart the same joke from earlier. “Can we stay on topic for once?”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” admitted Raj. “‘Sides, it’s us. When do we ever stay on topic?”

“He ain’t wrong, y’know,” said Jake.

Michelle sighed. “Good point.”

Elijah: It hits close to home. I was born with chronic spinal cord damage. It was potentially fatal, but my parents chose to pay for an experimental surgery. Insurance wouldn’t cover it. The procedure saved my life, but it bankrupted them.

MC!Michelle: Oh, Elijah.

Elijah: They never talk about it, but part of me has always felt guilty. Like it’s my fault. They gave everything to save me.

MC!Michelle: Listen…

“This story…” muttered Quinn.

Michelle looked over at her, noticing the look in her eyes. She wrapped an arm around Quinn. “Hey. Speaking of things hitting close to home…” Michelle said softly.

Quinn looked up at her. “I know it’s not exactly the same situation, but… I relate a lot to Elijah,” she said. “Especially the part about feeling guilty. You know my parents tried everything to find a cure for me, and I absolutely did feel guilty.” She forced a laugh. “Even now. I know it’s dumb, but even though it’s been years since I was cured… I still sometimes feel guilty about the whole thing.”

“Quinn…” said Michelle, pulling her into a tight hug. “It’s not dumb. Hell, just because you’re cured now doesn’t mean it all never happened in the first place; all those years still happened.”

Quinn nodded, pulling back and smiling at Michelle. “Sorry. I’m just… tired and tipsy, I guess,” she said, holding up her glass for emphasis.

“No need to worry. I’m here for you. Honest.”

As the two of them gazed into each other’s eyes, Jake suddenly coughed, interrupting the moment. “Hey, in case ya forgot, we’re all still here,” he reminded them.

“Jake!” admonished Alyssa. “Let them have their moment!”

Michelle and Quinn looked over to see that not only Jake and Alyssa, but the entire rest of the group (save for Craig and Zahra, who were still arguing) were all watching them. “Oh,” said Michelle. “Um. Right, so… uh… who votes what?”

Grace smiled. “Take all the time you need, you two. We’re sorry for interrupting,” she said sincerely.

“Yes, Jake’s very sorry,” said Alyssa with a pointed look at her husband. “Isn’t he?”

“Yeah, all right, I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m also drunk, in my defense.”

“I highly doubt ‘intoxication’ would be a permissible defense in any court of law--” Aleister started to say.

“No one cares, Malfoy.”

Sean stood up, slightly unsteadily. “How about I take the vote this time?” he suggested. When no one objected, he continued, “Who likes ‘It wasn’t your fault?’” Quinn smiled and raised her hand, followed a second later by Michelle. In addition to the two of them, Sean, Raj, Ian, Estela, and Grace all voted as well. “Okay, and how about the second choice?” This time, Aleister, Jake, Alyssa, Diego, and Varyyn raised their hands. Sean nodded. “Perfect. Looks like we’ve got our answer.”

Michelle held the phone out to Quinn. “Want to do the honors?” she offered.

“I’d be flattered,” said Quinn, taking the phone and picking the choice in question, as well as taking up Michelle’s role in reading the lines.

Elijah: But it’s why I became a doctor. That doctor, the one who saved my life by inventing a brand new procedure? That’s what I want to be. Pushing the boundaries. Paying it forward. And one day, I’ll save lives that people thought were hopeless before.

“Wow, it’s just like how you founded your charity, Quinn!” Grace pointed out. “Didn’t you say something like that? About ‘paying it forward?’”

Quinn smiled. “I did! It’s crazy how Elijah and I are so much alike, huh?”

“And before anyone asks, no, that doesn’t count as a drink,” said Jake. “We’re drunk enough as it is.”

“Whoa, Jake being all responsible? Must be the apocalypse,” snarked Michelle.

“Must be!” giggled Quinn. “Alright, let’s keep going!”

Bryce: Come on, let’s get outta here.

MC!Michelle: And do what?

Bryce: Literally anything. Let’s go have an adventure.

What do you do?

“Ugh, I knew it,” groaned Diego melodramatically. “Of course there’s a Bryce scene when we already spent the diamonds earlier. Should’ve figured.”

“To be fair, we’ve seen a lot of Bryce scenes already,” Raj reminded him. “There’s got to be more coming later on, too!”

Diego shrugged. “True,” he admitted. “Ah well.”

“No vote, then… sadly,” sighed Quinn, as she reluctantly chose ‘Stay here.’

You step cautiously into the operating room. You find Harper alone, gazing thoughtfully at the equipment tray. Her hands hover over each scalpel, as if greeting old friends.

MC!Michelle: (What is she doing in here?)

MC!Michelle: (What do I do?)

“Oh, I bet we’re gonna ask her if there’s a hepatitis C trial Willow can enroll in!” guessed Diego. “Elijah said the trials will cover the cost for free, right?”

“Yep,” said Michelle. “Still, it would be pretty convenient for there to be a trial for her exact condition right at that moment.”

“Ah, the magic of fiction,” said Raj. “So… choice time. Meech, what d’you think?”

