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gb-patch · 3 years

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Ask Answers: August 8th

Well, doing big posts all together worked for a while but lately I’ve been putting it off because it takes a long time to get them done. I think I’m gonna try switching back to answering asks whenever I can fit it in and posting them one at a time instead of waiting until I’ve filled out one of these major collections.

But for now, here’s more ask answers! Thank you for the questions and for all the kind words along with them ^^.

Hello!! I'm here to ask if its possible to get the game and its dlcs on steam and play it on android?

I’m afraid not. Steam doesn’t have Android builds on their own site and Steam is not cool with keys for other sites being given out for Steam purchases, so you don’t get the Itch version from buying on Steam.

Hello! Sorry to bother you but, I had a question, if we buy the Game on itchio do we get steam keys or would we need to purchase it twice?

You would have to buy it twice if you want it in both places, I’m sorry. To repeat myself a little, Steam doesn’t like the key trading thing. Itch may support giving keys for another site, but the reverse isn’t doable with Steam and Steam doesn’t even really want you to get a Steam key for buying somewhere else either. So we just don’t mess around with that.

hey, sorry if this is frequently asked, but is step 4 free dlc or paid for? some of your sources are contradicting each other.

It’s free! There’s a paid wedding DLC, but Step 4 itself is entirely unpaid.

Hello! I just had a quick question, for the Baxter and Derek DLC's will we be able to confess our feelings to them or let them confess to MC? or will it only be one way? (they confess to MC)

Both type of options will be available!

Hey there! I wanted to ask whether or not the Derek DLC is still on track to be released in August since on the steam discussion board it says it will be released mid 2021. I totally understand if it isn't, I'm just really looking forward to it! If you answer then ty! And keep up the amazing work :D

It’s not, aha. Unfortunately, 2021 wasn’t easier than 2020 as we hoped so things are still slower than planned. It’ll come out late 2021 or early 2022.

Hi! Firstly I just want to say that I LOVE Our Life. I have played a bit of similar games but this one instantly wins for the best one! Everything about it is amazing! I just wanted to ask if Derek would ever lose feelings for MC, like if they make the deal and then MC gets with Cove would he move on? and even if you don't, after "losing contact" would his feeling fade or would he still like MC?

If you don’t really keep in touch with him and clearly move on with your life, Derek will too and he’ll be over it. But if you are still close as best as you can be, he’ll still think the MC is special. Though, he’ll always support your relationship with someone else if that’s what’ll make you happy.

Hello! Sorry if you've answered this before but: 'How's Lee related to us? Though which momma? And does she share our player-chosen last names? Also, do you know if Noelani took Pam's last name or did it happen the other way round?

She’s related to Pamela and Pamela’s last name is the one they use, so the MC has the same last name as Lee.

Will we be able to choose which (they or he) we tend to call Qiu by more often, or will it randomly change depending on the moment?

Qiu knows which pronoun they’re comfortable with at a time and you’ll call them what they’re happy with. And it doesn’t change between lines, it takes multiple scenes or even full Steps for it to switch. So for extended periods Qiu will be totally a guy or fully agender.

Will Step 4 of OL2 have moments?

It’ll be an epilogue like it is in OL1, so it won’t have a bunch of different Moments.

Hello! Just a quick question, is Sunset bird from OL1 based on a real location? If so what's it called? I wanna visit it +_+

ps i love your games so much <3

It isn’t based on one specific town you can go to, but there are a lot of little coastal towns in Cali that have a similar vibe!

Heyaaa ( I hope you're all well ), umm… it might seem kinda stupid to ask but did Patreon members can have a key for the dlc's ( all the steps-released dlc ) even if they became a member this month or later ? (me? saying this cuz it's my case? maybe ;-;), and once again thanks for absolutely all the amazing works on all the games ! u-u

You wouldn’t get the DLCs for backing there. The Patreon is for extra bonus content/early access, rather than being a storefront to purchase the normal DLCs. Rarely we give them out as a side gift, but it hardly happens and if what you want is the DLCs it’s best to ignore the Patreon and buy keys for those directly from Itch or Steam. I’m sorry for the confusion.

Hey y'all, love what youre doing w/Terry. Trans rep outside of player customization is so rare and important to see more of so thank you so much. I do have a question and its that does he have a canon sexuality? I know Miranda was said to be straight ace but I dont believe anything was stated for Terry probably because he wasnt revealed to be a guy which changes things. Im also curious if well get answers on how long hes liked Miranda since he may have liked her in step 3 before she liked him

Terry likes women and Randy likes men! And he did like Miranda back in Step 3.

Will the Wedding Dlc release at the same time as Step 4?

They’ll come out separately with Step 4 releasing first.

I really love Our Life so much! I've spent over 20hours playing it even though I only got it a week ago! I was wondering if I could make a fangame for Our Life with a different love interest but same plot. Next-door neighbors romance, multiple steps, etc? I'll probably make it on Google Slides though-

Sure! I hope you have fun with it and I’m glad you love the game.

How does Cove feel about poly relationships?

He’s got nothing against them for the people they work for, but he’s 100% monogamous and would only be comfortable with a partner who was willing to be monogamous with him.

Idk if this has been answered before but will Step 4 include the option to advance your feelings towards Cove?

Yep, you’ll be able to determine your feelings and what your relationship is.

In step 4 will there be a chosen to say we live with Cove even as just friends?

Yeah, you can choose to live with Cove and that can be done when you’re friends.

I just played the game with the MC and Cove being best friends and omg it’s still so damn cute like the wholesomeness of it all is too much for my heart I swear ^.^ Now with that all said I was wondering can we still marry Cove? if we only love him as a friend like let’s say we’ve made deal with him similar to the one we can make with Derek because let’s real no one could compete with what the MC and Cove have even if they aren’t in love.

It’s great to hear you enjoyed the friendship story! You can live with Cove, but you can’t marry him platonically. Cove has familial affection for the MC if they’re best-est friends. He wouldn’t think to marry someone he loves like family and even grew up with as though they truly were siblings.

Are you still going to be making a DLC for XOBD? :]

Yes! We’re slowing adding voiced lines and fixing errors.

It makes me laugh that Shiloh's last name is Fields because that's what I put as my last name! So in Our Life when he talked about "Ms. Fields" picking him up I was extremely confused, lol. That dude mimics personalities so much that he stole my surname!

Oh, wow, that’s a very funny coincidence, haha.

hi !! i cant seem to be able to get the scene where mc is able to propose to cove despite being at the 'love' stage and telling him i'd want to get married, are there any other details that im missing out on? the options just dont appear at the end...

Maybe you missed telling Cove you were in love with him even if you mentioned wanting to get married or you might’ve accidentally said earlier in the game that you don’t want to progress your relationship further with Cove. We haven’t removed them, so you can get the scene again. It’s just kind of easy to miss since there’s multiple requirements. You can read a little guide in the FAQ.

wait what di you need to do to be able to propose to cove? I've been trying but haven't had much luck

You can check out the FAQ linked above!

does cove only develop a crush on the mc if the mc is also at crush/in love with him?

Technically, yes. We treat the non-romantic relationship options as truly non-romantic since we don’t want to bait and switch people. But there’s nothing wrong with headcanoning that Cove does have feelings developing for the MC even before the MC has.

Is there a way to make/allow Lee and Baxter to date?

No, they just don’t have enough time together.

We also got a group of asks related to Tamarack in OL2, but I’m afraid the way they talked about people with larger bodies made me not want to post their words, even if the person didn’t say they’re trying to be hurtful. I will separate out the core question and answer it though, so people can know that info.

Does Tamarack lose weight in later Steps?

No, she doesn’t. As for the other questions included, to be honest, I don’t have to explain/defend having romance options of different sizes. I’m sorry if you’re dealing with unhappiness that’s connected to body image, if that’s where the negative emotions are coming from, but even so I can’t meet you on that level and pretend it’s a problem that needs an answer. A girl who simply isn’t thin being a main love interest is just not an unreasonable concept. Also, Tamarack isn’t a lesbian. Yes, she can date a female MC, but that doesn’t undo her actual sexuality, so I’m not sure where that one part at the end was coming from.

I wonder... can we "fight" with Qiu over leader status? 👀

Not really, haha. No matter how cool your MC is, they’re never gonna replace Qiu for the other kids around. So you can either partner up with him, follow him too, or not be a part of all that group politics stuff.

So when I play the game, sometimes I mentally call Cove “Covie/Covey” and that made me wonder, how does Cove feel about being nicknamed? Not like Romeo/Space Cadet/etc. but like pet names relating to his actual name

It’d depend on his age, personality, and your relationship with him! When he’s younger he’d probably be embarrassed, when he was grown he’d probably be more casual or happy about it.

will you be able to date baxter in step 3 while at crush with cove (but not dating him ofc) sorry if this has been asked already. i really love baxters step 4 design btw!!

Yeah, you can be crushing on Cove and date Baxter if you weren’t already dating Cove. You just can’t be truly in love with Cove and then switch to Baxter.

I just got my friend into our life, and they adore shiloh and derek sooo will there be more of them in the second game?

I’m afraid not. But you can see plenty more of Shiloh in XOXO Droplets/XOXO Blood Droplets, haha.

I see you haven't gotten any xoxo droplets asks recently but I'm still obsessed with these boys!! I was just wondering if Nate would curse under any circumstance?

Yeah, Nate does use certain swear words (damn, hell, bastard) on very rare occasions.

Hi there! I have a question about the wedding dlc. Will we be able to plan a honeymoon during the planning stages of it or would it be something that Cove and the mc would rather plan later on? Thank you! Absolutly love the game by the way, definitely one of my favorite games!

The focus will be on the wedding day itself. The topic of the honeymoon might come up a bit, but there won’t be any choosing of the exact location and such.

Hi! I have two questions and it's completely understandable if you only answer one/neither and I'm sorry if you've already answered either before! First, is there a set year in which OL:B&A takes place (ex: Step 1 being set in 2010 & Step 2 being set in 2016, etc.) or is it simply up to interpretation? Second, have you guys thought about doing a coming-of-age game where the MC has a tough home life or upbringing? (like one of their parents is an addict, a parent being transphobic whilst the player has the option to be trans, or having friends that are influencing them to do drugs, etc.) That's all! Thanks for making beautiful games. <3

There is a set timeline!

Step 1: 2006 Step 2: 2011 Step 3: 2016 Step 4: 2021

And we don’t currently plan on making a game like that. The Our Life series exists to be a safer environment for people to play around in and if we did do a brand new series that was harsher edged it’d be something more fantastical and/or plot-driven instead of a different type of modern day slice-of-life growing up story. I’m sorry.

i don’t know if you’ve already answered this, but do you have a guess on when phase 4 will come out? as well as ol2? i’m so excited for both of them, the inclusivity in this game is amazing, you guys should be really proud of it!

Step 4 will be coming out very soon! OL2 is gonna take until 2023 to be anywhere near completion. But we might episodically release the Steps one at a time as they get done instead of waiting for three to be finished before launch like we did with the first game.

Hello, I was curious if there was an official or unofficial discord server for the game?

We do have a discord! You can join by clicking this link HERE.

how long do you plan to keep ol's patreon running?

Hopefully for at least a few more years.

Are you considering ever making merch?

Yeah, but I don’t know when it’ll happen or what exactly we’ll make, aha. It’s something we want do, just nothing is set.

hi! i just found out about your game a couple of days ago on tiktok (so sorry if you’ve already answered this question) and i was wondering if y’all are ever planning to release it on iOS?

I have no idea. It’s hard for a small group to get Apple approval and I honestly can’t say if it’ll ever happen or not. Maybe someday, though!

Hi, I love the art style of Our life and I would like to know if the artist has a Twitter? Also, could it be possible to fund more CGs for the game from him/her? So many times, I wish there was one like when the cutscene of the sunshower.

That’s nice of you to offer. He doesn’t have a Twitter, at least not one that’s public enough to be shared with me. And I’m afraid not. The issue is that the CGs take huge amounts of time rather than there not being a budget for it. He’s gotta make CGs for Step 4, the DLCs, and new character sprites, too. There isn’t space in the schedule for even more. Sorry for that.

Hi, how are you?!

Are you planning on accepting new writers or is it always the same people who write your stories??

Thanks!!

Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t be getting new writers, but we will be hiring a new team of writers for Our Life: Now & Forever eventually!

perhaps this counts as nsfw and I'm sure it has been answered before but what does Cove prefer, chests/boobs or butts? or perhaps both :3c thank you for this wonderful game (and the patreon bonus moment, it was worth all the waiting and more ♥)

He’s a “chests of all shapes and sizes” kind of guy, haha.

i was wondering- did any of the writers actually grow up by the beach? as someone who's lived in a beach town all their life it really did feel nostalgic to play through our life 1

I was born and raised in Cali! Though, not right by the beach. We still had to make trips out, but the setting is based on my own childhood memories of small beach towns we went through.

In Derek’s upcoming DLC, will we be able to reference the pact we made as teens? (love olba and xod/xobd so much btw you’re literally amazing)

Yep, you will be able to talk about that!

Oh, sorry about the Cole being secretly L ask, then!

If you wanted context: Death Note is about this one guy who finds a notebook that kills anyone who you write the name of in there. The guy eventually develops a God Complex and starts mass killing criminals and stuff. L is the one trying to find out who is killing all these people.

Me and my sister first joked about it because I couldn't remember how to translate a word about the way Cove was sitting, so I just did the pose, and it looked a lot like how L himself sits! Then we just snowballed from there, with more and more nonsense connections.

That’s okay! Thanks for explaining. I’m sorry I didn’t know what you meant.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games

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theplanetprince · 3 years

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Rebel Without a Pause! || Invisobang 2021

Fic: AO3 | FNN

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Approx total word count: 59,112

Relationships: Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton, Sam Manson/Tucker Foley

Fic Summary: After an unfortunate mishap, Danny ends up working at his neighborhood video rental store, but it could end up being his ace in the hole after his friends, Sam and Tucker, find their relationship going down the tubes, not to mention his father, who might be retiring from ghost hunting. The only appropriate way to deal with this is taking it out on his coworker and bully Dash Baxter in this feel-good slice-of-life fic about the residents of Amity Park.

Author's note: Something a bit different! I am honored to have been able to participate in @invisobang! It was a super invigorating experience. I am extremely honored to have made a fic so self-indulgent, that you all can read too. I met a bunch of lovely people and got to read and experience all of their lovely work. My bang partner @k-beckerart was loveliest by far to work with! Their lovely illustrations can be viewed here! Below the cut is the first chapter of my fic, which I hope you enjoy! The rest is available on AO3 and FNN.

"Seen it." Sam briefly scanned the cover of a DVD case in the rack before hastily grabbing the next one in the line.

"Seen it." Tucker was on the parallel side of the aisle fingering through VHS cases with an equally unimpressed vigor.

The pair of them continued their mumblings under their breath attempting to find a suitable selection for bad movie night. It's like a regular movie night. Except bad. Really, really bad. Extraordinarily bad— so bad, it's good.

The trio would spend the afternoon idly combing the racks and aisles of the Amity Park Video Rental on the prowl for the biggest flop of a movie they could find. It was a bit of a niche hang-out. Popular with families with little kids too, which is why the teens came after Sunday. Usually, that's when most of the movies had been returned and rewound. Yet that's also when the store charged full price for candy and microwave popcorn. According to Tucker, it was a fair trade since he couldn't eat popcorn due to some butter allergy thing. Sam agreed but more from a moral standpoint on the butter than a digestive one. She knew enough unsettling facts about the dairy process than what was right for a girl her age.

The video store used to be an after-school haven for Danny and his friends. Bad movie night was an occasion for every Thursday. Though, as of recently due to Danny coming down with his… condition... bad movie night was one of the first casualties in his social afterlife. Now, it was more of a celebratory event than a regular occurrence. Something heralded after a particularly great achievement. A treat offered by Sam and Tucker as a way to make Danny feel… like himself. Like Danny Fenton: high school freshman.

Less of Danny Phantom: town martyr.

"I don't remember us clearing out all the bad movies in F and G. I think in the seventh grade we got as far as C." Danny called out from the other end of the section, before taking a drink from the complimentary fountain soda. He wasn't as laser-focused as his friends were. The muted trailers for the new releases looping on the CRTV suspended from the ceiling caught the corner of his eye. Flashy action movies with the latest CGI, plenty of Dinosaurs and Robots.

Danny may have been a little out of the game when it came to popular things— but at least before he had ghost powers he had a chance of catching up. Studying the screen he couldn't help but feel bewildered. He hadn't had much time for himself let alone the pop culture zeitgeist his peers chased.

In all honesty, the most relaxing thing to him now was a coma. If not a coma, a thirty-six-hour nap. Nothing sounded more pleasant than his dark, air-conditioned room dotted with his glow-in-the-dark star stickers.

While in his head, the ghost boy didn't seem to notice Tucker's sheepish reply, "Oh. I just thought that was kind of a dumb rule… plus it's better to pit the movies in like-- uh, a battle of the genres. So like we get a full trifecta of bad. Bad comedy, bad horror--" he punctuated with an eyebrow wiggle directed towards Sam, "Bad romance."

"You guys want to watch more than one of these?" Danny felt his eyelid twitch. There's no way he would be able to survive roughly six hours of bargain bin b-movies and mockbusters.

Chuckling in response to Tucker, Sam chimed in, "We have to make up for lost time."

It was that exact reason Danny couldn't find it in his slow beating heart to tell them that he was absolutely exhausted and was one strong breeze away from collapsing. When would they all get another opportunity to just turn the lights down and pretend that they were just kids?

The world was still moving unforgivably fast, and it wouldn't be long until none of them were around to watch terrible movies. It had been some time since Danny felt the cling of his sneakers on a floor that was sticky with sugar. That smell of fresh popcorn wafted on the breeze from the front door. The way the tapes felt in his hands, the solid weight of the plastic. That weird artificial odor the film had.

He'd never thought he'd miss it.

"Of course…" With a smirk crawling along his cheek Tucker suggested, "We could always try to see the movies in the restricted section."

"S'not real." The ghost boy ground his teeth against the pinstriped plastic straw in his drink. He yawned still with conviction, "that's a myth. Totally fake."

"Okay, but what better way would we celebrate fulfilling an ancient ghost prophecy, long thought of to be a myth-- than getting a movie from the legendary restricted section?" The techno-geek crossed his arms like he made a good point. In reality, he lost his place on the rack of DVDs and didn't feel like going back down the aisle to the beginning.

Manson yawned reflexively upon hearing Danny do so-- "what's the restricted section?" She questioned, turning towards the group.

"When the store first opened up, back in the late eighties, the owner Lazlow Burkowitz prided himself on having the widest selection in Amity Park." Tucker began to exposit,

Only for Danny to interrupt, "which meant he had a ton of illegally imported movies. Bootlegs, fan translations, homemade, training tapes, pilot episodes to never released TV shows-- snuff-- who the hell knows."

He scratched his nose, "And you tell me how a--a thirty-six-year-old divorcee paying alimony acquires a collection like that? You'd have to have mad cash to even find that stuff."

"Lazlow could've had an inheritance," Sam shrugged, "I mean, my parents have been coasting on inheritance money for decades."

Danny scoffed a retort, "Yeah, but most people aren't sarcastically rich."

She rolled her eyes returning to her side of the rack muttering, "Seen it, seen it… seen, seen, seen."

Weakly, Fenton meandered through an apology. Typically Danny had a grip on his more negative and cynical tendencies. There were lapses…

His parents would often blame puberty or his lack of sleep for making him cranky. He wondered if they were right-- or if it was just his nature now.

Tucker clapped his hands together, trying to break the tension, "Regardless! Me and Sam have two platinum member cards waiting to be punched. We have it in good faith that the cashier likes us. So I say, fellow countrymen, why not?"

"So, just because you're buddies with the cashier; he's gonna let you into the restricted section?" Danny got up from the garishly patterned floor, "That doesn't seem very restricted. Who's the guy?"

"Spencer Hiegler," flatly Manson laid out his stats as if it were a comprehensive ghost file, "Super senior, has a license, held back two grades for failing to meet his volunteer hours. Has more body mods than the lead singer of Tokio Hotel, but with hair taller than the Sex Pistols."

Blinking through his confusion, Danny declared, "Spike?"

"You know him?"

"He's friends with my sister, he comes over for dinner sometimes— " Fenton dismissed with a wave of his hand, "it's a long story."

"But there's no way Spike would let a couple of normies into the 'inner sanctum', even if we had you backing us up." Danny gestured to Sam's black clothes, she technically was one of Spike's people: a goth. Producing his cellphone from his pocket, Danny further explained while scrolling through his contacts to find his sister's texts, "Spike is partially mute but mostly a dick. He's… said maybe three words to me."

"What— no way!" Foley wanted to prove his point, "He's smiled at us before. He's cool with us."

"Teeth or no teeth?" Danny proded, before pulling up a photo of Jazz and Spike at a poetry slam. Jasmine had offered to perform his poems if he at least entered. They got third place. Spike and Jazz were both holding the medal into the air triumphantly.

