#something something buck's entire self worth is tied to the idea

[tcmmykinard]

You know, it’s funny, uh... my whole life my parents never really saw me ‘cause they were too caught up in their own grief. It felt like I was an annoyance they had to deal with. 

But here... here they finally see me.

[builder051]

Whumptober 2020 day 29: emergency room

powers/no powers, Bucky vs depression storyline

TW for suicidal ideation

_____________________

“Tell me if you feel really bad,” Steve tells Bucky as he tucks him into bed around noon on Sunday.  “I mean... you know.  If your mind feels worse.  Than you just want to be up here by yourself.  I’ll take you out to the farm.  I’ll take you to the hospital.”  Steve gives him a pleading look.

Bucky reluctantly nods.  He lies back against the pillows and pulls the quilt up to his chin.  “I just want to go to sleep,” he whispers.  

Steve nods.  “Ok.  I can stay if you want.  Until you drift off.”

Bucky snakes his arm out reaches for the bottle of quick-acting melatonin on the bedside table.  “I’ll be ok.”  He pops the easy open lid, shakes out two, and tosses them back.  They taste terrible, but he resists making a face.  He deserves disgusting pink tablets.  He deserves the throbbing headache.  He deserves the repetitive thoughts that tell him he’d be better off dead.

“You sure?” Steve asks.

Bucky sets the bottle back down and murmurs, “Yeah.”

“Ok.”  Steve gives him a wan smile.  “I’ll be downstairs.  Yell if you need anything.  Or text.”  He nudges Bucky’s phone closer to the bed.  “Or call.  Whatever you want.”

“Sure...”  Bucky closes his eyes, if only to get Steve to stop talking.

“Come check on you in an hour or two?”

“Fine.”  Bucky hopes he’ll be asleep.

“Alright.”  Steve begins to retreat toward the door.  “It’ll be ok, Buck.  This’ll pass.  I promise.”

“Hm.”  Bucky turns slightly so his ear is buried in the pillow.  He knows he ought to believe Steve.  But he also knows that today isn’t the day for his words to be true.

Bucky drops off quickly, though for how long he has no idea.  He wakes feeling warm and groggy, a thin layer of sweat beading up on the back of his neck and his unshaven upper lip.  Light still streams in around the curtained window, so not too much time seems to have passed, but whether he’s been under for twenty minutes or two hours, it seems to have been enough time for him to spike a fever.

Bucky rolls over onto his stomach, pressing his forehead into a cool spot on the pillow and attempting to breathe in deeply through the barrier of the memory foam swaddled in organic cotton.  He smells a hint of laundry soap, though it’s almost completely overtaken by the scent of his own musk.  He’s spent far too much time in bed lately without letting things air out.  

Bucky’s hit with a wave of disgust that quickly turns to self-hatred.  What is he doing with his life?  He quit his job months ago; he’s bringing no income into the house.  Steve can easily keep them afloat, but when he’s constantly using up sick days and vacation to take care of Bucky, his employment is in danger as well.  And that’s Bucky’s fault.

Steve would be better off without him.  Bucky’s had the thought before, and now it returns with a vengeance.  Steve deserves the opportunity to live without the dead weight of Bucky tied to his side.  

But Bucky can’t live without Steve.  He can’t care for himself; he can’t open his pill bottles with just one hand to work with.  He’d miss his appointments because he either wouldn’t remember or wouldn’t care.  Bucky knows Clint and Laura will always be there and willing to help him out, but Steve’s something else entirely.  Steve is his.  But at the same time, he can’t claim ownership of Steve at all.

Bucky looks around for something to use.  Something to take.  But his heavy-duty meds are all locked up downstairs, and their aren’t any razors or scissors or sharp objects of any kind in the bedroom.  If he goes into the bathroom to look for something, Steve will certainly hear him moving around and come to see what’s going on.  

Bucky’s eyes sweep the room and come to rest on the bottle of melatonin on the bedside table.  It won’t kill him, he knows, but it’s worth a shot.  Maybe he can choke himself on disgusting pink spit,  

Bucky pops the lid and pours the tablets directly into his mouth.  He swallows at them, forcing them whole into his throat where they burn and poke as the muscles squeeze and simultaneously attempt to accept and reject the foreign objects.  He coughs, and several pop back up into his mouth with a splash of mucousy spit.  Bucky grimaces and swallows it all down again.

Suddenly there’s a soft knock on the door, and the knob begins to turn.  Bucky still has the melatonin bottle pressed against his lips as he struggles to down what’s in his mouth and stuck in his throat.  His eyes go wide with panic, and he freezes, unable to force his body to change positions.

“Buck?” Steve says softly, opening the door a crack.  He peers inside, then pauses a moment as if he isn’t sure what he’s taking in.  Then, “What the hell...?”

Bucky tries to swallow again.  Most of the tablets have disintegrated by now, and they run down his throat in a gritty mush that turns his stomach with its medicinal sweetness.  “Um...” he starts, his voice quiet and watery.

“What’re you...?  How many of those did you take?”  Steve rushes forward and pries the bottle out of Bucky’s hand.  He peers inside and gives it a little shake.  

Bucky’s heart pounds, for it’s clear that the thing is mostly empty.  He hadn’t factored in the possibility of getting caught.  It’s not that Steve looks angry; in fact, he just looks concerned; but Bucky’s never felt a stronger urge to stop living and disappear from the face of the earth.

“You took a lot, huh?”  Steve looks at him with wide, worried eyes.  “You don’t... You’re not feeling good, are you?”

Bucky stares at him a second, then slowly shakes his head.  He realizes his hand is trembling, and he balls it into a fist in his lap.  Bucky’s breaths come in shaky, and tears threaten to spill from the corners of his eyes.

“We need to go,” Steve says softly.  “Ok?”  He sets the melatonin bottle down and reaches for Bucky’s hand.  “It’s not really an attempt, but, like...”

“No,”  Bucky whispers.  His stomach turns, and he gulps.

“I don’t know if I can keep you safe.  And you’re...” Steve uses his other hand to gently cup Bucky’s cheek.  “You’re not feeling so good, are you?”

Bucky slowly shakes his head.  

“I mean... We can call it poison control.  Say you mixed your meds up.  Whatever you want.  I just don’t think you should be at home right now.”

Bucky just stares blankly at him.  “’M not getting dressed,” he mumbles.  His head hurts, and his body feels heavy and uncooperative.  Nausea plays around his jawline and the top of his throat, threatening to connect with his stomach and turn things even nastier than they already are.

“You don’t have to,” Steve assures him.  “Come on.  Let’s go.”  He sweeps back the covers and offers Bucky his arm.  “Just shoes, that’s all you need.”

Bucky shoves his feet into a pair of Birkenstocks and shuffles downstairs, then follows Steve into the garage.  He lets Steve buckle him into the passenger seat like a child, then tips his head back against the headrest.  He catches sight of himself in the rear view mirror, taking in his pallid countenance and dark, nearly bruised-looking eyes.  His lips look red and wet, and the lightest of pink spots bloom above the stubble on his cheeks.  He looks ill, which Bucky supposes works in his favor.

“Ok, here we go.”  Steve starts the car and backs out of the driveway.  “Short drive.”

It’s only about fifteen minutes to the hospital, but for Bucky it feels like an eternity.  His stomach jumps into his throat at every stoplight, and the vibrating motion of the car increases the ache between his eyes.  

“You ok?” Steve asks around the ten minute mark.

“Hm,” Bucky replies, unable to move his head to nod.  It would be a lie anyway, so perhaps it’s better for him to keep his response neutral.

“You’re going grey.”

“Oh.”

“I’m gonna pull over--” Steve starts.  Then, “Fuck.”  Steve signals to change lanes, but a red sports car immediately swerves in front of them from the other direction.  Steve slams on the brakes, and Bucky’s seatbelt clamps down tightly across his stomach and chest.

Without warning, warm and overly sweet fluid begins to pour upward from Bucky’s throat, and before he knows it, his lap is drenched in foamy pink.  Momentarily unsure of what’s happened, Bucky inhales and is left choking and sputtering.

“Hang on a sec.”  Steve brakes again and manages to make it to the shoulder.  He stops the car in a stretch of gravel and immediately throws open his door to sprint around to Bucky’s side.

“Here.”  He helps Bucky lean over as his stomach continues to empty itself.  

When he’s finished, Bucky flops back into his seat, eyes closed and mouth open, panting.

“I wish I had water or something,” Steve says apologetically.  “They’ll have something for you in the ER.”

“Hm.”  Bucky gives a tiny nod.  He keeps breathing deeply as Steve roots around in the glove box for a handful of napkins.  

Once he’s satisfactorily cleaned up, they continue on their way.  “I’m so sorry that happened, Buck,” Steve says.  “I’m sure there’ll be some Zofran.  Some kind of anti-emetic.”

“Do I have to tell them what happened?” Bucky asks in a hoarse whisper.

“You mean the puke?  I’m pretty sure that’s self-explanatory.”  Steve nods to the damp bile-smelling patches on Bucky’s pants.

“Everything else?”   Bucky squeezes his eyes shut again as Steve turns to park the car in the hospital lot.

“That’s up to you,” Steve sighs.  “I don’t want you to lie, but I also don’t want you to have to do anything you don’t want to do.  It’s your choice.  Not mine.”

“Mm.”  Bucky taps his teeth together.  He’s exhausted, perhaps from the melatonin, or perhaps from the events of the day.  “Can I... go to sleep?  Just escape for a while?”

“I don’t know,” Steve says honestly.  “You can tell them you’re tired and want to rest.  I think you’re pretty sick.”  He brushes away stray hairs that Bucky hasn’t even realized are stuck to his clammy forehead.  

“And you’ll, uh, be there?” Bucky asks, a wave of anxiety suddenly washing over him.  “When I wake up?”

“Sure will,” Steve replies.  “I always will, you know.”

“I, uh...”  Bucky stutters.  He swallows hard, unsure if he’s pushing down vomit or emotion.  “Thanks.”

“Of course,” Steve says reaching to take his hand.  “Of course.”

[godkilller]

@magical-girl-coral​

Valentine's Day HC: Gin has to physically stop himself from buying every chocolate and flowers to spoil Rangiku with. He has A LOT of savings and isn't afraid of spending them all on his wife. He usually restrains and buys her favorite desert alcohol and nice jewelry tho.

unprompted ask    //    thank you !

          out of character.  I love this concept and it’s very cavity-inducing sweet, but unfortunately our pair has been holding themselves back from doing these sorts of things. Mainly Gin, and especially when it comes to buying Rangiku tangible tokens of affection -- canonly, he’s left her “nothing to remember him by” / “nothing for her to hold onto” post-death, implying there weren’t mountains of gifts given to spoil our dear Rangiku. There’s the whole debate on whether or not Gin gifted Rangiku her well-known chain necklace that she wears for the entire series, seeing as he makes a point to touch it before casting Hakufuku onto her in their parting scene before his death. She puts her hand over it / her heart later outside the cave Toshiro is training within as she comes to terms with Gin’s death, so perhaps that’s an Exception(tm) to Gin’s whole “left her nothing to hold” ... but, I also like to keep things vague, and ultimately it’s up to @oboete-iru​ my lovely Rangiku to determine whether or not that necklace was a gift from Gin.

          So, clearly our boy needs to redeem himself to Rangiku post-Winter War... for many a thing. But this particular issue of never full-out spoiling Rangiku with gifts is something that wouldn’t be remedied in excess, and certainly not right away. Gin’s not materialistic at all, and Rangiku clearly via the series, canon and especially in filler, is shown as extremely materialistic. Which isn’t a bad thing !

          Certainly, with Gin’s reinstatement  ( despite his salary probably taking a cut )  being a captain pays some big bucks, and Gin’s not the type to spend in general... let alone on himself. Rangiku will most definitely be getting gifts from him... just not piles, as Gin would want to not desensitize her to the importance of him stepping out of that comfort zone  ( of not gifting her trinkets and things so regularly and so much )  ... I can see him gifting her, pre-betrayal, things that are fleeting and more experience-based than material; nice dinners out, beautiful flowers, etc. and then my Redemption verse Gin growing from that branch and giving her jewelry, a new scarf he know she’ll love, some self-love / self-care products because lord knows she deserves to relax, as well as other things. I don’t really imagine him dumping a bunch of clothes onto her as a gift; Rangiku’s got a specific taste and part of the fun, for her, is actively going out and trying outfits on and socializing during it. Gin knows she’ll be happier if he simply comes along for the ride... but he isn’t there to carry all of her bags. Make Hisagi do that.

