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#24 discs and counting

veluni · 3 months

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So apparently Futaba, Mahiru, and Nana are the only ones who haven't done professional theatre work before coming to Seisho... We need to have a fic where the gang marathons each others' embarrassing child acting stints.

Claudine has lost count of how many commercials she did as a kid. She regrets doing this marathon approximately 24 hours later, when her friends won't stop singing commercial jingles in broken French.

Maya: "Oh, Arrie? I have the limited platinum edition with two discs of bonus features, we can watch that"

Claudine: "Please tell me you didn't just spend $50 on a dvd because you found out I was in it."

Maya: "No, I've had it since I was 12 years old. My childhood dream was to marry Arrie :)"

Junna: "wow I did not know it was possible for her face to get that red"

Once they get past the slough of commercials (and Arrie), watching the rest of Claudine and Maya's performances is fun for exactly no one save Claudine and Maya themselves. See, these two have (coincidentally! No, really!) acted in a lot of the same roles, and cannot resist using this rewatch to stoke their rivalry.

The gang is fucking floored to see that Dignified Class President Hoshimi Junna has her face plastered all over a glasses ad (this is canon)

She's not even ashamed. They give her a discount on all nine of the new frames she buys yearly.

(Junna doesn't even need different glasses for reading/distance or anything like that. She just has to make her glasses frame align with The Vibes of the day.)

At long last, Kaoruko is on the recieving end of embarassment. Don't forget, she's actually pretty shy! She would be hiding her face in her hands when her friends start talking about how cute baby Kao is with her teeny little fans.

Hikari puts in her footage. It's an unmarked dvd. The screen blazes to life to show that she was apparently frontlining an idol group, and a not obscure one if the size of the crowd is anything to go by. As the footage continues, the gang is in shock as they realize they've heard this song.

Kaorkuo: "Hikari what the fuck why didn't you tell us you were Stella~⭐!?"

Hikari: "it never came up."

#shoujo kageki revue starlight #skrs #revue starlight #revstar #claudine saijou #maya tendo #junna hoshimi #kaoruko hanayagi #hikari kagura

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crazyunsexycool · 8 months

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My little love

Chapter 24

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x enchanced!reader

Word count: 5.7k

Warning: angst!!!!! Some fluff, scared kids, crying kids, mad Charlotte, implied/mentioned sexual assault

A/N: I’m sorry… 😬😬😬

Series Masterlist

Swish.

“Nothing but net! Look at you go, little man.” Sam smiled as he dribbled the basketball. “If you keep going like this you might end up playing in the NBA. Just make sure you get me courtside seats.”

Henry giggled as he caught the ball Sam had bounced his way. He shifts his weight from foot to foot as he bounced the ball. The court was empty except for Sam and Henry who started spending some time together in the afternoons.

“Alright little man, let’s see what you got.”

Henry fakes a move to the right before turning and going left, side stepping Sam. He runs closer to the basket before launching the ball and again there’s nothing but net.

“That’s how you do it!” Sam raises his hand for a high-five. “Now how about first to 10 points wins?”

“Ok. But when I win I get to brag that I beat you.”

Sam quirks an eyebrow. “Is that how it is? Don’t make me have to kick your butt in basketball.”

“Can’t kick it if you can’t catch it.” Henry quips back before moving around quickly and making another basket.

“You’re a trash talker just like your dad.”

Henry laughs before Sam manages to make a basket himself.

****

“Alright sugar, you have heightened senses now. I think the serum also gives you more strength when it comes to your ability. So we need to figure that out.” Bucky’s hands were on your hips and he squeezed lightly before turning both of you away from the target he’d prepared. “Now, I want you to close your eyes and focus. I’ve hidden a few pieces of metal around here. Try to find them and use them to hit the target. The challenge will come in you not hitting me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to stand somewhere in the room and you have to avoid me. But you can’t look and to make sure you don’t, I'm going to blindfold you.”

“Uuhhh, kinky.” Say over your shoulder.

“Yeah well if you do a good job maybe I’ll keep it for later.” He whispers in your ear before trying the piece of fabric over your eyes. “Take a deep breath and concentrate. Take your time.”

“Ok.”

You hear him move away from you. His footsteps echo within the otherwise quiet room. You take a deep breath and concentrate. Bucky was right, with the serum your sense is heightened. It’s easier to attune your ability to detect metals better. You can pinpoint where he is based off of his metal arm. The screws holding together the glass panels that separate the room from the hallway and the small chunks of metal Bucky hid.

With another deep breath you will the pieces to hover and you pull them in your direction. The dance around you as you concentrate and shape them into pellets before sending them in the direction of the paper target. They swerve around Bucky, who’s standing directly in front of it, and hit the bullseye.

“Impressive but you missed a piece.” Bucky says after inspecting the paper.

“No I didn’t, the last piece is in your left hand.”

“Then why didn’t you take it?”

“Because I promised I wouldn’t use my ability on you without your consent.”

Bucky smiles as he holds up his hand and holds the last piece on his palm. It starts to hover before the shape starts shifting. It becomes a blob then a disc, a heart and finally a pellet. It flies from where Bucky is directly into the target before hitting the wall behind it and falling with a small thud.

“Show off.” He murmurs as he walks towards you.

Bucky takes off the blindfold and turns you. His lips find yours in a needy kiss.

“Are we still on for that date tonight?” You ask when you pull back from the kiss.

“Absolutely, I can’t wait to get you alone.”

“We’re alone now.” You murmur as you smile into another kiss.

“Hhmm. We should definitely take advantage of that.” He says as he pulls you into the small office that no one ever uses.

****

“If you’re going to be my assistant there are three very important things you need to know.” Tony stood with his arms behind his back, a serious expression on his face as he paced side to side. “In this lab we work hard, we create and we have a good time. Now,” he stops pacing and turns. “Your job as my assistant is simple. When I ask for a flathead you give me this.” He pulls out a flathead screwdriver from behind his back. “When I ask for a Phillips head you give me this one.” He pulls out a Phillips head screwdriver from his other hand. “And when I say rock on?”

“Wock on!” Lottie says from her place on his table. Both her little hands up in the air with her pointer finger and pinky up, her thumb holding down the two middle fingers.

“That’s right rock on. Now let’s get to work on this new suit, but first safety.”

He pulls on one of the drawers and pulls out Charlotte sized safety goggles and lab coat. She puts on the glasses and then Tony helps her with the lab coat.

“Flathead.”

“Fathead.” Lottie repeats as she hands over the screwdriver Tony asked for.

They work like this for a few minutes before Tony sits up straight, Lottie mirroring his actions.

“Is weady?”

“It’s ready. Let’s test it out.” Tony reaches for her and Lottie goes happily before he sets her down in the safety zone of his lab “Stay behind the safety glass.” He says and puts on noise canceling headphones.

Tony goes back to the table where the project he’s been working on was at and the new arm to his suit wraps around him. He moves around the lab and stands looking at the target across the room. Tony lifts his hand to test out his updated equipment.

“Hell yeah.” He says after the test is successful. “Rock on Lots.”

“Wock on!”

“Alright, let’s fix the other arm. Get over here, you’re the best assistant I’ve ever had.”

“Weally?” Lottie looks up at Tony, her eyes bright and full of joy.

“Absolutely. I might have to give you a job permanently, Lots.”

“Kay.”

Tony chuckles as Charlotte gets up on the table and sits down in the same spot as before.

“Fathead?”

“Fathead.” Tony confirms as he grabs the screwdriver from Lottie’s hand.

Lottie watches him work for a while, every so often handing him a tool or holding something for him. Suddenly she sits up and blinks quickly.

“Tony?”

“Yeah Lots?”

“Bad man is coming?” She says as she points to the glass doors of the lab.

Tony’s head snaps up and looks at the doors before picking her up.

“Intruder alert.” Friday announces. The lights in the lab dim and some of the suits that Tony has on display in his lab activate.

“Friday, lock down any main entry point to the compound and this lab. Alert the rest of the team and keep these suits in defense mode. Have any agents available gear up and be ready to defend.”

“Five armed teams have entered the building. Lockdown activated as of this moment.”

“Tony, want dada.” Charlotte whimpers as the suits move around and stand in front of both of them.

“I know Lots but we can’t go out there just yet. I’ll get you to your mom and dad soon ok. Just promise you’ll do as I say?”

“Kay.”

****

Just as Henry jumps to shoot the ball Friday announces the alert. He tenses as he turns to look at Sam.

“Five armed teams have entered the building. Lockdown activated as of this moment.” Friday announces.

“Is it the bad men? Are they going to take me away?”

“No matter who it is, I’m not going to let that happen ok. I need you to trust me and do as I say.”

“Ok.” Henry blinks back the tears as Sam ushers him into a hidden room made for this exact purpose.

Sam pulls out some weapons and pushes Henry into the small space before kneeling to be at eye level with him.

“I need you to stay here ok? This room is bulletproof and they can’t get to you here. The only people that can open it are you and the team. Friday won’t let anyone other than us open this door.”

“Don’t leave me in here please.”

“I can keep you safe like this ok little man. I know it’s scary but I promise no one can hurt you in here. Then I’ll take you to your parents.”

“Ok.” Henry says between sniffles and Sam gives him a quick hug before reluctantly closing the door. He turns to find a team fully armed and dressed head to toe in black heading his way. Guns trained on him.

“Put your hands up where I can see them.” One of them instructs.

“Identify yourselves. Who do you work for?” Sam says back, a gun pointed at them.

“I will when you cooperate.”

“Might as well get comfortable because I won’t follow your orders.”

****

Bucky had just shut the door to the office and pushed you up against it when you were alerted to what was happening. You both pulled away from the door and walked back out. Bucky grabbed the knife he always kept hidden in his boot and you pulled the metal that had been discarded at the other end of the room.

“Who were the kids with?” You ask as you walk out of the training room and into the hallway.

“Lottie was with Tony in his lab and Henry was with Sam in the gym.”

“We have to split up. I’ll go to Tony and you go to Sam.”

“No, we stay together.” He says in a low voice. “First to Sam. Tony has his suits and he can protect Charlotte. Sam will need the back up, he’s out in the open.”

“And you say you don’t care about him.”

He shoots you a glare over his shoulder. You both stop when you hear the otherwise quiet footsteps and you meet face to face with the intruders. There’s a face you recognize amongst the others, it makes you stop your attack before it begins.

“What the fuck is going on?” Steve had his hands on his hips and he was furious. “I want answers now.”

Wanda, Nat and Vision stood behind him ready for a fight. They had been confined to one of the shared living rooms when everything happened.

“It’s ok Steve.” You push past the group of agents that were blocking the door. “I mean it’s not ok but we’ll get answers soon enough.”

The whole compound was on high alert. Shield agents had already begun to fight back outside and some had even made it into the building to provide support to the avengers, it was a mess.

“Do you know what’s going on?”

“Not really.” Bucky didn’t have to push through, everyone stepped out of the way in pure fear. But it was the person that was behind him that got Steve’s attention.

“Sharon? What are you doing here?”

Sharon stepped into the room and gave everyone an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry for all of this but we received very disturbing reports. It was out of my hands. I was only added to this mission a few minutes before we were set to show up.”

“What reports? What are you talking about?”

“Where are Sam and Tony?” You ask as you look around and don’t see them. “Where are the kids?”

“That’s exactly why we’re here.”

Someone else says and everyone’s attention is on the shorter man with gray hair at the door.

“Agent Ross. What exactly is happening and if I don’t get an answer we are going to have a problem.” Steve says as he steps forward.

You can hear Charlotte’s piercing cry in the hallway and you breathe a sigh of relief. Tony walks in with her in his arms followed by Sam holding Henry’s hand. They both give you apologetic looks as they get closer to you.

“DADA!” Lottie wails as she reaches out for Bucky but agent Ross stands in the way.

“Move or I will move you.” Bucky says through gritted teeth.

Ross hesitates but takes a step back and Bucky grabs Lottie who holds on to him for dear life. He soothes her as best he can.

“Mama.” Henry says quietly and runs to you, his arms wrap tightly around your waist and you can feel him trembling.

“It’s ok sweet boy, you’re safe.”

“Care to explain why you think the CIA has the right to just waltz into my property and attack us, you hobbit?” Tony was fuming. Maybe it was because he didn’t like not knowing they were able to get past the gates without him being notified. Or because the kids were upset.

“We received a distressing report saying that the Avengers were experimenting on children. We had no choice but to come investigate. This was the only way to do it. Ambush you so that you couldn’t get rid of any evidence.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I’m sorry I scared them.” Everett holds up his hands. “But we will need to search the compound and speak to these children.”

“Like hell you will. What you’re going to do is get the hell off of my property before we rip your heads off.” Tony says calmly as he serves himself a drink.

“We can’t just ignore the call. It’s a serious accusation. Believe me when I say, I’m on your side.”

“Who called?” Steve asks.

“We don’t know who. The call was anonymous and from an untraceable number.” Sharon answers.

“Friday, play the call recording.”

“I’d like to report a crime for child endangerment.” The person is putting up a great act. There are sniffles and whimpers and even whispering. “I have it on good authority that children are being experimented on and tortured.”

“Ma’am could you tell me who you think is responsible and where this is taking place?”

“Yes, it’s in upstate New York. It’s the Avengers. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

The call cuts off and everyone is fuming and confused. But not you, your chest tightened and so does your hold on Henry. You blink back tears but Nat catches you.

“Y/N, What’s wrong?”

“Friday, play the recording again.”

The A.I. does as you ask and plays it again. You close your eyes now that you’re sure.

“I’m so sorry.” Everyone perks up at that. Your eyes go to Bucky.

“Sugar, why are you sorry?”

“That was my mother.”

“Ok hang on, your mother called to report possible child endangerment, why?” Everett asked, his brows high and his eyes wide with surprise. He looked around the room waiting for an answer.

“Because she’s an evil person.”

Ross brings one hand to his hip the other to his forehead, two of his fingers rubbing lightly as he thinks things through.

“Ok, why was she targeting the kids and the avengers if she has something against you?”

“Because these are my kids. Mine and Bucky’s.”

“Since when do you have kids?” Sharon questions.

“Listen, we’ll answer any question you want but can you get your men out of here. They’re scared enough as it is. We’ll calm them down and then I can answer everything you want.” Bucky says.

“We’ll still need to speak with the kids.”

Charlotte finally calmed down enough that her crying wasn’t bouncing off the walls. She still held on to Bucky though. It made both you and Bucky incredibly angry for the whole situation. Now the kids didn’t feel safe in their own home. All because of that vindictive woman that you were unfortunately related to.

“Henry baby, are you ok?” You ask softly as you move hair away from his face.

He nods but won’t look at you.

“It’s ok if you’re not ok. You don’t have to tell me but I’m here to listen if you want.”

“They’re not taking us away?” He finally looks up at you with pure fear in his eyes. It makes you want to go down to where the agents have gathered and kick their asses.

“Not at all. I’m so sorry baby. I never wanted this to happen to you.”

Henry doesn’t say anything, he just shifts in your lap and hides his face in your neck. He’s closing himself off like when he first arrived at the compound and you hate it.

“Is kay bubba.” Lottie says as she also finds a way into your lap and cuddles into his chest. “Dada an mama keep safe.”

You look up at Bucky unsure of what to do. He just sits next to you and wraps his arms around all three of you.

“I can’t believe Bucky has kids.” Sharon whispers. Her eyes go from the scene before her to Steve who was leaning against a wall next to her.

“Yeah, we were very surprised by it as well.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t agent Y/L/N their mom?”

“Yes she is.”

“So what is going on? The boy looks no older than eight and the girl looks around five. If I’m correct in their ages there is no way they were together back then.”

Steve looks at the four of you and then at Sharon. He studies every inch of her face unsure if he can trust her. He sighs because he knows he can.

“They were Hydra's experiment. They used Bucky’s DNA and some prisoner or volunteer. Hydra killed them seconds after they gave birth and the kids were started in the program to become the next generation of winter soldiers. She was found on an operating table when we raided a detention center hydra had. He was found chained in a dark room at a different hydra base weeks later.” He sighs as he thinks back at when the kids were first brought in and how different they are now. “We have everything documented. Wait until you see how they were treated, where they were kept, the things that were done to them.” Steve shakes his head. “It will make you sick to your stomach. Don't even get me started on the three that didn’t make it.”

Steve feels a pat on his legs. Both him and Sharon look down to find a tear filled Charlotte looking up at him.

“Can habe uppies?” She asks with her arms raised and a quiet voice.

“Of course you can sweetheart.”

Steve picks her up and she immediately hides her face in Steve’s shoulder. Her little hands gripped his shirt. Lottie turns her head slightly and finds Sharon looking at her.

“Hello little one. My name is Sharon and I’m friends with Steve. What’s your name?”

Lottie scowls at Sharon and turns her head in order to avoid the blond’s gaze.

“Oh sweetheart, Sharon is good, she can be your friend.” Steve says softly which prompts Lottie to pull back and look at Steve.

“Is no bitch?”

Sharon’s eyes widen in surprise and she covers her mouth so as to not laugh while Steve just scoffs.

“Charlotte what did I say about that word?” Bucky asks from across the room where he was still sitting with you and Henry.

“No say it?”

“That’s right you don’t say it. It’s a bad word.”

“Kay.”

“Can you apologize to Sharon for saying it?”

“Sowwy.”

“Apology accepted sweetie.” Sharon smiles at Lottie.

Lottie yawns and lays her head on Steve's shoulder again. The experience has worn her out. The same thing has happened with Henry who is currently asleep in your arms. He still has tear stains on his cheeks and it makes you so angry.

“Can you take him?” You whisper to Bucky who nods and maneuvers Henry into his hold.

You get up with the intention of going into the hallway but Sharon stops you from leaving the living room.

“I’m sorry but I can’t let you leave.”

“I’m only going to call my father. I need to know where that woman is, she can’t get away with doing this to us.”

“I’m under orders to keep everyone here.” She shoots you an apologetic look.

“Look, you can come with me and listen to the conversation. I don't care but please I need to make this call.”

“Ok, let’s go somewhere more private.” Sharon nods before turning to everyone in the room. “Please stay in this room, if not for you than for the kids.”

You lead Sharon into a small room down the hall and pull out your phone before dialing your dad’s number. It only rings twice.

“Hey Kitten, how’s it going?” He sounds rather happy.

“Hey dad.”

“What’s going on?” He knows something’s wrong just by the sound of your voice.

“Dad, I need to ask you something and I need to know the truth.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you, kitten you know that.”

You sigh, “Dad, have you heard from mom recently?”

“No. I told you on Sunday, when I got home after Lottie’s birthday she was already gone and so were her things. What’s wrong?”

Sharon shakes her head letting you know that you can’t give him any information. However you don’t care.

“She tried to get to me by hurting the kids. If she reaches out could you let me know?”

“Are they alright?”

“Yeah they’re fine, just shaken up.”

“Ok, I’ll let you know the minute I hear anything. Is there anything else I can do? I can be there in a couple of hours.” He offers.

