#saying this as someone who was on ghost (..mainly cause of friend suggestion honestly)

[hiroshotreplica]

we're all still going to agree that splatfest is unfairly balanced even though big man won this time, right? the popular team has won every single time, sometimes due to its huge lead, aside from nessie v. aliens v. bigfoot. that splatfest only had nessie win instead of aliens because there was only a 1 percent difference between nessie and aliens and bigfoot was practically nonexistent.

you should NOT get that much of a lead for winning things that are easily swayed by the amount of people playing. 15 points for popularity and conch shells is ridiculous. one team has to basically sweep the battles to take over that lead at this point.

i dont care about winning too much personally, but its REALLY obvious that something's not right here. in my opinion, votes and tricolor should be less points

#saying this as someone who was on ghost (..mainly cause of friend suggestion honestly) #splatfest #zombie v skeleton v ghost

[bluerosefox]

Friendships Between Realms (YJ and Danny Shenanigans Being Peek Friendship)

So the 90s YJ group got into a lot of shenanigans tbh. Like a lot and mostly without their mentors knowledge. And whenever I think of YJ I think of the Core 4 (mainly cause Tim is my fav, and the Core 4 is just so amazing together) anyways I honestly wouldn't put it past them if they had accidentally summoned or were being sacrificed by some cult, or meet Danny who accidentally fell into their world via a random portal in someway. (In this DC and Phantom universes are not on the same world, fyi)

Like Danny, still new to being a hero but getting the hang of it, meets them, learns some things from them, and actually gets along with them to the point that when he has to leave Robin gives him a communication device to keep in touch (and Robin Tim would, despite being the second most paranoid of the Bats this boy lies to Batman to his face and had hidden an entire Batmoblie cost in the Batarang budget and keeps it with YJ) and Danny does.

It's nice to have hero friends who understand the struggle of balancing hero and normal lives. Don't get him wrong Danny loves Tucker, Sam and Jazz but sometimes they just don't... fully get it. The danger, the stress, the anxiety, the relief when things are solved or saved, etc etc that comes with being a hero or at least try to be one. They don't understand the urge he gets at like 3 am to go patrol Amity Park just to make sure everything is safe. YJ on the other hand does.

He talks to them about his problems and they help out and Danny in turn helps them out too when he can. Like they needed help with Secret, call up Danny see if he knows what kind of ghost she is (he turned to Clockwork and Frostbite in that case) and Danny in turn talked to them about Dan (they told him about them having to face their own future evil self to at one point). Danny talks to Conner when Dani came into the picture, he wants to make sure he doesn't screw up like Superman did towards his clone's feelings and self worth. Etc etc.

Point is, despite being dimensions and Realms apart, YJ and Phantom are friends and have been in touch. He's friends with all the YJ at the time and keeps in touch with them all but is very close with the Core 4. (Danny was the one that reassured Tim when Bruce was thought to be dead. Couldn't find his soul or ghost in the Realms and Clockwork was being 1000% more crypticd about Batman when Danny had asked if he was lost in time, Danny (or CW) couldn't do much to help due to certain rules but Danny could tell Tim "He isn't dead. Just lost. You're not insane Rob I promise."

So imagine a few years later, DCverse is under heavy near world ending supernatural danger and it gets to the point someone in JLD suggests they may have to summon the Ghost King in order to stop it (maybe its an old ancient ghost/spirit someone foolishly unleased). Of course there are some that strongly advise not to, that summoning him would spell the end of everything, but someone else points out they're already close to that edge they already got no other choice.

So they try and it fails and everyone is confused.

Bart, because of course it's gonna be Bart, returns from helping evacuations takes one look at the summoning circle and says.

"Why are you using those outdated sigals and symbols? That'd like trying to call an out of service number." Bart says before he speed texts Tim, Conner, and Cassie to come over.

Tim, RR, takes one look at the circle and asks who they were trying to summon. When told they were trying to get the Ghost King, him and the Core 4 look at each other before Tim pulls out his communicator and texts Danny.

It takes less than a few minutes before RR tells Impulse that Danny was cool with the summoning and to bring him in. Impulse nods and quickly runs around and changes the old summoning circle around with new symbols and sigals. Then RR turns to most of the JLD members and says sternly.

"You all better not memorize this, this is Phantom's personal summoning line and he only wants friends to know it. He gave us permission."

And with Superboy (Conner) and Wonder Girl agreeing with nods.

Before any of the JL or the JLD could really ask or even interrogate what that meant Impulse was done with the preparation. the Summoning circle was changed around with constellations and other signs of stars, there was a bag of fresh burgers and three milkshakes in the middle of it, and under it was a stylized symbol of a D and a P.

Its Impulse who starts the... chant and raises his hands up. (its actually the dumbest song anyone can think of. Danny wanted it to be funny and the Core 4 totally encouraged it) the candles shift from red to green fire, the star symbols start glowing before flying around on the floor in a circle like shooting stars, the area starts feeling like a cold winter wind beginning to blow, and the stylized symbol is glowing green before...

Danny pops up in his Ghost King form (flaming crown, galaxy cape, looking more ghostly than human but still a teen), finishing up the song and laughing. When he spots his friends he's grinning and waving hello to them, all of them greeting him back.

The JL are confused as heck but noticed how shell-shocked most if not all the members of JLD as their staring at what has to be the Ghost King...

Basically. I want Danny to be one of the people/things the 90s YJ did/meet during their insane shenanigans that most of their mentors most likely didn't know about. They all kept in touch and if they knew, and were later invited to the coronation, of Danny becoming the new Ghost King and later needs to bring out the big guns against a supernatural entity and stuns everyone else that they have a friend in a very high place well... yeah.

#danny phantom dc #ghost king danny #danny fenton #danny phantom #blue rambles #writing ideas #dp x dc #dcxdp #conner kent #super boy #cassie sandsmark #wonder girl #bart allen #impulse #tim drake #red robin #core 4 #they are all friends #despite being worlds and realms away #Danny totally invited them to his coronation #he likes to visit them sometimes but due to his own duties doesn't get to all to much #they do text and chat though #Danny totally brought Dani to have a small chat with Conner though #Just so she knows she's not alone with being a clone and such #Danny totally introduced Cassie to Pandora too #who taught her some lost amazonian moves that even impressed WW during their next spar #Is Bart a little intimidated by CW. Yes. #CW likes panicking Bart but finds the time traveling future speedster the least annoying out of all of them tbh #Tim and Danny have bonded over their future evil self trauma #and trying to deal with evil fruitloops that are trying to make them their 'heirs'

[moonlightserenadeeznutz]

James Sirius Potter being in a band.

James was in a few bands here and there during Hogwarts as the drummer (because he absolutely plays the drums) but they didn’t really fit with him. They’d only cover Wizarding songs, the original songs weren’t his style, he had no creative control whatsoever, so he ended up giving up.

During seventh year/just after seventh year, James and two friends decided they could form their own band.

The friends are OCs, one of them is the daughter of Dean and Seamus because fuck you they got married and had a little girl called Lyra, and a muggle born friend James met in primary school called Noah Mori (ftm trans because I CAN).

Noah is the singer/songwriter, though James taught him how to play the drums when they were younger. Lyra is on keyboard and backing vocals, and James is the drummer.

At first they do covers, mainly muggle songs because they’re emo little rats obsessed with bands like Green Day and Pierce the Veil but also James and Lyra are low-key Taylor Swift fans so they cover some of her songs as well.

They have a few gigs in Hogsmeade where they play muggle songs to sort of confuse everyone, but obviously making it clear that the songs are not theirs (No one’s stealing anything here dw).

Noah starts actually writing songs, really good songs, and he decides that he’d rather be in control of the music than be the singer.

James jokingly tries out as the singer but like... he can actually SING.

“I didn’t know you could sing like that!” “Neither did I!”

James becomes the singer, and Noah becomes the songwriter/drummer (though James plays the drums for certain covers and Lyra tends to be the singer for these).

their exact vibe is idkhow so fuck you, their songs are idkhow’s. I’m talking Choke, Nobody Likes the Opening Band, Bleed Magic etc. Noah wrote them. James sings them.

They perform normally in the wizarding world, with their original songs and their muggle covers. James does a cover of I Kissed a Girl which is entirely based on Twenty One Two’s cover.

But in the muggle world: it’s a whole different story.

So you know how idkhow does this thing where their songs/music videos are made out to be found footage from some lost 80s band? Well James’s band does the same, but they take it further. Because obviously we know idkhow isn’t actually a lost 80s band, mainly bc we already knew who Dallon was. But no one in the muggle world knows James, Noah and Lyra.

Noah is in charge, as well as it being his idea. Basically, in the muggle world, their band is made out to be a lost 80s group, who no one knows if they ever became a proper band because all they have are audios of their songs, that were apparently “found” by someone.

Noah sets up a YouTube account, very similar to Petscop, with a completely ordinary username that suggests it really was set up by someone who found these recordings of songs, along with a description outlining how and where they found these recordings, even asking people if they knew who the band was.

No music videos are released, except occasionally a fake video of James, Lyra and Noah doing a cover of a 70s song in what looks like a 70s garage is released, which causes a real stir because it looks like a normal video of a bunch of 70s teenagers jamming around in their garage, but people finally get to see what the members look like.

Honestly, they’ve already grown quite big in the wizarding world so they don’t have too much of a goal to get big in the muggle world too. They just enjoy messing with people.

They also know that any muggleborns who know about both their wizarding persona and their muggle persona can’t reveal that they’re a real band, because any video evidence would involve risking the Statute of Secrecy since they only play in wizarding venues.

Legit whole theories are made about them, straight up creepy pastas, and they’re enjoying every minute of it.

Some muggleborns do come forward to say that the band is real, but again, they can’t show any video evidence so no one believes them. And that just makes it even more fun.

Even the wizarding world gets wind of what they’re doing in the muggle world, and it makes them even more popular.

I haven’t decided if they ever reveal to the muggle world that they’re real, because imagining all the audios and the confusion and stuff is so fun.

Also the band name is Warlocks are Attacking, loosely based on the song title “Ghosts are Rude and Zombies are Attacking” by a YouTuber called emmanoodle (I recommend, they’re so sweet and have great covers/original songs).

~

Full timeline of WaA’s muggle persona here

#honestly the most random headcanon I’ve come up with #but I love it so much #pls James having dallon weekes vibes #and the whole cryptic thing like petscop is my SHIT #lowkey wish this existed #harry potter #harry potter next gen #james sirius potter

[purplesurveys]

961

What was the most unsettling film you’ve seen? Unsettling films are my jam, man. To name a few, there’s Eraserhead, Room, Midsommar, Eyes Wide Shut, Misery, and most recently, I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Eraserhead takes the cake though. That movie always makes me queasy...

What unethical experiment would have the biggest positive impact on society as a whole? I’m a firm believer in nothing good ever comes out of unethical practices. I’ll never forget reading about an experiment where a group of newborn babies were given basic needs like food and being bathed, but weren’t shown any affection whatsoever and it was meant to see if humans can survive with just the most basic physiological needs. By the end of the experiment period half of the babies were dead. The results were honestly a lot bleaker than how I’ve put it, but I don’t wanna be a downer lol. Suffice it to say that experiment haunted me for days after reading it.

When was the last time you were snooping, and found something you wish you hadn’t? It was around a week or so ago, I’m pretty sure.

Which celebrity or band has the worst fan base? My sister is into K-pop and I hear insights from her all the time, but her one constant is that BTS breeds the most annoying, toxic fans. I’d have to agree. Ariana Grande’s fandom was also annoying at one point, but I haven’t heard much from them making a mess these days.

What are you interested in that most people aren’t? Autobiographies.

