#had lots of fun making these actually so thanks shinee for once again making me a little less mentally ill

[littlefridayhoney]

shinee pets as movie posters: kkoong and daeng in parasite (2019) // comme des in everything everywhere all at once (2022) (insp. by x) // byul roo in her (2013)

[cinhomi]

Can you write about a female reader giving Han a blowjob under a desk and then ALMOST getting caught by changbin? (Make han spit in her mouth too😍) I’ve read something like this before and I can’t find it anymore so can you write it? 😭 I will literally love you forever if u write this😭💕

I debated with myself for a few days about writing this or not because I actually don't take requests but... you asked nicely and the idea is hot, so I'll elaborate a bit, yeah? (spoiler: I got carried away) maybe try to pone it differently next time!! 🩷 you could start with "imagine giving Han a blowjob under a desk and..." nonetheless, thank you for thinking of me when asking for this delicious scenario, I had a lot of fun!! now you have to love me forever :)

He can't stop thinking about it... from the way creamy toothpaste was all around your lips this morning, how they delicately rested on your mug to sip your preferred beverage for breakfast, how they pronounced his name and pursed to kiss him when he left to work... Jisung does try to wrap a hand around his cock when he's finally alone but he specifically needs your mouth to do it today.

And it was so frustrating having people continuously asking him if he was alright all morning, with his face flushed, sweating, adjusting his clothes every two seconds, and the day goes on and he can't stop the patting and tugging between his legs as if to shoo away his rock hard erection.

So he just... calls you, in the end. He doesn't know what else to do. And he kind of fools you into thinking that he's his not so uncommon soft and pleading kind of needy self, making you feel guilty for not being there with him, taking care of the little problem that poor clueless you caused, so you decide to help. There's nothing more important than your sweet boyfriend, right? It's just that when you get there and knock on the door of his studio he rushes to forcefully grab your arm to pull you onto him, while he shuts the door with a hard slam. Where is the cutie you left behind the phone few minutes before?

Jisung reaches your hand and directs it to his crotch, making you feel him, guiding you in a up-and-down motion as he hisses and buries his face in the crook of your neck.

"Where the fuck were you?" he whispers near your ear, hot breath making your skin rise with goosebumps, light grazing of his teeth accompanying his smooth tongue, cause of the gasp coming from you. He starts to move against your hand, grinding on it as you squeeze a little bit, fingers playing around there and tugging at his waistband.

"Sorry baby... I'm here to help now," you kiss his cheek and stop yourself from moaning when he returns his sharp gaze to you. "What do you need?" you ask him in a whisper.

"On your knees." and you start to go down, but he stops you and takes your chin to guide your head dowards the desk, "Under there, baby. Go under there."

It's a little tight and uncomfy at first, but when you adjust your knees on the fluffy carpet and he spreads his legs once sitted you magically fit perfectly. Jisung has his sweats lowered just enough for his hard, leaky lenght to be exposed, and your mouth waters at the sight, just like always. His breath is heavy and his eyes can't stay open for too long because your pretty face with the shadow of his cock across it could make him cum on the spot.

Jisung carefully spreads precum on his tip trying to not jump from how sensitive he is. For as much as he's excited, it's not enough to reach the base yet, so he detaches from the back of the expensive work chair and spits on himself, saliva lingering on his plump bottom lip, making it shine like when he wears gloss. You whimper. He notices.

He spits again, it lands on his dark bush and it slides down slowly. You shift in place to close your thighs as much as you can, afraid of your wetness seeping through your panties. Jisung notices that too. The gears in his head start to move... and his thought sounds just right. His light touch makes you lean against his hand as he delicately tucks some stray hair behind your ears, before slowly gripping the ones on your nape to pull you a bit closer, mere centimeters away from where he wanted you for hours.

With the other hand he makes his thumb travel over your lips, parting them until he's holding your jaw open, and without a warning his spit lands inside your mouth, making you flinch from the surprise. When you look at him again his tongue is still lolled out and he's smiling. Oh, you're clenching. And it just comes so natural to swallow it, the action making him hiss and throw his head back while he chuckles, "I'm so glad that you're as disgusting as me."

That's how you spend a good amount of time taking his saliva in your mouth, patienty waiting for him to gather some to give to you, being scolded because you let it slide from the corners of your mouth, having to collect some more because Jisung smears it all over your face. He did spurt a bit while watching you like this, doing something so gross... but he called you for a reason after all, no?

And god, the way the shiny trasparent fluid overflows and drips on the floor when you take his cock, some going down him too staining his sweats, he has to hold the armrests to gather enough strenght to not immediately cum and possibly appear like a poor virgin boy. Who needs lube when you can spit into your girlfriend's mouth? This is his new obsession, this might be the best blowjob of his life.

Your hands grip his clothed thighs, holding the fabric of his pants as you try to take him whole, nose nuzzling against his wet hair as you feel the tip hitting the back of your throat. He loves the way you squeeze around him when you choke, Jisung fucking loves how you swirl your tongue, how you hold him up and leave long licks from his balls to his frenulum where you pay sweet attention. Little things that his hand can't do.

"God you're so fucking perfect baby," he wipes some tears from your eyes before one hand gently closes around your throat and the other leaves little pats at the top of your head, "keep going like that, yeah..."

The sound of his notification makes him groan in annoyance. Jisung leaves you without his touch and you whine around him lacking the opportunity to pout, vibrations making him moan, but he still hushes you while he tries to adjust to the brightness of the screen.

His eyes winden. A hand is back on top of your head and if you're happy at first, you get confused a second after when you feel him push you away.

"Babe we gotta stop, Bin is coming here."

But you don't move. He tries to make you, but you look up at him with your big beautiful eyes and you feel him twitch.

"He's down the fucking isle- for- for fuck's sake move from- here!" he tries to keep his voice in a whisper but it cracks with a moan when you start sucking him harder. He's close, he's so fucking close. The idea of getting caught by one of his best friends is making you dizzy... so risky and wrong and embarassing but oh if it's tempting, letting Changbin see how you're so pretty for Jisung and take all of him even if you gag and your knees burn... and he thinks the same. His belly starts to contract and his breath is frantic and panicked. What if Changbin enters now? What if he sees him about to cum on the chair everyone uses? Jisung's cheeks become so hot and red and he can imagine his head exploding before he feels your smooth fingers trace his abs with featherlight touches, then taking all of him once again.

He lets out a strangled moan, knuckles whitening from how hard he's holding the backrest above his head, thick white cum all down your throat and you start to swallow even before him finishing his release.

The doorknob clicks. His cock is still inside your mouth but he's quick to reach for the jacket near him and place it on his lap, moving a bit closer to the desk to cover you too.

"Ji? Are you alright?" Changbin's voice isn't as loud as always, probably worried about his friend that was grumpy and easily irritable all day, and obviously physically unwell.

Jisung is still coming down from his high and it doesn't help that you keep on licking him clean, making him jolt and soak in sweat.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright Bin, 's all good." he tries to ressure him to make him leave faster.

"You're... so red Ji, and you're sweating and panting, I don't think you're alright..." he approaches, and Jisung adjusts the jacket before an idea comes to mind.

"Can you do me a favor?" he asks, Changbin immediately listening and ready to help his friend, "Can you go ask if I can leave early? And maybe ask for a fever thermometer too, I might have a flu, to be honest."

Changbin nods, finally satisfied with his sincerity. If only he knew the real reason why he's like this...

"You have to stop being a workaholic Ji, I say it because I care!"

"Bin just... I know. Thank you. Can you please go now?"

"And y/n? Where did she go?"

Oh, shit.

"She went to the bathroom."

There's a bit of tension that fills the air for a few seconds, while you try to stay as silent as possible, not really resisting the urge to kiss Jisung's tip.

"Oh, okay. Hope I'll be able to say goodbye later, haven't seen her in a while." and with that Changbin exits the room without a suspect.

You two make sure he's far enaugh before you come out of the crampled space and he adjusts his pants to let you sit on his lap. Laughter spontaneously comes from both of you and he hugs you tight, your chest flat on his. Jisung kisses you and he can still feel a bit of saltiness in your mouth, but he doesn't care.

"It was,"

"So hot." he finishes. "Risky. We never did something so risky..." his hands wander until they find the soft curves of your ass and rest there. You nod and clutch your arms around his neck and get comfy, as close as possible.

"Thank you, I really needed this baby." another tender kiss is set on your forehead now, while he caresses your back, "But I guess I'll have to punish you at home, hm? Bin could have seen us, and you didn't listen to me. Bad girl, bad bad girl..." dirty smile spreading on his lips, plans of what he wants to do to you playing in his head nonstop like a creative flow.

[mqsi]

Gavi in love with the reader on the female team of Barca and everyone knows it even their coach. To the point where their coach set them up as a date to go to a Barca event. To which he ask all shy and sutters, and everyone teases him about there, but the reader kisses him to shut everyone up

Hi, thanks for requesting🫶🏻 I had fun writing this so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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You waren’t particulary close with the men’s team but tried to attend more important games, such as El Clásico. You and your teammate managed to go today and you were glad you did, It was an enjoyable game with Barcelona taking the win.

As the players were heading towards the tunnel you met eyes with a certain hothead. Gavi’s eyes locked with yours and this wasn’t the first time you noticed his eyes on you. Everytime you encountered each other in some way, he would look straight into your eyes. At this point it became a game of who can last longer.

Pedri noticed Gavi’s gaze and followed where his eyes were focused at just to see you. He smirked to himself, nudging Gavi with his elbow.

“Seriously when are you gonna make a move?”

Gavi turned his head but his eyes remained locked on you for another second or two before furrowing his brows at Pedri.

“What?”

“Don’t what me, everyone knows it”

Gavi scoffed and sped up to the locker room,leaving Pedri behind.

Next morning at practice, Gavi was struggling to focus. You were the only thing on his mind. Maybe Pedri was right, when was he gonna make a move? Should he? Xavi’s voice snapped him out of his daydreaming.

“Gavira, what is going on with you? The ball just passed you and you didn’t even notice”

“Sorry, I dozed off. It won’t happen again” Gavi replied a bit emberassed that he was caught.

“Couch, Gavi has a lot on his mind,you know”

Pedri said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Gavi was about to fire back when Xavi said

“Oh,let me guess,you’re thinking about y/l/n?”

Silence. Dead silence. Until everyone started laughing and making fun of Gavi. He was standing there, cheeks flushed “No, I’m not” he replied but it came out broken and definietly not convincing.

“Don’t even try to deny it, it’s too obvious” Xavi said laughing himself “Now that I mentioned her, we are having a combined event with the female team this weekend, I want you all to dress formal and be polite” he continued making everyone turn to Gavi once again. He is not sure how he survived the rest of the practice but was for sure happy to leave.

Saturday came fast and Gavi was not prepared for it. You, most likely wearing a dress, combined with his teammates who are ready to tease him. Pedri and him arrived at the place. As they stepped in, his eyes were roaming the room, trying to find your pretty face. And he for sure did. He was so focused on looking at your face that he didn’t even notice you were in fact coming over to them. Pedri cleared his throat, nudging Gavi and signaling Kounde and Raphinha who were standing near to turn their attention to them.

“Hey boys, It’s good to see you. Nice game against Madrid last week” you said greeting them.

“Thanks, good to see you too” Pedri replied, hoping Gavi will actually say something. But he didn’t, he was just smiling like an idiot.

“Gavi, you okay?” You asked smiling at him. “Yeah,um I’m fine” he replied before rushing off. Pedri, Raphninha and Kounde just stood there, mentally slapping Gavi for not starting a convo with you.

As the night went on you noticed how Gavi was always near you and you became suspicious of basically the whole room. So you decided to test your theories by going out on the balcony. It was actually really pretty outside, the balcony was overlooking the city shining in the night. And just as you were expecting,you heard the boys voices behind you.

“Gavi I swear to God if you dont go there now and do something” Pedri whisper yelled, trying to push Gavi outside. Him, Kounde, Balde and Raphinha were currently “hiding” behind a glass door trying to push Gavi outside.

“Okay, If I go out now would you leave me alone about her for like forever?” Gavi asked.

“If u actually do something,yes” Balde replied

“If you don’t,no” Kounde filled in.

“Okay just shut up and leave I’ll talk to you later” Gavi said, hesitantly opening the door.

You knew they were there but just now turned around.

“Hey Gavi, what are you doing out here?”

“Better question is what are you?”

“So you came to see me?” you laughed

“Maybe” he replied, now leaning on the balcony next to you. Two of you actually engaded in the conversation and truth to be told, all this time you were also waiting for him to make a move. Gavi noticed how you were getting closer to him and was subconciously backing away.

Meanwhile, the boys did not leave as Gavi told them and were glued to the glass,trying to hear what you were talking about.

“Will they kiss?” Raphinha asked, growing inpatient.

“This is getting ridiculous. GAVI KISS HER FOR FUCK SAKE” Pedri yelled,stunning everyone. Gavi’s head snapped at their direction.

You decided this was it, he obviously wasn’t going to do anything himself so you took matters into you own hands. You grabbed his cheek, turning his head and pressing your lips against his. Gavi’s hands instinctly landed on your waist, pulling you closer to him. The boys were screaming, their voices very much clear trough the glass. You smiled against Gavi’s lips, pulling away and meeting his soft gaze.

“Sorry, you were taking too long” you said.

“I didn’t know if you wanted anything to do with me” Gavi laughed, rewinding the whole night and realizing how ridiculous he was acting. “And I was quite DISTRACTED” He emphasized the word and looked over at his friends who were looking at him like proud dads.

He turned back to you and leaned in slowly “But now I’m sure so” he whispered before capturing your lips in a kiss again.

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[yuukienstarsera]

Knights with a Idol S/O (part 1)

Knights (separately) Leo x gn reader, Izumi x gn reader Fluff, Little angst,  idol stuff. Warnings: Anxiety thoughts (Izumi), nicknames, kisses, 

This is the first part, the second is part here!☆

You belong to a new group under ES Square, you were already in a relationship with him when you debuted…

Leo Tsukinaga 

At the beginning

He was so hyped up when you debut, he attended your concert, and he was the first in the line, screaming the song.

I really believe that he copy and paste the link of your debut song to all the contacts that he had in hold hands.

He will give you advice about how is alright to take the brakes once in a while.

He will make sure to be friends (or leave a good impression) with all your bandmates. 

How he shows his love (in public, in private, etc.)

He won't stop talking about you.(he talks a lot about the things he loves)

Messages and calls in your free time, even between your activities, I believe that he would make time to do that.

When neither of you has idol activities, you would have dates in his room watching videos and documentaries about aliens, spending time together. (Natsume is so done with you two)

Kisses on the forehead and cheeks (Quick little kisses on the cheek in public) and a lot of hugs! 

Communication is the key, Leo will make sure to have it! 

I believe that one of his love languages is dedicating his songs to you. 

“I promise you this, my dear” and with that “Silent Oath” by Knights finishes.

When you and he are in the same concert he would go to the dressing room you are in and would give you encouragement 

“You will shine like you always do!” ”You have nothing to worry about, they gonna love you, but not as much I do!” “Show them your beautiful and powerful voice”

Another love language that he had is writing songs for you! if your group chooses one of the songs that he writes, he will say it to his fans.

How rumors start

Has I said before, he would say to his fans “By the way I write a song for (insert group name), they are very talented! I was really happy when they told me that they choose my song”

When he said that, all of his fans were a little suspicious about it, why does he have such interest in that group? That is how the rumors begin.

Another thing that caught the fan's attention was your actions.

On variety shows you would answer things like “Actually, my favorite song is (insert a knights song) because their voices are so beautiful” “I usually spend my free days with Leo-kun, we had a lot of fun!” “On my debut days, I always remember having a lovely supporter, thanks to them i keep going until today”

How the fans know about your relationship

Knights won an award, so they diced that Tsukasa and Leo would give the thanks speech to their fans.

Everything was going normal until Leo finished with “I wanna thank our princess for all the support that they gave us,  I wanna give a special thank to  (your name) for always supporting knights, but above all, for being my inspiration “ and with that, all the world knows that you and Leo were in a relationship 

“I´m sorry, I shouldn´t have done that,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“Don´t worry love, I am thankful to be in your life ” you whipped his tears with your hands, grabbing him by his cheeks.

“You are not angry with me?” he asked looking at your eyes, see those beautiful green eyes happy again was the only thing that really matters to you.

“If I was you in that situation, I would do the same, or even worse, I would scream that I love you, aliens would know at that moment that we are in love” Both of you laugh when you said the last thing

“I love you dear” he saw your lips, he always does it when he wants a kiss.

“I love you more, Can I kiss you?” you said while you approached even more.

“Of course” he murmurs, his lips were soft.

You had your world in your hands.

Izumi Sena

At the beginning

Unfortanetaly, He was in Florence by the time you debuted, but after your concert finished, he would call you to say that he was watching you online and all the moments that had him fall in love more with you.

I believe that he has a lot of merch about you in his room, Shu probably has complained about it.

He will give you advice like is alright to do work perfectly, but will be occasions when you can't do that, is important that even if you get frustrated about it, don't give up, you are gonna be alright, you are human after all, take a break, and keep it going.

If one of your bandmates gets too close, he would tell you that he is jealous about it (please he needs a lot of words of affirmation).

How he shows his love (in public, in private, etc.)

One of his love languages is gift-making knit things for you! You already had a whole closet with the things that he made.

He would check on you via messages,  he makes sure that you eat all your meals, and you are restringing well, etc.

When both of you had free time, you spent time together on dates outside ( like going to the beach, aquarium, looking at the stars) and inside (watching movies together, taking coffee while you catch up).

He is more to give hugs than kisses, in private we would love to kiss you on your cheeks (he gives you kisses on your hands when you are in public, he is very professional when both of you had worked together )

Izumi spent a lot of time working as a model, but when you need it he always is there for you.

“Izumi, don't you have work today?” “I reschedule it, have you eaten? get up, we are going to the cafeteria”

When both of you are on the stage, he will give little glances, only to make sure that you are alright.

Has I said before, he always does little things that prove that he loves you, for example, opening the door for you, carrying your things, ordering food for you, and retouching your make-up, etc.

How rumors start

It was his actions that betrayed him, he always makes sure that you are safe, little actions like holding your hand when both of you are getting down the stage, how he gives you attention when you speak on the microphone, etc.

Fancams of you and Izumi smiling at each other went viral, and soon both of you began to have worked as models for different campaigns (both of you were happy about it).

The connection that both have could be seen through the camera lenses, they invite you to a variety show.

How the fans know about your relationship.

In the variety show that you were invited to, you said it unconsciously, you found out when you saw the episode on the TV, fortunately, Izumi was with you at the time. 

In the episode, both of you were doing an activity that was a little dangerous and you said “Be careful love”, Izumi responded  “Don't worry, we are gonna win this”, and both of you know that this is only going to confirm the dating rumors.

“Are you scared?” he asked, you were in total shock, how could you say it so naturally? What is gonna happened next? Anxious thoughts were running wild in your mind.

“Love, look, everything will be alright, don't worry” you don't even notice when he approached until he was hugging you.

“I´m sorry” tears start to fall while hugging Izumi.

“What are you apologizing for? I couldn't be more proud that I have you as my partner, that we love each other” he murmurs in your ear “Besides, we are pretty obvious, and the media love us, so relax, believe in me that everything is gonna be alright” he whipped your tears.

“Gosh I love you so much, you know that?”

“Yeah, Who doesn't love me?”

“You are ruining the mood, love”

“I´m ruining it?” he said caressing your cheek with his hand while he approached to kiss you.

“Sometimes I hate you” you murmur into his lips.

[lemonflavoreddishsoap]

Hello there!! Idk if I have already sent something in, but if I haven’t, I would love to request! May I please have the LS members’ (separate) reactions to a new member with “soulless” or “dead” eyes (basically like the anime eyes that have no shine in them), who always seems rather closed off, but at some point the members do something nice to them, and the reader blushes and their eyes just light up like the brightest stars? Sorry if this request is a lot! If it is you can ignore! But thank you so much! (I loved the housewife s/o HCs you wrote btw, they were lovely!) ❤️❤️

Ghiaccio pfp twinsies...woag- also i like this idea a lot!! this reader sounds absolutely wonderful <33 fair warning I wrote most of these while incredibly sleepy so if they're ooc that's probably why im so sorry-

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

La Squadra with a reader who has soulless eyes (that light up when they're happy/flustered)

Formaggio

When he first saw you, he wasn't sure exactly how alive you were.

I mean, those empty eyes and the way you barely talked to anyone definitely had him raising an eyebrow at first.

But he quickly got used to it. Nothing was wrong with responding to a joke with a tiny smile instead of a hearty laugh.

In fact, with enough time, he grows rather comfortable around that blank stare of yours. He gives you your space, but whenever you do talk to him, he's more than happy to get the chance to hear your voice and chat.

One day, before you went out for a mission, Formaggio noticed you nearly forgot to bring something vital. He managed to catch up to you and give you the item before you left, but before he could say anything, he noticed your expression.

The color spread across your cheeks, and your eyes -Oh god, your EYES. It was like someone finally flipped on a light switch in them. They were full of life for once, and the sight had him speechless.

But- shit, right, you had to leave. With an absent-minded nod and pat on the shoulder, he began to walk away.

"No need to thank me," he shouted to you before he was out of sight - and it was true. The look on your face had been thanks enough.

Illuso

Definitely made fun of your empty eyes often. Like Formaggio he probably compares you to a zombie, but he is willing to say it out loud.

He tries to guess what your thinking and feeling all the time if you tend to not show emotion. Like he'd say things like "I bet you're pissed about that too, you just don't wanna show it."

But like. In an annoying way if that makes sense.

I'll be honest I can't think of what kind of nice thing he would do for you. This dude's section has haunted me for days, y'all.

But in the event of him doing nice for you, he notices your expression right away. boy is he surprised by it. and boy is he LOUD about it.

"Holy SHIT! You're actually alive! I managed to break that moody façade of yours?"

