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heydorothea009 · 14 days

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Bread on Toast - A Future Man Fanfiction

Josh Futturman and his fellow coworker and best friend, Liv Branson, get roped into saving the world as time traveling saviors with, what were thought to be, video game characters, Wolf and Tiger. Not only are Liv and Josh completely incompetent, but they are also emotionally inept- will this cause the destruction of mankind? Only time will tell.

Warnings: strong language, alludes to sexual content, ⚠️emotional⚠️, cliffhanger ass ending

A/N: It is with great sadness that I announce that this is the last chapter. Of this season. YAY! Fear not, I am currently 3 chapters away from wrapping up the season 2 installment and will be back in about a month!! Thank you to the readers for sticking around, this fanfiction has meant the world to me and I’m grateful for all the support :) ENJOY!!!!! YEYAH 🗣️🗣️

Chapter 11: A Date With Destiny

Two people appeared in front of them. One of them, a woman, was yelling, “Bomb, bomb, bomb! Get it off me!”

Josh grabbed Liv and dragged her behind the kitchen wall. “Bomb, bomb, bomb!” He yelled. Wolf sprung into action, immediately jumping on the woman and trying to disable the bomb.

“Don’t move!” He commanded her.

“Just chop my arm off!” She wailed.

“Stop moving, if you breathe wrong this blows.” Wolf said urgently. Tiger followed Liv and Josh behind the kitchen wall, all bracing for an explosion that never came. “Clear!” Wolf called out.

“Fuckin’ skull cunts tagged me just as I jumped!” The woman shouted.

“Dingo, what happened? Where’s the rest of the team?” Tiger asked, emerging from behind the wall. Liv and Josh also walked out, eyeing someone with a hood over their face, struggling to get it off. They looked at each other with wide eyes to see if they were looking at the same thing.

“Dead. Just like you, I just watched you die.” The woman, Dingo, said, pointing at Tiger in disbelief.

“Guys, is anybody else noticing the hooded slave?” Josh asked.

Wolf gasped. “That’s no slave!” He rushed over to the person, removing the chain from around his neck and throwing the hood off. The man underneath gasped in the fresh air. “Owl!” Wolf cried excitedly.

“Wolf! Much obliged.” They pulled each other into a tight hug.

“Pre-myrmed Owl!” Liv mouthed to Josh excitedly, giving him a thumbs up.

Owl turned to Tiger, who looked like she might cry if she had the ability to. “Tiger!”

“Owl!” She gasped.

“My good friend.” They pulled each other into a tight hug.

“How are you alive?” Tiger asked, voice full of awe.

“Dingo saved me from a Biotic necro chamber, I’ve been tortured in and out of consciousness for about three weeks.” Owl said.

“So one of you must be Avoid-The-Tunnel.” Dingo looked at Liv and Josh.

Josh nodded and stepped forward to shake her hand. “Welcome to our time.”

Dingo looked him up and down. “The greatest warrior in history?”

“This wee boy?” Owl also studied Josh. “I’m going to ‘69 with him?”

“Oh Jesus.” Liv snorted from behind Josh, turning Owl and Dingo’s gazes to her.

“And who are you?”

“This is Avoid-The-Tunnel’s friend, Liv.” Tiger said.

“Well, we-“ Josh and Liv both started.

“Friend who is a girl who he gets gross with sometimes.” Tiger corrected herself as she pat Liv on the shoulder. Owl and Dingo seemed to accept this answer.

“Josh, you’ll have to explain to them…what happened.”

Wolf said. “You know, with that thing Liv said. Anomaly or something.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Josh said.

Josh found a whiteboard and had Wolf help him bring it down the stairs (Wolf carried it while Josh kept a hand on the side so he felt like he was “helping”).

Josh explained to Owl and Dingo everything that had happened up to that point, the dance battle in ‘69, James Cameron’s house in 2023, telling Kronish about his future in ‘85, and the new fucked up 2017. Owl and Dingo chowed down on Wolf’s hors d'oeuvres as they listened.

“So,” Owl held up a hand like he had a question. “In your timeline you didn’t take the bridge to steal the TTD?” He asked Tiger and Wolf.

“No.” Tiger shook her head. “No, we took the tunnel but it was a trap, DMC gas.” She said sadly. Liv took the marker from Josh’s hand and wrote above the timeline Josh had drawn “Timeline A: Dingo A - gassed in tunnel, Owl A - Brain eaten by myrm”. “They picked us off one by one until we dropped to our knees just choking on death.”

“Biotics have a mutated p36 immunosuppressant gene that renders them immune to all poisons.” Owl said to Josh and Liv.

“We know, Owl.” Josh said. “We used that same principle to get all of our coworkers to shit themselves in their formal wear.”

“So the bridge was also a trap?” Tiger asked, making a realization. “We were always doomed? This whole time I thought I’d made the wrong call but there was no right call to make.” She sounded slightly relieved. “Well, I…that makes me feel a lot better.” She smiled. “That is a load off.”

Owl grabbed the marker from Liv’s hand and erased Josh’s timeline. Tiger began to explain to him their plan to get into the Kronitorium. “So, we kill Kronish, blow up the building with all his research inside, no innocents die, future saved.” She said.

Owl began to write down a complicated equation on the board.

“I’m confused. And maybe it’s because I haven’t slept in 4,000 fingers, but why are we planning an infiltration op when there are only six of us? We have enough nukes to level this city.” Dingo snapped, walking up to look at what Owl was writing.

“No! No nukes! We’re doing this lean and clean from a moral standpoint .” Wolf interjected.

“Since when are you anti-blowing shit up?” Dingo narrowed her eyes at Wolf. Liv grabbed Josh’s arm, he could tell she was tense. He was too.

“Truth be told, I’m transitioning out of demolitions. I’m really more of a chef these days.” Wolf said happily.

“What the fuck’s a chef?” Dingo asked, coming off extremely rude.

“You see what we had to deal with?” Josh muttered to Wolf.

“Quick question!” Owl turned around from the board. “Since we are in possession of a TTD, why not go back to when Kronish was a newborn?” Tiger visibly tensed as he asked this. “Babies are supposedly soft and helpless. They’re quite killable, almost unfairly so.”

“Perfect! Easy skull smash.” Dingo said.

“No!” Tiger said, a little too quickly. “No baby killing.” She reached up and rubbed a gold locket that no one had even noticed she’d been wearing until that moment.

Owl shrugged, but Dingo narrowed her eyes at Wolf and Tiger, frowning. “I don’t know who these two face pirates are, but you’re not the Tiger who took an anal rod to the gut and you’re not the Wolf who took a nosedive into a firebog.”

“We went through this, Dingo. The small alteration in the space-time continuum brought them to a new spectral plane. It’s not that complicated.” Owl said. Liv looked at Josh with her brows raised. Maybe he really was a genius like Tiger had raved about.

“No, not that, they’ve changed.” Dingo snapped.

“Hey, you watch your rat hole.” Tiger narrowed her eyes right back at her. “I have half a mind to come over there and wash it out with soap, young lady.”

Wolf looked over at Liv and Josh, brows knitted together in a confused way. Liv shrugged and Josh shook his head, they didn’t know either.

“Jokes on you, I don’t know what soap is.” Dingo spat.

Wolf was feeling tense too. “Owl, why did you eat my olive tapenade with your bare hands?” Josh stared up at the ceiling with his jaw clenched. “The serving spoon was right in the dish!”

“Hey man,” Owl said calmly and coolly. “I just learned what a fork is.”

“Okay! Alright, alright, look,” Josh butted in loudly, startling Liv. “I see what’s going on here, okay? Some of us are from Timeline A, others from Timeline B.” He put his hand out to Tiger and Wolf on his right and the other to Dingo and Owl on his left. “But you have to remember, we’re all here for the same reason. We can’t have these factions tearing us apart. What we need right now, more than anything, is to come together.” He knit his fingers together.

“Cum? Together?” Owl repeated.

“Come together.” Josh nodded.

“Charge in.” Dingo rubbed her hands together.

“Yes-“ Josh realized what she’d said, his face fell. “No!”

“Tensions do need to be released.” Tiger said. Wolf nodded, folding his arms seriously.

“Um! Like all together?” Liv asked in a high, awkward voice.

“What part of ‘cum together’ doesn’t make sense to you?” Dingo asked in a snobby voice. “Fuckin’ idiot.”

Liv squinted at her. “What if I don’t want to ‘cum together’.”

“It’s team building and tension releasing Avoid-The-Tunnel’s friend who’s a girl who he gets gross with sometimes.” Owl said.

“…it’s Liv.”

“You two,” Wolf said loudly, pointing at Liv and Josh. “Go upstairs and do your thing,” he ordered.

“Uh, Wolf-“ Josh started.

“We’ll take care of business down here.” He said.

“But the team building!” Owl complained.

“It’s fine!” Tiger raised her voice again.

“Go fuck upstairs before this turns into a whole thing.” Wolf said to Liv and Josh. Josh grabbed Liv’s hand and they slowly started to back up the stairs.

“Josh-“

“We’ll just hide in my room until they’re done.” Josh muttered. As soon as the door to Josh’s room closed he checked three times to make sure the door was actually locked. “We don’t have to actually.” Josh said, going and sprawling out on his bed.

“Have to what?”

“Have sex. We don’t have to, we can just be in here.” Josh said. Liv gave him a little smile.

“Josh, what about the tension release? What about team building?” She teased, mocking Dingo. “She’s kinda annoying isn’t she?” She cuddled up next to him. “And a bitch? Did you hear her down there? If she didn’t have the strength to tear my throat out, I’d have kicked her teeth in.”

“I didn’t want to say anything, but Dingo is already getting on my nerves. I think I hate her” Josh whispered as if she might hear from all the way downstairs. Liv gave him a fake surprised face.

“I’m gonna tell on you!” She giggled quietly, hitting his chest lightly with the back of her hand.

Josh chuckled. “No you won’t.” He placed a kiss on her cheek. They laid there in silence for a few seconds, hearing some scuffling from downstairs.

“What do you say to a quick charge in?” Liv asked, looking up at him from her spot laying on his chest. She felt Josh’s chest rise quickly.

“I would say yes.” Josh said excitedly, obvious that he’d been waiting for the go ahead. She sat up and Josh followed, a glimmer of arousal in his eyes.

Liv pulled him by his collar over to her again, kissing him deeply, cupping his cheeks in her hands. Josh’s tongue met hers, the heat of their tongues melding as they got more and more desperate for each other. His hands slid around her waist, holding her protectively. Her arms strung themselves around his neck as she moved into his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist. They broke apart for air looking longingly into each other’s eyes. Their lips softly collided again, Josh kissing Liv breathless. He held her like she was a precious glass vase, touched her so gently, kissed her like he needed air, whispered her name like it was the only one that he knew.

Liv knew that there, in that moment, she was utterly in love with him.

Liv trailed after Josh down the stairs, adjusting the robe Josh had given her, fluffy and white, like the one Wolf had on the day before. They were met with Tiger, Wolf, Owl, Dingo all sprawled out on the couch in matching ones. Owl had an arm around Destiny the sex doll (no one knew where she’d come from nor how Owl had found her).

“Fucking finally.” Dingo complained. Wolf gave them a sly smile, but didn’t say anything. They’d definitely heard everything from their spot on the couch.

“Alright, tensions released?” Tiger asked, standing up. Everyone nodded. “Wolf?”

“Check.”

“Dingo?”

“Check.”

“Owl?”

Owl was caressing Destiny, the sex doll’s plastic face. “What’re you doing after this mission?” He asked the doll.

“Gonna call that a check.” Tiger said, side eyeing him.

“Future Man?”

“Check?”

“Liv?”

“Check.”

Tiger nodded and strolled over to the white board where Owl had drawn up an elaborate map of their plan. “There’s gonna be a lot of security.” Tiger said as Liv took a seat next to Wolf. Josh sat next to her, putting an arm behind her on the couch.

“We’ve got a lot to catch up on,” Wolf whispered to Liv with a teasing smirk. Liv playfully shoved him.

“Hey!” Tiger snapped at them. Wolf and Liv sat straight up and stopped bugging each other.

“Ooh, you guys got in trouble.” Josh said in a quiet singsong voice. Tiger shot him a glare that shut him right up.

“We’re not getting anywhere without hand access. There’s biometric hand scanners throughout the building. Lucky for us, I got us a set of prints.” She held up what looked like a glove made out of glue.

“Who’s…hand is that a mold of?” Liv asked.

“Stu’s.” Tiger said. “He’s fine, don’t worry, I told him not to come into work today. Okay, Alpha team will clear civilians from the building, drawing out Biotic forces. The only problem is, it’s a suicide mission. Either one of us is going to have to sacrifice ourselves or Destiny has just found her destiny.” Everyone looked to Owl, who was trying to hold Destiny’s hand.

“Good riddance to Destiny!” Josh said.

“Team Alpha will consist of Dingo and I.” Tiger said. Dingo fist pumped the air. Tiger pointed to the lower part of the map. “Meanwhile Bravo and Charlie, they’re gonna enter from underground. Bravo is gonna set charges throughout the building,” Tiger pointed to different locations across the map. “Bravo will consist of Wolf, Josh-“

“And Liv!” Wolf interrupted.

“Yes, and Liv.” Tiger suppressed a small endearing grin as she looked over to Wolf slinging his arm around Liv’s shoulders excitedly and patting Josh on the shoulder. “Charlie, aka Owl, will go deep into the core using his genius to kill the power.” She tossed Owl the glue glove. “You’ll open the impenetrable security doors which will give us access to Kronish himself. Once we get the signal from Charlie that the doors are open, Alpha Team will blow up Destiny, killing all the Biotics in the lobby. That will give us a window of a few minutes before reinforcements jump in. We use it to rendezvous at Kronish’s lab, kill Kronish, set the final charges, and jump back to the future.”

“Um,” Josh raised his hand. “Where do we go at that point?” He asked, pointing between him and Liv.

“You guys are coming with us, aren’t you?” Tiger asked blankly.

“To the future?” Liv shook her head.

“No, we can’t- I mean, we have our whole lives here.” Josh said.

“What lives?” Wolf asked.

“Ooh, burn.” Dingo snickered. Owl chuckled.

“You don’t belong here, you said it yourselves.” Wolf said.

“No, I mean, I have to go and make things right with my parents and…Liv…well, your life didn’t really fall apart but…you know, we should probably stay here.” Josh rambled. Liv shrugged and nodded.

Tiger sighed and shrugged. “Then I guess you sneak out as civilians.”

“Or maybe as janitors.” Wolf said.

Liv and Josh looked at each other and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that makes the most sense.” Liv mumbled.

“World’s greatest warrior posing as a lowly janitor.” Owl said to Josh. “Where does your brilliance end, Avoid-The-Tunnel?” He reached behind him into the couch cushions and pulled out an energy drink labeled “JOOSH”.

“I wouldn’t drink that.” Josh held out a hand to stop him. “It’s like 10,000 volts to your brain.”

Owl looked at the drink and back to Josh. “Oh. Okay.” He put the can in his robe pocket.

“Kronish labs opens at 7am.” Liv said. “What time is it?”

“6:45” Josh said.

“Great, Wolf, you get the C-4 from the sewer and we’ll strap it to the charge doll.” Tiger commanded. “This is it, this is our one and only chance.”

Tiger and Dingo waited outside the lab behind a pillar with binoculars. Tiger had pushed Destiny off in an electric wheelchair and she wheeled into the lobby, absolutely stuffed with bombs. Earlier, Liv had scrawled “Evacuate the building in 10 minutes or I’m gonna blow! :)” on a piece of lined paper and taped it to the doll. Dingo and Tiger watched as Destiny wheeled in an immediately caused panic amongst the people inside. Alarms began to blare as people started booking it towards all the exits. A mob of elementary schoolers ran out of the building, probably from a field trip.

Tiger squeezed her eyes shut and touched the locket around her neck, silently praying to a God she didn’t believe in that all those kids would make it out safely.

Meanwhile, entering from underground just like in Tiger’s plan, Liv, Josh, Wolf, and Owl walked quietly through the tunnels, stakes high. Josh looked around nervously, reaching for Liv’s hand and intertwining their fingers. Red lights were blinking throughout, signaling to them that Destiny had caused the disturbance they planned for.

“Should we set some charges somewhere down here?” Liv whispered.

“Not yet, I’ll tell you when…” Wolf said as he walked slightly ahead of everyone. He stopped and looked around, realizing they should probably start doing just that. “…wait actually, when.” He muttered, pressing a detonator against the wall and setting the timer. Josh rolled his eyes. Owl was in his own little world about 20 feet behind, studying a singular brick on the wall. “I see some doors, Owl, we need the hand.” Wolf said in a low voice, catching Owl’s attention. He held up one of Destiny’s hands high above his head, the glue glove wrapped over it. He sprinted past the other three and to the biometric scanner.

“He’s…quirky.” Liv said under her breath.

“I think he might’ve had the ‘JOOSH’ I told him not to drink.” Josh said. As the three of them sauntered through the doors, Owl held a hand out to Wolf.

“It’s been an orange, soldiers.” He said, and Wolf grabbed his arm and nodded in response.

“Wait…orange?” Josh raised an eyebrow as Owl held a hand out to Josh.

“Honor, it’s been an honor.” He said. “Isn’t that what I just said?” He shook Liv’s hand politely. “M’lady.” He mocked a curtsy to her.

“Um, thanks Owl.” Liv didn’t know how to respond to that. Owl saluted them with Destiny’s glue hand.

