I don't recall ever having Sanity! X3

"Disrespect" [PG-13] -- Tekken 6

2009-11-05T17:23:05Z

Title: Disrespect
Rating: PG-13 for language
Warnings: Swearing, no spoilers for T6's storyline that isn't already known
Summary: Jin returns to his private sanctuary atop the Zaibatsu tower, and finds an uninvited guest that brings an unexpected gift.

“…Report.”

What followed was the hurried speech of a low-level employee on the other end of the line was amusing when he first heard it, but after a painfully long pattern had been established throughout the lower ranks of the Zaibatsu, Jin was in no mood to play along. Briefly, he closed his eyes as he mentally filtered out superfluous words and near-constant uses of the word “sir” and other suffixes.

‘Lars Alexandersson was on the move, but his path wasn’t making any sense,’ was the gist of what he was hearing and with an irritated, but slight exhale of breath, Jin pressed the ‘end’ button on his sleek black cell phone. Sliding the extended portion back down to return his phone to its compact size, he placed the device into its resting spot inside pocket of his jacket and glanced upwards as the glass-walled elevator climbed the floors.

The soft, rhythmic whooshing was the only sound he heard as he ascended, the elevator’s machinations nearly inaudible as were his thoughts. Years of training had bequeathed the ability to still his thoughts, to only focus on a solitary thing, or on nothing at all. Idly, Jin flexed his fingers in a slow motion, almost revelling in the squeak that the leather of his gloves made.

A quick, cursory glance up at the digital numbers above the elevator’s door indicated that he was rapidly approaching the top floor of the Zaibatsu tower, which prompted Jin to relax his stance slightly. The top floor was his private “sanctuary” yet a part of him could not be convinced to forgo being extremely cautious. Briefly, he closed his eyes as the elevator’s walls slowly slid downwards until they were lowered completely, leaving him standing on only a green platform that was decorated with yellow blown-glass circles that were illuminated with a soft glow.

When the platform stopped, Jin delayed in opening his eyes for a long moment, knowing his gaze would be pointed directly to the northern side of the room where his “throne” was positioned, a perfect complement to the gothic aesthetic. He could hear nothing, and with a small smirk, opened his eyes.

In that instant, his expression completely vanished.

Lounging casually in his chair wrought out of black-cast iron with one leg slung over the chair’s right arm with their other hand cupping their face was Hwoarang. Not moving an inch, the Tae Kwon Do ace smirked and said “Okaeri,” in Korean-accented Japanese.

“You,” Jin ground out, his voice a combination of seething and thinly-veiled composure. “How did someone like you get in here?”

With a careless shrug, Hwoarang looked around the room, momentarily distracted by a flash of lightning that briefly illuminated the dimly lit room via the rectangular skylight. “It was depressingly easy,” he replied boredly. “I kind of expected more from you, Kazama. Looks like power doesn’t buy you brains.” Sliding down a bit more so he was partially lying down in the chair, Hwoarang waved a hand. “I didn’t come all the way here to talk.”

Jin exhaled slowly, levelling his gaze on the man that had appointed himself Jin’s rival. “It’s all you’re doing.”

Temporary offence registered on Hwoarang’s face before quickly dissolving into the previous “mask” of casual arrogance. “You destroyed my bike. You put me in the hospital for weeks because of that crazy-ass ‘gene’ of yours. The reason why I’m here, is payback, Kazama!” Smoothly he rose up from his seat on the chair, walking down the steps in a manner that seemed to suggest arrogance, but Jin saw purpose.

“I have no time for thi--”

“No!” Hwoarang interrupted, the fury in his tone sharp enough to pique Jin’s interest. “You’re not getting out of this that easily! Your playtime with the rest of the world is going to wait until this is settled between us!”

To his surprise, Jin didn’t feel agitation, but a strange sense of relief and excitement. Slowly, purposefully, he raised his arms halfway and crossed them before snapping them to their respective sides with a crackle of purple energy radiating across his forearms. “Come.”

