#it was one of the coolest character entrances in the whole game....

[pyjamaart]

decided to illustrate one of the dreams i had recently! keep reading for more about this crazy sonic/kirby crossover lol.

Three years ago I started dream journaling, which is still one of the coolest hobbies one can have. I said it before and I'll say it again: If you have even a little bit of interest in starting a dream journal you gotta do it. It's so freaking fun.

I've had some crazy dreams in these three years. At the moment, my dream journal has 124 entries.

This one started pretty tame, as me and some other person were playing a video game. We were riding a bike through some tunnels and had to hide from the police by hiding out in a big trash can.

After that, we rode through a tunnel flooded with loads of pink flowers. As we were heading out of there, we came face to face with a big city and our bike transformed into a space ship, just in time before the whole city fucking exploded.

Susie, who suddenly appeared and turned out to be our characters traveling companion, was not amused by the sight of the burning buildings. And we found out why soon after: her father, President Haltmann, was erecting a gigantic tower out of the ground in the middle of New York, pushing over a few sky scrapers in the process. That was probably the reason why everything exploded.

You knew it was her father doing this, because the big silver tower had a big ass purple H on the very top of it. The H standing for Haltmann, of course.

Back in the real world, my gaming pal was already coming up with all kinds of wild theories as to what was going to happen in this crazy story. They theorized that Susie was gonna turn out to be evil and that she was actually helping her father take over the world.

I was not convinced, however, as I was positive that Susie was on our side. "No, I don't believe that. You could hear in her voice that she never wanted all of this destruction. Susie is a true comrade."

I think this might be a good point to tell you that I have never actually played Kirby Planet Robobot, so I have no fucking clue how these characters would behave. But don't worry, it's on the very top of my "games I finally need to play, because they've been standing around in my shelf for years" list.

To continue the story of the dream, Susie was flying us to a space station far away from earth, where we planned our next moves. There we finally found out who we were playing as the entire time: None other than Sonic the Hedgehog!!

After that was a section I can only explain as "Super Sonic Galaxy", as Susie and Sonic concocted a plan to stop President Haltmann and fly back to earth to invade his tower. You had to move Sonic around with a Wii-Mote and Nunchuck, just like in the real Super Mario Galaxy. (I've had a few nightmares about Wii-Motion technology. At least 4 now. The worst was one day before the release of Fire Emblem Three Houses, when I dreamt that the monastery was a labyrinth of brown walls that you had to navigate Byleth through using the dreaded Wii-Mote motion controls. I woke up in a cold sweat from that one.)

As Sonic and Susie finally made it back to earth, they came face to face with the gigantic silver building and its big metallic entrance. It turned out to lead straight into an elevator, where Sonic proceeded to get his face stuck in the elevator door as it shut on him. Susie could only look on in horror. All part of President Haltmanns master plan. (?)

That's where I woke up sadly. My dreams always seem to end just as it gets interesting.

This was really fun, so you can probably expect me to illustrate a few more of my dreams in the future!

[bekoobove]

Fazbear Fears #1: In His Head

...Cocky high schooler Dylan thinks he’s invincible, until a new perspective changes his mind...

“Let’s do this.” Dylan grinned.

He stepped onto the dusty stage and pulled back the worn curtains to see the entrance to backstage.

“Dylan...you sure about this?”

He turned back to see Rick, looking nervous.

Dylan stared for a moment, then laughed. “Wait, do you actually believe those dumb old stories?”

Of course, with the restaurant’s storied history, those legends could have been anything. A shadowy murderer in a bunny costume, maybe, or those weird indie games (Dylan had played one once. Pretty good, but a ridiculous plot- haunted robots? Come on.) But Dylan knew exactly what Rick was so anxious about.

“Dude, teens have been hanging out at Fredbear’s ever since it was abandoned- what, about thirty years ago? Except for that one time, no one’s so much as stubbed a toe here!”

Exasperated, Rick groaned. “And that one time was someone who…”

Dylan smirked. “Went backstage, I know. Died a gruesome death mere hours later, bla bla bla. What, you think the spooky ghosts got him?”

“You remember my mom’s a police officer and saw it, right? That guy was in his bathroom, no picked lock or broken windows, and-” He paused. “My mom’s been to dozens of crime scenes, and she said she’s never seen anything remotely like it before. Like someone had dropped a barrelful of swords on his head.”

Dylan narrowed his eyes, growing annoyed. “Coincidences happen, Rick. Our parents have turned one dumb thing into their justification for keeping us out of this dopel place forever. Now, are you gonna keep watch for me or what?”

Rick sighed. “Fine. Your funeral.”

“I’m sure.” Dylan chuckled.

He walked off into the darkness.

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

Well, it was creepy. Dylan would give it that.

A naked endoskeleton sat on a bench against a wall, surrounded by small parts and tools, its blank eyes reflecting the beam of his flashlight. Old colored lights covered the floor, lenses shattered. A greasy pizza box sat on a small table with some kind of fungus growing out what was left of a slice.

So, yes, scary.

But also, it was the coolest place ever.

Dylan ran through the dusty place. He found a box full of cardboard character cutouts, and broke them in two one by one.

“Oh no, pwease!” he cried mockingly as he snapped the last one on his knee. “Don’t hurt me, mean ghosts!”

He went to the kitchen and found some old cans of soda. Flicking the tab open on one, he took a huge sip. Sitting nearby was a small bobblehead of a golden bear holding a cupcake. “Oh, am I drinking your soda? So sorry.”

He poured the rest on the bobblehead. The brown bubbles fizzed against the pale yellow plastic.

The golden bear animatronic… say, was he or that bunny still here?

Dylan exited the kitchen to see a sign over a plain door reading Animatronic Repairs.

The quiet halls echoed with the sounds of his steps as he ran to check it out. He threw the door open to see-

Huh.

A mostly empty room. No tools, no parts, no endoskeletons, and no shiny golden animatronics.

Only a table near the back of the room.

“Eh, they were probably sent to the junkyard or something.” Dylan turned to leave-but then he noticed something on the table.

He focused his light on it.

Fredbear stared right back at him.

Dylan jumped back, startled. Shaking, he raised his flashlight again to get another look

It wasn’t the whole animatronic or suit.

Just the head, empty eyes staring right at him.

Even before he had entirely calmed from the sight, one thought started echoing through his head.

Souvenir.

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

“If the rest was scrapped, why leave the head?” Rick asked as they walked home, streetlights doing little to cut through the dark night.

Dylan adjusted the head in his arms. “Maybe someone rescued it ‘cause they thought it’d be cool to have. Don’t know why they wouldn’t take it home.” He snickered. “Unless they live in the diner.”

Rick frowned. “But is it an animatronic?”

“No, some kind of suit, I think.” He stuck his hand in through the head hole and out the eye. “No robot parts- or ghosts. I know you were worried about that.”

“Shut up.” Rick muttered. “I would like to get a closer look, though.”

“That’s fine, but it’ll have to wait ‘till tomorrow.” Dylan tapped his watch. “I have to be home in ten minutes or my parents will flip.”

“Alright.” Rick said. “I’ll be there late morning.”

“See you.”

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

Dylan placed the head on his shelf. He sighed, relieved his parents had bought his story about finding it at a garage sale.

Normally he’d stay up a little later, but he was pretty exhausted. He hit the lights and crashed into bed.

Not thirty seconds had passed when he noticed something. He pushed himself up to see two pinpricks of white light- right where the head was positioned.

Heart racing, he jumped out of bed to the switch, quickly flicking the lights back on.

Fredbear’s eyes were dark and vacant again.

Dylan groaned. Rick’s ghost stories had gotten to him. Though… they had looked real…

Maybe there were old lights or something. Seemed unlikely, but worth a try.

He grabbed the head, and put it on to get a better look at the inside.

He noticed a few things that were off.

For one, no lights.

Second, there were animatronic parts in the head, strange metallic pieces with little spikes on the end. Dylan was confused, but guessed they were probably how the head attached to an endoskeleton.

Maybe.

A little harder to explain was the fact he was no longer in his house.

Through the empty eye holes Dylan could see a dark hallway, empty save for a door at the end on the right wall.

Panicked, he threw up the mask to try to get a better look.

He only saw his own room.

“Wha-what just-”

Nervously, he lowered the mask once more.

He had returned to the hall.

Shaking, he looked around, trying to figure out where he was. It was too dark to see much, but he could tell he was looking around a corner.

Suddenly, a beam of light cut through the darkness. It got right in Dylan’s eyes, and he cringed from the brightness. As he did, he felt something strange- his body moving, seemingly on its own, slinking into the darkness around the corner.

His vision went black for a moment, and his perspective shifted. Suddenly he was standing in an identical hallway, except the door was on the left wall, and he was right next to it.

Over the sound of his heart racing, Dylan could hear heavy breathing that wasn’t his own. The door opened, and he could make out a figure standing in the entrance. The figure stood there for a moment, tensed, then slammed the door.

Again his perspective shifted. He sat on a bed, staring straight forward. To either side he saw doors- the ones he had just been outside of. And in front of him, again, was the figure.

Dylan tried to shout, to yell to the person to run, but no need. They turned around and flashed their light, and Dylan moved once more.

He wasn’t sure where he was now. There was a sliver of light in front of him, like a barely opened door.

Finally taking a moment to calm down, to try to understand what was happening. He looked down- to see this wasn’t his body.

It was an enormous, ragged form. His arms were huge, with sharp claws at the ends of his fingers. His torso was covered in holes, through which there was some kind of robotic skeleton visible. One horizontal slit at belly button level covered the width of his stomach, filled with bloodied teeth like a weird mouth. His entire body was covered in faux, matted golden fur.

Before Dylan could even begin to grapple with what was going on, he watched as the enormous paws pried the doors open. The body he couldn’t control stomped out of what he could now see was the closet.

The figure, who had been checking the left door, turned, and Dylan finally got a good look.

He was tall, and looked to be about Dylan’s age. He had tanned skin, a muscular build, and dark brown hair. He also looked like he hadn’t slept in days- maybe weeks. And he was crying.

When he saw Dylan’s monstrous form he backed against the door, looking like he was- well, Dylan couldn’t really tell. Scared certainly, but also heartbroken, or ashamed?

Over the creaking of his body’s animatronic parts Dylan could hear the boy whisper “I’m sorry- I didn’t- didn’t want this…”

The monster ignored him. It took one more step, raised his arm to slash the boy across the chest, and-

An alarm beeped.

And Dylan’s view shifted one last time.

He was no longer in a bedroom.

He was in Fredbear’s- but not the dilapidated one he had visited earlier that night.

It was bright, and the tables were covered in trays of pizza and plates of cupcakes. Balloons hung from every wall. Music was playing.

And it was coming from Fredbear.

Fredbear, in all of his golden glory, singing some eighties tunes.

His vision was blurred with tears- he didn’t want to get any closer to Fredbear

But he was.

The boy. He was wearing a mask, but the boy from the bedroom was carrying him towards the robot as he laughed. A couple of other teens were helping, each wearing a mask as well.

They were at the base of the stage.

The boy said something Dylan couldn’t make out.

He was thrust upward, up into the mouth of the machine.

Dylan had had enough. He was about to to move to take the head off when he noticed-

Those metal things were shifting, spinning, unwinding, seemingly becoming more loose with every move he had made.

He stood absolutely still.

They stopped.

He felt relieved.

From the head’s eyeholes, a tear fell.

It hit one of the parts.

Something moved.

Fredbear bit down.

The world went red.

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

“Hey Mrs Andrews!” Rick said as he walked into the house.

“Oh, hey, Rick!” Dylan’s mom said. “Dylan mentioned you’d be coming over this morning. He’s in his room.” She laughed. “Still sleeping.”

Rick rushed upstairs. He came to Dylan’s bedroom and knocked. “Wake up dude, I wanna see the head!”

No answer.

“Well, I told him I was coming over.” Rick reasoned. He let himself in.

He quickly realized the head wasn't here. It was huge and still shiny through the stains and mildew, so if it was in the room he’d notice.

He looked at the floor.

Dylan laid there, pale, head covered in ruptures and surrounded by a pool of blood.

Rick screamed.

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

It sat there, on the table deep within Fredbear’s. The head, empty once more and clean save for dust, stared at the entrance, ready to tell its story again.

[cubicpeebles]

This looks fun!

1. I think right around the start of 2023. I can't remember.

2. I've done almost everything! I just have to finish Enot's campaign, as well as the expeditions and challenge 70.

3. My favourite region aesthetically is Subterranean, but my favourite region to be in is Industrial Complex.

4. I guess Farm Arrays, though if sub regions count, then Underhang without a doubt.

5. Other than Slugcats, Scavengers!

6. Leeches. They suck (pun not intended). All of them.

7. Sheer Ice Torrent, but Deep Energy is a close second!

8. I like her a lot! She isn't my favourite character, but she is still great! I haven't managed to get all that attached to her for whatever reason (at least, not as much as I normally do with characters in games I like), but I still appreciate her.

9. I have never both wanted to both microwave and hug a character so much. He is both a stupid little jerk, and my favourite little guy. Spearmaster'a campaign made me hate him for a little while, while seeing him in Saint's campaign genuinely broke me. He is a mixed bag of emotions.

10. When I first played the game, I ignored the directions from the Overseer, and somehow got to Subterranean via the Farm Arrays entrance before even visiting shoreline. I went down to the depths, and had the most terrifying and surreal experience, as I had zero clue what was going on down there.

11. Yes! I often carry around small centipedes in case I see one. I love taming them.

12. Droplets upon Five Large Droplets (the Sky Islands one). I find the journey to them once they spawn in the coolest, and I love the music.

13. I don't know if it counts, but I like Five Pebble's music pearl the most. It is the prettiest one, and it plays nice music (that totally didn't make me cry in Saint's campaign).

14. Underhang. I went that path first on my first visit to Pebbles, and had a miserable time. I missed the entrance into Five Pebbles (the region), so I basically went an overly complicated, long route for no reason. I have not deliberately taken that path since.

15. Getting The Pilgrim for the first time felt very rewarding, especially concidering it was the last one I was missing (before downpour, at least).

16. Ah. I guess this questionnaire is from before Downpour was out? I was most excited for Saint.

17. It depends. If I have a couple of spears, I'll usually fight. I almost always try to fight Vultures so I can get the masks, and once I have a Vulture mask, I will attack lizards whenever possible.

18. Very confused at first, but then intrigued. It made me far more interested in learning more about the lore. It was very scary at first too. Very loud and stressful.

19. Yes! I find it fascinating. It is one of my favourite things about the game as a whole.

20. Sometimes things can feel really unfair if you die to the same spot over and over and over due to something that feels out of your control (wormgrass...). I know that is a part of the game, but sometimes I wish it could be just a tad bit more forgiving.

21. The lore is a big part, but my favourite thing about the game is the feeling of being part of an ecosystem. Now that I'm more experienced, it feels a little less like that, but playing Gourmand and Saint brought that feeling back. It is surprisingly refreshing to not feel above, or superior to the world of a game, and rather a part of it.

22. I play on console, so no, but if I could, I'd love to try out mods!

Rain World Questionare!

Just felt like making this for fun since I see them floating around sometimes for other fandoms. If you see this, reblog with your answers! I’d love to hear them and I will be sure to read them :)

When did you first start playing Rain World?

Have you completed the game? Which of the campaigns have you completed?

What is your favorite region?

What is your least favorite region?

What is your favorite creature?

What is your least favorite creature?

What is your favorite song from the soundtrack?

What are your opinions on Looks to the Moon (character)?

What are your opinions on Five Pebbles (character)?

What is your most memorable in-game moment?

Have you tamed any lizards?

Which echo is your favorite?

Which of the pearls is your favorite?

Which part of the game was most difficult for you?

Which achievement is your favorite?

Which of the Downpour slugcats are you most excited for?

Do you prefer to fight other creatures or sneak past them?

How did the ending make you feel?

Are you invested in the lore?

What is something you think the game could improve on?

What is your favorite thing about the game?

Have you played around with any mods for the game?

[teruthecreator]

sweet surprises

lord forgive me for the cringe i’m about to post. i fully blame this post and this post for planting the seeds of berdley having a crush on kris in my brain. also shouts out to izel for listening to me go insane at 3 AM about this. 

anyways, here’s a thing. 

______________________________________________________________

Excitement is in the air.

Unlike the usual calm monotony of life at school, things recently have been quite...electric. Not because of the portal to the Dark World hidden behind the door of the closet, or the adventures had by a select group of students through the portal in the Librarby a few days ago. No, this isn’t about that.

This is about the Sadie Hawkman’s Dance. The once-a-year phenomenon where the school puts on its best interpretation of a formal dance for the incredibly small number of students who attend class. Students buzz in excitement for the event, preparing their most formal outfits and getting ready to dazzle their friends and fellow classmates with their dramatic entrances into the auditorium.

And, of course, there’s the all important ritual of asking someone to the dance.

There’s already been a few proposals made this week. Jockington rolled into class like a hula hoop and asked Catti to be his “best bro” for the dance, to which she happily agreed. (And by that, I mean she looked up from her phone, smiled, said not a single word, and went back to typing.) Temmie loudly announced to the class that she would be taking her egg, which was somehow...embarrassed that she mentioned it. And, of course, Noelle finally managed to work up enough courage to ask Susie to the dance. It was done in an incredible display of candy canes that spelled out the phrase: “CAN(E) YOU BE MY DATE TO THE DANCE?” Unfortunately, Susie was about halfway through scarfing the display down before she realized what it said. She then began choking on one of the candy canes out of disbelief, which wound her in the nurse for the rest of the day. But, when she could speak again, she very quietly agreed to Noelle’s proposal (and, if you happened to be a fly on the wall in that room, you could hear a tail thump rhythmically against the doctor’s bench as she did so).

Kris was pleased with everything. They were happy to see their friends so happy together. A long time coming, if you asked them. And they’d be just as happy attending the dance solo, since they’ll undoubtedly be dragged along by Susie. They’d never gone to the dance before--never had a reason to, truth be told. But with their newfound friends, they may just enjoy being a wingman for the night.

...Speaking of wingmen, Berdly will probably be going solo as well. Unsurprising, but Kris makes a mental note to ensure the bird will be in attendance. As much as he is kind of a lot sometimes, he’s their friend. And Kris is going to make sure all of their friends are having fun at that dance!

They walk into class thinking of this (surprisingly early, for a change), which is why they almost miss the massive display sitting boldly atop their desk. They freeze the instant it catches their eye and, for a second, they almost believe it isn’t real. Like some leftover thoughts of the Dark World lingering in their vision. But, after wiping their eyes and seeing that it’s still there, they decide to approach and...investigate.

The display is expertly crafted by someone who clearly knows their way around a glue gun. It is a heart-shaped arch that is decorated with a myriad of printed illustrations of Super Smashing Fighters Melee characters, all having cut-outs to hold different bars of chocolate. There are also numerous origami hearts glued around the characters on the arch, in colors spanning across the rainbow. The arch is painted in swirls of blues, pinks, and reds and covered with a border of glitter that sprinkles onto the desk when Kris reaches out to pluck a chocolate bar from its perch. On the desk itself is a big origami heart that says “TO KRIS” in gold calligraphy. It is by far one of the coolest, nicest, cheesiest things Kris has ever seen.

They look up from the display to see if anyone else is seeing this shit, and that’s when it all clicks.

Because sitting at the front of the classroom, fidgeting way more than normal, is Berdly. He keeps interlocking his ankles underneath his desk before unlocking them and kicking the air, turning around every half-second or so to try and catch Kris’s reaction. From the brief moments Kris can see the front of him, they notice he’s not in his usual white collared shirt and black khaki shorts. Instead, his shirt is buttoned all the way up, with a nice blue bowtie tied around his neck. He also traded out his khaki shorts for a pair of dress pants that look to be a tad too long for his legs. He keeps reaching up to smooth out the feathers on his head, which immediately stick back up from stress.

Now, Kris may be a straight B student, but they’re not stupid. Context clues are a very good thing, and all signs point to Berdly as the culprit of this public display of...affection?

Beyond Berdly is Ms. Alphys at her desk, who shoots Kris a look of deep understanding and maybe...guilt? She looks at Berdly for a split second and shrugs her shoulders, indicating he was probably in here long before she was and so she had no way of stopping him from leaving it there.

Kris looks back down at the display and picks up the large origami heart. As they begin to unfold it, they see a sprawling letter written in the same flashy calligraphy. Kris squints at the letters--they’re dyslexic, so everything kind of just looks like spaghetti on paper. Still, they’re able to make out the largely printed question of “WILL YOU GO TO THE DANCE WITH ME?” with no issue.

Huh, guess they won’t be going to the dance alone after all…? It’s a little confusing as to why Berdly would want to go with them, though. Like, they’ve hung out a little bit--usually whenever Berdly wanted a “worthy rival” to play video games with, he would come over and Kris would whoop his ass for a few hours. And, of course, there were the recent events in the Cyber World; but Kris is pretty sure them and Susie had thoroughly convinced Noelle and Berdley that that was all a dream. So, why them?

They’re lost in this train of thought for so long that they don’t even notice the other kids enter the room until they suddenly hear:

“Yo, Kris???????? What the heck is this thing????” Susie’s voice doesn’t startle them, but it is loud enough to get them to look up. Susie is standing next to their desk, looking at the display with genuine amazement thinly masked by disgust. She’s also loud enough to basically stop the whole class (who were all muttering amongst themselves about it anyway), which gives Kris only a second to gaze around the room before--

SLAM!

The door to the classroom slams shut, leaving one seat unoccupied.

Berdley’s.

“This thing’s got chocolate on it????” Susie continues to marvel at the display while Kris looks at the door, frowning. They feel...bad. It isn’t Berdley’s fault for trying to fit in with the other kids' proposals; he admitted to feeling like he needs to do more just to stand out enough for people to acknowledge him back in the Dark World. And this thing is really...thoughtful! The characters are all ones Kris typically mains, or ones they know Berdley mains, which means he remembers things about Kris. And the chocolate is a given, but it is nice to be able to stock their personal snack stash with some fancy stuff. Ultimately, it’s very sweet, and Kris can’t help but feel a little guilty for not saying anything immediately.

They turn and lock eyes with Ms. Alphys, who looks extremely out-of-depth with this situation. She makes a number of gestures from them to the door in a flustered way of saying I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on please help me Kris I know I’m asking a lot of you but I don’t know how to deal with teenage angst I’m like thirty-five. They sigh, standing up and walking past Susie (but not before giving her a stare that warns her if a single chocolate bar is gone that they will be holding that over her until the day she dies) and following Berdly out the door.

It doesn’t take Kris very long to follow the trail of labored breathing to where Berdley is--in the abandoned classroom, hyperventilating as he teeters on a breakdown. Luckily, when Kris opens the door, it seems to put a halt to his spiralling because he just kind of...freezes. Like a deer caught in headlights. Or a Berdley caught in Kris-lights. Kris takes this moment to let the door shut behind them, trapping the two in here. Together.

“U-Uhhhhh, hi--he--Um. H-Hello, K-Kris…” Berdly attempts to put on his usual bravado, but his voice betrays him brutally by squeaking and cracking on every syllable. Kris can’t help the smile that comes to their face.

“Uh, hey,” they reply with a wave. Berdley continues to stand there and stare (almost like he wasn’t expecting Kris to care enough to follow him) before the present circumstances return to his mind and he begins breathing hard again.

“I-I-I-I, uh...I was. Um. J-Just, uh. G-Getting some fresh air! Y-Yes! The classroom can be s-so stuffy sometimes, I’m sure y-you--you, uh...you agree?” Berdley makes a valiant attempt at hiding his panic, which Kris almost takes pity on. But they don’t think the monster will feel any better if they just pretend what happened back there never happened.

“Yeah. I liked the display.” Kris says simply. Berdley stands stock-straight at that, looking even worse for wear in the “being normal and completely cool” department.