“I love you.” He said to the three of them and waddled away like he’d shit his pants. He looked even stupider in the leopard print jacket he wore that said “SAVAGE” across the back. Josh and Liv stared after him in disbelief.

“Is he alright?” Josh whispered.

“He’s a genius, that’s how they are.” Wolf whispered back, patting Josh on the chest and charging down the hall. Josh looked to Liv with a concerned look.

“I’m pretty damn sure he drank that energy drink.” He huffed as they took off after Wolf.

Back upstairs, Tiger was surveying the lobby with her binoculars.

“Alright, all the ‘innocent’ people who we ‘can’t let die’ are out. Can we blow this shit up now?” Dingo snapped impatiently.

Tiger slowly nodded, bringing a walkie talkie up to her mouth. “Alright, Alpha’s ready to bl-“ before she could finish, she spotted a little girl hiding behind a pillar inside. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, we are not clear.”

Dingo made a frustrated noise and snatched the binoculars from Tiger’s hand. “What the fuck?” She spotted the little girl. “One fucking youngling?!” She seethed, pulling the binoculars away from her eyes in one aggressive motion. “The fate of humanity’s in the balance here, what are you doing?” She hissed.

“No,” Tiger touched her locket. “I gotta get her outta there.” She started to march inside. Dingo chased after her.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Dingo grabbed Tiger’s shoulder roughly. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Tiger? You talk funny, you care about younglings, and you don’t smell like dirt anymore.” Dingo looked her up and down as Tiger protectively held her necklace. Dingo scoffed. “This time has turned you into a monster. And why do you keep touching that strangle chain?” Dingo’s hand shot out to grab the chain.

“No, no, no!” Tiger fought against her. “Dingo, do not take my baby!” She said through gritted teeth. The locket had been a gift from Estelle Kronish, something she promised to treasure forever. Dingo snapped the chain from Tiger’s neck, prying the locket open. Tiger stood there, stunned, unsure of how to explain what was inside, pictures of Estelle and Elias. Dingo slowly turned her gaze up to Tiger again, a sneer on her face.

“‘You’ll always be a member of the family’?” She looked between the locket and Tiger. “‘Love, Estelle and Elias Kronish?!”

Tiger bobbed her head from side to side. “You know what, when you read it out loud it doesn’t sound great.” Dingo narrowed her eyes on Tiger, inching closer to her, looking ready to attack.

“What do you think your future’s gonna be like?” Josh asked Wolf in a hushed tone.

“I dunno, it’d be just as strange for me as it would be for you guys.” Wolf said, glancing over his shoulder. “Nothing to do but adapt.”

“Easy for you to say, everywhere you go everyone loves you.”

Wolf smirked to himself. “That they do, but hey! Don’t sell yourself short.” He handed Josh a detonator as they approached a beam. As Josh set it up, Liv looked around protectively. She heard the clicking sound of Josh pressing it to the wall and setting the timer. Wolf slapped Josh on the shoulder proudly. “Way to find the weak axis of the I-beam. Adapting already, see?” He looked at Liv. “Good pick.”

Liv looked at Josh with a small grin knowing full well that the day before Wolf had been judging her. Josh gave her the same small grin before peering around the corner. His body tensed, signaling to Liv and Wolf that danger was coming. He turned back and smashed both of them behind the beam, holding his arms out of either side of them protectively, as if that would shield them from any harm. The Biotics who stomped past them were too busy staring straight ahead to even notice them. Josh felt Liv’s chest heave against his as she sighed with relief. Josh looked at Liv and pressed his forehead against hers as he gave a sigh of relief too. Wolf was pressed into the corner behind Liv.

“Listen, I love both of you, but this isn’t really a kissing opportunity.” Wolf whispered. “Although that might be kinda hot-“

Josh and Liv both turned their stares up to Wolf. “Seriously?” Josh pushed away from the wall.

“You’re both very attractive people who I don’t mind seeing kiss.” Wolf shrugged nonchalantly. Josh rolled his eyes as he moved into the next room and up the stairs and Liv chased after him. Wolf took a couple large steps and caught up with them.

They set several more charges. “The pupils have become the masters.” Wolf patted them both proudly on the back.

“Who would’ve thought I had a knack for explosives?” Josh set the timer off on a detonator, winking at Liv.

“Not me,” Wolf started up another flight of stairs. “I never believed in you. I thought you were weak and had bad plans.” Josh sighed as Liv gasped.

“Wolf!” She hissed.

“I’ve heard that before.” He muttered. They came to a door, Wolf pressed his ear against it.

“But you’ve been more dedicated to this mission than anyone else, and Liv really liked you.”

“You met me before you met her.” Josh pointed out in a flat tone.

“Yeah, okay, but she liked you so I had to tolerate you. But now? I really like you.” He looked back at Josh. “I want you to know, if you did come to the future with us, I’d take care of you, like you took care of us.” Josh could recognize softness in his tone and his face, it was the way he spoke to Liv. He really meant it.

“Wow, Wolf,” Josh felt emotional.

“I know,” Wolf opened the door and stealthily walked through. Josh looked at Liv, who looked back at him with the same emotion filled eyes. Josh opened his mouth the day something, but decided against it, slipping his hand into hers and walking through the door and into a dark hallway.

“You know, all I can think about since I murdered myself is that I don’t belong in this time any more than you and Tiger do.” Josh said quietly as he and Liv tiptoed behind Wolf.

“Me too, I keep wondering what this time’s version of me is like.” Liv said quietly.

“I feel like a man out of time.”

“Exactly. But woman.”

“It’s a weird feeling, right?” Wolf lightly chuckled.

“Yeah.” Liv and Josh responded at the same time.

“It’s probably why I did all that coke.” Wolf said, turning a corner. They both nodded, muttering in agreement. “I’m just kidding, I did that because it was awesome.” He grinned over his shoulder at them, making them both laugh quietly. Josh looked at Liv, hand still clutching hers. He looked up at Wolf, who sauntered up to the big, impenetrable doors.

“Liv,” He whispered so Wolf couldn’t hear. “What if we went with them?”

“To their time?” Liv whispered back.

“We don’t belong here.” Josh looked at her with pleading eyes. “And they’ve said how it will be better in the future once we’ve stopped Kronish. I want to go with them, but only if you’re there.” He brought their intertwined hands up, putting his other hand on them.

Liv nodded quickly. “Okay! Okay, let’s do it.” She whispered, a wide grin spreading across her face. “I’ll follow you wherever you go.” Josh’s eyes filled with ecstasy and joy.

“Hey,” Wolf gruffed. “These are the doors.”

Josh and Liv caught up with him. “Wolf. We’re gonna do it.”

“We’re gonna go with you guys back to the future.” She gave Josh a little grin at her reference. Wolf’s eyes lit up. “We’re done being janitors.” She squeezed Josh’s hand.

Wolf looked at them with an enthusiastic glint in his eyes as he raised the walkie talkie to his mouth. “Bravo’s at the Kronish door. Charlie, what’s your ETA?”

They were met with screaming from Owl. “Physics! Inertia! Why have you forsaken me?”

All of their faces fell instantly. “Owl. Come in, Owl.” Wolf responded as calmly as he could. No response. Wolf hit the side of the walkie talkie with the heel of his palm. “Owl, do you copy?”

Owl answered in a high, girly voice. “Yes, how may I help you?” He dropped his voice to a low octave. “Yes, I believe I’m supposed to have an orgasm.” He answered in his girly voice. “Oh yes, right this way.”

Josh looked at Wolf with a concerned face, hoping this was normal, but judging from the way Wolf looked just as concerned, it couldn’t be good.

“Will this orgasm do?” Owl asked himself. He lowered to a low octave again. “Yes, it will!”

“Is…Owl…cumming?” Liv asked as Owl moaned loudly on the other end.

Wolf shook his head. “No, he’s been myrmed.” He sounded distraught.

“Again?!” Josh cried.

“Goddamn necro chamber!” Wolf growled. “Every freaking fucking timeline.” Owl was still wailing. Wolf paced away, halfway down the hall and turned back. “A myrm eats its way through your brain lobe by lobe.” Wolf explained as he paced back to Liv and Josh, who stood in shock, confusion, and terror. “If he’s having an orgasm this intense, it can only be because the myrm is chewing on his amygdala.” He saw the way Liv winced. He leaned down to her level, assuming she didn’t know what that meant. “That’s the brain’s clit.”

“Oh yeah, that makes sense.” She shivered with disgust.

“She’s squeamish.” Josh tightened his grip gently on her hand. Owl continued to moan through the walkie talkie.

“So you went back to the 40s to slit his throat as a baby, that part makes sense.” Dingo was slowly advancing on Tiger, rage burning in her eyes. “Then what?”

“Well, then…one thing led to another and you know how it goes, I kinda ended up raising him.” Tiger kept her distance.

“Was that before or after you sent him on the floaty box with his secret charging mate?” Dingo squinted her eyes.

“It’s called a boat and it was after.” Tiger snapped. “Or before, depending on how you view time.”

Dingo barred her teeth. “How many chances have you had to kill Kronish and not done it?”

Tiger stopped and thought for a moment. She started to count on her fingers. “Oh…yeah…”

Dingo aggressively slapped Tiger’s hand down. “The answer should be zero! You’ve gone fucking soft!” She barked. “You goddamn traitor, I’m not following your plans anymore,” she tried to grab the walkie talkie from Tiger’s belt. “I’m in charge now!” They fought against each other, Tiger tried to pull it from Dingo’s grasp, but snapped it in half. In retaliation, Dingo kicked Tiger through the window and into the lobby, landing her in a mess of shattered glass. Tiger’s head shot up to assess her situation. Remaining Biotics marched single file towards her. Tiger craned her neck to look at the scared little girl, who was still hiding.

“Sweetie, you gotta get out of here, the grown ups are playing.” She said as gently as she could, trying not to scare her further. “Go!” The little girl nodded with wide eyes, standing up and running through the exit. Tiger heaved a sigh of relief.

“Give me the detonator.” Dingo stepped through the broken window menacingly. Tiger grabbed Dingo’s arm as she tried to swing a punch, throwing her into the Biotics, making them topple to the ground like dominoes.

Tiger ran for cover, watching Dingo struggle to stand. She set off Destiny, throwing herself behind a wall as she blew up everything in the lobby. “Owl!” She panted into the walkie talkie. “Owl, open the goddamn doors, I had to blow Destiny early, Dingo turned on me.” She heard nothing. She let out a frustrated groan as she punched the wall, taking off in the direction she hoped led to the doors that Wolf, Josh, and Liv would be at.

“Fifteen brain bombs just blew downstairs, Biotic reinforcements are gonna be here any second!” The Bravo team heard as someone charged down the hall.

“Tiger?”

“Shit…” Wolf hissed, trying to throw his body weight against the doors. “These doors must be impenetrable, there’s no way we’re blowing through this.”

“Wait, you said that Kronish doesn’t let anybody into his lab, right?” Josh asked Tiger. She nodded. “You know what he does let in? Possums.” Everyone stared at Josh, brows pinching together. He pointed to a small chute next to the door. “Guys, the incinerator chute. That’s our way in!”

“No, as soon as they arrive they’ll make straight for Kronish, we’ll be overrun.” Tiger shook her head, face paling.

“Yeah, but not if you hold them off.” Josh said. “Look, all you gotta do is give me enough time to climb up the chute, set the final charge, and kill Kronish myself.”

“What about me?” Liv asked.

“Liv, you can’t come with me, you’ll be with Tiger and Wolf.”

“What? Why?” She asked loudly, voice verging on breaking.

“Liv, it’s dangerous.”

“And the Biotics aren’t?”

“I appreciate your offer, I really do,” Tiger said. “But you've got, like, what, one kill notch on your belt? And evil you did most of the work, let’s be honest.”

“No.” Josh shook his head. “If someone’s gonna kill Kronish, it should be me.”

“Josh!” Liv’s voice broke.

“With that door sealed your only exit is down into the fire.” Wolf said. Josh slowly processed his own plan.

“…it’s a suicide mission.” Tiger whispered. “No coming back, no do-over, no tomorrow…” Liv looked more and more distraught.

“Josh, no!” She grabbed his shoulders.

“You’re gonna die.” Tiger added.

“Yeah, okay, look, I’m realizing that.” Josh brushed Liv’s hands off of his shoulders and walked a couple paces away.

“Josh-“ her eyes were welling up with tears.

“When you guys invited me to come to your future, that meant everything to me, but I don’t think that’s what’s meant to happen. Destiny isn’t something that just arrives on your doorstep from Japan or wherever, it’s something that you seize in the moment, the moment where you realize you have to murder/suicide your former boss and mentor.” Wolf and Tiger looked at each other while Liv began to shake, tears spilling from her eyes.

“What about me, Josh?” She cried.

“Yeah, what about Liv?” Wolf asked in a hushed tone.

Josh closed his eyes and exhaled softly, trying not to cry. Liv meant everything to him, she always had. He couldn’t have her dying because of him. He didn’t know what would happen to her.

“We can take her with us.” Wolf said quietly, Tiger narrowed her eyes at him.

“No we can’t.” She hissed.

“Yes we can!” Wolf wrapped an arm around Liv’s shoulder protectively as they shook harder while she cried.

“I don’t want to go with you guys without Josh!” She pushed herself away from Wolf, running into Josh. “I want to be with you, let me go with you.” She buried her face in the crook of his neck. Josh wrapped his arms around her tightly. Wolf gave Tiger a look, signaling they should let them say their goodbyes. Tiger drew out a blaster and her and Wolf stalked down the hall to give them space.

“Liv,” Josh whispered gently, pulling her away so he could look at her. The heartbroken look on her face shattered him. “I don’t want you to die because of me.”

“But Josh, then we’ll die together.”

“We’re not Romeo and Juliet, okay? Look, I think you should go with them- I know what I just said, but, if it truly is a better future, that’s where I want you to go. I care too much about you Liv, I just…I don’t want you to have to die because of me.”

“Josh. I can’t.” Liv whispered, lip quivering. “I can’t without you.”

Josh nodded, tears falling from his eyes. “I know.” He exhaled shakily, trying to cover it up with a laugh. He shook his head as he looked at her. He loved her. “I don’t want to die.” He shook with sobs, pulling Liv tight against him. “Liv, I don’t want to die.” They held each other, crying and trembling, racked with sobs. Tiger and Wolf could hear them, breaking both their hearts into pieces.

“You don’t have to.” Liv whispered, inhaling shakily, pulling away and wiping her tears. “You don’t have to die again Josh, because I won’t allow you to. You’re going to kill Kronish and then you’re going to climb right back down that chute, I’ll make sure there’s no fire at the bottom, you can trust me. You’re going to sneak out as a civilian like Tiger said earlier, and I will too after helping Tiger and Wolf with the Biotic reinforcements and sending them back to the future, okay? We’ll live a normal life here in this timeline. This is our chance to start over, and you’re the only person who I want to do it with.” She held his face, wiping his tears. He wiped her tears away and nodded.

“Okay, okay, I can do that.” Josh pressed a kiss to her forehead. He reached into his pocket, pressing something round into her hand. “When that thing’s light turns green that means Kronish is dead, the final charge has been set, and I’m coming back down. You make sure that Tiger and Wolf get the fuck back to the future and that they don’t come back for us no matter what.”

Liv looked down at the red light staring up at her from the round object in her hand. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she’d seen Wolf give it to Josh. “Okay.” She whispered, wiping away a stray tear, looking into his eyes. She looked to the side to see Tiger and Wolf looking at them, eyes full of grief and pride.

“I’m proud of both of you.” Tiger said, taking a step towards them.

“We’ll get her out safely, Josh. One way or another, I promise.” Wolf nodded towards him.

“We’ll never forget what you did here.” Tiger made her way over to Josh, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You’re not Future Man, you’re something much better. You’re Josh Futturman.” She pulled him into a tight embrace. Tiger never hugged anyone. Josh sank into the hug, holding back tears again. She pulled away and turned to Liv. “And you, you were the most pleasant surprise I’ve ever received,” She smiled at her, wrapping Liv into a tight hug. “Future Man’s friend.” She said fondly. “I’m glad you stuck around.”

Wolf gave Josh a small smile. “I know we’ll never get a chance to switch dicks back, but I’m cool with that. It was never about the dick, it’s about the warrior’s mane. And you’ve earned every last hair.” Before Josh had a chance to react, Wolf placed his hand on the back of Josh’s neck, pressing their foreheads together. Wolf repeated his last sentence in Na’vi before letting go and turning to Liv. “Liv Branson, I know we’re not saying goodbye just yet, but you are my best friend.” He enveloped her in the world’s tightest hug as she began to cry again.

“Wolf, I love you so much.” She cried into his chest.

“I see her in you. Sigorn-E.” Wolf said. That made Liv cry harder and hug him tighter. “I’ll never forget you Liv, never. I hope every time you and Josh fuck, you think of me when you see my penis on his body.” Liv pulled away.

“Wolf, I think you should be done.” She sniffled, wiping her tears away.

“Yeah Wolf, that’s kinda weird.” Josh said.

Wolf pat Liv’s head, looking down at her with a small, endearing smile. “Okay, okay. Go give him a kiss.” He gestured his head towards Josh. Liv threw her arms around Josh’s shoulders and pulled him in for what could be their final kiss. It was tender and gentle, Tiger didn’t even feel the need to throw up, she just looked at Wolf with softened eyes. Wolf was welling up with tears. Dingo was right, they had gone soft. But they didn’t give two fucks.

Josh pulled away slightly, tucking some of Liv’s hair behind her ear. “I l-“ The floor rumbled.

“Fuck!” Tiger yelled. “They’re here.”