Tucker bent his body around trying to spy on Danny's slide kick phone, "Teeth. Why?"

After showing the picture to both his friends, Spike clearly smiling with his eyes, not any other part of his pierced face. The ghost boy concluded, "yeah, he wasn't smiling."

"Oh…" the geek deflated. Foley didn't think he was being that annoying.

Sam was offended on Tucker's behalf, "What a jerk! Forget him!" Manson stamped her foot angrily, "I'm gonna go make a scene."

"Please, god, don't." Danny groaned.

Agreeing, Tucker reluctantly added, "Yeah— Sam don't make a scene."

"I'm makin' a scene!" Spinning on her heels with lethality, Sam sashayed away to the cashier desk. Fake leather boots squeaking on the pastel tiled floor that separated the racks down the center of the store.

The boys followed after, lagging on her warpath.

It was a lot of energy that could have powered on for miles but abruptly Sam found herself at the counter, ready to give Spike an earful— only to see a hunched over and familiar blond.

"Dash? Dash Baxter?" Sam nearly blurted the question that she already knew the answer to, "You work here now?"

The quarterback sighed, before adjusting his bright red electric name tag pinned to his black shirt. It animated his name similar to how the news had crawler messages at the bottom of the TV. Dash took his sweet time hiding the magazine he was reading under the desk, dog-earring the page for later. Finally, he greeted them curtly with the hint of a smirk, "if it isn't my favorite freaks and geeks. What can I do as a new hire at the Amity Park Video Rental to make your day… rent-tastic ?"

Danny snorted, "firstly, I'd love to get that as my new ringtone."

"In your dreams, Fentoad," Dash hissed, "they just let anyone in this place these days…"

"That is not any way to speak to platinum members!" Tucker showed off the shimmery keychain with the special barcode on the back, promoting Sam to do the same with her matching one.

In an overly dramatic and sarcastic way, Dash gasped clutching his chest. He threw his head back speaking to his non-existent coworkers, "Oh, right away my liege! Platinum status!"

Then just as quickly Baxter returned to his previous pose, leaning over the counter, waiting to get back to his magazine. He raised an eyebrow, "anything else I can do for you three?"

Still high on her fleeting annoyance with Spike, Sam thought it productive to instead work out those feelings on someone who was available. Putting her elbow onto the counter she began to nudge Dash's forearms back to his side of the register. Narrowing her eyes the goth ordered, "we want the restricted section."

There was a pause, and the jock's face fell in skepticism. Dash processed the request, "can't you dweebs ask for something normal like— The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom ?"

"We're wasting our time guys, even if the restricted section was real— " Danny didn't like volunteering as the voice of reason, since at night he fought squids made of ectoplasm. He dissented, "there's no way Dash would know anything about it."

Dash replied with a sneer, "Thanks ."

Clicking his tongue, Danny shot the quarterback with a finger gun, "no problem, toots."

The two stared at each other with contempt, Danny knew that Dash wasn’t going to retaliate while on duty. The ghost boy was going to exploit that for all it was worth.

"FYI freakazoids," The jock said with finality, "We don't even call it the restricted section anymore."

At the same time, the trio asked variations of a question that made Dash remember he wasn’t egghead smart.

"What's it called now?"

"Alright, what's the new name?"

"What do you call it?"

Slowly and deliberately, the jock pantomimed zipping his mouth, turning a key and flicking it away.

Danny herded Sam out of the way, sidling up to the counter in her place. Spike was preferred, sure, but Spike was more of his sister's friend. Probably her only friend, Danny surmised. The younger Fenton could hold his own against Dash. They were in the same ballpark at least.

All those years respectively picking on each other must have dulled the edge. Daniel didn't like to admit it; he and Dash had a rapport.

"Aw c'mon, Dash." Danny rolled his head from shoulder to shoulder, playfully, "we've said some things we regret, yes-- but wouldn't you say you're above playing coy?"

Baxter didn't budge in his vacant, somewhat stern, expression. It was clear the magazine under the register held his focus.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you've forced my hand." Calmly Danny rested his thin hands on the counter, and began banging his balled fists rhythmically while chanting, "Restricted section! Restricted section! Give us-- the restricted section!"

This got Tucker and eventually Sam to follow suit. All three of them chanting in unison, slamming their hands down on the desk. Causing Dash to retreat backward, straightening his posture. There was no scenario like this in the training manual.

The outburst drew the attention of the sparse afternoon crowd. A few heads raised like dead flowers returning from winter.

"... you guys are throwing a tantrum," Dash stated, kind of blown away at the new low they've sunk to. It was admirable, how little the nerds cared about being perceived.

The only response Baxter got was more of the repetitious demand. After a few more seconds, Dash furrowed his brow, "I do have the jurisdiction to physically remove you from the location and ban you."

Now the trio whisper-yelled, "Restricted section! Restricted section! Give us-- the restricted section!" While only tapping their hands gently on the desk.

Dash was unsure to be embarrassed for them or for himself having to dignify them with some kind of reply. He had to flex his lower management retail authority, "buy something or be banned for life. Your choice Fentertainment-tonight."

Collectively the phantom unit whined and moaned. It totally reeked having Dash as a classmate and having to breathe the same air as him. Now he was ruining the one cool place in town too? It wasn't like Amity Park was suddenly in a gym drought!

Blindly plucking a random VHS case from the new release section directly across from the register. Danny just wanted to go home. Removing his standard laminated membership card from his velcro wallet he placed it on top of the case and slid them both forward.

"Big spenders," Baxter joked. With a rather rehearsed spin of the scanning gun, he had scanned the tape and card in the blink of an eye.

In a few keystrokes, Dash had pulled up Danny's profile to check for any outstanding fees.

"Unsettling amounts of Scifi, check." The jock cast a few judgmental glances, "Extreme punctuality with due dates… uh-huh."

A couple of clicks and a contemplative silence later.

"Yeah-- it's gonna be three-ninety-eight." He picked up the tape, handing it back.

Fenton instinctually reached for the VHS--

Before letting go, Dash warned, "it's gotta be back in two days. Get it?"

"Got it." Danny strained, feigning that he cared.

"Good." The jock stuck a thumb out toward the door, "get out."

Sam still wasn't satisfied, "aren't you supposed to foist candy or something?"

"Are you telling me that your attitude is the product of low-blood sugar?" Dash was used to getting away with saying what he pleased. So it was easy to assume the quarterback had the upper hand.

She took a moment to plant her feet firmly on the ground. Then politely she tucked her loose hair behind her pierced ears.

Tucker noticed that her tongue glided over her teeth through her purple lips. He crossed his arms in vindication, knowing that it was about to go down.

Sam busted out a wicked grin, "You might be onto something there. So, I'm gonna ask you to sell me all of this--" she gestured to the chocolate bars on display by the register for impulse purchases.

She then pointed to the candy in the racks below the register, "These too. All of it."

Grabbing fistfuls of candy Manson began to cover the counter faster than Dash could feasibly scan. Letting it rain. She was going to clean house. Sam hadn't even gotten started on the dedicated snack aisle.

One thing people failed to understand; Sam Manson had a soul as black as her credit card.

The line behind the kids was starting to build up. Some were impatient, others confused. However, that didn't seem to matter to Dash because all he saw was a busy line.

"Oh yeah," Sam added, "and three slushies to-go."

Dash stood, paralyzed with the kind of panic only a cashier could feel. The kind of stress that made you start sweating and forget your own name. He was going to be out of candy. The junior high kids would eat him alive. The candy wasn't supposed to sell out--

They weren't supposed to have a restock for another few days!

"I-- uh-- you can't--" Baxter tried to find the words.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I stutter?" Sam unwrapped an extra-long black licorice whip she had just bought, "You got all quiet and shit… About a minute ago it was like an evening at the Apollo up in here."

"Now, all of a sudden it's quiet as a church." She held up her hand for a high-five from one of her boys.

Tucker slapped her hand and held it. As if declaring the new heavy-weight champion, "That's my girl!"

Team phantom left with their bounty in tow. Sheer plastic bags full of non-buttered popcorn and sweets were on Danny's back. Whatever didn't fit into those went into Tucker's backpack. Then Whatever didn't fit in that Sam gave away to the customers who patiently waited until Dash was done ringing everything up.

When the trio went into the store it was still bright and sunny out-- when they left the sky was in the final stage of rich deep blue twilight before nightfall. The stars seemed placed there without thought or consequence. It reminded Danny of the ceiling of the store. It had a similar pattern of chaotic white specks.

Though maybe the stars had a purpose besides just being briefly beautiful before combusting. It was a crisp night, finally cooling down. An uncharacteristically warm April would keep him anxious into the night about climate change, but right now it didn't matter. He was among friends, and it didn't matter. The street lights bathed them in an unflattering yellow tint. They were too happy to care.

Happy was rarely worn among them, like a suit for a funeral. Their default had become… content. Begrudgingly content. Grateful that it wasn't any worse.

If the insignificant corner of the world known as Amity Park wasn't in danger; it was a good day.

Sam was leading the pack forward, Tucker by her side. Weaving around each other and bumping their shoulders casually. Danny trailed behind them, happy to know that in his absence that they had become closer. It was funny to think back on the times when they could hardly stand being at the same table as each other.

It was delightful being insignificant.

"--I mean did we have to watch him pop two new batches of popcorn because the batch in the machine was already pre-buttered?" Fenton addressed, "I'm still the only one who's gonna eat it."

Sam stabbed the ice gathered near the bottom of her drink, "I wanted to see if I could make him cry."

"Watching him check the kernels one by one to see if they popped... I think it will get me through to college." Tucker said, journaling the events in his PDA.

By far this was one of their more memorable trips to the Amity Park Video Rental. Probably better than that time Danny got shoulder-deep in the claw machine. Maybe on equal footing that time Tucker got his two hundred dollar late fees canceled when he was ten by having a mock trial.

Danny gestured with his chin to the VHS Sam was holding under her arm, "So, what movie did I pick out anyway? I didn't get a good look."

Realizing she was so busy with enacting justice Sam nearly put bad movie night on the back burner. Switching her hands, the goth removed the tape and read the case-- she snickered, "You're not gonna believe it."

"What?" Danny couldn't help but feel a smile crawl onto his face against his will. Sam had a pretty contagious laugh.

She moved the VHS from her body, wordlessly showing off the case to the boys. The cover was of a group of grungy adults in baggy clothes pretending to be modern teens. The font for the title was made up of different cutouts from newspapers and magazines, it was the only thing in color on the case.

Clerks

'The low down on the over-the-counter-culture.'

Tucker let out a nose sigh, "ironic."

"I-- I don't get it…"

#invisobang 2021 #invisobang #dp #danny phantom #teddy ghost #veggie burger #dash baxter #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #fic #my fic

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smilesthroughfandoms · 4 years

Text

What Your Favorite Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss Characters Says About You

Charlie: You think Disney Princess movies would be better if they let the princesses be gay and say the f-word.

Vaggie: You’re a lesbian simp, and that’s valid.

Angel Dust: You either connect with him on some sort of level or you want to screw him... or both...

Alastor: You either like his aesthic, are happy to have Aro/Ace representation, or you want to screw him... or some odd combo of the above.

Husk: Look, I can’t prove you weren’t apart of the Szechuan Sauce riots a couple years back, but I can’t not prove it either.

Niffty: You stanned Pinkie Pie unironically.

Mimzy: You’re just vibing in the fandom and that’s valid.

Baxter: You think the “Mad Scientist” trope is underrated.

Crymini: You were apart of the TikTok group that screwed Donald Trump’s rallies and I admire you SO MUCH

Cherri Bomb: You liked Izzy from the Total Drama franchise a little to much.

Sir Pentious: You think Zuko’s redemption arc is overrated. As far as you’re concerned, Dr. Doofenshmirtz has the best character arc of all time.

Valentino: I’m afraid of you.

Vox: You liked Firelord Ozai and White Diamond a little to much.

Velvet: You KINNED Pinkie Pie unironically.

Rosie: You’re convinced Mary Poppins has a body count she’s not telling anyone about.

Fat Nuggets: You are a firm believer in CUTE 👏 PETS 👏 HAVING 👏 RIGHTS 👏.

Helsa: You relate to Regina George on a spiritual level.

Blitzo: You think offensive humor is a criminally underappreciated in our modern time.

Moxxie: You either had an Invader Zim phase in middle school or you’re going through an The Office phase now.

Millie: I have no joke. You are just genuinly good person... Unless you want to screw her in which case you’re valid but stop she’s married.

Loona: You’re a furry.

Stolas: You take being horny on main to an entirely new level.

Octavia: You like goth girls.

Stella: Your favorite subreddits are the revenge based kind.

Andrelphus: He hasn’t even showed up yet you thirsty mofos!

Verosika: You want to be stepped on.

Tex: You’re a Furry but I’m directing it more at the MLM crowd.

RoboFizz: You are a simp. I’ve seen the tumblr tags and believe me, I could say a lot worse.

Fizzaroli: You are a simp and I mean that both affectionatly and derogatorily.

Asmodeus (Ozzie): You want to be stepped on but I’m directing it (again) at the MLM crowd.

Mrs. Mayberry: You think Matilda would’ve been a lot better if Ms. Honey just let loose and slapped a bitch.

Loopty Goopty: You know for a fact Willy Wonka has a body count.

Lyle Lipton: Your first fictional crush was either Bigweld from Robots or Dr. Eggman from Sonic

Paimon: You are not good at “daddying” but you MIGHT be a daddy.

Cash Buckzo: You are not good at “daddying” and you are definitely NOT a daddy.

Crimson: The Godfather is not a good movie to base your entire personality on you stop that.

Chazz: Your real name is Chad and I totally believe your pee-pee is big /s

Cletus: You think being condescending is a personality trait

Keenie: You’re the star of at least 3 Entitled Parent stories on reddit.

Collins: You are a doormat. Stand up for yourself more.

Deerie: Your name is Karin. Yes spelled exactly like that.

Striker: Thristy Simps, all of you.

Sallie May: You're cool. No joke. You're Just cool.

Wally Wackford: Your favorite trope is Wacky Shenanigans in which hijinx ensue.

Agent One/Agent Two: You think liking the Men in Black franchise qualifies as having a personality.

Eddie: You are literally twelve, how are you here right now.

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whatdoesshedotothem · 3 years

Text

Tues[day] 14 October 1834

10 55/..

A tolerable kiss last night weight of two blankets and quilt rather much she a

little exhausted and said ‘it is killing work’ of which I took no notice but seemed

to sleep – at my desk at 8 – h[a]d Pickells to ask to cart a few st[one] fr[om] here

to raise the b[a]ck kitch[e]n shed at Denmark or the roof w[oul]d be too flat – h[a]d Mallinson to

beg to ta[ke] his men off and finish the shoe-black place in a few days – yes!

s[ai]d I, I ha[ve] no object[io]n – b[u]t they will f[i]nd the job done when they co[me] b[a]ck –

I shall cert[ainl]y n[o]t wait – finish[e]d my let[ter] (3 p[ages] and ends the 1st p[age] writ[ten] last

Wed[nesday]) to IN- [Isabella Norcliffe] br[eak]f[a]st at 9 1/2 in 35 min[ute]s – wr[ote] the ab[ov]e of th[i]s p[age] till 10 25/.. when my

a[un]t’s sofa ca[me] fr[om] Greenw[oo]ds – cush[io]n a bad fit – d[o]wnst[ai]rs w[i]th Ch[arle]s H- [Howarth] th[e]n w[i]th my a[un]t

at my desk ag[ai]n at 11 3/4 – k[i]nd let[ter] to IN- [Isabella Norcliffe] daily think[in]g of writ[in]g to h[e]r moth[e]r – she the last

I sh[oul]d neglect to pay ev[er]y attent[io]n to in my pow[e]r – th[an]ks for the br[ace] of pheas[an]ts and br[ace] of part[ridge]

th[a]t arriv[e]d th[i]s dayw[ee]k and for the leveret to my a[un]t 19 June – she d[i]d n[o]t write bec[ause] now ev[e]n

writ[in]g to me is ‘alm[o]st too gr[ea]t an exert[io]n – She s[e]nds h[e]r love, and bids me say, we oft[e]n

‘talk of you – I th[in]k she is, all th[in]gs consid[ere]d, marvelous[l]y well – She suffers a martyrd[o]m;

‘b[u]t h[e]r gen[era]l health rem[ai]ns s[u]ch th[a]t we none of us see an[y] near dang[e]r – my fath[e]r is beco[me] ver[y]

‘feeble; b[u]t it is mere[l]y the feebleness of 82, w[i]thout pain’ – h[a]s just g[o]t a German phaeton

and air[in]g ab[ou]t does h[i]m good – say how busy I am, and co[me] in too tir[e]d ‘to snatch the ti[me] I might

‘ha[ve] bet[ween] din[ner] and go[in]g to my a[un]t – we each of us pay h[e]r a reg[ula]r daily vis[i]t, besides

occas[iona]l poppings-in – She gets out on the terrace on a fine day’ – ask quest[io]ns

for IN- [Isabella Norcliffe] to ans[we]r ab[ou]t th[e]ms[elves] –if go[in]g to Bath, etc – ment[io]n our arriv[in]g at ho[me] on the 30th Aug[u]st

aft[e]r a delightful tour – enjoy[e]d ours[elves] exceed[ingl]y – ‘She’ (A- [Adney]) ‘is a capit[a]l trav[elle]r – we

‘d[i]d a gr[ea]t deal – m[u]ch mo[re] th[a]n man[y] w[oul]d bel[ieve], w[i]thout see[in]g it – Her being s[u]ch a good

‘rider, w[a]s ev[er]yth[in]g for us – oth[er]wise, I mys[elf] sh[oul]d ha[ve] been afr[ai]d for her – our tastes

181

1834

Oct[obe]r

‘harmonize so well, th[a]t, deo volunte, we shall prob[abl]y be off ag[ai]n as soon as our

‘divers circumst[ance]s permit – we really get on admirab[l]y – one of th[e]se days, you m[u]st

‘co[me] and see – I w[a]s delight[e]d to find my Lond[on] friends think[in]g me ver[y] wise, and to find A-‘s [Adney]

‘shyness wear[in]g off amazing[l]y – In looks she is cert[ainl]y improv[e]d – Howev[e]r, I am ver[y]

‘comf[orta]ble; and ev[er]ybod[y] in the h[ou]se is satisf[ie]d’ – Geo[rge] ver[y] m[u]ch improv[e]d – h[a]d a mule for h[i]m

and took h[i]m ev[ery]where – in gr[ea]t hope he will turn out a Fisher – on[l]y want a Burnett

‘B[u]t A- [Adney] und[er]st[an]ds keep[in]g h[ou]se bet[ter] th[a]n I do, so th[a]t I am bet[ter] off th[a]n form[erl]y’ – ment[io]n

Myers’s job done for ab[ou]t £56 – our new wheels w[oul]d hard[l]y bring us ho[me] – ha[ve] s[e]nt the carr[ia]ge to Baxter

(Long Acre) to be done as per up est[a]te £150 – ‘my love to all at the Rectory’ writ[ten]

und[e]r the seal – r[ea]d a lit[tle] th[e]n w[i]th A- [Adney] till aft[e]r 3 – off w[i]th her to H- [Halifax] at 3 20/.. – bef[ore] gett[in]g

to the top of the bank a few dr[ops] of rain made us turn b[a]ck – left A- [Adney] at ho[me] and off ag[ai]n alone at 3 3/4 d[o]wn

the o[ld] b[ank] to Mr. Park[e]rs’ off[i]ce – left a mess[age] for Mr. Adam (Mr. P- [Parker] fr[om] ho[me]) to co[me] at 10 a.m. tomor[row]

w[e]nt to Greenw[oo]ds’ to f[i]nd fault ab[ou]t my a[un]ts’ sofa cush[io]n (vid[ere] line 9 of today) – put int[o] the

post my let[ter] to ‘Miss Norcliffe, Langton hall, Malton’ – so[me] whi[le] at Whitley and Booths’ –

b[ou]ght and br[ou]ght away Rennies’ catechism of nat[ura]l theol[og]y and n°1 pub[lishe]d th[i]s m[on]th of Millars Gard[ne]rs’ dict[ionary]

[octavo] new improve[e]d ed[itio]n and ord[ere]d my na[me] putt[in]g d[o]wn as a subscrib[e]r – ho[me] at 5 1/2 – din[ner] at

6 – coff[ee] – A- [Adney] won 3 hits and a gamm[o]n to my gamm[o]n – w[i]th my a[un]t 20 min[ute]s till 9 3/4 –th[e]n rubb[e]d

A-‘s [Adney] b[a]ck of neck w[i]th brandy 23 min[ute]s – fine day, and ev[enin]g – the dr[op] or 2 of r[ai]n (line 8 ab[ov]e)

held off – Midgley and anoth[e]r mason and 1 lad at Geo[rge]’s shoe-bl[a]ck-place, beg[a]n wall[in]g

it off – Ch[arle]s and Ja[me]s H- [Howarth] at door closet bet[ween] lib[rar]y and blue r[oo]m clos[e]t and Ch[arle]s go[in]g to H[alifa]x ab[ou]t locks

F[ahrenheit] 54° at 10 35/.. p.m.

