#i've been like this ever since my dad started playing lego games on our first wii so this isn't like. new

[voidartisan]

i'm pretty much convinced that i would like the story and concepts behind jedi: fallen order, jedi: survivor, and the legend of zelda games. the problem is. i don't like. playing video games.

[rosie-kairi]

Questions for 15 Friends Tag Game

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 15 people. (won't be tagging anyone personally lol)

Thanks for the tag @/corishadowfang!

ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

IRL No, not that I'm aware of. I'm the only one in my immediate family (sans my father's side) not named after another member of our family. I do get my middle name from my mom's first name, though. (which, funny enough, wasn't her original first name. She went by her middle name much more than her first name, so she just had it legally changed lol) My Dad wanted to name me Gwendolyn and his mom wanted Bronwyn.

Online, I think it's pretty obvious where I get my name(s) from lol. Though, I don't think I've ever told the origins of Rosie. It was actually originally supposed to be like an adjective? Like "rosy cheeks" or whatever, but I spelt it the way one spells the name Rosie and it came first in my url, so I came to be known as Rosie.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Can't remember exactly? But I think I was crying over some video compilation of people reuniting with lost pets and I was thinking about my deceased cat, Jazzy. I have no idea why I was watching that video.

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Nah, I'm 17.

WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED?

In elementary school my mom really wanted me to get into softball since she played it in college, so I was briefly on a tee-ball (kiddie baseball, hit using a tee) team and a softball team. I didn't like it very much, so I only played for a year or so. Then in middle school my mom wanted me to get into Volleyball, same story there. The one sport that stuck was Swimming, which my mom insisted I try because both of my older brothers had been on the team in the past. I ended up being really good at swimming, so I still swim competitively to this day.

DO YOU USE SARCASM?

Mostly only around my family or people I'm close with irl. I really don't want to come off as mean around strangers, either online or face-to-face.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Online I usually pay attention to the way they type, I suppose? or the way they talk through text, can't really explain it though. Real life, I suppose it's how they carry themselves, visual stuff like that.

WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOUR?

I have central heterochromia! Means I have two colors in one eye; blue and brown :) It's not really noticeable unless you look really close.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Happy endings :)) Though I do watch scary movies in a roundabout way by putting on youtube videos about horror movies as background noise sometimes.

ANY TALENTS?

I think I'm a decent singer, also I think I'd make a killer voice actor.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Dead middle of a nor'easter (really bad blizzard) in Maine

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES?

Art :) I read sometimes. I like building legos whenever I get the chance too. Also video games lol. Pretty run-of-the-mill hobbies, I think.

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS?

Two atm! Sulley (white one) and Callie (calico), both cats :)

HOW TALL ARE YOU?

5'11"

FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

History 💪💪💪 Family full of History buffs, excluding my mom lol

DREAM JOB?

I would love to one day work on a show as a storyboard artist or animator, and the hopeful goal is to someday be a showrunner myself. It's a big goal for sure but it's something I really want. Art is my passion and I want to pursue it. Remember your darling mutual rosie-kairi when people start having discourse about my ocs.

Feel free to do this yourself if you want to! Open invitation :D

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

NOTE: NaNoWriMo is in full swing! I told you I would try my best to update while it's going on and I will, even though it's obviously not as frequent as other months. Enjoy!

Yeah, I have no idea what went on over at the Chau residence. They took a few pictures of me on their phones to at least have examples ready, but it would have been pretty annoying to stick me in the back of the car — and besides, Stephen made a really good point that I might shatter if they dropped me, so after that nobody much wanted to take responsibility for schlepping the stone girl around.

But I got the general synopsis of what I missed from listening to their chatter. And thank GOD I finally had some entertainment, because lying around in an empty house all by yourself when you can't move is just about the most boring fucking thing ever.

Knives had her mom translate for her, since she can't speak Chinese, and asked her father if he knew any way to undo a spell, or curse, or mutation, or whatever the fuck this was that made people turn into rock-people. At first he said something a teensy bit racist that nobody would repeat, and then he asked for how the symptoms started. When they explained that it started from a feeling, and showed him the pic of my stomach, he kind of figured out what she would need.

