#yeeah i should show off what i have so far.

[luifaro]

might be misrepresenting it a bit with rework since at the moment i'm just like adjusting the main chars to be better (in my opinion ofc), also the inciting incident that leads to the first ever glitch is different and eeerm maybe i should like post about this sometime... nowhere near done yet, haven't gotten to the magic system or like the lore with betty and how i'd retell the story to be less confusing

Transcript: If I could reclaim Glitchtale do you think i could make it better?

Add a mod note please 😔

[Mod note: I have watched a good amount of GlitchTale before, and quite honestly I do not think it is all that hard to make a better plot. The bar is pretty low in my opinion.]

[roxannarambles]

teal mask fixit-fic on the fly part 7

(Current story so far: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6)

Kieran went to bed that night happier than he'd been in a very long time. Things had been a bit up and down for him, but ultimately it seemed he'd managed to make not one but four new friends that day. The misunderstanding he had towards the end of the evening had been cleared up later by Arven, when he'd explained they hadn't been saying mean things behind his back-- they were just planning a picnic for the next day and they'd wanted it to be a surprise. So it all turned out, in the end. Kieran slept in the following morning, because his sister had told him that his exchange student partner, Juliana, liked to sleep late anyway so he could take his time.

When he did get up, he ate breakfast quickly, feeling impatient and eager to start the day. He had tried his best to sleep in, but was only able to sleep in a little; he was just too excited. As he headed to the door to leave, he could hear his sister shouting at someone in the front yard.

"Juliana, you took your sweet time-- Kieran should be up soon, at this rate! Wait, why is she here? What part of 'keep this secret' did you not understand?!"

Kieran paused by the door, feeling very confused. Why should it matter if he was up? Didn't Arven tell her that he knew about the picnic now? He decided to continue listening.

"Sorry. Bestie privileges, I tell Nemona everything. But you don't need to worry, she won't tell anyone else."

"Ugh. Whatever. Is Arven coming? We need to get started here, grandpa doesn't have all day."

"Yeah, he was right behind us--"

"Heyya."

"What-- Arven, why is she here too?!"

"Yeeah, um . . . about that. Juliana and Nemona and I were talking and Penny sorta . . . overheard us. So."

"Sorry."

"We figured she may as well come too since she's in on it now."

"Great. So now I gotta deal with every one of you Naranja Students. What a headache. I guess people in Paldea have no grasp of the word 'secret.'"

"Hey, no one in town knows, all right? Chill."

"Look, did you bring the . . . 'thing' or not? Just hurry up and show it to grandpa."

"Yeah, yeah."

Silence, followed by;

"ARVEN THAT'S NOT THE THING, STOP SCREWING AROUND!"

A smattering of laughter.

"Okay, jeez, don't have a cow. Here."

"Where-- where did you get this?!"

"At the festival last night. Arven saw some kid who looked lost, but I realized it was the Ogre!"

The awful, dreadful suspicion coiling silently around Kieran that something was very wrong suddenly snapped and crushed him like a vise-- and now he felt like it was difficult to breathe. They . . . he . . . he'd been right all along. They were keeping something from him . . . something incredibly important . . . something they knew would mean so much to him . . .

He huddled against the door so he could better eavesdrop on the conversation. The awful thoughts churning in his mind were so loud that it made it difficult. He was so stupid to think he'd finally made friends . . . of course something like this would happen. Something like this always happened. He was always going to be shunned and alone . . . even his own family was excluding him . . .

He shook himself. He had to focus, and learn all he could.

Later . . .

It was a beautiful summer day in the land of Kitakami, and only the second day of Juliana's trip out here. It should have been perfect. She was wandering the vast open nature with her exchange student partner, in idyllic scenary, and later tonight they would have plenty of time to return and enjoy more of the local festival. They only had one more spot to visit for their orientation assignment.

Yet, somehow, things felt off. Kieran was acting strangely. Mind you, Juliana had only known him since yesterday, but still; in that time, yes he'd been very shy, but once they'd battled and he'd started talking to her about the Ogre, he'd warmed up to her a fair bit. At least, it had seemed that way. But today he'd hardly said more than a peep, despite Juliana talking to him. She thought perhaps he was still sore about last night, when he thought they'd been talking about him behind his back. But Arven had assured her that he'd patched up that misunderstanding with Kieran for sure. So it really didn't make any sense.

Unless . . . somehow, he'd heard them all talking this morning?

Juliana glanced to Kieran, who had apparently been looking at her, because he quickly looked away and cast his gaze downwards at his feet as they walked. Trying to break the awkward silence, Juliana asked,

"You said this place is called Paradise Barrens, right?"

The boy nodded silently.

". . . heh, pretty dramatic name," she chuckled.

There was silence as their feet scuffed along the dirt path. Eventually, he said,

"It's a very barren patch of land. People think it's because the Ogre spent a lot of time there. Spoiled the dirt where he walked or something."

"Oh."

After another pause,

"I think it's just 'cause of the nearby volcanic activity."

She smiled.

"Hey, that's good thinking. You're a clever kid, Kieran."

She glanced to him, but he didn't seem to care about the praise. He just sort of frowned and shrugged.

"Not a difficult observation to make."

Eeesh. Juliana sighed quietly. She was willing to bet her friends were having a way better time than she was.

Meanwhile . . .

The silence was starting to grate on Carmine's nerves.

At first, when she realized she had to partner up with Nemona again to finish off the dumb orientation assignment-- because her partner had wasted so much time yesterday goofing off so they didn't finish it then-- it filled her with dread. She just knew that motormouth would be going all morning long. Yet when Carmine stomped up to join her partner for the day, it seemed her barely-contained disgust was actually noticed, for once. And Nemona remained uncharacteristically silent, simply letting Carmine take the lead on getting the assignment finished up. It was blissful, at first. They reached the second sign, took a photo, then started out on the hike to the third sign, making very good time.

Yet after a while, Carmine started to feel . . . weirdly uncomfortable with it.

Eventually it bothered her enough that she found herself actually attempting to initiate conversation.

"S-so, uh . . . apparently you're something called 'Champion Rank,' huh?"

She had done air-quotes as she said it, and it had come out a lot snottier than she'd intended. Nemona glanced to her.

"Y-yeah, I am."

There was an awkward silence. Nemona looked anxious as she added,

"I'm sorry I didn't mention it sooner, but I-- w-well, in the past when people find that out, they tend to not wanna . . . fight me. I guess they get intimidated or something. So that's kinda why . . ."

"Oh. Well. Uh. Hah, I mean, I totally get that!" Carmine said, waving a hand,

"Like, same here, you know, people are constantly intimidated by how good I am once they see me fight, so. Yeah."

Nemona's expression shifted into a relieved smile.

"So you understand what I mean."

"Yeah, totally."

Carmine paused, growing lost in a thought for a while. Eventually, when she spoke again, her voice sounded softer and a little more sincere.

"I . . . kinda do get what you mean, though. Like, don't get me wrong, Kitakami is an amazing town and I'm proud of it, but . . ."

She sighed.

"It is . . . small. And there's only so many kids to battle around here, and once you've risen to the top here, well. There's kinda . . . nowhere else to go. Kicking their butts stops being all that satisfying. That's why I applied to Blueberry Academy."

Nemona replied eagerly,

"Yeah! I was the same with Naranja."

Carmine flicked her a look and then gazed ahead again at the path.

"Was it . . . what you wanted? Naranja, I mean."

Nemona fiddled with the zip of her bag as she pondered.

"Mmm, well. Yes and no. I learned a lot, and had a lot of great opportunities there. I don't regret any of it. But I also still felt kinda aimless there, for a long time. It's only been really recently that things have been falling into place for me."

Carmine raised a brow.

"How so?"

Nemona smiled; there was something indescribably affectionate and soft in the expression.

"I finally made some really good friends. Including my best friend and my rival for life . . . someone who appreciates me for just me and who can really meet me where I am."

Carmine's brow crumpled into confusion.

"Your rival? You mean the person you wanna destroy?"

Nemona laughed.

"I don't wanna destroy Juliana."

Carmine gesticulated as she spoke in exasperation,

"Why not? If she's better then you, then you should try to beat her, that's the whole point of battling. Is she better then you?"

"We're rivals. We're equals."

Carmine snorted and rolled her eyes.

"That's just a cop-out. There's always a winner and a loser."

Nemona looked at her, and there was an amused sort of glint in her eyes. It was annoying.

"Lemme ask you something. Was it what you wanted?"

"Huh?"

"Blueberry Academy, I mean. Did you find what you were looking for?"

Carmine scowled deep.

". . . you're just changing the subject."

Nemona's annoying smile had not faded. She said,

"Maybe I'm not. Maybe what you're looking for is a good rival. Not somebody to destroy, but somebody to help you grow."

Carmine was quiet for a while.

Then, she said,

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Meanwhile . . .

"ARVEN JUST DROP THEM!"

"NO I WILL NOT!"

"ARVEN WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"YOU'RE BEING DRAMATIC!"

At the moment, Arven and Penny were taking a brisk jog, Arven's arms laden with a huge pile of Liechi berries, so Penny was running somewhat ahead of him. A few yards back, an entire pack of Poochyena and Mightyena were running after them.

Arven had been lucky enough to come across a bush packed with the rare berries and of course he knew he had to stop and pick them. He'd stuffed his bag and then his arms with berries, knowing they were perfect for their picnic and then for freezing so he could use them back home in some desserts he wanted to try his hand at.

Unfortunately, it seemed the large number of Poochyena in the area were also fond of the berries. He'd tried just shooing them away, but more and more kept gathering and watching them. It wasn't until the Mightyena arrived that they'd grown bold enough to attack, and by then, their numbers had grown a bit overwhelming for just a pokemon battle. Arven and Penny had to just make a run for it.

The dogs were very persistent, though, as it turned out.

Penny started to grab the berries from Arven and chuck them behind her as they ran. Arven gave an outraged,

"HEY!"

"ARVEN THE DUMB BERRIES ARE NOT WORTH BEING MAULED FOR!"

"WE JUST NEED TO MAKE IT TO THOSE TREES!"

Penny reached to grab more berries and Arven jerked, trying to shield his cache from her.

"ARVEN-- YOU FAT GREEDENT--"

"YOU-- YOU PIPSQUEAK, YOU TAKE IT BACK!"

Later . . .

It was early afternoon when Juliana and Kieran finally reached the Paradise Barrens. The hike hadn't been too bad, but it was definitely a lot more walking than Juliana was used to. Especially since she was so accoustumed to Koraidon's help with transportation. She hadn't used him here, though; she worried the pokemon might intimidate the locals.

"So . . . I guess this is it, huh?"

She could see the signpost up ahead with its red, triangular roof. It stood beneath a large outcropping of rocks. She glanced to Kieran, but he was as quiet as he'd been all day. She muttered,

"Guess I'll go check it out . . ."

Once she'd reached the sign, she leaned down to read; however, before she could, a voice called out.

"Wow, you guys are so slow."

Juliana turned and frowned. Carmine arrived on the scene, followed closely behind by Nemona.

"What do you mean? We got here first."

"Yeah, but me and Nemona had to visit the second sign before heading over here, yet we got here at pretty much the same time."

Juliana sighed, answering,

"Okayyyy well, excuse me for enjoying the scenary."

Ignoring Carmine's general crankiness, Nemona chirped,

"Hi Jules! Wanna see this weird rock I found?"

"Yeah, always!"

The rock was indeed weird, very lumpy and a pale shade of pink.

"Haha, it kinda looks like used chewing gum."

"Oh my god you're right it does."

The slap of feet on the ground made them all look up and turn, as another pair of students came round the bend; it was Penny and Arven, panting and sweaty and looking like they had just run a marathon. Their clothes were stained in red berry juice and they were disheveled and dirty.

"Uh . . . you guys okay?"

Penny reached the group first. She stopped and sat on the ground, groaning miserbly as she sunk down.

"No."

Arven reached them next and stopped, his arms braced on his knees as he panted for breath, messy hair hanging in his face. There were some scratches on his face and arms too, Juliana realized.

"Seriously, what happened to you two?"

"What happened was this genius thought it was better to try and outrun a pack of Mightyena than just hand over a few lousy berries," Penny snarked bitterly.

"There were only like THREE Mightyena, the rest were Poochyena," Arven shouted back, which took too much breath so then he went back to panting.

"Yeah, well. I don't think it mattered much when there was that many of them," Penny said, taking off her glasses to wipe the smears off.

Juliana gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Well, um, at least you made it here in one piece?"

"I guess, but we lost the berries so it was all for nothing."

"Not all of them! I still have some in my bag," Arven announced proudly, patting the oversized pack that he brought everywhere with him.

"Great. That means it was sooooo worth it," Penny deadpanned.

"See if I let you taste the desserts I'm gonna make--"

"Okay! Enough! Jeez, you guys argue more like you're enemies than friends," Carmine interrupted.

Juliana cleared her throat.

"Okay, well. We're all here, so I guess we could just take one big group photo with the sign?"

Carmine shrugged.

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just get this done."

They all gathered around, posing for the camera. When they finished, nobody seemed to know what to do next; reading the sign didn't take long.

"So, um, what should we do now? There's still a lot of time left today."

"Hmmm."

"Ugh, I don't care what you guys do. I'm headed back."

Juliana asked,

"Wait, Arven, didn't you have the . . . you know, the picnic?"

"RIGHT! Yeah! Uh, yeah! The picnic."

He gestured at Carmine, who was already leaving.

"Don't go, Carmine, we have a picnic planned! It'll be nice."

She hesitated.

". . . fine. Only because I'm hungry."

"Great! I saw the perfect spot for it on the way out here. Everyone follow me, it's not too far."

It looked like Kieran had been trying to slink away from the group, but Carmine spotted him and grabbed his shoulder.

"C'mon, Kiki, where you going? You wanna have lunch with all your new buddies, don't you?"

He sighed and mumbled,

". . . sure."

The spot Arven had picked out was back in the Wistful Fields, tucked away behind a hill. When they reached it, Juliana's face lit with a smile.

"Oh wow, it's so pretty here!"

Nemona agreed enthusiatically,

"Yeah, this is so cool!"

All around were soft grasses and wildflowers, and in the center was a large pond, lots of Lotad floating in the waters as Yanma flitted about overhead. Planted throughout the area were what looked to be dwarf trees, all of them hanging heavy with hundreds of little purple blossoms. They had a magical, dreamy sort of ambiance. Ghost-type Oricoro hung around the trees, filling the air with their exotic calls.

Carmine commented,

"Yeah, this is Wisteria Pond. Honestly not a terrible place for a picnic. So good job, I guess, Arven. I'm surprised."

Arven smiled proudly, but then his smile slipped.

"Wait, why are you surprised?"

"When did you even manage to notice this?" Penny interrupted.

"While I was climbing that tree when the Mightyena bit me!"

"Ah."

They headed over to a cluster of the purple trees, where Arven laid out a picnic blanket and began to set out food; sliced fruit, berries, vegetable sticks, deviled eggs, cookies, so forth. He also began to assemble some mini sandwiches. Everyone gathered round to enjoy the late lunch.

"Wow, Arven, you went all out. How do you even fit all this in your bag?"

"Talented packing, of course. I'm not the picnic master for nothing. Here, who wants another sa- uh, one of these?"

"Oh, what kind of sandwich is it?"

"--NO, don't-- don't use that word--"

A pokeball suddenly opened from Juliana's bag, deploying a large, bright-red lizard. The Blueberry Academy students gasped in surprise. Arven sighed,

". . . just great."

"What the heck is that?" Carmine asked, watching as the huge creature sniffed enthusiastically at Arven.

"It's a menace and a pest, is what it is," Arven groused, pushing Koraidon's snout away. Juliana rolled her eyes.

"That's my ride pokemon. And don't listen to Arven, Koraidon is the bestest boy in the world. Just give him a sandwich, Arven."

"No! There's plenty of berries here, it can eat those just fine."

"He can have one of my sandwiches," Nemona said, holding out a mini sandwich. Koraidon gulped it down quickly and made a happy little trill.

"Nemona, I am not giving you another one just because you gave yours away."