You might wanna walk away or hide your face before he calls the rest of the gang over to look.

Afterwards he's weirdly a bit nicer to you? He obviously wants to see your adorable expression again, but his exact intentions are unknown...

Prosciutto

Doesn't care in much of a usual way. If anything I think he would comment on how your hard to read expressions and closed off nature makes you good for the job.

So he never really bothers to think you may be any other way.

The two of you were set to go on a mission together, and he insisted you work on a concrete plan beforehand. It turns out his idea for the plan relies VERY heavily on your abilities/stand.

When you ask about it, he begins to talk about how strong your abilities are, and how perfect you would be for the job, how he has faith that you can pull it all off.

Your heart flutters at his words and with every compliment you feel heat rush to your face.

When he stops talking and notices how your eyes lit up, he's....genuinely unsure what to think.

It was all true, you were strong and the right person for the job, but we all know how he gets when he's working with someone he feels is a bit too vulnerable cough cough pesci

He doesn't worry about it for the time being - it's a one time thing after all - but he keeps an eye out for if it happens again.

Pesci

I think he is used to people thinking he looks strange/creepy, so even it might creep him out a bit, he tries to be nice about your soulless face.

Gives you your space, but this boy is sweet, it won't take long for him to do something that makes the darkness in your eyes fade away.

idk why my first thought for the moment is him baking something new and asking you to try it. You have a taste and quickly nod in approval, it's delicious.

Relieved, Pesci proceeds to let you know he made it because he remembered you mentioning [insert flavor here] was your favorite flavor. Yep, that'll do it.

He's incredibly caught off guard, seeing your eyes twinkle with appreciation - for a second he thinks you're about to cry! He stands there, unsure what to do, until either the interaction ends or you say something to him.

Is so overwhelmed afterwards no matter what happens - was that really the real you? That sweet face was really yours?

Melone

It literally doesn't matter to him - he can see right through your dead look. It's uncanny.

You could be completely stone-faced and he would find some way to be able to tell exactly how you feel about something. He'll tell you his predictions too to see if their right.

I imagine it's one of these moments that actually leads to him seeing that cute expression of yours.

It started with "you found that hilarious, didn't you?"

He was playing his guessing game again, and like every time before, he was right. You didn't even have to answer.

"You know, you're so interesting to read. You have all these little tells for every small thought, and I think you subconsciously change them a bit every time I take notice of them!" He suddenly began explaining to you.

But it didn't stop there, he began to tell you all about how he picked apart your body language, how he noticed changes in your emotions over the entire time he's known you. "You're.... fascinating to watch."

It's not until he finishes talking that you both realize you've been staring at him with a completely uncharacteristically bright look of wonder. Then it's his turn for his face to light up, pointing at the blush on your cheeks.

"So you do like how I watch you! I knew it."

Ghiaccio

"The hell are you giving me that look for!?"

Of COURSE he takes it personally a lot - especially if you're supposed to be listening to his rambling. He isn't exactly thinking straight, so he just thinks your blank stare is some kind of insult.

But beyond that, it's rare he'll get on your ass about it.

Over time, I think he might even find you a reliable person to spew all his ranting at, if you don't complain at him or cause a fuss.

Maybe even at some point, perhaps if you've been getting picked on especially hard by Illuso, he'll ask if you have any ranting to do.

"What!? That prick has got to be getting on your nerves, doesn't that make you- WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GIVING ME THAT FACE FOR!?"

You're gonna have to end up explaining yourself or else he won't stop asking you. When you do, he'll scoff, saying he barely did anything. At least you won't have him blabbing about it to the others, you both know it would get real annoying real quick.

If you specifically ask him to keep it secret, he'll nod, and you swear you see him smile at you.

Risotto

This man also looks pretty damn unapproachable (love him tho <3). He has the least amount of problems with how you are.

Like Prosciutto, he thinks your closed off nature is good for the job. But he never brings up that sometimes he wishes you were a little more open.

One day you return from a mission. It went smoothly. Enough. Okay, you had managed to get the deed done, but you had gotten injured in the process. In order to not endure lecturing from any of your teammates, you quickly dismissed everyone's questions about the mission and looked for things to treat your wound with, hiding it from everyone else.

In the middle of hastily wrapping up the bloody injury, you felt a hand on your shoulder, and soon after you head Risotto's voice. He warned you that you weren't treating the wound carefully enough.

He didn't scold you- a scolding wasn't going to help the sting and the crimson staining your skin. No, he asked if he could take care of the wound for you.

You felt your face heat up as he helped you, but although you were sure he noticed the look on your face, he made no mention of it. Just tended to your wound, and told you to tell him about any issues with a mission next time.

Afterwards you two agreed you would give him specifics later. You thanked him and that was that.

Walking away from you, Risotto replayed your expression in his mind....how cute.

[sadieshairbrush]

Stranger Things: Clementine

A/N: This is so scary to me as I’ve been working on this for a crazy long time! Unfortunately, I understand that a lot of people aren’t fans of Original characters but I just find the concept of it a lot more inclusive, and I can take more inclusive liberties with my character! No mentions of hair, skin, eye colour etc, just a name. As a Scottish girl imagining myself casually in Hawkins is strange and I usually find it better to envision myself playing a character I can become attached to. I love this character, and I hope she becomes as close to your heart and she is to mine. Steve slow burn.

Summary: Clementine Chase, a classic high school girl in Hawkins is suddenly faced with the mystery surrounding a missing boy.

Chapter 1: The Vanishing of Will Byers

“Thanks again for helping me out here, Clementine. I really appreciate this.”

“I don’t mind,” I smiled, dragging a cloth over the surface of the kitchen counter. “Its all my mess anyways.”

Normally this mess was created while trying to entertain the group of 12 year olds I’ve babysat a couple of times but tonight, they were playing some nerdy board game the last ten hours. They’d begun this far before I’d arrived, so the mess tonight was my own.

I’d attempted to make the boys some sandwiches near 2PM. I’d been there for an hour and not once had any of the kids come up from the basement yet. Serves me right since I didn’t actually need to be there until it got dark.

It was around 6PM when Nancy had walked through the front door, more than surprised to see me. She’d froze half way through the door, and I looked at her with a daring smirk.

“Have fun today, Nancy?”

“Just… a little.”

I knew what that meant. Her tiny grin told me all I needed to know. Steve was in my circle of friends, after all. How could I not know what was going on behind the scenes?

The story had gone that Steve Harrington, King Steve had taken a shine to Perfect Nancy Wheeler. How long would it last, would everyone know if they were to go all the way?

It had been about two weeks. Everyone knew about it. Still, I wasn’t quite sure what the official story was. Is this a silly little thing or are they genuinely interested in one another?

I was only let in on this before the weekend, and had only decided to let my bitterness go so I had a ride to school tomorrow.

Seeing her come home while I was babysitting her brother wasn’t so awkard, not as awkward as it could be anyway. But I could always sense she wasn’t quite as relaxed as I’d like her to be around me. We didn’t generally run in the same circles, but who was I to care?

By 8PM when Mr and Mrs Wheeler came home with Holly, Nancy was clearing her snacks off the kitchen counter we’d been leaning against, unwilling to let her parents into the gossip we’d been sharing.

“I’m going to study before bed, so I’ll see you in school tomorrow, Clementine.”

“She’s got Kaminskys test,” I cleared up as Ted made a bee-line for the TV. Karen nodded, heading out to take Holly to her bed.

When she was back, I’d already had my coat on, clearing the mess I’d made with a damp rag.

The last time I was here ended the same.

Clearing up the days mess while Karen practically pried me away from the cloth with a, “you’ve done enough, I’ll handle the mess.”

Though I’ve not listened yet.

I smile cheekily as the kids loud voices upstairs as they yell tensely from the basement. I meet Karen’s eyes, and . “Those kids will be wanted home about now. I could walk them out before I overstay my welcome.”

She looked down at her own watch, noting the time. It was already reaching eight fifteen.

“Mike! …Mike!” She yelled, coming back to the kitchen area. She waits patiently with a hand on her hip, but the boys voices just get louder as they chat on top of one another.

“Mike!”

She walked towards the basement door, and swings it open without an other seconds thought.

And from there, I can just slightly hear Mikes voice over the others.

“Mom! We’re in the middle of a campaign!”

“You mean the end.” She taps her watch, meaningfully. “Fifteen after.”

Mike runs up the stairs, and catches my eye when he sees me, a look of confusion.

“How long have you been here?”

I could have choked on my own scoff. That basement is playing with his head.

“Uhh, all day? I made you guys your lunch? Ordered pizza and brought it down for you like an hour ago for dinner?”

He shook his head, probably an attempt to clear his already empty brain.

“Mom, just 20 more minutes!”

“It’s a school night, Michael, and I just put Holly to bed. You can finish next weekend.”

“That’ll ruin the flow–

“Michael–

“I’m serious, mom! It took two weeks to plan! How was I supposed to know it’d take ten hours?”

“Oh, no, it’s the end of the world as we know it!” I teased, ignoring his furious look.

“You can continue it later.”

Mike regards us with an ignorant look and rounds the corner to where Ted is attempting to watch the TV, which is still mostly static.

The storm from earlier on really had to have done a number on the electronics.

“Dad, don’t you think that–

“I think you should listen to your mother,” he interrupted, lazily, moving to hit the top of the TV. “Piece of junk…”

I bite back a laugh, and move to ring out the dish towel. I should have called Steve in advance. Though, I should count my blessings; I’d rather take the short walk down a few blocks than sit in a smoke filled car in the company of two of the biggest bullies I’ve ever known, Tommy and Carol, who would invite themselves along again.

“It was great to have you. But you don’t have to stay to clean up after we’re home, you know,” said Karen as I shrug my coat on.

“I know I don’t have to. I just feel a lot better about it. It’s a thousand times better than sitting in my dads house with no one to talk to or nothing to do,” I admit, matching Dustins wide grin as he approaches, pizza box in hand as the kids all fan out into the kitchen.

“Clementine! Want one?” He opens the box to show two decent sized slices of pizza left. “Was sausage and pepperoni your idea?”

“Sure was. And it looks amazing, but have you offered anything to Nancy?”

“I did, but she just shut the door in my face. There’s been something seriously wrong with her ever since she started dating that… douchebag, Steve.” He looked over his shoulder, making sure Mikes parents were out of ear shot, and once he was in the clear, he brought his voice back up. “Plus you’ve been stuck with us all day.”

“Yeah, he can be a douche,” I laugh, taking a slice from the box and taking a huge bite.

“She used to be cool...”

“She’s just a teenager. Trust me, I’d know,” I settled with a firm nod.

Teenagers can be mean to kids, but I’ve seen Nancy in school, as innocent as can be. Like a tiny, smart fish in a big, stupid pond.

We cut the conversation short when the rest of the boys begin to gather around with their jackets and bags, ready to turn in to their own beds.

“Alright, come on.” I nod them along and open the front door, and they race out towards their bikes. “Thanks for having me.”

“Thanks for watching the boys,” says Karen as I close the front door behind us.

It wasn’t the coldest of nights, but there were still small puffs of condensation with every exhale of the November night. I patted Mike on the shoulder as he stood to see all his friends off.

“Get home safe, guys, no detours,” I half-joked.

These kids were good, but they were still kids.

They waved me off as they picked up and adjusted their bikes, and I made my way back home, more than ready to turn in.

I savoured my nights at the Wheelers. Really, I did. Whether I was there to look after Mike (sometimes all his friends too), or just there for dinner as a thank you for doing so.

For my house was just empty.

I mean it was empty all the time. When I wasn’t home I was at Steve’s, but ever since he’d begun to pursue Nancy, I’d always wait until there was a group of us, just out of respect. Same went for calling him up in the morning or at night just to talk about whatever had been going on in life.

So, really my options this morning were to watch TV with breakfast until my ride came, or to rush breakfast and walk.

I sighed, turning off the waffle maker just in time for the phone to ring.

My father had already left, so I picked up the landline in the kitchen, and held the phone between my ear and shoulder as I put my breakfast together.

“Chase residence,” I sing-songed in practiced tones. “Dad has already left for the office, can I take a message for you?”

“Hi, Clementine.”

I quirked my brow the minute I heard the voice. Joyce Byers whose son I had watched over just last night. Except this morning she sounded particularly anxious. “Will didn’t stay with you and your dad last night, did he?”

Why on earth would we have a 12 year old stay the night without letting his mother know? “No… Joyce, he left with the boys last night. He lives pretty close to Dustin, I know they ride the same way. I could call his house?”

“I-I’ll call. Thank you. Really, I think he just left early for school…”

I certainly wasn’t convinced. But I let her go anyway, and continued my morning as normal, not thinking much of the call. I had my fair share of surprise sleepovers at Wills age.

I’d already switched off the TV and washed my dishes by the time I heard the BMWs beeping horn outside.

I rushed out, locking the door behind me.

Tommy, the infamous dick of Hawkins was already yelling out the window towards me, lit cigarette hanging from his lips.

“Move your ass, Clementine!”

“Tommy, put that shit out! I told you a million times that I’m not going to be hotboxed by your smoke.”

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, but it always came back to the same argument.

“Those are the rules,” Steve defended with a shrug as I slid into the back beside Carol who offered me a stick of gum. “She doesn’t like smoke, you can manage the length of a car ride.”

“So prudish, Clementine~”

Carol teased.

I rolled my eyes and adjusted my seatbelt with a huff. “What’s the point on spending some amount of money on perfume just to smell of cigarettes before I’m even in first period?”

“Like money’s an issue,” Carol continued.

Fine, it wasn’t. But I’d still like to smell like the Love’s Baby Soft perfume I’d paid for. “Whatever.”

“Your perfume’s way too sweet anyways. And you’re still alright for coming over tomorrow, right? My old man’s out of town on a conference, and…”

“Yeah, yeah. The beers are on me, don’t worry. I’ve got it covered, you dick.”

“See, you drink but you won’t smoke,” Tommy scoffed. “The hell’s that about?”

I could waste my time bickering or I could simply shut up. But that wouldn’t be fun in the slightest.

“If you want to get sick and die, do it on your own time. You already look sallow and sunken, just don’t inflict that on me.”

“I look what?” He shot back, neck strained to look back at me. “Say that again, Clementine.”

“Oh, I’m just teasing!”

“You know you just piss me off when you start this shit!” He was seething. Best way to piss a guy like him off was to bruise his ego, that much was clear. And not to brag but I had years of practice under my best. It had yet to get old.

“If you don’t like my teasing, why are you moaning so much?”

“Listen to me, you little bitch-“

“Hey!” Steve yelled. “Don’t talk to her like that, alright? How you’re still friends at all is beyond me. Just shut up, and enjoy the ride.” He switched on his radio where Michael Jackson instantly blasted, and suddenly the ride was somewhat enjoyable.

Our daily procedure for the past two weeks was for me to give Steve an out to meet with Nancy. Sometimes that involved guarding the girls bathroom by standing outside, making up excuses.

“I told you, it’s a mess in there! There’s literally a tapeworm climbing up the wall, I swear…”

And of course people knew I was guarding a hookup. Probably even that it was Steves, but everything I knew about Nancy Wheeler told me the last thing she’d want is to be walked in on making out with a boy against the wall of the ladies toilets, even if stories of their dating life was floating around the school.

The other two didn’t quite get it. They couldn’t understand why he’d waste all his time chasing after a complete square who probably doesn’t even put out.

I mean that’s all he’s usually after, and they’ve all been okay with it.

But Steve was a friend. I was just happy he was finally after a girl worth his time. Nancy was nice, smart, and it made for a pleasant change.

Steve has dated tonnes of girls. They never lasted, and he never cared. He was a man of pure sexuality. But something was different about Nancy Wheeler… I could tell.

I knew her well enough what with being at her house every month or so.

What do you think our topic of discussion last week when I was paid to appear twice?

It’s the reason she’d offer a small, secretive smile as she exits the bathroom, and i’d return it with a sly nod.

Just like any normal day.

A normal school day also includes suffering through Steve and Tommy playing basketball until they knackered themselves out. Though, the athletes they are, it took them a while every time, so we would always keep ourselves occupied on the bleachers. It was a routine, one that I was about to invite disruption to as I held open the doors to the gym.

Nancy walked with her books against her chest as she talks with her friend, an almost ethereal floating opposed to stepping as she heads for the buildings exit.

“Hey, Nancy, c’mere!” I yelled out before I stopped to think that I might startle her.

She freezes and finds my eyes, startled as expected. “Hurry! Coming, Barb?”

Barbara was a tall girl. She towered above the rest of us, but she was hardly given a second of notice. I hadn’t paid much attention to her myself until Nancy took this position in the group. At the call of her name she looks shocked. It’s not that I didn’t usually try to involve Barbara, she’s Nancys best friend after all, and since Nancy was invited into the social group it only made sense to include Barbara too.

Except Nancy had always been popular in the subtle kind of way. Her trademarks were being pretty, smart and kind, and everyone wants that even if girls like Carol gave her a hard time. They liked her anyways, at least a little.

“Hurry where?” Nancy gave an unsure smile, still standing what felt like a mile away.

“To watch your boyfriend play basketball, duh!” I teased, pushing the door open as the pair approached. “You can sit with us, we’ll go out to Bennys after?”

The two turn to each other, but whatever Barbara was trying to get across to Nancy wasn’t delivered to me. Nancy then turns to me with an enthused smile.

“Sure! Sounds fun.”

With a grin, I lead them to our spot on the bleachers, trying to stay aware of how different these two were to the girls who watch us approach with weary looks on their faces.

“Are you lost?” Sneers Becky with a cruel laugh. As if I’m unaware that I had two girls trailing behind me.

Carol turns to push her, playfully. “She’s our friend!”

I motion for the pair to sit wherever they felt comfortable, and they sat a little far for my liking, huddled together as though I wouldn’t have their back if someone were to be snide.

“Yeah, be nice, you dick. You know Nancy, Steve’s girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Nancy spoke wearily, but she went ignored. It wasn’t my intention to push her, but Steve generally rolled that way, and I saw it as an inevitability.

“Oh, Nancy! I heard about that. Must be really different for you, huh?” Becky started.

She was one of three of Steve’s exes that were currently present. None of them truly seemed to mind when the boy moved on. They all had their turns and they all had their shot in the limelight.

Nancy doesn’t seem to understand the workings of this, appearing more shy than usual, eying the tonnes of magazines, packets of gum and cigarettes splayed across the bleachers.

“She’s doing fine,” I said, picking up the Just Seventeen magazine that caught my eye. “Did you catch this? It only launched for the first time last month, look at its first issue!”

I tilted the magazine towards Nancy and Barb, pointing out the ad for Tri-Ac.

“I’m breaking in on my chin something nightmarish, but they say Madonna uses it.”

“No!” Said Nancy, kindly, analysing my face. “No, I don’t see anything.”

“It’s because she’s wearing so much makeup,” Laurie spoke up.

I rolled my eyes, unable to deny this fact.

“Shut up, Laurie,” Carol sighed. “Barb, you’d look so cute in these!” She yelled, pointing out the latest male fashion trends down the side of one page. “It shouldn’t be too far out of your comfort zone.”

I turn to look at the girl in question. She looks at a loss of what to say, and Nancy is no better.

“Go polish your reebok, Carol,” I remarked.

“Go, Steve!” Becky whistled, watching his bare chest rise and fall as he sweats, actually drawing our attention to the game we barely paid much attention to anyways.

“Put that shirt back on!” I yelled.

The game went on for another painful hour, and by the time they were done my stomach had begun to growl.

After a short-lived argument over who won, the boys hopped into the (well needed) showers, and we left.

“I’m going to get the biggest burger you’ve ever seen, I could eat a horse,” I groaned, mouth watering at the very thought.

Bennys hadn’t been much of a tradition, but rather a routine. Steve had made a point that it’d only been him, myself, Carol, Tommy and Nancy. And Barbara as I’d gently remind him. He thought that inviting the likes of the other girls in the group would be disrespectful, and I clapped his back for it.

Usually though, we’d have brought as many of our friends that we could fit over two booths. I think I prefer what we’ve had going in lately if I’m honest.

As we walked towards the parking lot, ready to pile into Steve’s car, Nancys voice cut through all the jeering.

“Hey, you know, my mom will be wanting me home around now. She puts a dinner out every night and-“

“You’re not coming?” Steve interrupts, stalking close towards her.

He ducks his head so his face is closer, and brings his voice down. “Come on, we won’t be there long, promise.”

She looked rather awkward, eyes on Steve’s hand that rested on her arm.

“I shouldn’t.”

“It’s fine, they can join us another time!” Carol smiled, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Yeah, for now, I think we’ll survive without them,” Tommy adds.

“Not sure that I will,” I muttered. Though I know it’s best that the pair go home. Why should they make themselves uncomfortable? Plus, Carol and Tommy weren’t exactly solid company. “Guys, it’s fine. Seriously, we have plenty of time to hang out. Go on home,” I told.

Nancy watched me, unsure at first, then she looks back to Steve.

“I’m sorry.”

He nods, then pulls her in for a kiss. It was soft, tender.

I wasn’t too sure where they stood, whether they were meant to be a secret or not. This little moment between them cleared that up for me, and I smirked to myself.

Nancy appeared to feel the same, a shocked grin she tried to hide.

“Want us to puke? Come on, Romeo!”

Tommy blanched.

“Shut up, stupid. Let’s go, lover boy,” I butted in just as Nancys embarrassed gaze fell to the ground of the parking lot. “See you guys tomorrow.”

“Wait,” Steve interrupts, pulling Nancys stare back to him with his hands evidently magnetic eyes. “I’ll still see you later tonight, won’t I? Alone?”

I note Barbara’s shocked expression.

Clearly, Nancy didn’t let her in on this little plan. We, on the other hand, heard about their little meet up as soon as we were in Steve’s company.

“Yeah,” she smiled. “To study.”

I truly didn’t know Nancy well enough to understand whether she meant this or not. Knowing Steve, even if she did mean this, he might just try and sway her to do a little more than studying.

“To study,” I echo with a nod. “Let’s move it!”