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silyabeeodess · 4 years

Text

FusionFall Headcanons: Blossom

After Buttercup’s disappearance, Blossom fell into a deep state of grief. She started becoming more distant and her grades began to falter in school. The main thing she was able to do to cope after struggling to find Buttercup over the course of weeks was to pour herself into her role as a superhero. It helped to have the intense battles to turn to as a distraction, burying her feelings behind the fact that she and Bubbles still had to care for Townsville and then help save the world at large once Fuse invaded Earth.

In the mission “Remember Buttercup,” it’s revealed that Blossom doesn’t talk about Buttercup’s disappearance with Prof. Utonium. It seems likely that it might be due to a sense of guilt, since she is the leader of the PPG and feel personally responsible as a result. However, Dexter seems to have some inside knowledge since he personally mentions her still being very emotional over the matter. This, tied to Dexter’s direct connection to Blossom through the player as a Guide, makes me think that they likely have a connection prior to the invasion.

While the two would’ve grown up in different areas (Pokey Oaks and Genius Grove, respectively) and at different rates since Dexter advanced rapidly through his education, there’s the possibility that Professor Utonium might be the bridge between them. Dexter’s a boy genius, but many of his inventions/experiments have led to a lot trouble in the past, so Utonium would’ve been a good role model for him. The former wouldn’t be as interested in the PPG’s creation so much as the creation of things such as the Powerpuff Dynamo due to a heavier investment in robotics, and from engaging with the Professor would inevitably meet the PPG themselves. From there, Blossom’s and Dexter’s shared, studious hobbies and close age would allow a good relationship to form between them--enough so for Blossom to confide in Dexter over her more buried feelings.

Blossom was very happy to learn about “Buttercup’s” survival during the events of the mission, “I’m Still Standing,” but she doesn’t wholly agree with letting her stay with Ace. Sure, she wants her sister to do whatever is needed in order to get her memories back as soon as possible; however, beyond it not making logical sense to keep her away from her family, Blossom is also concerned of how Ace and the other members of the Gangreen Gang would abuse the situation--especially given how Ace already manipulated Buttercup in the episode, “Buttercrush.” As such, while the Professor is more ok with letting the situation work itself out, Blossom is keeping an eye on things in secret through the Fusion Fighters who work under her and subtle questioning.

She’s fine being a leadership position in Sector V and can run a tight ship; however, due to her more mature nature, Blossom doesn’t always get along with the many KND operatives stationed there--with even Dexter calling her a “tough task master” in “Home Invaders.” At times, they see her as a wet blanket, nagging them and ruining what little fun they’re allowed thanks to the war. It took a bit for them to get used to her, even with those that looked up to her as a hero already. It helped that Numbuh Two put her in contact with Numbuh Five, and the girls were able to help each other with where they struggle as leaders: Numbuh Five encouraged Blossom to loosen up more and rely on those under her to also help lead while Blossom encouraged Numbuh Five to be more confident in her role and not let the past weigh her down. They’ve only met in-person a couple of times, but do make good friends. Meanwhile, Blossom’s growth is shown in little ways as can be seen in mission arcs like “Blossom’s Picnic Panic,” in which she’d planned the event with Numbuh Two.

As a leader, she oversees the Fusion Fighters stationed in Sector V as a whole with different people handling separate areas under her. People may go directly to her to report for missions, but she isn’t as involved in things like basic training or specialized fields.

While I wouldn’t go so far as to call her high-maintenance, she does care about her appearance. Getting scuffed up in a fight is unavoidable, but as soon as the battle’s over, she’s going to want a nice, hot bath and comb away whatever awful state her hair got into. She just feels more refreshed and comfortable that way. She likes visiting Grim’s Gardens’ in her off-time and their strawberries and cream line of products.

She’s still an avid bookworm and prefers physical copies to digital ones.

As seen in the episode “Documentary,” the PPG have both a store and TV show (heh) based after them--which is likely where Lenny Baxter got most of his merch of them back in “Collect Her” and where Frankie got her PPG shirt. We can find this store--albeit with a different sign/layout--in Townsville Center. Since the girls were so young when the business started, Prof. Utonium was in charge of keeping up with how the company used the girls’ likeness. Now that they’re older though, they’ve been learning how to take on that responsibility themselves--with Blossom being the most invested.

#fusionfall #headcanons #video games

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novelistash · 3 years

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Life Simulators

Tinkering with life simulators are a guilty pleasure for me. The chaos of procedurally generated lives keep me far too interested. My mind fills in the blanks creating the story of these rich lives. It kind of goes against what I was talking about yesterday, but I think I said it was an issue up for debate? Well, if I didn't, you can basically say that about everything. Newtonian Physics was the only way to view the Universe until it wasn't after all.

Anyway, I'm going to drop the life of Alexandra Miller, a character who was able to live most of her life with perfect stats. Is this for posterity or just for me to keep a semi-obsessive record? Also this might be in multiple parts. Hmm, maybe I should turn this into an exercise.

Born in Sydney, Australia, my parents conceived me on a nude beach. Cate Miller, my mother, never knew who my father was, and never cared to find out. She was a 40 year old history teacher. She quickly found and married Samuel Hornsby, a 33 year-old army enlistee with a son, Kobe.

Alexandra (Lex) had trouble getting along with her new family at first. Samuel didn't want to take 3 year old Lex to the zoo when she asked, and she got into a fight with Kobe where she got so mad that she licked him on the forehead.

To help Lex feel welcome, Cate got her daughter a boxer named Baxter! Lex was very serious about taking care of Baxter, giving him baths at the age of 4 and feeding peas for treats. Her family warmed up to her, with Kobe talking to Lex about how scary the toilet was and Samuel discussing Lex's imaginary friend.

When Lex started school, she was anxious about the other kids. Some of them didn't seem to like her. In particular Ariana was always giving Lex the stink eye. Lex tried to be her friend. Ariana responded by telling Lex to jump off and calling her a sausage shark! Lex gave up on trying to make peace with Ariana and instead tried to be nice to everyone in class, showering them with compliments. She became friends with Ayla, the first girl to talk to her, as well as the smart cookie Clive. Lex cared so much about her grades in Kindergarten that she studied until her eyes were sore.

At the age of 6 Lex went to Pompei with her family and starting taking piano lessons. She learned to enjoy reading, finishing Corduroy and Stellaluna by herself.

At age 7, Lex became friends with revolutionary Archie and stylish Eleanor. One of her fondish memories of her father Samuel happened this year, when he took her sky diving! Afterwards, he gave her a compass that had been in his family for three generations. Whenever Lex was lost, she could look at the compass and know where to go.

When I turned 8, Lex's step brother Kobe became a cadet for the Sydney Police Department and moved out of the house. Continuing this theme of people leaving her, Baxter ran away from home. With compass in hand, Lex looking for her dog and found him hiding in a bush! They ate lemons together and hated it. In addition to piano lessons, Lex started taking taekwondo and voice lessons and dreamed of becoming a pop star.

An avid reader and compulsive studier, Lex was having trouble with her eyes at age 9, but the optometrist said she wouldn't need glasses if she just studied in the light. When she got a yellow belt, she learned how to perform the eagle strike in taekwondo.

Lex was content that some people would never like her, but those that showed her kindness, she'd always go out of her way to talk to them. She felt extremely luck to have so many amazing people in her life.

Kobe became a Patrolman, but Lex's 11th year would be anything but safe. Lex fell out of bed and hurt her jugular. She was bed ridden for 5 days. Baxter got in a street fight with another dog and died. Ayla helped Lex get over losing her dog and the two became best friends.

Sixth grade was the year of the great Disney movie debate, where Lex's entire class argued about which was the best Disney movie. Clive wanted to sneak into a neighbor's house to get a box of Reese's Puffs, but Lex stopped him from taking a suspicious risk. Lex was finally old enough to go to the library by herself and she started going there every week.

At the start of secondary school, Lex joined the school's orchestra! She did 26 hours of babysitting for a neighbor. She tried out for water polo but had too much trouble breathing to focus on the ball at the same time. She started going to the local gym and focus on breath control. Lex found that diving helped her get better and ended up joining the diving team instead. She started working with her mother on the garden. Her mother Cate said that the garden always reminded her of Lex.

Lex will always remember the day before her fourteenth birthday, because she met a boy from another school, Chase Edwards. After spending some time together, Chase asked to kiss her and she gave him her first kiss. When she felt him opening his lips she pulled back and decided not to spend any more time with him. A few months later, Lex went to a party with Ayla. Ayla spun the bottle and it landed on Lex. Ayla seemed like she wasn't sure if she was ready to kiss a boy, so Lex went into the closet with her. Once they were inside, Lex realized that she wanted to kiss Ayla, but didn't have the courage to try anything. Their seven minutes in heaven turned into seven minutes that were very much on Earth. Lex vowed to not live life in fear and focused on her taekwondo, earning her blue belt. While at the gym training for dive, she was asked out by Connor Robinson, and agreed to date him. Lex did work as a babysitter and lawn mower, and used that money to pay for her first mani-pedi. She joined instagram just to show off her nails. She was meditating a lot on the nature of the world and joined her school's recycling club. If all of that wasn't enough, she started taking guitar lessons.

Lex and her acne ridden boyfriend, Connor, snuck into Lex's attic, and found her mom's camcorder. There wasn't anything interesting. Lex became her orchestra's section leader and her mom, Cate, gave her a BMW after acing her driving test. Feeling like an adult, 15 year old Lex decided to go on birth control, and her mom had no objections. Ayla joined the art club, and Lex partied with her and her friends. She realized that she still had feelings for Ayla, but Ayla confessed that she was into one of her club mates and so Lex decided not to act on her feelings and stay with Connor. Ayla got a boyfriend and Lex felt like she was ready to commit to Connor.

Her sixteenth birthday was an emotional high point for Lex, and she felt like she was happy for no real reason. She became concertmaster of her school's orchestra. Everything was going great and she decided that she wanted to take things to the next level with Connor. Connor wasn't interested in sex before marriage, so she broke up with him. Her friend, Clive, helped her get over the break up by getting mani-pedis with her and they became best friends. Ayla had recently become single and so against Clive's advice, Lex decided to ask Ayla out on a date. Ayla rejected her, but said that she was willing to still be friends. Lex wasn't over her but gave up after her attempts at flirting continued to go nowhere. Lex's tutoring gig let her work with grown men from college. Clive thought one client was a pimp.

Kobe became a Corporal, Lex became dive team captain, and the family had a big party to celebrate. Lex told all of her friends that she was pansexual and everyone was more interested in going to the movies.

Lex decided to study biology at university. She met Charlie Edgecliff at the gym and asked him out. On their first date Charlie took her yodeling. After going to the movies, Lex gave her virginity to him. Lex joined the university's orchestra and swim team. For Charlie's 20th birthday, Lex took him cliff diving. They had a serious talk about cloning and decided that it would be cheating to hook up with a clone of your partner.

Lex's ex boyfriend Connor went to Lex's 19th birthday party and tried to get back together with her. Lex told him off without needing to use her brown belt in taekwondo. Between swim team, uni, and hooking up with Charlie, Lex was not only busy, but happy.

Lex became the section leader in her orchestra and somehow found time to do tutoring to pay for the many dates she went on with Charlie. She wanted to look her best for him and got Brazilians and laid on the tanning bed. She loved her body and her boyfriend, but one day at the tanning bed, she got out and threw up all over the floor. When she went to the doctor, they told her she had skin cancer. Lex had maybe five years to live. Lex couldn't accept that, she needed to try other options. When Lex talked to Connor about going to see a witch doctor, he laughed at her. She broke up with him and saw a spiritualist from Mexico. The woman told Lex to eat chihuahua hair as part of a ritual. Lex did and her cancer was miraculously gone! The 20 year old Lex had a new lease on life and she wasn't about to spend that life being single. She met the buff Kylie Mills, and dated her. Within a week they were not only girlfriends, but they were talking about moving in together.

At the age of 21, Lex took her girlfriend Kylie to Kobe's marriage. Sergeant Kobe had married a school teacher, Kiara. At the reception, Lex's old friend Archie joked with her about how weird it was that he was dating one of his mom's coworkers, even if she was only 34. Lex liked Archie's dark humor and the two became best friends. Lex kept tutoring, swimming, playing, studying, and dating. She climbed up onto a try with Kylie and school children taunted them to kiss. They made out while the sun set.

The love of Lex's life, Kylie, graduated and became a Pilot Trainee for Salls Air. Kobe and Kiara divorced after having only been together for thirteen months. Six months later, Kobe was a father to a little girl named Kylie. After graduation, 22 year old Lex got a job as a Jr. Environmental Scientist at Pacific Consulting.

Not hindered by his divorce, Kobe got promoted to Inspector. 23 year old Lex, put everything she had into her job, working more and more overtime. She was determined to buy her own place and marry the woman she loved. Things wouldn't be the same as Kobe.

Kobe had another daughter, a girl named Hazel. No one really talked about who the mother was, but they were proud of him for taking her into his family. Lex's research discovered that used condoms were threatening the lives of duck billed platypus, so she engineered a biodegradable condom. This got her a promotion at work. Feeling like she could do anything, the 24 year old Lex read War and Peace. She purchased a ring of alexandrite and proposed to Kylie. She said "yes." They were going to get married!

At Cate's retirement party, Lex realized she'd been with Kylie for 5 years! Thought the two were madly in love, Kylie's financials were in doubt. She had a lot of debt and her job wasn't even covering her student loans. At Lex's mom's retirement part, she learned that Cate was actually independently wealthy, owning some 3 million dollars in stocks and bonds. Lex's brother was the one who brought this up, because he was pretty sure the two of them were going to get a million dollars each. He told Lex to look out for Kylie, because she could divorce her and take hundreds of thousands from her. Lex knew in her heart that she could trust Kylie, but when she saw a male proustite on the street, she found herself tempted. Maybe their relationship wasn't perfect. The still Jr. Engineer, Lex, asked her boss for a promotion, but despite having come up with a new condom, she was denied.

For Lex's 26th birthday, she went to Comic Con with her coworker Bella and her friend Eleanor. Eleanor became her best friend. Lex worked while sick with the common cold and got a raise. She applied for a mortgage and bought a town home on Evans Manor. Her mom had to help her pay for the place, because Kylie's financials were all tied up in her debt.

After celebrating Lex's niece Kylie's birthday, her fiance, Kylie wanted to get married. Lex was still house poor and asked her parents to pay for the wedding. They agreed. They were going to be wed within the year. Lex had a short battle with athlete's foot. She was really starting to think of her own mortality and the mortality of her mother. After going paintballing with her step father, Lex decided that Kylie needed to sign a prenup. When Kylie refused, Lex made her promise to wait to get married until Kylie could stand on her own two feet. Kylie wasn't happy and the two stopped having sex. Lex begged Kylie to go to couples counseling, but Kylie wouldn't try. It was then that Lex knew she needed to end things with her fiance. The 27 year old Lex cut down on her hours at work and decided to focus on herself. She had a one night stand with Archie Irvine and realized that it wasn't for her. She wanted something long term and went online to date Ariana Evans. Their first date was a parkour exercise. And even though things went well, Lex wasn't ready to start getting physical with Ariana. Ariana told Lex that she was willing to take things slow.

After giving her all to a company that didn't seem to appreciate her and a fiance that wanted everything, it was only after Lex stopped caring that things finally started to change. At age 28, Lex was finally promoted to Environmental Scientist. Ariana took Lex for a photoshoot to celebrate and the two finally got physical. It was then that Ariana admitted to Lex that she didn't need to work. She was independently wealthy, being worth nearly 5 million dollars from her family's wealth. Lex threw a party at her house and Ariana was content to live separately.

Lex was falling for Ariana, but she didn't want her to think she was after her fortune. She asked her mother to pay for the wedding, and Cate agreed. Lex bought a $500 platinum ring and proposed to the millionaire, Ariana. Lex took Ariana to a football game and proposed on screen. Ariana said "yes!"

At the age of 30, Lex finally married Ariana. There was only one catch, a prenup. Lex laughed and agreed to the prenup, explaining that her mom was also wealthy. When the time came to go on a honeymoon, the two women realized they'd rather just stay local and be with friends and family. Lex took Ariana's last name, becoming Alexandra Evans.

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priffi · 4 years

Text

AU where Frostbite finds out about Nova’s identity in the beginning of Supernova

I wrote this at 2 am. Slightly edited. One-shot.

Triggers: small suicide attempt. Angst. A sprinkle of fluff if u squint.

Our fandom just stopped posting content for 3 weeks or something. Someone has to break the silence.

If this makes you cry please reblog Spread the sadness! The angst! Let everyone get some! There’s plenty to go around!

You know what they say...sprinkle kindness angst like it’s confetti

Words: 2236

——————————

Nova knew that walking into Renegade Headquarters was a mistake from the moment she stepped foot in.

No one, except Danna, knew about her secret identity yet. But now, seeing Genissa Clark’s careless smirk, she was having second thought. She noticed Raymond Stern, Stingray, whispering to Genissa but also making a subtle gesture pointing towards Nova. He had been the only one on Clark’s team that was not neutralized the night before, when Nova had broken in as Nightmare to retrieve Ace’s helmet. Genissa was mad about losing her powers, as were her teammates Mack Baxter, formerly Aftershock; and Trevor Dunn, formerly Gargoyle.

Thinking back to a few months ago, when Nova had defeated him at the trials and joined her enemies’ organization as a spy for the Anarchists. Now, all of a sudden, she felt like her identity was out and exposed. The way Genissa had smirked, the whispering of Stingray, and even his small gestures at Nova made her sick to her stomach. Not wanting to second guess herself, she ran out, rushing through the revolving doors, where the press and media were waiting. Running through the crowd, she ran towards the house on Wallowridge.

Opening the door, she looked for something that could free Danna, finally settling on a jar of honey. She ripped the wristband off and set it on the countertop. Nova quickly grabbed her duffel bag, her belongings, and made her way toward the room that she kept the jar with Danna’s butterfly in. Throwing the jar of honey at it, she quietly whispered, “Goodbye,” before opening the window and watching it fly out. Running down the stairs, she ran towards the city boundaries, hoping no one was following her. As she looked past the water, she noticed one cargo ship just about to depart.

Nova started sprinting, just in time as the ship left the pier and when no one was looking. She figured that by this point, the Renegades knew she was Nightmare and were charging for the house, only to find it empty. But no one, excluding Danna or someone who might have been following her, would know that she was on the ship. Pacing around, she found a small area she could hide away in. Little did she know, the Sentinel had seen the entire thing and was now coming up with a plan to jump aboard the ship.

Adrian knew something was wrong once he saw all the damage (for the second time, but only Oscar, Ruby, and Max knew about that) at headquarters. He knew it was all Nightmare's fault. But it wasn’t just seeing all the havoc wreaked upon the building that made something seem different.

Rather, it was the fact that Nova wasn’t there.

Every Renegade had been told to come. What reason would Nova have to not come?

Adrian himself had come to HQ early with his dads. But even with the extra time between when he arrived and the moment, it still felt like a long while.

“Oscar,” He whispered quickly. “Cover for me. I gotta check on Nova real quick.”

“Got your back. Make it quick, though.”

Just before he left, he saw Genissa Clark smirk towards someone near the revolving doors When he looked in that direction, there was no one.

Except Nova.

She had rushed through, but why would she have left so quickly? He called her name, but she had already disappeared. Racing after her, he saw Nova rushing toward her house. By the time he arrived at the house, she was not in sight. But he noticed a black and orange butterfly fly out one of the windows.

Danna.

What was she doing?

Looking around the corner, Nova was sprinting towards the city limits, most likely the pier, with a black duffel bag that looked very familiar.

Where had he seen it before?

Regaining his thoughts, he ducked into an alley to transform into the Sentinel. As the familiar suit engulfed him, he began catching up to Nova. Even though he was using the springs, Adrian was still unable to keep up.

As the distance between them got shorter and shorter, the river was in sight. He watched as Nova leaped onto a ship that had just departed. Suddenly stopping as he approached the waters, Adrian noticed her pace around the deck, then finally settling on a space. He knew he would regret this if he missed, but if he hesitated any longer then Nova would get away. Contemplating his choices once more, he ran and jumped, soaring over the flowing, calming blue water.

Right as Nova was settling into the place she had set up, she saw the Sentinel land on the ship, slightly shaking it and the cargo with a sudden jolt.

“What are you doing here, Sentinel?” Nova asked.

Without replying, the Sentinel stepped closer, then pressed a hand to his chest, as she watched the suit unfold, revealing the face of none other than Adrian Everhart.

Sketch.

The boy she fell in love with.

“Nova, I was so worried about you. You didn’t show, and you left as quick as you came. What’s with all the rush? Why are you on a ship that’s leaving Gatlon?”

