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janamelie · 3 years

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Dimension Jump XXI Report

I suppose I’m a DJ veteran now as this was my fifth consecutive one and the fourth at the Nottingham Crowne Plaza which is an expensive four-star hotel. Sharing with a friend helps keep the cost reasonable and honestly, it’s worth it for the sheer convenience of being right there in the hotel and being able to nip back to your room as required. (To be clear, you don’t have to stay in the hotel to attend the con. There are plenty of other hotels nearby.)

Plus there is always the chance that you’ll see a guest at breakfast as I did Danny once. He picked out a few pieces of fruit and nibbled at them before wandering over late to his photoshoot. What else would you expect from a cat though?

Friday

Myself and @downonthepharm-red-dwarf (Amy) had arrived the previous day so had plenty of time to be near the front of the queue for registration. Which meant we saw Hattie Hayridge arrive in a stunning designer coat and with smart luggage. She really brought her outfit A-game and looked great the whole weekend.

Once we’d presented our respective proofs of full Covid vaccination or a recent negative test, we were given our DJ passes and booklets. The latter has spaces for signatures from guests, an Order Of Events and various handy tips for the weekend.

The con kicks off at 5pm with an hour of gradual build-up in the Main Hall - they show videos from previous events, specially made titbits with various guests past and present such as Mark Dexter doing a mock guide to DJ and Rebecca Blackstone voicing Pree. It all helps with the atmosphere, as do the numerous RD posters dotted around the hotel.

Then it was time for the Opening Ceremony featuring various Fan Club team members and an overcrowded stage full of cardboard boxes - the joke was that they’d had too much time on their hands during lockdowns and bought loads of stuff online. It was obviously also a nod to Lister’s hoarding in “The Promised Land”.

The sketch featured a specially made shot of the AA adverts’ Starbug model landing outside the Crowne Plaza and an 80s computerised version of the lovely convention logo. You could tell a lot of loving effort had gone into the whole thing.

Once the guest line-up had been announced (I’ll get to that not-really-a-surprise-guest shortly), we went straight into the RD Pub Quiz, hosted by Hattie. DOTP and I had been joined at our table by Lapsang and Barbs from our Discord (No Kind Of Atmosphere) plus various other attendees we’d befriended.

Someone in the crowd yelled “I love you, Hattie!” to which she quipped “I’ve pulled already!” Another bloke shouted “Fuck off, she’s mine!” which led to a few shouts of “Fight!” When neither seemed keen to do so, Hattie joked: “Only two? That’s a bit pathetic!” and then we got started.

The quiz is hard, by design, but I’m good at quizzes and my team - No Kind Of Atmosphere after our Discord - came joint third which was gratifying. (I was on the winning team a few DJs ago, to blow my own trumpet for a moment. This is my report, after all.)

And then it was time for the first guest Q&A with - surprise, surprise - Johnny Vegas aka the Crit Cop in “Timewave”. Not a great episode but he more than made up for that with an appearance I can only describe as chaotic. Warning - DO NOT attempt to heckle him unless you want to be singled out and humiliated in front of the entire audience in a “Can’t look away” fashion which was nonetheless entertaining. The man in question tweeted about it afterwards and seems to have taken it in good spirit.

Once we’d moved on from encouraging people to leave unpleasant things in room 429, it turned out Johnny’s a big fan of the show and owned it on VHS (so did I). He thinks of the main characters, Holly would win at “Taskmaster” and had good reasons for that conclusion.

He was dubious about the pink costume he wore in “Timewave” as he thought it might take away from the character but said he eventually decided he needed to get over what he was wearing and just go for it. He also said one of his worst working moments was on “Benidorm” when he had to hold his breath underwater in a freezing swimming pool and his co-star kept forgetting her two lines so they had over 30 takes. Ouch.

Johnny left commenting that he got less love at his 50th birthday party. But we hadn’t seen the last of him by any means as people kept buying him drinks during the Auction, leading to him successfully bidding for one of the items on offer.

And then he was back for the Karaoke. Now if you - as he informed us - had to undergo emergency dental surgery in the morning and had practically lost your voice, would you sing karaoke? And not only that, would you sing a version of “Love On The Rocks” which lasted 11 minutes according to someone on Twitter (I wasn’t timing it, but I can believe it), followed by the full-length version of “American Pie”?

If you answered no, you’re clearly not Johnny Vegas. He went to bed so late that the unfortunate Fan Club team member assigned to look after him got a grand total of 90 minutes’ sleep.

Saturday

DOTP and I had paid for the Photoshoot with Mr Vegas, Danny John-Jules and Ray Fearon. We got in the queue at 9am which was when it was supposed to start. An hour later we were still waiting. Yep, Danny was late.

Once he made it to the hotel, I got my photo in front of a Science Room backdrop. You might think Mr Vegas would be hungover and rushing through it, but on the contrary, he was still enjoying the hell out of proceedings which was refreshing to see. Since he’d been added to the line-up too late to be in the souvenir booklet, he signed extra inserts for the Fan Club which they handed out to everyone at the later Autograph sessions so attendees got his autograph after all even though he’d finally left. That’s what I call throwing yourself into an event.

Next up was a combined Q&A with Danny and Ray (originally separate but Danny’s lateness meant they were teamed up). This wasn’t a problem at all though - on the contrary, it worked really well as the chumminess between them added to the vibe. Also it was Ray’s first convention so he probably preferred to have Danny backing him up, especially since the poor man tripped on his way to the stage and almost fell. I don’t think he was hurt but I cringed with secondhand embarrassment and empathy. He wasn’t the only one to fall foul of the edge of the stage that weekend; I think it was the slightly raised dancefloor in front of it.

As is usual for Danny, we were treated to over half an hour of what you can only really describe as a stream of consciousness as he pontificated about various things. He and Ray did also talk about working together on “Death In Paradise” and Ray described his worst working experience there - he had to play a scene in a club in 45 degree heat with a live snake wrapped around his neck!

Ray is attractive in a “Hollywood hunk” way and Danny was clearly conscious of this, joking that he’d “brought his own security with him” and muttering “I’m better-looking anyway!” But all in a jokey way as they’re clearly friends.

Danny had come from filming and dropped a heavy hint that he’s appearing in a Dickens adaptation which I imagine will be shown at Christmas as they generally are. He also complained that Craig Charles never answers his phone: “You send him a message and he answers it on Twitter a month later!” (Interestingly, Chris Barrie later mentioned a recent phone conversation with Craig so make of that what you will.)

Ray was quieter but happy to talk about the vagaries of showbiz and typecasting - he said that due to his Shakespearean background he gets a lot of serious roles so people were genuinely surprised that he could also do comedy but “I was always funny!” He also gently teased Danny about the age of some of his references before admitting he still finds Tommy Cooper funny.

Danny usually performs “Tongue-tied” with a good grace when inevitably asked to by an audience member but perhaps it’s finally starting to pall as this time he did it in the style of Oliver Reed’s Bill Sykes and included a lot of X-rated references to cunnilingus etc. It was entertaining though.

Next up was a live Q&A (over Zoom) with Chris Barrie. Danny decided to stick around as he wanted to show Chris something he’d ordered online. It took a while to get the cameras in the right position for Chris to be able to see it and Danny needed a knife to open the parcel, leading Chris to quip “Is this a good time for me to step out for some lunch?”

However, it turned out to be worth it as it was a custom-made Ace Rimmer doll which impressed Chris with its quality and he complimented the maker.

Danny and Ray then departed for their lunch and to take part in the Coffee Lounge which this year had reduced its numbers for Covid-related reasons and held a ballot for entry in the interests of fairness. Amy and I didn’t get in but happily stayed for the rest of Chris’s Q&A.

In the “working from home” spirit, Chris was in a hoodie in his living room as opposed to his more usual smart suit. He was suitably relaxed and revealed he got through lockdown by concentrating on the things which make him happy, such as his hobbies, his garden and his family. His favourite episodes are “Marooned”, “Dimension Jump” and - less predictably - “Twentica”. He also referred to a recent “mannerly, as he would call it” phone conversation with Craig. No details but it had clearly been a positive experience.

Amy decided to liven up the ending of his Q&A by asking a vitally important, “TPL”-related question. Whom would Rimmer find more attractive, a female version of Lister or a female version of Cat?

Once the laughter had died down and Chris had bought some time by pointing out that “neither of them are women”, he gave the question appropriate consideration. He pondered whether Rimmer would be more taken by the “simple charms” of Lister or the “feline grace” of Cat. This next bit is courtesy of Amy as my memory isn’t infallible: He said it’d be a choice between a feline form or a rounder, a bit more slovenly woman - he wouldn’t want the perfectly feline woman because she might not like his imperfections, but he also wouldn’t want someone who ate curry three times a day. “Basically, a balance would be ideal.”

That was the last question but Chris provided a little more entertainment as he had a “How do you turn this off then?” moment a la Gordon the computer in “Better Than Life” and made amusing faces as he figured it out. If it was anyone but Chris I’d think it was a deliberate reference to that but I think he was genuinely befuddled.

We then broke for lunch, followed by Autographs with Hattie, Danny, Ray and Norman Lovett. I got the latter three to sign the “TPL” poster I’d brought with me but gave Hattie the booklet instead as it seemed more tactful. She complimented the dress I was wearing and I returned the compliment, telling her how much the fans appreciate the effort she makes with her DJ outfits.

Norman commented how there’s a version of the “TPL” poster he isn’t on, bemusedly. Fortunately mine was the version including him.

I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in the bar with Amy, Lapsang and Barbs, chatting to other attendees. Graphic Designer Matthew Clark was now in the Merchandise Room with various props from Series XII and “TPL” including the Starbug manual used onscreen. I got his autograph on my poster but it’s an incomprehensible squiggle. Oh well. He was very friendly and easy to talk to.

After a break for dinner, the Main Hall reopened for the Costume Competition. This seems to get better every DJ, with an amazing “Greyscale Rimmer” who was discomfiting to be around due to the corpse-like makeup, a Natalina Pushkin, a Nirvanah Crane who could almost have been Jane Horrocks herself and a Diving Suit Cat from “BTE”. Other entries included Rimmer’s Mum, “Giraffes who were armed and dangerous” and a Confidence And Paranoia who were later pictured at the bar chatting to Paranoia himself, Lee Cornes.

We then had a special video message from Doug Naylor which I won’t go into as I’m sure everyone’s already heard the details. Suffice to say, his tone was positive.

The second Auction was hosted by Ian Boldsworth who made it more entertaining by adding his own commentary to each item. This was followed by a stand-up set from Norman. It was amusing but he misjudged the mood a bit, I feel. When you’re waiting for a disco to start and it’s already hours late due to Danny’s tardiness, you don’t particularly want to contemplate your own mortality. We were here to get away from all that, as much as possible.

Anyway, the Disco was a lot of fun even if Dave Benson Phillips’ presence as host was sorely missed. Hattie danced for the best part of an hour alongside everyone else. The stand-in DJs did their job and I stayed until the end. The final two songs were “Bohemian Rhapsody” and … “Tongue-tied”.

Sunday

Not being in the Sunday Photoshoot, Amy and I had a nice leisurely breakfast and got over last night’s festivities before the first Q&A, live over Zoom with Robert Llewellyn.

This was hosted by Ian Boldsworth who in his capacity as Dave era audience warm-up knows Robert well. Clearly well enough to get away with teasing him relentlessly about not being at the con in person until poor Robert was a mess of Krytenesque guilt.

His protestations that he’d been scheduled to be in Munich this weekend but no longer was (he was at home) only made things worse. Ian: “Oh, so that’s two sets of people you’ve disappointed now! Stop saying yes to things!” It was hilarious and Robert took it in its intended spirit. Also Ian was getting a measure of revenge for Robert - in character as Kryten - dry humping him at recordings. One attendee asked “With the groinal attachment?!”

Robert admitted that he finds Kryten’s various groinal attachments hilarious and if he was writing the show they’d be in every episode. He praised Doug’s restraint.

He also admitted that in “TPL” he had an earpiece to have his lines fed to him. Since it’s controlled by an iPad, certain unscrupulous cast members took great delight in feeding him rude ones.

He still intends to update “The Man In The Rubber Mask” but atm “Fully Charged” is consuming a lot of his time as it’s become much more successful than he anticipated and he’s in charge of several people.

Surprisingly, he would hate appearing in RD without the Kryten makeup, both because it’s become much quicker to apply and because it provides him with a shield and he becomes Kryten and forgets stagefright. He still can’t watch “DNA” for that reason.

Lapsang, who played Kryten in “Into The Gloop”, asked Robert if he’d seen it. He hadn’t but said he was now very curious and would find a way to.

Next up was Lee Cornes aka Paranoia who said he originally auditioned for the lead roles and like the other unsuccessful actors got the consolation prize of a guest appearance. Upon being asked if he’d gone out for a drink with Craig Ferguson’s Confidence, he said no because at the time they had a frosty relationship due to rumours that Craig was plagiarising other comics’ jokes. Lee said it was all very silly and he’s since apologised.

Interestingly, Lee is a qualified science teacher and carried on with that career alongside his media one, leading to surreal situations where his pupils would ask: “Sir? Were you on the telly last night?” “Yes.” “Are we on the telly now, sir?”

Someone asked a good question - what would Lister’s Paranoia be like now 33 years later? Lee would be willing to reprise the role but isn’t sure it would work as the original had a childish quality whereas he feels now the character would be a lot darker and less funny. Lee was both thoughtful and entertaining in his responses.

He was followed onstage by Hattie and Norman, who resolutely refused to rise to the bait of an audience member attempting to stir up a rivalry between them. That only works when one isn’t the nicest person you could meet.

A tactless audience member asked both if they’d watched “TPL” instead of directing the question at Norman. Luckily Hattie had seen it and particularly enjoyed the cat flap joke although she felt there was a little too much focus on the guest cast.

Norman didn’t really watch RD after he left but Hattie has seen Norman’s early episodes as he lent them to her back when she was originally cast as Hilly for research purposes. Bear in mind this was 1988 when they weren’t even available on VHS so presumably he recorded them off the TV.

Hattie confirmed with a sigh that she’s simply never been asked to return in any capacity: “That’s the short answer.” What the hell, I’ll say it one more time - Bring Back Hattie! One episode, that’s all I ask. As it stands, it’s starting to look like a pointed and deliberate snub which mystifies me.

We then broke for lunch, followed by Rob Grant and Paul Jackson. For obvious reasons they didn’t go into the current legal mess, opting instead to entertain the fans with the story of how they met and their early pre-RD work (Rob and Doug as freelance writers for Paul’s producer).

We saw some clips from their early shows including “Three Of A Kind” with Lenny Henry, Tracy Ullman and … later magician David Copperfield; apparently they all had the same agent and Paul took on David as a favour. For a 40 year old show it held up pretty well and was in much better sound and picture quality than older shows often are. “Carrott’s Lib” was just as funny.

It’s a bit hard to summarise but this session was entertaining and gripping. Rob still wants to write another RD novel and I believe there’s nothing actually stopping him as both he and Doug had an option to write a second solo novel. So we’ll see.

The final Q&A was Matthew Clark who was very informative and interesting, showing us numerous production stills from Series XII and “TPL” and talking us through them. There was a groan when time was called before he was finished.

By now time was running short and Amy and I went back to the room to pack and leave our luggage with reception before watching the start of “Dibbley Family Fortunes”. Since I knew I wouldn’t have time to watch it all, I instead nipped upstairs to Autographs with Lee and Ian, timing it perfectly as the queue had almost vanished.

Ian was still performing, drawing scornful attention to the fact that Lee had a longer queue: “Can you imagine all these people queueing to see Lee Cornes?!” It sounds rude out of context but he was clearly joking.

I decided to ask Lee what flavour the yogurt Paranoia eats was. He said it didn’t really taste of anything as it was the cheapest, nastiest canteen yogurt available and was also starting to curdle under the studio lights so eating it can’t have been much fun.

Since I now had about 15 minutes before I had to go, I caught a bit of Dibbley Family Fortunes, said goodbye to Amy, Lapsang and Barbs and then dashed off to catch the tram to the train station. Another great DJ.

#red dwarf

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hatchetfieldtheories · 3 years

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Return to Hatchetfield-Town – The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals Part 1

Alright settle down kiddos. Get comfy, find a warm blanket and hug your favourite fwendy-wend as we start our Return to Hatchetfield-Town series.

I’ll be rewatching all the Hatchetfield scripted content (i.e. not livestreams or interviews) and jotting down what happens, explaining some concepts and delving into some of the key theories in the series (and using the word “implications” that often it will cease to have meaning).

Even though I’ll be doing the rewatch by show in order they came out, there will be spoilers for all Hatchetfield content that is available as of the rewatch.

I’ve also linked to a number of other blog’s theories here because they are amazing, but if you aren’t happy with your theory being included I will be more than happy to remove it! Just let me know.

[Part 2]

The Guy Who Really Hated Brigadoon

TGWDLM starts off with the greatest song ever to feature dancing zombies… at least I can’t think of any other notable ones.

In the title song, the cast of singing and dancing zombies explain to us that all great stories have to have a hero, someone who knows right and wrong and that the best way to do this is through singing and dancing in musicals. This with the later line of “they evoke the philosophical” make me think that Pokey took a class in Campbell’s Hero Myth in College and became that guy.

Hatchetfield Challenge: try not to shrug your shoulders along with the music at the chorus. Its impossible. No wonder the Hive spread so quickly. Literally killer dance moves.

So then they introduce us to an awful Grinch named Paul and we hit the first point in the show where I laugh out loud every single time I watch.

I know TGWDLM was not originally intended to be the first Hatchetfield show but starting this series with a song which sets up the story so well is truly spectacular. And is there anything more Starkid than introducing your main character by having other characters sing about how awful they are?

One thing I have noticed while writing, reading and collating Hatchetfield theories is that while most Black Friday and Nightmare Time theories are usually about the overall Hatchetfield lore, most TGWDLM theories are usually quite self-contained and focused on this one show. TGWDLM – while so fully within the Hatchetfield extended universe, is definitely the show that can best stand-alone without the others.

It’s the end of the world, Paul

If you don’t sing

This is the bridge, Paul

Where we globalize everything

And the words will come to you

We swear we will teach you

What it means to love

What it means to obey, Paul!

On a first watch this is very funny. On your 10th watch this is terrifying.

CCRP Technical: No-one here knows how to use their printer

Following the absolute bop of a title song we find ourselves in CCRP Technical and all feels very… normal. It’s very weird following all the revelations in subsequent Hatchetfield media, to be watching a show where there was genuinely nothing obviously fishy about CCRP. We’ll obviously discuss CCRP more when we get to Nightmare Time, but for now all we know is that Paul works in the technical department of CCRP – an unknown corporation, with some key characters, Charlotte, Bill and Ted.

We also find out more about Grinch Paul’s personality and honestly, Paul is me pre-pandemic just outright avoiding social interactions and suddenly going for coffee in the middle of the work day. (I have become a changed woman in lockdown – someone please invite me somewhere… anywhere!)

For all the dark humour and death in the Hatchetfield series, Starkid do know how to bring the joy – I love how excited the town of Hatchetfield are for a touring production of Mamma Mia.

Fake Fact: TGWDLM is actually an allegory for Europe in the 1970s, when we all became mind-controlled by Abba’s Waterloo. (Find me a better explanation for Eurovision, I dare you! The sequins were just too shiny!)

“The idea of sitting there… trapped in a musical. That is my own personal hell.”

Two words: Emma Perkins – need I explain any more?

Ah Hot Chocolate Boy. I really look forward to finding out more about him. Where does he come from? He just appears out of the ether. What’s his story? How old is he? How many hot chocolates does he have per day? I know we have since had some confirmation on who he is, but they raise more questions than answers. For now I will just point you to a gorgeous Mood Board by @hatchetfieldmoodboards which features a bit of a spoiler.

For real though – is it just me who would love a full version of “I’ve been brewing up your coffee”?

Hatchetfield Challenge: Try not to sing “Shut the f*ck up” along with Emma.

“Watching people sing and dance makes me very uncomfortable”- oh boy Paul… you’re not going to enjoy the next hour and 40 minutes. Also, Paul, you’re making me uncomfortable watching you throw your brand new coffee around as if you’ve just been given an empty cup. There’s imaginary coffee everywhere. Hopefully, HCB won’t slip on it before it’s cleaned up… he’s already having a bad day.

“Thunder and Lightning… very very frightening. But a big rock hurtling through the clouds is no biggie.” – all the residents of Hatchetfield apparently.

The next sequence happens so fast and we get introduced to a lot of characters. Notably Greenpeace Girl, Alice and Deb, Sam, and Hidgens (though we don’t find out his name until much later). This scene impresses me because they do such a great job of very quickly bringing out so many characters who nonetheless are memorable when they return later in the show.

Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel is an Eldritch Being. I won’t go into Peanuts theories here as that could be a whole post in itself – and many a person more brilliant than I have written some fantastic theories on this. You can learn all about how a Squirrel took over the fandom in the following posts:

@dahlialupine : x

@frombothofmyhearts: x

@abiimaryy: x

And finally mine which is definitely a serious theory: x

It’s… A… Musical!

Now to remember we are actually watching a musical. La Dee Da Da Day is such a happy joyful song performed spectacularly by a throng of the undead.

The song is about the Hive singing about how much of a great time they are having now they are tap-dancing zombies, and trying to find ways to convince Paul he should join them too. So the grins on all their faces are not at all terrifying.

It’s worth noting also that according to the laws of the TGWDLM world, only those infected by the Hive can hear the music in the background. This becomes important later when it becomes clear some characters have started being infected before they are fully turned into zombies, but for now it just paints quite a funny picture of what Paul must be witnessing. I definitely think for him, this whole scene just sounds like this clip of Greased Lightning without the music: x

The important thing here however, besides Mariah’s singing, is that the Hive leave Paul alone. They don’t actually attempt to turn him at this point. I have a theory on the implications of this, but note this has big spoilers for the end of the show and Black Friday. It was written before we knew that the Hive (Pokey) was related to Wiggly but the content still stands: x

Charlotte, Honey, you don’t need that much sugar – you’re sweet enough

For reference:

@melchron noted that the lyrics for La Dee Dah sound very similar to the incantation for soul transferal read out in Jane’s a Car, which leads me to two possible implications.

The Freaky Furbies have a language other than English that they use for their incantations so this is why they sound similar.

There is soul transference happening to the souls of the bodies the Hive take over.

Or it’s just Starkid using similar sounding words for their content…. Three! There are three possible implications…

Paul – just print off another copy of the report

From this point on the musical numbers really do come thick and fast. We move on to the first instance of Jeff Blim encouraging Paul to talk about his feelings, which I am sure is not important and isn’t worth discussing. Paul goes through a musical rendition of a promotion interview, which is actually the Hive attempting to find out if he will be the “hero” of their story. They picked out Paul for the role from the start. That he was chosen was inevitable.