“No It’s ok, I’ll keep you updated. Bye dad.”

“Bye kitten.”

You hang up and tuck the phone back into your back pocket. “How have you been Sharon?”

“Good. I can’t complain, you know. But how about you? When did you and Bucky finally happen?”

“A few months ago. Just after we found Charlotte.”

“And she calls you mama?”

You can’t help the smile that appears on your face as you nod. “It just kind of happened but we’re really happy.”

“That’s good. Buck deserves it, so do you. I wish I would have met the kids under better circumstances.”

“Yeah, this is fucked up and it’s Henry’s worst fear. That hydra will show up and take him away.”

“I’m sorry about that.” Sharon shakes her head. “I really didn’t know anything. I think they just brought me along because they think I have some sort of relationship with the team.”

“You do. You know that if you needed us we’d be there.”

There’s a knock on the door and it opens before either of you can say anything.

“What’s going on here?” Agent Ross asked.

“I was calling my father to see if he had heard from my mother. They’re in the middle of a divorce and my mother blames me for it hence the call to report us for child endangerment.”

His eyes dart over to Sharon who confirms your explanation and nods but holds the door open anyway. You walk out first and are met with Tony and his lawyer.

“Mr. Harris is going to represent us. He’s going to sit with each of us during the interview process.”

“You mean the interrogation process.” You give Ross a small glare.

“Oh you’ve poked mama bear. This is going to be so much fun. I can’t even wait to see what Barnes is going to be like. I hope you had a great life Ross.” Tony chuckles as he walks away toward the living room everyone else was at.

The interview process took hours. It was you then Bruce followed by Steve and Nat. After that it was Tony, Wanda and Sam. Bucky was left to the end since they were his kids biologically. Everett Ross even though you knew he was only doing his job, every question that Bucky was asked made you want to go in there and punch him.

Did he willingly participate in having children? No.

Did he remember if he was forced to be with these women? No.

Did he willingly give his DNA sample so that these children could be created via IVF? No.

“Was your DNA sample taken against your will?”

Bucky’s jaw tightened at the last question. The answer was yes, he knew it was. But having to say it out loud made it feel more real to Bucky. Has what he been through not enough? Did he have to also admit out loud that hydra also took advantage of him in a sexual way?

“Yes.” He says quietly as he stares at the metal table in front of him.

Your heart broke as you watched him from behind the two way mirror. Bucky gets up from his chair and walks out of the interview room. You follow suit and meet him in the hallway. He won’t look you in the eye and you don’t want to get to close or touch him, especially if he’s reliving a memory.

“I’m going to go check on Henry.” He says as he walks by you.

“Buck-“

You watch as he walks away from you and this interrogation. There’s a little tornado rounding the corner that gets your attention though. Made up of pink tulle and fury. Charlotte’s eyebrows are pinched and the corners of her lips turned downward. She stalks her way down the hall like a girl on a mission. You can’t imagine what she’ll be like when she’s a teenager.

Steve is hot on Lottie’s heels and just gives you this lost sort of look. Behind him the rest of the team scurries into the viewing room. Lottie doesn’t wait for any help. She opens the door to the interrogation room and if she wasn’t so little the people inside would be more scared as the door slams against the wall. Charlotte Barnes is not someone you want to piss off apparently.

“Hello, Charlotte.” Everett greets even though he’s a little startled. “How are you doing?”

“Woss.” Charlotte says as she pulls the chair out for herself and pulls herself up. She places her pink teddy bear on the table and she kneels on the chair to have a better look at the people across from her. “Am mad. Make bubba sad an no wike it an no wike you.” She says with the signature Barnes’ scowl on her face.

“I’m sorry but who is bubba?” Everett looks over at Sharon who is smiling at the little firecracker they’re interviewing.

“I believe she is referring to her brother Henry.” Mr. Harris informs Everett.

“Habe to say sowwy.”

“I really am sorry Charlotte.”

“No.” She puts a hand up to stop him. “Say sowwy to bubba.”

“Oh, I see. Well I will apologize to Henry, ok. Can I ask you a question?”

“Mhm.”

The team, who had been watching in the other room, chuckle at Charlotte’s attitude.

“Do you like living here?”

“Lobe it.”

“What do you love about living here?” Sharon asks.

“Habe dada, an mama, an bubba an a-pine.”

“What is an a pine?”

“She means Alpine, the cat.” Mr. Harris clarifies.

“Mhm. An Steebie. Am Steebie’s best girl.”

“What about everyone else?”

“Is good, is famiwe.” Charlotte nods.

“Do you feel safe with your family?”

“Mama an Dada keep safe. Make happy an habe fun.”

Everett smiled at the child across from him.

“Habe to say sowwy to bubba.” She reminds him as she gets down from the chair. Taking her bear with her and effectively ending the interview.

Charlotte opens the door for herself and finds you standing just outside waiting for her.

“Hi sweet Angel.”

“Hi mama. Lobe you mama.”

You scoop her up and pepper her face with kisses until she’s giggling.

“I love you too.” You say as you walk down the hallway.

“I think it’s time we end the interviews, don't you think Ross? We’ve put a dent into whatever safety they were feeling here. It’s obvious those kids are taken care of and loved. Especially when you look at their medical records. Everything checks out. I don’t think we need to make Henry feel more afraid by interviewing him either.” Sharon says.

“I agree. But first I must apologize to Henry.”

“Are you afraid of a four year old?”

“No.” Everett scoffs as he grabs his things and starts heading toward the door.

You were in the shared living room with the kids as you waited for Ross to ask to speak with Henry. The former sat on the couch with Alpine in his lap and his sister by his side. Lottie had made it a point to stay as close as possible and cuddle when needed.

Ross walked in quietly. He shot you an apologetic look as he got closer to the three of you. He could see and you could feel the way Henry tensed at the sight of him.

“Henry, is it ok if I get closer?” Ross asked halfway into the room.

Henry’s fearful gaze moved from Ross to you.

“You can say no and he’ll stay right where he is or he’ll move back.”

Henry didn’t dare look at Ross but shook his head denying the older man’s request. Ross gave a quick nod and stayed where he was.

“I wanted to say that I’m sorry for scaring you. It wasn’t my intention. It’s obvious that the person that called was doing it to be mean.”

“Ok.” Henry whispers before looking down at Alpine, continuing to pet her.

“I’ll be right back, I’m just going to the hallway.”

“Kay.” Lottie answers for both her and her brother as she rests her head on his shoulder.

****

“So what now?” You ask as you cross your arms over your chest.

“Now there is nothing for you to do. We have enough evidence to know that the call was done with ill intentions. I’ll be in contact with Mr. Harris if we need anything else and we will be tracking your mother.”

“Sounds good to me. It was good to see you again Ross just not under these circumstances.”

“I know but trust me when I say that I did it with the best intentions. Secretary Ross wanted to come in here with as many soldiers as he could find.” He informs you. “You know he’s always looking for a way to get rid of the Avengers or at least control you. If he were here right now I don’t doubt he would have done something horrible to try and push Barnes and get a reaction out of him.”

You nod because you remember the whole ordeal when Bucky was brought in.

“I’m leaving now but if I hear anything else I’ll let you know.”

With that Everett Ross is walking down the hallway.

****

The others checked in on you once you’d brought the kids back to the apartment. The only thing you were really worried about was where Bucky had gone. Steve left to find him after you voiced your concern. That left you alone with a child that was scared and one that was still pissed off. Henry clung to you like a koala which made things a bit difficult but you managed. If he needed to be held to feel safe then you would hold him.

After getting them something to eat, giving them showers and dressed with pajamas the three of you finally plopped down in your bed. Alpine was curled up next to Lottie who was petting her softly. You sat against the headboard playing with Henry’s hair, he sitting in your lap and his face hidden against your chest. A movie played but you were too distracted to pay attention.

The day’s events wore all of you out because the three of you fell asleep just as you were in bed. But when you instinctively reached out for Bucky on his side of the bed you were met with fur. That made you more alert and you looked to his side to find Henry, Lottie and Alpine all cuddled up together which doesn’t make sense. Henry was on top of you and you had fallen asleep sitting down. Your first thought is that Bucky walked in and moved you around but why hadn’t you noticed?

You get up and check the bathroom first but he’s not there. Then you head out toward the living room where you can see the glow of the tv in the otherwise dark apartment.

“Dad?” You call out in disbelief.

“Hey kitten.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Bucky called me and asked me to come down.” He patted the empty spot beside him and pulled you into his side once you sat down.

The tears you’d been holding back all day spring up. Eddie comforts you and reassures you that everything is alright. The kids are safe and so are you.

“I thought we were going to lose them. I thought that hydra had been the ones to break in.” You say through tears.

“I know kitten, but they’re safe now. They aren’t going anywhere.”

You allow yourself a few minutes to cry before pulling back and looking at your father.

“Have you talked to Bucky?”

“Just when he called and asked me to come down and when he met me outside but he didn’t say much.”

“It was horrible. The interview.”

“Just give him some time. He needs to sort out his emotions.”

You nod and rest your head against his shoulder again.

“How about we watch that new episode of The Mandalorian?”

You chuckle but nod your head. Soon enough Henry comes out of your room followed by Lottie. Both of them settle either on your lap or next to you. You give them more cuddles and kisses as the episode plays.

You decide to do as your father said and give Bucky some space. Hopefully he comes back soon because you’re still worried about him. But for now you focus on the one thing you can do which is make sure your kids feel safe and protected.

Ch. 25

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husky-studies · 5 months

Text

Okay so HONESTLY im gonna ramble about this idea i got from reading one of the genshin sagau posts about the creator and their books that are read are popping into tevyat BUT imagine if it were the movies we have watched (inspired from @sagaubeloved sorry for the ping if it bothers you 😭)

LIKE imagine if ur a horror movie fanatic, IMAGINE THE CHARACTER'S REACTION. Idk if u watch horror bcs u like it or u just like a good scare or two but imagine showing them a movie like maybe the nun 2 or fnaf or coraline or ANY HORROR MOVIES. Imagine if the people (scholars, maybe some theatrics enjoyers?) are horrified watching it "THE CREATOR WATCHES THIS?!" "Yeah i do-" They'd either get nightmares or became really paranoid cause horror movie end credits sometimes scares me like 'based on-' no. I think they'd be paranoid because it says based on real life or something. Especially if its coraline, HONESTLY I COULDNT SLEEP MUCH FOR A FEW DAYS BECAUSE OF THE SPIDER MOM OR WHATEVER OTHER MOM THAT IS 😭😭 buttons for eyes (no- not identity v-) or if its something like FNAF then they'd probably be paranoid 💀 (until they know its actually from a game that has like 13 versions with i think 8 being the ACTUAL part of the series and the rest being spin-offs)

Now other than horror movies we have something moreeeee child friendly? Maybe some of y'all still watches trolls (i heard trolls 3 was about to be released), disney maybe, dreamworks am i the only one who suddenly remembers ratatouille talking about this-. The characters would be less horrified with this and go like "oh, this is the type of movie creator likes? Sounds nice" IF YOU'RE LIKE ME AND YOU HAVE THE DISC OF THE MOVIES AND YOU PLAYED THAT ONE MOVIE YOU JUST CANT STOP WATCHING BECAUSE ITS SO DANG GOOD, they'd probably cherish THAT movie more than the others because BRO, THE CREATOR watches that shit 24/7 WHO WOULDNT KEEP THAT MOVIE DISC FOR THE WHOLE TEVYAT TO SEE. AND YK WHATS FUNNY, IF ITS A MOVIE THAT HAS LIKE ANIMALS AS THE MAIN CHARACTERS (Madagascar, Lion King, etc) idt they'd even know what a LION is. I MEAN THE BASIC ANIMALS LIKE DOGS, CATS AND BIRDS ARE THERE (does rishboland tigers count as tigers here-) BUT SOMETHING MORE WILD LIKE LIONS or SPECIFIC BIRD TYPES, MONKEYS????(wolfs should exist i mean, theres wolvendom, snakes also exist cuz if not then wtf is changsheng, deers, dragons???)

Okay maybe some science fiction enjoyers, something futuristic or robotic like Transformers maybe? (Im sorry my brain could only thing of that 💀 like any transformers movie) They'd either be baffled at that or like taking notes, they'd probably compare those futuristic stuff like the robots with RUIN GUARDS or WHATEVER ELSE IS THE BRANCHING OFF OF THOSE THINGS. Maybe Sumeru would get the gist? Tbh sumeru kinda have more gadgets but we dk abt snezhnaya yet (im thinking snezhnaya has some of their own gadgets as well)

#genshin posting #genshin sagau #genshin x reader #genshin impact

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officialaemondtargaryen · 2 years

Note

Look i’ma need 24 and 12 in one (in that order) and Eddie saying it and I’ma need that stat. Please. Thank you. You’re awesome.

Prompts: (24) "The first time you smiled, it felt like the universe aligned" and (12) "I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified"

Characters: Eddie Munson x Reader

Word Count: 754

Trigger Warning: mentions of blood, near-death experience

The moment that he cut that rope, you knew you were going after him. He said that he was going to buy you some more time to make an escape with Dustin, but you knew that he just wanted the chance to be a hero. For your own selfish reasons, you couldn't let him have it. You wouldn't.

If Eddie Munson was going to die, then goddamnit, so were you.

"Dustin," your voice was trembling as you stared up at the gaping hole in the ceiling of Eddie's trailer. "Help me get up there."

Your younger friend didn't even hesitate, he immediately sprang into action and pulled over a barstool, situating it right under the gate. You shared a look, giving him a nod before crawling up on the stool and grabbing onto an edge, pulling yourself into the dark dimension. Your body landed with a thud and you were pretty sure you had herniated a disc or maybe broken a rib.

"Are you okay?" Dustin called up to you.

"Yeah," you groaned as you rolled to your side and pushed yourself up from the floor. Dustin tossed your ax upwards and you were able to catch it, slinging it over your shoulder. "I need you to find something else for us to get back through. Another sheet, a ladder, something."

He nodded and disappeared from your sight. Outside of the trailer, you could hear the ear-piercing screeching and the sound of screams.

Eddie.

The earth shook beneath your feet, making you unsteady, but you ran as fast as you could towards him. Your heart nearly stopped beating at the sight; eyes wide, jaw slack, and a dozen or so bats swarming around him, diving at each opportunity they had to take a bite out of his flesh. He was pinned to the ground, struggling to fight his foe; his body writhing, weapons discarded to the side.

"Get the hell off!" You yelled, swinging your ax down on the bat that had its tail wrapped around Eddie's throat. Their attention diverted to you, and you did your absolute best to fend them off; pure adrenaline pumping through your veins as you swung through the air, taking down bat after bat.

Suddenly, you felt a pain in your side that brought you to your knees; razor-sharp teeth tearing through your muscle. You dug your fingers into the bat's slimy skin and tore it away from your body, screaming in agony as its teeth ripped through your flesh.

You could see in Eddie's wide, glistening eyes that this was the moment that you were both going to die. Still, you staggered to your feet ready to swing at any bat that even attempted to come near you, but the moment that you lifted your ax to take a swing, the bats dropped to the ground like flies; dead.

Whether it was some kind of miracle or by the grace of God, you were thankful that it was over. Your body collapsed; chest heaving, exhausted, bleeding, and wounded.

"Eddie," you crawled over to him. Tears immediately swelled in your eyes. He had lost a lot of blood and his breathing was shallow; eyes dark and pooling with his own tears.

"Y- you saved me," He whispered with blood-stained lips forcing a small smile. It damn near broke you. "Y-you're my hero."

You smiled back at him as you cradled him in your arms, fingers gently moving the hair from his face as your tears dropped to his cheeks. "You're the hero, Eddie."

He lifted up a finger and wiped a tear from your cheek. "Y-you know," He sputtered. "The first time you smiled at me, it- it felt like the universe aligned. I shouldn't have-" he coughed more blood. "I shouldn't have waited this long to tell you, but, I th- I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified."

"Terrified because you might die or?"

"That too," he tried to laugh.

"Well, guess what?" You asked, squeezing his hand in yours as hard as you could. "You're not going to die, you can't, I won't let you."

"M-maybe you should," he breathed.

You shook your head, "Sorry, Munson, you're not getting away from me that easy. Especially not when you've just confessed your love to me. You're stuck with me now."

"I think I could live with that," his smile was blood and grit but damn if it didn't make your heart flutter.

"Yeah?" You asked, he nodded. "Good. Let's get you out of here."

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withoutyouimsaskia · 1 year

Text

Remember Me, Special Dreams

Part XIX.

GIF: Originally posted by @

Summary: Self-insert. You're having trouble with recurring night terrors and Morpheus pays you a visit. (Title from the lyrics of Placebo’s Special Needs)

Warnings: language, angst, mentions of night terrors.

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: Hello there, hope you are well. It’s been frosty and snowy in the UK over the past few of days and it is making everything look so pretty. How about you, what’s your weather behaving like? Also, please prepare yourself for massive feels in this one. Take care, all my love, Saskia <3

Sandman Masterlist

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

You awaken naturally when the sun begins to cast a glow and warmth into your bedroom.

There's a smile on your face. You feel so light and airy.

Images of your time in Fiddler’s Green with Morpheus flash behind your eyelids. The way the sunlight touched his face, carving out his cheekbones. The rosy pink of his lips as they were upturned by his contentedness. The lustre in his eyes as he watched you drink in the beautiful nature around you. How he had sat so still and serene when you had explored the celestial scenes inside his coat.

The kisses too. You can feel your mouth tingling from them, despite the fact that it had technically happened inside your head.

Morpheus’ technique was faultless; there was the correct amount of pressure and yield between you both, and the fact that you hadn’t gone any further, it was refreshingly mature. You were no longer a hedonistic teenager and he was definitely not either, if he ever had been one.

What surprises you the most is that you don’t feel frightened by this development. Before, you had admonished yourself for kissing him and had sought to contain your less than platonic feelings, yet kissing him had felt like the right thing to do.

The two of you clearly shared a mutual attraction. Why else would Morpheus have initiated it?

You grin widely, it is impossible to suppress.

Were physical interactions with humans going to pale in comparison from now on? Based on the satisfaction you currently felt, it was looking highly likely.

You reach up to swipe at an itch on your nose. Something strange is found there; a soft disc. You open your eyes to inspect the object.

A petal is sticking to the pad of your index finger.

A cherry blossom petal.

You then notice the Sakura scent that is dispersing around you. It is luscious, but it shouldn't be there.

Adrenaline forces you up into a seated position.

There's pink everywhere. On every surface. Sticking to your exposed skin. Caught in your hair.

Realisation dawns on you with a stomach dropping shock.

You've just pulled some of the dream through into the waking world.

"Fuck!" You curse out loud.

With flitting thoughts, you are going back through the past few days to try and find a trigger.

There's nothing bad.

No confidence knocking incidents at work, or disquieting news, nor fear inducing encounters.