It was all Hwoarang needed to begin his assault, sending a flurry of high and mid-level kicks Jin’s way. There was something noticeably different about the execution of the moves, Jin noticed as he quickly weaved and blocked. There was no needless movement as each kick’s momentum was no more than its master intended. A small smirk crept along Jin’s lips as realization dawned on him: Hwoarang had modified and intensified his training just for this meeting.

Just to defeat him.

(What else would you do to best me?) Jin thought, and it was the last thought that he entertained before focusing solely on the man before him. The fiery Korean would not be bested this time by mere technique alone, and with each parry, strike and even with each missed move Jin felt an excitement and a life inside of him that he had long since kept suppressed starting to overtake his entire being.

The occasional clap of thunder and flash of lighting was the only accompaniment to the grunts and thick sounds of hits either hitting their mark or being blocked. Hwoarang telegraphed his feint of a straight-handed chop as he moved to grab Jin’s collar, leaving an opening big enough for Jin to block and shift into a parry, then a choke-hold. The stifled choke being strangled out of Hwoarang’s throat was satisfying in a way that Jin couldn’t begin to describe and he tightened his hold to wring another squawk out of the other man.

True to form, Hwoarang started to struggle - at first it was without strategy, but soon he settled for a long moment. Abruptly, Hwoarang’s elbow slammed into Jin’s stomach, the red haired man’s hand quickly flattening to lay a sharp chop to the chest that disengaged Jin’s hold on him. As the other man’s arms were left in mid-release, Hwoarang reached back and as soon as he had a firm grip, flung the other man over his shoulder and to the Plexiglas floor.

He gasped for air as Jin’s body slammed against the glass, and stumbled back. Righting his stance, Hwoarang made to drive his heel down into Jin’s chest but was halted by the abrupt shattering of the skylight’s glass. Quickly bringing up his hands to shield himself from the falling shards, Hwoarang cursed in his native tongue. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” he snapped.

“Kazama Jin.”

Jin slowly pushed himself to his feet. “Lars Alexandersson…you move quickly.”

The man with hair spikier than Jin’s slid into an offensive stance. “This ends he--nngh!” Interrupting Lars’ “last words” to Jin were three kicks in a spinning succession that sent the rebel leader flying into the eastern wall, adding a stone gargoyle and its pedestal to the list of architectural casualties.

“I’m not getting interrupted this time!” Hwoarang spat, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before pointing his index finger at his sworn rival. “Rest time’s over, Kazama!”

(I should keep him around,) Jin thought idly as he tightened his gloves. “If you can defeat me, I’ll replace your motorcycle with a far better model.”

“That’s it? For all these interruptions, you’re going to do a hell of a lot more than that!” Hwoarang shot back as he bounced lightly on his feet, arms raised in a stance that Jin had seen countless times.

As Lars groaned in the far corner, Jin’s lips curled into a small smirk. “Earn it.”

= End =

Note: GAH I CAN’T WRITE JIN WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS TO MYSELF BLARG XDD

[FIC] - "What Lies Within" - { Final Fantasy VII }

2009-07-22T02:13:09Z

Title: What Lies Within

Rating: PG? Spooky spookyness! Otherwise, it's pretty gen.

Characters: Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockheart, Vincent Valentine.

Summary/Notes: I always wondered what the group's reactions were when Vincent first transformed. The game never has any dialogue when you first use Galian Beast, so I decided I'd write about that and here we are. =)

He had always been at conflict with how he felt about battle. As a Turk, there was a strange comfort in walking the shadows alone, using a single shot to put an end to what had not even begun. But open battle? Two sides, multiple participants, a million unpredictable variables, strategy hinging on teamwork … he was unsure. On the one hand, it provided a thrill that shadows and stealth couldn’t provide. Yet on the other, he had always been uncertain of himself and what role he could play on a team. If he could be useful and not a hindrance.

