#overly long winded explanation incoming

[digitaldiseas3]

extremely frustrating situation

[bohemian-rhapsody-in-blue]

hihi!! I hope you're having a good day and feel better soon : ) I know you're in college right now and I'm starting soon (this fall!!!) and I was wondering if you had any advice for finding roommates? Im pretty sure im also some flavor of neuro divergent and I'm kind of worried about finding a roommate for my freshman year and becoming friends with them.... what did you do when you were trying to find someone? did the transition feel okay? I really hope I find someone who likes me and im really worried that ill be too awkward when first meeting people

Hi, anon! (And thanks for asking about my feeling better—I am indeed recovering from my cold, slowly but surely!)

How exciting that you’re entering college this fall—congratulations to you, the Class of ‘28! You’re right that I’m currently in college—I’m a senior (and currently in Grad School Application Hell)—and it’s really nice revisiting all the excited feelings I had as I was entering college for the first time, too, and I’m so excited FOR you! It’s not an easy transition, and I understand if you’re nervous, but in the best of circumstances, it can be SO much fun—the new environment, the newfound freedom, the new friends, the endless possibilities of this new chapter in your life! (Do I sound like a cliché and/or some overly-enthusiastic person from an admissions office taking you on a college tour right now? Maybe. Sorry about that.)

I’ll start with the caveat that I’m by no means an expert on this, just speaking from my personal experience (in which I’ve been lucky to have two absolutely lovely roommates!), largely drawn from how my college functions and what worked well for me. I’ve done my best to make this explanation more general and inclusive of how other schools might work, though. (And if you or anyone reading this has any more specific questions, feel free to shoot me another ask or a DM!)

So, given my lack of qualification…I’ve put on my Advice Columnist Hat and basically written a LOOOOOONG-winded treatise on how to find roommates for your first year of college, especially if you’re some flavor of neurodivergent! That will be under the cut, so let’s go!

How To Find Roommates For Your First Year Of College, Especially If You’re Some Flavor Of Neurodivergent

An Unnecessarily Long-Winded Treatise By bohemian-rhapsody-in-blue

Part 1: Picking Prospective Roommates Based on Questionnaires & Compatibility

The way my school does roommate selection for incoming first-years is that you can choose either to “go random” (be assigned a totally random roommate, who I think will always be someone else who’s also chosen to go random), or you can fill out a questionnaire and be matched with people who’ve answered it similarly. If, for some reason, your school just assigns random roommates to everyone and you don’t have any choice in whom your roommate will be, then you can skip this whole part and scroll down to Part 2. (Sorry!)

The aforementioned roommate form/questionnaire has questions about how you prefer to live/what you’d like your housing situation to be like. Whether they’re part of an official form from your school or not, they’re all important things to consider when you’re deciding who would make the best match for you as a roommate, especially when you’re neurodivergent and have specific routines, sensory needs, socialization-related needs, etc. (but also just for everyone, because it makes accommodating the other person and their schedules/patterns so much easier if they’re already the same as your own schedules/patterns!) These will be things like:

Have you ever consistently lived in the same room with someone before (a sibling, a roommate at boarding/prep school or sleepaway camp, etc.)?

What time do you like to go to sleep/wake up?

Do you keep your room neat and tidy, cluttered but clean, or messy?

How often do you plan to be in the room? (As opposed to: in class, in extracurriculars, in OTHER people’s rooms, going out/partying, working at a job, etc. Some people hardly ever leave their rooms, and some treat their room more like a waystation.)

How often do you plan to have people over in the room?

Do you use substances (do drugs, drink alcohol, smoke, etc.), and how would you feel about a roommate who used substances?

How do you feel about roommates using your stuff? (what’s mine is yours / ask first / please don’t touch)

Do you need darkness to sleep, or are you okay with some lights being on?

Do you need quiet to sleep, or are you okay with some noise?

Do you want you and your roommate to be acquaintances, friends, or close friends?

The questionnaire for my college, as I recall, also asks some general questions about your personality, hobbies, planned majors, extracurriculars, etc.

If your college’s housing form has a questionnaire like this, hell yeah! Go ahead and fill it out, if you haven’t already! After you’ve done so, the program will match you with people who have answered similarly, in an attempt to create nice, concordant living situations. My college’s program provided a list of a bunch of possible prospects, with their compatibility percentage (91% compatible, 86% compatible, etc.), and showed their provided description and their answers to the questionnaires, so you could see where you agreed and disagreed. Kinda like this character personality quiz, but with, y’know, real people. If your college DOESN’T have a questionnaire like this (I think most do, but I’ll freely admit I’m not very up on how colleges that aren’t mine work…), you can use a roommate-finder website like Roomsurf or Diggz, or an app like Roomie. (Yeah, the names are kinda stupid…) Finally, some social-media profiles for schools’ incoming classes (like a Class of ‘28 Discord server or Instagram page) let you write up a little profile on your own, with your answers to these questions. When they post it, people can look at it determine their compatibility with you on their own, then comment/DM you expressing their interest in being your roommate.

Whatever method you choose, I’d suggest that if you’re neurodivergent, you do some sort of questionnaire like this—or at the very least find some way of expressing your preferences—instead of going random, if that’s at all possible. It reduces a lot of stress if you have at least SOME idea, going in, of what it will be like to live with your roommate, and it goes the other way around, too—you’re letting your roommate know what it will be like to live with you. And although a perfect, 100% match is next to impossible, it’s really nice to get a roommate who has similar habits to yours and is able to tolerate yours—if you go to bed and wake up at around the same time, if you both need quiet at a certain time, if neither of you wants people over in your room often, etc. I’d argue that this is almost more important than friendship based on things like shared interests (majors, fandoms, etc.). In fact, I’ve known people who are the best of friends, but who’d make terrible roommates! On the other hand, I’ve known people who were perfectly cordial, respectful roommates who got along well and liked each other fine, but barely hung out in other contexts. To sun up, living compatibility is important, and I’d argue that neurodivergence makes it even more important—when things like this are less “wants” than “needs”.

Speaking of which: in your answers to these questionnaires or in your profile, you might or might not want to disclose that you’re neurodivergent, or that you suspect you are. That’s totally your choice, and you don’t have to disclose anything you’re not comfortable with. If you specifically want a neurodivergent roommate, then it might be a good thing to disclose that you are or might be neurodivergent too. (Although, as the saying goes, if you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person. And that’s just one specific category of neurodivergence! Someone else might have totally different sensory needs and routines than you do—or they might be a different flavor of neurodivergent or have co-occurring physical/mental conditions. This is always a good thing to talk to them about more specifically and in more detail, if both of you are comfortable with it.) It might also be a good idea to say you’re neurodivergent as an explanation for why you need your living conditions to be the way they are and why you may be less willing or likely to budge on them—they’re not just preferences, they’re accommodations, things you NEED. However, if you’re uncomfortable disclosing this information—if you think that mentioning it might alienate potential roommates who are ableist or have misconceptions about neurodivergence, or if you’re just uncomfortable with saying you’re for sure neurodivergent when you’re not entirely sure (believe me, I get it; I’ve been there, and still kinda am!)—then you don’t have to say it. Another option is to see if any potential roommate matches mention that they are neurodivergent—then you can privately message them and say you suspect that you might be, too. This way you don’t have to disclose it to the world in your profile, but you might still find people who are wired the same or a similar way that you are.

Aside from that—my advice is to be as honest as possible when filling out these questionnaires. Obviously you can’t predict everything about how you’ll ACTUALLY turn out to live and behave in college—maybe you anticipate spending lots of time outside of your room for an extracurricular that you don’t even end up doing, or you liked to keep your room neat in high school, but with all the responsibilities and stress of college life, cleaning your room ends up falling by the wayside. You can’t predict that with absolute certainty, and the prospective roommates looking at your answers know that—it’s all preliminary guesswork. After all, they’re guessing how they’ll live, too! But given that, do your best to be as honest as you can. Don’t feel bad or ashamed, or like you need to hide/downplay any of your living habits! It’s not “bad” or “wrong” to have a messy room, go to bed late, or use/not use substances. It’s better to be upfront about things like this, so your roommate doesn’t feel deceived when your living patterns turn out to be different than how you made them out to be in the questionnaire—or so you don’t have to feel like you have to overhaul your own living habits. Self-improvement is a great thing to aspire to, but with all the changes that come with moving to college, it can just cause more stress—especially for neurodivergent people who need routines and familiarity. (Even if going to bed at 3 AM is your routine—*cough* me *cough*) And feeling like you have to tiptoe around another person or suppress your own needs can cause resentment to build up over time, and that’s not fair to you or your roommate. You don’t have to disclose anything you’re not comfortable with, but be as honest as you can.

To close out this section, here’s a quick, funny comic about how these questionnaires often go for people filling them out!

Part 2: Narrowing It Down Through Conversation

So! What next? If your college has picked out a roommate for you, or if you’ve got a list of contenders for your future roommate—people who have high compatibility scores with you on the roommate questionnaire or who have commented and expressed interest in being your roommate over social media—then the next thing to do is reach out to them! There might be a messaging feature embedded within the housing portal, or people might put their Instagram/Twitter/Discord/etc. info in the part of the roommate questionnaire that asks for a brief description of them. If you found someone through social media in the first place, you can just DM them on that account! Worse comes to worst, you can just Google “[person’s name] + [college name] + [‘28]”, and you’ll often get a social media profile for them that way.

What I did was take the top few people from the list of possible compatible roommates that the program spit out, then sent them each the same message I’d written beforehand. From what I can remember, I introduced myself, explained that the roommate portal matched us up/suggested that we’d be compatible, and said I was excited to get to know them more and see if we’d like to be roommates—and, if that wasn’t possible, if we could be friends as we both entered our college. I’d usually find a little detail from their profile and expand on that to start a conversation—things like: “I noticed on your profile that you like anime! I love it too—my favorite is Cowboy Bebop, but I like all kinds! What are your favorites? Do you have any recommendations?” or “I saw on your profile that you’re a fencer! That’s so cool, I’ve always wanted to learn that! Are you planning to join the fencing team or take classes at [School]?” (To be clear, I just made these up—I hadn’t watched Cowboy Bebop yet when I started college! I also hadn’t tried fencing yet, which is actually true to the message I made up—now I have taken a fencing class and can confidently say that I absolutely SUCK at it. But I digress.) 

The next few messages, back and forth, are where you begin to get to know this person and (hopefully!) establish a friendship with them. Beyond just the logistics of living, you get to see if you click. You don’t want to live with someone with whom you’d always have an awkward silence or feel on edge, or whom you just plain don’t like or find annoying—even if you have the exact same schedules and living preferences! A good roommate is someone with whom you feel comfortable—because, after all, they’re the person with whom you’ll spend the majority of your time for a year. Things like shared interests are a bonus, even if they’re not strictly necessary—it’s nice to have built-in ways to spend downtime with your roommate and bond with them. For instance, if you’re both into anime, you can watch it together; if you both like biking, you can go on bike rides together. Again, you don’t have to be best friends with your roommate—and if you don’t expect to be best friends with them, it lowers the pressure on both of you as you get to know each other!—but it’s nice to click with them, at least a little. (If you’re having trouble carrying on the conversation, I’ve written this guide to getting-to-know-you conversations and socializing, specifically for autistic people! Again, I’m by NO means an expert, but hopefully it can prove a little helpful!)

