#3 years ago i started a love affair for ga
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[CN] Gavin’s R&S - Minor’s Memos
🍒This R&S (韩野的备忘录) is part of the Dream Heart Lake event which has not been released in EN🍒
More r&s from the event:
> minor’s memos ♡
> tilted time
> little bro’s self-cultivatiion
> ashes
[ Chapter 1 ]
The First Memo
I was beaten up.
This morning, I was especially courageous and pasted a "Evil Spirit Begone" challenge letter on the school bully’s lunchbox. But I didn’t stop myself and pasted too many. The other party brought five people and cornered me in a small alley. I straightened my back, but felt a chill. What happened in the end were the four words I started off with... I was beaten up. With a bloody nose and a swollen face, I suddenly felt that there truly weren’t any heroes in this era... Even an ardent youth like me had to face such tribulation...
Suddenly, a pair of white sneakers stood before my eyes. Lifting my red and swollen eyes with difficulty, all I saw was an icy outline. He reached out to grab the neck of one of the school bullies, and had a sharp look in his eyes!
Oh my... It was actually Se! Nior! Ga! Vin!
Today, I finally witnessed what was a true 1 v 5 looked like. Gavin blew the dust off his hands, lowering his eyes and giving me a glance before leaving. Quick-wittedly, I tugged on the bottom of his trouser leg.
Senior turned out to be just as cold and indifferent as the legends said. During the entire process, he only said one word - “Scram”.
He’s such a MAN!
Hence, there’s a small goal in my heart. I want to learn the supreme feat of Senior’s 1 v 5!
-
The Second Memo
I looked for Senior many times, but was mercilessly ignored by him... He was either wholly absorbed in drinking water, or wholly absorbed in sleeping... I decided that I had to take the initiative! So, I came up with a plan to perfectly understand Senior.
Cough cough.
With this, I started embarking on the dull and dry life of “tracking” Senior. At 7.30am, Senior would appear at the school gate punctually, carrying a flat schoolbag. I don’t know if there are any books in it... Forget it, is that the main point? Nope!
After Senior reaches school, the first thing he does is head to the small kiosk in the north to! Buy! Breakfast! Does he actually lead such an ordinary life too? I even thought an existence like Senior’s should be above worldly affairs, and that he wouldn’t eat the food of common mortals! Hey hey hey! It seems that Senior really likes to eat fishballs? He’s been eating them for three consecutive days!!! Isn’t it good to change it to something else?!!!
During class, I deliberately went around the upper levels where the Year 3 seniors were, pretentiously passing by Senior’s window. Of course, Senior typically wouldn’t appear in the classroom at all. But!!! He was here today!!!!
As expected, he was assigned to sit in the last row, and was sleeping without restraint...
Did nobody care?! Wait, why am I feeling envious?
After school, Senior walked around, and I had no idea where he was headed to. Finally, he walked into the library. I couldn’t help but think - Senior really lives life as he pleases...
Huh? Hang on! Why would the Underworld Senior go to the library?!
He not only went to the library, but the thing which startled me even more till my jaw dropped was - I saw Senior helping the prettiest girl in class retrieve a book from the shelf!
He even... s-smiled...
Had my vision gone blurry? This was the Underworld Senior who’s said to be cold, unruly, and scares girls away?!
-
[ Chapter 2 ]
The Third Memo
I was beaten up again... Writing these words is truly lamentable... Why did I have to rescue that stupid, unsophisticated and immoral four-eyed boy? But isn’t that what a hero does? What this era needs is a hero like me!
...this era might also not need such a weak hero like me...
That’s what I thought when I was pressed against the ground and punched by a school bully. My conviction was about to collapse. All of a sudden, I recalled the sharp look in Senior Gavin’s eyes. It’d have been nice if he were around...
Perhaps God happened to hear my wish, and Senior descended from the sky! With a dashing left uppercut, the other party lay on the ground, and I was moved to tears.
Senior asked, why do you keep causing trouble for yourself? I very righteously said that it’s because I wanted to be a hero, and couldn’t stand to see school bullies targeting the weak. Senior then said, don’t you know that they call me a school bully?
In my heart, I responded that I knew. But I shook my head very firmly. The look he was giving me suddenly had a hint of bewilderment added to it... like he was looking at a... hm? An idiot? ...
Senior is very difficult to understand. He even told me about what true heroism was, which went beyond the words I recognised from Senior. He actually said two sentences! I’ll note them down, I’ll note them down...
Who cares about him! From what I see, heroism is about rushing to the rescue when one sees injustice!
-
The Fourth Memo
Today, I! Was! A! Hero!
I was following Senior around secretly today, though I don’t know how many days it’s been, and encountered Senior being ambushed! Those guys were the school bullies who beat me up the last time! A total of ten people were there! Terrible! Tyranny of the majority! How could I, Minor, allow such a situation to happen!
Without much thought, I rushed forward to help Senior! Of course, I was beaten up yet again... but I discovered one of Senior’s nuclear abilities-
1 v 10! Too dashing, too dashing. I don’t think Superman, X-Men or Iron Man are as dashing! Senior is a god in my eyes!
But Senior was very cold. He said two words to me which left me utterly heartbroken: courting death.
Feeling wronged, I told him that I wasn’t courting death. This was what heroism meant to me.
Senior scoffed, then told me not to follow him around sneakily in the future, because it was annoying.
What what what? Was my perfect “Understanding Plan” exposed since a long time ago?!
For some reason, I spoke up at this moment. “Senior, I saw you handing a book to the prettiest girl in class... Are you...”
Senior coughed, then covered his mouth with a hand... W-was he actually blushing!!!!? Oh my goodness - did I discover something disgraceful? Senior actually blushed! If I say it out loud, would I get silenced?!!
-
[ Chapter 3 ]
The Fifth Memo
On the first day of becoming Senior’s, oh wait - Bro Gavin’s little brother, hehe, made me feel like I was suddenly floating. Today, I finally walked beside him in broad daylight, and felt as if a gust of wind was blowing past while walking hahahaha! I saw people looking me with that gaze! That~ Gaze~
But I never expected Bro Gavin to be so strict... All I did was mention casually that someone gave the prettiest girl in class a love letter again, and Bro Gavin suddenly got angry, and asked me to grab those people over.
Catching people is really tiring. I had to run to several classrooms, and it was really annoying to move personnel. In the future, I definitely wouldn’t do such work.
Bro Gavin glanced at them and didn’t say anything. Was I supposed to save the show?? After recalling how teachers typically lecture me, I copied them wholesale and gave them a lecture: At this young age, they should concentrate on their studies instead of fooling around.
[Note] I translated “copied them wholesale” from “原封不动”, which literally translated to “not touching the original envelope”. This is a beautiful choice of idiom because that’s exactly what Minor did later on LOL T^T
Seeing the fear and trepidation in their eyes, I became even more excited.
While I was lecturing them happily, Bro Gavin walked over and only said one thing: Get the love letters back. If you scare her, don’t blame me for being difficult.
Wow, Bro Gavin is so cool! Come to think of it, did I discover a little secret that I shouldn’t be aware of? For example, that Bro Gavin’s feelings towards the prettiest girl in class are actually..
-
The Sixth Memo
I think Bro Gavin is most likely, indeed, and definitely in love. Recently, I became Bro Gavin’s private detective, specialising in focusing on the prettiest girl in class. Maybe next time, I should change the way I address the prettiest girl in class to “Sis-in-law”... Well, since the ancient times, heroes have always loved beauties!
As of now, Bro Gavin isn’t really Bro Gavin anymore -
He hangs out in the library every day. If you want to know where Bro Gavin is, all you have to do is ask where the prettiest girl in class is... He no longer fights, no longer goes to the sports field, and no longer plays ball games anymore. He’s like a salted fish which has lost its dreams. And he actually started reading “5 Years of College Examinations and 3 Years of Sample Questions”... I just want to cry.
[Note] “5 Years of College Examinations and 3 Years of Sample Questions” (”5年高考3年模拟”) is a supplementary book for college entrance examinations used in China!
At noon, we had a PE class together, and I excitedly told Bro Gavin that Sis-in-law had chosen basketball! I initially thought Bro Gavin would snatch up a territory to play basketball. In the end, Bro Gavin hauled me over to the nearby volleyball court...
He said that it was a good place.
Good? What’s good about it? My basketball... I still wanted to display my coolness!
Afterwards, I found out that, tsk tsk, Bro Gavin was truly very sly...
The volleyball court was actually even closer to Sis-in-law’s location as compared to other basketball courts!
When I almost accidentally smashed the ball on Sis-in-law’s head, it was blocked by Bro Gavin, who was far away... How did Bro Gavin do it?!
He actually ran diagonally across the volleyball court so quickly?!!! Does he have some special ability? Will it appear!
But Bro Gavin isn’t attuned to flirtatious expressions at all...
[Note] I translated “flirtatious expressions” from the term “风情”, which literally translates to “information about the wind”
When Sis-in-law thanked him, his face was even colder than when he’s facing me... And when I “accidentally” pushed Sis-in-law onto Bro Gavin! He actually gave me a merciless killer glare. Just thinking about it makes my heart feel pained...
He didn’t recognise my good intentions, sob sob sob sob.
-
[ Chapter 4 ]
The Seventh Memo
Today, I saw another side of Bro Gavin! That is - the Bro Gavin at the sports meet! He’s such a MAN!!!
In the ten-lap long-distance race in the sports field, Bro Gavin won the first place, leaving the second place runner far behind him by three laps. He didn’t even pant!
What kind of supreme feat is this? Before, I used to think that he was only super capable in fighting. Looks like there are many other things I have to learn from Bro Gavin!
It was only today when I realised that although Bro Gavin is so fierce and is always called an Underworld Senior, he seems to be really popular, based on how the female students looked as if they were about to glue their eyes onto Bro Gavin’s body -
Ah, I just want to “tsk tsk”.
Bro Gavin seemed to be in a good mood, but when I asked him to teach me 1 v 10, he assigned me to work as a private detective again...
He was very concerned about Sis-in-law’s sprint. Perhaps he’s a tsundere or something, so he didn’t go himself, and insisted that I went instead. He even tossed his phone to me.
What’s that supposed to mean? His phone? Did he mean that I should sneak pictures? Am I, Minor, such a person?
I called out to Sis-in-law. She turned her head, and I managed to secretly photograph an utterly beautiful side profile. It looked really good. This time, Bro Gavin would definitely teach me 1 v 10, right?
In the end, he! Did! Not!
Bro Gavin is someone who values a lover more than his little bro!
What can I say? I had no choice but to squat at the side and watch Bro Gavin staring at the picture on his phone, occasionally revealing an unusual smile...
Oh my, Bro Gavin smiled again!!!! It makes me feel frightened!!!!
Love makes people lose their minds!!!
-
[ Chapter 5 ]
The Eighth Memo
Bro Gavin looks very low-spirited recently. If he was a salted fish with no dreams before, then I reckon that right now, he’s not even a salted fish... He seems to have fallen in love with being in a daze lately.
After being in a daze in the piano room, he’d be in a daze in the library, continuously staring at the empty seat where Sis-in-law used to sit, and I have no idea what he’s thinking about.
But I really didn't expect a person who sleeps in class to be in a daze in the library for an entire afternoon... Did Bro Gavin and Sis-in-law have a fight recently?
Very curious, I asked around, and found out that for some reason, Sis-in-law has been hurrying off after school, and no longer goes to the library nor the piano room. I also heard that she’s been doing her revision for exams at home... Could it be that she’s hiding from Bro Gavin?
Oh my god, why don’t I write an eight o'clock soap opera with such an imagination? It might even become popular!
Returning to the original topic... should I tell Bro Gavin about this? If Bro Gavin also thinks that Sis-in-law is hiding from him, he might be heartbroken.
I’m worried...
-
The Ninth Memo
Bro Gavin disappeared for quite a long time, and finally returned today! But he brought with him a body full of injuries, and it’s very worrying because I didn’t know what happened! He also stuffed a letter to me, saying that it was for Sis-in-law. Even though the envelope was flat and smooth, it had a lot of blood stains.
Did Bro Gavin do something dangerous? He bled so much! I asked him to go to the hospital but he refused... Bro Gavin is truly too wilful!
But he is really different today. Why do I feel like I’m handling funeral arrangements? Touch wood!
He also said that he’d teach me 1 v 10 when he we meet again... Wow! If Bro Gavin wasn’t hurt, I’d have wanted to pounce on him and give him a peck! Bro Gavin is the most dashing! Bro Gavin is the coolest!
Come to think of it, Bro Gavin is about to take the college entrance examinations, and the seniors from the graduating classes have been pretty sad recently. The next meeting Bro Gavin mentioned was probably summer vacation? Hehe, I’m looking forward to it a little!
In that case, while Bro Gavin isn’t around, I’ll be the one to help Sis-in-law block off all the rotten apples!
Other men, don’t even think of approaching my Sis-in-law!
She! Is! Bro! Gavin’s!
-
The Final Memo
During the entire summer vacation... I didn't see Bro Gavin...
More from the Dream Heart Lake event: here
#mlqc#mlqc cn#mlqc spoilers#mlqc minor#mlqc gavin#I mistakenly thought the other translator who did this deactivated their account so I did my own version of this#BUT TURNS OUT THEY DIDN'T LOL#(ಥ﹏ಥ)
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On the Mend. Part 4
Harry Potter AU
Link to Part 3
Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader
Rating: T
_________
“Mum, I’m sure that you remember Y/n Potter. She is the woman that I am in love with and this is our daughter, Renee.”
Both Walburga and Ambrosia’s mouth fell open. Ambrosia looked at her ex-husband’s face before falling down to the baby in his arms. This was most definitely his child. Whatever hope she had of salvaging their marriage just burned into a million little pieces as Regulus pulled you closer to him. The expression on Regulus’ face when he looked at you clearly said true love. He never looked at Ambrosia like this and it infuriated her even more. She had to press her lips together and look down before she burst into tears.
Later Ambrosia knew that she would be angry. She would be livid. In her mind, she was already preparing for the jokes that she would make about Regulus and yourself.
“Oh look, it's just another teenage couple with a baby. How typical.”
Ambrosia didn’t want to think about how her life was going to be “affected” by Regulus’ decisions. She didn’t want to think about how other members of the “sacred 28” would whisper about her.
“That girl, that one right there...Ambrosia...that’s the girl that was abandoned by Regulus Black for Y/n Potter. Did you hear what a catastrophe that was? Apparently, Black had an affair with the Potter girl that resulted in a baby. Regulus left Ambrosia for Y/n and the child. It must be dreadful for Ambrosia”
Ambrosia had to shut those thoughts from her head. She had always been bitter toward Regulus’ attachment toward you now it was becoming a rage. Rage over the fact that the man she married had no feelings toward her. Ambrosia couldn’t help feeling stupid. She had gone into the marriage with an open mind and heart. She had given Regulus everything. Now her repayment for her good deeds was less than to be desired. Instead of getting a husband that would love and pamper her, she now had an ex-husband who knocked up his teenage girlfriend.
I should have seen this coming.
Ambrosia thought bitterly. Regulus never wanted her (and she knew it). At the wedding, he would barely look at her. Regulus looked anywhere but at her. Sex that night wasn’t even anything special. Regulus got what he wanted then left Ambrosia alone in the bedroom to drink himself to sleep. Anytime that Regulus would touch her, he either had to be drunk or would get drunk immediately after. He would then spend the rest of the night muttering your name in his sleep.
“What have you done, Regulus?”
Walburga asked, interrupting Ambrosia’s own brooding. Regulus didn’t deviate his attention from his mother. The last thing that he wanted to look at was Ambrosia and her tear-filled eyes. He didn’t feel sorry for her and nothing that she said would change it. So what if Ambrosia didn’t ask for what was happening to her now? That wasn’t Regulus’ problem. Ambrosia knew what she was getting into when she said “I do.” Regulus’ rage toward Ambrosia stimulated by the woman saying that you were plain that not worthy of Regulus’ affection. “Why do you love her so much? Y/n Potter is a plain girl. Why am I not good enough for you? I am twice as pretty as she is. She doesn’t deserve a moment of your time. You should love me, your wife. Not some girl that you had a hormonal teenage affair with.” After those words left her mouth, Regulus had no use for her. She was just some girl that he was forced to take care of.
Walburga hadn’t been able to move from her chair as she kept her cold gaze locked on her “favorite” son and the baby that was clearly his. Typically meeting one's grandchild should be a joyous moment. Walburga should be thrilled that her son produced an heir. She should be elated and excited but she wasn’t.
“You had a baby with Y/n Potter…”
Regulus nodded.
“Yes, mother….for the third time. If you would open your eyes and look at the child in my arms you would see that. This is my daughter and the woman that I am in love with...get the picture? I’m standing up to you like I should have done a long time ago. I was in a relationship with Y/n, to begin with. I didn’t want to marry Ambrosia and you forced me into it. I figured my being drunk the whole time would have clued you in on that but it appears obviousness is lost upon you. Y/n was pregnant and I didn’t know about it. My head is in the ballgame and I won’t give her up.”
Walburga was seething. Regulus never talked to her like this. Where his sudden surge of “big dick” energy was coming from was baffling. Regulus was the one that would stand beside her and agree to whatever his mother wanted.
Today, she didn’t know the young man in front of her. Judging by the surprised expression on your face, you too weren't expecting this kind of language to come out of Regulus. For some reason, Walburga felt comforted by that. Why? She didn’t know.
The part of her brain (or heart), that she didn’t let out much, was beginning Walburga to calm down and listen.
"Just give him a moment...a chance...this is our grandchild. Look at her precious little face. She’s a beauty. If you don’t calm yourself, you will never know her.”
The stubborn side of Walburga, that always won, however, had other things to say…
“What has this bitch done to my darling son? She has to have him under a love spell. That is the only thing that would explain this behavior. This is not my Regulus.”
“You are throwing away a wonderful marriage to a pureblood darling for Potter trash!”
Walburga finally said with a cold distant glare. Regulus, meanwhile, gently nudged you behind him and placed Renee in your arms. The little girl started whimpering and reached for her father again. Regulus turned and nuzzled his face against hers.
You, meanwhile, watched Walburga’s furious expression with a look of pride on your face. Regulus was, for once, standing up for you and your child. Walburga should be thrilled that her son would want to support his own child. Maybe there was some kind of gas leak in Grimmauld Place that was ruining her common sense? That was the best that you could come up with at the moment.
Regulus stood up straight again before giving you a small smile before turning back to his mother. The pleased smile had evaporated from his face.
“I suggest you watch how you speak to her. Y/n in a pureblood whether you want to admit it or not.”
Walburga jumped up from her seat.
“I want you to remarry the woman that we set you up with.”
Regulus laughed, making Walburga step back. She had forgotten that her youngest son could smile. She hadn’t seen him smile or heard his laugh in years. Had the situation been different, Walburga may have welcomed it. Now, however, she wanted nothing more than to slap Regulus as hard as possible.
“I am not marrying or being with Ambrosia.”
Walburga stomped her foot. She would sit and throw a tantrum until Regulus saw her way. Walburga knew that her son was scared enough of her that if she yelled loud enough she would get what she wanted.
“You are not marrying that girl! I forbid it!”
Regulus’ cold smile deepened. He would have not been surprised if Walburga laid down in the middle of the sidewalk and threw a fit like a spoiled child.
“Forbid all you want. I will marry Y/n. You can banish me from the family. Burn my name off of the tapestry if you have to...I am not changing my mind. I love Y/n and our daughter. You don’t have to be part of Renee’s life. We could really care less. I know that it doesn’t matter to you but how do you think that Y/n felt being pregnant and watching me marry that disaster? Like it or not, she isn’t going without or doing anything alone. If you cared about your granddaughter at all then you wouldn’t want her mother suffering as a single mother. It isn’t Sirius or Remus’ job to care for her. It's mine. You’re showing me exactly what kind of person you are and I don’t like what I see.”
“I will burn you off of the tapestry.”
Walburga almost yelled. Regulus shrugged before turning to you.
“Time to go, love.”
Regulus moved to apparate the three of you from the street. You put a hand on his chest before giving him a small nod. He took Renee from you as you turned to Walburga.
“You would really throw your son away like rubbish because he is no longer feeding into your insane ideology. It's your loss. You’ve already lost one son, go ahead and throw away the other. When you die alone and bitter, it will be your own fault.”
Regulus gave you all of two seconds before he pulled you in his arms and rushed back home.
You still felt a little dizzy when the concrete beneath your feet turned into the hardwood. Ever since you had become pregnant with Renee, apparating made you ill. As you tried to get your grasp back on the stagnant world, Sirius came in with a smile.
His smile fell when he sat the expressions on your faces.
“Guess the meeting with mummy didn’t go so well?”
Regulus didn’t say anything as he put Renee down on a soft blanket. He stepped toward the window and looked out at the street below. Sirius met your gaze. You gave him a curt nod.
Sirius turned his attention back to his younger brother. Regulus didn’t have to say anything for Sirius to know that the younger brother was upset. He could deny it all that he wanted but Sirius knew that Regulus loved their mother...even with all of the hell that she had put him through. Washing his hands of the whole family and walking away had to be more traumatic than Regulus seemed to be letting on.
“Are you out of the family too?”
Regulus turned.
“Yeah, look at that. We are more alike than we thought.”
Sirius normally would have made a witty joke but he could tell by the expression on your faces that jokes wouldn’t be appropriately timed. Instead, he turned his attention to Renee who was happily untying Regulus’ dress shoes.
“I’m going to take the baby upstairs and get her down for a nap.”
Sirius picked up Renee and disappeared from the room leaving Regulus and yourself alone.
Once Sirius was out of the room, Regulus knelt down to tie his shoes again before meeting your gaze. You were looking at him with big doe eyes that was making the man in him go crazy.
“I told you that I would do it.”
Regulus commented before joining you at the window. He placed his hand over yours hoping the physical contact would lure you to him. Sure enough, it did. You stepped closer to him.
“I was surprised.”
You commented, turning to face Regulus. His grey eyes were locked on your face. To say that you were surprised was putting things lightly. It was a miracle that you weren’t standing beside Regulus with your mouth open the whole time. Watching Regulus put Walburga and Ambrosia in their places made the attraction that you felt for him soar.
“I meant what I said. I want you. My family doesn’t matter now.”
The two of you stood in silence for a few moments. You had been internally fighting with yourself on whether or not you were ready to move forward with a relationship. After debating a few moments, your heart spoke before your head did. You had your arms around Regulus’ shoulders and was kissing him as if the world was about to end.
Regulus had been caught totally off guard by your out of character action. He had expected that he would still have to find some way to win you over (and he was fine with it). If it took him wooing you nonstop for the rest of however long...Regulus would do it.
Now here he stood, like a stunned idiot, with you kissing him. It reminded Regulus of the first kiss the two of you had shared. Neither of you liked each other very much (or so both of you thought). After being stuck together for a project, Regulus realized that he liked your company more than anyone else’s. The first kiss was a day in the forbidden forest. Regulus had caught you after almost tripping over a tree. The next thing he knew, he was kissing you. Where his sudden surge of bravery came from, he had no idea. This kiss felt like that kiss and it made that “butterfly” feeling in his stomach go crazy.
Regulus recovered quickly enough to wrap his arms around your waist. His left hand had gone up to cradle your head. The last thing Regulus wanted was for you to change your mind and try to get away from him.
“Did you mean what you said?”
You asked, voice quivering. As much as you hated sounding like you were afraid, you were. What if Regulus decided to change his mind about everything? What if he decided later on that he didn’t want a wife and child to care for? Would you be able to go on? Part of you said “hell yes.” You had done it once before with the help of your friends. The other part said, no. Now that Regulus knew about Renee and most of what you had gone through; continuing without him would be hard. It wouldn’t be fair to you or your child.
Regulus pressed his forehead against yours.
“About?”
“Renee and I...what if you change your mind...I…”
Regulus placed two fingers on your lips to gently shush you.
“I am not going anywhere nor am I going to change my mind. I promise. Now, may I kiss you again?”
You nodded, quickly pulling Regulus back to you by the lapels of his jacket.
“Upstairs?”
You questioned. Regulus wrapped his hand around yours without even answering and tugging you up the stairs behind him.
Meanwhile,
Remus, who neither of you had seen in the opposite doorway, stood shaking his head.
“Here we go.”
_______
@amelie-black
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#Regulus Black#Regulus Black x Reader#Sirius Black#Remus Lupin#Walburga Black#Orion Black#Ambrosia Parkinson#timothee chalamet as regulus black#ben barnes as sirius black#andrew garfield as remus lupin#regulus arcturus black#sirius orion black#Harry Potter fan fic#regulus black fanfiction#the ancient and noble house of black#James Potter x Lily Evans Potter#james potter#lily evans potter#On the Mend#On the Mend update
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I posted 432 times in 2021
10 posts created (2%)
422 posts reblogged (98%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 42.2 posts.
I added 145 tags in 2021
#deep space 9 - 20 posts
#poetry is life - 19 posts
#star trek - 18 posts
#doctor who - 16 posts
#fandom is a queendom is my new fandom tag - 15 posts
#dune - 15 posts
#capitalism is a nightmare - 11 posts
#fic fic fic - 11 posts
#i love lucy is my new lucy tag - 11 posts
#that show about a ot5 family of thieves - 9 posts
Longest Tag: 139 characters
#i mean don't get me wrong me accomplishing to have some fun with a piece of media is in this case to my credit and not at all to the credit
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
Yo does anyone out here think I could find an audiobook/drama version of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet with ~modernized language? A friend expressed interest in listening to sth like this, and I'm not sure where to locate such a Thing™?
3 notes • Posted 2021-01-18 10:49:32 GMT
#4
queen of WIPs
So I was nudged by @bohemicns and @elasticella (thank you <3) to list my WIPs & here they are - at least of course, the ones I’ve at least thought about doing something with in the last few months. I’ll happily blabber more about any/all of them
1 my gossip girl dan/blair multichapter with dan/blair starting an affair in paris while he's married to serena (ikr?) which i’m having trouble deciding the direction of
2 my jeremy/elena/caroline as leia/luke/han star wars a new hope AU (what even?)
3 my started like 1+ year ago wicdiv luci/laura thing where cass somehow also budged in and now neither her nor i are sure if she wants to rescue laura from luci, rescue luci from laura, or just say 'fuck it' and join them
4 my veronica mars (first ever!) logan/veronica something where they stumble across each other at a gas station (ah, liminal spaces, amirite)
5 my (first ever!) riverdale reggie/veronica enemies & lovers something (thankyou @bohemicns for making me do this)
also omg no idea who to tag plz tag yourself if you wanna play with me
4 notes • Posted 2021-10-07 08:03:38 GMT
#3
There is not a WIP there I don't want to talk about, but let's focus on wicdiv & riverdale bc I want them soooo bad
Ok let us talk then:
Riverdale first!
I'm actually simultaneously really thrilled with this AND not sure what exactly to do with it? Though I never consider myself a writer whose problem is Too Many Ideas, here I think that might be actually troubling me? I want it to be noir and pulpy and for exchanges like this to take place:
Toni opens her mouth, but doesn't speak. She pours more of the whiskey into his glass.
"Cheap whiskey for a cheap story?" Reggie asks.
"I'll bring you some more, if the story's as good as you say."
However I maybe want to have basically a frame narrative with Reggie talking to Toni at the White Wyrm, but I also maybe want to alternate between Veronica and Reggie's POV? And do I want it to be noir-pulpy for all chapters? Do I want to show people (myself included) what's actually inside Reggie-boy's head, or just, you know, not, and keep the POV outside of his thoughts and let us get a feel for him in the dark, by the weak light of his actions? But I really like it! If you like this and, you know, wanna do a quick colab, maybe a bit of Lucy energy is what this needs :D I'm open to all advice & offers.
Also, I sorta want to make a proper Romantic (?) hero out of Reggie, which is a) ridiculous but also b) fitting?
if Reggie were more genre savvy, if he was Jughead, or maybe even Betty, he would have recognized what was going on. This is not to say Reggie is stupid, he decidedly is not. And anyway, who's to say he wouldn't have walked right into it anyway?
WicDiv second!
Ok, I sorta wanna do a darker (?) take on Luci/Laura (I mean darker than I think I usually do stuff?) and see what I can unveil esp re: Laura as she sorta maybe starts being a bit unhappy in their ~relationship?
Later that night, and later most nights, there's bruises on her. Marks of worship, or faith, or fucking something. But bruises heal quickly, or at least change colors, and right now there's a pantheon of colors traceable on Laura's skin, a gift from one goddess to another. Laura looks at herself sometimes in the mirror, and traces her bruised skin with her fingers, and thinks, this dark purple one, this is Baph, and the light sort of purple-greenish one, that is Baal. She thinks of the yellower one as Sakhmet. All her lovers written plainly on her skin. Luci the painter and all of her lovers at once. And Laura is what she's always been best at - a fan.
