#me and my friend found like an insane game breaking glitch

[hacksawboy]

playing casual solo without my friends for the first time for 6 hours straight has taught me that spy mains are some of the most devious people on the planet

[nekropsii]

Unprompted Elevator Pitch Time!!

Hello! My name is Nekro, and me and my team are creating a Horror Sequel/Spin-Off webcomic named Sovereignstuck. You should follow it, and here's why.

SOVEREIGNSTUCK is an in-progress MSPFA about 12 Teens, Their Friends, and a God-Making Machine - an RPG, simply titled SVURB, pieced together through mysterious scraps of code. Together, this ragtag team of young adults will have to figure out how to take control of themselves, the narrative, and win the game. But sovereignty over the story itself isn't something that can be taken without pulling a few teeth, and it's up to them to decide whether it's their own, or somebody else's...

Our main characters are a group of 12 - 10 Trolls, one Human, and one Carapacian - referred to as The Players. They all hail from the planet Afterra, a place once called Earth C by those who created it. Armed with many strange choices in weaponry, clashing personalities, and their own understanding of the Myth of The Construction, this group has found themselves the focus of the Game's attention... Much like their Ancestors, eaten alive by the game and turned into NPCs, and their newfound companions. Fighting alongside the 12 Players are The Patrons; a team of 12 Trolls who miraculously escaped their failed session one year ago, and have been dragged back into the game to provide The Players some much needed guidance. Some of them... Don't seem too keen on helping, though. You may recognize that troublemaking group - they're Reincarnations of some rather familiar faces.

Horror and antics ensue when The Players realize that the version of the game they're playing - SVURB Ver. 1.0.0 - is not only heavily glitched, down to making even their Aspect Wheel buggy... But also completely unlike the game that was spoken of in legends. How do you even cope with the implications of a Session where Light is opposite to Doom and Life is opposite to Void? How do you cope with a game where the worse your Ascension Death is, the more powerful you are? How do you cope with a game that drives you not to become a better person, but to become a better character?

At its heart, Sovereignstuck is a story about Narrative Control, Autonomy, Growing Up, and Breaking and Repeating Cycles... It's a love letter to Various Mythologies, Spin-Off RPGs, and the insanity that was the 2000's. It's a story about stories, a story about community, and a story about video games.

And if you may join us on this journey...

...We hope you enjoy the ride.

[im-s0rry]

Grimm's Chaos Clash Finale (300 Post Special)

So it seems that this little game has ended. Our winners have been found from the Chaos Clash Tourney. . .

GIVE IT UP FOR DOGGONE AND ORCHESTAL!!!

AND NOW, AS STATED, @petra-creat0r AND @cannibala-co NOW GET SPAMTON'S WILL TO LIVE AS WELL AS BRAGGING RIGHTS FOR WINNING THIS STUPID LITTLE TOURNAMENT!!!

I just wanted to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for submitting your characters, joining this tournament, voting, cheering on our contestants, and overall just having a fun time expressing your creativity through this niche community that we all call home. I made this tournament so that we could all use our creativity to push ourselves further beyond. . . And I think that we were able to accomplish that with this tournament. I am so glad that this community was able to get together and do something like this. . .

And now, a few closing statements for my 300th post on this Blog.

Folks, I'll be honest with you all, I'm not sure how I got this far. This community has shifted so much in this short time, it's hard to see how we got here in the first place. We lost and regained my dear friend Mercair, we went through two ARGs where several people got replaced by AI while Sakriss was introduced to the world, almost all of my Secret Bosses got redesigned, fun was had, and friends were made. . . To @glitch-the-artist , whom I have spent way more time with, in all honesty, I want to thank you for all that you've done for this community. Your work is amazing and has inspired me to work harder than ever. . . To @mercair , who left for a long while before returning with the incredibly made @dont-play-deltarune-at-3am ARG and a new Secret Boss, Sakriss! You've always been an incredible friend, an inspiration to many, and a niche micro-celebrity in this side of the Deltarune Secret Boss Fandom. I owe a lot to you, man, and I still don't regret turning you into Sonatta that one time. . . To @mrchaosman , who's taking a break from posting to focus on his mental health. . . Thank you. You were always there for me when I needed you, you built me up and I. . . I never returned the favor. . . And I regret all of those times where I left you on read. I hope to do better after this, I mean it this time. . . To those six other people who were at one point in my mind. . . May you rest in peace. You made up a small part of my life that. . . I kind of regret now that I think of it. Your sacrifices weren't in vain, y'all. . . But even then, I don't miss y'. . . To @creepa-b0t-inc , honestly one of the most dedicated and amazing people in this Fandom. You've helped on so many projects and worked with some of the biggest creators in this Fandom and i want to thank you for all of that work youve done for this community. Without you, I don't think this community would be the way it is now. . . To everyone who's supported my work up to this point, I want to thank all of you. Without you, I wouldn't be here ranting about my weird ocs and improving as much as I have now. This community, this game, it means so much to me. . . And I want to thank you for all of that. . .

. . . By why go out like that? Why go out without something new to think about. Something. . . Bold. This is the first time I've told anyone outside of the small group of people who I've tried to make this happen with, I'm here to tell you about Void Hotline. Void Hotline is a small Deltarune AU I've had a hand in making about WD and Dess, along with a small group of other characters including the Goners, Chara, Flowey, Seam, Everyman, and the Skeleton Brothers, all working at a call center which is specifically designed to make the Secret Bosses go insane and know the truth about their world. I wouldn't expect much from it, due to it being an uphill battle with me and the team constantly forgetting to work on it, but I feel like with the help of some other people, specifically you guys, maybe this can go somewhere. If you're interested in helping with this AU, please message me about it and I will see if you're fit for the team. Together, I hope that we can make this stupid little AU. . . And I hope that you all have a great day. I bid you all adieu. Happy 300th.

[josephthesnailshow]

Top 22. JosephTheSnail Creepypastas.

https://jts.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page

All Stories are on JTS Creepypasta Tales.

Creepypastas are horror-related legends that have been shared around the Internet. Creepypasta has since become a catch-all term for any horror content posted onto the Internet. These Internet entries are often brief, user-generated, paranormal stories intended to scare readers. They include gruesome tales of murder, suicide, and otherworldly occurrences.

These, however, are stories written by me, and these are fan-favorites, some of these stories contain disturbing and shocking content, you may be aware of existing stories like BEN Drowned and Slender Man, but this is my top 22 stories.

22. Aimkid: Lost Animation

Aimkid: Lost Animation is a ridicious trollpasta about the youtuber aimkid, after stumbling across a channel called Aimkid Archives, everything takes a creepy turn, but this pasta isn't really all that special, but go ahead and check it out if you like.

21. Shadow Fredbear's Insanity

In this creepypasta, a traumatized person discovers a tape, and this is the fore-father of every story written by me, the tape itself featured Shadow Fredbear going on a rampage and murdering his friends, proto, lolbit, springbonnie, bonnet, and even his girlfriends, shadow lolbit and shadow funtime foxy in many graphic ways.

it's implied that the tape itself was made by the devil.

20. The Crumbling House Next to Me

This house actually exists, however, the events in this story doesn't, well, it's unknown, maybe, this house actually had a serial killing history, and some people claimed that this pasta is connected to Sammy the Cat.

19. Gilligone Island

You might've heard of this show, gilligan's island is a american sitcom about a group of people getting stranded on a island, however, there was a episode that was banned for cannibalism, this one was simply called gilligone island, the author explains this episode but the set used in this episode was burnt down in real life.

18. Luigi's Mansion: Hanging Shadow Glitch

During the release of luigi's mansion on the Nintendo GameCube, players spotted a creepy glitch later on in the game, and people thought it was a reference to the beta trailer that everyone assumed to be a game over screen, however, a player broke into a abandoned nintendo building, and added everything back, the game takes a creepy turn.

17. I Found a Forest Creature

During march on 2023, at nighttime, a person discovered a cryptid, it seemed like a humanoid entity, but it wasn't a human at all; the limbs were taller than a regular human would have, and the facial features weren't human, the creature is described to have four legs and a black body with what looked like a bird-like face.

16. Empty

A random hobo was sitting in their room, browsing for some ROM hacks, and they stumble across a super mario world hack that has no name, they played it, and they discovered that some map objects were missing, and mario & luigi had no face, this story went as by far to describe a disturbing image of a mutiliated horse painted green to resemble yoshi, it's clear that this is a trollpasta that makes fun of the faceless trope in creepypastas.

15. Prototype Fredbear "Ex" Lolbit

This tale tells how break-ups can lead to some tragedies, not some, but this one takes that route, lolbit, springbonnie, bonnet, and shadow fredbear wants a idea to get back at prototype fredbear for unintentionally avoiding their anniversary, shadow fredbear tells lolbit to break up with him, she did, and proto disappeared afterwards, he was later found in a dust bin with scratches over him.

14. The Boiler Test Theory

There was a theory where a video that was surfacing through youtube was a part of a experiment, a lot of people involved passed away from tragedies, some brutal, some are natural, this theory was taken from a deleted wikipedia page.

13. The Last Misadventure

There's a DeviantART user named @bex-saysike or saysike123, a friend of saysike123 discovers a animation that has the same art style as if saysike123 drew them, this video was made before the creator of Prototype Fredbear's Ask Series #0 killed himself.

12. The Kennedy Tapes (NOT ON THE WIKI YET)

There was an active killer named Jack Kennedy, his tapes were recently recovered by authorites, and all of them were snuff films of him killing people, one of them includes a little boy being ran over by a train in the same picture taken above.

11. The Howard Family (NOT ON THE WIKI YET)

There was a loving family known as the howard family, frederick was the father of his son anthony, frederick loved to shoot up grizzly bears for food until a unfortunate tragedy would take place, they're now spirits and are possessing the main cast of Prototype Fredbear's Ask Series.

10. The Three Stooges Lost Episode (NOT ON THE WIKI YET)

Unlike dead dunderheads, this one was discovered by one person, it was a short of the three stooges, this episode was recovered along with the gilligone island episode, and this episode showed scenes that caused the episode to get banned entirely due to the stunts the actors did, they thankfully recovered.

9. Unedited Footage of a Bear

This is a short uploaded by Adult Swim, however, there was a different version that was aired on tv once, it featured creepy moments like ill people hanging from nooses, it's obvious that this is just a simple trollpasta like aimkid: lost animation and empty.

8. Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared

Although, not a creepypasta. but there's one based on the first dhmis episode, creativity, this was a prototype that was going to make it to television, but it didn't.

7. Five Nights at Prototype Fredbear's (NOT ON THE WIKI YET)

This is just a regular FNaF fangame, but there's a theory going around with the game being haunted, this was because I made a poll about it on gamejolt, and yes got picked, you can try it yourself and see if the game is haunted.

6. Lost Episodes Are Real, I Own Them

This pasta is about 3 episodes that the protagonist found like gumball getting harmed by penny's father, mr. noseybonk pointing a knife at the viewer, and curly playing the knife-finger game, and moe hitting him with the knife.

5. 11/27/22 (NOT A CREEPYPASTA)

This may not be a creepypasta, but this is a video uploaded by me of my former friend showcasing a amber alert on his television, it featured voices and loud noises, truly unsettling.

4. Soul_Opens

Just like 11/27/22, this is a youtube video as well, Soul_Opens was a new roblox myth that I and my friend targeted in my 2020 series, some videos included me being startled by the things happening in the series.

3. Prototype Fredbear’s Ask Series #0 (Or Prototype Fredbear's Ask Series: NUMBER 0)

This is a snuff film of my ask series over on the fnaf amino, this episode features creepy imagery, and gore, this video was taken from the people on the dark web, and the guy who uploaded this video on the amino explained that two of the actors, springbonnie and lolbit resembled my best friends, but it wasn't them.

There's some videos that claim to be the real thing however.

2. Burnt Luigi

"Burnt Luigi" is a Creepypasta/ARG created by JosephTheSnail (or JosephTheSnailShow). The story explains a weird copy of Super Mario 64, an installment of Nintendo's Super Mario franchise, where the player supposedly activated an easter egg that shows Luigi burning alive and becoming disfigured afterwards. The game itself was suddenly found at Gamestop, even though they don't sell games like that. The weird part about this game is that Luigi never even appeared in it until it got remade for the DS.

Sammy the Cat (Artwork by @nekojaf)

Sammy the Cat was a Warner Bros show, that was lost due to the creator of the show acting...odd...this show was recently recovered by a person who was clearing out the estate of his grand-aunt's house.

Sammy the Cat can be seen eating from a bowl of seemingly raw meat, but it was made clear on what it was when the second dvd was watched.