If you’ve messaged back and forth and are seriously considering the possibility of being roommates, I’d suggest at least one video chat before making it official, for a few reasons:

You can get a sense of how well you mesh in spoken back-and-forth conversations…which you’ll be having a LOT of if you’re roommates! Texts/DMs don’t always translate to spoken conversations (whether IRL or over video calls) the same way.

The two of you can see what the other looks like beyond their curated social media profile.

You can give each other a virtual tour of your rooms at home, to show them what your living situation is currently like.

If you’re comfortable with it, you can meet each other’s families—whom you might be seeing a LOT of during move-in!

And remember: if you message lots of people (who themselves are also messaging lots of people), it’s inevitable that some roommate relationships won’t work out! Sometimes the other person might ghost you, or find another roommate, or YOU might find a roommate and have to let the other people you messaged down easy, or you might decide that you’re better as friends than as roommates, or they might just annoy the hell out of you. That’s okay! Barring the first and last situations, just because you’re not roommates doesn’t mean you can’t be friends. And, in fact, by messaging a lot of people for roommate selection, oops—you’ve accidentally made lots of good, friendly connections for when the school year starts, and now you know more people you’ll see in your dorm, in class, in the dining halls, etc.! Even if someone’s not your future roommate, they could be your future study group member, or partner for meals, or person with whom to laugh at terrible sitcoms, or whatever.

Part 3: Maybe Not Even Having A Roommate At All?!?!?

One more thing to consider: if you’re worried about having a roommate, then, depending on your school, you might be able to get a single room to yourself and not have to have a roommate at all! The rules are different from one school to the next—my mom spent all four years of her undergraduate education happily in singles, never having a roommate, whereas my school requires you to have a roommate your first year. That is…unless you have medical accommodations that require you living in a single. If you’re really worried about roommates—if you think that the stress of having one might be sensory overload or detrimental to your mental health (and it can be a lot, being around someone All The Time!) and you need time to unmask & be truly on your own, then it might be worth looking into accommodations. These can look like: a “medical single,” an early room-selection slot to make sure you can pick a single before they’re all taken, etc. See if your school offers something similar; it’ll usually be under an office with a name like “Accessibility,” “Accommodations,” “ADA,” etc.

However, two caveats:

Accommodations like this often require some form of paperwork confirming an official diagnosis. Some accessibility offices aren’t very lenient about self-diagnosis or even diagnoses that are in progress. I assume, from your saying that you’re “pretty sure you’re some flavor of neurodivergent,” that you haven’t gotten an official diagnosis, and I can totally understand all the reasons you or others may not have one—lack of access, lack of permission, doubtful doctors, worries about how a diagnosis may affect other aspects of your life, just not wanting to or not being sure yet! I myself am just at the “maybe-possibly autistic” stage and only recently considered the possibility of a diagnosis as a Real Thing In My Future. But keep in mind that accommodations offices, ironically, might not be that understanding or accommodating.

Sometimes, unfortunately, accessibility administration can just be bad at their jobs and a hassle to deal with—so getting accommodations like this might be a long fight, and might not happen until you’re already in a room. Then you’d have to deal with the stress of having a roommate for a few months, compounded with the stress of having to pack up and move into a new single, sometimes in another building entirely!

This is where it’s good to look into resources for incoming students to your school, preferably ones where current students can answer questions freely and with candor—like those social-media pages for incoming students (if they’re run by students themselves), or groups on Facebook, Discord, Sidechat/YikYak, etc.—and see how good your school’s accessibility office’s track record is when it comes to granting accommodations quickly, helpfully, and fairly. People who have dealt with them before can answer and give you some insight. (I’ll admit, some of my rancor might be coming from experiences I’ve witnessed at my school, whose accessibility office can, to put it in the nicest way possible, be hit-or-miss…)

Part 4: My Personal Experience/Conclusion

Now for a bit of a tangent about my personal experience. Luckily, I’ve had really good luck with roommates the two years I had them. My first-year roommate, whom I met through the questionnaire, was really nice and made a good, respectful roommate. Although we haven’t crossed paths much after first year, we’re still friendly when we do see each other. Then, in my second year, I couldn’t room with that person again because she became an RA and was assigned a single, so I roomed with one of my best friends, whom I’d met at the beginning of first year! Unfortunately, they and I ended up sharing the world’s tiniest “dingle” (a single into which the college shoved two beds and pretended it was a double), where there was hardly room to move around without bumping into each other. But both of us proved very accommodating (at least, I hope I was!) and actually ended that year with an even closer friendship, instead of coming to blows and wanting to kill each other. I’m not sure I would have been able to share that single with anyone else but them! (Actually, I’m Tumblr mutuals with both of these people—to be clear, we followed each other here after knowing each other in real life; we didn’t meet on Tumblr and then happen to go to the same college—which I guess speaks to how we’re similar flavors of weird??? And if either of them see this post, I hope you know how wonderful you are and I apologize if I’ve misrepresented you!!) My third year, I was assigned a single due to an on-campus job I had, and I’ll have a single this coming year because I’m a senior.

I won’t lie and say the transition was easy—it’s never easy going to college for the first time, especially when you’re living in a dorm away from home. But when I followed the steps I outlined above, it made it a lot easier for me and gave me two lovely roommates; I’m so glad to have shared the experience with them. I really hope my super long-winded guide was helpful, and I hope you have similar luck and a great experience, both with finding a roommate and with college life in general! I’ve had so much fun in college so far—for me, it’s been worlds better than high school!—and I wish the same for you. 💖

[oneyeartoparty]

Meeting At Long Last - Chapter 1

I LOVE soulmate AU’s so I decided to write my own. Should be able to post another chapter of this within the next week. Apologies for bad grammar. I’m still learning. Enjoy and know I’m sending the good vibes your way <3

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24753607/chapters/59847541

This is a message from Crossing Island! Please help us! We’re under attack from pirates! Please send someone to assist! Repeating message.

When the message started blaring through her Den Den Mushi, interrupting her much needed sleep, she knew she had to respond. She had only entered the New World a day ago, and already she was going on her first hunt. Given how few made it past Fishman Island, she was surprised it had happened so soon. She had been hoping for a break after almost being eaten by a Sea King during her ascent.

I guess getting some time off was overly optimistic she thought as she gazed at the destruction below.

Her hilltop vantage point gave her a good view of the destroyed town and the forest beyond it. The once proud town was now ablaze; flames sprouted out of the roofs of buildings while others had already been turned to ash and dust. Still remnants of the missing residents remained. She could see a burning home with daisies in the windowsill and well-tended ivy climbing its walls. Close to it was a child’s chalk drawing of a cat on the cobblestone path. This town was once home to peaceful people going about their lives, and now it was a burning husk.

Anger scratched in her chest. These scenes were not uncommon in the Grand Line, and each one added to her hatred of those who would so readily harm others for gain or entertainment. Fortunately, there wouldn’t be a long search for the culprit. After all, the lumbering figure wondering between burning buildings couldn’t be missed.

He was Mozo the Mad, a man with a 50 million bounty gained from raiding villages and towns. He was tall, easily three metres in height with a body and limbs as thick as a tree trunk. The clothes he wore were the same as those in his bounty poster; a grey suit and bowler hat that were far too small. As she watched him now, she saw the clothing nearly bursting at the seams with every movement he made.

Why wear such ill-fitting clothing? And why no shoes? She pondered his odd choice in apparel as he entered another building.

Maybe he is another idiot who thinks having a gimmick makes him intimidating.

Still his clothes weren’t his most stand out feature. That honour went to his face, which had two prominent features he was well-known for. The first was his smile. He was said to always be smiling, showing of his rotting, serrated teeth that were rumoured to give off an intense, foul odour of decay. The second was the deep scars that surrounded his thin lips, gained from his habit of absentmindedly chewing them.

She had tried to catch him while still in Paradise, but he disappeared before she could find him. It seems she had found where he disappeared to.

She had to capture him here, but she would have to plan this well. The small, flickering lights coming from the forest that surrounded most of the town told her the villagers were still nearby. If he ran in that direction, he wouldn’t hesitate to use them as shields.

The flames danced and Mozo continued to rummage through the destruction. Finally, she stood and stretched.

She was ready to begin. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blood and ash stained hands ripped up the floorboards of a now abandoned home. Mozo craved his well-earned treasure and so he searched the town. Beneath beds, inside mattresses and under floorboards. He teared into every space that could be used as a hiding spot.

So far, his search had netted him little. A few hundred thousand beli and a gold necklace was all the loot he’d found. Still he continued the search. The town had been built quickly with quality materials and expert hands. That doesn’t happen without money.

Wondering out of another home with no new loot, Mozo felt his frustration peak.

“Dammit!” he shouted into the empty town. He needed a new plan. Searching like this was getting him nowhere and as the flames spread the risk grew that they’d consume any loot before he reached it.

He considered finding the villagers that had escaped into the nearby forest. It wouldn’t take much to get them to talk.

Impatience took over, and he begrudgingly took a step in the direction of the forest when he felt it. A stabbing pain in his left leg that caused him to look down. Blood slowly trickled from a new wound on his shin, yet he couldn’t see a source.

He leaned in closer to inspect the wound. Had he injured himself in his search? It wouldn’t be the first time.

His inspection was halted by a sudden flood of light that illuminated the world around him. Looking up, he saw he was now surrounded by a circle of flame that towered into the night sky.

Unfazed by the odd occurrence, Mozo let out a booming laugh.

“Do you villagers think some flames will scare me off? No, this is just a minor annoyance.”

No response came. He searched for any movement or sign of life, but there was nothing. Even as sweat gathered on his body and smoke tickled his throat there were no perpetrators to aim his fury at.

“Hello Mozo.”

The female voice came from behind. It was barely above a whisper, so they had to be close. Hoping to capitalise on their mistake he moved to punch behind him. Yet as he spun all he felt was air. Stopping his swing, he looked forward, seeing the source of the voice.

His first though was that a rabbit mink stood before him, but soon he realised that wasn’t the case.

The figure before him was a freak in a pink and white rabbit mask.

Their attire was simple brown leather armour and boots. A small rectangular shield ran the length of their lower left arm, and an unsheathed sword glinted in her right hand.

It was obvious to Mozo that this person was his enemy, even an idiot could figure that out. Yet they appeared to be alone. The docks were some distance behind the figure, but he couldn’t see them past the wall of flames that entrapped them both.

Deciding not to wait to find out if this person was a threat, he smiled his most intimidating smile and pointed both his index fingers at his opponent.

“Spike Bullet!”

In an instant, two steel spikes emerged from his fingertips, aimed squarely at his opponent’s head.

The figure moved swiftly, easily dodging the projectiles.

There was no doubt that they were using observation haki. Even though he had yet to unlock it himself he still knew what it looked like.

