#or if it would be fine to skip ahead to the new episode after the finale and come back to the specials later

[hellooo-one-and-all]

episode one in five minutes except I'm still in the middle of part one of last season's finale, and even if I wasn't, it would still be past midnight and time to sleep. pain and suffering etc.

[sscieloz]

Mystery of Love

Hirai Momo x Member!reader

Synopsis: the group’s comeback is approaching. There’s a full day of shootings waiting ahead of you. You should rest, but you can’t sleep.

Warnings: hurt/comfort. reader talks about her feelings.

Word count: 2.5k

Notes: I AM STILL HERE ! not my best, but still ^^

Pt.1 | Pt.2 | Pt.3 | Pt.4 | Pt.5 | Pt.6

—

Sometimes your thoughts were so loud inside your head you were sure everyone could hear them too. 

They were constant reminders of how everything was wrong in your life. The way you dealt with your loved ones, your daily routine, the way your brain worked, the words you chose to use in a conversation… everything was just deeply wrong. It was a constant reminder of how much you managed to mess up by just existing.

You could feel the familiar feeling starting to cripple your skin, followed by a million needles poking you at the same time. Yet, you knew that no matter how much you scrubbed, scratched, and hurt yourself, such feelings would never disappear. 

Said knowledge doesn’t keep you from running your nails all over your arms and abdomen, of course. At least the burning sensation was a vivid reminder that you was still hanging on. You were still alive; in Seoul, at the dorms, existing. You were not a ghost, and there was still hope. 

Like a mantra, you whispered the words in the dark, running your hands through your face to calm yourself down. The pressure worked, but that uneasy feeling still lingered, guilt-tripping your guts.

It’s been nearly six months since the episode, shouldn’t you feel any better already? You’ve been following your diet religiously, attending therapy twice a week, and working on reaching out whenever you felt one of your crises coming up— yet it seemed like it was all in vain. Despite all of your efforts, you still felt so wrong. 

How scary is it, to know that the anxiety was carved deep in your bones as part of who you were? 

Terrifying, indeed. 

You’ve done a great job convincing the girls of your progress, reassuring them there was no need to push their first comeback of the year. You told them it was fine to attend photoshoots, rehearsals, mv shootings, and go through promotions without fuss. 

Which was the truth, in a way. The staff were always kind and understanding to you, kind as they encouraged you to take short breaks after every hour or so. You felt seen, along with the strength and protection your unnies provided.

However, going to any pre-recorded events was still something scary. Especially one as important as Music Bank, where Onces would be ogling you with such attentive eyes. Not judging, naturally, but staring with their eyes full of hope… you couldn’t disappoint them, either. Not your fans, who loved you unconditionally, and your sisters, who have been nothing but patient and protective throughout these last months. They’ve done so much for you, who had nothing to give in return. 

Naturally, the girls would understand if you chose to be absent. They’ve told you so repeatedly, reassuring situation is completely understandable and that it’s incredible that you’re even participating in the comeback, but you know how much it hurts them to not be complete as a group. Without you, something is missing, even if it’s hard to understand what you could possibly add to these women, who already have everything. 

Joining them in their comeback was an honor, and you wouldn’t skip it for anything in the world. There’s nothing you wouldn’t do to have your unnies happy. 

The van will pick you up in the morning, so they’re all currently resting. And you’re exhausted— crushingly so, which is an easy thing to notice with no more than a quick look. Your new sleeping pills did not make the bags under your eyes go away, and you’re still bony, a shallow of the smiley, reserved maknae you once were.

Once again, your breaths grow rapidly, the pitch-black ceiling getting smaller with each passing minute, shrinking enough to trap your body inside the walls of your bedroom. You try to control your breathing by taking deep breaths to calm yourself down, just like your unnies usually do. Your apartment is too high up to hear the whistle of the trees or the noise of crickets, but somehow the stars in quiet night are enough. Those same stars, shining so bright in the late hours, remind you so much of the girls whom you share a home and a life with— your most loved ones, your soulmates. Let us in, Y/n, please. Let us help. they begged you, so loud in their silence. It pained them to give you space, as you’re well aware. If they could, they’d just wrap you up in a bubble and protect you from any sorrows. 

If only they could. 

You’re not alone. You don’t have to struggle by yourself. You can come to us.

With that in mind, you drop your covers and leave your bedroom, walking to the corridor in quiet, unhurried steps. It’s only once you reach the third room on the left that your long, delicate fingers brush the door, with barely any force. It opens easily, thanks to their no-locking policy, and you observe the room for a moment before settling in. 

Momo and Nayeon share a bedroom, just like old times. The room is vast— big enough for two queen-sized beds, and visibly messy. Clothes hang everywhere, either on the ground or left in a pile in some of the open drawers. You squint your eyes to adjust yourself to the darkness and notices the nail supplies cluttered on their tea table. Letters, legos, stuffed animals… so many objects that make you nearly lose balance many times, as you make your way to a pitch-black dot lost amidst the thick covers of Momo’s fluffy bed. 

You don’t mind, though. If anything, you find yourself giggling quietly, amused by how the pair had turned the bland room into a home within a few weeks. 

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for the members to accustomed to living together once again. It had been years since they’d decided to live apart, but your episode had made them make the decision almost immediately. You needed them, so they’d be there for you 24/7, guarding and offering their best support. Sure, your new apartment was much more luxurious and spacious than any of their old dorms, but it was just as cozy and filled with love. 

And you needed that. You didn’t think so, naturally— fiercely advocating against their decision, terrified of making your bandmates change their lifestyle because of yourself, but they gave you no choice. In fact, you felt much like a baby as they moved things over and over, sitting down on the big couch while they did all the boring and hard work. 

It was nice to have the house noisy again, you noted. After so many years of living by yourself, you discovered you liked a little bit of chaos, especially those that came from your loved ones. You needed that. Once again, your unnies proved that they knew you best. 

You moved carefully to not wake Momo up, even though the dancer sleeps like a rock. Lifting the covers, you lowered your body until you were lying down in your unnie’s bed, staring at the older woman’s soft features. 

Momo was perfect in every way, and she was so _strong_, too. Not only with her toned muscles, she was a true pillar, taking care of her members so subtly they barely noticed. They were all drawn to her when things got rough. With her sleepish smile and round eyes, her easy laugh was like a beacon on a heavy storm. Talking to her was not only easy, it felt so freeing. You would always forget about your troubles for a few minutes, whenever they were together.

Without even noticing, your eyes start to water—you were so loved, and what for? What have you done to deserve such a honorable feeling? It’s hard to suppress your hiccups as tears start to water Momo’s pillow. Then, almost instinctively, Momo’s arms are around you, holding and bringing you closer until your noses are nearly touching. 

You focus on Momo’s eyes, which are still only half-open, and on the sounds she makes, purring as she tries to shake the sleep from her body so she can stay awake. Her hand goes to your hair immediately, fingers running through your scalp in circles. The delicate movements of Momo’s fingers differ from your usual clumsiness, but it’s so soothing that you calm down immediately.

“Can’t sleep, baby?” You shake your head at the sound of her raspy voice, with trembling lips. Momo knows the crying will soon get worse if she doesn’t do anything, so she holds you closer, her grip extra strong, “No no, don’t cry. It’s okay, you’re okay… we’ll help you.”

It’s a routine you’re used to, by now. At first, it made Momo nervous to see you in such agony, sobbing so hard you choked over nothing, desperate for air. Then, Mina explained to her that it was a way of releasing the heavy feelings you kept bottled up for so long, which put Momo’s nerves a little bit at ease. Still, it broke her heart to see you hurting. Her sweet little maknae, who’s always been so, graceful, and quiet…

Yet, Momo couldn’t do anything to take all this pain from your chest. She’d take it all in a blink, were that possible. She’d take all of your sorrows and keep them to herself. 

Instead, Momo brushes the wet strands of your hair away from your face, greeting you with a sleepy smile. “Hello, baby girl. Are you nervous about tomorrow?”

Your nod is so subtle Momo finds herself brushing her eyes, wondering if she’d imagined it. There’s a big pause, and the dancer starts to drool as she fights sleep to listen. 

“I…” You speak, and it’s like you’re a trainee all over again: small and anxious and so filled with doubts all you want to do is curl up and disappear forever. You gulp hard to suppress another sob. “I c-an’t do it, unnie. Music bank, tomorrow. I can’t. It’s just, there will be so many people and so many cameras and the fans don’t  know I’m weak, and if I fuck the group’s image once again we’ll never be invited to anything ever and it’s going to be all my fucking faul—" 

You bury your head in Momo’s chest, unable to look at the dancer as you open up your fresh wounds. It hurts to know the amount of hate and backlash they group has gotten because of your scandal. You still didn’t even know who leaked your hospital chart, but JYP did a good work of putting it all under the carpet. And to make all of the denying real, you had to look put together to the public. 

You don’t remember the last time you looked like anything but a crystal piece of art, full of cracks and ready to shatter into a million pieces. 

Lithe fingers touch your skin once again, moving without rush to not startle or overwhelm you. Momo knows what you need: her presence alone is already so comforting. You get a glimpse of her short, black nails as the older girl runs them over your arms, then your torso. 

“Do you want to try mirroring my breathing, baby? You always do it so well.” She asks and you nod immediately. With your face against Momo’s chest, you follow the rhythm of your unnie’s heartbeats, focusing on that alone. “That’s it, dear. Good Job.” 

Everything is suddenly pitch black: there’s only Momo’s loving embrace and the way your bodies are naturally tangled, so close to each other that two become one and your sorrows slowly dissipate amidst the warmth. Love does heal, you’re proof of that. You know so because, even if your progress isn’t nearly as you’d envisioned it, it’s still there. You’re slowly working to recovery, no matter how much your stubborn self denies it. And it’s much due to their help: your bandmates, your loves.

Momo’s thumbs brush your cheeks, washing your tears away as the minutes turn your crying into faint sniffles. “You’ve been so brave, Y/n. I’m serious. All the effort you’ve been pouring into our new comeback… it’s impressive. But please, please know you don’t have to do anything you don’t feel ready to do. We can wait, baby.”

And you knows they won’t pressure you by any means. Although sometimes, you wish they did. 

“I know, it’s just…” You sigh, untangling yourself from Momo so you can press your elbows onto the bed and run your hands all over your face, huffing with frustration. “I want to do it, unnie. I really do. I just don’t want to break in front of everyone and destroy our group’s image.” 

I don’t want to disappoint you again.

That’s what it was. Frustrating and tiring, to feel so unsure over something you’ve done a thousand times before.

“Y/n, look at me.” The dancer’s tone is imposing, so commanding you have no choice but to oblige immediately. “You’re the strongest person I know, and I admire you so much. We see you trying every day, baby, and it’s where we find our strength, too,” She adds, just as quietly, “On seeing you try. It makes me— makes us try to be better every day, too. For you. We love you, so much. And if it’s what you want to do, we’ll be with you every second of it.” 

How could you inspire them? It doesn’t seem possible. Not when you’re so weak, vulnerable and a complete mess. Your unnies are all so graceful and certainly much better at everything they do. You don’t understand Momo’s words, but it’s late, and you’re too tired to ask. So you simply nod, trying hard not to pout. 

It’s a different kind of sadness, one of not being able to give what your unnies so desperately want. The hopelessness is carved so deep in your bones you can’t do anything but sigh, shuffle, and turn until you’re staring at the ceiling and your hands are hidden under the covers, so Momo doesn’t notice how much they tremble.

“You can’t give me what I need.” You can’t fix what’s broken inside. You want to scream. I think I can’t, either.

“I can’t. I’m sorry for that.” She stops, staring down at you. Her dark orbs are filled with nothing but the purest form of love as she kisses your forehead and whispers, because it’s just the two of you together and the night is quiet, ever so private. “But I can love you.”

Those same loving arms evolve you again, and no more words are spoken. You don’t need to say anything else— no words suffice, not in any language. For now, Momo and you grow content falling asleep together, soothed by each other’s breathing and the promise of taking one step at a time. 

In Momo’s arms, you feel safe, respected, and loved. You fall asleep thinking you might be able to go through all of this, as long as you’re together.

[alfvaen]

Novel Madness

Still reading, and apparently still blogging about it.

So this is what I read in March. Possible spoilers for the Vorkosigan Saga, and the Mercy Thompson and Peter Grant series, among others.

Jeffrey Cranor & Janina Matthewson: You Feel It Just Below The Ribs, completed March 2

So as you may recall, back in February, I had given up on Ruth Ozeki's A Tale From The Time Being, wasn't fond of Kristen Painter's Flesh And Blood, and was also not really liking the nonfiction book on Reddit I was reading.

I was somewhat tempted to just skip ahead to my reread of Memory, my favourite book in the Vorkosigan series. I mean, when I had started doing more frequent rereads, it had been after just such a string of subpar books, and I wanted to retrench and remind myself why I loved reading. Looking back in my records, I can't actually find that string of subpar books, but I can find about when I started doing the rereads--the fall of 2007, when I started doing a Wheel of Time reread, where every second book was a reread; it was the first time I reread the entire series (up to that point, which was Knife of Dreams). After that, my rereads went back to their more sporadic pace, until the spring of 2008 when I did an every-second-book reread of the Vorkosigan saga (the first of three such rereads in the next few years). And I kept doing every-second-book-a-reread for two years, at which point I slowed down to mostly every third book. By 2012 this was down to every fourth book, and there it seemed to stabilize. So it wouldn't be unprecedented for me to do my rereads more frequently, but the cycle has been stable for a while--I added in the alternation of author gender, the diversity slot, the trying-out slot…it would throw my cycle off now if I did the rereads more frequently. But don't think I wasn't tempted.

Anyway… I was looking for a male author, something that wasn't urban fantasy (because of the Kristen Painter), probably something that wasn't space opera (because Memory was still coming up)… I toyed with the idea of selecting something that might be "fun" (like John Scalzi's Agent To The Stars or the Doctor Who And The Krikkitmen book), but there were also books that I had been thinking "maybe" on for some time and hadn't yet picked up. And You Feel It Just Below The Ribs was one of them.

Many of you are likely familiar with Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor's "Welcome To Night Vale" podcast, which I discovered relatively early (by current standards--maybe around the "Sandstorm" episodes?). I've see the show a couple of times when it came through (or near) Edmonton, I try to keep up on the podcast (though mostly I fail because I can't keep up with a bimonthly podcast schedule any more), and I have read all of the tie-in novels and the script books. The novels are decent, not great, but okay. And I have also tried out a lot of the other related podcasts--"Alice Isn't Dead" and "Within The Wires" are the ones I stuck with.

"Within The Wires" was always weird, and not every season was great, but it was an interesting combination of two conceits--one, that every season was done through "found audio", which included relaxation tapes with hidden messages, dictaphone recordings, answering machine messages, and museum audio guide recordings, among others. And two, that this all took place in an alternate history where, due to an early-20th-century upheaval called The Reckoning, the new regime had taken the drastic step of abolishing the family: breaking the emotional links between parent and child by altering their memories and raising the children in communal creches. (There's also a distinct shortage of male characters in the podcast, which is fine--at some point I'd even thought that men had been wiped out entirely, but there are occasional male characters mentioned now and then. And the new season features a male voice actor for the first time.) But we've never really gotten much detail about the Reckoning, because it was too far in the past, and nobody needed to talk about it much because it was just part of their common world. (Maybe in the season where we were following a woman who was part of a secret rebel group that did raise their own children, but even then we didn't get much.) So I was very interested in the novel that they came out with, in hopes that we would find out more about what the Reckoning actually was and how the change in society came about.

It's a bit of an odd novel--it has a sort of framing story of it being a found document, and has frequent footnotes. But I'm not clear why it was done like this. The document is the memoirs of a woman who was orphaned during the Reckoning--which seems here to have been a worst-case version of World War I that lasted until 1941 and did literally engulf the entire world, possibly with a worse flu pandemic as well. (This was published during Covid so that may have affected things a little.) The author, Miriam Gregory, ended up being influential to the whole post-Reckoning New Society practice of editing memories to remove parent-child bonds. She later got involved with the mysterious Institute from the first season, and there were some hints of the plot from the third (the political thriller told through dictaphone recordings). The footnotes mostly seem to be there to try to point out places where the editors of the document found stuff they were pretty sure was inaccurate. They quoted information from the official record and mentioned when there was no evidence of something existing or having happened at all. Which, okay, maybe this was people parroting the official history even with all its inaccuracies, as a method of showing how the truth had been hidden. But supposedly the publication of this document was being done by a group which was already not following the New Society party line, so why would they be so certain that this was wrong whenever it contradicted the accepted source of truth? It's not clear, and so it seems like they're just there to undermine the story whenever it gets too dramatic. It doesn't feel like an effective technique.

Overall it was a decent book, but flawed, and I felt like it could have covered more of the world than it did.

Lois McMaster Bujold: Memory, completed March 5

I have probably mentioned before that Memory is my flat-out favourite Bujold book. It's not an easy one to recommend to other people, though, because it may only work (and certainly works much better) if you've read all the previous books first. Jo Walton has talked about the "spearpoint theory", where a tiny sharp point can be made much more effective if you've had a lot of buildup to it. This book has a shaft consisting of all the Miles books and stories that came before. Obviously Mirror Dance, of course, the immediate prequel, but it has an especially poignant revisiting of "The Mountains of Mourning", as well as the reappearance of Duv Galeni from Brothers In Arms, and robust roles for Emperor Gregor Vorbarra, Delia Koudelka, Ivan Vorpatril, and Simon Illyan, who is central to the plot. It also has one of the dullest titles in the series, though it is relevant, not least because of the reference to Simon Illyan's eidetic memory chip.

The first part is the most painful, as Miles manages to lose most of what's important to himself through an attempt to keep it from slipping away. But I love almost every scene that takes place on Barrayar. It's such a treat just to see Miles coping with day-to-day life there (my favourite bit is still the convenience-store "Reddi-Meals!"), plunged back into a life he's been neglecting for years, that it doesn't even feel disappointing when it's over a third of a way into the book before the "real" plot really gets going. Because the shaft of that spear is still building up.

In later rereads, there are some bits I find fascinating. Like the worldbuilding details about the existence of Imperial Auditors, special investigators answerable only to the Emperor himself, that actually were never mentioned before in the series. But the way the native Barrayarans explain it to one Komarran feels completely organic, and they've known it all along, so surely these Auditors have been mentioned before? Nope, they're probably something that the author pulled out of her hat for this book (there were "auditors" mentioned in the framing story of Borders of Infinity, but I think they were just regular auditors, not Imperial ones). But if feels like they've always been in the background. (Maybe, if they were, they should have been mentioned in Barrayar somewhere? Well, whatever. Good enough.) Also, there was one relationship that blindsided me first time through, but now I can spot all the groundwork being laid for it all the way through. Very deft.

Steven Barnes: Zulu Heart, completed March 12

Next, according to my cycle, it was time for a book by a "diverse" male author. As I may have mentioned before, I seem to be much shorter on those than I am on female diversity, particularly on the black authors.

I first read Steven Barnes many years ago, at least in collaboration. His book with Larry Niven, Dream Park, has long been a favourite; I recall one day, after a stressful move between cities, that I spent just rereading the book from cover to cover. The sequels never hit quite the same spot, though, which may be why, although I did occasionally buy a Barnes solo book in a second-hand store, I had never actually gotten around to reading any of them. But they were there when I needed to draw from them for this slot. A couple of years ago I read his Lion's Blood, an alternate history novel about a world where African (and mostly Muslim) nations colonized the New World (which I believe they called Bilalistan), and they enslaved Europeans. (I don't recall if there was an in-universe explanation for the change in dominance--maybe the ever-popular Hyper-Virulent Black Death--or if it just turned out that way. There was something about Alexander The Great maybe going to Egypt…) One of the main characters was an Irish man named Aidan who was enslaved as a child near the beginning of the book, and separated from his sister; the other one was a black Muslim named Kai, son of a Wakil in Bilalistan. It probably covers a lot of slave-story tropes, but race-swapped, plus there's also drama an intrigue centered around Kai's family. It was an okay book, but I wasn't particularly planning on searching out the sequel; however, last summer at the When Words Collide convention in Calgary, I saw it on a table of "free to a good home" books, and decided to pick it up. And having basically exhausted pretty much all the other possibilities, I was perforce reading it next.

Once of the principles I mostly stick to with the diversity books is that I don't give up on them. (Maybe I should have done this with the Ruth Ozeki book last month, but I guess I didn't.) It's supposed to be about broadening my horizons, approaching different kinds of stories, etc. I've always been a little hit-or-miss with alternate histories; my perception, at least, is that a lot of them tend to focus on the same things--the American Civil War, the American Revolutionary War, World War II--all American stuff. This one is, at least, a little more creative, and is very black culture focused in a way that, frankly, Barnes's other books I read really weren't.

Plotwise, though, it's only okay; some threads are interesting, some I'm less interested in, and some seem to be a little rushed, as if he was trying to squeeze in plots from a third book the publisher had nixed. The back cover blurb seems to imply that the book is going to cover this world's version of the Civil War, but given that they're still colonies of overseas nations (Egypt and Abyssinia) it's really more like a Revolutionary War. And, spoilers, what there is of it is not a major part of the story. In that sense it's almost more like Diana Gabaldon's later books where the (American) Revolutionary War is going on, and it affects our characters, but it's not primarily about the war itself. And maybe this book would have benefited from being even longer to have that increased scope.

I do worry a bit about the reversed slavery idea--on the one hand, maybe it'll give some of us white people a better feeling for what the Africans suffered under slavery if we replace them with Europeans. The concepts that stuck with me were things like having white slaves given Arabic or African names rather than names from their own culture, and also all the African cultures being treated as distinct things while all the European cultures get jumbled together. But I also picture some people pointing at this and saying, "See? They'd do just the same as us if they were in charge!" Which may be true, but of course it doesn't say that, in our world, the slaves in America didn't suffer, and we're not living in that alternate world. It means that one group may not be inherently nobler than another, but that doesn't mean that they're not deserving of justice, or equity, or reparations. (I can also picture frothing white supremacists screaming that this the what the blacks want, and turning it into a story of white victimhood. Well, I guess we can't control what white supremacists are going to froth about.) It's not a bad thing, but it seems like it can be mischaracterized. (One novel I was working on, I have a setting with an area's native inhabitants being oppressed by intrusive colonials, and I was toying with the idea of having the natives be white, but I'm afraid it'd get read as anti-immigrant rather than anti-colonial, so I probably won't.)

Natalie Zina Walschots: Hench, completed March 16

After the long and somewhat topically heavy slavery book, I decided I was in the mood for something maybe a little lighter, and it was time to get back to a female author. My wife had recommended this Hench book to me, and nudged me about it a couple of times, and I decided to give it a go. I know that technically I do have my special slots for new authors (with the "try but feel free to give up if it does not spark joy" parameters), but if I never tried a new author outside of those slots, then it would take forever me to try all the ones I'm interested in, so I decided to let myself read this one.

The book is clearly set in a world with superheroes, and of course supervillains. I've read a lot of comics--mainly Marvel comics from the 60s through to the 90s (my attempt at a comprehensive read-through on Marvel Unlimited has just inched its way to the end of 1993, so I may be a little behind on the current state of the superhero genre, apart from the MCU stuff) but fewer actual prose novels. I suspect that the modern superhero novel, with its narrower focus, is more prone to examining superheroes in more depth, and frankly most of them tend to come out on the anti-superhero side of things, and at the very least turns them into more complex, flawed characters. The Annihilation Score tended to treat them as problematic; Brandon Sanderson's "Reckoners" series treats them as existential threats (admittedly, in that setting their powers literally drive them insane); and at best, they are severely flawed people who just happen to have powers, as in James Alan Gardner's "Sparks Vs. The Dark" series. Maybe it's a generational thing--in an age where the status quo is far from kind to the vast majority of those who are Millennials or younger, who are your sympathies with--heroes who fight to uphold the status quo, or the villains who subvert it? (Which is not too far off from the logic from that gets people to vote for Trump…)

Hench shows us mostly the villain side of the story, with superheroes mostly shown as overpowered thugs and walking disasters. We're mostly concerned with Supercollider, an example of the former, whose every brush with our protagonist leaves her damaged, and his longtime nemesis Leviathan, who lifts her up and makes her feel valued. I keep wanting to draw analogues with the heroes I'm familiar with--is Supercollider basically Superman? Leviathan seems more like Doctor Doom than anybody. Supercollider's partner Quantum Entanglement (a bit of an awkward name) seems more like a combination of Invisible Woman and Shadowcat than anything else. (I'm always low-key amused at superhero naming where they just silently have to avoid the names of real Marvel or DC characters, without seeming to. In my superhero stories I mostly tend to think that the real heroes are afraid of getting sued by the corporate juggernauts who own the trademarks on the fictional ones…) It got a lot darker than I was expecting, actually, but it was absorbing and I liked it a lot.

Patricia Briggs: Silver Borne, completed March 19

I had originally been thinking of something like Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower for my next book, but after Hench I wasn't feeling like it; instead I thought it might be time for another urban fantasy. I have started so many, and finished (or even caught up with) so few--the Dresden Files, for sure, and the Kelly Meding might be the only one. I find a lot of them appealing in the abstract, but it seems like they appeal to my wife more, so she's the one who reads then, gets hooked on the series, stays caught up, buys them in hardcover, etc. She has always been more of a fan of romance, and a lot of the female-authored urban fantasy seems like it's on a spectrum to paranormal romance. (The main difference, of course, is probably whether there's a single continuing protagonist, or a different romantic pairing every book.) Anyway, I'm in the middle of a lot of series, and it seems to take a lot to get me to the state where I get hooked and have to start reading them faster, so it can be years between books for me.