The story ends with the protagonist suffering from two of the things, sammy's actor was suffering over, and that's why Sammy the Cat takes the #1 spot.

[novelmonger]

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy - I think this was my favorite of the second Professor Layton trilogy. It pulls all the dangling threads from the previous two games together, you get lots of juicy flashbacks, the final confrontation with Descole...everything gets epic and exciting, and there's some really cool puzzle battles too. I wish they'd never switched over to 3D models of the characters, but it's still just a really charming and fun game.

Doki Doki Literature Club - A new addition to my roster of horror games! What starts out as a rather typical (and honestly kind of boring) visual novel about a guy who joins a literature club at his school purely because all the members are girls soon takes a turn for the extremely creepy and disturbed. I love how this game subverts so many of your expectations and really leans into the meta experience of playing a game like this. It doesn't just have awful things happen to the characters for the sake of being horrifying; it actually has something to say. I wish it could be just a little bit cleaner, but then I guess that's par for the course for a visual novel :/ Certainly not an experience I'll be forgetting anytime soon!

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - Absolutely gutted that this got such a low score :'( One of my favorite games of all time, and possibly the story game I've played more than any other. I love how it feels like you're playing through a legend like Aladdin. I love the Prince, his character arc, his relationship with Farah, the way the whole game is framed as a story he's telling. I adore the music. The fighting is some of the smoothest and most fun of any game I've ever played. Barring one awful level we don't speak of, the puzzles and traps were also quite good. Still holding out for the remake, but even if that never sees the light of day, there will always be PS2 emulators....

Osu! Tatakae! Oendan! 2 - Oh hey, someone out there has actually played this! XD As with the first game, I borrowed this from a friend and played it in a rush during one school break or another, so I don't remember it very well. I didn't know any of the songs, but it was more of the same goofy fun as the first game, and its English-language counterpart, Elite Beat Agents.

Paper Mario - I don't remember what possessed me to play this game, but I had fun with it anyway. I've found that I rather like RPG Mario games, and the art style was fun, with everything looking like it's made of paper. I also liked the story, what with Bowser and his crush on Princess Peach XD Unfortunately, it glitched in a game-breaking way three quarters of the way through, and I didn't care enough to try to make it work, so I sort of dropped it at that point.

Outlast - I think this is still the scariest game I've ever played. You play as a reporter going to investigate an insane asylum that's about to be shut down. But then you get an inkling that something not quite right is going on, and before you know it, you're trapped in this place, at the mercy of several very dangerous individuals, armed with nothing but your video camera. The game lets some things happen to the player character I never would have expected, which just ramps up the tension. Also, this one enemy that comes clanking after you in the dark, forcing you to hide in a closet and make no sound, is one of the most terrifying gaming experiences I've ever had. I love this game so much.

Myst III: Exile - As with most Myst games, you're probably either going to find this game awesome or really frustrating ^^' I actually found this one of the easiest games in the franchise, and was very proud of myself for figuring out one or two of the puzzles without any outside help. But then, there's also some awful moments of "HOW THE HECK WAS I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE THAT OUT?!" This game has the distinction of featuring the acting talents of Brad Dourif (aka Wormtongue) as the game's villain, who utterly kills it. I remember, the first time I played it, there was one scene where he's facing the camera and talking to you, I found myself shrinking back in my chair as far as I could go. Phenomenal acting.

Neverending Nightmares - Even if this wasn't a fun horror game, I'd love it purely for the unique graphics, based on the line drawings of Edward Gorey. It's all black and white, except for occasional splashes of color (like red blood), which sounds visually boring at first, but is just really appropriate for the aesthetic. Apparently, the game developer worked on this game as a means of dealing with his OCD and depression, and you can see that reflected in the story the game tells. You play as a guy stuck in...well, a nightmare that seems to have no end. Every time he tries to escape the nightmare, through death or some kind of self-harm, he just falls deeper and deeper into this terrifying experience. I wouldn't normally think it would be that creepy, or fun, to play a game where literally all you do is slowly walk down a hallway and occasionally open doors. But the atmosphere is everything. You start to feel like you're in that nightmare yourself, and it seems to me like a good metaphor for what dealing with mental illness is like.

Arbitrarily-Chosen Video Game Tournament, Round 1.22

Welcome to the Arbitrarily-Chosen Video Game Tournament, where we will find out which of the games I've played is the best game of all time!

Why? Don't ask. Just vote and reblog!

[sunlitlemonade]

Jason and/or dick, for the ask game?

First, I'm very sorry for taking so long to answer this.

Second, JASON!!!! DICK!!! I'll do my top five for both, let's go!

Jason-

Oof, kinda difficult for me to select just five for him because he's my ultimate blorbo and I like to explore him with all sorts of characters. But! For the sake of this ask game, I will whittle it down to five:-

Dick & Jason - My Ao3 is proof enough of my obsession with them. Not a single moment that I don't spend thinking about them. It is borderline insane at this point. Their relationship has LAYERS,,,, like an onion- too many and every single one of them will make you cry. They were each other's first brothers, they love each other, they scream, they mess up, they still reach out. T H E M. (Sorry to my mutuals who don't get a break from me screaming about them skskssk. Especially Scarlett and Perse.)

Jason/Roy - I have covered it in Roy's post for the ask game but the baseline is that -> them = perfect for each other. I rest my case.

Jason & Rose & Eddie - Jason and Eddie being pen pals was one of the best things to have happened in his Robin era. I want them to be friends again soooo bad. Elseworlds might show them to be married but I honestly think Rose and Jason work better as chaotic bffs. Rose and Eddie have interacted and I don't need much more to work with. They would be an amazing trio and I stand by that.

Jason & Talia - Best mother-son duo, I don't take criticism. No one can or should fight me on this ever. It's not perfect but they care for and understand each other deeply. I think about them for one second and get emotional.

Jason & Kyle & Donna - Cosmic mistakes. Need I say more? Each of them are a glitch on the fabric of reality and its w o n d e r f u l. So much to explore - from themes and motifs to the inevitable crack-y trope of them babysitting each other. (People would expect me to say Donna but she's honestly just as chaotic lololol)

Dick-

Dick & Jason - for exactly the reasons I have stated above. The other relationships on both the lists take turns on my brainrot slot but this remains at the top.

Dick & Donna - Exhibit A: "Donna, we've gone through so much together and in not all that many years. Yet, I feel as if I've known and loved you all my life. Terry is a remarkably lucky man to have found you." "I'm the lucky one. I've known so much love and now all my loved ones are here to share my happiest day. Dick... I love you." Exhibit B: "Me? I can't even listen to a bike go by without thinking of you." Like,,,,,, literally no one does it like them. They are platonic soulmates and that's on that.

Dick & Damian - I love the banter and the sweetness in their relationship. They quipped with each other just like any other dynamic duo but there's a gentler, sincere side to them that I absolutely adore.

Dick & Clark - They're besties. Dick got his mask name from a Kryptonian legend, Clark called him the "multiverse constant". What else do people want me to say on the topic?

Dick & the Titans - listen I know I talked about Donna and his relationship BUT all of the Titans are so important to him and his journey. Those were some crucial years for him as a leader but also as a person. It was a,,, Process for sure and these people were with him throughout that trip. So yes, him and the Titans are very near and dear to my heart.

[carminite-wyrm]

A Genshin Impact Hermitcraft AU Idea, God Help Me

Last year, on September 28, a particular gacha rpg game was released and I, occasionally regrettably, fell straight into playing it. In honour of the fact that this will mean I have lasted nearly a whole year (I got the game a week after bc uni) determinedly not spending any money on Genshin whilst also trying to roll good characters…here’s a bunch of Hermitcraft Genshin AU ideas that I initially came up with at roughly 2.40 am.

The general idea of this AU is that the Hermits end up in a new world that has Genshin-esque mechanics, on top of the usual Minecraft shenanigans. So, Visions and stuff. Also, we’re gonna just…briefly ignore the actual Genshin lore in regards to how Visions and Gnosises (Gnoses?) come about, for this one.

Post-S8, the Hermits are travelling to a new world, ready for another season.

The moment they arrive, it is clear to them all that…something is different. Something is vastly different with this world, for all that it appears much like the previous servers that they have lived in and travelled to. There is something of a…presence to it, in a sense.

When the Something Different doesn’t appear immediately, being the demigods/almost-deities that they are, they go about their days, setting up starter bases, gathering the basic resources and tools, the usual beginnings.

Things change when Doc wakes up one morning after a hard day at work building a new redstone machine, to find a small glowing chess piece lying next to his head, crackling with an ethereal purple light

Upon picking it up, he feels a burst of energy, almost like that one time in the previous world where he and Ren built a lightning-summoning tower

However, the changes it has wrought become apparent later that day when Scar comes out of nowhere with the recording of a creeper’s tell-tale hiss and explosion, and Doc sends him flying backwards with a startled blast of lightning

At first, they chalk it up to ‘Something Funky With Doc’s Current Project’, but after some tests, some experimentation to confirm if it was a one-off reaction…they end up confirming that they may have found out what the Weird Thing about this season’s world is

The duo go to Xisuma with their findings, and, to their collective surprise, X can’t find anything blatantly broken in the server’s code, but he does find a few interesting lines within.

By all appearances, this is not a glitch, but simply an intended feature of the server

Seven lucky hermits, designated as Archons in the server code, will receive a Gnosis, an artefact of elemental power that the server can assign, given to the ‘player who best suits the element’

The server notes speak of how the power granted (and represented through the chess-piece-shaped item) will grant the receiver the capability to shape the land around them

By random chance, other players on the server will also be gifted a Vision, a somewhat lesser artefact that will still grant them a form of elemental power

Given that the Hermits are practically gods in their own right, considering they are already capable of shaping the worlds they arrive in as they see fit…are more curious than worried, at this point

They agree to keep an eye out, to see how chaotic the sudden acquisition of elemental powers will turn out

The next person to receive a Gnosis is Grian, who delights in the bursts of wind he can use to buffer his flight, gliding across the server with naught but the turquoise magic the server has seen fit to grant him

After that, most of the Hermits soon receives some sort of Elemental power from the server

A Summary of Who Gets What (That I can think of so far):

Doc: [Electro Archon]

Can summon lightning, without need for a trident, a thunderstorm, or a machine that can generate an ongoing thunderstorm for as long as its activated

Can also generate an Electro shield, though it does require his active concentration to maintain for longer than a few seconds. This shield appears like a charged creeper’s aura, except purple

Capable of generating a thunderstorm at will, but rarely does it on account of mob spawning dangers

Has found that by channelling a low level of Electro energy, he can in fact power redstone machines just by tapping them/being in close proximity to them

This has proven to both be a blessing and a curse, considering that on occasion, when startled, he has short-circuited some of his machines

Grian: [Anemo Archon]

Generally, uses his powers as a free rocket boost for flying around the server

Upon finding out that he can use the Anemo energy to create pockets of energy that can boost flight, he takes to leaving them all over the server, in convenient locations to make flight that much more efficient

Yes, he absolutely sets up a fancy elytra course that makes use of his flight-boosters to send players rocketing around a course at breakneck paces (poor Scar experiences many instances of kinetic energy)

Bdubs: [Geo Archon]

Suddenly, making mountains and other works of major terraforming is a lot easier

Certainly, he still prefers to sculpt them and detail them by hand, but bringing the basic shape of the mountain forth by brandishing the power of Geo is something that he can do with ease, in this world

A new shop pops up in the shopping district rather quickly after this realisation: Bdub’s Landshaping Service, Now offering quick terraforming at a budget price! (it is, in fact, a service that makes him quite the amount of money)

And when he wants to sleep, without the other hermits breaking his bed? A glowing shield of steadfast golden magic takes care of that.

Gem: [Dendro Archon]

The patch of the server that Gem has claimed for herself quickly springs to life as plants of all varieties grow to surprising proportions, energised by the power that she now can radiate

The effect is most notable in and around her home, of course, but wherever she travels, the plants grow more vibrantly for days afterwards

Adding a forest of birch around her house takes little more than a thought, a fact she uses to prank some of her friends, those who in the last world were rather vocal about their dislike of non-stripped birch

Another power Gem finds herself with is the ability to summon vines even without a surface for them to initially grow upon, and thus it is not uncommon to see Gem building or resting in a hammock of woven vines

Cub: [Cryo] (cannot make up my mind if I think he’d be Archon material or not)

Gathering powdered snow has never been easier, as instead of waiting for a storm to form and last longer than it takes a Hermit to get into the nearest bed, he can simply clap his hands together and a lump of snow shoots out from just above his shoulder.