“Nothing. I just won’t be living in Gatlon. It’s too scary, brings too many bad memories一I can’t stay. You need to go before you can’t get back.”

Adrian cupped her cheeks. They were hot, but it was a nervous and panic heat rather than a blush. “What is it, Nova? You can trust me. I’m here for you. And I will not leave until you tell me what it is.”

Internally, Nova was panicking. What should she do? Follow her heart or her mind? Surely whatever feelings Adrian once had for her would disappear once she told him一that is, if he didn’t find out himself after seeing the duffle bag. But he paid no attention to it. After a moment of hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers. Nova pulled away too soon for Adrian’s liking.

“Please go. You don’t understand. You hate me. Go before it’s too late. I don’t care that you’re the Sentinel. But leave. I won’t let you have it any other way.” Nova said.

“Nova, just tell me what it is. I don’t hate you. I never will. I love you Nova, ever since the first time I saw you. I want to help you.”

“Adrian, you won’t understand. You’ll hate me. Get off the boat. Now.” Nova insisted.

“Nova, listen to me!” Adrian shouted. “Tell me. I want to know. I’ll help you make everything easy. I can help you, you just have to say what it is.”

“You can’t make it easy. It doesn’t work that way. I love you, Adrian, but you hate me. There’s nothing that’s going to change the fact. I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. But I don’t want to get you involved. You have absolutely nothing you can do about it. So if you truly love me, you don’t know the ugly truth. If you truly love me, you’ll listen to me. Please.” Her heart beat faster. In her mind, it was a full-out war. Love against hate. Truth against lie. But the truth was too dangerous. It would be best if he could forget about her altogether.

“I will never let you go.” Tears were streaming down his cheeks, one after the other, following the trail of the previous one. His eyes glinted with unshod tears. “I won’t. Because I love you. And nothing’s ever going to change that. I swear.”

An awkward moment of silence passed. But he would be here forever if she didn’t tell him the truth. The real Nova Artino. Nightmare. An Anarchist who tried to kill his father, along with destroying their organization and endangering everyone he loved. Beneath the lie, she was a villain. A failure. A monster. It would have come to this eventually, one way or another. But she never expected to fall in love. And that’s what made her situation utterly impossible. If she put him to sleep, he might wake up much later out at sea with no way to get back to Gatlon. If she kept telling him to leave, it would come to the point that he wouldn’t be able to leave. But the truth was much more dangerous than she had ever imagined. Over and over again, her mind fought.

“I can’t take it anymore!” She shouted. Closing her eyes to block out the conflict, internal and external, she forgot about the gunshots.

Bang.

She shrank to the ground, pressing her palms to her ears to block out the sound. But they were etched into her mind. The low rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. Rain was starting to pour.

“Just let me die! I have no reason to live!” Grabbing a gun from her duffel, she held it to her heart and stood up.

Pull the trigger, Nova.

Pull the trigger.

“I’ll get to see Mama and Papa and Evie again.” Finger pressing to the trigger, she started to squeeze when she felt the gun snatched out of her hand.

“Nova! I don’t care! I can’t live life without you. You’ve been through so much. Your life has been tough. But don’t give up. Stay with me. Your life is too precious. If you truly love me, you’ll tell me the truth. You’ll trust me. I don’t like secrets, but I need you here with me.”

Nova took a deep breath in, then exhaled. What choice did she really have?

“I’m Nightmare. There. The honest truth You hate me for real now. All I’ve done is ruin your life. Yes, you heard that correctly. I’m the Anarchist Nightmare. I’m Ace Anarchy’s niece, Nova Artino.” The ship had come to a full stop at nearby land.

“Nova Artino. You’re his niece. And Nightmare.” He said, slowly.

Nova couldn’t quite read his facial expression.

“We’ll get off this ship. Return to Gatlon. No one will know, except for us. For now, I don’t care about any of the secret identities. As long as you’re okay, I’ll be okay.”

They found a staircase which they could get off the boat from. A cyclone of wings descended down.

Danna.

Nova suddenly straightened her back. “Danna, I’m so sorry I did any of those things to you. If I could turn back time, I would willingly do so.”

“Nova, we’ll talk about it later. What were you two thinking?” Danna asked. “It’s raining, there’s a thunderstorm, and you’re on a ship leaving Gatlon? Both of you need to consider your personal safety! You guys disappeared without a trace for so long, we thought you were dead!”

“Of course it was dangerous. You think I didn’t know that?” Adrian said.

“Your actions truly show it.” Danna retorted.

“You two better head back, then, Adrian, give me my bag.” Nova said.

Adrian didn’t move.

“Adrian, please.”

“No. I won’t let you have it. We’re not leaving without you.” Adrian stated, his voice firm.

Before she could change her mind, she leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. She let her power roll through, and he fell forward. Nova lowered him onto the ground.

“Danna, I’m sorry.”

Barely brushing her finger on Danna’s forearm, she slumped into Nova’s arms, then set her on the ground next to Adrian. She had been very gentle with her power, using as force as she did to Callum the night before. The two of them would wake up refreshed. Talking into Danna’s wristband, she sent a message to Ruby and Oscar, notifying the two of them about their coordinates. In Adrian’s pocket, she left a note.

I love you. But it won’t work out. I will never forget you.

“I’m sorry,” Nova whispered to their figures. The rain seemed to have heard her and, miraculously, slowed a bit. Glancing one more time at Adrian, she ran off toward the horizon.

Adrian woke up feeling refreshed, like he had just woken up from a power nap. His thoughts trailed back to the little memory he had of Nova before she put him to sleep. Looking up, he saw all five Council members, as well as Ruby, Oscar, and Danna, standing around him.

“Where...where am I?” He asked no one in particular. “Where’s Nova?”

It was Thunderbird who answered. “She must have left Gatlon.” An awkward moment of silence passed. “Nova was the one to notify us of your whereabouts.”

“She’s Nightmare. Ace Anarchy’s niece.”

“We know,” said Hugh. “We failed her family. And Georgia.” His dad sounded like he was about to shatter like glass. Adrian couldn’t fathom the fact that she was gone and there was no way of finding her. Standing up, he searched his pockets for a marker, but couldn’t find one. Instead, he felt a slip of paper.

I love you, it read. But it won’t work out. I will never forget you.

Looking toward where the sun was setting, he felt a spark of hope that she would come running into his arms, where he could protect her from the past trauma of her family’s murders and the gunshots. But no one moved, or spoke. The earth fell silent and still, even if just for a moment.

“And I’ll never forget you.”

#trt #lit

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thedyingmoon · 5 years

Text

💜 This I Promise 💜

***

XL. Tension

***

Ivanna Dawk looked at all the people who were present on her family’s modest dining room that evening.

She looked at her left and saw her mommy sitting beside her, with her daddy situated at the end of the long table. Her elder sister Rosemarie sat at her daddy’s left side, and just beside her was the lady who was referred to as Baxter. She was wearing glasses, which struck the little girl as odd, since the lady never really wore glasses. At least that’s what she knew upon her numerous visits on her mansion. On Lady Baxter’s left side was her fiancé, the man who bakes super delicious treats, or Shining Man as she referred him. He looked as though he was feeling extra constipated for the evening, for a reason the little girl would never be able to fathom. Next to him was her elder brother Jonas, who seemed really proud of his position in the dining table, for next to him sat the man she called Eyebrows. He was situated opposite her daddy Nile at the other end of the table. Ivanna looked at her right and saw her cousin (F/N) looking very much uncomfortable with her place, and next to her on her right sat a man she had never seen before. The only thing she knew about him was that he was smiling a lot, was super tall, and refused to remove his black bowler hat.

The dark – clad family butler, whose hairline was beginning to recede, cleared his throat for seemingly like the fifth time during that evening as he waited for the man who refused to remove his bowler hat.

“Your hat, sir.” The butler said for the fifth time to the man.

Kenny frowned at him, making Ivanna flinch with the sudden mood change.

“Alright.” Kenny almost growled at the butler and removed his hat, slightly hesitant to give the thing to the aging servant. “Do take care of that, or else,…” he said the last sentence quietly and left it hanging for the butler to take the hint.

The man shivered at Kenny’s tone and bowed at him with utmost respect. He scurried hastily out of the room, informing the attendants to start serving dinner.

“I’m very honored to have everyone here for this evening!” Nile announced at the head of the table, his tone was unusually pleasant for the occasion. “I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Marie smiled inwardly at her husband, for she was the one who taught him to rehearse those obligatory words.

“But, I’ am deeply sorrowful for the absence of your sister, Mr. Smith.” Nile said to Eyebrows.

“She had something to attend to, you must forgive her.” Erwin answered his friend.

What the heck?! Erwin has a sister?! thought both Levi and Hange as they tried so hard to conceal their surprise from everyone.

Well, their surprise was not the only thing they had to contain that night, for nobody ever gave them the memo that Erwin Smith would be attending the dinner party.

The moment Erwin laid eyes on Elvis and Jacqueline, he instantly found out that they were his comrades in deep disguise. At first, he was mystified, but then, he realized that the rumored disappearance of two of the local Trost citizens’ migration documents linked to Levi and Hange’s presence here in Wall Sina. And he knew exactly the reason for the trouble his men have caused. In the course of just a few minutes, his annoyance at the two changed into utter amusement. They could do whatever they want here.

As long as they don’t interfere with his plans, or schemes, as they may have put it.

But, of course, Levi and Hange rightfully assumed that they were busted from the very beginning of that fateful evening. So, they couldn’t help but release a sigh of relief when Erwin chose not to make a commotion. The Commander just let them do what they want.

But, was it really a good thing?

On top of that, what’s even more alarming was the presence of Kenny Ackerman.

What the heck was Nile thinking to have invited such a notorious criminal in his dinner party, in the presence of his own family?! Levi thought savagely as he gave the man a sidewise glance.

But, what’s even more unsettling was his position just beside (F/N). The man looked at her too much, bumped into her often, and smiled at her a lot. He was not sure whether the man saw him through his disguise, but he only knew one thing: that (F/N) was growing more and more uncomfortable in his presence as time went by.

Kenny, on the other hand, was vastly enjoying himself with the amusement that Nile had offered him. Of course, he had already reported to Reiss that he had found the girl who took down half of Sutherland’s cult members, and was given the order by the noble, himself, to silence her as soon as possible.

In other words, (F/N)’s continuous healthy breathing was due to Kenny’s strong insistence to keep her alive for his amusement.

Well, that was until she got her memory back.

What’s more, he still wanted to find out the reason for his nephew's presence here in Wall Sina, and in actual, fucking disguise.

Did the stupid brat actually think that he hadn’t found out, yet?! He’s his uncle, for fuck’s sake!

He knew that uncle thing, didn’t he?

“I’ am also very honored to have you here in our presence, Captain Kenny Ac – “

“Glad to be here.” Kenny cut off Nile’s sentence and quickly took a swig of the rich red wine that was offered to him by one of the frightened female attendants.

“We’re glad that you’re still in good health after that long retirement, Captain.” Erwin uttered good – naturedly.

“Yeah, I thought I’d be done for.” Muttered Kenny sarcastically. The presence of the Commander of the Scouting Legion didn’t really please him, at all. The man struck him as extremely suspicious. Erwin Smith was known to evade the honorary migration offer for ages.

And for the man to accept it now? Especially during this time when Reiss and him were on a mission for purging?

He decided to be extra vigilant and to not let the retired Commander wander off his sight.

Erwin decided to be vigilant, as well. For, here is the man who was behind all those cult – connected murders all throughout the two Walls. The Guard Dog, himself. And he had Nile to thank to for bringing the elusive person here.

But, in turn, he must absolutely protect (F/N) at all costs. He knew really well that the reason for Kenny accepting Nile’s invitation was the innocent girl.

He knew deep in his being that Kenny had not made a move on her, yet, because he knew that she lost her memories.

And what will happen to her once she gets all her memories back?

Erwin shuddered at the thought of the man killing her.

He must, should, protect her.

Meanwhile, Jonas and Rosemarie could only guess what the tension between the men was for. The two cunning siblings knew that the reason for Shunerman’s stoic appearance was Erwin and Kenny. They knew that Kenny was keeping all eyes on Shunerman, Erwin, and (F/N). They knew that Erwin was alert at every move that Kenny made.

And (F/N)? Well, they’re beginning to have doubts for Erwin and their father for bringing her here.

Marie remained silent for the whole course.

What’s with men and their intense competition over a single woman? She thought as she took a dainty sip of the evening’s appetizer, a cold, gourmet potato soup.

Nile was absolutely nervous behind his dinner party host façade.

What, in Heaven’s name, have I done?! He thought helplessly as he observed Erwin throw daggers towards Kenny. He watched nervously as Kenny gave (F/N) more perverted glances. And he almost choked on his soup as he looked at Elvis gripping his spoon angrily at the sight of the Military Police Captain trying to have a conversation with the girl.

“How are you, Princess?” Kenny innocently asked (F/N), his predatory nature concealed through his docile smile.

“I’m good, thank you so much, Captain.” (F/N) replied, giving him an equally docile and innocent smile.

“You should enjoy your meal more often. I’ve never seen you finish one during our lunch breaks.” He said to her, gesturing at her slightly touched appetizer. “You might collapse during lessons, you know?”

Levi’s eyes widened at a fraction of a second upon hearing the words that just came out of Kenny’s mouth.

They knew each other?! What is the emphasis on the word lessons for?! What is this lesson he was talking about?!

(F/N) just smiled at him like the Princess he told her she was.

“You flatter me with your concern, Captain.” She told him, putting into words the things she learned from Lady Delilah during one of their lessons on how to stand up against flirts during Winter Season Events. “I deeply thank you from the bottom of my fluttering heart.”

“Only the best for my favorite student.” And the devil was professionally skilled in it, as well! And what’s more, he even stealthily took her right hand in his and planted a kiss on it!

Hange was straining too hard as she prevented Levi from tackling the man and not being obvious about it. Erwin’s eyes were widening by the second with each taunt the devil was throwing at him. But, he must not budge. He must not budge! Rosemarie cringed at what Kenny just did to (F/N). If the Winter Season is filled with men like him, then she must do everything she can to get sick on the first day of the event! And probably for the rest of the Season!

(F/N) could only pretend to hide a dainty smile from the man, when, in fact, her finger was restlessly moving on its own on the exquisitely mantled table, forming her most unuttered words.

Jonas noticed this, being the good cousin that he was, and went to her rescue.

“I’ am very excited to compete with you in horseback riding tomorrow, Commander Smith.” He said to Erwin just to divert everyone’s attention away from (F/N) and Kenny.

Erwin was a bit startled at what Jonas just did and realized that he was just salvaging what dignity his cousin had left after what Kenny just did. He smiled at the teen and put his fist up for a brotherly fist bump.

“And so am I, Jonas. Make sure to utterly defeat me, is that a deal?” he said to the eager teen.

Jonas almost blushed as he bumped his own fist against the larger man. “Deal!”

Rosemarie just rolled her eyeballs at what Jonas just did, knowing how much her brother admired the Commander. Well, at least (F/N) was safe.

For now.

Erwin, on the other hand, decided to keep the act going for the sake of (F/N).

“Let’s make a proper one, then.” Erwin smiled at Jonas, his eyes almost gleaming devilishly. “You can ask me anything you want if you beat me.”

“Really? Anything?” Jonas looked so pleased for his own good.

“Yeah, anything. But, if I win,…”

Erwin waited patiently as the attendants took away their half – empty soup bowls for the main course. It was the most succulent beef he had ever laid eyes on. And it smelled good, as well.

“If I win,” he went on, making a sidewise glance towards Hange. “then, you must help my right – hand man Hange on her Titan experiments.”

Now, it was Levi’s turn to strain as he stopped Hange from bursting out like a maniac upon hearing the forbidden word.

Shitty idiot! Levi thought as he squeezed Hange’s hand forcefully underneath the table to stop her from yapping. Don’t give in to his taunts! Don’t fucking give in!

“I think you are getting difficult on the boy, Commander.” Hange said in the most nobly and lady – like voice she could muster. “What’s so good about studying the things that could very well kill us?”

Erwin smiled.

She took the bait.

“Well, for one thing, we study them to know more about them. You know, for defense. How could we kill them without knowing the most basics of things about them?”

“Very well said, Commander. Very well said.” She answered him, her drool almost escaping the edges of her mouth.

Levi gave up as he noticed the sparkle in Hange’s eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he shook his head in defeat.

Erwin noticed this and targeted Levi.

“You don’t seem to support your fiancée’s honest opinions on Titans, Mr. Shunerman.” He said to him, knowing really well that the man would not easily budge compared to Hange and her overwhelming weakness to all things Titan – related.

Levi dropped his hostility on both Erwin and Kenny for a while for the sake of (F/N) and just went on with the act, making sure to give Erwin a taste of his own medicine.

“If you must know, no, I don’t.” Levi boldly announced as he brought the dinner knife harshly down on the perfectly cooked beef. “You might assume that I have tried numerous times to feed her to the Titans, myself.”

Almost everyone in the room gasped at what Elvis just said. Well, except Nile, who only thought, have I seen this banter before, or am I mistaken?

“That was a very harsh thing to say about your betrothed, Mr. Shunerman.” Erwin was enjoying himself.

“Ah, that is normal. She’s used to it.” Levi spoke, then stabbed the innocent meal with his fork, making everyone’s eardrums shatter slightly with the sound of his clashing dinner utensils. “However, I know something that’s not normal here.” He looked at Erwin straight in the eye, his full sass mode on. “It’s you and your presence here in Wall Sina. Aren’t you supposed to be watching over your own men and not practicing waltz for the Winter Season?”

Ivanna ate without a care in the world as she watched all the occupants in the room shift nervously in their seats.

Hmm, delicious food, she thought.

“Ah, that.” Erwin uttered, not having the resolution to just give up easily to Levi. “Well, Hange Zoe, the Section Commander, was supposed to be the one doing it. I have passed on my position to her, and I trust that she’s doing everything she can to uphold the Scouting Legion’s most prized victual.”

“And that is?”

“To defeat all the enemies that were hiding all the truth of this world from us and to spread the said truth to every person in the world, be it rich or poor, up to the ends of this world.”

“Is that so?” Levi’s eyebrow was raised sarcastically.

“You said it. Even now, I’m still pursuing that dream.” Erwin answered, beginning to partake on the sumptuous meal.

“Of spreading the truth?”

“And of defeating all the enemies that were hiding it.”

“Well, truth hurts, ya know what I’m saying?” butted in Kenny, who dramatically waved his fork with a slightly bloody sliced piece of beef onto it. He successfully let them know that he’s still with them. And he’s very well following the conversation properly.

“Oh my, that beef’s still rare, forgive me, Captain.” Marie said to him, terrified of the bloody thing in Kenny’s fork. “I’ll have Therese produce you a well – done one.”

Kenny smiled innocently at Marie, the predator in him longing to lunge at every person in the mansion. “You don’t have to do it, Madam. I prefer things rare.”

(F/N) accidentally bit her tongue.

Is it me or this dining table is slowly turning into a verbal battlefield?

Kenny turned towards her, noticing her uneasiness at the topic, and spoke to her.

“Don’t you agree, Princess?”

“I have a different preference, Captain.” She calmly answered.

“And that is?”

She looked at him bravely, her endearingly innocent façade almost catching him off guard.

“I prefer things which I worked very hard on. That way, the fruits are even sweeter.”

Fruits? Thought Ivanna as she took another bite of her meal. When is beef considered fruit?

“And the harvest even more interesting! Ah, yes, I agree with you, Princess.” Kenny said, adding violence to her words, his maliciousness starting to show through his smile.

Stop. Calling. Her. PRINCESS! Levi savagely thought as he took a sip of his red wine.

All throughout the six – course meal, the occupants of the room were in dire straights from invisible bombs that were falling each and every time a bullet – like word was released from the dinner combatants, startling them and making them choke on their meals.

Even during play hours, the tension didn’t cease.

Kenny and Levi kept on giving each other murderous glances as they played pool, each of them making rude and snide remarks regarding their unforgivably and amazingly matched gameplay or just themselves.

“Whoever introduced you to pool must be really, really sick to the bone to have taught you that move.” Kenny remarked as the ball was easily brought down the hole by Levi with one of his flashy moves. It even made Marie, Hange, and Rosemarie open their mouths in awe of the short and blonde man.

Levi narrowed his eyes at Kenny.

“What do you expect? For a son of a bastard to teach me that? I’d live through it most of my childhood, thanks to that devil.” He said to Kenny, making the said devil laugh out loud.

“Well, that devil didn’t teach you all of his moves, believe me.” Kenny said and hit the final ball, which was nearly impossibly stuck on the other end of the table. It went smoothly down the hole without so much as a struggle.

Yay! I’m an angel! Thought Ivanna as she gobbled greedily on her strawberry – flavored ice cream.

Erwin made good on his long – time promise to teach (F/N) how to play chess, despite Jonas’ efforts to engage him in a long conversation about the Titans and the Scouting Legion.

