#they explicitly list my department too so I don’t think it’s another opening somewhere else? I guess it could be

[kirnet]

Got an email that my job is hiring for… my position. I have an interview next week. This is either gonna be really cool or really bad

[forumofkuka]

Emory University: First Week!

As my second full day of classes is coming to a close, I’ve decided to reflect back on my first week here in Atlanta, Georgia. Although I didn’t move in until Saturday, August 25th, my father and I flew down Thursday morning. When my final days in Connecticut were approaching, I’ll be honest, I definitely didn’t feel super prepared or knowledgeable about what I was getting myself into. After all, I didn’t start packing until maybe three days before, and I was even still doing that 3 hours before my flight was scheduled to take off. Moreover, I still had to make a ton of purchases in Atlanta for my dorm, like school supplies and bathroom essentials. 

Being that I wouldn’t be returning home until late November, I made a point in my last week to spend more time at home and with family. Although I facetimed friends during those days, I visited my paternal grandparents and also spent time with my sisters (i.e. Making a sisters-only trip up to Agawam, Massachusetts, to spend the afternoon at Six Flags). Saying goodbye to certain relatives was more emotional than I had imagined. Maybe it was my heightened hormones from my period or just suppressed anxieties about picking up my life and moving 1000 miles away, a surge of tears definitely came on when I was saying goodbye to my grandparents the day before my flight. I couldn’t stop them during the drive home either, even though I was trying to not be hysterical in front of my youngest sister who was in the passenger seat beside me. Alisa, my youngest sister, was someone I had been spending a lot more time with in the last few weeks, whether it be going bowling for an hour, getting our eyebrows done, or even running errands. In my final minutes before departing for the airport, I noticed that she was hanging around me a lot more, and that maybe she was also suppressing some feelings as well. LOL even while thinking back on this, I find myself unable to hold back the tears. Anyway, hugging her goodbye also set me off again, although my dad didn’t comment on it so that made it easier for me to calm down. 

I’ve always dreamt about college, and looked forward to the possibilities that come with higher education and being in a new location/larger institution. It wasn’t until my senior week that I started realizing what kinds of apprehensions I had underneath all the enthusiasm about the future. You know, I went to the same secondary school for 6 years, where some of my closest friendships had been that old as well. Sure, I made new connections every year, and my closeness with friends fluctuated throughout the era, but I always had a solid sense of who was my friend and who was merely an acquaintance. The idea of going into college fresh, with a blank slate, was both something I was excited about but I also realized something I was afraid of. Sitting here, 5 days into the process, I’ve met dozens of super interesting, approachable, and intelligent people. I’ve made various acquaintances, whether they be in my dorm, my orientation group, my classes, or spontaneous encounters I’ve had walking around campus. With that being said, although I have people I can message to eat meals with or sit in a lounge with, I don’t feel comfortable here yet socially. I don’t have a solid group, and I’ve been feeling more FOMO (fear of missing out) than I could’ve ever really felt in high school. I don’t know, in some instances, when I see groups of people going off together, especially when I am acquainted with them, to a party or some off-campus event, I definitely feel a little isolation. I don’t know, I don’t want a college experience where all I do is go to class, study, eat food with people, go to a club meeting, and sleep. I want some archetypal college experiences, whether it be going to parties or even taking advantages of the many events that occur in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta. In instances like this, I think I’m just allowing my uncertainties and vulnerability get the best of me, especially because I probably am just making assumptions about the involvement and acclimation of those around me. We all put up facades, and as someone who constantly tries to break mine by confiding in others and being an open person, I should acknowledge and believe this. I’m sure it’s normal. All of my concerns and insecurities are probably expected and on track with where I should be. I just have to remember not to rush into things, because things are going well - they could be so much worse. Everyone I’ve engaged in conversation with has been kind and I haven’t even gone to an activities fair yet, so I haven’t even finished making the frame of my initial social spheres. 