If he could change the outcome of events.

Teamwork … Cloud and his friends took that word and made it something more than just an empty slogan. They had only just met in the bowels of the Shinra Mansion, but he could already tell there was a vibrancy and a determination that gave him the courage to leave his self-imposed prison, to join them on their journey. Their claims that they were going to stop Shinra and Sephiroth from destroying the planet weren’t what convinced him, it was their eyes. They were filled with pain, regret, determination, and strangely, hope. Seeing that sparked something that had been long-since dormant in Vincent’s soul. He said he would join them, their path would inevitably cross with Hojo’s.

He could end this nightmare. It seemed possible for the first time in thirty long years.

Vincent was torn from his thoughts by Cloud yelling from his left. He could barely make it out over the roar of the green dragon within the Mako-soaked walls of Mt. Nibel. “…tch Tifa!”

“…?” Looking up, he saw Tifa deal a multitude of blows to the dragon’s head, ending with a flip off of its forehead. Sliding his rifle into its holster at his side, Vincent bent his knees before effortlessly springing up into a high jump, catching Tifa in his arms. He narrowly avoided the intense flamethrower attack as he set Tifa on solid ground. The dragon roared angrily and as its glittering red eyes landed on Vincent, swung its powerful right set of claws at him, slicing through his right arm. Bright, crimson blood sprayed from the gash, staining the claws even before they had fully left the pale skin of Vincent’s arm.

“Vincent!” Tifa reached out with her hand, but had it gently pushed aside by Vincent’s gauntlet covered one. “Vincent…” (Is … is he glowing?)

Cloud used the broadside of his Buster Sword’s blade to push the dragon back and looked over. “We have to end this! Is that your Limit? Use it!”

“I can’t do that,” Vincent answered, almost immediately. They could not see what this horrid body of his was capable of, not when they had just met. These people were his ticket to Hojo, to his atonement … “It’s far too horrifying, unpredictable…”

“We’ll cover for you! Just do it!” Cloud jumped back to dodge an angry swipe from the dragon, landing on his feet.

(They have no idea what an abomination this body is, yet he says they’ll cover for me?) Vincent glanced over as the dragon sunk its bloodstained claws into the hard rock, leaning down while it raised its tail in a gesture designed to warn. “Keep your distance. I cannot guarantee your safety.”

Cloud quickly spared a look over at him in between watching the dragon’s movements. “Noted! Hurry up!”

Vincent closed his eyes and sighed softly. (Lucrecia…) With that final thought, he gave in to the low whispering that he had tried so hard to ignore as the battle progressed, as that dark, inhuman side of him grew closer to the surface. He rose to his feet, straightening his posture as a supernatural roar tore from his throat signalled the beginning of his monstrous change. The once pale skin of his thin arms began to swell and turn a nightmarish purple, while his dark hair flared out and became a hellish red that ran down his now bare back. A long, strong tail grew from his tailbone and thrashed wildly - Cloud barely being able to avoid being clubbed by it as it did so.

Tifa, despite the constant pep-talk she gave herself to be expect the unexpected, found she could not help but stop and stare at the hellaciously strong beast that frail, quiet Vincent had become. The Beast arched its back suddenly, roaring loud enough to shake the walls before it hurled several balls of fire at the dragon. The liquid balls hung in a circle around the dragon’s massive body before abruptly exploding, obliterating the monster.

Cloud sheathed his sword, leaning forward to rest his hands on his knees as heavy pants escaped his lips. “Just one more reason I hate this mountain,” he muttered breathlessly. After a while, he looked over and saw Tifa staring at the Beast, her eyes wide as it slowly and painfully reverted back into Vincent.

Tifa put a hand over her mouth; she could feel her stomach churn as the loud crackling and snapping of bones resetting mixed with thick, goopy-sounding noises that could only be Vincent’s organs and skin returning to normal. Soon, he was as he was before, tall, seemingly frail and quiet. “Vincent…”

Vincent looked down at his hands before he realized she had said his name. “My apologies,” he said quietly, straightening up. “I know it’s disgusting, this body of mine--” He couldn’t finish, however, as he suddenly found himself locked in a bear-hug by Tifa. “Miss. Lockheart..?”

