#pov you are me the first time playing the game trying to glitch past the golem to get behind selene's house

[intofree]

ddda posting

[yourfandomfriend]

Be Good to Yourself || FNAF Meta

Long Post, Buckle Up!

I don't think I've mentioned it on this blog before, but I've really enjoyed the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise these past seven years. I don't quite think teddy bears and chickens and bunny rabbits are scary, nor animatronics and mannequins, nor analog technology, so I'm not quite the main demo for the games.

But growing up, I sure did enjoy the Goosebumps books, Are You Afraid of the Dark, all that YA horror jazz, and I actually did visit a Showbiz Pizza Place for my birthday a time or two. I appreciate the nostalgia.

And now the long-awaited Security Breach is out, the first new FNAF title since the pandemic started. And I've unfortunately gone and jumped to a silly conclusion right out of the gate.

Submitted for the approval of my fellow Tumblr lore addicts: a half-baked meta.

**SPOILERS** For The Entire FNAF Franchise (including Security Breach) **SPOILERS**

I just wanna say up top for the uninitiated, content from this point on will get extremely disturbing (in a cheap, creepypasta kind of way) and be taken very lightly, too. So trigger warning: murdered children and reanimated corpses. If you want meta about that as far from you as possible, this is not the post for you.

I'll put the backstory of the first half-dozen or more games in a "read more" at the bottom so you can catch up if you like, but I'm about to spoil Security Breach, so seriously, spoiler warning. (It's gonna be full of annotations so you can get what I'm referencing and where.)

In the new game, we play as a boy named Gregory who gets locked inside a massive entertainment complex (Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex) overnight. With the help of a new animatronic, Glamrock Freddy, we try to escape the building while avoiding capture by the nighttime security guard, (Vanessa) the other glamrock animatronics, (Chica, Roxy, and Monty) an army of STAFF bots, and a crazy lady in a bunny costume (Vanny).**

Let's Players immediately jumped to the conclusion that the player character, Gregory, is an animatronic. This is an assumption based on only one piece of hard evidence, but it's a doozy: Gregory's vision glitches out. When Vanny's around, he sees scanlines. Say what you will about creative license, but it's not a stretch by theorists to assume a character whose POV behaves more like cameras than eyes isn't human, especially in a series like this.

In addition to the hard stuff, there's a lot of soft clues. Taken on their own, they don't prove anything and I won't count them as evidence but taken together, they give us strong suspicions.

 Like how there's no record of Gregory in the Mega Plex's customer database.

How did an ordinary child with no access passes of any kind get by so many layers of security to find Freddy after he pooched his last show, only to immediately get trapped at the end of the day? Why not just leave the way he got in?

Edit: It occurred to me after posting that Gregory being an animatronic would also explain why Roxy can’t see him when he’s hiding or find his scent. (He was cheating! Someone tell her that, before she goes any crazier.)

There's also been a theory for months now that Gregory is somehow, in some way, The Crying Child. Why? Well, because the Funko leak revealed a game mechanic, that you hide from enemies in Glamrock Freddy's stomach cavity. You know, 'cause the Crying Child was inside Golden Freddy? Yeah,... that's not a lot to go on. But even I'll admit Gregory looks a hellava lot like the 8-bit bite victim.

But Crying Child died on life support back in 1983 after getting chomped by Golden Freddy. So how could Gregory be back in the flesh?

Well... there are more soft clues and I'm about to get into it. My hunch, (like many other fans, I'm sure) is that Gregory is an animatronic recreation of the Crying Child,*** built by his father many years ago to house his soul and "put him back together"... only, unbeknownst to Afton, his soul got trapped in the Golden Freddy spring lock suit that killed him.

And now? I think his soul might’ve latched onto Glamrock Freddy.

Here are my soft clues.

1.) Human Feeling

Of all the characters in the new game, you'd think little Gregory would be the moral center, right? Because the only other human being in the story is a lady possessed by the spirit of a murderer, and everyone else is a robot programmed to turn him over to said lady. So how come Freddy seems like a better human than Gregory?

I know, Gregory is just a kid and kids can be selfish, heartless little monsters. Not to mention, he's running for his life, it makes sense he'd feel justified in defending himself. Plus, robots can be programmed to behave better than we do -- if they're built to be kind and fair, they have no choice in it. But Freddy's not as robotic as he seems, and the other animatronics aren't acting like Freddy.

In fact, the other animatronics are acting in lots of ways they shouldn't, ways that Freddy doesn't understand and can hardly believe. Something's up with everyone.

2.) Skills

a.) Anyone else noticed that Gregory -- despite his trepidation -- is very handy with all things mechanical? He knows how to use jumper cables and has only as much trouble upgrading Freddy as the player does. Also, when seeing evidence (that most adults might've missed and most kids wouldn't understand) that the other Glamrocks have special parts, his first thought is to steal those parts and upgrade Freddy.

Not only does this thought not occur to Freddy, but he seems horrified that Gregory would suggest stealing from his friends. Gregory needs to defeat each animatronic on his own to steal their parts, proving he's perfectly capable of defeating them without Freddy, let alone an improved version.

So what does he want Freddy upgraded for?

b.) Also, in light of Gregory casually lying to Freddy about the upgrades, can we really trust him that it was Vanessa who cut Freddy off from the main network? And if so, how would he even know she did that, let alone be so confident? Most normal children wouldn't understand any of it. While I don't think he's "secretly the villain" as many have half-heartedly theorized, I do believe he's capable of messing with Freddy to stop him from calling the main office.

In fact, he's clearly done something impressive, since he was able to get into Freddy's room without a photo pass. Either that kid has been skittering through the vents like so much Die Hard, or he got inside Freddy before he was moved into the room. Possibly before he even glitched out.

Is his name even Gregory? Or did he make that up on the spot? And if so, why lie?

3.) The Villains [?]

a.) Gregory's fear of Vanessa predates his first Vanny sighting in the game. At least as far as we're shown, Vanessa's just acting like a security guard. He can't explain why he thinks she's is out to get him. He just knows it. But Freddy trusts her.

One constant in the early games is that the spirits in the animatronics assume the night guards are bad and feel justified in attacking them. But all Golden Freddy has to say to them is, "It's me." The prevailing theory is that he recognizes his brother, Michael, in the role of the night guard.

b.) As mentioned above, Vanny's proximity to Gregory glitches out his vision. Even if he's not looking at her, she's scrambling with him. But why? He's never seen her before, doesn't know who she is or what she wants. And if the assumption many have is correct -- that Vanny and Vanessa are the same person -- why would his vision glitch out with one and not the other?

It might not be her that's doing it.

It might be the entity controlling her -- not because he's dangerous, but because he's a glitch in and of himself. A glitch that would definitely affect an animatronic boy.

4.) You're Different

Freddy doesn't know why he wants to help Gregory hide when everyone else in the pizzaplex is out to find him. And Gregory can't explain why he trusted Freddy from the jump, either. If he thinks the animatronics are out to get him, what on earth would possess him to climb inside one? To think he'll be safe inside the cramped piñata-hole of a giant, metal monster?

Unless... he was programmed with the memories of a boy who once loved his Freddy doll? Maaaybe so. Or maybe I'm reaching.

5.) Now I Have a Choice

This was the part that made it all come together. Near the end of Security Breach, when Gregory and Freddy head down to the subterranean level through the old pizzeria, Freddy says this:

"I know what this is. I have been here before. She brought me here. I found myself for the first time when I cleared the path. I did not want to, but I had no choice. Now, I have a choice. I have changed. My friends are here. They're so angry... confused... but I can protect you. I... AM NOT... ME."

This is self-awareness. Autonomy, agency. Glamrock Freddy can choose now. He has free will. Could it be because he has a soul inside?

"It's Me" has practically been Golden Freddy's/Crying Child's catchphrase throughout the games, the line that let us know he had a connection to the player character in game one.

Not only does the ability to recognize a friendly face reveal that the Crying Child has a level of awareness, (something rare among these tortured spirits, btw) but the very phrase "it's me" suggests self-awareness. Even without a body or context or adult understanding, Crying Child is aware of himself.

My assumption here -- my big, ole leap in logic -- is that Vanny brought Freddy down with her to the subterranean levels merely to clear a path to where she needed to set up, but Glamrock Freddy came across the old Golden Boy at some point. Using the Afton tech's ability to transfer consciousness (introduced in the Fazbear Frights books****) the Crying Child passed from one body -- broken, helpless -- to another -- new and strong, with a full range of motion.

In the pizzeria ruins, Freddy claims his friends are there. Up until now, he's used that word to describe the Glamrocks, but there aren't any down there. Only the old animatronics.

6.) But Why the Breach?

At the end of the game, if you make it to the exit in one piece, Freddy informs us that he can't follow us out and Gregory is disappointed, but not just because his new friend can't come with him.

Gregory: "If I leave now, nothing will change, will it? There will be more disappearances." Freddy: "Yes. I am afraid that is correct."

It's up to you whether he stays or goes, but there's nothing obvious in the gameplay that would cause this change in Gregory, this newfound altruism and courage that would set him against Afton for the sake of future victims. Perhaps the close proximity to Freddy was enough to inspire the change? It's hard to say.

Oh, well. If I’m wrong, actual human boy Gregory and Glamrock Freddy have each found a friend. And that’s great! But if I’m right? The Bite of ‘83 victim might’ve finally found a way to put himself back together at last, and maybe even end the cycle of violence for everyone.

Here are the promised games summaries and annotations:

*The Gameplay

Stressful resource management games with amusingly startling jumpscares and a dark sense of humor. Keep your character alive for six game-hours by blocking off exits while conserving power and occasionally distracting or stunning enemies. Everything you do costs power and if you run out, you lose. Five levels, all progressively harder, followed by additional and custom levels.

The Surface Plot

You work as the night guard at a dilapidated, Chuck E. Cheese-style pizzeria where the animatronics roam free at night and will kill you if you don't stop them (Why? Who knows!). You can't leave and you really can't defend yourself. Your only weapons are energy efficiency and lightning reflexes.

The Lore

Through repeated gameplay and pooling resources with internet communities, it becomes apparent to the lore keepers that the above premise is mostly hogwash.

The real story of FNAF is an exploration of the negative space around serial child murderer William Afton, co-founder of Fazbear Entertainment, a company renown for its family restaurants, advanced technology, cheap merch, and suss police record. To make a very long story short(er), Afton spent years destroying and perverting countless lives in ways both impossible and all too real. Disguising himself in a mascot costume (a golden bunny called "Spring Bonnie") and as a security guard to cover his tracks, he lured children into the back room of the pizzeria. Something-something birthday party, something-something dead kids.

(Be thankful they never elaborate on that.)

Afton ended up a victim of his own monstrosity, meeting a gruesome, ironic "end" inside a version of the Spring Bonnie animatronic, one that doubles as a suit via the internal framework being suspended by sensitive "spring locks". But that didn't stop him for long.

There's a thing in this franchise called "remnant," wherein an inanimate object can be infused with intense emotions, especially agony, and if the object has a thinking brain -- as a robot might -- it can gain a life of its own, maybe even sentience. (It's basically a technobabble explanation for haunted puppets.)

The tale of Afton's family slowly unfolds in the background of these games:

William's neglected, unnamed wife, only hinted at in the figure of Ballora.

His daughter Elizabeth, whose curiosity led her to be the victim of a new animatronic named Baby.

His well-meaning eldest son, Michael, who set out to atone for his past mistakes by helping his father's victims find peace (we play as him in the first three games).

And the youngest, unnamed son, known only as "The Crying Child" by lore keepers (though there are numerous hints in the games and books that his name may turn out to be Evan). He loved the Faz characters and even had a cherished Golden Freddy doll, but he saw something at the pizzeria that made him scared out of his mind. Scared of the security guard, and of the golden animatronics.

Thanks to a misguided prank by Michael, the boy's skull was broken by the Golden Freddy animatronic, and he eventually died. Unlike the others, he died in a bed, perhaps in his own home, safe, but tormented in his dreams. Someone -- presumed by many to be Afton -- promised to put the boy back together, but his soul latched onto Golden Freddy, regardless, and nothing more came of that.

Then there's the secondary tale of Afton's partner, Henry, the genius roboticist who created most of the animatronics and advanced tech for Fazbear Entertainment. Little is known about him, save that he had a daughter named Charlie. She was one of Afton's earliest victims and in his grief, Henry built her new animatronic bodies so she could have the life that was stolen from her.

***(The books elaborate on Charlie and introduce the concept of life-like, human animatronics that don't know they're animatronic.) Unfortunately, Charlie's soul had latched onto a security puppet instead and continued to suffer. She did what she could to help the future victims of William Afton, but little could be done to stop him.

In the end, Henry decided to end everyone's misery by gathering all the animatronics together inside an abandoned pizzeria and burning it down, to release their spirits from the remnant inside. This could've been the end of the story. It should've been. It was supposed to be. But it didn't end. And Afton always finds a way to come back.

**** a.) In FNAF's VR games, we learn that some part of Afton's consciousness latched onto the circuitry of the pizzeria's computers that later got scanned to recreate the show performances for the VR game, thus manifesting in the game as a dude in a golden bunny suit, ("Glitchtrap"). All of this was at the behest of someone in the upper echelons of Fazbear Entertainment, which is still, somehow, a corporate entity.

During the beta testing phase, Glitchtrap merged with and dominated the minds of some of the dev team, including a man named Jeremy, who seems to have cut his own face off as a result, and an unnamed young beta tester. She goes on to make a bunny suit of her own.

b.) The book series ("Fazbear Frights") fills in all sorts of gaps in the lore and covers a lot of ground, but one constant theme in the stories is of animatronics swapping places with regular people in all kinds of ways. This is similar to the consciousness-swapping in the VR game when Glitchtrap tries to escape the program through the player. This establishes the idea that Afton Robotics has developed the technology to transfer consciousness.

In the Alternate Reality Game, "Special Delivery," you find emails between game developers hinting that a woman called "Nessa" is being manipulated /bullied /svengali'd into helping Glitchtrap.

And now you're finally up to date with Security Breach.

** We collect all kinds of messages from duffels over the course of the game, some revealing Vanessa was hired as night guard despite having no experience because her recommendation came from the very top. There are hidden CDs in the game you can listen to in a secret room, recordings of Vanessa's therapy sessions with employee councilors, revealing that her father's name is "Bill," that he manipulated her as a child to make false allegations against her mother in the midst of a custody battle, and it's implied her mother was thought to have committed suicide as a result of those allegations.

At the end of the game, we also find out Vanny's been living in a corner of the basement of the complex and has been tasked by Glitchtrap with resurrecting his broken old body. He also seems to have her building a giant mega-zord out of what's left of the old possessed animatronics. One of the endings you get suggests that Vanny and Vanessa are separate people, while other lore suggests they're one and the same. So what's the truth? Only time will tell.

[cazimagines]

Random Writing prompts

Today is my last day as the co-leader of the creative writing society at my college so I thought now that it's over I would share the prompts me and the other leader came up with for our sessions in case people need some prompt ideas to try and get out of that writers block. I also included music suggestions that we played to fit the themes. Enjoy!

Week 1: Lockdown

“Things weren’t supposed to end this way but how were we to know the true dangers of what was really outside” write a story around this starter

Create a poem on how you feel about your lockdown experience

Create a short story about someone in an apocalypse who has to stay inside

Write a letter to the government on what they could have done better about lockdown

Week 2: Christmas! (Music used: Our collection of Christmas songs)

Write about what a typical Christmas is like for you

Write a poem about your favourite things about Christmas

Write about the first Christmas you remember and the emotions you experienced

Create a short story about someone reminiscing over past Christmases as they take a long walk home through lots of snow- maybe they see children playing, or see a family eating through a window?

If you don’t celebrate Christmas, substitute for a holiday you celebrate such as Hanukkah or write about Winter in general.

Week 3: Fictional characters (Minecraft soundtrack)

Write a poem based on your favourite fictional character

Write a diary/short story based on meeting your favourite fictional character

Rewrite a scene from whatever your favourite fictional character is in and do it from their POV if it isn’t already in their POV

Week 4: Flowers (Animal crossing soundtrack)

You are a flower. What is your life like and what can you observe from your spot in the garden? Does anything interesting happen?

You are a gardener and like to arrange flowers in your spare time, write a monologue about why you chose this path in life.

Write a poem about a flower bed, describing different flowers in detail, and maybe they will have some visitors like bees or dragonflies?

Week 5: Poems (Stardew valley soundtrack)

Write a poem about whatever you choose

Write a poem about your favourite love troupe

Write a story about a poet trying to find inspiration

Week 6: Underwater (Mario kart underwater themes)

You are a scuba diver, what discoveries do you find underwater?

You are a scientist investigating the ocean in a submarine, when disaster strikes!

Write a poem or description about the deep sea

Week 6: Childhood memories (Undertale soundtrack)

Write a poem about your favourite childhood memory

Write a diary entry from your child self point of view of a day in your past

Write a short story about your childhood

Week 8- Valentine’s Day (The Sims 3 Hotdate music)

Write a poem in any style based on the feelings and perspective of one partner (or maybe it has both sides?)

Write a short story of a first date or of the 50th anniversary of a couple

Write from James Bond’s perspective on why he behaves the way he does with women and his experiences with your favourite Bond girls eg Vesper or Rosie Carver

Week 9: Horror (Doki Doki Literature club soundtrack)

Write a diary entry about how you’ve been attending your schools literature club but recently you have started noticing glitches and you begin to suspect that you are actually in a game

Write a short horror story about your biggest fear

Write a detailed account about the worst nightmare you’ve had

Week 10: Crime (Lego city undercover soundtrack)

Write a short story about a cat burglar. Are they a burglar of cats or a cat whose a burglar? ( cough atticus claw cough)

A poem from a murderer’s perspective detailing their most recent murder.

You’re a detective and a young woman has died from a seizure, but no known cause for it. Police label it as a natural death but you’re unconvinced.

No week 11

Week 12- Jungle (Jungle music)

Write a poem about cool gecko facts

You’re shipwrecked and have landed on an island with a big jungle and now it’s time to explore!

Write about the different perspectives of a sky animal and a land animal (eg parrot vs dung beetle)

Week 13 - Time Travel (Doctor Who soundtrack)

Write a diary entry from your favourite historical period

Write about a moment in time you would want to visit and why

Write about meeting your favourite historical idol

Write a ship fic between two unlikely historical figures, for example Emperor Nero x Alexander the Great

Week 14- April Fools Day! (Circus music that just plays the same song over and over again till it drove us insane)

Write a poem about the most epic prank you’ve pulled

Write a short story of a prank that goes horribly wrong!