Undeterred, he continued firing, failing to land a shot. Yet his opponent didn’t move, instead just dodging his attacks.

He realised their observation haki must be too powerful for his regular attack. He would need to use something stronger to get the upper hand.

‘Spike Barrage!”

He quickly shifted his hands, facing his palm toward them. With incredible speed, hundreds of spikes began emerging from palms. Using the full power of his devil fruit, he made the spikes morph between different materials and sizes. Ice, fire, wood, and steel spikes all appeared, some the size of his head and others smaller than a needle.

A streak of confidence took over him. There was no way they could beat this attack. No one else he had ever face had survived it. Unable to see through the barrage of spikes, he slowed it, confident he would see a corpse before him.

His confidence quickly faded however, when he saw his opponent standing in exact same spot. The only difference was the damage caused by the spikes to the area that surrounded them.

Impossible! He thought in a panic. I fired hundreds of spikes at em and they dodged them all? They must have a devil fruit. It’s the only explanation. A logia maybe? Every hotshot with a logia thinks they can beat me.

Mozo wouldn’t get the answer to his question. Instead all that he would see was black after the same figure standing before him crept up behind him and knocked him out with a swift, well-aimed punch to the back of his head. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The click of the sea stone shackles as they enclosed Mozo’s wrists and ankles bought her a small sense of satisfaction. His capture would not make the New World any safer, but one less scumbag was a good thing.

Detaching the chain from the back of her belt, she attached the hooked end to the chain between Mozo’s wrists. He was too heavy to carry, so dragging him was her only option. 

Letting out a sigh, she began dragging her captive toward her ship.

My muscles are going to hate me for this.

She walked in silence as she made her way forward. The only sounds were the crackling of the remaining flames and the crunch of soil and the clinking of the chains as she dragged her quarry to the edge of town. As she walked past the broken town sign, the wind picked up, dust and leaves floated past her.

This was no ordinary wind. The trees far ahead of her weren’t moving and the clear sky signalled that there was no incoming storm. Something was coming toward the island, and she doubted it would be pleasant.

Then it hit her, just like the wind had. There was a powerful force heading toward the island. If she had less skill in observation haki, she would have said it was one being of immense power, but she could sense a large group. One stood out though, like a tsunami against a wave. Whoever or whatever they were, they were not to be trifled with by someone of her strength.

Her gaze turned to the town’s dock and the horizon beyond. There she could see the source of what she had sensed. A ship was sailing toward the island, the whales head that made up the vessels bow the its three tall masts poked at her memory. She knew them but didn’t remember where from.

She thought at first to describe the ship as massive, but somehow the word felt like a disservice. As it drew closer its size seemed to only increase, a testament, she felt, to the strength of those who dwelt onboard.

A fluttering to her side drew her attention. It was a singed flag that was stuck under some rubble. It was the Jolly Roger of the Whitebeard Pirates.

“Oh”.

[psychosistr]

Friendly Four Verse- Meetings Part 3: Liquidator

Summary: Investigating some disappearances along the coast lead the Terrific Trio to a life-or-death battle against the forces of the sea. Thankfully for Megavolt, Quackerjack, and Bushroot, the sea seems to be on their side.

Notes: The final chapter of this installment and, as promised, it’s gonna be another long one. Hope everyone enjoys it!

-First Chapter-

The Liquidator was the last to join their little rag-tag group of heroes, but he left the biggest impact. Saving the whole city tended to do that…

There had been reports of ships going missing on their way to St.Canard for weeks now, as well as a string of missing people from the bay and the beach itself. Sadly, one or two missing ships and an occasional missing person’s report were common place in a city so rampant with crime- but the current wave was reaching unprecedented levels.

Determined to get to the bottom of the strange spiriting away at sea, the trio of heroes (duo plus one, Bushroot still tried to insist) arrived at the beach to do some investigating. Unfortunately, Megavolt’s glaring weakness was making things more than a little difficult.

“Oh for the love of-! Would you get away from the water already?!” Bushroot shouted before stretching his long arm several feet over to where Megavolt was standing dangerously close to the incoming tide. He grabbed the electric-powered hero and physically dragged him back to the much drier sand. “Are you actually TRYING to short out?!”

“Sorry..” Megavolt at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed as he rubbed at the back of his short-haired head before pointing at the spot he’d just occupied. “But I think I found something!”

“We’ve been over this, Sparky.” Bushroot sounded an awful lot like a parent lecturing a child that had ignored them several times already. “It’s too dangerous for you to get wet. If you see something, just get me or Quackerjack to take a look at-” He stopped suddenly and looked around with a scowl. “Wait..where’s Quackerjack?” He spotted the brightly colored clown in question further out in the water with a pink snorkeling set on as he looked beneath the waves. “You two are seriously going to be the death of me..” Bushroot grumbled before stretching both his torso and arms far enough to physically reach the snorkeling jester and drag him back to dry land. “Having fun?” He asked in a voice dripping with dry sarcasm.

Quackerjack answered the sarcasm with a bright smile and a nod. “Yeee-p.” He replied jovially, even popping the P at the end of the word for added effect. “Lots of neat fish out there!” The way he grinned made it hard to tell if he was seriously that childish or if he was just playing it up to further agitate the other duck.

Bushroot let Quackerjack go and rubbed at his temples with his leafy fingers, taking a moment to close his eyes and collect himself. “How the heck you two got anything done before I came along is a mystery…” He exhaled a long-suffering sigh before opening his eyes and looking at his companions (he refused to say partners or friends yet) again. “So, have you guys actually FOUND anything?”

“Well, the fish are busy stockpiling weapons for their rebel army.” The words that left Quackerjack’s mouth were said with the same amount of seriousness he said almost everything with…which was hardly any and sometimes made it hard to tell whether he was joking or not.

“What, did they tell you that?” Bushroot asked with a roll of his eyes.

“No, don’t be silly, Bushy.” Quackerjack said with a chuckle. “Fish can’t talk!” He reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out a tin of fish bait. “I bribed ‘em with some treats and they showed me their weapons’ cache. The rest was just pantomiming, but I got the gist of it- something about an evil queen about to wage war on the city or something.”

Bushroot opted to ignore Quackerjack’s explanation and instead turned to Megavolt as if to pretend Quackerjack hadn’t said anything at all. “Did YOU find anything, Sparky?”

“Don’t call me Sparky.” Came the automatic reply before Megavolt pointed back to where he’d been standing earlier. “And yeah, I found this weird chunk of yellow stuff in the water over there.”

“Yellow stuff? Great, maybe it’s poisonous…” Bushroot, feeling once again like the responsible parent trying to look after two overly active kids, walked over to the spot in question and looked around for the “yellow stuff” that Megavolt had described. He found it quick enough, and was actually surprised when he reached into the water to pick it up. “Huh?” His hand pulled out an odd cube of something yellow and rubbery. It was shiny like plastic, but squishier like silicon or rubber- almost reminding him of lemon gelatin. What was REALLY surprising, though, was that it had a strand of seaweed passing through the middle of it, like it had formed around the seaweed and inadvertently severed it from its source. “What the heck is this stuff?”

“Uh, Bushy, I think we’ve got BIGGER things to worry about!” Quackerjack’s urgent tone of voice caught Bushroot’s attention, making him turn to see the jester pointing out to sea. “A LOT BIGGER!”

He was about to ask what the other meant, but then he saw what the other duck was pointing at and his eyes widened in alarm before his head hung low and he face-palmed into his waiting leaves. “You have GOT to be kidding me.” Before he could once again dwell on and lament his life choices, he was being dragged away at a brisk pace by Quackerjack and Megavolt’s now-too-familiar grip on his sleeves.

Finally getting his feet under him to run with the other two, Bushroot glanced back briefly to see the source of danger they were currently fleeing from:

A giant tsunami-sized wave of water.

Thanks to Bushroot wrapping his arms around the other two and Quackerjack pulling out his bat (they didn’t see where from- seriously, where did he keep that thing??), they managed to get away from the beach by jumping up into the air, flying away using the bat’s rockets, then using Bushroot’s unraveling feet and Megavolt’s magnetic abilities to latch onto one of the taller buildings further in-land and quickly scale their way to the top before the wave hit.

The building was tall enough to avoid the harsher force of the wave, but the wind and pressure generated was still strong enough to send someone flying. To avoid being separated, Bushroot wound his arms tighter around his friends and unraveled his legs in order to weave them around the metallic railing along the top of the building.

“What the heck?!” Quackerjack shouted over the roar of the wind and water around them while clinging to Bushroot. “Since when is Audobon Bay a tsunami-zone?!”

“It’s not!” Megavolt shouted back to him. “Something must have triggered it! Something like-”

“An army of whales?!” Bushroot asked in an alarmed tone of voice.

“Yeah! Something like that would do it!” Megavolt nodded in agreement.

“Something like that DID do it!” Bushroot inclined his head back out towards the ocean when the first wave began to recede. “Look!”

Megavolt and Quackerjack looked back out towards the ocean as Bushroot instructed and saw, to their surprise, a literal army of whales (sperm whales, to be precise) lining the horizon- all of them decorated with military-like badges and uniform sashes made of common sea-fare such as seashells, kelp, and coral. Seated atop what could be described as the lead-whale due to its extra adornments, was what appeared to be a throne made out of coral.

When the wind and air-pressure died down, Bushroot let the others go and re-formed his feet so they could all walk to the edge of the building and get a better look at the creatures that caused the sudden tsunami.

To help get a better view, Quackerjack reached into his toy pouch and pulled out a glittery pink kaleidoscope. Peeking through it, he twisted and adjusted the view until he could see far enough and gave an impressed whistle. “So THAT’S the evil queen the fish were talking about..gotta say, she definitely fits the bill..”

He handed the unassuming toy to Megavolt so he too could get a look at the coral throne and the person occupying it. When he looked through, he was momentarily impressed to find that, while it still had the shifting rainbow edge of a typical kaleidoscope’s view, the toy also doubled as a powerful telescope that gave a perfect view of its target.

Megavolt saw what could only be described as a female fish mutant sitting on the whale’s back. She was short in stature, but the chipped trident she carried and the various scars and torn fins on her body, along with her dark scales and ripped black body-suit, gave the accurate impression that she was a lot stronger than she looked. “An evil fish queen..that’s definitely a new one for the villain-list..” He said mostly to himself while handing the kaleidoscope off to Bushroot.

Bushroot looked over their enemy-of-the-day as well. “Wow, that’s something you don’t see every day.”

Quackerjack took back the kaleidoscope once Bushroot was done with it. “What, a fish mutant leading an army of whales?”

“No,” Bushroot didn’t even bother looking at him when he handed the toy over to the jester. “You being right about something.”

The duck-duo spared each other a smirk while side-eyeing one another, the healthy dose of sarcastic humor helping to alleviate stress in life-threatening situations for them.

Before Megavolt could tell them to stop joking around, the sound of a loud, bellowing horn brought their attention back to the ocean and the looming threat of the whale army ready to drown the city.

