#on the plus side the features are almost caught up with the initial version! i just need to decide how i'm handling one little thing

[the-nobody-tournament]

Do you have a time set for when you will be releasing the traits? Sorry if I seem pushy I'm just really excited to see which ones got in!

i'll be getting to it now! my apologies, i spent most of today on a coding project.

[girlsluvbot]

MATCHMAKER pt.1

pairing: roseanne park × fem! reader

genre: fluff, angst

about:

matchmaker /ˈmatʃmeɪkə/

noun

a person who arranges marriages or initiates romantic relationships between others.

"an enthusiastic matchmaker who continually tried to pair off the difficult bachelor with unattached ladies"

a/n: i'm back!!! hehe this goddamn thing took so long to write, i both despise and adore it with every fibre of my being. enjoy my blood, sweat and tears in the form of a fic.

You loved your job. Very few people are lucky enough to be able to relate to that statement, and you were thankfully one of them. Hell, not only did you love your job, you were extremely good at it.

Since you were a little kid, writing nas always been your biggest passion. Wether it was writing short stories, poems or essays about the french revolution, you were always happy when you were able to put your feelings and thoughts onto paper. This was the main reason why you became the manager of your local newspaper during middle school, high school and eventually even university.

You've won multiple writing contests and even people who had no idea what your name was knew one thing about you: you were an amazing writer.

Years of practice, your impeccable set of skills and a recommendation letter from your university professor secured you a job at Vogue almost immediately. After all this hard work, you finally achieved everything you were looking for. You were truly happy.

Until this very moment.

"Well, I don't know," the woman sitting in front of you made a disgusted grimace, "it just lacks any emotion whatsoever. I've quite literally never read something so stiff and akward."

And here they were. The first words of criticism you have ever recieved. You were so used to everyone praising your work, you didn't know how to react or respond.

Three months ago, you would have never gotten into a similar situation: simply because there was nothing about your work to critize. But a lot has changed in the past few weeks, and not exactly in the good kind of way.

When you first joined Vogue, you were the head editor and journalist of the spread dedicated almost entirely to interviews. Thats what you did, talked to celebrities and wrote about them. And that's what you were good at, almost too good.

Just a year after working in the magazine you got promoted. You were still the head editor, but now of a completely different part of the journal: one dedicated to a single topic. Love. This was bad news, very bad news.

Why, you ask? The reason was fairly simple but no less embarrassing. Even as the head editor of a spread all about love, you've never experienced it yourself. In other words, you've never been in love. And how are you supposed to write about something you know nothing about?

Your boss looks at you and shakes her head. She reaches for the stack of papers on the table in front of her and starts reading, "For example; 'His lips brushed against mine. They were soft. The kiss was short but sweet. I loved it.' What the actual heck? I kiss my cat more passionately than this." she took off her glasses and started massaging the crook of her nose.

"Listen, Y/N, I've read your previous pieces and they were simply wonderful. But this? I don't even know what else to say without hurting your feelings."

"I'm so sorry. I know, it's just that I dont have much experience in said area." you don't finish the sentence, hoping she somehow gets the memo. She doesn't.

"What area?"

"Love. I dont have much experience with love." you blurt out the words that have been on your mind nonstop since the day of your promotion.

"Oh, you poor thing" she leans back in her chair, her eyes scanning your every move, "Isn't that unfortunate."

You nod your head slowly, trying not to get offended at her words full of pity.

"How are you supposed to write romance stories then? This won't work." the woman grabs a post-it note

"Are," your voice cracks in the middle of the sentence, "Are you firing me?"

"Are you crazy? Of course I'm not," she hands you the piece of paper with a phone number, "We just have to improvise for the time being. Do you know Roseanne Park? She's the manager of our Matchmaker spread. You can be her assistant for the next few months, help her around, learn a thing or two. Hopefully your writing wont be so...bland after."

To be completely honest, you didn't handle changes well. Maybe that's why you were standing in front of your new, and hopefully temporary, bosses office, trying to build up the courage to knock on her door.

One of the reasons why you were so nervous was that Roseanne Park, the manager of the Vogue Matchmaker was insanely attractive. Admittedly, you did some online stalking the night before- okay, a lot of it. Here's the thing; you were a planner. Whether it came to your career, writing or even relationships, you liked to beprepared.

That's why after a few hours spent on the internet, you knew everything. The name of her sister (Alice Park), if the had a pet (yes, a fish named Joohwangie) and who her favorite band was (The 1975).

You weren't usually like this, so head over heels for a girl you haven't even met. But your writing, the reason you were here in the first place, didn't usually suck so after all, some things really do change easily.

Just as you reached for the dark wooden door in front of you, it opened before your hand could even touch it's sleek surface.

"Oh!" the tall woman stopped in her tracks. Thanks to your thorough internet digging, you instantly recognized her. Roseanne Park. Your new boss. A 'matchmaker' if you will.

"You must be Y/N! I've heard that you're going to be my assistant for a bit." your cheeks heated up for no apparent reason. Did she know the reason why you got transferred here so quickly? Every molecule in your body wished and prayed to every possible god out there that she didn't.

"Yeah, that's me!" you finally composed yourself enough to speak, but that didn't mean your voice didn't sound like one of a twelve year old boy going through puberty- high pitched and squeaky.

You examined her face more in depth, and realized quite a few things:

She was somehow even prettier in real life. How? you had no idea. Some people just really won the genetics lottery, you thought.

Her hair was red. Like undeniably, undoubtedly red. In all of the pictures you found yesterday it was either brown or black, so this change caught you off guard. You couldn't complain though, because this girl looked like a hotter version of Ariel with a much better sense in fashion (and music).

"Have you been standing out here for too long?"

"Oh no, I just arrived." lying has never been so easy.

"Great! I'm gonna go downstairs to grab a package but you can look around the office while I'm gone," she opened the door a bit to let you walk in.

You did as she told you and entered the room. The door closed behind you without you noticing, the only thing you could focus on was this girl's office. It looked just like you would imagine heaven to look like- full of light, white furniture and expensive looking leather couches.

There were pictures everywhere: a dozen of four young girls (one of them being Roseanne), a few more of her with famous celebrities and one of a familiar looking face- her sister.

You carefully walked towards the table in the middle of the room, not wanting to damage anything. You noticed quite a bit of unexpected clutter, and above everything a print of the brand new Vogue issue. A woman on the cover flashed you a beautiful smile as you picked it up. The headline stated: Kim Jisoo talks acting, NYFW and love.

You flipped the glossy magazine pages to find the spread dedicated to said interview and noticed just what you were looking for: the author of the article. The credits at the bottom of the page revealed a nice surprise- Author; Roseanne Park.

"Well what do you think? Is it a good article?" your soul almost left your body when you realized who was standing next to you. You quickly put the magazine down, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to touch your stuff. I just saw the cover and..."

"Oh my gosh, are you kidding? That's completely okay, I don't mind." she pointed to the journal, "That interview is actually one of the favorite pieces I ever wrote, and not just because it's about Jisoo. Plus, my friend took the pictures, so it was extra fun." She opened the spread again and pointed to a name credited right next to hers, Photographer; Lalisa Manoban.

"Oh wow. I've seen her pictures before, they're really good. I with I could take photos like that. Seriously."

Here's one thing to note: when you're nervous, you ramble. Like a lot. Some people would say its better than staying silent, but let's be honest- it's like stepping into a puddle instead of mud. Not a disaster, but there's still plenty to complain about.

Thankfully, Roseanne only giggled, "I know exactly what you mean. I hope you'll get to work with her someday."

You both stared at the magazine spread for a second before Roseanne broke the silence.

"But now, let's get to bussines. Sit down please, this might take a while," she pointed tkwards one of the leather couches you noticed earlier and took a seat at the other side of the table.

"So, as you probably already know, my name is Roseanne Park. As a manager of Matchmaker, my job is to read these letters," she grabben a handful of papers for emphasis, "and respond to them, give advixe basically. The title 'Matchmaker' comes from the fact that the majority of the letters talk about love. Any questions so far?"

When you shook your head no, she continued, "As my assistant, your job is fairly simple. You're going to sort and read through the hundreds of letters I recieve weekly and pick the most interesting ones for me to feature. And occasionally, you might accompany me to a few interviews. Sounds good?"

You slowly nodded, processing all the new information. Letters, answers, interviews and a hot boss. That doesn't sound so bad.

"Great. So Y/N," she suddenly stood up, "Would you mind going with me to Subway? I'm starving."

By the time you were finished with lunch, you had a new point to add to your list of realizations about your new boss:

She loves food, and by loves I mean LOVES.

The moment you arrived at the restaurant, food was the only thing she would talk about. She told you about what she had for dinner and breakfast, what kind of snacks she hid in the office and what kind of salad she was getting alongside a baguette.

After she actually managed to get a bit of calories into her system (thanks to a foot-long chicken turkey sandwich) the conversation finally got more interesting.

Don't get me wrong, you could listen to this girl talk for hours, no matter the topic. But after listening to a thirty minute long monologue about why pineapple pizza is the best thing ever invented, even you have reached your limit.

"So," you start, in an effort to break the ice, "how long have you been working at Vogue?"

She squints at the toast in front of her, trying to remember, "About five years? Yeah, it's gonna be five years in May."

"Oh wow, that's impressive."

She tilts her head, "Is it? I mean, when you work as often as I do, time just goes by. I don't even remember the last time I went out with my friends to discuss something that wasn't work related."

You pout, regretting the choice to ask her about work.

"But at the same time, I love what I do so I can't really complain. What about you though? Why did you decide to become a journalist?"

"Oh, I started just a year ago. And I studied literature, so I guess becoming a journalist made sense."

"Why did you study literature then? There's so many other better paying jobs out there."

"I don't think anyone works in such a field for money, that's for sure," you try to lighten the atmosphere, "Well, my mom wanted to become a writer, but she got pregnant before she could finish her book and she's been pretty much busy ever since. I guess her love for books kind of rubbed off on me."

Roseanne nods, to let you know she's listening. "I'm glad you and your mom have such an important aspect of your lives in common. My mother wanted me to become a lawyer, I doubt she's ever read even a single fiction book in her entire life."

"What does she think about your job now?"

Her lips tighten and she crosses her arms. "I don't know. I haven't talked to her since," her eyes seem empty, their signature spark gone. You can tell you struck a nerve. "I haven't talked to her since I moved out."

"Well, I'm sure that she's proud of you," you can't help but add.

Rosie lets out a dry laugh, "You don't know my mother then," she slowly pushes her plate away, "I think I'm full so I'm gonna head back to the office."

Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut. You learned this the hard way.

You head back after your lunch break ends, alone. Even though Roseanne walked you through everything she expects you to help around with, you know that your job doesn't start and end with sorting through letters.

You softly knock on the office door before heading in. She's already sitting there, behind her desk. Without looking up from her laptop, she scoffs, "You're late."

"It's just five minutes," you shrug, not taking her tone seriously. Finally, she raises her sight to meet yours. Even without her saying anything, you understand. Do not play around with fire.

You mumble an apology and quickly run to the small hallway at the other side of the room which leads to your own (significantly smaller) office.

"What makes you think I'm done?" Turning around, you notice that her eyes are piercing through your back. Unsure of what she expects you to do, you walk back in front of her.

"While you were out there doing god knows what for two hours," you resist the urge to roll your eyes, "I already did your job and sorted through the letters. You're welcome."

She walks around the table and pushes a thick stack of papers against your chest, "That means you'll be doing my job and write replies to them. Can you handle that?"

You try not to show her how terrified you are. You? Giving relationship advice? Sounds like a recipe for a royal disaster. Instead, you rise your chin and smile, "Yes ma'am."

She visibly winces at the formal title, but still nods and returns to her seat. You take this as a sign to head back to your spot and do your job. Well, her job for now.

You sit down calmly and shuffle through the papers, trying not to look too freaked out. What the heck are you going to do now?

A quick peek at your boss reveals that she's either busy with work or just flat out ignoring you.

Trying to remain collected, you pick out the top letter from the pile. The first paragraph reads:

Hi Rosie! I'm a huge fan of your Matchmaker spread :) I never thought I'd be the one writing you a message but here we are hahaha. (Let's hope this gets featured!)

You roll your eyes but continue reading,

Me and my boyfriend have been dating for just about two months and I would describe our relationship as 'lowkey'. We first met at a bar a last year but we surprisingly didn't immediately hit it off.

With a raised eyebrow you skip over a page full of sappy descriptions and relationship stories, before getting to the end of the letter.

So what should I do? He's really sweet but I'm not sure if I'm ready to meet his family just yet.... please help! Love, Courtney.

You fold the paper back to it's original state with a quiet gulp. What on earth did you get yourself into?

[wildbootsappeared]

Continental Divides Chapter Discussion #0: Humble Origins/Editing and Rewriting

I recently enjoyed hearing Negrek talk about the behind-the-scenes of the most recent chapter of Salvage and was inspired: I figure some of you might be interested in hearing some of that type of thing for Divides, too. CD touches on some pretty complicated subjects (historical events and politics and glazed-over-science) that are worth teasing apart a little more. So I’m going to start slowly adding in some chapter reflection posts! Keep in mind that these will probably be full of spoilers, and you’ll want to get caught up before you read em. 

If you want to hear me talk about something specific, feel free to shoot me a question.

(By the way, if you’re not reading Salvage yet—fam, get on my level. I’d describe it as a black humor odd-couple tale of … friendship??? Hm, that’s definitely not the right word, is it? Anyway! Featuring: an absolute goblin of a pokemorph, dismemberment, corruption, and Very Good Decisions. And lovely prose, by the way.)

With that, let’s get into it!

(CD spoilers below!)

Art by Giulia Bernardelli 

From Humble Origins

I’ve mentioned before that Mark and Natalie were my first original characters. They were side characters in my first ever fic from … god, 2003 or 2004-ish? So in many ways, they’ve grown up with me.

I learned about fanfic shortly after Ruby and Sapphire came out in the US, so of course baby OSJ had to try her hand at a Hoenn journey fic. I’m really sad that I don’t have a copy of the original text anymore because it was hilariously bad. You see, Brendan and May had to run away from home (instead of just … journeying like every other trainer?) because they were IN LOVE (after, like, a day and a half at most) but their parents WOULDN’T LET THEM BE TOGETHER. The story featured dazzling moments of creative genius like … Brendan and May “sneaking” into Rustboro at the wee hour of 10 am, whereupon May ran into a lamp post somehow. 

Later, Mark and Natalie appear to yell at our poor heroes and then at each other. Lots of yelling. In their first inception, Mark and Nat were basically discount Jesse and James but with less dress-up and queer subtext. Mark had a glorious moment of running while dragging his feet (?). Also, during a double battle against Brendan and May, I forgot about his zubat, so it fainted because “it was tired from flying,” despite having no feet and despite taking zero hits during the fight. Then Mark took shelter from the rain under a tree, where Natalie yelled at him some more and decided for both of them that they had to team up “temporarily” to get the red and blue orbs back from those meddling kids or something. I had grand plans for this whole plot where Natalie would kidnap May to get the orbs, but then May would end up in Magma’s hands (like a human hot potato), and Brendan would have to rescue her??? Something, something, Mark and Natalie see the error of their ways and team up to help Brendan and May … do stuff?

Anyway, I never finished it, and that’s definitely for the best.

I did revisit Mark and Natalie a few years later, though, this time for a story of their own called Out of Hand. I didn’t finish that one either, but I do have the original text this time (plus snarky comments and a “review” from me ten years after the fact). I can’t honestly tell you it was … good. Maybe good-for-a-highschooler. But! When I stumbled upon it again in 2018, there was enough in it that almost worked that I started to think about how I’d handle those themes and characters as an adult.

A lot has changed since then, but that 2010 draft of Out of Hand established some of the skeleton of Continental Divides. For example, that was when Archie became Natalie’s brother to help explain how she got involved in Aqua. I decided to keep that structure because it was a good way to let Natalie start as a neutral party/reader proxy and then quickly become embroiled in the conflict. It was also the first time Mark’s sister appeared, though I don’t think I’d decided what to do with her at the time except to use her as decorations in his angsty dreams, haha. His smoking habit also started in 2010. I, too, thought he’d quit “years ago,” in literal real time. Jokes on me—it turned out to be a useful way to signal the start of him losing control, the negative influence of Cora/Magma in his life, his hypocrisy, and his guilty feelings about things he’s burned. Scarlet appeared for the first time in this draft, too. I think I was equal parts trying to humanize Archie and to write my way through feelings about growing apart from/pining for someone. Her backstory took up a disproportionate number of pages in the old draft, but I liked the idea of keeping her around as a figure who could complicate Natalie’s relationship with Aqua and with Archie. The 2010 has  a couple fights between Mark and Natalie that I respect for bringing real danger to the protagonists ... but also can’t help laughing at. They literally fight until they tumble over a waterfall, like a cartoon. Silly as those scenes are, you can also see how they laid a foundation for scenes like the fight in Chapter 9.

CD is basically me responding to Out of Hand with, “I see you and I raise you.” 

2010-OSJ had some vague feelings about inequality and environmentalism, but none of it was very well thought-out. She mostly wanted to tell an enemies-to-lovers story, in part because she thought she was living in one IRL. Nowadays, I’ve got a lot of feelings about climate change, political divisions, activism and responsibility, corporations, policing, and whether or not violence is a good answer to certain kinds of questions. Hoenn is a safe space to explore those feelings. (It’s got pokemon, so it’s inherently more fun, right???) 

Kyogre and Groudon are such obvious parallels to sea level rise/more intense storms and rising temperatures/wildfires respectively that I couldn’t resist. And in Magma/Aqua I see a lot of parallels to political conflicts happening in the US right now. The far left and the far right don’t share a vision of what a “better world” would look like, but they do share a mutual mistrust of “the swamp” and all the ways the government tag-teams with corporations to dunk on ordinary people. I’d love to believe that someday we could team up across the aisle to fight corruption together. It’s certainly hard to imagine how we could get to a better world with one half of the country pitted against each other … Something has got to give eventually, probably not peacefully. 

My versions of Magma and Aqua aren’t exact parallels to the US political left and right—both are pretty left-leaning, for one—but I still find a lot of hope in the idea of two enemies from rival factions learning to (eventually) care for one another and work together towards common goals. At the very least, it’s something I can manifest and control on the page, and that makes me feel better about all the things I can’t control.

Editing and Rewriting

My first attempt at Continental Divides was inarguably an improvement on earlier versions of Mark and Natalie … but it still took quite a bit of rewriting to get to the draft that’s available to read now. The first draft in 2018 opened with what’s now Chapter 3, the protest in Rustboro. I had the right idea with “starting at the beginning,” but starting with an action scene was the wrong move: we didn’t know enough about Natalie to care when she was in trouble or to understand why she was making any of those choices. Moreover, even though the political content is important, this is ultimately still an enemies-to-lovers story: the beginning needed to center Mark and Natalie’s relationship. You know, to establish some interest before it all implodes. The next attempt ran a little long, though, and the current version condenses their initial meeting and Nat’s backstory much better. Maybe the next time I start a new project I’ll have an easier time knowing what makes a good starting point, but this time there was a lot of swinging back and forth to find a balance.

If you’re interested in seeing how my first chapter changed over time, you can see that here.

I’m really happy to have a first chapter I know is a solid representation of the subject matter, tone, and writing level of the later chapters. Getting stuck in an editing loop is a real danger … but if you’re ever going to edit part of your fic, let it be the first chapter. A good first chapter is critical to keeping potential readers onboard. I can tell from feedback that I’ve stuck the landing now.

Hope you enjoyed this not-so-little reflection on the origins of this story!

Some music (Spotify links):

Night of the Long Knives - Everything Everything

MMMMHMMMMM - Four Fists

[fullmetaldevil-blog]

Batim Stitched AU: Halloween Birthday Bash ch 3

Ok! I kid you not, what was supposed to have been a cute little short rapidly expanded to a 80+ (and counting) page story. It had become so long that I had to divide it into 4 parts rather then 3 like the initial plan. Anywho without further delay (been delayed long enough) here we go.

SINdy and Confessional belong to @trashboatprince

Angel Henry, Bendy, Alice and Borise (Errand Boy AU) belong to @inkspottie

Bendy (ITT AU) belongs to @soniccrazygal

Beast Bendy (Dubbed BBendy to separate the Bendys from the Family AU) belongs to @doberart

Fate (Broken Cycle AU) belongs to @vespavespa

Shadow and Ben belong to @zanzaflux

On with the show~!

October 31st Halloween day

The sounds of padded feet quietly tiptoed down the hall striving to be as quiet and as careful as possible yet still alerting a large ink cat to their presence. Shadow lifted its head to see Allison sneaking into the kitchen to prepare for the morning. The large cat looked at the sleeping toons beneath it to see the toons were all out like little lights and gently tucked them in though it internally grumbled with having to pull Bendy back onto the bed since the toon was half hanging off the side of the couch. Once it was sure that Bendy was secure and that none of the other toons were disturbed by the cats movements it carefully got off the couch and crept into the kitchen to join Allison in her early morning ritual.