"He looks strong. Why didn't you use him in battle?" Carmine asked, eyeing the pokemon warily. Juliana shrugged.

"Eh, that wouldn't really make for a fair game. Besides, he likes running around and eating way more than he likes battling."

Koraidon turned to sniff at Carmine, looking at her sandwich with envy. She recoiled a little, uncomfortable with the attention.

"Koraidon, c'mon, leave her alone. Don't be rude."

"Here, Koraidon. You can have this."

Penny fed Koraidon one of her own sandwiches. Arven cried out in dismay.

"You guys! I worked hard on these! Koraidon doesn't even taste them, he just swallows them whole!"

Nemona countered,

"You don't know that, I bet he can taste them."

Juliana fed Koraidon a sandwich too. Koraidon gulped it down and then rolled onto his back. Juliana rubbed his belly, chuckling.

"Ooh, who's a hungry baby boy? You are! Yes, you are!"

"Don't worry, Arven, I'm not throwing away my sandwiches," Carmine said, shifting so she sat further away from Koraidon.

"Thank you, Carmine. At least someone appreciates my hard work--"

She added, "--although, this chorizo isn't really spicy enough."

Arven sighed.

"I-- ugh."

"Of course we appreciate your work, Arven. It's just that Koraidon appreciates it most of all!" Nemona said. Juliana laughed.

After a leisurely lunch, the teens spent the time just lounging and fooling about. Nemona and Juliana decided it was the perfect spot to practice their pokeball throws, so they spent the time chasing after the many bug and grass types that were crawling and flying around, Juliana coaching Nemona on how to improve her form. When they'd practiced enough on the easier targets, like Swadloon, Cutiefly, and Petlil, they moved on to the nimble Yanma that were circling the pond. This evolved into a full-blown catching competition, before long. For a while Penny joined them in this contest, but she eventually tired of running around and chose to sit in the grass and just watch Juliana and Nemona's hyper antics, to cheer from afar.

Koraidon wandered over to where Penny sat and she rolled a ball for it, and they engaged in a lazy game of fetch. After a while, Penny noticed that Kieran was watching her, off alone in the grass, and she waved for him to come over. He looked very reluctant, but approached anyway, sitting down closer to her but still fairly distant. She asked if he wanted to throw the ball for Koraidon; he seemed very conflicted. He did eventually agree, though, and Penny tossed him the ball. The large pokemon made him nervous at first, but before long, he warmed up to it; one time when Koraidon returned the ball, it trilled happily and licked Kieran's face. The boy laughed, for the first time that day; when he looked to Penny, she was smiling warmly at him. He seemed to catch himself, glancing away from Penny with a tense frown. Unaware of the boy's sadness, Koraidon continued to lick him; he pet the lizard with a distracted sigh.

Arven had been dozing on the picnic blanket under the trees, during all this; his earlier skirmish with the Poochyena had worn him out a lot. It didn't exactly help he was always carrying such a heavy bag with him. Carmine hadn't really been in the mood to fool about like the others, it seemed, so she was sitting under the trees near Arven, fiddling on her phone. Once Arven had woken from his nap, he asked her if she wanted dessert. She shrugged and accepted the offer, and he shared with her some mochi made with Mago berries. It was a pretty shade of pink and was light and sweet with a nice tangy edge.

"What d'you think?" he asked.

She nodded, eating another one.

"They're really good."

Arven puffed his chest a bit, grinning.

"Thanks! The key is letting the Mago berries stew a while as a compote."

Carmine raised a brow.

"Wait, you made these?"

"Yeah!"

"Huh. That's . . . kinda cool, actually."

Arven looked thrilled with the praise. Carmine continued,

"Usually gramps makes mochi and that kind of stuff. Didn't really expect someone like you to know how to do it."

"Someone like me?"

"Hm, yeah. Guess I think of it as more of an old person thing to do."

Arven deflated a bit.

"Aw, man . . . you coulda just said they were good and left it at that."

She snorted.

"They were good. Good job, gramps."

"Ugh," Arven grumbled. She chuckled at him, and the conversation lapsed into silence for a time. Eventually, Arven commented,

"Your brother seems to have cheered up a bit."

They watched as he played ball with Koraidon. Carmine grunted.

"Guess so. I dunno what his problem has been today. Teenage angst or some crap like that, maybe."

Arven frowned.

"Well, he could have his reasons."

Carmine sighed as she laid back,

"Who knows."

After hesitating, Arven said,

"I still . . . feel kinda bad about . . . hiding the truth from him."

Carmine shot him a glare.

"Did you tell him? Don't you dare tell him."

"I didn't! I won't. I'm just saying . . . I feel bad about it."

"Well don't. There's no reason to. You heard gramps, Kiki's not ready for the truth. Let his own family worry about him."

Arven looked away, sighing.

"All I mean is that if it was me, I think I'd feel pretty bad if I found out my family was keeping such a big secret from me."

Carmine scowled.

"You act like I don't care about him. We're doing it for his own good, I told you-- I know my brother, he'd probably try to do something crazy if he found out. You want me to put him in danger?"

"No, of course not. Just . . . look, never mind, I was just thinking outloud."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Eventually, Carmine spoke again. Her voice lacked the usual hard edge; it sounded softer and more self-conscious.

". . .we'll tell him when he's ready."

Arven looked to her. He nodded, smiling faintly. She glanced away awkwardly, instead watching the other teens fooling about near the pond. After a while, casting around for a change in subject, she spoke in a slightly exasperated tone;

"Are those two like, girlfriends or something?"

Arven blinked, confused, looking to where she had gestured. It seemed Juliana and Nemona had worn themselves out with their pokemon catching contest and wandered back to the grass to collapse, exhausted, under some of the purple trees. Juliana was reclining against Nemona like she was her personal couch, and they were talking to each other and giggling, the purple blossoms drifting down softly on their heads.

Arven laughed.

"I dunno. Maybe. Wouldn't surprise me, I guess."

"You've never asked?"

"Hah, no. That'd be way too awkward. Also, I don't really care, I mean, that's their business."

Carmine seemed disappointed at his unwillingness to gossip. With a smirk, he added on,

"Why? Were you hoping to date one of 'em?"

She made an outraged noise and responded instantly,

"Oh my god, no. Gross. I can't stand those two. So loud and hyperactive and saccharine and . . . annoyingly good at battles . . . "

She'd muttered that last part very quietly, then huffed.

"Perfect for each other."

Arven just laughed.

"Yeah, that's true."

"Why are you even friends with them?"

Arven crossed his arms and smiled at her,

"They're good people."

Carmine was unimpressed with this response. Arven carried on casually,

"You are too, though. I can tell, beneath it all. You just got that tough guy act going on."

"Ex--excuse me?!"

Arven chuckled.

"Tough girl act, I guess? Whatever. I used to be the same, you know."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Undiscouraged, he said,

"I mean I was all gruff and distant and stuff like that. I didn't wanna have to rely on anyone. But after I made some real friends, I realized I didn't actually need the tough guy act anymore. That actually it had been pushing people away for no real reason."

Carmine rolled her eyes. Arven continued,

"So I'm a bit more chill now! Or, uh, I try to be, anyway. Friendlier, ya know? And more willing to rely on my buds for help from time to time!"

Scathingly, Carmine replied,

"That's great, Dr. Feelings, but I don't need you trying to psychoanalyze me. Maybe I just happen to be tough, did you consider that? Maybe I don't need to rely on anyone to get by."

Arven chuckled,

"Oh, I'm sure you don't. I never said otherwise."

She cast him a puzzled look. He said,

"But it's not about what you need. It's about what you want. Don't you want something more satisfying then just getting by?"

She glanced away, grumbling. After a bit, she snipped,

"I'd have no problems getting tons of friends if I wanted to."

Arven sighed. Eventually, in a patient tone, he told her,

"Well . . . if you're wanting a friend, I wouldn't mind being one of them."

She glanced to him. The calls of the Oricoro filled the silence as she hesitated.

She looked away again.

". . . fine. If you'd really like that, I wouldn't deprive you of the honor."

"Cool," Arven said, smiling at her.

After this discussion, Arven decided he'd head down and see if anyone else wanted some mochi. It was while the gang were snacking on mochi that Kieran decided to appear; he marched up to Juliana and Nemona, looking nervous but determined.

"I'd like to challenge you to a battle," he announced, pointing to Nemona. Carmine looked immediately surprised and concerned. Nemona looked thrilled.

"Of course!" she said, jumping to her feet eagerly.

"Wait, wait. Her? You sure you wanna do that, Kiki?"

Kieran nodded.

"Y-yeah. Juliana battled me before, so I figured I could battle Nemona too. I wanna get stronger."

"Yeahhh, but still, maybe it'd be better if you found some weaker trainers to beat up first--"

"No! I wanna get strong, and I don't want to waste anymore time. Please, Nemona? Will you battle me?"

Nemona gave Carmine a hesitant look before answering kindly,

"Of course, Kieran. I'd love to battle."

Carmine grunted,

"I'm just trying to look out for you, bro, but whatever."

Struck with inspiration, Nemona suggested,

"Hey! Maybe everyone else can have a battle too at the same time. It's such a nice place for one, and we haven't had many yet!"

Carmine frowned and her gaze shifted away as she made a reluctant humming sound. Nemona quickly added on,

"Uh, if people want to! Only if they feel like it, no pressure, of course."

"You already fought me and Nemona so you could give someone else a try," Juliana suggested gently. It seemed Carmine was not as gung-ho about battling as she was earlier; perhaps being crushed twice in a row dampened things for her.

"I could fight you if you want," Arven offered casually. Carmine looked at him. After a long pause she asked quietly,

"You one of these Champion-Rank students too?"

"Uh . . . no," Arven said, looking a little bummed out. Carmine answered,

"Okay, well, I guess we could battle."

"Oh. Uh, okay."

Juliana flashed a smile at Penny.

"Guess that leaves you and me!"

"Oog. Okay, but I know you'll kick my butt."

Juliana laughed.

"Nah, it's fine, we don't need to go all out. We can just mess around with the pokemon we've caught here, how's that?"

Penny agreed to that, and the teens went to battle their respective partners. Juliana and Penny had fun just messing around. The result of Arven and Carmine's battle was made quite obvious when they'd finished and Carmine had cackled in glee and gloated about her victory. The result of Nemona and Kieran's battle had not been to Kieran's liking, though.

"It's always like this, I'm always too weak," he was lamenting, while Nemona desperately tried to reassure him that he'd done a great job. He quickly went to Juliana and begged for her to battle him, too. She was reluctant but he was very persistent, so she gave him a battle as well. Once again, he was incredibly frustrated with the results.

"Kiki, c'mon, you're being too hard on yourself," Carmine said, but Kieran wasn't listening to anyone.

"Forget it, I'm going to go back home now."

"You're being a real sore loser, you know. You don't have to leave!"

Juliana opened her mouth to comment on the amazingly hypocritical statement coming from Carmine but decided not to get in the middle of a sibling squabble. Kieran said,

"I have stuff to do anyway. I'll see you all later."

He left without another word. They awkwardly watched him go. After a bit, a worried Nemona asked,

"Should I have . . . gone easier on him? I wanted to, but he begged me not to hold back . . ."

Juliana was about to comfort her, but before she could, Carmine shook her head, saying,

"It's fine. He's been acting weird all day, it wasn't your fault. I don't know what his problem is."

[thiswasinevitableid]

24 for danbrey, nsfw please!

24: i’m absentmindedly making snowflakes in class and you’re the nerd who can’t quit glaring at me every time you hear my scissors. It is NSFW

If they were in one of the big lecture halls, Dani would not be having this problem. But the twenty-odd person room means the snipping of scissors is irritatingly audible. The noise is coming from behind and to the left of her. Turning her head, she spots the culprit; a girl wearing a denim vest under her coat, whose curly black hair is streaked with fiery red. 

She’s cute, but Dani is still going to steal her scissors the first chance she gets. 

There’s another tell-tale “snipsnip” and she glares over her shoulder, willing the scissors to melt. When that doesn’t happen, she looks up and finds the other girl smirking at her, then sending a wink her way. 

Shoot, she’s holding the scissors at a level where it 100% looked like Dani was staring at her chest.

She flips her attention back to the front of the room. A flurry of snips makes her look back again. 

The girl has made a heart instead of a snowflake. When Dani notices it, the other girl smiles. She looks even better when she smiles. 

Damn it. 

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

“Hi!”

The unexpected greeting makes Dani jump. It’s the Thursday lecture, and snowflake girl has sat down right next to her. 

“Uh. Hi?”

“You’re Dani, right?”

“Yeeah? How did you know?”

“Um, because Professor Chicane takes role, and you always sit in front of me so I can see you when you respond. I’m Aubrey.”

“Dani.”

“Um, so, I’m sorry if the snowflakes were, like, distracting you on Tuesday. I do better in class when I have something to do with my hands but I can, like, doodle instead if it bugs you.”

“I just get a little on-edge from noise sometimes, it’s no big--wait. If you thought you were bugging me why’d you make a heart?”

“Because I thought there was also a chance you were flirting and I wanted to hedge my bets just in case.”

Dani blushes; she had no idea anyone could see her annoyed face and still hope she was flirting with them.

“Oh, crap, class is gonna start, I’m gonna move to my normal spot. The one with the nice view.” Aubrey winks over her shoulder and Dani impulsively blows her a kiss. 

Aubrey sits down next to a short guy in “Monongahela National Forest” sweatshirt and whispers something in his ear. He high fives her. 

Dani spends much of the lecture looking over her shoulder, even though Aubrey keeps the snowflakes to a minimum. In fact, she only makes one, which she leaves on Dani’s desk as she’s packing up her laptop. Written in the center of it, in red ink, is a phone number.

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

Ideally, Aubrey would not have asked her out two weeks before the end of the semester, when Dani has to go back home for winter break. But they make the most of it. There are lots of “study” dates that involve more handsy make-outs than flash-cards, nights and afternoons snuggled up against each other in the little coffee shop by Aubrey’s apartment, and a memorable evening during which they discovered Aubrey’s immense, black rabbit, Dr. Harris Bonkers, PhD, ate through the cord on the rechargeable vibrator (luckily before they plugged it in rather than after).

When break came, Aubrey walked her to the train station and kissed her goodbye, using Dr. Harris Bonkers paw to wave farewell as the train pulled away and down the tracks. 

They text every day, Facetime or Skype at least once a day, usually when Dani has settled in for bed. She’s more than a little glad her brother is staying with his partner over the holidays; the walls of their rooms are thin and the two of theirs are next to each other. Jake stopped eavesdropping on her around the time he hit twelve years old, but the habit of not being able to quite relax while on the phone in her room remains. 

She’s extra glad for it tonight, because she wants to show off a Christmas gift she bought herself (or, more accurately, she bought for the express purpose of riling up her girlfriend).  The lace is a little fussier than she tends to buy, but it makes such cool leaf patterns, the pastel green and gold of the bra making her look stunning and the matching underwear hugging the curve of her ass in a way, if she does say so herself, is really flattering. But she’s more interested in what Aubrey thinks. 

Fireblossom: Holy shit

Dani: You like it?

Fireblossom: Uh, yeah? Why are you so far away instead of here when I can show you how hot you look?

She laughs at the string of emojis that comes through next; flames, peaches, kissy lips, and…

Fireblossom: Sorry, moth emoji is from texting Duck to tease him about his crush. Did you for real buy that just for me?

Dani: Yep. You deserve some eye candy, cutie.

Fireblossom: I’m gonna fucking combust over here. Dr. HB is gonna be an orphan because of your cute butt. 

Dani: I think we can do something about that.

Fireblossom: I’m stuck at family dinner time until nine and it’ll be hella sus if I sneak away to the bathroom for that long.

Shit, she should pull back on the teasing. Aubrey is typing something else, and she manages to get the strappy bra off in the time it takes for it to come through. 

Fireblossom: They won’t notice me texting, though.

Dani: You sure? We can totally pick this up later.

Fireblossom: But I wanna make you cum in your fancy underwear ;)

She’s not about to turn that down, texts Aubrey the green light as she rifles through her duffel bag. It’s only a small bullet vibe, but it’s never failed her. Something she’s learned in her twenty years of life is to always have a vibrator on hand when traveling away from your hot girlfriend. 