“O-Oh??????? That ol’ thing????? I, um--well I just--y-you see, I--uh. Um,” You can really hear the gears in his head turning as he attempts to come up with an excuse. “I-I-I just thought you w-would appreciate the craftsmanship of!!! A t-true artisan, such as myself!!! So, I!!! M-Made it!!! COMPLETELY PLATONICALLY, OF COURSE!!!! I-I would never imply that my intentions w-were anything other than for bro-sies, i--You didn’t read that whole card, did you?”

“I can’t read,” They mean this as a joke, but they can see Berdley seriously consider this for a second too long. “Dude, I’m dsylexic. I can’t really read cursive…” Berdley freezes up once more, which makes Kris realize they haven’t really projected that as loudly as they might’ve thought.

“Oh! Right! How could I forget! That you’re! Dsylexic!” Berdley’s smile is stapled to his face as he begins to rhythmically knock on his head. “And I! Wrote! That! Entire! Note! In! Cursive! Which! You! Can’t! Read!!!” Kris steps forward in an attempt to keep Berdley from bashing his own skull in, but that only makes Berdley more tense, so they take a step back. “I-I just--The note isn’t important! None of it’s important actually can we forget this interaction ever happened okay? Okay yes that’s great have a wonderful day Kris I will be returning home to sitinmyroomandneverreturntothecorporealrealmalrightgoodbyeforeverKris--” He attempts to sidestep around Kris and out the door, but is very easily intercepted.

“Stop.” Kris grabs him by the shoulders, which seems to shut him up for a second. “Can you just tell me what’s wrong?” Berdley gapes at them as his face steadily grows redder, which makes Kris feel as if there’s something on their face. But he quickly shakes it off, going from completely neurotic to...dejected.

“I just…” He starts, trailing off immediately. “You deserve to have a big proposal, same as everyone else. I-I see you in the back of the class, just...watching. And I, uh, felt it was time to...give you the spotlight! But that was silly of me, wasn’t it?” He looks off to the side at the floor, smiling sadly. “After all, who’d want to go to the dance with me…? I-I’m alone every year, standing in the background. Just kind of...taking it all in...and th-thinking about how it’d be...nice to be a part of it. But that’s...not probable. It was just nice to think about taking you to the dance because you’re--well, you’re nice to me, and you’re funny, and you actually listen to me when I’m talking, an-and you’re a good person and an incredible gaming legend...but I shouldn’t have put it all on you in front of everyone...I’m. I’m sorry, Kris.” He won’t make eye contact with the human, but Kris can still see the tears collecting in his eyes.

“Berdley, that’s stupid.” Kris says, which Berdley cringes at, “Why wouldn’t I wanna go with you?” That part is...not what Berdley was expecting. He looks up at Kris, unsure of where to go from here.

“U-Um…? Because of all the previously stated things? Like me being a complete loser who nobody likes?”

“I like you,” Kris replies immediately, leaving Berdley’s feathers sticking straight up as he flusters. “And I like your display. It’s...really sweet.”

“E-Even if you can’t read the note?” Berdley’s voice cracks.

“I mean, I could read the: WILL YOU GO WITH ME TO THE DANCE part, so, like. Yeah.” Kris shrugs. “Plus, you got me chocolate. Nice chocolate. Nobody...gets me things like that.” They smile, a light dusting of blush across their face. “I’ll go with you.” Berdley’s entire body seizes up for the third time, eyes wide and mouth agape.

“W-W-w-W-w-w-w-w-W-W-W-w-w-w-Wh-Wha-wh-w-w-wha-wha-w-wh-Wh-Wha-wh-Wha-wha-w-w-W-W-W--” Berdley continues to struggle with the word “what” for a solid minute and a half before he’s finally about to manage a: “What?!” Kris can’t help but laugh.

“I said that, Berdley,” at this, they move their grip from his shoulders to his hands, “I will go to the Sadie Hawkman’s dance with you.”

The circuits in Berdley’s brain struggle with this frequency for an extended moment before his face erupts in the giddiest smile Kris has ever seen the bird monster sport. He even begins to jump up and down, taking Kris along with him, as he cackles. It is a surprisingly cute display that Kris finds themselves blushing a bit at. It’s nice to be this...cared about.

“I-I--We have to start thinking of outfits immediately!” Berdley blurts out, returning to their usual demeanor. “I was thinking of some complimentary color schemes on the way to school today which I will be happy to show you at lunchtime. I’m also a master with a sewing machine, so if you are unable to procure an outfit that meets the color requirements, I would be delighted to take your measurements and--w-wait, don’t read into that phrasing, I just m-meant that I could make an outfit for you! B-But I’d need your measurements, and--Oh, goodness, hasn’t class started already, Kris?! We should head back, but--” He looks from the door to Kris and back again a few times before finally settling on something.

“I’lltalktoyouaboutthislaterseeyouinclassKris!!!!!” He says this right before he gives Kris a solitary peck on the cheek before bolting out of the abandoned classroom, leaving Kris blinking at the Berdley-shaped cloud he left behind. Their hand gently grazes the spot on their cheek--luckily not actually pecked by his beak, but more of a quick-kiss kind of peck--and feel their heart skip a beat.

Huh.

That’s...different.

They elect to not dwell on that feeling any longer and head back to class. They have to make sure Susie hasn’t eaten all of the chocolate on that display.

They wouldn’t want to make Berdley go through the trouble of re-proposing  just so they could rightfully claim their other sweet surprise.

[iwavibes]

first off i’d like to say i rlly love your writing🥺🥺 and i want to thank you for sharing your work with us!!! ive read ur whole masterlist and it’s all so so good! i’m obsessed w pretty setters 🥰 i was mayhaps .... wondering if you could write something maid cafe related w either suga, kageyama or kenma? 😳 u don’t have to obviously KDNDKNDKS anyways hope you have a good day today!!!

AAAAA IM SO GLAD YOU LIKE PRETTY SETTERS SO FAR!! you're so sweet omg lemme give u a kith this made my whole day 😩💞 it's 11PM rn so this might be a bit of a mess 😭 fingers crossed that my tired brain won't fuck this up 🤞 finished this at around 12AM NSKSJSKM i hope you like this anon 💕💗

hq reacting to y/n working at a maid cafe

---sugawara, kageyama & kenma

sugawara koushi

sugawara is very adventurous like he'd be all out on trying new stuff

may it be food, hobbies, anything.

man is a knitting legend and he only went to one (1) lesson 😩

king shit 👑✊

so when noya suddenly dragged him to a maid cafe, he didn't think much of it

he was already used to his friend's pervy tendencies

why he was hanging out with him on his own was a mystery

he would quickly scan the menu, eyeing the pictures of cute food along with whatever dish sounds appetizing enough

his concentration was cut off, however, when he heard a familiar voice

even tho you purposefully raise your voice up a notch this man would still know that it's you

he'd blush furiously as soon as his eyes meet yours and seeing you in a cute maid outfit really did not help his case

you'd freeze as soon as you processed the identities of the customers in front of you mostly at suga

noya would eye the two of you knowingly, a somewhat proud smirk on his face

"NOYA I TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL ANYBODY"

"really??? must have slipped my mind."

you wanted to kill him

you would try to get back into character very awkwardly if i might add and suga would just stare at you in disbelief

was this why you always rejected him whenever he asked you out?

my boy would be having a whole ass epiphany and now he's seeing you in a whole new light

"and you, senpai?"

still, even with all these new information, he can keep his cool and tell you what he wanted smoothly.

after that, everything would be going smoothly

but then, as time passes you notice that sugawara hasn't left yet and noya is nowhere to be seen.

by the time your shift ends, he'd stand up from his seat and jog towards you with a smile

"since your shift is over, is it okay for me to take you out? or atleast walk you home?"

and tbh how could you say no to that

"you know, you could've told me that you were working during the weekends. now i feel bad for trying to keep you away from your job." he said as he walked you home.

"well... working outside school campus is strictly prohibited and i didn't want to take any chances. only one of my friends know about it and noya only found out by accident." you explained. "i'm sorry if i made you feel like i didn't trust you."

"it's okay! i totally understand why you didn't tell me. at least now i know when you get off work, this way i can walk you home everyday." he beamed.

you feel your heart pound in your chest at his words, heat slowly spreading across your cheeks as you look at him in shock.

"that is, if it's okay with you?" he stopped walking before turning his body to you. politely awaiting your answer. you nodded your head slowly and sugawara can't help but smile wider.

"you're very admirable, y/n."

kageyama tobio

unlike sugawara, kageyama is a very awkward dude

he lost a bet against hinata and now it was time for his punishment

kageyama may be the king of the court and he may look like the coolest man alive whenever he's on the court but thats about it

everything else, this poor boy is really clueless and awkward someone save him

so while they were walking around town, hinata trying to figure out what to make kageyama do, they passed by the maid cafe you work out

believe me when i tell you a light bulb suddenly sprouted from the tangerine's head

all he needed to do was go inside the cafe and buy some milk

simple stuff

but you should remember that this guy is so awkward and unaware that it can be painful just to look at him try to fit in

and soon kageyama finds himself walking to the cafe, money in hand, as he tried psyching himself out as he steps nearer to the entrance

'i can do this'

'i defeated oikawa so this will just be a piece of cake'

'boke hinata boke'

when he does enter the cafe, he opened the door too hard, making all the customers and employees turn to the sound

this boy would be glaring as he walked to the nearest empty seat

i kid you not everyone is terrified of this boy rn

and he's embarrassed enough as is because of how loud he opened the door and now everyone was looking at him 😭

baby just wants some milk 😩

it gets worse once he sees the person that will be serving him

bc wow have you seen yourself???? you're fucking hot bRO

stutters. A LOT.

and you can't help but to smirk at his flustered state.

"uhhh... m-milk please?" this was the guy everyone is scared of? you wanted to ask your co workers. it's just kageyama. the boy in your class who failed that one exam and practically begged you to tutor him. this?? this is who you're scared of?

you raised a brow teasingly at his state. "of course! would that be all, master?"

this guy literally chokes on his own spit while shaking his head frantically. you chuckled before walking away to get his drink.

"here you are, sir." you say as you settled the glass on his table. taking the money from his outstretched hand. no words. he just wants you to take the money and save him from further embarrassment.

"you know, you may be scary on the court but you're actually very adorable, tobio-chan."

ERROR kageyama.exe has stopped working

kozume kenma

if you guys thought kageyama was bad then... you right kenma is just behind him by a scratch

unlike his fellow setter, kenma can still form words when he saw you

why was he in a maid cafe in the first place? simple;; kuroo

it was one of the rare instances where his best friend actually managed to get him out of the house

and now he's salty

has a permanent frown etched on his face the whole walk to the cafe >:(

and kuroo would be talking away, unbothered by his friend's attitude and now here they were

"you know i've always wanted to come here. i heard they serve really tasty milkshakes."

"kuroo."

"yeah?"

"shut up."

he'd start playing on his phone while kuroo scolds him about how unhealthy it was to play games this much

but kenma remains unbothered

however, the moment he sees you, boi is already lost

he'd stare at you for a long time until you hear the small sfx indicating that he died.

he couldn't care less tho as he pocketed his phone inside his hoodie

kuroo quirked a brow at his friend before turning to you

"y/n! i didn't know you worked here."

"im trying to buy the latest installment of [insert random game here] so i need the money."

wow,, can you be any more perfect?

rn kenma's brain is already whirring with thoughts as he pictured this as one of his roleplay games

y/n says: so what will you be having?

choices: [banana] [latte] [ps4]

he picks the latte

"coming right up!"

and for the first time that day, kenma smiles

"oya?" kuroo spoke up the moment he sees his friend's upturned lips. "what's this?"

his face turned into a scowl again as he glared at his friend. "none of your business."

kuroo smirked, already scheming before standing up. "i'm gonna go to the restroom. watch our food while i'm gone."

"it's not like it's going anywhere." kenma huffed but his raven haired friend was already walking away.

"here are your orders, kenma." you announce, setting the food down on the table. "let me know if you need anything else."

you were just about to walk back to the counter when you suddenly felt a hand stop you by your wrist. you turned around towards a sheepish looking kenma. his eyes landing on every where but you.

"i have that game you're saving up. if you want, we can play it together. it's a multiplayer game right? i haven't started on it because kuroo sucks at shooting games." kenma's voice has always been soft and very quiet. some would've found it hard to understand what he just said but to you, you could hear him as clear as day.

"sure, we can play it this friday if you want?"

kenma nodded, finally lifting his head up to look at you.

"see you on friday then."

[finnoky]

AU where Quirin takes and raises Eugene after the DK falls

•| Send me a potential AU and I’ll tell you five fun facts |•

Oh you have no idea how much this enables me - I stand by Quirin raising Eugene until the end of time bc it’s what they BOTH deserve

1) Oki so, here we see Eugene taken away as a baby without disclosing an EXACT location — that will not stop Quirin though, who had a stance against cutting him off completely despite it being Edmunds orders [It made sense to send the boy away but to send him to an ORPHANAGE was another story] Quirin finds Eugene a month or so after they get separated, during that time he found a house and a stable farm to raise a kid on [Gotta have an income] and then promptly goes to the orphanage and adopts Eugene.

By then, Eugene’s name has already been changed and frankly... Quirin thinks it suits him, though he occasionally slips up and calls him Horace. He feels a duty to raise the Prince but also kinda has a “My son now” mentality! Disagrees with Edmunds choices + decides... His kingdom is doomed, so he’s gonna ensure Eugene gets a stable upbringing with KNOWLEDGE of the Dark Kingdom without necessarily telling him “Oh BTW you’re the prince”. Being a father is hard and he struggles a lot, esp in early days, it’s a whole new challenge from being a knight but... Not one he really regrets?

Cue some fluff! Knight-dad trying to raise a baby and establish a life in a new country — Over time he grows and becomes Village Leader + Develops a bond with the monarchs based on his knowledge and previous high-rank in society from being a knight! Gets offered a guard position but turns it down in favour of spending time with his toddler son. Eugenes first word is Dada and Quirins never felt so content. Baby fluff of Eugenes milestones — Quirin has Eugene helping on the fields as soon as he can toddle without tripping (tho it’s mostly Eugene playing and running around while Quirin works) Toddler Eugene is a little darling and knows exactly how to use his cuteness to get praise and sweets

2) Eugene starts thievery / acting out soon after Quirin dates and marries Ulla, though it soon become a hobby he usually indulges in with his friend Arnie [though they take on the names of the coolest book characters Flynn Rider and Lance Strongbow!] Quirin thinks it’s just a phase and leans into the whole calling Eugene ‘Flynn’ because... He really loves the books, that’s not too odd? Though he doesn’t know of crimes + just thinks they go out to play a lot. Eugene ignored Ulla for the first few weeks because he doesn’t like the idea of someone new staying around — He doesn’t hate her, it just raises a lot of questions about his mum that Quirin doesn’t know how to answer... He resolved on the explaination that she was very sick and couldn’t take care of him anymore, though loved him dearly — it’s enough to placate him.

Eugene doubles down on stealing when he’s 10 and suddenly there’s gonna be a new baby in the house. [He doesn’t WANT a sibling + worries Quirin will love the baby more than him since he knows he’s adopted & all that though is too scared to ask] Eugene grows an attitude and Quirin finds himself exhausted and constantly caught in petty bickers as Eugene keeps running away + acting up, especially to his wife (Who loves Eugene very much, of course) ‘Flynn’ declares he wants to travel the world and be far away from step-mums and nasty babies, uhhh Domestic fall out stuff?

Things change when baby gets here and suddenly Eugene is a big brother and Quirin is MORE distracted, sometimes they forget to even read him a story and he can’t stand the squirmy little creature... All it does is cry and take what little attention his misbehaviour had earned him... So naturally, petty crime continues + Eugene starts caring less about getting caught, so it becomes more risky. He and Lance befriend some bad influences and start taking Big Kid Crime. It’s fun! Until Eugene is brought home by a guard and Quirin gives him the silent treatment for the next week. Quirin... He loves his sons, both of them, but he just isn’t sure how to handle a distressed 11 year old and a baby, it feels like there’s not enough hours in the day and Eugene is SET on making life harder for everyone.

Eugene stays against ‘Varian’, frequently makes the baby the villain in his games and makes him cry on several occasions. It gets even worse when he starts crawling bc now he can’t get anytime alone, it’s just frustrating! The solution probably comes when Varians starting to talk and he says ‘Oo-gee’ as one of his first words — ‘Lisa’s first word’ style — and Quirin and Ulla admit that Varian is obsessed with Eugene. It’s sorta a wake up call for Eugene to start trying to get along with the kid, and it works! He finds it fun to teach him things & have someone to talk to (even if he just babbles back) By the time Eugene is 12 he’s calling Ulla mum and love spending time with his little brother

3) Right! When Eugene is about 18 he picks up theiving again, mostly because he isn’t suited to the farm life and it’s easy money (Plus how else is he gonna achieve his dream of financial independence?) He moves out the farm under the guise of finding a new life with his best friend, though they quickly realise it’s not amazing when they get tangled up with the Baron + his antics. Eugene visits home every so often and claims everything is fine, it’s going great, he doesn’t need any extra help + his life is just dandy. His dishonesty mostly bc he doesn’t wanna worry Quirin and there’s been a bit of a strain since Ulla passed away.

Life keeps on like this. Eugene ages, steals alchemy supplies for Varian and hides his true income source because he wants to make Quirin and Varian proud! Varian grows up to be more headstrong in what he wants because he has someone standing up for him and telling him he’s proud, though the longer Eugene spends away the harder it gets? He loves it when Eugenes here! But the house feels empty without him, and Quirin is so busy + stressed from Varians experiments that there’s still that desire to do more, prove himself.

4) Movie diverts a bit! Eugene finds out about the hair glow and thinks... If one person knows about this then it’s him, and takes Rapunzel to Old Corona over night rather than a campfire. Varian is ecstatic to see him though gets confused by a random girl Eugene claims to have just found — He’s about to ask questions when Eugene asks if Varian could do his magic thing to find out about her hair. Varian insists it’s alchemy and agrees, dragging Raps down into the lab! Boop gothel talks to her when Varians gathering all the equipment and talks her ear off about how cool Eugene is and asks how they found each other since the story is weird... Experiements start!

Meanwhile Eugene is talking to Quirin, when Quirin pulls out a wanted poster and puts it on the table. He finally found out about how bad Eugenes crimes are and wants answers. Now. Eugene sits and tries to explain its not what it looks like, but Quirin doesn’t wanna hear it. The disappointment is evident and Quirin criticises “I thought you grew out of this, what role model is this for Varian?” Eugene doesn’t have an answer but argues his case that it was to be reliant — and he doesn’t wanna do it anymore anyway! Quirin accuses him of using the girl, while Eugene insists her name is Rapunzel and he’s just helping her, get the crown, be set for life and never have to bother him again.

Their argument is cut short by a Varian coming back upstairs looking frazzled, says there’s something about the magic that’s familiar but he can’t place it — sure is strong tho, and continues gushing and asking Eugene for all the details of what he’s been up to. Eugene... Explains, his usual light-hearted rendition of a great quest, while Quirin leaves and stays upstairs the rest of the night.

Varian sees them off in the morning! Hours after they’re gone Vari is still looking into the magic thing — that’s when he remembers the old legend about a sundrop... about how it saved the Queen... About the Princess. Varian sneaks out the house and heads up to the lantern festival to tell Eugene and Rapunzel his revelation, but he gets there just as Eugene is being lead away by guards. Varian finds Max and tells him how they need to free Eugene + basically... Helps him escape with fewer pub thugs and more alchemy. When they get to the tower Eugene tells Varian to stay on the floor and climbs up to help Raps - Varian stays at the bottom of the tower for approx 10 minutes before finding the back entrance and climbing up. Figure he gets there just as Gothel deages, it’s suddenly and before anyone knows it Varian is the one pushing her out the window bc he saw a stabbed Eugene and put two and two together. Then! Cue New Dream scene, except Varian is sitting on the floor in shock a distance away... After New Dream hug Eugene looks at him and Varian admits that “Ok, magic isn’t that bad”

5) Oh god the series! First off — Raps is closer with Varian in this (that’s becoming a theme...) so doesn’t just throw him out into the blizzard when he comes asking for help. Instead he and Eugene go back to Old Corona together after the storm, Varian isolates himself from guilt + has a tough time dealing with what happened, but he lives in the castle as Eugene starts getting angrier with the king and wants answers for what happened. He’s the one that finds Dark Kingdom stuff and he and Varian work on it together... Eugene has a suspicion he came from the Dark Kingdom so when the rocks start pointing there he’s like dope!

No villain Varian joins them on the trek to the Dark Kingdom + it’s all fun and games, Eugene tries to get more answers from Adira as they travel but she says it’s not her place to say... All he needs to know is the kingdom fell, and everyone was evacuated... She’s almost annoyed as she explains it, then Hector is treble annoyed when he finds out Eugene was raised by QUIRIN since that went against the direct orders... Though Adira defends it and says he was doing his duty of keeping Eugene safe, it’s basically a rift between them that’s confusing until they get to the DK and the revelation happens.

I feel... Moongene could be a thing in this AU? but since I’m running out of points I’ll leave it with Cass taking her canon role! I will point out! when Quirin is freed initially only Varian runs into his arms... Eugene hadn’t really spoken to Quirin properly since their movie fallout & he’s not sure he belongs... Until Quirin holds and arm out to him and pulls him into the hug too (PARALLLELS) and we get a happy reunited family (tho with some issues to work out regarding somethings... they need to rebuild trust, but work on it slowly. Edmund stays ‘Edmund’ to Eugene. He sees Quirin as his father & doesn’t push as much to reconnect with Edmund... Though that makes it easier in a way. There’s less pressure once Edmund understands and they form a friendship, but Quirin is Dad 100% (Sometimes Edmund gets called Dad 2))

[fanfics-with-coffee]

Beach Day

Beach day with your boyfriends, Akaashi and Bokuto, gone wrong silly?

Genre: P u r e fluff Characters: Poly!Akaashi x reader x Bokuto 

As soon as you stepped off the bus you shielded your eyes from the glaring sun which had been blaring down on you and your boyfriends for days now. In front of you there was the never ending expanse of ocean, the horizon only broken by the uneven specks of islands far off in the distance. “WHOA, THERE'S SO MANY ISLANDS AROUND HERE, you think they can see us from all the way over there?" Bokuto's voice broke through the sound of the city behind you and the sound of the never ending noise of the people on the beach in front of you. "I think you should worry more about the people right here on the beach for now." Akaashi reminded the over excited man, squinting as he watched the people right below you three. Looking at the two standing on either side of you, you smiled and watched how Bokuto seemed to suddenly realize the sheer amount of people on the beach right now. Akaashi didn't seem as entranced by Bokuto's shocked face as you were and sighed, starting to lead the way down the stairs connecting the bus stop to the sand below. "C'mon owl-boy, we gotta look for a good spot to settle down or you're never gonna be able to play volleyball" you playfully teased, pulling on the fully unbuttoned, short sleeved, Hawaiian shirt and he obediently followed you, a volleyball stuck under his arm. 

It was clear that you guys weren't the only people who thought today had been the perfect beach day as it was bustling with activity and people sunbathing, as well as people just normally bathing in the deep blue waves softly hitting the beach. Luckily everyone had dressed for the weather, Bokuto wearing the coolest outfit as he had just thrown on his swimming trunks and the fittingly silly hawaiian shirt which he had left unbuttoned, not that you complained. Akaashi went a bit more modest as he decided to at least throw on a proper white T-shirt with his trunks, a pair of sunglasses placed atop his head for the moment being. You dressed similarly, your bathing clothes working as a base together with whatever you felt was modest enough to travel on a bus with but nothing that would make you sweat in the summer heat. But you would be lying if you weren’t just waiting to get out of it and just lay in the shade, reading a book while watching your two favourite people play volleyball and maybe take a walk along the shore.

