#issue 06

[yours-stevie]

What a man 😍

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 06

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Andrew is dragging FF across campus towards where he parked his car and he is kinda of concerned that FF is just like fully letting himself be dragged across campus. I’m talking full on Andrew has a grip on the back of his hoodie, FF is just staring up at the sky, FF’s feet don’t even attempt to stop Andrew from pulling him where he wants to go, and when Andrew looks back FF’s face is just :I

Which even Andrew can admit is kind of weird.

Meanwhile FF is just like ‘The ground hasn’t really gotten cold yet so I’m sure Captain Neil and Andrew could really go to town on the hole they’re going to bury me in. I wonder what gave me away? It was probably the fucking Russian Literature book. I didn’t even like the plot twist in that one anyways. Can’t BELIEVE I’m gonna die due to my love of trashy literature. Thanks Grandma. Wait I’m sorry grandma, I didn’t mean to be rude-“

“Hey Granny Smith! I’ve been looking for you!” A most loathed nickname coming from a most loathed voice. Andrew doesn’t stop towing FF because why the hell would he? FF has never been so grateful to be dragged to his death! Now if only Andrew would break his long standing and well-known absolute refusal to do anything more than walk at a brisk pace.

He sees his step-brother jogging up to him and FF almost turns to Andrew to ask if he could just kill him HERE so he doesn’t have to deal with his step-brother and THEN get stabbed to death in the forest? He can accept that he should have told Andrew and Captain Neil that he knows Russian and the death sentence that rightfully comes with that but like C’MON having to deal with his Step-brother is just cruel and unusual punishment!

His step brother catches up and in a way maybe all the mental torture he’s gone through since coming to Palmetto is a good thing! He really was a novice at the poker face before and now he’s a grand master champion of staring at something that’s gonna SUCK and pretending like he has no idea that it is.

“Whoa there Granny.” His Step brother grabs his arm and tugs him out of Andrew’s grasp. Andrew really had not been paying attention to whatever jack off had been yelling something about apples. So FF getting yanked out of his hand was actually his first indication since FF didn’t say or react at all before. “You’ve been dodging all of Dad’s calls y’know. You still haven’t sent anything that we asked you for, got any excuse for that?!” His step brother demands.

FF looks heavenward because this is, like, so embarrassing. He can feel people stopping and staring at them.

(They were staring before his Step-brother showed up because he was getting visibly dragged through campus by ANDREW MINYARD. Some of his friends who had seen it were already planning a memorial service and candle vigil)

“Nope.” Because he has nothing to say about whatever the hell his step brother is talking about.

“Mom’s heartbroken you know! You haven’t reached out to her once!” he says. 

“I’ll get on that.”

“Are you going to get the stuff we asked you for?! We are family aren’t we? We’re not asking for a lot. Just for you to get tickets to your games for Dad’s colleagues, some autographs from your teammates, and a good word to that bleeding heart coach that we all should get the free ride you’re getting. That’s not too much right?!”

Andrew hasn’t intervened yet but now Andrew is under the impression that FF stopped hanging out because the kid’s family has been harassing him with calls and maybe this isn’t the first time they’ve come in person to campus. That’s why FF has been fading into the background. Andrew’s now under the impression that FF’s family has wanted him to use the Foxes (tickets, autographs, scholarships for his step brothers) and FF had just been pulling away so his asshole family wouldn’t bother the rest of them. That FF may not have been able to cut off contact completely because of a grandparent he was close to.

These are, in fact, the WRONG impressions of the situation at hand. The truth of the matter is that Wymack helped him get a new phone and phone number within 24 hours of getting to Palmetto, it was the one extra that he asked for in his contract and Palmetto is paying his phone bill now. The phone with the number his ‘family’ had just sits charging in a drawer on silent in Wymack’s desk because Wymack is INFINITELY petty when it comes to the things his Foxes are running from.

The other truth of the situation at hand is that Fluent Freshman’s grandma is the only member of his family he talks to regularly and he talks to her almost every single day of his life, she is the only person he can be completely honest with because she knows what a wimp he is and loves him regardless. 

His Grandma is just an EXCELLENT actress. So when his ‘family’ comes over for answers she’ll sigh, stare longingly at a framed photo of FF, and look out the window with a single pre-staged tear in her eye. She wouldn’t give them his new number no matter what.