Apparently, the house was quiet for so long because they had to go back to that place where Scott got the Soft and head to "Giant World", whatever that means. When they came back, they had another potion that was supposed to do something else. All I got was its name, not what it was supposed to do.

"So once Knives takes the Micron, we'll all stand watch," Steph was saying. Being a little older than everybody but Wallace — when did he show up? — she had kind of elected herself in charge. Also, nobody else wanted to be in charge, anyway. "Take turns. Like, I'm not sure what we can do, but we have to be ready just in case…"

"How long do we think this is gonna take?" Wallace asked, glancing at his trendy chronometer. "I'm supposed to meet up with Mobile at the new club where the Rockit used to be. Supposed to be a lot more catered toward our particular tastes now."

Knives's bottom lip quivered. "You don't care what happens to Kim, do you?"

"In an overall sense? Sure I do… but you guys didn't even remember my birthday. Tit for tat, you know."

"Hopeless," Stephen sighed. "No wonder Joseph hates you."

His trim eyebrow went up very slightly. "That catty bitch hates everyone. Can we get down to business? Kim's life hangs in the balance, just like my punctuality. They're both pretty important. Besides, I'm the only one here who can feed Knives any chi once she's through the gates; you need me as an E Tank."

"Fine!" Huffing, Knives grabbed the potion and downed it in one gulp. There were a few gasps, and Steph said something about "but we weren't through planning!" but it was too late; she had taken the plunge. And I was kinda glad, because at least now I would get to find out what the hell they were talking about, since they were leaving out so many details due to not bothering to include me in their conversation.

Not that I could talk back, anyway. But I could hear.

At first, we thought nothing had happened. Then I could tell something was weird. Everybody in the room was getting taller! Wait, that wasn't it… Knives was getting shorter. And shorter… she was shrinking right in front of my eyes.

"Hurry!" Stephen hissed, and Steph picked her up and sat her on my stomach once she was about toddler-sized. She kept going, slipping down my stomach when she was about the size of a Lego figurine, and then I couldn't see her anymore on the other side of my boobs.

At first, I thought that was it; that she had disappeared, and I felt a panic that I couldn't properly express while held suspended in this pavemential state of being. What the fuck had they done to my girlfriend?! But then I saw Steph bend down and do something else, holding her hand against my stomach.

"Hurry up… oh God, I hope Wallace knows how to use that thing."

WHAT thing?

"Me, too," he sighed as he pulled on the red fingerless glove. "Seems simple enough."

Shit. That thing. And I couldn't even scream as he slapped me in the forehead.

                                                          ~ o ~

When I woke up, I didn't know where I was. I mean, I was definitely nowhere I had ever been before, and I kind of accepted that much… but still, why was the sky all pink? Why was the ground day-glow blue? Why was the path leading into the far distance so gold and shiny? Why was everything moving a little, like I was actually living inside a heat haze? Just freaking psycho crap.

And there she was.

"Knives!" At first she didn't turn around, but when I shouted again, she finally did — and took a huge leap backward.

"AAAAHHH! A GHOST!"

"A what?" Looking down, I saw that I was half-invisible, and my legs disappeared into a wispy thingy. Reminded me of an actual cartoon ghost, but the tops of my legs were still pretty distinct. "Oh. Well, that's annoying."

Her hand reached out, drew back again, and then reached forward to touch my legs… and she passed right through. She shivered as she whispered, "Whoa."

"Yeah, um, don't do that again."

"Okay. Oh, Kim! I'm so glad you're okay! Kind of!" She moved to hug me, then remembered and drew back again. "Oh, oops. Sorry."

"It's okay. God… I'm such a mess, I didn't mean to make everybody… well, anyway, it's too late now. What are we doing here?"

"Huh? Oh, right! You know, that whole thing you told me about? We have to fix that or we can't reverse this, since we didn't get to it in time. So I took the Micron because I'm the one with the most training, and my dad has this thing in Brazil he has to take care of so he can't."

"What? I mean… damn, how long do you think we might be in here?"

Looking apologetic, she whispered, "He said… maybe a couple years?"

"YEARS?!"

"Or not! It could only take a few hours, if we don't get hung up on the Rubik's Cube."

