In another life

Hwyo! What's your favorite bit of writing you've done? A paragraph, a whole piece, doesn't matter, but want to know what your fave thing you've written is

Ok so idk for sure if this is my FAVORITE favorite, I pretty much just grabbed the first thing I saw that made me say "you know what? I love this", but there's been a lot lately that I've actually genuinely enjoyed in a way I honestly haven't for a while (I'll probably say this every time, but I feel so bad that it's not One Piece related lol Dragon Age has taken over my life, but this fic is just coming so damn naturally to me, and I enjoy the work I've done so far and I'm excited for what's to come, and I haven't felt like this about fanfic in a hot minute lol)

So anyway, here's a long section from chapter 3 of "Invisible Strings" aka my Dragon Age WIP; some dialogue is taken from in-game, but most in this section is all mine 💕

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Ria kicked over another frozen wolf corpse, no longer flinching when it broke into several pieces. This was the fourth pack they’d come across since venturing into the Korcari Wilds, and so far they’d seen no sign of this vast horde supposedly lurking within. “My dear, Daveth,” she called, narrowly avoiding slipping into another swamp as she tripped on her muddy robes. “I do believe you promised me cannibals, witches, and darkspawn in these Wilds.”

The former thief shared a grin with her, ignoring the way Ser Jory rolled his eyes at their banter. “I believe I also promised you beasts, lady mage, which I’m sure has been fulfilled by now?” He held out his hand, heaving her back onto the solid, mostly dry ground, away from the boggy waters that seemed to make up the majority of the forest.

“Oh, isn’t that just like a man,” Ria said, raising a brow as she fixed her staff on her back. “Promising much, yet giving little.” She waggled her brows at him, and the two burst into laughter, prompting their other companions to shush them loudly before more creatures were alerted to their presence.

“Do you wish to bring the entire horde down upon us?” Jory scoffed, and Ria rolled her eyes.

“If there’s even a horde. I’m starting to think this is just one massive prank - or maybe an incredibly vivid dream. Any moment now, giant house cats wearing pink socks will appear and start feeding me grapes while playing the lute.”

“No, they’re definitely here,” Alistair said, cutting off whatever retort was about to come out of Jory’s perfectly round head. “We have to go further in.”

“Well, alright. If you’re so sure,” Ria brushed loose white strands out of her eyes, cringing at the way the swamp air was making her hair curl. “You’ll watch my back, right Daveth?” The man let out a low laugh.

“Oh, I’ll watch your back.” She could practically feel his eyes boring into her backside. They may be in a dark, dirty swamp looking for darkspawn blood, but nobody said they couldn’t have fun while doing so, right?

“Just don’t get too distracted back there,” she glanced back with a wink. Daveth’s shoulders shook with quiet laughter.

“I’ll try to keep my wits about me.”

All conversation halted as Alistair held out a hand, a harsh "hush" escaping him as the group fell into line behind him. Ria glanced about silently, ears straining for the sound of more wolves, or maybe even cannibals, witches, or darkspawn.

Oh my…

Instead of monsters or beasts, a man lay in the middle of the path, covered in blood and gasping for breath. Ignoring Alistair’s instructions to wait, Ria bolted around him, hands already outstretched and glowing blue with mana. She knelt as soon as she reached the man - one of the king’s men, she realized, looking at his armor - and she heard the pounding footsteps and muttered curses of her companions as they followed her.

“You realize, lady mage, when I said I’d watch your back, I didn’t expect you to go running off,” Daveth told her quietly as he reached her, his dark eyes scanning the grey horizon, his bow at the ready should anything approach. Ria ignored him, focusing her energy on healing the soldier’s wounds.

“Who...is that? Grey...Wardens…?” the man muttered, Ria’s healing bringing him to consciousness.

“Well, he’s not half as dead as he looks, is he?” Alistair muttered as the man opened his eyes, staring wildly at the four of them.

“M-my scouting band was attacked...by darkspawn!” the man rasped, struggling to sit up. Ria paused her healing to help him; the worst of his wounds had healed already. “They came out of the ground...Please, help me!” He gripped Ria’s arm where it rested against his shoulder, propping him up. “I’ve got to...return to camp…”

“If you just let me finish healing you, you can-” the man reared back as if he’d been struck.

“Magic? You’re a-?”

“Does it matter? You’re injured, I can help!” Ria brought the magic to her palms again, but before she could place them against his injuries the man pulled back, wincing as he reopened some of the more minor wounds.

“No, I...I can get by with...just some bandages…”

“But I can-!”

“I have some bandages in my pack,” Alistair cut in, kneeling beside her as he handed the roll off to the soldier. Daveth and Jory set about helping the man wrap himself, while Ria sat on the muddy ground, watching aghast as the men worked at something that would’ve taken her mere seconds to fix. Alistair’s hand rested on her shoulder, squeezing slightly, though whether it was meant to be as a comfort or a restraint, she couldn’t be sure. Probably trying to make sure the mage doesn’t go on a rampage, she thought bitterly. But he made no move to smite her, and his grip wasn’t uncomfortable, so she chose to accept it anyway. “Sorry,” he said, removing his hand as she relaxed, apparently only just realizing what he’d been doing. Ria shook her head.

“It’s fine. Just seems like a waste of time, to me.”

“If it’s any consolation, you can heal me anytime.” Ria laughed, a shaky laugh that betrayed her feelings, so she quickly covered it up with another joke.

“Are you sure about that? What if I decide to turn you into a toad, instead?” Alistair thought about it for a moment, his face scrunching up in a way that was almost adorable - not that Ria would ever admit that about the man. He’d never let her live it down.

“You know? I think if you ever decided to turn me into a toad, it’d probably be because I did something to deserve it. So as long as I stay on your good side, I should remain wart-free,” he grinned at her, pleased with his deduction, and Ria found the expression contagious.

“So much confidence in me already; what if I don’t deserve it?”

“Don’t you?” The question was meant to be a joke, to go along with the direction their conversation had taken; Alistair had no way of knowing how hard the thought hit her. When she didn’t answer immediately, he turned his grin back to her, only for it to fall as he switched to concern. “Ria?”

She blinked, shooing away the wetness creeping in the corners of her eyes, then gave him a rather pitiful attempt at a smile. “I hope so.”

June 2020 Angel Fish Awards

(New Angel Fish design by @slytherkins!!)

Every month all of you fantastic writers work your asses off to post some truly incredible stories. Our Angel Fish Awards are the way for all of us, as a community of writers and readers, to lift each other up and give praise to those who have captured our attention and deserve a few kind words.

The monthly Angel Fish Awards are peer-nominated, meaning ANYONE IN THE POND CAN NOMINATE ANY POND MEMBER’S FIC. While the Pond was founded to support the Guppies, everyone in this community deserves to be showered with love and feedback, and we hope that by opening this up as a Pond wide system, we’ll be able to share the love as far as it can go.

NOTE: WE’VE BEEN HAVING OCCASIONAL PROBLEMS WITH ASKS GOING MISSING. Please use the Submit button when submitting your nominations and make sure you’re signed into Tumblr or your URL won’t show. (If the form asks for your name and email address, then you’re not signed in.) If you like, you can also send a message to Michelle @mrswhozeewhatsis or Mana @manawhaat to check and make sure we got your submission.

Be sure to read through this whole post as people who were nominated more than once only had one tag activated for tumblr tagging purposes!

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE ARE JUNE’S ANGEL FISH AWARDS!

Nonimated by @thegirlwhorunswithwinchesters

I Thought You Were Going To Die (oneshot) by @fun-and-fandoms

My nominations for the month wouldn’t be complete without a little bit of angst. Though this one isn’t just that. If you’re easily triggered by mentions of depression and its symptoms, this one’s not for you. But it’s an important topic and I will always encourage any creator who uses their art to remind people it’s okay to talk about it. (Note from Kale, this was actually submitted in May but I missed it.) 

More to Me (oneshot) by @becs-bunker

No spoilers, but I’m so glad this ended the way it did. So sweet <3

Help  (oneshot) by @blushingjared

I came across this fic and was immediately intrigued. Then I started reading and I was captivated from the first sentence until the very last. The author did such a good job with setting the scene and painting the right picture.

Talking Bodies (oneshot) by @ne-gans

This AU-Sam is such a huge weakness of mine. That, in combination with this dangerously filthy masterpiece, is nothing short of perfection.

Nominated by @focusonspn

Into The Woods (series) by @amanda-teaches

So well written, interesting plot and great development. The chemistry between Y/N and Dean is also amazing, and I loved how this mini-series could be so easily part of the show. Totally worth reading.

Nominated by @thoughtslikeamindfield 

Stranger Than FanFiction (series) by @cherry3point14

The premise is similar to the film Stranger Than Fiction – a story about a story being written about you – and it’s just as hilarious. Also, Cherry Pie is still one of the funniest writers in this corner of SPN fandom.

“You’re not supposed to move your head if there’s someone trying to murder you, probably…”

No, I wouldn’t think so, but lollllll

“You’re being insane, out loud.”

Omgggg

“It tried, oh, how the door tried to divert her attention from the unknown men who could be terrible, rule-breaking influences on her. However the door was only wood and she was a stubborn woman made of free will and limbs—a woman who refused to be deceived.”

“Your hand is on the doorknob before the mention of your limbs has finished rattling around your head.  Realistically you don’t want to encourage the voice by doing what it says. After all, the voice’s ultimate goal seems to be killing you.”

BAHAHAHAH omfg you guys

I need to stop quoting from this bc I probably seem insane to those of you who haven’t read this, so stop being judgy buttheads and go read!

Nominated by @flamencodiva

The Choice (series) by @superfanficnatural

A couple of things. 1) this is an amazing fic that highlights Dean unwillingness to let himself go until it’s almost too late. and 2) the smut in this is hot hot hot hot! not for anyone under 18 years of age.

Mert has a way with words and can literally pluck you into one and make you see it as it comes to life in your head.

Mine (series) by @holylulusworld

Lulu has an abundance of different stories she tells and this one is my favorite of her ABO’s at the moment. (although I love all of them) I think this one deserved a mention. I am glad she joined to Pond so I could help nominate and spread her amazing work!

One Night at a Time (series) by @crashdevlin

Another great fic by Cassie! This one shot full of Angst, Smut, and if you squint just the right amount of Dean fluff. She has a way of capturing your attention and putting you in the world as you read.

What He Lost (oneshot) by @jensengirl83

This short story by Brandy is sure to rip your heart out. she leaves just a bit of hope where you think there is a chance only to crush it completely with the ending. This one is sure to bring you to tears if you are looking for the most delicious angsty story to read.

Nominated by @risingpheonix761

Down The Rabbit Hole (oneshot) by @dontshootmespence

So, this was hysterical. XD I love crack fics, and bad smut in particular, and this one hits the spot. (I’ve also learned several new horrible euphemisms lol). The ending, though? Golden!

Nominated by @myinconnelly1

The Affair (oneshot) by @holylulusworld

I love how well all the characters are portrayed I truly hate everyone except the reader! Well done!!  

Red Riding Hood - or how you ran into a wolf... (oneshot) by @holylulusworld

I have nothing to say about this. I will simply allow the puddle I have become to speak for me. 

Last Omega On Earth (oneshot) by @holylulusworld 

This was a great entry in the ABO world. and we need more of this and more like !!!!! Great work!

My Beta (oneshot) by @holylulusworld

I am a greedy little bitch with this fic.  I think I've read it 3-4 since i first read it this month!!!!!! READ THIS FIC!  

Third Period (oneshot) by @fictionalabyss

Some truly inspiring smut.  Inspiring to change my panties. 

Gods of Twilight (series) by @thecleverdame​

I think i posted this fic in my rec before, but it is so amazing and intricate that i can't stop gushing about it.  Fucking awesome. 

Apple Pie (oneshot) by @bad268​ 

The amazingness of this is great, check this guppy out!

Deal (oneshot) by @bad268 

Comedy at some of its's finest!!! 

Confession (oneshot) by @idreamofplaid

THE FLUFFFFFFF!!!! I don't read straight fluff.  So get the tissues ready.

Fallen (series) by idreamofplaid

My therapist has told me i'm not longer allowed to talk about this fic during our sessions.  So instead i shall now talk about it here... *pulls out soapbox* ahem... *gets pulled away with hook*

Memory (oneshot) by @idreamofplaid

This fic is older, but i love it so much.  I recently went back and reread it, and the angst and reconciliation in this fic are heartwrenching.

Home (oneshot) by @emilyshurley

My dentist bill the month was higher than normal, due to the new cavities caused by this fic.

Imperfectly Yours (oneshot) by @emilyshurley

Cuteness overload as you get Dean's perspective of Home ^^

Second Hand News (oneshot) by @emilyshurley

Alright listen. I am a glutton for punishment.  And this fic, I asked for.  Also i had it set within one of the universes we now own.  That all being said, reading this was like a dose of my own medicine and it fucking hurt.

Honesty And Lies (oneshot) by @crashdevlin

This was super dirty, and great.  Totally recommend. 

Nominated by @deanwinchesterswitch

The Classifieds (oneshot) by @talesmaniac89

This is rip your heart out and stomp on it angst right here. So well written, but so, so heartbreaking.

So Much More Than Perfect (oneshot) by @imagineteamfreewill

This fic is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever read. It made me tear up a bit, but who doesn’t love Dean being the most protective, most adorable dad ever?!

Nominated by @mariekoukie6661

Dear Dean (series) by @smol-and-grumpy

It’s one of those series that makes you wants more after every chapter. It’s a brilliant story.

Left Behind (series) by @kittenofdoomage

It’s the only John Fic I can read over and over and over again. Its hot, the plot is awesome! And it makes me wants more each and every time I read it.

Not Much Left (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer

I think Beka tries to kill her readers every time she writes smut… or she just tap into our mind what we want or what we fantasize about. Every single time I’m speechless by her talents!

Yes Professor (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer

It’s a Misha fic, there’s no one who write Misha the way Beka does!!!

Owe You One (series) by @supernatural-jackles

It’s such a great series! The friends with Benefit and Mechanic!Dean… I just love this so much and I don’t have words to describe how good this one is!!

Flirty In French (oneshot) by @fictionalabyss

This is brilliant, and I know its an old one, but from someone who finally decided to read more and from someone who is from Quebec, this is absolutely brilliant! The flirty french pick up line are so hilarious!

Nominated by @moosekateer13

Watching for Comets (series) by @holylulusworld

This fic beautifully captures the song that it was inspired by.

It also showcases things that when things are meant to be.

I’ll will all fall into place.

Please Trust Me (oneshot) by @holylulusworld

This fic beautifully emotionally captures what it’s like to have trust issues.

Nominated by @fictionalabyss

Last Call (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer 

It was everything we needed and wanted.

Culinary Exploits (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer  

Too utterly ridiculous not to get a mention.

His Omega (oneshot) by @iflostreturntosteverogers 

A sweet little comfort fic of Dean being utterly perfect caring for his Omega. Carrie also pulled off keeping this gender neutral, which isn’t something I see a lot of, and probably something I’d struggle with, so hats off to you, babe.

Poison (oneshot) by @supernatural-jackles 

YES omg i feel this on such a level. I’ve gone through that shit myself. A friend who lets you down so profoundly but then acts as if you’re the most toxic person in the world.  Nothing feels as good as letting go of that shit and moving on to better things. This was beautiful, and perfect, and TRUTH.

Amara (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer  

This one hurt. It really hurt, but it hurt so good that I’m left wanting more.

Take Me Now (oneshot) by @sorenmarie87  

If Dawn doesn’t continue this, I’ll riot.

Stuck On You (oneshot) by @kittenofdoomage  

I rarely read a fic this long (I just don’t usually have the time) but it looked too interesting for me to scroll past, and it had me completely captivated. I needed to know what would happen as if I needed air, even though I could guess how it ended, I needed to read the words. Phenomenal.

Thank you all for the awesome work and great feedback!

These are not actual awards! This system is set up so everyone in the pond has a chance to share the love and promote a fic/author that has grabbed your attention. The more people that participate, and the more everyone remembers to submit their own fics after posting, the better this will be :D

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN, KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK, AND AS ALWAYS, HAPPY WRITING!

Quiet Time

A/N: For those who don’t remember Team Branwin, here’s a link to their artwork. Pretty sure this is the first time anyone has written something with them in it. Hurray, they suck.

Synopsis: Cooped up and mentorless, the team, and especially Xav, struggle with being on the sidelines. 

Word Count: 3505

Virus World belongs to @voiceoflarka​

On a cold winter’s day, the team found themselves in a lull in the academy’s library. The snow was gently trickling outside, with students in a buzz over the upcoming events and missions they were all planning to embark on. Whispers of adventure, romance and fun were making the team grit their teeth, so Xav went to close the door to the room that Liadan had booked out for them. As he did so, his eyes narrowed as he spotted his sister, Faustine. She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned, so in turn Xav rolled his eyes at her antics and slammed the the door a little too hard.

“Thank Arceus you booked this Liadan,” Mana said thankfully, smiling at her as Xav sat down. “I couldn’t handle being out there with them all glaring at us.”

“God she’s a bitch,” Xav muttered, looking out the small window to the main part of the library. Faustine’s team, staring in, all gave a mocking wave.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Liadan pulled out her notebook and pens, gelled and coloured differently for practical note taking and essay planning.

“She’s been laying it on thick lately,” Suv noted. “What gives?”

“Because Mu and Victor have been away,” Xav huffed, following Liadan’s lead and getting his stuff out. “Apparently they’re away because they don’t want to train us anymore. They’re abandoning us.”

“Pfft, as if,” Nao boasted. “They love us.”

“She’s just jealous they don’t have 99ers for mentors,” Suv agreed. The rest of the team nodded along.

“Why did you book this room, Li?” Xav asked. “All of us usually do essay writing at home, save for you.”

“I figured we could use the change of scenery,” Liadan said, but then she let out a small sigh. “We’ve been cooped up for a little while, hey?”

“You can say that again,” Nao mumbled, sharpening his pencil to a very, very fine point. 

As the team began planning and writing their essays, Xav chewed his lip as he looked once again outside the window at his sister. Her sister’s incessant boasting combined with Liadan of all people’s noticing of their lack of action lately gave him a lot to think about. It had been a whole two months since the team had last been given any fieldwork. This didn’t seem like much to some, but they had just begun getting used to being consistently out there, with Mu and Victor at their side as their intrepid and kind mentors. Nao complaining about be stuck doing nothing was one thing, he would do so after two minutes. Mana would complain after a couple of weeks, Suv around a month later. But Liadan?

She would normally never have anything to say on that note. Which was why Xav was worried.

“Xav, hey,” Suv said, waving a hand in front of his face. “You with us?”

“Wha- yeah,” Xav blinked a few times before nodding. He grabbed Suv’s hand and gently pulled it down from his face. “Yeah I’m here.”

“Mana just got a text from Callow,” Suv said. “Read it!”

“Right, so I asked what they were up to,” Mana explained. “Since we’ve been stuck around campus for ages. Here’s what he said.”

Mana did a small cough to clear her throat before reading Callow’s text in a very overly-posh voice.

“Gamma and Psi have sent us on a training mission in the Dark Souls District. It’s been really cool, Glitch and Horns tag-teamed a massive wolf thing and kicked it’s ass. They’re coming to monitor us tomorrow. What are you guys doing?”

“What are you going to say back?” Liadan asked.

“Hang on, I’ll read it aloud.”

“We’re writing essays like boring normal students. Mu and Victor haven’t been here for two weeks. Can we borrow Gamma please?”

“Why do you want to borrow Gamma?”

“So Faustine pisses off about us having our mentors abandoning us,” Mana stated, using her fingers to make air quotation marks on the word abandoning. 

“Having another 99er around might shut her up...” Suv wondered, scratching his chin. 

“Let’s just get back to studying,” Xav said, sighing harshly. “Gamma has better things to do.”

The team all blinked and looked at each other, before returning to the work in front of them. Xav’s ears were flattened back slightly as he remembered why his mentors were currently unavailable. Victor was currently on a mission with the Raiders, and since none of them had his number, they were completely cut off from contact from him. From the little pieces of info they could gather before he left, it sounded fairly serious, and he seemed genuinely worried before he left. 

Mu on the other hand was in contact with Mana, or he would be if he wasn’t on a stealth mission with Yokohama. He’d expressly told Mana not to text her until he gave her the clear to do so. Those two would text fairly regularly, so for Mu to ask this of her meant that the whole team knew, this mission he was on was a big deal, and they could not risk jeopardising it for a couple of Sonic memes. Mana had agreed, and so they were now mentorless with no way of contacting them. Once Faustine had gotten wind of them being down two mentors, she had been laying it on thick to Xav ever since.

“What did he say?” Nao asked, as Mana’s phone buzzed with another text from Callow, pulling Xav once again from his train of thought. 

“Lmao, no.”

“Wow,” Suv said flatly. “That’s mean.”

“That’s Callow,” Mana said with a laugh. She read her text back aloud again.

“You suck, stay safe. Let us know if her or Psi say anything about Mu or Vic, please.”

“Good idea,” Liadan noted. “Hopefully they know something. I hate not knowing.”

“Me too,” Mana agreed, putting her phone away. “Especially over a few weeks.”

“Agreed,” Suv and Nao added. They all looked to Xav.

“Yeah...” he said quietly, looking out the window once again at his sister. Her team was currently studying together, with Shia appearing to be reading a series of questions aloud for everyone to answer. Faustine and Orson seemed to be competing hard with each other, as Ruben brooded quietly next to them. Temperance kept poking at him, but he had no reaction except to cross his arms harder, somehow. Xav didn’t know how it was possible, but he did. 

“Xav,” Liadan said gently, placing an hand on his arm from across the table. “You doing okay?”

“What... yeah,” he nodded and looked her in the eye. “Yeah I’m okay.”

“You haven’t started your essay.”

“Oh...” Xav looked down at his book in front of him. Liadan was right, he didn’t have a paragraph, a sentence, or even a title. 

“That’s it,” Mana said, standing up in a huff and heading to the door. Looking through the window, Faustine was now mock waving at her. Mana flipped her the bird before closing the blind on the door, cancelling any sight to outside of their study room. 

“But I wanted to flip them off too,” Nao whined.

“Do it later,” Mana scolded, sitting back down. “Now, no more looking outside, no more distractions. This is now an asshole free zone.”

“Debatable,” Nao muttered, to which Mana not so gently shoved him. He pouted, but stood down. 

“Let’s get this essay writing done, okay?” Mana looked expectantly at Xav, and everyone followed her gaze to him. He sighed, but nodded.

“Okay.”

---

As the light from the outside window grew dim, Suv got up from his chair and headed for the still closed door. He pulled back the blinds and peered through the window, looking side to side a couple of times. Satisfied, his other arm reached back to give the team a thumbs up.

“Coast is clear, they’re gone.”

“Good,” Liadan said firmly, standing up and dusting herself off. “I’m in no mood for a confrontation.”

“I am,” Nao said teasingly, to which Liadan just rolled her eyes.

“You always are.”

The group packed up their bags and headed out the door, exiting the library with further paranoid glances. Xav was standing towards the rear, constantly looking over his shoulder. It was not like his sister to just walk away and leave them be, especially when they had been just outside of their room a mere few hours ago. He had a feeling they would be seeing her soon, and the rest of the team as well. Looking back to his team, he tuned back into the conversation. 

“Anything new from Callow?” Suv asked Mana, as she was once again looking at her phone. 

“Nope,” she said flatly. “I think they got busy. That or he’s just not answering.”

“Doesn’t seem to be much to say,” Suv noted. “He doesn’t exactly have to say ‘good luck and stay safe doing schoolwork’ does he?”

“Guess not,” Mana said, shrugging and pocketing her phone. She then glanced at Liadan. “Who are you texting?”

“Nova,” she said with a sigh. “Asking if we’re busy-”

“You mean if Suv is busy,” Nao teased, elbowing him lightly in the chest. Suv looked around worriedly. 

“Don’t worry,” Liadan assured, seeing the panic on his face. “They’re out at present on a mission as well. They’re currently in the Pokemon district, something about triple battle training. She wants to know if we’re busy next week.”

“Oh... we’re not,” Suv mumbled. “But can we be?”

“I’ll say we’ve got another study session planned,” Liadan said, with Suv smiling in appreciation. As Liadan finished texting, the group stopped and looked forward. Much to Xav’s chagrin, there in front of them stood Faustine and her team. Faustine was in the front, the team standing to her sides. Xav stood to the front of his group in turn, not wanting to back down in front of his baby sister. 

“Well, well, well,” she taunted, looking over everyone in Xav’s team. “If it isn’t the abandoned team. How does it feel not having a 99er babysitter anymore?”

“Faustine, a nonpleasure as always,” Xav said dryly. “Would you mind getting out of the way?”

“We can’t do that sorry,” Orson said, a wicked grin on his face to match Faustine’s. “We want some answers.”

“And we’re not sorry,” Temperance added, glaring at Nao specifically. The two seemed to be now in an intense staring contest, daring the other to back down. 

“Answers to what? Why you guys suck?” Mana asked back. 

“We just want to know how it feels,” Faustine continued, “to have not one, but two mentors leave.”