It was a huge mistake.

“Commander, you’re supposed to teach me how to be good at chess.” (F/N) announced, her eyebrows raised, one hand scratching the back of her head. “We can’t produce the proper results if we keep ending it with this!”

It was Erwin’s turn to laugh.

“I promise I’ll be better, my Lady.” He said to her.

“Give everything you’ve got, Commander.” (F/N) said, flexing her intertwined fingers, and patiently waiting as Erwin rearranged the pieces of the antique board.

The result of the games, be it chess or pool, ended up in stalemates or draw.

Either one of them had not, yet, been defeated in said games, memory loss, expertise, devilry or not.

Nile shrugged his head helplessly. It had developed quite an unexplainable ache. He needed medicine, pronto.

“Fuck this, I’m out.” He muttered under his breath as he made his way to his office.

When will we have a party like this again? Ivanna excitedly thought as she licked her fingers, ridding it of the remaining taste of her cold treat.

***

In just a short time, Petra was considered to join the Special Operations Squad led by none other than Levi Ackerman, himself.

Her efforts slaying Titans and assisting Levi in every way she can were not wasted as the man, himself, approved of her skills. He was even proud the number of the Titans she killed.

Petra thought that was enough to win back her mother’s heart.

She went home that day, expecting her parents to welcome her with open arms.

What she saw there didn’t please her, at all. She saw how happy they were without her, decorating the room for the Harvest Festival and laughing at every joke her father made.

Even mother was laughing too hard for her own good.

Had they forgotten about me? Thought Petra as she peeked at the glass windows.

Then, her eyes fell on (F/N). She was now even more lady – like than the last time they laid eyes on each other.

And what’s that thing she’s wearing? Was it one of the dresses her mother made for her?

Petra glanced away, a tear rolling down her face.

Mom, I’m home!

That should’ve been the words she would utter the moment she open the door.

But now, it seems that her family had forgotten about her completely.

Why?

Because of the girl who replaced her in their lives.

Petra wiped her tears and walked away, determined to make (F/N)’s life miserable.

But, how?

“Is Petra going to like this?” (F/N) asked as she took out her sister’s favorite cake out of the oven.

“Yes, I’m pretty sure of that, dear.” The mother said.

“Shouldn’t she be home by now?” the father asked, getting worried sick of his beloved baby girl.

“She will get home, honey. We’ll just have to wait for her.” His wife said while putting more decorations on the walls of their tiny home.

“I hope she likes our surprise to her.” (F/N) said. “It’s no easy feat, being accepted on an elite Scouting Legion Squad, and all,…”

“She will.” The mother smiled at her, not knowing that her beloved daughter would never come home.

Until that one fateful day,…

***

~ @levi4mikasa , @yepps , @shewolfofficial , @unhappysap , @nerdyphantomlady , @super-peace-fangirl , @fangurl-ontgeside , and @emilyackerman78 . 💜

***

A/N:

I really enjoyed writing this particular part. I do hope you've enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed penning it.

***

💜💜💜

***

#shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #levi ackerman #captain levi #this i promise #levi x reader #levi x you #chapter 40 #tension

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jaceyourself · 6 years

Text

End of Year Wrap-Up 24/12/2018

Happy Merry to all you readers!

I’ve had a great year but all us music fans have had an even better one! Streaming services mean that now more than ever we can experience the musical output from all corners of the globe (though overwhelmingly the English-speaking parts of it) to understand different points of view, learn of the goings on in other parts of the world and most importantly indulge ourselves in a bit of a boogie. All the moods, genres and feels you could think of are out there, so over the holiday period perhaps try and listen to something new. Who knows it might break the tension with that younger/older relative round the xmas table when you find they also happen to like k-pop/jazz-funk/grindcore or at the very least you can bicker about the tragedy of the current album charts (Greatest Showman: 21 weeks!). To aid you in your quest for knowledge/excitement/small-talk I have spent almost 30 minutes curating a best-of for both albums and singles in the year of 2018.

(NB even with my album-a-day policy, there’s no way I can get through everything I want to within the 365, so if your fave appears ignored, let it be known that I probably haven’t heard it yet. The full list of everything I’ve listened to this year is at the bottom)

So in no particular order:

Albums

Jinx Lennon- Grow A Pair!!!

The Beths- Future Me Hates Me

The Pistol Annies- Interstate Gospel

Travis Scott- ASTROWORLD

Mount Eerie- Now Only

Cardi B- Invasion of Privacy

The 1975- A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

The Aces- When My Heart Felt Volcanic

Singles

Confidence Man- Out The Window

Cardi B- I Like It

Janelle Monae ft. Grimes- Pynk

Lori McKenna- People Get Old

SOPHIE- Immaterial

Marie Davidson- Work It

Car Seat Headrest- Stop Smoking (We Love You)

BLACKPINK- AS IF IT’S YOUR LAST

The 1975- It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)

https://open.spotify.com/user/jaceyourself/playlist/1kFex3QLVv0l3cCqjVC6dT?si=_GqTJXrOSoSXYaMC9ra_lg

Have a great festive period and I’ll see you in 2019 :D

2018 Albums what I listened to

Floating Points- Reflections – Mojave Desert

James Elkington- Wintres Woma

Miguel- War & Leisure

Ride- Weather Diaries

Sidney Gish- No Dogs Allowed

Emperor X- The Orlando Sentinel, Oversleepers International

Broken Social Scene- Hug of Thunder

MC5- Kick Out The Jams (Live)

Public Service Broadcasting- Every Valley

JJ Doom- Key to the Kuffs

HAIM- Something To Tell You

Camila Cabello- Camila

Sheer Mag- Need To Feel Your Love

Taylor Swift- reputation

Shabazz Palaces- Quazarz vs The Jealous Machines

This Is The Kit- Moonshine Freeze

Japanese Breakfast- Soft Sounds From Another Planet

Tune-Yards- I can feel you creep into my private life

Jupiter & Okwess- Kin Sonic

Various Artists- The Passion Of Charlie Parker

Waxahatchee- Out In The Storm, Great Thunder

Offa Rex- The Queen Of Hearts

Dizzee Rascal- Raskit

Alvvays- Antisocialites

Childhood- Universal High

Marmozets- Knowing What You Know Now

Declan McKenna- What Do You Think About the Car?

Paul Heaton- Crooked Calypso

Lana Del Rey- Lust For Life

Charles Lloyd New Quartet- Passin’ Thru (Live)

Rip Rig & Panic- Circa Rip Rig + Panic

Avey Tare- Eucalyptus

Justin Timberlake- Man Of The Woods

Rio Mira- Marimba del Pacifico

Oddisee- The Iceberg

Aimee Mann- Mental Illness

Katie Von Schleicher- Shitty Hits

Arcade Fire- Everything Now

Girl Ray- Earl Grey

Ezra Furman- Transangelic Exodus

Randy Newman- Dark Matter

Dead Cross- Dead Cross

Chronixx- Chronology

Mondo Cozmo- Plastic Soul

Kesha- Rainbow

Lal & Mike Waterson- Bright Phoebus

Steve Reich- Pulse / Quartet

Orchestra Baobab- Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng

Ratboy- SCUM

Prince- Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, Sign ‘O’ The Times

Stanley Cowell- No Illusions

Oneohtrix Point Never- Good Time Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Downtown Boys- Cost Of Living

Screaming Females- All At Once

Rob Luft- Riser

Sibusile Xaba- Open Letter To Adoniah

Jen Cloher- Jen Cloher

Everything Everything- Fever Dream

Grizzly Bear- Painted Ruins

Bob’s Burgers- The Bob’s Burgers Music Album

Superorganism- Superorganism

Maren Morris- HERO

Courtney Marie Andrews- Honest Life, May Your Kindness Remain

Stefflon Don- Real Ting Mixtape

Ghostpoet- Dark Days + Canapés

Young Fathers- White Men Are Black Men Too, Cocoa Sugar

Queens Of The Stone Age- Songs For The Deaf

Thurst- Cut to the Chafe

John Moreland- Big Bad Luv

Aruan Ortiz- Cub(an)ism [Piano Solo]

Mount Eerie- Now Only

The War On Drugs- A Deeper Understanding

Various Artists- Pop Makossa

Liane Carroll- The Right to Love

Fickle Friends- You Are Someone Else

Nadine Shah- Holiday Destination

Various Artists- Howsla

George Ezra- Staying at Tamara’s

The Doors- The Doors

Filthy Friends- Invitation

Susanne Sundfør- Music For People In Trouble

LCD Soundsystem- LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver, American Dream

Mogwai- Every Country’s Sun

Kacey Musgraves- Golden Hour

The National- High Violet, Sleep Well Beast

The Klezmatics- Wonder Wheel

Hercules & Love Affair- Omnion

Mount Kimbie- Love What Survives

The Aces- When My Heart Felt Volcanic

Matthew Bourne- Isotach

Finished- Cum Inside Me Bro

Forced Into Femininity- I’m Making Progress

Heron Oblivion- Heron Oblivion

Hamell On Trial- TACKLE BOX

Confidence Man- Confident Music For Confident People

Swet Shop Boys- Cashmere

Princess Nokia- 1992 Deluxe, A Girl Cried Red

Steely Dan- The Royal Scam, Aja

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard- Nonagon Infinity

Sparks- Hippopotamus

J. Cole- KOD

Fat Tony- Macgregor Park

L’Orange and Jeremiah Jae- The Night Took Us In Like Family

Little Simz- Stillness In Wonderland

Lady Leshurr- Queen’s Speech

RAY BLK- Durt

Brand New- Science Fiction

Janelle Monae- Dirty Computer

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever- Talk Tight

Fred Thomas- Changer

Myra Davies- Sirens

Laraaji- Sun Gong

The Killers- Wonderful Wonderful

Descendents- Milo Goes To College

Frank Turner- Be More Kind

The Horrors- V

Moses Sumney- Aromanticism

Arctic Monkeys- Whatever People…, AM, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Oxbow- Thin Black Duke

Dee Byrne’s Entropi- Moment Frozen

Mike Stern- Trip

The Vampires- The Vampires Meet Lionel Loueke

Gogol Bordello- Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, Super Taranta!, Seekers And Finders

Umphrey’s McGee- Zonkey

Hard Working Americans- We’re All in This Together

Courtney Barnett- Tell Me How You Really Feel

Jllin- Black Origami

Various Artists- Rough Guide to the Music of West Africa

Wolf Alice- Visions Of A Life

The Young’uns- Strangers

Fever Ray- Fever Ray, Plunge

CHVRCHES- Love Is Dead

Oumou Sangaré- Oumou, Mogoya

Charlotte Gainsbourg- Rest

Daniel Avery- Song For Alpha

Daphni- Joli Mai

Kanye West- ye

Cécile McLorin Salvant- Dreams and Daggers

Trio Da Kali, Kronos Quartet- Ladilikan

Kelela- Take Me Apart

Bob Dylan- The Times.., Another.., Bringing.., Highway.., Blond.., John.., Nashville.., New.., Blood..

Lily Allen- Alright(,) Still, It’s Not Me(,) It’s You, Sheezus, No Shame

Fanfare Ciocarlia- 20

Wolf Parade- Cry Cry Cry

SOPHIE- OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES

Zara McFarlane- Arise

St. Vincent- MASSEDUCTION

Margo Price- All American Made

Bebe Rexha- Expectations

Motörhead- Under Cöver

Orchestre Les Mangelepa- Last Band Standing

Drake- Scorpion

Various Artists- Gentle Giants: The Songs Of Don Williams

Noga Erez- Off The Radar

Baxter Dury- Prince of Tears

John Maus- Screen Memories

Lankum- Between the Earth and Sky

Shamir- Revelations

Years & Years- Palo Santo

Converge- The Dusk In Us

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino- Canzoniere

Fred Hersch- Open Book

A. Savage- Thawing Dawn

Big Thief- Capacity

Kelly Clarkson- Meaning Of Life

Dirty Projectors- Lamp Lit Prose

Robt Sarazin Blake- Recitative

Shed Seven- Instant Pleasures

Spinning Coin- Permo

Call Super- Arpo

Laura Perrudin- Poisons & antidotes

Ellen Andrea Wang- Blank Out

Lori McKenna- The Tree

Wu-Tang Clan- Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Lee Ronaldo- Electric Trim

Deer Tick- Vol. 2

The Paranoid Style- Underworld U.S.A.

Youssou N’Dour- Set, Joko- From Village To Town, Nothing’s In Vain, Seeni Valeurs

Gaika- BASIC VOLUME

Kasai Allstars- Around Felicite

Carly Rae Jepsen- Emotion

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds- Who Built The Moon?

Anna Ternheim- All the Way to Rio

U2- Songs of Experience

Mônica Vasconcelos- The São Paulo Tapes

Travis Scott- ASTROWORLD

Nabihah Iqbal- Weighing of the Heart

Van Morrison- Versatile

Jim James- Tribute to 2

Criolo- Espiral de Ilusão

Maciej Obara Quartet- Unloved

N.E.R.D- NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES

The Beths- Future Me Hates Me

Maryam Saleh- Lekhfa

Naomi Bedford- Songs My Ruiner Gave to Me

Jens Lekman- Night Over Kortedala

The Spirit of the Beehive- pleasure suck

Tom Rogerson- Finding Shore

Paul Jacobs- Pictures(,) Movies and Apartments

Ariana Grande- sweetener

Rina Sawayama- RINA

Marcel Khalife- Andalusia of Love

Gunter Hampel- Bounce (Live at Theater Gütersloh)

BAYNK- Someone’s EP

Omar Souleyman- To Syria(,) With Love

Blood Orange- Negro Swan

Open Mike Eagle- Brick Body Kids Still Daydream

First Aid Kit- Ruins

Shame- Songs of Praise

Homeboy Sandman- Veins

Playboi Carti- Playboi Carti

Eminem- Kamikaze

Troye Sivan- Blue Neighbourhood, BLOOM

Joey Bada$$- ALL AMERIKKKAN BADA$$

Priests- Nothing Feels Natural

Rhiannon Giddens- Freedom Highway

King Krule- The OOZ

Django Django- Marble Skies

Bon Iver- For Emma(,) Forever Ago

Calexico- The Thread That Keeps Us

Mary Gauthier- Rifles & Rosary Beads

Hookworms- Microshift

Aphex Twin- Collapse EP

Rae Morris- Someone Out There

Field Music- Open Here

Rhye- Blood

Shopping- The Official Body

MGMT- Little Dark Age

Christine and the Queens- Chris

Alela Diane- Cusp

Sonic Youth- Sister

Brigid Mae Power- The Two Worlds

Deafheaven- Sunbather

Various Artists- American Epic: The Collection Disc 1, 2, 3

Rich Krueger- Life Ain’t That Long

Lil Wayne- Tha Carter V

Modern Mal- The Misanthrope Family Album

Rejjie Snow- Dear Annie

U.S. Girls- In a Poem Unlimited

The Orielles- Silver Dollar Moment

Tal National- Tantabara

Marie Davidson- Working Class Woman

Superchunk- What a Time to Be Alive

Brandi Carlile- By The Way(,) I Forgive You

Car Seat Headrest- Twin Fantasy

Loma- Loma

Quavo- QUAVO HUNCHO

Marlon Williams- Make Way For Love

Nipsey Hussle- Victory Lap

Insecure Men- Insecure Men

Kendrick Lamar- Black Panther

Rapsody- Lalia’s Wisdom

Khalid- Suncity

Tracey Thorn- Record

Anna von Hausswolff- Dead Magic

Jinx Lennon- Grow a Pair!!!

Gwenno- Le Kov

Judas Priest- Stained Class, FIREPOWER

Robyn- Robyn, Body Talk, Honey

The Magic Gang- The Magic Gang

Essaie Pas- New Path

Bob Dylan and The Band- The Basement Tapes

The Decemberists- I’ll Be Your Girl

Pistol Annies- Interstate Gospel

BCUC- Emakhosini (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness)

Jack White- Boarding House Reach

Yo La Tengo- There’s A Riot Going On

Sidi Touré- Toubalbero

Lil Peep- Come Over When You’re Sober(,) Pt. 2

The Breeders- All Nerve

The Vaccines- Combat Sports

CZARFACE- Czarface Meets Metal Face

Laurence Pike- Distant Early Warning

Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band- Bone Reader

Leo Kalyan- The Edge

Hayley Kyoko- Expectations

Tristen- Sneaker Waves

Thelonious Monk- Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Brad Mehldau & Mark Guiliana- Mehliana: Taming The Dragon

Amy Rigby- Til The Wheels Fall Off, Little Fugitive, The Old Guys

BLACKPINK- BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA

Rose Cousins- Natural Conclusion

Nora Jane Struthers- Champion

Lilly Hiatt- Trinity Lane

The Rolling Stones- The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones No. 2, Out of Our Heads, Aftermath

MAST- Thelonious Sphere Monk

The 1975- A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

Jhene Aiko- Trip

Don Bryant- Don’t Give up on Love

EMA- Exile in the Outer Ring

Small Believer- Anna Tivel

Vera Sola- Shades

Cardi B- Invasion of Privacy

Darkthrone- A Blaze in the Northern Sky

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers- Years

Goat Girl- Goat Girl

Vic Mensa- HOOLIGANS

Unknown Mortal Orchestra- Sex & Food

Alasdair Roberts, Amble Scuse & David McGuiness- What News

Kali Uchis- Isolation

Wye Oak- The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs

Migos- Culture II

Hinds- I Don’t Run

DRINKS- Hippo Lite

Alexis Taylor- Beautiful Thing

Jenny Wilson- EXORCISM

#music 2018 #music #best of #christmas

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hazbinextgeneration · 6 years

Text

Your Card

-The Hazbin Hotel- Two figures sat at a table. One was staring lazily at his cards while his partner was sweating lightly. Checking his cards over and over. Peeking up at the other. "Well.....Are you gonna place down your cards or not, Bax?" "I'm thinking. Honestly. You can't expect me to place down any cards without thinking of a solid strategy," the blue demon stated. Husk rolled his eyes. "Bax, please. It's a game, not mission impossible." "It might as well be. I never win." "You might. Just place your cards down." Baxter narrowed his eyes. He looked at the four cards in his hand with calculating eyes...before placing them down. "Three queens and a nine." Husk glanced over. "Hmm. Not bad. You're improving." "I was holding these 'til the very end." "Not bad....but-" He threw his cards down and leaned back. "-not good enough." Baxter looked down......and his jaw dropped. Laying there was three aces and a king. He looked between Husk and the cards. "......How could you possibly do that?!" "Well...you saved your best cards for last. But, did it ever accure to you that I would've noticed?" "Well, I.....but you....My cards....You!.....Rrrrr!" he got up. "That's it! I quit! I can't stand your cheating!" He stomped away. "No one likes a sore loser! And it's not cheating if I used the same strategy you did!," Husk called after him. Receiving no answer, he reached forward to collect his winnings. Seventy dollars. Not bad for one night. He was just counting the dollar bills when he noticed a figure walk in. "........Charlie? You alright there?" The she-demon plopped down on the coach, acting as if she didn't hear him. Her clothes were disleveled, her hair a mess, and she looked....tired. ".....Charlie?" "What?," she said not looking at him. "I asked if you were ok." "Peachy." ".....Why? What happened?" The female looked at him. "Angel got into another fight with his brother." Husk stared at her. Ever since they found out Charlie was pregnant, everyone's tried to help out and not cause Charlie any stress. It was already stressful running the hotel everyday. "......" He got up and walked over to her. Sitting on the couch. "You feeling alright?" She groaned. "Not really. I've been running around doing this....and doing that.....And dealing with fights. Not to mention I've been dealing with this little guy kicking me all day." She pointed at her bloated stomach. "And......I'm really tired." ".........Can I get you anything?" "No. Thanks though." He looked at her a moment before pulling a full deck of cards seemingly out of nowhere. She watched as he shuffled them with skill he perfected over the years. He held them out in a fan like fashion to her. "...Pick one." "......Don't I have to bet money first?" "Just pick one." "Any card?," she teased. He rolled his eyes. "Yes.'' Reaching out, she skimmed her hand over the cards until picking one and looking at it. It was a 2 of roses.....Yes. It may sounded weird, but this was a floral deck. With flowers instead of regular hearts, spades, and diamonds. "Now put it back." She did, and she watched him shuffle them around some more. He eventually stooped and picked a random card out of the deck. "Is this your card?," he asked holding one up. "......Yes." "Are you sure it's a card?" "......I'm not stupid, Husk." "Really?" In a lightning fast motion, the card disappeared and in it's place.....was an actually rose. "Are you sure it's not a flower?" She stared in amazement before reaching out and taking it from him. "......Still know some magic tricks I see." He shrugged. "Just doing what comes naturally." "Well....Thanks." "Don't mention it. You need ta take it easy." "Mmm." She leaned bac. "That's almost impossible around this place." "........Tell ya what...Why don't you take a couple days off? I'm sure Al and Mimz would be happy to take over for ya." "....I don't know. Don't they have their own child to look after?" "Angel or one of the others could babysit for them. You NEED a break." "......I think I can manage." ".....You forget one thing, Charlie." "What?" "That kid's not just yours." She stared at him. ''.........I guess it couldn't hurt to take a small maturnity leave." "Good choice." "Yeah......Thanks, Husk." He shrugged. "Like I said.....I only do what comes naturally."