And with reluctance, the pair were able to part ways.

We could have still had fun at Bennys like we normally did. But my mind slipped into somewhere I hadn’t expected. Something I didn’t remember until about halfway through taking my seat next to Carol.

“We should invite Nancy to yours tomorrow, right?” I asked, still rationing the contents of my burger around the table. Benny once reminded me I could order it without the pickle or the onion but why waste food when I could feed annoying teenage boys?

Steve perks up with a huge sigh of relief.

“Yes, Clementine. Absolutely, we should! And you know why?”

“So you can have sex and find out if she has a vagina?” Tommy remarked, earning a chuckle from Carol followed by an obnoxious wink.

“What, it’s weird for a girl who’s barely 16 to be a virgin now?” Steve challenged, flinging the spare pickles into his burger. “Not everyone’s been banging since they were 12.”

“I know that, douche bag,” Tommy retorts, an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. I’ve come to learn that he’s rather proud of his sex life. So it’s easy to figure that his shamefaced defensiveness was more about Steve shutting him down. “I’m just saying every other girl has at least kissed someone. She’s not kissed anyone besides you. Either she’s a wasteland or… just a tease.”

I shudder annoyingly at the slow grin that pulls at his lips, turning to Carol.

“How do you let him near you with that mouth?”

“That’s for me to know,” she laughs, sending him a wink across the table.

“You guys are disgusting.”

“Okay, little miss perfect. Lost your touch or something? When was the last time you even had a boyfriend?” Carol jabs, eyeing me up with a playful malice.

“Can’t lose your touch if you’ve never been in the game,” I countered, having never actually had a boyfriend. I crossed my arms feeling pleased with myself and hopeful that Carol would be off my back as suddenly as she was on it.

“You dated Reed!”

Steve started, suddenly on me too.

“Yeah, for like two weeks! He wasn’t my boyfriend,” I squeaked. Although being that intimate with someone in the same group wouldn’t be too strange. I mean just look at Steve and his exes.

“But you got with him at my party.”

“You had sex on Carols bed, didn’t you?” Steve smirked.

“Oh, my God!” I groaned, gripping my hair dramatically. “That was Kieran, and there was no bed sex!”

“Nah, come on now, that was actually pretty bad.” Steve attempted to come to my aid, waving off the others as if he didn’t bring it up. “Don’t you remember what he did?”

“No, wait, shut up. I thought you guys dated for a while,” Carol drawled in thought.

“Oh my God!” Tommy laughs so loud that it startles Carol. “That was all fake, to made Kieran jealous. No one told you?”

“No!”

I’d have felt guiltier, but I couldn’t hold back the bubbling giggles even with a hand pressed against my mouth. All this time, and my best friend thought I’d had a whole relationship that never existed.

“Why do you think we’re still friends after he ‘dumped me’ for Laurie? Thanks for that, by the way,” I jabbed, still a little bitter about the situation.

I was so close, he was back in my clutches. But Steve just had to see what Laurie had to offer instead of helping a friend in need. Not only did he not help like he promised, but now it looks like I was dumped for another girl, and that I’m still friends with the dude who did it.

It’s hard to see the situation in a negative light now after all this time. Especially since I lost interest in Kieran a whole while ago.

“I can’t believe you never knew!” Tommy guffawed, shaking Carols arm to tease her. Her face remained stony, showing no interest in making this a laughing matter.

“Well, no one told me!”

“Whatever,” he shrugs with a mouth full of food. “We’ve been here ages, it’s getting dark soon.”

Steve stuffed the last of his fries into his already full mouth.

With a united murmuring (Carols being a little too sharp) we begin to clear our table, all of us picking up the shakes we’d left aside to bring home, a habit we shared between us due to the distraction we caused each other.

Except when we piled into Steve’s car that night, everything was suddenly far from normal, and we hadn’t had a clue.

I was driven home, said goodbye to my friends, and walked into to a quiet house.

Only my dad was there, worrying his hands at his place on the couch. That was until he saw me at the door. He was on his feet in a flash, bee lining his way towards me.

He still wore his dress trousers and a smart purple shirt.

His brief case had been abandoned by the coffee table.

“Dad? Shouldn’t you be at work still?”

I wracked my brain, trying to make sense of his presence, checking my watch, making sure I had the date right.

“Clementine! I came home as soon as I heard, I just wanted to make sure you got home safe, and when I saw you weren’t here, I got worried.”

I’d never seen him in such distress. I’d kept my gaze on him as I dumped my school bag on the floor. “We got some milkshakes after school… but, dad, what are you talking about? You came home as soon as you heard what?”

He froze for a second, his gaze suddenly sympathetic. “I thought you would have heard by now? The Byers kid… he’s missing.”

And just like that, my heart wrenched.

I watched him the night before, he went home alone, and his mother called me only just this morning.

“Missing? He can’t be missing, dad. He didn’t just stay at Dustins?”

I don’t know why it was hard to believe. I’d just never heard of someone I knew disappearing before. Will was always quiet, very rarely said a word to me besides a Please or a Thank you. But I knew him, I knew that little boy.

“Afraid not, sweetie. Nobody knows what’s happened quite yet, but until we do, you’ve to get a lift to school and back, alright, and no detours. Straight home, no adventures, no outings, no grabbing milkshakes.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay, fine,” I nodded.

Tomorrow he’d be back to work the hours he usually was, and wouldn’t care less where I was as long as I was with friends. But I wouldn’t risk bringing it up now.

“That’s my girl. What do you say we put two nice mugs of hot chocolate on? I’m sure we can figure it out.” He whisks himself away to the kitchen and I just blink to myself.

“Yeah! Yeah, should be fun…”

Steve calls the house just as the cops settle into the livingroom that night. They’d come by to question me under my father’s watch.

They waited patiently as I promised I’d be off the phone in two seconds, taking the call in the hallway where they could see me incase I raised any suspicions.

“What do you want?” I said flatly.

I could practically see Steve as he scoffed, hand pulling away from his hair he was probably fixing in the mirror.

“Nice to talk to you too, Jesus.”

“Sorry, but seriously, what do you want?”

He exhaled loudly on the other side of the phone, voice becoming whiny.

“Nancy called. She says she’s under house arrest ‘cause of that missing kid.”

I turn to look over my shoulder towards the room my dad kept the cops company. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell Steve that they were here. Though I wasn’t worried. He didn’t even care enough to ask why I was basically whispering.

“Okay? What do you want me to do?”

“Convince me to do something stupid? I want to see her.”

Shit, that’s sweet.

I screw my eyes shut, knowing I’m about to give some stupid advice, just like he knows I will. I could be more stupid about it, so let’s cut me a break.

“Then see her. You’re not new to sneaking into bedrooms,” I shrugged, as if he could see me doing it. “Just don’t make her uncomfortable.”

“Why would I make her uncomfortable?”

He sounds offended, but he’s now heard exactly what he wanted to hear,

“If she wasn’t planning to have sex with you in the first place tonight, being in her personal space and trying to screw her is even worse.”

“I know, I know! Kaminskys test is coming up for her, I’ll help her study.”

The smile in his voice made my heart flutter. It’s like reading a romantic novel. But I know if I tell him how amazing it is to see him learning about what’s going on in Nancys life he’d take the huff and hang up the phone.

“You’re the devil, Steve Harrington,” I sigh.

“You’re the best, Clementine Chase!”

Then the dial tone.

It takes a good hour to let the cops know everything that went on that night. And then I found I was just repeating myself over and over again.

“I told you everything I know, already.”

It stands to reason I’d be questioned a little more intensely since I was one of the last to see Will. It was all unwinding just a little too quickly for me, and I felt as though I could never settle. Just a few hours ago I was enjoying shakes with my friends, laughing and making jokes about anything and everything.

Now here I was being interrogated in my own living room.

“We just want to make sure you’re not missing anything,” spoke the cop with the moustache. “You were one of the last to see him.”

I sighed, and the other, slightly more competent cop cut in. “I know it’s a little frustrating Miss. Chase. We’d just like to make sure we’ve not missed anything. Did he ever show signs of being unhappy? He fit in okay?”

I stopped to think for a second, feeling the pressure of the two looking down at me from my place on the couch.

Will was the quietest of Mikes friends, mostly timid.

“He’s really close to Mike Wheeler. He looks out for him since his friends are… you know, they always kinda picked on him.”

“They pick on him?” The second cop took to writing in his notes.

“I guess. They’re great kids but the Byers boy is sort of the runt. They kinda comment of his shoes, mimic things he says… he’s a little more… sensitive, you know?”

Thinking back on every interaction with Will, he was definitely the peewee, laughed at and teased. He wasn’t like the other boys. But what these cops were getting at wasn’t sitting right with me.

“But he’d never run away. He trusts them, his family loves him. When it comes down to it, they all have his back.”

He considers this for a moment, eventually nods and closes his note pad.

He folds his arms with a deep breath.

“We haven’t come to a near conclusion yet. Let us know if you remember anything else. Thank you, sir,” he says, nodding towards my dad who stands up to lead the pair out the door.

They need to find that boy in one piece.

He was just so small, a mouse among cats. He’d barely ever spoken a word to me, just always a polite smile, and an excited nod to whatever story the boys were telling me that night.

How could this all happen so fast? I thought, head buried in my hands as my dads weight sank into the couch beside me.

I felt his hand on my back. He was unsure how to break the silence, that much was for sure.

I lift my head to look at him, and he stills, waiting.

“I really hope he’s alive, dad.”

He leans over, planting a kiss on my forehead, grunting when the phone rings again. “If that’s one of your friends, tell them to make it quick. You’re in no headspace to be gossiping.”

I nod, knowing full well I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to chat away as if I wasn’t feeling sick to my stomach anyways.

I pick the phone up, not bothering to take the call in the hallway for privacy. Prepared to hear Carol, maybe even Tina or Steve, I froze at Mike Wheelers voice on the other end.

“What do you think happened to Will?”

What the hell is going on on this night?

I risk a glance at my dad to find he’s watching me with worry.

“I’m-“

“Did anything weird happen when you watched him ride off?”

“Umm, no.” I stand up, and walk a little further from my dad’s listening ears. “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything.”

“Meet us in ten.”

“What? Where?”

I should have asked why. Said no. Convinced him not to go anywhere. Why didn’t I?

“Mirkwood”

“What the hell is that?”

“Where Cornwallis meets Kerley!” He stressed, quickly. “Just meet us there!”

“No! Are you stupid?” I argued, not bothering to control my voice in front of my dad.

Who knows what’s out there right now.

“We’re going with or without you, Clementine. So suit yourself.”

Then that was it. He’d slammed the phone down, and left me helpless.

I turned to my dad, weighing my options.

I could tell him, then he’d involve the police and intervene with the kids plans to endanger themselves. Or I could accompany them myself, and have them still like me by the end of it.

I know what I should do.

Why don’t I tell him?

Because I’m feeling stupidly loyal to the group of boys who probably just want someone to talk to after hearing about their best friend disappearing.

“What on earth was that about?”

I don’t move for a long moment, blinking stupidly.

“Just Tommy! Carols birthday is coming up and his gift ideas are just shocking. But It’s his problem, so I’m gunna turn in.”

I yawn loudly and stretch a little more dramatically than I should have, hoping that would be enough

Luckily for me, I was allowed to make it upstairs without him following behind me.

What the hell was I doing?

I pushed all my thoughts from my head as I shrugged on my closest corduroy coat.

This is crazy, Clementine!

I cuss myself out when I open bedroom window, all too familiar. Except tonight I wasn’t climbing out to talk to a boy, or go to a party, or stay at Carols. Tonight I was meeting a bunch of kids in hopes they wouldn’t get themselves lost when I really should be telling someone about the whole situation.

But all they want is to feel like they’re doing something to help find Will…

“Oh, hell.”

By the time I reach the location they’d asked to meet at, all of them had arrived, bikes in tow. The tree line was covered with police tape. I felt my stomach drop as all four kids turned at my approach.

“What’s this all about?” I asked, arms folded lowly on my chest. “You know it’s a bad idea to be out here.”

“Exactly, yet Will is stumbling around here somewhere.”

Jesus Christ. As harsh as it is, there’s not a lot of land in Hawkins. It’s incredibly difficult to try and imagine that he’s not so far away right now.

With a sigh, I lean in close to Mike.

“So you think this is the answer? What if-“

What if he’s not out there? What if he was kidnapped?

But I couldn’t bring myself to say that to them. Mike blinks back, eyes doe-like and innocent. Mismatched with his occasional bite.

“What if nothing, Clementine. All I know is that we have to find him.”

“He’s a vital part of the party!” Lucas chipped in. I half expected Dustin to join, but he hadn’t made a peep. “We can’t let him down.”

“He’d do it for any one of us,” Mike finished.

“But if you don’t want to come, you don’t have to.”

He’s challenging me, I know it.

I hold his gaze, narrowing my eyes. If he’s bluffing about going ahead without me, his expression doesn’t betray him.

“What makes you think I won’t just go to your parents? Or the cops?”

“You’d have done it already!” Told Lucas, waving an arm to make his point.

“And you want to help Will nearly as much as we do.”

Except that’s not the reason. The best way to help Will is by letting the police do their jobs. The real reason is that I just can’t bring myself to let them down.

“Ugh, fine!” I groan, pushing myself to stand upright. “But only this one time. And that goes for all of you.”

Without a nod of confirmation from Mike he turns on his flash light, paying no heed to the on-going storm.

Dustin, on the other hand, speaks for the first time since I arrived.

“Hey, guys. You feel that?”

His head is tilted towards the sky, and he’s soon wiping his cheeks. Sure enough, it’s begun to spit with rain. The last couple of nights had all been the same. So I let myself wonder how I could be stupid enough to have worn a jacket with no hood.

“I think maybe we should go back.”

“No.” Mike told, a demanding tone to his voice. “We’re not going back. Just stay close. Come on!” Then two two were off, leaving Dustin and I behind, staring at the treeline.

I look towards Dustin, who looks nearly frozen in fear.

“Stay on channel six,” Mike instructs. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“This whole thing is stupid, Mike.” Making a last attempt to appeal, I eventually follow behind the pair, scared they’d wander a little too far away from my sight. When Dustin doesn’t take a step forward, I catch his eyes over my shoulder. “Come on, Dustin, stay close.”

And he scurries forward, dropping his bike among the rest. Then he ducks under the police tape, jogging to catch up.

God in Heaven above, we’re in so much trouble. No, I’m in so much trouble. I’m the oldest, I’m supposed to be the responsible one. But here I am, trailing along as the kids put themselves in harms way.

“You know there’s always time to turn back, don’t you? We could wait ‘til morning,” I tried, looking straight at Mike knowing he’ll answer for everyone.

He usually does.

“He could be hurt by morning!”

Mike marched ahead, flashlight shone in every direction.

I couldn’t argue. If he was safe, which I doubt, leaving it any longer would only increase the chances of him running into danger. Again, I didn’t voice these thoughts. it’s not like they’re stupid, they know as much as I do the possibilities deriving from Wills disappearance.

“And what am i supposed to do if someone jumps out from behind a tree and attacks one of you?” The scenario runs over and over in my head as the rain begins to fall heavier.

A masked kidnapper scooping one of the kids up, a crazed murderer chasing me away.

The heavier the rain became, the less sure I knew what I was hearing around me. The snap of every twig, the kicking of every rock under the kids feet, any of it could be danger in disguise.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat, speaking to Dustin between the shouting of Wills name.

“This is bad, you know. This could go so wrong, so fast.”

But instead of a reply from Dustin, I’m with with a dangerous glare from over Mikes shoulder.

He yells out for Will whose name echoes ominously around us.

“Byers!”

“I’ve got your X-men 134!” Dustin called out, letting out a shaky breath. “Guys, I really think we should turn back.”

Me and him both.

“Seriously, Dustin! You wanna be a baby, then go home already!” Lucas argues, and I don’t like the sound of it.

“Hey, no! If we’re doing something this stupid we’re staying together. We’re not sending each other off alone,” I warned.

“So no one leaves!”

This kid! Their will is greater than mine. I have no choice.

“I’m just trying to be realistic, Lucas!”

“No. You’re just being a big sissy!”

“Shut up!” I yelled above the pair. “I’ve been trying not to scare you, but have you got any idea what are you could be in these woods? And you’re attracting all this attention.”

“Case. In. Point.” Dustin continued, flashlight now beaming from tree to tree. “Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad?”

Like a bear, or a kidnapper or a murderer. Or a Martian.

“And now we’re following in those footsteps,” I agreed. “With only me to protect your asses!”

“Clementine, shut up!”

I look at Mike with wide eyes. “Wow!”

“Shut up, shut up…” he says now more softly.

He’s listening for something. “Do you guys hear that?”

I freeze, heart suddenly in my throat.

What are the chances it was Will Byers scuttling through the trees towards us, to safety?

The rustling is from our left!

Then our right!

And every flashlight in the group is being shone is every direction with every shake of every leaf.

But then it’s just a little too loud, and a little too close.

Four flashlights illuminate a person, and for a millisecond, I was scared.

But this wasn’t a threat.

This was a kid.

[wolfinitethewolf]

It's here!

Alright! After a long time I can reveal my fic for @sthbigbang, Memories in the Sky!

Really hope you'll all enjoy it, and a really big thanks to the amazing artists who've all done an amazing piece for it! Please do go and check them out! I'll be rebloggin' their amazing work here, but I declare that you go and see it yourself! Actually, another thanks to 'em for putting up with how long it took for me to actually finish it, :D Asides from that, here is the lovely talent behind the amazing artwork for this:

@fleetways Their art @grimly-arts Their art @bittersweet-cj Their art

Heres the link to the AO3 version: MEMORIES IN THE SKY

But if you wanna read it here, a small summary, and under the cut shall be the fic itself :D

Sonic and Tails have had many adventures over the few years that they've known each over. Of course, when you have so many battles, even the painful, adrenaline boosting, and heartfelt battles are easy to move on from.

After battling against Dr. Eggman once again, the classic duo Sonic and Tails sit down together to catch a break and relax. However, as the two look up to the sky, some certain star formations begin to emerge, alongside with a few of their past adventures.

For the STH Big Bang 2024!

Sonic and Tails were sitting together on top of one of the many floating platforms that occupy green hill. Some stray blades of grass were gently blowing in the breeze. The sun was setting, casting its final orange light over the sea right before Sonic and Tails’ eyes. The stars were beginning to come out as the darkness rose over the horizon.

“Haha that was fun, wasn’t it lil’ buddy?” Sonic turned his head towards Tails, smiling in joy at the thrilling conclusion of another battle. “Yeah! Eggman stood no chance! Not when we are both around!” Sonic laughed, sitting up straight, shuffling the grass underneath him. “Haha, right you are! Besides, a few bots is nothing compared to literally anything else you and I have taken down without a problem!”

Tails gives Sonic a cheeky grin. “Oh really? You sure nothing at all has been a hassle for you?” Sonic grins, crossing his arms. “I am certain of it! Nothing can beat me! Now or ever!” After giving his statement, he picks up a blade of grass and fiddles with it in between his fingers.

As the two had their conversation, the sun was finally out of view. Only black with various shades of purple behind the many stars sitting in the sky. Time seemed to freeze, with Sonic and Tails being the only ones still moving and awake.

“Well… What about that time when Knuckles one shot you and took all the Chaos Emeralds?” Sonic gave a short laugh. “Well to be fair, I did not use them as much as I do now. Also he got me by surprise really…” Tails rolled his eyes. “Ok… What about the various races you lost to Jet?” “Hahaha I won a lot more races than he did! Besides, I was letting him win. After all, gotta let him think he won something.” Tails looks over at Sonic with a doubting look. “Ok. Then what about Mecha Sonic? That was more recent.” “C’mon, I had a broken ankle, you can’t count that! Also to make it fair, didn’t you also lose to him when trying to save me?” Sonic grinned, jabbing an elbow at Tails too quick for him to block with either of his tails.

“Haha, well why don’t you ask Mecha what he has to say about that?” Sonic lowered his eyelids. “Ehh, don’t want to bother him, y’know?” Sonic let go of the blade of grass he was playing with, letting it glide through the air into the ocean below them. “Whatever you say…” Just as Tails was about to add on something else, he held his breath, lowering his ears slightly. Changing his mind on whatever he was about to speak.

“Hm? Tails, you all good?” Tails perked back up. “Yeah! I’m all good!” Sonic gave a doubtful look, but moved on anyway. Tails closed his eyes, relaxing and enjoying the quiet.

The stars began to shine and sparkle, illuminating the night as the clouds covered the moon in a blanket.

“Heh. Hey Tails, don’t you think those stars over there look like the Chaos Emeralds? Like, the basic outline of them.” Sonic held a finger up to a group of stars, as Tails opened his eyes and followed where he was looking. “Huh, I guess they do kinda look like them…” Sonic and Tails stare at them in silence before Sonic speaks up. “They sure have come in handy, huh? I mean, we’ve done so much with them! Took down Eggman with them, multiple times may I add. Chaos, Time Eater, Dragon looking Metal Sonic- twice, all the Titans and the End on Starfall Island, and got rid of the Metal Virus! That's just to name a few!” Sonic had both hands on his hip, grinning in pride looking at Tails.

“Well yeah, but- wait, most of your victories were won due to the Chaos Emeralds! So you did technically get help after all!” Tails grinned at Sonic, mimicking what Sonic was doing and placing his hands on his hips in a similar manner. They both sat there in silence for a brief moment before Sonic came up with a response. “Well I mean, who wouldn’t want to fly around golden and all? C’mon, admit it, it's super cool. Pun intended.”

Tails gave Sonic an annoyed look. “First. You did need them. There is no way you would have otherwise. Second. Yeah, it is really cool. Third, That was a really bad pun. I would give that a 2/10.” Sonic gave Tails a dramatic response, pulling a “disheartened” face and resting his palm on his head. “Oh c’mon. That's quite the harsh review. I guess I’ll never do a pun ever again. This world is too cruel to say anything without judgment!” Sonic fell back onto the grass. “I guess that's the end of Sonic. His true enemy is a bad critic review.”