Josh gave Liv a quick peck on the forehead. “I’ll tell you after.” He stroked her cheek one last time as she rubbed her hands up his arms. Wolf helped to boost Josh into the chute.

“I love you!” Josh heard Liv desperately call to him as he started his perilous journey up towards Kronish. The chute door slammed, leaving Josh alone.

As the chute door closed, Wolf put an arm on Liv’s left shoulder. Tiger’s hand landed on her right shoulder.

“Hey you three!” A voice behind them barked. Tiger pulled a blaster from her jacket, concealing it against her body, shooting Liv a side eye. Liv reached for the blade on her belt. “Don’t you know the building is being evacuated?” They turned slowly to see three Biotic scientists approaching them. Wolf reached behind him, grabbing something from his belt.

“Puck chuck!” He yelled, throwing a circular blade into a scientist's throat. Tiger leapt over them, stabbing the one grabbing his throat in the back.

“Gut knife!” She screamed. The other Biotics shot their blasters at them.

Liv stabbed one of them in the stomach. “Gut knife!” She yelled, copying Tiger. Tiger repeatedly stabbed the man.

“Gut knife, gut knife, fucking gut knife! Fuck you!” She screamed. Wolf kicked the third Biotic through a janitor’s closet door, grabbing an unattended mop and snapping it over his knee. The Biotic tried to advance on him but Wolf stabbed the jagged side of the wood straight through his stomach.

“Science wand!” Wolf yelled, pushing the dying Biotic to the ground. He tossed the mop end to Liv. “Liv! Heads up!”

Liv caught it, driving the splintered wood into her dying Biotic’s stomach. “Not just a janitor now, bitch.”

“More for the gobulator.” Wolf growled, helping Liv to her feet. Liv saw the blood on her hands and shuddered.

“Let’s not kid ourselves.” Tiger said, handing Liv a blaster from her belt. “I didn’t think you had it in you, kid.”

“Guys, we need to make sure we get the fire at the bottom of the incinerator to turn off.” Liv begged. “I promised Josh, he doesn’t have to die-“

“We heard, we’ll help you.” Tiger said. “Don’t worry, Liv.”

Blaster shots whizzed past their heads as they ducked. “So much for stealth mode.” Wolf threw a mine at the reinforcements making their way down the hall. Wolf grabbed Liv and the three took off down the opposite end of the hall.

“We’ve gotta draw them away from the door!” Tiger yelled as they turned the corner, just as the explosion happened.

In the chute, Josh was awkwardly shimmying his way up to Kronish’s office, taking longer than he expected it to. “I thought this would be easier.” He panted, gritting his teeth. He grabbed onto a vent, trying to help hoist himself up, but his knee slipped, making Josh’s heart stop. He only slid down a tiny bit before he was able to stop himself, but that was enough to scare him. His heart was pounding in his ears as he took in shaky deep breaths. “I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay,” he repeated to himself over and over. He looked down into the fire way down before him. “God, it’s hot.” He leaned his head back against the metal, chest heaving. “Why didn’t I just play Madden?”

Having escaped the first wave of Biotics, Tiger, Wolf, and Liv crept through a door that led through another maze of halls, this one split three ways. The lights weren’t as dark in this one, making it feel less ominous. Their blasters were drawn, heads on a swivel. They heard the hum of blasters behind them and saw the laser points on the walls.

“Fuck!” Wolf shouted. The doors in front of them opened, swarms of Biotics on the other side.

“Go!” Tiger screamed, grabbing both Liv and Wolf and running straight down the hall, away from the Biotics closing in on them from the other halls. As they ran, the Biotics fired at them.

Wolf shielded Liv with his body as he turned around to shoot back, but he was struck in the collar bone. “I’m hit!” He cried. Liv fired her blaster around him, taking down a single Biotic. They fired at her, hitting her in the arm. She cried out, Tiger grabbed her other arm but was immediately hit in the leg and stomach. She began to keel over.

“No!” Liv screamed, wrapping her good arm around Tiger. Wolf yelled as he was hit in the back. Liv grabbed him with her bad arm, wailing in pain. Tiger, Liv, and Wolf stumbled their way to a closet with a heavy iron door. Liv heard the beep of a bomb timer being set and watched as Wolf dropped a mine to the ground. Tiger shot several blasts behind them as they made their way to the closet for cover. Blasts flew past them, knicking their shoulders and sides. As soon as they passed through the threshold, Wolf fell to the ground. Liv and Tiger worked together to shut the heavy door, Liv pulling the latch shut and holding it. The door buckled as the explosion went off, Liv and Tiger holding the latch closed together. Liv sank to her knees panting and holding her arm.

“Fuck…” Wolf breathed out, rolling to his side.

“We have to make sure the fire gets turned off.” Liv heaved.

Tiger handed her her walkie talkie. “Owl.” Was all she managed to say.

“He’s myrmed.” Wolf winced in pain as he tried to sit up.

Tiger’s eyes darted between Wolf and Liv. She slammed her fist against the door. “Son of a perf cock!”

Josh spilled out from the chute into Kronish’s giant office. He scrambled to his feet, readying his blaster. The office had cement walls, neutral colors, it felt cold and like a prison, or like a very uninviting IKEA show room.

“Mr. Futturman,” Kronish said politely. “I’ve been expecting you. Where’s Ms. Branson? I thought she’d at least be with you.”

Josh’s heart sank. “Oh my God, you’re evil now.” His blaster hummed as it warmed up, pointing it straight at Kronish. “Damn it, why couldn’t you have just been happy eating your conch fritters?”

“But I was, Josh, I was!” There was a tinge of sadness in his voice. “As happy as a conch, which is like a clam, only much more delicious.” Kronish smiled, but there was no usual Kronish joy behind it. Josh adjusted his hand around his blaster, gulping. “Leslie and I were living our dream far, far away from here until one windless, fateful day just north of the Isle of Lamu.” Kronish’s face fell slightly. “My dearest Leslie brushed past a rusty nail and contracted a staph infection, simple, treatable, but we were a five day sail away from the nearest hospital.” Josh held his blaster steady, shaking his head, eyes full of despair. “In Somalia.” Kronish added.

“Oh God,” Josh whispered, heart sinking further.

“By the time we reached dry land, the love of my life expired right in front of me and there was nothing I could do about it.”

“Please,” Josh begged. “You have to make this easier for me.” He lowered his weapon

“But there was something I could do about it,” Kronish continued, a glint of power in his eye. “You told me! The power to eradicate pain and disease forever lay within me. I could make it so that no one ever had to watch a loved one be taken away from them ever again. How could I not pursue such a noble path?”

“Owl, come in Owl.” Liv said for the eighth time. Nothing. “Owl! Team Charlie! Somebody!” She cried.

“Liv, there’s no use.” Tiger muttered, slumping next to Wolf, who was holding the wound on his collar bone. Tiger reached over and pressed her hand to his wound, trying to staunch some bleeding. Wolf winced and groaned.

“You know, I don’t remember Dingo being such an asshole.” Wolf said in a low voice.

“Yeah,” Tiger chuckled. “She was right though, we have changed.” She looked up at Liv, who was standing over them. “For the better. I like who we’ve become…which is why it sucks we’re about to die.”

Liv violently shook her head, screaming into the walkie talkie. “Owl!”

Wolf rested his head against Tiger’s, holding his hand to hers, closing his eyes. He opened them and they landed right on his gobulator. He sat up straight and immediately winced and moaned in pain. “We don’t have to.” He gruffed. “Tiger, it’s time for Beaver’s Razor.” He said, looking over at her.

“What- what’s that?” Liv asked. Tiger looked at him, eyes lighting up.

“Wolf, you’re a genius.”

Josh had his blaster raised towards Kronish again. “Look, I’m sorry about Leslie, I know that you loved him so much, and you guys used to really get after it sometimes. But the truth is, every time and every timeline your work leads to the creation of the Biotics who destroy all of mankind.” Josh slowly walked closer to Kronish as he spoke.

“No!” Kronish pointed a finger at him. “I kept the research, all my research right here under this roof, I shared it with no one!” He pointed to a case full of his research and vials. “I will never do that, I am dedicated to good, to ending pain.”

“I know that you are,” Josh said, lowering the blaster slightly. “But this is already happening. I’ve tried really, really, really hard not to kill you. Okay. It’s been my number one goal. I’ve tried to change you, I’ve tried to control events, but it doesn’t work.” Josh rambled, getting closer to Kronish as he backed away. “This is where we end up.”

“You’re wrong, Josh, I’ve been careful.”

“It doesn’t matter how careful you’ve been, okay?” He caught sight of Kronish’s monitors of the security footage. All he could see were Biotics charging into the building. “Look! Don’t pretend you don’t see what’s happening down there. This is the army that your cure created.” Kronish looked at the monitors, watching Biotics breaking down doors. Kronish shook his head, eyes growing horrified.

“…I wanted to heal the world.”

“I know you did.” Josh said gently. “And in another life you were another kind of great man where you were strong and caring and warm and supportive.” Josh’s voice broke. “And that’s what makes this so much harder.” He raised his blaster again.

Liv and Tiger held the door shut as Biotics began to pound in the door, the bolts on the latch starting to loosen.

“It’s now or never, Wolfie.” Tiger said in a strained voice.

“Okay!” Wolf readied the gobulator, spilling the small bombs through the gap in between the floor and the door. Tiger pulled Liv away from the door, watching the bombs go spilling out and into the hall. “Say hello to your little friends!” Wolf shouted, pressing a button in the small box, and diving to shield Tiger and Liv. A massive explosion shattered the door and the walls around.

“You’re not a killer, are you son?” Kronish asked calmly.

Josh had his blaster pointed straight at Kronish’s head. “Today I am.” He said sadly. “And you have to die.”

Kronish didn’t say anything, he just looked down at his desk. “Tomorrow, to demonstrate my breakthrough to the world,” he opened a chest on his desk. Josh’s grip tightened on his weapon and he shifted on his feet anxiously as he saw the chest holding a gun and a small box inside. “I was going to inject myself with a needle filled with microdoses of 100 of the world’s deadliest diseases.” He opened the smaller box, inside sat two syringes filled with fluids. He held up one of them for Josh to see. “And then, dramatically, save myself with my cure.” He held up the other syringe. “It would have been fantastic theater.” He said with a glum smile. “Tonight’s performance will have a different ending.” Without warning he stuck the needle full of the microdoses into his neck, shocking Josh, who watched in horror as Kronish grunted and yanked the needle out.

Kronish motioned for Josh to step aside, to which he did, watching and realizing as Kronish made his way over to the chute, that he had just killed himself for Josh. He slowly followed behind Kronish, lowering the blaster.

Kronish let out a huff as he dropped his cure down the chute and into the fire. “That stings.” He said, trying to keep an air of positivity in his voice.

“Okay, we broke the Beaver’s dam.” Tiger panted as she wrapped an arm around Wolf.

“Biotic flood comes next.” Wolf said through gritted teeth, hobbling out of the closet.

“Owl, come in Owl. Owl, come on, you’ve got to shut off the fire to the incinerator.” Liv begged into the walkie talkie. “Please Owl, please answer me.” Silence.

“Skibidibop.” Owl said.

Tiger and Wolf both gasped, they were both fully convinced Owl had died. Liv let out a strangled mix between a sob and a laugh. “Owl, Owl, are you there?”

Owl answered, singing some sort of garbled gibberish. “Owl, are you at the control panel? Shut down the power to the possum chute!”

“Skibidibibidibop.” Owl answered.

“…was that a yes?” Liv looked at Tiger and Wolf, who just shrugged. Wolf’s eyes widened as they heard something small clank against the floor and start rolling towards them.

“DMC!” Tiger gasped, the air filled with fog.

“Oh shit,” Wolf started to hack. “I really thought this was going to work.” Liv waved her hand around, trying to clear the fog, starting to cough too. It felt like her lungs were closing in and she couldn’t breathe.

“No!” She managed to yell through her hacking. “No!” Tiger looked around them with wide eyes, completely unaffected by the poisonous gas. She touched her face in disbelief, and looked down at her hands, waiting to see them crack and start to bleed, but they didn’t. She was fine.

“Help…” Wolf’s voice came out strangled. The round object that Josh had given Liv rolled out of her pocket as she fell to her knees, fighting for air. It flashed from red to green. Tiger knew what she had to do to save not only Wolf but Liv too. They couldn’t leave her to die. She pulled out the TTD from Owl and Dingo.

“I’m sorry, Josh.” Tiger whispered, firing it up. Liv struggled for air as she weakly turned her head to Tiger, hearing what she’d said. Tiger grabbed Liv’s shoulder and Wolf’s arm. Biotics rounded the corner as the TTD began making its signature buzzing and whirring sounds. Sounds that Liv knew all too well.

“No!” She managed to scream out. “No, Tiger, no!” Light flashed around them, and she felt the familiar sensation of her limbs feeling like they were getting torn from her body.

Watching Kronish die was one of the hardest things Josh had ever had to see. The life draining from his eyes was haunting. Josh had sat with him underneath the possum chute, trying to keep the conversation light hearted, telling Kronish of the Kronish Ball, and the famous chocolate balls.

“How…whimsical…” Were Kronish’s last words before he exhaled his last breath. Josh bowed his head in mourning, a single tear falling down his cheek. Kronish never deserved to go through the things he did. Josh stood and set the final charge, heading towards the incinerator chute. He was met with the heat from the flames down at the bottom.

“Oh God, Liv,” Josh let the door slam as he nervously paced away, raking his hands through his hair. Had she died? What happened? She promised to shut the flames off.

“Joosh!” The voice screaming from walkie talkie scared him half to death. Owl. He hadn’t died yet.

“Owl, Owl are you there?” Josh responded.

“Thirst hyped! Brain plunged!” Owl yelled back. So he had had the energy drink. “Skibidibopbopboo!”

“Owl, do you copy?” Josh shouted. Owl sang in response. “Owl, listen to me, okay? You need to cut the power right now to the possum incinerator chute! Shut it down right now! Right now! Or I’m gonna burn alive! Do you understand- do you copy?”

Nothing. “Skibidibop.”

Josh nodded. “Good enough.” He climbed into the chute, glancing back at the detonator counting down to the explosion. He had 15 seconds. He started to reverse crawl down the chute, praying the fire would shut off any second. When the detonator exploded, it shook the chute, making Josh lose his balance and start to plummet down, down into the flames that hadn’t shut off yet.

“I don’t want to die!” Josh screamed as he manically grasped the metal walls for anything, anything that could stop his fall. Just as he felt the heat get stronger, the flames shut off and he tumbled down into the coals and singed possum bones. He gasped for air, the wind having been knocked out of him. “I’m not dead! I’m not dead!” He cheered, rolling off of the hot coals and kicking the metal door to the incinerator open. Owl lay in front of him, very much dead. A hammer was stuck in the control panel, the lights around it flickering. “Thanks Owl,” he panted, giving him a quick salute before taking off down the hall. He could hear the charges set earlier start to go off. As he ran for his life, he prayed that Liv was okay and would be waiting for him outside.

It was just like in Biotic Wars, and Josh had never run so fast in his whole life. The charges caught up to him quickly, he could feel the debris from the explosions gaining on him, hitting his back. He retraced his, Liv’s, and Wolf’s steps from earlier, running out the way they came in. He sprinted outside, greeted by the coolness of the outside air which contrasted with the heat from the explosions. Windows shattered, spraying glass everywhere as the building collapsed. Josh turned around to watch the tower crumble with one last final boom.

“I did it!” He gasped, falling to his knees and throwing both hands into the air. “I did it!” He looked around, waiting to see a certain girl come running to hug him. But he saw no girl. He saw no one. “Liv?” He called. “Liv?!” He called louder, spinning around. He turned back to the crumbled and burning building. “No. No, no, no, no, Liv! Fuck!” He scrambled to his feet, starting to run towards the rubble and damage, ready to go rake through it with his bare hands to find her. “LIV!” His lungs stopped working as a vicious lump formed in his throat, he was in utter shock and the immense feeling of grief washed over him as he realized something had happened to her. He couldn’t formulate words.

Someone grabbed the back of his shirt roughly, slapping a handcuff around his wrist. “I heard you ‘did it’, huh?” Skarsgaard. He forced Josh to his knees. “Mind if I quote you on that?” Josh let out a defeated sound, feeling a single tear roll down his cheek. “I’m assuming you’re calling for Liv ‘Pastman’ Branson, huh? We can’t find her. Shame I never got to meet her.” Skarsgaard said as Josh’s head hung in sorrow. “Sorry for your loss, but you’re going away for a long time, Futturman.”

I don’t expect anyone to understand what I’ve done. Please believe me when I tell you, I’m not the person they’re saying I am, or the person that you think I am. I’m someone else entirely. I know that sounds confusing and I wish that I could explain it. But what I know to be true is a burden I have to carry alone. Maybe not for that long or maybe for the rest of my life. All I can do, in my own way, is try to make things right. Sometimes I feel like I’ve spent my whole life pretending to be a hero, so when the time came to be one in real life, I went for it. I really did. Which is why I have to go. I love you, Mom and Dad. I’m sorry.

Gabe held the letter in shock. A check with Joosh’s entire net worth and keys to their house were also in the envelope. Gabe called out for Diane.

“Cupcake! Cupcake, we’re going home!”

One Year Later…

Alamore Asylum wasn’t so bad. Skarsgaard actually ended up being one of the sweetest men Josh had ever met, paying Josh constant visits and chess matches every week. In this timeline, Skarsgaard wasn’t a detective, he had been a parking officer, but after he traced Tiger’s steps from Stu Camillo’s house to Kronish Labs, he’d gotten a generous promotion.