It does hurt, getting hit by the sudden snow barrage that Cub is now capable of, but except for the occasional snowball fight, his newfound snow-creation ability is used for making increasingly more insane mob farms and snowy building decoration

False: [Pyro]

The magic her Pyro Vision grants her doesn’t become apparent, not for a while, until she visits the Nether for the first time in this world

A mis-swing in a bastion, and suddenly a horde of piglins and hoglins are chasing after her, and there isn’t enough time to pillar away.

She readies her sword and shield, ready to fight, and suddenly her blade crackles to life with bright flames, unlike the fire aspect enchantment in that it actually is on fire.

Every attack she lands, whilst her sword is alight, seems to invigorate her, return strength and stamina that was lost when she had first tried to flee the enraged inhabitants of the bastion

Xisuma:

The admin is one of the few to not receive a Vision or a Gnosis

Quietly, he does admit to being relieved, considering his powers as an admin are already much greater than that of the other Hermits, for all that they are still his equals

And then, one day, whilst X is placing his diamonds to sign up to one of Grian’s newest competitions, he feels a rush of foreign magic, so unlike the familiar ordered pulses of server code

The blast of wind that comes with a swing of his sword, much later whilst he is mob-farming, is greatly surprising, if not unexpected.

The funny thing about all these new powers, granted by the server itself in the form of artefacts that can easily sit in one’s palm, is that for all they are miraculous on their own, the natural capabilities of the Hermits are already enough to rival them

In the hands of an ordinary person, an ordinary player, the powers from this world would bring them close to the near-omnipotence of Creative, could even be the driving force of server-wide conflict.

Powers such as these, while they can build great things, can so easily be used to destroy, to cause war and destruction, and in other realities, they have.

Perhaps whatever trick of fate that caused the server to be capable of granting these powers hoped to create that conflict, to see what would happen when only a few of their number were gifted such strengths.

Later, when the initial surprise and rush to test out the limits of the server’s granted magics dies down, Zedaph approaches Xisuma, one of the few to not possess an artefact of elemental magic, with an observation

Zedaph notes that, from his studies of the Hermits’ new powers, almost all of them are oriented vastly towards combat, whether they be summonable blades of frost, elemental shields, or even the ability to soothe aches and hurts

And even though the Hermits have all found ways to make those powers work in the ways that they wish them to, it does not take away from the fact that the likeliest original purpose of this server’s magic was for fighting

Any other server, any other group, Zedaph quietly says, and there would more than likely have been bloodshed, given the inequality in the range of power granted

At the end of the day however, unexpected gifts of power or not, the Hermits, at their core, are a group that creates and innovates, a band of friends that shape entire worlds with naught but their own ideas and willpower, and regardless of what powers they now possess in this particular realm, that will not change.

[st-hedge]

So i guess i just “finished” age of calamity but there are still incomplete side quests. I cant say if u should get it or not so PLEASE dont ask that cuz I DONT KNOW. I honestly cant say if u will like it. But if anyone wants to know what i think of it subjectively go ahead and click on the read more. Warning: spoilers 🤷‍♂️

Its extremely vanilla I’ll admit that straight away. Painfully vanilla. Its a fairytale what if scenario of what could have happened if things went the way the champions had hoped. Everyone survives and more. Ive seen people spew and fume at that but honestly if its just a pretty scenario I don’t hate it and it feels like what i need right now. If i want a fairy tale apocalypse I can go and play botw or something else. This is a what if alternate universe and it made me cry like a bitch

Its not a ground breaking storyline (neither is botw lol) but ive found myself not giving a shit cuz of how much fun ive had (and still having). The combat is batshit, the character selection is on crack, and ive always wanted to play as urbosa and zelda so fuck off. I’m having immense fun. Also the pre calamity hyrule is so beautiful how can i get bored??? I mean its pretty sad that everything is timed so i cant just spend an hour taking screenshots but thats what replaying scenarios is for

There are some weird inconsistencies that i dont quite understand tho. Like how can kohga be alive and be presumably the same age as he is in botw? Am i missing something? There is also something weird about how the bond between zelda and link formed. There is nothing in the events of hw:aoc that should have affected how it was portrayed in botw. Allow me to explain: in botw link already has the master sword and zelda is quite cold and formal with him; she tells him to fuck off basically and that she doesnt need his help. However in hw:aoc before he even gets the sword they are already decent friends and zelda is nice to link. ??????? There are probably more but i cant remember

Other things that I think could have been improved on: more about the champions. I thought they would be given more cut scenes with backgrounds but there is barely anything. Also. If they were gonna give ganon a new form and a new follower (the seer) why not give ganon more identity and functionality besides just being the voiceless big bad at the end (but hey maybe thats left for botw2)

Anyway. Seeing the new and old champions interact was amazing but also chilling. Seeing Sidon meet mipha made me Weep. And then getting the opportunity to save the champions was just—— it was an experience and i loved it. Getting them all to fight together in different combinations is truly the most fun thing. Also the little snippets of interactions when completing side quests for npcs and such is fucking hysterical. What made me happy most of all is that this particular story is not link’s. It’s actually about zelda. Yes link is the hero and he gets some of the cut scenes but honestly this is about zelda and she gets the journey she needed

I dunno how soon will i replay it after completing every single side quest i can trigger. Playing the game is really harsh on the eyes and i kept taking long breaks tho to be fair i did play for several days straight. Some champions are really hard to control and they make the screen just glitch and flash and it made me really nauseas but since they are only side characters it was fine

If u dont like button mashing and intense, demanding combat please dont get this. Watch the cut scenes on YouTube. If u love insane stupid combat and u can ignore a vanilla plot, maybe consider it? I dont know what my preference is but ive enjoyed (and still enjoying) hw;aoc a lot and i dont regret buying it one bit. I need some easy on the brain vanilla and silly button mashing and it hit the spot

[northwestofinsanity]

I was tagged by @ritchieblackless Thank you!

1. Why did you choose your url?

The “Northwest” comes from “Northwestern”.  As far as that part goes, it’s a long, complicated story, involving a character from some original stories I used to write for my younger cousins when they were kids, and my favorite vessel on Deadliest Catch (it used to be a good show).  “Insanity” comes from exactly what it sounds like.  I’m never fully sane... but majority of the time, I’m not entirely insane, so I played a pun on what became my online name to suggest I’m just a little up the road to the north and west of true insanity.

2. Any side blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

None so far.

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

February 2017... so that’s a little over 4 years as of now.

4. Do you have a queue tag?

No, and I don’t really use the queue.  I’m not active enough on Tumblr to have much use for it, and I pretty much just post whenever the mood strikes me, and when I have time to search and focus on what my hyperfixation du jour is.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

The community I was in on DeviantArt (not band-related) was melting down in a really nasty way, and one of my closer friends there became abusive, so once I got everything I was in charge of there handed over, I abandoned my account.  I was in some *intense* emotional pain, and I needed distraction, and distance from the fandom.  I basically came to Tumblr to hyperfixate on my favorite bands more -it was something I’d considered, but didn’t have the time before that to commit to it.

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

My icon is Jeff Pilson and George Lynch.  Dokken was one of the bands I was most hyperfixated on in 2017, and they, along with a friend who is also a fan of them, really were helping me get through that hard time when I made this account.  Besides that, Jeff and George have a really wholesome friendship despite the turbulent history of Dokken.  As for my pfp, I just chose generic guitars I found on Google Images to create a minimalist background.  I have a tight data limit, and I tend to force every ounce of life out of my devices, so I make my own stuff as easy to load as possible, and most likely to function even if an outdated, semi-incompatible browser doesn’t format things quite right.

7. Why did you choose your header?

“Classic Rockhaven” (I assume that’s the header?) comes from my love for classic rock, and the idea of rock and roll being a safe-haven for me at the time.  “Rockhaven” also closely resembles the name of a neighborhood a few miles away from my own in my hometown, so I knew it would flow right.

9. How many mutuals do you have?

I have 14 as of now.  I’ve lost a few due to some people leaving, or switching accounts

10. How many followers do you have?

429.  Some are unfortunately fomer-porn accounts I haven’t had a chance to weed out and block.  A good number are just empty, lurker accounts as well, but as long as those followers are enjoying classic rock content, that’s fine by me.  I’m grateful for the followers I have who do enjoy and interact with my posts.

11. How many people do you follow?

Officially, 38, but there are a good number of accounts I “unofficially” follow, by visiting blogs every night I have the chance.  I’d love to follow more, and am looking to officially follow a few of those, since a few of the people I already follow have gone inactive or left.  With my lifestyle, and data limits, I just have a hard time keeping up with my dashboard even with the tiny amount of people I follow, so I like to really get to know blogs first, and then slowly add them to my follow list so I don’t get overwhelmed. 

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

I believe so, depending on where you draw the line on that.  (at least in my definition, I have).  Do snarky posts about Tumblr’s glitches and that time I drowned my phone at work count?  Or the crazy, crack-fic cartoons I drew in quarantine?

13. How often do you use tumblr each day?

On my weekends/off-days, whenever I want and can.  On my 12-hour workdays, I check my dash before I leave home, once over data while I’m on my lunch break, and then at least once when I get home.  If I’m getting home on time, and not late because the evening ran long, I’ll check on blogs I watch without following yet.

14. Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

Not that I’m aware of... I’ve made neutral posts discouraging other blogs from fighting though, because I’ve seen plenty of traumatic things internet fights can lead to in the events leading to me joining here, and I don’t want to see anyone go through that when usually, nobody wins.  At best, I think I had someone misunderstand what I said on a post where there was affectionate teasing of a certain 80s guitarist, and I meant to play along with the joke to say “don’t tease him, he’s a nervous wreck” -and added some band history for any watchers who didn’t know the story behind why said guitarist is so nervous... but it didn’t come to anything.

15. How do you feel about "you need to reblog this" posts?

9 times out of 10, I agree with what they’re saying, but I don’t like reblogging these things, because it feels like it’s being crammed down everyone’s throat -I’m much more receptive to things that don’t feel forced, along with plenty others.  To begin with, they’re not really what I’m here for.  Tumblr is a place I joined for a mental escape from the world’s problems -not a place to ruminate on them.  And when I’m seeing them when I’m half-mentally numb in the middle of a 12-hour shift with only 1 gigabyte per month of data to work with, or when I’m home after that day and dead on my feet, it just turns me off.

16. Do you like tag games?

I like doing them when I have the time at home to sit down and do them over Wi-fi.  The only thing I’m iffy with is tagging others, because I don’t want to make someone feel pressured into doing it.

17. Do you like ask games?

As long as the questions aren’t about a certain few things I will not share about, I have fun with those.  I just have to find one to reblog from someone I follow that comes up at a time I know I’ll have time at home to answer.

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I don’t know if anyone truly is, but @mccoys-killer-queen ’s sideblog is pretty well known.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

No, but I do care for a number of my mutuals (including a couple I haven’t officially followed yet) a great deal, and can say I wish nothing but happiness for them, and if they were to leave, I would truly miss them (but also support it if they deemed it best -as I have with a few past mutuals).

20. Tags

Anybody who wants to!