Sonic closed his eyes and smirked. “A bad critic review indeed.” Tails flicked a round stone at Sonic, landing on his forehead. Sonic got up, the stone falling back onto the ground from where Tails picked it up. “Ah. Enough of that. Truth is I am glad to have your help. You, Knuckles, Amy, heck even Shadow! You are all my friends! There is no one else I’d rather have my back than you all!”

“I knew that. Just waited for you to admit it.” Sonic gave a small laugh, smiling. “Ah well. You win some and you lose some.” Just as Sonic said that a stray leaf glided in out of nowhere and smacked itself into Sonic’s face, catching him off guard. Just as quickly as it landed, it took off, following the breeze. Sonic and Tails sat there for no less than a second before going into a fit of laughter, despite it not overall being that funny to begin with.

“Woah! Look at the ocean!” Tails joined in with Sonic gazing at the sea to see the beautiful sight of the stars reflected by the ocean's surface, with various ocean life illuminated underneath submerged by water. “Wait, aren't you supposed to be afraid of water?” Tails gave Sonic a sly side glance. “Well when I am in it. I mean, it can be beautiful. But from afar, and not too close to me…” Tails snickered. “I mean, you say that while we are sitting on a small floating platform almost right above the ocean…” Sonic wrapped one arm around Tails’ shoulder. “Ahh shut it you. You’ll make me wanna run off.” “Don’t be dramatic…”

Sonic and Tails continued to admire the stars as Tails decided to turn Sonic’s earlier comment into a game of sorts. “Look! Don’t those stars look like Trip’s helmet! When you look at it reflected in the water!” Sonic pointed his head downwards. “Yeah they do buddy!”

Sonic picked up a stone off the ground and skilfully tossed it at the ocean, as it skipped across the sea. “The highlight of it all was I remember in Cyber Station when Knuckles knocked me down a platform and sent me flying! Man, now that I think back on it that happened quite a bit, with you having to catch me. Heh. What fun…” Tails gave Sonic an irritated look. “I am pretty sure that was you being stubborn and just leaping before you looked, which then led me to having to catch you…. Quite a few times…” Sonic shrugged. “Eh, same story…”

“Well what about in Speed Jungle when you ran off so fast you were stuck having to beat that robot at the end of the zone all by yourself? You were having a hard time until me, Amy, and Knuckles arrived.” Sonic held a finger up to his chin, rethinking the scenario. “I don’t believe that exactly happened. More like that Knucklehead could not keep up…” As Sonic said that he tossed another stone at the sea, skipping like the previous one. “Oh yeah? You sure about that? Why don’t you sit back and think for a minute?” Tails questioned, as Sonic sat there with his arms folded, reimagining the event.

Sonic had blazed through the jungle, scattering vines, fog, and leaves everywhere. He skillfully jumped in between platforms or walls, not coming to a halt for even a mere second. While he was having a fun time, the rest of his crew was not.

Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were trying their best to keep up with their blue friend, as he left them behind in the dust. It was very easy to see where he was going due to his speed leaving quite the trail behind him. Vines he used to get across were still swinging, wooden bridges still swaying wildly.

“Sonic! Wait up!” Tails cupped his hands around his mouth in an attempt to make himself louder. However, the hedgehog was either ignoring him, or was too far ahead to hear anything the group was saying. Tails spinned his namesakes faster, in hopes of catching up. “Sonic!”

After many failed attempts to catch up, the trio came to a halt to catch their breaths. Amy had her hands on her knees, Tails was gasping for air, and Knuckles stood there, not out of breath but irritated about being left behind. Amy let out a sigh of defeat. “Why does Sonic keep running off like that?” While she finally had the chance to stop running, she picked out stray twigs from her quills and dress, scratches all over her.

Knuckles had his nose to the ground, not saying anything more than a grunt, leaning up against a tall and rounded off rock. Tails was sitting on the ground plucking out all the twigs tangled in his tails’ fur, mattered and rough. “Hopefully he’ll be alright until we reach him…” Amy said as she sat down to catch her breath.

The sound of leaves crunching and twigs snapping echoed around as the blue blur slowed to a walk when in a darker space. Of course, he was speed walking. But nonetheless walking. There was only a little light source guiding him. Only just enough to see his own hands and legs in front of him. For the most part he was feeling his way around.

The jungle surrounding smelt damp and moist; thick warm air making it somewhat hard to breathe. As Sonic guided himself using the smooth stones and rough bark of the trees, he saw a small light up ahead. Getting excited, he dashed forward, finally about to get out. But just as he was halfway there, he tripped over a loose stone, which sent him flying into a vine, launching him upwards as he smacked himself into an overhanging platform. The sound of stones cracking against each other rang out as pebbles and dirt fell alongside Sonic.

Sonic fell with a thud. He got up and tried wiping away the dirt that had gotten into his eyes. He shook any remaining dirt and stones that had gotten stuck to him. Coughing out what had gotten into his mouth, he went at a steady pace towards the exit, rubbing his watering eyes.

Stumbling over his own footing as he readjusted to the dark terrain, eyes still watering, he finally made it out of the dark space, sneezing out the dust that had gotten up his nose. “Gah!” He had to shield his eyes as he stepped out into the sunlight. Shaking it off, he sprinted forwards, only to immediately bump into something cold and smooth. A badnik. It was shaped as an egg, (to no one’s surprise) and had two robotic arms coming out of it.

Sonic grinned, standing up straight as he dashed forwards, trying to get a hit only for it to grapple the above terrain and lift itself up much too high for Sonic to reach. As it gripped the branches of some trees and vines, some fell down gently onto the ground, which would include an oversized leaf falling onto his face, blocking his view.

Unfortunately for Sonic, that was much more than enough time for the badnik to throw itself back onto the ground and send a nasty hit right at him with one of its arms, sending Sonic soaring through the air, rings scattering across the ground. He hits the side of some terrain, cracking the wall underneath him as he tumbles amongst chunks of earth, crunching, sliding and cracking. He lands on his chest, getting buried alive.

Before Sonic could even get out of the rubble, he was grabbed with force and slammed into the ground. A web pattern formed underneath him in the terrain as it cracked open, dust and dirt flying up into the air. Sonic trembling, tries to get back up only for a flurry of hits to keep coming at him. The smell of dust and earth becoming more clear with each his as the sound of earth splitting apart booms through the jungle.

Amy was fidgeting with her hammer while Knuckles and Tails sat together resting up a bit before some loud sounds burst out from up ahead. Clearly Sonic got himself into trouble. “Looks like he needs our help again…” Knuckles mumbled out as he started to walk forward, with Amy getting up to follow along. Tails was already spinning his tails madly, trying to reach Sonic as fast as he could. “Tails wait!” Amy called out as her and Knuckles followed along, the three following the sounds of earth shattering.

Sonic was receiving hit after hit, sending him further into the ground as the small crater in the ground got deeper and deeper. It felt as if in slow motion that a window opened; astray grass speeding through the wind came to a halt, the dust and debris froze, and the robot paused. Quickly, Sonic curled up into a ball, spinning as fast as he could.

The robot sent another hit, however that would be its downfall as once it made contact with the hedgehog, its arm was sawed clean off, sparks and metal flying through the air with a loud screech. An upside for Sonic which he was not prepared for was that the pressure from the hit also sent Sonic flying out of danger, like a slingshot. Still curled tightly in a ball, he cleaved a line of trees right in half until he landed harshly into the ground.

Sonic got up almost in an instant, ignoring the pain all over his body and the sharp ringing in his ears and pumped his fists into the air, happy that he disabled one arm. He sped right back to the fightzone, ready to hit it again when another arm took place of the damaged one and hit Sonic midair. Sonic let out a startled yelp as he was hit once again, tumbling through the ground.

By now due to all the attacks on the poor terrain, there was a very thick cloud of dust going through the air, which was making Sonic’s throat dry and giving him the urge to sneeze more and more. Determined to win, Sonic leapt at the robot once more, attempting to smash clean through another arm.

Carefully navigating the dark, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles safely made it to the exit, where they could already see that quite the fight was going down. Debris was soaring everywhere, a thick coating of dust was making it harder to breath in the area, and the ground was trembling wildly. To top it off, the group could hear Sonic’s iconic spindash bouncing off metal and making an impact in the ground. “We have to help him!” Amy shouted out over the chaos as she grabbed her piko piko hammer out and charged forward, as Knuckles and Tails followed into the battle.

Sonic could not even see where he was going anymore; there was too much dust and dirt fogging the field. While stumbling around to get his footing he was getting attacked from every direction and slammed back into the ground. It was getting far too intense for him to deal with at this rate, with the ground looking like a minefield, and the wildlife facing the consequences. Just as the robot prepares for another blow, it’s knocked right over, landing in one of the many craters in the terrain below, dense, hollow metal making a low clang as the ground shifted beneath it.

“There you are.” Knuckles made his way towards Sonic, head turned down. “Look what happens when you run off.” Amy ran into the scene, treading lightly over gaps in the ground or smoking pits. “Knuckles, don’t be like that, just help him up.” Knuckles grunted in response, waving his arm through the thick smoke as he went to lift Sonic up. However, his arm was shoved aside as Sonic struggled to get up himself, coughing out smoke that he had inhaled during the fight.

As he stood up, shaking under the pressure of the cuts and bruises he had received from the attacks, he turned to face Knuckles, annoyed with the idea of needing help. “M’kay, dealt with worse.” Once up he shook his head and body off, as stones and debris rolled off and clattered on the ground. Coughing too much, he gestures with his hand to the robot getting back up.

Gears and metal clacked together as the metal frames grinded in its strain to get back up. A curved, smooth dent in the side of its body from the hit Knuckles delivered. Lighting up its eyes, the engines whirred loud and fast, as it prepared for the new opponents.

Amy sprinted ahead, mad at it for harming Sonic. Before she could get a swing with her hammer however, the robot grabbed an overhanging tree that had been knocked right down and lifted itself up high, far out of reach from Amy. “Hey, that's not fair! Get back down here!” Amy pouted helplessly as she stared furiously at it.”Tails! Lift me up there so I can give him a taste of my hammer!” However, Tails was instead gazing up at it with a finger up to his chin, lost in thought.” Sonic dragged his right foot through the rubble, the terrain crunching with each step. He put a hand over his friend's shoulder and tilted his head. Tails looked at him, his tails swaying softly in the dirt, dust sticking to his fur and glinting in the lighting. “I think I-”

Tails was pushed out of the way by Sonic when one of the arms launched at them. More dirt flying into the air and all over the group. Tails had protectively shield him and Sonic with his namesakes in reaction to the sudden movement. All the fur on his tails became rough and mattered, feeling like cotton candy as more dirt clung onto them.

Knuckles’ eyes lit up in rage as he lifted up a chunk of rock and threw it at the badnik’s arm, snapping it as the sound of static popping and crackling rang out. The rest of the arm hangs limp, shards of metal falling onto the rest of the arm like rain; static springing out of both ends. It retracted the arm as two new ones took its place.

“Great! How do we disable this thing!” Knuckles clenched his fists and glared at the badnik with pure rage. Another arm launched itself at where Sonic and Tails had landed, as they narrowly dodge it by a hair, jumping opposite directions. Recoiling the new arm fast, as it snapped back to its base.

Amy, Knuckles, and Sonic start dodging the fast attacks, rolling out of harm's way. However, Tails was focusing on the robot more, analyzing its movements. Everything was moving in a pattern for him. Seeing outcomes and logic to use against it.

Sonic was running as best as he could, due to the beating from before. However, his shoe skidded across a loose stone, and he face planted into a deep crater. Seeing another arm target him, he rolled onto his side just in time. The gears clicked over and over as it struggled to pull the arm back. Tails looked closer, and saw what had happened. Because of the crater taking in a lot of damage, there was still loose rubble and terrain that was barely holding up at the edges. So when the arm had dug itself into the ground with force, all that rubble had come down and buried the arm.

The only downside to that was that Sonic had not rolled fully out of the crater, and had his left leg and arm buried. Tails knew what to do. “Knuckles! Climb up the arm and attack the robot from where you impacted it before!” Knuckles nodded, not hesitating for a second, stumbling in small gaps or indents in the ground.

Gripping onto the cold, silky surface of the arm, he dragged himself upwards, digging the tip of his shoes into the small gaps so he did not slide or slip. As the badnik tried to free itself, shaking and jolting, Knuckles pressed himself closer, so he would not go free falling with every movement.

He got higher and higher to the base, his leather shoes squeaking with every step, it became easier to move up, as the base was more stiff and solid unlike the middle and end where it's unstable. Almost able to stand, he started to run up, seeing the small dent on the side of it.

Jumping into the air, he threw a huge hit at the mark, a loud boom as a giant hole revealed gears and wires, metal sheets rattling inside it, resting at the bottom.. Static popped as the robot's arms stopped moving. Knuckles seeing it shut down gilded off it, gracefully landing on the damaged ground as the robot creaked and loosened its grip on the above canopy. Falling with a massive thud that shook the nearby ground, the lights illuminating the eyes dimmed.

Knuckles grunted, as Amy and Tails helped get Sonic’s limbs out of the rubble. “Well that takes care of it.” Brushing off dust, he made his way to the three and grabbed Sonic with one hand, lifting him out without any effort. “This is what happens when you run off. Next time, wait.” Knuckles left it at that and turned his back away, waiting for what they would do next.

Tails ran in front of Sonic, worried. “Are you alright Sonic, that looked like a pretty nasty beating…” Sonic merely closed his eyes and grinned, holding a thumbs up to his pal, assuring he was ok. Sonic then gestured to the path ahead, ready to move on.

Relaying the memory, hand cupping his mouth, he turned to Tails, as his buddy finished ‘correcting’ what Sonic had ended on. “Well I don't remember Knuckles having to step in. Are you sure you remembered that correctly?” Tails rolled his eyes, knowing that Sonic was just lying to keep up his ego. “Regardless, you needed our help when you faced it off alone.” “Ehhh, I think I still had dust in my eye…” Tails laughed it off. “Whatever you want to believe, since I’ll have the correct memory here.” Tails tapped his forehead, taunting Sonic with the fact that he was very much going to bring it up another time.

“Actually another thing I really remember was that giant dragon thing!” Tails shifted. “Do you mean Trip’s superform, or the one you fought?” Sonic picked a stray quill out of his head. “The giant purple one. Don’t really remember much of it now, since it was a while ago, but yeah.” Sonic flicked the quill out of his hand, falling into the ocean with a small splash. Sonic slouched over a little, resting his face in his hands.

Tails gave Sonic a confused stare for a solid 10 seconds. “You mean to tell me you remember Speed Jungle more than something you fought in your superform?” Sonic laughed, his warm breath visible in the cold, sharp air. “Yeah. Wasn’t the coolest thing I fought…” Tails still in disbelief moved on, thinking about how Sonic could forget that so easily.

A cold sharp breeze blew by, raising the fur on Tails’ back. He wrapped both of his tails around his torso. Sonic sat back upright. “Gettin’ pretty cold, huh?” Tails’ ears perked up a little. “No, just a cold breeze. Nothing much…” Sonic looked down at the sea, and behind him at the terrain. “Well I mean I would get something warm like a blanket, but we are sitting on a platform high up so…” Tails glanced down at the scenery below. “Nonono it’s fine! Like I said, just a small breeze.” Sonic shrugged. “Eh, if you say so…”

As the night went on, a small, thin sheet of fog covered the ground and sea, made visible by the various lighting all around. Only just visible.

“Oh Tails, don’t you think that looks like Chaos when he consumed all the Emeralds” Tails corrected Sonic, unfolding his Tails from his body. “You mean Perfect Chaos?” Sonic rolled his eyes at the correction. “Same difference…” “No not really…” Sonic folded his arms. “Moving on from that…” Tails sighed.

“Man, now that I think about it, Chaos did a heck lot of damage. Like, he tore down all of Station Square, huh?” Tails drew in a breath. “I mean, he was like, very big and the flooding did not help. He also drained all the Chaos Emeralds too.” Sonic and Tails both visualized that very event, looking up into the stars as if they were watching the event right before their eyes.

Everything was in ruin. Towers and skyscrapers had tilted over and banged into other buildings, causing collateral damage. Flames from gas stations and electronics flickered and spread, smoke rising through the air and making it hard to breathe or see, as it burned everyone's eyes.

Lights from street lamps and stores flickered on and off, reflecting in the rising water. Streets and pathways had crumbled and caved in, sinking beneath the water. Car alarms were blaring all around, making a loud and distressing sound. However, above all was the deep, piercing roar that Chaos let out as he laid waste to anything still standing, turrets of water blazing through the streets.

G.U.N helicopters circled around, whirring and piercing through the wind.Attempting to disarm the creature, they had sent missiles and rockets at it, screeching as they sped past. No explosions or bangs were heard however as they did no damage to the creature made of water, sinking down to the base of him and floating out to sea.

Finding the attackers, Chaos sent sharp and precise jets of water at the vehicles occupying the skies, cutting clean through. Each one making a loud bang or pop as they all blew up, whatever was left of the frame falling into the water or structures and causing further damage.

Everyone was screaming and running in terror, hiding in toppled buildings that could no longer fall, or evacuating the area, footsteps rippling the water.

However, a few did not flee; standing on a fallen road was Sonic, watching Perfect Chaos continue his reign of terror. As the water levels rise, the smell of salt water and oil becomes more overwhelming by the second, burning at Sonic’s throat. His fur had become damp and heavy, pointing more downwards. His gloves and socks were soaked, darker in color.

He watched as Eggman’s ship slowly flew in, the engines working at a high pitch. “Eggman! Looks like he’s after the Chaos Emeralds too!” Unable to do anything from down below, he watched as Eggman flew in closer to the main scene. Static rings out at a high frequency before they adjust, Eggman’s voice blaring though. “This Egg Carrier Two was made because something like this could happen. You have defied your master, stupid beast. Now you must be destroyed at all costs!”

Facing Perfect Chaos, Eggman prepares to launch something, alarms going off. Chaos sees this and opens his mouth wide open. A ball of energy grows at quick speeds, before a massive laser of blue and purple goes forth, cutting the stress and towers in half as he raises it up to the Egg Carrier, not stopping until it’s facing the sky. Smoke bellows out from the gaps of the Egg Carrier, as sparks follow suit. Purple particles fade out from where the laser was last.

Emergency alarms go out as the ship begins to fall downwards, gliding in between structures, no longer in sight. Last thing to be seen of the ship was the giant ball of fire that shot out from wherever it landed, a giant boom rattling the skies. Before Sonic could make a taunt about that bening the end of him, a small scream is heard as he goes flying high up into the sky, seated in his Eggmobile.

Sonic had seen too much damage in one day for his liking, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. “I’ve had enough! Who do you think you are anyway?” Chaos however, could not hear his angry shouts as he was too tall and too far away. What he did not prepare for was a small, red neon orb to gently fall from the sky towards him. Red particles flickered off the light, fading into the air.

Shuddering above the ground, Sonic holds his hand underneath it, palm facing upwards. “Oh, it’s you, the one who sealed Chaos… In the Master Emerald! Tikal!” As the red light hovered there above his hand, red light reflected with ease over Sonic as water dripped down his fur, glinting and highlighting the dark shadows. Despite his senses burning under the intensifying smell of salt water and smoke, he kept his focus on the moment happening right before him.

A bright flash consumed Sonic’s line of vision as it died out to reveal Tikal standing in front of him, grasping both of her hands. Drawing in a breath, she spoke to the hedgehog. “My heart has always been in the Master Emerald along with chaos’. Now he is filled with anger and sadness.” She looks up at Chaos, in fear and worry, voice quivering. “If it goes on, he’ll eventually destroy the world like he did before!” As she says those final words, Chaos lets out a long, ear-splitting roar as the Chaos Emeralds emerge from him, circling above him.

Lowering his head as he let out a low rumble, the Emeralds blast forward like shooting stars, scattering everywhere. Dark blue plummeted down, clattering like an empty glass bottle as it hit the pavement, scraping the concrete as it rolled on its side, resting at Sonic’s shoe. Before Sonic could even dare to pick it up, the light diminished, dulling to a dark and lifeless gray. Any energy radiating from it faded as its neon pulse slowed. Its final breath was visible in the vivid blue static that bounced off it and onto the ground, jittering across the water.

Tikal in pure dismay, stared down at the cold Emerald, covering her mouth with her hands. “He’s absorbed the Emeralds power! He must be sealed in the Master Emerald, now!” Sonic, looking down at his reflection in the glass Emerald, shook his head. “How can that help?” Sonic looked up to face Tikal, clenching his fist in front of his chest as he stepped forwards, scuffing the Emerald on the ground. “It won't change how he feels inside. His heart will still remain in turmoil and his anger just won’t vanish! He’ll just be trapped forever!”

As he finishes his sentence, the ground below shakes and quivers as Chaos does more damage close by, bellowing cries of rage. Tikal, trying to talk over the commotion, steps closer to Sonic, making herself more easy to hear. “What choice do we have?” Her voice becomes more filled with worry each time the sounds of something being torn apart echoed through the scene.

Nearby, while Sonic had his conversation to Tikal, his friends had seen the displaced Emeralds shoot out and had gone after them. Big had found one by pure chance, as it had drifted through the water and plinked against the cold metal hook of his fishing rod. Neon red fizzling out as if the water was draining it and fading off to sea. Grabbing it out, as water slid down the smooth Emerald, he calmly made his way towards his dear blue friend.

Tails, knowing very well about the situation, did not hesitate to go and fly towards the one that had fallen closest to him. Finding it wedged between the windshield of a car. Glass fragments lay atop the Emerald and hood. Tails grabbed it firmly and yanked it out, small shards of glass flying outwards from the force, chattering on the ground. He brushed off any remaining glass with the side of his hand briskly. With no time to lose, he sped towards Sonic, his tails whirring behind.