Dani: Ready. 

Fireblossom: K. Turn on the vibe, but keep it outside the underwear for now. 

The fabric is thin, and she gasps as she rubs the vibe in slow circles over her clit. She flips to voice to text, because now is not the time for an awkward autocorrecting or her one-handed typing. 

Dani: what next?

Fireblossom: Feel yourself up for me, honey. Can’t my hands on those cute tits so you’re gonna have to do it for me. 

She does as she’s told, massaging her chest and teasing her nipples the way Aubrey always does when they’re tangled up on the couch. 

Dani: Fuck that feels good. Still wish they were yours though.

Fireblossom: Soon, beautiful, I promise

She shifts her hold on the vibe, which gets it to just the right angle to curl her toes. 

Dani: Can I go under the fabric?

Fireblossom: Aww, you’re remembered to be good and ask first. Yes, you can.

“Thank god.” She slips the vibe under the silk, closes her eyes and imagines it’s Aubrey using it on her, grinning in that unfairly captivating way of hers as she tells Dani how good she’s being, how good she looks, how she’s so lucky they’re together. 

She picks up the pace, groans when she sees the next text.

Fireblossom: Cum for me, honey, use both hands

Dani shoves her free hand down and pushes two fingers inside, moaning as she envisions Aubrey kissing her as a reward for doing it. It doesn’t take long, she’s been low-key horny all day and turned on ever since she got that first message back from Aubrey. The orgasm is short and satisfying, bursting out from her and making her feel like every one of her limbs is tingling with exhausted delight. 

Dani: Came. Holy fuck. How are you this hot just through a screen?

Fireblossom: A magician never reveals her tricks ;)

Dani: A magician should make an exception for her girlfriend who’s still seeing stars. 

Fireblossom: Flatterer. 

Dani sighs, rolls onto her stomach so she can text more easily, not sure what’s she’s supposed to say now.

Fireblossom: That was really hot though. And now I miss you even more.

Dani: I miss you too, fireblossom. I can’t wait to come back to you. 

Fireblossom: Me neither. Can I Facetime you tonight? 

Dani: Totally.

Fireblossom: If I get lucky, will you help let off all the steam I just built up?

Dani: Of course, babe.

Fireblossom: GTG, nephew is bugging Dr HB. Talk to you soon, you make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world <3

Dani: Don’t be silly. That’s obviously me, because I’ve got you <3

[gumnut-logic]

Stowaway

Title: Stowaway

Author: Gumnut

2 Jun 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: How could he possibly screw up even more than he already had?

Word count: 2921

Spoilers & warnings: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 EPISODE 12

Timeline: Episode Tag

Author’s note: I really enjoyed the episode, so I just had to write something. This is mostly brothers being brothers. I hope you enjoy it :D

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

“Gordon did what?!”

“Borrowed Thunderbird One to look for Sherbet.”

“The dog?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

Virgil stared at the hologram of his orbiting brother. “You’re kidding me.”

“No, scout’s honour.”

“Does Scott know?”

“Yes.”

“Will I have a Tracy Island to land on?”

John shrugged. “Maybe. Scott is still on his way in on Thunderbird Three. Gordon is on approach.” John’s eyes shifted to the left, obviously scanning readouts. “Assuming he manages to dock TB1 without landing her in the comms room, the Island should be safe.” A smirk. “I tend to think Gordon himself is likely a right-off.” John’s eyes shifted to something closer to serious. “You may be needed, big bro.”

Virgil sighed. “FAB.” Great. Just what he needed after spending all night on the other side of the planet disassembling a terrorist attempt. The GDF had called both him and Kayo in on this one. Kayo for her subtlety and Virgil for the opposite. Turned out that he had been less needed for his heavy lifting and more for his engineering skills. He had ended up butt up in the components of an automated harvester that had been reprogrammed to harvest more sapient crops than wheat. Yet again, he was left stunned that there were actually people on this planet who would do something like that.

Kayo had assisted the GDF in rounding up the culprits, Virgil had killed the harvester, and he’d spent the rest of the time hauling the massive chunk of machinery back out of the city to the nearest GDF base where it could be examined.

In short, he was tired, annoyed and disappointed in people.

A Scott vs. Gordon showdown was more of a headache than he needed.

Another sigh. Whatever.

Tracy Island was a welcome sight in any case and as he kicked in VTOL on approach to land, he felt some of the stress fall off his shoulders. Kayo had already beaten him home. Thunderbird Two was the slowest of all their craft, something his brothers never let him forget, but he loved her with his very soul and would take those extra few minutes over the fastest of their ships any day.

After all, who did half of them have to wait for anyway?

The solid, but soft thump as her wheels hit the tarmac and she trundled through her palm tree guard of honour, the cliff face bowing to her entry. A spin on her axis, he killed her engines and let her whine down to silence.

His shoulders dropped, he closed his eyes and took the moment to just relax.

A breath.

Another.

Pause.

Eyes open, he shoved his chair back.

Okay, next.

-o-o-o-

“You did what?!”

“C’mon, Virg, help me out here.” Gordon had the biggest puppy dog pleading look on his face Virgil had ever seen, and he’d seen doozies.

“Tell me why?”

“Because you are my brother and you love me?” Okay, was that doubt in that eye crinkle?

“I’m considering disowning you.” Virgil glared at Gordon. “You are trying to tell me that you boarded TB1 smelling like that?! And now you expect me to help you clean out her cockpit?”

“Yeeeah.”

“Before Scott gets back which is likely within the next half hour?”

“You got it in one.”

Virgil grit his teeth, but rolled his eyes. “And you wonder why I rarely let you fly my ‘bird.”

“Hey, it was an accident.”

“It always is. You said the same thing about the pink paint.”

“That was not my fault.”

“You were dating the girl, Gordon.”

“Yeeah...uh, can we get on with this? Clock’s ticking.” Gordon knew how to screw up his face to plead.

“You’ll owe me big time.”

“Anything you need, big bro.”

“Anything?”

“Just help me fix this, please.”

Another sigh. Well, it was better than a Scottonuclear detonation when the man found out. “Give me the damn cleaner.”

-o-o-o-

Gordon was right. Thunderbird One’s cockpit reeked.

Oh, he was using this for blackmail material until the end of time.

Virgil had thrown on another uniform. Working with the rocket plane always required a harness or two considering her height and there was no way Virgil was going to rely on that stupid personnel bridge Scott used. The thing was an occupational health and safety nightmare and Virgil valued his life. One of these days he’d drum that far enough into Scott’s brain to get the thing a railing.

So, it was grapple packs and harnesses and a little sonic disruption cleaning at a ninety-degree angle to the horizon.

Another thing to love about his ‘bird. She made sense. TB1 was all speed and no comfort.

Um.

Okay, so his ‘bird was all grunt and no comfort, but at least she rested parallel to the ground. None of this defying gravity crap.

“You okay up there, Virg.”

“Just fine and dandy, Gordon. You are welcome to join me.”

“Uh.”

“That’s what I thought. In debt forever, bro, forever.”

Was that a whimper he heard? Serve him damn right.

Securing himself, Virgil clambered up to Scott’s pilot seat and perched himself there. Grabbing the pack, he’d dragged up there with him, he pulled out the sonic cleaner and clamped it to the cockpit ‘ceiling’. A flick of a switch, and the subharmonics started yanking molecules from the air.

Virgil was not a fan of the gadget. It was efficient and cleaned far better than any rag with any chemical could, but it set him on edge. Something about those unheard harmonics got into his bones and grated them together. He shuddered.

Of course, nothing ensured clean more than a good wipe over, so next came the cleaner and that cleaning rag.

Another whimper.

“Gordon?”

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

“Apart from owing you my soul, yeah. Why?”

A frown. He could have sworn...

Another whimper.

Followed by a whine.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

Swinging around and out of the pilot’s chair, Virgil lowered himself to the cargo bay access and clambered in. The lights came on automatically and he peered around.

This time the whimper was a pathetic bark and Virgil was able to narrow in on Sherbet at the very bottom of the bay, snagged in the harness recess.

“Uh, Gordon?”

“Yeah?”

“You know that trouble you’re in?”

“Yeah, way to rub it in, bro.”

“Well, it just doubled.” A pendulum push, Virgil snagged the internal ladder, and hurriedly climbed down to the bottom. “You have a stowaway.”

“I’ve got what?!”

“Sherbet is in TB1’s cargo hold.”

“Shit!”

“My thoughts exactly.”

He reached the bottom and carefully made his way over to the distressed dog. “Hey, Bertie, whatcha doing down here?” More whimpering and a distraught bark. “Did Gordon kidnap you?”

“I did no such thing!”

Sherbet jumped at Gordon’s voice and snarled.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Virgil softened his tone. “Let’s get you out of there, hey?” He crouched down and offered the pug his hand. Sherbet sniffed it. “Remember me?”

Apparently, he did as Virgil’s glove was suddenly slobbered on.

Taking that as permission, the engineer began untangling the little dog. How he had managed to climb into Thunderbird One, Virgil had no idea. No doubt Gordon would be the one to answer that. If he survived Lady Penelope.

And Scott.

There may be bloodshed.

Sherbet came loose and Virgil quickly examined him for injury. There was none apparent, other than the terror in the little dog’s shaking body. A scan in the infirmary would be a good idea. Considering he had been unsecured during flight; he was lucky to be alive.

“Gordon, get your ass up here and finish the cleaning. I have a patient to attend to.”

“Is he alright?”

“You better hope so.”

-o-o-o-

Sherbet was alright. A collective sigh of relief settled across the island. A few bruises was all the scan showed. Lucky dog.

Virgil gently lifted him off the bed and held him close. He was still shaking. “It’s okay, Bertie, I promise. Now let’s get your mom on the line.”

He had expected Lady Penelope to contact them as soon as possible, but he hadn’t wanted to contact her until he had ascertained Sherbet’s condition. Now was the time to face up to the inevitable.

“Virgil?”

And there was the bell, no saving included.

“Yes, John?”

“Gordon tells me you found Sherbet.”

“Yes, and he is fine.” As if to emphasise the point, Sherbet barked at John’s hologram.

“I see.” A flicker of expression. “Lady Penelope is quite distressed. Would you like to speak to her? I think it would be better if you take this one rather than Gordon.”

“Sure.”

John smiled just a little, a vague reassurance, before the hologram flickered to, yes, a distressed Lady Penelope. “Virgil! You found him!”

“Yes, he’s right here.” He held the little dog up to make sure the holoprojector would catch him.

“Oh, thank goodness!” And to his horror, Penny wavered where she was standing. A hand shot out and steadied her, Parker appearing beside her with a stormy expression.

“He’s okay, Penny. I promise. A bit of a fright and a couple of bruises, is all. He’s perfectly fine.”

“Bruises!”

Shit.

Sherbet barked at her hologram.

Penelope’s posture straightened and a more familiar fire lit in her eyes. “Please look after him, Virgil. We will be there shortly. Parker, bring the car around.”

The hologram cut off.

Oh, hell.

-o-o-o-

“He did what?!”

Scott had had a stressful day. Space rescues were a thing, but not his favourite thing. He much preferred his ‘bird and a wide, blue sky. The silence in space was just...well, silent.

Thunderbird Three was on approach, Alan levelling her off and bringing her around for landing. All three of them were tired at least emotionally after the day’s events, and Scott, physically. Too many near misses for his comfort.

“Now, Scott. You know he is rated to fly Thunderbird One and this was an opportunity to increase his flight time in your ‘bird.” John’s expression was firm.

“I’ll increase his flight time...”

“There was no harm done. Well, very little.”

Alan glanced at him before reversing Three’s engines and starting their descent into her silo.

“Little? What little?”

“Well...”

“John!”

“Yes?”

Scott drew in a breath and his lips thinned. “Do you remember what happened last time you tried to cover for Gordon?”

“I remember perfectly and I have acted accordingly. You no longer have access to my rooms, Scott, so don’t bother trying to threaten me. I’m only the messenger, after all.”

“John.”

“Yes, Scott?”

“Oh, ho, ho, you’re playing with fire, bro.” Alan’s grin was infuriating. “Big bro looks to go all explodey.”

Scott glared at him. “Alan, mind your own.” But his little brother just grinned, immune to his glare.

“Everything has been resolved, Scott. Your cockpit is clean and Lady Penelope is on her way to the island to collect Sherbet.”

Words could stop time. “What? What do you mean my cockpit is clean? What the hell happened?”

John’s hologram smirked. “A polecat. But I’ll let Gordon explain that little incident.”

“A polecat!”

But anything more John had to say was dulled out by the roar of rocket engines killing speed as Alan lowered his bird into her silo. And John cut off the signal, the red-headed chicken.

-o-o-o-

It was a good twenty minutes of post-flight checks, a shower and clothing later before Scott made it to the comms room. Striding from the elevator he found Virgil on the lounge, an arm full of Sherbet. His brother was speaking in that familiar ‘rescuee’ tone of his, a soft rumbling, gentle reassurance. Sherbet was gazing up at him with decisive worship.

No doubt the pieces of bacon in Virgil’s other hand were also helping the situation.

“Virg? How was the harvester-?”

Both his brother and Sherbet jumped. The pug turned to glare and growl at Scott.

Virgil frowned at his brother, but looked back down, offering Sherbet a tidbit and the pug settled once again. “It’s resolved. Report later.”

“Uh, sorry.”

“He’s had quite a fright. Couldn’t have been good to be stuck in One’s cargo hold unsecured.”

Scott lowered his voice as he approached and sat opposite his brother. “Any idea how he got there?”

“Gordon must have lowered One’s stairs. It’s the only way I can think he could have possibly boarded.”

“Gordon hasn’t told you?”

“Gordon is...upset.”

“So he should be.”

“Take a breath on this one, Scott. He is well aware he has screwed up.” Brown eyes grabbed his. “Code Penny.”

“Good point.”

“She’s not happy and Gordon is beside himself.”

“So where is he?”

“I told him to go get cleaned up. Penelope will be here any minute.” Sherbet wriggled, yipped and licked Virgil’s fingers. More bacon was provided.

“Sherbet is okay?”

“A few bruises. Very lucky dog.” A pause. “Not so lucky aquanaut.”

As if to emphasise the point FAB One appeared out of the blue and with hiss of VTOL landed beside the pool.

“Well, that’s a new one.” Scott stood up and eyed the pink Rolls Royce.

Virgil rose to his feet beside him, Sherbet licking his chin. “As I said, not happy.”

“Time to face the music.” Scott let out a breath.

-o-o-o-

The music wasn’t as loud as expected. Virgil carried Sherbet downstairs to the pool, Scott beside him. To say Penelope hurried over would be an understatement, her heels clicking madly on the concrete. But he had to admit to himself that handing over ‘Bertie’ to his mom was pretty damn equal to any good rescue result.

“Oh, Bertie, Bertie, Bertie. I am so happy you are safe.” The little pug was plastering Penny with kisses. “Did you ride on the big Thunderbird? Did you?” Bertie barked and wriggled in her arms. “Well, we won’t let that happen again, will we? No.” More hugs and snuggles.

Virgil arched an eyebrow.

“Where is Mr Gordon?” Parker approached, cracking his knuckles.

“Ah...” Virgil wasn’t sure he was willing to answer that one with that look in Parker’s eyes. “Let’s just say he’s safe, Parker, and leave it at that.”

“Mr Virgil, sir, he caused the Lady such distress. I would like to make sure he understands h’exactly how much.” Okay, protective Parker was fully engaged.

Virgil didn’t like that much at all. Which meant Scott likely liked it a whole heap less.

The engineer took a single step forward, conveniently between the chauffeur and his eldest brother. “Now, Parker, it was an accident. Gordon is very sorry.”

“‘E better be.”

“I am.” And Gordon was standing on the edge of the patio, his whole posture defeated and morose. “I am so sorry, Lady Penelope. Can you ever forgive me?”

Penelope looked up, her lips thin and an eyebrow arched. She didn’t say a thing.

Gordon took that as a negative and somehow, his posture slouched even more. “I understand.” He turned to walk back inside.

“Gordon?” Virgil suddenly found his arms once again full of wriggling pug as Penelope handed the dog back to him and walked towards his little brother. Parker glared.