“Probably best to wait and let her notice us,” Michelle suggested. “Sounds like she’s preoccupied with… whatever it is she’s doing.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me! I’m voting with you,” Raj said. “Who else?” Quinn raised her hand, followed by Ian, Diego, Grace, Sean, and Varyyn. “And the ‘get her attention’ choice?” Estela, Aleister, Jake, and Alyssa raised their hands.

“Thanks, Raj!” said Quinn. “Looks like we’ve got our answer!” She proceeded to choose the ‘Wait for her to notice me’ choice.

MC!Michelle: There’s a study. Human trials for new medications. They’re looking for fraternal twins to test on. If Edenbrook agreed to host test subjects, the government would subsidize any care they happen to require.

Harper reads over the documents in a flash.

Dr. Emery: You want to deliberately manipulate a government subsidy to provide care for an unrelated case?

MC!Michelle: Yes, but…

“Fraternal twins? Hey, maybe you two should join this study,” joked Raj. “Free healthcare!”

Ian laughed. “Somehow, I think having magic time siblings involved might mess up the results,” he said.

“Ha. Good point!”

Meanwhile, Michelle frowned as she looked over the options. “Props to our main character for going to an authority, but… I have to say, this is a pretty bizarre situation,” she said. “I mean, I don’t think it’s technically illegal or anything, but…”

“Sounds like a classic legal loophole to me,” said Jake.

“Look, when the rules keep you from doing what’s right, you say ‘screw the rules,’” said Estela. “I think we all have experience with that by now.”

There was a momentary silence as everyone processed Estela’s statement. Finally, Michelle nodded. “Well said, Estela,” she acknowledged. “Besides, if I had to pick one of these choices to say in real life, I’d probably go with ‘it’s the right thing to do’ too.”

“Same here,” said Sean. “Wouldn’t we all?”

“Well, I for one would select ‘obey the regulations put in place as they are clearly there for a reason,’ but seeing as that is not an available selection… hmm. I suppose I must concur with your statement, Estela.”

“Same,” said Jake.

“Oh, definitely, me too!” said Grace.

Gradually, the other Catalysts voiced their assent for Michelle’s choice. “Hey, are we gonna get another unanimous vote?” asked Diego. “Twice in one chapter!”

“Wait, does it count as unanimous if those two still ain’t voting?” asked Jake, pointing to the other side of the lobby, where Zahra and Craig were still arguing.

“Good question. Let’s ask the Keeper of Democracy!” said Diego, as he and Jake glanced over at Aleister.

“And here I thought that ridiculous nickname was gone for good,” said Aleister with a sigh. “At any rate, if all of the available voters are voting for a given selection, then it can be considered unanimous. You are correct, Diego.”

“Awesome!”

“Then we know what choice we’re making,” said Estela.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Michelle. “Take it away, Quinn!”

Dr. Ramsey: And thank you, for not telling anyone about… my patient. I didn’t think I could trust anyone enough to share the load, but… you’ve proven me wrong.

MC!Michelle: I’m really glad I could help.

He squeezes your arm softly in thanks before letting his hand fall to his side. You turn away and freeze. Harper Emery stands further up the corridor, watching the two of you thoughtfully…

Dr. Emery: Hm…

Ethan’s let you in on his darkest secret. But is there any hope for Dr. Banerji? Keep playing to find out!

“And that’s the end!” said Quinn.

“I’m just happy we didn’t end on a cliffhanger for once,” Jake said. “I hate it when that happens.”

“Well, it was kind of a cliffhanger,” Diego pointed out. “Wonder what’s up with Dr. Emery at the end there? Not to mention how she was hanging around that empty operating room. Maybe Dr. Ramsey’s not the only one with a secret patient?”

“Two ‘secret patients’ at the same time? Geez,” said Michelle. “What was that you said before, Raj?”

“You mean ‘Oh my God, I always knew the President was a vampire?’” Raj asked.

Everyone laughed. “No, I meant tonight,” said Michelle. “When we were talking about convenient coincidences.”

“Oh, that line. ‘The magic of fiction!’”

“Bingo, that’s the one.”

Grace stifled a yawn. “Well, at any rate, I think it’s time we all got some sleep,” she suggested. “Especially if we’re going to be out looking for Furball in the morning.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” said Jake. “Damn. I’m gonna need a hell of a lot of coffee in the mornin’.”

“For sure,” agreed Alyssa, yawning. “Night, everyone.” With that, she and Jake headed to the elevators.

“Sounds good to me,” said Quinn, setting her phone down. “Zahra, do you mind unhooking my phone for me? ...Zahra?”

“Hey! Zahra!” shouted Michelle.

Everyone turned to stare at Zahra and Craig, who were somehow still arguing. For the first time, everyone could hear clearly what they were saying. “...You don’t get it! Why would you have a screen door on an airplane?!” shouted Zahra.

“In case it gets hot or stinky in the plane, duh!” Craig argued back. “Since you can’t open the windows, just use a screen door instead! I’m a genius!”

“You are a dumbass! Air pressure doesn’t work that way, everything would just depressurize!”

“Then use a tire pump to add more pressure?”

“Do you have any idea what the difference is between a plane and a freakin’ tire?”

“The plane can fly?”

“I… I mean, technically you’re not wrong, but… THERE ARE A LOT MORE DIFFERENCES THAN THAT!”