Amy had been watching Chaos from afar, standing on a relatively straight tower watching him ditch the Emeralds. Various colors reflecting off of the metal structures and flooding water. In a mere second, a blinding streak of cyan light whipped right past her head and landed with a bang as small chunks of rubble bounced off her hand, protecting her face in reaction.

Opening her eyes and moving her hands to her sides, she saw cyan static pop and fizzle as a darkened Chaos Emerald was left behind. No longer warm or pulsing, but dead and gray. Grabbing it in her palm, she swiftly went to find Sonic.

Knuckles had already known beforehand. So in advancement, he already had a stale Emerald in one hand, clenching it firmly to assure that it would not be going anywhere else. Using only one hand to cling onto the surface of an unstable pillar, he located the other Emerald.

It was drifting away from the city as the water levels had risen. Retracting his namesakes that he had dug into the pillar, as concrete burst outward, he glided downwards towards the lost Emerald. Nabbing the last one, he landed with a splash. To his luck, the water was shallow since he was standing on a sunken bridge. Slowly, he began to make his way back to his friends, water above his waist.

Sonic and Tikal had stood there in silence as Sonic watched Tikal fear the worst about the situation. Hearing slow footsteps, he turned to see Big with an Emerald in hand. Big, oddly calm and happy, reached his arm out, a Chaos Emerald in hand. “Sonic! I found this in the water and thought you could use it!” Big's low voice rattled off the Emerald as Sonic carefully took it out of his hand, not knowing what to say as he saw his other friends arrive with the rest of the Emeralds.

“Hey, Sonic!” Amy cheerfully waved to him as she ran up with another Emerald. “Here, take this!” She enthusiastically shoved it into his other hand, hoping that he could fix everything. Knuckles casually dropped in with two in tow, grinning. “Hey guys, what's up?” Tails joined in next to Knuckles staring at awe at the ones he had collected.

Another loud roar rippled the water as the skies shook and trembled. Tails, seeing this as his chance, walked closer to Sonic, explained what needed to be said. “Chaos only used the negative powers of the Chaos Emeralds.” Locking eyes with Sonic, as Knuckles moved in closer, he continued. “Sonic, you should be able to harness their real power!” Knuckles drew in a heavy breath, stubbornly agreeing. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think Tails is right about this.”

Tails nodding to what he said, finished what he was saying. “Negative forces aren’t the only way to empower the Chaos Emeralds. Our positive feelings toward each other can make them work. Our hearts together form a stronger power!” Knuckles walked up to face Sonic, as he handed over both Emeralds. Sonic cradling them in one arm as he reached over to pick up the one that had fallen beside him earlier.

He looked up to face Tails, as the last Chaos Emerald was offered in the base of both his hands, arms outstretched. Sonic reached out to grab it, holding on for a second. “Thank you.” Gripping onto it and lifting it from Tails, the Chaos Emeralds began to pulse in their lost colors, like a heartbeat.

In a mere second after, a golden light spiked outwards from the hedgehog, growing stronger and bigger each second. A burst of energy sprang outwards, a loud boom as Sonic was no longer on the ground. Rather, he was hovering above it. His now golden quills turned upright. Warmth radiated off of him as the water on his shoes slid onto the ground. A golden aura covered him as the air surrounding him quivered and became disoriented. Looking up to the sky, his eyes now a crimson red, he took, knowing what to do.

Flying above broken streets and upturned roads, he blasted across the terrain, dodging broken glass or metal that was sticking out from every direction. Darting in between buildings searching for Chaos, his golden light trailing behind. Each time he zoomed across the water, it split at the very surface, spraying outwards, fizzling if the water droplets came in close contact to Sonic.

Blazing through a cloud of thick smoke, he spotted Chaos’ emerald eyes. Making a sharp turn, he made a straight beeline at him. Halfway there, he started to drift off and feel dizzy. He was losing the energy to keep going. He needed more rings. Almost bouncing off the water, he spotted a group of golden rings. He took a detour and grabbed them off the ground, cold metal contrasting the warmth of his aura. Feeling a boost of energy, he picked back up the pace, hovering higher up over the sea, he made his way back to Chaos.

Reaching Chaos, he collided with the base of his form, water spraying outwards from where he went blazing into it. Now inside the body of water, he started to spiral right around his base, going higher and higher up, bubbles bursting out from behind in a cyclone. He held his breath deeply, not certain on his ability to breath underwater in a Superform. Sonic’s golden light illuminated Chaos from the inside, bouncing around and making him look like a night lamp. Reaching his neck, his spiral narrowed, until he reached his mind, floating stiffly above his eyes, the only organic things visible inside Chaos.

Chaos screamed in pure agony as Sonic spin dashed into his brain, being vulnerable and out in the open. Loud, high-pitched wails rung out, over all the alarms going off and fire crackling. Flailing his head around, as water gushed out, he slunk into the water, retreating from the scene. Sonic had burst out of Chaos before he sunk down with him too, his gloves and socks heavy from the water absorbed into them.

Sonic looked around in between the toppled towers for where he had gone. A stiff silence filled the air as nothing but the warm buzz off the Chaos Emeralds energy radiated from him. Seeing a tall figure reform in the distance, Sonic shook his head. “Gonna take more than that to leave the battle.” He went forwards, ducking inbetween buildings and windows, not letting anything stop him from reaching Chaos.

Enraged by the attack, as he saw Sonic rapidly jet towards him, he began to act out. Raising his head to the sky, screeching slow and deep, he summoned golden orbs of light around him, launching them forwards at the hedgehog, looking similar to Sonic dashing about in his form. “Well that's not good!” Rolling around in the air, he dodged the attacks, as they collided with the background instead. Since Chaos was not being direct with where they hit, rather, sending them in one general direction, some collided into the buildings ahead of Sonic.

Groaning under the weight of the many walls of metal, as one energy blast hit a tower, the top of its frame began to slide downwards, before the sound of metal screaming against metal rumbled. It came falling down, metal wires and poles snapping as it crashed into the side of another tower. Glass blew outwards from the pressure, bouncing off of Sonic as he sumersalted just quick enough to avoid being crushed between the two structures.

Now with nothing stopping him, he made his way towards Chaos’ head, instead of trailing up the base of him like last time. Curled into a ball, he sliced clean through the water as he made a direct hit to his brain once again, causing more wails and screams. More water gushed out of Chaos as his head dramatically dangled around, banging into the sides of structures. He slowly slunk back down once again, disappearing into the water. From all the chaos and screams, Sonic’s ears had begun to ring loudly, muffling the sounds of anything else.

While Sonic floated there in the spot, arms crossed as he scanned the terrain for where Chaos had popped back up, the water underneath him bubbled. Out of nowhere, Chaos’ tentacles had burst out of the water, attempting to grab Sonic. Sonic merely batted an eye as he watched Chaos grab him, only for the tentacle-shaped water to fizzle and evaporate, not even touching him. Sonic laughed at the attempt, as he whipped his body right around to see Chaos had rised back up behind the attack.

Not even bothering to curl up and hit him with force, he zoomed right up to him, and sent a kick right at his head once more, dealing the final blow. All the water-formed tentacles had burst, falling back into the sea as Chaos screeched once again in a high pitch, much longer than the last two. Water dripped back down into the ocean, as if he was melting. Going down, he faced his head high up into the sky, letting out his final cry as he sunk back down. Once gone, a giant blue flash filled the air, blinding Sonic, and everyone watching nearby.

Sonic, feeling light-headed, knew that his Superform was coming to an end, raced across the landscape to reach his friends, watching as the water flooding the area started to sink down. Only just making it to his friends, he fell through the sky, as Knuckles and Tails caught him, watching as their friend's golden glow almost melted off, fading away along with the warmth of the Chaos energy. “You alright Sonic?” Tails softly asked, wanting to know if he had sustained any injuries from the fight.

Sonic, getting up and leaving his friends grasp, stood up, dusting off some rubble that was stuck in his quills. “I think if anything my shoes took more damage than I did.” Laughing it off, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, turned to see Chaos in his regular form confronted by some chao. “Chaos has changed again. This time, for the better.” Knuckles filled in, seeing him peacefully watch the chao happily call out to him. “Yeah! Super Sonic must have neutralized it, so it’s nice again.” Tails added, watching the happy conclusion.

“Well at the end of the day, I was left with having to buy new gloves, since they forever more smelt like salt water.” Sonic had joked to Tails, as they finished recapping the memory to each other. Tails just laughed at Sonic’s remark, cold air soothing his throat. “At least you had your Superform, that kept you dry. We all got soaked. My tails looked all thin and shaggy!” That time they both laughed.

While sitting there in silence, Sonic took a long breath. “2 to 1.” Tails turned around, hummed in confusion. “I mean, I’ve spotted two shapes in the sky, and you’ve seen one. So that means I am in the lead.” Tails lowered his eyelids in a skeptical way. “Oh really? I can make it 2 to 3, just watch.” Sonic grinned. “Heh, let's see then.”

Both were intensely staring up at the sky for another cluster of stars that were shaped in the image of something familiar to them. As the night moved on, the wind gently whistling by, fog receding back into the air, Tails almost jumped, pointing right above him and Sonic. Sonic squinted his eyes, leaning back as he could not crane his neck up that far. “Don’t you think that looks like Starline’s glove?” Now on his back to see it clearly, Sonic could indeed make that out to be the doctor's glove. “Yeah, but how’d you see that? It’s right above us?”

Tails held up a finger. “I told you I’d get you 2 to 3!” Sonic shrugged, letting out a long exhale. “Well actually 2 to 2.” Sonic said under his breath before saying something else on top of that. “He sure did a lot of messed up things while he was around. Even went after you, didn’t he?” Tails hummed in response, nodding his head stiffly. “What even happened back there? Since me and Shadow were outside dealing with other things. “Honestly not much, he just tried to grab me again, which failed.” “Surely he did more than that!” Sonic doubted Starline turning over just like that. “Honestly, apart from when he had me tied up on the rollercoaster, he did nearly nothing.”

The chateau’s smell of pine wood wafted through the air as Tails, Belle, Rouge, and everyone else there evacuated the people staying to a safer location, as Starline had sent down an avalanche as part of his plan. The ground was faintly rumbling, already giving the warning to leave. Footsteps echoed around the fancy building as everyone ran out. However, while the main crowd was going one way, someone was walking forwards, towards the group of heroes.

Omega’s static voice rang out as he ‘encouraged’ the guests to leave. Tails was covering his ears since he was right beside him. He could, however, hear Rouge. “We should get going, too.” Before they could even take a step, someone announced themselves. “No, you’re not going anywhere.” Starline was standing there, facing down Tails.

“I am having a very long day, so I’ll keep this simple. All I need is young master Prower there… Hand him over and you can go. Deal?” Amy clenched her hammer tightly. “Dream on, jerk!” Amy and Rouge jumped forward to attack the deranged doctor, floorboard creaking as they both stepped forward. Belle just watched, mouth open as she became confused. “Who is that guy?” “Dr. Starline? An Eggman wannabe.”

As Tails says that, Starline presses something on his glove, as a red, loose aura forms around him, deflecting both Rouge and Amy’s attacks easily. Belle, getting worried, steps back a little, the wooden planks on the ground groaning under her weight. “That doesn't look like a wannabe to me…” “Don’t worry. Nobody can beat Amy when she’s made up her mind!” As if to show, Amy gets a direct hit to Starline’s jaw, cracking loudly. Rouge also gets some pretty good hits in too, winding him as she gets him in the chest with a kick.

Getting irritated with the halt in his plans, he pressed something on his glove again, as a blue aura danced around his body. In a flash, he was in front of Tails, a loud boom as he came to a stop. Even Tails had jumped in shock, his namesakes wildly spinning behind him. Starline grabbed onto said tails, pulling at his fur roughly. “Time to go, fox.” He said that last word with a hind of venom, clearly annoyed. Tails, gritting his teeth so hard that he heard them click. “I dont think so.”

Quickly facing Belle, he grabbed her tail, rough rope rubbing against his gloves as he tugged it. Wooden gears clicking into place as the sound of a thin, tight rope quivered. Starline only just noticed her presence right then. “What in the world…?” Belle got scared, voice shaking. “Ah, my tail-” Before she could finish, her legs jumped up in front of her, getting Starline right under the jaw, teeth clashing up as they gritted against each other painfully.

Tears welled up in his eyes, as he grasped his bill, shaking from the shock. “Oh come on! What even was that!” He started to see stars, the hit being a lot more powerful than Tails expected. As the three stood there, with Amy and Rouge approaching fast, the ground shook violently, as rumbling got closer to where they were. “Wait, what is that Sound?” Starline muttered, still feeling sore, a metal taste filling his mouth.

Rouge, Amy, and Tails ran out of the scene as fast as they could, with Tails holding onto Belle’s arm. Starline however, was still disoriented, and could not get out of the way, head beginning to ring, and still seeing stars, making it impossible for him to tell where to go. As Tails and co were safely out of the way, the snow began to build up on the giant glass windows, pressure building up in seconds as more and more snow, trees, and debris piled up.

Starline then realized what would happen, shielding his face with his palms. As if on queue, the glass and wooden beams gave in, snapping like a twig as glass shattered and mixed in with the snow, clattering against the wooden roof and remaining walls. As the snow reached Starline, along with all the shards of glass and splinters of wood, giving Starline nasty cuts, he yelled out as he was buried alive. Underneath the cold, he began to shiver violently, frostbite starting and making the pain in his bill worse. It did not help that some snow had lodged itself up his fancy jacket, giving him a nasty shock.

Tails and everyone else, including the guests, were safe on the higher floors, looking outside as everything down below was buried in thick, solid snow. Even some trees had snapped and fallen down with it. All the fresh snow, being high up the mountains, gave the air a cold, damp, metal smell.

“Huh, I guess not much really happened after all…” Tails just nodded. “Yeah, thankfully his avalanche backfired at just the right time.” Sonic just burst out laughing, almost choking as the night air made his throat dry and hoarse. Coughing a little, he grinned, still chucking. “But you and Belle gave him a good hit! He had it coming if he tried to mess with any of you!” Tails just gave a small laugh, avoiding hurting his throat from the piercing cold. “Yeah, Belle can defend herself much more than she’ll give herself credit. After all, her frame is pretty sturdy and can withstand a lot of damage.”

Sonic sat upright shivering, pressing his knees to his chest and wrapping. “Wow, getting a lot more cold than before!” Tails had his namesakes lightly pressed up to his sides, as he had thicker fur that was withstanding the cold much better. “Well yeah, it's late at night and the sun has gone down. It’s not like there's going to be warm rays of moonlight.” Tails sassed off Sonic, in a know-it-all voice, winding him up.

“Well with all the crazy things going on around us, there might be a moon that acts as the sun!.” He had his hands to his hips, grinning. Of course Sonic was just saying that to be annoying. But Tails played along. “Whatever floats your boat…”“Ahh Tails, why so mean!” They both sat there, as they laughed.

All the fog that was on the ground disappeared, making the reflections in the water much more clear. Sonic and Tails were still holding their heads up to the sky. While the glove and helmet were still fairly easy to see, the stars appearing like Chaos had disappeared somewhere else. Sonic opened a single eye to the glove, lying back down on the ground with his arms propping his head back up. “Well, Starline did much more than try to take you.”

Rather than answering, Tails just focused primarily on the glove. “I mean, he did some pretty bad things. He brought Eggman back to his old self, which then brought the Metal Virus, he then, like we just talked about, tried to take you. He then kidnapped Belle until the Chaotix got there. To top it all off, he then did something to Surge and Kit. It’s a shame that we still don’t know the full story to that either, only that he used a bunch of stuff to make them…”

Sonic’s face had gone from calm to more focused and thoughtful, still not happy with Starlines actions. “Well I am pretty sure he also broke Zavok, Mimic, and Rough and Tumble out too…” Tails had his finger to his chin while Sonic sat upright. “Wait, he was the one who did that?!” Sonic, genuinely confused, stared at Tails with his mouth agape. “Yeah, I thought you knew that already…?” Tails lowered his eyelids as Sonic shook his head. “Nope, too focused on other things to realize that…”

“Well now you know…” Sonic just hummed. “Well I guess it's good now that he is gone.” Sonic held his breath as he stared down into the water. “Do you think Surge and Kit rea-” “Warp Topaz!” Sonic turned an ear to Tails in confusion. “I don't recall Starline using the Warp Topaz on them-” Tails shook his head frantically. “No, I can see the Warp Topaz! When reflected in the water, the stars look like the Warp Topaz! So now it’s 2 to 3, putting me in the lead!” “Oooh. Wait, if you see the Warp Topaz reflected in the water, would that not make the stars show an upside down version of it?” Tails shook his head, humming a no.

“It’s like when you flip a drawing, it looks odd or incorrect one way, and perfect another way.” Sonic squinted his eyes, darting from the sky to the sea. “I mean they both kinda look the same either way-” “Nope!” Tails butted in. Sonic looked up to Tails. “Well I mean, can we really say you get another point? There are a whole heap of stars that look round. You could say any of them are the Topaz.” Rolling his eyes, Tails pointed to the silhouette in the water. “No look, there is the spiral, curling inwards, and the smaller stars further apart look almost like a gradient, which makes sense given the material it's made of.” Sonic, letting out a long sign. “Well I guess that makes me second place now…”

Tails pumped his fists discreetly, whispering under his breath victory. Sonic had leaned back into the soft grass, feeling it brush up against him lightly. Resting with his eyes closed, and taking in another breath, he turned his head to face Tails. “Didn’t we use the Topaz to get all the Chaos Emeralds at once during the Metal Virus?” Tails turned his face down to Sonic, picking off fluff and dirt stuck in his glove. “Yeah, me and Amy had gone after Zomom, while everyone else went after different Zeti.” “Oh yeah! I kinda forgot since I was getting tired. Although I think I only got Cream’s side of the story when she jumped in to help Gemerl with Zeena.”

Still keeping his eyes shut, he turned his head back to the sky, repositioning his head as his quills settled behind his head in an odd way, sticking out in funny angles and poking at his head. “That's an idea. Why don’t you tell me about Zomom? See how you and Amy fought him compared to me?”

Tails stared down at him in a funny way. Sonic did not notice though as he still had his eyes closed to the sky. “Well he had an Emerald and we were not too experienced with fighting him…” “You came back to us, can’t have been that much of a hassle. I mean, it’s Zomom of all people.” “Ok, but still, remember when you fought him he had no Emerald!” Chuckling, Sonic nodded, agreeing.

Wind was whirring by, ears buzzing as he and Amy fell out of the warp portal. His skin was prickling and his fur was standing on end. Getting back to his senses, he reactively grabbed Amy by the arm with both hands, just before they fell onto the ground. “Woah! That was pretty close!” Amy quietly said, looking down to the ground. Smashed glass bottles were scattered everywhere, light glinting off them. Tables were turned or snapped, objects broken on the ground nearby.

“What happened here?” Tails, darting his eyes around until he found a spot on the ground that had no broken glass, flew over slowly, his tails chopping in the wind. “Looks like either the Zombots tore this place apart, or Zomom.”

Landing on the concrete path they both looked around for any signs of Zombots. Something clattered and smashed behind Amy, as she turned around, gripping her hammer tightly, ready to hit the incoming attacker. “Amy wait! I just knocked something over when I landed on the ground with my tails.” He whispered, hand on her shoulder as she dropped her arms downwards. “Tails! You gave me a fright!” Grinning sheepishly, he put a hand behind his head, scratching it. “Sorry…”

Amy sighed as her hammer disappeared from her hands, looking around. “So, where is he?” “Well…” Tails’ ear swiveled around to his right, picking up something. Watching closely, he saw a small group of Zombots inside a crumbled building walking in a line, carrying small plates of food. He pointed to them, catching Amy’s attention. “Judging from the fact that he likes to eat, we follow that.” He whispered at her, as the two stepped around broken glass, heading towards the door of the building they were in.

Tails led the way, ducking under toppled tables and chunks of stone that had fallen from some kind of structure. Using his soft tails like a duster, he briskly shoved aside glass or objects that they could stand on and cause a bit of noise. Only soft scratching of the glass could be heard, scraping against other glass shards or the rough stone underneath them. Amy was pinning her dress down, worried of it snagging onto something and getting caught or dragging it down and making a loud sound.

“Ok, gotta be even more careful here.” He whispered almost under his breath, with Amy only just hearing him. Grabbing the door knob he froze, feeling the inward metal patterns on the fancy handle through his thick glove. He shook his head lightly as he gestured with his hand for Amy to follow.

Walking along the wall, he found a broken window that reached the floor to the ceiling. Pressing their shoes firmly against the ground, leather squeaking with the slow pressure, they both darted towards a vending machine, hiding behind the side of it as they saw the Zombots leaving through another broken door, hanging by a single hinge. Tails had his hand out, stretched in front of Amy as he waited a few more seconds before giving a thumbs up as the two cautiously jogged down the hallway, reaching the door frame and looking outside.

There was Zomom, in the far end of the room, eating non-stop as the group of Zombots they followed dropped their plates down in front of Zomom, leaving almost instantly in their sluggish walk. Confused on what to do, Amy shrugged, holding her palms up to the ceiling. Tails shrugged too, not having a plan as they could not just sneak up on him in the open. They both turned their heads towards Zomom again, watching as they tried to come up with a plan.

Tails sighed, looking at Amy. She gave him a confused look before Tails stepped forwards, brushing debris away with the side of his shoe. “Um…” Tails cleared his throat, as Amy gave tails a concerned look. “Hey Zomom. Long time no see…” His voice was all over the show, shaking in fright of not having a better idea.

He turned his head at a freakish angle, facing the two as Tails bumped his shoulder into Amy, trying to get her to play along. They both took one step forward, sweat trickling down their heads. Zomom, with his mouth full, spoke to them with his thick voice. “Huh? Oh. You’re Sonic’s friend with the weird tail.” He had his gaze on Tails’ shifting namesakes, as he folded them behind his back, keeping them stiff. Uncertain, Tails wiped his head with the side of his glove, trying to put on a fake smile. “Uh yeah, sure. Listen, Zavok sent us to find you.”