Well. Mostly. Sometimes between the bruises and back-alley quickies, between coming and going and <i>fuck-you</i>s like guided missiles, something claws at the back of Laura's throat. It never quite makes it out.
But, consider:
She discusses her bruises with Luci, whispers in a sex-dishevelled bed. Laura whispers of past lovers and future ones, and says: <i>this bruise that claws at my throat, that one is you</i>, and Luci whispers of - nothing at all.
And I'm sorta fine with that! But! I don't know what to do with Cass. I wanna bring in Cass, but I'm not sure what she wants to do with Luci/Laura?
It's mostly this: Cassandra is a goddess who knows and no one believes her truths.
It's also this: Lucifer is not a goddess of anything if she is not a goddess of lies.
Looking at it from that angle, it's quite another thing entirely.
"Laura's sleeping" Luci says. She gives Cass a good once-over, slow and indulgent, because sleeping with Laura more than once a week does not preclude her from having eyes, and for some reason it's important that Cass knows this. And anyway, she's worried she might be getting rusty. Seducing someone like Cass, well, a rusty goddess couldn't do that.
At least Luci is behaving aka wrecking havoc, as always, bless.
Now, gimme your thoughts! <3
5 notes • Posted 2021-10-07 10:50:55 GMT
#2
A question for all Grisha-verse fans out there: for someone who liked SC and didn't like SAB, and read the first SAB book and both Crows books, is it okay to move on to King of Scars without reading the second and third Grisha books? Asking for a friend, honest.
10 notes • Posted 2021-05-09 13:37:35 GMT
#1
anyone else feel like we're forgetting to thank misters kieron gillen and james mckelvie of the wicdiv for gwendolyne christie being cast as lucifer
30 notes • Posted 2021-01-29 10:49:02 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
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Hang A Shining Star
Pairing: Keefe Sencen/Fitz Vacker
Wordcount: 2,667
Summary: Keefe nods, nudging Fitz’s shoulder. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. We’re going to raise the roof!”
Fitz snorts, taking a sip of his eggnog. From the living room, a stream of chatter weaves between the lyrics of Christmas Island. The whole house is warm and smells of nutmeg.
“Yeah. Yeah, we are.”
Other notes: Here we go! The Keefitz Christmas party fic! I hope you guys enjoy it.
Taglist: @everyonehasthoughts, @clearlykeefitz, @loverofallthingssmart, @a-lonely-tatertot, @enbies-and-felonies, @molly-sencen, @lemontarto, @appalyneinstitute1, @ruewen-and-rising, @silver-snow, @linhamon-roll, @hyperlollypop, @never-ever-too-many-fandoms, @keeper-of-the-lost-queers, @impostertamsong, @vibing-in-the-void, @yeetersofthelostcities, @mistythegirlfluxmess, @diamond-dreamerr
Read it on ao3 or under the cut!
If you had to give each season a word to describe it, winter would be quiet.
Summer is light, heat waves sinking across the country and sunshine spreading its rays. Spring is growth, flowers opening and leaves unfolding. Autumn is rest, leaves dropping to the ground and blowing away on the wind.
And winter is quiet. It’s something in the air- something about nature pausing, holding its breath, something about the way the snow muffles any semblance of sound. Winter is a time for introspection, a time to catch your breath. It’s peace.
Right now, though, the house is anything but quiet and peaceful.
Even from two floors up, Fitz can still hear the finishing chords of Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, Biana humming along. He’s supposed to be retrieving the decorations from the attic, but he doesn’t want to leave the relative safety of his Justin Bieber-less space.
“Fitz?” Livvy pokes her head into the room, garishly-patterned Christmas sweater seeming to glow in the dim light. “Everything okay up here?”
“Yeah,” Fitz grimaces as Santa Claus Is Coming To Town starts up. “Just trying to save my ears.”
Livvy laughs, sitting down on a box labeled China Tea Set- DO NOT TOUCH. “Yeah, I get that. I love Dell to death, but her music taste is terrible.”
Fitz nods. “And it’s Christmas songs. How do you mess up Christmas songs?”
“Not sure, but they’ve managed to do it.” Livvy springs to her feet and picks up a fake wreath the size of her torso. “We should probably get this stuff downstairs.”
“Yeah.” Fitz picks up a box that just says X-mas shit and rests it on his hip. “All right. Into the beast’s mouth we go.”
“Maybe we can steal the aux cord and change the music to something good.”
Biana and Della do not, unfortunately, relinquish the music. They do change it to Ella Fitzgerald’s Christmas album, though, so Fitz counts that as a win.
Winter Wonderland is crooned through the speakers as they start to unpack the boxes, sparkling glass ornaments hung on the tree next to a horrifying glue-and-yarn monstrosity Fitz made in first grade. Biana pulls a tiny tissue-wrapped package out of a box and holds it up with a shout.
“I found her! The mermaid!”
Livvy whoops as they all gather around to watch as Biana hangs the ornament on a pine branch. The mermaid is vaguely misshapen, facial features in the wrong places and tail twisted in on itself. It’s a Vacker family tradition- Fitz and Keefe bought it at a gas station at 3 am once when they were fifteen and they’ve never looked back.
“Perfect,” Della says, stepping back to look at the tree. “All we have to do is put the lights on the house, then.”
Everyone groans. Having a huge house is nice for some things; parties, for example, or having sock-sliding races, but hanging lights is always a pain. It takes multiple people just to hang a single string- Keefe usually comes over to help.
“Where is Keefe, anyway?” Livvy asks like she can read Fitz’s mind. (She actually might be able to. She’s talented like that.) Biana, from where she’s seated on the sofa untangling the lights, looks up.
“Oh, he couldn’t come today. He and Marella have a date to-”
“A date?” Della interrupts, looking at Fitz. “Huh. I always thought… I mean, that is to say, I always assumed Keefe…”
Fitz flushes. “No, mom, not that kind of date. They’re just the only two people crazy enough to go sledding.”
“Tobogganing,” Biana corrects. “Marella found an old toboggan in her garage and decided to take it out. I think they’re going down a hill near here, actually.”
“Well, maybe they’ll drop in after they’re done,” Della says crisply. “Eggnog, anyone? I’ll put nutmeg in it.”
Fitz stands up to go help just as the doorbell rings. He blinks, turning towards the front hall. “I’ll get it, I guess. Maybe Marella and Keefe are already done.”
He opens the door to see two snow-covered figures standing on the porch. Fitz can’t even see their faces, covered as they are by scarves and hoods. The shorter figure shakes off her coat and resolves into the form of Marella.
“Hey, Fitz,” she says. “Can we come in?”
Fitz narrows his eyes at the two of them. “Yeah, sure, just leave all the snow on the porch. What happened to you?”
Keefe pulls the scarf off his face, dropping it in a heap at his feet. He grins at Fitz, cheeks rosy from the cold.
“You know that Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin drives his sled into a tree and it breaks and he falls into the snow?”
“Vaguely. Please tell me you didn’t break your toboggan.”
Marella pats his shoulder as she enters the house, the wrists of her sweater wet from melting ice. “Sorry, can’t do that. It’s a pile of wood now.” She shrugs. “It was kinda a shitty sled anyway.”
Fitz rolls his eyes as they walk into the living room. Biana’s head snaps up and she pushes the Christmas lights onto the floor.
“Marella! Hey!”
Marella smiles, pulling her into a hug. “Hey, Bi. What’s up?”
Biana gestures toward the lights on the floor, which are only marginally less tangled. “Oh, you know. Just… fixing up the lights. Want to help?”
The two settle down on the couch, and Fitz and Keefe share a long look before slipping off to the kitchen. Keefe waves at Della.
“Hi, hon,” she calls, serving out the eggnog. “How was tobogganing?”
Keefe lifts one shoulder and takes the offered cup. “Okay. Better at the beginning, that’s for sure. How’s your composition going?”
Della grins, one of those huge, bright ones that Livvy swears could light up the whole world. “Well! We’re going to see if the orchestra can perform it next weekend. Speaking of which- Fitz invited you to the party, right?”
Keefe nods, nudging Fitz’s shoulder. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. We’re going to raise the roof!”
Fitz snorts, taking a sip of his eggnog. From the living room, a stream of chatter weaves between the lyrics of Christmas Island. The whole house is warm and smells of nutmeg.
“Yeah. Yeah, we are.”
-/-
Fitz stares at his reflection, hands anxiously tapping the table in front of him. Jingle Bell Rock is playing on the radio on his dresser, the upbeat music floating through the windows and into the darkening sky. Della and Livvy are out for the night, so he and Biana have the house to themselves for their party.
It’s not a huge affair- it never is. Just them and their friends; Sophie and Dex, Tam and Linh, Marella and Maruca and Wylie. Keefe.
Keefe, of course, presents a problem.
Fitz isn’t stupid. He’s known what he’s feeling since it started four years ago. He’s known exactly what the clenching in his gut was, why his skin felt hot whenever Keefe brushed his hand.
He’s not stupid, so he’s not going to do anything about his feelings.
The music on the radio changes into something slower, sadder. Imogen Heap’s voice seems to echo in the room, as she repeats just for now, just for now. Fitz closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths, trying to prepare himself.
A soft ‘psh’ comes from the doorway. Biana moves into the room, switching off the radio and giving him a sharp look.
“Really? Tonight’s a celebration, Fitz, not a pity party. You can be sad later.”
“I’m not sad,” Fitz protests. “I’m just getting ready!”
“Mmm.” Biana perches herself on the bed, green dress crinkling slightly. “You will be okay, though, right?” She asks, tone softer. Fitz nods.
“I’m fine. I promise.”
“Okay. But I’m here if you ever want to talk.” Biana stands up and ruffles his hair. “Now come on, I need your help with the cheese platter before everyone arrives.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rings.
“Too late for that,” Fitz says dryly as Bi darts downstairs. He glances in the mirror one more time before moving towards the stairs. “Here we go.”
Sophie, Dex and Marella burst in as soon as he opens the door, throwing their coats on the floor and attack-hugging him. Tam, Linh, Maruca and Wylie trail after them, calling “Merry Christmas!” as they kick off their shoes. Fitz tries to wave from underneath his hug pile.
“Merry Christmas,” he manages.
Finally, Keefe staggers in, covered in snow for the second time this week. Biana snorts.
“Need some help there?”
Keefe mumbles a word that might be “No” as Biana brushes some of the snow off of his shoulder.
“Come on, I think you might have an extra suit upstairs. Fitz, can you get everything cleaned up down here?”
“Sure,” he says, turning to the others and picking up discarded coats. “So did you all walk over here together?”
“Yup,” Maruca affirms, hanging her coat on a hanger. “Sorry about Keefe, by the way.”
“He fell into a snowdrift and had to change,” Marella explains. “I think he keeps an extra suit here?”
Sophie snorts. “He ‘fell’ into a snowdrift,” she says with exaggerated air quotes. “And by that, I mean Mare pushed him.”
“In my defense-” Marella holds up a finger- “his face was annoying me.”
“Right,” Fitz says, holding back a laugh. “Well, as soon as Keefe gets changed, we can-” A creak on the stairs interrupts him, and Fitz spins around to see Keefe standing there in a clean suit.
His suit.
“Sorry,” Biana says with a smirk that implies she is anything but sorry. “It turns out Keefe doesn’t have an extra suit here after all. And this one is too big for you, right?.”
“Y-yeah.” Fitz attempts to remember how to speak. “Yeah, no, that’s fine. That’s- fine. Good. Great. Yeah, it’s fine.”
He hears giggling behind him and turns towards the living room, resolutely not looking at anything else. “Anyway. Who wants food?”
-/-
“And that is why we don’t write personalized messages on bouquets anymore,” Maruca finishes, taking a delicate bite of a meatball. “Although there was also the guy who wanted me to write his ex a note that just said Hey Jane, fuck you and your fucking poodle. So, you know, it might have been more than one thing.”
Keefe snorts, leaning forward to grab another cookie. His shoulder brushes Fitz’s and Fitz stiffens before forcing himself to relax. He’s fine. This is fine.
“So, how about some music?” Marella says, plugging her phone into the speaker. The opening notes of Let It Go trail through the air and Dex boos.
“No Frozen!” Linh calls. Fitz blinks.
“Wait, I thought you loved Frozen.”
“Not anymore,” Linh says, settling back into the sofa cushions. Marella sighs and skips to the next song, cutting Elsa off in the middle of her line. Pentatonix’s Joy To The World starts up and she flops onto the floor.”
“You’re all homophobic.”
Biana laughs, sliding off the couch to sit next to her. She hands the smaller girl a mug of hot chocolate. “Here. Drown your sorrows in this.”
“Is it alcoholic?” Marella squints at it and takes a sip. She makes a face. “No.”
Patting her on the back, Biana turns to the rest of them. “Want to watch a movie? I think we have It’s A Wonderful Life-”
“No way,” Wylie cuts her off. Keefe nods.
“It’s Charlie Brown or nothing.”
Biana rolls her eyes and grabs the tv remote, clicking her way to A Charlie Brown Christmas. Next to him, Fitz feels Keefe stretch his legs out before curling up on the corner of the couch. He leans his head on Fitz’s shoulder, and Fitz takes a deep breath.
Yeah. This is fine.
Onscreen, Lucy tells Charlie Brown to direct the Christmas play. Keefe smiles and snuggles closer to Fitz, wrapping one arm around him. Fitz glances down at him, but the other man is completely engrossed by the movie. Maybe he’s just cold.
He must be really cold, then, because by the movie’s end, they’re practically pressed together. When the lights come back on, Fitz expects Keefe to move away, but he doesn’t. They stay snuggled on the couch all throughout Tam and Marella arguing the merits of The Polar Express and Linh’s terrible rendition of That’s Christmas To Me. (Fitz loves her, but the woman can’t sing to save her life.) Keefe only moves when someone mentions Silent Night, turning to Fitz with an excited look. Fitz stares back.
“No,” he says. Keefe pouts.
“Please?”
Fitz sighs, standing up. “Fine. Let me get my cello.”
Playing music, even the worst, most religious Christmas songs, always calms him down. He and Keefe used to do this a lot, play together when they were sad or worried or stressed. Dragging his bow along the strings as piano notes lift into the air is familiar, easy.
They get through Silent Night, Carol Of The Bells, and Hallelujah before Keefe just slams his hands on the keyboard and shatters any semblance of peace they’d had. Fitz can’t bring himself to care, though, not when Keefe is laughing.
Livvy always says that Della’s laughs are the most beautiful thing in the world. Looking at Keefe, Fitz understands that.
Biana plugs her phone into the speaker and Bing Crosby starts to sing about how it looks like Christmas. Laughing, everyone stands up and starts to dance. None of them are very good, and they’re all slightly drunk, but it’s nice.
And they must be playing some sort of Bing Crosby album, because White Christmas comes on next. Almost immediately, everyone pairs up, swaying back and forth. Fitz looks at Keefe, blinking slightly.
Keefe smiles and puts his hands on Fitz’s hips. They move around the room slowly, taking tiny steps in time to the music and finally dancing right out onto the front porch.
The sun has set by now, and the frost on the lawn seems to glitter in the soft moonlight. Snow is still falling, and it seems almost magical when the next song to come on is the Nutcracker Ballet’s Waltz of the Snowflakes.
“I used to love this song,” Fitz says quietly, sitting on the top of the porch steps. “We went to see the ballet in the city when I was a little kid, and I thought it was the most amazing thing ever.��
“Huh.” Keefe sits down next to him, staring out at the silent greenery. “I never saw it,” he offers. Fitz snorts.
“I know. Your dad wasn’t really big on theater.”
“Yeah.” Keefe gives him a small smile. Fitz turns to look at him, biting his lip.
“Are you- happier? Now?”
Keefe takes his hand, running his thumb over Fitz’s knuckles. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been,” he says. “With all our friends, and your mom and Liv, and…” he glances up for a moment. “With you.”
“What-.” Fitz looks up, too, to see a spinning green bundle of plants hanging above them. Mistletoe. “Oh.”
He looks back down, straight into Keefe’s eyes. The other man is smiling, and Fitz thinks that’s where he gets the courage from.
Carefully, he leans forward and presses their lips together.
It’s short and sweet, and when they pull back they’re both blushing. Keefe scratches the back of his neck. “So, uh,” he starts.
“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” Fitz blurts. Keefe blinks. “Sorry, I just- I needed to-”
“Uh. Me too,” Keefe says, snorting a little. Fitz stares at him, a smile spreading across his face.
“Well. Good.”
“Yeah,” Keefe laughs, leaning in again. “Good.”
Winter is quiet. But even now, with music and laughter spilling out of his house and his best friend (boyfriend?) smiling on the stairs next to him, Fitz is at peace.
Winter is quiet, but sometimes it’s nice to make some noise.
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So much to watch, not enough time in the week - What does Fall 2020 look like?
A list of what looks interesting in the next season and silly reasons as to why
I’m not the sort of person who likes finding out too many (in some cases even a smidgen of) details about anime I’m going to watch, so this will be a spoiler free preview of the season. Here is a list of anime I will try and you can expect to hear about on Kagemajaya.
Click on the show names to be taken to their MAL pages for more detail.
Hype
Taisou Zamurai
A male cast gymnastics anime from MAPPA (the studio of Yuri!!! on Ice.) Enough said.
Watch the trailer here.
Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan
This one’s a bit of a cheat as we’ve already seen 2 episodes of it (3 for those who have VIP accounts on weTV.) However, I was indeed hype for it before it started. Based on a BL novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, the author of Mo Dao Zu Shi, this one promises a lot to people who enjoy transmigration, cultivation and a bit of gay. It is also a quite funny isekai parody. The only downside is that it doesn’t share the same visual quality as MDZS, and is entirely 3D. It’s a good thing I’m not much of a stickler for hot visuals.
Watch it here on its official stream.
Tian Guan Ci Fu
Another donghua based on a BL novel, well-known among the danmei fans also by its English name of Heaven Official’s Blessing. Also written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (boy, are they busy.) And a big plus: it’s not 3D, so really looking forward to watching handsome men cultivate together in pseudo-historic China. Beautiful setting, beautiful boys. Now one can only hope for an interesting plot too and we are set.
Watch the trailer here.
Cautiously Expectant
Yuukoku no Moriarty
I saw manga adverts for this one all around Akihabara and Ikebukuro last year when I went on a little trip to Japan. The bishie Professor Moriarty was an immediate pull, and as a Holmes fan, I feel attracted to most of its adaptations, despite almost always being let down. The one thing that makes me cautious about this one is that it is published by a shounen magazine that is not GFantasy, so I’m not sure if the bishie designs and the male cast actually mean what I want it to mean. Fingers crossed.
Watch the trailer here.
Giving It a Shot
Inu to Neko Docchi mo Katteru to Mainichi Tanoshii
A cute looking comedy short about a dog and a cat.
Jujutsu Kaisen
A mostly male cast Shounen Jump affair. Spring 2020’s Kakushigoto also implied that it has a fujoshi fanbase - let’s see what that’s all about.
Maesetsu!
A female cast gag comedy sol created by Lucky Star’s Yoshimizu Kagami. I watched Lucky Star fairly recently and found it quite entertaining with many sweet/funny characters. I suppose we will see if Yoshimizu still has it. Fingers crossed.
Adachi to Shimamura
I try to watch all queer anime as they come, and this comes in from the shoujo ai quota. Looks like a pretty straightforward romance. Hopefully it will have heart.
Kaeru no Pickles: Kimochi no Iro
All I know about this one is that it has a chill looking poster and has a slice of life tag on MAL. I’m not entirely sure whether we’ll get this subbed, but if we do, I’ll give it a shot.
Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko
Fell for the slice of life tag once again. This one is an isekai with a soft looking MC. Not entirely sure it’ll be up my alley, but no harm in trying it, maybe for a pleasant surprise.
Sore dake ga Neck
This one seems to have the cool setting of a convenience store. I did initially think this was going to be a sol as well, but seems like that might not be the case. Either way, cool setting.
Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima
Another anime whose source project I saw plastered all around Tokyo. I’m not a huge fan of idol shows but the rapping bit makes me a bit curious.
Noblesse
A manhwa massively popular among female fans which has also received one off adaptations before, it’s finally getting its turn for a full cour among the hype the industry seems to have for Korean webtoons these days (Kami no Tou, God of High School, etc.) I did watch one of the OVA’s years ago, and wasn’t entirely impressed but then again I can’t judge a whole work based on one arc adapted into a single episode. Male cast action stuff. We shall see and judge.
Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst
This was chosen entirely on my shallow criteria as usual: visuals with two dudes on them. Now we’ll see whether the German name is a cringe factor or it’s actually interesting.
Sequels
Osomatsu-san 3rd Season
Osomatsu-san has been a consistently high quality production for me since the beginning. The humor is definitely my cup of tea, though as with any episodic gag comedy, some sketches do miss. It is more often than not a hit. The seiyuu cast is a huge huge pull, as this is not them only acting out an already written character but you can actually hear them having fun as the sextuplets. It is also one of the rarer shows where I, as a person who isn’t great at focusing on visuals, appreciate the impeccable quality of animation. So hype for another season of this majorly fun series and to welcome Matsuno’s back home - coziness, here I come.
Quanzhi Gaoshou 2
I watched the first season of Quanzhi Gaoshou (or King’s Avatar) because it was made by the studio of MDZS, and it was the first time I had seen a good looking Chinese animation production. And it didn’t disappoint. Production quality was similar and more importantly, it had a very engaging plot - pro MMORPG players playing MMORPG, their personal dramas and the actual (surprisingly fun for me) gameplay and action. Its most important quality is still its charming cast for me, a successful ensemble cast, where with the exception of the antagonists, everyone and their relationships are lovely. Mostly a male cast show, it does also have nice ladies. Looking forward to going back to them. My only personal issue (definitely not a flaw on the show’s part but my attention span) is that it has so many teams and characters that I forgot most of who was who. Fingers crossed it’ll be easy to get back into.
Haikyuu!!: To the Top 2nd Season
Haikyuu is back again, to finish off the “To the Top” arc. The first cour of this season was probably the season that took me out of the Haikyuu hypnosis state where I assumed everything that came out with the name attached to it was great. It was still enjoyable in its second half but I do feel like the magic has worn off now. I hope I’m wrong and the tournament hype will bring it back again. Haikyuu is at its best when it’s tense in-match and funny with character interactions, so fingers crossed for that.
Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai! 4
The Chinese comedy short is back! As mentioned a couple of paragraphs ago, gag comedies are always hit or miss with their sketches, and this one is also mostly a hit for me, though definitely not at the level of Osomatsu-san. The pull of this show is the cute boys and their dumbassery. Looking forward to its easy fun and more Kai Xin.
Also continuing...
Mo Dao Zu Shi Q, Great Pretender
Have been enjoying both these shows greatly so far. 2 more cours of MDZS Q to go with their cute chibi fun, and Great Pretender’s last case (9 eps) is already released on Japanese Netflix so now we wait for Laurent and the gang to reach us. Really looking forward to the emotional drama of Laurent and hopefully some proper addressal of his feelings for Edamame. Either way, it’ll look gorgeous and will be heaps of fun if the first three cases are anything to go by.
I might pick up other shows and most likely drop some of these throughout the season but here’s hoping it will be enjoyable overall despite the small number of shows I’ll start with. What are you guys planning to watch?
#anime#anime rec#seasonal anime#fall 2020#taisou zamurai#scumbag system#scumbag villain#heavens official blessing#tgcf#yuukoku no moriarty#mo dao zu shi#mdzs#great pretender#osomatsu season 3#osomatsu-san#haikyuu#quanzhi gaoshou#kings avatar#inu to neko docchimo katteru to mainichi tanoshii#jujutsu kaisen#maesetsu#maesetsu!#adachi to shimamura#kaeru no pickles#kamitachi ni hirowareta otoko#sore dake ga neck#hypmic#noblesse#magatsu wahrheit#ani ni tsukeru kusuri wa nai
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Behind the eyepatch
Author: Myself, also known as Draco Jenkings
Target Audience: New Adults
Pairings: BoruSara
Genre: Romance | Angst by trauma
Length: snippet with 1.681 words
Written for @borusaraweek2020, Day 3: Eyes
A/N: To find the complete fic you’ll need to search Draco_Jenkings on Wattpad
A/N 2: The events on this fanfiction happen after 5 years from the manga. | Boruto’s looks are inspired on Dimitri (Fire Emblem: Three Houses).
A fluffy snippet bellow
At Konoha airport, the ninjas saw something that they never would imagine in their wildest dreams, an airship. It was a cigar-shaped, trussed and covered frame supported by internal gas cells, or at least, what the guide that accompanied them to it said. Inside it, they grabbed their new gear.
When Sarada saw Boruto wearing his new outfit: a new black leather eyepatch, a black and white-furred Hyüga cape, black tactical Ambu vest and her father’s katana, she almost fainted for getting too excited. In her eyes, he looked as hot as fire, and she wished it.
Sarada, in her turn, had received the same black tactical Ambu vest, new shades and a red and white Uchiha cape, which she decided to put in her bag because she found Boruto’s salmon coat more comfortable. When equipped her shades, she noticed that it wasn’t a regular accessory, but an information machine, capable of identifying and analyzing objects at her will, at a small chakra cost. A useful ninja tool.
Finally, Mitsuki had received a new Konoha white and blue robe, with extralong sleeves, a tactical Ambu vest, and some potato chips. He liked it.
Along with the presents, there was a letter addressed for the team:
___________________________
Dear Team 7,
Most of the shinobis didn’t endure what you did nor had a greater record and sense of responsibility. You have proven yourself worthy of this promotion from now on I, as the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto Uzumaki, recognize you as top elite ninjas and name you official members of the Ambu, reporting directly to me.
Arise, new members of the Ambu of the Hidden Leaf!
Uzumaki, Naruto.
Hogake of the Hidden Leaf
___________________________
“Seems like from now on we’ll be getting more difficult missions,” Mitsuki commented.
“Are you complaining, Mitsuki?” Sarada said jokingly
“That never was a problem for us, was it?” Boruto smiled for the first time since he survived hell.
“Gentleman, may I accompany you to your ride?” asked the man in a tuxedo, wearing white gloves and with an odd mustache. Then, he conducted the team to their seats to travel this long ride “The estimated flight time is about 5 hours. Konoha Airlines appreciates your choice for a safe and comfortable journey and wish you to have a nice experience. Enjoy.” Then the man left.
To enter the zeppelin, they had to access a door that led to a tight corridor that had two doors, one for the pilot room and another for the living lounge. The lounge had a fancy decoration, with vintage furniture, expensive lights, the yellow wallpaper, and green carpet, equipped with a piano and a bar. There was only a bartender in the area, seems like that no one besides them was taking that flight.
At the lounge, the friends sat in two sofas blue sofas that were placed around a table and a window, showing the astonishing view of the sky.
“So, Boruto, I see that you really fostered this black eyepatch style. There is a reason for it?” Mitsuki was dying to ask him the reason behind it since he couldn’t find out by himself.
“I find it very attractive.” Added Sarada, grabbing her boyfriend’s arm and looking at his face.
“I know you everyone may find it strange since I still have both of my eyes … but I feel more comfortable hiding the eye that I share with Momoshiki from the world.” He clenched his fist “Not just it, but I rather use as little as possible the Jougan … since it activates my Karma … I …” he was feeling the weight of what he was about to confess “I cannot let myself lose control another time because. This is not just fearing losing control of my body, but because I fear to unleash the murderous monster that I became.” There was sorrow in his voice.
It was unusual to Mitsuki extend the discussion of emotional affairs, usually, he would just make a short observation that summarized it all, but this time it was important because he could see how broken ‘his sun’ was “Doing what is necessary to survive doesn’t make you a murderous monster. Boruto, listen to me you did what you had to do.” He was sad for seeing how trauma can destabilize someone, especially someone as positive and vivid as Boruto was.
“I didn’t, Mitsuki … my duty was to assure the security of the delegates, and I failed … Shikadai, Shikamaru, Master Sasuke … all of them died because of me because I wasn’t able to fulfill my duty.” Boruto was telling.
“It was a treasonous ambush! Omoi and Kumogakure were considered good friends of Konoha, they surprised everyone, no one expected that. They did this coward move, poisoning and betraying because they knew that wouldn’t be possible to defeat all of you in a fair battle. That’s why they wanted the Hokage, they wanted to destroy Konoha’s most powerful forces.” Mitsuki raised his voice, trying to make his friend see what he wasn’t being able to.
“It doesn’t matter, Mitsuki! I failed and then killed everyone, even the innocent. My hands are stained red. How could I truly hope to don’t be what I became … a murderous monster … As the personification of failure and as the sole survivor of that day, do I … do I have the right to live for myself?” his sad and dark expression was becoming the new trait of his personality, and that was how he questioned his friend.