My two days prior to actual moving in went pretty smoothly. We went shopping a lot, spent way too much money of course, because who knew how many little things you’d actually need in your dorm? My list of supplies continued to grow throughout those 48 hours, as I started remembering the smallest but most essential things that I always had at my disposal when I lived in a family home, rather than a 11′ by 20′ dorm room. We went to some cool eateries in the area, such as Poke Burri, a social media renowned poke stand that makes sushi doughnuts, burritos, bowls, pizza, you name it - although it is located in a more rundown, artistic, hipster neighborhood that is a little unassuming, it was pretty cool and a general area I’d want to revisit again with some friends (neurotic, protective fathers are probably not built for a place like that). We also visited my former Russian teacher, who a few months before my acceptance to Emory, had announced that she was moving to a city that’s just under an hour outside of Atlanta. It was comforting to be able to see her again, and even nicer to know that she’s more than willing to be a source of support for me too. I think I’m going to try and visit her in late September or early October, just because I don’t really have too many familiar faces here.  In terms of the whole move-in process, the day went pretty smoothly. My scheduled move-in time was 7:00am, so my dad and I woke up at 5:45am to get there on time. We finished unpacking my various suitcases and packages around 1:00pm (I worked slower than I probably should LOL). I met my roommate and her family of course, which went nicely. She and I clicked immediately, we’ve been communicated for about 4 months now, since we had requested each other way back in April. Even though I felt like we’d make great friends, I even started getting apprehensive about how she and I would get along, since it’s always hard to kind of tell how someone is over text and how someone is in person. So far, everything has been pretty easy-going, and both of us have been very willing to share and compromise, which is great :) We are different in various ways, but also alike in others, so I’m happy with how that’s going! Our ability to click quickly was definitely something that reassuringly lifted stress off my shoulders. After unpacking my belongings, we met with our orientation groups, had the Emory Welcome assembly, the traditional Emory Coke Toast (after which my father left), and then another Emory After Dark social event, where students were able to get free food from various local food trucks and mingle. 

So far, all of the social events have proven to be more or less fun, and have resulted in me encountering a wide breadth of interesting and kind people. I’ve yet to meet someone who has been explicitly rude or unapproachable, and it’s just been really cool to be surrounded by so many people who are passionate, driven, and talented. Though, I will say, I’ve never been more exhausted in my life. With our orientation days packed to the brim with Songfest practices, orientation leader meetings, convocation, Emory welcome events, you name it - any free time we do have, usually begins at around 9:00pm, meaning it’s pretty likely that if you want to have control over who you hang out with, you’ll end up going to bed around 12:00am to 1:00am every night. Or, at least I have. So far, my roommate has been pretty easygoing with me coming in late, I think both for her sake and my own, I’m going to have to cut it down, because I went to bed at nearly 2:00am last night (today is 8/31/2018) even, and I woke up at 8:00am (mind you, I was going to wake up at 6:30am to go to the gym). Last night, after Songfest - which is a freshman-dorm singing and dancing competition where each residence hall basically disses the other and competes for best shirt/banner/lyrics/performance - I was thinking about going to The Mansion for their Emory Back to School Event, but it would’ve started at like 10:30pm and gone to 3:00am, and apparently a lot of girls get sexually assaulted there so I’m glad I decided against it. It’s weird, even on the night after move-in day, I saw hoards of girls all dressed up to go off campus to parties - how do people even find out about these kinds of things? I also don’t understand what’s the rush? Like you barely know the people in your own dorm building, let alone already going off to get trashed somewhere else.  It’s strange the severity of FOMO I’ve been feeling here, like it hasn’t been atrocious, but it has been more than at home, and it has been contributing to feelings of depression that I haven’t felt in a long time. Later today, I’m going to call the Psychological & Mental Health Services Office to try and schedule and appointment, because it hasn’t even been a week since move in, and I’m already feeling myself shut down and want to isolate myself. It really hit me that I may need to get counseling when I found myself having difficulty holding back tears while I was in the midst of one of the most high-spirited, school events of my four years here - why would anyone be sad while having school spirit and being around people who are super energetic and enthusiastic? So, it felt like something was wrong.  