Patricia Briggs has, like many, split off a side series--her main series follows Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson, but there's also a "Charles & Anna" series which crosses over, and after the last Mercy Thompson book (Bone Crossed) left me a little underwhelmed, I had started those books, so the last Briggs I read was actually side series novel Cry Wolf. Apparently reading them in alternation is not a bad idea anyway, so I went back to Mercy for this one. I even remembered most of the characters, or at least was satisfied with the author's descriptions of them (a lot of minor werewolf pack members showed up, and I couldn't tell you for sure which ones we'd seen before or had character traits before this book).

The pacing was a little weird--there's basically three plot threads which show up at different times, which aren't really connected causally but do interact with each other, and the balance doesn't always work (like pack politics dominating everything else for a few chapters until we get back to our other plots), but it was better than Bone Crossed, at least. It's unfortunate, given how much urban fantasy I read, how little I enjoy the dominance politics of werewolf packs, and particularly the touchiness of Alphas. (Oh, no, we can't meet their gaze or undermine their authority or it's a challenge and they'll have to kill us. And they can't show any weakness or others will try to kill them.)

Next book in the series will be back to Charles & Anna, anyway. I am not yet really hooked on the series, but I'll keep going for now.

Lois McMaster Bujold: Komarr, completed March 22

Back to the Vorkosigans again, for Komarr. Like her other planet-named books, it takes place entirely on the planet in question (if we allow space stations in the same system to be close enough, anyway), the troubled vassal of Barrayar. Because the only current access to Barrayar comes through a wormhole in the Komarr system, and the earlier Cetagandan invasion of the planet was abetted by the Komarrans, Barrayar ended up conquering Komarr to secure its interface to the rest of the world. (I always wondered if it was only upon conquest of a second planet that Barrayar became a true empire, but I think they had emperors before that so probably not.) They've tried to be benevolent rulers since then, but we already saw in Brothers In Arms that there are those, like Ser Galen, that want to get rid of the Barrayaran yoke. And Aral Vorkosigan acquired the sobriquet of "The Butcher of Komarr" when a group of prisoners in his custody were executed--supposedly on his orders, but in fact it was an overzealous subordinate who Aral later killed.

Miles comes along to investigate a bizarre act of destruction--accident or sabotage, we don't yet know--where the "soletta array", a group of orbiting mirrors reflecting additional sunlight onto the cold, still-being-terraformed world (the world's population still lives in domed cities), has been damaged through collision with an off-course ship. He's mostly just shadowing older Lord Auditor Vorthys, the engineering professor who's analyzing the debris, and they end up staying over with Vorthys's niece Ekaterin Vorsoisson, who is our other viewpoint character in the book. Ekaterin has a highly unsympathetic husband, Tien, who has a secret shame, a hidden genetic disease called Vorzohn's Dystrophy. He also happens to be in charge of a small department of the terraforming effort.

I guess my biggest problem with this book is just that Tien and his department turn out to be directly related to the soletta disaster. I mean, think of it--the disaster happens, and an auditor is sent to investigate it. If it hadn't happened to be someone connected to Tien, the investigation might have gone nowhere, or taken a lot longer, because they wouldn't have had that extremely gratuitous link. It bugs me every time.

So the best part of the book is probably the introduction of Ekaterin, and her growth as a character through to the end of the book, where she strikes a decisive blow. And without it, we wouldn't have A Civil Campaign (or would, at least, have a much different book). But it is a dip in what would otherwise be a five-star run from Mirror Dance.

Shaun Barger: Mage Against The Machine, completed March 27

Catchy title, eh? That's probably part of why I picked it up in the first place, though I don't remember for sure. This is in my actual "trying a new author" slot, generally with permission to give up if the book doesn't grab me.

Essentially, it seems that the world ended at some point (2020?) when the machines/AIs rose up against the humans. The mages, who had been living in secret veiled communities for centuries, were hidden and thus not affected by this, though they're pretty sure that the humans were all wiped out. At least, that's what Nikolai, a young magically-talented officer (with a traumatic past) in the year 2120, has always been told.

Meanwhile, outside the veil, a young human cybernetically-enhanced woman named Jem, who remembers the machine uprising ten years earlier (she has her own tramatic past), and who mostly escaped because they were on the way to a colony on Venus at the time, is working as a courier, escorting a rare pregnant woman (unaffected by the fertility plagues the machines spread) through the fringes of Philadelphia.

The two stories go back and forth for several chapters in what seems like an attempt to sow confusion in the reader about the inconsistencies between the two versions of the timeline, which mostly led me to conclude that either these are literally parallel worlds, or that the mages are severely misinformed about the last century of history outside the veils. Or, presumably, most of them are misinformed but the ones at the top are all in on it and keeping the secret for their own reasons.

It seems like a bit of a hodgepodge. Part The Matrix, part Harry Potter (the mages have a sport named "flyball" that seems a lot of like Quidditch without broomsticks), part Brandon Sanderson/Brent Weeks (the flavour of the actual magic system), part Children of Men, part Wool (for the sheltered society ignorant of the world outside)… But I guess that means it's not too derivative, because of the variety of sources?

The biggest problem with it, really, is that the story clearly is not finished…but, in the five years since its release, no further books have come out. The author still seems to be actively posting on Instagram, and I found a Reddit post which said that as of two years ago the sequel was finished (and apparently there are supposed to be four books total), so I hazard a guess that the roadblocks are publishing-related. Like, his editor, Navah Wolfe, bought the first book for Saga Press, but moved on, so he might be editorially orphaned, leading to Saga passing on later books, so he'd have to be looking for a new publisher, or giving up and self-publishing (or just giving up). Always awkward--ask my wife who has two self-published sequels to the books that Scholastic published twenty-some years ago, because no other publisher would take them without rights to the first two. (Diana Rowland managed it somehow, but mostly it just doesn't work.) So I may hang on to this one and await further news (which presumably he'd post on Instagram or something…)

Ben Aaronovitch: Whispers Under Ground, completed March 31

Most of the urban fantasy series out there had female authors and female protagonists; I tend to call this the "post-Buffy" wave--before that, it felt like "urban fantasy" was more like Charles de Lint, with people in and around cities coming into contact with fairies and the like. Although stuff like Tanya Huff's "Blood Ties" series was also around back then, and that's clearly very close to what we call urban fantasy these days. Anyway. There are a few male authors as well, Jim Butcher the most famous, and Kevin Hearne, but they have a different flavour to them. And then there's Ben Aaronovitch, which is different again, being very British. Which is all just a way of saying that, while I normally try not to read too-similar books too close together, this doesn't really feel very much like the Patricia Briggs book I read a couple of weeks ago.

I'm a bit behind on this series--I read Midnight Riot (the North American retitled version of Rivers of London) some time ago, and Moon Over Soho more recently but still a while ago. But my wife was just reading the latest, Amongst Our Weapons, from the library, and apparently it's full of Monty Python references (in the chapter titles, if nothing else), and my eldest son was just reading Midnight Riot (apparently he'd heard that this series's magic system is vaguely similar to the system from the Ars Magica RPG we've been playing recently), so it felt like time to revisit it. My memory is of course a little fuzzy, but my overall impression is that this book is a little more police-procedural murder mystery than the previous two. Definitely there is a murder to solve, and there is a lot of interaction with other police (and an American FBI agent). Definitely a certain amount of underground (including sewers), as the title implies (so it's not just the London Underground). I enjoyed it and will have to try to revisit the series a little more frequently.

And that's it for the prose fiction books for March. For completeness I can also add in a graphic novel I squeezed in (literally just finished it before midnight on the 31st). See, one of the podcasts I've been listening to for a while is the "Endless" podcast, about the Sandman, cohosted by Lani Diane Rich and Alisa Kwitney. Kwitney, who was a former DC editor, particularly on Sandman itself, also apparently did a series for Ahoy Comics called "G.I.L.T.", which they were shilling on the podcast, so I thought I'd give it a try. I got my library to order what turned out to be a collection of the first five issues (I guess I'm not sure if there are more, but I wouldn't be surprised). "G.I.L.T." apparently stands for something like "Guild of Independent Lady Temporalists", though I'm not sure such a guild actually turned up… Anyway, two women, 70ish Hildy and 50ish Trista, get sent back in time to 1973, though Trista wasn't supposed to come along; they try to deal with their respective pasts, linked by a creepy cult-leader type that Hildy was engaged to and Trista's mother was a follower of. They're not supposed to be able to change anything, but they're also not supposed to both go back at once, so things get a little screwy. I wasn't 100% sold on it, but it was interesting.

And now I am actually reading The Raven Tower, but that'll be for next month's post.

[vintage-bentley]

Hello, coming to your inbox in the wake of the new-kids-on-the-gender-block-rehashing-old-school-homophobia homophobics and inability of some straight people to notice subtext of the romantic kind between the leads in Good Omens (and unexpected romance only being okay between women in men in tv for Some Reason)

I’ve had. A Whole Experience today. I watched the end of Good Omens series 2 with my Mum. She’s pretty sensitive towards things in media being too violent (me too), she’s watched 2 episodes without me and I didn’t remember the zombie brain eating part and forgot to warn her to skip that (I’d skipped ahead over it too on my first watch through Good Omens and I forgot then to warn her), we watched 2x05 together and then had a break and spoke about it then while we were doing other things. I had to warn her about Crowley saving the goats - she’d been fretting in the opening sequence and I would have had to have her feeling awful for 45 minutes until we saw the goats if I hadn’t said something then. She experienced a lot of investment in Crawley and Aziraphale scenes especially her favourite scene in series 1 was Aziraphale and Crowley on the bench after they thwart Armageddon. Mistakenly, because I still felt guilty I asked her would you be upset if it doesn’t end happily? Anyway so she figured they would fall out, asked if they had a lovers tiff, also she mentioned about the scene Nina and Crowley exchanged their “He’s just an angel I know.” that calling someone an angel while trying to tell someone that you were not together wasn’t the greatest move. It amused her

So we’re watching 2x06 They kissed and she said “you didn’t tell me about this.” (I did actually in series 1. I said at some point that they were in love but they can’t be)

We finished the episode and she said that she didn’t realize that the program was promoting gay relationships. And is there a series that isn’t "promoting" between narrative story line between putting their leads together when they do that as their story? Isn't it just telling a story? Is Beezlebub/Gabriel promoting something?(went over our heads, both of us, on first viewing that she’s them/they) Is it not possible to have gay people and couples in the media where they are just there and normal as straight couplings? Can’t they just be there and go in a narrative in a normal way as part of the storytelling as straight relationships can? And then she said that gay relationships aren’t normal or the same because they cannot have(produce) children. 

Gay relationships are no natural and are inherently unequal and inferior because they don't produce kids. Also if gay relationships became the same as straight ones, then they’ll be seen as superior. (The same logic that men will become inferior to women if women get freedoms and rights? She detests the power imbalance that exists in heterosexual experiences and couples?tf knows) Something something more comments from me and then Or they’ll overrun everywhere and I’m like ??? They’ll always be a lot more heterosexual people than gay people don’t worry.  

Anyway blah blah blah some homophobic nonsense and such childbirth blah blah later

Apparently joking about them being an item, mistakenly being identified by humans as a couple and that is fine, but them meaningfully actually being gay and kissing isn’t 

It takes me quite a lot for me to actually actively want to have a couple be together, and I tend to like friendships and complex dynamics in fiction and prefer couples to get together if there’s a narrative story line there to explore, or, because, I actually believe that there a pull between the characters that’s more than a good friendship. (Although admittedly my soft spot is for older gay couples. I love narratives where you don’t have to find ‘your person’ young or you won’t and also gay people deserve that happiness particularly older ones. My gay friends aren’t as paired off or meeting as many people and spending less of their lives in partnerships as my straight ones) I’m actually invested in them being a couple now, but I didn’t realize that until a while into series 1. They do represent sort of allegory for two types of people in religious settings to me - the one who’s a true believe whose sense of morality is tied to the religion and also keeps shifting morality and recontextualizing everywhere to try and justify the religion in his worldview, and the one outcasted for being the wrong sort or asking too many questions. Since Aziraphale is so dealing with something that is such a religious trauma parallel (I thought automatically that there is somewhere for the narrative to mine and explore it) then the Crowley outcasted from the religious community is such a gay parallel experience too and then reading it as a gay parallel where they are gay and Aziraphale and Crowley’s love triumphing over this with their love story makes me root for it narratively and now I would from the beginning if I watched it again.   

I remember where I liked Aziraphale/Crowley as a couple and realised that Azi had a crush on him. In episode 3 at the bandstand when Crowley tells them they could run off together and Azi from the wondrous face and mouth of Micheal Sheen responses, “Go off together?” When presented with the chink of light that they could be free of this, his crush comes to the forefront of his voice from it’s usually repressed state. Where I really got invested in them. I tend not to notice enough on the first viewing to see everything, I love on rewatch the moment where Crowley finds out Aziraphale gave his sword away and has heart eyes moment over it. Here's that angel again!! the one that just disobeyed God with the sword. That was so great tell me more about that angel)

(although I could tell they weren’t platonic from the start who invited their friend to lunch and stared at them like that ever?)

Crowley going “and I’ll be up in the stars and I won’t even think about you!” during that scene where it’s fine to be seen gay and laugh about it but to not to actually mean it, when you like someone and they’re on your mind a lot and you overcompensate to pretend that you won’t be thinking that much about them. When Crowley does the “I was wrong dance” and that look on Micheal Sheen’s face it’s that moment when you get a look at your crush and this chance to just look at then. And you do. I felt that. Then how do you miss that obvious attraction from Aziraphale towards Crowley I don't know.

More examples the series throughout but those stand out to me.

How many hints does it take for someone to realize that the characters in questions are in love or same sex attracted without it being forced that apparently for some super secret mystery reason does not apply to the straight couples?

She knew that it hurt me and then she went on a walk and reflected on it and came back to me with this comment to add -

She didn’t see them that way but it was cute that they realized that they were in love. So that is something, she does at least reflect and come to different realizations than her first reaction. More than I can say for some people. 

It really did make a difference when the media began positively portraying gay relationships and did turn her homophobic comments and attitudes around, we watched something a long time ago where two women were talking and one was a lesbian and she was telling the straight woman that she liked her in a really subtle way that would be picked up on if the woman liked her back but wouldn’t really reveal her if she didn’t, and the woman didn’t like her back and my Mum was like “awww :(“, I remembered it vividly because it was the first positive comment or reaction I'd heard from her regarding gay people and relationships and same sex attraction.

Just while tumblrs being this way as well, it did remind me of the comedian Joe Lycett saying that he came out to his Mum as bisexual and she was like that’s nice sweetie :) so he then said something weird and shocking and negative (and I’m doing drugs!!! Or something, I can’t be fucked looking this up rn)Just to get a shock value reaction from her??

Because he wanted to have some sort of fallout-redemption arc with his mum for some reason. Why do these people (“gay trans” and some super special snowflake bisexuals) want gay experiences that gay people don’t even want to have. This 'arc' of my mother's has been doing my head in for years, I have the desire to be seen for a same-attracted person capable of being in relationships of my sex and that being forfilling and innate and good. How long must I wait? I want to have this be normal for every ssa person.

On the plus side, my family got my Good Omens obsession going by getting me to watch 2 episodes per night of series 1 while I stayed with them. My uncle then said that he liked series 2 even more than series 1. I treasure that - and it's nice to know he went and saw that as a progression that felt natural and good and true of the story that he liked.

Apologies if any of this doesn't flow or make sense, this is coming from an emotional and tiring day.

First of all I’m really sorry it took me so long to respond to this!! 💕

Your mom reminds me of mine regarding the goats…I was rewatching season 2 and she was sitting on the couch half-watching, I told her ahead of time that they weren’t really dead too lol. Otherwise it would’ve been “HE KILLED GOATS! THAT’S TERRIBLE! TURN THIS OFF!” And I mean, I get it. The goats were cute!

And god if she said “you didn’t tell me about this” regarding the kiss I’d have died on the spot.

“Promoting gay relationships” give me a break!! I’m so tired of hearing people talk this way when there’s a gay relationship. Pretty much every single piece of media has straight relationships and nobody questions it. Why is it only “promoting” when it’s gay? My mom says similar things, she’ll be like “it’s like everything has gay people now!” Ma’am it was one singular gay couple that was in one episode of your 12 season show

That’s insane, what she said about needing to be able to have kids to be “natural”. Homosexuality is observed in many animal species. It’s very much natural.

“Apparently joking about them being an item, mistakenly being identified by humans as a couple and that is fine, but them meaningfully actually being gay and kissing isn't”

This right here is why I always say that the fandom, despite claiming to be super liberal and totally not homophobic at all, is mirroring the same homophobia we see from older generations and/or conservatives (idk your mom’s political leaning). Because this is exactly what we see from the fandom. They’ll laugh at Aziraphale being called slurs in the book (and even “pansy” in the show). They’ll laugh at him and Crowley being mistaken for a couple. They’ll treat the very idea of being gay and in a gay relationship as a fun joke, but then firmly reject the idea that maybe it’s not a joke.

In other words, a character being gay is only okay if it benefits straight people in some way; whether that be for jokes to laugh at, or even something to fetishise. I’ve said before that I think (know) one of the reasons the fandom is so resistant to the idea that A/C are in a romantic and especially sexual relationship, is because “old men gross”. We’ve seen tweets of people basically admitting that, saying things like “fanart is fine but imagining the actual actors kissing is gross”. I fully believe that if A/C were played by two skinny young conventionally attractive actors, the attitude about their relationship status would be very different.

My point being, that people are still very resistant to the idea of gay representation that doesn’t pander to straight people in some way. And it’s upsetting. And I wish the fandom would understand that they’re no different than people like your mom.

I had a similar experience with a straight family member, who missed every single hint dropped that the story was romantic (which is exactly why I’ve always said they aren’t canon in season 1, it’s very much left up to interpretation), then got upset when they kissed. Thankfully in my case it wasn’t as hurtful as how your mom acted. It was just a hilarious display of heterosexual maleness.

That’s good that she changed her tune, though! Ineffable Husbands is such an good pairing for all the reasons you mentioned that it’s hard for me to imagine anyone not liking them being together.

And omg you make such a good point about OSA people seeming to desperately want to experience the same pain that gay people do. There’s a very specific kind of pain that comes with lacking the ability to be attracted to the opposite sex, never mind just parent’s reactions but also societal alienation, loneliness, that sort of thing. I don’t know why people who don’t experience it romanticise it.

And I’m so glad you had a better experience with your uncle!!

Again, I’m sorry it took me so long to get to this. I hope everything’s ok now 💕💕

[bjfinn]

Last night I finally watched Foul Play -- the episode with Alex Brightman. In it he plays Jimmy Pop, the ever-so-slightly unhinged host of a Big Brother-style reality TV show, who's trying to keep the cameras rolling despite the fact that "nothing's going on outside" except for the end of the world as we know it. It's a delightfully insane show, with some wonderfully over-the-top performances.

Anyway, this is a story about what might have happened to Jimmy after the cameras stopped rolling.

THE EGG-MAN

(or, I'm Fine, You're Fine, Everything's Fine)

"You do realise that there was no zombie apocalypse, don't you, Jimmy?"

"No, of course there wasn't," Jimmy said, chuckling. He looked at the doctor, but his gaze, as always, was unfocussed, as if he wasn't actually seeing her. "It was all a ruse -- we simply told the contestants that there had been a zombie apocalypse to stir things up. For the ratings."

Doctor Hannah Bartholomew looked at him. "We've been over this -- there was no show. You had a --"

"If I may ask, doctor -- if it was all just my imagination, who killed Tamryn Brown?" He sat back in the chair, a pleasant smile on his face. A smile that had been cultivated for the cameras. A smile that said I'm fine, you're fine, everything's fine.

"It was Dorinda Duloc, wasn't it?" He chuckled softly. "Of course it was -- she confessed on camera. Frankly, I was as surprised as anyone. I had started to believe that it was Paula -- though of course I kept my suspicions to myself."

"Tamryn and Dorinda don't exist, and neither does Paula -- none of the 'contestants' do. The show wasn't real. You had a psychotic break, Jimmy, and your late-night talk show was cancelled."

"Please, doctor," Jimmy said pleasantly, but he was clearly distressed -- the two halves of his unibrow knitted together above the bridge of his nose as he straightened his non-existent tie. "I've told you -- Jimmy F. Pop is just a persona. My real name is Alex Brightman, a character I've played for years."

"Alex Brightman is a Broadway actor," the doctor told him. "He was a guest on your talk show the night you had your psychotic break -- you attacked him."

"But why would I do such a thing, doctor? Attack one of my guests? I may be a narcissist -- I was diagnosed with narcissism a few months ago -- but I'm not a violent man. In fact, I'm a pacifist. A pacifist narcissist -- a narci-pacifist, if you will. Or a paci-narcissist." He narrowed his eyes as he tried to decide on the proper term.

In reply, Doctor Bartholomew turned on the TV and cued the recording of "Pop Goes the Night". She fast forwarded to just before the incident. "Let's watch, shall we?"

Jimmy leaned forward, intently watching the video. Watching himself.

On the screen, Jimmy was sitting at a desk in front of a projection of the New York skyline. "Let's welcome our next guest, star of stage and screen ... Alex Brightman!"

Alex came out and shook hands with Jimmy, and sat in the chair next to the desk.

"First of all," Jimmy said, "may I say -- it's an honour to have you, one of Broadway's brightest lights, here tonight."

"Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here," Alex replied. "I'm a big fan of the show."

Doctor Bartholomew skipped ahead a few minutes. She glaced at Jimmy -- he was clearly entranced by his own on-screen presence, copying his own movements, but she noted that he seemed equally interested in Alex Brightman.

"Now, Alex," Jimmy said, "as I'm sure you know, you have many fans who are smitten with you -- I, myself, am one of them."

Alex's eyebrows rose as he smiled, surprised.

"Oh, yes -- it's true," Jimmy went on. "I'm quite smitten. You're a very attractive man, Alex, and I'm very attracted to you."

"That's, uh ... that's very nice of you to say, Jimmy. You're quite an attractive man yourself -- but I'm married. To a woman."

"Yes, of course," Jimmy reassured him. "I know that, and I would never do anything to jeopardise your marriage. I, myself, am currently dating a lovely young woman -- who shall remain nameless, of course -- for the past six months. So you see, everything's fine. Nothing at all unusual going on."

"That's wonderful, Jimmy -- congratulations!"

The audience, unseen, applauded.

"Thank you, Alex," Jimmy said. "So you see, for a man such as myself -- who is definitely not gay -- to say such a thing to another man such as yourself ..."

"It's quite an honour," Alex replied with a nod.

"For both of us," Jimmy said, chuckling. He dabbed gently at his throat with a handkerchief. The man in Dr Bartholomew's office did the same, but with an imaginary handkerchief.

"I apologise," the one in the video said. "The studio lights make it quite warm. But as I was saying, when two men such as ourselves find each other attractive -- as we do, Alex -- sometimes it can cause rumours to spread."

Alex nodded.

"And if those rumours are unfounded -- as any such about the two of us would be, for example -- it can be detrimental to their careers, wouldn't you agree?"

"Of course," Alex said.

Jimmy stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't recall where I was going with this ... the train has left the station without me, as they say. You're so very attractive that I ... but I'm fine ..."

"We all lose track sometimes," Alex said. "It happens."

"It does, doesn't it?" Jimmy agreed. He looked at Alex. "I -- I want to kiss you."

"Uhh ..."

"I'm sorry," Jimmy said, flustered. He picked up a pen, put it down again.

The man in the doctor's office reached for one of the pens on her desk, but she moved it out of his reach.

"My apologies, Alex -- you're a happily married man, and I'm in a relationship. I shouldn't have said that -- I never meant to say that. It's just that ... when I look at you, I -- I can't help myself."

Suddenly Jimmy leapt up and tackled his guest. Alex's chair tipped over, and the two men landed on the stage, grappling fiercely -- Jimmy trying desperately to kiss Alex, Alex trying just as desperately to get away.

The scene was replaced with a sign that read WE ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES PLEASE STAND BY.

Doctor Bartholomew turned off the video.

"You were brought here to Bellevue immediately afterward," she said. "Ranting about how you and Alex were meant to be together, and also about how you were Alex Brightman -- we had to sedate you.

"Alex, meanwhile, was taken to the hospital -- luckily, he wasn't injured."

"I'm very glad to hear that," Jimmy said.

"And luckily for you, he's said that he won't be pressing charges."

"He's a good man," Jimmy said. "It's more than I deserve. Will you thank him for me?"

"I'll relay the message," the doctor said.

"Thank you."

"Now --"

"If I may, doctor," Jimmy interrupted. "But do you see a resemblance between Alex and myself? Surely you will agree that we look a great deal alike."

Doctor Bartholomew nodded. "Yes, you do, Jimmy," she acknowledged. "But --"

"In fact, wouldn't you agree that we look so much alike, Alex and I, that we could in fact be the same person?"

"A person cannot be in two places at once," Doctor Bartholomew pointed out. "Alex was a guest on your show -- you were both on camera at the same time."

"But surely you are aware that it's easy to create such a scenario on screen."

"Yes, but there was a live audience -- they saw you and Alex together on set."

"Alex and I together," Jimmy sighed. "Such a lovely combination of words. Together -- as one. For we are one, Alex and I. One and the same. I am he and he is me." He sighed again, smiling. "Koo-koo-ka-joob."

"Jimmy --"

"As far as what the live audience saw, there's an equally simple explanation."

"Which is?"

"A stunt double," Jimmy told her. "Yes, a man who looks just like me. He came on the show pretending to be Alex Brightman." He stuck his little finger in his ear, moved it around a bit, and then he pulled it out, gave it a sniff and touched it to his tongue.

"And why would someone do that?"

"Well, we hired him, of course -- to maintain the ruse that Alex and I are not the same person. Even though we are." Jimmy took a breath and straightened his imaginary tie again. "We had to do it, you see -- to quash the rumours."