The logic of his argument was enough to make Mitsuki think, instead of answering right away something that could make him feel better.
“I … I remember Shikadai asking me to help … me being held by the enemies, until I heard him pledging for mercy and being slain like an animal by those cowards, right in front of my eyes. He died lingering fear, and I regret not being strong enough at the right time to save him. This will not lose hold on me. So, tell me, how can I silence his desperate pleas? How … how can I save him? His voice is what kept me alive, the voice that now plea justice, this is what keeps moving me forward.” Boruto gave another question to Mitsuki think about.
Mitsuki was sad because he finally understood but couldn’t find words to make his pain go away because he wasn’t the one who could forgive him. In fact, they were surprised by betrayal, but it is understandable of Boruto to feel like he should be prepared in any situation. He was blaming himself, not just for failing, but for surviving, and now seeks retribution.
Sarada held Boruto’s face with both of her hands and looked very deeply to his sorrow eye “Everyone died because of that hosted betrayal, there wasn’t much that could be done. I don’t blame you for surviving, and you shouldn’t blame yourself. I am glad that you’re alive.” She embraced him, hiding her face in his furry cape.
Suddenly Boruto’s expression softened, remembering the caring and positive man that he once was “Sarada, I’m so sorry … I’m glad to be with you. Now I remember …” he reciprocated the hub, embracing her tightly
“What? What came to your mind?” she was curious and bright to see him looking more alive.
He finally smiled, even which made Mitsuki widen his eyes “Beyond living for bringing them justice, long ago I decided to live for that promise to you, don’t I, my cuddlepeanut?” Boruto whispered in her ear, which made blood pump heavily inside her body and feel the well-known sensation of “butterflies” flying inside her stomach.
“Baka-Boruto! And you better keep it, my sunshine” he adverted and went for a kiss which was instantly reciprocated, and getting more intense at the moment that she nibbled his lower lip and pressed her tongue inside of his mouth, at the same moment, intensifying her grab and bringing him closer, which made them fall in the sofa with Boruto had landed above her and then, just then making them remember that Mitsuki was in the room.
“Don’t mind about me, I’m already used to watching you do this all the time.” He was smiling, but no one could tell if that was because of Boruto’s emotional restoration or because of the of them making out in front of him.
“Oh lord, I forgot that you were such a pervert, Mitsuki.” He gave Sarada one last kiss before helping her to get up and then started to laugh.
Sarada, on the other hand, placed her hand in his tight and whispered in his ear “We’ll continue this later.” Kissing his cheek.
“Sorry for that, Mitsuki, It’s just that Sarada and I still have so much to catch up, you know?” he was scratching the back of his head and smiling until his expression get serious once again and proceed “I just need to say one last thing for both of you … I’m sorry for everything and, I promise that I will never commit the same mistake again, never again I'll let my guard down nor my friends die. I rather give my life away than that��.
Mitsuki stood up, jumped the table and joined their sofa, which was in front of the window, sitting on the left side of Boruto “A promise, humph? Don’t worry about, me. Just do me the favor, both of you, of looking into the camera, the window view is amazing” Mitsuki used his abilities to stretch his arm and take a perfect photograph of them, in which even Boruto had a shy smile … making the reptilian man think how much time he would need to heal completely.
After a few hours, they heard a horn.
The zeppelin trip was over, and now was time to finally, begin the mission to bring justice for their friends and loved ones, preventing an official declaration of war from Hidden Leaf against Hidden Cloud.
It was night-time when they disembarked the airship.
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Goty 2019
Hey. It’s game of the year 2019 baby. By now you know the kinda justice we seek on these streets, so no long-winded introductions, except to remind you that these aren’t reviews, and honorable mentions have been moved down to the bottom this year because we're evolving.
12. Super Kirby Clash (Switch) - A free to play online Kirby spinoff centered around combat that features microtransactions sounds like an awful idea on paper, and yet it’s somehow my most played multiplayer game of 2019. I won’t try and present the game as anything more than what it is, which is basically a very (very very very!) simplified, arcade-y Monster Hunter game with a very (very very very very!) cute aesthetic. But as a recent convert to Monster Hunter and a longtime Kirby lobbyist, it turns out that that’s all I need to play a game for nearly 100 hours. The four classes all have varied abilities, gameplay and roles to play, and there’s nothing more satisfying than freezing time as the mage in the middle of an enemy’s jumping animation. I found the microtransactions to be completely fair, as I spent around 10 dollars total on the game and never found myself hurting for apples (the game’s main currency and the only one you can buy with real money) to upgrade my equipment. This isn’t a game I would be able to recommend to everyone, but if it’s your type of thing then it’s going to be very much your type of thing.
*Image credit: 505 games
11. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Switch/PS4/Xbox One/PC) - Despite horrible first impressions from my backer copy of the Switch version, Bloodstained really ended up delivering the true Castlevania: Symphony of the Night successor it promised to be, and I had a fantastic time with it (after trading in my Switch version and begrudgingly purchasing a PS4 copy). While I love almost all of the Castlevania games in their own ways, even the best entries post-SotN didn’t end up feeling much like SotN. Bloodstained, meanwhile, wears its inspiration on its sleeve. Or rather on its wolf hood and gas mask combo.
Obscure, bizarre, and goofy secrets are around every single corner of the castle. I mean, like, really esoteric ones that I can’t imagine having found without a guide. From the myriad of hidden (and very challenging!) boss fights, to trophies popping for playing a piano while having a fair familiar out to entire sprite based areas, the surprises never stop being thrown at the player. It adds so much goofball flavor to the game that’s missing from just about any other entry in the genre, and it does the brunt work in giving this game its identity.
Not only are the secrets plentiful and good, but the combat is also excellent; much like a couple entries in the latter Castlevania games, just about every single enemy in Bloodstained has a chance of dropping you a shard upon defeat, and each one gives your character Miriam a new ability. Some of these are simple passive buffs, while others completely change your combat options. From ghostly portrait guardians to giant dentist drills coming out of your hand to summoning disembodied dragon’s heads, the shard system is never not entertaining, and leaves the player so much room for experimentation and realizing their ideal build it’s actually a wonder they were able to bug test this thing at all. And truly, the main issues holding Bloodstained back from true greatness are its technical issues. Which is a shame, and seemingly an issue on all platforms. But if you can handle a hard crash here or there, you’re in for a treat.
10. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) - I never thought I would care at all for any Fire Emblem game. Certainly, I saw the appeal of them prior to Three Houses, but they just never seemed like something I would want to devote a lot of time to. But putting the game in a school setting and recontextualizing your soldiers as students really made a huge difference for me, and I bonded with the characters in the game in a way I normally reserve for my Pokemon teams. And unlike Pokemon, I can marry my students, which is beautiful and horrifying.
There are definitely issues with Three Houses. A silent protagonist has no right starring in a game like this, especially with all the emotional story beats the game is trying to pull off. The writing in general was also all over the place, ranging from odd decisions with both the characters as well as the overarching story (some of this is remedied by replaying the game multiple times and going down different routes, but I put 60 hours into the game and couldn’t even finish two paths, so that’s a bit unrealistic). Lastly, the monastery that serves as your school needs just a tad more variety in activities to do in between the battles, as what started out as my favorite part of the game became a chore for the last dozen or so hours.
All of that said, I am anxiously waiting for the sequel, as the foundation that’s been put down here could lead to something truly special. As it stands, this is the best secret Harry Potter game ever made, and that alone is going to have a lot of appeal to a lot of people.
*Image credit: Gamespot
9. Resident Evil 2 (PS4/Xbox One/PC) - Truly, I have never been more stressed out when playing a game than the first time I had to start dealing with Mr. X. Yes, on each subsequent playthrough (of which I did many!) and even encounter he became less of a threat and more of an annoyance, but much like a good horror movie, that first time will remain embedded in my brain as one of my most memorable gaming moments.
And that kinda sums up Resident Evil 2 as a whole for me. An amazing, unforgettable start in the police station, followed by a somewhat middling second act in the sewers, and ending on kind of a weirdly short whimper in a very tonally different setting than the rest of the game. And that’s without getting into how disappointingly similar the “B” playthroughs of either character were to their “A” counterparts. It was all still great, mind you, and the gameplay and scares remained excellent throughout. But man was that first act in the police station something truly special, and I’m hopeful that the eventual remake of 3 keeps more of that tone throughout.
8. Pokemon Sword/Pokemon Shield (Switch) - Cutting hundreds of Pokemon was pretty close to the bottom of my list of concerns going into the latest Pokemon. The series hasn’t really grabbed me in a major way since Black and White on the DS almost 9(!) years ago, and I had largely accepted the idea that I was finally growing out of the franchise. While this 8th generation of Pokemon titles is far, far from perfect, and in fact doubles down on a lot of the aspects I don’t like about modern Pokemon games, Sword has become my favorite entry in the series in a very long time.
This is down to two things: my favorite batch of new Pokes the series has ever had (Galarian Farfetch’d, my prince............) and the introduction of multiplayer coop content with raids. The former is subjective I suppose (but seriously, Galarian Farfetch’d), and the appeal of the raids is going to be dictated by how into repetitive content you are and if you have people to raid with. I’m fortunate enough to love repetitive tasks in video games, especially repetitive tasks that amount to fighting and capturing giant monsters for rewards, and to have a partner to enjoy those repetitive tasks with. We lost entire weekends to hunting down new raid opportunities in Sword, and this feels like the first major step the series has taken in nearly a decade to try and reengage me in a meaningful way.
And don’t get me wrong: Pokemon has a long way to go to bring me entirely back into the fold. The dungeons are nonexistent, the routes are largely completely straightforward affairs, the post game content is so light that “barebones” feels like a generous descriptor, and the performance issues in the wild area (the game’s more open, free roaming space) are inexcusably awful when played online. I hope by the time the 9th generation games roll around that we’ll get a bigger advancement than what’s been seen here, but to me, this feels like an all around better made product than any of the 3DS entries, with or without Galarian Farfetch’d.
7. Risk of Rain 2 (Switch/PS4/Xbox One/PC) - The original Risk of Rain is a personal all-time favorite, so seeing the developers successfully make the jump from 2D to 3D while still maintaining everything I love about the first game is a truly remarkable feat. Both games sport essentially MMO-lite combat with abilities dictated by cooldowns and items that you get from chests and bosses, with rogue-like progression and permadeath. That’s a lot of jargon even for me talking about video games, so essentially: keep shooting things and powering up by grabbing items and defeating bosses, and when you’re dead you’re dead (bar a specific item), rinse and repeat.
It’s deceptively simple while being endlessly replayable. The true fun comes in when playing with other people, as every character plays completely differently, and figuring out builds for each person on the fly is extremely fun and rewarding. This also means that if you start getting bored of one character, simply play a different one on your next run. Add in an extremely moody sci-fi aesthetic (including one of my favorite soundtracks of the year) and that’s Risk of Rain.
The main issue with Risk of Rain 2 at this point is that it’s simply unfinished, and won’t even have an actual ending state until spring of 2020. This doesn’t hamper my enjoyment of the game much, hence it being on this list, but I imagine a lot of people would be bothered by it. The developers have done a great job of updating the game at a decent pace so far though, and every major patch has come with a new character, among a ton of other things. And if I’ve already gotten this much enjoyment out of an early access title, it’s exciting to think about a feature complete version down the line. And hopefully that feature complete version of Risk of Rain 2 includes the Chef character from the first game *ahem*.
6. Astral Chain (Switch) - In a year full of some real dang weird yet shockingly great games, Astral Chain stands tall as probably the weirdest surprise of them all. You’re a future cop fighting invisible ghost demons from an alternate dimension with your own invisible ghost demon chained to you through some high tech handcuffs. That’s just the first half hour of the game, and it ratchets up the anime nonsense many magnitudes over in the course of its 20ish hour runtime. And it’s great and stupid.
It’s not just the plot that’s over the top, though. Coming from developer Platinum Games, renowned for their nonstop super sweaty action portfolio, Astral Chain spends just as much time tasking the player with exploring its world, characters, and lore as it does asking you to punch enemies the size of skyscrapers (or bigger). It’s a formula that works shockingly well, as I found myself enjoying the downtime segments just as much, if not more, than the action portions of the game. And the action that is there doesn’t really play like your typical Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, either; the player character, while critical to pulling off combos and the like, is not your primary damage dealer, with that role being fulfilled by your five “legions” (the aforementioned ghost demon buddies), all of which have different strengths, weaknesses and abilities. The gameplay ends up feeling kind of like a realtime Pokemon game by way of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and no sentence I’ve ever written has been as cool as that one.
I do think Astral Chain falls a bit short in the combat department, at least compared to other games in the genre. It’s a bit too simplified, despite how crazy looking and overwhelming the actions you and your legions end up doing can be, and I think that the obligatory Platinum-style grading system in this is very poor - it doesn’t seem to grade overall performance so much as it just wants you to constantly be switching your legions in the midst of battle. Which is a great lesson to teach your players, but I would also like if anything else about my combat performance seemed to have significant weight on my grade. Having said all that, it’s a flaw that I found much easier to overlook in the midst of battle when I sent my wolf legion ahead of me, biting and tearing its way through a cluster of enemies, while I hung back inside of my punching legion, finally able to fulfill my years-long Star Platinum “ora ora ora” fantasies.
5. Anodyne 2: Return to Dust (PC) - There’s a lot going on in Anodyne 2, and I fear trying to describe it in words, not only because of all the jargon I’d inevitably have to use, but also because I’m not sure I can do the game justice. To that end, here’s a brief trailer of the game to get you started:
youtube
If you find that trailer at all intriguing, Anodyne 2 is definitely for you. And if you’re still skeptical, know that the game has far more to offer than just its (beautiful) low-poly aesthetic. While visually it’s obviously most evoking Playstation 1 era games such as Mega Man Legends, in terms of the tone of its writing it strikes a pretty peculiar balance between Earthbound and Nier: Automata (names I do not invoke lightly!). The visuals aren’t just an aesthetic choice, either - throughout the game you find yourself in 2D overhead areas, solving puzzles inside of the minds of other characters, and these varying layers of abstraction serve to further the game’s message and atmosphere. And it’s all of these things combined that pushed Anodyne 2 over the edge of “memorable” and into the realm of “haunting” for me.
It’s a game that wants to be played and experienced by everyone; you can tell how much love was put into every single corner of the world, every line of dialogue, and each and every single goofy joke. Steven Universe (another seeming inspiration of the developers) is the only other piece of media that has reminded me of just how lost and alone I’ve felt at various stages of life, while choosing not to dwell on that and instead using it as a launching pad to remind me of just how far I’ve come. As the game itself says, Anodyne 2 is a game about life, and I’ve rarely come across one that felt so full of it.
4. Judgment (PS4) - With the release of Yakuza 0 a couple of years ago, the Yakuza games went from a series I was vaguely aware of in my periphery to maybe my all-time favorite video game comfort food. They’re silly, melodramatic, sad, and beautiful, tonally swinging back and forth like a large imposing guard wildly trying to hit Kiryu with a couch section. Most importantly, they manage to feel heartfelt and personal in an age where high budget games seldom feel anything of the sort. I was initially hesitant, then, to play a spinoff that threw aside its entire cast of established characters for a crew that dabbles in detective and lawyer work; I didn’t think there was much of a chance that this new band of very handsome crimeboys with hearts of gold would be able to compare to Kiryu, Majima and the like. How glad I was to be wrong, as Judgment is now maybe my favorite of the Yakuza games I’ve played.
By pulling further out (but not completely away) from the culture of organized crime as the central driving factor of the story, you no longer need to memorize a dozen different yakuza organizations and all of their subsidiaries and patriarchs within, nor do you have to try and remember which side is feuding with who. And that isn’t to say that the story doesn’t have just as many twists and turns; it does, and despite the larger scale of the stakes, ends up feeling more focused and personal. I also found it easy to bond with the two main characters, Yagami and Kaito, as not only do their personalities play off of each other very well, but they simply share more screentime together than I’ve ever seen Kiryu get a chance to do with anyone. Truly, the story ended up being one of my favorites in the entire medium, and I fell in love with the characters to the point where I got misty eyed during the credits.
With regards to gameplay, it’s a Yakuza game. Which means a lot of running around Kamurocho, talking and shopping and playing minigames and brawling. Since the player character in this entry is a detective, there are various mechanics and events related to the profession, such as investigating crime scenes and tailing suspects, but they’re by far the weakest part of the game, and you shouldn’t come to this game looking for incredible detective gameplay. Instead, come to the game for literally everything else it offers, because it’s a fantastic experience all around, and a great jumping on point for anyone unfamiliar with Yakuza.
*Image credit: Steam user Symbol
3. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4/Xbox One/PC) - Frankly, I did not much care for Sekiro for the majority of my first play through. Specifically, I dreaded its boss fights. To go from the sheer joy of being able to dispatch a courtyard full of enemies in any way I pleased in the game’s relatively free form stealth sections, to being killed in a matter of two or three hits to every single boss and miniboss was frustrating; how could I not groan when I started that duel with Genichiro at the top of the castle, knowing full well that I was going to be stuck there for a few (or more) frustrating hours? It wasn’t until the fight against the protagonist’s father figure, Owl, hours later at the same location as the aforementioned Genichiro fight, that something clicked. It only took around 30 hours, but suddenly, instead of approaching the situation like a Dark Souls or Bloodborne boss, I was not only being defensive, but I was being aggressively defensive, parrying nearly every single blow. Suddenly it was me standing in place, baiting out my opponent’s attacks only to throw the force of his own momentum back at him. Suddenly combat made sense in this damn game. And suddenly I was dead again in a quick three hits after inhaling some magic gas that prevented me from being able to heal. But that was ok! Because suddenly this game was amazing, and suddenly I had completed it four times and adored every second of it (except for that fucken four form final boss with no checkpoints).
I still stand by my (and a lot of other’s) original complaint that the disparity between the freedom offered in the rest of the game compared to the unflinchingly rigid roadmap you have to follow in fighting the bosses is jarring game design, and it’s very fun to imagine a version of Sekiro that lets you approach bosses any which way you like. On the other hand, no other game that I’ve ever played, not even Sekiro’s predecessor and my favorite game of this console generation, Bloodborne, has come anywhere close to making me feel this cool when fighting bosses. And that’s a mighty impressive accomplishment on any game’s part, speaking from the perspective of an overweight, sweaty, hairy, very uncool man.
But really, fuck that final boss though.
2. Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Switch/PS4/PC) - When we were around 10-years-old, one of my best friends, Patrick, used to host fairly regular Lego-building sleepovers, where everyone built whatever they wanted, and our creations were then showcased to the rest of the group. Being that the group consisted entirely of pre-pubescent boys, this meant building various robots or cars, all of variable quality/ability to stand upright. During one of these nights, in lieu of the usual deathbot piloted by the ghost minifig, I instead constructed a little bunker for the ghost - a place where, after a long day of being forced (by me) to pilot his mech suit and commit unspeakable acts, he could hang up his ghost hat and be forced (by me) to ponder the morality of his actions. It was just a tiny little room with the necessities: bed, table, bookshelves and pizza, but when presenting it to my friends I proudly declared that the bunker was also located at the bottom of the ocean, a factor that couldn’t be visually represented due to the harsh limits of time, Lego pieces and my ability. I was pretty proud of my cool-down chamber, but if memory serves correctly, it was Patrick’s no doubt boorish creation that was the apple of everyone’s eye. And who am I to try and convince a room full of my peers that actually, a secluded room where you could read in peace for all eternity was much cooler than a punching gorilla bot?
This is all to say that I have never been a creative type, especially when it comes to building. I had previously played Minecraft and the first Dragon Quest Builders, and while I enjoyed them, there wasn’t quite enough there to make me want to engage with them on a level beyond just playing them like any other game - I don’t think I ever built anything in DQB1 that wasn’t required for the sake of progression in the main story, and the less said about my Minecraft efforts the better. Builders 2 expertly sidesteps this issue by wrapping its building mechanics around an engaging and hearfelt story (I got teary-eyed multiple times!), great characters (especially the main character’s mysterious best friend/partner in crime, Malroth) and a lovely localization. It also encourages more freeform building than the previous game by tying the progression of the story to the progression of your main, customizable island. You don’t ever really have to go off into the weeds on your own in regards to building, but the game gives you so many opportunities to fill in the blanks on premade templates that you eventually just become comfortable in doing so. It’s hard to stop myself from gushing about the game, to the point where as I type this I’m questioning why it’s “only” number 2 on this list.
And thanks to DQB2, for the first time in 20 years I revisited my first creative endeavor: the underwater solitude bunker, this time no longer held back by the technology of the day, instead fully realized in digital form. Built as far down as the game would allow my character to dig, hidden beneath the still waters of a reservoir inside of a pyramid, it is truly a testament to mankind’s ingenuity. And it is wicked. Naturally I had my artist (and DQB2 fanatic) girlfriend visit my game’s world so she bask in my true brilliance. I gleefully guided her down to the catacombs and down the intimidatingly long chain that dangled into the deceptively still depths. After a brief swim into the murky unknown, we arrived at our hidden destination at the bottom of the earth, where she was greeted by the sight of my submerged masterpiece. A wry smile snaked itself around my lips, as I knew, was absolutely certain, that within seconds, once she had made it through the de-pressurization chamber at the entrance to my paradise, I would be hearing the words of someone simultaneously shocked, awed, and hopefully only a bit jealous. Instead, I was met with a few seconds of silence followed by a patronizing “Well, I’d have never thought to build something like this.”
So, I guess that’s why Builders 2 couldn’t quite reach the number one spot: true art is never appreciated in its time.
1. Hypnospace Outlaw (PC) - No piece of commercial art has ever felt like it was made for me in the way that Hypnospace Outlaw does. I grew up on the internet during the time period this game’s alternate reality take on the 90s internet is drawing its inspiration from; I have talked at length, to anyone who will listen, about how this early incarnation of the internet felt more like a physical space than it does now, and how much I miss the days of stumbling on to weird Geocities sites, meeting people in AOL chatrooms, and the early days of pirating. I met my first girlfriend through the internet, as well as my current one. The vast majority of the friends I’ve made in my life would not have happened without the internet, and not just because of distance; the internet allowed the younger me to be the person I was too insecure to be in person, and to develop my own voice. I owe who I am to the people I met in freeware fanmade Dragonball Z games and IRC chat rooms, and I think that’s kind of fucked up and magical, and it’s all kind of a miracle that I’m not even more of a mess of a person than I am today. And the developers of this game have clearly had those experiences, too.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Hypnospace Outlaw is for everyone, because it’s absolutely not. It’s essentially a detective game, but you’re solving cases by investigating user made internet pages circa 1997, and the “cases” you’re working on are largely things like bullying and copyright infringement. In other words, you’re mostly just reading gaudy websites and figuring out more about the back end and exploits of the Hypnospace experience. It is incredibly specific and niche and, as someone that sorely misses staying up until 3 AM downloading Winamp skins, I can’t stop thinking about this game, even months later.
I wrote a longer piece on the game on this very blog, and instead of rehashing anymore of it here, I’ll just direct you that way. Though if I may, I’d like to give one last endorsement for the game for any hypothetical person reading this that’s on the fence about trying it - if you’re the kind of person that somehow finds yourself reading this game of the year list, and have made it this far down the page without getting bored, I promise you that you’ll find something to love about Hypnospace Outlaw.
Honorable mentions (for games that were either not originally released in 2019 or I still wanted to briefly touch on):
Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (Switch) - Somewhere in between listing the original release of Dragon Quest 11 as my 7th favorite game of 2018 and now, it went from being “a really great JRPG” to “one of the best games I’ve ever played”, and in all honesty should have probably been at the top of last year’s list. A beautiful, unmatched experience all around.
Overcooked! 2 (Switch/PS4/Xbox One/PC) - The Overcooked games are possibly the best coop games I’ve ever played by merit of them actually requiring communication between players. Framing the game’s mechanics around cooking food, a universally understood act, is brilliant.
Baba is You (Switch/PC) - This is the most clever puzzle game I’ve ever played. Hell, it’s probably the most clever game I’ve ever played period. What prevented me from truly falling in love with it was that every single puzzle after the first couple of worlds became the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do in my life. And while that did make solving those puzzles equally satisfying, the thought of dedicating multiple hours each to stumbling through dozens and dozens more of single screen puzzles was a bit more than I was able to handle. Still, for any puzzle fans, there are some genuinely jaw-dropping moments in this that shouldn’t be missed.
Kirby’s Dreamland 3 (Switch/SNES) - The things I didn’t like about DL3 as a single player game are exactly what makes it a great coop Kirby game, which was a way to play this game that I never had the pleasure of experiencing until this year when it was re-released on the SNES Switch app. It’s skyrocketed up my list of favorite Kirby games, as well as become my favorite SNES coop game. Also, Gooey.
Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to) (PC) - I don’t quite qualify this as a game, as it’s more of a message in a bottle app with a very warm and charming aesthetic. But if you’ve ever wanted to anonymously reach out to strangers and tell them things are going to be all right while listening to some calming music, this is the thing for you.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch) - I have a deep, deep fondness for all three of the Luigi’s Mansion games (the GameCube and the original game were my first launch day purchases!), and 3 is by far the best game in the series. Every single moment of it was some high degree of charming and/or cute, and it’s a game I would feel confident in recommending to just about everybody. However, while I truly loved my time with the game and will no doubt replay it years down the road, there was nothing inside of it that really left any kind of deep impression on me. It’s a summer blockbuster in a kid-friendly spooky form, and that’s great for what it is.
Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) - Mario Maker 2, sequel to what I would consider to possibly be the best game Nintendo’s ever made, is by far and away my most disappointing game of the year. It’s still an amazing toolkit, and I’ve been very satisfied with the levels I ended up making. That said, the gaming landscape has changed a lot in the 5 years between the original and the sequel, and with Nintendo’s nigh complete silence regarding updates coming to the game, I can’t consider it to be anything but a massive disappointment. And maybe that will change! But as of this posting, there’s been almost nothing to keep me coming back to the game a mere few months into its life, and that’s a huge problem. All of that said, it’s still a fantastic game and value, especially if (like most) you didn’t get a chance to play the original due to the console it was stuck on.
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Wonderland - Chapter 11
I’m on a roll tonight... maybe even 3 chapters if we are so lucky. Anyway authors note - going forward for a few chapters there will be talk of drug use and the like. This may be upsetting to some, so please proceed with caution.
I had a really long night at the hospital. I saw Gemma's mom Paula only once and all she could tell me is they were taking Gem to surgery. That was hours ago. I had long forgotten what patience was and paced up and down the hall a few hundred times.
Gemma was a friend whom I had seen battle her share of demons over the past seven years. She came into my life during a time when we were all experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Her situation made her experimentation a little more severe. Her stepfather had been having an affair and the woman he was seeing held her and her mother at gunpoint for reasons none of us will ever know. She had her man, what more could she have wanted?
At any rate Gemma had been through some tough shit and when we had all decided drugs were overrated she had just kept spiraling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.
We had a strong group of friends that no matter what we always got together every weekend and hung out. Nicky was handsome and the life of the party so when he and Gemma started seeing each other it wasn't a surprise to any of us. I had had a crush on him but he was much more suited for her than me.
Nicky also had his share of trouble. When he was a baby his mother used smuggled drugs in his diaper from South America to North Carolina. One time a boyfriend of hers thought it'd be funny to prick him with a used heroin needle. He was sent to live with his grandparents at the age of three.
When we all stopped chasing highs for more suitable adult activities, Gemma and Nicky just continued doing drugs like it was normal. I had reluctantly left her behind for a life in tinsel town and I was regretting it more and more by the minute.
I stopped pacing and made my way back to the waiting area and saw a text from Jared. I had responded immediately but he hadn't responded back. I was beginning to wonder if he had changed his mind about coming. That would be okay although I really needed a good distraction. At that moment I heard a cough or rather a clearing of the throat, I looked up to see the man I was so very much in love with. I darted out of my seat and into his arms.
"Jared, thank God. I need you to stop me from panicking."
"It's okay, I'm here now. Shhh." He said as he rubbed my hair and allowed me to nuzzle into his chest.
He suggested I get something to eat and a cup of coffee, I agreed. We made our way downstairs to a cafe near the emergency room and he ordered our food. To my surprise he also ordered a cup of coffee for himself.
"Rough night Jared?"
"Yeah I didn't get any sleep. I don't imagine you did either?"
"No. I can't sleep until I know something. I saw Gem's mom earlier, but no news yet. My friends Darlene and Heather are on their way. They needed help with gas money to get here. Silver Lake is 100 miles away. The rest of our friends are probably coming too, but I haven't heard... sorry I'm rambling."
"It's okay. So what exactly happened, do you know?"