“Oh! I just got an even better idea! Make a whole plane out of tires, so if it crashes, it’ll just bounce!” said Craig with a huge grin. “I’m gonna make a fortune with these ideas! How the hell has no one thought of this before?”

“Because no one else has the IQ of a rock?”

“You’re just jealous-”

“What. No! How in the hell do you think I’d ever be jealous of your stupid-ass ‘ideas’ in a million years…”

Sean sighed. “Guess some people never change.”

* * *

Next Chapter: Coming soon!

Tag List: @brightpinkpeppercorn @endlesshero1122 @marmolady

[rkwendy]

Five Times Around The Sun: A Rookies Fifth Anniversary Special

Dear Rookies,

First of all, I’d like to wish the roleplay a happy fifth birthday! I’m aware that not many roleplays live to make it this far. For you guys to make it, I’ll bet it’s some sort of achievement. And it’s all because of the work both the mods and the members of the community put into this. Let’s give ourselves a round of applause!

I warn you that this is more than 5,500 words long. So yeah. You are free to just skip over this if you wish!

There’s so much I want to say, but I’ve never been great at expressing my feelings. (Fun fact: my mom and I start laughing whenever one of us starts getting cheesy or emotional.) I never even properly celebrated either muse’s anniversaries despite them being in Rookies for more than two years! Forgive me if this gets too long. I promise I’ll do my best to keep this concise (Wow, big word!)

With this knowledge, please bear with me as I struggle to convey all that I want to say without cringing at myself.

I guess it’s safest to start sharing the story of why I opted to join Rookies in the first place. Like majority of what happened to me in terms of KRP, it was a complete accident. I have been in KRP since 2011 (if any of you have heard of ADiS, then… yeah… shifty eyes). I kind of stopped roleplaying because a job with a newspaper was difficult af. (I only went home to shower and eat. I was lucky to be able to sleep, lbr here) Anyway, I needed something to do once I resigned from my old job, and my friends got me back into KRP via a Kingsman-themed one, since they wanted someone to RP Infinite with them. I think some of you know which one it is. /cackles/

MOVING ON. This same friend also planned to join the Rookies and wanted a ship for their muse. We both ended up doing applications, but I was the only one who was able to submit because my friend ended up getting a job. Thus, my friend was never able to join the RP and I got accepted.

A little history time! Please bear with me, this is going to be irrelevant to you but I feel like I need to talk about this. Fun fact I probably never told anyone! Wendy was originally meant to be a Krystal muse. However, I had to make a few adjustments because there was either a Krystal reserve or there was a Krystal muse in the RP. I can’t remember which one it was. The muse was loosely inspired by Berry Good’s Johyun and NCT Dream’s Jaemin, who both used to be competitive speed skaters before they became idols. I changed the sport to figure skating because that is the sport I know best. Wendy was also based on several friends of mine, who were all a bunch of somewhat pretty overachievers. (Going to one of the top universities in the country enables you to meet these people, more on that when I talk about Johnny later on.)

I’m not going to lie, this was the first time I was in a directory that was this HUGE. (Not even ADiS was this huge. Min, please correct me if I’m wrong.) It was easy for me to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of people in the directory, along with concerns that my muse was just going to drown among the many way more interesting muses than what I had to offer.

It would have been easier for me to quit, since the reason I joined was gone. However, Jen ( @yujurk ) turned out to be one of my friends from my Indie RP days! Not going to lie, if it wasn’t for Jen, I doubt I’d have stayed in the roleplay at all. Jen helped ease me into the roleplay in all ways imaginable: by plotting with me, introducing me to muns from the same timezone, and answering any questions in case our good mods weren’t online.

As I was navigating and slowly finding my place in the RP, the third season of the MGAs happened! Not going to lie, I wasn’t sure I was ready for Wendy to be signed, but I thought I might as well do it for the lulz. I know I said this a lot, but the MGAs were probably the among the wildest things I ever put a muse through that I swore that I was never putting another muse through it. Despite that, I’m glad I put Wendy through the experience. It taught her a lot about herself, as well as how far she was willing to push in order to achieve her dreams. At this point, I would like to give a shout-out to Team Nova! Wendy and I can’t imagine having any other teammates besides Jungwoo ( @jungwooxrk ), and the former Luhan ( who is still around as @rksoojung and is still one of Wendy’s loves ), Mijoo, and Soyou (RIP muses). Of course, Wendy owes Ricky ( @rkrxcky ) a lot for leading her to where she is today. Thanks you guys.

After the MGAs, Wendy signed with Nova. I’d like to thank everyone in the Nova family, both past and present, for putting up with this tiny girl who claims to be their future CEO. After two years with the company, Wendy has become (hopefully) an even better vocalist and composer. Sure, her dancing and charisma can use more work — scratch that, a lot more work — but we will get her to a level that’s passable. After all, if she intends to inherit the company someday, she has to do well in the department Nova is known for. I never thought Wendy would last this long as a trainee, but here we are. She could have easily left during Royal Survival, but she didn’t. OOC, the event happened when I was taking TOPIK so RIP. IC, the reason was because she believes in whatever plans Nova has for her (if there are any LMAO). Although she’s having second thoughts now, she’s still determined to see it through. She intends to inherit the company from Hyun Bin, so she has to stay. LOL.