If you were given a PhD degree, but had no more knowledge of the subject of the degree besides what you have now, what degree would you want to be given to you? Why would I deserve a PhD on something I’m clearly not qualified for...I’m not sure I’m following this question right, but I don’t feel like thinking too hard about it.

What smartphone feature would you actually be excited for a company to implement? I’m happy with the features that are widespread now, but I wish companies adhere more to countries other than the common ones like US, UK, Australia, etc. I always see ads about phones being able to tell you how much movie tickets cost or track boarding passes, but those are all irrelevant here. It makes a lot of Apple’s basic apps useless on this side of the world haha.

What’s something people don’t worry about but really should? Long-term effects of poor habits like not getting enough sleep or drinking too many cups of coffee. I know because I’m guilty of this.

What movie quotes do you use on a regular basis? “I won’t think about that now, I’ll think about it tomorrow,” but I usually say it to myself, especially when I feel stressed.

Do you think that children born today will have better or worse lives than their parents? Better, but idk if that’s just me being biased because my generation will be the next parents lol. I just think that a lot of Gen X parents still have a lot of dated prejudices and mindsets that my generation was able to learn better from. For example my mom doesn’t like using people’s preferred names, especially if they’ve transitioned -_____- and I know I’d never want to set such an example for my kids.

What’s the funniest joke you know by heart? I know I’ve come across hilarious ones but I always fail to come up with one when asked on the spot.

When was the last time you felt you had a new lease on life? LOL RIGHT NOW

What’s the funniest actual name you’ve heard of someone having? It’s more stupid than funny and I know I’ve already mentioned this before, but Covid Bryant as a first and second name still takes the cake for me. My sister went to school with a girl whose name is just her surname backwards, and for a time I was really weirded out by it. But in the times I’ve seen her she really owns her name and never looks bothered by it, so I quickly stopped caring.

Which charity or charitable cause is most deserving of money? For me it would have to be organizations for animal welfare.

What TV show character would it be the most fun to change places with for a week? Post-El Camino Jesse Pinkman. I wouldn’t want to live through his chaotic shit  from Breaking Bad, but his fate after El Camino is something I’m super envious of.

What was cool when you were young but isn’t cool now? Flip phones, Blackberry phones, Roshes, Frappuccinos.

If you were moving to another country, but could only pack one carry-on sized bag, what would you pack? Phone, laptop, their chargers, important IDs, some of my favorite tops and jeans, underwear, essential toiletries, wallet, a family photo, a journal and pen, earphones, certain knickknacks to remember Gab and my dogs by. Minus the clothes, all of these are pretty tiny so I think these would all fit in the bag just fine.

What’s the most ironic thing you’ve seen happen? I don’t know. I’m not really a fan of rating the most/worst this and that stuff in my life, either. I feel like I unnecessarily rack my brain too hard for them when I take surveys to have a chill time.

If magic was real, what spell would you try to learn first? Probably something that’d keep my dogs from dying.

If you were a ghost and could possess people, what would you make them do? No thanks. I’d be the chillest ghost tbh, I’d like to just sneak up on people’s business and hang out but never interfere in them.

What goal do you think humanity is not focused enough on achieving? Climate change, global warming, alleviation of poverty. Corporations and the few people who actually have the power and money to change things only ever come up with short-term shit like donations and never look at the big picture. What problem are you currently grappling with? So many personal ones. But just like the recurring theme of my surveys so far, “I don’t want to get into it.”

What character in a movie could have been great, but the actor they cast didn’t fit the role? As much as I love Kristen Stewart, I heard she was cast as Princess Diana for an upcoming film and I’m not really feeling that decision. They could’ve gone with a British actress for starters?????? The movie is still in production but it is pretty annoying to think about lmao.

What game have you spent the most hours playing? Probably GTA: San Andreas as a kid.

What’s the most comfortable bed or chair you’ve ever been in? Luxury hotel beds are always so fluffy and comfortable.

What’s the craziest conversation you’ve overheard? Omg one time at a coffee shop Gabie and I sat beside this older couple that obviously was going through some heavy SHIT. There was a lot of animosity and tension between them and I caught the lady silently break into tears a few times. I never overheard anything but then again they sat in silence for hours until the lady finally walked out on him. Never knew what it was about but I’ve always guessed that the man did something crappy, like cheat, and was discovered. It was a really sad sight and a crazy situation to witness and I think I felt even more sorry because they were obviously in their 50s or 60s. I hope the woman is in a better place now as she looked rough as fuck that evening.

What’s the hardest you’ve ever worked? I wore a lot of hats when I was in my college org, and that was on top of balancing my acads as well.

What movie, picture, or video always makes you laugh no matter how often you watch it? That scene from Friends where Ross plays the keyboard for Chandler, Phoebe, Monica, and Rachel.

What artist or band do you always recommend when someone asks for a music recommendation? It depends on what music they’re into and if I have actually have a recommendation in mind for them. I obviously can’t suggest Paramore to someone who mainly listens to metal.

If you could have an all-expenses paid trip to see any famous world monument, which monument would you choose? I’m down for any monuments that are super ancient like Stonehenge or the Pyramids of Giza.

If animals could talk, which animal would be the most annoying? I’d go with frogs, but only because they get annoyingly loud in the evening.

What’s the most addicted to a game you’ve ever been? Playing The Sims, Mario Kart, Rock Band, or games in the Burnout franchise.

What’s the coldest you’ve ever been? Japan was so fucking cold when I was there. Didn’t do my research and ended up being dressed poorly, and I was so cold I could barely talk to my parents or fully enjoy my time. Sagada was also nearly unbearable in the early morning.

Which protagonist from a book or movie would make the worst roommate? Not from a book or movie, but BoJack Horseman. Diane can also be in the running as I always found her too whiny. I get that she had her personal shit to deal with, but I don’t think living with her would be good for my own sanity and mental health.

Do you eat food that’s past its expiration date if it still smells and looks fine? It annoys my chef dad to death that I don’t lol. No matter how great it looks, I’d bounce. I once ate expired Kit Kats that tasted like cardboard and that scared me off of expired food forever.

What’s the most ridiculous thing you have bought? I once bought a stupid novelty soap that to this day I’ve never even opened. It’s in one of my drawers, and I plan to just throw it out at some point.

What’s the funniest comedy skit you’ve seen? Not a fan of these but one that got to me is Dear Sister from SNL.

What’s the most depressing meal you’ve eaten? A few years ago there was a local breakfast place that offered red velvet pancakes for a limited time and I was all over that crap, so I went and ordered. The actual pancakes ended up not being any bigger than my palm, and I remember not being able to hide my disappointment once the server placed the dish on my table haha. I felt so scammed. I had to order something else to feel full, because those pancakes were stupidly small.

What tips or tricks have you picked up from your job/jobs? One of my superiors, when she was presenting a pitch to our director yesterday, kept asking questions and picking at the director’s brain so that she can get suggestions and answers straight from the director herself and so that she didn’t have to do any brainstorming anymore. I thought that was a pretty nifty and clever hack.

What outdoor activity haven’t you tried, but would like to? Hiking a mountain!

What songs hit you with a wave of nostalgia every time you hear them? Umbrella by Rihanna feat. Jay-Z.

What’s the worst backhanded compliment you could give someone? Idk, anything can be the worst depending on the context. I’m not a fan of giving those, though.

What’s the most interesting documentary you’ve ever watched? Unsolved Mysteries’ Dupont de Ligonnès episode was a lot of fun to watch.

What was the last song you sang along to? I think it was Thinking of You by Katy Perry? but I’m not entirely sure. I haven’t sung along to anything in a while.

What app can you not believe someone hasn’t made yet? I don’t really download and use a lot of apps other than the basic ones, so I don’t care too much.

When was the last time you face palmed? Last night.

If you were given five million dollars to open a small museum, what kind of museum would you create? I’d give it away to the Martial Law museum currently being made near my university so that it can do more to show the atrocities of the Marcoses. And so that I can piss off my pro-Marcos relatives.

Which of your vices or bad habits would be the hardest to give up? Uh hating myself, if that counts.

What really needs to be modernized? Public transportation systems in this country.

#survey #surveys

[cobythinks]

‘Might As Well’ AU

HEYY so I this is a bullet-fic kinda thing for an AU I’ve created, and unlike my other AUs I’m not going to make a story for it and if I write anything it’ll all be one-shots of certain bits. It's mainly Roloceit with like tiny bits of Moxiety as well.

Feel free to send in asks or request one-shots for this AU! I’m very happy abt it and I loved writing this so any questions for the characters or requests for scenes would be amazing!!!

Most of it under the cut because... I got carried away and it's very long

Roman Guerra is a YouTuber/actor

Horace (Dee) McMullin is a drama teacher

Logan Wright is a science teacher at the same school that Dee works at

Roman and Dee are roommates, and though their relationship has progressed FAR past what anyone would call a friendship, they really don’t care enough to label it or even talk about what they are to each other. They both know they care about the other, and that’s all that really matters.

Roman also tends to rant in Spanish when he gets passionate, and Dee responds by saying the names of ‘Mexican food’ as a reply.

Roman: *talks in spanish*

Dee: *nods* burrito. Quesadilla. Mama Mia.

Roman: that’s not even a food, shut up.

Logan meets Dee through work, obviously, and they quickly become friends

Something about the tall, dramatic, elegant man just drives Logan insane because he’s a little shit once you get to know him and it makes no SENSE

The adorable little science teacher shouldn’t scare Dee as much as he does, but he can’t help it. Something about the way Logan is always composed makes Dee feel like he’s a serial killer or something.

Despite this, they become friends when they discover they both have a passion for psychology and have long discussions about it during lunch and when they hang out on weekends

Dee - as much as he hates it - starts to fall hopelessly in love with the other teacher. He can’t help it, just like he couldn't help but to fall in love with Roman a year and a half earlier when they met. 

Not that he’d told Roman that yet, god no. They’d both dated other people on and off while knowing each other, even if they did end up fucking after every breakup and swearing to each other they were done with the whole relationship thing. 

Roman always found someone else to sweep off their feet, and Dee always found himself hopelessly pining for someone else to make the first move

So, that’s what was happening here, and it was torture.

Logan wasn’t much better, furious that this dramatic drama teacher of all people made him feel so flustered and confused.

Then the day came that Dee brought Logan over for dinner, and he met Roman

Roman greeted him dramatically, filling the entire apartment with his electric energy as he spoke.

Oh god, there’s two of them. Logan realized in terror as the two bickered playfully back and forth, eventually challenging each other to a duel despite the fact they had a guest over.

And like most of their duels, Roman ended up kissing Dee

“Oh,” Logan said, feeling like a complete idiot

“Fuck,” Dee said, realizing that Logan now had the wrong idea

“Maybe later,” Roman said with a wink because he’s a little shit.

Dee just freaking makes a mess of everything and accidentally confesses his feelings for both of them at once and then faceplants on the couch

Roman offers Logan some lasagna because it’s getting cold

Dee feels betrayed 

but joins them for lasagna in a few minutes

Logan is utterly confused and doesn’t know what to say, so he doesn’t say anything

Dee is mortified and wants to jump off the balcony

He and Roman proceed to do the titanic thing and Logan is still very confused but he agrees to take their picture

He’s Like: Sure??? I guess so??? Are we not going to address what just happened??? DOn’T FaLL yOU IDiOTs

Roman thinks it is all hilarious but he must agree that Logan is stunning

He helps to re-explain his and Dee’s relationship because Dee honestly did an awful job

And Logan is like okay

Because it makes sense now even though Roman used many slang words he did NOT understand

Oh my god these two are literally the most chaotic duo he’s ever met and usually Logan HATES chaos but he LOVES this

And so Roman - of course, it’s Roman - is the one to suggest they just go with the flow like he and Dee have been doing for the past year already, if Logan wants to

Logan has no idea what to expect but agrees that he wouldn’t mind

Horace.exe has crashed again

So they start doing whatever the hell it is that they’re doing

And if Roman is a chaos slut with Dee he is a chaos gentleman with Logan and it is BAFFLING he’s still dramatic but he’s overly chivalrous and polite and Dee is annoyed why can’t Roman hold the door open for him instead of holding it closed like a jerk after opening it for Logan

Dee and Logan just keep up their psychology discussions almost constantly and regularly have to ask Roman to finish a debate even though Roman knows NOTHING about psychology

Roman always finds an excuse not to support Dee (in a loving way)

“Roman! Tell Logan that Max Stirner-”

“I’M BUSY MAKING ALFREDO SORRY”

This doesn’t stop Dee from continuing to ask him to back him up

Roman always supports Logan in the debates despite being completely oblivious

“Roman, don’t you agree that-”

“Yes, my love. My darling. Genius whom I would die for. I agree.”