[lindalevanimamm]

Reality- Chapter 3

I woke up and immediately my head was pounding in pain. I looked over my shoulder to see nothing. No one was there. I frowned. Of course it was all just a dream. He’s not real. How stupid can I get? No, how lonely am I? It felt so real though. I started to tear up. Damn it not now. It was just a dream it’s nothing to cry over. But even in my dreams people still leave me. Why did I wake up expecting Seven to be here? It’s not possible. He’s not real.  I reached to my bedside table and grabbed my phone, desperate for some kind of distraction. I started scrolling through social media, my mind eventually going blank. No breakdowns today. I sighed. Another boring day for me. Thankfully, it’s a Saturday, so I can just do nothing. I don’t even have to leave this bed. After a few hours of mindless scrolling I started to become hungry. I stood up after getting out of bed and stretched. My headache began to get worse. Ugh, I cried too much last night. I started to walk out of my room, but something caught my eye. I turned around and looked at the other small table next to my bed. I squinted at it, my brows furrowing. That’s not there….is it? There’s no way. What is happening? I walked over to it. A red letter was left on the table. I hesitated before touching it. It’s real. Is it? Or am I finally going insane? With shaking hands I picked it up to read it. The handwriting on it was unfamiliar to me. It can’t be. Maybe I am just going insane. It was a dream, Saeyoung doesn’t exist. I held my breath as I read the note. “(Y/N), I’m so so so so sorry to do this to you. I promised you I wouldn’t go, but I did. I didn’t mean to, but I still broke my promise. I guess that’s all I can do is break promises. Something is wrong. I thought my machine would work to keep me here, but last night my head started to pound and my body shook. I can see myself phasing back to my dimension right now, so I’m trying to make this quick. I’m sorry I have to leave, but I promise I’ll find a way to perfect the machine so I can come back to you. Please wait for me, ~Saeyoung”. After staring at the letter for what felt like hours, I let out my breath. Was it all real? Was he here? No that’s not possible. There’s no way. I must really be going insane. I got home last night and went to bed, everything after that was a dream. My mind is just playing tricks on me. It’s nothing. I put the letter back on the table and left to go eat. I made some eggs and toast and sat down to eat. What has my life come too? Why am I even doing this? I’m so alone my brain is trying to convince me that Saeyoung, a character from a game, is real, and here for me. Haha as if. Why would he want me? I’m worth nothing. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. I’m a disaster. No one likes me, if someone did then wouldn’t I have at least one friend? I try talking to people, but I’m either ignored or they don’t talk back. I’m too closed off, too shy, too stupid I guess. There’s no way someone would want to be with me. So I should just- “No!” I shouted at myself, slamming my fist down on the table. Stop. Don’t do anything. You’ll just burden people more. Stop thinking. Stop feeling. It’s not worth it. You’re not worth it. I grabbed my water and chugged it. You’ll get through this. Should I call someone? Tell someone? No. They wouldn’t want to deal with it. Getting things off your shoulders is a luxury I don’t get. Think about something else. Oh I know how about how you’re not straight. People will judge you. Your parents say they’d be fine with it, but would they really? No. They wouldn’t. Frustrated with myself again, I got up from the table. I put my dishes into the sink and went to find my earbuds. I shoved them in my ears and started to play music to drown out the argument in my head. I truly have gone crazy. I closed my eyes and focused on the music. It’s my only comfort besides anime. 

After a few songs I had calmed down. I decided to switch distractions and watch anime. I grabbed my remote and put one on. I had gotten really into the fight scene ahead of me, when I was interrupted by my doorbell. Confused, I paused the show and went to the door. No one was there, so I opened it. I looked down to see a small package and flowers. Who in the world would?... I picked them up and brought them inside, after looking down the halls of my apartment. Yeah, no one in sight….weird. I set the box and flowers down on my kitchen counter. I looked for a note, expecting one to be in the flowers, but there was none. Maybe in the box? I grabbed a knife, I know really safe, and opened the box. I finally found a note. “I hope this works haha. Hang in there, I’m coming back. ~S”. I dropped the letter in shock. No way. What is happening? Is someone stalking me? This is getting weird. It can’t be Saeyoung...he’s not real. But how do I explain that dream? It felt so real. Then the letter and now this...either I’m going insane, someone is really stalking me, or- no he’s not real. But maybe he is… I decided to look and see what was in the box. It had my favorite snack. How? The flowers were some of my favorites too. My mind went through a list of people I knew. Who would know this? My parents knew, but it’s unlikely they just sent me flowers. I grabbed my phone and decided to ask my parents. A few minutes I got the answer, they hadn’t. They asked if it was from someone special like a boyfriend, and I grimaced when I read it. They can’t know. So of course I answered and said no it was nothing. I didn’t want to worry them. My phone vibrated in my hand, bringing me back to it’s attention. It was another notification from mystic messenger. I opened it up, just a chatroom with 707. 

*(Y/N) has entered the chat

707: (Y/N)!

(Y/N): 707!

707: Did it work?? 

My heart stopped. This chatroom isn’t supposed to say that. Is it really? I looked at the options I was given to answer, but there were none. Instead I could type in whatever I wanted. My eyes widened and my hands shook. It’s real? He’s real? I swallowed and typed a message. 

(Y/N): what’s happening?

707: YES! FINALLY!

707: I did it!

707: No options right? 

707: You can see this?

(Y/N): yes...but what’s happening

(Y/N): are you really there? That wasn’t a dream

707: yes I’m here. I’m real. We all are.

707: I finally hacked in to make this a way to communicate freely instead of these ‘options’ and story line. I did it 

(Y/N): I’m really confused. This can’t be real

707: it is

707: did you get the flowers and snacks? :D

(Y/N): yeah….

707: YES!

707: HAHA IM SO HAPPY

707: But celebrating is for later. I’m sorry I left so suddenly

707: I thought I had figured it out, but there was a glitch in the machine I made. I'll fix it and be there as soon as I can. 

707: but~

707: for now you can talk to us, the real us, with no options or story line

(Y/N): I’ve really gone insane haven’t I? 

(Y/N): Haha

(Y/N): ha...I should call someone this has gone too far

707: (Y/N). You’re not cray. We’re here and we exist, it’s just a different dimension

(Y/N): Different….DiMeNsIoN?!~

707: …

(Y/N): Yeah OkAy. Alternate dimensions exist and I’m talking to the Saeyoung Choi for real. He “exists” 

707: yes….

(Y/N): oh I’ve really gone insane 

707: no, we’re here...do you not remember last night?...

(Y/N): yes, last night I had a DREAM that Saeyoung Choi came to see me. HAHA me as if. And I guess I’m still dreaming, or I’ve gone insane at this point because this isn’t possible

707: That wasn’t a dream. This isn’t a dream. 

(Y/N): yeah okay~ 

707: well then I guess I’ll have to convince you when I see you again that I’m real...I’ll have to leave more evidence… maybe this time on you 

*Zen has entered the chat

Zen: what the hell is going on? 

Zen: Saeyoung why can I say what I want? 

Zen: Also stay away from (Y/N) 

707: Zen! So glad you’re here. I broke us out 

Zen: broke us out?...

707: Yep! We were all stuck in this game/dimension and I figured out how to get us out of the game part. So our lives will no longer repeat. Also I met (Y/N) last night in their dimension. 

Zen: so… we’re free?

707: Yep! But (Y/N) doesn’t believe me :( 

Zen: they’re here? 

(Y/N): Hi “Zen” 

Zen: omg 

Zen: this is happening

(Y/N): yes, welcome to my dream of insanity 

Zen: I think this is real…

(Y/N): its real in this dream of mine

707: see? 

707: I think I’ve almost fixed the machine so I should be able to go back tomorrow 

Zen: can I go? 

707: I don’t think it can handle more than one person, we might blow up time 

Zen: ok…

707: sorry

707: I should go work now though

707: (Y/N),

707: I promise I’ll be there tomorrow

707: bye~

(Y/N): yeah ‘see you tomorrow’

*707 has left the chat

Zen: so…

(Y/N): this is crazy

Zen: yeah it is…

Zen: we’re really free. I can go see people for real

Zen: I’m going to go, I need to think 

(Y/N): bye ig

*Zen and (Y/N) have left the chat

I’ve really gone insane. I decided not to think about it, or at least try not to. So I spent most of the remainder of my day watching anime and eating occasionally. I didn’t notice my eyes closing as I was watching, eventually falling asleep on my couch for the night.

[super-famicom-star-inactive]

Friday Special #8

January 22nd, 2021

So for today’s Friday Special, I wanted to cover a speed-running phenomenon that has recently come up in gaming news, from the Japanese side this time. This is both fascinating as a Dragon Quest fan and a little horrifying as a Famicom-owner.

I’ve been wanting to talk about this since I saw it on Twitter. So let’s talk about it.

So according to Twitter and web articles, there apparently is a trend going on in the speed-running community and the game of focus is Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation for the Nintendo Famicom. Apparently it was discovered back in the summer of 2020 that there was a glitch in the game that would cause the player to start at level 99. How it was found out is unknown, but if the player saves the game before toggling the power button while pressing the reset button at the same time, it would trigger a glitch where the player would start the game with maxed stats. 

Considering that DQIII is one of the most popular and one of the biggest best-selling games of all time, this is especially noteworthy. 

Here’s an article about the phenomenon in question:

https://gonintendo.com/stories/374789-dragon-quest-speedrunners-are-literally-heating-up-their-famicoms?page=1

Sounds intriguing enough, but that’s not all of it.

It is reported that the glitch may not work on all versions of the Famicom due to system changes over the years, but it has also come to light that depending on the temperature of the console itself would increase the success rate of the glitch happening.

That’s right, speed-runners are literally heating up their consoles and possibly causing internal damage just for a glitch to kick in so they achieve a faster record.

Don’t believe me? Here’s an article where one speed-runner put a hot-plate under his Famicom to guarantee his success:

https://gamerant.com/dragon-quest-speedrunner-hot-plate-level-99-glitch/

It should also be mentioned that the glitch only works on the Famicom version of DQIII (it wouldn’t work on the Super Famicom version, or any of the latest versions) and that Nintendo themselves has advised against going to such extremes with heating the console like that.

Now it’s always rad to see Dragon Quest news because that’s one of my favorite gaming franchises. But as a Famicom-owner, this scares me because of how difficult it was to even get my own Famicom (it costed me three weeks and $60 to find the one I had) and I’m terrified of accidentally breaking mine somehow due to its age. I think it has to be due to the fact that Famicoms are much more common over in Japan so they probably could get away with it because it has a better likelihood of getting fixed or replaced whereas here in the United States where may two friends of mine actually know what a Famicom is, it’s a rare find indeed. I assume these guys know what they’re doing as it has been known for speed-runners to pull all kinds of insane stunts in order to achieve a faster time on the board but geez if this doesn’t make me nervous, especially with a console that will have its 40th anniversary in 2023. 

Please don’t barbeque your consoles, kids, it ain’t worth it with the potential for fire or irreversible internal damage. 

So do y’all think about all of this? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thank you for reading!

[always5hineee]

Hell and Back- Chapter 26: Dr. Who (Trials 40-41)

Word count: 1520

Chapter warnings: Mild language and themes

-----

       How was he meant to handle this? There wasn't a lot he could do, but he knew the outcome. Was the game going to purposely kill Y/N? It was limiting his power, so even if he wanted to break the rules, he wouldn't be able to. Once he unfroze time... It would stay that way for better or worse, until the trial was over.

       Could he make it so that the train was safe? He may be able to dismantle the cow pusher if he really tried, but tying up all the hydraulic cables? That would be a nightmare. He didn't even know how to disconnect the cars if he wanted to, and their forward momentum would push them into her anyway. He didn't know if he could even reverse any further with his power limited by the game. Not only that, but his mental state was affecting his physical one. He didn't know how strong he could actually be.

       Walking over to the train, he looked to the cow pusher. Giving it a kick, he tried to see if it would come off, but it was clearly bolted into the vehicle. Maybe there would be wrenches on the train. Walking around to the conductor booth, he tried to heave himself up to the door. Hands slipping as his grip weakened, he fell back into the rocks. Grunting in pain, he shook as he tried to pull himself up. He couldn't afford to pass out yet, he'd end up releasing time. He just had to find the tools.

       Pulling up on the bar a second time, he nearly made it, but his foot slipped, sending him sprawling to the dirt a second time bashing his head on the ground. His vision began to swim as he laid back, body giving out against his will. He tried to mutter to himself, force himself to get up, but he couldn't do anything about it. Finally, against his own volition, he fell into unwilling sleep.

       "Tao..." He heard the muffled voices in the back of his head, as if he were underwater. His breathing was labored and he felt hot, sweating in his own skin. Was this death? Was he dying? He could see their faces in front of him, bubbling and twisting like a portal. Their colors were shifting from too saturated to too monochrome, disorienting hi as they shouted.

       "Tao!" Jumping out of whatever strange realm he had found himself in, he blinked in confusion, looking around at them. Staring up, he saw all of their faces. Sehun, Kai, Kyungsoo, Kris, Chanyeol, Lay, Chen, Baekhyun, Suho, and Xiumin.

       "W-where's Luhan?" He asked, practically shaking. In that strange place he had been hot, but now he was desperately terribly cold.

       "Tao, Luhan left..." Suho put a hand on his shoulder.

       "O-oh, right..."

       "Are you okay, man?" Sehun asked, obvious concern on his face.

       "Y-yeah, I'm good, he said, shuddering involuntarily.

       "Well in that case, what the fuck is this?" Kris asked in an accusing tone, shoving something in his face.

       "Kris, come on, give him a-" Suho started, but was rudely cut off.

       "No, we deserve an explanation." Trying to focus his eyes, Tao saw that it was a phone screen.

       "Huh?"

       "Don't play stupid. What the fuck is this? We're on trial forty one. Y/N's train stunt was supposed to be trial thirty one. And this trial is for you." Grabbing onto the phone, slightly nauseous, he tried to read it. Finally, his eyes caught on the letters, brightness somewhat disorienting.

       Final Time Trial - Player Tao

       Trial 41: Tell the truth.