You quickly realised that that might be a much more difficult goal to accomplish then you had initially thought as every possible spot with availability to shade had already been claimed by people with similar plans. Akaashi had at this point taken your hand in his, afraid you’d be lost among the people. “Hey, Akaashiii, how come you’re not holding my hand huh? Aren’t you afraid I’d get lost too?” Bokuto sped up his pace to match yours, holding out his hand and making a grabby motion towards the raven haired man, pouting. “How could I? I’d probably hear you all the way from those islands you were talking about” He glanced back at you two, seemingly adamant about his decision to only hold your hand for now. But that didn’t last as he looked at Bokuto for more then two seconds and without another word he held out his other hand too. The older man instantly perked up and took ahold, happily being dragged along now. “You’re impossible..” “And yet you love usss.” You mused with Bokuto putting a hand on the small of your back, grinning. And so your trio moved across the beach.

“Hey, doesn’t that look like a good spot?” After only a minute or so you finally spotted a big enough place in the shade for you all to comfortable set up for the day. Bokuto vocally expressed his excitement, suddenly taking the lead and pulling you all along, no questions asked. Akaashi had almost tripped in the sand when his arm suddenly jerked in the direction of the spot but managed to catch himself before checking so you had survived the pull too. Thankfully you had, and not only that, you were laughing at the silliness of your boyfriends antics. But things didn’t go as planned as you got closer to the so called promised land.

“Oo- Half-n-half?” Bokuto stopped dead in his tracks, and dropped not only your hand but the ball he had been carrying too, surprised by the familiar face standing in front of him.

“Eh? What do you mean half-n-half… Your hair isn’t much better…” Kenma glared, a switch in his hands and a sports bag slung over his shoulder. You were about as surprised as Bokuto was and then you heard someone else speak up.

“What, you’re just gonna ignore me, owl bastard?” “ROOSTER HEAD?” “Don’t act like you didn’t ignore me on purpose!”

As the sudden dispute escalated between Kuroo and your own “owl bastard”, you took the moment to get your head around the situation, so did Akaashi who pulled up his own bag and picked up the one Bokuto had dropped in his shock. You looked to Kenma who was busy getting mildly annoyed at the two bickering men, impatiently waiting for them to calm down. 

“So you and Kuroo are here for a beach day yourselves, huh, Kenma?” You smiled, taking a couple steps closer so you wouldn’t have to yell. He finally looked at you and vaguely nodded his head before looking back.

“I guess, Kuroo wanted to get a tan and dragged me along with him. I’m just planning on gaming though, I’m not looking to get a sun burn.” You hummed in acknowledgment, you weren’t surprised that Kenma wasn’t the one who initiated the trip. “That’s why we need the shade here, it’s difficult to play games with a sun glare on the screen”

The way he looked at you was almost challenging, like he made it clear that he wasn’t willing to give up the shaded spot. While you had been around Kenma a couple times along with Kuroo and Bokuto, you had never stood between him and something he wanted so were a little taken aback. Luckily, Akaashi was quick to back you up even if there was no real danger.

“I’m guessing its about as difficult as reading a book with the sun in your eyes.” Akaashi’s responded for you, clearly not backing down as he let a hand land on your waist. Kenma glanced at his hand and then the small bag you were carrying, quickly connecting the dots and pursing his lips. By now the two other people in your group had noticed what was going on and stopped their own shenanigans, curious about the situation that had formed. Kuroo was the first to separate from Bokuto, walking over to standing besides Kenma with a smirk. Bokuto in return walked over to Akaashi and you, putting his hands on his hips while wearing a confident grin.

“Seems like none of us are willing to give up the spot, eh?” Kuroo glanced at Kenma who was still staring at you three.

“Nope! So if you want it, you gotta take it from us fair and square! Right Akaashi? Y/N?” Bokuto quickly looked to you two, expectantly waiting for confirmation. While he looked like an owl, he reminded you more of a puppy. 

“Right. It’s the least you can do for the spot, Nekoma.” Akaashi backed him up, something that Bokuto clearly got excited about. You looked to the two and sighed, smiling despite yourself.

The two opponents nodded and within seconds they were coming up with fair suggestions on how they could fight for the spot. Volleyball came up immediately but because of the little space on the beach, there wasn’t really a way to play during these busy hours. But after that, they came to the agreement of a race. To the ice cream shack and back to the spot, first team member to get there won it. Simple goal, simple rules.

“Y/N, you’ll be the judge.” Akaashi made eye contact to confirm his statement, checking so you would agree with it just in case. You nod, of course and straighten your back a little to prove your attention the assignment. Kuroo clearly perked up at this fact, getting playfully smug face.

“Hmm? How can we know they won’t be biased?” He asked, tilting his head. He knew you wouldn’t, you could see that in his eyes, but he couldn’t help wanting to provoke your boyfriends a little. Something that clearly worked as Bokuto puffed up his chest and furrowed his brows. Kenma gently slapped Kuroo’s arm, annoyed he had even agreed to this competition from the beginning and now he was prolonging the whole thing with useless teasing.

“Our Y/N? Never! That’s preposterous!” He argued, ready to get in another harmless tussle with the tall, dark-haired man. He was ready to defend your honor at the drop of a hat even if it was absolutely unnecessary as Akaashi mentioned that no one in this situation could be totally unbiased. Realising if you didn’t interrupt the situation now they would go on another discussion that would last god knows how long. And so you cleared your throat, gaining the mens attention while you pulled out a tissue from your bag, holding it up.

“Participants on your mark!” You said aloud, said participants quickly moving and pointing to each others feet as they scrambled to get on an even row, Akaashi taking an obvious leadership role in this. “Get ready!” You raised the tissue.

Paused. And..

“GO!”

You dropped your hand, the white tissue acting as the starting shot. They started running, throwing up sand behind them and leaving you in the shade, together with a Hawaiian shirt thrown off last second. You kept an eyes on them as they ran towards the ice cream shack but you noticed that Kenma was already falling behind, he clearly had a worse footing then the other three on the sand. While you wish you could’ve seen the whole thing with your eyes, they ended up getting lost in the maze of bodies, fighting to find the quickest way to the faded blue building. Bokuto and Kuroo were keeping their eyes on each other, throwing looks as they saw their competitor between unrelated bodies. Akaashi on the other hand was running his own race, his eyes darting from spot to spot as to find the smartest and most efficient way. Kenma got further and further behind, unable to keep up but still working logically, dodging people with practiced ease.

As they reached the shack, Bokuto and Kuroo slapped the side of the building only nanoseconds after each other, making eye contact before turning and sprinting back. Akaashi was only seconds behind, seeing the white and black tuft of hair diving back into sea of people and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief, thinking back to you. But that didn’t stop him from taking another deep breath and giving it his all on the way back too. Kenma was a… different story. He had run out of steam quickly and by the time he had gotten to the shack, he had already seen Kuroo wave at him. But he kept at it, knowing Kuroo wouldn’t shut up about it if he didn’t.

Back in the shade you had pulled out your water bottle, sipping on in, waiting for someone you recognized. And there he came, jumping out of the crowd, chest exposed and covered in sweat, grinning from ear to ear. Bokuto. Kuroo was the second person you saw but you also realised he was about to get passed by Akaashi whose stamina training was showing. With a shout and a leap, Bokuto crossed the line, hands thrown up in the air and you waved your tissue in the air, grinning almost as big as he was. Kuroo and Akaashi crossed the imagined line at about the same time, both of them stopping to catch their breath, Akaashi leaning his hands on his knees and Kuroo going as far as to sit down.

“D… damn…” Kuroo whispered as he leaned is head back, tilting it so he could watch you and your boyfriends who were celebrating as if they just gotten into Japans national team. Bokuto had grabbed you, lifting you up and spinning around before kissing your lips. Akaashi approaching to congratulate him and got pulled into a sideway hug accompanied by a kiss to his temple from the other. Kuroo couldn’t help but smile before it hit him, where the hell had Kenma gone.

Crossing the finish line minutes after the others, Kenma arrived with an ice lolly, examining the scene and realising what had happened.

“I guess we lost the spot.” He walked up besides Kuroo, taking another lick of his ice cream as he watched your celebrations. You looked over to the Nekoma boys and watched as they started packing their things. While the whole thing had been fun, it wasn’t really your thing to not at least try to compromise. Walking up to them, you smiled and put your hands behind you back.

“Hey, you guy’s don’t actually have to leave”

It wasn’t actually too hard to get everything to work. Since there were now four people wanting to play volleyball, or at least Kenma agreed to play for a bit, they spent majority of the time going at it in the sun. And you enjoyed your time watching them between reading the pages of your book. You had enjoyed your time regardless but seeing your two favourite men, shirtless and shining with sweat in the sun, their muscles visibly moving as they tensed and relaxed. Yeah, you’d enjoy your time but this was way better.

[boomstyle]

Sonic Boom: Friend or Foe

Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters and settings of Sonic boom. Oh, watch out for OCs!

Roboken War

(Force field cage)

Well, that was just as quick as it's. Now, where are we?

Tails and I reach the cage in just a zip. I thought Lyric will just put mind control device or at least send them far away from our reach. Well, I guess Lyric may not be as smart and cunning as I thought after all.

Speaking of cunning and smart, I can't stand a breathe anymore. I wish we can get out of here. Wait! We can't. Lyric closed the entrance of the central power station with a force field. I guess he's smart and cunning after all. Ugh...

While I was desperate to get out of the room, Tails was busy tinkering on the force field cage. Hurry up Tails, the gas is getting stronger. Now, I feel nauseous.

"Tails, would you mind speed it up a little?", I asked Tails politely.

"Sorry, Sonic. This may take a while. I can't find the key just yet. It must be somewhere up here.", Tails explain the technical thing but I am not sure what. What I really know is that I am gonna vomit for real.

(45 minutes later)

Ugh... What's taking Tails so long?

"Aha... I found it. The key to the force field was at the upper edge. Just gonna rotate it to the right and here it goes.", Tails was busy tinkering.

"Once I open the secret key, it will be easier to disable the force field."

"Yeah, Tails. Just pretend I don't hear it!", I replied in a cool manner. Not exactly a cool manner though, I was being slightly rude. If Amy heard me saying this, she might just taichi me or whip me or worse hit me with her so-called "legendary hammer". What's so legendary about her hammer? It's just a regular oversized hammer.  Sometimes, I don't understand why she's super obsessive about her hammer. If she loses her hammer, she could have just fought in hand to hand or use her enerbeam whip or sword. I mean, she's athletic and has amazing martial art skills to top it off so she didn't really have to bother the whole team to search for her hammer or be like "My hammer is my whole identity. It's a gift from fate.". Tsk...whatever.

Yep, Archie Sonic Boom Issue 3 (HammerSpace). You got it. No need to beat the bush like that, Amy. I feel really bad for Sonic.

I was drowning in confusion until Tails snapped me out. He didn't exactly snap me out, more like bringing me to reality.

"Done it! I've taken out the force field from here.", Tails said in excitement. Team Cyborg is released from the cage. Now, time to open the forcefield!

"Oh, finally! Now, how do we open the forcefield barrier, Cyborg me?", I asked in desperation and relief at the same time.

"Right here!", Cyborg Sonic replied. What? The forcefield entrance key was literally close to us but I see nothing.

"Where? It's just a freaking wall?", I scolded him out of impatience. Ugh, I can't take it anymore. The gas...(cough)...

"Just do as I said!", Cyborg Sonic instructed.

"Fine! Just gonna touch this...(surprised) wall (slowly)", I am stunned. I can't believe it. They're right. Just gonna press the bottom and it's done.

"Yay, we did it! Teamwork rocks! Now, let's move it!"

Just as I thought our business is done from the moment we escape from the central power station filled with gas and traps. I was hell wrong. I heard an invisible siren tone with a beaming red background while we ran away. Talking about disco light, this is worse.

*Lol* (Remember when Dave fool himself in "Next Top Villian", Sonic Boom Series Season 1.)

(Siren Alarm Beam Tone)

"Ugh... Come one! We just escape from it.", I complained.

"Sonic, our escape caused the siren to beam. So this is expected.", Tails calmed me down.

"But we just get out like a few hours ago.", I argued. Technically, it's been 45 minutes but it feels like hours already.

"Are you guys done with your blabber, Sonic?", Cyborg Amy shouted. Ooo... She's just as scary and temperamental as Amy.

"Fine! I'll shut it."

"Good. Let's keep moving! We didn't have all day."

Okay, okay, Amy! Is it necessary for you to be so demanding? Just chill out, Cyborg Amy! Regardless, she's right. There's no time to waste. If we don't get out, we might as well got caught by Lyric. Yep, we did.

"Where are you going right now?", Lyric asked.

"You think you can escape from me, Sonic. Think again!"

"Rise my armies! I command you to finish them once and for all!"

"We can call your robot quit in just a zip, Snake-head.", I deride Lyric confidently.

The infected robots shoot lasers at us as instructed. Tails and I started off dodging their attacks while Team Cybonic launched their special attacks. Well, more like duplicates of our attacks. Hehe...

Just as the battle started, my gangs came to my aid. Oh, just in time but where's Shawn? I mean, the East bender faker. Yeah, he must be planning this whole thing. I bet but regardless, I am glad that my team to the rescue. As I dodge a laser, I spot FriendBot along with Amy, Knuckles and Sticks arrive at the scene and prepare for combat.

"Anyone need some backup?", Amy asked.

Amy, Knuckles, and Sticks charge down and destroy some robots. Sonic dashes towards Amy.

"Amy. I'm glad you're here.", I started a conversation but Amy just shrugged me off. I wonder what's bugging her. Surely, Shawn must have manipulated her. Now, that she ignored me as if I didn't exist. This is just not like her.

"Oh, so you're just gonna ignore me, your boyfriend. Alright, sure. Go ahead."

Oops, did I just said b-word out loud? Not that I care or whatever but we're totally busted right now.

"Hmph... Like I even have one...", Amy shrugged me off.

Oh, is that it? You're just going to going to act negatively out of character toward me. That's it, I had it enough of your rudeness. This is just not you. He's literally turning you into a cold-headed girl. I know she can get temperamental, snarky, rude, or slightly selfish at some point but this is way too far.

"That's it, Ames. I had it enough. If you want to break up, just say so. (punch and kick robot nearby) No need to buzz over me like that.", I confronted her.

"You're saying I got too far. Well, that describes you, Mr. Hedgehog. The way you treated Shawn was totally unacceptable. And besides, you're not so good after all. You're snarky, reckless, messy worker, impatient and impulsive.", Amy talked back.

"Like you have the best personality, I'm sick of your bossy, demanding, and overbearing attitude behind your mature act.", I argued her back.

"I was doing it for your good. You could get a little bit too far with your prank games, jokes or worse run head log in trouble. So I have to step in AS THE MOTHER FIGURE OF THE GROUP(shouted and smash the robot)", Amy defended.

"Yeah, like I need one.", I grunted.

"That's the problem with you. You act as if you're the coolest top speedy hedgehog ever but you're not thoughtful. The way you badmouth and suspect Shawn when you yourself were the one who introduced it to the whole team explains it. You're saying you're responsible for him but what I got is empty promises.", Amy berated me while she was busy beating robots near her just like I did. Speaking of which, what she said reminds me when I introduced Egg man's so called brother without even consulting the whole team. She's kinda right at this. I should have been more considerate and premediated next time. The way I just invite Shawn and Steve Eggman in the group without much consideration indicate my impulsiveness. Looks like I really realized how impulsive and unthoughtful I have been but still, she's literally overreacting just like usual. Thus, why should I be blamed for it?

"Oh come on, why do I get blamed for it? You're literally falling your heels over him anyway so why should I have to get the portion of the blame?", I threw the blame on her. I admitted I am being impulsive and inconsiderate considering how I just invite Shawn in without any consultation.

"Responsibility, Sonic! You can't just introduce someone and suddenly come up with a conclusion that his guy is bad when YOU CAN'T EVEN PROVE IT!", Amy reasoned with me. In some way, she's right but she just didn't understand the issue here. Shawn is...

"Yeah, you're right. I don't have proof but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. You know why? HERO!", I am enraged and boastful, yes and I don't care.

"That's it! I can't take it anymore. You, sir, are impetuously boastful and arrogant being. Have you even take my feeling into account when you said that? it's like you don't consider me a girlfriend anymore. You know what, let's break up!", Amy leashed out on me.

"You wanna break up. FINE! Who wants to be with a Bloodthirsty and indicative hedgehog in a cute and friendly package?", I said.

"And who wants an egomaniac, reckless and immature guy in a speedy hero PACKAGE?", Amy retaliated. She's going super angry and yep, this is good and bad at the same time.

"HAYAK(smash)... (spin hammer attack other robots)... (pull the further robot near her with enerbeam rope) HAYAK (smash, smash, smash until every infected robot disintegrated)... (stand in her ninja-style pose)Ha... Time to take on, Lyric."

Just as we broke up, Amy turned into a temperamental monster. Then, she started to crash all of the infected robots in just a zip. Sticks, Knuckles and Tails as well as our cyborg duplicates are unimpressed. Wow, I was surprised they're not shocked at our break up and Amy's sudden temperamental combat.

"What a lovely couple indeed? I suspect that the alien overlord must have spelled them apart.", Sticks said.

"To be frank, this robot apocalypse has sent Amy mad too.", Cyborg Sticks said. Well, she's partially right. The robot apocalypse really sent Amy crazy after the break-up. Not the best answer you've got, Cybonic Sticks but you sure have Sticks' paranoid DNA with you. Am I okay? Why do I agree with Sticks' paranoid statement now? Oh no, if this happens again, I might need to consider seeing a psychiatrist.

"I don't know Sticks but surely, the secretive skinny couple has finally come to a devastating breakup. If Sonic and Amy were the one, I may be gigging out in shame.", Cyborg Knuckles replied sadly.  

"Yeah. Not cool, Sonic. First, you deny that you dated Amy and now, you just let Amy cut off the relationship.", Knuckles said while holding his clenched fist.

"Well, this gets little it out of hand. let's just help Amy fight off Lyric!", Cyborg Sonic said.

"Yeah", Team Cybonic and my gangs except Knuckles and Amy agreed.

While they're battling Lyric, we're in the middle of a pointless argument because of Knuckles. This is the first time we ever battle each other in the middle of a war.

"Knuckles, don't get me started!", I ordered. What the heck is wrong with Knuckles? Sure we kept the relationship in secret and just broke up but this is not an excuse for Knuckles to just burst up like that.

"Do you think I'm not smart, Sonic?", Knuckles asked.

"What? Not, it's not that... It's just", I tried to persuade him but Knuckles cut me off.

"It's just that I'm not smart enough to figure it out that you're dating.", Knuckles straightened his point. What? I don't mean to hide our relationship just to shame you. It's just that it's not a good time yet. If Eggman and other villains know about our relationship, the worst scenario is that the whole team and anyone related to us would be in a threatening situation. Seriously, Eggman may not be you know the victorious one but he's surely dangerous when unexpected. And besides, the group will be awkward if everyone knows we date.

"What's up, Sonic? Scared of me?"

"Knuckles. this is madness. You got to snap out, man. That snakehead was literally your battle.", I persuaded while trying to dodge his punches. I don't want to attack him. He's my friend.

"I've heard you said enough already"

We battle with each other until we heard Amy, Tails, and Sticks as well as our duplicates got smacked down in the middle of battle.

"Guys! Oh no!", Knuckles and I gulped.

"At last, I finally got to end you after a thousand years.", Lyric smirked while approaching us.

"I guess it's the end of Team Knuckles", Knuckles said. Team? Oh, forget it! I'm not going to argue. Besides he's right. It's the end of Team Son...ic.

"Lyric, I said I will find you", Shadow appeared. Uuu... Looks like the edgelord will end the robot apocalypse. He must have a reason as to defeat Lyric. He will not just be here to save us but anyway, it's our lucky day.

Shadow punch out Lyric and take out his technopathy. As the result, everything was back to normal except that all Roboken's army got dismantled, and yeah, things get messed up when Shawn approached in.

ugh... Finally, it's nearly the end of the book chapter. Sorry, I got too personal with the Sonamy relationship and rivalry between Knuckles and Sonic but I just can't help it. Anyway, How do you think Shadow and Shawn were able to come in? What will be the consequences afterward? Find out in the next chapter.

[malgal7777]

Hiking with Tracy 2021:  Put it on the board...YES!

I did it!!!!   Woo-Hoo!  I walked 100 miles - almost in the whole month of April.  Since the last weekend of April was a bit of a snow bust, I had to finish my 100 miles this past weekend 5/1-5/2!  And what a way to finish...

I was feeling defeated last week when I wasn’t able to complete the 100 miles up in Tahoe.  I ended up being 17 miles short!  Can you believe that?  17 miles!! And I have a friend, let’s just call him “Barry” who was going to give me the whole $1000 if I was able to do it.  So I really felt down knowing I had blown it.  Blown all that training and blown it for the Ride4Reason fundraiser.  But “Barry” said hey, finish it up this weekend and you’re still in the running.  So I went back to the drawing board to find another route that would push me over the finish line.  But it was Bob who suggested I hike San Francisco.  AND, if I hiked SF, he would be encouraged to join me.  Bob’s a city slicker.  If he goes too far from being able to purchase a newspaper out of a metal box, he gets hives.  So, we mapped out a 10-12 mile route (I had to go easy on the guy) starting from the Ferry Building and walking the circumference of the SF peninsula to Ocean Beach.  It was FAN-TAS-TIC!  WOW.  Just WOW. 

We started at Justin Herman Plaza and since it was May Day we were hoping to find a rally or march happening.  And in perfect SF fashion, we were not disappointed!  Sure enough a large rally was gearing up to head down Market.  I’m going to assume the march was for workers rights, but it was actually unclear to us what their message was.  Not a good sign for a march/rally!

This first stretch of The Embarcadero was a bit sad.  Covid and the lockdowns have definitely taken their toll.  I know it was early and a weekend, but a lot of these businesses are still shuttered and closed.  And there’s a couple of homeless encampments taking over the street car kiosks.  The homeless.  Sooner or later I have to go there.  I can spout my love for California all I want, but it’s California’s biggest shame.  It’s no longer a skeleton in the closet, it’s all out in the open for all to see.  And I have no answer for it.  It’s always been here, since I’ve been here.  And it definitely has gotten A LOT worse within the past 10 years.  And it’s not just one issue, it’s the perfect storm of multiple issues coming together:  not enough affordable housing;  not enough livable wages; mental instability; drug addiction; nomad living lifestyle - yes that’s a thing.  I don’t think California is doing nothing.  There’s just too many people.  And you can’t just throw them in jail or put them onto a bus to make someone else’s problem - like other regional areas have done, there has to be some compassion and humanity.  But these encampments are not humane.  They are breeding grounds for disease and despair.  What does that say about you as you walk on by?  Trying to ignore the garbage and filth these people are living amongst.  But I have no answer.  I don’t even know where to begin to help these people.  So for the time being, I’m going to continue to stick my head in the sand and hope that California will rise to the challenge and find some solution, sooner rather than later. 

The Embarcadero curves around and leads you to the touristy part of the city...Fisherman’s Wharf.  I personally hate this part of town.  It’s just too much:  too many people; too many lame chain restaurants;  too many cheesy chotchkie stores.  My parents on the other hand love it.  When they come to town all they want to do is come to Pier 39 and Alcatraz.  My dad would live on Alcatraz if he could.  One of these days I just may lock him in one of the cells.  Today though, things were different.  I loved seeing that Alcatraz tours are once again up & running.  AND not a lot of people yet...wink wink wink...for those of you who've tried to go but weren’t able to get a reservation.  It was early, so the area was just coming alive. The street vendors setting up their wares or street performers getting into character. Then there’s the abundance of colors of all the flashy stores and restaurants.  The sounds of the sea lions barking at the tourists watching them.  The marina with the famous “Rocket Boat!”  I was digging it.  Fisherman’s Wharf also has some great views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.  It wasn’t so horrible.  Bob showed me Scoma’s restaurant, a tiny seafood restaurant that’s been here for years and is supposed to be pretty darn good.  There’s even a chapel for the local fishermen.  Then of course there’s Musee Mecanique.  A museum of antique slot machines, animations, coin operated pianos and the like.  It’s pretty cool and I believe most of the games are still functioning, so you can play.  Unfortunately it is also closed because of the pandemic.  You can donate to help keep it open though.  Just go to https://museemecanique.com.  