This always causes Logan distress in two ways

One: Roman didn’t listen to what he was agreeing with

Two: he is now super flustered because Roman is continuing to ramble on about how much he loves Logan

Logan turns out to know some Spanish

So now he and Roman have conversations in Spanish and Roman teaches him more and Dee just doesn’t really care

He keeps contributing using food or random words he’s picked up on and it drives Logan and Roman INSANE

And so they start dropping his proper name in conversation to either

One: make Dee think they’re mad because they used ‘Horace’

Two: make Dee think they’re gossiping about him

When really they’re talking about how much they love him OR just saying ‘Horace’ in the middle of a completely unrelated sentence

They stop doing this after they accidentally make Dee legitimately sad

It surprises both of them when they realize he’s crying after they don’t tell him what they were saying

So no more pretending to gossip about each other in Spanish

Roman offers to teach him Spanish

Dee responds to the offer by screaming ‘TORTILLA’ at the top of his lungs

Dee does not learn Spanish

Roman calls them his boyfriends first

In a youtube video title

Without warning them that they were being featured

Because he’s a little shit

Dee freaks out and tries to ask him about it but they just end up making out like they usually do when they try to have a serious conversation

Logan is okay with it and very amused at Dee’s reaction

Dee calls them his boyfriends next when he gets sick

When Dee gets sick he gets freaking delirious

Logan didn’t believe that it was the same person the first time he saw Dee when he was sick

Dee also only responds to Horace, his given name, when he’s sick and it's so hard to talk to him because they never seriously call him that

but Dee is so fucking sappy when he’s like that

And it's just pure and cute and he calls them his boyfriends

Logan calls them his boyfriends last

When introducing him to some other friends when they moved back into town

Patton Foster, a veterinarian

Virgil Storm, a weatherman (shut up he knows it's stupid his boyfriend (Patton) makes enough jokes about it as it is)

Both are baffled at how Logan managed to be dating two completely batshit crazy drama geeks

Once this happens they finally sit down and decide that yeah, they are dating

None of them say it’s exclusive, but none of them really want to date anyone else anymore anyway

Having Logan there to balance out the chaos is exactly what they needed

“I NEED A SNAKE FOR A VIDEO”

“Doesn’t Dee have a pet snake?”

“DEE YOU HAVE A PET SNAKE??”

“You’ve lived together for two years, how do you not know he has a snake in a terrarium in his room?”

“Logan I trusted you.”

“CAN I USE YOUR SNAKE”

“Only if I get to be in the video too, she gets nervous around cameras and she needs me.”

“Snakes don’t know what cameras-”

“DEAL!”

So it's just chaos and thriving in their little apartment

Roman has them in his videos sometimes, which is hugely popular among his viewers

“Hey, youtube! Today we’re throwing wet sponges at my tall boyfriend!”

“Roma- ROMAN GET AWAY FROM ME YOU SAID YOU WOULD WARN ME NEXT TIME”

“If you get water on the floor I’m not cleaning it up also watch out for the outlets you don’t want to get electrocuted.”

“That was my nerd boyfriend. I’d never throw a wet sponge at him, he doesn’t deserve it. Only my tall one deserves it.”

“I HATE YOU BOTH”

Logan and Dee both try to embarrass the other more whilst at work, which only caused a problem one or two times

“I need your help”

“With what”

“...a surprise”

“I told you I won’t help you teach them how to stage kiss anymore you always just kiss me for real and that’s not how it works.”

“But I love you.”

“fine.”

Roman and Dee regularly compete to see who can make Logan more embarrassed from compliments and it usually ends up in a cuddle pile or [REDACTED]

Dee is still positive that Logan is either a serial killer or a robot and that is one reason he enjoys making Logan embarrassed because it's hilarious to see the usually stoic teacher not know what to say

Roman, when he hears this theory, claims that Dee is the actual serial killer and he knows because he’s a ghost that’s just been haunting Dee since he killed him

Logan pretends to believe Roman’s claim and Dee wants to destroy them both.

He does… in a way *cough*

People who met Roman and Dee before Logan got there are baffled when they see either of them or both interacting with Logan

Because Roman and Dee are just CHAOS and DRAMATIC declarations of love (Roman) SCREAMING and sexual jokes (Dee)

Roman and Logan, though, that’s Roman at his most chivalrous. He opens doors, speaks eloquently, bows dramatically and is basically an over the top perfect gentleman

Deceit and Logan, well, no one understands that either because Deceit makes ZERO sexual jokes and he’s quiet and gentle and finally FINALLY he matches the elegant aesthetic he has going on 

And as soon as all three of them are seen together? The dynamic makes sense again

Roman and Dee are gremlins. Logan is the god they worship.

 Logan treats them both equally, as much as he can that is, and Roman and Dee would probably fight to the death for his hand and then end up making out like they always do when they fight to ‘the death’

Even Logan’s friends have only ever seen him express real emotion when he is with one or both of his boyfriends

The rest of the time he is in his robot/serial killer mode

Both Roman and Dee take great pride in this

Logan calls Dee Horace when he wants to make a point and it's usually why he ends up winning debates when Roman isn’t around because it makes Dee frustrated and annoyed so he stops talking

Apologies are made with kisses though

After the three get together, Roman learns a lot more about Dee as a person because believe it or not Dee is good at pretending and keeping secrets

Also they always just used to… sleep… in Roman’s room and not Dee’s but Roman didn’t even notice that and that’s how Dee got away with having a snake in secret for two years until Logan stayed the night in his room.

Roman falls more in love with Dee as a result and visa versa

Logan is awfully amused at this and they know it

Basically, the entire relationship is a HOT MESS

And that’s all I’ve got

#sanders sides #AU #Roloceit #Might As Well Au #my writing #bullet fic #roman #logan #Deceit #patton #virgil #ts sides #Human AU #yee

[selsorenda]

For day 2, I’ve written a book review. This is first I’ve ever written, and turned out a bit more like a report for high school than a review, but I think it’s a good stepping stone to my next review being better.

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Time Spent Reading: 3 hours

Length: 277 pages

This book can be found on Goodreads here.

This review does contain spoilers

“Welcome to the Bismarck-Chisholm House — where murder is only the beginning of the fun!”

“It was just supposed to be a vacation; a quick trip to go up and sell the manor her mother had inherited. Instead, the family is still living there, and it’s beginning to look like they may never leave. Trapped on Solitude Mountain with nobody but her mother and two sets of twin siblings, Seda grows more worried with each passing day. There’s something dark lurking within the manor… or within her.

“I don’t ever worry about ghosts. After all, I have Sawyer, and he is worse.”

Sawyer is Seda’s twin that she absorbed in the womb. He is almost always with her, whispering thoughts into her head. Some simple demeaning comments, other dangerous suggestions such as when he urged her to burn her hand as a kid. Nobody knows that he’s with her, at least not anymore. As a young kid, everybody thought Sawyer was just her imaginary friend. Therefore, Seda led her family to believe she’d simply grown out of him, instead of the daunting truth.

It is clear that her relationship of hearing Sawyer is some sort of mental illness, however it is never fully discussed within the book. There’s the struggle of Seda dealing with him, and the eventual point where she tells another character about still hearing him, but that’s really it. While this book is meant to be a classic YA thriller/horror, not psychological horror, it’s always frustrating to see mental illnesses used as a minor and brushed over way to push the plot along. At the very least, a full conversation between Seda and who she reveals the secret to would have been nice to see.

“Legend has it that everyone who visits succumbs to the disorienting effect of Solitude Mountain. Can you survive the night?”

Every chapter starts with part of a brochure or website article about the murder mystery that used to be hosted at the manor by Seda’s aunt and uncle. Not only are they often fun little quips, but they tend to tie into what happens in the chapter, which is a nice touch. The above quote is from the beginning of chapter 2, in which readers get the first glimpse of most of the characters.

Seda is on a grocery run 20 miles away from the manor when a group of teenagers comes into the shop, bright and full of energy. Seda, having been away from other people her age for quite a while at this point, finds herself intrigued by the group, and quite frankly she watches them like a bit of a creep. But that’s okay, because she’ll never see them again, right?

Wrong. On their way to a Halloween party at Funnel Mountain and deciding to take the scenic route, the group of teenagers gets caught in the storm. Heath, the “heartthrob” of the group, is the one that ends up inside the manor, thinking it’s uninhabited. When Seda first gets frightened by him showing up in her kitchen, she briefly thinks it’s her brother Sawyer. Of course, she then remembers that he’s only in her head and so this guy is an intruder. Instead of doing the logical thing and getting him out of her house, Seda has a conversation with Heath that leads to him asking if him and his friends can stay there.

“I want to help. He’s the most life I’ve seen in forever, beautiful, shining, vibrant life.”

Struck with a crush-at-first-sight, Seda decides to let Heath and his friends stay in the carriage house that’s slightly down the mountain. Her hope is that it’s far enough to keep them safe from Sawyer. Which it is, until she brings them hotdogs and a couple medical supplies later that night. It’s then that she finds herself growing fond of the group, and reminded of how all her friends are back in Boston, and she’s stuck here. Sawyer starts to creep in on her, and she promptly exits back to the manor, hoping the group will be gone the next morning.

As her luck would have it though, they weren’t. Even worse, her mother finds her talking to Heath while getting firewood. Before Seda can have any say, the group is being ushered into the manor by her mother like it's some big sleepover that’ll be the greatest party of their lives. Speaking of parties, it’s only a couple days to Seda’s 16th birthday, which causes her mother to have the grand idea to throw a big scavenger hunt for her and their guests. Surprisingly, the group of teenagers decides to go along with it, mainly to console the young sets of twins that are upset at the realization they missed Halloween. After all, what else are they going to do while stranded by the snow?

As Seda’s mother is setting up the grand party with all the left behind props from the murder mystery, Seda grows closer to Heath, the love interest of the story. Like with many YA novels, the romance feels a bit unnatural and rushed, and doesn’t add much to the story other than giving Seda someone to be by her side during the scavenger hunt. It is Heath that she reveals her secret about Sawyer to, and instead of seeming to be concerned, he just kind of shrugs it off.

“...but if I spent time trying to figure out all the mysteries of this place, I’d go insane.”

It isn’t until a couple chapters into the scavenger hunt (over halfway through the book) that the horror plot the blurb promised starts to take form. On a team together, Seda and Heath start to find blood and clues that don’t seem quite as fake as the others. Before they know it, they’re starting to find the dead bodies of Heath’s friends, and it seems like they’re next on the chopping block. Desperate to try and escape with their lives, the two come across an abandoned room… with evidence that Sawyer was alive, and he’s dangerous.

While trying to escape from Sawyer, Seda reveals another secret to Heath; she believes that her twin killed their dad. Up until this point, readers had been led to believe that her father had left because of her mother refusing to sell the house to the first buyer. Now, it is told that Seda found her father's body in the kitchen and fearing that Sawyer had caused her to do it, she’d hid his body in the walk-in freezer and drove his car into the nearby lake, as well as throwing his belongings into it. Again this is a strong indication of Seda being mentally ill, but again it is quickly brushed over when Sawyer shows up in the kitchen and starts to fight her and Heath.