Have your favourite good character create the most horrifically evil prank you can think of, or have your favourite villain do something anticlimactically mundane (bonus points for epic buildup)

Week 15 - Fantasy (Narnia Soundtrack)

Write about your favorite mythical creature, like a dragon or a elf

Write about an unexpected journey in a mythical land, like Narnia or The Hobbit

Write what your ideal world would be

Week 16 - Friendship (Harry Potter soundtrack)

Write your favorite memory spent with friends

Write a poem about your friends/what friendship means to you

Write a short story about saying goodbye to some life long friends

Week 17- Food (French Cafe music, please don’t use the one that just repeats the same two tracks)

A princess has asked you to create a ridiculously incomprehensible dish, and you must venture out to find the ingredients (or you’ll die or something)

You’re a chef and your worst enemy orders fugu, what do you do?

A last minute change means you’re now competing on hell’s kitchen, what happens?

[heresathreebee]

Garrote part 10

[Starz Power Diego Jimenez x Jazmine Mann (Black!OC)]

Word count: 3.1k words

Warning(s): Mature | Gun phobia, stalking. Diego and Healy get POVs in this one while Jazmine gets some R&R with the help from her mother. This is a plot only chapter, sorry. Previous Masterlist Next

Author’s Note: No beta reader and I’m far too exhausted to edit properly. After this story, I’m gonna adjust exactly how I format my fics. My million other fic ideas plus my debate over participating in NANOWRIMO this year have been keeping me from working on this too much, I figured it was time to put this up since the last chapter was posted in September... 

The rest of the day went by with a subtle ease. The temperature was just perfect for a coat and Diego seemed to have nowhere to be. Bordering on the miraculous, it was the man himself who asked her if she wanted to go out and have fun. Feeling caught off guard, Jazmine elected to throw caution to the wind and suggest something other than a fancy nightclub to hang out in. And when Diego heard the name, his jaw dropped. 

Two-Bit’s Retro Arcade. 

He did not ask why (though he did scoff, but more so in amusement than derision). Julio was elated to hear the address (apparently he’d been before), and Miguel looked crestfallen to have to stay at the penthouse. The journey from ritzy apartment to 25 cent arcade felt like being washed in time, stepping backwards into her past with a piece that didn't belong in that memory. 

The place was decently busy, there seemed to be no parties bigger than five. A collection of young kids took up the classics section, rotating between Dig Dug, Pac Man, and Tapper Light. The young man who played pinball every day was there. She didn't know his name but she knew his three letter handle because he had the highest score on every pinball machine in the arcade. The rest were small and easygoing groups, buying beers and gathering around prize winning claw games or Dance Dance Revolution. 

"Do they have air hockey?," Diego asked over her shoulder. He was dressed down per her request, in a simple hoodie and jeans. She kept glancing at him, feeling drawn to the simplicity of liking a simple man. 

"Over here." She had no intention of hiding how familiar she was with this place. Diego gave Julio a nod and the man dissolved into the background but was never out of sight. Suddenly, Jazmine became very aware that there were now at least two guns in this public space. Air hockey was... occupied. "Looks like a college tournament. Come on, we're not going to be able to play for like a week." 

She grabbed his arm to guide him away, but the man didn't budge. He stared those college boys down, looking for a fight. If he started something… 

"Diego. Diego! Please… it's just a game, I know a better one we won't have to share." 

At last he acquiesced and followed behind, never more than a foot away. She didn't realize she was holding her breath and wondered if those guys noticed his staring… they probably thought it was normal though. 

Jazmine brought Diego to the darkest corner of the arcade where nobody was or needed to pass by. If she stopped dead in her tracks, Diego would have tripped over her immediately for how close he was, but now that he had her exclusive attention, she didn't mind. She gestured to her favorite game and smiled. 

"Welcome to Marvel Vs Capcom: Clash of Superheroes," she announced. "Nobody plays this version because there's a huge glitch that sometimes makes one character untouchable." 

"OK." Diego wore a sly grin. No doubt he intended to find the cheat character and win all matches, but Jazmine knew all of this game's little secrets. 

Unsurprisingly, Diego's first pick was Wolverine. Jazmine refrained from rolling her eyes and let him work through the board of player characters, picking her own at random and sometimes picking the one she knew would fair better against his character to make it an even game. She watched his brow grow tighter and tighter as he couldn't find the broken character. He even switched up strategies– picking the characters that looked the least strong and working up from there (the opposite of his earlier choices). At last, he picked Chun-Li, having not noticed Jazmine picked it three times already, and he glanced at her face once more to see if she reacted, but the woman gave nothing away. Not until he looked towards the screen did she crack a smile. 

The way the smugness drained off of Diego's face made her smile broaden. He looked at the controls as if they were to blame, then to Jazmine and back to the screen where Chun Li had walked off of the edge of the screen. Annoyed, he leaned over the controls menacingly and waited for an explanation from the Cheshire cat grin on his partner's face. 

It took her awhile to answer him– she was trying really hard to fight the bubbling laughter in her belly. "Yeah, that um… that's what I was talking about. If you play the same character four times, the game breaks. You can't be hit but you also can't hit and you need to hold down the joystick to keep from walking off the edge of the screen… if you let them get away, well… you have to unplug the whole system." 

Diego looked pissed. He stared her down for so long she gulped but eventually, he freed her from his penetrative gaze. His hand slipped under her jacket and found a home at the base of her spine, and suddenly she was being whisked away towards the bathrooms. 

"Where are we–" 

Diego wasted not a breath and pushed her into the women's bathroom (unsurprisingly closet sized), before crowding her space to step inside and lock the door behind. Her heart began to pound against her chest as he turned and fixed her with a commanding glare. He moved as sly as a big cat, forcing her to find purchase against the tiny wood counter with the sink and leaning over her with his lips pressed to her nose. 

He said something softly in Spanish that she didn't understand, but it sounded sultry and it sent a pleasant shiver down her back. She thought he was going to kiss her, but then there was something hard and heavy he pressed into her hand. 

A gun. 

Her eyes bulged– glancing quickly between him and the shiny dark metal of the killing contraption– and shook her head minutely. 

"Take it," he said. She just kept shaking her head, hiding her hands beneath her arms and feeling dizzy, on the verge of passing out. He growled. "I wasn't asking." 

If he wasn't pressed against her, she would be rocking for comfort. Jazmine did not like guns. Her eyes misted over as she whispered, "why?" 

"They've been following us since we left." He slid the wretched mechanism up along her arm and let it rest just below her collarbone. "Haagen's men probably. They're getting bolder– probably by their master's orders." He tilted his head as if he was speaking of something completely mundane as he said, "did you really think those air hockey guys were college students? It's a Thursday." 

Jazmine didn't mean to whimper, but she managed to keep her tears at bay long enough to touch a finger to the gun, not quite taking it, but letting him know she would. She let him show her the safety and slipped it into the back of her pants, careful not to hurt her and demonstrating an awareness of her southpaw. He was almost hugging her when he finally stepped back (as far as the little toilet would allow). When his heel clinked against the porcelain, he turned to make sure he hadn't stepped in a mess, and Jazmine bolted. 

~

"Hello?" 

There was no one else's voice she wanted to hear more than that of Lashawn Mann. Jazmine felt guilt well up alongside the anxiety that had been threatening to consume her for weeks. 

"Mama?" Her voice sounded so small in her own ears. "Can I come over and see you?" 

"Of course, baby. You can come see me right now: I'm at your place." 

Jazmine caught a cab from Essex street home, and though Diego possessed an acute lack of awareness for personal space or feelings, he did leave her alone for a while. No SUVs with fake licenses trailed her home, no voicemails and no texts came through. She put it in airplane mode to make sure things stayed that way. She had a thought to drop Healy's hearing aid down a drain but put it in her pocket instead. 

Lashawn was waiting with Hercules. The tiny bit of annoyance Jazmine usually felt about getting slobbered on washed away the instant she saw her furry grey friend. The woman plopped her butt onto the ground and let the dog run amok in excitement to see her again. 

"Mom…" Hercules settled down in her lap and weighed her to the earth like an anchor for a ship at sea. "If something happens to me, will you take care of her?" 

"What do you mean 'if something happens to you'? Child, I ain't heard from you in two months and you come back with that?" Lashawn sat down on the floor despite her bad knees and leaned on her daughter's shoulder. "Baby, what's going on with you?" 

~

Estupido. She shouldn't have run away like that. 

Diego was overthinking in the backseat while Julio sat in perfect silence. The driver would have preferred the radio on, but his boss demanded the proper atmosphere to brood in. Taking what little he knew of the woman, Jazmine was probably going to retreat to her apartment since he lived in the only other place she was safe. Whatever– she would return in her own time. Unless her own time hindered their operation. 

We can't lose this opportunity. We are so close to Porsche and revenge. Hurry up, cariño. Make our next move. 

Diego was stuck deep inside his head even as he stood with his sister hours later in yet another huge warehouse with examples to be made of. Alicia wiped the blade of her knife onto her bodyguard's sleeve, then turned the blade over to her brother. 

"Finish the last one, will you?" 

Diego hummed, distracted by the conversation at the edge of the half circle. He did not like what he heard. He dug the blade straight into the crying man's heart, then cut his throat just for good measure. The blood on his hands was drying before he was able to speak again. He and Alicia were sat in her limo across from each other. She tactfully ignored his piercing gaze, while he worried the stickiness between his fingers mindlessly. 

"What's this I hear about you staying in New York?" 

Alicia glanced coolly up from inspecting her nails. "What do you mean? Someone needs to run the business." 

"That's what that idiot and your little fuck toy Dre are for. They deal with shit here while we get Porsche back, and then we go home. Together." 

"No," she shrugged. "Dre can't be trusted, Diego. I'm staying, you're going back to Mexico. We can split parent: the girl comes to live with me for a while and then with you. Every month or so…?" 

Diego's hands ball into fists and his teeth hurt from the pressure of keeping his jaw closed. Fucking puta, he thought as the car slowed to a stop. Exiting the car, the man pulled himself up to his full height and reveled in the brief moment of fear that registered on her face. 

"I'm not your errand boy, hermana. I don't do things because you think it's convenient. And I won't be sent away like an annoying pest so you can trounce about in luxury while I'm stuck doing peasant work. Am I the only one worried about that little fucking girl?" 

Through the marble stonework of her mask, he saw the cracks in her armor. "We can talk about this later, Diego." 

"Do you even want her back?," he sneered. 

"Stop it!" 

Alicia pushed him out of her way and disappeared quickly, her entourage scurrying to follow her. Diego looked to his men to find them with their eyes cast down as if they were witness to something they should never see. He stormed away with his head full of rage and more questions than answers. 

~

Meanwhile in a stuffy police office space, Healy was getting chewed out. His superiors figured him out, and now he was sat in interrogation with a furious pair of agents awaiting an explanation and disciplinary action. 

"You took it too far, Healy," his boss said. "I mean, you have really outdone yourself this time." 

"Yes sir." 

"Fucking A, right!" Agent Brasa slammed her hand on the table. No doubt she was chewing a huge wad of nicotine gum and gunning for his immediate firing. "This was our case, Healy, ours. Mine and Holbrooke, not yours!" 

Holbrooke remained ever brooding, silently leaning against the wall and watching the scene unfold. Though they made remained neutrally poised, he could tell by the pinch in their brow they were just as angry as Brasa. Healy had given up trying to talk to Brasa, and instead appealed to Holbrooke this time. 

"You two have every right to be angry with me–" 

"Oh do I??" Brasa cut in, "I didn't realize I needed your permission to be pissed off!" 

"-- but I did it because I had an 'in.' I saw an opportunity that only I could have seized, and–" 

"Are you really going to let him get away with this, Stahlworth?" Brasa looked accusingly at their boss, who merely scratched at his neck and closed his eyes as if keeping them open pained him greatly. 

"Brasa. Holbrooke. Out. I'll handle this the way I see fit– and don't argue with me, Marie, or I'll put you on suspension." 

The two stormed out into the hall, and finally Healy was able to breathe. As soon as he had been confronted by Stahlworth, he had come clean– setting up a covert op without agency permission and using a civilian to distract the perp while he slipped a mole into the organization and collected information. Brasa and Holbrooke had done amazing work– they discovered Haagen was the head, profiled the victims, and knew many of the locations of the exchanges– but they couldn't get any further to seizure warrants or when the exchanges were taking place. 

Healy looked pleadingly at Stahlworth. "They didn't have the resources to cover all those locations with proper 24 hour surveillance, Jack. Haagen is always one step ahead of them– of us– anyways because someone in this very organization is on his payroll. I don't need the glory, I don't want the case to myself– I just want this fucker behind bars. If you have to suspend me, I understand, if you have to fire me, I get it– but please don't throw out my evidence. People's lives are on the line, and Brasa and Holbrooke need this info–" 

"Who's your informant?" Healy snapped his mouth shut as the dreaded words left Stahlworth to hang menacingly in the air. "Healy? Who. Is your. Informant? Who are you working with? Give me a clearer picture of what you've been up to, and maybe I'll ask the DA to go easy on your ass." 

Healy gritted his teeth and dug his heels in. "I can't tell you any of that. A mole for a mole, I can't afford to trust that the eyes and ears in this very room are sound. Now if you want to pass this case back over to the agents it belongs to, I just have a few conditions concerning the safety of–" 

"Is this about Meghan?," Stahlworth asked. 

Healy's voice died in his throat. A lump formed and he had to swallow it down before it consumed him completely. Standing from his chair, Healy buttoned his coat and came face to face with his boss. 

"This is about the kids I can still save. Sir."

~

After LaShawn helped Jazmine pack her belongings, the daughter decided to take Hercules to the park for some fresh air. Her mother had made it clear she wanted Jazmine to move back in with her since she'd lost her job, but what she didn't know was that before Healy and Haagen, Jazmine was two months behind on rent, and she should have lost the lease to her apartment weeks ago. As it stood now, the landlord hadn’t bothered her once– so someone was paying her bills. Exactly who would remain a mystery as Diego, Healy, and Haagen possessed the means and the interest in keeping her in New York City, so she tried not to think too hard about it. 

Jazmine picked a spot in the grass and let Herc off the leash. She threw a beat up tennis ball with a little cheap plastic arm and watched her happy grey pupper zip around picnickers and other dog walkers, always stopping to be petted by every little girl and boy who squealed happily to see her. The woman was jumpy and constantly on edge, but for some reason she barely flinched when Diego sat down next to her. 

"I'll be honest, I'm glad you're here," she said without looking his way. 

He took the plastic arm and threw the next ball watching Hercules trot over hill and dale for this throw. "Did Healy tell you about Porsche?" 

Jazmine turned to see the dark bags under Diego's eyes. "He said something about a missing baby… is that what you mean?" 

The man leaned into her shoulder. "Yes." 

"I'm sorry, Diego." 

"I want my baby back, Jazmine. I want to watch her grow up happy and healthy and loved." He turns to look at her with an expression of maturity she didn't think he was capable of. "That's why I need you. We need you. You're probably scared, but you can't be more scared than that little girl is right now." 

It felt like a punch to the gut. Part of her was annoyed by his dismissal of her fear, but for the most part she understood. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened to older girls and boys in Haagen's ring, but what the fuck was he doing with babies? The thought twisted her stomach until her head ached from nausea. 

Diego continued, scratching at his eye to cover the build up of tears that threatened to spill out. "Healy said he found evidence of sales for kids under 13 that looked more like adoption papers than anything. Requirements for private education and a separate bedroom, things like that. He said he has a stack with no names but six of them are around her age with the name of the adoptive parents on it. It's a start." 

"It's a very good start." Jazmine placed her hand on Diego's back and let him curl into her side with a sigh. "It means she's still alive, that's fantastic... do you think Haagen noticed the papers were missing? He probably has so many…" 

Diego shrugged noncommittally and dragged her down to lay in the grass with Hercules. As he did, she felt the gun in her pants dig into her back, tightening that fist clenched around her heart. She was safe for now, in this moment. But would she ever be again?

@mental-bycatch @nicke0115 @1zashreena1 @girlpornparadise @kid-from-new-zealand​

[merigreenleaf]

WIP Rambles Thing

It's been forever since I did any tag games, so I'm super excited that @bluemartlet tagged me in this! And @toboldlywrite asked to be tagged, too. I feel like such a weird writer, though, because everything I’ve worked on in the past five years has been the same series. So I guess if you forgot about dorks, here’s dorks! (There’s info about the characters here or here if you’re on mobile.)

1. Colorweaver (rewriting/editing the guh... 4th draft? Parts have been rewritten six times, but some parts only twice, so I guess that averages to a 4th?) Genre: These are all the same comedic contemporary high fantasy series POV: 3rd person close/limited, multiple POV; in the current draft there are 3 (Adair, Blythe, Dray) plus letters/journal entries from Rosalie Blurb: Adair Cerulean is an amateur cartographer with the ability to make his drawings have the semblance of life. Like the other creators who possess magic and channel this through art, Adair is a Weaver. Adair is in the process of working on the project that, once complete, would advance him in rank when he discovers it missing! As its new owner seeks out more Weavers, Adair feels a tug from his creation to follow. This pull leads him to a carnival where he meets a healer standing guard over a stricken performer. It turns out that his thief is more than a mere robber and there’s more at stake than just a stolen map. Will Adair get it back and stop the thief before anyone else is hurt?

2. Sentinel (writing the 3rd draft, but technically there have been 6 versions; the others were detailed outlines. This has been hard to nail down!) POV: Ditto; POVs are Adair, Blythe, Firedrake, and Rosalie who gets normal chapters in this one. Blurb: Adair has recovered his stolen map and acquired a new family who will -- with luck and a lack of imps -- protect him in the future. His elation is short-lived, however. The other artists refuse to accept his choice of sentinel-intended or his desire to help as magic in the capital city begins to go awry. When an enemy thought to be defeated returns to team up with someone from Adair's past, he and his family start receiving cryptic advice seemingly from the future. Caught between past and present, and hoping they don’t muck up said future, the dorks must decide how far they’re willing to defy authority, their own arcane training, and calendars.

3. Untitled (brainstorming 1st draft) POV: Ditto, although by this point I might throw in a 5th and add Camille into the mix. This book snuck into a previously-planned trilogy a few months ago so it’s the newcomer of this quartet. Blurb: Adair has been begrudgingly promoted and is now able to practice his cartography wherever he chooses. The dorks, along with their fledgling carnival troupe, are asked to travel to the neighboring country to check for anyone showing signs of magic. This is a cover to hide their real task of investigating the possible source of the arcane glitches happening back home in Concordia. They soon find out that Galanvoth’s plotting goes deeper than anyone thought. It’s up to the dorks to do their own kind of bizarre plotting involving disguises and a fake marriage trope to get to the truth. Will they be able to uncover the people responsible before the magical disruption turns into permanent damage to their home?