I told him that they had been in a car accident but the details were unknown, except that Nicky died on impact. Then I told him about their sordid past and how drugs and alcohol probably played a part. I weeped into my hands explaining to him how I felt like I could have prevented it if I had only stayed here and tried to convince her to get clean.
"Ali, there's no way to know that and besides, you're not they're keeper. I had to learn that a long time ago with Shannon. They seek help when they're ready. Forcing them into sobriety only makes them angry and less likely to be successful."
He was right. I had this mother hen persona and if I had inserted myself I may have pushed her away. I finished my sandwich after he insisted I eat every bite and we started making our way back to the waiting area. A few people stopped and stared at Jared while we waited for the elevators, but just as he was about to ask them for privacy or whatever else would be appropriate the doors opened. Paula was inside.
"There you are dear!" Paula said as she grabbed my arm and tugged me forward.
"Is she out of surgery Mama Tate?"
"She is, the nurse came to tell me 5 minutes ago. She said the doctor would be out soon to let us know how it went. I couldn't hear the news if it were bad, by myself." She said as she looked Jared up and down and smiled in recognition.
"That's that actor guy... ya know the one, right. Am I right?" She said in a whisper.
"Yeah I think so Mama Tate. You should ask for his autograph." I smirked and whispered back.
I noticed Jareds lips form a small smile, and he extended his hand to her.
"Hi, Mrs. Tate, I'm Jared Leto. Nice to meet you."
"What are you doing here at Duke Hospital?"
"Mama Tate, he's with me."
Her eyes got big as saucers and she shook her head.
"This is what you brought back from Hollywood? I figured I'd get a snow globe or a shot glass. But he'll do." She said jokingly.
She was in good spirits knowing her daughter made it through surgery and I was hoping that the news wouldn't be bad. If it were I know we'd both be inconsolable.
The doors to the elevator opened on the 5th floor and we stepped out into the unknown. Would Gemma be in a coma? Would she be a vegetable as they say? Would she know who we were? Or would she be bright eyed and bushy tailed awaiting us to see her?
"Oh no!"
"What is it dear?" Paula asked, as Jared became stiff next to me.
"Does... does... she..." I couldn't get the words out.
"I'm not sure, if she knows about Nicky. I'd imagine not." Paula hugged me and we both broke down in a fit of tears.
Poor Jared didn't know what to do. He just leaned against the wall while we had our moment of grieving. No matter what the drugs had turned them into, they were still two very beautiful souls just trying to find their way. They deserved a chance at happiness. Marriage, babies, growing old together. These are things Nicky will never know and it was overwhelming to acknowledge that.
I reached out for Jared's hand which he immediately responded by grabbing mine with a gentle squeeze. The electricity was still there every time I touched him and I wondered if it would ever go away. The minute he entwined our fingers together I knew it was going to be okay. As long as I had him there with me.
"Mama Tate, can I have a minute with Jared, if you don't mind?" She nodded and stepped away.
"Jared, I don't understand us. We have only..."
"Don't worry about that right now."
"No let me finish... just listen, please. I know how I feel about you. I expressed it back at Camp a couple of weeks ago. I've had years of admiration for you. Years of watching your movies, years of being a devoted Echelon. As time went on I actually fell in love with you. I knew you would be exactly who I thought you were when I would fantasize about you, but what I can't wrap my brain around is how you came into my life and so quickly every dream I had ever had would start to be realized. It's beyond too good to be true. It's almost as if this is just a dream, albeit one ripe with its share of nightmare. Anyway, the point is... you don't have to be here. I can't be the only girl you've had a connection with in the last 17 years, but I can't imagine you would have dropped everything to be with them during a time like this. As much as I do need you, I wonder if I won't end up hurt here. Your life is so full and when exactly will the ball drop and you realize this isn't the life you desire?”
Jared listened as I had asked and then carefully and calculatingly he responded, "Ali, I told you how I'm drawn to you. I don't understand it myself, but what I do know is that we are like magnets. I'm drawn to you just as you are to me. When I saw you in June, then again in August, I watched you. The way you would run your fingers through your hair, or smile at something someone was saying. I saw you that night you took a walk with one of your friends all by yourselves on the trail. It was funny watching the two of you get spooked at the deer running in the woods. I wanted to make my presence known but you weren't alone and it wasn't the right time. At first I thought it was because you were strikingly beautiful and we all know I'm a horny son of a bitch, but I couldn't stop looking for you in the crowds. I knew I needed to know why. The reason Ali, I truly think is that we are meant to be exactly here in this moment together. So what if it's happening fast? So what if people don't understand? Hell, so what if we don't understand? Let's just see how this plays out? Because I may not have dropped my life for others, but Ali, you're not other girls. Okay?"
I closed my eyes and listened to his every word. When he was done, I felt his lips on mine. My eyes opened wide as I looked around to see if there was anyone there watching us.
"Jared, what if people see you here? I mean they already have. Don't lie and say you don't care."
"Ali, I really really don't care. I have nothing to hide. Do you? Are you ashamed of me Alice LeFaye Foster?" He laughed.
"HOW do you know my middle name, Jared?"
"I saw it on the hospital papers."
"This is so embarrassing!"
"Not really, I think it's beautiful. What you should be embarrassed of is that your initials spell Alf. Maybe you're an alien?"
We both were laughing hard and forgot for a moment where we were. It was blissful to have this time with him. Reality came back when we noticed the doctor come out into the hall.
We walked a little closer to Paula but stayed back a few feet. The doctor began explaining the severity of Gemma's wounds and I knew Paula wanted me closer. She wrapped her arms around mine tightly and we listened.
"Gemma suffered a head wound and has a concussion. When she was brought in our main concern was internal bleeding and the head wound. We opened her up and it was clear that her spleen would need to be removed. We scanned her brain and noticed nothing of concern. Her head was sutured. She has a broken arm, a shattered pelvis, and a broken ankle. We had to continue surgically to set her bones and are hoping they will heal without the need for additional surgeries. Unfortunately we can't tell how long it will be before she is able to walk again. We are again hopeful she will recover and be on her feet very soon. I have to tell you Mrs. Tate, an accident as badly as the one she was in, well she's very very lucky. You should be proud of how strong she is. She's a fighter."
All three of us blew out the air we were holding. This was good news. The doctor told Paula she would be able to see her in a few hours, but only family at this time. He also told us that she wasn't aware of Nicky's death and that none of us should tell her until she was released which could be weeks. We all agreed.
Darlene and Heather showed up about ten minutes later and texted to find out where I was. Jared wanted to meet them, but I wasn't ready to share him with anyone else. He stepped away to book us a hotel room for the night. In sweet Jared fashion he booked them a room too. I explained Gemma's situation and we all agreed to leave the hospital for the night. Heather and Darlene insisted I ride with them to the Hilton Garden Inn. I felt bad for Jared because he was left to take a cab, but if he only knew the kind of hell these two would give me if they saw him. It was better he be kept a secret a little while longer.
As soon as we checked in, I made my escape with the excuse of being extremely tired, which I was. I entered the room and was immediately attacked by Jared.
@burritoverload @branded-with-a-j @msroxyblog @nikkitasevoli @llfd1977 @snewsome756 @lolainblue @lady-grinning-soul-k @letojokerownsme
#thirty seconds to mars#jared leto#30 seconds to mars#jaredandali#jared leto fic#jared leto fanfic#jared leto fiction#jared leto fan fiction#jared leto fanfics#wonderland chapter 11
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Is life getting better?///Poboljšava li se život?
WOUNDED HEARTS
The most beautiful poems came out of wounded hearts. Or fulfilled ones. It is that moment when your heart falls into the depths of its own core existence. From the depths it yells, only one cannot hear it well from the outside. Yells, screams even, in pain, or out of love. Both seem painful, torturous, insane.
When I am so filled up with happiness, love and understanding, my heart contracts and cannot handle the greatness. It feels small, not ready. Like a river breaking through a dam; in those first moments the river is unbearably loud and powerful, then slowly calms down.
THE LIFE OF THE LAMPLIGHTER
Unusual is this life that is given to us, that we somehow have deserved to receive. It teaches us via hardship and happiness, sometimes both at the same time. If an event is sad and another not, which one will surface as more powerful? The chains of societal opinion would say: now, when sadness is present, you have no right to be happy, not for a split second. And vice versa, when an event is a happy one, there is no place left to be saddened, even for a moment. Because that is the law. Like the life of the lamplighter in the Little Prince book. That is exactly how our lives work. Life occurs in between fulfilling two orders. If you would to close your eyes for a moment, and not turn on, nor turn off the lamp, an entire world would fall apart. Would it really?
Lamplighter, The Little Prince/Fenjerdžija, Mali Princ
WHAT IS ESSENTIAL IS INVISIBLE TO THE EYE
That would be one side of the coin. The other is the unseen world of feelings, thoughts and intuition. Unusual happenings, small coincidences and the magnificence of nature in its supportive and destructive form. Life is full of small and large miracles, friendships, life and love. Utterly untameable by rules and ideas, wild and free: life in its most wonderous form. Unpredictable, unreasonable, fulfilling. Fairytale-ish, cannot be caught in mere words, thoughts and emotions. Life as it is, naughty, supportive, crazy! It seems to be in vain to try to understand the details of the weave of life that surprises, impresses and loves, yet not to simultaneously see the big picture, one that we all attempt to encompass with our small little minds, in hope to give life an adequate explanation.
SILENCE COURSE
Christmas went by in silence, in the agony of silence, where the darkest thoughts of hate and resentment were obsessing me from beginning to end. At the very end, a small twig that I was could not have resisted the river of blessings, so I came out of silence overwhelmed by a deep peace and forgiveness to myself and others, with love.
Silence course participants/Sudionici tečaja tišine
FOREST WALK
Then I was rewarded: in the form of a very long nature walk, one that won me over completely. The beginning was tough, but very soon it was totally worth it. Truly, nature was incredible that day. For a long time, we found ourselves, symbolically, above the clouds, after that short and steep climb. The view was breath taking and heart stealing. The length of the walk was quite something, together with the darkness on the way back, it reminded me, amongst other things, how resistant I am to every, and the smallest of weaknesses.
Black Forest view/Pogled na Crnu Šumu
WORKING NEW YEAR’S
Then it began. The madness. Rivers of people, dominos of responsibilities, demand and delivery. Days during which “I” completely fades out and the only thing remaining is “What can I do for You?”. These moments of losing the “I”, is an eternally rewarded loss. On one hand it seems insane to work from early morning till late, late at night, when the mind is not able to shut down anymore, overflowing with responsibilities, missions and solutions. And it went on for days. The only breaks being deep meditations with the Teacher. Those moments were the only true rest.
Happy feet resting/Vesele nožice odmaraju
TEACHER’S ERRAND BOY
I have received a beautiful mission, that seems like an undemanding and simple task: to take requests for meeting the Teacher. Everybody has an important question, an important project, a very important family situation and everybody not only wishes, but NEEDS to have this long-awaited meeting. I was the person to take the requests and then passed the baton to others, who passed it on to the Teacher. As our Teacher is a bit mischievous, no meeting occurred when someone had expected it to, or planned it to happen, but exactly when the timing, place and way was ideal. Nobody had any influence over this, even though our little heads seemed to think we had. The task was simple. Secretarial. Write down the info, let them know when the meeting will happen. Nevertheless, I felt it was an enormous honour. Truly big. You may find it silly, but to me the opportunity to serve my life coach here and now in whatever role, and this particular one gave the impression that I am somehow even closer to him, meant a great deal. I was touched that this task was entrusted to me. I was touched that my colleagues took me into consideration, to the one that thought: Gordana would be excellent for this task. You may think I am overdoing it now, but I assure you, those were my genuine feelings, of deep gratitude and happiness.
3-year old pic with my Teacher/3 godine stara slika s mojim učiteljem
OUT-OF-BODY, OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD EXPERIENCE
The event itself, a 6-day program, counted more that 500 participants plus organisers and guests. A grand hotel hall hosted five hundred people doing consciousness-elevation exercises. Day in and day out the energy kept changing. It started off as chaotic, with heaviness and confusion. Then people slowly relaxed into the environment, and then the sweetest part began: when such an enormous group becomes coherent and starts to feel like a unit. A harmonious unit, built out of many unique units. You could literally see worries leaving every mind and heart. Gratitude, openness and surrender were growing. There was no other choice.
Coming closer to the end, the feeling was quite out of this world. All the participants, organisers and guests started to feel unreal, the barriers and differences amongst us were still showing, but they were no longer felt so much. The desire for the highest became clearer. Once we have left all our tiredness and all our worries behind, when we no longer feel anything, but the simplicity and ease of living, only from that space can we make the right decisions, only that space is the birthplace of intuitive ideas how, empowered, we can create a change in our own state of being, it stops seeming to be unchangeable. Then how can we create change in our vicinity, then in the broader environment. Only after we have been freed from our own burdens and hardships, can we approach to make a conscious change of our patterns, and then, with a fullness of heart, and a lightness in mind, can we spread the light further.
TOP NOTCH CONFUSION
I cannot distinguish any longer: is it that life is becoming better or my attitude is changing in a positive way, and things are, in fact, worse? What is considered to be positive? Comfort? When things go the way I imagine them to or demand them to? What is a truly positive thought and action? To think positively in order to suffocate or quieten every moment of conscious understanding about where you stand in life? I don’t think so. I think positive thoughts have killed even the strongest. A positive action? When friends of animals march for building a safer future? Is fighting against negative things a positive action? Or is that action soiled by putting even more attention to the ugly and negative?
Not to say that we should not think AND act positively, just to be aware of the possibility of losing sight of the actual positivity. To refer to Grindelwald (for Harry Potter fans): “For the greater good.” People have, in the name of the greater good, and continue to, delete countless civilisations and animal species. Believing to have done good, seduced by the power of mind and ego.
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Let us not go too much into darkness. Life is much more beautiful than it is cruel. From one extreme to the other, yet Buddha has said a long time ago, to take the middle path. My path might not look very middle-ish, but I seem to be feeling that I am actually going towards staying in the middle for longer periods, even if I keep far from it at other times.
I am going home soon. Excited to see dear people, have a change of air and to have a little part in the worldly affairs. More about all that a little later. Life goes on!
THE FUTURE
If you ask me, and people do, what my intentions are now? I have no intentions whatsoever. I have no plan, no desire/longing, nor intention. Maybe this comes with age, even though it might be too early still for me to be in that age, and maybe I am just tired of desires and am allowing life to take me where it considers to be the best for me, and maybe this state of being is just a passing melancholy that will soon be replaced with new crazy plans and agendas. And maybe not.
WE SHALL SEE!
CROATIAN VERSION / / / HRVATSKA VERZIJA
RANJENIH SRDACA
Najljepše pjesme su došle iz ranjenih srdaca. Ili ispunjenih. Onaj jedan trenutak kada ti srce zapadne u dubinu sebe samog. I iz te dubine viče, samo ga se slabo čuje na van. Viče, dere se kako ga boli, ili kako voli. I jedno i drugo djeluje bolno, izmučeno, suludo.
Kad sam toliko ispunjena srećom i ljubavlju i razumijevanjem, srce mi se stišće i ne podnosi tu veličinu. Malo je, nekako, nespremno, kao kad rijeka probije branu; u taj prvi tren je rijeka nepodnošljivo glasna i jaka, pa se polako umiruje.
ŽIVOT FENJERDŽIJE
Neobičan je ovaj život koji nam je dan, koji smo nečim i nekako zaslužili živjeti. Uči nas mukom i srećom, nekada i istovremeno. Ako je jedan događaj tužan, a drugi veseo, koji će prevagnuti? Okovi društvenog mišljenja reći će: sada, kada je tuga, nemaš prava na sreću, ni sekunde. I tako je i obrnuto: kada je događaj sretan, nema se prava biti ni na tren tužan. Jer je takav zakon. Kao u Malom Princu, život fenjerdžije. Takav je naš cijeli život. Odvija se između dvije naredbe. Ako na tren zatvoriš oči, i ne upališ i ugasiš lampu, cijeli jedan svijet se raspadne.
BITNO JE OČIMA NEVIDLJIVO
To je jedna strana novčića. Druga strana je neviđeni svijet osjećaja, misli i intuicije. Neobičnih događaja, malih slučajnosti, i veličanstvenost prirode u njenom podržavajućem i razarajućem obliku. Život pun malih i velikih čuda, prijateljstava, života, ljubavi. Potpuno neukrotiv bilokakvim odredbama i zamislima, divlji i neobuzdan: život u svom najčudesnijem svjetlu. Nepredvidiv, nerazuman, ispunjavajući. Bajkovit i neuhvatljiv u riječi, misli i emocije. Život takav kakav je, nestašan, podržavajući, nenormalan! Uopće je uzaludno ulaziti u najsitnije tkanje života koji iznenađuje, zadivljuje i voli, a istovremeno ne sagledati ono veliko platno, koje se svi nadamo obuhvatiti svojim malim umovima, nadamo se dati mu adekvatno objašnjenje.
TEČAJ TIŠINE
Božić je prošao u tišini, u agoniji tišine gdje su me najcrnje misli mržnje i zamjeranja opsjedale od početka do samog kraja. Na kraju se mala grančica nije mogla oduprijeti navali rijeke blagoslova, pa sam izašla iz tišine preplavljena dubokim mirom, oprostom sebi i drugima, s ljubavlju.
ŠETNJA ŠUMOM
Dobila sam nagradu u obliku duge šetnje prirodom, koja me sasvim osvojila. Početak je bio naporan, ali se vrlo brzo neviđeno isplatio. Uistinu, priroda je taj dan bila neviđena. Simbolično smo se, dugo vremena, nalazili iznad oblaka nakon kratkog i strmog uspona. Pogled je oduzimao dah i srce. Sama velika dužina šetnje, i mrak po povratku, podsjetili su me, između ostalog, koliko se nemilosrdno opirem svakoj, i najmanjoj, slabosti.
RADNA NOVA GODINA
Onda je počelo. Ludilo. Rijeke ljudi, domina obaveza, potražnja i opskrba. Dani u kojima „ja“ potpuno izblijedi, i postoji samo: „Što mogu učiniti za Vas?“. Gubitak „sebe“ je u tim prilikama beskrajno nagrađen gubitak. S jedne strane djeluje potpuno suludo raditi od najranijeg jutra do kasne, kasne večeri, kad se um više ni noću ne gasi, pretrpan obavezama, zadacima, rješenjima. I tako danima, samo šljaka. Jedine pauze su duboke meditacije s Učiteljem, i to je jedini pravi odmor u tim periodima.
TEKLIČ UČITELJU
Dobila sam prelijep zadatak, sam po sebi djeluje kao nezahtjevan i jednostavan: da primam zahtjeve za susret s Učiteljem. Svatko ima vrlo važno pitanje, vrlo važan projekt, vrlo važnu obiteljsku situaciju i svi ne samo da žele, već MORAJU ostvariti taj dugo-željeni susret. Ja sam bila osoba koja je zaprimala upite, i predavala štafetu drugima u tom nizu do samog Učitelja. Pošto je naš Učo nestašan, nijedan sastanak se nije dogodio kad je itko to predviđao, očekivao ili planirao, nego samo onda kada je bilo apsolutno idealno vrijeme, mjesto i način da se susret odigra. Tu nitko nije imao nikakvog utjecaja, iako se malim glavama možda činilo da jesmo. Zadatak je sam po sebi djelovao jednostavno. Tajnički. Zapiši podatke, javi kad je sastanak. Ipak, za mene je to bila ogromna čast. Uistinu velika. Možda drugima zvuči smiješno, ali meni je prilika da služim svom životnom učitelju tu i sada u kakvoj god ulozi, a ova je odavala dojam da sam mu ipak nekako bliže, značila neopisivo mnogo. Bila sam dirnuta što mi je taj zadatak dan na povjerenje. Dirnuta kolegama koji su me uzeli u obzir, onome koji je pomislio: Gordana bi bila odlična za ovaj zadatak. Možda ti se čini da pretjerujem, ali uvjeravam te, to su bili moji osjećaji, duboke zahvalnosti i sreće.
ISKUSTVO VAN TIJELA, VAN SVIJETA
Sam događaj, 6-dnevni program, je brojao iznad 500 sudionika + organizatori + gosti. U velikoj dvorani hotela, šest punih dana preko 500 ljudi je zajedno radilo vježbe za podizanje svijesti. Iz dana u dan se energija mijenjala. Otpočelo je kaotično, s težinom i zbunjenošću. Zatim su se svi polako opustili i smjestili, a onda je počeo najslađi dio. Kada tako velika grupa odjednom postane koherentna i počne se osjećati kao jedinka. Sasvim usklađena jedinka sazdana od mnogo jedinstvenih jedinki. U zraku su maltene moglo vidjeti kako brige napuštaju svaki um, svako srce. Kako raste zahvalnost, otvorenost, prepuštanje. Nije bilo izbora.
500 ljudi na Sanyam tečaju/500 participants on the Sanyam course
Na kraju je osjećaj bio sasvim vanzemaljski. Svi sudionici, organizatori i gosti počeli su djelovati nestvarno, barijere i razlike su se vidjele, ali se nisu više osjećale. Želja za najvišim se u svakom srcu neumoljivo prikazala. Kad ostavimo sav umor, i sve brige sa strane, i kada ne osjećamo više ništa, nego jednostavnost i lakoću življenja, jedino iz tog prostora možemo donositi ispravne odluke, jedino iz tog prostora dolaze intuitivne, prirodne ideje o tome kako možemo osnaženi promijeniti svoje stanje koje nam prestaje djelovati nepromjenjivim, i onda kako možemo promijeniti i one stvari u našoj najbližoj blizini, a zatim i u široj i sve široj okolini. Jedino oslobođeni vlastitog tereta i muke, možemo pristupiti svjesnoj promjeni svojih obrazaca, a zatim, punog srca, i olakšanog uma možemo širiti svjetlo dalje.
ZBUNJENOST NAJVIŠE KLASE
Više ne prepoznajem: da li se život uistinu poboljšava, ili se samo moj stav okreće sve više ka pozitivnom, a sve je u stvari, samo sve gore? Što je to pozitivno? Ugoda? Kad stvari idu onako kako ja zamišljam ili tražim da budu? Što je uistinu pozitivna misao i akcija? Misli samo pozitivno kako bi zatomio i ugušio svaki trenutak svjesnosti o realnosti stvari? Ne bih rekla. Mislim da su pozitivne misli uništile i najjače. Pozitivna akcija? Kad prijatelji životinja marširaju u želji za izgradnjom bolje sutra? Je li pozitivna akcija borba protiv negativne? Ili je i ta akcija isprljana stavljanjem pažnje na ružno i negativno?
Ne kažem da ne treba misliti i djelovati pozitivno, već smatram da treba biti svjestan i tog možda naizgled pozitivnog stava. Da se pozovem na Grindelwalda (za Harry Potter fanove): „U ime najvećeg dobra“. U ime najvećeg dobra su ljudi izbrisali nebrojene civilizacije i životinjske vrste. Misleći da rade dobro, zavedeni snagom uma i ega.
ŽIVOT JE LIJEP
No nećemo brijat negativu. Život je ljepši, nego što je okrutniji. Od jedne i druge krajnosti, Buddha je odavno rekao da treba ići srednjim putem. Možda moj put nije naočigled srednji, ali meni se čini da sve više idem prema tome da se što duže zadržim u sredini, čak i kad sam od nje daleko.
Uskoro idem kući. Veselim se najviše ljudima, promjeni zraka, a zatim i malo više svjetovnim podvizima. O tom po tom. Život ide dalje!
BUDUĆNOST, PIH
Ako me pitaš, a pitaju me ljudi, što namjeravam sada? Ne namjeravam apsolutno ništa. Nemam ni plan, ni želju/žudnju, ni namjeru. Možda to dolazi s godinama, iako mi je možda i prerano za te neke godine, a možda sam se umorila od želja i napokon pomalo puštam život da me vodi gdje on smatra da je najbolje, a možda je ovo stanje samo trenutna mala melankolija koja će vrlo brzo biti zamijenjena nekim novim suludim planovima i smjerovima. Možda i ne.
VIDJET ĆEMO!
Napokon na velikoj pozornici/Finally hitting the big stage
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Alright, enough of you would like to see my likely long rambly post about my 3-day weekend away so let’s do this.
About a month ago a friend of mine connected with me and asked if I would be interested in a girls’ weekend because there’s a loud music festival that happens practically in her backyard every year and she didn’t want to be in town for it. This friend lives in Appleton nearly 2 hours away from me and we rarely have reasons to be in each others’ neck of the woods anymore so I don’t really visit with her much anymore. So when she asked I really wanted to say yes, but she just so happened to be suggesting a 3-day trip the same month as my 6-day vacation to travel to North Dakota to see family and attend my cousin’s wedding. We planned a budget accordingly and I just gotta be conscious of money the next couple of weeks.
The music started on Thursday and ideally we would’ve left town that evening, but I ended up being scheduled to work until 9 PM closing time at the pharmacy that night… of course. We had plans already scheduled for midday on Friday, so I had to pack everything before work and then left immediately from work for my nearly 2 hour drive and arrived at her house at about 11 PM. I listened to some of the first campaign of Critical Role - time well spent.
So our Friday morning was spent running a few errands and finishing prep to leave Appleton before heading out to Milwaukee including running her pup to a friends’ house, getting groceries, and picking up coffee to fortify ourselves. We headed out around 11 AM I think and arrived early for our massage in a Milwaukee suburb with time to spare. It was my first massage and it was pretty good other than too much on my neck which led to a light headache. I really should’ve said that it was hurting too much, but I wasn’t sure if it would or would not be beneficial as I had never had a professional massage before.
Our hotel was in Wauwautosa and we arrived a good two hours before check in so we went and got food at Dave and Busters which, for those that don’t know, is an arcade for adults - meaning there is a bar. It was fun, but 3 of the 5 games we played didn’t work correctly or at all and then it was time to head out. Kinda wish we had had the opportunity to go back for another hour since I had plenty of credits still and would’ve really liked to play Mario Kart and check out one or two more games. I did play a Star Wars game with the wrap around screen which was pretty wicked cool.
That evening, after we checked into our hotel and washed off our oils from the massage, we went to a suburb to participate in a Paint and Sip class - this one was a paint your pet class and they even had little gift bags with goodies for you pet. I picked a picture of Binx that was low lighting which they oversaturated so you could see both his eyes, but since they oversaturated the picture he no longer looked like a true black and white tuxedo but like he had shades of grey and black all over which would not have been my kitty. Since I was not following the picture exactly it was proving impossible to distinguish his features, so I gave up and just used my time to fill in the areas I knew I could and plan to ask another of my friends, who works with me for the library Paint & Sip classes, to help me finish it some time. No idea when that may actually happen since she is super busy, but I have plans that meant I was okay with my experience. Not thrilled since it was a $35 class not including our wine, but eh. Meanwhile my friend was frustrated because even though she asked a few times for help with colors she never got close enough to be happy with her picture. On top of that she had chosen a picture of her goofy dog with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, but they CUT OFF HIS TONGUE and then didn’t make the picture as large as they could’ve so she had a lot of negative space. She was unimpressed to say the least. At least our wine was good. Really the class should’ve had prerequisites such as having participated in their other classes to be sure customers would get the best out of their experience. They did see that I had not finished and were offering a free session to join their free paint classes for help finishing… which we couldn’t do since we both live too far away (in my case a good 4 hours). I do really wish it had been a more standard paint class with the fast blended background and straightforward foreground. Ah well.
We finished day one at the Cheesecake Factory, a first for me! My friend commented that she was never very impressed by their food and she wasn’t surprised do be unimpressed yet again (though I didn’t mind my food at all), but we finished off with cheesecake, obviously, and that was delicious. Unfortunately I forgot my leftover cheesecake at her house in Appleton.
Saturday was our busiest day. We started at the Milwaukee Public Museum which was excellent though it really is a whole day affair not the two hour filler we planned for it. About halfway through my friend started to get anxious about her car and concerned it had a ticket or had been towed and I think she was also just getting tired of being on her feet. I think I was overall more interested in the exhibits too and she seemed to only be truly interested in specific things. I’m also a reader and wanted to actually read some of the shit while she just breezed through exhibit after exhibit. Like I said, we really didn’t have the time, but it was disappointing to be rushed so much.
Then we went downtown to The Safe House which she had wanted to check out. She did not realize it was literally right downtown and there was some anxiety, but we made it! For those that have not heard of Safe House, it’s a restaurant where the servers are in-character as secret agents and guests are also secret agents. There is a password to get in and if you don’t know it you have to prove you aren’t a spy by acting out some silliness. The interior is a wild and zany pieced together hodgepodge with references to spies in popular culture. Guests are given a list of missions (clues) to wander about and try to figure out the password. If you figure it out you are able to get a discount on their merchandise.