He loves his grandma even if it was her teaching him Polish, her native tongue, that lead to him getting interested in the other slavic languages that lead him down the deadly path to Russian.

ANYWAYS.

Andrew is under some very wrong impressions but he is also under one very correct impression and it’s the impression that’s the most important anyways.

Fluent Freshman’s family is what made him a Fox and Fluent Freshman’s family are therefore the enemy.

Except FF doesn’t give Andrew the time to pull out his knife, “No, I don’t wanna do that. Bye Greg.” He says, pulls out his student ID, slaps it on a nearby scanner for a STUDENT ONLY building and power walks inside leaving Andrew and his Step Brother alone.

The door shuts behind FF with a distinctive lock and Greg looks at Andrew his face purpling from anger, “You’re going to let me in there and-“

Andrew now has plenty of time to pull out his knife. “You’re going to what?”

Greg swallows and in a show of excellent survival instincts runs the fuck away.

Andrew watches him run before he turns back to the STUDENT ONLY building and heads in himself. He finds FF just inside the doors and he looks tired sitting there against the wall. FF doesn’t say anything to Andrew, doesn’t even acknowledge that he’s there. Andrew takes a spot on the wall across from him. People give them weird looks but Andrew is fine with waiting.

He doesn’t mind just sitting in silence with FF again even if the circumstances aren’t what they usually are. So they sit.

FF has blue-screened. The stress of his impending death, of his step brother showing up and saying crazy shit, he blacked out a bit from the stress of being between Andrew and Greg and has no memory of what he said before he walked into this building and then there’s the fact that he just WALKED INTO SOME RANDOM CAMPUS BUILDING (oh god he’s probably not supposed to be in here but Greg is definitely still loitering outside maybe security will be gentle if he just sits right by the exit so they don’t have to go far to kick him out? Maybe he should move near a Different exit so Greg doesn’t see him get tossed like yesterday’s trash? Well he already sat down so now it’s embarrassing if he gets up to just go SIT AT SOME OTHER EXIT.)

So he’s taking a moment to reboot.

Unfortunately his ability to have internal conversations and recognize that someone is there with him is one of the last things that loads.

“It’s fine. I’ve always been the leftover kid. I don’t care that they don’t care. I don’t care either.” He says and it’s a mantra he’s repeated for almost a decade now.

It is definitely not something he thought he was saying out loud in the presence of Andrew Minyard and it is also definitely not something he was SAYING to Andrew Minyard but how the hell would ANDREW MINYARD KNOW THAT WHEN FF IS STARING STRAIGHT AT HIM WHEN HE SAYS IT.

So Andrew thinks it’s the explanation FF is offering about his step brother / family. If there’s one thing Andrew knows the feeling of it is being the ‘leftover’ kid.

The one-sided kinship grows while FF is working on rebooting his vision and getting his heart rate down to a BPM that wouldn’t have medical doctors concerned.

Finally, FF blinks his vision has returned back to him, sees Andrew Minyard across the hall from him, and, by the grace of GOD considering his fried nerves, FF does not flinch.

Andrew doesn’t make any move to grab him and FF decides to take this momentary reprieve that his executor is granting him to shoot off a text to his grandma. “I am so grateful for all the love you have given me throughout my life. I think I’m going to see Dad in the next few hours so please let me know if there’s anything you want me to say to him.” Is what he sends.

(This grandma has gotten almost this exact same text when he had an oral presentation last week. Her grandson is a wimp but she loves him.)

“Are we still going on that drive?” He asks his affairs settled. It’s nice that Andrew let him have a breakdown here and even let him text his grandma his final thoughts. He was willing to use his blood to write out the message but where would he get the paper?

“Yeah, we can go on that drive.” Andrew gets up and offers his hand to FF who looks at it for a long moment KNIVES. THOSE ARE KNIVES. HE USUALLY CONCEALS THEM BETTER? IS THIS HIS WAY OF SAYING HE’S GOING TO BE REALLY MESSY WITH MY DEATH? OH GOD HE’S NOT READY.

(Andrew didn’t really take the time to put his knives back in his arm bands properly because he figured he needed to catch FF before the kid disappeared again. He didn’t think he’d find him just inside the door.)

FF pushes himself up onto his feet.

They get to the Maserati and FF was AWARE that Andrew had a nice car but he hadn’t pieced it together that he’d be doing his last ride in such a nice car. He briefly pauses by the trunk wondering if he should just save Andrew the trouble and climb in himself?