Then we hit Aquatic Park. An interesting cove at the West end of Fisherman’s Wharf.  This is where crazy people swim in the freezing waters of the bay, most without wet suits.  On this cold, windy morning we found a group of children being taught how to acclimate their bodies to the water so they can grow up to be crazy people.  Horrible way to spend a Saturday if you ask me!  

We continued to go around Aquatic Park and up and around to Fort Mason. There’s a great trail that we’ve never taken that gives you an even better view of the GG bridge and Fort Mason below.  And once you get on the other side, you’re in local land of OZ!  Where the curtain is pulled back and the locals are enjoying the real SF.  Now for those tourists who spend their whole time at Fisherman’s Wharf and The Embarcadero, more power to you.  Just don’t say you’ve been to San Francisco.  Because you haven’t.  Once you get over the hump, one of my favorite scenes of SF...the buildings.  Squat, square homes of multiple pastel colors rolling like waves along the hills of San Francisco.  In other areas of the city, the hills are rolling with colorful victorians.  The colors are what I love best about San Francisco.  

It was here that I realized I was hiking with Cher.  We had to make yet another stop so Bob could make a wardrobe change.  It’s also kind of a production with him narrating what he’s doing.  I got to hear all about the ins and outs of why he rolls his flannel rather than fold.  Why he’ll wait to take off the thermal leggings.   Where to put his first UO sticker. Yada, Yada, Yada.  Good thing he’s pretty cute.  As he was changing, we noticed a statue of an older man in a suit but no plaque telling visitors who he is.  I thought he looked like Rodney Dangerfield.  But why would anyone put up a statue of Rodney Dangerfield in SF?  That would be the ultimate “no respect” though, a statue but no plaque.  Ends up it’s a guy named Phil Burton.  He was a US Congressman from California who is responsible for 87,000 acres of the SF Bay Area being designated as a National Park. I was basically ending my hike in a National Park thanks to this man.  He deserves a plaque god damnit!

So once you pass Fort Mason, you are now in the Marina district.  It’s where Cal Berkeley students go after they graduate. They mutate here on the hollowed grounds of Crissy Field.  Like yuppy gremlins. Working out or drinking Philz Coffee.  The homes along Crissy Field are gorgeous. Huge picture windows with a front row seat to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Each one is architecturally different and once again, the colors!  Beautiful. The only downside was the wind.  It was pretty darn windy along this stretch.  But Bob had his windbreaker and I had my knit cap.  I can endure the wind if I have my ears covered. 

It’s a long stretch from Crissy Field to the Presidio.  The old barracks of the Presidio on one side and the entrance of the Bay on the other.  The GG Bridge is the main attraction here.  It’s majestic. Great time to get over there.  Parking was plenty and not a bad way to have a picnic. There’s a climbing gym, a trampoline park and under the bridge is Fort Point.  I have been here before, took my parents.  I was able to slyly divert their attention from the bells and whistles of Fisherman’s Wharf with the chance to view history!  They are suckers for historical buildings.  And Fort Point is a National Historical Site.  It was built during the Civil War in 1861.  It’s been awhile so I don’t remember too many of the details, but definitely worth a visit.  

Now we began our assent to the Jewel of this hike...The Golden Gate Bridge.  It’s a National Icon and San Francisco’s mascot.  As you climb the hill and get closer to the bridge there are a bunch of tunnels and “hide outs” along the way.  Remnants of the military presence that once dominated San Francisco.  But the absolutely coolest thing about this hike was I had NO IDEA you can actually walk underneath the bridge itself...like right below the huge steel red frame!!  It’s literally a wind tunnel, so hold onto your hat!  But super duper cool!!  If you have any engineers or construction people in your circle, this would be a great spot to bring them.  

As you continue around the bend, you come to Baker’s Beach.  Not sure if it’s still a nude beach, but it used to be.  The unfortunate thing about nude beaches is the people who SHOULDN’T be nude are the first ones to get into their birthday suit. But that’s my problem, not theirs!  Some nice trails along this stretch, but nothing too exciting to report.

We soon came upon the neighborhood Sea Cliff.  Now this is where the really rich people live.  Like Robin Williams had a home here;  Nancy Pelosi I think lives here.  Mansions with a view of the Pacific.  Bob & I had to walk through right?  I am happy to report the other half live very well.  I stopped to smell the roses (literally) but I noticed that all the gardens actually smelled horrible.  The fertilizer was strong here.  Bob & I laughed that that was how they kept the riff-raff away, by surrounding their homes with a shit moat.  Worked for us!  We high tailed it out of there.  

Now we came to our last stretch...Land’s End.  A labyrinth of trails along the coastal edge.  We needed to stop for another wardrobe change.  This time his leggings were going back on.  Which meant he needed to get down to his underwear.  Let’s just say a whole group of people got a little more than they were expecting that day!

Finally we made it to Sutro Baths and the Cliff House!  Fantastic!  Unfortunately the Cliff House closed due to the pandemic and is not reopening.  I cannot imagine this space will be closed for long.  Fingers crossed.  We decided to head down to Ocean Beach and end our hike by having lunch at the Park Chalet.  We were both famished and Bob was getting cranky.  Needed to feed him STAT.  I have more to report here but Bob might get mad at me, so if you see him again, just ask him about our new friend Franklin!  

BTW, Sunday I did my final 4-5 miles back at my MacArthur Trail.  I brought Stella this time and she loved it.  It was as fabulous as ever!

I’m still going to hike y’all and write about it.  So check in to see where I go next.  I enjoyed writing my thoughts and feelings down.  Even if nobody reads it, it’s my journal to this wonderful life I’ve been blessed with.  Why not tell the world!

Thank You to all who have donated to the Ride4Reason fundraiser and have endured reading these ramblings.  But, That’s All Folks!  (for now).  xoxox

[purplesurveys]

775

Do you always carry breath mints? No, I don’t find it essential considering I only get (or got, by now) a certain allowance per week and my budget is usually just right to fit in food, gas, other necessities, and maybe one or two nights of eating out. JM always brought a pack of those every day though and if I felt like I needed one, it was easy to ask him for one. On a side note, it’s so weird having to type these out in the past tense now that that part of my life is virtually over... What is the point of scented pens/pencils/erasers? I don’t think they have one. They’re just fun to have around if they’re new to you and you have a bit of extra money to buy them. Do you buy/wear band-aids with cartoon characters on them? No but we do have packs that come in different colors, which is entertaining enough for me. Are you amused by celebrity fashion flubs? Egh, not as much these days but it’ll sometimes be fun to look at what people are wearing at major events like the Oscars and Met Gala to see who hit the mark and who didn’t. What do you think your reaction would be upon entering the White House? Political feelings aside, I think I’d be as excited going there as I would be going to other tourist destinations. Bonus points if they’ve got a museum inside.

Do you buy and wear crazy looking socks? I wouldn’t call them crazy-looking, but I do like socks with wackier designs like if they’re sushi-themed or burger-themed haha. Would you run down the street wearing a tutu, fishnets, & flippers? That literally just sounds like a task that other college orgs make their applicants do as part of their application process. I’d do it if it was a dare or if something’s in it for me, but I wouldn’t on my own. Have you ever grown your own sea monkeys or dinosaurs? I don’t know what you mean. Would you want to travel into deep space? You kidding? I’ve wanted to go to space since I first read about people going to the Moon. I’d for sure do it if it was offered to me. Have you ever thrown a game controller (or the game) and broke it? Nah but pretty similar; I’ve often smacked my laptops when something goes wrong, like if the internet isn’t fast enough or if it hangs.

Did you ever own an Etch-a-Sketch? No. I think my mom did though. Do/did you ever have glow-in-the-dark stars on your ceiling? Nope, but my dad’s family in Tondo had these, in my cousins’ room. When we went over to visit we’d typically spend the night, so every time it was lights out the stars were my favorite thing to see cause they felt pretty magical to me. Does your house have an attic that had stuff in it when you moved in? No. We don’t have an attic but our third floor is our rooftop. What movie were you really worked up for that ended up disappointing you? Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. And this is gonna get so much flak, but The Shawshank Redemption. Does/did your school have special dress-up days? No for both schools I’ve been in. I do appreciate the fact that my current school has no dress code though. What cartoons did you watch when you were little? A lot, since kids are supposed to watch cartoons anyway lol. My favorite ones were Spongebob, Fairly OddParents, Mr. Bean, The Wild Thornberrys, Jimmy Neutron, House of Mouse, and The Emperor’s New School. Do you eat peanut shells along with the peanuts? I don’t. Have you ever gone white-water rafting? Nope. What part of a paper is hardest for you to write? Introduction. It sets the tone for your entire paper so if it isn’t good or appealing enough, it’s hard to follow through and come up with an excellent piece overall. Does your grandma wear an apron when she cooks? I never saw her wearing one, no. This is your chance to get it out! Place random rant here: Get me the fuck out of this house. How often do you need "me" time? These days I’ve had so much of it I wouldn’t even want it anymore for a while after this lol. Normally though, it’s important for me to have this at the end of the day. I’m always with a bunch of people and friends everyday in school and recharging by being alone is vital to me. Does it bother you that almost everything is done on computers now? Sometimes it can feel impersonal, like if you get invited to a debut or wedding through Facebook. But most of the time I find it convenient because everything is instant now. Have you ever gotten stuck in a revolving door? I don’t think so. There was a time I had fun going around a revolving door at the City of Dreams entrance for a few turns because I hadn’t seen one in a while hahahaha but I didn’t get stuck. Who is your favorite superhero? Not big on that whole genre. I guess I like Wonder Woman. KFC Chicken: original or extra crispy? Original please. What class in school do/did you secretly love? Idk, if I like a class I’d be vocal about it lol. What animal do you most resemble while eating? A human? Pop-Tarts vs. Toaster Strudels. Discuss: I’ve never had the second one and I really like Pop-Tarts, so the verdict here is prrrrretty obvious. Do you believe there are subliminal messages in songs? Like...Illuminati-wise? Lmao not at all, but people sure were busy trying to prove this about Beyonce and Lady Gaga back in 2009. I do think other intentional forms of subliminal messages exist, like how Hayley was actually singing the word ‘mercy’ when she sang the chorus to Simmer. Think about your first kiss. Did you have any idea what you were doing? No, she had to teach me how to move my lips and to not be scared and just go with the dance, because I was very nervous. Would you play Jumanji, if given the chance? I’ve never seen the movie, both original and remake.

Name a song lyric you heard wrong the first time and what it really said: I can’t recall an instance at the moment. Do you text/call while going to the bathroom? (Go multitasking!) I’ll bring my phone so I can scroll through Reddit or play games. Do you always make sure your cell phone is charged before going somewhere? Most of the time. I’ll still forget sometimes, though. Did you get Happy Meals just for the toys as a kid? No. They weren’t my kind of toys so I didn’t really ask my parents for Happy Meals. I asked for other toys I knew I’d have more use out of instead.   Have you ever seen your parents cry? If so, how did it make you feel? My mom. She was crying because my sister did a very kiddie mistake, and I was mostly indifferent because at that point our relationship was severed, and also why the fuck would you cry over a little booboo your 8 year old daughter did? She was being dramatic that day and I had no fucking time nor pity for it. What are your thoughts on Chuck Norris? I mostly know him as a 9GAG meme but other than that I know nothing of him. Did you answer that last question with a random Chuck Norris fact? No.

What is the most annoying sound in the world? Boomers complaining and getting their uninformed opinion out in the open. Do you honestly care about calories and fat content? No. How do you feel about animal testing? Fuck outta here. Do you often shift blame towards others? No. This is what my mom did and continues to do, and like I’ve said before I’ve made it my life’s mission to not do the things she did. Do you ever feel like you're smarter than your boss? I don’t have a boss. But I definitely didn’t doubt my internship boss, she was obviously very wise and had gone through a lot to get to where she is today. Your very first best friend: Is he/she STILL your best friend? No. Do you add condiments to your ice cream, or just eat it plain? Nah dude what the hell? Have you ever witnessed a crime? I saw a car very nearly run over a group of pedestrians walking on the pedestrian lane, but the driver was able to hit the brakes before they hit them hard. What's the coolest personalized license plate you've ever seen? Not a lot of cool plates here considering we’re only allowed a maximum of three letters and three numbers. If a plate is personalized it’s usually the driver’s initials and birthday, and that is hardly interesting lol. Did you ever have a piggybank that literally ate your money? No.

[animatedminds]

What If: Every Character In Dragonball FighterZ Had a Dramatic Finish? (Pt. 3)

And here we are at the third leg of this little brainstorming session. Since yesterday, UI Goku has come out - people are enjoying the apparently pretty insane defensive options he’s got, and the new Kefla Dramatic Finish, but that doesn’t mean our work here is done just yet. If you haven’t seen the first two installments of these, this week in honor of the Ultra Instinct Goku DLC for Dragon Ball FighterZ I’ve been doing a little hypothetical thinking about Dramatic Finishes - those awesome re-animations of classic Dragonball moments that Arcys lovingly put into the game. Specifically, we’ve been approaching the question of “what if there were even more Dramatic Finishes” - since only a select portion of the cast has one. Over the last couple of days, we’ve been going through each of the characters without a Dramatic Finish and trying to find the best choice, the most cinematic moment, coolest and hopefully most epic shots of each character’s history that could work as a Dramatic Finish for them. This is more of a hypothetical: as I said in the previous installments, I’m not seriously saying that every character in the game should have a Dramatic Finish: Arcsys puts a hell of a lot of work into each of them, and the majority of the roster getting such time consuming devotion is just not happening. This is more of a thought experiment - and an excuse to rewatch a ton of clips from all over Dragonball history, of course. And as before, I’m looking for good scenes that would make appearances in Dramatic Finishes, not necessarily wins - so some of the characters on this list are going to lose.

If you want to the whole thing in one shot, you can always just listen to it on Soundcloud: we have a whole cast for it right here. But if not, then buckle up: cause here we got into Part 3. When last we met, we went through the Cell Saga (and Videl), so the next character up without a Dramatic Finish should be...

Majin Buu

Buu has been in the game since the beginning, but never did seem to get much attention - the main villain of his own arc, albeit one in which is many additional forms and personas took center stage after himself, Buu’s got quite a bit of interesting moments under his belt, with his own brand of destruction that’s as terrifying as it is silly.

I do want to preface this by pointing out that in the last video I went over an option for Super Saiyan Vegeta, which involved compositing the Final Explosion moment from his stint as Majin Vegeta into his regular Super Saiyan form and using that as a Finish, and before we go into more options for Buu I’ll say that at the end of the day I still think that’s the best option both for Vegeta and for Buu himself, but too give something extra for this segment...

The tricky thing about Buu is that he does a lot of fighting but not a lot of finishing - in this form, at least, he mostly wreaks havoc on innocent bystanders while the heroes can’t stop him. There are some scenes, like him killing Dabura by turning him into a cookie, that would work - but which would involve characters that aren’t currently in the game.

So I ultimately came up with two options (technically three, but I’ll save that third one for the next section).

The first is a less serious suggestion, since the steps required to make this scene smaller for a Dramatic Finish probably aren’t worth it, but its is a version of this anime-only scene where Gotenks attempts to fight Buu and - predictably - is defeated. This scene works in a general sense due to the good framing: Gotenks is knocked into a wall so hard he gets embedded into it, and then Buu destroys everything around them while he is helpless to stop it, and in transferring the action to the City stage you could make that simple idea work pretty well.

The thing is, what would really make this scene work as a Dramatic Finish is something that would be kind of extra for this game: the army shows up, and they kill massacred while Gotenks fails to get them to run. That would really put the drama in this Dramatic Finish - the hero fails to save the innocent bystanders and all, and without it the scene is just kind of bland, but there’s no way Arcsys is modelling all that just for a reach of a Dramatic Finish, so in the end there are better options for both characters.

So for the other, better option? Give him one of his scenes where he goes up against his later forms. Majin Buu ultimately turns good and fights against his later, eviller transformations, which makes for some good moments. The first of which would simply be a Dramatic Opening which adapts the scene where Kid Buu spits out Majin Buu who (later) gets up to attack him. It’s a two separate scenes, but they’re both quick, and easily condensed condensed into one: just have Kid Buu spit out Majin Buu, who immediately steps up to fight.

But for finally a Dramatic Finish suggestion, we have another one that requires some finagling: take the scene in which Majin Buu attempts (and fails) to turns Evil Buu into chocolate, and give it to Kid Buu instead.

This would be a win for Kid Buu (again, replacing Evil Buu with him in this case), and it would work pretty easily, given that a lot of Dramatic Finishes so far use a formula like this: Kid Buu knocks Majin Buu back, who gets mad and tries to strike back with the Chocolate Beam. Kid Buu blows it back and Majin Buu gets hit instead. A piece of chocolate hits the ground, Kid Buu picks it up and eats it - then end with a shot of Kid Buu laughing maniacally, or perhaps shift one of Evil Buu’s poses over to Kid Buu.

It wouldn’t be the first time something from one of the earlier forms was given to Kid Buu in this game, and it works out fairy well - though I will say again that the Final Explosion moment is still the best option for Majin Buu in my opinion.

Next on the list...

Gotenks

Gotenks is, if anything, even trickier than Buu. The entire concept of Gotenks is a warrior who is extremely powerful and versatile, but also a complete fool and a blowhard. He’s many times more powerful than either Goten or Trunks could ever be alone, but in terms of character and wisdom he’s less than the sum of his parts - and so, he can never win.

This presents an interesting problem for this list: Gotenks has no follow through. Not only does he never really finish off an opponent, he also has a tendency to screw up and get himself taken out in inglorious ways that wouldn’t make great Dramatic Finishes either. The option I gave in the preceding section, losing against Buu, is a good example: it just has too many problems even given that it’s an above average choice in comparison to a lot of his other moments.

But there are a couple options I can think of, still. The first is a good choice for a Dramatic Opening - in fact, the very first thing I thought of for this section: that anime only fight that I brought up with Majin Buu begins in an interesting way: Gotenks blindsides Buu with a cheap shot. Then we get a surprisingly cool entrance for a scene meant mostly to fill time, in which Gotenks - wreathed in shadow against a vibrant blue background - makes a dramatic speech about how he’s going to kill Buu for good.

Really, the visual effect of this is so good that even given that they would have to transpose it to a different stage (the City, again) I wouldn’t mind seeing it as a Dramatic Opening. It’s at least an option for this section, though... let’s face it, it’s not quite there yet. We can at least think of a Finish for here as well, can’t we? Well, the one I figured on is - unfortunately for Gotenks - a loss, and it’s more of a funny moment than a Dramatic moment, but I’d say either of the versions of Beerus’ defeat of him during the Battle of Gods arc (either in the movie, or in Super):

For reference, he’s the Battle of Gods version as well.

The perfection of this scene is that while it may not be a titanic moment that shook the heavens like most of the Dramatic Finishes, it gives us a chance to show off another side of Dragonball that’s always been a strong factor: the humor. The Super version, especially, gives Koichi Yamadera and Jason Douglas a chance to let loose their chops and give us a complete rant that’s as all over the place as it is fun to watch, and ultimately even if it’s not epic, it’s definitely entertaining. To imagine a Dramatic Finish that’s just Beerus stopping the action, taking over the camera and shouting about pudding in as over-dramatic a way as possible for half a minute sounds oddly good to me - kind of meta, and a heck of a non-sequitiur.

Yes, at Gotenks’ expense, but these two options really run the gamut of Gotenks’ scene: either he’s crowing dramatically about how awesome he is, or he’s getting humiliated in a fight. I love the kid, but he could use some character development (Super gave Goten and Trunks a little, but they were out of focus so much you’d never notice).

Either way, we move on to...

Vegeta (Super Saiyan Blue)

When it comes to characters for who felt a bit left out, it was somewhat surprising that neither Super Saiyan Blue Goku nor Vegeta got Dramatic Finishes when the game came out: this was Super was current, and it was assumed the game would try have a bit of synergy with its moments - but then again, it also makes sense. Animation lead time takes forever, and game lead time takes forever, and since it takes over a year to make either of those things waiting to make a moment in retrospect sometimes is just more worthwhile than rushing to do something in the moment.

You can see how doing adapting quickly might not end with the best result in Ranger 17′s FighterZ moveset, which has to fill blanks with Cell saga moves and a couple things adapted from other video games, unable to use a lot of the things that made Ranger 17 so fun to watch because the character was already in production when those happened.

But let’s not get distracted. Vegeta Blue is in an interesting spot, because no matter how powerful he is Vegeta’s role is still the same: do well against the less powerful opponent, then get wrecked by the main antagonists. This ultimately means that a lot of Vegeta’s best moments in Blue are against characters not in the game. A favorite moment, and the one I would absolutely want as a Dramatic Finish, involves a character I’ve personally wanted in the game since launch - but who is almost certainly never going to make the cut (Auta Magetta), a titanic Final Flash + Punch that ended up becoming his LVL 3 in the game itself. Other good options include his hilarious and cathartic defeat of Frost in the Universe 6 vs Universe 7 tournament, and his defeat of Toppo in the Tournament of Power, all of which involve character that are unlikely to be in the game even as DLC (though they’re at least more likely than Spopovich).

But if we only look at characters who are in the game, we’ve mostly got fleeting moments of victory that quickly turn around to defeat. But, if we’re looking that those there is one that stands out as particularly cinematic: the end of his fight with Freeza in Revival F (or Super).

In this clip, Vegeta defeats Freeza, who has a cheap shot attempts to blow up the entire planet. Think the Freeza vs Goku Finishes or the Gohan vs Cell Finishes, except in this case the hero fails. The cheap shot works, and Freeza destroys everything... until time gets rewound and Goku stops this from happening by taking out Freeza before he can.

The irony here is pretty funny. You either get a Dramatic Finish where Blue Vegeta loses, or one where he wins but Blue Goku still steals his thunder. EIther way, though, it’s still one of the most cinematic options. Especially if you add in a little of the Super version of Freeza blowing up the Earth, with bits and pieces of all the characters as they have only a moment to react to their sudden doom. You could even do something akin to how Arcsys did Dizzy’s instant kill in Guilty Gear Xrd, and have your different teammates all react differently depending on who is on your team, though that might be a step too far.

Either way, all you’d need is to win against Blue Vegeta while Blue Goku is on your team. Freeza throws a fit, Vegeta attempts to execute him but is stopped by Freeza blowing up the planet... then rewind. The scene replays, but this time Goku leaps forward and finishes Freeza off. End with a shot of Vegeta yelling at Goku or something for stealing his moment.

It’s a pretty great option, even if it’s not Vegeta’s most glamorous moment - but then, that’s pretty standard for Vegeta. Either way, we can move on. Next up...

Hit

When I was first putting this list together, last week or so, it was before Blue Goku was revealed to be the version of Goku with the Kefla Dramatic Finish. Everyone assumed it was UI Goku, so I had a Goku option lined up - but him now having one (and thus being out of this list) works out fairly well, because originally the choice I made for Blue Goku and the choice I made for Hit ended up as the same thing anyway.

Hit and Blue Goku’s fights feature some of the best scenes either character (which is to say, Hit and that version of Goku) have in Super, and it’s a no brainer that the finish for this section would come from that fight... but, since the first version of that fight ended inconclusively, I would actually suggest compositing scenes from their first fight with the conclusion of their second, anime-only rematch: which ends with a titanic moment - though yes, another Kamehameha - where Goku literally breaks through and shatters Hit’s time stalling technique.

Meanwhile, while the second fight provides the climactic conclusion, the first fight provides the build up and the best visuals: featuring epic scenes where the two rush each other in sprays of blue, red and purple that could really show what Super was capable of when the animation really got going.

So the key here is to make a new Dramatic Finish that combines elements of that first fight and the conclusion of the second: much like the Super Broly Finish, have the first part be moments from the first fight adapted together, to create the flow of a single stretch of combat. A win for Blue Goku, of course, this would start out as a blistering clash between the two.