4. Iconoclasm (first draft started, but needs to be massively re-outlined) POV: Ditto and I have no idea who else might be joining by this point lol Blurb: As if the previous assignment wasn’t weird enough, a being straight out of history approaches the artists with a plea. There's trouble in his home and he asks that the help he once gave be returned. His only requirement is that the dorks be the ones sent, much to their dismay. Three of them are fugitives and Montglace doesn't exactly embrace outsiders with open arms. Fortunately there's a resistance brewing and those rebels are more than happy to accept strangers into their midst-- at least until they realize how strange said strangers are. When the dorks are forced apart, they begin to realize that they can never truly be separated. If they can find a way to weave their magics into each other and face their greatest fears, they just might be able to help bring down a stagnant and cruel mythos. And hey, if they can do this, facing their own people to tell them that they kinda broke artisan tradition (again) and mucked with magic (again) won’t be nearly as bad, right?

I have two more under the read more. :)

5. Shadowweaver (book 1 in the next trilogy. 1st draft is sorta started-- it was originally part of Sentinel before I pulled Gilly’s subplot out of it and moved her later in the series) POV: Still 3rd person limited, multiple. Likely Gilly, Grandeau, and Astra, but this trilogy is weird because it takes place in two points on the timeline with one of the MCs serving as a bridge and I’m not sure yet how much of Astra’s plot fits into the first book. (I introduced Gilly, Chell, and Ametrine here. Ametrine is the dorks’ adopted son, Astra is his younger sister [not adopted], and Grandeau is Gilly’s brother although she doesn’t know that yet.) Blurb: Gilly is a carnival performer, thief, and ghost-freer who shares these jobs with her roommate/best friend Ametrine. While the two of them are tracking down art that was illegally gained by a dishonest art dealer, the dealer’s sister catches Gilly in the act. She gets away, but is intrigued by this girl whose weak voice is oddly captivating. She finds herself drawn back and soon discovers that while Chantrell is confined in her own home, she isn’t as sick as she appears, nor is she as dead as people seem to think she is. Gilly is determined to find out the truth and, with Ametrine’s help, set her new friend free.

6. Sciamachy (book 2 in the next trilogy, brainstorming) Blurb: Chantrell has joined Gilly and Ametrine on their thieving and ghost hunting adventures; with her magical ability to produce any sound, Chell is the perfect distraction for the others’ heists. It’s during one of these encounters that Gilly notices a shadow that shouldn’t be there. Meanwhile Astra, twenty years in the future, notices the same thing. Someone or something is trying to reach out to the girls using the shadow magic they both share. Could this be connected to the elementals that Astra has discovered are being used to power Galanvoth’s inventions?

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

I have other stories in progress or in the planning stages, but those are short stories, so I didn’t include them here. I have ideas for way more books because my plan is to make this a huge sprawling series that spans centuries and locations (and possibly worlds). Like I want to write one about the founding of Concordia and the Muses and my immortal character back when she was very young, and maybe more following that character at different points on the timeline, and one that follows the “antagonist” of Colorweaver, and... well, I’ve been working on this series for five years and I’d gladly work on it for another fifty. :D 

I’m not sure if you’ve done this yet, but I’m going to tag @lynnafred @elliot-orion @lady-redshield-writes @homesteadhorner @perringwrites @joshuaorrizonte @thatwriternamedvolk @theguildedtypewriter and anyone else who happens to see this and wants to play because I’ve been gone WAY too long and I need a recap on what everyone is working on. So if you’ve done this before or have a similar post already shared, feel free to link me to it or tag me in it. No need to do a tag game, I just would love reminders of what everyone is writing. <3

[calliecat93]

RvB Season 16 Commentary Masterpost

This post details the commentary from the RvB16 DvD. I tried to add as much and be as detailed as possible and I apologize if I misconstrued anything. This was 12 pages long BTW... I hope you all enjoy!

Commentators

All Episodes: Joe Nicolosi (writer/director)

Episodes 1-5: Kyle Taylor (machinima director), Josh Ornelas (senior machinimator)

Episodes 6-10: Jason Weight (co-writer), Greg Slagel (show producer), Billy Burson (Visual Supervisor/Lighter)

Episodes 11-15: Phillip Sparn (Audio Mixer/Sound Designer), Ian Sheppard (Lead Animator), David Levy (Audio/Music Composer)

Episode 1

The intro scene with the knights involved zero machinima (Kyle very much appreciated that), IDK if this was a joke, but Joe said that he wrote the intro three years ago and sent it to Miles, who was confused by it. He thought this would be a good place to finally use it.

The Grif knight is now Sir Gryffandor and the Simmons one Simmtarian XD

Joe use to be in a time traveled-theme band and many of the unused ideas it's where he got several of his ideas for this season.

Joe felt that it took far too long to get into the action in S15, so he tried to have it go faster this time around. Hence why he sped through the setup in this and Season 2.

Kyle and Joe talk about how there was a joke in S11 where Caboose responded to his echo in a cave. Joe wanted the echo to have been time travel Caboose, but when they decided on the slideshow format he couldn't. Miles confirmed at RTX that it is now canon so yay!

Joe had gone back through the show and made notes about where the characters could mess with their past. He also has a fan theory that Two Coffee Mug Guy from the Freelancer Saga is the cause of everything bad that happened since if he didn't show up, North wouldn't have gotten caught, the mission would have gone fine, etc. I am on board with this theory!

In one shot, they forgot to put Huggins and Muggins in as the headlights and it was too late to fix when the time came to air it. Oops. Kyle jokes that they have to blink off every one in a while due to their anatomy XD

The scene where Donut has... broke I guess was apparently a pain in the ass to do. For example when there's like eight of him in a row, they had to time the shot exactly right to machinimate it properly. It involved a LOT of coordination. They all agree that the bit where Donut glitches/contorts is the stuff of nightmares.

Speaking of that bit, you'd think that would be easy since it's essentially glitched out animation. But doing it apparently broke all the rendering machines and they had long talks with the tech department to get it rendered properly. It got to the point where it actually went up to Gray Haddock, the Head of Animation. Daaamn.

Joe's original vision for Episode 1 was to have a long conversation about food that triggered a series of horrific events as it was going on. Kind of like a one act play. Only the Caboose bit with Donut made it through however.

Grif's love of Sammie Raphaello's is based on Joe's feelings about a similarly named place in New York, including eating it for 100 days straight. It had been worth it.

Starseat, the Cosmic Gods base. Is one of the only maps that they hadn't used form Halo 5. They used the majority in S15 so they needed to use some of the alien locations for this one. Since S16 has the Cosmic Powers, it worked out for them.

Episode 2

The forest area was a custom map made by Josh. They used several custom maps this season.

Josh calls layering trees the 'Bob Ross effect' XD

There's this lightning effect in this map that had to me timed perfectly to not mess up the shot. Lets just say that they had to redo several shots because they got the timing wrong or it was too distracting.

When there is a joke that has an awkward pause or silence in it, Joe likes to add a bird effect to it. In the bit with Caboose's 'Your Mama' joke, he used an owl effect

It is canon that Caboose has shy tinkle and can't do his business with others around XD

Because the Halo 5 models have this bad tendency with their coloring (ie, Simmons sometimes looks too much like Sarge), they hired a colorist for the first time in the series history. So every Simmons scene (IDK if they mean just this one or every single one) had to be hand colored to keep him as maroon as possible.

Kyle asked about what was going in on Chorus. Joe says that this is NOT canon, but in his mind Locus got arrested when he brought Wash back to Chorus. They want to try Locus as a war criminal where he COUDL escape, but since he swore off killing people he cna't without doing so. Apparently his ship has an AI ready to split the planet with him Locus gone so Kimball, whose in the middle of an election, has the choice to either let Locus go and save the planet, or not and not get re-elected. This is strictly headcanon, but Joe considered using it as a subplot but since it had nothing to do with the time travel, he opted against it.

Donut is now God Jesus Donut. Something that Joe was very excited to do.

Kyle had no idea how they were going to have Donut walk across water. Apparently Halo 5 has these invisible blocks that they were able to use to pull off the effect.

The music used in this scene is a genre called 'monk-step', which is like Gregorian chanting mixed with ETM (from what I can gather, it's some kind of electro music). Apparently this is a real genre.

The city and destroyed Sammie Raphaello's was made by Austin Clark and Kyle Moran.

Conner, one fo the editors, edited the scene pretty tightly as with most RvB scenes. Joe then made him go back and add a punch of long. pauses

The cop was indeed voiced by Jeremy Dooley. Joe's direction to him was that he thought he was the main character of the story and to just go off with it. He did so for several minutes and Joe had to cut it down, but you can see the full thing in the blooper reel.

Joe didn't want to lock onto a specific place aside form 'somewhere in America' for the city location. But since Grif said he went to Harvard in a PSA, he guesses that it's somewhere in Massachusetts.

Joe has this pet peeve about a truck in the shot as the exact same model was also there when we the place again in Episode 4. Kyle makes a backstory for it about being driven by a dump truck driver who cheated on his wife and was caught, left the truck there, and went on to become president. The truck is now a monument. I am all for this!

They storyboarded Donut putting the guns on the ground... and Joe decided at the last second to just have them flash and appear to not waste time just having him lay down guns for 20 seconds.

Kyle calls Grif a coward for not taking the bullet for Sammie's. That's not nice Kyle!

“Donut uses his shield powers that... never come up again” Thanks Joe...

To get Sarge and Simmons properly on the ground when they land in Egypt, Kyle simply had Josh kill them in-game. They landed perfectly XD

Episode 3

The snow scene with Grif and Doc apparently shows the horizon for the first time in the series due to using very boxed in multiplayer maps. It is also a custom map with the horizon point, which was green-screened, blending into the snow.

Sister and Tucker were green-screened into Halo 3. Apparently it wasn't too bad here, but it was MUCH harder for Halo 2. They VERY much appreciated having a green-screen within Halo 5.

The desert scene with Sarge and Simmons apparently had a shadow in it, so they had to color correct it to make it look more desert-like. Simmons color apparently overlapped with Sarge's a lot.

The storylines were supposed to be about the characters all trying to fix their past mistakes, but only make it worst. This was meant to tie into the season's theme on how fucking up is a part of life. Them not learning it, of course, causes what happens in the end. Joe does mention that it doesn't seem like it worked for everyone watching, however but Kyle mentions how rewatching it can get people to pick up on it more.

The map they used for The Battle of Broken Ridge went through several iterations. They went with one they called White Dwarf which was very detailed tot he point where they fuzzied it up to make it look less so. The rock formations are underwater rocks and have coral textures to them to make them look more alien.

Present!Sarge is wielding a sniper rifle in this scene, not his shot gun. They imply that he shot the previous CO so that his past self would be given the position. GDI Sarge.

Apparently Halo characters do NOT like rough terrain, so recording the soldiers running across it was difficult to make it look natural.

For the PoV shot with Caboose, apparently you can't move the camera much in Halo 5 but you CAN have the character walk closer into it. So Austin and Kyle Moran did so to get the shot and was one of the first they did on their own.

Lopez couldn't be color corrected apparently. They had to go with a shade nearly identical to Grif's because otherwise he looked onto much like Master Chief. As such he looks different in every scene. Thanks Halo 5.

Episode 4

Joe wanted to use all the main locations (Blood Gulch, Valhalla) at least once. He was able to use Halos 2 and 3, but didn't get around to using Halo 4, so we didn't get Chorus aside form the one we saw last season.

The Tucker and Sister storyline was the most changed. Originally, it was going to be about Tucker trying to stop himself from getting laid with all the women that got him a lawsuit last season. He succeeded... but his present self got seduced anyways. This however created a bit of a paradox (I assume since it was clear that Tucker remembered it last season) so he decided he wanted to do something more personal between Tucker and Sister.

Joe wanted this, Episode 5, and Episode 6 to feel more episodic. Hence why he get a major focus on Tucker and Sister here, Sarge and Simmons in 5, and Grif and Doc in 6.

Joe apparently cockblocked himself once. Oops.

Kyle wants to use a time machine to go back and mess with himself when past!him was working in a check out line. Joe would use it to go see old movies and bands when they opened up.

The Broken Ridge map made all the visors green.

Hammerspace exists in the RvB verse due to all the weapon shifts.

The machinima team used the PC version of Halo 2 (the same one used for the Blood Gulch remaster) due to technical reasons. The problem is all the servers, services, etc that were available when doing the remaster no longer exist in 2018. While they have copies of the game, to do what they need they had to use fan hacks, a laptop, and Joe's home computer to make the scenes properly.

Lindsay Jones (VA for Kimball) plays one of the three kids using her Space Kid voice form Camp Camp. Kyle thought one of the actors was the VA for Qrow in RWBY (Vic Mignogna) but it wasn't.

They had a lot of fun macinimating Grif's freakout and Joe outright called Geoff's performance Oscar worthy. They considered submitting it XD

The guy left the truck (form Episode 2) on this very day XD

Tucker asking Sister if she turned off her radio was a reference to O'Malley since at this time, he was still around and going through different people's heads. It was important to make sure that he paid attention to continuity in the time he was going to mess with. Since he felt that this was a memorable event in Blood Gulch, he wanted to go back to it and make sure that he wasn't accidentally messing up anything.

This is the third time they've gone back to this in RvB's history as Josh previously directed a S14 episode written by Barbara Dunkleman (VA for Jensen) about O'Malley in different headspaces. Wow, they must love this scene XD

Joe made Nico (one of the composers and part of Trocadero) make porno music for the cave pond scene. He said “On it Joe!”

Joe liked making Tucker dense when it comes to sex, especially in this scene.

There were talks about if Tucker and Sister should still be in Halo 5 armor when time travleing or if it should change. They ultimately decided to stick to the Halo 5 armor, which Joe felt was the right choice since he was no real reason to have them in the game's default. RvB14 had a similar philosophy where whatever time period the story is taking place, ti had to match that version of Halo.

Episode 5

The map used at the very beginning was a user-made map that's meant to be reminiscent of a Halo 3 map.

Using John Wayne was apparently a pain in the ass. They couldn't refer to him as John Wayne and several other names like The Duke due to legal reasons. It was at the point where they had to have Gus and Matt frequently come in to do re-recordings due to all the changes. They finally settled on Private John... and they hope that they don't get sued for saying it in the commentary.

To remake Desert Gulch, they had to use all the characters at the same time and do several different shots for several reasons.

George Washington was voiced by Todd Womack, a Creative Producer for Broadcast at RT. He also voiced the Simmons knight in Episode 1.

Chris Kokkinos, a Lead Audio Engineer for RT Animation, played Alexander the Great. They did ten minutes of Google searches to put together a voice that sounded accurate enough to what Ancient Masadonian (I think) would sound like.

There's a radio effect in the movie filming scenes where, if you listen close enough, you can hear someone trying to find the bestboy. When I rewatch this with commentary off, I am ging to listen HARD to find those lines.

Kohan Wooter, the producer Jax torments, was voiced by RT's 3D Animation producer Koan Wooten. Joe jokes that he's a 'pathetic ball of anxiety' so he based the character on him. Don't worry, he actually loves Koen XD Koen produced Seasons 13, 14, and 15, but 16 has a new producer, Greg who we'll hear in Episodes 6-10 commentary.

Apparently in Halo 5 (Kyle isn't sure if this was an update or he just never saw it there's an option to max character speeds. So when Jax, Simmons, and Sarge are walking through the set, they were able to set all three to the same speed without it looking like they're sprinting, something that is normally difficult to do in machinima.

In S15, Joe wanted Jax to get successful at some point... and then fall back down off his horse due to his ego. So he did it here!

They wish that they showed Jax's version of S15, though we do get a sample in Episode 12.

Austin and Kyle Moran worked on the scene where Sarge and Private John are doing lines.

For this scene, Matt was late for a CEO meeting so he had to do all of his lines in one take in quick succession. He nailed every single one of them.

I think most know this, but just in case, Atlus is voiced by SungWon Cho aka ProZD. Joe was a big fan of him and was really excited to cast him.

All the Gods we see who aren't Atlus, Kali, Genkins, and Burnstorm are Minor Gods and this is the only time we get to see them all. Kyle says one is the God of Anxiety XD

Kyle made Atlus' throne and used spaceship parts to make it. It was also a chore to decide on all the Gods guns.

Episode 6

Jason wrote Episodes 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, and 14 (Joe confirmed the latter four on Twitter).

Joe says that Grif and Doc are somewhere in Calabria, Ancient Italy. It is known as 'The Boot of Italy'.

Greg previously on a 2D show at another company (I couldn't make out what he said it was) before arriving at RT and being put on RvB. Since machinima is treated more like live action when filming, it was a very different experience along with storyboarding the animation. He had to learn a lot about what can and can't be done in machinima.

Billy previously worked on a live action RvB short (I assume the RvB14 finale but they didn't specify) and before this worked on RWBY and RWBY Chibi. He works on both lighting and composition.

Billy really liked working on the lens flare shots XD Which are also apparently hard to render despite how easy it looked at first.

Jason wrote most of Sister's dialogue, which had to be cut down a bit. Apparently one line he wrote was Sister saying “I want Lancelot to slay my p***y like a Dragon”. This once got cut because Microsoft told them to, which is a VERY rare occurrence.

Genkins was the one going crazy with the airhorn during Atlus' intro. They used up all their airhorn budget for that one XD

Joe credited Jason for Atlus' portrayal. Jason feels that Atlus is very human and fragile on the inside and the kind of characters that he likes to write.

They all laughed at Tucker and Sister being blown up, which they tried to reuse form other stuff, but Joe refused. They joke that they just got it off the internet.

Joe feels that he could have done this episode better as he didn't feel anything for Doc at the end like he had intended.

They have an animator specifically for O'Malley's finger motions. He'll be in the 11-15 commentary and is reffered to as 'The Fingerer'

Episode 7

Since this is an episode that mixes live action, they started working on this even before Episode 1. They were excited at first... until they finally started doing it.

Gus Sorola (VA for Simmons) played the Cyclops as well as his wife.

Joe knows that some people weren't happy with this episode, but he still liked it cause Tucker and Sister got to fight a giant cyclops. They do admit it is one of the stupidest thing they've ever done though XD

They went over budget doing the scene and had to go all the way up to Matt to get more. At RTX, Matt said that he allowed it when they said that Gus was going to be uncomfortable for several hours. Best CEO XD Joe brought in Koen to convince help him.

