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felassan · 3 years

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Mass Effect development insights and highlights from Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

This is the Mass Effect version of this post.

[In case you can’t read it the subtitle in the bottom left logo above is “Guardians of the Citadel”]

Note: Drug use is mentioned.

Cut for length.

Mass Effect 1

ME began its life in a vision document in fall 2003

Codenamed “SFX”

Conceived of by Casey Hudson and a core team from KotOR. Its genesis was the intention to create an epic sci-fi RPG in an original setting that BioWare owned (so they could have full creative control), and in a setting that was conceived of first and foremost as a video game

Initially players could control any squadmate, but they wanted it to be about Shep and for players to be focused on Shep being a battlefield commander, rather than on switching bodies

By the start of 2004 its story was shaping up. Initially humans landed on Mars in 2250 and discovered evidence of an ancient alien race and a powerful substance, Black Sand, which rapidly advanced tech to the point that FTL travel was possible. (My note: obviously now the Prothean artifacts on Mars & associated mass effect force tech enabled this in the final canon, but I wonder if aspects of the ‘Black Sand’ naming-type & powerful substance stuff was rolled into red sand from final canon) Humans were suddenly capable of travel to multiple star systems and made contact with a multitude of other species. At the start of the first game, these species together with humans had a fragile peace, with focus placed on the political center of the galaxy, a hub known as Star City, later renamed the Citadel

Multiplayer was a vision for the series as far back as 2003. The plan was for ME1, an Xbox exclusive at launch, to take advantage of the platform’s online components. Early designs saw players meeting in one of the central hubs to interact and trade items in their otherwise SP adventures

By 2006 it had the name ME and the story was more specific, with the theme of conflict between organic and synthetic lifeforms. The story’s scope now stretched across 3 games and included scope for full co-op MP

They tried to do MP in every game, discussing it from the get-go, but it always just fell by the wayside. “When you’re trying to build something that is a new IP, on a new platform, with a new engine, you’ve got to really focus on the core elements of the game.”

The conversation system prototype was made in Jade Empire, and some of ME’s earliest writing was done in an old JE build. At first there was no conversation wheel. Paragon was “Friendly” and Renegade “Hostile”. In the prototype Shep was a silent unnamed Spectre. Many conversations in the prototype about the player’s choice in smuggling a weapon through Noveria made it into the game

In said prototype a merchant referred to themselves as “this one”, though the word hanar never appeared. The PC in it also had the option to end a conversation with “I should go”. In the prototype also, Harkin was voiced by Mark Meer

An early version of the Mako got used as the krogan truck in ME2

Early concepts of the Citadel were drawn in pencil by CH. A piece of concept art of its final design was painted based on a photo of a sculpture near Aswan, Egypt

As with any new IP naming it was a struggle. They put out a call to all staff for ideas, did polls, made a name generator that combined words that they liked in random ways and made pretend logos of ones they liked in Photoshop to see if they could make themselves love the name or find visual potential in it. (Some of these names are in the pic at the top of this post.) CH liked “Unearthed” as it was a reference to Prothean ruins dug up on Mars and humanity’s ascendance going away from Earth. They knew the game would have a central space station featuring prominently so some of the ideas were based on that - “The Citadel”, “The Optigon”, “The Oculon”. “Element” was another one they had in mind due to the rare substance in the game

CH: “I was a big fan of John Harris’ book Mass, which had epic-scaled sci-fi ideas, so that was a word that came up often. Many of the names came from the idea that the IP featured a fifth fundamental physical force (in addition to the known four of gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear) so the word ‘effect’ came up pretty often.” Ultimately none of the ideas really felt right. One Monday morning they were going over the names and Greg Zeschuk said he had an idea on the weekend: “Mass Effect!” CH: “I said, ‘I don’t hate it’, which in the naming process is a high compliment. And it stuck!”

CH on Shep’s Prothean vision from the beacon: “It was hard to imagine how we would do this. CG was - and is - really expensive. Instead I wanted to try doing it through photography and video editing. So I went to a local grocery store and bought a few packages of the weirdest looking meat that I could find. Then I set up a little photoshoot in my basement, complete with some electronics parts and some red wine for juicyness.” He used these props to create a video sequence where the photos were rapidly cycled and blurred, along with production paintings, to create the scary vision an organic/machine experiment on the Protheans. These mashups were also used as inspiration for concept artists and level designers who were working on these themes

Tali used to be called Talsi

On the licensing side they often joke that they’re licensing N7 not “Mass Effect” due to N7′s popularity

There was a confidential internal guide to the IP in 2007 to help devs along and summarize/synthesize the vision etc. Some excerpts from it are shown in the book and this is the first time the public have ever seen them

Early versions of Asari had hair

Asari were designed as a nod to classic TV sci-fi (with human actors wearing obvious makeup and prosthetics to play aliens)

The turian design guideline was “we want them to be birds of prey”. They also wanted a range of alien types, some close to human like Asari, while others were to be a lot further away, like turians

BioWare patented the conversation wheel, which was a first for them. CH had been frustrated with reviews of Jade Empire that said that the actioncentric game was too wordy [with its list dialogue]. “I’m like, story is words. [...] What is it about our games that is making people feel like they’re wordy?” Then he thought “In a game you kind of need to feel like you’re continuing to play it. Maybe you should continue feeling like you’re playing it actively into the dialogue.” “[The wheel] kind of gave a new experience with dialogue when you did start to react based on emotion, and that’s ultimately what we’re trying to bring out in our games”

The original krogan concept was based on a bat “with a really wide squidgy face. We just used its face on top of this weird body and it kinda worked”

Geth musculature was based on fiber-optic cables, with flexible plates of armor attached

The vision for the IP was 80s sci-fi inspired space opera

The concept art of Saren lifting Shep by the throat inspired a similar scene in-game. The staging wasn’t planned til designers saw that art

A squadmate with Shepard on the way to meet Ash in an old storyboard was called Carter. Early name of Kaidan or Jenkins?

Bono from U2 was kinda instrumental in bringing us ME lol

Finding the right cover art for ME1 was notably tricky

Matt Rhodes got his start drawing helmets for ME1, including one which would become Shep’s “second face”. He estimates he drew between 250-270 different ones

Some of the sounds in-game were people smashing watermelons with sledgehammers and sticking fists into various goos

The audio team had fun trying to slip the iconic main theme into unexpected places throughout the MET. “We were very aware of how powerful that track was for the fans and it was tempting to overuse it for any moment we wanted to make really emotional”.

The theme was creatively repurposed in ME3: slowed down and reworked as the ambient sound for the SR-2. “If you listen to it for a really long time, just stand in the Normandy and listen, you’ll actually hear the notes change slowly. It doesn’t sound like music, it sounds like a background ambiance, but it’s there.” (My note: Well no wonder the Normandy feels so much like home?? 😭 sneaky..)

Bug report: “Mako Tornado”. There wasn’t enough friction between the tires and the ground, causing testers to lose control of the vehicle and send it spinning into the air like a tornado. “As it turns, the front end comes up, and then it starts spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning faster and faster and faster until it just flies up in the sky” (My note: Sounds like a regular day in the Mako to me)

Cerberus originally had a bigger role in this game. It was cut but they had a whole explorable outpost. “I called it Misery,” says Mac Walters, “It was this planet with a little outpost that said ‘Welcome to Misery’”. Everything on the outpost was shit - dirty worn stuff, no windows, no kitchen, the vehicle bay was open to the elements etc

The Reaper sound is literal garbage. Some audio designers went on a recording trip to a national park. One of them got fixated on a garbage can, “a metal bear-proof receptacle with a heavy lid that creaked horribly when opened”. “It was like, ominous, spooky, tonal and almost musical. I decided to throw a mic into the garbage and record it moving. I didn’t know what it was going to be until later”

They were making lots of noises to record like throwing logs and rocks around. An old couple peered at them through the window of their camper van in the woods and must have called the cops because then the cops showed up, pulled them over and told them to stop. The cops towed their car (the driver’s plates were Cali plates and expired), drove them to Edmonton outskirts and then the audio producer Shauna got a call and had to go pick them up “like three little boys”. “We got a stern talking to”. Once back they were playing around with the garbage sound, editing it etc. Casey heard it and proclaimed “That’s the sound of the Reapers”

Preston Watamaniuk: “There are things I could have done to Mass 1 to make it an infinitely better game with better UIs” and some simple cuts and changes. “But when you’re living with it, it’s very hard to see those things”

BioWare Labs

As social media and smartphone games exploded, BioWare dedicated a small team dedicated to exploring opportunities here - BioWare Labs

Mass Effect: Galaxy used a unique graphic art style and static visual presentation common in visual novels. It has the distinction of being the only iOS game BW have made during their first 25 years

Scrapped ideas were a 3rd person space shooter called Mass Effect: Corsair and 2 DA titles - a strategy game and a top-down dungeon crawler starring young Wynne. (My note: Maybe the corsairs stuff was rolled into Jacob’s backstory in 2, the Alliance Corsairs)

Corsair was a very short-lived project that never got its feet under it. It was a spin-off on Nintendo DS featuring a behind-the-ship perspective and branching dialogue. At one point it had MP. The idea behind it was basically “ME: Freelancer” - fly your ship around, do missions, get credits. It had a limited branching story but was a gameplay-centered experience intended to fill the gap between ME1 and 2. That gap ended up being filled by Galaxy

Galaxy and Corsair’s smaller screen allowed concept artists to use bold colors and a simplistic character design style to help those games stand out from Shep’s story

Nick Thornborrow did some art for Corsair but was worried his art style didn’t fit ME. He moved to DA where he feels his art style fits better

Lots of BioWare VAs and even a lead writer and the VO director are drawn from Edmonton’s local community theater scene, which is vibrant. Think this is how Mark Meer got involved

Mass Effect 2

Player choices carrying over was a first for BW

Dirty Dozen-inspired plot

Its plot is a web of conditionals (see Suicide Mission)

Was more of a shooter than anything BW had made since Shattered Steel

There was 2 camps on the team, those who wanted to push combat and systems forward and redefine the ME experience and those who wanted to make a true sequel, with the same gameplay and systems but a new story. Karin Weekes: “I think it ended up being a good push-pull. It felt like a pretty healthy creative conflict”

“ME2 was a game you could hold up to someone who argues that games aren’t a serious medium and go ‘Oh yeah, then why is Martin Sheen in this?’” Sheen was their first pick for TIM

The idea for TIM came from a mash-up of concepts CH had collected over the years. The name “Illusive” originally came from his pitch for naming DAO’s Eclipse engine, a word inspired by Obi-Wan’s line “It’s not about the mission, Master. It’s something... elsewhere. Elusive”. “I thought, what if we called our next engine 'Elusive', but used an ‘I’, and then it’s like ‘Illusion’. [...] I still really like the word with an ‘I’ and what it conjures”

When ME1 DLC was in production, CH had been watching a lot of CNN, specifically Anderson Cooper. “How is one guy travelling to all these places and never looking tired and always being able to speak with clarity?” CH says it seemed almost superhuman. “What if there was someone who is the absolute maximum of the things you would aspire to be, but also the worst of humanity?” Cooper, though not evil, became an inspiration for TIM down to the gray hair and piercing blue eyes

Inspiration for TIM’s behind-the-scenes role pulling political strings came from Jack Bauer’s brother Graem in 24. Graem “can call up the president and tell him what to do and hang up, because he’s so connected and so influential”. Sheen had played a president and his performance brought gravitas and wisdom to the role. He had quit smoking, but the character smokes. He didn’t want to fake it, but he also didn’t want to smoke, “so he actually asked for a cigarette” to hold so he could stop his words to take drags with natural cadence

Writing was still pushing to write and revise lines hours before VO started. A series of problems like injury and some writers leaving for other opportunities left it so that Karin, Lukas Kristjanson and editor Cookie Everman hand to land the story safely, with PW helping where they could. Lukas: “We took over the writing bug and task list, and I can’t stress enough how much [Karin and Cookie] did to get ME2 out the door. There’s no part of that thing we didn’t touch”. Karin: “That was the most dramatic 2 weeks of my life”

Initial fan reaction when they started promo-ing ME2 was very negative because people didn’t want to know about new chars like Jack and Mordin. “[fans were like] ‘Get them out of here. We want our characters from the first game’. But then when they played them, those became some of the most popular chars [of the series]”

Concept art of Thane has an idea annotation saying “Face can shapeshift?”

At one point when designing Thane concept artists sent multiple variations of him to the team asking them to vote on which was the most attractive

Most of the Normandy crew was written by lead level designer Dusty Everman. Lukas gave him advice in the evenings between bugs

BioWare Montreal made ME2 and 3 cinematics

CC for Shep was based on tools used by char designers to create in-game chars. Under the hood similar tools existed to create aliens

Aliens were much easier to animate than humans. When something is human it’s very difficult to make it look realistic and you can see all the mistakes and everything

Over the holiday period in 2007 CH worked out a diagram on a single piece of paper that would define the entire scope and structure of the game. The diagram is included in the book

Bug report: “I shot a krogan so hard that his textures fell off”. At one point shotgun blast damage was applied to each of the pellets fired, and shot enemies ended up with just the default checkerboard Unreal texture on them after their textures got blown off

Blasto was meant to be 1 step above an Easter egg but his fan popularity prompted them to bring him back in ME3

They rewrote chunks of Jack 2 days before she went to VO. She was the only one they could change because all the other NPCs were recorded. They redesigned her mission by juggling locked NPC lines and changing Shep’s reactions by rewriting text paraphrases to change the context of the already-recorded VO

Lukas snuck obscure nods ito ME2′s distress calls. In the general distress call for the Hugo Gernsback, there’s BW’s initial’s and Edmonton’s phone number backwards. In a fault in a beacon protocol there’s the initials and backward phone number from Tommy Tutone’s “Jenny”. In 2 other general distress calls there’s initials and numbers from Glenn Miller Orchestra’s “Pennsylvania 6-5000″ and initials and numbers from Geddy Lee and Rush’s “2112″ respectively

Mass Effect 3

“The end of an era marks the beginning of another”

ME3 “marked the end of Shep’s story”

Saying bye to Shep was as difficult for devs as it was for players

JHale’s final VO session included Anderson’s death and romanced Garrus’ goodbye. “We were in the session and we both just started crying”, Caroline says. “I couldn’t come on the line to give her notes because I was crying, and she was crying. And so there was just this minute-long pause of like, nothing, nothing, nothing - just silence through the airwaves. And then I came on and just told her that I was crying and she said ‘I’m crying!’” They talked about these anecdotes also here on the N7 Day reunion panel

The Microsoft Kinect voice support required devs to teach Kinect hundreds of commands in a variety of accents across multiple languages. The result was useful but made for some awkward moments. Numerous players accidentally said “geth” or “quarian” while making a particular decision and accidentally killed Tali

MP chars were voiced by cops and military people

The helmet on one of the MP chars was originally designed for cancelled project Revolver

The payload device at the end needed to attach to the Citadel while essentially serving as a giant trigger. “It ended up becoming quite the engineering feet just to visualize how this thing would move and connect to the Citadel”

Concept artists explored creating an anti-team, where Kai Leng was almost an anti-Shepard essentially, with an elite squad to counteract your team. This idea never went beyond concept phase

ME3 Special Edition was released on Nintendo Wii U exclusively. This exclusive version of the game includes Genesis 2 (a sequel to the original Genesis comic) and unique gameplay features that took advantage of the touchscreen GamePad. For years Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood had had the honor of being BW’s only game made for a Nintendo console

FemShep regrettably didn’t feature in major ME marketing til ME3. Later releases like DAI, MEA and Anthem have taken increasing care not to gender their protagonists in cover art

To capture combat sounds they took a trip to CFB Wainwright, a military base southeast of Edmonton. They got a big tour of it and were allowed to record anything they could find. The tour ended with them getting to drive and shoot tanks (real shells). The force of doing that sent waves through Joel Green, he felt his whole chest compress when it went off; the perfect sound for the Black Widow! After the trip the soldiers let him keep the shell he fired and it’s been passed on like a torch to various devs since

Kakliosaurs began life as a joke in the writers’ room after John Dombrow placed a Grunt figure on a t-rex toy he had on his desk. Lore was brainstormed to justify the mash-up before someone asked, “Why don’t we put this in the game?” They loved it so much Karin had custom coffee mugs made

Bug report: For a while Tali’s final romance scene would fire when she was supposed to be dead

“Balancing combat: how designers in ME3 entered an ‘arms race’” - the solution to players feeling OP vs players feeling frustrated by really strong enemies is to find a good middle ground, but for designers Corey Gaspur and Brenon Holmes, it was war. Brenon designed enemies, Corey designed guns. Corey “was obsessed with bigger, heavier guns. We had this sort of informal competition where he’d make this crazy overturned gun that would just murder all the enemies, and then I tuned some stuff up to compensate”

Brenon had to invent new ways to “stop Corey” and this led to the Phantoms. Corey had in turn designed consumable rockets that could wipe out entire waves of enemies. He must’ve figured this would make short work of Brenon’s space ninjas, but Brenon had other plans: “I had just added the ability for her to cut rockets [when Corey was playing MP and he was watching]. She cut the rocket in half... Corey just turns and looks at me and is like: ‘Really dude? I just shot a rocket at this Phantom and she’s fine? Not even damaged? Zero damage?’”

This friendly rivalry helped elevate ME3′s gameplay. Corey had a knack for making a gun feel so good to fire it had his fellow designers scrambling to keep up. It was his version of balancing. Before Corey sadly passed away he mentored Boldwin Li in all things weapon design and the arms race continued

Corey designed the Arc Pistol. It was causing problems for enemies because it was too powerful. It seemed hell bent on staying that way, Boldwin would tune down all its stats and it was still doing 3x the damage it should have been doing. “I was like ‘What the hell?’, and then I looked closer. It secretly fired 3 bullets for every pull of the trigger! Corey, you sneaky jerk”

The day it launched there were midnight launch parties across North America including one near the BW building. Numerous devs sat at long tables greeting fans and signing autographs as the fans picked up preorders. When midnight struck the line was long enough that it took several hours for some fans to get their game. One particular fan is remembered: “It was 3am. Some guy drove up from Calgary with his friends. He was like one of the last people in line. I think he was sort of tired-drunk. He threw himself across the tables, pulled up his shirt and shouted ‘Guys, sign my abs!’ And like I did, because he waited so long. It felt impolite not to. So I hope he enjoyed his copy of ME3″

For designing Protheans concept artists had free reign to design something that read as ancient

Before the concept art team had the story of the game to work toward, they explored wild ideas of their own including an image of the crew stealing back the Normandy to go after the Reapers

Jen Cheverie was testing scenes and was initially excited to be testing Mordin scenes, til she saw she was testing the Renegade version of his death. “This is even before like all of the audio and everything was in, so you didn’t even have the sad music. I remember sitting at my desk and my hands just went to my face when I saw that the gun Shep pulls on Mordin is the gun he gives Shep in ME2. I burst into tears and was crying for the rest of the day. People are waving to me as they walk by and I’m like, ‘It’s ok, I’m just killing my best friend’”

There’s a segment called “Shepard’s story ends”. Casey on the ending: “There’s a whole bunch of things that come together to make it incredibly tense and emotional for players. I think the biggest one was the sense of finality, that whatever it was that happened in that very last moment... was it.”

Wrapping up the story was a massive feat. In a way all of ME3 is an ending. Its final moments were the players’ last with a char they’d been with all the way from Eden Prime

“And while the critical reception of the game was extremely positive, many fans were unsatisfied with the ending, which became one of the most controversial in the history of games.” CH: “We were, on one hand, at the end of a marathon trying to finish the game and the series. But as devs we also knew that there would be more. We knew that we would continue to tell the story. In retrospect, we didn’t fully appreciate the tremendous sense of finality that it would have for people”. He envisioned an ending that posed new questions, something in the tradition of high sci-fi that left players dreaming about what that particular galaxy’s future could hold. “Frankly, there’s a lot more that we could have and should have done to honor the work players put in, to give them a stronger sense of reward and closure”

AAA games are massive undertakings with a million moving parts. Somehow they come together but even the best-planned projects don’t turn out quite like devs hope. From start to end video game production is a series of compromises. It’s rare if not impossible for devs to ship a game they’re entirely happy with. “I think that people imagine that when you finish a game, it’s exactly the way you wanted it to be. But whether people end up loving or hating the final result, we work hard to finish it the best we can, knowing that there’s a lot we would have wanted to do better. I think that’s true of any creative work”

As the dust settled after the initial reaction to the ending and later its epilogue, meant to show the wide-reaching ripple effects of Shep’s final choice, “players emerged mostly asking for one thing”. CH: “Now, most of what we hear, after both ME3 and MEA, is ‘Hey, just go make more Mass Effect’. And that to me is the most important thing. Knowing that players want to return to the ME universe is what inspires us to press on and imagine what comes next”

Mass Effect: Andromeda

By creating a new ME in a new galaxy the team was challenged to put their own visual stamp on the game while keeping it true to the franchise

Being the first ME game on a new gen of consoles meant for more detail

“Massive transport ships called arks populated with salarians, turians, humans, asari and quarians” made the risky jump to the Cluster

MEA was the first time BW had truly codeveloped across 3 studios: Edmonton, Montreal and Austin. The bulk of the work especially early on was done in Montreal, which was composed of a handful of Edmonton expats and heaps of experienced devs who joined from elsewhere specifically to bring a new ME experience to life. Series vets in Edmonton then came on to contribute writing, cinematics, design and QA, along with leadership from creative director Mac Walters and the core Production team. Austin writers and level designers also joined the fray

“It took a new team to take ME beyond the Milky Way”

Mac: “A lot of people in Montreal joined BW as fans of the franchise, so they just had this passion, and it felt like it was more like the days of Jade Empire, where a smaller younger team gets to do something for the first time. Even though it wasn’t necessarily a new IP for me, it felt fresh and new because of that. The team was just super excited to be working on it”

Early plans had the player exploring hundreds of worlds, procedurally generated, allowing for a nearly infinite variety of experiences. But as development wore on, it became clear that the game narrative required more specific, hand-touched level design on each world to keep the story focused and the experience engaging. “The plan was to give players numerous uncharted worlds to explore. Designers worked hard to come up with procedural elements that would make such planets special. Eventually the team made the difficult decision to abandon procedural planets in favor of more memorable hand-touched alien worlds, each with a specific story to tell”

One challenge was defining what ME meant without Shep. Care was given to include many of the MET’s key species. “Ryder recruited turian, asari, krogan and salarian followers”. Like Shep Ryder represents humanity’s hope for a peaceful coexistence among aliens who had long operated without human contact

Beginning with MEA the team decided that with few exceptions vehicles in ME have 6 wheels. Early Nomad concepts were bulkier. Later ones focused on its ability to move over its ability to protect itself from hostile fire, underlining the themes of exploration

German concept designer and auto-motive futurist Daniel Simon was contracted to create the Nomad and Tempest. The Tempest’s final design took inspo from the Concorde

Concepts for angaran fighter ships have the following notes: “Two doors swing open, wings rotate down to function as landing struts, the landing struts split open. It has a spinning turbine engine

Despite being set a galaxy away and some 600 years after Mordin’s death, there was a time when he had a cameo. It wasn’t cut due to running out of time however, it was cut due to drug references. John Dombrow explains: “One day I had to write a small quest for Kadara. I thought it’d be amusing if these 2 guys living way out on the fringes in a shack were growing plants for uh, medicinal purposes, and needed Ryder’s help with it. It occurred to me, wouldn’t it be amusing if Ryder had the option of actually trying ‘the medicine’ to see what would happen? And I thought, what if it turned into some hallucination that somehow involved SAM - like maybe SAM would sing? But why? How could I motivate that? Then it hit me. Who else in the ME game sings unexpectedly? MORDIN. As a nod to him I wrote SAM singing Modern Major-General. It got even better when our cine designer John Ebenger wanted to take it even further. Bless him, he came in on a Saturday to do a special hallucination showing Mordin himself. It was great. Til the fateful day we were told MEA had already been submitted to the ratings board. That’s when you declare things like drug references in your game. Mordin fell under that category which meant it was a no-go. We were too late”

Ryder’s white AI armor contrasts Shep’s iconic dark armor (intentional design)

Concept art for Ryder involved experiments with cloth (cloaks, ponchos, capes - “Pull here to release cloak”) and asymmetrical design elements

For alien design, there’s a few exceptions but humanoid figures are the ME standard and this persisted into MEA

Kett and angara concepts explored striking lines and textures

– From Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

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thelordofdarkreunion · 3 years

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The Misty Planet

Here we go. By request, a story (or, in this case, story line) where the Scoundrels meet Deus from the Empyrean Iris stories by starr-fall-knight-rise. Things play out a little differently here, because this time, the Great Game has begun, and there are now more players...