Andrew sees FF pause at the car and figures he’s just being polite not touching Andrew’s stuff without Andrew’s permission. FF is just that kind of guy.

“The passenger seat is available.” Andrew says and alright cool Andrew wants to threaten him first that makes sense.

Except Andrew doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t drive them to a remote location. He’s just driving around Palmetto and FF does not think that Andrew is planning on crashing the car to kill him (He has unfortunately heard Aaron and Andrew have a fight in German when he was waiting for his own appointment with Betsy so he also Is aware what happened to their mom no matter HOW HARD he tries to forget that he knows.)

It’s just actually kind of a nice drive?

“He called you Granny Smith.” Andrew states. (Wondering if THAT is the elusive first name)

“I’m close with my Grandma. My last name is Smith. They’re not that creative.”

“Hm.” (Dammit)

Andrew watches as FF’s shoulders eventually relax until he’s almost falling asleep in the Mas and decides that the drive has done it’s job.

Eventually Andrew parks in front of the tower, tells him to respond to his texts from at least him and Neil, and he is released feeling very much like one of those animals that were released back into the wild after being tagged.

He texts his grandma later “NVM it wasn’t that bad.”

NEXT

Per your requests:

@i-have-three-feelings @blep-23 @dreamerking27

[larabar]

id imagine sonics friend would be like. horrified that sonic fucking died and all of them brushed it off. man this au rlly is silly or soul crushing angst uh

^ the au

[soaps-mohawk]

Hii! Just thinking about the reader being Price's Princess passenger🤭

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeg4TFfG/

Cant help but to fawn over that man every time he just breathe in Crcb! 😍

Mhm mhm the reader absolutely is 🤭 (to be fair I couldn't drive in the UK either I can barely drive on the right side of the road).

He's so dreamy 🤩

[kyouka-supremacy]

Like technically I know chuuaku as a ship has a great angst potential too. Not to me though that ship is sugar spice and everything nice

[good-beanswrites]

My last post made me want to spin the ballet au to suit the general cast, keeping Es as the protagonist 🩰

I don't have art for this one but I still got a bit carried away with the details LOL This definitely leans more into a sweet fix-it :3

The story would open with Es waking up in the medical room of Milgram Dance Academy, a very small and isolated school. Es is told they suffered a bad head injury during a performance, resulting in amnesia. Their instructor (Jackalope. Make this work however you wish.) tells them not to worry about it, and to focus on their dancing for now. Es feels a pressing responsibility to stay and rehearse, so they agree.

Jackalope tells them they must understudy several roles while recovering, not ready to jump into things right away. They're grateful, since they're struggling with their identity and expression without their memories.

The first student they are directed to is a shy and lanky dancer by the name of Haruka. They study under him as the role of a graceful, melancholic swan. They watch the choreography in general, and it looks nice enough. Es proceeds to spend several rehearsals with him, talking and bonding and learning he has a bit more going on than meets the eye. They try to offer help as he admits to familial issues, self esteem questions, and comments about sibling jealousy. In turn, he teaches Es to mimic some of his powerful emotions. At the end of their time together, they both perform for their class in full costume and staging. Now, Es understands each move with a deeper understanding than their initial look at the steps.

Next, they’re sent to meet the bubbly girl playing Juliet and begin the process anew. This continues to make a total of ten roles. Some of the dancers take the sessions kindly, while others are brash, secretive, or just confusing.

After rehearsing with Kotoko and learning to understand her determination and confidence, Es is sent back to Haruka, who has moved onto a new show and new role. They’re shocked to discover that their words to each dancer – always well-intentioned – had caused some issues backstage. Now, there are rivalries and changes in stage presence. While experiencing stress (that Es has inadvertently caused,) some were distracted in rehearsal and got injured. Es must take on the interpersonal issues as well as the choreography challenges.

I don’t have all the roles down and was trying to stick to well-known shows anyway, but I think I’d want Muu to be the Sugar Plum Fairy, Kazui to be Albrecht from Giselle, and Amane to be Clara. I wanted to keep them traditionally gendered to prove there are plenty of roles for men, but I can’t help but have Odette/Odile thoughts for T1 Mikoto ;-;

Like the other post, I'm equally tempted to have the dancers performing ballet adaptations of the mvs 👀 I want to see. Bee tutu. Doctor coat costume. Marching band tutu. AKAA mismatched look. The backgrounds. The music. The choreo. So many cool possibilities...