"The rumours?"

"The rumours that Alex and I are the same person. It would have been detrimental to both our -- my -- careers."

"Your careers as both a talk show host and Broadway actor."

"It would have been disastrous."

"I'm curious -- how do you manage two such demanding careers?"

"It is difficult, certainly -- the constant rehearsals, guest appearances ... it takes it's toll. That's why I came here, to this lovely spa -- I need some time to ... recuperate. Some down time, if you will."

"I see."

"But unfortunately, I won't be able to stay for very much longer -- I'll be starring in a new show at the Winter Garden in just a few weeks, and ..."

"A new show? What's it called?"

"The ... the name seems to escape me at the moment. It's quite disconcerting. But everything is fine -- I'll just have to check later. Or perhaps it'll come back to me. So you see, everything's fine. I'm fine," he replied. "Nothing at all to worry about."

"Well, I hope it does well," the doctor said, humouring him.

"Will you come to opening night?" he asked. "It would be so lovely to see you there -- I'll reserve two tickets for you and a friend, shall I?"

"That would be very nice, thank you," she said. "But for now, let's talk some more about the incident with Alex."

"He's a wonderful kisser, did you know that?" Jimmy put a hand on his chest. "Such a lovely man, too. He recently proposed to me, you know."

"He did?"

"Just last night -- I was as surprised as you are!" Jimmy said. "After all, it's not every day that two straight men get married. Especially when one of them is in a committed relationship with a woman, and the other is already happily married to another woman."

"No," the doctor replied. "It's certainly unusual."

"And it's even more unusual when they're the same person."

"I'd say it's ... unique."

"But Alex and I are meant to be together, so everything's fine." He looked at her with the same unfocussed gaze. "Will you come to the wedding?"

"I -- I'd love to," she told him. "But I'll have to check my schedule, of course."

"Splendid!" Jimmy said, smiling happily.

"And speaking of schedules, I'm afraid our time is up -- I have another patient to see. I'll have Miranda take you back to your room." She pressed a button on the intercom. The door to the office opened and in came a young Hispanic woman.

"Miranda," Doctor Bartholomew said, "would you take Mr Pop back to his room and send in the next patient, please?"

"Sí, señora," Miranda replied. "Come, Señor Pop," she said as he got to his feet. "I take you to your room now, okay?"

Jimmy turned to the doctor as Miranda took him gently by the arm. "Thank you -- it was lovely to talk to you. I hope you'll come back on the show again soon."

"Thank you, Jimmy."

As Miranda led Jimmy out, Doctor Bartholomew sighed and shook her head. She had her work cut out for her with that one.

[fireh0es]

ok so post episode reflection time. i wanted to like the episode but it just wasn't as memorable as other finales, which is weird for me because it was meant to be the 'last' before the move to ABC happened. this episode felt bungled, let me go into why.

1.) okay so this sounds weird to complain about but that bridge collapse sucked. nobody was in true peril, there never felt like there was stakes honestly other than brief scenes with hen and chim. i wanted there to be a serious injury, i cannot lie. i'm tired of the 118 being fine after these things and just bouncing back like nothing happened. it's too episodic, if that's the word. things aren't lasting

2.) speaking of no stakes, bobby was heavily implied to be hurt. he was not. all we hear is that he hurt his shoulder and needs scans. chim was completely harmlessly impaled pretty much, just walk it off. that whole thing was traumatic in many ways and bobby and chim should not have been so scot-free in an episode that required high stakes

3.) chimney had gloves on and wasn't wearing The Ring of Power. -1000 points from Gryffindor for that one babes sorry

4.) i'm not super against buck/natalia as a couple but it felt weirdly rushed because she came in literally last minute for the birth then started dating buck. maybe it's just because i wanted her to show up at lucy's doorstep because i'm a garbage eating goblin with no self control

5.) the eddie/marisol thing. i really really really wanted to hold out hope that she would defy the trope of 'firefighter gets the girl after saving the day'. i genuinely thought she'd be involved in this 'mass casualty accident' that was over in like ten minutes. seriously wtf was this bridge collapse??? where is the drama, i can't see it???

6.) what in the world was that meditation scene? why did we time skip so far ahead that the flashbacks seem like flash forwards??? what is going on with this pacing it's like being dragged behind a truck with a drunk driver at the wheel

7.) the fucking speed they tore through every plot line this episode was unreal. the bridge collapse served us a nothing sandwich in ten minutes flat, the 118 checked in and checked out of the hospital before i could blink. the relationships were slammed in in such short fast scenes they felt forced and sudden. they did the time warp and blew through weeks of development and the birth of a baby that honestly happened so fast idk how much time went by between that and the cute little bwidge cowapse. seriously the pacing sucked, really girl give us nothing

8.) the episode was pretty much only saved by the cast. i cannot describe how disappointed i felt about this finale. despite amazing work from the actors, things flew by too fast, the tone was all wrong from a directorial and production standpoint, relationships felt mishandled. like i'm sorry, henren are going to have another baby in the house and we get... a hug? a time skip and a h u g??? buck has this super moving scene getting to see the life he gave to his friends to nurture and is able to let go and does the time warp into a new relationship, eddie is pressured by chris to call marisol, who didn't even appear until the last 2 minutes (??????????) now they're going on. a date??? bobby is totally fine after being pinned in a metal bin by an suv and an ambulance and a bunch of concrete because apparently bobby has fucking adamantium bones and has +100 resistance to crush damage. like literally i'm not even a little nervous when bobby gets pancaked because he's literally that cartoon character that pops up from being flattened like 'i'm ok!' *insert clown silly noises* where is the writing, sis? where?????

9.) where was the wedding? we get a rooftop meditation flashback/flash forward thing with weird thoughts from all the characters but not the fucking madney wedding???? i wanted to see chim barely survive that bridge collapse and have the viewers thinking he was going to perish before seeing him at the parish in a boyle style butt cast or something marrying maddie because literally being strapped to a flaming gurney wouldn't stop him. instead chim is magically fine and there isn't a wedding. i'm going to eat glass

10.) lucy: i have a sprained ankle *gets in a helicopter and flies out of the series* WOULD YOU LET THE FEMALE FIREFIGHTERS STICK AROUND AND DO THEIR JOBS PLEASE??

god it was just so unsatisfying. imagine if the tsunami episodes plot was over in 10 minutes with no stakes at all. like really?? idk what it is but the stakes in this season have literally never been lower. the earlier seasons had me INVOLVED in the emergencies. things have gotten so goofy lately. most emergencies are comedic and unserious, the writing isn't taking the characters as seriously as their actors, it feels like one of those happy AU fanfics that I just struggle through reading because you know it's going to be saccharine and there's nothing that's going to happen that's gripping which you would expect in a drama series.

[foone]

Pick a show that sounds interesting and start watching.

Way more details under the cut

The Original Series (60s) and The Next Generation (80s-90s) are the first two: both are about a ship Going Boldly and finding weird space stuff. Either are good places to start. Both are dated, TNG less so. There's remastered editions with new special effects available if the old special effects are too much to hear.

Deep Space Nine (90s) is about a space station instead. It's got a lot of politics early on, and it turns into a war story by the end.

Voyager (90s) is about a ship trapped on the uncharted far side of the galaxy, trying to get home. Takes a while to find it's feet but has plenty of good episodes.

Enterprise (2000s) is a prequel, going back to before Kirk. It had a lot of problems but still has its fans. I would definitely not recommend this one as your first: the prequel nature means you'll miss a lot of references. It does have a neat thing: the entire third season is one storyline, about tracking down an alien plot to blow up the earth.

Discovery (2010s-2020s): this one is set during the original series, then jumps ahead to the future. It's about a historical Star Trek war, some Mirror Universe (an alternate universe full of EVIL PEOPLE with EVIL BEARDS) shenanigans, the first canonically gay character in Trek, several cameos from characters from the Original Series, but played by new actors because it's been 50 years. Another one that's not great to start with: too much continuity you won't understand. But if the other shows are too dated for you, they do explain enough that you'll get the gist.

Picard (2020s): The captain from The Next Generation comes back, goes on several adventures, we learn what happened to a bunch of TNG characters, and there's a big reunion. You shouldn't watch this until you've seen TNG.

Lower Decks (2020s): an animated comedy about some of the lower-ranked workers on the Star Ship . Definitely worth watching but its full of continuity jokes so I don't know how well it'd work if you're new to Trek.

Prodigy (2020s): an animated series aimed at a young-adult audience. Some aliens learn about The Federation (the Good Guys in Star Trek) and decide to escape to it, aided by a holographic version of the captain from Voyager. It has continuity stuff but since they expect to have a younger audience, they don't depend on them. It's fine to watch first, but it's a little different from standard Trek, so it's maybe not the best introduction.

Strange New Worlds (2020s): The adventures of the ship from The Original Series before Kirk was in charge, a Discovery spinoff. The continuity is complicated and while this has my favorite episode of the new shows (A FUCKING MUSICAL!), it's probably a terrible place to start.

That's all of them, minus some made for TV movies, the made for theaters movies, and The Animated Series.

The made for TV movies are all in the Discovery/Strange New Worlds continuity. You don't want to start with those.

The theatrical movies are set in the TOS continuity(for the first 6 movies) and then the TNG continuity (Generations through Nemesis), then the last three are in the Kelvin timeline: a reboot of The Original Series.

The Animated Series is just The Original Series but as a cartoon. Watch it if you want after TOS.

If you want to start with a movie, watch the 2009 movie called just "Star Trek". It's fine, and it gives you something of an idea of the characters. Neither the TOS or TNG movies are good starting points.

Anyway tl:dr let me give you some actual advice:

Pick one of The Original Series, The Next Generation, or Voyager, based on if you feel like 60s, 80s, or 90s scifi. Watch the first episode. (That's "The Man Trap" for TOS, "Encounter at Farpoint" for TNG, and "Caretaker" for VOY)

If you like it, great! Start watching the first season of whatever show it is, but maybe check a wiki or fan guide to know what episodes to skip. Star Trek pretty consistently has a very mixed-quality first season, so there's often a bunch of stinkers early on to scare you off.

If you don't like it, you have two options:

1. If you don't like the characters or the setting, try a different show

2. If you like the characters but hated the story, maybe look up "top 10 episodes for star Trek SERIESNAME". Pre-2010s they had very little continuity between episodes, so once you've seen the pilot you can watch just about any episode. Worst case, one character might have been swapped out for another as the cast wasn't fully static.

So yeah. I hope you know what you were getting into when you asked an autistic Trek nerd about which Trek to watch.

(Personally I started with TNG, watched a few TOS episodes, then watched Voyager, went back to DS9, watched most of Enterprise, and a few episodes of Strange New Worlds.)

Trick or treat

Have Kirk, crawling on the floor

[this-is-such-a-bad-decision]

Alright, finally got caught up to episode 83 of Hello from the Hallowoods, finished wailing in agony, and now it’s time for theorizing. Spoilers up to episode 83, also this is going to be a very hopeful post about how everything is going to be okay, so if you’d rather keep rolling in your sad feelings (valid) feel free to skip.

Anyways, everything looks really bad right now, but I don’t think HFTH is the kind of show that would stay this sad, so I was trying to think of a non-deus ex machina way for everything (or most things) to get fixed. And of course, Mx. Wellman is a very good writer and has laid plenty of groundwork ahead of time for a victory to make sense.

Resources available to our heroes:

Ray- Yes, Ray got blown up. Yes, he’s fine. Paper beats rock and Olivier beats BotCo drone, so if he can get up from a lightning blast I’m sure he can get up from this. While Ray himself is not capable of breaking into a dreaming box, he did just make it to the doorstep of a powerful ally he thought would be able to cure Moth, and he is very good at quickly transporting allies where they need to be.

Brooklyn and the Stonemaids- I had very little interest in Brooklyn at first, but boy has she grown on me. The Stonemaids will definitely care about the Maidstones being captured again, and with Brooklyn amongst their ranks they’ll have additional intel on how BotCo operates. (Now, Lady Ethel Mallory knows that Brooklyn is with the Stonemaids and clearly has her own plans for manipulating the rebel organization, so she probably has some decent counters to whatever they try to do, but their support is not nothing.)

Diggory- Diggory doesn’t have a heart. Diggory is made of stuffing. I’m willing to believe that a silver stake to the chest can stun Diggory for a time, but unless Diggory gets completely shredded (again) I’m pretty sure they’ll start moving once the stake gets taken out. Leaving them once again to act as chariot to:

Danielle- the most valuable piece on the board. Danielle might be vulnerable within the real world, but in the world of dreams she is a god. Danielle can use her dream powers to coordinate with the Stonemaids and other allies, to scout within the dreaming boxes, and to sabotage BotCo resources. (Assuming that new barriers haven’t been erected.) And finally:

Nikignik

Now, I’m less confident in this part of the theory, but it would be a lot of fun and is possible with the use of Danielle’s powers. Nikignik has previously expressed that he doesn’t want to interfere with the story because people always act differently when they know they’re being watched, but now he has expressed that this isn’t the story he wanted to tell. After everything that’s happened, Danielle might go to him for help, and Nikignik might be distraught enough to go against the Prime Directive and lend a hand. And while Nikignik can’t affect change in the dreams the way Danielle can, he knows a lot more than her and can use his knowledge to help coordinate the aforementioned resources and gather information Danielle might not have even thought to look for.

Anyway, I don’t know HOW all of these pieces are going to come together, but I’m sure it will be awesome, and I look forward to everyone being fine again. Thank you William Wellman for writing such an amazing show, and happy belated birthday. ^_^

P.S. Hector is Fine. Yes, he’s dead, but so is half the cast. He’ll probably be resurrected as a tree person and live with Jonah forever in the Garden of the End. (Look at the cover art for episode 81; there’s a person missing their left leg and left arm–the limbs that Hector lost–with vines starting to grow out of them. Also, the Tower means Change.)

P.P.S. Polly is also Fine, Yaretzi is coming for her boys. RIP Barb, your sacrifice will be remembered. (Unless he also finds a way to transcend death, in which case welcome to the found family, Ghost Barb.)

P.P.P.S. I don’t know if Violet and Bern are fine, that one is still up in the air.

[one-hell-of-otaku-is-here]

List of all Black Butler OPs and EDs which I would personally give to each arc in manga (if I were to remake anime)

Disclaimer: DS game Phantom and Ghost and the most beautiful death in the world included because I see them as canon and welp Eric and Alan had one shot in manga so they are canon anyway. We are excluding all episodes which do not fit into manga narrative so no Pluto, Angel and no season 2 – all songs from season 2 will be added into previous season. Also, any arc after The book of Atlantic is not on list because I can't compose music, ok? (Ok but srsly where is new BB anime?? It's been years!). Ofc this is JUST my personal opinion so be nice. I wrote down some of my reasonings for some of my choices because I cant shut up in written form lol. If you want to make your own list like mine, go ahead but pls tag me so I can see your suggestions

Season 1 – for all stays Monochrome no Kiss OP

Episode 1 – Kidnapping arc (Damian arc and Season 3 ep 1 included Ig I see these small villains as fillers but they provide a nice introduction into Phantomhive household life) - I'm alive! By Becca ED (the only time this ED is any good. Don’t get me wrong I love Becca's song but it just does not fit overall theme especially for more serious arcs after this one)

eps 2 – 6 – Jack The Ripper arc - Bird by Yuya Matsushita ED (or alternately Madam Red song from live action adaption of this)

Eps 13 – 15 - Curry Arc (minus whole curry zombies, instead imagnr pls last scenes of this arc from manga) - Lacrimosa by Kalafina ED

Ep 16, “Royal princes ghost arc” (my title) - can fit into manga narrative as separate “filler” because it does not contradict anything (although personally I am not sure where in timeline it would fit probably very shortly after Curry arc, we do have few time skips but correct me if I am wrong) - Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa by Kalafina ED

Phantom and Ghost arc game – takes place after Jack the Ripper but before Ciel's birthday and The book of Circus (pls play game it's really fun and a good story there exists English fan translation) - Bird by Yuya Matsushita ED

Ciel Birthday arc from manga – same OP and ED as the one we got from anime so Lacrimosa; this is basically OVA but some important stuff happens (but pls read manga version of it, the whole Drocell kidnapping thing is laughtable compared to it)

Black Butler Hamlet play OVA – also filler, has no time stamp so it's kind of a bonus anyway, not confirmed canon. I imagine that IF it were to happen then it may have taken place before circus arc and definitely not after since we know Undertaker “disappeared" after that and he was in play (this episode is a mess but it is personally one of my fav OVAs cos it alludes to Ciel's fate nicely) -Shiver by Gazette (I find it interesting to use this as OP for this OVA lol but original OP was fine as well), Lacrimosa ED

The most beautiful DEATH in the world (or Eric and Alan story) – my favourite original musical. It must fit into the storyline I am not even asking. It's probably also my favourite BB story ofc right after Book of Atlantic and Book of Murder – Hallucination by Yuya Matsushita is top. I can't imagine this story without it, and Yuya has always been my fav live action Sebastian either way. OP stays the same (Monochrome no Kiss)

BONUS from Season 2 cos we are skipping S2 for obvious reasons - "The Tale of Will the Shinigami," the 6th OVA. An arc about the origins of Grell and William backstory. I don’t understand why this can't be canon. There's even a cameo for Alan and Eric. Buut I am basically sucker for reapers they are my favourite supernatural beings in BB (it's my excuse for having a separate series just about reapers leave me alone I can keep dreaming) - Shiver by Gazette is my go-to song for everything outside our main plot rn, Kagayaku Sora no Shijima ni wa as ED

No more OVAs to have here after this. I was considering adding Welcome to Phantomhives but that’s just another filler and basically it serves no purpose only just to be yet another entertainment (I personally quite like self inserts so this was a guilty pleasure of mine but pointless in grand scheme of things). I also thought about the very fist (and original) live action which they said was supposed to take place between curry and circus arc?? but I don’t think that was any good to even have its own theme song (idea of adding new demon?? It was better than S2 but idk why this even exists) and overall it was just kind of very similar to what we got in form of Soma and Agni anyway so I skipped that too (when it comes to original stories outside manga I think game and Alan and Eric musical did it better)

Season 3 aka Book of Circus arc – is perfect as it is. Aoki Tsuki Michite by Akira is my favorite Ed of all the time basically and Enamel by SID just rocks even better than first OP. No changes here they finally did things right

Book of Murder OVAs arc – there are no theme songs so I am adding those I would like to see. For OP theme song we are keeping Enamel from SID (there simply can't be OP without SID). For ED I wanna choose first season EDs again but Bird is probably the best because I can imagine Arthur as big bro/father figure to our Ciel more with it. You can't tell me he wasn’t for that few minutes in that one scene)

Book of Atlantic arc – wow we actually have theme song - Glass eyes by SID . It’s a movie so I am fine with having just one theme song (it's basically OP and ED perfect package, I was really excited for this movie back then and when song played with credits, I felt happy and sad at the same time).

Public school arc - current OP and ED for this arc actually grew on me and even animations for them are great so I am satisfied

[harrieatthemet]

Mustache

He has never been keen on sharing. 

And Gemma’s mere existence, as well as the small indent on her left thumb she swears is a scar (though Harry vehemently denies it is), is living proof. 

Mr Ducky was his favorite bath time companion for a good bulk of his childhood. There were even times he’d carry it around with him in the house tied to a string like a pet, one of Anne’s fondest memories and favorite stories to tell whenever she found the opportunity. 

Maybe it was Gemma’s own fault; she was only six at the time and was foolishly under the impression that the stupid rubber toy was at anyone’s disposal, which is what led her to try and situate the duck in her backpack as she geared up for school. 

It’s also what led her to tears because Harry caught her on the way out the front door, Mr Ducky in tow, and he instinctively sunk his teeth right into the side of her hand in protest. And, okay fine, he may have bit down a little harder than he should have, but the overall message he was sending came across very clear. Gemma never touched anything he owned again for a very, very, long time; and eventually went on to tell everyone in her class she had a vampire as a brother. 

“What do we think of this little number,” your hip jut, innocent as it was, just now became a permanent memory in Harry’s brain, “too much, like.. revealing?”

You like nice in red; devilish, even, and in the best way possible. There’s nothing revealing about the dress at all. Somehow, though, he finds himself perched squeamishly at the foot of your bed in complete fucking anguish. In theory, no, the dress is not too much. It’s the perfect ensemble and flatters you so well he feels like whoever made the dress conjured it up with you specifically in mind. 

And no, it’s not too much, for literally anyone else except him. How is such a modest dress enough for him to think you up the way he is right now; bent over in front of him with your hair wrapped tightly up in his palm while that dress lays in a sloppy ball by his feet. 

“Would be nice with nude shoes,” he mules, “like, those sandals y’ave, yeah?” 

The way your eyes light up, that same way they always do when your mind starts to move at light’s speed as you start assembling a million different ideas into one, is enough to tug a grin onto his mouth. 

He didn’t really want to agree to this. When you texted first to ask he ignored it, that way you’d have just carried on without him and he could blame a busy schedule or an overrun nap on his delayed response time. It’s much easier to blame a missed text for no response. Of course it’s not in your nature to send a text, and he knew that already. So it came a son surprise when he was bombarded by 4 phone calls. By the fifth one he had picked up, succumbing to you and just the flat out unfulfilled urge he had to hear your voice at the other end of the phone.

“Seriously Harry,” your voice is like fucking honey, sweet and sullen like it always is, and he’s in euphoria listening to it as you poke your earring through the lobe of your left ear, “it’s just, y’know I don’t- I’m nervous and I appreciate you helping me do something as stupid as picking a dress.” 

“S’not stupid,” he reassures, “y’know I just like spending time with yeh, since y’so busy ’n stuff.”

Which is true. That’s the only thing that got him over here; and he rescheduled a zoom call just to sit in your bedroom for all of twenty minutes. Not one part of him regretted it, either.

“I’m busy?” You tease, “coming from the A lister who’s in London, than LA, than New York, London again, oh, than LA again oh, then ‘sorry love, m’in Tokyo.’”

Also true, he knows that, which is why he’s snickering at fault in response to your harmless teasing. He wouldn’t say it now, mainly because he doesn’t want to make it weird, but regardless of where he falls on the map he somehow still finds a way to fit you in. He’s never minded doing it, either. 

Twenty minutes isn’t enough. Maybe another twenty more could be a sufficient amount. That’s almost an hour, right? Forty minutes is almost a full hour with you and he’d love to get even that much. Or twenty more hours, even, would be that much better. It’s better for him to think of getting more time with you than to let his thoughts wander and remind him of where you’re getting ready to go off to. 

A date. It’s why he was so hesitant to come here. It’s hard enough as it is being a prisoner to his own thoughts, being around you and not getting to interact with you the way he actually wants; kiss you the way he wants, touch you the way he wants, hold you and talk to you the way he wants. Adding a new element to the mix, another man getting access to you the way he wants, well that’s just mental warfare. 

You don’t know anything about though. And thank God, because if you could get a peak into his thoughts and see just a preview of what he thinks he almost knows for sure you’d ice him out in a heartbeat. He’s got a soft spot for you, nonetheless, which is why he swallowed the massive-sized lump in his throat when you told him you needed help on an outfit for a date and b lined it over to your place.

“Who’s this guy, anyways.” He chimes, following you similar to that of a lost puppy as you start heading towards the staircase, “Like, wha’s he look like ’n stuff.”

Immediately after he asks he wishes he hadn’t. The way that pesky fucking lump reappears when you wiggle your eyebrows in response, stuffing your hand into your leather purse in an attempt to fish out your phone. A simple response like ‘handsome’ or ‘he’s a nice guy’ would’ve sufficed for him. Seriously, that’s all he needed. What he didn’t need was an entire fucking slideshow of an above average looking guy. And he had a cool mustache, to boot, which really pissed Harry off for some reason. 

“Should probably shave,” he squints his eyes at the photo you’ve got propped right in front of his face, trying his hardest to act like he isn’t so fucking jealous of that mustache, “kinda looks like a squirrel on his top lip."

“If I didn’t know you so well,” you tut teasingly, “I’d think you’re a dick.”

“You know me so well and still don’t think that?” 

He likes the way your laugh sounds, and it makes him happy that he said something amusing enough to drag it out of you. And the toothy smile you pair with it practically knocks the wind right out of him. Everything you do seems to wow him, corny as it sounds. It makes him feel so at ease, and the butterflies he gets each time gets him reminiscing to the days where he was just a kid and had the worlds biggest crush on the girl who sat three rows ahead of him in grade school. He’s giddy and he doesn’t want you to leave for this date. 

For a second he thinks about doing something elaborate; breaking his foot or faking an illness so that you literally have no choice but to hang back and look after him. That’s selfish though, and honestly just crazy and super fucked up, so he opts out of that. But he doesn’t want you to go so bad he seriously considers it, especially as you start sorting through the downstairs closet to find a coat that doesn’t clash with your shoes. 

He could just be honest. He could just tell you that he doesn’t want you to go, solely because he’s absolutely infatuated with you and for every hour he’s awake and functioning you manage to consume every thought he has. He could just be an adult and tell you he’s got feelings for you that very much surpass a platonic, friendly demeanor. That might be a better way into persuading you to stay back with him than breaking his fucking foot. 

“Ok now wait a minute,” he chokes, and there’s a painful twang that strikes his gut when you frown, “gotta tell y’somethin’.” 

“What,” you groan, and he swears he would rather die right now than do anything else, “it’s the shoes, right? They make my calves look like I’m a running back don’t they?” 

He wants to laugh but he thinks if he opens his mouth he would projectile vomit everywhere. But the thought occurs to him that if he does that than it would be an excellent excuse for you to skip the date. Though, of course, he runs the risk of grossing you out and absolutely humiliating himself all in one go of it. 