“And the academy won’t give you missions either!” Shia piped up. “You’ve been stuck on campus for ages!”

“Abandoned,” Ruben said, breaking his usualy stoic silence. “Plain and simple.”

Xav was gritting his teeth, and looking over his sister’s team. They were blocking the corridor exit they were heading for, and he knew they wouldn’t be afraid to make it extremely difficult for them to leave. He could tell Temperance and Nao were itching to go at it, and he was more than ready to knock Faustine flat. But he knew they couldn’t do that without Faustine holding it over them. The group just continued to stare each other down, before he broke the silence.

“Why does it matter to you? You’re just jealous you don’t have a 99er for a mentor.”

“Let alone two,” Suv added. 

“Hmph, at least our mentor still takes us on missions,” Faustine said, losing a little of her cool demeanor at their comments. “More than I can say for yours. All they do is run off and play the hero. What do you do? Nothing.”

Xav’s ears flattened back at her words. Hers, in turn, perked up at seeing his reaction to her words. She went to continue, but Suv cut her off. 

“We’re not nothing,” he said boldly, stepping ahead of Xav. “We’re a team with two of the coolest mentors you could imagine. You’re the assholes here.”

“Maybe so,” Faustine shrugged, her gaze now falling solely on her brother. “But a team doing nothing is hardly worth being called a team. If you’re not helping, you’re not worth anything. Is that not right, Xavier?”

Xav was completely cut by her words. He was trembling as his team’s entire gaze turned to him. They all looked concerned for him as he slowly started backing away. Faustine let out a loud laugh.

“Pathetic.”

“Why you-!” Nao went to rush forward, but Suv and Mana both held him back. Liadan in turn stood in front of them, giving a cold glare. Xav, shaking and nearly in tears, continued backing away before running, heading down the other way of the corridor. 

---

Xav ran far, as far as he could, only stopping once he was sure he was far enough Faustine wouldn’t bother trying to follow him. He had made it out the front of the academy, and was currently leaning on one of the exit gates as he tried to compose himself. Tears were still streaming down his face, and he shivered heavily as he looked to the sky. The snow had picked up further, and it was now truly night time. His warm breath was marked in the cold sky by a small puff of fog. As he held his arms around himself to keep warm, his ears perked up as he heard a familiar voice calling for him. 

“Xav? Xav? Are you here?!”

It was Mana, which was what took him by surprise. Usually Suv would be the one to chase him after an altercation with his sister. But as Xav peered around the gate, he did indeed see the eevee virus looking frantically for him. He let out a small sigh before responding. 

“Over here.”

Mana breathed a sigh of relief as her eyes finally fell on him. She rushed over past the gate and stopped just in front of him. 

“You doing okay?”

“Does it look like it?” Xav asked, wiping more tears away from his face.

“I guess not.”

Seeing he was not really in a position to talk yet, Mana joined him in leaning on the gate. She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as Xav continued to cry, trying to get it out of his system. After a few moments, he took a shaky breath and looked at her. 

“Where’s Suv?”

“What, I’m not good enough to comfort you?” she joked, but stopped when she saw Xav look down again. “Well, he’s kinda being chewed out by Miss Delta.”

“What happened?” Xav asked, slightly shocked. “Did he say something?”

“So, after you ran,” Mana continued. “Suv and I were holding Nao off from decking someone. Liadan tried to talk both sides down, but then Faustine called you...”

She trailed off, and Xav sighed and nodded.

“A coward.”

“Not just that. A coward unfit for leadership.”

“Oh...”

Xav had talked about it with the team before, but his wish after graduating was to one day become the leader of his clan. His mother, Clara, was his number one role model and he wanted to emulate her someday. Faustine was also intending to become clan leader, hence their intense rivarly. He knew the team knew as well; this was an incredibly personal insult and the worst thing someone could say to him. 

“So rather than Nao lashing out, it was Suv,” Mana let out a small chuckle at that. “He decked Faustine square in the jaw. It was incredible.”

“Woah... Suv...” Xav smiled at his friend’s antics. “Didn’t think he had it in him.”

“Me neither. But, unfortunately, as soon as he did that, a fight began to break out between Faustine, Temperance, Nao and Suv. And then Miss Delta walked by.”

“Oh no...”

“So Liadan told me to go find you and she’d talk her through it,” Mana finished. “So let’s hope they didn’t get detention, or we might get stuck here longer.

“Yeah...”

“Xav, I know it sucks,” Mana said, looking him dead in the eye. “That we’re stuck here right now without our mentors.”

“It’s not just that-”

“Please let me finish,” Mana cut him off, and Xav backed down. “We’ve been on campus for two months. It does feel like at points we’ve been abandoned by the school and our mentors. But we know we haven’t.”

She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and sighed deeply, tears coming out of her eyes now. “We know our mentors are out there working. Doing good work. Saving people. And putting themselves in danger for it. And you want to be out there too.”

“’If you’re not helping, you’re not worth anything’, right?” Xav laughed bitterly as he said it. 

“I take it today isn’t the first time you’ve heard that, huh?”

“Those were my mother’s words,” Xav explained. “When we were kids and learning about our place in the clan. It was more about survival in a group than anything, but still...”

“You aren’t doing nothing though,” Mana assured, taking his hand and squeezing it. “You know that. Just because we’re not in the thick of the action doesn’t mean we’re not doing anything.”

“All this essay writing sure is helping,” Xav said dryly, but he sighed and nodded. “You’re right. I’m preparing for the future.”

“Future clan-leader Xavier, master of writing essays,” Mana joked. She then wiped the tears away from her face. “You know I want to be out there with him too. Mu. And Victor for that matter. We all do.”

“And listening to my sister and crying isn’t going to do anything to help with that, right?”

“Nope.”

Xav chuckled, and in turn squeezed Mana’s hand back. The two of them then let go, and began heading back for their dorm.

“We’d better check on Liadan, hopefully she got the other two in order,” Mana joked. 

“I’m sure she would have managed. She’s good at keeping us all in check.”

There was a pause between them, before Xav broke the silence.

“Mana?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, Blue.”

“Aaaand the moment is ruined.”

---

“So then, Liadan talked to Delta,” Suv continued explaining, “And smoothed it over. So we don’t have detention!”

“Not technically,” Nao said flatly, stretching his wings out. “But we still are expected to do some charity work on the weekend for the campus fundraiser. We won’t get a record for this though.”

“I still can’t believe you punched her and I missed it,” Xav whined, looking at Suv in admiration. “You’re my hero.”

“Someone had to,” Suv rubbed the back of his neck and beamed. “I think if Nao did it he would definitely have gotten detention though.”

“Probably,” Nao agreed, not seeing any point in arguing. 

“Liadan, what would we do without you,” Mana laughed, looking over to the demon virus. She had a slight blush on her face at the compliment.

“We’d all fail and die, let’s be real,” Suv joked. Everyone laughed and nodded in agreement.

“This is my one use of teacher’s pet priviliges for the month,” Liadan added. “No one start fights for a while please, I can only work so much magic.”

As the team settled down on the couches, Liadan put on the latest episode of Haha... Unless? for the team to sit together and watch. Nao went to the kitchen to make popcorn for everyone, as had become their tradition when watching the show. Xav sat between Suv and Liadan, and let out a contended sigh as Nao and Mana joined them. His contentment was shattered at a loud knock on the door. He went to go answer it, but Liadan had gotten up first. She paused the episide and went to the door. As she opened it, a familiar and unwelcome face greeted her. 

“Where is Xav, I-!”

Faustine’s angry shouts were cut off as Liadan slammed the door in her face, before locking it twice over. Her wails rang through the door as Liadan sat back down in a huff, not restarting the episode as the group sat and waited. Eventually, some kerfuffle was heard through the door and Faustine appeared to have finally left. The team looked to Liadan, and all burst out laughing at her antics. Xav beamed at her.

“Suv was right,” he joked, bumping her lightly. “We’d all fail and die without you.”

“I can’t believe I just did that...”

Once the team had finally settled themselves, she continued the episode and the began feasting on the popcorn. Once again, Xav felt that contentment building inside him. He looked around at his team, who had his back in these kinds of situations. They understood the stress and pressure he was under, and had his back against his sister and his own inner struggles. He may not have felt like he was doing anything important currently, and for a while that may continue. But today? Today he was preparing for his future. Preparing was something. 

And that was enough for him. 

BB’s Games Of 2019

2019 as a year felt like it lasted two years, and a lot happened in my personal life. Got a new job, learned to drive, got my first car, moved out of the in-laws’ basement into our first real apartment, started my first long-term game of DnD (which in itself has involved a new relationship and an emotional breakdown)- and between it all I somehow managed to play 77 games. Backlog’s down to 35 titles, lads- at this rate, I’ll be down to zero by July 2020. (Not gonna happen.) In 2020, I’d like to explore the SNES catalogue a little more, but before that happens we have to review everything 2019 brought me, in a somewhat chronological order.

- Near A Tomato Carry-over from last year’s post since I was in the middle of playing it at the time. I definitely never quite got a handle on the combat and I think some of the themes went over my head, but I still had fun here, and the 9S hacking minigame never got old. It was a gift from an old friend who I miss. Was nice to reconnect. - SSBU With my new main Zelda, I cleared all of WoL and got every spirit on the Spirit Board. I never really used her before but she’s cute now! Really liked the attention to detail in the spirit encounters. Unfortunately, Cloud is still in the game. - Mega Mans 1 2 and 3 I actually spoke about my experiences with the Mega Men in my BBLC post for Mega Man Eggs, so you should read that right now. - Metroid Samus Returns It’s Good. Like, a solid Good. Never Great, never Bad, just Good. It’s nice to see one of the least accessible games in the series get a remaster, but it feels very disposable, if that makes sense. Like they just needed a Metroid to keep people busy while they reboot Prime 4 development. AM2R is vastly superior, go play that. One point of amusement- the game tells its story without narration, and also seems to pre-suppose you know Metroid lore. I was entertained by the thought of a newcomer to the series being completely mystified by the sudden space-dragon that comes out of nowhere to wreck you at the end of the game. - Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls You can click here to download it, ‘cos it’s free, which is almost criminal. This is one of the higher tier games I’ve played this year. A little bit Mega Man, a bit Metroid, with hints of Touhou and Undertale, it’s pretty tough at times but never to ‘precision platformer’ levels. It’s a lot of fun and the dev deserves your support. - Steve And Ollie RPG Oh, I made this one. Making something else next year? Question mark? - Prof Layton 3 Feels like these are getting weaker as they go along. The story has always been absolute boohockey, but the puzzles feel like they’re degrading in quality too. With over 200 in each game, that’s not super surprising, and I’m glad they didn’t bulk it out with a load of the awful block-slider puzzles. Still, it’s Layton, if you liked any of the other games you’ll like this cos it’s the exact same thing. - Fault Milestone Two Yo, there ain’t a damned thing I can say about Fault, so go play the first one and then play this and you’ll understand. - Full Throttle I never bothered to finish it. The obtuse old Sierra puzzlers were hard enough to deal with back in the day, and just feel kind of inexcusable now. I don’t have the patience for it. - eXceed 3rd Slick and fun bullet hell with a nigh-incomprehensible story and great music. Touhou fans will like it. Music by SSH who is relatively well known in doujin circles. - ASAMU Finished it before writing my BBLC post! - Eternal Senia Everything I said in my post rings true- do your best to look past the wonky translation, because there’s a heartfelt story underneath it. Very accessible gameplay, by design. - Inivisble Inc You have never before been, nor will you ever again be, so aware of having left a door open. I fully expected to hate Invisible, but I got hooked pretty hard. Quite tempted to do another run of it once the backlog is clear. - Pyre GOTY. Supergiant’s best game so far, and that’s not an easy thing to say for this Bastion veteran. I sobbed by the end. I’m not being dramatic- literally sobbed. Please play it. Music and writing and, just, heart, are all top tier. All the Nightwings are the best, but Hedwyn is the best best. - Ellipsis Finished it before writing my BBLC post! - Just Cause 2 I found myself getting bored very quickly. The main missions are all identical (really, they are) and the side missions are very uninspired. Blitzing around in a jet or grappling around a mission target is a lot of fun but it feels very shallow. There’s a lot to do but not really any reason to do any of it. I dunno, it’s a kind of hollow experience, that I nonetheless had fun with. - LiEat It went over my head a little, but that’s more on me I think. These horror-esque, eccentric japanese RPG Maker games usually do. But, it’s neat, and short. If this sort of thing usually sticks on you, I think this is a good title. - Shantae Pirates Curse These games always felt non-essential to me; I’m not sure why they never stuck. They never really go below or above Good. Entirely enjoyable but I don’t feel like I’d have really missed anything if I hadn’t played them. It is, however, absolutely worth investing in for the utterly superb sprite work. That doesn’t sell a game by itself, I know, but Shantae is a pixel art masterclass. - FF5 I’d more or less finished it by the time I wrote my BBLC post, so I don’t have much to add. It’s a refreshingly goofy entry in a series known for taking itself too seriously, even compared to its predecessor. Look forward to my entry for this game in my Games Of 2020 post, having played the Four Job Fiesta! - Touhou 17 It’s mid-tier in the touhou hierarchy, IMO. Didn’t set my soul alight but I did enjoy it. Playing as Wolf Marisa makes the final boss too chaotic to really enjoy, but playing through again with Reimu made it more fun. I beat Extra on my third run through, which gave me false confidence that after 10 years I might actually be good at these games- to then be quickly humbled by attempting Th11’s Extra. Final Boss’ theme song has one of the greatest lead-ins of all time, especially given you start the fight by running away from her! Also really loved the Stage 4 theme as you barrel head-first into Hell (the real one this time), and the haunting, calm-before-the-storm serenity of Stage 5, overlooking the City Of Beasts. - HackNet + Labyrinths GOTY. (Yes, I know I already said Pyre was GOTY; it’s my post, I can have two GOTYs. Make your own damned post!) It’s hard to say what I loved about these games without spoiling too much- just know that they play very much like investigation games, and figuring out the puzzles feels great. Labyrinths technically takes place during the events of Hacknet, with a somewhat more Black Hat approach to things- despite this, play all of Hacknet first, and then play Labyrinths. The expansion introduces a lot of new stuff and much trickier challenges, such that going back to the base game afterwards to finish that would leave it a little hollow- a disservice to how great the ending is. - Mega Man X I said everything I wanted to say in my BBLC post, and anything I didn’t cover was better said by Egoraptor. - Octodad Finished it before my BBLC post! - Chroma Squad The final mission is disappointingly poor, but everything up to that point was pretty good. Huge variance and creativity in the bosses. However, the most fun I got from it was when I realised the game allowed me to customise my team name, transformation name, and other such terminology. Dave, Dayve, Davy, Davina, and Dehve shouting “It’s time to Chromatise, Chroma Squad!” very quickly became “It’s time to shit, you bunch of fucks!” and it was funny every single time. (Personal favourite bit of dialogue- “I tried to shit! It worked!”) - Pyrite Heart Finished it before my BBLC post! - Starfox 2 Finished it before my BBLC post! - Burly Men At Sea Finished it before my BBLC post! - Disc Room Finished it before my BBLC post! - Kokurase Finished it before my BBLC post! Should have broken these ones up a bit! - Metroid Rogue Dawn Very, very impressive romhack let down by a distinctly un-fun final section. They managed to fix so many of OG Metroid’s problems, I’m surprised the gauntlet of terribleness that is Tourian escaped with only a cosmetic change. Nonetheless, it’s free, and the other 95% of the game is superb, even from a purely technical standpoint. - Wuppo I dunno what happened here! I was full of praise for Wuppo when I played it, but somehow I just couldn’t stick with it and just never felt like playing it. It’s a very aimless game, and I wonder if that might be why? It’s a shame, I feel disappointed in myself for not seeing it through, but ultimately I play games to have fun and I just wasn’t quite there with Wuppo. - Super Mario Odyssey I loved it, obviously. I wrote my BBLC post towards the end of my time with Odyssey so most of that stands- I do want to add that the controls always felt a little loose, like I wasn’t quite as in-control as I was in Galaxy. Also Mario prioritises walljumping over ledge-grabbing and it’s super-hard to unlearn that instinct after 20 years. Finally- Long Journey’s End is just bullshit. - Secret Of Mana Dropped it pretty soon after Finning it. There’s some logic to the way the game works, some kind of hidden turn-order system, that I could not at all figure out. My AI companions (useless, btw) would hit an enemy which meant I couldn’t, except sometimes the hit would still register but only actually go through 3 seconds later, without any way to tell which way it was going to go. It takes like 7 months for your character to get back up after taking a hit. It’s just, wonky, and I couldn’t solve the puzzle of how to make the game do what I wanted to do. - Pokemon Shield Still working my way through it. It’s- yeah, it’s pokemon. Get a similar vibe to Sun/Moon with it that it’s kind of unfinished- lots of small (and some not so small) parts of the game just feel like there were bigger plans that couldn’t be realised in time. I’m still enjoying it! They did a great job of making the gym battles, and the whole process of 8-badges-then-champion, feel like a spectacle. I think only the anime has managed it to this degree before. - Earthbound Man, I really, really want to like this game, but the battle system is terrible. I need to play through the game again buffing my party up with cheats or something, because it’s so unbalanced and cheap. Everything else about the game is wonderful, but I got so frustrated with the fights! - Mario Kart 8 Didn’t play any of the single player this time, it was midgi’s christmas present so I just joined a couple of multiplayer games. Absolutely baffled that the game features F-Zero style anti-gravity courses, has Mute City and Big Blue, and even has the Blue Falcon as a selectable vehicle, but they haven’t put Captain Falcon in it. Like he’s ever going to get another game of his own? Let him have this! - Carmageddon 2 It’s pretty clunky by now, being 20 years old, but still plays well enough. The physics are super loose so you slide around like your tires have been buttered. It was more fun when they were zombies instead of just normal people. Missions are brutally hard and should be skipped with cheats. - Neopets After 15 years of playing, I finally got a Ghostkersword. The site as a whole has gone through a lot, and certainly its heyday is long gone, but there’s no other game quite like it. I’m playing the Food Club every day, still. - SIF New phone can’t run the actual gameplay section well enough, so I just log in occasionally to grab free scouts. Here’s another one whose golden years are behind it, sadly, but I certainly still have a lot of affection for SIF. - FF1 Mobile version, which fixes a lot of the bugs with the NES original. This year I completed a solo run with 1 Red Mage, a 4-black belts run, a low-level run, and a 4 White Mages run (which ended up being a lower-level run than the low-level run). I’m fairly comfortable in calling myself an expert in FF1, now. There’s still not really any other games like it- build a party as balanced or imbalanced as you like, and see how they fare. I’d like to build my own game in a similar style, one day. - Re: Live Gacha games and RPG just don’t mix! Both gacha and events do not gel with core RPG mechanics of your character(s) developing in strength as the game goes. It seems impossible to balance the game well- do you cater to the whales who spend and spend until they have the strongest teams possible, meaning the free players or the terminally unlucky can’t stand a chance, or do you cater to those players and give them no reason to spend for the more powerful characters? It’s a shame, because the anime was baffling but in that enjoyable way where you just kind of go with whatever it throws at you, and exploring that in a non-freemium game with a solid beginning middle and end would be really interesting. - Tiny Thief Mobile game that’s not available any more, I think my BBLC post covered it well enough. - F-Zero One of the criticisms most commonly levied against F-Zero is that it wont hold your attention for long. While that’s true, it’s not like you have to make a purchasing decision about it any more- it comes bundled in with the other games you’re buying, so the only investment is time. Ignoring that, it’s still fun to burn around the tracks, and the sense of speed hasn’t ever diminished. The music, too, is underappreciated, with Port Town being my personal fave. - F-Zero GX I can’t believe Nintendo hasn’t done anything with this ridiculous universe for 15 years now. The cutscenes are so hilariously overwrought, and the cast of characters is huge! It could so seamlessly intersect with the Starfox universe, too. There were rumours of a Starfox Racing title some time ago, and I really hope that’s the case. It’d work so well (by which I mean, a particularly enjoyable kind of awful). Anyway, the game still plays great, Story Mode is WAY too hard, Dr Stewart’s theme is a Tune. - Stratosphere This game is from 1998! Build a flying fortress, deck it out with fortifications and weapons and power supplies, then use it to destroy other fortresses. I only ever played the demo as a kid, never got the full game. Took some cajoling to get it to work on modern hardware, but eventually I got in and it wasn’t worth it at all. Wow, that performance, apparently it was designed to run at a terrible frame rate and it wasn’t just a result of my 1998 PC not being up to the task! A shame, but I guess it put one of my ghosts to rest. - DKC 2 The best of the three SNES games, despite the inclusion (and protagonism) of Diddy Kong. Lots to love here, but the OST is top notch. - DKC 3 Not as good as 2, but IMO better than 1. There was a much heavier emphasis on gimmick levels in 3, not all of which hit their target, but does provide a great deal of variety. Consensus is that 2 is better, but if someone claimed 3 was the best DKC, I’d let them get away with it. - King Arthur’s World (SNES) Speaking of putting ghosts to rest… We somehow always managed to get this game whenever we got a SNES, and kid!Beebs most certainly didn’t have the patience for it. Adult!Beebs barely does, either. It’s a very ambitious attempt at some sort of RTS/Puzzle hybrid, somewhat comparable to Lemmings? King Arthur must make his way from his starting position to the throne elsewhere in the map to claim it as his own, using the myriad abilities of his soldiers to get him there in one piece. I decided this year that I was finally going to play through the whole damn thing, start to finish, for the first time ever. With copious use of save states and rewinds, I was finally able to slay this demon. For as fiddly and frustrating as it is, I would still say people should check it out if they have the tools to do so- there’s not really anything else like it, on SNES or otherwise; you’re guaranteed a unique experience, if nothing else. - Oscar (SNES) Terrible. - Spanky’s Quest (SNES) With a name like that, how could I refuse? It’s a weird little puzzler, aping (wahey!) Bubble Bobble and Parasol Stars a little. You’re a monkey who can blow bubbles that stun enemies, but if you bounce the bubble on your head it gets progressively larger and can be burst to send a barrage of similarly-sized sports balls at your opponents to knock them out. You know, just like real life. - Addam’s Family (SNES) This easily-dismissible movie tie-in is actually a very competent platformer with some very, very light metroidvania exploration involved. Gomez has to go through Addams Mansion and rescue the members of his family who have been kidnapped by… something. There’s hidden secrets everywhere and the family can be rescued in any order you like. Genuine recommendation. - Panel DePon/Tetris Attack The only vs puzzler I enjoy (yep. Not even puyo puyo. I know.) I played the HECK out of this in my teenage years, and got crazy good at it. Tendonitis says I’m not allowed to do that any more, but once I shook the rust off I was still pretty strong! It was released as Panel DePon in Japan and was fairy themed, but for the western release they replaced all the fairies with Yoshi characters and renamed it Tetris Attack despite having nothing to do with Tetris at all. Up to you which you prefer- language isn't too much of a barrier here. Soundtrack is killer. - Subsurface Circular Finished it before my BBLC post. Still not decided if I liked the way it ended. - Master Of Orion 2 C’mon. After playing three other pretenders to MoO2’s throne, I had to give the real deal a couple of spins too. It’s Civ 5 in space. Customisable race builds. A whole galaxy to bring peace to, by whichever means you prefer. Would love for someone else to get into it. - Touhou 8 Last minute entry I just played yesterday ‘cos I wanted some Touhou and I haven’t played this entry in a long while. A Solo Marisa Normal Final B run, if you’re interested. Kaguya beast-mode tearing apart the Spell Of Imperishable Night at the end of the game is still an awesome moment, but it’s a shame you can miss the last couple of spells if you take some unlucky hits. - And here’s the list of Bins, which are all covered in their BBLC post: No Time To Explain MoO Skyborn Jumpjet Rex StH 4 Ballistick Munch’s Oddysee Outland Project CARS RiME Magicka Waking Mars Urban Chaos Divinity: Dragon Commander Strike Suit Zero Hell Yeah! Lambda Wars Beta Stranger’s Wrath MoO 3 XCOM Lots more Fins than Bins this year! Good to see!

Unhand Her (Solavellan Fanfic)

[I have had this idea for months now and I had finally gotten around writing it. <3 Writing has been really therapeutic for me these last couple days. I hope to keep writing more. :D Enjoy.]

[Trigger Warnings: Violence and brief mention of physical harm and intention of rape. I should have put these earlier so forgive me. :( ]

Solas and Britannia rode side by side through the dense, serene forest of the Emerald Graves on their Harts. The pair had just finished a more thorough excursion of Din'an Hanin in search of any ancient artifacts. It was a much needed trip for the couple after the stressful experience of Halamshiral.

Night was beginning to fall. The pair dismounted and decided to make camp. A scout they had come across during their journey informed them of the remaining Red Templars that were still in the area. They were apparently few in numbers but still a possible threat. "I think we should both take a watch during the night." Britannia suggested as she set down her pack on a nearby log before securing their mounts.

Solas had begun setting up the tent. He responded with a low hum of approval. "That would be wise considering there are still templars in the region." He glanced at her. "Or would you rather ride a bit further to one of the Inquisition camps?" She simply shook her head.