Nonetheless, I’m really excited for the opportunity to reinvent myself. I went to the Religion & Spirituality Fair the other day, and I’m really interested in not only being apart of the Baha’i Student Association (wasn’t at the fair but I’m in contact with the leading people), but I kind of want to learn more about UKirk Atlanta, which is a very-liberal, Presbyterian church group that comes here every Thursday evening. I don’t know, the people were very gay-pride, bubbly, and quirky, so I think it would be enlightening and also fun. A lot of the groups, oddly enough, are okay with attendees not being of the faith, so I feel more encouraged to go to these meetings just as a means of learning about the religion and its community here on campus. I also went to the LGBT Freshman/Transfer Welcome Meeting, which was really nice. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if it was my place to go, I don’t believe in sexuality labels (meaning, I identify as non-conforming), and with that being said I don’t know if that constitutes as me being able to say I could fall into any of the LGBT spectrum. However, people were kind and maybe as I continue exploring myself, I’ll find that I fall more into one realm over a current one (I’ve been more attracted to masculinity/cis-men for a while now). With all this being said, it’s just really cool how many different student programs there are here on campus. Some others I want to explore are Club Weightlifting, A Cappella, Emory Dark Arts, Active Minds, Ballroom Dancing Club, a literary journal/newspaper, and some sort of community service oriented group. Unlike in high school, I feel like I want to be more involved in activities that are more like hobbies, rather than something that is related to my academic interests. We’ll see though, the Activities Fair is on Saturday, and I think now’s a good time to explore things and just kind of really start figuring out how and where I want to set my foot at this school.  In terms of my academic classes thus far, I’ve enjoyed all of them. I’m taking PSYC 110: Psychobiology & Cognition (General Psychology 1), RUSS 201: Intermediate Reading/Writing/Speaking, CHEM 150: Lecture & Lab (General Chemistry 1), and PHIL 111: Existentialism & European Philosophy. Aside from the class materials and textbooks being horribly expensive, I think I’m going to gain a lot from all these classes. I really like my professors for all of them, especially my philosophy instructor, who isn’t even a professor - he’s a PhD student who wears grayscale outfits, has plugs (stretches his lobes), a huge beard, and swears. Chemistry will be a difficult class for me, I can tell already, but the professor is super passionate and teamwork-oriented so I think I’ll come out of it with a good foundation in the science. The one class I feel a little strange about is my Russian class, because as a somewhat “native” speaker, it is strange to be in a room full of non-native speakers trying to speak Russian, as well as being in a Russian learning setting where the professor speaks English 85% of the time. The weird thing is, I feel like the class is moving very slowly and like we’re learning a lot of basic vocabulary, but I also don’t feel like I have the strong foundation in grammar to try and move up to the 300 level class. It’s so hard to judge placement at this point because it’s syllabus week, and the add/drop/swap period ends on Wednesday, so by Tuesday night, I would’ve only had 4 Russian classes to judge. I think I’m going to stick it out and then begin a different language next year, because I’m not planning on even minoring in Russian - it’s merely courses I’m taking to improve my ability to speak with relatives and people of my culture/heritage. I’m deciding between French and Arabic for this new language I want to start, but I also want to continue with Spanish, so I will probably end up studying that again at some point too. My psychology lecture is interesting in that a good half of the courses focuses on gender identity, sexuality, love, and topics of that nature - something I would not have expected to be included in an intro level course. Of course, the course also goes over the major sections of the brain, the five senses, and memory, but I find it strange that gender and sexuality is also a huge component. Nonetheless, it is something I wanted to learn more about so it’ll be cool!

My polaroid project has been going well, it will be a pricey investment, but I know I’ll enjoy looking back on it. 

[amethyst-lightsphere]

Stranger to most, well known to few - chapter three

Note: I had originally intended to post this on April’s Fool. But then, people may think it’s a cruel joke and purposely miss it. On the other hand, the length of this chapter bursted to a new level of long compared to the previous two.

Chapter 3: Nicholas Marian – He who of the gray

The color was neither white nor black.

Nicholas had said he wanted lodging and food, but the first place he led both of them to was a clothing store.

“Why the fuck are we here?” Kanda said from his spot by the cash register, watching the red head flitting around the racks.

Nicholas’s grin was annoyingly smug as he replied while picking up a dress shirt, “Are those eyes of yours for decoration only? I have blood all over myself.” He raised one hand to gesture at his clothes, which had a large red stain at the abdomen and smaller splotches at the knees.

“So? Your fussy ass won’t get dissolved by mere blood.”

“It’s not dissolving I’m thinking about, mister Kanda, but the troubles that may come. Such a sight often draws unfavorable attention, which I would like to avoid.” Nicholas disappeared into one changing booth with a bunch of clothes in his arms. “Not to mention, your demeanor alone has already made us stand out like a bald head. See our dear cashier for demonstration, if you want one.”

The cashier Nicholas mentioned was checking the goods with unnatural fervor, the like of which Kanda knew was to hide stolen glances. He glared at the man, satisfied when he scurried as far out of Kanda’s earshot as permitted by the limited space of the store.

Nosy man problem averted, but then Kanda’s mind had to rewind what had happened at the Campbell’s mansion. He knew it was a colossally bad idea, but Allen had insisted on going. To know the truth, he had said. And the result had been Nea’s violent awakening forcing the beansprout to invoke his Innocence. Whether that worked or not, Kanda didn’t know.

What he did know, however, was that Allen had vomited blood and fainted right in front of him. Kanda had panicked at that, slitting his own wrist and forcing his blood into Allen’s mouth. It was counterproductive since the idiot was throwing up the same kind of liquid, but at that moment, he couldn’t think of anything else. Internal organ damage was a bitch seconded only to karma. And then there was the cursed ritual, too. If it was something too severe for Kanda’s blood to fix-

Suddenly a cream-colored coat was shoved in Kanda’s face. He had to lean back from the offending article.

“What the hell, four-eyes?” Kanda fixed the red head with an incredulous glare.

Nicholas just smiled. “We didn’t get to pick up whatever luggage you and your Walker have. That means no coins for me.” He then retracted the clothes to put it on himself; meanwhile, his gaze went down to one gold button on Kanda’s uniform for a moment before moving back up. “So be generous this time, will you? It’s not like money is a problem for a General of the Black Order.”