So he shakes his head no. In fact he loves the shoes, and they make your ankles look slender and really compliment your legs quite nicely. Still, he’s scrambling to string together a coherent sentence because his brain is working a lot faster than the muscles in his mouth are and it feels like someone just super glued his lips shut.

“Speak now or forever hold your peace,” you tease, and the cheeky wink you shoot him over your shoulder just edges him even more if that’s possible at this point, “Styles.”

“I don’t want y’to go on this date, (Y/N).” 

He’s well aware that he blurted that out in a way that he really, really, wish he hadn’t. Now the air in the room is stale and heavy, dense too, like someone just sucked all the air out and left the two of you here with nothing to inhale but words and unspecified tension. 

And he’s starting to get more anxious as your playful manner dissipates. He can tell your puzzled not just be the demeanor of your face, but by the stance of your body because your letting shoulders hang the way you do when you’re a little uncomfortable. 

“Oh,” you breath, and his chest starts sinking inward, “okay, I just- well why not? Do I not.. like, do I look bad or something?”

“No,” he coos, and he feels like the worlds biggest asshole when you start to frown, “No y’don’t- Christ, (Y/N) y’look amazing. Y’always look so fuckin’ amazing. It’s just-”

“What,” you huff, “than what is it, than? Why wouldn’t you want me to go?”

He’s really done it now. The proper thing to do would’ve just been to let you go, walk out with you and watch you drive off before he headed home himself. The proper thing to do would’ve been for him to just go home and think about you on a date with someone other than himself, curled up in a ball watching a Friends episode he’s already seen four times while he felt sorry for himself. But that’s not what happened, and what he should’ve done was just broke the fucking foot like he initially thought to do. That would’ve been less agonizing than this. 

“Because,” he’s frustrated now, not with you but really just himself, “I should be taking y’out. M’absolutely in love with yeh, (Y/N), and I don’t have a cool mustache but I could take y’out on a date, ’n I want to so bad.” 

There’s still that dense energy looming in the room, and his gut now too as he feels it winding up tightly in an anxious bundle of knots and twists. You’re not saying anything and the only thing he notices is that you’re breathing is vaguely staggered and your clutching onto that purse in your hand like he’s about to snatch it and run off. God, he should’ve just broken the foot!

“Please don’t go out wit him,” and now, his voice is small, “think it might kill me.”

[nono-bunny]

The Heartful Communes are such a weird change imo, they seem considerably less practical and easy to use (while holding something in one hand, a close up shot literally has Nagisa have to use the hand that's meant to be occupied to open it). They also don't look great? The Card Communes had a sort of charm to them, the Heartful ones mostly just look shiny and plastic-y. It's obviously a merch thing, but they fr skip over how and why the change happened way too quickly. Like, Mipple and Mepple basically completely changed bodies and it's barely addressed? It's strange!

The new designs for the girls are ok, honestly- they're barely different and I feel like maybe they should've been? I don't hate them, honestly they're just kind of okay, which is pretty much what I thought of the original ones haha. They're cute, but nothing extraordinary- they mostly become really cool together though, which is a great success at the desired effect.

Marble Screw Max though? Yeah, I genuinely HATE that one. Everything else was mostly strange or confusing, but this one feels actively worse. It literally doesn't even look like a screw anymore- that was the whole point of that attack! It looks much more like a monochrome Rainbow Storm, right down to the awkward "putting the hands forward, taking them back, then bringing them back forward again" thing I already hated. Also, and this genuinely really bothered me- it's mostly just... White with some black flavoring, and it all just looks and feels so much worse! It's especially weird because I know that this season is gonna focus much more on Nagisa than on Honoka (which is. Fine, I don't dislike Nagisa, I just... Like Honoka better and feel like she already deserved a bit more focus in the first season, especially given that she tended to have the more interesting episodes), so having their joint attack lean way more into Honoka visually feels truly strange. Like, is she for some reason more powerful now...? Was it an attempt to give a little love to Honoka since Nagisa gets so much more focus? Or did they just think it looked cooler like that? It doesn't, it 100% looked and felt better when the colors were balanced, so. The whole thing truly baffled me, ngl.

Anyway even though I only took a couple hours worth of break between the two seasons, I was still definitely happy to see Porun again, and given that he seems to generally not be very well liked... I'm hoping I'll also like this season which a lot of other people seem not to? But tbf, the second half of the first one was indeed kinda rough (I enjoyed all of it, but it definitely lacked a sense of progression and rising tension) so I think it's probably all gonna come down to if I like Hikari or not- I feel like I will, but who knows? I thought I wasn't gonna like Porun and he immediately caught my heart, I thought the Three Seeds would have LITERALLY ANYTHING going for them, so like. Evidently my first impression was off before haha! On the surface this definitely looks like a fun season though, so here's hoping!

Anyway I'm really enjoying reading your posts after I watch each episode- I feel a bit bad because I kinda forget to interact most of the time tbh, and I also don't wanna spam you with likes but! I'm really enjoying this blog and hearing the thoughts of someone more familiar with the franchise than me, it's really interesting and it adds some extra fun after the episodes are over! I saw on your update blog that you're kinda stuck with a movie review rn which is why daily updates haven't happened in a while, and I'm definitely not looking forward to when I get ahead of you- which, unless I take a big hiatus or something, is honestly very likely given my pace, oof. Anyway, good job on these, they make for a really fun accompaniment even for first time viewers!

Precure Day 050

Episode: Futari wa Precure Max Heart 01 - “Yep, We’re Still Precure! The Legend Continues Forever!” Date watched: 5 June 2018 Original air date: 6 February 2005 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/JevHFWz

New year, new us

Keep reading

[whats-wild-to-you]

100 Days To Fall In Love

[day 25]

“Rise and shine!”

“Ugh! I’m not ready!”

“C’mon. You have a long and important day ahead of you!” Mr. Kim said while pushing the curtains open.

For the past 14 days Jay has been talking my ears off about today. Today’s fundraiser gala was crucial. Many important people would be there, and all eyes would be on Jay and me.

Since my fainting episode two weeks ago, Jay had been nicer and friendlier towards me, even taking me to casual business dinners so I could meet some of his associates. Practise rounds he called them, for the main event.

Well, that main event was today, and that meant getting dolled up from head to toe and standing in uncomfortable high heels for hours.

“This isn’t just about convincing the public that Mr. Park has finally settled down. I was just told there will be one very important guest tonight.”

“Who is it? An ex? Someone he casually hooked up with? Someone who wanted to hook up with him, but he turned them down?”

“Mrs. Choi.”

“Who’s Mrs. Choi?” 

“Mr. Park’s mother.”

“Then why isn’t she called Mrs. Park?”

“Because she’s only his stepmother. But in public he calls her mother.”

“Will she be joining us?”

“Not if Mr. Park can avoid it. He doesn’t have the best relationship with her.”

I had to admit. Mr. Kim was full of surprises. Every day I learned something new about Jay from him. Small things, like the fact that he skips breakfast so he can beat everyone to the office, or big things like his complicated relationship with his stepmother.

“She can smell a phony from a mile away. Be very careful around her!”

“Right.”

As soon as Mr. Kim left, Seolhyun and Jiyeon arrived with bags and boxes of all sizes.

“Mr. Park picked out several dresses with matching shoes and jewelry for you to try.” Jiyeon stated.

“But I alr-” It was useless arguing with her. She was Jay’s most loyal employee, and she had a way with everyone else on the staff.

“Fine. What’s the first outfit?” It was a meticulous and painstakingly slow process. I wore the dress and jewelry, the shoes, makeup, Seolhyun styled my hair appropriately, and then Jiyeon took a photo with her phone and immediately sent the picture to Jay.

After what felt like an eternity, Jay decided on the ranking. Of course, he picked the dress I liked the least, which was also the most uncomfortable one, plus the matching shoes hurt my feet after only five minutes.

Seolhyun brushed my hair and took off my makeup, while Jiyeon ran a hot bath. After one hour they would be back, they said on their way out, to style my hair again and reapply the makeup. What a waste of time and resources.

At exactly 5pm, Jay waltzed in, needing an additional hour for himself to get ready. The limousine would pick us up at six. My stomach had been growling for hours at that point and I prayed to God we would have enough time to eat a quick bite.

Five to six he stood in front of my door, his voice muffled by the wood. “Hurry, we need to go!”

“Coming!” I yelled back, spritzing perfume all over me.

“We don’t have time for dinner.” He suddenly exclaimed as I climbed onto the limousine.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Could he have heard my growling stomach?

The drive to the venue was silent. Only my occasional growling disturbed the peace. I coughed strategically to drown out the noises and was convinced that he didn’t notice anything.

When we arrived at the venue, we sneaked in through the back entrance, avoiding the photographers and interviewers.

“But don’t we have t-”

“They will be here all night, we’ll pose for them on our way out!”

Inside, Jay led me to the buffet and took a plate, loading it with everything he laid eyes on.

“Any allergies?”

“Not that I know of!”

“Oh, well. We might find out tonight.” He snickered, guiding me to our table.

The venue was packed, Mr. Kim wasn’t lying. Everyone and their mother were here, but luckily the tables were on the smaller side and spread out far enough, so you still had a feeling of intimacy.

“Eat!”

“Aren’t you going to join me?” I said skittishly, looking around. People had already spotted us and were gossiping. Jay read the room and sighed.

“C’mon, let’s make a show out of this!” I suggested, dragging Jay down onto the seat next to mine.

First, I took a bite of the giant cocktail prawns, moaning in satisfaction. A smile was dancing around my lips when I took another prawn and wiggled it in front of Jay’s face.

“C’mon now, don’t make a scene!”

He gave in, opening his mouth so I could feed him. A drop of sauce stained his bottom lip. I used the opportunity, since I noticed several people staring at us, to wipe it off with my index finger, which I then licked off suggestively. 

“Who are you?” Jay mumbled, while chewing on his prawn.

A heartfelt laugh escaped my lips, even Jay couldn’t resist, and chimed in.

Little by little the food on the plate disappeared. Some in mine, and some in Jay’s belly. Afterwards Jay got up again and came back with two glasses of champagne. A little while later our table filled and the event began.

We were halfway through the program when I noticed a familiar-looking silhouette by the entrance. Convincing myself that I was seeing things, I turned to Jay, watching him as he listened to the speaker intently.

“Everything okay?” He asked without looking away.

“Everything perfect!” I replied, putting my hand on his shoulder. Minutes later, his whole composure changed. Following his eyes, I quickly figured out the reason why.

His stepmother made her entrance, surrounded by several people trying to shake her hand. She hadn’t spotted us yet, but her head was turning left and right, scanning the room.

Eventually she spotted Jay and with quick steps, made her way towards us.

“Stay calm.” Jay ordered as the woman was approaching our table.

“Mother.” Jay said in the coldest, most detached tone ever. Just hearing him talk like that ran a cold shower down my spine. He was downright frightening.

“Jay, honey, it’s been forever since I last saw you! I heard you’ve settled down. I’m assuming this is the young lady?”

Something about the way Jay’s stepmother spoke, rubbed me the wrong way. Her whole appearance was a theatrical show, and she enjoyed the attention a little too much.

“This is Hyo Ri. Hyo Ri this is Mrs. Choi.”

“It’s so nice to meet you!”

“Likewise child.” She replied dryly, scanning me up and down. 

So we stood there in awkaward silence for what felt like hours before Mrs. Choi spoke up again. “My table is over there. Come by later and say hi to your stepbrothers and stepsisters.”

Jay groaned but didn’t reply. Mrs. Choi waved her wrinkled hand and took off.

“That went well.” I joked in a desperate attempt to lift the mood. But Jay looked gloomier than before.

“Don’t make that face, she’s watching!” I told him, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Stop that!” 

“Fine!” I pouted, taking a big sip of my champagne.

When I set the glass down, I spotted the same silhouette from before. Only now the person came closer and I was able to make out who it was.

“Oh shit!”

“What?”

“We have to leave. Right now!”

“What is it?”

“My ex-fiancé. Over there, with the striped navy suit.”

“Did he see you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. But Jay, he could blow my cover!”

I watched with horror in my eyes as my ex-fiancé was making the rounds, stopping by each table.

Jay’s face darkened, he grabbed my arm and quickly lead me away from the crowd and towards the back entrance. On our way in he saw a spare room, he said, we could hide in there and when the time was right, sneak out through the back.

“What the hell is he doing here?” I was shaking by the time we got to the door of that spare room. Unfortunately it was locked.

“Fuck!” Jay hissed, kicking the door with his foot.

“And now? What if he sees me? He’ll recognize me for sure! This could end very badly.” I whispered.

Jay’s hand rose and covered my mouth, while the other pointed to a shadow slowly approaching us. We were stuck, there was no way out of this situation. My breathing hitched, I was hyperventilating, while Jay was trying desperately to shield me with his body.

The shadow was quickly approaching us, it looked like the person was talking on the phone. When it spoke, I recognized my ex-fiancé’s voice and panicked. My eyes threatening to bulge out of their sockets, I stared at Jay in pure horror.

Although Jay tried to remain calm for my sake, I saw his eyes darting around, frantically looking for a solution. As the voice became louder, Jay came closer to me, pinning me against the wall, shielding my body with his. Suddenly his head dipped and our lips connected.

Without wanting it, my heart rate sped up and my knees turned weak. I moaned involuntarily into the kiss, that seemed to go on forever, and grabbed the fabric of Jay’s shirt.

When Wooyoung passed by, Jay let go of me immediately, looking distraught. Instinctively I apologized and we both made our way back inside the main room. Our plan was to leave through the front but we also somehow had to dodge the photographers, interviewers and general crowd that was camping outside. I watched as Jay took his phone out, most likely calling his limousine driver to get to the main entrance.

Once we were outside, my eyes scanned our surroundings for any sign of Wooyoung. Jay spotted the limousine and dragged me down the stairs. I tried my best not to trip and fall and when we were inside the limousine, Jay instructed the driver to take off quickly.

With screeching tires, the limousine made a left turn and sped off.

I was avoiding looking at Jay who was staring out the window the entire time. I wished he would’ve said something. We both knew what he did was impulsive and didn’t mean anything. He was just trying to hide me. I wanted to say that I understood why he did it and that I wouldn’t take it the wrong way. But since he remained silent, I didn’t think I could speak up either.

When we finally arrived at Jay’s home, he got out first, practically running away from me. My hand reached for the door handle, when I heard a familiar voice.

“Let me get that for you, Ms. Lee.”

It was Changmin. I didn’t recognize him before since the partition was up the whole time. Upon seeing the confused look on my face, he explained. “I sometimes fill in as his driver since his current one is just a part-timer.”

I nodded my head in understanding as he came round and opened my door.

“Did something happen?” I couldn’t overhear the concerned tone in his voice. Surely he was out of place and might get suspicious if I don’t shut him down.

“Everything is fine. Now if you excuse me, I’d like to go to my room!”

He bowed his head apologetically which made me feel bad. Regardless of that, I didn’t look at him as I passed by him on my way up the stairs.

In my room, Jiyeon was already waiting for me, ready to help to out of my dress and run my bath. I told her to just undo my zipper then leave, I could take care of the rest myself.

“Very well.” She responded, leaving once she lowered the zipper. Moments later I heard her knocking on a door down the hall, Jay’s door. The door opened and closed immediately.

Jay’s first and most loyal employee? Could there be more to it? Was Jay having a secret affair with his maid? Could they be in love?

“What do you care?” I said to the empty room.

Flashing images of Jay’s lips on mine, his hot skin under my fingertips, his perfume intoxicating me flooded my mind.

“No!” I got undressed on my way to the bathroom, in desperate need to wash the day and everything that happened away.

***

[day 32]

[toontails]

Toon Quest|| Reader Insert

Chapter 3: I'm Here, You're Here, Everybody's Here!

A/n: Hey guys! Sorry I’m late (5 months late) sorry about that. I was busy! I promise! I had to

Split the chapter as this was a lot longer than I wanted it to be. So you’ll be seeing Chapter 4 and possibly chapter 5 real soon! I won’t leave for so long again. Don’t worry.

But I’ll make this note quick. A couple people messaged me and said that this story reminds them of Babqtfim. At the time I didn’t know what that was. Until I did research. And to satisfy some of you. I incorporated some of that in the plot. Don’t worry. It won’t change the plot drastically.

I particularly didn’t wanna publish this chapter as I feel nothing really happened in this chapter. But I couldn’t leave you all waiting for any longer!

Oh! And the next chapter. I’ll introduce to you—musicals! Don’t worry they won’t stay for too long in the story. I know not everyone likes songfics lmao. But it goes with the plot I promise! We’re starting to get rolling again so buckle up.

Enjoy!

-

“Now...where did I put that folder…” M/n searched the desk for a folder she was searching for—for about 4 minutes now. The day has pretty much been frantic—after Henry and M/n left from the board meeting yesterday, work had to be done in all departments. To start the new set of episodes—M/n was in charge of getting the scripts from the writers that were out of town—meaning they had to be shipped into the studio. Which was delayed about a day everyone was supposed to be scheduled to start reading through the script. But that was pushed off because of Bendy now being out of town and the fact that there was a new objective for everyone in the studio to do. Or...more to attend to in that matter.

M/n was silent as she looked under the receptionist desk. Muttering under her breath incoherently. She hardly noticed Charley sauntered over. After pestering Annie for a few minutes M/n so happened to be in his path as he was on his way to go find Edgar. Leaning over the desk he looked as M/n stood back up with a time ticking expression of annoyance slowly etching on her face. That was until she saw Charley standing on the other side of the desk where she flinched slightly, surprised at his sudden appearance.

“God dammit Charley—what did I tell you about sneaking up on me—“ she held a hand to her chest to feel her heart pace slowly slow down after seeing Charley.

“I dunno, I lost track, I think this is the...uh….5th time?” He fakes a thoughtful expression as if he were really counting the many times M/n told him to announce himself before just standing off to the side to be noticed. Which he was known around the studio for.

M/n shook her head and rubbed her forehead. “Did you see my clipboard today? It had stuff on it that I need because Henry wants to have a meeting with everyone in the conference room later on today and I need that.” She said, Charley raised an eyebrow, his eyes slowly sliding away from M/n and to the background where he saw..Edgar! Thank god...Edgar was holding a clipboard as he skipped down the hallway where he left earlier to follow Boris and Alice. He hardly noticed Alice and Boris trailing behind the spider as they talked to each other. The clipboard that Edgar had a grip on was yellow...well from what it seemed from where Charley was standing.

“Is it yellow?” He asks her. M/n perks up, removing her gaze from a stack of paper to look at Charley, In hopes that he had a clue to where her clipboard went. “Yes, it is. Do you know where it is?” She smiled at him. He looks back at her.

“Nope.”

“Then why did you—“

“But, I’ll go find it for ya’, how about that? I got a keen eye, don’t ya’ worry about a thing! You stay right there and I will be back in a jiffy!” He said before turning the other direction and walking off. M/n looked as if she were about to say something...but took his word that Charley would have her clipboard. The only reason Charley was going after it was so he could find out what Edgar wanted to speak to Alice and Boris for.

He, Edgar and Barley rarely talked to Alice and Boris and Bendy—actually they talked a lot because they were a part of the same production. But seeing Edgar seemingly...in a rush to speak to the two? Did raise questions to Charley. But Charley then remembered as he stopped walking.

“Where is Barley..?” He muttered.

“Fer’ the love of—where are ya’ takin’ me? You toss books on my head then expect me to venture off with ya’ to spy on Eddie, so what? Let the guy have a li—“

Charley smacks the back of Barley’s head who wouldn’t stop bantering with him. The eyepatch wearing toon grunts at the impact and rubbed the back of his head.

“Shut up you moron, you sure do love to bicker…” Charley grunts as he and Barley walked

down the hall where Alice, Boris and Edgar once were walking down. “We’re going to see what Ed and the others are talkin’ about, Alice has been rambunctious lately.” Charley said, looking at a door as they passed by, listening to see if anyone was in the room. Barley raised an eyebrow. “And why would that be our problem? Look—Bendy’s outta town. I can finally get a full night's sleep without him somehow having the urge to pull a joke on me at 3 in the morning. And I’d like to say, I slept wonderfully.” Barley said. Bendy was always around the studio doing little jokes and...well being a disruption. Especially to Sammy. It was just that Bendy rarely got out and interacted with other people—other than anyone in the studio. But now that he is gone for a day or two. Barley was glad to get some sleep in and some peace and quiet without having to run into Bendy’s antics.

“Look, I just wanna know what Ed’s got planned. Shut your trap and help me find them.” Charley walked ahead of Barley in search of the three. Barley muttered under his breath.

“Fine..”

-

“Don’t worry about society’s problems, they say, their problem isn’t our problem, they say—“ Y/n mocks. Watching the fields go by. It was still the afternoon and they..obviously were still on the road. Oswald was still seated next to Y/n. His ears flat against his head as he watched her...rather sarcastically bring up the last ‘meeting’ they had at the studio about all that was going on between toons and humans and how—it wasn’t their concern nor responsibility. And;

“Now look at us.” She said, She leaned far back into the car seat. Arms crossed across her chest. Bendy was still looking at the road. But Y/n could see his expression had almost turned sour.

“Are you hintin’ towards somethin’ or talkin’ just to be talkin’?” He asks her. Finally getting a reply from him. Y/n shook her head slowly. Looking at the road as well.

“I didn’t expect a diner to be a place where toons weren’t allowed. I don’t even know when they started doing that.” She said, Oswald opened his mouth to speak. As he did so his ears raised slowly.

“I’m pretty sure there’s other establishments that serve all of us.” Oswald said. Y/n didn’t reply for a second. She silently agreed with Oswald. There’s no way every single establishment or building had a no toons policy.

“Yeah…” she muttered. Everyone fell silent and for the most part the sound of the car's muffled engine was heard. It was nice to have a quiet feeling. Considering what had happened a few minutes ago. Y/n was no longer hungry after the altercation at the diner so for the most part her main focus was no longer on getting food. But figuring out what was in Idaho—or more who was in Idaho and what their next objective was. She felt Oswald sit back next to her. His shoulder touched hers as there wasn’t much room to begin with. But the space was still comfortable to sit with him in. She saw Oswald turn his palm face up and edged it over to Y/n. Y/n looked at his hand, uncurling her hand from her crossed arms hovering it above his and looked over at Oswald who was already looking at her. He must have seen she was maybe upset from not eating—or just the fact that the people at the diner were so...rude and the unexpected turn of events. Was he trying to comfort her somehow?

Soon he lifted his hand and took her hand in his. Y/n smiled and looked back out the window feeling the warmth cascade her hand—touching a toon seemed—odd. She could feel a soft texture from his ‘fur’ but then again it didn’t feel like fur. He was warm and not to mention, odd feeling four fingers instead of five intertwined around her five fingers. But, either way. It did relax her and stop her from bickering she was

Once doing it for about 40 minutes—which was mostly aimed towards Bendy but he didn’t seem to give her a reaction from her constant complaining. But either way, she was calmer and serene.

Soon the car slowed down. They were in a small town—similar to the one they just left in Oregon considering they were now entering Idaho. Y/n blinked momentarily. “What’s wrong?” She asks Bendy.

“The trail is gone.” He said his gaze still focused outside of the window to try and see if he could spot any sort of hint towards their new direction, but to no avail he couldn’t find any sort of trail or subliminal hint anywhere. Y/n looked at the welcome side on the side of the road. A chipped green painted sign with white letters elegantly painted on the wooden sign. ‘Warlington Hillside’

“Warlington Hillside…” Donald read the name, Panchito looking out the window at the sign as well. “Well. A mile back I saw we entered Idaho so..I guess..it’s up to us?” Y/n said. Turning to look at Bendy and then over her shoulder to Panchito and Donald. Donald's expression stirred into utter confusion.

“Why would it drop us off here? It couldn’t just lead us to where we need to be? Or who we’re looking for? For all we know—whatever we’re looking for can be in an entirely different town in this state.” Donald took the book that was on Y/n’s lap. He shook it momentarily as if it would make the book shake to life and get to working again. Panchito tilted his head.

“Ah...Donal—I don’t think it works that way my friend. It would just be best that we start here. After all! We are in a town!” He motions towards the front window of the car towards the town that would have been entering if Bendy kept driving.

“What are we supposed to do? Ask everyone in town if they see any suspicious activity?” Donald sarcastically said as he flipped through the pages of the book. Panchito froze for a moment. And then he shrugged as if to say the idea wasn’t so bad after all.

“Actually, I think that would be a perfect idea!”

“I was kidding—“

-

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. This is the dumbest idea ever…” Donald rubs a hand across his face and soon edged his beak. Y/n closed the car door and looked around the town. She actually took notice that the town wasn’t exactly a town? But more of a city. Its twinkling lights from each building caught her eye. The street lamps were now flickering on as it was nearing sunset—but the sun was still out, showcasing its melodious colors in the sky. Her eyes traveled around the area. Watching the cars drive by in the street and watching such...fashionable people walk down the street.

Looking over she saw a man and a woman walking by. Arms intertwined with each other as they both seemed to be in a deep conversation. But what took Y/n’s attention was the clothing. Their clothes seemed—dated back. The vest. The pants. The dress. It seemed tailored. With rich fabrics. Vintage clothing of something straight from a film in the era of the 40s.

Y/n never heard of this place before. In the distance she could hear jazz.

“Now. All we have to do is ask around!” Panchito glanced at the small group as he extended his arms to motion around his surroundings. Bendy had a hand on his hip. Giving Panchito a blank expression. Obviously he thought the idea of going around asking random strangers for any suspicious activity was a horrible idea. What kind of idea is that?!

“Oh lighten up. I like the looks of this place.” Oswald nudged Bendy. Bendy only sneered before moving away from Oswald’s constant nudging.