Allison pulled out the spare pans from the oven as quietly as she could setting them on the stove only to feel like someone was watching her. A small gurgling sound confirmed her suspicion as she looked over her shoulder to see Shadow sitting in the doorway watching her. "Good morning Shadow. Coming to watch me cook?"

Her answer was a murmuring sound and a slight nod before the cat trotted into the kitchen and rubbed its head against her side getting a chuckle from her. It brought her a small amount of joy that she won’t be by herself in the kitchen and would have little companion, that she’ll have someone to talk to as she wasn’t expecting the toons or her husband to surface any time soon.

"You can watch, but when I'm almost done can you get them up for me?" She pulled out a box of oatmeal and a bag of sugar from her cabinet before lightly scratching Shadow on its horn. The inky cats grin stretched wider as it leaned into her side, it was happy it could join her.

Allison quietly began to get her collection of pans together as she cooked bacon in one and sausage in the other. A pot soon joined the stove filled with water, raisins and cinnamon that was set to boil while she focused on finishing up the bacon and sausage. All the while Allison cooked Shadow sat next to hear lightly leaning into her side as it watched items go to and from the stove. When the first piece of bacon was ready Allison let it cool before slipping it to the inky cat for keeping her company. The feline enjoyed the crispy breakfast item purring into Allison’s side in thanks.

The pair enjoyed the peaceful bliss of the morning hour. Allison lifted the last of the bacon off the pan setting them on the plate to cool as well as the apple maple sausages. Shadow enjoyed the little sausage links that she slipped him as they were juicy and sweet, the cat purring in delight.. Allison chuckled at the cats response to the food and hefted the two plates setting them on the table and covered them. Shadows horn twitched as it finished off the last of it’s sausage before it’s attention was drawn toward the back door before a small knock was heard.

"Who could that be?" Allison lifted a brow before looking at Shadow who tilted its head looking at her.

Allison readjusted the large pot on the stove and lowered the flame so it wouldn’t boil over. She wiped off her hands on her apron before turning to the back door opening it.

Before her stood an older man with soft blue eyes and fluffy light brown hair with gray on his sides. Much to Allison's surprise small ivory horns poked through his hair on the top of his head and a golden halo floated above. Small white wings with black tips were folded against his back and sides while a small breeze ruffled their feathers. The man smiled before pulling out a small chalk board surprising Allison till she saw the scarring on his mouth and throat. It was a safe assumption that the man before her couldn’t speak.

The male angel quickly jotted something down on his board before he turned it around allowing her to read it while he gave her a warm welcoming smile.

'Good Morning.' 

"Good morning to you as well." Allison returned the smile. "I take it you are 'Uncle Angel' or 'Angel Henry' as the boys put it?"

She has an idea as to how Benny’s Uncle looked as he had described him as a full grown man. Though she was briefly confused as why Benny drew the man looking like an angel toon rather than a full sized human with angel features. It was gonna be a question for some other time. While she pondered over her new guest Henry’s nodding returned her attention to him as he erased the board and wrote a quick message before holding it up again along with holding out his hand.

'That’s me. Nice to meet you Mrs. Connor'

"Likewise" Allison chuckled returning the gesture before a set of voices sounded out from behind Henry earning a guilty and concerned look from the man.

Allison peered behind the angel to see 3 very familiar toons along with a familiar beast. Bendy, Alice and Boris perfectly on model were standing behind Henry along with a version of Beast Bendy who seemed to be amused at whatever had the 3 toons occupied. Alice and Bendy seemed to be bickering over something while Boris was simply watching them to make sure they didn’t get out of hand. Henry looked at his toons and companion before he turned back to Allison and waved at her catching her attention before holding up his board.

'Sorry. I couldn't leave my three toons at home.'

Allison scoffed at the angel's statement waving her hands. "You're fine. The more the merrier. You came just in time for breakfast."

A look of surprise crossed Henry's face before he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He grabbed his halo and pulled on it to stretch it out like toon physics to form a thought bubble, words quickly formed in it he while he gave Allison a sympathetic look.

'Sorry for coming so early. I wasn't sure what time was best. I'll be more than happy to help in the kitchen. The initial invite was for BBendy and I, but I couldn’t leave my three toons at home since it’s their first Halloween as well.’

Henry's statement was met with a warm smile as she stepped aside allowing entry into the home. “LIke I said, you’re fine and I completely understand. We all have moments where we can’t leave our children home. Plus, I’d be more than happy to have a helping hand in the kitchen.”

Henry breathed a sigh of relief nodding at her words. He was happy that the actress was so understanding of his situation as he feared that he would have to leave the toons at home to be watched by the rest of his studio family for which they didn’t have any plans for going out on Halloween night. Many simply planned on passing out candy, watching movies or simply relaxing as they didn’t express interest in taking the toons out trick or treating. He was happy that his toons would be able to enjoy the holiday alongside others. Henry motioned to the group behind him to gain their attention for which the halo bubble instructed them to introduce themselves.

Allison chuckled as the Alice toon was the first to approach her with a warm smile before bowing slightly. “Good Morning Mrs. Connor. My name is Alice Angel and it is a pleasure to meet you.”

Allison bowed slightly in turn. “It’s nice to meet you sweetie.” her answer was a hug as the Angel happily expressed her thanks for allowing them to stay before she headed inside. 

Once the little angel had skipped into the home, Boris glanced at Bendy whom had firmly attached himself to Henry showing no signs of introducing himself any time soon. The wolf lightly rolled his eyes before stepping forward.

“Nice t’ meet ya Mrs. Connor. My name is Boris the Wolf.” The wolf held out his hand in greeting.

Allison met his hand with her own before gently pulling the wolf into a hug while lightly giggling. She couldn’t help herself as she had to admit while she loved Bendy, Boris was always one of her favorites because he reminded her of her husband, a soft sweet boy. A small part of her wished that Tom was still a Boris toon, but it wouldn’t have been fair to the man as it wasn’t by choice. Movement behind the wolf caught her attention as she looked past him to catch glimpses of a bushy tail happily wagging back and forth.

“Nice to meet you too Boris and there is some food already in the kitchen.” She beamed at the toon and didn’t need to tell him twice, the wolf politely excused himself before he headed into the home.

Once the wolf was gone Allison turned her attention to the hulking beast Bendy and the smaller toon Bendy that was clinging to Henry. The two Bendy’s looked at each other before the toon one clung a little tighter to Henry indicating he wasn’t moving anywhere before Beast Bendy huffed at his much smaller counterpart and came forward. The Beast leaned his head down till the side of his head was gently rubbing against Allison while she heard a low guttural rumbling in his throat that was followed by a happy sigh when Allison returned his affections by rubbing the side of his face while being careful to avoid his teeth.

“Nice to meet you too Bendy.” Allison chuckled before stepping aside allowing the beast to carefully fit himself through the door. She was surprised at how he was able to fit, but considering he also lived with a Henry, she figured it was safe to assume he was used to getting in and out of doors without too much trouble. A stark difference between their Bendy that would get stuck in them while Benny would laugh at his counterparts misfortune before getting tossed like a toy. She had to admit that BBendy was a familiar sight and she was surprised that she wasn't at all concerned about the beast even though this was a different Bendy. Perhaps being around Benny's friends was putting her mind at ease.

Henry was to last to come to the doorway with his bendy in his arms that brought a small smile to Allison’s face. This Bendy had his face buried in Henry’s chest while he clung to him with his tail curled around the man’s arm. It seemed that this one was a bit shy. Deciding to give the little devil some space, Allison stooped a bit to have her more level with the hiding toon.

“Hi there. I know you, you’re Bendy the Dancing Demon. It’s nice to meet you. My name is Allison Connor.”

The toon nodded and mumbled a small ‘hello’ before he buried his face back into Henry’s chest prompting the man to gesture to his halo.

‘You’ll have to forgive him, he’s like this sometimes.’ Henry gave a sympathetic look at his toon. He knew full well why his Bendy was clingy and he really couldn’t blame him. ‘He’ll hopefully warm up later on after he eats and is around everyone a little more.’

Allison nodded in understanding as stepped aside to wave the angel in before Henry waved at her to gain her attention and gestured to his side. Under his wing was a small stack of presents and even Bendy had a small present in his hand that he had mostly tucked under his body.

‘I brought some gifts that I think he’ll like, the toons pitched in as well.’ he put on a small smile.

“Thank you, you didn’t have too. It is a gift enough just for you to be here.” Allison couldn’t hide her gratitude within her smile. I warmed her heart to see that even though Benny’s friends had been invited which was already a treat to the toon, but they brought gifts to him as well when they weren’t obligated to. To see that they were just at thoughtful as him filled her heart with pride that her toon had the best people around him to call his friends.

Allison helped gather up the gifts for Henry since his Bendy refused to remove himself from his creator for which Allison didn’t fault the shy demon for it. She figured he would eventually move about on his own when the time was right. Henry held the door open for the actress as she cradled the gifts in her hand and hastily retreated to her bedroom to hide them setting them next to her bed. Tom was still hugging the covers for which she lightly tugged on them waking the man and softy urged him to get up to watch the toons. Henry retreated to the kitchen to be met with the rest of the toons as well as Benny, SINdy, Shadow and Bendy whom all had woken up at the arrival of the additional guests. Tom meanwhile slowly stirred himself and dragged himself into the kitchen to watch the group while Allison remained the room to better hide the gifts.

The kitchen was full of bodies as Benny was firmly attached to Henry’s leg getting dirty looks from his Bendy while the angel chatted to the toons father. Though Tom couldn’t hide the look of astonishment and confusion on his face as he watched the words form in the angel's floating halo. It was like watching cartoon physics as he was vaguely reminded of Benny’s little floating Z’s when he’s asleep. He swiftly understood that this Henry couldn’t speak and was patient as the angel formed the words to their conversation. SINdy, Bendy and Shadow were all crowded around BBendy with the beast gurgling happily while the toons eagerly chatted to him. Alice entertained herself as she admired the kitchen before eyeing some cookbooks, but didn’t dare touch them until she asked Tom with the man giving her the go ahead. Little music notes seem to float around her as she gingerly opened them giving them a look through with Boris peering over her shoulder.

A clap rang through the air gaining everyone's attention as Allison returned to the kitchen standing next to her stove. “Good morning everyone and I’d like to thank you all for coming. As much as I’d like to get things underway, I’d like if you all were to head to the living room so I can try and finish cooking breakfast. The kitchen is a little too small to properly accommodate everyone.”

“I can help!” Alice piped up setting the book back on the shelf before stepping forward.

“Me too.” Bendy, SINdy and Benny all chimed in.

‘I’ll lend a hand’ Henry offered, but felt a hand on his shoulder, turning his attention to Tom with a questioning look.

“Actually, I’d like it if you to come with me to get some more groceries. I doubt we have enough eggs and bacon for everyone here.” the mechanic gestured to the crowd, in particular at Benny earning a small sheepish chuckle from the toon. Henry nodded in agreement at the mechanic request while his Bendy lightly pouted in protest.

“Alright everyone." Allison addressed the crowd. “BBendy can you clear some space in the living room? The coffee table and couch can be folded up and set aside to make way for the tables. Benny, SINdy and Bendy can you three get some fold out tables from the garage as set them up in the living room with BBendy?” her request got all three toons doing a mock salute along with a ‘yes ma’am’ while BBendy nodded and turned towards the living room. “Alice can you help me in the kitchen and Shadow, if you’d like, you can rest in the living with BBendy or you can stay in the kitchen with us. Boris you can either help in here or help BBendy with clearing the living room, I'll let you decide.” Alice nodded and stood next to Allison along with Shadow who seemed to be more interested in remaining in the kitchen.

The group dispersed with Benny, SINdy and Bendy retreating to the garage to fetch the spare tables while BBendy accepted Borises offer of assistance, and the pair headed into the living room to prepare. Tom loaned Henry a coat and hat to cover his wings and horns while they got ready to head out. Henry’s Bendy pitched a fit at his dad joining Tom on the shopping run until Tom lent him some of Benny’s clothes so the toon could quiet down and come along. Henry thanked Tom for his willingness to let him come along, only for Tom to comment how he understood the desire as Benny was clingy to Allison as well. He knew all too well that there are times that the toon’s don’t like to be separated from their perceived parent.

Allison watched as everyone split up leaving herself, Alice and Shadow in the kitchen with some semblance of peace and quiet restored to her kitchen, at least for the moment. For as much as she would have liked the additional help, having everyone in one room would have driven her insane. The kitchen simply isn’t large enough to accommodate the additional bodies and everyone would simply be stepping over each other trying to work.

“Shall we?” Alice’s voice chimed in drawing Allison’s attention. She had to admit it was interesting hearing a voice similar to her own, yet not quite. The actress nodded as the two angels rolled up their proverbial sleeves and got to work while Shadow’s grin stretched even wider.

“What would you like me to do ma’am?” The toon angel looked at her human counterpart. She wasn’t sure what the actress had been making prior to their coming as they hadn’t expected to be arriving around breakfast time.

Allison hummed while taking in the kitchen. The planned meal was oatmeal, toast, eggs, bacon, sausage and some fruit. The bacon and sausage were already cooked and were on the kitchen table and the toast was the last thing that needed to be made. That only left the oatmeal, eggs and fruit, but she didn’t want the angel near the stove since she is still a toon made of ink and the last thing she wanted was for her to get hurt. Her eyes finally rested on the bowl of apples on the table. “Can you slice the apples for me and then make some toast?” 

“Sure!” The toon angel chirped as she paced to the table, pulling out her chair sitting down and began to slice the small pile of apples. 

Allison briefly checked with her to make sure he’s worked with a knife before getting reassurance from the angel before she returned to her stove leaving Alice to her task. The angel happily hummed while she worked, earning a smile from Allison who returned to her stove and turned the flames back up on her oatmeal stirring the pot.

Shadow took up residence next to Allison leaning against her as she stood at the stove, the large ink cat was content with watching the two work while listening to BBendy shuffle around in the living room presuming that it was making some space for the tables and chairs that were to be brought inside. It’s stubby horns twitched at the sound of Allison humming a soft gentle tune that the cat leaned into her mode purring at the lovely melody.

“I know that song.” Alice’s voice chimed.

“Really?” A grin stretched across Allison’s face in astonishment and joy. She was surprised that Alice knew it as it wasn’t a song from the studio as it was a really old tune that is seldom heard.

“Yeah it was one that Henry had on one of his records at home. I think it was called ���Greensleeves’.” The angel returned the smile. “Henry has a number of classical pieces and that was one of them.”

Alice began to sing the melody of the song before she heard Allison join in encouraging her to sing louder. Shadow purred at it listened to the two ladies sing across the room at each other with their voices in harmony. The inky cat was enjoying the music that the ladies were creating while they worked, it’s tail lightly tapped to the beat.

The pairs voices squeaked briefly when a third voice joined in only to see Ragdoll enter the room carrying the tables along with Bendy in his Ink Devil form carrying chairs. The ragdoll demon’s deeper voice provided the harmony to the ladies melody as the trio sang out. SINdy poked his head out from behind Ragdoll’s horns as he was riding on his friends shoulder and held up his sign.

'We got tables and chairs!'

Allison chuckled breaking away from the tune at the sight of the 2 larger demons and the toon perched on Bennys shoulders before gesturing to the living room. “Well I’m still cooking so you boys can set them up in the living room.”

“Ok” Benny nodded as he ushered Bendy to the living room where they were joined by BBendy and Boris in helping to set up.

Allison turned back to her stove and added in the sweetened condensed milk to the oatmeal while she could hear the toons moving the tables and chairs around. She had to stifle a laugh at hearing the boys bicker about if the table was set up properly until Benny opted to prove his point for which the table folded up like a bear trap with him squeaking loudly inside. She felt pity for her toon, but laughed at SINdy and Bendy both pulling him out of the ‘cursed table’ and made a mental note for Tom to fix it later telling the toons to grab a different table instead.

By the time the boys had finished setting up the tables and with them no longer folding up with Benny inside, Allison finished the oatmeal and poured the hot cereal into several bowls one for each guest. She left plenty in the pot for she knew some go back for more then just seconds as well as her husband and Henry who ran out of the house to do a quick errand. Alice placed the sliced fruits at the sides of the bowls along with some butter and jelly toast. The eggs were the last thing that were prepared as she wanted them piping hot as she sprinkled a little cheese on them before setting them in a large bowl. The bacon and sausages were piled high on a plate so everyone can take their desired amounts.

BBendy grinned at the two ladies making the final touches to everyone’s breakfast and moved towards the door gurgling for Allison’s attention.

“What’s up BBendy?” The actress looked at the demon.

The beast sat down to center himself as he extended his large hand into the kitchen laying his hand out flat and motioned for the plates. After a few light gestures and a small whine Allison realized what he wanted. “Oh why thank you BBendy.” She chuckled while placing the finalized plates onto his hand.

BBendy happily growled and patiently waited for all the plates to be loaded onto his hand before retracting his hand from the kitchen. He turned and held his hand out to Benny, SINdy and Bendy whom happily retrieved the plates from the demon and began to place them at the tables. The toons happily chatted to each other as they ran around setting up all the tables for the guests who would occupy them. Boris was content with gathering up the utensils to set the tables since none of the other toons thought to get them. Allison even joked to the scurrying boys asked if they planned on eating with their hands since Boris was the only one who sought out utensils.

Once the tables were right and prepared, Benny quickly took his seat grinning wide at his bowl of oatmeal with SINdy and Bendy sitting next to him. BBendy took up the end of the table closest to him sharing it with the other Bendy toons. Alice laughed at the congregation of demons calling the Bendy’s table the demon table as she and Boris took the second table making sure to save a seat for Henry and Bendy for when they got back from shopping with Thomas.  Allison watched as all the toons chow down on their food chiming in thanks or hums of appreciation before she took a seat at the ‘demon’ table.

SINdy was about to reach for a slice of bacon before a small golden fluffy bee sat on the slice of bacon he was about to grab. The sight of the bee made SINdy’s grin go wide as he held up his sign.

‘Fate!’

SINdy suddenly holding up his sign gained everyone's attention as they all noticed the golden bee that suddenly appeared on their table. The bee buzzed away taking the slice of bacon with it before it glowed turning into a ball of light before reforming to a very familiar shape.

Allison watched as the shape took on an on model bendy form except this one was completely gold and sported a long spaded tail. His face lacked pie cute eyes as they were completely round and had what looked like small bags under his eyes making him look sleepy. The being Benny described as Fate. The figure stood before the group muttering something before pulling out a small item that resembled a salt shaker and sprinkled something shiny onto the bacon before eating it. 

The toon noticed the crowd watching him and happily bowed wearing a large grin. “Hello everyone!” 

Just as the words left Fates mouth he found himself in a bean pile as the other Bendys ditched the table to give their friend a warm welcome. The pile laughed as they hugged their friends before they decided to get up and to give their friend some space.

Fate lightly patted the dust off himself before he looked over at the woman he knew was his friends mother, Allison. He straightened up his bow tie and pace over to her holding out his hand for a handshake. “Good morning Mrs. Allison Connor, my name is Fatekeeper, but everyone calls me Fate!”

Fate outstretched hand was met with Allisons as she gently shook his. “Nice to meet you Fate. Thank you for coming.”

“Oh I wasn’t about to miss my friends Birthday!” Fate cheered.

“Well we have more than enough for one more at the table, would you like to join us?” Allison gestured to the table with all the toons eagerly grinning at their friend.

“Certainly!” Fate chirped before dashing off to the table taking a seat next to BBendy. The god looked around the table at all the food happily helping himself along with the rest of the toons before he stopped and looked at Allison. “Do you have any glitter?”

Allison couldn’t hide the look of confusion on her face. “G-Glitter? What would you want with that?”

“The food is great” Fate grinned after a spoonful of his oatmeal. “But it would be even better with glitter mixed in.” Everyone deadpanned at the table and all looked at Fate in mild disgust.

“You do realize that glitter is an art supply and isn’t edible.” Bendy groaned at his friend's request.

“And so is Ink, so what's your point? Don’t knock it till you try it.” Fate grinned while pulling out a small salt shaker opening it and sprinkle glitter all over his food. Everyone else slowly grabbed onto their plates shaking their heads no when Fate offered the shaker to any of them. The god shrugged and poured more of the contents onto his food and happily munched away.

Allison briefly looked at Benny like his friend lost his mind, but the toon shrugged and began to dig into his oatmeal. She sighed and sat down before she heard the familiar sound of the door being unlocked. She hastily got up from the table to meet Thomas in the doorway with Henry helping him carry in a large cake box while his Bendy snickered at the two men.