It was more confusing than my friend was expecting and not as engaging as she had expected either. She was pretty sure she figured it out, but neither of us were really worried about the merchandise, so we just didn’t even bother. They had a pen listed that we both kinda wanted, but they didn’t have any in stock.
After that we went to the North Point Lighthouse which is a lighthouse museum and I really enjoyed that little attraction. After that we finally headed back to the hotel for a short break and to get bandages because she wore strappy shoes that were trying to eat her feet. We discovered there was some sort of convention going on so the hotel was packed and TOO busy for only two slow elevators.
Next we went to Water2Wine, a winery in a suburb that imports their grapes and then makes their own wines in house. It was cute and pretty decent, but we weren’t overly impressed tbh. Next door to the winery was a Half Priced Books which my friend suggested instead of going to Barnes and Noble in the mall. So we wandered around, which was the first time I’d been to a Half Priced Books, but she got bored relatively quickly and dragged me out well before I would’ve like saying I could go to Barnes and Noble instead and then if she got bored she could wander the mall. So then we ended up at the mall and I was ready to settle into browsing for nearly an hour before wandering around the rest of the mall until close, but again she dragged me out likely because it isn’t that fun to wander by yourself. I did pick up a book at both places, Of Fire and Stars and Spinning Silver. I could’ve stayed in the bookstore all evening and likely only bought the one book, but nooooo, I ended up in the game store and bought an expensive gorgeous metal dice set. Pft. I also bought macarons which I had never been able to try and the ones I got were disappointingly too sweet for me to enjoy. We were both ready to be done, so we grabbed Chipotle, another first for me, and just curled up with a little TV before bed.
Sunday we got brunch at the ludicrously hipstery Cafe Hollanders. Very good and excellent atmosphere, but I couldn’t get over how chique it was being. The cafe was located in this ritzy area filled with high end stores that neither of us could afford, but we wandered around and gawped at insane prices before heading out to the Milwaukee County Zoo which I have WAAAY too many picture of to share here, so just check out my Instagram. I mentioned a few times, because I was seeing merchandise, that we hadn’t seen the red panda and my friend said she thought it might be a seasonal exhibit. After I was home I checked… it wasn’t. We literally missed it and I kinda wanna cry tbh.
We left Milwaukee around 4 and I ended up home around 7:30, but I tossed some gas in my car, washed it, and ran to the grocery store first so idk exactly how long my drive was. Though not everything was amazing I still had a pretty damn good time, my friend on the other hand seemed to get bored and/or impatient and/or disappointed/frustrated on a regular basis and I swear she didn’t enjoy the trip nearly as well as I did which just makes me sad. I also realized that since the last time we had really hung out we have both changed. Whereas I am online a lot and am fairly socially conscious she was not and she made a few borderline racist jokes (okay, not really borderline at all). Nothing nasty, just those ingrained stereotype jokes that are just not funny when you recognize how hurtful they can be. It also became more apparent that our interests do not overlap much at all. Which is another post to ramble about later. I loved the lighthouse and the zoo and wish I could’ve had just a bit more bookstore time and arcade time. It was nice to get out of town and not think about work while getting to catch up with an old friend though.
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pt. 3
I guess it's something like a fun fair
Put gas into the motor
And, boy, I'll meet you right there
We'll ride the roller coaster
‘Cause it’s true, baby,
I’ve been saving this for you, baby...
tags: college au, clique au, vhope angst,
vhope; mentions of sugakookie & minjoon
main character: jung hoseok
word count: 4143
read pt. 1 (minjoon) HERE & pt. 2 (minjoon) HERE
Jung Hoseok had approximately twenty minutes left of his shift. Twenty minutes until he could meet up with his friends and spend the evening being wild and free. That’s the weekend was for, anyway, to see his friends and talk about the things they were too busy to remember during the week.
Hurriedly, the boy scooted the last of the dust from the floor, sweeping it into a pan and then into a trash can. Glancing around the Balenciaga store that employed him, he released a contented sigh. Only nineteen minutes to go.
As he began tying the trash bag, he heard the store’s bell chime at the entrance. If he’d known customers would walk in this late, Hoseok would do better at putting on his charm. However, he knew the people that walked in. Hell, he told them to come so that he wouldn’t be bored. Shifting on his heels, he throws the trash bag at Yoongi with a pleading grin.
Before Yoongi can say or question him, he interjects. “Please? I can’t leave the store yet.” Hobi puts on unnecessary charm before his friend decidedly caves and leaves again. Turning to his other friend, Namjoon, he tilts his head. “Thought you would be, uh, busy today.”
Of course, Hoseok is only teasing Joon. That’s all they do, these days.
These days, Namjoon has to begun to pay more attention to his phone than his friends. Since finding Jimin on Twitter, there is no denying that Joon has become a little obsessive. If he didn’t catch the blonde boy in the library, he was stalking him on social media. It’s a little much, if you asked Hoseok.
“I don’t know where you guys got this notion that I’m suddenly whipped, but you’re sadly mistaken, hyung.” Joon scoffs.
“Ohh…” Hobi hums as he jaw slacks. Swiping his tongue over his lips, he examines his friend’s demeanour before nodding. “He hasn’t called or texted, has he?” He watches as Joon’s adam’s apple bobs.
Namjoon brushes past Hoseok to move further into the store, eyes scanning the barely touched racks of Hobi’s shift. An audible sigh escapes him as he turns back to Hobi. He knew he was about to happen next. “Yoongi thinks he’s waiting for me to make the move,” Namjoon finally caves, which only makes Hoseok smile wider. “But Jimin definitely said that he would ask me out. So, shouldn’t I wait for him to make the move?”
Just as he opens his mouth to speak, Yoongi walks back into the store. Their attention is drawn momentarily, but in no time Hoseok is back to Namjoon. “He’s an innocent flower. He’ll call you. It’s only been… what? Two days?”
“Eight days, Hobi…” Namjoon corrects without missing a beat.
Yoongi snorts behind them, calling attention once again. “I already told you to make the first move, I don’t know why you’re talking to this with… him… of all people.” It isn’t insulting. Not the least bit. Hoseok knows what Yoongi means, and if it were the truth, he would agree. “I’m pretty sure Hobi is holding the world record for avoidance right now.”
Namjoon groans. “Yoongi… Come on… It’s not…” His eyes shift between his friends. Hoseok can sense the younger’s panic, but it wasn’t needed.
No, he hasn’t contacted Taehyung. They see each other at school and that’s as far as he allows the friendship it to go. For the most part, his affair with the underclassman was difficult to explain. Namjoon was the only one that knew Hoseok had a girlfriend, so the younger was doing his best to keep the peace.
Yoongi looks at Hobi fully now. “He’s interrupting my time with Jungkook now--”
“God forbid.” Joon scoffs, but Yoongi continues mindlessly.
“He comes in at night and he wants to talk and sit on the bed with us. It’s weird.” Yoongi makes a sour face that causes Hobi to laugh, but again, he continues. “And he’s asking me about you now.”
That’s where Hobi perks up in shock. “What? Me? What is he saying? Or asking?”
Joon leans against a counter, patiently waiting to see where the conversation heads.
“You know what he’s asking, alright,” Yoongi huffs. “If you’re not interested in him, why are you stringing him along? That’s affecting the dynamic between Jungkook and him, and it’s putting me in an uncomfortable situation. I can’t go over there without him asking me about you. Just tell him you’re not interested so that he can move on.”
Yoongi seems done with the conversation, but little does he realize that his point was barely chipping at the iceberg afloat Hoseok’s icy waters. Joon is tense in his corner, his leg is shaking in anticipation.
“It’s not that--”
“It’s not what?” Yoongi interrupts, cocking his head.
“I’m not not interested.”
“What?”
“I’m… not, not, interested…” As he repeats himself, he glances between his friends.
Namjoon decides to chime in this time. “But you told Jin…”
“That it was a one time thing. Yeah, I know,” Hoseok nods. “And maybe I wanted to believe that too. I don’t know.”
Ah yes, the intimidating, overly-confident Kim Seokjin. If it weren’t noticeable, Hobi would roll his eyes at the thought of that conversation. The entire friend group (consisting of Jin, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok) were eating dinner together last week when Jin brought up the underclassman- Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung- as if it were necessary. Hoseok is really fighting back his urge to sigh as he remembers the conversation.
“So Namjoon-ie is claiming Jimin, I presume--” Jin pointed condescendingly at the purple-haired younger, and grinned. “Yoongi is still holding on tight to Jungkook-ie, I see.” His face scrunched cutely, yet no one found him adorable. “And now Taehyung-ie with Hobi, huh?”
“Me?” Hobi felt attacked immediately after. “What do I have to do with them?”
Jin knew straight away that he was under Hobi’s skin, and took advantage. “You fucked him, didn’t you? Took his lil’ V-card?”
“So? So what?” Hobi cared more than he was willing to admit, but he never trusted Jin with that kind of information. “It was a one time thing. I don’t plan on dating him. Not like-- Not like those guys. I’m a free agent.”
But he wasn’t a free agent. Not even slightly. Not only was he questioning his attraction to men, but he was questioning his relationship to his long time girlfriend. A cheerleader at a university twenty-miles away. They’ve been seeing each other for awhile now. Almost three years, but Hoseok would never tell Jin. The only person that knew was Namjoon, because they are roommates, but even that was an accident.
Torn between a rock and a hard place, Hoseok had to do it. He had to tell Jin that Taehyung met nothing more than sex because it would complicate his feelings, his relationship, and his life. Hoseok doesn’t deal well with drama and complications. He is much more susceptible to ignoring problems for as long as possible.
This situation with Taehyung, however, wasn’t going away. It was growing, and growing, and it was killing him. The worst part was how much he was hurting Taehyung, at that.
Feeling uncomfortable under his friends’ gazes, he moves around the store to ensure every window and door is secure. Just under fifteen minutes until closing time.
He couldn’t tell his friends that this was a more complicated process for him. Would it make him… homophobic… to feel this sure but unsure? He really loves his girlfriend, but he also likes Taehyung.
Since they met, over two weeks ago, they became closer than he could ever imagine. In the week he has known Taehyung, the boy seeped into his skin and wiggled his way into his heart. Things he hadn’t shared with his best friends of five years were suddenly escaping him when it came to the underclassman.
The common interests they shared was astounding.
It all started with this stupid store, actually. Hoseok mindlessly glances to the coat rack where he met Taehyung and smiles. Nostalgia swept over him and gave him goosebumps.
“I’m looking for something that screams… boyfriend material…” He could hear Taehyung’s smooth, deep voice in his ear again. “I have a date tonight but nothing in my closet screams please-date-me enough, you know?” Taehyung, right out of the gate, was candid and honest. How could Hoseok escape his clutches?
“Hobi,” Joon’s voice interjects, ripping him from his daydream. “You have, like, six minutes. Chop chop.”
The three friends fell silent for awhile. Namjoon was kind enough to start helping with the closing procedures. Double checking the checklist, restocking the bathroom, so on. All the while, Yoongi stood in the front of the store with his arms folded.
When he crosses paths with Hoseok, he starts a conversation again.
“I just want to know why you felt the need to lie to Jin,” They both overhear Joon dropping something in the backroom, but Yoongi ignores it. “So what, if you fucked a guy and liked it? Why do you care so much? Why do you think we would care so much?”
“Hyung!” Joon calls out for Yoongi, but Hoseok shakes his head.
He can handle this.
“It’s complicated” Hobi counters, but Yoongi is immediately showing disgust. “And what I do with my life isn’t always Jin’s business. Or yours, for that matter.”
“Oh, I see--” Yoongi laughs wryly. “You’re full of shit, you know that? You wanna know how I know you’re full of shit? Because, look at who you’re talking to. You are talking to The Key Witness to every closeted-gay-lecture ever--”
“Fuck, Yoongi, don’t project your relationship drama onto me!” Hoseok states dismissively, walking away from his friend.
“Fine, I won’t--” He starts with a snide, throaty, tone. “But Jungkook showed me the text messages.”
Hoseok freezes, staring directly at Namjoon as Yoongi says the words. Text messages. He swallows thickly before turning back to Yoongi. The movement was swift and stealthy, almost as if this needed to be a secret.
“Yeah, Hobi. Every single text. He showed Jungkook every text that led up to your… one time thing,” Yoongi explains. “Oh, not that it matters, but I’m a little hurt. Almost 400 text messages? In one week’s span? I can barely get three out of you some days.”
“Hyung…” Joon attempts to stop this conversation again, stepping closer with uncertainty in his eyes. “This isn’t the time to do this. This isn’t--”
“Aren’t you tired of the secrets, Joon? Hm?” Yoongi scoffs. “Aren’t sick and tired of him parading around like a man of mystery? He practically had a whole relationship with someone through text messages, and he dropped them. Right after he fucks them. And now other people are left picking up the pieces.”
“What? What pieces?” Hobi asks defensively.
“You think you’re perfect and without flaw, Hoseok? You think you’re allowed a one-night-stand without consequences?” Yoongi is practically foaming at the mouth over this, and Hoseok could not figure out why. “If you’re not into him, tell you’re not into him! But if you are, then you need to do something about it.”
Even if he feels attacked, he keeps a calm voice and shakes his head at Yoongi’s aggressive suggestion. “Like I said, it’s complicated. It’s more complicated than checking yes or no.”
“Tell me why, and I’ll leave you alone.”
Joon moves closer. “Hyung, enough,” He tells Yoongi. “Please, we shouldn’t be fighting over this!”
“No, it’s okay, Namjoon,” Hoseok insists, reaching out to touch the younger’s shoulder. “And you are right, we shouldn’t fight. Maybe he should know the truth.”
“Hobi… You don’t have to--” Joon pouts, furrowing his brow, but Hoseok offers a shrug. And just like that, he backs down and walks away.
“What the hell is going on?” Yoongi interrupts, eyes narrowing as he glares at Hobi. “You have fucking Namjoon keeping your secrets?”
Hobi nods.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be that way.” Hoseok answers calmly. “He came home early and saw me with someone.”
“What? Who? Taehyung?”
Hobi shakes his head. “No, someone else,” He sighs with a paused, licking over his lips as he collects himself. “My… My girlfriend.”
“You’re kidding.”
The front bell chimes and only one person realizes.
“No. I’m not kidding. I have a girlfriend.”
“For how long?”
“Hyung...” Joon tries again, but Hoseok extends his hand.
“No, I wanna know!” Yoongi shouts. “How long!?”
“Three years. In August, it will be four. I met her in a dance camp the summer before my freshman year. We were counselors and we got along. She goes to a different school so that’s why it was easier to keep her a secret. But one day, during sophomore year, she came over. We were watching a show together and Namjoon-ie came from classes early. I didn’t want to insult her, so I told Namjoon the truth. I told him that I was seeing someone, and he’s kept my secret ever since.”
“Hyung…” Joon attempts, over more time.
Both Yoongi and Hoseok look over at Namjoon, who slowly raises his hand to point at the entrance of the Balenciaga front. Their heads turn slowly and meet a somber expression on Taehyung’s face. He’s clearly devastated, heartbroken, and Hobi overhears Yoongi sighing.
“Taehyung-ssi,” Yoongi walks over to him. “I told you to wait until the store was closed to find him.”
That prompts Hoseok to look at the clock on the wall. Shit. It was five minutes past closing time.
“I did. I waited but you were all still inside. It started raining just now and--” Taehyung looks outside as he chokes on his words. It was obvious that he was working up the courage to continue speaking, but it just wasn’t working out. His face is beginning to turn bright red and tears were forming in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ll go. I’m sorry for interrupting.” With that, Tae is running out of the store with Hobi trailing behind.
The rain was no joke.
The downpour was heavy and hot, humid from the lack of wind blowing at the same time. Hoseok never stops running though. He follows Taehyung into an alleyway three stores down where the younger is standing under an awning with his arms folded. He’s facing the brick wall and sobbing. Hoseok couldn’t feel any worse.
He couldn’t stand under the awning with Taehyung. He couldn’t comfort the other the way he needs. As he stands there, no more than a yard from Tae, he remembers his girlfriend. He remembers her love, her cute smile, her sensitivity, and he remembers that he told himself he couldn’t do this with Taehyung. Hoseok wasn’t… Hoseok couldn’t… but attracted to Taehyung.
Even though he was deeply, truly, completely… infatuated.
“You shouldn’t have learned it like that,” He shouts through the loud rain, thunder rumbling behind his voice in agreement. “I wanted to tell you. I really did. But that night… that night we were together…”
Taehyung turns slowly to him. His eyes were bloodshot red from crying, from feeling disappointment. It breaks Hobi’s concentration, but he knows he has to continue.
“I’m not gonna lie, Tae, it confused me!” Hobi exclaims. “It confused me more than anything in the world and that I didn’t know how to address it. I love my girlfriend and… boy or not… what I did was wrong.”
“Did you tell her?” Even though he isn’t as loud as Hoseok, his voice was thick enough to hear through the pouring rain. “Did you tell her about me? About us?” Hobi opens his mouth to speak, but Tae isn’t done. He speaks up and moves closer. “Did you tell her that you pursued me? That you asked me for my number? That you sent me pictures of your outfits for the day? That you left me sweet voicemails? That you sent me pictures and paintings from my favorite artists and photographers? Hmm? Did you tell her that you initiated that conversation the night before we had sex? Did you? Did you tell her how you asked me to come over on a night Namjoon wasn’t there, and came on to me? Took me to your room and said that I was the only one that mattered? You told me I was your first too! And maybe I wasn’t clear, but you were my first-- everything! Kiss, touch, taste, time. Everything. You were new to me and yet-- I-- I was--”
Shit.
“Taehyung…” Hoseok makes another attempt to speak, or defend himself, but Taehyung isn’t having it. He’s hurt. Genuinely hurt.
“My friends were right about you.” Tae chuckles sarcastically. “They were right in believing that you are nothing but a puppet to society. You act purely on what makes you feel good. You are nothing if not the most manipulative person I have ever met. I wanted to believe you were different. I wanted to believe that the person you showed me in those text messages could never be the same person beside Jin, Yoongi, and Namjoon. But I was wrong.” He laughs again and looks away. “I’m always wrong.”
“You’re not wrong, Tae, you’re not even close. Okay? That guy? The one who sent you pictures and photographs and told you how important you are? That’s a piece of me that I will never apologize for offering to you. He’s there. He’s deep within me. Yes, under the persona and mentality and perception that stands behind my friends, but he’s there too. I’ll always be me. But I can’t be that for you. I misled you to believe I could be someone I’m not. Truthfully, Tae, I’ve come to care about you. But you are not mine. And I am not yours. I have a girlfriend. I misled you. That’s something I’ll always regret and have to live with, but what I offered to you was never in vain. Never an act.”
“Are you serious?” Tae scoffs, moving away from the awning to stand in the rain with Hobi. “This is an act! All of this right now, is an act. You hurt me and yet you stand here after ignoring me for so long. This isn’t what you wish to tell me. I know it isn’t. I can feel your heart racing just standing right here. You want me. You’ll still want me even after this conversation-” Tae pokes the other’s chest before shaking his head. “You’ll regret this. I know that you know, you’ll regret this.”
He remains quiet as Taehyung walks away, heading in the opposite direction from which they came. The rain is so heavy that he loses Tae within seconds. His eyes stinging with wetness that he prayed weren’t tears. “Taehyung!” He shouts at nothing. No one. Nowhere. “Taehyung!” He calls again, surprisingly disappointed when no one was calls back.
It was a life lesson of choices made and acts with consequences. Hoseok was never one to escape his moral compass, but this was bad. He’ll never return from this. Taehyung didn’t give him a chance to apologize. It made his heart heavy and his eyes were burning. Yes, these were definitely tears. Were they were for losing Taehyung or losing the argument? He didn’t have an immediate determinant.
He takes his time getting back to the store, where Namjoon and Yoongi are standing outside. Lucky for him, Joon snagged his belongings from behind the counter and offered it to him. Hoseok accepted sluggishly, locking the Balenciaga store quietly.
“Are you okay?”
The audacity. The fucking audacity of Min Yoongi to ask such a question.
Hoseok snaps. Dropping his bag into a puddle to grab Yoongi by his collar and shove him against a wall.
Lucky for him, Namjoon acts fast and shoves him away. “This is not the time to turn against each other!” Joon speaks up, looking between Yoongi and Hoseok.
He starts with Yoongi. “He’s your brother, you will love and accept him! Mistakes and all! You barely know Tae, you will not take his side over this all because Jungkook has influenced you and some way!”
Then he directs his attention to Hoseok. “You just realized you’re not flawless. Yoongi is hurt because you kept secrets from him. You will not turn against him because you believe he knows that you’re vulnerable. Guess what, Hyung? We’re all vulnerable people! You are not perfect. Deal with it.”
Namjoon searches their eyes once again before he drops his hands. “We’re meeting with Jin soon. He can’t see us like this. He can’t know this is going on. He can’t know about Taehyung, Hoseok’s girlfriend, or even my pining over Jimin.” Both Hobi and Yoongi blink at Joon in confusion.
Yes, Kim Namjoon, local popular kid that is notorious for throwing raging parties and avoiding homework due to favorites. Kim Namjoon, rumored to have slept with more teachers than classes he’s taken. Kim Namjoon, outgoing, tall, clumsy but sauve, playboy. Talk of the town, everyone’s friend. Kim Namjoon, a senior that has no clue what he’s doing after a college. Yes, he was pining over the short honor roll student that wears cardigans like it was his religion. Yes, he was pining over the bookworm that enjoyed memoirs and anime equally. Yes, Kim Namjoon was waiting for his innocent underclassman crush to text him first.
“Yes, I’m pining over Park Jimin. Resident SGA Treasurer three years running, and library regular.” He admits. “I’m not without flaw either.”
Yoongi smiles. Oh, how Yoongi was worst of them all. The thought of a confession made Joon and Hoseok giggle. Min Yoongi, fellow goth kid and fan of darkness. Min Yoongi, team player and introvert at heart. Min Yoongi, math tutor, poetry writer, coffee enthusiast. Min Yoongi, lowkey, sluggish, enjoys a nap each day. Oh, how Min Yoongi hard he had fallen for the underclass’ golden boy. He’d fallen in love with a charming, selfless, student athlete living in a college town he was too young to understand. He’d fallen in love with an active boy who would never admit that he loved Yoongi back. Each day of school passes and Yoongi feels his heartbreak more and more. Reality resets everyday, that the love of his life may easily regret him. Two years into the relationship, and Yoongi has yet to hold Jungkook’s hand in public. Yoongi has yet to smile longingly at his boyfriend around his friends. Not without being rejected. It was a cold, lonely world, but Yoongi is in love and that’s all that matters.
Yoongi sighs. “I’m in love with a student athlete who will never tell anyone he’s gay.” It was a nice addition to Joon’s confession. The both of them look at Hoseok.
It takes him a moment to sigh, collect his belongings, and sling it over his shoulder before admitting his own truth.
Hoseok didn’t feel as matter-of-fact as his friends. Everything felt under siege. Taehyung would never come back. Jung Hoseok, best dancer of the school. Jung Hoseok, as popular if not more popular than Namjoon. Jung Hoseok, who spent his whole life feeling so sure that he was heterosexual. Then he met Taehyung and his world was turned upside down. He found himself too curious, too attracted, and his heart too unsteady to be heterosexual. Taehyung, a theater student with an affection for costumes and design. Taehyung, a boy who wore glasses for aesthetics and without prescription. Taehyung, a boy that was constantly ridiculed by his peers for seeming too flamboyant. A fashion enthusiast, just like Hobi. Hoseok didn’t learn much about Taehyung, but everything he he knew, he knew he enjoyed. Despite being total opposites, they got along well. Not everyone truly appreciated Taehyung for being as soft and kind and affectionate. But hell, had Hoseok been single, maybe this story would be different.
For now, he couldn’t tell his friends that Taehyung plagued his mind and filled his soul. He couldn’t tell them Taehyung felt like a missing piece. He couldn’t tell them how one boy made him question his sexual orientation. This was no one-time-thing. This was no simple one-night-stand.
“I think I’m bisexual.” Hobi smiles sadly at the admission. He feels guilty for saying it aloud, but he says it with pride. His friends will understand. Maybe his girlfriend too, if he ever tells her.
Yoongi and Namjoon nod reassuringly before gathering themselves. The rain never stops pouring as they walk through downtown. Instead of meeting Jin at the restaurant a mile away, they allow him to pick them up by the coffee shop where Jungkook worked part-time. Instead of eating at the restaurant, the four boys hang out at Namjoon and Hoseok’s apartment and spend the evening pretending that today’s events never happened. They pretend that their confessions don’t matter.
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“Exorcist” Is A Strong Word
<- Previous Chapter
5:31 AM was not a nice hour to be up and about for Vinn Ingram, but there simply was no other choice. Sure, the cold winds that blow through Mint Hill Street were a very convincing argument to buy a scarf the moment today was over, the uphill walk made paying a taxi very, very attractive even though it was a short walk, and the deadly combination of both made our new Exorcist miss his bed sheets with the agony of a lover who left his sweetheart behind to go to the war, but alas, this was a necessary evil if he ever was to see his workplace at all. At the Seventh Office of the Mythic Affairs Bureau, work hours begin at 7:00 AM, which is a whole one hour and twenty nine minutes our daring star could’ve spent tucked in bed dreaming about sunshine and puppies, but if the last two days were any indication, this was a bad idea, and that bad idea has a name: Bastian Ashfield, his partner.
“Mother fu... Arc damned cold wind... Uphill walk in the middle of... This better be worth it...” muttered the displeased Vinn to himself, making his walk under the purple early morning skies. Two days ago, Bastian raided his apartment and snatched him away to a sudden necromancy case, and yesterday, Bastian once more got him by the cuffs and got him working with a truant demon after an exorcism. These last two days, he’d been roped into all this work without being able to even see his office or meet his other colleagues. For a top scorer like Vinn, this was like a rusty, jagged spoon to the heart, as it was vastly unprofessional from him to not even greet his other seniors at the office just because this hydromancing asshole of a tyrant decided to start paying him house visits. Well, no more! Today, Vinn left far earlier than he was supposed to, as he wasn’t gonna risk a third day of impromptu plate-juggling. Maybe now, finally, he was gonna be able to do things right.
But Arc damn the wind is cold.
“I should almost be... Oh! That over there is the office, isn’t it?”. Vinn perked up and broke into a calm jog, and indeed it was. A four story building, solid and made of brick, with a large sign that read the “7th Office” in bold black letters. It didn’t indicate what it was the office of, just that it was the 7th. Magic and the supernatural is a well kept secret, after all, so whoever stumbled in there by accident would just be told a lie about this being a real estate firm or maybe an engineering firm. At long last, Vinn was going to be able to meet people that hopefully weren’t condescending jerks!
As Vinn approached the building, the door swung open, and what strode out froze Vinn in his tracks. A very tall woman, at least two heads taller than Vinn, with long dark green hair and a somewhat dark complexion, but the prodigious height and the curious colors of the dame weren’t what paralyzed Vinn, it was the long, curved, thick black horns that protruded from her head that did, peeking through holes in her large brimmed hat.
“Hm? Hey there, I haven’t seen you around before” the mountain spoke. “For consultations and filing reports, head to the left desk, and for general questions, the help desk is on the right. We’ll help you in however way we can.”
“...Oh!” finally reacted Vinn, taking his eyes off the horns, hoping he didn’t offend. “Oh, thank you, but I work here, actually, it’s good to meet you, I started two days ago, my name is Vinn Ingram.” Upon hearing this, the woman brought a hand to her mouth in surprise, and immediately smiled gracefully, lifting her hat just slightly so she could take a better look at him with her piercing crimson eyes.
“Ah! You’re one of the graduates! How silly of me, my apologies, I assumed you were a new client. I haven’t seen you around, but, well, I suppose the same can be said for others, hmhm. Well met, Vinn Ingram.” -- the woman bowed with dignity and poise found only on professionals -- “I am Fatima Allanach, Exorcist here at the Seventh. Have been for years now. A pleasure to meet you. I would love to chat with you more, but I need to go out for something rather pressing right now. Which division are you on? I’d love to drop by later to properly meet you when time isn’t a pressing concern.”
“Oh, no no, don’t let me hold you back, the pleasure is all mine!” hastily replied the novice. “I’m in the 3rd Division.”
“The 3rd... That’s... I see, so you must be an intel support, then? Well, have fun with Nicholas, he’s kind of a stick in the mud before 9:30, but he’s very good at what he does. You’ll learn much. Well, farewell, until later.”
With a graceful half-bow and a smile, the large woman in the trench coat walked away, her horns disappearing from sight as soon as she headed to the streets. Can’t be seen with those by civilians, after all. Vinn couldn’t help but wonder what she meant by “intel support”. He was very much a fully fledged Exorcist, and his partner was Bastian, not some “Nicholas”. Well, whatever, he thought, maybe she was just confused and in a hurry. They’d meet later, so no biggie.