In the struggle, Seda believes she traps Sawyer in the walk-in, until he is in front of her, about to burn her to death. Except, he can’t get the match to light. It is during that time that Seda gets away, running into a room filled with her family, and all of Heath’s friends. None of them dead, all alive and well. It had all been a grand set-up, thought up by her mother. Sawyer isn’t actually alive, and Heath and his friends aren’t teenagers, but seniors in college studying acting. (Which makes the fact that Heath kissed Seda quite unsettling, by the way.)

Endings like this are always so disappointing. I have always hated the “it was all a dream/fake” endings, as they feel like a huge cop-out. This book had potential, and frankly the fake story of Sawyer actually being alive would have been much more satisfying. Or, it even could have been Seda’s father. There were much better options for how the story could be wrapped up, and I’m honestly disappointed that the author chose to end it this way. The only redemption for the ending is when Seda is processing that her relationship with Heath was all a lie, and that he is who she had trapped in the freezer. Upon the realization Seda is ‘talking’ to Sawyer, and together they decide to leave Heath there, which ends the book off on the semi-eerie note that Seda is going down a dark path.

“After all, he knew something bad would happen. And he’s always right.”

Overall, I did enjoy this book. It was a quick read, and the references to slasher movies and classic gore (such as fake intestines) were fun. The descriptions and detail and easily the strongest part, and are what kept me reading. All the characters were written well, even if they didn’t get the development they deserved; I found myself especially fond of the young twins. However, since the book doesn’t live up to its promise of horror/thriller until well into the book, and the ending falls flat, this doesn’t come close to being as good as it could have been. If you’re looking for a horror/thriller book, this isn’t for you. But if you just want a fairly light YA book with a hint of gore and thrill, you’ll likely have fun reading this — it could definitely be great for teens looking to dip their toes into horror without diving all the way in. If your library has this book and you have a free afternoon, I’d recommend giving it a look!

#book review #books #young adult books #cyn balog #booklbr #young adult thriller #day 2 #363 days remain

[dustin-parrish-blog]

The Promposal | Dustin & Quinn

Quinn has a plan to ask Dustin to go to prom with him. Guest starring: Quail Mann (unfortunately)

Quinn was practically bouncing on his feet behind Dustin. He'd invited him over mainly for one purpose, to ask him to prom. It was easy to set up really. All he had to say was that someone had modded a cool version of an old Mario game and that he'd downloaded it. So Dustin was currently sitting at his desk, playing that game, while Quinn stood behind him, chewing on his lower lip in anticipation. Of course, Dustin couldn't have realized that Quinn had been the one to mod the game. The end of the level would spell out in a mixture of blocks and coins. "Dustin, will you go to prom with me?" He really hoped that Dustin would like it and actually say yes. Quinn had considered other methods too. Simply asking the question, a sign, or even hacking into Dustin's computer and proposing that way. This seemed the best way though.

"Ugh, can you please sit down," Dustin complained, eyes trained on the screen in front of him. "You're making me super paranoid standing behind me like that. What are you gonna do, stab me in the back with an axe?" When he'd come over to Quinn's place, the last thing he had expected was to end up playing an old mario game. Okay, so apparently this game was modded, but still. It was definitely still a Mario game. The problem with retro games was that Dustin was almost too young to really know them from his childhood. He'd been born in 2000 after all. So everyone's obsession with those old games from the 80s and 90s? He didn't get that at all. But if this would make Quinn happy, then he'd play the game. And now, it was actually kind of fun. Determined not to lose, he didn't look back at Quinn at all, groaning when he missed a jump and died.

"Why?" Quinn asked with a laugh and slight pout. He felt a little too giddy, even though nothing had happened yet. "And I only have one desk chair," he said with a shrug. He probably should invest in a second one though. Dustin was over enough that it made sense to have two. "Fine, I'll go steal Quail's chair," he said with a nod. Darting out of his room, not wanting to miss the question, he barged into Quail's room, glad she wasn't home, and snagged her chair, dragging it back to his room and shutting the door. Quinn quickly wheeled it over to sit next to Dustin. He was actually grateful to see that Dustin had died and was back further int he game. "You died again?" he teased lightly, poking Dustin's side with a laugh. "I thought you were good at games,"

"Fuck you," Dustin retorted as he started again. He could only hear Quinn wheeling the chair through the room and sitting down. He made an indignant sound at being poked, he currently couldn't fend him off. "I'm good at good games. You know, games that intelligence and creativity. Not games that make you jump a lot." He looked right over at him for a moment. "I didn't mean you had to get a second chair, we could have 'chaired' this one." Grinning at his own joke, he died again, and sighed. To start again. This time, he was able to foresee the tricky parts and was much faster getting through towards what he suspected would hopefully be the end of the level.

"Mario is, like, the staple platformer. And platformers are all about intelligence," Quinn replied with a chuckle. Quinn shook his head, smiling slightly. "You're the worst at puns," he said. "Besides, if we shared I'm pretty sure you'd get distracted and then die a lot more," Quinn replied, leaning in a little to watch. He wanted to see when the question came on as well as Dustin's reaction to it. Quinn hoped things would go well with the question. He knew they didn't really talk to many people in school about their relationship, but he figured they were out for the most part. It would be nice to have a little normalcy in their lives and going to prom seemed like the definition of that.

"I refuse to believe that this is testing my intelligence," Dustin just mumbled as he played on. "And maybe I don't care if I die," he added. He smiled when he felt Quinn lean in a little, making his character jump towards the ending of the level. Just as he reached it, a couple of coins and block suddenly appeared. Dustin pressed a few buttons, trying to make his character collect as many coins as possible, but they somehow didn't seem to want to disappear. It was only then that he noticed the blocks and coins were arranged almost in letters. Leaning back a little, he frowned as he suddenly read his name. What the- how did the game know what he was called? Was this game somehow sentient? Or maybe it had been possessed by a very nerdy ghost? But then, he read the rest of the letters. Mouth open, he turned towards Quinn. "What the- did you- you did this?!"

"It totally is, and it's beating you. So I think that means the game is smarter than you," he teased again with a laugh. Quinn glanced at the screen as the coins and blocks changed and sat up straighter. He kept his eyes trained on Dustin, trying to get a read for what he was feeling. He saw the confusion and then the apparent shock. Quinn wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Quinn nodded, biting his lower lip and flushing slightly. Now he was nervous again. "Yeah, I mean, I told you I can code," he said with a slight shrug, glancing at the game again before looking to Dustin. "So I figured, we both like games and stuff and this would be a good way to ask," he explained, looking at Dustin hopefully.

"Yeah, but like... things like this?" Dustin was still more than baffled. Sure, he knew that Quinn did coding. But he had no idea that this included modding existing video games. How long had this taken him? It must have taken a while... "And fucking hell, you're asking me for prom?" He was only now getting what this actually meant. Quinn had just asked him to prom. By modding a video game for him. Prom. Fucking prom. This was literally the last thing he'd expected. He never knew that prom was something that Quinn was even interested in going to.

Quinn glanced over to the game again and shrugged. "It's similar, really. It's all coding and these games are so basic," he began, before closing his mouth. There were more important things than detailing exactly how he'd managed to mod a game. "Um... yeah. So... are you going to answer?" he asked, arching an eyebrow slightly. It was odd. Before this year he probably wouldn't have wanted to go to prom. It was just another social event where he'd probably just hang out with his computer club friends, who would all probably have dates and he'd be by himself. But now he had Dustin, and for some reason he wanted to experience what it was like. It was his last chance after all.

Dustin gave him a look, raising an eyebrow back at him. "Stop being so damn impatient," he replied, a small grin creeping on his face. He still couldn't believe that Quinn had modded this game just to ask him one small question. "'Cause the answer is yes, of course I'll go to prom with you." He smiled at him, hands reaching out to rest on his waist. "Who else would I go to prom with, stupid?" Okay, so he hadn't actually planned on going to prom, but that didn't matter. Fuck, he was going to Senior prom. With his boyfriend. With Quinn. Tugging at his waist, he leaned in to pull him into a kiss.

"I can't help it sometimes," Quinn replied with a smirk. Which was entirely true. He never waited for anything. Why would he need to when he could get anything he wanted on the internet? "Really? You will?" Quinn asked, immediately perking up with a big smile across his face. "I dunno, I just wasn't sure if you wanted to go or-," he but was cut off by the kiss, which Quinn was perfectly fine with. Quinn leaned into the kiss, raising a hand to rest on the back of Dustin's neck before pulling away, still smiling. "Okay, awesome, because... yeah," he said, at a slight loss for words, and just laughed, kissing Dustin again. "I know it's, like, late notice and all, but it'll be fun right?" he asked. "Plus your mom will have to extend your curfew that night,"

"Yes, really," Dustin replied, grinning at him, his eyes falling shut as he felt Quinn's hand on the back of his neck. The position did remind him a little of where he had burned Quinn not too long ago, but he couldn't think about that now. "Yes, it'll definitely be fun," Dustin said, right now not really caring what going to prom would be like though. All that mattered was that Quinn had actually asked him. By modding a video game. "And yeah, I'll have to talk my mum into that. She probably will, but I'll still have to be home when prom is officially over." He pouted a little, eyes darting down to Quinn's lips before kissing again. Trying to pull him closer was not easy as they were both sat on two desk chairs next to each other.

"Okay, good," Quinn said, hoping it would be. Now he was just too happy to think about any downsides about it. "It's better than normal though. I think prom is over at like eleven or something like that," Quinn said with a shrug and grin. "And maybe for the after party?" he suggested. Honestly, he just wanted to get as much time with Dustin as possible, even if he couldn't get an invite to the big after party that was being thrown. He felt Dustin try and pull him closer and he pulled away, standing up and grabbing his hand. "C'mon," he said with a grin, nodding his head to the bed, "Bed?" Quinn tugged on Dustin's hand before moving over to the bed and flopping on with a grin.

Dustin rolled his eyes. "As if my parents would let me go to the after party." No way. "And besides, I won't actually get invited to that so they'll know that if I say something about an after party I'm just spending time with you." He frowned when Quinn pulled away, but the frown quickly disappeared when he saw what Quinn had in mind. He didn't have to be asked twice, making his way towards his bed and flopping down beside him. For a moment, he was torn between pulling him into a hug and kissing him, so in the end he simply pulled his arms around him, one hand ending up in his hair, the other on his back, pressing his lips against his.

"They might. I could probably get us an invite anyway," Quinn said. Do a favor for someone that was hosting it maybe. Offer to change a grade or two. It didn't matter though if Dustin couldn't go. "Well... maybe they'll let you spend extra time with me since it's prom?" he asked, though from what he knew that was unlikely. Quinn let his arms wrap around Dustin as well, one on his waist and the other his upper back, kissing him back with a soft hum.

"How?" Dustin wondered briefly, but he didn't really care how at the moment. Or really care about going to one of the popular kid's parties. They sucked, anyway. "Are you kidding me? With all that, you know, is said about prom night, there is no way in hell they'd say yes to that." He let out a small content sound against Quinn's lips, the hand on his back sneaking underneath his shirt as he pulled him close.

"I dunno. I could figure something out," Quinn said. But he kind of knew Dustin wasn't really into that anyway. "Okay... but so what? I mean, I know what the whole open door thing means. But they have to know we don't have it here right?" he asked. Though he didn't know if Dustin's parents knew that. Maybe they had talked to Karen and Jared at some point? Quinn shivered slightly as Dustin's hand pushed up his shirt and smiled into the kiss. It was warm and pleasant, especially knowing that it wouldn't be trying to burn or heal him. Carefully, Quinn shifted his legs a bit, tangling them with Dustin's.