To Minju ( @jinkyungxrk ), thank you for being one of the first to welcome Wendy to the company and making it easy for her to adjust to trainee life. Ani ( @rkmiya ), Wendy and Sunmi have made it! Can you all believe it took Wendy TWO FREAKING YEARS to get comfortable enough with Sunmi to call her unni? And can you all believe it took us around that long to actually plot properly? JFC we are both such snails. Matt ( @rksona ), wherever you are, Wendy will always consider Dawon as one of her Nova best friends. After all, they’re both vocalists who signed pretty close to the same time. To my fellow KRP senior citizen MC/Jae ( @sujirk ) (IDK which you prefer so I’ll use both), it’s nice to know there’s someone close to my age who’s still RP-ing too, despite feeling like that Will Smith meme when finding out how YOUNG some of these children are. And here’s to Wendy and Suji getting to know each other and becoming closer. Maddy ( @rkkaeun )… Where do I even begin? Wendy likes Kaeun a lot and is excited to see how Kaeun will grow, and I feel the same about you too. To Chaeyoung mun ( @rkchaeyoung ) (Honestly, I have no idea how you like to be called, so I shall refer to you as Sowon and Chaeyoung mun for now, I’m so sorry!) and Sunny ( @rkmeiqi ), Chaeyoung and Meiqi are special to Wendy because they are simply the first fellow 98-line girls to join Nova. To Neo ( @rkyngsun ), we have yet to talk a lot and plot more, but I’m grateful that you’re okay with Wendy going all Regina George on your girl. This is going to be a slightly slow burn ship before these vocalists become gay for each other in a way. But I just hope we stick together for this crazy ride. And Nana ( @hyunark ), with Hyuna signed to Nova, Wendy’s even happier than ever, despite feeling some occasional salt at their beloved CEO. Here’s to our girls writing more songs together~

To the boys of Nova, thank you all for being the best boys you can possibly be. To Jess ( @rkhuidong ), thank you having Hui be kind of like a dad/older brother to Wendy. Thank you for assuring her that she did the right thing even if she was punished for it. To Chanel, (OMG this is mention number 2, Chanel!) Ricky is Wendy’s coach and kind of mentor, as well as the fourth-wall reality check. To Lex (you better get used to this. I have a feeling you’ll be mentioned A LOT), our kids have gone through so much, haven’t they? The MGAs, surviving Nova, and a lot more. Wendy cares for Jungwoo a lot, and she hopes they can tough this out together. To Joi ( @bambamrk ), Wendy’s always admired how cool and nice he is. She hopes he’s happy. To Fifi  ( @haknyeonrk ), Circe ( @rkmbin ), and Lulu ( @rksxngyeol ), Wendy would love to get to know your boys all so much better. To Rome ( @rkromeo ), (the now-gone) Jinyoung, and (old) Kihyun, you will always be honorary Nova Boys to Wendy, no matter what.

To Roe ( @rkhugo @rkyooa @suhork ), Wendy wouldn’t let me lump Hugo with all the other boys of Nova. After all, Hugo is special. I’m grateful that Roe entrusted Hugo’s heart in Wendy’s inexperienced hands. I’m honored that Roe actually agreed to have Hugo go through a slow-burn ship, especially when I’m aware that she isn’t the most patient of people when it comes to that. Thank you for putting up with both Wendy’s lack of affection and her inexperience when it comes to relationships, and all the things she fears. Thank you again for putting up with my snail’s pace replies, but I want you to know it’s because I want to give Hugo the replies he deserves. The muse for this ship is alive and kicking, and I intend to keep it that way. Both Wendy and I love you and Hugo so much, Roe. LOL I spent so much time talking about Hugo that I forgot to mention how much both Wendy and Johnny also care about Yooa and Suho, but they do.

Now I’m on the topic of thanks to, I think I should also give a special shout-out to the girls of rkredvelet. Though we don’t talk as often as I’d like, I have to admit you were among the first to plot with me when I was new here. You are all Wendy’s best friends for life.

To Rose ( @rkyeri ): I like seeing you tweet about dancing and your takes on things. I also learn a lot from you! Your comments in the KT groupchat crack me up a lot as well. You’re doing amazing, bb! On a muse perspective, Yeri is one of Wendy’s oldest friends, going back from their days in Canada. Wendy just wants Yeri to know that she’s proud of her for being one step closer to her dreams. She’s also asking when she can start printing the Anna slogan.

To Keith ( @rkjxy ): Hoy, bakla. Other than being a ray of sunshine to both Wendy and me, thank you for everything. Just as Wendy and Joy have fun together anytime, anywhere, I like to think it can become something like that for us both. I love our discussions about local stuff and fandom. May mapapagraduate na ako! /cries proud mom tears/

To Kyle ( @seulgirk ): One of the true MVPs of my life. Just as I honestly have no idea where Wendy would be without Seulgi, I don’t want to imagine what would have happened to me if you hadn’t helped me out all those times. Seulgi is practically Wendy’s person. (LBR, if Hugo had to be threatened by anyone, it’s Seulgi.) I also enjoy commiserating over watching winter sports at godforsaken timeslots (one of these days, I’ll understand hockey enough), as well as listening to to you/reading your tweets discussing your muses/muse ideas. And those puns of yours give me so much life.  