If anything, you have been the opposite of bad. You have been happy. Morpheus had seen to that.

Perhaps too well, it now seemed.

“Fuck,” you repeat again, more quietly.

***

It takes you hours to clean your room. You resort to scooping the petals into a bucket and then depositing them into the compost bin by your front door. It is tiring but at least the manual task gives you time to think about things.

You reach the conclusion that it is intense emotions of any kind that causes your ability to manifest.

You know you must tell Morpheus of what you did but after the events of last night, you are somewhat conflicted.

There is care and affection and understanding between you. Friendship. A considerable achievement based on how precarious your association had been at one time. The thought of shattering such a fragile thing, a thing that indicated the beginnings of an attachment, you cannot bear it. And when you factor in the other friendships you have forged in the Dreaming...

When all the debris is cleared, you sit dejectedly on your bedroom floor. Various courses of action are followed through to completion in your mind. You do this repeatedly, agonising over minute details in the hope that you can figure it out. Yet the only thing you settle on is this:

There is just one route that can be taken.

When it reaches night time, you heave your leaden frame into bed. You close your eyes and picture him in your mind.

"Morpheus." You whisper. “I need to talk to you but I don't think it is safe for me to come to the Dreaming.”

You are pulled under in a matter of minutes.

You are standing in a void.

An inky, echoing void, painted in hues of twilight, deepening into midnight the further you look. You are unable to locate a boundary in the barren space.

Morpheus emerges from the darkness.

“Where are we?” Your voice echoes eerily.

"A place outside the usual boundary of the Dreaming."

"And the dreamers will be safe from me here?"

"Yes," he utters the word with total reassurance.

You release the breath you had been holding with a shaky exhalation.

"You are distressed, Y/N," he states, drawing closer to you. “Has someone hurt you?”

You shake your head. Your heart constricts uncomfortably as you prepare to divulge the terrible information.

“I pulled part of last night’s dream through into my bedroom. The blossom from the trees.”

From the disturbed expression on his face, this was something that Morpheus had not anticipated being able to transpire.

“You have not been stressed,” he reasons.

“I know.”

“And I did not feel any disturbances in the structure of the Dreaming.”

It suddenly dawns on you however, that you had been trembling; you had reasoned it to be because of the coat but maybe there had been something else at play.

“You have to do something,” you say firmly.

He shakes his head. “I am forbidden from taking action against a human who is not an active threat.”

Your voice rises in pitch, “What about this do you not consider an active threat?”

“I will find a way to handle this,” his tone implies he is trying to shut the conversation down.

This only riles you further. “No. You have to take away my ability to dream.”

He blinks and processes your statement. “I will not. To sever you from the Dreaming, it would take away so much of what it means to be human. I could not do that to you.”

“So you would rather see me dead?” You blurt out.

Pain and confusion flicker in his eyes.

“Matthew told me how vortexes are usually handled. I may not be one, but I know that I pose a serious threat to the Dreaming and that you must neutralise it.”

You begin to intellectualise out loud. “The function of sleep is not to dream but to rest and repair the brain and body, and process the day's events. As long as I can still do those things, it doesn't matter whether I can dream and I’m fairly certain that is the case otherwise you would have already mentioned that.”

You look Morpheus straight in the eyes, challenging him with the stubbornness of your gaze. “Am I right?”

His mouth falls into a severe line. “You are correct. Your health would not be compromised.”

It’s all the confirmation that you need to feel like you are making an informed decision, yet it doesn’t stop him from making a last ditch attempt to sway your resolve.

One of his hands twitches towards yours as if he wants to touch you.

“If I cut you off from the Dreaming, you will turn your back on all the relationships you have made here. You will be unable to visit the places that bring you comfort. I would-”

“I know,” you interrupt, forcing back a sob. “Of course I would miss the life I’ve built here. It’s all I’ve been thinking about since the moment I woke up.”

You can see that it is going to take more than that to persuade him so in your desperation, you begin to lie about your feelings. You hate yourself immediately for doing it.

“That being said, I can't live in a dream forever. I have a life in the waking world. The only reason I am here in the first place, with such awareness, is because of a malfunction in my brain. You have to let me go."

He turns away from you, taking a deep breath.

“There is no other way. You know I am right,” you persist verbally and move to keep his face in view. “It’s the only way to protect your realm.”

His face is blank.

“Please, Morpheus,” you are almost begging now. “I don't want to hurt anyone again.”

Time crawls sluggishly as you wait on tenterhooks for his answer.

Begrudging acceptance takes his features. He eventually nods in defeat and takes two steps backwards. Anguish seeps from his form.

When he looks at you again, the familiar and comforting blue of his eyes has gone, replaced by a shining silver. It’s like the eyeshine seen in nocturnal animals when a light catches their retinas.

The effect unsettles you.

His coat suddenly whips in the wind, each movement casting shadow shapes into the space around and between you.

He extends his right arm and for the first time, you feel his power in its undiluted form. It warps every molecule creating a chimera curtain across the confines of your body.

The temperature is tepid, inoffensive, however the intensity is stunning. You choke back a vocalisation of discomfort, stifling it into a shaky whimper.

Numbness takes your fingers and toes before travelling up your limbs.

The boundless energy pushes deeper into your chest, concentrating in the space a few centimetres below the hollow of your throat.

Realisation dawns on you with heartbreaking clarity. There is such thing as a human soul, and Morpheus was about to breach yours.

There is resistance. Painful resistance. You close your eyes, urging the strain to dissipate. You know that you will not be able to withstand it much longer yet you know you cannot give up now.

The tension snaps.

Your eyes fly open.

Morpheus' face jumps.

Everything that he needs to consume rushes out.

You feel the entire agonising loss of it.

It is over in a matter of seconds.

Then everything stills.

Morpheus lowers his hand.

It is done.

You feel like you are falling.

Morpheus moves forwards quickly, arms outstretched as if to break your fall but no feeling of being caught ever comes.

You instead wake in your room with a sickening jolt.

Rivers of tears are tracking down your cheeks and strangled cries bubble out of your throat.

You had done the right thing and you knew it. But it didn’t stop you from feeling like you were shattering into millions of pieces.

Morpheus was unreachable.

The dream was over.

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

A/N II: I’m really sorry.

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

"Forget the horror here. Leave it all down here. It's future rust and then it's future dust."

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merryfortune · 2 months

Text

Encounter at Twilight Expedition to Humanity

Written for the YGO Rare Pairs Mini Bang 23-24

Ship: Damselflyshipping | Aoi/Bohman

Rating: T

Word Count: 14,955

Tags: Post-Canon, Fluff and Angst, Secret Relationship, Humour, Developing Relationship, Getting Together, Confessions, Grief/Mourning

“There’s a new update rolling out to Duel Discs tonight, I would appreciate it very much if you adhered to the advice to downloading it and were prompt in doing so.” Akira said over the dining table in a stern voice. Yet, he was so innocuously casual about it, punctuating the finish of his warning by taking another bite to eat of the meal in front of him.

Aoi nodded, “I’ll do it.” she said, hiding a giggle.

“I mean it, Aoi.” Akira squinted at her. “I don’t want you to skip out on it, it's very important as it will make uploads of your records so far in your Duel Disc and further insulate it from being hacked. I know you feel quite protected with the skills Ema and Yusaku et all have taught you but I would feel more peace of mind if you downloaded it.”

“I will. I wasn’t being cheeky. Gosh.” Aoi replied.

Now she was being cheeky but she couldn’t help it. Nor the giggle which had prompted Akira’s additional statement. She was just so giddy and fond. It was nice to be coddled sometimes, especially over dinner and by her brother. That’s why she found a little bit of laughter on her lips in between the seared steak and steamed vegetables that she was eating with Akira.

They had been so distant from one another for all sorts of reasons, it was a dream come true that they had circled back to being close siblings again. Aoi wouldn’t trade that for the world. So, she wanted to cherish it, the mundanity of it.

“I just have to plug my Duel Disc into my computer, yeah?” Aoi asked. “Let the updates take place, all that stuff.”

“Yes, exactly.” Akira replied.

“Then I’ll do it after I finish eating and before I go to bed.” Aoi said.

“Don’t forget to do your homework either.” Akira said. “And don’t forget to brush your teeth either.”

“Akira!” Aoi complained.

Akira giggled, “sorry, sorry, a little overboard, I know. I just worry about you sometimes, that's all.”

“I worry about you, too. So don’t forget to brush your teeth either, big brother.” Aoi harrumphed.

“I won’t.” Akira smiled.

Aoi smiled back and the conversation quietened from there. They finished their meal soon after and parted ways. Aoi had her homework and Akira had his business calls. It was pretty boring, actually, but Aoi had really come to appreciate the boring as of late.

A lot had happened and a lot of it had happened out of grief and rage and mourning so it was kind of nice to go back to the small and rote.

She and Akira had been put through the wringer in their duel with Ai and they were washed out quite badly by the torrent of his emotions. Then everything had gone quiet. Scarily quiet. Until suddenly, there was a change. Three months off the absence of Yusaku’s disappearance and then reappearance with Ai in tow.

Now, they were six months now off the back of the ordeal with Ai and things were still quiet. But things had changed. After all, she and Akira now had these lovely little homemade dinners together every so often. Not every day but every couple of days which was a lot nicer than this time last year before any of the revelations regarding SOL Tech’s dirty little secret in the form of the Incident had occurred. The ramifications of which they were still reckoning with since so far, the only surviving creation from that abhorrent experience was Ai…

So far.

Yusaku was working hard, for better or for worse, to bring back the other five Ignises and that’s presumably why Akira’s security update was so important to him. He wanted to protect Aoi, still, and the company’s interests, too. And probably the rest of Den City, too, since they had seen - firsthand - how just a slice of Ai’s wrath could decimate and there were, allegedly, worse futures to come.

Aoi merely hoped not.

She wasn’t sure what else she could do except hope as time and time again, she could go as all out as possible with every weapon she had access to, and it still wouldn’t be enough. So, she wanted to believe that hope could change the world as she couldn’t imagine the apocalypse or armageddon unravelling over loss.

Because she had plenty of loss, too. Her parents, her pride, and her partner, too.

Gosh, Aoi hoped that Aqua would return soon. She needed Aqua and Miyu to finally meet so bad but, better still, she wanted to see her own friend and partner again. That was probably the hope that she held on most to, the repairing of friendships because maybe that could change the course of the future and the world.

Because God. Aoi missed Aqua.

And she knew Takeru missed Flame and then there were all the missed connections, too, with the other Ignis. Earth, Windy, Lightning. Admittedly, she didn’t know how those last three would go. She wasn’t sure how any of them would play nice with their Origins, particularly the latter two who had hurt their Origins in some way. Then there was poor Earth who had Spectre, honestly Aoi pitied Earth for that cosmic match-up.

Though, if they could get along, that would have to be a tipping point for the better since more Ignis-Origin duos would get along than. So, Aoi could only hope it would turn out that way but she couldn’t see a world in which it would. Though, apologies and betterance would definitely be more difficult in the cases of Windy and Lightning with their Origins.

Argh. It was all too difficult. Aoi was just an outsider looking in. She was close, she was on the other side of the looking glass but it wasn’t good enough. She wished there was more she could do but the best Aoi could come up with was… improving her duels off-screen and supporting the people in her life.

So, that update on her Duel Disc she had to roll…?

There was a weird cosmic match-up hidden within it as well.

Aoi did the right thing. She found the adapter that she didn’t use all that often since her Duel Disc, modern and advantageous as it was, had wireless charging and then plugged it in. Tada. Twenty minutes of build-up - her ruminations, her rummaging around her room to even find the adapter - and then two seconds to plug it in.

After that, Aoi had the rest of her evening to herself. She could do her homework, she could go through combos with her paper cards. Or none of that, she could depression doom-scroll on her phone, too. The world, as little as it was as the world was just her room inside her and Akira’s luxurious, penthouse flat, was in her hands.

She turned her back on the computer and her Duel Disc then tried to make up her mind on how she wanted to spend the rest of her free time, about two-three hours at most. If she wanted to go to bed at a reasonable time then wake up in time, well rested, for school tomorrow.

Then her room, dimly lit and cosy with fairy lights and a pretty vintage lamp, turned blinding white.

Aoi’s heart seized as her dust rose pink walls turned an absolute pastel. She turned around and she had to squint into the abyss that had suddenly expanded out from behind the glass screen of her computer, amalgamated with what her Duel Disc could provide.

Her lips trembled. Her voice bobbed up and down in her larynx as she froze with the unknown. Her eyes widened as this blinding light which kept her harrowed for a good few seconds then began to fade, as a figure - a projection, shadowed and with a silhouette she could place instantly, anywhere - began to take its place.

Yellow sparks of electricity gave way to the colour of flesh as he looked over his hands. There was movement, the flapping of the billowing fabric that made up the eccentricities of his costume.

“Where am I…?” he asked himself. “How am I…?”

“Bohman…” Aoi breathed and then as soon as she named him, her common sense kicked back in. “What are you doing in my room?!”

Her screech took Bohman by surprise. Even though this was her room, her computer, her everything that he had found himself inside of, she had mattered so little to him as he blinked and slowly turned his head. All of him came into view, his mane of brown hair and his eyes which were like fire. They were calculating, masking his confusion as he tried to find answers of which…. There was none.

For either of them.

“I know you.” Bohman said. “You are the true identity of Blue Maiden, a valiant enemy of mine.”

Aoi felt oddly… flattered by Bohman’s description of her. Valiant. Definition: showing or possessing courage and determination. Neither were qualities she felt she embodied but of all the enemies she had faced, Bohman was by far the most noble, she would admit. He was regal. Graceful. Even now as he stood around - glitches half through him, turning his white gown blue and red - he had that aura about him.

“Why am I here?” Bohman asked and Aoi suppressed a gasp as a tear slid down the side of his face. “Where is Haru? I - I died. I should be dead.”

Aoi swallowed. “You think I want you here? How should I know?”

She chose that over anything to do with Haru. Their sibling story, she had duelled them both and saw elements of herself and Akira somewhere through it. Warped and twisted as it were.

“Ah. Of course.” Bohman said.

He backed down and was disheartened to do so. He looked over himself. He looked just as he had against his final duel against Playmaker - something Aoi only knew from watching videos on the matter. Cobbled together, most of them copyright struck under false claims or otherwise dealt with so the wider public couldn’t see them.

A quiet settled between them. It was uncomfortable and uneasy. Neither moving from where they were. Aoi stood her ground by her bed and Bohman stood in the slats of the wood of her desk, a projection or something close. They stared at each other. Waiting, willing, daring for someone to do something.

And Akira did.

“Aoi? Are you okay? Who are you talking to?”

Aoi could have jumped out of her skin. She was a teenage girl - almost a grown ass woman! - so why in the world did Akira have what was functionally a baby monitor on her. He was in a completely different wing of the apartment and he was paging her through the intercom. His voice came through with delay, like a crackly phone message.

She rushed to it and held down the message button, so she could accept Akira’s call.

“Yes, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” Aoi said and she cut Akira off before he could even reply.

He, of all people, did not need to know that there was a male stranger in her room right now. Aoi even made it so that Akira couldn’t contact her through the intercom for the next hour.

“Okay, um, let’s talk.” Aoi said with her voice lowered. Bohman nodded and she drew closer. “So, are you… alive?”

She felt rightful in her scepticism that Bohman was alive as an entity, he wasn’t solid. Not to mention, not dead and alive were two different things. She would know as someone who had been in and out of comas in the past twelve months. Though at least Bohman was awake, that then begged the question, especially since he was hips high in her desk, did he have sensation?

Aoi reached out. She unfurled her hand, finger by finger. She felt like the kids in E.T. and Bohman mustn’t have understood the reference because he stared at her hand.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Aoi said and she retracted her hand.

Bohman groaned and his brows knitted together, “To answer your question however,” he said, “yes, I am alive.” He seemed irate that he even had to answer such a silly question.

He looked around Aoi’s room for more clues. Obviously the cushy teenage girl stuff on the walls wasn’t all that helpful. Nor was her computer as it was in sleep mode as it provided the battery for her Duel Disc to receive the updates over the course of the next couple hours then oh. Bohman realised it, too. Her Duel Disc, meanwhile, was of use and note.

Bohman reached for it but his fingers phased through it. It caused the illusion of his appearance - strong, foreboding, ominous - to quiver and tremble. The grandeur of the appearance of man he embodied reduced.

“Do you need help… with something?” Aoi asked uncertainly.

She stepped forward again. She reached out to him again, too, and became aware of how close they were. At least in appearance. Not so much in any other way. As when she finally touched him, sure enough her fingers grazed through the electronic illusion of him, too.

And he recoiled, as well.

“What are you doing?” he asked, moving away from her, his voice was grouchy as though offended a human would touch him. Or try to considering his current state.

“Trying to help.” Aoi said. “Have you ever heard of a little thing called being nice to each other?” She frowned. Cutely. That disarmed Bohman somewhat.

“Yes, I am aware of the concept. Haru and I would be nice to each other occasionally.” Bohman confessed.

Aoi’s nose wrinkled. That was… adorable. And sad. Like, really sad. She shouldn’t laugh so she didn’t.

“But yes. I would like your help. I believe the mystery of my reappearance begins with your Duel Disc. Peculiar as you were not the last enemy I vanquished nor the one I was vanquished by.” Bohman regarded her warily and his lips pressed together firmly. His expression turned hard and stony to mask the grief just behind his eyes as he thought of the person that Aoi - Blue Maiden - had conquered in her and her team’s invasion of the faction Bohman belonged to.

Haru.

“You killed him.” Bohman said. “You were the last person who saw him alive.”

Bohman brought his hand to his chest. His fingers curled into a fist and held himself so tightly, a vein could have popped.

“I saw a vision of him in the finale of my loss against Playmaker but he was already dead by that point.” Bohman said.

Aoi held her breath. She didn’t know what to say. Bohman was right. She did kill Haru.

“I’m so-”

“Help me with this.” Bohman interrupted her. His eyes transfixed on her fiercely. “I am sure you and him are pivotal pieces in my immaculate resurrection. This Duel Disc may also hold some clues. As I cannot touch it, I would like it if you could investigate it in my stead.”

His voice was measured as he instigated a tentative alliance. His expression as he spoke was devoid of emotion, also. His gaze bored down and into Aoi. It all mounted as a boiling pressure that made it worse for Aoi as she stewed with the guilt of knowing what had to be done. She recalled, in fragments, her duel with Haru and then reached for her Duel Disc.

Static prickled on her fingers as she touched it and then. There was another burst of light. It was quick. Short. Blinding. Aoi was starstruck by it and the conversion of energy made Aoi’s hair blow back and dazzle her eyes. And when it dissipated, Bohman was gone. From in front of Aoi, at least.

Now, she was holding him.

From inside her Duel Disc.

Like Pandor.

Like… Aqua…

The change disconcerted him, also.