“This place—I don’t know. I don’t like it.” Donald denied. Crossing his arms and tapping his webbed foot to the pavement. The four turned their gaze to Panchito who caught their attention when he spoke to a random stranger passing by.

“Hola! A quick question.” Panchito says. The man stopped walking and looked at Panchito. A smile appeared on the stranger's face.

“Of course!” He said.

“Do you have any news around town? Anything suspicious? Anything new? Or big?” Panchito asks. The man thought for a moment. Bringing a hand to tap his chin.

“Well—nothing too out of place has happened around town! But you all should really go to this jazz band tonight—might not be the place you all are looking for. But it really is a good way to relax and loosen up for the night!” The man informed—not exactly information they were looking for. But then again. It was something.

“Is this some place everyone frequently goes to?” Y/n’s asks. Walking over to Panchito to look at the man. The man shook his head. “Oh no—I assume you all are looking for something? There’s been this toon in town—I can’t remember his name. But he’s looking for two other people? From what I remember he said something about them being on the radar from some other group of men. But anyway! He’s mostly at this bar around sunset after—well I don’t know what he does throughout the day—but either way. He’s always at this bar a few blocks down on Columbus Street. I would go ask if he needs works done if that’s what you all are askin’ for.” He thoroughly explained. Panchito hummed in amusement before glancing at Y/n to see what she had to say. Which—was great. Not only did they get information on the fact someone was kidnapped? Y/n wanted to assume it were toons in the same predicament Oswald was once in. But who was at the bar more than likely on the lookout for the same thing they are.

“Thank you! We’ll certainly give him a visit.” Y/n smiled. The man smiled and nods.

“He’s a toon—he’ll be easy to spot in the bar. I wish you all luck! Bye!” The man then turned around and walked off. Donald still had his arms crossed.

“I wonder who’s the big guy that’s on the same page we’re all on.” Donald said. Y/n turned around and looked at Donald. Bendy and Oswald stood next to Donald. Y/n tapped her fingers on her leg. Was it a good idea to even ask a random stranger that would seemingly have information? Maybe. Maybe not…but—either way.

“It’s worth a shot.” She muttered to herself. Glancing around the city she looked at the group of toons.

“Alright. Let’s go find this guy.”

-

“Okay—“ Alice took the yellow clipboard from Edgar. Edgar scattered into the empty meeting room. Past Alice. Boris walked in shortly after, closing the door as he walked in. Alice read over the list of things that M/n and wrote down—it was more of a to-do list. A series of things that needed to be done—mostly before the week let out. Alice ran a hand through her hair as she tapped her foot to the ground.

Boris stood by the table and then looked at Edgar. “So—what was it that you were trying to tell us? Other than that clipboard.” Boris spoke up. Edgar squeaked as he hopped on a chair. Standing on two legs. He placed his hands together as if he were some sort of pastor. He then pointed over to Alice mostly signaling towards her halo—but she was too busy reading the clipboard to take notice. Boris tilts his head. His gaze moved over to Alice when he took notice of Edgar’s gesture.

What could he be referring to? Looking back at the spider. Boris’s nose twitched. “I need more detail.” He says. Edgar nods before looking around before dashing off to the side of the room. Ripping open a closet and pulling a black throw over blanket from the closet before speeding over to Boris and hopping back in the chair. Edgar placed the black blanket around him as if it were a cloak. Edgar placed his hands together once again. As if he were praying. Boris' ears perked up slowly as his tail slowly swayed side to side.

“Is it someone or a something?” He asks. Edgar points to himself. Alice looked away from the clipboard and focused her attention on Edgar.

“Were you pointing at Alice’s halo?” Boris asked. Edgar nods once again. Finally! They were starting to understand him! What a miracle!

“I’m assuming this someone takes on—something religious?” Boris asks. Edgar once again nods. Alice was about to speak before a familiar voice interrupted. “He’s talking about nuns, you idiot.” Boris and Alice turned around and saw Charley standing in the corridor. Alongside Barley who had his arms in his pockets—as he always had them.

“Where did you two come from?” Alice asks. Turning to face the two. And placing a hand on her hip. Her upper lip twitching in annoyance. Charley motions towards Edgar. “Lookin’ for him! And M/n is looking for her clipboard—which you seem to have and I’m here to retrieve that and Edgar—“ Alice quickly cut Charley off by turning the clipboard around and showing it to Charley.

“July 23rd. A board party for toons and humans. It’s more like an integration celebration.” Was all she said. She practically shoved the clipboard in Charley’s face to show the circled date at the bottom of the list. Charley glared at Alice snatching the clipboard from her grip. He looked down at the clipboard and he felt Barley walk closer to him to read the list as well.

“Wuss so bad about it? It’s just some shindig.” Barley asks before looking at Alice. Instead of Alice explaining. Edgar hopped from the chair. Leaving the black blanket in the chair. He landed in the middle of the circle the four created. He squeaked and squeaked frantically. Waving his arms in the air. Charley furrowed his eyebrows.

“Aye! Calm down! What’s the rush?!” Charley told Edgar. Barley took the clipboard from Charley’s hands and read the list attentively. Alice looked between Edgar and Charley.

“What’s he’s saying?” She asks quickly. Edgar huffed before he went still and composed himself before looking at Charley. Letting out a series of squeaks.

“He’s going to explain from the beginning.” Charley translates. Alice nods before raising a hand. She leaned over and closed the door.

“But first. Charley—Barley. There’s something going on. World wide that is.” Alice said. Charley huffed. “Yeah—obviously we can tell. Sudden flux of toon riots and anti toon lovers are starting to rise.” Charley said. Alice nods—that was one thing that was out of the way that she didn’t have to explain. Thank goodness.

“Yes that. And—the fact that Bendy—and a few others are—I guess you can say are resolving some upcoming problems.” She said. Barley laughed under his breath. “What’d he do? Wreck private property again and get himself in cuffs?” He asks—mostly jokingly but Alice deadpanned for a moment as she shook her head.

“No. This is serious. Long story short. The real reason he’s away and out of town because M/n’s daughter found this book—the—“

“The one on TV.” Boris finished for Alice. Alice nods. Charley furrowed his eyebrows and thought for a moment…when the hell was the last time he looked at TV? He did remember seeing a news segment about some government artifacts being looted from a museum a few days ago. Now that he remembered. He could remember being told that the artifact was a book. And…he did hear Bendy in a room the night fumbling around as if talking to someone—now mentioning he heard more than one voice.

Well…he be damned.

“Now that’s somethin’ new.” Barley absently said—it were as if he read Charley’s mind. They were on the same page. Charley crossed his arms and gave Boris and Alice a look.

“You know I didn’t think Bendy would be this stupid and troublsome enough to steal a book for fun and then run off with M/n’s daughter.” He missed the point.

Smack!

“Ow! What was that for?!” Charley rubbed his forehead where Alice deliberately gave a slap to. Alice had her hands on her hips as she glared at Charley.

“He didn’t steal the book you idiot! There were three of them that night. Edgar knows it all—as well as additional information. Edgar can explain all that—but what I need for you too to know…” Alice looked between Charley and Barley.

“Is that we are now working together to help Bendy and the others—“

“What?! No! I’ve basically been told he had a stolen book with him. I’m not gettin’ involved in this mess. Look at society’s impression on toons right now. You think that when they find out that a group of toons with a young girl are on the run, with a book they are currently lookin’ for would look good on us?” Charley sneered at Alice. Barley on the other hand agreed with Alice.

“I’m agreeing with Alice on this. Bendy wouldn’t just do anythin’ fer just the fun of it. When was Tha’ last time Bendy stole anythin?” Barley asks Charley. And Charley couldn’t name off a single time. Charley’s nose twitched as he sneered yet again. Of course Bendy caused trouble around the studio. But anything revolving anything in public—he was—well. A normal toon. That didn’t cause any trouble. So obviously there had to be a reason why he was traveling around as of now. Alice took note of Charley’s silence and then continued speaking.

“Charley. We know. You hate Bendy—hell. Even at times I get angry at him. But he’s still family. And if we have information that will very much help him and the others he’s with. We should help him as best as we can.” Alice’s halo slowly glimmered the beautiful golden light. Charley silently stared at her before grunting and waving his hand.

“Fine! Tell me the info and let’s get started.” He said. Alice smiled and clasped her hands gently at his participation.

“Edgar. Fill Charley and Barley in first on what’s going on. As well as the book.” Edgar nods at Alice's command before turning to both Charley and Barley. It took only a few minutes to inform and get the two to update them of what was going on. Charley stood in front of Edgar, arms crossed and nodding his head every once in a while as he took in the information. Despite it being a bunch of squeaks and motions. He still could understand the spider—as well as Barley.

“So. He’s in Oregon now?” Barley asks. Alice nods slowly. “From last I checked. He is. I was going to give him a call today to see where he and Y/n are—I believe that’s her name.”

“A magic book…” Charley muttered under his breath. It sounds so—made up. Childish. But if Edgar seemed pretty serious about it. Then Charley was willing to go the distance with the others.

“The night when M/n’s daughter came to the building and when she and Bendy and—a third person That was in the room. Edgar was in there—but you said you had more information. Right?” Boris asks. Edgar nods frantically. Charley motioned Edgar to continue.

“Alright then let’s get to the important stuff.” He said.

Edgar looked at the four before he started explaining.

-

“What are we gonna do now? The brat and those toons got away.”

Edgar peeked from behind the garbage can. A few blocks away from the studio. Edgar was entertained by the action in front of him. The rabbit that he saw as he peered from the ceiling out the window in the room where Bendy and two others were discussing with each other—two when how Bendy and that rooster leaped from the window with a lasso.

He had to follow them to see—what were they up to? Edgar had always mostly been in the studio all his life. And seeing such adventurous actions take place out of nowhere really caught his attention. Unfortunately he was too afraid to wander near the bar. But when he saw Y/n, Bendy, the rooster and the rabbit appeared from the buildings. Edgar could tell that they were after something. Which led to them chasing two people—who he now deemed the bad guys. He followed the car chase—but mainly swinging from building to building by his web. Which was how he kept up. And how he ended up behind the garbage can in the alleyway where the van of the two ‘bad guys’ had crashed near. He saw the man in the trench coat slip off his jacket. The two backs were turned towards him. So he couldn’t take in any facial details. But with the coat off. Edgar could see a black blazer vest. A velvet red undershirt. The man's hair was a familiar dark color slicked back with hair—not a single strand disobeying.

The woman had dark hair as well. Fair skin. And a dark knee length dress. Her hands on her hips as she stared at the wrecked car. The man sighed and rubbed his temple.

“We need someone that can get in there for us to grab the book…” the man muttered. The woman glanced at him as she silently watched him contemplate. The man reached in his pocket slowly before pulling out a device—a phone now that Edgar thought back on it—at first he didn’t know what it was.

“I’ll contact him. You know he’s been practically yearning to join.” The man told the woman. Who had then nodded. The two had abandoned the crashed van and wandered down the sidewalk. Edgar squeezed between people who had checked to see and check on people in the car crash. Followed after the two as they then turned down an alleyway after several minutes of walking. Which only led Edgar further away from the studio—but he knew his way back perfectly. So he didn’t have to worry.

Edgar peeked from around the corner. The alleyway had a few puddles from the rain from earlier. The brick walls glistened from the water and the fluorescent street lights that gave light to the alleyway. Edgar saw that the two slipped into a building from a metal door. But it closed unfortunately so it wasn’t able to make it. Looking up. Edgar could see an exhaust hood near the top of the doorway. Scurrying over. Edgar with ease climbed on the wall and up to the exhaust hood. Edgar placed four hands on the hood and with a strained grunt and groan using all his strength he pulled the exhaust hood from the wall. Anyone would have fallen back from the sudden motion of something being ripped from the wall. But seeing Edgar was a spider and could travel up and down walls. His balance didn’t falter. Edgar tossed the torn metal behind him—a distance; ‘clank!’ Echoing in the hall. He quickly crawled in a dark humid vent. The feeling of dust tickling his form wasn’t his worries.

“You had one job!” A shouted echo was what Edgar followed. It seemed the lady that man was with was the one who was shouting. No doubt there may be more people. Edgar crawled through the vents and absently walked by a vent that peered down into the room. Perfect.

Edgar backtracked and quickly placed his full attention down below.

Despite outside being what seemed to be a worn down warehouse. The inside seemed more of an office building. He could see the features of the woman. But the man stood in blind spot. Standing next to a coffee table as the woman stood in front of the coffee table as well as standing in front of three toons—the beagle boys. Magica was standing off to the side. Arms behind her back.

The beagle boys seemed to flatter at the woman's scolding.

“Was it so hard to catch that girl!? She’s 18 for crying out loud! What damage could she do?! She’s a kid! And that—that damn toon! You couldn’t catch him?!” She shouts. The shortest of the three beagles raised a finger to speak. “They all worked together..Miss..” he said slowly.

The woman’s expression only hardened.

“It seems we can’t depend on you three to take them out and take the book. This isn’t some ordinary schemed show where every episode the plan foils and we say oh well better luck next time—and the same thing happens! We mean business!” She shouts. Soon Magica finally spoke up.

“Miss Susan. Might I remind you that this particular group is indeed chosen by an ancient powerful book. She’s more than just some teenage girl with an absent mind and those toons are more than just toons.” The duck said. The woman—now Susan now that a name had been given sighed as she raised both her hands and slowly rolled her fingers down to lock them both into a fist. Each finger gives a satisfying crack. But before she could say anything. Two figures burst through the front door. Standing around the same height. They both were toons. One had two horns on his head. And black fur—he almost resembled a goat. His yellow optics gleaming at everyone in the room. “Ding dong!” He shouts as he extends his arms. Next to him stood a toon. Dressed in a tailored purple suit. His head was a dice. Arms behind his back as he trailed

Behind the demon like-goat into the room.

“Well. What do you know?” Susan mutters. Edgar felt himself shrink at the sight of the horned toon. It indeed was the Devil! He’s heard of him—not someone to be messed with. His Right Hand Man as most toons know of—King Dice. Was also another toon that meant business.

“We heard the news. They got away? Bummer.” The Devil circled around Susan. His tail brushed under her chin as he then stood by the coffee table. Susan scoffed and shook her head slowly.

“Yes. They got away. With the book—we planned this all out. I don’t see h—“ she was cut off by the man in the trench coat.

“As I said. We need someone to go along with them to get that book.” He said. The Devil placed a hand on his chest. “Which..ladies and gentlemen. Is why I’m here.” He grinned. Showing the sharp rows of piercing teeth that were ready to sink into anything.

“Who do you have?” Magica asks. The Devil glanced over to her and placed his hands behind his back.

“Two hard headed people. And might I say. That can make anyone run for their money. Two toons. They’re brothers and I think they would do this mission just fine. After all, They do owe me their souls. Having them run a small errand for me won’t be a problem.” The Devil said. Susan's interest had been caught with the new way to retrieve the book. But there was a small problem.

“Where are they?” She asks.

“Good question. They got away from me a couple months prior to this entire plan you all manifested. But nevertheless. They still owe me. It should be easy to track them down. After all I have their souls and can do what I please with them at any time.” Susan nods at the Devil’s explanation. “I can track them down if need be.” Magica pipes up.

“That would be perfect.” Susan whispers.

“When we find the brothers. All it would take is for me to tell them their objective. Which is to retrieve the book from those toons. And bring them to me.” The Devil said. The man in the trench coat spoke up yet again.

“They would need to approach the group carefully. Go along with them, not startle them.” The man said. Susan nods.

“Heard you loud and clear.”

“I’ll go and track down these brothers.” Magica straightens her shirt before turning to face the Devil. The dice man had yet to speak. More so standing next to his boss with a calculating expression.

Magica had her eyes closed as she furrowed her eyebrows. She was a powerful force. A witch. With powers so ancient and powerful. It wasn’t a surprise how quick she was able to get the location of their supposed ‘minions’.

“They’re in Idaho. Not too far of a drive.” Magica speaks up. Susan grins.

“Well. Off we go! It’s only a matter of time before those toons and that brat get too far!”

-

“They’re sending hitmans?!” Boris shouts. Tugging at both of his ears. Alice had a hand over her mouth taking in the information that Charley basically had to translate to the group.

“They’re sending someone out to go after the book and kill them…” Alice said slowly. Charley had a hand on his hip as he looked between Boris and Alice.

“Why don’t we just head down there and warn them?” He asks.

“Henry will be looking for us.” Boris answered. And Alice nods. Barley shook his head. “Ah please. The lad is busy gettin’ a headache about that board meetin’ we can leave now maybe make it to Oregon by midnight.” Barley said. Alice raised a finger.

“I have a feeling we should head to Idaho instead. If those brothers are down there, No doubt the others will be.” Alice said. Barley perks up yet again.

“Wait a minute…Charley. Ya’ said somethin’ about nuns?” He asks. Charley looked at Barley and slowly nodded. “Well Eddie did. But yeah. Why?”

“Those boys are in Idaho for a reason. Ed. You said somethin’ about that Devil guy ownin’ their souls. Yeah?”

“Squeak.”

Barley nods at Edgar’s confident answer before looking at the four.

“Well in this city located in the state. There’s this monastery. Filled with nuns. It's an ancient chapel. I remember Wally sayin’ somethin’ about learnin’ in his history class that that monastery has this jewel that can keep away all evil. Spirits and demons. Those boys must have been after that if they’re bein’ chased by the Devil himself.” Barley informed. Alice clasped her hands together. Brilliant! Just the information they needed!

Charley snorts. “Good luck with them thinkin’ anyone would let them inside the sanctuary.” Alice ignored Charley’s statement before she focused her attention on Barley.

“What’s the name of the church?” She asks. But Barley shrugs. “I dunno. Neva’ asked. We could ask Wally. But I doubt he’ll give us an answer without questionin’ why? And I’m pretty sure we should all lay low for now and not run our mouths about all that’s goin’ on.” He said. He was right. Alice wasn’t too upset. At Least they knew that the chapel was in Idaho. That was a start.

“Well..if you think about it. The Devil is also after the others as well…that jewel can come in handy..” Boris said. Charley raised an eyebrow. “You sayin’ Bendy and the others should steal it?”

“Not that!” Boris quickly shook his head. Alice had a look of concentration written on her face. She then furrowed her eyebrows.

“We’re leaving now.” She said. Charley, Barley, Edgar, and Boris all looked at Alice with the same expression. Puzzled and shocked.

“Now?” Charley asks.

“Now.” Alice said. She walked over to the door and opened it. But Charley quickly shot in front of the door and blocked her exit.

“Hey now. Let’s think about this. We have the Devil involved and the government and a witch. Are you sure this is a good idea? Besides. Idaho is hours away from us. And neither of us can leave because everyone will be looking for us.” Charley quickly spilled all of the reality common sense out. But Alice furrowed her eyebrows.

“They need us. I doubt they know those ‘minions’ are after them. Alongside with the Devil himself. This has gotten serious. So everyone let’s go. We have a road ahead of us.” She was serious. A hint of malice dripped in Alice’s voice. Charley stared at Alice. Contemplating. He had no choice. One way or another some sort of altercation would happen.

“Whos car are we takin?” He muttered before moving away from the door.

-

“Thanks Wally! Love you!” Alice sat in the drivers

Seat as Boris sat in the passenger. Wally stood on the sidewalk watching the toons. Charley muttered under his breath as he slipped in the car. Alongside Edgar and Barley. No bags packed. Just them.

“Okay….uh..when will you be back?” Wally asks. Alice smiled innocently. “Soon! Bye!”

And with that. The car pulled out of the parking lot and down the road. Wally blinked—but he never questioned a thing..good thing his apartment was close by.

“Now. Let’s go get our friends…”

-

Pushing the doors open. The sound of various people talking. Cigars. Music—jazz and liquor wafted into the air. Y/n looked around and saw toons and humans together in the bar. All dressed in their Pristine clothing. Some at pool tables and booths interacting with one another.

The floor was made of mahogany wood. The dim golden lights after so lightly lighting the room. It had a warm feeling and not a feeling like that dinner that had that odd feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb.

“Thought the guy said our guy would be easy to find.” Donald said. He crossed his arms and his eyes looked around the area. There were toons in the building. And the person they were looking for could be any one of them.

“We could ask around.” Panchito piped up. But Donald scoffed. “Not that again!”

“Well. We have no other choice.” Bendy said. He looked around the building. At Least to find a hint of their target. Hopefully they would track the guy down more sooner than later.

“Let’s go sit in the meantime.”

The five had wandered over to an empty booth. And sat down. Feeling the tension in Y/n’s leg let go. Y/n relaxed in the booth and sighed in pure relief. “At Least for sure we won’t get kicked out from here.” Y/n told the four. Panchito and Donald sat across from Y/n. As Oswald sat next to her and Bendy sat next to Oswald. Sitting on the outside of the booth.

Taking the menu and opening it. Y/n absently went over what would be served in the bar. “What time is it?” Donald suddenly asked. Y/n took her phone from her pocket and glanced at the time. 8:14PM

“It’s 8PM.” She groaned. It was so late already! Suddenly the thought of where to sleep appeared in her mind. She looked over Bendy who was looking over at a small crowd of people.

“Bendy. Are we sleeping in a hotel tonight or are we still on the road?” She asks. Bendy turned his attention to Y/n. “Well. We hadn’t exactly found out what we needed from here—not to mention. We still need to find that toon that guy was talking about. More than likely we’ll stay in town for tonight.” He replied. Thank goodness. She didn’t think she could stay cramped up in the front seat much longer.

“So! Oswald. Where have you been for these past couple of years?” Donald asks. Turning his attention to the rabbit.

“I could ask the same for you, pal.” Oswald gave Donald a smile. Donald huffs before placing his head in his palm. “Watching my nephews. It was a headache. But they’re good kids.” Y/n perked up and placed her attention on Donald. “Oh? You have nephews?” She asks with a small smile. Donald nodded at her answer.

“They left with their mother a few weeks ago.” He said. To which Donald and Y/n strikes a conversation. First talking about his nephews talking about living in a boathouse. Which Y/n still saw as interesting. Within a few minutes. The sounds of cheering and laughing and clapping were heard. Causing the group to turn their heads over by the bar.

Bendy had been rubbing his temple as if his head was aching. He stopped when he heard the cheering and looked over to the bar. A toon was standing on the bars tops. From what it seemed to Y/n. He was a cat, with a white face and black fur. He had on a brown button up undershirt..an odd color for a button up. He had on a tanned faux leather bomber jacket. The shoulder pads seemed to be tanned like soft cotton. And the collar of his jacket was a sherpa design. Which also had that soft cotton look. He had on brown dress pants and brown loafers. An odd choice for his outfit. But that wasn’t Y/n’s business.

He also had on a brown cloth fedora hat. Which, now she’s thinking about it... He sort of resembles Indiana Jones. On his hip was a wrapped up rope underneath a yellow Fanny pack that was wrapped around his hips.

“It almost killed me! But I was too quick! It quickly tried to grab onto me with its claws—but. As quick as I was, it only nicked me.” The cat reached down and pulled his button up. Untucking it and lifting it up to show his torso. A healing wound was seen on the side of his torso. Three distinct claw marks ripped into his fur. The wound was pink which made it much more noticeable.

“That’s more than a nick!” One person shouts. The cat only smiles wider.

“Tell us more!” Another shouts. They obviously were intrigued by his story. He must have been the guy that was drawing that crowd over by that bar when they first walked in.

“Yes. Another. Let me buy you a drink lad. You must be thirsty from your last journey!” A man states. But the cat shook his head. Waving his hand he turned down the offer.

“Ah. No thank you sir. The only thirst I have. Is the thirst for adventure!” His statement made the crowd cheer loudly.

“Who is that guy?” Y/n asks as the cheering calmed down enough for her group to hear. Donald was the first to reply. “He’s this archeologist. I only know about him because my uncle reads his books. His name is Felix.” Donald explains. Yet seeing a renowned person was in the same building as him. He didn’t seem too excited though.

“I’ve heard of him too. I think he’s a cool guy.” Oswald said. His eyes still planted on the cat toon. Who was now off the counter speaking to someone. But Bendy didn’t seem too interested in the toon as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “That still doesn't answer our question as to where this person is we’re searching for…” he muttered. Y/n noticed his change in demeanor and energy. She leaned over Oswald slightly and pressed the back of her hand on Bendy’s forehead. The heat coming from his head gave a little warmth to Y/n’s chilled hand.

“Bendy, are you coming down with something?” She asks him. Before he could speak. Y/n removed her hand and spoke once again. “You need to rest. You’ve been up all day. I think it’s best if We all stay in town tonight.” She told the small group. Panchito looked away from the cat and placed his attention on Y/n. “You still have not eaten anything.” He told her. Y/n took in account that she indeed still hadn’t eaten anything. And it would be best to eat before they ventured off to do anything. And now it seemed they had a lot on their plate to get through.

“So. What are you in town for?” One of the patrons of the bar asks the cat. Y/n, Bendy, Oswald, Panchito and Donald looked over back at the bar and saw the cat was sitting on a stool facing a man—most likely no one important but their conversation caught their interest.

“I’m lookin’ for two fellow toons. I ran into them about four days ago because they were looking for something down here—to stop someone—that had something to do with a church I believe. They were talking so quickly I could barely latch onto what they were panicking about. So. I helped them here. Where the church was located. But an hour ago when we got here they were napped. Someone took them when I was off on the street asking for the location of the church.” The cat explained. Despite the sounds of the bar with the clattering dishes and murmured talking from other patrons. The group was able to hear the conversation crystal clear.

The cat must have felt the gaze of the five staring and listening to the conversation. His ear pivoted in the direction of their booth before he turned his head to look at the group. Bendy quickly grabbed the menu and lifted it up towards the end of the table to block his gaze. Using it as some sort of wall. Ducking his head. Y/n, Panchito, Oswald, and Donald followed the same as Bendy as they leaned into the table as if having a group meeting.