       Limited power: Tao

       Drop-out Fee: Not Applicable. Drop-out is not permitted.

       He looked up between each of them, searching for some form of sympathy. The best he received was the worry in Y/N's eyes. Other than that, though, everyone was accusatory, hurt, or both. No one knew what was going on. He stuttered as he tried to explain, Y/N dying, the resets, all of it. He was rambling about watching her death, having to tell the others how to save her, the amount of times he had to reverse and pause and reverse again. He sounded crazy. Kris was mostly just upset that his car was a mile down the road. Suho was the first to crack, offering him sympathy, hand still on his back.

       "It's okay Tao, everything is fine now. And you've finished a ton of our work."

       "This doesn't make sense, though." Kyungsoo pointed out, still suspicious. "He said that the fortieth trial was to let Y/N go through with it without fixing time. If she died the first time, and he passed out before he could re-model the train, how is she still alive?" Tao hadn't even thought about that. How was Y/N still alive. They all looked to her, and she shrank back from the attention.

       "Uh, I don't know. It hurt for a minute, but I think that was just my fear. It was really loud and hot. I had a few burns from the sparks, but Lay took care of them." She showed her clean arms. "I'm fine, though, we should worry about Tao-" As she was saying this, he disappeared.

       Not getting up, not leaving, nothing. One minute, he was sitting on the floor, and the next he was gone. Kris was the first to look behind them, then towards the tracks, and everywhere in between. They weren't exactly used to Tao's time traveling, but they generally knew how it worked. As long as they were moving and interacting, he was unfrozen, and he generally stayed nearby, but there was technically no basis to uphold that. At any moment, they could have been paused for hundreds of years, and they wouldn't even have known.

       "Where did he go?" Kris growled, glaring.

       "Calm down." Lay muttered to him.

       "I know you're around here somewhere!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, completely ignoring Lay's advice. Picking up the phone from where he had left it on the ground, Y/N saw that his challenge had been completed. Showing it to Suho, they read through it together.

       Congratulations! You have completed the time trials. Welcome to Round 4! Round 4 will consist of 9 trials for all players. If a player cannot continue or chooses to drop out, the trial will be null for that player and they will be penalized with the dropout fee. Other players are not affected. Round 4 will end after trial 50.

       "Guys!" He screamed out, looking around desperately. His body was tired, his mind was tired, it was impossible to think. "Where are you?" Tao was frantically spinning in search of his friends, looking to where they had been standing just moments before. The train was jumping in and out of view, flitting from where it had ben sitting, to down the track, to completely gone, then back again. The rails were changing from rusted, to shiny, back to cracked, then to nearly completely buried. Everything around him was clouded in a murky gray, as if he'd entered a black and white comic.

       Watching as everything glitched in and out around him, he sank into the ground, tears still streaming down his face from the horrors he had endured earlier. Falling backwards, he looked to the sky, where the birds overhead were growing larger and smaller, until finally, it looked less like a bird and more like a dinosaur.

       Wait... it didn't look like a dinosaur, it was a dinosaur.

       Swooping down, the thing launched itself at him, intent on catching its prey. He tried to pause time, but in doing so, everything around him shattered like glass, little realistic pieces of the scene around him separated by vivid white lines. Then it reformed, broke again, healed itself, over and over. The sound alone was driving him insane. Every time he tried to rise, he'd only be able to stay for a few seconds, before crashing once more.

       This had to have been his power. He was watching everything age and reverse, launching through the timelines at unprecedented speeds. One second he was at the opening ceremony for the railroad, the next in the jurassic era. He wasn't able to control it, and he was stuck there, looping back and forth in a dizzy vertigo spinning out of control. Then, for just a brief second, he saw his friends once more, walking down the road towards where he'd left Kris's car.

       "Stop! Wait! Wait for me, I'm right here!" He yelled desperately as their figures shakily tried to remain in view by Tao's sheer willpower. "Suho! I'm still here, can't you see me?" He was screaming, chasing after them. They were becoming less and less easy to discern.

       "Y/N! Please!" He begged, "I-" Before he could even make it to them, they completely dissipated, sending him sprawling into a new time, causing him to throw up on the ground in front of him. He wouldn't have to worry about the mess as he was tossed again. Would it ever stop?

Go to Chapter 27

[solaneceae]

EGOTOBER DAY 6 - Coffee

Henrik knew from the get-go that this was going to be a shitty day.

Now, today was supposed to be his first off day in… months? Years? He wasn’t sure. He’d been against it of course, but his insufferable colleagues kept pestering him about “healthy work balance” and “self-care” and other nonsense of the same caliber. It had gotten to such a degree that even his boss had stepped in, basically ordering him -Schneep didn’t take no orders from no-one, thank you very much- to take a week off.

“I have some patients in the west wing that look healthier than you do right now, Henrik.” his boss had said. He’d then taken a long look at the ego’s face and shaken his head. “Scratch that, all of them do. I don’t need one of my best doctors to burn out on me, do you understand?”

So now here he was, slowly waking up in his room back home, with nothing to look forward to.  Schneep sighed and draped an arm over his eyes, blocking off the light coming from the slits between his blinds. He could faintly hear Chase’s laughter coming from downstairs, as well as Robbie’s delighted cries; they were probably playing a game of sorts. That was odd. Those two weren’t usually up so earl-

Wait a minute.

He jerked his arm off his face, a sense of urgency rushing through him. His bedroom was too bright, his body too heavy with the remnants of sleep, his bed too warm. What time- 

The German clumsily fished out his phone from under his pillow and unlocked it, wincing at the harsh light of the screen. His jaw dropped.

“11AM?! Mist!”

This couldn’t be happening. This shouldn’t be happening, his phone always woke him up at 6AM sharp, every single day. But as he opened the clock app, he realized his trusty alarm was… gone. Not even turned off, just straight up missing. 

He was pretty sure he’d remember deleting it -not that he ever would. Was this some sort of glitch…?

His face twisted in rage as he realized. This motherfucker.

The little shit was gonna get an earful when Henrik found him. The doctor threw the covers off of him and jumped out of bed -ouch, his head pounded at the sudden movement. Note to self, get some ibuprofen before going downstairs.

He couldn’t believe he’d just slept for twelve hours. This would not stand; he couldn’t just laze around all day, he’d go insane. He was a man of action, god dammit! Staying idle wasn’t an option, not in a million years. God, to think he had a week left of this nonsense. His coworkers hadn’t even let him bring his files, what was he supposed to do?!

The voices coming from under him grabbed his attention again, planting an idea in his mind: it had been a while since he’d put his siblings through a proper medical checkup. Perhaps they were overdue for one. A neurotic smile grew on his face as he started to frantically put on some clothes, despite the floor slightly rocking beneath his feet. Yes, he needed to make sure everyone was healthy, update their medical files, and check if Jackie’s ribs were still healing properly from his latest scuffle, and after that he could reorganize his office downstairs -something he’d be putting off for a while- and, and, and-

 ***

 “Gunten tag, Marvin. How have you been lately?”

The magician squirmed in his seat, looking around Henrik’s office with an aggravated expression. “Can’t we postpone this? I have a show to prep for this evening…” “I assure you, this won’t take long. I’ve haven’t been home as much these last few weeks, I figured it was time for a check-up.” “You did one last month-” “How’re your burns? Do you change your bandages every day?”

The green-haired magician frowned under his mask; his brother wasn’t listening, and he was usually the one pestering the rest of them about communication and honesty. Something wasn’t right. “... yeah. And I’m taking a break from potion making until they’re healed, like you told me to.”

The German nodded, scribbling something in his grey notebook. “Gud. I appreciate the basement not blowing up every other day.” “Oh come on, you’re exaggerating,” Marvin protested, straightening up in his chair, “My potions don’t explode, they’re just… feisty.” “Right, right. Of course.” the doctor mumbled dismissively, still not tearing his eyes away from the papers on his desk.

The masked man blinked. Okay, something was definitely up; Schneep would never miss an opportunity to berate him about the “dangerous and volatile experiments” of his. And was it the lighting in the room or did his counterpart seem a little paler than normal? “Hey, doc… is something wrong? You’re being less of an ass that usual.”

Henrik stopped writing, looking up at his patient. He pursed his lips in annoyance. “First of all, I take offense to that. Und nothing’s wrong.” he stated before taking a sip of his morning coffee -or afternoon coffee? His inner clock was all over the place today.

The magician tilted his head, doubtful. Maybe he should ask Anti to keep an eye on the older ego, just in case. Be useful for once. “If you’re sure… are we done here? I asked Yan to give me a ride downtown, they should pick me up in a few.”

Schneep’s grey eyes squinted in confusion. Yan? As in, the red-haired Iplier that dressed like a japanese schoolgirl? “He has his licence?” “They,” Marv emphasized, “don’t. They drive a bike, and yes I’ll wear a helmet, stars.” The German nodded. “They, my apologies. I didn’t know you two were acquainted.”

Marvin fiddled with the hem of his cape, averting his gaze. “We- it’s a recent thing. I know you and the glitch bitch don’t like us hanging out with the Ipliers, but Robbie introduced us and-” “Robbie?!”

He stopped. Henrik was staring at him, dumbfounded. That’s when Marvin realized he’d just, as Anti would say, fucked up. “...shit. He didn’t tell you, did he.” “Tell me what? That he’s been hanging out with the Ipliers behind my back?! They’re dangerous!” “You hang out with their doctor all the time! How is this any different?”

Schneep grit his teeth at the mention of his friend and colleague, and pushed back the unwanted thoughts. “We work together, und he’s a sensible person who doesn’t stab people left and right!”

Marvin bristled, hands clutching the fabric of his pants “Yan doesn’t-”

The doctor interrupted him, raising his hands in a placating manner. “I- look, I’m sorry I snapped, okay? I don’t know them, not like you seem to do, so it’s not my place to judge.” He sighted, something soft crossing his features. “I know you can handle yourself, Marv, so if you want to make friends with Dark’s family, I sure as hell ain’t gonna stop you, that would be hypocritical of me. But Robbie is-”

“What? An idiot? Clueless? Is that what you think?”

Schneep growled, massaging his temples. That stupid headache was coming back. “Don’t put words in my mouth. Robbie is far from stupid, but he’s not like the rest of us, you know that. He’s… innocent. I just don’t want him to get hurt.”

A pregnant pause. The magician fell back in his chair, shaking his head. “Hen… he’s not a child, even if you and Chase and… pretty much everyone here thinks of him that way. If you think he’s too naive to make his own decisions, then you might not know him as well as you think you do.”

Henrik chuckled bitterly. “Not as much as you do apparently, if he didn’t trust me enough to tell me himself.”

“He does trust you… but he also knows how protective of us you are. Maybe he thought you wouldn’t let him see them if you found out.” Marvin shrugged. “And from your reaction just now, I can see why he would.”

The doctor groaned; god dammit, this wasn’t how he had planned to spend his day. Looked like he and the zombie were due for a talk. “Does Anti know about this?”

His patient laughed. “Hell no, he’d throw a hissy fit if he found out. That guy goes full-on when it comes to Rob. Honestly, I think you and me are the only ones in the know for now.”

Henrik hummed and closed his notebook, signaling the end of the consultation. “I suppose. You can leave now, send in Anti next please. Und tell Robbie to come see me when I’ll be done with the rest of you.” “You’re not gonna lecture him too, are you?”

He shook his head, peering into his now empty mug. He needed more coffee. “If he truly understands what he’s getting into, then I won’t have a say on the matter. But I need to hear it from him.”

“Sounds reasonable enough.” the magician breathed out, standing back up. “He should still be with Chase, I’ll tell him to drop by later.” he smirked, adjusting his mask over his face.  “God, you’re such a mother Hen.”

“Get out of my office before I tranq you.”

 ***

 “You look like shit.” “Blunt as always I see.”

Anti smirked. The demon sat crossed-legged on the chair, like the bringer of chaos he was. “I’m just stating a fact, doc. And the fact is, you look like crap.”

“I didn’t summon you here to hear you critique my appearance. And I definitely don’t appreciate you messing with my phone. Why would you even do that?”

The green-haired glitch shrugged. “Thought it’d be funny.” “It really wasn’t.” “Never said it’d be funny to you...”

The German rolled his eyes. “This conversation has no purpose, I say we move on. How’s your neck wound?”

“Same as ever, only bleeds when I overuse my powers. But you know that already. Is there a point to this, or are you just finding excuses to keep busy?”

Henrik growled in frustration, resting his head in his clammy palms; he didn’t have the energy to deal with the glitch’s taunts right now. His arms were shaking from all the caffeine he’s been inhaling for the past hour, his head wouldn’t stop pounding and gottverdammnt, was it always this hot in this madhouse?!