Aoi tilted the Duel Disc so that Bohman could look up at her. She had no doubt that he was seeing the worst angle of her: physically and emotionally. He had duelled Aoi as Blue Maiden and had seen both his brother’s killer in her and a noble soul, too. He respected her. More than any other opponent that Aoi had ever faced; not Playmaker, not Baira, and definitely not Spectre.

And yet… The grief of coming back to life without the one who would make life living for him, it calcified into a grudge, which Aoi could understand. She sighed, letting go of her breath but not the guilt which felt like a stone in the bottom of her stomach.

She wasn’t sure what to do with herself now. Except assuage Akira that nothing was wrong. She was just having a stereotypical hysterical teenage girl moment for no reason. No reason at all, even. After that? It was going to be a long haul to find the answers to the questions that plagued both herself and Bohman and it was not going to be easy either.

Not if Bohman had anything to do with it.

And as it would turn out, it would be the smaller, more innocuous things that would be harder than the actual big questions they were grappling with. Things like school and the boring in-betweens their quest for answers.

The following morning, Aoi had a shower and it was business as usual. She washed her hair and shaved her legs, applied lip balm and blow dried all over. She slipped into a pair of socks and did up her tie. When she came out of her bathroom, that’s when she remembered.

The night before. It hadn’t been a dream. Her Duel Disc - she almost thoughtlessly collected up off her desk - was fully charged and now home to a malevolent yet eccentric A.I.

“Good morning, Blue Maiden.” Bohman bade her.

He looked so strange when he was reduced to being Ignis-sized. Aoi wondered if he had an alternative form as an eyeball, too. That would make sense.

“Aoi is fine.” Aoi corrected him.

She soured and turned away from her desk. She grabbed her schoolbag in lieu of her Duel Disc. This appeared unusual to Bohman as he folded his arms in front of himself.

“Are you not going to ‘school’ today?” he asked.

“I am.” Aoi replied as she slung her back over her shoulder.

“Then why aren’t you taking your Duel Disc?” Bohman inquired.

“Because you're in it.” Aoi said.

Bohman’s eyes turned piercing, “I demand to go to school with you.”

“Why?” Aoi did her best not to snarl in her confusion.

“I require your school’s networks.” Bohman said.

“What do you need the school’s network for?” Aoi asked.

“To look for Haru.” Bohman said. “I suppose I could do it from your room but-”

Aoi’s mind raced. There was no way she wanted Bohman poking through her and her brother’s network. He would undoubtedly find awkward puberty questions she had asked through her browser’s incognito mode or embarrassing Blue Angel x Reader fanfiction that she had looked up out of morbid curiosity. And those were best case scenarios! And who knew what sensitive work that Akira took home…

There was absolutely no need for Bohman to get his hands on any of that. Not that school was going to be better with the hundreds of students and who knows what but there was no way Bohman was going to rouse suspicions from her and Akira’s apartment.

“Fair point.” Aoi replied and she snatched her Duel Disc up.

Bohman ducked down beneath her palm as Aoi quickly did it up like a watch. She glimpsed that Bohman did, in fact, have an eyeball form and it looked how she imagined. He sized her up from this angle as she moved on. Though Aoi knew she had plenty of time to spare to arrive on time, she never wanted to risk it so she rushed on.

Though, all whilst she walked to school, she had a bad feeling in her gut. Though, she typically had a bad feeling down there. Whether it was her period or paranoia that someone only wanted to be friends with her to get a foot in the door for their career at SOL Tech, Aoi was often outwardly a grump. This was different, somehow.

Probably because she was harbouring an undead artificial intelligence that had tried to engorge himself on all the Neuron Link - and the other Ignis.

Carrying Aqua around felt different. It was a completely different relationship. Aqua had attempted to be a saviour and ally of humanity after all. Not its ender. She had been bright and veracious with a pure core. Her appearance had brought Aoi back to Miyu and for that, she would be forever grateful, too. She’d also had more common sense around humans, too, Aoi mused as she pinned down the true worry which was turning to a rock inside of her.

Aoi just hoped that Bohman would behave. She could help him get to the computer room after lunch when they had free study. She could go up there and pretend that she was doing research for an assignment whilstBohman had free reign in his search. She did genuinely hope that he found something but only time would tell.

She had to get through the first four periods of her day first, starting with good old mathematics.

Aoi took her place at the back of the classroom and settled in for the morning. It had been a cloudy walk to school with that funny smell from before it rained thick in the air, alongside that of air pollution, too. She glanced out the window and saw that it had begun to rain, slowly and sparsely. She wondered briefly if it would get better or worse through the day as she hadn’t checked the forecast and now, there was no time to.

The bell rang and the teacher took her place at the head of the classroom. First they had attendance and once everyone was accounted for, then the roll call teacher swapped for the actual mathematics teacher. It was all very boring compared to the raindrops racing on the window in Aoi’s fleeting moments of absent-mindedness.

She still did the work, followed along and opened the textbook. Did the quiz on her tablet. It was all very dull and rote, not to Bohman’s liking at all as the mode of learning turned from passive to active as the teacher began to check in with her students.

One by one, scattered and at random, the teacher plucked the minds of random students to make sure they were learning and paying attention. The questions bounced around, to and fro, front, middle, and back until it was Aoi’s turn apparently.

“Zaizen-san.” the Teacher prompted her.

“Yes?” Aoi replied, bobbing up from her school supplies, perhaps more surprised than she meant to be.

She wasn’t blitzing all her tests and quizzes with one-hundred per-cent accuracy. She was an A to A minus kind of gal across all her studies, really only struggling in P.E. because look at her. She was a spindly nerd who liked to play card games in her free time but her daydreaming had been to a detriment. She had a lot on her plate, after all. Not that the teacher needed to know that as she waved her hand and it was like magic, the smartboard illuminated with a new graphic and the next question.

“Find M so that the lines with equations -2x + My = 5 and 4y + x = -9 are perpendicular.” the Teacher said.

Maybe it was because Aoi hadn’t been giving her hundred and ten per-cent attention but the intermediate question boggled her mind. The logic of the question raced through her as she did her best to figure it out, scribbling some notes but someone else tried to get in first.

“The answer is-”

Aoi acted faster than she knew she could act. Her heart had stopped but the rest of her had not.

That voice. It was deep and robust and carried a sense of renown. Aoi wasn’t going to bet that people would recognise it from the incident in the Link VRAINS from last year but she also wasn’t going to take that risk.

Aoi clamped her hand over the top of her Duel Disc. She didn’t look down from the smart board to do so, as that would look suspicious. She just hoped that Bohman would get the message that he wasn’t to talk during classes. That should have been obvious but apparently not.

She smiled, baring her teeth, as she started again, “the answer is…”

And lo and behold. She got it wrong where undoubtedly Bohman would have gotten it right. She felt a little bit embarrassed but embarrassed was far better than exposing her secret.

Free period couldn’t have come soon enough. Only… twenty four more minutes to go until recess. Then another two classes. Then lunch then… Ugh… Free period was long, long ways off.

Especially since her classmate Fujiki Yusaku seemed to have a sixth sense for when something strange was either going to happen, was about to happen, or had already happened.

“Hey Aoi.” Yusaku said to her during recess.

He wasn’t meant to be in this classroom but given his circumstances, some leeway was allowed so that he could continue to see his friends during school hours. Because of his stint of absence last year, and through goodness knows how much convincing, Yusaku was allowed to remain a student at Den City High School. In the same year as before. So this year, that put him and Aoi not only in totally different classes but years.

“Hey… Yusaku.” Aoi replied through a fake smile.

She had really hoped to get some time during the twenty minute morning tea break to scold Bohman. Lay down some rules about how this would work. He appeared to operate on a totally different plane of logic, reason, and common sense to her so figuring out some common ground was likely going to be beneficial.

But for now, she had to deal with Yusaku in front of her.

At least in a crowded room of people, they couldn’t talk about anything too sensitive. Though given how wary Yusaku’s eyes were, maybe he only wanted to check in with her.

“What brings you here?” Aoi asked.

“Wanted to say hi to you.” Yusaku said. “And Naoki. I’m trying this new thing where I try to be more sociable.”

Ah. That confirmed Aoi’s suspicions. He just wanted to be nice. But still. Aoi saw that micro-split second where he glanced at his wrist where his Duel Disc just peeked from underneath his sleeve.

“Mm.” Aoi said, acknowledging Ai without saying anything.

“Yeah.” Yusaku agreed.

They paused a moment and Aoi figured, if Bohman could hear them, then she may as well ask.

“Any luck with that project you were telling me about?” Aoi asked. “The science-y, computer-y one…”

“Not really.” Yusaku replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“That’s a shame but if you ever need a hand, I’d love to help.” Aoi replied.

“I appreciate it.” Yusaku said.

Aoi waited for a sign that maybe she had shown too much of her hand on that one but Yusaku’s eyes went sad. Understanding. Aqua.

“Good luck.” Aoi bade him.

“Thanks and I better go.” Yusaku said.

He awkwardly excused himself and Aoi watched as he left. They never did figure out how to be bubbly sociable selves around each other. Yusaku wasn’t really like that but once her shell was open, Aoi could be. Even so, she hoped to still grow closer to Yusaku. His sudden disappearance had been heartstopping, he looked frailer for it but emotionally? Never better now that he had Ai by his side again.

Sure, Ai and Aoi didn’t part ways on the best of terms but with all the pieces in place… Aoi could accept an apology. She knew it wouldn’t happen again, she believed in the redemption of the Ignis and wanted to see their peaceful coexistence alongside humanity.

With a tightening heart, Aoi glanced at her wrist. Her sleeve hid her sleek and shiny Duel Disc and it of course hid Bohman. Aoi could feel herself on the precipice of some kind of revelation or epiphany on the topic. Maybe she should have been more forthright with Yusaku. Maybe she’d made the right decision not to tell him. As she wasn’t sure yet whether to believe in the redemption and co-existence of Lightning’s creations alongside humanity.

Though, first they had to find and bring back Haru. As a younger sibling, she wouldn’t want Akira to be lonely without her and she didn’t want to be lonely without Akira, either.

The class bell rang again and Aoi did her best to shuffle her thoughts along. She had to focus on her education and better still: free period.

That last block of the school day seemed ever more tantalising than usual with her secret burning a hole in her. Aoi bided her time, counted the minutes until finally, their teachers gave them the spiel and speech like clockwork. They were becoming young adults blah blah blah and so could host their own study sessions, conduct themselves in whatever manner they deemed suitable in their maturation.

Aoi, who was in good standing with the teachers as she was generally more on-task, courteous, and mature, wasn’t even given a second glance when she requested as much privacy as possible in the computer room. Luckily, no one else needed it, not when other students were content with just their tablets so she was entrusted the keys.

With a smile, Aoi graciously accepted them and then counted to ten once she had heard the computer teacher walk away before putting up her jacket to the glass window on the door. The computer room was on the second storey so hopefully no one could peer in through the windows to the far side of the room. Though Aoi wasn’t certain how big or how little Bohman’s efforts to use the network could be, she won’t lie. She was expecting fireworks.

“It's all yours now.” she told him and as she unclipped her Duel Disc from around her wrist. She placed it on the flat of the desk in front of her then sat back lazily.

As an eyeball, Bohman warily checked his surroundings first. As discreetly as he could, the pupil moved slowly from one side of the glass to the other. Then, satisfied that it was just him and Aoi, he revealed himself in full. It was like watching an angel ascend, there were beams of light and the unheard choir, Aoi could swear as she was blinded once more by Bohman’s appearance. He projected himself out of it and thus, towered over the computer room.

“I appreciate it, Aoi.” he told her.

“Your welcome, just… be quick.” Aoi mumbled.

Bohman nodded once and then got to work.

Aoi had heard once a debate about how if one had all the knowledge in the world, what would that be like? Would it be insufferable? That the total and completeness of it all, the torrent of information would be so overwhelming that it would actually be impossible to discern at all or. Would it be pure and perfect clarity?

Based on what she could tell from Bohman, it was definitely the latter.

He was graceful as he brought the network to life and then manipulated it from this real life realm of flesh and blood. Although, he brought his native world of the digital into this one through the Link Sense that Aoi had heard so little about and the results were beautiful.

The room with cream walls turned a pale blue. Yellow data glittered around them, coalescing with white sparkles and blue lasers that all went in straight lines, never bisecting or otherwise criss-crossing. Forever and perpetually perpendicular. Bohman could freely change their directions however, with just a quirk of his eyebrow, a twitch of his finger, or if he was feeling especially bold: a command in the Ignis language.

Aoi had never heard Aqua speak it, but she had heard from Yusaku and Takeru that it was actually quite painful on the ears. It was a language of shrieking and screeching, beeps and boops. Not from Bohman’s mouth. It sounded alien, yes, but almost angelic coming from his deep voice.

This went on for what felt like eternity, to Aoi anyway. In actuality, it was mere minutes. That may as well have been an eternity to Bohman who could calculate mathematics instantaneously, who had a supercomputer for a brain and then there was nothing.

Dramatically, it all fell silent. To darkness. Just the cloudy and overcast weather creeping in through the far windows and Aoi’s jacket blocking out the fluorescent lighting on the other side of the door.

Bohman’s shoulders slumped forward and he sighed, malcontent.

Aoi’s stomach dropped. That didn’t feel like a good sign as she watched Bohman close his eyes in frustration.

“A-Are you okay?” she asked in a whisper quiet voice.

“I have not found what I am looking for.” Bohman announced, a touch of irateness to his voice.

Aoi swallowed a lump, her mouth dried. “But you did find something?” She dared to ask. She sat up straighter.

“I did.” Bohman said. “I found five of the six Ignis.”

Aoi blinked.

Then blinked again as she found herself unable to hazard a stunned, “What?!”

Yusaku had spent the better part of the last six months on the hunt for the Ignis. He could only turn up Ai which made sense. They were partners, Ignis and Origin after all but now Bohman turns up out of nowhere and in a matter of minutes, finds the other five? What?

“I assume the Dark Ignis is alive and well, living with Playmaker?” Bohman inquired. “Hence why you spoke in code with his true identity as Fujiki Yusaku earlier?”

“Correct.” Aoi replied.

Bohman’s expression turned unreadable.

Aoi didn’t know what to do, if Bohman wanted comfort or if he wanted a solution. Not that she had any idea on how to provide either to him. Her lips quivered.

“Why is it a bad thing that you’ve found all the Ignis?” she asked, her eyes watered. “I want to see Aqua again, I want Aqua to reunite with her Origin.”

“Because I do not know how to face my creator or his kin.” Bohman replied, cross. “I do not know if he knows how to face his creator or his kin, either. It is an uncomfortable situation with more banes than boons. I can tell your companionship with the Water Ignis is true but more heartbreak is to be carried than not. And there will be none without the other for I am a hammer, not a scalpel.”

Bohman gave a flourish of his hands and Aoi gasped. Her eyes went wide. Within his palm, once more, he held all of the Ignis. Those felled and those submitted to him.

Aoi felt sick to her stomach. It was just their skeletons, really. Their desiccated corpses. A scatter of a data which was in perpetual motion, occasionally taking on an angle or a memory of the Ignis that it actually represented.

Then, just as quickly as he revealed them, Bohman hid them. He crushed them, curling his hand into a fist and Aoi had to bite her tongue not to make a pained noise. They weren’t alive. There was no malice in Bohman’s movements. Just grief.

“What should we do with them?” Bohman asked.

“Why are they here?” Aoi asked, trying her best not to let her voice crack lest she sound hysterical.

“They weren’t. They were in every corner of the Link VRAINS. I found them there.” Bohman said. “I could have found them from your bedroom but the flow of Link Sense, it is stronger where there are people. The Neuron Link can find minds, connections better amongst people than in isolation. How peculiar.”

“Yeah… How peculiar indeed.” Aoi bitterly agreed.

“Now, it seems we are at an impasse, Blue Maiden.” Bohman said and his demeanour turned freezing cold. His eyes hardened as he looked down at her with contempt. “I did not find any clues regarding my resurrection nor locate Haru’s status or whereabouts. Yet now, I have something you want. I am not merely a burden to you.”

“You don’t have to threaten or intimidate me into helping, Bohman.” Aoi fought back. “I’d help regardless… It's the least I can do after… after what I did to Haru.”

Bohman was taken aback, a flicker of guilt though his face which he corrected. He put his hand over where his heart should be, “Thank you.”

“And,” Aoi added, posturing, “lucky for you, I’m good friends with someone who can help us. Though, you having something he really wants is kind of a big help.”

“Playmaker.” Bohman exclaimed.

“Exactly.” Aoi nodded. “But let’s not bother him just yet. Let’s actually strategise, figure out what the best course of action is.”

“Of course.” Bohman agreed.

Aoi got up and she took her jacket off the door. Any longer, and they would look suspicious, surely. Bohman took the hint and shrank back down into a more compact, Ignis-like size. Aoi checked the time and that gave them wow. Half an hour or so to figure out what they wanted to do next.

Find Haru. resurrect the Ignis. Play nice with humans, in particular Yusaku. See? Easy. Or at least one could only hope. And then afterwards, they could get ice-cream then all go their separate ways.

Of course, nothing could be that simple. Though only time would tell, so Aoi had her fingers crossed. Tomorrow was a new day. And until it was tomorrow, the school bell rang its final toll whilst they were hanging out in the computer room, completely unattended, and that was enough research and clue gathering and strategising.

It had been a long day and it was almost triumphant to return home, no matter how exhausted. Except, what Aoi didn’t realise, was that her bedroom would become a battleground also as Bohman didn’t have as much common sense as he liked to think.

“Bohman.” Aoi said, snippy, holding herself. “Aren’t you going to turn around?”

He blinked, “What do you mean?”

“I want to get changed and I already had a shower this morning, I don’t need another one…” Aoi said, waiting for Bohman to catch the hint but he merely stared vaguely nonplussed. “And would like to get into my pyjamas.”

“Then get changed?” Bohman said.

“I can’t, not with you looking at me.” Aoi replied, her tone of voice starting to pitch upwards as she blushed.

And it was then - and only then - that Bohman realised. Albeit very slowly.

“Do humans take their clothes on and off… manually?” he asked.

He was realising it even slower than Aoi thought.

“Yes, Bohman, how else would we change our clothes?” Aoi asked rhetorically. “Real life is not like the Link VRAINS!”

“Oh…” Bohman murmured.

He stroked his chin thoughtfully and Aoi continued to stare, bright red and Sceptical. He finally came to the conclusion that she was waiting on.

“And you don’t want me to see your nakedness?” Bohman said.

“Obviously!” Aoi squealed.

“Why? You have nothing I have never seen before and your assets are undersized for a woman of your age.” Bohman said, immediately putting his foot in his mouth.

“How dare you?!” Aoi shrieked. If she could have, she would have loved to have pounded her fists on Bohman’s big, dumb chest but instead, she was frozen to the spot with wounded pride.