The part that was torture was the fact that he was alone with his own thoughts. His imagination would run rampant with thoughts of what happened to Tiger, Wolf, and most importantly, Liv.

Josh thought about Liv every single day, he even dreamed of her every night. He dreamed of memories with her. Most times they were simply sitting back in the janitor’s closet that was their designated hang out spot back in their Kronish Labs days. It shattered his heart to wake up to find she wasn’t there. He couldn’t shake the thought of Tiger and Wolf too, wondering what became of them. It gnawed at him everyday, wondering what happened to the three of them, wondering if they all perished in the “terrorist attack” that Josh had caused.

That’s what the media called it, a “terrorist attack”, even going as far as to nickname him “Little Boy Blew”.

Skarsgaard moved his chess piece. “Check. Mate.” He smirked at Josh cockily. Josh sat on the other side of the chess board in his cell.

“Uh, I don’t think that piece moves like that.” Josh said.

Skaarsgard tilted his head and studied the board. “Oh, right. That’s the horsey.”

“No…that’s the pawn.” Josh chuckled.

Skarsgaard chuckled along with him, leaning back in his chair. “Speaking of pawns, I take it no word from your time traveling pals?” Skarsgaard had figured out about Tiger and Wolf’s dicking around in time back in the 90s when Tiger gave him a matching three slices down his other cheek to match the ones she’d given him back in ‘69.

“Oh, hey, look, I blew up that building completely on my own.” Josh lied nonchalantly. “You sat through the whole trial.” His heart ached as he lied for the millionth time, thinking of Tiger, Wolf, and Liv.

“Some friends.” Skarsgaard scoffed. “They leave you locked up while they’re free to robo-surf and hunt sport gators in a beautiful unknown future.”

Josh’s face fell slightly. “No, this is what I signed up for.” He said solemnly. He hoped that that’s what they were doing. He just hoped they were alive, but he’d never know.

“Hm.” Skarsgaard nodded, thinking over what Josh had said. “Well, I better get going. The widow Santiago’s coming over for dinner. Pretty soon her belly’s gonna be swollen with meatloaf.” He smiled.

“Vince,” Josh smirked at him. “Are you…are you sweet on her?”

“Time heals all wounds, Futturman.” Skarsgaard smiled wider. “Oh, by the way, I clipped this article for you.” He reached into the pocket of his suit coat. “Looks like your folks are putting good use to your Euros.” He handed Josh a newspaper article.

“Joosh Community Center Opens Fourteenth South American Location”.

Josh smiled, looking down at the picture of his parents surrounded by children holding toys and sports equipment. As Josh read, Skarsgaard stood up, stopping before he walked away.

“Does it ever bother you that everyone thinks you’re batshit crazy?” He asked.

“I know the truth. That’s all that matters.” Josh said.

“Reminds me of someone I used to know.” He nodded.

“Santiago?”

“Vincent Skarsgaard.” He smiled fondly at Josh. He knocked a knuckle against the glass separating them. “Next week, Future Man.” He winked and walked away.

Josh gave a small, grim smile and nodded, moving the chair he sat in back to the corner of his cell. He walked to his small bulletin board and stuck the article on it. He was proud of his parents, he wished he would have known that the last time he would have seen would’ve been in front of the police station. He never texted them that he was going to be late that night. He missed them dearly.

He sighed as he walked to his bed, laying down on it, resting his hands behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. No Biotics, no weight of the world on his shoulders. Just Josh Futturman, doomed to be alone in his asylum cell. He let his eyes close.

Behind his eyelids he saw flashing lights and heard buzzing, the same way the TTD would. Josh’s eyes shot open, unable to see a single thing through the bright, flashing lights. It was the last thing that he remembered before blacking out.

End of Book 1.

Picture the song “Don’t Look Back” by Boston playing epically

#josh futturman #future man #josh hutcherson #tiger future man #wolf future man #derek wilson #eliza coupe #maia mitchell #bread on toast #hachi machi #Josh Futturman x OC #jhutch #future man fanfiction

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knickynoo · 8 months

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Back to the Future: The Animated Series, s02ep03 “A Friend In Deed” Review and Commentary

Previous episodes linked here.

In this episode: Lots of funny moments, another woman from the past falls in love with Marty, and I go on ramblings about Tiffany Tannen and my dislike of Cartoon Marty.

Season 2 of the animated series is really making use of green screens, huh? In episode one, Doc was stranded on an island, then he was in outer space in episode two, and now he's at the "Hill Valley Beach and Synchronized Swimming Center." He's wearing a funky outfit and using a metal detector to search for money in the sand.

Is this the first time we're seeing Doc in shorts?? I can't recall, but it might be.

He tells us that he's found 85¢ so far and that it's only cost him $200 in equipment to do so. Oh, Doc. You are one of a kind.

He leads us into a story of another situation that involved buried valuables. And instead of the story beginning like it typically does with, "It all started when my sons..." or "It all started when Marty...", this story begins with Biff. And that lets us know right off the bat that it's all downhill from here, lol.

Cue the cartoon!

We begin at the Tannen residence (always a treat to hear Tom Wilson's voice), where Biff has decided that what his family needs is a swimming pool. Yes, his family. And who do we meet? His son!

I've always been intrigued by what adult Biff's family situation was like. I know that an early draft of the film had George buying the peanut brittle from Biff's young daughter and that the BTTF card game and the Citizen Brown comics mention Biff's teenage daughter Tiffany Tannen. (She was also supposed to have a role in the video game, but her character was cut and "combined" with the alternate version of Jennifer.) This is the concept art for her.

There's also speculation that Tiff might be included in the "Continuum Conundrum" series from the IDW comics. In the story, which takes place in the months following Marty's return home after part III, there's mention of Jennifer's friend group, which includes someone named "Tiffany." Some fans headcanon that this is a referring to Tiff Tannen. I don't really have an opinion on the theory one way or another, but it would be SUPER interesting if one of Jennifer Parker's best friends in the Lone Pine Timeline is Biff's daughter.

I would LOVE to see fanfics that include her or even focus on her. There's so much potential! You could have her resemble what she was supposed to be in the game—all rough around the edges and 100% a Tannen—or completely rework her to be a genuinely nice person. Maybe she actively rejects the Tannen reputation. Maybe she's a sweet person, but people are wary of her and judge her based on her appearance or her name. Maybe she is friends with Jen and thinks Marty is a neat guy. So much someone can do.

I digress.

In typical Biff fashion, he's going to make his young son dig the hole for a pool while he sits around in a lounge chair. Father of the year. Also, we haven't seen a whole lot of Biff so far in this series, so I haven't had anything to say about him, but it's clear he's not the meek version of Biff we have at the end of the first film. Cartoon Biff acts very much like he was never taken down a notch or had anything happen to humble him. So...I wonder what the story is there.

(Side note to also mention that we haven't seen—or even heard of—George and Lorraine. Marty's just always at Doc's house, with no information on parents or siblings. I wouldn't be surprised if a young kid watching this in 1992 without having seen the movies simply thought that Marty was part of Doc's family.)

While digging, Little Biff (referred to as Junior) unearths a piece of paper. We don't know what it is, but Biff gets a smile on his face as he reads it, so it can't be good. We cut immediately to the Parker family ranch!

Jen's family owns a ranch! I love it!

Marty is there having lunch with Jen and her grandparents, but it is NOT going well. Because Cartoon Marty is nearly unrecognizable from his Movie Counterpart, he's being an immature, disrespectful doofus around Jen's relatives. He places a whoopee cushion on Jennifer's grandmother's seat, then puts a fake ice cube with a spider "frozen" in it into her drink. And he just sits there hysterically laughing even though nobody else thinks it's funny. Jennifer's grandfather in particular becomes angered by Marty's incessant pranking.

Grandpa Parker, considering pummeling Marty.

And I know I've mentioned many times about how much I dislike the choices made with Marty's character, but. Seriously, what happened here? WHO made these choices and why didn't Bob Gale stop them? This might as well have been a completely different character, that's how unlike Marty he is. He's self-centered a lot of the time. He's dishonest (there was a whole episode where he just piles on lie after lie). He's cocky and inconsiderate and ridiculously immature. He is NOT my Marty McFly.

See the boy on the left? Love the boy on the left. Fantastic little dude. Five out of five stars. See the boy on the right? Don't like him all that much. Many things wrong. Sad.

It bums me out that they took such a great, loveable guy and ripped all his great traits to shreds, leaving us with whatever it is Cartoon Marty's got going on. I don't even know. Guy's got issues.

Time to reel my focus back in. Just as Grandpa Parker seems poised to give Marty a serious talking to, Biff shows up wit the police. Marty asks Jennifer why her grandparents would invite Biff because, "He's a jerk with a bad sense of humor."

"Look who's talking," Jen's grandfather replies.

Go. Grandpa. Parker.

When Grandpa Parker orders Biff off his land, Biff informs him that it's HIS land. The piece of paper he found in his yard was a deed to the Parker property dated 1875 and signed by one of Jen's relatives, as well as Biff's great-great-granduncle.

Biff tells the Parkers that he's going to turn the ranch into a toxic waste dump and miniature golf course, which is both horrible and very funny. Quite in-character for Biff Tannen. As he prepares to order the house to be demolished, Jennifer calls to Marty for help, but he's taken off on his hoverboard. Assuming that he's doing it to run away from the trouble, Jennifer proclaims, "There's nothing worse than a chicken." The actual, literal chicken standing beside her gets very insulted and walks away, lol.

We then go to the Brown home, where Verne is impatiently waiting to eat. Jules is making him pancakes on a ridiculous specialized griddle he invented because Jules is extra like that.

Marty bursts into the kitchen, yelling that he needs to borrow the DeLorean to help Jen's family. Jules informs him that the car isn't there—Doc and Clara have taken it to go see Hamlet, performed by the original cast—but that he can use the train. Marty and the boys take off for 1875.

Once there, Marty immediately sets his sights on warning Jennifer's relatives about the ranch. However, he's interrupted before he can do so, on account of another woman spies Marty and immediately has a crush on him (naturally). I should have been keeping count of how many episodes include someone laying eyes on Marty and falling in love with him.

But wait. Wait. You NEED to know how the scene starts off. The woman walks straight up to Marty and goes, "Howdy, handsome!" followed immediately by this:

Verne: "Handsome? Get real."

Jules: "Get glasses!"

Had to stop it right there because I was laughing. Jules and Verne think Marty is ugly CONFIRMED.

Anyway, the woman ends up being Hepzibah Tannen, sister of Thaddeus Tannen (whose name was on the deed). And Hepzibah is head-over-heels for Marty. At one point, Marty ends up at her house, and Thaddeus is not thrilled to meet him. Before he can toss him out, Hepzibah picks Marty up, holds him close, and shouts at her brother, "Give me that! It's mine!"

Ridiculous.

Since his sister is so in love, Thaddeus agrees to let Marty join his gang. Thaddeus teaches Marty how to box and how to steal things from people (Marty immediately returns the items when Thaddeus isn't looking. +1 point for Cartoon Marty). Marty also continues his practical jokes by giving Thaddeus gum that turns your mouth black. Thaddeus isn't happy. This is necessary info to understand part of the next scene.

Back on the Parker ranch, where Jules and Verne have become farmhands, they come across these posters.

Several things to note here. 1. "DEAD OR UNALIVE" 2. Marty's gum gave Thaddeus a nickname. 3. Marty is only "sort of wanted" 4. Thaddeus evidently decked Marty for playing a prank on him.

Later on at the Tannen home, Thaddus suggests Marty and Hepzibah get married. This is followed by some very funny dialogue.

I'm definitely finding the humor to be better in the second season. I've laughed out loud several times since I started it.

The next day, Thaddeus and one of his other gang members go off to get Marty and Hepzibah a wedding present. Marty manages to sneak away from his "engagement picnic" to intercept Thaddeus, who is in the process of stealing the ranch from Mr. Parker. He has Mrs. Parker tied to the railroad tracks, and the only way he'll let her loose is if the deed to the ranch is signed over. This is his wedding present to his sister and Marty.

Which. Doesn't really make sense? I mean, it makes sense here, but then what motivated him to steal it originally, before Marty time traveled? Maybe Hepzibah had fallen for a different guy? Or Thaddeus simply wanted the ranch just because? Idk.

When Thaddeus goes to sign the deed, Marty lends him a pen (which is another prank, hehe. The pen has ink that eventually fades away.) Thaddeus then refuses to untie Mrs. Parker, so Marty refuses to go back home with him. Thaddeus leaves, Marty, Jules, and Verne save Mrs. Parker, and all is well. Marty assures the Parkers that their ranch is safe, and he hops on the time-train with the boys.

Marty returns to the present-day ranch, stops the bulldozer, and shows everyone the deed, which now has no signatures. Biff gets a citation for disturbing the peace, and Marty is back in Jennifer's good graces. The end!

Back at the beach, Real Doc digs up an antique fountain pen, accidentally squirts himself in the eye with the ink, and then leads us into the experiment portion of the show, where we're taught how to make invisible ink. We then return to Doc, who finds something else with his metal detector: the keys to the DeLorean that he'd lost the week prior. Yep. Doc had been searching the sand all that time for his car keys. Goofy guy.

Fun episode. I always enjoy when they're Marty, Jules, and Verne-centered, and this was a funny one as well. It was neat having an episode with so much Tom Wilson! (he voiced Biff and Thaddeus)

Wow, this post was a long one. I did go on a few side-tangents, haha. To those who read this whole thing: thanks for sticking with me. I'm so glad there are people who enjoy reading these silly episode commentary posts!

Join me next time to see Marty accidentally join the army in 1944.

#back to the future #bttf #bttf: the animated series

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bunbeeplays · 2 days

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The Lemon Legacy: Generation 1, Chapter 85 - The Bach Bash Part 1

It's time for Ophelia and Xander's joint bachelor/ette party! The Watcher was too excited to get started to take establishing screenshots of The Lemon Drop, but Xander closed early for the night so they'd have the perfect party spot!

Marcie: Penny? What are you doing in this save?

Penny: …I live here?

Marcie: And where's Kyle?

Penny: I don't know what the hell a "Kyle" is but my wife Miko is like 10 feet away if this is some weird flirting tactic.

Marcie: Oh, no, sorry. You just look a lot like my best friend Penny Pizzazz. And you're also apparently named Penny Pizzazz.

Penny: Understandable mistake. Pizzazz is a pretty common name. Your friend sounds pretty, though.

Summer's always danced to the beat of her own drum!

And she took her heels off so she could dance easier. I definitely didn't delete the CC shoes I put on her and then forget to give her new ones. I'm killing it over here, gang.

Xander tries to tap the keg he hauled in, but the tap ends up flying off.

Drew: You're a bartender, dude! How do you not know how to tap a keg?

Xander: I'm used to mixing and pouring, not tapping! And Ophelia and I pre-gamed a little so maybe I'm already kind of buzzed.

Keg successfully tapped!

Xander: All right, who wants to do a keg stand with the future Mr. Lemon?

Ophelia doesn't hear this declaration because she's too busy demanding to dance battle Joaquin. He's certainly down for it!

Xander somehow convinces Drew to help him with a keg stand, even though they insist they're not strong enough to hold him up that long.

Xander: I trust you!

Drew: I don't think this is a trust issue but whatever, man.

Well, that's about how I imagined it going.

Damn, even the bartender came over to laugh at him. Tough crowd.

From the other side of the room, Marcie and Ophelia are still able to witness that fail.

Ophelia: OMW, what a dork.

Marcie: You must feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be marrying that specimen.

Marcie: What do we owe Hilary and Greta for watching the kids?

Ophelia: Nothing. Jace was so excited to have some boys his age to play with, and Greta's probably having fun with the girls. Just don't be too mad if Violet comes home with black coffin-shaped nails.

Marcie: Deal.

Marcie: So the big day's tomorrow. You nervous?

Ophelia: Yes and no, I guess? I feel all fluttery about it but I'm just excited to get married.

Marcie: Understandable! I felt the same way, but it was a perfect day. Your day will be too, I know it.

Marcie: The kids had so much fun with you guys. Violet kept talking about playing in the splash pad with "O'fia".

Ophelia: She's precious, they all are. The girls especially were giving me baby fever.

Marcie: Just as I planned.

Ophelia: What?

Marcie: Nothing.

Marcie: Do you really think you want kids soon?

Ophelia: I don't know, I think so? I know Xander wants kids and so do I, but he's got the bar, I've got the band. How would we make it work?

Marcie: You find a way. It wasn't always easy for me and Joaquin, but it's been worth it.

Speaking of Joaquin, Xander's going for round two with his new fellow goofball bestie!

Travis: Come on, dude, are you trying to get killed before your wedding?

You're just jealous The Watcher made you and Becca get married off-screen, Travis!

What's that quote about doing the same thing and expecting different results? Xander should probably look it up when he's not so juiced.

Ophelia: Can't wait to tell my future kids about this night, they'll be so proud of their daddy.

Joaquin: BWAHAHA you should have seen your face, man!

As Joaquin doubles over laughing, Xander hobbles back onto his feet.

Xander: I should have given your kids ice cream before sending them back to you.

Joaquin: Those kids are chaotic no matter how much sugar you feed them!

Ophelia: I'm gonna make sure he's okay. And get myself another drink.

Marcie: Be sure you're drinking plenty of water!

Ophelia: Water? I hardly know her!

Ophelia laughs at her dumb joke, then also laughs as she fake applauds Xander.

Ophelia: That was quite the show! Mwah!