“The game is afoot.” -Sherlock Holmes

The view from the starship’s bridge was quite the sight to behold. A massive red star, glowing with power, shone from outside. The windows were tinted, of course, to allow the individuals inside to see without damaging their vision. But, mighty as the star was, it was another structure that the individuals were examining. The second star. Smaller, but no less beautiful than the first. This one, though, had strange, alien structures orbiting it. Which was why the group was here.

“So. We’re the bloody universe’s problem solvers, I suppose,” muttered Thomas Drake, itching his nose with the edge of a black-gloved finger.

“Well, we were the first to make contact with each other and the other galaxies after the… time-screwy thing. We also prevented the attack on the Citadel, and found out who was behind it,” replied Shepard. “Still working on finding the Shadow Broker and why he… or she, possibly, would want to kill the members of almost every government in the universe.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll figure that one out later. One problem at a time,” sighed Krirk.

“I’m good with that,” said Drake. “Now. On to business. Admiral Vir. Why the hell are we here?” Vir walked up to the viewing glass and let out a low sigh.

“Well, basically, here’s the deal. My crew and I came to the Polaris star, which most of you ought to recognize as it exists in all of your galaxies except one, and saw this weird, unknown structure on Polaris Ab, the smaller star of the two main ones. We have also discovered a planet nearby.” Vir went to a console and pulled up an image, taken from the ground of a strange looking alien wasteland. He let out a deep breath before going on. “This was a picture taken on a very similar planet that my crew found in the past. The two seem to be related.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” muttered Solo. Cooper gave him a blank stare.

“Do you ever not?”

“Occasionally,” huffed Solo. “When we aren’t going to mysterious planets covered with red mist and big black pillars.”

“I agree. The whole thing is rather… ominous,” said Shepard.

“Well, if in doubt, we nuke the whole thing and be done with it,” said Drake. Vir gave him a long-suffering side glance.

“No. We are not going to nuke it,” he said. “There is too much information at stake.” He sighed again. “On that planet, we, or some of my crew and I, received visions of an entity called ‘Deus.’ What Deus is or what it wants we do not know. However, we believe that these planets are somehow aligned.” The holographic image changed, showing the Polaris system interlinked with the other strange, red planet, the Drev homeoworld, the Celzex homeworld, and Earth. “What this place is, who created the massive structure on Polaris Ab, and why these systems are all interlinked is what we are here to find out,” finished Vir.

“Visions?” asked Cain. Not good. Most definitely not good.

“Yes,” replied Vir. “Not harmful or long lasting, though.” The group was silent for a moment, as they decided on how to approach this. Throughout his career as a ship’s captain, and later, admiral, Vir usually operated on his best judgement. While occasionally shaky at times, it usually won the day. However, when wasn’t sure what to do, he usually asked himself one question: what would Captain Kirk do? Well, Kirk was now here, in the same room, and apparently he didn’t have any clue either. Might as well find out what he thinks, I suppose. “Captain Kirk? You seem to be in these sorts of situations a lot. What do you think we should do?” Kirk looked over with a frown.

“We should investigate,” he said finally. “I don’t particularly like it, never have, never will, but we have to see what’s going on all the same.” The group nodded to each other.

“Cooper and Solo, you stay up here in case anything… funny goes on,” ordered Vir. The two nodded their consent. “The rest of us… prepare. Meet you on these coordinates on planet in 45 minutes.”

Aboard the Apocalypse

“Right you sorry lot! We are going planetside to investigate a bunch of alien architecture. There may or may not be hostiles, but this place gives me the creeps,” announced Drake. The Third Squad of armsmen looked over to him. Lucky them. They drew duty rotation when we’re above disturbing planet central. “I’ve been around long enough, seen enough, heard enough stories, and watched enough horror movies to know what’s probably going to happen.” As he said this, a pair of robotic arms locked his armor in place. The armsmen were gearing up and checking their weapons, but still listening intently. “You are going to bring full combat gear, full weapons, the works! The whole works! Everyone is going to be wearing fully sealed armor, and carry an extra respirator on hand, just in case. You are also bringing provisions, again, just in case.” Drake grabbed his plasma rifle and double, then triple checked it. He then keyed his comms. “Richter. Ordelphine. If for some reason we do not make it back, you are not to send any more soldiers down. You have full authorizations for Genesis 19 protocols. Use your best judgement. I trust you two more than anyone else in this fleet, so do not allow them to override you. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.” On the other side of the comms line, Richter and Ordelphine winced. Genesis 19 was code for the complete nuclear annihilation of anything on a planet deemed to be a threat. Drake wasn’t taking any chances here, it seemed.

Aboard the Normandy

Shepard took up a heavy machine gun and checked the ammunition. This place reminded him too much of old Prothean planets, and the beacons located on them. The massive black pillars and the visions Vir and his crew got from being near them were too much like the beacon he had touched on Eden Prime… He still had nightmares about that mission. This time, he was taking no chances. Instead of taking a full team with him, he decided to go with what he normally did, and take three ground crew members. All were carefully selected. Garrus, because he wouldn’t trust anyone else to have his back as well as the Turian sniper. Samara. An ancient Asari biotic. None more powerful or calm in a crisis. Lastly, Mordin. A Salarian scientist. The only expert he had at the moment who might be able to figure out what these ruins were. He hoped it would be enough.

Aboard the Enterprise

Kirk, Spock and Master Chief stood next to the cylindrical grey transporters of the Enterprise. The two Starfleet officers stood, checking their phasers and respirator masks, making sure nothing would go wrong once they got planetside. Alongside them were a group of low ranking redshirts (hopefully they wouldn’t die this time, though Kirk was less than hopeful) and the massive, green-clad figure of the Chief. Said figure was currently looking over all of his weapons, making sure they were all there and battle ready. Out of all the Scoundrels, it went without saying that he was the most physically powerful. It would be his duty to eradicate anything particularly big or nasty they found on the planet. If, of course, there was actually anything there. The fleet’s scanners had picked up no life signs, but everyone was still on edge. Kirk nodded and the group stepped into the transporter.

“Beam us up, Scotty.”

Aboard the Omen

Commissar Cain leaned against a shuttle in the Omen’s massive hangar bay. Of course, as the regiment’s champion of all things strange and alien, he had been chosen to lead the surface party. He couldn’t say no. How would it look to refuse to partake in a mission of this calibre in front of not only the Valhallans, but the Omen’s crew as well? He would lose his status if he did. So, it was with a very heavy heart that he warily donned his tattered set of carapace armor, strapped on his weapons, and made his way to the hangar. Sargent Grifen was already there, along with her squad. At least it was Grifen. Cain had gone through a necron tomb with her squad and lived. If he trusted anyone in the regiment with this mission, it was her. And, of course, Jurgen. Cain’s aide stood by his side, his ever present smell lingering in the air. In his hands he held his melta gun, a weapon that had saved both their lives on numerous occasions. Cain was sure Jurgen had other trinkets hidden in his pouches, in addition to the las rifle slung across his back. Jurgen was ever prepared for anything.

Cain looked up and over to where Admiral Vir entered the hangar. He was backed up by a full contingent of marines and members of the Drev clan, followed by a few of the ship’s scientists. Vir was wearing his suit of Iron Eye armor, fully insulated against the outside atmosphere. Inside it, he was one of the group’s resident super soldiers, able to perform feats no ordinary person could ever aspire to. Vir nodded as the Drev came to ease, resting their spears on the floor, and the marines checked their rifles one last time.

“Let’s get going then, shall we?”

On the Planet

The Omen’s shuttle had landed in some sort of marshland, brackish water reaching up to the group’s shins. Red mist stretched as far as the eye could see. Black plants and a few totally black, dead trees littered the ground. The Milano was parked nearby, on a larger solid stretch of ground, and Quill lounged outside it while his crew looked merely bored at the lack of action on this strange planet. The Valhallans filed out of the shuttle, looking apprehensive in contrast to the Quill’s boredom and Vir’s excitement over exploring new planets. A tiled black road led to some sort of black mass in the distance. A city, if Vir had to guess. How exciting!

A high whining sound rang out, and Kirk, Spock, and Master Chief teleported in alongside a contingent of Starfleet red-shirts. The Chief stood statue still, weapons ready, as the Starfleet operatives joined the crew of the Omen in examining the black plant life that dotted the ground and the spaces in between the road tiles.

The roar of shuttle engineers pierced the air, and the Normandy’s sleek shuttle made its descent alongside the Apocalypse’s heavy gunship transport. Shepard, Garrus, and two aliens Vir and Cain didn’t recognize stepped out of the first, while Drake and a full contingent of armsmen.

One of Shepard’s crew, a Salarian, by the looks of him, made a b-line to the scientists examining the plants, while Shepard and the other two greeted Quill. The Apocalypse’s armsmen disembarked quickly, weapons at the ready as if they were on an active battlefield. Drake made a circular motion to the shuttle pilot, who gave a thumbs up and immediately took off. Drake approached Cain and gave a curt nodd.

“This is your galaxy, Vir, so you’re in charge, but I don’t like the looks of this place. I don’t want to spend a second longer here than I need to.” Cain nodded.

“I agree. This reminds me too much of some of the… stranger things I’ve seen.” Vir pointed to the buildings on the horizon.

“I understand,” he said reassuringly. “Plus, we need to investigate that way anyway. Let's move on.” Vir made a motion to the scientists still crouched along the beginning of the pathway. Dr. Wilson, one of the Omen’s scientists, looked up and held out a vial of the black plant.

“These are all dead. But they’re remarkably well preserved…”

“Wilson is right. Planet is dead. Was once alive, but now everything here is lifeless. Strangely well preserved, though,” rattled off the Salarian, almost without any breaths.

“I’m liking this less and less,” muttered Cain.

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

The group had walked the long titled road in silence, the red mist swirling around them. At one point, there was a rain storm, and Vir had ordered everyone inside one of the decayed buildings they had finally reached. Everyone had taken it differently. Shepard and his crew looked apprehensive. The crews of the Omen and Enterprise were looking over everything with curiosity. Master Chief, Drake, Cain, the Valhallans, and the Apocalypse’s armsmen were fanned out, weapons raised, clearing corners and rooms as if they were expecting something to pop out of the dark any minute. Quill and his Guardians merely looked bored. Again.

They had moved on further since then, into the city itself. Huge black buildings, in varying states of decay, loomed ominously through the fog. The scientists were all muttering to each other as the took readings, while the soldiers had all unconsciously moved into wedge formations. Drake’s gunship whined overhead, ready to provide close air support at his request. Some might have called it overkill and over-caution, but Drake hadn’t lived this long by not taking such measures.

At this point, Vir was starting to get creeped out. Everything here was… wrong, somehow. It was like a faint childhood memory that one knew they remembered, but couldn’t actually remember. The place was… familiar. Sacred, somehow. In addition, it was a decayed city with no signs of life, and no signs of what had happened to it.

“Anyone know what might have happened here?” he whispered to the rest of the group. Somehow, it felt wrong to raise his voice.

“No. Not the Borg’s style,” replied Kirk.

“Reapers would have been more thorough,” whispered back Shepard.

“I have no idea…” trailed off Cain. In actuality, he had a few ideas. None of them good. None of them he could say, either.

They came to a central spot, the roads all branching into what looked to be a main square. A large building rose up in front of them, looking distinctly human in style.

“Should we investigate?” asked Shepard.

“Yes, and no,” replied Drake. “I think some of us should stay here, outside, to make sure no one attacks our rear, while others go inside to investigate.”

“That makes… tactical sense,” replied Vir with a nodd. “Alright. Quill and Chief, along with some of the Enterprise’s crew and Valhallans, stay here. The rest of you, follow me.”

The building, as it turned out, was some sort of massive laboratory. There were test tubes of strange, glowing liquid, some form of massive, incomplete mech hanging on calves, and endless rows of filing cabinets. There were huge factory floors, complete with conveyor belts, all decayed and rusted into ignominy, and rooms filled with rows upon rows of vats of sludge. With every passing room, the entering group got more and more apprehensive. What the hell is this place? What were they doing? Vir wanted to yell. It was all so very strange. So very… creepy.

This went on for some time, the invaders of this strange sanctum touching nothing, until they got to a central room. The heavy blast doors that should have protected it were open. Not a good sign. In the center of the room was a pedestal, and upon the pedestal, a glowing white ball.

“Safeties off,” hissed Drake. “If there’s an ambush coming, now’s as good a time as any.” Vir, Wilson, Kirk, and Shepard walked up to the ball.

“What the hell is this?” asked Shepard warily.

“I don’t know,” replied Vir. “Maybe… some sort of artifact? Communication device? No clue.” Wilson reached out.

“Don’t touch it!” screamed Cain and Shepard as one. It was too late. As soon as Wilson’s skin made contact with the glowing ball, a blast of pure white energy rang throughout the room, knocking everyone off their feet. Soldiers flew in tangles of weapons, and scientists stumbled and knocked into walls.

Cain slid on the floor, and shook his head a moment to clear it of the force the ball had unleashed. He looked around. The Valhallans stood up, checking their weapons to make sure they were still working. Shepard’s team stood up, Garrus bringing his rifle around and Samara glowing with blue energy. Kril and the Salarian scientist stood up. Rigaldis, leader of the Apocalypse armsmen, pushed himself to his feet. All of the aliens were fine. All of the Imperial humans were fine. But the rest, the other humans… Cain checked Shepard’s neck for a pulse. It was there. They were all alive, but completely unconscious.

“What the hell was that?” asked one of the Valhallans.

“Don’t know,” murmured Cain as he studied the unconscious humans. With a suddenness that caused the medic checking him to recoil, Vir’s one organic eye snapped open. It looked straight ahead, completely unseeing, and seemed to have an incandescent white glow about it. The medic waved his hand in front of Vir. He didn’t blink.

“Deus…” he murmured, before falling once more into unconsciousness. Everyone looked around uneasily.

“What do we do?” asked one of the red shirts.

“Don’t touch that,” Cain pointed at the white orb, “But bring them outside. We can’t leave them here.”

Outside was calm, or, as calm as a planet filled with roiling red fog could be. Quill and Master Chief walked up to the group, noticing the bodies flung across many of the soldiers’ backs.

“What the hell happened?” asked the Chief.

“One of the scientists touched some sort of strange white orb,” replied Cain. “It knocked them all unconscious.”

“We noticed some sort of burst of white energy,” said Quill. “Didn’t know what it was. Now we do, I guess,” he added with a shrug.

“What do we do now?” asked the Chief once more.

“It’s a strange, alien artifact, and they seem to be… possessed,” replied Cain. He didn’t want to say it, but there was no avoiding it. All of the unconscious humans had a white glow around their eyes.

“Hmm,” muttered Quill. “Possessed… I think I know someone who might be able to help us here,” he announced after a moment’s deliberation. “I’ll send a message to him.”

“I need to send a message too,” said Cain. “We need to call in the experts.”

Stay tuned, because next time, the experts will arrive, and things are about to get pretty cool...

As per usual, none of these characters except Drake and his crew belong to me. If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, requests, or concerns, please, feel free to ask!

#stories #story #writing #my writing #magnificent scoundrels #humans are weird #earth is space australia #mcu #warhammer 40k #empyrean iris #crossover #crossover story #star trek

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sage-nebula · 3 years

Text

So, the good news: Ghetsis was not redeemed, he isn’t going to have a relationship with N moving forward, and although N was shown to wish things could be different between them, ultimately the whole situation was treated with the seriousness and gravitas that it deserved and N never once forgot the abuse that Ghetsis put him through, nor was he at any point willing to just brush it aside. In that regard, I’m very glad for how Masters handled the situation.

With that said, though, the writing in Masters made me realize something else about how child abuse stories are handled in Pokémon, and that something else is . . . not good. Namely, I’ve realized there is a significant difference between how child abuse stories in Pokémon are handled depending on whether the abusive parent is blood related to the child or not.

First and foremost, let’s get this out of the way: There is a social stigma in Japan against adoption. This isn’t to say that children never get adopted, but that culturally adoption is looked down upon in comparison to having biological children, and as a result there are only a few hundred adoptions each year in comparison to the thousands of kids living in orphanages. (Although this isn’t purely stigma, since in Japan the biological parents can still retain legal guardianship over their children in the orphanages and can therefore prevent them from being adopted by families as well. They don’t do this maliciously, but instead might think, “I will be able to care for my child later” even if that never comes to pass.) Additionally, I’ve read before that the stigma is why adopted children often don’t refer to their adopted parents as “mother” or “father” but I can’t find that source now, so take that with a grain of salt.

Anyway, the point of me saying all of that is: Japan has a stigma against adoption and Pokémon is a video game series created by Japanese people. Therefore, it stands to reason that Japanese cultural beliefs (such as the importance of blood family over adopted family) can make its way into the series, even if the series itself is a worldwide phenomenon that they know will absolutely stretch beyond Japan’s borders . . . and I think that’s what has happened here, intentionally or otherwise. Basically, whether an abusive parent in Pokémon is redeemed or not seems to have very little to do with the severity of the abuse (including that which is shown to the audience), but instead everything to do with whether their children are biologically related to them or not.

First, let’s take a look at the abusive parent that was redeemed, Lusamine. In Sun & Moon specifically Lusamine is not once shown being anything but abusive to her children. Lillie tells a story of how Lusamine was kind to her a couple times in the past (dancing in the rain, co-sleeping when Lillie was sick), but that falls in line for abusive parents. Abusive parents generally aren’t abusive 24/7; there’s a well-known cycle of abuse which contains a “honeymoon period” stage in which, typically after an apology and a promise to do better, the abuser treats the victim kindly, which usually results in the victim believing that the abuser really does love them and that whatever abuse comes later (and it always does come later) is in fact the victim’s fault on some level, for failing to keep things stable. Regardless, we know that not only did Lusamine abuse both Gladion and Lillie terribly in the past (to the point where Lillie has trauma surrounding even the clothes she wears and has trouble getting new ones), but we also see her verbally and emotionally abuse them on-screen, and then we see her attempt to murder Lillie during the climax. While Lusamine was retooled into being a well-intentioned extremist in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, we again see her verbally abuse her children on-screen, to the point where when Hau says that Lusamine really isn’t a bad person after all, we see Gladion grimacing in the background. All told, we see Lusamine emotionally, verbally, and (with her attempted murder in SM) physically abuse her children on-screen, and yet she is still forgiven by them pretty much immediately, redeemed, and treated as if they’re a happy family with just a few unfortunate bumps in their history. I’ll note here, for anyone who isn’t already aware, that Lusamine is Gladion and Lillie’s biological mother, and this is obvious by how similar they all look even if you weren’t told repeatedly.

Now let’s look at the abusive parent that is not redeemed, Ghetsis. In the first set of Unova games, Black & White, most of Ghetsis’ abuse of N happens off-screen and isn’t revealed until the climax. Ghetsis had N raised in a castle underground where he was cut off from society. He was brought pokémon that had been abused so that he could be manipulated into thinking that all humans abused pokémon and that pokémon needed to be liberated therefore. Because Ghetsis needed N to act as King of Team Plasma and control the legendary dragon, Ghetsis didn’t directly abuse N during this time. Instead, he neglected him (N was primarily raised by his sisters, Concordia and Anthea), and psychologically abused him via manipulative lies about what the rest of the world was like. It isn’t until the climax when N has decided to disband Team Plasma and listen to what the player has to say that Ghetsis brings out the verbal abuse, calling N “a freak without a human heart” and revealing that he was only ever using N all along. In the sequel games, Ghetsis is similarly openly hostile to N again, showing that he has no intentions whatsoever of being a good father to him. He’s pretty terrible to him, even if we didn’t see very much of it (particularly in comparison to what we saw with the Aether family, whose abuse was also much more realistic than N’s situation), and pretty much no one would want him to be redeemed. But also it’s important to note that N and Ghetsis, despite having the same hair color, are for whatever reason NOT biologically related.

And this is hammered home time . . . and time . . . and time again, particularly in this Masters event.

Now, I think most of us would agree that it would be hard to find a woman who would want to procreate with Ghetsis. Granted, Ghetsis isn’t the type of person who would care about consent, but I do think it’s reasonable to assume that Game Freak probably wanted to avoid those thoughts, even though it could have been very easily solved by having a female Sage who was also Ghetsis’ baby mama / wife (similar to how Ariana, one of Giovanni’s executives, is very obviously Silver’s mother). So I mean, from a taste standpoint, I can see why they wanted to go the adoption route with Ghetsis, even though they still made him and N have green hair despite not being biologically related for some reason.

But.

I still think it’s noticeable that they have the irredeemable abusive parent be the one who both had the least amount of on-screen abuse (and also the least realistic abuse) and also be the adopted parent, versus the one they bent themselves into pretzel shapes to redeem be the one with the most on-screen abuse (and most realistic abuse) who also happened to be the biological parent. The message that sends, to me, is that it doesn’t matter how badly you abuse your children in this world so long as you are their biological parent. In the end, you will be forgiven and they are beholden to you as family. Versus if you’re an adoptive parent . . . well, you were never as important anyway, so. I mean, why else would Lillie leave her loving adoptive parents of Kukui and Burnet to go back to her abusive mother in Sun & Moon? Clearly the blood ties were just that much more important. (Granted, Kukui and Burnet hadn’t officially adopted her, but they as good as. I’ll never stop being infuriated by that ending.)

This is, to a lesser extent, even shown with Giovanni and Silver’s situation. Giovanni was, to our knowledge, never actually abusive toward Silver; in the one conversation we see them have in HeartGold & SoulSilver, Silver’s main issue is that he doesn’t understand why Giovanni is disbanding Team Rocket after losing to Red, and also he doesn’t get why Giovanni needs so many underlings to begin with. He thinks Giovanni is weak, and Giovanni just tells him that he’s wrong without really bothering to explain things. At most, Giovanni is aloof and distant with Silver, which makes Silver angry, but Silver’s bigger issue is with Team Rocket as a whole. Giovanni’s definitely not a good father, but he’s not an abusive parent on par with Lusamine or Ghetsis from what we’ve been shown, and the implication is there that they could potentially repair their relationship in the future. Even in this event, the tension between them wasn’t bad, just complicated.

But . . . they’re also biologically related. Silver is Giovanni’s son, we’ve been told this a million times, and it’s very obvious that Ariana is his mother. They’re biologically related. And so, even though Giovanni is routinely touted as one of Pokémon’s most fearsome villains, Silver will never actually cut him off completely / be able to do that because Giovanni is his biological father. The fact that Team Rocket is based on yakuza probably complicates things even further there, but all the same. If Silver had been adopted by Giovanni, I’m pretty positive that Giovanni wouldn’t care / Silver would cut him off entirely. It wouldn’t be seen as a “real” family.

And this all bothers me, because not only was my biological mother abusive, but my stepmother was the only one who treated me as a mother should treat her child. Similarly, my biological sister was complicit and even participated in the abuse I suffered as a child, but my stepbrother whom I’ve known practically my whole life is the sibling I’d ride or die with. To me, biological ties mean jack shit. Family doesn’t begin or end with blood; to treat non-blood relations as lesser is something that will never fail to raise my hackles. So to see it handled this way in one of my favorite franchises of all time . . . yeah, it’s more than a little upsetting. I understand why it’s happening, I’m fully aware of the cultural context that this series is being written in, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it, because I don’t.

And before anyone gets it twisted:

Both Lusamine and Ghetsis can rot in hell, NEITHER should have been redeemed. This is NOT me complaining about Ghetsis being treated as the piece of shit he is, but rather my anger at the fact that Lusamine got a pass because she birthed the children she abused, and Masters making that abundantly clear by having N and Ghetsis state in every single chapter of this event that they weren’t blood related.

But anyway, it’s nearly 4am, and I need sleep. I can continue being angry about Pokémon’s handling of abusive parents at a later date.

#pokemon #pokemon masters #pokemon critical

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characteroulette · 2 years

Note

Also ⭐⭐⭐⭐

(I dunno what to talk about don't give me this free reign ;w; )

uhhh let's stick with Game Kids! and let me talk about uhhhh Chapter 10, We're Not Alone.