"Looks like you were successful" Allison beamed at the two men.

Henry grinned and nudged his Bendy to temporarily help hold the box earning a brief complaint from the toon while he took a moment to tug his halo off his wrist and to stretch it into a thought bubble.

'Thomas said he needed to get more food for breakfast when in truth he was picking up a cake he ordered.'

"Well you boys arrived just in time" Allison let them through the door. "The toons are all in the living room and don't suspect a thing."

Thomas readjusted his hold on the cake relieving Henry of it "Well I'm just gonna set it in the kitchen and wait till they are all done with their food. Plus we" he lightly nodded towards Henry and Bendy. "Gotta eat ourselves."

Allison chuckled and lightly kissed Tom on his cheek "That's fine. In the meantime I'll round up the gifts and wait till you want to get the cake."

"Thanks." Tom quickly headed into the kitchen while Allison retreated to the bedroom leaving Henry and Bendy to go to the living room to join the rest of the guests in the morning meal. 

Henry helped himself and his Bendy to the oatmeal pot while the rest of the toons were all immersed in lively chatter. The angel took a seat next to SINdy silently chuckling at his own Bendy jealously guarding the seat next to him yet a gentle yet stern look from him kept his demon at bay. Henry lightly glanced around the room at his other toons smiling as they socialized with the other guests. Alice was happily chatting with Benny as the pair were enjoying a lively conversation about clothing and fabrics. The angel toon boasting about the outfits Henry made for them for Halloween which was matched by Bennys enthusiasm for the later hours so he can see his friends dressed up. Boris was much quieter and seemed to be enjoying BBendys company along with Shadow who had taken up residence on the floor next to the large beast. The little quiet corner simply enjoyed listening in on others conversations or nibbling on the remainder of the food on the table.

Tom joined the group some time later shocked to see the golden Bendy, but lifted a brow at the toons protecting their respective plates from said Bendy. Shrugging he grabbed his own bowl and plate filling it with the oat meal for which he was surprised it wasn't completely empty. He fully expected to draw the bottom of the barrel with breakfast. Alison's choice of picking a heavier food item seemed to have paid off as it was obvious that the toon’s couldn’t eat as much of it as they could with lighter foods. He gathered up his plate sitting next to the golden Bendy for which the toon quickly turned his attention to him.

"Good morning Mr. Connor." The golden toon chirped. "My name is Fate."

"Nice to meet you" Tom nodded before digging into his oatmeal.

"Do you want some glitter with that? It will taste so good" Fate held out a salt shaker of the art supply to Tom getting both eyebrows raised.

"Ummm… I'm fine, but thank you?" The man looked around realizing why the other toons were slightly protecting their meals. 

Thomas gently placed his hand at the edge of his plate pulling it towards himself making sure to keep Fate in his peripherals as so he won't end up with a sparkling meal. The consumption of ink was a normal sight to him, but the consumption of glitter of all things was something he simply couldn’t fathom.

Allison patiently watched the group as they were pounding down the last of their meals and added onto a steadily growing stack of plates. Once all the toons were satisfied, Bendy hopped off his seat and gathered up some of the plates along with Benny as the two carefully balanced them and walked around the table heading for the kitchen.

"Oh thank you boys, but I got them from here." The actress intercepted them to keep them from seeing the cake.

"Are you sure?" Bendy spoke up as Allison reached for the plates in his hands taking them from him. The demon looking at her in confusion.

"I'm fine. Why don't you go back to the table with everyone else." Allison rounded up the plates from Benny. 

"Ok" Benny lightly frowned, but retreated back to the living room while his father walked past him with the rest of the dishes from the table.

The couple retreated to the kitchen and quickly placed the plates into the sink and filled it with water so it would be easy to clean them. While the sink was filling up with water Thomas unboxed the cake and grabbed a single candle while Allison grabbed a stack of smaller plates and a handful of forks. She turned the water off before she poked her head out from around the corner and carefully watched the toons who were idly chatting away. Shadow was looking at her and slightly tilted it’s head with it’s stubby horns twitching slightly, it seemed to know she was up to something. Allison placed a finger over her lips silently shushing the inky feline before reaching up and flicked the lights off plunging the room into darkness except for the small hints of light from the curtains.

Henry's and Alice’s halos was the only small light sources as the toons all briefly panicked except for Fate who opted to kick back and watch the show. The little god was quick to figure out Tom and Allison’s surprise and choose to supervise the toons to make sure they didn’t transform to put up a fight. Henry waved around to keep the toons from panicking too much as his halo glowed a bit brighter for them, he was doing his best to reassure the toons as he knew full well what was coming next.

Benny squeaked looking around "W-What's going on?"

"Not sure" Bendy glanced around.

SINdy briefly panicked before his eyes rested on a small light that was entering into the living room. He reached over and tapped his friend gaining Benny's attention and pointed at what was entering the room.

Thomas slowly entered the room carrying a large white cake decorated with a soft yellow icing and strawberries with a single lit candle in the middle. Allison stood next to her husband carrying plates and utensils happily singing 'Happy Birthday' with the rest of the toons that knew the song soon joining in.

Benny's pie cut eyes were near the size of dinner plates at the sight of the pair entering the living room before Allison lightly hugged him. She sang next to the toon while Tom carefully set the cake down in front of Benny with the toon looking up at him confused. Allison continued to sing before she lightly motioned Benny to look down at the cake before him with his pie cut eyes growing wide at the words before him written in golden icing.

Happy Birthday Benny

A small whine escaped him as Allison soon found herself with Ragdoll hugging her tightly softly sobbing. The demons response to the cake earned worried glances from their guests until they saw movement in the darkened room. Long black inky threads slowly snaked around the room before gently wrapping around everyone in the room. Shadow carefully edged itself out of the threads and trotted next to the group choosing to lean against Ragdoll's side gently purring. Everyone else was finding themselves being pulled in for a large group hug.  Ragdoll gently lifted his smaller guests with his threads while pulling his larger uncle, father and BBendy into a group hug with the demon whispering 'ThAnK yOu' over and over.

Allison rubbed Ragdoll's back comforting the demon before nudging his cheek. "Benny, you still gotta make a wish and blow out the candle."

The demon slowly released everyone allowing his friends to go back to their seats. He willed his ink back to it's void reducing his size back to normal. He looked at the candle as the little flame flickered and swayed, his mind lost in what he wanted for his wish. Benny closed his eyes allowing his mind to drift back to his earliest memories of birth and retraced his steps to his escape. A shadow of a smile grew on his face as he thought about his life up to this point before he opened his eyes to look at his friends. So many had gathered for the sake of celebrating his birth and then some.

His eyes grew a little wider at the realization of his wish and took a deep breath. His only thought was that he wished for many more gatherings with his friends and family as he blew out the candle earning cheers from his family and friends all around him. A small happy squeak erupted from him as a large joyous grin plastered itself on his face.

"Cake time!" Thomas reached for the cake to have his hand slapped away by Allison with a small gurgling sound akin to snickering from Shadow.

"Don't you dare" The actress pulled out a cake knife and pulled the stack of plates towards herself. "The Birthday boy gets first dibs."

The knife gently cut into the cake dividing it into large enough pieces for everyone before Allison gently lifted up a piece and placed it on a plate and set it before Benny. The toons smiled happily accepting the plate before picking it up and passing it to SINdy earning a raised brow from his mother.

"I always thought you serve your guests before you serve yourself." Benny spoke softly.

Allison felt a sense of pride bloom within her as Benny's selflessness. Even though it was a special day for him he still looked out for others first.

SINdy's grin grew wide as he took the plate Benny handed him and passed it down to Henry who passed it to his Bendy. Bendy looked like he wanted the slice, but lamented and continued to pass it down. For each slice taken and served was met with it being passed down the table until each and everyone individual had a slice each. Pleased hums drifted through the air as everyone enjoyed the light fluffy strawberry cake. 

Once everyone was served Benny looked at the remainder of the cake. He cupped the knife in his hand and made a few slices of his own earning a glance from his mother.

"What are you doing?" She leaned down watching the toon continue to slice a few more pieces of cake.

"Well SINdy lives with Sammy who couldn't come, Confessional doesn’t come out much and Shadow has Ben. I thought that they should get a slice of cake too as a thank you for letting them come or not being able to be here." Benny looking up at her with pleading eyes. He felt they deserved some cake and hoped his mom would agree.

"I'll wrap them for you" Allison lifted the slices and set them on a plate. 

"Why are you putting them on a real plate instead of a paper one?" Benny lifted a brow. He knew paper plates were for sending people home with food, but never a real one.

A chuckle escaped Allison at his inquiry. "Well by giving them an actual plate, it gives them a reason to come back because they would have to return it."

SINdy and Benny both cheered while Shadow leaned against Allison purring. SINdy was ecstatic that his dad was getting a slice of cake as the man had commented that the last cake he had was stolen from him. The cake wasn’t chocolate, but he was certain that his dad wouldn’t complain and it was far better than a can of bacon soup any day. He couldn’t wait for Confessional to get his piece. He knew the demon preferred smoked meats, but it was nice to have a little something sweet from time to time. 

Shadow was happy it's creator was getting a gift, but also wondered how he would handle it. Ben wasn’t exactly used to having people show him their appreciation for something. He was used to responses of fear and drowning people in the ink rather then getting gifts and shows of appreciation. It was curious to see how Ben would handle Allison giving him a gift.

Allison wrapped up all the slices of cake on the plates and carried them into the kitchen before returning with a small pile of brightly wrapped boxes covered in ribbons.

“What are those?” Benny tilted his head watching Allison set the gifts in front of him earning more looks of confusion.

“These are gifts from your friends as they all brought you these for your birthday.” Allison waved to their guests with SINdy taking that as his cue to remove himself from his seat and to search for his present in the pile. Once SINdy found his present he gently scooped it up and approached his friend all grins.

‘I know it isn’t much, but Happy Birthday.’ the cardboard demon held out his folder with a little paper bow stuck to it.

Benny accepted the folder and opened it to reveal a collection of sheet music from the various Alice Angel shorts as well as blank sheet music with a note attached to them. 

‘So you can create your own music’ signed: Confessional

A happy squeak erupted from Benny as he hugged his best friend thanking him profusely. He grew up on the Alice angel music and while Allison hardly sang the songs anymore as she had admitted to forgetting some of them, it was nice to see some of the old songs from happier times returned to them. A little piece of his younger days when things were much more cheery returned to him. He was also elated that even though Confessional doesn’t come out much, he added on to his friends gift with a gift that suited both of them. It wasn’t a secret that the two enjoyed playing musical instruments together along with his singing, it was nice that Confessional was encouraging them to create their own music since both were brimming with musical talent. He could only wish he could hug Confessional directly.

Bendy hopped off his seat and grabbed his present and ran up to Benny happily holding it out to him. “Happy Birthday!”

Benny released SINdy and turned to accept the present from Bendy opening it to reveal a small stack of books about the ocean life as they were full of pictures of various oceanic life and information about them. Benny hugged his friend happily thanking him for such a thoughtful gift as he wasn't able to swim without assistance. There was so much about the world he didn’t know and the ocean was such a fascinating place full of wonderful creatures. He was always eager to get his hands on any book that had more information. He knew that as soon as he had the chance, he’d be eagerly reading the contents seeking out new knowledge and creatures he could only dream about.

Much to Henrys surprise his Bendy hopped off his chair and handed Benny a small package before darting back to his seat leaving Benny confused. The toon looked at his quieter friend before opening up the parcel with a big grin spreading across his face at it’s contents.

'What did you get?' SINdy tilted his head with Benny turning the item over to reveal the present.

In Benny’s hands lay little tickets made out of colored construction paper with '1 Free Henry Hug' written on them.

Henry had to stifle a laugh at his toons gift, but Benny was all eager to show his friend his appreciation for the gesture and hopped off his chair and gave his friend a hug. It was nice to see that his Bendy was warming up to the toon, albeit slowly, but it was a start all the same. While Benny was showing his appreciation to his Bendy, BBendy nudged the angel earning some silent snickers from him as he rested his hand on the large demons head with the demon grinning at him eagerly along with Boris. 

‘I know, I know.’ The angel had to chuckle at the toons eagerness.

BBendy reached over to the last present which was really more of one giant one with a bunch of smaller ones taped to it and slid it over to Henry. The angel lightly tapped Benny on the shoulder getting his to release his Bendy from the plushtoons hold and to turn his attention to the gift.

‘This one is from Boris, BBendy and myself’ The angel gestured to the box.

Benny cautiously approached the large box and looked up at Henry before looking back at the gift. He grasped onto the paper and opened it enough to get a good look at the interior before plastering himself to Henry loudly squeaking his thanks earning small protests from Bendy about ‘using up a Henry hug’ ticket.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Allison peered into the opening of the gift and saw a collection of toys ranging from marble runs to lincoln logs, all of which encouraged building whatever your imagination can come up with. They were toys that can easily be enjoyed alone or with family and friends. It warmed her heart as she knew it was a gift that was chosen not only for the toon but for her and Tom as well. Benny loved it when they were able to do projects together and this was the perfect toy to let them build whatever they wanted however they wanted. She could already imagine Tom and Benny building castles out of Lincoln logs accompanied by marble runs. Oh the things those two would build and the chaos that ensues, but she couldn’t hide the smile as she was already looking forward to it

Alice looked at her gift and gently grasped onto it before striding to the plush toon who had moved onto BBendy hugging him as best he could. She lightly cleared her throat earning Benny’s attention. “Here, Happy Birthday.” she held out the package.

Benny released BBendy from his hug and strode up to Alice graciously accepting the gift with a warm smile and a ‘thank you’. He gently tore open the wrapping to reveal a journal with a ribbon that bound it closed. He looked up at her before she gently opened the book for him revealing a collection of easy to make recipes that didn’t involve a stove. Recipes that he could easily make himself and that kept him as far away from open flames and things that could potentially hurt him. Benny happily skimmed the book and even found a few recipes that little notes encouraging assistance as either the stove or the oven were involved.

Alice found herself with a happy plushtoon thanking her. Benny had to eat a lot often wanting to help Allison or Tom with food preparations, and if he could help make his own food then he was all the more eager to learn. He greatly looked forward to trying out the recipes the toon angel had given to him.

Shadow watched with a slight frown on its face. It didn’t have anything to bring as a gift to its friend and watching everyone else present gifts made it feel guilty. It had heard Allison allude that them simply being there for its friends birthday was gift enough, but it still felt twinges of guilt. It didn’t have anything to offer,let alone what would even be able to offer?

SINdy caught on to the ink cats downcast feelings and gently rested a hand on the cats shoulder gaining it’s attention as he held up his sign.

‘It’s ok Shadow. You being able to come was gift enough as Ben may not always be up for the trip. I’m sure Benny is just as happy that you’re here, regardless if you have a gift or not.’

The lost smile returned to Shadows face as it processed SINdy’s words. It was true it’s creator wasn’t always up for the constant traveling around, but it was happy that he let it come over for the celebration. A purr escaped the cat as it leaned it’s head into SINdy’s chest gently nuzzling him before it trotted up to Benny and gently headbutted him in the chest purring loudly earning a bubble of laughter from the toon at the cats display of affection. Shadows grin stretched even wider at the toon’s laughter as it seemed that it playing with Benny was gift enough for the toon.

While Shadow was tickling Benny a grunt sounded out as Tom eased himself out of his chair and began to gather up the now empty dessert plates. "Well I gotta go back to the garage since the cart won't paint itself.

Tom soon found a chorus of 'can we help?' As he found himself surrounded by a cluster of pie cut eyes and grins. Henry silently chuckled at the man's plight before helping in gathering the dishes.

"Well I hate to burst you guys bubble, but I need some help in the kitchen." Allison placed her hands on her hips laughing at her husband's sudden crowd.

Thd toons all shared looks of confusion as to which parent they should help with. BBendy shrugged and lifted himself up and strode next to Thomas lightly head butting him indicating he was gonna help Tom. The other toons took the hint and began to divide themselves up to each respective parent. Benny, SINdy, Shadow, Alice, Henry and his Bendy all came to Allison's side to help in the house while Fate, BBendy, Bendy and Boris all went to Tom's side.

Tom shrugged and motioned for his group to follow him into his garage workshop to finalize the cart and to prepare it for the night. Once the group was gone the toons and angel turned their attention to Allison ready to see what she needed.

An eager grin split her face as she motioned to the kitchen. "How about we make some cookies?"

Her answer was instant as the toons cheered while Henry silently chuckled at Benny who glued himself to his mother's leg in excitement.

Henry lightly waved to Allison gaining her attention before pointing to his halo.

'What cookies are we making? I know a recipe or two.'

"We're gonna make sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies. Everyone loves the peanut butter cookies and sugar cookies because everyone loves to decorate them." 

'I can help with the sugar cookies'  Henry lightly hummed.

"Ok that sounds good, so who wants to make peanut butter cookies with me?" Allison smiled at her and Henry's little helpers.

Much to Henry's surprise his Bendy slowly stepped forward wringing his gloves slightly and rocking on his heels.

"Can I help? They sound really good and I've never had them before." Bendy gave her a small hopeful look.

Allison took a knee to look at the toon directly. "Sure, and when we're done you'll get the first cookie."

A grin grew on the toons face in excitement. "Thank you!"

Benny approached Henry grinning up at his uncle. "Can I make sugar cookies with you?" Earning a nod from his uncle with Benny eagerly standing next to him.

SINdy looked torn as he wanted peanut butter cookies, but also wanted to help make cookies with his friend. A small frown formed on his face as he looked between the two with Henry catching onto the cardboard demons internal struggles. The man knelt down and rested his hand on the demons shoulder with a warm smile.

'I'm sure Allison would be more than willing to give you some peanut butter cookies. We're gonna be making more than enough for everyone to enjoy.'

A hopeful grin grew on SINdy's face as he turned and looked at Allison.

"He's right sweetie. I got enough ingredients so everyone gets some as well as some to take home" Allison reassured the demon for which she got a bright grin in response.

With the concerns laid to rest the group divided themselves based on who wanted to make what. Allison had Henry's Bendy and Alice to make peanut butter cookies with the young angel eager to learn the recipe to make at home for her family and dad. Henry had SINdy and Benny for which the two were having fun playing with the dough. Allison had to laugh as it felt like the time she and Linda ‘child swapped’ when she had Bendy and Linda had Benny. There was a sense of amusing nostalgia of working with another parents toon.

Henry was quick on the ball with handing out the rolling pins to make sure the two toons didn't use their faces to roll the dough. Being his Bendy's creator and former animator, he was well prepared to keep toon logic to a minimum. He took his eyes off the toons briefly to get the pumpkin cookie cutters only to turn around to see both boys flatten the dough out with their faces before bursting into laughter. Their rolling pins clearly forgotten. All he could do was smile at the toons antics as they both were having harmless fun.

Allison had a bit of a time with Bendy as she kept catching him trying to eat the peanut butter for which Shadow luckily intervened by using its tail to tickle the demon every time his hand wandered.The little demon wanted the cookies so badly he could hardly wait. A chuckle escaped Allison at the impatient demon, but simply handed him and Alice a fork before she rolled a single ball of dough and laid it on the pan. She had Alice and Bendy take turns crisscrossing the forks over the dough pressing each ball made on the cookie sheet. She explained to Alice that the forks were vital as not only do they had a lovely visual pattern to the cookie, but they also help flatten the dough so the cookies can have nice even uniform shape and to bake evenly.

Since Henry's cookies would take some time to be ready to bake as they needed to be cut and laid out on the cookie sheets, Allison set the stove and once it was ready for the cookies she slid in the pans. Bendy was immediately glued to the window watching the cookies bake lightly tapping his foot impatiently while Alice took up residence in a chair and enjoyed idle chatter with Allison swapping recipes. Allison even pulled out a few empty note cards from her recipe box and jotted a few down for the ever inquisitive angel.

Shadow laid next to Allison chuckling at the toon glued to the window. It reminded it of its creators counterpart in its world. It would watch it’s world’s Bendy impatiently pace back and forth in Junes home with the girls occasionally joining him in his impatience while June would get a good laugh. It was amusing to see that even though it was in another world surrounded by different Bendy’s, they all had little traits that made them all similar, yet they are all so different. Shadow laid it’s head down amused and content, it was patient and knew it would get a cookie soon enough.

Once the timer went off indicating that the cookies were ready, Allison had to fend Bendy off as the toon kept repeatedly reaching for the cookies with the actress ultimately holding the trays high out of the toons reach telling him that they are too hot and needed to cool. Henry took the opportunity to set his trays in the oven to bake, though was soon finding a demonic barnacle on his leg that went by the name Benny as soon as he had the trays in hand. Both respective parents would have found the others predicament with the toons funny if they weren’t combating their own set of toons whom were eager about getting cookies.