What do you see for this company? I'm looking for someone with strong ambition Someone to sell their specific vision Someone to share with precise precision their thoughts 'Cause I want you to want…To want

So it turns out these will be looooong, so I will end here and see you in part 2! I’m not sure yet what the upload frequency will be. It takes quite a while to go through the show like this but it is a lot of fun!

Hatchetfield High Homework:

Where do you stand on the Peanuts the Hatchetfield Pocket Squirrel debate?

Why do you think that the Soul Transference Spell and La Dee Dah sound so similar?

Go follow all the lovely people mentioned in this post!

Bonus points if you know the reference in the post title.

[Part 2]

#the guy who didn't like musicals #tgwdlm #return to hatchetfield town #starkid #team starkid

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hyrule-kingdom-updates · 3 years

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Can we get some spare Launo headcannons for July?

Launo sucked big time at knight school when he first arrived—he didn’t exactly have any background help given no one in his family was a knight either. He was basically assigned the equivalent of “equipment manager” during the first few months. And when he did get proper actions with a broadsword or a bow, Launo struggled with footwork and precision and all the minute details of a duel so he often got his ass handed to him.

But one the top kids in Launo’s class thought he was cool anyways—that was, one Arcadius Hartell. Pretty, rich, ace with sword, bow, spear, and anything sharp, and pretty much had no flaws or weaknesses. Launo at first thought the guy was just pitying him, the kid who has never won a single sparring match and consistently put on training dummy duty (that is reattaching their heads when they got lopped off)

So it came as a bit of a surprise when Arcadius came to ask something from him.

“How do you do that?”

Launo turned from the training dummy he was working on. “S-Sorry, what?”

“The...the thing you do. With the...thing?” Arcadius pointed to the needle and thread Launo was holding as he was reattaching the dummy’s forearm. “How do you do that?”

Launo scrunched his eyebrows in confuzzlement. “This is, uh, well. It’s just sewing I guess. If this guy were real I guess it would be stitching, haha...” He patted the dummy’s wood shoulder playfully as if joking with a pal—the dummy immediately tipped over, Launo coughed and stepped in front of the mess to ignore it. Arcadius nodded thoughtfully.

“So, do you have a special technique or something?”

“I mean, not really, it’s just regular old sewing...”

“But I assume you’ve spent years training on the art.”

“I...uh...I guess? My mom taught me.”

“Oh! So it’s like...an apprenticeship...?”

“...Are you under the impression that sewing is some sacred gift that gets passed down to the worthy or something?”

“.........no....”

The two boys just stood awkwardly for a moment longer, Launo studying Arcadius’ face.

“You don’t even know what sewing is do you?”

“O-Of course I do! It’s the...thing.” He made a sword motion with his fingers, as if wielding a tiny blade. “You stab the stuff and it repairs. With the...” Arcadius squinted as he thought for a moment, “...stool...”

“Spool?”

“Yeah! That! So, look, you’re pretty skilled at everything—“

“I am??” Launo took a step back in shock.

“Yeah! You always fix the equipment, and somehow haul around all those weapons, and make us cool lunches—“

“I don’t know, I made Rubeo vomit last week cause I forgot he hates blueberries...”

Arcadius shook his hands. “N-Not the point. And he sort of deserves it. The fact is you’re obviously leagues ahead of the game—“

“I—Actually I wouldn’t say—“

“—so you just gotta teach me everything you know!” Arcadius pumped a fist and closed his eyes. “How could I ever call myself a knight if I don’t even learn the basics of equipment management! Who will mend the wounded holes in my soldier’s pride if I can’t even fix the tears in my uniform! A mountain’s peak is equivalent to the shallow shore if you have no bearing of the heights you soar.”

Launo blinked. “Are you...okay?”

Arcadius scratched his head. “Aha...sorry. That’s a quote from Aria Nori’s newest volume. Guess I was too into the moment there.”

“Oh! The Zora poet! I’ve read her stuff! I haven’t read her latest volume, but my dad often binds her books—“

“Really?!” Arcadius’ eyes were suddenly star struck. “That’s so cool! This is all the more reason you gotta teach me this stuff.” He waved again at the collapsed training dummy. “Maybe start with the beetle and thread.”

“Needle. D-Do you not know what a needle is?”

Arcadius’ eyes glazed over. “...no...oh my gods that’s not gonna be on the test is it?? I’m so screwed—“

“Nonono it’s not, I’m just...” Launo bit his tongue. Now that he thought about it, he never really saw anyone else in his class do mundane house chore stuff. They were far too busy sharpening swords and bragging about their parents or grandparents or great uncles or cousins that totally were war heroes and high ranking political figures. Sewing could just be a Hateno thing, could it..?

“Can’t you just hire someone to teach you?” Launo started. “I mean, I’m super flattered! Just that, I’m not exactly a master at this, so I’m sure there are adults out there that are more accomplished.”

Arcadius hung his head. “I don’t think my dad would let me...Pretty much everything not sword related he just hires someone to do for me. And he’s super picky about what training I focus on.”

“Well it’s not really official training, it could just be a hobby.”

The boy raised an eyebrow, sounding out the word. “H...Hob...?”

“O-OK, just forget that. H-How about...” Launo didn’t meet his eyes as he absentmindedly kicked the dirt. “Y-You like poetry, right? You can come over to my house and look at my dad’s collection. And when we’re there, I can let my mom...” He scrunched his eyes, trying to nail down the words, “...apprentice you? On the...art, of sewing?”

Arcadius’ eyes were wide enough to reflect the heavens themselves. “R-Really?? You’d do that??”

“I don’t see why not. It’ll be after call and,” Launo’s eyes suddenly sparked, “...You can just tell your dad that you’re training me! Say that you were asked to help your fellow classmates cause you’re already so far ahead from everyone else.”

Which isn’t exactly a lie, Launo thought, bitterly.

“Hmm...” Arcadius tapped his chin, before shrugging. “Might have to tweak the explanation to ‘getting extra credit for top grades by tutoring’ cause I don’t know how he’ll feel about me helping the competition.” He articulated the last word with a mocking, adulting tone. Then he held out a hand. “But I think it sounds like a deal! I’ll give you some pointers, and you introduce me to your mentor.”

“My mom.”

“Yeah, that.”

Launo shook his hand, still a bit timidly, given he now noticed that a few other boys in the training yard were watching the prodigy student interact with the glorified janitor boy.

So they both tutored each other: Larc, in the art of knowing what sewing magic was (Larc bringing the most expensive and ornate needle Launo had ever seen, even though Larc claimed he just found it in his father’s closet) and brewing delicious broths (“Wait, you have to stand around this pot for hours and cook this stuff?? I thought you just made soup in a bowl! You know, like how servants take off the silver cover on the tray and the soup is already there?” “We...dont have waiters or anything...so our method of cooking different.”) Meanwhile, Launo was able to make some progress with knight training—keyword, “some.”

“Don’t make your stance so wide.” Arcadius shoved Launo’s back foot with his boot. “Keep your feet closer together, you only want enough distance so that your front foot can hover an inch off the ground while your back foot stays planted. Any further, and you’ll topple too easily.”

Launo adjusted his stance as instructed, and readied the rapier again. He set his jaw. “OK. Come at me!”

Arcadius nodded. He picked up the wooden sword and swung (a bit slowly and wide) at Launo’s side.

Launo immediately shoved his rapier point left to counter his attack, but instead moved with such force and vigor that he practically fell onto Arcadius’ blade.

Arcadius chuckled, dropping the sword and helping Launo up again. “You don’t need to use to much force when you swing. In fact it’s better to work with simple quick movements with any rapier or piercing sword, since the damage is done by the tip, not the weight.”

“S-Sorry...” Launo mumbled as he got up again.

“Don’t be! Oh hey!” Arcadius suddenly went back around towards the pile of weapons and pulled out a claymore. “Actually, maybe a sword like this will work better for you! You won’t have to worry as much about holding back, or being finesse. All the power is in that downward swing—!” Arcadius swung the sword into a nearby log to demonstrate, nearly cutting it asunder.

He offered it to Launo. “And don’t let the size fool you, it’s not actually that heavy. Large weapons still need to let soldiers be quick enough to parry and block attacks.”

Launo turned the claymore around in his hands, studying the blade and handle.

Arcadius gestured to the log. “Well, go on! It’s similar to the grip I taught you with the broadsword, but this time you use your other hand in the bottom to support the weight as it turns on an axis. Try that downward swing I showed you!”

Launo paused for a moment, thinking. Then, he planted his foot down, and swung the claymore down with all his might, aiming for another soon-to-be piece of firewood.

The claymore whistled as it fell, and it cut into the log deep—about halfway. Yet, still not nearly as deep as how Arcadius had done it.

Nonetheless, he was hopping with joy for Launo. “That was awesome!! You did great!!”

He sighed as he left the claymore in the log. “No I didn’t...”

“What are you talking about? That was probably the best blow you’ve done all night!”

“Yeah! And it’s not even a quarter of the damage that you did with your swing!”

“Well, it still took me a while to—“

Launo gestured to the other log. “It’s been how many weeks?? And I’m not even CLOSE to being as good as you, much less being a top student...” He plopped into the dirt and laid himself out like a starfish.

Larc stood over him, confused. “Why would you want to be a top student?”

“BECAUSE I SUCK ASS, DUDE!” Launo held up his arms, exasperated. Larc, on instinct, stepped back and held his hands close to his chest as he fiddled with his thumbs and mumbled an apology. Launo immediately sighed.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound like I’m mad at you. You’re really great, Link. You’re so nice to me and you’re talented and I’m so grateful, but I’m just...” He shifted in the dirt again. “I don’t think I could ever be like you. I’d even dare to say it’s impossible.”

Larc stilled, playing with his thumbs, before daring to step closer and sit in the dirt beside him.

“Can I tell you a secret, Launo?”

He was quiet, but he nodded a yes.

“I think my brother’s a stronger fighter than me.”

Launo furrowed his eyebrows confused, but he continued.

“He just never takes his knight training seriously, because of my father. But I bet if he really tried, he’d be great at it.”

Ah. So that’s what he meant.

“But I AM trying.” Launo whined. “I guess compared to you it doesn’t seem like much but—!”

“Nono! Sorry that’s not what I meant!” Larc quickly cut in. “I just...” He trailed off.

“...There’s a reason I have to be the best.” Larc finally said. He was looking out into the woods, but Launo felt that he wasn’t really looking at anything in particular, maybe deep in thought. “There’s a reason I can’t settle, I can’t rest. It’s really important that I get this all right. And I guess that makes me admirable to most people but...”

He looked down at Launo, still spread out in the dirt. “I didn’t really choose to be a knight, unlike you. I didn’t actually choose to be the best, and I don’t get why so many people do train to be at the top out of their own violation. It really...sucks ass.” He articulated the last part in Launo’s tone, and they both giggled.

“So...I guess that I’m trying to say here is that...” He thought one his words a moment longer. “I think so many people are afraid of trying new things, because they fear not being the best at it, not being at the top. And I suppose ambition is good but...” He tilted his head and shrugged at Launo. “As someone who’s supposedly at the top, I would say I envy anybody that can make progress that their proud of. You choose to be a knight, and you’re training for it out of your own strength and courage. That’s more than I’ll ever have, so you should probably get off the ground and realize that soon.”

Launo’s eyes widened, a bit unnerved by how uncharacteristically blunt Larc was being.

“In my opinion, anyone that aims to be better than everyone is stupid—maybe that’s just me, but...I would think that if I was you, I’d be proud of any progress I made. If I was more skilled than I was yesterday, that’s really all I would care about. Why would I care about being the top of my class? I would kill to just be satisfied with being a better me.”

There was silence as the boys took in Larc’s words. Then he suddenly stood up. “G-Goddess Hylia, sorry I’ve been talking for so long, I didn’t realize how late it was getting.” He went to collect his things. “You can keep the claymore, I think you’d be great at it, just...”

Larc packed his swords and backpack, before turning back to the flopped out Launo. “...I think you’re really cool, Launo. So don’t tap out for my sake—I’m not the person that matters in your training, am I? So don’t give up for any silly reasons like that.”

Launo perked his head up to meet his gaze. While Arcadius was usually serious and controlled during training at school, Larc always seemed to have genuine excitement about swords when it came to him. The bright smile on his face caused his cheeks to warm and he immediately flipped his head back to hide it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Launo!” Larc ran off into the night, a cobblestone streets in the distance swallowing his figure.

“See you...” Launo whispered.

He lay in the dirt a moment longer—his mother would probably berated him for the stains again—when he finally got up and looked at the claymore in the log. He walked up to it and observed it further, it was another a sixth of the way deep. He glanced at Larc’s log, which was nearly split in two, and sighed. Then he glanced back at his own work.

“Well, it’s better than when I first started I guess...” Launo mumbled.

No one responded.

The boy let out a huff, and gripped the sword again in his hands.

“But I can do better.”

By the time Launo was 16 he was finally beating his classmates with ease, specializing in longswords, axes, and hammers. And while he definitely still “sucked ass” in things like archery and lance work—to which some boys still teased him for—he found overtime that he no longer cared about what they thought. They had their strengths, and he had his. And to top it off, absolutely no one in the academy could make a lemon cookie like him. So at least he had the best in show for that angle.

Even years later, after certain incidents transpired concerning House Hartell, Launo always welcomed Larc to his house for “training.” Although after a while, it would be hard to still call it that when a large chunk of time is really just spent running their fingers through each other’s hair.

“But we’re friends, right?”

“Yeah.”

And even years after graduating as part of the top ten in his class and working as a knight, some of his old classmates would tease him for being the “rich boy’s lap dog,” Launo would find that he still really didn’t care—after a punch or two was thrown, of course. He found that his new lack of anxiety and concern heavily stemmed from that night, when Larc had told him about his envy for choice and satisfaction. Thinking back at the memory of his handling with a sword and his happy little smile once made Launo blush so hard his father teased him about it for the rest of his life—his mother claimed he went so red he would fit right in with the tomato stew. One of these days, Launo would pay Larc back for the endless teasing he got from his parents. And pay Larc back he would, indeed.

I mean, he already had the ring.

#hku spoilers #Launo Birch

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ghostpeblewrite · 3 years

Text

Paradoxical - Chapter 4

~~~~~~

Toast nudges the door to the bedroom open quietly, careful to not spill the hot cup of tea in his hand as he walks in. He smiles at the sight of Ghost, lying on his side on the bed. He quietly makes his way over, setting the mug down on the bedside table, sitting next to Ghost.

“Are you awake, sir?” Toast whispers, placing a gentle hand on his arm.

“I am now,” Ghost mumbles, not opening his eyes.

Toast chuckles. “Sorry about that, sir. I brought you tea if you want it.”

Ghost sighs, stretching a bit before he sits up, not looking at Toast. He sits against the headboard, bringing his knees up to his chest before he grabs the tea, just holding it in his hands for now. Toast smiles, scooting a bit so he’s sat next to Ghost.

“Are you feeling better now, sir?” Toast asks quietly, looking at him.

“A bit,” Ghost mumbles, before finally taking a sip of the tea. That relaxes Toast some.

“That’s good, sir,” Toast says happily. Ghost leans on Toast a bit.

A comfortable silence falls over the two. Toast closes his eyes, humming happily. Ghost just sips the tea, allowing himself to be relaxed.

After a bit, Ghost breaks the silence, mumbling a quiet, “Are Colon and Spooker here?”

“No, sir,” Toast answers quietly. “They had somewhere to be.”

“Good,” Ghost sighs.

Toast chuckles, “Is it, sir?”

“Yeah,” Ghost leans on Toast more. Toast wraps an arm around him. “I like it better when it’s just us two.”

“And why’s that?” Toast asks.

“It’s like the old days,” Ghost mumbles, taking a sip of tea.

Toast nods, humming a bit in thought. “Yeah, I suppose it is, sir.”

Ghost just turns a bit, burying his face into Toast’s chest, causing the brit to chuckle more. He puts a gentle hand on Ghost’s head, ruffling his hair a bit.

“You okay there, sir?” Toast asks, his smile obvious in his voice.

“Warm…” Ghost mumbles, the sound muffled by Toast’s shirt. Toast chuckles more.

“Alright sir,” He says, smiling as he messes with Ghost’s hair. Despite looking like a total mess all the time, it’s surprisingly soft. Toast doesn’t get to do this often. He enjoys it every time.

After a bit more silence, Toast finally bites the bullet, saying a quiet, “Sir, speaking of Spooker and Colon, I do think we need to look into the thing Spooker-”

“No,” Ghost cuts him off, pulling away from him. Toast has to fight off a sigh.

“Sir, please. This could be serious! It’s at least worth looking into? Better safe than sorry?” his eyebrows furrow together, his tone almost pleading. “I said no, Johnny,” Ghost says, setting his mug of tea down on the bedside table. “Leave it.”

“Sir, please,” Toast repeats.

“Johnny. No.”

“Sir, what is with you??” Toast sighs. “Ever since your incident, you’ve refused to listen to anything-”

“Oh don’t start with that again, Johnny!” Ghost groans, moving away from him. Toast grabs his arm to keep him from leaving.

“I’m not trying to start anything, Sir, I just-”

“You just what?” Ghost snaps, glaring at him.

“I just wish you would talk to me, Ghost!” Toast stresses, the worry evident in his face and his tone. Ghost studies him for a bit, before pulling his arm away roughly.

“I’m going for a walk,” he says simply, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Toast can only watch in silent defeat as Ghost gets his shoes on and walks out the door.

By the time Spooker and Colon return, Toast has already worked himself into a funk. He doesn’t like arguing with Ghost. It makes him feel all icky.

Spooker and Colon find him sitting at the table, staring down at an empty teacup. He’s sworn off drinking alcohol, so he now instead stress drinks tea. He couldn’t say how many cups he’s had since Ghost walked out. He’d call Ghost, but he left his phone here. So, Toast just gets to wait in anguish for Ghost to come back. He almost thinks Spooker and Colon are him, but he hears the car and remembers Ghost doesn’t drive.

Upon seeing Toast, Spooker glances over at Colon, who shrugs back at him.

“Hey, Toast…” Spooker says slowly, walking up to him.

“Hi,” Toast says, forcing a small smile as he looks up at the two.

“Everything okay?” Spooker asks.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Toast nods, “How was your uhm… thing?”

The two glance at each other.

“It was fine,” Colon says.

Toast is about to respond, but he gets cut off by his phone ringing. He jumps a bit, pulling it out of his pocket. He picks it up, putting it to his ear.

“Hello, Johnny Toast uh- from PIE, Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire,” he says. His intro is different from Ghost’s, but also not exactly as solid, Ghost made sure of it all those years ago. “How can I help you?”

Spooker grabs Colon’s arm, dragging him to the other room.

“Do we bring it up-?” Spooker asks.

“No- It’s too early,” Colon says, shaking his head. “We still need to find out more if we can.”

“Alright,” Spooker nods, glancing in Toast’s general direction. “He just… doesn’t seem the type, does he?”

“Not at all,” Colon says, “but we know better now.”

“Spooker, Colon!” Toast calls from the other room, drawing the other two back into that room.

“Grab your stuff,” Toast says, putting his phone back in his pocket, “We have an urgent job.”

“Alright, Toast,” Colon nods. Spooker’s already on the way to the extra room where he and Colon are allowed to keep their stuff.

The three are on the road soon enough. Even though Ghost isn’t there, Spooker and Colon still sit in the back, leaving Toast up front on his own.

“So, Toast, what did you mean when you said it was urgent?” Colon asks after a bit of silence.

“Oh, right-” Toast forgot to fill the other two in. Usually, he just fills Ghost in, and Ghost fills them in. He’s a bit thrown off with Ghost not here, but he couldn’t exactly get a hold of Ghost, and they needed to go at that moment. “According to the caller, there’s a horde of undead entities in a local park.”

“What?” Spooker’s surprised by that, glancing over at an equally surprised Colon. That doesn’t happen often, random zombies.

“I’m as surprised as you two,” Toast says, glancing in the rearview mirror at them. “This is totally out of the blue.”

Colon nudges Spooker. Spooker’s eyes widen, “What if it’s not out of the blue?”

“What do you mean?” Toast asks, though he already knows.

“The spikes on the graph!” Spooker exclaims. “They could be related!!”

“That could be so,” Toast nods, thinking about it. It would make sense. Spikes don’t happen for no reason. Something’s up, and he has a feeling a small horde of paranormal entities isn’t the end of it.

They reach the park soon enough. Luckily, it seems most people have run away, leaving no casualties. There does seem to be a few people around, watching to make sure the zombies don’t wander off. Toast approaches one of these people as Spooker and Colon get the equipment from the back.

“Eh, hello, sir,” Toast greets. “Were you the one who called?”

“No, I wasn’t, but I saw that guy leave,” the guy says, not looking over at Toast. He speaks weirdly, as if trying to cover up an accent. He also seems oddly familiar to Toast, but Toast is sure he’s just seen him around town. I mean, it’s not like he’s special looking. Looks to be of Hispanic heritage, medium-length brown hair pulled back into a man bun. He wears what any generic guy would wear. It almost gives off the impression that he’s trying hard to fit in, but Toast brushes it off. Some people are like that.

“Ah, alright,” Toast nods, mentally sighing at that, “I’m Johnny Toast from PIE, Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire.” He offers the man his hand for a handshake, but the guy just looks at it, then back up to Toast.

“Are you gonna fix this problem or what?” The guy asks.

“I- Well,” Toast falters, putting his hand down awkwardly. He clears his throat. “Of course, that is what we do! However, I would like some background information. Do you know what happened here?”

“Yeah, everything was normal, and then those fuckers shambled out of the woods and started attacking people!”

“Oh dear,” Toast sighs, glancing at the horde, which is less a horde and more a small group. “Do you know if anyone got bit?”

“I’m not here to do your job for you!” The guy huffs.

“Well, no, of course not,” Toast says, “I mean, that would be ridiculous! But I wasn’t here when this happened, and presumably, you were. Did you see anyone get bit?”

“No!” The guy says, sounding fed up with Toast. “Can you just do your fuckin job?”

Toast recoils a bit at the man’s harshness, but nods nonetheless, “Of course, sir. Thank you for your time.” He turns on his heel, heading back to the car. Spooker and Colon stand there waiting for him.

“So, what’s the sitch?” Colon asks when Toast is close enough.

“Apparently, they just showed up,” Toast sighs, grabbing a few things, one of them being a crossbow. “Came out of the woods.” His tone is tense.

“Is something wrong?” Spooker asks, watching him.

“Well- Not really? It’s just… Odd. Undead entities don’t just show up. There are only two ways undead are made. Either a necromancer raises the dead, or an undead makes another undead by infecting a live person.”

“So what you’re saying is there’s a necromancer on the loose,” Colon says.

“Sort of,” Toast nods, “the only thing with that is how rare necromancers are these days. When Ghost and I were young, there was a mass wipeout of paranormal power. That’s why you don’t see people running around doing the things they used to anymore. Necromancy was especially affected because of how much power is needed for it. I… I can only think of a few people strong enough to amass that much power.”

“Who?” Spooker asks.

“Well, people like… The toilet toucher! Though he obviously isn’t, because… Toilets. But you get the point,” Toast says, checking to make sure his crossbow still works. He doesn’t get to use it much anymore, and he doesn’t want to have a defective weapon against these things. He’s been one before. Ghost nearly killed himself stressing over finding the cure. Of course, now they have a huge stock of it just in case, but still. It’s an unpleasant experience.

Once Toast is sure the crossbow works, he instructs the other two to stay near the car and heads out to deal with the problem. Zombies are notorious for getting back up right when you think they’re dead, but are easy to kill if you know where to shoot.

The guy Toast talked to watches from the perimeter of the park quietly. By the time Toast is done, the guy is gone.