All mentioned belongs to Vivziepop.

#Hazbin

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gb-patch · 3 years

Text

Ask Answers: March 30th, 2021- Part 1

We’ve been really focused on getting the Step 3 DLC done and keeping up with asks kind of got away from me, aha. Thank you for waiting for a reply! We’re still definitely behind, but here’s a good chunk of responses!

I love Our Life so much but if the release of the step 3 dlc is in April, please don't "release" it on April 1, my poor heart can't take that prank 😭

Don’t worry! I’m horrible at pranks, haha. When we do post something specifically for April Fool’s it’s always to pretend it’s a joke when in reality it’s something we’re actually planning to do. But we don’t have anything like that arranged for this year. Any posts on April 1st will just be like normal.

Omigod, can you end the game in love with Cove but not in a relationship? My character stayed calm at the restaurant and Cove slept over at her home and I think I may have missed it. I'm delirious if I did, may never stop laughing. The children are idiots

Haha, yes, it is possible to be in love and still not get into an actual relationship. There’s no forced ending where the two are made to confess their feelings and accept, it’s all optional/avoidable.

How can you see the new main character cut-in images? I'm not trying to be rude, but, all of my playthroughs, but I haven't seen them yet. (I know you can go through an entire game without seeing them, but I have went through multiple games.)

It’s a bit of a spoiler to say here, but you can check out the guide we posted on Steam HERE!

Is it possible to win first place in the library quiz with Lizzy (Step 1 DLC)

Yep, it is! Someone made a guide for the answers HERE (it’s also on Steam). We probably shouldn’t have required a perfect score to win a children quiz, but oh well, haha.

Hello!

In the future (in step 4) can you marry Cove even if you are friends? I would love to have a platonic wedding with him!

I’m afraid not. As much as he cares for the MC when they’re besties, Cove would only really want an official marriage if it’s based on romance.

Hello! I bumped into Our Life randomly last month, and it is one of the best coincidences I have ever laid on. I love how the choices and little details in the story changes throughout the game, and I'm excited to keep supporting you! I'm absolutely in love with Cove and would like to ask what keeps him to be especially interested in the MC? Other than how you can choose what fondness level you have with him, what ultimately leads him to be in sync with us? Sorry if it's a little much & thank u!

Cove likes the MC because, regardless of the different personality traits you can give the MC, they meet him on his level, listen to him, understand him (even if you’re indifferent and not really close the MC still gets where he’s coming from), and if you’re fond/crush/love than you’re there for him. He finds the MC someone he can respect, trust, and, if they’re close, feel safe with. I’m glad you enjoyed the game!

hi there! for xoxo droplets i see the that female pronouns are used in the description, in the actual game can you change the pronouns or are they stuck as female? i'm aware the game is free, but i have a bad habit of buying dlc's before playing the game so it would be helpful to know before i spend money on it. if anything i'll save that money for more our life dlcs when they come out :D

XOXO Droplets does have a set MC. It’s the story of a specific person rather than a game about making your own story. All of our games prior to Our Life were about exploring MCs that were fully fleshed out people in their own right, so you can’t get the OL experience from what we did before. But we do plan to do more custom-style MCs going forward from here!

For the our life nsfw dlc, will you have to be in the patron to have it or will there be another way for people who really support the game but can't pay to get it?

I’m afraid not. We might put it up for sale somewhere other than Patreon someday (though never on Steam or Itch) since we know not everyone can use that site, but it will still cost money on any other hosting page we use. It’s unfortunately not a piece of content we can give away for free.

Hello! I finally got to play Xoxo Blood Droplets and it mentioned about a DLC coming out soon. Is it already out or are you still planning it?

We are still planning to finish it when we can, we just had to put it on hold because 2020 was a tough year and we needed to put all our focus on Our Life. There’s some of the extra DLC stories available for beta testing on the Patreon.

Is there a link to the soundtrack for Xoxo Blood Droplets? I really like the music in this game!

That’s not available yet, but we’ll probably put it up for sale once the rest of the stories are done.

Would there be any chance for XOXO Droplets OSTs to be released in the future? (Please take my money-)

We might! There are some things we wanna do and fix before we really start advertising XOXO Droplets things again, but hopefully it all comes together.

Why does Cove dislike Shiloh so much despite all of Shiloh's efforts to get along? I can understand his dislike for Lizzie, but why Shiloh?

They met under bad terms (with an arranged play date he had no choice in), Shiloh’s sort of pushy himself when it comes to trying to get along, and Cove thinks he’s just kind of unusual in how he interacts/reacts with people. They don’t click, basically.

Is there a way to have your character be a tsundere? And have Cove toughened up a bit due to that? Sorry if the is a stupid question! ^^;

Maybe? The options in the game aren’t based on those types of personality tropes and I don’t know them well enough to say if you can accurately find a way to make it work with the available options. But it’s not a stupid question, I’m sure plenty of other people have considered something similar c:

do voiced names work only with their exact spelling? cause my mc is called Sophia and one of the voiced names is Soffia so i was wondering but if only works like that it's fine (sorry if i made any mistakes, english isn't my first language)

“Voice” and “text” are separate! You can pick the “voice” you want and then type in whatever “text” you prefer. And your English is really good.

Will OL:NF be based on a season/break like the first game? Or some other type of setting?

Our Life: Now & Forever takes place over the full course of Autumn. So, the start of school and then into the fall holiday season type of time period.

Will we ever see a jealous cove😭😭 please im begging u-

Only in small ways, really. Sadly, I’m just not someone who enjoys jealousy in stories and therefore I don’t know how to implement it in a way that feels enjoyable. Maybe I’ll figure out a angle I can work with in future projects.

Do you have any plans with Our Life once step 4 has been released along with step 3's DLCs?

After the Step 3 DLCs and Step 4 we’ll be releasing the Cove wedding DLC, the Derek romance DLC, and then the Baxter romance DLC. The project will likely be considered fully complete at that point.

Hello, I just needed to first of all sat how amazed I was when I discovered this game. I thought I would be disappointed by the lack of love interests, but you worked so hard to make sure Cove is the Best Boy for so many different people!! It really has been my comfort game for a while now, and I think all the different choices you allow make it the best romance game I’ve played in my life. The only problem is now my expectations for love are Cove level, and no one can live up to that. You’ve put so much consideration to make this game super inclusive and I think it’s amazing. If I can ask, for the exclusive NSFW Patreon dlc, will it only be available for the month it comes out? Or could I become a patron months later and still be able to download it. I just don’t have a job right now otherwise I would LOVE to subscribe to your Patreon and definitely will once I have the money again!! Thank you so so much for making such a lovely game that’s brought me so much joy.

Hiya! I'm so sorry for sounding like a complete degenerate for asking, but will the nsfw moment on patreon still be available even if i'm not a patron of the month it comes out? (e.g. i didnt pay/join the necessary tier before the moment is released) Thank you for your hard work on OL, I really connected with Cove in a way I never anticipated.

Thank you very much for such kind words! The Patreon DLC will be up for download on the Patreon indefinitely once it’s done. Just like the normal DLCs, you can pay to get it whenever you like but it won’t be up for sale until it’s finished. So take all the time you need.

Sorry to bother you guys, but there was an earlier ask detailing the OL LI's love languages and I was just wondering- Would that be for them personally, as in what they do, or the love language they enjoy receiving the most? Because I know for some people it's different for both on giving and receiving and was a bit confused, haha. Sorry for the trouble, your games are really nice!

For Cove and Derek it’s what they like to receive and what they give. For Baxter, it’s what he likes to get. What he gives is tailored to his partner. He’s flexible that way~ And it’s no trouble.

asking (and also fanning... fanboying? fangirling? fanpersoning? screw it- from a distance) anonymously because my confidence is nonexistent.

will you be doing a kickstarter for our life: now and forever? i know it's probably been asked and mentioned before, but will you be doing a kickstarter akin to the one done for our life: beginnings and always? if so, will you be doing similar tier rewards? (if you guys do so, i will [politely] throw my money at you).

now, to the fan.. personing? FAN. uhm. to the part where this anonymous agender idiot will begin to act as the fan they are.

THE GAME IS SO. SO NICE. IT'S CUSTOMIZABLE. I'M REALLY HAPPY ABOUT THAT PART. AAAAA I ALSO ENJOY THAT YOU GAVE US THE OPTION TO JUST STAY BEST FRIENDS OR SOMETHING A8DBAIHEW- AND YOU INCLUDED AROS AND ACES IN THAT SEXUALITY CHOOSING PART- aaaAAA AND YOU MADE ELIZABETH FILIPINO- THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR CREATING SUCH AN INCLUSIVE GAME!!!

to summarize; will you be doing a kickstarter? and thank you for creating such a nice game. i, and likely the majority if not all of those who have played the game, am thankful.

Aw, thanks <3! I’m so happy it was such a nice experience for you. We are planning on having a Kickstarter for Our Life: Now & Forever. It’ll have similar rewards to the Our Life: O&A Kickstarter, but some changes will have to be made. Like, we’ll definitely need to increase the rate for getting a voiced name. Originally it was $3USD, which was super low for how much work it really took to add in a customized piece of voice acting, aha. Live and learn.

So sorry if you've already answered this, I looked but I couldn't find anything. Is the 18+ DLC coming out alongside the Step 3 DLC, or do they have different development timelines entirely? I'm so excited for all the DLC coming out in the future, and even though the release dates aren't out, I'm already counting down the days. :)

They have different development times and will come out separately. Despite taking place in the same Step period, they’re disconnected pieces of content and making progress on one doesn’t mean the other is closer to being finished. The normal Step 3 DLC is releasing first. It’s great to hear you’re looking forward to them!

Hey!! I'm absolutely LOVING Our Life! I have been pondering on one question though, what's Cove's ethnicity, if there is a set one? Or is it something we can Headcanon?

hi hi! i wanted to say first of all that i absolutely adore our life. it's one of my favourite games of 2020, and i think it was just the perfect dose of positivity we all needed, even if you didn't intend to release it during such a hectic year lol! secondly, i wanted to say: if it's alright to ask, what ethnicity is cove? :-0 and what about his parents? i was just curious about it ^^)/ thank you!!

Cove’s mom, Kyra, is white. But his dad’s, Cliff’s, race doesn’t come up and players are able to headcanon it. So Cove is half white and half whatever you prefer Cliff to be!

hello! there was a post on the patreon where you can run your fingers down cove's chest in errands - how do you get that scene? ♥

That was an old mistake on my part- you can only get that scene in the Ending rather Errands. You have to leave the big family dinner at the restaurant to go into the car, be dating Cove for a while, have Cove come see you there, and then mention using your hands when Cove makes a joke about hands.

in baxter’s dlc, is there any point where you can tell him about the previous renters of the condo?

You can talk to him about that in the normal Step 3 DLC!

—– —– —– —–

Thank you for all the interest in our games everybody :D

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

#our life #Our Life Beginnings & Always #Our Life: Now & Forever #ask #ourlifeba #ourlifenf #gb patch #gb patch games #long post

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gudlyf · 4 years

Text

Confirmation [Short Story]

[Edited original photo by Elviss Bitans]

I will never forget the sound Evil made when it died in the Baxter’s house one night in the fall of 1982.

—

The basement of the rectory of St. Ambrose had that smell. The one that appears to be common amongst cellars of houses of the Lord. Of decades-old candle wax and spent wicks, mold-imbued books. Of rotted flowers and palm reeds. That smell. I’d once thought it unique to our chosen parish at the time. It’s not. And any time I happened upon it in some other basement, sometimes in another church, I’d be reminded of CCD.

Some people call it Catechism. I suppose it could have been called Sunday School, except in our town it was held on Tuesday nights. Tuesday School? Not the same ring to it, I’d say. So, CCD. Sounds like some kind of mental condition, now that I think of it. Apropos, if you don’t mind me saying so.

Needless to say, I did not look forward to Tuesday nights.

The last year of CCD for me was centered around preparing for Confirmation. I won’t get into the details of that for you non-Catholics, and to be quite honest I can’t remember what to tell you about it anyway. I suppose it was to “confirm” one’s faith in God and the church. Confirm beliefs. Confirm that you bought the whole damn thing. One of “them.” One of the flock. For me it served only as confirmation that, following that fall, my Tuesday nights henceforth would carry with it only the aroma of glorious, sweet freedom. Thank you God, Hallelujah, Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong, Amen.

Father Jacobs, the presiding priest at the time, did not conduct CCD at St. Ambrose. The old guy would show up from time to time, sure, when he wasn’t busy doing God-knows-what on a Tuesday evening. Probably better off pulling numbered letters out of a bingo cage, really. But for the most part it was just us ten kids and Mr. Baxter.

Of all the teachers I had for CCD throughout the years, Mr. Baxter won the prize for being, shall we say, the most devout. This includes the likes of Sister Estelle, a decrepit, miserable thing harkening from the days of when my own mother attended Catholic school in a neighboring town. No lie, Sister Estelle — or Sister Est-Hell, as we called her — carried a yard stick along her back like a rifle on a cattle rancher. I’ve learned since then that it served more as a bullshit deterrent than anything else. God save the poor soul warranting its unsheathing. Thankfully, I never bore witness to it.

Warren Baxter’s boys, Mark and Jason, attended this particular CCD class along with me and seven others our age. They were homeschooled, so I can’t say any of us knew much about them beyond the walls of that basement, and that the poor bastards had their dad as a teacher. Not just Tuesday nights, but every fucking day. Mr. Baxter sorta reminded me of Christopher Cross. Y’know, “Sailing” and “Ride Like the Wind”? Not to mention he carried a beaten acoustic guitar with him anytime I saw him. He certainly wasn’t an old guy, but he sure had what I guess you could say was an old way of thinking when it came to the education of religion. He had a habit of taking it upon himself to detour from the illustrated Jesus textbooks and remind us of all the things that could make up a mortal sin. You might think that means killing, stealing, raping — that sort of thing. No. He’d remind us weekly that masturbating was a mortal sin that was a sure ticket to Hell. Even thinking about jerking off. It was like you might as well give Satan himself a handy, because, son, it’s just like knocking on his door with that hand.

I guess Mrs. Baxter was a sure help of keeping her husband Heaven-worthy, at least before their divorce.

Mr. Baxter was a parishioner at the church, but he also sang and played guitar at Sunday mass. Considering the limited source material, he wasn't half bad. I’d been taking guitar lessons at the time and knew he wasn’t just some two-bit hack. He played for us a couple of nights at class, which was a welcome reprieve from mundane bible verse analysis, even if it wasn’t exactly Clapton we were listening to. The man dug music; no question of that. And on the second-to-last class of the year, he took it to a new level.

The record player sat in the center of the largest table. Not an odd sight, really. We’d listened to hymns and such before, and even been forced to — dear God — sing along to them. But there was something very different about it this time. Something special. When my eyes caught it, I couldn’t restrain myself.

“Zeppelin!”

Paul Morley, my best friend at the time, saw it too. Led Zeppelin IV, its unmistakable album cover featuring that painting of an old man lugging a bundle of sticks, sat among a few recognizable others. AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. Queen’s The Game. Classics today — purely defining, then. A few kids started in with “Stairway to Heaven” before Mr. Baxter shut them down.

“And she’s buy-uy-ing a-”

“Sit down, everyone. Yes, I’m going to play some of these — just a little. But then I have an important story for you.”

He slipped Led Zeppelin IV out of its sleeve and placed it onto the turntable. Man, I thought, this is gonna be great. I prepared myself for the sweet sounds of Robert Plant, belting out his “Hey hey, mama,” rolling into Jimmy Page on the ax and Bonham on skins. It was already playing in my head.

Instead, we got something else entirely.

Mr. Baxter turned on the player and moved the needle up a bit onto the platter. He put it down a few times, giving us a little tease here and there of what we could have — should have — been listening to in entirety. He finally got to ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and let it play. Sweet release.

About midway through the song, he turned the player off. What is this, another lesson about not beating off? I thought. To 14-year-old me, it may as well have been.

“Now, listen to this.”

We all knew what was going to happen. Playing “Stairway” backwards wasn’t new. And then it all became painfully clear. Zeppelin. AC/DC. Queen? I hadn’t heard about that one yet. But most of us knew of the supposed hidden messages within the latter two, and now Mr. Baxter was going to play them. Here. In the basement of a church.

He spun the record counter-clockwise, slowly, by hand. Eventually he got to the money shot, where Plant’s voice seems to sing out the words “my sweet Satan,” along with some other things that don’t sound so Heavenly when you over-analyze the shit out of them.

But for the playing record, the room was silent. I don’t think we quite knew what to make of it. Mr. Baxter — a guy who’d preached that the simple pleasures of alone time in a long, hot shower was sinful — was playing verses about the Devil. In the Lord’s house! What was next, a Ouija board?

Once he was through with Zeppelin, he went onto Highway to Hell. The album cover alone should have burst into flames the moment it entered the parking lot, but he played it just the same. For a few minutes, singer Bon Scott became Scott Bon. Or maybe it’s Ttocs Nob. You’re supposed to hear something like “my name is Lucifer” somewhere in that backmasked garbage, but all I heard was blasphemy to some wholesome, British-borne rock and roll.

Queen was an interesting one. Played backwards, the lyrics “another one bites the dust” becomes “it’s fun to smoke marijuana.” Oh great, so now that’s evil too? My older brother’s days were numbered.

Mr. Baxter let the chuckles and high-fives among us slide and stopped the turntable.

“Alright. Why did I play these for you tonight?”

I dunno, to thank Jesus these classes are almost over, I thought.

Paula Spencer spoke up. “Because they talk about the Devil…?”

“Not exactly.”

We all looked at each other, clueless. That wasn’t it? Besides Freddie Mercury soloing in reverse about weed, what else was there? And I was sure as shit stinks that Baxter had his fair share of ganja in his days. Hell, at that moment, I was thinking he’d smoked a bowl before class.

“A couple of reasons. First, it’s to make you aware. The things your generation is listening to — on the radio, on records, and tapes — are deceiving you into falling out of love with God.”

“But on the radio, it’s not backwards,” Paul said.

“I don’t even have a record player,” said someone else.

Mr. Baxter shook his head, in that these-clueless-kids sort of way.

“It’s doesn’t matter. You heard it for yourself. It’s still there. And the Devil — he hid it there.”

We learned years ago: you don’t groan at a teacher in CCD. But the restraint in the room was palpable.

“So … Robert Plant … is Satan?” I asked.

“No. He’s just one of many instruments.”

“Like a guitar?” Randal asked. Now that let loose a volley.

“Alright, quiet down. Not like that, no, Randal. I mean they serve the anti-Christ. Though they may not know it. But, because we can play this … music this way, the Devil’s tricks are revealed. And they are in all of the music you’re listening to. All the rock and roll, all the heavy metal. It’s there, and he is trying to use it to deceive you into falling out of grace with God.”

“So … what are we supposed to do?” I asked.

“Stop listening to it. Forwards. Backwards. On the radio, or at home. These are all the new instruments of Evil. And you should shun them just as you would any other mortal sin you’ve learned about in this class. You’ll think you have control over what you believe until it’s too late, and you stop coming to mass. You stop loving Jesus and God and everything else that will bring you to everlasting life in Heaven.”

Well, I was going to Hell. Before he’d finished his bummer of a diatribe, I’d started to think that if everlasting life in Satan’s parlor meant a lot more Zeppelin, Rush, and everything that was candy to my ears, I might just be okay with that.

“The second reason I played these for you — and this is very, very important. You listening?”

Most of us nodded.

“Never — and I mean never — do this on your own. I know it’s tempting — a fun trick to show your friends. But do not do it. I played this here, because we’re safe in God’s house. But at home, or anywhere else, you are not. And the Devil does not like when his tricks are revealed. And he will let you know.”

“How?” Paul asked.

Mr. Baxter pulled out a chair, sat down and leaned in. “I’ll tell you how. Because it happened to me. Mark and Jason can tell you — they were there.”

All eyes were on the two Baxter kids. Their eyes told us that either they were mortified or terrified. After what their father had to say, I’d go with the latter.

“A night a few months ago, Mark was playing one of these records in the cellar at home. I told him what I told you, many times before — none of that music. The work of the Devil. Sins against God. But he couldn't help himself. That’s how it works: You let him in, and he won’t let go.

“So I decided to show him what was hidden in those songs. I did the same thing I did here tonight. I stopped the record, and slowly I began to play it in reverse. And those same, hidden messages were revealed.

“And then … he walked right through the room.”

“Who?” someone asked.

“The Devil,” Jason whispered. In the ensuing silence, you could hear a guitar pick drop.