First appearance of Damon and gang in the game!!! I feel kinda bad sticking long descriptions into anything anymore, but I do love it when I get the chance to describe a character. I've been drawing these kids for years now, so I was gonna make sure to give them a moment to shine. ;w;

there are a bunch of fun details in this chapter in how the game works. like the hint that Vektoria's path through the game is actually on a parallel stretch to Vektor's! And that their systems are separated so that Paige can only hear the players loaded into hers, while Dante and Petel and them can't hear the other Navigator, Jonathan while inside the game. (Paige can't either, but that should be a given hahaha) It's an unbalanced sort of PvP setup because that's not something the Creators ever gave much thought to hahaha. and also to discourage them from befriending one another, I guess.

We also get a brief rundown of how the game's enemies work, with the Classes and the Non-Hostiles. Every single Non-Hostile, Dante recognises as decidedly not usually benign, but this is a Petel POV chapter so we don't get that detail until later hahaha. And Vektor gets offended at being called an NPC because of the literal meaning of the words. I love little moments of Vektor not quite grasping nuance, it makes him a fun character to have bounce off of these more human ones hahaha.

we also get to see that Damon and his gang don't really listen to Vektoria, kinda like how none of Petel and crew listen much to Vektor hahaha. the kids hate being told what to do! and Vektoria is wayyy worse at it than Vektor. I unfortunately don't get to show much of the abrasion between Vektoria and Damon's gang in here, but it does show through at least a little! Petel and the others see it and are constantly thankful they have an annoyance like Vektor instead of a less-forgiving Vektoria, at least. Though I feel bad for Vektoria, she's made several decisions as to why she's so antagonistic and no one understands that really. (not that she'd ever explain it, she's very stubborn)

This is also the first time we get to see Vektor and Vektoria immediately resort to battle instead of, like. listening to anyone else on their teams hahaha. the flippant way Damon and the others treat it is fun, I like that all the kids equally treat this as just a fun distraction (outside of Dante and the two AI programs).

Abraham stabbing his eyes was a last minute change hahaha. He used to just stab himself in the chest, but then I was like "wait I have a source for the bad code in him" and changed it to stabbing out his eyes. Not entirely sure how that would work, considering spoilers, but it's a game and their forms aren't completely solid so I'm using some uhhh exploits here. =7=

(Dante shouting "Liar!" at Damon is meant to have weight, but like. I didn't know how to frame it better or build up to it more. I had to cut out like several scenes in which Dante actually interacted with Damon and Niculaie before the Locked Out chapter, so this probs sounds like it comes outta nowhere in the moment whoops. Dante and Damon's whole relationship gets better explained in Book 2 I just wish I was able to fit it into Book 1 better aaaaaaa)

And then Niculaie's Berserk! I'll be honest, I followed a very simple formula for each level of the game in writing this story hahaha. The kids always get to see a Berserk from their opponents and it's just because I wanted to show them off since I designed all of them. I think, had this been in Dante's POV and not Petel's, we might've gotten more actual heartache over Niculaie becoming a giant Vampire Bat. Niculaie himself is a very fun character who gets underutised because my cast is too damn big, but Heritage and Inheritance are important themes to his character. He's inherited this vampirism from his family and he fucking hates it, my poor boy. ;w;

Petel reaching his decision to apologise to Sonya is also really nice. we love a wolf who can recognise they were in the wrong about something. ;w; and the chat they and Vektor have is honestly one of my fave little moments. I love pairing off the characters to have talks because it gives me time to really explore their personalities and motivations and dynamics. Vektor also gets to talk a bit about the story as it's been written for him (and we unfortunately don't get to see Vektoria's side on it. probs at all. ughhhhhhhh) and we get a cool Actraiser reference since the Mainframe Kingdom is built directly on top of the Mainframe in order to seal away the enemies living inside!! listen if there is one thing I loved doing in this book it was referencing some of my fave video games (there are two whole Undertale references in this book lol)

and then Petel and Sonya get to hug and mostly make up. ;w; Sonya and Petel are bffs and I wanted to get that out there a bit more, since Sonya doesn't get as much time to shine, but I love the little worry birdie as much as Petel and co. do so this was a nice little moment for that. ;w;

and that should be it hahahaha sorry for talking your ear off there =7=

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thatboomerkid · 3 years

Text

SpellJammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon (Additional Campaign Materials)

part of the Player’s Packet (ver 1.3)

for use with the First Edition Pathfinder Role-Playing Game

by Clinton J. Boomer

with special thanks to Andy Collins, Scott Schomburg, Chloe Michelle, Dennis Detwiller, David Gerrold,and George Loki Williams

additional campaign materials may be found here

All SpellJammer: Shadow of the Spider-Moon campaign materials are brought to you absolutely free to play, to test & to share, as always, now and forever, by the fine folks of my Patreon.

RELIGION ACROSS PYRESPACE

Yondalla and Her Saints: The Hin – and, by extension, all those they conquer – practice a monotheistic faith, worshiping a single bountiful earth-mother-deity, Yondalla, alongside an astonishing number of her Saints; the Church also recognizes the power of Asmodeus, King of Hell and Master of Devils, who is commanded by Yondalla to punish the wicked.

Technically, Asmodeus and his Seven Devil Princes – Dispater, the Iron King; Mammon, the Spirit in Gold; Belial, the Pale Kiss; Geryon, the Serpent; Moloch, the Ashen Bull; Baalzebul, Lord of the Flies; and Mephistopheles, the Merchant of Souls – are all Saints of the Church.

The Ordo Repentia Infernalis serves as the “secret” inquisitorial arm of the Church: dedicated to the tracking & execution of heretics, especially (but not limited to) worshippers of Dagon.

Many of the other Saints recognized by the Church of Yondalla are, in point of fact, actually deities once worshiped by various (now conquered) human cultures, deemed inoffensive enough to be folded into Mother Church as “blessed of Yondalla, beautified in her holy light”.

Direct worship of these Saints is illegal (a form of idolatry), but observation of a Saint’s holy day — in accordance with Church Law — is encouraged. In some of the more culturally relaxed parts of Cyrrolaelee, for example, prayers to Saint Fharlanghn are as common as prayers to Yondalla.

Other Saints, such as St. Davian, are near-mythologized historical figures.

---

Corellon and Lolth: To be clear, “worship” is a strong word.

That said, the elves of Perianth venerate quite deeply the honored, immortal founders of their august race, seeking the guidance and blessing – in equal measure – of their Emperor and Empress in all things.

The Western Courts identify Corellon as a sun-deity (the Phoenix Emperor) and Lolth as a moon-goddess (the Beautiful Eclipse), while the Eastern Courts refer to Corellon as a lunar deity (the Moonlit Dragon) and Lolth as a sun-goddess (the Crimson Empress).

No matter the court, Corellon is regarded as master over the wild Seelie, while Lolth is understood to be mistress over the demonic Unseelie.

---

Dagon: The single unifying, founding principle of the Ordo Repentia Infernalis is to seek-out the extermination of Dagon, the Shadow in the Sea, false god who sleeps beneath the waves, and of all who bow in fealty to him.

Of his horrid church, little enough needs be known: wicked dreams born of his thrashing nightmares in the black Abyss at the bottom of the world corrupt men to heresy, blasphemy, cannibalism, witchcraft, transmutation into horrid monstrosities of the deep, and human sacrifice.

The Court of Dagon

Although the vast, dark Shadow in the Sea is commonly understood to act, moment to moment, as the simplest and most ravenous of oceanic beasts -- an unthinking, thrashing monster of pure bloodthirsty instinct and hatred -- the Church of Yondalla identifies seven wicked spirits that serve him: dancing about his throne, attending to his every whim.

Shax, Demon Lord of Envy & Murder

Xoveron, Demon Lord Gluttony & Ruin

Areshkagal, Demon Lord of Greed & Riddles

Nocticula, Demon Lord of Lust & Beauty

Socothbenoth, Demon Lord of Pride & Perversity

Jubliex, Demon Lord of Sloth & Filth

Orcus, Demon Lord of Wrath & the Dead

The Inquisition makes special effort to watch the gargoyles under their care and in their service, as the race was known -- in ancient days -- to serve the demon Xoveron; many clergy members require that gargoyles under their command remain upon a strict diet, so as not to temp the spirit of gluttony.

---

Vasalissa the Beautiful: So little of “original” gnomish culture survives to the modern era – in the wake of countless cataclysms – that no unifying “faith” can be said to unite the diaspora of what was once the Circle of Gold.

That said, gnomes and warforged light candles and whisper quiet prayers to Vasalissa the Beautiful: a clever, tenacious protagonist who appears again and again across the deep storytelling tradition of the gnomish people: a sprawling, multilayered weave of tales that stretch back to the time of their world’s pre-history, the memorization of which borders on the spiritual.

Common tales in the canon – upon which every TRUE storyteller is expected to add his or her own unique twists – often deal with the trials, misadventures, and misfortunes of Vasalissa and a few other stock characters:

Mother Kindness (also called ‘Grandmother Kindness’)

The Child Dreamer

Greedy Glitterpot & Lumpy Fathead

The Hungry Baby

Elder Tree

The Honest Youth (sometimes ‘The Two Honest Youths’)

The Farmer’s Wife

Mocho & Pocho (one of whom is always hungry, and the other of which is always sleepy)

Cleverest Jack (sometimes with his twin brother, Mister Hubris)

The River Serpent

The First-Forged, and his three children: Stone, Wood, and Tin

Mean-Old-Two-Heads, the Giant

The Silent Wolf

Curiously, the natives of Fenris tell fantastic tales, in their own languages, nearly identical to the ancient legends of Vasalissa and her many adventures.

---

Cult of the Dragon Moons: As far as the Chirch of Yondalla is concerned, this organization is merely a group of deluded Dagon-worshipers seduced into a bizarre heresy obsessed with returning-to-life the ancient “dragons” that are said to have once ruled Pyrespace.

This bizarre faith is known – and possibly native – to every world in the system, but is most prevalent in the jungles of Verdura and across the dunes of Ashen.

---

Moradin: The dwarves do not speak often of their religion, but keep it close to heart: burning, eternally, in a fortress of stone buried beneath their breast.

———

PYRESPACE TIMELINE

This timeline is based on the Yondallan calendar, which dates events to before and after the defeat of the giant Gol’Kaa by St. Davian (‘Ano Davia’ or the Year of Davian) and the subsequent rise of the Hin as the dominant form of life on Quelya.

Although years, months and even days are difficult to translate between planetary bodies, this single system is still the most frequently used: the current official time and date are tracked at the Great Clockhouse of Lagas, maintained by the Church of Yondalla, and backed-up in the nation-city of Beshaba.

The average occupant of the system does NOT know most of these dates nor the majority of the information presented here, with perhaps the exception of bolded items; these more-detailed notes are included simply for player reference, especially for the benefit of characters with an education in system-wide history.

—–

???? – the mysterious Precursors reign undisputed over the entirety of Pyrespace, preforming such impossible miracles as seeding humans across the system, uplifting the Crown of Sapphire to serve as a miniature star, crafting the Hole in the Infinite (a wormhole in orbit around the Crown of Sapphire), crafting the Celestial Pearl (for reasons unknown), establishing a number of now-fallen megastructures (cities, temples, and more esoteric objects) on every known world, and – according to several ancient records – the establishment of a now-vanished interplanetary “web-way”.

-1500 A.D. (approximate): The eastern and western courts of the elves unite beneath a single banner; the elven empire is established on Perianth under the immortal guidance of Corellon Larethian and his bride Lolth.

-1500 A.D. (approximate): The dwarven clans of Moradin’s Forge cease open hostilities with one another, establishing an uneasy truce in the face of heightened goblin aggression.

-1500 A.D. (approximate): On the Circle of Gold, conflicts between gnomes and ratfolk enclaves escalate into the First Rat-Slaughter; first generation warforged created; in the wake of their victory, gnomes begin experimentations in the craft of clockwork and establish significantly larger cities.

-1099 A.D.: Unexpected disaster strikes the gnome home-world, destroying much of their culture’s history and technological progress.

-807 A.D.: The five elven noble houses serving beneath House Larethian are founded in full.

-787 A.D.: Unexpected disaster strikes the gnome home-world, destroying much of the culture’s history and technological progress.

-391 A.D.: Unexpected disaster strikes the gnome home-world, destroying much of the culture’s history and technological progress.

-218 A.D.: The nation of Kozah-Talos (a human nation controlling much of what would later become Brandobaris) finish their conquest over the human nations of Malar and Umberlee (which occupied what would later become Arvoreen), uniting the majority of Quelya’s sole continent under a single war-banner: leaving only the human nation of Auril and the wild deserts surrounding the City of Beshaba outside of their control.

-205 A.D.: A diplomatic accord is reached; the nations of Kozah-Talos and Auril unite to form the modern nation of Brandobaris; distant ports and holdings of Old Auril – including the “Cities of Sisterhood,” Shar and Selune – secede, declaring themselves independent (as the Isles of Tymora).

-197 A.D.: Arvoreen established as single nation under Brandobarin control; Arvorean land used as a “training ground” for Brandobarin officers and a proving-ground for both troops and tactics for use in wars against Cyrrollalee, Urogolan, and the Isles of Tymora.

-101 A.D.: House Larethian defeats a great enemy, further uniting the noble elven houses.

-17 A.D: The lands of Arvoreen are fully pacified under Brandobarin control.

0 A.D.: St. Davian defeats the giant Gol’Kaa, the last human king of Beshaba, in single combat; he and his armies establish the greater Church of Yondalla across the surrounding lands, extending into Arvoreen.

13 A.D.: Unexpected disaster strikes the gnome home-world, destroying much of the culture’s history and technological progress.

92 A.D.: Brandobarin aggression against Cyrrollalee abandoned.

138 A.D: Brandobarin aggression against Urogolan abandoned.

211 A.D.: The nation of Brandobaris unofficially cedes control of Arvorean land to the rule of local warlords (and to the expanding Church of Yondalla).

327 A.D.: The Church of Yondalla controls the entirety of the Rio Provendor from Beshaba all the way south to the World Ocean; the port-city of Lagas is founded at the mouth of the massive river (on Arvorean lands).

354 A.D.: The last human king of Arvoreen abdicates his throne in the face of famine, riots, and threats of civil war; the Church of Yondalla declares Lagas the new capital city of Arvoreen and rapidly puts an end to the uprising, ensuring lasting peace and Hin dominance of the nation.

371 A.D.: Unexpected disaster strikes the gnome home-world, destroying much of the culture’s history and technological progress.

459 A.D.: War breaks out along the Rio Provendor between the Hin-controlled nation of Arvoreen and human-controlled Brandobaris.

522 A.D.: Brandobaris invaded by raiders from Urogolan.

606 A.D.: The last human king of Brandobaris is executed, ceding total control of the Green Fields to Hin dominance and the oversight by the Church of Yondalla; raiders from Urogolan expelled.

616 A.D.: The Unseelie War begins; House Larethian splits, with a third of the House choosing the side of Lolth; Corellon vanishes; elves create the first SpellJamming vessels.

651 A.D.: First Crusade of Tymora begins, as the Church pushes to claim the island chain; the famed “Cities of Sisterhood” – Shar and Selune – are renamed ‘Dallah’.

727 A.D.: Unexpected disaster strikes the gnome home-world, destroying much of the culture’s history and technological progress.

729 A.D.: Second Crusade of Tymora begins, pushing from the occupied city of Dallah.

783 A.D.: King Ulliam of Cyrrollalee is gifted the legendary blade Caladcholg, symbol of his family and of the rightful rule over the Isle.

859 A.D.: The Unseelie War ends; House Larethian retreats to Perianth; House Lolth and loyalist “drow” imprisoned upon the Spider-Moon; the elven people abandon use of SpellJamming technology.

807 A.D.: Third Crusade of Tymora begins, fighting island-by-island to Perryroyal.

921 A.D.: Port of Perryroyal fully pacified under the Church of Yondalla.

928 A.D.: Gnomes independently develop SpellJamming technology, rapidly expanding beyond the Circle of Gold to explore the other moons orbiting the Crown of Sapphire.

971 A.D.: All elves and drow born before this date have since passed on.

972 A.D.: Gnomes establish the first of several small colonies on Fenris.

988 A.D.: Trade between Xhiaae-Lan and Perryroyal established.

1001 A.D.: All contact with the gnomish colonies on Fenris is lost.

1008 A.D.: Urogalandic attacks on Hin soil spur the Church of Yondalla to war; the Siege of Mordheim begins.

1051 A.D.: Gnomes make first contact with the dwarves of Moradin’s Forge, allowing the two races to begin trade; first dwarven SpellJamming vessels are prototyped.

1069 A.D.: Unexpected disaster strikes the gnome home-world, destroying much of the culture’s history and technological progress.

1101 A.D.: First dwarven SpellJamming vessels are completed.

1118 A.D.: Perryroyal lost to attacks by cults of Dagon.

1123 A.D: Dwarves establish total control over all moons orbiting Moradin’s Forge and begin exploration of Fenris.

1221 A.D. All gnomes born before this date have since passed on.

1227 A.D.: Dallah and the island-chain of Tymora lost to attacks by cults of Dagon.

1271 A.D.: All dwarves born before this date have since passed on.

1283-1289 A.D.: City of Lagas assaulted by cults of Dagon.

1292 A.D.: Gnome explorers pass beyond the Celestial Pearl, establishing Zionil Station, and make first contact with the elves of Perianth.

1307 A.D.: Einar Jarlsenn, the last human king of Urogolan, is slain as the Siege of Mordheim finally breaks the “unconquerable” fortress.

1313 A.D.: Island-chain of Tymora retaken from cults of Dagon.

1321 A.D.: City of Dallah retaken from cults of Dagon.

1333-1370 A.D.: The Hole in the Infinite opens, releasing Hive entities onto the moons orbiting the Crown of Sapphire; elves establish a quarantine-zone at Zionil, barring all travel in-system from areas infected with the Hive contagion.

1342 A.D.: Second-generation warforged developed by gnome engineers.

1366 A.D.: Merchant-families and moneylenders in Lagas successfully lobby for greater greater involvement in the politics of Arvoreen and Brandobaris, displacing many hereditary noble families.

1391 A.D.: Perryroyal retaken from cults of Dagon.

1408 A.D.: Inaugural temple dedicated to the Church of Yondalla established on the soil of Xhiaae-Lan.

1416 A.D.: Hive menace to gnomish space successfully contained to five moons: Flandal (Hive Colony Nehemoth), Segojan (Hive Colony Euclid), Baervan (Hive Colony Keter), Baravar (Hive Colony Thaumiel), and Urdlen (Hive Colony Apollyon)

1419 A.D.: Unexpected disaster strikes the gnome home-world, destroying a dangerously large portion of the culture’s history and technological progress; off-world gnome colonies successfully mitigate the very worst of the disaster.

1459 A.D.: First Cyrrolaelan Crusade begins.

1463 A.D.: Hive Colony Nehemoth successfully eradicated from Flandal; third generation warforged developed.

1477 A.D.: Second Cyrrolaelan Crusade begins.

1491 A.D.: Third Cyrrolaelan Crusade begins.

1492 A.D.: The Circle of Gold – the gnomish home-world – is destroyed in a horrific cataclysm, forming the Chain of Tears. Gnomish history, technology, and culture suffer incalculable loss.

1493 A.D.: Shao Liang, the last human king of Xhiaae-Lan, surrenders his lands to the Church of Yondalla; peace treaty is signed at Perryroyal.

1502 A.D.: First contact is made between Elves and Hin; Hin become a SpellJamming culture.

1507 A.D.: Dún Ailinne, former capitol city of Cyrrollalee, is utterly destroyed; the human courts of Cyrrollalee abandon their cities for the countryside, forming a government-in-exile.

1521 A.D.: All Hin born before this date have since passed on.

1536 A.D.: All half-elves born before this date have since passed on.

1551 A.D.: Eldest playable elven/drow characters born.

1582 A.D.: The last human kingdom on Quelya falls when King Fergus mac Róich of Cyrrollalee is killed by an elven military force allied with the Church of Yondalla; the ancestral blade of King Ulliam’s line is subsequently lost, and Cyrrollalee becomes a protectorate of Arvoreen. The city of Moander is built on the ruins of Dún Ailinne.

1603 A.D.: New Arvoreen established on Verdura.

1607 A.D.: Youngest playable elven/drow characters born.

1608 A.D: Armed peasant rebellion put down in Cyrrollalee.

1611 A.D.: All humans born before this date have since passed on.

1614 A.D.: The city of Salt Lake established on Ashen.

1619 A.D.: Contact lost with the city of Salt Lake; remnants never recovered.

1622 A.D.: New city of Salt Lake established on Ashen.

1627 A.D: Eldest playable gnome characters born.

1628 A.D.: Armed peasant rebellion put down in Cyrrollalee.

1630 A.D.: City of Salt Lake suffers 80% casualties after sandstorm.

1632 A.D.: City of Salt Lake rebuilt and reinforced with new colonists and heightened security.

1634 A.D.: On Ashen, work begins on the city of Core.

1636 A.D.: New Arvoreen on Verdura significantly expanded.

1639 A.D.: Eldest playable dwarf characters born.

1640 A.D.: City of Salt Lake successfully repels inclement weather, suffers 30% casualties.

1646 A.D.: City of Core declared fully operational.

1648 A.D.: Reserves from Salt Lake assist the city of Core during a mining incident.

1652 A.D.: Peasant rebellion in Cyrrollalee successfully expels Hin occupying forces, destroying several Arvorean military bases and Yondallan holy sites; using stolen ships, rebellion attacks and burns several coastal villages on Arvorean soil before retreating.

1656 A.D.: City of Salt Lake suffers 50% casualties during small seismic event.

1658 A.D.: Populations of Core, Salt Lake, local mining operations, and surrounding farms are bolstered by arriving waves of indentured settlers: human sentenced to penal transportation.

1661 A.D.: The mining-station of Chaldira in founded on Fenris.

1667 A.D.: Nation of Markovia founded on Verdua; diplomatic trade established with New Arvoreen.

1669 A.D.: City of New Arvoreen significantly expanded.

1674 A.D.: Salt Lake survives minor meteorological event; rates of the forcible immigration of incarcerated humans to Ashen doubled.

1676 A.D.: Eldest playable Hin characters born.

1677 A.D.: Youngest playable gnome characters born.

1678 A.D.: Youngest playable dwarf characters born.

1680 A.D.: Arvorean armada successfully retakes Cyrrollalee, imposes the Purge of Moander.

1683 A.D.: Eldest playable half-elf characters born.

1684 A.D.: Punishment via ‘transportation to Chaldira’ instituted by Church of Yondalla; operations on Chaldira expand significantly.

1691 A.D.: Disruptions by local wildlife impose 10% casualties on Salt Lake.

1694 A.D.: Eldest playable human characters born.

1699 A.D.: Armed peasant rebellion put down in Cyrrollalee.

1699 A.D.: Youngest playable Hin characters born.

1700 A.D.: Youngest playable half-elf characters born.

1701 A.D.: Brandobarin facility of Acheron founded on Ashen.

1702 A.D.: New Arvoreen significantly expanded; land officially cleared for Covington Farms, soon to be the largest agricultural facility in the system; rates of forcible immigration of indentured humans to New Arvoreen tripled.

1703 A.D.: City of Salt Lake establishes new oil fields under supervision of Acheron.

1705 A.D.: Youngest playable human characters born.

1708 A.D.: The Illithid first arrive at the edge of Pyrespace, immediately striking at the inhabitants of Moradin’s Forge and the Forge-moons, establishing a base of operations on the planet’s inhospitable surface.

1711 A.D.: The last holds of Clan Stonehall finally fail before the combined might of illithid forces, bolstered by a united army of goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and ogres. No independent dwarven communities remain on the Forge (nor on the Forge-moons), and the home-world of the dwarves is effectively lost.

1715 A.D.: The Illithid release the Drow from their moon-prison, beginning the age of dark elven piracy across Pyrespace.

1719 A.D.: City of Salt Lake suffers 20% casualties in a series of minor industrial accidents.

1721 A.D. (current year): Campaign begins.

#pathfinder #SPELLJAMMER #timeline #religion #campaign #setting #campaign guide

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pictureswithboxes · 3 years

Text

Chapter 6 of Understanding The Heathers is up.