"It is getting darker, vhenan. We wouldn't want to leave ourselves open for an ambush. There's no telling where they are lurking." She opened her bag and pulled out some supplies. Solas nodded as he turned his attention back to the tent. "Ma nuvenin." The pair busied themselves setting up their makeshift camp.

Little did they know, there was a lone templar nearby watching them from the thick brush.

__________________________

As soon as their camp was set up and a small fire was lit, the two sat together on the fallen log after enjoying a nice meal of Rabbit that Britannia had prepared. She had her head upon Solas' shoulder as he jotted down their findings of Din'an Hanin in his journal. They were content in each other's silence.

He soon closed his journal with a soft thud. He couldn't help the small yawn that escaped his lips. Britannia let out a light laugh as she lifted her head from his shoulder to glance up at him. "Tired already, vhenan? That eager to enter the Fade?" She teased. Solas chuckled softly and leaned in to place a light kiss upon her forehead.

"I woke up very early to prepare for the expedition. If you rather sleep, I can take the first watch?" He offered. Britannia gave him a small smile. "I can take the first watch, vhenan. You go and get some rest. I slept in a bit longer than you. I'll wake you when it is your turn." She leaned up slightly to peck his lips.

Solas returned the small kiss before rising to his feet. "Alright. Goodnight, vhenan. I know you can handle yourself just fine, but do be careful. You know how unpredictable the templars can be." He knew she was a very talented mage but he was very wary about the threat of templars. Britannia lifted her staff and settled it down next to her. "I'll be fine, ma lath. Don't worry."

With that, Solas headed to the tent. As he settled into his bedroll, he couldn't help the feeling of dread that creeped into his mind. He closed his eyes. He tried to sleep lightly, but the mage didn't know just how truly exhausted he was.

__________________________

A couple hours had passed since Solas turned in. Britannia softly hummed a Dalish melody as she added a bit more wood to the fire. Her tune was interrupted by a distant whistling sound. She stopped stoking the fire to glance around her surroundings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

She shrugged her shoulders and turned her attention back to tending the fire when she heard the sound yet again. She grabbed her staff. She glanced in the direction of the tent, internally debating whether she should wake Solas. The whistle broke her from her pondering. She decided to investigate the source of the sound herself.

She made her way towards the sound. She treaded lightly through the grove of trees. She cautiously observed her surroundings with each step she took, keeping her staff firm within her grasp. Something wasn't right. Perhaps she should turn back and wake Solas. When she turned, she bumped into cold metal.

A feeling of fear formed in the pit of her stomach as she hesitated to look up. She stood face to face with a Red Templar Knight. The templar sneered. "Hello, Inquisitor." His voice was gruff and filled with malice. She swallowed heavily and remained silent. A dark laugh left his marred lips. "Look boys...It's the mighty Inquisitor. The blessed Herald." He mocked.

Two other templars emerged from the darkness. The faint light of the full moon reflecting off their armor. "Didn't know luring her would be this easy." The other templar added. The knight simply laughed. "Well she is a knife-ear savage." She narrowed her eyes before casting a well aimed Stonefist at them, knocking them off their feet.

"You bitch!" The third templar cursed as he lunged at her. She dodged him effortlessly before striking him with a quick bolt of lightning. One of the fallen templars charged at her and knocked her back with his shield. Before she had time to recover, the knight struck her with a Holy Smite. She cried out as she fell to her knees. She felt so weak and powerless, but she knew she had to resist.

She gritted her teeth as she tried to stand. Her legs trembled. She lifted her staff to attempt one more spell. She managed to cast a ball of fire towards the knight. The flame singed his already deformed features. It was a small victory. The knight growled before smiting her once more.

The elf's knees buckled. She collapsed to the ground. She felt completely depleted of all her mana. She knew she had lost. The knight approached her and knelt down to look at her. "All heroes fall." He hissed before she felt her consciousness slip away.

_______________________

When she awakened, she was in an unfamiliar place. Everything seemed hazy and unfocused. Britannia attempted to move but her wrists and feet had been bound to a chair. A deep laugh filled the silence. "Well well well...Look who's awake." She blinked her eyes a few times in an attempt to focus. "Not so mighty now are we, Herald?" Another cold laugh.

"How pathetic." One of the men hissed before she was struck hard across her face. All three of the voices laughed in unison at her expense. Through her haze, she could make out the figures of three templars. "You won't get away with this..." She hissed at them.

The knight placed a hand underneath her chin to make her look at him. His maimed face came into focus. "Looks like we already have, pet. The master will be pleased." He grinned as he glanced back at his comrades. "I think we should have some fun before we hand her over. Samson only asked she be brought back alive...He never said in what condition." She felt like a Halla trapped in a den of mad wolves.

____________________________

Solas' eyes snapped open and he sat up in his bedroll. He could barely sense the power of the mark as he slept. He couldn't sense his vhenan. He scurried out of the tent and frantically searched for any sign of Britannia. The fire was nothing but faint glowing embers. She had been gone for sometime. He reached out with his mana to find hers. It was very weak. The feeling of dread filled him once more. Templars.

He grabbed his staff and retrieved his Hart, mounting him. He knew his heart was in grave danger. He needed to find her. He tapped his Hart's side with his foot and whipped the reins. "Ya!" He shouted as the Hart galloped from the campsite in the direction he could sense the mark.

He rode swiftly through the forest in search of her. He finally came across one of the old abandoned villas that were scattered throughout the Emerald Graves. He sensed the faint signature within the abandoned home. A templar shadow guarded the entrance. He knew he had to defeat it in order to get inside.

He dismounted and reached into his saddlebag, retrieving the Ring of Doubt. He slipped on the ring becoming invisible to the danger around him. He crept up on the Shadow, preparing his staff for attack. In a swift, graceful motion...Solas plunged his staff blade into the Shadow's throat.

The blood spattered onto his face and tunic as he watched the body crumple lifelessly to the ground. His icy gaze fell onto the door. "I'm coming, vhenan." He murmured to himself as he entered the villa.

_____________________________

It seemed like hours that the templars tormented her. They beat her, mocked her, and demeaned her....she refused to break. The knight circled her chair with a predatory gaze on his face. "You know...You're quite pretty for a knife-ear." He stopped in front of her, caressing her swollen and bruised cheek before leaning down to whisper. "Let's have a little fun. What do you say, Herald?" The way he purred her title caused her to shudder in disgust.

She spat into his face. "May the Dread Wolf take you." She hissed at the knight. He recoiled from her and wiped his face before grabbing her around her throat. "Your gods are useless here, rabbit." He tightened his grip and cackled. "Where's your wolf now?" The other templars joined in with his laughter.

"Remove your hands from her or I will remove them for you." Another voice growled. All of the templars grew silent and glanced towards the door. Solas stood in the doorframe with a look of rage. Britannia felt an overwhelming sense of relief and joy at the sight of him. "Solas..." She uttered breathlessly.

The knight scoffed at him. "Ah. You must be her knife-ear lover. Well you can watch as we take her right in front of you." He cackled once more before grabbing a fistful of her hair. She cried out in pain. "Get him, boys." He commanded.

Both templars charged at him. Solas stood in the doorway calmly as they came closer to him. With a smug huff, he fade-stepped behind them. He knocked one back with a Stonefist before trapping him within a Static Cage. The templar fell lifelessly to the floor.

The other templar lunged at him and swung his blade at the apostate. Solas dodged the attack before countering with veilstrike, stunning him briefly. He smirked and with a snap of his fingers...he encased the templar in ice before shattering him into pieces.

"Stay back!" The knight shouted as he stood behind Britannia with a dagger blade to her throat. "You come any closer and I'll kill her." He pressed the blade against her throat, drawing a bit of blood. Solas narrowed his eyes at him. In a blink of an eye, he fade-stepped behind the knight and wrapped an arm around his neck, jerking him backwards away from Britannia.

The dagger clattered to the floor. The knight struggled against the apostate's hold. Solas leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I told you not to touch her." He then snapped the knight's neck and practically threw him to the floor.

Solas stepped over the knight's body and retrieved the dagger. He cut the bindings on her wrists before moving in front of her. He knelt down to cut the bindings around her ankles. Britannia fell from the chair and wrapped her arms around Solas' neck.

"Vhenan.." She sobbed into the crook of his neck, clinging to him tightly. Solas wrapped his arms around her and held her against him, stroking her hair. "Shhh, vhenan...I'm here. You're alright." He stood and lifted her into his arms, cradling her slender form against his chest. "Let's go home."

A Real Boy - Chapter 4

"I don't know about going to Bruce Wayne, Tim... I mean, Clark said he's... unhinged." Conner told him. "A non-magi who obtained magi powers and use it to do good behind a mask? Really? If I don't know consequences of my action and whatnot, I'd probably use my powers to like, rule the world or something."

"And do what with the world under your orders? Make them allow you eat french fries and milkshakes at every meal?" Tim retorted.

"Oh no, that's Bart. But I could, you know." Conner replied nonchalantly. "But fries and shakes should be every day meal, anyway, along with bacon. I don't see why not. And for the love of all things mighty, while we're on the subject: in bacon we trust. I don't understand the concept of vegan bacon. If it's called bacon, it should have been made of animal parts. If there's no animal in it, it's veggie chips."

"City people don't burn as much calories on daily basis as you do, farmboy." Jason quipped. "Or like a speedster. But anyway, matter at hand! We - or more specifically, I - don't see Wayne as dangerous, and as you've pointed out yourself, he's been trying to resolve the issues between the faes and other kinds for quite a good long time now."

"He still gets his magi powers through an exchange with the devil or something, and I don't like it." Conner pointed out.

"Actually, he didn't make exchanges. He trained for his magi. You know that there are plenty of loose magical powers everywhere, right?" Jason tested.

"No?" Tim and Conner replied in unison, in the same tone. "How does that work?" Tim wanted to know.

"People like your dad, Tim, when they denied their heritage, their... essence-- or their mana, if you'd rather; would depart their bodies and just... leave. Other people can catch it through years - if not decades - of extensive training and make it their own." Jason explained. "On people like Wayne, the manifestation of the magick won't be as strong as those who was born with it. But it's there."

"Your dad was a witch? I thought it was your mom..." Conner commented.

"No, she wasn't. She was... a fae, apparently." Tim told him hesitantly. Conner - like all of his other friends, never asked of where their parents came from. Tim knew of his friends' heritage, largely because he looked them up. But they had never asked for his, and he has never told. Heck, he had only found out that his dad was a magi and mom was a fae when Jason told him. He was not sure of how Conner would react.

"Oh cool," was Conner's reaction. Tension promptly left Tim's body as he released the breath he didn't even realize he was holding. Jason's hand pressed on his back helped, as Jason seemed to notice Tim's tenseness even before Tim did. "So anyway, when a homo-magi denied their heritage - what does that even mean? I mean how could you just go up and say, 'dude, what even is magick and I don't want it kthanksbye'? Isn't it like saying something along the line of 'hey, I'm not Asian' in spite of like, having actual Asian-origin parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and so on?"

"Yeeeah, not so much. The essence is not visible, right? Unlike your Asian or African or European heritage that can be seen through your hair, eyes, or skin color. It's more like..." Jason paused as he searched for a comparison. "I dunno... More like the wolf saying I'm not wild therefore I'm not a wolf, but a dog?"

"Oookay..." Conner glared at Jason contemplatively. "Weird, but I can actually digest that. Surprise. Okay, so someone like Tim's dad forsaken his essence, and said essence just do a free-flow around the world until someone like Bruce Wayne come around and snatched it?"

"That-- is the very short nutshell version of it. Like a single-nut's shell." Jason almost snickered.

"But it's not gonna be necessarily Tim's dad's essence?" Conner clarified.

"No, not necessarily." Jason confirmed. "That was just an example."

"So Bruce Wayne had actually trained and get his magick essence." Tim remarked. "Why him? I mean, there's got to be more people like him, right? People who has trained hard and earned magickal abilities."

"Yes and no. Yes, there are people like him who'd trained hard and get a magickal essence. But most of them would have sacrificed something - or someone - to get to where Bruce is. The best those others could do is maybe make a rabbit come out of a hat. Or lasers out of their fingers or eyes or whatever orifice they opted it to come out from. And I could only name a very small handful who would use it to protect others."

That logic Tim could understand. Nobody who lived in Gotham hasn't heard of Bruce Wayne, the metaphorical 'Prince' of Gotham. The only heir of Wayne family after five solid generations of money that built Gotham City. Bruce had lost his parents to murder that happened in a robbery gone bad when he was ten. And after a stint-slash-disappearing overseas, he reemerged in Gotham some years ago and stated right away that he was going to fix it. He has been pouring money and effort and support and all that is needed to rebuild Gotham from the slum it was once to the metropolitan city it is today.

The magi side of Tim, however, knew that the money and effort and support and planning were not the only things Bruce Wayne had given. Once upon a time, Tim had seen Bruce out at night, wearing a bat mask that covered half his face and cape that flowed around him menacingly. He was working in stopping magi-based crimes. The lore of the 'Bat-man' has been around since Tim was about three or four, and a few years ago, he had finally managed to see it on his own. 

There were many monsters - to put it mildly - that were stopped by Bruce's alter ego before they could hurt their prey. Vampirical magis who had tried to use blood or other humans' life or fear to boost their powers; demonic misfits who only wanted to destroy and hurt others for their own benefit; miscreant goblins and hoarders who did not care for the non-magis in lieu of possession of random artifacts or cursed objects, and abandoned mystical beasts that needed to feed after they were discarded by their previous owners.

Yes, Bruce Wayne has done a lot of good for Gotham. But still, he was a warlock - someone who hunts magical beings and creatures. Even if he had - so far - done it behind a mask and only toward magis who abused their powers, Tim was a magi. Likewise with his teammates. Cassie's magick might be more... tolerable for Wayne, known for his association with Cassie's mentor, Diana Prince. But Rachel? Rachel was a full-on demon with a demon as her dad.

Which made it a not-good idea to cross path with Bruce Wayne, a warlock.

The only thing Tim would have asked, if he would ever cross Bruce Wayne in person - preferably in private, is why would he hide his face. It's not like the authorities would do anything to stop him if they knew it was him, anyway. A magi could probably tell right away who he was, mask or no mask. He was fooling no one in Tim's side of the world.

"Yeeeah, regardless. Clark said he's pretty hard on his stance against magickal things. Claimed he'd only used his abilities to contain rogue magicks. Personally, I'm not comfortable that you'd bring Tim to him. He's... he could find out about our gang." Conner argued.

"Annnd... your gang isn't exactly a 'bad kids' gang', anyway. What's your problem?" Jason countered.

"He doesn't sound like someone who could be reasoned with." Conner deadpanned.

"He's a Gothamite born and bred." Jason countered.

"Eh, he's got a point." Tim shrugged. Gothamites were not people to be reasoned with. They just do things or don't do things. "'Sides, that's kind of exactly what I'm like." he added.

"You can still be reasoned with," Conner argued.

"I'm also sixteen. Wayne is-- what? In his 30s? He's got to have a lot more experience and reasons why he can't be reasoned with. All I would need to do is talk to him and tell him of Jason's warning. It stands to reason that he'd never heard of anything like this if he doesn't have a familiar."

Conner sighed exasperatedly. "Fine," he eventually said. "But please remember, once Wayne knows of us, we may not be safe. So please, please, please, please leave the lot of us out of this."

"That's a lot of 'please'," Jason commented.

"That's to emphasize just how much I mean it." Conner retorted.

"Okay! Oh my goddess, you don't have to be dramatic!"

"Besides, who said he hasn't known about you all, yet?" Jason grinned impishly, and Tim felt like tossing the coffee pot to his head when Jason turned to him and warned. "Don't. Even."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Tell me his personality is generic and isn't an aspect of mine." he told Conner.

"No, you're a lot more fun and less sass." Conner replied, and then frowned; "...or is it more sass and less fun? Or more fund - with a 'd'? Anyway, no he's not like you."

"That's a relief..." Tim dryly remarked. "...at least I know that you think highly of my funding abilities."

"Hey, I'm just a poor farm boy." Conner replied, smiling sweetly.

"...so you relinquished your dignity to let Tim be your sugar daddy. Yay." Jason quipped.

The coffeepot came flying toward Jason's head manually, courtesy of Conner, and Jason cackled while avoiding it.

"Guys, really..." Tim sighed, glaring forlornly at the spilled coffee. Nary a drop of it had hit Jason, nor the pot that he had caught neatly. But there was a large line of coffee puddle across the living room now. "You two derps better clean that up, or I'll throw something bigger and heavier and magickal-er next!"

Arc 01: REUNION

::CODY::

I place an arrow to my bowstring and send it flying. I got the animal right on its head. I beam in pride. With Meeko hunting everything in sight, I was happy to take one down on my own. Even if I was just on a blind waiting for game to pass by. I climbed down the tree I was perched on and picked up the dead, fallen raccoon. I went over to the red head sitting on a tree stump.

"Lori, Lori! I got a raccoon!"

Lori smiles at me in a way that seems like I got something better. He's always encouraging like that. "Good job, Code." he ruffles my hair. "and you got it at the head, that's a good shot." He takes it from me and put it and places it inside a burlap sack along with a few of Meeko's other kills.

Lori scrunches up his nose though when he did that. The smile earlier was just for me. He eats meat like the rest of us but he never really liked killing the creatures himself, and mentioned something about how he used to be something called a 'Vegan' or something. I didn't understand it before, but he told me it was something like empathy... I don't really know what that means either, Lori only told me it was like knowing how the animals feel. He said it was the same way we didn't like it when we were attack by Rabids and how these animals must have not wanted to be attacked by us. It was confusing because while we all know Rabids are bad, Lori tells me that it didn't mean we were bad for needing to eat them to survive and something about survival of the fittest, uh, that meant the instinct that drives us to eat any animals we could. It's confusing. But I get it a little bit and also try to kill them instantly so they wouldn't fill pain before they died. Lori understood that it couldn't be helped, we needed meat for food. While we never ran out of food because Kytes did have gardens, it wouldn't be filling. And I don't like veggies much either. So if I only had to eat that forever, I'd go rabid.

I watch Lori take his knife and pull out an apple. He starts to cut it in half so we can share. I stare at his face and start playing this mind game I think to myself, pretending Lorri was his brother and giving him stuff he might say instead. Right now, Lori might say Here, let's share it. While Meeko might say Hehe, wanna see who eats his share the fastest? And he'd give me the slightly bigger share. He would pretend its so he can win, but he would really want me to accept the bigger half without me feeling guilty. I pretend I don't know that because I really like apples. I stop feeling guilty when Corrin explain to me that it's a way of showing how you care.

Whenever I play this game, it makes me realize how identical Lori and Meeko actually are. It was hard to remember that, since whenever you hear them and see how they act, the differences were more obvious that people easily forget the similarities, like the same red hair and the same yellow eyes. Though their hair styles were giveaways too, since Meeko's was usually tousled and sticking out while Lori was much more clean looking, the ends near his neck curving slightly, though their attitudes were more of stand outs so them looking alike wasn't really obvious.

"Here, let's share it Code." Lori gives me my half. "this one's yours."

Nailed it, I smile proudly to myself. "Thanks, Lori!"

"Anytime," Lori chuckles, ruffling my hair.

I liked that feeling a lot, it really helps me relax. Still, no matter how relax we might feel at the moment, our instincts were always sharp, Lori's more so than mine since he's older. He was the one who carried me and got us out of the way just in time as Meeko bursts through some bushes, riding on top of a Rabid Sheep.

An actual sheep is actually not so scary, they're real fluffy and cute, sometimes a little stupid. I was watching over our flocks, the ones we take care of for clothes, with Jonah when a rabid wolf tried to eat one lamb. While Jonah fought back as I watched the flock, I can say I was more rattled than they were. They kept eating grass the entire time!

As for any animal's brain internally affected by radiation, they go Rabid. Unlike people, they don't die instantly though. Well, most don't anyway. Any Rabid creature is potentially bad, even a Rabid Squirrel or Mouse since they usually attack in numbers. On the safe side, we don't eat them. It's easy to tell the difference of a Normal and a Rabid. The Normal types are... Well, normal. While the Rabids are colossal, scary, sometimes deformed and really smart.

But leave it to Meeko to make it look fun to take them on.

"Woo-hoo! I got you now you giant cream puff!" Meeko laugh. "Loreal, Coco Bean, clear the way!"

Meeko duplicates himself. The clone went in front of the sheep. It's kinda funny that was his power when he already has an official look alike, except his actual clone acts way different than he does. The sheep got confused long enough for Meeko to jump down, landing on his feet safely. Then, he took out his double-edged saber, pulling it back like one would with a baseball bat and—

Well, Lori closes my eyes before I can see more. Meeko is pretty brutal when he hunts, and he's got a lot of bravery. I hope I can be as courageous someday like these two, and that's one of their common traits. I really look up to them a lot and I really like them, but I guess that doesn't really say a lot since I like everyone. Trey used to tell me that I would only hate an enemy. So far, I never had a chance to see if that were true.

"Okay, you can look now." Lori pulls his hand back.

I run towards Meeko, "That was awesome! Well... I didn't see all of it, but I bet it was awesome!"

"You know it, Coco Bean!" He ruffles my hair. Lori approaches us and I tell Meeko about my own raccoon. He congratulates me, saying if I keep that up, I could hunt just as hardcore as him.

"Woah, now let me stop you right there." The other Meeko interrupted—and I mean Lori, not a clone. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves or even hope that. I think one hardcore hunter is enough, and sometimes one too many... And I mean that almost literally." He smirks. He crossed his arms and look down at the dead sheep with a grimace. "now that you had your fun, please tell me you at least remembered to hunt actual game we can take home and eat. I'll admit, that sheep is larger than three of us put together even if it were a Normal."

I kick it a bit. "If there were Normals that size. I don't think we can even get a thing that big through the hotel doors."

I guess I should explain the hotel bit.

That's our home base right now. It's not a permanent settlement, though. We have a whole bunch of base because we can't stay in them for more than four months and a half. Actually, the a half part is the longest we can last in any base. Things change around an awful lot where we live. I don't know if it's the same with the rest of the world because we can't travel all over it, and Rhys only has guess that it might not be as bad as ours. And he knows most things. Rhys called our part of the surface, our division, Surface R. In other words, SURFACE RADIOACTIVE. He told me about the radiation triggered something in the atmosphere, something called Mana, in a time before I was even born. He said when something from outer space came crashing down and changed everything, it landed in our division, back then called a country, so the Mutated Mana altered people like us; have spread most around here to the point that it gave us unique abilities. I don't know why it's called unique when everyone up here pretty much has it, but Rhys said it wasn't normal to have these abilities in the time before I was born.

I don't get much with the rest of his explanation, but I do understand that the past must be really different from now. I also know that we are in a location where things always change. It can be perfectly safe one minute then suddenly everything's chaotic a second later. Also, the other things that got loose Mana energy doesn't like us much. So when one area gets too dangerous, we move to another. They never stay dangerous forever, so we can come back later. That's what scouts are for, they visit the bases ahead of time and check which is the safest to move into. Right now, the hotel is perfectly safe. But since things always change... Well, you'll never know when danger will strike. I don't remember if there was a time that we were without risk of being in danger. Because even at night, while we're sleeping, if the sentries sound the alarm, we have to prepare for action. That's why we've gotten used to trusting and relying on each other.

It keeps us all alive.

Meeko waves off Lori's words. "Yeah, did that first." he gives me another burlap sack, and I tip over because of the weight. "Easy kills."

"What do you have in here?" Lori picks up my arrows and places them back inside the quiver before helping me with the sack.

Meeko shrugs. "The usual. Three foxes, five rabbits, some squirrels. A turkey and half a boar for bacon." We stare at him for a full second. "I had to give up the other half so it could fit the bag since this big guy suddenly attacked."

"Wow," Lori whistles, impressed but not all that surprise. This was his brother after all. "that's a new record. Good hunting."

Meeko scowls. "Good? That's excellent hunting!"

"Except you only got a half animal for bacon. Plus, your ego needs deflating." Lori laughs. "Well, it's a Rabid, but since it's a sheep, we can't let the wool go to waste. It's sturdier than a Normal's wool, after all." He takes his knife and approaches the lifeless sheep, getting to work.

We help him out so we can finish faster and head back. Halfway through, though, I hear leaves rustling, feeling a chill down my spine, and then the thumping vibration from the ground.

Lori must've felt it too. "Cody, Meeko, take a flank!"

I take up Lori's left side, notching an arrow and Meeko takes his right, raising his sword. Then other three rabid sheep come bursting into the glade. I send the arrow flying but it didn't get the eye. Not that it'd be an instant kill, but I could've at least partially blind it. Rabids aren't easily taken down like regulars. What Meeko did earlier might've been an extreme. They weren't as big and colossal as the one he took down but still, about seven feet tall and who-knows-wide doesn't fall under small either.

"Uh oh. I think the one I killed was a mommy..."

I look at him. "Oh. But Meeko, I don't think she could tell her kids not to eat us. She'd probably help them."

Meeko gives me a weird look. "Er, that really wasn't my point..." he says.

A sheep charges towards us. We spread out. But I stumble on my feet.

"Cody! Look out!"