~~~

Toast bein good at his job pog

#cw cursing #tw swearing #toast is so cool why is ghost so mean to him #also toast saying 'ghost' to ghost? thats when u know shits real :flushed:#lol #paradoxical story

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aflyingcontradiction · 3 years

Text

The Magnus Archives Relisten: Episode 92 - Nothing Beside Remains

And yet here, in this empty world, I cannot but spend these nights, these dreadful, silent nights, huddled and frozen in some terrible fear I find myself unable to name. I almost think I hear the mocking joy of my friends, but there is nobody here, and never shall be again. - Statement of Barnabas Bennett

Excuse me while I scream.

And it was not out of malice, or because he lacked affection for Barnabas Bennett: he retrieved those bones sadly enough when the time came. Bones that you can still find in my office, if you know where to look. No, it was because he was curious. Because he had to know, to watch and see it all. - Elias

a) Is this the text passage that spawned the Jonah/Barnabas ship I've been seeing around? Is it because he kept the bones for all those centuries? b) This is actually a really vivid and horrifying way to describe what the Eye does to its worshippers. No word wasted there and yet it makes it all so perfectly clear...

Tim: Oh, Christ, what is it now? Melanie: Er, yeah, same question, please.

Okay, this made me grin.

Elias: And I killed Jurgen Leitner because he was… an unnecessary complication. Likely to tell John too much, too early.

Why did I not ask myself harder what Elias meant by that, exactly...

Basira: Daisy, where do I know that name from? Daisy: Oh, the Yousuf case. An Introduction to Higher Anatomy. Basira: Ah… Oh, god! And you killed him? You sure we shouldn’t be giving him a medal?

Do I want to know what the Yousuf case was all about? I'm assuming some extensive body horror, just from the title of the book.

Jon: What about Michael? Elias: What about him? An irritant. Interfering because he’s bored, and he resents us. He has no purpose –

RUDE!

Elias: For someone who used to be a detective, you’re remarkably reluctant to think things through. You think you’re the only police officer eager to do violence and call it justice? No, there are plenty of other rabid dogs out there, mad with the hunt. And some of them have signed a Section 31. There are plenty of others your superiors can call on to clean up this mess. Basira: Er… they wouldn’t. Daisy: Yeah. They would.

a) No, I didn't get that when Elias says 'rabid dogs mad with the hunt' he's referring to one of the fears. I don't think the Hunt had been mentioned by name at this point and I just didn't notice the signs that were obviously there. b) Seems like a relatively realistic view of the state of the police... c) ... Daisy just casually going "Yeah, of course they would" is rather chilling.

Martin: Okay, wai-wai-wai-wait, that’s the police that you’re talking about! Okay, they… they wouldn’t… Would they?

Martin, on the other hand, is being a bit more naive than he really has any right to be.

Elias: A contract of employment. For Basira. (...) Jon: Oh, no…

That whisper, no, breath of "Oh no" from Jon in the background says so damn much.

Elias: You never wanted this, no. But I’m afraid you absolutely did choose it. In a hundred ways, at a hundred thresholds, you pressed on. You sought knowledge relentlessly, and you always chose to see. Our world is made of choices, Jon, and very rarely do we truly know what any of them mean, but we make them nonetheless.

I'm not even sure what to say about this. You could probably write entire analyses of the concept of choice and the lack thereof in TMA with this quote as a foundation. I'm not going to, though, I'm just going to leave this here as "highly notable quote".

Jon: Am I… Elias, am I still human? Elias: Jon, what does human even mean? I mean, really? You still bleed, you can still die. And your will is still your own, mostly. That’s more than can be said for a lot of the ‘real’ humans out there.

'What does human even mean' is also one of those things that TMA keeps coming back to, especially with regard to Jon's character arc.

Elias: Good. Well, I have work to be getting on with. I’ll send you a Return to Work form, but don’t worry about the doctor’s note.

Pfffff. Gotta keep the bureaucracy up to date!

My impression of this episode

So the issue with this episode is that I am REALLY, REALLY bad at telling voices apart. Like, comically bad. Basically all the female characters (aside from Gertrude) sound the same to me and among the recurring male characters, I can only consistently tell Martin apart from the rest of them. Up to this episode that wasn't a problem because context always made it immediately apparent who was speaking and the characters weren't ever all in the same room but this episode - well, I think I spent most of the non-statement part of the episode trying to play catch-up on who was actually talking, making it really difficult to actually have emotions aside from the desperate flailing of trying to keep up with the plot (which there is rather a lot of). It's a lot easier with the transcript in front of me as I listen. As for the statement, oh god, the concept of being stuck in the Lonely forever is fucking terrifying. The Lonely usually gets me but I think it gets me hardest when it's cut down to its essentials and it doesn't get much more essential than "You're alone in the world. There is nobody else and there never will be again." I somehow doubt Barnabas died of old age, I sure as hell wouldn't have.

#tma relisten #the magnus archives

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tae-cup · 4 years

Text

The Chief | Night Terrors (1)

Pairing: OT7 x Reader

Summary: The prestigious department of police and investigations in Seoul, Korea, is called to the small town of Cape Springs in rural California. Nothing is quite what it seems here.

Warnings: Blood, violence, you know crime stuff? Fluffy stuff somehow

Genre: Mystery, Crime, Angst, a lil humor, sexual innuendos, BUT I DON’T WRITE SMUT OKAY

Word Count: 7.2k Words (Holy guacamole. This took forever to write.)

A/N: Let me know your thoughts! Any suspects? Just message me if you want to be tagged! I’m sorry there’s literally no Reader in here, but she’s coming in next chapter, I swear. No, you did not stumble upon an x OC fic, and no I did not tag this wrong, just bear with me XD. Please please read this one, it sets up some good background.

Thank you so much to @seokjinsultimatesimp / @kingbewwy for helping with my story planning and ideas!!

Beautiful header by the wonder @dee-ehn / @dnrequests

Other:

Series Masterlist

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The flight was long. Long, tiring, and utterly boring. Jungkook knew he should have packed something to do on the plane. He had been dependent on the movies in first class and reclining chairs to pass the time. Well, now he was halfway through his fourth movie and sleep was nowhere in sight. Yoongi was quiet across the aisle from him and Taehyung was watching a movie next to him with some snacks he raided from the service cart. Not wanting to bother either of them for entertainment, especially Yoongi, he decided to sit in silence. The movie was getting boring so he turned it off and prayed sleep would arrive.

It did not.

He arrived, jet lagged and lacking 13 hours of sleep.

“Did you sleep?” Taehyung tilted his head as they stood to collect their belongings from the baggage claim. The boy just tiredly shook his head.

“Hah, guess we’ll have to be getting you coffee!” Seokjin chuckled, having slept most of the flight in peace. Yoongi, despite sleeping for the entire 13 hours, still looked exhausted. The others just seemed focused on getting their luggage and leaving. They had a lot of suitcases to store their equipment. Jungkook rolled his eyes at his older counterpart.

“I’m fine.” But as he said it, a huge yawn ripped from his chest. Jin grinned, but didn’t mention it as Jungkook’s ears started turning red with embarrassment.

“Guys, we have to get going.” Namjoon announced.

“Aye aye, chief.” Jimin saluted cheekily. Namjoon just pressed his lips into a thin line, not amused. The younger male just sighed and nudged the police chief. “You really need to loosen up.”

“And you need to remember that we’re here to solve a murder.”

“Even better! It’s several murders!” Taehyung chirped, earning a glare from his superior, Yoongi.

“Aish, you kids.” Hoseok scratched his head. “You shouldn’t be excited that a bunch of people are dead.” He muttered.

“Sorry, hyung, we just rarely get cases that Joonie agrees to investigate. How else am I supposed to keep up with Yoongi if I never get any experience?” Taehyung glared right back at Yoongi. The older man muttered something under his breath and dragged the younger away by his collar.

“Where are they going?” Jungkook raised an eyebrow. He was still trying to get used to the group dynamics and while he wasn’t entirely innocent, he tried to fill up that role in the meantime. The other members looked at each other, sharing a knowing smile.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Kookie.” Jimin winked. “He’s probably...teaching Taehyung his place.”

“Oh…” Jungkook tilted his head, trying to make the connections. “So like yelling? Hyung could’ve just done it here. I mean, he does that all the time!”

Jimin exchanged a look with Jin. Jin shook his head, Jimin smiled.

“Kookie, no, Yoongi’s going to-”

“Oh my god, he’s too innocent.” Jin cried, rushing to cover the maknae’s ears.

“Too innocent for what?” A lazy drawl came across the group, making Jin and Jimin jump. Namjoon chuckled and Hoseok pretended to be distracted on his phone, only stealing a quick glance up.

Yoongi’s hair was messy, as if hands ran through them several times. His lips were swollen and he had a large dark spot on his neck, which he quickly covered with his shirt collar when he saw them staring. Taehyung trailed behind him, dazed. He looked relatively the same. Jungkook jumped into action, shoving Jin away.

“Oi! Yoongi-hyung, I know you wanted to teach Tae a lesson, but isn’t that too rough?!” He shouted pointing at the other’s ‘bruise’. Hoseok began giggling and Yoongi turned impossibly red.

“Oh yeah, he taught me a lesson for sure.” Taehyung chuckled. Jungkook gaped, eyes flicking between the two.

“But he didn’t need to beat you up! Why are your lips swollen and there’s obviously a bruise on your neck!”

Yoongi began laughing softly and Taehyung’s ears went red. Namjoon sighed and dragged Jin over to help load the car. Hoseok was quick to follow, leaving Jimin to watch the scene unfold.

“We didn’t beat each other up.” Yoongi explained with a grin.

“So someone else did?!” Jungkook’s nostrils flared with anger. “Where?!”

“Slow down, coffee boy.” Taehyung said, amused by his younger friend. “You wouldn’t be able to fight anyone off.”

“Okay fine, but I could hold my own!”

The two began to open their mouths to respond when Namjoon shouted at the remaining four.

“Get over here! We’ve got a long ride.”

Jungkook rubbed his temples, scrunching his eyebrows up in distress. “Fine, I’ll drop it, but you better tell me soon.” He said in a huff and stomped off to the van, leaving Jimin, Yoongi, and Taehyung to burst out laughing while the youngest pretended not to hear them.

The town of Cape Springs was old. Old as in ‘stuck in a total time warp’ old. It looked like nothing had been updated since 1950. The van felt out of place, despite the various modern vehicles littering the road. Main street was all one story, one street. The boys looked peered curiously out the windows. The town could be considered charming if it weren’t for the murders happening every Saturday.

A stomach growled from somewhere in the van and it set everyone else off.

“You know, I’m kinda hungry, Joonie.” Taehyung said. “I missed breakfast on the plane.” He complained.

“Yeah, me too.” Yoongi agreed reluctantly.

“You slept the entire time, you lazy ass. What are you even using all that energy for?” Hoseok snorted.

“Thinking, you dumbass.” Yoongi retorted. “Unlike what you do all day, I actually use my brain.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Head Investigator.” Hoseok said, clearly annoyed by his comments.

“Yoongi and Taehyung aren’t the only ones.” Namjoon finally gave in, tired of listening to them bicker. It often felt like babysitting children and not a team of well trained detectives, investigators, and policemen.

Then there was the actual child of the group, 24 year old Jungkook. He was far too innocent for someone of that age, to his hyungs, having grown up around the protective nature of the other boys. Jin pulled into an open spot and parked the car. Taehyung and Jimin threw open the door, rushing to get outside and tumbling out in a heap. The other men chuckled at their antics.

“You clumsy idiots!” Yoongi reprimanded, climbing out and helping them up nonetheless. Taehyung rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Jimin just pouted. The townspeople passing by were quiet, eyes trying not to stare at the obvious newcomers.

“Let’s go to this diner.” Namjoon said, pointing to a faded sign that read Betty’s Diner. Jin’s eyes surveyed the street. Despite their being people with modern clothing and devices, it still felt like they were transported back to the 1950s.

“It’s not like there’s much of an option.” Jungkook pointed out, gesturing around the small mainstreet. It was either Betty’s Diner or Isabella’s Ice Cream Parlour and there was only one that held savory food. Jimin, Taehyung, Jungkook, and Hoseok fought to get through the doorway at the same time, earning an annoyed look from the locals inside.

“Great, we’re making such a nice first impression.” Yoongi mused, gazing at the four men arguing at the door. Namjoon tried to soothe the wrinkles between his brow as he nodded along.

“You guys are going to give me wrinkles before I’m 40.” The police chief sighed.

When they could finally sit, they were put at a table in the back. The diner had to move several tables and chairs together in order to accommodate. As they ordered, they didn’t even notice the dirty looks they were getting. Seven new, rowdy, men have arrived in town. That could only mean trouble.

“I do not snore.” Namjoon said, offended.

“You do too!” Jin fired back. “I sat next to you for 13 hours and god knows how many nights I’ve spent in your-”

“That’s enough!” He cried, exasperated. The poor man was always under scrutiny from his partners. He loved them all dearly, but dear god it could be a lot to handle. Jin frowned and huffed, looking away.

“One order of french toast and orange juice.” A waiter interrupted, tone harsh. The group turned to him, surprised. The name tag read ‘Hak-kun’.

“Here.” Taehyung raised his hand awkwardly after a brief silence. The waiter let out an annoyed sigh and practically threw the plate down with the glass.

Taehyung cautiously pulled the plate toward him and the other men eyed Hak-kun. The waiter stormed away without another word. The cook was watching him, everyone in the diner was watching him. There was muffled shouting and next thing they see is Hak-kun is when he’s leaving, throwing his uniform apron onto the ground in frustration. The locals stared before going into a muttering frenzy. Anger issues….always fired...psycho...etc etc.

“Should I have gotten pancakes instead?” Taehyung asked after a tense silence. Yoongi narrowed his eyes.

“Obviously. Who eats french toast for lunch?” He scoffed.

“Pancakes aren’t exactly a lunch food either.” Jin piped up.

“But at least they fit into a category.” Yoongi started, ready to rant. “They know their place. They’re a breakfast food! French toast is like in mealtime limbo. Nobody ever wants french toast just for breakfast; they can also have it for lunch and dinner!”

Jimin was in a fit of laughter at the usually subdued man’s outburst.

“Think they poisoned it?” Jungkook playfully nudged Taehyung who grumbled something under his breath. It sounded an awful lot like ‘They might’ve’. Lunch continued as normal. Yoongi sat in silence for the rest of the time while Taehyung, Jungkook, and Jimin made the group laugh with their antics.

The police station was dusty. Old and dusty, looking like a ghost town. Namjoon peered inside, glancing around to see a bored desk attendant. He waved, but the attendant even spare him a glance. Jin cleared his throat. The attendant jumped, looking up with dazed eyes.

“Oh, hello? Has there been an emergency?” He asked with a questioning gaze. The seven men shifted awkwardly.

“Uh, hello, we’re from the Bangtan police department. Were you not expecting us? We can come back at another time-” Namjoon began and the man quickly stood.

“No! Not at all! Sorry, it’s been slow recently.”

The men exchanged glances.

“But...there have been a lot of murders recently, have there not?” Yoongi tilted his head. The man was sweating and they couldn’t tell if it was because it was hot or because he was guilty of something. Of course, Yoongi and Taehyung tended to intimidate people, it was part of their job, so that could also be the issue.

“Yes! That’s why you’re here. Uh, I’ll grab the chief.” The man quickly left, rushing into the back. He opened a door into the backroom and loud talking could be heard before it was muffled once more by the door.

Namjoon looked lazily down at his watch, Jungkook tapped his foot nervously, Yoongi was whispering with Taehyung, Jimin was giggling about something with Hoseok, and Jin kept his eyes trained on the door.

A pudgy man walked through the door, a faded blue officer uniform on. He took in the men standing in his station, then looked uneasily back at the attendant. They exchanged looks and then the attendant scurried back to the desk, shrinking in his seat. The chief smiled at the men.

“Hello boys!” He said cheerfully. “Welcome, welcome! When did you get in?” He ushered them into the back where there were empty desks lined up next to each other. Dust hung in the air, only seen in the thin streams of light coming through the slats in the windows.

“We arrived a few hours ago, we ate at Betty’s Diner.” Namjoon said. The others nodded along with the statement. The police chief’s eyes sparkled.

“Ah, great food yeah?”

“Definitely!” Taehyung piped up, only to be nudged hard by Yoongi. Despite being part of Yoongi’s investigative team, he had trouble reading the room. The chief seemed cheerful but there was an odd cloud of tension.

“What’s your name, sir?” Namjoon cut in.

“Oh right, you can call me Officer Nam.” He held out his hand and Jin reached forward, shaking it.

“Officer Kim Seokjin, but I go by Jin.” Jin introduced himself.

“You can call me Namjoon.” The younger man smiled, taking Officer Nam’s hand after Jin and gave him a firm shake. Before the office could respond, the other men were taking his hand, shaking it and introducing themselves.

“Officer Min, head of investigations.”

“Oh don’t mind the grump, I’m Officer Kim, but just call me Taehyung. This dumbo is Yoongi.” The energetic man shook Officer Nam’s hand several times excitedly.

“Hoseok.” The other officer was formally trained. He gave Nam a firm handshake, his grip like iron.

“I’m Jimin, pleasure to meet you sir.” The smaller man smiled widely. Officer Nam returned the smile warily. “That’s Jungkook.” He nodded towards the younger boy who had fallen silent. “He’s training with us, he’s mostly here to observe the process.”

“Sorry, we can be a bit much in the beginning.” Jin said. It didn’t take a detective to see that Officer Nam was overwhelmed.

“Oh it’s quite alright. There hasn’t been much we’ve been able to figure out much information with these murders. People are on edge, ya know? They clam up, won’t talk much.” Officer Nam explained. “We often leave it to our intern to handle public affairs, she’s more versed in...talkin’ to people.”

“Intern?” Jungkook raised an eyebrow, speaking for the first time. The officer seemed surprised to see him standing there, but nodded nonetheless.

“She’s studyin’ to be an interrogation officer and needs some experience with a more experienced crew than us. The town is usually quiet.”

“I see.” Namjoon murmured.

“She won’t get in yer way!” Nam exclaimed, shaking his head. “She’s just a little shy.”

“Where is she?” Yoongi furrowed his eyebrows.

“Well, she should be clocking in right about...now.” The office glanced at his watch. As if on cue, the door squeaked open.

“Officer Nam? I’m here!” A soft voice called into the station. The men whirled around to see a small girl. She looked almost fragile with dark hair and a lithe frame. She looked startled to see the seven brooding men. “Sorry!” She squeaked, ready to flee the room.

“Actually!” Officer Nam interrupted, halting her in her tracks. “Come here, I want to introduce you to Bangtan Police.”

She tentatively walked in. She looked like prey walking into a lion’s den; and she could’ve been with the way they were looking at her.

“Yes?” She shakily pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“This is Namjoon, Jin, Yoongi, Taehyung, Hoseok, Jimin, and Jungkook. They’re from The Bangtan Police Department and I’d like you to spend the remaining time in your work study with them to help solve this case.”

“W-why?” She turned, alarmed, to look at her superior.

“Because they have much more experience and you haven’t gotten much experience with us here.” He explained, his gaze filled with something akin to fatherly love. “Now, introduce yourself.” He nudged her towards them.

The girl looked up hesitantly. Her gaze flickered away quickly, despite the encouraging smiles on their faces.

“I’m Hae-won.” She murmured. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and I hope we can work well together.”

The boys were already swooning, hearts beating loudly. Once the chief left to discuss details with Namjoon, the boys split off to look around. Jungkook immediately took a place next to Hae-won.

“Hey, Hae-won.” He grinned. She flushed and looked away. He was reminded of Y/N, but Hae-won was 10x shyer it seemed. “Wanna show me around?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Now come on, how are you going to be an interrogation officer if people can barely hear you? Speak up.” He teased. Hae-won looked up startled, eyes wide.

“Oh right, yeah, that.” She murmured, more to herself than anything, but Jungkook heard it.

“Do you not want to be an interrogation officer? That’s perfectly fine, y’know?” Jungkook paid no mind to her confused expression. “It’s not perfect for everyone.”

“Hm.” She didn’t seem amused, just lost in thought. She seemed to notice the awkward pause, however, because she tugged on his arm. “Right, let me show you my favorite part of this station!”

As Jungkook was dragged away, Yoongi spoke with Jin.

“The people here are...odd.” the paler man spoke.

“It’s a small town, Yoongles.” Jin said.

“I guess...and don’t call me that.”

“What?”

“Yoongles.” The man scoffed. Jin swatted his arm.

“Now, is that anyway to talk to your hyung?” The older man teased.

In the corner, Taehyung and Jimin were looking around the empty station.

“Where is everyone?” Taehyung scrunched his nose, trying not to sneeze as a plume of dust flew into his face. Jimin ran his finger along the edge of a desk, tilting his head as he looked at the fine layer of grime on his finger.

“Not sure. Maybe it’s just an off day.” Jimin shrugged, wiping his finger off on his pants.

“I mean, why have all these desks if you don’t use them?”

“Hae-won suggested we get them.” Officer Nam said, arms crossed as he appeared in the doorway. Taehyung jumped, goosebumps running up his arms as Jimin tapped his foot nervously.

“Why?” The detective asked.

“She said ‘just in case’.” The officer mimicked the young girl. They surveyed the room. Eight desks.

“Hm. Interesting.”