“People of the surface, I am Neptunia- Queen of the Seas!” The fish-mutant had a large conch shell set up in front of her, serving as a megaphone to broadcast her surprisingly regal voice out to the entire city. “For too long the creatures of the deep have suffered under your wasteful ways- polluting our waters with your trash and chemicals, stealing our citizens and resources for food and decoration- but no more!” She held her trident aloft in the air, the army of whales bellowing in response. “Now WE will be the ones on top while YOU suffer below us!!” She then leaned closer to the shell and blew into it, the same bellowing horn sound ringing through the air once again.

At her command, the whales turned around so their tail-ends were facing the city, raised them high into the air, then slammed them down into the water in unison. The resulting impact sent another tsunami-like wave rushing towards the city, driving the heroes into action.

Megavolt looked down at the streets where the people who survived the first wave’s assault were still stranded or injured in the water. “Quackerjack, help me get the civilians to safety! Bushroot, see if you can block off the water somehow!”

“On it!” The other two heroes shouted at the same time before all three of them jumped off the side of the building together.

Bushroot used his long-reaching limbs to grab onto and swing across a series of street lamps and building ledges. As he moved through the air, he reached into one of the pockets on his coat and pulled out a handful of seeds, tossing them down to the ground as he went. “A few philodendrons..some Chinese evergreens…English ivy…and some cork and oak trees for good measure..” With a wave of his hand, the plants began to grow and sprout up at an impressively fast-rate. The trees took root deep in the ground below while the ivy and more hydroponically inclined plants wove around them to help form a make-shift barricade. “Good thing there’s plenty of fresh water already.” Bushroot said as he finished planting the natural barrier.

Meanwhile, Megavolt used his magnetized boots to skate along the sides of buildings and any powerlines that weren’t already destroyed. “Get on top of the cars!” He called over the panicked screams of the people around him as he ran.

The citizens scrambled to do as they were instructed and got on top of any vehicles they could find. Once the majority of them were in position, Megavolt concentrated his electricity and magnetism based powers into his hands and aimed them at the vehicles. The resulting blasts of yellow and blue caused the cars to thrum to live and drive forward on their own. Megavolt controlled their direction with his magnetism and made the cars drive in a straight line towards a free-way ramp.

As the cars got up onto the ramp, Quackerjack was waiting on standby to grab the people off the top and take them to safety. To this end, he’d set up a large area of what appeared to be silly-putty by the base of the tallest flat-topped buildings in the area and had secured himself, as well as a small army of moving teddy-bears, to the roof with a brightly colored rainbow of bungee-chords.

“Alright, boys!” Quackerjack called out to his small, fluffy army. “Remember- the floor is lava, so let’s hurry before this situation gets any hotter!” And with that he leapt from the top of the building to grab the first group of people that arrived on top of the cars, flanked closely by his teddy bear army.

Quackerjack began a pattern with his fuzzy friends of leaping down, grabbing people off the top of the cars alongside his bears, taking them up to the roof, letting go while the silly-putty bounced the cars away to make room for the next group, and repeating the process again once the next vehicle got close enough and leaping over to clip their bungee-chords to the top of the next building when the top of one got too full. The unusual system worked surprisingly well, the plant barricade that Bushroot set up helping to deter the water long enough for Megavolt to guide the vehicles over to Quackerjack so he could get them up high enough to avoid the rising water levels.

It wasn’t until the last vehicles was being unloaded that a problem began to present itself.

Said problem was more waves being sent towards the city. Apparently the fish queen had taken notice of their meddling and changed up her strategy. The whales were now staggering their attacks, resulting in waves that were less intense in size, but much more numerous.

The repeated barrage wore away at Bushroot’s plant-wall and began to create gaps that he rushed to fix, but were growing more numerous by the second. “Could you two hurry it up a little?!”

“We’re going as fast as we can!” Megavolt shouted back to him while guiding the last car towards Quackerjack.

Right on time, Quackerjack and his bears jumped down to grab the final group of people just as a particularly powerful torrent ripped a sizable hole in the natural barrier that had kept it at bay. The resulting surge of water that flooded in through the opening began to quickly submerge the surrounding area.

Quackerjack had been in the middle of grabbing a woman off the top of the car when the waves of water suddenly hit. “Hold on- this ride’s gonna get a little wet an’ wild!” He said to the woman while holding onto her tightly.

The water got to them before the bungee cord could get them back up to the roof. The stretchy cord kept them from being swept away, though, and Quackerjack tried to pull both of them back towards the building. The current proved too strong, however, and the hero and his charge ended up getting buffeted by the waves and slowly dragged under.

“Quackerjack!” Megavolt raced along any available metal surfaces and wires to get to his comrade, Bushroot not far behind. “Hold on, we’re-!”

His exclamation changed into a surprised gasp when a torrent of water suddenly rushed beneath Quackerjack and the woman in his arms. It submerged them briefly before crashing back towards the building, going against the current and racing up the side of it in an odd, rolling motion. It splashed over the edge of the building and deposited the pair along the edge safely where they coughed up any water that had gotten into their lungs before the water receded back down into the rest of the flood below.

The other two heroes were momentarily stunned by the odd wave that had washed Quackerjack back to safety, but they soon recovered and joined him up on the roof with the other civilians.

“You still breathing, clown?” Bushroot asked with an air of indifference that most would consider rude, but the other two were well-aware by now that it was just his way of hiding his concern.

“Yeah..” Quackerjack spit out some sea water that had gotten in his mouth and shook his head to get the water out of his cowl. “Don’t think I swallowed too many fish..” He got to his feet with Bushroot’s help (Megavolt tried to offer him a hand up first, but Bushroot beat him to it with a stern look to remind him that shocking both himself and Quackerjack wouldn’t do anybody any good). “Hey, you guys might think I’m crazy-”

“Bit late for that.” Bushroot said without missing a beat.

Quackerjack rolled his eyes briefly but continued. “-but I’m pretty sure I saw a face in that water just now.”

“A face?” Megavolt repeated with a confused expression. “You sure it wasn’t just the lack of oxygen messing with your vision?”

“Maybe..” Quackerjack shrugged, looking down at the water with a thoughtful expression. “But I’m PRETTY sure it was real…”

Bushroot clapped his leafy hands together, the rustling sound getting the other heroes’ attention. “We can discuss Quackerjack’s growing need for therapy later. Right now, we need to focus on stopping those whales before the little mermaid out there decides to turn the next state over into beach-front property. Any ideas?”

Megavolt looked back out at the sea and their current enemy while weighing their options. “If I can get close enough, then one good zap should knock her out. The only problem is GETTING to her without shorting out.” He looked back to Quackerjack with a quirked brow. “This might be a shot in the dark, but do you have any giant pool noodles or surf boards or something?”

Quackerjack tilted his head back and forth as he thought the question over. “Hmmmmmmmm…no, I don’t think so..” He suddenly snapped his fingers. “But I think I’ve got something else that’ll do the trick!” The jester reached into his toy pouch and pulled out-

“A rubber ducky?” Bushroot asked with a deadpan stare at the grinning clown.

Quackerjack squeaked the small yellow rubber duck in front of Bushroot’s face as if to confirm his assessment. “An all-purpose rubber ducky, thank you very much!” He gave the duck a firmer squeeze and it began to rapidly inflate into a rubber raft with a proportionately big head on the front. “All aboard the S.S.Bath-Time!” Quackerjack said with a grin.

Megavolt just chuckled at the toy maker’s usual enthusiasm while Bushroot shook his head with a barely restrained smile. “Quackerjack, you’re a genius!”

“Tell me something I DON’T know, sparky.” Quackerjack replied with a wink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon the trio of heroes were riding over the turbulent waves with ease thanks to Quackerjack’s surprisingly sturdy rubber raft. He’d given a brief explanation about counter-balancing weights and a solar powered turbine, but it had been too hard to hear him over the loud whale songs and crashing waves (though Megavolt made a mental note to try asking him about that engine later- they’d have to compare notes sometime).

They’d almost reached the whale the queen was on when something reached up from within the water’s depths and smacked them away. “!!!!” They all shouted in surprise and clung to the raft, looking up to see a pair of giant tentacles flailing about above the water now.

“Oh, great..” Quackerjack said once the raft had reasonably settled again. “A twenty-foot tall calamari buffet and we don’t have ANY dipping sauce.”

Bushroot shook the water out of his petals and glared at the squid that decided to show the rest of its body that had been hidden below the waves. “I think I’d be fine with some sashimi right about now…”

The giant squid glared down at them and tried striking their boat again. Its actions gained the queen’s attention and she looked over to them from her throne with a mildly irritated expression. “You look like the rude peasants that stopped my waves.” She jumped from the back of her whale onto the backs of a few others until she reached the squid and landed on its head. “So, what brings you all the way out here, if I may ask? Come to surrender?”

“Other way around, villain!” Megavolt said while pointing a charged finger in her direction. “We’re gonna give you one chance to call off your army before we send you back down where you came from!”

Neptunia let out a loud laugh, leaning against the side of the squid’s head. “Ha! These locals ARE amusing, wouldn’t you agree, Sebastian?” Her laughter was gone in an instant, turning instead to an icy glare as she pointed her trident down at them. “Now then, darlings, I will give YOU one chance to get your little dingy out of here before my men decide they want duck and rat kebobs with a side salad.”

“Wow, I’ve been upgraded from a weed to a salad- what an honor.” Bushroot said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as he stood up and prepared to fight.

“I know, right!” Quackerjack chuckled while standing up as well. “Before you know it, you’ll be treated as a full-fledged main course, Bushy!”

“If you guys don’t stop with the food jokes, you’re gonna make me hungry.” Megavolt complained as he stood alongside his comrades with a crack of his knuckles. “We can make one more seafood or fried fish joke, but then that’s it for the food quips, okay?” He adjusted his safety glasses and held out one hand. “Now, let’s take down this deep-sea deviant!”

“Just try not to earn your sea legs today, alright?” Bushroot said while grabbing Megavolt’s hand. At a nod from Megavolt, Bushroot swung him back before launching him off towards Neptunia.

Megavolt landed next to the fish-mutant on top of the giant squid and tried to hit her with an electrically charged fist. The fearsome fish, however, was much more agile than one would assume, and jumped over his attack to counter with a smack using the blunt end of her trident.

While their third member did battle with the sea-queen, Bushroot and Quackerjack took the boat around and began attacking the whales. Bushroot handled the steering at the boat’s rudder while Quackerjack lobbed his exploding red dodgeballs at the tail fins of any whales they passed. Just like during his fight with Bushroot, the balls burst when they hit their targets and covered them in a squishy but sticky red putty that caught on anything they came in contact with- including each other.

As Bushroot saw the whales struggle to get free from each other, he couldn’t help but shake his head slightly in sympathy. “That won’t work unless you can rip your own body parts off- trust me, I know.”

“Good thing we’re not fighting lizard people again!” Quackerjack chuckled while pulling new exploding dodgeballs out of his toy pouch, activating and then throwing them in a steady pattern.

Meanwhile, Megavolt was having more than a little trouble beating the surprisingly strong fish woman. In addition to having the home-field advantage of the squid constantly catching her every time he managed to knock her off-balance, she was also incredibly strong for her size and could easily lift him whenever she got a good hold on him. Add to that the fact that there wasn’t anything metallic for him to grab onto, and one could see why exactly Megavolt was struggling with the fish queen.