He looked back up and jumped back with a startled yelp; Anti had glitched onto his desk, his face only a few inches away from his. His mocking grin was gone, replaced with an unusually serious expression. He squinted, something akin to concern flashing in his acid green eyes. “... you really are sick, aren’t you. Did you even eat today?” “I’m fine.” “Stop it. I fucking hate it when you lie.” “I’m not!”

The glitch huffed at the other’s stubbornness. “Whatever. It’s your funeral.”

 ***

 “... barely even hurts anymore, and- uh, Hen? You sure you’re okay? You don’t look so hot…”

Henrik blinked sluggishly at the blurry red figure in front of him; he didn’t remember Jackie coming in. He ran a shaky hand through his hair; it was damp and stuck to his forehead.

Had he asked Anti to send the hero in? Now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember Anti leaving his office either. Also, he felt like throwing up. That was concerning.

He mumbled something, not noticing he had reverted back into his mother tongue. Jackie’s concerned face kept sliding out of view, everything was spinning out of his control.

“Wh- dude, I can’t understand you and frankly, you’re starting to freak me out.”

He tried to stand; he needed to get out, get out of his stuffy office and maybe stand in the cold rain for a while, get rid of this suffocating heat and his sudden nausea-

The world tilted on its axis, and next time he blinked, he was on the floor. Huh. It was more comfortable than he expected it to be.

“Sh- Hen?! What... ...rik! Can… me? Guys, I… help!”

The rooms spinned faster and faster as he felt his eyes roll back into his head. And then he felt nothing at all.

 ***

 Everything hurts.

His limbs feel like lead and it’s like his ears are filled with cotton. He can vaguely make out the muffled voices of his family, and a quiet sob coming from somewhere in his right.

Schneep lets out a pained croak; his mouth tastes like iron. Shit, he must’ve bit his tongue when he collapsed.

“Oh shit, he’s coming back!” “Sshhhh, it’s okay Robbie, don’t cry… Henrik? Hen, can you hear us?” “Hey, doc? Blink twice if you’re not dead.”

“Verpiss dich.” he groans. His whole world is burning, something is definitely trying to claw its way out of his skull, and he wants it to stop.

Someone snorts; he can’t tell who, his mind isn’t working right. “I think he just insulted me, so he’s fine.”

He forces his eyes open -jesus, everything looks like an oversaturated blob right now- pushing on his trembling arms in an attempt to sit up.

“Oh no you don’t.” an authoritative voice snarls at him.

He feels something touch his face; his vision sharpens and for a second, he sees Marvin staring down at him, two fingers pressed against his damp forehead. The magician smiles. “This is for all the times you tranqued me.”

“What are you-” “Sleep.”

And he does.

 ***

 The second time he woke proved to be the right one.

Well, he still felt like shit overall. But the splitting pain in his skull had faded to a dull throb, and the smoldering heat to a bearable warmth. Progress.

His eyes fluttered open, taking in the familiar decor of his own bedroom. His night light seemed to be set on the lowest intensity, sparing his eyes and his head. It was dark outside.

“Oh thank fuck, you’re back. We were gonna take you to the ER if you didn’t wake up before dawn.”

Henrik twisted his neck to look at his left; Chase was sitting next to his bed, his shoulders dropping in apparent relief. The doctor propped himself up against the wall behind him -oh good, he could move without the room going all merry-go-round on him, hurray- and opened his mouth, but all that came out was a broken croak; gott, his throat and mouth were dry as a desert. Thankfully, Chase seemed to notice his woes and produced a water bottle from the foot of the bed, holding it out to his brother. “Here. Figured you’d want this, your fever only broke an hour ago.”

The German gratefully took the offering and greedily drained it, the cool liquid soothing his sore throat. He didn’t stop until the bottle was crushed, and he took a starved gulp of air. “D-Danke. What time is it?”

“Eh, about 3AM. So if I remember my third-grade math right, you’ve been out for about twelve hours.” “Jesus.” “Yup. You scared the shit out of us.”

Schneep sighed, propping the empty bottle on his nightstand. “I know. I’m sorry. Where are the others?” “Downstairs. Robbie fell asleep, but everyone else is awake and waiting for news.” “Everyone…?” “Yeah. Well, everyone but Anti, but that was to be expected, he gets elusive when there’s too many of us around. Jackie stayed home for the night to make sure you’d be okay, and Marv canceled his show.”

Henrik groaned, his face heating up in shame. “Dammit.” Then he remembered the sensation of cool fingers on his forehead, and two slitted green eyes pulling him into the darkness. “Wait. Did Marv seriously knock me out with magic?!”

Chase grimaced. “Yeah, he won’t be sorry about that one. Plus you kinda needed it.” “Hmpf.” “I’ll let them know you’re up. But first…”

The vlogger grabbed his chair and plopped down on hit, his arms and head resting on top of the backseat. “You’re going to tell me what’s going on with you.”

Henrik averted his gaze, staring at the ceiling. It could use a fresh paint job, he thought. “Nothing.”

“We both know that’s bullshit. I’m not a literal lie detector like Anti, but I can tell when you’re hiding something.” Chase waved at his friend’s prone body. “I mean for God’s sake, just look at yourself! You’ve been running yourself ragged for weeks now, and you won’t tell any of us anything! I don’t care why you thought you could let it go so far, but as soon as it starts affecting your health then it becomes our problem too!”

The vlogger was glaring daggers into him. Chase didn’t get angry often, so whenever he did, that was a pretty clear sign that you’d messed up. Big time. Henrik let out a trembling breath, covering his eyes; what an absolute disaster.

“Remember when I passed out in the kitchen that one time?”

The German turned to look at his brother, disconcerted by the sudden change in topic. The vlogger was clutching the wooden chair, head bowed, his eyes hidden in the shadow of his iconic cap. The off-white scars on his arms were peeking out of his sleeves.

“Robbie hadn’t slept well that night. He always had good instincts. So he came downstairs early in the morning to get some warm milk, and he almost tripped on my unconscious body. Remember that?”

Henrik cringed; he did. And he was starting to understand what Chase trying to convey.

“Now,” his brother continued, “I wasn’t awake to witness that. Not the way he wailed loud enough to wake up the entire house, nor the look on his face when he ran to you for help. But…” 

He pointed at Henrik. “You’ve told me about all this. Several times, in great detail, every time you thought I was about to relapse. Which I didn’t, not since that day, because what you described was too heart-wrenching to even consider. And it was all second-hand knowledge, you know? Like I said, I didn’t experience it. But today? I was the one Robbie ran to, weeping about how you’d stopped moving. And, well…”

He chuckled, rubbing his face. It was devoid of mirth. “Let’s just say I’d rather cut off my own arm than see that look on his face ever again. So, you’re going to tell me why you’ve been destroying yourself, and I might consider not kicking your ass when you’re back on your feet again.”

Silence.

Henrik sighed. He was cornered. “...Okay, fine. But you will keep it to yourself, klar?”

Chase shrugged. “Unless hiding it would put us in danger, then I see no reason not to.”

Henrik rolled his head on the pillow, gazing up at the ceiling once more. He braced himself -c’mon, it’s Chase, you can trust him with this- then took a deep breath.  “I’ve been… conflicted. About something.”

Chase nodded, urging him to continue. That was a good start.

“I didn’t want to think about it, but it just kept looping in my mind, over and over. So I tried to keep busy, to make the thoughts go away.” “That one’s a given. So what’s been eating you? Did something happen? Do I need to punch someone?”

Henrik snorted. He knew that Chase was being completely serious, that he cared about him enough to kick someone’s ass on his behalf. Not going to lie, it felt nice. “Please don’t, none of this is his fault.”

The vlogger squinted. So this was about a guy.

“I’m just… I’m being stupid about it, okay? It probably didn’t mean anything and here I am overthinking it.” the German rambled; the floodgates had opened, words spilling out with less and less restraint. “Verdammt. I don’t know what happened. Everything was normal up until now, but then I started getting those weird signals and they might not even be signals at all and I maybe I’m reading him all wrong-”

“Dude, stop, I get it. You got a crush on Edward.”

Henrik choked on his words. He craned his neck so fast he felt it crack -gross- and stared wide-eyes at his sibling; there wasn’t the faintest trace of surprise on his face. Only calm understanding. Scheiße, was it that obvious?!

Chase seemed to somehow hear his thoughts, offering him a patient smile. “Dude, I’ve seen it all before. Heck, I’ve been there. Plus I know he walked you home a while ago, and it matches with when you started acting weird.”

The bedridden ego let out a huff. “What are you, a detective?” “Worse than that, I’m a father. I notice stuff.”

There was a moment of silence, as Schneep visibly struggling to find the right words, running his fingers through his mop of brown and grey hair. 

“I just… I’ve known him for so long. We’ve been working in the same clinic almost every day for years, so why now? What changed?”

Chase shrugged. “Hell if I know. Sometimes this stuff just… happens, y’know? There’s no grand rhyme or reason behind it, it just is. You only get to choose how to deal with it.”

The fatherly ego got off the chair to sit on Schneep’s bedside. “And, yeah, that’s where you’ve been messing up lately. I ain't gonna tell you how to live your life, but you need to stop running away from this. It’ll only get worse the longer you ignore it.” He sighted. “Christ dude. For all your talk about feelings and shit, you suck when it comes to your own.”

“I suppose.” the German mumbled. “Again, I’m sorry I scared you all. I really am.” “Well… if you promise us to never do that again then I guess I can forgive ya.” the vlogger winked and got up, stretching and cracking his joints. “Why don’tcha think on this for now, and I’ll go tell the others you didn’t slip into a coma or something. ...buuut before I do, I kinda have a confession to make.”

He scratched at the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. “I’m the one who asked Anti to get rid of your alarm. So don’t be mad at him for that.”

Schneep’s jaw dropped, shock written all across his features. “Was? That was your idea? But- why?!” “Look, I was just really worried, and it was your first day off in god-knows how long, I wanted you to get some rest!” “I swear- wait. Anti listened?” “He’s been… cooperative lately. I know, crazy right?” “Cooperating to make my life a living hell. You’ll be the death of me, all of you.”

Chase laughed. “We love you too, ya goof.”

-------

*mcfricking dies* NINE. FREAKING. PAGES.

why are those things getting longer and longer. someone please stop me.

@tabbynerdicat @egopocalypse​ @humblecacti​ @lilakennedy​ (Vati time)

[thisendlesslostparade]

Becks Ice (Tyrelliot)

Summmary: Elliot didn't think he would see Tyrell ever again after their friendship ended years ago, but then they meet again at a party and all of his feelings come back up...

(Vaguely based on "Becks Ice" by Von Wegen Lisbeth, doesn't matter at all if you don't know the song though. I wanna start posting some of my fanfictions on here, but this is already available on ao3 under the same username as I have on here. Enjoyy)

Content notation: Unrequited love, mention of alcohol and partying

He wasn't supposed to be here.

Maybe this was a glitch in the matrix, maybe he had somehow entered a parallel universe and no one had told him, but this was completely impossible. His fingers started shaking, as he held on closer to the glass in his hand.

When Angela had told him to have a drink so he would "cheer up" and "relax", he had laughed at her. How was he supposed to relax with all these people around? He hated parties. And now ... now THIS.

Angela hadn't seen the certain someone yet, obviously - she was too busy flirting with every average looking straight guy she could find. Her taste in men had always been terrible, no doubt about it. All these arrogant, sexist jerks she ended up with - Elliot would never get used to them.

But now he certainly had more important problems. 99 problems and the tall guy across the room was every single one of them.

He hadn't changed at all. If he had, maybe Elliot would be able to convince himself that this was just a doppelganger. But it wasn't just his face, the striking blue eyes, the slicked back blonde hair that felt a lot softer than it looked. Elliot shook his head, shaking off the memory.

No, it wasn't just that. It was the arrogant smirk on his lips, the look in his eyes, the way he immediately seemed so much softer when he genuinely laughed. It had never been hard to tell when Tyrell REALLY found something funny - his whole face scrunched up and he didn't look so condescending anymore. He looked almost adorable.

"Angela?"

She immediately stopped talking to the flashy asshole and turned to Elliot. At least he knew he could always count on her, no matter what.

"Look." He raised his glass and pointed towards the guy who was most definitely Tyrell Wellick.

Angela raised her eyebrows. "Who?"

Elliot rolled his eyes internally. Maybe she was so drunk that she really couldn't see what he was referring to.

He raised his hand and pointed again, making sure that no one else saw what he was pointing at.