In the middle of chewing he spat out; “He did?” Amy looked to Tails, more sweat dripping down the sides of their heads. She too put on a nervous fake smile as she spoke up. “That's right! He needs the Chaos Emerald back. If you give it to us, we’ll take it to him for you.” Her voice was shaking, and Tails could even hear her heart starting to race. He added on to Amy’s sentence. “You won’t even need to stop eating!”

Clutching his fists, Zomom yelled out, angry. “No way! I’ve got Zombots bringing me food from all over!” Standing up, towering over Amy and Tails, spitting out food from his mouth as he yelled. “You two already interrupted my post-lunch pre-dinner snack! So now, I’m gonna squash you!” Tails and Amy backed up, as Tails bumped into an upright bottle on a bench, falling to the ground and smashing, getting the attention of nearby Zombots.

“Run!” Tails and Amy both jumped over the bench, and through the hallway they came through as Zomom jumped after them, swinging his arms around like crazy. Almost out the window that they came through, Zomom landed, caving in the ground he was on and thundering the area, sending the two running away to the ground. Tails banged his head against one of the toppled tables, as a throbbing sensation grew at his temples.

“C’mon Tails, we gotta get out of here!” Grabbing Tails by the shoulder, she lifted him up as she ran, avoiding the further collapsing building as Zomom’s arms hit the walls around, caving in the roof. As he and Amy made it out, Zomom jumped through the hole above, soaring through the air as he chased after the duo.

“How is someone that big that fast?” Amy yelled out as the jumped over obstacles blocking their path on the road. Zomom landed with a thud on the ground once again, toppling Amy and Tails, sending astray items flying. Tails, getting up on his own, hand pushing against his knee, turned to Amy. “Just keep running! Amy grabbed her hammer, swinging around to face Zomom. “No! We came here to get that Chaos Emerald and end this nightmare!” As she ran up to the Zeti, her footsteps heavy as she carried her weapon over her shoulder, Tails flew up. “Wait! Amy, no!” He pinned his ears back, hand outstretched as he tried to get her to stop.

Swinging her hammer, scraping against the tiles on the floor, upturning them as they flew alongside her hit, she got Zomom right in the face, digging into his skin. Holding her hammer in place, looking to Tails as he landed besides her, she gave a confused glance. “I… I can’t believe that worked!”

Raising his head upwards, Zomom had his mouth wrapped around her weapon, teeth scraping against the sturdy material. “Hrmm… Weird flavor…” Tails was starting with his mouth hanging open, not having anything to say, as Amy went pale with disgust and anger. Digging her heels into the tiles on the ground, she pulled really hard on the handle, trying to get it out of his mouth. “Stop that you gross weirdo!” Tails sighed, as he jumped into the air, spinning his tails hard at the back of Zavok’s head. Yelling at the sudden hit, Amy fell backwards, the force of her pulling it out slingshot her onto the pavement, scattering the tiles she hit before.

“Ow! I’m gonna chew you extra hard before swallowing!” Spit flew out of his mouth as he spoke. Amy looked up, her ears tilted back. “Hes… He’s being metaphorical, right?” Tails just smiled, eyes closed, folding his arms. “Why bother with us when you can have my lunch?” Zomom froze as Tails flew up, closer to his head. “I dropped it while you were chasing us. Which is too bad, because it looked really yummy!” Getting up he thundered down the path that he came from, ground shaking with each step. “Ooh! Where?! Where?! I’m starving!”

Tails, looking shocked, as blood rushed to his head,he landed besides Amy; “That was.. A lot easier than I thought it would work out!” Amy was holding her hammer briskly in front of her, watching in disgust as a thick coating of saliva dripped off it and onto the ground. She lowered the head of it to the ground, keeping it away from her. “Tails, what are we going to do? Zomom is too strong for us to take down, and too stupid to outwit!” Cupping his mouth, Tails looked around for where he had run off too. “I don’t know. Sonic made this look way easier before.”

Tails darted an eye behind him, thinking he heard something. “He seems easily distracted. What if one of us baited him while the other grabs the Emerald?” Tails scratched his head, focusing on the scene around him. “It’s risky, but it's worth a shot!” A loud scream shook the ground as Amy whipped her head around, still keeping her hammer a spaced distance from her. Tails’ pupils shrunk, heart racing and blood rushing around, making him go warm.

Watching Zomom smash everything around him in a fit of rage, buildings clattering and rumbling as he hit the walls and pillars, everything crumbling down besides him. “There's nothing here!” Ripping a door right out of its frame, he threw it at Tails, rolling out of the way as it split in two, skyrocketing through the air. “You lied to me!”

Tails and Amy backed up, watching Zomom. “Now you made me hungry and angry. I’m hangry! You wouldn’t like me when I’m hangry!” As he says that, a group of Zombots begin to emerge from the sides of buildings, groaning. “Ah! Time to get to higher ground!” Tails grabbed Amy swiftly, as he lifted her up by the arms. “I don’t think that's going to work!” Amy called out, as Tails glanced down. All the Zombots were climbing the walls of the building Tails was trying to land on. “Grr. Hang on!” Tails flew even higher up, soaring through the sky as he tried to get away.

Holding Amy up was straining his arms, as he started to tire, falling slowly. “I’m gonna have to land!” Before he could, his arms gave out, blood flowing through them fast. Pins and needles were stabbing at his forearm as he watched Amy fall. “Gah!” His namesakes chopping through the air came to a slow halt as he too started to fall downwards.

Amy used her hammer to wedge the head between a chimney and the side of the roof, dangling off the handle. She looked up to see Tails falling slowly. “Hang on, I got you!” Moving her hammer out of the gap, she jumped up, catching Tails in both of her arms as she landed on her feet, a small thud as the leather soles on her shoes absorbed the impact.

“Thanks.” Tails slid out of Amy’s arms, hovering above the ground before landing back down, wind pushed outwards. Tails looked behind Amy’s shoulder, seeing shiny green glint behind her. “Look out!” Without even looking back to see what it was, she swung her hammer around her torso, getting the Zombot right in the chest as the substance formed a giant hole where she hit it. “We gotta keep moving!” Amy nodded as the two started to navigate the buildings, watching as a wave of Zombots followed behind.

Launching her hammer onto the ground, as she propelled herself upwards onto the tiles of a red roof, she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Nearly out of breath, she saw Tails fly in besides her, staring at her sudden stop. “We can’t keep this up!” Hearing a Zombot grab a tile, as it slid down and clattered on the ground, she ran forwards, alongside with Tails. “I’m thinking! I’m thinking!”

Zomom, watching from the ground, clenched his fists. “Argh! You two are so annoying!” Jumping up into the ground, he lowered his fists into the pavement, shaking the whole town. Tables, tiles, and stones all flew upwards, alongside the Zombots, Amy, and Tails.

Amy was tripping over, about to fall off the roof she was on. “Tails!” As the ground continued to shake, Tails flew in and grabbed Amy under her arms, straining to lift her up. Flying above the commotion, he dropped Amy on some stable ground, collapsing besides her. She looked down at him. “Are you ok?” Tails got up, dusting off the glass that had launched into his tails. “Yeah, just worn out.” “But we got to kep moving!” “No, we need to stay right here!” His voice quivered, as he stood up.

He looked down to the ground, as the dust settled. They were standing atop of the portcullis, the walls connecting to it cracked and damaged. Hearing Zomon run up to them, Tails signaled for Amy to stand at the left wheel, while Tails stood at the right wheel. Holding his arm out, he watched Zomom get closer. “Hold it… Wait for it…”

Zomom, almost underneath them, ground shaking each step. Tails’ namesakes twitched. “Now!” Curling up and smashing into the wheel, chains clattering against the wall as they broke apart. Amy hit her hammer right into the wheel, spinning wildly. With both doing it at the same time, the gate closed at a rapid speed, almost hitting the ground in a mere second.

Zomom cried out as he got winded, the gate closed with him underneath it, metal bars jammed into the ground. Tails grabbed Amy as he flew down, almost feeling pity for the Zeti crushed in such a way. Almost. He was dazzled, groaning as he lay there, not even trying to get back up. “How do you like that? Overpowered.” Tails patted the blue Emerald, adding onto what Amy said,, “and outsmarted!”

Tails yanked out the Emerald, scratching against the metal that had it held in place. Tails and Amy ran off, heading back into the portal. “Hey! Get back here! Without that I can’t control the-!” Zomom cried out, only to be interrupted by the Zombots groans as they circled him.

Tails and Amy jumped into the Warp Portal, feeling their senses become distorted as their vision blanks out, only to be met with the sight of emerald green grass, falling down. Tails landed on his soft namesakes, cushioning his fall.

“Ha! He stood no chance against my lil bro!” Sonic had his arm around Tails, beaming as he listened into Tails’ story. “Well Amy was there too…” He sheepishly grinned, looking away as he had a hand to the back of his head. “But you also did it! Neither of you could pull it off solo!” Looking up to Sonic, Tails smiled, nodding.

“Wait what is the score so far?” “Uhh… I’m in the lead with 3, and you have… 2?” Sonic jumps up to his feet, darting his head back and forth, scanning the sky cartoonishly. “Welp, gonna have to change that-” Tails shook his head. “I don’t think rapidly looking around is going to help push you in the lead…”

Sonic crossed his arms, pressing them close to his body, feeling the warmth from his breath brush up against his chest. “Well I don’t see you pointing out any more soo… I’ll go ahead and say this is a good method!” Sonic had his hand over his head, scouting the sky. “Well I’d like to see that happen…” Sonic pouted, in a mocking tone; “I’d like to see you get one over me!” Tails’’ namesake whacked Sonic’s leg.

Most of the shapes that the duo pointed out had scattered into the distance, no longer visible. At this point, the sky was clear of any clouds, none above, around, or below them. Glaring down was the moon, acting like a beacon. Tails, by this point, had slumped forwards, in a light sleep. It had only been 10 minutes, but as it was late into the night, it became very hard to stay awake.

Something stood tall over Tails, wrapping him in darkness. “I found one!” Sonic burst forwards, over Tails, as he jolted upright. Tails froze for a second, before turning his head around to see Sonic. “C’mon, was that really necessary?” “Haha sure was, since now I have 3 points!” Tails cocked his head. “Oh really?” Sonic pointed up over the horizon.”I present to you, the Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme!”

Tails sat there, looking up at where Sonic was pointing, confused. “What Cream Sundae?” “Right up there! See?” Tails lowered his eyelids. “Yeah, I see the ice cream, but what did you say?” Sonic froze, looking down at Tails, eyes open, before laughing into the night. “Oh yeah! You weren't there! Me and Chip met someone who was making some sundaes! Chip really liked them. Heh, actually that's why I nicknamed him that while he had his lost memory.”

Tails lit up. “Oh Chip! I miss him…” Sonic jumped down, crossing his legs as he looked up to the sky. “Yeah, me too. A real big shame too that we know for a fact we can’t see him again, since he won’t be here for a good few hundred years, but that’s why our time interacting with him was even more special.”

“I guess that is true. But like, what kind of sundae is called that?” Sonic hummed a confused sound, shrugging gently. I guess explaining it all in the title? Either way, I just called it a supreme sundae, since that name is far too long for me to bother ‘round with.” “I mean it would be a pain to write out, but saying it is not exactly a problem…” “Says the one who writes in advanced code hourly!” Sonic quipped in.

“Yet here you are, unable to.” Tails remarked to himself, holding up three fingers to his forehead. Sonic stared back at him, holding his breath in as he thought of a reply. Letting his breath go, releasing the small strain on his chest as he took another breath in, his throat dry from the cold air. “Ehh, sure. I mean, after all, I’ve never done anything at all that is so much cooler than being able to read a buncha 0’s and 1’s. Yet let’s both agree on that.”

Tails had pressed his knees close into his chest, wrapping his arms around them, his namesake’s folded in against his sides. Most of the cold air was not affecting him much to any degree, the only shivers he would get were down his spine, as it was more exposed to the sharp air. Sonic managed to somehow sit there with his legs dangling down the side of the platform, rubbing up against the dirt on the sides of the platform, rough small clusters of dirt, sticking to the back of his legs.

“How’re you not cold at all?” Tails looked directly at Sonic, a cloud of fog escaping his mouth. “Well when you think as much as I do, that's enough willpower to fight off against any kinda weather.” Tails frowned. “With actual facts.” Tails unfolded his left tail to gently whack Sonic’s arm. “Well then I dunno, I just don’t notice it I guess?” Tails shrugged, but before he was able to turn his head back to the sea, Sonic added on, “I even remember Chip asking me that haha!”

Tails pressed himself even more closer, as the night air dropped in temperature. “Was that when you were in Holoska?” “Indeed it was! I explicitly remember Chip’s wings freezing up badly whenever he followed behind me, so sometimes I carried him over to where we were heading off.” “Really?” “Yeah! We were looking for a Moon Medallion to open up the gates to get to the next temple, but it was taking a while to get through since the ice was making it hard to run.”

Sonic and Chip were making an advancement through the white blurs of snowfalls whizzing by as they ran, no sounds other than the piercing wind and Sonic’s footfalls. Running down the path through the thick snow, Sonic only left faint footprints behind, running at such high speeds that he left near no weight for each step as he burst forwards.

Chip’s little wings were slicing through the snow, beating fast as he tried to keep up with Sonic. Although he was not going full speed, the snow and frost was making it difficult for Chip to manage flight at all. Constantly wavering alongside, he came to a sudden slow, lowering to the ground. Sonic felt a change in winds, as he dug his heels into the snow, sinking down slightly as his weight settled atop of the fluffy powder.

Turning his head around, he looked for his companion, only to see Chip submerged in the thick snow, facedown. “Hey, you alright there Chip?” Sonic crouched down on one knee, resting his palm atop of his leg. Sticking his hand out of the snow, as it crumbled down to the sides, Chip held a thumbs up. Freeing his other hand from the snow, he attempted to drag the rest of his body out from the snow.

Sonic sighed, as he went ahead and lifted Chip out of the ground, some snow falling down his palms. “There you go.” Sonic dusted off some of the remaining fluffy powder from his friend's back, using the side of his other hand. “All good?”

Chip cartoonishly shook himself off, standing back up, as some astray snow went flying. Sonic lowered his eyelids, flinching away as some snow flew right at his eyes. “Much better!” Sonic let out a soft laugh, as some snow fell down his head. “Alright then, lets get goin’!”

Just as Sonic went to turn around and continue with their path, Chip grabbed Sonic’s glove tightly. “Sonic wait!” Sonic paused himself, whipping his head around. “Yeah?” Chip, expecting Sonic to not have heard him in time before running off, loosened his grip on his glove. “I don’t think I can fly any further, it’s too cold.”

“Huh, well hold on!” Chip looked up at Sonic, confused. “What do you mean by that-” Just as he said that, Sonic held Chip firmly in both hands, as he blasted off, snow getting kicked up as he ran forth, leaving behind a big pile of snow where he stood.

“Woohooo!” Sonic began to slide down the slope of the mountain, big chunks of snow falling down with him. Echoing through the terrain were the loud booms and rolling of snow, kicking up trees, snapping and bending to the force of the avalanche. Digging his heels into the snow, as he maneuvered around large stones and trees, he went further and further down the hillside. Behind him were feint marks that were left behind his shoes.

Sonic had Chip held secure in his hands, pressed up against his chest. Chip was holding onto Sonic’s arms as hard as he could, frozen in fear. “Wooo! Isn’t this fun Chip?” Sonic called out, over the commotion following behind him. Chip dared to turn his head around, feeling the wind whipping past him as Sonic advanced further down. “I dunno Sonic, what if we get hit by the avalanche?” Chip’s voice quivered, getting cut short with the velocity that Sonic was going down at.

“Huh? I can’t hear you over all the noise behind me!” Sonic shouted out, looking downwards at Chip, keeping his head forwards. “Try speaking up a bit!” Chip turned his head to face Sonic, then down to the ground. “Uhh, nevermind!” He called out, the pitch of his voice unstable. Chip sunk down further into his hands as he heard something loud crash down near where they were sliding down.

Looking back, Chip saw the snow and ice catching up to the duo, nearly at Sonic’s heels. “Uh, Sonic-” Before Chip could warn the hedgehog however, an upturned log soared through the air, landing a few feet ahead of them. “That's no good. Hang on!” Sonic called out, as he fell down to his side, skidding across the snow, as he held Chip up from the ground. Positioning himself, he quickly slid right through the hollowed out segment of the log.

Chip, as he had his eyes firmly shut, opened them up to see that he was fine. “Oh, that wasn’t so bad-” Wind whistling, the avalanche catched up, mere inches away from the two. Branches from toppled trees flung outwards, as a big boulder went soaring right at the two. Crashing into the snow, Sonic had lost his grip on Chip, flying through the air, along with Sonic. Chip was quick to use his wings to the best of his ability, managing to avoid a big fall.

Trying to keep up with the head of the falling snow, he darted his eyes around to find the blue blur. “Sonic! Sonic, where are you?!” His voice echoed through the mountains, until he spotted his friend tumbling out of control amongst the avalanche. Flying as fast as he could, he approached Sonic, hovering nearby. “Sonic, you gotta find something to hold onto!” Still rolling, he yelled out; “I don’t think that’ll be of much hel-'' Shaking his head, Chip spoke over him. “No, the mountain is coming to an end! You’re about to fall!” Although dizzy, Sonic tried to look ahead of him, focusing despite spinning about the snow.

Attempting to slow his descent, he dug his heels back into the snow, finding an open window once his body stopped ragdolling around. Seeing the debris kicked up, he grabbed onto the branch of a pine tree, the strong, fresh smell of it’s leaves and bark filling his senses along with the violent spinning. Climbing on, he ran up the base of the trunk, jumping up and landing on another falling tree, repeating the steps until he saw up ahead some stable ground.

Rolling up into a ball, he propelled himself forwards, only just landing on the safe platform. Falling on his back, Chip landed beside him. “Sonic, are you alright?” Looking at the hedgehogs face, he had his eyelids lowered. “Uhh yeahh, just very dizzy…” Chip looked down to see the remains of the avalanche fall down the slope of the mountain. Sonic shook himself off, as he got back up, wobbling a little. “Ok, let's get back.”

Chip flew up to his face. “But what about the moon medal we need?” Sonic messed around with his quills, pulling out the said medal. “Saw it falling down along with the snow and grabbed onto it. Don’t know how it ended up there though… But anyways, we got it!” Sonic held it up triumphantly. Chip just looked at him awestruck, seeing the mess of his quills, with snow and sticks stuck into his spines. “Alright.”

Sonic looked at Chip. “You all good though, I feel that was a little much when it caught up…” Chip shook his head frantically. “No! That was really fun! Well not at first, but nonetheless exciting!” Sonic let out a breath of relief. “Oh, that's good to hear… Want to do it again?” “Yeah!”

Sonic squinted at Chip, scratching his head, with some of the remaining snow rubbing off onto his gloves. “Since when did you have eight wings?” Chip froze for a moment, holding his breath. “We should probably sit down for a moment before heading back…” Sonic looked at his hands confused, nodding his head, as he sprung himself down. “Yeah, that would be a better idea…”

“...I mean, we got the moon medal in the end! Just cost my ability to see an object as just one object haha!” Tails was just looking at Sonic oddly. “Even when covered in a heft of snow and ice, you were not cold, but you ended up dizzy?” “I mean I was spinning about for a good while until I did some totally cool platforming to safety!” Tails rolled his eyes. “Another great mystery yet to be solved…”

“Eh, but anyways now I’m tied with you, so the actual mystery to be solved here is who is going to get the next point and end the tie!” Sonic held his arms up in a dramatic fashion, determined to win the game that Tails forgot they were playing each and every time Sonic rambled on about an adventure. “Oh yeah! Lucky you were keeping count, I nearly forgot about it…”

Tails put both of his arms above his head, stretching upwards as he let out a yawn. Sonic smirked, cocky. “I thought you were all in it for numbers?” Shutting his eyes, Tails turned his head the other way. “Only the important numbers…” “Now that is harsh.”

In the distance some birds were chirping, the sounds faint, echoing through the high mountains. Above the line of the sea, some orange was glistening, stars fading away. Tails was sleeping on his back, in a deep slumber, curled up. Sonic was snoring, leaning forwards , back arched and arms dangling down. As the warm sun rose from the sea, light hitting the two, Sonic and Tails’ communicator went off.

Sonic jolted upwards, startled as Tails calmy got up. Sonic, regaining his balance, throwing his arms up into the air. Avoiding his fall into the water, he crawled back, keeping his shoes on the ground. “Oh man, we fell asleep!” Tails rubbed his eyes as Sonic continued on. “That;s a shame, I didn’t get to break the tie… Oh well.” Moving his glove back, Sonic fiddled with his communicator.

“Hey Tails, looks like Egghead is already back!” Tails let out an annoyed moan. “Well we should’ve seen that coming…” Sonic shrugged it off. “Well I guess that leaves our little game for later to break the tie.” Jumping back up, Sonic waved his hand at Tails for him to follow. “We can have round two tonight, but not all the way until morning.” Tails replied, standing besides Sonic. “Well let's get going!”

Jumping down, wind whipping through Sonic’s quills, Tails followed suit. Whipping his Tails in the air, he caught the hedgehog, as the two took off, speeding away, orange light hitting their backs. As the last of the stars died out, two vague shapes simmered. A hedgehog and a fox, playing together, standing out from all the little stars scattered near the ocean.

[slowlydifferentbluebird]

Christmas promise

IU X GN!Reader

Genre: Fluff

Note: this was for the user who gave me full freedom on IU. Sorry, I accidentally deleted the request, but at least I hope to making up writing a Christmas fic for her😅

You looked at the calendar, sighing. It is the 23rd of December, two days to Christmas, but for some reasons you were not enjoying the usual atmosphere: the entire house was decorated, the big Christmas tree in the living room was shining, even the red pullover you were wearing didn't seem to match with your mood.