He felt like he’d finally caught a lucky break, however, when he managed to grab her arm. “Time for some extra-crispy fried fish!” He channeled what he thought was an appropriate amount of electricity into his hand and experienced a brief moment of elation when his amphibious attacker suddenly went limp…an extremely brief moment, it turns out, as she soon turned the tables on him by grabbing his arm in return. “Huh?!”

She looked up at him with a smirk. “Sorry, darling, but I’ve received better shocks from electric eels.” She used her grip on his arm to suddenly lift him up and toss him towards the water a few miles away. “Why don’t you go ask them for some lessons?!”

“MEGAVOLT!” He heard Quackerjack and Bushroot calling his name in alarm, and even caught a glimpse of them racing towards him on their boat in the distance.

They were too far away, though, he realized with a growing sense of panic. There was nothing for him to grab onto, no way they could reach him in time- just him and the vast ocean that would soon be his watery grave. As he began to lose his forward momentum from the throw and saw the water drawing closer, Megavolt closed his eyes and braced himself for impact with-

-with something squishy?

Opening his eyes hesitantly to make sure this wasn’t some sort of cruel near-death fantasy, Megavolt was shocked to see that he’d reached the surface of the water, as he expected, but it wasn’t water anymore. What he found himself laying on instead was a strange, rubbery yellow substance that looked a lot like the cube they’d found by the beach earlier.

In addition to the strangeness of finding himself suddenly (albeit gratefully) lying on a surprisingly buoyant substance of unknown origin instead of shorting out in the ocean like he’d dreaded, there was an additional anomaly within his yellow make-shift life-raft that Megavolt noticed right away:

Hands.

A pair of hands moving about within the rubbery substance had supported him when he’d landed, taking great lengths to make sure he didn’t hit his head or get whip-lash, and had since then begun to move to the edge of the unknown mass. Once they were on the edge, Megavolt saw something shift in the water by the hands and his little rubber island began to move slowly towards the direction that he’d last seen Quackerjack and Bushroot in.

“Megavolt!” He heard Quackerjack shout his name as the boat he and Bushroot were on got closer. “You alright, Sparky?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He replied, never taking his eyes off of the water by the hands. There was something odd about the way it moved, rolling about as if it were its own current. In fact, if he looked close enough, he could almost see a faint outline where the water looked a little different, almost like a person’s silhouette. “Hello..?” He asked, reaching out to touch the strange body of water. Unfortunately, making contact with the water was a terrible idea as it resulted in a spark of electricity that made him stumble back and nearly fall off of the yellow island and into the water below. “Ow!”

“Megavolt!” Over the sound of Bushroot calling out his name, Megavolt could swear he heard someone else’s voice yelp at the same time his own had and that there was a sudden and abrupt splash coming from the area he’d touched. “Idiot!” Bushroot’s long limbs stretched out and caught Megavolt before he could fall into the ocean. “What were you thinking?!”

“There’s someone in the water.” Megavolt said once Quackerjack had gotten the rubber ducky boat close enough for him to climb in. He looked back over to the spot he’d last seen the mysterious hands and was disappointed to find they, and the oddly moving current of water, were no longer in sight. “Hey! Anyone out there?!” He tried looking around for the silhouette he’d spotted earlier, but it’s hard to recognize a body of water WITHIN a body of water.

“You saw something, too?” Quackerjack questioned eagerly while searching for anything different in the water.

“Yeah- a pair of hands.” Megavolt explained while the two of them looked around. “And I KNOW I felt something in the water when I touched it.”

“You sure you didn’t just fry your nerves?” Bushroot asked with a disinterested expression.

“Well I’m pretty sure my fried nerves didn’t have anything to do with THAT.” Megavolt shot him a mildly irritated look and pointed at the strange yellow substance before returning his attention back to the water. “Hey! If anyone’s there, thanks for saving me! We could really use your help, though!”

There was a moment of silence, just long enough for Megavolt to doubt himself and what he’d seen, but then they heard him.

“Y-You…want m-my h-he-h-help…?” A deep but timid, gurgling voice asked them from somewhere within the water below them.

Much to their combined surprise, they saw a face appear within the water. It was simple and hardly noticeable had it not been staring dead at them, consisting of nothing more than two round eyes that were barely darker than the deep water around them and a slight line for a mouth.

Their reactions were….intense, to say the least.

“Woah!” Quackerjack gave an excited shout and leaned over the edge of the boat to get a better look at the face, nearly falling out in the process. “I knew it! You saved me too, right?! Are you MADE of water?! That’s awesome!”

Megavolt clung to the boat to keep from falling out while curiously examining the face looking up at them, attempting to see if he could spot any sort of body or silhouette in the water’s depths again, but finding none. “How big are you? Are you the size of the entire ocean, or are you just a concentrated mass mixed in? Do you suffer from any sort of diffusion effects?”

Bushroot just stared at the face in the water for a moment, a look of surprise on his own more solidly defined face. “Quackerjack was right. Twice in one day, too. We’re probably all about to die..” Giving a shake of his head and a sigh, Bushroot soon recovered from his initial shock and looked back to the water. Being much calmer than his companions, he noticed a few signs of discomfort on their new liquid-cohort’s face- the way his eyes shifted, the way he’d open his mouth to say something but close it again, the fact that the water around his face seemed to dip downward in an attempt to physically back away from their barrage of questions. Feeling an odd pang of sympathy for the watery creature and knowing how both Quackerjack and Megavolt could be oblivious to social cues, Bushroot firmly grabbed the two heroes that were half-way leaning out of the boat and firmly yanked them in by the backs of their shirts. “Geez, haven’t you guys heard of a little thing called manners? You’re supposed to wait until the third date to ask a mutant about their powers.” He shot them both a stern glare before looking down at the concave-face by the boat. “Sorry, I know they can be a bit much.”

“O-Oh, it-it’s f-fi-f-i-i-fi-” He seemed to struggle with his speech for a moment before rising back up to be level with the water’s surface. “It’s okay, I-I don’t m-mi-m-mind.”

The speech impediment was becoming glaringly obvious now that they’d had more conversation with him, but the three heroes (two plus a tag-along, Bushroot would have insisted) chose not to call attention to it.

Megavolt was about to say something else to the fascinating water creature, when the sound of loud splashing from earlier began to resume. “Huh?!” Looking back to where they’d left Neptunia and her army, he could barely make out her and her squid freeing the whales from the putty by summoning electric eels to fry the substance to a crisp and peeling it off. “Looks like break time’s over, guys.” He looked back down at the unnamed figure in the sea with a small smile that was partially pleading, but mostly understanding. “We’ll understand if you don’t wanna help- but, if you do, we’d appreciate anything at all.”

And with a quick wave to their new friend, the three took off back towards the tyrannical queen and her army of sea creatures while the hidden figure in the ocean stared after them.

“So, what’s the plan this time, Sparky?” Quackerjack asked while steering the boat so that it would counteract the swelling waves and not send any of them flying off.

“Don’t call me Sparky.” His reply came automatically. “And..same as before, I guess.” Megavolt admitted with a frown. “I’ll try to take down the diva of the deep while you two find a way to stop those waves from reaching the city.”

Bushroot looked at Megavolt with one brow cocked skeptically. “Hate to break it to you, Sparky-”

“Don’t call me Sparky!” Megavolt cut in briefly.

“-but you didn’t do too well against her last time.” Bushroot continued, ignoring Megavolt’s interruption as if he’d never said anything at all. “You got any OTHER plans?”

“Not really..” Megavolt rubbed at his neck while avoiding eye contact with the plant duck. “But..there’s not really much else I can do out here: My powers can’t do anything against those waves, but I can’t just sit by and do nothing.” He looked back up to the pair of ducks in the boat with him, giving them a slightly embarrassed but genuine smile. “The lives of the citizens come first, no matter what- that’s why I have to trust the hard stuff to the heroes that can actually save the day this time.”

The other two ended up smiling at him, although Bushroot tried to play his off by rolling his eyes. “Sappy as usual, huh, Sparky?” Before the usual retort could come, Bushroot reached over and flicked his leafy fingers against Megavolt’s forehead. “We’ll do what we can, but don’t go getting yourself dunked again, okay? Unless getting saved twice in one day by a living puddle is something you want us to tease you for.”

“And you know I’ll have fifty water related puns ready by the end of the day!” Quackerjack grinned teasingly at the electrically themed rodent. “But, hey, if we win it’ll just be water under the bridge!” He laughed at his own joke, falling over momentarily when Bushroot shoved him in retaliation for it.

“See what we have to look forward to?” Bushroot sighed while shaking his head. He looked at Megavolt, holding his hand out to the other man expectantly. “If I have to go through more lame jokes like that, you’ll BOTH be sleeping with the fishes, got it? So no losing.” The thinly veiled words of encouragement and the light squeeze to Megavolt’s gloved hand conveyed everything that the botanist refused to say.

Megavolt smiled softly and returned the squeeze to Bushroot’s own leafy extremities. “Same goes for you two- I don’t feel like finding a mime and a ball of sea-weeds floating in the ocean later.”

Bushroot smirked and flung Megavolt back towards Neptunia just like before, both of them ignoring Quackerjack’s enraged shouts regarding the insult of being compared to a mime even in death.

When he landed on the back of her whale, Neptunia gave the superhero a deadly glare. “Shouldn’t you be six feet under by now?”

Megavolt returned the glare with a challenging grin while charging his hands in preparation for another fight. “Haven’t you heard? Heroism is unsinkable- unlike you and your low-tide dreams of conquest!”

The fish queen grabbed her trident and spun it around, the bored look in her eyes clearly giving away how she felt about a second-round against the city’s protector. “We shall see how water-tight your ideals are when I’m through with you, nave.”

With that, the re-match was underway.

Megavolt had learned his lesson about the small sea-femme’s strength and stuck with distance attacks this time, favoring long-range shots of electricity over his earlier grappling. Neptunia, on the other hand, was trying to close the gap between them with flying leaps and swift thrusts with her trident that the rodent barely dodged.

After knocking her away with a particularly powerful plasma-pulse, Megavolt spared a glance to the whales around them to check on his comrades’ progress.

He wasn’t disappointed.

Quackerjack and Bushroot had resumed their earlier task of trying to stop the whales, but with an update to their tactics: This time Bushroot was the one working to incapacitate the whales while Quackerjack focused his efforts on stopping- or at least slowing down- the waves. The mutated botanist tossed seeds into the water near the whales and commanded them to grow, sprouting up into gigantic kelp forests that wrapped around and tangled the aquatic mammals’ tails to restrict their movements. Meanwhile, his more colorful companion had utilized a slingshot to shoot what, at a distance, looked like tiny capsules into the water along the path of the waves. When the capsules made contact with the water, however, they suddenly expanded at an incredibly fast pace- transforming into giant, brightly colored sponges shaped like dinosaurs, flowers, animals, and many other fun childishly cute things that absorbed the swelling waves before they could get too far.