She tilted her head. "Meh, too blonde for my taste."

It was unbelievable. Apparently Angela would be of no assistance in this situation. He downed the beer at once and then walked towards the group on the other end of the room.

Yup, it really was him. It almost felt like a deja-vu - three years ago it had been a party just like this one. A little smaller, and all of the guests had been wasted high school students who used their remaining two brain cells for staring at people's breats or running to the bathroom every few minutes, either to throw up or to check their make-up.

Quite obviously, Elliot had never liked parties. But just like today, Angela had convinced him to go. "Just for an hour or two, pretty please!"

But then there he had been, the guy of Elliot's dreams, smiling at him across the room and it had begun - the most terrible, wonderful, heartwrenching love of Elliot's life.

"We'll stay friends", they had promised each other, in each others arms at the airport before he went back to Sweden. And even then his heart was breaking because Tyrell Wellick had never, at no point in time been like a friend to him.

He had freaked out and high-fived him, shared his excitement every time Tyrell made out with another pretty, popular girl, or another football player. Yes, he had been THAT guy. Came to America for one year and had sex with what seemed like the entire school - or, well, everyone except Elliot.

And even now he had the attention of everyone around him. It was something about his attitude, something Elliot envied him for, while at the same time he knew he didn't really want to be that way.

It wasn't in his nature. He was the guy who made out with people when he was absolutely wasted, and then had them text him the next day: "Hey, I'm sorry. I usually never do stuff like that. I was really drunk."

And maybe, deep down, he simply didn't feel like he deserved more than that... It certainly never surprised him.

His throat felt so dry, he was already craving another drink. Seeing Tyrell here was more than he ever could've dreamed of, and everything he feared.

He hated him for leaving him, hated him for simply not understanding what Elliot really felt for him... and he hated himself for not being able to remain friends with the person he had once loved more than anyone else in the world.

And wasn't love supposed to be selfless?

He couldn't bear it any longer. Every cell in his body was longing to walk towards him and hug him just one more time, or tell him to never ever leave him again.

Only a few shaking steps further and Tyrell finally recognized him. His face froze in disbelief, then it lit up as if someone had turned back on the lights in there.

"ELLIOT!" He yelled and pushed the girl next to him aside to walk towards Elliot, taking him in his arms and almost squeezing him to death.

Elliot swallowed down the lump in his throat, fighting back the tears, as he breathed in the scent he hadn't thought he would ever smell again. Something flowery, never too much though, and something that was just so completely unique for Tyrell.

"What are you doing here?" he squeezed out when they finally let go of him.

"I'm visiting my host family", Tyrell said, still the widest grin on his face. "You know I really thought about telling you... but... you know, you never texted back anymore so..."

The pain in his voice made Elliot want to slap himself.

"Yeah sorry, I'm so sorry, I was just really busy with graduation and college, you know?"

The truth was that he had thought it was better off this way. A whole ocean between them, and there was no way he would ever get over the Swede with the striking blue eyes, if he kept seeing the status updates of all the beautiful things and beautiful people he was doing now.

Tyrell shrugged and the smile returned to his face. "That's fine. Hey, I'm here now. And I'm staying for another week so we could hang out a bit if you want."

The sparks in Elliot's stomach felt like he was going to explode and set the whole room on fire. Another week... so much and so little at the same time. It made his heart hurt.

"Maybe you could show us around a bit? It's been so long and the city changed quite a bit... I'm not really being the best tourist guide for Jonah." He laughed.

With every word Tyrell said, the clear blue sky of Elliot's mood got more and more cloudy. He could already feel the thunderstorm coming up.

"Jonah?"

"Yeah. Oh, sorry, I forgot you don't know each other yet." He put his arm around a small, dark haired guy standing a bit aside and pulled him away from the conversation he was currently having.

"Jonah? That's Elliot, my friend from America. Elliot, that's my boyfriend Jonah."

Boom. There it was, the thunderbolt hitting Elliot's head and burning him to the ground.

I need a cigarette, Elliot thought. Where the fuck....

"Hi Elliot. I heard a lot about you." Jonah smiled and reached out his hand. It would've been easier if he had been an asshole. Elliot's mind kept racing and yet he had no idea what to say.

'Hey, you seem like a sweet guy. You look cute together. But all I can think about is stealing your boyfriend and kissing him until he forgets how to breathe'.... Well, not a great idea.

"Hi." Elliot cleared his throat, then he looked at Tyrell. "Can we maybe go outside and have a smoke?"

"Oh, I don't smoke anymore. But sure." He gave Jonah a way too exaggerated kiss that almost seemed like a provocation to Elliot. Elliot bit his tongue so hard he tasted blood.

What on earth had happened? Tyrell drinking cocktails? Tyrell not smoking anymore? Tyrell in an actual committed relationship?

He shook his head and walked towards the exit, convinced that Tyrell would follow him.

The cold wind on his skin felt amazing. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, then took out his cigarettes.

"Is everything alright?" Tyrell appeared next to him, looking a bit concerned.

Elliot nodded slowly. "It's a bit overwhelming seeing you here."

"Overwhelming?" He frowned. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Yeah." Elliot sighed. "But .... don't you have all these memories coming back up?"

Now Tyrell seemed to understand. He smiled. "Yeah. It was intense back then."

Both laughed, lost in memories. Taking another drag from his cigarette, Elliot tried to stop himself from comstantly looking at his lips... lips that had kissed someone else only moments ago. He must've completely gone insane - or maybe it was the alcohol.

But fuck it.

"I loved you", Elliot said, not averting his gaze, feeling braver than he ever had before. "I really, really loved you."

Tyrell's face went soft. "I loved you too."

"No you didn't." Elliot blew out the smoke and shook his head. "You liked me. You liked spending time with me. But I loved you."

He pursed his lips. "You know there's different kinds of love right? I did love you. You were the only person in this shit city I really trusted, El."

The old nickname, without a warning. Elliot could almost feel himself tearing up again. Walking around the city and singing their favorite songs together. All the base ball games. The nights at Elliot's place, cuddled up, watching movies under a huge blanket. Tyrell's hands in the pockets of Elliot's hoodie when it got cold outside. Trying to hold back their laughter in class when they were supposed to be quiet but something was just so hilarious, something only the two of them would find funny. Memories, memories, memories.

"I just don't understand how you could know ... I think you knew. You always knew how I felt about you. You just didn't care. It was too much discomfort for you to stop hanging out with me. But you didn't even like me enough to tell me it's not gonna happen."

He didn't disagree, he just looked at the floor.

"I just hoped your feelings would go away eventually, you know. I needed you as a friend. But I also know that... sexual tension was always between us. I'm not completely stupid. It was just... never more than that."

The truth hurt more than anything he could have made up in his mind.

But before Elliot could say another word, Tyrell stepped forward and took the cigarette out of his mouth, taking a drag himself and gazing into his eyes, just for a moment. Elliot closed his eyes because he couldn't handle it anymore. Too much old, dusty pain coming up from his subconscious, too many sleepless nights when all he saw in front of his inner eye, was Tyrell's face. Then Tyrell put his lips on his.

It was only a second or two, but Elliot kept his eyes closed, breathing him in, while his stomach felt like the explosion had finally gone of. Tyrell stroked the side of his neck, sending shivers down his spine, then slowly pulled away.

"Goodnight, Elliot." He put the cigarette back between his lips. "I'd be happy if you called me someday. When you're ready."

He stroked his cheek, almost as if he were fragile, delicate. "And I'd love to meet your future boyfriend. Gotta make sure my former best friend gets the treatment he deserves."

A sad smile on his lips he disappeared back inside the building.

Elliot looked after him, the feathery walk he had seen so many times, now for the last time walking away from him.

He turned around, and went home.

The wind suddenly didn't feel so cold anymore. It was refreshing, taking away the heat.

Making room for something new, something different. Something more.

[make-it-mavis]

Ghost Towns

Wreck-it Ralph/Ralph Breaks the Internet AU 2010 words Characters: Make-it Mavis (the narrator, who describes Vanellope, Ralph, Turbo, Felix, and implies Maribo, @nijimarii‘s OC) Content warnings: Major character death, cruel words, non-graphic descriptions of violence and mild blood

Premise: Make-it Mavis was sentenced to cabinet arrest in Fix-it Felix Jr. for life after living under disguise in Sugar Rush with Turbo for fifteen years. Too tired and heartbroken for any more villainy, she resigned herself to living out the rest of her days with her cousin in a relatively dormant state. That is, until acts of carelessness in 2018 lead to Sugar Rush being unplugged, and her vengeful outrage reawakens something terrible. She recounts her actions in one final letter to the man she loved and lost.

>Fanfic title is a reference to this song<

22/11/2018

4:53 AM

Hey.

So… it’s been a while since I did one of these, huh. Hope you haven’t found some way to be pissed about that. I like singing to you better, but I don’t know if you could hear me from down here. Not that you could read this letter, either, but… just let me forget I’m talking to myself for a few minutes. I just miss you so damn much. I wish you were here with me -- I’ve never felt so lost and alone in my life.

I’m not sure where to begin explaining where I am and how I got here. It’s so unreal. It’s fantastic and horrifying all at once. It’s like an arcade that goes on forever in all directions, but with thousands upon thousands of games inside it, bunched up in clusters and stacked into massive towers. There are sprites out here, but they’re not sprites. Gamers, but not gamers. We always wondered what the world outside Litwak’s Fun Center must be like, and… I think this is it. I think the very Devs themselves live out here.

I guess that means I made it out. I’ve been dreaming of this since I was plugged in. My lifelong dream… doesn’t feel like a dream right now. Unless it’s some buff-induced trip.

As I write this, I’m nowhere good. They call it the “Dark Web.” It’s dark, it smells, and its cramped. The only colors around are from the “colorful” characters that stalk around down here, and I mean that in the most metaphorical sense. It’s like the arcade’s reject horror game enemies came down here to nest in their own filth. I hate it down here, but I can’t seem to leave. There’s a whole lot of world up there that I don’t feel ready to face.

The thing is… I can never go back to the arcade now.

I did something. I had to do it, but no one back at the arcade would understand that. I’m sure you would have, if you heard why. So I’ll tell you why.

Sugar Rush was unplugged.

Yeah. The remaining cabinet’s wheel broke in half. Litwak pulled the plug right away. Not all the candy citizens made it out. I can barely stand to think about the ones we lost. So many of my performers, all the animals, even that special kid of mine… gone.

All the big racers made it out, at least. I wanted so badly to be with my kids and find a way to make them smile, even just to see them again, but you can imagine why I wasn’t allowed to. Instead, Felix and his wife elected to adopt them. My kids. Our kids. Cramped up in a tiny apartment, no cars, in a game without a track. No way to race. No way to follow their code. Thinking of them going through the same code withdrawal that you did just breaks my heart. They don’t deserve that. They didn’t deserve any of this.

And guess whose fault it was.

Guess who didn’t even CARE.

Six freakin’ years was all it took for the rotten little glitch to decide she was bored of Sugar Rush. After fifteen years of wanting nothing more than to race on its track. She had no freakin’ concept of the gift that kingdom was. No idea what an honor it is to rule over it. You and I worked so hard, risked our freakin’ lives for Sugar Rush, and even after the invasion of 2012 that unmasked me and literally killed you, what does she do? She bitches and moans and whines until that insecure, selfish, nine-foot dumbass of hers game-jumps to literally punch a detour into the ground so Princess President wouldn’t be bummed out.

She had a choice to make, there. She could have realized that as the game’s leader, she had a responsibility to keep it safe, even more than any other racer. She could have finished the race and waited until the arcade closed to go try out Wreck-it’s new track. She could have done the absolute bare minimum to protect the game that she was so lucky to have.

No.

She defied the gamer and drove off course. In-game.

She had our entire world in her hands. My one real home. Everything left in the world that I loved.

And she killed it.

Out of boredom. With no remorse for the lives she ruined, for all the lives that didn’t make it out. All she wanted to do was cry about not being able to race anymore. That alone was motivation for her and her lumbering dumbass friend to run off into the internet on some impossible quest to give her back what she never deserved in the first place.

But… I followed them.

I convinced Surge to let me into the internet if I promised to never come back. Have it be my exile that gave me freedom and gave the arcade safety. It was an easy promise to make. There’s nothing left for me in the arcade. I was locked up in a game I never loved, with sprites who never loved me. I never had any visitors. I had no purpose. I had no… you. My memories and a good view of Sugar Rush were all I had. Even through my rage over what Wreck-it and the glitch had done to you, to me, to our world… the one thing I could hold onto was the fact that Sugar Rush was still standing, and someone was looking after it. That was the only thing keeping me from wringing the little glitch’s neck. Sugar Rush needed her.