AO3 Link [x]

There was a phenomenon where if a domestic cat was left on its own long enough, it would revert back to its feral state. Her father had told her that this was referred to as going ‘house feral.’ After seeing and hearing about how often The Heathers’ parents were out of the house, Veronica was sure that The Heathers had gone house feral. That was the only way to explain the horror show that was the game of Monopoly Veronica found herself part of.

Though, she was less of a player and more like a referee.

“Heather, get off of Heather!” Veronica exclaimed when Chandler had tackled Mac onto the floor after she had bought ‘Pennsylvania Railroad.’

“You know that it’s my strategy to buy all the Railroads!” Chandler growled.

They paid her no mind as Mac wrapped her legs around Chandler’s waist and reversed their positions handily. “It’s everyone’s strategy to buy the Railroads! You’ve already got two, I couldn’t let you get them all! It’s just good sense!” She pinned Chandler’s hands above her head with one swift motion.

Veronica averted her eyes, feeling rise to her cheeks. Her mouth went a little dry, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was intruding on a private moment. Especially with how close Mac and Chandler’s faces were, their noses were practically touching and their lips were mere inches apart.

“She’s right, Heather and you know it. We’re all in it to win.” Duke said, she looked more interested in reorganizing her money than with whatever the hell was going on right next to her. “If you guys fuck up the board, you’re going to have to fix it.”

“Oh my god, fine, Heather!” Chandler rolled her eyes. “Just let me up!”

Mac sat up, not taking her eyes off Chandler. “Just remember, I can do this any time I want.”

Veronica cleared her throat. “Heather, it’s your turn.” She said, nodding her head toward Duke.

If Veronica had known that playing a game with The Heathers meant that there would be acts of violence, she would have thought twice about betting against them. So far Chandler had already torn the three property cards in half, Mac was balling up her bills and throwing them at the people she owed money to, and Veronica already had to wrestle a hammer from Duke. She didn’t even want to know what Duke was going to do with the hammer.

Duke rolled the dice and let out a loud cheer when she saw the result. She’d landed on the Free Parking space.

“Fuck you entirely!” Chandler shouted, slamming her hands against the coffee table.

Duke laughed as she collected the bills from the center of the board. “You’re just mad because half of this came from you.”

“That’s exactly why I’m mad!” Chandler snapped. “Just you wait, you’ll land on my hotels and I’ll get all your fucking cash.”

Veronica looked at the board and had to admit, Chandler was right. Each Heather had their own different strategies, Chandler had elected to buy and develop around one of the corners of the board so it was almost impossible to avoid landing on a property owned by her. Duke aggressively bought up properties as quickly as she could, she didn’t even bother with the Utilities. Mac’s strategy looked like she only wanted to sabotage the other two more than she wanted to win.

Meanwhile, Veronica was simply trying to survive.

“I’m so scared.” Duke rolled her eyes.

“It’s my turn.” Veronica announced, rolling the dice. She was at the point where she almost wanted to go bankrupt. It was exhausting to be the banker, babysitter, and to actually play the game.

She rolled a five and landed on ‘Luxury Tax.’

“Tough break.” Mac said as Veronica doled out seventy-five dollars.

Veronica shrugged and passed the dice to Chandler. “Your turn.”

Chandler didn’t roll immediately, instead choosing to take a few moments to assess her properties.”I want to put a house on Kentucky Avenue.” She said, passing Veronica the appropriate amount of money.

“Sure thing.” Veronica took the money and handed Chandler one of the tiny, plastic houses that came with the game.

Chandler rolled a seven and landed on a Chance square. “Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw.” She muttered under her breath after reading her card.

Veronica was about to ask what the hell that meant when Chandler cut her off.

“Enjoy the charity.” She rolled her eyes and tossed a fifty dollar bill at Veronica, Mac, and Duke.

“Gee wiz,” Duke rolled her eyes. “This is life changing.”

“Shut up, Heather.” Chandler snapped, handing the dice over to Mac. “It’s your turn, Heather.”

The game continued and this level of hostility never wavered as time wore on. The closest thing to a fight that happened was when Mac took Duke’s plate of pizza and frisbee tossed it across the room when Duke started a housing crisis. Veronica was less horrified by the sound of the plate shattering, and more so by the way The Heathers had disregarded the sound. Going bankrupt was a blessing, if Veronica was being honest.

Two hours in and they were still going strong. This had to be a world record.

“Please.” Veronica groaned, she was now laying on the floor and blindly doling out the cash as requested. “Please tell me it’s almost over. I’m so tired, you guys.”

“Fuck off, Veronica.” Duke snapped. There wasn’t a trace of exhaustion in her tone. “I’ve got Heather on the ropes.”

“No you don’t!” Chandler growled back.

“Please, Heather.” Mac scoffed. “The only reason you made it to this round was because you were in jail for so long. “If you roll a one through five, you’re paying me. And you barely have any liquid assets left as it stands. You’re going to have to start auctioning off your properties.” She let out a little laugh. “Well, more of your properties.”

Veronica didn’t bother to look at the board to see what Mac meant.

Chandler eventually went bankrupt and the other three had to physically stop her from flipping the board. It was another half hour after that before Duke ran out of money and Mac took home the victory. Veronica wasn’t sure how the hell that had happened, seeing as Mac’s main goal from the beginning was to simply hinder the others’ progress.

“I can’t believe it’s over.” Veronica murmured as she, Duke, and Chandler cleaned up the game board. “I don’t think I’ll ever recover from this.” She turned to the two of them. “You’ve scarred me for life, I never want to play Monopoly again!”

Mac yawned from her spot on the sofa. The winner never had to clean up the mess, apparently. “Now that I think of it, Monopoly is kind of a trash game.”

“We should play Ticket to Ride, next.” Chandler said as she carefully counted the houses to make sure there weren’t any missing.

“No way, we should play The Game of Life.” Duke argued.

Chandler scoffed. “Please, Heather, you always try to sell your kids when you get in a pinch.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” Veronica found herself saying. She glanced at the clock and was horrified to see that it was nearing one in the morning. “How the hell did you three manage to stretch a monopoly game for almost four hours?”

“We all really wanted the bragging rights.” Mac replied easily. “Which reminds me, Heather, Heather, is there something you wanted to say to me?”

The other two sighed before chorusing “You are a titan of industry” to Mac in an annoyed tone.

“Am I a pretty titan of industry?” Mac asked, batting her eyelashes.

“You’re beautiful.” Duke and Chandler sighed together.

. .

Veronica sat at the lunch table, looking over her study guide for her AP Lit class. She wasn’t worried about the test that day, but it was still important to have a bit of a refresher. The Heathers, who had that class during second period, assured her that it would be a piece of cake, but Veronica would rather be safe than sorry.

“Honestly, if you even read the back of the book you should be fine.” Chandler said, looking bored out of her mind. “All you have to know is that Edna is trapped in her little gilded cage and wants to bone Robert.”

“The hardest part is trying to spell the names right.” Mac added offhandedly, she was working on her math homework and therefore not paying much attention. “Ms. Fleming said she’d mark us down if we spelled the names wrong.”

“I think that was directed at us, specifically.” Duke said. “She was still a little miffed that Heather called Mademoiselle Reisz an old crone.”

Chandler laughed a little. “In my defense, I thought it was funny at the time. How was I supposed to know that the sewer witch that is Ms. Fleming would go off the handle?”

“She’s more of a gutter hag.” Duke said after a moment of thought. “Her being a witch implies that she has powers.”

“But I’d rather be in a gutter than in a sewer.” Chandler frowned before taking a sip of her Diet Coke. “Let’s go with sewer hag. That way she’s in a sewer with all the rats and shit and piss, but also she can’t cast spells.”

“It’s decided, Ms. Fleming is a sewer hag.” Duke said as she and Chandler high-fived with a smile.

“Of course you guys would have a committee to create insults.” Veronica found herself laughing.

Chandler and Duke grinned at each other.

“So, Veronica,” Chandler said, leaning forward and resting her weight on her elbows. “As much as I hate to change the subject, Halloween is fast approaching...”

“And?” Veronica furrowed her brow.

“And,” Duke rolled her eyes. “We, as in Heather, Heather, and myself, always do a group costume. Now that you’re part of the group, we figured we’d see if you wanted to... you know, be part of the group.”

Veronica thought for a moment, usually she and Martha gathered up the worst, most D list, scary movies they could find and make a night of it. This year, however, Martha’s grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary was on the second of November and she was to go out of town with her whole family for the long weekend, starting right after school on Halloween. Veronica was planning to just stay home and pass out candy with her parents.

“Sure thing.” Veronica shrugged.

“Cool.” Chandler looked at Mac. “It’s Heather’s turn to pick a group costume, by the way.”

“You guys don’t go trick or treating, do you?” Veronica asked. She couldn’t picture the three of them going door to door begging for candy.

The Heathers looked at each other.

“Not quite.” Mac replied. “We’re doing that volunteer thing through the school where you take a few kids trick or treating around the neighborhood and then their parents come get them.”

“You should sign up if you want.” Chandler added. “We always need more people and it’s an easy way to get volunteer hours. The kids do whatever you say, it’s basically just going for a walk around the neighborhood. You don’t even really have to look at them.”

“We’re gonna watch our favorite scary movies after, you should come.” Duke said, looking over to Mac. “Do you know what we want to be, Heather?”

“I’m gonna need some time to ponder.” Mac said, closing her math book. “I don’t know any iconic groups of four off the top of my head.”

The first group that came to Veronica’s mind was The Teletubbies. There was no way in hell that she was going to tell The Heathers that, she didn’t want to risk it.

“We need an answer by Wednesday.” Chandler said, pointing at Mac sternly. “Halloween is fast approaching and we need to look good.”

Mac mock saluted Chandler. “I’ll start brainstorming tonight.”

“Speaking of making plans.” Veronica figured this would be the best time for a subject change. “My parents want me to have you guys over for dinner.”

The Heathers looked at Veronica like she’d grown a second head.

“Why?” Mac asked.

Veronica’s brow furrowed. “I’ve been spending a lot of time with you guys, is it so weird that my parents would want to get to know the people who are taking up some real estate in my life?”

“I guess not.” Chandler frowned. “Do they think you’ve... you know... gotten in with a bad crowd? Or something?”

“No.” Veronica shook her head. “Well, my mom thinks you’re all weird as hell, but they don’t think you guys are bad seeds.”

“So... They just want to meet us?” Duke asked.

“Is it seriously so weird that my parents are taking an interest in my life?” Veronica exclaimed.

“... Yeah, kinda.”

. .

Veronica was nervous as she helped her mother set the table. The Heathers would be over any minute and while Veronica was sure that her friends knew better than to be inappropriate or rude to her parents, she was terrified that they might start bickering at the dining table. Her parents already thought that The Heathers were weird as hell and they had barely interacted, Veronica was sure that if The Heathers were themselves in front of her parents, she would be banned from seeing those girls ever again.

“I’m so excited to get to know your friends a little better.” Veronica’s mother said as she put out the napkins. “I already know Martha so well, I feel like getting to know them will help us get to know you more.”

Veronica laughed. “You might want to run and hide if you get to know me too much.”

Her mother sent her a fond smile. “I certainly hope you’re joking.”

Just as Veronica was about to speak, there were three sharp knocks on the door. Veronica froze, half expecting to hear her name being screamed from outside. It was jarring to say the least.

“I’ll get it.” Veronica’s father said as he walked to the door.

“Is that them?” Veronica’s mother asked. “No one’s screaming.”

“Yeah,” Veronica nodded. “It’s kind of an inside joke between us.” She shrugged. “Heather Chandler does that to all of us.”

“What a card.” Her mother said with a confused look on her face.

“To say the least.” Veronica nodded, turning toward the door as her father led The Heathers into the dining room. “Hi guys.”

The Heathers had all elected to wear something more conservative than their usual outfits. It was like they were trying to look business casual.

“Hi Veronica.” They chorused together.

“Thank you so much for having us over, Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer.” Chandler said as they entered the room fully. “Is there anything we can do to help out before dinner?”

Mac and Duke both smiled and nodded, looking at Veronica’s mother expectantly.

“You’re just in time, actually.” Veronica’s mother smiled. “Dinner is ready and Veronica and I have got the table all set. Why doesn’t everyone sit down and Mr. Sawyer and I will bring dinner out.”

Veronica moved to the dining room table while her parents entered the kitchen. “Take a seat guys.” Veronica said, gesturing to the table.

Mac and Chandler sat on one side of the table while Duke sat beside Veronica on the other side. They sat ramrod straight, like they were awaiting a job interview or something. Veronica had to admit that it kind of felt good to know that they were taking this as seriously as she was.

“I know we just told you to tell your mom to make your favorite,” Mac whispered, she looked a little concerned. “But what did she make?”

“Spaghetti with extra oregano.” Veronica replied.

Mac let out a sigh of relief. “Okay cool.”

Her parents returned and they began to break bread and eat. They made some small talk for a little while, Chandler and Duke led the conversation a little more than Mac did. Veronica was surprised that Chandler hadn’t ordered Duke to shut up at least once since dinner had started. She was expecting it.

“So, Heather.” Veronica’s father paused. “Uh... Heathers. What do you do outside of school? Are you part of any groups? Any hobbies?”

“Well, I’m the senior class representative to the PTA.” Chandler said, sitting up straighter. “I'm also a member of the NHS. I used to be on the debate team, but it conflicted with student leadership. So I had to drop it in my sophomore year.”

“We’ll it sounds like you keep busy.” Veronica’s mother said with a smile. “And what do the rest of you do?”

“I’m head of the yearbook committee.” Duke said. “It’s a lot of work, I assign most of the stories and me and the advisor are going to edit and put the yearbook together. I’m also in the NHS with Heather. And I do a lot of reading.”

“What kind of books do you like?” Veronica’s father perked up. “I, myself, like spy novels.”

Duke smiled and nodded. “I’m more of a fan of the classics, myself. Moby Dick is an old favorite, but right now I’m reading Of Human Bondage.”

Veronica frowned at that. “I’m sorry, what are you reading?”

“Of Human Bondage, by W. Somerset Maugham.” Duke said, turning to Veronica. “It was written in like nineteen-ten or something, and it’s all about this orphan with a clubfoot living in London.”

“Oh, I think I’ve read that with my bookclub.” Veronica’s mother smiled. “It’s a little wordy, don’t you think?”

“So far, it’s pretty good.” Duke shrugged. “It’s no Moby Dick, though.” She turned to Chandler. “Heather has some opinions about Herman Melville.”

Veronica watched Chandler fight an eyeroll.

“And Heather, what about you?” Veronica’s father prompted.

Veronica fought the urge to laugh at her father’s poor attempt at a subject change. He only ever read trash books and beach reads, the classics didn’t hold his interest in the least.

“Oh,” Mac looked a little like she had been taken by surprise. “I’m head of the cheer team. It’s my job to help the coach put together stunt formations and choreograph routines, I also run the pre-practice drills. I’m also part of NHS.”

Veronica had almost forgotten just how perfect these girls were on paper. They were every parents’ wet dream, people sent their children to school in the hopes that they would fall into The Heathers’ crowd. And here Veronica was, in their crowd, completely on accident.

“Wow, you girls certainly keep very busy, don’t you?” Veronica’s mother sounded very impressed, and also a little concerned. “You are making sure to take time for yourselves, right?”

The Heathers looked at Veronica’s mother with confused faces.

Chandler recovered first. “Of course we do.” She smiled sweetly. “It’s just important to be well rounded, you know?”

“It looks good on a college app.” Duke added.

“I’m just full of school spirit.” Mac grinned.

Veronica laughed at that.

The rest of the dinner went off without a hitch. The Heathers were perfectly perfect in every single way. Veronica wasn’t sure what had her so anxious in the first place, if The Heathers knew anything, it was how to put on a show. They’d even offered to clean up after dinner. By the time they’d left, Veronica was sure her parents would be under the same spell as the students of Westerburg High.

“You liked them, right?” Veronica asked after she’d watched them leave in Duke’s Jeep.

“Oh, they’re lovely girls.” Veronica’s mother said. “A little stiff, though. Were they nervous?”

“I don’t think they are physically capable of feeling nervous, Mom.”

. .

“I’ve decided what we’re going to be.” Mac said, sitting down on Veronica’s desk once their Econ teacher gave them independent work time.

“Oh really?” Veronica asked as Duke sat beside her and Chandler perched herself on Duke’s desk. “Was today’s lesson about resources and scarcity inspiring?”

Mac laughed at that. “No, I wasn’t listening to that at all.” She set her text book on her lap and began to fill out her worksheet. “I was too busy thinking about Rose McGowan in Jawbreaker.”

“I don’t understand the logic.” Veronica said.

“She watched Jawbreaker last night and loves Rose McGowan.” Duke said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“We had a whole conversation about it last night.” Chandler added. “I swear, Heather went on for hours about how she’s in love with Rose McGowan. I was getting kind of jealous, if I’m being honest.”

“Why would you be jealous?” Veronica asked, earning an annoyed glare from Chandler.

“As I was saying,” Mac cut in. “I’ve decided that we’re going to be the Flawless Four from Jawbreaker.”

“The original Flawless Four or the one with Fern?” Duke asked.

“The original, duh.” Mac replied with a grin.

Veronica frowned and tried to remember the last time she’d watched the movie, Jawbreaker. She’d watched it with Martha, who had a habit of talking through movies, and was never really able to get into it. She remembered being entertained, nonetheless.

“And who’s gonna be who?” Chandler asked.

“Well, I want to be Rose McGowan, obviously.” Mac said.

“Heather, you don’t have brown hair.” Duke pointed out.

“Wig technology exists.” Mac turned to Chandler with a pout. “Please let me be Rose McGowan. I never get to be the mean one.”

“They’re all mean, Heather.” Chandler was averting her eyes from Mac’s. She was desperately trying to avoid eye contact.

“Come on, Heather.” Mac leaned into Chandler. “Please!”

“Just let her be the bitch.” Veronica sighed.

“Veronica is right, Heather.” Duke said, earning a glare from Chandler. She met the glare, not backing down. “Please.” She scoffed, smirking a little. “Heather already had you in her back pocket, it was just a matter of time.”

“It’s true.” Mac nodded. She whispered something into Chandler’s ear that made Chandler’s cheeks turn slightly pink. “I had you on the ropes.” She said at full volume.

“So who are the rest of us gonna be?” Duke asked. “I don’t want to be the dead one.”

“No one wants to be the dead one!” Veronica had to struggle to keep her voice down.

“Veronica has to be Rebecca Gayheart.” Mac said quickly. “She’s the tallest, and so is Julie.” She looked between Duke and Chandler. “One of you has to be the dead one.”

Chandler and Duke stared each other down for what felt like almost a full minute before Chandler spoke.

“I sure as hell am not going to be Foxy.” She said confidently. “So I guess I’ll be the murder victim.”

“You’d rather be dead than Foxy?” Veronica asked, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice.

“I just figure that at some point during the night, you guys are going to have to carry my limp body around during the party.” Chandler shrugged. “And I, for one, think that sounds very fun.”

“Oh yeah, we’re definitely gonna haul you around!” Mac nodded excitedly. “We have to make you a jawbreaker lump and everything!”

“Well, now that we have that settled,” Chandler snatched Duke’s worksheet from her and began to look it over. “Let’s get this assignment done.”

“How many times have you guys even watched Jawbreaker?”

. .

Signing up to chaperone kids while they go trick or treating turned out to be a better idea than Veronica had originally thought. The rules were simple, each chaperone was to be assigned four kids, sent out with their group for two hours, then had to return their four kids to the adult in charge. She didn’t even have to deal with parents, and it was even encouraged for groups to go together.

“I can’t believe that this was basically a two hour walk through the neighborhood with my friends.” Veronica asked Chandler for clarification as she and her group joined The Heathers’. “It can’t possibly be this easy.”

“It is.” Chandler nodded, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “All we have to do is not die of frostbite.”

“I told you to bring mittens.” Mac said, turning around. She had been walking a little ways in front of the group and had to walk backward to show off the thick, yellow mittens she was wearing. They each had a little, red triceratops on them.

“Yes, I know, but I didn’t listen, so here we are.” Chandler rolled her eyes.

“I wore mine.” Duke said from Chandler’s other side. She showed off her own pair of mittens, they were green with bears on them. “You should have worn yours.” She looked at Chandler with a smirk. “Your Nana worked so hard on them.”

“Your Nana made you all mittens?” Veronica couldn’t help but laugh a little at the thought. She couldn’t picture what Heather Chandler’s grandmother was like. “That’s adorable.”

“Yeah, her Nana’s pretty cool.” Duke shrugged. “She’s way better than my grandma.”

“What’s wrong with your grandma?” Veronica asked. If Duke’s grandmother was anything like her mother, she could understand why Duke didn’t care for her.

“She’s really sweet, but also really religious.” Duke replied as they stopped outside of a group of houses. “When she came to America, she got really into Jesus. And she’s really hateful about the weirdest stuff. Like she’ll go off about women with short hair and we always have to be like ‘What would Jesus say about you having so much hate in your heart?’ And then she gets all teary eyed.”

Veronica frowned. “I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t that.”

“Her grandma doesn’t even look at me whenever I’m around her.” Mac added.

“That’s because she hates the Irish.” Duke shrugged. “I told you not to use your last name when you first met her.”

“I was nine. She threw a potato at me before asking me if I liked being a part of the IRA.” Mac grimaced.

“This is really putting a lot of pieces of the puzzle together.” Veronica laughed. “It just explains so much.” She turned to Chandler. “Please tell us more about your Nana that knits you and your friends adorable mittens.”

“Hers have stars on them.” Duke smiled.

Chandler sighed. “She’s a ridiculously old and rickety lady who’s horrible to everyone except for me because I’m the baby of the family and I have the most pinchable cheeks of all her grandchildren. And my complexion is perfectly peaches and cream that she could just eat up.” She smiled a little. “I’m her favorite.”

“Every answer brings more questions.” Veronica couldn’t help but laugh.

Veronica watched as their groups of kids returned to the four of them with grins on their painted up faces. The smallest one, a girl who was dressed as a witch, ran up to Veronica.

“They gave me two pieces!” She said with a smile that showed off her lost tooth. “Do you want the other one?”

Veronica felt her heart break a little at how cute this kid was. “That’s so sweet of you!” She took a fun sized candy bar from the little girl’s hand and gestured to another group of houses. “We should try and hit as many houses as possible before we have to get you to your parents. Don’t you want a huge haul?”

The little girl and the rest of the group all nodded.

“Then we’d better motor!” Mac announced, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet.

The kids cheered as Veronica and The Heathers led them toward the next group of houses.

“We need to think about heading back soon. We don’t want the kids to be late.” Chandler said.

“Good, every minute I spend not watching the first or second Scream is a minute wasted.” Mac said, earning a nod from Duke.

“And I Know What You Did Last Summer.” Duke added.

“Do you guys just really like movies that have Sarah Michelle Gellar in them?” Veronica asked.

“We love SMG.” Chandler said. “Heather changed her house’s voicemail to ‘Omega Beta Zeta, you’ve reached The McNamaras.’”

“My dad still hasn’t noticed.” Mac grinned, turning around as their groups ran up to them. “Whatcha guys get? Anything good?”

Veronica watched in horror as the children slowly pulled toothbrushes out of their candy sacks. “Now that’s just awful.” She said.

“People like that need to be stopped.” Chandler said, crossing her arms. “What do you guys say we head back to the school? Maybe hit some houses we might have missed on the way back?”

The kids let out a little cheer before heading off in the school’s direction. Veronica and The Heathers trailed behind them, they were chattering about how excited to get back to Mac’s place. Veronica listened as they walked, she’d normally love to join them, but when she’d asked her parents if she could go over, they’d told her that just because it was a holiday didn’t mean it wasn’t a school night. Her curfew was still in effect unfortunately.

They made it back to the school a few minutes before eight and filled out their child return paperwork. It almost felt like they were returning books at the library. Except instead of a fine for a late return, she would be suspended and probably charged with child endangerment.

“Your parents said it was okay for you to come to Kurt’s party, right?” Chandler asked while Duke and Mac turned their children in. “Because we’ll look really fucking stupid without you.”

“Don’t worry.” Veronica said, leaning against the lockers. “My mom was actually kind of worried that I’d be depressed and lonely because Martha’s gonna be out of town this weekend. And my dad just kept reminding me to call him if anything happens and that I wouldn’t get in trouble if I did.”