The red head being clueless about Allen’s clothes was a surprise. “You didn’t know?”

Kanda’s cue was the inclination of the other’s head.

Kanda allowed a smirk to appear on his face. “Check those bloody clothes you changed out of.” He pointed at the pile of clothing the red head had dropped on one of the seats lining the wall. “And learn to stop being a smartass while you’re at it.”

Nicholas immediately started searching. Within two minutes, he dug out a treasure trove of cash from various hidden pockets in every items. Once done, he gave the amount of money an appraisal look.

“Your Walker is something, I must say. I didn’t even feel any differences in weight with the new clothes.” Nicholas commented with a refreshing lack of either haughtiness or mockery.

Kanda too was not scathing for once. “The beansprout is creative. Now hurry your ass up.”

In a minute, they were done with the shopping. From there they went to find lodging as previously intended. Nicholas, now pleased, took the lead with longer strides and a slightly looser mouth. Kanda got to know that the man was a scientist and sorcerer, but his reputation – the one in the past – was that of a physician. The town wasn’t his birthplace, but he had visited it many times. Kanda helped Nicholas confirm that the last time he saw the world was thirty five years ago. He was physically well, meaning whatever injuries his body sustained when Allen was in control had gone.

The man shared nothing further than those, which was fine with Kanda. They were on the street after all and God knew if some Akuma were lurking around eavesdropping things for the Noah.

One thing, though. Nicholas had been adamant about the body being his to begin with. The conviction behind made it hard for Kanda to think of it as a joke. Unfortunately, the man had refused to further elaborate on the matter, saying that they should leave it for another time.

That brought a new problem about Allen Walker: if that body wasn’t his, then what had happened to his original one?

They stopped in front of a hotel named Poppy. It was a giant three-story building with vintage feel in its architecture. From the wrought iron fence, big front yard to the decorated arches of doors and windows. Expensiveness oozing from every corner and its bright color paint made it stick out in the middle of other common housing.

“Hell no.” Kanda was exasperated.

“Heaven yes.” Nicholas quickly entered, not giving Kanda time to do anything.

He followed. “I’m not selling my things.” He had to say that. This hotel looked like one room could eat up all the money they had and the last time Kanda sold the ornament of his uniform, he got a headache from the science department’s yelling.  

But four-eyes ignored him for the favor of talking with the receptionist. For some reason, they chatted in a language unknown to Kanda.

“Are you listening, four-eyes?” Kanda wanted to draw Mugen so badly.

“Always, mister Kanda.” He dryly replied. Before Kanda could touch his blade, the man added. “I’m making one of the best arrangements you ever have in your life here. So kindly shut up, please~?” He purposely drawled.

“Make it one room with two single beds. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” If it wasn’t for Allen’s body, he would try to stab the bastard. Also, Kanda had to admit, he was curious – blamed the beansprout for rubbing off on him -  as to what four-eyes’ plan was.

Nicholas flashed Kanda a toothy grin before turning back to the conversation with the other man.

The two must have been talking about other things as well. Shady things, to be precise. Because, faced it, there was no way a simple check-in had to be done in something other than English. And the look on the receptionist’s face was speaking volumes.

Then Nicholas traced a pattern into the other man’s right palm. The act got the receptionist to stare at said palm for a minute before opening the check-in logbook and writing down.

“All done, mister Kanda. We have a room and the lunch is being prepared.” Four-eyes announced triumphantly as he turned to Kanda.

“If you mess up, I’m not saving your ass.” Kanda crossed his arms, his eyes catching the previously exchanged symbol drawn next to their name in the logbook.

Nicholas just shrugged. “The most you might have to do is working here for three years for me trying to have a free stay in this hotel.”

“What?” Kanda’s roar startled several guests in the lobby, but like he cared. It wasn’t the first time he saw something possibly lawless, but Allen’s card tricks never brought any sorts of harm to his companions. This, on the other hand, was blatantly selling him out.

And Kanda thought getting people to clean up after was a Cross’s thing only.

As if it wasn’t enough, Nicholas had to throw in a reply. “You can calm down, mister Kanda. It’s just a form of insurance in case my words are proven false, which can never be done.” His tone was like he was scolding a child.

No retort came as Kanda was trying to regulate his breathing. To calm down, he reasoned with himself that Nicholas was a human and Allen wasn’t quite dead. The former wasn’t very convincing, though.

“You must be very hungry to be that irate, mister Kanda. What do you say if we get some food inside that stomach of yours?” Nicholas turned on his heel and strode to the dining hall.

Kanda was right behind him. “Don’t you dare think you can dump your messes on me!” The way his statement sounded so much like a last-ditch effort made him to cringe internally.

Nicholas said no more, but his lips curled into a complacent smile that further irritated Kanda. Smart-ass.