After another drink, Ophelia gets back on the dance floor to show off her moves, only to smack herself in the face in the process.

Ophelia: OWWWW

Drew: Party foul!

Ophelia: As my fake dad, aren't you supposed to support me?

Drew: Not when you're doing rookie shit, kiddo.

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system-of-a-feather · 4 months

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Nostalgic Campfire Rambles: Childhood Fictive -> Primary Host Ramble

I feel that is a good title to summarize what this is generally probably going to be centered on cause I got back from watching the new Wonka movie, and I always forget how much "Pure Imagination" and it's variants and the themes surrounding and shows that use it have always really hit home a lot as a part

Cause for those that don't know (which I don't think I've talked much about it because I personally don't even think back to it often let alone talk about it) before being host, before being really anything, I was originally introjected first and foremost as a "knight" "guardian" and imaginary play friend to keep our previous host at the time both company, having fun exploring both internally and in external play, and to generally keep said host and a few other parts hopeful and believing in a better end for us than what most of the system really stuck with.

And when childhood moves resulted in a lot of social stress and high pressure demands to adapt to new environments and make friends rapidly, I ended up also taking on social protector for a combination of positive and negative reasons, but one of which being that my ability to both engage other kids with fun imaginative worlds to self express in and ALSO my affinity to appeal to those struggling / outcasted by the fact I solely existed to accompany a traumatized outcasted child made me very good - as a child - for making friends.

And at the core of it, that was 85% of my function and existence for the first like 5-7 years of me "existing" and I always forget - having been primary host for at least 8 years now - that I was not *meant* to be out this long, that I wasn't *meant* to be host, that I wasn't *meant* to be a complex or elaborate part or anything like that.

And I don't mean that in a derogatory or doomer manner, but more so that the very means of which my perception and way of approaching the world was solely meant to be used as a survival mechanism in shitty situations to nurse and soothe high levels of distress. I'm *supposed* to be unbelievable, undying, and unrealistic hope and optimism that the system can blindly believe in when they are at the lowest of lows and that isn't *supposed* to be something that is meant to be kept up for *eight years* as the *primary fronter*.

And I forget just how extremely hard and long it took to modify the shit I was "given" and reconstruct it into something that could work as a host.

And I remember back in the first like 5-6 years of being "host", I almost always approached it as a "I am here just to fix it so that one of the True Owners can come back to a better life" and for those 5-6 years, being a "host" was a temporary job I "stepped up to" (more so got chucked it after one of the two original hosts completely dipped into dormancy and the other one already had 'given up on reality') until it was safe for one of the two to take their life back.

But over the years, and a lot of DID focused therapy, did I realize it was very much not going to happen and that this was a "for the foreseeable future" position and that if it were to change, it would almost certainly be through fusion / splitting rather than anything else. And it was a really guilty thing to realize for the first half year to a year and it was something that really didn't work for the longest time.

Honestly it only worked because I have one of the most fucking complex subsystems (which we fuse and unfuse regularly these days as its convenient) which made it possible to be functioning at an IMPOSSIBLY unsustainable manner for so long.

These days, being host is a lot more sustainable and easier and its honestly most of what I know and I'm good with that because I've really learned how to live As A Host in a sustainable way and really managed to hang up my "caretaker" and "protector" default lens in favor for a default host lense. Instead I pick those lenses up as they are helpful and it's done a lot to help my mental state, functioning, etc etc

But every so often, I think back to where I came from as a part in specific, and I realize.... despite all that growth, all that splitting and fusion that honestly leaves me HARDLY identifying with my source at all, I still very much operate on the same "machinery" of my original split-function as a very core aspect of how I engage with the world, the system, and how I just perceive things.

If anything, parts split and fused and shaped partially around it, to make it so that my natural nature and my role could co-exist sustainably - its part of why XIV and I are a "must have" duo for either of us to sustainably host.

But in the end of the day? I, as a part, am still a part very deeply driven by a very ideal and desired image of what I want to see and what I want to make happen in our life and in the world. I have very clear images of what I intend to see and intend to do and I am really anchored in making that a reality and making people - internal and external - believe in my ability to make that a reality.

I always have done that, I just have gone and taken it to the real world and our system had to adapt to the fact that its not something you can really separate from me as a part and thus something that we had to work safety plans and adaptations around as to make it possible to be undyingly dedicated and fully confident in my own vision. And it's honestly kind of an unnatural and unwavering confidence, dedication, and stubborn patience that I think really only comes from someone who originally split off as a fucking Shounen Protagonist troped character who sat around talking about escaping and exploring far away worlds and the conflicts of light and dark and nothingness and overcoming shit and all that crap.

I don't really operate well in a way of "I dream" or "I want" or "it would be nice" because I don't - from my original splitting off purpose - have the understanding of having luxury of being at all unsure or doubting in my vision of a better future for our system. It's all "I will" and "when I", because growing up, within my original function, if we were in crisis and completely low on hope - telling the traumatized depressed and desperate kid I existed to be the hopeful best buddy of that "I hope" and "I would like" and "I dream" that we would be able to be happy, be free, have anything worth living for, would not suffice to keep us alive and engaged in our own survival.

Back then, there wasn't room for "it would be nice" - there was only room for me to AUTHENTICALLY say and believe "Hey, you know, when we get the chance, we will go out and do this, we will have this and that and we will have these things to make sure we are always happy and safe. Of course we will because I have a plan. I know what we are doing, where we are going, and I know how to navigate obstacles. As long as you stay with me, I promise, there is no world where I will fail to show you that future that we can make when we get the chance"

And for better or worse, it's really gotten us far. It came at a huge fucking cost because the sheer number of times I had huge mental breakdowns and massive collapses and the system had scary crisis moments back when we were trying to figure out a way to keep me mentally sane WHILE literally having other severely depressed and suicidal parts literally (they had admitted it) waiting for *me* to give up and loose faith so they could feel ok *fully giving up* and thus forcing me to sustain the unrealistic and unsustainable sense of confidence and vision.... but like

Honestly, ever since XIV has been co-host, that hasn't been an issue because the two of us serve as eachother's "hope providing unwavering best friend" so now that there are two of us, we can both alternate and fill in for one another in the system when one of us is "down" and we can also serve the same role back to pull one another up.

And its been like three years or so since we established that dynamic and it really almost completely negated the "unsustainable" nature of the whole way our part of the brain approaches things and instead almost like... developed a "infinite unwavering confidence and faith in our ability to make whatever we think of a reality glitch" cause XIV and I loop endlessly in supporting one another and both of us exude enough dedication, ruthlessness, and vision to provide hope and engagement to the entire system

And it's really neat. Cause for the most part - this whole thing also applies to XIV as we are split from the same "original introject", we just both internalized and adapted our original functions in VERY drastically different ways.

But I dunno, I was just feeling a bit nostalgic and wanted to ramble and share. Feel free to chat and comment and add on if you like to this. This isn't really a vent but just kinda a "I wanted to share a story / reflection with you all" and so I gladly welcome and encourage anyone to be nostalgic and/or ramble and/or chat about anything this post might bring up in yall

Imagine we are at a cozy campfire in the forest with clear skies and bright stars just sharing the story of our lives. If you all wanna share, its the nature of the campfire and are more than welcome

I honestly might make that a tag "nostalgic campfire rambles"

-----

(Endos and anyone who identifies as someone with DID, someone with a CDD, plural, and/or a system are welcome to engage in this post. We're just out here chatting about life and existence, it doesn't have to be clinical or too serious and I just like chatting)

#nostalgic campfire rambles #alter: riku #fictive #fictional introject #actuallydid #dissociative identity disorder #sysconversation #conversysion #system conversation #endos welcome #endos safe

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dream-trail-rpg · 1 year

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November Devlog

Hey hey hey! It's Fay! Otherwise known as Mod Chip!

Happy Halloween! Well, late Halloween I suppose- but hey! It's always Halloween if you dream hard enough!

It's that time of the month again- time for a devlog!

A bit has happened this month- though not as much progress as usual, there's still some important things to note!

-It was Dream Trail's 1 year anniversary! It's still insane how this project has been able too stay alive for so long- but I wouldn't have it any other way! Thank you all again for supporting this lovely project!

-We've updated the website to add a new page! There's now a page that shows the mechanics of the game and a few neat little details!

-We've kidnapped two new people for the team to help progress go by smoother and faster! Say hello to Monngo and Creator! Me and Sock slid into their dm's and snatched them away to help us out a bit

-We've completed 23/45 of the battle animations for the demo! Which is approximately 85/120 frames! And we're working swiftly on finishing the rest!

-The battle backgrounds have also been completed! So we're getting pretty close to having everything we need for a functioning battle system!

-All the maps for the demo have been completely put together and implemented into game!

-The trailer hit 285 views! Extremely grateful for everybody who's watched it thus far- it took a lot of time to make and I'm glad you all like it!

-We are contemplating once again making the switch to a different coding program. We've been struggling with Godot and are thinking that switching back to RPGMaker will be faster and more helpful in the long-run. Besides; the original sight for this game was to be one of the RPG Maker (sorta) horrors. We're still talking it over.

-More character designs are being made for future segments of the game

-Most cutscenes and art for the demo are complete

And last but not least...

WE'VE REACHED 100 FOLLOWERS!

We're working on something special to show you guys- but in the meantime, please know that the entire team is very grateful for all your love and support! It really means the world to us all!

Till next time, Dreamers! We hope to see you again next month!

Mod Chip (and Sock editing) signing out<3

#dream trail #art #artist on tumblr #game development #devlog #gamedev #game devs on tumblr #indie game #Indie Game Design #indie game development #indie artists #rpg #rpg game #rpg character #Mod Chip #November devlog

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im-sorry-what-ii · 9 months

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MY THOUGHTS ON HOW THE ORIGINAL SONG TAKE ON ME BY A-HA AND THE MTV UNPLUGGED VERSION PARALLEL TOP GUN AND TOP GUN MAVERICK (blame @blazingstar29 for enabling me)

more under the cut bc its a bit long🫠

ok we all know take on me right? the upbeat 1985 song with the really cool music video. iconic. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914&ab_channel=a-ha)

right so five years ago a-ha did an mtv unplugged version which i advise you to listen to bc its so inCREDIBLY GOOD I CANNOT. it takes every thing that makes the og song perfect and twists it into something that captures the essence of the original but mature and sad, like looking back at the past. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xKM3mGt2pE&ab_channel=ahaVEVO)

my reasons for why the og 1985 version parallels top gun

80s. basic but true.

good looking guys. also basic. also true. promise it gets more in depth

the whole vibe of the take on me video is upbeat. happy. theyre dancing around, its half animated but with pencil drawings like a teen would doodle on school books, its carefree, its goofy, its all over the place.

the music is also upbeat and happy, it makes you wanna dance and get up and vibe

combining video, music and lyrics, the song is about being young. its about being alive, having your whole life ahead of you. taking on the world, being young and in your prime and prepared to give it your all. its happy, its looking forward to the future but enjoying and loving the now. its having options, choice and freedom, to live your life how you want to.

this is what top gun is at heart. its about being young and in your prime, competing, living life to the fullest. its energy, motivation, but in the end its also growing up. its seeing the worst life can do to you (goose) and recognising it but moving on, finding comfort in your youth and letting go of your responsibilites.

its the beauty of life, of strength and just the general vibe of the 80s. friendship and love and loss and the beauty of being young. its saying ‘i have my whole life left to live, and nothing can stop me’

to understand the next part, i kinda like to thing of the ‘85 version as the soundtrack of top gun. its the 86ers song, its their vibe.

and this ones probably got more to it, my reasons why the unplugged version parallels top gun maverick

modern times. basic again

we gotta focus on the actual musicians now. its the same guys singing, just 40 years older. the same song, just looking back instead of forward. by changing the key and tempo of the song, theyve created a whole new vibe. same lyrics, same guitar, just slower. sadder. they've calmed down, lost some of their energy

the unplugged versions looks back on a life well lived instead of forwards, to a life ahead. its reflecting on all the bad things that have happened and accepting them

in the end, theyre both about acceptance. this is very important. both versions of the song are about accepting everything that life has to offer, everywhere that life can or has taken you. ‘slowly learning that life is ok’

except, where ‘85 version is eagerly accepting and awaiting, unplugged is sadder. not regretful, just sadder. more thoughtful. theyre older, wiser, they recognise how life has changed them, for better or worse. they dont regret their life (its no better to be safe than sorry), they just see what it as it is. lived. over. theyre out of their prime, its a new generation now.

but at the same time, its also rebellion. theyre old, not dead, they still have fight left in them (take on me, take me on). theyre still standing, a few decades hasnt changed that.

now tell me, am i describing Take On Me (MTV Unplugged) or Top Gun: Maverick?

mav regrets pulling gooses papers, but theres nothing he can do about it now. he has to accept life for what it is. he has to accept ice is dying, that hes dead. he has to accept hes old. and rooster has to accept life for what it is too. he needs to realise the past is in the past, the carole and goose are gone and mav is all he has left. Mav pulled his papers. There's nothing he can do about it now

top gun maverick is about growing up, getting old, how life changes a person. its seeing how everyone around you is older, no longer in their prime. the younger generation has centre stage now, but youre still there. your still fighting. youve made mistakes, youve fucked up but your still here bc thats how life works. You're quieter, the background to their lead, but you're still there

think of it as a cycle. in every movie theres an older generation, and a younger generation. the top gun movies focus on one of those generations, following them from young to old, and the song changes with them.

the 86ers song is take on me, and it follows them, adapting with them.

now we’re getting a bit more far fetched, but lets say the ‘22 teams song is i aint worried. its got a similar vibe to take on me, but with a 2020s twist instead of 80s synth pop. its carefree, they literally aint worried. its happy, its upbeat, it makes you wanna dance.

now we look at these songs in contrast. take on me unplugged and i aint worried are playing side by side, the older and younger generations. once upon a time, take on me had the same vibe but its grown up. and one day, i aint worried will have the same fate

one day, i aint worried will be an old timey song, the same nostalgic vibe as the og take on me has now, the same vibe as top gun has now. bc top gun is retro, its 80s. rn, tgm is new, its fancy, but it wont always be

its a cycle. its a fucking cycle. the same thing was going on in top gun 86, but with viper/jester and ice/mav/everyone else. we just dont see it, bc we're only focusing on one generation. they all parallel each other. if we we're focusing on the ‘22 team, mav and cyclone would be their viper and jester. old, important but not really. old-fashioned, out of date. but we’re not. its the 86ers story, so their song changes with them, and its what we get to see.

thank you for coming to my ted talk!! i may have gotten a bit off track towards the end there and had an existential crisis but enjoy :)

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morwap · 2 years

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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄

nav | eddie munson x reader

CONTENT WARNINGS: food mentions, f!masturbation

word count: 2k

"you know how much it is?" you asked, unhooking your seatbelt and then grabbing your bag. Dustin seemed happy to be given a ride.

"15 i think" Dustin mumbled as he looked through it for any indication about the price. you handed him a twenty-dollar bill and Dustin thanked you then got out of the car and jogged to the store. you laughed softly as you shrugged your bag over your shoulder and got out, locking your car as you walked into family video.

family video always had a distinctive smell, like an old carpet but it was oddly nostalgic. you made eye contact with robin and steve, smiling at them as you start browsing movies.

your finger followed your eyes before stopping on back to the future, you never got to watch it when it came out so now was a good time, now thinking about what your night might be like. your mom worked a night shift tonight and your dad would go up to bed around 8 so you could go into the living room with popcorn after he's gone up to bed, you finished all your homework on Friday so you didn't have to worry about it.

the chime from the store doors took yours and Steve and Robin's attention, Dustin walked in and held up the new comic and you gave him a thumbs up with a smile.

you made your way to the register.

"hi robin," you said and smiled softly as you pushed the movie towards her, robin smiled then looked over at steve who had his arms crossed.

"see dingus, y/n knows me in high school and she's a cheerleader," she said making you laugh a little as steve rolled his eyes and shook his head before Dustin caught his attention.

robin started to check you out, you gave her your dad's account for the charge then she bagged it up, robin thanked you for coming into family video. you smiled at her and told her you'd see her at school.

"oh yeah, yeah, Eddie your new best friend"

you caught them in the middle of their conversation, you gulped at the mention of Eddie even though you had been thinking about him all damn day. taking in a deep breath and trying to shake the feeling of nervousness that had washed over you.

"what? you're both my friend- ugh whatever- I'm now gonna go with my NEW BEST FRIEND Y/N" Dustin scoffed playfully, you laughed and started walking towards the door with Dustin following.

getting back into your car and gently tossing your bag into the back after you got your keys out. starting your car and breathing in deeply as the new fresh air flushed out the smell of carpet. thankfully.

"where to now Henderson?" you asked, backing out of your parking spot and checking your mirrors.

"you know where Eddie Munson lives?" Dustin asked, your throat went dry. Eddie Munson just seemed to follow you everywhere you went.

"um- he lives by max, right?" you stuttered out.

"yeah! that's where I was going after family video, we're making dnd figures for hellfire" Dustin said, the chipper tone in his voice made you smile. he was just like when you babysat him, always sweet and funny, a total sweetheart.

"That sounds fun, hellfire is the club, right? I thought the shirts were pretty unique" you said, driving in the direction you knew was the trailer park. you smiled over at Dustin.

you've seen max in the halls and saw her over the summer at the clothing store you worked at the summer of 85' sometimes you were also her guide when the school year started, you had a group that consisted of max, mike wheeler (before he gravitated to Eddie because of two things, Dustin was part of Eddie's group and Eddie was talking about hellfire), will byers (but you learned he had moved and they just didn't take him off your list), Sidney and ted. Chrissy's group joined yours after you two just decided to show them around together.