          When they’re eventually married much later into my Redemption verse timeline, this idea has evolved a bit more; they’re domestic now more than ever before, so home items to sufficiently ‘nest’ with her would be high on the list, things that make their shared home all the more theirs. With whatever gift he gives in that theme, it’d be an unspoken reaffirmation that he’s staying. They survived. He isn’t leaving. Gin’s bigger acts of love have never been tied to gift-giving, they’ve been through actions. Promises made and strongly kept.

          Presenting her with a ring ties into that concept.

          Gin can also sew, so I can see him raising the worth and weight of a gift to Rangiku via making it himself; a beautiful kimono, for example. Gin loves her, and will gladly do whatever it takes to see her happy and at peace. He owes her, and she deserves everything.

          And hey... if Rangiku ever found herself wanting children...

[twilightprince101]

A Tale of Scouts - The Dimensional Drifters

I decided to write a fic for my Dimensional Drifters AU! This can serve as a way to let newcomers know what exactly this AU is all about, but also was just really fun and self indulgent for me to write! It was fun as hell imagining how the different characters interact and banter with each other!

This fic was based off a previous post I made for this AU detailing what the different “roles” of everyone would be, this story centering around the scouts/supply runners. If you have no idea what The Dimensional Drifters, check out the “Dimensional Drifters” tag on my blog or click here to check out the carrd detailing my self ship AU’s!

With that out of the way, I hope y’all enjoy!

Far beyond the Earth that so many have come to know, there is a sea of alternate worlds. Some are akin to our own, sharing similarities in their people and places. Others are a far cry from the mundane, revealing what the world would come to if humanity had never existed. There are worlds that connect to other universes, having their culture carry on through literature, while others are doomed to isolation, forever remaining out of touch with the rest of its ocean. Few worlds contain unfathomable creations that no mortal mind can comprehend. Other worlds can just be a chair in a room.

In one of these worlds, sentient life had never been created. No culture, no humans, no form of sapience whatsoever. In their absence, competition for nutrients was nonexistent, allowing organic life to thrive like never before. Trees that began as young saplings now loomed high above the clouds that once hung over them. Plants intermingled with each other freely and developed hybrids that would be the paradise of gardeners and botanists everywhere. But in this endless forest lies a special type of fruit that grants whoever takes a bite hundreds of centuries worth of flavor (if they’ll forgive the migraines that comes from them).

These fruits -and the favors that come with them- are why four sunset toting scouts are braving the dense thickets of trees once more.

“Come on M.T., better hurry up or else I’ll beat you theeerreeee~”

A purple dragon teased behind him as he soars through the woods, weaving in and around the trees and letting wind graze past his scales. To give his opponent a fighting chance to catch up, the drake bucked up his horns and released a gust from his golden wings, looping around a branch overhead. Although in the past he had trouble with flying on his own, after getting so much training in these different adventures it came as natural as breathing. Checking if his fellow racer had managed to catch up the dragon peered over the sunset fabric tied around his tail, spotting the white blob of fur that was only a short hop behind.

“Oh yeah?! We’ll see about that Spyro!!”

Two iron wires shot out from handheld blasters, embedding themselves in a branch overhead. With a click from the triggers the rope began to zip back into its holster, pulling its wielder upwards along with them. As the Moomin soared over the branch he gave both hooks a yank to pull them from the wood, making sure his trajectory was right as he repositioned himself to fire the next shot. With another blast and pull, Moomintroll was next to and keeping pace with his racing rival, his multicolor neckerchief flapping in the wind. 

“Don’t get so cocky just because you have that gear on.” Spyro dipped down to avoid an incoming branch. “Back home I could outrace anything! Dinosaurs, UFO’s, even some of my own elders couldn’t keep up!” 

“Oh yeah?” The Moomin shot another hook above and yanked hard, his tail grazing the hardwood before momentum carried him back down. “Well I may not be able to fly like you, but there’s one thing I have you don’t!”

“Really? And just what might that be then?” 

With a toothy grin the grappler shot another target overhead, retracting the wire once more to zip over top. Only this time as he ascended, he clenched his toes and activated the triggers in his boots. In the blink of an eye an aqua aura expands from his boots and outlines his body like a glaze. With this new glow, instead of hopping over the next branch, Moomintroll hurdles over it and continues to soar upwards, the laws of physics no longer applying to him.

“VICTORY OVER GRAVITY!!!”

The dragon couldn’t help but laugh along with his fellow scout as he flew higher and higher. It was certainly true, he had him beat in that regard. The gear he requested from Lindar and Hat Kid work amazingly together, especially in Moomintroll’s hands. Spyro could remember overhearing him asking the inventors for the gear, wanting to find ways to keep up with everything else. It’s hard to believe now that the kid he used to constantly protect was able to keep pace with him now. All that practice he’s done has really paid off.

“Keep your eyes on the prize Moomintroll!”

From the branches to the two’s right, a small black and white blur bounced from branch to branch. With each step he took his large eyes peered ahead to calculate the next three, blue eyes scanning every possible route forward. As the blur approached a large gap between two branches, he reached into one of his several pouches and pulled out a smoke bomb, slamming it against the tree as he soared, the small explosion propelling him just the right distance to make it to the other side. Even though his two partners could soar through the air, his prior training as a Phantom Thief allowed him to match their speed just from natural ability alone. Although normally it would be hard to spot him, the twilight bandana around his neck helped make the job easier.

“It may seem fun but this forest is dense. Think of this like driving a car, if you don’t keep your eyes on the road you’ll slam into a tree!” The cat said, only sparing split second glances away from the hurdles ahead.

“Morgana, M.T.’s never driven a car. Forest world, remember?” The dragon couldn’t help himself from spitting out a bit of snark.

“W-well, then,” despite his continued proficiency bounding forward, the cat fumbled for a recovery, “riding a bike then! Or sledding!”

“C’mon, lighten up a bit! This is the first time he can let loose like this while on a mission, plus you’ve practically been working him to the bone with those lessons. Let him have some fun!” 

“We both know this isn’t a place where you can let loose Spyro.” one of the weaker branches snapped as the paws left its surface, sinking into the blanket of clouds without any audible sound. “One wrong step and he’ll become a pancake down on the forest floor!”

“It’s okay teach, I think I got the hang of this!” The phantom thief’s view of the purple drake was obscured by snow white fluff as Moomintroll bounded alongside him with the glow still surrounding his form and only taking occasional glances down to his mentor. “I’m doing everything you said. Arms to the sides, knees tucked in and all that stuff!”

“You forgot ‘Always on the lookout.’” Both teacher and student kicked off the side of a towering birch, both giving stylish and acceptable somersaults in the air before landing on the next branch. “This is like a test run before we have you come with us to more dangerous worlds, if we were somewhere like the deep sea woods doing this you’d fly right into the mouth of a giant antler-fish! You need to have situational awareness whenever supply running in places like these.”

“But we’re not, right? We know that there isn’t anything here, just plants! This gives me the perfect opportunity to get used to these in the field! Here, let me show you something I’ve been working on, you’ll love this! It’s really good to get more speed, but also a bit stylish, just like how you do it!” 

With those last few words both grappling hooks were upholstered and the blue glow around Moomintroll’s form faded. Before Morgana could even get a word out he kicked away from their shared path and winked to him, then turned his attention to the path ahead. For a few seconds the Moomin just fell, descending closer to the coating of fluff as his eyes scanned ahead. Despite knowing just how dangerous the scout was doing, Morgana and Spyro couldn’t help but just watch, paw lingering over a pouch and body positioned to take a dive at a moment’s notice.

Then in a blink of an eye Moomintroll spotted it, the perfect opening. A single branch that had not a single branch below it. It was time for some fun.

The snow-furred explorer shot another two blasts from his grappling hooks, disabling the boots and letting gravity swing him under the branches like a pendulum. Wind howled in his ears and his scarf flew like a flag in a hurricane. As he reached the swing’s trough and began to rise again, he pulled the triggers on both the hooks and boots, enveloping himself in blue light once more as he rose, the speed from his fall being nothing compared to now. With a leg kick and hard pull both hooks were released and the momentum from the swing sent him rocketing ahead of the entire pack, all three sets of eyes directed on him. One impressed, one nervous, one amused. 

“WAAAAAHOOOOOO!!!” 

But in his exhilaration, he failed to notice the oak tree branch that he was hurtling towards.

“Moomintroll, watch out!!” Morgana dug into his pouch and pulled out a grappling hook of his own, preparing to fire it at the living projectile before it struck its target. But with how far ahead he was and the speed he was travelling, it would be a one in a million shot-

“Don’t worry your little paws off, I got this!”

A flash of green and black energy shot past the phantom thief, barely missing one of his whiskers and throwing off his rhythm leading him to tumble a bit on the branch as he landed. The shot of raw chi flew faster than a bullet and sliced through the tree’s body like a buzz saw, cleaving it perfectly in two. Gravity did its work quickly and the oak toppled to the side, falling beneath the clouds and down to the depths of the forest below.

But even though the tree was gone, the suddenness and shock caused Moomintroll to lose his rhythm.

“WoahwoahwoAHWOAH!!” M.T. waved his arms and kicked his legs in an attempt to reposition himself. In his panic the triggers for the boots were released and the aura vanished. Reality grabbed the Moomin’s tail and yanked down hard. He still had a hold of the grappling hooks but with how much he was flailing his head spun along with the rest of him. Even if he reactivated the boots he would keep the momentum and crash course through the clouds and down to the ground to become a Moomin panini. 

Working fast, Spyro folded his wings inward and dove down beneath his fuzzy friend. With his superior flying skills and weight  he managed to dive faster than Moomin flailed, catching him on his back with a huff. He was normally used to lighter people riding his back like the kids, in all of the excitement he forgot that this is his friend’s natural weight. M.T. didn’t take up much space on his back at least, with the drake being about the size of a horse. 

“You okay back there bud?” Spyro kept his eyes forward to ensure they didn’t make the same mistake twice. It took a moment for the freefaller to realize he wasn’t doing so. When the dragon didn’t get a response, he made sure his flight path was clear and took a peek behind him.

Moomintroll was unharmed, no problem there. Instead of terror or injury, the mystified teen was staring down into the clouds that grazed his feet. His eyes were filled with galaxies as the nature of the situation dawned on him. He was riding above the clouds on a dragon. An actual real life dragon! This was something he had never even dreamed of doing back home before! Holstering his blasters, he reached down and let his hand comb through the fluff. Water droplets collected on his hands as the white fingers combed through the mist. The two could smell the water in the air. Without saying a word Moomintroll looked at his friend with a grin so innocent and full of childlike wonder it would rival Mustache Girl’s first flight.

The dragon just snorted in return, returning his gaze to their upcoming destination.

“Heads up now and buckle up, we’re going in for a landing!” White fuzzy hands gently wrapped around Spyro’s shoulders as he tilted to the side and let his wings carry the two down to their landing pad: a wide oak treetop decorated in mounds. Although it didn’t seem like much, this little base was their home away from home. 

After a slow but steady descent, the two touched down on the bark of their base. Unfortunately before Moomintroll could even get off of his friend he was sniped with a reprimand.

“What did I tell you about being careful?!” With one more smoke bomb propelled launch, Morgana touched down onto their home base right in front of the dragon and Moomin. His eyebrows seemingly spiked downwards from the force of the landing.

 “I know this may be fun and all, but you need to keep a grip in these situations! If Spyro hadn’t caught you, you would have been plummeting all the way down to the bottom of these trees, and we all know how big of a fall that is!!” Morgana’s tail is puffed and pointing straight up as he scolds his student. 

“S-sorry sir!” Moomintroll instinctively bowed down to his mentor, meeting him at eye level. “T-this has just been the most exciting thing I’ve done! I’ve never been able to keep up with you all, but with these,” he gestures to the boots and grappling guns, “I’m able to stay beside you all and not slow you down!!”

“But still, you could have been seriously hurt! Lindar and Hat Kid made those so you could keep up, not to play around! If you’re going to study under me for phantom thief training, you need to understand that-”

“Aw, c’mon teach, lighten up on the kid will ya?”

A teasing voice from the shadows interrupts Morgana, echoing between the oaks. From one of the higher treetops a slim, feline figure overlooks the three while leaning against the trunk without a care in the world. His hazelnut fur would’ve made him hard to spot if it weren’t for his black and red garb and glowing green eyes. The metal clanked against his body as he shifted, his sunset cloth (wrapped around his shoulder like a bangle) sticking out like a sore thumb.

“You heard him good, right? This is the first time he can run with the big shots instead of hanging back doing paperwork. He’s been looking forward to this forever and was doing well too, what’s wrong with a little slip up?

“Ugh, of course he butts into it.” The small thief groans, not even bothering to look in his direction and wishing he could go back to ten seconds ago when he forgot he existed. Both Moomintroll and Spyro spot him but sport polar opposite  reactions. Moomintroll waves up at the figure without a hint of wavering.