"Did you stop to like Christmas so suddendly?", a female voice asked, entering in the room. You didn't even need to turn your head to know that it was just Jieun teasing you as usual. "You know I never liked it in the first place", you said, keeping to watch the calendar. The steps kept coming till reaching you. "Liar", she argued, pinching your cheek.

She sat on your lap and studied your face. "Do you want to tell me what is ruining your mood? Or do I have to go for the street punching whoever looks like the Grinch?", she asked, making you laugh. She was so dork sometimes and it was part of her charms. You met her eyes again and you understood that she would have not let that topic unsolved.

"It's just that...I don't want this year to end", you explained, sighing again, your face getting even more sad. The position of her eyebrows showed that she was confused by your words. "But, baby, why? I mean, sure it was a good year but-", she reasoned out loud, getting interrupted by you in the middle. "It was not just a good year, it was great, it was fantastic", you corrected her, a lot of emphasis in your voice.

"And do you know why? That's because you worked less than all the previous years, we haven't spent so much time together not even in the first months of our relationship", you said, leaving Jieun surprised by your words. It had been a year dedicated to rest for her, so she kinda got where your words were coming from. A series of memories hit her in that moment...

That time when you brought her to the zoo, after talking about it so many times. It was so fun and adorable to watch her falling in love with the panda. Or that other time when she surprised you with a romantic dinner on candlelight, you still ask yourself if such an amazing night was real or just made in your fantasies? Or simply when you two had the most chill walk in a rural area near Seoul, for a day she kinda forgot about being a celebrity.

"Do you know what I mean, right?", you asked with a sad smile. She hugged you tightly in response, her arms around your neck, her head resting on your shoulder, a slow nod of her head giving you the answer. It was actually rare for you to see Jieun being so soft. Like, obviously being a couple you two cuddle a lot, but this time she was clearly vulnerable.

"Do you know that I love you, right? More than everything in this universe?", she asks you, speaking directly in your ear with a serious voice, and now is your time to simply nod. "Then trust me, because I promise you right now that it doesn't matter how busy I will be next year: I will always find time for you", she said, looking at you, while cupping your cheeks with her hands.

You knew since the start that this year was an exception, and obviously you were grateful about it, but you won't break up with her even if could see her just once in a month. So, seeing how serious she was in her promise, in making you understand you were important for her, you couldn't help but smile.

"I trust you, baby. I believe you with all my heart", you reassure her, posing your forehead against her, enjoying the contact between your skin. That gave goosebumps to your gf, that pulled your face closer to capture your lips in a kiss. It was long yet kiss. You could feel like your relationship made a big jump ahead in that moment.