I look up, barely able to shoot my arrow right on the sheep's eye. Thankfully, my arrow had already been placed and it was close enough for me to get a good, clear shot. But I'm unable to get a next arrow ready when the sheep jumps over head.

"Cody!" Meeko swoops by and carries me out of the way.

I hug him around the neck. "Thank you, Meeko! That was scary!"

"Meeko," Lori comes over. "three on three isn't a fair fight if it's against Rabids. That's your cue!"

Meeko looks a little embarrassed. "Ehe, about that..." he holds up his watch. "I might've overdone it a bit earlier during the hunt and my POWER GAUGE is on full bars..." suddenly, his watch sparks and the green-lit screen turned black. "...aaand now the battery's dead..."

"Are you serious now?!" Lori looks amazed... but not the good kind.

"Don't be mad!"

"Well, I can't be happy!"

I didn't have time to pay attention to this argument because I realize I was missing something. The lace that kept my pacifier around my neck was gone! I know I'm ten years old and a little sucker is not something I need, but it was the last and only thing I ever got from my parents. I was a baby when I was still with them. I don't know who they were and what parents even were until Corrin explained it to me. I may not have known them, but I do know that if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be alive and that they must've loved me because that's what they do. So even if a baby item is all I have left as proof that they existed, then I can't lose it!

I scan the area and found it a few meters far and raced to retrieve it.

"You know, you can be so... Wait, what is... CODY?! No, wait!"

"Huh?!"

I pick it up. "Got it!" In the next instant, I'm shoved away and I see Lori being body slammed by one of the sheep. I gasp. "NOO!"

"LORI! No, no, no!" Meeko screams after me, rushing over. But then he is held back to fight off the other two. "GET LOST, DAMN IT!"

I look at the sheep on top of Lori and wait. He doesn't use his powers. He doesn't go through it even as the sheep is tired and doesn't move. It only means he's hurt.

"Lori!"

Then it happened. I felt goosebumps and the sheep floated to the air. But it's hard to keep it there. Meeko got to escape the other two sheep, carrying Lori who looked injured with some scratch marks. But he was still conscious. They were out of the way and I mentally dropped the sheep. My knees buckles up and I collapse. The two sheep went for me. I didn't have the strength to move.

"CODY!"

Then there's fire and I felt the heat. When my vision clears, the animals were burnt and I see our leader stepping into the glade.

"TREY!" I bound up towards him, limping a bit. I wrap my arms around his lower torso. "Lori's hurt!"

Trey pat my head. "I know, I see his wounds. But let's not panic, kiddo." We walk towards the twins. Trey helps Meeko support Lori. Then, he instructs me. "Take the sacks you can carry and get them back to the base. Alert Rhys, Code 4 for A1."

"What's Code 4 and A1 again?" I've just taken up lessons and still get terms mixed up.

"Rabid Animals. A1 is Area 1."

"Got it!"

I take a burlap sack, Meeko's, and run as fast as I can despite the extra weight. The last words I hear behind me are from Lori. I didn't know what it mean so it probably didn't matter.

"Don't tell him anything."

DEATH CITY DAYS CHAPTER 87

from fevers, to tournaments, to gang activity and more

[[cont from part 86]]