Allison lightly tested her batch of cookies ensuring they were cool enough to handle before pacing to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of milk before grabbing a few glasses.

“What’s with the milk?” Bendy lifted a brow as the actress paced around the room.

“You’ll need them for the cookies.” Allison smiled as she poured out several glasses of milk and passed out each glass to her guests. “You’ll definitely need them for the peanut butter cookies.” handing Bendy a glass.

The toon accepted the glass questiongly before he soon found Allison holding out a still warm peanut butter cookies to him. He thanked her and bit down on the cookie with his pie cut eyes growing wide before he eagerly scarfed down the rest of the cookie.

“It’s so good!” the toon happily chirped before taking a swig of his milk. “May I have another one please?”

“Certainly” 

Allison handed Bendy another cookie before passing out the first tray of cookies to everyone whom happily enjoyed them while they waited for the sugar cookies to be done. The room was filled with pleased hums and the smell of peanuts while Allison took a moment to divide up the second tray of cookies into smaller containers. Since Benny wanted to share some of his cake with the guests that were unable to attend for one reason or another, it was only fitting that they should have some cookies to go alongside the cake. The actress stowed away all the excess cookies while the ding of a timer sounded off.

Henry opened up the stove and just as he pulled out the trays, like clockwork, Benny was clinging to his leg looking at the trays. He internally chucked about the clinging toon until he felt another small weight against his other leg and looked to see SINdy clinging to him as well. It seemed that SINdy was picking up on the habits of his best friend. The angel set the trays atop the stove to cool before closing up the oven and setting the oven mitt aside.

‘They gotta cool first before we can decorate them’  The angel looked down at the two grinning demons.

Benny and SINdy were willing to wait for while Henry and Allison seized the moment to clean up the kitchen knowing full well that once the cookies were ready, all hell would break loose from the toons trying to decorate them. The images of the toons covered in different colored icings ran through the parents minds, but at the end of the day they were toons. You can’t fault them for wanting to have a little fun.

While Allison and Henry were busy washing the dishes Allison peeked over her shoulder to see the toons all moving around the kitchen cleaning up as well as setting out the icing on the table so they all could decorate. Alice was leading the pack in organizing the kitchen with Benny and Bendy right behind her. SINdy was busy setting out the icing and filling the little bags that Henry had suggested in filling with the topping since it would be easier to decorate. It warmed Allison's heart to see all the toons cooperating and helping each other with various tasks. 

Henry finished up washing the last dish and passed it off to Allison to dry before he left to check on the cookies. Though as soon as he approached the trays and gave them a light pat to check their temperature, he felt two small weights on his legs. He didn’t even bother looking down as he knew full well it was SINdy and Benny. 

A smile graced his face as he grabbed a spatula and began to gently lift the cookies off the tray. ‘They are cool enough now and everyone gets 3 to decorate.’

Allison chuckled as the toons all rushed back to the table and grabbed their respective plates before forming a line leading up to Henry. Benny was the fastest with SINdy right behind him followed up by Bendy and Alice. One by one Henry placed a cookie onto each toons plate and they returned to the table were Allison helped each one with showing them how to decorate them before standing back and let them work.

Shadow sat next to the group watching the toons decorate their cookies from little bats to pumpkins and ghosts. It wished that its creator can have some cookies knowing they were his favorite. A light pat on the head took Shadow out of its supervision of the toons and to Allison whom held a container with a few cookies that were yet to be decorated.

“I'm gonna give these to Ben as a thank you for allowing you to come.” the actress lightly scratched the ink cat on the side of it’s horn. Her answer from the large ink cat was loud purring as it nzzled its head into her side, the large feline showing its gratitude. 

Allison joined the toons in decorating the cookies as she wasn’t about to send some of them out the house plain. Since they were gifts they had to be decorated properly. Benny scooted over allowing his mother to work next to him with him eagerly showing her his decorated pumpkin cookies. Some of the other toons took the plushtoons cue and began to show Allison their cookies as well, with quite a few of them being creative chaos.

A content smile crossed Henry’s face as he watched the table bustling with icing and sprinkles as the cookies were being covered in anything and everything the toons could get their hands on. His halo lightly bobbed up and down above his head before he gently grasped onto it and curiously peered through it. Allison was sporting small golden horns and a halo that floated above her head, while a little Bendy plush outline glowed in the center of Benny’s body. It wasn’t a surprise to the angel, Benny told him that when he reunited with Allison she was an Alice angel toon and naturally Benny would appear as a plush toy since he used to be one. Over Alice and Bendy were his sketches of the toons which was a normal sight to him since he was the one that created them. However when his halo was turned towards SINdy he was met with a face full of a shadowy black figure whose body strongly resembled a cape with a floating round head and horns curved downwards. The face was mostly covered in what resembled ink with two small glowing orbs for eyes and large teeth that turned upwards into a grin at the sight of the angel. The demon known as Confessional. 

Henry flinched when Confessional turned his attention away from watching SINdy whom he was covering with his cloak, to Henry. The demons face split into a mischievous grin before a gloved floating hand rose up and waggled a single finger prompting Henry to remove his halo and to let it go back to floating above his head once more. It was a small warning from Confessional to not look at SINdy though the golden ring. The angel smirked as he understood why Confessional doesn’t want SINdy seen, and opted to roll up his sleeves and to help Allison with the toons as they not only decorated their cookies, but began to decorate each other as well.

------ Out in the Garage ------

“All right here we go.” a rough voice broke the silence of the air as Thomas let his small group inside the garage. 

The toons fanned out at the sight of the interior as the garage was fairly large with more than enough room to house 4 cars and shelf space. They flocked to the sight of the cart with all the sounds of ‘ooo’s’ and ‘aahs’ drifting through the air. The smaller Bendy’s were quick to climb onto the cart finding they had plenty of room to move around and they even encouraged Boris to sit with them as well. BBendy whined slightly as the demon was way too big to fit on the cart, but when the toons popped in and out the sides of the cart like a whack a mole game, the large demon was eager to catch his friends.

Tom watched the spectacle with being strongly reminded of a squirrel running around a tree before he spoke up. “All right you guys, for as much as you enjoy the cart, it’s not going anywhere unless it’s painted.”

The two Bendy toons ditched the cart and came up to Thomas while Boris and BBendy were watching from a distance.

“What color is it gonna be?” Bendy spoke up.

“Well my thought was to make it a soft gold color as it’s the color most commonly seen with Beehive depictions.” Tom fingered through his cabinets until he secured some yellow and brown paints. “Thing is we gotta mix it first before painting.” the man set a few tins down as well as come empty buckets.

“Can I help?” Bendy was at the man's side.

“Sure, but let me set it up first and then we'll go from there.” Thomas looked up at the cart before looking back at his paints. “Well need 3 different colors, 2 yellow and brown.”

“How come?” Fate tilted his head while looking at the older man.

“Well I figured that the interior be brown along with part of the bottom and that the outside portions be one shade of yellow and the lighter yellow would highlight the honeycombs.”

Fate smiled and rested his hands on the back of his head “For not being an artist you have an eye for details.”

The gods comment earned a chuckle out of the mechanic. “Well when you’re designing machinery there is a sort of art form to it I suppose. You have to know how to draw to create a design.”

“So does that mean you know how to draw like Henry?” Bendy chirped.

Tom burst into laughter “NO, no, no. I can draw, but mechanical things for measurements and blueprints. I’m not an artist to where I can create a masterpiece of the mind. What I draw is of the practical nature where everything has a function and purpose since it’s supposed to be something real, not imaginary.” his eyes widened at his choice of words noting the small frown that formed on Bendy’s face as well as the rest of the toons. 

Guilt settled into Tom’s stomach, it was true that his line of work focused one something real while Henry focused on something imaginary, but what happens when that imagination becomes real? How do you explain that what wasn’t supposed to be, is? 

Fate felt bad for Tom’s poor choice of words, but knew what the mechanic meant, a small smile graced his face as he opted to lend the poor man a hand. “See Bendy, what he means is his job is to make things physical work.” The toon looked at the golden Bendy in confusion. “Take this for example.” Fate reached over and grabbed a wrench off Tom’s work table holding it out for the toon. “His job is to design a wrench or to design a better one since it is a tool that is used to make humans lives easier. What he makes is for their physical lives in the world around them while and artist seeks to make things to help their minds. Images of nature, space, or beings of the imagination that touch people's hearts rather than their bodies. In a way they are both artists, but of opposite natures.”

“Then what about the Ink Machine?” Boris deciding to speak up.

“When I was commissioned to make the Ink Machine it was done on the premise of turning something imaginary into something real. A combination of our arts as Fate described it. It was made to bring literally life to the imaginary, solely to make the children happy from one side, and a company profit on the other.” Tom rested his hand on the cart looking at the group. “The 1930’s was a rough time as the stock market had crashed and many people were poor and struggling to make ends meet. The thought of having cartoon characters real to where the children could laugh and play with their favorite characters was too good to pass up even though our Joey only saw it as a means to keep the company afloat. I made it with the intention of seeing children smile. I already told Benny and SINdy this, but at the end of the day while the machine was a curse and many suffered for it, it achieved in bringing you all to life. Now what remains has a chance to start new and to care for the surviving toons. You guys gave many of us old adults a reason to smile again, despite what happened.” the shadow of a smile formed on the man’s face.

Bendy returned the softened expression with one of his own. It was nice knowing that at least this Thomas Connor had good intentions behind his actions, while that doesn’t speak for every iteration of the mechanic and engineer, at the least the ones they know never meant any harm, and if anything, were satisfied at the birth of all the toons.

Fate clapped his hands together grinning . “Now that we got that settled, why don’t we get to painting this cart. It’s ain’t gonna paint itself!”

Bendy laughed at his friends comment agreeing along with BBendy who was poking a small pile of brushes.

Thomas grabbed the container of brushes and passed them out to everyone while Fate stirred the three buckets of paint with mixing in a little touch of his own in one of them and kept that bucket to himself. Bendy and Boris shared the base yellow color with Tom instructing what needed to be painted that color while the mechanic and BBendy kept the brown for themselves making it easy for them as BBendy lifted the cart making painting the underside easier for the both of them. Fate giggled and floated up to the top of the cart and began to paint in the details earning a deadpan look from Bendy and a happy expression from Boris.

“Seriously Fate? Glitter? This ain’t a disco ball.” Bendy groaned at the gods painting.

“Tsk, tsk Bendy. Gotta have a little fun with the evening and besides, the glitter will actually make it easier for light to reflect off the cart making it easier for people to see us. I imagine it gets pretty dark up here at night and anything that can reflect light would be helpful.” The God cheekily grinned at his far younger companion. “Plue if we’re gonna go out in it, might as well go in style.”

A grunt sounded out from under the cart as Thomas slid out from under it. “Fate’s got a point Bendy. It gets dark out and while I’m not going with you guys tonight, anything to ensure your safety is a must.”

Boris looked at the mechanic tilting his head. “You’re not coming?”

“Well while the kids are out and about for Halloween trick-or-treating at the different houses, it wouldn’t be fair to have our house empty with no candy for any of the kids while you all are running around. So I volunteered to stay home and to pass out candy to any potential visitors.” Thomas brushed off the dust off his pant leg as he stood up cracking his back earning a small groan from the man.

BBendy grunted and gurgled while fate listening to the large demon before speaking. “BBendy wants to know if Benny is ok with you staying home.”

Tom scratched the back of his head. “Well, He was already told how Halloween works with the trick-or-treating as well as passing out candy, so I’m sure he’ll be fine with it. Plus he already knows I don’t have a costume.” The groups motions all came to a halt at the mention of the word and the all looked at each other earning a raised brow from Tom. “Something I said?”

“We don’t have a costume.” Bendy gestured to the rest of the group and especially at BBendy.

“I have one that Henry made me” Boris chimed in.

“I can just transform for mine since no one will be none the wiser.” Fate cheekily grinned.

Bendy frowned slightly pouting. “Yeah, but I don’t have one.”

Tom had to chuckle at the little pouting demon as well as the far larger one as it looked that the wind was knocked out of both their sails. “Well the faster we finish painting the cart, the faster we can see about solving your problem with the costumes.”

BBendy gurgled happily and pulled the aged man into a one arm hug with Tom briefly panicking at the sudden action. Once he realized that the demon was hugging him in gratitude he relaxed in the demon's hold. 

The group resumed their painting the cart with renewed vigor as they still needed to make their costumes before nightfall and the fall month’s days are shorter and the nights were longer. Tom kept a fan on facing the cart to help it dry faster so he wouldn’t have to worry about any damp or wet spots once the evening set in. BBendy was all grins as he was sporting off his strength in helping adjust the carts angles making it easier for everyone to paint as well as himself. Tom had to chuckle at how small the paint brush looked in the demons large hand but the demon was happy with such a simple little thing. He even had little sparkles around his face which was an amusing display of toon logic.

The remainder of the painting process went smoothly with  everyone keeping a watchful eye on Fate whom was determined to make some sections of the beehive shaped cart as sparkly as possible with Bendy groaning all the way. Tom resorted to telling Fate he could make some sections have a shine to them as long as he didn’t get too carried away which made the gods eyes light up and he went to town on the cart decorating it to his heart's content. Once fate was done Tom had the group turn over their brushes to wash them for which he discovered that BBendy wasn’t at all bothered by water as the demon was eager to help Tom clean the brushes while Fate and Bendy helped boris in setting up some fans to help the cart dry even faster. 

“Alright guys, I think that wraps it up.” Tom put the brushes away. “Lets head back inside and see what we can do about your costumes.”

The toons cheered and all rushed out the door to head back inside leaving Tom behind to lock up the garage chuckling at their eagerness. It was always amusing to him to see that despite the fact that many of the toons are about 30 years old, if not older, that they behave like a cluster of excited children. Seeing them so excited over something that he himself as an adult had long since grown out of tugged a smile on his face as he had to admit that they made him feel younger than he actually was.

Tom reentered the house through the backdoor by the kitchen to find the kitchen was controlled chaos. All the toons were munching on cookies that Allison and Henry had baked and their set of toons were eagerly showing the cookies they made to the rest of the group that hac come inside. Allison was passing out extra cookies to Fate, Bendy, Boris and BBendy since they were outside helping him in the garage with the cart rather them making the sweet treats. He himself was rewarded with 3 peanut butter cookies which he thoroughly enjoyed alongside the toons.

“Benny.” Tom spoke gaining his demon’s attention. “Can you help BBendy and Bendy with a costume. Apparently they don’t have any.”

Benny eagerly nodded and ran up to BBendy and gently grabbed onto his finger. “Wanna come to the living room so I can make you a costume? You too Bendy.” the toon chirped at his friend.

Both toons finished their cookies and followed Benny into the living room with Shadow soon following after them. While they were gone Henry retreated to the corner of the kitchen and grabbed his bag he had brought along opening it. One by one he pulled out his own toons costumes separating their respective pieces.

“Oh those are adorable!” Allison cooed at the sight of the costumes that Henry had pulled out for his toons.

The angel blushed slightly as he scratched the side of his cheek. ‘Thank you. I like to sew and while it would have been easier to draw the costumes, I wanted to make them by hand.’

“Draw the costumes?” Allison’s brow lifted in confusion.

‘Oh I guess Benny didn’t tell you.’ the Angel got up and picked up an ink pen out of a little canister by the phone. ‘See whatever I draw with ink I can bring to life a long as the image is completed.’ He drew a small sunflower to prove his point, and much to Allison’s surprise a real sunflower replaced the small drawing that the man had done for which he set the flower in a glass of water. ‘While drawing would have been a lot faster, it isn’t as satisfying as when you do it with your bare hands. I had the time at home so it was just a matter of getting the materials and the needed measurements.’

“I think that is very cute and impressive that you were able to make their clothes and costumes.” Allison grinned at the man. 

Henry handed over the costumes to his toons with Tom showing Alice were the bathroom was so she could change into her costume. though the little angel wanted to have her hair done so Allison volunteered to help her so Henry could focus on helping his Bendy and Boris with their costumes as well as to change into her own. Boris was able to get into his costume easily enough the cartoon wolf's tail wagged back and forth happily as he sported his skeleton costume. Bendy needed a little help with his costume for which his creator was more then willing to lend the toon a hand.

‘Are you gonna wear a costume as well?’ Henry looked over at Tom earning a confused look from the man before he realized that the angel was addressing him.

“No, I volunteered to stay home to pass out candy for any children that would brave the long driveway up to the house. I set up some lights along the path so it isn’t so dark. If anyone comes up they get a bag of candy.” Tom shrugged.

‘I see.’ Henry couldn’t fault the man for not wanting to come.

Something stumbled into Tom’s leg startling the man as he looked down to see SINdy struggling to get into his costume from earlier. The combination of the two costumes blinded him and he was caught up in the material. 

His little sign and hand frantically waved around ‘Can I get a little help please.’

“Hold still” Tom caught the little struggling toon and held him still before he began to untangle the costumes.

Henry watched Tom gently untangle the toon with a certain level of care that came with being a parent. It was amusing to see a Tom that had a tender side and wasn’t completely rough around the edges. The man practiced patience with lifting the costume off the toon and then carefully redressed him as to make sure the cardboard demon didn’t get tangled again all the while a big grin was on SINdy’s face as he was thankful for the help.

SINdy was all dressed and ready to go along with Alice and Allison coming out of the restroom both sporting off their costumes. Alice happily ran up to Henry showing off her costume and her hair happily chirping about how Allison did it for her and that the actress let her fix her hair as well. Henry complemented the little angel on her outfit and hair while he dug around in his bag pulling out his costume and headed to the bathroom to change. SINdy broke away from the group eagerly rushing into the living room to see BBendy sporting a large fluffy vest, small wings and little antenna on his head and he was absolutely peachy. The demon was all grins in his costume as he rocked back and forth in place happily. Bendy just put on his antenna grinning happily while Benny was fixing Shadows bee costume. The ink cat’s grin seemed wider than normal as Benny was working on the finishing touches. Fate was a little golden bee riding on top of Benny’s head while the toon worked on his friends costumes.

“I see everyone is almost ready to go.” Allison snickered before putting on her antennae headband as she entered the living room.

“Almost” Tom sounded out from the hallway as the man opened up the closet and pulled out a small stack of extra pillow cases before entering the living room. “They can’t get candy if they don’t have a bag of some sort.” the mechanic held out the pile for the toons all to take their respective bags earning a chorus of ‘thank you’s’.

Henry exited the bathroom to see all the toons dressed and ready to go. The now mummified angel smiled at Allison. ‘Are we ready to head out?’

Allison peaked out the window to see the sun had set dying the sky a deep scarlet with hints of purples. “Yeah I think it’s about that time.”

Upon her stating that it was time to go all the toons cheered in excitement at finally being able to head out for the night. Thomas found a cluster of leg weights on himself as well as a fluffy bee on his head as he headed towards the garage to open it up for them to take the cart with Allison and Henry both trailing behind laughing at the mechanics misfortunes with his demonic baggage. 

Tom opened the door heading inside and Allison and Henry both stood in the doorway stunned at the project that the man had built. The wooden cart looked like a perfect beehive with little pockets of open honeycombs for the toons to hide inside as well as little boards on the outside with cushions for them to sit on if they didn’t want to ride inside.

“Oh Tom it’s so cute!” Allison jogged up to the cart to look it over while the toons clambered onto it with each one claiming a spot to sit down.

“Well it was the least I could do. I’m not going, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna damper their fun.” Tom scratched the back of his head.

“Thank you for your effort.”Allison pulled her husband into a kiss. She was happy that despite the start of the week with Tom being moody about the time of year with the ink machine that he finally lightened up and was not only participating, but also enjoying the holiday. She couldn’t be any happier.

“Are we ready to go?” Benny lightly tugged on Allison’s pant leg looking up at her breaking her out of her kiss with Thomas. Bennys answer was a big grin from his mother and a nod earning a happy squeak from the plushtoon, he couldn’t wait!

Allison grabbed onto the handle and began to push the cart before BBendy nudged her, he wanted to push it for her. A chuckle escaped the woman as she allowed the demon to nudge the cart forward, but BBendy walked on his knuckles, so him pushing the cart and trying to walk proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Tom watched the group trying to move the cart before he got an idea and rushed back to his table rummaging around. He pulled out a set of straps and briefly examined them before jogging back to the cart and group.. 

“Hey Shadow?” the man looked at the cat as it tilted its head at him. “Would you be willing to help pull the cart?” Tom held out the straps that he tied together to form a makeshift harness. 

Shadow looked at the cart and then back at Tom nodding its head, it didn’t mind helping out one bit.

Tom paced up to the cart and with a few turns of a screwdriver the straps were attached to the cart while Benny helped shadow into the harness. Once the cat got the all clear it lightly tugged on the cart finding it wasn’t very heavy and slowly began to pull the cart. Allison got behind and helped push while the toons piled into it and they all waved good-bye to Tom as they headed down the driveway and into the street to begin their night of trick-or treating.