“You know that’s a lie, right?” Chandler crossed her arms. “That’s what they always say, then you call them and next thing you know, you’re grounded into next month after being screamed at for an hour straight.” She let out a humorless laugh. “Not the kind of family bonding I was hoping for.”

Veronica almost told Chandler that her parents, unlike Chandler’s, were good and normal parents. Almost. Instead she just hummed an acknowledgement. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Chandler nodded. “I look ridiculous in my costume, by the way.” She said after glancing toward Mac and Duke. “Heather’s lucky she’s cute, otherwise I would not have agreed to be a murder victim wearing skimpy pajamas for Halloween.”

Veronica smiled a little at that. “What did you want to be?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Chandler shrugged. “It was Heather’s turn to pick.”

“You guys are kinda cute, you know.” Veronica gently shoved Chandler’s shoulder.

“Of course we are.” Chandler scoffed. “Don’t let it get around though, we’ve got a reputation.”

“Cross my heart.”

. .

Stepping into Kurt Kelly’s Halloween party was awkward to say the least, and not just because their terrible date was still in the back of Veronica’s mind. It was mostly due to Heather Chandler’s insistence that she, the dead body of the group, should be carried into the house like it happened in the movie. So there Veronica was holding Chandler’s legs, while Mac supported her middle and Duke had her under the arms, hobbling up to Kurt Kelly’s front door just so Chandler could get the entrance she wanted.

It was so dramatic and stupid that Veronica didn’t even really mind it.

People turned to watch them as they carried Chandler over the threshold and into the house. A few guys wolf whistled at them as they hobbled by, Veronica was sure it was more due to Chandler’s outfit, or lack thereof. The girl she was dressed as only wore a pair of panties and a tank top in the scene Veronica and The Heathers were recreating, and Chandler was definitely going for accuracy with her outfit. It had taken the combined efforts of Veronica and the other Heathers to convince Chandler to wear a pair of flesh colored tights,

“Aren’t you glad you wore those tights?” Duke grunted as she readjusted her gip. “It’s cold as fuck outside and you’re basically in a tanktop and panties.”

“Shut up, I’m supposed to be dead.” Chandler replied, not opening her eyes.

“Then stop wiggling.” Veronica demanded, trying to maintain her grip on Chandler’s legs. “When can we put you down? I swear, you are the worst murder victim ever.”

“I don’t mind carrying her.” Mac said, she was smirking a little.

“That’s because your hand hasn’t left my ass since you guys picked me up.” Chandler snapped. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“I swear to god I’m going to drop you if you don’t shut up.” Duke groaned.

“So, uh, what’re you supposed to be?” Kurt asked, approaching with a tray of jello shots. Veronica had no idea what his costume was supposed to be, but it involved being shirtless. “No wait, let me guess... You’re...” He paused and took a closer look at Chandler’s neck. “What the fuck is on your neck?”

“It’s a jawbreaker.” Chandler replied, kicking her legs a little. “Veronica, put me down.”

Veronica obliged and dropped Chandler’s legs so she could stand up fully. The giant lump on her throat was unsettling due to the amount of time Chandler had spent making it look as real as possible. She looked like a real choking victim.

“Well, you ladies look great.” Kurt said, not taking his eyes off Chandler. “Maybe I’ll be able to unmask you later? See the woman beneath the costume...?”

It had to have taken all of Chandler’s self control not to vomit all over Kurt at that line. He must have been thinking of that since before the party.

“Anyway,” Kurt continued, shoving the jello shots forward. “You all need a jello shot! I made them myself!”

Veronica almost scowled at the memory of her first jello shot, but took one anyway. Maybe this time she wouldn’t end up spilling half of it down her face. “Thanks, Kurt.” She said as he wandered away, offering his shots to anyone with an open hand. “How the hell do I eat this thing without spilling all over myself?”

Mac laughed and took Veronica’s shot out of her hand. “First you have to loosen the mold.” She said, squeezing the shot container before passing it back to Veronica. “Then you either use your finger or your tongue to guide it into your mouth and slurp it into your mouth.”

“You could use a spoon too, but then you’d have to make the walk of shame to the kitchen.” Chandler supplied before downing her shot. “I use my tongue because I don’t want to have to deal with having a mess on my hands.”

Duke followed suit. “Same here, but you might want to try using your finger for your first real try.” She looked like she was trying not to laugh.

Mac rolled her eyes. “Just finger the shot a little, it’ll loosen it up.” She started poking at her own shot to demonstrate. “Once you have it nice and loose from the fingering, you tilt your head back and just let it slide down your throat.” She downed the shot quickly before smiling. “See? One day, you’ll be able to just do it with your tongue, but you need to get used to it.”

Veronica did as Mac instructed and poked her shot probably a little too roughly before tipping her head back and letting it slide into her mouth. It tasted a lot better than the first one she’d taken, that was for sure. And she didn’t lose half of the shot either. It still tasted like crap though.

“Kurt cannot make a jello shot to save his life.” Duke said with a shake of her head.

“It’s because he doesn’t let them cool long enough.” Chandler said, linking arms with Veronica and pulling her toward the backyard while the others followed. “They don’t set properly and they start to separate.”

“And it’s gross.” Duke scowled.

“Where are we going?” Veronica asked.

“We’re going to the keg!” Mac grinned, throwing an arm around Duke. “Gotta get this party started!”

Kurt’s Halloween party was very similar to the party at Ram’s house earlier in the year, except everyone was in some kind of costume. There had to be at least fourteen Batmans running around and twice as many girls dressed as cats, what surprised Veronica the most was how many bumble bees there were wandering around. She didn’t know that was a popular costume at all, and yet there they were.

“There are a lot of bees.” Mac said, passing Veronica a red solo cup.

“And Batmans.” Veronica nodded, taking a big swig of her beer and scowling. It was god awful. “Will beer ever taste better?”

“No.” Duke shook her head. “It’ll always taste like death. Sorry. Don’t worry, though, we’re not staying here all night.”

“What’re we doing after this?” Veronica asked. “A seance in a graveyard? Break into an abandoned house?”

“First off,” Chandler said with a scoff. “Did you learn all of your pastimes from teen movies?” Veronica’s cheeks heated up a little. “Second of all, it’s not even actually Halloween, so spooky shit isn’t even really on the table at this point. We’re going to take advantage of my parents being away and after-party at mine.”

“Oh cool.” Veronica nodded. “How come we’re here then?”

“Because I look fucking good.” Chandler gestured to her outfit. “And it would be a waste not to show off a little.” She took a sip of her beer.

“Why didn’t you throw a party then?” Veronica asked. “You’d be able to take advantage of your parents being out, and show off.”

“I don’t want all these people at my house.” Chandler replied, gesturing around her. Everything was a huge mess already, there was trash everywhere and someone was vomiting in a decorative vase. “Look what they’re doing here. I don’t want that at my house. I’d be the one who has to clean it up!” She looked disgusted at the thought.

“And I don’t want to have to help you.” Duke added, grimacing when a junior boy ran into the room shouting.

“Heather!” He pointed at the group. “Down in one!”

The phrase inspired everyone around them to start chanting. “Down in one! Down in one!”

Mac shrugged and tipped her head back, finishing her drink in one gulp. She gave Duke a little shove.

Duke rolled her eyes and followed suit, looking to Chandler when she was done. “Down in one, Heather.”

Chandler wrinkled her nose and finished her drink. This earned a large cheer from everyone before they went back to their own business.

“I hate that.” Chandler scowled, filling her cup again.

“What’d Kurt even get, PBR?” Mac passed her cup to Chandler for it to be filled again.

“I don’t know how you can even tell, all beer tastes like asparagus piss.” Duke grumbled as she held her own cup out for a refill.

Veronica’s nose wrinkled at that. “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard, Heather.” She said. “Congrats.”

Duke raised her cup in a mock salute with a dry smile. “Glad to be of service.”

The party was pumping and it looked like Kurt and Ram were being kept entertained by a pair of cheerleaders. Or a pair of girls who were dressed as cheerleaders. Those two seemed to be the only two guys at the school who felt confident enough to approach The Heathers, so they were mostly left alone during the party. This allowed them to do shots without someone making a blow job joke, Veronica had even been able to watch Duke do a body shot off of Chandler without having to hear a threesome joke being made. By a guy at least.

“I would love to get in the middle of that.” Mac muttered, Veronica assumed it was to herself.

“I don’t think there’s anything stopping you.”

. .

Veronica stumbled into Chandler’s house, her legs sort of felt like jelly and she had to use Mac and Duke for support. She was definitely drunk, she’d done a lot of tequila shots at Kurt’s party, it took her a few tries to remember what order she was supposed to do them in. Just the thought made her break down in a fit of giggles.

“What’s so funny?” Mac asked with a little smile as she and Duke started to drag Veronica up the stairs.

“I don’t know how to drink tequila.” Veronica giggled, putting all of her weight on Mac. “How c-come I’m just... so thrashed and you’re not?”

“Because you insisted on taking shots until you got it right.” Chandler said as she locked the front door. “Do you want to borrow some pajamas?”

Veronica laughed again. “I-I never got the shots right... d-did I?” She paused. “Salt, lime, shot. Right?”

“Wrong.” Duke grunted. “Why is it that I’m stuck carrying people around all night? First Heather and now Veronica? Next year, I’m the one who’s getting carried around.”

“What am I, a pack mule?” Mac muttered.

Veronica was led into a spare bedroom before Mac and Duke all but threw her onto the bed. “Aren’t you supposed to buy me dinner before you take me to bed?” She giggled.

“Do you want some pajamas or not?” Chandler demanded. “I’m not asking three times.”

“Why do I need pajamas?” Veronica asked, trying to sit up before falling back down again. “Whoops.” She giggled at that. “We’re supposed to be after-partying!” She sat back up and threw her hands in the air.

“I’m going to push you back down and if you can sit up again, we’ll after-party.” Mac said before shoving Veronica’s forehead back.

The rest of her body followed head and she fell back onto the bed. She tried to get back up, but every part of her, not just her legs, felt like jelly. Besides the bed was so comfortable, there was no point in getting back up.

“I live here now.” Veronica mumbled, closing her eyes. “This is my life.”

“Heather, go get a big t-shirt from my dresser.” Chandler sighed. “We’re gonna have to get her into some pajamas or she’ll bitch about it in the morning.”

The last thing Veronica heard before she fell asleep was Duke and Mac agreeing before a door slammed shut.

#heather chandler #heather duke #heather mcnamara #veronica sawyer #chandlamara #mcduke #chanduke #the heathers #my writes #7000 words for this chapter #almost double my last one #can you tell that I had a lot more fun doing writing this chapter than I had with the other one?

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 3 years

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I feel really weird about the fact that we’re gonna be playing gobstones with Merula & Ismelda sometime in the future. Like after all those years of them being complete nightmares we’re just gonna chill & play games with them?? I just can’t fully fathom it just yet. I mean I had a similar feeling when I found out we were getting the chance to befriend Rath but it wasn’t to the same extent cause she was never as hostile as those 2. Plus I really can’t imagine them playing gobstones but Merula’s played in the background so it might not be much of a stretch for her, but I can’t picture Ismelda playing it. Like she left pretty quickly when Bea & MC were gonna play so I can’t really picture her liking it. Although I guess it could be because she felt awkward I suppose. Anyway yeah, the thought of hanging out voluntarily with them is a weird feeling but maybe I’ll warm up to it sooner or later?

Well regarding Ismelda, I think that’s the answer in full: She felt awkward in that particular situation and noped out because she realized that MC would be better equipped at helping Beatrice with that particular problem. It was honestly a sign of real maturity, if you ask me. She could very well enjoy gobstones. I can actually picture her playing with her sister when they were younger, and getting sprayed. Hence her pledging to become much better at the game to retaliate. Bonus points if the whole “Ismelda dyes her hair” head-canon is true, and she used gobstone ink to dye her hair for the first time...okay this is getting out of hand, let me get back on topic.

I do understand what you mean. For some people, it’s just going to be too much. It will be too weird. Even if you aren’t angry with these characters, even if you don’t hold a grudge...it just might feel strange and uncomfortable to call them friends. I think, to a degree, this may be why they’ve written the way they have. Like...Merula and Ismelda haven’t been directly antagonistic toward MC for a while. That is, not consistently. For the most part, they’ve been awkwardly hanging out with them or otherwise civil to them. Always with an undercurrent of discomfort, never with the official label of friendship. But it’s been there. Ismelda and Merula’s antagonistic role has shrunk down to nothing...barring certain events that occurred recently, at least. Who knows, maybe the storyline that will transition them into being official friends will help players warm up to them. I can hope.

#Merula Snyde #Ismelda Murk

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trufflerabbit13 · 4 years

Text

A Dove’s Ripped Wings: Chapter 4 | The King and The Dove

Chapter 4:

prologue / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 /

Word count: 5.5 K

🏐 🏐 THIRD PERSON P.O.V.🏐 🏐

A finger presses into the doorbell of the house, the sound echoing through the building. The person who pressed the doorbell, Sugawara, had a closed-eyed smile on his face, humming to himself as he stood in front of the door. Behind him, Daichi stood in his black jersey, a look of unease on his face, refusing to come closer to the door.

The captain of the boys' Karasuno volleyball club nearly flinched as the door slowly opened. However, his shoulder relaxed as a silver-haired female opened it.

However, the smile dropped off Sugawara's face as he and Daichi both winced as they took a look at the female who stared at them coolly. Usually, Chiaki had a soft smile on her face, having the look of gentleness coating around her. But today, her usually placid personality seemed to be replaced with a mild hostility as she glared at the two males in front of her house.

"You two actually came," Chiaki icily comments as she fully opened the door, placing her hand on her hip, her chin slightly lifted as if she was looking down at them.

Both Sugawara and Daichi gulped, suddenly feeling a bead of sweat go down their back, although the morning breeze was reasonably cool.

"G-Good morning, Aki-chan," Sugawara greeted, his face twitching a bit as he forced himself to smile.

Chiaki doesn't respond, just staring at them, a silence falling over them. At every second that passes, the boys become even more uncomfortable, stifling the urge to run away at the dark aura that leaks out of the female in front of them.

Eventually, a sigh leaves Chiaki's lips, her shoulders slumping, and the displeasure that hovered over her seemed to disperse. The silver-haired female grabs the purse behind her and closes the door.

At that moment, Daichi realizes that the female was wearing outdoor clothes that consists of simple jeans and a white cropped shirt instead of her pajamas. Even her hair is styled to her usual braid, although it was seven in the morning. Sugawara also notices this as well, both males suddenly feeling touched as they realized that their female friend had actually gotten ready to meet up with them although she didn't want to.

A smile spreads across both males' faces, which Chiaki decides to ignore as she sees them looking at her. Refusing to make eye contact, she follows after them, although she was inwardly upset. Sugawara and Daichi share eye contact, it takes everything in their power to hold in an amused snicker when they feel a tug at the back of their jacket. Chiaki pouts but holds onto the end of their coat as she realizes they walked a bit too fast.

"Chiaki-san, are you mad at us?" Sugawara stretched out her full name, even using the honorifics as he teasingly asked. He moved his head to peek behind in, but before he could, Chiaki let go of his jackets and forced him to look forward.

"Shut up, don't look back, Suga-senpai. I'm angry," Chiaki grumbles. However, little did she know that she barely sounded angry, which made Daichi snort a laugh, quickly covering his mouth with his hand to mask it.

It seemed like Chiaki's mood seemed to get better as they arrived on campus, the silver-haired female still having a tight grip on her older friends' jackets, forcing them to walk in front of her without looking back.

Going to the gym, a small crowd was already formed outside, waiting for Daichi to open the door. However, a palpable tension could be felt between the first years, Kageyama and Hinata glaring at a tall glassed male.

"Captain good morning!" Hinata was the first to notice the presence of his senpais, beaming brightly as he waved his arm over his head in greeting.

"Ōu, good morning. Wait, a second, let me open the gym for us," Daichi greeted, going through his bag looking for the gym key. As he does this, Chiaki gets revealed standing behind Sugawara and Daichi, all of their eyes zoning on her.

Tanaka seemed to freeze, his cheeks flushing. "A-Aki-san!"

Chiaki smiles lightly, making the male with shaved hair release a choke like sound, his face melting into a blessed look getting acknowledged. Chiaki quickly moves away from the two third-years she was behind, trotting her way to Kageyama.

"Ōus," the dark-haired male greets her. Next to him, the orange-haired boy seemed to grow flustered, not knowing how to react as the female approached them. S-She's so pretty! And s-shes coming our way...!

"Mm, morning Tobi-kun," Chiaki nearly coos as she dived headfirst into his chest, hugging the younger boy while the mouth of the others fell open, a silent scream leaving their lips. Everyone seemed to fall into more chaos as the boy casually hugged her back, not looking too taken aback as she squeezed him.

Hinata openly pointed his index finger at the taller boy accusingly, "y-you! I lost all respect for you, Kageyama! Who cares if you're an awesome setter! Let the pretty senpai go, you indecent, shameless guy!" The boy with bright hair stuttered, jumping up and down.

Beside him, Tanaka bit into a handkerchief as he cried, "h-how dare he casually hugs Aki-senpai, our years' goddess! Kageyama.... Kageyama, I will not forgive you!"

At the commotion, Chiaki pulls away from the younger boy she hugged. She eyed Hinata for a moment, making the said boy quickly shut up and flinch away, his cheeks flushing a bright pink under her attention. "I-I..."

"I saw you last year playing Tobi-kun. What's your name?" Chiaki questioned, letting go of Kageyama as she looked at the shorter boy with a kind smile. The female ignores the heated look given to her by the boy beside her, already being able to tell Kageyama wanted to question the statement she just made. It seemed like she forgot to mention that she had seen his game last year against Yukigaoka.

Hinata straightened his back and saluted, "H-Hinata Shōyō, year one, class one, ma'am!"

Chiaki hummed, immediately taking a liking to the boy's bright but genuine smile, "Hinata-kun, ne? I was very impressed by your spirit and jumping ability last year. If you polish your skills, I have a feeling you can get far," Hinata didn't notice the gleam that entered the silver-haired female's eyes, already distracted, feeling touched at what she said.

On the other hand, Kageyama seemed shocked by her words, his eyes widening a fraction before narrowing on the shorter boy who was bouncing on the heel of his feet in excitement.

"I'm Ibato Chiaki, a second-year student in class five. It's nice to meet you, Hinata-kun," Chiaki smiled and couldn't help but reach forward, her hand sinking on top of Hinata's head and patting him. Oh, it's surprisingly soft. She thinks as she touches the messy locks, not seeing how the boy seemed to blow a fuse, going scarlet.

Sugawara sweatdropped as a shaky laugh left his mouth, witnessing the destruction capability Chiaki had with a simple touch. Silently, he thought about how fearful she was without even trying.

By this time, Daichi had opened the gym, the boys preparing the match as they set up the net. Others began to warm up, making sure their muscles were loose enough for the game. Silently, Chiaki watched. However, at one point, she noticed the blond-haired boy who was taller than all of them eyeing her from across the gym. He seemed to realize she had seen him as well. She didn't expect him to flash a condescending smile that immediately rubbed her in the wrong way.

She kept her face neutrally friendly as he slowly approached her with his hands in his black shorts. "Heh, I never would have thought the Dove would be at a school like ours that's not really well known. Nee, what are you doing here? The media were looking for you, Ibato-san. Or would you rather me call you by your court name?"

Chiaki isn't going to lie. She never would have imagined the boy in front of her to pick a fight straight off the bat. He didn't even bother hiding his intentions, staring down at her with his amber eyes. At the same time, she could pick up the similar scent of mischief and manipulativeness her older brother Taiga carried on this boy. Wicked and scheming. And a bit like her too.

"Hm, really? One of my brothers is an alumnus from Karasuno, so I knew it was a fairly good school for someone like me. What is your name, are you a first-year?" The silver-haired female questioned, smiling and not looking a bit bothered by the taunt the taller boy had sent her.

This seemed to be not the response the blond was hoping for, his mouth tilting down, his eyes flashing with disappointment Chiaki didn't miss.

"Tsukishima Kei, first year," Tsukishima mumbled, looking away from her. Hearing the name, a familiar face popped up in her mind, recalling an individual's name from her memories.

She hummed, her lips twitching into a smile as she let out a thoughtful sound, "Tsukishima? I knew a Tsukishima who went to Karasuno. He was part of the volleyball club when my brother was the assistant coach for a couple of years. Tsukishima Akiteru-san if I remember correctly. He wasn't playing in official matches but practiced a lot," Chiaki comments, watching the male stiffen in front of her. Ah, hit a sensitive topic. Bingo, I guess.

Chiaki wasn't lying. When Minato went to Karasuno, nearly every day, she'd run over from her own VBC practice to come to watch her brother practice as she sat on the coach's lap. Everyone on the volleyball club knew her as Minato's baby sister, who loves volleyball, and in return, she knew all of their names. Even when Minato graduated high school, she visited when she had time seeing as he became the coach assistant.

Minato had returned to Karasuno a year after graduating at the request of Coach Ukai, helping him until year 2010 when he moved to Tokyo because of a new job offer. And with her keen memory, she can distinctly remember Tsukishima Akiteru, a boy who wasn't part of the starters or bench but a player who practiced very hard although he couldn't stand on the courts.

Tsukishima felt a shiver run down his back as he saw the glint in Chiaki's eyes, the female smiling at him. Which idiot started calling her the Dove? More like a snake... Tsukishima thinks, looking away from Chiaki.

Chiaki holds herself back from snickering and making her way to Sugawara and Shimizu, leaving behind the tense blond male. The silver-haired male greeted her with a beam, the boy throwing a friendly arm over her shoulder testingly. When Chiaki doesn't brush away, not even seeming to be taken aback, Sugawara mentally confirms his suspicion of Chiaki not being as aloof as he first thought. He had first had his suspicions when he started to eat lunch with her and Daichi. But when he saw the interaction she had with Kageyama, he really began to think about it. Aki-chan is a dere-dere hiding under a kuu-dere mask! The silver-haired male thinks as he grins.

Shimizu watches this with an eyebrow raised, before pinching Sugawara's hand, making the said boy flinch and look at the glassed manager in shock and hurt. The female ignores him and nods in greeting at the younger girl. Chiaki smiles too, being acquainted with the third-year beauty through Sugawara and Daichi. She met Shimizu when the VBC manager came looking for Daichi to give him some paperwork for the club when Chiaki was eating lunch with him.

"Alright!" At Daichi's loud voice, everyone's attention went to the third-year captain, "let's get started! I'll be joining Tsukishima's group so-"

The male can't finish his statement as Hinata speaks up, looking flustered, "eh?! You're playing too, captain?!"

This makes a laugh leave Daichi's lips as he waved a hand to calm down the bright-haired boy who was growing panicked. "It's fine! As far as offensive power, Tanaka's much better than me!"

This makes Chiaki curious, her eyes moving over the six people who were going to play. It also makes the silver-haired teen realize she has never seen her friends play volleyball while knowing them for over a year. But she can only blame herself, knowing she had always declined the invitation sent to her by Daichi and Sugawara.

Somebody coughs, and Chiaki and the other's eyes automatically go to the tall glassed blond. "Now, who should we crus-I mean block first? The short one or Tanaka-san?" The male makes a motion of covering his mouth with his hand, but he was nowhere close to whispering, "oh, and I really want to see the King lose."

Chiaki hums and looks at the female who stands next to her, "Shimizu-san, is Tsukishima-kun a middle blocker?"

The black-haired female seemed surprised Chiaki spoke to her but nodded, her hands holding a clipboard for note-taking during the game.

The information makes Chiaki think about her own brother, Taiga, another middle blocker. I wonder if being sardonic and taunting is part of being a middle blocker...? While Taiga was never like that to her, she had witnessed her brown-haired brother mock and rile the opponent team multiple times with a sweet smile on his face. While that personality was mainly for when he was on the courts, he could be quite manipulative outside it too.

Kouga wasn't like that. He let his twin brother handle the taunting and breaking down the mentality of the opponent. Instead, he was a powerful middle blocker that took advantage of his leg's strength, following his twin's instruction and plans.