“Yes!��� Megavolt gave a quick cheer of excitement when he saw how well his friends were doing. Oh, he was so glad he wasn’t doing this hero thing by himself anymore! Honestly, there was no way he could’ve handled this one on his-

A loud, bellowing horn suddenly sounded off a few feet away from the sparky superhero, causing him to wince in pain and fall to his knees while covering his sensitive ears. When he recovered from the pain and looked towards the source of the debilitating sound, he saw Neptunia blowing into the seashell horn/megaphone from earlier.

Focusing his energy into his hand, Megavolt sent out a quick blast to break the horn, but the attempt only seemed to further amuse the tidal tyrant. “Too little too late, darling.” She told him with a smirk. “I’m afraid it’s time for the REAL attack to begin!”

Right on cue, the waves began to ripple and churn around them. Within seconds, a battalion of blue whales and a few colossal squids rose up from the water’s depths. Raising her trident as a signal to the newly revealed soldiers, the sea creatures heeded their queen’s call and raised their tails and tentacles in preparation.

Megavolt’s eyes widened in alarm and he turned to his friends, trying to warn them of the impending rush of doom about to head their way. “Guys, get out of there!!” The warning, unfortunately, came too late. Before his eyes a great surge of water was started in unison by the various sea creatures in attendance- a much larger, and far more powerful one that rivaled the tsunami that first struck the town- and Bushroot and Quackerjack were eclipsed and swallowed by the massive wave when it rolled over them. “Quackerjack! Bushroot!” Megavolt rushed to the edge of the whale he was currently standing on, desperately looking for any sign of the two other heroes within the chaotic current. When he found none, he fell to his knees, a look of shock and despair painted across his face. “No…” His voice shook around the simple word, his mind not wanting to believe the situation at hand.

“Aw, poor little washed-up hero. So much for heroism being ‘unsinkable’.” He heard the villainess’s voice drawing closer behind him, but he didn’t have the presence of mind to even bother facing her. “Don’t worry, darling- you will be joining them soon enough.” Megavolt could see the shadow of the fearsome fish’s trident, poised to strike.

“…….” Preparing to finally get back up so he could fight to avenge his friends and do what he could to save the city (even if he wasn’t sure what he COULD do yet), both Megavolt and Neptunia were startled to see a large, rubbery, bright yellow bubble suddenly breach the water’s surface- a bubble containing a water-logged but still breathing Quackerjack with Bushroot holding him protectively as the waves rocked their colorful container. “?!!”

“What?!” Neptunia stared at the bubble in an amusing mixture of anger and shock. “What in the seven seas is that?!”

Megavolt’s face lit up with an excited, confident grin at the realization of exactly what, or rather who, was responsible for the bubble that saved his partners’ lives. “That, you sinister sea creature, is heroism at its best!”

In perfect timing to demonstrate his point, an unnatural swell of water suddenly rose up in the path of the tsunami-sized tidal wave and rushed forward to meet it. Rather than meeting the other wave as water, though, the countering water-wall began to turn into the same bright yellow rubber that had already saved each of the heroes once that day.

The bouncy material proved to be water tight, not allowing any of the liquid through, and even repelling it back out to sea. What’s more, whenever some of the water began to push over the edge of the rubber-wall, it would quickly be converted into the rubber’s mass to help reinforce its structure. Whenever one of those changes occurred, interestingly enough, Megavolt could see a person-sized silhouette moving within the rubber, the figure rushing wherever it was needed to help reinforce the wall and protect the city.

Once the tsunami sputtered to a halt and the waves had calmed down, the rubber wall began to shift once more. This time, it changed shape into what looked like a giant cannon and opened fire on the various sea creatures under Neptunia’s command. The cannon would fire large balls of the rubbery material, but in a looser state. When the balls made contact with the various whales and squids, they would rapidly harden, immobilizing them in rubber shells.

“What?! What’s going on?!!” Neptunia sputtered while looking at the state of her army. “My army! This-This cannot be happening!” Once every squid and whale- minus the one that the pair were currently standing on- was encased in rubber, the cannon dissolved and another unnatural swell of water formed a wave that flowed smoothly & rapidly across the ocean’s surface, scooping up Neptunia’s entire battalion and washing them far out to sea. “NO!” She bellowed in rage, raising her trident threateningly. “The ocean is my domain! The tides bend to my will! I am the queen of the sea!!”

“The sea d-disagrees!” A familiar voice (well, mildly familiar to Megavolt, at least) challenged the underwater usurper while two large waves formed on either side of the whale. The waves soon shifted into a pair of giant hands that grabbed both Neptunia and her whale while forming a protective bubble around Megavolt similar to the one Quackerjack and Bushroot were still in. “Heroes everywhere agree, though- messing with St. Canard is dangerous for villains of all shapes, sizes, and species!” Once Megavolt’s bubble was safely floating on the water below, the large hands lifted the whale and the tyrannical terror of the deep high into the air. “So stay away, or you’ll get double your karma back- guaranteed!”

And with that threatening sales pitch delivered, the hands performed a more literal pitch and, after encasing the whale and the angrily screaming sea-queen in a rubber cube (reminding Megavolt of those gelatin molds people did with fruits or vegetables inside), proceeded to chuck the rubbery prison far off into the horizon in the same direction as the other creatures from before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometime later, the small group of heroes were gathered on the beach. Their helpful new friend had helped out once again by moving all of the water out of the city and back out towards the bay- he’d even managed to remove any trash and debris from it and left it all in a few dumpsters around the coast.

When he spotted the face in the shallow water along the coast (much smaller now given the lower volume of liquid it was shown in), Megavolt walked over to it excitedly with a grin. “That was amazing! Seriously, we can’t thank you enough for what you did. If it wasn’t for you, we’d all be six feet under by now.”

Quackerjack looked down at the face and nodded in agreement. “He’s right- without you, we’d be all washed up!” He laughed at his own joke, earning an elbow to his side from Megavolt and a smack to the back of the head from Bushroot. Once his giggles had died down, he gave the living water below them a more sincere, less joking smile. “You were great, though, really.” He playfully nudged Bushroot with his elbow. “You’re seriously giving Bushy here a run for his money as ‘most amazing mutant in Saint Canard’!”

Bushroot shook his head at the comment. “Funny, I didn’t realize it was a contest.” He looked back down at the water, a half-smile tugging at the corner of his beak. “But…I guess I could give up the crown for someone like you, since you saved our lives and everything.”

If it was possible for water to blush, they would swear that was what was happening: Two little spots above the face’s mouth had turned slightly darker and there was a bit of steam coming off of them. “W-W-Wow..tha-that’s-that’s …the k-k-kind-ki-n-nicest thing anyone’s s-sai-s-said to me in a l-long-l-long t-ti-i-ti-” He paused to take a breath before continuing. “Th-That’s..the nicest thing a-anyone’s said to me in-in…in a while. Thank you.” It seemed to take some focusing to get everything out so concisely, but he looked relieved to have accomplished it.

Megavolt smiled down at the watery face in understanding. He may not have had a problem with stuttering, but he’d dealt with his fair share of difficulties due to his own “quirks”. Little things like remembering a previous conversation or an address were easy things for most people, but, for him, they were daily challenges he faced with varying degrees of difficulty. He imagined that getting through a sentence like that was a similar struggle for their new friend.

“You deserve that- and a lot more, too.” Megavolt stepped a bit closer, silently acknowledging Bushroot’s leafy hand on his shoulder with a gentle pat as it attempted to dissuade him from getting too close and risk shorting out. He bent over slightly and held a hand down towards the water with a bright smile on his face, hoping that it would be more inviting and less overwhelming than when he first tried to talk to the living liquid. “We would love to have you on our team. If you want to, that is. Like I said before, it’s fine if you don’t want to, but we could really use your help.”

The creature in the water stared at his hand in surprise. “You…Y-You really…want m-m-m-me-e…?”

Quackerjack planted one elbow on Megavolt’s back and leaned on him casually while pretending to look around the coastline. “Oh, do you know any other selfless, heroic, life-saving, super cool living bodies of water around here?” He asked sarcastically before grinning down at the face in the water. “Of course we want you! You’ve got cool powers AND you’re already good at saving lives? We’d be crazy not to ask!”

“Sanity is still questionable, at best.” Bushroot shoved the harlequin off of the rodent’s back with a roll of his eyes, causing him to fall into the shallow water and muddy sand below (though he was quickly helped up by a watery hand that rose up out of the surf). After smirking down at the other duck’s sand-covered face, the plant-duck redirected his attention back to the other mutant. “Either way, there’s no way you could be any worse at it than me.”

Megavolt looked over his shoulder with a frown and a mildly chastising look as he softly spoke the same words to his self-deprecating friend that he always said in these situations. “You’re a hundred times better than you think you are.” He smiled fondly when the usual darker green color settled over Bushroot’s cheeks and he turned his head away in hopes that his long petal-hair would obscure the sight from the others (it never did, but it was endearing to watch him try). Laughing quietly to himself for a moment at the adorable way the grumpy plant-hybrid crossed his arms, Megavolt returned his attention to the water once again, his hand still outstretched as an offering to their potential new member. “So, what do you say? Want to join the greatest superhero team in Saint Canard?”

There was a long moment of silence from the floating face. Then, without warning, it faded away without a single word. Megavolt’s smile slipped, his mind already going over what he must have said wrong to drive away such a wonderful hero. Maybe he’d come on too strong with the team up offer? Quackerjack had gone for it immediately, but Bushroot had taken a while. Maybe he should have-

A hand stretched out of the water towards Megavolt’s own. Just before making contact with it, the water’s consistency changed to rubber so that it could grasp the shocking-superhero without shorting him out. The hand was soon followed by an entire body of water- a person’s body, that is, not the entire ocean. As it rose up from the shallows the water began to take a more defined form, shifting into that of a dog- the water on his body even changed to create the image of a pair of dark blue pants with a lighter blue top and a dark blue tie. When he opened his eyes and smiled shyly at the stunned superheroes, the trio instantly recognized the blue dots from the previously more simple face.

The water-dog shook Megavolt’s hand with his own rubberized one, taking a deep breath before giving them a proper introduction. “Has your city been ruled over by a tyrannical duck with a height complex for far too long? Are a motley crew of thugs, criminals, and/or supervillains causing trouble for superheroes and everyday citizens alike? Then call on the reliable services of THE LIQUIDATOR for all your crime-fighting needs! One round with this hydro-powered hero and the bad guys will be alllllll washed up- guaranteed or your money back!” He finished his introductory sales-pitch with a wink. His confidence quickly deflated, however, when the other three people on the beach just stared at him silently with the same wide-eyed expression. “Um…w-was that to-t-too much..?”

All at once the trio returned to their senses and properly welcomed their new member with open arms- literal ones in Quackerjack’s case.

The colorful clown-hero whooped loudly and wrapped his arms around Liquidator’s shoulders. “You’ve already got a cool name AND lines prepped?! Oh, you are a keeper, buddy!” (They were all too excited to notice the way the dog’s ears twitched slightly at the term of endearment.)