They sat down at a table in the back corner of the dining hall where no one would notice. The food was brought shortly after, the amount forming a mountain on the surface. Nicholas dug in right away, not one bit shy from displaying his humongous appetite while Kanda’s sullenly stabbed the content of his dish.

Now that Kanda thought about it, there was another mystery: Nicholas could invoke Innocence at full rate. Together with the fact that he didn’t look like someone who just discovered his sudden and mysterious change in diet, he must have been with the weapon for a long time. Could two people be compatible to one Innocence at the same time? Innocence were known to be picky; the files of Second Exorcist Program had explicitly stated that despite having the same brains, only one Exorcist – Kanda – was successfully created while the rest were rejected. And now, there was Nicholas Marian, wielding Innocence as easily as breathing.

Somewhere in Kanda’s mind, he doubted this was the last mystery.

“You got what you want. Now spill. What happened to Allen Walker?” He started first. Allen’s status was, naturally, the first in his priority list.

“Regarding your Walker, I have a theory.” spoke Nicholas after swallowing a mouthful.

That wasn’t what Kanda wanted to hear. “You said you could tell how he was, four-eyes. Do you really know?”

Nicholas wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Of course I do, mister Kanda. For your information, I am the one who devised the ritual in the first place.” His displeased expression was quickly replaced by a sardonic smirk when he saw Kanda’s astonishment. “Or, at least, the prototype of the one you saw. That alone is enough for theorizing. And surprise! A theory is the closest you can have for now, mister Kanda, unless you can provide me with the developed diagram.”

The frown once again appeared on Kanda’s face. Nicholas was right. And having the original creator was better than none at all. That didn’t mean he liked it.

“So,” Nicholas continued. “How much do you know about alchemy?”

The question brought up images of one Komui Lee and his many nasty concoctions. “Enough. What about it?”

“You see, the ritual employs both magic and alchemy. It-” The man abruptly paused. With his lower lip jutted out, he looked thoughtful for a moment before resuming his speech. “It has two primary functions. First, it creates an exact copy of my body. Then, Nea and your Walker are transferred to the duplicate. That way, I can regain this body while my friend consume Walker, which will be a piece of cake since Walker’s energy is drained to supply the whole ritual. But, as we all know-”

Nicholas had yet to finish, but Kanda had stood up and drawn Mugen. The metal sang as the blade left its sheath, gleaming dangerously with the tip pointed at the red head.

“Friend?” Kanda hissed. “You are a Noah follower?”

The smile on Nicholas’ lips became full of arrogance. “Your assumption wounded me, mister Kanda. I’m not that lowly. I simply have a friend who happens to be a Noah.”

It didn’t make Kanda lower his sword. “It’s still the same! Did you forget what the Noah are? What you are? Or what they do?”

“Oh mister Kanda, how wrong you are~” Nicholas said with a sing-song voice, clearly not the slightest perturbed. “Let me repeat it for you. I’m no servant to the Noah clan. My loyalty to Nea is from our friendship only. As for the fact that the Noah want to destroy humanity, so what? As long as I’m not hurted, I don’t care if the man next to me drops dead.”

Kanda couldn’t quite believe in his ears. “You think the Noah won’t kill you just because one of them acts friendly?” He gave a withering glare. In both the past and present, Tyki Mikk had been a prime example, killing people at the drop of a hat while being twistedly amiable.

“Ahaha!” The man fucking laughed. “I don’t think so. I believe so. But for a different reason.” He raised his hand up in a mock salute “That is, humanity needs me.”

This fucker had very strange idea. “Like hell it is! You are just one man.” Kanda spat, his sword arm not wavering.

The look on Nicholas’ face said that he was enjoying this. “One man, true. But tell me, mister Kanda, how did humanity grow? The Noah seek its destruction. You Exorcists fight to preserve it. But what else? Nothing. It’s just a stagnating tug of war.”    

“No, to be this advanced, humanity has to depend on someone else. Someone who brings advancement. Someone like tinkerers, discoverers, inventors. Great minds that seek to understand the world. Great minds like me. We scientists are the progress, the evolution, the transformation. The gray in the midst of the white of you Exorcists and the black of the Noah.”

“Progress my ass! Your disgusting thing was going to sacrifice Walker! Which part of it is ‘progress’?” The speech only made Kanda more furious than ever.

Nicholas’s grin never ceased. “The sacrifice, of course. Humanity is one big ouroboros that eats itself as the price to crawl forward. Your Walker is but a tiny part in its grand scheme, meant to die for another’s sake. Though, should you be so shocked? I’m sure there are scientists on your side who committed similar or greater atrocities.”

There were. There were the Epstain, the Chang, and probably more. They had made monsters like those Third Exorcists. Like Kanda. All the while claiming that their creations were for the sake of the world. They would never stop.

