#this game made me read up on how to deal with angry iguanas

[tavvoc]

I've finished Armored Core VI and wow. To clarify: I can't even. Simply put, I can't express how much I love this thing without devolving into screaming and keyboard-smashing e.g. "Why am I attached to these people trying to shoot me oh my heart agghghghhhhhh speaking of - Michigan <3 <3." I'm very excited to play the sequel within the next decade.

[tayerroos]

Patchwork Tales: Book 1

A “9" roleplay compendium.  Read on AO3 Chapter: 13 [First] [Back] [You Are Here] [Next] Warnings for this chapter: Torture, Body Horror

[andrea-odown]

Keep on Singing - Chapter 9

A Sing (2016)-fanfic.

Read it on FF.Net and AO3.

Description: A few months have passed since the grand re-opening of the Moon Theater. All in all everything seems to be fine. But under the surface, everyone has to deal with some problems. Ash is facing writer’s block with her new album, Rosita is enjoying her new life as a famous singer, but has less and less time for her family, Mike is still hiding from some angry bears, Meena may has overcome her insecurity when it comes to singing, but interviews are still a challenge for her, and Johnny wants to turn the garage he and his father used to live in into a youth center. And Buster has to keep the theater running while keeping Ms. Crawly from driving the new secretary crazy and writing a new play.

Chapter 9: Buster

A new morning, a whole new day to work on his new play, Buster thinks as he settles in at his desk. He got up extra early, simply hopping down the steps to his office from the little apartment he had himself made here in the theater. During the rebuilding of the theater he had decided to turn some of the space under the roof into an apartment. It is better than living in one of the drawers of his desk, that’s for sure. He still has all the conveniences of a full apartment - kitchen, bathroom, a living room with a really big TV to play video games with Eddie, a bedroom with an actual bed - and yet, he’s always home. The theater has always been his home, even back in the day when he still owned an apartment near-by.

But being able to stay at home, that is something precious.

He glances at his watch. He asked Ms. Crawly to come in a bit later today because he wanted to show the new secretary around. That was his official explanation. In reality he just doesn’t want to have Ms. Crawly be at the girl’s throat right from the start.

The girl - her name is Lucia - asked about a dress code, but he told her to wear something comfortable. He has this feeling that Ms. Crawly is going to chase her around all over the theater.

Another glance at the watch tells him that he has thirty minutes left to work on his play. Thirty minutes! That’s a whole 1.800 seconds which is a lot! Such a big amount of time! He’s sure he’ll have the next scene figured out by the time Lucia arrives.

Thirty minutes later, the doorman calls to let Buster know that the new secretary is here.

With a twist of his mouth Buster realizes that he has just been staring down a white sheet of paper all these wonderful 1.800 seconds long before he tells the doorman to send the girl to his office.

A few moments later, there’s a soft knock on his door.

“Come in, come in!” he says, shoving the white sheet of paper away.

And in comes a young female snow leopard, wearing a pair of jeans, black sneakers and a short-sleeved black T-shirt.

Yes, this looks comfortable enough so that she’s going to survive a day of being chased around by Ms. Crawly.

“Good morning, Mr. Moon!” the girl says.

“Good morning, Lucia!” he replies. “Or do you prefer Ms. Clawson?”

“Actually, I prefer Cia, if that’s fine with you.”

“Cia it is, then,” he says. “Ms. Crawly should be in in about an hour. Let me give you a tour of the theater first.”

Cia just nods.

When they cross Ms. Crawly’s office he watches Cia from the corner of his eye to see how she reacts to the tower of papers on Ms. Crawly’s desk, but she doesn’t even blink.

Buster decides that’s a good sign.

“And now we’re back at the office,” Buster says as he opens the door again an hour later.

He immediately sets eyes on Ms. Crawly standing in front of her desk. He doesn’t know if she just arrived or if she just took up station there so she wouldn’t miss when he comes back. The tower of papers on her desk would make it impossible to see him enter from her working place.

“Oh, hello, Ms. Crawly!” he says as cheerful as he can although there’s something in Ms. Crawly’s real eye that sends a cold shiver down his spine.

However, he keeps that smile plastered to his face. “Ms. Crawly, may I introduce Cia to you? Cia, this is Ms. Crawly.”

“Hello, Ms. Crawly!” the snow leopard says in a friendly tone, holding out her hand as she walks up to the iguana.

Buster isn’t sure, but he thinks Ms. Crawly is frowning as she takes Cia’s hand and shakes it.

“Cia? What kind of name is that?” she asks, proving him right.

“It’s short for Lucia,” the girl replies. “I prefer Cia, though.”

“I see.”

“Cia, we don’t have a workstation for you just yet,” Buster says quickly. “Someone is coming later today to set it all up for you. In the meantime, I am sure, Ms. Crawly has some work for you.”

“Indeed I do, Lucia,” Ms. Crawly says. “You can help me organize the binders over there. By color, please.”

Buster turns his head to look at a pile of empty binders in a corner.

Really? There’s this tower of papers on Ms. Crawly’s desk and she wants the new secretary to organize some empty binders by  color?

But what does he know about office work? Maybe that’s just some sort of a warm-up. At least, he hopes so.

“Will do!” Cia replies. “And it’s Cia, please.”

“Oh yes, of course.” Ms. Crawly shuffles over to her chair, disappearing behind the papers and Cia kneels down to organize the binders.

“And after that, maybe you can organize the sticky notes over there? That’d be great, Lucia.”

“By size? And it’s Cia.”

“No, by color, just like the binders.”

“Will do!”

“Thank you, Lucia.”

“Cia, please.”

Buster decides that now would be a good time to get back to his office and to working on his new play.

Now that Ms. Crawly has help, the pending work should be done in no time - once all these warm-up work is done, Buster is sure about that.

Although that doesn’t explain why he can feel a terrible headache building up. But maybe that’s just his creativity trying to break free! Yes, this must be it! He can’t get to his desk fast enough. He takes a pencil and a sheet of paper, waiting for the headache to explode into a rush of creativity for the next scene, but instead he can only hear Ms. Crawly and Cia talking.

“You can organize the pencils after that, Lucia.”

“It’s Cia, please.” The girl’s voice doesn’t sound annoyed at all, which - to Buster - is a miracle. If Ms. Crawly got his name wrong all this time he for sure would be annoyed.

“By color?” she asks.

“No, by size of course.”

Buster still waits for his creative fluids to finally start flowing. Instead his headache increases.