“Are we all thinking the same thing?” Y/n asks the toons. Bringing her voice down. Oswald glanced at her before he spoke.

“Well the man down the street did say something about someone looking for kidnapped victims. He might be the person we’re looking for.” Oswald said. Y/n sighed and placed both hands on her face to ease the tension. Why him?

“We can’t have him tag along. He more than certainly knows about the book. He’s a damn archeologist! And if he finds out we have it—lord knows what would happen to us.” She whispered to them. Bendy raised his finger to inject something. “Then again doll, he might know more info about the book than we do.” He said. Donald slowly raised an eyebrow.

“Okay—that’s nice. But what about those kidnapped victims? Are we looking for them..?” He then slowly pivoted his thumb towards Panchito—which he was really motioning towards the direction a few feet away at the bar where Felix was.

“—Or the cat?” He finished.

“Well we can’t look for the people that were taken. We don’t have any information on them. But he does.” Oswald answered Donald’s question. Hinting towards Felix. So making it clear. Felix was the person they were on the search for. And now. Someone they needed to lend a hand maybe for the night.

Bendy sets the menu down and sits properly in his seat. “Well I guess we all can agree that he’s helping us.” Bendy glanced at the group. Which they nodded in agreement. Y/n was about to add something else—about who would go to speak with the cat. But with luck on their side. The cat decided to come around himself.

“Hello!” The five looked at the end of the table and saw Felix was standing by the table. A smile planted on his face as he glanced individually at the group. The group was caught off guard by the cat's sudden appearance—other than Panchito. Who waved in return for his greeting.

Felix continued speaking before he placed his gaze on Bendy. “I notice you’re Bendy, right? From the show?” He asks. And Bendy slowly nods. Odd having someone who travels a lot know about his show—but he didn’t complain.

“I am.”

“Great! Nice to meet you! My name is Felix!” Felix took Bendy’s hand and shook it fiercely. Bendy’s smile twitched before widening. His arm trying to keep pace of the cats shaking.

“Hi, nice ta’ meet you too.” Bendy’s voice wavered and bounced from being shook like a doll. Felix let’s his hand go before digging into his Fanny pack. And pulling out a small notebook—not exactly a big notebook—but one of a size that shouldn’t exactly fit in the Fanny pack.

“I love your show! I find it funny. You know. I watch it from time to time when I’m just lounging around—whenever I get the chance.” As he spoke to Bendy he pulled out a pen from his pack and opened the notebook and passed it to Bendy. “Might I have your autograph if you don’t mind?” He asks.

“I—well—sure.” Bendy didn’t seem to know how to respond. Instead he took the pen and the notebook and wrote it down in the notebook. Felix then looked over and placed his gaze on the three that were staring at the cat.

“I’m assuming you all aren’t from around here?” He asks. Oswald shook his head. “No. Actually. We all aren’t exactly—it’s a long story—“

“We’re on a mission and we’re looking for someone—but we got word they were kidnapped at the last minute and some guy on the streets told us to come to you because you know the people who we are looking for to advance further in our objective. And we didn’t want to really bother you—but we really need to leave town by sunrise because we have a lot to do ahead of us because we’re running from these guys who are out to kill us! And if they find out we’re here—we’re dead a-“ Donald quickly slaps his hand over Panchito’s running mouth. Felix ears perk up—obviously his attention now fully on them.

“Sorry—it’s been a rough day—we..” Donald tried to think of a way to make the group seem less…fugitive-like and…predictable. Y/n could feel herself shrink—she didn’t exactly know what to say. Because either way—with explaining what they needed and who they were looking for a why would result in circling back around to the book—the book that was stolen—and obviously is wanted by various people…for some reason. For all she knows, Felix could potentially be someone that wanted the book like that…man in the trench coat..or. Take them in..either way. There were a lot of options.

Instead of anything hostile. Y/n saw the cat's tail slowly swaying from left to right as a smile appeared on his face.

“Am I glad I ran into you all then.” He said. Oswald lets out a perplexed yet shock noise. “You are..?” He asks slowly. Felix nods. “I’ve been searching for those two for hours. Unfortunately not many people are much help here. But now that I need you and you need me. We can make this easier by finding them. But my question is. What do you need them for? Are they friends?” Y/n knew this question would occur. One way or another. None of them replied. Instead glancing at each other waiting for each other's answer. Donald soon sighed.

“Follow us.”

-

Thump

Y/n placed the book on the counter. After leaving the bar. Felix led the group to a hotel room he was staying in for the time being. It was small—but comforting and out of reach of anyone else so the group—along with Felix. Can safely discuss amongst each other.

Felix's eyes widened when he saw the book Y/n placed on the counter. His tail wagged quickly as he quickly placed his paws on the book.

“Oh my! How did you all get your hands on this?!” He ran a finger over the embroidery on the leather book. He quickly turned around and looked at the five. He didn’t seem angry, too shocked or scared—but more ecstatic with seeing the book. How on earth did they get it? Y/n held her book bag close to her chest as she watched the cat. Standing next to Panchito, Y/n spoke up—for the first time to Felix.

“Well. It's a long story that we constantly had to repeat—which I’m sure we have to repeat many more times but, we promise we aren’t thieves or anything like that. We’re just doing what the book tells us—damn that sounds bad..” Y/n muttered the last part under her breath. Felix shook his head and smiled.

“No—no. I have so little information and notes on this book. There’s so much to learn about it. I only know the bare minimum.” Felix turned towards the book yet again. He was silent for a moment before he continued speaking.

“It’s a book created eons ago. The story seems like a fairytale. But I assure you. This is all real.” He picked up the book. But didn't try to open it. Instead Felix examined the leather casing on the book. After a few moments of silence. Felix continued talking again.

“This book holds a lot of power. Along with knowledge about life—“ He then turned around and faced the five who were looking at the cat. Felix then pressed a finger in the stitched name on the book.

“Hint the name.” He adds.

“So…it’s about the evolution of life..?” Y/n asks. Felix smiled but shook his head? Y/n was left perplexed. If the book wasn’t about life itself. Then what was the purpose of it?

“No. In fact. I don’t even know the meaning of it! No one does!” He laughs. Which only left Y/n more puzzled. Donald furrowed his eyebrows.

“What?! Aren’t you the guy with the brains? I thought you knew about this thing!” Donald shouts as his hands flew to his head to tug at his feathers. He didn’t take it well knowing how mostly everyone was aimlessly traveling around without a thought in their head. Which Y/n couldn’t blame him.

“Well. All I know is that this book has knowledge of people that it chooses—from my understanding. This book only awakens when great danger is near.” Felix explained. That was something Y/n assumed would be the answer. The book acts as some sort of warning. Hearing Felix say it. Was a relief in an odd way.

“When was the last time the book was awakened?” Y/n asks. Felix lifts a paw. And taps his chin with his claw. A look of contemplation ridden on his face.

“I don’t have a clue. Any sort of information on this book was held from the last holders and—-well they’re not here. All I know is that only the holders of the book are able to access it.” Felix said. He glanced down at the book before glancing back at the group. “Which is you all.”

“The people that were kidnapped. What did they come here for? The book led us to this town.” Bendy asks. Cycling back around to the main reason they all needed Felix. Felix nods firmly before passing the book back to Bendy. Who took it and tucked it under his arm.

“Yes! The brothers. Their names are Cuphead and Mugman. They came here because they were looking for a jewel I believe.” Felix reached into his Fanny pack as he spoke. He quickly pulled out a photo. And showed it to the five. The photo was a picture of a red ruby. Or a jewel. It was perfectly placed on a white pillow for display. Around it seemed to be something reflecting it. Like some sort of glass box was encasing it. Which raised the answer. Was the jewel another artifact?

“They were escaping the Devil—big guy—I don’t know if you all know about him.” Felix adds. Oswald nods as well as Bendy. Panchito, Donald and Y/n only stared at Felix for further information. The Devil? As in..

“Satan?” Y/n asks. Felix furrowed his eyebrows and contemplated yet again. “In a way—yes!” He answered.

“Wha—huh? Wait..are we talking about. Big furry guy? Horns. Yellow eyes? The one that runs a Casino on this small island near the Atlantic? That Devil?” Donald asks. Leaning forward slightly in disbelief. Whoever this guy was. He seemed like someone not to mess with. Felix nods at Donald’s statement.

“I…I apologize. I do not understand who this fellow is.” Panchito pipes up. Y/n looked away from the rooster and over to Felix. “Neither do I. I only know one guy who people referred to as the ‘Devil’. And that’s this weird guy that lives on our street that shaves his back in the morning every Sunday and when he shaves you can see this tattoo of a demon—“ Y/n crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling in thought.

“I think he was a biker…” she looked back at Oswald, Panchito, Donald, Bendy and Felix. Who all gave her a questioning look.

“Every Sunday? Jeez. How fast does that guy's hair grow?” Oswald asks before grimacing at the thought. Y/n rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it…” she muttered. Donald quickly got back on track by placing his gaze back on Felix.

“That doesn't matter. Why would they be running around from the Devil?” He asks. Felix placed the picture back into his Fanny pack and zipped the pack up as he started to speak yet again.

“They never told me. But they seemed to really try and get away. So I helped them. And got them here. Our plan was to find that jewel. That jewel comes from an ancient tomb on this island called Ruby Falls. Though the location doesn't matter. The jewel is here in Idaho. And last I checked in. It was in a convent.” Felix informed. Thank goodness he was a help. A church would be the last thing Y/n suspected to be a part of their journey.

“The jewel works as a shield. Keeping all negative spirits away. Which in all. Means. The Devil wouldn’t be able to touch them as long as they had that jewel with them.” Felix finished. Bendy’s grin wavered before he raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly were they going to get this jewel? Steal it from a bunch of nuns?” He asks.

“That’s something I don’t know! Never got to find that out!” Felix laughs.

“How do we even know these brothers are who we’re lookin’ for?” Donald asks. Turning his direction to his group. “For all we know we would be chasin’ people that we don’t even need.”

“It’s worth a shot. We don’t have much to go off of but this information we have here.” Y/n said.

“In the meantime. You all can stay here tonight?” Felix smiled. But his ears quickly perked up—as if he had just remembered something in the nick of time.

“Oh! I didn’t get your guy’s name! Besides Bendy of course.” Felix walked closer to the group. His attention sets on Y/n first as he lifts a paw and gently takes her hand in his to give a soft shake. “My name is Felix.” He introduces—as if by now Y/n didn’t know his name. The silly gesture caused her to smile. As she felt him shake her hand.

“My name is Y/n. Y/n L/n.” Felix smiled once more. “Nice to meet you, pretty lady.” He said softly. The cat took a moment to take in Y/n features. By surprise Y/n’s smile widened at the action when Felix looked over to Panchito. Who had been standing next to Y/n.

Felix spoke to Panchito, Oswald and Donald. Getting their names and striking an interesting conversation with Panchito and his home in Mexico. Where he explained he lived on a family farm owned by his father. The conversation went before Felix told the group to make themselves at home;

“Sorry for the mess—I didn’t expect guests.” Felix quickly tossed a book bag across the room. Where it landed by a couch. There were only two rooms. The living room. Which was connected to a small walk in the kitchen and bedroom. Which had one bed. Enough room for everyone to sleep for the night. Y/n had wandered over to a window that was by the couch seeing it was pressed against a wall. Peering out the window. She saw they were a few floors up. Maybe the 4th floor or so. But it was a nice view out in the street. The bar was actually across the street from the hotel. Peering down she could see people walking down the street—which begged the question.

“So. What’s up with this town? Weird clothes and stuff..” she asks. Turning around and surprisingly Felix was standing behind her—which she didn’t know. He was holding a blanket and pillow balled in his arms. Hearing the question he leaned over and placed the blankets on the couch.

“Well this town isn’t exactly ordinary to say the least.” He said. Moving to stand next to her he glanced out the window.

“This town likes to keep a tradition—well. If you would call it that. Singing is their passion. Ya’ know. Back then a lot of films had musical numbers and all that jazz. Very happy town I do say so.” That was..some odd information that she didn’t know even existed…

“A real life musical?” She asks. Her eyes glued on him. Felix turned to look at her before nodding. “Yeah! Something like that.”

“How come I haven't seen anyone sing yet?” She asks.

A town that spent their time in joy and ..singing? Certainly that was something she would like to see.

“Oh trust me. You’ll hear it sooner or later. You should head to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Y/n nods at his statement as Felix turns around to walk off. Still stuck on the fact the town was like a musical film! Certainly she was sure it was down to annoy her friends sooner or later—-mainly hinting towards Donald. But with fatigue now creeping onto her every so slightly. Y/n turned towards the couch. She kicked off her shoes before she placed the book bag down on the floor as well. She sat down on the couch and lifted the blanket and laid it over her shoulders. Looking over she saw Bendy sitting on the floor with a blanket. Along with Oswald, Panchito and Donald. Felix had left his room to give everyone space and quiet.

“What are you guys doing on the floor?” She asks. The four turned their heads away from the TV that was one and held their attention. They looked at Y/n and Bendy spoke up.

“We all can’t fit on the couch.” He said. Y/n glanced at the couch. And he was right. The couch wouldn’t fit five people. Nor was the couch a pullout. But Y/n didn’t want the four to sleep on the floor. Y/n grabbed her blanket and pillow and stood up from the couch before she wandered over to the group and plopped down on the floor as well.

“I guess we’re all sleeping on the floor then.”

“Oh yay! It’s like a slumber party.” Panchito sets his sombrero down away from the group before he nicked Y/n’s blanket and tossed the warm cloth over her and his own form.

“Whatever you all do. Please don’t sleep wild. I don’t need someone’s foot in my face in the mornin’” Donald turned over to lay down. Lifting the blanket to his beak.

And there. They all had their peaceful sleep.

-

“Now stay ya’ asses quiet, my boss’ll be here soon.” Doug fixed his tie on his blazer. Walking away from the cage Cuphead and Mugman were still seated in.

Cuphead seemed to have run out of energy to shout at the two toons. Moving his eyes from Doug who had his back turned to the cage. Fixing his tie and speaking to another toon—or henchman—what Cuphead was now referring to them to. Soon Doug turned around and looked at Jack who was standing around idly.

“Put the cage on the carrier and take it to the next room.” Doug told Jack who had snapped from out of the dazed expression and nodded quickly

Jack stumbled over to the cage picking it up and putting it on the carrier. “Yes sirrrrr!” Jack drawled. Doug then snapped his fingers impatiently. “Hurry! The lady will pay us handsomely when she sees those two!”

Cuphead and Mugman shuffled slightly at the sudden movement of Jack pushing the cart. Cuphead yelped as he tipped over and crashed into Mugman. Causing Mugman to get stuck between the bars of the cage and Cuphead. Mugman wheezes before shoving Cuphead’s form off him with a heavy groan. Cuphead muttered before he watched Jack pushing the carrier to another room in the warehouse.

“Where are you taking us?” Mugman asks, placing his hands on the bar to look at Jack. Who then sniffed and wiped his nose momentarily.

“The garage area. It’s where all my friends are.” Jack replied. Cuphead punched Mugman’s shoulders. Mugman rammed into the cage at the impact. A painful expression written on his face. “Ow! What was that for?!” Mugman hissed at Cuphead.

“Don’t talk to him.” Cuphead nonchalant in response.

“But you talked to him earlier!” Mugman pouts.

“Correction. I was trying to be condescending, you’re tryin’ to make pal-pal with this idiot.” Cuphead whispered to Mugman. Grabbing Mugman by his shoulder to speak to him more closely.

Mugman gasped softly—rather dramatically—and furrowed his eyebrows. “Cuphead...that’s not nice.” He said. Cuphead gave him a blank expression before looking at Jack.

“What’s 2 plus 4 Jack?”

“Negative 7!”

Cuphead looks at Mugman. Who still had his gaze on him. But he didn’t seem to care about the fact that Jack completely got a math question wrong. The two were interrupted by the sound of metal doors flinging open. The two cup brothers faced forward as the cage entered the new room. The fluorescent lights illuminated the room as the cage was placed down. Cuphead and Mugman’s expression immediately deadpanned at the sight of various figures.

“Well—howdy doo!” Zip cackled. Shooting from behind a man cloaked in a trench coat. Cuphead didn’t pay attention to the shadow like toon. And turned his gaze over to a figure he was very familiar with.

“Ah! Dice. Long time no see—is that a new mustache?” Cuphead smiled. Standing up—more crouching in the cage before he wrapped his hands around the bars in front of him to look at Dice. Dice didn’t respond as he held a stoic expression—before rolling his eyes.

“Out of all people…” he mutters.

Mugman looks away from Dice and the odd man in the trench coat to see a woman. She wore a black dress—flats—a sharp gaze settled on the two—next to her was a duck toon. Raven black hair. Dark eyes—and a black dress..what an odd group…

“Country boys…” the duck’s voice was stained with disdain. She sighed before shaking her head. Cuphead could hear the disgust in the ducks before he placed his gaze back on her and sneered.

“Why are we here?” Cuphead skipped the jokes and introduction as he glowered at the group.

“You two have a pretty simple job.” Dice finally speaks up. Mugman shivered slightly. They were dead they were dead they were dead—they are going to die!

“No.” Cuphead responds. Mugman immediately shoots up from his seated position and covers Cuphead’s mouth.

“I—he means—what—what is the—what’s the offer?” Mugman stammered. But Cuphead didn’t budge. He pushed Mugman’s hand away and pointed at Dice.

“And I said no! We—“

“You—“ Mugman quickly added as he nervously grinned at Dice. Cuphead then points his thumb to his chest harshly—pointing to himself.

“I’ve had enough of these games! Just let us go! We want nothing to do with you nor that crybaby Devil either!” He shouts. Susan smiled before looking at King Dice. “That’s one fiesta cup.” She chuckled. King Dice rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it…” he muttered.

“Well. If you won’t listen to me. Listen to him.” King Dice raised a hand. Placing his middle finger to his thumb in a motion of snapping.

“Crap…” Mugman mutters. And with a snap of his fingers. The two felt the ground leave their shoes and into the dark—hot world.

“AAAAAAAH!!!”

Crash!!

Laying flat on his face. Cuphead lets out a heavy yet pain filled groan. His arms sprawled out and his shoes almost beat touching his head. Mugman on the other hand was caught by his shirt by a long appendage. Mugman had his eyes covered. His body curled into himself as if he were cowering from the ground he thought would be his demise. Cuphead’s gaze slowly left the red dusted colored stone ground—he squints as he gazed around his surroundings—almost familiar to a cave—humid—hot—real hot…

Cuphead’s blurred gaze soon landed on Mugman—who had yet to uncover his eyes. Cuphead heaved himself up as he stared up at Mugman. His blurry eyes soon subsided and his eyes trailed over to what had caught Mugman by his shirt. Tracing the long black appendage which soon landed on the imp that stood still—gleaming down at Cuphead with its bright fierce golden eyes. The Devil.

“You gots to be kiddin’ me…” Cuphead whispered to himself. The Devil’s ear twitched and his tail slowly lowered to the ground. Placing Mugman on his feet. Once Mugman felt the ground beneath his shoes he brought his hands down slowly and glanced over at the Devil with frightened furrowed eyebrows.

“Long time no see you two.” The Devil grins widely. Cuphead sneers before he takes several steps to the Devil. Pointing an index finger up at the imp.

“Now you listen here! I have answers that need questions!” He shouts. The Devil immediately deadpans and rolls his eyes.

“I believe you mean questions that need answers…” he corrects the cup. Cuphead sputters before glaring yet again at the Devil.

“What’s the big idea! What do you need from us? We’ve done what you’ve asked the last time—I told ya! Our deal with you—is off. It’s over!” Cuphead shouts. Mugman rubs his forehead in an anxious manner.

“Cuphead—stop.” Mugman grunts. But Cuphead didn’t listen.

“You two still owe me one more deal. That was our agreement. 3 deals. You’ve done two so far. And this shall be your last objective for me. And it is important.” The Devil explained calmly. Placing his hands behind his back. His golden eyes looked at the two in an attentive manner. The corner of Cuphead’s lip twitched as he gleamed up at the imp.

“No more deals.” He repeats. Though the Devil smiled—he’d expected this from the hardheaded cup. The Devil lifts a hand and points at Mugman—who had yet to speak. Mugman felt himself shrink under the Devil’s gaze. “You’ll do this deal—or you’ll lose him. The choice is yours.” He calmly said. Cuphead glanced over at Mugman. Mugman raised his eyebrows.

“Wait—who me? Huh?” Mugman sputters. Placing a hand on his chest. “Death is inevitable for everyone. But I can and will take something precious away from you Cuphead if you don’t comply. As said this is your last deal and you two won’t have to hear or see from me ever again.” The Devil said. Cuphead sighed through his nose harshly.

“But if you don’t. Mugman will die. I do own you both after all—but on the bright side! Haha! Hey! After you two finish this deal. You two won’t be owned by me anymore! This is a win-win deal here!” The Devil lets out an airy laugh. Mugman shuffled under his feet.

“What do we have to do?” Cuphead asks. The devils ears perked up. “All you have to do. Is take and eliminate.” He answers.

“Wait—no! We can’t—no!” Mugman rushes between the Devil and Cuphead. Spreading his arms to intervene. Mugman then looks at the Devil.

“We can not do that! We can’t kill anyone! I apologize—but this is way out of me and Cuphead’s bargain—“

“We’ll do it.” Cuphead replied. The Devil hummed before looking at Mugman. Mugman sighed before shoving Cuphead away and fully facing The Devil.

“I can’t..I can’t do that—I—I can’t just hurt someone.” Mugman pleads.

“Why Mugman I didn’t even tell you if they were even good or not! For all I know I could be sending you two to take out one of the world's most wanted criminals!” The Devil laughs. Mugman frowns. “I can guarantee you that they more than likely aren’t.” Mugman said. The Devil grins before nodding.

“You’re right. They aren’t.” He chuckled. Cuphead soon spoke up. “Like I said. We’ll do it. What do we need to do.” Cuphead went back to the topic at hand. And the Devil wasted no time.

“A book. You two are off to capture a book. You will retrieve that book and bring it back to me. As for the people that are holding the book. You will take someone by the name of Oswald. And kill one person—she’s a useful source that needs to be stopped.”

“And her name is Y/n L/n.”

-

Y/n felt her nose twitch. It felt like something was crawling on her nose. The light touch on the tip of her nose felt soft. But caused her nose to twitch yet again. She furrowed her eyebrows and lifted a hand to rub at her nose. But was met with something soft. Her eyes fluttered open. The smell of something sweet wafted in the air. But her focus was more on touching her nose to see what it was that was bothering it.

To Y/n’s surprise; it was Oswald’s ear. The rabbit was asleep. And his ears must have flopped over in her direction. Y/n places a hand on his ear to gently move it away. The sudden feeling over his ear caused him to awaken. His onyx eyes slowly and heavily opened. He must have been awfully tired. He smiled at her softly and Y/n returned the smile.

“I made breakfast.” Y/n flinched at the sound of Felix’s voice. As well as Oswald. The two glancing above them to see Felix hovering over them. Arms behind his back with a smile.

-

“So. First thing we need to do ask around town if they found any details last night about—“ Y/n ignored Felix and was busy stuffing her mouth with the pancakes he made—she didn’t know if the fluffy pancakes were so delicious because she was yearning for food for the past several hours or if they really were just some really good pancakes. Panchito watched Y/n as he held his fork. A smile stretched on his beak. Boy was she eating fast!

But Felix hadn’t noticed as he was busy going over today’s routine with everyone—which actually mostly consisted of Bendy listening to him. Donald was trying not to drift back off to sleep. As he had the bottle of syrup in his hand. The syrup substance had long over spilt on his plate and was now dripping on the counter. Oswald hadn’t eaten his pancakes—he must not have been hungry. But overall..majority of them were distracted and weren't listening to a damn thing Felix was saying.

“So!” Felix clapped his hands. Causing Donald to jump in his seat and quickly place the syrup bottle upright and put his attention on Felix, Panchito and Y/n to quickly place their attention on Felix and Oswald to snap daydreaming and place his attention on Felix as well. Felix thought he had their attention the whole time. Smiled with glee.

“You all got that? That’s the plan!” He says. Bendy looked at the four. He could tell they didn’t take in a single thing of info.

-

“Okay. I think it would be best if we all would split up.” Felix said as he looked at his wrist watch. He and the group stood on the pavement. In the early hours. It was around Looking away from his wrist watch he looked at the group. Counting before nodding. “Luckily we have an even group.” He says.

“Oh! Can we pick our partners?” Panchito asks. And Felix nods—“well of course.” He said in the background as Panchito hops over to Y/n and hooked his arm around hers. Y/n smiled as she stood next to Panchito as the others took their partners as well. Bendy went with Felix and Oswald went with Donald. An even group—thankfully.

Leaving out Panchito practically was skipping down the sidewalk in joy. Y/n scrolled through her phone for a mere few minutes before she placed it in her pocket and looked over at Panchito.

“You think we’ll even find them in town?” She asks. Panchito took a moment to think. “Ah—a slim chance. We'd have already run into them by now.” He replies.

“But. I’m more on the optimistic side.” He smiled at her and Y/n smiled back—their characteristics should be too hard to see as the brothers—from what Felix explained—literally had cups for heads. So they would be easy to spot. Rounding the corner. As Panchito and Y/n were in a deep conversation—Y/n accidently ran into someone. Not paying attention. Y/n was gladly able to keep her balance, opening her eyes that she didn’t realize she closed on the impact. She looked in front of her to see who she had accidentally ran into. Not before placing a hand on her forehead after feeling the pain starting to travel on her forehead. She must have run into them pretty hard.