"I think they're not trying to think about what's going on here," Dustin replied with a slight chuckle before going back to pressing his lips against Quinn's. He really liked kissing him. Even though at first he'd been afraid that he was a bad kisser due to his nonexistent experience, by now he was very sure that his boyfriend was definitely into it. Feeling Quinn shift, Dustin broke the kiss with a small gasp to press his lips against his neck for a few moments. This was the reason that he very much preferred hanging out at his boyfriend's place. Smiling, he let his hand trail over his back, pushing his shirt up further. Ever since the incident with the burn, he'd kind of wanted to get Quinn shirtless again. He pulled him into another kiss, legs tangled together, bodies pressed close together on Quinn's bed.

"Probably best not for them to," Quinn replied with a laugh. He didn't want to imagine his parents thinking about the two of them. Quinn squirmed a bit as Dustin kissed at his neck. He really liked when Dustin did that. As his shirt was lifted up, he pulled back a bit, tugging his shirt off awkwardly, whining a bit when it got stuck in his haste. Eventually he pulled it off and went back to kissed Dustin. This time though, he moved his hands to Dustin's shirt, pushing it up a bit and splaying his hands across Dustin's side and back.

"Can we please stop talking about my parents now," Dustin complained and rolled his eyes. He didn't want to think about his parents at all while doing this. He pulled back a little when Quinn tugged off his shirt, grinning as it got stuck. He didn't do a single thing to help him get it unstuck though, no, he simply let his fingers play along Quinn's back, his eyes trailing over the bit of skin that was exposed. Dustin kissed him back eagerly, and when Quinn pushed up his shirt he got the hint. Pulling off his own shirt quickly, he placed it next to the bed before going back to kissing him, one hand roaming across his back as the other one moved across his chest.

"Yeah, no more parent talk," Quinn laughed. There were much better things to think about that didn't involve parents. Dustin's fingers were definitely distracting, and probably the reason why it took him longer to get out of his shirt than he anticipated. Quinn gasped lightly and pulled them closer together, humming this time as he kissed Dustin. His hands trailed over Dustin's back, occasionally dipping to his sides. Just as he was moving his hand to Dustin's chest, the door pushed open. "Quinn! Did you take my chair again?" Quail asked as she unceremoniously opened the door, eyes going slightly wide as she caught sight of the two on the bed. "Oh shit,"

Dustin had his eyes closed shut as he kissed him back, shivering as he felt Quinn's hands on his bare back and sides. Why weren't they doing this every time that they were kissing? It felt do much better to feel Quinn like this than to hold onto him with his shirt on. He gasped as he pulled him flush against him, not exactly sure where this was heading but not really caring right now. This felt so much better than all of the weird alternate universe memories counted together. Running his hand over his chest, he suddenly took in a different voice calling out to his boyfriend. A very female voice. Fuck! Dustin pushed back against his chest, trying to get off Quinn, to put some distance between them. In his haste, he didn't consider the exact size of the bed, rolling onto the floor with a loud thud.

When Quinn recognized that someone had come into the room, he blinked for a moment, confused. Suddenly he was getting pushed away from Dustin and there was a loud thud. Looking over to the door he went bright red when he saw Quail there. "Quail! Get out!" he shouted, grabbing his pillow and pulling it against his chest. His entire body felt red and flushed from embarrassment. Quail, for her part, immediately covered her eyes with her hand, turning around but still standing in the doorway. "Okay, I did not need to see my little brother doing whatever it is you're doing. But this is what you get for stealing my chair without asking," she said. "I thought you weren't home!"

Dustin groaned loudly from beside the bed. From where he had fallen, Quail couldn't see him, but he was sure that she had seen him just a few moments before, making out with her shirtless little brother. He pushed himself off the floor to return to the bed, only to discover that Quail was still standing in the doorway, even though she was now covering her eyes. Quinn was bright red, and Dustin himself could feel his blood flush into his cheeks. "I thought the door was locked!" Dustin complained, leaning over the side of the bed to reach for his shirt. "We weren't doing anything though, I promise," he told Quail, not sure if this was a lie our not. Had they been doing something? Or had they been about to do something?

"I forgot... I was excited," Quinn mumbled, glancing over to Dustin. He'd just realized that he was the one that had fallen onto the floor. At least Dustin didn't look too hurt. Quail just shook her head. "I don't care, I don't want to hear anything," she waved her free hand and then turned around, walking blindly towards Quinn's desk. "Just take the chair and go please?" he asked, still bright red as he watched. It took Quail a minute to get to the chair, and she peaked through her fingers to grab hers, before she pulled it out. "Keep the door locked from now on!" she called back. Quinn ran to the door, immediately shutting and locking it, before turning to look at Dustin apologetically. "I didn't think... fuck, sorry," he mumbled.

Dustin watched as Quail made her way through the room to get her chair. At least now she wasn't looking at them and so she didn't see him without a shirt. It still felt so weird to be half naked in front of anyone. It was a bit different with Quinn because the moment had been different and Quinn was (hopefully) attracted to him. Thankfully, Quail was soon gone. As Quinn went to lock the door, Dustin feel back on the bed, starting to laugh even though he still kinds felt like he'd love to disappear through the floor. "It's okay, I mean, no harm done. She could have walked in on worse." He grinned at him.

Quinn glanced back at the door, double checking that it was locked, before moving over next to Dustin and sitting on the bed next to him. "Yeah, she could have," Quinn said with a laugh. Where were they going to end up if Quail hadn't entered? "So...," he mumbled, looking at Dustin and shrugging slightly. That had kind of killed the mood. "What do you want to do now?"

Since Quinn had admitted that yes, she could have walked in on something worse, had they really been about to do something more for the first time? Dustin wasn't sure. It had kind of felt like a moment. Like a moment in which he was almost more into Quinn than he usually was, in which he sort of wanted him, felt the need to have him closer. But that moment was gone now, thanks to Quail. It was okay though. They would have many more moments, because they had all the time in the world. Quinn wasn't going anywhere, and neither was he. Dustin smiled, tugging at his shoulder to signal that he wanted him to move back and lie down a little. "Netflix," Dustin said, letting his head rest against his shoulder, hand casually resting on his stomach. "I feel like Netflix."

Quinn shifted so he was laying on the bed, with Dustin next to him and grinned. He let an arm sneak around Dustin's waist and nodded. "Okay, yeah, Netflix," he laughed, grabbing his remote and setting it up. "Netflix totally works,"

Dustin smiled as whatever Quinn had selected started playing. He shifted a little, his head moving from its resting place against his shoulder to lean on his chest. He tugged his feet in between Quinn's as his eyes were trained on the screen. He'd been asked to prom. He'd go to prom. What the hell was he thinking, he'd never before wanted to go to prom... But he didn't want to think about the consequences of his answer, not yet. Right now he just wanted to cuddle up with his boyfriend, watch Netflix and smile about how he'd been asked to prom in the best way possible.

#touchofchatzy #chatzy #the promposal #quinn

[entergamingxp]

Ian’s top ten best PSVR games of 2019 • Eurogamer.net

Welcome one and all to this year’s exciting instalment of the Ian’s VR Corner Top Ten list where I’ll be going over my ten favourite PSVR games of 2019. As per usual, the following list is completely my opinion and it only features games that I myself have played, so if I’ve missed out one of your favourites, chances are it’s either because I thought it was a bit bobbins, or that I just didn’t have time to give it a go. Either way, please do share the love for your favourite PSVR games of 2019 in the comments below and hopefully, together, we can inspire others to try them out too.

You can check out the video version of this list just below these words where you can watch footage of each game featured or, if reading is more your thing, you’ll find my entire top ten list just under that.

10 – Ghost Giant

Anyone who has watched the Ghost Giant episode of Ian’s VR Corner will know that I had a fair few issues with the game’s motion controls, or more specifically, the fiddliness of picking things up that were just a little too far out of reach. Thankfully, there’s a lot more to Ghost Giant than just its control scheme and I was able to push past those faults and appreciate the emotionally charged story at its core.

In terms of production values, Ghost Giant is way up there and it actually shares a lot of similarities with Moss, one of my favourite games of 2018. The level of detail in Ghost Giant is incredible and the paper-craft dioramas that make up the levels look stunning in VR. It almost feels like you’re sat, centre stage in your very own Tim Burton movie, able to reach in and touch and interact with every inch of the world.

I didn’t just enjoy playing around and exploring these ultra detailed, model villages though, I was also enthralled by the life and personality of the characters that were expertly animated and voice acted. If you can look past the unwieldy interactions caused by the less than accurate Move controllers you’ll find a beating heart which is full of sweetness and sadness and there lies a story that will stick with you for a long, long time.

9 – Everybody’s Golf VR

Someone famous once said that golf is a good walk spoiled, so it’s probably a good job then that Everybody’s Golf VR is a completely stationary experience. By cutting out all those boring strolls it means the game and its players can concentrate on pure, unadulterated virtual golfing across three gorgeous, 18 hole courses.

As the name would suggest, Everybody’s Golf is indeed for everybody. That means seasoned golfers will instantly be able to enjoy batting their balls around while newcomers can make use of an incredibly intuitive in-game interface to practice swings and judge the power and angle of each shot before going all in for a hole in one. The tracking of the Move controller is pretty much spot on with Everybody’s Golf VR and I didn’t notice any kind of drift or inaccuracy at all. Holding a single Move controller with two hands like you would the grip on a club feels just like you’re holding the real thing and this adds a lovely sense of immersion to the already relaxed vibe of the game.

While Everybody’s Golf VR is slightly watered down compared to other games from the series, especially when it comes to the lack of multiplayer, it does feel like a perfect fit for PSVR and it’s an ideal starting point for any golf enthusiasts out there who may be nervous about trying VR for the first time.

8 – Falcon Age

It’s hard not to fall in love with Falcon Age after mere minutes of playing it and a lot of that has to do with your cute as hell companion, whom I decided to name, Pudding. Pudding is a falcon that you raise from a squeaking ball of feathers into a fully grown, mech murdering bird of prey and it’s pretty safe to say that caring for Pudding is probably the closest I’ve probably come to treating a VR animal as if it were a real-life living being.

Falcon Age is a rather compact open-world affair in which you stick it to awful robotic industrialists one act of sabotage and rebellion at a time. You head out into this world with a neat whip-baton thing in one hand and Pudding on your other, and you can send pudding to attack things, collect things, yank things about and then hold them up while you give them a good shoeing.

Just having Pudding there on your fist makes you think about it on a very emotional level. Seeing Pudding get hungry was enough to make me want to learn the rudiments of the cooking system, but pulling spikes out of her after a fight genuinely made me furious in a way a dog owner might be if someone mistreated their beloved pooch while they were out on a walk. This is a game about nurturing, about trust, about friendship and loyalty and about having an awesome Falcon friend who’ll do your bidding and smash evil robots for you. I love you, Pudding.

7 – Sairento VR

You know that bit in The Matrix when Keanu Reeves goes, “I know Kung Fu!”? Well I had a few moments of realisation just like that during my first hands-on session with the PSVR port of Sairento VR. Don’t go into Sairento VR expecting to be a badass from the off though. There’s an incredibly steep learning curve here and there’s a lot of things you’ll need to learn in order to feel comfortable when navigating the levels.

In fact, this game should definitely be thought of as being on the extreme end of the comfort scale because it expects you to do double jumps, bounce off or run along walls and scale great heights. All whilst swinging swords, shooting guns and triggering super cool slow mo super powers. The first couple of levels really ease you into things, but by the third, the action is relentless and enemies come at you rapidly, shooting and hitting you from all angles.