Finally at the 3rd floor, Vinn looked up which office was the 3rd Division’s in his briefing e-mail. It was more than a bit daunting when his worst suspicions were confirmed and that large, imposing cast iron door was, indeed, his office. With someone like Bastian on their payroll, however, the iron door made complete sense, unfortunately. “Well, whatever, let’s get to it.”
The already small room behind the iron door was made even smaller by the sheer amount of chaos within. Paperwork everywhere, pizza boxes, the scent of coffee and mana leftovers mixing into what can only be described as a terrorist attack on the senses, and one very bitter-looking blonde man sitting at the very end of the room, surrounded by cabinets, coffee mugs, and his computer, mashing away at that keyboard like it owed him money.
“Uh, he--”
“And why the hell are you here this early again, Bastian! Can I just not have my own little world of-- Huh?”
“Um.”
“Oh.”
The red haired man and the blonde bitterness extract given a human form looked at each other awkwardly for a second, before the latter finally threw a brick and smashed the silence. “...Who, who the hell ar-- Who might you be? This is the 3rd Division, I think you got the wrong door, pal.”
“Uh, hey there, no, I work here. Effective as of two days ago, but it’s my first time showing up due to... Exceptional reasons, I guess. I’m Vinn Ingram, assigned here as of August 4th, a pleasure to meet you, Mister...?”
“No Vinn works here, dude, just go to your office.”
“Um, sir? I do work here, it says as much in this e-mail, I’ve been working for two days now on field.”
“No you don’t.”
“Sir...”
“Dude, come on, I know everyone in this office and-- Hold that phone, what did you say your name was again?”
“V-Vinn Ingram, partner of--”
Whatever came after his last name fell upon deaf ears and was drowned by the loud tik and tak of the keyboard’s cry for help as the blonde man’s fingers struck it with surgical precision. A few seconds of awkward keyboard sounds later, the man’s face seemed to be right out of the cover of a cheap gas station horror novel. “Bastian’s partner? That Vinn?”
“That’d be me, yeah.”
“What the fuck, you haven’t quit yet?”
“E-excuse me?”
Of incense, ink stains, and the murky menace lurking beneath it all:
– Chapter 3: Neon War Paint –
“Oh, um, ahem, h-hey, welcome, Vinn, welcome! I just, mm, never really expected anyone partnered with Bastian to last more than one assignment with him. Or less than one, really. I hope you’ll understand, he’s kind of, mm, not a very nice person.”
“Oh, trust me, I could gather that much. But yeah, I’m here, alive and willing still, somehow.”
Molotov cocktails burst green with envy at the explosive laughter the man by the computer just showcased with peerless cacklesmanship. “By the Arc, man, you really went and... I’m Nicholas Dunbar, Seventh Office 3rd Division information agent, assistant, and secretary, an actual honor to meet anyone who somehow survived Bastian.”
Vinn could only sigh, half laughing and half crying internally. “Vinn Ingram, once again, now assigned to this office as that oaf’s partner, the pleasure is mine. So, um, Nicholas, is Bastian just... Like that? In general?”
“He very much is like that in general.” replied the intel agent as he prepared some coffee on the worn, jury rigged coffee maker that had what was very clearly a band aid somewhere on its base. “See, the thing is, you’re the fourth partner that’s been assigned to him, and the only to survive the ordeal without quitting the job or requesting a transfer after... Well, not after, during the first day.”
“And I can see why. I’m here this early because he kept going to my place and roping me into more stuff, telling me he has to test me on this and test me on that, what a prick.” Vinn recounted as he tried to navigate this disaster room of pizza boxes and stray paperwork, making a futile attempt to find his desk.
“Yeah, you’re actually the only one I’ve met, haha. I kinda just assumed you’d be roadkill as well, no offense. You aren’t the top scorer of the Mythic Law Enforcement Academy for nothing, after all. Man, Bastian is real good at this job, one of the best, I dare say, but his people skills just haven’t been the same anymore...”
This last statement perked the novice Exorcist. “Mm? What do you mean with ‘anymore’?” The inquiry clearly changed something in the atmosphere, as Nicholas simply looked down and then at the coffee maker, gripping it by the handle and serving two piping hot mugfuls of coffee, offering one to Vinn.
“I can’t really tell you, man. I hope you understand. It’s kinda personal to him, and I’m not about the snitch life.”
“Ah, no no, sorry, didn’t mean to put you in the spot. Thanks for the coffee.”
“Say, since you’re here early, I might as well tour you through the Seventh, what do you say? Introduce you to the people, show you where stuff is, the works.” offered the intel agent, sipping his coffee, his voice certainly softer than before. This wasn’t an offer Vinn was going to turn down.
“I’d very much like that!”
——-
The Seventh was a sturdy, spacious building. That cramped little hellroom that was the 3rd Division was not indicative of just how impressive and accommodating the rest of it was. Air conditioning, ample hallways, and effective use of space made it easy to navigate through and easy to fit all the relevant facilities. It certainly was a whole different beast from the antiquated brick fortress that it seemed to be from the outside. Nicholas and Vinn made small talk as they passed by the various other offices, most of them empty due to how early it was, heading to the Infirmary in the first floor.
“The Infirmary is open practically all the time, and it’s the first place you go to after an assignment, and the last place you go to before clocking out and leaving for the day.” Nicholas explained as he ringed the bell. “Cordiality is nice, but it doesn’t mean much in general in the Seventh, since we are all about getting the job done first and foremost. However, if there’s anyone you gotta be good with, that’s the Infirmary crew, because these people keep us alive. I think you’ll agree with me when I say you’d rather be on good terms with the people in charge of keeping you alive, yeah?”
“Hah, no argument there. I planned to come here first thing after finding the 3rd Division.” Vinn replied, adjusting his vest as Nicholas opened the door. “Hold on, don’t we have to wait for them to give us the ok?”
“I mean, by protocol, yeah, but as long as you ring the bell, Aria doesn’t really mind if you come in, Mister Stiff.” laughed the intel agent. “Can’t blame ya, though. You are the top scorer of this year’s promotion, so I assumed you’d be kinda stiff, but man, trust me, real work is a lot more... Earthly, if you will. Don’t take all those regulations and strict protocols to heart. As long as you do your job, no one minds.”
Vinn shrugged his shoulders as if saying “I guess”, which only prompted another chuckle from Nicholas. Inside the Infirmary, a woman with two large white wings and a long lab coat checked a clipboard and wrote on a little notebook propped on a desk. “Hey, mornin’, doc!” greeted Nicholas, prompting her to turn around with a pleasant smile and kind eyes.
“Hey, Nick, good day! Hm? Who’s the kid?” the doctor enthusiastically replied as she set down her clipboard. “Oh, one of the fresh meat, huh? Hey, I’m the patch up artist around these parts, name’s Aria, a pleasure.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Aria, I’m Vinn Ingram, ‘fresh meat’ at the 3rd Division. We’ll be seeing each other.”
“Oh, so you are a new intel agent? You’re lucky, Nick is awesome at his job, just, be sure not to catch him before 9:30, he’s kinda--”
“Oh no no, he’s not mine, Aria.” interrupted Nicholas, a wry grin plastered on his face. “Take a wild freakin’ guess who he is partnered with.”
Aria tilted her head in confusion, looked at him real good, the ol’ tip to toe scan with the eyes, and she realized, given his build, that he was no pen pusher. Those strong limbs were for working out in the field. “Wait, Bastian’s!? No way, but it’s the 6th! Any partner of his should have transferred already! Holy moly, you are some next level shit, aren’t you?”
Nicholas laughed out loud while Vinn simply sighed and pinched his nose. “Yeah, I guess I am fecal matter of the next degree. Man, he really is infamous for this, isn’t he?” The two of them laughed, but before Aria replied, she caught the Nicholas’ eyes, insolence brewing behind them.
“Oh... You wanna do that, huh...? Ok... Hey, Vinn, I applaud your manners for not pointing out my wings.” said Aria. “People usually get impressed by them and sometimes, it get uncomfortable, so hey, nice. But, at the same time, I can’t help but be a bit disappointed, since I am proud of them, as an Angel and all.”
Those last words perked Vinn up. “An Angel, you say...?”
“Yup! Ain’t the Seventh impressive? We practically have a demon in Bastian, so we make up for that with an actual Angel in our Infirmary. Not something many offices can claim, yeah?”
It’s true that those impressive, white feathered wings were the definition of majestic in any dictionary you could find, but Vinn didn’t seem impressed at all. “She’s not an Angel, though.” he declared.
“Oh?” Aria smirked. “I am, though. What proof do you have that I am not an Angel? Are you saying these wings are fake?”
“It’s true that you have not moved your wings at all, so they could be a prop, but no, they are the real deal. However, ‘wings’ does not equate to ‘Angel’. No offense intended, but the palms of your hands are very rugged, and your musculature in general suggests heavy physical work, instead of the more magically inclined personality of Angels. Speaking of your hands, you did a pretty good job trimming them, but I can tell those talons grow up to be very strong, sharp, and destructive. You’re not an Angel, Miss Aria, you’re a Harpy.”
The rapid fire analysis left both Nicholas and Aria dumbfounded for all of five silent seconds before they both broke into laughter. “Oh, wow! This kid is the real shit, ain’t he? Damn, when was the last time, anyone saw through this little prank, Nicholas?”
“Wasn’t it Fatima many years ago? Haha, damn, anyways, that was impressive, I’d expect no less from top scorer of this year’s promotion. Nice job, Vinn.”
The young man was getting a bit flustered with all this praise and attention, but thankfully, before he had to say anything, the bell rang again, and the door swung open, a tall, muscular, blonde man wearing sunglasses walking in shortly after.
“Heyo, doc, I’m sorry I didn’t come before, I came t’ greet ya! Name’s... Oh, Ingram?”
“...Hold on, you’re Daryl. Hello.”
“Oh, you two know each other?” Nicholas inquired, resting against a nearby counter top.
“Yeah!” the large blonde lad replied. “We both graduated this year. Ingram’s the top of the class, so I remember him. Didn’t know ya were here, dude.”
“Likewise. I wouldn’t have expected to meet you so soon after graduation. Good to see you. Which division are you on?” Vinn cordially conversed.
“2nd, the boss woman told me to go greet people already, got kinda mad that I hadn’t yet, so here I am. Heyo doc, and heyo other dude I don’t know, here’s to some good ass work and all that.”
“Nicholas, good to meet you, though I am just the tech dude at the 3rd, it’s this lady you oughta pay your respects to. She’s a nice Angel doctor that’ll keep you in this world, no matter how banged up you get.” the intel agent explained, a chuckle already charging up behind his lips.
“Wait, an Angel!?” yelled the shocked Daryl.
“Oh, don’t say that so loud, I get kinda conscious... But yes, I am Doctor Aria, pleased to meet you. I hope you’ll trust my--!”
In a move that shut everyone in the room, Daryl approached Aria and outright kissed her, holding her chin up to better feel her tongue with his. When it was all said and done, Daryl simply took a contemplative hand to his chin. “Ya ain’t no Angel. You’re a Harpy. See, Angels have soft tongues, and kissing them feels like warm honey bathin’ yer tongue, an indescribable feelin’, really. But yer tongue was thick, rough, and strong. It wasn’t warm honey, it was more like a powerful adversary, a tongue to remember, ‘cause it ain’t easy. I like Harpy kisses far more than Angel kisses, there’s that roughness to them that makes them--”
The sound of her palm meeting his face echoed in the Infirmary.
“How dare you...!?” the doctor exclaimed, slapping him across the face.
“Ooph, yeah, see, Angels don’t slap like that, that’s a Harpy’s strong hand, alriOOPH.”
“What the fuck are you doing, dumbaaaaaaass?!”
The sound of his spine singing a melody of pain and regret echoed in the infirmary as his body was lifted off the ground by a single righteous uppercut.
“Yep, just on time, if you’re in the 2nd, then your partner is...”
“W-woah what the hell!?”
With just a single punch, the large blonde man was downed. Behind him, a brawny, tough-looking woman stood with the River Styx in her eyes, shooting ballistic missiles at the battered young man with her glare.
“I take my eyes off you for one second and you’re already doing dumb shit again! I am so sorry, Aria, this one’s on me, I’ll buy you all your drinks next time we go out drinking, ok? Please forgive this good for nothing piece of shit!” the big woman apologized as she stomped on the downed idiot.
“F-Fiona, don’t worry about it! It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t kill him in the Infirmary, please, that’s a lot of paperwork to deal with!”
Lifting him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, the imposing woman desperately apologized. “I’ll educate this dipshit, even if it kills me, or if it kills him! I’ll go now, see y...ou? Hey, who’s this kid, Nick? New techie for the the 3rd?”
“Naw, he’s Bastian’s.”
“Cut the bullshit.”
“I am not dumb enough to lie to you, Fi.”
Fiona’s eyes widened. “You’re legit his partner? Woah, some big fat balls of brass, you must have! Well, kid, introductions will have to wait ‘till later, I have a shithead to lecture. Try not to get killed. Let’s go, you imbecile.”
“M-my spine... Let me get it checked first...” begged Daryl like a beefy, floppy sack of wounded potatoes with all the dignity of a headless chicken.
“Oh, sleep it off, ya wuss, let’s go.”
As fast as she came, this tornado of a woman left, leaving Vinn speechless. “Is she... Is she always like that? Who was that? Did that really just happen?”
“That’s Fiona, and yeah, that’s her modus operandi. Leaving the door open is also part of her, but she’s a lovable tower of muscle and alcohol.” explained the doctor, going back to her clipboard. “Be a dear and close it, will you?”
As Vinn approached the door left open by the human cyclone, he spotted her outside, still carrying Daryl, being lecture by a tall, thin man who had an aura of authority and resignation to him. Before him, however, Fiona couldn’t stop bowing apologetically.
“Well, that’s our Fiona, 2nd Division Exorcist. Watch in awe as she is lectured by the Chief because her cropped tank top, ‘perfume’ that smells like 6 AM tequila, and habit of carrying coworkers like veggies at market spit in the soup of Officewear Regulations. Heh, this is a daily show by now.” Nicholas elaborated, as if watching a movie while eating pop corn. “You know about Oni, Vinn?”
“Oh! She’s an oni? That explains the strength and the pungent stench of alcohol.”
“Nope, she’s married to one, and he’s helping her with her drinking habits.”
“...Classy. So, that’s the Chief, huh? I’d better go say hi to him now.”
“Woah there, buddy, I’d suggest not. He’s lecturing her right now, but he’s a very busy man, especially in the mornings. Leave him for the afternoon.”
“Is he a hardass or something?”
“Not... Quite, just trust me on this one. Let’s go back to our office, Dani should be here by now.”
“If you say so. Bye, Miss Aria, have a good day.”
“Mmhm. Have a good one, you two, I hope you survive, Vinn.” the doctor expressed with no ill will whatsoever, waving a friendly hand goodbye.
——-
The more one looked at the office, the more it seemed that the door frame was a portal to a different dimension. How could this pigsty possibly be in the same physical plane, let alone building, than the neat everything else? There was a difference now, however: A lone girl sat by another desk.
“It’s weird not seeing you here first thing in the morning, Nick. I was wondering where you went.” she greeted.
“Yeah, was just showing the newbie around. Lookin’ good, Dani.” Nicholas chimed back with Vinn on tow, who politely nodded as if to greet her.
“Oh? New tech g--”
“Bastian’s partner...” Vinn clarified for what felt like the tenth time this morning.
“What!? Bast--”
“Please.” Vinn begged for what felt like the tenth time this morning. It was getting tedious.
“Oh, pfff, yeah, I guess you’ve already gotten your fair share of dumbfounded responses. Sorry about that! I’m Danielle, just call me Dani, though.” the girl responded before moving away from her desk without standing up, traversing through the pizza boxes and paperwork in a motorized wheelchair, controlled by a little controller on the right hand rest. Of note, her left hand and leg were prosthetic. Accompanied with the soft sound of her wheelchair’s motor’s vibration, Dani approached Vinn and offered her right hand, which he shook. “I’m the communications expert here, and since you’ll be working with us now, you’ll need one of these.” Her prosthetic hand held a firm grip on the bag while her regular hand rummaged in it, the sounds of junk and crumpling plastic raising many questions as to what was actually inside the otherwise trendy looking little bag. With an expression of eureka, she seemed to have finally found the desired item, which he proudly offered to the novice Exorcist: A tin can.
“A... Tin can? Wait, now that you mention it, Bastian had one just like this two days ago...” Vinn pondered, as he examined the item in vain.
“Ah! You were there when the Siren was sent in!? That jerk didn’t mention you at all in his reports! I will have some words with him, the nerve!” Dani fumed as she kicked her feet in frustration, nothing new when regarding Bastian and his old tricks. “Anyways, yes, that right there is a prim and proper tin can, but it may save your life.”
“There’s really nothing special about it, though... I don’t sense anything.”
“Eyup, it’s not until I do this--” With a touch of he right hand’s finger, the can suddenly pulsated, Vinn’s head throbbing as a sharp note drowned everything else in the room, only the can’s ‘heartbeat’ audible to him, until a few seconds later, his senses returned to normal, his head ringing like a struck bell no more. “--llo? Hello? Earth to Vinn?”
“Ugh... Yeah, I hear you... What was that? My head felt like it was going to explode for a second.” Vinn replied, clutching his thankfully unexploded head.
“Yeah, happens the first time. I’ve linked the tin can with you. Now, what this does is...” Danielle moved towards her desk again and held a similar, worn out tin can. “Put that against your ear.” Vinn complied, and once he did, Dani put her own tin can against her mouth, softly whispering words that shouldn’t have been audible to anyone, yet were clear as the skies to Vinn. “And now, we can communicate easily!”
“Woah! That’s... I’ve never seen anything like this! So basically, these are like cellphones now?”
“Better than cellphones!” she declared, chest puffed out. “Cellphones can be traced, need time to make a call, need the other party to notice and accept the call, and if you’re underground? Yeah, not happening. Tin cans are the future of communication! Well, among us, anyways. This is Communications Magic, my area of expertise. Keep that tin can on you at all times, and we’ll be able to talk shit about Bastian at all times, seamlessly and with no interruption.”
“Now that sounds like a good time.”
“Well, I’m sure glad you two seem to have kicked it off well!” Nicholas finally interjected. “Now, you did say something worrying, though: You’ve actually been working the last two days, but Bastian neglected to mention you in his reports, which makes my job difficult. Plus, I don’t have your reports, either.”
“A-ah, well, I wasn’t exactly--”
“Exactly allowed near the office, I know, haha, don’t worry, I’m not going to put you on the spot, all this means is that I will grab Bastian by the neck and have him rewrite his reports. His lack of mentioning you meant to me that you had quit, which is... A pattern, really, so don’t worry, you get a few more days to write your reports, but the sooner you have them for me, the better.”
“Ah, that’s why you reacted that way...” Vinn said, recalling Nicholas’ exasperation earlier. “Well, I hope you don’t have a hard time getting him to re-do those... I already know that he’s--”
“A damn hardass, a jerk, and a piece of shit to work with?” a voice behind Vinn chimed in.
“Yeah! That’s exactly what I was gonna sWhere did you come from and how long have you been there?”
“Aww, I’m glad to know that I have a cute widdle pwartner who wuvs me so much!”
As Vinn turned around, he met face to face with the plastic, hostile grin of Bastian Ashfield, a tall, solidly built man with his wavy ponytail resting on his left shoulder as always. “So can I join your shit-talking power hour? I am like a trebuchet full of excrement, ready to sling the highest quality turds, so? We good? Can I join you fine gents in--Hrg!”
That dull sound just now was a piece of scrap metal hitting Bastian square in the forehead. “You big jerk! You were keeping Vinn out of the office for the last two days and you neglected to even mention him in your reports! As both a person and an Exorcist, you are terrible!”
“Oi, who the hell throws junk metal at people!? At least make it something like a plastic bottle, or a--Argh!”
And that dull sound just now was a broken clock hitting Bastian on the side of his face.
“Don’t talk back!”
“Yes ma’am! Please don’t give me a concussion, ma’am!”
“Denied!”
“Alright, hold it, hold it, please! I’ll stop! Quit chucking assorted reclaimed metals at me!”
“...Are these two like this all the time?” Vinn whispered to Nicholas.
“Just when Bastian’s a dick.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“So yeah, all the time.”
“I see.”
——-
“...Well, now that we are all here, I suppose a formal welcoming is due... But first... You clever little rascal. You left home really early, just to avoid me, huh?”
Vinn simply glared at Bastian. “I knew you’d try it a third day. Get off my back, already. I humored your two ‘tests’, and not even knowing what my workplace looks like for three days in a row is not exactly professional.”
“...Tests? Vinn, what did this oaf make you do?” Dani inquired, already reaching for the next piece of junk in her little bag.
“Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything terribly cruel. You’ll see in my report later, but basically, the necromancer of two days ago and a case with a stray demon yesterday. Both ended up well, so-- Hey, speaking of, where’s the necromancer?” Vinn asked, having just remembered the rather high profile criminal they brought in.
“Well, I’m not at liberty to say just yet, but let’s just say you’ll know soon enough.”
“Bastian, could you please treat him like a member of our division already?” sighed the girl.
“Oh, no no, Bastian is not being Bastian for once, he really isn’t at liberty to say.” Nicholas interrupted. “All information on the case -- the necromancer herself, the undead horde, and the fact that a Siren was dispatched -- is all confidential. In fact, we should not discuss it at all. He could actually get questioned by the Blackvests if his lips are too loose.”
“Ah, so it is actually confidential... I was curious myself, too, to be honest. It’s the first actual necromancer in forever, isn’t it?” Dani asked as she drank some of her freshly brewed coffee.
“First I’ve seen in active service, and in general.” replied the seasoned Exorcist. “Sure, you get punks who reanimate rats and dogs here and there, and then we have to go in and put the feral critters out of their mindless misery. But one that has actually reanimated humans? And didn’t even bother thralling them? Just letting the do as they please? That’s very weird, no matter how you spin it. Anyways, I am not lying when I say you’ll know soon enough.” Bastian readjusted himself and reached into one of the many seemingly empty pizza boxes, producing a cold slice and chomping on it. “Let’s go back to the man of the hour, now. Vinn, you’ll have to forgive me, but it was absolutely necessary that I test you in the ways I did. You aren’t an idiot, you could see that Exorcists don’t have the best reputation around, and deservedly so.”
The atmosphere in the room changed.
“...Yeah. People feared me. People expected me to throw my weight around. People doubted me whenever I showed any cordiality or kindness. Exorcists really are not liked, huh? This is all very different from the Academy.” Vinn recounted, a disappointed sigh escaping him.
“That’s true, because a lot of Exorcists reign through fear, throw their weight around, and only smile when they want something out of you, or worse, when they already have what they need to blackmail you. The Academy is a bubble, Vinn.” Dani explained, her tone serious. “The Academy will make you believe your duty is just and your methods righteous, but in the real world, you can’t just go in blasting everything and coercing the weak into obeying or paying the price”
“Our duty as Exorcists, and related support parties, is to mete out justice in the Mythic affairs, whether that justice needs to clash against a Mythic or against a Human. We are supposed to be the entity that upholds justice, but a lot of Exorcists, well, they just smoke Mythics. We are supposed to stand up for Humans as much as we are for Mythics, but that’s not how it goes in practice.” Nicholas sadly continued.
“And that’s why I needed to test you.” said Bastian as he propped his legs on his desk. “I told you before, but you need to be able to hold your own in a fight, have the brains to figure out solutions to your problems, and have the heart to actually stand up for Mythics. I -- we -- have no use for yet another kid who slings death around to try and be the big strong Exorcist.”
Despite the shoddy appearance of the office, with the ocean of pizza boxes scattered everywhere and sundry junk adorning every corner, the files were where they needed to be, Nicholas’ computer was impeccable, and whatever actually mattered, was there. Messy as it was, it was the office of those who truly cared about their job, and about those said job entailed. Downing some coffee, Vinn took a deep breath.
“...Crude as they may be, I understand the reason behind your methods. I can’t say I’m mad, since it gave me a reality check I’d rather have now instead of later. It’s only... Fair, really.”
“Well,” Bastian replied, “Whether you are mad or not doesn’t really matter to me, what does matter is that you pass the tests. I was gonna tell you as much earlier today, but you eluded me like a slippery eel, which, I hate to admit, is also a good thing, so yeah, welcome to the 7th Office 3rd Division. I’ll work you to the sinews.”
“That’s just his way of being nice. Please do be patient with him, he’s an idiot, after aaAAAH! Damn! Ow ow ow!” Nicholas snarked before his hot coffee came to life and splashed his face, burning him.
“Maybe don’t insult an Hydromancer while holding a nice, fat cup of hot coffee, dumbass.” laughed Bastian.
“Pfff, well, you kinda walked right into that one, Nick, hehe. Still! It’s good to have some new blood in here, so by all means, welcome! I hope you have a good time! Don’t mind the office’s sorry state, we get our job done.” Dani cheerfully informed.
“Yeah, especially since all the pizza boxes are her doing in the first place, our cute little piglet.” taunted Nick, wiping the coffee off his face.
“He didn’t need to know that!”
“...You already put the order for today’s batch, didn’t you?”
“...I cannot confirm or deny that, Bastian.”
“Haha!”
It was a lively little office with just three people in it, four now, but Vinn could tell there was something different here, something he didn’t find in his time in the Academy, nor out in the field during these last two days.
There was a lot of heart and joy here.
There was anxiety, there were nerves, there was a lot of expectation, from both his partner and himself, but ll of those things, he already knew he was gonna feel. What he didn’t know, however, was how much he was going to crave to be part of this little world, where contact was easy and everyone seemed to get along like this.
And just like there’s a shadow by every light cast, so was there a woe that made his heart throb with a pang of concern: Were his people back home ever going to be able to partake in this?
If anything, this only steeled his resolve further. He left the comfortable wilderness for a reason against the protests of everyone that cared for him for this, after all.
“There’s no way I’m going back empty handed now.” he though to himself, after seeing that the human world is capable of compassion.
——-
Just as the playful banter was beginning to calm down, someone knocked on the big iron door.
“It’s open, come in!” Nick yelled from the back of the office, already submerged in his files and keyboard once again.
“Please excuse me.”
As the door opened, Vinn perked up as he saw that pair of familiar horns, black like lacquered wood, curved with dignity, protruding through the holes of the wide brimmed hat. It was the tall woman from the morning. The dame simply giggled at his surprise, an elegant hand covering her lips.
“Now, why the surprise? I did say I’d come welcome you properly, no? Have you eased into your job with Nicholas yet? He’s a harsh instructor, but you’ve much to learn from someone with his diligence and experience.” she greeted bemusedly.
“Oh, no no, I’m not here as an info agent, I’m an Exorcist, partner with--”
“Well, well, well, if it ain’t Fat Fatima!” the brick that broke cordiality boisterously interrupted. “What do you and your five chins want? Don’t remember having any reason to expect a visit from you.”
“Bastian? What the h--!” tried to reproach Vinn, but he couldn’t finish his sentence. Just seconds ago, a gallant lady stood by the door, with a welcoming voice, a friendly disposition, and a kind smile. The very picture of manners and helpfulness. Where, oh, did she go? And when was she replaced by a twin with death in her eyes and wicked claws protruded, ready to slash a jugular or six?
“Feh, Bastian... I didn’t come to talk to the wondrous sack of shit that pretends he’s people. Mind going back to your stupid magazines? Me and Nick’s new kid want to do some formal introductions, not that you’d know what those are.” snarled the dame, showing what were very clearly fangs.
“Nick’s got no new kid, shithead. If you mean that kid over there, he’s my new partner.”
“Oh, spare me, I’d think you’d at least give my intelligence some credit. Think of some more convincing lies if you wish to mess with me, Bastian.”
“Uh, hey, Fatima... Yeah, he’s not mine. Vinn’s an Exorcist, and Bastian’s partner.”
“What!? So he’s actually got a new partner!?” This reaction seemed to be popular. “Wait, so does that mean... Oh, uh...” The horned woman seemed to be troubled and wracked with guilt out of the sudden. “...Vinn, was it? I profusely apologize for the trouble I’ve no doubt caused you.”
Vinn didn’t really understand where this came from, and tilted his head just slightly in confusion, trying to think what this person he did not know before this morning could possibly mean by that. “I really have no idea what you’re apologizing for, Miss Fatima, you’ve done nothing but show courtesy to me.”
“Oi oi, so I’m just Bastian and ‘a damn hardass, a jerk, and a piece of shit to work with’, but she’s Miss Fatima? I’m glad to see where your loyalties lie, Vinn.” whined Bastian, a mocking hand to his own chest, as if deeply offended, nay, hurt.