[prince-claremont-diaz]

Whatever We Become

Summary: In Lucas’ final year of high school before he has to face the real world, he comes across the new identical twins, Eliott and Leo. Needless to say, Lucas falls head over heels for both of them. 

Or The twin au absolutely no one asked for

Word Count: 2.5k

Ao3 version

Chapter Thirteen: Surprises

“Dude, what happened. Are you drunk?” The next morning, Lucas, who was the first one at school, was sitting with his head hanging forwards as Yann walked over, voice laced with concern. Lucas looked up, meeting his friend’s eyes with a blank, exhausted stare, grey bags forming under his eyes.

“Hungover, more like,” he replied dully, “Manon, Emma and I thought it would be a good idea to drink away our problems last night.” Arthur wandered over next, waving cheerfully at the other two. “Morning, Arthur.”

Arthur grinned, plopping down next to Lucas on the bench.

Yann raised his eyebrows at Lucas, eyes widening. “On a school night? And you still came?”

Lucas nodded, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms, stomach turning uncomfortably. “I can’t miss class, Yann.” Yann frowned disapprovingly but let the conversation fall as Basile walked over.

“Lucas, why the long face? I’ve got some good news for you.” Basile stopped, beaming excitedly. “Guess who I saw walking from the bus stop this morning.”

Lucas yawned, shrugging his shoulders carelessly, keeping his eyes down. “I really don’t care. Nothing can bring up my mood this morning. I feel like I got hit by a truck,” Lucas drawled bitterly, yawning once again.

“Oh, but I think this just might.”

Lucas opened his mouth to comment but promptly snapped it shut when he saw none other than Eliott walking into the courtyard with his brother Leo. He was dressed in black skinny jeans and an unfamiliar navy hoodie, his usual black one still at Lucas’. As if summoned, Lucas instinctively stood up, eyes wide as he watched Eliott making his way over shyly. Behind him, he could hear the other three boys whispering semi-excitedly. He shot them all a dirty look over his shoulder.

“Eliott.” Lucas’ words were barely above a breath, feet carrying him a couple steps forward of their own accord. Eliott continued coming over until he was only a foot or so away from Lucas, looking tentatively at him with his hands fidgeting at his sides, rocking back on his heels.

“Hey,” Eliott replied, smiling sheepishly and looking at Lucas through his eyelashes. Lucas swore he could melt right then and there in the middle of the school courtyard.

Lucas grinned and whispered back, “Hi.”

And then they were hugging. Lucas had no clue who initiated it, but somehow he was now standing with his arms wrapped securely around Eliott’s waist, tucking his face into the crook of Eliott’s neck while Eliott held him close, cradling his head. Lucas breathed in, smelling the familiar masculine cologne mixed with cigarettes and something oddly chocolatey. An odd mixture, yet perfectly him.

The hug was short lived as the other three boys wanted their own share of Eliott hugs, slapping him heartily on the back and ruffling his messy hair with compliments on the new colour. But even as he stood on the sidelines, watching his friends smothering Eliott with hugs, he caught the other boy’s eye and that alone was enough.

◇ Lucas, Yann and Basile were sitting at the lunch table that afternoon, talking about their latest Literature class, when Arthur and Eliott appeared. They greeted the rest of the table and Eliott sat down in the seat next to Lucas, setting his tray on the table.

"Boys, there's a great party coming up this weekend, you in?" Arthur looked around hopefully at the others, drumming his hands excitedly on the table.

"I'm in," said Yann, raising his eyebrows with interest.

Basile nodded excitedly, mouth full of food already. "I was already planning to go, so obviously yes!"

"I think I might be busy this weekend…" Eliott admitted shyly, voice trailing off at the end and bowing his head so that his jet black hair fell into his eyes.

Lucas glanced sideways at Eliott as the other three tried to protest. He was poking his fork into his pasta, avoiding eye contact and bouncing one of his knees up and down. "I can't go either. I have to… finish an essay for Monday and I still haven't even started it."

"Oh come on, it won't be as fun without you guys! You have to come," Basile whined.

"I can't come, Basile. And clearly neither can Eliott," Lucas gritted, staring daringly at Basile, challenging him to protest again.

Basile started to protest again, but was cut off by Yann covering his mouth with his hand and saying, "Dude, just leave it. They're obviously just busy this weekend. There's always next week." Yann glanced across at Lucas, looking back and forth between him and Eliott. Lucas smiled lightly in thanks, knowing Yann understood.

"Plus, you're always disappearing at parties these days, so it doesn't even affect you," Arthur pointed out.

The conversation moved onto other topics soon after and a few minutes later, they started to pack up to head to classes again. As Lucas started to follow the others out of the cafeteria, putting his tray up, he felt someone pulling on his sleeve. Turning, Lucas saw Eliott holding onto his shirt, wearing an unreadable expression. He was hardly making eye contact, eyes straying anywhere but at Lucas.

Lucas raised his eyebrows, turning around fully to give Eliott all his attention. "You didn't have to do that back there," Eliott said, tone strained and tense, jaw set.

"Do what?"

Eliott sighed, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "Cover for me. You don't have to miss the party just because I don't want to go," Eliott grumbled curtly, "I can take care of myself, Lucas. I just don't want to go to the party. You don't have to pity me or something."

"I'm not pitying you, Eliott," Lucas insisted defensively, frowning, "I don't know what the fuck happened the other day, but I'm guessing you aren't up for a party when you went completely MIA for almost a fucking week." He knew he was being too harsh, but he couldn't help but feel bitter after Eliott not only ditched him, but then ignored him for a whole week. He softened, however, when he saw Eliott's face fall, eyes moving to the floor and shoulders slumping. He took a deep breath. "But we can hang out at my house or yours instead, can't we? Just the two of us."

Eliott looked back up, eyes wide as they met Lucas'. He nodded, leaning his forehead against Lucas' and whispering, "I'd like that." He reached down to hook his pinkie around Lucas’, a faint smile growing on his features. Lucas sighed, grinning back.

"We should get to class, but we can meet at the courtyard after?" Lucas suggested as the warning bell signalled and he stepped reluctantly away from Eliott. He nodded again in reply and Lucas turned around to make their way out of the lunch hall, holding the door open for Eliott as they went their separate ways.

"Hey, Lucas?"

Lucas paused, turning on his heels again to look at Eliott. "Yeah?"

"I promise I'll tell you what happened. Soon."

Lucas smiled, tilting his head. "Okay." With one last look, the two boys turned to go towards their respective classes. Lucas grinned to himself, pushing past a group of first years making their way to class and hurried towards the science labs.

◇

That evening, Lucas and Eliott were alone in the Demaury flat, sprawled across the couch with an empty pizza box lying open on the coffee table and some action film playing on the tv. Leo was out with some of his friends for the night and wouldn't be back until morning. There were a few opened beer bottles scattered across the table as well, lying on their sides or tilted against the cardboard box. One of Lucas' legs was thrown over Eliott's legs, head resting on Eliott's shoulder as he played with one of Eliott's hands. With the window propped open, the distant city sounds of racing cars and laughing voices trickled into the room, lacing with the light breeze of the autumn air.

"Why a hedgehog?" Lucas asked, tracing his pointer finger over one of Eliott's veins. He glanced up to catch sight of Eliott's profile.

Eliott sat up, smiling down at Lucas with a devilish glint in his eyes. "Have you seen your hair?" He reached up to ruffle Lucas' hair, earning a shocked and offended gasp from the other.

Lucas slapped his hand away, pulling his leg away and pouting. "Well if you hated my hair you could have said so," he said with mock offense. His facade was easily broken by the tiny smile peeking out of his lips.

Eliott laughed, pulling Lucas back towards him and running his hands through his hair. "I like your hair, dumbass. It suits you," Eliott said, pressing a kiss on top of his head. Lucas groaned, pushing Eliott away again. "Grumpy hedgehog." He patted Lucas' head teasingly, beaming down at Lucas with a startling fondness. A flush crept up his cheeks despite himself.

"So a raccoon and a hedgehog? Doesn't that sorta defy the rules or nature or something?" Lucas teased, smirking mischievously and raising an eyebrow.

Eliott shoved his shoulder, rolling his eyes. "This is my house, you know. I can just as easily kick you out for comments like that." Lucas gasped, slapping a hand over his chest.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, I would dare."

Lucas shook his head, resting his head on Eliott's shoulder and closing his eyes. "I don't think you would. You like my company too much," he whispered.

"I do." Lucas startled slightly at the intensity of Eliott's words, his voice hard and insistent yet as soft as a blanket. Lucas wanted to wrap himself up in Eliott’s certainty, protect himself from any other, harsher words and never forget his calming whispers.

"What are we?" Lucas blurted, eyes widening and face a vibrant crimson. Like a record scratching, time seemed to hit a wall, tripping over itself as Eliott turned to look at him in slight confusion, tilting his head to the side. He reminded Lucas a bit like a puppy, but he kept that thought to himself. "Like. Do you want anything serious or is this just casual or something? I’ve been wondering for ages," he explained bashfully, gaze falling to his lap as his fingers fiddled with each other.

Eliott tilted his chin to face him, eyes affectionate and searching. "I want something serious, Lucas. If you do. I don't think I've ever been more serious in my life." Eliott replied, smiling that gooey sweet smile Lucas wanted to lock away for safekeeping, only for him.

Lucas nodded enthusiastically, eyes wide. "Yeah, I really really do. I was worried you didn't," he admitted.

Eliott shook his head where it leaned against Lucas' forehead, nudging his nose into Lucas'. "Well I do. So don't worry, okay?"

Lucas nodded. "Okay."

They sat in silence for a few minutes after that, the tv long forgotten as they sat pressed against each other on the couch, heartbeats and breaths mingling together in a harmony none could recreate. Eventually, Lucas noticed a piano in the corner of the room that he hadn't noticed before. It was piled high with various sheets of music and a vintage record. The shelf next to it held various other music books and a variety of records.

"You have a piano. I didn't know that." Lucas' voice was feather soft, turning his head to peer up at Eliott curiously through his lashes, eyes bright with interest.

Eliott shrugged. "It's really Leo's. He's had lessons since we were like 5," he said, "But I can play a mean Star Wars theme."

Lucas laughed, standing up from the couch and turning the tv off before walking over to the piano. "Can I try?" Eliott nodded, watching him as he perched on the seat in front of the piano, fingers dancing as he decided on what to play. He pressed a note experimentally, getting a feel for the music that instantly washed over him as he hit the black and white keys. One of the few pieces he knew by heart, Lucas slowly eased into it with clumsy, unpracticed movements, stumbling on a few keys.

Eliott laughed, leaning back against the cushions. "I think we have a triangle, if you want." Lucas wheezed a laugh, rolling his eyes and turning back to the piano.

Lucas moved back into the music once again, letting his fingers speed up, notes floating into his ears. He forgot where he was, barely thinking about his movements as his fingers danced gracefully, easily across the keys, pressing them down avidly and passionately. The air was filled with the intertwining notes as they mingled together and cascaded down into the street to harmonise with the birds. A gentle smile crept onto his lips as he played the familiar tune, chest heavy yet safe with the memories of learning this song when he was young. It was deliberate and calm and he could just about see Eliott sitting forwards on the couch out of the corner of his eye.

As he slowed to the end of the piece, letting his fingers trace the last few notes, he was almost overwhelmed by a strange calmness. When he finished playing, the last notes still lingering in the air, Lucas turned back around towards Eliott and felt his heart skip a beat at the wide eyed, broadly grinning face Eliott was giving him.

"That was… beautiful," Eliott marveled, eyes shining and teeth on show. Lucas opened his mouth to reply, probably something teasing about Star Wars, but Eliott continued. "Just like you."

Lucas' heart stopped. An entire field of scarlet roses seemed to bloom on his cheeks, eyes darting back down at the wood floor. All words escaped him and Lucas was left a silent mess, turning back around in the seat and fiddling with the fabric of his trousers.

"You are." Eliott stood up and stepped easily over the coffee table, towering over Lucas on the piano bench. He gently pushed Lucas back, bending down to be at eye level and pressing his face close. Lucas' elbow collided with the piano keys, breaking the silence and the tension with the jarring notes. "You're surprising me at every moment, Lucas. Everything you do leaves me in awe and I have to take a minute to myself because every single thing you do makes me breathless."

Lucas blinked, at a loss for words, desperately trying to grasp for something, anything to say to try to match Eliott's words. But he came up completely blank, taken aback by the abruptness and the intensity of Eliott. Eliott continued on, adding, "The world is filled to the brim with surprises and you never stop being my favourite one."

A sharp intake of breath, eyes glassy and he pushed the rest of the way forwards until he was kissing Eliott once again. He smiled into the kiss, one of his hands coming up to tangle in Eliott's shiny black locks, heart racing in his chest. Eliott pulled them both into a standing position and without pulling them apart, guided Lucas back into his bedroom.

[shinneth]

The Gem Ascension Reference Tour 1: Fatal Frame series

The above is referenced in what I consider to be GA3′s signature scene (or one of them, definitely a top 3), which happens very early on in the chapter (as early as page 33 can be considered for a 299 page part). I had a surprising number of Fatal Frame references in the series overall, so let’s go into detail further down.

Since Tumblr apparently ignores time stamping, the relevant bits for this top video start around 4:07.

Fuyuhi Himino’s unfortunate unintentional suicide in Fatal Frame V is very similarly in an early pivotal moment of GA3, as it directly causes Peridot to let down her guard just enough to allow for White Diamond to put a cap on her willpower, which allows her to succeed in making Peridot ascend to Chartreuse Diamond soon after. Very very similar scenario, though in Peridot’s case she’s directly resisting a giant blade of energy coming for her neck, but like Fuyuhi, she only has her bare hands to intercept the threat. 

Being a gem, of course, this doesn’t spell the same consequence for Peridot as it does for poor Fuyuhi, but it does kind of fuck her over for life. Since Peridot’s got a hard light body, this isn’t actually physically hurting her unless it hits her gemstone - and doing any lasting damage to Peridot is counter-productive for WD since she’s wanting to make a diamond out of her. Even the “superfluid light” I describe in place of blood from the reference, and the pain that comes from Peridot nearly getting her fingers chopped off by continually resisting this blade, is visual trickery on WD’s part to make Peridot believe it’s real. So, a Your Mind Makes It Real trope, as Peridot does feel a great deal of pain from this. Then again, gems can’t bleed and that was purely for visual effect to instill panic in a gem trying not to get her neck lacerated with something that’s big enough that looks more like it’d behead her. 

Peridot’s been resisting WD for almost a week at this point, mind you, so she’s been worn WAY down to the point where she’d actually fall for this. And how Peridot ultimately succumbs to getting her neck “sliced” is just like how it happens to Fuyuhi: the latter has a very close friend named Haruka who’s gone missing. She’s SUPER adamant about finding her, even if it means traipsing about in a mountain infamously known for being a popular suicide spot with regular hauntings. So this mirage Fuyuhi sees of Haruka in the distance makes her so relieved and happy, she completely forgets a ghost is this close to possessing this girl’s knife-holding hand into killing herself. So the moment she lets her guard down, Fuyuhi ends up slitting her own throat on accident. And it turns out it wasn’t even really Haruka at all; kind of a plus that Haruka (who at this point in the game WAS still alive) didn’t have to see her friend die like this directly, but it’s a pretty shit deal that Fuyuhi ends up losing her life over nothing.

In GA3, of course, it’s Steven (or more specifically, the imaginary Steven built from Peridot’s subconscious who gets to feature in all her daydreams about him) who takes up Haruka’s role. Peridot specifically told ALL the Crystal Gems not to go back for her if she’s the only one left behind in the mission. She’s had no way to gauge how much time has passed since they were forced to abandon her, and after 6 days she’d be considering the possibility that they listened to her if she knew that for a fact, but her gut tells her they’re not going to ditch her. And they don’t, of course. Unfortunately, it’s implied this happens literally hours before the Crystal Gems land on Homeworld for their Peri rescue mission, if not sooner. So yeah, this all could have been avoided if the CGs just took off a little bit sooner, but of course they had no way of figuring out what was going on in Homeworld while they prepared for their trip back. It’s all just one big unfortunate mishap, and it’s sort of to drive home the point that Steven, despite being the source of Peridot’s strength and resolve in the story so far, can just as easily become her biggest weakness under certain circumstances. 

This scene is later showed to Steven when he does reunite with Peridot later when he’s aiming to fix her since WD sealed away the sharpest bits of her wit and willpower (which consequently made Peridot and the initial Chartreuse Diamond pretty gullible fools, prone to panic and indecision, as well as self-doubt and greatly lowered self-esteem). He needs to see exactly how WD pulled this off to get an idea of how to get the 100% Peridot back, which meant he pretty much HAD to see this scene. While later the CGs are also “treated” to this when Peridot catches them up on the plot later, it traumatizes Steven. The moment Peridot slips up is replayed constantly in his head and not even closing his eyes can make him un-see it. It’s a pretty reasonable thing to get someone riled up about, especially if it’s a loved one (and even though they’re not officially a couple yet by this point, they become one very soon after this, if that’s any indication of how hard Steven really takes this) and it just keeps playing in your head and you can’t make it stop. It actually triggers a mental civil war in his head where part of Steven just wants to forego his morality and kill the shit out of WD for this, but there’s still the part of Steven who won’t let go of his pacifism no matter what. But no side is really gaining on the other, so it’s an endless fight while this clip keeps playing in Steven’s head. 

It has adverse effects on his human/gem hybrid body, inducing a growth spurt on said body so that Steven actually looks his age and various traits of his Pink Diamond part trying to dominate his body and power him up, because HE IS PISSED. This kickstarts the alternate form Steven can later take in Pink Diamond 2.0, where visually it looks like a fusion between Steven and the Pink Diamond iteration of his mom, but it’s not a fusion at all and is more of Steven’s “fully awakened” Diamond form where he can utilize 100% of his potential. It basically replaces Pink Steven from the canon finale, since GA is supposed to be a “Bad Ending AU” version of Change Your Mind where Yellow/Blue/White don’t survive and not every single loose end is neatly tied up.

So yeah, it’s a very pivotal scene for the protagonist and her late-game deuteragonist (since Steven had no role in GA1 and a pretty limited role in GA2, and there isn’t really a main character at all for the side-story). Still surprised one of the overall story’s pivotal moments comes from a relatively minor early plot development for Fatal Frame V. 

Speaking of the side-story...

Fatal Frame I & II

The tragic story of Fluorite when the Crystal Gems discuss gems prior to Peridot emerging with heterochromia naturally is a mish-mash of Kirie from I and Sae Kurosawa from II. More leaning towards Sae since it involved a friendship that many identified as twin-like and Fluorite’s described maniacal cackling comes from this little lady. This is the shit most gems on Homeworld heard right before they got shattered during the Lone Twin Massacre. Sae’s tragedy that led to the obliteration of her hometown and everyone in it (save for her twin, ironically, who escaped and never came back and had her own life and family... then ended up dying a few decades later via hanging, which is how Sae died) doesn’t exclusively have Sae’s missing twin Yae as the cause, though it is a prominent one. Long story short, hometown needs ritualistic sacrifices every decade or so that specifically require one twin to kill another - somehow this has worked in the past, don’t ask how. Still fucked up enough for one set of twins to try running away from this fate, but only one makes it out successfully. So the hometown is on the verge of collapse and they still have the twin who was set to be sacrificed anyway, so hoped they could salvage the situation by hanging Sae, but the Pits of Hell are PICKY and this results in Sae’s vengeful spirit killing indiscriminately. But she is REALLY fucking hung up on her twin sister never coming back for her. 

Of course, in GA the twin of Fluorite wasn’t that much of a savage - the diamonds just dragged the twins apart since one was special and the other wasn’t, and later the diamonds had the not-special twin killed off behind the other’s back to put an end to the distractions. 

That all lines up more with Kirie’s backstory, where in a mansion built over ANOTHER Pit of Hell, there was a scheduled sacrifice that started with rounding up girls to play demon tag, and the winner gets ripped from her family to become the head family’s rope maiden where she’s completely cut off from the outside world and not allowed to partake in anything that might give her a connection to worldly things, since a maiden sacrifice requires said maiden to be completely detached from earthly desires. Somehow Kirie got out for a short period of time not long before she was scheduled to be sacrificed and met a young man who she quickly fell in love with . The family caught on to this; after Kirie was solidly back in custody (I don’t think she ever actually tried escaping; she just somehow found a way to get out of the house for the first time in 10ish years), the man was killed in secret and tossed in the river. Kirie was never told about this, but she suspected it and had sixth sense-like feelings that he was murdered. She wasn’t able to maintain her maiden duties since she now had an earthly attachment to the man, so when she was finally sacrificed at the altar, her blood-soaked ropes weren’t enough to quell the gates of hell, and Kirie came back as a vengeful spirit who drove the head of the family insane and let him kill every single member of the household for her. And she would go on to kill anyone stupid enough to step inside the house after the fact. This one can be solely faulted on one singular incident, so GA Fluorite was basically the Kirie backstory, but Sae’s mannerisms, savagery, and the twin factor was also in there.