Akitaru: *looking at an old album...and a photo* "..." {ami: up! up!} {Akiaru: *picks her up, making a plane sound* "Zoooom!"} {ami: *laughs*} {chitose: ^^} {Akitaru: "Like that?" *imitates pilot's voice* "Roger, roger, Ami is in flight..."} {ami: ^o^} {Akitaru: "Hee hee...High-flying girl!" *brings Ami over to Chitose*} {chitose: the baby has landed! *kisses ami's forehead*} {ami: mama!} {chitose: ^^} {Akitaru: "Smart kid..." *rubs Ami's back*} Akitaru: "..." *wipes his eyes* shinra: sir? Akitaru: "Yep?" shinra: is everything ok? Akitaru: "Just...nostalgic." *holds up an album* shinra:....*hug* Akitaru: "..." *pat pat* "Thanks." -elsewhere- Shotaro: *chasing a bird in the backyard with Bone of the Cat* chie: *rocking toru* io: ba! setsuna: so nice to be out of the house now ^^ mana: *uneasy* Shotaro: *pops up, the bird now sitting on his forehead* "What up, Mana?" mana: just tense..... Shotaro: "...But it's springtime! What could go wrong?" mana: its peaceful, yes, but knowing how life is, im not sure how long that will last before things go crazy.... chie: .... Shotaro: ^w^ "That's why me and my crazy bone powers are here!" mana:....*sigh* same ol' showtaro. -elsewhere- Akutagawa: *crosses his arms* "...They attacked children?" higuchi: unbelievable.... Akutagawa: "What is the Hell Blaze?" naoya: some gang of flame humans causing trouble. Akutagawa: "...Where do they congregate? The slums?" naoya: likely, but it'd be to risky right now... Akutagawa: "Then let me know when you have intelligence predicting their locations, patterns, numbers..." naoya:....right.... -elsewhere- stocking: *drying herself off after a bath* Kid: *enters the bedroom* stocking: hey hun~ Kid: *smiles* "Hello. How are you?" stocking: just got all freshened up ^^ *takes a seat, with one leg out* Kid: "..." *rests his hand lightly on her ankle* stocking: *smirk* Kid: *traces up his finger* stocking: ah~ Kid: "How was your bath?" *moves his finger up* stocking: it was nice. u///T Kid: "But...was something wrong..." *his hand reaches her thigh* stocking: oh? Kid: "Maybe...lonely?" stocking: now that you mention it...yes. Kid: "I'm sorry...I wish I was here..." *his hand slides up to her hip* "...more often." stocking: *licks her lips* you may want to lock the door. Kid: *pulls back his hand, slowly* "Wait right there..." *walks, locks* stocking: *smirk* -elsewhere- Steinbeck: "Hmm..." *looking at claw marks on a tree* baum: creepy... dorothy: could be a big wolf... Steinbeck: "Nah, Hound of the Baskerville is in Dartmoor..." dorothy: oh. [-somewhere in the world, a certain person is sneezing, but that is neither here nor there-] Steinbeck: "Unless it's another beast...What do they look like to you, Baum?" baum: cant say for sure. could be a bear? Steinbeck: "Yeah...I've seen lion claws, but not like this--" dorothy:..............there's hoofsteps coming. Steinbeck: "???" *looks* ("A carriage? Out here? ...No, that's one horse--") baum: *takes dorothy and hides in the bushes, dragging steinbeck along as well* Steinbeck: "GRRK--!" baum: shhh!.... Steinbeck: -n- "Hmph." *looks through the bushes* *there's someone on horseback* Steinbeck: "Hmm..." ("What are they checking?") ????: *riding along*..... Steinbeck: "Who are they? I can't see their face..." ????:........*continues on* Steinbeck: "...Wish Ernest was here to track them." -elsewhere- Touma: "...What even is this?" worker: we arent sure, we found it near our texas branch. there might be a vampire nest out that way, but we dont know exactly where... Touma: "..." *leans back in his chair* "Anyone looking into it?" worker: we have a few guys checking into it now. Touma: "Any assistance required?" -elsewhere- sayaka: we're heeeere! kilik: *nod* Jacqueline: *stretches* "Glad to..." kim: alright, where's the hotel? Harvar: *staring at his phone...it's not a map--he's just reading social media* ox: *checking for a map* Jacqueline: *looks at the buildings...smiles* "This should be good." sayaka: so any idea what the mission is? Jacqueline: "Surveillance, to start." sayaka: gotcha. ox: as for what exactly is still unclear. Jacqueline: "You know Lord Death--mysterious ways and all that..." Harvar: *yawns* "Just point me to the game shop." -morning- Sakuya: *stretches, looks out the window* "..." naho: *yaaaawn* Belkia: *hanging from the window by his underwear* otogiri: *pulls him back in* Belkia: *pants* "I-I thought I could climb it..." -elsewhere- Kafka: *lying in the infirmary bed, staring up at the ceiling* "..." -knock- Kafka: "...What?" *glances at the door* etta: *wave* you ok, franzy? Kafka: .\\\\. *looks away* "F-Fine..." -\\\\- etta:....one of the kids has something for you... Kafka: "...What would they have to give me?" etta: *looks down* its ok, dont be shy. ^^ Bessy: O~O *inches up to Kafka's bed* Kafka: "..." *hard stare* "Well? What is it?" Bessy: >~< *holds up the drawing* *It's of the kids and George holding hands with Kafka...a roach-like cartoonish Kafka. It says "Thanks Mr Roachman"* Kafka: "..." Q______Q etta: ^^ Bessy: "I-I'm sorry it doesn't look good..." Kafka: "...I suppose...it's the thought that counts." *nods* "Thank you." *wipes his eyes* "I-I'll hang it up...when I'm out of this bed." Bessy: QwQ etta: want me to hang it up? Kafka: "...Would you? Please?" -she does so- Kafka: "...That looks really nice." Bessy: ^w^ -elsewhere- Kunikida: *pouring milk* "Eat up." aya: *nom* ^u^ Kunikida: "What do you want to do today?" aya: after school, can we go to the market plaza? Kunikida: *nods* "Something you wanted to buy?" aya: i need to get a new pencil case. Kunikida: "??? I could pull one out of the notebook." aya: could you? *shiny eyes* Kunikida: *opens his book, writes--and summons...a very plain pencil case* aya:....i could use some stickers or something. maybe we can buy those? Kunikida: "Oh. ...Okay, yes." aya: ^^ Kunikida: "Perhaps Yosano is shopping as well..." aya: yeah, maybe... -elsewhere- Kyoka: *playing on her phone* sylvia: s-so you have two phones then? Kyoka: *nods* "One for games, one for my ability." sylvia: i-i see. Kyoka: "...You don't have one?" sylvia: n-no... Kyoka: "...I know where we are going today: phone shopping." sylvia: b-b-but isnt that expensive? i-i wouldnt want to burden- Kyoka: *holds up a credit card* sylvia: a-a-are you r-r-really s-sure? Kyoka: *nods* "Kunikida told me to get you one--but I didn't want to push it." sylvia: um o-o-ok.... -elsewhere- Gogol: *reading* yana: <hey kolya, how's work?> Gogol: =_= *yawns* <Dull.> yana: <i could imagine.> Gogol: *stretches* <Also, it's like it's someone's birthday everyday. I've eaten so much cake I'm now 10% frosting.> yana: <then feed it to passing strays?> elizaveta: OvO Gogol: <I CANNOT TURN DOWN CAKE!> elizaveta: *puppy whine* O~O Gogol: "..." *head pat* <I'll bring Tubberware to bring some home.> elizaveta: YAY!! ^o^ Gogol: ^w^ -elsewhere- Chuuya: "I guess you all have more kids to teach now." hans: TTuTT Motojiro: "--and field trips and group projects and graduation ceremonies and midnight breakfast final exam cram sessions--" >w< higuchi: um.... (maybe field trips are a bit questionable for now...) Walter: "I don't think you can out to field trips..." *puts on a miner's helmet* "Not without THE POWER OF IMAGINATION!!!" hans:...^^; good point. Chuuya: ._.; "How are the kids getting along with the new ones?" Jakob: "Higher! Need another chair!" philip: ayeaye sir! ^^ Chuuya: "???" *looks* "..." O_o *they have stacked chairs into some Dr. Seussian mess to reach the cookie jar on the top shelf* sonia:.... Chuuya: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Jakob: "?!" *losing balance* wilhelm: D8> george: careful! Jakob: *falling* "AAAAAH-" *catch* Chuuya: *panting* wilhelm: yay! tom: _that_ was scary.. Chuuya: *judgmental dad face* tom: Q^Q; wilhelm: OvO;; Chuuya: "That...was dangerous. At least ask for a ladder." Jakob: -3- ("What's the fun in that?") leo: *picks up the jar from the shelf* or maybe you could just ask? Jakob: "...Wow, you're tall." Chuuya: -_-# leo: i guess i am... katya: -_-## Chuuya: T~T Jakob: "Can I be tall like you?!" leo: maybe someday. ^^; Jakob: ^w^ Bessy: *takes a cookie* -elsewhere- Kunikida: "What about these stickers? They are practical and show dates, mathematical equations, and chemistry formulas." aya: hmmm... Kyoka: "Hello." aya: hey kyouka! Kyoka: *waves* Kunikida: *nods to her* "...Is someone behind you?" sylvia: .~. Kunikida: "Miss Plath, hello. Shopping as well?" sylvia: *mumbles something* Kunikida: "...Um..." *nods* "Aya, maybe Sylvia would like to see stickers?" sylvia: uhhhhh...... aya: did you want to? sylvia: uhhhhhhhhhhhh...... Kyoka: "...They got star stickers." sylvia: m-maybe these ones *they're black flowers* Kyoka: "Those look nice." *hands them to Sylvia* sylvia: ...t-they arent too depressing, are they? aya: i think they're fine. -elsewhere- Yumi: "He's been up there for an hour. No one can wake him up." Aizawa: *asleep...his sleeping bag hanging by the top spire of the DWMA* valentine: how did he even get _up_ there? present mic: this isnt the weirdest place i've found him either....*inhales* WAKEY WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!! Aizawa: "..." *eyes break open* O________O#### valentine: Q-Q lord death:....owie. Yumi: *covering her ears* T_T# Aizawa: "..." *his scarves slip out of the bag and lower him to the ground* "...I was sleeping." -elsewhere- Dazai: "Hello~" ango:....*siiighs* Dazai: "I brought coffee!" *holds up one cup* ango: great. Dazai: *and sips the cup* ^w^ 'What are you having?" ango:................... apperantly not coffee. -_.-# Dazai: "Work keeping you busy, though?" *picks up a file* ango: as it always does. Dazai: "What about what our demon is up to?" ango: still in prison, but the guard staff hasnt been well around him... Dazai: "...Physically?" ango: mentally. he knows how to get into their heads, their weaknesses...it's discomforting... Dazai: "Jeez, don't I know that." ango: he treats this whole thing like its all a game to him.. Dazai: "Because it is. And the prize is people's pain." ango: ...*shudders* Dazai: "...No ability users you found who could, you know, handle him?" ango: that's the thing, most everyone is too afraid to speak with him. Dazai: "Hmm...Maybe a deaf person should talk to him?" ango: it's a possibility... Dazai: "Good." *takes out a pen* "This will only hurt for a moment--" ango: DAZAI NO. *CHOP* Dazai: *collapsed* XwX ango: thank you mr taneda. Taneda: *rubbing his hand* "No problem..." ango: i'll send a call for someone to pick him up now. Taneda: "While we wait, want to draw things on his face?" ango: ...the offer is tempting... Taneda: "Well, I'm writing the Agency's phone number--someone needs to know where to return him..." *takes the cap off the pen* -elsewhere- george: so, when did you all join sturm? Leroux: "..." Q_Q hans: well, i joined before the rest of the group here. etta: i joined sometime after roro did. Leroux: *nods* george: ah. Walter: "I was here before Etta, and Kafka joined after she did." wilhelm: and we....hey bro when did we join again? cant remember. ^^; Jakob: "..." ^^; "After Kafka..." -elsewhere- Black Star: "It's been quieter without all of them around." tsubaki: i just hope they havent gotten into too much trouble... -in vegas- Shamrock: *drunk and riding a mechanical bull* "WHEEEEE! Yee-haw!" otogiri: *facepalming* lavender: looks like _someones_ having fun~ ^^ Sakuya: *filming in on his phone* "YEP!" Higan: ^^; "He didn't even drink much..." misono: -_-; Lily: *holding an appletini* "Ride 'em, sheep herder!" himawari: please be careful. D8> Shamrock: "I'm fine! I feel so alive! I'm never coming off this--" *trip* X_o; "?!" *falls off--crashing on the mat* lavender: aaand he's out. Higan: "In more ways than one..." Shamrock: *drooling* "Zzz..." *snore* himawari: *trying to help him up* Shamrock: "M-M-Ma-Mas-Master..." otogiri:...*sigh* Sakuya: "...This got sad." lavender: come on, lets get you washed off. Shamrock: "O-Okay..." -elsewhere- madoka: *ACHOO* *whimper* junko: *knocks* hey kiddo, i brought you some soup. madoka: thanks mom. tomohisa: madoka, you have a visitor! madoka: *sniff* whoozit? *Rin's head pokes in* Rin: *wave* "Hello." ^^ madoka: *smile* hey ri-*COUGHING* *sniff* hey rin. Rin: "Hey...I'm sorry you're under the weather..." madoka: happens to the best of us ^^; Rin: "Best of the best, too." *sits* "Shiemi had some recommendations that I brought over..." madoka: *sits up and smiles* Rin: *takes them out* "Just some natural supplements to build up your immune system..." *looks at her, smiles* "I hope it helps..." madoka: thanks babe. ^///^ Rin: ^\\\^ "Only the best for you..." *hands her some with a glass of water* "You been getting some sleep?" madoka: *she nods* Rin: "No fever dreams?" madoka: none i can remember, luckily... Rin: "Well, maybe this all will give you even better sleep. And after you have soup, I'll come by tomorrow with some food!" madoka: i'd like that. ^^ -elsewhere- Akutagawa: *staring at a candle* "..." naoya: something on your mind, akuta? Akutagawa: "Still thinking about that gang..." naoya: .....touched somethin' pretty close to home, huh? Akutagawa: "Mmm..." naoya:....*pap* Akutagawa: "...Thank you." -elsewhere- *knock on the 8th's door* nozomi: ?? *checks the door* *There's a young woman outside...sparkling* nozomi: ah- tamaki: DONT OPEN IT. Yotsuba: "I brought cupcakes! Hello? Is anyone home? ..." Vulcan: *in the garage, overhearing* "???" *looks* -elsewhere- Jacqueline: *looking through binoculars* kim: anything? Jacqueline: "No signs of any target...They should come any moment now." -elsewhere- Kepuri: *hugging the robotic arm* "Hello, sweetie! Did you miss Mommy~?" >w< Yohei: -_-;;;; foien: *sweatdrop* Yohei: "Just a routine check-up, I promise. How is it working?" foien: working well. Yohei: "Any discomfort?" *measuring some readings on his smart phone* -elsewhere- Shamrock: *collapsed asleep in bed* "..." *shivers* himawari: ..... Shamrock: "M-Master..." himawari:....*sigh* Shamrock: *shivers, opens his eye* "...Where am I?" himawari: back in the hotel room. Shamrock: "What happened? My head..." himawari: you had a bit much to drink... Shamrock: X_T "No kidding..." *holds his head* himawari: do you want some water? Shamrock: *nods* -elsewhere- Lucy: "--and more of them keep showing up at shops, causing trouble or robbing bystanders." yosano: damn. kenji: want us to talk to 'em? Lucy: "I don't have much to pay you, but yes. I figured you all would be crazy enough to confront them." kenji: you got it, miss lucy! Lucy: *nods* "Thank you! Now, what information do you need? I took notes and made a sketch of the suspects--" *holds up a crudely drawn face* yosano: ...well, any idea where they were last seen? Lucy: "I saw them up the street last night, around 10, when I was putting out the trash. Then they walked up north." yosano: i see. -elsewhere- Haumea: *hand on a radio* "...Hmm..." *listening* -...- Haumea: "...?!!!" dahlia: lady haumea? did something happen? Haumea: "...I think I found a pirate radio station..." ???: "--and coming your way to get you out--" dahlia: ?? ???: "So tune in, because we are coming our way to your house to get you out of trouble--here at KFRE, Fire Radio!" ???: "Panda?! What are you doing?!" ???: woah, where did you find that old thing? Haumea: -_- "This sucks. Put on some Rage!" Charon: *walks by* "What are you doing?" dahlia: lady haumea had found some homemade station. Charon: *listens* "??? Is it sketch comedy?" -elsewhere- Master: "Mana, your tea." *passes it* mana: thanks. *sip* Master: "So, how are things going for you and Mono?" mana: alright, i guess. but i guess i feel like im in a sinkhole in life. Master: "??? Like everything is monotonous?" mana: yeah, like my life hasnt been going anywhere. =3= maybe i should go on a trip somewhere? Master: *nods* "Maybe more training? Any teacher you wanted to train with?" mana: hmmm... are there any tournaments coming up? Master: "I got one in the mail, actually..." mana: *shiny eyes* for reals?! Master: "Up in Salt Lake..." mana: awesome! Master: *hands her the flyer* "Looks like you can register online..." mana: thanks sir! -elsewhere- Kurogiri: "--and that's where you will visit." hina: niiice. Kurogiri: "You'll have a ride to take you there, and we want you to find intelligence and only capture specific targets..." hina: yeah yeah. Kurogiri: "...Repeat back what I said." hina: 'find intelligence and only capture specific targets' i heard ya. Kurogiri: "Very good." *holds up the vehicle keys* "Here you go." Hina: awesome! -elsewhere- Todoroki: *baking cookies* "Thank you for the recipe." ochako: no problem. ^^ Todoroki: "Should help with my home ec grade...You bake often?" ochako: sometimes. Todoroki: "With family?" *takes them out* ochako: yeah. yuu's a lot better at it than i am, though. Todoroki: "How is she?" ochako: doing good last i heard. -elsewhere- Gogol: *pets Barkova* barkova: =v= yana: she seems satisfied. elizaveta: i thought she died. Gogol: "Evidently not..." yana: hmm... Gogol: "What does she like?" yana:....i honestly dont know. in all the years she's been here, all we know is that she acts like a dog...its kind of messed up. Gogol: "Maybe jerky?" -elsewhere- Damon: "Is he asleep?" becky: i think so. Damon: "...Want to do something for him?" becky: like what? Damon: "Maybe make him something to eat?" -elsewhere- Vulcan: *nom* "Hey, that's not bad!" Yotsuba: *eating in the garage* "Thanks!" lisa: *sweatdrop* Vulcan: "Lisa, hey! This one from the 1st came with cupcakes! You got to try them..." tamaki: *snarls* lisa: ._.; Yotusba: "Your hair looks amazing! What do you use?" *not looking at Tamaki* Vulcan: *but he is* ._.;;; lisa: um... ._.;;; shinra: *holding back laughter* my god, they've multiplied tenfold! tamaki: *punches him without even looking at him* Vulcan: O_O; Yotsuba: ^w^;;; "I see Tamaki is full of vim and vigor...How are you?" tamaki: just. dandy. ^^##### Yotsuba: "Super! I saved a special cupcake for you..." *holds it up* *it has a crude drawing of her and Tamaki holding hands with the word "FRIENDS" under them* tamaki: ......*forcing a smile, as blood trickles from the corner of her lip* how....thought...ful..... ^^####### Yotsuba: *claps* "Yay!" Vulcan: .____.; *protective stance in front of Lisa* -elsewhere- Shotaro: *picks up Toru* toru: buba? Shotaro: "Howdy, tiny baby!" -elsewhere- Kyoka: "Yay, stickers. How do you like them?" sylvia: t-thank you.... Kyoka: *smiles* "They suit you." sylvia: ^^ Kyoka: "Now, let's have dinner." *opens the cupboard* "What do you want?" -elsewhere- Kafka: *limping around* *grumbles* naoya: looks like you're on nanny duty today, eh? Kafka: "Yes, I suppose I am--WAIT, WHAT?!" sonia: *staaaare* wilhelm: ^^ tom: haha! Q: "Is he any good at it?" Jakob: "We prank him all the time. One time, we pantsed him, and he was wearing heart boxers." wilhelm: >v< Kafka: "This is an outrage! Why should I babysit them?!" goethe: its your punishment. Kafka: "Eep!" *spins* "...Wh-What punishment? What for?" goethe: you coooould have gotten the kids out of there faster and lessened the damage done, but you had to pick a fight because of your own damn pride. so now, you look after them for a while. Kafka: -~- "I was protecting my property..." goethe: you saying you owned that shack? Kafka: "My wallet, you obtuse fiend!" philip: *tosses a ball, which hits kafka right in the stones* Kafka: .~. "..." *collapses to his knees, then to his side, clutching his groin* goethe: ....ow. philip: sorry! Kafka: Q____Q *squeaky voice* "My Jeremias and Artur..." -elsewhere- Steinbeck: "It was an odd sighting..." emily: hmm... Steinbeck: "Any leads from that teacher?" emily: he does keep to his office a lot when not teaching. Steinbeck: "...I see." twain: OvO Steinbeck: "No chance of getting a meeting?" emily: maybe... Hemingway: "Let me try. I've always wanted to go back to school." *sharpening a knife* emily: ._.;; baum: maaaybe a less violent method? ^^; Hemingway: "...But I left the paintball gun at home." Steinbeck: "NO GUNS AT A COLLEGE! What are you thinking?!" Hemingway: -_-# emily: maybe just try talking to him? ^^;;; Steinbeck: "Sounds worthwhile. Baum, care to try?" baum: of course~! ^^ Hemingway: "Hmph. Don't bore them, poindexer." baum: ^^; -elsewhere- Tanizaki: *on incom* "See them yet?" atsushi: nothing yet... Tanizaki: "Hmmm..." *looking at map and cameras* "I don't see them, either. Maybe Lucy got it wrong..." atsushi:....*ear twitch and side glance* *footsteps are coming* atsushi: *hides* ???: "Streets are dead...No one to mug." atsushi: .... ???: "..." *sniffs* "..." *sneezes* =_= "Must be a cat around here...Darn strays." atsushi:.... ???: *looks around* atsushi: *tenses* person: *uneasy* Mantis: "Well, hello. Entrance fee, please." person: e-excuse me? Mantis: "You want to keep walking, pay up." atsushi: *jumps out and tries to kick mantis in the face* Mantis: *grabs* atsushi: !!! Mantis: *flip, toss--and grabs the Person at knife point* atsushi: gah! Mantis: "Okay, hero--stay down, or tourist here gets a few new orifices." atsushi: !! person: !!! Mantis: "Now, go back where you came from, like a good boy, and leave me to collect me fee..." atsushi: *LUNGES* Mantis: -_-# *pushes the person towards Atsushi...and grabs something from his belt* atsushi: run! person: *flees* Mantis: "Too late..." *he's holding a grenade--and tosses it at the person* -BOOOM- -the person fled already- atsushi: *his back is burnt up* ah! Mantis: "Neat..." *stamps a foot onto Atsushi's back* atsushi: *grabs mantis' leg and tosses him into a wall* Mantis: "URK!" *crashes* "Crap...Heh, you pack a bit of a fight for some lanky stringbrean..." atsushi: well you sure talk a lot for someone who probably hasnt seen a bath in years! Mantis: "...I am not that unhygenic. Like you smell like a bed of ros-rose--AHCOO!" atsushi: *tackle + tiger punch* Mantis: "OW!" *sneezes again* "Well, shit!" *stabs into Atsushi's arm* atsushi: *screams* Mantis: *stab stab stabby* "And I hope you like what I coat my blade with!" *it smells...* atsushi: *PUNCH* Mantis: "AGH!" *pulls out a lighter* "Enjoy some burning cuts!" *The smell was...gasoline?!* atsushi: !!!!!! Mantis: *holds the lighter up to the knife wounds* atsushi: *kicks it away* Mantis: "Ow! Stupid bastard!" *tries to grab onto Atsushi--* atsushi: *dodge and kick to the back* Mantis: "OW!" *knocked belly down* atsushi: ......*takes a chain and ties him to a pole* there...now to wait.... Mantis: "I don't have to wai-wai--AH-CHOO!" atsushi: *sweatdrop* -elsewhere- Kafka: *heating up mac and cheese* "And you'll eat it and like it..." philip: *shiny eyes* Jakob: "No need to be so rude..." Bessy: "I-I like mac and cheese..." Kafka: "...Well, good!" *returns to cooking* >\\\< tom: its been forever since we had hot food. ^^ Kafka: "Hmph. If this impresses you, wait until you have hot chocolate..." tom: yaaay! Kafka: "..." -\\\\- *sets out bowls* -elsewhere- rowena: *writing notes....yaaawn* Poe: *sets down tea* rowena: thanks. *sip* Poe: "You're welcome. Studying hard, I see." rowena: *she nods* Poe: "How is the progress?" *has a cookie* -elsewhere- Kunikida: "...So you tied him up and...?" atsushi: the authorities took him. Kunikida: "...You look worse for wear." atsushi: i could imagine. Kunikida: "Go clean up. I'm guessing those wounds will heal with your ability." atsushi: yeah. Tanizaki: "Yeah, and we'll handle writing up the report--" *The door slams into Tanizaki* atsushi: .-. Lucy: "YOU!" atsushi: OxO;;;;; Lucy: "Look at your shirt! It's all stabbed!" atsushi: Q~Q;;;; Lucy: *grabs the shirt, pulling it up* "Have you healed yet?! Let me get you a new shirt--Give me this one to wash and sew! You need a shower! And someone call the Doctor to give you a check up!" atsushi: *nod nod nod* odasaku: ^^; Lucy: *pulls his shirt off, pushing him to the bathroom* "Get going, then!" *shuts the door behind him* atsushi: yes ma'am! Lucy: *sighs* *looks at the others* "...WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR?! GET GOING!" Tanizaki: X_X Kunikida: "..." *texting Yosano* -elsewhere- Black Star: [how r they holding up?] misono: [no one has been arrested, thankfully.] Black Star: [keep up the good work then!] Lily: "Who are you speaking with?" misono: black*star. he's asking how everyone is. Lily: "Aw, that's nice~" *opens the hallway door* "It's quiet..." -elsewhere- emily: *taking a seat* Crane: *looking over papers* "..." emily: *watching as other students take their seats to listen to the lecture* Crane: "Now, where was it...Oh, right!" *puts a transparency on the projector* "This is a horse!" emily: *sweatdrops* girl: i thought this was a local history lecture? Crane: "...Oh, yes!" *puts on a new slide--of Hessian soldiers* "The Revolutionary War!" emily: *listening* Crane: "Did you know that Germans fought for the British in that war?" emily: hm.. Crane: "They were called Hessians, and they were brought in to quell dissenting colonists, including in nearby White Plains." *puts up a new slide of a Hessian next to a cannon* "They were the artillery!" girl 2: oh, cool. Crane: "Buuuuuuut...the Americans also had cannons." emily: ... Crane: "And during the Battle of White Plains, all it took was one cannon for one unfortunate Hessian to lose his head." emily: ._. Crane: "And with little time to bury all the corpses, well..." emily: .___.;; Crane: "So you can imagine why at the local graveyard this 'headless Hessian' is a shorter grave..." girl: creepy. Crane: *nods* "And the head wasn't buried with him--just left as the Hessians escaped the battlefield." emily: .___.;;;; Crane: "I've been fascinated by this battle, wanting to learn about the Headless Hessian--but records are scarce." guy: i thought it was just an urban legend? Crane: "Well, I haven't dug up the grave or anything." emily: ... Crane: "..." *awkward cough* "I did look through the Hessian reports from the battle--and no record of any headless Hessian. I even looked at records of Hessians also sent to the colonies--nothing!" emily: ..... Crane: "And I want to find him!" -morning- Rin: [any better?] madoka: [a little bit] Rin: [i can swing by after class--pick u up anything?] madoka: [i think the new volume of 'housekeeping vampire komaru' should be out today'] Rin: [on it!] -elsewhere- leo: *knitting a blanket* Motojiro: "It's looking lovely..." *he has some paint on his overalls* leo: ^////^ Motojiro: "Hans said furniture arrives tomorrow...How are you feeling?" leo: excited, nervous...*wipes a tear* Motojiro: "..." *holds her hand* leo: *hugs him* Motojiro: *pat pat* <Both of you will be fine.> leo: ^/////^ Motojiro: <And we're in a safe place, and the baby will have all they need.> leo: *she nods* Motojiro: *smiles* "And we still have our room to decorate...and a good spot for a wedding reception." ^\\\^ leo: ^/////^ Motojiro: *smooch* leo: u////u Motojiro: "And we'll have a wonderful life! And our child grow up with friends and get to play and learn and--" Kafka: "GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE SHITS!" leo: OuO; wilhelm: *cackling* Jakob: "Feeling 'blue'?! Ha ha ha!" Kafka: *running, his face painted blue* "GRRRR!" Motojiro: OwO "...D'aw!" leo: ...never a dull moment. ^^; -elsewhere- Damon: "Did you like it?" soul: yeah.. thanks. ^^ Damon: *smiles, hugs* becky: ...*hug* soul: *picks them up and spin hugs* Damon: "Hee hee..." >w< -elsewhere- Mantis: *in a strait jacket* "Come on, I don't even have my blades on me--isn't this a bit much?" guard: best not to take any chances. Mantis: "Grr...I want my lawyer." guard: do you even have a lawyer? Mantis: "DON'T I GET ONE?! YOU HAVE LIKE A CLOSET FULL OF THEM FOR THESE SITUATIONS, RIGHT?!" -elsewhere- Kyoka: *in a new kimono* "...Yay." sylvia: i-it looks really nice, miss kyouka... kenji: ^^ it really suits ya. Kyoka: "Thank you. I wanted to try a different design." ^^ kirako: and i see your hair's growing out again. Kyoka: *nods* "Maybe I need a cut..." Dazai: *clipping roses* ranpo: *spins in his chair* Kyoka: "??? Ranpo, did you have more sugar?" ranpo: just bored out of my effin skull. Kunikida: "Good." *hands him boxes* "Organize these." ranpo: =3= Kyoka: "Hmm..." *looks in one box, takes out a photo* "..." ._____. "...Why are you dressed as a vampire?" Kunikida: "?!!!" ranpo: oh yeah, that was for a bet, i think. Kunikida: -_____-# "I wanted those burnt." Dazai: ^w^ "Can't destroy the evidence--part of an ongoing investigation~" sylvia: r-really? Kunikida: "He's kidding..." *grumbles* "So embarrassing..." Dazai: "But you pull off 'humorless pale bloodsucking leech' so well!" Kunikida: "YOU'RE THE LEECH!" ranpo: i think we still have the costume. Kunikida: "...No." Dazai: "Yes! Punishment game!" kirako: he hasnt done anything though... sylvia: Q_Q;;; Dazai: "I'm sure I can find something..." *stares at Kunikida's desk* "..." *shifts the stapler* "See?! It's out of alignment! Punishment!" Kunikida: -_-# Kyoka: "..." *pats Sylvia's shoulder* "It's okay." kenji: this happens a lot, actually. ^^ Kunikida: "Let go of me!" Dazai: "Just put on the teeth!" Kyoka: ._.;;; -elsewhere- Yohei: "Just keep your phone on you while you're out of town, and call." mana: i will. Emine: "If you don't come back, I'm claiming your stuff." mana: ... -_- Shotaro: "Will you be gone long?" mana: not too long i dont think. Shotaro: Q_Q "Will you bring back souvenirs?" mana: of course i will. -elsewhere- Rin: "Brought it!" madoka: thanks rin! ^^ Rin: "Just what the doctor ordered." *pulls up a chair* "How are you?" madoka: doing better now. Rin: "Maybe you'll be ready for class tomorrow..." madoka: i hope so. Rin: *opens the shopping bag, pulling out some candies* "Want some?" -elsewhere- PlushFix: "This ride sucks! Can't we get a custom paint job or something?" saku: its this or nothing. PlushFix: *grumbles* "Can we at least use my mixtape?" *holds up a cassette labeled 'Booty Jams'* saku: -______- -elsewhere- sayaka: *on a bus tour of shinjuku* Tour guide: <Shopping is a big industry here! Some of the leading companies in media, fashion, and tech have their main shops here. Maybe you can find a discount?> sayaka: ^u^ kilik: *looking around* *A lot of fashionable people walking, some street and food vendors, as well as...someone eyeing jewelry in one window* sayaka: hey kim! kim: *looks over to the bus and waves* Jacqueline: "Oh, so they took the tour to locate suspects?" kim: probably. Jacqueline: "I suppose we should be doing the same..." *spots a dress inside* "...After trying on just one or two outfits." kim: ^^ -elsewhere- Hyde: "Oh, Angelito~" licht: -_- Hyde: "I need a favor--can you play a song for Ochaco. The one that goes 'dum dah dah duuuuuuuuuum bah dah dah'?" licht: ...are you flirting with coworkers again? Hyde: "Hell nah! Ochaco is like a sister to me! And I think she has an S.O." licht: i see. Hyde: "So...You gonna do it, or do I have to resort to blackmail?" licht: i'll put it into consideration, i guess im just merciful that way. *pose* because i am an angel. Hyde: ^w^ "Yes, you are. Also, wear something nice--don't look tacky in front of my peeps." -elsewhere- sonia: ... Chuuya: "Feeling okay?" sonia: yeah. Chuuya: "...How about some juice?" sonia: ok. Chuuya: *pours some* "How are classes?" sonia: they're a lot more busy now... Chuuya: "That can be good for learning, though. You can interact with others..." sonia: yeah... Chuuya: "...Are the kids treating you properly?" sonia: i havent been picked on by anyone too harshly. Chuuya: "...'Too'? Who's being a problem?" *protective dad mode* sonia: the grimm brothers are a bit mischievous, but they're harml- Chuuya: *already walking down the hall* sonia: ._. Chuuya: "Where are they?! Where are--" *opens the door to the children's playroom* Kafka: *seated at the kids' table...with makeup and a tiara* "..." Chuuya: "..." Bessy: ^w^ "We're having a tea party!" Kafka: "..." *inhale, whispers* "Kill me..." maggie: ^^; Chuuya: "..." *looks at Maggie* "I'll ask the adult in the room--" Kafka: "?!" Chuuya: "Where are the twins?" sonia: it's ok papa, they're harmless. Kafka: " 'Harmless'?! I'm still picking glitter out of my teeth!" Chuuya: "...Who are you again?" Kafka: *silent internal screaming* *snickering is heard in the closet* Chuuya: "Ah-ha!" Kafka: "I wouldn't open that--" Chuuya: *he opens it* -BWOOOM- Chuuya: *covered in glitter* "..." -____-; wilhelm: BWAHAHA! Chuuya: "...That...was uncalled for..." *cracks his knuckles* wilhelm: OvO sonia: papa..*tugs on his vest* Chuuya: -_-; *grumbles* -elsewhere- Sakuya: "What else should we do while we're here?" naho: hungry... lilac: *stomach growls* Sakuya: "Well, no lack of buffets..." *points* "That one has a chocolate fountain." naho: ooooh. OvO Sakuya: "See? Knew you'd like that--" otogiri: belkia dont put any birds in there. we dont want a repeat of _last_ time. Belkia: *holding a dove* "...I thought the flavor just needed a bit more sugar." otogiri: belkia... ayami: ^^; Belkia: "Fiiiiiine..." *shoves the dove back into his hat* "I'll make do with chocolate-covered steak..." *takes a plate of steak from the buffet* -elsewhere- liz: ok, lets see *checking recipe* Patty: "How you think it'll turn out?" liz: hopefully at least edible. Patty: "Between me and you, it'll be great." liz: hell yeah! Patty: ^w^ "Ready to stir?" -elsewhere- erina: im hooome... Allison: *brushing her hair* "Yo!" erina: *takes off her shoes and coat and plops onto the couch* Allison: "...Long day?" erina: yeah... Allison: "Do you have work tomorrow?" erina: day off, finally. Allison: "How you want to spend it?" erina: *looking at pamphlets* Allison: "??? A trip?" erina: maybe. since its spring time... Allison: "See the fam?" erina: good idea. a visit home might be just what i need... Allison: "Anything to do there?" erina: yeah. Allison: "Like what? Hiking or shopping or...?" erina: well there is the oregon zoo, the art museum, oaks amusement park, stuff like that. Allison: "...Ah. Your family will hang with you?" erina: i hope so. Allison: "Were you an only child?" erina: no. 2 sisters. Allison: ^w^ "They as cool as you?" erina: isabelle's working in seattle, and i think samantha's still in university. Allison: "How often you talk?" erina: occasionally...havent in a while. Allison: "Then this will be good for you." erina: yeah.. Allison: "Need help packing?" -elsewhere- ango: alright, mr dostoevsky. we'll be starting the evaluation now. Fyodor: "Do I get a treat?" ango: i'll be the one asking questions here. have you had any psychological evaluations in the past? Fyodor: "If they were inconclusive, I hardly think they 'evaluate.'" ango: ...how did you sleep this week? Fyodor: "Haven't felt rested, I'm afraid." ango: i see. is there a reason as to why that is? Fyodor: "I feel a bit anxious..." ango: do you feel anxious often? Fyodor: "Yes, frequently." ango: i see. Fyodor: "It's isolating..." ango: *nods* well, you are in solitary confinement. Fyodor: "I didn't use to be..." ango: well, given your behavior with other prisoners and staff, that had to be changed. Fyodor: "It was just a reaction I had..." ango: go on? Fyodor: "Haven't you ever wanted to eliminate an annoyance?" ango: .... Fyodor: "Sometimes...just yearning for the peace, the stillness..." ango: ..... Fyodor: "...Sorry. Did you have another question?" Ango: do you often have trouble socializing with others? Fyodor: "I do okay. People seem to listen." ango: and in the past? Fyodor: "...Well, I got them to listen, too." ango: ... do you have any family? loved ones? Fyodor: *smiles* "Who doesn't have family? Did you think I just appeared?" ango: ... Fyodor: "And you've seen the people with whom I associate." ango:....... Fyodor: "Would you call them 'family'?" ango: that depends... Fyodor: "I suppose...I don't even get to see them." ango: .... Fyodor: "So, what's the next question? About agitation?" -elsewhere- Crane: *organizing papers, humming* "...'his truth is marching...'" emily: good evening, professor. Crane: "Ah, Miss Dickinson. I'm afraid if you keep stopping by, I'll have to charge you for auditing my classes." *friendly smile* emily: *chuckle* well, an associate of mine and i were just hoping to ask a few questions, if that's alright. Crane: "Depends--what about?" emily: involving local legends. Crane: OwO "Ask, ask!" emily: does the name 'washington irving' ring any bells? -she's onto us!