The aquanaut stopped in his tracks, turning as Penelope approached. She reached out and gently caught his arm. “I wanted to thank you for what you did today.”

“Huh?”

His brother, ever the orator.

Penelope smiled just a little. “Well, you did fly halfway around the world to help Parker rescue Bertie. I know Bertie wasn’t really in trouble, but I do appreciate the thought and the effort, not to mention the unpleasantness with the polecat.”

Gordon grabbed the back of his neck in obvious embarrassment and stared at his feet, but he was standing straighter.

Penelope reached over and touching his chin, raised his head a little to look at her. “Thank you, Gordon.”

Virgil swallowed a grin as his brother flushed scarlet and smiled just a little. “Uh, you’re welcome.”

“Good.” Penelope was smiling at him.

A moment...and the moment passed. “Very well, must go, things to do.” And Penelope was returning to Virgil, lifting Sherbet into her arms and heading to FAB One.

Blink.

“Come, Parker, appointments to attend.”

The chauffeur eyed Virgil a moment making it clear this incident was far from forgotten in his book, shot a caustic look at Gordon and turned back to the car. “Yes, m’Lady.”

Open and shut a couple of car doors, a blast of hot air as she launched, and they were gone.

All three brothers stood there a little stunned.

“Well, that went easier than expected.” Scott, the ever not-fazed.

“Oh, thank god.” Gordon wilted where he was standing. “I thought Parker was going to kill me.”

Virgil smirked. “He still might. I’d keep away from him for a while if I were you.”

“You might be right.” Gordon sighed again. “Oh, I am so glad that is over.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say it was over, little brother.” And Scott was stalking towards the aquanaut. “I believe you and I have some things to discuss.”

“Oh, we do?” Gordon squirmed.

Virgil could almost count it down in his head.

Five.

“Yes, we do.”

Four.

“Uh, are you sure, ‘cause I honestly thought this was all resolved.” Gordon took a step back.

Three.

Scott was definitely taking pleasure out of this. “Oh, no, Gordon. Definitely not resolved.”

Two.

Another step back, ready for launch. “Uh, Scott. You love me, don’t you?”

One.

“Polecat, Gordon. In my cockpit.”

“Ah, yeah?” Gordon ran.

Thunderbird Four was gone.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

[bossman-hazani]

Gangstars episode 1

Hey so this is my first time using this website. I’m moderately new to it but I thought that this might be a good place to post the scripts for an animated comedy series I wish to one day start. I decided that since I have no idea on how and what the hell to do in order to get it noticed by a producer, I thought a good place to start was to post the scripts online and see if I could build a community on it and see what will come from it. I mean, worst case scenario is that literally nothing will happen and it’ll go completely unnoticed so here it is. Please feel free to give any feedback in whatever way is possible on this website lol. The first episode might be a little weak I’m not really sure what to expect from readers but please give it a chance to when I post the second episode before giving up on it. I guess the kind of humour it comes off from is more a Rick and Morty type of thing. And please can nobody be an ass with feedback? I’m still new to this and I don’t really appreciate it. This isn’t really a final product and I’ll probably change the script based on any feedback I get so please try to keep it constructive and helpful. Thanks and enjoy.

Gangstars Episode 1 script

(The camera shows a brick wall in an alleyway with a door. You can hear the muffled voices of the interviewer and his mother)

Interviewer: "!?"

(Door opens)

Mom: "DAMMIT BOY, IF MY SON'S GONNA SMOKE, HE'S GONNA DO IT IN HIS OWN DAMN HOUSE, NOT THE TRASHY APARTMENT HE BOUGHT HIS MOM CAUSE HE DOESN'T LOVE HER"

Interviewer: "alright, alright! I'm going!"

(Interviewer exits door, grabs a cigar, takes out his phone and starts talking to someone on the phone while leaning on a wall)

Interviewer: "Hey, Stu. Look, I need you to do me a favour. Dammit Stu are you drunk again!? Fine, whatever. Just go tell Cindy that I'm gonna be in the office to tomorrow morning - what do you mean what!? Why the fuck do I even pay you!? Dammit Stu! You'd better give results or you're fired! Oh so NOW you remember. Whatever. Now tell Cindy that I'm gonna be in my office in the morning and that she has to go get mike so I can meet him and promote his ass. Heh, yeah, he's gonna be making some big bucks now"

(Interviewer continues talking while smoking, and as this happens, a large arm (Fat Toni) with a burger starts creeping off side of screen and attempts to suffocate him.)

Interviewer: "WHA-!?"

(Interviewer punches Fat Toni in the stomach to which an immune sign appears, slowly rising. As time is running out, Interviewer grabs glass bottle and hits Fat Toni over the head with it.)

Fat Toni: "ah SHIT!"

(FT drops to floor directly onto interviewer's leg and a crack is audible)

Interviewer: "Fuuuck!!"

Fat Toni: "Help me up, guys!"

(Two more figures, Teef and Giuseppe run in to help FT up there is clear strain in doing the process.)

Teef: "Holy shit, Toni you’re so fucking heavy!!"

Giuseppe: (Makes strained sounds)

(Interviewer politely waits through this event)

(When Fat Toni is finally up, he takes a moment to catch his breath)

Fat Toni: "Ok, where were we??"

Interviewer: "Uhhhh I think you were about to proceed with kidnapping me?"

Fat Toni: Ooohhh yeeah... Well... Do you wanna go through with it or has the moment kinda passed?"

Interviewer: "Nah I think I can bring it back."

(Interviewer backs away, into a wall, unable to stand. The shadow of a LARGE man slowly, with help, makes their way up and looms over interviewer)

Interviewer: (In fear) "What are you?"

(Bag goes over interviewer's face and screen goes black)

Fat Toni: (As if talking to a sick child) "Wake up, this is a temporary kidnapping."

(From the perspective of the interviewer, you can see his eyes opening and closing slowly)

Fat Toni: "Wake uuuuppp"

(Interviewer still doesn't wake up)

Fat Toni: (Irritated) "Hey, cmon, wake up already."

Fat Toni: (yelling and at the same time slapping the interviewer) "Wake up!!"

(Interviewer is awake now and looks all around him. He can see a messy room and at the end of it stands a dark figure who is not visible due to a light shining into the interviewer's face)

Fat Toni: "Alright now, talk!!"

(An irritated muffle comes from the interviewer as he makes it clear that he cannot)

Fat Toni: "Oh, right. Sorry about that."

(From the figure comes a hand that reaches to the face of the interviewer and removes some duct tape)

Fat Toni: "Ok NOW talk."

Interviewer: "Somebody help me!!"

Fat Toni: "Naah I was just messing with you, you never had to talk. But what we ARE gonna do is we're give you something to make sure that you can't go to that interview tomorrow."

Interviewer: "huh? But-"

(Toni's hand goes over interviewer's face and the screen goes black for a few seconds.)

(The camera then goes to Mike. He's walking in a suit with a briefcase (office work starter pack) through the Jimmyasssteak building and his fellow employees pass by, engaging in conversation. It's clear that Mike is familiar and comfortable in his status and that EVERYONE knows and loves Mike.)

Employee 1: "Hey, Mike!! Pretty sure your gonna be promoted to CEO!! AND your gonna meet the boss! Even I haven't seen him"

Mike: "Yeah ikr! But it still hasn't been confirmed... Fingers crossed though!!"

Employee 2: "EY, MIKE!! YOU FUCKED MY WIFE!"

Mike: "Yeah I did"

Employee 2: (High fives mike) "Holy shit! That's really an achievement! I still haven't fucked her after 5 years together!! Anyway, have a good one, Mike!"

Mike: "Yeah, you too, Gary."

(Mike goes into a reception and starts waiting. After a sew seconds, a secretary comes up to mike)

Secretary: "Oh, hey Mike, the boss will see you now."

Mike: "Alrighty then, let's go."

(Mike and secretary start walking together through a corridor)

Mike: "So uh you know what the big guy's like? What I should say to him? What he looks like?"

Secretary: "I have no idea. I've never seen or heard him in person. Every day at 11 I escort everyone out of the building and security is turned off so he can enter his office. I guess you could say he likes his privacy."

Mike: "But then how did he tell you he wanted to see me?"

Secretary: "We communicate through ASCII. (but pronounced as ASCI)"

Mike: "So... the Advertising standards council of india??"

Secretary: "No it's with TWO 'I's."

Mike: "Ohh..."

(Camera slowly blacks out then slowly back into colour to show Mike and the Secretary reaching the end of a corridor. The secretary is a blubbering mess while mark is just confused and shocked)

Secretary: "And then I said "what, you don't like me that way?" and then you'll never guess what he said. Go on guess."

Mike: (slowly and confused) "How? This wasn't even a long corridor. It was only 30 seconds ago that we were talking about the boss. How did- Just- how!?"

Secretary: "HE SAID YESSSS!"

Mike: "Well I hate to have to leave you at the peak of the... The conversation but- uhh- we're at the boss so I kinda have to do my interview and all..."

Secretary: (clearly fine now) "Oh, ok!"

(Secretary goes to a computer and types in a legitimate ASCII message. In response, a message that's clearly not ASCII pops up)

Secretary: "Alright, I'm going to have to go while the boss opens the door. It's standard procedure. So bye Mike!"

(Secretary starts walking away. A door slowly opens. Mike goes through the door, looks around and sees Fat Toni, who is drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa painting hung up on a wall)

Fat Toni: "OH, HEY! Mark, right? I- uh I wasn't expecting you!"

Mike: "But didn't you literally tell your secretary that you were ready for me through ASCII??"

Fat Toni: "Mike... How in the goatlord’s shitting anus am I supposed to contact my secretary through the advertising standards council of india!?"

Mike: "Oh no she says it's with two 'I's."

Fat Toni: "Aaaahh. Well that makes more sense. I thought she was playing a number game when she sent me all those ones and zeros

Fat Toni: "Mike... I don't like mike... Is it ok if I call you Donnie?"

Mike: "Please call me by my name, sir."

Fat Toni: "Then it's settled. Your now Donnie... Donnie Dwayne!"

Donnie: (small and powerless) "ok..."

Fat Toni: "So Donnie. I'm gonna ask you some questions and your gonna answer then a’ight?"

Donnie: "Sure, whatever."

Fat Toni: "What are your thoughts on crime??"

Donnie: "I've always hated crime. I don't want to establish myself in it in any way and it helps nobody in any way. Innocent people just get hurt."

(Fat Toni gives a disapproving 'hmm' and literally scribbles on his notepad)

Fat Toni: "Now for the second question; What's your weight and how much do you normally eat in a day?"

Donnie: "How does this have anything to do with my promotion?"

Fat Toni: "Trust me, it's very important."

Donnie: "Well I guess I'm more or less the average person for both of them."

Fat Toni: "So... 49,000 calories each day??"

Donnie: "what!? No! That's stupid!! It's like 2,000!"

Fat Toni: "TWO-THOUSAND!? WHAT KINDA SUPER FUCKIN DIET ARE YOU- *ahem* That's very, very low. I gotta say, Donnie, your not doing very well for yourself so far. But you can still make it back."

Donnie: "Ok, ok..."

Fat Toni: (Dark and slowly) "Now it's time for the third question..."

(features of Fat Toni's face are blackened and are very serious as he says this and Donnie is concerned)

Fat Toni: (All grim and dark features on Fat Toni's face quickly disappear as he says this) "Do you like burgers? I like burgers."

Donnie: "Oh- well I like a good burger. They're actually pretty good."

Fat Toni: "I should probably tell you the truth... You know the gangstars?"

Donnie: "Umm no..."

Fat Toni: "Oh c'mon you gadda know them... Ya know... Biggest gang in the worldiverse?? Startin' gang wars here and there? You've probably heard of the but don't remember"

Donnie: "Ohhhhh those guys are JOKES!"

Fat Toni: "Ah c’mon, they're not that bad..."

Donnie: "I mean, they were the first and only gang to ever have their heist thwarted by an old lady"

Fat Toni: "Well- uuhh- I'm pretty sure they felt bad for the grandma and they didn't wanna hurt her..."

Donnie: "Dude, she was 96 and they had guns. She was only armed with a walking stick."

Fat Toni: "Pretty sure she was a martial artist."

Donnie: "What kind of martial artist is called Masel?"

Fat Toni: "UM only the most powerful ones. You know how martial arts gotta be, you can’t have your enemy suspect it. Pfft what do you know. Listen. I'm not your boss. My name is Fat Toni. I'm here to recruit you on the behalf of the Gangstars."

Donnie: "No."

Fat Toni: "Look Donnie, The gangstars need you. We're at a very bad state and this is the final straw for us. We need you."

Donnie: "No."

Fat Toni: "In this job, you were about to be promoted to CEO of the company. Would you rather be a CEO of Jimmyasssteak and get about 15 million a year, as tempting as it is, I think our offer will still win you over. By joining the gangstars, you get to risk your life, for scraps from heists!" (shows a picture of two happy people) "See, in the picture, you can see two of our happy members, enjoying the rough territory of wars."

Donnie: "Who even ARE they??"

Fat Toni: (Looks at the picture) "Ah. That's Tim and John. They didn't make the old lady attack. Don't ask. And I haven't even gotten to the good part! If you choose to join the gangstars, you get a chicken! On the house! With deals like that, SOMEONE'S gonna be making it through the winter!"

Donnie: "Well, I was GONNA say "no.", but I think the chicken part really changed my mind to... No.

Fat Toni: (pulls out gun to Donnie's face) (Aggressively) "It sure is a good thing that you're so excited to join the gangstars. You start..." (Looks at watch) "now!"

Donnie: "Of course. This is just great."

Fat Toni: (Holds up handcuffs) "you're gonna need to wear these..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Fat Toni and Donnie are walking on the pavement of a motorway. Occasionally, there's a car passing by. Most give an aggressive comment to them.)

Fat Toni: "Sorry we had to walk. We have a small unicycle back at the HQ... I totally forgot it though."

Donnie: "A unicycle? You can ride one?"

Fat Toni: "Yeah you should see us when we use it. We look like a fuckin' circus crew piled up on top of each other."

Donnie: "That's kinda st-"

(A car passes by, and says an aggressive comment."

Driver 1: "You fuckin' dumbass!!"

Fat Toni: "You too you piece a' shit!!"

Donnie: "What the fuck was that about?"

Fat Toni: "Well you're in the motorway. In these areas, it's home to some of the most aggressive drivers in the city. A word of advice, do NOT go through the motorway in a car. VERY few people ever see the end of the motorway. Don't worry about the comments though, asshole comments are like compliments here."

Donnie: "Oh. Well that's also stupid. What's the gangstars like??"

Fat Toni: "Oh they're great once you get to know them. But if you're gonna fit in, you're gonna wanna work on your gangstar voice. Try one now!!"

(Passing car)

Driver 2: "HEY!! I'm drivin' here!!"

Fat Toni: "yeah, I bet you are!!"

Donnie: "Well what do you want me to say??"

Fat Toni: "Ummm... say that the gangstars don't suck and that they're actually super cool."

Donnie: "Ok, that sounds like a fairly simple task." in gangstar voice) "The ganghhh-"

Fat Toni: "Go on, say it."

Donnie: (in gangstar voice) "The gagstars donn- donnut sss-" (out of gangstar voice) "nope. I can't do it. It's physically impossible They just suck that much."

Fat Toni: "Ok, imma let that pass, but don't say that any more. Look. We'll work on your gangstar voice later"

(Passing car)

Driver 3: "How's ur mom!?!?"

Donnie this time: "Much better than yours!!"

(Car stops in the distance for a moment and then starts reversing. Meanwhile, Fat Toni is in shock.)

Donnie: "Wait what's he doing?? Didn't I compliment him?"

Fat Toni: "Dammit Donnie!! YOU'RE OUTTA THE MOTORWAY ZONE!!"

(Camera shows the ground with half of donnie's front foot past a black and yellow tape on the ground)

Donnie: "Well how tf was I supposed to know that!?!?"

Fat Toni: "THERE'S A NEON ADHESIVE TAPE ON THE FLOOR AND ABOUT 50 SIGNS!! HOW COULD YA MISS IT!?"