Fatal Frame III

Time Stamp: 038

There’s actually not much from Fatal Frame III to take away from this, save for the final line in the scene where Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-9FC is shattered while in the middle of brutalizing our Peridot. Once Peridot’s not only seeing her assaulter get brutally murdered right after being beaten within an inch of her life, but the remains of 9FC land right on top of her as well as the limb enhancers.

It’s an echo to the aforementioned times Peridot mentioned casually no-selling brutal shatterings that happened right next to her in her early Homeworld days where she’d just shrug off any gem chunks or dust that got on her.

It turns out present-day Peridot is extremely bothered by this and went into catatonic shock after the narrative expresses this desire that paraphrases one of Reika’s noteworthy lines:

“I don’t want to see anymore.”

Which Reika rightfully expresses when her lover who finds her doing her maiden duty (her backstory is heavily similar to Kirie’s) gets killed right in front of her and she’s forced to look at his dead face for all eternity...

Yeah, you wouldn’t want to see anymore either, would you? Let’s leave off on a fun clip that demonstrates how fucking batshit Sae was and I’ll readily admit she scared the shit out of me as a teen.

[recentanimenews]

Is STEINS;GATE ELITE Worth Risking the Timeline For?

  Growing up in Puerto Rico, learning English was something of a challenge for me when it inevitably reared its head; thanks to Pokémon Red, my reading skills improved dramatically thanks to an interest in video games and wanting to understand them as I played along. Fast forward many years after that fact, and I found myself deeply in love with visual novels and sound novels, playing titles like Higurashi and Umineko, those kinds of games (especially otome games!) becoming one of my favorite to play! Along that route, I first encountered STEINS;GATE. I've heard buzz building about the game, and then the release of the anime, which made me deeply interested in both playing and watching the series when I was able to get my hands on it. What I found was a deeply involved story of vibrant, unique characters, dramatic action, and a tense, smart Sci-Fi plot that revolved around time travel in a way that certainly tried to deal with the realistic consequences of choices and action. Ten years after its release, we’ve been presented with a new version: STEINS;GATE ELITE, a somewhat ambitious mixture of both the anime and visual novel adaptation!

    One of the first things I noticed about STEINS;GATE ELITE on the Switch was the fact that portability was a great benefit to the visual novel experience. Being able to take the game with me and play through the story over time at my leisure made it a far more relaxing time than having to portion out sections of my day to play the game uninterrupted; being able to pick up and play STEINS;GATE ELITE at any time really made the entire experience a lot more enjoyable and organic, making it fit my schedule more than anything else (although, in all honesty, I still ended up marathoning the game a lot). However, some of the new wrinkles presented in STEINS;GATE ELITE made this occasionally a bit awkward; still, if you have the choice, I highly recommend playing the game on the Switch in portable mode to experience the game on the go and when you can get the time. As a warning, I will say that while the game looks good in docked mode, it occasionally felt like the graphics were stretching or not quite meant to be transmitted from the Switch to a TV, meaning that it's best to play the Switch version in portable mode for both ease of use, and just for the best way to ‘view’ the game.

As I mentioned, there are a few wrinkles to this new version of STEINS;GATE that initially caught me off guard. The game is a mixture of the anime with the visual novel script, with Huke’s CGs replaced with scenes from the anime. This works pretty well overall, since the anime was a faithful adaptation that took few divergences, but it also means that the story plays out a little differently in terms of how scenes progress in the sense of time progression. Sometimes, reading through sections I’d already seen due to a bad ending, I noticed that the game isn’t really well equipped to deal with someone mashing through the dialogue at a faster pace than it is ready to go, causing character’s mouths to move when things aren’t being said, or almost as if the scene is playing on a certain timer that is somewhat independent from the text itself. This isn’t a huge deal or any sort of deal breaker, but it was a somewhat awkward situation when it did occur; depending on your speed of reading and how fast you want to get through the game, this issue may come up for you more or less than it did for me.  

  Those changes aside, I have to say that STEINS;GATE ELITE is probably one of the best, if not the best, version of the game that you can get. Whether you’ve never played the game before, or you’re revisiting the game after some time away, this version presents you with one of the nicest, most complete overall packages. All of the content of the original game are here, with all of the endings and choices included; there’s nothing missing from the original game for the sake of making the anime scenes fit. Instead, you sometimes just get some still frames or repeated animations while characters talk. Perhaps the biggest direct change has to do with the D-Mails and other choices; instead of having to hunt them down yourself when they might be available, STEINS;GATE ELITE simply pops up a menu and gives you your options immediately upon reaching a certain branch. While the freedom to stumble around is part of a charm in a visual novel, it can also be a bit hard to figure out for some people, and I can see why this change benefits the game overall by streamlining the whole experience. And, in many ways, that’s what makes STEINS;GATE ELITE unique: the combination of various STEINS;GATE versions into a streamlined, unique final package of the main storyline.

Content wise, everything is here that you can expect to find in the original: the humor, the drama, tragedy, action, and shocking moments are all present. I don’t want to say anything more in case this is your first time through, but if you’ve seen the anime, you will end up seeing some things you didn’t see the first time around, making the game a real treat for you to better explore the STEINS;GATE world. And if you’ve only played the game, seeing the anime counterpart designs in motion next to the script with all of the returning voices is pretty interesting; just playing through STEINS;GATE ELITE makes me want to watch the anime all over again! One of the best aspects of the VN is the various endings you can get, both good and bad. Finding your way to the true ending is worth the overall reward of playing through the game, so do yourself a favor and grab STEINS;GATE ELITE if you’ve never had a chance to play it before. If you have played the game previously, this version might be something to debate buying, as there’s nothing really new or different other than the visuals, so unless you want to play through STEINS;GATE again with different visuals, there’s not really a lot here that you haven’t read or seen before.

Depending on which version you buy (I played the Switch version) you'll get some extra content outside of the game. The PS4 version of the game comes with Linear Bounded Phenogram, which follows small short stories of the main cast in various circumstances. The Switch version comes with 8-BIT ADV STEINS;GATE, a unique throwback to NES era adventure games, complete with 8-bit renditions of STEINS;GATE music and sound effects (including Rintaro’s laugh). I have to say that 8-BIT ADV STEINS;GATE is a somewhat charming, if a little frustrating, additional game. While the Linear Bounded Phenogram stories provide some extra background and peeks into character’s thoughts and actions, 8-BIT ADV is essentially just the main game reduced down into a few hours of simple adventure game play. Basically, don’t play 8-BIT ADV until you’ve played the main game, or you might find yourself spoiled! My frustration for this little side game comes from the fact that you can’t save at all; while the game doesn’t really have a lot of choices, it does actually have a few abilities to reach a game over state, and doing so starts you all the way back at the beginning… with no ability to pick up where you left off. It's a bit too faithful to the NES era of adventure games, that's for sure! As a fan of visual novels, one of the big joys is making save files to see what happens, but in 8-BIT ADV your choices are rewarded with… doing everything all over. The game itself isn’t very long, but even at 2 hours, that’s a lot of time that you can spend only to have to redo everything again. The graphics and music, plus the retro adventure gameplay, are pretty fun. If I had to choose personally, I’d probably opt for the Linear Bounded Phenogram extra content.

Whether you’re a new visual novel player, curious to try out the game after watching the anime, or an experienced visual novel fan who just loves reading their favorite stories over and over again, STEINS;GATE ELITE is a great game either way. I really enjoyed seeing the Future Gadget Lab group’s antics all over again, and as I finish off my first Dr. Pepper in a long time, I remember how much I enjoyed the game and the experience the first time around! And, at the end of the day, I think that’s the best review I can give it: STEINS;GATE is great, and this version maintains that greatness. So don’t wait for John Titor to take you along on their time travel adventures to get your hands on the game, go grab STEINS;GATE ELITE now! (Also, Kurisu is best girl! <3)

REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ Fantastic story and characters with a unique world that sucks you in

+ Voice acting and visuals are amazing and the mixture of anime visuals with the visual novel script makes the game fluid

+/- the mixture of anime and visual novel script, though, might turn off visual novel purists or people who read faster than the game expects

- There’s really not much ‘new’ here, and 8-BIT ADV is a cute distraction, but not much else; if you played STEINS;GATE before, you won’t find much new to do here

  Did you pick up STEINS;GATE ELITE? Are you a fan of the VN or anime? Let us know what you think of the game in the comments!

----

Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[commhunter736]

True Crime Pc Game Download

Real Gangster Crime! Immersive Open-world action-adventure shooting game for desktop! Download and play free on PC! Share with and play with friends! Experience fast-paced narrative-driven game straight from your computer!

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True Crime New York City Pc Game Download

Luxoflux invites grown-up players back for another game of 'good cop (or) bad cop' in this follow-up to 2003's L.A.-based action-adventure. As in the original True Crime, players take the role of an unorthodox law enforcement officer, and by their actions and in-game choices, determine the character's morality as they play through the story. In True Crime: New York City, the hero is a former gang member named Marcus Reed, who uses his hard-knocks schooling to powerful effect in the gritty underworld of the Big Apple. As in Streets of L.A., New York City missions play out in freely-roamed, GTA3-style environments, stocked with plenty to see and do even when Marcus isn't working towards a specific mission goal. Key characters are voiced by accomplished screen actors, including Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, and Mickey Rourke, with Marcus Reed portrayed by Avery Waddell.

Click the 'Install Game' button to initiate the file download and get compact download launcher. Locate the executable file in your local folder and begin the launcher to install your desired game. View all 52 True Crime Streets of L.A.

True Crime NYC is the sequel to True Crime: Streets of LA. It's also attempting a huge bite out of Grand Theft Auto's target audience. It's gritty, realistic (sort of), and meant to bring you right into the seedy underbelly of a New York crime drama. Does it do all this?

Nope, no, nada, sorry, but I digress. The rendering of New York City is incredible. A lot of detail and painstaking care went into making every street and alley look authentic. From Times Square to the depths of Harlem, everything is VERY close to reality. As a tour program this game excels, but I'm betting you're hoping for a lot more than a tour.

Before I get to what's wrong with this game, let me focus on what's right. It's a much shorter list. The graphics are quality, with features drawing from the latest in pixel shading, high polygon count character models and impressive motion capture, topped off with a gorgeous depiction of the big city that leaves a good taste in your mouth. You can spend a fair amount of time enjoying the scenery and getting lost in the mix. Another point for True Crime: the voice acting. They have spared no expense to obtain talent, Laurence Fishburne, Christopher Walken and many others top the list of grade-A voice acting for this game's gritty plot. When I first heard the voice of a mysterious officer bark out orders and explain my next mission in Christopher Walken's creepy cadence, I was very much caught in the moment. On a further note, the audio in this game is not lacking. Sound effects are crisp and believable for the most part, the soundtrack is as varied as you could ever hope for. Bouncing from White Zombie to De La Soul to The Ramones had me guessing that they wanted to avoid the rap-only crowd, though there is a large share of that too.

The plot, in case you're wondering, is you taking the role of Marcus Reed, a down and dirty gangster thug who has embraced the straight and narrow and become a police officer. Although he can still fight and play dirty, he's out to solve a few mysteries and clean up the town. This is mostly achieved by driving around (or by subway, or walking, but, unlike the real NYC, driving is preferable) and catching calls on the radio for random crimes. There is an interesting amount of variety in the crimes, but you soon reach the end of the cycle and bust your 34th counterfeit syndicate and your 23rd serial rapist and the regular missions soon get old. There is a larger plot to follow, however, and it is slightly more interesting. You follow a series of clues and leads to interrogate increasingly more important thugs. The interrogation mini-game is a fun little past-time to beat, or reason, information out of people. You're soon turned onto a mission that involves a mole from inside the precinct.

Ultimately, this plot has been done to death so many times on so many cop dramas that it's difficult to get engaged. This is just the beginning of where the game goes downhill. Obviously, high production values went into this game, but as is so often the case lately, they missed the mark in some very key areas. The controls for one. Amd display driver whql 8.10. I have rarely seen a more convoluted control system for PC.

I'll be the first to admit that this was originally for console, but it seems that barely a token effort was made to translate the commands to a keyboard layout. My fingers got a workout hopping all over the keyboard for the numerous and poorly constructed commands. If you're thinking that a gamepad might fix all this, nix that idea too. My Logitech PS2 Styled PC gamepad looked like a perfect match for this game, alas it was barely configurable and did not coordinate to the multiple styles of game play, you could set it up for driving, but not running, or vice versa, but its limitations soon had me back on the keyboard.

After I had adapted to the controls somewhat, the physics had me somewhat at a loss. Keeping in mind that this is not a driving simulation, at its core, I don't expect much more than doughy arcade style driving. Labtec speakers drivers download. But nothing handled as I expected, the cars were sloppy, sometimes you lightly skidded off the front end of a fire truck, other times being brushed by a motorcycle had you recoiling and turning 360's while your perpetrator was getting further and further away. The fighting system was convoluted as well, with a light attack, a heavy attack, a grab attack that was also the way to frisk people, which is also the button to arrest people, plus the buttons to put away your gun, pull it back out, fire a warning shot, flash your badge, tackle someone, all while trying to keep the squirrelly camera centered behind you (which it rarely does well).

In the graphics department there were glitches, clipping into walls, as well as criminals falling through solid concrete and waiting in the ether for you to attempt, in vain, to arrest them. At one point I was forced to kill a non-lethal perp by shooting him in the foot, just to end the mission. Top this off with some frame lag and a whack targeting system, and you can sense my mounting frustration. You'll often find yourself tackling air, punching civilians and firing point blank at walls. There were also numerous points where the textures for multiple guns seems to be missing, and your Uzi,s or pistol would appear as a white textureless shape.

True Crime Pc Game Free Download

In a GTA-styled attempt to test the limits of my virtual city, I shot an arsonist, grabbed his flamethrower and took out 30 people before highjacking a public bus and driving over half the residents of the Lower East Side. I finished up with some cop killing. reckless driving and traffic accidents. I was being hunted by every cop in the city and identified as a rogue cop who was 'mentally unstable,' according to the radio. Assured of my own impending death, I ran to and fro waiting for the inevitable. Which never came. I made a break through the park and dived into the bay and swam around for 2-3 minutes. Upon returning to shore my 'criminal' rating had gone back down and I was back to being boy hero. Realism indeed. In another game glitch, I began a mission to follow a motorcycle courier on a bike of my own for an exciting chase, but after trying 20 times to follow him, he wrecked within two blocks almost every time. Finally I just tracked him down on foot after he fell and interrogated him, wondering why I even got on the motorcycle. It's this kind of unfinished and unpolished gameplay that brings this gaming experience to its knees. I couldn't bring myself to care about the characters, the city, the law; nothing in this game draws you in efficiently enough to make you want to finish it.

The controls need work, the engine needs work, the collision detection needs work, the AI needs serious work, all in all I wouldn't be surprised if you told me this was a beta. A brief look at the customer support page for Activision also shows that numerous glitches and problems were had by users of all consoles. Overall, a well-presented, high-budget flop. Advanced systemcare ultimate 7 crack. The world doesn't ever need another World War 2 game but developers keep making them, which I guess is the same reason they keep trying to capitalize on the awesome profits of Grand Theft Auto. But a bigger budget does not make a better game.

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Ch.1, Part 5: Encounter

My Heroic Pokemon Squad (A Pokemon/My Hero Academia Crossover)

Summary:

After receiving an emergency call to assist in sedating the legendary pokémon of time and space, Top Ranger (Y/n) (L/n) gets caught in the crossfire of their rampage. Sent barreling into a world unknown, (L/n) must now navigate her new surroundings and somehow find a way home. Yet, the aftermath of a momentary rift between dimensions carries drastic repercussions, especially considering that pokémon had never existed in this place to begin with. Not only that, but it seems humanity here have powers of their own, not unlike that of the creatures she has grown to love.

A small mouse creature of orange and gold is released from the ball. Beady blue eyes take in the surrounding area before regarding Lugia directly in front of her. Letting out a squeak of recognition, the mouse pokémon kicks up her large lightning-shaped tail so it hovers above ground. Raichu jumps to place herself on top of her tail and assumes a surfer’s stance. Small sparks bounce from her cheeks as she releases a determined battle cry. Lugia follows suit with one of their own.

“Alright, Raichu. Give yourself a boost with Electric Terrain.”

The pokémon’s sparking increases. The electric-psychic type builds up her electricity and scatters it, super-charging the atmosphere. The change is sharp and invigorating as a faint yellow color tints the city street. The storm begins to crackle. (Y/n) takes notice that the storm clouds gradually get darker.

Perfect.

They’re at the homestretch. Though, her turn was finished and Lugia makes their move. Gathering the copious amount of the rainstorm, the legendary pokémon concentrates the water and applies pressure to the mass. Moments later the bubble bursts. Water jets like a pressure washer slamming into Raichu. The blast from Lugia’s Hydro Pump momentarily obscures the young ranger’s vision. Having lost sight of her mouse partner, the (Y/n) calls out to Raichu. After the attack had calmed, Raichu could be seen steadying herself on her tail. Shaking of the shock from such a strong impact, the pokémon quickly recovers shaking out her fur as much as she could despite the continuous downpour. Sparks reclaim their spots on the electric-psychic’s yellow cheeks—bigger and bolder with the assistance of Electric Terrain. It’s time to end this once and for all.

“Give it all you’ve got and use Thunder!”

The bright glow of electricity grows exponentially larger as it travels along Raichu’s body. From head to tail the power is stored and the electric mouse shoots a beam upwards and into the raging storm. The thunderclouds boom and get the darkest that (Y/n) had ever seen. Mere seconds felt like minutes in anticipation, then it happened. A hefty bolt to lightning strikes down, landing an impact on the legendary pokémon leaving a blinding flash in its wake. The thunderclap that follows is deafening, the ranger almost couldn’t hear the roar of agony Lugia had let loose. The attack was super-effective! Static leaves the large creature convulsing, the restriction of its wings forces them to the ground. The rumbling of concrete from the fall cause everyone around them to brace their stability.  

At last, Lugia was down for the count. Lying on the pavement with swirls in its eyes, the legendary pokémon let out a weak groan of both pain and defeat. It was unable to battle anymore. Raichu along with Carracosta and Honchkrow who were stationed on the sidelines let out cheers for the victory. Meanwhile, (Y/n) had moved to rummaging in her bag for healing items.

“Honchkrow. Do us all a favor and use Sunny Day,”

The black bird hears his trainer loud and clear. With a summoning caw and the hefty flap of his wings the storm gradually dies down. The wet streets were no longer met with the consistent downpour of rain and the heavy clouds subside. The young ranger shivers at the feeling of her wet clothes weighing on her body. Even after all the excursions she’s taken part in, heavy rain is something she never got around to getting accustomed to. The electric terrain disperses soon afterward.

             Grabbing some berries and potions (Y/n) moves to help Lugia. Though, before the girl could get any closer to the defeated pokémon, she is abruptly stopped. Releasing a yelp at her abrupt immobilization, (Y/n) swiftly looks down to see sturdy cloth blinding her by the waist. She looks back to see the man—Eraserhead—on the other end.

“What’re you doing?”

“W-well. I’m going to help Lugia…”

“Lugia, huh? Just what is your deal? You barge into a fight claiming that you know what these creatures are and succeed in taking one down—with other creatures that work with you. Are they yours? Did you know that this Lugia would be here?”

(Y/n)’s lips press into a thin line. Couldn’t the questioning wait for a few more minutes? Noise of protest come from the pokémon by her side, their attitudes soured by the man’s adversity. Thankfully, they don’t make any move to attack, but there’s no deny they would be ready if need be.

“These three are mine, but the Lugia is not. And no, I didn’t know it’d be here.” (E/c) eyes scan over the heroes before her. Despite her nervousness, she casts a determined look.

“I don’t mind answering whatever questions you may have, but now is not the right time or place.” Her gaze averts to the defeated diving pokémon. It seemed that the initial pain of electricity they were dealt was gone. Yet, it remained lying there with a saddened twinge in its eyes. (Y/n) could empathize. Those eyes embodied the emotions of loss and exhaustion—the result of being in a new and unfamiliar place with no place to go. Maybe that’s why such a rare and noble pokémon like Lugia had been roaming city streets.

“The portals Dialga and Palkia made. The pokémon and I were sent here…” Her attention returned to the pro-heroes of whom looked both confounded and confused.