This onslaught can be terribly frustrating at first but it forces you to learn quickly and it won’t be long before you’re chaining leaps and bounds together with slow-motion headshots and slick slide kills where you split opponents in two with your blade. When everything does start to click, the combat becomes so absorbing that it’s easy to forget about the normal world that exists outside of your headset. That’s why it’s well worth putting in the hours to practice your skills because when everything is going your way and you’re flowing through the levels, Sairento VR is one hell of an experience.

6 – Spooky’s Jump Scare Mansion HD Renovation

Spooky’s Jump Scare Mansion HD Renovation is the first game in the world to have ever made me swear at a piece of toast and for that it instantly gets a thumbs up from me.

This VR remake of the cult classic PC horror game sees you trapped inside an ever changing maze comprised of 1000 different rooms, each one potentially home to a jump scare or two. Despite the budget look to the graphics and a rather slow start, I was surprised by just how scary Spooky’s Jump Scare Mansion could be. Being stalked through the rooms by some of the games more unsettling specimens would honestly be bad enough in the flat version of the game, but in VR it’s panic inducing as you can almost feel their physical presence gaining on you as you try to escape.

That feeling of being chased never gets old either, as the rooms, locations and your pursuers keep changing in unexpected and unpredictable ways. Basically it’s like dropping acid and going to a Halloween Horror Fright Night even at Thorpe Park, except you won’t need to drop acid and there won’t be a massive queue to get in. Now hurry up and release this in the EU please, Albino Moose Games!

5 – Trover Saves the Universe

If you didn’t already know, Trover Saves the Universe is made by Squanch Games, a development studio run by Justin Roiland of Rick and Morty fame. So, if that kind of wacky, sweary, tasteless and self-referential sci-fi humour is your bag, Trover Saves the Universe will have you covered. In spit and poop, mainly…

Playing a bit like an Astrobot for adults, Trover Saves the Universe sees you galavanting around the galaxy, intruding on the often disgusting inhabitants of Alien worlds, all whilst trying to rescue your two pet dogs from the eye sockets of the evil Glorkon who is hell bent on destroying life as we know it.

There’s a fairly big game here and it basically includes everything you’d expect from a standard 3D platformer like combat, jumping, bounce pads, puzzles and item collecting. Everything in Trover has this dark and disgusting Roiland twist to it though and this leaves you constantly surprised and occasionally sickened by the events that occur. The bonkers scenarios and the imaginative characters that live within them are often either comically creepy or absurdly annoying and as such, fans of Rick and Morty are bound to be in VR heaven with Trover. For some, this constant barrage of weird humour may be a little too overwhelming and that’s totally understandable, but I played it through twice because I’m also super weird.

4 – Borderlands 2 VR

Technically Borderlands 2 VR came out in 2018, but it appeared on the Playstation store so late in December that my Top Ten list for that year had already been published. In fact, I didn’t even feature it on Ian’s VR Corner until January when I came back from my Christmas holidays so its inclusion on this list totally counts. Totally.

Far from being a short spin-off experience, Borderlands 2 VR is a complete conversion of the flat game, featuring the full 25+ hour campaign. Plus, after the release of the free Bad Ass MegaFun DLC pack in September of this year, it also includes the four add on story missions and a bunch of upgrade packs too. That’s a lotta bang for your buck indeed!

I had a lot of fun when Borderlands 2 VR first came out, but when Aim controller support was added in another update, the game just got better. Being able to hold, admire and shoot any of the bazillion guns that are available to you in VR while holding the aim controller just adds to the immersion and it makes shooting all those Bullymongs and bandits feel super satisfying. Borderlands 2 VR is an incredibly well produced title that looks beautiful in 3D so it’s well worth revisiting if you’ve played the game before in flat version. If this is your first trip to Pandora however, this is a must buy that’ll keep you busy for ages. WUB, WUB, WUB!

3 – Ace Combat 7

I’m absolutely terrified of flying in real life but flying in VR? Well that is a completely different story, especially when it comes to Ace Combat 7’s VR levels. There may only be three unique missions available in the VR portion of the game but when they’re this gorgeous, this exhilarating and this immersive, you’ll find plenty of excuses to replay them. I mean, I certainly did!

There’s just so much to love here, from the ultra detailed, interactive inheritors of the cockpits and the adrenaline pumping intensity of the VR dog-fights, through to the way that water droplets roll across your aircraft’s canopy as you leave thick cloud cover and burst out into the sunlight and thunder your way towards yours foes.

The sense of speed, power and of just ‘being there in the moment’ is truly exceptional here, so it’s a damn shame that Ace Combat 7’s biggest fault is that only a small portion of the game is playable in VR. Please, Bandai Namco, give us a full VR campaign and I promise you, I’ll buy it twice! Ace Combat 7 may have come out right at the start of 2019 but I still think about its VR missions regularly and I pull out my HOTAS and strap myself into my jumpseat whenever I get the chance.

2 – No Man’s Sky Beyond

No Man’s Sky Beyond is almost the perfect VR game. It’s infinite, it’s incredibly immersive and if it wasn’t for the low resolution of the visuals, I could quite easily spend a large portion of my life just pootling around the galaxy digging through planets for valuable minerals like some kind of space age mole man.

The experience of exploring the universe in No Man’s Sky in VR is every bit as jaw dropping and massive as you could have hoped for but the ever present blur does kill the magnificence a bit. All those stunning vistas and the mysterious alien flora and fauna that you may remember from the flat version now look like indistinct smudges on the horizon and this works towards dampening that awesome sense of discovery that made the exploration so compelling.

Get past that though as you’ll find that the rest of the game is an absolute joy to play. The sense of scale in VR is amazing and the ability to fly around from planet to planet and galaxy to galaxy while being encased in the game is incomparable to anything else I’ve played in VR. This is a straight up, never-ending VR adventure and depending on your patience for the survival genre, you could easily end up spending countless hours exploring brand new world after brand new world. No Man’s Sky Beyond is an amazing achievement and I’d recommend it to anyone with a VR headset, if only to get a taste of what VR adventures could be like in the future, if the platform continues to grow and expand.

1 – Blood and Truth

Right now, at the point of writing this feature, everyone in the world is getting excited about a brand new James Bond trailer. Everyone that is except me, because this year, thanks to Blood and Truth, I was James Bond.

The beauty of Blood and Truth though is that I wasn’t just James Bond, I was actually loads of things. I was a soldier in a warzone, a cockney gangster literally riding shotgun in a sports car and I was even some kind of parkour hitman, dodging machine gun fire from a helicopter as I legged it across the floors of a barely built block of flats before throwing myself through some plate glass windows as I shot enemies in the face during some glorious scenes of slow-motion gun-fu.

In Blood and Truth you are the star of your very own action movie, no more passively watching the action unfold on a flat screen, oh no. Here you’re right there in the thick of it, catching and throwing back live grenades, dual wielding pistols and generally living out all of those action movie fantasies that you never thought would come true. There’s an excellent supporting cast who’re brought to life by some top notch voice acting and motion capture and this serves to give you a real connection to the characters in some of the slower paced scenes, while each action set piece is just varied enough to make you constantly gasp out loud with the thrill of it all.

The gunplay is excellent too and while the on rails nature of the gameplay could be seen as a turn off for some, it keeps the pace rattling along and allows the developers to do some really clever and unexpected things with VR. If you own a PSVR you need this game and that’s the bloody truth of it.

And that, my lovely friends, is that! Hopefully you enjoyed this look back at my favourite PSVR games of 2019 but if I did miss any of your favourites out, do remember to tell us about them in the comments! Before I wander off to snaffle some pre-Christmas mince pies, I’d just like to say a big thank you to each and everyone of you for the continued support you’ve been giving my VR coverage. Can you believe Ian’s VR Corner has been going for over a year and a half now? Crazy!

Here’s hoping things get even more exciting for VR in 2020, whether that’s for PSVR or for the wider range of headsets, because if 2019 has proven anything at all, it’s that VR just keeps getting bigger and better and it’s definitely not going to go away any time soon! If this list is the first you’ve seen of my VR coverage by the way, Ian’s VR Corner happens every Sunday on this channel so do pop on over and subscribe for more VR videos whenever they’re uploaded. Oh and of course, do have a lovely Christmas and a wonderful new year!

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/ians-top-ten-best-psvr-games-of-2019-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ians-top-ten-best-psvr-games-of-2019-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[ericbarkman]