Anyway, next up, I’d like to give a shoutout to rkbrosquad!!!! Honestly, having you guys made life a lot more colorful for me, as well as both my muses. I’m not going to lie, this is probably one of the first group chats I was ever in, in terms of KRP. It’s like my muses gained a new family with this insane, but loving bunch. I also like how this chat can also turn into a meme dumpsite, a spazz area, and a tea corner if we need it. Here’s to more adventures with our muses and if distance isn’t an issue, I bet we’d all look for chances to meet.

To Jen, you are one of the reasons we have a squad in the first place. Without you, I bet I wouldn’t have stayed after the first week. Having a familiar face who’s been with the RP for a long time helped me get settled much more easily. It was your helpful self that inspired me to pay it forward for the future muns who’d enter the RP. So if anyone’s grateful that I was friendly to them, please direct your compliments to Jen for setting a good example! Other than that, you and your muses changed my muses’ lives completely. Shoutout goes to her mentor Jieun and one of her closest friends Soyeon.

To Lyn ( @rkavery @rkxsnn ), hoy mumsh. It’s refreshing to able to talk to more people in the same language. Not to mention, your muses always got up to the wildest antics that had both my muses and me laughing. I’m cheering for you both in rp and in real life. Alam mo ‘yan. And muse-wise, thanks for letting your former boy be the James Potter to Johnny’s Sirius Black (or vice versa). Johnny and I will miss your boy loads, but we also welcome your new girls with open arms. And also thanks for shipping with Wendy at some point, even if she ended up broken. (ULOL ang drama!)

To Shinobi ( @rkgray @rkkangjoon ): You are legitimately one of the sweetest people I have ever had the fortune to meet. You’re nice to everyone, get along well with people, and have the most awesome characters ever. Your ideas are just A+++. Gray will also always be the reason Wendy’s standards for men are so high, since in her eyes, Gray is perfect. (Gray will get Johnny’s love in the KT Boyz segment) Meanwhile, Kangjoon will be that handsome brother Wendy will be protective about because she thinks he deserves the best. Johnny will always thank Kangjoon for accidentally smacking him in the butt, which lead him to the best squad ever. #NEVERFORGET

To Nana: OMG! This is your second mention. All those posts of Hyuna and LE to send the group chat into a gay panic are more than welcome. It’s always fun plotting with you and your muses, no matter which one it is. Wendy is proud of Jihoon ( @jihoonrk ) in Convex, as well as looking for a chance to release some hilarious pre-debut shit. As for Hyuna, we all know how much Wendy admires Hyuna and loves her a lot. Here’s to hopefully getting to plot with Younghyun sooner or later!

To Maddy ( @aronrk ): Yes, this is your second mention too. Wendy and Aron have yet to thread together, yeah? LOL. Anyway, Wendy obviously cares a lot about Aron, Kaeun, and Nayoung. And I think it carries over to me caring a lot about you. It’s cool to talk to someone who works in the same industry as I do (rather as I used to) and have the same interests. Bonus points for living in the same timezone! (Aron will get Johnny’s love in the KT Boyz segment)

To Sammi ( @rkxminhee ): You are also one of the nicest people I have ever met. I love learning about girl groups from you, since I’m generally clueless about the ones outside of the Big Three or aren’t as well-known. I’m not going to lie, everytime I see Minhee, I think of you. I remember seeing Minhee post that she was in my country, and the first thing I thought was, “DOES SAMMI KNOW MINHEE IS IN MY COUNTRY?!”

To Em ( @borark ): You’re doing an amazing job as a momma to a cutie pie! Anyway, Bora is one of the coolest girls Wendy has ever known, just as I think you are one of my faves. We need a proper thread ASAP when we’re both not busy T_T

Bet y’all thought that was done, right? Nope. We still have a long way to go. Trust me, if you’re getting tired reading this, I’m even more exhausted writing it. We’ll all just have to deal with it. RIP @ us.

Back in 2016, NCT U, NCT 127, and NCT Dream had debuted. Back then, I was aware that Johnny, the SM Rookie who trained with SM the longest had yet to debut. So as a joke, I thought to myself, I’ll debut him before SM does. He came in a month after Wendy got signed at the MGAs. I figured I could handle two muses so LOL. He started as an NPC friend for Wendy who had a crush on Seulgi, and then I thought I could bring him in.

The first time I knew it was time for Johnny to graduate from NPC to actual muse was when I was watching a local drama called “On the Wings of Love.” One of the characters was a spoken-word artist, and I felt like it was something that suited the Johnny muse I had. I also wanted to bring in a muse who can speak Filipino, so I had an excuse to say PUTANGINA on the dash, as well as spread OPM to Rookies.

From there, Johnny just started becoming more real to me as a muse. Johnny was also based on several college friends of mine, who were all a bunch of insanely intelligent and talented people. He was inspired by a classmate who was actually a MYX VJ (local music TV channel) who was also taking up a pre-med degree. Johnny was also inspired by the guy who became our class valedictorian: a dork who was smart AF and could sing, dance, act, write songs, and was part of the debate team with me. One of my closest friends who I miss a lot was gifted with a superior IQ and an almost flawless memory, and she was also a CF model. All these people inspired me to bring Johnny to life.