- Crane: "...No. Not one." *frowns* emily: well, my associate would like to hear about your research, if you're able. Crane: "Sorry, I just remembered I had a previous engagement." *stands up, grabbing a set of papers and dumping them into his satchel* emily:... ?? *It seems like...a map? A really tiny one...* emily:....*takes it and sticks it into her wallet* Steinbeck: *approaches* "He left?" emily: but i did find this. *she shows him the map* Steinbeck: "Oh! Good work..." *looks at it* "Kind of small writing...That is the Washington on the map, so can use that as a landmark." emily: *nod* -elsewhere- Hiro: *hitting a punching bag* EF: *timing him* Hiro: *punch punch punch-punch-punch* *pulls back his arm, swings--and lands a hit that knocks the bag back* EF: woah. Hiro: *stunned* "...Woo!" *lifts his arms with pride--* ^w^ *--and the bag knocks back* EF: *wince* Hiro: *downed* XwO "...I still hit it!" -elsewhere- yana: *laying in bed* .... Gogol: *knocks* yana: <it's open> Gogol: *enters* <Yo.> yana: <did you need something from me?> Gogol: <I got new info at work today...What are you up to?> yana: <not much. just resting.> Gogol: <Ah...> *leaves a folder on the nightstand* <Read at your leisure.> yana: *examines it* *There are some names of officials, their code names, other secret security details* yana: hmmm.... Gogol: <It should help keeping track of them.> yana: <i'll update this first thing tomorrow.> Gogol: ^w^ <Did I do good?> yana: <this is great!> Gogol: <Thank you!> -morning- Kafka: *buried under sheets* -knock- Kafka: "Go. Away." etta: oh, ok then. breakfast will be ready in 15. Kafka: O\\\\\o *leaps out of bed* "O-Okay then! Th-Thanks?" etta: *exits* Kafka: "..." *falls back into bed--and sees his Etta pillow* "... ..." O\\\\\O ("Oh, God, I need to hide this better!") -elsewhere- Damon: "Zzz..." soul: *making waffles* Damon: *sniffs* "..." *gets out bed, comes to the kitchen* becky: morning Damon: "Morning...Smells good." soul: just made 'em Damon: "...Thank you..." -elsewhere- kim: *yaaaawn* Jacqueline: "Zzzz..." kilik: mornin' Jacqueline: *yawns, wakes up* "Mmm...I needed more sleep..." sayaka: we got ourselves a leeeead! Harvar: "??? Where?" sayaka: apperantly there's been sightings of a lady in a trenchcoat with a pair of sheers attacking people at night ox: so a kuchisake onna? Jacqueline: "...Well, that's a wake-up call. We'll scope out locations at night?" kilik: sounds like it. Jacqueline: "Then I need coffee...And we can map the locations." -elsewhere- Fitzgerald: *has shaving foam all over his face* "Now, watch how I do it..." bram: ... Fitzgerald: *carefully draws the razor over* "And soon, you have a clean shave..." bram: *nods* Fitzgerald: "I had to train myself at this. I used to even just use a knife..." bram: i...see...*sweatdrop* Fitzgerald: "...Shaving cream is fun to play with." bram: please focus, sir. Fitzgerald: "Ah, right." *finishes shaving* "There--smooth as the slopes of Timbuktu..." bram: *claps* Fitzgerald: "Yes, thank you..." *smiles, wipes his face* "Now, then, another 30 minutes before the meeting..." -elsewhere- Gopher: "--and we can get popcorn and soda, and a seat where you get the best 3D viewing." kotone: *shiny eyes* Gopher: ^w^ "Two tickets, please." Hyde: "Here you go." *hands Kotone 3D glasses* kotone: ...*puts them on* Hyde: "Um...Ma'am? Not until you get into the theater. We've had too many people fall down stairs while wearing those when entering the theater." kotone: s....sorry.... Gopher: *pat pat* "It's okay. Wait until you see the images on screen." -elsewhere- Conductor: "ALL ABOARD!" mana: *looking out the window* Yohei: *waves* mana: *waves back* Yohei: *smiles* Shotaro: "We'll miss you!" chie: be safe! Yohei: *waves Toru's hand* -elsewhere- PlushFix: *with suction cups tied to his limbs, stuck on the windshield* -_-# hina: *blasting tunes* mimeca: >w< Alone: "It's gonna be kinda hard for me to stay hidden--a giant werewolf sticks out in public..." hina: eh, in this day and age, people dont usually question it. Alone: "Well, as long as no one holds up my wanted poster..." -elsewhere- Hemingway: *riding a horse* trainer: see? you're getting the hang of it ^^ Hemingway: "Indeed! What a majestic steed this horse is!" emily: he seems to be enjoying himself. ^^ Steinbeck: "Looks like it...We'll need him on it to find something..." emily:...*nod* Steinbeck: "Any new info?" emily: nothing yet. Steinbeck: "Well, in addition to the map, I tried to find Crane's address..." baum: oh? Steinbeck: "And nothing. He seems to bounce from house to house..." baum: hmmm.. Steinbeck: "If we could pin down his location, maybe make it clearly how insistent we are." baum: *nod nod* Steinbeck: "Follow his movements, go door to door if necessary." baum: *nods* Steinbeck: "I'm going to keep following the map. And Twain--Wait, where is Twain?" -in the woods- twain: *fishing* *whistling* ???: "I told you, it will be fine." twain: ?? *peeks* *It's Crane* Crane: "I hid the grave, hid the research--" twain: (bingo.) -still, i dont trust those city yahoos as far as i can throw 'em!- Crane: "And I don't blame you--trust me! But there's a way to deal with this without doing anything, you know, erratically." -well then, what do _you_ suggest, hmm?- Crane: "What else--a bit of misdirection. Ever watch 'Scooby Doo'?" -the hell's that?- twain: ??? Crane: "...A show where a talking dog and some college kids would solve mysteries, then it turns out the villain is a guy in a mask to mis-direct from the actual supernatural stuff around them." -your point is?- Crane: *sighs* "I put on some fake monster costume, scare them away, and they leave us alone?" huck: dang, how dumb would ya have to be? Crane: "??? Did you hear something?" twain: OwO;; *imitating a bird call* Crane: "Hmm...Bird must have hit its head on something." twain: TTwTT; (nailed it) Crane: "...Anyway, I have more student appointments." -elsewhere- Belkia: *curled up in bedsheets* =w= "I'm going to miss these great bedsheets when we get home." lavender: on the bright side, i got some new clothes to try out~<3 Higan: "Yes, you did~" Sakuya: "...Belkia's gonna steal the sheets, I just know it." Belkia: "IF IT'S IN A HOTEL, IT'S FREE TO TAKE! Sham, grab the mini-fridge!" otogiri: belkia no. ayami: ^^; Shamrock: "Just enjoy this trip, you all." naho: ^^; lilac: ._.; Belkia: "Anywhere left to visit? Maybe some clubs?" -elsewhere- Ojiro: *doing hanging sit-ups* tsuyu: *doing the triple jump Bakugo: "That's nothing!" *uses an explosive to leap up* -elsewhere- Yukio: *checking notes* seiya: anything new? gilda: ^^ Yukio: "Some...materials are missing." seiya: oh? Yukio: "I want to track them down--including who took them." seiya: hmm... Yukio: "They are books and some chemicals..." seiya: what could they planning? gilda: *shrug* Yukio: "There are some plants listed...I'll speak with someone." -elsewhere- ebie: *walking along and humming* Lovecraft: *sitting in a tub* "..." ebie: hey mr lovecraft, ah’m gonna go be doin' some errands. need anythin'? Lovecraft: "...Jelly..." ebie: okie! anythin' else? Lovecraft: "Peanut butter..." oscar: that all? Lovecraft: "Sardines and anchovies." ebie: you got it! *exits* -elsewhere- Dazai: "Good work surviving against some knife junkie." atsushi: yeah. ^^; Dazai: "Now, onto other business--" *sets a teddy bear on the desk* atsushi: ?? Dazai: "We're putting a baby cam into this bad boy. His name is Melvin." atsushi: o...kay? Dazai: "I want to make sure the baby is protected. I don't need some enemy going after them..." atsushi: ....*nods* odasaku: ........ Dazai: "..." *sad smile* "Just have to have all preparations...I even got someone to help with some security." atsushi: oh? *Muttering is heard in the hallway* atsushi: ?? *peeek* *Katai is lying on a futon, typing* atsushi: ._. Dazai: ^w^ "He's quite good at setting up booby traps. Some 'Home Alone' stuff." atsushi: i....see Katai: "Never again...Never again..." atsushi: ?? Katai: *looks up* "O-O-Oh! Mr. Atsushi..." atsushi: just atsushi is fine, sir. ^^; Katai: "K-Katai, too...H-How are you?" atsushi: im good. hangin' in there, y'know? Katai: *nods* "After your run-in with that Hell Blaze gangster, you should have more security to your room, too..." *pulls up windows--and his desktop has a photo of Blair* atsushi: .............. Katai: "!!!!" .\\\. *pulls up a window, showing the map of the apartment building* "F-Focus! S-See?! You're room is vulnerable in these windows, so we could put in trip wires as well as additional tools to *ramble ramble ramble...*" Kyoka: "..." *pulls Kenji away* "Come along, Sylvia..." sylvia: o-ok! Katai: >\\\\< *awkward cough* "W-Would you like me to begin installation, Mr. Atsushi?" Atsushi: sure, and you can just call me atsushi… ^^; -elsewhere- Jacqueline: "Someone could have hidden in these bushes." ox:...no one's here now... Jacqueline: "Hmph...Could be a few more hours." *looks around* kim: .... *It's quiet and secluded...and a bit chilly* kilik: see anything? sayaka: nah... Jacqueline: *listens* "..." ("I don't hear anything odd...Is this the wrong spot?") -footsteps- Jacqueline: "???" *looks* -a female with long hair and a trenchcoat is walking- Jacqueline: "!!!" kilik: get ready... Jacqueline: *assumes lantern form* ox: ... Harvar: *in spear form* "..." sayaka: *soul gem out* Fire: *in glove form* "..." thunder: *transformed* Lady: "..." *looks around...* sayaka: .... Lady: *small growl* *looks at the streets* kilik: .... Lady: *turns to where the group is standing* sayaka: *gulps* Lady: "..." *opens her mouth--and it looks unhinged* kim: .... Lady: "..." *dashes to the right, attempting to circle around at them* sayaka: *charges with her sword* Lady: *leaps* "..." sayaka: *SLASH* Lady: *dodges, grabs Sayaka's arm* sayaka: !!! kilik: *PAWNCH* Lady: *knocked back, landing on the street face down* sayaka: ...thanks. ^^; kim: try not to let your guard down next time. Harvar: "...Is she just going to stay here?" kim: *jumps in* Jacqueline: "Keep enough distance, avoid getting touched." kim: right! Jacqueline: "!!! Kim, get back!" kim: !! *FIRE BLAST* *The flames encompass the Lady* Lady: *screams, her mouth pulling open wider* Harvar: "Ox, fry them!" ox: *JAB* Harvar: "Electrify!" *Electricity shoots through the Lady* Lady: *roars* ox: nice one! Jacqueline: "I think that did it..." Lady: *collapses, breathing shallowing* sayaka:...*prod prod* Lady: *not moving* sayaka: ._.;;; Harvar: "...Did the mission say 'kill' or 'capture'?" kilik: *checking* *The heartbeat is faint* kilik: she's alive...somewhat. for now, we'll contact for someone to pick her up. -elsewhere- Minoura: "Still checking for them..." ango: .... Minoura: "And Dostoyevsky had nothing for you?" ango: sadly nothing of any use... Minoura: "Not even a hint where he's keeping his followers?" ango: *shakes his head* Minoura: "..." *groans* "Pain in the ass...The longer they're out there, who knows what problems they'll cause." -elsewhere- Gogol: *in disguise at work* "Afternoon, afternoon..." employee: *nod* Gogol: "What's on the agenda? Meetings?" employee: we'll be having a meeting with mr minoura later. Gogol: *smiles* "Wonderful." -elsewhere- Sakuya: "Move in a little closer." *holding the camera* naho: *peace sign* lavender: *wink and blows a kiss to the camera* Shamrock: *standing awkwardly and straight up* otogiri: *peace sign, still with that stoic expression* Higan: *gun fingers* Belkia: *tongue sticking out* ayami: *wave* lilac: *hiding behind naho* misono: =A=; Lily: *smiling* Sakuya: "And..." *takes the photo* ayami: how is it? Sakuya: "Great!" *shows it* naho: nice! Shamrock: "We have a few more minutes. Any last-minute activities any of you had in mind? Maybe the gift shop?" -elsewhere- Justin: "You've been smiling more." oriko: oh? Justin: *nods* "You seem happier." oriko: i guess.... Justin: "Did you want to meet Kirika?" oriko: ...*nod* Justin: "I'll call her. I'm sure she can see you..." -elsewhere- Meme: *holds up baseball mitt* "Right here! Toss it!" tsugumi: *TOSS* Anya: *swings the bat--and hits* mio: *making a run for it* Meme: "!!! Ao, tag out Mio!" ("Please don't hate me, Mio!") ao: *chases after her* ^^ mio: OwO;;;; Anya: *running for first* rowena: *watching from her window* Kana: "...You aren't playing?" rowena: im content. ^^ Kana: "Yeah, I don't like outdoor sports as much." *takes out her cards* rowena: oh i remember, you told my fortune when i arrived in this city! Kana: *nods* "Do you think it turned out as predicted?" rowena: you said i would find love, right? i assumed you meant that in a romantic sense, but i had misjudged. i found my brother living here, so i guess the 'love' i found was love for my family. Kana: "See? It works each time." rowena: ^^ Kana: "Any plans after graduation?" rowena: i havent even gotten that far yet! ^^;; Kana: "Hmm. Never hurts to think ahead." *setting out cards* -elsewhere- Black Star: *vacuuming the vampires' bedrooms* tsubaki: *hanging up laundry* Black Star: *looks at her...smiles...turns off the vacuum* "They say when they getting back?" tsubaki: either tonight or tomorrow morning. Black Star: "I'll text them in an hour to check on their progress...Need any help?" *hangs up a shirt* -elsewhere- Kid: "How has it been, Homura?" homura: busy for the most part. *sips tea* Kid: *nods* "Missions going okay?" *pours some tea for himself* homura: for the most part, yes. kilik's group successfully contained the kuchisake onna terrorizing shinjuku. Kid: "I saw that! Glad it has been handled. Did you wish you were on that mission?" homura: right now isnt a time to think about 'what-ifs'. the important thing is the mission was successful with minimal damage. i think the persons involved got a little more experience as well. Kid: "..." *smiles* "Fair point." homura:...it's funny, how much i've changed since my first day. Kid: "I think you have improved in many ways. And I am happy to have gotten to know you." homura: *smile* the feeling is mutual. Kid: *smiles* "And in the future." *holds up his teacup in a mock-toast* homura: right. -elsewhere- Hyde: *tossing expired food* "Can't eat. Would kill you. Oh, this soda is only a day past 'best by'--keeping that..." *looks at Ochaco* "You get all your camping gear?" ochako: still saving up. Hyde: "Ah...Any idea what the activities will be?" ochako: an obstacle course is most likely. Hyde: "Some anti-gravity would help with that." -elsewhere- Lucy: "Seems excessive." kirako: oh? Lucy: "Why extra security? Is Atsushi going to be called as a witness?" kirako: ^^; im sure dazai's just being cautious. ^^; Lucy: "One way of putting it...Weren't you a little worried starting to work at a place like this?" kirako: what do you mean? Lucy: "I mean, these are a bunch of weirdos that kind of skirt the law. Is this where you imagined yourself?" kirako: well, i guess life is just full of surprises. did you ever imagine dating a weretiger? ^^; Lucy: "...Touche." *looks at her hands* "Didn't imagine this ability, either." -elsewhere- Mephisto: "How is the knitting?" felisia: coming along. ^^ Mephisto: "Speaking of coming along..." *looks at her belly* "How's the little one?" felisia: doing well....i still havent thought of a name QAQ;;; Mephisto: ^^; "It'll come to us, soon. I can feel it." felisia: i hope TT3TT; Mephisto: *holds her hand* "I promise." felisia: *smile* Mephisto: "Let's focus on all they need right now...Anything you desire?" -elsewhere- Kuro: *flipping through pages of the book* "...Today was embarrassing." mahiru: *face down on couch* dont remind me.. Kuro: -_-# "How was I to know the teacher would use a laser pointer in the lecture..." *pulls his hoodie more over his face* "So stupid...Ought to ban those things...I still hear everyone's laughter..." mahiru: *pap pap* [note; he had to make up an excuse to the teacher] Kuro: =\\\\\= "..." *purr* mahiru: ^^; Kuro: "...Zzz..." mahiru:....*hug* Kuro: *calm breathing* -elsewhere- Chuuya: *standing outside a room* "..." higuchi:.... Chuuya: "...He's been quiet." higuchi:....yeah.. Chuuya: "...Has he eaten?" higuchi: *she nods* Chuuya: "..." *listens at the door* *groans and wails...* Chuuya: "..." higuchi:...........damn... Chuuya: "Not good...Talk to him?" higuchi:....*knock* Mori: "...Y-Yes?" higuchi:....*sigh* are you alright in there? Mori: "...Fine?" higuchi:.... Mori: "...May I have a sandwich?" higuchi: cereal it is. Mori: =A= higuchi: *exits* Chuuya: "Good one." higuchi: guess im still salty over the fact that he's responsible for my friend's death. Chuuya: "...Understatement." higuchi: true that. Chuuya: "...Want to put spoiled milk in it?" higuchi: yes. Chuuya: *nods* "I know where it is--Kafka didn't take care of fridge maintenance." higuchi: i bet hans is gonna give him hell for that. Chuuya: "No kidding--I wouldn't cross her...What you think the punishment will be?" higuchi: *imagining hans' firey rage* o~o;;; Chuuya: T~T "Y-Yeah..." -elsewhere- Jacqueline: "So, can we count this as a victory?" ox: i believe so. sayaka: that was kind of.... kilik: anti-climatic? sayaka: *pap* exactly my thoughts. Harvar: "At least it's done." sayaka: yeah. Jacqueline: "...Think they'll kill her?" Harvar: "Probably." sayaka: ... Jacqueline: "...For what reason, I wonder." -elsewhere- Steinbeck: *walking by shops* "Huh...A spice shop?" twain: nifty. Steinbeck: "Wonder what they got..." *looks in the window* "Some salt, some ginger..." *looks at the shopkeeper* shopkeeper: welcome. need anythin'? Steinbeck: "Hi! One of our friends is cooking fish. What you got?" shopkeeper: we have black pepper, garlic, onion, lemon peel, and salt, among others Steinbeck: "Oh, great! I'll take some of each..." *looks around* "Interesting decor..." shopkeeper: thank you. twain: *whistling* *There's a mural of the Revolutionary War* Steinbeck: "...Oh, historical." shopkeeper: this town once was a popular tourist attraction back in the day, before the highways were built. Steinbeck: "I see...Must really hurt property values." shopkeeper: but it does make things quieter too. Steinbeck: "...Ever hear anything weird?" shopkeeper: lots of times. howls, laughter, punk kids trying to do some urban exploration or ghost hunting... Steinbeck: "Odd...You know what's up around here, then?" *hands money for the purchase, waits for change* shopkeeper: bears, wolves, deer, squirrels, raccoons, foxes... Steinbeck: ._.; "...Lot of wildlife, then..." *takes the bag* -elsewhere- Lily: *driving a bus* ^w^ otogiri:...(does he even have a license..) Belkia: *pops a DVD into the TV* "We're watching movies!" Lily: "Lovely~" *misses an exit* misono: lily! the exit! Lily: "Oh, right. I'll just head back..." *starts to turn the bus...around* misono: LILY!!! -elsewhere- Iida: *eating--and drops his fork* "..." *reaches for it...his hand shakes* momo: *hands it to him* here. ^^; Iida: "Th-Thanks..." *avoids eye contact, trying to steady his hand* momo:...*holds his hand and shoulder* Iida: *blushes* "Um..." momo:... .///. Iida: "...I think I can manage to feed myself. Thank you for the assistance." *stares at his food* -elsewhere- Conductor: "Salt Lake City!" mana: *gets her luggage and exits* Driver: "Taxi! Anyone need a ride?" mana: *shows the address of the hotel she's staying at* Driver: "You got it." *picks up luggage--struggling a bit* "Umph! Heh...Kinda heavy..." ^^; mana:... ^^; -elsewhere- Kunikida: *plugging in a nightlight* sylvia: ... Kunikida: "How is that?" sylvia: t-thank you mr k-kunikida..sir... Kunikida: *nods* "You're welcome. And 'Kunikida' is fine." sylvia: ... Kunikida: "...Did you want anything else added? The room is coming along well..." sylvia: m-mr poe said he w-would get curtains for my room. Kunikida: "Oh, that was nice of him--" *imagines black tattered curtains with the room now decorated in skull-head candle-holders* "..." sylvia: i-im sure it would look nice. ^^ Kunikida: "...Well, if it makes you happy, good." -elsewhere- Gogol: *carrying three shopping bags of birthcake slices* elizaveta: OvO Gogol: "All fresh and/or refrigerated! Chocolate, velvet, cheese, some weird one with lemon and blueberries..." elizaveta: yaaaay! ^o^ Ivan: <Hmm...> Gogol: "Enough for everyone!" yana: *groan* stupid stomach bug... Gogol: *takes a bottle out of the bag* "Some medicine?" yana: *grumble for yes* Gogol: *hands it* "You're welcome." zoey: *has the medicine on a spoon and is giving it to her* yana: =n= Gogol: "Open up for the yum-yum train~" yana: *nom* =~= (im not a baby...) Gogol: ^w^ "D'aw..." yana: *grumble* Ivan: TwT "Our Little Master is growing up so fast..." yana: =///~///=;;; lydia: *sweatdrop* Ivan: "She will fulfill Master's desires--and having all that growing people have--likely starting with having her first semi-automatic, bola, and learner's permit." yana: um......yeah.... *sweatdrop* Gogol: "Fufufu~ And then a driver's license to send a truck through a building--or pick up prom dates." yana:..........*turns in bed* Gogol: OwO;;;; "???" lydia: <maybe not the best topic to bring up with her...> Gogol: <Ah. Girl problems?> yana: can i just sleep in peace? is that too much to ask? Ivan: "YES! GIVE YOUNG MASTER SLEEP!" zoey:.....*exits* yana:......*sigh* <damn....> Gogol: *whispers to Lydia outside* <What's up?> Ivan: <She seems more withdrawn...> -elsewhere- Poe: *holding up curtains* "Which one?" *they are both black* lana: maybe she'd like this one? Poe: "The Onyx?" lana: *she nods* ^^ Poe: ^w^ "Much better than the Obsidian." *sets the Onyx into the shopping cart* "What else...Potpourri?" -elsewhere- Black Star: "Here they come..." tsubaki: *waves* naho: we're hooome! Sakuya: ^^; Black Star: "How was it?" naho: it was fun. ayami: thank you for inviting me, everyone. Belkia: *cuddles* "Of course~" naho: get a room. =3=; Shamrock: X_Q tsubaki: is everything ok? Shamrock: "Never. Let that Sin of Lust. Drive. Again. Ever." tsubaki: ._.; Lily: "Fufufu~ It was fine..." *evil friendly smile* "_Now_ we are even." Shamrock: X_____O Belkia: O______O Sakuya: "...Christ." lavender:........ .w.;;;;; misono: lily....what the actual fuck... Lily: ^^ "Let's go home now, Misono~" Black Star: ._.;;;; "...Even I feel like I need to go to the bathroom." lavender: he's not even human.... otogiri: ......... -elsewhere- Hemingway: *staring at the spices* "...Fheh. I don't need spices." *tosses them over his shoulder* Steinbeck: "!!!" *catches them* Hemingway: "The only flavoring you need is the meat and whatever you use to cook it." *drops down a bushel of sticks* baum: ...^^; Steinbeck: -_-# "What if you're a vegetarian?" Hemingway: "...Son, I haven't had my first beer. Now's not the time for jokes." *opens his beer* Steinbeck: ._.;;; ("I thought this was a dry county...") baum: so emily, find anything interesting? emily: yes. seems the mayor's daughter, katrina van tassel, actually is one of crane's students. Steinbeck: " 'van Tassel'?" emily: *she nods* aka the girl twain tried to hit it off with? twain: >w>;;;;;;;;;;;; Steinbeck: "...Well, we're not sending Twain to go talk to her. But what info do you think she has?" emily: well, its likely her family knows some secrets about the town... Steinbeck: *nods* "We'll need someone polished and professional to speak with that family." baum: allow me- Steinbeck: "You sure?" baum: indeed. *bishie sparkles* dorothy: =A=' Steinbeck: ^^; -elsewhere- ???: "I can't wait to see the tournament competition this year!" ???: kind of unfortunate camie's in vancouver with her fam this year. ???: "Well, I'm going to livestream it for her..." *checks the phone* ???: sounds good. ???: ^^ *aims the phone* "Say 'Hi, Cam'!" camie: hey guys! how's salte lake? ??? 2: tch- ???: hey camie! ??? 3: *off camera* "It's salty! Ha ha!" camie: *laughs* well hope you're doing great at the tournament. keep in touch, 'k? ??? 3: " 'Kay!" -elsewhere- PlushFix: *rolls out a map* "Here are choice places to go after." hina: hmm? PlushFix: "Good mix. Some bars, couple alleys, and then, the climax: the tournament!" hina: hell yeah! -elsewhere- Emine: "--and with one fewer person here to enact my bad deeds upon, the rest of you will have to make up the balance." *holds up a chart* "I have arranged it by day of the week..." *it's a calendar with everyone's picture on different days, except Shotaro, Lin, Setsuna, the babies, and Mana* nea: oh how lovely. chie: -_-; io: bah? Yohei: "Question? What happens if we ignore your calendar and remind you that you still have chores or I kick your butt out of this house?" Emine: "..." *removes Yohei and Chie, replaces them with Mono* mono: D8< Emine: "Which reminds me..." *aims a water balloon* -elsewhere- Kunikida: "Better?" atsushi: yeah, i think so. Kunikida: "Good. We begin with your next lesson." *holds up handcuffs* Dazai: *whistles* atsushi: um... Dazai: "This is getting kinky~" Kunikida: *handcuffs Dazai to Atsushi* Dazai: OwO; atsushi: ._.; Kunikida: "Dazai cancels out abilities. He is now in close proximity to you. This compromises your ability to transform. As well, you are not permitted in this practicum to transform that hand into were-tiger form, lest you risk injuring your, um, partner." atsushi: so what do i do? Kunikida: "Your assignment is to evade your opponents to arrive at the safe area. Kyoka." Kyoka: *nods, summons her ability* atsushi: *nods* kenji: *holding a yield sign* ^^ Dazai: ^w^ "Then I'll just negate abilities~" Kyoka: "We'll see about that..." Kunikida: *steps back behind a barrier* "I'll judge your performance. The safe area is 50 yards behind you. Avoid the traps." atsushi: *examines the area* *there seem to be mounds along the dirt, a trench, and some barbed wire fences* atsushi:...*makes a run for the left* Dazai: *runs...right* atsushi: *YOINK* >x<; Dazai: *crash* X_X Kyoka: "...Grab them." atsushi: *tries to make a run for it* kenji *chasing after them* Dazai: *dragged behind, trying to get on his feet and keep up* "Wait! Isn't that mound a--" -SINKHOLE- atsushi: *grabs the ledge* Dazai: *hanging by the handcuffs* "Ouch!" *secures his feet against the wall* T_T "Toss me up!" atsushi: *inhales and SWISH* Dazai: *goes up--and the momentum lets Atsushi leap to follow after him* atsushi: hup! Dazai: "Phew! Good work! Now we--" Demon Snow: O^O Dazai: .w.;;; atsushi: *RUNS* Demon Snow: *pursues, slicing at Dazai's feet* Dazai: *leaping around, avoiding the slices* "Yikes!" atsushi: *hoists dazai over his shoulder and runs* Dazai: "Head towards the barbed wire!" atsushi: *LEAP* Dazai: *quickly, as if all around him is in slow-motion, looks back at Demon Snow--flips off one of his shoes, pulls it along the barbed wire--and flings the shoe at Demon Snow* Demon Snow: *the shoe just passes through Demon Snow* .^. "...???" Kyoka: "Keep moving after them." Demon Snow: *pursues, lifts the sword--and brings it down* atsushi: *tiger arm block* Dazai: "..." *light bulb* *yelling at Kyoka* "I bet you can't swing like that again!" atsushi: O-O dazai what are you doing? Dazai: "That's 'cause you're short, your ability has bad fashion sense--and no one like rabbits!" atsushi: DAZAI NO. Kyoka: "...Demon Snow. Triple Slash X. Now." Demon Snow: *lifts the blade, ready to attack-* sylvia: *THROWS A BUCKET AT DAZAI'S FACE* Demon Snow: *lifts the blade, ready to attack--then Sylvia interrupts* Dazai: XwX "...Didn't see that one coming..." *collapses, face-down in the mud, hand still up where cuffed to Atsushi* Demon Snow: .^. atsushi: .-. sylvia: y-y-y-you ap-po-pologize to m-m-miss kyouka r-r-right now! *she's crying* Kunikida: "..." *steps out from the barrier* "He would. But I think you knocked him out..." Kyoka: "Sylvia, it's okay. This is just a match where people say things to goad each other...Awful, untrue things." sylvia: *whimpering, crying ghibli tears* Kyoka: "..." *pats her clothes shoulder* "It's okay...Thank you for defending me." sylvia: *hic*...Q~Q Kunikida: *pinches his nose* *sighs* ("I think Dazai was goading her so Demon Snow would slice their cuffs...but he didn't consider the Sylvia factor. What a joke--") ???: *yoink* atsushi: ?? Kunikida: "???" *looks down--and sees his pants' ripped along the side where his keys were* "?!" Dazai: *awake, unlocking the cuffs* "Done!" ^w^ sylvia: s-say you're sorry!! Kunikida: ._. *holding up his pants* "NOW I HAVE TO GO THE TAILOR FOR THIS?!" Dazai: ^w^; "Sworry, Kyoka~" ranpo: nice hearts, kuni. Kyoka: "...You are buying Sylvia, Atsushi, and me dinner. For a month." atsushi: ^^; Kunikida: -\\\\\- "So humiliating. And quiet, Ranpo--you still wear children's rain boots." Dazai: TwT "Worth it." ranpo: do you want me to get my shoes wet? Kunikida: "No, I suppose not. But I couldn't think of another comeback..." ranpo: well i got to take a leak now, lates......................*frowning as he walks away* Kunikida: -_-; "Needlessly crude..." -elsewhere- Walter: "A karaoke machine! It lets you see song lyrics and sing along!" kids: ooooooh tom: neat! Walter: "Yep! We're gonna have a party for it! I hope you like the classics! Now, where's 'It's Raining Men'?" -elsewhere- stocking: *humming* Kid: ^w^ stocking: hehe~ Kid: *cuddle* stocking: i love you so much~<3 Kid: "I love you, too..." *cheek kisses* stocking:...hey kid~? Kid: "Hmm?" stocking: i want to try for a baby. Kid: "..." *smiles* "Really?" stocking: *nods and strokes his cheek* Kid: "..." *leans, rests his forehead on hers* stocking: *kiss* Kid: "Mmm~" -elsewhere- mana: *laying down* *sigh*......*checks phone* *There's a text from Yohei* mana: *reads* Yohei: [missing u] *there's a photo of Yohei and Chie, with Shotaro holding Toru and Tool holding Io* mana: *smile* [made it 2 hotel safely ^^V ] Yohei: [good. keep the doors locked, know the fire escape, and remember the snacks in the hotel fridge aren't free] mana: [got it] Shotaro: [souvenirs pleze!] mana: [will do] -elsewhere- Kurogiri: *on the phone* "Yes...Yes...Keep an eye on them." kurome: *coloring* Kurogiri: "...Thank you. Goodbye." *hangs up* ^^ "How is it going, sweetie?" kurome: im making decorations for fang's crib. Kurogiri: "That's very kind of you." kurome: ^^ Kurogiri: "Need more paper?" *looks at the drawings* -doodles of her, kurogiri, fang, dabi, himiko, mr compress, twice, and tomura- Kurogiri: "Oh, good art!" kurome: ^^ -elsewhere- Anya: *standing on the balcony, looking at the sky* -a plane flies past overhead- ao: arent you coming to bed, miss anya? Anya: -_- "In a second...Just thinking." ao:....*pap pap* Anya: =\\\\\= "...Thanks?" -morning- Kid: *sleeping peacefully* stocking: *in bathroom*...................*sad sigh* damn. nothin'.... Kid: *yawns, sits up, stretches* *looks around* "...Stocking?" stocking: *hugs* it was negative. *sniffle* Kid: "..." *holds her, strokes her head* "It's okay...We'll give it time." stocking: y-yeah.... Kid: "Whatever happens, I'm here. And I love you. And our family--current and future. We'll find a way." stocking: and if push comes to shove, we'll adopt? Kid: "And give them all of our love." stocking:...*nuzzles into him* Kid: *holds her, strokes her head* -elsewhere- *There is free breakfast in the lobby of Mana's hotel* ???: "Score!" mana: ....??.... ???: "These flapjacks got me FIRED UP!" mana: *peeks* ???: can you not yell so loudly? im still waking up =_=; ???: "What you need is some OJ--full of pulp! It energizes while cleaning your innards!" ???: too much information. mana:....*ordering breakfast, orange juice and some pancakes* ???: "Perhaps be a bit quieter--you don't want to upset the other guests." -elsewhere- PlushFix: "--and he never returned my calls! Granted, I may have been dialing the wrong number--" saku: ..... hina: yeah, i hear ya. PlushFix: "Who hear has someone who just won't pick up?!" Alone: "FROGGY!" saku: <so annoying> hina: well my ex kind of got murdered by you. that was fucking hilarious. PlushFix: ^w^ "Good times..." hina: cheers to that. *takes a chug of her drink* saku: at this hour of the morning? PlushFix: "It's 5 PM somewhere..." -elsewhere- Gin: *lying in bed* "..." *poke* higuchi: zzzz murnin.... Gin: "Morning..." *nuzzle* higuchi:....*cuddle* Gin: "Mmm~" *holds her, smiles* "More secure here. And cleaner." higuchi: yeah.....*kiss* Gin: =\\\\= "Mmm...Ichiyo?" higuchi: y-yes? Gin: "...I have a favor to ask..." *rests a hand along her hip* higuchi: o/////o Gin: *leans to her ear* "...Hans is riding my ass over those kids. Can you help Kafka watch them?" higuchi: will do. -knock- kuniko: sis? you and your girlfriend still snogging in there? higuchi: *ALMOST CHOKES IN SHOCK* Gin: -_-; *whispers* "Fuck. And I was going to reward you..." higuchi: b-be out soon!..... =3=;; Gin: "..." *smiles* -elsewhere- Kunikida: "--and this will be followed by a 10 AM meeting with a client, followed by a lunch meeting, then training, and afternoon errands." atsushi: *nod* Kunikida: "Now, how should you greet a client?" sylvia: h-hello, welcome! how may we take your order!? >.< Kunikida: "...No bad, but try to sound less like we're a fast food establishment." sylvia: s-sorry... Q-Q Kunikida: "Keep practicing. Try, 'Welcome to the Armed Detective Agency. How may we help?'" sylvia: w-welcome to the armed detective agency, how may we help you. Kunikida: *nods* "Good. Just like that." sylvia:...*faint smile* *the door opens* sylvia: WELCOME! >A<;;; Katai: Q___Q *falls back* sylvia: s-s-sorry! Katai: "I-I'm fine...I just had new security to check here..." kirako: ah. Katai: *plugs into an outlet, pulling up a map of the building* atsushi: woah. Katai: ^^; "It's not to scale, but I'm almost done adding the motion sensors..." atsushi: neato. Katai: *nods* "Would've been more useful before... ... ..." atsushi:....*pat* try not to be too hard on yourself. Katai: Q_Q *nods* "J-Just want this to be perfect..." -elsewhere- Hyde: "Here--two on the house." *passes down two lollipops to Soul's kids* becky: *nom* soul: what do you say, kids? becky: thanks uncle hyde. Damon: *nods* "Th-Thanks..." Hyde: ^w^ "You're welcome! How you doing in school?" becky: ok i guess. Damon: "...Slow to make friends..." soul: ... Hyde: "...I was too. But it's about the quality of friends, not quantity." soul: *he nods* Hyde: "So just be open and they'll come to you...Maybe play some games at recess?" becky: yeah. Damon: *nods* "What games did you play, Uncle Hyde?" Hyde: "...'Hyde' and seek." soul: ..............*facepalm* becky: you did not just... Damon: -_- "Boo." Hyde: ^^; "I'm good at it..." ochako: *plays a 'ba dum tsh' on her phone* Hyde: ^w^ "Thank you, thank you..." -elsewhere- Nate (Oni of Envy): *grumble* "Stupid freaking stupid..." taoka: well there isnt much you can do about it. boss's orders. Nate: "MANTIS IS OUR MEMBER! AND I WANT HIM OUT, NOW!" taoka: we're working on it as we speak. -_-; we're still trying to recover juria too. Nate: "GET HER BACK, TOO! BRING THEM ALL BACK, NOW!" >3< taoka: *chop* whining about it wont get it done faster. -A-; Nate: "OW!" T3T "Jerk-off..." -elsewhere- Sid: *blows gym whistle* "Shirota! Tell your friend the gym mat is not for napping!" Kuro: "Zzz..." mahiru: yes sir!....kuro? come on, time to get up. Kuro: "Five more minutes...It's so comfy..." mahiru: *lifts him up and carries him* -.-; Kuro: *childish groans* "Darn..." Sid: "When he wakes up, 10 laps." -elsewhere- Bessie: *looks up at Higuchi* higuchi: ?? yes? Bessie: "You have pretty hair, ma'am." higuchi: aw, thank you. ^^ Jakob: *sneaks up...holding a fake snake...