"if you join you can get a shirt," Dustin said, the smile on his face staying strong. you laughed softly and shook your head,

"maybe one day, don't think you all would like to play with someone that has no idea what it even is, plus I'm pretty busy," you said, making sure you declined softly to make sure he knew you were just making fun of them for being into dnd. you heard Dustin laugh and agree about you being busy.

pulling into the trailer park and Dustin told you he lived literally across from max and as you pulled in Eddie was sitting on the steps to his place smoking a cigarette, you two made eye contact as you put your car into park. you took in his curly hair and the grey muscle shirt he was wearing that showed off tattoos.

Eddie narrowed his eyes at you then blinked and lifted his brows, surprised to see you but you could understand that. Dustin greeted Eddie with a smile and wave, you opened your backseat door, getting Dustin's bike out of your backseat gently and trying not to scratch your car or his bike.

Dustin came around and helped you get it out, you heard Eddie get up from where he was sitting. you looked over your shoulder and made eye contact once again. Eddie smirked and cocked his head as he took a puff of his cigarette before stubbing it out and then tossing it to the ground.

"comin' back for seconds l/n?" Eddie teased, the smirk staying on his face. your breath caught in your throat, as you just whipped your head around and got the bike out.

"have fun," you said to Dustin with a smile, he thanked you for the ride and comic book money then went to lean his bike against Eddie's van then walked up to Eddie. eddie's eyes never left your frame as you shut the backseat door and then got into the driver's. you looked at him one more time, he was opening the door for Dustin but still keeping his eyes on you.

you smiled at him and he smiled back then turned his attention onto Dustin and walked in, shutting the door behind him. you started to back up and in the back window, you could see max coming out of her house.

turning your wheel and then straightening back up, now you could see her out the passenger side, you smiled and waved at her as she had a plate in her hands. max waved shortly, a brief smile appearing then vanishing. you heard from Lucas that her brother was in the mall fire and that since then she hasn't been the same. your heart broke for her, especially when seeing her come out of the counselor's office when you would walk Chrissy to her session.

driving out of there and turning the radio up, trying to keep Eddie from your mind by replacing the thoughts with what you should get for lunch and dinner. you could get a burger now and then heat up the pizza you had at home. Wendy's was the closest so you went for that, plus they had a new burger that came out.

you pulled into your driveway, the warm bag of food sat in your passenger seat. grabbing all of your things before getting out of your car and then pressing your keys to lock it. your dad was still in his recliner, you rolled your eyes and walked straight to your room. tossing your keys, bag, and the movie onto your desk as you sat down on your bed with your food.

tossing your now empty food bag into the kitchen trash then heading to the laundry room, taking your clothes out of the washer and putting them into the dryer. you tossed in your mom's laundry so she didn't have to do it when she got home.

you checked the time and it was now nearing 8, you heard your dad yawn and a smile crept onto your face as you went back into the kitchen and got out a big bowl, and the jiffy pop from the cabinet and set it next to the stove with some paper towels. now all you had to do was wait.

you wasted time by reading magazines, more like circling some of the shoes they advertised or some clothes that you thought were cute until you heard your dad leaving the living room. now it was 8:40, you grabbed the movie and headed for the living room.

setting it on the couch then going to the kitchen and working on your popcorn.

you made it halfway through the movie before your eyes started to feel heavy, your blinking turning into closing your eyes then starting to drift off then your body jumping awake. you yawned and turned off the movie and took the tape out, sitting it on top of the tv stand.

sleepily walking to the kitchen and dumping out the leftover popcorn and then putting the bowl into the sink then making your way to your bathroom.

after doing your bedtime routine you changed and got into bed, letting your thoughts consume you until your thoughts went from what you were gonna do later to Eddie fucking Munson, from his grey muscle shirt to his tattoos and his hair that you could tell he didn't style today then to the way his lips wrapped around his cigarette.

sleep had left you and it was replaced with a feeling that made you press your thighs together, you moved onto your back and stared at the ceiling.

sliding your hand down your stomach and into your pajama pants. it was only natural to feel turned on by a person you've had relations with, right? plus him teasing you earlier was supposed to make you feel like this.

your thoughts trailed back to when his hands were on your body, roaming it like he owned you. your hand got lower and slipped into your panties, moving your fingers to where you wanted them the most before moving them in circles. closing your eyes and moving your head on your pillow to get comfortable.

remembering how his lips kissed at your skin and went lower and lower, the way his warm tongue pleasured you without needing to be told where you wanted him to focus, you tried mimicking what he did with his tongue when he went down on you but it just wasn't the same even though it felt good. moving your fingers on your clit, and slightly rocking into your hand.

you hummed softly as you got into a rhythm that felt good, your breathing picked up a bit as you went faster and applied more pressure. imagining that Eddie's lips were on your neck moving down to your chest, then going lower and lower. imagining that you could grab his hair by his roots while his tongue would be lapping at your clit over and over, his hands rubbing up and down your thighs in your dreams.

your fingers felt different than his but you tried not to think too hard about it, the nicknames he called you rang in your ears, trying to hear it as if he was saying it right now. your mouth opened a bit, the softest noises leaving you as you could feel your orgasm coming in quick, knowing if you kept the pace up you'd cum quick. your cunt clenched around nothing.

in your mind, you screamed his name as you came, but in reality, you let out a soft low groan as you finished. your cunt spasming as you let off your clit and took your hand out of your pants.

staring up at the ceiling. masturbating to the thought of Eddie Munson would have never been something you would've done a week ago but here you are.

you got up and headed to the bathroom, washing your hands and cleaning yourself up.

after a bit you were back in your bed, your eye lids feeling heavy as your head hit the pillow.

#𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 e.m #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #stranger things eddie #stranger things fanfic #stranger things eddie munson #stranger things x reader #eddie munson stranger things #mean!eddie munson #bsf!chrissy cunningham

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true-blue-sonic · 6 months

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Any other Espilver AU's you sometimes think of besides the pirate one you're working on? (can't recall if you've already been asked this, sorry)

I believe a while ago, but no worries, I like talking about it ^-^ One of the OG AUs I have is Little Ghost, where the premise is that Silver is approximately 85% more feral than in canon, and after Rivals 1 he's hidden himself away in a forest because Onyx Island is gone... except that now everyone thinks it's haunted. Oops! Espio gets send in by Vector to investigate, and slowly manages to build Silver's trust over time.

Another I have is Time God AU (tentatively called Once Upon A Summer) where Silver is a deity of sorts that watches over the timestream and the Time Stones. One day he saves Espio's life through his powers, but in the chaos the Time Stones get scattered, and he and Espio need to get them back before chaos unfurls.

I also have a fic in mind where Silver comes from a good future instead of a bad one (doesn't make him less snappy at first), but I believe I've talked about this one before. And I got some miscellaneous ones scattered around in my folder, but these are the biggest one I can think of currently.

#silver the hedgehog #espio the chameleon #espilver #I do really want to finish them but I want to finish all of my wips and let me tell you: that might just be impossible lol #blue's writing

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givemeanaccountalready · 6 months

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Haruka Sakurai: the Breakdown of a Soggy, Blue Blorbo (1/2)

I really started this post going, “Oh boy, I can’t wait to talk about one of my blorbos,” and I have once again made a new conspiracy board. I swear to you, I just wanted to do a character analysis. Now, I’m certain that something happened during the night of fireworks involving the girl, and that this is how Haruka ‘started’ (more like grabbed and thrown down the first leg of it, at least) down the wrong path.

Night of the Fireworks: Haruka, what happened?

When it was very slow at work, I took the time to play “Weakness” at 0.25x speed to take as many screenshots as I could of the music video to break it down.

The music video opens with Haruka sitting at a vanity, toying with the pendant on his necklace as he looks at his reflection. I know the theory that the younger boy in "Weakness" is actually his younger brother, but I lean towards the idea that the younger boy is Haruka as a child. They look too identical to be brothers. If I had to estimate how old younger Haruka is, I would say between the ages of 10-12. He looks like he's in the last years of elementary school.

Because I can, we're going to call 17 year old Haruka Haruka, and his younger self can be Chibi. I could call him YH for young Haruka, but I like Chibi better.

When Haruka sees Chibi, he falls backwards and we're treated to the first image of Haruka sinking as the first verse begins to play. There's a bit of a cut to Haruka with his knees up to his chest and we can see a child's doodles surround him. We also see the Frankendog and then Chibi with Haruka's mother. Chibi and Mom are walking along, with Chibi smiling and talking while Mom's face is cut out.

If you look closely, it looks like Chibi is trying to hold Mom's hand, but she isn't closing her hand around her son's. She seems to be letting him hang off of her. Since she doesn't have a face, it's hard to tell what she's thinking, and tbh, the dark shadow over her face makes her seem menacing, to me at least. Her posture seems a bit stiff to me, and she's not turning her face like she's involved in the conversation. Chibi just seems to be talking, and his eyes are closed, so he's blind to how involved in this conversation she's in and her emotions, (since we can't see her dang face). But do you know whose eyes are open? Haruka, and he is currently singing asking what went wrong to cause all these changes:

“Tell me, why are you drifting away from me? / Tell me, why do you say it's my fault? / The words I tried to say were "You're unfair," and those words thought how pitiful I am / Why is it breaking? Tell me why? Please don't change”

Something clearly happened but Haruka (and us) are out of the loop. The next line in the song is when Haruka grabs Chibi by the back of his shirt. For the first time, Chibi isn't smiling as he turns and faces his older self. Haruka responds by shoving Chibi into the puddle. However, Haruka is the one sinking, not Chibi and he watches a memory of Chibi and the Girl in Pink walking hand in hand.

Haruka almost seems wistful when he looks at that memory. Then the screen cuts to him with his hands over his ears while blue and white fireworks appear to be going off in the background while, “The right future chose the wrong me,” plays. Then we see Chibi and Girl are running together, still hand in hand, and Haruka sings, “I wanted to be a pitied and loved weakling / I was in denial, I was in denial”. Then, there's a brief cut to Haruka being surrounded by yellow camellias, and then to his hand reaching out to grab the Girl.

I am 85% sure that those are yellow camellias, and not yellow carnations. From what I've seen on Google Images, yellow carnations have a more concentrated color evenly spread out while the yellow camellias seem to become paler yellow/light tanner the farther from center of flower (pistil?). I'm not a botanist, so please correct me. From what I've found online, yellow camellia flowers symbolize longing (for love, to love, to be loved, it doesn't specify beyond the heart wants what it wants). If it was a yellow carnation, I found one definition being that "you disappointed me/rejection" which also fits Haruka's story.

Haruka reaches out for the Girl, and does his chorus routine of throwing his head back and laughing while "AHaHa, please notice me," plays. Then, the light shines on this mf's hands as he admits, "I was wrong / Yes, it was me," and then he wakes up in his bed. I just want you to note that Haruka's hands are clean.

We go on so Haruka can sink to the bottom of the screen while his many childhood drawings are shown and then Frankendog makes his reappearance! Chibi is petting Frankendog while his mother watches. We still can't see Mom's face, but she's crouched down like she's interacting with Chibi and Frankendog, which is better than before. Then, oh no! Frankendog runs away into the dark, scary, red-lit woods with Chibi walking in after him. We see mountains, more yellow camellias, and a blue moon (the moon was grey before).

Now, Chibi is getting nervous. We can't see his eyes, but we can see a little sweat drop of tension on his face, his shoulders are hunched forward, and his arm is grabbing at his shirt front, probably him trying to fiddle with the buttons or pluck at the shirt to let out his nervous energy. Then! We see dog prints! Or maybe a bear's! I'm not a zoologist either. But the important thing is that the scribbly blood is on the ground. Chibi wipes his brow, and that's when he notices that there is scribbly blood on his tiny hands! But whose face do we see react to the bloody hands? Not Chibi since the hair is too long. It's Haruka.

Then we cut to the chorus where Haruka’s bringing a large rock down over his head onto something offscreen and he’s throwing his head back and laughs. We see his clean hands one more time and he wakes up in bed.

We cut to the next scene where everything is his fireworks doodlings on LSD. It’s bright, loud, and there’s just Haruka’s bright blue silhouette staring at us with anguished eyes. Then we see him reach out for his mother (whose back is towards Haruka and us) and she fades from view. Jump cut to Haruka, where a single tear rolls down his cheek and into a pool of water. (It looks like there's a little crown when the water splashes up.) And while all this happens, Haruka sings:

“Even if I keep trying it / It’s broken right away / The things that aren’t here, and the unneeded things / Is it still living somewhere?”

Haruka sinks one more time and watches the memory of him (as Chibi) walking with Mom, and Haruka looks rather ticked off. An open, outstretched hand shoots out from the screen. (There were so many of these throughout the entire video, from when he grabbed Chibi at the beginning to him trying to reach out to the Girl and then Mom.) Haruka catches Chibi again, this time by the throat. And then Haruka proceeds to strangle Chibi. Despite having free hands, Chibi doesn't fight back. His hands are semi-curled like he's going to make a fist, but Chibi doesn't lift them up towards his neck to try and pry himself free. They twitch like Chibi started moving, but his hands don't really go above his hips. It's like he started to fight and then froze up. These lines play during this scene.

"I cried, I screamed / I wanted to be a pitied and loved weakling / I was in denial, I was in denial / I just had to make sure / I've become a victim, I've become a victim / My loneliness was desired / I was falling, I was falling down / My life started in the wrong spot"

The chorus finishes up as Haruka throws his head back and laugh, only this time, tears are streaming down his face. Haruka briefly becomes despondent as he admits he was wrong. We're treated to another show of light uncovering his still clean hands. There's a scribbly silhouette underneath him that looks like Chibi and then quickly becomes distorted into something I can't recognize. The song ends on Haruka's tearful smile as he admits, "I was wrong / Yes, it was me" and then it cuts to black.

Now, what's the point of me dragging you through a fricking play-by-play summary? Something happened the night of the fireworks. Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. What happened?

I think the Girl is Haruka's sister. Younger sister to be specific, though definitely not more than two years younger than him. Girls tend to be slightly bigger than the boys at 9-12, which would explain why she’s almost the same height as him despite Haruka being not much older than her. I would say that they're probably about a year apart, since she is only slightly smaller than him. Why not twins? Well, because during the second trial written interrogation questions, on Question 4, Haruka wrote down that "It seems like she [his mother] wanted a girl. She had already chosen this name." If they were twins, the girl would have been named Haruka, and Haruka probably would have gotten some generic boy name, or maybe a different, but still feminine name similar to Haruka. If we can take Haruka’s statement at face value, we could say that Haruka’s mom wanted a girl more than a son. If Girl is Haruka’s younger sister, then her wish for a daughter had been fulfilled, but now her daughter doesn’t have the name she had originally wanted to give her. Haruka’s second strike (his first being born a boy).

His mother seems distant to him in the beginning of the music video back when Chibi tries to hold Mom’s hand but she doesn’t really wrap her hand around her son’s. But like I said, Chibi doesn’t seem to notice since his damn eyes are closed. We don’t see Mom with the Girl, which does put a hole in my theory. Perhaps a memory of Mom favoring Girl over Haruka really would have set him off, or perhaps this theory is wrong.

Even if the Girl is Haruka’s little sister, what the hell do you think happened the night of the fireworks? Okay, this is what I think what happened that night:

Chibi (10-12 year old Haruka) and Girl went to a festival or some sort of celebration where fireworks were being set off. Mom gave them special permission to go by themselves so long as they stick together, with the implication that Chibi looks out for his younger sister. Chibi gets distracted by the dog. The kind of dog doesn’t matter (hence the Frankendog), but Chibi does get separated from his sister. Maybe the fireworks scared the dog off? The important thing is that the two kids are now separated, and it’s implied to be Haruka’s fault. Chibi doesn’t seem bothered by losing the dog at first, but what makes him freak out is him realizing that the Girl is gone. Mom will “make that disappointed face again” and he is scared of being in trouble. Chibi has to find her.

Now, the Girl is either dead or hurt when he does find her, and there are two possibly perpetrators: someone unseen (because of the giant hands keep trying to grab the ladies in the video), or Chibi. Whether the Girl did die or was hurt doesn’t matter, what matters is that the damage was done. We see Chibi wipe his brow in relief, and then flinch when he realizes there’s blood on his hands. I think that’s supposed to symbolize Chibi finding the Girl and then realizing she was hurt and that he is responsible (either for losing her, or because he did it). Chibi seems like a normal, happy kid. If he did hurt the Girl, I think it was an accident. We never see Chibi lash out in “Weakness” only Haruka. It is possible that some unknown party was hurting the Girl and Haruka interrupted, leading to him being attacked by the same perpetrator (you do see a weird doodle of some fanged mermaid looking thing a couple of times in the background which could represent the perp). Maybe Chibi had gotten a head injury for interrupting. They have been known to cause a flip in personality (see Phineas Gage) and bad concussions and other severe brain trauma can lead to memory problems and other cognitive issues which could explain why Haruka doesn’t use kanji more advanced than what a grade schooler can use. I’m not a medical doctor either, and assuming he has a head injury is a big leap of faith.

But a head injury bad enough to impair his functioning could explain why others call him crazy (being unable to describe the attacker well or tell a clear version of events) and why Haruka has gaps in his knowledge. Something has happened, even if he can’t remember it and he blames himself. But what’s done is done. It cannot be undone. But Haruka is left to repeat that day over and over because he feels responsible for it.

More on this in the next post.