Honestly, Johnny brought on a new series of challenges that I never thought was possible. I was less awkward when I brought him in, since I was already somewhat at ease with the community. The challenge was to make him want to be an idol. But somehow, fate let things happen and loh and behold!

From not wanting anything to do with the entertainment industry, Johnny finds himself immersed in it all. He would like to thank the former Jungkook muse (who might make a return as a different FC hint hint) for forging his application for that Samsung modeling casting. That started his interest and curiosity for modeling. However, he got his feet wet only when his teacher told him to go for it. But still, that forgery got him a start.

Then, the life-changing talent show happened. Johnny owes Hugo a huge-ass thank you for signing up him for that Hongdae talent show. He is now proud to be a KT (KermiT) Boy. I still have no clue how Johnny wants to develop from being a genius turned model to becoming the artist he can be. But I guess that’s what we will all have to anticipate.

I hadn’t planned for Johnny to fall in love. In fact, I was planning to make him an asexual hermit. Sure, he’s had crushes on Seulgi and Lisa, but he never dreamed those could amount to anything. He was supposed to be forever alone. (To Roe, that time Yukji tried flirting with Johnny will always be one of the most iconic moments.) However, Ten happened! Yay! Nine asked to plot so nicely, and I figured why the hell not? Okay, fun fact, the reason I planned for Johnny to be a hermit was because I was too scared to be called out for face-chasing. I’m relieved that Nine reached out first. And now they’re the cutest boyfriends. Again, I would like to apologize for my snail’s pace when it comes to replies. I will talk a little more about this later on. I promise.

Another reason Johnny has stayed alive for so long was because of all the friends he’s made over the time we’ve been in this RP. Honestly, every single one of these friends have made Johnny’s life more exciting, more colorful, and have taken him in directions he never would have considered if left to his own devices. I guess the long-ass thank you messages are now in order.

To rknctea:

To Nine ( @tenrk ): You go first simply because Johnny asked me to. Besides, I want to thank you and Ten for making Johnny believe that he’s capable of love and sexual feelings. Ten makes Johnny want to be the right person for Ten, and to be a better boyfriend. I don’t know whether I ever mentioned this, but Johnny sees Ten in his future. OOC-wise, I’m thankful that you brought us NCT typists together in the group chat. Not to mention, you make me laugh with all the stuff you link in there. In our DMs, I love how we both get soft together over JohnTen. Whether it’s plots for our boys or IRL JohnTen doing stuff, it’s always great sharing the feels with you.

To Yurim ( @rktaeil ): To one of the people I’ve known longest in RK (outside the brosquad), my experience in Rookies wouldn’t be the same without you. I’m glad you brought in Taeil. Although I reply at a glacial pace now, I’m excited to see what happens to Taeil. I still find it hilarious that you declared your NCT bias will be whose calling card you’ll draw. Anyway, the reason your barrel man has yet to come to you is because I will personally bring it to you when I fly there next year. If you have any other requests, please let me know anytime before I fly. (I will let you know when we’re arriving so we can meet.)

To Hunnie ( @yutark ): We have been through a lot during the time we’ve known each other. You point out things I don’t notice otherwise and work way harder than I do, just as Yuta shows Johnny perspectives that are immensely different from his own. I struggle coming up with ways to ruin my muses’ lives and to just write in general. I don’t know how you do it so religiously and so diligently on top of schoolwork. We also spazz over a lot of different fandoms together, and I’m happy that you’re a lot happier now. Also, welcome to the UAAP life. I’m glad you decided to watch basketball with me and that you’re somehow rekindling your love for the game. Game Two, here we come!

To Min ( @rkjaemin ): You would have gone first but Johnny insisted otherwise. Buwisit siya. We have been together since 2011 and I hope this doesn’t change at all. You knew me from when I was a total noob to the RP world, and have been one of those who saw my writing improve or deteriorate over the years. You are one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met IC or OOC. I’m happy you joined this madhouse called Rookies with me, and I hope this is good healing for you from work. I love you and can we please have dinner with the rest of the girls soon? Just as I will always be rooting for you and will be available to help, please tell your evil spawn of a muse that Johnny’s willing to help him too. Same goes for Wendy and Somi.

To Peach ( @rkhaechan ): When I first told Min to join Rookies, I never thought you two would find each other. But I’m glad you did. You make my girl so happy, and with that, I’m happy too. I will go down with the S.S. PeachMin. I better be invited to that wedding. Anyway, Johnny loves Haechan a lot, especially because he makes evil spawn Jaemin so happy. Haechie may be my new fave of your muses, but Soyou will always be special to me. After all, Wendy wouldn’t have lasted in the MGAs without your girl going all soccer mom on the whole team. Wendy hopes that Jihyun unni is proud of her.

To Jen ( @rkmxrk ): You are honestly one of the most fun people I have ever talked to. We can talk about fandom, winter sports, and just about how our days went. It doesn’t really matter. Long live KKT calls. Not to mention, long live being a professional enabler who convinces the rest of us to spend our hard-earned money on our faves. LMAO. One thing I also learned from you, is to be careful of what I say because you’ll have RECEIPTS. Just as Johnny looks after Mark and wishes for him to succeed, I wish the same for you. And Johnny’s proud that Mark’s finally getting what he’s been trying to say for the last few months.