“Shu Chi, come on down! We’re gonna take a break before getting more of those fruit things!” The clink of yaoguai armor could be heard.

“Naaaah, I think I’m good up here. Might be good to keep lookout, ya know?”

“There’s nothing in this forest, we’ve already established that a while ago!” Spyro’s tail flicks down and knocks on the ground, creating audible thumps that mix with his yells.

“Well you never know unless you know what you know, ya know? There’s no way we know everything about this world, there might be, oh I dunno, giant woodpeckers to go along with these giant trees! Or maybe even giant beavers that’ll chow us up along with the wood!” 

“I think you mean termites-”

“My point still stands!” The yaoguai leans his back against the branch, holding two fingers up to his temple as if he’s making a great deduction. “Might be good for someone to keep an eye out, plus it’s plenty comfy up here! By far one of the best trees I’ve rested in.”

The thief and dragon groan, already fed up with his shenanigans. They’ve been through this routine plenty of times before, they know better than to try and pester him further. Moomintroll, though, does not. Pulling off a backpack he’s kept on him, he takes out a small tupperware filled with a few cubes of yellow, flakey, doughy delight.

“I brought some of Mama’s cornbread if you want some!!”

The spirit’s ears perk up upon hearing the word cornbread, peeking down at the small container. His green eyes stare down at the yellow cubes as he stands perfectly still. When a fanged grin shines from the darkness Shu Chi springs into action, leaping off the edge of the treetop and digging his claws into the bark, slowing his descent while spiraling around the trunk. When he reaches the same level as the rest of his fellow scouts, his entire body glows jade green and he springs from the tree like a baseball pitching machine shooting out a green christmas light. Making sure to do a few flips as he falls, the leopard cat slams down into the tree in a battle-ready crouch. 

“We get it, you like to show off.” Spyro rolls his eyes as the glowing light dispels from the yaoguai’s body.

Moomintroll opens up the tupperware for the cornbread and holds it up to the leopard cat who happily reaches in to pull out a slice and take a bite. Shu Chi’s eyebrows slope upward after chewing for a moment, unable to help himself from letting out a “Mmm!” from the taste.

“Yor mofor,” Shu Chi swallows a bite and points down at the Moomin, “makes the best cornbread.”

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Within a handful of minutes the four scouts had settled into their camp away from camp. It wasn’t much overall, only a few chairs surrounding a mound protruding from the tree that acted like a table. Moomintroll went around and passed out the snacks he had packed for everyone, making sure to include a slice of cornbread. He decided to save his own for later though, as a Moomin he didn’t need to eat as often as everyone else.

Shu Chi looked over the edge to do lookout as he said. Whatever it was he was looking out for he didn’t know. While hearing a bit of rustling he took a peek behind him to see what everyone else was up to. Morgana and Moomintroll were making their way over to the mound while pulling rolled up parchments from their bag. Spyro on the other hand gladly munched on a bit of steak while stretching his wings, arching his back like a cat about to pounce. Strategy wasn’t exactly his forte, even back in his own world, so he took the moment to relax.

When the dragon noticed the actual cat eyeing him down, he stood upright and returned his gaze with the same amount of wariness. Neither were exactly sure what they were waiting for, scanning for any move they could make until they couldn’t take anymore. Flicking his head up Spyro tossed the last bit of steak into his mouth and chomped down, not once breaking eye contact. Shu Chi turned back around and took a bite of his sandwich, returning his gaze downwards. The arm that bore his multicolor bandle felt a little tingly so he loosened the fabric a tad.

“Alright, so let’s map out our route.” Morgana spoke between bites of fatty tuna, standing up onto one of the chairs. Moomin nodded, pulling out a rolled up map from his backpack and spreading it out over the mound. The parchment held several crude drawings of trees surrounding a small multicolor circle-their entry point. The drawings seemed intricate at first, meticulous in detail, but the farther away they got from the portal the more messy they became. The outer layer is just a green circle scribbled with big green crayon and the words “IT’S ALL JUST TREES!!!”

“The last few times we’ve been here we’ve had to look for specific trees to get the miracle fruits.” The mapper pulled out a red crayon from his bag (it was the only thing Hat Kid gave him with the map) and pointed to a large pine tree that most likely was drawn in five seconds. “This one right here has been our main supply, but considering we’re getting enough for everyone, it won’t be enough.”

“But we know that there are other trees that have this fruit. The first time we came here and explored the ground level, there were some rotten fruits at the base of trees right by the portal.” Morgana circled around the portal with his paw. “But even though those fruits were there, we haven’t been able to get anything from that tree every time we looked.”

“It could just be because the tree has grown too old. Compared to the rest of them, the bark seemed pretty faded.”

“That doesn’t help us though. What we need is to find trees that are young enough to have ripe fruit.” Morgana pulled away from the map to munch thoughtfully on his snack, hoping that it could stimulate his brain. “Mmm… dogh yogh remumbuh wha thuh othah treesh wahr?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, hang on a second.” The cow/hippo hybrid put crayon to paper, taking a moment to think before marking off different trees with a tick mark. When finished the two stepped back, hoping to find some sort of pattern. There were only about eight tick marks on the entire map of the known forest, all dispersed seemingly randomly. Some trees didn’t have fruit anymore, some they have picked once or twice, but all of them combined wouldn’t give them enough for everyone, not even including the timeframe it would take to reach them all.

“Well we can rule out the trees all spreading out from one source.” Mona sighed in frustration and scratched a bit behind his ear. Moomintroll stared speculatively at the map trying to recall any other instances they had found a miracle fruit. Most they found on the ground was on the verge of decomposing if they weren’t already splattered from the fall. Meanwhile the ones they found on the trees were hidden within the leaves, barely visible to the naked eye. If they wanted to make dinner by tonight, they would need to know which trees to hit and only go for those ones.

“How’s it going over here fellas?”

Both Moomintroll and Morgana jump back a bit from the sudden voice right over their shoulders. Morgana once again groaned at the sight of Yan Shu Chi, leaning on one foot with his elbows stretching above his head. Spyro peeked out from behind him, lowered in a preparatory stance just in case he tried anything funny.

“We’re trying to figure out where we should look for miracle fruits next, Leopard.” Mona spits out the name as if it was a cherry pit. The cat seems unphased, stretching a bit more with his eyes closed. “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping watch like you said you would?”

“Meh, I think you guys might’ve been right, there probably isn’t anything here we need to worry about. Besides…” he winks open an eye down to the Phantom Thief. “From the sound of it you need a bit of help over here, kitten~”

“I am NOT a CAT!!!” Morgana hisses and nearly jumps a foot in the air at Shu Chi, barely even trying to hold back a chuckle at the reaction. “We have been over this SEVERAL TIMES!!! I may look like a cat, but I’m far from a hairball spitting animal like you!”

“Aw come on now boss, you really playing this game again?” Shu Chi itches the bottom of his nose with a finger, still looking down at the scout with only one eye. “Look, I’m just sayin’ there’s no harm in just admitting it.”

“I’ll NEVER admit it!!” Mona hisses once more, catching himself on the end. “B-because there’s nothing TO admit!!!”

“Really doing this now, huh? Here, I’ll spell it out for ya.” The yaoguai approaches the cat once more, lowering his arms and reaching down to the phantom thief.

“We both have pointy ears…” Shu Chi tugs a bit at Morgana’s ears, making him let out a little Mrah!!! While trying to bat his hand away.

“We both have claws…” He pinches Mona’s tiny hands, using a paw to tap on said claws that were peeking through his white fur.

“We both have fluffy tails…” Mona jumps a bit when he feels Shu Chi’s tail patting and lifting up his own.

“And of course, we both irresistibly cute~” Shu Chi holds his chin aloft with his fingers underneath, sticking out his tongue a bit and winking to further prove his point. 

“Oh actually, wait a minute… That only really applies to me…” False realization takes over his expression as he taps his chin, then snapping his fingers with a playful glance back down. “Maybe you’re not a cat after all! My bad!”

“HEY!!!” Morgana just jumps even higher in the air with his tail erect like a pole, hissing at the audacity of his fellow scout. The leopard cat doesn’t even try to hide his chortling laughter, successfully pissing off the little cat once more. Moomintroll and Spyro both give each other a glance, one of unease and one of annoyance. They were getting nowhere fast.

“Well are you going to help or not then, mister cat?” Spyro knocked the back of his tail onto the yaoguai’s back, knocking him out of his chortling spree. Waving off his mischief and Mona’s attitude as if it were nothing, Shu Chi mutters “fine, fine mr buzzkill…” and peers over the map. As Morgana’s fur smoothes back down the grin across Shu Chi’s face fades away along with it, his expression turning inquisitive and brows furrowing rigorously. Both paws spread out the drawing as he hunches over to get a closer look.

“Oh, did you figure something out Shu Chi?” Moomintroll unclenches the crayon from his teeth, wiping away a few bits of red wax from his mouth. The yaoguai points a claw at one of the tick marks closest to their current location where the drawings still have a hint of effort.

“This tree right here. Isn’t it that one right over there?” His brown and white tail points off into the distance. After going through the same routine Moomintroll nods. The three could see the wheels turning in the leopard cat’s head, claw tapping on the wood as he stared at the bark. It was only when the tapping could be mistaken for a tap dance troupe that it ceased and his head jerked up. He spun back to the map and snatched it up and paced along the perimeter of the base with his face buried in the parchment of crayon and marker.

“Well? Don’t keep us in suspense, tell us!” Morgana and Moomintroll followed close behind but their ally didn’t give a response, only muttering to himself and pointing in different directions. After walking a third of the treetop’s rim, Shu Chi stops again and looks off into the distance with a squint, blinking a few times to be sure.

“Hey purple pal, c’mere for a sec.” Shu Chi motions the dragon over with a wave of his fingers.

“My name is Spyro.”

“Yeah yeah whatever you say Silo. Can you do me a favor and check out that tree over there?” He lowered down to the dragon’s eye level and pointed off into the distance.

“Umm…. the big tree or the big tree?” 

“The big tree. As in,” Shu Chi pressed the dragon’s cheek to his, pointing with a claw directly to where he looked so there would be no mistake. “The tree waaaaaaayyyy back there with a broken branch a little lower towards the clouds.” 

Although it took a moment the dragon found the broken branch in question. It must have been over fifty meters away, even Spyro was surprised he was able to spot it.

“Uh huh…” The dragon nudged the cat with his horns to shove him away. “And why exactly should I do that?” 

Shu Chi, brimming with confidence, looks down to the dragon with eyebrows raised and a knowing glint in his eyes.

“Humor me.”

Both exchange cold stares with the other. The dragon is well aware of the mischief that the yaoguai brings, he’s seen plenty of it from how much he lies back at camp. A stolen hat from Moominpappa, a few swapped plates in the dining hall; nothing explicitly harmful, but enough to get himself on enough nerves he could make a harp out of them all. For all he knows this could be another elaborate prank, planting something in the tree to get a reaction out of him. But despite all the tail knocks and suspecting glares, Shu Chi’s expression never once changes, unwavering even in the face of a dragon.

After an overexaggerated eye roll and sigh, Spyro spread his wings, hunched down, then let the wind cary his wings as he flew into the distance to follow his ally’s request.

The phantom thief and Moomin rush to where he lifted off to watch as he flies up and away into one of the tree’s leaves. Although initially hesitant about Spyro following the advice of somebody who mocked him moments before, the anticipation began to well up within Morgana right alongside his student. Meanwhile the yaoguai waltzes up behind them, double checking the map to make sure he’s got it right. It was taking a few seconds longer than he expected. Maybe he pointed to the wrong tree? But after his ears catch a far off gasp a wide, toothy grin breaks out across his face.

“JACKPOT!!!”

An explosion of leaves bursts from the distant blur of green vanishing to show a blur of purple and gold. The dragon is brimming with enthusiasm and vitality compared to when he took Shu Chi’s request, his flight path becoming much more wild and varied than his previous straightforward line. He rolled, flipped and spun more than his first ever flight session. Moomintroll and Morgana followed him around the tree as he took a victory lap, all the while Shu Chi rolled up the crayon map and held it on his shoulder like a baseball star. 

The reason for such a sudden boost in enthusiasm was clear: in each claw, wrapped in his tail and even perched in his maw was a plump, bright orange, football sized fruit. 

After letting go of the edible ambrosia and piling them up, the dragon slammed down so hard that cracks shot out from his landing pad. All three of the starstruck scouts circled around the small treasure trove of spice fruit, marvelling at the horde their friend had brought in.

“There’s a whole bunch of them in there!!! I just grabbed as many as I could, but there must still be around ten of them!” Spyro circled the small pile like a dragon examining its treasure horde, marvelling at its beauty.