“You said those things, I just confirmed them, geez.”
“Ah, allow me to elaborate...” interjected the horned lady. “First of all, I am the 1st Division Exorcist, Fatima Allanach, a pleasure to meet you, Vinn...?”
“Ingram. Vinn Ingram.”
She smiled graciously. “...As to what I did, well, I am the reason the Siren showed up two days ago.”
“Oh, you bitch! I should’ve figured you, of all people, would just call for them to mobilize all those delicious tax patros to give me a hard time! You could’ve killed me in the crossfire!”
“Oh, put a sock on it, Bastian.” -- all the grace she showed to Vinn was replaced by a vulgar hostility when addressing the hydromancer -- “Both of us know you wouldn’t die from a little Siren... Although I can’t say the same for your new partner. Had I know you had someone else there, I would’ve relented, and for that, I’m sorry. I just never... Thought you’d take another partner after Roderick, you know?”
The rooms atmosphere changed as Fatima’s voice softened with those last words. Even though this was the time for one of those patented Bastian Rude Retorts, he simply produced a cigarette, fiddled with it a bit, and then put it back in the pack. “Neither did I. But, well, here we are. And you, Fatima... It’s fine if you want to give me hell, but putting everything aside for a moment, even if its called for, never use the Sirens. Don’t confuse power for a basis of trust. Those things... Are executioners wearing their own coffins. Don’t forget it.”
“...That’s rich coming from you, Bastian.” Her sharp tongue was unsheathed once anew, albeit with a different, far more bitter fervor. “You don’t get to tell me whether I use a tool or not. Sirens are strong, and they can take care of practically any Mythic situation, small or large scale. It’s foolishness not to use an advantage when we have it.”
“Those things are not an advantage, Fatima. They are indiscriminate, they know only to kill and maim, how can you not see this!? We are Exorcists, it is our duty to--”
“--To utterly obliterate those bastards until they understand their place! How many more Humans must die to their savagery before you get this!? How many more Rodericks do we need in the graveyard before you stop spouting such naive drivel, Bastian?! Had a Siren been there with you that day, Roderick would still--”
“Shows how much you know! We’d both be death, and our assailants as well, leaving us with two less Exorcists and no leads whatsoever! Incredible! Great job! I can see why you are the 1st Division Exorcist clearly, with such a clear head absolutely not full of garbage on top of those shoulders!”
“You have no way of knowing that! When will you see the world for what it is already, you utter--”
“Everybody shut up!”
Nicholas’ voice boomed, drowning any whining in the small office, finally putting a stop to the bedlam.
“Don’t yank the chain, Nick, I need to make her understand--”
“Whatever, do that on your free time! You two schedule a nice, steamy, hot date outside of work hours, meet at a restaurant, order a fine beef steak dinner, and then beat the shit out of each other with it, I don’t care, but don’t go doing this in the office!”
Bastian and Fatima simply looked to the floor, or the ceiling, or anywhere that wasn’t Nicholas’ general direction, like scolded children caught trying to look inside the pot before dinner.
“Geez...” sighed the info agent, settling on his chair again. “Every time, you two...”
As if on cue, the office’s phone rang, Danielle dutifully picking it up.
“...Miss Fatima, did you mean that?” Vinn asked, a certain edge midst his cordiality.
“Hm? Did I mean what, exactly?”
“‘To utterly obliterate those bastards’, do you see Mythics that way?”
“...Oh, please don’t tell me you do share this brute’s view on the matter, Vinn? We are not called ‘Mediators’ or ‘Caretakers’, we are Exorcists. We exorcise, we hunt, we exterminate, that’s quite literally the job description. Things are this way for a reason.”
“And what would that reason be, Miss Fatima?” inquired Vinn without missing a beat, standing up. “What about being a human makes me inherently superior, more ‘people’ than a Mythic? We are not dealing with wild beasts, we are dealing with intelligent, sentient creatures who know love, hate, joy, and sorrow just as we do, who have a culture, traditions, and needs. You yourself are a Mythic, I fail to see the logic in--”
“Oh, the young man will watch his words.” Fatima replied with the same hostility she employs with Bastian, finally dropping her softer tone. “What I am doesn’t mean I should see things one way. It’s because I am a beast that I know exactly how terrible we can be.”
“That’s like saying we should destroy all slides in children's’ parks because one time, a kid scrapped his knee.”
“And only a fool would compare Mythics and slides horizontally.”
Vinn’s face was a mask of utter hatred and disdain for the horned Exorcist. “Miss Fatima, I think it’s about time you le--”
“What!? Y-yes, I’ll tell them immediately!” the communications expert yelled as she slammed the phone back on its base. “G-guys! You too, Miss Fatima! We’ve got a big situation down by Manduco #83493!”
“Dani, calm down. What’s the situation?” Bastian calmly asked, sitting back down and quickly picking up his flasks and other utensils.
“The mass kidnapping from two months ago is happening again! It’s most likely the same perpetrator. It’s going on right now, a laborer that works at that warehouse forgot something, so even though it’s supposed to be closed off today, he went and found a lot of people just... Moving around, as if thralled. The first three divisions are to go there immediately.”
“Thanks, sweetie, that’s all we need. Well, let’s get going, we can’t lose a second.”
“I’ll go get my partner, let’s not waste any time.” Fatima said before disappearing into the hallway.
——-
The dark blue car blazed a trail through the asphalt, going as fast as the worn out engine could manage, a bright red van and a dark green motorcycle tailing them. Inside the car, the grim-looking Vinn double checked his handcuffs and other pieces of equipment, a silence and grimace that didn’t escape the driver’s notice.
“Vinn, you good?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the fakest ‘yeah’ I’ve had the honor of hearing. Look alive, this is a real bad situation. We need all six of us with our heads in the game.”
“Yeah.”
“...”
“...”
Bastian could only sigh.
“Oi, Vinn, don’t let what Fatima said get to you. It’s a kick in the dick, but that’s how many Exorcists are. She’s particularly partisan about it, yeah, but it’s better if you get used to it, hopefully manage it better than I do.”
Vinn only responded with a half-hearted chuckle and a few seconds of silence before reviving the dialogue. “I could understand it if it were anyone else, really, but Miss Fatima specifically is... Inconceivably weird. She was very cordial and kind before then, and is a Mythic, to boot, yet, she wants to kill her own kind so viciously? It goes beyond duty-bound hatred, that was just genuine hatred, how could you feel that way towards your own people?”
The usual brashness of the seasoned Exorcist was nowhere to be found, the sounds of the worn out motor filling in for dialogue for a few streetlights before Bastian found the strength to continue talking. “It’s... Complicated. Don’t hate her, please, she’s got her own problems.” Vinn almost fell out of the car upon hearing this. This had to be the first time he heard Bastian talk about someone so softly. He suspected they had a past from the previous conversation, but this only really confirmed it, especially if it was about someone he was just having a flat out shouting contest with moments ago. The dense mood was already suffocating enough, and they had a job to do right now, anyways, it was a good time to change topics.
“...So, these mass kidnappings... Damn, what a creepy name. Two months ago was the first one, right? How come they are deploying Mythic Law Enforcement for it now?”
“Well, last time, authorities had no idea magic was involved, but after investigating the area believed to have been where it took place, based on witness accounts of seeing the victims heading that way, heavy amounts of mana residue were found, suggesting that it was no mere mass kidnapping... Not that mass kidnappings are commonplace, anyway. So, it’s now a MAB affair.”
“Ah! Take this left, it should be there... Yeah, lots of cop cars. They must be barring civilian entry to the area. That’s a relief, at least.”
Bastian took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel harder. “Well, ideally, I wanted to ease you into the job with easier cases, help you get to know Stroln as a city, with its Mythic underground world and all, but destiny calls, I suppose. This isn’t me underestimating you, but try to stick with me at all times. I have a stinkin’ feelin’ that this might get nasty.”
“...Got it.”
——-
In front of the six Exorcists, the massive warehouse stood with its service door open, the lock smashed to junk by its foot. The structure was clearly from Pre-Amnesiac times, but well maintained and still in regular usage.
“...I don’t like this. It stinks.” said Fiona, 2nd Division Exorcist, assessing the situation. “This is no abandoned joint, the lock was smashed too neatly, and you’d have to be a fool to have such a flagrant vulnerability to your million patros business screamin’ to be exploited like this. What do you guys think?”
“Fully agreed.” Bastian commented. “We oughta have words with the owner or parent company of this place after we’re done here. As Fiona said, this is simply too suspicious. The lock really just looks like its there so they can file a police report on unlawful entry and claim innocence. It’s unlikely for any magic criminal to be so nuanced as to break a little lock, they’d usually go for a bigger door, especially if it’s a mass kidnapping.”
“Correct. They probably didn’t even use this service door.” Fatima added. “They probably opened the big cargo gate over there to get all the people inside, nice and neatly, and then simply smashed this lock to make it seem like they aren’t working with the owners of this place. This whole thing stinks.”
Behind the seasoned trio, the novice partners observed in awe how quickly their would-be mentors were piecing together the puzzle in front of them before even stepping in the building. The duties of an Exorcist include the subjugation of magic-wielding and supernatural criminals, negotiation with such individuals, and all around keeping this secret magical world hidden, but an important part of being an Exorcist is to play the role of detective as well. An Exorcist is, after all, the do-all end-all authority in the world of Mythic Law Enforcement, having powers and duties far beyond their mundane equivalents.
“They look and act like washed up garbage after a cruiser accident on the coast, but seein’ them like this really reminds you they are veteran Exorcists, don’t it?” Daryl commented, breaking the silence between the novices.
“The way your worded that was really weird, but I know exactly what you mean.” Vinn responded. However, standing beside Daryl and Vinn was a third person who had not opened her mouth, simply looking at the experienced Exorcists work their craft and plan out how to advance. Vinn and Daryl both recognized her, and it is precisely because of that that the latter knew they shouldn’t bother trying to include her in the conversation, and why the former, who had zero social awareness back in the Academy, made the mistake of taking the initiative.
“...So, Nadja, I didn’t know you were assigned to the 7th as well.”
“...”
“Miss Fatima’s your partner, huh? Must be good working with her.”
“Interested in her looks, I gather?”
Vinn lifted his arms as if surrendering. “What? No, I mean how professional she is and all that. Anyhow, I don’t think we’ve ever talked, I’m V--”
“Vinn Ingram. Top scorer of our year.”
“Yup, the one.”
“...”
“...”
“...Pppffff, that went swimmingly, ya smooth operator.” chuckled Daryl.
“Oh, can it, at least I don’t go kissing girls randomly to determine their species.”
“Yeah, you don’t, and that’s really sad.”
“Hrrg...”
“Alright, coffee break over, kiddos, here’s the plan.” Fiona called suddenly, the novices perking up and giving her their attention. The anxiety of their first real operation, not to mention a rare cooperative operation between different Divisions, was beginning to well up in their guts. “Alright, so, the people are most likely still inside. Bringing a large amount of people here unnoticed, while not easy, is doable, but shipping them all together from here to wherever their destination is is another story. They are most likely waiting for a large transport, a bus or a series of van, maybe a large truck, we don’t know, and they are holding fort inside for now. We don’t know how many men it takes to keep all these people in there, but expect heavy resistance. We’ll go together, but if we need to split for whatever reason, stick to your partner. Questions? I hope not, because we ha--”
“A question.”
“Shoot, Nadja.”
“What level of lethality are we allowed?”
“Ideally, just enough to disable them. We have questions, they have answers. That means you shouldn’t use those things attached to your ankles.”
Nadja’s build was lithe, graceful, like a panther, and that made the large, black devices on each ankle stand out all the more. What looked like the point of a silver stake protruded downwards from the end of the device.
“Understood.”
Bastian spoke up now. “Alright, if that’s it, let’s head in. Keep chit chat to a minimum, and if you must talk, do it as silently as possible.”
——-
Nary a footstep could be heard from the six trained individuals, moving like the shadow of a ghost across the large industrial complex-slash-warehouse. Something was clearly wrong with this place, as the air was stagnant, there were no signs of struggling whatsoever, and every door and window inside, in stark contrast with the service door, was neatly unlocked and undamaged, giving fuel to the veterans’ speculation, much to their dismay. They didn’t have to navigate much until the first shadow of adversity loomed close, by the internal courtyard. It was one at first, and then two, and then three, and then seemingly an endless amount of them, silhouettes walking as if entranced by a wicked siren’s song.
“...! Halt! I see many of them, and they are... You gotta be kidding me... Bastian, look at what they are wearing.” Fatima whispered, pointing towards a little window to their side that led to the courtyard.
If concern had a shape, it was Bastian’s face. “...Large pig masks and red robes. This is bad. Really bad.” Bastian mused, a bead of sweat running down his brow.
“Hm? Hey, hey, uncle, what’s wrong? Didja get cold feet over some costumes? What’s wrOW OW OW!” inquired Daring Daryl with the delicacy of an hydraulic press, as Fiona used one hand to cover his mouth and the other to give him an excruciatingly painful shoulder death grip.
“You beefy sack of crap!” Fiona chastised in whispers. “Flappin’ yer gums when you don’t know shit will only get you a Fiona Massage from now on! The grotesque pig mask and red robes are synonymous with a top wanted criminal, the Hog Priest! This is bigger than we could’ve imagined. Stay on your toes, everyone.”
“The Hog Priest has evaded capture several times, and there’s reports of them being sighted in multiple places at once... I suppose this explains it, though. It’s a legion of them.” pointed out Nadja.
The courtyard had a strange, purplish fog blanketing it, and in it, the pig-masked people wandered aimlessly, sometimes bumping into each other, sometimes tripping and picking themselves up clumsily, and in general, simply drifting along. Some stood still, vacant, some jogged slightly before calming down and clutching their chest, and all in all, it was a miserable spectacle.
“...Something’s wrong.” Fiona warned while putting on a pair of fingerless gloves, akin to those used by MMA fighters.
“Hm? Whatcha mean? They are just bobbin’ and... Oh.”
Daryl’s trap was shut tight once he realized little by little, they had all been stopping, and now, they all stood still, looking directly into the little window where they had been observing the courtyard from. No, not directly into the window, it was directly into their very eyes.
A suffocating, paralyzing, complete silence lasted all of two seconds before the window was smashed, a small canister almost hitting Fatima in the head being the culprit, from which an ominous gas shot from little pressurized holes.
“...Tear gas! Get out!”
In a frenzy, they jumped out of the window, out the gas’ range and right into a courtyard full of pig-headed foes that held pipes, shovels, and all manners of improvised weaponry, looking straight at them.
Not five seconds passed before an alarm siren loudly gave our Exorcists a warm, deafening welcome, sending all of the robed villains into a frenzy.
“Curses! Here they come! Defend yourselves and try to find a way out of here!” Fatima yelled, assuming a defensive stance and blocking a shovel strike with her bare hand.
As soon as the horde began its restless assault, the sinister purple fog that permeated the courtyard intensified, obstructing sight and puzzling the senses with its oddly calming fragrance. It was every man and woman for themselves, Bastian utilizing water to block the weapons and to push his assailants to the ground with immense pressure, Fiona disarming them with expert martial prowess, and Fatima simply utilizing a retractable baton to parry and disarm those who would attempt to harm her. In stark contrast, the novices were expending far more effort in the fight, visibly struggling, not for lack of strength or skill, but rather, because they simply didn’t know how to engage a foe without destroying them. Killing the enemy is easy, but when your duty is to subdue the enemy without killing them or doing enough harm that you’ll ruin their life from there on is an art all of itself, an art that the Mythic Law Enforcement Academy wasn’t keen on teaching. The lacking curriculum was showing all of its weaknesses. That, and a sinister whisper that was invading their mind, which made itself more and more apparent, numbing their reactions, misleading their movements.
“W-what in the world is this...? It’s like there’s a compelling whisper inside of my head... Someone warm and kind, someone I trust, telling me to drop my guard when they attack or to soften my body whenever I try to disable one...!” Nadja said as she unsuccessfully tried to take a shovel away from a masked minion, who simply shrugged her off and shoved her right to the floor.
“Is it the fog? No... It couldn’t be, the fog is welcoming, it’s familiar, a scent of my childhood, it couldn’t...” Vinn lamented, seemingly giving himself up to an incoming lead pipe strike before Daryl pushed him out of the way.
“Oi, you damn idiots! Where’s yer Domunus Tecum!” Daryl chastised, holding off the criminals with his huge frame.
“Domunus Tecum...”
“Domunus Tecum!”
The second of the Six Spell of Self Defense, the spell of protection and shielding, a prayer for resilience. No sooner the two novices put their barriers up, their minds cleared and their bodies could move as they wanted them to. The whisper was still in their heads, but it wasn’t compelling and absolute as it was before.
“Just what is this voice? I’m not the only one that can hear it, right?” the exasperated Vinn asked as he used his many handcuffs and his colorful, unorthodox fighting style to subdue attackers.
“Bad news is what it is. Keep your Domunus up and strong, don’t stop pouring mana into it, or that whisper will claim your mind.” Fiona warned, fighting the good fight.
“C-chief! Hold the presses! These guys...!” Daryl screamed suddenly, a robed figure captured tightly in arms, unmasked. “Chief Fiona, these people are brainwashed civilians! Look!”
The face of the woman in Daryl’s grasp was catatonic, to say the least. A vacant expression and half-lidded eyes that looked nowhere, drool and tear lines telling a story that thousands of words couldn’t hope to match. “Oi, we gotta disable them without harmin’ them! They are just meat shields!”
“Shit...! That means there’s one mastermind out there, and they are just exhausting us! Fatima, do you think--”
As if his mind was being read, Bastian couldn’t finish what he was saying before Fatima was right by his side. “--you could use your poison to--”
“Neutralize them? Yeah, if I control the dosage, I can make it so I can knock them out with a sting each, enough to paralyze their muscles and yet not leave any lasting damage. I’ll need some help keeping them off me while I do this to each one of them individually, though.”
“I gotcha!” Fiona proudly declared, rolling to where they were, dodging several shovel strikes. “Daryl and I can keep ‘em corralled while your girl defends you directly, and Bastian and his boy can go for the brains.”
“I agree to this plan, but, poison? What do you have in mind? Do you have enough for all these people?” Vinn wondered, joining them.
“Oh, don’t worry about her, after all...”
With a wild smirk, Fatima leaped high into the air, her arms growing green fur, and a wicked scorpion tail, massive and heavy, protruding from her back, just under two pairs of feathered wings. Where there once was her elegant face now lies a lion’s roaring maw. She was much bigger than before, her impact on the ground sending several masked minions off balance.
“...She’s a Manticore. And a fat one at that, so she oughta have a lot of calories to turn to venom.” Bastian explained.
“STOP CALLING ME FAT, JACKASS.” the massive Manticore Fatima roared, deft swipes of her scorpion tail knocking out minion after minion, barb oozing with venom.
“We’ve got this area, you two! Get going! Whoever’s behind the fog, the whispers, and this mess is no doubt in that building over there. It’s the only structure to have a clear path to the streets in case they need to escape, and where they can survey all of this area!” explained the bruiser Fiona, joining Daryl in trying to corral the remaining minions with their superior physical strength.
“Yeah, we’ll get this over in a second. Let’s roll, Vinn!”
——-
Two pairs of footsteps echoed in the smaller building, dark and permeated with the fog. Bastian and Vinn both had their Domunus barrier on at full strength, the incessant whispers of the once-compelling voice never going silent.
“This keeps getting worse and worse...” lamented Bastian, double checking how much water he had left in his flasks. “Vinn, do not let up your barrier. It could mean death.”
“What is this whispering, anyways? I’ve never felt anything like it, and I don’t think I’ve read on this before.”
“It could be a curse, but there’s not been enough time to set up one of this nature with such an intensity, so what I think is... Vinn, are you familiar with Mindreaders?”
“Of course, those who can read minds and such. It’s theorized that, Pre-Amnesia, Mindreading was highly illegal and dangerous, given how many surviving records there are that explain, in great detail, how to defend against it. It’s considered useless now, since everyone worth a lick of salt in the arcane arts learns how to counter it.”
“Textbook answer, as usual.” -- Bastian chuckled -- “Well, what I think we’re up against right now, and I hope I’m wrong, is a Mindscreamer.”
“A what?”
“Mindscreamer. It’s the opposite of a Mindreader. Instead of being able to read your thoughts, Mindscreamers practically broadcast their thoughts into others by force. Whatever they think, you ‘hear’ inside your head. They can also make it so their thoughts are subliminal and subconscious in your brain, controlling your behavior to a degree. It’s a really damn frightening power.’
“What...?” Vinn couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and yet, the constant whispering in his brain since the courtyard brawl began proved that these were no lies. “I’ve never heard of Mindscreamers before, what kind of wicked art is this? You’d think it’d be more popular, with how powerful it sounds.”
“That’s the thing: You can’t learn how to Mindscream. Mindscreamers are born, it’s not a skill, it’s genetic and exclusive to certain individuals, but we don’t know much about it. In a way, that means that, yeah, we don’t really have to worry about it falling in the hands of just about any thug, but... It also means we are up against someone very special, and that knows what they are doing. Take this fog, for instance.”
“I noticed... This fog smells like incense, like chamomile, specifically, but it’s actually haunted. It’s Incense Magic, and this is tailored to numb the senses and lower your mental defenses.”
“Clever boy. Indeed, the incense lowers one’s mental barriers, which makes you susceptible to the Mindscreaming. Whoever is doing this is competent, do not drop your guard. This is how they kidnapped all of these people almost effortlessly: They simply made them come ‘of their own free will’ with Mindscreaming... Sick bastards.”
The Exorcist duo kicked open a door in front of them at the end of a long hallway, and inside, an immensely dense cloud of magic incense blocked their sight. The air was stagnant, almost putrid, and there were things in this room. Piercing glares that couldn’t be seen but could perfectly be felt stabbed the two Exorcists as soon as they entered the room. Before long, a couple of pig-masked minions, brainwashed civilians, no doubt, slowly became discernible in the dense purple fog, with bright, neon-like markings making them stand out in the fog. They moved with far more coordination than the courtyard fodder, shuffling around, circling, keeping their distance, never moving too close, but never straying too far from the surrounded agents. Bastian lashed at a cluster with a tendril of holy water, missing the mark completely as they swiftly moved out of the way.
“...The Mindscreamer is in this room. They are being controlled too well, too skillfully. These aren’t like the puppets we fought on the first fl--!”
The subtle whisper of cold steel sliding through flesh cut the older Exorcist off as a knife plunged deep in his torso from the left, a masked minion without any neon markings having made it past his watchful eye as his focus was on the neon marked masks, a pained grunt and a hammer of pressurized water impacting against his assailant punctuating his sentence instead. “Mother fu... Clever bastards...”
“Bastian, are you ok!? Damn, they are using neon marked and non-marked masks! While we focus on the barely visible neon, they come at us with the plain ones. What a cheap tactic...”
“Cheap it may be, but it’s working! Focus on defending!”
Even with In Te Fallitur, the first spell of detection and true sight active, the sheer magic density of the incense made it difficult to see nonetheless, their vision improving just slightly. Assault after assault, the duo was sustaining more and more injuries at the hands of this well utilized assassin horde. Whenever a neon mask moved, two plain masks slid in the gaps of their perception, getting closer and closer, until they could hurt either Exorcist. Their attacks didn’t pack much power against the protected Exorcists, individually, but as the damage piled on, it was clear this was a battle of attrition they were not going to win by any means, especially considering that their enemies were but brainwashed civilians they couldn’t bring themselves to hurt seriously.
“Haa... Haa... Bastian, can you make an intense flash of light somehow? With a flashbang or some small spell?”
“...Sounds like you have an idea... I can, but what do you want to do with it?”
“There’s really no time to explain!” Vinn barked as he parried an incoming knife just in time with a pair of handcuffs. “Just play it cool and shoot it right above that big group over there!”
“Vague ideas are better than no ideas at all, and we can’t keep this up for much longer... Alright, Aureola Oblito!”
As the spark that would soon become an explosion of intense light approached its point of contact, the ceiling above the horde’s densest point, the nimble Vinn Ingram lunged towards its center like a wolf in blood-starved hunt, shoving past the henchmen and women, and defending against pipes and knives. When he finally reached it, he yelled at Bastian, which he considered the signal, and looked down immediately.
“Praemium!”
Upon command, the little spark went supernova, a blinding light engulfing the room immediately, with every meat puppet in the room covering their eyes as if blinded, and yet, the light was rapidly devoured by the fog after its initial explosion. As the light faded, however, a man’s loud scream of pain echoed at the end of the room. It wasn’t Vinn’s or Bastian’s, it was the man who wore a plain pig’s mask in the middle of the horde, a knife sticking out of his arm, courtesy of Vinn.
“...How did you know?” the pig-headed man inquired, and he was immediately sent barreling backwards by a kick straight to the head, also courtesy of Vinn.
“You looked down to avoid the light. All of these people are brainwashed and not conscious, thus, blinding them wouldn’t do a thing to them. We’ve been striking them for a while now, and they show no sign or reaction of pain. You just made them act as if they were blinded, and joined in the act, but you yourself looked down so as to not be blinded, while the rest didn’t. Good try, though.”
“Quickly, stop flapping your gums and actually catch him!” Bastian screamed as he made his way through the now far less coordinated horde.
Vinn complied, but as he approached him, the Hog Priest lashed out with a large dagger, rolling backwards after Vinn stepped back to avoid being lacerated. Before Vinn could make his way to him, however, the Priest and another exact look alike became entangled in a strange dance, with many more plain masked minions joining in, and then, they all ran in different directions.
“...! Shit, clever bastard! There’s no way to tell which one’s the real one!”
“Don’t lose your cool, Vinn! The third one to the right is heading towards that staircase, which likely leads to a room adjacent to the streets, while the one to the far left is going towards a door, likely with the same idea in mind! The others are running randomly, but those two make sense in their retreat! It’s either of them, go after the right one, I’ll get the left one, go!”
“You may be a nasty customer, but damn, you pull your weight, Bastian! Good thinking! Catch him!”
——-
Vinn chased the figure that might be the real Hog Priest ceaselessly, door after door, hallway after hallway, until the figure stopped in the middle of a large storage room with no windows, no doors, no exits. Cornered at last, the Hog Priest simply turned around and faced the Exorcist, the eyes of the disgusting, realistic pig’s head mask meeting Vinn’s green own.
“It’s dead end for you, piggy. Undo the incense and the mind control, and turn yourself in nice and easy. Without your horde, you are out of luck.”
“Hmhm... Haha! Very nice, you... What a cruel mistress luck is, having me do this with you, of all people...” the muffled voice from behind the mask praised, a distinctly softer, different voice from the one before, which didn’t escape Vinn’s attention. “Now, you might be thinking, ‘did I get the right guy?’, and I have good news and bad news for you!” -- the Priest struck a cutesy and quirky pose while saying this, pointing at Vinn -- “Which do you want first?”
“P-pardon...?”
“I said! Which! Do you want! First! Good news or bad news!”
“...Good news?”
The exaggerated Priest lifted his arms in mock excitement, clapping and cheering excitedly with chants of “Woo! Exorcist! Exorcist!” before finally assuming a new pose. “Alright, so, the good news! The good news are that you have indeed caught the Hog Priest, congratulations!”
“...But your vo--”
“--ice is not the same you heard before, right? Yeah, about that... Here’s more good news: There’s two of us! So no matter which one of us you followed, and you followed both of us, there were only winning picks!”
Vinn immediately produced two pairs of handcuffs. “So, two of you, huh...? Well, that’s twice the questions we get to ask then, those are pretty good news.”
“Sadly, I also am obligated to tell you the bad news.” the Priest sadly informed, sticking an hand inside of his robes and producing a baseball bat covered in various, strange runes, pointing it at Vinn. “The bad news is that you die here.” she announced with an arctic voice unlike her variety show host demeanor of seconds before, taking a step forward and sending thunderbolts down Vinn’s spine. It was not the first time he’d been face to face with mortal danger, it was not the first time his life has been at risk, it was not the first time he was faced with a strong opponent. But, it was the first time in Vinn’s life that his body and mind screamed for him to get out of there fast, a primal, visceral flight response that didn’t even pretend to bother with the ‘fight’ half.
The bat came faster than a bullet from above, Vinn managing to block it only by reaction, leaving him wide open to kick to the gut which knocked the air out of him, and a subsequent palm strike to the chin that sent him barreling backwards against the wall. The Exorcist, in a panic, produced his standard issue handgun, pointing it at the Priest.
“You should’ve keep me close. Hands up, Hog Priest.”
“...That’s not even a Shootist Gun, that’s just a regular one. You... You are not taking this seriously, are you?”