Officer Nam just shrugged nonchalantly. “That girl can be a little weird sometimes. She’s too eager, too soft for this line of work.”

“I’m sure she’ll get the hang of it.” Taehyung suddenly felt the need to defend the poor girl. Officer Nam’s lips slid into a sleazy grin.

“I see.” He said.

“Let’s split up.” Namjoon announced upon arrival. The alleyway was in a rather shady part of the town. There was fresh blood on the stones, a smear on the pavement, an arc of blood across the wall. None of them even flinched, not even Hae-won.

“I’ll take Yoongi, Taehyung, and Jimin.” Jin said. “Let’s look over the crime scene.”

Taehyung nodded, pulling out his camera to take pictures. Yoongi crouched near the blood smear on the pavement and Jimin wandered around, handing them gloves and then running his hands over every seam in the wall.

Namjoon took Hae-won, Hoseok, and Jungkook to interview witnesses and the surrounding townspeople.

Jimin knelt on the ground, hand running over a soft texture. Curious, he carefully picked up the object. In his hand was a soft tie, one that looked oddly familiar. He lifted it to the air, examining it in the fading sunlight. It looked new, not exactly a week old. It was possible that it was planted there, but he needed to bring it in nonetheless. The pink haired man took out a ziploc bag and placed the tie inside of it before sealing it up once more.

“Who was the victim and how was she found?” Hoseok asked, holding a notepad and pen. Officer Nam scratched his head for a minute before walking over to the spot.

“Right here.” He gestured to where a pool of blood was at the end of the blood streak. “She was leanin’ up against this wall, throat slit as y’know.”

“Mhm.” There was the scratch of the cheap pen against the notepad as Hoseok wrote down his words. “What was her name?”

“Mun-hee.”

“Great. Thank you for your cooperation, if you have any further information, please do tell us.” Hoseok dipped his head. Hae-won observed from a distance, standing next to Namjoon as he explained the process to her.

“So Hoseok here is going to ask the most important question first and then go on to specifics. Pleasantries aren’t too necessary until the end. He’ll close with a polite statement and leave.” The chief said as they watched the interaction. “In fact, here he comes now.”

Hoseok waved at the two and winked at Hae-won. “Didya learn anything?”

“Uh, yeah.” Hae-won smiled anxiously under his gaze and he laughed. Namjoon pulled at them to regroup with the others as night drew nearer.

The next day, they decided to have a formal meeting to discuss the situation.

“So, we have Mun-hee, killed and placed in the exact same way as Jane Doe.” Jin laid out the facts. “She even looked a bit like Jane Doe. Were they relatives?”

“No.” Hoseok shook his head.

“I found a tie at the scene.” Jimin held up the plastic bag. Hae-won looked on curiously. Now Jimin had their attention. “It looks familiar, I just can’t put my finger on it.”

“That’s from Betty’s Diner.” Hae-won interrupted. “I recognize it and I think it’s Hak-kun’s.”

“Why?” Namjoon turned to look at the small girl. She pressed her lips into a thin line.

“Well, he didn’t show up for work so I’m guessing he quit. He called me before that to say he lost his tie and broke down because his boss scolded him for forgetting to wear it.” She mused to herself before straightening again. “Those are just speculations.”

The chief of Bangtan smiled at her with a nod of approval. Even Yoongi quirked an eyebrow, Taehyung mimicked his expression. She was wary of the two of them. It always felt like they could see right through her.

“Listen, it’s Friday. The killer strikes again tomorrow and if it’s Hak-kun, then we need to bring him into custody.” Yoongi said factually.

“Are you seriously going to gamble people’s lives? What if it’s not him? Then we have no one watching out for the killer because we’re all trying to watch him.” Hoseok looked appalled at the suggestion.

“Listen, I’m fine with that. We could see if there’s a pattern.” Yoongi shrugged.

“There are people’s lives at risk here!” Hoseok shouted, slamming a fist onto the table. The other members jumped, surprised to see Hoseok so worked up.

“Jeez, you cops always get so worked up about people’s lives.” Yoongi said with a groan.

“You’re technically a cop too, ya know?” The man sighed and slouched in his chair, defeated.

“He has a point.” Taehyung piped up, earning a glare from his mentor. Instead of cowering back, as per usual, he jutted out his chin and continued. “Besides, don’t you think these murders are just too...delicate? Too well thought out for someone who’s doing this simply out of a moment of anger.”

“We still can’t discount the fact that his tie was found at the crime scene. That’s damning evidence.” Jin jumped in.

There was a tense silence, Yoongi and Taehyung exchanging warring glares and Jin now staring intensely at Hoseok. A muscle in Taehyung’s jaw twitched uncontrollably. Namjoon’s gaze swept the room before he slowly stood, hands pressing to the table.

“I say we bring him in for questioning. We don’t have to guard him if we just put him in a cell overnight.” He said, trying to reach a conclusion both sides would agree with. Jimin, who hadn’t spoken his opinion, just watched as the team was already divided.

“Doesn’t it feel like the killer is toying with us?” He murmured, but with the silence in the room, everyone heard.

“What do you mean by that, Jiminie?” Hoseok turned his attention away from Jin. His movement stirred the other members to look at him, Hae-won remained silent.

“Mun-hee is found in the exact same situation as Jane Doe, as if the killer expected us and wanted to put on a show. A show of power. They’re saying ‘look, I did it once, I can do it again, and stump you every time.’ A subtle fuck you.” Jimin’s eyes darkened. The other men visibly stiffened, looking around nervously.

“But how would they know?” Namjoon asked.

“Small town, word spreads fast.” Taehyung said dryly.

“That doesn’t narrow anything down.” Jin sighed, running a hand down his face in exasperation.

“Well, actually,” Jungkook piped up. The attention turned to him and he swallowed, suddenly nervous. “Eye witness accounts say they saw a ‘strange man’ walking around.” He spoke, tapping his pen against the notepad in front of him. They pondered over this discovery.

“Hak-kun fits that.” Taehyung muttered, saying what was on the others’ minds.

“Just because he’s a man?” Hae-won scoffed, a sudden hard tone to her voice that had Jungkook turning to look at her, surprised. She quickly cleared her throat, returning to the quiet voice she usually had. “I mean, I just, I don’t know if that’s enough information, but with his tie, I think it’s a good idea to investigate him.”

“Right.” Namjoon nodded, rubbing his chin with his fingers. “Well, we’ll bring him in, get a warrant for his arrest, there’s substantial evidence, and interview him. Any objections?”

The six men’s eyes scanned the room before they all nodded. They waited, staring expectantly at Hae-won. She flushed a bright red from being thrusted into the spotlight.

“Y-yeah. That sounds great.” She said, her voice barely above a whisper. They all smiled fondly at her.

“Saturday, the countdown begins.” Jin mused, picking up his watch from his bedside table.

“You’re setting a bad example, joking about these murders.” Namjoon sighed, rolling over, throwing an arm around the older man. The tips of Jin’s ears went red, goosebumps rolling up and down his body.

“Joonie, some people have a sense of humor.” He snorted, turning over to face the man next to him. He placed his hands on either side of Namjoon’s face and slowly leaned in. The chief met the distance, lips brushing Jin’s. Then the chief smiled, pulling away to look at his second in command. He loved this man.

“I have a great sense of humor, I fell in love with you after all.”

“I don’t know if I should be offended or touched by your proclamation of love.” Jin huffed, shifting to sit up, hotel blankets pooling around his waist.

“You’re unfair, Jin.” Namjoon murmured. “So handsome and, fuck.” He sighed, obviously conflicted.

“We already know I’m the handsomest, Joonie.”

“But how did you end up with a mess like me? Sometimes you handle the children better than me, and I’m supposed to be the police chief!”

“They just need a little mothering. And don’t underestimate yourself, I’m sure a person like Y/N would throw herself at you if she got the chance, if that’s what you’re concerned about.” Jin laughed, getting up and pulling on his suit.

It was sort of a uniform, black linen pants and a white button up. This was paired with a navy blue suit jacket that had his badge in the pocket. He went to the bathroom to comb his hair and brush his teeth, mumbling something about there being a lack of room service at this motel. Namjoon just chuckled at his grumbling and got dressed as well. He wore black pants, like Jin, and a white button up shirt, except his suit jacket was a faded brown.

“You always bring up Y/N, it’s almost like you like her too.” Namjoon pointed an accusing finger at his partner.

“And what if I did?”

“Well it would be unfair because I met her first.”

“You can’t just claim women, Joonie.” He rolled his eyes and opened the heavy hotel room door.

“I’ll do what I want.”

“You say that now, but we all know she has you whipped.”

“Who has who whipped?” Jungkook’s curious voice echoed through the hallway. Jin spun on his heel to face the maknae.

“Now look what you’ve done.” Jin glared at Namjoon who just shrugged innocently.

“I’m just kidding.” Jungkook sighed. “I’m not as innocent as you guys think I am.” He wandered down the stairs, finally getting tired of acting dumb, the Chief and Second in Command now following him.

“Elaborate.” Namjoon demanded.

“Oh please, you guys actually bought that I was that oblivious?” He sat down, ignoring the other men at the table whose conversation came to a halt at the sight of them.

“Well, I-” Jin’s face was red.

“Come on, I know Taehyung and Yoongi are practically eye fucking each other every minute and quite literally fucking each other every night. Please keep it down guys.” The youngest pointed a finger at the two men sitting next to each other. They looked away with a huff, but their faces were red.

“And You two.” He turned to Namjoon and Jin. “You make me sick, really. You’re so cute and reliable. Then you go and flaunt your cuteness to everyone. We all see it! Hoseok and Jimin-guys, just ask each other out already!”

There was a long silence. Jungkook shrunk back in his seat, bravado gone, now worried he took it a little too far.

“Kookie, you’re not aware of the full story here.” Namjoon chuckled after a tense moment, the noise echoed by the other men at the table.

“You really want to tell him?” Jin eyed Joon warily.

“It’s time he knows.” Taehyung sighed.

“What? Know what?” Jungkook felt the bubble of envy in his stomach. They kept so many things from him; little secret, jokes. One time they forgot to invite Jungkook to his own surprise party.

“Well,” Jimin reached out and grabbed Namjoon’s hand. “We’re actually...all together already.”

“Oh.” The younger’s voice was soft, trying not to betray the emotions flowing through him. They were all dating? And without him? Was he fucking seventh wheeling??? “Without me?” He furrowed his eyebrows.

Jin started laughing his windshield wiper laugh as Hoseok smiled. Taehyung and Yoongi exchanged glances.

“That was an unexpected answer.” Yoongi muttered under his breath.

“That’s what we wanted to talk about this morning.” Jimin said soothingly, touch relaxing Jungkook easily. “We want you to join us.”

“R-really?”

“Yes.” Taehyung nodded quickly.

“Is that a yes?” Hoseok asked, watching Jungkook’s mouth open and close. The sounds of the guests around him went underwater. He couldn’t hear anything, emotions spiraling out of control. All six of them? It was insane. But then he couldn’t imagine himself anywhere else.

“Yes.” He said quietly. “Yes!” He said again, louder. Namjoon smiled, cupping his chin with his slender fingers.

“Then, may I?” He asked for permission softly.

Jungkook simply nodded and Namjoon tentatively placed his lips against his. It was quick, brief, one might even think it was an accident if it hadn’t been for Namjoon’s hand on his chin.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, baby, it’s just that...this is a small town. That’s why we’re trying not to be very open.”

“Oh, I see.” Jungkook refused to pout. He wanted to have some big romantic story, but that would have to wait. They were trying to solve a series of murders, dammit.

“We should get going.” Yoongi glanced at his watch and the others agreed, standing and taking their suit jackets off the backs of their chairs.

The morning breakfast rush had dissipated, now only the metal containers of bacon and eggs left. The place was just as dusty as the police station and it made Jungkook’s nose twitch with the urge to sneeze.

“Why is everything so dusty here?” Jimin complained, rubbing his nose with his sleeve.

“Yeah, it’s making me-” Taehyung was interrupted by the loud sneeze that escaped his mouth.

“Bless you.” Yoongi responded immediately, rubbing Taehyung’s back caringly.

It was the first sign of affection Yoongi had openly given Taehyung. They were alone, for one, and for two, Taehyung seemed a little down today, just a little sad.

“Let’s get going, Hak-kun should be in his apartment still, according to the schedule Hae-won gave us.” Jin checked his phone to pull up the screenshot.

“Why does she have his schedule?” Jimin asked innocently.

“It’s a small town, who knows?” Yoongi pressed his lips into a thin line.

Knock knock knock. Namjoon waited patiently, his partners waiting near the car so as to not scare Hak-kun off. There was the sound of footsteps and a loud groan. The door opened a crack, stopped by the chain inside.

“Who are you?” The voice was gruff.

“I’m Kim Namjoon from the Bangtan Police Department. I’d like to ask you a few questions regarding the murders of Jane Doe, Mun-hee, and others.”

“Okay one second.” The voice was more awake this time as he shut the door. The chain rattled on the other side and then the door opened fully. A man stood in clothes that looked like he’d slept in them. Namjoon immediately recognized him as their rude waiter.

“Had a rough night?” He tried to be pleasant.

“Yeah, slept in the car again. The damn heater broke in my apartment.” The man grumbled, stepping aside to let him in. When Namjoon walked in, already tense, his eyes had to adjust to the darkness.

Despite the thin streams of light shining through the slats in his windows, the room was in utter darkness. As he adjusted, he could make out piles of clothing on the floor, dishes in the sink, unwashed, and cups littering the floor. There was also an odd assortment of broken items in the corner of the room, hidden in the darkness.

It looked like someone threw a rager in this house and then left. The brown haired police chief was surprised anyone could be this messy. Like, he was messy, yes, but he would never let himself degenerate to this state.

“What do you need to know?” Hak-kun somehow found a place to sit on the couch, but it had a dent carved in it and Namjoon was sure that was the only place you could sit on that couch.

“Actually, we have a warrant for your arrest due to substantial evidence implicating you in the murder of Mun-hee.” Namjoon dug around his pockets and took out the papers.

“Oh, I see.” Hak-kun’s eyes didn’t quite meet Namjoon’s. He looked around, jaw clenching in signs of annoyance.

“What’s that?” The chief asked, pointing to the broken objects in the corner of the room. The man’s nostrils flared in anger.

“I just get mad sometimes and things happen, okay?” He snapped. “I’ll go with you willingly, I have nothing to hide.” Hak-kun stood and dusted off his pants, though they were already dirty with food stains.

Namjoon grimaced and nodded, in a hurry to leave the dirty apartment.

Audio recording #1:

MYG: Is it alright if we record this?

HK: Yeah, it’s fine.

MYG: Great, okay, please tell us how you are connected to Mun-hee.

HK: Mun-hee...ah, Mun-hee. We went to school together. Wait, can I get a glass of water or something? I have a splitting headache.

MYG: Of course.

KTH: So you knew her?

HK: Hah, well, we grew up together. It was often just us, this stupid town, the old schools. A lot of kids come here because it’s the closest school around these parts, but only a couple actually live here.

MYG: Who else lives here?

HK: Hm, there was me, Mun-hee, Joo-Eun, and another girl, her name is slipping my mind.

KTH: You grew up with these people, though, how do you not know their names?

HK: She was always easily forgettable. She’s not much trouble though, I remember her being a nice girl...until, nevermind.

MYG: Until what?

HK: It’s not my place to say.

KTH: Well it would do you good to say it.

MYG (muffled): Taehyung get it together.

HK: I don’t want to talk about it.

MYG: That’s alright, Hak-kun, I can call you that, right?

HK: Yeah.

MYG: What do you remember about last saturday?

HK: Not much. I remember I drank some weird shit at the party-

MYG: The same one Mun-hee went to?

HK: Yes.

MYG: And why were you there, Hak-kun.

HK: Mun-hee is, was, my friend, sir. I would never do anything to hurt her, if that’s what you’re wondering. Listen, I know you guys are trying your best, but just drop it. I have nothing to do with it. That tie went missing long before Mun-hee’s body was found. I’ve obviously been framed and you stupid ass-

MYG: Okay, I think that’s enough for today. Thank you for coming, Sir. Please calm down or we’ll be forced to detain you.

HK: DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, ASSHO-

Beep.

“Well that was certainly insightful.” Yoongi mumbled, glancing over to where Hak-kun sat, dejected, in his cell. Taehyung sighed and played the tape again, taking more notes of the important information along with his personal thoughts.

“I thought you guys were supposed to be good at this.” Namjoon eyed the two with a raised eyebrow.

“Joonie, he was a difficult person to interview. I could tell he was annoyed the entire time except when he spoke of Mun-hee.” Taehyung frowned, flipping through his notes. “Here, I wrote down ‘aggressively making eye contact and frowning.’”

“Are those seriously your notes?” Yoongi looked through his notes which were pages longer. “Do I need to train you in note taking as well?”

“No! I just, I don’t notice as much as you, oh wise Yoongles.” Taehyung crossed his arms, pouting. Yoongi just softened his expression.

“You can always tell me what’s wrong.” He placed a tentative hand on Taehyung’s arm.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Hae-won’s soft voice hovered in the air. She was closing the door of the security room behind her.

Jin often handled the security room, but he trusted her to watch Hak-kun while he went to the bathroom. Jin slipped back in as she stepped into the room with the others.

Yoongi immediately dropped his hand, to the disappointment of Taehyung, and straightened. A cold look once again cast over his face. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to let you know that I have to head back early to finish up some school work.” She explained with a gentle smile.

“Okay, rest up and study well.” Namjoon nodded and she dipped her head, heading out the door. They all stared fondly at her retreating form. “The same goes for the rest of you.”

They had spent all day just interviewing and wrestling answers out of Hak-kun and yet they came up empty every time. Maybe he was truly innocent and they were trying to convict a good man. This was the kind of case where things could get really messy if they kept going on intuition instead of hard facts.

“Let’s wrap it up and head back to the hotel. Jin, are you coming?” Namjoon called as the others filed out of the station.

“Yeah, I’m just gonna check some things and then I’ll be back in no time.”

Trusting his second in command, Namjoon left.

The first sunlight was filtering through the windows of an empty cell. A glass of water was on the ground next to the cot, tipped over, the ground wet beneath it.

“How could he have escaped? Where did he go?”

Hands reached out to the unsuspecting man.

“Do you have a headache? You look in pain.” The voice said, hiding the glinting blade in the moonlight.

“Who are you?”

“Just a nice person. I have something that could really help.”

“What is it?”

“Oh, just some medication for headaches. It works wonders.”

“Pass it here.”

The man is passed out soon enough and the shadowy figure grabs the keys off one of the hooks in the back and unlocks his cell. Then the figure dragged him out, put him in his car, slit his throat, and placed his face down at the dashboard. They were back home in 10 minutes, bloodlust satisfied.

“The feed is just looping. How did I not notice this before?” Jin mumbled, head in his hands.

“Hey, it’s okay, the killer was...tricky.” Namjoon comforted his lover.

“Boss.” Jungkook piped up, holding a phone in the air. “It’s for you.”

The chief of police stood and walked over with purposeful steps. It was easy to see why he was the chief. He was sure of himself, walked with purpose, passion, and he always looked like he had a mission.

“Mhm?” He murmured. “This is he. What? How did it get there? Okay, okay, I’ll send my best men out to investigate. Please hang in there and don’t touch anything.” He hung up, rushing to throw on his suit jacket. “Hak-kun’s body was just found.”

“Where?” Jimin stood as well and the others followed suit.

“In his car. No one disturbed him, claimed he slept in his car all the time and no one thought much of it. It’s just...so odd.” Namjoon sighed.

“Why?” Yoongi tilted his head. Their fearless leader wasn’t usually thrown by anything, always keeping a cool facade. But here he seemed to be cracking.

“His car was found across town.” He raced out the door, watching the others pile in and Jin took the driver’s seat. “I just feel like this case is getting away from us. We’re obviously missing something.” The chief stared out the window, thinking intensely. The other members knew not to make too much noise.

“Do you think...it’s time to bring someone else in?” Taehyung asked quietly.

“What do you mean by that?” Jungkook said defensively.

“I mean,” Taehyung shot the younger boy a look that shut him up. “That we may need more of a specialist in here. There’s one thing we haven’t been able to look at.”

“And that is?” Yoongi closed his eyes lazily as he leaned back in his seat.

“Blood. We haven’t been able to test the blood.”

“Well, we only know one reliable person who can do that and she’s probably very busy.” Jin scolded the younger males. “But it’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Let’s just take a look and then we can decide.”

The street they pulled up to was quiet, not a person in sight. The leaves shifted in the breeze, skittering across the ground. It made for an uneasy sight. They stepped out and Jin locked the car.

Jimin handed out gloves and then he went around, feeling over the creases of the blue car, completely ignoring the dead body inside.

“Found anything interesting?” Jungkook called.

“Nope.” Jimin responded flatly, concentrated. He peered inside, seeing the blood pooling on the dashboard and dripping into Hak-kun’s lap.

“I think it’s definitely the same killer. He has the same neck slice.” He felt over the windows. Not a single scratch. “No signs of forced entry or struggle with the car.” He dictated as Hoseok took careful notes.

“I see no bruising visible on the victim, wait.” He crawled onto the back of the car, peering through the back window. “I see some purple markings on the back of the victim.”

The shadowy figure dragged Hak-kun, his back bumping over every curve, spine taking the brunt of the blows. He moaned in pain, starting to stir. The figure panicked. They need to get this over with quickly.

“Anything else?” Hoseok asked.

“No, I’d have to see the inside.” Jimin sighed, brushing some hair out of his face.

“We’ll see what we can do to get the keys.” Namjoon nodded at Hoseok to write that down.

“This case has me stumped, Namjoon. Obviously, the killer must be drugging them, how else can they get away with all this with no struggle?” Jimin stretched his arms.

“It’s confusing to me too, but I’m sure we’ll find out something soon enough.”

“Namjoon, I think we all know who we need to call.” Yoongi set a firm hand on Namjoon’s shoulder and the police chief’s shoulders drooped.

“But I don’t want to bother her, besides I think we can figure it out, right?”

“This is her job, It’s time to man up and call Y/N.”

A/N p.2: Hey guys! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged!! Any predictions yet? I’m sorry this took so long, I was in a creative block

Other:

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terrm9 · 4 years

Text

CHAPTER 8 - Closure

Never in her life would Chiara expect to find herself getting ready for engagement party of Harper Emery, of all people. But alas, neither would she think that her biggest accessory to the said party would be a wooden cane and yet here she was.