“Th-this is amazing!! We’ve only been able to find one or two every time we’ve searched, with this much alone we could get enough for TWO feasts!!!” The small not-a-cat couldn’t control how much his tail was wagging, already salivating at the thought of being able to eat so much.

“Well, minus one.” The leopard cat bent over and picked up one of the five orange footballs, examining four little holes on opposite sides. Spyro wiped away a bit of orange juice from his cheek.

Shu Chi tosses the fruit over his shoulder, not bothering to eat anything that already had teeth sinked into it.

“Thankfully, we should be able to get plenty more where that came from. If we just pick the rest from the tree over there, we’ll be set for the night! Maybe even have a few extra servings cooked up for us as well. I don’t know about you all, but I’d gladly eat an entire pan of that cornbread!” The cat stroked the fur on his chin, dreaming of the mountains of golden, flakey delights he’d get as a reward back home. Moomintroll made a mental note to tell Mama when he got back home as he approached.

“Shu Chi this is amazing!! How did you know so many were in that tree?!” The Moomin bounced on the balls of his feet in front of the yaoguai, eager to know his secrets. 

“Hm? Oh, well I didn’t know that this many would be in there, but... “ His head jerked a bit upwards when he spoke-most likely being knocked out of his flakey fantasies-but the spirit gladly smirked and unfurled the map, pointing to the center where actual effort can be seen.

“You see how all these trees here actually have detail? Now, do you see this one here with a few more branches at the bottom than the rest?” A claw points to the single center tree with a tick mark. “Even though the rest after this circle decreases in quality, those kids still went through the effort of drawing every little detail for this group. And as luck would have it,” he points to where Spyro found his treasure trove of miracle fruit, right around where it begins to dip into the layer of clouds, “that one over there has a fair bit of extra stumps on the side, wouldn’t you say?”

The dragon, Moomin and thief all followed Shu Chi’s claw to the jackpot tree once more. It took time for their eyes to adjust, but sure enough there were traces of branches near the base of the clouds. It was too much of a coincidence to be a prank he set up.

“So this whole time… we had it all wrong! There wasn’t any sort of pattern or discoloration, it was just just how many branches there were!!” A small paw paps onto Mona’s head, the realization hitting it harder than an electrified punch from Likulau.

“Yup! That’s right, I managed to figure out something that you didn’t knooowww~” A larger paw paps onto Mona’s head, rubbing the fur hard like an oversized noogie and ruffling it all up, only earning Shu Chi more hisses and growls. “I guess that means the student has become the master, yes? Gotta say, for someone so small I’m worried about you becoming a bit senile.”

“It was only a minor slip up!” Morgana batted away the giant paw, smoothing down the top of his head. “With what little resources we have, it’s only natural we couldn’t figure it out right away.”

“Aw come on now, there’s no shame in admitting you couldn’t do it. I mean if you really are getting too old for this job I can happily take over for you, no questions asked. Wouldn’t it be great to retire on a nice, warm beach somewhere after all your one years of work with us?”

“Oh be quiet you, you’ve been here less time than I have and a year is barely even that long!” 

Moomintroll looked back and forth between the two as their tones increased with intensity, thoping he didn’t have to step in. Shu Chi had caused more than his fair share of mischief in the past, but the Scouts had this chaos injected into their lives via daily doses, a full 50 CC’s of mischief and teasing every day. After nearly a year in the group, the Moomin has gained the title of peacemaker by necessity. 

Spyro could see the anxiety welling up in his friend. Already antsy, he stepped forward, raising his tail up like a teacher and their ruler.

“For the last time! I’m not OLD, I’m not SENILE, and I’m NOT A CAT!!”

“You sure you don’t wanna take me up on that offer? I have plenty of things I could teach the kid you know. Maybe…” A flash of a toothy smile. “Felinology?”

“Why you lITTLE-”

“Would you two stop bickering already?”

As a paw reached into one of Mona’s tool pouches and swirling energy manifested around Shu Chi’s arm, the golden tip of Spyro’s tail slapped the yaoguai’s hand away like a nunchuck attached to a whip. With a yelp of pain the yaoguai backed off while flicking his hand back and forth to soothe the pain. 

“S-spyro-”

“Don’t worry M.T., I’ll handle it.” Although it was meant to be reassuring, Spyro’s glance and nod back didn’t help suppress the feeling in his friend’s stomach.

“Aw c’mon Gyro, I was only ki-”

“Shut your trap already!”

Shu Chi shut his trap already.

“We just found the motherload of spice fruits and know where to look for even more! Both of you remember the first time we ate this stuff, how we almost spent an hour eating these in just tiny bites, can you imagine eating an entire all-you-can-eat buffet with these as the main dish?! If we get all of them from that tree we could be back in an hour! So quit the teasing and arguing and let’s just get going already!” 

Spyro stomped right up to the two and got right up in their faces. As he spoke his eyes took periodic glances back at the pile of football fruits. After getting a direct taste from one of those miracle spices himself, it was only natural that they were the main thing on his mind. He must have been holding himself back from gorging the rest of the miracle fruit he had eaten earlier. Although they taste like the heavens, eating an entire fruit so fast would be like chugging a swimming pool’s worth of vodka. 

Both Morgana and Spyro locked eyes with their object of annoyance. Shu Chi’s gaze flicked back and forth, not just to their eyes but everywhere else. Mona’s paws lowering to his toolbelt, Spyro’s brows narrowing, Moomintroll’s hand inching forward; he scanned the situation in front of him like a machine looking for errors. The way the cat’s stance shifted ever so slightly didn’t escape the Moomin’s eyes either, knees just barely bent and feet slid around an inch farther apart. It was subtle, precise, muscle memory. 

After the leopard was done sizing up the situation, he took a breath and relaxed his stance, showing both of them his back. His tone was lower, more monotone. 

“Alright, fine, I got the memo.” Shu Chi walked back to the mound, waving a hand over his shoulder. “You all get back to doing what you were doing, don’t let me keep you.”

“Ah, okay.” Mona scoffed. “Not even gonna help us then.”

“Would you even want me to?” 

No words were spoken between the four of them. Although his back was turned to them, the tension still wasn’t lifted. This wasn’t the worst it’s ever gotten between the three of them. At the very least it’s the fastest Shu Chi has ever backed down, Moomintroll was thankful for that at least.

Morgana smoothed down his ruffled fur and hopped off the stump, glancing to the dragon with crossed arms as he tipped his head to the cracks in the tree. He got the message. Moomintroll took a breath as they walked away, unable to tell himself if it was one of relief or exhaustion. Shu Chi looked down into the sea of clouds, paw tapping as both prepared for liftoff. As Spyro spread his wings and Mona kneeled down, the leopard’s ears managed to pick up a faint mumble.

“I told you before, you can’t let him get to you like that.”

Then the two were off once more, flying and bounding from branch to branch as they went off for another trip to the miracle fruit tree.

Moomintroll and Shu Chi were left alone on the tree top, both simply trying to process the events that had just occurred. One didn’t know what to say, the other didn’t want to say anything. The pacifier glanced back at his friends, then to Shu Chi. Even though his face couldn’t be seen, the paws shoved into his armor and mumbling told the story for him.

The yaoguai turned around and walked to the mound where they sat before, spreading out the rolled up map and grabbing a few of the fruits as paperweights. The usual flair and showmanship from before was gone as he carefully examined the parchment, taking note of the different tick marks and the detail of the inner circle. Little white feet stepped closer to him.

“Um, Shu Ch-”

“I’m gonna look around the forest a bit more,” he interrupted, “try and find a few more trees that could have these fruits. Now that we know what these look like, it wouldn’t hurt to know where some more are in the future. Never know when we might have to come back here again.” 

Moomintroll just stood in place for a few moments, just watching as he took the red crayon and circled the tree he deduced the pattern from. He unwrapped a few bandages from his arm and held them in his palm to write down any additional differences between the two he didn’t see before. Although the white-fluff mediator felt like Shu Chi was at fault for the teasing, he still felt partially to blame for the argument getting out of hand. Spyro tried to be nice and handle it for him and he appreciated the effort, but he also wished the dragon handled it a bit less harshly.

“I can already tell what you’re thinking,” Moomintroll shut his mouth before a word could even be said, “and let me stop you right there. I know fully well it's my fault we almost started fighting, so you don’t have to give me a speech from the heart about learning when I’m in the wrong or whatever.”

“Th-that wasn’t-”

“Look, I’m sorry, alright? I keep forgetting that not everyone here likes my antics. Back home gramps, Kulau and L-they all eventually… got used to me. I can’t help it at times.” The tone of the leopard cat’s voice didn’t change, but he was now leaning in a little closer to his hand to jot down details. Crayon on bandages doesn’t work too well though, especially on a soft surface. “You can tell the guys I said sorry if you want. Doubt they’d believe me, but it’s up to you.”

Moomintroll felt like he was playing tug of war with himself. He wanted to go up to him and say something, but kept holding himself back since he didn’t know if it would be appropriate to do so. Usually whenever Shu Chi got upset, he’d go off and do something for the Drifters as an apology, not wanting to talk about it afterwards. But even still, he could feel that the yaoguai would leave at any moment. 

Right as Shu Chi finished with his notes, the Moomin managed to force the words from his throat.

“I-I’m… sorry.”

The cat’s head raised up a bit, fingers hovering over the parchment with the crayon in between them.

“I… I understand how you feel. About not feeling like you fit in here.”

“Kid… you don’t need to-”

“Just listen a bit, please?” Fuzzy feet stepped silently closer on the treetop. “I know you don’t like talking about this stuff, so I’ll just say this and then you can go. Promise.”

A sigh and a clattering of a crayon. Yan Shu Chi returned to stand straight up, head aimed down at the notes he’s written. His ears are pointed backwards.

“Shoot.”

“U-um… back when me, Mamma and Pappa first joined everyone. The world we came from was a lot different from everyone else’s. Nothing much happened, especially compared to everyone else’s. It was so peaceful there, we didn’t have to worry-”

“I’m sorry, but could you get to the point please?” The yaoguai cut him off fast, feeling he was going to be roped into a long winded speech about his home. His manner of speaking had a sense of urgency, of wanting to leave the conversation fast. But there wasn’t malice within it. Moomintroll took another deep breath.

“Everyone treated me like a kid. Moreso than the actual kids there. They’ve been through so much more than us even though I’m much older. I didn’t catch on to some jokes people told, they didn’t understand me when I tried to find good parts to bad situations, I didn’t even know what sarcasm was at first. We never had stuff like that back home. It was just how things were.”

Shu Chi could remember that part well. Lin Hu, Likulau and himself joined a little after the Moomins had. Their nearly always optimistic logic baffled some of them, like the time Likulau and Bubba got into an argument that ended up with a few broken plates. It was after Moominmamma had spent a while making everyone a meal, using some of their own plates to serve people. With so many people from so many worlds, there would clearly be a bit of discord at first.

Although others began to scold both sides after the fight, Mamma just shrugged it off and sweeped up the shards, smiling and talking about how she could use the fragments for decorations. She didn’t blame the two for arguing, saying they both had some pent up feelings and needed to talk it out. Everyone else was dumbstruck, Shu Chi especially.

“But after being part of this group for so long, people are now treating me normally, like I’m part of the team. They got used to the way we act, accepting us as we are. It took some time, sure, but we’re still here. A-and… although I do think you should maybe… not, tease, as much…” Saying those last few words were a struggle on their own, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and forced the last bit out.

“I’m sure people will do the same with you. You deserve to be in this group just as much as everyone else.”

Only the sound of wind rustling the leaves filled the two’s ears for a moment. Moomintroll wasn’t sure if he overstepped his boundaries, he noticed he’s done that quite a bit since joining unfortunately. But no matter what the scout’s reaction was, Moomintroll had managed to tell him his thoughts. As he promised, he wouldn’t try to keep him or talk more than necessary. All he hoped was that Shu Chi understood he meant it.

A shift in Shu Chi’s posture knocked the peacemaker out of his head. The movement was slow and gradual, like a robot swivelling from its spot on the floor. With his unbandaged hand grazing the mound, Moomintroll could see a hint of the yaoguai’s face. He seemed conflicted about what to say, brows furrowed but his mouth not contorting into any sort of frown. It was as if he were still wary of him, wary of everything he said and was struggling just as much as him to force out any words.

With a gulp in his throat and adjusting the sunset bangle a tad, Yan Shu Chi sucked up his feelings and turned to face his fellow drifter, seemingly having made a decision. His eyes held a certain softness to them and the faintest hint of a smile could be seen on his face.

“Yeah…” He nodded a bit. “Yeah. Thanks bud.”

Moomintroll just nodded. That was all he needed to hear.