Vinn took aim at his enemy’s leg and let loose a round, hoping to incapacitate him, but a simple swipe of the bat deflected the bullet right out of its path, the battered projectile hitting the wall next to Vinn’s head, missing him by a hair. “What the...!?”
“You really are a novice, huh. Should’ve kept to patrols and such, instead of getting roped into this hell. Then again, you yourself willing dropped into the wolf’s maw the moment you decided to become an Exorcist. Is the paycheck of a murderer really that tempting?”
“Not all of us are murderers! We’re trying to change it, we’re trying to heal this rotten system from within, which is more than can be said of mass kidnappers like you, so don’t you try and lecture me about moral codes!”
“Ah, yeah, in the eyes someone that doesn’t know what’s going on, of course it’s gonna look like we are the bad guys. ‘Changing it from within’, that’s some prime, class-A bullshit. You can’t possibly believe that. You’re smart enough to know you are but one good seed among a fetid, infected crop. You won’t fix the harvest by yourself.”
The Priest lowered his bat and pointed towards the door. “Leave.”
“...Huh?”
“You are outmatched. Leave through that door, exit the warehouse through the office sector, and desert the Mythic Affairs Bureau. Never again take on the mantle of the Exorcist, do something else. It’s for your own good. Do this, and I will not take your life. I will even guarantee you safe passage until you are out of Stroln.”
Vinn struggled to pick himself up after the brief but intense beating he sustained, putting his evidently useless handgun away. “...Why are you giving me a way out? What do you mean by a ‘good seed’?”
The disgusting pig in front of him tapped the “ear” of his mask. “A little bird told me that you do sincerely care for Mythics. You helped out a demon yesterday, helped him find a job that allows him to feed on human emotions without harming anyone when you simply could’ve smoked him. You’re a good person in a bad guy’s job, so I’m willing to compromise... No, I want to let you live. We need more people like you in the world.”
The disappointment in the hog’s fake eye was palpable when Vinn took a fighting stance instead.
“...Last chance, Exorcist. I’ll hold back no more.”
“How about you fuck off. I’m not gonna get lectured on morality by someone who brainwashes a bunch of people for a mass kidnapping. I’m through trying to reason with you. I’m done playing sweet. Let’s go for real.”
With a sigh and a head scratch, the hog picked up his bat and assumed a combat stance again. “I really wish we could’ve done this differently, but if you insist... I’ll give you a proper burial, at least.”
“Domunus Tecum!” the Exorcist chanted, renewing his protective spell, but he was not done. “Hostem Repellas Longius!” As he chanted this spell, a faint, red light covered Vinn’s body. Hostem Repellas Longius, the third of the Six Spells of Self-Defense, the spell of hostility, offense, and righteous violence. Simple as they may be, the strength of the Six Spells does indeed lie in simplicity, and with every brick you put on top of a good base, you get closer to making a wall. With attack and defense ready, Vinn put away one pair of handcuffs, holding only one with his left hand.
No more words were shared between the two, and they clashed fiercely in the middle of the spacious storage room, handcuffs meeting bat, the colliding steel singing a frantic sonata to which these individuals who couldn’t be more conflicted danced vigorously. Overhead strike, left swipe, shin kick, neck shot, eye gouge, they tried it all, and none could land. Vinn certainly seemed much different than before, and in a moment of carelessness, the Exorcist managed to grab the bat by the head.
“...! What’s with this grip!? Let go!” the Priest wined, struggling to get the bat back.
“Sure, here you go.”
Vinn’s hand glowed a dim silver and suddenly began vibrating at extreme intensities, the sheer force from the vibrations hurting the Priest’s arm, making her lose her balance from the pain. Using this opening, Vinn threw the bat away and lunged with his hand, grabbing the Priest by the shoulder, gripping hard for just a second before a skillful twirl of the Priest’s arm allowed him to set himself free.
“What was that...? You didn’t have enough time to do any of that weird vibration stuff to me.”
“It’s over, Priest. Don’t use your left arm and just surrender.”
The Priest simply laughed. “That bat thing was surprising, but you didn’t do anything to me. Now I know to watch out for it. I don’t feel bad at all, in fact, it’s like my left shoulder feels even better than before! Sucks to be y--!”
As the Priest picked the discarded bat back up with his left arm, an explosion of blood gushed from his shoulder, the sheer force of it shredding even the red robe and exposing his flesh, the Priest tumbling to the side and falling to the concrete ground, clutching his bloody mess of a shoulder as he screamed in agonizing pain. “W-what the fuck did you do to me!? Aaaargh!”
“You got confident without even knowing my style of magecraft, and now you’re paying the price. It’s simple in theory: Flux Magic. I know how to control the eb, flow, and movement of mana particles.”
“Haha, what...?” laughed the Priest, still in pain. “That’s... Fucking crazy... So that vibration was just you making a mass of mana vibrate at immense speed... You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“And your shoulder just now was me injecting you with an immense amount of mana, more than your body could possibly handle. Hence, when you moved the afflicted part, it burst like that. You were feeling well because you literally had an injection of energy given to you.”
“Clever bastard, first I see of anyone applying such an otherwise ignored principle of magic emission, Flux, in this creative a way. Hats off to you, friend. I suppose I gotta show my hand now.”
“Wait, if you move with that wound--”
Vinn’s warning fell upon deaf ears as the Priest, left shoulder oozing blood, dashed right against Vinn to renew his assault. Handcuffs parried the bat, but it was nothing more than a feint, Vinn’s stomach catching a knee that made him double in pain. As he tried to get his bearings, the bat’s runes glowed an eerie teal, the weapon bludgeoning Vinn in the side, sending him tumbling.
“Alright, let’s see what we get... Become The Body Of His Innermost Shackles! Terror Ink!”
From within the robes of the Priest, a turbulent torrent of ink exploded forth, covering the bat and transmogrifying it into what looked like a bizarre, serrated hoop weapon. Upon seeing it, Vinn was left speechless.
“Why... Why do you have that...!? That’s impossible!”
One didn’t have to look at the face behind the mask to know that the Priest’s expression was currently a smug grin. “So this is what you fear the most, huh...? Weird weapon. I can’t begin to imagine what its wielder must have done to terrify you so. This is Rorschach Magic, the Terror Ink. Anything inscribed with the right runes and provided with the ink can turn into the biggest fear of whatever it strikes. In this case, this weird... Hoola hoop thingy... Whatever it is. Well, let’s test it, shall we?”
The Hog Priest’s assault was renewed again, slashing and swiping with the bizarre ring-like weapon, one of the ends of the ‘ring’ detaching and flailing wildly as if seeking Vinn with a mind of its own. “Oh! It detaches! So it’s like a bladed whip, too!”
“Put that away! You have no idea what you’re playing with!”
“Nah, I’m good, now please die quietly, or at least making a funny noise!”
The weapon was extremely confusing. It moved with a mind of its own, one end reattaching and the other detaching at seemingly random swings, clearly not the Priest’s doing, wounding Vinn with each tricky, impossible twirl of the notched edges. Vinn, catching him by surprise, leaned forward instead of retreating anymore, as his back would hit the wall any second now, and clinched the Priest, trying to knock his weapon away, his superior positioning allowing him to elbow the Priest right on the wounded shoulder.
“Hraaa!”
“You’re done!”
But as Vinn went for another deadly grip, on the exposed parts of the Priest’s robe, thanks to the earlier bloody burst and the tugging their clinch had brought to their clothes, he saw something that he simply couldn’t comprehend.
Just below the left shoulder blade, there it was, a tattoo that he was sure was the circular object wreathed in something spiky he briefly saw on the girl yesterday. Seeing this, he immediately shoved the Priest and made some distance.
“Ooph! What...? You’ll really regret giving me space to move ag-- Huh?”
“You... Are the girl from yesterday, aren’t you? The one who helped me with Mathanac!”
“...”
“Why are you doing this? It’s you, isn’t it? I recognize the tattoo. You are the same height, too, now that I think about it.”
“...Aha, shit.”
With his free hand, nay, her free hand, the Priest removed the large pig mask and tossed it aside. Behind it was a beautiful girl with striking magenta eyes and shoulder length white hair, her right lock dyed black. A tragically familiar face, with a pained, regretful smile.
Just yesterday, they were hanging out in the streets of Stroln, trying to find Mathanac a job.
“Hey there, Mister Exorcist. Cat’s out of the bag, it seems!”
“Why are you doing this...?” the anguished Vinn inquired.
“Hey now, it’s not like we are lifelong friends or nothin’, don’t get all dramatic on me. This is just... Who I am, really. One half of the Hog Priest, protector of Mythics, and seeker of clarity.”
“What does that even mean? Why kidnap so much people?”
“Mister Exorcist... Vinn. Look, please, just walk away. Pretend this never happened. It’s impossible for you to believe me right now, I understand, but you gotta trust me, we are doing this for the common good. It sure as hell doesn’t look like it now, but this is all for the good not just of Stroln, but of the world. We need these people, and we’re not gonna hurt them or anything! I promise!”
“How can I possibly believe that when every moment since I stepped in here has been a fight to just stay alive?!”
“If Exorcists were the kind of people that you could explain things to, we wouldn’t need to do this! You are decent, Vinn, but you are the exception! Exorcists are a rotten bunch! There’s simply no more time, we need to--”
In the middle of her impassioned speech, an alarm went off on the bulky wristwatch the girl was wearing.
“...Tsk. Vinn, this is my last warning.” she murmured, with softness and honesty, not a hint of hostility to her voice. “You really are a good guy. I could tell from how much effort you put into helping Mathanac yesterday, and with how much respect you treated him. Please, walk away. Retire from the Exorcists, and leave Stroln. It’s going to get ugly, and we need people like you in the coming world, people that will receive Mythics with arms wide open. If we meet again in these conditions, know that I will not show you a shred of mercy.”
“...The coming world? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Good bye, Vinn. And for both our sakes, let’s not meet again until the next world arrives.”
The wicked weapon in her hand suddenly turned black, and then seemed to melt. As the ink peeled from it, its true shape as a baseball bat returned. Pulling a little detonator from the robe’s pocket, the girl smeared some of the neon paint the other masks had across her face and smiled farewell as she pressed it, an explosion nearby blasting a hole in the wall.
——-
Meanwhile, in another room,
in another part of the building...
“Isn’t the view up here just divine, Bastian Ashfield?”
“Yeah, I gotta give it to you, man. You’ve gone and given me the perfect scenario, not gonna lie.”
“Oh? Is that so? Would you mind elaborating?”
“I ain’t much of a nature landscape fan, but urban stuff? Cities? My jam. Love ‘em. I also love interrogating domestic terrorists. In some minutes, I’ll be making you spit blood, curses, and answers while enjoying the beauty of Stroln in the afternoon, and that? That’s priceless. If I had a nice, bodacious babe to praise me while I’m kneeing you in the throat, it’d be my second birthday, not gonna lie.”
“Haha! Confidence is really good. Exorcist scum really dream big, don’t they?”
“Damn right we do, and I dream the biggest of them all. So, are we done flirting?”
“Very much so, Ashfield.”
The banter was followed with silent sizing up, not one of the two men moving an inch as they stood on top of the main building’s rooftop. It had been an arduous, lengthy pursuit, but it all came to this. Face to face at last with the wanted criminal, Hog Priest, the Hydromancer was already grinning like a madman. He truly had been waiting for a chance to unwind, you see.
Without warning, a sharp, potent tendril of pressurized water lunged directly towards the Priest like a lance, only to be met with an invisible wall, mana sparks and the sound of magical diffusion concluding with a mass of useless water falling helplessly to the floor. Stretching his arms, the Priest let out a chuckle, hundreds of incense sticks popping out of his robes all over his body.
“What...?”
“Vervain incense, Ashfield.” the Priest explained mockingly. “Very strong magic retardant. For once in your life, splashing water around won’t save you.”
“Incense Magic... Never thought I’d come across someone wacky enough to weaponize it for combat. Still, defense seems to be your only strong point, so I just need to punch through and I’ll be gold.”
“And how do you figure you’ll do that?”
“Well, I could do this, for starters.”
Just as suddenly as the first tendril, two massive jets of water erupted behind Bastian, propelling him with immense speed towards the Hog Priest, getting close enough to use a pressurized water slash that came a hair short of beheading the porcine foe thanks to his reflexes, managing to duck just in time with only the mask’s top being sliced off.
“Woah, man! What happened to that ‘interrogation’? Dead men tell no tales!”
“You can survive long enough without a piece of your face, no biggie.” calmly explained Bastian. “...That incense only protects you against long range magic, huh? Makes sense. The farther magic is from its caster, the less magic emission remains in it. That incense of yours has a heavy enough disruption that spells with little emission remaining in them will not be able to penetrate it, but the emission of my holy water is strong enough to pierce through it if I am close enough... You knew this, however.”
“Astute observation, mister miscreant. How do you figure the last part, though?”
The Exorcist smirked. “You have a pistol hanging by a holster on your right hip under those robes. You intended to keep me away by using it, rendering me helpless to hurt you from afar. And it could have worked, had you actually stopped flapping your gums and actually focused on the fight. You’re not much of a fighter, are you?”
Impressed, the Priest couldn’t help but lift his arms in not-so-mocking surrender. “...Guilty as charged. I’m not a fighter, no. My partner handles the direct combat end of the business, truth be told.”
A vinyl scratch inside Bastian’s head brought him to a full stop. “Wait, partner? Hold on, so the decoy that Vinn went after--”
As shock overcame Bastian, the crafty hog quickly reached for the gun on his hip, but Bastian, seasoned fighter as he is, immediately closed the distance again with two water propulsion jets.
“You got too cocky, shithead!” Bastian boasted, as his arm ascended to direct the water Priestwards, a splatter of crimson blood and the horrifying sound of ripping flesh polluting the air as a scream of agony echoed in the skies above the rooftop.
“...Did I, now, dear Ashfield?”
“W-what the shit...?”
With a loud thud, Bastian hit the floor harshly after being sent flying, a gash on his chest oozing blood. On the other side of the rooftop, the still-standing Priest had two massive spikes protruding from his chest, red with the blood of the Hydromancer they just downed. Removing his robe and torn mask, the Priest revealed short black hair, a scar on the right side of his face, and amber eyes. He looked like he was in his late 30s, with a mostly skinny, not-quite-lanky frame. Most notoriously, he was fully clad in stitched-together leather, crudely put together and of different animals by the looks of it. His jacket, shirt, pants, and even boots, all made of patchwork leather. The spikes slowly retracted back into his chest, seamlessly disappearing into his body, staining his shirt with the blood that was on the horns.
“You jumped the gun, friend, pun absolutely intended. You didn’t even consider I might have a way to deal with you up close.”
The blood oozing from Bastian’s chest slowly stopped, and it seemed to being drawn back into his chest by an unnatural force. “Oh!” the Priest exclaimed. “Your command of Hydromancy never ceases to amaze, Ashfield! Pulling your own blood back inside you with it! I guess it takes grit like this in order to live in the way you have.”
“S-stop talkin’ as if you know shit about me... What the hell was that...? I sense... Necromancy?” panted the wounded Exorcist, still on the floor, unable to move much. That statement made the man’s face shine with joy.
“You have a good eye, Ashfield. This is failed Necromancy... A poor man’s version, a mere counterfeit. Like every other Necromancer out there, I’ll never be a full fledged master of the death. However, I have no interest in that, and just this much control is good enough for me. My specialty is leather, allowing me to temporarily revive and reform any animal from leather, just for a short while, but hey, that’s all I need. Bringing back people is way out of my scope and ability, haha. What you experienced just now were the horns of a bull whose hide I have stitched on this shirt.” With a jolly stride and a confident gait, he approached the felled Hydromancer to deliver the last blow. “It was great playing with you, Ashfield, but you are a big pain in the ass, so I gotta put you out now, see ya!” From his right sleeve, a tiger’s foot materialized, razor sharp claws at the ready, and... Nothing. Nothing happened afterwards, as a spike seemed to have pierced the leather-clad man right through his chest. “...Ah... Haha, curses... You’re right, I’m not much of a fighter...” Bastian simply smirked again.
“Thanks for getting close enough to let me use my own blood on your shirt like that. Love ya.” Bastian had used the blood he had splattered on his assailant to pierce him from point blank range, incapacitating both men. It was pointless to even try to attack each other at this point, as the counter would kill the other.
“Pretty fancy necromancy you got there, friend. Leagues more creative than your run-of-the-mill shithead kid who revives a rat or a feral dog... Asperges Me, Domine.” commented Bastian as he put his hand on wound, controlling the blood so it stays inside while using a healing spell to close the wound.
“Me? Fancy? Don’t lie to yourself, Ashfield. Your Hydromancy is far more interesting. I don’t know how you get away with it, but surely more people have noticed it’s a facsimile, right?” the necromancer retorted, producing a needle from his utility belt and injecting himself in the arm.
“...!”
The Priest missed naught a beat in savoring the shock on Bastian’s face. “Heh, I knew it. You tricky scamp, of course I’d notice. I have plenty of experience and knowledge on spellweaving theory. You, sir, are no Hydromancer.”
“I command water, that’s Hydromancy, so you’re not really making a lot of sense here, amigo.”
“Oh, way too late to try and play it cool, friend. The cat is already out of the bag. Hydromancy is a traditional art of the Shaman school of magic. You befriend a spirit of water, make a pact with them, and with the spirit as a proxy, you gain control over the element of water. You, sir, have no such contract. Hydromancers are rare because it wouldn’t make sense to limit yourself to a single element. If you can make a pact with a water spirit, you surely can do the same with the other elements.”
“There’s plenty of ways to control water, Sir Pig.”
“Yup, and you are employing none of them. A way to bypass the pact with a spirit is to master control of remote mana particle emission, but that would only allow you to project water at short range, and without much potency. There’s far more practical uses of such power, and you make no use of them, meaning you have no such mastery. I can prove you haven’t made a single contract with a spirit of water as well, because you utilize holy water in your Hydromancy. Imbuing water with foreign energies, such as the holy energies of the Arc, is an insult to the spirits, and it would weaken your water, if not sever your pact with the spirit outright. Your water is most assuredly very powerful.”
“...”
“Just what are you, Bastian Ashfield? How come you can use water in the way you do? Could this be, perhaps, some sort of divi--”
“Shut the hell up!”
His wound finally closed, Bastian haphazardly stood up, ready to continue the fight. With a resigned, if not bemused sigh, the incense master stood up as well. “Mm, the drugs kicked in. Alright, let’s go, Hydroboy. Hit me with the best fake water you can muster, haha.”
“Man, props to you, you really get under my skin!”
As round two began, tendrils of water clashed with powerful tiger claws, pressurized jets of water were deflected by a tortoise shell, and a crocodile’s head was stopped from biting Bastian’s carotid artery just barely thanks to water spikes produced at the last second. The two men were evenly matched, and just as their dance was reaching its utmost violence, the large wristwatch on the man’s right wrist rang off an alarm.
“...Time flies when you’re having a blast. Well, Ashfield, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I must take my leave. This has gone long enough.”
Producing a small detonator from his pocket, the man pressed it without any hesitation or explanation -- apparently learning something about not flapping your gums in front of the enemy and just doing what you need to do -- and jumped off the railings of the rooftop, a series of explosion engulfing other parts of the warehouse complex.
“Shit, wait! You!” Bastian yelled as he approached the railings. Looking down, he saw the man safely running down the side of the building. That is, manifesting two long and thick ostrich legs from his back that stepped with such strength that their feet dug into the concrete of the building, safety being able to descend that way. “Bastard! He had it all planned...! I gotta get down there!”
“Adieu, my dear Ashfield! The name’s Balthazar Wharwood! Forget me not! Haha!”
——-
“Fatima, Daryl, help me shield the civilians from the debris! Nadja, go and assess the situation behind the building those two went to, it’s possible they might need your help with their escape if they haven’t captured them yet!”
With a collective “roger!”, everyone got to their task as assigned by Fiona, Nadja’s agile strides quickly getting her inside of the building.
“I gotta say, Chief! Yer pretty cool when ya ain’t drunk off your ass!” excitedly proclaimed Daryl as he helped carry the no-longer hostile, but very much disabled civilians out of the dangerous warehouse.
“If that’s your idea of a compliment, my idea of gratitude will be to knock your lights out with a flawless right hook once we are out of here!” Fiona barked back.
“Keep your heads in the game, please! I cannot carry all of them safely without you to help me, even with this Manticore body!” pleaded Fatima as she carried as many people as she could on her back, safeguarding them with her wings.
Every couple of seconds, a new bomb went off, ever increasing the threat to the people in the premises. With just their limited numbers, they were saving as many people as they could.
——-
As Vinn finally reached the first floor, he made a beeline for the door that leads to the street, coming face to face with Nadja, who came from another hallway.
“Are you alright, Ingram?”
“I’ve been worse, but no time to chit chat, she’s getting away!”
“She? The Hog Priest is a woman?”
“I’ll explain later, but if you see a girl with magenta eyes and white hair, she’s our mark.”
“Acknowledged.”
As the novice duo went into the street, there, in the distance, was the girl in the red robes with the baseball bat, alongside a tall, skinny man clad fully in leather. “...That must be the other Hog Priest next to her.”
“Hog Priest is two people? What a day. I’ll take the man, you go for the girl, since you were fighting her recently, you know what tricks to expect from her.”
They both nodded and dashed with all their might towards the Hog Priest duo, but just as they were reaching them, a line of machine gun fire threatened to fill them with holes, the two Exorcists backing away at the nick of time.
“Ah, just on time, Sir Gatling Knight!” Balthazar greeted with joy, grabbing the white haired girl by the hand and running away towards a black van that awaited them nearby. The girl herself had no words, and just looked at Vinn in the eye one last time, bitterness and disappointment in those magenta eyes, before facing the truck and never looking back.
“Darn! What was that...!? Ingram, back away.”
“Don’t worry, Wharwood...” a muffled, sinister, if uninterested voice finally replied. “I’ll keep them away from you while you run with your tail between your legs.”
From their left side, a tall man clad from tip to toe in riot gear with several ornate engravings, a ballistic helmet with a visor that hid his face, and a cape on each shoulder that draped over the entirety of each arm approached them, a heavy machine gun trained at them casually with just one hand.
“I’ve no orders to kill you, but I can make an exception if you insist on pursuing them.” he announced not as a threat, but as a promise, the green machine gun disappearing behind the green cape, vanishing just like that.
“Move aside. We’ve no time to waste with you while they are escaping...!” Nadja commanded as she rushed not towards the van, but at the man himself. “You can give us answers, too!”
“Wait, Nadja! Don’t!”
But Vinn’s warning came too late. In just the flash of an eye, Nadja lunged at the man with a stake, which he shot out her hand with a pistol he produced out of thin air behind the green cape, making her recoil from the shock. As she fell, from his other hand came a shotgun, which he pressed against her gut and shot, the blood she spewed staining his visor and riot chestpiece.
“G-guah...!”
“N-Nadja!”
“Worthless. You, boy. Don’t make waste more ammo. The van is gone, anyways. You have no more reason to oppose me.” The armored man then simply threw the wounded Nadja at Vinn, turned around, and walked towards a manhole without the cover, presumably where he came from.
“Who are you? Why are you helping them?” Vinn asked as he tried to stabilize the wounded Nadja.
“...I’m the Gatling Knight, and why I help them is none of your business, but mark my words, on my honor as a Knight, if you oppose them, then you are bound to face me again, and if that happens, I’ll shoot you down where you stand. The first time you see me is a warning. The second time is your funeral. Be smart and don’t recklessly pursue your funeral. Now, tend to that fool. Her Domunus Tecum is flawless. If treated, she might survive.”
“...”
“Hoh, that’s a hateful glare, if I’ve ever seen one. Consider this, kid: You attack me now, you will meet the asphalt just as she did. You are exhausted from fighting Sacrifice, so you’re not at your 100%. I take you down now, and both of you die. You take her back, she might just make it. Your call. I can spare a few bullets, if you truly wish to force my hand.”
Cursing under his breath, Vinn had no choice but to carry Nadja back to where the other Exorcists were, as it was pointless to stay here, what with the Priests having escaped and his colleague nearing death with every passing second.
To call this operation successful would be a joke, Vinn though to himself.
“...And what did he mean by ‘Sacrifice’...?”
——-
August 7th
12:01 PM
7th Office’s Infirmary
“...And that’s what happened on my end.” said Vinn, concluding his report.
“I see, we both had a dog of a day, it seems. Damn pigs...” the bed-bound Bastian said with a half-laugh. “...Never imagined the Hog Priest, well, Priests would show up like this and cause this much trouble mere days after you started. You must really be cursed to end with me as your partner and those two wackos as your first foes, bwahaha.”
The younger Exorcist couldn’t help but laugh. “Man, the Academy really didn’t prepare me for this, I want a freaking refund. How are you holding up?”
“Doc says I gotta chill for the rest of today and tomorrow, and I should be golden. Oh, dunno if you heard, but after yesterday, all six of us have been given today and tomorrow as days off to recover properly. Which sucks, because it’s two days I gotta spend cooped up in here. Well, at least the good doc will keep me company, right?”
“I’ll just make it easy on myself and juice you up with so many painkillers that you’ll simply sleep the two days away, honestly.” doctor Aria casually commented from the other side of the Infirmary, a hint of playfulness in her voice.
“Aww, come on, Aria, you don’t gotta be that way.” jokingly commented Bastian. Vinn was somewhat surprised at how well these two seemed to get along. Bastian getting along with anyone was kind of a surprise. “So, yeah, go and take it easy, and... Discard that long face, boyo.”
“...Hm?”
“Oh, don’t HMM me, Vinn Ingram.” the Hydromancer chided. “I know your goody-two-shoes stiff little ass is probably all depressed because of how they got away yesterday. But, the fact is, the operation was successful.”
“...Was it really?”
“It was. We all survived, for starters. Nadja is in critical state, but Aria here is the best Arc damned doctor I’ve met in my life, and that I’ll possibly meet in my life, plus, Nadja’s Domunus was apparently strong enough that a point blank shotgun blast didn’t shred her organs to pieces. That should’ve killed her immediately, and yet, here she is. She’ll recover, I guarantee it. The rest of us were just battered and wounded to varying degrees, but we pulled through. The civilians? No casualties whatsoever. The bombs were a distraction, and none of them were placed anywhere where there were civilians. Fatima, Fiona, and Daryl made sure to evacuate all of them and search several times for more of them. All the missing people have been accounted for. We rescued them, Vinn.”
“...I didn’t consider it this way...”
“Look, man, I know seeing them escape is a kick in the dick, I know, but consider the rest of everything. We’ll get another shot at them, but had anyone died, there’s no coming back from that one. Not all of them are gonna go all flowers and sunshine, and hell, look at you, you are practically unscathed. Compare and contrast with my dumb ass that got saddled in bed. It’s fine, man. You’ll go crazy if you consider anything short of perfection a failure, man.”
“...Haha.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“Nothing, nothing, it’s just so freaking weird to hear you be so nice and supportive, Bastian, that’s all, haha.”
“Yeah, and it’ll cost you 5000 patros. I expect them by the end of the month.”
“Hahaha, but really, thank, it helps a lot to hear that” Vinn said with a smile.
“Oi oi, don’t go smiling at me now, save those for nice girls, like the doc here. Hey doc, can I get a smile?”
Aria, without looking at him, just flipped him her middle finger.
“Bwahahaha, yeah, love you too, doc. Alright, Vinn, go enjoy your day off. Trust me, you’ll learn to treasure them.”
“Alright, I’ll just drop by the office to say hi to Nick and Dani and then go home.”
“Good idea. Oh, and Vinn?”
“Yeah?”
“A bit late, but welcome to the 3rd Division. We are going to get revenge on those sumbitches when round two comes, yeah?”
“You fuckin’ bet we will.”
It might not have been ideal, it might have been perilous, but what Bastian said was true, the operation was, ultimately, a success. A mass kidnapping prevented is indeed good news to numerous families, no one can deny that. The day was saved, and while the root of the problem is still alive, it would be foolish to not enjoy this little moment of peace, or so Vinn thought at least. Whatever little moments of peace he might have from now on, he must make the most of them, for he understands that this is merely the calm before the storm.
The girl’s words echoed in his head, particularly the “coming world” she mentioned. Stroln was slowly but surely being submerged in conflict, and with it, the casualties that inevitably come from the crossfire. More than anything, Vinn wanted to prevent that.
The future looked uncertain and bleak for Vinn, but at the same time, he witnessed firsthand how capable the 7th Office was.
As the door closed behind him, Vinn walked away from the Office, ready to rest his body and prepare his spirit for the trials that he knew were coming, and that he knew Bastian and him and the rest of the 7th would deal with.
The world he wants rides on this, too, after all.
“...What a nice day for a nap.”
Of incense, ink stains, and the murky menace lurking beneath it all:
– Chapter 3: Neon War Paint –
End
To be continued in Chapter 4
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