Standing in front of her was a toon. Also holding his forehead—his head was as shaped as a ceramic pale gray cup. He had a red nose and wore a black dress shirt with brown shorts. He held his eyes closed as he muttered under his breath—damn. She must have run into him pretty hard.

“Sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” Y/n sheepishly apologized. Removing her hand from her forehead. The toon slowly opened his eyes and looked at both Panchito and Y/n. He held a sour expression but that was until he took a moment to stare at Y/n.

“Oh—uh—No. I’m sorry—I should have been payin’ attention.” He apologizes, speaking slowly as if he were unsure. As for Y/n it were as if a brick was tossed at her face to bring her back to reality. Wait.

“What’s your name?” They both ask in unison. Both Cuphead and Y/n put on a surprised expression. Cuphead quickly then replied. “My name is Cuphead.” He replied. Y/n felt her heart leap in her throat. Well what do ya know?! Look at how quick they were able to find one of the brothers! How long have they been just wandering around town?

Gasping slightly. Y/n smiled. “Hey! Aren’t we glad we ran into you—me and a couple of friends of mine have been looking for you and your brother.” She explained. And Cuphead couldn’t wipe the look of awe off his face—what is he supposed to do now?! He can’t just kill the poor girl. Not to mention—

“You’re pretty!” He nervously exclaims. Y/n stopped talking slowly as she stared at him before she smiled yet again. “Oh—thank you.”

“Qué nombre tan extraño…” Panchito mumbled under his breath. As he stood beside Y/n and gazed upon Cuphead.

Panchito then softly nudges Y/n’s arm.

“No. No sé de él.” Panchito told her before putting his gaze on Y/n. Y/n looks away from Cuphead and to Panchito.

“What’s wrong?” She asks him. Panchito grabs Y/n by her arms softly and directs her to face the opposite direction of Cuphead. “I don’t know about him.” Panchito lowered his voice for only him and Y/n to hear. The sound of various footsteps and murmured voices of people in the town were seemingly muffled to Y/n’s ears.

Cuphead stood behind the two. His eyes found sight of Y/n’s book bag that she had strapped around her shoulders—more than likely he assumed that’s where she kept the book.

“Why?” Y/n asks Panchito. “Do you think it is odd that we spent hours last night searching for him and his brother and no sight? And seemingly we now run into them?” He asks. Which. Y/n agreed. The town wasn’t that big from the looks of it. They should have ran into the brothers hours ago last night—but then again—seemingly they were kidnapped. And Cuphead didn’t show any sign of stress from being taken—then again she knew nothing about Cuphead nor his brother.

“Yeah…I guess you’re right.” Y/n muttered.

“Hey—sorry to interrupt—“

Y/n and Panchito both flinched at the sight of Cuphead standing in front of them.

“But. Do you two know Felix? The guy we came to town with.”

-

DING!

“OH! Look! Oswald! Look!” Donald points at the game stand in front of the two—Oswald looked away from whatever he was gazing at and looked over to Donald and then the stand his friend had been playing at. The two managed to come across a small fair in town. A few stalls held games and unfortunately Donald grew distracted and started to play the silly game—tossing the baseball in a bucket—much to Oswald's mind it didn’t interest him.

“You’ve played this 3 times already Donald.” Oswald told him. Donald looks at the stall and back at Oswald. “You must be the fun guy at parties.” Donald grunts before he walks past Oswald and down the dirt path. A few people walked by to have fun on their own at the fair. Oswald's ears perked up slowly before looks behind him. He then started walking slowly—following after Donald.

“Is it just me. Or do you have this weird feelin?” Oswald asks. Donald opened his eyes after walking with his eyes closed for a few seconds. He had an expression of contemplation on his face. Before he dismissed the thought. “You think always like that.” He grins triumphantly. Maybe in a way to get back at Oswald’s last remark. Oswald blinks before squinting his eyes. “No I don’t.” Oswald quickly reputed.

“I’m joking..” Donald laughs. The two walked down the fair, the sound of murmured voices and games wafts in the background.

“But really. You hadn’t told me anything about what you’ve had going on.” Donald picks up. Oswald looks at Donald. “Well..nothing too exciting happened lately.” He started before looking ahead of the two again. Oswald’s ears slowly flattened. “Just been hangin’ around.” He finished. Donald’s tail feather flickered as he looked away from Oswald. When he knew Oswald the rabbit was very outgoing and straightforward. But he couldn’t find the sense in himself to keep pestering the rabbit.

Trying to think of another topic to push aside the now awkward silence—before Donald could say anything. Oswald turned his gaze back on Donald. “I’m sorry I left suddenly.” He said abruptly. Donald looks at Oswald as the two slowly start to trail off with their walking before standing still.

“I’ve…been meaning to tell you that for years—and the others of course. But more importantly you because well—you were always there.” His voice was quiet but Donald could still understand and hear every word that came from Oswald’s mouth.

“I feel horrible for what I said and—and I didn’t mean it—Especially not towards you—I was angry and sad and at times I can’t really control that because…” Oswald trailed off. His ears felt flat against his head before reaching a hand up to wringe nervously at his ear. “A lot has happened when you and the others were away that I tried to get myself through and I couldn’t..” he trailed off yet again and Donald felt himself frown.

“Oswald. You don’t need to apologize. I’m always here to talk. What ha—“

Pew!

THUD!

A light blue light of energy whizzed between Donald and Oswald. Oswald’s ears quickly shot up. As Donald quaked in fear before jumping away from Oswald.

“Bettigan! Don’t do that!” Shouts a voice. Oswald and Donald quickly shoot their heads over to see 3 figures. A lanky stack of casino chips. In a western get up outfit holding onto the wrist of a cup headed figure. With a blue nose black sweater and blue shorts. Floating in the air was black 8 ball.

“HAHAHA! THat was funny! You almost got em’ Mugs!” Shouts the 8-ball as he cackled.

“That’s not funny. You almost caused a scene you nut!”

“Is that…?” Oswald whispered. Donald slowly nods. “I think.”

“Should we?—“

“Run!” Donald dashed past Oswald and grabbed onto the rabbit's wrist and dragged him down the fair.

“Hey. They’re gettin’ away!” The 8 ball cried out. Mugman looks away from Bettigan—one of the few partners he was assumed to be before looking over at where Donald and Oswald stood.

“Come on your idiots!” Bettigan laughs before he runs after the two in the general direction they headed. Mugman and Mangosteen followed after Bettigan.

“I thought he was on our side!” Donald shouts as the two run out of the fair and back into town. Oswald huffs before throwing his hands in the air. “I did too!”

“Do we find Felix!?” Donald asks.

“We need to find So—OW!” Oswald’s ears dropped low to steer clear from the blue peashooter that whizzed past them yet again. Donald looks behind them to see the three were indeed after them—the town didn’t seem to take heed that the peashooter was a dangerous weapon as it didn’t seem dangerous at all. So they kept on with their day.

Oswald soon ran into someone knocking the two onto the ground. “Ow! Hey!” That voice! Looking down he saw Y/n who had squinted her eyes from the sudden impact.

“Oh. There you two are.” Panchito stops walking as he turns around to see Oswald quickly shooting from the ground dragging Y/n along with him. Cuphead stopped walking as well but didn’t face the group as he saw Bettigan, Mangosteen and Mugman running over. Mostly Bettigan holding Mugman by his handle and Mugman holding a sour expression.

“Run! Go!” Donald shouts as he shoves Panchito with him. “What’s going on?!” Y/n said as Oswald took her wrist and they jogged off with Panchito and Y/n.

“Hey! You didn’t get the girl?! I just saw her!” Bettigan said as he skids to a stop to stand in front of Cuphead. Cuphead sends a glare to the cowboy. “I was going to you idiot!” Not entirely true.

“They’re gettin’ away. The girl has the book.” Cuphead picked up Mugman from Bettigan and placed his brother on the ground.

“Are ya’ sure?” Bettigan asks. Cuphead nods. “Yes! It’s in her book bag. But I wants the girl. You all stay away from er’” he sneers as he eyed Mangosteen and Bettigan.

“What? Why—“

“I said so! Now go catch that rabbit!”

“Aye aye. Capn’” Mangosteen cackles before In a blink of an eye that magical 8 ball vanished in thin air.

-

The four ran down the sidewalk—that surprisingly didn’t have many people as it was still the early morning.

“Where is Bendy and Felix?!” Y/n shouts as the four rounded the corner. “Don’t know! The town is small, sure we’ll run into them.” Donald shouts.

“Okay! New plan! Forget the last plan! Keep the book safe! And don’t die!” Oswald shouts. Panchito smiled. “Sounds delightful!”

Soon a black dot formed in front of the two. Two eyes rolled around as well as a smile forming an 8 ball with a face?

The 8 ball opened his mouth and a light illuminated within its mouth and a loud vibrating sound hummed as if some sort of weapon was starting up. As the sound got louder the light grew brighter and brighter. The four took wind that they needed to stop running. The four skidded to a stop just as they were about to get too close to the 8 ball. A light of energy soon shot from the 8 balls mouth and landed on the sidewalks creating a small explosion. Unfortunately being too close and not having enough time to react. The impact caused a powerful force and Y/n flew back. Not knowing whenever the others were she felt herself land somewhere soft.

“Hey—I know this is sudden—“ quickly opening her eyes she was face to face with Cuphead who held a nervous grin. Y/n shrieks before swinging her fist and it collides with Cuphead’s temple—unbeknownst of her his cup head was..well actually a cup. And the solid ‘tink!’ Made that known as the pain surged through her hand and through Cuphead’s head. “Ow!” He shouts as his hands fly up to his head. Y/n fell to the ground and immediately scurried away. Tripping over her shoes she ran past Cuphead and across the street where she thankfully didn’t get hit by any passing cars.

“No wait!” Cuphead shouts before groaning heavily in frustration.

Donald quacks in fear as he runs in the opposite direction. Taking Oswald by his ears and Panchito by the collar of his shirt. Dragging the two—more so Oswald. Donald ran the opposite direction to avoid the 8 ball.

“Who are these people?!” Donald shouts. As Panchito ran beside him. “Ow! Let go of my ears!” Oswald cried out as Donald shoved the two in an alleyway—Panchito heaves before turning around.

“Ah! Where is Y/n?!”

-

Y/n ran down an alleyway. Hopping over forgotten garbage and trash bags. She heard footsteps behind her and she felt her heart leaping in her chest. She was going to die! She was going to DIE!

She skids around a corner and sees a dead end. A garbage dump against the brick wall. If she could hop that she could get to the roof!

“Fuck am I thinking?!” She quickly disputed the thought. She couldn’t do that—she wasn’t in a movie. This was real life! She panicked as she heaved out of breath to try and catch her breath. She paced back and forth until she heard the sounds of the footsteps getting closer. Turning around she spotted Cuphead.

He heaved and tried to catch his breath as he frowned. “Jeez—you’re fast—“ he heaved. Y/n quickly stooped down and picked up a few rocks and pebbles. She quickly yet harshly threw one at the toon and it hit him in his face—some landing on him as some didn’t. Cuphead flinched and raised his hands up.

“Ow! Listen! Ow! Stop! I’m not here to hurt y—ow! I don’t wanna hurt you! I’m just here for the book!” He shouts. The minute he mentioned the book. Y/n felt herself jerk backwards. The familiar tug caused her to drop the rocks in shock. Her shoes slightly lifted from the ground from the book now awakening in her book bag and the dumpster vibrated and echoed at the impact of her shoes.

“No—no-no.” Y/n quickly tried to run past Cuphead—but the book dragged her back over to the toon—undoubtedly running into Cuphead sending the two to the ground.

“Ow!”

“What was that?!”

The two shouts. Y/n quickly got up before turning to face the streets and running off yet again. “HEY!” Cuphead shouts.

Y/n almost tripped over a stroller a mother was pushing. Y/n glanced over her shoulder and shouted a quick apology to the mother. “Sorry!”

Looking back ahead. Y/n tried glancing around the town for her friends but to no sight she didn’t see anyone. Breathing heavily through her nose. Y/n looking over on the porch of a house. There sat. Water gun. Not a weapon but she was sure it would come in handy. Her fight or flight mode was kicking and she was desperate for survival and protection. Grabbing the toy gun she ran down the sidewalk and looking around.

“Guys!” She shouts in spite of catching the attention of her friends—but instead. Catching the attention of a certain cowboy.

“Well looksy here!” Bettigan shouts. Y/n stops jogging before turning around and spotting the toon. Bettigan flicks his hat up and grins at Y/n. “Put em up—cow girl—“ he demands. Y/n blinks as she shuffled on her feet. The sidewalk had little to no one to hide behind but she still felt crowded. She quickly lifts the toy gun up and glares at the opposing opponent. “Stay back!” She shouts!

Bettigan stared at Y/n for a moment before reaching to his side and pulling out a pistol—in fact..it was real. Not ever having a weapon pointed at her. Y/n—like a wimp. Dropped the toy gun and raised her hands up in fear.

“Drop the bag.” The gun motioned for Y/n to turn around. But Y/n felt her mind go foggy. HOW WAS NO ONE SEEING THIS?!

“Come on now..drop it.” Y/n slowly took the book bag off her shoulders before placing it on the ground. Bettigan smiled—but before he could talk. Something whizzed in the air and knocked the pistol from his grip.

“Bettigan! I told ya’ don’t kill her! What are y—“

“You idiot I had her right there she has the bag in the ground!” Y/n saw Cuphead walk over pointing his index finger at Bettigan’s chest out of fits of anger.

“She’s right there!” Bettigan motions over to Y/n. Only to find.

“Where did she go?” Bettigan muttered.

-

Y/n tripped over her shoes as she rounded yet another corner. She rushes past a street where a quiet neighborhood resides. On the whim she heard two voices! One she was familiar with.

“Hey! Watch the horns!” It was Bendy!

Y/n skids to a stop and looks down the street. Standing on the side of a building was a tall lanky figure. He was furry, dark and…his horns were large and he had Bendy by his tail. Bendy hung upside down as he gazed up at this creature.

“Where’s the rabbit?” The creature asks. Y/n could only see the back of the creature and see Bendy being held. Y/n wasted no time before she ran over. Picking up a rock from the ground and chucking it in the air.

“Put him down!!!” She shouts. The rock hits the creature at the back of its head. It was a hard hit but not enough to deter the creature. But enough to make him turn around and gaze over his shoulder to the girl. It’s yellow eyes pierced into Y/n’s form.

Yellow eyes, black fur, horns.

“Oh shit…” she whispered.

The Devil drops Bendy before turning to Y/n. Bendy soon scurried away from the creature and over to Y/n. His arm looping around Y/n’s waste and picking the girl up to run from the neighborhood.

“What are you nuts?! You just hit the Devil!” Bendy shouts at her. Y/n frowned as she looks over Bendy’s

Shoulder—not seeing the creature anymore.

“I didn’t know that was him!” She cried out in fear. Bendy slowly stops running as he looks around frantically.

“Do you still have the book?” He asks her. Y/n felt him put her down. “Yeah, where’s Felix?” Y/n asked. Bendy looks back at her. “I dunno. The guy wandered off. No wonder he lost the twins!” Bendy sneered. Y/n breathed heavily trying to grasp onto her breathed as she looked around.

“I can’t find the others.” Y/n huffed

“Me ei—“

“a…a…a…a..” a distant scream echoed in the air.

Y/n and Bendy looked at each other as they heard the distant screaming grow closer.

“aaaaaAAAAAAAAHH!!!” Oswald had soon flown into Bendy and Y/n and the three had unfortunately rammed into a glass pane window of a store; the glass shattered into shards as the three fell into the store. A few screams of the pediatricians pierced the air. And Y/n felt wind get knocked from her lungs. Y/n rolled on the ground. The glass shards sticking to her shirt, pants and bag, Bendy groaned in pain as Oswald did as well. The sound of feet slapping the concrete grew closer.

“Guys! Are you okay?!” It was Donald. Y/n felt her eyes go blurry from the sudden impact. She groaned at the feeling of air not being able to properly cycle around her lungs. Soon Panchito and Donald hopped into the store through the broken glass. Donald reached down and helped Y/n up. Y/n groaned as she stood up slowly. Closing her eyes to help regain her balance.

Oswald slowly got up as Panchito looked down at Oswald. A few cackled and laughs echoed in the air—similar to being surrounded by a pack of hyenas. Y/n opened her eyes to see Bettigan, Mangosteen, Cuphead and she assumed his brother Mugman was standing in front of the broken glass pane. A few imp like creatures with different shades of red fur—there had to be at least 8 imp creatures that stood next to the now villainous people that weren’t on their side.

Mangosteen had yet again opened his mouth—like how he did to throw the energy ball at them earlier—but instead. Y/n felt herself slightly lift from the ground and her book bag unzipped and the book soon slipped from the bag leaving Y/n to tumble to the ground. Bendy had caught her and held her by her waist.

“No!” Y/n protested as the book floated over to the group. “Nice running around. I’ll give you all that.” The western cowboy—Bettigan praised. His voice was deep and husky. The book was an arms length away from him as he reached out to grab the book. But instead;

Whip!

A thick lasso rope embraced around the book. With a tug the book was pulled away from the beam of energy that was pulling it closer to the opposing group—being snatched off the go side where it landed in the hands of Felix. Felix stood in the doorway entrance of the store. A couple of customers cowered behind a shelf that stood next to him.

“I don’t think so.” Felix smiled at Bettigan. Bettigan huffed before pointing at the group. “Get em!”

With a blink of an eye. Donald, Y/n, Panchito, Bendy, Oswald and Felix dashed from the store. Almost tripping over her feet. Y/n ran down the sidewalk with her friends to seemingly nowhere—their main objective was to just get away from their opposing team.

“Where are we going?!” Y/n shouts as she and the others found themselves on the main street of the town once again.

“I don’t know!” Felix shouts—but he didn’t seem to sense the danger they were in. Instead enjoying the cat and mouse chase that ensued. He then grunts before looking down at his hands where he held the book.

“Ow! Hey—it’s burning me!” Felix said curiously. He tossed the book over to Y/n and she caught it. “Maybe it—AH!”

Y/n was dragged back, her arms being tugged harshly by the book. It lifted her from the ground with great strength. Y/n shrieks as she feels herself seemingly get tossed backwards and ramming into someone.

“Ow!” Shouts a voice but she couldn’t match the voice to the face as she and the person fell and rolled on the ground—rolling in a few summersaults from the impact. With adrenaline pumping she didn’t take much time to get up as she did the first couple of times. Sitting up and looking over. She was met face to face with an exhausted looking Mugman.

“Ah!” The two scream before backing away from each other. Her back hits the car that was parked off to the side of the street.

“Gotcha! You brat!” Y/n felt someone take ahold of her hood and lift her up yet again. She sunk into her jacket and aimlessly kicked and tossed her legs. “Ah! Let me go!” She protested. Swinging her arms back, try and hit whoever had her hold by her hood. Looking off to the side she saw the book laid aimlessly on the ground in the middle of the street.

“Mugman! Get the book and take it to Mango! I’ll deal wit’ da girl!” An accented voice shouts. Mugman stared at Y/n momentarily before he slowly backed away and scurried off towards the book. Y/n was dropped to the ground. She fell to her knees and before she had the time to get up and run off. She was grabbed by her shoulders and flipped around onto her back. A foot pressed into her torso. She gazed up at the person to see that they were a toon. A fox toon in a red suit. He looked to be some sort of pimp.

“Alright Noid. Heard ya’ve been givin’ my boss problems.” He sneered. Leaning down as his nose pressed against Y/n’s. Y/n glared at the toon. “I dunno who you’re talking about! I don’t even know what you guys are after us for!” She shouts.

“The book! Where’s the rabbit?” He got to the point. Y/n was silent for a moment as she stared up at him. “Oswald?” She asks.

“Yes, him—“

“What makes you think I’ll tell you!” She tried to swing at the fox. But he backed away before her fist could make an impact on his face. He holds his belly and laughs boisterously. “HAHAHAHA! OH man! You’re too good kid!” He laughs. He reaches behind his back and pulls out a pistol.

“Too bad you gotta be put out da’ picture.” He aims the gun at Y/n. Y/n wheezed slowly as she saw the weapon. Her fingertips running cold. She was going to die! She tried to sink into the concrete road away from the barrel. She could see the black hole pointing at her eye. But before the fox could pull the trigger. A loud thud was heard above Y/n. The creaking off a car and the alarm on the car went off—letting her know something heavy must have landed on it. The fox lowers the gun and looks up.

An animalistic growl rumbled the ground and Y/n shivered at only thinking what creature was there to kill her now?! She slowly moves her head to roll her eyes back to glance behind her. She only could see a large silhouette crouching on the alarmed car. She didn’t wasn’t to move too much in fear of having that fox toon wanting to quickly finish the job and shoot her.

“Let. Her. Go.” It was no one she was too familiar with. It couldn’t be any of her toon friends. Y/n cursed under her breath

But instead the fox's ears lowered as he lifted his foot from Y/n’s torso. “Go on. Take the girl.” He retaliated. Or so what Y/n assumed he did. The creature took a step from the car. And Y/n could feel purgatory chanting her names. She was going to die. She should have listened to her mom! Just stay in the house! This was crazy! She didn’t even know what she was doing! Should she just give them the book?!

“Whoa!”

Thud!

Whoever the big and bad creature was must have taken a step too wide and fell off the car. And fell face first into the ground. Deciding to take a look at this mystery hero. Y/n slowly sat up and saw;

“Boris?” She asks slowly. The wolf had landed on his chin, ears dropped low as he looked at her. His body arched over his head as he gave her a flustered smile.

“Ah…hey Y/n—“

“AAHAHAHA! This?! This is supposed to be the big wolf?!” The fox hurled over and laughed, arms curled over his stomach as he laughed hysterically.

“You—YOU HAD ME THERE FOR A SECOND!” He laughs. Boris’s attempts to try and spook the fox clearly almost had the enemy—but with one silly move caused Boris’s plan to fail.

As the fox laughed. Y/n quickly pushed the fox away from her, causing the toon to fall into the car behind him. She scurried off the ground and rushed over to Boris. Grabbing his arm and tugging him up—with how heavy he was her tugs meant nothing—but Boris thankfully was quick as he stood up and towered over her—she never realized how tall the wolf was—but thinking more on that later. She and Boris ran down the street away from the fox who just then got back up and shouted curses at the two.

“Where did you come from?!” Y/n shouts. She smiled at the wolf who ran next to her with a silly grin. Without taking notice. He closed his eyes and started to explain. “Well! Alice decided it would be best if we—“ Boris was cut short by running smack dead into a light pole. He stood stiff as a board. His ear twitched as his two eyes were replaced with X’s

“Didn’t…see that…sign…” he wheezed. Y/n skids to a stop as she looks forward to seeing that wandered into a construction sight. Looking at the sign that Boris inadvertently ran into she saw it had a black photo of a sewer hole. Boris staggered as he held his head.

“Oh my…” he whimpered. He seemed like he was about to fall.

“Hey! You two can’t be over here.” A construction worker warned. Y/n saw Boris falling back. She gasped and tried to stop the wolf from falling but he was far too heavy. She pressed her back into Boris’s but he already seemed to be knocked out unfortunately when turning the opposite direction to hoist Boris up. She noticed the open sewer hole a toe length away the black darkness was calling her name to just fall in.

“NO!” She shouts.

“Yes!” Y/n quickly looks up to see that flying 8-ball again. Gasping she stiffened at the sigh of the creature.

“Boris! WAKE UP!” Y/n legs gave out as she then fell into the sewer hold. With Boris limply falling in after. His foot had kicked an abandoned street sign and it flew in the air before falling into the sewer hole with Y/n’s descending screams. Mangosteen blinks before reaching a hand up to his chin (?)

“Wow—she’d much rather toss herself in a sewer line then be up here with me?” He seemed hurt genuinely as he frowned.

“…”

“OH WELL! Time for some brutal murder!” He cackled before floating over to the sewer hole and falling in as well. The construction worker blinked slowly and furrowed his eyebrow. Before he rolled his eyes

“I don’t get paid enough for this..”

-

Boris landed on top of the metal street sign shortly Y/n landed between his legs oddly Boris was still sitting up muttering under his breath—eyes closed but he seemed out of it.

“Yes—I’d love to….” He muttered under his breath. Y/n couldn’t see anything in front of her as her shaky breathing echoed in the sewer.

She shakily reached for her phone. Once finishing it she quickly took off her bookbag and placed it in front of her. Mesmerizing where her front zipper was. She unzipped it before turning in the flashlight in her phone and placing the phone in the front zipper. Once the light was on she could see the sewer line. The street sign oddly secures at some sort of boat as in the shallow water kept she and Boris afloat as it floated down the line.

She heard water a few feet ahead but it was so dark she could only see what was really in front of her. She looked over her shoulder and nudged Boris.

“Boris! Wake up—wake up please! We’re—we’re in the sewer and I think we’re lost!” She panicked. She lifts a hand up as she looks infront of her. Her hand softly pats at Boris’s face.

“5 more…minutes…Henry….” He muttered.

Y/n had her focus on the end of the tunnel—where she soon could see that—there was a drop!!

“Nonononono!! No!” She shouts. Pressing herself back into Boris. Boris snores before he snorts and wakes up. He looks around with an alarmed expression.

“What?! What’s going on?! Where am I?! Why is it so dark?!” He cried out. Y/n wrapped her arms around Boris’s arms as if to use them as some sort of restraint.

“Oh my gosh!” Y/n shrieks in fear. Boris shouts as he wraps his arms around Y/n as well. The street sign lurched forward and the two were sent sliding down the steep hill, Y/n felt her stop spinning in circles. Similar to how it felt riding on a rollercoaster. Their screams echoed in the sewer.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

“AAAAAAH!” They both shout in fear yet—excitement.