Mr. Baxter nodded. “He did. A dark figure. Dressed in the darkest cloak I'd ever seen, he passed into the room. No face, just nothingness. Tears were streaming down our faces. We couldn’t move. He glided closer to us, and we still could not move. He stopped just ten feet away from us, and he pointed, right at me. And in a voice I’ll never, ever forget he said …”

He let the sentence hang in the air. This was some real campfire-story shit, and I’m betting I wasn’t alone in hankering for some roast marshmallows right about then. What a showman.

“… ‘No’.”

No? That was it? Not “come with me, you’re going to hell” or “turn it up, man?” I say that now, but to be quite honest with you, I was shitting bricks.

I’d been taught for years every manner of how the grip of evil might drag me down into a fiery pit of doom. You bet your ass I was saying the rosary every night and had a small shrine to Virgin Mary in the corner of my bedroom. Now I was learning that this Satan fella came in a physical form like the Grim-fucking-Reaper if you pissed him off.

I glanced over at the Baxter kids. My look said “this shit real?” Their look was “this shit real.” That did it. After an extra lap around the beads before bed that night, sleeplessness would be unavoidable.

—

The following Sunday morning, I was once again packed hip-to-hip between my mother and brother within our usual pew at St. Ambrose. The usual congregation was there, including Mr. Baxter on guitar, and front-man Father Jacobs. Paul, a four-years-running altar boy, was on the bells with Mark Baxter.

I hadn’t forgotten the story Mr. Baxter told earlier that week. How could he just continue on like that, seeing what he saw? Or worse, what load of horse shit he fed to a mess of God-fearing — and now, for certain, Devil-fearing — kids? I wasn’t sure what was worse: That he went so far as to convince his own boys to play along so convincingly, or that they actually did see something that night.

Paul caught up with me in the parking lot, as the adults meandered around shaking hands with one another and secretly hoping they’d get home in time for football.

“What’s up?”

I shrugged. I had nothing.

“Hey, I talked to Mark earlier. About what his dad said.”

“What, about masturbating?”

He pushed me. Hard. I guess I deserved it.

“That Devil shit.”

“Paul! We’re still at church!” Paul’s mother hissed from somewhere in the crowd. That woman could hear a hummingbird fart in a bison stampede.

“It’s the parking lot, Mom! God, relax.”

If I’d talked to either of my parents the way Paul did, all the prayers in the world wouldn’t protect be from the sure evil that would ensue. The Devil would walk right in and applaud. But Paul’s exposure to the dictionary from Hell came from none other than his own mother’s mouth, and with certain regularity. I became fluent in the language by the time I was eight, from weekly summer sleepovers at the Morley house.

“He still swears it’s true.”

“You make him swear to God?”

Paul laughed. “No. But he’s not changing his story. Said a big person in a cloak sorta floated into the room, and then back out again.”

“What did he sound like?”

“I dunno. I didn’t ask him. Probably like ‘STOP THAT SHIT NOW!’”

His impression sounded more like Froggy from The Little Rascals than some dark being from the netherworld. Come to think of it, that would be pretty terrifying. Would someone please get that poor boy a cough drop, for God’s sake?

“Paul!”

“Sorry, Ma. I tried it, y’know. The record thing. Nothing happened. It’s a bunch of buuuuull shit.”

“Well, duh, yeah. You thought it was real? Creepy story, but no way is that gonna really happen. He was just trying to scare us. Don’t you think we’d hear of it happening to someone else already? I did it at my cousin’s house a few months ago.”

“What happened?”

I gave him a look that told him that his stupid question was going forever unanswered.

Paul pointed to the parking lot behind me. “Look, there he is.”

Mark Baxter was still clothed in his altar-boy whites, carrying his father’s guitar case to their station wagon. Paul gave me a nudge and started in his direction.

“Hey. Mark.”

Mark was a quiet kid, but not shy. More of a rebellious sort, I guess you could say. If he’d been in traditional school like the rest of us, no doubt he’d be one of the “cool kids” who took no shit from anyone and gave a pile of it to the teachers. There were few occasions you’d see him without bruises or a black eye, a sure sign he hadn’t backed down from trouble. It was that attitude that made the story he was holding onto so compelling.

“What’s up? Hey Keith.”

I held up a hand in greeting.

“Swear to God that story is true,” Paul said. The equivalent of a religious double-dog dare.

Mark shut the rear door and leaned against it.

“I’m not doing that. You know I won’t do that.”

“So it’s a bunch of buuuuull-”

“I don’t care if you won’t take my word for it. It’s what I saw.”

“How come it never happened to Keith? He said he did it at his cousin’s house, and nobody creepy came drifting through the room. Except maybe his Aunt Helen. Sorry Keith, she’s, like, a witch or something.”

Mark shrugged. “I guess you’re lucky. Maybe it’s the house.”

Paul seemed to back down at that. Then the wheels started to turn.

“Let’s do a sleep-over, then,” he said.

“A … sleep-over? What are we, ten?”

“Well then just have us over at night. Your dad’s got the records already. We just play them in the same room, on the same record player. If the Devil doesn’t show up, then it’s a bunch of crap.”

Mark’s cool demeanor warmed at that. “My father really doesn’t like people over. And it’s not a bunch of crap.”

“I wanna see for myself. So do you, right, Keith?”

I did my best to hide my real answer to that one. Instead, Mark did the honors.

“No. You don’t. And I don’t either.”

“Psssh. B.S. Whatever.”

Paul turned and walked away. I gave another silent wave to Mark before taking off as well.

—

I was only just getting ready for bed when something rapped against my bedroom window. It was early, but it was a school night, and I knew just who it was.

I opened the window to Paul’s shit-eating grin.

“Let’s go.”

“Now? Where? It’s a school night, man.”

“Baxter’s.”

“What, Mark wants us over? I thought his dad wouldn’t let us.”

“We’re just gonna go visit. Come on.”

I shut the window in his face. Paul kept right on talking.

“If you don’t come out now, I’ll go knock on your parents’ window and tell them you called me over.”

I flung the window back open.

“No you wouldn’t. And they’re not even in bed anyway.”

“Fine, then I’ll go knock on the door.”

He wasn’t bluffing. He’d done this to me before, and my folks fell for his Eddie Haskell routine every single time, hook line and sinker. As usual, Paul was going to get his way. I, as usual, was not.

—

The Baxter house was walking-distance away, but since Paul had his bike with him, I took mine as well. There’s something about walking while someone rides circles around you that feels a bit degrading.

We threw our bikes onto the Baxter’s lawn. I headed for the front door, but Paul started around the back.

“Where are you going?” I said.

“Mark’s window.”

“Jesus Christ! He doesn’t know we’re coming?”

“Nah. You heard him. He wasn’t gonna have us over. So we’ll just come over.”

I really should have made for my bike and headed back home. I started to weigh the punishment I’d get from my parents due to Paul’s threats against Mr. Baxter’s wrath, should we knock on the wrong window. Once I got home, Paul would make good on what he said, I’d be grounded for a week — and more — and the process would repeat until he got his way. I thought it better to see it through and put an end to Paul’s obsession right then.

None of the shades were drawn in the Baxter’s single-story ranch, and we found Mark hanging out in one of the rooms alone with its door shut. The lights were on and he was laying in bed, sort of huddled in a ball, back to the window. He was still clothed and clearly not sleeping. I tried to convince Paul otherwise.

“He’s sleeping. Let’s go.”

Paul ignored me and gave the window a knock.

Mark sprang up from the bed and turned to the door.

“I- I’m just praying, Dad. I promise.”

Paul knocked again. Mark stiffened, snapped around, and was greeted by Paul’s smart-assed wave. My look said, “I know. I’m sorry. What can ya do, it’s Paul.”

The window unlocked and opened.

“What are you doing here?”

Mark licked at a cut below his lip, and his face was sunburn-red. Always meeting trouble.

“Man. Who’d you fight this time? Did you finally fight Felix?”

“Maybe I’ll fight you for coming here knocking on my window. What do you want?”

“Play us the records.”

“Go play them yourself.”

“We wanna see what you saw. Come on.”

“You really don’t.”

“Just let us in. If you don’t, I’ll just go knock on the door and tell your dad you called us over.”

Right from the Morley playbook.

“No! Just … Fine. Meet me at the back by the bulkhead.”

Mark lowered the window. Paul was already on his way to the back of the house, but I watched Mark push his bedroom door open carefully, looking around before edging himself into the hallway, and pushed the door shut without a sound.

The bulkhead was a rusty, two-door entryway set into the house’s foundation. A few minutes passed before the inside latch was screeched open like a prison lock, and one of its doors creaked open. I could barely make out a person standing in the dark. I sure as Hell hoped it was Mark. Paul nudged me ahead of him. Either his night sight was better than mine and he was sure of who it was, or he just as blind and I was his shield.

“Get in,” Mark whispered.

The bulkhead led into concrete-floored basement, pitch black but for a crack of faint light from beneath a closed door. The smell of mildew and machine oil was unmistakably workshop-ian. I confirmed this when I bumped into what I figured was a long workbench. A few tools clattered onto wood and clanged against the floor.

“Shhh! My dad’s room is right above here.”

“Where’s Jason?” I asked.

“He’s staying with my mom.”

Mark opened the door into a finished part of the basement. All was dark but for a single lamp on an end table against a torn couch. Grey berber carpeting covered the floor from wall-to-wall, stained in the corners with water damage. French drains were always an afterthought back then, and not one easily or cheaply rectified. An old pool table took up the place of honor, consuming most of the room. Against one wall a Radio-Shack-brand Realistic stereo. Of course, it had a turntable.

Mark shut the door behind us as quietly as he had his bedroom door.

“We’re under the living room here. We should be okay.”

Paul already had the turntable cover off and was flipping through the sleeved albums stacked vertically beneath it.

“Which one did you play when you saw that thing?”

Mark hurried over and pushed Paul aside.

“Get out of there! My dad has them all organized. He’ll kill me if we mess it up.”

Marked pulled an album from the shelf and looked at its cover. Admiring it? Fearing it? One couldn’t tell.

“This one.”

“In this room, right?” Paul asked.

Mark nodded.

“Where did he come from?”

Mark pointed to an opening without a door. “The laundry room.”

“At my house, that’s where my dad keeps his booze,” I said.

“Are you sure it wasn’t just your mom?” Paul said.

“What? No! My parents are divorced, stupid.”

“So maybe it was your mom.”

Mark said nothing, but the seething in his posture was palpable. At that moment, I felt sorry for both of them.

Mark eased the platter out from the sleeve and placed it on the turntable, then turned the receiver on. He grabbed the needle and halted before placing it down.

“I don’t think you want me to play this backwards. It ruins the record, anyway.”

“No, we want you to play disco so we can dance,” Paul said. “Just play it. I want to see the Devil you said you saw.”

I finally spoke up. “But what if-”

“But what if what?” Paul snapped. “We see him and he tells us ‘no’ again? So what. Then we know and we won’t do it again.”

Mark looked back at us both, then placed the needle down. He seemed to know just where it had to go.

“This can play the record backwards on its own. I don’t need to do it by hand.”

He flipped a lever on the turntable and stepped far away, eyes not leaving that laundry room door. At first, seconds of silence, but for the popping and crackle of worn vinyl, then the speakers came to life. Sure enough, the words of Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” began to blast in reverse. I was caught off-guard at how loud it was, on account of Mark’s fear of alerting his father to the goings on. It caught Mark by surprise as well.

“Shit!”

Mark stumbled to the stereo. Someone stood in the doorway to the dark laundry room.

Mark froze. We all did. Satan had come. And then he spoke.

“What did I tell you.”

We said nothing. I felt the urge to run, but my legs were no better than bowling balls on Twizzler sticks. Paul backed up and was stopped short by the pool table. The record kept on playing.

“What. Did. I. Tell. You!”

Mark spoke. “N- No?”

“No! Nobody over! Nobody!”

Mr. Baxter stepped into the room. He was seething. He was nothing like I’d seen him before. And he was clearly loaded.

“And are you … are you playing that again?! After what happened last time?!”

“Dad? I … I’m sorry. They just showed up. I didn’t know-”

“Shut up! You two, get out of here the way you came!”

Through this all, the record continued to play, but all I could hear was Mr. Baxter’s rage.

“And you! Get over here!”

Paul and I turned tail and blasted through the door into the workshop. Paul shut the door behind him.

“Holy shit! His dad is … he’s crazy! Let’s get the hell outta here!”

For once I was willing to following Paul’s lead. As the bulkhead lock slid open, I heard Mr. Baxter’s anger turn up to eleven, while Robert Plant carried on.

“How many lessons do I need to teach you, Mark?! Another one?! And another?! I guess it’s time for one more! Come here!”

Mark started to cry. “No, Dad. Please.”

I couldn’t move. I knew that plea all too well. To leave, or stand idly by, knowing what was sure to come next, would be as damaging as what that bastard was about to do.

“What are you doing? Let’s go!” Paul said, and then flew out into the yard.

I turned and opened the basement door. Mr. Baxter had Mark pinned against the wall by the stereo, his arm cocked back with a fist. The record skipped. I’d say it was comically timed to my entrance, but the situation was anything but.

I’ve carried on a lot about how strange Mr. Baxter was. How he seemed to thrive on using the fear of damnation as a demented teaching tool, to kids who had been taught throughout their lives that Hell was no place to wind up. Throughout lessons failing in everything but illustrating the absurdity of it all, he had been kind. He had been patient and good. A seemingly willing volunteer to God. In that moment, the fog had lifted. Like with the ridiculous things he preached, he had fully veiled the truth of himself.

Mr. Baxter’s head snapped in my direction.

“I thought I told you to-”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. My breath caught in my chest. My eyes were no longer looking at Mr. Baxter or Mark. The anger that had blazing within them turned to absolute terror, trained on the open laundry room door.

The being floated into the room.

Mr. Baxter dropped his arm and flattened himself against the wall next to his son. The record played on.

Tattered dark brown robes draped over what was mostly human-shaped, drifting about it within a nonexistent wind. Swirls of debris and filth floated within the gaps of the cloth. Though they could have been flies, as the sounds of Led Zeppelin seemed drowned out by a skittering, hissing sound that bordered on radio static. There was no face, no real body parts at all. Just a thing. I would say it stood about seven feet tall, but that wouldn’t be quite accurate. Because the best I could tell, it was floating. The thing drifted closer to the Baxters. Mark continued to cry. Mr. Baxter looked as though he might start. Neither one said a word.

A long piece of the thing’s robe lifted, as though carried by an arm that wasn’t there, pointing, at the abusive wretch against the wall. It spoke.

“NO.”

Mr. Baxter broke down and slid to the floor. His mouth moved the words of “Our Father,” though I couldn’t hear him over the hissing, the music, and the throbbing in my head.

Mark didn’t follow suit. Instead, he ran over and stood beside me.

“NO,” it hissed again.

“Please.”

“NO.”

“No. I know. I know,” Mr. Baxter whimpered. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know you said no. I won’t do it again. I won’t do it again. I won’t!”

“COME.”

The specs floating within the swirl of robes darted to where Mr. Baxter lay huddled on the floor. There was no music, only the sound of what had begun to consume Mark’s father within a cloud of black, black which became solid, almost gelatinous and liquid. He screamed as the mass took over the man’s shape, writhing on the floor in what appeared to be pure agony.

The screams became grotesque, muffled gurgles before ceasing as abruptly as the thing had appeared in the laundry room doorway. Mark turned his face away. I still couldn’t move at all.

I have no idea how much time had passed before what had overcome Mr. Baxter once again became a cloud of airborne debris. On the floor, only another stain to match those in the corners of the room, filling the room with the odor of stale urine. As though called back to their master, they drifted to where the robed thing hovered, wafting about it as they’d done before.

It didn’t go back into the laundry room. Instead, it was just gone. Just as was the music. Just as was Warren Baxter.

—

Outside, I wasn’t at all surprised to see Paul and his bike long gone. I’d been inside with Mark for a long while after what had happened. He was a raw mess, as anyone would be. I helped him give a call to his mother, who lived about an hour away. I stayed for about that long before walking my bike home — I was in no condition to ride.

“I’ll say he just left me here,” Mark said. “Nobody would believe me if I told them what really happened.”

“What about his car?”

“He walks a lot. Usually to the bar down the street. They’ll believe that. I know Mom will.”

I could tell you I was terrified, walking that stretch of road alone late at night, after what I’d seen. In truth, I was relieved. For so long I was told of mortal sins I thought frivolous as being the true path to Hell. That simple “impure thoughts” would destine me to a horrible eternity only a young, teenage boy could imagine. How could such things measure in defiance of all that is good to the monstrous acts of murder, or of rape, or of beating one’s own child? There was a comfort in knowing that once the Devil truly is in someone, he comes looking for that piece of him to take home.

—

My house was in complete darkness. I threw my bicycle into the garage and entered through the back door, into the kitchen. At that hour, I was sure everyone was asleep.

“Where’ve you been?” It was my father. The son of a bitch was standing in the doorway from the basement, in the dark. Ice cubes tinkled from his highball glass.

“I … was just putting my bike away.”

“No. You were out. All night.”

“Dad, I-”

“Get in your room.”

There was no point in carrying on. I did as he said and shut the door behind me.

It was a school night, but I wasn’t about ready to sleep. Sleep, I knew, wouldn’t come at all. Not after the Baxter’s. Not after Dad. It would be another day of looking tired, looking terrible. All under the guise of looking tough.

“What are you doing?” I heard my mother ask from down the hall. “What time is it?”

“Your son. I’m getting my belt.”

“Steven, no…”

I turned on the small stereo in my room. Led Zeppelin IV was already mounted on the turntable, affectionately played countless times in the past as I fought to sleep through a shroud of tears and pain.

I placed the needle down, and as the door to my room opened, I began to turn it counter-clockwise by hand.

#the nosleep podcast #nosleep #horror #short story #short fiction

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ladylynse · 8 years

Text

So, more of that Danny Phantom fic focused on Danny and Mr. Lancer. This is the part that provides context and sets everything up, so it starts a little slower.

The Trouble with Ghosts: Lancer hadn’t realized how closely young Mr. Fenton’s school troubles–and the secrets he surely wasn’t telling his parents–were tied to ghosts until after that encounter with Phantom.

< Part I >

Earlier that day....

1. Describe the relationship between Boo Radley and Jem, Dill, and Scout. How is this relationship beneficial to each of the characters? 2. Relate the trial scene and its outcome to that of one of the underlying themes of the novel which we discussed in class. Use examples. 3. What literary device was used at the beginning of the novel? In your opinion, was its use effective? Why or why not? Danny groaned. He finally got to an opinion question and he still couldn’t answer it. Well, not really well. He’d read the first chapter, yes. He’d read the last chapter. He’d read the synopsis on the back of the book. That was about it. He’d gotten the impression that the book wasn’t actually about killing mockingbirds, but usually he had marginally better luck than this. True, Sam and Tucker had given him the abbreviated version right before class, but he couldn’t remember what they’d said now. If only he’d realized that the test was today….

Suffice to say that the time he’d had once he’d remembered—two hours—wasn’t enough time to read a novel. Not for him, anyway, and not when he was supposed to be paying attention in his other classes.

He should have known. Sam and Tucker had reminded him. He’d just forgotten. Somewhere between scrawling something down for the stupid essay Lancer had had due today, too, and writing a hasty lab report for biology, and fighting off all the ghosts, well, it had slipped his mind. He’d thought he’d had a day’s grace.

Apparently not.

Danny’s eyes slipped down to the last question.

10. Discuss the role of family and contrast today’s ideology with the one described in the novel. Support your answer using examples from the Finch family. Don’t forget to include Aunt Alexandra.

Why couldn’t Lancer’s tests be multiple choice or true or false or something? Even if just a portion of it was, it would be better than straight short answer. He’d at least have a hope of passing then.

Danny sighed. He started writing down something, figuring Mr. Lancer might, if he was feeling generous, give him credit for being creative. And he was being creative. He took what he knew, which was very little, and invented everything else, hoping his guesses were somewhat plausible within the context of the story. There were two obvious opinion questions, which he milked for all they were worth, and then he spent the rest of his time trying to jot something down elsewhere.

Not to mention trying to remember what Tucker had said about Boo Radley, and Sam about Mrs. Dubose, and what the two had been trying to tell him about the symbolism of the book’s title, which was the fifth question.

Five minutes before the end of class, Danny’s ghost sense went off. He was pretty certain he’d just failed another English test, but he stuck his hand in the air anyway.

“Yes, Mr. Fenton?” Mr. Lancer asked, sounding resigned.

“Can I go to the bathroom?”

Mr. Lancer sighed. “Class will be over shortly, Mr. Fenton. I would advise you use what little time you have left to finish your exam.”

“Please?” Danny asked. “I’m done, and I really, really have to go.” Not true, but better to hear the snickers from his classmates than to let the ghost, whoever it was, destroy more than it undoubtedly already had.

“Very well, but I want to speak to you when you come back.”