The excitement in Megavolt’s eyes shone brightly enough to be seen through his safety glasses as he looked at Liquidator’s rubberized hand in his own. “Okay, I’ve gotta know- how are you doing this?! Did you just alter the chemical composition of the water to-”

He was interrupted by a leafy slap to the back of his head. “Remember, Sparky- third date.”

“Don’t call me Sparky!” Megavolt said with a pout before looking around at the small group of allies he’d found himself with a slowly growing smile. “I guess we’ll need a new name, huh?”

“Yeah, we’re not the ‘Terrific Trio’ anymore.” Quackerjack raised one hand, keeping the other around their newest member’s shoulders. “Ooh! Ooh! How about the ‘Fearsome Four’! It sounds cool and I know you’re a sucker for alliteration, Sparky!”

Liquidator frowned slightly as he looked at the clown beside him. “D-Doesn’t sound very fr-frien-f-friendly..”

“Friendly…” Megavolt said the word aloud, tapping his chin in thought. “Friendly…” Then, as if to act as a visual representation of his epiphany since there were no lightbulbs to turn on above his head, a shimmering bolt of electricity raced upwards from his boots and curled around his torso all the way up to his head before dancing off the tips of his hair and whiskers. “That’s it!” He beamed at his newly formed team and held a hand out in front of him. “From now on, we’re the ‘Friendly Four’!”

Quackerjack chuckled at the other hero’s enthusiasm and placed his hand on top of the gloved one of his friend. “Sounds good to me, Sparky!”

Liquidator smiled and placed his hand on top of Quackerjack’s. “That…That d-does sound a lot n-nic-cer.”

Bushroot sighed in annoyance, his hands currently shoved deep in his pockets. “I don’t know why you guys insist on including me in your head-count. I keep telling you: I’m not a hero.” Just as Megavolt and Quackerjack were about to argue the subject with him for what felt like the millionth time, they saw one leafy hand leave the confines of its coat pocket before joining the pile. “But…you guys would look pretty stupid if you ran around calling yourselves the ‘Friendly Four’ and there were only three of you…so I guess I’ll stick around until you find someone better to take my place.”

Quackerjack laughed and smiled at the other two members of their group. “You hear that, guys? We get to keep Bushy forever!”

“Hey, I didn’t say that!” The ex-botanist snapped at the toymaker with a harsh glare that was easily tempered by the visible blush on his green cheeks.

As the two launched into a teasing argument over Bushroot’s place on the team, Quackerjack using Liquidator as a living barrier between himself and the irate plant-duck when the greener mutant tried to catch his non-powered ally, Megavolt looked at the other members of his team with an affectionate smile. For at least two decades he’d been fighting for this city all by himself. Now, though, now he had a team.

Things were likely going to get rougher before they got better for the rag-tag group of heroes, but, one thing was for sure:

This team had a bond between them that would not be broken- not even by Negaduck and the other forces of evil plaguing their city. The Friendly Four were going to save the day, no matter what!

<-Previous Chapter Next Story->

End Notes: Well, that concludes the first story for my Friendly Four universe. I hope everyone enjoyed it ^//////^ I have a lot of ideas for this universe and, for the first couple of stories, they’ll be set up like this with each character or pair of characters getting their own chapter that matches with the theme/title of the story.

Also, just as a funny side note, I didn’t originally intend for it to happen, but it ended up being that each of the heroes ended up defeating the same character their villainous counterparts took out from the Justice Ducks. I always intended for Liquidator to be the one to confront Neptunia, but Quackerjack and Bushroot taking out Shamutt and Morgana just kind of happened by accident and I ran with it.

Gizmoduck was left out on purpose, but don’t worry- he’ll get his appearance in the next installment, and it’ll leave quite an impact on the heroes *cue evil chuckling with lightning flashing in the background*

[littlemissheartfilia]

What My Reflection Is

Part of my contribution to @ftlgbtales first October event and personally one of my favorite additions to The Rolling Pin universe.

Summary: Sting Eucliffe's day could not get any worse. He was drowning in responsibilities, stress, and just plain losing control of reality. Little does Sting know how much his friends already see his struggle. So he learns that no matter what Rogue will be there for him.

Pairing(s): Stingue, Yukinerva

Setting:  Modern day AU. This exists within a universe I set up in a OS ages ago. The OS is The Rolling Pin if you wanna check it out on AO3? Also takes place the morning after Protect What’s Yours. Not at all necessary to read those in order to understand this though, everything’s self explanatory.

Sting looked out of the arched brick windows wishing he could find their beauty today. Every day since he started working at The Rolling Pin coffee/bakery shop he had loved to stare out those windows. Vines framed the sides of the glass, hanging in perfect aesthetic formation with the red brick of the building.

Only a month into living in Sabertooth square and working this job and Sting had already filled a scrapbook with various polaroids, prints and scraps of memories from his time working here. He liked looking back at the scrapbook sometimes when the pressure of being on his own in a new place got to him.

Yes this place was lovely, but today the beauty of it fell on blind eyes. Sting found nothing about today lovely at all. When he moved here he had still had some money left over in a bank account for emergencies. But now that so many weeks had passed most of that was gone to handle rent and daily expenses.

Sure he had a job but cashiering at the local bakery meant he was only rolling in doubt and uncertainty rather than the big bucks. He’d been trying for a long time now to make a name for himself as a photographer but every post on his website was like screaming into the void. No one heard and no one cared. To top it all off Sting hadn’t had the money to keep paying his medical bills and had fallen behind on his T in favor to keep paying rent. And when he fell behind on his T bad things happened. This time he’d started bleeding.

So here was Sting, bleeding and in pain, hunched over the counter at his work watching customers happily munch on their donuts. Even the sight of food made his stomach churn. He hadn’t eaten anything all day but at this point he doubted he could even force food down his throat.

He had tried for most of his shift to ignore the pain and his humiliation but he still had two more hours to go and Sting was ready to drown himself under the nozzle of the coffee maker while it was on full blast. At least he was here alone with Yukino, so no one else had to see his shame. The particular no one he was worried about was Rogue. Saturday’s were his days off and the bakery was small enough to be run smoothly by him and Yukino, so Sting was safe for today.

Or so Sting thought. No sooner had he told himself it was a good thing his boss wasn’t here than did the wind chimes sound, signaling the front door opening, and Rogue strut in. He was in the most dressed down apparel Sting had ever seen on him, just jeans and a Tee that featured the logo of some heavy metal band Sting didn’t recognize.

But his hair was still pulled back into that too attractive ponytail and Sting’s knees grew weaker than they already were. He nearly bit down on his tongue in shock. Sting quickly stood up straight, definitely not leaning his head into his hand with a bored expression while at work behind the counter. Definitely not unprofessional.

“Heeyy,” Sting called trying to let the word drag out so Rogue would think it was nothing more than a friendly greeting.

“Afternoon, Sting,” Rogue said naturally flashing him a perfect smile. Yukino came around the corner carrying a tub of dirty dishes and stopped by Rogue with a sweet smile.

“Hello, Rogue. I thought you didn’t like to come in on Saturdays?”

Rogue chuckled and scratched at the back of his neck. Even the way he rose his arms was attractive. God, I’m so gay. Sting thought as another wave of pain hit him and he scowled. And miserable...oh yeah. He quickly looked away, pretending to be busy messing with the pastry display even though it was already arranged to perfect symmetry.

“I don’t,” Rogue replied. “But apparently Minerva forgot the books here yesterday so she asked me to get them.”

Yukino sighed and said in an overly sweet voice, “She’s still hung over huh?”

Rogue gave a half scoff half chuckle. “Yeah. But she insists on doing the finances. I even told her to take today off but she wouldn’t have it.”

Yukino’s laugh was as lovely as the wind chimes on the front door. “She tries very hard, doesn’t she?”

“Almost too hard,” Rogue agreed. “Anyway keep up the good work.” Rogue gave her a pat on the arm and she nodded, disappearing behind the door of the kitchen with her tub of dishes.

Rogue walked over by the counter where Sting was still fumbling with the pastries. “How are you holding up?” came Rogue’s deep voice. Even though Sting knew he was there he hadn’t been expecting a chat and the sudden address startled him. He jumped, hitting his head off the top of the glass display.

“Ah!” Sting yelped rubbing at the top of his messy head of hair. Gods he hoped he didn’t look as horrible as he felt. Up close like this Rogue would definitely notice. “Jus-Just fine,” Sting said none too convincingly.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry I had to call you in today. But after Lucy left to go pursue her big writer’s break we’ve been short some really capable workers.”

Sting shrugged. “‘Is fine. Liquor doesn’t get to me as much as it does Minerva.” Sting tried for a chuckle but even to him he sounded unenthusiastic. “Glad I can be your secondhand fill in, though.” Ah yes, the only thing Sting knew how to do when nervous. Self-deprecate your way into a joke and out of a conversation.

Rogue gave him a patient smile as he moved behind Sting and began searching the register drawers for the book of the store’s income and expenses. “You’re much more than that by now, Sting. You’re part of the family.”

Sting scoffed and returned to trying to look busy, this time he chose a rag from his waist apron pocket and wiped down non-existent spots on the counter. “We’re a family now? What does that make me, the adopted son you just can’t wait to send back into the system or the step-child that’s only in the family from a previous marriage?”

Rogue gave him a sly look and tried for a chuckle. If Rogue was going to say more Sting never got to hear it. A horrible retching sound came from the front of the store. There was a taller glass display that held the pastry specials on top of the register counter. So his view was blocked but Sting saw enough to catch a little kids head ducking by a table and the sound that followed after it.

Rogue lifted an eyebrow. “That makes you the poor sap who gets to clean that up,” he finished. Sting groaned and feigned annoyance but he knew better than to argue with the boss.

Groggily he stepped out from behind the counter and walked over to where a very distraught mother was soothing her sons back while he groaned into a napkin. As soon as Sting approached she looked up horrified. Sting didn’t think he looked that bad today?

“Is everything ok?” Sting asked in his nicest voice.

The mother was the one to reply, shaking her brown head of hair. “I think he just had too much to eat.” Then she leaned into her son and whispered into his ear though Sting could still hear it, “I told you you should have stayed home today, you’re not well enough.”

The son grimaced but he was done puking and he pulled the cloth from his mouth to grumble, “‘m fine, mom.” He spat into the napkin, folded it and wiped his mouth once more with the clean end.

Sting looked over the contents of the boys stomach on the floor. Crouching down Sting made eye contact with the kid who had to be little older than twelve. “Do you want a water or anything? On the house?”

The kid gave him a nasty side eye up and down then turned his head away. “You’re bleeding through your pants,” he said loudly and clearly. Sting’s eyes shot wide open. “Gross, get away from me, fag.”

“Markus!” the mother reprimanded before shoving her child to the front door and barely looking Sting’s way. Subconsciously Sting looked down, he was indeed bleeding through his only pair of white pants. It had gotten so bad a blotchy spot even appeared on the small section that hung down from his navy blue apron.