Tales of WID 72 #8 The Twin Swords

     “What the hell happened here?” Detective Carl Bendis asked as he entered the crime scene.  It was an apartment, although it was now missing the wall on the side of the building.  A chunk of the wall to the next door apartment was missing too.      “Happy New Year to you too,” his partner, Detective Sara Knight said.  “We’ve got three dead bodies in here.  One of them had a wallet on him, and the ID says he’s a guy named Howard Stewart.  The other two don’t have any kind of ID.”      “It wasn’t a bomb though, was it?” Carl asked.  “I’m not seeing much debris.”      “Near as we can tell, the wall was just vaporized.  And you’ll never guess what kind of weapons these guys had on them.”      “Laser guns?”      “Nope, you’re thinking the wrong way, they had swords.”      “Swords?” Carl asked.      “Yeah, swords.  The unidentified guys each had one, and Howard, he had two of them.  But those two are stuck in their scabbards.”      “They are what?”      “Yeah, I know we usually get the weird ones,” Sara said.  “But this is something else.”      “Thank you for your assistance,” Carl said to the neighbour before the door was closed.  He walked over to Sara.  “So, either the people in this building are the heaviest sleepers in the history of the world, in which case I am insanely jealous, or whatever took out that wall was super silent.”      “Yeah, I’ve been hearing the same thing from the tenants I’ve been talking to,” Sara said.  “But like, what could even do that?”      “Got me.  Have the science guys figured anything out?”      “Not yet, last I checked.”      “Have the swords been bagged and tagged and sent back to the precinct already?”      “Yeah, why, you want to get a look at them?” Sara asked.      “I mean, I’m really curious about Howard’s swords.  If this was a fight, why would he have swords he couldn’t use?  Have we figured out anything else about him yet?”      “According to one of the neighbor’s I talked to, he’s a florist.”      “A florist?”      “Yeah, has a flower shop a few blocks away.”      “How does a florist get involved in…whatever this is?” Carl asked.      Carl picked up one of the swords and looked over the scabbard, and the hilt.  The design looked ancient, yet it was still in perfect condition.  He tried pulling the sword out, and despite what he had been told, it came out without any trouble.      “Hmm, that’s interesting,” he said.  He held the sword up and looked at the blade.  He was not an expert, but it looked to be exceptionally well made.      Carl put it down on the table, and picked up the other one.  It looked identical to the first.  As he was looking it over, the first suddenly returned to its scabbard on its own.      “Huh, that’s weird,” Carl said.  He removed the second sword from its scabbard, and put it down on the table, checking his watch.  After a minute it too returned to its scabbard as if by magic.      He spent a bit of time experimenting with it.  As long as he was holding the swords they would act normally, but if they were not in contact with him for a minute, they would return to their scabbards.  This case just kept getting more and more strange.      Carl sat down at his desk, just as Sara was hanging up the phone at her desk.  “Any leads?” Carl asked.      “Notifying family,” Sara said.  “He’s got a sister in Jersey.  She’ll be driving out here later today, but she said they haven’t really had much contact in recent years, so I don’t know if she’ll know anything.  You learn anything from looking at the swords?”      “Were you the one that tried taking the swords out of their scabbards?”      “I was one of them.  Several of us tried, why?”      “I had no problem with them.  They came right out, no trouble.”      “Huh, weird.”      As they were talking, a woman came up to their desks.  “Excuse me, I was told you were the detectives investigating Howard’s murder.”      “Yeah,” Carl said.  “Did you know him?”      “Yeah, we were friends.  I’m Victoria Madison, we were…we were friends.”      “I’m sorry for your loss,” Sara said.  “Do you know anything about what happened?”      “Umm, a bit,” Victoria said.  “Do you have his swords here?”      “Yeah,” Carl said.  “They are in evidence.”      “Yes, yes, of course,” Victoria said.  “Umm, they were supposed to go to me if…if anything happened.”      “Well, they are evidence,” Sara said.  “But hopefully we can get this solved quickly, and then you can have them when this is done.”      “Yes, yes, of course,” Victoria said.      “Here’s let’s go over to the interview room, and you can tell us what you know,” Sara said.      “So, what was he doing in that apartment?” Sara asked.  “We know he lived in the building, but on a different floor.”      “I don’t know,” Victoria said.  “But I know he had been talking about how there were members of some kind of cult living in the building, and he was worried about what they were up to.”      “Did he share these worries with anyone else?”  Carl asked.  “Landlord, police, anyone?”      “Not that I know of,” Victoria said.  “But then, he didn’t really have any proof, so it probably wouldn’t have helped anyway.”      “Do you know what kind of cult?” Sara asked.      “I don’t know,” Victoria said.  “He mainly told me that he had been hearing strange things from inside the apartment.”      “How did that start?” Carl asked.  “Like Sara said, we know he lived on a different floor.  Not directly above, for that matter, so it’s not like he was hearing something through the floor.”      “He didn’t mention that,” Victoria said.      “Do you think he would have gone and investigated on his own, maybe bringing his swords for protection?” Carl asked.      “Maybe,” Victoria said.  “Or at least to make himself seem armed.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that they are stuck in their scabbards.”      “They seemed to come out pretty fine to me,” Carl said.      “What?” Victoria asked.  “You were able to unsheathe them?”      “Yeah, it was no trouble at all,” Carl said.      “Umm, I need to go home and take care of something I just remembered,” Victoria said.  “Uh, that’s okay right?”      “Yeah, sure,” Sara said.  “Could we get your number in case we have more questions?”      “Right, right.”  Victoria scribbled her number onto a piece of paper, and handed it to Sara before heading off.      “Well, she clearly knows a lot more than she’s saying,” Carl said.      “Yeah, I’ll get someone to follow her,” Sara said.  “Just in case.”      “So, what’ve you found?” Carl asked the medical examiner as he entered the morgue.      “Well, the two unidentified individuals were definitely killed by the slashes they received from the swords,” Doctor Joyce Clarkson said.      “But Howard wasn’t?”      “I don’t believe so, his wounds are not severe enough, but I honestly don’t know what else would have caused him to die.  But that’s not the weirdest part.”      “Do I even want to know?”      “Both of the John Does had a rare poison in their blood.”      “But you’re still certain it was the swords wounds that killed them?” Carl asked.      “The amount of poison should have killed them almost instantly, but from what I can tell, it’s been in their blood for decades.”      “So we have one guy that shouldn’t be dead, and two that should have died a lot earlier.”      “That’s the long and short of it,” Joyce said.      After leaving the morgue, Carl stopped by a street vendor and bought a hot dog.  As he was walking and eating, Victoria came up next to him.  She had a book of some sort with her.  It looked like a journal, but an old one.      “Hi again, Detective Bendis,” Victoria said.      “Miss Madison,” Carl said.  “Take care of what you needed to take care of?”      “Kind of in the process of that right now.  You said you were able to draw the swords from their scabbards?  Howard’s swords, you’re certain of that?”      “Pretty certain, and I’m not sure why everyone seems to think they’re stuck.”      “Umm, well, you see, they are stuck for everyone except for one person.  That person was Howard, but now that he’s dead they pass on to someone else, and that someone is apparently you.”      “Right,” Carl said.  “You’re saying they’re what, magic?”      “I know it’s hard to believe, but you saw the crime scene and how weird it was.  How else do you explain what happened there?”      “I don’t know, maybe it’s alien tech or something.  I know that’s real.”      “But two years ago you’d have thought I was crazy if I suggested aliens.  Maybe it’s time to update your worldview again.”      “Okay, let’s say, for a moment, that I believe you.  What happened there, and what’s your part in all this?”      “I’m the journal keeper for the swords and their master.  The swords are the only thing that can keep Alket contained in his realm.  Those cultists were trying to stop Howard from doing that.”      “Alket?”      “It’s an Eldritch Abomination.  It was once a God, but he desired even more power, and tried to become more than that, and had to be trapped away.”      “Uh huh.”      “I know you don’t believe me, after all, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”      “And you have some extraordinary evidence on you?”      “Not on me, no, but I will be able to do so if you come with me.”      “Uh huh,” Carl said before looking around.      “If you’re looking for the officer you had tailing me, I lost him an hour ago.”      “Right.”      Victoria led Carl down an alley, to a door, which she knocked on.  An eyehole opened up, and the guy on the other side asked for a password.      “Solaris,” Victoria said, and the door was opened.  She turned to Carl.  “Try not to freak out.”      “I’ll be fine,” he said as he followed her in.  He looked around at the other patrons.  A lot of them looked Human, but some were clearly not.  There was a Centaur playing darts with a Pixie at the back.  And at the pool table was a Ghost playing against someone who looked Human, at least until Carl saw his fangs.  And those were just a few examples.  “What is this place?”      “It’s a bar for people of the supernatural community,” Victoria said, as she led him up to the bar.      “Hey Tori,” the bartender said.  Her fangs indicated that she was a Vampire.  “I’m sorry to hear what happened to Howard.”      “Thanks, Kat,” Victoria said.  “He was a good guy, and I’m going to miss him.  But now I have to start getting his replacement up to speed.”      Kat looked Carl over.  “A cop from the looks of him.  But I suppose nobody’s perfect.”      “Look, I never agreed to being any replacement or anything,” Carl said.  “I’m just here for the proof of magic, so I can figure out this case.  And, don’t get me wrong, I’m seeing some convincing visuals, but how do I know the people here aren’t just aliens or something?”      “He doesn’t even believe in magic?” Kat asked.  “How did he even wind up with the swords in order for them to choose him?”      “He was investigating what happened, and yeah,” Victoria said.  “It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”      “So, is there normally a process you go through?” Carl asked.      “Normally the journal keeper will take the swords, and give them to trusted individuals until someone is chosen by them,” Victoria said.      “Can’t you just do that now, and let someone else be chosen?” Carl asked.  “I mean, hypothetically speaking, assuming any of this is true.”      “The only way out of being their wielder is death,” Victoria said.  “Or losing your soul, that’s happened at least once.”      “Not really a fan of either of those options,” Carl said.  “But anyway, about the proof that this is actually all magic.”      “Is Cid around?” Victoria asked.      “No, haven’t seen him in a few days,” Kat said.  “But there’s someone else you can talk to.  You ever meet Hermes?”  She pointed to a table where a few people were playing a game of poker.      “Have the Greek Gods been repowered?” Victoria asked.  “Because if not, I don’t know how much help he’ll be.”      “No, but Hermes still has a few tricks up his sleeve,” Kat said.      Victoria shrugged and started walking over there, and Carl followed.  There were five people playing poker.  A Satyr, a Gorgon, and three others that looked Human.      “Is there a risk of turning to stone?” Carl asked.      “Not in this bar,” Victoria said, before they walked up to the table.  “Hermes?”      “Yes?” one of the Human looking people asked as he looked up.  “Oh, you’re the journal keeper of the twin swords of Mars, aren’t you?”      “Yeah, could we talk to you for a minute?” Victoria asked.      Hermes looked at his hand.  “Sure, why not, I fold,” he said as he put it down, and stood up.  “Don’t any of you think of taking my winnings, I’ll be back shortly.”      Victoria led Hermes and Carl to a booth near the back of the bar.      “So, what can I do for you?” Hermes asked.  “I mean, you people are servants of a Roman God, and I’m a Greek God.  You know we don’t exactly get along.”      “The war was a long time ago,” Victoria said.  “And either way, Alket is a threat to everyone.”      “Everyone on Earth anyway,” Hermes said.  “I’ve been considering a move to another planet.  Plus it’s January, Alket clearly failed in its attempt to get into our world, so we’re good for another year.”      “The last wielder of the swords was killed during the attempt, and now I have a year to prepare the new one,” Victoria said.  “But first I need to convince him this is all real.”      “Good luck, by the way,” Carl said.  “I’m not feeling particularly convinced yet.”      “Really, I’d have thought you’d be easily swayed by anyone and anything,” Hermes said as he suddenly had Carl’s wallet in his hands, and took out a lottery ticket.  “I mean really, you know what the odds are on these things?”  He tossed the wallet on the table in front of Carl.      “And I supposed to be impressed with a pickpocket?” Carl asked.      “Check your back pocket,” Hermes said.      Carl pulled out his wallet, and put it down next to the one Hermes had put there.  They were identical, including the contents.      “A simple duplication spell,” Hermes said.  “Without my innate powers there’s only so much I can do.”      “I mean, I’ve seen stage magicians perform some tricks that I couldn’t explain,” Carl said.  “That doesn’t make it real magic.”      “What would it take?” Victoria asked.      “I don’t know,” Carl said.  “But more than this.”      “I have an idea,” Hermes said.  “But first I have a poker game to get back to.  I can meet you two later tonight.”      As Carl and Victoria were leaving the bar, Carl’s phone started ringing.  Caller ID showed it was Sara.  “Hello?” Carl answered it.      “Where are you?” Sara asked.      “Just following some leads,” Carl said.  “Not sure if they’re panning out or not though.  You talk to his sister yet?”      “Yeah, she positively identified the body, but didn’t have much to offer beyond that.  But we might have just IDed the other two dead guys.”      “Might have?”      “Well, we got identities on them based on their fingerprints, but those identities were of people that died back in the eighties.”      “So they faked their deaths?”      “Possibly, but if so they did a really good job of it.  And on top of that, they were both in their nineties when they supposedly died back then.”      “Of course they were.  I don’t suppose you’ve found out anything about them that would explain anything?”      “I don’t think so, not yet at least.”      “Okay, I’ll be back at the precinct shortly.  See ya then.”  Carl hung up and turned to Victoria.  “Can this magic stuff of yours explain how the other two dead guys apparently died back in the eighties?”      “Resurrecting a person is possible,” Victoria said.  “Although it has to be done within approximately twenty-seven hours of death.  Rules get a bit murkier though for magical beings such as undead and Gods and such.”      “So what you’re saying is it might explain it, but you don’t know how it does so in this situation.”      “Sorry, but there are multiple cults that worship Alket, and this is a newer one.  I don’t really know their methods that well.”      “Look, I’m still not entirely convinced on this whole magic thing, but I’ll meet up with you later when we go see Hermes.  For now though, I need to go back to work.”      “Right, right, see you later.”      “Welcome back,” Sara said as Carl returned to the precinct.      “Thanks, do you have reports on their original deaths from back in the eighties?” Carl asked.      Sara handed them over.  “At the time they were ruled as suicides because they couldn’t find evidence of anyone else’s involvement.  It was poison.”      “What kind of poison?” Carl asked as he flipped through the reports.  “Huh, this is the same kind of poison that was in their bodies in excessive quantities according to Doctor Clarkson.”      “So they supposedly die from this poison in the eighties, but then their still alive now, decades later, but still with what should be lethal amounts of poison in their systems.”      “And then they die from being slashed by swords.  What do we know about them from before they died?”      “They seem to have been relatively normal guys.  Both were long retired by then, of course.  One was a banker, the other was a pharmacist.  Both had wives and kids and grandkids.  No criminal records or anything.”      “Hmm, maybe they’re Zombies or something.”      “I almost wish, at least that would at least explain some things,” Sara said.      “You ever encounter anything that seems supernatural before?”      “I mean, I’ve seen some weird shit in my time, but there’s always been a logical answer.  Why?  You don’t think there’s something mystical going on here now, do you?”      “I don’t know.  I mean, it’s been a weird case, and I don’t know.  I mean, two years ago we’d have thought aliens were ridiculous, and yet now we live in a world where they control chunks of Europe.”      “Maybe, but even still, aliens make more sense than magic.”      “Okay, we’re here,” Carl said as he followed Victoria out onto the roof of an apartment building.      “Excellent, I’ve been waiting,” Hermes said.  He was sitting in a circle that was drawn with chalk, and had various symbols drawn inside it, but he stood up and left it as they came up to him.      “So, what’s this?” Carl asked.      “It’s a summoning circle,” Hermes said.  “We’re going to summon a few magical beings and see if any of them can convince you.”      “Uh huh,” Carl said.  “What kind are we summoning?”      “Why don’t we start with something small,” Victoria said.  “Like a minor Demon.”      “One minor Demon coming up,” Hermes said as he walked around the circle, and touched a few of the symbols inside.  Each one he touched briefly glowed, and the sixth one stayed glowing.  “It’s kind of like a telephone number,” he said.      The circle itself started glowing, then there was a bright flash of light, and suddenly there was a small humanoid figure in the circle.  He had red skin and horns, and looked almost straight out of a cartoon.      “What’s the meaning of this?” he asked.  “Who dares to summon me and interrupt me from my Game of Thrones marathon.”      “Game of Thrones marathon?” Carl asked.      “You know how hard it is to get HBO in Hell?” the Demon asked.  “I had to call in so many favors.  Fine, whatever, why am I being summoned.”      “The Human here needs to be convinced that magic is real,” Hermes said.      “What?” the Demon asked.  “Of all the ridiculous things I’ve been summoned for over the years…I mean, I suppose this isn’t the most annoying but it’s definitely up there.  This one time some asshole summoned me to just play a game of Call of Duty.  But okay, let’s get this over with.”      The Demon snapped his fingers and turned into a crow.  Then he somehow snapped his feathers and turned into a shark.  Then there was again the sound of fingers snapped from his fin, and he turned back into his normal Demon self.      “I mean, that’s certainly impressive, but how do I know it’s not just an illusion of some sort?” Carl asked.      “Step into the circle with me, why don’t you?” the Demon asked.      Carl looked at Hermes who nodded, and Victoria who shrugged.  He stepped into the circle, and the Demon pointed at him, and snapped his fingers again, and suddenly Carl was a flamingo.  Carl looked at himself, and tried to speak but it just came out as squawking.  The Demon snapped his fingers again, and Carl turned back into a Human.      “There, that convince you?” the Demon asked.      “Um, yeah, that’s um… that’s pretty convincing,” Carl said.      “Good, now can I get back to my show?” the Demon asked as Carl got out of the circle.      Hermes once again pressed the final symbol he had pressed before.  There was another flash of light, the Demon was gone, and the glowing had stopped.      “Well, I take it my work here is done,” Hermes said.  “So, I’ll see you two around sometime, maybe, maybe not.”      “So, you’re convinced now?” Victoria asked as she and Carl walked along the sidewalk.      “Mostly, yeah, but why me?” Carl asked.      “We don’t really know why the swords choose who they choose.  They were originally created by Mars, for his sons Romulus and Remus.  Initially they each used one, but things were complicated.”      “I’m not exactly an expert on mythology, but didn’t Romulus kill Remus?”      “Thus the myths say, the truth is that they faked that.  After they created Rome they decided that one of them should publicly run it, while the other ran a sort of secret police to guard it.  They were called Custes, Latin for Guardians.  And as one of the things they protected it from was Alket, eventually Romulus gave his sword to Remus to use both.  After Remus was eventually killed, Romulus took over, even though it meant giving up his position.  And when he died the swords passed to another, and then another, again and again through history.”      “But you don’t know how it happens?”      “Nope, Mars probably created the mechanism, but I don’t know that he has ever told anyone what it is.”      “And what does this mean for my case?  I mean, I’m convinced that magic is real, but I’m not sure how open the rest of the precinct is going to be to that.  And I don’t know if we want to turn them all into birds one at a time just to convince them.”      “Even if they were, the magic division of the ESS would step in before too long.  They try to keep magic hidden from the general populace.”      “Why?” Carl asked.  “And who even is that?”      “Top secret organization that protects Earth from threats, mostly of super-science, but they created a magic division back in the eighties or nineties.  As for why, it’s a bit more complicated.  The short version is that magical entities and users have already been mostly keeping themselves secret for the last few centuries for a number of reasons.  Some to avoid persecution, others to take advantage of their anonymous nature to be able to get away with things.  And the ESS continues this because keeping things secret is their way of dealing with a lot of things.”      “So, I ask again, what does this mean for my case?”      “You already basically know that Howard and the people he was fighting killed each other.  But exactly what happened may just stay a mystery as far as the official record goes.”      “So, I just lie about it?”      “You omit that which you wouldn’t be allowed to say anyway,” Victoria said.  “And we start your training.  It would probably be easier if you weren’t a police officer.”      “I’m not just going to quit.”      “Then we’ll have to work around that.  But we need to make sure you’re ready for the next time Alket tries breaking through into our universe.”      “Which is when, exactly?”      “Every year, New Year’s, at midnight when the year changes.”      “Really?  That’s a regular thing, and wasn’t just a coincidence this time?”      “When it comes to magic, some things are influenced by belief and cultural consciousness.  New Year’s is a time of endings and beginnings in our society, and it’s thus the time when the borders between realms are at their weakest.  So we have the next year to prepare you.”      “Not to mention finding out some more answers about how Howard died, and how those cultists were not already dead.  Even if I’m not solving it as a cop, I still want answers.”      “As do I,” Victoria said.  “And we’ll probably need them to make sure you stay alive too.”