"Thanks for trusting me, I love you", she softly whispered. "I love you too, Jieun. Let's enjoy this Christmas together", you said, caressing her face, making her melt in your hand. "Do you wanna still going to punch the Grinch on the street tho?", you asked out of nowhere, making her laugh. "Sure, let me get the baseball bat to smash his green ass".

~~~

And... done! This has to be my first Christmas fic and honestly I enjoyed that a lot. I hope you all have a merry Christmas ❤️🫂🥳

Zazá

[taeraeszn]

im v hao deprived☹️ sooo i was wondering if you would be able to write a zhang hao fluffy fic😭? i was thinking smthin like idolxidolreader or idolxtraineereader stuff like that but it could rlly be ab anything you want js yk fluff:)) tysm!!

enchanted to meet you - zhang hao

characters: idol!zhang hao x gn!idolreader

description: after you two meet during an interview at a music show, you couldn't help but notice the boy standing in the centre of his group.

genre: fluff

word count: 954

warnings: may include some spelling/grammar errors but i don't think there is any but pls lmk if there is!!!!

a/n: hi anon! i decided to use what you suggested, hopefully your okay with that and how i wrote the story :) and honestly just writing this i'm getting more and more excited for their actual debut hehe <3

also i had so much fun writing this especially the interview part lol. this is the first time i've ever finished writing someone in one sitting!! i was so into this <3

being an idol was something you always wanted to become after seeing celebrities on tv sing and dance. you were luckily to be accepted as a trainee in a company and trained for a good 2 years before officially making your debut as the lead vocalist. you were very loved by your fans for being both talented and having a warm personality.

right after you debuted, your first music show appearance would be on music bank. your group was one of two groups chosen to be interviewed by the mc's eunchae and chaemin. needless to say that you were thrilled.

when your group members were all done getting ready with their styling, you were then escorted to the room where your interview was going to be held. that is where you met zerobaseone, the group who was joining you for that particular interview.

one of the boys signalled for the other members to be prepared to introduce themselves. "1, 2...d1, be the one! hello, we are zerobaseone!" they all exclaimed then bowed afterwards.

your group followed by your own introduction and the moment you looked up from bowing, you made eye contact with the guy standing in the centre. you had no idea what his name was or who he even was but you felt your heart start beating.

"we recently debuted with the album youth in the shade, we hope you have lots of interest in it!" the boy in the centre said. you nodded and thanked them as they handed their album to you that was signed.

your manager took the album aside and you did the same exchange with them by handing them your debut album. that's when you were called for the interview and you all stood there, excited but nervous at being able to promote your group on tv.

as they counted down from ten, the interview began and eunchae began speaking. "chaemin! did you hear? there's two new groups in town who are making a big splash in the hot month of july!"

chaemin then nodded, "of course! their hot debut is definitely a hit, let's meet them! welcome, zerobaseone and (group name)!"

once again your group introduced themselves to the viewers and zerobaseone did the same. the cheers you both received were such a indescribable feeling, seeing all the fans with banners and lightsticks really made it seem like your dream came true.

afterwards the interview went excellent! your leader took over most of the talking and you all made a great impression. but even throughout the interview, you couldn't stop thinking of the boy standing in the centre. he shined so bright even with his other eight members surrounding him.

your group headed back to your waiting room and you were the last member trailing behind everyone. but just as you were about to head in, you felt a presence linger behind you.

"um, excuse me?" you turned to see that boy you noticed from earlier behind you. his face looked so...perfect. like everything was sculpted to perfection. his downwards smile when you noticed him made your cheeks heat up. keep your calm (name)!

"oh! hello!" you bowed. he did the same and did the honours of introducing himself first, "my name is zhang hao! i'm the centre of zerobaseone. i just wanted to say that i really liked your debut song." oh so that's what his name was, zhang hao. it sounds pretty just like him.

"oh wow, thank you! my name is (name). i watched your debut as well and i was very impressed!"

he then shyly looked to his other member standing behind him before turning back to you, "is it okay if we can shoot a tiktok video together?" was this really happening?! the cute centre boy of his group asked you to film a tiktok with him?! you couldn't say no and followed him to the iconic pair of staircases that nearly every idol danced in front of for collabs at music bank.

"are you ready?" he smiled, his other member from before was filming it for him and before you knew it, the music began. you became fully immersed into the song as if it was your own debut and put your effort into making your cover good.

when the music finished, you once again bowed to him but it wasn't until that you were about to return to your waiting room that zhang hao stopped you once again.

"yes?" you asked. he seemed flustered but took his phone out and opened the contact app, "um, i want to get to know you better and get close. can we exchange numbers?"

his other member began chuckling to himself as zhang hao sent him a glare but retained his focus to you, once again showing his downward smile.

at first you were worried about the stacked july comeback lineup but now you were so thankful that you got to debut in the same month as him.

"of course! here, i'll put my name and number." he handed you his phone and you did exactly that.

"your name is (name)?" he said while staring at the contact, you nodded, "that's me!"

"thank you! i hope we can keep in touch!" he said while waving goodbye and heading back to his waiting room with his member who was filming the tiktok.

"me too! have a good day!" you responded. you went the opposite way and just then you heard his other member say something to him.

"hyung has a crush~" they said, zhang hao playfully nudged their shoulder.

"stop it!" you couldn't help but giggle. now you just had to wait for him to message you first, hopefully this encounter turns into more.

[sungminxxx]

★ Never Tickle a Painter ★

masterlist!

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

Summary: Hyunjin had spent a good amount of time doing a portrait of a flower vase. He had been busy for hours, but Jisung was getting bored and needed something to do. Jisung decides to annoy Hyunjin by trying to tickle him, making Hyunjin mess up his painting. Yes, this was an easy fix for an artist such as himself, but he needed to teach Jisung a lesson about not messing with him while he’s painting. 

Positions: lee!jisung & ler!hyunjin

Warnings: Tickle fic

Requested by: anon request

A/N: You guys already know how much I adore lee jisung. Thank you to whoever sent me this request, I had a lot of fun making this. I really hope you all enjoy this. Once again, please stay tuned for more! I am doing my best to work on fics daily! Thanks so much - bribri <3

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It was a long, boring day at the dorm. Most of the boys had gone out to eat. All besides Jisung and Hyunjin. Unlike the others, the two had already eaten together about an hour before the other members had left. Now that the boys have been gone for a while, Jisung was getting tired of being on his phone. He wanted to interact with someone. Unfortunately for Hyunjin, he was the only one home with him. His fate was set once Jisung got up and walked to the living room, then out the patio door, where Hyunjin sat on a chair in front of a canvas. In front of the canvas lay a beautiful purple vase with pearly white roses shining in the sun on the wooden table. Hyunjin spent all morning painting on this vase, though he took a break to eat with Jisung. The bored quokka watched his member paint for what seemed like a while. He was in awe. How did Hyunjin paint so beautifully? 

After a while of watching, unnoticed by Hyunjin, Han walked up behind him. “Hi Jinnie hyung!!” he said with full happiness in his voice. The sudden voice behind him made the artist jump. “Ah-! Hi…. you scared me.” he said. His voice shaked slightly as he turned to the younger one, who was smiling behind him. “Did you need something, Hannie?” he asked. He watched the younger boy move next to him, sitting down. “No, I actually just wanted to hang out with you!” said the black haired boy. This made the artist sigh. “Well, Jisung I am kind of busy as of now. How about we hangout later?” Hyunjin asked, going back to painting in the vase on his canvas. Han sat there for a moment. “No! I want to hang out now! I’m bored, hyung.” he said, poking his hyung’s sides twice, making the poor boy flinch. “aAHahAHAh JISUNG-” the long haired boy laughed. Jisung stopped. He immediately felt bad. Hyunjin sat for a moment, giggling to himself before looking at the painting. He pouted. “Han Jisung!! Look what you’ve done now. You messed up my painting.” The flinch was so powerful that it had created a line through the center of the base. Now of course, this was an easy fix for Hyunjin, but he was still upset. Jisung continued to feel bad. “Hyung I’m sorry- I just wanted to hangout…” 

Hyunjin sighed and looked at his painting, then back at the younger one. Now of course, he knew Jisung was sorry.. However, he thought for a moment. He needed to teach him a lesson, but how? He continued to think, staying silent for these moments, which made Jisung feel even worse. “Hyung?” said the now worried boy. Jisung’s voice echoed in Hyunjin’s mind. Then, it hit him. He came back to earth, as some would say. He looked at Jisung straight into his eyes. “Run” he says. The minute these words bounce off of his lips, Jisung runs out into their backyard and hides behind a tree. Of course it is not the bestest hiding spot. In fact, he asks himself why he did not just run into the house and book it down the hallway into one of the many open rooms. His heart races, wondering what Hyunjin is gonna do. As he is lost in his thoughts, Hyunjin smirks to himself and ever so peacefully walks toward the tree Jisung had hid behind. The ‘hidden’ boy looks to the left side of the tree, checking for Hyunjin. He doesn’t see him, so he looks back and takes a breath, then looks to his right. There he was. Hyunjin stood quite literally right next to the man, with a cheeky smile on his face. With the sudden jumpscare, Jisung fell to the ground. “AH- Hyung- Hyung HI-” he screamed out as he fell. His mind began racing once more, but any move to get away was too late. The blonde boy had jumped onto Jisung and began attacking his sides. He alternates between his sides, hips, and his neck. This makes Jisung laugh hysterically. “HYAAHAHAHAHAHAHA HYUHUNG NO!!!” he yells out. Han kicks his legs rather quickly and tries to roll away. Laying on the grass, didn’t exactly help him out. The grass had been tickling the back of his neck the moment he had landed on it. “hEHAHAHEHE HYUNG PLEHEHEHEASE! Im saahAhahahahARRY!!” he continued. Poor Hannie, he felt so helplessly ticklish, little did he know, it was about to get much much worse. Hyunjin continued alternating spots, occasionally blowing tiny raspberries on Jisung’s well exposed neck. “Awww what's wrong Jisung?~” the blonde teased. Jisung had already been desperately trying to get away. This was not unnoticed by Hyunjin. “Why are you trying to get away? I thought you WANTED to hangout, Hannie?~” he continued to tease. The teases made Han blush. “StAHOP TEHEHEASING!!” the ticklish quokka giggled out. Again, Hyunjin smiled. “Now why would I do that? You ruined my painting, remember? You deserve this!” he stated. The long haired blondie began kneading at Jisung’s hips with one hand, while circling the rim of his bellybutton with his other hand. The feeling on his bellybutton was already enough to make Jisung scream, since that was in fact his worst spot, but the added kneading to his hips only made the ticklish sensation ten times worse. Screaming, Jisung is now thrashing around to try and get away. “NAHAHAHA HYUHUNG PLEASE!!!” The poor helpless lee tries his hardest once again to escape. “Please what, Jisungie?” Hyunjin teased. “DoHOOHONT!!” Han yelled. 

“Don’t what?” the artist teased once again. “TiHICKLE MY BEHEHELLYBUHUTTON- WAIT NOHOHOHO!!” the poor ticklish quokka yelled. “Tickle your bellybutton? Well, sure Jisung, no problem!” At that, Hyunjin paid all attention to Jisung’s cute little bellybutton. Jisung blushed bright pink, and surprisingly, so did his tummy. Hyunjin just adored this. His younger one looked so adorable giggling and squealing underneath him. He only used his pinky in Jisung’s bellybutton and it drew him crazy. Goodness, he is just so adorable, he thought. “hEHAHHAHEHEHEHE HYUHUHUNG STOHOP PLEHEHEASE!!” Jisung yelled out. He began growing weak, being more and more unable to struggle trying to get away. This only made the ticklish feeling worse for him. After a while of trying to get away, he eventually gave up and accepted his ticklish fate. The long haired artist just smilied. “Stop? Now? But I don’t want to! I wanna hang out!” he teased. Using Jisung’s “wanting to hang out” excuse as to why he would not stop tickling the poor boy felt like such an attack. A very flustering one. “HYUHUNG IHIM SaAaAhAHAHARRY PLEHEASE!!” he begged. 

Hyunjin began to think for a while, still tickling Han. Eventually, he did stop. Jisung layed there giggling, rubbing off all the ghost tickles. It took him a minute to look at Hyunjin since he felt so embarrassed. “T-Thank you hyung…” he said softly. His hyung came closer and hugged him. “For what? Stopping or for tickling you in the first place?” he teased once again. Jisung blushed bright pink once again. He took a deep breath and mumbled, loud enough for Hyunjin to hear, “both..” How adorable, the artist thought. He smiled and walked with Jisung back to his canvas. “Hm.. how about I paint a portrait of you next? I’m almost done with the flower vase.” the older one said. Han flashed a smile and jumped. “Yeah yeah!” he said excitedly. 

As said, once the flower vase was done, Hyunjin painted Jisung. It took a while, but it came out perfectly in the end.

[actualbird]

what is your ranking of all the main event stories we have received so far? (as in sott, enduring light, skadi etc)

OHHHH THIS IS A FUN QUESTION, THANK YOU ANON!!! let me go from my highest to lowest.

for this question, im taking "main event stories" to mean the Big 4 SSR Events where the event story involves the entire team all at once (so no xmas events or sotn, or solo or duo events). and i will be judging these events primarily on their event story (so not as much as the gameplay, though thatll also be a factor. but i wont be judging the cards)

OH DANG WHY DID I EXPLAIN IT, THE TOT WIKI DOES A MUCH BETTER JOB AT DEFINING BIG 4 SSR EVENTS, HERE, THIS IS WHAT IM JUDGING

anyhoo, here is my personal ranking!

FIRST PLACE: Mysteries of the Lost Gold

my beloved, my favorite, my perfect shining star. lost gold was the first big event i played and it has yet to be dethroned as my favorite event story of all of tot. absolute homerun of a rich story with intrigue, high stakes, a good balance of tender moments and lighthearted ones, and just SO gripping in terms of all of the story threads coming together, plus the absolutely A+ nxx team interactions. my advice to every new player who comes into my inbox is "PLAY THE LOST GOLD DLC" because i love it so much. i will never shut up about how i love it so much. it has our very first raven!luke sighting. it has marius nearly getting stabbed. it has artem with gun. it has vyn doing that THING with the bow and arrow. LIKE. THIS EVENT IS PERFECT TO ME. it'll take something really really special to dethrone it.

SECOND PLACE: Enduring Light

this isnt recency bias speaking but my real honest thoughts: this story delighted me to no end. i was kept on the edge my seat for every single phase, and the sheer novelty of the story's setup and the gameplay was such a nice change of pace after the previous event formats started to get repetetive. i especially loved that this time, we had to suspect the nxx boys as well because that really added to my enjoyment of this event. it really felt like a mystery that had to be solved by us, and not just a mystery that will unravel by itself as long as we keep playing, if that makes sense? my point is i was immensely immersed in enduring light and i love it lots lots lots. luke looking stupendously hot in his outfit during the entire event was also a huge plus.

THIRD PLACE: a tie between Blizzardous Threads of Red & Mystery of Bakerlon

i really loved BTR and bakerlon!!! both of their murder cases were adequately thrilling for me, though towards the end i could feel the adrenaline wearing off, if that makes sense? like by the 4th phase, things were slotting together already in a way that like lowered the feeling of intrigue. also i know i said i wouldnt judge much based on gameplay, but these two deserve a shoutout for MINIGAMES I WANT TO KILL W MY BARE HANDS. bakerlon's crystal tasks were so repetetive to me, and BTR's TIMED ESCAPE ROOM THINGIES heightened my blood pressure several times HAHA

FOURTH PLACE: To My Beloved: Moonlit Eve (anniv 2)

this has a soft spot in my heart for including all of the old NPCs from main story, and that was very heartwarming. while theres no mystery that needs solving, just seeing the team hang out together and have fun together was such a treat for my soul

FIFTH PLACE: Secrets of the Tomb

sott is where i'd say the event story quality is inching towards the meh scale. the mystery here was interesting but was not particularly gripping to me. it might just be a me thing, but i enjoyed the side stories (the ones you get with the boys when you investigate the artefacts) more than the actual event story itself.

SIXTH PLACE: A Love Poem to Skadi

ahhhhh skadi. psychological and medical malpractice horrors skadi.....HJSVKHSJDFDSF. i will admit, the mystery in this story is HORRIFIC and it was enjoyable to unravel it, but here is where i break my rule again of not talking about gameplay but mAAAAAAN THE GAMEPLAY HINDERED MY ENJOYMENT OF THE MAIN PLOT LOTS. it was rather difficult for me to do all the exploration in that manor and that stalled my absorption of the story too. plus, i think the fact that the story is Over made the story have a bit of a muted quality to it. not in a bad way (i distinctly remember i wrote a semi-analysis post about how i enjoyed that the story was in the Past) but it definitely affected the mood of the gameplay, if that makes sense?

(that is the third time ive said "if that makes sense" in this response, THREE STRIKES AND YER OOOOOUT)

SEVENTH PLACE: Blissful Fete (anniv 1)

be honest with me.....do YOU remember the event story plot of blissful fete? cuz i sure dont. JVSKDHFSJDHSF. i only remember getting very very mad at luke during that fucking minigame where we guess if the card is higher or lower. that being said, if i cant even remember much of the story, then it didnt make an impact on me and couldve been improved.

so thats my ranking! thank u for the ask :D

[pfungu]

My thoughts, feelings, and words about ATEEZ’s N.A. Tour and the stop I went to.

To start off-- the fact that this leg of the tour is over is hard to comprehend. Where did the month go? They have traveled to 10 cities, 2 countries, and had 13 total performances. All in one month. They had set backs such as unexpected illness, or weather-- and they still gave it their all. All this tour has done is cement for me the love I have for those 8. For me it will always be 8 makes 1 team.

I was very fortunate to get to see them perform at the first stop on the tour, which was Tacoma. I did not have VIP or Sector-- namely because I chose seats instead of being on Floor. But where I was, I could see the entirety of The stage and walk way. The staff at the dome were kind and were nice enough to me despite the set back of my ticket would not scan (it's funny because TM tells you to have it open before arriving, only for them to tell me I needed to just open it when I got to the ticket scanner, anyway I digress). Once I was actually in... well here is a screenshot of how I was feeling at the time.

I was nervous. If you listened to my heart beat, it be going a mile a minute at this point. I cannot tell you how magical and beautiful it was to be amongst other ATINYs singing along to Work and Bouncy. It felt surreal. Then when the concert started, watching them all come out from the tower it was very much a "Oh gosh this is real".

The concert was beautiful and was very much like watching a musical, as Wooyoung pointed out in an earlier fromm message he had sent. I loved all of it. Each set was unique and beautiful and also fun. Every member got an opportunity to shine on the stage. It was a beautiful performance. I was proud of myself for not crying when it started. I held it in long enough to openly start bawling as soon as I heard the first note of turbulence. It's a moment I won't ever forget.

Once my stop was over I couldn't believe it. It felt such a short period of time where I was able to see them. Then next thing I knew they were moving to their next stop. I was fortunate enough to be on Twitter to see everyone posting pictures and clips throughout. They seemed so happy with how it all turned out.

There were times I was worried like when half of them got sick, Seonghwa, or Wooyoung's shoulder. However, they continued to show us their professionalism and continued to perform. Which brings me to the NY stop. Seonghwa's words will forever stick with me, and I am grateful he felt comfortable to share something so vulnerable. And I'm glad to see him posting again.

This tour felt like a whirlwind. A lot happened. However with this tour too, I feel like the bond between Atiny and Ateez grew stronger. There is a lot of trust between us and them, which has its own colors. It's unique. This tour and seeing them live cemented for me how much I love them. How much I enjoy their music. I honestly cannot express enough just how much I love Ateez. Nothing will ever change that for me. Sorry if this seemed all over the place. My thoughts and feelings are like that too. But at the end of the day I just want to say Thank You to Ateez and that I love them.

Enjoy some badly taken photos, because I couldn't figure my phone out and also I was overwhelmed with joy and wanted to be there in the moment.

[pomefioredove]

CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN!!! 🥳🥳

i just saw that your matchups were open so i’d like to put in a request for a romantic and platonic matchup? if that’s okay of course! my only ask is that you don’t include rook, trey, sebek, jack, or ace in the possibilities please <3

personality | shy in public, but at home i become more outgoing and goofy! i feel most comfortable with my family and close friends when out in public and when i’m with them i become more confident! i also tease and make fun of people if i’m close to them because i feel like being able to be playfully mean to someone is a form of trust (at least for me) because otherwise i’m a shy/awkward mess. i’ve also been told i’m very loyal to the people i’m close to. i would say a downside to me is that it’s easy for me to get frustrated/mad if i don’t get something right or something goes terribly wrong. being wrong makes me embarrassed so that’s why i get frustrated with it. but also, i can’t stay mad for long lmao. i tend to calm down really fast

appearance | “5’3” to “5’4” in height! i have mid-length hair with bangs, styled into a wolf cut! i dye my hair a lot and right now it’s a blue and purple split, but soon it’ll be pink and black! and lastly, i have blue eyes!

style | my style is more simple, but it tends to lean on the grunge side. i don’t accessorize a lot because to me comfort >>> everything else lmao. so it usually leads to me wearing a t-shirt, cargo pants/jean shorts, and a jacket.

hobbies | archery, drawing, writing, reading, collecting, gaming, frisbee

likes | rain, vampires, green, victorian aesthetics, ancient history, roses, cats

dislikes | bugs (any bugs), lightening, loud noises, crowds

extras | my personality type is istp! zodiac is pisces!

random fact | not a good cook or baker! not necessarily the putting in the oven part, but the mixing ingredients part. it’s easy for me to get different instructions confused with one another.

sorry if this is a lot! thank you for doing this for your followers! <3

I match you with 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐫

The First Impression:

Jamil has always had an eye for the shy and meek. Not just because Kalim is the exact opposite of that, but because he understands. Whereas the average person could easily overlook a quiet type, Jamil knows that there's always more than meets the eye.

Why He Fell:

And he's right; of course. While you're quite restrained and polite in social settings, your true personality shines through behind closed doors.

What Jamil finds most enthralling, perhaps, is your confidence. He doesn't have to bow down to you, or pretend to be incompetent for the sake of your ego. In fact, he actually quite likes your tendency to tease, because he knows he can tease right back without consequence. You two get pretty competitive with it, actually.

The Relationship:

If you had asked Jamil the type of person he imagined himself with before he met you, his honest answer would be someone who'd let him be in charge.

Obviously, that's a stupid answer, and as much becomes apparent with you. Your almost competitively playful spirit is encouraging for him, he actually enjoys bantering, and the fact that he doesn't have to pretend to be weak around you is really all he could ask for. You really bring out the most authentic sides of each other.

Jamil likes knowing how you tick, and he may even let you understand a little more of him, too. He knows how to calm you down when you're frustrated, and he's endlessly patient with you in the kitchen (he WILL teach you how to cook. he insists it's a necessary life skill).

just don't expect him to help you with bugs. you'll need a third party for that

[mogoce-nocoj]

prompt: ice skating, but bojan does not know how to skate

aw thank you so much for this prompt, writing it was really a lot of fun. there's no way I couldn't use bojere for this one 💚

So. Bojan might’ve, uh. Underestimated his abilities. In a very crucial way.

He probably should’ve thought about his ice skating abilities before enthusiastically agreeing to accompany Jere to the ice rink. But Jere had looked at him with such big and pleading eyes that Bojan had very conveniently forgotten to mention that his practical knowledge about skating was — not good. Virtually non-existent, one might even say.

Which leads him to his current predicament. That is, his ass on the ice, his face flushed and warm and Jere above him, laughing at him as if Bojan on the ice was the funniest thing he’s seen in a while. (Which it very well could be, Bojan reasons, not yet daring to stand up again. Who knows how ridiculous he’s looking right now.)

“Bojan — Bojan not know how to skate,” Jere says, snorting, not being able to contain himself. And yeah, Bojan recognises, maybe there really is something funny about him falling flat on his face surrounded by Finnish people looking at him like he’s a fish out of water. Because they’re probably born with skates already attached to their feet. Okay, yeah, he’s exaggerating. But he’s also cold and wet and his ass — hurts. And not in the good way.

“Thanks, Mr former professional ice hockey player,” he teases eventually as Jere doesn’t seem to be making a move to actually, y'know. Help him. “Can you help me or do you just want to stand there and laugh at my misery?”

Jere is still giggling as he grabs Bojan’s outstretched hand, forcefully pulling him up before gently placing him back on his feet. He starts skating around him and Bojan doesn’t even try to move because he’s sure that only one wrong move is enough for them both to end up tangled together on the ice.

(On second thought, he maybe wouldn’t mind that actually. Hm.)

Stopping in front of him again, Jere gives him one critical look out of his icy-blue eyes (Hah. See what he did there? At least his brain still seems to be working properly.)

“I’ll help you,” Jere states with a mischievous expression on his face. He slings an arm around Bojan’s hip, turning him around. The other hand is softly pressing against his back.

“Oh, how generous of you,” Bojan replies, trying to ignore the heat that rises to his face as Jere lightly strokes his hip before strengthening his grip on it.

“One arm around me, okei?”

Bojan does as he’s told but not before looking at Jere, suggestively raising his eyebrows.

“Bossy.”

“Shut up, Bojan.” Jere laughs again, increasing the pressure on his back and hip and, yep, okay, he’s definitely the one in control here.

Wobbling forwards, Bojan feels again like he’s slipping but Jere’s grasp on him is firm and steadying and so he feels pretty much like he’s being more or less dragged along. Or rather, shoved along, to be more precise.

“First move one foot, then second,” Jere instructs as they glide along the ice and Bojan really tries his best but Jere’s limbs are quite distracting. The hand on his back moves further down until it has reached his ass. Jere squeezes it once, nearly making Bojan lose his balance again, before his hand is back on his upper body, holding him in place.

“Do you want us to fall down?” Bojan huffs, clinging onto the body next to him.

Jere only shrugs, licking his lips. “Maybe. I think Bojan likes being down on the floor.”

And oh, the game is on.

Innocently, Bojan pulls on the fabric of Jere’s shirt, making him stumble.

“Sorry,” he apologises, giving him his best shining smile. “It felt like I was gonna slip if I didn’t hold onto you.”

Jere rolls his eyes, immediately clocking what Bojan is trying to do. He lightly shoves him forward, loosening his hold on both, his hip and his back.

“Oops! I lose Bojan!”

And then it happens — Bojan leans backwards, trying to reach Jere and overbalances, loosing his footing. Jere doesn’t quite manage to catch him and is dragged down with him, although not as violently as Bojan.

And Bojan is back where he started — with his ass on the ice and Finns staring at him with bewilderment in their eyes. This time, however, Jere is on the ice next to him, still laughing but with such cheerful glee that Bojan can’t help but laugh with him until they’re both breathless and he can feel ice soaking through his jeans, leaving an unpleasant wetness on his skin.

After they’ve both stopped giggling like schoolchildren, Jere gets up effortlessly, holding out his hand to Bojan. And when Bojan grabs it, strong fingers entwining his wet and cold ones, he thinks that there are really better activities out there to warm him up again than to try and continue to improve his skating abilities.

“You know what? Let’s come back here again later,” he suggests innocently. Jere only looks at him, flushed face and shivering, and smiles, obviously perfectly content to postpone their ice skating adventures.

[time-travelling-chaos]

Good omens fic recs

So in a previous ask game, I have been asked that question (thanks @fierceyetflawed )

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

But of course, I wasn't able to choose only one, so here is a full list of recommendations with no particular order (brace yourself, it's gonna be long)

Charming never so wisely by Hapax

AU where Aziraphale is a cryptid and Crowley has been hired to tame him. Absolutely beautiful, some angst, and an amazing worldbuilding, if I had to choose, it would probably be somewhere in my top 5. Or even in my top 3, it's one of my absolute favorites

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46204543/chapters/116321455#workskin

Crazy Little Thing Called Love by krowtenretsnom

One short, focused on the relationship between Warlock and Crowley as Nanny Ashtoreth. Absolutely beautiful, and a tiny bit heartbreaking

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53699422

The Godfathers - Or storge and other words for family by bluebirdboy

Crowley and Aziraphale as queer guardians for a young trans man. A story about healing and queerness, and a lot of other things, absolutely comforting, and has been so helpful at times, once again, pretty high in my list of favorites. [As a note, I've only read fully the V1 as I haven't found the time yet to read a lot of the V2, but from what I've read, I'll trust it will be as good as the first one, if not better]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54947194/chapters/139285795

Shine bright like a diamond by LadyAJ_13

Pre-canon, Crowley observes Aziraphale that is always helpful and always alone. I loved it so much, but it is also somewhat heartbreaking, because the story ends before the actual one, so nothing is resolved yet at this point, but please go ahead, it's absolutely worth it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20000173

An author for that one: AppleSeeds

They write amazing stories, and I particularly enjoy how they write Aziraphale and Crowley in various (human) AU. Two of my favorites are Never too late, where Crowley is a rockstar and Aziraphale used to be a fan when he was younger and Your virtual companion, that occurs in a post-apocalyptic world where humans cannot interact together anymore and Crowley finds some comfort in a virtual companion: Aziraphale.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/52576741/chapters/132992890

https://archiveofourown.org/works/52576741/chapters/132992890

The Good Demon, by Dannye Chase (HolyCatsAndRabbits), HolyCatsAndRabbits, smolalienbee

Crowley is turned mortal as a punishement for not being evil enough and needs to make Aziraphale fall to get his status back. With some queer guardian angel Aziraphale that is absolutely delightful, very soft story, and quite funny as well, with a really nice lore and the relationship being built amazingly. Once more, quite high on my favorite's list.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24932368/chapters/60341929

Touched by HolRose

Aziraphale is given as a mission to help some autistic child. Very soft, very comforting. Aziraphale is autistic himself and it makes the interaction absolutely brilliant. It's very short (around 500 words) but so much is said in such a small story, without any bad pun, it absolutely touched me as well.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40487874

Like a spiral sea unending by Hapax

It's an astronomy AU (yes it exists) where Crowley is a black hole and Aziraphale a bright star. It's a really poetic story, really original and (I feel like I spend my time saying that here) absolutely beautiful.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48704143

How to make friends on Halloween by not_vatican_approved

Aziraphale is human, Crowley is a demon, and Aziraphale's shitty friends decide to summon him to scare Aziraphale. It's a really cute one with protective and comforting Crowley, quite fun as well. (And yes, the shitty friends get what they deserve)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50473762?view_adult=true

The art of human nature by IneffableDoll

Human AU with fem!Aziraphale and fem!Crowley, Crowley is a painter and Aziraphale commisions her to make her portrait. It's absolutely beautiful, with some fat positivity and queerness (Crowley is trans in this one), gorgeous talks about nature. It's also really poetic. It's not love at first sight, but it takes a bit more time to settle, which I absolutely love. (It's also the fic that convinced me to give a chance to good omens human AU)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/48191107

'Tis the Damn Season by KiaraMGrey

Human AU, after an awful proposal on Christmas Eve, Crowley ends up boarding on a train with no plan in mind and meets Aziraphale there. It's very cute, soft, and a really comforting hollidays fic.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28213518

The Ones Who Walk Away From Nevaeh by soft_october

Fantasy AU, inspired by a story of Ursula Le Guin. To keep suffering away from the city, Crowley is kept alone in the dark in a cell, without any human interaction. That is, until Aziraphale becomes the new guard and starts listening to him. It's quite angsty, but with soft elements and a happy ending. And also, I adore the worldbuiling on that one, and the context of the story.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21485824/chapters/51206389

Fond(ant) by ddagent

Human AU, Aziraphale pretends to have a fiancé and to be getting married to be able to enjoy Crowley's cakes. It's funny and soft, I love ddagent's way of telling stories and their portrayal of Crowley and Azirphale, but it's the first one I read from them, so it's the one I'm going to recommend here.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49257229

crossed wires by tealeafthief

After 6000 years of emotional abuse by Heaven, and internalized ableism, Aziraphale learns about autism and start to embrace who he is with Crowley's help. It wasn't the easiest read (at least for me, because it came a little bit too close from home) but it was an amazing one. It's wonderfully done, the progression and evolution of the character is beautifully done and Crowley is so caring on that one, I can only recommend it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25135141

Sorry (Not Sorry) by ineffablefool

Human AU, Crowley and Aziraphale were friends when they where younger and end up reconnecting at a friend's wedding. It's so soft, with fat-positivity, and a really beautiful story.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40584780

My Safe Place by IneffableDoll

Aziraphale wonders if, being an angel, he can be queer or not. Crowley is really supportive on that one, and the discussion about queerness is so interresting and comforting. It's also an asexual relationship, which I love to see, so yeah, quite an amazing one.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43258482

Pieces of Creation by angelwithawand

Crowley gets attached to Jemimah after seeing that the thing she made is the most important thing to her. It follows their relationship all through her life, and it's really soft, I love seeing Crowley or Aziraphale interacting with humans. It's, of course, slightly heartbreaking at the end, but it's so much worth it. And there is also some backgroud Aziraphale/Crowley relationship that is very soft as well.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49046113

So that's it for now, I hope you'll enjoy those fics!

[humanmorph]

PALISADE 28.crazy good this week etc

New radio person for the intro...! This comes at a good moment. I still miss Baldwin Home like. That very first PALISADE intro is genuinely so hard to beat... but this feels good. I'm once again thinking about Austin writing these... The style used for Black Screens intros obviously shines through (she's his protégé) but she does have her own voice already (way more rhyming? I mean, I'd have to doublecheck HIS intros, it's literally just a feeling). Just the tone used and intonation already does a lot. Austin is so good at this fr. I'm still curious how he even approaches that. Also the "watch me unloose 80 Ls on these next lines" I knewwww that's 80 Ls for real as soon as Parti said illogical. I wonder if he wrote that bit first trying to see how many Ls he could fit in there & then finetuned it to get to a good number? I guess that's just how I would do it.

(who knows if we'll ever get a description for Parti. we never did for Black. maybe if she shows up in a conflict turn somehow? so im just fuckin around for now... i haven't sold myself on the clothes. i'm just not a fashion guy. but i do like the braids)

Oh & new guy alert part 2!!! New Keith character! And he has a funny hat. Not even funny as in goofy it just makes me laugh a bit because my dad and maybe every 5th 70+ y/o man I see has a hat like that. Love the sequin poncho.

(btw I am almost certain Keith has posted a picture of that teapot on Cohost before... He posts about tea sometimes so there's at least a chance. I mean the description of the coloring he gives is actually pretty good IMO, you can work with that, but I as an artist I like to have a visual reference. EDIT: someone just asked him. thank you keith and also rosecrest)

I have the. I got Armor Astir & a lot of the playbooks other people made in a bundle a while back and I'm real torn if I should just look at the Investigator because I'm really curious. But. I also love to be surprised. So I probably won't, but it's good to know I COULD, if I wanted to. Anyways, I was pretty sure it'd be another B-Plot character too, just because it makes sense. Brnine COULD go alone on a B-Plot, I guess, but it's more fun with 2 groups to jump between, surely. Though this means the Eclectic-Brnine dynamic is crucial! I hope they can meet up soon... But yeah I just really am gonna miss Phrygian backing them up and cheering and clapping and asking questions. They were so fun together... A great team :' (

ok so I wrote everything else about Eclectic down yesterday & then noted down "vibes?" as break between paragraphs because all I had at that point was the description & I wanted to get back to this. And ooohhh my god the vibes are fucking immaculate right off the bat I'm having a hard time to not Already be obsessed with this guy he's SO funny conceptually and it KEPT getting better... Truly delighted with this new type of guy (& Keith is doing a voice!). And I fucking love the hooks. Truly so great to me. The thought of these getting loosened OR deepened is already really really good. "Leap says"..... oh it's SO funny I keep laughing to myself

And I'm VERY excited it's a delegate like genuinely so happy. I was mourning the loss of a branched onscreen (okay.I still am) but this does make it worth it. Ever since they got introduced basically I so badly wanted to know anything more about them, but especially what Austin mentioned in the episode itself: the delegates relationships to the divines they are made from & of course the divines themselves (who are alive!!! Apparently that was already written in a dossier way back when, but I rarely read those). That has me sooo excited.

Oh and the like... I only thought about this just now but the connection there to Thisbe's new project is. That's gotta be something! "The divine who's being held captive somewhere on this planet, and has been tortured for millennia" hearing a message of... That this can end & rest is possible and it's SO CLOSE? But does that just make it worse... Ohhhhh. Yeah this rules. What a great idea.

That project generally is really... god, I love Thisbe so much. I love how Janine talks about her and what she thinks and why she does what she does. Thisbe's relationship to work and being a tool and of use is so interesting to put here, with the divines wanting to rest. (And Janine saying something like... Thisbe thinks of herself in relation to divines how Mow is to her? Kind of?) And saying it seems so solitary a project... every divine should know about it. Every divine deserves the right to rest. But it's also a call to action of sorts when she talks about like... "shouldn't you want to protect this?" I think her "Fighting is not my purpose, but there is nowhere else for me until the fighting is over." hook could be in conservation here too... Also I'm just looking forward for Thisbe to Broadcast again. It was like, one of her things in PARTIZAN. I really liked her & Cori working on this together with the. Experience they just had behind them. Sylvi & Janine reading the hooks for each others characters kind of sheepishly was soooo funny "I forgot how bitchy this was!". That's good stuff to me. (as an aside: god, Thisbe has always had good as hell hooks/beliefs/whatever else. Remember "Operant Broun lies to me because they believe I am a person."? Banger. ) I also love that she thought of this/about this at the rib(?) of Barricade. Barricade as an axiom who had this close (& good, protective) relationship with another axiom...

btw now that Leap is NOT coming back I do miss him a bit. Mostly out of principle like I am So happy we have Eclectic but Leap is my guy.... shoutout to him... being a bitch bastard pirate out there in space... + shoutout to Figure A too always : ) (speaking of, on the Gathering Information Extra bit from today he talked about if he had played Leap, picking a class that also had like, a crew, and I'm mostly just really curious who that would've been. I would love for Keith to make up some funny guys for Leap to order around. I wonder if Eclectic or an Eclectic type would've been on that?)

(Also Leap investigating Motion. Ok. To ME it's at least partly bc this was so important to Millie. And he has reason to be concerned generally he fought Motion too but. That's MILLIE'S rival! And it doesn't even have to be at the front of his mind when he does this. Maybe it isn't. But it's real & it's something to remember her by through actual action. Because he's not the sentimental type.Do you get me.?)

Brnine talk show. This was sooo good. After they joked about it in PAL25 too. I recognized the hosts name, but wasn't quite sure from where until I read the dossier - of course he's that guy from the podcast. God. I have got to relisten to that sometime... I remember Ali on one of the recent Gathering Information ep (the one w/ Austin on, I think) mentioning a conversation that was like. stressful to do. and then also to listen to? (since she has to for production/editing) and I figured it would be another Gucci-type talk but ooohh my god. This was sooo. EDIT: ACTUALLY what if it wasn't even. What if it's about to be this talk with Rye edit: GALLICA i cant believe noone called me on this. mixing my elects up. rye is the one gur killed (mvp). Austin was sounding a bit ominous about it at the end of this episode! HUGE shoutouts to Ali again she is just absolutely killing it this season for real... And I honestly feel like overall Brnine was, considering the situation, doing very well. Genuinely. You're feverish and hollowblooded and have this fucking. Guy needling you & asking the stupidest questions... & like. "You made Kalmeria. They'd never let you rot in jail." of courseeee they want Brnine working for them. They're so GOOD at what they do. They messed with the parts of A Fucking Divine. . I just had a scary thought and it involved Mustard Red. But. Surely not. Nooo. I'm shaking my head. However Arbitrage? An Arbitrage deal (like they tried to make them take before) would work just perfectly for this, wouldn't it...

some other stuff:

When Austin mentioned Grand Mag in that vision Cori had I thought something like 'man. sucks to be him : (' but like. In a genuine way. "I can't stop it from hurting people a little"........... Hah oh wow I just thought of this but I am so excited for people who haven't listened to TM to meet him now. He's not even my favourite he just makes me crazy in a way almost no other character does? Like there's something so WRONG with him. And there's things wrong with a lot of FatT characters but it's like... Well. Grand Magnificent.

I love the thought of them watching Brnines interview at the next movie night (POOR BRNINE.) but I also want to know what Eclectic would pick for movie night. Oh and Partial too. Though he may not be staying I would still really love to know. Partial coming on board for the mission has me intrigued generally.

Oh and Gur talking! Even if just a little. I still feel so bad for them. "I believe in whispers in ears"... and they have reason to now. Figure is a person trying their best to do good & make changes, which is what Gur wants. I just wish they weren't a specter haunting someone elses body & what even happens when Figure rolls a 10+. Is Gur still there and Figure just stops seeing him? oohh it hurts a bit.you can't do this to him you can't (related: I extremely forgot about the other specters and ghosts and ghouls and whatnot that Figure can also see. It's not just my friend Gur Sevraq. Looking forward to hear more about that & how it affects Figure so much as to roll with disadvantage!)

Love to learn just a little more about devotion. I really need to just relisten to that again & think about it a bit harder.

At one point Austin says "Still flanked by guards, you are" and it caught me off guard & made me wheeze. He didn't even do that on purpose . I get him I do this way too often(realize I forgot to say part of a sentence and pack it at the end)