When he stood up he could practically feel liquid running down his leg and to make things worse that kid’s outburst had every eye in the small bakery staring at him. Someone shuffled behind the counter and Sting turned to see Rogue staring blankly at him. Soon Rogue’s eyebrows scrunched together and he began to walk around the side of the counter, abandoning the little black book they used for their finances in his stride.

Sting swallowed roughly. His heart was pounding, he couldn’t stop sweating and that puke right under his nose made him queasy. Top it off with Rogue’s confused gaze as he strode forward and Sting wanted nothing more than to evaporate.

Before Rogue could reach him Sting stumbled backwards and held up a hand. “I’ll get the mop,” he said and practically ran to the back room.

Yukino caught sight of him from the open door to the kitchen, her gaze curiously following his movements completely unaware of anything that just happened. She must have sensed Sting’s urgency though as he ripped an empty mop bucket from under the industrial sink and began filling it.

Yukino walked over, concern in her face. “Are you-”

“No,” Sting answered curtly without any explanation, already starting to rip off his ruined apron. “Rogue needs a mop out there,” he said then left the back room, with the tap still running water into the bucket, to slip between the register counter to the customers bathroom. It was the only bathroom they had in this place. He locked the door with finality praying to any god that would listen that Rogue hadn’t just witnessed everything he thought he had.

It wasn’t like Sting had ever formally come out before. By the time he realized he was trans it was senior year in high school and his father had helped him so much with the transition. But he was about the only person who did. Sting’s slow transformation didn’t go unnoticed by the students or faculty but he had never really told anyone either.

His senior year didn’t end like all the other kids did; in happy memories and scholarships for college. His senior year ended in medical bills and miserable life experiences. This town was supposed to be an out from that. Sabertooth Square was supposed to be his do over.

It had worked for a while. He found friends that took him for who he was and he never had to explain to them his gender. Though they never knew him in the past so they probably wouldn’t have known anyway. Well they definitely wouldn’t have known if this didn’t just happen.

“Oh my god…” Sting breathed, beginning to hyperventilate. “Did that really just happen?” He stared at himself in the mirror and nearly flinched. He looked so pale, a few of his tan freckles stood out. But they were usually so light that they couldn’t be seen on his face. Only when he was sick or low on blood sugar was he ever pale enough for them to show. He didn’t think he was either right now but so much was wrong with today why not add another thing to the list?

Sting’s blonde hair was messy, sticking back in spikes like it usually does but the front was limp and sweaty. He had bags under his eyes that he didn’t think were there before but maybe the flourescent lights of the bathroom were just getting to him. He hated his own reflection. He began to despise the reflection that stared back at him with such uncertain eyes, just like he had years before his transition. All that anguish he felt was just swimming under their glossy surface begging to come out.

He blinked a few tears away and turned to sit on the toilet. Head in his hands he tried to control his breathing. He had to get out of these clothes somehow. It was only an hour and a half until he got to go home damnit why was this happening now?

His heart leapt out of his chest when he heard someone knock on the door. Out of habit and stupid reflex he croaked out, “Be done in a minute!” Voice obviously too high pitched and cracked to sound casual.

“Sting?” Rogue’s deep voice sounded through the thick pine door. “Is everything ok?”

Sting just stared at the door for a while. He didn’t know what he could say that wouldn’t jeopardize everything. He didn’t want Rogue to know he was trans. Not until after he was able to afford bottom surgery and maybe not even then. He’d sooner completely forget his birth gender than admit to anyone what he was.

“Listen, if you wanna take the rest of the day off,” Rogue continued and Sting sucked in a loud sob. “I’m not gonna keep you here after that. I’ll pick up your shift until someone else comes in.”

Now it was all Sting could do to keep his sobs quiet. He hoped Rogue couldn’t hear them through the door but he was so hopeless and they sounded loud even to him. There was no way Sting could answer Rogue with his lips contorting the way they were. And he didn’t trust his voice not to crack or hiccup through a sentence.

“Sting,” Rogue’s voice dropped an octave. It turned soft and Sting wasn’t ready for the change. “You don’t have to hide. I’ll have Minerva bring you some fresh clothes then you can go home, alright?...Please just let me know you’re alive and I don’t have to call an ambulance.”

Sting took a deep breath. “I’m fine,” he answered finally and thought he heard Rogue breathe a sigh of relief through the door. “Just-” he bit his lip. “Rough day, y’know.”

Rogue was silent for a while and Sting almost thought he had walked away. “Can I come in?” his voice was quiet, tentative.

Sting’s laugh surprised even himself. “You don’t wanna see this.”

“C’mon, man, I’ve seen you drunk and dancing half-naked on my kitchen table. What else is there to hide?”

Sting had to suppress an inward sigh but he rolled his eyes. Begrudgingly he stood up, another wave of cramps hitting him as he did and unlocked the bathroom door. Rogue made sure to open the door just enough for him to squeeze through then shut it again quietly.

Sting didn’t know what to do. So he just stood there, arms crossed over his chest, almost shivering from nerves.

“I knew you looked beat this morning but suddenly it’s like you aged ten years,” Rogue joked and Sting had half a mind to slap him.

“Kids, huh?” Sting tried for a chuckle and smile but fell terribly short. “They say the darndest things.”

Rogue looked down at his feet before replying. “You don’t have to be ashamed. No one here is judging you for something like that. If that mother hadn’t left so quickly I would have made sure to get a name so I could ban them from coming here.”

Sting shook his head and turned away. “You don’t have to be so drastic.”

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder and it shocked him just how much he tensed under it. “Sting, I mean it. I don’t tolerate that kind of hate. And I tolerate you being so down on yourself even less.” Sting’s gaze dropped. Wow, I’m crying, he thought. Huh, weird.

“I’ll pick up the rest of your shift today and call Minerva. She can walk to your place to pick up some new clothes, hangover or not. You wanna wait in the backroom? Or should I just kick everyone out of the store to save you the embarrassment?” Rogue said with a smile in his tone.

Sting chuckled through his tears. “Stop being so nice to me, I’ll choke.”

To his delight Rogue chuckled back. “Get used to it, Eucliffe. I treat all my employees like family.” Rogue thought for a moment. “Actually better than my own family. But you should see them during get togethers, you wouldn’t blame me.” There was a tense moment where Sting took some deep breaths to try and stop shaking. Rogue broke the silence by placing another hand on his shoulder and bringing him in for a hug.

“You’ll be okay,” Rogue whispered into his ear.

Only as long as you keep holding me. Sting thought it, but kept his mouth shut as his eyes closed involuntarily. He tried to breathe in Rogue’s scent but couldn’t smell anything. Because Rogue already smelt like home.

Bonus:

“What did you mean you’ve seen my dance naked on your kitchen table?” Sting asked suddenly pulling away from Rogue’s embrace.

The other boy just chuckled. “Half-naked,” he corrected. “You tend to take your shirt off when you drink too much.”

Sting’s eyes widened and he felt his heart spike with adrenaline. “Sooo..?” He trailed off the question was in his mind and on his face but he couldn’t voice it.

Rogue nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes we saw your top surgery scar.” Sting’s eyes widened further than humanly possible. Mortification crept up his spine like an old friend. Rogue took one look at Stings face and his expression softened. “No, no don’t look so scared. Most of us already knew anyway and-”

“MOST OF YOU ALREADY KNEW?! Most of who?” Sting blurted out. He was afraid his voice could be heard even from outside the bathroom but he was too nervous of everything to care.

Rogue paused and began counting on his fingers. “Well it was the week after Lucy quit...so actually only me, Minerva and Yukino were there.”

Sting took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he’d already outed himself like this. He ran a hand through his greasy hair and took a few pacing steps. “How did you already know?”

Rogue giggled and looked away sheepishly. “Well there was this other time you got drunk…”

Sting groaned and threw his head into his hands. “I’m never drinking again.”

[technicaldr]

How to Start Marketing Your Medical Practice on Facebook

The notion that Facebook is an important marketing channel isn’t exactly breaking news — the platform’s 1.94 billion users and projected 39.1% share of the total U.S. display ad revenue in 2017 kind of say it all.

But for physicians and other medical specialists, just getting a Facebook presence up and running (properly) can be a real challenge. If you’re considering investing in Facebook marketing for your practice (or want to revamp your current approach), here are a few tips and tricks to help get you started on the right foot.

Build Your Practice’s “Company Page”

Within the medical community, using a personal Facebook account to represent your brand is often viewed as unprofessional — you’ll want to build an official company page, which will serve as your primary channel for interaction and engagement on the network.

Of course, Facebook outlines the basics of creating an account in its Help Center, but here are a few healthcare-specific tips that will help boost the efficacy of your page:

Make your contact info clear and easy to find: be sure you include your phone number, typical hours of operation, address, and a link to your main website, just like would on a business directory listing or your site’s “Contact Us” page.

Include photos and videos: Facebook users prefer visual-based content. Be sure to provide compelling images and videos that highlight your facilities, staff, and general expertise in your field.

Calls to action (CTAs) are key: the primary goal of your page is to get patients to visit your website and/or call your offices directly. Make sure you’re giving them plenty of opportunities to do so by including clear and highly visible CTAs throughout your page.

Start Generating Content

Before you start promoting or inviting people to your page, you’ll want to make sure it’s well-populated with an interesting array of content. Good Facebook posts typically include a visual element like an image or infographic (as I already mentioned, visual posts tend to outperform text-only ones). If you do include text, try to keep it short and digestible — you don’t want your target audience’s eyes glazing over from a long-winded, technical explanation of a condition or treatment.

A good workaround for this is to use Facebook posts to promote longer-form, onsite content, such as a blog post, interview or podcast. This approach comes with the added benefit of sending more qualified traffic to your site, where there’s an increased chance for conversion.

Connect With Your Target Audience

Start growing your practice’s Facebook fan base by leveraging existing networks — invite current patients, colleagues, and friends to “like” your page so you have a solid foundation of followers Now start linking some of your other on- and offline marketing efforts to your new page. For example, start promoting your Facebook page in your email signature, on your website, and even on informational/promotional brochures.

You can also join and start posting in Facebook groups largely made up of your target patient demographic (for example, if your practices specializes in sports medicine, you could look for local running or health and fitness clubs). Just make sure you’re not being overly advertorial — coming across as “spammy” will likely do more harm than good.

Invest In Facebook Advertising

If you want to boost your Facebook marketing strategy to the next level, you should consider investing in Facebook advertising. Facebook’s advanced ad platform allows you to target patients based on key demographic information (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, geographic location, language, income, and more), as well as their interests (e.g., interests they list on their profiles, specific Pages they like, and other ads they’ve clicked on in the past).

Of course, seeing a positive ROI will require a properly designed, implemented, and actively managed campaign. Just like Google, Facebook’s primary objective is to provide a positive experience for its users, so it’s constantly updating its algorithms and capabilities in accordance with consumer feedback and shifting preferences. In other words, there's no such thing as a set-it-and-forget-it approach. That said, the potential returns on a Facebook campaign make it well worth the effort and investment — you just need to make sure both are being spent in the wisest way possible.

Technical Dr. Inc.'s insight:

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inquiry@technicaldr.com or 877-910-0004 www.technicaldr.com