#milgram project #milgram analysis #milgram theory #haruka sakurai #long post #holy guacamole this was long #soggy blue blorbo analysis

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eirenare · 6 months

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Hi hi~! Life update here

Hi there!

Yes, I'm still alive lol, it's just that 85% of my social media time I currently spend it on Twitter (I refuse to call it how Elmo Muskrat wants the site to be called lol), and 15% I spend it on Bluesky (which, by the way, if you wanna find me there, I'm Eirenare too there lol).

I'm still very veeeeeery much in my Reylo brainrot haha, so yeah, you might see me posting or reblogging every now and then some of it, although I've been as well into some other stuff lately (Elden Ring for example), so you might see me posting about that too, so just a heads up there about it (and don't worry, everything I post here, regardless of what it is, as usual it'll have its tags and spoiler warnings, a "read more" if need be, etc).

My energy's been specially low for the past months though to be honest, so I can't guarantee I'll be very active around here (except for private messages, I'll be checking these every little time), just that every now and then I'll come here and post or reblog some stuff, probably Reylo and other things Star Wars or series/movies, life updates too, maybe will share in a bit of my Elden Ring brainrot and theories as its DLC approaches and I get more and more excited.

Anyways, here's some random life update stuff and anecdotes that I wanted to say before I log off for the night here:

I fell into the Kalluzeb (Kallus x Zeb, from Star Wars Rebels) rabbithole some time ago and it was, and is, neat, I love them so much

earlier today I had churros and hot chocolate as desert at lunch time and I was in cloud nine all the while I chomped on them

apparently my brain won't cease to come up with new Reylo AUs which is amazing and so much fun but also if I ever showed you guys screenshots of my Google Docs you might just faint because there are just so many things there between WIPs I'm currently working on that are already on Ao3, future things to go on Ao3, vague WIPs, AU ideas... and my energy is running so low and I'm working on various Ao3 WIPs so yeah lol I don't think I'll ever write even half of the fics I noted down

I watched Barbie at the cinema and it became one of my new comfort movies and one of my fave movies of all time

somehow I'm not as bad as I thought I'd be at Elden Ring even though I'm clumsy, a scaredycat and my tunnel vision goes lvl 100 when I'm playing videogames which usually means "good luck remembering to look at your stamina bar and using key items", so seeing myself not get too stuck on bosses was unexpected and neat (in fact, funnily enough: somehow this game even makes my anxiety lower at times and it barely increases it at all even when I'm fighting bosses, go figure lol)

I had the chance to buy Final Fantasy XVI at a much cheaper price than release price but because at that site I didn't see any warning that it was temporary, by the time I went to buy it, it had risen price again so now I'm awaiting once again for both better prices and for my wallet to recover

my brother bought a PS5 back in spring and a copy of Star Wars Jedi Survivor and, since we live in the same house, I did play that game and it was amazing asdfgffdgfjfb there were only a very few things I didn't like that much but holy shit was it good, some stuff even felt tailor-made for me in ways I wasn't expecting but that I enjoyed very much (and also the tears, the rivers of tears I shed on certain scenes lol) and now I'm super hyped for the 3rd whenever it is that it'll happen

the official Star Wars accounts at Twitter have been posting quite a bit about Reylo and the sequels and Ben for the past days (and I gotta say, the account from Spain even added some extra Reylo flavor in some tweets that other accounts didn't which is curious) and I'm clowning kinda hard, hoping that DLF finally realized most of the people actually like a lot Reylo (or don't mind it) and the ST, and hoping (always hoping, always dreading to hope too much, but hoping anyways) that we'll get Rey and Ben reunited in her movie

Anyways x2, enough anecdotes and thoughts for the night, see you around lovely people~! <3 Hopefully soon lol, but if not... *looks at 2024 fast approaching* if not, then I'll 100% be around to gossip and scream for when the Rey movie begins production and talks begin and all that stuff, lol.

Good night~! :D I hope you have a great day and/or a good sleep~! <3

EDIT: looooool apparently this was my 100th post in here and I got a free badge for my profile so yay, nice~ x) XDD

#My life #Life update #My personal life #Reylo #(adding Reylo to the tags because there's a little bit of talking about how the official SW Twitter accounts have been posting about it)#(which is kiiiind of sus if you ask me but maybe that's my clown ass hoping for good things in post-TROS aka the Rey and Ben reunion)

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goldenagenonsense · 8 months

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Action Comics #5 [October 1938]

After last issue, I feel like there’s not much that can unpleasantly surprise me. Superman’s questionable morality aside, we have a ways to go before we even get to Batman, much less Marvel comics and whatever else I find. It’s also a shorter story today - nine pages instead of thirteen. Hopefully that’ll make it a bit easier to go through!

Not much to say about the cover. Could be vaguely racist. That is not my problem.

On the other hand, the pre-story ad page had me double-take for a second when I thought it was Oliver Queen. But no, it was just a random dude with the same facial hair and haircut. Though now that makes me wonder what situation poor Ollie could have been caught up in to end up in a flooding dungeon.

We open up this story to telegraph lines broadcasting news of a terrible disaster. The Valleyho Dam is cracking under the strain of a huge downpour; should it give way, a mountain of water will sweep down the valley, killing thousands and destroying fertile land.

…you know, I think I saw a clip of this story before, when I was watching a youtube video on Superman. It pulled on some clips from an animated series that was clearly based on these original tales. Dunno when said series was animated and broadcast, but I kind of want to track them down and watch them, since they’re tied into this whole ‘golden age’ thing. Probably will be a while, though, if ever. Don’t want to spoil myself on content that’s 85 years old.

[Friend insert:

Solem: That'd be the Fleischer series. Classic short films from back when animation was too expensive to be shown in anything but cinemas, made in 1941 and 1942.]

Sounds like I have something to look forward to then in the nearish future!

At the Daily Star, the editor-in-chief demands Clark be brought to him. Lois tells him that Clark’s not in the office; the editor tells her to look for him and have him report in before he loses his mind. Lois asks why she can’t handle the assignment. The editor says it’s too important for a girl. Lois is not impressed with that logic, thinking mildly violent thoughts as she heads out.

Coincidentally, Clark is just outside the building. She puts on an eager air as she approaches him. Clark is shocked she’s actually happy to see him. She asks him to do her a favor and cover an assignment for him; he leaps on the task, eager to please. She tells him to head to the local hospital’s maternity ward, since a Mrs. Mahoney is expecting… septuplets? (My god, that poor woman. Someone help her. Can a person even have that many kids at once?) Clark thanks Lois for the chance to handle it.

While Lois is getting herself a ticket to Valleyho, Clark is at the hospital, learning that Lois lied to him. Gasp! Honestly, that makes way more sense than having to worry about the poor theoretical woman he could have had to deal with. Clark starts to make his way back to the office, wondering if Lois double-crossed him.

The editor is not pleased when he finally shows his face - the biggest news story in months on the fire, and Clark wasted time at a hospital?? Clark tries to explain that he didn’t know, but the editor isn’t hearing it - the last train’s already left! Clark’s fired, he can report to the cashier.

Clark, however, has bigger fish to fry. He finds himself an empty room and strips out of his work suit, revealing he had his costume on underneath, cape included. Which, you know what, sure, why the fuck not. Maybe he just keeps the cape in his briefcase and puts it on afterward.

Superman leaves the Daily Star from the roof, leaping out into the night. Leap after leap, covering huge distances, until he’s caught up to the train that Lois is on. He hits the ground running, quickly outpacing the train, all while smugly thinking about how if Lois thinks she can scoop him, she’s got another thing coming!

He quickly reaches a bridge the train is set to go over - only to stop when he notices something wrong. A torrent has loosened the bridge’s supports, causing the track to tilt at an angle that makes a wreck inevitable. The train whistles in the distance - there’s no time to lose. Without a moment’s hesitation, Superman dives forward, seizing the supports and starting to push until the tracks level out again. He holds it in place as the train passes by, then allows it to crash.

The passengers are startled at the sound, quickly gathering at the windows to see what happened. They gape at the collapsed bridge behind them, one of them commenting on how they’d be dead if it’d happened an instant earlier. The drivers note that they need to send a warning at the next junction for the other trains.

When the train arrives at Valleyho, Lois has to fight through everyone getting on board. She quickly flags down a taxi, but the driver wants nothing to do with going to the dam - she can have the car, he’s getting out of there! Lois, not to be deterred, does take the taxi for a spin, speeding her way to the dam.

God, Lois truly is her best self, in full gremlin mode. She will get her story, dammit, even if it means throwing herself bodily into danger. It’s good to know that that’s been a core trait of hers right from the start. I already think this is my favorite story so far, and it’s half because of her.

Meanwhile, Superman’s struggling to hold the dam together, desperate to buy the people below enough time to evacuate.

(Which, can I just say, this is the other half of the reason this story is delighting me - we’re seeing the core of the hero that we’re most familiar with 85 years later, the man who has incredible power and uses it to save lives. Like, yeah, the bits with him tackling rich people corruption, including flexing his investigator skills, is well and good, and gives a showcase of what he as Clark capable of. But him holding the dam together to buy the people below time to escape is just. Mmm. That’s the core of Superman we all are familiar with.)

Eventually, even Superman isn’t enough to keep the dam up; with a huge roar, it falls to pieces, sending floodwater roaring down the valley. Superman leaps above the turbulent rapids - but Lois can’t do the same, stuck in her taxi as the waters rush towards her. Superman spies the car, and rushes to save her, but the waters are faster, dragging the vehicle under and along for the ride. Lois braces herself, expecting a watery death -

Only to be pulled from the car by Superman, who quickly rushes towards the surface with her in his arms. Once they’re on the shore and Superman can readjust her, so she’s in a more comfortable bridal carry, he takes off like a shot, racing ahead of the floodwaters.

Lois stirs, holding on tightly as he leaps up to a high pinnacle. He sets her down so he can put all of his strength into pushing on the rock; soon enough, the peak starts to crack, cascading downwards into the path of the water. The rocks seal up the mountain gap entirely, forcing the water to take another route away from the town.

Superman exhales in relief - that had been too close. Lois is ecstatic, gushing about how he saved all those people, before declaring that she could - and would - kiss him. Superman starts to refuse, only to be cut off by the kiss, temporarily dazed afterward from how good it was, much to her amusement.

Superman sweeps her off her feet soon after, taking her to someplace she’ll be safe - where he’ll be safe from her as well. During the trip, she talks about how the first time he’d carried her like that, she’d been frightened - of the trip and of him. But now she loves it, and him! When he finally sets her down at Valleyho town, she begs him to stay, but Superman merely wishes her well and takes off.

Soon after, Clark calls in, stating that he’d gotten himself a plane to Valleyho and had some sensational news. He asks if he’s rehired; based on his reply afterward, the answer seems to be yes! When he finally leaves the phone booth, Lois happens to be there. Clark states that while the stunt she pulled wasn’t nice, he still likes her. Lois snubs him, thinking about how Clark is a spineless worm she can hardly bear to look at, especially after having been in the arms of a real man.

And with that, this story is a wrap! Wow! Short, but I loved it. This feels like the first establishing moment for both of them, in multiple ways. Here’s to hoping we get more stories like this going forward!

#action comics #dc comics #superman

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trinoxtrinox · 2 years

Text

Danny's guardian

Ectoberhaunt 2022, Side Chaos. Prompt: Wraith

Summary:

Wraith: The word has no certain etymology. J. R. R. Tolkien favored a link with writhe. Also compared are Scots warth and Old Norse vǫrðr (“watcher, guardian”), whence Icelandic vörður (“guard”). See also wray/bewray, from Middle English wreien. Perhaps from wrath as a wraith is a vengeful spirit.

Vǫrðr: In Norse mythology, a vǫrðr (Old Norse: [ˈwɔrðz̠], pl. varðir [ˈwɑrðez̠] or verðir [ˈwerðez̠] — "warden," "watcher" or "caretaker") is a warden spirit, believed to follow from birth to death the soul (hugr) of every person.

Concent Warning: Death, but then again, it's Danny's death that gets mentioned, does it really count?

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

In the backyard of Fentonworks resided a tree, it wasn’t the tallest tree of them all, standing at 70 feet tall, with a white trunk filled and patches of light brown, no knots present in any part of it’s bark and branches twisting and going up and down, side to side, leaving all the leaves to give the tree as a whole a dome shape stretched to the top, leaves which are more often than not dark green, with some of them that haven’t fully grown yet being light green. Its roots spread deep underground, with all of them being thick as well.

This American Basswood has been in this lot for quite a while, with it being 85 years old, and despite it not being the strongest tree, it has managed to stand tall and proud all the time, no matter the weather nor the condition of the place.

From the roots of the tree rose a light, which was tinted green and barely illuminated its surroundings. From said light eventually a baby was formed, one that remained invisible all the time for the human eye. Said ghost floated away from its tree and eventually came upon a window, from which it remained a respectful distance away as it saw the baby whose appearance it was copying sleep peacefully.

“Another night safe from the dangers of that house.” the ghost spoke, smiling softly as he said so, only to frown upon thinking something else, “Or at least for now.”

He began floating away from the house and back to the tree it resided in, leaning himself against its bark as it had done plenty of nights before. “Oh if only I could spare him of his fate.”

“You know you can’t.” another voice joined him, as he felt a medallion slip onto his neck and landing softly on his small chest, said medallion occupying the totality of his torso. Beside him floated calmly a ghost with pale blue skin, purple cloak covering his face and the sound of clocks chiming from both his wrist and chest, both of which showcased a variety of watches from different time periods.

“I know Clockwork, that doesn’t mean that I have to like it,” the ghost who was faint to the sight thus far showed himself, showing that he was indeed a carbon copy of the bay in the room before, however instead of having his black hair or blue eyes, he had white hair and neon green eyes; not to mention that their skin was darker than the human counterpart, “it’s always sad to see a young human pass away, and even though he’ll survive, a part of him will still die.”

“That’s why you’re his Vǫrðr, you’ll be able to help him and protect him once the time comes.”

“In this time and age the correct word is Wraith and you know it.”

“Yes, however due to Dungeons and Dragons, your kind has gained an unfair stigma, one that I wish would have never started to begin with, but alas, it is unwise to change history and avoid those negative connotations to bleed in to begin with.”

“Anyways, have you only come here to stop me from trying to do something stupid or is there another reason?”

“Perspective as always Phantom.” At this the master of time, who now resembled an infant much like the Wraith in front of him, lowered himself until he was touching the roots with his own tail. “You know that young Daniel’s future is full of hardships, and those will make your job of protecting him difficult as well; what I came here for is to give you a warning, and something else as well that will help you once the time comes.”

At this Phantom stilled, looking straight in the only good eye Clockwork had. “... I’m listening.”

“Not so young Vǫrðr, the warning you’ll need to heed and remember is that soon this tree won’t be safe for you…” watching how the face of the young wraith paled, Clowork changed into his elder form and continued, “... the Fenton’s defenses might be lax and weak right now, but eventually by the time young Danny reaches the age of 10 the backyard will be within the range of detection of the security system.”

“B-but that’s not going to be healthy for me, being forced to be far from my tree when Danny is in his home where I won’t be able to protect him even then. How will I be able to accomplish my purpose when that happens?” a quivering voice was heard when Phantom opened his mouth, and even though he regained a semblance of control by the end of it, some tears could still be seen on the rim of his eyes.

“You’ll find a way Phantom, do remember where you come from when the time comes, and you’ll be able to keep yourself healthy alright.” Clockwork became an adult once more, and once the transformation was done he continued speaking. “What I’m giving you here is a gear that’ll be able to deactivate the house’s defenses, however do remember that it’s a one time use item, so don’t waste it.” That last part was said with such intensity that it caused Phantom to gulp and nod nervously as he received a gear with the initials CW etched inside it.

“The day Jack and Madelline Fenton finish the portal, and before it actually begins, you’ll need to be there present,” emphasized the Ancient, pointing with his staff to the Wraith, “if you want to properly protect your charge when the time comes, you’ll need to be next to him, and that gear will be the only thing that’ll allow you to get inside that house. It lasts for 24 hours, so that should let you do everything safe and sound and get used to the future.”

“Understood” replied Phantom, only to float down and phase said gear into the ground, next to the roots of his precious American Basswood. “Anything else before you leave?”

“Yes, this won’t be the last time we’ll meet Phantom, and I’m looking forward to the time where we find each other’s faces once more.”

“Thank you for your help Clockwork.”

“You’re welcome Phantom, goodbye.” And with that, the ghost left, taking with himself the medallion that was sitting on the torso of Phantom.

The years continued to fly by, and Phantom’s appearance changed alongside Danny Fenton’s, always being a carbon copy of himself with the differences in his hair, eyes and skin color. Eventually the day where the Fenton’s security system began reaching the backyard, Phantom became nervous and couldn’t think on what to do, until he recalled Clockwork's words and phased himself underground. Thankfully the defense system couldn’t detect anything underground, so he was safe there, but sadly he couldn’t defend Danny from anything that happened inside that house anymore; Phantom had no more option but to have faith that Danny had enough common sense to avoid dangerous objects and that Jazz would protect him whenever he could not.

Finally the time came though, where Jack and Maddie announced that they would turn on the ghost portal, and when they left the house dejected for their daily patrols. Jazz was outside at the time Danny invited Sam and Tucker inside, and Phantom knew that it was time; recovering the gear from its hiding place, he threw it at the house and, after waiting a few seconds, went inside in search of Danny. He eventually found him, but by then he was already donning his own hazmat suit. Phantom began floating beside him and put his own hand on top of his shoulder, and they both entered the portal together, even if only 1 of the 4 beings present really knew that. A flash of light, some molecules rearranged, and one fusion between a human and his Wraith later, and Danny Fenton-Phantom was created.