"Rubik's-" Only then did I catch on. My eyes narrowed in utter disbelief, waiting for her to yell "PSYCH" or something, but she didn't. "Wait. You're talking about all that bullshit I spewed at you when we first started hanging out again, aren't you?"

"Yeah! I mean, I'm ready for the rhino and the warthog, I'm pretty sure, but the rest I'll… have to… what is it, Kim?" she asked when she could tell I was even paler than a spirit already would be.

"It was all a lie. I mean… a joke, but I didn't expect you to actually believe me, and I never got the chance to tell you any differently because you ran off." Sighing, I turned away slightly, not wanting to look at her right then. "If this isn't some kind of crazy fever dream, or rock-dream or ghost-dream or whatever, and you're actually trying to fight your way through my body… then I think you're wasting your time. I have no idea what's about to happen to you in here."

"Well, that's okay," she said instantly. "We'll just figure out what the challenges are if they're different. I'm even stronger than I was before, you know; I kept up my training since all that happened at the Chaos Theater. Knives Chau is buff and knows her stuff!"

Gritting my ghostly teeth, I hissed, "Don't you get it? I want you to leave. Stop trying to help me, I'm obviously more trouble than I'm worth. Just… just go."

For a few seconds, everything was quiet. Then I saw her walking down the road into the distance. I was relieved for just a second; relieved and sad. At least Knives would be okay.

Then she called back to me, "You coming, or are you just gonna hang around here in the middle of your stomach?"

Once I caught up, trying not to let my pleased smile be seen by anyone, I asked her, "Stomach?"

"Sure. The portal is in your belly button; the only way in past the stone. Well, we could have tried your ears or nose, but the journey to your heart would have been a little longer, and we couldn't be sure of the path. This seems like a straight shot."

"Oh. Well… I mean, um… I don't really get this. Why are you trying so hard for me? I suck as a girlfriend, and I suck as a friend. All I did was kind of… hang around you and be grumpy all the time. Then statue-ified myself. "

That got her to stop walking and blink at me a few times. "You really think that's all you gave me, Kim?"

"Well… yeah."

"Don't be dumb. You were so sweet."

"ME?!"

"Yes, you," she giggled as she resumed, setting a swift pace. Not that I minded, since floating alongside her didn't seem to make me any more or less tired. "Sure, you tried to bury it under like, your whole 'cool' attitude, but I've… never had anybody make me dinner before besides my mom. And you were always there to talk to and you really listened to my babble, and we could always play games or watch TV, and you were so awesome about not rushing me with sex stuff… held my hand. Kissed my cheeks. Made me feel important to you, even though I could tell it was really hard for you to do that. Gosh, Kim, who wouldn't love you?"

For a few minutes, all I could do was float alongside her. Something about this inner-spirit state I was in prevented me from crying, but I definitely wanted to be. Was kind of frustrating, actually, needing that emotional release and being unable to have it. But I certainly had no words to follow up hers with.

When we got to the outer gates, it looked like a giant walled city, and the multiple colours of the doorframe reminded me of Fruit Stripe gum for some reason. Anyway, as I had been worrying about… there were the guards. Giant mutant animals that just barely weren't copies of villains from an old cartoon I loved when I was little.

"Oh wow, okay," she breathed, whipping out a couple of her huge daggers. "Do you know their weaknesses? Because like, if I can stand on that piece of wall and stab down with my weapon continually-"

"Did you say… you love me?"

"What? Oh, um… yeah, I think I did? Is that okay?"

My noncorporeal eyes nearly bugged out of their invisible sockets. She started to look even less sure of herself, glancing back and forth between me and the enemies. So I quickly said, "Yeah, yeah. It's great. I mean, uh… sorry. Just never had anyone… say that to me before. Damn."

"Hmmm. Didn't know a ghost could blush."

"What?!"

"Kidding," she giggled just as my hands went up toward my face. "Come on, let's get this done. I want to help you."

Humming to myself, I tilted my head up in their direction. "No idea. But I have this vague feeling that if we kick one of their asses, they'll both go down. Well, if you do. Not sure I'll be much help like this."

"Might as well try it!" Then she started sprinting for them. "HEY YOU GUYS!"

That… was not how I would have handled it.

                                                          To Be Continued…