Her offence spooked Bohman. He was genuinely taken aback by it and so, he did his best to salvage Aoi’s good graces. He turned embarrassed and consulted the great, big wealth of knowledge he knew he could rely on: the internet. And he found something he thought would quell Aoi’s rightfully placed rage. He saw now that commenting on women’s physiques was quite the faux pas.

But this should help, he was sure. His brow furrowed as he donned a most serious expression which burgeoned with earnestness. He put his fist in front of his mouth as he cleared his throat and lowered his hand. He spoke up loud and clear with nothing but the best intentions to smoothe over this transgression he had inflicted upon Aoi.

“Fret not, Aoi, for flat is justice!” Bohman proclaimed.

Aoi’s jaw dropped.

That was… very much not where she thought that was going to go. A simple apology would have sufficed. Now she was even more embarrassed than before. Worse still, Bohman was still going.

“Though I am worried that you are underweight, it comes from a place of concern for your welfare. Do not worry that you are small, your uniqueness is valid and aesthetically pleasing in other ways. I did not mean to intrude on your privacy, I simply did not realise just how different A.I.s are to humans-”

By that point, Aoi gave up listening to his platitudes. She could tell his heart was in the right place but by the stars above he was unbearable. She mightn’t have been able to hit him but she could still shut him up.

Aoi grabbed her pillow and threw it at the wall. It phased right through Bohman but he got the point as he was startled by his incorporeal self tingling with the sensation of the pillow cutting through him then thumping on the wall. She had - thankfully in hindsight - missed her very expensive computer sitting on her desk.

Bohman cleared his throat again, now it was his turn to be embarrassed, “I went… overboard. I apologise. I should not have remarked on your physique or made you uncomfortable. That should have been the end of it.”

“I accept your apology.” Aoi said, calming down. She could feel her cheeks cool.

She and Bohman exchanged a sheepish glance.

“Ah, of course. Now is my cue. I - I will turn around now.” Bohman said.

He stiffly turned around then sank into the depths of Aoi’s Duel Disc. She smiled a small smile and turned around herself. That was a huge drama to do something as simple as switching her skirt for a pair of shorts and putting on a soft sleep shirt.

Still, it showed her another side of Bohman and Aoi didn’t mind that faucet of him, oddly enough. He was sweet and sheltered, frank and earnest. Larger than life. A tranquil fury and a klutz at the same time.

She had seen many sides of him today, actually… It was nice. She had seen him serious and playful and boisterous and fearsome. Aoi could admire that Bohman, just like a real human, had plenty of faucets to him and his personality. It was strange just how human this inhuman man was. Lightning had designed him oddly well in that regard.

It made for food for thought, at the very least. Maybe too much of it because Aoi could hardly sleep tonight.

It had finally sunk in. She was technically sharing her room with someone right now and that someone happened to be male and, from certain perspectives, quite handsome. When he wasn’t being a malevolent entity hellbent on the destruction of humanity.

The following morning, Aoi was not her usual cheery, perky self. Not that she was like that very much outside of text messaging and the internet but still. She was worse than usual with her resting bitch face, she felt. Gave Yusaku the right impression, however, that when she mentioned before school she wanted to talk after school, she meant serious business.

“Okay, I’ll see you Friday…” Yusaku mumbled. He was a little confused. Understandable, it was weird to make hostile feeling plans for the end of the week before the middle of the week but Aoi folded her arms.

“Good.” Aoi nodded.

She mentally ticked off the notebook in her head. Ding! That was one less thing to worry about. Her list - ingenious, foolproof, even - looked a little like this:

Step 1. Ask Yusaku to meet up with them.

Step 2. Exchange information on the Ignis.

Step 3. Profit.

Okay, they hadn’t really thought it through. A lot of step three depended on how well step two was going to go and Aoi was nervous for the worst of it. She had an awful gut feeling all day but Bohman didn’t believe in woman’s intuition - or human intuition for that matter. And that was that.

For now at least.

After all, step one was complete.

They had the rest of the week to deal with now and with yesterday under their belt, the whole rigmarole of school went much more smoothly for Aoi and Bohman. She’d made a promise. She wanted to help Bohman, so she made it a top priority to corner Yusaku so they could put the first phase of their plan in action.

Now they just had to bide their time.

And so, outside of the whole keeping a sentient A.I. hidden from her brother, the guy who would probably hunt him for sport, and the other guy who would also hunt him for sport, it was all smooth sailing. Surprisingly. It was kind of easy. Her brother was rarely home. One of Bohman’s biggest enemies was stuck at sea to evade justice and the other, well, Yusaku had other things to worry about for now.

It's just a shame that hiding Bohman was kind of boring…?

They were building up a rapport. A certain new layer and level of respect between one another as former enemies and adversaries.

Sure Aoi had things like homework and assignments to do but they were also very boring. So, when Thursday rolled around, after a humdrum Tuesday and Wednesday, with the big day tomorrow and an even bigger weekend to follow, she decided to pitch an idea to Bohman.

“Hey tonight,” she said to him at her desk, putting down the pen which belonged to her tablet, “let’s watch a movie together.”

Bohman had been watching. Aoi made it a point not to ask him for help. She wanted to be the master of her own destiny and so, that included doing her own homework even if she had the most powerful supercomputer in the world right next to her. He pushed his shoulders back and quirked a brow.

“With me?” he asked, folding his arms.

“Yes, with you.” Aoi said.

She slumped over her desk and leaned over it, she kept her head propped up with her hand and elbow. She looked at Bohman.

“Why?” Bohman asked.

“‘Cause it’d be fun?” Aoi replied with an upturn in her voice.

“But I know how every movie ends, all of the trivia, everything.” Bohman said. “I feel I would not be entertained, defeating the purpose of your species’ cinema.”

“Okay, sure, you know how it ends but what about the feeling of watching it? Experiencing it for yourself?” Aoi asked.

“Oh, um, I suppose that is not something I can reduce to data without living it…” Bohman replied, miffed to have been countered and now successfully roped into watching a movie.

Given that it was Aoi’s idea, she got to pick the movie. So, she had fun picking an old favourite of hers which was collecting dust on the metaphorical shelf. No one owned DVDs anymore. She didn’t pay much mind to picking something she thought Bohman would enjoy. That would spoil part of her fun, she very rightly predicted that seeing him react with confusion at irrational love stories and the like would be quite amusing.

Though Aoi would provide just as many enticing reactions for Bohman to dissect, also.

She had chosen quite the iconic, girl depression comfort food movie for them both. It was based on a very old western novel and chronicled the relationships of a bunch of fussy people who wore very beautiful clothes. There was also a scene in which the male love interest was drenched to the bone in water whilst wearing a shirt which turned see-through.

It also had another scene that Bohman found… odd.

Girl lust was low-key terrifying for him and he could see Aoi goon in the corner over her literally sopping wet eye candy but this was different.

Aoi was curled up on the far end of the lounge. This was the most daring they had been as a pair since their sudden reunion. Akira was at work and wouldn’t be home until the wee hours of the morning, when Aoi would be fast asleep but it was still odd to be in the living room as they were. Aoi had set down her Duel Disc on one end of the lounge and then herself on the other, covered in a blanket and the darkness.

Except for the light that the television cast but this scene, its lighting was dimmed as Aoi’s attention was kept rapt. She chewed on her bottom lip, eyes shiny as she listened to the dialogue. Her heartstrings clearly tugged on but Bohman didn’t see the appeal.

This was an apology.

Admittedly an apology far better than the one he had offered the other night regarding his quasi body shaming faux pas, though. But it was still an apology.

Aoi sucked in her breath and made a whinnying noise. She tried to hide it because it was embarrassing by hiding her face in her hands, pulling up her blanket some more but the effort to hide it just made it more obvious. Her eyes glimmered with tears, turning them bright and shiny in the dark.

“That was my absolute favourite part.” she whispered at the end of the movie.

The heroine and the love interest were kissing now as it faded to black. The credits rolled, too.

Bohman grunted in acknowledgement of being spoken to.

“What did you think?” Aoi asked as she turned her head.

“It was… fine.” Bohman replied.

“Ugh, really, just fine?” Aoi complained.

Bohman turned his head and gave her a puzzled look. He genuinely didn’t know what to tell her, what she wanted to hear. She huffed discontentedly.

“Did you at least like it?” Aoi asked.

“I told you. It was just fine. It was filled with irrationality and etiquette that does nothing to advance proper communication. The face sucking-”

“You mean the kissing?” Aoi interrupted him to laugh.

“Yes, the kissing, it was also disturbing. I find it difficult to believe any pleasure can be derived from placing your tongue into another person’s mouth. Humans are hotbeds of disease and bacteria, I’m glad I’m not one.” Bohman said.

For once, his disgust of humans came across more humorous than not. It made Aoi laugh.

“Why did you enjoy it?” Bohman asked, hoping flipping the conversation back onto Aoi might save him some trouble.

“Oh? Um, well, it's romantic. And full of pretty people. I think the way it explores that stifling social convention, the etiquette that stops people from saying what they truly mean, creates a lot of tension. So it means more when the guy apologises to the girl and then they kiss after. I like it.” Aoi rambled.

Bohman hummed thoughtfully and his eyes glittered with something unnatural.

“I see.” he said after a pause. “Consulting cinematic databases, most movies in this genre of ‘romance’ feature that apology.”

“Yeah, the grovel.” Aoi said. “It’s a power fantasy.”

Bohman went quiet then repeated himself, “I see. Was my apology from earlier this week satisfactory?”

Aoi laughed awkwardly, “Oh, don’t sweat it, it's fine.” she said. “Real life isn’t like the movies. You’re still thinking about it? Don’t worry about it.”

She started to ramble and was somewhat taken aback by how reflective Bohman was. Maybe he was too introspective for his own good. Not that she could talk. She could depress herself in circles, going around and around with circular thoughts overthinking and overcomplicating things.

Aoi stole a glance at Bohman. His expression was, well, contemplative. He stared at the credits intently so Aoi reached for the remote. She turned off the television.

“It’s bedtime for me.” she said.

“Of course. Good night, Aoi.” Bohman said.

“Good night, Bohman.” Aoi returned his platitude. “We have a big day tomorrow.”

“We do.” Bohman agreed. “I wish you a restorative sleep.

“Thank you.” Aou mumbled.

She got up and took her blanket with her. She held it close as a strange feeling began to bubble and toil within her. She felt oddly flattered that the misunderstanding that had had the other night weighed so heavily on Bohman. Aoi could laugh about it now but it did worry her.

What else was Bohman holding onto if he was dissatisfied with the resolution of an embarrassing moment? That made them oddly alike. Aoi still agonised over silly, stupid moments from as recently as last month to years and years ago.

More and more, Bohman humanised himself in front of Aoi.

His rage. His grief. His embarrassment. His joy. It all coalesced and made Aoi turn more than just fond for him. She wondered what tomorrow would bring as she settled into bed with the hope that… tomorrow wouldn’t be goodbye.

That’s right.

That it wouldn’t be. It probably would be but she didn’t want it to be. She had finally gotten to know Bohman and she didn’t want him to slip through her hands again because he deserved so much more.

He deserved to know what it was like to be lov-

Aoi stopped herself there as she came face to face with the realisation that she had a crush. It would be presumptuous to call it anything more. Surely.

Aoi slept uneasily that night and did her best not to show it the next day. Bohman had big expectations of how things would pan out and Aoi didn’t want to muddle them by becoming attached to him so she did her best to show restraint. Expect the worst, hope for the best. That sort of thing.

And so, after a long day of school, Aoi met with Yusaku on the roof. It seemed like a good setting to have a private word with another. Unlike earlier this week, the skies were clear and blue, as far as the eye could see until the skyline got cluttered with skyscrapers and billboards. So not that far. Over the horizon anyway, up? It just got bluer and bluer.

Surprisingly, just like their prospects.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Yusaku asked, he held onto the strap of his bag and remained close to the exit. Just in case he had to bail, Aoi would deduce. Though his demeanour was cool and smooth.

“I don’t know how to put this so I think it's best if I just show you.” Aoi replied.

This was the part she had been worried about. She really didn’t know how Yusaku was going to react but poorly felt like a good bet to make. She began to raise her hand, bent at the wrist so her Duel Disc could poke forward from under her sleeve and that gave Yusaku everything he needed to know.

Aoi could feel the air freeze between them. Yusaku drew in all the tension in the air and held it. Solidified it. It all but winded Aoi as she allowed Bohman to introduce himself.

First as an eyeball. The yellow and red colouration was fiery.

Then as himself. Albeit tiny. He rose out of Aoi’s Duel Disc making a rather majestic entrance despite the limited capacity of him at that size and connected to the technology Aoi wore on her wrist.

“Salutations.” Bohman said, nodding. “It has been too long, Playmaker.”

“Likewise.” Yusaku replied. He chewed on the vowels of the singular word hard but thoughtfully.

His expression was hard for Aoi to fully decipher but she felt confident in some guesses. Disgusted, confused, outraged, maybe more. She had gone through that exact wringer herself about a week ago now but it would be more difficult for Yusaku. He had dealt the final blow to Bohman and their relationship up to that point had been quite entwined, too. The complication between all three of them was thick and impalpable.

“Let’s just rip the bandaid off,” Aoi said, “through unknown circumstances, Bohman is back and whilst investigating the who, what, when, and why of it, Bohman found something.”

“Correct. I found the remaining Ignis.” Bohman said.

Yusaku’s eyes went wide, the frenzy in the flecks of green stood out somehow with barely hinged rapture, “You what?” he exclaimed.

At this cue, Ai had to get involved. He leapt out of Yusaku’s Duel Disc, stretching around like taffy. He barked and yapped, wanting answers as he produced sobbing tears of overwhelmed grief. He clipped into the Ignis Language and it grated on the ears of the humans - and tugged on Aoi’s heartstrings.

“I’ve seen them - and trust me. You don’t want to.” Aoi quickly added.

There was a pause as Yusaku corralled Ai. He placed his hand over the top of Ai’s head.

“For your cooperation, I will release them but only if I get the answers I am looking for.” Bohman negotiated, grandeur dripped off him despite being doll-sized when he was waist deep in Aoi’s Duel Disc. “I want to know why I am here and where Haru is?”

“I recall the pair of you walking off together, into the rockslide.” Yusaku said. “I thought it was a trick of my eyes.”

“It must have been.” Bohman agreed. Lamented, really.

“But…” Yusaku said and he lifted his hand off the top of Ai’s head. Ai’s expression changed as he folded his arms, his eyes furrowed as he snickered to himself. “This does confirm what I was afraid of.”

“Pardon?” Aoi prompted.

“I told you.” Yusaku said coldly. “My “computer-y project” as you put it hadn’t had any luck. However, the unintended consequences of it have produced what you are after Bohman. Searching for the remaining Ignis, I found Haru’s remains and yes, I have them in a safe place.”

“Nyeh, take that.” Ai piped up. “Now, give me my friends back.” He made fanciful gestures, flailing his arms around in a way meant to give the appearance he knew kung-fu or karate.

“Well, Bohman, once more I believe it is our fate to Duel. There is something I want to know before I release Haru back to you and that is: do you belong alongside humankind with the rest of the Ignis?” Yusaku asked.

Aoi’s heart leapt to her throat.

That was the succinctness of the matter, wasn’t it? She had been pondering that herself now, too. She worried what would happen if Yusaku won and Bohman did not prove himself as a peaceful entity… Her knees knocked.

“I accept your duel.” Bohman said, giving Yusaku no indication of what he had experienced the past couple days.

The bewilderment of having no purpose, being reborn into a world which did not want you nor expect you. The agony of losing his brother. The embarrassment of a social faux pas. Watching a movie and connecting with fantasy. The friendship he had kindled with her, his previous adversary, Aoi felt sick to her stomach.

As far as she was concerned, she realised now, Bohman was human to her. Fully and utterly actualised human to her. Just not to Yusaku and based on Bohman’s grave expression, not even to himself. She felt helpless to watch as the challenge was agreed upon and then acted through.

“Into the VRAINS.” Yusaku said as he brandished his Duel Disc like the weapon it was attached to him.

There was a flash and Aoi followed in hot pursuit of Yusaku as he changed into Playmaker, transforming through the cybernetic veil as they all entered the Link VRAINS.

The high school’s rooftop gave way to the hinterlands of the Link VRAINS. Where else but nowhere for the likes of these heroes - and one villain - of the cyber world. The rocky out cliffs floated in the middle of endless, azure skies streaked with white clouds and cyan lighting.

“Stand aside Blue Maiden.” Bohman said. “There is no need for you to get involved.”

He pushed his hand out towards her, trying to brush her aside and yet it was oddly protective in manner. Playmaker watched this gesture carefully. Blue Maiden simpered. She was always being pushed aside and she did step back but she wanted to watch. She needed to watch. Her heart throbbed in her chest as she clasped her hands together.

“I’m staying.” she said.

“Fine by me.” Playmaker said.

“Thank you, Blue Maiden.” Bohman told her.

Blue Maiden smiled faintly. Hesitantly. She nodded and internalised her own role as a spectator. A judge. An adjudicator. A strange in-between where she was all those things and more and none of them, too. She was an unnecessary accessory to the duel which was just about to begin but then. Bohman spoke once more.

“Playmaker, an olive branch, if you will.” Bohman said as he reached out his hand across the field. At his fingertips, a Data Storm began to whirl. “The ability to use Skills in a Master Duel.”

Playmaker’s expression was unreadable.

“We’ll take it!” Ai bounced up.

“No, we won’t.” Playmaker said. “I only need my own skill. Not a cheat, not a hack.”

“Aww…” Ai deflated.

“I understand.” Bohman replied as he rescinded both his hand and his offer.

Blue Maiden hummed to herself. She would admit, she would have taken the offer. Though, she wasn’t sure if her Blue Maiden skill would be all that helpful if she had to stare either of them down but if there was one thing about Playmaker, it was how committed it was to his ideals.

And yes, they were ideals.

The duel commenced shortly after.

It was a clash of wills, the culmination of history turning into a brand new future to become an inevitable present.

Playmaker wanted the Ignis back. Bohman wanted his brother back. Neither would back down from the equality that they all wanted to live but who deserved it? Who would ruin it?

Blue Maiden chewed her bottom lip as she tried to slink away from all the hard and difficult questions that these two foes locked in battle posed. They took to either side of the field and finally, at long last, it began. A die was rolled, a coin was flipped, Playmaker would go first and Bohman would go second.

The back and forth that ensued was brutal. And that was just the playing of cards. How they were flicked and slashed through, summoned and sacrificed, made fodder for a no holds barred beatdown.

Then there was the conversation, too.

“Have you changed, Bohman?” Playmaker asked, snarling. “Are you capable of change?”

Bohman was silent.

“Can I trust you?” Playmaker asked.

Bohman was silent and as was Blue Maiden. She didn’t have these answers, either, but had wanted to see the two brothers reunited, nonetheless. And she wanted to see Aqua, again, of course, and more. Her stomach churned with anxiety as Playmaker threw himself into this duel.