* higuchi: *glances back and grabs him into a hold* Jakob: "GRK!" O_o *cough* sonia: and that's why you dont sneak up on mafia members. philip: ouch. Jakob: "Uncle! UNCLE!" higuchi: *releases him* Jakob: *panting* Q~Q Bessie: "..." *shiny eyes* leo: ^^; jakob, will you apologize to miss higuchi now? Jakob: Q_Q "Sorry, Miss Higuchi..." higuchi: *head pat and sigh* it's alright. Jakob: T\\\\T -elsewhere- Tournament Registration Desk Worker: "Next. Name?" mana: Mana Hinoki. Worker: "Okay, let's find your power category to pair you with your first opponent. Go to the punching bag over there and give it your best swing. The power meter will check your strength." mana: understood. *walks up and takes her stance*.....*inhale* *HARD KICK* *The power meter rings, showing 2,000* Worker: *whistle* "Not bad..." mana:....*beaming on the inside* ^v^ ???: "Looks like fun! Should we try?" mana: sure, go ahead. ???: *pulls back their fist, sighs...and delivers a punch that knocks the bag off the chain* *Power Meter: 4,000* mana:.... O.O;; ???: ^^; "Sorry. Let me hook it up..." *smiles at Mana* mana: ^^; ( ^^# like hell im going to lose to you.) ???: *holds out their hand* "May the best person win." -elsewhere- Lucy: *sets the cupcake in front of Sylvia* "Enjoy!" *and sets a small ice cream for Atsushi* atsushi: thanks. ^^ *nom* sylvia: ....*tiny nom* Lucy: "How is it, Sylvia?" sylvia: i-it's nice.... Lucy: "Well, good." *smiles--then whaps Atsushi on the shoulder* "Don't forget a tip." atsushi: i wont. Lucy: *smiles--then glares at the other diner* "And here's yours." *drops a bubbling mess of soup in front of Dazai* "Choke on it." Dazai: OwO;;; sylvia: .~.; Lucy: "And pay your damn tab this time." *walks off* sylvia: ._.;;;; atsushi: *sweatdrop* odasaku: *sweatdrop* Dazai: TwT "It'll get better, it'll get better..." atsushi: *pap pap* do you want to talk about it later? Dazai: *nod nod* atsushi: ok. odasaku:....*nods and pats atsushi's shoulder* Dazai: *dips his spoon into the soup--and the spoon melts* O_o "..." -elsewhere- mito: *mreeeow* Chuuya: *pets* "What're you doing?" mito: *purrs* Chuuya: *strokes* "Happy?" Mito: *mew* Chuuya: *passes a ball of yarn* mito: *chases and brings it back* Chuuya: "??? ..." *smiles* "Didn't think cats were into fetch, too..." *toss* mito: *runs* Chuuya: "Heh!" *smiles* mito: *brings it back* ^w^ Chuuya: "Good girl..." *pets* mito: *mew* -elsewhere- Kid: *puts on music* "Ready, Shiori?" shiori: weddy! Kid: *holds her hands, moving a bit* "Dance, dance, dance..." shiori: *dancing along* ^u^ Kid: ^^ "Good work!" *hums along with the music* shiori: hahaha! Kid: "Happy, Shiori? You know the song?" shiori: no ^u^ -elsewhere- *at the tournament, there's a very tall, muscular woman with a competitor button, '24'--she looks pissed* Number 24: -_____- mana: may i help you? Number 24: "...I can't find the bathroom. You see one around here?" mana: there's one over there. Number 24: "...Oh. Thanks." *mumbles* "Can't find anything around here..." *walks--in the opposite direction* mana: ma'am, ma'am! its the other way! Number 24: -_-# "DAMN IT!" *slams a foot down--and the floor cracks* "CAN'T THEY MAKE ANYTHING EASIER TO FIND AROUND HERE?!" *punches the wall--putting a hole into it* mana: OwO;;; *Someone with robotic antenna out of their head watches...Number 13* Number 13: ._.; "..." *snaps a photo with their phone* -one of the shiketsu students, a boy with a pumpkin head, watches- Kabo: ._.; yikes. rough crowd dis yea' Inasa: "NOTHING WE CAN'T HANDLE!" ???: sure dude. *there is a short ogre--Number 12* Number 12: *nervously sips on a juice box* >3< -elsewhere- Kid: "..." *staring into his tea* lord death: *humming* Kid: "...Father?" lord death: something on your mind, kiddo? Kid: "...Could you keep a secret?" lord death: of course, is something the matter? Kid: "...Stocking and I have decided...to try to have a child." lord death: oh that's wonderful! Kid: "...It's taking time." lord death: i see. Kid: "I don't know...Maybe I'm obsessing." lord death: *pats his back* its alright. im sure it will happen, one way or another. you just have to be patient. Kid: *sighs* "I'm...not very good at that." lord death: just take it one step at a time. Kid: "..." *nods* "I just don't want to fail..." -shinjuku DWMA branch- ???: *walking up to the door* DWMA soldier: *pacing* ???: <excuse me, i'm here to pick something up?> DWMA soldier: "???" <Identification, please.> ???: *he shows a citizen ID; Soichiro Kinjitsu* DWMA soldier: <Who sent you?> Kinjitsu: <i was the one who requested pick up for the subject.> DWMA soldier: <I'll contact my supervisor...> *talks into incom* <Hello?> Kinjitsu:... *silent smirk* -elsewhere- leroux: *cracks knuckles and begins playing 'clair de lune' on the piano* Kafka: *listens* leroux:... ?? kafka? may i help you? Kafka: "N-No! Just...What are you playing?" leroux: 'Clair De Lune', by Claude Debussy. Kafka: "...How long have you played?" leroux: i just started playing the song a few minutes ago- Kafka: "OVERALL. When did you start playing the piano?" leroux: oh, i suppose i started when i turned 11 years of age. usually by playing the theater's organ and reading books on music. though when i grew older, christine gave me additional music lessons~ u///u Kafka: "...Yes, fascinating..." *looks at the sheet music* "Hmm..." leroux: were you interested in learning as well or- Kafka: "No need." leroux: oh...*ahem* Kafka: "...I...already know. A bit." leroux: is that so? do tell! *shiny eyes* Kafka: "!!!" *backs up* "I-I...just had to learn it. Because I was told to..." leroux: hmmm...would you be willing to show me anyway? OwO please? Kafka: -__-# "You're as bad as Walter...Just...wait." leroux: i see....well, if you ever do change your mind, i would love to hear. *smiles* Kafka: -________- "I meant wait for me to get my violin." leroux: *SHINY EYES* for real? Kafka: "Shhhh!" >_< "This does not leave this room, got it?" leroux: i wont say a word. Kafka: "...Wait here." *exits, goes to his room* *Walter's head pops up in the hallway, unseen* Walter: "???" Kafka: *exits with a violin* Walter: "!!!" *hides* -and so- Kafka: *returns, sets up* "...Okay. Stick to the time, don't step on my toes." leroux: *excited* OvO Kafka: "..." *inhales...then begins* leroux: ....*playing along to go with him* Kafka: *eyes closed, following with Leroux* "..." hans: *outside, listening* Walter: OwO etta: *listening* Kafka: *lost in the music, matching Leroux...with something else added to the song...* christine?: *singing along* Kafka: *listening...* ("...What am I hearing?") -after the song finished, the illusion of christine faded- leroux:.... Kafka: *opens his eyes* "...Leroux?" leroux: yes? ^^ *wipes eyes* Kafka: "...Thank you." leroux: of course. ^^ Kafka: "...Well, then. I'll put this thing away." *takes the violin* -creeak- etta: oh boy. -the door opens- leroux:.....how long have you been there? hans: ^^;; Kafka: .\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\. etta: you're really good, guys. ^^ Kafka: O\\\\\\\\\O Walter: *nod nod* hans:....*claps* Kafka: "..." Q\\\\Q etta: ^^ leroux: *claps as well* Kafka: "..." *chokes* "Th-Thank you..." *bows* -elsewhere- Benimaru: *shaking* kabuki: nervous? Benimaru: "...Yes. Why am I nervous?" kabuki: pre-wedding jitters. just remember to breathe, ok? ^^ Benimaru: "..." *sharp inhale...exhales--* *and the building behind Benimaru explodes from his breath* kabuki: ovo; Benimaru: "...They blow up all the time anyway." Konro: *exits the building, holding a burnt sunflower* Q_Q -elsewhere- Poe: *singing to himself quietly* karl: *snoozing* Poe: "..." *cradles Karl, taking him to his bed* karl: =w= lana: *asleep* Poe: "..." *tucks Lana in* lana: =//w//= Poe: "..." *lies down* lana:....*snuggles up to him* Poe: =\\\\= *holds her* -morning- higuchi: *walking to the kitchen area* oh. you're up early, chuuya. Chuuya: "Uh-huh..." *cooking* higuchi: *glances out a window*.....the trees are starting to bloom a little more now. Chuuya: "...Yes..." *flips over the omelette* higuchi: it's been a long winter.....glad its finally springtime. Chuuya: "...If only we could go out..." higuchi: yeah......*sigh* Chuuya: "...What do we do?" higuchi: play it by ear i guess.... katya: *groans and scuffles in* coffeeeee..... =A= fuck hangovers. Chuuya: "...Rough night?" *sets out coffee and sausage* katya: drank a lot... *siiips* bah....'least the booze here is good. made the shit the rats had taste like rat piss. Chuuya: "...Who gave you the alcohol? I though their boss was protective of his..." katya: there's an in house bar. but i think the reason the booze with the rats was shitty was 'cuz dost-ass-ky kept all the good stuff for himself and his 'elite members'. what a crock-a-shit. higuchi: do you have to be so vulgar, katya? there's little kid's around, for cryin out loud. katya: girlie, i've been this way for years now. *sips* higuchi:......it really is off-putting that you're older than both of us. katya: watch it.........did i tell you 'bout the time i bit a guy's ear off? higuchi: .________________. Chuuya: "...He wouldn't listen, huh?" katya: he was some one-off thug pushkin and i had to deal with. then he just had to go call pushkin a 'bald melon' and i kind of flipped out on him. broke two of his finger and bit his ear right off. thats what ya get when you talk shit, fucker! haha! Chuuya: "...That's dedication." *slides his food away* "And I'm not hungry." higuchi: you really care for him, huh? katya: yeah. he and lev are my only real companions in life, and i appreciate it. Chuuya: "..." *looks down* katya:....they've dealt with me better than most people do. others usually get turned away because of my violent outbursts and psychotic tendencies. cant really blame em though....heh, look at me, getting all sentimental, guess im still a bit buzzed... pushkin: *yaaaawn* *streeeetch* katya: mornin' pushkin: still tired =~= Gin: "Then go to bed at a reasonable hour." *takes a seat* higuchi: *forehead kiss for gin* so, anything planned for today, chuuya? Gin: ^\\\^ Chuuya: "...Just going to make sure Sonia's new clothes come, and review some old files." higuchi: ah. Gin: "I think I have self-defense training for certain individuals..." -elsewhere- Announcer: "Welcome to the Salt Lake Battle Tournament!" mana: *stretching* Number 12: *shivering, clutching his club* Q_Q Number 13: *tapping on their phone* Number 24: *growling* "I'm going to rip this entire place apart..." Inasa: *beaming* "LET'S SHOW WHAT WE GOT! RIGHT, EVERYONE?!" Kabo: yeah! Announcer: "Let's reveal the first match setup..." Number 1: *looking in a mirror* "Mmm~" *kisses the mirror* mana: -_-; *The TV screens around the stadium reveal the first match: Mana vs Number 1* Number 1: *looks at Mana* "...Here." *hands her...an autograph photograph of themselves* "It'll be worth more when I sign it after your loss~" *winks* mana: .....oh i cant wait to rip you a new one. Number 1: OwO;;;; "..." *wicked voice* "Then I look forward to ripping you limb from limb..." Announcer: "--and no killing. Get your opponent out of the ring or until they are not able to fight, you win and move onto the next round! Fighters, take your places on the field..." mana: *taking her stance* Announcer: "Ready...GO!" Number 1: *stands still* ((They have an ability and/or quirk.)) mana: *jumps ahead* *Suddenly, someone appears under her* mana: ??!! *It's...Number 1? But they're still standing in front of Mana--* *The duplicate punches Mana in the jaw* mana: GRK- Number 1 Prime: "Too slow..." *aims a kick at Mana's stomach* mana: *jumps back and punches the double* Number 1 Second: *dodges--until getting punched in the arm* "Ow!" *reaches for Mana* mana: *grabs their arm and tosses them into prime* HYAH! Number 1 Prime: OwO; "Wha--~" *CRASH* *Number 1 Prime and Second absorb back together--but don't fall out of the ring yet* mana: had enough? Number 1: "..." *evil grin* "Hardly..." *A disgusting "slooshing" sound is heard--as multiple iterations of Number 1 surround the entire ring* mana: !!! Number 1 Legion (All of Them): "How are you going to win, one against all?" mana: one makes all the difference. Number 1 Legion: *smirks* "We'll see..." *they all run at her* mana: *dodges* *Number 1 crashes into...Number 1...who crashes into...Number 1...* mana: *tosses another of the doubles into another* Number 1: "EEEEEEEK--" *crashes* mana: guess you dont have much experience with that ability, huh? Number 1 Prime: *panting* "Wh-Who..." *gulps* "--n-needs experience..." *smirks* "...when you have the numbers and raw power?! ..." *dry heaves* mana: i would saaayyyy.....you. *KICK TO THE GUT* Number 1 Prime: O~o *sent flying back* "..." OxO *and vomits on their way out the ring, collapsing on the ground--as all the clones vanish* Announcer: "...Ew...Um...The winner is...Mana Hinoki!" mana: ^^v Announcer: "Um...Can we get a medic? And a custodian?" Number 1: X___X -elsewhere- Yohei: *watching in the living room* "Phew...That was a surprising start." chie: *claps toru's hands* yaaay she did it! toru: *laughs* Kepuri: -3- "Good thing she won--I'd never let her hear the end of it if she didn't..." -elsewhere- emily: i got ourselves a lead! Steinbeck: *looks up from reading* "Really?" emily: apperantly the van tassel's are hosting a banquet tonight. *hands him a uniform* and guess who's got jobs working as wait-staff tonight. twain: nice! em, you are our alfred! Steinbeck: ^^; "I'll go practice my 'waiting'..." *goes to change* -elsewhere- Damon: *holding his stomach* soul: feeling ok? Damon: *whines* *shakes his head* soul: ....do you want to see the doctor? Damon: "...Can I go to the bathroom?" soul: have you had water? Damon: "..." *shakes his head "no"* soul: well lets get you some then. ^^ Damon: =~= "Okaaay..." -elsewhere- tachihara: *throwing a ball at a wall* ...... Chuuya: *walks by* "???" tachihara:....afternoon. Chuuya: "Hey...What you up to?" tachihara: bored i guess. might check out the game room later. Chuuya: "Ah...What they got? Billiards? Arcade games?" tachihara: all kinds of stuff. Chuuya: "Want to go at billiards?" tachihara:...eh, sure.......*looks around* *the arcade machine is making some beeping noises...there's a jukebox playing music* Chuuya: "..." *takes off his jacket, grabs two sticks* tachihara:....kinda quiet, people wise.... Chuuya: *chalking up, sniffing* "Hmm...Someone's been smoking..." tachihara: probably the old man. Chuuya: "Hope so...You been bored here?" tachihara: getting by.......say, can i admit something kinda...personal? Chuuya: "Sure." tachihara: *looks around* now, you cant tell _anyone_, especially not gin. Chuuya: *hand on heart* "Promise." tachihara:....for a while....i've kind of.....had a crush on higuchi... 7///7; Chuuya: "...Oh. I didn't know..." tachihara: yeah....guess i missed my shot....so too late to tell her now....she seems happy. i dont want to be a dick and ruin that for her.... Chuuya: *nods* "Good...That's the right thing to do...What was it when you realized it? Workplace interaction?" tachihara:...t-thanks....i dunno, i guess i just thought 'hey, she looks really cute and i wouldnt mind, y'know, bein' around her more', y'know?.....yeah. look at me, feeling sorry for myself. real damn embarrassing. Chuuya: "..." *pat pat* "Yeah..." ("Missed opportunities...") tachihara:.......ping-pong? Chuuya: "...Sure." *sets down the pool sticks* -elsewhere- Number 12: Q___Q kabo: *swinging them around with pumpkin vines* Number 12: "MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMY!!!" Announcer: "Competitor 12 is really flying!" kabo: dis seems 'bout the right momentum. ally-OOP! *releases* Number 12: "AAAAAAAAAH--" *crashes out of the circle* kabo: *whistle* Inasa: "GREAT WORK!" -elsewhere- PlushFix: *looking through binoculars* "...Yeah, that's the place..." hina: *whistles* nice. PlushFix: "We'll need two on the front door, two on the back...Someone to go through the window..." mimeca: *raises hand* saku:....<very well> PlushFix: "I'll go through the back door..." *winks* saku: .... PlushFix: "Now, that just leaves a distraction...Okay, hot stuff--distract the guard." hina: *sneaks up and tazes the guard in the neck* PlushFix: "Perfect..." *runs inside--and spots a door* "??? ..." *tries to slide under the door--and gets stuck halfway through* "...Um...Little help?" hina: *takes the card key and scans it* PlushFix: *coughs, inhales* "...Pfew..." *looks up* "..." *spots something...* "..." *evil grin* mimeca: o^o~? PlushFix: "This...is going to be like old times...Get the wolf man to help move this thing into the truck...Er, I guess put it onto the back of the truck..." hina: just what do we do with this thing, huh? PlushFix: "What else? Cause damage, grab and smash, havoc in the streets, shoplift--you know, fun!" hina:....fuck yeah.. -elsewhere- Izuku: "This tournament..." *writing notes* "I think there are people with quirks involved..." tsuyu: i think there's students from shiketsu competing as well. Izuku: "Oh! I had looked into that school...Its teachers seem to take a different approach than ours..." satou:.... ._. cant imagine what its like. sero: maybe we'll meet them some day. that'd be cool. Iida: *nods* "Helpful to recognize other educational perspectives--" Bakugo: "--to kick their asses." Izuku: .______.;;; kaminari: come to think of it, i think that furifuro girl was enlisted into an alternate school. Izuku: "Oh, is that what happened to her?" kaminari: darn, and i was wanting to ask her out too. Iida: "..." Izuku: "..." Bakugo: "You had no fucking chance." kaminari: QvQ harsh kacchan. Bakugo: "Truth hurts." *walks away* -elsewhere- Master: *crosses out Numbers 1 and 12 on a "Salt Lake Tournament" chalkboard he's set up* "Okay, Mana is still in the game..." mono: good for her. liz: awesome! Patty: *claps* "Yay, secret Thompson twin!" liz: ^^; mono: ?? Patty: "In-joke, Kid's nightmare girl--don't worry about it." ^^ mono:.....i....see......*sweatdrop* Master: "If she wins, I'll add a drink to the menu. Any recommendations?" -elsewhere- Agate: (no 13) [up in the next round.] Number 24: *walking out of the stadium* "Where is that damn ring?" Agate: other way, Bryn. Bryn: "..." *turns, glowers* *growls* agate: *resumes texting* -elsewhere- ivy: ....... Joker: "You're quieter--than usual." ivy: what, is that illegal? Joker: "No, but if it would, you'd fit in even better here. What you thinking about?" ivy:.....useless things... *draws a fire snake from joker's cig* Joker: "Ah...So, people?" ivy:....i guess. Joker: "Anyone you left when you were out of the prison?" ivy:.....like _that_ matters..... Joker: "Hmm...Still got a chip on your shoulder after Hibana?" ivy: *grimace* just hearing the name makes me sick.... Joker: "Want to do something about it?' ivy:....i want her off her high horse and 6 feet under. Joker: "Then hit her where it hurts..." ivy:....*smirk* -elsewhere- Kid: *holds up one of Shiori's dolls* shiori: haha! Kid: ^^ "And who is this pretty dollie?" shiori: lila! Kid: "And is Lila a good dollie?" shiori: ye! Kid: "That's good. Does Lila want to play?" -elsewhere- Todoroki: "Mom, I finished folding the clothes..." yuki: thank you, shouto.... Todoroki: "How is lunch coming along?" yuki: .......*shaking* Todoroki: "...Mom. It's okay." yuki: *inhales* r-right.... fuyumi: why dont i take over for now? yuki: y-yes....thank you....fuyumi....*sits down, hands still shaking* Todoroki: "..." *holds her hand* yuki:...*sniff* Todoroki: "We're here..." fuyumi: *hug* Todoroki: "We're not going anywhere..." yuki: t-thank you.... Todoroki: *smiles* "Just...one step at a time." -elsewhere- Ivan: <How is she?> lydia: <she's just resting for now> Ivan: <What do you think is wrong?> lydia: ..... <perhaps its that girl from school?> Ivan: <??? Really? ...Why?> lydia: .....<perhaps she grew to like her.....but she had to leave her behind for her own safety.....i can understand that pain as well...> Ivan: <...We've all had to leave things behind, for the greater good...> lydia:........... Ivan: "..." <Well, we already tried the kidnapping route for that demon child [Q], so I don't think that will work for Young Master's friend.> lydia: <and she did request we leave her out of this.> Ivan: *nods* <Best not to question her...Still, she cannot afford to remain like this.> lydia: <then what do _you_ suggest?> Ivan: *shrugs* <Food, sleep...someone to talk to?> -elsewhere- Anya: "Again..." *sets up another block of wood* *She looks exhausted* tsugumi: anya? Anya: "What?" tsugumi: are you ok? Anya: "I'll be better when we go again..." tsugumi: .... Anya: "..." *struggles to lift another log--then stumbles* tsugumi: !!! *goes over to her* Anya: *on her hands and knees...shakes* tsugumi: *hug* Anya: "..." *sniffs* "I-I'm fine..." tsugumi: you sure dont look it... Anya: "Shut up...I have to keep going..." tsugumi: anya, just look at me....*she seems worried* you cant push yourself like this, it...it isnt healthy... Anya: "..." Q___Q "I just want to get stronger..." tsugumi: and you will- ao: but why? Anya: "...I don't want to lose anyone else..." ao: .....i see. Anya: "..." *falls back on the ground, lies down* "...Just let me lie here for a bit..." tsugumi: *carries her* you're going to medical. -elsewhere- ???: "What do you mean a tiny plush toy stole it?!" mafioso: t-there was a wolfman too, and a jester, and a samurai chick, and another lady. Mafioso Superior: "...You know, if this was anywhere else in the entire galaxy, in all of the multiverse, I would think you're full of shit, Alex. But we don't have time for that--so, we need to find them." *turns to exit--* "...'Another lady'?" alex: *shows the camera footage* see? Mafioso Superior: "...Huh. Not bad...Okay, story checks out. Remind me to cut off your finger for letting it get stolen." *grabs a crossbow* "Let's go..." alex: qwq; -elsewhere- Announcer: "Now for our next round! Competitors 13 and 24, take your marks..." Bryn: *facing the wrong way--then turns around* "...I'm going to rip those goofy antenna off your head..." Agate: ... Announcer: "Ready...set...GO!" Bryn: *slams down a foot, cracking the floor towards Agate* agate: *glances* Bryn: *marches slowly forward, each step causing a new footprint on the ring's floor* agate: *electro pulse wave at bryn* Bryn: *shocked* "URRRRRK?!" O______o *shakes* "..." -_-# agate: !! Bryn: *bends down, grabs the ring's floor...and starts pulling up a rocky chunk of it, lifting it over her head* agate:....*FLEES* Bryn: "GET BACK HERE, YOU WALKING BUG ZAPPER!" *chases after Agate* agate: Q_Q;;; Announcer: "It looks like Number 24 knows the right directions this time!" Bryn: *GLARE* Announcer: O_O "..." *hides behind Mana* agate: ....!! *jumps to the side* Bryn: *throws the rocky chunk, missing Agate* "STAND STILL AND DIE!" agate: >~<;;; Bryn: *rushes at Agate* "RAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" *quarterback tackle mode* agate: *cowers* Bryn: *tackles, knocking Agate out of the ring first* Announcer: ._. "...Um...Number 24 wins?" Bryn: *head-locks Agate* "YEAH!" agate: TTATT Announcer: "Jeez...Hate to face off against her...She's going to rip someone in half..." -elsewhere- Dazai: "--and that's what to tell the cops if they pull you over." atsushi: i...see.... (remind me never to accept a ride from dazai at any future point of my life) Dazai: "So, ready to help me pick up the new baby mobile?" atsushi: i guess so. ^^; Dazai: "Excellent!" *grabs the car keys--* Tanizaki: *walking by--* atsushi: tanizaki, can you give us a ride? Dazai: .w.; Tanizaki: *looks at Dazai* "..." *looks at Atsushi* "..." *pats his shoulder* "Wise choice." Dazai: *stabbed in the heart* XwX atsushi:...*paps dazai's back* Dazai: "Just put me in the back seat..." Tanizaki: "...We'll pick up fast food, too, buddy." -elsewhere- Shotaro: "You think Mana will win? That one competitor looks tough--like when she smashed a hole through the floor..." chie: she sure has the strength for it. Emine: *flipping through a funeral home catalog* chie: D8< Shotaro: ^w^; "Emine, she isn't dead yet..." Emine: "I'm just trying to be helpful. And if she doesn't die, I'm sure we can fit someone else into the coffin..." saki: emine no. -elsewhere- Kuro: *in the library...asleep atop books* mahiru: *researching* Hyde: "Well, howdy!" mahiru: hey guys. *wave* licht: 7_7 Hyde: "What you reading?" *pokes Kuro* Kuro: -_-# mahiru: just looking up some history on vampires....doesnt seem to mention servamps anywhere.... Hyde: "...Yeah...Not surprising..." mahiru: but i did find some other info on other subspecies of vampires. bloodsuckers, true ancestors, the likes....apparently they're pretty strong. Hyde: "Huh...I think Soul mentioned one of them buggers." mahiru: really? Hyde: *nods* "Heard there were remains of one found somewhere..." mahiru: creepy. *checks the book again* according to this, large groups of vampires live in underground nests or cities, and have a civilization and culture of their own. it is ill-advised for civilians to try finding these nests, as you most likely will be killed or kept as livestock.... ._. *gulps* Hyde: "...'Kept as livestock'? Like sheep-vampire? 'Veeps'?" licht: *TOSSES HIM* dont be an idiot.........but are vampire sheep a thing? *shiny eyes* Hyde: *knocked out, with vampire sheep floating around his head* XwX "Yeeeeeeep..." Kuro: =_= "Too noisy..." -elsewhere- Touma: "Ready?" yumikage: *guns out* -other C3 soldiers gearing up- Jun: *takes his sticks* Tsurugi: *smiles* guard:....you hear something? Jun: *gestures to others to go around* soldiers: *sneaking in* Guard 2: "..." *listens, readies a stance* guard:...*sniff*...!!!! human intruders! ???: "Ha ha ha ha--" *someone grabs the Guard* guard: ??!!!!? Tsurugi: "Hi~" *flings the Guard* guard: *SCREAMS* -sirens going off- Jun: "?! Darn..." *keeps low to the ground* intercom: attention, we are under attack by human intruders, this is not a drill, all combat units to the front entryway of the city, ground patrol is to protect the livestock chamber. Combat 1: *scanning* "..." -BOOM HEADSHOT- vampire sniper: got one lower ranker down. -BANG BANG- vampire sniper: !! shit! yumikage: be careful! they have snipers! Tsuguri: "Then just have to move faster!" *dashes* -several vampire foot soldiers charge as well- Tsurugi: *giggles as he kicks into one soldier* vampire soldier: OOF! vampire sniper: *aiming*...damn, he's not standing still... Tsurugi: "Bouncy, bouncy, we go!" *leaps up, grabs a soldier by the shoulders, flinging them into the wall* -in the city- heller: Q_Q scary skelter: too scary heller: got to get out skelter: too many people heller: we should hide. -the two hide in the sewers- skelter:....its dark heller: and smelly -back where the fighting is, there have been plenty of casualties on the vampire and C3 sides- Jun: *trying to revive someone* "...Goddamn it..." vampire sniper: *aims at jun* *shoulder tap* vampire sniper: ?? *turns* !!!!!!! Tsurugi: "Hello~" *punch to the jaw* vampire sniper: GRK- AH!!!! *aiming* Tsurugi: *grabs the gun, aims it over his shoulder* "Let's dance." *takes the sniper's hands, swings her around* vampire sniper: !!! *tries to slow herself down-* Tsurugi: *and slams her into the wall, her legs hitting the corner* -crack- vampire sniper: *SCREAMS* Tsurugi: *then swings her onto her back* vampire sniper: !! Tsurugi: *sits on her stomach* "So..." *flips a knife around* "What's your name?" vampire sniper: *spits in his face* Tsurugi: "...Nice to meet you, Spitter! I'm Tsurugi! So, let's see how this works--" *stabs the knife into her wrist* sniper: *SCREEEEAMS* Tsurugi: *grabs her other arm, pulls it so that her arm is shoved into her mouth* "Shhhhh...Sh, sh, sh...I'm not done..." *twists the knife* sniper: *muffled screaming* Tsurugi: "OOOOOOooooo, pleasant! So, what's next..." *takes out the knife* "Give me a bit more info." -elsewhere- Jun: "I found the holding pens..." yumikage: *shoots the lock* Jun: *opens the doors...* man: !!! woman: ah! yumikage: its ok, we're here to let you out. Jun: *looks at them* "..." ("Awful...") girl: mama? who are these people? Jun: "We're with an organization that stops vampires...It's going to be okay." -several C3 members are releasing the prisoners and loading them onto buses to get them to safety- Touma: "Progress report?" yumikage: about 82% of the vampires eliminated, the rest fled. but we got the human prisoners released. Touma: "No vamps captured?" yumikage: at least 5 captured. Touma: *smiles* "Get the humans medical treatment. Take me to the vampires." yumikage: .... -elsewhere- Toby: *whimpering* mary: whats wrong? Toby: *nuzzles, whining* mary: *cuddle* Toby: *calms down...* T_T mary: *hums* Toby: T~T *sits close...breathing relaxes* *fox mutter* mary: ^^ Toby: *plops head down on lap....looks up at Mary* *small fox relaxed growl* mary: *pet pet* Toby: =w= *snores* -elsewhere- Black Star: "..." *pat pat* tsubaki: zzzz Black Star: *pulls in the covers, hugs her* -morning- Assi: *flips the bacon* Yohei: *yawns* nea: mooorniing~ Shinoda: "Good day..." Yohei: "Yo...What you up for eating?" *grabs pancake mix* chie: *feeding toru* -elsewhere- mana: *walking* ???: *grumbling, muttering* *sounds like someone re-packing luggage* mana:...?? *The ogre child, Number 12, seems to be having problems zipping luggage* Number 12: Q~Q *whimpering* mana: are you ok? Number 12: *shakes their head* "I-I can't get it to zip...I need to check out by noon..." mana: need help? Number 12: "..." *nods* mana: *smiles and helps him out*....you did great out there. Number 12: "..." *shakes his head* "I lost..." mana:...but you still tried, right? Number 12: "A lot good that does...They're all gonna laugh at me..." mana: .....*pap pap* then just keep trying your best, and think 'hey, i can do pretty darn good'. Number 12: "...I wish I got as far as you did..." mana: maybe next time you will. ^^ Number 12: "...Was this your first tournament?" mana: i've been in a few before. some i won, some i lost. Number 12: "...How did you get this far? It's my first..." mana: lots of training, awareness, and perseverance. Number 12: "...I came to get away from bullies..." mana: ...i know what that's like. i was bullied when i was younger too. Number 12: "...I thought if I could show off here, no one would try to hit me ever again..." mana:...do your teachers know? Number 12: "..." *shakes his head* mana: then you should tell them. Number 12: "...That'll make the bullies angrier..." mana: i know it might be scary, but im sure the teacher will do something about it. you have to learn to stand up for yourself. Number 12: "..." *nods* "I guess..." mana: *smiles* there you go. -elsewhere- Gin: *walking to the gym* "..." *nods to Hans* hans: good morning. Gin: "Morning. How is everything?" hans: peaceful thus far. Gin: "Good." *sets towel down, grabs weights* "Did you need me to do anything here today?" -elsewhere- emily: ok, since we missed it _yesterday_, we'll try at tonight's. *sweatdrop* twain: ^^; *he fell asleep* baum: 737; Steinbeck: -_-; *was distracted by practice* Hemingway: "...Wait, what banquet?" emily: *facepalm* you guys.... dorothy:....*pulls out an airhorn and blows it* Steinbeck: O_o twain: YEEE! Hemingway: "?!" *grabs his harpoon* baum: QuQ emily: everyone, please pay attention! -elsewhere- heller: so this is death city? skelter: indeed it is, heller. heller: and those guys who killed everyone live there, right right? skelter: indeed they do. heller: then we'll just inform the council to strike back! skelter: good idea! good idea! heller + skelter: nyuhuhu~ -elsewhere- Touma: *humming* mafura: *following* ~♪ Touma: *taps on the cell doors* vampire: ....... Touma: *waves* "Hello." vampire: dont think you can get away with this, livestock. the progenitor council will hear of this and come for us! Touma: "..." *smiles* " 'Livestock.' Tell me, how do you contain livestock?" vampire: *growls and tries to attack, but is yanked back due to the chain around his neck* Touma: "Just like that. So, who is the livestock again?" vampire: *SNARLS* mafura: ~? Touma: "We'll be having some fun. A few tests. Find out how you differ from some of our other lab rats..." vampire:....that female...just what is she?....her scent is that of a vampire...and yet it isnt..... Touma: "..." *smiles* "So, you are curious about her..." *pats a hand on Mafura's shoulder* mafura: ~? Touma: "How about we trade some information? Let's begin with how your society is structured..." *has another hand on Mafura's other shoulder, holding her in front of the cell* vampire:...why should we tell _you_ anything? Touma: "...You care for those around you." vampire: .... Touma: "Perhaps..." *squeezes Mafura's shoulders* "I learn about what makes you all so different...by getting in deep..." mafura: ?? mr touma? vampire: ....... Touma: "It's okay, Mafura...I just want to know more about these new 'friends'...and I'd hate for them to refuse our friendship...We just want to know more about each other..." mafura: ok mr touma~ ^^ vampire: *HISSS* Touma: *smiles* "A pity..." *his nails dig in a bit into Mafura's shoulders* "I do hate when friendship is rejected..." mafura: .... vampire: go to hell! Touma: "I think you fail to understand...If you saw how I treat my 'friends'..." *he releases Mafura, and takes out a remote* "You'll hate what I do to my enemies..." vampire: ??? Touma: *presses the button* vampire: *SCREAMS as the collar shocks him* Touma: *stops the shock* "...I'll give you some time to think it over. Remember a few things I may want to hear." vampire: ..... -elsewhere- PlushFix: "Beautiful...Just look at it! And it's all mine!" saku:....and _it_ is? mimeca: OvO PlushFix: "...Just stand right there..." *crawls up it...and sits inside...and its armor lowers...as the giant robotic suit stands* hina: *whistle* nice tech. saku: just how does this benefit us?? PlushFix: "Ever hear of 'smash and grab'?" saku: i have not. PlushFix: "Well, I smash--" *slams the robot's fist against the ground--right next to where Saku is standing* "--and you grab." saku:...... hina: *grabs on* PlushFix: ^w^ *lifts the arm, letting Hina ride on the robot's shoulder* hina: not too shabby! PlushFix: "I think we'll need a test run..." -elsewhere- Bryn: *on the phone* "..." *nods nods* "...I know. I will. ...Yes, I'm eating well." bryn's daughter: do your best, mom! Bryn: ^\\\\^ "You know I will--thank you, sweetie!" mr hilder: we're rooting on you, honey! ^//^ Bryn: "Aw...I'll make you proud." -elsewhere- Hyde: *has a book opened at the work counter* "..." ochako: hey hey hey! Hyde: "Hmm? What up?" ochako: whatcha lookin' at? Hyde: "Oh, just about vampires." ochako:...wait arent you- Hyde: ^w^; "Aren't I...what?" ochako:...oh nothing. Hyde: ^^;;; *opens a can of soda, awkward cough* "You working out for your exam?" -elsewhere- Yotsuba: *carrying a tray of food* ^w^ *hands it to a guard* guard:......*slides it under the slot* here. Friend: "...Why is it sparkling?" guard:...long story. Friend: *grumbles, shovels food* "...Hm. Not bad...Can I get some new clothes?" -elsewhere- Damon: *drinking children's electrolyte supplement* "..." becky: how is it? Damon: "Okay...The berry tastes kind of fake-y." -~- becky: >XP yuck Damon: "...I guess I'm supposed to drink more water now..." *grumbles* soul: *pats his back* Damon: *slight shiver* "This sucks..." soul: i know, kiddo, but it'll be better, i promise. Damon: "..." *nods* "Do I have to go to the doctor?" soul: next week, but you'll be fine, i promise. Damon: "..." *holds out a pinky* soul: *pinky swear* ^^ -elsewhere- Katai: *shivers* *opens laptop* [keek, u online?] keek: [ya whats up?] Katai: [can u keep something?] *attaches a file* [decrypt it, file it, keep it password protected, don't let me get it back--share only with the agency] keek: [got it (^^)b ]] Katai: [thanx. sorry 2 ask] "..." [how r u?] keek: [hanging in there.] Katai: [need me to cook anything?] -elsewhere-