Then, end it with the conclusion of the second fight, with Goku completely overcoming Hit’s time skip and blowing him away, through collapsing in exhaustion afterwards. Given the differing locations of their two fights, this could either take place in FighterZ’s original stage - Galactic Arena - which is loosely inspired by the Universal Tournament area, or the Archipelago.

Then much like the Jiren Finish, the last part of the scene would be them palling around - or as much as a guy like Hit can pal around - after the fight, promising to come at each other with even more power next time they meet, just like the ending of their rematch. It’s a strong Dramatic Finish that shows off the best of both.

It seems like Blue Goku has been the theme for the last two sections... but we might as well not break the trend now. We move on to the last section of the day, and the last character introduced in Super to not have a Dramatic Finish...

Goku Black

Yes, Zamasu’s insidious disguise himself. While Zamasu got several Dramatic Finishes to his name, Goku Black has since launch had to make due with the semi-special finish you get if you kill him with Beerus’ LVL 3.

As the primary Zamasu faced during his eponymous arc, Black does most of the legwork throughout that saga, but a downside to the way that saga is built is that there isn’t much in the way of “final” moments throughout it all: it’s basically a running fight in which the fighters take break for Round 2, Round 3, etc - most big moments on one side are instantly undone by big moments from the other side, with neither really gaining ground enough that you could build a Dramatic Finish out of it.

There is, however, one pretty decent moment that would make a great moment - featuring a cinematic comeback for Blue Goku followed by a brutal shutdown by Black. We’re talking here about Goku’s fury, the moment where he finds out what Black did to Chi-Chi and Goten in his timeline (note: not pleasant), followed by his enraged - but short lived - revenge.

The flashback is just too long to really work in a Dramatic Finish, unless you did it in snippets like Bardock’s flashback in his, which I would suggest, but given the whole fight scene afterwards might end up a step too far. Either way, it’s a win for Goku Black, in the City stage: he has Goku literally up against a wall, torturing him alongside Zamasu... only for Goku to break free and completely lose it. Following would be another fight scene within a Dramatic Finish, in which Goku goes to town on Black and Zamasu, seemingly winning... until Black turns it around by powering up himself, finishing Goku off with the God Slicer (or Divine Lasso, depending on your preference).

Final shot is easy: a shot of Goku’s broken body on the ground, as in the source, added with a shot of Black standing smugly over him smugly. It’s one of Black’s more epic moments - at least that isn’t inflicted on innocent bystanders - and works very well as one of those few moments where the villain gets one over on the hero.

And that’s it for today! We’re coming up on the end: to be concluded, tomorrow!

As always, if you don’t want to wait just check out the whole thing on Soundcloud, and in the meantime let me know what you think of the choices for each character and whether you have any other ideas! But either way if you’re a FighterZ player I hope you’re enjoying the DLC, and if you’re a Dragonball fan I hope you’re keeping up that endless search for more power. Stay sparking!

[longclawislightbringer]

Arya Stark and the Green-Eyed Monster Chapter Five: Arya Stark Knows Nothing

Rating: T

Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Elinor Tyrell/Gendry Waters, Arya Stark/Trystane Martell, background Jon Snow/Sansa Stark

Characters: Arya Stark, Gendry Waters, Daenerys Targaryen, Robb Stark, Sansa Stark, Jon Snow, Elinor Tyrell, Hot Pie, Trystane Martell

Summary: Arya ends up sitting next to Gendry at the highly anticipated Hufflepuff v. Ravenclaw match and certain things come to light.

Lol, finally uploading the final chapter here. Really should keep to a better schedule. Anyway, have the original author’s note: 

This is it! The final chapter. I'm glad I got it finished before the final episode. Thanks to my wonderful beta reader sansapotter for that.

Thank you so much to every person who has read, left kudos, commented, and bookmarked this story. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter Four. Chapter Five. 

Also on AO3. 

Chapter Five: Arya Stark Knows Nothing

Candles flickered, casting dark shadows over the crowded patrons of the Three Broomsticks. Smoke hung thick in the air. Trystane stopped at the end of the bar to order them a couple of butterbeers. He nervously signaled to the bartender as Arya tapped her foot against the floor. The bartender placed two tankards of butterbeer, each overflowing with golden foam, on the bar. Trystane tossed down a few coins before taking the mugs. Weaving through the tables of students drinking their own butterbeer, he lead her to a small table in the back corner. Arya flopped into her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well?” she said. “This better be good.”

“Right,” Trystane stammered, passing her a tankard. “I should start by saying that I do think you’re cool and that I did want this date to go well.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.” She took a big gulp of her butterbeer. The butterscotch bubbles bounced around her mouth before careening down her throat. “Why did you ignore me for half of the date and then tell me that I looked like 'a girl for once,'?”

Trystane gulped. “Okay, that does sound quite bad thinking about it now . . . I don’t know why I said that; you look pretty all the time. Can I make a confession?”

Arya raised a brow and gestured for him to continue.

“I wanted this date to work because I’m trying to get over Myrcella.”

Arya nearly choked on her butterbeer, the golden liquid dribbling out of her mouth. “I’m sorry, what?" She mopped the spilled butterbeer off the table. “Myrcella is your best friend, even I know that.”

Trystane glanced around the pub before lowering his voice. “I’ve been in love with her for years, but she’s too caught up in her crush on your older brother—" Arya spat out her butterbeer again, ”—To ever think of me as a possible romantic partner. I guess I thought I could get over my unrequited crush by trying to find someone else. I do admire you; you’re probably the coolest girl in the whole school.” Trystane hung his head. “I’m just too in love with Myrcella for this to have ever worked.” Arya stared at Trystane, the words to respond dying on the tip of her tongue. He fiddled with a napkin while he waited for Arya’s reply.

"I understand perfectly," Arya responded after she finished processing his confession. The part about Robb was particularly hard to wrap her head around. “I also have a confession to make. I said yes to this date because I’m trying to get over someone too.”

Trystane jerked up. “Gendry?”

“How did you know?” Arya gasped, flushing a deep crimson.

“Please; the whole school has shipped you two together since he stood up for you down by the lake in our first year. You know, I wouldn’t have asked you out if he was still single.”

“The whole school knows?” Arya panicked, the pitch of her voice rising with each word. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. Had Gendry known this whole time?

“Relax,” Trystane assured her. “I don’t think he’s caught on yet.”

Arya breathed a sigh of relief. She gulped down the rest of her butterbeer.

“Where does that leave us?” she asked.

“I don’t think a relationship would work out.”

“Seconded. But I do think you’re cool. Friends?” Arya stuck out her hand.

Trystane grinned and took her hand. “Friends.”

***

A week later, Arya glared at her ever-problematic Arithmancy homework. The equations seemed to swim together in impossible combinations, the numbers and letters blurring. She pounded her head against the desk. If only Elinor were here. The great clock chimed three times, piercing the silence of the library and startling her from her reverie. Arya bolted upright, one of her papers sticking to her face.

"Shoot!" she yelled, jumping from her chair as she shoved her papers haphazardly into her knapsack. Trystane, across the table, looked up from his History of Magic paper. "I'm late; Jon would kill me if I missed his last game."

Trystane nodded, cleaning off his quill. “I guess I should get going too. See you Tuesday, then?"

"Yep," Arya smiled. "Bye!" She darted out the library doors in a flurry, her furious footsteps pounding on the pavement floor as she dashed through the corridors. Outside, she sprinted down the hill, skidding to a stop at the spectator entrance. She paused for a moment, leaning against the door to catch her breath before she entered the stadium. Students milled about in the hallway, waiting for a chance to enter. Arya pumped her fist in victory; she made it just in time after all. She tapped her foot against the ground, waiting for the line to move. At last, she entered the stadium.

Perusing the stands for her sister, Arya wove through the large crowd assembled for the highly-anticipated Hufflepuff v. Ravenclaw match. She spotted Sansa in her usual seat, though she had swapped out her red and gold Gryffindor scarf for one of Jon’s. Arya waved to her as she climbed the steps to the top of the stands.

“Hey,” Arya greeted her sister when she reached Sansa’s mostly empty row. Sansa took removed her handmade sign with Jon’s name in perfect glittery letters from the seat so Arya could sit.

“I brought snacks.” Arya held out an assortment of sweets.

"Excellent," Sansa replied, taking a proffered chocolate frog.

Arya plopped onto the wooden bench beside her sister. “Are you nervous?”

“Nope,” Sansa answered, popping the frog into her mouth before it could escape. “Jon’s the best chaser at this school, and he’s been preparing for this match for weeks.” The pitch crackled to life as both teams entered the field. “Look! There he is,” Sansa sighed, her cheeks flushed.

Arya gagged.

"You know, sometimes, I wish you guys weren't so insufferable together, but then I remember how you were when you were both still pining, and this is infinitely better."

���Haha, very funny.”

Margaery's voice rang out through the stadium. "Welcome to today's match between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw." Arya cheered, clapping her hands. Margaery began to announce the player's names, but the noise of the crowd faded when she noticed Gendry climbing the stairs two at a time in a beeline for their row.

“What is he doing here?” Arya hissed, her heart pounding as he stepped closer. She curled in on herself, attempting to hide behind her much taller sister.

“I invited him to sit with us,” Sansa responded. “I thought you would want to sit with your best friend.”

Arya cursed under her breath. She still hadn't figured out what to do about her Gendry problem, which was precisely why she been avoiding him for the last week aside from Quidditch practice.

“Hello, Gendry.” Sansa smiled.

“Hey there,” Gendry grinned as he turned onto their row.

“Hi,” Arya squeaked, her voice suddenly an octave higher. Gendry plopped onto the seat beside her. Arya tensed, holding herself very still to avoid looking into his ocean blue eyes. She tried to concentrate on the game, but every now and then Gendry’s leg brushed against her, sending jolts of electricity through her body.

The whistle blew, and the players took off. Jon got the first possession of the quaffle. Leaning forward in her seat, Arya followed him down the field toward the Ravenclaw goalposts. He had nodded to his two other chasers, Gilly and Shireen, and they flew in formation to protect him from flying bludgers. Jon may have been the kindest and most loyal Hufflepuff in her acquaintance, but he was ruthless on the Quidditch pitch. He lobbed the quaffle straight down the center goal post. Arya, Sansa, and Gendry cheered; Sansa waved her sign like a maniac.

“That’s ten points for Hufflepuff!” Margaery’s disembodied voice rang out.

“He’s good,” Gendry remarked. “Wonder if he’ll share his strategies with us now that he’s graduating.”

“Yeah,” Arya replied, trying to keep her voice steady and not so high-pitched. “Then maybe we wouldn’t keep getting absolutely destroyed like the last time we played Hufflepuff. They don’t call him the Lord Commander for nothing.”

Gendry laughed.

One of the Hufflepuff beaters knocked a bludger into the Ravenclaw chaser, sending the quaffle spiraling into the air. Gilly soared in to catch it just before it hit the ground.

“Quiet, you two,” Sansa shushed them, leaning forward in her seat. “I’m trying to watch the game.”

“I didn’t even think you liked Quidditch that much.”

"I don't," Sansa answered. "But you, Robb and Jon like it, so I'm supporting you all. I even helped Jon come up with some new strategies for this game." She game Arya a smug smile.

Arya rolled her eyes but kept her commentary related to the game at hand.

Sometime after the snitch entered the pitch, Arya spotted Robb and Dany sitting together several rows down. Dany stuffed a handful of popcorn in her mouth. When they noticed that they had been discovered, they whipped back towards the game, whispering conspiratorially in each other's ears. What weirdos. Arya shook her head and thought nothing of it for the rest of the game.

The game passed in a couple of hours, much faster than Gryffindor's game against Slytherin last fall. Jon and the rest of the Hufflepuff crushed the Ravenclaw keeper in points so in the end the Ravenclaw seeker dove for the snitch to end their humiliation.

"Hufflepuff wins!" Margaery announced through the speaker.

Arya, Gendry, and Sansa leaped to their feet, yelling and clapping. Sansa pulled her sister into a crushing hug. Arya hugged her back before releasing her. The Hufflepuff team dove to the ground, tumbling off their brooms to dogpile on Jon in the center of the pitch. When they pulled back, dinkon Tarly and Dolorous Edd pulled Jon onto their shoulders. As his teammates carried him off the field, he searched the crowd. When he located Sansa and Arya, he waved. Sansa blew him a kiss.

“I’ll see you guys later.” Sansa scooted past them, bounding down the stairs through the crowd of students exiting the stadium to meet Jon outside the player’s tents. She only paused to give Robb a high-five.

The euphoria of the Hufflepuff victory faded, leaving only awkwardness behind. Gendry was looking at her again, the way he had while they were under the mistletoe at the Yule Ball.

“Guess we should head back in,” Arya broke the silence before she got lost in his blue eyes.

"Yeah," Gendry agreed. They joined the line that funneled out the door, walking together in uncomfortable silence until they made it back into the castle. Arya stopped in an empty corridor.

“I should go,” Arya said. “See you around.”

“When?” Gendry asked.

“I don’t know,” Arya answered, turning to leave. “Sometime.”

“Nope,” Gendry shook his head. “That’s not good enough.” He grasped her wrist, dragging her into a nearby closet. The door shut with a bang behind them, cloaking them in darkness.

“Lumos,” Gendry said, lighting the lantern hanging from the ceiling. Arya’s breath came fast and shallow as she noticed how close they were.

“You’ve been avoiding me again.” Gendry crossed his arms, stretching the muscles underneath his shirt.

Arya flushed.

“No, I haven’t,” She stammered, turning to leave the closet. Gendry put an arm up to stop her. Arya huffed, avoiding his searching gaze.

"Don't lie to me," Gendry implored. “Does it have something to do with Elinor? Because Elinor and I—”

"Elinor's fine." Arya snapped, crossing her arms.

"What is it, then?" He dropped his arm. ”Arya, please. I can’t lose you. You’re my best friend.” His voice broke on the last sentence.

“You want to know what’s wrong?” She whirled to face him, full of fury as her heart sped up like it was on fire. “What’s bothering me is that I’m so jealous that I can’t think straight.”

“What? I don’t understand—”

“Gendry, you dolt. I don’t want you to kiss her stupid face, I want you to kiss me!” Arya gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. Her pulse quickened; had she just said that out loud?

Gendry stood dumbstruck.

“I’m so sorry,” Arya apologized, paling. “Forget that ever happened.”

The gears turned in Gendry’s head.

“Do you like me?” He asked after a moment’s contemplation.

“I thought that was kind of obvious from my desire to make out with you.”

A wide smile spread over Gendry’s face. “Elinor and I—”

“I don’t want to hear about how happy you are with your girlfriend.” Tears welled in Arya’s eyes as she turned away.

“You don’t understand.” Gendry grabbed her shoulders. “Elinor and I were never actually together—she was using me to make her ex-boyfriend jealous. And we' fake broke-up' a week ago."

“What?” It was Arya’s turn to be dumbfounded.

Gendry pulled her close, cupping her cheek with one hand. “Arya, I’ve been in love with you for years.”

"Really?" Arya murmured as he closed his eyes and leaned down.

“Since the moment I met you,” he breathed.

She punched him in the arm.

“That’s for lying to me,” she said.

“Arya, I . . .”

Arya surged forward, devouring him in a bruising kiss. She molded herself against him, reaching her arms around his neck to pull him closer. His hand gripped her hip, setting her aflame.

They separated when the need for air became too high.

“Wow,” Gendry panted.

"You can say that again," Arya smirked, shoving him against the wall of the broom closet to dive back in.

A broom clattered to the floor.

Arya winced.

“Do you want to go somewhere without brooms?” Gendry asked.

“Yes.” Arya laced her fingers through Gendry’s and pushed the door open. After checking that the coast was clear, she pulled him out into the corridor. They walked hand in hand through the hallway. “I’m curious; how did Elinor rope you into her being her fake boyfriend in the first place?”

Gendry rubbed the back of his neck as he walked. “Robb and Dany apparently suggested me to her as a viable candidate when she was looking for a date to the Yule Ball.”

Arya halted. “Robb and Dany?”

“Yeah. I don’t know why, though.”

“I do,” Arya groaned gritted her teeth as she thought on every interaction she’d had with those two meddlers. The strange comments at the victory party; the yellow dress that Dany picked out and the mysterious mistletoe at the Yule Ball; Dany's surefire plan for getting over Gendry; she even thought she recognized them sitting at a table in the back corner while she was on her date with Trystane. She smacked her forehead. “We’re so oblivious. They've been trying to set us up for months." She stormed down the hallway, their earlier plans wholly forgotten.

“Where are you going?” Gendry struggled to keep up with her fast pace.

“Come on; we’ve got to concoct a revenge plot.”

“Revenge? What for?”

“I’m tired of their meddling.” She paused just before they entered the main hallway, her fists clenched.

"How are we going to do it?" Gendry asked.

A sly grin spread across Arya’s face.

“Gendry, I know what we’re going to do today.”

[scharfkugel]

If you are still doing it Hakumen and Gordeau maybe?

Hakumen! The white void, the cold steel, the just swo- yeah okay etc. etc.

First impression: “This dude easily looks like the coolest and most badass character out of everyone here. He’s edgy as hell and his design is awesome!”

Impression now: I’M SO SORRY FOR WHAT YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH HAKUMEN. He’s a tragic but still badass character, and I love him!

Favorite moment: HAKUMEN’S SPEECH TO TSUBAKI IN CONTINUUM SHIFT. God this is just straight up one of my favourite moments in all of Blazblue. Hakumen watched Tsubaki die in front of his own eyes in his timeline, and now he meets her again except she has no idea who he really is. The sheer concept gives me shivers and makes me emotional; could you imagine being in Hakumen’s place? When he asks to touch her face and they kneel down as Hakumen tells her about how he loves her except removing all mention of her with “someone dear to me” and they have like the single most tragic and tender moment in all of Blazblue history…. IT MAKES ME SO SAD AND FULL OF LOVE AT THE SAME TIME!!!

Idea for a story: I’m gonna parrot what I said in the ask @juice-imagines​ send me about Tsubaki, but Hakumen telling Tsubaki the whole truth about everything! He tells her about what happens in the Wheel of Fortune timeline, about how he came to be from Jin’s past self, about his quest for redemption, and about the ‘real’ Jin Kisaragi in Tsubaki’s current life, and how she must save him before it becomes too late for Jin. Him being like “It’s too late for me, but you can still change things in your world and be the force of good.” This is all I’ve ever wanted!

Unpopular opinion: While the whole arc with Terumi becoming Susanoo at the end of CF is cool, it’s super disappointing to see Hakumen’s usefulness at the ultimate climax of the story essentially drop to 0. This is a man who’s been the catalyst for saving the whole world multiple times and is one of the strongest and most influential beings in all of Blazblue, and he’s pretty much a liability at the end of CF because his vessel gets taken over Terumi, creating Susanoo.

Favorite relationship: Hakumen and Tsubaki! My favourite dynamic in Blazblue, my favourite story in Blazblue, and such a perfect mix of tragic and inspiring. I’m allowed to complain about CF again here because there was virtually nothing involving these two in it. A shame, but at least we have the very good CS content!

Favorite headcanon: The first time Hakumen met Jin Kisaragi it was extremely unnerving for him. He’s good at hiding his emotions, but the surreal and haunting feeling of talking to himself was bearing on him. Before that encounter, Hakumen had considered very carefully about what he would do if he ever met himself and what he would say.

Gordeau the Grim Reaper!!

First impression: “Who is this thot with a giant scythe and what game is he from?” (Him and Waldstein were the very first things I had ever seen from UNIB)

Impression now: God I love you so much Gordeau you sexy disaster. He’s definitely one of my favourite characters in UNIB!

Favorite moment: His chronicles mode scene at the final fight between Hilda and Ogre. This is probably everyone’s most memorable scene with him, but it’s the extremely suspenseful and dramatic part were Roger gets consumed by the void and Gordeau is caught between a rock and a hard place. This whole scene is the most intense part in the whole chronicles mode for me, and viewing it from Gordeau’s perspective and seeing how he tries to deal with the disaster unfolding before him and Wagner’s entrance is absolutely crazy.

Idea for a story: Gordeau and Chaos Gordeau and Chaos Gordeau and Chaos Gordea- saldkfjdsgdsfsdf just goes feral. But for real, we need some more Gordeau and Chaos content. Both pre-Roger and post-Roger incident is good, but I’d love to see a story about Chaos going over to Gordeau’s place after he leaves Amnesia to check up on him and make sure he’s okay. Give me all of that emotion and comfort!

Unpopular opinion: Him and Hilda wouldn’t ever be romantically involved with each other. The two have a very different dynamic of Gordeau basically having to deal with the antics of this slightly haughty and fully dumbass in-birth. Hilda is much too annoying and disconnected for Gordeau to ever consider her that way, but he does still consider her a friend and finds her endearing at times.

Favorite relationship: Gordeau and Chaos. I love these two so much and their story together from both Chaos and Gordeau’s chronicles are great. These two people have very different personality types but they still compliment each other so well and they make an awesome pair. It feels like out of the people in Amnesia, they trust and understand each other the best out of anyone.

Favorite headcanon: Gordeau hasn’t fully forgiven himself for what happened to Roger, and probably never will. Something as serious as this has never affected him before and he takes fighting and his work in Amnesia much more seriously now. He trusts in Chaos, and slightly trusts in Hilda, and rejoins the organisation only for their sake.

[lifestylelaguna]

It’s Super Month at SM!

veryone’s invited as SM Supermalls throws an exceptional supersized party this October with Super Month– a month-long spectacle filled with surprises for kids and kids-at-heart.

“This year’s Super Month strives to bring out the SUPER in everyone. As we celebrate our beloved Tatang’s, Mr. Henry Sy Sr., birth month, we will dedicate the Super Month not just to the kids but to the whole family as we create memorable play dates and offer supersized deals that each of them will enjoy,” said SM Supermalls President Steven Tan. 

The whole month of October is all about exciting shopping and dining deals, fabulous treats, and superb experiences from your favorite brands in your favorite SM mall. 

Super Spots: Check out the coolest places for the ‘gram

SM will be decorating its entrances, activity areas, and events halls with eye-popping, bright, and colorful installations fit for a Super Month. Don’t forget to take snaps for your Facebook, film a couple of IG reels, or create a TikTok video with the coolest backdrops at your nearest SM mall. Plus, there will be special AR filters specially made for the Super Month so don’t miss it forda content!

Super Play: Embrace the child in you!

Play time will always be fun at SM. And because it’s Super Month, play, explore, and learn all you want with these activities for you and your kids.

Whether they are aspiring to be the next social media superstar or celebrity, kids will gain the spotlight at the SM SuperKids Centerstage. To join, moms and dads must record a video of their kids aged 12 and below in the mall. The video should be uploaded to Tiktok with the hashtags #SuperKidsAtSM and #SM<their preferred SM mall>. The three most liked videos per mall will win P3,000-worth of SM shopping money.

Kids can also take a break from their gadgets with the on-ground Kids Playdate Project. Lots of off-screen interactive and experiential activities are in store for a fun and memorable play date at SM. And on October 31, get ready for a spook-tacular display of creativity and confidence at the                                 Super Kids Halloween Contest. Kids aged 12 and below can join the parade dressed as their favorite superhero, fantasy, or scary character. To join, just register online with P1,000 worth of receipts from any of SM Supermalls’ tenants. The three most creative and spooky kids in costume will receive P5,000, P3,000, and P2,000. 

Of course, as pets are part of the family, they also get a fair share of the limelight with the Super Furbabies Halloween PAWrade. By registering online with P1,000 worth of SM tenant receipts, furbabies can join the parade dressed in super festive costumes at any SM mall. The top three furbabies will win P5,000, P3,000, and P2,000 worth of shopping money from SM.

Super Deals: Shop, dine, and get entertained ‘til you drop

And what’s an SM celebration without Super Deals? From October 1 to 31, tons of super-sized surprises, deals, and promos await lucky SM shoppers! 