Death had been the reward for their acts.

Kanda lunged for Nicholas, leaping over the large table. Mugen could kill, he could kill. Maybe taking a human’s life was taboo to an Exorcist, but his hate was making him see red and Nicholas was an exception. A dangerous, twisted exception.

Food was sent flying. With a foot, Nicholas pushed himself together with the chair skidding backward and away from the slash. The distance was short, however, only took Kanda a step to get the man in reach again. There was no escaping the next strike.

Except, Kanda found himself literally frozen. He searched with his eyes and saw a bright glow coming from Nicholas’ right hand.

Magic. Kanda wanted to curse himself for forgetting that the man was also a sorcerer.

“Murderous, aren’t you?” Nicholas’ bright smile only stirred Kanda’s hatred. “Sadly, I’m no easy meat. Besides, don’t you want your Walker alive?”

“I come back to kill him.” snarled Kanda. “If the Fourteenth wins, I kill him. Finish you now will do that just fine.”

And Allen would not feel any pain. The world would be cleansed of one rotten man and the Noah wouldn’t reincarnate. Therefore, in a way, Kanda’s debt to him would be paid in full.

“Ha! Such a lying brute! Then, why didn’t you strike me down when I first appeared? Why now?” Nicholas kept talking while Kanda struggled to move. “What is your real intention, mister Exorcist?”

Kanda said nothing. He was done with talking and his intention wasn’t something to show just anybody, let alone this fucker before him.

Nicholas kept talking. “Now now, you honestly believe I will buy your mercy killing reason? That is no different from saying the Innocence are not monsters. They are like the Noah-”

Nicholas left hand abruptly flew to his chest, grasping the lapel while a gasp escaped his lips. Feathers sprouted from his left arm, lightly swaying in the air:  Crown Clown had activated by itself. Kanda felt the paralysis leave his body and he thrusted his sword without a second wasted.

However, when Mugen was an inch from the man’s face, Kanda was paralyzed again. Though in pain by virtue of the Innocence, Nicholas still managed to recast his spell.

No easy meat, indeed.

“You will kill if it’s Nea, but what if Walker lives?” Nicholas’ shaky smile was  fading away. “Will you still chop him up?”

Kanda blinked once. He wouldn’t. His target was the Noah, not him. Not even if he was filled with rage like now. But Nicholas-

The man continued with a serious look on. “Walker still has his chance, I can confirm. Will you deprive him of that?”

No, he would not.

“You have come so far, and you will go even further for him, no?”

Yes.

“What is your real intention, mister Kanda?”

Helping Allen Walker. Assisting him until he reached an ending.

Realization hit Kanda, pulling him back to sanity. This was not an ending. Rather, this was a little breather from the long thorny road. Allen would walk again soon. He would. He was a resilient soul, the most Kanda had ever known in his life.

That meant Kanda couldn’t just kill off Nicholas where he sat.

Nicholas spoke up after those few minutes of Kanda coming down from his homicidal fury. “I will release you, then we talk. This time, we do it properly. What do you say?”

With a snap of fingers, the paralysis was dispelled as promised. Kanda lightly rolled his shoulder, testing muscles. Next, he raised his sword. And slashed.

A scratch was made on the left lense of Nicholas’ glasses. The man simply swiped a finger along it and with a muted glow, it disappeared. Kanda sheathed his sword.

“Mister Kanda had made his choice. Now your turn, little holy parasite.” At Nicholas’ words, Crown Clown slowly went back to being an arm.

Kanda glared hard at the man. “I only tell things that worth the same with yours.” By no means had he completely calmed down, but he had to do this.

“Fair enough.” A truce had been reached.

Nicholas then gestured to Kanda’s chair. Kanda went around the table, carefully avoided the food scattering on the floor.

“Where were we?” said the red head. “Was I explaining how without me, Walker wouldn’t exist at all? Or was I going to say that Walker actually swapped place with me and is sleeping deep within-”

[jumpchain-drop]

Chapter 5.1: 0.0 Years

“….aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

CRASH!

I landed in a face-down belly flop. It hurt, but somehow I don’t think I was injured. Still took a minute to get up.

“Where…?”

I was beside a walking path in a grassy area, at the foot of some small rocky hills. At the end of the path was a shack in the middle of a fence with a “Don’t Enter” sign on it. Most everything else around me seemed to be a mountain or natural forest.

Speaking of, I saw a couple kids playing around the trees a good distance off. They weren’t proportioned like normal human kids, though, and were closer to chibi-deformed. So I wasn’t someplace serious enough to bother rendering humans realistically (I say, after coming out of Wind Waker fighting for my life). It seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t think from where. Must be another game world that I only played to play, I thought, like Wind Waker was.