She felt equally nervous and excited about both, the process of getting ready and also the fact that after almost three months, she was going to spend the whole evening in the company of so many people. Considering the fact that Decembers in Boston were disgustingly cold compared to those back in San Francisco, Chiara decided not to test her own ability to not to freeze in the tiny, back cut out navy blue dress she wanted to wear initially, instead reaching for tight, long sleeved emerald green ones. She also succumbed the idea of wearing a thigh high boots, since she still needed to use a cane in spite of walking steadily. She grabbed the pair of black Doc Martens instead, put her hair into purposefully messy bun and stepped into the living room, where Sienna and Jackie were already waiting for her.

“Look at yourself!” Sienna smiled widely when she first noticed her. “Ready to blow some minds tonight?”

“Please, Sienna,” Chiara laughed shortly. “It just felt nice to put some make up on after such long time.”

“Well, you definitely dress to impress, Chiaris,” Jackie nodded, grinning. “I personally prefer undressing to impress, however. Is Lahela joining us?”

Chiara shook her head, going through her purse once again, making sure she wasn’t forgetting anything and without looking up, she shrugged: “He decided to spend tonight with Keiki.”

It was only a half truth. He was spending his night with Keike, but also with Kyra, who wasn’t feeling very well and wouldn’t really enjoy an evening spent at a party. The something going on between Bryce and Kyra, whatever it was, wasn’t exactly top secret, but Chiara knew that Bryce hasn’t told anyone about them yet and she didn’t feel like she should just spill it now.

“Whatever. Aurora is already there and she just texted me saying that the place is full of old doctors and even older teachers, so we really need to hurry up and get drunk with her.”

Sienna grabbed her coat and looked at Chiara, her face concerned.

“Are you sure you want to take the T, Chiara? We can always call a cab.”

“Thanks, Si, but I really want to take the T. I am going back to work in two days, remember? I kinda have to handle the basic life at this point.”

It only took them about 20 minutes to get to the place where the party has been held and it was only when Chiara stepped through the main door that she fully realized that she would probably be meeting Ethan tonight.

Before she could drown herself in the sea of panic, nervousness, doubt and even sadness, she almost got crushed in a hug.

“Chiara, it’s so good to see you! We are all so, so happy that you are getting back!”

Chiara had to take two steps back and blink several times to match the face to the voice and the arms around her.

“Ines,” she smiled wholeheartedly. “I am the happy one. I missed you all. Yep, even you, Zaid,” she laughed as she noticed the older doctor to roll his eyes at the sentimental scene in front of him.

“I haven’t missed you at all, Ray,” he responded without missing a beat. “But I am glad to see that you are doing well.”

He took a sip of his drink and returned to the conversation he had with Ines before and as hard as he tried to look casual, Chiara knew very well that he just told her he actually did miss her.

Ethan Ramsey was sitting at the bar, watching the crowd of people that all came to celebrate the happy couple. He really wanted to go home already, not feeling any of the happy vibes reaching him. The picture of scotch, book and comfort of his bed, was enough for him to dream about leaving, however he couldn’t bring himself to actually do so. It wouldn’t be impolite towards Harper and her fiancé, as he already congratulated them and the speeches were told and nobody really cared about the grumpy doctor at the bar. He stayed because he believed he’d see Chiara somewhere among the crowd, he hoped to at least catch a glimpse of her. Two hours ago, Ethan spotted Dr. Varma dancing with Aurora Emery and so he expected to see Chiara nearby, but two long hours have passed and she was nowhere to be found.

Just as he started to concede the possibility of her not coming to the party, the familiar voice behind his back startled him. He turned around abruptly on his bar stool and suddenly found himself staring in those beautiful green eyes, the eyes that were wide with surprise as they stared back at him.

“Chia- um, Dr. Ray. Nice to see you,” he nodded towards her, remembering her wish to keep things professional.

“Hi, Ethan,” she smiled softly as she grabbed the glass of wine she ordered and his shoulders visibly relaxed when she called him by his first name.

Chiara wished to go home. As happy as she was for Dr. Emery and Mr. Banks, she felt her legs slightly trembling after the pressure she kept putting on them for the last three hours and her head was hurting. Clearly, she was overwhelmed by all the noises and fellow doctors wanting to talk to her and foreign teachers asking her how did she – so young and beautiful – ended up with a cane. All she dreamed about was her bed and medical journal and some lovely, slow, silent music in the background. Sienna promised to take her home anytime she wanted but seeing how much she was enjoying her time with Danny on the dance floor, Chiara couldn’t bring herself to ask her to leave. And so, she decided to at least order a glass of wine and just observe the others from a corner of the room.

The possibility of meeting Ethan at the bar hasn’t crossed her mind even once, when really it was the only place she could imagine him spending the night at.

He looked as handsome as ever and it took Chiara by surprise. She believed she could face him and maintain the cold distance she decided to put between them this time. She wasn’t prepared for him, dressed in black button up shirt and black pants, to look so unfairly awesome.

“You look like you are attending a funeral,” she blurted out, trying to save herself from telling him how attractive he looked.

“I hate parties almost equally much,” Ethan replied, observing her from head to toes, admiring her beauty. Her cheeks were blushed pink, few strands of her hair sticking out of her bun, the dress flattering both, her figure and her complexion.

You look so beautifully alive, Rookie.

“Why are you here then?”

“Because I respect Harper and, as much as it may surprise you, I am sincerely happy for her to find the right man. Well, I would definitely be happier if the amount of “darlings” and “sweethearts” in their speeches was radically decreased, but nonetheless, I am happy for them.”

Chiara, despite trying to keep her expression cool and distant, had to laugh at the dissatisfied expression on his face as he said the words darlings and sweethearts.

“You hate nicknames in relationship. Obviously.”

“Yes, obviously,” he repeated. “I mean, they have their names for a reason.”

“But you call me Rookie,” the pointed out, sipping slowly on her wine.

Ethan’s expression softened immediately, remembering the first time he called her so.

“I called you Rookie on your first day in hospital, because I didn’t know your real name back then. That’s the difference. These two, I mean, Harper and Thomas are pretty decent names, why can’t they just use them?”

Ignoring his rage about Harper and Thomas not using their actual names, Chiara couldn’t help but tease him.

“Yeah, you didn’t know my name back then, but now you do, and you still call me Rookie. So I guess the nicknames are not all that bad.”

His cheeks blushed in dark pink colour as he realized that she was indeed right. He gave her a nickname and they both grew so fond of it, that he didn’t want to stop calling her that.

Clearing his throat, Ethan decided to change the topic before they would tangle themselves too deep in the memories and therefore regrets.

“So, have have you been doing?”

Chiara wasn’t looking at him as she answered: “I like to think that I am doing fine”

“What exactly does that mean?”

She shrugged, not really wanting to elaborate. She only wanted to talk to him about work and the money she owed him, the concept of the “how-has-life-been-lately” talk not fitting into her plan.

“My back doesn’t hurt much anymore, only when I stand for too long or sleep on one side for too long. The legs are fine, except the stability in my left leg – I don’t trust myself with it enough, I guess. That’s why I’ll have to use this little friend of mine-” she chuckled as she lifted her wooden cane up, “-a little bit longer than I initially expected. Other than that, I am totally fine.”

“And the nightmares?” he couldn’t help but ask, noticing the dark circles under her eyes.

“Manageable,” Chiara responded way too quickly and before he could accuse her of lying, she changed the topic. “Honestly, I think I should be the one to ask you if you were okay. I mean, this is 16 ounces glass you are holding in your hand and it’s filled with pure liquid. So you’re either drinking insufferably huge amount of vodka or you are drinking water, which in your case, is just as weird. Are you sick or something?”

Ethan couldn’t suppress his laugh anymore, hearing Chiara like that reminding him all the conversations they had while she was in the hospital.

“It’s water, which, for the record, I drink quite often, since as a doctor I know how important it is. And as much as I’d prefer whiskey tonight, I came here by car. Therefore, I just have to stick with the water until I get home.”

Chiara laughed at the tone of his voice, indicating just how very much he already wished to be home with a glass of said whiskey in his hand.

It was Ethan’s turn to observe the crowd, not knowing if Chiara still insisted on keeping their distance or if he could finally talk to her about all those things he wanted to talk to her about.

Chiara’s whole chest was tight, and she felt her heart breaking all over again at the sight of him. She missed him so much and she wanted to forget all the hurt he caused her and all the trust issues she’s had, because this light conversation they just managed to have, that was her relationship with Ethan. Laughs and teasing and caring for each other. For him to hate sweet couple nicknames and for her to tease him about not drinking alcohol in the middle of the party, it simply felt so natural.

This is who we are. This is what we could be if only he could stop leaving me in the dark. If only I could trust him.

The tears threatened to fall out of her eyes and she was thankful for the fact that Ethan wasn’t looking at her. She quickly blinked them away and took a deep breath before speaking again.

“I was actually hoping to talk to you?”

Ethan’s head snapped back at her, his expression surprised and also somehow… pleased?

“You were?”

“I wanted to let you know that I am officially getting back to work on Monday. I missed a lot, so if you have some work for me to catch up, you can send it and I’ll get through everything until then.”

“Please, Chiara,” he smiled softly at her, falling for her even deeper at those words, seeing how dedicated she was. “You’ll catch up just fine on Monday. Enjoy these two free days, the work will wait for you.”

“As you wish,” she shrugged, knowing better than to try to persuade him. “I also wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about the rents you paid for me and as soon as I am back to work, I will pay everything back. Just give me another week or so, please.”

Ethan didn’t want her to pay him back. He didn’t miss the money and the fact that he could do at least something for her made him feel good. But just as Chiara knew about his stubbornness, Ethan knew about hers and so he knew that when Chiara Ray made her mind about something, there was no point in persuading her otherwise.

He was about to nod when he noticed Chiara wincing in pain and gently massaging her lower back.

“So much about no back pains,” he frowned. “Don’t you want to go home?”

“I’d really like to, but I am forbidden to go home without Sienna’s supervision, and she is having such a great time. I don’t want to make her leave, so I guess I’ll just drink wine until she decides to go home.”

“I was about to leave. I can take you,” Ethan offered without a second of hesitation.

She knew she shouldn’t accept. She knew that it was her idea to keep a distance and that stepping into Ethan’s car would ruin her dedication to maintain it. But in this moment, she also knew they both deserved a closure, the talk about them. The talk where both sides could talk and explain.

She hoped for them to be best friends again.

Chiara missed Ethan.

“Okay,” she nodded. “Let me just text Sienna. You can go first and I’ll follow you in a few minutes, so that people don’t talk about us leaving together.”

“Please,” he laughed loudly, for the first time in the evening. “People already are talking about us.”

“What?” she gasped, eyes wide with shock.

“I think it started at the softball game, when I’ve gotten a little bit too protective over you. That and the fact that not once in my eleven years at Edenbrook I attended a softball game. Until you asked me to play,” he chuckled, but after a brief moment his expression hardened. “And well, my, uh… breakdown in the E.R. after your accident, my visits by your bedside, I guess all of those things sparked the rumors.”

Not sure if she felt more amused or embarrassed, Chiara sent a quick text to Sienna, explaining that Dr. Terminator would give her a ride home and after putting her phone back to the purse, she grinned at Ethan: “Let’s give them something fresh then, shall we?”

Ethan put his hand at her lower back lightly and with a smug smile on his face lead her out of the party neither of them wanted to attend in the first place.

The car ride was peaceful, Boston streets unusually quiet and empty, fresh snow reflecting the streetlights, making the street look brighter than it really was.

Ethan was being extremely careful to make sure the ride was smooth, not braking abruptly, not taking sharp turns. As okay as Chiara pretended to be, he was a doctor after all, and he knew that dealing with trauma came in waves. That anything could trigger a bad memory back.

His thoughts were disturbed by a sudden cry coming from Chiara’s mouth.

“Ethan, stop!”

He slammed the brakes, sighing with relief when he made sure that there was no car following them, as his sudden braking would definitely cause a crash. He turned to Chiara startled and despite wanting to respect her wishes, he reached for her hand.

“What is it, Chiara?”

“I am sorry,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “I just felt like the opposite car was about to crash into us.”

At this point, her whole body was trembling, her breaths short and shallow. She was at the beginning of hyperventilation, her face ghostly pale.

“Just let me park and we can step out of the car, okay? We’ll catch some fresh air and everything will be alright,” Ethan squeezed her hand and slowly pulled out, parking the car by the carb as soon as he could. Turning the engine off, his whole figure turned towards Chiara.

“You haven’t been in car since the accident?”

After taking a few deep breaths to steady her senses, Chiara look at Ethan and with a weak voice, she replied: “Only once, when Bryce drove me home from the hospital. But that was at the noon and I could see the whole car on the opposite side of road. I could see that the car was in its own lane, I could even see the driver. But now it’s night and it’s dark and the only thing I see are the two front lights getting closer and closer and…” she trailed off, not able to finish the sentence as her lower lip was trembling again.

Ethan cupped her cheeks with his hands and with voice so soft it broke her heart, he whispered: “It’s okay, Rookie. You are okay, you are safe. We don’t have to continue, we can just sit in the car until you feel better, okay?”

She nodded, leaning into his touch as she closed her eyes. The comfortable silence in the car was only disturbed by occasional car driving by them and for the first time in almost two weeks, Chiara felt safe.

“I guess we should talk,” she muttered into his hand.

“About work? Because as I said, there’s no need-“

“About us,” she cut him off, straightening on her seat.

Ethan raised his eyebrows in surprise, but soon his expression was utterly vulnerable.

“I would like that very much. Do you want to talk here in the car? Or at your place? Of course we could go to my place, as it provides more privacy, but I am fine with whatever you want. As long as you feel comfortable,” he felt the hotness creeping on his neck, realizing very well how nervous he must’ve sounded.

“Your place sounds fine,” Chiara smiled at him, amused as she, too, realized just how nervous he suddenly was.

As they stepped into Ethan’s apartment, the first thing he made sure of was that Chiara was sitting comfortably on his couch.

“Can I offer you something to drink?” he asked, making his way to the kitchen.

“I’ll have whatever you are having.”

“Uhm, I am not going to have anything, so I recommend you to change your mind.”

“You came home to have scotch.”

“Yes, but that was before I knew that you would join me. I’ll be taking you back home,” he shrugged, pouring himself another glass of water.

“I’ll just take a cab,” she rolled her eyes. “Get us both some good scotch, please.”

“There’s no way I am letting you take a cab,” he shook his head. “I promised you a drive home and I intend to give you that.”

Chiara wanted to fight him, to tell him that she was a big girl and didn’t need to be supervised all the time, but she came here to talk about them and so she let the topic of whiskey go.

“I think it’s rather fair to both of us to know where we stand, now that I’ll be back to work and things will go back to normal.”

Ethan joined her on the couch, his expression thoughtful as he kept looking not at her, rather at the coffee table. He nodded slowly and even though he realized that it was not a gentleman thing to do, he started to speak before she could say anything else.

“I am sorry, Chiara. If I am to tell you only one thing tonight, I want you to know, most of all, that I am truly and infinitely sorry for everything I’ve ever put you through. I am sorry for leaving you when you most needed me, for running away when things got hard, for pushing you away only to pull you closer. I now see just how huge coward, how huge asshole I’ve been all that time. And I know very well that one damn ‘sorry’ doesn’t make up for everything I’ve caused you to feel. But still, I am sorry.”

“You weren’t all that bad, you know,” she grinned. “I have forgiven you a long time ago, Ethan. I don’t hate you, obviously. I am not even angry. And I missed you. I mean, there’s no better target of my teasing than you, old man. What we had, while I was in the hospital, it was more than I’ve ever imagined we could be. Being close friends with internal jokes and deep talks, I miss that, Ethan, but I am so afraid to trust you, because every time things got actually good between us, you’d take a step back. So I need you to tell me what you want and once it’s said Ethan, I need you to stick to your words. No matter what.”

Ethan stood up and started to pace nervously around the living room, preparing himself to tell Chiara everything he wanted to tell her for such a long time.

“Not so long ago I told you that there was no such a thing as unconditional love or soul mates. That I am not capable of love, because I don’t believe in it in the first place. But sweet Lord, seeing you in the I.C.U. after the accident, believing that I would never see your eyes open, that I would never hear you laugh again, it made me think. And as terrible as I am at expressing my emotions and my feelings, I no longer feel that way. I know now that whatever it is that you feel for me, it’s unconditional. It must be, because otherwise you would just give up on me already. And I know that what I feel for you, whatever it is, is unconditional too.”

He took a deep breath and sat back down on the couch next to her, taking her hand into his.

“For a long time I believed that the thing I wanted the most was to have you all to myself. To selfishly call you mine. But now I know that is actually not what I want the most.”

“Oh?” she interrupted him for the first time, her expression visibly pained.

“What I want more than anything in this world is for you to be happy. You deserve the whole world Chiara and you deserve to be happy and nothing else but happy. And I know myself. I am broken man, destroyed one. Cynic. Asshole. Unable to express what he feels, enable to show affection. No matter how much I care for you, there are still men out there, that would be so much better at expressing it. Even though they wouldn’t care as much as I do, they would show you just how much they do. If we were together, we would have to keep our relationship a secret. I wouldn’t be able to take you out for a dinner, to accompany you to the parties as your plus one. You deserve so much better than me, Chiara, and I want you to have the best.”

There was a long pause after that. Chiara was staring at the wall, obviously way too deep in her thoughts, considering everything Ethan has just said. Her brows were furrowed, her fingers playing with the hem of her dress without her mind actually realizing so.

After what felt like forever, she turned to Ethan and looked straight into his eyes.

“You don’t get to decide what’s best for me, Ethan. As noble as it is, for you to want me to be happy even if it’s with someone else, if you selfishly want me all for yourself, just say it, damnit. I can decide if that’s what’s best for me.”

The fire in her eyes as she looked at him made Ethan’s throat dry. Before he could compose any meaningful sentence, Chiara added: “But remember, I need you to stand by what you say. I need you to keep your words this time, Ramsey.”

“Well, then I selfishly want you all for myself, Rookie,” he smiled at her, the fact that she didn’t retreat the hand he was holding giving him a tiny bit of hope. “And I wish I could be the one to make you happy.”

“You mean it?”

She wanted to come with a comeback, with response that would break this tense, vulnerable, raw atmosphere, yet she needed him to ensure her that he wouldn’t change his mind in the morning.

“I mean it. With all my heart, if there’s something of it left. I mean it with my whole being, Chiara. If you ever decide to give me, give us, a chance, I promise not to give up on us, not to leave, not to push you back. I can't promise you happily ever after and I can't promise to never disappoint you again, because I likely will disappoint you again. However, I can promise to learn how to change. I promise to work on the relationship harder than I’ve ever worked on my degree.”

They both laughed, knowing that such promise meant more than any other could mean.

“Well, in that case, it’s a good thing that I selfishly want you all to myself too, Dr. Ramsey,” her words almost a whisper as she let them out.

For the first time ever, their lips met in a kiss that didn’t taste like regrets, doubts and sorrow.

For the first time ever they kissed with hope and promises and happiness.

#open heart #open heart choices #open heart fanfiction #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc #pixelberry #play choices #sienna trinh

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chequeredwhitpost · 4 years

Photo

Episode / Chapter 2: [Arcadia’s Most Wanted] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Episode Two (A Filler)

[STA: Arcadia’s Most Wanted]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(10: 23 AM)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

He’s late. How dare he. I have snacks and everything set up already for our hang out, and as long as Jake stays in his room-- which he probably will, playing video games– – we can eat our snacks and play our guitars, enjoying the down time we have together. Let's see, I have set out dips, dip chips, some sweets, and popcorn.

The music equipment is set and ready to go. Now all I’m waiting for is Douxie to arrive and set things into motion. As I hear a knock on the door, I set down the TV remote and get up to answer it. As I open it I find Douxie on the front porch holding up a skateboard in his arms.

He waves to me with an awkward smile, which I politely return.

“Hey, Douxie. You’re late.” I smirk.

He rubs the nape of his neck awkwardly and chuckles.

“I had a hard time getting here. Let’s just leave it at that, yeah?”

I shrug, “If you say so.”

Welcoming Doux inside, he carefully takes off his guitar case and takes out his electric instrument. I look at mine, sitting perched against the wall in the corner.

“So what do you want to do first?” Douxie asks.

I shrug my shoulders and motion to all the snacks.

“Did you bring your appetite?” I chuckle.

He rubs his hands together excitedly, staring at the amount of snacks and food.

“You're darn right I did! I rushed straight over here and didn't have time for breakfast!”

“I thought you said you were going to set an alarm?”

“Didn't pull through…”

I sigh, pushing the bowl of popcorn closer to him.

“Eat up.” I say.

Douxie looks at me gratefully before digging his hand into the popcorn.

“You're a real lifesaver, you know that?”

I laugh softly to myself, perking my hands on my hips.

“Yeah, it's kind of my thing.” I joke.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(Time/Skip)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

As we're tuning our guitars, we are both trying to come up with a song we can play a duet with in each other's company. We've had a few good ideas, but none that’ve really stuck.

I fix the flat note on my string and tighten it into the right cord.

“There we go, that should do the trick.”

"It really helps when we have a lot of time to practice, doesn't it?”

"Yeah no kidding. But at least I'm good at something now.” I laugh.

I stand up my guitar after being done with all the tunings. Looking over to see how well he's doing, I find that Douxie is just about done tuning his as well. We share a glance, but only a quick one, before we turn our heads away with flushed cheeks.

“It's really good to see you again.” Douxie admits softly,

I twirl my finger through my hair, sort of sinking into my chair, feeling mushy and goop-y inside. Don't know why though…

"All right, dove, what song do you think we should do first?”

I strum the notes on my strings, playing them in harmony as I hum a note, trying to think of what to play. It's been a long time since we've seen each other. Lately, I've developed a taste for AC/DC. I think it's just me though, hah.

"Do you like any rock?” I asked.

"You mean like bands?" He asks, confused.

It's kind of cute. When he gets flustered, or confused, or grumpy grumbly. He squints his eyes and puffs out his cheeks like a toddler would. The occasional nibble of the lip. But if you ask me, I like it. It’s cute.

And it's the face he's making now. I can't help but laugh, giggling at the sight of his goofiness. As Douxie continues to face his hunger, stuffing his face with popcorn and dip and chips, I plop down beside him on the couch, letting a yawn escape me. It's only 10:30 in the morning, cut us some slack!

“Yeah. I like a couple.”

“Which ones?”

“Let’s see… Papa Skull, obviously. Kiss, I guess. String-Time, and AC/DC.”

“Wait, so you like AC/DC too?”

He hums a yes. Douxie smiles and points at the bowl of popcorn, "This is delicious...!”

And then he proceeds to try all of the other snacks. I reach my hand in for a cookie from the jar and he lets me take two. Just. Two. A heavy sigh escapes me, as I try to get in some bites too before it's all gone. But he wasn't kidding. He is starved. I guess I should change the subject now. I go back to thinking of a song we could duet.