Shu Chi lifted his bandage notes back up, reminding himself of where exactly he needed to go. A quick glance back to the tree where Spyro found the fruits had Moomintroll spot a bit of movement in the leaves. They would be back soon, and Shu Chi would most likely leave before then. Seeing as he said what he wanted to say-

“Oh!”

Moomintroll’s head popped up, realizing something at the last second. As Shu Chi walked to the rim of the treetop, M.T. rushed over to his backpack that he left by the mound. Right as the leopard cat kneeled down and chi swarmed around his legs, Moomintroll found what he was looking for.

“Shu Chi, wait up a second!”

The cat’s ears perked up, the swirling energy dissipating before it could even be used. 

“C’mon kid, I thought you said I could go after that. Going back on your promises isn’t a cool thing to do you know.” The usual mischievousness had returned to his voice as he turned around, hand on his hip as his head bent forwards. 

But to his surprise, what he found was a small, flakey, golden cube held up right to his face. The last slice of cornbread.

“Here. As a way of saying thank you. None of us had figured out the pattern with the trees, if you hadn’t helped we probably wouldn’t have been able to figure it out. You deserve it.”

Out of all the things able to make a century old yaoguai speechless, nobody would have expected a simple snack to do the trick.

With a delicate pinch Shu Chi picked up the slice, a few crumbs remaining in the white palm of who offered it. He was half expecting him to ask for it back for a bite since he hadn’t eaten anything yet, but no confirmation for that was given, just a simple smile.

“Keh…” The yaoguai couldn’t hold back a snicker, taking his free paw and ruffling up the top bit of Moomin’s head. He was a bit protestant, but couldn’t resist laughing along with him while gently trying to pat his paw away. 

“You’re alright Moomintroll. You’re alright.”

Both sharing a smile together, the two drifters nodded to each other and waved, getting back to what they had came to this world to do. Moomintroll slipped into his boots and put on his grappling hook holsters as Shu Chi scarfed down the corn cube, relishing in its taste. Later that night, he would eat to his heart’s content, perhaps even share a bit with his other scouts. Time would tell by then.

Both approached the rim of the treetop, kneeling down close to each other as their respective auras surrounded their bodies. Right as they were about to leap away, an idea hit Shu Chi.

“Hey Moomintroll, how ‘bout we play a game? You and me.” The mapper’s head perked up, his hands only just reaching down to the holsters. “Whoever comes back to camp with more fruit wins the right to pie the other in the face at dinnertime, flavor of the winner’s choosing. Whadda ya say?”

A wide grin split across the Moomin’s face, his mind racing with possibilities of what to do if he won. With a snicker, Moomintroll holds up both blasters and makes eye contact with his new rival.

“You’re on.”

[smileyjaeminies]

The dancer, with passion you had never seen before

Synopsis: You and Yangyang find yourselves dancing to slow songs… the tension is high, what will come of it?

Word Count: 3,4 k

Genre: slow burn, angst, fluff

Warnings: strong language, cursing, attempted assault

Member: 00z, ft. Yangyang

A/N: Huge delay for this one but… Hopefully it was worth the wait.

~Series Masterlist~

  Mid-terms were upon you and they came and went like a hurricane. Your grades weren’t half bad, but still nothing like Renjun’s. You turned in your last paper the previous Friday which meant you finally had a whole weekend to blow off steam and relax.

  And that’s exactly what you did. You spent the rest of Friday lying in bed and moving only when absolutely necessary. Saturday was Elena’s day, which was spent in the local mall, not only shopping but also playing games, bowling and eating anything and everything you could get your hands on.

  Sunday was, of course, dedicated to the boys. Jaemin had proposed the idea of a skate park and all the boys were quite keen on it. You had a very brief experience ice skating so you and Yangyang opted for roller-skating… Big mistake. Despite your “experience” and Yangyang’s grace, roller-skating wasn’t a good match for you. Before long, you gave up, standing in the sidelines and watching the other boys skate.

  As you watched them, each and every one seemed to burn with his own unique flame. Renjun was clumsy but determined, trying again and again until he succeeded. Jeno was almost dancing on the skateboard, his movements sure and precise. Yangyang was still unsure, but he tried his very best. Jaemin’s movements were effortless and he looked as if he was surfing instead of skating.

  And then there was Donghyuck. You stole glances at him and noted how he talked and laughed while on the skateboard. He was calm and careless, just having fun with his friends. One time, he caught you staring, but you couldn’t look away. He returned the look, asking you with his eyes what the hell you wanted. You only shrugged lightly as a reply, finally breaking eye contact.

  Your mind was racing, remembering the way the light hit Donghyuck’s eyes and made Jaemin’s hair glow. However, you were abruptly snapped out of your reverie as you heard your name being called. You, Renjun and Elena were eating lunch in the cafeteria, enjoying some moments of peace before being slapped back into classes.

  “What?” you asked, looking at the both of them.

  “Bet you five bucks, she didn’t hear the last five minutes” Renjun said to Elena.

  “You better keep your money boy, I’m certain she was miles and miles away” Elena teased you.

  “Yeah yeah I’m miles away boo boo poor Y/N gets stuck in her head all the time. What were you talking about anyway?” you mocked them, slightly irritated.

  Renjun and Elena shared a look and burst out laughing. You joined them without thinking, laughing along with your big demise. You had gotten heated very quickly and for no apparent reason, you really needed to relax..

  “As I was saying” Renjun repeated, giving you a pointed look to make sure you were listening, “Yangyang is all worked up again about this new choreography”

  “He is? He hasn’t mentioned a thing” you said.

  “He has been meaning to, I think he’s just too shy to ask Cat for help” Renjun said.

  Oh. Cat. All of you barely knew the girl that had Yangyang’s thoughts tied up in knots. You’d seen her around school and you knew that she was in the same group as Yangyang but that was about all the information you had about the girl.

  Minus Yangyang’s reveries. He came to you often, asking to ramble because every time he mentioned it to the boys, they wouldn’t stop teasing, not even to listen. But despite Yangyang’s rambles, you didn’t feel like you knew her. After all, you found seeing people through someone else’s eyes was highly disingenuous, for the lens of love or hate would blur your vision.

  “Maybe I could help?” you said at last. “What’s the dance?”

  “Oh don’t look at me. You know I can’t tell to save my life. It’s this slow thing, couldn’t remember what it’s called even if I wanted to” Renjun replied.

  “Well then, I’ll just have to find out on my own” you said, taking out your phone and texting Yangyang to meet up for coffee later. He was still in class so you didn’t expect him to reply soon. But he’d be there, you were almost certain he would.

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

  You were going to meet Yangyang after class in a café near your school. The warmth of the café was welcome, as the air was still crisp outside. You looked around for your friend, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  Going up to the register, you ordered both your usuals and waited on the side for the barista to make them. Mindlessly scrolling on your phone, your head shot up at the sound of your name.

  Yangyang walked up to you, giving you a quick hug. For a boy so loving, it was a shame he didn’t feel comfortable with skinship. He had only started to hug you months after you met, but you let him take his time.

  Your mind drifted back to the other day at the skate park, when he had walked up to you asking cutely “is that seat taken?” while showing your side. You had laughed and replied with a simple “no”. Your heart warmed up when you saw him lie down, placing his head on your lap and asking you to play with his hair.

  “I took the liberty to order your iced Americano, sir” you joked, getting back to reality.

  “My lady is too kind, how will I ever repay your generosity?” he shot back, both of you giggling like idiots.

  After getting your drinks, you shuffled in a booth opposite of Yangyang. The conversation was easy- going as you talked a bit about school and how both your days went. You felt the conversation drift away from the matter that interested you, so you decided to step in.

  “Wait, wait. Before all that, I want to ask you something” you said.

  “Oh. Is something wrong?” Yangyang asked perplexed.

  “No, not at all. It’s just, Renjun talked to me about and I quote ‘this slow dance’ you needed help with. I thought I could step in and help, if you’d like” you explained.

  “It’s not an intervention?” he asked.

  “An intervention? What on earth for?” you answered with a question.

  “The boys had been talking about staging an intervention and setting me up with someone new if I didn’t talk to Cat” he confessed and you laughed.

  “Well, if this is their idea of pushing us towards each other… It ain’t very good is it?” you asked and Yangyang shook his head.

  “I have been meaning to ask you, you know.” He said after a moment of silence. “It’s just you were so stressed with mid-terms I didn’t want to add another thing to your plate. It felt like a really bad time to call in a favor”

  “Thank you for looking out for me. And I’m sorry if it felt like I didn’t have time for you, but mid-terms are now over and I have all the time in the world. I promise” you said.

  “Thank you. Really Y/N, thank you.” He said, and you could tell he meant it.

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

  The ‘slow dance’ Jun talked about, ended up being Rumba, one of your favorite Latin dances. You and Yangyang managed to work out a schedule that suited the both of you, so you could give him a feel at least of what Rumba was.

  Dancing to Rumba with Yangyang was entirely different to the sharp hip-hop you had associated him with. Yangyang was full of grace and had learnt how to control his body perfectly. But Latin dances were not about that. Latin is about letting go, losing your own self in the music, feeling it and allowing it guide you. He would always get too caught up in perfecting the moves and lose the point.

  You had only a couple of days left until Yangyang’s group started preparing the new choreography and he had made great progress. His moves were well calculated and precise and you had been able to make a small routine.

  You were practicing now, counting for him as he moved through the small dance studio you had rented out.

  “One AND two and three AND one AND two and three” you said loudly. “Now one on your own!”

   You watched him move without your count, watched his lips move without him knowing as he counted to himself. You saw him staring at his feet in the mirror and nagged him for it. Stopping the music, you went up to him with his water bottle.

  “Stop stressing about your feet. They’re perfect. You’ve gotten the moves down, you just need confidence.” You repeated the words you had told him numerous times.

  “I know Y/N, I know… I just want to be sure.” He said.

  You looked at him as you both took a break. He was sure, you realized. He knew he could do it, he knew he was good but something was holding him back. So the idea came to you without you even realizing. You went up to your things and retrieved your scarf.

  “Break’s over, let’s wrap this up” you said, walking back to him.

  “What’s that for?” he asked, pointing at your scarf.

  “Confidence” you said, smiling up at him. “Now don’t move”

  He was about to protest, when your stormy eyes made the words die at his lips. He sat still as you wrapped the scarf over his eyes and made him wait for you as you picked a new song.

  You remembered about an edit of Ed Sheeran’s ‘The A Team’ so after looking around for it, you pressed play. You went up to Yangyang and you got into position.

  “When I walk all over your legs, don’t scream in my ear” Yangyang said quietly and you knew it was because he was looking for the tempo in the new song.

  “Five, six, seven, eight” was your short answer.

  You danced. Obviously, Yangyang knew the routine perfectly and so did you. He breathed rapidly, all of his senses heightened to make sure he was giving his best result. You kept a straight face, looking over his shoulder and following as he led you.

  When the routine was over you reached for his neck and hugged him.

  “See? You didn’t step over my feet. Confidence” you whispered.

  You were about to break the hug, when Yangyang felt you break away. He pushed your back, bringing you close again.

  “No. Stay.” He said, reaching up and untying the scarf from his eyes.

  A new, unfamiliar song was playing as he threw the scarf somewhere and led you back into his arms. You were quiet, dancing a short of blues, lightly moving your legs and bodies.

  “Thank you, for this. I know I can do it. It’s just… I was supposed to ask Cat for this. To have her here in a moment like this, to celebrate. To have her in my arms and to confess. But I’m scared. I’m so scared she’ll have some kind of high expectations for me, ones I cannot meet. Do you know that I haven’t ever kissed anyone? Never liked someone? Not like this at least…” he let the words trail off into the distance.

  “I know it’s hard. Relationships are… tricky. You put your heart out into the world for a person to do with it what they will. But look where it got me. An asshole managed to gift me five good friends. You lose some, you gain some. You can’t expect yourself to never get hurt, that’s just impossible, that’s just life.” You finished.

  You stayed quiet for a while, enjoying the song and dancing to it. You could feel his pulse racing under your fingertips and if you listened close enough, you would almost hear the gears moving inside his head.

  When the song was over, you moved back. A new song started playing, one of the rappers Yangyang really liked. Without thinking, you reached up and brushed your lips to his. A mere peck, a ghost of lips touching. But it was enough.

  “And now you’ve been kissed” you told him.

  You untangled yourself from him, grabbing your things and making for the door. He watched your movements from where he was, frozen. You stood in front of the door when you turned around to face him.

  “She’s good for you Yangyang. I really think she is. And you’re good for her. So take the next step, okay?” you said, letting the answer be heard in the deep breath Yangyang took and the way his eyes changed when you talked about her.

  You took your leave, slowly making your way home. Earplugs were in your ears, music flowing through them, but your mind could not process them. No, it was too occupied for that.