That’s when I thought to check myself out. Annoyingly enough, I was a kid again, probably around age ten. As if going through puberty a second time wasn’t enough. I was wearing and orange-and-blue-striped shirt and otherwise dressed like, well, a kid – admittedly, a kid with an ATM card with his name on it in his pocket. That’s the other shoe dropping, isn’t it… In the Pokémon world, you could become a trainer at age ten and could be effectively self-sufficient (barring the real-world sustainability of the whole thing, but Orre compensated for that by actually having lower housing prices). I doubt that also applied here. Did I have parents? A house?

Well, actually… I did have a house.

No one was around the shack, so I went to check it out. It was locked shut, but I still had a key that could open it. Not that it let me get into the shack.

I entered the Warehouse and checked out the roster board. As I suspected, all red. In my idle movement, I looked over to the pole. Another new plate, this one showing-

Wait.

I know this image.

This is the Franklin Badge. It had the lightning bolt and the word “MOTHER” written across it.

I’m in EarthBound.

I’m in… freakin’ EarthBound.

Terrific. I went from a game I played but didn’t remember to a game I tried to play and hated. Yeah, I’m the kind of person that thinks needing to speed through menus as a gameplay mechanic was made by a designer that didn’t know the point of freakin’ menus. Which, incidentally, is also why I never got into most famous RPGs, including Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and this… I didn’t even get to the gang leader first boss.

At least I managed to see Chuggaaconroy’s second Let’s Play of it before I got yoinked into this chain of events, so I wasn’t completely blind past what I managed to play.

I composed myself and went to get my backpack from my housing unit. As to be expected, the notebook was inside it.

Layer 5:

You have ten years in this world.

None of your companions have been imported into native forms.

Your gear purchases will arrive shortly.

You have a bank account containing $50,000.

I have determined “defensive PSI” to mean Recover and Assist PSI techniques.

Youth has its advantages.

Entertain me. Don’t get your head handed to you.

“Wha- No companions?!” I said. “What the hell?!” When it didn’t respond, I remembered to write it out.

“The document contains no companion import options,” appeared below the list in the notebook. “My hands are tied. You can still call for them.”

“Terrific,” I groaned as I closed the book. “Only like one of them can be human...”

Calm down, I told myself. Calm down. I took some deep breaths and tried thinking again. Ten teammates, I could call in eight, and only one of them, Terra, had a human alt-form...

...Come to think of it, most of the Hylians had lost their pointy ears in Wind Waker. Which meant that they could pass as human. Among my own team, the only Hylians that had pointed ears were Bolt, Shadow, and Tooty, which I suspected had to do with their heroic and royal backgrounds; so Maria, Cody, and Manaphy would be able to pass fine.

Well, I mean, Terra and Manaphy I was going to bring in regardless, and if I brought in Terra it was only fair to bring Tooty too. Bolt, Cody, and Anita still weren’t at the peak of their Pokémon potential, and they weren’t going to get it frozen in time; Bolt’s ears could probably be explained with plastic surgery or something, and I’ll think of something to do about neither of Anita’s two alt-forms being remotely close to most species in this world, especially human. Twig I wanted to introduce to different worlds entirely, and he could be passed off easily enough as some kind of firefly.

One slot left between Bitbit, Shadow, and Maria… and, honestly, I felt kinda bad for Bitbit having to sit out the last time we have to save the day. Shadow and Maria would understand; they knew not every team member was suitable for every expedition.

But the shed door was a little too out in the open for me to feel comfortable pulling them out here. So I put on a backpack with some food supplies and the notebook, exited the Warehouse, and set out down the path into the town of Onett.

It’s a nice place. Most of the folks in the north part are pleasant enough. I remember gangs in the south side, so not checking out there as long as I can manage. Passing by the burger shop, I went into the drug store, which I remember mostly for having ATMs in them, and lo, there it was. True to the machine’s word, there was $50,000 in it. I withdrew $20 to get lunch at the burger shop. I mean, the team had so much money that with conservative spending it would last us forever, but most of it was Cody’s and it’d be rude to just take some of his hard-earned cash when I had some of my own available.

As I had a burger and fries, I racked my mind for as much of my knowledge of EarthBound as I could manage, including Chuggaaconroy’s LP and the “Chosen Four” webcomic (unfortunately somewhere the dinosaur area when I was abducted; the sooner I get back home, the sooner I can see the end of it). I had to ponder my options. I doubt I had any background whatsoever in this world, since I hadn’t in any others. Which meant no home and no job. Honestly, the fact I had a bank account was weird given that context. I’d soon have most of my team here to alleviate some of that, but since we needed a door to access the Warehouse, we couldn’t just co-opt something…

Then I remembered something I saw in the Let’s Play that I remember marking as completely freakin’ pointless even by JRPG standards.