Fat Toni: "Just let me handle this!"

(Fat Toni pulls out his gun and points it to the driver who is at this point already out of his car and is approaching them. Meanwhile, Donnie starts slowly making a getaway.)

Fat Toni: "Look sir, I'm sorry about this misunderstanding. My grandson over here."

Driver 3: "Idiot. You don't look anything like him. And the age gap is WAY too small for him to be your grandson."

Fat Toni: "Oh but he is my grandson. Tell 'I’m Donnie."

Donnie: "Huh? Oh- yeah, sure am."

Driver 3: "Well tell me something, then. Why is your grandson trying to run away?"

Fat Toni: "Are you serious?? That's like the oldest trick in the fuckin' book. Did you really think that was gonna work? Go on, Donnie, tell him how you're still here!"

Donnie: (slightly distant) "YEAH!! He's right!"

Fat Toni: "See what did I tell ya!?"

(Fat Toni looks back and sees Donnie running away)

Fat Toni: "SON OF A BITCH!! Uh... is that someone calling you a fucking dumb ass??"

Driver 3: "You're the fucking dumbass if you think I'm falling for that bu-"

(Fat Toni throws the gun in driver 3's face and starts running for donnie.)

Fat Toni: "Donnie? Donnie!! Don't worry. I think the guy's knocked out!! You can stop running now!"

Donnie: "You idiot! That's not why I'm running away! I need to go back to my LIFE! I can still get my promotion and forget all this EVER happened!!

Fat Toni: "But Donnie!! The chicken! It's still up for grabs!!"

Donnie: "You're fucking crazy!! Just leave!"

Fat Toni: "Slow down, Donnie, I'm fat!!"

(Donnie continues running while looking back at Toni who's stopped to catch his breath.)

Donnie: "hah haha AAHAHAHAH IT'S OVER! I'M FREE! OOP!

(Donnie runs into a tree and falls back onto the ground and goes unconscious. The camera shows Toni picking up Donnie and holding him over his shoulder and carries him off. The screen slowly fades.

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

(Donnie wakes up in a small room on some hay, holding his head. The room looks old and floors and walls are made of wood. Donnie walks out of the room to another but this room looks normal and modern. Just regular but it's shit. In the room, Fat Toni stands alone in the room. He notices Donnie, starts walking towards him while talking.)

Fat Toni: "Hey Donnie, How did you enjoy our 17th century themed guest room?"

Donnie: "Well I feel like shit. I also smell like shit and I don't remember that before I hit my head."

Fat Toni: "Yeah... It's a pretty weird coincidence how the guest room does that to ya."

Fat Toni: "Listen Donnie, You're about to meet the other members of the gangstars. But, before you meet them and officially become a gangstar, you gadda sign this" (holds up a blank contract with only the signing area.) "so that if you bail, we can add shit in the blank and take you to court claiming shit you never agreed to! And if you don't officially join the gangstars, then we'll kill you. So... it's nothing important. You get it. Now sign it."

Donnie: "Welp. Doesn't look like I have that much choice... Uh... should i sign it as Donnie or should i use my actual name??"

Fat Toni: "Donnie will work just fine. I mean, I don't know how it not being your real name would affect how we can take you to court."

Donnie: "Oh I'm sure it doesn't. Real names are way overrated anyway"

(Donnie signs it as "Donnie")

Fat Toni: "Alright, this is the moment, as soon as you meet the rest of the gangstars, you'll officially be a gangstar. There's no going back from here."

Donnie: "Ummm I don't really need t-"

Fat Toni: (yelling upwards, cutting Donnie off) "GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE!!"

(Distant shuffling)

(the gangstars start walking in one by one)

Teef: (Talks in a shitty Italian accent) "What the fuck is it now?? If you've lost your cheeseburger again, we're NOT gonna help you this time"

Fat Toni: "Well actually I'll talk to you about that later buuut I called all your asses down here because I wanted to introduce the latest addition to the gangstars... Everyone meet Donnie!!"

Teef: "Oh, another one?? This is the fourth time this week. They keep dieing, dammit!"

Guiseppe: "Taglatelli!!"

Donnie: "Wait-- what's up with that guy, why did he just mention a delicious food that doesn't relate to context."

Fat Toni: "Ah, that, is guiseppe, he's got pure Italian blood, but we never really got to figuring out why exactly he doesn't talk proper Italian. His language is based mostly on Italian words that Americans know and love in their language likee... Ravioli, or pizza then there's also a sprinkle of random American words, but he CAN understand what you say. We came around to calling it retarded Italian. Oh yeah, he also makes a great ravioli."

Giuseppe: "Pizza ravioli Guiseppe (holds out hand) spaghetti"

Donnie: (shaking hand) "So is it like every word has a translation??"

Teef: "Nah it's really completely random. One ravioli could mean biscuits in one sentence but shit in another."

Fat Toni: "Yeah... Trust Teef's judgement when it comes to retarded Italian. He's the only one who understands retarded Italian."

Teef: "Welcome to the gangstars, if you need anything, just reach reach me, I probably got what you need."

Fat Toni: "Teef's our guy whenever we need something, if you need something done, just go to him!

Donnie: "yeah, sure, whatever, but why the fuck does he sound so weird??"

Fat Toni: "Well a couple years back his ass got into some deep shit and well... He knew some people who could fix it... let's just say long story short, according to the law he's related to guiseppe and is legally required to speak in a shitty Italian accent. It's a story for another time."

Guiseppe: "Spaghetti artichoke" (starts ruffling in pockets) "biscotti penne"

Teef: "Oh c'mon Guiseppe. You really gotta do that this time??"

Guiseppe: "broccoli."

Donnie: "Wait- What's happening?"

Teef: "He uh says you gotta do the ritual."

Donnie: "Oh for fucks sake what's it now?"

(Once guiseppe seems content with what he was searching for, he pulls out a live chicken and holds it in both hands and starts talking retarded Italian. What he's talking about isn't important.)

Guiseppe: "coffee ciabatta gelato..."

Donnie: "What the fuck!? Where the hell did he even fit that thing!?"

Fat Toni: "It doesn't matter, it's bad luck to question the ritual. It's a tradition that's been going through the gangstars for centuries now, your gonna have to accept the complimentary chicken."

Donnie: "What!? No! I'm not gonna accept this stupid chicken!"

(Guiseppe takes note of this and looks offended, but continues with the ritual.)

Teef: "You gotta take the complimentary chicken man. No excuses now, you're a gangstar."

Donnie: "What the hell even is this place!?"

(Guiseppe finishes speaking and goes down on one knee and holds the chicken above his head)

Donnie: "I'm not gonna take the chicken"

Teef: "You gotta take it man."

(Guiseppe starts to slowly push the chicken towards Donnie's face)

Fat Toni: "just take the damn chicken, just for a minute."

Donnie: "I can't, I'm allergic dammit!"

(Guiseppe slowly starts getting seriously pissed)

Teef: "Would you do it for a quarter?"

(Donnie shoots Teef an annoyed glance)

Teef: "He ain't buying, Toni."

Fat Toni: "Well raise!! We need him to take the chicken!"

Teef: "But I already offered a quarter!"

Fat Toni: "Whoa Teef, he's not worth our entire budget."

(Guiseppe slowly starts getting seriously pissed)

Fat Toni: "Donnie, I'm telling ya this as a warning, not advice; take the chicken."

Donnie: "Alright! I'll take the chicken!!"

(Donnie takes the chicken in a sudden movement, Guiseppe goes back to normal and walks out.)

Donnie: (throwing the chicken behind him followed by a squawk) "What a weird motherfucker..."

(Doogie walks through the door)

Teef: "Motherfucker..."

Doogie: "Reporting for business, boss!"

Fat Toni: "Ah come onn didn't I give you that calculus book!?"

Doogie: "That was a colouring book for kids."

Fat Toni: "And I did NOT think you'd finish it so damn fast"

Donnie: "Alright whose this dumbass?"

Doogie: "well my-"

Teef: "We'll do the talking, asshole."

Teef: "His name's Doogie; the smartass dumbass never really officially joined the gangstars, he just started coming here."

Fat Toni: "Physically, he's worse than useless, but he's a real smartass... Most of the time he's just annoying though. No matter what we do, we can't get rid of him.

Donnie: "Well why don't you just" (makes a slitting throat gesture)

Fat Toni: (excitedly) "Oh yeah, that reminds me, check this out"

(Fat Toni pulls a gun to Doogie's forehead between his glasses and shoots him without hesitation. When Doogie dies, he makes the most pathetic sound. Doogie's corpse slides a small distance so his head is under an object.)

Donnie: "What the hell did you just do!?You killed the weird kid!!"

Fat Toni: "What? you suggested that I kill him? Didn't he Teef?

Teef: "He did, and by laws of the gangstars, he'd be held responsible"

Donnie: "No! I was making a joke! I didn't want you to seriously kill him!!"

Doogie: (Weak and slowly) "Goooo..."

Donnie: "Wait- why did he just make a noise? What was that?"

Teef: "That. Is the reason why we could never get rid of him. I mean cmon did you really think we didn't try killing him? I mean just look at him."

(Doogie starts making a very slow rise)

Teef: "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I have something to get"

(Doogie starts talking while rising)

Doogie: "How many times do I have to tell you to not to do that guys? I know it's funny but it's annoying. You ruined my good glasses too..." (continues )

(Teef walks next to Doogie with a shovel and smashes him by the back of the head towards a wall. Doogie makes another one of his pathetic noises as he dies. His corpse slides towards a wall and and some sort of stacked tall object falls just right to cover his body from the viewpoint and from all characters in the area.)

Teef: "Welp, I think I took care of that."

Donnie: "So.... What!?"

Fat Toni: "To put it simply, it was by some really shitty fortune that the one useless pain in the ass is basically impossible to get rid of. We've never seem what happens when he's being reborn. The surrounding will just comically rearrange themselves through extremely unlikely processes to cover his corpse."

Teef: "The more you try to force seeing the regeneration process, the more destructive the events get so they'll force YOU not to see it. So uh try not to do that."

(Two semi-large guys walk into view next to Toni)

One of them: "Hey Toni. A word please"

Toni: "Oh, hey Donnie, meet these guys." (points to one of them) "This guy is Tommy de mato" (points to the other one) "and he's Danny 'D' Ruff."

Donnie: "Damn, those are some pretty stupid yet kinda catchy names."

Teef: "Yeaah... That was back when we were using the catchy name generator."

Fat Toni: "Ahh that was a good one... Anyway, they're mostly undercover or doing background work so you won't be seeing much of them."

(Fat Toni turns to Tommy and Danny and then back to the others)

Fat Toni: "Alright. I'll be back in a minute"

(Fat Toni walks a small distance with Tommy and Danny to talk.)

Fat Toni: "Alright so what's up guys?"

Danny 'D' Ruff: "We found a bank. This one's too easy."

Fat Toni: "How much they are we gonna get outta this heist??"

Tommy De Mato: "Well they don't got much money or gold or much of anything because they literally just opened but they got cookies; lots and lotsa cookies."

Fat Toni: (Stroking chin in deep thought) "How many cookies are we talking about here?"

Danny 'D' Ruff: "Get this; whenever you deposit or withdraw money from an account, they'll give out free cookies."

Fat Toni: "Holy shit that's a lot of cookies..."

Tommy De Mato: "Think about it man, this time in a few days, we'll be rolling in cookies beyond our wildest dreams and a small portion of money."

Fat Toni: "Dammit, we're doing it!!"

(Fat Toni rejoins the rest and Danny and Tommy leave.)

Donnie: "No the fuck I won't do it!"

Teef: (Offering a bloody bat to Donnie) "C'mon it's not that hard to just give him a whack to the head."

Doogie: "No, please don't. It hurts"

Donnie: "No!! It's psychotic!"

Fat Toni: "Don't worry, Teef. He's only finding it so difficult because he doesn't know him well enough."

Teef: (with a hint of hostility) "Just give it time."

Fat Toni: "Alright guys. We're gonna rob a bank."

Teef: "Sweeet. It's been way too long." (yells upwards) "HEY, GUISEPPE!! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE. WE'RE PULLING A HEIST!!"

Guiseppe: (muffled) "Taglatelli pastrami!? Fusili?"

Teef: "uhhh... Brocoli lasagna pizza"

Guiseppe: "Fusili!"

Teef: "He's in."

Donnie: "Yeeaah I don't know... Now we're breaking the law? This felt more like some creepy fanclub thing. I never really thought of doing illegal shit..."

Fat Toni: "Yea but that's only cause you don't know the stash we're gonna pull from this heist."

Donnie: "Fine. What is it??"

Fat Toni: "Cookies; lots 'n' lotsa cookies."

Donnie: "Yup... Just as incredibly stupid as I figured."

(Guiseppe joins the group)

Guiseppe: "Concerto."

Teef: "He says he's ready."

Fat Toni: "How about everyone else?"

(Camera scrolls to the side as everyone gives their answer)

Teef: "Yeah!"

Guiseppe: "Libretto" (yes)

Doogie: (excitedly but cut off) "Ye-!"

Fat Toni: (Excitedly) "You aren't coming!"

Doogie: "Awww..."

(Camera goes on to Donnie who has an exaggeratedly and comically pissed off face and his arms crossed and is hunched)

Donnie: (with a childlike misery) "No."

Fat Toni: (excitedly) "Doesn't matter!!"

(View goes back to Fat Toni.)

Fat Toni: (In a cool voice) "Well. Now that everyone's ready..." (pauses while putting on some of the stupidest glasses on the end of his nose and pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose) "... Let's go rob a bank."

*** END OF EPISODE 1 ***

[takaraphoenix]

Wholly damn! CC's world is damned huge. I wanted to read the series but bro it's too much.... it's bigger than RR's. I also don't know what I should expect. What if it's not a good serie? I don't want it to be end like the those books of RR's. Pls tell me it's handled better

*laughs* Yeeah the whole entire thing is too much for me too. And too confusing to be quite frank. I’ll read the core-series. At one point. Definitely. It just takes me a while to read. But sequels and prequels and spin-offs. It’s too much for me (also too many books without Jace so like there’s that :D).

I mean of course it’s bigger than Riordan’s though. Rick created an insanely limited world with one (1) Greek camo and one (1) Roman camp and I’m pretty sure I did a whole lotta ranting about his world building before too, so let’s not. But yeah, mainly due to the fact that he not strictly separated the two worlds and has the demigods integrated into mortal society, whereas CC created a whole country for her fantasy demi-angel race and a whole realm for her not-fairies.

I… can’t tell you how well it’s handled though. I only read the first book so far and I’m weary because the whole entire city of New York only has one (1) Institute to take care of them and it’s run by three former terrorists and three underaged teenagers and… honestly, on that part the show did improve the world-building. Also on the part where Luke is a cop instead of a bookshop owner because thanks to that, they have an opening into the ongoing cases, which I am wondering how the books will handle without that.

So, sorry, you’d have to consult someone who actually read all the books to check in with how solid the world building in the books is!

[missblushyrose]

A Good Ribbing

A/N: This is a request from @bashfulpinata for the prompt, “Thanks for mentioning that little detail”. I hope this is to your liking, Piñata! Enjoy! Fair warning: this will contain some teasy rib tickles and rib counting. Read if you must, but you may feel them tickles yourself. You’ve been warned.

It was a quiet, yet somewhat dull, Sunday afternoon within the Anderson residence. The steadily ongoing sequence of television shows - mainly consisting of cop comedies that were broadcasted as far back as the 1980s - being the only source of ambiance, as well as the snoring emitting from Sumo, who curled up on his pillow-like bed in the corner of the living room. If that wasn’t enough, there would be the constant chatter between the human and the android.

“I still can’t believe you actually did it, Connor! Did you see the look on Gavin’s face when he tasted the salt you put in his coffee?” Another chortle uproared out in the open as Hank all but fell back into the couch in a fit of jarring laughter, slamming a hand against the armrest to his right.

Almost instantly, his cackling was assimilated by the bout of laughter that resonated from Connor’s voice box. If hearing the sound of his human companion’s own laughter wasn’t the vindication for his sudden display of amusement, the mental photography of the immense abhorrence written on the detective’s face upon registering the unwelcoming bitterness administered from the salt.