He needed to know that everything he had worked towards with Ai was going to continue. That his custodianship over the Ignis would be his legacy. This urge propelled him forward as he overwhelmed Bohman.

Not something that they had seen in their prior duels. A curbstomp wherein the boot was worn by Playmaker. Even so, Bohman was stalwart. Even in the face of a defeat which loomed.

It was his turn again. His field was in shambles. His next draw may very well be his last so it had better be a good one but there was still one more move that he could uniquely make.

“I invoke… Storm Access!” Bohman said.

His back was against the wall and thus, his arm shot up. His expression was stern, however, not desperate as he pinned his hopes on what would be drawn forth from within the indigo tempest of the Data Storm. At his command, it whirled and roared, spun and raged until… until… until… it petered out.

The storm passed and at the eye of it: with a blink, it dissipated but Bohman had a new card. A Link Monster. With Six Link Ratings. Or so both Blue Maiden and Playmaker were able to notice from afar as Bohman brandished it, his soul stopped with the hope that he would not fall off the cliff of failure.

His duel had been suspiciously free of random number generation manipulation so far so there was a chance, this card had not been consciously called forth or otherwise created to counter this specific incident.

Bohman slowly lowered his arm and for the first time, he saw the card and he named it.

“Perfectatron Hydradrive Angel…” Bohman murmured.

Blue Maiden gasped, her heart skipped a beat. No, it wasn’t possible, it couldn’t be possible, right?

“Thank you.” Bohman said and he brought this card close to his chest. “You will do superbly.”

It was. Apparently.

And so Bohman began his counter attack.

He went above and beyond with what tools that he had, what cards he had at his disposal. Blue Maiden watched with bated breath, in prayer, her hands clasped, that Bohman would…

Win.

She felt guilty wanting Bohman to win but seeing that card, knowing what it represented, she felt her heart began to wander. She wanted the best of all worlds, of all outcomes but she knew well this was a game of pure division: win and lose, victory and failure. There was no way to both sides this as she gasped.

Her eyes widened. Her ears pricked up. Even Playmaker was in awe from across the arena.

“The angel who oversees humanity: I beseech thee, I require your power of hopes and dreams. An emissary of perfection and a divine entity who believes in the future: Link Six, Perfectatron Hydradrive Angel!”

His voice boomed through the arena as his Link Markers lit up. He sacrificed what he needed to from his field and he did it. Bohman did it. He had brought forth Perfectatron Hydradrive Angel.

It - no, she - was beautiful. A Medusa-like figure with hair akin to the smaller Hydradrive wyrms which featured soft, rounded wings as well as a tail more fish-like than snake-like. A colour scheme of monochromatic, steely blue save for the pink teardrop on her cheek. Her hands clasped in prayer and her head tilted forward to meet them once her summoning animation finished.

Playmaker smirked, “What a good-looking monster. It suits you.” A taunt which wasn’t a taunt at all, an honest observation merely made fanged by the way in which Playmaker and Bohman were ever so oppositional.

He genuinely looked forward to Bohman’s counterattack. Just what effects did this angelic being disguised? Would they be enough to win the duel?

Bohman’s convictions which followed appeared to follow through that his literal Hail Mary would be the figurehead of his victory.

Perfectatron Hydradrive Angel tried and tried again, under Bohman’s warlord-like command. Together, they were in ultimate synchronicity. She weaved through the battlefield like an avenging angel but the courage that she encapsulated was cut in two by Accesscode Talker for game.

Accesscode, of course, being the blood, sweat, and tears that Playmaker embodied turned into a glittering ideal of connection. It was hard but it was inevitable.

Playmaker had done it. He had done it before Bohman, even. He had pierced through the veil of death and brought back his most important partner. Heck, he had such a person close to him. Multiples, now, if you could imagine such a thing.

Ai, Kusanagi, Ryoken, Takeru, and even Aoi. More, too.

Who did Bohman have? Haru? Who waited in the clutches of Playmaker to be rescued. They still didn’t even know why Bohman had reincarnated at all through Aoi’s Duel Disc.

Playmaker thrust out his hand and his chest grew in volume as he readied his final command: Accesscode, go straight for the throat, for Bohman. His eyes were viscous and Blue Maiden could not bear it.

Yet Bohman was ever stoic. He held his Duel Disc at the ready as he watched Perfectatron Hydradrive Angel disintegrate before his eyes. Slowly but surely, a beautiful farewell of glittering, silver data.

Blue Maiden couldn’t help but feel Bohman’s imminent loss as much as him. Maybe even more so. After all, her avatar - in the literal sense of the word, not the digital one - had been the coalescing of all his hopes for victory and it had failed him. It was a pertinent story. She, herself, had done her best time and time again but she was more an emissary of defeat than an angel of victory, it seemed.

“You can stop.” Blue Maiden said, standing up for herself and Bohman.

She stepped onto the field - though it was dangerous to do so. She didn’t care, however. She needed to be by Bohman’s side and to stop the piercing onslaught that Playmaker wielded so precisely that it became a baneful slaughter. But she would not allow him to wreak that havoc.

Blue Maiden extended her arms out to Bohman and Bohman blinked in surprise. She gave a gesture with her fingers, flicking them, coaxing him closer.

“You have done extraordinarily well.” she praised him, eyes tearing up. “Trust me. I would know.”

“Thank you, Blue Maiden.” Bohman replied but he didn’t accept her invitation to embrace.

Though he may not have realised that is what it was. Playmaker didn’t either, not until Ai shrieked like a fangirl at the movies, anyway.

Blue Maiden hugged Bohman in front of her. He dwarfed her physically but her love dwarfed him. But down her back, she shivered. She could still the feel the final assault that Playmaker had on Bohman’s remaining monsters and life points. It was intense. Ferocious. Every bit deserving but she felt that as adjudicator of his duel, she could judge that it was not necessary.

She turned her head and grit her teeth. Out of the corner of her eye, she stared Playmaker down as he was mid-command over his monsters.

“Bohman has conceded, you can quit your showboating.” Blue Maiden snapped.

“I have.” Bohman said, graciously bowing his head. “I formally concede. You have won, Playmaker.” He wrapped his arms around Blue Maiden.

Their heads brushed up against one another. It was the most movie perfect hug ever done by two people who were not known to be physically affectionate - and in Bohman’s case, the first and only hug he had ever performed. Thus, it was very awkward and painful to watch but Playmaker didn’t mind being an audience to.

Blue Maiden had successfully stopped Playmaker, stopped his voice and quelled the fury that he had allowed himself too much of. He took a breath and it was apparent he was not pleased with the person that he had become just now.

“I accept your surrender as an official loss.” Playmaker said.

“I recognise there was no surrender in your past. Only win or lose. Miyu told me that.” Blue Maiden added.

“Thank you, Blue Maiden.” Playmaker sighed.

The Monsters disappeared from either side and Playmaker crossed the field. Given that Blue Maiden and Bohman were already congregating, it seemed only natural that he would meet with them. Not expect that they would come to him. His stride was more normal now. He was letting go of his anger.

Thus, Playmaker smiled warmly as he watched the outcome of Blue Maiden’s interruption. His eyes fluttered close and he tried to hide that he had ever smiled at all but it was obvious. There was a discrete glow to his expression as he opened his eyes and glanced to Ai, holding him high and dear to his face.

“Oh… Don’t be cute now.” Ai grumbled, folding his arms and pouting. “Not after everything you put us through.”

“I think it's all water under the bridge now.” Playmaker said with a hefty exhale of his breath. He meant it. He wanted to mean it and more.

Blue Maiden’s spirits soared and was helpless but to smile wide as she let go of Bohman, “Thank you for understanding. For believing.”

“I only believe in things I can see with my own two eyes.” Playmaker said and then deepened his voice so it boomed across to the duel field to address Bohman, “Alright, let’s exchange data.”

Thus, from across the duel field and across from ideologies, Playmaker and Bohman met halfway. Blue Maiden followed along, too, and was somewhat chuffed to see them meet eye to eye. Toe to toe even as they got up nice and close for the exchange.

The wind blew and seemed to have entire conversations with just their eyes. Blue Maiden wasn’t privy to them but the respect they had for one another had fully solidified and so flowed off of them as they not just matched each other’s movements but mirrored them.

In total synchronicity, Playmaker and Bohman lifted their hands. Playmaker lifted his right hand and Bohman his left. Ai kept hidden within Playmaker’s Duel Disc but he bucked up what he had been holding onto for dear life the entire time: Haru’s data. In that mirror reflection, Bohman revealed the palm of his hand and the sparkle of his own Duel Disc lit up in the five colours of the dead Ignis.

Blue Maiden smiled, sincerity sparkled in the dewdrop of the tear she was about to shed. She orbited closer to Bohman than to Playmaker, however. Even though she was on the precipice of seeing Aqua again, she wanted to share in the bittersweet joy of having Bohman reunite with his precious brother. That meant a lot to her as a little sibling herself.

“Welcome back, Haru.” Bohman said as he delicately handled Haru’s remains. The data was sparkly and yellow, within the fragments he saw snatches of Haru’s memories.

His duel with Aoi. How he poked and prodded Kusanagi Jin out of curiosity and boredom. Their own moments of serenity, too, in Lightning’s palace.

Blue Maiden placed her hand on Bohman’s upper arm and gave him half a squeeze from the side. It was a hug but Bohman didn’t really do hugs so he was startled by her contact but glancing down at her, with the fondness that radiated off her as she smiled, he returned that kindness. He nodded at her.

“I could not have done this without our alliance.” Bohman thanked her. “You could have made things more difficult but you chose grace over grudge. Thank you.”

“You're welcome.” Blue Maiden said and she let go of Bohman. She stepped aside, too.

Bohman lifted his head and did not meet Playmaker’s gaze. Understandably, he and Ai were having their own reunion, too.

Playmaker who was famously private and did his best to seem invulnerable, because weakness was punished, opened up. Just a little, just enough to convey how cathartic and satisfied it was that the Ignis he had worked so hard to protect were in his hands.

Safe at last.

He wasn’t crying but he wasn’t dry-eyed either. He and Ai, they spoke softly amongst themselves. Ai, meanwhile, was actually bawling as he held onto what he could of the intangible data of his kin.

“We shouldn’t stare.” Blue Maiden whispered to Bohman but she felt somewhat the same way.

She couldn’t wait to have Aqua in her hands, too, by her side and, more importantly, by Miyu’s. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be a victim of the Incident and an Origin of the Ignis…

“Ah, of course.” Bohman replied, blinking. He hadn’t even realised he was staring.

Blue Maiden glanced at him as he turned his head. There was an indescribable flicker of emotion across his face. Indescribable, yes, but Blue Maiden had a guess: envy. Or a yearning to have the same, to be cherished by a human, irrefutable proof that through emotions and connection, peace was possible.

Still, out of the corner of their eye, they watched as Ai reached up and hugged Playmaker. His arms wrapped around him as his body bent and flowed, stretching like taffy from the throne he had made of Playmaker’s Duel Disc. He nuzzled against Playmaker’s damp face and he exhaled audibly. He was ready to move forward, onto the proper reunion as it were. Not just the repatriation of the Ignis’ remains. Ai understood that instinctually and after three seconds retreated all affection unto Playmaker.

Upon the conclusion of that embrace between Ignis and Origin, Playmaker’s expression hardened as he met Bohman’s gaze. He spoke up again.

“It’ll require some help but I can forward Blue Maiden the instructions. She should have the hardware you will need to give him a semi-physical form again, it doesn’t take too much tinkering. I imagine it is the same process as bringing Ai back as Haru is an Ignis, too, but if it’s not, please, reach out and we can cooperate to find a better way to bring him back.” Playmaker said. He took a breath then added, “If you ever need a SOLtiS body compatible with Ignis code, Ai has plenty he doesn’t need. It could be useful.”

“I appreciate your olive branch also, Playmaker.” Bohman said. “Thank you.” He bowed his head.

Playmaker did the same. Ai, too. They both held onto the sparkling spectrum of the Ignis and Blue Maiden felt her heart swell. The hostage exchange was complete but something else was, too. She wanted to believe it was the hostility between humanity and the Ignis. Finally, they had something in common.

Grief. Love. Companionship. She was certain that would be the bridge to a happier future.

“We will take our leave now. We have much to do ourselves.” Playmaker said.

“When we see each other again then.” Bohman replied.

“Yes, we’ll be seeing you.” Blue Maiden piped up. “See you later.”

“Bye, bye!” Ai chimed in.

He waved goodbye exuberantly from Playmaker’s Duel Disc as Playmaker logged them out. They disappeared in the slow blink of an eye, a muted flash of blue and white data then nothingness. Now it was Blue Maiden and Bohman alone on the rocky platform of the Link VRAINS’ hinterland.

With Haru, of course, though only in spirit.

But with everything which had happened - the duel, the winners and the losers, the exchange - there was much to say. Blue Maiden could feel it. Her chest was heavy with an overabundance of words she wanted spoken and feelings freed. It was much the same for Bohman it seemed as he turned towards Blue Maiden.

He stored Haru for safekeeping within the depths of his Duel Disc. the yellow data dissipated in reverse as he moved it over the convex glass of it and then he readied himself. He pushed his shoulders back and he stared deep into Blue Maiden’s eyes.

It intimidated her.

Yet it was an intimidation tinged with trepidation. She could handle it.

“Thank you, Bl-Blue Maiden,” Bohman’s voice cracked as he took her hand, he shook his head and as his eyes watered, he corrected himself, “no, Aoi, for reuniting with me with my little brother.”

“I, um, barely helped.” Blue Maiden squeaked.

“No, you did your best. You taught me much about the world. The real world.” Bohman said. “You showed me kindness, humour, forgiveness, and more. Now this, how could I ever repay you?”

“Pl-Please, don’t, it's… it's hard to hear.” Blue Maiden modestly replied.

“I mean it. From the very bottom of my heart, one I did not know existed until you showed me.” Bohman said. “I have learned so much about humans, about humanity. Your humanity and… even mine. I might be hasty but I believe I love you, Aoi.”

Blue Maiden - no, Bohman was right, this was Aoi - felt her heart tremble in her chest. She was moved incredibly by Bohman’s words. They were kind and warm-hearted yet overwhelming. His hands squeezed her own.

“I want to exist more in the real world. I want to experience more and I hope you would allow me to experience that world alongside you.” Bohman said. “If you would have me, and, of course, Haru also.”

Bohman came down to his knees in front of her.

He was so tall and large yet he made himself small at Blue Maiden’s foot. He bowed his head to her, the crown of him reaching to about her midsection. His hands trembled in his, his vulnerability empathetic.

Bohman reached down and he kissed her hands. He sprinkled kisses along her knuckles as he begged.

“I apologise, Aoi, for everything.” Bohman said.

The likeness struck Blue Maiden almost momentarily as she savoured Bohman’s everything. His demeanour, his tone of voice, how his lips felt on her skin. His genuine tone was like music to her ears but the softness of him was akin to divinity.

But then she realised and she had to suppress a laugh. It was just like that scene in her favourite movie. He was performing the grovel that he had seen in the film.

“I forgive you, Bohman, of course I do.” Blue Maiden replied, teary. “I… I think I have a crush on you, too.”

Bohman glanced up at her, thunderstruck by the admission. The disbelief glittered in his yellow and orange eyes, as though he couldn’t believe his ears but when Blue Maiden reached out and squeezed his hands in return for his own affection. That’s when he knew. It was real and it was true.

“Thank you, Aoi.” Bohman said.

Blue Maiden firmly grasped his hand but her attempt was made feeble. After all, Bohman was larger than her and that visual musculature did translate into actual weight but her gesture conveyed her heart, nonetheless.

At his full height, Bohman spoke again, “I want to revive Haru and have you both meet on better terms. That would mean a lot to me.”

“I want you to meet Aqua in much the same way,” Blue Maiden told him, “and my older brother, Akira, too.”

“I’d like that very much.” Bohman replied. “So, let’s bring him back, yes?”

“Yes, yes, of course. Let’s do it, straight away.” Blue Maiden agreed, her excitement quickened the sound of her voice.

Bohman nodded and together, they logged out.

The motion of it knocked Bohman around, however. He had almost forgotten he was more restricted in the ‘real’ world as he found himself in Aoi’s Duel Disc again. She unclipped it from her wrist and placed it on her desk.

She got off her sofa so she could walk off her own dizziness of the log-out too, as well as that aforementioned excitement. She did little laps of her room whilst Bohman got organised.

He could hardly contain himself as trepidation caused his fingers to tremble as he produced Haru’s data. With a wry smile, he thought to himself: he hoped there was enough room in Aoi’s Duel Disc for two but then he recalled Playmaker’s offer. However, in the meantime, he was careful as he threaded the rest of Playmaker’s instructions with Haru’s data.

It was nerve wracking business. Aoi couldn’t watch except out of the corner of her eye. It was all very arcane to her knowledge. Slow and difficult, it had to be done right but Bohman persevered.

At the end of it, he announced in a clear voice: “I’m ready.”

Aoi felt her spirits soar as her shoulders lifted. She came to a standstill and turned around tightly so she could hang by her desk. She knelt on her lounge and held onto the edge of her desk for leverage as Bohman centred himself. Calmed himself and then.

It was just like before, with him. Aoi’s Duel Disc lit up in a way it hadn’t before and then voila. There was a blinding white light that erupted, it filled the whole of the room before dissipating from the outwards in, the data disappearing like embers cast out from a fire until at the centre of it was Haru.

Though between him and Bohman, there wasn’t much room. Luckily they were brothers and they had missed each other so much.

Waist deep in the glass, Haru was astonished to be there at all. Bohman’s hand quaked and a tear glimmered in his eye as he placed his hand atop of Haru’s shoulder, they stood together in a single file line. Haru jumped out of his skin and looked around in disbelief, bending every which way as he tried to understand. Questions and astoundment clogged his mouth as Bohman turned him around.

Then hugged him.

A simple, quiet hug.

Aoi turned her head but Bohman clicked his tongue, getting her attention.

“Thank you,” he said, “thank you, Aoi, for reuniting me with my brother.”

Bohman began to sob. Grief, relief, gratitude. It all welled up in him and had nowhere else to go but out in the form of teardrops to be cried. His chin pruned and his cheeks dampened and he didn’t let Haru go.

Haru smiled sadly and hugged Bohman back, “I’ve missed you, too, big brother.” He patted Bohman on the forearm, as far up as he could reach.

Together, the two brothers savoured the moment for as long as they could. Being dead felt like an eternity, not knowing if the other could be found and brought back even longer even if it had been just a week.

Aoi watched, innocently, and her heart pounded. She tried to calm it but the urge to speak and break the silence was too much. She had her own piece that she needed to say.

“It’s, um, good to see you again, Haru.” she piped up.

Bohman and Haru’s ears pricked on her voice and they rescinded their embrace of one another. They awkwardly shuffled around in what little room they had in her Duel Disc.

“It is good to see you again, Blue Maiden.” Haru said and there was a shine to the smirk that followed. “I made the right choice entrusting myself and my brother to you.”