Have a fun time shopping, dining, entertaining, and indulging in wellness treatments with the month-long SM BOGO Deals from 10 to 15 participating stores weekly. Also, your favorite hangout places at SM will be offering these deals below:

SM Bowling Center

20% off on a Bowling Game

P799 One-hour Unlimited Bowling Game

Free shoe rental for every 1,000-single receipt purchase from any SM affiliate and tenant

SM Skating

20% off on Skating Admission for the 2-Hour Passes for every 1,000-single receipt purchase from any SM affiliate and tenant

SM Foodcourt

Get a free Coke in can for every rice meal purchased with a Coca-Cola drink

Mark your calendars for the Super 10.10 Sale! Shop ‘til you drop on this one-day sale extravaganza on October 10 in all SM Store branches nationwide. And, if you are an SMAC cardholder, you are entitled to an exclusive discount from select brands as well as a Super SMAC Giveaway on October 17 to 27. Just use your advantage card when you shop and win 1M SMAC points for every P2,000 worth of purchase. 

Another highlight of this year’s festivities is the Founder’s Week also known as Tatang’s Week from October 11 to 16. Enjoy supersized and #AweSM deals across all SM malls as we celebrate the birthday of Mr. Henry Sy Sr.

And get your carts ready for the Super Charge 3-Day Sale from October 28 to 31! Shop as early as October for holiday gifts and grab amazing discounts and promos from your favorite brands at SM. All these and more at SM Supermalls Super Month! So, what are you waiting for? Enjoy super deals, super eats, and super treats this October at the SM mall near you!

For more information about Super Month, check out www.smsupermalls.com or visit @smsupermalls on all social media platforms.

[dcmissionaries]

DokiDokiCon V2: Time to Save the World!

"Welcome to Daten City's AMAZING Annual Anime Con: DokiDoki Con!" The reporter greeted on the screen, many people milling around behind her, "This is such an amazing time of year, isn't it? Hopefully you people back home can find the time to attend our funnest and most loved convention!" Yes, many cosplayers, weeaboos, and casual fans alike were excitedly reporting to the convention center to attend their beloved con. A quick look around could easily spot some sinister grins and dashing heroic smiles! However... Strappon sat at the Abbey, shutting the television off and sighing. The last DokiDoki Con was a mess. Why did they keep these things going...? "Hey, any news on ghosts or anything?" Overshirt asked, wandering into the Rec Room. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I wonder what they're up to... They must have something planned if the city has been safe for so long..." Strappon grumbled, scratching the back of his head. There was a rumble above the Abbey, causing the two to look up. Strappon was struck by a thunderbolt. Overshirt caught the paper and looked it over while Strappon coughed the soot out of his lungs and shook himself of. "Hero." The boy read, giving Strap a perplexed look, "Well, then. Spoke too soon?" "I have a feeling I know exactly where this is going..." The Pink-haired Templar said, his gaze moving to the television.

DOKIDOKICON: HERO EDITION! What is this place filled with so many wonders~? Anime cons are the best place for Angels-- And Ghosts. --------

The convention was just as lively as you would consider one to be- Large amounts of people both big and small of all varieties and scents conglomerated into one large convention center. Some cosplaying, some just wearing what they would consider their best or coolest outfits. Yes, it was an atmosphere filled with excitement!

BRIT:  Strappon looked around the crowd, almost in disappointment. How the  hell would they be able to find a disguised ghost here? There were so  many... People in costumes.

 "Don't worry, Strap!" Overshirt chuckled with a pat to his cousin's  back, "We brought the Angels! We should have a relative amount of  success."  "Relative." Strappon repeated.

KUMA:  Pasties was at the main floor of the convention. She had gotten caught  up with a group of cosplayers and was currently posing for a photo.  When that one was done, another set of fans with phones and cameras  came up. She gave a smile as more pictures were taken. Of course she  didn't mind the attention.

OSCARK9:  Gloves walks in the DokiDoki Con for his first time ever in Daten  City. He was dress up as Ragna from BlazBlue, his favorite character  to be in. For his first time in the Con was excited for him. Seeing  all his favorite characters in the convention was inspire to see. Not  only that you can see your favorite characters in cosplay, but to  bring a cool weapon in a covention. Which he brings in 'Ragna Sword'  in the convention, (don't worry, its only plastic).

 "Wow! First time ever in a Convention. I can't wait to see what they  have here." He said in his happy tone and off he went in the crowd of  cosplays.

KRO:  Another excuse to show off how obsessed he is with a particular MOBA,  Shades was more than excited to participate in the con again. The last  time was interesting to say the least. He scanned the perimeter to  spot a familiar face but all he got was Strappon's familiar hair  color. Sneaking up behind the templar, he leaned in and whispered, "  ___Death comes... ___ "

COFFINCAT:  Mary was looking around in the crowd for a familiar face, having not  found anyone he hides under a vacant booth. He hugs  his teddy bear.  The little one was cosplaying Honey senpai from Ouran highschool host  club. He takes out his little sketch book and he draws Gloves.

BRIT:  Strappon screamed and spun around, punching Shades in the face as hard  as he could.  "YOU BLOODY WANKER. I WILL END YOU if you come THAT CLOSe to me--" He  hissed before realizing what he had done, "--Oh, I am so sorry."

EMI-DESU:  Tee hung close to his brother (much to his dismay) and looked  uninterestedly at Shady.

 "Wow, another Kylo Ren. I can't believe it."

 Tee insisted on having him and Ovy cosplay together, and something  simple. He adjusted Ovy's hat and black shirt (with a signature red R  on it) and pulled out a couple Pokeballs.  "Atop goofing around! We got a Ghost to catch right? Can't be that  hard to find..."

EMI-DESU:  *Stop

GAMER-GODDESS:  "So this is a 'Con', it is rather wonderful to see so many people so  eager to participate." Fib'yuh'luh giggled as they skipped up to the  entrance. They were clad in a Sailor Moon costume that Thigh High had  spent at least a week or so putting together for them.

 "Yeah yeah, just try not to mess up your outfit will ya? It'd be a  shame if something happened to it. I spent a lot of time putting this  together, I totally forgot to get something for myself!" Thigh High  stated as she kept smoothing over the Throne's outfit to make sure it  looked just right.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Fascinator walked into Doki Doki con dress as Rin Kagamine, second  design. He was wearing a skirt that were also shorts with a blonde wig  and sailor top. His white bows twitched happily as he skipped in. He  looked so androgynous that many people whispered if he was a man or a  young Japanese girl. Knittens walked next to him as Midoriya Izuku,  proud of his look.  Fascinator looked around and pouted, he was about to scream for  Jeokori, but said alien waved over to him, relaxing.  Headphones, dressed as the fairy Kyu from Hunie Pop and reading his  newly bought hentai. Life is sweet.

KRO:  "No, you're not!" Shades was lucky enough to remove his mask before  getting what he probablu deserved. He felt his eye shut from the  swelling. Touching it stung, guess an ice pack is required.  

  "What a bossy Rocket Grunt," Shades commented, "Anyways, I agree. We  should keep an eye out for... cosplays stars..." he said, squinting  one sole eye.

OSCARK9:  While walking around in the convention, he was looking around to  different booths to see what they have here in the convention. While  doing that, he spotted a little boy that was under the vacant booth  with a sketch book in his hand. He wonders to himself if he's having  any fun in the convention. So he walks over too him and ask him a  question.

 "Hey there, little fella. Are you having fun in a convention?" He  asked him while giving him a smile.

BRIT:  "Tee, we can't catch it with balls." Overshirt sighed, "Patience is  going to be the best option at the moment. Maybe we can lure it out!  But we have no idea what it does..."

 "Doesn't matter, still gonna find it!" Jacket laughed, adjusting his  Rocket Grunt attire. He grinned at Trenchcoat. "And we're gonna beat  its face in."

 "Shades, oh god. I am so sorry." Strappon whispered, holding his hand  out to help him up.

SAIYAN:  "We're gonna have great success now that I'm here" Tuxedo Jacket said  to Strap. Dressed up as Gohan from the Cell Games, cape and all. The  new kid on the block really made a reputation for himself for the  short time in the Abbey.

 Undershirt dressed as Vegito looked at him with a raised eyebrow.  "Please we're all gonna work together and find this thing" Undershirt  said.

 Wristband got dressed up as Android 18 because why not. "Yeah besides,  last time this happened it took a whole team effort to take down  Yurei-chan." She wasn't there to witness it herself, but she heard  Undershirt tell the story. She still giggled about Baby Cop to this  day.

 Meanwhile, Bowtie was dressed as Satsuki in her kamui, trying to see  if there was any of her comrades around.

KUMA:  Eventually Pasties pulled herself away from the fellow Love Live  cosplayers, giving them a friendly wave. If a ghost /was/ going to  show up, she wanted to enjoy the con a bit before that. Since  everything would probably slow down or stop completely after that. She  looked back towards the Angels and others that she had arrived with.  She could always go exploring the con by herself, but that might be  less fun. To her, it'd be a bonus for the other person since they  would get to hang out with her.

KRO:  "Damn, you were aiming to make me blind again... I deserve this..."  Shades held up his hands a litte defensively, trying to make sure  Strappon at least touched the injury carefully.

COFFINCAT:  A limo pulls up to the main entrance and Sneaker heels steps out of  it. She adjusts her red glasses  and she pats her dress. Camera men  flocked to her and she sighs , walking right past just about everyone  of them. She'd decided to go as Rize Kamishiro from Tokyo Ghoul. She  stretched and walked over to her booth, sitting down as her assistance  set everything up.     Fox Stole dawned her best Tomb Raider cosplay and sauntered around,  taking pictures with people who'd walked up to her.   Mary moved out from under the unoccupied booth and ran to a stand. He  took out  his piggy bank and he bought an ice pack. He walks over to  shades and he hides behind Strappon, holding out the ice pack to  Shades, "H-here you go Mr."

EMI-DESU:  Tee frowned deeply and shook his balls at Ovy. This was his first time  out with his brother in a long while and he doesn't even take it  seriously.  "Let's go, gang! Last one to find a Ghost gets a bullet in the knee!!"

 Trench crossed his arms and got tugged along begrudgingly by his  parner, wondering how Jacket got him out of bed today at all. Oh,  that's right. He BROKE it. He BROKE his bed.  "Let's just get this over with already..." He grumbled.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens ran from Fascinator as he does in every crowded place and  runs past Strappon and Shady before screeching to a stop and looking  at Shades with awe. He exclaims with excitement  "You look cool! What're you?"  Fascinator was about to stop Knittens but after seeing where he went  he didn't bother afterwards. Turning back to his alien friend, he  asks,  "So how're you liking your first con, Cho-cho?"  Jeokori took a minute to write down his answer and replied,  "Didn't you say that celebration of costumes was a week from now?"

BRIT:  Surrounded by so many people, Duster really just wanted to find Hot  Pants and find this dumb ghost. People kept stopping him and asking  him for pictures, calling him "Sephiroth" or something like that. He  let them take pictures and moved on, hoping it would appease the  strange people.

 "You're too self-punishing." Strap sighed, and looked around for those  medic people they always have at large gatherings. "At least Angels  can enjoy themselves now... I wonder if Ampallang made it here  alright."

 "Yep! I'd rather not get a bullet to the knee..." Jacket said, visibly  wilting for only a half-second before springing up again and grabbing  Trench's arm. "LET'S EXPLORE!"

KRO:  "I'm sure he made it here fine..." He blinked, looking behind Strap  and smiled at the young child offering him the ice back.

  "Hey, thanks." He said, gently placing it on his eye. Suddenly  Knittens entered the frame as Tee's gang  seemed to be off on their  own shenanigans. Shades beamed with light, not literally, at his  question, "Oh well, I'm a character called Reaper. I'm wearing an  alternate outfit for him."

COFFINCAT:  Mary nods with a little smile and he hugs his teddy bear close to him.  He sees Kittens and he waves . He gently boops him to say hello .

KRO:  A force yanked Duster from wherever the man was standing to the  ground. The source? A grumpy Hot Pants who looked more than tired. In  front of him, there was Chocobo in a baby carrier taking in the sights  of the con.  "Jesus, where were __you__ ? I like, turn around for one second and  the next you were just gone. I have tiny legs, I can't keep up!"

BRIT:  Strappon gave Tuxedo Jacket a look of disinterest and then put his  attention back to the other Angels.  "If you all want, we can separate and make sure we cover more ground?"  He looked particularly at Pasties, who was... New and seemed to want  to explore.

 "I... Well, I got swallowed up by the crowd. So many people wanted my  picture." Duster said, pushing Hot Pants off him and dusting himself  off. "I heard there's supposed to be a ghost in this area... And I'd  like to go back to Heaven sometime."

EMI-DESU:  "Dear Ampallang won't be making it, I'm afraid..." A voice replied  from behind Strappon. Out stepped a tall pale man, flicking his pink  and purple hair. "I've been looking for you, tiny human man."

OSCARK9:  "I guess that was a yes." Seeing him run off to do something leaves  him a unanswered thought from him. ("Oh well, at least he's having  fun.") He said to himself and continues walking in the convention.

KUMA:  Pasties caught Strappon's look towards her.

 "I'm okay with anyone else joining me. Just as long as they can keep  up. There's a lot of things I want to see."

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens was about to answer until he got booped. Well, someone  started the boop war. Knittens bops him back in self defense, but it  was gentle to infer friendliness. Unlike Fasci, where Knittens tries  to break his nose.  Jekoroi followed up with another note,  "Also... Are you a young girl or?"  Fascinator chuckles, avoiding the question as he takes out a small box  from god knows where, revealing the small figurine set. Jeokori's eyes  lit up and his soul threads were almost wagging in happiness. After  watching Sailor Moon together, Jeokori almost couldn't believe Fasci  when he said he could get a mini version of his favorite character but  there she was. If Jeokori could make a sound, he would be squealing.  Headphones was chillind on the fountain as he flipped the pages of his  hentai, every now and then remarking,  "Nice."

KRO:  Suddenly a sparkly and well decorated cardboard box slid into the  scene. This was getting to be too much for Shades, but he just let it  happen. Daten's weird enough. The box then sprouted two legs and stood  up all proud and tall as two arms, one holding a microphone, popped  out.  "Hello, lovely monsters of the Underground! I'm just here to introduce  a lovely little friend that's been looking for the priest. Be  niiiice."

 Shades squinted even harder at the person in the cardboard box, you  can hear it. It was indeed Go-Go Boots as Mettaton. How befitting.

COFFINCAT:  Mary makes a smol gasp and he giggles , returning  a soft boop. He  smiled and his cheeks dusted pink, "H-hi , I'm M-Mary. "  He said as  he offered the other his teddy bear for a hug. He sees Go-Go and he  almost squeels in delight.

BRIT:  "Lots of things to see?" Jacket mused, "Sounds like we'll work well  together-- Uh... What's your name?"  The Rocket Grunt tilted his head at Pasties.

 Strappon blinked, turning to see a stranger and a... Box.  "How do you know where Ampallang is?" He asked, crossing his arms. It  was obvious the box was someone he knew.

KRO:  Seeing Bowtie waiting around, what appears to be an old lady that came  straight out of Mad Max: Fury Road came up to her. They grabbed  Bowtie's hand and handed some homemade candy to her in the shape of  little ghosts and bats.  "Nice Satsuki outfit, nerd." The voice didn't match the face. That's  because it was actually Hairpin dressed up as none other than Ana  Amari. He just wanted to do a group cosplay group with Shades, don't  mind him.

 "Have ya seen anybody else from work around here?" He asked Bowtie.

 Hot Pants would have crossed his arms if Chocobo wasn't strapped on to  his chest, so he simply ruffled the bird's feathers, "Well, you do  look like my figurine that I ordered some time ago.. ANYWAYS. You have  a plan of action for that? Because I'm just thinking of blowing this  week's paycheck on some stuff I've wanted."

KUMA:  "Me? I'm Pasties," she said with a little wink. "Do you want go with  me then?"

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens looked at the teddy and patted it's head. He wasn't too sure  what to do but he

EMI-DESU:  The white-clad man bowed lightly. "My name would be Dermal." He  gestured to the peircing on his collarbone. "Ampallang is a brother of  mine, and he's gone off to do important Seraph business, so I  volunteered to take his place for now."

 Dermal straightened up and looked around at the scattered fallen  angels about, having themselves a merry old time. "Quite an organized  bunch, I see. I think I have a lot of work to do..."

 Trenchcoat pulled his arm out of Jacket's grip and pushed him out of  the way, clearing his throat and smiling at Pasties. "Hi, I'm  Trenchcoat. Jacket's got a lot of things to do too, so I'll go with  you instead!"

OSCARK9:  Walking back to the booths. He was looking at the booths to see what  they have here in DokiDoki Con. So far for him was some comic books,  action figures, and some video games. He wanted to buy something for  himself, but it was so hard for him to choose.

 "Hmm? What to choose? What to choose?" He said to himself while  scratching his head next to the booth.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  was friendly, atleast.  Fascinator and Jeokori looked at the sights with Fasci mostly talking.  But when Jeokori bothered to look at him, Fasci was cosplaying as a  completely different outfit and seemed to just magically transform  into 707.  What.  Jeokori blinked in disbelief as he poked Fasci, making sure he wasn't  seeing things. Fascinator tried to ignore the poke as he waved to  Go-Go and screamed,  "HEY NICE LEGS!"

KUMA:  Pasties blinked at Trenchcoat's interuption, but didn't seemed  bothered by it.

 "Its too bad that he's busy when there's so much fun stuff to do here!  Oh well!" She addressed Jacket, "If you find some time, you could meet  up with me later."

 She then turned back to Trenchcoat, "Thanks for coming with me."

KRO:  Go-Go removed the box, as it was getting a little too hot. "But no  daisy dukes to make a man go, sadly."  At least Go-Go was appropriately dressed as Mettaton EX.

BRIT:  "I didn't know you were that kind of dork." Duster mused, "Huh."  He pet Chocobo before hearing another set of girls squeel somewhere  behind him. Oh no, it begins again.

 "Oh... I see." Strappon replied, rubbing his chin. "I wish he'd told  me ahead of time... I guess you'll do in his place. You're a lot  nicer."  The Templar held out his hand to Dermal.  "I'm Strappon. This boy next to me is my cousin, Overshirt."  Overshirt gave him a small wave.

 Jacket blinked and snorted at Trenchcoat.  "Nah, he always acts like a dweeb around pretty ladies. We'll all go  together! Pasties, huh? That's a weird name. Anyway, let's get goin!"  He blabbered off, grabbing them both by the hands and skipping off in  another direction.

SAIYAN:  "Hey HP. Didn't know you were into Cross Dressing" Bowtie said as she  grabbed the candy. "No, didn't actually. No one came with you I take  it?"

 "Damn son" Undershirt said as he watched Shades grab his face. He then  looked at Dermal. "That's interesting. I didn

COFFINCAT:  Heels exits her booth and she sneaks over to the doujinshi section of  the con. She casually buys some Love Stage manga and she goes off ,  leaving her body guards in charge. She hears her name called on the  loud speaker and she curses , going off to perform some anime  openings. Out of many she was asked to perform , Lithium from Elfen  Lied was  the first.

   Mary fiddles with his hands and he looks up at him, " D-Do you wanna  um be partners ..for t-the ghost hunt?" He asked shyly.

BRIT:  "Not into crossdressing? He's basically a woman." Amulet snorted,  adjusting part of his coat. He was cosplaying Sephiroth, so he was  showing more skin than he was used to.

SAIYAN:  't know that he had a brother" he said.

 Wristband and Tuxedo looked at each other and then shrugged. They were  in the same boat as Undershirt was.

SAIYAN:  "OOOOH MOM GET THE CAMERA" Bowtie yelled at Amulet's comment. That was  fucking savage Amulet.

KRO:  Hot Pants jumped in front of Duster protectively, hissing at the mob  of girls, "___BACK OFF, he's mine. ___ Come on, let's go before they  actually catch up with us."

 "Let me express myself how I want, dear. And I want to be a murderous  old woman, so nyeh," Hairpin stuck his tongue out at Bowtie before  looking away, thinking. "Well, at least there's the three of us." He  said, handing Amulet a ghost shaped candy, "Here, try this one out."

 "Yeah, Amp's got brothers," Shades chimed in, "I actually had the  privilege of meeting one of his brothers that resides in Northern  Heaven. Pretty cool dude."

EMI-DESU:  "Well, it's nice for you to meet me, then." Dermal said flashing a  sparkling grin, tentitively taking Strappon's hand. "Humans are so  fascinating, it's a wonder how they could be so easy to manipulate."

 He released his hand and placed it on his hip, gently wiping it on his  pants. "But you are God's precious children and must be protected at  all costs, I suppose. Anyway, we're looking for a Ghost that seems to  blend in with THIS crowd. It could be anywhere, so let's stay on our  toes?"

 Trenchcoat's grin turned sour again when Jacket grabbed them both and  tugged. He was the biggest cockblock ever...

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  "I don't know, I'm sure at least one guy man." Fascinator replied,  ignoring that Jeokori was currently questioning if the human knew  black magic. Seriously, a costume change that fast?  "Plus I'm sure your daisy dukes makes boys into men."  Knittens nods to mark as he replied,  Sure, I mean mom said no weapons until Christmas so... Hope you got  something."

SAIYAN:  '

KUMA:  "Hmph, I don't think my name is weird at all," Pasties said with a  little pout. She did go along with Jacket and Trenchcoat as she was  was pulled. She looked around at the things they passed and decided  she'd stop the two if anything grabbed her attention.

 "So what are you two dressed up as?"

COFFINCAT:  Mary nods and smiles ," My teddy is a tazer too!" He  stood beside him  and held his teddy close. "Do you wanna look anywhere in particular?"  He tilts his head.

BRIT:  "Follow you dreams, _dear._" Amulet said, taking the candy and tossing  it into his mouth, "Where's the ghost, anyway? Didn't Shroud want us  to keep tabs?"  Something felt off about this atmosphere... He could see the Angels in  the distance, along with Gogo and a new face...

 "Yes... Staying on our toes is advisable. Well, let's get a move on  and see if we can't find it before it causes to much damage." Strappon  said, quirking a brow.

 "Oh, we're Rocket Grunts from Pokemon!" Jacket said with a huge grin,  "Our whole gang is dressed alike! Not my usual costume 'cuz I like to  be unique and stuff."  Considering his last costume...

 Duster nodded in agreement with Hot Pants, still a little stunned by  his reaction.  "You know, I'm used to the atention. It's not terrible." He said,  "You're weird."

SAIYAN:  “Whatever” Bowtie said to HP as she munched on her chocolate. That  still didn't change the fact that he was a cross dresser and she knew  it.

 Undershirt looked at Shades. “Huh, I never knew that” he said. He  felt that it would be something he would mention to them.

 “Maybe he has some kind of dark past” Tuxedo whispered to  Wristband, causing her to giggle in her hand”

KUMA:  "Oh Team Rocket!" Pasties was familiar with what that was, but she had  never played a Pokemon game herself.

 "Please don't steal my Pokemon then!" she said playfully and jokingly,  "But what do you normally dress up as?"

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens shakes his head and replies,  "If it's a ghost then it'll show up. Trust me. Wanna check out the  latest edition of that mecha cartoon?"  Fascinator changed once again into Viktor in a blink of an eye.  Seriously. Can he stop? Like its so sudden.  Jeokori was frightened at this point. How could this even happen? Is  anyone gonna notice? Seriously?  Headphones glanced over and waved to whoever and finished his first  book. To the next volume.

Meanwhile, people throughout the convention were experiencing some... Odd difficulties. Some people were found and being detained by the con staff for their strange behavior. Someone had literally had to be fetched from the cieling.

EMI-DESU:  "A pile of Garbage," Trenchcoat replied for him. "But that's his usual  attire, not a costume."  Trench tried to pull his arm out of Jacket's iron grip with no avail.

BRIT:  "Hey, now!" Jacket shouted at him, "I was a couple things last time...  A couple things at once. I was a duelist, Akira, Ness..." He counted  the things we was, but it was difficult to remember.

COFFINCAT:  His eyes light up and he nods eagerly. "O-oh boy.. Um s-sure, can we  check out the stuffed animals next?" He gulps a little bit , seeing  someone floating on the ceiling ,"Do people here..n-normally do that?"  He points to the random pedestrian.