Huggins had several different animators, but most of the credit goes to an animator named Owen for giving a glowing sphere so much energy with the animation.

Gus' scenes were shot in one day, but because they had to change the lighting so much to correspond with Halo, it took a LOOOOOT of hours.

When the cyclops bit into the Tucker armor, Joe had it in the script that Gus just pulled the head off. Gus asked if he could eat it, which Joe allowed. Joe had to paint it the day before the shoot after Greg went and got it. They used a toy since animating Tucker in Gus' hand would have been too much work to get right.

Joe did a lot of the work on the scenes while listening to an audiobook, so now he just hears it whenever watching the episode. Fortunately, he has a lot of work with green-screen XD

David Levy composed the music for the scene and Joe had him listen to stuff from Jason and the Arganots and such things to give him an idea of what to do.

Tucker jumping to hit the Cyclops'... privates...w as a reference to Independence Day apparently.

Joe wished that, when we see the location again in the finale, he just showed the Cyclops' corpse rotting away... so I guess that confirms that he's dead. He thought of it after the fact however so he couldn't.

Joe deliberately told the Art Department about the female cyclops at the last second so that they would buy a shitty costume for Gus to put on. Greg was confused. The shot later for Episode 15 was a surprise shot Joe did since he was writing the finale around this time, so he wanted it just in case he wanted to use it... which he did XD

Episode 8

The map with the Chorus towers were a Live Map. IDK what that means, but apparently they can't use. So the machinimators had to go around it and take various shots of the towers to put them in the opening scene. It got several accounts banned as a result XD

After the last episode used so many different things (animation, machinima, live action), the fact that they were able to get an animation sequence into this one had Joe feeling good about the production flow for the season since the previous one would normally go over deadlines. Fortunately, the production went through seemlessly.

The animation team is mostly from RWBY Chibi.

Originally Carolina and Dr. Grey's talk was in Grey's office. Miles said that it wasn't weird enough to fit Grey though, so Joe change the setting to a morgue. The dialogue stayed the same though! The feet of the body were apparently hard to render XD

Joe wished that Carolina was holding some guy's intestines to further show how creepy it is.

With the cyclops, Joe apparently wanted him to have a giant, hanging dong cause he things it would be Tucker's worst nightmare. Greg immediately shot that down since no amount if pixilation would be able to hide it.

Joe wanted to give Grif a magic fairy companion, ehnce why we got Huggins and the two would learn form each other.

Huggins is based off of her actress, Ashley Spillers, in terms of personality.

Apparently doing shots showing tall buildings like in Chorus is much easier than getting a dead guy's feet in properly. Huh...

Joe got obsessed with doing different shots to make shots of a character just talking interesting and he felt he went a little too crazy.

Joe felt bad that he couldn't use more of Dylan, but he learned last season that RvB has a TON of characters and he needs to break them up when it's necessary. This is part of why the Reds and Blues were split up this season.

Billy did a lot of work on the wrestling scene in the finale due to how much lighting was needed. It also involved a lot of comp due to the amount of shots.

Wash's cat, Loki, is based off a cat Joe had in RL. Many of the same things happened to it and lived for over 20 years. Wow...

Episode 9

Joe makes it clear that he loves Koen and he only made fun of him because he loves him. Greg felt much of Kohan's portrayal hit too close to home XD

Since they used most of the maps in S15, Joe knew that they were going to have to reuse some of them and the filmset plotline was done in order to do so. Considering Wash's state, he felt that it worked well for character.

The Female Frozen Freelancer was voiced by Minni Clark, their Animation Coordinator.

Joe considered what Wash and Carolina would do with a time machine. For a while, he considered having Carolina use it to go to the future, but he felt that could botch future storylines so he decided to not use the future at all.

They liked the campfire map and giving Huggins sparkles. The sparkles got added late into production. Luckily they emphasized that no one was harmed in the making of this production XD

Huggins will only swear when quoting Die Hard. The lens flare in the movie was also Joe's favorite lens flare in film XD

Joe was originally going to have Grif come across Lopez's head after he sank in the titanic. But since Grif was in Ancient Italy, that would not work so it was cut.

Joe also intended for Grif to use a boat to get over the English Channel, but since it would have been a hard set-piece to make and they already had an underwater map, they went with that instead.

The effect to make past!Simmons portal appear/green-screen was apparently fun XD Joe also liked having Sarge stab Achilles in the foot.

This season has the most green-screen used in any season.

Apparently there are a LOT of time travel stories out there with very complicated rules. Joe went with the ones that he felt were the most common.

Joe got very mad because The Covlerfield Paradox came out sometimes before the season starts. He also gets mad in the finale cause Infinity War did what he did essentially XD

Joe found using time travel to test free will interesting as he doesn't recall anyone doing it before.

Matt improved his lines regarding the back and forth on deciding to open the door. He does that a lot XD

They didn't want to add a shot of Simmons pressing the keypad, so they just showed the door opening.

Episode 10

To make Caboose's vacation easier, they decided to go with the slideshow and just use stills. Most were easy to comp, but some like the monkeys were more difficult. It was orignally going to be animated.

With the shot of the RT Founders, they originally had a Halo helmet in the photo. Joe changed it to a bowling ball.

Joe was counting down the days of production and told no one. Greg was very confused when he saw '100 Days' on Joe's calendar.

Jason wrote Camelto and voiced Lancelot/Sir Gryffandor. Joe used all of his first takes XD

Jason writes long scripts, so Joe had to cut them down and he felt bad about it. Jason said that he got rid of the garbage bits XD

There is some kind of cannon by Tucker's shoulder when he meets with Grif. Joe headcanosn that Tucker just demanded that they make a cannon.

Even Joe points out that Grif's trying to push the plot forward now. They joke that it's just so it an end faster.

The reason why Tucker started the war with France they decided was because they ate snails, hence his line “Those fancy f***s eat snails!”

Joe clarifies on what turning into a shisno means. I wrote about this already, but I'll do so again here. It is not a form of corruption or mind control, but people like Tucker giving more and more into temptation and as such, the worst part of them comes out. He felt that them trying to make the past better is a big convenience in time travel and decided that them screwing it up and therefore still trying was an effect of Chrovos. It's not direct mind control however, it just makes your darker impulses stronger.

Joe confirms that Genkins was the PA who lead Wash to the scene recreating where he got shot solely to make him worst and keep the plan going in the right direction.

Joe, having grown up on films like Evil Dead, really likes bloody shots and thinks that his seasons have had the most blood effects XD

They checked over Donut and O'Malley's scene a LOT due to a lot of screw ups and using a large white void.

Billy's favorite thing to have lighted was Chrovos. They were very happy with the gears design.

Joe really liked Chrovos' VA

Episode 11

Phillip played one of the guards that got crushed by the horse in the finale. It is his proudest moment.

Doing work for Huggins was painful since she required several swooshing effects and her animation turned out to be much more work due to Ian deciding to make her more energetic to not make it boring.

Muggins is less energetic due to being older

Joe had to get special permission from Miles and Kerry to use the RWBY moon and now calls it canon... which he honestly isn't all that wrong if you've watched RWBY V6...

Audio liked adding the effects to Atlus' voice, something that ProZD apparently does in his videos.

When he decided to use God sin RvB, Joe had wanted to have a wish granting scene and the one we got is one of his favorites. He also mentions how most Gods go to places, mess with younger races, so he felt like this fit.

The music for this was challenging for David as Joe instructed him to base it on Danny Elfman-esque scores. The guitar rift when Grif makes the sword wish was treated like a sound effect.

Apparently they used a laughing seagull effect to laugh at Tucker. I need to listen for these things more.

They used a sunset map for Tucker and Sister's talk, and while lighting is often difficult in RvB, Joe felt that this worked very well. Using Halo 5 in general was hard, but after last year they had a good grasp on what they could and couldn't do. They'll be us9ig a new Halo next year, which since Halo 6 isn't out I assume is referring to Halo 2 Anniversary

Okay... so this bit is probably gonna be the biggest part. So the whole scene with Tucker and Sister's talk? Originally in the outline, Joe simply had Sister go 'And I don't care!' when she and Tucker realize that their s*xventures were coming to an end. Then he sent it off to Jason, who expanded on it in the script to have Sister's verbal beatdown to Tucker. Joe let it stick, and we got what we got.

Episode 12

This is the first episode of RvB shot in 4K

You know the opening shot where Actor!Wash dips Actress!Carolina? The scene was mo-caped by Joe as Wash an an animator named Harley (she works primarily on RWBY) as Carolina. When they acted it out, Joe tried to catch Harley when she fell back... except that he had recently dislocated his arm. So he ended up just dropping her and he fell over and hit his head. The mocap for it looked really funny though XD

The reason why Joe used 4K for this episode was in order to do wide shots so that After Effects could put in the shaky cam. He did it in one weekend. He's not a fan of 4K however due to feeling it adds too much production time, so he used it for only this episode.

They joke about making an RvB Soap Opera where Church has a twina nd Sarge goes into a coma. I WANT THIS!

Joe had not seen The Office when he went with the interviews idea.

This, and the later episodes, were written during the production.

This episode was the RvB equivalent of a Beach Episode like you see in anime. But because of armor and stuff, he couldn't go all the way. Also apparently if Halo characters hit the water unless it's an underwater map, they die. Huh...

Joe continues to make it clear that he loves working with Koen. Good job on making sure you don't piss your boss off dude!

The Chinese Finger Trap gag with Caboose was improved by Joel. The trap was composed in and they used the Huggins rigs to help with the stretching.

Joe felt he went a little too strong with the color correction in this episode and that the colors came off too strong, especially with Donut.

Joe liked the audio cue used for when Wash has one of his memory blocks.

There was a lot of improve done with the actors for Jax's movie. Phillip also didn't get the Rodney Dangerfield reference. Joe put that specific one in because the Private John actor did one for funsies in his session.

According to Joe, after he gets hit by Atlus' hammer, he forgets all of his movie ideas and is now in the next stage of his life in trying to figure them out. They ask if this is autobiographical for Joe XD

The gold club is an actual weapon in Halo 5 (some kind of multiplayer mode), huh...

In the original take where everyone is saying titles, Joel had Caboose curse. Joe found it funny... but since Caboose doesn't swear to that level (I think in another interview Joe said he used the F word), he decided two days prior to cut it and edit several takes together to get what we got. They added it back in for the Blooper Reel, and I can confirm that it is hilarious.

Episode 13

David used wall to wall music for this episode.

The first drafts for the final three episodes were over 70 pages long. The average is around 12-18 pages, so... yeah... he had to cut it down to 54 within about three days.

Joe didn't get to work a lot with Genkins' VA (Ricco Fajardo since he forgot the name in the commentary) since Genkins had very few lines. He really enjoyed working with him and the other professional voice actors since he can really push them and they love going along with it.

Jason did the script for this episode.

This episode, along with 13, had very little animation due to the finale going crazy with it. So they cut down on it in these two to make up for that time.

Joe's not a fan of exposition scenes, but since Starseat was a unique set design, he felt like it was a good place to do it.

The Cosmic Powers are always green-screened so that they can look much larger.

David wanted to listen to his master work XD

Joe hadn't told mahcinima what swords to give everyone and is happy with the options that they went with.

Burnstorm's VA is a theater actor in Dallas

Joe regretted that he wasn't able to have the Gods in action much and wishes that he was able to fit in one God fight at least. But he had gone over the animation budget, so even if he wanted to he couldn't.

The Neanderthals hair in Caboose's slideshow apparently didn't work at all, so they photoshoped it in.

Joe really enjoyed doing Carolina and Wash's scene, especially with how well Jen and Shannon performed it. He felt so much regret for what he did to these characters XD

Joe did research on brain injuries to make sure that he portrayed Wash's condition as accurately as possible.

Machinima built the room that the Reds and Blues were teleported to. It was originally a hallway apparently.

Episode 14

The intention of the episode was to be a runway into the finale and to be a bit of a cool down after the last one.

Jason once more did the script for this one.

Halo 5 armor in multiplayer apparently can't be black, so in shadows it just glows. Huh, weird.

No one aside from Joe saw the shot of the Fates. Ian never saw them as he handed them to someone else while doing 15, and they did them all without him having to check them.

Joe wrote the demo for The Fates song to give to the singers who auditioned.

Joe thought a lot about Carolina time traveling prior to this, but felt that she was too responsible and smart to use it the same way the Reds and Blues did.

Phillip was kind of glad that Huggins got 'killed' (I'm still denying it) since it meant no more swoosh sounds

The buildup to the... death scene... dropped the ambiance to build up the creepiness factor.

Joe did the black hole effect and went on until it made him too sad and he kicked his computer. You have only yourself to blame.

They like how the Cosmic Powers just become more and more normal acting as time goes on XD

Joe had been very nervous about The Fates and considers it the weirdest sequence in the season. He suggested the orchestral tuning build-up.

Joe explains how The Fates work. The Cosmic Powers are AI/computers, and that includes The Fates. They are like a series of quantum supercomputers who scan the atoms around them to determine the outcome of the future. Their prophecies are mere projections.

Episode 15 (Season Finale)

They call this 'The Beast Episode'

David added 15 minutes of music with no stop. It continues to accelerate as it continues on.

The episode was done more like a music video. All the animation was done first, and then David composed it to the animation instead of before it. He used bits of previous cues and themes as well. It took him two weeks to do.

The room that Carolina and the others hid in had been very bright, so they had to darken it.

This was very tightly edited in order to stay matched up to the music.

The strategy for the Donut vs O'Malley was to treat the finale as two episodes. The fight was done by one team and all the other stuff was done by another.

They like the 'Use what you learned' advice.

Audio used a program called Vocaline to dot he effects for Chrovos' voice and the gear ticking effects.

The edit for the episode was very different from the script as Joe did a lot of re-arranging of scenes to improve the flow. He got advice form Connor, one of the editors, to pace them better.

The pizza is a photoshopped Home Slice Pizzal

If you watch the scene where Caboose hits the Red with his golf club in slow mo, the body flies off but his soul stays put in an extra frame. If you watch it frame by frame, you can see the soul dissolve. Will make a note to do so later.

David wrote three separate tracks for each storyline in the episode (Donut vs O'Malley, Grif vs Genkins, and the others saving Wash) which all blend together as they go on.

The cue playing when Genkins goes on his boredom rant is Joe and David's favorite cue.

Genkin's rant was also much longer and was pretty much Genkins breaking up with the universe. Joe felt that it was losing momentum as it went on however, so he cut it down.

Phillip had a ringing bell sound effect play when Donut hit the plane on the commentary track. All of them lost it XD

The longest scene to animate was Donut jumping after The Hammer.

Each bit of the fight went to different animators. Ian worked on the Blood Gulch part and reference show he's known for being good at finger animation. Hence why we got O'Malley's evil finger wiggling XD They were bummed that they didn't have more time, but with so much going on, they had no choice. Everything was mo-caped and hand framed due to the uniqueness of all the scenes, all of which used no machinima, which normally has to be in a specific view. Joe was happy since he could move the camera around more.

The city for the final part of the fight was stolen taken from Gen:Lock. It's meant to be New York.

Joe has no regrets regarding the fight scene and was very happy with how it all came together.

There's a ticking effect during the episode that accelerates, but during the final part where Grif is running and stuff, the ticking significantly slowed down.

Grif's running was machinimated and they used an after effects plugin to slow him down properly.

Again, Joe was very mad that Infinity War came out during this time XD This happened a lot this season apparently, such as Legion.

The final scene is done in Halo 2 Anniversary. Joe chose this because it looks familiar, yet is different. He did this specifically to not make people think that they were rebooting it... which happened anyways XD

Again, they confirm that they are NOT doing a reboot. Joe tried to put in as many clues as he could (like Church not being voiced by Burnie) to demonstrate that. There is a reason for why things are like this and why the final three shots are in reverse order from the events in Blood Gulch.

Joe watched all of Deep Space 9 while editing the season. All 6 seasons! Two he watched during the cyclops episode!

Apparently the Security part of the credits (which lists pets) hjust gets added onto without chances, so many of them are probably dead... ending on a morbid note then!

This took like... five hours to type up. But I always like listening to behind-the-scenes stuff and I had a lot of fun doing this! To all of those who actually made it through the entire post, thanks for reading! Looking forward to S17!

[itsallgontoflames]

God dammit, strap in folks time for a recap of most stuff that's been going on (SPOILS for anyone not caught up w/ channel latest videos and ego activity!) Important/main theory things bolded, full recap/explanation about each point + extra is under read more

in no order particular, numbers are for under read more,

Jack has been in a coma since October

Ego’s are trying to reach Jack, he doesn’t remember them.

Schneep’s postcard could have been a warning, an ask for help, or an attempt to reach us

Someone has entered Jack’s subconscious/unconscious state and is now with us. 

Jack has something big he’s hiding from everyone, which we only found out thanks to being inside his mind.

Cassandra being the version of Stacy (or another person with some relationship with Jack or the other egos) that he has a feeling about

The people who had managed to get in contact with Jack/remembered/partially remembered is Schneep, Chase, and Jackieboy

We still have no word about the youngest and oldest ego

This...this is supposed to be a theory blog but my circuits are fried and damn I'd like to go into a coma now Shit could.. make sense though, -rubs hands together-

1.      You don't exactly recover from having your throat slit open and probably other very disturbing things in the snap of your fingers And how would Jack know what sleep is, if he is asleep? 2.      So, saying he's been out. Jack doesn't remember the egos or doesn't think about them cus they're all just part of his mind? But now he's getting closer to being awake and shits coming back. Haven’t you ever been in a dream, but you couldn’t remember everything about your life? And didn’t even think about it? You just accept it. They've been trying to reach him but it wasn't working for the past months. 3.      Schneep could have been closest to managing, Jack becoming a "100% real doctor" as doctor Septiceye because he felt that Schneep existed Schneep might have been the one fixing Jack, so that's why he was the first to "return" if he ever even left. The first to reach Jacks unconscious/subconscious state, it must have been a big ol slap in the face for Jack seeing someone who he had only suspected existed The postcard could have been Schneep trying to warn us, to reach us. Or an ask for our help. To wake Jack up, and we don’t what could have happened to the egos while we were looking at everything from Jacks pov

4.      Maybe Chase, (or someone else) entered Jack’s mind, and he’s here with us. Maybe thanks to Marvin’s magic, or even Anti’s ability to "posses” people. And he’s confused about what he’s seeing. Or it’s Jack, finally waking up. 

(From the end of Stories Untold chapter 3. Thank you @st-jimmys-sister for letting me use their translation in this post!)  