To Fifi ( @jaehyunrk ), Dayo ( @rkxsicheng ) , Phil ( @rkdoyoung ), Grey ( @rkjeno ), Adri ( @rktaeyxng ): although we don’t talk as much, I’m still thankful that you’re all here. I’d like for us to get to know each other even better, even if I’m either a shy hermit, a lazy egg, or just awake when you’re asleep. But you all bring lots of laughter to the group chat, and I’d like for Johnny to plot with your boys too. (Or in Fifi’s case, Get Johnny and Jaehyun a new thread challenge)

To Lex: Damn it, Lex. I’ve lost track how many times I’ve mentioned you. I hope you’re enjoying your stay in the rknctea group chat. And I hope that somehow, Johnny and Jungwoo find their ways to each other.

To the KT Ent muses and muns:

To Carly ( @taeminrk ) : I was really planning to save this for later when I got to my thank you mods part, but I thought oh well. Anyway, I want to thank you for being one of the best mods to help me get settled when I was new here. As well as answering any questions I had, no matter how stupid they were. I’m glad I got over the initial intimidation of “OMG MOD!” to someone I can actually have fun talking to. I just hope Johnny eventually gets over that “OMG SUNBAE!” vibe Taemin gives out. Johnny always saw Taemin as the senior he has to impress and not disappoint. Trust me, Johnny’s trying but he feels like he’ll never be good enough for Taemin’s standards. LMAO

To Maddy: Johnny always thought of Aron as one of the coolest, happiest, and most talented people he’s ever met. Aron radiates sunshine in Johnny’s opinion, and he wonders how someone can be so bright all the time. Yes, Aron has permission to climb Johnny like a tree and Johnny will enjoy it.

To Shinobi: Johnny will always say Gray is his idol. Hands down. He can give Jongdae a run for his money. He will also go down with the old man ship of Gray and Huidong.

To Lulu ( @minhyukxrk ): Johnny’s rooting for his fellow twin tower and he hopes that Minhyuk will one day be the rich, talented billionaire he knows Minhyuk can be. Tall people unite despite this short revolution!

To Yurim ( @rkxkjd ): If Taemin is the strict dad, then Jongdae is the cool dad Johnny wants to be like when he grows up. After all, Jongdae is probably the muse who’s known Johnny the longest. These two go way back and are both nerds.

To Lex ( @rksungho ): Oh man, I gave up counting how many mentions you got. This is probably going to be the last. Sungho and Johnny are different as they can be, despite a somewhat similar skillset. Not going to lie, Johnny wants to get along with him, despite Sungho just being so angry at everything.

To Cherry ( @rkjimin ): We don’t get to talk as often as I’d like, but I’d like for that to change as soon as we’re both not busy. Jimin is a lovely muse, and Johnny looks forward to getting to know him better in the future~

To Hunnie ( @rksunwoo ): Sunwoo is special to Johnny, because they joined KT at around the same time. There has to be something to be said about two strangers who started a journey at the same time. Johnny wishes he was as talented and talented as Sunwoo. I like to think that Johnny and Sunwoo have a unique bond that only the two of them can understand.

To Shino ( @rkjinjin ): Johnny and Jinwoo, aka big guy and small fry. Just kidding. Though for real, Johnny is always impressed with Jinwoo’s talent and is grateful to learn so much from him. As for you Shino, having you around is lots of fun. I have learned not to say any silly stuff in the group chat unless I wish to be exposed. (Never forget: VORE TAEMIN)

To Hyunjin mun (T_T IDK How you want to be addressed) ( @rkxhyunjin ): You are the only KT Boy Johnny has no thread with. I’d love for us to change that ASAP. Please?

To the females at KT, Johnny loves and respects you a lot. He’d love to get closer with you all. For now, he declares Haseul ( @haseulrk ) and Jennie ( @rkjennie ) as his faves, because he’s closest to them. Johnny never thought he’d be a step-parent to a dog, but Ahyoung  ( @rkxblue ) somehow got him to do it, so she’s special too. He also sees Minji ( @rkariel ) as the older sister you don’t want to disappoint, while Yeri is the younger sister he finds hilarious. He’d also love to get to know Audrey, ( @rkaudrey ), Momo ( @rkxmomo ), Luda ( @rkxluda ), and Chungha ( @rkchungha ) better!

To Carly and Keith, and by some extension, Kate, Johnny has come to see Luna ( @rkluna ) and Jisoo ( @rkjisoo ) (and Eve ( @rkxeve,) by extension) as his lesbian moms. He low-key blames and credits them for being why he is the way he is today. You don’t get raised by two extremely opposite but equally bad-ass women and not be some mix of weird. He doesn’t get to talk to his moms so much, but he wants them to know he loves them a lot.

I can’t leave this without yelling at Lari! Baekhyun ( @rkbyunbaek ) is the best host brother Johnny could ever ask for. Both of us can’t imagine this boy living with anyone else but Baekhyun’s family. Johnny feels bad that they hardly ever see each other anymore, but that doesn’t change how much he loves Baekhyun. Johnny is actually going to be upset when he’ll have to move out of the Byun residence because he’s going to miss this host family a lot.