#Ectoberhaunt22 #EH Chaos #Day 5 #Wraith #Phantom #Clockwork #Phantom and Fenton began as different people and then fused #Fate is inevitable when you form part of a temporal cycle #Danny Fenton #Mention of death #Death #CW death #But it Danny's so does it really count?

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lettheladylead · 2 years

Text

running in circles

chapter thirty-five: thought i was more than the afterlife summary: Goldie reads Scrooge’s autobiography. warnings: references to sex, nothing explicit wordcount: 3676 playlist (will be updated as chapters are posted): shorturl.at/bfBCQ ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33776632/chapters/97715058 site link: https://sites.google.com/view/running-in-circles/chapters/chapter35

here’s chapter thirty-five!! text will also be included in this post for those of you that don’t use ao3:

1987; Dawson:

“Scwooge McDuck. Hermit to hewo. The shut-in…now shining out! Are we going to be seeing a more hewoic side? A sort of…altruistic adventure capitalist?”

“Mmm! That has a nice ring to it!”

Goldie switched to another channel, not really interested in watching Scrooge antagonize a new enemy for himself. The new guy (whatever his name was) seemed like a weirdo, but ultimately harmless. Scrooge could probably stand a regular nuisance to keep him on his guard.

She’d been annoying herself by seeking out news about Scrooge - in business magazines, on television, newspapers, everywhere. She was just desperately curious where he was and what he was up to. They still called and caught up with each other every few months, but it didn’t feel like enough for her. She wanted to see him again. Get in his face.

Her own life was not going in any interesting directions. She was at some sort of standstill…going through the motions of each day without really learning or growing or gaining much. A treasure hunt here and there were fine, but not fun. Not exciting.

She also just kind of wanted to talk to someone. Didn’t have to be Scrooge, but who else could understand her? With him, she could reminisce, she could joke around, she could reference her past misdeeds and her future misdeeds and he’d know exactly what she was talking about. He knew her better than anyone.

The calendar on her desk was screaming at her. She couldn’t believe it was 1987. She met Scrooge ninety years ago. That was longer than most people’s entire lives. Those orphans she’d given food and a home to so long ago? All of them were dead. Not a single one even made it to 85. She wondered if growing up half-starved in the freezing cold had anything to do with that. Or maybe they just made bad life decisions because of her influence. Who could know, really?

Goldie sighed and laid face-down on her bed. It was mid-morning and she didn’t have anything to do. No treasure to hunt, no people to see, no museums to rob. She needed to do something.

She could walk around Dawson. Go to the hair salon. Go to the library, maybe.

Actually, the library sounded like a good idea. A place where she could think about something other than Scrooge. Learn a thing or two. Maybe research some new potential treasures to hunt down.

Yeah, yeah. That’d be a great way to spend her afternoon.

—

It was not a great way to spend her afternoon.

Unbeknownst to Goldie, her rival-slash-lover had released an autobiography. She always knew he liked to talk about himself and his family, but a book?

She hadn’t gone looking for it. Someone just happened to toss it into the return bin just as she stepped into the library. Since he was the big Klondike Success Story, people in the area were excited to read it and some school children were forced to read it for their classes.

Obviously she had to grab a copy and read it herself. How could she not?

Goldie knew her curiosity was too strong to make it back to the Blackjack, so she plopped her butt down in the nearest comfy chair and started reading right then and there at the library. Who was going to stop her? She was the oldest person in town and she donated to the library regularly. Everyone knew to leave her alone and let her read.

“I was born in Glasgow to my poor parents, Downy and Fergus. Fergus came from a strong family of powerful ducks, while Downy O’Drake’s parents were local business owners. She’d had a modest wealth in her youth and gave it up to marry my father, while he’d been poor his entire life. The McDuck name is strongly associated with a large castle in Glasgow, however the castle was burned down decades before my father’s father was born.”

Goldie glared at the pages. She couldn’t believe that she knew all of that already. She got annoyed at the thought that this book was just going to be a refresher course for her on things about Scrooge she already knew. So many things he’d shared with her and very few other people were now being shared with anyone in the world that could read.

“When Matilda was born, I couldn’t have been happier. She was the most bubbly baby I’d ever seen.”

She flipped through the pages, skipping past Hortense and Scrooge’s early years to get to something more interesting. Specifically…she wanted to know what he’d written about Dawson. And her. Mostly about her.

“I made my way to Dawson City in 1896. Thousands of men and women were headed towards the Yukon at the start of the Gold Rush, but I managed to arrive before most of the riff-raff. It was there that I met some of the most dangerous people I’d ever known, particularly one Mr. Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Slick.”

Goldie felt her breath catch in her throat. She hadn’t given Soapy more than a passing thought in decades - the only time he came to mind was whenever she caught a man trying to pour something suspicious into a woman’s drink at one of her bars. Reminded her of the things she didn’t miss.

“Soapy employed a number of men across the Chilkoot Trail - you couldn’t go to a single Gold Rush town without running into one of his goons. Though Skagway was his main stomping ground, he had a significant influence in Dawson. Most of the local businesses owed him money and he wouldn’t hesitate to use that debt to get free food and tools, which he would then use to further scam innocent men who just wanted to make money for their families. A word of advice? Always keep your receipts.”

Goldie hummed quietly in thought. He hadn’t mentioned her yet. That was fine. It wasn’t like he was going to brag about being poisoned by a sexy saloon owner that would later take his virginity and then stalk him for several months. That’d be an odd brag.

“Among those business owners that were being intimidated by Soapy was Glittering Goldie, owner of a popular saloon in town. For a long time I thought she was working for Soapy, trying to steal from me and help him run the town, but eventually I realized she was trying to steal from me all on her own. She especially wanted to steal my goose egg-sized gold nugget that I’d managed to mine at my claim.”

She smiled softly, happy that he didn’t use her full name or name her business. He hadn’t asked her for permission, after all, and she valued her privacy. It was a surprisingly kind gesture.

“Goldie visited my claim several miles from Dawson and helped me dig for gold for a few weeks, trying to find a giant nugget of her own, until Soapy came and tried to take her back to town with my money. We got into a bit of a brawl that ended with Soapy falling into the river. I tried to help him, but he was dragged away by the current and never seen again. Then Goldie felt safe enough to return to Dawson, so she left.”

Goldie felt her brain short-circuiting a little. He sanitized and boiled their time together into one shitty little paragraph that didn’t even scratch the surface of what happened. Also - tried to help Soapy? Really? It wasn’t like the courts could prosecute him for killing a man in self-defense ninety years ago. Why bother lying about it?

She grumbled and adjusted her position in the chair, worried that the next few chapters were going to annoy her as much as that one. She expected some lies, of course, because his life wasn’t all family-friendly or appropriate for the average reader. But she thought he’d give her some more credit. Maybe at least mention the poisoning or that Soapy tried to kill her or that they were falling a little bit in love while she was there. But…nothing. Not a word of it.

Still, she couldn’t stop reading.

“After my claim near Dawson was used up, I made my way down the Chilkoot Trail. I stopped in Canyon City for a few months, then Finnegan’s Point, then Skagway. In 1899, near the end of my Gold Rush journey, I ended up coming to America - in a town called Gumption. That’s where I met notorious robber baron John D. Rockerduck, whose family still owns the Rockerduck Estates.”

Goldie felt herself getting more impatient. No mention of her whatsoever in those years. Fine. He had a lot of other things going on.

“Rockerduck tried to steal a significant amount of gold from me, so I banded together with the local sheriff to get it back and distribute the gold to the townspeople. Nowadays Gumption is a small, but wealthy town that knows to stay away from men like Rockerduck.”

Still no mention of Goldie. She had to admit, it was starting to hurt a little.

“Not long after Gumption, I ran into an old friend in Juneau, Alaska. Together we discovered a portal to another world and that’s when I confirmed something I always knew to be true - magic is real and it’s very, very dangerous.”

Goldie blinked rapidly at the words in front of her. Of all the terms she’d used to describe her and Scrooge’s relationship over the years, old friends was not one of them. She didn’t understand why he didn’t just mention her by name. For her privacy? She wasn’t the only Goldie in the world and certainly not the only one from Dawson City. Was she only going to be mentioned once? Just that she owned a saloon and mined with him for a month and then…nothing? He couldn’t seriously just erase her from his story. If he was worried about her privacy, he should’ve just asked.

“By that time, I’d started working on my relationship with Duckburg. I’d had to buy the land back from a local family of dogs that tried to swindle me out of what was rightfully mine, but it was worth the price. Duckburg became my home. Where I’d bring my family from Scotland and where I’d build my mansion and where I hoped to build a thriving city. Which I did, as you know.”

She didn’t know what to think of Scrooge as a writer. Had he written this all himself or gotten a ghost writer? Goldie had so many questions.

“Despite settling down in Duckburg, I couldn’t stop adventuring and treasure hunting on the side. My businesses were growing rapidly thanks to my innovation and fiscal security, so I had plenty of time and money to spend on extracurricular activities, though my treasure hunting did inevitably benefit my companies as well.”

Goldie skipped ahead once again. There was a very special, interesting little thing that happened to the two of them in 1914 that there was no way he could’ve just pretended didn’t happen. He had to mention her there, at least.

“In 1914, I decided to take a vacation for a few years and leave my company in the capable hands of my then-CFO. It was just five years, but it felt like a lifetime. Though I enjoyed the quiet and the beautiful scenery, I needed to get back to work. So by 1920 I was back to business. I’ve always been a man who thrived on working; I hated sitting still for so long.”

She almost laughed. Almost. The fact that he referred to her as beautiful scenery wasn’t lost on her, but Goldie was mad. Alright, okay, yes, there was no reason to tell his readers that he survived being trapped in ice for several years because he and his rival were cursed by an ice demon of some sort. That might make him look crazy. But he could’ve at least mentioned that he was in Dawson and on his little “vacation” with her.

She wasn’t irrelevant. She wasn’t scenery. She was definitely going to yell at him about this.

Goldie skipped through a couple more chapters - boy did Scrooge love to talk about money and gold and business - trying to find something else that was relevant to her. She could read the rest later if she really wanted to, though she doubted there was anything that she didn’t already know.

Her eyes landed on the 1930’s and she hesitated. One time period for Scrooge that Goldie didn’t know much about was while she had disappeared. She knew he’d continued to thrive financially, but…personally? She didn’t know anything.

“In 1935, I received a letter that sent me into a wave of deep depression. A good friend of mine, someone I’d known for over thirty years, had passed in a mysterious and frightening way.”

Okay, not exactly true, and still not mentioning her by name, but she’d take it.

“I didn’t want to believe she was dead and spent several years trying to convince myself that it wasn’t true. I reached out to her friends and family and coworkers, I sent letters to her home. I even reached out to a mysterious friend of hers in China. They all said the same thing: we haven’t seen her. And so I eventually had to accept her death as truth and move on with my life.”

Goldie didn’t know what to think about all that. If he really did reach out to her sister, she’d never heard about it. The thought made her uncomfortable. How would Scrooge have even known? She’d never told him about her. Maybe he was exaggerating.

“After my friend’s death, I threw myself into my work even harder than before. I channeled my grief into profit and used that to get richer and richer. By 1947, I was the second richest man in the entire world - the only man richer than me at that time was Vander Zee, owner of the VDZ Hotels and countless factories.”

Oh, great, her ‘death’ just made him work harder. What a disturbing way to talk about her untimely demise. Goldie wondered if any of this was even remotely true, considering the amount of lies he’d told about them already.

“In the early 1950s, I fell back into adventuring and treasure hunting, realizing that it was the only thing in my life besides earning money that made me feel like myself again. Losing my friend had left me feeling empty, but getting back to how we used to spend our time together made me whole once again.”

Goldie was really struggling with this autobiography. She sort of understood why he wouldn’t mention her coming back from the grave, since, again, people might think he was crazy. But still…she would’ve appreciated being mentioned again. It was weird to read these excerpts of half-truths blended in with full truths and blatant lies. What was Scrooge gaining from all this? She needed to get in touch with him again, clearly. Maybe stop by Duckburg for dinner. An angry dinner.

After she finished the book, of course.

“In the year 1960, I finally became the richest man in the world after selling a mine to Vander Zee. He’s never made proper use of the minerals, in my opinion, but that’s his problem now. Similarly, becoming the richest man brought me a new problem of my own: a ghastly creature named Bombie that followed me around for months until I found a way to deal with it on my own.”

To be fair to Scrooge, Goldie had absolutely no expectation that he’d mention their weekend. That would definitely not be anyone’s business but their own.

“It was also around that time that I experienced the worst theft of my life. Over the years I’d dealt with many thieves, some of them slicker and more charming than others, but this one remains a mystery to this day. I won’t disclose the amount of money that went missing that year, but to whoever took it: I will find you, one day. And I will get my money back.”

She had a vague memory of Scrooge interrogating her about some missing money back in the early 60s. Goldie didn’t blame him for thinking that was her doing, but she preferred to steal with a bit more flash and finesse. Something that was fun and classy but still had her name all over it. If she remembered right, it was around two million dollars that went missing. Whoever took it was probably living the good life.

She skimmed through the 60s, not super interested in reading about Scrooge’s attempts to date other women. He’d spent time with models and actresses and spies and she didn’t care to think about it. They were always so young.

“In the late 1960’s, I started spending time in London with an old friend of mine. He’d started a little…club, you could say, and I wanted in. Though I can’t safely share many details about it, it’s certainly been one of the most exciting parts of the last few decades. I’ve met so many new and interesting people through this club, and I continue to participate in their events on occasion. Whenever they need me, really.”

It took her a second to realize he was talking about S.H.U.S.H. Goldie was surprised to read about how much he enjoyed the spy life. She’d thought it was kind of cheesy and overly strict in their rules and regulations, but hey. That was her. Scrooge didn’t usually like rules, but maybe he didn’t have to follow them all since he’s best buds with the owner.

She skipped around a few more chapters until finally landing on the 1980s, which was wrapping up towards the end of the book. She quickly flipped open the front cover to see when he’d released this little biography and discovered it was already a few years old. How had this not been brought to her attention yet? Not even by one of her employees?

“In early 1980, I finally merged my two companies together to form McDuck Enterprises - solidifying my rank as the richest duck in the world. There was no way any other person could ever hope to outrank me with the amount of land, development, and businesses that I had control of. And I stand by that today - McDuck Enterprises is worth three times the amount of the next largest company.”

Goldie closed the book and sighed, staring down at the cover. It had a profile of Scrooge’s face, looking stern and serious as ever. She had so many questions. Why did he write this? Was he pressured by his publicist? Did he have a publicist? Since when did he care about his public image to this degree? Was that the price of fame? Were people not baffled by him being over one hundred years old?

…and did anyone wonder what happened to Glittering Goldie? Or the identity of the friend who “passed” right before World War II?

She looked up to see that the library was closing and suddenly realized how hungry she was. She’d managed to lose her entire day to Scrooge’s stupid book. Once again she spent hours and hours thinking about him. How embarrassing.

Goldie turned to look at the cover again and scoffed. Didn’t he think she would read it when she found out about it? Or maybe he thought she cared so little about him that she wouldn’t want to see what he said about her. Goldie felt that despite all the games she played, her interest in Scrooge was pretty clear. She’d been pursuing him for a long, long time, even when she didn’t want to be.

One of the library employees was staring at her nervously and Goldie realized she probably wanted to close up for the night. She got up and held the book in the air so the employee could see. “I’m taking this.”

“Y-yes, Miss O’Gilt,” she responded nervously.

She headed out the door and thought about going back to the hotel. But she also felt a sudden urge to get out of Dawson. There was a small angry tick in her chest that wanted to scream about this book - wanted to scream at Scrooge for writing it, at her employees for not telling her about it sooner, and at herself for being so annoyed by it.

She was so tired of him having such a profound effect on her. She wanted to be able to read about his life without wondering about her place in it. She wanted to be able to see his name and not think about the next way to spend time with him. She wanted to take a deep breath and exhale her obsession so she wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.

But she couldn’t seem to do any of that.

Instead, she started to wonder about more than just Scrooge. What about his sisters? She’d only interacted with them once and they got along at the time, but she and Scrooge were at a very good place that day. If they saw her when she and Scrooge weren’t doing so well, would they brush her aside? Would his parents?

He had such a big family. He had all these cousins and aunts and uncles and second-cousins and third-cousins twice removed and they all knew each other and it was just so, so different from her lonely, family-less existence. She had no family. She didn’t even have the orphans anymore. All she had was Scrooge.

How sad was that?

Goldie stared down at the book cover again. Scrooge’s profile was handsome. One of his hands was visible, and he was holding a gold nugget. Smaller than the goose-egg nugget, and probably just a photo prop, but it really reminded her of the nugget that started everything.

The nugget that got more paragraphs of detail in his book than she did.

---

REAL HISTORY FACTS: - I don't believe I mention anything in Scrooge's autobiography paragraphs that wasn't already explained earlier in this fic, but if you see something where you're like 'is that real?' let me know!

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES: - The quotes at the beginning are from Glomgold's flashback in the 2017 episode The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck! - Scrooge has several autobiographies in DT17 canon, I think? Webby mentions a few different titles throughout the series. I didn't base this specifically off of any, I just thought it'd be fun to have a sort of recap chapter with some emotional anguish for Goldie. - Similar to the Real History section, if you see something where you're like 'is that from the comics?' just let me know!

#ducktales #scroldie #scrooge mcduck #goldie o'gilt #running in circles #fic #fics

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