“Well, how well do you know Back in Black?”

“By AC/DC?”

He shrugs, “I’ve played it a few times.”

“I know it’s not really a duet song, but nonetheless, it’s fine if we’re just switching off.”

“Right.”

The corners of his mouth lift up into a smile. We put on the background instruments for the song and get ready to start. Douxie takes a breath and closes his eyes. The music starts to play and he waits for his cue.

*Tap* *tap* *Tap* *tap* *Tap*

When Douxie starts to play the music, he flows in so rhythmically. It’s… actually quite impressive. I tap my foot against the floor, nodding my head to the beat, breathing perfectly in sync with the melody and tempo.

I hear my cue coming up and place the pick against the first note. I support back up shredding where it’s needed and he strums it out in the zig zag pattern. I take the switch, quickly jumping in at my point and playing through the rest of the song. I catch his glance as the finale requires a bit more shredding. He plays the background notes and I own the song. Well, at the most, I rock it. I end on that final shriek and strum it off.

Looking over at Douxie, we share a smile and let out a cheer of triumph as the song ends. I reach over and we high five, laughing together. I notice Douxie scoot all the way down the couch, sliding up on right next to me. He puts his guitar aside and rests his hands in his lap.

“Man, I forgot how good our duets felt!”

“Yeah, we used to do them back when… With your lute and my harp. Haha.”

“Hah! Yeah, though back then our duets were a lot softer than they are today.”

“Oh, by far.” I snicker.

After putting my guitar aside, I rest my head on the back of the couch, and let out a content sigh. When Douxie’s hand rests on my leg, I look over at him and see his eyes beaming with happiness. He smiles and places his hand on top of mine.

“You know, I really missed you.” He says softly.

“I… missed you too.”

He scoots a bit closer, now my leg is pressing against his. He lets out a breathy chuckle and gently bites on his bottom lip. He looks away from my gaze and runs his fingers through his hair.

“You know, I’ve waited a long time to see you again. All this time we’ve been… ‘apart’, there’s been something that I realized.”

My cheeks dust a faint pink as he captures my curiosity.

“Oh? And what’s that?”

“That the last time I saw you, I should have done this.”

He looks me straight in the eyes before leaning in and kissing me. I tense up out of a natural reaction-- a million thoughts running through my head. I think of why I’m feeling my heart racing with joy. I think of how Mary and Darci are going to react when they hear about this. I think of how I should be reacting.

So many thoughts run through my mind that I don't even realize that I’m kissing back until he nibbles on my bottom lip. That snaps me out of it real quick. I hesitantly pull away after enjoying the kiss for a moment longer. But then, a heavy confusion kicks in at my center.

I press my fingers to my temple as a bit of a headache starts to form.

“Wait, wait, wait… You like me?” I steer.

“‘Like’ is a bit of an underrated word for it…”

“So… you love me then?” I ask, not getting it.

He squeezes my hand firmly, as to reassure me.

“That I do.”

My eyes widen as it all starts sinking in.

“Oh no, I am never going to hear the end of this from Mary…” I mumble to myself.

“What’s that?” He questions.

“N-Nothing!”

Douxie sighs and lets go of my hand. He reaches for the guacamole and tortilla chips and goes back to eating.

“Doux? Are you… Ok?”

He shrugs, “I’m starting to think that I just … had my hopes up a bit too high.”

“What? Why would you say that?”

“Because I’m not getting the vibe that you like me in the same way that I like you. It’s ok if you don’t honestly…”

I click my tongue, making up my mind.

“Douxie.” I say firmly.

He looks at me and I take the guac and chips away from him, setting them aside. Then, I meet his gaze and slowly lean in, that way we can both process it as I land my lips on his.

I reach my hands up and cup his cheek, as well as his neck. There’s enough time for us to both enjoy what’s happening. He lets out a heavy breath as we continue to share the kiss. But I start to pull away, now that I have his attention.

“If we decide to start dating, I have one condition.” I note.

“So, you would want to date me?” Douxie asks, winking at me.

“Don’t start getting cheeky with me, mister.” I titter.

“Ok, ok. What’s your condition?”

“We keep this under wraps for now. I’m really not ready for Mary and Darci to blab to the whole school that I do actually like you.”

He chuckles, giving me a sly smile.

“I think I can live with that.” He says in a hushed tone.

I grab his hand this time.

“Then that’s all I got. So, Douxie? Do you wanna be my boyfriend?” I ask, smugly.

He laughs, “Shouldn’t I be asking you out?”

“Eh, screw tradition.”

He brushes his thumb over my knuckles back and forth, before giving in.

“Yeah. I’d love that, Arya.”

“Ok. Then it’s settled.”

I smile something goofy and we both lean in once more, sharing a third and tender kiss on this day.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(Time Skip) |

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I’m sitting with my back to the couch arm … in Douxie’s lap. He really insisted with all them happy hugs or whatever. And then-- well, and then… --- and then he scooped me up and laid me in his arms. I know. It looks worse than it actually is. It really is nothing! But … with his arms wrapped around my back, and me sitting in his lap sideways, it looks really really bad.

I sigh, which Douxie notices.

“What’s wrong, Arya?” He asks.

“It’s only been two hours… And you’ve already imprisoned me in your lap, locked within your arms.”

He gives a mockful laugh, “Imprisoned you? Is that what we’re calling it now?? Hah! I’m not forcing you to stay put you know.”

He smirks, resting his arm around my waist. Giving a rather challenging gaze, he starts leaning closer, until our foreheads press up against. He chuckles before kissing my cheek. He’s very affectionate, that much I’ve figured out by now. But I suppose having to wait just about as long as a millennia will make one really … expressive towards the one they fancy.

I hum a soft note and bring my hand up to cup his cheek, gazing into his wonder-filled amber eyes.

“You’re such a goof.” I mark.

“I suppose I am.” He grins, “Do you like goofy?”

“I like you for you.”

He looks over at the guacamole and chips and stares at them. I scoff and reach over, passing them to him.

“Thanks…”

“All you had to do was ask.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

End Chapter 2 // Arcadia’s Most Wanted (Filler)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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keishins-ukai · 3 years

Text

I Just Wanna Be Your Favourite Boy

(here’s a link if you prefer reading on ao3)

The amount of alcohol flowing in Kuroo’s veins was not enough to distract him from how pathetic all of this truly was . He was at his first University party, he was surrounded by beautiful people and free alcohol, he should be having the time of his life, right? Tetsurō sat in his friend’s garden with his back resting against the cold brick of the house, his head resting there too. His arms were balanced on his pulled-up knees, his eyes closed.

To any party-goers that ventured outside this would look normal, like the first year partied too hard and passed out super early – it's not like that kind of thing doesn’t happen all the time. Then they’d notice the earbuds still in his ears (though they weren’t playing anything, he just didn’t want to speak to anyone), the dry tear tracks down his cheeks, the ever so slight shaking of his chin. Well, that or the glitter-like sparkle that seemed to be all around the black-haired boy

Tears had become a very common part of Tetsurō’s life recently, a fact he hated with every fibre of his being. Six months ago, you would need the saddest song on earth put in the background of the saddest video on earth and he might have considered crying. Now all it took now was the thought of blond and black hair, golden eyes, mint vodka that smelled like his shampoo…

The stars hadn’t appeared until his first day of university. He had texted Kenma when he’d woken up - Kuroo always texted as soon as he woke up – some dumb chemistry joke he’d found the night before, trying to convey his excitement at finally starting his course. Kenma never usually replied immediately, though this day he did, though Kuroo didn’t actually know why (Kuroo would look back and see it as the first sign. Kenma told him everything)

Kenma had only sent a gif of a cat showing almost complete apathy, but Kuroo’s heart started racing nonetheless, mind spiralling at all of the possible meanings behind the response and never once landing on the real answer (Kenma just woke up earlier than normal). They’d texted a lot of the day, Kuroo only turning his phone off during classes, not wanting to make any bad impressions.

While it obviously hadn’t been the reason, in the following months Kuroo had started to blame turning his phone off as the inciting event as when he turned his phone on he got the notification, the moment that changed everything. It was so small, so seemingly inconsequential.

Instagram: Kodzuken has posted a photo

Kenma’s Instagram consisted mainly of photos from games he was playing, purposely unflattering pictures of himself or animals. But that day was different. He posted a picture of him and Hinata, and the orange-haired boy was positively grinning into the camera, Kenma wasn’t even smiling but Kuroo could tell he was happy, that he was less stressed than he had been for a lot of the summer.

Kuroo knew that what he told himself was unfair, that there simply wasn’t enough data to support the idea of ‘he likes Shōyō more’. But none of that mattered, Kuroo just knew. He didn’t need evidence to prove that Kenma had feelings for the shrimp, the ever so slight dimple was proof enough – even Kuroo had only seen that dimple once, and he wasn’t the one who bought it out.

Crying in the men’s bathroom, as it turns out, is neither very comfortable nor as discreet as one would imagine, though that didn’t matter to Tetsuro as the itching and burning sensation was the only thing he could think about. ‘What the hell is this?’ repeated in his mind as he did his best to stop the small glass-like crystals from falling to the floor and creating even more noise. After spending what felt like an eternity researching what could possibly in all hell be happening to him he moved, hating the quiet twinkling sounds in his pocket.

‘Of course this would happen to me.’ Kuroo would think to himself repeatedly over the next few days ‘Star fucking tears’.

Stars Tears

Caused by intense but unrequited love, always romantic, ‘star tears’ is a rare condition wherein the afflicted will secrete small crystalline shards from their tear ducts, the crystals often being compared to stars which is where the illness got its name. Side effects from stage two ‘star tears’ can include

- Leaking tear ducts

- Dryness of the eyeballs

- Itchiness in the eye area

- Blocked tear ducts

And in some extreme cases

- Partial or complete colour blindness

- Partial or complete sight loss.

As the disease is caused by unrequited love there is no ‘mainstream’ treatment which can cure this, some patients never being cured while others were reportedly healed if the person they loved also loved them back, in a romantic sense.

Even though he was aware of how bad an idea it was, Kuroo remained sat in his friend's garden, though now his earphones were playing something. More specifically he had his ‘Kenma’ playlist on which was playing all of the songs and bands that the shorter boy had ever introduced him to. They were playing at full volume to drown out his own thoughts - the ones nibbling on his mind, making him think of lazy nights playing ‘Majora’s Mask’ with him , of the nights leading up to Christmas making their cinnamon and raisin cookies, of the toothbrush that had been Kuroo’s spare but that he’d stolen because of their frequent sleepovers.

He really didn’t want to cry again, having decided that his new rate of three times a week was far too much, but the stars demanded more still. In the beginning, they would only appear if he’d seen his face, whether it be over skype or as a photo. That had been remarkably easy to handle - Kuroo had just moved all of the photos of him to the ‘hidden’ folder on his phone, and minimise the skype screen when they talked. Easy.

But then Kuroo started to really miss him, started to think of him almost every moment of the day, affecting his sleep and work schedule. That’s when he realised how truly fucked he was. You can’t just pick and choose what parts of friendship you want to participate in and expect it to remain completely intact. Kenma didn’t know what was going on, but he could sense a change, making more of an effort to start their conversations, to not leave Kuroo out of what was going on his life, to make sure that the elder knew that they were still friends.

It was unfair how this made everything worse, that Kenma’s thoughtful inclusions made Kuroo feel more excluded than ever, made him feel both like he had a chance and also made him know that Kenma saw him as his closest friend and that he wouldn’t be more. Kenma had always worried with his crushes that initiating things with them would scare them off, that he would be seen as overbearing. Rather than risking anything, he would just wait until he thought the other would like him back before asking them on a date.

The tears started to increase, them coming at just the thought of Kenma when Kuroo hadn’t got any prevention methods. His most effective was to drown out any other noise with the sound of his own music, even investing in better earphones to ensure that he wouldn’t be hearing any other external noises. However, his playlist choice could definitely be improved upon since every voice, every chord, every bar had the Kenma Kozume seal of approval, making the task of not thinking about the boy almost impossible.

Not even twenty minutes alone and his mind wandered, going to almost every stop in Tetsurō’s brain before stopping at one that made his heart dance. If it were a book the edges would be folded, the spine broke, and some of the pages ripped just from the sheer amount of use.

“Stop looking at my ass!” Kenma had demanded, trying his best to wriggle away from Kuroo “This isn’t for you”. The blond wasn’t looking at him, trying to pretend that his attention was on the syringe in his hand.

“You’re the one who asked me to do this.” Kuroo reminds, reaching over for the injection. “And knowing I was coming over to do this you decided to wear trousers rather than shorts when all I need is your thigh, so…” Their eyes meet and the elder man winks.

Kenma’s face scrunches up in retaliation, fingers lingering for just a moment against Kuroo’s, placing the syringe gently in his hand. “What are you trying to suggest?”

He pretends to think for a second when he wipes a disinfectant wipe on his leg, knowing that he technically didn’t need to but also wanting to be as safe as possible. “That maybe you wanted me to see your ass?”

The youngers face calms into a neutral expression. “Dream on Tetsurō.” Despite being quite scared of needles, he had decided on having testosterone injections rather than pills or any other alternative, finding that needing to do injections more infrequently benefitted him more. He’d also figured that getting someone else to administer the injection would have negated his fear.

Kuroo had agreed, why would it be more difficult for an injection to occur when you’re not the one putting the needle in your skin? The answer; Kenma was a wriggler. He moved back on the bed every time that Tetsurō tried to move closer to him “Come on, kitten.” he chides, the pet name tacked on as a joke.

His only answer is a hiss, a literal fucking hiss, as Kenma tries to move his leg away again, but is caught by the ankle and pressed back down to the bed. Kuroo eventually managed to give Kenma his testosterone, despite the difficulty and found that when he went home there was only one thing on his mind. The hiss.

Most people who met Kenma Kozume thought he was polite, shy and awkward. And he was all of those things, but he was also so much more. He was funny, intuitive, self-assured and weird and Tetsurō loved that so much. As soon as he thought the word ‘love’, everything seemed to make sense. Every look that lasted too long, every thought replaced by one of Kenma, every feeling of longing to be with his best friend.

Tetsurō was in love with his partner in crime. He still is.

Rex Orange County is a band that frequently blasts on Kuroo’s phone, them having many songs that fit the themes of unrequited love so well that he had no choice but to really connect with their music. Though there was one song in particular that is constantly on his mind, the song being called ‘Best Friend’.

At some point in his reminiscing Kuroo had put on the song, immediately pressing the repeat button as he moved his head to stare into the night sky.

But no, it wasn't meant to be and see, I wasn't made for you

And you weren't made for me

When he was younger he’d wanted to be an astronomer, having found the stars and the moon fascinating, but he couldn’t stand the sight of them anymore. His hands were shaking, shoulders shaking, lip shaking. Maybe if he got some closure he could move on and get rid of this disease, finally feel whole again.

Love someone for loving you instead of someone really cool

That makes your heart melt

Tetsurō needed to turn this song off, to stop fucking thinking about him, about the man he had literal scientific proof that he doesn’t love him back, but the pure boost of serotonin he got when he thought about Kenma was worth it. It was worth the pain, it was worth the constantly itchy eyes, it was worth feeling sick to his stomach anytime he sees a twinkle.

Oh, I still wanna be your favourite boy

I wanna be the one that makes your day

The one you think about as you lie awake

He started typing the text before he could stop himself, feeling like he was watching himself make this extremely poor decision but having absolutely no power to stop himself. Even if it wouldn’t make Kenma love him it would be cathartic, right? And as long as he’s vague enough he could preserve their friendship, maybe even claim plausible deniability if necessary. The text read: ‘listening to this and thinking about you’ along with a link to Best Friend.

Kenma’s response was very short, only three words but enough to send his heart into a tailspin, for it to stop completely in its tracks, to make him feel like he’d never breathe again. ‘I’m dating Shōyō’

That night Kuroo lost the golden hue of his eyes.

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

A special thanks to @wanderlustsky for beta reading this! it was amazingly helpful <3

#kuroken #haikyū!!#angst #star tears #no happy ending #best friend #rex orange county #haikyuu kuroo #kozume kenma #haikyuu kenma #kuroo tetsuro