I’d also like to thank people I have yet to properly thread with (or seldom get to thread with) but talk to frequently OOC, especially on Twitter. There’s way too many of you to be tagged, but you know who you all are. I love how we can talk about anything, ranging from K-Pop to local showbiz, to current events, and more random topics.

Finally, I’d like to thank the mods, each one, having helped me in some shape or form. Kyle, Keith, and Carly, you all got long-ass love letters from me, so I won’t bother repeating myself anymore. To Sera, you truly are hard carry AF. Thank you noticing my hiatus messages and just being there in general. I’ve always told people you are great, and I’m glad my faith isn’t misplaced at all. To Bianca, thank you for answering my stupid AF questions during events. Because I swear even I would roll my eyes at myself for some of the things I ask sometimes. To Mira, you were one of the mods who welcomed me back when I was new. So I’d like to thank you for that. Wendy misses one of her mean girl friends~ To Razel, those graphics are A++++ Here’s to more talking about PH showbiz, food, and to us finally having a proper thread!

I bet I forgot so many people, but this is about how much I can write. Fun fact! I started writing this post at around 11:30am, and I finished writing this at around 6pm. If you made it this far, congratulations!

I’ll spare you all from my rambling, and I’ll just end it here.

My muses and I are cheering for everyone and their muses in their endeavors, whether IC or OOC. I would also like to apologize for the times I have offended you, whether I was aware of it or not. (I’m sure I’ve apologized if I was aware of it, but yeah.) I’m trying to be a better person than I was the day before. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’ll do my best to be a better mun to both Wendy and Johnny, as well as be a better member of this community.

With all my love,

Clara (rkwendy and rkjohnny)

[zombolouge]

Zom’s Fool-Proof Guide to Making Friends

The modern era can be a confusing place. You may, like I often do, find yourself sitting and wondering how it is that humanity does the whole human thing? How do people meet? How do they form relationships? How am conversations go?

For centuries, these mysteries have plagued our kind, but with the vastness of the internet now available to us, I have solved this riddle.

You there! Yes, you! With the bleary eyes before the blinking screen! Do you want to make friends? Many friends? TEN OR MORE WHOLE FRIENDS?

Then follow this fool-proof guide and you and me shall get there!

Step One: Locate Your Prospects

You’ll need to have a potential friend to start with, preferably of the human variety. This seems intimidating, perhaps impossible if you spend too much time considering the vast mathematical probabilities of the world and the insurmountable odds that anything should ever happen at all, as the odds would favor it not. Still, finding a potential friend is step one, however frightful it may seem.

Thankfully, the internet makes this a simple step. Merely find someone whose jib you find to have a pleasing cut, whose jive matches your own. Someone whose aesthetic makes your little heart go pitter-patter. Once you have located this human, please move on to step two.

Step Two: Meme Them

Get their number, their email, their Twitter, their Tumblr. Get a path towards communication whether this is before or after you have spoken to them. Don’t STALK them, mind you. If it isn’t readily available then you may have to wait, maybe find a different friend first. But once you have the ability to message them in a way that is welcome to them, it is time to begin.

Send them memes.

GENTLY. Slowly.  Not too many at once. Humans are attracted by bright colors and lights, but also, we are very scared of these things. If you do too many memes at once you will disorient your human and they will shy away, retreating to the darkness where it is calm and quiet. You must gently meme your human, giving them enough to attract their interest but not so much that they are overwhelmed and confused. Gently meme your human.

Step Three: Very Excite

At some point during the gentle meming process, your human will have their interest piqued. They will get very excited about a subject and begin replying, probably rapidly. Their message may lose proper grammar and be riddled with spelling errors, and it may become typed in predominantly capital letters. Do not be alarmed! This is normal. The human is allowing you to see their emotions about something, and in that you can see their passions. The Big Expression Time is an important part of the friendship process, and it is required for friendship to bloom in your human’s heart.

Even if you disagree with what they say (barring complications of a moral nature, of course), it is important to encourage the human’s fervor. Tell them that they have expressed themselves well. Tell them that they should consider writing it all up in a post or an article, or a fanfiction or a drawing. Tell them that the way they had their Big Expression Time was enjoyable to you. Make sure they feel like they did a good job with the expression, first and foremost. They must feel valid with their Big Feelings, even if it results in a rousing debate afterward, they must feel that it is safe to be Big and Loud and that it is not scary, for them or you.

Step Four: Space and Meme

Give the human as much space as they seem to need after this. Some humans will need much space, as emotions are big and scary and they are smol and like the quiet. Other humans will be so excited to have a Big Expression that they will want to do so more. Humans can be differing in how much or how little they enjoy such things, but if you are gentle and give them time then you will be rewarded.

Step Four: Meme Reciprocation

After the Big Expression Time, continue to gently meme your human. Keep progressing at this pace and repeating the steps as necessary. You will know that you have successfully calmed and befriended your human when they reciprocate your memes, allowing you the opportunity to have a Big Expression Time of your own. At this point, you have crossed the threshold, and you are now friends with this human!

*

To be perfectly honest, I don’t know if this is fool-proof, but I was thinking about it, and it is basically how I’ve made every friend I’ve ever had. So, if you want to be friends with someone, gently meme them.

GENTLY.

(also readable here on my website: https://zombarber.com/musings/2018/1/29/zoms-fool-proof-guide-to-making-friends)