Aoi’s eyes widened and Bohman reacted much the same.

“What do you mean, little brother?” Bohman asked.

“I… I couldn’t help myself.” Haru began to guiltily explain. “I wanted to live. I didn’t want to die by Lightning’s orders. I’m sorry and… and I wanted to live with you, Bohman. I wanted us to be brothers. Alive and well. So, um, when I lost to Blue Maiden in our duel, I secreted away copies of our back-up data.”

“Oh, Haru…” Aoi murmured, eyes watering.

“You were a good opponent, Blue Maiden. I was impressed and even went easy on you.” Haru couldn’t help but tease, to ease off the sincerity that he otherwise emanated.

“Hey. I won fair and square.” Aoi pouted.

Haru laughed, “I know. You did.”

It pleased Bohman to see Aoi and Haru get along, bickering as it may be. There was a fondness to it which endeared him greatly.

“I see.” he said. “Thank you. Please do not beat yourself up for being selfish like that.”

“Thanks, Bohman.” Haru mumbled.

Bohman looked out toward Aoi again, “I… have been too harsh on you regarding the matter of my brother, I see now.”

“You were grieving, you didn’t have all the information, anyone would lash out.” Aoi shrugged. “But thank you.”

“I appreciate it.” Bohman said.

Aoi smiled demurely, all but glowing at Bohman’s words and how pleased she was with them.

Haru, meanwhile, rolled his eyes and got the sense that a lot had happened between them in his absence and so, was doing his little brother duty to be grossed out by it on principle. Some things never changed. Human or A.I. in that regard. There was clearly something about goo-goo eyes…

“I, um, hope we all get along. You and me, you and Haru, both of you and Akira.” Aoi added generously.

Though the undercurrent spiked at the mention of Akira. Interpersonality of the micro level was all well and good but there were forces at play larger than themselves. Aoi could well wish all she wanted because there was no telling how things might turn out but both Bohman and Haru wanted to believe it was for the better.

None of them knew if second chances could work out if given. The future was not set in stone like they had once believed per Lightning’s writ of it. Aoi was proof of that, their own resurrection was proof of that but they all wanted to try to make it work so that humanity and artificial intelligence could live in harmony.

For now, Aoi truly was going to be the angel who oversaw that, just like the new Perfectatron that Bohman now had in the arsenal of his Extra Deck. Watching not just humanity, but him, and Haru, too so Bohman hoped to do his best to make use of the love and second chance that she had granted him. That would be his new goal - his new dream as it were - now that he had Haru back. All thanks to her.

#writing tag #ygo rare pair mini bang 23-24 #damselflyshipping #yugioh vrains #vrains #yugioh #zaizen aoi #aoi zaizen #bohman (vrains)#i'm so proud of this behemoth (for a mini bang)

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janedoeremi · 2 years

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I'm very bored and very tired so I'm gonna try to answer an unnecessary question that no one on earth ever thought to ask. How many DVDs would it take to store the entirety of fictional series, The Truman Show, from the movie of the same name, and how much money would it cost to own the entire series. This all based on estimation from a casual google search and probably not very accurate but oh well

Things to consider:

Truman was recorded 24/7 since he was literally born

Truman is about 30 yrs old and I will be rounding up

I will be using 25gb Blu-ray DVDs as my basis

I am counting the entire time Truman was recorded (awake and asleep)

Ok so the show was on air for 30 years with no interruption with the exception of when Truman went missing near the shows end. 1 year is 8760 hours not counting the extra 24 hours every leap year, however one average year with leap years is approximately 8765.82 hours. Using the average as the basis (8765.82 x 30), the entire air time would be about 262,974.6 hours (lets round that up for convenience to 262,975 hrs). According to [Link] a 25gb Blu-ray disc can hold about 2.25 hours of high definition video or 10 hours of standard definition video.

Assuming that the company behind the show wouldn't want to waste too much time/money into the dvd release and would want to cram as much of the show onto a disc without remastering the series, lets go with the 10 hours of standard definition onto the Blu-ray. Dividing the run of the show (262,975) by 10 it would become 26,297.5 (rounded up it becomes 26,298) discs.

Putting the entire Truman Show would take approximately 26,298 Blu-ray Discs not counting any commentary, interviews with the cast or creators, or behind the scenes videos.

Now you might be thinking, how much would this cost? I'm glad you asked. I've seen Blu-ray discs range from $20-$25 but lets average that out to $22.50 without tax. 26,298 x $22.50 = $591,705. If you wanted the entire Truman Show uncut you would have to shell out about $600,000.

In conclusion: if this show were real, only very rich, very die hard fans would be able to own the show physically.

#movie #movies #the truman show #truman show #why did i make this

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writingsofhubris · 2 years

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Spooky, Scary Skeletons

[AO3] Rating: G WC: 1129 Tags: Halloween, Fandom: Spider-man [All media types] Ship: Otto Octavius & OFC Disc: Hello it is nearly Halloween and I have fallen in love with Ghostie/Hollowsart's spiderman AU please enjoy a tiny story <3

Her legs kicked out over the edge of the building, flicking through the random paper she’d found on the top of the building. The paper stated it was at least three weeks old, and how that time had flown, Crash wasn’t entirely sure.

Despite her best efforts, the paper managed to melt together, ink leaking from one side to the other, blurring the majority of the words from there on out. She could remember that fight. The good Doctor had found his way out of confinement much sooner than anyone had expected, or hoped for.

The soft tap of metal claws on the bricks behind her wasn’t enough for her to move, too familiar with the sound at this point. Her feet kicked again, looking into the hazy afternoon sky.

“Hey, Doc.” The short man sat down next to her, metal arms softly clicking as he settled next to her.

“Acedea.” The lack of banter was what finally made her look over to him. Of everything she had imagined, seeing him in some costume that certainly wasn’t his normal one startling her. A cheap little black and red cloak, some silly little makeup faking a vampire bite, and a very, very human blush on his cheeks pulled the shocked laugh from her chest.

“What are you wearing?”

“It’s of the season!" The anxious answer pulled a small grin from her lips, pulling her legs up to rest her heels on the edges of the building.

"And what season is that?"

"Surely you didn't forget Halloween. Do you think Adrien will approve?” The statement made Crash pause for just a moment, before her hands scrambled for the old newspaper. Even though it was well out of date, the pages melted together, she had managed to hold onto that count of the days. October 10th was marked on the top of the paper, just barely visible. Three weeks ago exactly at this moment. And the comment about Adrien scratched something in her head, and their text messages were opened.

“No… no, no, it can’t be Halloween.” The paper was thrown to the ground, and her phone was in her ungloved hand. Text messages open, she instantly scrolled to two weeks of forgotten messages, all from Mr Toomes, waiting for some response from her. Unfortunately, nearly each one had been sent moments before she had needed to run to the next incident, the next chaotic incident to appear in her life. Most importantly? None of the text messages had been responded to.

[SMS; Adrien Toomes At 10/12 10:30 AM] Good Morning. I will be hosting a dinner on the 31st, would you like to join us?

Crash had found herself fighting Rhino at that moment, not even the news crew having shown up just yet.

[SMS; Adrien Toomes At 10/18 9:45 AM] I realize I had timed the last message poorly now. Are you interested in joining us?

She remembered this text; a message from her Boss had appeared seconds before Adrien’s, asking if she would be able to come in immediately, with an emergency strapping everyone’s strength.

[SMS; Adrien Toomes At 10/21 1:24 PM] We decided to dress in costumes for the dinner, will you have something to wear?

She did not. Shit, Crash remembered that text too. Having stayed on patrol most of those 24 hours, she’d fallen asleep with dreams of almost a mocking costume of Mysterio, a sphere on her head and perhaps a flamboyant cloak on her shoulders.

[SMS; Adrien Toomes At 10/24 5:30 PM] Good Evening. Dinner October thirty-first?

Sent seconds after she’d opened all the messages, and seconds before her phone’s battery had died in her hands, leaving her to try, and evidently fail, to respond.

[SMS; Adrien Toomes At 10/27 11: 45 AM] Only a few days away, are you interested?

Honestly, there was no excuse for this one. She had been at lunch, a little tired, but there really wasn’t a reason she shouldn’t have responded to this one.

[SMS; Adrien Toomes At 10/31 2:40 PM] Last chance for the invitation tonight.

[SMS; Crash at 10/31 3:04 PM] YES!!!!!!!

[SMS; Crash at 10/31 3:05 PM] I’M SO SORRY GRANDPA!!!

Her hands covered her face again, half forgetting that Otto was still sitting next to her on the edge of the roof. The cool screen pressed against her forehead, and her own form of embarrassment flooded her. Adrien would understand, of course. He never had an issue understanding when she got busy, even if she found herself feeling a little guilty.

A gentle tap on her hip made Crash look up through her fingers, distracted for just a moment from beating herself up.

“Are you joining us tonight?” Otto’s smile was clearly nervous, worried that she had already made plans, that she wouldn’t be joining them as everyone had hoped.

“I don’t even have a costume,” she whispered in horror. “I could wear this…” Crash’s fingers found the edge of her sleeve, plucking the fabric before pressing her lips together. That familiar squirm of nerves appeared in her belly, knowing that wouldn’t be enough time to create an entire costume. Or if there’d even be anything at the shops still.

“Do you still have your original costume?”

“My original costume?” One of Otto’s claws tapped her arm, plucking the now professionally made costume from her arm. Another actuator clicked around the roof behind her, an action that would have made her heightened senses go haywire before. “Yeah, I do.”

That flush was on Otto’s face, right when Crash felt the collar of her costume taken by the actuator, pulling her up from the edge of the building.

“Let’s go!”

“He’s going to get a royal flush,” Crash suddenly pipped up. The laughter nearly stopped when Crash ended up hanging off Otto’s actuator, lifted just at the hand he was holding, trying to hold a poker face to save his life.

“Acedea!” The actuator flicked, throwing her to the wall. She caught herself easily, flipping off the wall and back to her feet as she easily landed back on her feet, before lacing her hands in front of her chest, a blush hidden by the old mask. “You gave away my hand!”

AN: FOLLOW HOLLOWSART

Tags! @randomfandomtrash28 @emotrash1 @unitedfandomsoftheworld @arandomnerdsblog578 @overlookedfile @yesalwayswelles @niffysboxers

#.W #doc ock #otto octavius #hollowsart #i hope you like this but i aint tagging you here so u dont get overloaded with messages

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kokiafans · 1 year

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KOKIA in flashback - 2018

Time flies, and in 2018, KOKIA celebrates her 20th anniversary! She counts down to it with many new releases, starting with her 4-disc (!) best of album EVOLVE to LOVE, which gets a special big package release along with the normal version. On the video side, we get the 3-disc DVD release Bird Watching, looking back on her career in clips going as far back as 2002 and commentary throughout. Just ahead of her actual anniversary, she releases her new album Tokyo Mermaid, and finally, she celebrates her anniversary proper with the big venue concert Beyond Imagination.

Rather than ending her 20th anniversary there, she kicks off the celebrations proper, continuing to perform in both Japan and abroad, visiting China again, and even returning to France once more. The Tokyo Mermaid album is the first album in a while to get a French release, too.

KOKIA is also on a roll with the ton ton ton animal project and releases the second album in the series, again released in tin packages, and also releases merchandise as planned, including animalthemed cookies.

A first this year for KOKIA is a Blu-ray release. So far, her concerts have only been published on DVD, but her 20th anniversary concert gets both a DVD and Blu-ray release. Later this year, her 2016 LAYERS concert also gets a Blu-ray upgrade.

And finally, KOKIA starts a collaboration with cocochia, an organic brand, modelling for them together with her son Leo.

◆ Lives and events ◆

February 26 Mini live and autograph session to celebrate the KOKIA release EVOLVE to LOVE -20 years Anniversary BEST- (TOWER RECORDS Shibuya, B1F CUTUP STUDIO) (Promotion: mini live 20th anniversary)

March 3 KOKIA ~ongaku no kudaru basho~('the place where music falls') (Nagano, Yatsugatake Kogen Music Hall) (Promotion: Yatsugatake 2018)

April 29-April 30 KOKIA 2018 20 years Anniversary Concert ~Beyond Imagination~ (Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall) (Promotion: 20th anniversary concert)

May 3 E-ne! ~good for you~ Holiday School Special (ueen’s Square Yokohama 1F, Queen’s Circle) ※ Live performance broadcasted by FM Yokohama

May 12 Mario Tashiro's classical crossover - concert Primo! with the Tokyo Chamber Orchestra (Tokyo, Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall) ※ guest performance (promotion: Primo)

July 29 KOKIA premium symphonic concert ~KOKIA 20th Anniversary Fireworks Festival~ (Kanagawa Kenmin Hall, grand hall) (Promotion: fireworks festival 2018)

August 11 KOKIA 2018 in Nagoya Yume no tsuzuki ('sequel to a dream') (NAGOYA Blue Note) ※ 2 performances in 1 day (Promotion: Nagoya Blue Note 2018)

August 17 KOKIA 2018 20周年纪念中国巡演 ('20th anniversary China tour') (Guangzhou Friendship Theatre) ※ 20th anniversary concert (Promotion: China 2018)

August 18 KOKIA 2018 动物音乐会 (Guangzhou Grand View Theatre) ※ Animal concert (Promotion: animal concert China 2018)

August 19 KOKIA 2018 20周年纪念中国巡演 ('20th anniversary China tour') (Shanghai Bandai Namco) ※20th anniversary concert

September 15 KOKIA Ikimono no ongakukai ('concert of living beings') (Tokyo, Haremame (Haretara sora ni mame maite) ※ 2 performances in 1 day (Promotion: ikimono no ongakkai concert)

October 5 KOKIA Tokyo Mermaid ~yume miru abuku~ ('Dreaming bubbles') (Billboard Live TOKYO) ※ 2 performances in 1 day (Promotion: Billboard 2018)

October 21 KOKIA Salon (Harajuku Quest Hall) ※Event exclusively for members of the KOKIA fanclub, club ancoro, 2 performances total (Promotion: KOKIA Salon 2018)

November 11 KOKIA 20 Years Anniversary Stage (France, La Cigale) ※ First performance in Paris after 8 years (Promotion: Paris 2018)

November 24 KOKIA I remember YOU (Billboard Live OSAKA) ※ 2 performances in 1 day (Promotion: I remember you 2018)

◆ Releases ◆

February 21 Release of best-of album EVOLVE to LOVE -20 years Anniversary BEST- (Victor Entertainment) ※ First all-time best-of album consisting of 62 songs on 4 CDs, collected from over 8 labels, to commemorate 20 years since her debut. The first edition limited version contains a lavish booklet and 4-disc digipack. (EVOLVE to LOVE)

March 14 Release of the 20th anniversary complete video collection Bird Watching (anco&co.) ※ 3-disc DVD looking back on the 20 years since her debut via video and images (Bird watching)

April 25 Release of original album Tokyo Mermaid (Victor Entertainment) ※ First original album in 3 years released for her 20th anniversary year (Tokyo Mermaid)

July 27 Release of the DVD and Blu-ray of KOKIA 20th Anniversary concert Beyond Imagination (anco&co.) ※ First Blu-ray release (Promotion: 20th anniversary concert)

September 15 Release of the album Ikimono no ongakukai ('concert of living beings') (anco&co.) ※ second album in the ton ton ton project (tontonton, ikimono no ongakkai)

November Release of the Blu-ray KOKIA 2016 Concert LAYERS ~lights and shadows~ (anco&co.) ※Blu-ray version of the previously released DVD (Promotion: Layers concert)

◆ Other releases ◆

January 25 Release of the smartphone app game LibraryCross∞ ('Library Cross Infinite') ※ Wrote, composed and performed the theme song, Tomatta toki ~Library Cross~ (’Halted time’) (library cross) September 6 Release of the Monet single Egao no kisetsu ('Season of smiles') ※ Offered the end theme Egao no kisetsu ('Season of smiles') for Sun TV's Wagging Tail

◆ Other ◆

February 20-February 26 KOKIA EVOLVE to LOVE -20 years Anniversary BEST- Special Panel exhibition ※ On display at Tower Records Shinjuku and Tower Records Umeda Osaka Maru building (Translated blog entry)

April 9-April 15 Special broadcast on the Yunika Vision screen in front of Seibu Shinjuku station ※ Footage of performances from the 20th anniversary KOKIA complete video collection 3-disc DVD Bird Watching (yunika vision)

October Designs the brand logo for Dr. Recella's organic brand cocochia. Also models with her son for promotional images. (Promotion: cocochia)

#KOKIA #25 years of kokia in flashback

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signalwatch · 1 year

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Movies 2022 By the Numbers

For the most part, I use this blog to just keep track of the movies I've watched and jot down some thoughts on them. There's no real reason for it, but I do it. The PodCast is a lovely bit of product of this habit, and my desire to spend time chatting with pals.

Since I have the blog, every year for the past few years I've logged how many movies I've watched, and looked at a few stats. I'm not sure it's of any particular interest to anyone but myself, but there you have it.

As always, you're welcome to review the spreadsheet yourself.

So... how many movies did we watch?

Total Number of Movies Watched

This includes movies watched more than once, which is only one movie, I believe. Turning Red. It's fun. Watch it.

This year I watched 190 movies.

For Comparison:

in 2021 I watched 302 movies

in 2020 I watched 269 movies

in 2019 I watched 204 movies

in 2018 I watched 179 movies

A lot of factors went into this. I was watching baseball and futbol and football. I watched a LOT of television (including watching Inhumans TWICE), and it probably means I need to a do a post about all the @#$%ing TV I watched this year. Plus, I was taking a class. Less said about that, the better.

Percentage difference from prior years:

2021: -45.53%

2020: -34.42%

2019: -7.11%

2018: +5.96%

Genre

We continue to tweak genre a bit. This year I actually broke superheroes into DC and Marvel, for example. I continue to include neo-noir and borderline noir as noir.

I also lumped a *lot* stuff into "Holiday" movies. And some Holiday stuff I called "Comedy" if it suited my needs, and at least one movie occurred during the holidays but I counted it as noir, I believe. If this isn't perfect, well, you'll be fine. This isn't for awards or money.

Adventure: 13 - 6.84%

Animated Comedy: 01 - 0.53%

Comedy: 27 - 14.21%

DC Superheroes: 04 - 2.11%

Marvel Superheroes: 13 - 6.84%

Disney: 03 - 1.58%

Documentary: 13 - 6.84%

Holiday: 19 - 10.00%

Horror: 34 - 17.89%

Kids: 01 - 0.53%

Musical: 07 - 3.68%

Mystery: 05 - 2.63%

Noir: 26 - 13.68%

Sci-Fi: 16 - 8.42%

I was honestly surprised at the percentage of Noir films. I figured I was way behind this year. I also will be dialing back how many horror movies I watch, by percentage, next year. That was... a lot.

Total super-stuff was pretty high, especially considering I made my way through 3 or 4 Marvel TV shows and some DC stuff.