I took out another $10,000 (to be safe) and headed south, through a path in the woods near the hospital, and caught sight of the house on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and the real-estate agent outside it. There was also a saxophone player looking over the sea, but he wasn’t paying attention.

Perfect.

Making sure I was out of sight, I poofed up into my original form – well, original-plus, I guess it could be called. I talked to the agent and bought the house for $7,500. He must have thought he was a clever little snake as he gave me the keys to the place, but he couldn’t have known. I am, after all, completely outside his context.

Didn’t stop the place from being a giant dump that was missing an entire wall. Nothing that’s not fixable. I put the Warehouse key on the inside of the front door and opened it.

“Terra, Manaphy, Tooty, Bolt, Cody, Anita, Bitbit, Twig! Come on out!”

So, seeing eight people suddenly crammed into a single doorway (including the fairy several magnitudes smaller than the others) is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and thankfully, I don’t think they held my falling on the floor laughing against me.

Once I helped everyone out and we were settled around around the busted building as much as they could get comfortable (which wasn’t too hard, this wasn’t too far from the open-to-the-ocean Sharpedo Bluff), I explained this world to them. The modern setting the most like my contemporary home world thus far, the basics of the globe-spanning plot that’d come to pass and major players in it, the presence of PSI, and even some of the lore details I remembered from watching Chuggaaconroy’s LP of the original MOTHER (which was much longer ago so I remembered less of it).

“So what are we doing to do?” asked Cody.

“Nothing,” I said.

“...What?” he said.

“As I said. Nothing. The asshole elevator gave me explicitly no need to do anything to entertain it, so after ten years having to worry about a giant-ass final battle that I’m honestly glad everyone survived, I’m spending the next ten years as a kid in the nineties again and trying to enjoy myself. When Ness goes to save the world, he can go save the world. Everyone can go do what they want as long as it’s not illegal. I am going to stay in this town, as a normal kid in a run-down house that we’re going to fix up, that happens to be building a defensive wall around the chokepoint to here so our house doesn’t get taken over by aliens when they eventually overrun the town. ...Oh right, yeah, aliens are eventually going to overrun the town. Forgot to mention that.”

“...Well I know what I’m doing!” Tooty said, standing up. “I’m going exploring!”

“Very well,” said Terra. “I myself will stay here with Robert. With my human form, I think I can pass easily enough for his mother if anyone asks.”

“I’m not so irresponsible as to let you all go without any support,” I relented. “Let’s hear what you want to do, and I’ll help make it happen.”

So we went around and went over what they wanted to do.

Altogether, Bolt, Twig, and Bitbit opted to join Tooty on her expedition, departing on one of our boats. Well, I asked Twig to go; he was well and truly over the ocean at this point and wanted to see more of land, but he understood my wanting to keep Tooty and Bolt safe and plus it wasn’t like there wasn’t plenty of crazy dangerous land areas they were going to explore. His ability to boost attack strength would be better served out in the field. Bitbit wanted to get a taste of what he missed in the last ten years and stretch his wings, while also being strong enough to protect them if things got too dicey for them. They decided to sail on Timothy, since he could change his appearance to blend in with modern ships and was the best boat they had that could fit through the door; if Bitbit took breegull form, he could roost on the figurehead when not flying, and while slightly cramped there would be space for the two that weren’t small enough that space wasn’t an issue. They’re going over their plans and supplies now. We established that they’ll take one of Tooty’s Gossip Stones along so they can keep in touch with us, as well as one of the treasure maps, naturally.

Manaphy wanted to go with them, but I vetoed that for a number of reasons: there was no more room on the boat (“I can swim, Papa!” “I know, but even you can’t swim 24/7. Even then, the you that can swim for long periods of time is going to look out of place and it’ll cause a panic.”), we didn’t have Maria to keep an eye on him, and I wanted to know where he was when the plot started. So he’s remaining with us. He’s still pouting about it, but I know he’ll get over it.

Cody decided to take the Infinite Wallet (leaving us still a sizeable amount of money in Eagleland dollars) and look into the open-air market in Twoson. He didn’t feel like making another business empire like he did in the Great Sea, but he hoped to eventually get up to a proper shop. He really liked selling people things they needed, and promised to send a cut of the profits to us every month. Does that mean he’d be my dad in this scenario…?

Which left Anita. I told her I wanted her to stay with us, and she agreed. Though it seems like she’s hiding something from me. I have my guesses as to what but didn’t press, because I was still a little overwhelmed in general. Especially since by this point a walking table ran up to the house with a large curved bar with an infinity sign carved on it, and it wouldn’t leave.

I was in a world I wasn’t really so fond of for the next ten years and would have to go through puberty for the third freakin’ time. Just because I didn’t have to do anything didn’t mean I couldn’t wish it was already over.