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oysterspace6 · 3 years

Text

Apple's Hottest Smart Phones are Fabulous

Users quite possibly agree with me personally that iPhone X design was one of the very best, and that is exactly why Apple decided to keep the identical look for their next pair of exclusive cell phones. Presented a year earlier, it is the first Apple smart phone to remove the single button. From another, I held its fresh successor, '' the Iphone Xs. My eyes squeezed shut, I passed them back and forth between my hands, rolling each telephone over, feeling the curves, glass backs, double lens camera lumps, and radar vents. I understood that I couldn't tell the difference between both phones. This isn't a criticism. It's just a fact of S version years, where Apple locks at the iPhone design and focuses, instead, on upgrading key internal components. As such, the largest changes to the 5.8-inches iPhone Xs and its big brother, the 6.5-inch Iphone Xs Max, each of which I tested, can be located in performance (thanks to this new A12 Bionic CPU), photographs and movies, (brand new cameras and a brand new ISP endorsed by the A12), and performance (iOS12, the last version of that came pre-applied on my evaluation units). The outcome is a set of brilliant, elegant, and high-performing gadgets that can please Iphone lovers and capture over a couple of glances out of Android adherents. It has the exact same rigid surgical steel frame wrapped into a new glass substance that Apple said was formulated to be scratch tolerant and durable. I gave the phones a couple half-hearted drops on a thin-pile carpet but was not prepared to let them slide away on concrete. Thus far I have discovered exactly one very nice scratch on your iPhone Xs Max. So let us think about them scratch-tolerant, however nevertheless not scratch-proof. The bigger Iphone Xs Max enjoys each of the iPhone X's substance and design characteristics, but does this at a 6.2-inch x 3.05-inch x 0.30-inch human anatomy. At 208 grams, it's considerably heavier than the Iphone Xs. The Xs Max is really a hair shorter (0.04 inches) and thinner (0.02 inches), but it's also a few grams heavier than the Iphone 8 Plus, the big-screen phone that from a distance the iPhone Xs Max most resembles. Button positioning power/sleep, quantity controls, ring/silent change -- are exactly the same. However, there is one minor chassis gap. On the bottom edge of both phones sits the lightning connector. It is book-ended by means of a set of drilled holes which accommodate one half of their stereo speaker system and one of their phone's microphones. There was six openings on either side. Now the correct side includes 6 openings, but the left, which just houses a mike, has only three. This small change was done, in part, to adapt the new inner antenna setting that contains 4x4 MIMO and License Assisted Access, which uses unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum to deliver 1 Gbps broadband over LTE. Apple upgraded the water along with dust-resistance evaluation to IP 68, that contrasts into the handsets surviving in two meters of water for up to half an hour. I didn't get to go swimming together with the Iphone Xs or even Xs Max, but did operate the latter phone below normal water, milk, and juice. After that, as advocated, I dried and shut off the cellphone. I had been careful to not plug it into a lighting cable (that's a no-no after a dowsing) but didn't place it onto a wireless charging base where it had no difficulty accepting a fee. Apple, by the way, said it put some effort in making the wireless charging system (essentially the hidden coils in the phone) more pliable. This is good news, because I have, on more than 1 event, woken up to find my iPhone X did not charge because I placed it a small off-axis on the charging base. I never ran into this problem with the Iphone Xs or even Xs Max. The Iphone Xs and Xs Max bodies are somewhat stiff and strong-feeling, but torqueable, particularly the larger telephone, which actually makes a tiny clicking noise once I attempt to spin it. Obviously, I've only had these iPhones for a week, but according to a calendar year's encounter with the original iPhone X (allowed, mostly in a thin situation ), I believe this design frame tough and ready for the long run. Even as Samsung trolls Apple to its dense black cutout near the top of the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, Apple reveals no traces of going back from the multi-option technologies, which grew nor shrunk in the newest iPhones. Just like the original TrueDepth Module, this one remains packed with all the very same elements (none of which, so much as I can tell, have been updated). There's a 7 MP camera, scatter projector for thickness sensing, infrared camera (thickness sensing), flood illuminator (yes, also for depth-sensing), proximity sensor, ambient light detector, the second half of the stereo speaker program, along with a mic. On the backs of the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, there is more of the customized glass, the Apple Logo, the word iPhone (however no"X" or"s"), and also the 12 MP dual camera system. This vertically-oriented, pill-shaped camera module looks exactly the same as it did in the last Iphone X. It's still a prominent bump, but it did not get any larger. In the module is new hardware supported by new picture technologies, but more about this later. I have always considered the 5.8-inch Iphone X an exceptional tradeoff between a big-screen telephone and hand-friendly ergonomics. The screen is big and immersive, however, the body is comfortable to hold pocket. The iPhone Xs Max in comparison can, particularly if you're utilised to holding a more compact phone, feel large. It is not embarrassing to hold, however people with smaller hands will fight with one-handed usage and will probably want to turn on Reachability, which using a swipe back on the flat bar moves all halfway down the display, making it more accessible. Nonetheless, the trade-off could possibly be well worth it. I forgot just how much I like the larger iPhone screen, and also on the Iphone Xs Max, you receive a lot more screen without contending with a bigger phone (there is just that 0.04-inch height gap between the Iphone 8 Plus and also the iPhone Xs Max). Apple's full-stack management of the iPhone layout, development, and manufacturing process pays dividends during the shiny handset. Nevertheless, it's most clearly in the silicon, which can be designed and developed in conjunction with the software and hardware components that will rely upon it. This past Year, Apple revealed the A11 Bionic, a strong mobile CPU with built-in Artificial Intelligence Power. The new A12 Bionic builds on that short legacy with a more strong Neural Engine and much more impressive graphics functionality. Anytime I review a brand new iPhone, I start using Geekbench 4 to check out the raw CPU performance. To ensure there are minimum background processes moving, I usually conduct the test before I have installed a single app. I conducted the Geekbench CPU routine and (together with understanding that Apple stuffed an extra gig of memory in the brand new Xs course iPhones) found the single core scores had improved marginally between the A11 Bionic and A12 Bionic. On the other hand, the multi-core score was strangely lower. Not by a good deal, but I hadn't ever seen that occur. The numbers were still much higher than what I made from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, however a lower result on the brand new Iphone did not make sense. However, once I reran the Geekbench CPU test a day or so later, the A12 multi-core numbers defeat people of the A11. My guess is that, even though I set up the iPhone Xs and Xs Max as new iPhones, there might still have been some background setup process happening that dragged down the CPU numbers. The bigger leap in performance is at the Geekbench Compute Metal Score, which jumped from 15,145 to the Iphone X to 22,245 about the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Apple's done a lot of effort to beef up images performance, particularly for the raft of ARKit 2 (and Surface 2) software heading to the stage, a few of which will support multiplayer gaming. When there aren't a lot of ARKit 2 programs in the app shop, I'd get a hands-on time with an iPhone Xs operating Galaga AR, the identical demo Apple showed off throughout the Iphone Xs unveiling. To perform, me and a couple of other journalists stood on a table and pointed our telephones at the virtual Galaga video arcade game console. Soon, alien attackers began streaming from the movie game screen and from all round us. I swung the telephone from side-to-side up and down and up to view and then shoot the incoming assault. It had been swift and cool. In the same way, I have seen how, together with ARKit two, the phone can place, say, a very realistic digital pressure stove or sneaker on a real table or at my feet, the illusion broken only when I slid my hand into the frame and, on the iPhone Xs display, it looked like my digits were stuck under the kettle. You can't support these kinds of real-virtual mixes without ample images horsepower, thickness mapping, along with the AI required to identify the surfaces, shadows, as well as reflections will work on virtual items in a real space. This processing power also helped amp up more ordinary operations like Face ID. While the process of registering my head was unchanged from the first iPhone X, starting either phone with my head, in addition to using Face ID to access password-protected programs and solutions, is substantially faster than it was on the iPhone X. Overall, in real world applications, both iPhone Xs and Xs Max perform properly. Apple put tremendous amount of work into enhancing the photo and video experience to the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Along with new lenses along with a larger detector, the cameras (rear and selfie) are backed by a fresh image signal processor. The specs on the dual cameras are unchanged from the iPhone X (and would be the exact same on either iPhone Xs and Xs Max). There is the 1.8 wide angle lens along with the f 2.4 2X telephoto. Both of those comprise optical image stabilization and may shoot up to 4K video at 60 fps. They still take slow-motion video in up to 240 frames per second. If you'd like insane 960 fps super-slo-mo, you will need to visit Samsung. In the pure-play photography race, however, Apple takes the guide. Its Smart HDR uses detector, ISP, and neurological enhancements to capture a number of the best high-dynamic range photographs I've ever seen. The gap between that which was possible on the first iPhone X along with the Xs and Xs Max is magnificent. Apple assembled a system able of shooting 2 frames every thirtieth of a second, and instantly analyzing and merging them into a single image that maintains not only foreground and background detail, but can freeze actions without presenting tremendous grain. In multiple pictures, I watched that the iPhone Xs and Xs Max find colour and detail in shadowy spaces without blowing out the brighter areas. The Samsung Galaxy Notice 9 is also an superb low light shot, however I feel the Xs lineup is a little better. I'm particularly impressed by how Apple's built upon its position position in Portrait Mode digital photography. Apple created Portrait Mode in 2016 with the iPhone 7 Plus (the applications lagged from the hardware). Since then, Apple's elegant the concept, including items such as Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, and Stage Light Mono. All of these features remain, and have been somewhat enhanced. What I love and also, as an amateur photographer who regularly performs with f-stops for just the right depth of field effect, is the brand new Depth Control. Depth Control allows you to take a Portrait Mode photograph and correct the Bokehdepth or depth of field attention, when you shoot the photos. This works with both the front and back cameras, which means that the image chip is using two unique sorts of thickness information. On the trunk, it's the advantage of two lenses to find stereoscopic details. The front camera counts on the depth-sensing electronics. I know, Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 offers the capability to correct background focus as you're shooting the picture, as well as after. However, there's a crucial difference here that's evident from the iPhone Xs and Xs Max Depth editor. It's a slider that allows you adjust smoothly from a virtual f 1.4 aperture to a virtual f16. In a real camera with a mechanical aperture, even high figures translate to sharper focus in the backdrop and reduced numbers mean the focus thickness is significantly shallower. About the Galaxy Notice 9, Live Focus basically sees the images as two planes: the foreground and background. The slider blurs the background plane. The iPhone Xs's thickness slider relies on all the depth information to decrease or improve background focus through all the airplanes between the very front of their subject and the desktop. Combined with the improved Portrait Mode stitching (tackling how the topic and a blurred background match together), the subtlety of this effect through the range of virtual f-stops is remarkable and, Apple's told me, is modeled on how actual lenses using hardware apertures would impact each picture. For the majority of people the smart phone camera is their sole camera. This places a pro-level control at the hands of millions of people, who are going to start taking some absolutely stunning face images. After shooting normal shots, movie, and even 4K, I remain stunned with the quality of videos and photos coming from this iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Sure, it's strange that the bigger Xs Max doesn't, as could be tradition, have any enhanced image capturing attributes, however I doubt anyone is going to be dismayed with the picture quality delivered by either new mobile phone. There are a few other equipment-related enhancements, such as the promised dual-sim technology that permits multiple telephone numbers (believe work and individual numbers of one phone) through the aid of eSIM technology. Unlike ordinary SIMs, you do not need a carrier card only for the carrier to support it and enable it on your mobile phone. It's a wonderful attribute which, for evident reasons, I could not test. For audio fanatics, there's also the newest stereo recording and wider-stereo playback. This can be somewhat hard to check, and that I sometimes worry my ears are not sufficient to notice what could be a more nuanced difference. But, I'd find a method. I recorded, in landscape style, some cars traveling by. They begin on the left of this screen and drive to the right. In video I recorded with the iPhone Xs, the noise travels from one side of the telephone to the other. Playback on the iPhone X is loudly yet lacking in the exact same amount of separation sounds. Evidently, films with a lot of sound engineering are not only great showcases for the wonderful screens, but emphasize the brand new, wider stereo playback abilities also. As hardware/software unions go, you can not do much better than the Apple iPhone Xs and iOS 12. I've been running betas of this new mobile OS for weeks on my iPhone X and found it impressively smooth and stable. On the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, it becomes even better partners. Along with butter-smooth and lighting quick operation (in matches, video, and internet browsing), the enhanced reality abilities released into iOS 11, ARKit, along with the iPhone X are more polished and tailor-made in iOS 12 along with the Iphone Xs. The intelligent assistant is a much better listener than ever, and becoming smarter. Her speech is much more conversational and she's asking follow-up questions. Siri is also more proactive, putting connections between benign items like schedules and locations and offering them in advance. Additionally, there are a range of third-party programs tapping into Siri, letting you use only your voice to get program features and information without even opening the app. You can install iOS 12 on your older Iphone (down into this iPhone 5s), however not all attributes, especially those between AR, will operate on the old devices. Still, I seriously advise the upgrade with at least anyone conducting an Iphone 7 and up. It's simply a better, more polished, educated, and smart user experience and, to be fair, I've hardly scratched the surface of all the updates and feature enhancements you'll find. Apple asserts 30 minutes longer battery life involving the Iphone X and Xs and 90 minutes longer with all the Iphone Xs Max. In my experience, both brand new mobile may get you through the majority of the afternoon on a single charge. I spent one day using only the iPhone Xs Max. I retained the brightness and conducted all sorts of apps and processes. It lasted a strong 10 hours. Maybe just a bit less than I expected, but still sufficient for me through the majority of the day. Seriously, with less than a week under my belt, it's hard to provide a complete evaluation of battery life performance. There are so many variables and, clearly, battery life will be great on new smart phones. Talk to me 6 months or twelve months, and we'll see if I am still happy with battery life. It's hardly surprising that Apple did not lower the cost for the new $999 Iphone Xs (or perhaps hold onto the initial version and sell it at a lower price). I'm not shocked that we now have an almost $1,100 version or that we're able to pay a whopping $1,449 for the 512 GB iPhone Xs Max (which happens to be the model that I tested). Apple's already demonstrated that people will pay almost anything to get their hands on the most current iPhone. Is $1,000 or more too much to pay for a smart phone? Maybe, however many of us think of the complete price rather than monthly payments? I am, however, a little annoyed that Apple stopped the lightning -to-3.5 millimeter adapter. It is as if, in the previous 12 months, we have gotten rid of our audio and Bose headsets, like it is a solved issue. Memo to Apple: It's not. What I will say is that all these are the iPhones you desire. The iPhone Xs does not mess with what I now consider a timeless design, and also the Xs Max only takes all that is wonderful about the iPhone X also enlarges it. As a pair, they're just as amazing as the original home-button-free iPhone X. The plan looks particularly tasteful in a golden finish. Participants will love the newest camera, and players and content customers will want the big-display screen Iphone Xs Max. Should you currently have the iPhone X, I still would not update unless you absolutely need more realistic augmented existence and also full depth control on your portraits. For iPhone 6s, 8, 7, and even 8 Plus associates, the iPhone Xs and Xs Max will appear like a gigantic leap to the future.

#cellphone

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blastoisemonster · 3 years

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Meitantei Conan: Karakuri Jiin Satsujin Jiken

My review will focus on the "Murder at the Temple of Karakuri" episode (featured in the cartridge shown above), since it's the one I played thoroughly, but it needs to be said that all five games look very similar and apart from, obviously, the different plots -or the lack of colour in case of the two gray cartridge games- they all feature the same mechanics and controls, along with the same quality in audio and graphics department. Later games might also show a few cosmetic upgrades but nothing experience changing.

After choosing our save slots out of the possible three, we're immediately launched into the opening cutscene, giving us context for the upcoming investigation. Right off the bat, the Meitantei Conan videogame shows offs some rather impressive backgrounds and spriteworks, with nice panorama views of the places we're visiting as the protagonist and portraits of the speaking characters, which also change expression depending on their speech lines. The soundtrack isn't immense, but definitely has solid tunes, too: the title screen even plays the main theme straight from the anime! This elaborate sound and video combination makes it feel like we're watching an actual toon episode. As soon as the initial scenes are done, we're off of "cutscene mode" and into "investigation mode", which controls and feels exactly like a classic top-view RPG for Game Boy, with the prerogative that Conan can run and move diagonally. Suck it, mainline Pokèmon games!

In this particular chapter, Conan's gang is initially tasked with finding Satomi Togawa, one of Ran’s friends who has recently gone missing. The search leads them to an ancient temple in the mountains, once home to a ninja clan and therefore still filled with traps, but that now hosts several people. Conan plans to look around discreetly, but all changes when one of the other characters living in the temple, Yuuji, is found dead in his room. Police arrives to the place, and the kidnapping investigations are moved aside in favour of the murder ones. During the game, Conan can obviously look around interacting with various objects and characters to round up clues and/or solve a few puzzles, but he has also other tricks up his sleeve- er I mean, main menu: by pressing Start we gain access to the Map (useful in order to memorize the most complex exploring areas), Character Profiles that display name, picture and basic info of everyone we've encoutered in our adventure (a feature strikingly similar to Phoenix Wright's Court Records), and last but not least all the Key Words of the case: this section pretty much gathers up all clues, thoughts and discoveries we find during the game and by "Considering" them (simply clicking on them, that is) Conan comes up with associations and ideas. If pressed in the right order until a coherent line of thoughts gets formed, the story will progress and new "scenes" are unlocked until the culprit is caught and their motives and modus operandi are explained. We can also stick close to the crime scene and examine the body and murder weapon, which are represented with perfectly gruesome close ups, and thoroughly described where the Game Boy's pixel screen reaches its true limit; we get a description of wounds, state of the body, and approximate time of death, all useful information in order to unveil the mystery. This chapter in particular also had an interesting murder puzzle with seemingly more than one killer at the same time, which made the experience even more pleasant to discover. Among some secondary game mechanics, the player may come across a few multiple choice answers of which only one is correct and guarantees progress; however, if the other two are chosen, there's seemingly no other malus than making Conan act like an idiot, though without changing the order or nature of future events. Conan can also "swap" roles with other playing characters if he talks to them (for example, while in the Karakuri temple we also have the choice of fooling around as Ran or Kogoro). This is not necessary in order to complete the case, but I understand it could be a welcomed touch for fans of the series that would like to experience a certain scene from different point of views; quite infact, it's interesting and funny to see how different characters react to clues or interactions, and NPCs also respond differently depending on who they're talking to. For example, suspects have a hard time responding to Conan while the police is investigating because they feel like it's not a kid's business; also, we learn that Kogoro is a record breaking asshole, as considering Key Words with him leads to absolutely nothing.

After all requirements are met and we're ready to point the finger at whodunit, one final puzzle is triggered in form of a questionnaire: similar to Gyakuten Kenji's logic thinking, Conan tries to summarize the case and put all events and intrigues in order with a series of questions that the player must reply correctly. However unfortunately it seems that just like the other multiple choices we get through the main game, these ones too end up feeling kinda useless for the unfolding of the events. Unmasking the culprit feels kinda a letdown, sadly, as it is presented not as an interactive section but rather as a long cutscene that, as said before, is not even influenced by how many answers the player got right during the "recapping" inner monologue. We don't even get to shoot Kogoro with sleeping needles; the game does it all by itself. That was very unnerving and unexpected, especially for an investigation game, and frankly the most negative point about it. We also get an epilogue where we save Satomi (remember her?) and some minor plot points that link this chapter's plot to the next one, tempting players to get the upcoming new cartridge. And after this, our very last gaming screen: a rating. Turns out that fooling around giving wrong answers only contributes to a less than stellar final score and nothing else in the game, which is honestly a shame, considering that it could have been potentially used instead to present different scenes, ways of investigating, and even possible bad endings. One could argue that this particular choice was made due to capacity limitations for data, but in that case why leave us the illusion that our choices matter? The character swap count is also shown on the score screen: I'm not sure if this counts towards a negative score or not, but I do hope developers didn't mean to penalize players for wanting to explore the game with different point of views (which, honestly, is what a good detective would do instead!).

In Short What's positive about Meitantei Conan? It's a little jewel in term of graphical and audio quality, and an impressive technical experiment that brings a complicated genre such as the murder mystery on a simple console such as the Game Boy, with a positive result. Easy to maneuver, it offers an intriguing story that can be enjoyed just fine either as alone or as a chapter from a saga, since the main plot links every single cartridge together. And it's also so bloody! Once you see this you'll definitely want to see fanmade Phoenix Wright cases on Game Boy. Let's start some projects!

And, what's negative about it? Well, it could have definitely been much more interactive. Except for the main examination part, the player mostly gets to follow the case through cutscenes, and the fact that they can't control any character during the final showdown is definitely disappointing. The multiple choices and logic thinking recap are useless to the story when they could instead add a lot of depth and replayability, so it does feel like developers missed a big chance. Also the fact that we only play through one investigation makes the game feel very short... I would have at least preferred to have two "episodes" per cartridge, but I imagine this was due to capacity limitations.

And that's the game! Very interesting and inspiring, but unfortunately not perfect. Nonetheless, an interesting piece for every kind of collection!

#Photography

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orderofthedyingstar · 4 years

Text

RECAP: SESSIONS 12-13

SESSION 12

After an hour of pacing and avoiding the subject, Jun finally starts talking about his past in So’Joh: how he was raised in an orphanage before being taken in by a wizard (Toji), then came to work at the Cobalt Keep when he was twelve years old. He notes that he caught the attention of the Royal court by predicting an assassination attempt (doesn’t specify on who) and ‘blowing the assassin up’. Jun also supplies the name of the Emperor (Qu’ni-lihil) and his advisor, Nirah, a warlock. He clarifies that he traded his heart when he was fourteen years old to Nirah’s patron, the Faceless One, in exchange for access to powerful divination magic. When he was sixteen, he spared Inigo and Umbra from a death sentence at one of the entrances to the Underdark (Death’s Road), something he’d done with a few other prisoners. He then says that he the left the keep a while after the Emperor’s youngest child died at ten years old after following him to the entrance to the Underdark, something he failed to prevent. When Rhododendron asks Jun more about his heart, he says that the Faceless One having a piece of him means that they can scry on him at any time, and says that even though they’d always kept up their end of the bargain he isn’t a very good diviner any more - because he ‘tried to erase his own memories’ and destroy his old spell book.

Jun: “It didn’t work, so I put myself to sleep for five years.”

Rhododendron: “Five years?!”

Verrix: “How are you still so tired if you slept for five years?”

Jun hedges around a definitive answer when Rhododendron asks how he got in touch with the Faceless One, and continues to insist on accompanying the party to So’Joh. Rhododendron runs through the list of everyone in the party who is wanted in So’Joh - which is everyone but her and Marlee.

Rhododendron: “Nice. I’m also not wanted in So’Joh…that I know of?”

Verrix: “Yet.”

Marlee: “The fact that you had to specify So’Joh is a little worrying, but I don’t care enough to ask any questions.”

Verrix: “We’ve all been wanted in multiple countries, it happens.”

Marlee: “EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY on the continent, Verrix. EVERY. SINGLE. COUNTRY.”

Rhododendron continues to ask Jun about the danger of him coming along with them, but he insists that he’s fine, and points out that he doesn’t look the same as he used to. (Rhododendron and Jun spend like five minutes sort-of-not-really-flirting until she realizes that they’re wasting time. I really don’t know how else to word it they’re really that ridiculous.) The party leaves the cave and heads down the mountain, Rhododendron and Verrix unsuccessfully trying to get more information out of Jun, with Rhododendron trying to get him to understand why he’s so insistent on staying with them. The party rests about two hours away from Brackenwood, with Inigo taking the first watch. Unfortunately, he isn’t paying very much attention and the party gets attacked by several large lizard-like creatures (they can’t identify them but I’m pretty sure they’re drakons?). They manage to finish them off but Marlee and Rhododendron sustain quite a few injuries, and the party returns to their rest.

The next day, the party heads to Brackenwood, but are unsure where to begin looking for traces of Umbra and Raz. They also decide to try and buy/steal some horses and a cart, pooling all of their gold together and attempting to come up with a plan. While discussing Umbra, Marlee asks Verrix if they’d seemed like they were using ‘wizard magic’, to which he says that the blood magic looked learned but the rest of it didn’t. The party walks through the town, with Verrix ripping down some posters of himself in various disguises; he keeps an eye out for posters of tieflings, but there aren’t any with the name ‘Jun’ on them (Jun catches him looking). There aren’t any wanted posters of Inigo. The party checks a few of the shadier areas/taverns in town for signs of Umbra, going into a tavern Verrix recognizes as the ‘Blue Goat’. Verrix and Rhododendron try to ply some information out of the bartender, who plays coy until they bribe him after which he tells them that Umbra and a dwarf passed through a few days ago but didn’t stay, and that they have ‘special spell components’ for sale if the party’s interested. Rhododendron notices that Jun is distracted by some painted depictions of a figure holding worn and broken weaponry on the back wall of the bar, a set of scales in the background (Zelia). Marlee is also looking at the pictures with some interest, although not with the same apprehension that Jun seems to be; Inigo is squinting at it with some confusion/recognition.

Marlee asks about seeing the temple in town, which is an old one dedicated to Laoteng. Both Rhododendron and Jun are less than excited about this, considering how the last temple went. Nonetheless, Rhododendron wipes the visible blood off of herself and the party enters the temple, which is much nicer than both of the previous ones since it is neither abandoned nor previously buried. The temple is fairly large, lined with statues where people used to pray including a massive statue of Laoteng herself before a big pool of water at the back of the temple. Marlee splits off from the party to sit in a pew by herself for a while. When Rhododendron asks, Marlee says that the temple does kick people out during the time when it used to be night, as a way to honor the old traditions.

Rhododendron, looking at the pool of water: “I’m morbidly curious. It probably wouldn’t work, right?”

Jun: “It definitely wouldn’t, and I’m not just saying that because I don’t want you to do it. It’s cause…I don’t want you to do it.”

Despite what happened in the other temple, Rhododendron still wants to try to explore this one because she knows that there’s something about her bow that still isn’t working right. Rhododendron fills Marlee in on how her bow has affected temples of Laoteng in the past, and says that she wants to try and use it on the pool in the Brackenwood temple. Marlee isn’t opposed to the idea, but doesn’t see any real benefit to it, although she is impressed that the bow was stolen from the Queen. Marlee insists on taking Rhododendron shopping before they do anything else, and they get her three fancy outfits - including one really pink, frilly dress. While the party is in the rich district, Verrix swaps his old cloak for a brand new fancy black cloak (“pristine”, 23 sleight of hand) and absolutely nobody notices. The party gets some horse feed and Verrix wheedles a deal out of the cart salesman - although Verrix almost forgets about the feed until Rhododendron reminds him (this leads to several horrible feet jokes and Verrix being a little concerned that that horses are going to try to eat his feet). The party gets ready to go to the temple, but elect to leave Marlee and Inigo behind - Marlee because she’s too loud, and Inigo to keep her company.

Marlee: “Ugh, FINE! But we’re not bonding!”

Rhododendron, Verrix, and Jun sneak around the back and Rhododendron picks the lock, berating Verrix and Jun for not being able to do it despite being arguably shadier. This time when Rhododendron aims an arrow at the pool, it takes all of the light in the entire building with it, blinding everyone. As the three of them descend the staircase, they see that the walls are lined with eerie, faceless humanoid statues.

Danny: “These vibes are rancorous, bro. Like, rancid. Straight up.”

SESSION THIRTEEN

Upon further examination of the humanoid statues, the group sees that they have strange straight lines sticking out of the tops of their heads, and that they’re in a crouched position…

Rhododendron: “What do you think is sticking out of the backs of their necks?”

Verrix: “I dunno, I’ve never made a statue. I don’t know if that’s required or not.”

Rhododendron: “Jun, I don’t like these.”

Jun: “O-oh, yeah, I don’t either, they’re very creepy. Let’s just leave.”

Rhododendron: “N-no. No! We are here for a reason.”

Jun: “The lights flickered out, all these weird body-shaped things, we’re still in the first hall continuing on…Nyvarstra, if you can hear me, I know I don’t really pray, but uh…”

Rhododendron: “Isn’t that sacrilegious in a Laoteng temple?”

Jun: “……What’s she gonna do, be mad?”

Rhododendron: ”I…I feel like there’s a point there, but it seems kind of rude.”

Jun: “I mean, she’s never offered me her protection.”

Rhododendron: “Well, you took a deal with a devil.”

Jun, obviously annoyed: “A lot of us have made deals with a lot of different things, haven’t we?”

Verrix takes a good look at the statues, finding them long undisturbed and…softer, than normal statues, along with a faint magical aura to them. Rhododendron tries to look around for traps, but only senses something horribly off with the creepy not-statues.

Rhododendron: “We should be careful around the statues, obviously.”

Jun: “Uh…are they statues?”

Rhododendron: “Please don’t say things like that. Like, clearly, yes they’re not statues, but keep that to yourself.”

Jun: “They almost look like, um…(failed INT check) well, I don’t know what they look like, actually. Magic?”

Rhododendron: “I think even Verrix parsed that one out for himself.”