As a sweet au, it all ends with everyone better for having met one another. Es is cast in a solo performance, combining everything they've learned both emotionally and technically from the others. They feel satisfied with their sense of identity, and shine onstage ✨️✨️✨️

[beevean]

Honestly what annoys me more about the fandom's reaction to Chaomix is that the main talking points haven't changed. Only the context around them did. It's still "2010 sonic bad" and "sega bad" except now it comes with an addendum of "they bad because they tried to appeal to those reviewers and journos". Which sucks because it would be a legit point on it's own but it's being used as a smokescreen for some to still hate on the games while presenting it like they are defending them.

I will bet everything I have that in a decade the "Meta Era" will gain new appreciation exactly the same way as the "Dark Age".

The Dark Age used to be despised for multiple reasons. It had some objectively flawed games back to back, for sure, but part of the backlash was also due to the Classic fans being the majority of the fandom, being very unhappy with the direction of the franchise. A lot of nowadays beloved Sonic games used to be laughingstocks.

Sonic Heroes? A janky repetitive mess that did not follow up to the masterpiece that was SA2 because it was too kiddy, and we're so tired of Sonic's Shitty Friends.

Shadow the Hedgehog? Not only it was OW THE EDGE, but it was legitimately seen as an affront to everything Sonic stood for, shilling a creator's pet that had long overstayed its welcome.

Sonic '06? One of the worst games of all time. Nearly killed the franchise, and maybe it should have. Buggy and rushed in a way that was unacceptable for an anniversary game and the next gen game. A shitty ass story full of holes with damsels in distress that make out with animal corpses.

Sonic Unleashed? The Werehog was fucking stupid and once again spitting on everything Sonic stood for, and we're so tired of cinematic stories! (yes the complaint that the intro was too long was a real complaint)

Sonic and the Black Knight? Sonic with a sword was fucking stupid. No one cared about the story.

The beginning of the Meta Era was exactly what fans wanted back then. Colors was seen as Sonic's comeback for things like not having an intro cutscene, having a "saturday morning cartoon" story with only Sonic and Tails and none of the Shitty Friends, having Eggman as the final boss instead of yet another monster, and sticking only with the "good" parts of Unleashed. Read its Funny page on TvTropes, and you'll find many of the jokes that nowadays are used as proof that Pontaff were hacks and Flynn was so real for making fun of them both in IDW and in Frontiers. It was seen as Sonic's glorious return because finally, at long last, Sonic was going back to his Classic roots.

But now? Now those same Classic fans grew older and even more disillusioned with the franchise, so they left, and they were replaced by the Adventure fans, now old enough to be heard. Now Heroes is a cute game, with much better level design than shitty games like Forces. ShTH is secretly deeper than people gave it credit for, and Shadow is cool again, and at least characters do stuff, unlike in Forces. Sonic '06 was full of ambition, unlike Forces where they didn't even try. Sonic Unleashed can pretty much compete with SA2 as a masterpiece. SatBK has a wonderful story that truly gets Sonic, unlike Forces where everyone is stupid and lame.

See a pattern?

Hell, even things like Eggman as a final boss is getting backlash now. I've seen people praising Frontiers' The End because of this. Eggman as the final villain got stale again. These are the Adventure fans who grew up with Eggman getting swatted away or teaming up with Sonic, and liking it.

(I'm an Adventure fan too, but funnily enough, Colors was the first game where I ever liked Eggman precisely for keeping him as the main threat lol)

It's a cycle. The 2010s were the era of "the 2000s sucked, we want to go back to the '90s when Sonic used to be good". The 2020s will be, and already are, the era of "the 2010s sucked, we want to go back to the 2000s when Sonic used to be good". I am eagerly waiting for the videos named "Sonic Forces was not that bad, you guys were just mean". It will come. Just like '06 used to be reviled and mocked to death and now it has gained respect, the same will happen to Forces. Just like Forces is now seen as "unserious" and apologetic, the same will happen with Frontiers and its "I'm sorry we sucked, we'll do better next time" tone. Just like Pontaff were seen as a breath of fresh air and now they are seen as the people who ruined Sonic, the same will happen to Flynn. You'll see.

[itz-pandora]

What is the darkest character you have explored from a psychological point of view so far?