5.      For the end of “Barry has a secret”, could be us seeing that Jack has something to hide, something big, something we would have never been able to tell if he was awake. Whether its something that happened to him, to someone else or something that has been going on for a while now. Personally, I wanna say that it’s about Jack.

6.      Lately Jack has been talking about “Cassandra”, perhaps another feeling? Of Stacy, or maybe even one of the other ego’s friends/girlfriend/wife? Something in the real world could happening.

7.     The mention of Jackieboy in welcome to the game 2, he remembered playing the first game. That someone else was there to do it for him, could have been another “successful” attempt to reach Jack "Jack, Jack, this its Chase. You need to wake up” Chase actually managed to send a message. Jack’s getting closer to waking, to remembering, and so are we.

8.     Jameson, the youngest, was the only one besides Schneep and Jack to of been seen in control by Anti, he’s an official ego with his own video and name. He hasn’t been seen from since his video. We don’t know if he’s okay (other post with some more jameosn talk cus he’s personally a fav yes im slightly biasd) 

     Marvin, the oldest. We have even less information about him, we don’t know his personality, and his name, (like Jameson and partially angus) was decided much later. And the only thing that could possibly be contected to him so far are the orbs at the end of Stories Untold chapter 2.  BUT, Jack updated his instagram story, showing Chase’s shirt and Marvin the Magicians mask. Those two are the next up most likely. 

EXTRA

     Jack! Was! Inside! The! TV! Screen! At the end of Stories Untold chapter 1! After turning around, hearing and seeing someone entering. He saw himself trapped in the screen, in his sleep. He could have been conscious for just that moment.

     Jack is asleep, and someones tampering with his mind (mind control from Stories Untold chapter 2), is it to help him? Or to prevent his recovery? Are they making him more paranoid? More guilty? Influencing his decisions and thoughts, making him think he had done things he haven’t but believes he did?

     There has been glitches, minor, and very much not like Anti. Could Anti be a different person now? Or did he take Jack’s place? He’s walking the human world freely as Jack is stuck inside the subconcious, not even knowing he is.

    Or is Anti trying to prevent Jack from waking by tampering with his mind, fighting against what Chase and (hopefully) the other egos were trying to do? Wake/save jacksepticeye? I want to say that, yes, he doesn’t want Jack to return.

[kee-writestrashh]

Dreams in Neon

Ramsay Bolton x Reader

Ao3

Words: 1685

Summary:  The year is 2518. The race to create super soldiers is at its height. All the big Westrosi families are trying to undermine one another to get to the top first. Robots and androids on every corner. Is that guy even human? 15 years ago you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Your father packed you up and fled the city to try to undo his mistake. However, you were left with your formidable grandmother. Now an adult, well on your way to the top of the law field, you receive word that your father didn't just leave you with your grandmother, but he was kidnapped by one of those big time crime families, and shunted to the underground. You decide to team up with an old friend from the city and uncover the truth about what happened the day you seemed to lose everything. On your arrival, things start to get weird, and you were not prepared for this. War is looming on the doorsteps, but it may not be from other countries or even colonies ready to break free from the oppression of the home planet. Will you regret leaving the 'country side' or will you stand your ground and find your father? (*3rd person pov)

Chapter 2: Circuits Entwined

The city had changed so much in the last 15 years. Honestly, she hated it. Sure the neon lights illuminating everything was exciting. The huge holographic billboards with advertisements for new car and motorcycle upgrades and all-in-one robotic house cleaning services for a low payment of 3000 credits. The loud attire of everyone. It seemed neon light infused clothing were all the rage this season.

She had just been bustled off the subway when she suddenly felt woozy and slightly sick to her stomach as the crowd pushed past her. She took a deep breath and chalked it up to nerves. She had had a lot of those lately. Nerves. But this had been a most peculiar feeling. Like a cold tingle in the back of the mind, and a strange flopping sensation of the stomach. Whatever it was, it was unpleasant.

She glanced around, looking for the one who was supposed to be meeting her. Even so late in the evening the station platform was packed. Did these people ever sleep? She took in the people talking away on either cell phones, or handsfree with their hologlasses. None of them paying any mind to the rats running in and out of the maze of feet as they scavenged for food.

“(Y/N)!” A voice called on the other side of the platform. She glanced up, and smiled as she saw the auburn curls of Robb Stark bouncing as he waved his arms to catch her attention. (Y/N) wove her way through the crowd, much like the rats, pulling her luggage along with her. She stopped in front of Robb and flashed him a beaming grin, turning her eyes to broody Jon beside him.

“Sorry we were a bit late. Got held up.” Robb said, eyes shining as he relieved her of her luggage. “(Y/N), it is so great to see you again!” he added, leading her from the platform.

“I can tell. Jon is practically bursting to the brim with excitement.” (Y/N) chuckled, nudging Jon, who rolled his eyes.

“He’s just having a bad day. Girl troubles.” Robb chuckled, opening the door of a taxi for her as he loaded the bags in the trunk. (Y/N) slid in the backseat, Robb on her other side as Jon took the empty passenger’s seat. (Y/N) glanced over the android driver, who seemed to glow in monochrome and then turned grinning at Robb.

“I really cannot thank your parent’s enough for letting me stay until I can get a job and my own place.” She said earnestly.

“Don’t worry about it! Mum and dad adore you. And when you called about the message you got… well, dad’s all over it. Said your father was a great man, and feels like shit that all of this happened under his watch.” Robb nodded, giving her a sad smile.

The ride to the Stark’s family home was relatively short, considering it was on the edge of the city, and (Y/N) couldn’t help but marvel at how elegant the home was against the city backdrop. It wasn’t how she remembered it. But then again, 15 years was a long time. She couldn’t even recall what happened the day they left. She only remembered leaving in a hurry. And the more she tried to remember the more it seemed to physically hurt. She couldn’t explain it.

Ned and Cat Stark met them at the front door. Cat fussed about how exhausted (Y/N) must be and ordered the boys to take her things to the guest room. Ned clapped her on the shoulder, and said they would speak in the morning. The only other one living in the house was Rickon, who had already been put to bed. But even without the other three, it was like some ‘Welcome home party’.

The Stark’s had always been close to her family. Ned and her father had been close friends, and even after the ‘accident’ as her grandmother had called it, the Stark’s had still remained close; coming to visit her, but never was she allowed to the city. (Y/N), Robb, Jon, and Sansa had all went to college together upstate. But, still unsure what she wanted to do with her degree, (Y/N) had gone back to her grandmother’s to breathe and recharge. And then when she felt she had almost figured out her next step the message had arrived.

(Y/N) fell into the bed with a sigh, staring up at the dark ceiling. As if suddenly remembering exactly why she was here, a heart becoming heavy, as she rolled on her side and stared now at the illuminated clock.

She had been busy surfing the web and halfass playing a tournament in VR when a glitch occurred, making everything blackout. She had yanked the helmet off and glanced around quickly, trying to figure out what had happened when a voice spoke. She jammed the helmet back on, but everything was still black.

“H-hello?” She said quietly, turning her head, this way and that, wondering if she could get a picture to come in.

“(Y/N)!” The voice shouted, almost in relief.

“Dad?”

“(Y/N), baby, listen to me. I don’t have much time. They... are... coming.” But a static was starting to set in.

“Who? Who are coming? Dad? DAD! Where are you?” She cried, clutching the helmet tighter, as if it would help anything.

“I… love… you. I am so… sorry for all… the lies… don’t let them… … find him. You must find him. I am so sorry…. I lo-... you.”

“Who? Find who? What lies? DAD?!”

But there was no answer. Beating the damn VR helmet did nothing. She stood there stunned for a moment, before realizing, she was back in her game tournament. So that meant… She glanced down in the corner, the flashing light in the corner meant it was still recording.

“(Y/N), where were you? What happened? You glitched out!” Robb’s voice said, as his character ran across the screen toward her.

“Later.” (Y/N) said quickly. “Drop.” she said firmly. She suddenly found herself back at the homescreen of the system. “Playback.” she ordered, and the videofeed appeared on her computer screen as she pulled off the helmet. She placed the helmet on her desk, swiping her finger across the screen of the computer until the glitch happened. She almost gasped when she heard her father’s voice. It had managed to record the glitch. Quickly, she cropped and cut that sliver of recording and uploaded it to her memory chip, then sending it to Robb.

She stormed from the room to the kitchen where her grandmother sat gossiping with the neighbor. She glared at the old woman, chest swelling with hot air. “You lied to me!”

Her grandmother raised her brows, taking a sip of her coffee.

“You said father was safe! You said father couldn’t come home because he was on a water conservation project! What is going on?” She raged.

Her grandmother fixed her with a long look. “I don’t know what you are ta-”

(Y/N) stomped to the table and mashed her finger on the middle section of the tabletop, “Replay my last message sent Maxie!”

Her grandmother’s face fell as the message played back. There was silence for a long time before she turned her eyes to her granddaughter. “Sit child.”

(Y/N) fell heavily into her chair, arms crossed tightly over her chest, fixing her grandmother with a cold stare.

“Your father is a brilliant man. Too smart for his own good. He caught unwanted attention by greedy people. When the whole super soldier fad started up again about twenty years ago your father had made a breakthrough. Those kingpins, looking to make more money and their names in history forever, they bent your father’s arm. They took your mother away and…”

(Y/N) made a noise of distress, “The mob murdered mom?”

Her grandmother only gave a curt nod, taking a breath and continuing, “not wanting to lose you too, he submitted to the next man who came knocking. Roose Bolton. But, there was an accident. That involved you. Your father took you as quickly as possible and you both came here. Leaving everything behind. You were in a coma for a month. And when you woke up and couldn’t remember anything, we both breathed a sigh of relief. But, Roose Bolton is not a very forgiving man. So your father left me with instructions. To never tell you what happened. To tell you he had gone to work on a conservation project. But he never returned to the Bolton man. They showed up here looking for him, always keeping an eye on our home. But your father never came back.”

She gaped at the woman, “So you have no idea where the fuck he is?” She paused, “Sorry, Anne.”

The old neighbor lady at the table simply waved her hand dismissively, lighting a cigarette.

She turned her attention back to her grandmother who only shook her head. (Y/N) made another noise and slammed her palms down on the table, “What the fuck?!” she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, “What kind of accident?”

“I don’t know, baby. Your father never spoke of it. He just told me to never speak of any of it, or allow you to go back to the city.”

“Well, I’m going.” (Y/N) snarled.

“I know.” her grandmother said with a nod, “I would expect no less.”

(Y/N) rose from her chair, walking in a daze to her bedroom. She hardly remembered packing her things or anything she said or was said to her when she called Robb.

She had finished packing and laid in bed, much as she was now, falling into an uneasy sleep.

Again the same dream. But there was not much to be made from it. All she could see was a pair of deep blue eyes staring back at her and then nothing as the back of her mind would go cold and fuzzy.

.

**picture not mine. found on google

[otomequeen]

Transfer Nightmare

This post ended up a lot longer that I intended. I needed to rant and get it off my chest, otherwise it would fester and get into my land of slumber. I would have nightmares about it and I just want peaceful sleep. 

For those of you that know I’m trying to restore my transfer data on Kissed by the Baddest Bidder. (make sure the stories I’ve purchased don’t ask me to buy them again) So I can take all of them to Love 365. 

Also a information nugget that some may or may not know, transfer data wasn’t a thing until I wanna say mid 2016. Because when it became announced I went through all my apps and sent the transfer data to myself and the earliest dates start somewhere in 2016. Before they got all cool and hip with emails and passwords, they used to send you two numbers. Well numbers with letters mixed in with them. Something like

App ID: 3kfc49df03kd Sub ID: 33kgfd9xzn3

Note those aren’t real. I literally just pushed keys at the same time on the keyboard. They are just examples of that it looked like

So the idea behind transfer ID is that if you don’t play the game for a while you can put in your id and get all your shit back. Which is cool. I never really worried about progress, I would always reread the stories to read the stories and get cgs back. But it was nice having the backup for my purchases. 

I’m an android user, and using google play if you purchased something and it asks you to buy it again and you click purchase. It will go black for a second as I assume it looks through your order history, and if you have already purchased it you can continue on your merry way without paying for anything else. I know that tech isn’t 100% full proof. So even through I didn’t care about my progress within the games, I cared about the purchases and got those transfer ID’s ready.

NOW

Kissed by the Baddest Bidder was released overseas in February of 2014. Cool. New game, sprites where you get their back, awesome. I try not to get super far into a game because I want to dip my toe into all the characters in all the games. I’m not made of money, so I stick to season 1 stuff. Main stories of course, pov if they have them. I’m not huge into epilogues, and rarely go into sequel territory. So between the day is was released and right now, after going through my history, I own 14 routes and 6 sub stories. If you are doing the math, and I can see how many epilogues/mains/etc there are. It’s roughly $60.00. 

Now that doesn’t seem like a large number. I could get food for a week with that amount. But it’s been small amounts that have been accumulated over the span of almost 4 years. And I’m ok with that. I planned my money and decided I have a few extra dollars here and there to spend each month and that’s exactly what I did. 

So Love 365 comes out, and you can now transfer all your shit from the stand alone apps to the super app. Cool. This will free up space on my memory card, all for it. But when I opened KBTBB none of my purchases were there. Guess it’s been a while since I’ve opened the app. Fair enough, I mean I moved half way across the world twice in the span of 7 months. I’ve been pretty busy I haven’t played much of anything. But putting in the transfer ID they had sent me wasn’t working. I kept getting an error message. I tried typing it in slowly, I tried seeing if maybe I was reading some of the zeros as ‘o’ and vice versa. I copied and pasted it in directly and it wouldn’t budge. So what do I do, obviously I send an email. I don’t want to lose my shit. 

And I know voltage has a bad rep for their customer service. I get that it’s a large company. I’m honestly impressed that I generally got a reply within a day. But instead of going, ‘huh, that’s odd. I don’t know why your code that we provided you isn’t working. Maybe there is a bug preventing it, lets see what we can do to fix it.’ They decided to go with. 

Dear , Thank you for contacting us. Same title apps can transfer your data from old app. Please take a look following steps: 1.) Go on the old app TOP page and tap news button 2.) There is a banner says "How to Transfer Data to Love 365" so tap it 3.) You can find your token IDs so please copy it 4.) Go to Love 365, you can find "Transfer from old apps" button on Start page or Transfer page as well *Please note that Token ID can be used only once. Also before use it, please make sure to restore your ALL purchases otherwise you will lose them. Please feel free to contact us again if we can be of any assistance.

I mean alright. I guess they are getting a lot of emails about transferring to love 365, and in my initial email they just saw the word transfer and assumed it was about that. So I replied along the lines of. ‘sorry no, that’s not what I meant. I want to get my transfer data back before I moved to 365 so I don’t lose any of my purchases’

I got a mixed response. Because for those that remember KBTBB didn’t have that coin system. It used to be old fashioned like the rest of them. So first they gave me a solution for if I made purchases with the coins. Which I appreciated the information. And then they told me that they really couldn’t do much about if it was before the system change. I would have to send them screenshots of my order history, showing proof I purchased stories and they would give them to me through the system. Manually. I don’t know how that end works. 

Alright fine. I’m okay with that. I had to do with with lovestruck and castaway love’s adventure because that just wasn’t working for me either. Not a stranger to extra work I opened up my history to hit a small problem. Looking on my computer I found that I couldn’t go further into my order history beyond January 2015. Now if you remember the game came out in February 2014. So on my laptop I couldn’t prove that I purchased anything between February 2014-January 2015. I sent the screenshots I could get and told them the same thing. The response was we can only give you what we see, which was 2 sub stories.

UM. WHAT.

There was no way I was going to settle for that. There had to be something. Anything that would work. I tried sending them my transfer info sent to me from the game when I registered to see if they could use that. Didn’t really get a response from that idea. So at this point I’m trying anything. Remember how I was looking on my laptop through my order history. I don’t know why but I decided to try my phone, or maybe my laptop was in the other room and I just wanted to mess around with settings to see if I could go further. Either way I ended up on my phone through my history and it went back! 

Huzzah!

Kinda. Even though it went back far enough and I could screenshot everything, it doesn’t show prices. Everything before January 2015 just has a big old 0 as the price. Great. Now I’m worried they are going to think I’ve edited an order history to fake receipts to get these routes. In the hopes they don’t think I’m trying to scam them I take a screenshot of where you can see this change take place. The top have shows prices next to everything and the bottom half shows 0.00. I also explained that in the email in hopes that it all goes well. 

I felt a small wave of relief when it looked like everything was going to be ok. I got an email saying they gave me the stories and if I was missing any just send them the name and a receipt of purchase and they will get them to me. That’s wonderful news. I mean I hate making people work more than they have to, but something wasn’t working right and I didn’t want to lose anything. They could understand that, right?

I checked the app to find that nothing has changed. Then I thought maybe they just meant the games where you can see the prices. So I went to the sub story section and they weren’t there either. Which is kind of what prompted this rant, and a few other things that have been slowly building. 

I’m slowly losing my patients. I have tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. Lots of changes, I’m sure lots of people are getting a hold of them all the time for different things. They are a big company after all, and I feel that the international market’s is low on their priority list. As far as happiness, customer service, not screwing us over by making us repurchase apps like Seduced in the Sleepless City (let’s all agree that was a hot mess. I can’t wait for round two when pirates join in) 

But for an app to glitch, and bug out with an error message that a code provided by the game doesn’t work. And then telling me it’s not the game, and they will only restore some of my purchases, and then not even restore those purchases saying they already have. That’s really pushing it for me. 

I sent an email with a full list of routes I have purchased, copies of my order history that show it (maybe they couldn’t read the names?), copies of my otome id email folder, showing emails from other games, and then from KBTBB. I provided my game name, my device information, the email linked to my account. Everything is now in their corner and depending on the response I really might just lose it. 

I don’t want to cut my losses but I feel like I’m talking to a wall. Nothing is getting through and I keep getting the same repeated copied and paste replies back. I don’t know what else to do other than give up if this turns up nothing. No way in hell will I be purchases routes I’ve already paid for again, so it might be it for me and the bidders. 

[illbefinealonereads]

Today, the Don’t Read the Comments blog tour is stopping by illbefinealone reads. Keep scrolling to learn more about the book, as well as read an exclusive excerpt.

Don't Read the Comments Eric Smith On Sale Date: January 28, 2020 9781335016027, 1335016023 Hardcover $18.99 USD, $23.99 CAD Ages 13 And Up 368 pages

Slay meets Eliza and Her Monsters in Eric Smith’s Don't Read the Comments, an #ownvoices story in which two teen gamers find their virtual worlds—and blossoming romance—invaded by the real-world issues of trolling and doxing in the gaming community.

Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya—better known as popular streaming gamer D1V—regularly leads her #AngstArmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay the rent.

Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun—and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer D1V.

At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new worlds…and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real-world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line…

And she isn’t going down without a fight.

Buy Links: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Read-Comments-Eric-Smith/dp/1335016023 Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dont-read-the-comments-eric-smith/1131303425#/ Books-A-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Dont-Read-Comments/Eric-Smith/9781335016027?id=7715580291810 Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/don-t-read-the-comments Indie Bound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335016027 Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Eric_Smith_Don_t_Read_the_Comments?id=Go6PDwAAQBAJ

Eric Smith is an author, prolific book blogger, and literary agent from New Jersey, currently living in Philadelphia. Smith cohosts Book Riot’s newest podcast, HEY YA, with non-fiction YA author Kelly Jensen. He can regularly be found writing for Book Riot’s blog, as well as Barnes & Noble’s Teen Reads blog, Paste Magazine, and Publishing Crawl. Smith also has a growing Twitter platform of over 40,000 followers (@ericsmithrocks).

Author website: https://www.ericsmithrocks.com/ Twitter: @ericsmithrocks Instagram: @ericsmithrocks Facebook: @ericsmithwrites

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Rating: 4/5 stars

Review: Don’t Read the Comments tackles some heavy subjects, cyber bullying as one of the main ones. But it’s done beautifully, and though the subject matter is that way, it didn’t make me feel heavy while I was reading it. Eric Smith does an absolutely marvelous job at writing from a first person female POV. His excellent writing style, as well as the pace that perfectly suited the story, made the book unputdownable. I really enjoyed the characters. They felt fresh as they were developed excellently. The dialogue is excellent, it felt natural and flowed really well. All of it put together kept the book feeling dynamic, and entertaining throughout. This is a read that you definitely shouldn’t skip.

Excerpt:

1 Divya

Mom. We’ve been over this. Don’t read the comments,” I say, sighing as my mother stares at me with her fret­ful deep-set eyes. They’re dark green, just like mine, and stand out against her soft brown skin. Wrinkle lines trail out from the corners like thin tree branches grown over a life­time of worrying.

I wish I could wash away all of her worries, but I only seem to be causing her more lately.

“I’m just not comfortable with it anymore,” my mom coun­ters. “I appreciate what you’re doing with…you know, your earnings or however that sponsor stuff works, but I can’t stand seeing what they’re saying about you on the Internet.”

“So don’t read the comments!” I exclaim, reaching out and taking her hands in mine. Her palms are weathered, like the pages of the books she moves around at the library, and I canfeel the creases in her skin as my fingers run over them. Bundles of multicolored bangles dangle from both of her wrists, clinking about lightly.

“How am I supposed to do that?” she asks, giving my hands a squeeze. “You’re my daughter. And they say such awful things. They don’t even know you. Breaks my heart.”

“What did I just say?” I ask, letting go of her hands, trying to give her my warmest it’s-going-to-be-okay smile. I know she only reads the blogs, the articles covering this and that, so she just sees the replies there, the sprawling comments—and not what people say on social media. Not what the trolls say about her. Because moms are the easiest target for those online monsters.

“Yes, yes, I’m aware of that sign in your room with your slo­gan regarding comments,” Mom scoffs, shaking her head and getting to her feet. She groans a little as she pushes herself off the tiny sofa, which sinks in too much. Not in the comfortable way a squishy couch might, but in a this-piece-of-furniture-needs-to-be-thrown-away-because-it’s-probably-doing-irreversible-damage-to-my-back-and-internal-organs kind of way. She stretches her back, one hand on her waist, and I make a mental note to check online for furniture sales at Tar­get or Ikea once she heads to work.

“Oof, I must have slept on it wrong,” Mom mutters, turn­ing to look at me. But I know better. She’s saying that for my benefit. The air mattress on her bed frame—in lieu of an ac­tual mattress—isn’t doing her back any favors.

I’d better add a cheap mattress to my list of things to search for later. Anything is better than her sleeping on what our family used to go camping with.

Still, I force myself to nod and say, “Probably.” If Mom knew how easily I saw through this dance of ours, the way we pretend that things are okay while everything is falling apart around us, she’d only worry more.

Maybe she does know. Maybe that’s part of the dance.

I avert my gaze from hers and glance down at my watch. It’s the latest in smartwatch tech from Samsung, a beautiful little thing that connects to my phone and computer, controls the streaming box on our television… Hell, if we could af­ford smart lights in our apartment, it could handle those, too. It’s nearly 8:00 p.m., which means my Glitch subscribers will be tuning in for my scheduled gaming stream of Reclaim the Sun at any minute. A couple social media notifications start lighting up the edges of the little screen, but it isn’t the unread messages or the time that taunt me.

It’s the date.

The end of June is only a few days away, which means the rent is due. How can my mom stand here and talk about me getting rid of my Glitch channel when it’s bringing in just enough revenue to help cover the rent? To pay for groceries? When the products I’m sent to review or sponsored to wear—and then consequently sell—have been keeping us afloat with at least a little money to walk around with?

“I’m going to start looking for a second job,” Mom says, her tone defeated.

“Wait, what?” I look away from my watch and feel my heartbeat quicken. “But if you do that—”

“I can finish these summer classes another time. Maybe next year—”

“No. No way.” I shake my head and suck air in throughmy gritted teeth. She’s worked so hard for this. We’ve worked so hard for this. “You only have a few more classes!”

“I can’t let you keep doing this.” She gestures toward my room, where my computer is.

“And I can’t let you work yourself to death for… What? This tiny apartment, while that asshole doesn’t do a damn thing to—”

“Divya. Language,” she scolds, but her tone is undermined by a soft grin peeking in at the corner of her mouth. “He’s still your fath—”

“I’ll do my part,” I say resolutely, stopping her from saying that word. “I can deal with it. I want to. You will not give up going to school. If you do that, he wins. Besides, I’ve…got some gadgets I can sell this month.”

“I just… I don’t want you giving up on your dreams, so I can keep chasing mine. I’m the parent. What does all this say about me?” My mom exhales, and I catch her lip quivering just a little. Then she inhales sharply, burying whatever was about to surface, and I almost smile, as weird as that sounds. It’s just our way, you know?

Take the pain in. Bury it down deep.

“We’re a team.” I reach out and grasp her hands again, and she inhales quickly once more.

It’s in these quiet moments we have together, wrestling with these challenges, that the anger I feel—the rage over this small apartment that’s replaced our home, the overdrafts in our bank accounts, all the time I’ve given up—is replaced with something else.

With how proud I am of her, for starting over the way she has.

“I’m not sure what I did to deserve you.”

Deserve.

I feel my chest cave in a little at the word as I look again at the date on the beautiful display of this watch. I know I need to sell it. I know I do. The couch. That crappy mattress. My dwindling bank account. The upcoming bills.

The required sponsorship agreement to wear this watch in all my videos for a month, in exchange for keeping the watch, would be over in just a few days. I could easily get $500 for it on an auction site or maybe a little less at the used-electronics shop downtown. One means more money, but it also means having my address out there, which is something I avoid like the plague—though having friends like Rebekah mail the gad­gets for me has proved a relatively safe way to do it. The other means less money, but the return is immediate, at least. Several of the employees there watch my stream, however, and con­versations with them are often pretty awkward.

I’d hoped that maybe, just maybe, I’d get to keep this one thing. Isn’t that something I deserve? Between helping Mom with the rent while she finishes up school and pitching in for groceries and trying to put a little money aside for my own tuition in the fall at the community college… God, I’d at least earned this much, right?

The watch buzzes against my wrist, a pleasant feeling. As a text message flashes across the screen, I feel a pang of wonder and regret over how a display so small can still have a better resolution than the television in our living room.

  THE GALAXY WAITS FOR NO ONE,

YOU READY D1V?

—COMMANDER (RE)BEKAH

  I smile at the note from my producer-slash-best-friend, then look up as my mom makes her way toward the front door of our apartment, tossing a bag over her shoulder.

“I’ll be back around ten or so,” Mom says, soundingtired. “Just be careful, okay?”

“I always am,” I promise, walkingover to give her a hug. It’s sweet, her constant reminders to be careful, to check in, especially since all I generally do while she’s gone is hang out in front of the computer. But I get it. Even the Internet can be a dangerous place. The threats on social media and the emails that I get—all sent by anonymous trolls with untraceable accounts—are proof of that.

Still, as soon as the door closes, I bolt across the living room and into my small bedroom, which is basically just a bed, a tiny dresser, and my workstation. I’ve kept it simple since the move and my parents split.

The only thing that’s far from simple is my gaming rig.

When my Glitch stream hit critical mass at one hundred thousand subscribers about a year and a half ago, a gaming company was kind enough to sponsor my rig. It’s extravagant to the point of being comical, with bright neon-blue lighting pouring out the back of the system and a clear case that shows off the needless LED illumination. Like having shiny lights makes it go any faster. I never got it when dudes at my school put flashy lights on their cars, and I don’t get it any more on a computer.

But it was free, so I’m certainly not going to complain.

I shake the mouse to awaken the sleeping monster, and my widescreen LED monitor flashes to life. It’s one of those screens that bend toward the edges, the curves of the monitor bordering on sexy. I adjust my webcam, which—along with my beaten-up Ikea table that’s not even a desk—is one of the few non-sponsored things in my space. It’s an aging thing, but the resolution is still HD and flawless, so unless a free one is somehow going to drop into my lap—and it probably won’t, because you can’t show off a webcam in a digital stream or a recorded sponsored video when you’re filming with said camera—it’ll do the trick.

I navigate over to Glitch and open my streaming application. Almost immediately, Rebekah’s face pops up in a little window on the edge of my screen. I grin at the sight of her new hairstyle, her usually blond and spiky hair now dyed a brilliant shade of blood orange, a hue as vibrant as her personality. The sides of her head are buzzed, too, and the overall effect is awesome.

Rebekah smiles and waves at me. “You ready to explore the cosmos once more?” she asks, her voice bright in my computer’s speakers. I can hear her keys clicking loudly as she types, her hands making quick work of something on the other side of the screen. I open my mouth to say something, but she jumps in before I can. “Yes, yes, I’ll be on mute once we get in, shut up.”

I laugh and glance at myself in the mirror I’ve got attached to the side of my monitor with a long metal arm—an old bike mirror that I repurposed to make sure my makeup and hair are on point in these videos. Even though the streams are all about the games, there’s nothing wrong with looking a little cute, even if it’s just for myself. I run a finger over one of my eyebrows, smoothing it out, and make a note to tweeze them just a little bit later. I’ve got my mother’s strong brows,black and rebellious. We’re frequently in battle with one another, me armed with my tweezers, my eyebrows wielding their growing-faster-than-weeds genes.

“How much time do we have?” I ask, tilting my head back and forth.

“About five minutes. And you look fine, stop it,” she grumbles. I push the mirror away, the metal arm making a squeaking noise, and I see Rebekah roll her eyes. “You could just use a compact like a normal person, you know.”

“It’s vintage,” I say, leaning in toward my computer mic. “I’m being hip.”

“You. Hip.” She chuckles. “Please save the jokes for the stream. It’s good content.”

I flash her a scowl and load up my social feeds on the desktop, my watch still illuminating with notifications. I decide to leave them unchecked on the actual device and scope them out on the computer instead, so when people are watching, they can see the watch in action. That should score me some extra goodwill with sponsors, and maybe it’ll look like I’m more popular than people think I am.

Because that’s my life. Plenty of social notifications, but zero texts or missed calls.

The feeds are surprisingly calm this evening, a bundle of people posting about how excited they are for my upcoming stream, playing Reclaim the Sun on their own, curious to see what I’m finding… Not bad. There are a few dumpster-fire comments directed at the way I look and some racist remarks by people with no avatars, cowards who won’t show their faces, but nothing out of the usual.

Ah. Lovely. Someone wants me to wear less clothing in thisstream. Blocked. A link to someone promoting my upcoming appearance at New York GamesCon, nice. Retweeted. A post suggesting I wear a skimpier top, and someone agreeing. Charming. Blocked and blocked.

Why is it that the people who always leave the grossest, rudest, and occasionally sexist, racist, or religiously intolerant comments never seem to have an avatar connected to their social profiles? Hiding behind a blank profile picture? How brave. How courageous.

And never mind all the messages that I assume are supposed to be flirtatious, but are actually anything but. Real original, saying “hey” and that’s it, then spewing a bunch of foul-mouthed nonsense when they don’t get a response. Hey, anonymous bro, I’m not here to be sexualized by strangers on the Internet. It’s creepy and disgusting. Can’t I just have fun without being objectified?

“Div!” Rebekah shouts, and I jump in my seat a little.

“Yeah, hey, I’m here,” I mumble, looking around for my Bluetooth earpiece, trying to force myself into a better mood.

This is why you don’t read the comments, Divya.

  Excerpted from Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith, Copyright ©2020 by Eric Smith. Published by Inkyard Press.

[blamsart]

So very last second I know, I barely managed this one in time

Warning: There are lot of image credits I could give out, but due to the sheer amount, if you’re wondering about something in particular you’ll have to ask me.

Warningx2: BIG CHAPTER

Get you some high quality content on this site here folks!

I had a lot of fun with this one, and I worked real hard on it (pulled out them artistic talents). Hope you enjoy!

  Nikolas’ POV

I pressed the confirm button and moments later the white landscape began to change and morph into something with a lot more color.

A waft of salty air brushed past my face and I heard the sounds of critters and birds. It felt a little too real. For a game that can be a little scary. Game overs must hurt like hell if I can feel something like a breeze.

I felt different. Taller…stronger….shirtless?

I looked at my hands, which had black markings traveling alongside my arm, and – well my skin is purple.

Something else feels different…I can’t put my finger on it. But it feels like I might be able to use my astral power here. The game might’ve copied it for my avatar.

I looked up and noticed an information box. It held the basic rules and goals of the game. Turns out the program decided to put me on defense with one other team member, whose code name is Ice Queen.

I think I have a small idea of who that might be, heh.

From what I understand, I have to get to the fortress where my teammate was spawned at before the attack team does. We have to defend it till the day ends. Hopefully time passes faster than in real life, or else this could be a long day.

The info box also elaborated on my special ability. Or more specifically the weapon I could summon. The instructions told me to-

A shrieky laugh suddenly resounded over the sound of a nearby waterfall, followed by a roar and a slight shake of the earth. Like something big had just stomped its foot.

I swerved around, searching for the source as the info box flickered off.

In between the trees I spotted something big, red, and with large pointy teeth.

I gulped.

Nobody told me we had to fight monsters.

What am I saying this is a video game. I’ve played my fair share of rpgs.

I pinched myself and felt the pain in my forearm.

Wonder how much it would hurt to get eaten? Wonder if I’d respawn?

Eh I’m not that keen to jump into a battle.

Just as I was thinking that, the dragon wavered and faded away, like a mirage in a desert.

Sure it might’ve been up there for only a few moments, but it was big enough to be spotted all over the island, I’m sure.

Shoot, did someone go and kill it? Is that why it disappeared? Some people have already adapted pretty quickly. I better do the same.

I have absolutely no idea where to go from here. A map would be wonderfully convenient.

The thought crossed my mind and an info box appeared, with a map on it. Convenient.

“Huh. I’m literally at the other end of where I’m supposed to be.” I grimaced. Hey, maybe I could just short cut through the small body of water.

Huh, guess they can’t show me where the other three volunteers are. Just me and my teammate – well Sal.

I glanced around until I finally caught sight of the tip of the ‘fortress’ I was supposed to reach.

A quick swim! This should be easy peasy.

Oh shit, that’s steep. I’m going to break something trying to get down.

Ah but wait! I’m in a video game aren’t I? I’ve had games where I’d needed to jump from way higher.

Even with my self-applied assurance, I was still hesitant, tapping my feet on the edge and inching closer. I leaned over the edge, wondering if I could just slide down on my ass or something, when the ledge I was leaning over became a mini dirt avalanche and dragged me down with it.

I tumbled down the hill, feeling the scrapes on my skin, and tasting the dirt in my mouth.

My tumble became a free fall, at which point I was way past panicking as I had a clear view of the ground coming to me fast. Head first was probably not going to end well for me.

On instinct I tried to activate my astral power. If only I could just stop time! Gather time to think! Find some away to get the fuck out of this situation.

I felt my power strain, and my surroundings flickered slightly towards the familiar bleak landscape. For a moment I seemed to manage to enter my astral world, my body suddenly falling faster than I was, before I zapped back to it, and hit the ground with a painful crunch.

FUCK

That hurt!

I respawned back to my starting point, my neck and back still remembering with painful reality how they’d just been broken.

Well there’s one thing I can tell the people who made this game. Lower the damn pain level.

I gave my shoulders a roll and glanced at the map again. I think I’m going to go with the long way round.

God that really hurt, jeesus.

I walked down the laid out jungle path. It seemed pretty straight forward…which is why I got a bad feeling. It was too easy. This is a video game…there’s got to be some kind of obstacle. Apart from the painful death I’d just experienced.

“Hey!” Somebody called out. I glanced around as I kept walking, before I spotted someone orange on a rock. Their username offered over their head momentarily. “I’d watch out if I were you, the place is filled with-”

My foot suddenly slipped out from underneath me, a rope tying around my ankle and flipping me upside down in a sharp movement.

“-traps.”

The rope – which was actually a vine from one of the nearby trees – seemed to grow exponentially around my legs and wrists.

In a matter of seconds I was so effectively tied upside down that I couldn’t move any of my limbs. My head was the only one allowed any kind of movement.

Jeesus I’m bad at this game so far.

I nevertheless attempted to struggle against my restraints. I couldn’t summon my weapon or anything to cut these down too. That kind of required my hand to be free.

The other player, most likely from team offense (her name wasn’t Ice queen, and she certainly doesn’t look like one), hopped off from her spot on the rock. Probably to come gloat at the situation.

I tried to lift myself up, but with no luck. How was I going to play the game if I was stuck like this for the entirety of it?

She stopped a few feet away.

“I did warn you. And it was on the map.” She said trying to keep a deadpan face. Her bright eyes were amused though. Well I think. Kind of hard to tell upside down.

“The map wasn’t clear on that.” I gave a slightly embarassed smile. “I know we’re on opposite teams and all, but do you mind helping me out?”