Verrix: “…Thanks. How many spell slots do you have again?”

Jun: “Not enough.”

Rhododendron: “He was talking to me.”

Jun: “I know.”

Rhododendron: “Hey!”

The group takes a moment to desperately wish they’d brought Inigo and/or Marlee for a meat buffer/extra healing, especially considering how this temple already seems worse that the previous temples. They also get concerned about how dangerous all of these temples have been, seeing as they were supposedly made in Laoteng’s honor. The group tries to sneak down the hall, but Verrix (CRIT MISS) tries and spills everything out of his bag, also ripping his BRAND NEW cloak.

Verrix, tearfully: “My expensive new cape…I worked so hard for it…”

Val: *cackling*

At the noise, four of the statues stand up, and the things on the back of their necks light, making them look like big human-shaped candles. Verrix shoves everything back into his bag and puts out the Light he’d cast for Rhododendron. Watching the candles, he army-crawls over to the other members of the party and away from the lit statues - Rhododendron refuses to turn around and look at the statues Verrix has disturbed. They manage to sneak down the rest of the hall without disturbing the other statues, and enter a new room with a pool of water in the center and a statues of Laoteng looming over it. There are three exits from the room, two doors to the right and left and a doorway in the back with a staircase leading downwards, the faint sound of rushing water in the distance.

Rhododendron wants to shoot the pool last after investigating the other rooms, finding the one to the left full of bookshelves and tapestries. The books aren’t written in a language Rhododendron recognizes, and most of them are in poor condition. Rhododendron manages to sneak around the animated suit of armor patrolling the room, and finds that the tapestries depict a Holy Knight wielding a silver bow - and that an empty silver quiver is stored in the room. The knight in the image is a mid-height drow wearing some sort of leather armor…they’re depicted slaying drakes, owlbears, and a cluster of sick-looking people. They have red streaks coming out of their eyes and mouths, but Rhododendron cannot remember what the name of their illness is, although it’s a common horror story told to children across the continent.

In the next room, the group finds crafting supplies that seems as though the people who once frequented the temple were trying to make another silver bow unsuccessfully. Verrix is able to recognize the illness despite depicted on the mosaics in this room as the Crimson Death: during the first week you get feverish and sick, then you start bleeding out of your mouth/nose/eyes for two days, and then you die. It was a horrible plague that occurred a while ago, said to be a curse from Nyvarstra. The group decides to go through the middle doorway and down the stairs, which are once again flanked by the creepy humanoid candle-statues on one side all the way down. A large waterfall rushes not too far from the staircase down to a pool far below.

Jun: “Don’t trip.”

Rhododendron and Jun spend a few minutes arguing about whether or not you should die trying to help someone else in the party, and then the party tries to sneak down the staircase. Rhododendron fails to sneak, alerting five candles to her presence - Jun tries to put them out but this just aggravates the candles further, and the trio scrambles down the rest of the staircase as the candles’ heads turn towards them. The candles explode just as the party gets to the bottom of the staircase, obliterating their only means of escape. The party stands near a small cave entrance at the base of the waterfall, at the edge of a small pond there doesn’t seem to be any outlet for all of the water.

Jun: “We’re done going downstairs. No more downstairs. No more downstairs.”

Rhododendron: “The downstairs could lead upstairs though?”

Jun: “Downstairs could also just keep leading downstairs until it leads to the Underdark.”

Rhododendron: “What is it with you and thinking that things lead to the Underdark? That’s so far down, you know that, right?”

Jun: “…Right.”

The party finds a Ring of Water Walking around the cave entrance, and then proceed onwards to a larger room in the back. It has a large pool of water with statues of Nyvarstra and Laoteng on the far side, and between them is a figure kneeling their head bowed, arms chained to both of the statues. They have a large pair of skeletal wings.

Rhododendron: “Maybe he’s nice…”

Jun is very against waking the chained angel, and Rhododendron sneaks around the angel to take a look at another mosaic behind them, but is unable to decipher anything. Verrix suggests swimming in the pool to figure out its properties - and then the trio realizes that the water in the pool is completely black. Rhododendron throws a piton with Light cast on it into the pool, which gets completely submerged in the darkness, the light snuffed out. Rhododendron lies to the group that they’re just going to turn around and leave the pool and the angel alone, and turns to shoot the pool right as they’re leaving - causing the room to plunge into pitch black darkness. Before Verrix can cast Light, the angel breaks free of their chains and summons a magical sword of fire, spitting out something vulgar in Celestial.

Verrix: “Uh, he sounds mad…”

Jun: “Oh, he doesn’t sound mad at all Verrix, he sounds very friendly.”

The angel beheads both statues of Nyvarstra and Laoteng, crumbling the heads to dust.

Verrix: “They’re just statues, they’re not gonna hurt you. Do you just really not like statues, is that it? I swear we didn’t put those there.”

In broken Celestial the angel cusses out the goddess and any who would help them. Rhododendron and Verrix try to put on brave faces and snark back at the angel as they back away from the angel - who is much taller than even Marlee. The angel accuses Rhododendron of pretending to be a Champion of Dilong, saying she lacks purity. Rhododendron suggests that they try to swim across the pond, but Jun says that he can’t.

Rhododendron: “Why are all of the angels we’ve met just huge fucking assholes?”

Verrix: “Hey.”

Rhododendron: “Like you’re not a huge fucking asshole.”

Verrix: “What about Inigo?”

Jun: “So no exceptions.”

Without any other choice, the party engages the angel in combat. Rhododendron sends up a prayer to Dilong for guidance in combat, and the arrow strikes true causing the angel to howl in pain. Verrix makes the mistake of getting within melee range of the angel, who practically gores him with its greatsword (instantly halving his health), baring its fangs at him. Jun turns Verrix invisible, and the angel chases the group to the edge of the pond before releasing a wave of necrotic energy at them. Jun is knocked prone but Rhododendron and Verrix manage to stay standing. Rhododendron tries to talk the angel down, but they’re too far gone. Verrix senses that the fallen angel might be weak to radiant damage (too bad they didn’t bring someone with Divine Smite, huh), and he pulls out his wings to deal out some extra radiant damage to the enemy. After a few more attacks from the party as they whittle down its health, the angel gets annoyed with Verrix’s radiant damage and tries to attack him, but cannot reach him - so they grapple Rhododendron instead out of sheer desperation.

Rhododendron, choked: “If you wanted a hug you could have just asked.”

Verrix and Jun try to hit the angel, but Jun’s spells keep fizzling out. They spend a few rounds unable to do any real damage to the angel without risking injuring Rhododendron, who keeps making jokes at the angel about taking her out to dinner first as she’s slowly choked out. Verrix casts Burning Hands directly in the angel’s face, melting and crumbling their face. The angel shatters in a hail of light, covering the party in goop. After cleaning off the angel goop, Rhododendron gives both Verrix and Jun a chocolate - Verrix ends up not having any immediate effects, while Jun screams and coughs up blood.

Rhododendron: “Are you okay??”

Jun: “No. I think that chocolate tried to cast a love spell on me. Tastes like coconuts, though.”

Verrix: “Is that gonna happen to me??”

Rhododendron is able to get a better look at the mosaic, which depicts the sun and the moon in balance with one another, equal in their power. Nyvarstra is shown empowering other deities while Laoteng is show in temperance to that, cleansing those that grew clouded by the power. The pool seems like it was restorative at one point. Rhododendron takes the Water Walking ring to scope out the area, but is unable to find anything. Verrix tries to use the ring to walk up the waterfall, but fails miserably. Rhododendron also attempts it but fails in the same way. After several more minutes of unsuccessful investigation of the waterfall, Rhododendron tries to use her bow to shoot at the waterfall. She debates praying to Laoteng or Dilong, since the angel mentioned something about him. She decides to pray to Dilong for help and guidance…(CRIT MISS)

The arrow snaps in half and falls into the water. Rhododendron, out of desperation, decides to try again - Jun suggests making a deal with the god, since powerful entities usually want something in return. Verrix suggests throwing a coin into the water, like making a wish.

Rhododendron, embarrassed: “I fell asleep most of the time when I went to church with Raz. I tried to stay awake, but he has a very soothing…voice…And there’d be hymns. Really, really long hymns. Everybody’s lulling you to sleep.”

Rhododendron tries another prayer, admitting that she doesn’t know what to offer Dilong. After five long minutes with no response, the group sees a shooting star streak across the dark (underground) chamber, hitting the waterfall and submerging the entire chamber in water - Rhododendron opens her eyes in a bright white room, dry and glowing with a faint silver light. Rhododendron asks aloud if she’s dead, to which an unfamiliar voice tells her she isn’t. Dilong says that aren’t really interested in making a deal with her since they aren’t some hag or fey. Dilong advises Rhododendron to be careful about offering to make deals with strangers.

Dilong: “Not everyone’s that nice.”

Rhododendron: “Are you..nice…?”

Dilong: “Depends who you ask.”

Rhododendron: “What if I’m asking you?”

Dilong: “I dunno. Some people say neutrality isn’t really nice, but I say walking in the middle isn’t so bad.”

Rhododendron wakes to find herself standing in the middle of the pool in the room with three doorways above the broken staircase, Verrix and Jun passed out on either side of the pool. They’re all dry. Rhododendron sends up a quick prayer of thanks to Dilong, and looks through the bookshelves for information on Dilong. The only book she manages to find is written in Primordial, which Jun says that he can read but that it will take a while since it’s a difficult language to translate. The party finally leaves the temple, going to reunite with Inigo and Marlee. Rhododendron puts on her bright pink dress and Verrix uses his disguise kit to make her look like Donny.

They head back over to the cart, and Inigo has trouble remembering Donny’s name. Marlee tells Rhododendron that she looks ‘pretty bad’ before asking how the temple went. Rhododendron tells Marlee to get in disguise as well, and Inigo tries to come up with a fake name for Rhododendron.

Inigo: “Uh, Romeo?”

Rhododendron: “Romeo is just me. Romeo is just Rhododendron.”

Inigo: [CRIT MISS INT CHECK]

Rhododendron tries to check in on Inigo and the status of his memories, but he keeps dodging around her with cryptic and confused-sounding responses. He does manage to remember Donny’s name, and Rhododendron realizes that Verrix made her look like Donny - he ducks behind Marlee. After Verrix finishes Marlee’s disguise, she and Rhododendron come up with fake names and a backstory, with Marlee less than pleased to be on a date with fake-Donny (‘Barbra’).

Marlee: “Ugh, you couldn’t have been, like, hot?”

Rhododendron: “Hey, I’m not like, ugly.”

Marlee: “Okay. Couldn’t we be, like, siblings instead?”

Rhododendron: ”No, we look nothing alike.”

Marlee: “I know, I actually look nice.”

Marlee pouts as they start their fake-date, heading towards the stables. The stable master seems unswayed by their act, until Marlee (like every time she lies) starts strong and then takes it a little overboard with her threats by the end of her semi-lovelorn speech. She definitely implies they’ll be doing, uh, things on the horses. Marlee ends up taking two of the horses from a completely speechless and embarrassed stable master, and Rhododendron is torn between being impressed and mortified by Marlee’s insinuations. The two of them decide that their meet-cute is that Donny/Barbra/Rhododendron is a clumsy waitress who spilled some sort of non-hot beverage on Julia/Marlee and that they’re engaged with a very specific proposal scene courtesy of Marlee; they spend the rest of the horse ride figuring out the details of their fake couple as Rhododendron tries to bond with Marlee, and the end up circling back to where the rest of their party is waiting with the cart.

The party debates leaving - there is one major city left, and then just the Long Road between them and the capital of So’Joh. Rhododendron asks Marlee for information about Dilong, and she says that he’s the god of the Underdark, the stars, and guidance. She also lists of his holy days, like the Night of Wishes (in the middle of winter). She also supplies that his symbol is a falling star. Rhododendron fills her in on what happened in the temple, and Marlee sounds mildly impressed with most of it - but points out that she should have checked the quiver for a curse before picking it up and using it. When Rhododendron recounts the fight with angel Marlee tries to write an impromptu enemies-to-lovers story about it while she talks. (Verrix pretends like he isn’t eavesdropping the entire time while he guides the horses.) Rhododendron says the Knight/Champion of Dilong had the same bow as her in the temple’s depictions, and that every time she’d tried to pray to Laoteng she never really seemed to get a response.

Marlee: “What made you think it was Laoteng’s bow, anyway?”

Rhododendron: “It’s silver. And I found it in the palace of the Queen.”

Marlee: “Oh, you’re so lucky to have me.”

Marlee also supplies that gods are ‘not a one way street’, and that their relationships with mortals tend to be give-and-take. Rhododendron finishes detailing her strange encounter with Dilong to Marlee, who claims that there’s some ‘romantic tension’ in that. Rhododendron wonders if there’s a possibility that it wasn’t Dilong, to which Marlee says that a Trickster might have tried to interfere but gods like Zelia and Sabio wouldn’t resort to that. She does warn Rhododendron that Nyvarstra wouldn’t be pleased about her meeting with Dilong, and repeats the well-worn mantra that she’s ‘always watching’.

Rhododendron: “There was this shooting star that hit the waterfall, and then we were all drowning.”

Marlee: “Oh, are you dead? Wait, you’re not dead - if you were dead I would sense it, and then I would have to kill you, ‘cause, you know, undead - can’t roll with that. You’re an abomination against nature and Nyvarstra doesn’t like that, so I’d have to Smite you.”

Rhododendron has Jun cast Identify on her bow again, to which he finds that her bow feels much stronger, not quite awakened but definitely not as dormant as it was before.

#s12 has been written up since June....but i stopped playing ac so I haven’t been listening to sessions since then lol #also i love that every time the chocolates are used i forget that they’re scaled and i go ‘OH THATS SO NICE’#dndas #dnd another sunrise #dndas recap #they play I spy w Inigo at the very end of the session and he keeps picking trees

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thanksjro · 4 years

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Last Stand of the Wreckers, Issue #1: A Couple of Nerds Nerd it Up

The year is 2009, and you are a British man in his mid-30s. You were a part of a fan club for Transformers in the 90’s, and you wrote a lot of fanfiction and comic scripts for it. The only real claim to fame you have is a novel-length fic you wrote to try and bridge the gap between Generation 1 and the Beast War era, one that a lot of people have read and refer back to. You’re pretty content with that, and don’t try to break into any sort of writing career on your own. You have a job in public service, you have a family.

One day, your old buddy Nick gets in contact. He wants some help with a story he’s working on for the current holder of the Transformers comics. It’s called Last Stand of the Wreckers.

Things are about to get very busy for you.

I’ll go ahead and say it- not any mechpreg in this one. You gotta wait until the sequel series for things to get weirdly horny, sorry to say. Also, technically only a plotting credit for Roberts here.

We hadn’t yet gotten to the point where he was allowed to rub his grubby little nerd hands all over everything.

So, let’s get to the nitty-gritty of this thing, shall we?

Our story opens on a lovely, sunshiney day on the beautiful Garrus-9.

Perfect weather for a picnic, don’t you agree?

Fortress Maximus and his cohorts are hard at work defending against the Decepticon forces, who have launched an attack on just about everything in the galaxy. This event is happening in the background of All Hail Megatron, as part of an offensive attack under the orders of ol’ Buckethead himself.

Kick-Off, another Autobot at Garrus-9, thinks that this is the work of someone on the inside, and Fort Max wants his prison intact for when they find the rat bastard who caused all this mess to happen, so he can lock that son of a gun up for a long, long time.

Then Overlord shows up.

There he is, the nastiest creature to grace the galaxy, a bitch so extra he’s apparently got to cycle through BOTH of his alt-modes before he lands on the scene to wreck shop.

Prior to Last Stand of the Wreckers, Overlord didn’t really have a whole lot going on. It’s a big part of why he was made the antagonist for this miniseries- nobody else was using him, so no risk of fudging up any continuity happening outside of it. Prior to this, he was mostly part of the Japanese Transformers scene, appearing in the Super-God Masterforce anime and manga. He had a reputation for being a bad dude there too, but not quite to the level we’ll be getting to here.

Also, he was actually two people, who were married. He is not a married couple in Last Stand of the Wreckers.

Overlord asks which one of the much weaker, smaller, and less terrifyingly kissable Decepticons is in charge, and Skyquake steps up, despite the fact that everyone is obviously nervous about the fact Overlord is here. Overlord lets Skyquake know that the plan Megatron came up with is out, and he’s got the new hotness that’ll really put Garrus-9 on a map labelled “Places That Are the Actual Worst.” Of course, Skyquake, who seems to think a guy named Overlord can be reasoned with, says that they can’t deviate from Megatron’s grand plan, and promptly is shot to death for his troubles.

And that’s a series wrap on Skyquake! Let’s give him a hand, folks!

With the little dude out of the way, Overlord’s decided it’s time to go full cowl on the Autobots, ripping them limb from limb. Literally, in some cases. It’s pretty gruesome, but then again, that’s kind of the point. This is a pretty dark miniseries, and not just because of all the violence- but we’ll get to all that later on.

With the Autobots subdued, it’s time for Overlord to really strut his stuff. He releases all the Decepticon prisoners, and promises them a grand old time of torturing their former captives. As a show of good will…? he throws them Fort Max to play with, saying that the only rule is they have to at least TRY to not kill him.

Smash cut to two years, four months, later.

Some nerds just got put on the Wreckers, and they truly are the cream of the crop.

Garrus-9’s gonna be in good hands.

The dude who’s totally copping Optimus Prime’s look is Pyro, and the little dude with the blue helmet and tragic backstory is Ironfist. There’s also Dipstick, but this isn’t about him.

Just as things look like they can’t get any more exploded, their ride shows up, and it’s time to go. They say they’ll catch Dipstick later, but that’s honestly pretty unlikely, given the nature of the Wreckers as a group.

The boys load up into the ship, but find something not quite to their expectations- instead of Ultra Magnus being there to greet them, it’s none other than Verity Carlo, human extraordinaire!

And she’s in her jammies. No real point in getting dressed for a bunch of guys who don’t even understand the concept of nudity, I guess, though I do have to question how vacuum sealed her breasts are.

Unless Verity is one of those godless heathens who actually owns an underwire sports bra.

The boys react to their first human in different ways- Ironfist has his parental instincts kick in hard, immediately ready to protect and potentially die for Verity. The others are a little less impressed, claiming that she’s some sort of stowaway who Magnus only puts up with because she’s good at playing house.

Kind of weird that these giant robots are so good at sexism, seeing as at this point, none of them should even know what a woman is.

This is the point where the big guns come in to greet our boys.

So, here’s the deal: Garrus-9’s been out of contact with the rest of the Autobots for over a year at this point, and it was recently revealed by a mole in the Decepticon Justice Division that anyone getting even remotely close to the planet has been shot down. The destruction of the space bridges means that only a few folks are able to get to the place- cue the Wreckers.

Our boys have been chosen because they’ve done a lot of good work, and protected those around them. It’s an honor to be a Wrecker, but there’s always a catch:

I’m sure it’ll be fine!

Flashback to two years ago, back on Garrus-9, and Overlord’s really enjoying his time on the prison planet, hunting Autobots for sport and scaring the bejesus out of everyone by popping out of nowhere.

This is a typical reaction to seeing Overlord when he DOESN’T intend to kill you. The guy’s a menace.

Looks like they caught their prey, and they’re feeling pretty good about it. What a nice thing for them, I’m glad they’re having fun.

How does this guy know where he’s going? His chest’s so tall.

Our Autobot isn’t going down without a fight, though, as he takes the spear they’re stabbing him with and gives the ‘Cons a taste of their own medicine.

For about two seconds anyway, then he gets wasted by Overlord.

Of course, Overlord’s an equal-opportunity sadist, and also blasts the two guys who let a wounded Autobot get the better of them. With the game concluded and a valuable lesson taught, the Decepticons retire to the base, Overlord ordering the tall-chested guy- Snare- to bring the Autobot for recycling, something that Snare doesn’t seem terribly thrilled to do.

Seriously though, has this dude ever seen his feet?

Back on Ultra Magnus’ ship, Ironfist’s gone and passed out. When he wakes up, he’s surrounded by the rest of the boys, who are really concerned about his well-being. Aww, it’s sweet that they care so much about their buddy.

Ironfist brushes off the concern, saying that he’s fine, and then we’re introduced to his deep, dark, horrible secret.

He’s a massive fucking nerd.

And so are the guys who worked on this story. T’muk, indeed. Also, this robot has... my word, are those fingerprints? Roche, you spoil us.

Ironfist writes datalogs on the Wreckers in his spare time under the screen name Fisitron - Wreckers: Declassified, it’s called. Which, you know, good for him.

Well this panel’s art direction isn’t ominous AT ALL.

Springer enters the scene at this point, also very concerned about Ironfist, to an honestly interesting degree. Almost like he knows something. Ironfist, again, brushes it off. Kup notes that Springer seems like he’s got something on his mind, which he does.

That something is the fact that he’s most likely sending these boys to die, as is the nature of the Wreckers.

Kup points out that it always feels worse when people die under your personal command, then asks if Springer’s conscience is being weighed on by Impactor at all. Springer seems like he really doesn’t want to talk about Impactor. Before the conversation can get any more soaked in implications, the two are called to the bridge.

A flashback to a month prior on Garrus-9: Overlord watches as Kick-Off brutalizes a Decepticon, Borehole, in combat for his amusement. It seems like Kick-Off’s done pretty well for himself in the nightmare hellscape that is Garrus-9, though it’s probably because he’s running on basic survival instincts at this point as opposed to any actual enjoyment of what’s happening around him.

Kick-Off wins the fight by ripping Borehole’s head off.

That’s pretty metal. Most of what happens on Garrus-9 is pretty metal. Not in a good way. But metal nonetheless.

With the fight finished, Overlord congratulates the victor, and invites him back to his quarters to pick out his prize. Kick-Off seems to be off in his own little world at this point, probably disassociating due to trauma.

Back with the Wreckers, we finally see Ultra Magnus, Verity’s put a shirt on- likely at Magnus’ request- and we see what Springer and Kup were called to the bridge for. Looks like a Decepticon ship’s been shooting out a distress signal, and it ain’t lookin’ so hot at present. Ultra Magnus attempts to hail, but it looks like too little, too late, as the thing’s hull integrity goes kaput and the whole thing explodes.

Seems like the end of that, right?

Nah.

Wow, that sure seems like it’ll be a problem. Better shoot that mysterious figure to death before they can be recognized by the cast and cause a whole slew of issues.

Aw, man! Too late. Looks like someone broke out of jail, and nobody is happy to see him.

With that character reveal, we end Issue #1 of Last Stand of the Wreckers.

#transformers #jro #last stand of the wreckers #issue 1 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #story plotting #wreckers trilogy

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