With that gone… nothing was stopping me anymore.

So I did what I had to do. I left what remained of my world behind. I came to this insane internet world. I tracked those two down.

I made them pay for what they did.

The fight wasn’t easy. It wasn’t quick and quiet like it was with King Candy. It was an ugly mess. There was screaming, there was crying, there were short chases, there were chunks of metal and building parts hurled at me. But in the end, I won. I had them both trapped under my thumb, so much that I could have slit both their throats and went on my way. But they didn't deserve that. They deserved so much worse, and in their last moments, I made sure they knew why. While she was still alive to hear it, someone had to hold Von Schweetz accountable for what she'd done. Just once.

And Wreck-it… back in 2012, he tore my whole life away from me. He killed the man I'd loved for thirty years. He gave my home to a child who could not care for it, then came back to help her destroy it.

In my head, I'd already sentenced him to death six years ago. But for him, I could think of no punishment more fitting than to kill her first.

Like we should have done twenty years ago.

So, here I am now… finally free of their poison. I'm sitting alone in a dark alley, splattered with blood, processing it all. It’s barely been a few hours since I did it. I can only tell because most of the little “sites” down here have clocks… otherwise, it feels like time’s stood still. Like reality’s just taking too long to load. It’s not that I’m freaked out by what I’ve done. Not at all. I expected to feel something, but… I kinda don't. I’d known Wreck-it my whole life. We were coworkers. We used to go for drinks at Tapper's and rag on Gene together. But as I carved into him, felt the spray of his blood, watched the life leave his eyes… he was a stranger to me. I felt nothing. I felt like I was finally taking care of a chore that had been on my to-do list for too long. I’m not sure what that says about me, but I don’t really care. Good or bad isn't real anymore. They deserved to die, and I killed them. I'm not sorry for that.

I’m not sure why I’m hiding down here. There’s no way anyone could find me in the internet, even if I was implicated, which I won’t be. I killed them in a pretty badass-looking racing game, and their bodies glitched away. There was only one witness -- some weird little sprite that I convinced to help me find them. I kinda liked her, so I didn't kill her. But she won’t be telling anyone anytime soon. I made sure of that.

Maybe the sprites back at Litwak’s will make assumptions when Wreck-it and Von Schweetz don’t come back, since it’s no secret that I’ve hated them for years. Maybe. Fix-it Felix Jr. will be unplugged for sure, and I think that's my one regret. Felix doesn't deserve to lose his game. He's the last living sprite who still loves me… but the whole world loves him. He'll be okay. He’s got his wife, the Nicelanders, and the entire arcade to support him. I just hope he looks after the kids. I miss those sweet little monsters.

Sugar Rush will be wheeled away out the door and out of existence. And as far as the arcade’s concerned, I’ll be going with it. I feel like that's only fitting. That was the world I truly belonged in. If my world is leaving the arcade forever, then… I am too. Just like I always dreamed.

It's just that I always pictured you coming with me. The fact that you're not here right now feels so wrong, it hurts.

I don’t know where I’m gonna go or what I’m gonna do after this. Right now, all I can think about is you. Because I found the weirdest thing down here. The site just across the way… is called “Turbo Torrent.” And I don’t know why or how, but… their sign has a picture of your face. I guess some people outside the arcade really do still remember you. I hope you know that, wherever you are. You gotta know that you're remembered. I wonder if they remember what you did. Some of them must have told their friends what happened to Roadblasters, right? I'll probably never know why, but that’s definitely your face… and that’s what inspired me to write to you again. Even in this grimey, dank place, I feel weirdly close to you in the light of that sign. Like I was supposed to come here.

Maybe that’s why I’m having trouble leaving.

Wherever I end up going, I’ll be thinking of you. It’s gonna be an adventure for me, but those were always better with you. I think we could have done well in the internet. Never a dull moment, hardly any walls to hold us back. I’m sure you would have found a way to be the center of attention, even in a place that goes on forever. I miss the way you’d bring a room to life when you entered it. I miss everything about you, even the annoying parts.

I guess what I’m saying is, I’m leaving everything I knew about the world behind, but in whatever way I can, I’m taking you with me. I promised I’d never forget you, and I meant it. So if any part of you really is still with me, get ready for a whole new life we never expected. I'm going to wander this world until I finally burn out. I don't know what's out there, but I know deep in my heart that nothing will ever be the same again. No more Easter Egg. No more yanks from a joystick. No more shouting, “We Can Make It!” And that’s all well and good, because we didn’t, in the end.

But I will.

I miss you, sugar. I’ll love you ‘til my last conscious thought.

Pinky promise.

-- Cherry Bomb

[askthelittleassistant]

One Little Thing...

((ok so to preface this; this is going in two parts bc I started writing so much, and also just a little warning, there is a bit of blood in this so... yeah! I hope y’all enjoy the insanity!))

Shop felt weak, weaker than she’d ever felt in her ‘career’ under Dark. What was she doing?... She laid, sprawled out on the forest floor… How… how did this happen.

No one really remembered when the first humans had stumbled across the ego’s place of residence, but it wasn’t like anyone really cared in the first place. Since Shop and her friends Pi and King had come, not much had changed, aside Pi braving the neighboring septics to befriend the Doctor Shneeplestein, and a few other folks joining the ranks of humans among literal giants… aside that, everyone kept to themselves, though paths were constantly crossed, and greetings were always exchanged.

It was nice.

And that’s not to say any part of Shop’s life was growing mundane, no no, it was always quite the opposite really. But… something always felt… off. And the worst part of it all was she knew exactly what it was, but she was always too worried to bring it up to her rather… intense friend. If she could even be allowed to call Dark her friend…

There was the obvious change in his demeanor the more time Shop spent with Dark, which was a lot, though he always seemed to cling to the past rather than let himself change, and Shop always knew better than to test the limits and patience Dark was already going out on a limb to offer her. She was always grateful, no doubt, but both could tell the girl was not satisfied with just that, growing impatient, which would work in favor of her downfall…

It happened one particularly boring day as the egos wrapped up their meeting. Shop had taken to people watching, always being the last to leave the room with Dark always meant waving and saying goodbyes and good days to egos and friends. Doc and Sal would chitter on about different cases with a cheery response peppered in, Techie and Sam may or may not be in attendance, but whether or not the cyborg mechanic would be hiding in the room always makes for a fun challenge for Shop. King and Host, they always make sure to pass by the assistant to say goodbye, and sometimes invite her for some tea and lunch, to which sometimes Shop will say yes to, but not today. There was something on her mind, and she needed to clear the air.

“Do you care about me?” The initial react was one Shop figured she would get as she held back wincing at the ringing as it grew briefly, a sign that Shop came to learn meant Dark was confused, possibly thrown off guard.

“Excuse me?” He replied dryly, finishing with his papers and notes, not batting an eyelash in his assistant’s direction.

“Do you care about me?” Shop asked more confidently, her voice as clear as her intentions.

“What kind of question is that.” Dark snarked back, clearly uninterested in addressing something that’s plagued his thoughts for a while now, largely unbeknownst to Shop.

“It’s the easy kind, the kind you can answer. Honestly.” She stepped on the edge of a notecard as Dark went to grab it. He sighed, annoyed.

“Why do you need to know?”

“Because.”

“Tsk, that is not a good enough answer Shop, spit it out.”

“If I do will you tell me?”

“mayhaps I will.”

Shop scrunched her nose up, he was being difficult and vague again. Of course, getting her to beat around the bush until she gave up. But not today.

“It’s just… I know you tolerate me- “ “this is true,” “But I just… I see everyone else… and I can tell that they’re cared about, like, really cared for…”

“Well, it would seem you already answered your own question, you are tolerated and respected, what more could you want?” Dark wanted to shut Shop down as quick as he could.

“That’s not what I mean. You know that. I know you do… we watch the same group of people do stuff…” Shop spoke softly, and Dark rolled his eyes, pfft, as if that would be enough to persuade him to come forth. The answer is no. Dark was always observant, always keeping tabs on everyone and what they did.

“Shop, I think you should go rest- “

“And I think you should stop avoiding the question- “

“That is none of your concern.”

“Just TELL me!” Shop nearly cried out, growing more and more impatient as she stood at the edge of the table, as if to face off with Dark, who was grumbling to himself.

“You had said it yourself, I tolerate you. End of story. Now get off my papers and let us leave the conference room.” Dark grabbed the rest of his things, shoving them away before he stepped out, soon followed by a disgruntled girl, who was more determined than ever to find what he really thought…

Back in their room, Shop climbed up to the nightstand next to a desk, where Dark was, working away before he cleared his throat, well aware of what Shop was trying to accomplish.

“I will not answer your needlessly nonsensical question shop.” He lets his voice linger and hiss softly.

“Oh come on! No one else will hear you-!”

“I said NO, SHOP.” Dark booms suddenly, banging a fist down in frustration, his voice loud, yet low and aggressive. “WHY ARE YOU SO ADAMENT ABOUT THIS? You already know, why do you keep demanding I tell you?”

He looks down as the trembling girl, her hands balled up into fists. His cold eyes softening for a flicker before hardening again, unwilling to give her the satisfaction of winning their little ‘game.’

“Be-because…. I need to know…. For sure….” Shop managed to stutter out, shaking in fear of Dark’s anger, clenching her jaw in resentment for even asking him if he cared…

What followed seemed to be the longest silence in either one’s life, even the ever-present ringing had quieted down, adding to the unease of it all. For once, the two were at a stalemate, neither one really able to move without the other claiming checkmate over the situation.

“Excuse me.” Dark finally spoke, though his voice was quiet, almost as if he was choked up over the conundrum he found himself in as he pushed his chair out and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and leaving Shop to break down.

Why did she think this would be a good idea, she always knew he would never willingly give her a straight answer, but she so was tired of being tossed around and strung along with little certainty, and now it was all coming back to her in the ass. Not to mention all the pent-up emotions, all suddenly bubbling forth because she was alone.

Just as always.

Shop sat with her tears and thoughts for what seemed like forever, and when she finally calmed down, and Dark still hadn’t come back out, she made up her mind, not bothering with anything more as she climbed down and ran out the room in a blur, her tears filling her eyes once more as she half climbed, half raced down the stairs.

If she wouldn’t be treated like she should, then she would just leave. Seemed easier than trying to get through to Dark.

Of course, emotions always seemed to cloud Shop’s logical thought process, making her act on a whim. That was always something she meant to work on. Guess not today.

Shop stormed out the hall and down the corridor, passing a few egos who might’ve called out to her, thinking she would respond, but they would not get so much as a nod as Shop’s heart lurched as she stopped in front of the main doorway of the ego’s manor. She… she hadn’t been outside the manor, not since she’d come…

But her mind was made up, especially when she heard an aggressive shout call her name, ringing in her mind. Dark was coming, and in her rush, shop sprouted her wings and jumped up to the door knob, turning it with some effort, and swinging the door wide open as she pushed off and fell into a dive, flying towards the forest.

“SHOP? SHOP GET BACK HERE N O W.” Dark had screamed in her head; the good thing about having made a deal with her so long ago was that he had access to her mind. Of course, he didn’t bother peering into it all the time, since Shop was normally very vocal about her thoughts. But now, now he used it to try to stop her from running away, having been perplexed briefly when he no longer heard sobbing outside the bathroom door.

He ran out to the steps of the estate, the eyes of curious onlookers following him, not daring to speak up or question the situation. It was plain as day that something just happened, and that that something was not for them to interfere with.

Shop had never flown with so much room at her disposal, sure the manor had lots of room, and Shop could always make herself smaller to fit her needs, but it never felt quite right. Here though, in the forest, she could dip and dive, and more importantly, burn off the anger that had built up over the course of the day. No point in trying to fight fire with fire, she would just keep doing what she does and treat Dark with kindness and hope one day, he would learn from her.

Little did she know, he already had.

Someplace else, a certain bitchy glitch was practicing throwing knives at a crudely drawn dartboard he’d carved into a tree, grumbling about how unfair it was that Scheeplestein had kicked him out again for trying to mess with his little friend.

Maybe I can sneak in and fuck around with Dark and that Shop gal… Anti thought to himself with a chuckle. It was hard, but the few times he’d been able to sneak into the ego’s estate to mess with Dark and his assistant were always fond memories to him. That girl knew how to scream, that was for sure.

Anti was about to throw another knife when his eyes caught a glimpse of a flying object as it zipped by a few trees away from where he stood. Something about this figure intrigued him and he collected his knives, starting to follow in the direction he saw the creature fly off in...