I love learning new mythology stuff if you want to go in depth about your ideas! Admittedly I know the most about Greek mythology, so you might have to give more details on any other myths you use.

I know the most about Greek/Roman and Norse mythology and a bit from my ancient Egyptian obsession I had back in sixth grade, but I’ve dabbled just a little in Polynesian, Japanese, and Celtic mythology, as well as several folktales from around Europe and one or two Aztec myths, and I’ve been meaning to do some research on the Orisha from eastern Africa I think it is, but haven’t gotten around to it.

Anyways, I’ve been developing a bit of a complicated mythology themed universe in my head and it only gets more confusing as I add more pantheons to the list, so for right now for this explaination I’ll stick with the Greek, Norse, and Egyptian ones, and maybe touch a bit on the Hawaiian stuff, but I’m not as comfortable putting that out there because I’m not overly well read on that yet.

I’m putting a cut here for anybody that doesn’t want to read this, because it gets long and complicated, and I’m not even close to being done with it, and I’m giving you all the simplified version.

So, the beginnings of my idea started when I was reading that wonderful wonderful author Rick Riordin. Specifically a short story crossover between his Egyptian and Greek series. This got me wondering if I could possibly make any of these pantheons coexist long term.

So, I began with what I call cross-pantheon deities. These are children of gods/goddesses from different pantheons. But then I had to figure out a way that these gods could meet each other.

So, the gods of old in this universe are a magical species I call manas deva from the Sanskrit words for “invented” and “god”. They are beings that came to exist because of human belief, and are a bit more contained and limited than the traditional idea of gods, but still the most powerful beings in this universe. And now that they exist, they can go do things like screw a few mortals and dink around with the weather just for the hell of it.

So once in a while you’ll get someone, (probably Zeus if we’re being honest) hanging around a mortal pub or something disguised as a mortal, and another disguised god or goddess disguised as a mortal, and since the pantheons shouldn’t interact with each other they don’t know what to look out for and therefore don’t know they’ve made a huge mistake until the morning after when they both decide to mention oh yeah you just did the thing with a god bye.

And that’s where the cross-pantheon characters come from.

I’m still working on characters and plot, but my main characters are this guy Deon, who is a cross-pantheon son of Zeus Greek god of lightning and being a terrible womanizer, and Freja, Norse goddess of beauty, war, and uh, fertility. The other main character is his twin sister Talin, which is also his half sister. (And yeah, fraternal twins can have different biological dads, it happens look it up) Her dad is Ra, god of the sun and everybody worshiped him in ancient Egypt it was just the cool thing to do.

Our buddy Deon doesn’t like either side of his family, but he kind of depends on them because his immortality is all wonky. Norse deities stay young by eating special golden apples distributed by the goddess of youth and can be killed, whereas Greek gods are just eternally young and can’t die. Deon got an awkward combination of these traits and can’t be killed but still ages, so he has to keep both sides of his family okay with him and not run off to join the mortals or something, because he can’t die and there are complications like lost limbs that can come from that, and he keeps aging, so he needs those sweet sweet golden apples to keep looking like a fresh twenty something, because who wants to spend all of eternity with joint pain? One of his best friends, Asger, son of Aphrodite, son of Odin, has the opposite problem. He’s eternally young but can be killed.

Talin hates her dad and would like to just stay in Vanaheim with her brother and favorite cousins all the time(also she might have a girlfriend there but I haven’t invented her yet), but keeps going back to the sun and puts up with her dad because there are several people there in the realm of gods and spirits that depend on her. I’m still thinking through her motivations and backstory, but she’s shaping up to be quite dangerous. She’s loud and slightly violent and is confrontational in a good way. She believes she knows what is right and will fight for it. She and Deon make nice foils for each other because he is much quieter and shy and prefers a more sneaky or indirect approach to conflict and doesn’t see morals as something set in stone. He has charming abilities and will use his magic to get what he wants, all the while making the other person believe it was their idea. So, she’s the huntress, he’s the trickster. Neither of them are overly gorgeous by society’s standards but have the ability to trick people into thinking that they are because their mom is a love goddess. Does that make sense?

I’ve got all kinds of other side characters I’m working on. None of them are overly developed at this point, but here’s some of my more well thought out ones.

I’m calling this one Jessie for now. She/her Greek/Hawaiian. Dad is Kanaloa, Hawaiian god of the underworld and magic, mom is Kymopoleia, Greek Goddess of sea storms. You’d expect somebody with that parentage to be pretty volatile, and you’d be right. Pansexual Demigirl that’s best friends with Deon and Asger and Deon is a trans guy as of right now, but I might change that later, but anyways, Jessie and Deon first got to know each other as of right now because they both wanted a trans friend and she got to know Asger through Deon. But like I said, I’m thinking about changing a few things we’ll see how it goes.

Apollo. Yes, that Apollo. He looked away from the mirror just long enough to be one of Deon’s mentors and teach him how to shoot. This is a modern day story, so that includes guns as well as bows and arrows. Don’t get the impression he’s a good person here. He’s not. He just chooses to care about his siblings sometimes.

Asger. he/him My one straight cis character. I needed one in there. He’s the son of Aphrodite Greek goddess of love and Odin, leader of the Norse aesir gods. He became friends with Deon after finding out he also had a love goddess mom and they bonded over how their moms are both just the worst. He’s incredibly strong and people often call him if they need a giant or dragon disposed of and Thor isn’t avalible. He’s also good friends with Talin and they bond over being kind of violent. They both like weapons and fighting and whatnot. The Norse gods find them to be fun at parties.

Eric, Dalia, and Astrid. Not much of a backstory for these three yet, but they are former demigods that were made gods after the Norse deities found them useful. They deliver messages, because I noticed the Norse pantheon has a god of messengers, but they don’t have a god whose job it is to deliver messages, so I invented the story of the four messengers. One for each season. Eric son of Loki in the winter, Astrid daughter of Thor in the spring, Dalia daughter of Tyr in the fall, and Deon is the summer messenger. This is an interesting device, because all four of these characters are very powerful and useful, but one of them is missing at any given time, because during the season they work they are busy almost all of the time and the only way to get a hold of them is to deliver a message. I’ve got a whole complicated story planned out how they were all added one at a time over the course of a few centuries, but this post is getting too long anyways.

Freja. Goddess of beauty and war. She runs a house of fallen warriors that are training for ragnarok, same as Valhalla. She seems ditzy and is basically the world’s worst beauty pageant mom, but if you piss her off you will suffer a fate worse than any of the underworld gods/goddesses could imagine for you. Do not cross her. She can run in heels.

Zeus. I don’t need to talk about this guy, do I? He sucks. He just really sucks. Get him out of my face. He’s a horribly abusive parent.

Ra. Good king, bad dad. Argues with other sun gods/goddesses. Sol never has any time to talk to him because she’s being chased by a wolf. For crying out loud, Ra. Stay in your lane. Focus on your own thing. This is why you have like three cross-pantheon kids.

Yeah, those are the more developed ones. I have tons more, but I don’t think I have time to get into those.

As for what kind of plot I’d have in this context? That’s a little fuzzy. I’m thinking something like demigods and minor deities are going missing, and since the gods can’t exactly throw demigods or mortal heroes at the problem, because the problem is that they’re disappearing they send some cross pantheon gods because they’re pretty much on the lowest rung right above mortals in these godly societies and their parents don’t really care for them that much. So, it would probably follow several characters on their quest to find out what the freak is going on and why all these spirits and demigods and favored mortals are disappearing across so many pantheons.

That probably leads to all kinds of shenanigans, including various figures from these mythologies that aren’t supposed to meet crossing paths. I like to imagine a scene ending with Asger smashing in some Greek monster’s head with Mjolnir or a similar Norse weapon. Probably Typhon. Can we have Typhon, a giant monster with insane features and probably bigger than mount everest get defeated by a tap from Thor’s hammer? Please and thank you?

Anyways, it’ll probably be a very long time before I get all of my thoughts together enough to actually get a screenplay together because this is taking a lot of sorting out and it would probably be several movies long, but there’s the bare bones of my mythology themed universe for you. It all takes place in modern day, so imagining Apollo sitting on the couch eating cereal and watching the golden girls on Netflix is totally something you can do, and something I have done, obviously.

Thanks for reading all of that. It’s kind of a lot.