“Perhaps Lugia is lost. After all, its been almost three days…They’re probably searching for a home since they had basically been removed from the one they had before.” It was clear that the young girl wasn’t only talking about the legendary creature. She failed to take notice of the tears that ran down her face until she felt Raichu wiping at them. Her faces scrunches as she turns away. Any person caught in her predicament would be afraid, yet the Top Ranger still felt shame to be seen crying regardless.

“I need to make sure Lugia recovers. So please…” (Y/n) may not have been looking, but she could feel their eyes boring into her figure. These “pokémon” could pose a potential threat if their encounter with Lugia was anything to go by. So were they really going to risk the chance of more catastrophe if the creature were to antagonize once more? Nobody could seem to make up their mind, so Midnight decides to take one for the team.

“We’ll release you on the condition that we supervise.” Kamui, Eraser, and Gang look at the woman like she had grown two heads. She shrugs.

“The kid seems to know what she’s doing, and we can’t just leave the creature there. Plus, this’ll be a good opportunity to know what we’re dealing with.”

  Izuku Midoriya had been the last to return to Heights Alliance. After all that had happened recently with the brawl between All-Might and All for One, the villain was finally apprehended and in Tartarus prison. Though, the equivalent exchange to this blessing was that the former #1 hadn’t come out unscathed in the end. Using the remaining power he had, All-Might’s time with the quirk One For All had come to a close. So, as the successor to that power, Midoriya worked to fortify the quirk that he and so many holds dear. Unfortunately, only a select few knew of this status, and is often relegated to training either on his own or one-on-one with the former hero.

The green haired teen was ready to call it a day, but seeing his classmates awake and lively immediately grabs his attention. It’s pretty late, most people would be laying in their rooms right about now. Not today, apparently.

Ochako and Todoroki are the first ones to notice him enter. The brunette waves him over to join while the dual-quirked student nods his head in greeting. Izuku places himself between the two as he surmises Mina, Denki, and Momo with phones in hand scrolling through a multitude of photos and videos showing unfamiliar creatures. His features brighten a bit. Those were the “quirked creatures” everyone had been talking about! Ever since they popped up all around the world, it was a topic that arose in conversations despite the fact that it’s only been almost 3 days since their arrival. There was quite a lot to be worried about concerning these animals having quirks, but Midoriya could not deny that he was also interested…maybe a little too interested.

“Oh, hey Midoriya! Come closer and check these babies out,” Mina practically shoves her phone in his face. Nevertheless, his gaze washes over the picture of a blue bipedal fox-creature caught in the action of punching a boulder, the sedimentary nearly rubble in the midst of the creature’s strength. Smaller versions of the larger blue fox stood off to the side watching in admiration of the strength they demonstrated. Midoriya couldn't help but share the same sentiment as the little ones.

Oh yeah. If these creatures are as powerful as they appear to be, Midoriya will have a lot more to mumble about.

***************************

∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿  Fcking finally, dudes. Goodbye Chapter One! Hello Chapter Two!

[splashrollstumble]

Cycling Serbia: Beautiful Valleys and Crumbling Villages

Serbia only recently began recovering from a kind of dictatorship-like government rule that followed the fall of the Yugoslav empire and resulted in assassinations, bombings and generally a bunch of horrible stuff that only really ended properly as recently as 2008. There remains a tense relationship with the disputed region of Kosovo which I don’t fully understand but basically, it’s tense and I try to avoid all that political shit in favor of beautiful nature and tasty beer.

Other than that, Serbia is a fascinating country that appears to be doing well for itself despite economic struggles and an ongoing and yet unresolved attempt to join the European Union. Geographically it benefits from both the spectacular Danube River Valley that runs along the northeast border and the Balkan mountains to the southeast. For cycle-touring, hiking and camping, these are both the highlights of the country.

I started my tour at the Feoni border coming from Romania and cycled a short, relatively uninteresting road to a town called Zrenjanin. Arriving late and leaving early I didn’t get to see the town but I doubt I missed much. The following day I continued along an equally uninteresting road to Belgrade, where I had to take a mild detour to enter the city without using the highway. Whether or not the police would stop someone cycling on the highway is debatable but in European (supposedly ‘westernized’) countries I generally try to avoid it – just in case.

I rested for two days at a cool hostel in Belgrade call Fair and Square, mostly to get some work done but also because it had been two months since my last cycle tour and I was still warming up my legs. It’s actually a really nice hostel and if you go to Belgrade I highly recommend it. My favorite memory is getting hella drunk with a cool Czech guy and laughing inexplicably at ‘The Fifth Element’ on their massive TV. But mostly I just worked a lot and drank all of their coffee.

After that my ‘Serbia’ cycle tour began in earnest.

My first day didn’t start out spectacularly well as I crashed when my wheel got caught in a tram track while trying to cross it and avoid getting run over by a bus. These tram tracks are a nightmare and they’re all over Europe – I don’t know how more people don’t crash and die on them. Anyway, I survived with a mild scrape on my shoulder and continued on to meet up with the Danube River heading east.

I had given away my tent in Croatia because I had to fly to Greece and then back to Hungary and then to America and then back and it would have cost about $200 in baggage costs to take it with – for a tent that cost $20. It was also now getting very cold at night because I had spent a month partying in Berlin instead of cycling so I had made the decision to not buy a new tent and just use the very affordable Serbian accommodation. To some degree, this was a good decision especially because I had a lot of work to do and needed the wifi and electricity – but there is also a wealth of really nice camping spots in Serbia that I felt bad missing out on. If you want to cycle this route I suggest doing it in July or August and taking camping gear. It’s not quite Sweden, but it’s pimp – trust me.

Anyway, so I booked that night at a nice place overlooking the Danube called ‘HostelChe2’ which has dorms for €10 and private rooms for €12. It didn’t include breakfast but the owner made some bizarre dinner that evening which he was kind enough to share with me for free, along with some locally brewed ‘rakija’ which he was proud to reveal he had made in a rusty barrel in his back yard.

Somehow I survived.

The next day I had to navigate a fairly complex dirt path along the Danube river to a ferry crossing which only ran every three hours. This meant if I didn’t make the 1:30 pm ferry I would have to wait until the 4:30 pm crossing, arrive on the other side an hour later and cycle the next two hours in dissipating light along tiny unlit backroads.

Fortunately, I’m a fucking machine and nailed it across the rocky dirt paths at 30km/h to make it in time for the 1:30 pm ferry. This shook a pannier bag off my bike and caused most of the bolts to loosen but still, I made it with 10 minutes to spare for a beer so totally worth it. The ferry crossing was quite relaxing and revealed the true extent of the massive Danube River, which gets quite wide in some sections.

On the other side, I briefly viewed a rather boring looking castle, made friends with a mangy dog and then continued to my accommodation. That night I stayed in a place called Guest House Keserovic which was essentially the ground floor of somebody’s house with two rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Since the other room was empty I had the entire house to myself, for €9 a night! I stayed two nights, got a shitload of work done and rested my legs for the next section, which would be a huge 129km cycle with 1,600m climbing.

The reason for this long cycle was because it passed through a very touristic area of Serbia that is full of expensive hotels which I couldn’t afford. That meant I had to go 129km to the nearest ‘affordable’ accommodation in the tiny village of Kostol. However, despite the massive distance and loads of uphill climbs, it was my favorite day in Serbia, with incredible scenery and 26 terrifying pitch-black tunnels to pass through. I took about a hundred photos of the Danube river as it passed through incredible cliffs and valleys that resemble a small version of the Norwegian fjords.

Eventually, I arrived in Kostol, one of the tiniest little villages I have ever seen – it doesn’t even have a single shop or restaurant. After navigating between some rag-tag street-football-playing kids and crumbling houses I managed to find my €8 accommodation for the night. This consisted of an old couple renting out some rooms on the upper floor of their house and once again, I had the whole place to myself. This place wasn’t quite as nice as Keserovic and while it had a kitchen, the cupboards were full of shoes instead of pots and pans. Luckily they lent me a pot to make my usual spaghetti and tomato sauce in and rustled up a warm beer out of their basement for me. They were actually a really lovely old couple and I enjoyed my night here – the TV in my room even had English movies on satellite and the room had a balcony!

After a morning coffee with my geriatric hosts and confusing attempts at conversation that meant nothing to either of us, I said my farewells and headed off south to a ‘Cycling Adventure Camp’ which I had found on Booking.com. The road was long and boring and featured some annoying roadworks that kept forcing all the traffic into these single lanes with traffic light ‘stop-and-go’ systems. I got hella bored of those quickly and decided that Serbia almost certainly doesn’t have enough traffic police to ensure people obey them, so I started to just cycle through. Soon enough I was surprised to find that they DO actually have traffic cops policing them but luckily those traffic cops DON’T care about cyclists ignoring the red lights.

The roadworks eventually came to an end and I left the main road to cycle down a small dirt road along the Danube River. This was far more peaceful although a bit slow-going. The riverside is lined with tiny houses, each with their own jetty that the owners seem to spend all day fishing off. It looks like quite an idyllic lifestyle, I was quite jealous, to be honest. I stopped at one of these houses which had expanded its property to build a small lodge and restaurant with rooms made out of old wine barrels. Initially, I thought they didn’t have food because they didn’t have a menu so I just ordered coffee but then the owner asked if I wanted to eat. I said yes, expecting a menu, but instead got served a massive three-course meal consisting of bread, salad, sides, Eisbein, chips, grilled halloumi, dessert, Rakija, beer, and coffee – all for €7!

After about an hour of eating, I admitted defeat and the owner kindly wrapped up all the leftover food for me in a takeaway bag. I thanked them kindly and rolled out of the restaurant on to my bike so I could roll some more for the final 10kms. Soon I arrived at this supposed ‘Cycle Adventure Camp’ which was less ‘adventure camp’ and more just a house in a small Serbian village called Negotin. However, the owner was a very keen cycle tourist and he was awesome! He gave me loads of free beer that night and free burek (this shit is the best – google it) and coffee for breakfast. The accommodation was the cheapest of my trip so far (€6.70) probably because it was just a tent, but it had a real bed and heating and electricity and I had access to my own kitchen and bathroom, so… not bad!

I was originally planning to spend two nights at the Adventure Cycle Camp if I met some other cyclists but since I was the only one there I chose to continue in the morning. It was only a short distance to nearby Zajecar (55km) so I chose to take the scenic route along the Bulgarian border rather than the busy main road. This started off very peacefully but after about 20kms suddenly started going uphill quickly. The hills were so steep I had to get off and push the bike for the first time on this trip so far! Plus it was crazy hot and I’d drunk four beers the night before so I was quickly exhausted and sick of it. The hills just kept going up and up and up forever until eventually, I was way up high on a ridge amongst wine farms looking down the valley towards Bulgaria.

Despite the terrible hills, it was a nice ride through a bunch of crumbling old ghost towns that initially appeared deserted but as I found later were not. The towns appeared to be inhabited by a few well-hidden old folks who were almost as decrepit as the towns themselves. Presumably, their children had long since left to find work in the cities, leaving their parents to tend to their gardens while the village practically collapsed around them. It was sad but kind of beautiful and fascinating too, and probably fairly common in any country these days. I could imagine myself buying a cheap house, fixing it up and living out here… as long as I can get wifi.

Eventually, I arrived in Zajecar and found my accommodation which, again, was a room in someone’s house. It was done up very nice like a hotel room though and the price (€12.50) reflected it. My most expensive accommodation so far! I did some washing and ate yesterday’s leftovers before finishing some work and getting to bed early without even having one beer! The next day was a long (100km+) ride to Pirot, near the border with Bulgaria so I wanted to be fresh.

I was up at 6:30 am and had breakfast with my hosts at 7 am, which consisted of traditional Serbian burek and coffee. It wasn’t bad but felt a bit overpriced at €3 since its just pastry and cheese. I expected the ride to be quite difficult that day but despite being double the distance, it turned out to be far easier and more comfortable. Maybe four beers the night before really do make a difference! I passed through some beautiful valleys along a mostly empty and well-paved road passing by more crumbling houses and farmland. Although not as epic as the Danube River valley, this was one of the most picturesque and scenic rides of this trip.

Pirot turned out to be quite a large town with a somewhat burgeoning although not quite developed tourism industry. To the north of Pirot is Serbia’s highest mountain Midzor (at 2169m), a small skiing village, a lake, and some caves. This I only discovered from brochures though, since there is no public transport up to the skiing village and I wasn’t about to cycle. Since the only other way up was a taxi cost about €30, I, unfortunately, was unable to enjoy all that Pirot has to offer. This is what I mean by undeveloped – you would think they would have organized tours? I guess most people visit with their cars.

Once again I had a three-bedroom house to myself with a huge room and balcony, although sadly no kitchen this time. For the first time on this trip, I actually took out my cooking gear and used my gas stove to make some pasta. My legs were killing me by this point so I decided to take a day off before the final ride to Sofia. I spent the day getting work done, wandering around the village, drinking cheap (40p) coffee and checking out the local castle. Fairly uneventful but I think this town has real potential if they only injected some funding into the tourism industry. It reminded me a lot of Brasov. For lunch, I went to a small restaurant and ordered a “gourmet burger” but instead got a huge slab of smoked pork wrapped around cheese. They clearly didn’t understand my order but, whatever, it was pretty good and only a few euros.

I was off early the next day for the final 88kms to Sofia. It was a bit confusing trying to navigate the massive border post and customs control with trucks everywhere but I made it through eventually without issue. Then I had to navigate miles of bumpy cobblestone roads to Sofia because they are doing roadworks on the main highway. It’s one of the worst sections of road I’ve ever ridden… but that story is for another day!

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[tanjansan33-blog]

New Phone OnePlus 6 review – Best Affordable Android Phone of 2018

PROS

A huge leap in design

Seriously fast

Dash Charge is still great, if slightly restrictive

A well-thought-out version of Android with great extras

CONS

Camera still needs improvement

Missing a few ‘flagship’ features

KEY FEATURES

6.2-inch FHD+ screen

Snapdragon 845

6/8GB RAM

64/128/256GB storage

16MP + 20MP cameras w/ OIS

16MP front camera

3300 mAh battery, Dash Charge

Android 8.1

WHAT IS THE ONEPLUS 6?

In a mere four years OnePlus has gone from an unknown Chinese startup to one of the best phone makers around. Its pairing of high-end features and specs with a lower-than-average price initially caught the eye of the tech-obsessed, but it’s no longer just for those who lurk on the OnePlus forums.

The OnePlus 6 is the most mainstream device from the company yet. It’s the first to get a proper launch in London – at the Olympic Park, no less – and also the first to really feel like a phone that should have Samsung and Apple at least slightly worried.

This isn’t simply a rebadged Oppo device in the way of the OnePlus 5 and 5T, but a thoughtfully designed handset that should really be taken seriously.

DESIGN

Much of what makes the OnePlus 6 feel extra special is the completely new build and design. It’s now made almost completely of glass, which curves around the rear and feels fantastic. There’s a rim of metal sandwiched between the glass to add some rigidity.

My first impression when I took it out the box was that it looked and felt like the offspring of a Samsung Galaxy S9 and iPhone X.

There’s a highly polished black version that’s gorgeous but a real fingerprint magnet, plus there’s a more conservative Midnight Black matte-finished model, and a stunning white-and-pinky-gold variation that sadly won’t arrive until after launch. OnePlus told me the latter version was made with powdered pearl dust, and while that sounds like the beginnings of a mythical witch’s brew, it does give the phone a jewel-like finish.

The Mirror Black is ridiculously shiny

There’s been a switch-up in other classic OnePlus design aspects, too. The alert slide is still present, but it sits on the opposite side, and the fingerprint sensor is now an oblong shape, perched beneath the centrally positioned dual cameras. The alert slider lets you easily jump from silent to loud mode without unlocking the phone, and I miss it a lot when using a phone that isn’t from OnePlus. I’d love to see more phones have one.

Despite being heavily rumoured in the run-up to launch, the OnePlus 6 doesn’t hold an IP-rating for water-resistance. However, the company has said that while the device holds no official rating, much work has been done to improve its protection against water. These come by way of extra seals around the ports and between the screen.

I’m still slightly confused, though, by the lack of an official IP rating. Maybe the company is trying to save some cash by not officially garnering an IP rating; similar to the way it previously lacked the necessary codecs to play HD content from Netflix and Amazon.

The bottom line is that, despite the lack of IP rating, OnePlus appears confident that if you leave your phone in the bathroom while you’re having a shower or the device is caught out in the rain, it will be fine.

On the bottom of the phone you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack – always nice to see and getting rarer by every phone launch – alongside the USB-C port for charging.

SCREEN

The launch of the 5T in late 2017 appeared to be OnePlus’ quick response to the trend of the time, which was reducing the bezel and stretching out the display. With the OnePlus 6, the company jumps on another trend: the screen ‘notch’.

The small cut-out at the top of the 6.3-inch display is fine, but I still can’t really understand the reason it’s here. There isn’t anything special going on inside the notch – just a regular 16-megapixel sensor, speaker and LED – and it simply feels like a device trying to imitate the iPhone X. It’s likely that most flagship phones in 2018 will sport a notch, but I still don’t really know why.

At least the notch doesn’t really interrupt anything when you’re using the phone. Apps either blank it out completely or comfortably deal with it by altering the UI, while further support and tweaks will come in Android P.

Videos don’t cover the notch when they’re playing

Thankfully, the display itself is excellent, and if you really despise the notch then there’s a software update that will enable you to cover it up. The 2280 x 1080 (FHD+) OLED panel is bright, sharp and very colourful, with great viewing angles. It doesn’t seem to suffer that much with the usual shift to yellow tint that’s ruined many OLED displays over the past year either.

It would have been nice to see OnePlus increase the overall resolution of the screen to quad-HD, considering every OnePlus phone to date has packed a 1080p resolution. The issue with this again comes down to price, and of course whether the trade-off in battery life is worth that extra resolution.

If you’re not satisfied with the default colours on the display, the OnePlus 6 also enables you to tweak endlessly. The default setting out of the box is a little white and saturated for my liking, while the Adaptive mode toggles between various settings depending on what you’re doing. My pick is the DCI-P3 mode, which is softer on the eyes and displays a nicer range of colours.

PERFORMANCE

Screen

6.3-Inch, 2280 X 1080, Optic AMOLED

CPU

Snapdragon 845

RAM

6/8GB

Storage

64/128/256GB UFS 2.1

Rear Camera

Main 16-Megapixel Sony Sensor F/1.7; 20-Megapixel Secondary Sensor. Portrait Mode. 480fps 720p Slo-Mo For A Minute. 19% Bigger Pixels In The Main Sensor Over The 5T

Front Camera

16-Megapixel Sensor With Portrait Mode

Battery

3300mAh, USB-C, Dash Charge – 30-Minute For A Day Of Use, No Qi Charging

OS

Android Oreo 8.1 With Oxygen OS Skin

Features

Dual-SIM, 1.2Gbps Download Speeds, Headphone Jack

OnePlus has always jammed top-end specs inside its phones, and nothing changes here.

A Snapdragon 845 powers the OnePlus 6, alongside 6GB or 8GB of RAM and the option of 256GB of storage. The option of 8GB of RAM feels odd, with its inclusion likely because OnePlus can put it there. It’s a status symbol, rather like the storage offering of 256GB.

I’ve been using the 8GB model for the review period and it’s so fast that the idea of things lagging and taking time to load didn’t even cross my mind. Apps open instantly, multitasking is fluid, and every single game I tried worked flawlessly. This is comfortably up there with the fastest phones I have ever used, and when I put it side by side with the Huawei P20 Pro, the latter’s performance issues were more obvious than ever.

Still, I would say you won’t lose any of this by plumping for the cheaper 6GB RAM model, though. But, as there’s no expandable storage, you should think about your storage options wisely.

The excellent day-to-day performance I noticed during my near two weeks with the phone was also obvious when I ran it through our usual benchmarking tests and compared it to some of the competition. OnePlus has done a lot to optimise the internals and software, and that really shows both in actual usage and synthetic tests.

Single-CoreMulti-CoreAnTuTu 7

OnePlus 621249045267001

Huawei P20 Pro19216837209658

Huawei Mate 10 Pro19066740178091

Galaxy S9 Plus37208890251205

IPhone X425710364235607

Pixel 219176312184336

The natty marketing tagline OnePlus is using for this phone is ‘The Speed You Need’, and that idea goes beyond basic performance. This phone is fast in other areas, too. There’s support (where available, of course) for 1.2Gbps download speeds, improved 4×4 MiMo Wi-Fi, and a camera app that is one of the quickest I have ever used. Bluetooth 5.0 is here and keeps a strong connection to attached devices – even ones that are normally finicky with Android phones, such as Apple’s AirPods.