#Carl Bendis #Sara Knight #Victoria Madison #Kat #Hermes #Alket #Howard Stewart #twin swords of Mars #Mars #Romulus #Remus #Custes #Tales of WID 72 #Eric J. Barkman

[charlottebent-blog]

Lead Balloon

Some days my anorexia seems more significant than others. Some days it’s a lead balloon, lassoed onto me. I’m unsettled, constantly reminded of my defect. Troubled and unable to pinpoint my difficulty, I’m lost. Homesick without a home. Some days I’m able to mask my malnourished identity, as if I’m intact. Drifting through normality with ease, forgetting that my health differs from that of anyone else’s. I cling onto these days. I think I was hoping to chameleon my way through recovery. Discreetly adapting to normality, waiting for something one day to click. A mental light switch; the scales will once again balance, and I won’t have to act normal, because I will be normal. These days are soul crushing. It’s only when the mental uproar begins that I appreciate the gentler times.

Unfortunately the days in which I can taste ordinariness have a tendency to deviate from when I actually need them i.e. Monday’s. Approaching the clinic I experience the ever-so familiar Monday morning dread, a similar feeling to the Manchester commuters I am squashed among. Jam-packed with miserable suits and briefcases, it’s a wonder the tram hasn’t sunk with despair. Anxiously picking and tearing my lip to shreds, I attempt to muster up every ounce of strength to withstand an hour of addressing my fears and phobias. I’ve recently taken to sucking my thumb again as a means of self-soothing (like a naive 3 year-old just awoken from a nap), however I refrain from doing so on public transport in a bid to prevent being asked if I’m lost and where my Mum is.

Waiting as patiently as possible, an (I can only assume) ex-drug user informs me that it is cold outside. With my lips being too numb (as a result of mentioned temperature/nervous picking) I’m unable to create a suitable verbal response, therefore I concur this feeling with a nod. I sense he is dissatisfied with this reply. I produce a book from my bag and begin the pretence of reading (a skill which I have perfected thanks to regularly being confronted by drug/alcohol abusers), as I do so I can feel his fierce glare burning a hole in my forehead. The uncomfortable silence is finally broken with Paula’s head abruptly popping through the door like a jack-in-the-box.

Routinely, Paula asks how my week has been and how I feel. In previous weeks I made the error of mistaking how I feel for a feeling (how carelessly silly of me), therefore to  save ourselves the weekly argument of: ‘I feel fat’ 'Fat is not a feeling’ 'Well yes it is because I FEEL fat’ 'Being overweight is a physiological state, not a feeling’ 'I FEEL FAT!!!!’ (I have written the word 'feel’ so much that I am beginning to doubt whether it is an actual word. Something which I had to pause writing to google to ensure I wasn’t going entirely bonkers. For you word boffins out there, there is actually a term for this: semantic satiation. Anyway, now my remaining sanity is reassured, you get the gist of our disagreement) I decide to select a feeling closest to chubby-chub-chubster.

Disgust. Disgust is all I feel. I am disgusting. Despite supposedly having a lower than average BMI I have never felt so hefty, bordering on shot-putter physique (but more wobble, less gristle). My disproportioned diet means I have the complexion of Jabba the hut. Any minuscule amount of photogenic-ness I previously had has been stripped. When someone produces a camera I broadcast a smile so distressing that it causes photos to be deleted automatically. Filled with dread and trepidation at the thought of food, I spend majority of meal-times (plus pre- and post-meal) grimacing like a frightened chimp. Hence why my Grandad never looks shocked when I inform him for the 42,539th time that I am single.  

Feeling childish and pathetic, I tell Paula the difficulty of simplistic daily tasks, such as; walking the dog and deciding what clothes to wear. With gritted teeth to hold back any temptation of an emotional outpour, I sink into the chair. I can’t do this anymore. In an extraordinarily rare occasion I reject  Paula’s 'do you want your life back or not?’ rant. I won’t do this anymore and I can’t do this anymore. I am back to square one, attempting to create inventive, unconventional ways in which I can exist with this defect to attack any of Paula’s sensible suggestions.

Having gained weight in a week in which I was not mentally equipped for, until now I had struggled to ignore Paula’s words of wisdom, but now the voice is stronger and harsher than ever. Defensive, it is easy to resist any logic or sense surrounding food. Paula could be protesting louder than my Dad’s atrocious snoring, she could be amplified with dozens of foghorns, with all the noise in the world, and the voice in my head would still mute her effortlessly.

The frustration with mental illness is that it’s not physical, it may be reflected in a physical manner i.e. weight loss, skin spottier than a dalmatian, lips a distinguishing shade of blue when the temperature drops by 1˚C etc, but the root of the issue is invisible. A distorted mentality; infected thoughts. That’s why it’s difficult to comprehend that these thoughts aren’t mine. They come from my head, they’re inside me, therefore they must be my thoughts. And who are all these people to criticise thoughts that I have created? I’m told there’s something or someone else in my head but how is that possible? (for one my head is the size of a pea on steroids). It’s like asking me to believe in UFO’s or ghosts. If someone had a tumour growing on them they wouldn’t say it had a separate identity, that tumour is an extension of THEIR cells, just like these thoughts are an extension of mine. By telling me they’re distorted is like telling me I don’t know how to think, that I’m incapable of producing thoughts that are my own. These are my thoughts, just like this is my illness. I’m not going to let some unknown presence take responsibility for that.

Despite promising Paula not to restrict, I know it’s a vow I cannot keep. Detecting my refusal of positivity, she blackmails me, informing me that if I disobey she will hit me. Fortunately (for me, unfortunately for Paula) I do not feel threatened by this, mainly because 1) I already have quite a strong case against the NHS for their shoddy eating disorder service in this area, physical violence would only consolidate my claim. 2) With the amount of addicts I have come into contact with in recent weeks I feel I could assemble a fairly intimidating team to help protect me from a small red-headed woman. 3) Quite honestly pain is relief, therefore if she were to thump me she’d be saving me a job, as well as encouraging my allegedly abnormal behaviour. Either way it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a smack to allow me to eat. There’s no talking my way around. This week Shanna is my friend, my ally. I welcome her familiarity like a breath of fresh air. This week I give in to my demons.