Crud. Mr. Lancer had probably seen his half-finished essay. Danny had noticed him marking them while they were writing their test. “Yes, sir,” he said, grabbing his backpack and dropping his test on Mr. Lancer’s desk before running out of the room.

A quick transformation in the boys’ washroom later, and Danny Phantom phased through the roof of the school to confront the latest ghost threat.

The Box Ghost.

Danny groaned. He could’ve finished his test. Not that it would’ve helped much, but still. “Did you have to come now?” he complained.

“Beware!” the Box Ghost cried. “I—”

“I don’t care,” Danny interrupted, his hands flaming green as he blasted the Box Ghost a few times. “I’m busy.”

The Box Ghost kept ranting, of course, but Danny had the advantage. The Box Ghost had probably been heading for one of the supply rooms in the school again, looking for more boxes, but he’d cut him off at the pass. He stopped shooting ectoblasts long enough to unscrew the cap on the Fenton Thermos—thankfully Jazz and Sam and Tuck kept reminding him to keep one in his backpack—and turn its beam on the Box Ghost, who hadn’t managed to fly very far away. With the Box Ghost trapped, Danny turned intangible and slipped down into the school again. The entire encounter hadn’t lasted five minutes.

Lancer was right. He could’ve waited until the end of class. But he hadn’t had any guarantee that it wasn’t someone more destructive. Technus had tried taking over all the computers in the school last week, for instance. If Danny had ignored his ghost sense that time, the school wouldn’t have any computers left.

They also wouldn’t necessarily need to replace one of the walls of the computer lab, but some things were unavoidable.

The lunch bell rang. Sam and Tucker would be waiting for him by his locker, but he had to meet with Mr. Lancer. If he was lucky, it wouldn’t last very long. If he wasn’t, Dash would find him on his way there or back and shove him into his locker in anticipation of failing the test they’d just written.

Danny lost no time changing back to his human form and heading back to Lancer’s classroom. The teacher was still there, at his desk, frowning down at a pile of papers. He looked up at Danny’s hesitant knock on the door.

“Ah, Mr. Fenton,” Lancer said. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”

“Sorry, sir,” Danny mumbled. “I just, um, wasn’t feeling the best.”

Lancer gave him a look that told Danny he didn’t believe a word. “Close the door, Mr. Fenton, and sit down. It’s time we had a talk.”

Oh, great. He was probably going to phone home this time. Danny should have known that having Jazz forge his parents’ signatures would only get him so far. “Is it about the test?” Danny asked hesitantly. “Or the essay?”

“That’s not all it’s about,” Lancer replied. “Your grades have not improved over the last eight months, Mr. Fenton. Longer, even. They haven’t improved since that sharp decline they took, and you’re giving me no reason to expect them to improve.”

Danny stared at the desk and said nothing.

“Would you care to explain yourself?”

No. But Danny still didn’t say anything.

“Flowers for Algernon, Danny! I’m trying to help you. At least look at me.”

Danny looked up, partially because he couldn’t stare at the desk forever but mostly because he was surprised that Lancer had called him ‘Danny’. He did it on occasion, of course, usually when he was trying to wake him up, but it wasn’t the norm by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe Lancer was trying to be less formal, to make him more comfortable. Still, Danny didn’t say anything. He had a horrible feeling that if he did, the situation would just go from bad to worse. Mr. Lancer might just let him go if he saw he wasn’t getting any response.

“Is it trouble at home?”

“No,” Danny said immediately, but he instantly regretted it when he saw the look of triumph in Mr. Lancer’s eye. He’d probably known that answer already and had just been hoping to provoke a reaction from Danny.

Unfortunately for him, it had worked.

“School, then? Perhaps in the form of Mr. Baxter?”

Danny’s eyes widened, just slightly. He’d thought Lancer had ignored that because Dash was the star quarterback. Of course, Danny could count the number of times Dash had gotten punished for his bullying on one hand, but still. The fact that Lancer acknowledged it instead of explaining it away had to be an improvement of some sort.

As Danny remembered the question, though, he shook his head again. “No, Mr. Lancer. It’s fine. I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong.”

“Mr. Fenton, you may not be as bright as your sister, but you are cleverer than you give yourself credit for.”

Ouch. Was that supposed to cheer him up? But then again, Jazz was the smartest kid in school, as far as he knew. That was probably all Lancer had meant. Though he had, Danny noticed, gone back to being formal. Maybe he figured sounding stricter would be more likely to get him an answer?

“I’m trying my best, sir,” Danny said.

Lancer shook his head. “You aren’t,” he countered. “If you put a little more effort into your studies, I’m sure you could ace every test.” He paused. “Or very nearly, at least.”

Danny swallowed, knowing Mr. Lancer was thinking of the 19th century poetry test he’d had him rewrite one time. He had done pretty well after Lancer had forced him to study. The teacher had even given up his time to help him. But while he’d been doing that, he’d left Sam and Tucker to deal with Technus by themselves, and they nearly hadn’t managed it. He didn’t want to shirk his ghost hunting responsibilities and leave it to Sam and Tuck when he was probably one of the main reasons the ghosts came through into the Real World in the first place.

“What I would like to know, Mr. Fenton, is why you don’t care enough about your schoolwork to put more effort into it.”

“It’s not that I don’t care. I’m just…busy,” Danny mumbled, looking down at the desk again.

“I’m sure you are,” Lancer said dryly. “Hanging with your fellow dudes, as I’m sure you would put it. I am a teacher, Danny, and contrary to popular belief, I’m not completely oblivious to the lives of my students. You’re involved in something, and I think you may be in over your head.”

Danny winced. “What gave you that idea?”

Mr. Lancer raised his eyebrows. “Besides your grades? You’re in detention nearly every day of the week. You come to class late, leave early, or skip it altogether, and I am certainly not the only teacher in this school to doubt your feeble excuses. Not to mention,” he added, “I find it rather unpleasant to mark papers which have been drooled upon.”

Danny cringed. “Sorry,” he murmured. Usually Sam and Tucker woke him up before it got to that point, though. Thankfully. Falling asleep in class was bad enough, but drooling was just embarrassing.

“I want to help you, Danny,” Lancer said, “but you need to give me the chance, and you need to trust me. Keeping you after school to watch you do your homework isn’t going to solve the problem. We both know how well that’s been working so far.”

Mr. Lancer was looking at him expectantly. Danny sighed. “I’m fine, Mr. Lancer. Really.”

Mr. Lancer looked disappointed. “Very well, Mr. Fenton. I’ll see you after school today.”

“What? Why?”

“Because your essay leaves something to be desired,” Lancer said. “A few supporting paragraphs and a conclusion, to be exact.”

“It had a conclusion,” Danny muttered.

“One incomplete sentence does not a conclusion make,” Lancer returned lightly. “I’ll see you later, Mr. Fenton. You may go.”

Danny groaned but didn’t protest. This was going to be a long day.

Over the course of his teaching career, Mr. Lancer had run into very few cases where he had been unable to get to the root of the problem of a student’s troubles. However, Danny’s situation was particularly vexing. He had long ago ruled out troubles at home. Though Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were undoubtedly eccentric, they were well-meaning and wanted the best for their children. Besides, he taught Jasmine Fenton as well, and she had shown no signs of distress as Danny had, and he had no doubt that she would alert someone if anything troublesome for Danny did arise at the Fenton household.

He’d become aware of Dash’s bullying of Danny—and a number of other children—but hadn’t found the right way to stop it without unintentionally causing Danny and the others to become targets off the school grounds. But he wasn’t certain that the bullying Danny endured was the cause of his troubles. It wasn’t something he could rule out easily, of course. Danny showed no physical signs of harm, and he remained in a tight friendship with Tucker Foley and Sam Manson, so his emotional state could not be in dire straits, even if it was affected.

It didn’t fit with drugs or drink or gang relations or anything else of that sort. It didn’t fit with any situation he could think of, to be perfectly honest. Danny didn’t even have the attitude of a slacker, not really. He usually made an effort to be moderately attentive when he was in class, if only for a portion of it.

Well, excepting the times he fell asleep, which were unfortunately more common than Lancer would have liked. He didn’t approve of the blank, bleary-eyed stare the boy adopted, either, when he was struggling to just barely keep his eyes open.

But what would prompt that? What was keeping him up at night?

Lancer frowned. He knew Mr. Fenton was a fan of video games, but he doubted his addiction had gone quite that far. Danny seemed to have a good sense of responsibility.

He just chose to ignore that when it came to his schoolwork, offering no good excuses for doing so.

Perhaps it was a family issue after all, but one of rebellion. He hadn’t thought Maddie and Jack were particularly strict, but perhaps they had expectations that Danny didn’t want to live up to, expectations on which Jazz had thrived. Yet that still didn’t quite ring true. Miss Manson, after all, was clearly a teenager in rebellion against her parents, but she was still a bright student. He rather doubted she would encourage Danny to make a statement by ignoring his schoolwork, even if she didn’t discourage it. If it weren’t for Mr. Foley and Miss Manson, Mr. Lancer rather doubted that Danny would even be passing all the classes he was.

As far as he could tell, Danny was still trying in school. But for all of his good intentions, he did not put nearly the amount of effort into his studies that he should. That, of course, simply begged the question of what he truly was up to, and Mr. Lancer found that he’d reasoned himself back to square one, and he was none the wiser for it.

Lancer checked his watch and frowned. Danny should have been here ten minutes ago, but there was still no sign of him. Another twenty minutes passed, and Mr Lancer put his pen down with a sigh. Mr. Fenton usually wasn’t one to skip his detentions, and when he did come in late, it was generally only by a few minutes.

He’d hoped to have a longer talk with Danny before phoning his parents, but clearly that wasn’t going to be happening. He pulled out his cell phone and started to input the number he wished he’d never had to memorize: 555-122— The outside wall of the room exploded inwards.

Mr. Lancer wasn’t entirely sure whether he’d dropped his cell phone or whether it had been knocked out of his hand by the force of the implosion, but he knew he wasn’t holding it anymore. He was just thankful he’d been sitting down. And that he’d been behind his desk, which was mercifully at the front of the room and consequently had—mostly—escaped the line of fire.

Lancer dragged his eyes away from the gaping hole in the wall when he heard a faint groan. It didn’t take him long to make out the familiar outline of Danny Phantom in the rubble. It did surprise him, though. In any of the ghost fights he’d witnessed, Phantom didn’t let something like being thrown through a wall stop him.

It was comforting that no ghost had followed Phantom into the school, but the fact that Phantom hadn’t moved certainly wasn’t.

When most of the dust had settled, Lancer carefully got to his feet. For all that he lived in Amity Park, he didn’t know much about ghosts. As a general rule, he didn’t trust them, and he was more terrified of them than he perhaps ought to be. But Phantom was the sole exception to that rule. Lancer couldn’t, necessarily, verbalize all the reasons for that, but despite a few unsavoury actions in Phantom’s past, the ghost seemed trustworthy.

“Phantom?” Lancer called softly as he approached. If ghosts could look ill, he certainly did. His usually-bright glow was dimmed to the point of being nonexistent, and he looked ashen. Or perhaps that was an effect of the dust. With the poor light in the room, even accounting for the sunlight streaming through the hole in the wall, it was hard to tell.

“Phantom?” Lancer called again, crouching down to get a better look at the ghost. There was still no response. Now that he was closer, however, he could see why. Sticky green ectoplasm had matted hair on one side of Phantom’s head. Add that to a rather large gash on his side and a few smaller ones that were likely due to the crash, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Phantom had been knocked out.

What Lancer found surprising was that this could even happen. He’d always figured that the ghosts that were clearly ghosts of the deceased would lose their form if they lost consciousness. He wasn’t so sure about the other types of ghosts, the ones that seemed more like masses of ectoplasm bound together by some unknown force or the sort that may have once been human but had been dead so long that they’d lost any semblance of humanity they must once have had.

He knew that ectoplasm was the equivalent of a ghost’s blood, that the fluid ectoplasm within their forms had slightly different properties than the solid ectoplasm that made up their exterior. Like the rest of the teachers at Casper High, he’d attended lectures hosted by Jack and Maddie Fenton. But even thinking about the glowing substance as blood made him realize just how much Phantom had lost, and it was still oozing out now.

The Fentons’ Ghost Information Sessions hadn’t included anything about healing ghosts or even basic anatomy. That hadn’t been deemed relevant. So while he knew a few basics in terms of hunting them with the Fentons’ weapons and all about a ghost’s devious nature and the many ways it might try to trick you, he wasn’t sure how to help the young ghost who lay before him now.

“Perhaps I should just treat him like I would a human,” Lancer murmured, looking the ghost over again with a more critical eye. He’d need to apply pressure to that side wound, no doubt, and deal with his head wound. He didn’t appear to have broken any bones—did ghosts have bones to break?—though he probably would have more than a few nasty bruises.

It wasn’t far to the nurse’s office and, therefore, access to all the medical supplies he could want. As the vice principal, he had a key to every room in the school, so accessing it would be no problem. And, if he was lucky, he could get there before anyone noticed what he was up to. He was rather surprised that the crash hadn’t attracted any attention yet, but he wasn’t going to question his luck. He knew things could be much worse, after all. If Miss Sanchez’s group, the Phantom Phan Club, had been meeting today…. Well, he wouldn’t have had any peace. Certainly Phantom wouldn’t have, and now was when he needed it most.

Carefully, Lancer picked him up. The ghost was surprisingly solid. Though lighter than a human his size would have been, Phantom had more mass than Lancer had imagined a ghost would. And he wasn’t as cold, either, as ghost tales from beyond Amity Park had led Lancer to believe. It was certainly nothing like handling ice.

After a moment, Phantom’s eyes flickered open. They were duller than normal, the electric green blaze that normally lit them conspicuously absent. “Mr. Lancer?” he whispered.

Lancer was surprised that Phantom knew his name, but he supposed that the ghost did show up around the school regularly to fight off other ghosts. “Yes,” he said gently. “Try not to move too much, Mr. Phantom. You’ve lost a lot of ectoplasm. I’m taking you to the nurse’s office.”

Phantom’s eyes widened, the spark behind them flaring back to life. He shook his head. “No, I’ll be fine,” he said, sounding much more awake now. “That won’t be necessary, uh, citizen….”

Lancer raised his eyebrows but did not stop his steady pace until he reached the nurse’s office. He already had his key out, so it was simple to get into the room and leave Phantom on the bed. The ghost immediately scrambled to his feet and winced. “I wouldn’t advise leaving quite yet, Phantom,” Lancer said softly. “You’re injured. And you don’t need to worry. I’m not going to turn you over to the Fentons.”

Phantom sighed and sat back down. He acted more energetic than he was, Lancer noted. He was clutching his side, for one, and his movements were careful and precise. He could undoubtedly feel every one of those scrapes. He examined the wound in his side, which was still leaking ectoplasm, and then looked back at Lancer. “Can you pass the gauze?”

“You’ve done this before,” Mr. Lancer surmised, not sure why he was surprised.

“I’ve gotten injured before,” Phantom said dully. “I might heal faster than a human, but this cut’s deep.”

“Where do you get your supplies?” Lancer asked.

Phantom shrugged but took the offered gauze and bandages, setting them down beside him. “Crud,” he muttered, poking at the wound. “I should probably strip down to do this. It’ll last longer.” And, to Lancer’s surprise, he reached up and undid a near-invisible zipper that ran up the front of his suit. He carefully eased out his right arm, hissing a bit as he jarred his side.

Mr. Lancer just stared. The ghost boy began treating his wound, cleaning it off a bit before bandaging it up as well as a professional. But even more surprising than the boy’s skill was how…human he looked. Admittedly, Lancer never, on principle, stayed close to ghosts, but Phantom had always appeared less threatening than other ghosts, more, well, human, and now…. Lancer hadn’t been expecting a haze rather than a defined shape beneath the boy’s suit, per se, but he hadn’t expected it to be so…normal.

Perhaps it was the continued lack of the ghost’s bright glow. If he ignored the unnaturally white hair or eerily bright green eyes, well, Phantom wasn’t much different from the students he taught. A bit too pale, and much too comfortable with battles and injuries, but nevertheless a witty, determined young man who stood up for what he believed in and strived to help others. An admirable soul.

Phantom zipped the front of his suit back up and cocked an eyebrow at Lancer. “What?”

It had to be impolite to ask a ghost how he had died or how long he had been dead, so Lancer stilled his tongue, though he couldn’t help but wonder, especially since he suspected that might be the reason Phantom was much more tolerable than the other ghosts that frequented Amity Park. “Do you remember what happened?” he asked instead.

Phantom stared at him, surprised. Then he shrugged again. “Yeah. The Red Huntress. It wasn’t her initially—she came after me, not the other way around—but by the time I had Skulker trapped, she’d found me. She had to show me some of her new weapons.” He rubbed one arm. “She had a few I wasn’t expecting.” Before Lancer could think to ask how Phantom would be expecting any of them, the ghost added, “I was trying to lose her. I didn’t mean to bring the fight to the school. I mean, it worked, since I don’t think she likes coming into the school like that, but….” He trailed off. “Sorry about the wall. The damage probably wouldn’t have been so bad if she hadn’t managed to hit me.”

“Do you know what she hit you with?” Lancer asked carefully.

“Something that packed a punch,” Phantom replied. “Beyond that, no.” He hopped off the bed. “Thanks,” he said. “For, you know, not turning me in or anything. But I’ve got to go.”

“Phantom, you don’t look well,” Lancer cautioned.

“I’m fine,” Phantom said, but the response sounded automatic to Lancer’s ears. And as chipper and cocky as Phantom was acting, Lancer had been teaching kids for enough years to be able to read between the lines. Even if Phantom wasn’t admitting it, wasn’t acting like it, he couldn’t keep the pain he was feeling off his face, and he’d as good as admitted to worrying about the cut on his side.

Lancer gently pushed him back onto the bed. “No,” he said. “Your head wound is still bleeding.” Not to mention his side. Even in the time they’d been talking, Lancer could see through the tear in Phantom’s suit that the gauze he’d taped over the wound was already turning green.

“Huh?” Phantom blinked and reached up. He winced as he touched a tender spot and sucked in a breath when he saw the ectoplasm on his glove. “Oh,” was all he said.

“Can you even see straight?” Lancer asked doubtfully.

“I’ve had worse,” Phantom said, though he sounded a lot more uncertain than he had a moment ago.

“Who helps you, Phantom?” Lancer asked quietly. “You can’t be doing this on your own.”

Phantom mumbled something incoherent and shrugged one shoulder; he was still being careful enough not to move the other more than necessary.

Lancer raised his eyebrows. “I was supposed to meet with a student today, but he decided not to show up. As such, I’ve time enough to look after you, and we’ll spare the friends you must have the trouble of patching you up.” When Phantom didn’t protest, Lancer began to carefully clean the wound on his head. The ghost flinched a few times but otherwise held still.

After a few minutes, Phantom said, “I thought you were scared of ghosts.”

Lancer chuckled. “Terrified, I assure you.”

“Then why help me?”

“Because you need it,” Lancer said, “whether you admit to that or not. And because you, Mr. Phantom, seem to do more than your fair share when it comes to protecting this town, despite your dubious nature.”

“Oh. Um, thanks, I guess.”

Lancer, having finished bandaging Phantom up, looked him over once more. “You still don’t quite look yourself,” he said.

“What do you mean?” The words came out in a rush and sounded, to Lancer’s ears, slightly panicked.

Lancer frowned. “You normally seem…brighter,” he finally said.

Phantom immediately held a hand in front of his face, studying it. Then, slowly, deliberately, he pressed down onto the bed. After another few seconds, he said, “Oh, crud.”

“Would you care to elaborate?”

Phantom bit his lip, then admitted, “I can’t, um, use my powers. Well, I can’t go invisible or intangible or fly, and that’s the basic stuff, so I’m assuming that if I can’t do that, I can’t do anything else, either.” He sighed. “Serves me right for getting hit, I guess.” He held up his hand again, stared at it, and shook his head. At Lancer’s curious look, he explained, “I can’t build up an ectoblast, either.”

“There’s something that can render a ghost harmless?”

“There’s apparently something that can render me harmless,” Phantom muttered. “That’s also probably why I’m still bleeding. I’m not healing. Crud. This is not my day.” He took a deep breath, seemed to make a decision, and jumped back off the bed. He wavered for a second, though whether he was unsteady on his feet because he was dizzy or simply unaccustomed to being a slave to gravity, Lancer couldn’t say. “Thanks for all the help, Mr. Lancer, but I’ve got to go.”

“You can’t,” Lancer protested, catching his arm. “With the Fentons and the Red Huntress on patrol, you’d be a sitting duck in the condition you’re in.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Phantom said, slipping out of Lancer’s grip. “I’ll figure this out somehow. Thanks.” This time, he was out the door before Lancer could stop him.

#danny phantom #fanfiction #phanfiction #dp fanfiction #danny fenton #mr lancer #blood tw #my writing #snippets #old writing #still mostly unedited #ladylynse #text #long post #dp snippet

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