“As I explained to you at the precinct, I simply misinterpreted the salt packets for sugar,” Connor managed to explain himself through his giggling, yet they both knew that wasn’t the case. “I will admit, however, that watching Detective Reed’s facial expression contort like that is humorous, nevertheless.”

Hank snorted and just about squawked in between fits of rough laughter. He couldn’t even begin to remember the last time he ever laughed so hard; the side-splitting type of laughter; the laughter that made your sides ache for what felt like hours. “Hahahaha! Hoholy shit! It hurts, it fuckin’ hurts!” He wheezed and coiled an arm over his ribcage instinctively, greedily sucking in copious amounts of air in the midst of recovering from his laugh attack.

The neutral blue illuminating from the android’s LED quickly transitioned into a concerned yellow, his laughter instantly ceasing, amusement morphing to worry as Connor fixed his gaze on the ventilating lieutenant as if scanning for any possible injury had struck him. “H-Hank? Are you hurt?” He asked anxiously.

His laughter finally subsiding, Hank turned back to the android hovering over him out of sheer habit and adjusted himself back into his natural sitting position, rubbing the sliver of mirthful tears out of his eyes. “No, Connor... no. I’m fine, just... my ribs are kinda sore. Nothing serious.”

“Would you like an ice pack from the refrigerator?” The android offered a gentle inquiry through his protective impulse.

“Jesus, Connor...” Hank sighed as he ran a hand over his own face, grabbing onto the android’s wrist and tugging him back onto the couch as he attempted to stand. “I said I’m fine. I appreciate it, but you don’t have to worry about everything I do. I may be old, but I sure as hell ain’t fragile. Besides, the last thing I need is some android nanny hovering over me.” He ended his assuring statement on a teasing note as the yellow LED spiraled back to blue.

“Right. I’m sorry, Hank-”

“Ah! What’d I say about apologizing?”

“I’m so-” The android was immediately cut off with a stern gaze from the older man that told him to shut up. “Nevermind.”

Hank flashed a smug smirk and uttered a light ‘hmph’ in response before turning his attention back to the television, intent on indulging himself further into the currently playing episode. However, much to his own dismay, he was presented with the one thing that plagued every television spectator with annoyance; the one thing that so rudely interrupted television programming everywhere...

“God, I hate these damn commercials!” Hank grumbled, resting his cheek against and closed fist, his elbow perching on the armrest, paying no attention to the images of products that would stir skepticism. He could recall observing merchandise so harebrained, he would sooner buy a $500 bottle of alcohol and not get drunk from it than something so asinine as a $50 washcloth that is claimed to be able to absorb spills and the floor is still messy. Really, who would be idiotic enough to purchase something so useless at a laughably high price?

Surprisingly, this next particular advertisement seemed to have caught his attention. There seemed to be two skeletons, presumably of a male and female human, having a medical conversation, considering the certain terms he blocked out. He could tell from the cerulean hue glowing from the bony beings that this commercial provided information regarding x-rays. 

Don’t get him wrong, he didn’t care much for the ad as a whole. 

He shifted his gaze from the screen and to the android sitting to his left and back. He thought about how he grew more human by the day following his deviancy, then how painstaking, and partially frightening, his appearance resembled to be that of a human, save for the flickering blue LED. And with another glimpse at the skeletal figures on the television monitor, a new curiosity had bloomed.

Hank turned back to the younger man sitting beside him, whose gaze was fixated on the television. “Hey, Connor?”

Connor returned his gaze to the older man, the blue LED gently flickering in curiosity. “Yes, Hank?”

“You know, all this talk about my ribs and that commercial got me thinkin’. I know how androids were made to resemble humans and all, and I was wondering something: do androids have skeletons?”

Connor tilted his head to the side and blinked at the odd question, but he naturally rummaged through his database in search for an answer, his LED spinning with a bright yellow before explaining to his human companion, “While we are internally disparate, in terms of organs and biocomponents, every android has an interior framing composed of polycarbonate material. Despite the durability of the matter, they can be broken, much like regular bones, but can be self-repaired within at least 24 hours. The framing is positioned within certain body parts, such as legs, arms, and hands, and can adjust to common movements, similar to a human skeleton. In conclusion, androids do possess skeletons.”

(A/N: Yeeah, my theory may not be ENTIRELY accurate? Sorry.)

”Do they include ribcages?”

“Yes, as do I.”

With that being said, Hank reached towards the android and, with a newfound stroke of curiosity, uncurled his pointer finger and pressed the fingertip into a specific area just below the underarm with a gentle prod. His confirmed his theory when he felt a hard surface underneath the artificial skin; a bone; a polycarbonate bone; a ticklish bone, given the way Connor squeaked and lightly shuffled to his end of the couch, arms enfolding around the area of his artificial ribcage protectively.

After a few seconds of awkward silence between the two, Hank, who was wearing a shit-eating grin with such mischief, leaned forward and snatched at one of the RK800′s wrists, yanking the android close to ensnare him into an inescapable embrace, his back against the older man’s chest.

Connor’s LED flashed yellow in response to the sudden action momentarily before reverting back to the usual blue, craning his neck to take a glance at his captor, but he was only able to see him from the corner of his eye. “Hank?”

Instead of responding to the address, Hank simply latched onto both sides and dug his fingers between the sets of artificial ribs, vibrating his digits to produce electric-like sensations.

Connor’s eyes flew wide open just as his sensors picked up on the aforementioned feelings, making him fall into fits of sputtering giggles as he lightly kicked his legs through some sort of reflex. “Ahahahaha! Nahahahahaa! Hahahaaank!”

Hank chuckled at the android’s giggly protests, simply curling his fingertips into the gaps of the synthetic ribcage. “Well, whaddya know? You do have ribs, and they’re ticklish!” He hummed to himself as he went on, thinking of a particular game that used to drive Cole up the wall. He wondered if it would work on the ticklish android in his grasp as well. “Hey, Connor... how many ribs do ya have, you think?”

“T-Twehehenty-fohour!” Connor squeaked at the occasional prod here and there. “Twehelve on each sihihide!”

“You sure about that? Maybe I should count ‘em for you~” Hank didn’t even spare the poor android even a second to utter a single protest, and he pressed his thumb into the lowest rib on the right side of his ribcage, kneading and circling the tip against the artificial bone. “One...” He began to slowly count aloud, remaining there for at least three seconds before he would move on to the next one. “Two... three...”

Connor squealed and lurched in the lieutenant’s arms like a small trapped caught in a trap, feebly attempting to pry himself out by pushing his own arms away from each other, but that was stopped by the older man’s tight grip. He could feel a tint of blue painted across his cheeks, having been caused by the teasing croon in Hank’s voice as he counted to tease the poor boy out of his artificial skin.

“Hahahank, pleeheheheease!” He tried to whine through his frantic cries of laughter. “I said I have twehehenty-fohohour rihihiiibs!”

“I’m still gonna check, anyway,” Hank paused his enumeration to answer the android’s plea for an instant before he immediately pressed on, “Now hold still. Twenty-four- Wait, what number was I on? Shit, I think I lost count. Guess we’ll just have to start all over again~”

Connor froze in his place, quickly realizing his mistake, and he initiated another string of pleas with a nervous, wobbly grin. “N-No, wait! Hank, pleheheheeease! Nohohohoo!” He cried out desperately, only to descend into another series of giggles with an occasional squeak as he restarted from the lowest rib.

“One... two... three... four... five... six...” Hank punctuated each number he tallied with a pinch to each rib, the prototype’s laughter becoming albeit louder the higher he went. “Seven... eight... nine... ten... eleven... twelve! Yep, twelve ribs on this side!” He emphasized his announcement with a squeeze to the inflicted side, snickering at the emitted squeak. “But what about the other side, huh? You got twelve of ‘em there, too?”

“Y-Yehes! I assure you, I- Eeek!” Connor was cut off on the spot just as Hank’s hand did so much as make contact with the left side of the artificial ribcage.

“One... two... three...” Hank nipped at each and every sensitive plastic bone with his pointer finger and his thumb as he continued this little game, grinning at the giggly pleads and squeals being composed from his android son. “Aaand twelve! Twenty-four in all! Guess you’re right after all!” He squeezed the left set after he finished, just as he did for the other side.

Connor lowered his shoulders and fell limp against the older man’s chest with soft giggles rising from his own, simply allowing him to hold him in his warm embrace. “I-I did say that, Hank...”

Hank smiled and lightly pinched at one of the prototype’s blue-tinged cheeks, keeping him in his arms for the next minute before took a glance at the side concealed by the plain tee. “And now that I know about all this, I’m actually feeling kinda hungry...” He purred, a devious smirk playing across his lips.

Connor’s eyes went agape just as his auditory processors picked up on the jest, identifying the lighthearted roguishness dripping in his tone. “H-Hank, I realize your intentions, and I advise you against this. If you are famished, you can find a proper source of nourishment in the kitchen- Aahh!” His attempt to dissuade the intent was deterred with a startled squeal as he was lightly pushed onto the couch and on his back, his father figure kneeling over his legs to prevent any venture to escape.

“Aw, c’mon, Connor! I haven’t had any ribs in a while!” Hank grumbled in a satirical manner as he slowly upheaved the fabric of the android’s casual tee by the hem and bunched it over his chest, exposing his entire abdomen. “I forgot what they taste like~”

“Hahank, please don’t do thihis! S-Surely there must be an alternatIIIIVE!” Once again, Connor’s attempt to reason with him came to a crashing halt as Hank swooped down and buried his face into the left set of ribs, gently nibbling at the artificial bones instantaneously. “AHAHAHAHAAA!”

“Mmmmm, that sure is tasty!” Hank murmured against the sensitive skin, causing the younger man to snort and jolt. “They’re so warm, ticklish, and they taste like giggles! Sounds like a pretty good snack to me!”

Connor shrieked mirthfully, startling Sumo out of his slumber in the process before settling back into his lazy doze. The android drummed his feet against the cushions and flailed his arms around as Hank continued to ‘devour’ at the sensitive artificial bones of his ribcage, switching between gently nibbling with his teeth and his lips at random moments, leaving him unable to calculate what the older man would do next until it was inflicted. The soft brushes of his beard and theatrical growls and eating noises seemed to add onto the sensations coursing through his sensors.

“HAHAHAHAAANK!” Connor wailed through his howls of laughter as he clenched his eyes shut tightly in an attempt to ease the feelings, wincing at the occasional quick raspberry administered to the horribly sensitive skin. “MEHEHEHERCY! DAHAHAAD, PLEHEHEASE! I-I CAHAHAN’T!”

As his last attempt to beg for mercy came forth, a hand ruffled the disheveled locks and the weight was lifted from his legs, allowing him to curl in on himself. The prototype sluggishly draped an arm over his eyes as if trying to hide himself as the blue tint slowly vanished from his goofily grinning face, simply lying in his current position and waiting for his leftover giggles to fade away. He pried his arm away from his face to look over at Hank, who returned the gaze with a wry, affectionate grin of his own that told him that he would surely take advantage of in the future.

“Thanks for mentioning that little detail. Now I know one more ticklish spot.”

[writer-and-artist27]

How to Kill a Slimy Snake Man

Because Osie gave me permission and the idea was too tempting to really resist. And they were nice enough to help me edit, so woo! More writing to share!

The usual disclaimers as always: I don’t own anything or anyone except Tomoko. Kei belongs to @langwrites, and Otoha to @owlsofstarlight.

The theme for this story is My Soul Your Beats, specifically the fanmade Duet Remix done originally by Lia and LisA for Angel Beats. I found that the remix really fits the world that is Silent Feathers, combining the piano that Tomoko is known for with the rock beats Lang and Osie seem to use a lot for CYB. I wanted to use this song for so long, I’m just glad Silent Feathers has given me an excuse to do so now!

This should canonically take place after the original Silent Feathers post, the short story titled Kuroha-san, and Osie’s most recent story showing Otoha’s lab antics.

Please enjoy!

Secrets always seemed to have this unspoken code of conduct. Vy’s past family took it to heart enough to where it was still ingrained in me as Tomoko.

(1) Never force someone into saying it. (2) No one was entitled to hearing another person’s secret. (3) If a secret is shared with you, you’re not supposed to share it with others because it breaks the whole idea of a “secret” in the first place. And (4), always be patient and understanding when someone wanted to share a secret. Interrupting was literally the nail in the coffin of any talk like that.

Even now, that didn’t change.

Kuroha-san was particularly antsy when the prospect of secret sharing came up in the air, and even if I didn’t know them as well as Kei, that didn’t mean they were any less deserving of respect.

Kuroha-san was just as much of a reincarnation buddy and friend as Kei. The least I could do was hear them out. The more help we could get before the world went to shit via Aliens and bullshitty snakes, the better.

I wasn’t expecting Otoha to blurt it out when the tension became a bit too much.

…Well, technically, they glossed over it, but the words were way too suspicious to be ignored. Even if they weren’t directed at me.

Kei was with us too, so that helped.

Maybe.

It all started with Kei prompting the question behind her cup of tea. “So, any updates on snake-man?”

Otoha flapped their right hand in the air while swaying back and forth on their seat cushion. “Oh you know, same-old same-old. The snan’s still proving why we need a code of ethics.” She fell silent for a second, then brightly added, “Oh, fun news, I told him about Unsealing Technique: Flesh Confetti and actually creeped him out!”

Kei visibly paused her thinking. “Flesh Confetti?”

Snan? What? Hisako loudly expressed in my place with a raised eyebrow. Is that supposed to mean something? And what the hell is Flesh Confetti?

For some reason, I could only imagine that one filler arc where Hinata came up with the Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms Technique for literally slicing up summon bees, and I shivered. Bug corpses were already not a pretty image to remember.

Otoha’s next comment didn’t help because Kei apparently set off an explanation. Around their strawberry mochi, because the sweets didn’t even deter them from talking. Or flapping their hands. “I store the fleshy bits and gore left over from my Razor Wind Jutsu and then unseal it over my unsuspecting enemies when I need a quick distraction! So, Flesh Confetti!”

Never mind. Ew.

My stomach sank as the saliva quickly dried up in my mouth. “How…effective.” The words were almost guttural and far too deep to really be from my voice if not for the fact I felt my lips move.

I did not need that image in my head.

Otoha only grabbed another strawberry mochi from the plate sitting in the center of the impromptu group huddle that we were having on my room floor. They apparently didn’t mind? “That’s the same reaction Orochimaru had.”

Now bile was climbing up my throat. Um. What.

Rewind. Did Kuroha-san say, “Orochimaru”?

My mental voice came out tiny and barely audible in the massive mental library. Hisako?

…They said, “Orochimaru.” My Nobody paced back and forth, shaking her head vigorously. Her long brown hair was flying everywhere, but she didn’t even seem to care, continuing to pace with a fish face. They. Freaking. Said. OROCHIMARU. Hisako repeated incredulously.  

What. What.

Kei didn’t seem all that fazed, judging by the raised eyebrow in Otoha’s direction, but my stomach was already starting to grow pumpkin patches for butterflies to start flocking around. Ugh.

The conversation starter of “snake-man” didn’t make me feel any better. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that my voice turned high-pitched to express that uncertainty. “Um, Kuroha-san? Kei?”

Both ninja turned to me. “Yeah, Tomo-chan?”

They were in unison. Holy heck, they were in freaking unison. Hisako clapped almost immediately, but I outwardly blinked because that kind of thing rarely happened outside of well-established ninja teams. Then again, I only really talked with Team Minato and Gai, so there was that…

That was both cool and kinda whoa. Hisako finished for me.

Yeah…

Kei and Otoha exchanged a look before turning back to meet my stare. “Uh, Tomo-chan,” Kei started slowly, putting down her cup of tea, “are you okay?”

“Trying?” I squeaked. The stomach butterflies were starting to mate now, frig. I did not want to throw up right now! “To be okay. I think. Um. Uh.”

Hisako had taken a fetal position in the library while pulling out a single cue card from around the corner. She was broken too. Darn it. The cue card barely helped with its single sentence of, Just say it.

This was going to be a bombshell.