Previous OnePlus devices have suffered with poor connectivity, especially over Wi-Fi, but I haven’t noticed that at all here. There’s also excellent call quality and the obvious benefits that come from having two 4G-capable SIM trays. The down-firing speaker, on the other hand, is poor and easily gets blocked when you’re watching something horizontally.

SOFTWARE

OnePlus is one of the few manufacturers that doesn’t diminish Android with its own customisations. Oxygen OS retains the look of vanilla Android, adding only extras that I think improve on Google’s operating system.

Customisation is available with icon packs, a system-wide dark mode, and plenty more little touches that make for a great experience. You can also ditch the on-screen navigation buttons and use a bunch of swipes to get yourself around – much like the iPhone X. This is off by default, but I turned it on almost as soon as unboxing the OnePlus 6 and it grew natural to use after a few hours. Basically a swipe up takes you home, while a swipe up and hold puts into the multitasking view.

Getting rid of the classic, and in my opinion often useless, three Android navigation buttons is something Google is actually doing in Android P. Still, I think the gesture-based version OnePlus has crafted is better and easier to learn.

Speaking of Android P, OnePlus is one of a few manufacturers who’ve partnered with Google to allow you to load an early developer version of Android P onto the OnePlus 6 right now. This should be a good indication that a snappy update to P is coming soon after it launches later in the year.

Another fantastic software addition to the OnePlus 6 is a dedicated reading mode that’ll turn the screen black and white when you’re in apps such as Kindle or Pocket. The effect this achieves is similar to an e-reader and is much softer on the eyes.

While the fingerprint scanner on the back is one of the fastest around, the Face Unlock function on the OnePlus 6 is almost equally as snappy. Unlike on the iPhone X where you unlock the screen and then swipe to unlock the phone, here you just tap the lock-button and if it recognises your mug it’ll jump you directly to the homescreen. There are of course some caveats to this unlocking method: as it’s not as secure as Face ID or the fingerprint scanner you can’t use it to authenticate payments from Google Play or log into banking apps. It’s not as reliable when it’s dark, so if i’m checking my phone in a dark bedroom then I tend to stick with the fingerprint sensor.

CAMERA

In just about every area, the OnePlus 6 outshines its price tag. But when it comes to the camera there’s still a noticeable gap between this and £700+ phones like the iPhone X, Google Pixel 2 and Samsung Galaxy S9.

The camera on the OnePlus 6 can’t be described as bad, but none of the photos I have taken with it have made me say ‘wow’.

Before I get into the results, let’s take a look at the specs. On the back there are two cameras: a main 16-megapixel f/1.7 one that’ll take the majority of photos, and a secondary 20-megapixel sensor for helping with the portrait mode. A big update this time around is the introduction of optical image stabilisation (OIS), which has been missing since the OnePlus 3T.

OnePlus has been altering how the secondary camera functions since it introduced the feature with the OnePlus 5. Originally it acted as a fairly poor telephoto lens for 2x zoom, with the 5T switching that to a dedicated low-light camera. Neither were overly successful, and again it doesn’t work so well here. The Portrait shots I took were relatively weak, with poor detailing around hair and a blur that was far too forced.

The main sensor fares a lot better, though, reliably snapping well-exposed and detailed shots in varying outdoor conditions. I’d like the auto-HDR mode to be slightly more aggressive to offset the average dynamic range I ran into, as by default pictures lack the contrast and pop you’d get from pricier phones. There is a nice Pro mode built into the camera app and I found myself using it slightly more than usual here, as the results are noticeably better.

Unlike a lot of the flagship phones in 2018, there’s no AI stuff going on inside this camera, so it doesn’t automatically switch modes depending on what you’re shooting. That’s no big deal, as that whole area is still a bit hit-and-miss at the minute, and the results are never that obvious. Still, even without dedicated things like a Landscape mode, I still captured some nice city shots with plenty of depth and detail.

Low-light performance has always been an issue for OnePlus phones and while the OIS  and the bigger pixels inside the sensor (OnePlus said these are 19% bigger than the 5T) does make it noticeably better than before, it still lacks the flagship touch. Skies in photos taken when it getting dark often have an odd, false colour and light sources overblow easily. Not every shot is a dud, and if light is even and not all focused in one spot then the wide f/1.7 aperture does help get some nice photos.

The portrait mode struggles with hair and fine details

It struggles in poor light

The HDR mode takes a while to kick in, but does help

Details and colours are nice

There’s plenty of detail in shots like this

The sky can often look wrong in low-light

Landscape shots are impressive

  On the front you’ve got a 16-megapixel camera that will, after an upcoming software update, also offer a Portrait mode. It’s an okay selfie camera that’s pretty much the same as on the last two OnePlus devices.

Video can be recorded up to 4K 60fps and uses a form of electronic image stabilisation to keep it steady, Footage is good, but it does struggle to accurately represent colours in some environments. For some video samples, check out the video review. Super-slow-motion support is here too, although unlike the Galaxy S9 or Xperia XZ2 it’s capped at 480fps. Unlike those two phones, however, you can record a whole minute of 480fps footage, rather than just a few seconds.

BATTERY LIFE

Like the prospect of an IP rating, there were many rumours before launch that the OnePlus 6 would be the first in the series to enable wireless charging.

Considering there’s now a glass rear, and wireless charging is becoming more common, its addition felt obvious. Sadly, this isn’t the case. I was told the decision to leave it out came down to cost, and the fact that Dash Charge is quicker. Nevertheless, it’s a feature I’ve come to appreciate for quick top-ups at my desk, so I see its omission as a shame.

It’s a good thing that Dash Charge is pretty swift, mind. The charging method hasn’t changed much here and you’ll still get what OnePlus calls ‘a day of use’ from 30 minutes of charging. It is important to note that you only get these fast speeds with a Dash Charge cable and plug – use anything else and the charging time doubles.

The battery life of the OnePlus 6 is neither great nor poor – in fact it’s very similar to both the OnePlus 5 and 5T. Considering the battery size is the same (3300mAh), that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

Throughout much of my time using it, the OnePlus 6 managed to just about make it through a busy working day and would normally require a short top-up around 9pm. Coming from the Huawei P20 Pro that’s massively disappointing, but it’s on par with the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus.

WHY BUY A ONEPLUS 6?

Up until the moment it was announced on stage, my biggest question about the OnePlus 6 revolved around price. It was clear this was going to be the most expensive OnePlus phone yet, but by how much? I was convinced it would be £499, though really considering what’s on offer here £549 probably would have seemed fair.

At £469 though, this is an absolute steal. It’s the best-value phone you can buy right now, without a doubt.

Even when you take price out of the equation it’s still impressive. This is one of the fastest, best-looking Android phones at any price, with a lovely screen and perfectly optimised software.

Of course, for OnePlus to sell it at this price, not every component is from the top drawer. The camera is good, but it’s not going to compete with those on the Huawei P20 Pro or Pixel 2. Also, the battery is just okay and there’s no official IP rating or Qi wireless charging.

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VERDICT

You won’t find a better phone for £469.

[junker-town]

Raiders and Chiefs started NFL’s Week 7 with a bang

Retired NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz breaks down the Raiders’ exciting win over the Chiefs and looks ahead at the other promising games this week.

Wow. What a game. The best game of the season on a Thursday night!?! The Raiders beat the Chiefs on the final play of the game. Well, the third attempt at the final play of the game. I’ll offer some quick thoughts on the action last night and some notes for this weekend:

Four thoughts about the Raiders’ win over the Chiefs

Here are four big takeaways from the Raiders’ dramatic win over the Chiefs on Thursday Night Football.

1. Derek Carr was the man, but he didn’t do it alone

The Raiders saved their season and it was because their stars showed up, which is what you ask of them. Derek Carr played excellently, especially down the stretch. He finished 39-of-52 for 417 yards and three touchdowns. He never looks rattled in end-of-game situations, and he threw an absolute bullet right on the money to Michael Crabtree to win the game.

When a quarterback is rolling out there is a limited option of routes, so the defensive backs know what’s coming. The throw requires a precise accurate missile, and that is what Carr delivered.

But it wasn’t just Carr. Khalil Mack came up big with a huge fourth-quarter sack on Alex Smith that forced the Chiefs to punt the ball back to the Raiders. And lastly, there’s Amari Cooper — the kid balled out. In the first five weeks of the season, he’s caught 146 total yards and one touchdown. On Thursday night, he had a career-high 210 yards and two touchdowns. Your franchise players need to show out in games like this, and the Raiders got it from theirs.

2. Alex Smith is still playing the best football of his career

Alex Smith. I don’t know what more to say. I’ve never seen this version of Alex Smith before. I played with him in Kansas City in 2013, our first year with Andy Reid. Alex threw the ball deep when asked, but it wasn’t much. Now he’s flinging it around the field with ease. I know Reid is asking him to throw the ball deep more often now and he’s taking those chances — and it doesn’t hurt to have Tyreek Hill sprinting by defenders.

Alex’s seven-game stat line is impressive: He’s completing 72.4 percent of his passes with a career-best 8.7 yards per attempts, 1,979 yards, 15 touchdowns, and zero interceptions. With the added dimension of Alex throwing the ball downfield, this Chiefs offense is hard to stop. There are just too many weapons with Hill, Kareem Hunt, Travis Kelce, Albert Wilson, Charcandrick West and De’Anthony Thomas.

3. The Chiefs’ big weakness is the defense, for once

The Chiefs’ defense has to be a worry. It is a classic “bend but don’t break” defense. This defense allows a large amount of yards but buckles down in the red zone. I’ve just always found that tough to rely on week after week.

Teams will start using the Steelers game plan against the Chiefs in the run game, which the Raiders tried. It’s getting into 11 personnel (one RB, one TE and three WRs), which forces the Chiefs into a nickel defense and one less big body in the middle. Often in this nickel defense the Chiefs play their safety as the second linebacker, and it makes their run defense soft. The Chiefs’ defensive backs, minus Marcus Peters, love to hold and grab. It’s been an issue throughout the season, and it often gives teams first downs and extra plays in crucial situations.

Who would have thought we’d be worrying about the Chiefs D as the reason they might not make a deep playoff run?

4. The refs have had better nights

I’m a frequent defender of NFL referees. They have an extremely tough job and the game is fast. It’s not played in the slow motion replays we get to see, which are beneficial for the viewer but don’t help how we feel about the referees.

Also I’ve always said this: Unless you’ve been on the sidelines to watch a game, you will never understand how fast and violent the game is. The refs get more right than wrong. However, last night wasn’t their best performance:

The Chiefs force a Carr turnover and it’s called back for illegal contact. Umm no. It was within 5 yards.

The Raiders get called for a late hit because a tight end is finishing his block. Not a flag.

The refs missed a face mask on Hill when his helmet was pulled off.

I’m still not sure why Peters got called for a late hit on Carr. I didn’t hear a whistle, and Carr wasn’t down. Maybe it was a blow to the helmet. I couldn’t tell.

The long catch by Cook that was ruled a touchdown but brought back by replay. The ref initially looked and pointed to the ground like Cook was down, but he then ruled a touchdown. Maybe he’s covering his bases, but under two minutes all plays get reviewed. There were 16 seconds when Cook was touched down at the 1. Plenty of time to hurry up and spike it. However, I would have liked to see the Raiders try getting it done after thinking they have scored.

I’ll end this part with a compliment for the refs. The final three flags — on Crabtree for OPI and the two holding calls — were correct. Give credit when it’s due.

There are more good games on tap this week

Entering Week 7, home teams were 44-45, the fifth-lowest win percentage for home teams since 1970. After the Raiders’ win, the record is now even. This is something to watch for.

As the 2017 season continues on, do we see the parity continue?

The NFL is a league built for parity with the draft, a hard salary cap and scheduling quirks that pit good vs. good and bad vs. bad. But that often isn’t the case, especially in the AFC. While I enjoy seeing super teams because they are often the most talented and most enjoyable to watch, parity allows other fan bases to enjoy the feeling of fighting for a playoff spot, so I’m all for that.

The Bengals and Steelers renew their intense rivalry

If the Bengals are serious about digging themselves out of the 0-3 hole, this is a must-win. It’s a division road game, and it would feel almost like they won two games. However, the Steelers are 10-3 against the Bengals since 2011, including playoffs. And since 2015 (including playoffs), this matchup has featured more extracurricular, dead ball after the play penalties — with 19 — than any other matchup in the league.

The Steelers are coming off an impressive win Sunday against the Chiefs, where their blueprint for winning, tough physical defense, and a steady diet of Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown worked like a charm. I expect it to continue at home this weekend.

If you like offense, don’t miss the Falcons-Patriots rematch

Take the over! Lots and lots of points will be scored in this rematch of last season’s thrilling come-from-behind Super Bowl victory by the Patriots.

The Pats have started the season allowing 300 individual yards and more in six consecutive games, a league record. It’s not that the Patriots don’t have talent on defense — they just aren’t covering anyone. They routinely have coverage busts and leave receivers wide open.

While Atlanta’s offense has struggled at times with a new OC in charge, this isn’t the week to forget to cover anyone. Matt Ryan has struggled to connect with stud wide receiver Julio Jones on passes of 20-plus air yards, completing only one ball, which was a staple of the offense from last season. I’d look for some big plays from the Falcons’ offense on Sunday.

Washington has a big challenge against the red-hot Eagles

I love this Eagles team. Philadelphia is physical on both sides of the ball. The Eagles get after the quarterback and can stop the run. Their offensive line is probably playing the best in the NFL at the moment. Carson Wentz is balling. They lead the league in third-down completion percentage, a sign the Eagles are efficient on offense.

However, Wentz struggles when pressured. He’s completing only 27 percent of his passes when pressured. Washington MUST get pressure on Wentz to have a shot to win this game. I like the Eagles in this spot.

Geoff Schwartz's top blocks of the week

[bigskybigwords]

It’s possible that some people might find the idea of racing to Europe, enduring two 16 hour layovers (one on either end) and spending a week in Denmark to be the opposite of a restful spring break, but those people are wrong. Just wrong. Sitting here in the Copenhagen Airport after an excellent seven nights in this interesting, beautiful country, I find myself incredibly rejuvenated for the rest of the school year and already looking for another quick getaway.

After a week of averaging just over twelve miles on foot each day, plus a lot more travel on train, tram, bus, and ferry, I feel much more rested and ready for the return to school than if I had stayed home and caught up on some rest and television binging. I did manage to watch The OA during evenings here, which might have cured my desire to binge TV for awhile, anyway, but that’s another story.

Ramen!

Dragør

Fish!

Nyhavn Public Toilet

Louisiana Museum, William Kentridge

View from Parliament

Nyhavn

City Hall

Dragør

Viking Horns at National Museum

Nyhavn

Aarhus Bike and Cigarette Machine

Aarhus Old Town

My initial impression of Copenhagen was a bit cold. When I got off the metro from the airport near my room, I was confronted by one of those ubiquitous European business streets, loaded with small shops and restaurants, the kind of street that looks the same everywhere you go. The weather was a bit grim, and despite the forecast of decent weather for the week, I was nervous that the trip would be a soggy mess.

Don’t let the weather get you down or slow your plans. While every morning started with the same overcast, gray skies, almost every afternoon ended with glorious blue skies. You’ll certainly want to be prepared for rain and chill, but the same kind of skies that portend heavy rain back in Montana just don’t seem to mean the same thing here. I carefully packed my new raincoat for the trip and am excited to report that it never left my duffle the entire trip, though I did have to borrow an umbrella for a few minutes in Seattle.

When you land at the airport, buy a City Pass for as long as you plan to stay. You’ll likely need a ticket to get from the airport to town and the public transportation network is excellent, even by European standards. There’s another reason to make the purchase at the airport: for some reason, like in many cities, the machine at the airport was happy to take my American credit card without a pin, but when I tried at stations in town, it didn’t work. Uber is set to vanish within a few weeks across Denmark, anyway, so why not explore what life in a city with decent public transportation can be like?

The coffee was less excellent, though. I’ve always wondered how my Norwegian grandmother drank two pots of coffee a day and I think I’ve found my answer: she was likely drinking some of the same Scandinavian brown water I had in Copenhagen. I tried a number of local and regional chains, but most served a weak brew. One notable exception was The Coffee Collective. I was told, too, that the coffee shops in the Latin Quarter were better, but didn’t have a chance to try any down there.

Concerns about the coffee aside, the food in Denmark was excellent. I sampled some excellent Smørrebrød, Danish open-faced sandwiches, across the city and was never disappointed. At their core, Smørrebrød are a piece of buttered, heavy rye bread with layers of vegetables, meat and cheese on top. The variations seem endless, from the traditional fish sandwiches to the liverwurst, bacon, beet, and berry sandwich I had at one of the markets. Another shop had tapas style Smørrebrød with ingredients like chorizo and egg. Bien!

The best places to eat food in Copenhagen were two areas with food stalls. Copenhagen Street Food, located at PapirØen warehouse, offered food from all over the world, including some excellent Korean steamed buns. It’s right on the waterfront and has some outdoor seating for a great picnic spot. A bit more upscale and centrally located is the Torvehallerne (market halls), which includes two buildings, one for sweets, coffee, and shops and another for savory treats. The food there is a bit more traditionally Danish fare, but no less excellent.

And you should probably have a hot dog, too. While the Danish version includes the nice touch of sliced pickles to go along with the fried and fresh onions, the remoulade on Danish hot dogs doesn’t quite measure up to Icelandic brown sauce. Nevertheless, while I can’t imagine eating a street vendor hot dog in the States, those in Denmark were delicious and a reasonably cheap food option in the expensive city.

While you’re in Copenhagen, you’re going to want to walk, despite the public transport. The center of the city is quite small and trisected by three long pedestrian shopping streets. Unless you see yourself buying a lot of goods, feel free to jump off those main, busy streets. Often, you’ll find yourself in a quiet square or parallel street that feels like an entirely different world. One note, though. Jaywalking is apparently treated quite seriously in Copenhagen.

As always, I started my Copenhagen experience with a “free” walking tour, one of the tours run for tips. It (and the subsequent one I wandered into the next day) offered excellent overviews of the city and the guides were very knowledgeable about places to visit and eat.

Don’t just walk, though. If only to experience the feeling of being on the aggressive side of biking vikings who dominate the city, use one of the many shops to rent a bike. The bike lanes are incredible, with a huge section timed so that a rider maintaining a speed of 20 kilometers per hour will never need to stop at a light. It’s been a long time since I have ridden much, but after a period of adjustment to the huge number of cyclists around me, found the experience to be an incredible way to see the city. Many shops will even rent bikes with GPS built in, making the city tour even easier. Watch out for bikes, though, when you are on foot.

In Copenhagen, I visited and really enjoyed the National Museum (filled with the entire history of Denmark and cultural artifacts from all over the world, the Carlsberg Glyptotek, and the Thorvaldsen’s Museum, dedicated entirely to the work of Bertel Thorvaldsen, an Icelandic/Danish sculptor who is famed for having produced the only work by a non-Catholic in St. Peter’s Basilica. Museums are mostly closed on Mondays, but many offer free days or those with extended hours. Make sure to catch the view of the city from Christiansborg Palace, the highest tower in town. Although there is a short line and a brief security screening, it offers panoramic views of the entire city center.

A few other spots I’d recommend in Copenhagen include the Assistens Cemetery, which is a lovely park filled with famous Danish dead like Søren Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen, as well as a huge number of recreating people from the city. It’s an odd combination of an active cemetery and public park, but it seems to match the practical nature of the people here. You’ll also want to visit Freetown Christiania, which is a self-proclaimed autonomous region of about 80 acres and 1,000 people in the Christianshavn neighborhood. While the area was both a testament to creative experience and perhaps the dangers of substance abuse, it’s a fascinating haven in the midst of the bustling, loud city.

Get out of Copenhagen, too. I took a two-day trip to Aarhus, and found its museums odd and enjoyable. The city also featured excellent food, and as a college town, a very different vibe from Copenhagen. Another great stop was in Dragør , a seaside town about 40 minutes by bus from the city center. It was the kind of town where you could buy fresh fish right from the dock, enjoy beer in a sailor’s bar, and wander through one of the best-preserved villages in the country. Finally, the trip to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art was another worthwhile half-day trip from the center.

One caveat about all of Denmark has to be fashion. While I am a rounded, schlumpy fellow with little fashion sense almost anywhere, Copenhagen will make even the best-dressed person feel a bit like they need to seriously up their fashion game. That being said, after a week here, it is easy to understand why the traditional look for Hamlet is all black dress. It’s practically the national uniform.

Copenhagen is certainly an expensive city. Housing, even in March, was relatively expensive, but the efficiency of the public transportation and a wide array of accommodations make the city more affordable than you might guess.

More photos and thoughts to come.

When You Visit Denmark…and You Will It’s possible that some people might find the idea of racing to Europe, enduring two 16 hour layovers (one on either end) and spending a week in Denmark to be the opposite of a restful spring break, but those people are wrong.