Hmm... Probably Silver?

Like I'd need trigger warnings just to TALK about what I do to him.

(look at tags)

[wizardysseus]

[holds him in my heart]

[cj-marj]

Fellas,

What’s it called when you love something so much you obsess over it for a while but then you get bored and leave it but every waking moment you spend away from it you just wanna go back but for some unfathomable reason, you’re afraid to return to it despite the fact you miss it everyday?

[nekucreates]

mephiles sketch that i couldnt be bothered painting

[trashcreatyre]

She’s my oc now, sorry i don’t make the rules :/

Some of y’all don’t deserve her tbh

[true-blue-sonic]

You've talked a lot about scenarios where Espio carries an unconscious Silver but what about Silver carrying Espio?

Silver always carries Espio when the two of them need to go somewhere through flying! It's the easiest means to transport Espio in a way that is comfortable for both of them, and it also means Silver can focus fully on flying and does not need to concentrate on keeping a person bobbing beside him in the air like a kite, haha. And I figure Espio will prefer a bridal carry as well over being put on Silver's back or something like that: his excuse is Silver's quills, the actual reason is simply because he likes it.

Now, for Silver carrying an unconscious Espio, that is a whole different situation :> For starters, I think it'll be very difficult for Silver to keep a calm head, because he is so used to Espio always being there and knowing what to do no matter the situation. So if that were to fall away, he quickly falls into the trap of lashing out or panicking to the point where he doesn't know what to do anymore for a moment! But his first instinct will be to ensure Es is protected and doesn't get injured further, so he'll brutally eliminate whatever threat they are facing. And after that he'll immediately lift Espio into his arms to take him to someone who knows first aid, like the Chaotix if they are nearby or otherwise Amy or one of Tails' workshops. Silver luckily can carry Espio no issue with his PK and his own arms on top, so that won't cause issues! But he'll be glued to Espio's side until Es wakes up again <3

[theophagie]

I don't have the authority or the seniority or any other -ority to vocally reproach people, and even if I did I'm not about that life, but I'm in the uncomfortable position of "I can't do some of My Shit if people don't do theirs first", and doing the others things slooowly only works so far. And oftentimes I'm sitting at my desk feeling like there's a guillotine hanging over me because I don't wanna get caught "slacking" and get in trouble. But I don't want to get other people in trouble either. Whack :|

[soaps-mohawk]

Hi greatest author ever! I have a world building question if thats okay.

So if its really hard for an omega to find work, are there omega actors/musicians/streamers/influencers and such? Only curious because those routes are more self made.

I'd imagine it would be kinda hostile as a work environment with an omega holding fame and being in the public eye.

Hi love!!

Yeah, there are some famous omegas out there, but they're very rare. Usually they're in those positions because of their alpha also being famous, not because they got there on their own. Omegas could attempt to get more self made jobs, the problem is you have to have someone that will hire them or pay them. There are omega authors (the book the reader used at the beginning of the fic was written by an omega), but the hardest part is finding a publisher that will publish works by an omega. The only "acting" jobs omegas could maybe get would be in porn, but even then, production companies would be more likely to hire alphas and betas and throw omega in the title even though none of them are omegas. Omegas would be the most successful in avenues like OnlyFans or other types of sex work, which is pretty common in the universe the fic exists in.

I've talked about this before when someone asked about omegas having like Etsy shops or selling handmade goods online, and I'm lumping streaming and influencers, into this as well but it is more likely that an omega could be successful in one of these avenues. Again, though, influencers make most of their money off of brand deals and you'd have to have brands willing to have an omega promoting their products. There certainly are places for them, like omega-specific products will want an omega doing the promoting versus a beta or alpha telling them they want it. Streaming is probably the easiest avenue to go through, as mentioned above with OF, but they really could do anything, so long as they find a way to stream that will allow them to get paid for it. Same with selling goods online.

There definitely are kind of loopholes omegas can use to make money utilizing the internet, but it's kind of like searching for a needle in a haystack for a legit avenue that will actually pay an omega. Most omegas that get involved in the areas mentioned above, it's because they know someone, or their alpha is also involved and has their name on things.

There definitely would be risks for an omega in any line of work, which is partly why they're kept out of most workspaces. Regardless of how capable an omega is, things can get dangerous really fast and that's just not a risk most employers are willing to take.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Nuclear Assault - Vengeance