  Yangyang was having no cares for the world. Yangyang was sharing looks and smiles from afar. Yangyang was working hard and dancing, sweat dripping from your bodies. Yangyang was sitting close together but never touching, walking side by side, your hands brushing momentarily.

  Yangyang was knowing your coffee order and your favourite foods. Yangyang was talking about music and dancing, sharing videos and experiences. Yangyang was realizing just how similar you truly were, and yet... He was an enigma of his own, and you loved him for it.

  As your train of thought raced past you, you let yourself be lost in it. Unwanted, a distraction brought you back into reality. A forceful hand spun you around. You looked up and were met by two doe like eyes, ones you couldn’t mistake for anyone else. Kyle. His eyes were burning though, in a state you had never seen them before.

  “What do you want?” You asked, trying to break free from his hold.

  “Stop twitching, I just want to talk! I heard you were giving it to everyone now, so I was wondering if I could get some myself.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about? Are you crazy?” you asked, still trying to push him off of you.

  He grunted, a sound coming deep from his throat as he hauled you up and pushed you into an alley.

  “Oh, that’s the thing. I saw you kissing dancer boy back in the studio. Did you fuck him too? I’m pretty sure you fucked little eye-smiled Jeno, no wonder he was so good at the game. Saw you walking away from the locker rooms that day, smiling like the little bitch you are. Did you fuck everyone of that little club? Did you miss me?" he asked, forcing himself on you, your lips meeting in a kiss that radiated anger.

  You bit him, bit down his lips as hard as you could. He shouted in pain and anger, walking back from you. He moved back towards you, his moves animalistic and boiling with anger. You gathered all your strength to push him off and miraculously succeeded. Without a second thought, you turned around and ran out of the alley.

  Your body collided with someone and hands were around you, helping you get back on your feet. You were surprised, eyes looking around, waiting for Kyle to emerge from the alley for his revenge.

  You felt yourself being shaken, heard your name being called which led you to finally look at the person you bumped on. To your surprise, you found Donghyuck opposite from you.

  “Donghyuck? What are you doing here?” you asked.

  “What am I doing here? What are you doing here running like someone is chasing you!” he said.

  “Donghyuck please, please, not now. I need you to take me home. Can you walk me home?” you asked urgently, grabbing the front of his jacket in your fists.

  Donghyuck only took one good look in your eyes and nodded. You knew Kyle probably cowered somewhere when he saw Hyuck. He was much bigger than him and could totally take him in a fight. But you couldn’t be sure. You needed to get home safely and you needed time to think.

  But you couldn’t. You were shaking, knees buckling and Donghyuck nearly had to carry you home. He didn’t speak, didn’t utter one word until you got to your house.

  “I…” you started but he cut you off.

  “Do you want me to come inside?” he asked.

  You were shocked by his question. You looked in his eyes, looked for the smiling, teasing boy you knew, but you found nothing of the sort. His eyes screamed out his worry and his hand never left your side.

  You broke down. You let all the tears and spill out as Donghyuck wrapped you up in his arms and whispered in your ear. You had never seen this side of him, never even imagined the way he would softly run his hands over your back.

  “What happened? Come on, Y/N you can tell me” Donghyuck whispered.

  “I… He, he” you stuttered.

  “Did he touch you? I swear to God, I’ll kill him, whoever he was” Donghyuck said after your crying died down.

  You shook your head. “No. No, he was just… I…” you croaked out.

  “Don’t. You don’t need to say anything right now. I shouldn’t have asked. Just go inside and rest.” he whispered back.

  You felt relief rush over you. You didn’t feel ready to talk about it. Not yet. You nodded at his words.

  “Sorry for… this” you said.

  Donghyuck looked at you. He looked at you and his eyes flashed with emotion after emotion. You longed to read his mind, to know exactly what he was thinking about.

  But alas, nothing about Donghyuck could ever be that easy. He composed himself, taking a step back from you and giving you a sharp nod. Without another word, he turned around in his heels and walked away.

  “Donghyuck!” you called after him.

  He turned around, his expression still closed off to the world, or maybe just to you. You tried not to feel hurt and said:

  “Don’t… Let’s not talk about this, okay?”

  He gave you a small smile as he answered.

  “Oh sweetheart, you know I don’t kiss and tell” And he was off.

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

  The next few days were… Difficult. You didn’t know how to talk about what had happened or who to talk to. So you didn’t. You did your best to forget and leave it as a thing of the past. Nothing had really happened after all… right?

  Kyle seemed to be thinking the same thing. He avoided you as if his life depended on it and you were glad that you were finally left alone. You questioned your choice in men as Kyle’s doe like eyes had transformed for you once and for all.

  One Thursday afternoon, you were working on some homework when the sound of your ringtone interrupted you. Looking at your phone, Yangyang’s contact name shined on the screen. You smiled as you accepted the call.

  “Hello~” you said in a sing-song voice.

  “Y/N!” Yangyang screamed on the other side of the phone.

  “Calm down idiot, I can hear you!” you said.

  “NO, Y/N YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND, I DID IT! I DID IT FINALLY! I’M NOT A COWARD!” he announced.

  “Yangyang, what are you talking about?? What did you do?” you asked.

  “I kissed her!!! And she kissed me back! Y/N do you understand what this means??? I’m taking Cat out for dinner tomorrow night! I did it!” Yangyang repeated happily.

  “Yangyang oh my God! Oh my God you really did it! I need to know EVERYTHING spill, spill, spill” you enthusiastically answered.

  Yangyang did as instructed, walking you through every step that lead to him asking Cat out. By then, the sky had already assumed its dark colours, clouds blocking the stars and moon. You looked out of your window, longing to see the stars, even for a little while. Spring had many faces, and this was a cloudy one.

  You wrapped yourself in your blankets and thought about the easy happiness Yangyang brought in your life. You were happy to see him happy and you hoped Cat knew of the treasure she had wrapped around her fingers.

[pluckyredhead]

Daredevil 101: The King of Hell’s Kitchen

And we’re back! Last time, Matt beat the crap out of Fisk, unmasked in Josie’s, and declared himself the new Kingpin. We pick up a year later, with Ben explaining to an unseen companion at a diner just what’s been going on for the past twelve months. This is gonna be a long one, guys, sorry. (Bendis/Maleev, DD v2 #56-60.)

[Content Warning: There is a passing reference to Squirrel Hill, as in the Pittsburgh neighborhood - no connection to the recent tragedy there, as this comic is about 15 years old. I just didn’t want anyone blindsided.]

Basically, despite Matt unmasking in front of a room full of criminals, everyone is too terrified of him to actually admit that they saw his face, which means that he’s been able to keep up the double life game, even though fewer people than ever believe he’s not Daredevil anymore. This is all stuff Ben has gathered through hearsay, since Matt told him to stay away for his own protection and they haven’t spoken directly since before Josie’s.

Matt even had time to grow a horrible goatee!

It’s SO BAD, MATTHEW, WHY.

He also won his lawsuit against that one tabloid, meaning that currently, in the eyes of the court, Matt Murdock is not Daredevil. He donated the enormous amount of money he won to neighborhood charities. Please note this line: “See, Matt’s new girlfriend, Milla Donovan, actually works at the Hell’s Kitchen housing commission.” Just hold onto that for a minute.

Matt’s so popular, in fact, he’s approached to run for mayor!

“I am dizzy from you.” Wow, Franklin. WOW.

Not everyone is happy with Matt’s recent choices, though, as evidenced by an intervention from some of the local superheroes:

Do you think Luke got all the way to that fourth panel before realizing he was the only one here without an alliterative name and felt suddenly self-conscious? Do you think he had a split second of “Should I try to go by Carl Cage just for right now? Could I pull it off?”

Anyway one of the things I really love about Maleev’s art is the specificity of his...well, either photo referencing or just drawing from life. I could take you to the exact spot they’re standing in Bryant Park. (It’s a logical meeting place for this group, too, since it’s centrally located and walking distance from - but not inside - Hell’s Kitchen.)

Anyway, the others are pissed because Matt saying “Get out of Hell’s Kitchen!” to criminals just...made them do crime above 59th Street and below 34th, which was a pretty foregone conclusion. Matt’s unsympathetic:

Who wants to tell Matt that Hell’s Kitchen, Harlem, and the Village are all in Manhattan and his little plan here doesn’t make sense? Like, Matt and Luke covering neighborhoods while the other three, who can travel further and faster, cover the city as a whole, does make sense, but also “go do crime over there” doesn’t stop crime. As Peter points out, while wearing a very strange facial expression.

But Matt ignores the warnings, and ignores the growing tension in Hell’s Kitchen, and then, just a few days before Ben’s telling this story, he and Milla are attacked by like a hundred Yakuza assassins. He sends Milla running for safety...and hasn’t been seen since. And that’s all Ben knows.

And that’s when we see who he’s been talking to:

I want to clarify that Ben’s explanation of the past year of events has taken two full issues. That’s like five bucks worth of comics that is Ben mansplaining Milla’s own recent history to her, including explaining to her what her job is. They should have killed 616 Ben instead, Jesus.

Also, Milla and Matt are married! Hey, how about that?! She goes on to explain to a stunned Ben (who, I guess, didn’t ask her any questions before he started talking for two entire months holy shit Ben what is wrong with you) that they got married about four months ago, and we later learn that Milla’s the one who proposed. So she proposed to a man she’d known for eight months, who is...sort of a crime boss? An anti-crime boss? Anyway, keep that in your pocket for a bit.

(I’m sorry, I’m still so angry about these two issues. Anyone who wants to hear me rant about decompression, the ask box is open.)

Uh, Milla, that’s not a compliment. You want Matt to be in love with you as a human being, not the abstract concept of you as a conglomeration of eight million people and island real estate.

Anyway, Matt told Milla that if anything went wrong, she should contact Ben. She and Ben are both baffled by this, so Ben goes to see the actual person most likely to know where Matt is:

Take the money and just make shit up, Fogy! Anyway my poor beautiful tired boy has no idea where Matt is, and is also rather wounded that Matt had a contingency plan in place for Milla but a) not for Foggy and b) didn’t tell Foggy about it. Especially since the Yakuza are out in full force and Foggy has been sleeping in his office because he can’t safely leave it.

My heart. Foggy has never really gotten to grieve on page for Karen, given that he was in jail for her funeral, but he knew her as long as Matt did (technically slightly longer) and he loved her too.

Ben tracks Matt to the Night Nurse (who, remember, is not Claire Temple in the comics) and floats a new theory by him:

I’m very sorry Matt but i can’t take you seriously with that facial hair.

Matt stops crying long enough to deny it, but by now Ben knows he’s right:

I’m...pretty sure this is the first time someone has seriously said: “Matt, your behaviors are unhealthy and I’m concerned about your mental health.” And, like, itemized them (including explicitly saying that flaking on Foggy and leaving him in these crisis situations is cruel!). People have said “you’re crazy” or “you’re being a jerk” but it’s always been said in anger. This is uncompromising but compassionate. This is “a terrible thing happened to you and I know that you’re still in pain.” No wonder Matt cries.

And Matt’s not the only one who’s listening:

Wow, Foggy has a good memory. And the face of a man who is contextualizing the past few years of his life and doesn’t like what he sees.

(A+ for the frazzle of of hat hair, Maleev.)

Matt goes to a safehouse. Foggy goes...somewhere undetermined. A spa? Everyone gets naked:

No, seriously, I have no idea why everyone needed to be SO NAKED in this scene (although I’m not complaining). Anyway please enjoy FOGGY’S TATTOO (WHAT???) and also Matt calling him both “Franklin” and “good boy” in a single page.

If you want to, like, read the actual words and pay attention to plot, I GUESS, Matt promises to deal with the Yakuza situation. Foggy’s still not happy:

YES I HAD TO INCLUDE THIS DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD, IT’S IMPORTANT. Text if you can’t embiggen:

Matt: Are you breaking up with me?

Foggy: I don’t think you’ll let me.

Matt: I need you, Foggy. I’ll fix this. I’ll make it right.

Foggy: Yeah, okay. So just do what you have to do.

Matt: I need you to bring me something to wear.

Foggy: Something red?

Matt: It’s red?

Foggy: What?

Matt: I thought it was yellow.

Foggy: ...Are you serious?

Matt: No.

Foggy: That was pretty funny.

IT IS A VERY GOOD AND IMPORTANT EXCHANGE and it is only slightly marred by Milla draped in silent nakedness over Matt the whole time because...of reasons? Ugh.

Matt goes to get backup and finds himself being dragged for like the third time in 24 hours:

Haha! Pregnant women! So hysterical about being lied to by their friends and employers who they are risking their lives for! Hormones, fellas, amirite???! LOL.