Chiaki hums as she slowly approaches Kageyama, quietly grabbing his hand and squeezing it. He flinches, surprised at the touch, but immediately, a feel of nostalgia washes over him. It was a subtle action the older female always took when they were in middle school before a match. Kageyama wasn't the only person on the receiving end of Chiaki's magic touch. It was actually well known between Kitagawa Daiichi's volleyball team.

Before a game, the female would go around both her team and the boys, squeezing each of their hands twice, as if it was a good luck charm. And secretly, it was rumored to be exactly that. Someone even said that they once missed the opportunity, going to the restroom during Chiaki's ritual. And when the game began, they claimed they didn't feel like they were playing their best. Kageyama could remember even Oikawa not refusing Chiaki's hand squeeze, although he openly didn't get along with her.

"Good luck, Tobi-kun. I know you can do it," Chiaki calmly whispered before taking her place beside Shimizu, deciding to help with the scorekeeping.

Chiaki released a low hum that could barely be heard, her keen eyes narrowed on the court. She watches as Hinata is blocked again by Tsukishima. The way Hinata was able to jump was impressive for his height. However, Chiaki couldn't deny Tsukishima did his job as a middle blocker with his height. And from where she's at, she could see that the blond also seemed to have a talent of riling his opponent with condescending comments that irritated them.

Chiaki's eyes moved to her older friend on the court, watching as Daichi was able to receive Kageyama's spike without much trouble. She's nodding to herself, impressed at his ability. Daichi isn't bad either, and that makes her smile with pride even if it wasn't her achievement.

"C'mon, your highness! Shouldn't you start getting serious soon?" Tsukishima taunts, smiling down at the dark-haired setter who's unusually silent. This makes Hinata scowl, glaring at the taller blond.

"What the heck with you! You've been an ass like this since we met! What's with calling Kageyama the King or whatever!" Hinata snaps, stomping his way up to the net to get closer to Tsukishima.

In response, Tsukishima smirks, pointing a mocking finger at Kageyama, who watched. "Do you know the reason why this guy was called 'the King'?"

The silver-haired female's eyes shifted to Kageyama with worry. When reunited, Chiaki didn't bring up their past year. But rumors had reached Chiaki's ears as well. And a small part of her felt guilty.

Hinata has a look of confusion on his face as his eyes briefly shift to his teammate, who stays silent. "Isn't it because he's crazy good and the guys from the opponent teams are scared of him?"

This makes Tsukishima release a laugh that doesn't seem genuine. "There may be people who think that. But," the glassed male paused, his lips curving up as a dark smile takes over his expression, "rumor says, the nickname 'The King Of The Court' was given to him by his teammates. It means a selfish, egotistical king. A tyrannical dictator."

"Hey, why are you yapping instead of playing?"

Everyone was surprised by the feminine voice, their eyes turning to where the scoreboard was. Sugawara and Daichi felt their eyes widen as they took in Chiaki's expression. While she had a smile on her face, it made their soul shiver, and they, themselves didn't understand why.

Chiaki's eyes were zoned on the blond-haired male who seemed equally as taken aback that she spoke up, "all you're doing is bringing up the past. Tobi-kun has his faults too, but there's no denying it. His ability as a setter isn't questionable, he has raw talent. He's still at the learning stage where he can improve and change to help his teammates. Some people can hit his sets, and maybe his middle school teammates just weren't that."

Tsukishima snorted, seeming to recover from his shock as he sent a mocking smile to the female. "Oh, are you saying commoners like us don't have the ability to hit his sets? Perhaps, being The Dove, you're trying to stand up to your fellow genius? If that's the case, why don't you show us the quick strike? You can do it, right? Or," Tsukishima paused as his eyes moved down. His gaze shifts down, going to her knee covered by a black brace over her jeans. "The Dove can't jump anymore? Is the rumor of The Dove with ripped wings true, then?"

Chiaki stared at Tsukishima, a smile still on her face. She continued to stare, and with each passing second, the younger boy slowly became uncomfortable until he finally looked away. At this, Chiaki released a silent scoff, her expression breaking for a split second, actually showing her displeasure.

Daichi and Sugawara watched their friend in concern, being able to recognize the hurt that flashed in her eyes for a brief second. They would have missed it if they weren't looking at her.

Tsukishima seemed to gain the confidence again, seeming to know that he shouldn't keep mouthing off his senpai, turning his attention back to Kageyama, who stood with his hand clenched. "Anyhow, you can't use your quick-strike anymore because that decisive match where you were benched left you scared, right?"

It seemed Tanaka also had enough, his sharp gaze glaring at the blond, his eyebrows furrowing together in annoyance. "You've been mouthing off for a while now, you bastard. Even bad-mouthing Aki-san, you have the ner-"

"Tanaka," a single call from Daichi and a warning look from his captain made the male with shaved head shut up, his glare still sent towards Tsukishima, who smiled.

The awkward tension in the gym was stifling. However, one teen broke it.

"Yeah, that's right. Tossing the ball up only for no one to be there behind me frightens me down to my soul," Kageyama spoke. And Chiaki felt a small part of her heartbreak at the look on the younger boy's face.

"Eh? But that's the story of junior high, isn't it?"

A loud, clear voice questioned, making everyone's attention shift to a certain boy with bright orange hair. Chiaki blinked, Kageyama having a similar expression on his face as he looked at the smaller boy. "Since you toss the ball to me properly and all, that stuff doesn't really matter to me."

Chiaki felt her lips part in awe as Hinata pointed a finger at Tsukishima, not looking a bit bothered by anything he had heard in the last few minutes, "the problem is how we're gonna knock you down right now."

This makes many of them laugh or stifle a laugh. Even Kageyama seemed to be taken aback at Hinata's simplicity, the said male bounding to him energetically while pointing at the opponent blond.

"We're gonna win against Tsukishima and start club activities for real! And you'll be a setter fair and square! So then you can toss it to me! Is there anything else to it?" Hinata questioned, stepping closer to Kageyama, who staggered back and looked as if he didn't know how to respond to the ginger.

The game recommences, the ball getting tossed into the air. Chiaki's sharp eyes follow the ball as well as the players on the court, finding the areas of empty spaces, a habit she had because of her former status as a wing spiker. It must be the same for Kageyama, the male tossing the ball to his teammates who spiked. The silver-haired female doesn't show it but she's slightly surprised as Kageyama and Hinata are able to do quick sets, although they've only known each other for a few days.

"He's really amazing...." Sugawara comments as he comes next to her, standing beside her, their shoulders touching each other.

Chiaki nods in response, however as the game continues, she winces every time Hinata misses the ball, his palm hitting the air. She could barely look as Hinata and Kageyama argue with each other. However, her attention moves to the older boy beside her as he picked up the ball that rolled to his feet.

"Kageyama," at his name being called, the raven-haired boy looks at Sugawara, surprise written all over his face. "This is the same way you acted in junior high," Sugawara sighs, his lips pulling down into a frown. The teen looks like he's about to say something more, however, the silver-haired male flinches as Kageyama looks at him.

The said male doesn't seem to notice as he speaks to his senpai, a look of confusion and distraught on his face, "Hinata excels in mobility, reflexes, and speed. And in addition, he has jumping power... Doesn't that mean, if he gets used to it, he could even pull off a quick attack...?"

Chiaki crosses her arms over her chest as she cocks her head to the side while thinking. Kageyama isn't precisely wrong, but that was probably impossible to achieve in a single game.

"Hinata's weapon, that nimbleness of his... Don't you think it's being diminished by your toss?" With the third-year's words, a look of surprise appeared on Kageyama's face. The third-year continues, his eyebrows furrowing, "Hinata doesn't have any technique or experience. And your team was barely together because it was a group of talented players. But with your talent...."

Hinata, on the other hand, drops his shoulder in dejection at being called out for his lack of experience.

Sugawara looked flustered, waving his hand in front of him, seemingly trying to sort his words right. "How do I put this? More of Hinata's ability or character, or whatever we can call it. Uh-it'll be more like, erm.... It's like you'll somehow use him better? I-I'm, I'm a setter just like you, so I was amazed when I watched your match last year." Sugawara slowed down, holding the volleyball between his hands as he looked down at it, "you had sense and ball control better than anyone in the stadium. And above all, you calmly saw through the opposing blockers' movement and made decisions accordingly... Those were talents I don't have..." Sugawara sighed, the end coming out barely as a whisper.

Tanaka opened his mouth to argue, but before he could, Daichi sent him a look with a shake of a head that made him quickly shut up.

"For you, who has technique, probably more than enough willingness. And above all, excellent eyes which can see everything around you, there is absolutely no way you can't see your comrades on the court with you!" Sugawara ends his words with a determined stare.

Immediately, Kageyama thinks about his senpai's words. Briefly, his eyes moved to Chiaki, and that action made him think about her words she had said to him on multiple occasions while they were still in middle school.

"Tobi-kun, you have keen eyesight like me. Take advantage of that and look at the court with a broad eye. As a setter, it's important to see which teammates you can use. Observance is a gift."

Kageyama's head snapped to the orange-haired male next to him, the said male looking absolutely lost, a look of question on his face.

"I-"

Hinata flinches, jerking away as Kageyama loomed over him, staring at him with his sharp eyes.

"Wha-?"

"I am jealous of your physical ability!"

"Hah?!" Hinata gasped, confused at the sudden compliment sent to him by the male he thought wasn't capable of doing such a thing.

Kageyama ignores Hinata's confusion as he continues, "that's why you, who have the ability but are horrible at volleyball, irritates me!" His comments anger Hinata, the smaller boy growing confused as he's complimented and dissed in the same sentence. "Since that's the case, I will pull out all of your ability. At your fastest speed, perform your highest jump, and I will get the ball to you!"

It takes only a second for Chiaki to realize what Kageyama was going to try to do. She blinks, subconsciously bringing her thumb to her mouth, nibbling on it thoughtfully. If he is able to do that.... His ability as a setter would really be mind-blowing. The silver-haired teen understood to pull off setting the ball to the spiker without any hints was only possible for someone with keen observation skills. If Kageyama was going to pull this off, he's going to have to be aware of the ball and spiker's location, along with calculating the height of where he would jump.

She can't help but lean forward in the seat she sat in, her pupils dilating as she watches everything. Chiaki sucks in a sharp breath from her mouth, the thin, nearly invisible hairs on her arms and neck standing up. The familiar sound of the volleyball smacking the palm is loud, and the ball hitting the ground was equally as deafening. The female doesn't even realize she had stood up, the foldable chair clattering back at her action. But no one is paying attention to that, staring at the ball that rolled on the floor with their mouth hanging.

"Alright!" Kageyama yells out, clenching his fist in front of him in glee.

Hinata looks shocked that he was able to hit the ball, staring at his own palm in disbelief, a broad smile on his face. "UWAAAHHHH!! I HIT IT! I HIT IT WITH THIS HAND!!!"

Losing strength in her legs, Chiaki sinks to the floor in a squat, the heel of her palm pressing into her eyes. Shimizu is immediately by her side, worried for her. But the glassed female is taken aback as she sees that although the upper part of the silver-haired girl's face wasn't visible, her lips are curled up into a wide grin. Shimizu nearly flinches when Chiaki finally pulls her hands away from her face.

Chiaki's usually soft, drooping eyes seemed to be sharper, taking a predatory gleam as she stared at the court, not being able to hide the excitement that bubbled inside of her. She was almost positive that if she had blinked, she would have missed the whole thing. And if she saw correctly, Hinata...

"O-Oi... Just now, Hinata had his eyes closed..." Daichi spoke up, his words making everyone excluding Chiaki yell out in disbelief.

"H-Hey you! Why the heck did you have your eyes closed?!" Kageyama yelled as he pointed a finger at Hinata, who flinched, getting snapped out of his excitement.

As the two argued, Chiaki slowly grabbed the chair that she had knocked over, silently sitting back on it. She doesn't notice the look of concern Sugawara and Shimizu sends her way, Chiaki staring at the court with an unreadable look on her face. Eventually, Daichi notices as well, realizing the female was staring at Hinata and Kageyama with an expression he couldn't accurately read. She barely moves from where she sits even as the game concludes with Hinata, Kageyama, and Tanaka's team coming out as victors.

"-senpai! Aki-senpai! Are you okay?"

Chiaki blinks as Kageyama peers into her face, the raven-haired boy looking into her eyes in concern, beads of sweat running down his cheek, getting collected by a towel that wraps around his neck.

Kageyama's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as the female averted her eyes from him, tilting her head to the side, refusing to make eye contact with him. The older female had never done that to him before. Chiaki was a person who believed heavily in eye contact when speaking to another. But she had blatantly avoided looking at him, refusing to even acknowledge him.

"Aki-senpai, did you see us? Weren't we awesome with 'woosh!' and 'boom!' That was so fun!" Hinata pushed Kageyama aside as he leaped in the air in front of Chiaki, looking like an excited puppy with his flopping hair.

Seeing the small boy, Chiaki releases a little chuckle, a weak smile on her face, "yes Hinata-kun, that was very impressive. Next time, when you jump, try to lean your upper body a bit more forward. You jump high right now, but by improving your form, you'll go higher. And when you're receiving a spike, lower your hips a bit more and tuck your chin in, it'll be easier to control the ball."

Hinata blinks his large eyes, staring at Chiaki with his head tilted in confusion. "Aki-senpai, you awfully know a lot about volleyball? Are you also the manager like Shimizu-san?"

Chiaki freeze, feeling her mouth become dry as if someone stuffed cotton balls inside. Kageyama looks like he wants to strangle the shorter boy, his already sharp eyes narrowing.

But before Kageyama could do anything, a snicker makes all of their attention shift to the side.

Tsukishima has a water bottle in hand, his lip curling into a small smirk as he looks their way with an amused expression. "Of course, Hinata wouldn't know the Dove, huh? I'm not surprised, he didn't even know about the King."

The confusion Hinata feels deepens as he looks at Tsukishima, not noticing how Chiaki was stiff as a board next to him, her skin seeming to turn a bit pale. "The Dove? Is that another nickname?"

Tsukishima's smirk seems to deepen as he points a thumb at the silver-haired female who was slowly calming down, her lips forming a straight line.

"That's one of the nicknames she had. The Dove, U-17's number one female wing spiker in Japan. She's known to be the decade's female prodigy that was born in a family of volleyball players. But her serves and spikes gained her fame as the ace of her team."

At the information Hinata learns, his brown eyes sparkled as he looked up at Chiaki, not being able to notice the distress in her eyes.

Chiaki felt sick.

🏐 🏐 EXTRA 🏐 🏐

"Oi, something doesn't feel right," Taiga and Kouga chorused at the same time as they sat at the dining table, eating a late breakfast with their mother. They looked at each other and nodded. This uneasy feeling they felt at the same time was the proof they were right.

Minako stared at the twins in bewilderment, frozen in mid-bite, her rice that was held up by her chopsticks falling back into her bowl. Immediately she places the utensil down on the table, looking at her two sons, a bit off-put by them synching up almost too perfectly.

The twins had their eyebrows furrowed, their messy bed hair sticking up in weird places.

"Something upset Chi-chan," Taiga grumbles, placing his chopsticks down as he brings his hand to his chin, rubbing at it thoughtfully.

Kouga hummed in agreement, his grey eyes narrowing, "I think so too." The young man cracked his knuckles, rotating his neck as another crack echoed through the room. "Who do you think I have to beat up, Tai?"

"I don't know, but I'll make sure you don't get arrested, Kou."

Minako watched her sons with a blank look, a sigh leaving her lips. Secretly, she wondered if the twins had a built in signal inside their body that detected whenever Chiaki was distressed. If they said they did, she somehow wouldn't be surprised seeing how protective they were. Hiroto, why are you not here to help me control our sons? Or at least Minato, he's not irrational and has a firm leash on the twins...

🏐 🏐 Meanwhile 🏐 🏐

"Achoo!"

Yamaguchi flinched as the tall male sneezed beside him. The freckled male became increasingly worried as Tsukishima paled, shivering in place, "Tsukki! Are you okay?! Are you catching a cold, do you want my jacket?" Yamaguchi questioned in panic, shifting around his friend in worry.

Tsukishima released another shiver, "you're loud, Yamaguchi. I'm fine, I just felt unusually cold right now," the blonde grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck in unease.

🏐 🏐A/n 🏐 🏐

Hi, below is the first character stats for the twins! Do you like their character design? I hope you do! Honestly, Taiga reminds me of Tsukishima a bit, but I swear he's super gentlemanly to girls!

Please don't forget to comment, vote, and spread a word of this fic! I would love ADRW to get more love from the readers. And don't hesitate to ask questions, I may or may not answer depending on if it's a spoiler. Also, I've decided this fanfic will go all the way up to the olympics, and of course without a lot of time skips, so we'll get to see Chiaki in college as well!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!

Next update chapter 5| I Hate Volleyball coming on 09/18/2020!

-Ember

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malecsecretsanta · 4 years

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Merry Christmas, @ladymatt!

*****

Take me to dinner first

Magnus Bane had taken a trip with some of his friends to Las Vegas and, while they had retired earlier, he’d stayed out, getting steadily drunker. The casino, Devil’s Snare, was a downworld place, so he had no reason to hide himself. Even better, shadowhunters were a rare sight. In his drunk state, he’d gambled a little; won some, lost some…won big. He would be thankful the fey didn’t rule the casino if he had enough mind to.

Eventually, he took a break in the fancy lounge, cocktail in front of him and some actually good music playing above him. He was still drunk, but not in the way that would have him flying carpets or flirting with a dinner plate. Ah, good times with his friends, even if one of them was a grumpy cabbage. He was about to take a sip of his drink when three black-clad figures entered the room.

Shadowhunters.

They always had a knack of spoiling the atmosphere, even if they were usually rather attractive. All young, one female and two males. The girl strode through the room seeming to lead the boys, one of which guided the second one after her. He found himself staring a little at the one being guided; he had dark hair and was quite tall. On closer inspection, he had the most gorgeous blue eyes.

This was how he found himself suddenly with the girl in front of him; he hadn’t noticed that she had stopped at his table. Ah, he recognised her. Isabelle Lightwood. Party crasher.

“Magnus Bane! Thank the Angel for a familiar face. Look, I know this is a bit of an unreasonable request, but we don’t have time to come up with a better plan. My brother’s drink was spiked by something and we’ve just received a call, an emergency demon hunting. Can you look after him? I know you’re trustworthy, which is why we came to you. We’ll pay you afterwards, we just need to go now,” Isabelle explained.

Magnus blinked at her and looked over at the unsteady young man. He shrugged and gestured for her to sit him down at his table. The young man protested a bit, but it was clear he was in no fit state and finally calmed after listening to his sister. The blond one gave him a look before the two dashed off to play hero.

He turned his attention back to the shadowhunter in front of him, stirring his drink absently. Those blue eyes were staring back at him; no haughty glare he would expect from Nephilim, no suspicion, just…dazed curiosity. Of course, the substance in his system could be preventing him from a usual hostility, but he didn’t care to think too hard. He couldn’t, really, being hazy himself.

“Something the matter, darling?” He asked, wondering exactly how far gone the young man was.

Eyes blinking, embarrassment and a blush filled his face as he looked away, becoming fidgety. It was both awkward and cute, and Magnus never thought he’d think those words about a shadowhunter. Ever. He sipped his drink and didn’t expect anything, but he got it anyway.

“You’re…pretty. Handsome! Sorry. Handsome.”

Magnus smirked, putting his drink down before stretching his arms out a little cat-like before clasping his hands in front of him, leaning forward.

“You can call me pretty anytime, darling,” Magnus practically purred. He hadn’t been expecting such words coming from the other man. Perhaps his addled mind was deceiving him.

“Okay. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. You’re pretty. I’m sorry, Im-I’m messed—fuzzy. Bothering you, I should-should go—”

Alec started to get up and somehow managed not to be too ungraceful about it. Stupid shadowhunter runes, Magnus supposed. He downed his drink before refilling it with magic and downing it again. He was nothing if not a good host. He might as well stoop further to the young man’s level. Speaking of which, he was staring at Magnus’ hands with a dazed expression again. He could have sworn he heard a mumbled ‘pretty’. Maybe not all shadowhunters were terrible.

He stood up, knocking his chair over, and walked over to the tall shadowhunter. Only a little shorter than himself.

“Well, darling, what is your name? I could just call you pretty boy. I will anyway, there’s no lies here!” Magnus stated with flare.

“Al-Alec.”

“Well, Al-Alec, I’m Magnus and we’re going to have some fun.”

He watched the man’s eyes widen and his cheeks redden and he couldn’t help giggling. Looping an arm in Alec’s, he pulled him along. He didn’t have any particular direction at the moment; he simply took him through the building, calculating what to do with him.

They ended up at the slots and Magnus put the coins in while his new companion pulled the levers. Cherry, cherry, cherry. Did he have luck runes on? He had read the Gray Book but couldn’t recall what was in it. Strength…stabby. Oh well. He showed Alec the poker tables then. Alec was a terrible player; his poker face needed serious work for a shadowhunter. Three games and three losses.

“How about one more round? Winner takes all…plus double. Loser pays that double.”

“Gentlemen, I believe we are—” Magnus started. He doubted the shadowhunter had anymore money.

“Yes. One more. Okay.”

Well, he couldn’t call the shadowhunter a quitter. Stubborn like the rest of them. Magnus watched Alec’s terrible poker face once again as he made it obvious that his cards were awful, but still stayed all in.

“Straight flush,” the competitor revealed.

Alec looked put out before placing his cards down. “Royal flush.”

Colour him surprised, but Magnus was gleeful as he watched the wolves growl and push the winnings over to Alec, plus the double, muttering about rotten luck and poker faces. Magnus helped him over to the Madam who would cash in the winnings.

“Well, darling, you are a wonder! Was that all planned?”

“Uh, um, I guess. It’s easier if they underestimate you.”

“We are going to celebrate. Champagne? Whiskey? Cocktails?”

“Don’t mind.”

“Cocktails it is.”

Magnus ordered two sex on the beaches, one stronger for himself. He was missing the buzz. The good thing about this establishment was that it was large and had a lot to offer. Swimming was out; drunk swimming was a disaster. Karaoke! He wanted to hear Alec’s deep voice in song.

It would be a good night

Blinking his eyes open, Alec groaned; his mouth was dry, his head felt fuzzy and his cheek felt warm. He took a few moments to get his bearings, trying to figure out what was going on. He was lying down, though his pillow wasn’t soft like it should be, though it wasn’t uncomfortable either. He was topless…that was strange. Wait, his pillow seemed to be moving!

Alec shot up onto his hands, realising there was a half-naked man underneath him and they were in a large, rather fancy bed. His heart beat fast as he looked down in a mixture of confusion and mild terror. What in Raziel’s name was going on?

“Hello Sleeping Beauty.”

His eyes darted to the stranger’s face; ruffled, highlighted hair and cat eyes, handsome. That wasn’t important! He needed to find out what had happened.

“Where…why am…what are…”

He couldn’t get the words out.

“We were drunk, darling. I’m still piecing the puzzle together myself. I just need to sit up and drink a potion…would you be a doll?”

Alec rolled off him like he was burnt, covers dragged up to his chest. This was like some nightmare…no, no. If Alec was honest with himself, this was more like one of his lonely dreams. Ah. That was what this was.

“Just a dream.”

“’Fraid not, Shadowhunter. We’re very much real.”

He watched as the man sat up and conjured a potion bottle in a whisp of blue magic. He looked over at Alec, making him swallow. “Will you be needing one? For the memory, darling.”

Alec shook his head mutely. “I just…need my stele…memory rune.”

The man gave him a brilliant smile, maybe more like a smirk. “Of course, darling.”

He watched as the other man downed the small bottle before snapping it away. He snapped again and handed him his stele. Alec sat up, still convinced that this was a dream. He put the stele to a spot under his ribs where the silver of the faded Recall rune lay and put it to the skin, redrawing it. He put his stele to the side and lay back, focusing on the memories.

“Marry me,” Alec slurred.

Magnus giggled and slung his arm around him. “Gotta buy me dinner first.”

“Okay.”

Alec was clearly lost in how to get to the restaurant, so Magnus led him. There were so many foods he had never tried and that was ignoring the foods that he couldn’t eat as they were downworld-specific. They chose a few items and shared them, Magnus giggling and saying they felt like a real couple now and Alec spending most of the time spluttering and red-faced. Alec was pretty sure he was seeing double when the bill came; there were more digits added in his haze, but Magnus paid for it. Much to his protest. Wasn’t it supposed to be his treat?