She considered me for a few seconds before nodding. “I can see what I can do.” She took out some thick looking piece of wood (this isn’t easy to decipher upside down! I can’t feel my toes.). She squeezed it and light suddenly erupted from both sides, curling and extending out to form a bow.

She took an arrow from her quiver then, notching it as it lit up as well, and aiming it right at me.

“Woah! That’s a bit extreme! We don’t need to go there! I just died, I don’t want to relive the experience! And it was really painful, my neck still aches. Serious, I fell off that cliff over there. Unstable rocks I wouldn’t go there if I were you. It’s prone to random avalanches, must be in the code…” I rambled off. Doesn’t she have a pocket knife? Or something?

“I know. I saw you slip.” She said with a slight smirk.

“Well that’s humiliating.” I cleared my throat, nearly choking on my saliva as it followed the rules of gravity. “I’m sure there’s a better quicker way-”

“Nope.” She said, and she let go of the arrow.

In the neck!?

At this point my head is just going to roll right off!

After a quick shake off, I headed back towards the path. This time I headed for the trees on the side, from where Firefly had come from.

I weaved through the shrubbery and the hanging vines, extremely glad when the traps all turned out to be on the path. At some point a vine passed through my arm, but I didn’t think much of it. This is a game after all.

It’s when I got stuck in a tree that I started to get annoyed.

Yep. My avatar glitched in a tree.

And that’s another feedback I’ll have to comment on when this ends. I struggled, half of my body outside of the tree, and my legs so glitched I couldn’t feel them. I’ve truly become a tree man. I let my upper half hang loose in exasperation.

“Ok, would not mind another arrow in the neck right now. Doesn’t feel like this glitch is going to fix itself any time soon.” I glanced around a little hopefully, but I was alone.

Shit. I might have to take drastic measures. I willed my info box to appear again and looked for a respawn button. When I was unsuccessful, I went into the tutorial to find out how to summon my weapon.

The black markings on my arms were apparently the key to doing that.

A mini scythe. Guess it goes with the pseudo Reaper the game chose for me. Still…I wish it would’ve been a katana or a sword. That’d be cooler. And easier to handle.

I groaned. There are so many things wrong with my thought process right now.

I can’t believe I have to kill myself to get out of this glitch.

This game is turning dark quickly.

But hey, at least there’s an instant death by poison option on this weapon.

Boring, but the quicker the better I guess.

I respawned again – seriously done with dying – and I was mentally reliving my death again as a mini info box popped up.

Ice Queen built an Ice wall

Sounds like my team mate has been a lot more productive.

I jogged towards the cliff. My first death, such good times.

Unsurprisingly, I didn’t go too close to the edge. I just wanted to get a good look at the icy barrier, not tumble down to my death again.

It was definitely impressive and looked like it would do the job. I might not have to even do anything!

Then again it’s pretty warm out. Wonder how long this ice wall is going to last.

The thought crossed my mind and an info box popped up. Well seems I have two hours before the wall melts.

I eyed the jungle and the path skeptically. Get caught in a trap again…or risk getting glitched again?

My eyes caught on something bright and orange. Wasn’t hard to guess who it was.

She was fun.

From what I could see, she was jogging along a bridge. A bridge that didn’t seem to be glitching. Or filled with traps for that matter. I pulled up my map just to confirm there wasn’t anything wrong with the bridge.

Let’s go see her again.

I started to head through the shrubbery again to reach the bridge, but when my foot went through a rock, I decided this really wouldn’t work. There had to be some other way. Wait! Didn’t I see something…

I pulled up the tutorial for my summoning my weapon again, scrolling past the basics until I found it. Teleporting! I had the ability to throw my scythe somewhere and teleport to it.

On second thought, maybe this would’ve worked better to get me out of that glitch. I’m surprised I skipped past it and went straight to killing…

Bah, there are so little games where you can kill yourself with your own weapon. Can’t pass that up!

I frowned.

Was that-?

I didn’t-?

I did think that, but I didn’t-?

On top of weird masochist thoughts I’m getting a headache now.

I summoned my weapon, aimed and threw it down towards the bridge.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I managed to teleport all the way to Sal – er cough – I mean Firefly.

But I mean come on, it’s pretty obvious. I just assumed she’d be Ice Queen, but thinking on it she never liked the nickname so it was probably the other girl. Or one of the guys, who knows?

Maybe that’s why her avatar has a fire theme. The fact that she doesn’t like the term Ice Queen I mean. Blue suits her better than red though.

She was waving at two specs in the distance – the rest of team offense I assume – before she noticed me.

“How did you get here so fast!?”

“I even glitched in a tree before I got here.” I hmphed proudly. “Turns out I can teleport, pretty neat huh?”

“That’s chea-”

Info boxes appeared for both of us with a big flashing warning sign: METEOR

We both looked up to see a big flaming rock going straight for the rest of team offense.

One of the two spread out his hands and a huge stop sign appeared. Somehow assuming the meteor could read.

Unsurprisingly the meteor didn’t care for it. Suprisingly, when the meteor touched it, it just vanished like a mirage. Just like the dragon. It was just an illusion?

Once the first kid’s plan had failed, the other one stepped out, and when he spread out his hands, strings shot out of them.

That was a lot more effective. The strings wove together to form a net that somehow withstood the flaming meteor.

Right, can’t forget this is a video game after all.

The Puppeteer then pulled the strings close to his chest, making the huge net straighten and propell the meteor back up, before they disappeared themselves. The meteor landed in the ocean several miles away.

The two boys cheered, high fived and ran in circles.

I didn’t have much doubt about who they were.

I turned back to Firefly, passing my hand through my hair.

I let out a short laugh. “Now that’s cheating.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard to win with that on my side.” She said with a slight smirk.

“Hey now! Have you seen the wall my teammate made?”

She grew serious. “The sooner this gam-”

The ground completely disappeared underneath us, without any warning info box whatsoever, and swallowed us whole into pure darkness.

The fall lasted about 2 seconds before I felt myself get respawned again.

You know, psychologically, dying over and over again – because my brain sure seems convinced of this – is really horrible. This aspect of the game really needs to be looked over.

I opened up my fancy menu info box again, hoping to find a way to turn off the pain setting. It’s disturbingly obvious how much of a beta version this game is.

I jogged towards the cliff, summoning my weapon as I did.

As I reached it, I noticed a rope had appeared going from the waterfall to the shore, right beside the ice wall. The kid who’d stopped the meteor had created a mini bridge for Sal – I mean Firefly to cross over.

I watched as she hoped off the bridge and onto the strings, sliding down the shortcut her teammate had made for her.

Well I can’t let her reach the shore before I do! I took a step back. Let’s see how far I can throw my scythe… I brought my arm back, and with a huff I threw as hard as I could towards the shore.

Considering the amount of glitching I’d been doing so far, I suppose I’d kind of hoped for my scythe to at least glitch right through the strings.

But nope! It hit the rope straight on and cut it in half, before continuing its journey to shore.

Sal stumbled into free fall.

I panicked. After I got past the oh shit I went straight to fuck, Sal!.

It maybe should’ve occurred to me earlier that technically she’d be fine. She’d respawn like we’d just done and that would be that.

But in the moment I got really scared for her – especially considering she was falling to her death by my fault – and on reflex I tried to switch to my astral mode again.

That got wonky and didn’t work again, and Sal hit the water only to respawn a few moments later.

God, I feel horrible. I really didn’t mean to kill her!

My scythe reached the shore and I teleported to it, still grimacing from guilt.

Ugh, I don’t feel so good.

A strange unease had been creeping on me for the last few moments, leading up to painful headaches again and an uncomfortable squeeze of my chest.

It faded as quickly as it had appeared and I suddenly realized I’d at some point stood up and dismissed my weapon.

The rest of team offense, Chicken boy and Puppeteer, were standing in front of me, holding the strings and looking at me like I’d just killed their dog.

Pssh! Not like a dog dying is that sad.

“You killed them.” Puppeteer said.

“You should be ashamed.” Chicken boy added with a sad shake of his head.

“It’s just a piece of string. We can get you guys a new one at the pet store.” My mouth said condescendingly.

I didn’t say that. I swear I didn’t! I frowned, bringing my hand up to my mouth. The words had come out on their own. Involuntarily. I DIDN’T say them.

Before I could dwell (…panic) any further, a flaming arrow suddenly found itself between my feet, making me jump.

I looked up at the bridge, where a fuming Firefly had her bow still aimed at me.

“I didn’t mean to-” I started to shout at her. My attempt at an apology was cut short-

-by an explosion. The arrow she’d shot at me blew up between my feet, effectively kiling me enough to respawn me.

Okay, so I guess I kind of deserved that – for killing her.

“Oh well played!” I exclaimed – no not me. Who is controlling my mouth right now!? Not just my mouth, my arms, my legs, even my head are moving randomnly! “Let’s go find a creative way to kill her in kind.”

“What the fuck!?” I shouted as the panic built up in my chest. For a moment, I felt like I had complete control again. This game is not funny.

Then I lost control of my limbs again. “Come onnnn, it’s my turn now!”

I tried to shout again, do something that didn’t involve me being only able to look through my own eyes, but I was stuck. Frozen in place while I felt my body move against my will.

There was still something I had control over at least.

I tried flipping on my astral mode and it sort of worked. It was still incredibly wonky, and the headache I got this time made me squint.

My astral form popped (yes popped, it was fucking weird) out of my body and hung in the air like I was swimming in jell-o. I felt a connection to my body, like a rope tying me down. My avatar body continued to move on its own, this time looking deflated.

“Don’t be mad I just want to try things out. Sitting and doing nothing is so damn darn hard! I’ll be nice though.” It said looking down at it’s feet with a shrug.

Just give me back my body already. Whatever kind of game glitch you are. I reached for my avatar and got pulled out of astral mode.

I stood still for several moments. Waiting.

Whatever had happened was over. I still had complete control over my own body. There were no weird thoughts in my head.

Still…I had the odd feeling I wasn’t completely alone. Plus I now had a mild headache that wouldn’t leave.

I heard team offense on the shore and jogged to the cliff in time to see them grouped up and trying to figure out a way to get past the ice wall.

I can’t shake this dreadful feeling of being watched, like something is right behind me, whispering in my ear. Doesn’t matter how many times I look, there’s still nothing. We really need to finish this game.

***

No one’s POV

“What are you doing napping!? You were supposed to watch the monitors!” She sighed and took a sip of her coffee, gravitating towards the screens to watch how their test subjects were faring.

She nearly spit her coffee onto the computers. She picked up an eraser and she chucked it at her superior.

“W-what? What’s going on?” Mr.Hans grumbled as he woke up.

“You were supposed to watch the monitors.” She hissed under her breath.

“I was, I was, I just closed my eyes for a second.”

“You should’ve spotted this from the very beginning.” She snapped.

“Hey, someone’s in the orange.” He mumbled as he gravitated towards the monitors.

“Yes. He’s not faring well. He’s stressed.”

“Who-? Oh!” The man said, suddenly quite interested. “I knew accepting him was a good idea. We’re getting good results now aren’t we.”

“Good resul-something is wrong. The program sent us a message and you missed it. There was a glitch, it found two subjects in one.”

“Two? Multiple personnalities shouldn’t affect the game.” He said. “Oh wait…Could he be one of the ‘special’ Whitelights? Did we hit jackpot?”

“Your reputation isn’t important right now. The game is registering his avatar as glitched, but it can’t fix the problem. His body suffered a panic attack three times and you missed it because you were napping. We need to pull him out now before it gets worse.”

“No!” He exclaimed, grabbing her arm. “No, it’s fine now. See his vitals are stable.”

“Stable as in his stress levels haven’t changed. They’re still at a worrisome level.” She said reaching for the controls again.

“Don’t wake him.” He snapped, radiating that classic intimidating Hans aura. “My family is going to want to see these results.”

She bit her cheek, but did as she was told.

***

Nikolas’ POV

I reached the shore before they’d come up with an effective solution. As I approached I overheard them chatting about maybe slinging one of Puppeteer’s ropes over or using Firefly’s arrows to climb over it.

To be honest even I had no idea how I was going to get through. The thing was huge, thick, strong, and there was still a lot of time before it melted away.

Being on team defense, I should have some kind of special access.

As I got close enough to the wall to touch it, an info box appeared.

No, not an info box, a chat box from my teammate.

Ice Queen: Use your key. It’s meant for the door, but it should work with the wall.

My key? Since when do I have a—

Oh! Of course! The thing around my neck I kept dismissing as a random accessory.

I got closer to the wall, taking the key from my neck and holding it up.

Part of the wall lit up and melted to form a small door. I hurried through just as the others noticed me and the wall closed behind me.

I stuck my tongue out at them as they all crowded to the now once again smooth ice wall.

“Good luck you’re going to need it!”

I blinked and realized I was back on the other side of the wall. Or maybe I’d never gone through the first time? I frowned, another glitch?

Chicken boy started to walk towards me with an eye on the key around my neck, so I quickly used it to pass through the wall again – or I guess for the first time?

It’s once I passed through that I realized I’d been tricked. And by the smirk on the kid’s face I bet he was behind it. His ability was something along the lines of creating an illusion, like that random stop sign.

He’d just made me think I hadn’t gone through the wall, but what I thought was me going through a second time, was actually me leaving the safety of the ice wall.

“We’d like to borrow your key please and thank you.” Chicken boy said as his friend leaned up against his back. A second later strings shot out from his fingers heading straight for me.

Damn I got duped pretty easily. I glanced at Sal who was watching with slight amusement.

Well if we win or they win, the game’s going to finish one or way another. I know when I’m beat.

Just as I was expecting the inevitable loss of my key, my hand came up and summoned my weapon.

  “It’s not going to be THAT easy.” My mouth smirked as the strings wrapped around to restrain me.

My hand brought my scythe up to my neck and I realized what was about to happen.

“Fucking powdered donuts.” Puppeteer said, shaking his head as my own hand slit my throat.

I respawned with absolutely no control over my body again. I couldn’t take being stuck in my brain, so I risked my astral mode again, knowing full well I’d get a headache again after this.

My body let out a nervous sigh and threw its arms around.

“Ahh I know I said I’d play nice, but I did my best, I really did. It’s hard not to want to play.” It said. My astral continued to flicker worriedly.

“I don’t really care.” I said, standing in front of my avatar. “Just, whatever you are, whoever, please leave me alone and go bother someone else. I sure hope this isn’t actually part of the game.”

“I’m assuming you can hear me.” My body stated as if I hadn’t said anything.

Oh. The fact the he can’t hear me and hasn’t established any kind of eye contact…must mean he can’t see me. Just like with anyone else while I’m in astral mode.

“Cause I can hear you when you’re playing. So you can probably hear me. Look, don’t hate me, but I’m going to keep playing okay? Just for a little while.” He declared.

“No, no, I’m not okay with this. Give me back my body.” I insisted fruitlessly. “Or avatar or whatever!”

“Awesome! You’re a great guy I can tell!” He exclaimed and I groaned as I watched him rush for the cliff. “The map said there was a giant shrimp monster in the lake! We gotta go tame it!”

What is this? Is this what the game meant by two avatars? A bug in the game?

How do I reverse this?

“Oh, action seems to be brewing. Firefly’s got the right idea!” Said the being controlling my avatar.

I floated over, peering down at the scene.

Sal was shooting the wall up with explosive arrows…and it was working!

The wall was steadily melting as she shot arrow after arrow, her teammates cheering her on.

“We better go defend the wall!” My avatar exclaimed, summoning the scythe to teleport to shore.

The quicker team offense wins, the quicker this game ends and I get out of this unsettling situation. So, I put all the effort and concentration I had into controlling that arm. Just that arm, so he couldn’t throw the weapon. And it worked! His arm was – I mean my arm was frozen mid swing and my avatar was casting confused glances at it.

“Ok, ok, I get it. We can see how this works out! Our teammate is coming out to help defend anyway!” He exclaimed, and I let go of my control. Good thing he kept his word and because my head was starting to swim and I’d quickly gotten dizzy and disoriented. It had taken everything out of me just to stay in astral mode and control that arm. I didn’t want to turn off my astral mode. I didn’t want to risk being stuck permanently.

Ice Queen left the fortress, a waft of cold leaking out of it before the door shut behind her.

Sal stopped shooting explosive arrows long enough for the smoke to clear and the thinning ice to become apparent.

The two stood still, representing each other’s opposites, and for a moment it seemed like this scene was more than just a game for them. Even though I’m pretty sure they’ve never met. Maybe this was purely based on appearances and avatars.

Ice Queen brought her hand up and summoned her magic, the ice thickening around the wall, fortifying it.

Firefly notched another sparking arrow. She said something I couldn’t hear, which made her teammates whoop with a renewed vigor.

Then she began shooting arrow after arrow again, each explosion seeming bigger than the last, and as the ice melted Ice Queen refroze it.

Being on her team however, I could see her stats going down. She wouldn’t be able to keep fueling the ice wall forever. My guess was Sal probably didn’t have an unlimited amount of ammo too. It was just a matter of who ran out first. Meanwhile, I could set about trying to regain control of this glitch…

“Eek! Our teammate’s in trouble!” My body exclaimed. “We need to go help her!”

“We don’t need to. Sal’s also probably almost out of juice.” I said to thin air. “And I mean, if Ice Queen loses it’s not a bad thing…”

“I’m going to help her out.” My body declared and I went to try and control the arm again, but he must’ve assumed I’d go for it because he summoned the scythe in the other hand and threw it before I could react.

When he teleported to it – I was still on the cliff –  he had the scythe drawn back and ready to strike his opponent down – Firefly.

Nope, nope, nope, killing Sal is not only not reccomended, but extremely counter productive.

I charged at him, made my way over from the cliff in a fraction of a second and clapsed his shoulders and tried to pull him out of my body. I tried to do what I do to Zac when I’m not in a video game. Extract his astral form I guess you could say.

In the real world I kind of need my body to do that, since it casts a spell, but at this point I was ready to try anything to gain back some control.

He lost movement and hit the ground instead.

I had no idea what I was pulling at, or whether this trick really working at all, considering my astral mode was still glitchy and weird – had been from the start. It was clearly not meant to be used inside a video game.

Whatever I was really doing though, seemed to be working. My avatar was immobilized on the ground.

But the game started to glitch. The whole world began shifting or zapping. The other players started to freak out, and I attempted to stop using my astral mode, because clearly the game wasn’t meant to handle it. But I couldn’t, I was stuck mid process trying to remove the glitch from my avatar, with the world about to lag itself into oblivion.

“Oh I’m so excited!”

***

No one’s POV

“The magic levels in the room are rising…and they’re coming from him. This is why we have a rule against supernaturals Hans.” She hissed as her subject’s levels started to spike.