I forced as much oxygen into my lungs with a deep breath, instinctively closed my eyes to save myself the embarrassment that was meeting my friends’ stares, before blurting it out. “WH-WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY OROCHIMARUUU~?!”

A long pause followed.

My heart was still beating against my ribs, the stomach butterflies were having a field day, and for some reason, no one was talking.

Okay. I know we’re not ones to talk, but. Hisako raised her head from her knees to glare out at the world. Despite her limited vantage point. Someone. TALK. Silence. Sucks.

I slowly opened my eyes.

Otoha had apparently turned white, brown eyes wide as their jaw clenched. Kei was equally perplexed, glancing between Otoha and I before shrugging helplessly. “We forgot to tell Tomo-chan, didn’t we, Os?”

“Eh…yeeah.” Otoha said slowly. I was not expecting them to chuckle nervously when turning back to meet my stare, and I couldn’t help but feel like I had done something wrong when hearing it. “Hehehe…yeah, Tomo-chan, I work for creepy snake guy.”

It was such a simple sentence, but it was enough to set something off.

Hisako, naturally, blew up first. Because of course. Inner darkness, people. THE FUCK?!

Outwardly, I held my tongue, took another really deep breath, and clenched my hands. Kuroha-san was nervous. They sounded guilty. I couldn’t panic. “…Creepy snake guy?”

“Creepy snake guy,” Otoha repeated, laughing again. It was still a nervous laugh. “Hehehe…oops?”   

“OOPS” DOES NOT HELP ANYTHING.

I took another breath. Hisako wasn’t helping either, but yelling something wouldn’t help the sudden weight residing in my heart. There were so many questions flooding my head, but what left my mouth instead was a quiet, “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Otoha inclined their head, and the confusion was obvious in their voice. “Oh yeah, Tomo-chan, I’m mostly safe. I mean, I’m taking shifts at the hospital and now I’ve got you. He can’t disappear me without questions. And being his lab assistant means I’m right in the spot to take him down.”

“Th-That’s not what I meant!” I didn’t even mean to yell, especially considering the fact that Otoha and Kei both had flinched, but something had snapped in me, and I was left helpless in riding whatever emotional wave it had. “You’re…you’re…” I hung my head. “You’re…”

You’re putting yourself at risk. And I have to hear about this just after we got to meet up? You’re risking your life?

You’re risking dying again?

Hisako was already getting up from her previous fetal position in the library to reach out towards me, a solemn look on her face. She already knew. She already saw where Vy’s old memories ended. There was too much red. Tomoko-chan—

Kei was faster than my Nobody in scooting over to sit near me, a hand already resting over both of mine. I didn’t even realize my hands were starting to shake until she was steadying them with hers. “Tomo. It’s okay.”

Snot was starting to come up to my nose as the doubt took a seat in my heart to fester like the darkness it was. Goddammit. The memory had to influence me again. “I-Is it? It’s fucking Orochimaru, Kei. An Orochimaru who got away with abusing his only son in Canon. An Orochimaru who got away with countless murders and child abuse and Hokage Naruto didn’t put him to justice. Hokage Naruto didn’t do anything to him.” The urge to cry was strong, but I didn’t want to break down now. The emotion wave couldn’t take me yet. It couldn’t. “A-And, Kuroha-san…” My voice stalled, no thanks to the sudden lump surfacing in my throat. “I just met you again, and hearing that—”

My breath was already starting to shake, but I choked out because they needed to hear it. From me. “I-I…I don’t want you to die.”

There was only a single second of silence before I could pick up the sound of someone scooting over. A hand landed on top of my head, and I looked up only to see Otoha smile. “Eh, no worries, not even death can kill me.” I could vaguely register that same hand start to pat my hair, and even when the tears were starting to bubble up in the corners of my vision, Otoha was still smiling. “I’ll be fine, Tomo-chan.”

When glancing to the side, Kei only shot me a small smile, nodding her head encouragingly. It was obvious she shared the same sentiment.

Trust them, Tomoko-chan. Hisako was already hugging me. Trust them.

I could’ve taken it. I could’ve. Instead, what left my mouth was a tiny and squeaky, “Really? How—How do you know that?”

I could’ve taken it if not for the fact that Ty said the same thing, and their influence still hurt. If not for the fact that I — that Vy — tried to help him, and he didn’t accept it. That he still called me out for being too naive. Too ignorant.

Otoha frowned, letting out what sounded like the hum of a troubled dinosaur as their hand stilled on my head. I wasn’t expecting the frown to suddenly turn upside down. “Hey,” their hand started patting my head again, smoothing some stray hairs back into place. “I got you and Kei, right? We can handle anything.”

My heart skipped a beat. When I glanced to the side, Kei only smirked, nodding again. “We’re all together, Tomo-chan. We’re not alone. We can do this.”

Hisako only closed her eyes, stepping back to look up at the library ceiling with a resigned smile. Water was already pooling at her sneakers. Three, two, one…

The first tear slid down my cheek. “K-Keiiiiii, Otohaaaaaa…” my voice cracked. “You—you two are such—” A smile was creeping up my face as I reached up to wipe at my eyes, the beginnings of a laugh echoing in my throat. “You two are such cheesy dorks. And you’re the ninja…” The first sniffle finally slipped through.

These two were the ninja, and they weren’t pessimistic.

They were actually optimistic. They actually believed in something better.

They weren’t Ty.

They felt like Leo and Josh. The same warmth, the same confident reassurances.

They were my friends.

I could finally take that.

Even with the water starting to flood the library like a sudden rainfall, Hisako only shrugged with a fond smile. We’re lucky, huh, Tomoko-chan?

I didn’t even have to look up to know Kei and Otoha were exchanging another look before I could only see past their shoulders. I somehow activated the Quick-Play Magic Card: Sudden Group Hug. Aaaaaah. “You don’t have to worry, Tomo-chan.” Kei’s voice echoed above my head, and the tight grip on my shoulders was enough for me to know that those hands were hers. “We can do this. There’s no need to cry.”

“I-I can’t help but cry, okay?” was the protesting squeak, but I couldn’t deny I was hugging them both back just as hard if not more so. “You two are my reincarnation buddies, and I want to see the future with you! A-And just when I worry, you two say something like that, and now I feel so happy, even though I know I should be worried about the Creepy Snake Guy…!”

Hisako bit back a barking laugh. Avatar reference a no go?

Then the lightbulb went off. “O-Or should I just call him, ‘Creepy Spooky Slimy Snake Guy’?”

Otoha let out a soft and happy crow-noise as the hand on my head started to brush through my hair. If I didn’t know any better, it resembled a triumphant laugh from how sudden it was. “Tomo-chan, I’m the lab assistant, let me worry about the Creepy Snake Guy. That’s easier.”

Even without the space to look up, I could already tell Kei was rolling her eyes. “Creepy Snake Guy. That works.” There was a small pause before the arm around my shoulders squeezed softly. “I think we should leave the music to Tomo-chan and not the names, huh, Os?”

“Hey…”

Otoha laughed again. “Vy Vy’s better at music.”

Now the tears were fading for a pout. Gosh darn it, these ninja. I could never be depressed around them, huh. “So,” I tried not to grumble, “does that mean I have to be the Nurse Joy of the group?”

Another small pause, then Kei was chuckling above my head. “I think Kairi is better.”

Otoha squawked like a pterodactyl. “Why not Al? Or Winry?”

Kei’s hand on my shoulder loosened. “That works too.”

Did they just start bringing on more references? The water in the library was already starting to reach Hisako’s knees, but she apparently didn’t seem to care judging by the proud grin on her face. Yes.

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised by my Nobody pulling out a vacuum of all things. Time to clean up! was the loud bellow. Water, be nice, and they’ll be no blood spilled.

It was best to ignore her pushing the power button.

Instead, I found myself laughing before sitting up in the group hug and squeezing Kei and Otoha both.

“Tomo?”

Another squawk. “Tomo-chan?”

“Just, thank you,” I said honestly, holding back happy tears. “Thank you both, so much. For believing. And for—” the name was like sawdust on my tongue, but I still said it anyways because I needed to let go. I needed to vent at one point. “For not being Ty.”

Kei exhaled shakily in what sounded like clear understanding, just as Otoha’s hand on my head stilled, another dinosaur trill soft in the air. “No problem, Tomo-chan,” they added quietly, hand patting my head all over again. “No problem.”

I couldn’t help the last small happy tear. I didn’t deserve these two, yet they were here. They were here, in the Group Hug, and my heart and mind were finally in agreement about something.

They weren’t going to leave.

The tear fell quickly to the floor tile as the Group Hug didn’t let up for a while.

Snake Man was going to see a painful death, and at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if these two ninja were the ones I would have to thank for it.

I had more than enough to thank them for already.

[thatdisastrousfangirl-writes]

The Other Way Chapter 1: A Very, Very bad Situation

A while ago I saw a thing on the main TAU blog that talked about a Transdim AU where instead of Dipper going to another dimension, little Mabel and Dipper from another one came to the TAUverse and i felt like writing about that. Hope you like it :)

“This is bad, this is very, very bad,” Dipper said, pacing back and forth at the end of the alleyway the two twins had showed up in.

“Just relax Dipdip, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Mabel responded, half-heartedly trying to calm him down, but knowing it really wouldn’t work.

“Mabel we’re in another dimension! How on earth am I supposed to relax!?” Mabel didn’t say anything, just sat down and watched her brother with a worried expression as he mumbled to himself.

He was right though, Mabel thought. How were they going to get through this? That portal had just appeared out of no where sucking them right in while exploring the forest, and it had left them who knew where in the multiverse.

When they came out here they had done a quick check of the area and saw two dryads, a centaur and her three children and multiple other magical beings walking around the busy streets with the other people, confirming Dippers theory of being in another world.

This would have been exciting for Mabel, had there been an obvious way home. A whole world just as magical as Gravity Falls? And even more so?? It would have been incredible for both of them but it was hard to be excited when you thought you where stuck.

“So what are we going to do?” she asked, Dipper stopped his pacing and looked at her, thinking for a second.

“I don’t know.”

Dipper went and sat down next to Mabel, looking down at the ground shaking his head.

“I-I don’t know,” he repeated. They were stuck. They both knew it. There wasn’t an awful lot they could do, especially considering they didn’t even really know what had opened the portal in the first place.

They sat together like that thinking in silence, having no idea what to do or say, for several minutes, when Mabel’s head perked up.

“Dipper, did you hear that?” Mabel whispered, looking around the lifeless alleyway. for the sound of shuffling she had heard.

“Probably just a stray or something,” said Dipper, not really paying attention, too deep in thought of never going home and is this how Great uncle Ford felt when he was sucked into that portal in the basement?

Mabel got up and walked over to behind the large bin to find the source of the sound, disappearing behind it with a muffled scream.

“Mabel?!” Dipper jumped up and rushed over to where she went, in time to see two hooded figures  standing up from their hidden crouches, one of them holding a struggling Mabel above the ground, a large, dark hand over her mouth. He was about to scream for help when the second figure stepped towards him and smacked something onto his cheek, knocking him out.

Dipper woke up all at once. One second he was asleep, the next he was wide awake, tied up, and lying on the cold hard floor in a near dark room. He started panicking as he remembered what happened, trying to get out of the zip ties holding his hands behind his back, and on his feet. After giving up he looked around for any sign of life in the dim light peeking through under what had to be a door a bit in front of him. Other then the vague outline of the door there wasn’t much Dipper could see, causing even more panic realising he couldn’t see his sister.

“Mabel?’ he choked out, looking for something, anything that would show she was there with him, but he couldn’t see anything. He was alone, and he started crying. ‘What is going on?’ he thought in-between sobs. Today was just getting worse and worse, and Dipper curled up on himself as best he could, tears falling down his face, with only the knowledge that he was far from home, captured for whatever reason, and away from Mabel.

When Mabel woke up, it was knelling in-front of a strange intricately drawn circle, in a room lit only by candles, with the two hooded figure on either side of her, each holding a shoulder. She had been tied up, and had duct tape over her mouth, stopping her from loudly demanding to know what the heck was going on here!

The two figures started chanting in a strange language, and one of them grabbed Mabel’s arm, slicing a knife across it making tears spill from her eyes. They pushed her into the circle, blood from the wound spilling onto the ground making it light up. Dark smoke started to appear above the candles, whose flames and changed from the usual orange to a bright dark blue, and swirl above her as the chant reached its crescendo. The two figures raising their arms together and said in a loud unified voice “ALCOR!”

The smoke came together, forming the shape of a floating pitch black man, with large dark wings coming out from his lower back. He had bright, throbbing, golden lines of brick work all over him, in some places braking off, and two deep pools of angry gold where his eyes should be. He said nothing, but looked at the two hooded figures in rage, both of them taking involuntary steps back in surprise, clearly not expecting this response.

“W̧҉̴̡͎̖̘̦̗̜̪̦̗̀Ḩ̪̘̜̲̘͖̻͉͈̼̻́̕͟A҉҉͙̗͍̰͔͈̫̫̼͎̩̣͠T̷̴̶̺̳̰͓̺͓͙͖̟̻ ̢͙̯̤̯̩͖͘I̧͏̷͙̰͇͓̰͇͙̣͖͍̯S̵̢̖̣̝͓͎̼̫͙̦̖̀͟͟ ̀҉̴͈͖̠͓̳̜̣̮̝̫̖͈̣͞͝T̢҉̴̴͉̮̯̱̘͙̞͇͖̭ͅH̵̴͢͏̜̞̝̯̼̲̞̤̕Į̴̶̨҉̺̹͙̺̣͎͍̯̳̬͙̤̪͎̗̲S̸̩͓̣̬̥̝̮̫̫̱̳̰̯̬͖̬̝͟͟͢͡?̶̷̬̬̙̞̣͈͉̙̗̺̀͝!̶͏̵͎̺͚̪̗̪̙̤̖̗͚̗͓ͅ” the man roared at the figures. He looked down at Mabel and back to her kidnappers before doing a double take and staring at her in shock, with those pure golden eyes.

“O-oh Great and Powerful Alcor, the Dreambender, w-we offer you this chil-“

“Ǹ̡̝̬͖O̸̴̢̪͇̬ͅ!” Alcor interrupted, staring down at the figures. Mabel looked up at him and could see the slight shake of his clenched fists.

“Bu-“ the other figure started, but suddenly stopped, as if having all the air from their lungs removed. They started to shake, collapsing to the ground, hands clawing at their throat drawing blood, trying to get even a single breath of air. Their accomplice started heaving as well, coughing, covering their mouth, blood seeping through their fingers, collapsing as well.

Mabel squeaked, and tried to move away from the two people who she just watched die. She looked back up at Alcor who was just staring at her, a sadness in his gaze, though not for the humans he had just killed.

Floating down so he was standing on the ground, Alcor took a step towards Mabel, but stopped as he saw her flinch.

“It’s okay Mabel, I won’t hurt you, I want to help.” he flicked his hand removing her bonds, and didn’t he now sound faintly familiar?

“H-how do you know my name?” she demanded, shakily. Alcor took a half step back, clearly torn between what he wanted to do, looking at her distantly.

“That’s, not important right now. Is your… your brother here?” he said instead of answering the question. Mabel was about to ask how this Alcor guy knew she had a brother when she remembered he had also been taken.

“OH MY GOD DIPPER!! I HAVE TO FIND HIM!!” Mabel jumped up, ignoring the so obviously a demon and raced to the door, only to find it locked.

Mabel turned to Alcor a desperation in her eyes. “You said you wanted to help right? Where’s Dipper?”

He smiled sadly, looking away slightly, “he’s, close.”

“Wha-“ Alcor snapped his fingers, stopping Mabel’s question and opening the door.

“There’s someone in the room down the hall to the left, that should be him.” Mabel didn’t bother thanking him, and just raced down to the door at the end of the passage way, slamming her shoulder into the wood, forcing it open.

“Could have just used the door nob but that works too I guess.”

Dipper’s head snapped up at the sudden sound of the door being slammed open, squinting at the light coming though.

“DIPPER!” Mabel screamed, running over and attacking him with a hug.