(Seriously, fuck this shit.)

Anyway. Main Yakuza Dude Whose Name I Forget is still pretty confident about moving on Hell’s Kitchen now that Matt’s out of the picture:

Oh man, sorry about your life, Main Yakuza Dude!

“Are you guys sure you want me to do this pose? It feels more ‘boy band’ than ‘badass.’“

“Yeah, Luke, definitely!"

“Yeah? I don’t know, I kind of feel like...”

“No, dude, it works, it looks totally cool, I promise!”

They beat up the Yakuza. Meanwhile, Foggy joins Milla at the safehouse:

Why is Milla still in her underwear???????????????? #cancelmen

When Matt returns to the safehouse after defeating the Yakuza, Foggy is gone, and Milla is finally dressed...and very unhappy. She tells him what Foggy told her:

Here are the things that jump out at me about this page:

1. Milla says “this Karen Page person,” which implies that she has rarely or never heard Karen mentioned before. Considering that Matt (and Foggy!) knew Karen for, as Ben pointed out, almost all of his adult life, and that she was intrinsically tied not just to Matt (and Foggy!) but Daredevil and Nelson and Murdock, this is stunning. How do you spend a year with your wife and almost never mention someone you were intimately close to for at least a decade? I know Matt is secretive by nature, but this makes me think that Matt and Milla essentially never had any real or deep communication. Which, honestly, checks out.

2. We don’t see the conversation between Milla and Foggy. Theoretically, he could have said “LOLOLOL MATT NEVER LOVED YOU HE STILL LOVES MY DEAD FRIEND SUCK IT” but that seems...out of character, to say the least. I suspect, given how confused and distressed Milla is, that he said something more like “I think the reason Matt is acting like this is because he is still processing his trauma over the death of someone he loved very much.” Which shouldn’t be a surprise to Milla, considering that one of the very first things Matt told her was “Two women I loved have been murdered.” But apparently this is a great betrayal somehow??? Because:

And this is why I just can’t with Milla. So much of what doesn’t work with her character, like the thin personality and the helplessness and the fact that she’s IN HER UNDERWEAR ALL THE TIME FOR NO REASON, is because of sexist writing and drawing, and I’m not laying that at her feet. And I’ll be the first person to declare that Matt Murdock is a shitty boyfriend/partner and has been to literally every single woman he’s dated.

But the compassionate response to “the person I love is having a nervous breakdown because he lost someone he cared about” is not to scream “SHUT UP!!!” and accuse him of lying. I’m not married but I’m preeeeeetty sure the vows don’t include “I swear that I definitely never loved anyone else and if I did, I don’t love them anymore.” Matt broke no promises here (for once!) and, as I’ve said before, Milla went on two highly dangerous dates with Matt Murdock and then he declared himself Kingpin and then she proposed. She had all the evidence she needed that life with Matt is dangerous, bizarre, and full of ethical pitfalls and the ghosts of murdered girlfriends, and as an educated, intelligent adult woman in charge of her own business, she decided to sign up. This one is absolutely not on Matt and it pisses me off that it’s treated like it is.

Anyway. *breathes*

Next up: Black Widow returns!

[onyx-archer]

My Idea for the Future of Comic Books.

I've been telling people in my personal life that like comics (and few that at least like to hear about weird ideas I have) that the current release method for comics is slowly killing the industry, among other things. I've put a lot of thought into how to fix the problem, and while I'm no expert, I think it comes down to a number of factors. All of it will be under the cut, as to not overwhelm you if you don’t want to read it. Keep in mind that this more or less entirely pertains to the Big Two (Marvel and DC), but can be applied to all but the smallest publishers really.

All of the issues I can see with the industry are as follows:

1. Limited Distribution: The Direct Market makes it harder for people to get into comics. Be it because of the hobby's requirement to go to a hobbyist store of some kind, or hope that they can find a copy on Amazon. Digital stuff does help a little, but that leads into the next problem.

2. Digital Prices/Digital Marketshare: From what little we as a community know about digital sales, thanks to a few bits of info that can be gleamed from smaller, indie creators, we know that there isn't a super huge digital market for comics yet. This would probably improve if the publishers stopped charging print cover prices for digital books, but that probably won't happen any time soon. Of course, digital markets come with the advent of piracy, but it's not like that was entirely avoidable thanks to scanning groups.

3. The Release Format: I'm gonna say something a little controversial here: single issues aren't really worth the price at this point. I say this because of how story arcs for comics these days are typically written; stories are very rarely self contained single issue affairs anymore. This also plays into the comics only being available for purchase through extremely limited channels, whereas you can sell a graphic novel or a trade paperback in more easily accessible markets than hobbyist stores like Comic Book stores. The single issues also tend to sit unsold because it's easy to over ship them, which is evident in basically every comic book store in North America.

4. Marketing: This issue is mostly aimed at Marvel, but can be applied universally. A big issue Marvel has is that they launch books with little fanfare, only to cancel them 6 issues in because of low sales. The books basically just get axed because they aren't marketed properly to potential fans. Tent pole titles like Spider-Man get marketed, sure, but for every Spider-Man or Thor, there's a character with a smaller fanbase that's getting snubbed because the big books hog all of the marketing budget, making it harder for them to gain any sizable fan traction.

I could also throw overall quality of storytelling/writing, but that's more of subjective issue in most cases. After all, just because I don't like the writing of recent Spider-Man material doesn't mean nobody does. I could also throw in my problems with people in the comics industry being shitheads on social media, but that’s not important right now.

Anyway, my solution idea attempts to address the 4 big problems. It's basically as follows:

1. Changing Formats: This here's probably going to get me the most flack, but I don't really care. What I'm suggesting is a complete overhaul of the format of comics into something a little more enticing, and potentially profitable: graphic novels. Now, the industry already releases trade collections, but I think given the fact that most comic story lines are written for trade collections already, we might as well just get graphic novels instead. This has a number of benefits, but I'll get into that more as we go. One I’ll bring up now though is that Graphic Novels, over all, have a better shelf life than individual floppies.

2. Dial Back The Number of Releases: A big issue some smaller titles have right now is the lack of marketing, and this suggestion is a pretty reasonable way to limit the issue. What I'm suggesting is, along with the change in format, a company like Marvel only releases, at most, 4 things a week. Preferably, 2-3 books, but 4 is still within reason as far as I'm concerned. This, combined with a format change, will cut down on the ugly look of a pile of unsold issues, and can be stored more efficiently. It will also allow for a more efficient marketing, and less clutter on shelves, and if all companies adopted the practice, less competing for a reader’s attention.

3. Quarterly Release Schedule: Something that would be a byproduct of going to a graphic novel format would come with a release drawback, but at the same time, it would make each release easier to justify purchasing. If I only had to buy Spider-Man 4 times a year, for 20-25 bucks a pop, I'd be happy. Of course, to make sure you don't misunderstand, each volume would have to guarantee a conclusion to the story being told by the time the last page is turned. Sure, an ongoing subplot that ties stories together is fine, but it would make things easier to recommend to fresh eyes, as a more complete feeling story is more satisfying, and is easier to keep up with and/or remember.

4. Writer Rotation: This is a simple thing, but it's basically necessary to ensure a release schedule of graphic novels. The benefit of superhero material is that writers go from project to project with enough frequency, barring a few notable exceptions, so this would be a huge boon for a format change. The ideal number of writers is 2, but it can work with 3 or 4, but no more than 4. This would require a bit of teamwork on the part of the two writers, but it would allow for a more efficient output, giving each writer a window of 3 or so months to draft subsequent releases. I would also have at least 2 different main artists on board, just to make the process less daunting for a single main artist. This would come with the caviate that a writer can only remain on the book for, at most, 4-5 years at a time, to prevent burnout and/or creative stagnation. (I probably explained this poorly, but hopefully this one made sense)

5. A Variety Title: Something to keep things a little less stale, I’m proposing that each week, there’s what’s effectively an anthology/variety type book. It would, hypothetically, be similar to something like Weekly Shonen Jump, only it’d be under specific brandings. Marvel is easily the one company that I can point to an example of: Amazing Fantasy, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, etc. Basically, these would be weekly titles that focus on a subset of Marvel’s characters for a number of purposes.

Short, self contained oneshot stories to help with the less frequent main title releases. 

Test new solo titles for unproven characters before committing to a larger book.

For the sake of showcasing newer writers to the public to gauge reactions before handing them the keys to a bigger title.

The big thing is that these would be released monthly, and wouldn’t count towards the previously mentioned release of only 3-4 books a week. They would also be sold cheaper, and individual stories could be sold cheaply in a digital format.

6. Ship To Non-Specialty Stores: A benefit of a format change would be a wider set of options for the release of books on a more frequent basis. Book stores, or other retailers that have book sections (like Walmart) wouldn’t have a problem with stocking the stories in their book sections, allowing for more eyes to be on the comics. This would have to come with the caveat of either having a rating system like video games in a easily visible place, or simply limiting the more mature stuff to Amazon and more specialist stores. Still, it allows for more potential readers to find the books easier.

7. Lower the Digital Market Price: This one is a harder pill to swallow, but realistically, this would have to be done. Heck, this idea alone can ignore all of the previous ones, and that alone would probably boost digital sales. Most people buy digital goods because it’s marginally cheaper in some cases, and they don’t have to go anywhere. The cheaper price is usually the result of not needing to print actual copies of a product, but comics have failed to grasp this concept. I think it’s a no-brainer if you change the format, but it’s obviously something the current format needs to do too.

So yeah, that’s some shit I probably put way too much thought into, but those are just some ideas I have when it comes to fixing American Comics. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[alargebear]

Episode 9 Stuff

A new week and a new post. I’m so weak to these sibling-centric episodes, and this week did not disappoint in providing. Let’s jump into it all.

Before getting too far into the heart of the episode, I think it’s worth pointing out how the year-group dynamics have developed and been revealed. The first-years are just a big ball of support and cozy friendship. It lines up with how they’ve been presented up to this episode. Hanamaru and Ruby’s acceptance (but not encouragement) of Yohane, Maru standing up to Dia in the first season, and Yoshiko and Maru’s pure support of Ruby in this episode all build on that feeling, and I it continues to be executed well. Oddly enough given Chika’s amount of screen time, the second-years are the least defined when it comes to what exactly their dynamic is. It’s unwavering support at the very least, especially when it comes to Chika, but we haven’t got an episode dedicated to these three like we have the other two year groups, so for me, they’re a bit harder to pin down. I don’t think it means they’re more distant, we just don’t have as much to work with. The third-years are the curveball for me. If you would have told me at the start of this season, or anytime last season, that the third-years would be the biggest trio of goofs in the whole group I wouldn’t have believed you, but so far this season, that’s what they’ve been. Yeah, they can angst with the best of em, but their basic interactions are all so playful, especially when it comes to Dia. It’s a play on my expectations that I think has been done very well, and helps make Kanan, Mari, and Dia feel like more well-rounded characters because of it.

This episode bucked the trend of singular, self-contained episodes that this season has pushed. This is the first time, I think, where an episode was a direct and almost immediate continuation of the last. Chronologically all the episodes take place in order, of course, but this is the first time plot points, themes, and core ideas from a previous episode were passed onto the next. I’ve actually liked the way each previous episode was its own thing with each having messages or growth to show off, but it’s nice to change things up every once in awhile, and I felt it was done well here.

Ruby and Leah continue to have a strong and very engaging friendship. We’ve never seen such a prominent friendship form outside of a character's respective groups in Love Live. It’d be easy to write off as something forced to give Saint Snow more screentime, but, for me, Ruby and Leah’s friendship never felt anything less than genuine. A big part of that is how their friendship is so tied to each other's growth. Ruby and Leah aren’t all that different when it comes down to it. Both are very shy and afraid of meeting new people, and thriving only when they have their older sisters presence around them, they just manifest themselves in different ways. What makes this budding relationship feel so heartfelt in such a short amount of time is that growth and those similarities. Watching Ruby truly find confidence without Dia around (though it did come from thinking about Dia), or Leah talk to classmates in a way we’re told she never has, these are things that couldn’t have happened if these two had never met. And all of it was possible because two little sisters loved their big sisters so much, or maybe a bit too much given how quick they are to argue. Ruby and Leah bring sides out of each other that wouldn’t be possible if it were anyone else, and it’s that fact that makes their relationship, and this episode, feel genuine and heartfelt.

Saint Snow’s shift from rivals to friends has been a nice bonus in all this sisterly bonding. It’s been hinted at throughout the season with Chika calling Sarah when stuck in or in need of guidance, but it’s these past two episodes that have really hammered that point home. They aren’t even direct competitors anymore with Saint Snow falling, but they’re still playing a fairly key part in the growth of Aqours (more specifically Ruby as a character),  I’m a fan of gradually watching enemies or rivals get closer over time, and to see it here in Sunshine was a treat for me.