But Magnus pulled him along from place to place; someone fitted him with a nice suit before he had to get into it and waited. Oh yeah. They were getting married. Handsome men didn’t just agree to marry him, so he knew he was dreaming. Therefore, he had asked Magnus to marry him.

The minstrel guy was a warlock with horns and purple eyes. Not as pretty as Magnus’, it would turn out that he said that out loud. Oops. He held Magnus’ hands, smiling at him. He had rings on his fingers, luckily none on the ring finger he’d read about in mundane books. Alec had only worn his Lightwood family ring on his right hand.

“Do you Magnus Bane take Alexander Gideon Lightwood to be your husband?” The minstrel asked.

“I do! Alexander, your middle name is Gideon?!”

Alec gestured for the minstrel to continue.

“Do you Alexander Gideon Lightwood take Magnus Bane to be your husband?”

“I do.”

“It is time to exchange rings and make your vows.”

Alec took the ring and placed it onto Magnus’ left ring finger. “I will stab anyone who tries to hurt you. With an arrow or with a dagger. I’ll protect you.”

Magnus giggled as he slid a ring on Alec’s finger too. “I’ll keep you safe, darling, and turn anyone who hurts you into a frog!”

“I now pronounce you both husbands. You may kiss.”

He leant in shyly, but Magnus took his face between his hands and kissed him. There was little elegance, but his lips were soft and his hands found Magnus’ waist, pulling him closer as he kissed his husband back. Magnus’ hands slid down until they clutched Alec’s waist.

“I have a private room, darling.”

Magnus watched Alec as the young man had his eyes closed, remembering the events of the night before. Of all of the things he had done whilst drunk, this was the most absurd. And he’d flirted with a plate and ridden a flying carpet before! He had been drunk enough to think drinking more had been a good idea, but it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. He hadn’t murdered anyone or stolen anything, hurt anyone.

“So, uh…”

He smiled at the shadowhunter; this was beyond anything he could have imagined doing, he could tell. Shadowhunters seemed to be very strict and to the book, though some were a little bit rebellious, one way or another. He put his hand on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort, because while he might find this situation a little funny, he knew the shadowhunter must be conflicted. Not that being married to a shadowhunter was something he would have ever foreseen or, perhaps, soberly chosen, but he chose to see the funny side.

“Such a passionate lover, Mr. Lightwood…well, Lightwood-Bane, now.”

Eyes like deer in headlights.

“I am kidding; you kissed down my chest and fell asleep before anything more sexual could happen, relax. You did not sully yourself with a downworlder quite that badly, I assure you,” Magnus said with a smirk.

“Uh…it’s not…if you were a…shadowhunter, no different…”

Eloquent. The young man was shy. He didn’t seem to have the haughty arrogance of his blond brother, so he’d perhaps cut him a little slack.

“If I were a shadowhunter, darling, I would have been de-runed and disowned years ago; I would have scandalised them from day one.”

It seemed Alec agreed with him, nodding. But there was a smile on his face, so he took that as approval.

Then he seemed to return to being embarrassed and Magnus had no problem laying there, watching him. He wasn’t exactly a huge fan of the shadowhunters, but this one seemed a bit different.

“…What do we do?” Alec asked.

“First, darling, we sleep more. It’s only 7am, far too early for a man of my delicate nature,” Magnus said.

“But—”

“I won’t keep you, but you look about ready to fall asleep yourself,” Magnus said.

He was right of course, even if the shadowhunter huffed a little. He turned onto his side and looked at him.

“I don’t suppose you’d let me use you as a pillow this time, husband?” Magnus asked. He didn’t expect a yes, but the redness in his face was worth it.

To his surprise, Alec nodded, still looking rather shocked.

Alec couldn’t believe that the handsome man he’d accidentally married wanted to…cuddle…of all things. He wasn’t really a cuddler and yet he found himself nodding. It wasn’t like they were going to stay like this and, once it was all settled, he doubted he’d see him again. He knew he wasn’t destined to be happy with a person he was attracted to, so was it wrong to…at least…pretend…for a little while?

He found himself wrapping his arms around him and closing his eyes. If he slept at all, it wasn’t for long. Something woke him and he blinked his eyes open, realising Magnus was chuckling, rubbing his arm.

“Hn?”

“Enjoying yourself?”

Alec was confused, until he realised where his hand was and moved it away like he’d been scalded, murmuring quick apologies.

“No need to apologise; it was quite enjoyable.”

As much as Alec felt surprisingly comfortable, he knew he needed to find his siblings. He wasn’t even sure where they would be and whether or not they completed their mission. He had supposed to be on it, but he must have ingested something that turned him loopy.

“I need to find my siblings,” Alec said.

Magnus moved off of him slowly and he felt a little disappointed, but he stood up, quickly finding his top. He felt a tingling and turned to see him dressed. His outfit was as outrageous as he was and yet, he didn’t dislike it.

“Fresh and ready, darling. Shall we go?”

“We…go?” Alec blinked.

“Technically, they’re my brother and sister-in-law now. Isabelle and James, right?”

“Jace. I guess.”

Alec dreaded to think about what his siblings would say, but there was nothing really to do; he had to sort this situation out as well, so it was better to not split up. They went searching, but they weren’t in their rooms, so he went down to the breakfast hall. They were there. He walked over and sat opposite them, their faces concerned.

“Where did you go?” Izzy asked. “We couldn’t find you…we searched everywhere!”

Jace glared at Magnus. “You were supposed to keep an eye on him; what did you do?”

Magnus simply shrugged and sat down too. “You’re the ones who asked a drunk warlock to watch over him, blondie; it’s bound to end in shenanigans.”

Alec blushed and tried to figure out how to address the issue at hand; he didn’t think there was any good way to do it.

“You didn’t seem drunk,” Izzy said sheepishly, looking at her brother. “I’m sorry, we had no other choice; he was the only person I recognised.”

“It’s fine, he took care of me,” Alec said.

A plate of food appeared in front of him and he looked at Magnus in surprise before murmuring a thanks, tucking in. After some silence, he looked up and realised his siblings were looking at him.

“What?”

“You’re awfully chummy,” Izzy said.

“Uh, what? We’re not—”

Magnus put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed. “We got drunk and married, then slept together. We bonded.”

“—Just sleeping,” he added quickly.

Silence fell while Alec hid his face in his hands; he wasn’t upset, it needed to be told, but it was still embarrassing. But putting his face in his hands was clearly a mistake as Izzy pulled his left hand towards her.

“Oh, Raziel! Alec, if I’d known you’d get that friendly with Magnus, I would have found someone else. I want you to get out there, but not that fast, Alec!” Izzy said.

Meanwhile, Jace was glaring at Magnus.

“We were both drunk, it was no one’s fault,” Alec said, trying to calm them down.

“Besides, we’ll meet with the minister and get this annulled. Happy ending,” Magnus said cheerfully.

“Not long eighteen and already a divorcee, brother,” Izzy chuckled.

“Annulment makes it a little different, darling. Like it never happened. Are you ready, darling?” Magnus asked.

“You’re going to have to at least give it a try first and if it doesn’t work, we’ll grant the annulment,” the minister said.

Magnus sighed; it was like something out of that Vegas movie with Cameron and Ashton something. Still, he could think of worse people to be stuck with and a handsome young man wasn’t one of them. He doubted the shadowhunter was going to be all that impressed.

“How long?” Alec asked.

“We’ll re-evaluate this case 15th January.”

Magnus dragged Alec out and sighed. “Sorry, darling, looks like you’re stuck with me for a few months.”

“It’s okay…it’s, uh, you I feel sorry for. I’m not exactly exciting.”

“You don’t seem boring to me; you haven’t once degraded my being a downworlder,” Magnus said.

“I just don’t see why that would be a problem; you’re a person t—”

Magnus couldn’t help himself, he swooped in and kissed him on the lips, pulling back with a smirk.

“Keep up that talk, sweetcheeks, and we’re going to need my room again,” Magnus purred before leading a red-faced Alec towards the lounge area where Jake looked bored and Isabelle was looking at her phone. “We’re back, did you miss us? Slight hitch—ha, pun unintended—we have to wait until the 15th January to get this annulled. Something about giving the marriage a try first.”

Magnus tuned out the noise coming from Jake, even Isabelle was perplexed, instead admiring his glittery purple nails with an outlined heart on them. Shadowhunters. Always so determined to get angry about everything. Then he looked at his sheepish ‘husband’, who seemed to break the mold of what he knew about his people. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

Magnus had thought too soon; while Alexander wasn’t a problematic housemate, he wasn’t without issue. He found himself worrying sometimes, especially after that one time he came home caked in blood. Alexander being who he was, tried to play it off as nothing before he stumbled. He wasn’t supposed to care this much, but Magnus had never been good at not caring about people, he was just good at hiding it.

So when his hot warrior husband stumbled into his Halloween party, gear torn up, bloodied alongside his siblings, Magnus naturally got them to the guest room quickly. Nothing too major, but they needed a little warlock TLC. After that, some tough love ie. demand they take a shower.

Needless to say, he took a long swig of his drink after that. His guests weren’t perturbed; some of them even snickered, which he rolled his eyes at. He watched as James and Isabelle made their way through the party, ending up talking to Clary and her friend Simon. He wasn’t sure how they’d found their way here, but he wasn’t a babysitter and Halloween disguised any of his guests who felt no need for glamours.

Magnus walked into the guest room; Alec’s room, for the time being, spotting him in there with a book. He leant against the door frame.

“Is my party that dull?”

“I’m…not really into parties.”

Magnus noticed Alec’s eyes were on him, taking in his skimpy outfit. Modern day Beetlejuice, except prettier and more glittery. He swayed his hips as he stepped towards him, hem of the tight trousers dangerously low, until he stood in front of a now wide-eyed Alec. He sat down next to him.

“Are you ok, sweetcheeks?” Magnus asked.

Alec laughed at his nickname before blushing even more. He was terribly adorable.

“I am…Magnus, I, uh, I was wondering…can we try this out? I mean, dating. I like you, I’d like to…take you out to dinner, properly,” Alec said.

Magnus reached over and kissed his cheek. “Yes, that would be just fine. May I kiss you, Alexander? Properly?”

Alec didn’t answer, he simply turned and kissed him, unpractised, but charming all the same.

#ladymatt #malecsanta19 #*fics19 #*gifts19

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oveliagirlhaditright · 5 years

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Breaking Glass Ceilings

Birthday gift for @bluerosesburnblue, that pairs Ephemer with her version of Player “Sanya”:

Summary: When Ephemer and Sanya have their first meeting and mission together in ages, things seem great... But this begins to unravel, when Sanya remembers everything, Brain contemplates many a thing, and more of the Master of Master’s plan is undone.

Breaking Glass Ceilings

Sanya looked at Ephemer, finding it hard to keep her crush on him in check.

It was stupid, she knew—since she barely knew the guy—but what could she say? He had been one of her first friends, and that stuck.

Plus, the boy was beautiful. So, there was that.

But Sanya tried to put all of this on the backburner—as she always did—and instead tried to figure out the mystery that was Daybreak Town right now.

There was some sort of hologram of it appearing above the Foretellers’ Tower? Well, that didn’t bode well to Sanya.

It reminded her of a movie that had, ironically, been playing when the Master of Masters had still been around: That had dealt with people thinking that the world they were in was the actual dream.

And while the light within Sanya didn’t want to believe that that was the case, she had to wonder. Wouldn’t it explain a lot of the things that were happening lately?

But until Sanya knew more—because in her eyes, she wasn’t wise—she was reserving judgement.

But when Brain began explaining things, in a sort of techno-babble that Sanya couldn’t keep up with at all… from the few things she’d been able to understand, she thought her suspicion might have been correct.

And when Sanya and Ephemer entered the very data-esque world of Sugar Rush, she began praying that Fix-It-Felix-Junior would somehow fix her world back to the way it had been before:

Sanya ended up telling Ephemer as much… and about her suspicions with other things.

At night—while the two of them were in some sort of candy forest, and using candy canes as sticks for fire—Sanya asked the question that had been playing on her mind for so long. “I’m having… dreams about the Keyblade War. And that can’t be, because that didn’t happen. Right? So whyam I dreaming these things so vividly? It actually happened. Didn’t it, Ephemer? And if so… can we believe in our own world at all?”

There it was: Everything Sanya had been regretfully mulling over for a long while now.

She had been afraid to give voice to any of it, in thinking it would make it real, and she hated herself for doing so now.

But at the same time… it was sort of liberating to finally have it all out in the open. And Sanya was taken aback to find just how much she wanted to move onto the next issue. Was it her heart’s way of trying to endure the pain?

Ephemer’s silence and face was the clear answer to all of this for Sanya: His mouth was now agape—as if he meant to say something—and his hands were reached out to, perhaps, hug her.

And if that was his intent—Sanya didn’t know for sure—she knew she would have turned him down here: Even with her crush on him and love for this friend, she would have done that.

“Sanya… I’m sosorry. I wouldn’t have done it if Master Ava hadn’t insisted. Or moreover, if I didn’t know how you’d been after the War.” And it was here, that Sanya reallywanted to yell at him: That they were her memories, and no one had had any right to take them or to make judgement calls for her. And that, weren’t those who didn’t know history doomed to repeat it? But Sanya just resisted doing so:

For one thing, Ephemer had just been a cog in the machine here. Her outrage should have been at Lady Ava again.

But most of all… their main thing should be surviving the Cy-Bugs right now, that Calhoun was certain would get to this world any moment. And if both Cy-Bugs and Heartless both came to exist here, Sanya didn’t know how they’d survive it. But she and her Chirithy would sure try to fight!

Deciding to look at the positive for just a moment—because the negatives would certainly come back to haunt her in her dreams—Sanya recalled a certain memory of Ephemer’s hand in her own, and had to ask: “So… do I actually know you more than I think do?”

Ephemer laughed at this—something that was music to Sanya’s ears, because there still needed to be some happiness in the world. And she didn’twant everything to be ruined between them forever—before saying with his hands up in the air again, “Not really. No? …’cept for the time Skuld and I came and rescued you in the Keyblade Graveyard. But you’ve actually spent more time with Skuld than me—maybe you remember that?—but you guys did spend a while looking for me, so maybe you were thinking of me then.... I’m sorry about that.”

Ephemer was scratching his head nervously now.

It was, despite everything, a lovely sight. And did not hint how in a few hours’ time, of how the cookie would crumble

Right now… Sanya just yawned—said she’d had enough of the heavy, and that they’d continue their search for Ralph in the morning—and stretched out and went to sleep.

As she dreamed, she saw that the only way to leave this world… might be to kill themselves in it.

…

When Sanya woke up, she felt some of the fury she’d stamped down the previous night rising up.

And while Chirithy was a pleasant presence by her side—trying to convince her to let it go—she couldn’t get over just how she’d been betrayed.

And if she really had been closer to Skuld and knew her better… It hurt even more, to know that she had also done this: Not that Ephemer had said that, but it wasn’t hard to guess.

There was even a dark part of her (and a scared one), that thought maybe they all deserved to be stuck in this data structure, then, or whatever it was.

Ava had meant for them to get out into the New World and to begin again… But if even they, the hope, behaved like this, why even curse the world with such humans again?

“Don’t dwell on it, Sanya,” Chirithy said sadly, as he crawled up onto her lap and put her face between his fuzzy paws. “Dwelling on the bad is what led to the Dark Chirithy last time,”

Sanya frowned. She definitely didn’t want a situation like that to rear its ugly head again—she still remembered what Dark Chirithy said: “See you in another dream”—and still had nightmares about it.

But while it had been her dwelling on the knowledge that some of her friends wouldn’t survive the Keyblade War, that led to the Nightmare…

Sanya also thought keeping it all bottled up inside her wasn’t good, either. Hadn’t that been why she’d blown up at Master Ava, when she’d been disguised as Master Ira and saying she’d killed Ephemer? Hadn’t that led to darkness in her own heart?

She’d even nearly wanted to her friendship with Ephemer just now, since he’d taken her memories of the war; and Sanya didn’t think that was right: Despite their best efforts, bits and pieces of the horrors were coming back to her. And since she already recalled them, she wished she at least had the context to make sense of it all.

…The “Riku” medals also used darkness, and they were fine… As was everyone when they used Special Attack Bonus over Guilting now, so was it possible… that darkness maybe wasn’t as bad as they’d all come to believe?

That seemed hard to believe, as the two of them rested warily in the candy forest and only half-slept in fear of Heartless and Cy-Bugs… but it was what it was.

Sanya was even tempted to wake Ephemer, and to get his opinion on all of this… But she didn’t.

Suddenly possessed by the urge to go to the Foretellers’ Tower for the third time now—and to do it secretly, for she didn’t know what she’d do—Sanya decided to leave this mission unfinished for the moment (things seemed okay right now. And should the worst happen, Ephemer was there and she’d be right back), and to get back to the data version of Daybreak Town or whatever it was.

She ran back through Grand Central Station, through the circuit—battling a few more Darklings here and there as she did so: her heart breaking for them—and was in the sewers heading up before she could blink.

Not really, of course. But Sanya was so used to going into them now, that the moment she reached the place she could almost believe no time had passed at all in getting to the Tower.

And then she was finding her way back into the room Brain had been in—she thought that was his name—with all the gears.

And as she eyed them… Sanya felt all sorts of suspicions setting in, that she couldn’t help.

Having a room like this—and choosing to spend all your time in it—just seemed devious to Sanya: She didn’t care if it was needed to power this Daybreak Town or not…

His being in here all the time—when it could surely sometimes run on auto-pilot—made it seem like he saw the people he worked with as the very cogs here.

And Sanya felt that watching a pendulum swing, or a clock tower, wouldn’t be much different.

And Sanya knew of a time—when she’d been new to this role—that the Master of Masters had been doing exactly those things, as she caught a vision of him.

So, did that mean he’d been playing a game from the get-go, too? And if so… what had they done in following him?!

Breathing heavily, Sanya summoned Treasure Trove to her hand—to which Chirithy sadly objected—and she prepared to do battle with Brain, if it came to it.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to think that her action was hostile, though—and truthfully, Sanya wasn’t yet sure if it was—and as he watched her from beneath the brim of his hat, he asked: “Sanya, what are you doing here? The task you were supposed to be doing with Ephemer isn’t complete yet.”

Sanya was tempted to quip that she only took orders from Master Ava, who he wasn’t, but she didn’t.

There was no need to be passive-aggressive, and for it to turn into something truly aggressive yet.

So, she just questioned softly, “If we really have been in the Virtual Twilight Town—and have been since Master Ava created the Dandelions, without our knowing—will we ever even know if we can get out of it? And if we can… What awaits us out there? Wewere supposed to repopulate the world after the Keyblade War, weren’t we? And if we didn’t… is there even anything out there? And if there somehow is… Who knows how long we’ve been in here? Will we get out with everything being completely different? …Is any of this even worth it?”

Brain smiled at Sanya—that she couldn’t help feeling was a good thing—but why did it also make her uneasy?

And he tipped his hat to her once, while admitting: “That’s very good. You know about the Book of Prophecies, and how we used to use it to project future versions of the worlds to go to. So as long as we could do that, surely it meant a future with those worlds still existed.

“However… you were here for my lecture towards Ephemer and Ventus, and know that we’re now going to data versions of the formerly prophesized worlds… Those can exist indefinitely, even if the worlds themselves didn’t come to exist, if something went awry. So, no: There’s no way to tell just by our going to the worlds anymore that the worlds exist. The fact that the Master has us going to data worlds now may even be a clue that he didn’t think there would be worlds… But don’t you still think it’s best to try?”

Try… Sanya didn’t know what it was—beneath Brain’s simple outfit and laidback personality, that seemed designed to say the opposite—but she thought he’d try until his dying breath… Which seemed like the right thing to do. But could there be too much of a good thing?

It was at that point that Ephemer joined them. And at first, Sanya first looked at him ashamed: because with Ephemer gone… had Ralph’s world lost the best chance it had? …But at the same time, these things needed hammering out.

“I thought you two might be here,” Ephemer said pleasantly enough, though his smile seemed to disappear just when he took in their serious expressions. “…What’s going on?”

Forgetting the idea she’d had earlier, about all of them dying to do this—had that been the darkness getting to her?—Sanya spoke an idea that appeared in her head when she was speaking it… and somehow instantly knew it was right:

“I think- I think we need to reenter the outside world again, and to do so- We should unplug Daybreak Town from Game Central Station and let it completely off the grid.”

Sanya hoped they got what she meant by letting Daybreak Town go “off the grid”: She meant to have it lose all its power, and for everyone to stop doing missions for the time being: That way, whoever was observing them in the real world would notice the change, come check on them, and maybe they could follow them out that way.

“But that completely goes against the Master’s plans,” Ephemer answered with a depressed undertone to his voice. Almost looking at Sanya as if he was seeing her for the first time, which stung.

And right away, she had wanted to retort that she didn’t exactly trust the Master of Masters—and if Sanya was gauging Brain’s silence correctly, he didn’t either—but she was also far from knowing all the answers: And from who she’d been when she’d undergone darkness training with Hades, just so she could save Hercules: While there was a side of Sanya beginning to think that light and darkness needed to be kept in balance—didn’t most of the future medals have darkness to them?—she also still hated herself for the Nightmare Chirithy situation, and because so many friends of hers had died in the Keyblade War. Because the Foretellers-

And Sanya didn’t trust herself to not do something atrocious with this darkness eating away at her. So, for many a reason, she was thinking she should just give the benefit of the doubt that the Master was right…

But on the off-chance she wasn’t, she also wanted to lay groundwork for someone else to begin what she started.

“Ephemer… you’re perhaps my dearest friend. And a leader—if I’m understanding things correctly—so whatever you choose I’ll follow no matter what… But if we are in a lie, don’t you think it’s best if we leave it? And I know you weren’t there for the Nightmare Chirithy stuff—Skuld was by my side—but he said he’d see me in another dream, and I believe him… And that sounds like something to avoid. So far, I haven’t seen him. And if I get out now, we maybe never will.”

To Sanya’s surprise, Brain came over to her and put a hand on her shoulder now—as he maybe, just maybe, let her see under his hat a bit more as he smiled at her.

“Your friend has some good points, Leader. You should listen to her… I was really interested in Sugar Rush, but now I think we should drop it, too… What I know about ‘video games’ is very slim—since they only exist in the future, so I’m skimming the medals and things from the Book of Prophecies here—but I think Ralph’s world is somehow exactly that. And us now being connected to whatever runs a video game… Makes me worry that someone may be playing our own lives. Or trying to find a way to do so. I think we should sever our connection to that world to be safe… And, just to say it: none of that world was written in the Book of Prophecies.”

Ephemer was angry now, Sanya could see. He frowned, and clenched his fists at his sides. And Sanya got why…

For so long, they’d helped any world they could to gather Lux. Why should this one be any different, when it desperately needed them?

“I don’t think I can agree to that, guys. At least not yet… Let the other Union Leaders wake up and then we’ll vote on it, okay?”

…And so they did.

But only between three of the Foretellers. Ventus and Skuld were gone…

And no search through Daybreak Town, or any of the rest of the worlds, showed any sign of them: Not even Lauriam’s smart friend Elrena—who had also apparently been asked about Strelitzia—proved to be of any help.

And Sanya’s heart ached for Skuld. And so Chirithy gave Sanya many cuddles for that fact…

Until Sanya decided what she had to do.

Ventus and Skuld had gone missing the moment she’d talked about leaving—as if the outside world had listened in, and punished her for the thought—and to get back at them for doing that… and to find her friends, Sanya was now working with Brain and a just-shown-up-Gula to dismantle Daybreak Town and get outside.

Sanya didn’t care what the results of this would be: That Ephemer would disapprove, and break her heart in doing so… That information for two who didn’t exist—a Dyme, and a Drulo—would show up in Daybreak Town when they were trying to destroy it, or that Sugar Rush would somehow be replaced with a “Verum Rex”.

All Sanya cared about was getting outside.

And, despite everything, making Master Ava’s dream come true.

There, she wouldn’t be subjected to this world’s laws… and should be able to get back all of her memories of her friends, as well as her missing ones now.

Sanya reached out to the sky as glass flooded around her—and Gula came floating up beside her—and closed her eyes.