“MABEL!” Dipper screamed back, the zip ties disappearing, letting him hug her as well. They stayed like that for several minutes, until dipper noticed the dark shadow that had followed Mabel into the room, and he let go of her to get up and stand between them protectively in-front of his sister.

“Sup,” said the stranger, waving his hand awkwardly.

“Who-“

“It’s okay Dipper, that’s Alcor,” Mabel interjected, “he, helped me? I mean, probably could have done it in another way but I guess I’m alright.”

Alcor winced. “Yeeah, sorry you had to see that.”

“See what?” Dipper asked suspiciously, squinting his eyes at Alcor.

“Um.”

“LET’S not think about that, please.” Mabel said, attracting attention.

“Good idea! How about instead we think about where you two are gonna stay! Cause I have a feeling you don’t really have a place to go.”

“How’d you know that?” Now both twins were looking at Alcor with suspicion. Dipper taking a step back to be closer to Mabel still.

“Uhh, never mind that! Um, I reckon I have a place the two of you could stay, if your comfortable with that.” Alcor offered, Dipper and Mabel looking at each other before turning their backs on him to huddle and whisper.

“I don’t trust him, you didn’t sound at all convinced when you said it was all right, and we don’t even know what he is!” Dipper said quietly.

“I know but what choice do we have, I say we do trust him.”

“WHAT? WHY?”

“Well he did still help me and it’s not like he’s wrong about not having anywhere to go right now.” Dipper thought about it. Damn it what were they going to do. He didn’t feel safe just trusting that, what ever he is, but Mabel was right. They really didn’t have anywhere to stay.

“Fine, but if we die I’m blaming you.” They turned around.

“I heard all of what you just said,” Alcor stated before Mabel could say anything, “So you two ready?” he asked.

They looked at each other one more time, before nodding, Mabel more enthusiastically then her brother.

“Great, well just stay as calm as you can and I’ll tesser us over there.”

“Wait what’s that supposed to mean?” Dipper asked, but Alcor just ignored him, putting a hand on one of their shoulders each, before the three disappeared.

[1000-rat-corpses]

here's a little behind the scenes on my toreba addiction in the form of a little baring the ugly, and a little bit of '2020 the year of the pandemic in review' loool

i post my wins on toreba in those big ol walls of shit, right

WELLLL, it aint all sunshine and rainbows...

first the depressing part.

you should SEE the level of fails i go through to get to the point where i can post those compilations. just now i spent what would have been like... 42 dollars of points (23 plays) and didn't win the fucking thing, bailed bc i wasnt sure what to do and had like idk 2 plays left of points, then someone fixed the prize's position in one shot, passed it to another person, and that person won it in 2 plays. i was right behind the winner bc i had requeued hoping my two plays could do it.

the kicker is that if i hadn't fucked it up in the beginning part by bringing it just like idk a half inch too far right, it could have been won in 5-6 plays.

5-6 versus 23, and no win. lol that shit does get to you, bc tho it's not real money im spending it's a lot of time and effort goes into earning free points so the sting is sharp and biting, and it sits on you for the rest of the day, and sometimes days after bc you no longer have that stash of points you were working for and stockpiling for so long.

i earned a lot of points for my brother's account by doing some shitty mobile game offer. i won about 3 things with something like 240 dollars of points bc i was impatient, and he wanted this goku figure. i really wanted to win it for him bc like, thats a nice thing to do right? im winning all these other things for myself so surely i can get him the one thing he really wants (ftr i have won him like at least 6 things he likes/wanted so there is that) butttttt i stupidly got all sunk cost fallacy on that machine. i won the goku with my VERY last available play. in total costing me something like 100+ dollars of points. i whaled on a miku figure i already won 3 of bc i got baited on a machine that looked 'good', and spent 90 in points on her. i whaled on a similar machine for a shitty ugly looking edward elric figure: 74 dollars worth. 72 on some stupid pocaccho plush. and these are just a few.

my worst offense was a 3am depression whale. 125k tp (125 dollars worth) gone down the drain for this lil dude. and i did not win him. ever.

because i love persona 3. and i had won THREE of the persona 4 version of this, but minato who i like way more eluded me....and the night before i passed off a one shot win to another person thinking it wasn't good. LOL. the machine i played on was total ass, and my skill wasn't up to par i guess bc it got close so many times only to be reset. i kept whaling until i reset it for the millionth time and decided to let go bc there was no progress. my friends in discord were like bro you gotta let go but even tho you've got people telling you to stop sometimes it's really really hard. the hatred i had for myself for that stupid ass whale session for probably like a week was *chef's kiss* IMMACULATE. for the record, i could have just bought him for like, 23 dollars including shipping from a website doing preorders. OR i could have just sold one of my p4 spares to make money to buy him. but no it was like, you gotta win it. i would have been 100% satisfied if i had just won him after 125k tp spent. at least i told myself that. honestly i think i would have.

now here's the sappy part.

probably what is surprising to most people is that the social aspect of this game is phenomenally rewarding. i've made sooo many new friends during quarantine. we've had so much fun across all types of media even outside of getting in voice to help each other win prizes or just give someone company while they whale a bunch of free points (these are fun nights!!). we also host movie streams together, play games together, fuck around with the mudae bot with waifu gacha and waifu wars, bitch about low ball offers on mercari lol, and try to console and help each other out in our channel called 'gamblers hotline' lol. we've seen the rise and fall of the main, singular toreba discord at the time and witnessed it get nuked for no reason bc the owner hd a meltdown lol, then watched our tiny group refrom TWICE until we got it right, then watched on the side eatin popcorn while two new 'main' discords began to fight for dominance.

we change our nicknames in discord on the fly bc it's fucking funny, and to hold ourselves accountable. I was [Punished Lycoris] after that 125k p3 whale and fail, and for a while stuff like [Lyco - FREE PLAY ONLY DAY 3] to show we're keeping our responsible streak up XD

this all sounds pretty insane i guess bc 'gambling addict found family' doesn't really sound too...normal LOL. but i can't imagine what my 2020 would have been without them. it's kinda sappy i guess. it's nice to make friends you can talk to until 3am night after night with actual voices when the pandemic had you feeling some type of way.

the days of tons of points we had back in the fall-winter of 2020 is pretty much over though - the nature of our free point offers has kinda changed so we dont hold those fun night time streams of others playing, but we're hanging in there i guess.

sooo yeeah. i could write so much more, but ill stop there lol

this is what us fucked up addicts go through lmfao

[tellamoenlanoche-blog]

                   Capitulo Cuatro: “Me Llaman Enbrujada”

Movie Star Oscar: How do you feel about movies? The text arrives at 3pm on a Thursday; 2 days after Oscar gave Mari, his phone number. She didn't really think he would ever text her. She stares at his text longer than is probably socially acceptable. "¿Mari?" Her father's voice breaks her concentration and she immediately pockets her phone, when she meets his eyes. "Sorry, Pa. ¿Qué decias?" ("What did you say?") Her father, Amando, smiles fondly at her. "¿Té estaba preguntando sí querías mas?", he motions to her plate, already overfilled with food. ("I was asking if you wanted more?") She smiles, "No, Pa. Sit down, eat." He nods, gathering his plate from the counter and brings it to the small table near her. It's then that she hears her phone beep once more. She smiles apologetically towards her father as she quickly checks her phone again. Movie Star Oscar: & movie stars? Mari wants to desperately answer but one look at her father's face tells her that Oscar can wait. "¿Y quien té esta molestando tanto?" ("And whose bothering you so much?") She blushes, "Nadie, Pa. No mas un amigo." ("Nobody, Dad. Just a friend.") Amando raises her eyebrow as he begins to eat. The food calls to Mari as she begins to grab a tortilla and dig into her meal of frijoles, queso fresco and salsa roja. (...beans, fresh cheese, and red salsa.) "Pues no mas ten cuidado. Uno nunca sabe quando esos niños se ponen bravos." ("Well, just be careful. One never knows when those boys become aggressive.") He frowns and fixes her with a stern look in her direction; one that she ignores, knowing exactly who her father is talking about. "Oscar no es así," she whispers as she stuffs a scoop of tortilla and frijoles in her mouth. ("Oscar isn't like that.") "¿Oscar? ¿No es Emilio?" ("Oscar? It's not Emilio?") "No." "¿Y éste Oscar, cómo lo conocistes?" ("And this Oscar, how did you meet him?") "En la calle con su gata." (“In the street with his cat.”) "¿Mari, que tipo de persona-?" ("Mari, what kind of person-") Mari laughs, cutting off her dad's question. She loves teasing her dad. "Oscar, no más es un amigo. Me ayudo a conseguir el trabajo alla en Brooklyn. No se preocupe." ("Oscar is only a friend. He helped me get the job in Brooklyn. Don't worry.") Amando finishes chewing his food before speaking. "Lo quiero conocer." ("I want to meet him.") Mari's blush comes back, redder than before. "¡Pa! ¿Para qué?" ("Dad! For what?")

He stares at her, a solemn expression on his face.

“No más quiero ver que te tranta bien, mija.” (“I just want to make sure he is treating you right.”)

And with that Mari knows that her dad is still seeing his little girl, who six months ago had a bleeding messed up face from just ‘talking’ to Emilio.

Mari reaches out and intertwines her hand with his.

“Okay, pues, voy a ver si quiere. Y sí dice que no, pues ya no lo voy a ver.” (“Okay, well, I’ll ask him. If he says no, then I’ll stop seeing him.”)

Amando nods, sqeezing her hand before he collects her empty plate as well as his. He walks into the kitchen and she gets up to help him when her phone beeps again.

Movie Star Oscar: Mari?

Mari: Well, movies are always good and since you’re the only movie star i know, I would say movie stars are okaay when not surrounded by their fans

She goes to put her phone away when it beeps again.

Movie Star Oscar: Would you mind performing for a small party of mine? I’ll pay you!

Mari: It’s a small party, right?

Movie Star Oscar: yesss, only 10 people

Mari: Ok, no problem! When?

Movie Star Oscar: YOU’RE A LIFESAVER! & that’s the catch… it’s tonight at 9. Sorry for asking so late!

Mari: wttfffff Oscar! ! !

Movie Star Oscar: I forgot that I promised live music. Please please por favor Mari 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Mari: Did you just use an emoji to sway me?

Movie Star Oscar: =͟͟͞͞ =͟͟͞͞ ﾍ ( ´ Д `)ﾉ por favor, Mari

Mari: Okay, send me the address and is it casual or fancy?

Movie Star Oscar: Casual and here’s the address

Mari searches up the address and it’s quite a ride from her apartment (aka the apartment right above her dad’s). She looks at the time - 4pm - and knows she has a bit of time before she truly has to leave.

Her father walks back to the table and puts her arm around her shoulders. She soon realizes that she left her dad to do the dishes by himself.

“Sorry, Pa. I just got a text about a job tonight. In Brooklyn again, actually.”

He nods, understanding. “Tienes tiempo para tocar unas canciones?” (“Do you have time to play a couple of songs together?”)

Mari nods, “Siempre pa tí, Pa.” (“I always have time for you, Dad.”)

                                                      ♮♮♮♮♮

Mari pulls on her dress as she stands outside the building that Oscar had texted her to be at. She knows she should head in soon - with it being 8:45 - but finds herself, hesitating.

Her phone soons beeps.

Movie Star Oscar: you close???

Mari: yeah downstairs actually

Movie Star Oscar: QUE BUENO! I’ll get you!

Mari grins; she can practically hear his enthusiasm through her phone.

She looks up when she hears the door open and Oscar stands at the entrance and-and-

‘He looks so beautiful,’ she thinks as her heart begins to beat faster than before. She tightens her hold on her guitar, still without it’s case.

“¡Mari, vámonos! We’re on the roof!”

Mari smiles, as she enters the building. Oscar smiles and motions to the stairs, which he lets her go up first.

“Were you far?”

“Yeah but it was a nice ride. Are people here yet?”

“Yeeah, but there might be a slight change from what I texted you.”

That makes Mari stop in the middle of the stairs. She turns around to Oscar, who’s already sporting a sheepish look.

“What do you mean?”

He shrugs, “The party count may have risen.”

She frowns, “May?”

“Okay, it definitely did. There’s 25 now.”

Mari can feel the cold dread spread throughout her body. She can’t entertain 25 people. That would be 50 eyeballs on her judging her every move.  She can’t. She can’t. She ca-

“Mari? Mari, please listen to my voice. Deep breath in, deep breath out. In, out.”

She closes her eyes and follows Oscar’s whispered instructions. Once she feels like she can actually breath without being prompted, she opens her eyes.

The first things she registers is that Oscar is holding her hand. She begins to blush, knowing that she likes his hand’s warmth in hers.

“I’m so sorry, Mari. I didn’t think that  many people would show. But I guess when people hear free liquor, they just come.”

‘He’s still holding my hand!’

“Are they expecting live music?”

He nods, “Yeeah… but I don’t want to force you into a situation that you’re uncomfortable with.”

Mari glances at their intertwined hands before meeting Oscar’s eyes.

“I can do it, Oscar.”

The words tumble out of her mouth before she has time to think about when she had just agreed to.

He smiles, and it makes her heart lurch.

“Thank you so much, Mari. I can perform with you as well, if you want.”

His shy tone makes Mari’s heart melt.

“You play?”

“A bit and sing, too. Some say, I have a pretty good voice.”

And Mari would probably agree. Someone as handsome as Oscar would know how to sing beautifully.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind sharing the stage.”

He smiles and it makes Mari wants to dive in for a kiss.

“Okay. Let’s go up. They’re probably wondering where we are.”

And he holds her hand while he leads her all the way up.

When he opens the door to the roof, she can barely register all the people that fill the space with Oscar still holding her HAND.

“Oscar, where have you been?!”

A british voice makes Oscar let go of her hand while he hugs what can only be described as a really beautiful, beautiful young dark haired woman. Next to her, is an equally beautiful young man, who smiles at her.

Before she can introduce herself to the beautiful young man, Oscar puts his arm around her shoulders, which really stalls any sort of thought in her head or words from being spoken.

He squeezes her shoulder, and Mari can feel the heat of his arm on her shoulders.

“This is Mari, the greatest acoustic guitarist ever and our special guest tonight.”

The young man grins before offering his hand, “Name’s John and the over excited peanut to my left is Daisy.”

Mari smiles, shaking his hand before being abruptly pulled into a hug by Daisy. She makes sure to not let her guitar poke her.

“So good to meet ya. Oscar told us all about your awesome guitar skills!”

When she looks over at Oscar, he shrugs, “Just telling truths.”

She pulls away from Daisy, “I don’t know about being awesome but I know my way around a guitar.”

John laughs, “Oscar definitely made you sound like you invented the flamenco type of strumming.”

Daisy grins, “Like you were the goddess of Flamengo.”

At that, Mari raises her eyebrows.

“Okay, now they’re being asses.”

Mari laughs.

“Okay, see you later. Mari and I have to get ready for our set.”

“You’re performing together?”

Mari nods, “ Yeah, any special requests?”

Daisy smiles at John before whispering, “Moon River, if you can.”

John smiles back at Daisy and it clicks in Mari’s head that those two are a couple.

Oscar grabs her hand again and begins her pull away towards the little makeshift stage area. Every once in awhile, they stop and Oscar introduces her to more people.

She can only nod, because all she feels is the warmth of his hand in hers.

When he lets go and she can finally think, she registers that there are a lot of people here. A lot.

Some have already began to turn towards them, halting their conversations now that the entertainment has arrived and it makes Mari want to leave. Want to turn Oscar and tell him sorry, I can't and run away.

And she tries to; she turns around and the words are at the tip of her tongue, but she sees him with his guitar in his hands, tuning it and then he looks and grins at her. The soft lights that hang above them hit him softly and all she can think is: ‘He looks so beautiful.’

He strums his guitar once and he looks at her as if asking her if it’s tuned correctly. Mari nods; knowing she can’t speak right now and it's not because of her anxiety.

He smiles at her as he grabs the mic.

“¿Lista?” he whispers. (“Ready?”)

The light makes Oscar seem like  angelic and it makes suddenly hard to believe that Mari is sharing the stage with such an incredibly beautiful man.

“¿Mari?”

Mari knows she should speak but all she can do is nod and smile.

He grins, “Let’s begin then.”