Suddenly a ball of energy shoots down the tunnel. Lighting the way down the tunnel where Y/n could see for a split second an abrupt turn. Y/n looked over Boris’s shoulder to see the 8 ball had followed them into the sewer line—possibly to make sure they were dead for sure. Y/n hid her face in Boris’s shoulder as she felt the abruptness. The metal street sign that acted as a sled skids the wall. Creating a spark as the tunnel dipped down yet again causing them to go faster.

Another energy ball had been shot and it landed right in front of the two just before the second dip. Y/n shrieks as she flies off the sled—as she deemed it.

Boris yelps and frantically tries to grab onto Y/n but he is separated by going into another direction which is downwards into the sewer. The energy ball had torn off another metal plate which held cables to the sewer lines wall—thankfully with luck on Y/n’s side she lands on the new sled and was separated from Boris when she was led to different tunnel—which was a form as Boris went left and she went right—on the hood side she managed to lose Mangosteen. Y/n had landed in her stomach and was holding onto the metal plate that was curled at the end so she could have something to grasp onto. It really resembles a sled now.

Y/n felt another dip and her legs lifted from the sled and she flipped forwards mid air. Screaming Y/n felt herself free fall as she lost the metal plate she was on. Boris had made it from the tunnel he was separated from Y/n. And he looked up in the direction of Y/n’s screaming. And right when he looked up. She landed back between his legs.

“AH I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!” He shouts with glee. As he hugged Y/n. Rubbing his cheek on top of her head. Y/n felt herself shivering at the thought of maybe landing in the sewer water and scraping herself up pretty bad. She was thankful that Boris was there. The two looked forward and saw at the end of the tunnel a large pipe that led upwards. The pipe had a valve. And spurts of water were spilling from the crevice of the pipe.

“I think that's the way out!” Y/n shouts and smiles. Boris smiled as well before frowning.

“Why aren’t we slowin’ down.”

-

Being tossed through a window of a house that was nearby. Bendy groaned as he laid on the floor limply. The debris of the glass shards and dust particles from the wall wafted in the air. The demon's tail twitched as he sighed…tossed through a wall…again. Bendy glared up at the ceiling in irritation.

“This is not my week…” he grumbled.

Hearing the sudden tiny gasp caused Bendy to snap from his trance before sitting up on his elbows. Looking over he saw two children. One boy—no older than maybe the age of 10 holding a bat over his head in fear that Bendy may have been an intruder. And a little girl who had to have been 8 cowering behind her brother. They both held a fearful expression thinking Bendy would harm them. Bendy blinks before having a nervous smile. “Um—-I can explain—“

Donald was caught off by frantic huffing and puffing. Oswald quickly crawled into the apartment. Crawling over the glass shards and wall pieces. His fur was ruffled as he landed on his stomach to breathe.

“They—are Vicious!” Oswald's voice cracks as he shakily points behind him which leads outside. Bendy was surprised that the rabbit crawled up to the second floor to get away from beagle brothers—who had also shortly after decided to make their appearance after Y/n suddenly vanished.

Oswald looks at Bendy before looking over at the kids. His ears dropped once he saw how alarmed the two kids were. Seeing two toons being thrown through the wall into your home? That would frighten any kid.

“Oh man…” he muttered.

The two kids then screamed in fear and the brother dropped the bat to the ground before he grabbed his sibling and scurried off down the hall. Oswald quickly gets up as well as Bendy.

The faucet in the kitchen trembled and the ground vibrated. Oswald and Bendy look down at their feet before looking at each other. Bendy blinked before the sound of water spraying widely outside caught his attention. Two distinct screams were heard and both Oswald and Bendy were yet again tossed to the ground by Boris and Y/n. The two were soaking wet. The mildew smell of water wafted the air. And the sound of a heavy sew lid smashing onto concrete echoed in the streets.

Y/n coughed up water and crawled off of Bendy. She gasped for air and groaned heavily. Bendy yelped as he quickly wiped the water from him as he looked over to Y/n who were on her hands and knees trying to free her lungs of water. Head to two she was drenched and shivering.

Boris stood up quickly and shook his coat of fur. Splashing water everywhere. Bendy wandered over to Y/n and helped her up.

“Boris! What are you doing here?” Bendy was relieved to see his friend. And Boris wagged his tail quickly, happy to see Bendy as well. “Alice led us here! She had something to tell you! That there’s this group of people trying to kill you all!” He explained before he grunted.

“But it seems you all already got the gist of that.” He muttered under his breath shaking his left foot from any water. Y/n gagged and groaned.

“I’m all wet! With sewer water! And—and they took—-The book!” She shouts. Bendy and Oswald both looked at her.

“They took the book?” Oswald repeats. Y/n looks at him and nods, breathing heavily to catch her breath. “Yes! And we need to get it back!” She looked out towards the hole in the wall and ran a hand through her hair.

“Where’s Alice?” Bendy asks as he turns to look at Boris. Boris thought for a moment. “They’re still in town.” He answered.

“They’re?”

“Oh yeah! Charley, Barley and Edgar are with us too!” Boris nods with a bright smile. Y/n didn’t know who they were other than Alice. But Bendy didn’t seem pleased.

“Come on. We need to find Donald and Panchito.”

-

Rushing down the sidewalk. Y/n could see the water spluttering from the sewer hole that she and Boris had exited from. Water everywhere on the street after busting that pipe they ran into shortly after their victory chase with Mangosteen. Luckily the water damage didn’t floor the street—but surely construction will pull their hair out when they see that.

“How did you two get up there anyway?” Y/n asked Bendy and Oswald before motioning up to the hole in the building on the 2nd floor. The two kids that were in that room peered down at them. Bendy points to himself. “I was tossed.” He then points at Oswald. “He was hiding.” He finished. Oswald looks away down the road to avoid eye contact. Y/n’s clothes felt heavier she sighed and shivered yet again.

“All we need to do is locate that bo—“

“Squeak squeak!!” Two loud echoing squeaks that reminded Y/n of a dog's chew toy echoed in the air. The four turned around and were faced with a spider toon—Edgar. He held the book in his hand and smiled triumphantly.

Bendy smiled.

“Eddie!” He shouts with glee and runs over to the toon. He wrapped his arms around the spider toon and lifted him up to give Edgar a tight crushing hug. Edgar let’s out various squeals of laughter. Y/n didn’t know who the toon was but assumed he was good and that Bendy knew him. She jogged over and once she got closer the spider smiled at her and handed her the book. Y/n smiled before taking ahold of the book. At long last!

“Thank you.” She thanks the toon as Bendy sets Edgar down. Edgar smiled before he looked away with a flustered expression.

“There you guys are!” Y/n glanced up and saw Panchito and Donald running over. Once they were close they skidded to a stop once spotting Boris. His height must have made the two cautious as Donald quacked in a surprised manner before hiding behind Panchito. Boris’s nose twitched before he smiled and waved. “Hi!” He says. Panchito soon smiled and waved at Boris—remembering the face from the studio. As for Donald he cautiously looked at Boris but remained silent.

Bendy took the book from Y/n and smugly grinned.

“And we have the book. You all can thank—“ he then looked at Edgar but—Bendy then points to himself with his thumb as he grinned.

“This guy.” Just as he said that. A black blurry figure ran in between him and Y/n. Snatching the book from Bendy’s grasp. Bendy still held the hand up that was holding the book. He looked at his head before he looked at Y/n whose mouth was agape.

“What the hell Bendy!” She shoved him—for what felt like the 100th time the book was taken from them! Bendy grabbed Y/n’s hands to stop her from shoving him again. “Hey! Hey! Don’t get hostile with me—“

“Hah! Losers!” Everyone looked over to see the shadow like toon that Oswald, Y/n, Panchito and Bendy encountered. The fast shadow toon grinned as he held the book above his head before dashing off reaching behind his back with his free hand. He held a small metal like ball.

“You know out of everyone we’ve encountered—he doesn't make me scared.” Panchito absurdly confessed. Oswald rubbed his eye so that he could start to bruise up. The toon then smashed the ball to the ground like a smoke bomb. Black smoke seeped onto the ground and out popped 4 shadow creatures. All with sharp features their glowing white eyes caused Y/n’s bookbag to fall off her shoulder as everyone stared in awe as the 4 shadows loomed in the air threateningly.

“I take that back.” Panchito said nonchalantly.

“Get them!” Zip shouted before he cackled loudly and rushed away with the book. The four shadows quickly started towards the group and all six of them screamed in fear before scurrying off in different directions.

Edgar tripped over his legs running away as he followed Y/n. With how small he was he sure was fast as he kept up to speed with her. Boris and Bendy had run off into another direction. Boris screams and he tripped over a trash can. But he rolled off the ground and kept running. Oswald, Donald and Panchito found their different paths as well—everyone splitting up yet again.

Y/n held her bookbag as she tripped over her wet and saggy pants that were weighing her down. She had to think big instead of running everywhere! She looks at Edgar hoping he could understand her. “Do you think you can find that book again?!” She asks the spider as the two rounded a corner. Edgar squeaks before he remembered she couldn’t understand him. He nods before he stops running and zips off to another street in hopes of finding the stolen book. Y/n looked behind her and saw that the shadow like creature was quick and series of voices were in her head—she assumed it must have been the effect of the creature she covered her ears and huffed she was running out of breath and her legs urged her to take a rest she was running too much! Y/n ducked under a man's arm as he stood in the way. He almost tripped over and looked at Y/n in confusion but didn’t seem to notice the shadow creature chasing after the girl.

As soon as Y/n thought could outrun the creature. To arms stuck out. And grasped onto her dragging her into an alleyway. Y/n yelps and almost tripped over. Turning around quickly she was met with Cuphead.

“Sh! Quiet! I’m helping you—“ he raised a finger to his mouth to silence her. Y/n huffed and placed her back on the wall opposite of Cuphead. She felt water dripping from her and onto the concrete ground. She tried to contain her hard breathing but she couldn’t as Cuphead peeked from the alleyway. Should she even be standing near him?

As he was busy looking away and out the alley to see if the creature was far off somewhere. Y/n looked over and saw a gate she could hop—would she even be quick enough? She couldn’t even run—her clothes were wet and she felt icky and tired! Y/n looked down at her hands to see the bandage around her hands were loosely coming off.

“Are you okay?” Y/n heard the voice echo in the alleyway. She looks up to see Cuphead had turned around to face Y/n. He was wringing his gloved hands slightly.

Y/n didn’t really know what to respond as she stared at him. “Yeah…” she cautiously said. Cuphead smiled. “Great—“

“So. You’re out to kill me?” She abruptly asked…well she had to know! Cuphead opened his mouth before placing his hands on his chest. “They told me to. But I don’t wa—“

“So you are going to kill me?”

“No! I’m not—I was but until I ran into you today—I made the decision that I wasn’t—“

“So your original plan was to kill me—“

“I don’t think either way I put it—it’ll sound good. Look—let’s start from the beginning.” He wandered over to a trash can and leans his elbow onto it. Before looking at Y/n he then smiled.

“Hey, I’m Cuphead. Cups—whateva’, but you can call me…anytime.” He winks at her. Y/n mouth was agape as she stared at him. Feeling butterflies in her stomach as she saw him lean too far in the trash can and almost fall over. He played it off by reaching a hand out to Y/n to shake.

“And I know you. You’re Y/n—my uh…boss…sorta told me. To kill you.” His words went quieter—as blunt as he was he really didn’t seem like the guy to want to kill anyone. But Y/n couldn’t even form words as she looked at him…what an odd guy..

“Don’t seem too…moved..okay..uh…you're still there?” He moved his hand when he saw Y/n didn’t take the hand shake. He waved his hand in front of her to see if he could snap her from her daze. Y/n blinks before she slowly removes herself off the wall.

“What suddenly made you not want to kill me?” She asks. Cuphead gave her a closed lip smile as he gazed at her with a far off look. “Well…you’re pretty.”

What?

Despite feeling the fluffy feeling of butterflies in her stomach. Y/n didn’t find the reply good enough. She furrowed her eyebrows and Cuphead soon raised his hands.

“I know—that doesn't sound like anything too believable—look. My brother and I aren’t people that go around for fun harmin’ folks. This—our boss—The Devil. He sorta owns our souls for the time being, and he said to release us. We had to take that book from you and your friends and specifically kill you. I don’t know why.” His reply seemed genuine and authentic. Y/n tensed muscles slowly eased as she slowly nodded.

“So you’re not going to kill me?” She asks yet again. Cuphead shook his head. “I’m not. I promise I won’t lay a finger on you..” the two were silent for a moment as Y/n tried to wrap her hand around everything. She doesn't understand.

“I don’t understand…Why would you not kill me if that’s the only way to not be soul bound to the Devil.” Y/n repeats. Cuphead looks off to the side.

“You know Felix..right?” He asks. And Y/n nods.

“Well. Me and Mugs—my brother. Our original plan was to get this jewel that would protect us from the Devil. But as you can see—“ he motions around himself. “We’re here. I was going to let you all go—I hope your friends are still alive.”

“Trust me. They are.”

“Well. If you all can get away safely and find that stone. That can break the string between the Devil and me and my brother.” Cuphead finished. Y/n stared at him for a moment.

“So you want us to help you?”

“If that’s not too much to ask..”

Y/n was silent…the book..something about it from earlier…she ran into both Cuphead and Mugman because of the book. Idaho…wait.

Gasping softly she looks at Cuphead.

“You—you and your brother. The book—okay look. We have this book. And this book is leading us to people that should belong on our team. And you and your brother are two of the few people!” She quickly explains. It all made sense now! Cuphead tilts his head.

“What’s the purpose of it. Everyone on my team—the head honchos as I put it. Want that book. I never really cared to find out why but..what’s so important about it?” He asks. And frankly;

“We don’t have an answer for that yet. It’s—it's a lot to unravel. And we’ll explain that when we get you and your brother out of this mess. All you need to know now. Is that. You need to be on our team. And I’ll make it happen.” She boasts. Y/n gave him a smile and Cuphead then smiled back.

“I like ya’ spunk.” He winks. “Have any boyfriend’s?” He grins. Y/n smiled slowly. “No.”

“Lookin’ for any?”

“We have bigger things to look at right now—“

“Alright, alright. I have a plan for you to get your book back and for your friends to leave town safely.” Cuphead moved on. Y/n nods as the two walks deeper into the alleyway.

“Tell me and let’s put it into action.”

[extasiswings]

MORE finale-spec because I hadn’t written a Buck POV yet.  Also, wow, I need the new episode so I have something else to think about...

There’s a moment that happens sometimes before disaster strikes.

The world slows, and everything is thrown into stark clarity—Buck can remember it right before the ladder truck, the tsunami, Eddie’s well collapse—that feeling of being outside of his own body for a few seconds knowing suddenly that something terrible is about to hit.  He remembers.

They’ve just finished a shift when it happens. Buck’s walking out to the parking lot with Eddie when Bobby calls him back—

“Go ahead,” Eddie says. “I told Christopher I would pick up ice cream on the way home anyway, so—we’ll see you at the house?”

“I’ll be there,” Buck promises. “I—I’m glad that—that we’re doing this. I’ve missed—” You. Both of you. “—him.”

Eddie’s lips curve up and his eyes soften.

“He’s missed you, too,” he replies quietly.

Buck’s heart flips in his chest.

Bobby calls him again. He turns away. Eddie continues walking to his truck—

Buck glances back over his shoulder when he reaches the garage—

The world slows. Everything goes cold.

A gunshot rings out.

Across the parking lot, Eddie collapses like a puppet with its strings cut.

Buck’s moving before he can even think, only to be abruptly yanked back into the safety of the garage. He fights the grip—everything around him is white noise, his focus narrowed to Eddie’s prone form on the ground—

His throat is raw. He thinks he might be screaming.

“Buck. Buck!” Bobby shouts right next to his ear. “It’s not safe—”

“Fuck safe,” Buck spits out and finally wrenches free, sprinting across the parking lot and dropping to his knees when he reaches Eddie. Eddie’s breathing is labored and blood slicks his hands where he’s holding pressure on the gunshot wound.

“Buck,” Eddie chokes out. “You shouldn’t be—sniper—”

“If he wants to shoot me, he can shoot me, but I’m not leaving you here,” Buck replies. He covers Eddie’s hands with his to help hold pressure, barely holding back a shudder at the unhelpful reminder his mind offers up that he isn’t trained for this, doesn’t know what he’s doing, and if Eddie dies—

Fuck, it would have been better if their positions were reversed. And Buck would do it if he could. Would take a bullet, a hundred, a thousand bullets if it would make Eddie magically fine, if it would send him home safe and sound to Christopher.

“Was supposed to get the ice cream,” Eddie murmurs, and his eyes are distant, focus slipping in and out. “Chris has been—been looking forward to tonight—all week.”

“Eddie, look at me,” Buck demands. There’s ice in his stomach and Eddie’s blood is warm on his hands—the contrast makes his head swim and his throat tighten. “Look at me, okay? Focus.”

Eddie makes a small, hurt noise and closes his eyes when Buck presses down a little harder, but when he opens them again Buck can tell he’s more present. Over in the ambulance bay, there’s shouting, and an engine starts up, but Buck’s gaze doesn’t leave Eddie’s.

“I promised—promised I wouldn’t leave him again,” Eddie says. “I promised—”

“And you’re going to keep that promise,” Buck replies fiercely as the ambulance pulls up right next to them, the doors opening and providing the faintest amount of cover. Hen jumps out with a backboard and together they get Eddie onto it and loaded inside.

“Buck,” Eddie tries to say again, except then his face pales rapidly, a terrible choked wheeze leaving him, and his eyes roll back.

“What’s happening?” Buck asks, his voice high with panic.

“I think one of his lungs collapsed,” Hen says, her own voice painfully controlled as she sets to work. And Buck just keeps holding pressure and lets her go.

When they get to the hospital—

Buck stands frozen in the ambulance bay outside the emergency room doors staring blankly after the gurney as the doctors and nurses wheel Eddie inside and into a trauma room. There’s blood rushing in his ears, he’s freezing—

And Eddie’s blood is on his hands, drying, staining his skin—

He gets sick in the nearest trash can.

“Buck.” Hen’s voice is quiet, her touch gentle when her hand curls around his shoulder.

He’s shaking. He can’t seem to stop.

“You’re in shock,” she says, and Buck realizes he must have said that out loud. “Come sit down.”

“I should be doing something,” Buck replies, even as he lets her lead him back to sit on the edge of the ambulance. His voice is distant to his own ears. “I should—I should call Isabel—Christopher—”

“You don’t have to do anything right this second.” Hen presses a water bottle into his hands. “Except drink that.”

Buck picks at the label instead. His mind is racing too quickly as well, skipping from thought to thought and not really processing any of them.

“He’s going to be fine, right?” He asks. “He has to be. Because I can’t—I can’t—”

Fuck, he can’t breathe. It’s like he gave Eddie his own lungs to keep him breathing. If he’s numb it’s because his heart is beating in Eddie’s chest, keeping him alive, and that makes sense to Buck because if Eddie dies—

He lost him to Ana. He did. Months of barely seeing each other outside of work. Months of barely seeing Christopher. Months of feeling like he couldn’t pick up the phone or drive over and use his key to just drop in because it suddenly felt...intrusive. And then Eddie broke up with Ana and they were finally supposed to get back to being them again, and now—

Buck would rather lose Eddie to a hundred Anas than lose him like this. At least before he still had physical presence, the half-life of proximity a few times a week at work. He could live with that, no matter how much it felt like hell.

“He has a great team working on him,” Hen says. “They’re going to do everything they can.”

It’s not an answer. Or it is. But not quite. But then, Buck’s pretty sure Hen doesn’t want to lie to him.

He shudders again. His eyes blur.

There are words trapped in his throat. Words that he hasn’t let himself say, has hardly even let himself acknowledge in his own head. But he’s fraying, fraying, fraying at the seams and his heart is in a trauma room and there is still blood on his hands—

Buck hunches forward, elbows on his knees, curling into himself.

“I’m in love with him,” he whispers. Just to say it. Just once.

Hen wraps her arm around his shoulders, gently encouraging him to lean against her.

“I know,” she admits.

And Buck turns his head into her shoulder. And breaks.

[wiihtigo]

Could you talk more about sam and max being autistic idk I just like hearing your thoughts about it your doc was cool

you come to me on the day of my daughters wedding and ask me about sam and max autism headcanons, forcing me to open tumblr and start writing what ive been thinking recently about maxs autism in relation to him in 305

i talked about this in private a bit but i think 305 could be taken as an allegory for maxs giant autism and thinking you dont feel things the right way with ASD

-max turns into a giant horrible monster in 305, this could be taken as him literally seeing himself as a monster and the whole town, all their friends, see him as such and want him DEAD all except sam whos constantly vouching for max this entire episode. at the end when superego was like "wow! max is actually capable of self sacrifice! amazing!" sam says "told you so." very smug because he knew all along, he always knew max was capable of kindness and love because he sees it firsthand every day!

theyre partners and best friends, of course he knows him better than he knows himself. Literally in this case, where superego, personification of part of maxs brain, thinks hes not capable of feeling things in a normal, proper way, max doesnt think that about HIMSELF, superegos issue with max (maxs issue with himself lol) is that he thinks hes capable of more and max is just ignoring him he says specifically hes tried to push max towards the finer things in life and being more proper (max trying to push himself? talking about max and superego as separate when theyre essentially the same is so hard #HELP.) he thinks hes selfish and cruel and not capable of a selfless act.

theres even a line superego says to sam where he says "you of all people should be able to understand my frustration after years of being partnered with a creature driven by pure id" which is like. does max think sam gets frusterated with him and doesnt want him as a partner because of the way that he Is. max. this is a nice little parallel to sam just last episode having that thought "max is getting so powerful now soon he wont even need me :(" but thats getting away from my point a little. (veering into max depression discussion which is a whole can of worms on its own, but it is worth mentioning autism and depression often go hand in hand and some of maxs self worth issues can be attributed to feeling weird about his autism traits)

anyways of course max was capable of a selfless act, of course he would save sybil and her baby, he loves sybil and he loves babies and he has a lot of love in his little heart. so skipping ahead a bit to the biggest scene in sam and max that baffle and confuse millions, maxs reaction to coming back to sam.

a lot of people are confused by maxs nonchalance and casual retelling of the horrible events that apparently went down in his timeline where he had to kill his sam. (interestingly but a little off topic, he specifically says HE blew sam up, whereas in this tl, max killed HIMSELF, sam didnt do a thing. in fact he wouldve probably stayed trying to save him until they both blew up if superego hadnt convicned him itd be tooootally fine to leave. seriously sam its OK hes NOT going to blow up i promise. ok bye bye."

so max comes back, immediately tries to jump back into normalcy and jokes and feels unsure and uncomfortable when sam doesnt reciprocate. he looks confused when sam hugs him even. a lot of people are like "what the hell did he mean by this" but TBH as someone with ASD and lots of experience in the "getting bad news over the phone and then going to a funeral" pipeline i really felt a mind and soul connection with max there! this is mentioned somewhere int he sam and max bible for the cartoon but steve purcell writes something along the lines of "max sees things differently from anyone else" on the topic of his strange reactions to things. which is like. You have autism ->

theres an unskippable line in 305 right before you get to the endgame where sam says "why does max have tear ducts? i cant remember the last time ive seen max cry." and then immediately gets into maxs juxtaposed reaction to sams death to sams absolute MISERY over maxs. max might not feel grief in the way people would expect from a person. he might not even be sad. he might not feel things in the "proper" or "normal" way but that doesnt make him a 50 foot shambling eldritch monster, hes just wired differently. as someone with autism ive felt it too where i dont think i feel things in the right way. if something really sad and fucked up happens to me i dont feel sad and the only thing im immediately concerned with is feeling uncomfortable with watching the people around me crying which, as im typing this, makes me feel like a monster freak for being so cold and cruel, but thats the point im trying to get at, 305 could be read as an allegory for this exact feeling.. because at the end of the day max is just max and sam is happy to see him and accept him as he is. hes not a monster, hes just sams partner and best friend and its ok to be exactly the way he is without feeling the need to change

[ashtonsdrumstixs]

HERES A SMALL UPDATE FROM DISCORD

Hello all,

I wanted to take a bit to give a rough outline of what's ahead for the channel, what with the Inversion arc and all that.

The Inversion arc will involve a video released each day from the 15th through the 20th. The finale on the 20th will be a premiere on Youtube at the usual time (4PM MST).

These videos will depict an ongoing crisis situation, one which remains unresolved until that finale on the 20th. With that in mind, all I ask is that you prioritize your mental health when choosing when, how, or if to partake in these videos. Be very mindful of the trigger warnings on each of them before proceeding. If you'd like to skip listening to them and just read summaries of what happens, those will be available. If that means holding off and not watching any of them until you can binge the whole 6 video sequence on the 20th, then that's totally fine too. Whatever is best for your own wellbeing. It's an amazing feeling to know that people care about my creations enough to feel this strongly about them and the characters in them, but if you know you're the kind of person who these things might deeply affect, you have to prioritize your mental state, please.

While the 20th will mark the resolution of the Inversion crisis itself, that resolution doesn't just magically whisk away all the aftereffects of something this impactful to the characters and world itself. To that end, there will be another 6 video arc that will directly explore those aftereffects, starting on February 5th (more details will come after the Inversion finale). Between those two dates there will be some unrelated breather videos from the unempowered human storylines, Ollie and Aaron, to serve as a bit of a break before we get back into heavier stuff. And as time goes on, the longer term effects of all this will continue to be explored on the channel as all the plots continue on, just like they would in real life. No new-episode-everything's-reset-to-normal-next-week episodic style here.

I'm excited for the new releases, and I hope you are too. I'm not coming here to try and hype up or panic anyone or oversell the drama of what's coming, but given the scale of this plot-wise, it's important to me that you guys have the broader picture of what's ahead so that you can make informed decisions about how you want to interact with it. See you on the 15th!