KUMA:  Pasties stopped moving and pointed at a booth that was selling various  figurines.

 "Hey let's stop here!" she said, starting to move in the direction  towards it. She seemed to either have been ignoring the tension  between the two or trying to find a distraction to stop them from  arguing.

OSCARK9:  "Man. What to choose for myself?" He said to himself again. Thinking  of what to buy in the convention was tough for him. There was so many  cool things to buy here, that one can't decide on what to buy. When he  walk over to the next booth where a bunch of clothes is at, his eyes  was caught his interest on a shirt that has a picture of 'Ash-Greninja  and Ash' in front of the picture and its telling him that he found  what he's looking for. "Ah, yes!" He said in his happy tone.

OSCARK9:  *In front of the shirt

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  "Nope! Unless they discovered anti-gravity stuff. So uh... Found it!"  Knittens announced for anyone to hear. He should be captain obvious.  Fascinator was definitely attracting attention as Viktor. Mostly Yuri  on Ice fans. Good luck boy.  "Anything good at con this year?" he asks, unknowing if he was even  talking to someone at this point. The contacts he's wearing is messing  with his vision.

KRO:  "Well I think /you're/ weird," Hot Pants replied, "What, you want me  to confess my undying love for you? Cause I'm not doing that. Too...  /cliche/ ."  He pulled along Duster to some merchant stands, looking at particular  plushies and figurines.  "Uh.. You want anything. Not this, but like food or a drink?"

 "My, why thank you dear," Go-Go didn't know whether to take that as a  compliment or not. But they did have shapely legs.

 What should be a simple cosplay had a fully functional mask. He  activated it but nothing seemed to be getting picked up, "If there's a  ghost here, I'll see it before it can see us."

 Shades took off the ice pack from his eye and donned his mask back on,  "Anyways, I'm gonna go into the booths to buy stuff. If you wanna  come, knock yourself out."

SUPERBIO:  Flying around the convention, The Greatest Hero was giving the  honorable citizens of Daten City what they deserve! Everyone here  wanted to be a Hero, right? That's why they were so willing to dress  like them!

 "Halt, Citizen!" He said to someone, "You look like you would love to  join me in my quest to destroy the scum of this earth!"

 The person looked around and pointed to himself.

 With that, he was zapped with Super Beams and given a special power of  his own.

 He didn't feel any different, but taking a step forward zoomed him  straight into a wall.

 "Another satisfied customer!" Superbio boomed before flying away to  find more heroes.

SAIYAN:  Bowtie looked at HP as he activated his scanner thing.

 “Didn’t it not work the last time you tried this?” Bowtie asked  him, folding her arms. She wasn’t convinced that it still wouldn’t  work.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch. The gang mulled over Shades’ offer to  go look at stuff. Undershirt seemed to be on board but T.J. seemed to  have a different idea.  “You guys are such nerds!” Tuxedo said to Shades and the rest of  them.

 Undershirt sighed. “Yeah let’s go. It beats standing around here.  You want to come too, Wristband?”

 Wristband nodded her head and T.J. begrudgingly decided to go too.

COFFINCAT:  Mary hides behind knittens and holds the teddy bear close, the fur  started to fluff up  and Mary's hair fluffed with it, the little fella  was charging up. "  S-so do we attack it or d-do we run?" He asked a  bit spooked.

BRIT:  "Oh shit, whaddup?" Jacket said, backing it up to look over the  figurines. "They got one of ULTRAMAAAAAAAN!"  He posed like Ultraman. Way to break character.

 "Thanks." Duster snorted, "Yes, I would love food. I'm starving and  everything here is... Expensive."

 Amulet peered over HP's shoulder.  "Uh... Dear. There's a child that ran himself into a wall at breakneck  speed." He said, pointing in that direction.

 Strappon looked over at Knittens and then up at the person on the  cieling.  "Oh, bloody hell." He said, "Good job, lad."  He gestured for everyone to follow him. That would be best.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Headband looked at the ghost, and slowly rolls off the fountain and  decided to help for once. Following the others, he adjusted his fairy  panties.  Knittens stood like a rock in bravery and responds,  "Well it didn't notice us so let's stay away."  Fascinator was just wandering around lost, his vision was blurring too  much and he was tempted to take the contacts off. Jeokori stood behind  Strappon and pointed at the person and held up a note asking,  "Do humans do this?"

KUMA:  Pasties got distracted looking at figures of well, cute anime girls.  She didn't seem bothered by ones in revealing clothes or provocative  poses. None of them were full on explicit, but they were getting  there.

 "I totally have to have some of these," she said, looking them over.

COFFINCAT:  Mary swoons a little bit and he shakes his head, "R-right! I-I mean  right." He holds his teddy. "I-I found a hiding spot , but you gotta  keep it a secret." He holds out his pinkie for the ultimate promise.

KRO:  "I refined the technology, so now it's fully operational. You're  talking to a genius after all, these things get worked out pretty  fast," Hairpin boasted. He was proud of finally making his scanner  work. Hopefully it didn't fry his face, this is the first finished  scanner he finished so anything goes.  Hairpin quickly turned to the direction Amulet pointed to, "Shit." Too  bad Hairpin didn't have a biotic rifle for healing.

 Shades shrugged at Tuxedo Jacket, "You're saying that as if it hurts  me," says the guy whose Twitter handle is currently cyborg fucker  2k16, "Oh right, you're the new guy. I think I heard some mentions of  you from these two," He said, pointing at the twins.  His plans were changed as Strappon seemed to have picked something up  and skedaddled his way back to the Templar, "What's up."

 "You're lucky I feel like spoiling you today and willing to blow my  entire paycheck...I don't think you want something from Mickey D's,  huh?" Hot Pants asked, looking around to see if the other Angels  caught the ghost's trail.

OSCARK9:  "One XL shirt, please." The man at the booth gave him the shirt that  he want the most and Gloves pay the man $59.99 for the shirt.  Expensive as it is, it was worth spending on. "You're coming home with  me." He said to the shirt. While enjoying his buying shirt, he heard  some commotion from the Angels right behind his back. So he runs over  to them to see what's up.  "What did I miss?"

BRIT:  "I think I can afford something a little higher class." Duster  snorted, "Really."

 Strappon pointed to the kid on the cieling.  "Our ghost is hard at work." He said, "Let's try to track it down. I  think I heard some commotion about a kid running himself into a wall.  We may get more information out of him."

 "Those are silly!" Jacket said, trying to copy one of the sexy poses  of the figures, "Wow-- This is hard!"

KUMA:  "I think they're cute," Pasties commented while paying the person at  the booth for the two figures she decided to buy. She turned around  and laughed slightly at Jacket's imitation of the pose. She set her  bag down for a moment and copied the pose herself.

 "If you bend like this its more comfortable, see?"

KRO:  "What, you want to go to those fancy restaurants? In all seriousness."  This guy wouldn't settle for something like Mickey D's, huh.

 "Hopefully the kid isn't knocked out," Shades added.

EMI-DESU:  Trenchcoat spat out the drink he just bought all over Jacket.

 Dermal watched Strappon as the other angels sort of gathered together,  following their own agendas. He pulled out a PDA and started taking  notes.

SAIYAN:  “Did they tell you how awesome I was?” Tuxedo asked to Shades. Of  course, it would only be good things. He was just that awesome.

 Undershirt looked up at the ceiling and saw the man up there. “How  the hell did that happen?” he asked.  That was something new. He was pretty sure that that shouldn’t  normally happen.  “Well you don’t see that every day” Wristband said as she too  looked up at the poor man stuck on the ceiling. “Think we should  help him?”

 “HAHAHA look at that!” Tuxedo laughed. He really wasn’t being  productive. That dude on the ceiling was having a bad day.

KRO:  "Really? A PDA? Honey, that's sooooo 2002. Here, have one of these  instead." Go-Go handed Dermal an expensive tablet that must have been  pulled from the ether, "Don't let me catch you with outdated  /anything/ . Otherwise I'll provide for you."

KUMA:  Pasties turned towards Trenchcoat and raised an eyebrow. "Is  everything okay over there? You didn't choke did you?"

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens nods and exclaims,  "Lead the way!"  Did he know the meaning of secrets?  Fascinator finally took off his contacts and could see. Strangely, he  again changed his cosplay into Hampnie Hambert. Bless. That's when he  spotted one of his favorite otome games apparently has a booth. He was  literally a blur as he sprinted over to buy all the merch. That nerd.

OSCARK9:  Gloves looked up at the ceiling where Strappon pointed to and saw a  Men up there. "Ouch." He said to himself. If he was him, he'll be in  so much pain. Poor man.

EMI-DESU:  Dermal turned to Go-Go with a soft smiled and swiped the device out of  his hand. "My, how helpful you are. I think we're going to get along  just fine..." He said, staring at him with a grin for a full minute  before turning back to the activities before him.  "They still haven't caught the Ghost. How wonderful. I want to see  what these broken angels can do..."

COFFINCAT:  Mary raises an eyebrow and he shrugs, must be a custom here. He takes  the others hand and he leads him to the empty booth. Mary crawls under  and holds up the black table skirt for him to crawl under. "Y-you  gotta be quiet o-okay? So the ghost can't find us." He whispers and  pats the space next to him.

EMI-DESU:  Trenchcoat wiped his face off and threw his cup at Jacket.  "OH, NOPE. I'M JUST FINE. JUST... THIRSTY HAHA." He said half  screaming. He kind of yelled when he was nervous.

KRO:  "You're just saying that in hopes of making me feel better after  your... /idol blunder/ that broke us apart." Go-Go promptly shoved the  tablet back into Dermal's hands. If this kid wants to go, they'll go  alright. To a nice restaurant.

BRIT:  Jacket- now covered in sticky soda or something- wrung out his  costume. He gave the guy a glare as the cup bounced off his forhead.  "Yeah... Thirsty." He said.

TIMERIFTS:  Onesie looked around the convention, extremely lost but ready to take  on the challange. She was dressed up as the blue powerpuff girl,  Bubbles. She skipped happily, not aware of the hell breaking loose  around her, how could she miss it, who knows but she is. She wondered  if any of her friends were here, since she wouldn't really recognize  them when they were all dressed up

EMI-DESU:  "Please, Go-Go, I know you missed me and my gorgeous face, but there  are more important things at the moment. We can make up later, you  know." Dermal waved dismissively at him.

KUMA:  "It sucks if you're thirsty, since your drink is all over Jacket now.  You can always buy another one though."

 Pasties gathered up her stuff. She seemed a bit unaware of the real  cause of Trenchoat being 'thirsty' and looked around. "Did you two  want to buy anything from this booth or should we keep looking?"

KRO:  "Oh, /missed you/? Not really since at least after you left, Daddy  started giving me more attention. Anyways, I'll see you in a nice  restaurant later, ciao~" And there goes Go-Go.

EMI-DESU:  Dermal's head snapped around. "/Do not/." He hissed in a slightly  lower tone than normal, snapping the old PDA he had. Oh, this was  going to be fun with him around...

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  "Sure!!" Knittens shouted, being an unhelpful child. Crawling  underneath, he peeked out to see what was happening every now and  then.Seeing Onesie, he waved underneath the table excitedly and  shouting that he was there. Knittens is the definition of secrecy.  Fasciantor literally had several bag fulls of merch of animes he liked  like a dork and tackled Jeokori's back with a hug. Noticing  Headphones, he shouts at his friend,  "Dude, I can see your junk through that transparent lingerie, you  wanna get decent?!"  Headphones shouts back with his fairy wings fluttering in the breeze,  "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME DAD!"  "Nor do I want to!" Fascinator replies, changing into Beli cosplay to  fit his friend's theme.  Can Fasci even socialize with anyone else at  this point?

TIMERIFTS:  Onesie noticed her best friend, squealing excitedly, racing over  "Knittens!!" she exclaimed happily "look I'm Bubbles" she smiled,  crawling under the table with him, she just went with the flow.  "Why  are we hiding?" she asked him, settling in and lying beside him

BRIT:  "Honestly, I'm for anything. But now I think there's a large  commotion..." Duster said, looking idly off in the direction of the  poor man that was in a wall.

 "Let's go to another booth!" Jacket suggested, seemingly fine now.  "I'd love to buy some cool merch for Ultraman!"  He grinned at Trenchcoat, pulling him away from the booth.

 Strappon furrowed his brow at the interraction between Go-Go and  Dermal. Well, maybe they were old friends...  "We can deal with the man on the cieling later, let's just go  interview the man in the wall and pray he's still intact for  questioning." He said, motioning them along with him and heading in  the direction of the poor man.

EMI-DESU:  Trenchcoat groaned, knowing it was his money he was going to be  spending. Being wealthy was a curse sometimes, at least when you  weren't in your cosy mansion in Heaven...

KUMA:  Pasties walked along with them, trailing slightly behind.

 "So what's Ultraman? Is he from an anime? A game?" she asked.

COFFINCAT:  "Um.." he hides behind Knittens and he holds his bear tightly. "The  ghost might get us if we aren't quiet m-ms. " He whispers as he gently  boops Knittens with his bear.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens proudly claims,  "Well we're hiding from the ghost right now and letting everyone else  handle it."  He bravely accepts that he is the most cowardly right now. He pouted  at the boop and grumbles,  "I knooow..."  "Anyways, I think the ghost is making people fly? I don't know saw a  guy in the ceiling though."  Fascinator was now carried bridal style by Jeokori who walked him over  anything he wanted to see since he was done here and Cufflink wasn't  gonna pick him up any time soon. Headphones forgot why he was there so  he tagged along, even though a lot of people looked at his not so well  hidden crotch area. He bought some new samples of yaoi and just sins  in public view. Fasci waved to Jacket and Trenchcoat, giving a  friendly greeting,  "Hey! What's up guys?"

BRIT:  "He's only from one of _the best_ Hero series in the entire universe!"  Jacket said, waving his arms around a little, "He's a Super Hero from  a show in the 60s that's been ridiculosuly popular ever since. He's  only the best."  He was grinning like a dork.  "Oh, hey, Fascinator!" He waved at him.

SUPERBIO:  Another few people started springing up around the convention with...  Strange powers.  Superbio started looking for new people to recruit when he spotted a  rather menacing looking tall man carrying a smaller, more effeminate  man.

 "Halt!" He said, flying right up to them, "Sir, I do believe this  innocent man can walk on his own. Unless you need me to help you!"

BRIT:  Jacket stared in awe. This was the first time a ghost _came to them_.  It was the most perfect time!  He turned his Rocket hat backwards.

COFFINCAT:  Mary feels the cowardly aura ooze off of Knittens and he pouts, how is  he supposed to swoon when he's being a baby? Mary is the baby here. He  shakes his head and crawls out from under the table, teddy in hand.  "If I ever wanna be an a-angel I've gotta fight like one !" He  exclaims with his chest puffed out. "Knittens, Ms Onesie c'mon!"

KUMA:  Pasties also looked at Superbio. That was guy was /flying/. Talk about  to dedication. When she looked at Jacket, she realized that guy might  be the ghost they were here for in the first place. She pulled the top  of her dress away from her chest, reached her hand in, and peeled off  one her sparkly pink pasties. (It matched her cosplay nicely).

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens looked at Mary and crawled out with now resupplied courage.  "Alright! Chaaaarge!!" he shouted, like he could do something.  Fascinator changed cosplay into Yuno Gasai as Jeokori, bored out of  his mind carried Fasci next to Jacket. Headphones followed slowly as  he got to the very... Intense part. The explicit cover was tame  compared to the raw stuff inside.  "Yo! What're you-"  Fascinator blinked at the ghost before clearing his throat,  "Well I'm okay! Really."  Jeokori was in no mood for anything. Glaring coldly, you could almost  see the rage building inside of his soul. Well, who pissed in his  cheerios?

COFFINCAT:  Mary took Knittens hand and he charged at the ghost , swinging around  his teddy tazer like his life depended on it. His hair was puffed out  from the static the bear created. He lets out a girly battle cry  while running with Knittens , in hot pursuit of that ghost booty.

SUPERBIO:  "I see how sinister you are! Fiend, I shall make you pay!" Superbio  boomed, igniting lazer in his eyes. This hit both Fascinator and  Jeokori.

 [FASCINATOR: Shoots eye Lazers at anyone he's attracted to]  [JEOKORI:Lazer eyes that just cause the target limb to go numb]

 He turned to the others in shock and Jacket and the others looked well  ready for FISTICUFFS.  "You want some too? HAVE AT YOU!"

 He shot his lazers at them, seeming not to see little Knittens JUST  YET.

 [PASTIES: Stop time, but only when you're holding your breath]  [JACKET: the ability to control another person's limbs, but only  through the power of dance]  [TRENCHCOAT: See into the future but only all the possibilities your  current decision will do]

KUMA:  Pasties braced herself for the impact of the laser beam. In doing so,  she subconsciously held her breath. When she opened her eyes and  realized she was wasn't injured, she let out a sigh of relief,  breathing normally. She did, however, notice that until she exhaled,  everything seemed like it was paused.

BRIT:  Jacket screamed, but it didn't hurt. He blinked and looked around.  What just fucking happened???  He whipped off his jacket.  "Whatevs, dude!" He shouted, "We're gonna take you out!"  He felt the urge to dance with someone, but it didn't seem like a good  time... But he wanted to.

KRO:  Shades blinked.

(( OOC: FOR THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO FIGHT, we have our thread: http://dcmissionaries.boards.net/thread/155/ghost-superbio To new members; Please read the guide or ask a mod if you're not sure how it works! ))

EMI-DESU:  Dermal, watching this hell unleashed before him from the window he was  adoring his reflection in, slowly slid behind something more sturdy  and started furiously taking notes.

 Trenchcoat tried, shocked at the tingling that overcame him, started  thinking of pushing Jacket in the way of another blast when he  stopped. It was like switching through channels quickly and he could  see before him the repercussions of his actions.  All the death and distruction, he could see people he loved and cared  about getting seriously hurt and those he could trust betraying him.  All of this. All of it. He just slowly sat down on the ground and  moved his hands a way from Jacket.

KUMA:  Deciding not to hesitate, Pasties removed her other pasty. With a  quick flourish, both of them turned into her knives.

 "I can handle this one! A foe who can't hurt me will be easy to take  down!"

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Fascinator yells in shock at the laser but after seeing that he was  fine as well as his friend, he didn't understand what happened. He was  about to say something but then he felt something stir in his heart.  He flashed to every time he ever felt a crush but it seemed to pass.  Fasci looked around in panic before he saw a rather nice looking  gentleman.  He felt his heart flutter, and burning feelings of attraction as his  feelings gathered together and formed a mysterious ray of light from  his eyes! It struck the innocent bystander and vaporized him. Rest in  peace good looking guy, may you rest in peace. Fasci was in utter  shock, but another ray shot out as these feelings continued! Causing  an explosion of a far off wall.  Jeokori looked down at Fasciantor in shock. Seriously, could humans  really do this!? Biting his lip he felt a sensation coming from his  eyes as well but he won't let this ghost thing manipulate him!  Headphones groaned and took of his namesake. Looks like it's time to  rumble!

COFFINCAT:  MJ he continues his now silent sprint and he swings his teddy as hard  as he can , aiming at the ass of Superbio. Moms spankings usually hurt  so he figured this would probably hurt like the dickins. He runs and  he trips! Falling right on his face.

(( OOC: Just a reminder for people, here's the Combat System! It's been updated: http://dcmissionaries.boards.net/thread/100/combat-system-works ))

KUMA:  With both of her knives ready, Pasties ran towards the ghost. She  intended to go for some quick slashes, but noticed everything had  paused around her again. Then she realized she was holding her breath.  She exhaled for a moment and then took in a deeper breath. She then  went to town with her quick slashes and stabs, able to get in more  hits then she could have normally. With an exhale, Pasties jumped back  and admired her work.

 "Perfect."

MLLERMANDA:  A bad time to look for ghosts.                                        

      Gauges was very sick and had to force himself to come to this  convention. Something about a ghost that the angels have to hunt down.  "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaan..." He whines to himself as he dressed up as Liang  Qi from Cannan. " Out of all the days I could had been sick, it had to  be during a mission, looking for a ghost." He wobbles side to side as  others were busy fighting the ghost that caused trouble or seeing the  scene with a superhero ghost.  Gauges didn't like this and turns his  head, noticing how the ghost fought. " And the worst part of all is  that no one is notic-" He sneezes, " Me." And like that, hewhen he saw  that, it caught his eye as he takes out his weapon, getting ready to  fight even though he felt terrible and was weaker than normally. "Ey!  Mr. Super Hero ghost? What you doing he-" He sneezes loudly as he  drops his weapon. Stumbling around, he tries to attack the ghost.

SUPERBIO:  Superbio couldn't move when she paused time and it left him with a  large chunk out of him.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens politely helps Mary up and pats off the dirt. He's seen Fasci  mess up enough to know what to do. But speaking of Fasci, he gawked at  his cousin and asked,  "Fasci did you just kill someone?!"  Fascinator looked at Knittens in panic and stumbled,  "No! He's just uh.... In a pocket dimension. I swear!"  Knittens shook his head, at least take responsibility. But lasers?! To  all of the people, the most undisciplined!?  Fascinator felt his heart beating of control as more lasers shot of  his eyes, unable to control how he feels. The chaos caused only  because he loves too many people.  {HP: 25}  Headphones scratched his head as he shrugs, may as well throw Lucky  Hit around. Twirling his grappling hook he swings at Superbio, the  sharp ends meeting with the ghost. Looks like Lucky Hit stood true  with it's name!

SUPERBIO:  He turned to look at all those around him and gasped. There were so  many villains, even a sick one!!  He tried to fly into the air, away from them to recollect his  thoughts.

 "You fiends! You're using your gifts against me!" He shouted at them.

KRO:  Clearly ignoring his duties, Shades pretends to just now see the chaos  unfolding in the convention. He sighed as he went back to look at the  wares, not wanting another ghost to ruin this con. It was the best  local con, after all!  Hairpin walked up to Shades, immediately recognizing the guy's dumb  bird-like cosplay. "....Candy for these trying times?" he asked,  handing Shades a chocolate candy.

 "Thanks, granny."

 "Uh, well. I'm currently an ineffective human. You gonna do anything  about that?" asked Hot Pants. First of all he doesn't have an  appropriate weapon due to the rules. Second of all, he had his baby  with him, he's not putting the rascal in danger.

BRIT:  Jacket looked at Trenchcoat in concern. Was he going to be alright...?  He summoned Dual Pride and threw it toward Superbio, just nicking him.  Damn!  He heard music started playing over the loudspeakers and got and idea,  starting to dance instead of attack. He pointed over at Trenchcoat,  and watched him start to dance.  "Heyyy! It works!" He laughed.

MLLERMANDA:  Gauges turns his head, becoming more confused than ever on what was  going on. He tries to speak to Superbio as he tries to move closer to  him. He whines as he speaks, " What gifts? I want one!" He tries to  swing his weapon but just drags it with him instead. " Gimme a gif-"  He coughs as he takes a breather and tries to take care of himself.

EMI-DESU:  Trenchcoat gets up an shouts.  "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO ME BUT I'M GONNA--" He shouted, about to  run and throw a kick when his mind filled with thoughts of failure,  missing and hitting the ground like a moron, people laughing. Going  broke, doing illegal things. So illegal he accidentally sells his soul  to a demon. His brothers cackling at him as they dragged him down to  Hell. He choked back a sob and sat back down.

OSCARK9:  Gloves heard some fighting going on in the convention. Maybe the  others found the ghost already. "Finally some action!" Gloves runs to  the scene of the fight and spotted a Superhero ghost attacking his  friends. "Well if he want to fight, then here I come!" He said to  himself while he spread his wing from his back and flys into the  battle.

 "Alright Ghost..." He said to him while he change his gloves into  Gauntlets. "Lets do this!" He shouted at him. Gloves flew towards to  the ghost and punch his right hand into his abdomen.