Author’s Note: So, I actually meant for this to be a cute shipping piece between Ephemer and Sanya--since I know you ship Ephemer and Player, Liz, especially your Player with him--but somehow it turned tragic, and my idea of what might happen next I guess. Oops.

#long post #fanfiction #ephemerplayer #ephemer #player #brain #kh #kingdom hearts #khx #kingdom hearts x #key #kingdom hearts key #kingdom hearts unchained key #kingdom hearts unchained x #kingdom hearts union x #kingdom hearts union cross #bluerosesburnblue #sanya

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peterson50delacruz-blog · 5 years

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Showdown Game Assessment

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bluebrine · 2 years

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dream log recollection, dec. 27th, 2021.

-----

had a dream last night about purgatory/ hell(?) that was a sort of.... 2-player game. when you died... or played (???), you were bound to another, and then woke up together, in an underground cave system. when you both exited the dead-end tunnel you began in, you overlooked a vast, wide cavern with endless stone buildings stretching out before you. the only light was from these glowing, cyan torches- but the masses of purgatory’s life were barred from you by a metal fence that corralled you and your partner towards a great stone slab of a door. and then you waited.

until the other two playing arrived (prior participants? you wondered.) and opened the door via spilling blood onto the stone. the first was, initially, just a huge hand stretching out from the darkness above and behind you both while you looked up at the slab. the body connected to it was that of an inhumanly large, pig-like man, maybe fifteen feet tall, all pale rolls of fat and completely hairless. wide-set, with sprawling legs like that of a bullfrog. he was (unfortunately) stark naked aside from a piece of tattered burlap thrown over his neck and shoulders. his face was not piggish, though- on a human figure it would perhaps be called handsome- with a harsh slant to his wide, square jaw, and severe brows above deep-set, pale blue eyes.

he spat a glob of blood onto his palm, smeared it across the door, and shoved you both aside as it rolled open. he said nothing, but the air itself was hostile and full of warning. the sounds of deep, guttural rumbling and dragging skin-on-rough-stone followed him down the dark passageway until he was out of sight.

his own partner, who then seemingly materialized out of the nothingness behind you, then clapped you both on the backs and pushed you along with them as they suddenly strode into the passage. they had a very distinct ‘yare yare, c'est la vie, what can you do?’ air about them as they herded you forward into the dark.

this one was closer to human in proportion- could actually view you at eye level- but was that of an extremely lanky, gaunt figure. they were tall, with a torso that was just... too long in the spine, causing them to hunch over themselves. shorter legs, long dangling arms, a neck that seemed to connect to the back of the skull instead of beneath it- the silhouette seemed vaguely reptilian. neither distinctly masculine or feminine. covered in armor head-to-toe, the same color as the dark stone walls, except for a crest of flaming cyan hair like that of a roman galea. the slit visor of their helm also revealed pale yellow, glowing eyes, fever-bright in the dark, but that was all that could be seen of their form.

and you all walked together. this one was chattier than the other. they talked about you and your partners’ appearance, the underground cavern’s scenery, the sound of their own companion’s echoing steps ahead. they were vague on details of what was occurring, and even less helpful when asked questions. overall, a very evasive, confident, and independent sort of being.

the tunnel offered little distraction from the situation, being only a natural winding trail through stone, and you had only the occasional light of the cyan torches to dot the way. the floor was uneven, and the reflection of the eerie light shone on the surface of dark puddles in the ground. your guide(?) casually kept a wide berth from them, deftly weaving around the potholes as they walked, often backwards while gesturing wildly. they held your attention, a clear lover of suspense and the spotlight, and you decided you quite liked them even as they smugly insinuated that a fate worse than death awaited you both. the being had a magnetic personality, at odds with both their own appearance and the attitude of their partner, that somehow made purgatory’s atmosphere far more captivating than daunting.

-----

you all walked for a very long time. the tunnel was endless. you couldn’t catch sight of the man-boar ahead of you, but could always hear him. rasping breath, bone-deep rumbles, the shush-shush of skin and burlap against too-close stone walls. it was never quite covered up by the chatter of your guide, always echoing out of the pitch-black in front of you, unsettling far more then the silent void you could feel looming at your backs. you were too afraid to turn around, but you knew the lights blinked out as you passed them. there was nothing once you had passed it by. but that didn’t matter, because the noise of the first of you in that passageway soon began to grow fainter, then very quiet, until then only the sound of ringing silence remained. your guide stopped speaking and stood still.

the ground was shaking. a pebble fell from the cave roof, and you looked down. a dark puddle near your feet, previously glass-calm as a mirror, rippled out with the reverberation of a noise you could feel but not hear. ‘ah, shit.’ said your guide, all at once losing the levity from their voice, ‘he drank.’

-----

you walked forwards (like an idiot), partner and guide left behind, and the passage opened up before you. this was a wider chamber, far more open than the last ages of tunnel, and within was a pool of dark liquid. a font(?) of what you had been seeing mere drops of earlier. on his hands and knees at its edge was the boar-man, facing away, fat fingers digging grooves into the stone floor as he clutched desperately for purchase, curling into himself. the muscles in his back jumped and twitched spastically, rippling the folds of his body with every convulsion. though he made no noise now, the pain was obvious even far from the chamber’s mouth.

‘gluttony.’ said your guide, stepping out of the nothing behind you as before, but this time they offered no hand. your partner trailed after, silent, as you stood and watched the scene below.

there was a noise. a painfully loud, wet, crack as your guide’s partner suddenly straightened his spine, arching back with a spasm. a beat of silence. then he arched again- crack- and again- crack- and again and again and again as the sound of bone-deep pops echoed out from within in his flesh against the cave’s walls. his spine was- lengthening. being stretched, vertebrae-by-vertebrae being pulled apart from some internal force as he grew.

the folds of pale fat, previously tightly bunched up in his agony, began to roll out with each sickening spasm of his body- and kept rolling out, each of them moving to accompany the segment of spinal cord they belonged to, as this great, human-skinned worm continued to grow. despite the fact his flesh was literally being rent asunder and all that, his mouth still offered no noise, no screams- the room was deathly silent aside from the never-ending crack, crack, crack.

-----

utterly transfixed in mute horror at this point, you watched together as the man(?????) rose from twenty, to fifty, to a hundred feet long in minutes, straining his form up towards the cave’s ceiling before continuing its arch backwards, falling to the floor with a ground-shaking slap of meat-on-rock. He was gigantic. long as a train, wide as a double-decker bus, curling up and over his own body from his sprawl on the cold stone floor. his head was nearest you, facing up to the ceiling, eyes rolled back to white in their sockets. a beat of silence. then- a wet, ragged inhalation of air, straining to reach now-distant lungs.

your guide made no move forward. they never took their eyes off of him, rooted in place, no expression or change in stance at all visible. all the world a statue as their beastly companion lay before them, gasping and broken on the ground. with a shudder, his form shook, and those deathly pale eyes turned on you all once again.

his face could no longer be called ‘handsome’. or even ‘human’, for that matter. that wide, square jaw was now very wide indeed, stretched far enough across his enormous skull to rival a semi truck’s fender. a heavy brow set over small, beady eyes, a jutting nasal bridge that sloped forwards to meet sagging lips and jowls, all framing a mouth large enough to swallow a man whole.

when that mouth opened, wafting rank air past blunt teeth, it was with a laugh. ‘see,’ he crowed, ‘what blood can give us?’, his voice the wet rasp of a muck-clogged pipe. the scent of raw meat filtered out, and he coughed on his next laugh. ‘see!’ with that word pushed past his lips, a surge of dark blood leaked from his mouth, his nostrils, dribbling down his upturned face to pool in the corner of one dinner plate-sized eye. ‘this is what we always wanted!’

with that, he heaved, straining to right himself from the blood-smeared floor of the cave. his legs and lower body, lost to the depths of the dark pond during his transformation, emerged and scrabbled for purchase on the slick stone edge. as with his arms, they were thick and stout, fat falling over itself in sleeves like a plump infant’s, but were almost comically undersized to support his vastly lengthened form. he writhed the rolls of his segmented torso, twisting his body until all four limbs were planted firmly beneath him.

the change and exertion had clearly taken its toll. his smooth skin glistened with sweat and streaks of blood, twitching as an over-sensitive newborn in the humid cavern air. the righting of his body caused the folds of fat along his flanks to heave, swaying like heavy udders along his belly with every breath. he laughed again- a damp, unpleasant sound.

he reared up, supported only by the sprawl of his stomach and lower legs, and towered over you all. your guide moved, having to crane back their entire upper body to keep their partner in view. they blinked, once. twice. ‘gluttony,’ they finally said, ‘we’ve lost.’

hunched up and over himself, like some monstrous inchworm, the one called gluttony stilled. he peered down at your guide- not sparing you or your partner a glance- and considered the dry reproach in that voice with a slight tilt of his head- then only laughed again.

‘i’ve done no such thing,’ he sneered, lowering that massive skull with surprising speed to meet his partner’s gaze, coiled down upon himself alike a snake ready to strike. he smiled- running a disconcertingly long tongue across bared teeth- and threw his wretched little arms out to gesture at the blood pooled around him. ‘open your eyes, friend- open your eyes, and drink!’

-----

no one moved, or drank, or did anything at all. it was quiet and still again. as the moment stretched, the smile fell slowly from gluttony’s broad face. his outstretched arms dropped back to his sides with a sad, meaty little slap. ‘i see,’ he said. flat and disappointed. ‘you are a fool. a stubborn, arrogant fool to the end.’ his watery eyes darted to-and-fro within his partner’s held stare, and, finding no leeway there, pinched shut with a sigh. semi-coagulated flecks of rusty blood whooshed out like sleet onto your guide’s armor from the effort. they made no move to brush it off.

gluttony said nothing else as he leaned away, flicking his eyes only once over you and your own partner’s dwarfed forms. with a twist, he turned and crawled back over his own body, slinking on past the pond in the chamber’s center towards a dimly-lit passage on its far side, previously hidden behind his own massive girth. with the receding drag of wet skin-on-stone into the dark, he disappeared.

-----

your guide only stared down the hole in the rock face his partner has slithered through. they said nothing. after a long moment, you (like an idiot), stepped around them and forward into the vacated chamber and began an uneven journey across the minefield of dark puddles. careful to not touch even a drop- though, the air itself felt sticky and moist with an oppressive humidity. your partner followed, silently. after a few moments, your guide’s footfalls also began to echo in step with yours. they faltered once, briefly- the sight of blood-soaked burlap trailing off the path into the central pool- then carried on.

the earlier chatter had ceased, the flippant comments on the weather and impending demise, as you made your way to the entrance of the next passageway. looking back, you could see the room was more than just long and high- its ceilings and upper walls were a latticework, a network of holes and glimpses of other identical long, high chambers intersecting this one. more dark pools, more pockmarked floors, all stacked together and across one another in a dense web of hollow rock. you turned away from the sight, uneasy, and entered the passage.

-----

you all walked, again, for a very long time. this tunnel was somehow even more endless than the first, though this time there was no noise ahead to lead the way. only the flicker of the blue-green lights into (then out of) existence as you carried onward. the floor was still strewn about with black puddles, reflective in the glare- though now there were also the tell-tale stains of a great mass being carelessly drug through them, smearing their contents in a wide path down the corridor. you risked a glance up at your guide, once again leading the pack- shoulders held casually loose, with an easy, loping gait- and asked more questions.

they cocked their head, considering, and actually answered this time. ‘that was gluttony, my partner,’ they said. ‘like you, and yours,’ they said. ‘there are more, others, all waiting for us,’ they said, tipping their head back over a shrugged shoulder. a lone, white-gold eye shone back into yours. pride? you wondered- envy? greed?- but didn’t ask aloud. you kept walking.

your guide once again started up a lazy stream of consciousness, apparently content to keep talking now that they had already started. the game ahead was ‘bullshit’, the endless trek through dank cave air was ‘complete and total bullshit’, and the drinks they served here were ‘the most absolute vile piss-swill in existence‘. that last one was said with flourish, as they spun back on their heel to face you both. with a hop-step over the next puddle, they spat out, ‘only one drink- hah! still one too many.’

-----

#personal #long post #good morning everybody! how'd y'all sleep?#nice nice anyway how 'bout some pig man centipede body horror to start the day off right with over a cup of coffee #wish i could at all draw humanoids or suids. this would be kickass to illustrate. alas!#imagination makes do #EDIT: oh my GOD this is getting so LONG eugh #i haven't written anything in so long my brain is punishing me. brb gotta go write the rest

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little-klng · 6 years

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Baldi’s Basics Theory

I’m sure everyone by now has heard of this new indie game called Baldi’s Basics due to the fact that almost every popular Youtuber has played it, including Markiplier. Markiplier, as far as I know, is the only major Youtuber to have gotten all endings and has played quite so much of the game as many like to reference in theory videos. I’ll cut to the chase, this is a theory post about something i developed in about 15 minutes. I spent a long while debating on whether or not to even post it due to the nature of the game. I wondered if people would make fun of me for making a whole theory on some silly game about a horror-filled schoolhouse that looks so thrown together, but my dear reader, strap on your seat belt and pull out your notebooks because this here is gonna be a bumpy ride

Now that you’re here, you’ve shown interest in what I have to say. Thank you for that.

On to the theory. Now, what is it that i have to go on here for any theory? Well, everything! This isn’t gonna be another ‘it was all a dream!’ theory because thats tired and worn out and completely erases all the work gone into the game (and any story for that matter), but understand it’s going to delve into a concept of that vein. Let’s lay out what we know;

-The game takes place in a bad CGI/2D schoolhouse setting from those old learning games in the 90′s. -The main antagonist is Baldi -All other characters look like horrible caricatures of what could have/should have been better modeled/rendered people/students -All characters in the game exist solely to harm or distract the player in some way -At the end of the game when you win, you’re met with a distorted voice asking you to do worse next time because they need to- That’s that. The end of the dialogue devolves into static there. But that gives us a hint of what to do next

If you just play the game as normal. you’d never really come across some pretty major points and plot. The game just dumps you in this setting of a weirdly laid out school and lets you run wild. But if you didn’t know any better, you would miss out on the fact that the only reason the player is in the school is to get your friends notebooks that he left in the school. Weird that no character, not even you, makes any mention of that. The whole premise of the game is that you collect notebooks, but you have to solve math questions for them that you always have to fail due to some questions being glitched out and unsolvable.

With the addition of update 1.3.1, the game now has a Secret Ending that you can only get by beating the game after getting 100% of all questions wrong (meaning Baldi chases you faster than ever. Go watch Markiplier do it, it took him 9 hours). But once you beat it, you’re met with the screen telling you to go to the principals office for tips on how to do better. Once there, you’re met with a long distorted Baldi in one end of the room and a mysterious character on the other. His name is Filename2 and he looks like this

Look at this dude T Posing out here. An absolute icon.

Filename2 is just what hes labelled as in the files, and his name is never actually spoken. Some theorize him to be the players friend from earlier, and honestly so do I! When you enter the room he says the following;

"Oh jeepers, you found me. Good job, I'm glad you found me, because I have something kind of important to say. *beep* It's about th-the game... Don't, *beep* Uh, Eh. Don't *beep* Don't, just, *laughter* this is.. This is probably looking pretty ridiculous *beep* Don't tell anyone about this game. You wanna.. Don't, don't bring attention to yourself. Destroy it, destroy the game. Destroy the game. Before, it's too late. *beep* What I'm saying is... is get out of this, while you still can. *beep* Just, don't.. don't know that you probably know I'm not saying that I'm trapped inside the game, no, that would be ridiculous. No I'm.. *beep* I can't... this is... I'm not... the game was... kind of...*beep* I got really corrupted. Yeah, I... *beep* I don't know what to say. Just... Just trust me. We gotta... *beep* * This isn't... This seems... I me-I mean it seems... ohh. *beep* They'd know I.. They intentionally... that's...I guess... I can't- They can't tell you, and some... stuff is classified. I can't say it. *beep* I wish I could say more. I can't talk normally. I-it's corrupted. There's...*beep*...Yeah...*beep* Just... close the program. Destroy it. Never come back. *long beep*"

...Yeah

There are a few things to take from this

-Filename2 is not ‘trapped in the game’ like most horror cliches. that would be ridiculous -He needed you to fail every single math question and still beat the game just to say all this. Weird. -He REALLY wants you to just delete the game and pretend you didn’t see it -He REALLY wants you to escape the game while you can -The game is ‘corrupted’ somehow, but he can’t really get into it because its ‘classified’ and ‘they’ would know he told you

There is something/someone preventing Filename2 from telling you anything more important than ‘get out of here while you can, don’t worry about me’. Throughout the audio, theres a constant stutter and some laughing, but more prominently the sound of shuddering and heavy breathing. It sounds a bit like crying to me. (warning to anyone about to go listen to the audio themselves, the beeps are REALLY loud and the speech is REALLY quiet)

Lets put him to the side again while we analyze the rest of the school

This doesn’t really look like any school I’ve ever been to, how about you? The weird hallways made to look like the stretch on and on and the actual classrooms being so far away from each other makes it feel less like a school and more like a hellscape prison.

About the schools inhabitants, they also feel like a hellscape prison.

We already know about Baldi, so lets see the other antagonists;

Aside from Baldi, Filename2, and yourself, there are 6 other characters that roam the halls. Each one has a simple description of themselves in the Principals Office.

Gotta Sweep;

What do you do when the school opens in 7 hours and you haven't hired a janitor? Hire a broom! It sweeps everything!

As you might imagine, Gotta Sweep is a badly condensed jpg image of a green and grey broom that spends its time, once released from the broom closet, roaming the halls loudly proclaiming its need to sweep. It moves quickly, sweeping everything in its path in the same direction it is. It stops for no one and nothing.

It’s A Bully;

Here at Here School, we believe every good school needs a good bully! That's why we have this kid!

It's a Bully appears as a poorly-modeled humanoid figure with an orange ellipsoid for a torso, blue cylinders for limbs, and small, peach-colored balls for hands and feet. He has an incredibly distorted and malformed face with dots for eyes, a gaping mouth with orange lips that clips into where his neck would be, a wide asymmetrical nose and brown hair. He doesn't wear shoes, and he has a brown text floating next to his head that says "THIS IS A BULLY" in all-caps. His pose appears to be in the middle of a run cycle. He spends his time blocking hallways and demanding that, in order to pass through, he must take one of your items. He can, however, be sent to detention should the principal wander by.

Playtime;

Despite her poor eyesight, she's always looking for a playmate! "Let's play!"

This character is a poorly drawn animated little girl whos eyes and hair are animated scribbles. Her poor eyesight has nothing to do with her characters mechanics, as she spots you easily and traps you in a game of jumprope. You can cut her jumprope with safety scissors to escape the game entirely, but doing so is considered bullying and you can be sent to detention for it.

1st Prize;

Won 1st Prize at the Science Fair! Loves hugging people, rushing towards anyone it sees. Sadly, it turns super slowly.

If you liked Gotta Sweep you’ll definitely like this character. Hes a robotic hugging machine that barrels down the hall towards you, and pushes you until the hallway ends. He, unlike Gotta Sweep, turns very slowly. He can occasionally accidentally push Baldi into you if you’re not careful, but you can use the safety scissors to cut his wires and make him spin in place for 15 seconds to buy time. Dunno why you’d do that though.

Principal of the Thing;

If I see anyone breaking the school rules, I'll make sure justice is served! It tastes good and fills my tummy!

Now, the interesting thing here is that when you start the game, Baldi refers to Here School (the school you’re in) as ‘his’ school, even though there definitely is a principal. There are posters in the school listing off the rules, and all are pretty standard like “no running” and “no students in the faculty rooms” and being caught breaking these rules by the principal sends you to detention for increasing seconds. An interesting thing to note about this character is that his name is a play on words for the phrase ‘It’s the principle of the thing’, though I have no idea how to fit that into a theory. This guy is a mostly average looking guy, except that his face is slightly contorted and his legs are partially erased

Arts and Crafters;

Shy, and tries to be avoided. Doesn't like being looked at, and gets jealous at people with more notebooks than him.

This guy is the final character, and he’s only important once you have all 7 notebooks. This guy is a sock puppet that, when looked at, will dart back behind whatever wall is closest and out of sight. However, once you have more notebooks than him (7, as he has 6), he turns hostile. He runs at you with his cardboard mouth agape and teleports both you and Baldi back to the starting position, ruining your run almost instantly.

And that’s everyone!

The most intriguing thing about all of them is that they all share one quality; some part of them is horrifically malformed. Something about them is just... broken or stretched or erased. The only one in one piece and animated is, albeit poorly, Baldi. Everyone, however, has a function and could definitely be described as real cliques and people. All of these characters read as how you imagine a person you’ve only ever been told about, but never really met. Especially if the person telling you about them was only telling you about the newest drama going around or the latest experience the person talking has had with that person if they’ve only had bad experiences with them.

And here’s where the theory begins.

These characters are all fragmented and poorly animated because thats sort of how it works in your head when you’ve never actually seen someone in person. How many times have you heard about someone over and over only to meet them in person and realizing they look nothing like how you imagined, or that they dont act the same as you’ve been told. But that’s because often times you’re only ever told about the bad someone else has done, and very rarely the special good things someone does.

These characters are not real people, but they are based on the real people your friend knows.

Your friend told you about the little girl in the school with bad eyesight but loves to play jumprope. Your friend told you about the bully that steals his stuff. Your friend told you about the principal and how he gets people in trouble so much. Your friend told you about his science fair project that won first place. These people are not people you know, but you’ve heard about them. You probably don’t know their names because your friend didn’t refer to them with names. Just with minor descriptions.

Why do they look like that? well I don’t imagine that, if one were to look at how your brain pieces images together based on description alone and makes them a real thing, they would look so good either.

Every single character makes sense in this context. All but one- Baldi

Baldi, unlike every other character, is a whole animated character with lines that hint not-so-subtly that hes in charge of Here School, despite the principle. He’s an entity that is almost entirely immune to most things and hes the first thing you see as you enter the game. He’s also the last. But despite this, his weakness is the rules he follows. He tries to answer the phone, he abides by the walls of the school, he moves at a pace synonymous with the whacks of his ruler- if you’ve ever been to an old catholic school, you know that sound well and truly means power over others.

Baldi is a malicious entity that has trapped you in his Hellscape Prison constructed entirely from your subconscious memory. Personally, I think the map looks that way because the Player has been homeschooled and hasn’t actually seen much of the inside of a real school, but that’s up for interpretation. Baldi has manifested this area to fit the descriptions that your friend has fed you of this area you were already thinking about on your way to gather your friends notebooks. You were meant to be dumped in this world having forgotten your initial quest and forced to work on bare instinct. That’s why you don’t think to question the fact that, despite the fact that school is over at this time (”your friend forgot his notebooks and he needs them back before ‘eating practice’...” supposedly an after school activity Actually revolving around cooking and food prep. Maybe your friend works at a restaurant after school and Baldi doesn’t quite understand what that means due to his demonic or fae nature?) you’re still expected to finish all these math assignments just to leave.

Now, why doesnt our brave and ultimately doomed protagonist just leave? Well, my dear reader, I’m sure you’ve heard of those old tales of Fae that trick wanderers into eat fruit or taking things that aren’t theirs to trap them for eternity? That’s right, the notebooks are what trap you in the game.

From the first moment you finish the first notebook scot-free, you are trapped, having taken a fae-world item to fulfill your own quest. Now Baldi can give you those impossible-to-solve questions and the notebooks regardless of anything else. You’re trapped and theres nothing you can do about it.

No matter how many times you get a Game Over, you’ll keep trying. And you’ll keep going. You won’t ever really escape

“But the, where does Filename2 come into play, Mona?” I hear you dejectedly cry into the night, “You didn’t forget about him, did you?” Oh you naive little thing... he’s what ties this whole thing together!

You see, Filename2 is you! Well, maybe not you but, he’s what remains of you. While you spend eternity trapped in a world built from your subconscious, your conscious self remains, though glitched out and corrupted. You aren’t fully there, and if you knew that you might be able to escape, but if Filename2 told you that, Baldi would know. Filename2 is your door to safety and salvation... but unfortunately...

Baldi hears every door that you open.

#baldisbasics #baldi #playtime #this is a bully #principal of the thing #1st place #arts and crafters #gotta sweep #theory #baldis basics #but thats just a theory! a game theory!!!#hah hah jk but could you imagine #matpat if you steal my theory without credit like you do to other people i will sue you for everything you've got

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