By Decade

As I often say - I'm not particularly beholden to watching newer pictures. Lemme just pull something off the shelf from any era. I didn't watch any silent movies this year, I guess, so my 1920's viewing is not particularly great.

1930's: 06 - 3.16%

1940's: 18 - 9.47%

1950's: 15 - 7.89%

1960's: 05 - 2.63%

1970's: 18 - 9.47%

1980's: 33 - 17.37%

1990's: 19 - 10.00%

2000's: 11 - 5.79%

2010's: 12 - 6.32%

2020's: 53 - 27.89%

Watched By Month

I don't know what was going on in May. I guess I went outside or something.

January: 22

February: 12

March: 15

April: 18

May: 09

June: 11

July: 13

August: 13

September: 13

October: 26 - Horror movie season

November: 16

December: 22

Watched By Format

Austin Film Society: 02

Amazon: 66

Apple+: 01

BluRay: 15

Criterion Channel: 10

Disney+: 23

DVD: 03

Hallmark (cable): 05

HBOmax: 27

Hulu: 05

Netflix: 04

Paramount+: 02

Peacock: 03

Roku: 01

Showtime trial: 01

TBS (cable): 01

TCM (cable): 18

Tubi: 02

How Many Movies Did I See For the First Time?

Movies I saw for the first time: 115

That's 60.53% of the movies I saw were "new to me". I think that's a pretty healthy percentage.

Or, another way, I only rewatched movies 39.47% of the time. So I'm trying new things!

How Many "New" Movies Did I Watch?

I'm not going to the theater, so I'm basically calling a movie "new" if it's just been released to Digital, Disc or Streaming.

I watched 41 "new" movies in 2022. That's 21.58% of the total movies watched, or a little better than 1 in 5.

How Many Movies Did I watch for a PodCast?

This year I watched 46 movies for the PodCast.

Of those films, 24 were "new to me", ie: I had never seen them before. That's just over 50%.

We covered 10 "new/ recent" movies on the podcast, or about 22%. Which is way more than I figured. Good on us.

How Many Movies Did We Watch for a Watch Party?

We watched 34 Movies for a Watch Party. That's 17.89% of movies seen this year were in the company of pals.

Of the 34 movies, 16 were "new to me". That's about 46% of the movies watched were something I took a gamble on and hadn't seen before.

https://ift.tt/CWvNuLG

from The Signal Watch https://ift.tt/0L9vRcj

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undeadgoathead · 1 year

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I posted 3,981 times in 2022

35 posts created (1%)

3,946 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@s-o-u-t-h-o-f-h-e-a-v-e-n-69

@818zombie

@valley-of-sacrifice

@darklordfenrir

@naughtyhalloweenart

I tagged 35 of my posts in 2022

#goathead - 19 posts

#undead - 19 posts

#metalhead - 14 posts

#headbanger - 12 posts

#heavymetal - 10 posts

#mosher - 8 posts

#dancedarklings - 8 posts

#rocker - 7 posts

#turntabletuesday - 7 posts

#metal - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 27 characters

#diamondsareagirlsbestfriend

My Top Posts in 2022:

This weekend will be Dance Darklings anniversary celebration! Join us for 30+ hours of music on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There will be tons of DJs playing a variety of songs from diverse genres, including a metal hour with yours truly! Hope to see you there. Room ID: 87236303339 PW: Darklings #dancedarklings #dance #darklings #goth #club #rave #cybergoth #newwave #punk #rock #metal #heavymetal #metalhead #headbanger #electronica #edm #techno #trance #undead #goathead https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbd8CtWL3bW/?utm_medium=tumblr

1 note - Posted March 23, 2022

End of an era: Today is the grand finale of Turntable Tuesday! At least, until I get my grubby little paws on more vinyl. Until then, enjoy this Flexi Disc of Sacrificial Fire, by Ripped to Shreds! Hear the single play in my story today, before it disappears. What a wild ride this experience has been! . . #turntabletuesday #turntable #recordplayer #recordcollection #vinylcollection #vinyl #vinylcommunity #vinylcollector #album #albumcover #flexidisc #decibelmagazine #decibel #rippedtoshreds #sacrificialfire #deathmetal #headbanger #metalhead #undead #goathead https://www.instagram.com/p/CcRZxeHLCgy/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

1 note - Posted April 12, 2022

Tagged by @thecommongrave

Last song: At the Destination, by Lake of Tears.

Last movie: Top Gun: Maverick

Last book: Vader Down

(Oi! Comic books still count as books! It's right there in the name!)

I'm tagging:

@818zombie @sickboii310 @princesspakalolo @p-o-s-s-e-s-s-e-d-b-y-f-i-r-e

3 notes - Posted June 8, 2022

Welcome to another #turntabletuesday ! This week, we explore a classic: The iconic Black Album by Metallica! This album gets its fair share of flack. But why? Half the tracklist are bona fide bangers! Enter Sandman, Sad But True, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam, Nothing Else Matters, and The Struggle Within!? Each song is heavier than the next! Can you guess which barnburner will be featured in my story tomorrow? Tune in to find out! 😉 . . #theblackalbum #blackalbum #blackouttuesday #metallica #metalhead #metal #thrashmetal #thrash #thrasher #vynil #vynilrecords #lp #turntable #recordcollection #record #recordplayer #spin #spindoctor #dj #latenight https://www.instagram.com/p/CaBvspBuUfc/?utm_medium=tumblr

4 notes - Posted February 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

New profile pics for Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook, respectively. Also updated my background images to photos of my turntable, playing some of my favorite records. Part of spring cleaning, is refreshing one's social media presence! . #update #refreshing #renew #rejuvenation #springcleaning #spring #rebirth #renaissance #aprilshowers #mayflowers #storm #cloud #sky #nature #technology #personality #selfexpression #records #recordcollection #recordplayer #turntable #profilepictures #backgrounds https://www.instagram.com/p/CcwGpnDPVBS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

6 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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lindsayhofford · 1 year

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How Science and Technology Are Changing Ice Hockey

It's time to examine how science and technology transform ice hockey. Hockey is thrilling, and technology assists in many ways to make it more fun. For instance, rinks are being constructed to handle the demands of professional hockey, while sensors and carbon composite sticks are helping to make the game safer.

Most hockey sticks up until around ten years ago were made of wood. Those wooden sticks often broke or cracked. Players would thus keep other posts on the bench. Manufacturers eventually released composite bats.

A carbon fiber hockey stick is referred to as a composite stick. It is more flexible and lower in weight. These hockey sticks are also sturdier and more robust than their forerunners.

In a mold, the materials are heated and compacted during production. While fiberglass contributes to strength, carbon fibers have an excellent tolerance for heat. They may be mixed with other materials, such as thermoplastic Aramid, which helps shield the stick from deterioration.

Although a more recent technology, carbon composite sticks have already started to change the sport. Goalies like Sergei Bobrovsky have already begun using them. This season, 24 NHL goalies have converted to composites.

Thanks to sensors, a new ice hockey age is about to begin. Thanks to technology, more metrics and insights can be given to coaches and players. It will also assist authorities in making the best decisions.

The NHL is using wearable technology to enhance player training and safety. To detect player biomechanics and other motions on the rink, sensors are included in pucks, helmets, and skates.

They also use infrared cameras to keep tabs on players, pucks, and jerseys. Both movement and distance detection may be added to these cameras.

The speed and direction of a puck or disc are detected by a new hockey goal created using technology. This intelligent goal may be modified to operate in many modes and compute phases utilizing several sensors.

The Shockbox is another cutting-edge piece of technology; it is a helmet sensor that transmits the hit count to a smartphone. This technology may be discrete and operated by groups of people.

It's challenging to build a rink that can withstand the demands of professional hockey. There are several considerations. You will need to be ready to do the task, from illumination to the correct quantity of snow.

The most effective method for doing this is water recycling. Each year, this helps to save hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Long-term savings are another benefit.

An NHL rink is an ice surface 200 feet long and 85 feet broad. It has a four-centimeter thickness. It has a one-inch-thick coating of crystal-clear water on top.

According to the National Ice Hockey Association, approximately 20,000 impact-related injuries are reported annually in the country. These include PCL or LCL tears, meniscus tears, and kneecap dislocations.

The frequency of ice hockey injuries among US adult players has been the subject of many studies. Concussions have received some of the research's attention. In hockey, concussions, which are a kind of severe brain damage, often occur. They usually happen when a player falls and hits his head on a hard surface. A well-fitted helmet is necessary to avoid a concussion.

In a different research, concussions among NHL enforcers were analyzed. They claimed that concussions were the cause of 15% of their injuries. A concussion may include headaches, light sensitivity, nausea, and vomiting.

Additionally, the researchers discovered that among a group of guys between the ages of 26 and 35, there was a significant rise in impact-related injuries. The bank was not statistically significant when compared to younger age groups.

The construction of a professional hockey rink is one of the most impressive engineering achievements. You may create a rink ideal for the activity by combining water, transparent layers, and the necessary components. Fortunately, basketball teams sometimes share venues with professional hockey teams.

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yomarius · 2 years

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Music

A Draco fanfic about music.

Word count: 333

Closing shifts are Draco’s favourites, everybody cleaning up in silence. He's noticed some people wearing strings around their ears, it took him two weeks to discover they are called headphones and a month to discover what they are for.

Going out after work, he takes a little map her co-worker drew for him. A couple of blocks away a red arrow marks a 24-hours record store.

It takes him ten minutes to arrive. The store is empty aside from the clerk asleep next to the cash register. Draco gets closer hoping he is not dead. He clears his throat, and the guy lifts his head. Not dead, great.

“Welcome to 99… You’re cute. Look, there’s no one here so feel free to try the discs on the player,” the guy says before going back to sleep.

Draco looks around, brushing through the records and discs. He stops at a blue case with a guy picture at the centre, it doesn’t look like the ones from his roommate. He takes the cd out and puts it on the player.

I am the son and heir

Of nothing in particular

“You’re not the only one,” Draco mumbles to himself.

See I've already waited too long

And all my hope is gone

Something aches at his heart; it speaks too close to home.

“I know the feeling.” The guy next to the register lifts his head again. “That’s how you know it’s a good record, take it, it's on the house.”

“Thanks,” Draco answers and puts the disc back on the case. “ Are you sure?”

“It’s midnight, I’m not sure of anything,” the guy answers before putting his head down again.

At home he plays the full disc, he finds himself on the lyrics and the melody. He thinks that maybe the musicians are also wizards, ones particularly good at legilimency. He replays the disc one more time.

Just like everybody else does

His eyelids close, and he has a good dream after a long time.

#draco fanfiction #draco malfoy #draco in muggle world #hp fanfic #drarry fanfic #draco angst #draco #i think i finally did punctuation right #the song is #how soon is now #by the smiths

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droptoeholdyourhorses · 10 months

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My Nine Platinum Trophies

On PlayStation. Not literal platinum trophies.

It's rare that I actively go after a platinum trophy in a video game but last night, in the early hours of the morning, I got my ninth so I figured it would be nice to go back and look at the ones I do have.

1. WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 (PS3)

First Trophy: 22/08/2011

Platinum: 20/11/2011

Time: 2 months, 29 days

Rarity: 1.9%

Given WWE SvR 2010 came out in October 2009, you might be wondering why I was late to the party on this one. Until 2011, pretty much the only games I played at all were the WWE ones and I stayed loyal to my PlayStation 2 until the bitter end. When WWE '12 was announced to be exclusive for the seventh generation, I caved and got myself a PS3. For whatever reason, I actually skipped SvR 2010 when it came out on PS2 so I picked up a cheap copy for the PS3 instead and managed to get my first platinum a few days before WWE '12's release.

2. Family Game Night 3 (PS3)

First Trophy: 17/07/2012

Platinum: 26/09/2012

Time: 2 months, 9 days

Rarity: 2.7%

Ah yes, arguably the most prestigious platinum of all. Accomplished by achieving such feats as winning The Game of Life 10 times, having a perfect game of Twister, locking another player in any room in Clue, building all five trap variants in Mouse Trap, and gaining six combo cards in Yahtzee.

3. Rocket League (PS4)

First Trophy: 16/08/2015

Platinum: 05/01/2017

Time: 1 year, 4 months, 20 days

Rarity: 2.7%

Another case of being behind the times. Rocket League was free on PlayStation Plus upon its initial release in July 2015 but I don't remember actually having a copy until Christmas 2016. However, when looking through the trophies, I have two dating back to August 2015. I can only assume I did download Rocket League briefly, lost interest the first time around, uninstalled it and eventually got back round to wanting to play it again. Mysterious circumstances whatever happened meaning the platinum took close to 17 months as opposed to just 11 days. In between FGN3 and Rocket League, I also 100% completed Monopoly Plus, Firewatch, and Hitman but none of those offer a platinum.

4. Killing Floor 2 (PS4)

First Trophy: 08/06/2017

Platinum: 29/06/2017

Time: 21 days

Rarity: 1.7%

This one I did get when it was free on PlayStation Plus. However, I picked it up at the insistence of my friend Chris. He currently has 92 platinum trophies for comparison sake. A fun little game that helped pass the time during a period of unemployment for myself until I found a job that September. A couple of months prior to the KF2 platinum, I also 100% completed Disc Jam, meaning my overall platinum count should really have been 8 at this stage.

5. L.A. Noire (PS4)

First Trophy: 25/12/2017

Platinum: 23/03/2018

Time: 2 months, 26 days

Rarity: 1.8%

I never played L.A. Noire on the PS3, instead getting the enhanced edition for Christmas 2017. I soon realised what I had been missing. A lovely game with a fantastic story that never outstayed its welcome. Probably the first time I actively wanted to achieve a platinum as opposed to having a majority of trophies and then just picking up the ones I didn't have. On the topic of Rockstar games, I got Red Dead Redemption 2 as a gift for Christmas the following year. I have 81% of the trophies for that game, missing out one single player trophy and a few of the online ones. I do however have 100% in-game completion which is good enough for me.

6. Golf With Your Friends (PS4)

First Trophy: 23/05/2020

Platinum: 11/06/2020

Time: 19 days

Rarity: 0.5%

The fastest platinum I've achieved to date. Golf With Your Friends was a quite handy game for a group of us to play during a time where none of us could see each other in person for reasons I forget. I've not played any of the GWYF expansions though.

7. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4)

First Trophy: 11/12/2014

Platinum: 24/01/2021

Time: 6 years, 1 month, 13 days

Rarity: 0.1%

Now, to be fair, while I did play GTA V throughout those six years, I didn't spend all that time trying to get the GTA V platinum. Between May 2016 and December 2020, I didn't earn a single trophy for it. So why did I suddenly make it a goal when for so long it hadn't concerned me? There was some reason I couldn't go into work for a few weeks around the end of 2020/early 2021 - who knows what it could have been? - and I needed something to pass the time. I decided to replay the story of GTA V and then realised the platinum actually seemed doable after all. One month later, I got my rarest platinum of all. Much better than the 55% I completed on the PS3 version of the game. I don't have any desire to do it again once I own a PS5.

8. Zombie Army Trilogy (PS4)

First Trophy: 25/01/2023

Platinum: 30/05/2023

Time: 4 months, 5 days

Rarity: 1.4%

The second zombie related game on the list, also at the instance of my friend Chris oddly enough. Did end up preferring it to Killing Floor 2 after some initial reluctance on my part to play it. Chris is now trying to convince me to buy Zombie Army 4 and get the platinum on that as well. He does play other genres of games, I promise.

9. WWE 2K23 (PS4)

First Trophy: 29/04/2023

Platinum: 28/06/2023

Time: 1 month, 30 days

Rarity: 0.1%

A historic platinum for me, for a couple of reasons. It marks the first time in my gaming history I've got two platinum trophies in a row. It's also the first WWE game since SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 that I've achieved the platinum for. It's going to feel odd playing it now and not having to worry about trophy hunting.

#playstation #ps4 #wwe #rockstar #gta v #rocket league #zombies #platinum #trophy hunting

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otakusmart · 11 months

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Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out Season 3 Release Date and More: Will the Beloved Anime Return?

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out season 3 release date is something every anime fan is looking forward to! The highly anticipated series is the sequel to the popular college romantic-comedy anime that first premiered in the summer of 2020. Fans have been eagerly waiting for news about the next installment of this charming series. So, when can viewers expect to see more of Uzaki-chan and her friends? Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out, or Uzaki-chan for short, is an anime adaptation of the manga series created by Take. The story revolves around Hana Uzaki, a lively and energetic college student who discovers that her school senior and crush, Shinichi Sakurai, also attends the same college. Determined to make his college life more enjoyable, Hana spends her time with him, creating fun and heartwarming moments.

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out season 3 release date, episode list, and more

The anime's first season, consisting of 12 episodes, was produced by Studio ENGI and aired from July 10, 2020, to September 25, 2020. The second season followed, airing from October 1, 2022, to December 24, 2022, with 13 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the anime outside of Japan, garnering positive feedback from viewers and critics alike. The wholesome interactions between the main characters and the rest of the cast made it a hit among romance and comedy fans. The burning question on everyone's mind is whether there will Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out season 3. Studio ENGI and the publisher Fujimi Shobo have yet to renew the anime for another season officially. While some anime series receive immediate renewals after the first season finale, unfortunately, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out season 3 was not one of them. However, we can speculate about the chances of a new season based on three key factors: the availability of source material, sales, and popularity. Let's take a closer look at these factors to assess the possibility of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out season 3 being released for its fans.

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out Season 3: The series will return!

In terms of source material, there is ample content available for Season 3. The manga series has 24 volumes, with the anime only covering the first seven volumes in the first two seasons. This means there are still three volumes worth of material to adapt, providing plenty of content for Studio ENGI to work with. The manga series is also ongoing, with consistent releases of new volumes, making it even more promising for a sequel. When it comes to sales and profitability, Uzaki-chan has performed exceptionally well. The series has reached a circulation count of 2.5 million copies across light novels, manga, and digital downloads. The anime adaptation played a significant role in doubling sales within just two years. With such impressive sales numbers, Uzaki-chan is considered a successful manga series. Although Blu-ray and DVD sales are no longer the primary indicators of an anime's success, Uzaki-chan's home video release could have performed better in terms of sales. However, this does not necessarily mean the anime did not generate a profit. Revenue from licensing fees and merchandise sales could have compensated for the lower disc sales, giving hope for the show's continuation.

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out Season 3: Conclusion

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out Season 3's popularity both in Japan and the West is undeniable. The manga has consistently appeared on Oricon's Best Selling manga chart, and the anime quickly became one of the most-watched shows during its debut season in Japan. It also received positive reviews from viewers worldwide, further solidifying its popularity. As of May 2023, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out Season 3 has yet to have a confirmed release date. It will likely air sometime in late 2024 or early if a new season is announced. Read the full article

#Uzaki-chanWantstoHangOutSeason3 #Uzaki-chanWantstoHangOutSeason3ReleaseDate

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