COFFINCAT:  Mary thanks him and he picks his cheek, dashing off to cut some ghost  ass. He twirls his tazer and his bunny ears flow behind him.  He  throws it up at him and it  wacks the ghost as hard as it can on the  rump.

SUPERBIO:  In an attempt to thwart his attackers, Superbio let out a sonic scream  that would at the very least give them a small knick.

COFFINCAT:  Pecks-

SUPERBIO:  He took the hit from Gauntlets and shot him with a beam, giving him a  terrrible superpower.  [GAUNTLETS: Flying but only backwards!]

 He turned to punch Mary-Janes, but stopped and took the hit when he  realized he was just a child.

BRIT:  Jacket sighed, picked Trenchcoat up off the floor, and started dancing  again.  "C'MON BUDDY. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY!" he started singing along.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens cheered for Mary and gave an encouraging thumbs-up.  Jeokori grabs Fascinator, trying to prevent him from looking at people  but when Fasci faces him, another laser shoots straight at him.  Jeokori dodges in time but his claws suffered greatly, his four claw  fingers vaporized. Looking at his declawed hand, Jeokori's adrenaline  spiked and a laser shot straight at Fasci's arm, causing it to go  completely limp.  Fasciantor shakes his now dead arm and gulped.  {HP: 22}  Headphones cursed as the scream pierced his ear drums, man did he wish  he had his namesake on to drown out this noise. He swung again at the  ghost but it just the wall instead and got stuck.

SAIYAN:  The amount of commotion going on caused Undershirt, Wristband and T.J.  to look over and saw the ghost being battled by the angels. "Oh look  it's Super Man" Undershirt said unconcerned as he took a seat on a  bench near by.

 "And you're just going to do nothing?" Wristband asked.

 "Yep" Undershirt replied. "Look they've got everything under control."

 T.J. looked over and saw that indeed that the Angels had the ghost on  the ropes.

 "Looks like they don't even need my help" he said with a cocky smile.

 The three of them continued to watch the fight progress.

KUMA:  Taking the sonic scream attack but not too shaken up by it, Pasties  moved in for another attack. The set up seemed like everything would  go according to her plan, but she forgot to inhale enough air and had  to stop and breathe. Caught off guard by this, her attack missed.

 She turned to look over at Jacket and Trenchcoat. "You can dance later  you know!"

BRIT:  "Holy shit." Duster said, watching the fight go down."Seems pretty  weak. We should just go get food."  He looked down at Hot Pants.

BRIT:  "NO I HAVE A PLAN!" Jacket shouted at Pasties.

MLLERMANDA:  Gauges takes a deep breath as he attempts once more to attack the  ghost. Totally hating the ghost right now for not giving Gauge what he  wants but was too passive to argue. He coughs harshly as he aims for  the ghost, or at least tries too.

EMI-DESU:  Suddenly, Trenchcoat couldn't control his own limbs. He felt his body  moving on it's own, DANCING on it's own. He panicked slightly and  looked back at Jacket, who was boogieing to the same beat.

 "WHAT ARE-- YOU DOING?!" He shouted through the funky fresh beat  Jacket was shrieking to.

 Before he could struggle more, he felt his body lurch toward Superbio,  and he punched him in the face with all of his (not really his) force.  He felt the crack of his weak knuckles under his force and then  crane-kicked him in the jaw.

 He slumped on the floor.

COFFINCAT:  MJ's cheeks turn red from Knittens encouragement and he trys again,  missing! He pouts and runs, picking up his teddy. He runs back to  protect Knittens.

SUPERBIO:  Superbio screamed at the sudden lurching toward him-- WHAT WAS GOING  ON??  He got a really hard kick to the jaw, and apparently a final slash  from someone's blade. He hit the ground, almost in slow-motion...

 "Curse... YOU!" He whispered from the ground, reaching his hand up  before...

 Exploding.

OSCARK9:  "Ahh! My ears!" He said in a painful tone. Gloves was push back from  the sonic scream and was hit by the beam. He blink and didn't feel  anything different from that attack. He shocked his head from his  confusion and tries to attack. However, instead of going forwards, his  flying went backwards and went straight towards the wall. Ouch.

BRIT:  "Good job, Angels!" Strappon shouted over to them, running up to the  group. "Wow, that was surprisingly quick. You should work together  more often..."

 "Yeah, even if it was Jacket." Overshirt said, kind of in the  background, "Good joooooob!"

COFFINCAT:  Mary turns seeing the ghost blow up. He watches in awe and he smiles.  In a fit of excitement he  runs around with his teddy ," This'll be  the best comic page ever!"

KUMA:  The explosion was very satisfying. Pasties' weapons returned back to  their previous form and she down into her dress to put them back on.

 "Wow that dancing really did work, but of course my first attack was  pretty great right? Like loosening up a really tight pickle jar! No  need to thank me."

BRIT:  "People should be back to normal, now." Jacket said, his dancing  stopping, "I would have loved to keep that power..."

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Fascinator's eyes finally went back to normal and went red before all  the trouble he caused. Oh boy... This wasn't good at all.  Jeokori stared at his hand in shock, his claws were now stumps on his  left hand. He wasn't mad, just.... Horrified.  Knittens cheered and hugged Mary,  "You did great!!"  headphones finally got Lucky Hit unstuck before realizing it was  already dead. Well that was a waste of time. Oh well. Back to reading  porn.

KRO:  "Make up your mind. Fine, we'll go to Gouda. There's one across the  road," Hot Pants looked down at Chocobo, ruffling it's feathers as he  started walking towards the exit. Scratch that, the ghost exploded, he  took cover by a table, not wanting his precious child getting injured.  "HEY. WATCH WHERE YA BLOWING YA BITS."

 Shades tapped Undershirt's shoulder, "Hey dude, which one," he asked  in reference to two identical figures but each having different  colors. This was important.

 Hairpin looked on at the poor ghost and snapped his fingers in  disappointment, "Damn. Well, at least we know that ghost wasn't worth  it."

COFFINCAT:  Mary has little fireworks go off in his head and he hugs Knittens  back,"Y-you really t-think so?" He pulled away with the biggest smile  ever.

  Fox walks over with  a crap ton of hentai and a body pillow. "I leave  for like two seconds."

EMI-DESU:  Dermal walked out clapping.  "Well done! Such coordination! I didn't think Fallen Angels were  capable of taking down even a weak Ghost such as that! I could have  helped you, but I felt like it would be a waste of your potential." He  flicked his hair again. "Good job, Angels."

MLLERMANDA:  Gauges turns away as he was happy that someone killed the ghost.  However, he was irritated that all these angels were getting attention  which in return makes him jealous.  "Those lucky angels....Hmph." He  tries to sneeze at the ground but ends up sneezing on himself, messing  up the outfit. "Ugh. Why me."  He wobbles towards a stand where food  was at and decides to stay there for now, trying to get a snack during  the process.

BRIT:  "Yeah, but they got quite a few Heavens for that..." Amulet snorted,  crossing his arms, "What a waste."

 "Sounds... Gouda to me." Duster said with a completely straight face.  He walked away from Hot Pants in the direction of the restaurant.

 Strappon looked over at Dermal.  "You... I take back what I said about you being nice. That was really  back-handed." He said, shaking his head and looking over the  convention, "There's so much destruction, and people are still having  fun..."

SAIYAN:  Bowtie looked at her watch. "Look at that time, it's a new record" She  said. Those angels managed to kill that thing nearly instantly. "All  that build up for nothing. Kind of disappointing, wouldn't you agree?"  she asked HP and Amulet.

 "Hmmmm...the right one" Undershirt said as the ghost exploded behind  him.

 The others just looked at the light dissipating and the heavens  raining down from the sky.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Jeokori bent his newly freed fingers, studying how they bent now and  worked. Flashes of being just a boy went through his mind as he didn't  know how to take this.  Fascinator crept behind Jeokori and shakily apologized,  "O-Oh... I'm so sorry Cho-cho,,, I didn't mean to, I swear! You're my  best friend, I'd never want to hurt you-"  Jeokori hugged Fasci, accepting his apology quite easily. Carrying him  again he went towards the other demons, just not.... Looking at  anyone.  Headphones rolled his eyes at the Heavens and trots towards Fox Stole.

 "Neat stuff, where'd you get it?"

OSCARK9:  Gloves feels the pain from his back, but manage to stand with his  legs. "Ouch! Now I know what flying towards the wall feels like." He  said as he walking slowly towards a sitting booth while rubbing his  back.

COFFINCAT:  Fox stretches ,"Me? OH the last vendor by the corner. You should hurry  if you want stuff they're packin up." She blows a gum bubble.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Headphones nods as he waltzes towards the sin. Considering a job in  porn dealing since god damn these people charge top dollar.  Fascinator waved at Amulet and HP meekly, still feeling guilty about  what he did to Jeokori.  Jeokori still did not look at anyone.  Knittens replies excited,  "Yeah! So cool!!"

KRO:  Hot Pants kept leading, only to stop abruptly to hit Duster on the  arm, "I swear." How dare he pun to him.

 "I agree with the both of you," Hairpin said, "Anyways, I want to get  rid of this candy basket, so I'm gonna hand this off to the Angels.  Unless the two of you want to keep it for yourselves."  Seeing a hand being waved in their general direction, Hairpin pointed  at the three of them to make sure Fascinator was referring to them.

 Shades nodded and payed the clerk, "You have good taste in colors,  just needed a second opinion."

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Fascinator nods as he tapped Jeokori to walk towards them, he joked a  little flustered,  "Lack luster ghost guys, but uh... interesting side effects."  Jeokori finally began to accept his trimmed nails as he now started to  appreciate how handy hands were. Neat. But he finally faced other  people so that was nice. Today wasn't a good day for him, so excuse  the sour expression.

COFFINCAT:  Mary giggles and holds his teddy close , " You think my moms gonna  believe my adventures today? " he happily twerls around.

  Heels had sneakily recorded the fight and of course posted it on  twitter, freakin worldstar kinda shit these days. She walks down the  sidewalk, her body guards in random locations watching her.

SAIYAN:  "I can taste the rainbow Shades" Undershirt said. The best comeback

 "Yeah, I'll take candy" Bowtie said. "I need something sweet in my  house. Unless Amulet wants some."

TIMERIFTS:  Onesie looked at the two friends, feeling herself heat up. She was not  happy about this new development "Hey, uh I gotta go. You know  convention stuff" she flashed a smile before scurrying to her feet and  making off so she wouldn't have to deal with this situation. She  didn't like sharing and Knittens was her friend, and she wasn't going  to deal with that.

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens was pumped and he remarks,  "I hope mine does!- Onesie? Hey wait! I can join you! I'll be quieter  I swear! Is it the shoe thing?!" He chased after Onesie, not getting  those 'I don't want to see you' hints.

KRO:  Hairpin shrugged, "Well, it wasn't ours. If we managed to tame it  before it went on the offensive, it could have lasted a little  longer."

 "Haha, real funny," Shades crossed his arms, "What are you, the  skittles guy now?"

 Before Hot Pants could open the door to the exit, it burst open.  Policemen entered the scene like swarming flies with one in particular  pointing his finger like a gun. As if that can do damage.  "ALRIGHT, WHAT'S THE EMERGENCY!" All the policemen including Necktie,  the one sticking his finger out, looked for any signs of a scuffle  but... everything appeared to be normal. How embarrassing.

 "Oh...Uh. Wow. This was less destruction than from last time..."

MLLERMANDA:  Gauges eats his snack lazily as he eventually goes to the bathroom for  the moment to change back into his normal clothes."Hmph. Maybe someone  will notice me." He notices some strangers who were with the bathroom  with him and tries to get thier attetion by flanuting at them. "Like  what you se--" However he accidently coughs on to them and they get  disgusted, leaving the scene.  "Crap." He gets out of the bathroom  after trying to fix himself up with some tissues or in this case,  toilet paper.  He coughs and sniffles the whole way as he heads back  to a bench that was at the corner of the convention. "Maaaan, today  suckkkkkkksss." He whines to himself as he sneezes some more.                                                                     Once, he  did that he lays on the bench, trying to get some sleep. However, he  hears the policemen and tries to turn his head, trying to see what was  going on but quits. "FML." He whines to himself as he snuggles himself  up, trying to get some sleep.

BRIT:  "Well I hope the next ghost is more... I dunno, fun?" Jacket asked,  looking at the other Angels."WELL NOW I CAN BUY MERCH!"

 Amulet took the entire bowl.  "Thanks." He said, stuffing a handful in his mouth.

 Duster was a little shocked at the sudden influx of cops past himself  and Hot Pants... Hoo boy.

 "Can we help you, officers?" Strappon asked, "It's been a while since  we've seen you here. Thanks for coming by, but we've got it handled."  He kinda liked being cheeky.

COFFINCAT:  Mary he laughs and he tilts his head, his smile fading as Knittens  left. He frowns and looks down at his teddy , walking off to the booth  of plushies. Ouchy.

TIMERIFTS:  Onesie shrugged "Oh you don't have too!" she smiled sweetly, waving at  him, even though she wanted to clench her teeth and make a scene "Keep  being happy with your new friend, it's okay~" she giggled "Not the  shoe thing don't worry. Hey they are leaving, they look pretty bummed  out, better go save them!!" she shrugged, she should find red to talk  about this weird feeling in her tummy, dad would know what to do.

KUMA:  "Yeah the con isn't over yet and I still want to look around!" Pasties  agreed. "Let's keep going then."

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Fasci just hoped they don't discover he killed a person, hopefully  it'll be like last time where they had no evidence. Fascinator didn't  need to be threatened with jail time. He kinda got a phobia of cops  since... The incident. He snuggled closer to Jeokori and the alien  seemed to get the idea as he protectively held him closer. Seriously,  did they have a thing for each other or...?  Knittens was out of breathe as he looked at both of them. If he  couldn't even vote for the president, he is not choosing friends.  Swallowing his spit, he grabs Onesie's arm and drags her to Mary and  announces,  "We should have fun at the con as a group! C'mon I think they have the  space cartoon I like, you know the one right Onesie?"

KRO:  "I gotta give you guys props for not destroying the place like last  time..." Necktie admitted. "ALRIGHT MEN. DISPERSE."  And as quick as they appeared, they disappeared. Into the day. Like  majestic eagles.

 This was too much for Hot Pants, he just wanted to eat, "Ugh. Let's  just GO."

 Hairpin snickered a little at Amulet, "Well I'm glad you guys like my  candy. If you want, Bowtie, I can make you another bucket? Like just  give me like a couple of bucks and we got a deal."

COFFINCAT:  Mary was pretty shocked when onesie was dragged over too."W..we  should?" He looked down at his teddy, feeling a bit uncomfortable. He  was the awkward boner in the room. " Um..I-if you want to..." You  could cut through that uncomfortable atmosphere with a dull plastic  spork.

TIMERIFTS:  Onesie flashed him a smile "Oh yeah, if that's what knittens thinks we  should do" she did her best to not show how salty she was "Yeah let's  go find that cartoons booth, an extra set of eyes couldn't hurt!!" she  exclaimed, lowkey throwing glares at knittens, hoping no one would  notice. She Really hated sharing

CRACKEMWALNUTS:  Knittens dragged both of them around, oblivious to the fact that this  was just a not so good time. Dear god, please let this end not in  blood.  Fascinator spotted Knittens and the uh... Scary atmosphere. Calling  out to his younger cousin,  "Hey Knittens! Cufflink is gonna picks us up soon! So maybe say good  bye to your friends (?)"  Knittens nods and waves good bye to both of them; smiling happy and  saying that he'd like to hang out with them again. how could this  child just not get the message?  They all walked out of the con where Cufflink begrudgingly drove them  all home.

COFFINCAT:  Mj he waves goodbye to Knittens and he makes his teddy wave too. " Bye  Knittens!" He smiled a little bit. He looked up at onesie and he  backed away a little bit. "U-um.."

TIMERIFTS:  "Byee!!" she exclaimedOnesie waved to knittens as he left, then turned  to MJ "It was nice meeting you, What's your teddies name?" she asked,  being the best fake nice our there.

OSCARK9:  "Well, that was fun." He said to himself. "Even though that was epic,  I'm going home early and get my 9 hrs nap." Gloves slowly got up from  the sitting booth, walked to the nearest food stand to order some  Vanilla Milkshake, got his 'Ash-Greninja with Ash' shirt, call the  cab, and off he went back to the Abbey.

COFFINCAT:  "Nice..meeting you too I guess.." MJ hugs his teddy close to him.  "It's Mommy's love.." he moved away from her. "M- Ms Onesie..if you  um..don't like me..you don't have to pretend.." He said quietly.

TIMERIFTS:  Onesie nodded "Ohh nice! Very cute" she smiled at him "Oh no see I  just don't do well with sharing. I have no issue with you as a person"  she shrugged, leaning in closer to him "wanna go check out the  convention? I spent a long time working on this costume and it would  be a shame if it went to waste hmm? I'm sure you put a lotta effort  into yours as well"

COFFINCAT:  Mary manages to make the cutest 'really bitch?' face possible. "But  Knitten's is my friend too.." he pouts and squeezes his teddy, moving  away. " And I think I'll be just f-fine on my own Ms. Onesie..enjoy  your con!" Mj bows and basically drops the mic of the conversation.

TIMERIFTS:  Onesie kept a smile throughout the whole thing "Oh if that's what  you'd like" she shrugged "Oh that's nice" she turned, then skipped  away after MJ had finished "Have fun!! See you around" she turned back  "call me if you need anything though, protecting innocents is what I  do as an angel" she waved sweetly before turning to go find some  stuffed animals

COFFINCAT:  Fox watched in the bushes, softly whispering, " Yo you just got told  by a twelve year old fetus!"

[fishdavidson]

Dream Journal 2017-11-02: How To Deal With Stupid Adventurers

Another long dream and a few fragments in this round of Fish Davidson’s secret public internet dream journal. I hope you enjoy them as much as I liked writing them!

Dream Fragments

Maybe things aren’t stable in my waking life right now and my subconscious is laying on the dream symbolism real thick here, but I had another dream involving a house without a floor. Nobody fell in the hole or got hurt, so at least there’s that. Nothing else of note happened, so let’s move on to the next one!

I had bunk beds! This was the coolest thing in the world to have as a kid and now such a treasure is mine! The bedsheets were racecar-themed to showcase just how amazing this bunk bed set was, because Fish Davidson never stopped appreciating cool bedsheets unlike OTHER people.

While trying to rip some DVD to my computer starring some action-movie celebrity whose name completely escapes me at the moment, two small children started tugging at my shirt. Surprise! My computer is actually located at summer camp and I have zero clue who these kids are. I squint hard at them and deduce that we were once stranded on a desert island together, but I had somehow repressed these memories. These children were valiant warriors and hunters, despite their diminutive age and size. We got off the island via a plot hole, and now apparently these kids are waiting for their mother to show up. When the mother finally shows up, I tell her of the children’s mighty deeds and invaluable survival skills. But she doesn’t believe us because her kids aren’t even six years old yet.

This is my favorite fragment of the bunch, but it’s also the shortest. I can’t remember much about it other than that it featured a pirate captain who was literally a chihuahua. She had a little pirate hat and a tiny uniform with epaulets and a shrill but fearsome bark. She was the best scurvy sea dog there ever was.

Our Feature Presentation: The National Park Service Of Generic Fantasy Dungeons

It’s time for some video game blasphemy: I’ve never actually completed Ocarina of Time. I didn’t even make it that far into the game. But it wasn’t for lack of desire! My only friend with an N64 moved away and left me hanging a few hours into the game. I never got to the water temple, but I hear it was a major pain. Raising and lowering the levels of the water repeatedly in order to make any progress is a major pain.

My own water temple level occurred in this dream, and it was a dimly lit maze of concrete and dark red brick assembled into odd angles. Secret passages and dead-ends were commonplace. One thing that I didn’t realize bugged the heck out of me until just now was how all the random townsfolk in the game world know that there’s some secret dungeon off in some nearby field and it’s totally filled with magic treasure, and yet the player seems to be the only person capable of said dungeon. This gripe will become relevant in a moment, I promise.

Why is there no thriving tourism industry catering to treasure seekers? Where are all the other people who might wander in there (excepting, of course, the random characters you explicitly have to rescue as part of some sidequest)? And perhaps most importantly, where are all the foolish people who get overconfident and don’t follow directions and get stuck? Even assuming a much smaller population in the game world, why would there not be steady stream of adventurers attempting to brave the depths of whatever semi-abandoned dungeon happens to be nearby?

That’s where my new dream job came into play and answered a question I didn’t even know needed answering. I was a tour guide and park ranger for a local dungeon whose entrance was built into a hillside in a large and obvious fashion. The entirety of the dungeon wasn’t yet explored due to various perils and traps and hostile creatures, but there was a thriving community of people who enjoyed exploring the previously mapped and relatively safe areas of the dungeon.

Like any good park ranger, I made sure there were signs everywhere to keep the inexperienced adventurers away from the really hazardous areas. But there was one guy that I had on a tour who was waaaaaay out of his element. He had zero prior dungeoneering experience, the attention-span of a goldfish, and an aversion to reading the numerous signs placed in highly visible areas for the safety of our patrons.

“DO NOT TURN LEFT HERE OR YOU WILL GET STUCK!” one sign reads. This was also the most important sign that my oblivious patron managed to not read. How he missed seeing the big letters in high-contrast safety pigment is beyond me, but that dumbass turned left and wandered down the left path.

The dungeon rangers tried to give everyone multiple chances to avoid meeting an untimely demise, so of course we had more signs posted to indicate the specifics of what dangers lurked ahead. Our literacy-challenged friend came upon another such sign while poking about in the chamber known as “The Flooded Library.” In case it wasn’t obvious from the name, the Flooded Library was a chamber filled with old shelves and a lot of water. A few small concrete landings protrude above the water line next to the tops of a few shelves, and there’s a wooden lever on the wall right next to a big sign placed so as to ensure the continued existence of the local dungeon tourism industry, but the experienced explorers knew that this chamber was a dead end.

“DO NOT ENGAGE WATER SWITCH WHILE STANDING IN LIBRARY. INCREASED RISK OF DEATH WILL RESULT.” is what the sign would have said if our exasperating explorer would have actually read the damn thing. But he didn’t, and yanked a giant wooden lever that drained the entire chamber almost instantly. Activating the lever makes makes all the landings go away and the whole room sinks into the floor and turns into an nearly inescapable pit. Our favorite pigheaded pioneer gets dumped to the bottom of the pit.

Unfortunately for this guy, there is some weird stuff that happens when the library gets drained. It’s not something that can be easily expressed on a sign, but the flow of time inside the library accelerates for water. This means that most of the water in the library isn’t really draining; it’s actually evaporating freakishly fast. And our dumbass dungeoneer (like everyone else) has a body that is mostly made up of water. All the water in his poor, stupid body will evaporate in just a few hours. He is now officially stuck.

Activating the water lever makes a very loud sound not unlike the flushing of a giant toilet, so it’s very obvious that someone is doing something stupid. Most people are capable of reading the damn signs and staying away from the library, but its proximity to the entrance makes it a target for misguided adventurers. When I hear that flushing sound, Ranger Fish goes running to the rescue!

The kid’s been stuck in the hole for the better part of an hour now. He’s just barely hanging on to consciousness.

“Hey, kid!” I yell into the pit. “You still alive?”

“Yeah.”

“I bet you pulled that lever and got yourself stuck like a dumbass.”

The kid is silent, but I’ve guilt-tripped him enough for now.

“Can you swim?” I ask, reaching out as far as I can and pull the lever back to its normal position. The kid nods. “Take a deep breath and swim toward me as soon as you can.” The water rushes back into the library and throws the kid around like a rag doll. The kid manages to get a few strokes in, but like the rest of his experience in this dungeon, he sucks at it. I drag him out of the swirling pool as soon as he comes close enough to grab my hand.

I take him back to the entrance and get him dried off and then use my ranger authority to officially banish him from ever coming back to explore this dungeon because he was too much of a dumbass. Ugh… Kids these days.

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Header image of an abandoned mine tunnel by Steve Wilson (pokerbrit) on Flickr