“They said he couldn’t use magic without a wand, and even then it’s weak.”

“I don’t care what they said, he’s trying to use magic right now, with or without a wand.” She snapped.

“His body can’t do it. It can’t channel magic without a wand. Yet, it’s still trying to. This is unbelievable! Look at it, we can see the magic trying to form in the air!”

“Yes and it’s messing with our equipement! We need to terminate this now before something blows up.”

“Nothing is going to blow up.” He scoffed.

She gestured impatiently at the monitors and with a roll of his eyes he set about terminating the program from there, while she went and completed the process on each of the volunteer’s machines, starting with the troublesome subject.

Entering the room felt toxic to her.

She hadn’t been able to see the magical fog forming, only the trained eye could do that, but she could smell magic. And the boy stank of it. Not your normal magic either. This was foul smelling magic, a smell that reminded her of choking on toxic gas.

She reached the machine and started initializing a shut down just as part of the fog concentrated enough to let out a sharp spark of magic. It bounced onto her hands, giving her a temporary electric tingling feeling, and on two of the machines, momentarily shocking the two systems. One of those had been the boy’s machine, the other was the closest, one of the girl’s.

The researcher managed to enter the final commands and shut the over taxed game off. Instantly the magic in the room stilled, and as the woman went to each station to completely electronically unplug everyone, the magic slowly dissipated into the air. The levels in the room were back to normal, now only composed of the artificial magic illegally used in the experiment.

The woman made it back to the Whitelight boy’s side as he slowly opened his eyes. He cast a glance around, before pushing himself up to a sitting position, moving his limbs as if testing if they still worked.

She glanced back at the window, where her superior merely shrugged at her.

“How are you feeling?” She asked him as he got up, his back facing her. “Any headaches? Dizziness? Nauseous? Do you feel tired? Maybe a little drained?” Her hands inched towards him as if expecting him to faint.

She eyed him, waiting an answer.

“I’m great! Thank you.”

      9.53 – Glitch So very last second I know, I barely managed this one in time Warning: There are lot of image credits I could give out, but due to the sheer amount, if you’re wondering about something in particular you’ll have to ask me.

[kyedrinkscola]

WARNING:

ABUSE FLASHBACK AT THE END, AND THEN SOME SELF HARM. READ AT YOUR OWN CAUTION.

Ink's PoV:

No, no, no....

The world isn't supposed to be white! It's just a bad dream, Ink! You'll wake up soon! Wait... why IS the world white?? That doesn't make sense, I was just in Underswap!

I hear a voice, trying to calm me down. I listen to it, getting closer to it.

I open my eye sockets. I look around, wincing slightly; still in Underswap. "Hey, Ink, what the hell was that?" a voice very familiar says. Error.

Great.

I explain my leukophobia, and how suddenly I just... hallucinated. Stars, now he's even more confused than before. Fantastic!

"So, uh, yeah... I have leukophobia, whatever..." I mumble. "Look, I don't really understand," Error starts. "But I have a tiny thought that you're FEELING. Like, actually. Have you ever been this panicked before?"

I contemplate my past traumatic experiences with my leukophobia. "... no?" I mutter. "Huh. You're actually feeling real emotions. I wonder what triggered it."

I have a feeling I know what started it.

Error.

It's not like I can tell him, though. He'd probably freak out, or ask me why. "So. Do you have any idea why?" Error asks curiously, knocking me out of my thoughts. Fuck.

"Nope," I say rather calmly for someone who's LYING. He looks at me weirdly. He's probably found out I'm lying, he's going to leave me, then I'm going to be empty again- wait. Am I being selfish??

Holy fuck, it's like I have a real soul. I need to hang out with Error more! I want to feel!

... am I being a bad person again...?

Eh, screw it. I need this. It won't matter in the long run, Error's just a tool so I can feel emotions! It'll be fine, he won't find out.

"Hey, Ink, why are your eye lights rapidly cycling??? It's really weird." Oh fuck, he probably knows already. Goddamn, I forgot that I can feel now.

"Huh, it must be because I had too many vials. Sometimes this happens, I get emotionally overwhelmed," I say. It's not a complete lie, sometimes it DOES happen, it's just a lie RIGHT NOW.

".... remember the X-Event??" I suddenly say. He looks at me with concern. "Do NOT tell me some person made you join another "game". I'll fucking kill you, Ink," Error snarls.

I get worried, and feel my eye lights change. "Woah, woah, calm down! No, I haven't joined another "game"! It's just... I feel like I'm a bad person right now," I mumble the ending. "Oh," Error says, calming down.

"Ink, you're not a bad person. Sure, you've done fucked up things, like the X-Event and tormenting me. But I mean, most of that wasn't your fault."

"Thank you, Error. I just... I don't like myself. I'm so selfish. And I hate it. I depend so much on others, it's disgusting. And then, the whole "I'm suddenly a villain!" thing. It's- I-"

Error cuts me off with a well said statement: "Ink. Calm the fuck down. You're not always going to be the best person in the Multiverse. Relax."

Error's PoV:

I didn't know he hated himself that much. But I knew something was off. He was smiling to himself creepily before I mentioned his eye lights cycling. It switched from the common yellow star and blue oval to pinpricks, to red crosshairs, to other weird shapes.

Plus his damn smile. It was so.... wrong to look at. It was highly disturbing, not gonna lie. Something was wrong. Is he being manipulated? Am I the one being manipulated??

No, I can't think like that. He's my friend now. I trust him.

Should I even trust him?? What if he's manipulating me? What will I do if he stabs me in the back? I'd probably abandon him, actually.

"Hey, Error," Ink says. I snap out of it, looking at him. "You were shaking. What's wrong?" Oh, what should I say, 'I think you're going to betray me so I'll betray you first'?

"N-n0th1nG, 1nK, i'M finE."

"You're glitching. That means otherwise."

Damn. I can't escape this one. "Fine, I'm irrationally thinking that you're going to stab me in the back when I least expect it. Happy?" I mutter. Ink freezes, his eye lights slowly dissolving into small white dots.

"Ink?? Are you okay?? Did your emotions run out?" I say, concerned. "I think so, yeah. Let me just-" As he fumbles with a vial, he suddenly freezes. His eye lights change suddenly.

"Ink. What's going on. You're obviously lying about not being able to feel emotions without your vials." I say cautiously. "I don't know what's going on, Error! I swear!"

I glare at him. What if he's lying to me? What if he can feel now? I reach out with my strings as if to grab a soul. Nothing.

Nothing is there. Why can he suddenly feel? I squint my eyes slightly, as if analyzing a puzzle. What's going on here? I let go of the strings, thinking. If he has no phantom soul, nor a real soul, how can he feel?

I feel my errors increase slowly as I get a headache from thinking. WHY CAN HE SUDDENLY FEEL EMOTIONS? AND WHY IS IT APPEARING WHEN I'M AROUND HIM?! Wait. That's it.

I start chuckling. "Ink, I figured it out. You're feeling emotions around only me, as far as I know. If you're only feeling around me, that means something."

Ink shudders. "Uh, I've yet to figure out if I can feel around others, so just say whatever you have to say."

"Ink. If you can feel when you're around me, that means.... uh.... fuck, I was just thinking about it." Ink laughs. "Now YOU have the bad memory!" I frown.

"Fuck, I was LITERALLY just thinking about it, what the hell?! UGH, Fate did something. She doesn't want me to figure out why you feel." Ink starts sweating. "Oh, uh. That's bad."

My eyes narrow at him. "Are you lying?"

Ink's PoV:

Oh fuck he's going to figure it out. Fuck fuck fuck, what do I do?! I contacted Fate, my creator, to make Error not figure out why I'm feeling emotions. Now he's suspicious of me. Great.

I start sweating more. F u c k .

For some reason, he ignores it. He made me scared, only to ignore it. Wow, Error. That's rude.

Two can play that game, so I ignore him. He grows annoyed eventually. "Ink, what the hell?! Pay attention to me when I'm speaking!" I ignore his words.

Then he says it. "Shorty." I grit my teeth, trying desperately to ignore him. "Pfft. Rainbow Ass. Ink Blot. Squid. Inky Mess. Nightmare Fuel-" he says the last one as I glare at him.

He looks utterly terrified. G o o d .

"Don't call me Shorty," I say threateningly. He smirks. "Sho-" I try to strangle him. It doesn't work, for obvious reasons. We're skeletons. Anyways, I'm getting annoyed.

"G0d, 1nK, dON'T fU€kiN' d0 thAt," Error says, glitching. "Oh, right, haphephobia. And trauma. Sorry," I mumble. He forgives me. God, he really shouldn't.

I sigh, picking at my scarf. I'm just using him. Why do I even feel guilty?? It's probably just the emotions I feel from being around him. Yeah. That's all it is.

So why do I hate myself so much for doing this...? Is this a premonition??

My eye lights are probably changing without me feeling it, again. He's probably creeped out, once again. Ugh. Why can't I just be fucking NORMAL? Wait, haha, I ruined that when I ripped my soul apart, into shattered pieces.

I should've just dusted.

"Multiverse to Ink? Hello~?" Error says, waving his hand in front of my face. I twitch as I look up, not expecting it. He laughs. "PFFT- HAHHAHAHA- YOUR EXPRESSION-!" I glare at him. My expression? He really IS a Sans.

"My expression WHAT, Mr "I'm not a Sans anymore" Error?" Yellow glows on his dark bones, and he glares back at me. Embarrassment. "ShU7 uP!¡ 4t leAs7 I d0n'T blUsH ra1nBoW-w-W!!1¡" he says, glitching intensely.

Ah fuck, he's probably going to crash if I keep taunting him. Might as well~

"At least I don't glow like the damn sun when I'm embarrassed," I smirk. He crashes, taking about an hour to finish. By the time he's "awake" again, I've been laughing my ass off for thirty minutes.

Then he realizes that it's over a puppet of me. And he glows brighter than even Dream can.

"g̶1v̶E̶ M̶E̶ T̶h̶4T̶t̶T̶1¡!"

I snicker, barely understanding what he's saying. "Hey Glitchy, why do ya have a puppet of me? Can I keep it~?" I say teasingly. "N̶O̶!¡1!" Error yells, making me laugh. He's so upset, maybe I SHOULD keep the thing.

He glares at me, trying to calm down. "Ink. Give me the damn puppet," he growls. I grin. "Not so fast, Glasses. Why can't I keep it? It's me, anyways~" I say semi seriously. He stares at me like I'm insane.

"Ink. Give me. The fuckin. Puppet."

"Nah, make a new one, Glasses."

"Fuck you, Skittles."

Woah woah woah, Skittles? I stare at him blankly. "What do you mean by that?" I say, confused. "You blush rainbow. Surely you've noticed, Skittles." I glare at him, feeling my cheekbones slowly heat up.

"Ha! Rainbow Squid!"

"SHUT UP, ERROR!"

I feel tears pinprick at the edges of my sockets from sheer frustration. I love teasing others, but when others tease me I get upset. Especially if it's about the fact I'm a walking gay symbol, by the fact I blush rainbow.

"Woah woah woah, calm down! I didn't mean to upset you-!" Error says, scared. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! EVERYONE MAKES FUN OF IT, SO WHY SHOULDN'T YOU?" Error looks dead in my eyes.

"Did I ever say that I hated it, Skittle Face?"

Error's PoV:

Fuck fuck fuck fuck, I messed up, he's staring at me confused, what do I do?! I continuously shift my weight between my feet, anxious. I hate myself, what the hell?! I just HAD to ruin whatever type of relationship we have-!

"Error, that's uh... nice of you to say. Thank you." I stare at the Squid. He's smiling. I blush yellow slightly, internally slapping myself for being awkward. "Oh, uh, yeah! You're w-welcome-E-e!¡" I stutter.

"Now give me back the puppet."

"Never, Glasses!"

"SKITTLESISWEARTOGOD-" (SKITTLES I SWEAR TO GOD-)

"Hmm, I kinda wanna draw something. Can I draw you???" Ink asks enthusiastically. I groan, "Go ahead, Squid. Just don't make it ugly." "Errorrr, you KNOW I don't draw bad! You even said it was decent once!"

The world turned black.

????'s PoV:

Yin and Yang. Love and Hate. Positivity and Negativity. There are many balances in the multiverse.

One of the most important ones is one I'm a part of, Creation and Destruction. Who am I?

Some might call me Error. Some may call me a mistake. Some might even call me the God of Destruction. 

But it's a forced, thankless job. And Ink, The Creator, is in my fucking way.

"ERROR! I SWEAR TO GOD, WHY DO YOU CONTINUE?! DON'T I PUNISH YOU WELL ENOUGH?"

Oh yeah. Right.

The Creator, Ink, is a selfish prick who abuses me. Fun. Plus he's a fucking douchebag.

"1nK, I sWE4r, you nEver L3t mE-!¡" He interrupts me, throwing red paint directly into my face. I scream, clawing at my skull desperately, wanting it OFF. "Error, Error. You never fucking learn. There is no GODDAMN BALANCE. YOU'RE MAKING IT UP."

I finally give up, wincing at the pain from the stupid red paint. It hurts so badly. Red paint drips from my face.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Everything is silent. I think, "wow, Ink must've left!" Then he really starts abusing me.

He kicks me in the ribs, and I clench my teeth together. I don't want to seem weak, but I know I will cave in eventually.

And so does he.

He rips off one of my ribs, and I scream bloody murder. He keeps going.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

I start sobbing, begging him to stop torturing me. He doesn't listen. "Error, you'll have to try a little harder than THAT."

Now I'm on the floor, calling out for help as he breaks me.

But nobody comes, because who would help a psychopathic destroyer? Certainly not me, if I were in their shoes.

....

I deserve this.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

It's bone marrow mixed with red paint, now. Funny. That's what's causing the dripping sound.

Finally, he lets me go. I stumble back into my home, the AntiVoid.

Then I chip away at my bones with a knife. After all, I deserve this. I deserve pain and suffering.

Right?

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip drip.

Drip drip drip.

Drip drip drip drip-

I pant. This hurts so goddamn much. I don't hear Ink enter the AntiVoid until it's too late.

"Hey, Error. Sorry for- WHAT THE FUCK?!" Ink screams. I drop the knife, quickly looking up and pulling down my sleeve.

"LEAVE. N0w, 1nK̶." I say, angry. He wasn't supposed to see me doing this. He looks at me with almost a look of pity.

That's not right.

I deserve this.

[musicalherbalist]

Things I Like

Heeeey, I'm sorry this is so late. I wanted to post up some of the anime/manga/comics/games/other shows I'm into. :) Keep in mind, this is mainly the stuff I'm currently into, and not all of it.

Anime:

Tenchi Muyo - Ryoko, Ryo-Oki, and Sasami are three of my favorite characters.

Trigun - Vash is better than Knives.

Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler - One of my favorites. Saw "Book of Atlantic" in theater, and it was AWESOME! Even Cosplayed Grell Sutcliff a few times(her heels are hell to wear for long periods of time...)

Fullmetal Alchemist - Still watching Brotherhood and reading the manga, but I have all of the first anime and it's film, and Sacred Star of Milos was my favorite installment.

Brigadoon: Marin to Melan - A lesser known anime, but I love the characters and artstyle, and I own the whole series and it's two-volume pilot manga.

Spice and Wolf - no description needed

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Um... I just like it? Mainly the Rebuild films, though.

One Piece - I got started with a few chapters in an old Shounen Jump issue, and it just went from there. I even have one of the 3ds games.

One Punch Man - Need I say anything? I love the manga and anime equally.

Madoka Magica - Best Magical Girl anime EVER!

Hamtaro - Blast from the past. :)

Manga:

Trigun - Finished the manga before the anime. :)

Pokemon Adventures - The manga is so awesome, and honestly so much darker than the anime! It's honestly what I needed when it came to Pokemon.

Karakuri Douji Ultimo - The story has just the right amount of Stan Lee weirdness and giant robot battles to keep me enthralled in the series. Also, the designs of all of the Douji, good and evil, are so amazing!

Kingdom Hearts - I know that there aren't going to be any more manga issues after 358/2 days, but in some ways, I love the manga more than the games. It had so much more character development, and you could get to see the plot from the pov of characters other than Sora. Although, I still love the games with all my heart. :)

Video Games:

Steambot Chronicles - a little known game from Japan that has a steampunk, Studio Gibli feel to it.

Danganronpa - Started with the second game, and I'm ABSOLUTELY LOVING it so far! 8D Right now, I'm watching a play through for V3, and I just finished the fourth trial... ;-;

Kingdom Hearts - Already explained it.

Okami/Okami Den - Two of my favorite games from my childhood! I love the artstyle, graphics, characters, and ost. :)

Bayonetta - NEED I SAY ANYTHING?

Xenosaga - I used to watch my dad play it when I was little, and now I'm finally getting to play it for myself. It's one of my favorite games of all time, and it's the home of my first waifu. X3

ICO/Shadow of the Colossus - These games are absolutely stunning for their times! Yeah, the controls are a bit jankey, and Yorda's AI is weird, but the landscapes, character designs, and the Colossi are just stunning!

Transformers: Devastation - THIS GAME MAKES MY NERD HEART HAPPY! A G1 styled game with the graphics from Okami?! In all for that! 8D

Silent Hill: The Room - Okay, I actually like most of the Silent Hill games. I think almost all of them are quite nice, and I like the psychological horror aspect of the games. I just prefer "The Room" so far because of my personal experience with the first games, I like the story so far, and my dad(who is a silent Hill expert with nearly all of the games) suggested I try this one before playing the second, third, and the other games that come later in the series.

The Katamari Damacy series - I don't know what else to say besides that it's been around since my childhood, and it's been one of my favorite game series for a while now. :)

Other Shows/comics:

Gravity Falls - Need I say anything?

Criminal Minds - Not caught up with it, but I like watching it with my mom sometimes.

RWBY - MUST I SAY ANYTHING, THIS SHOW IS AMAZING SO FAR!!

Red v Blue - This is one of RoosterTeeth's older series, but it's one of their best. All of the characters are so wacky, weird, and diverse, it's amazing to watch. :)

Transformers - I've seen almost every series from G1 to the newest RID series(even the Japanese ones), and been loving it since childhood. :) I don't much care for Rescue Bots or the new RiD series though. It doesn't really live up to TFP's glory. Although, the IDW comics MORE than make up for that, ESPECIALLY the "More than Meets the Eye/Lost Light" series. :)

Sonic the hedgehog games/comics: I used to be really into the games and comics. I still play my copy of 06 for the glitches, and I still like reading through my Archie Comics issues sometimes. :)