If you wished the first-years would get more meaningful screen time than this had to have been great for you. Yoshiko, Maru, and Ruby’s dynamic was on full display through the entire episode (Leah too). They understand each other so well and watching Yoshiko and Maru give Ruby their full support even when that means staying for a few extra days was an absolute treat. Yoshiko’s the goober who would drop everything to help a friends Maru’s support is absolute and unconditional, and Ruby takes all of it to gain courage moving forward. This episode put what makes the first-years special on full display for everyone to see, and with excellent results to boot. The first-years truly feel like a close-knit group of friends, and it’s not told to us through exposition or character monologue, but by showing it off with sweet and silly interaction. We’ve seen it already with the third-years and now the first-years got their chance to truly shine.

The sisters were the stars of this show, especially Ruby and Dia. I’m such a sucker for sibling love and care, and I’ve been blessed these past two episodes. It’s such wholesome bonding and growth. Ruby and Leah are able to use their love for their sisters to propel to do something they never would be able to do normally, and it all culminates in one big touching gesture. Dia’s such an overprotective worrywart, willing to let Ruby do what she wants and stay with Leah, but fretting, and getting teased, the entire time. Leah and Ruby still fight over whose sister truly is the best, even leading to another outburst from Ruby that takes Yoshiko and Maru by surprise. Sarah watches over Leah and was truly happy to watch her grow and make friends. Sarah’s knowing smiles and warm eyes were some of my favorite moments because she didn’t talk much, but we still knew she loved watching Leah make friends and come out from under her own shadow. It all helps culminate into a tearful, for me, presentation of a Christmas gift that Leah and Ruby worked so hard on (Dia and Sarah’s shimmering eyes as they were presented was a favorite moment of mine). I swear I cry any time Dia and Ruby hug, it’s always so tender and warm. What else is there to say? Dia and Ruby love each other immensely, as do Leah and Sarah, this episode hammered that point home with effective results.

A great way to end with a truly unexpected collaboration in Saint Aqours Snow. Leah sounds as great as always, but I felt Ruby’s voice was fantastic in a way I’ve never heard. Their duo was great, but wow that song was good. I have no idea what I expected, but it wasn’t what we got, and it was great anyway. Saint Snow syncs with Aqours in a way that sounds almost natural, and great visuals helped round out something I really hope we get to see live. It’s not exactly the most traditional of Christmas themed songs, but I can see myself having this on repeat for a bit. Might not be My Mai Tonight levels, but it was damn good, as most Aqours songs seem to be.

A tad shorter this week, but I felt the episode spoke for itself. One important thing to touch on were those very eerie shots of Chika that cropped up toward the end. If I had to guess, it’s about graduation, but when it comes to Chika she very well could be seeing something in the group that nobody else possibly can. I’m prepared for the angst train as we wind down the season, but I guess we’ll see.

Nearing the home stretch, and I think this season has been very strong up to this point. Let’s hope it closes just as well.

[operationrainfall]

Title Cthulhu Saves Christmas Developer Zeboyd Digital Entertainment LLC Publisher Zeboyd Digital Entertainment LLC Release Date December 23rd, 2019 Genre RPG Platform PC (Steam and GOG) Age Rating N/A Official Website

One of the very first games I reviewed on Operation Rainfall was Cthulhu Saves the World. I don’t remember how I discovered the game, but I quickly became a fan of the madness of Zeboyd Games. The mixture of classic RPG mechanics, absurd humor and distinct challenge made for a fun brew, and though the first game wasn’t perfect, it did serve as a framework for many other fantastic games, including both On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 and 4 and Cosmic Star Heroine. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think we were gonna get another game set in the Cthulhu universe, and when I discovered Cthulhu Saves Christmas, I got very excited. The question is, was this formula worth a second try? Or should Cthulhu have stayed home with his insane cultists?

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If you’ve played the original game that Cthulhu Saves Christmas was based on, you’ll pretty much know what you’re getting into. If you’re unfamiliar, I’d check out my review of that game by clicking here. It does a great job of showing you generally what to expect, though there are a good number of differences between the two. However, one feature they share is the main premise. In this adventure, Cthulhu is quickly stripped of his eldritch powers by opening a Christmas present. Figuring that Santa is behind it, the angry deity sets out to slay Santa, get his powers back and destroy the world. In that order. He discovers that Santa isn’t actually the culprit, but instead it’s something called the League of Christmas Evil. They have kidnapped old Saint Nick, and by using anti-presents that provide the opposite of what you want, are going to reshape the holiday in their dark image. I won’t spoil most of them, but their ranks include the likes of Jack Frost and a deranged posse called the Yule Lads. Essentially, the League of Christmas Evil is a Xmas adjacent group of miscreants, and I’ll admit several took me by surprise. And as you might have guessed, they serve as the boss fights in the game.

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You might be wondering how Cthulhu Saves Christmas actually plays. Though it’s still styled as a retro RPG, the systems are a mixture of the original game and Cosmic Star Heroine. Each character learns new skills as they level up, and you can equip three active abilities at a time. Most abilities need to be recharged to use again, which is done by selecting your character’s defensive skill. Besides that, each character also has three slots for what are called Insanity abilities. These are totally random, and are mostly drawn from your pool of unequipped skills from your entire team. You’ll also sometimes find really powerful Insanity abilities tied to specific characters, but good luck relying on those to show up. In general, it’s a good idea to put a lot of thought into your main skills, and hope for the best with your random ones. Like any good RPG, skills range from physical to magical attacks, healing, AOE powers, status ailments and more. There’s a flow to each battle, and you won’t want to dilly dally too much since after each attack, every enemy (including bosses) gets slightly more powerful, and some get new skills when they’re the sole survivor.

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But wait, there’s more. Each turn, your characters have a meter that fills up. When it’s full, you’re in Hyper Mode, which means your skills will deal more damage and have improved effects. For example, Cthulhu has a self-healing skill that, when Hyper, grants him the Unstoppable buff, which means he won’t die immediately if his health is reduced to zero. This is a very important mechanic, since you won’t get an actual Revive skill til very, very late in the game. The downside to Unstoppable is that if you end your turn with negative health, you’ll die afterwards, and be useless the rest of that battle. So it’s a good idea to quickly heal any character in negative digits. The upside to being in the negative is that you’ll be in Desperation mode, and your attacks really pack a wallop in that state. Finally, like the first game, here you have Unite attacks shared between characters. You’ll eventually have a team of four, and each character has a Unite attack with every other character. These are quite powerful, such as summoning tentacles with Cthulhu and Crystal or healing everybody with Crystal and Belsnickel. Just remember, even Unite skills are better when Hyper. I forgot early on and suffered through many battles as a result. As you can tell, there’s a lot of complexity in Cthulhu Saves Christmas, and for the most part I very much enjoyed it.

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I only have a few small complaints about the combat system in Cthulhu Saves Christmas. Firstly, I hate relying on random factors, and the Insanity abilities were as likely to help me as hinder me, especially in harrowing battles. This was very much the case in the challenging boss fights, which can be unrelenting, at least on the difficulty I chose (Insane, or this game’s version of Normal). My other complaints only came up when I refreshed my memory about Cthulhu Saves the World. That game had branching skills you could choose to learn, whereas there is nothing like that here. I love having complete control over my RPG experience, and I just wish there was a bit more variety to how I helped my characters grow. And speaking of characters, the first game had several you could swap in and out of your team. Sadly Cthulhu Saves Christmas only has one team of four. Though to be fair, each character serves as a distinct class of sorts, such as berserker, healer, etc. Other than those issues, I really enjoyed the combat in the game. Which is good, considering that’s about half of what the experience offers. The other half is the game’s laugh-out-loud funny writing.

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If you haven’t played a game by Zeboyd before, then let me tell you, the writing is always amazing in their games. Very few RPGs I play make me chuckle, let alone belly laugh, and Cthulhu Saves Christmas often did both. One reason for that is the eclectic mix of characters. Take your team for example. Cthulhu is surly and insecure about his stripped-down abilities. He always wants to be feared, and instead gets mostly ignored. Then there’s Crystal Claus, the sweet and saccharine niece of Santa who wants to do good, but is constantly thwarted by the mischievousness of the elder god. There’s a burly mountain man named Belsnickel, who seems pretty normal at first, other than the twisted joy he derives from whipping little children. And then there’s my new favorite, Baba Yaga-chan. Yes, that Baba Yaga, just young and full of optimism. She’s crazy, cute, sinister and much more besides. How can you not love a character who introduces herself by trying to suffocate an elder god with a pillow?

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Besides the wonderful cast of characters, there’s also tons of fourth wall breaking silliness everywhere in the game. It turns what could be a basic RPG plot into a delight, full of skeletal reindeer, time travel, alternate dimensions, alien cats and much more. Put simply, you’ll want to read every word that flashes across the screen, since it’s all so cleverly conceived. Hell, even the way the game uses the narrator is amazing. Honestly after playing all the games in the Zeboyd roster, I really want them to do localization for other series, because I know they would do an amazing job of it. That said, I did find the ending to Cthulhu Saves Christmas a bit of a letdown, especially since the rest of the adventure was so inventive. But that in no way diminishes the rest of the experience.

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Though I do enjoy all the Zeboyd games, they have one unfortunate trait in common: their linearity. Cthulhu Saves Christmas is completely linear, just going from dungeon to dungeon, with some great writing in-between. There’s no optional dungeons or hidden bosses. The only things that mix up the experience, and which are new to this series, are relationship forging sections. Your home base is Christmas Town, which is set in a perpetual state of Christmas Eve due to Santa’s kidnapping. While you’re there, the game encourages you to explore and spend time with your “friends”. Doing so boosts your R’lyehtionship with each teammate. No, you didn’t read that wrong; the pun is intentional. I was pleasantly surprised this game took a page from series like Persona, letting you deepen your bonds with the team. Doing so rewards you not only with more hilarious dialogue, but with equipment and items. I should say, the items used in battle are all single use, but recharge after combat. As for equipment, you only get it in Christmas Town or in chests found in dungeons. It’ll behoove you to explore each dungeon fully as a result, since you might otherwise miss a chest with the equipment you want. I tended to prefer equipment that let me start battles Unstoppable or which turned single-use skills into reusable ones. Much like the first game, there’s a set amount of encounters in each dungeon, and once you’ve fought them all, you can explore freely. Though if you want to grind more, you can fight random battles from the main menu as well.

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Though the devs suggested Cthulhu Saves Christmas can be beaten in 4-5 hours, I didn’t roll credits til about 16 hours in. Perhaps that means I’m not as good at the RPG genre as I’d like, or maybe it’s because I played on the middle difficulty. Either way, I got plenty of bang for my buck, and found the challenge was pretty satisfying. Sometimes basic enemy encounters could utterly destroy me, forcing me to restart repeatedly to get past them. And some of the bosses in the game are really challenging. Hell, the second boss repeatedly wiped the floor with me until I got smart and used better strategy to claim victory. That said, I’m still a little disappointed there was nothing optional to do in the game other than exploring different sections of Christmas Town in your free time between dungeons. Hell, I managed to get all the Steam achievements just by beating the game, which is a bit disappointing. What’s here is great, but whenever I enjoy a game this much, I always want any excuse to spend more time with it. Sadly, once you beat the game, there’s not really a reason to play through it again, since you’ll have seen pretty much everything.

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Visually, I really enjoyed the style of Cthulhu Saves Christmas. It’s a lot like what’s available in Cthulhu Saves the World, just with more fine tuned retro art. Characters have a lot of personality just from their portraits, and the variety of enemy designs is pretty good (though there are several that get reused). The only thing I missed visually are the comic cutscenes from the original. Musically the game is fine, though most of the songs aren’t that memorable. The main exception is a twisted version of “Carol of the Bells” I really enjoyed listening to. There’s no voice acting here, but I also found it wasn’t necessary.

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Honestly, for only $9.99 you get a great experience with Cthulhu Saves Christmas. It’s a very solid RPG with lots of laughs and good mechanics. Though I do miss some features from the first game, it overall does a good job of streamlining things for the better. More than anything, I just wanted reasons to keep playing in this universe. Any sort of unlockables, optional dungeons or hidden bosses would have been very welcome. Though my time with the game wasn’t exactly short, I kept finding myself wishing this was a 30-40 hour game. And while the ending was a bit of a disappointment, I still find myself hoping we get another entry to make this a trilogy. All in all, I’m happy with the latest from Zeboyd Games, and hope we don’t have to wait very long for Cthulhu’s next adventure.

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[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.5″]

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REVIEW: Cthulhu Saves Christmas Title Cthulhu Saves Christmas