“You poor man,” Tifa whispered, hugging him tightly. She had momentarily forgotten her strength, and Vincent suddenly found it hard to breathe. “What was done to you?”

Carefully, he placed his right hand on top of her head. “It’s my burden to bear, Miss. Lockheart,” Vincent said quietly. “It isn’t meant to be on your shoulders. It is enough that I can mostly control it, so none of you are attacked, but I can’t guarantee how long that will last.”

Tifa nodded quietly and pulled away. “I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve this.” She looked at his arm, alarmed to find that the gash had healed. (Did … did that transformation heal him?)

“That… we disagree on,” Vincent murmured, mostly to himself.

Cloud walked over and looked between them before settling his gaze on Vincent. “You okay to keep going, Vincent?”

“Yes,” Vincent confirmed, giving a slight nod.

“All right.” Cloud then shook his head. “You’re full of surprises, Vincent.”

Vincent betrayed a soft chuckle as his lips curled into a thin smile. “That should be the last one.” Cloud snorted softly before giving Tifa’s shoulder a small squeeze. She looked at him with a faint smile as she nodded. Following behind them, Vincent’s thoughts fell back to the old debate he had always had with himself.

The most horrifying and disgraceful part of himself and his past had been not only shown to someone else, but accepted and even sympathized. (Perhaps it’s possible to face my Sins after all…)

= END =

Author’s note: I don’t know where I got the idea that Vincent could call Tifa “Miss. Lockheart” but I liked the sound of it, so nyah. XD

Swear to God, I can write things about characters other than Vincent. I SWEAR. XD;;;;

[FIC] Turks-centric - "Gunshot Residue" [PG]

2009-07-10T23:57:54Z

Title: Gunshot Residue

Rating: PG, PG-13 for bad language, mature themes

Fandom: Final Fantasy 7

Characters: Tseng, Reno

Notes: Another drabble request from dazedpuckbunny and I struggled with this one for a while before a lightbulb went off today. XD

Reno had seen a lot of things in his years as a Turk - most of them had been initiated by himself, of course, but he had still seen a lot of jarring things. The slums, whose sky was the rusted metal plate the rich in Midgar lived on, was beginning to devour itself. Turf wars stemming from rebel factions trying to gain an edge to fight against a Company that could care less.

Bodies would line the streets, and be shoved on or under the countless piles of scrap metal. Belonging to men, women, children … if you were weak, the slums ate you alive. He was a child forged in the slums; nothing phased him though when he joined the ranks of the Turks, he definitely saw some variations on old favourites.

He had seen a lot of things.

Despite that, when he entered the Turks Lounge on Floor 61, he was momentarily stunned to find the Director with his shirt partly off as he attempted to remove a bullet from his upper arm. That wasn’t an infrequent occurrence, it was Tseng’s state of undress that had snared Reno’s rapt attention.

“If you’re going to gape, come over here and help while you do so,” Tseng said, his voice as calm as ever.

Reno grounded out his cigarette against the doorframe and stepped in, dropping his Mag Rod on a nearby seat. “Didn’t you have a date tonight?”

“It’s her way of saying goodnight,” Tseng replied, his lips curling into a faint smirk. Reno snorted and took the thin surgical tongs from his boss, leaning in closer to take a better look at the wound.

“Christ, no girly pistol did this. I don’t know whether I should applaud or fear your taste in chicks, Boss,” Reno muttered, his eyes narrowing as he manoeuvred the instrument inside the wound, feeling Tseng tense. “This thing’s in deep. How pissed did you make her?”

Tseng chuckled. “She wanted to move in with me. I told her that Corneo’s got room in his place.”

“Hah! No wonder she took out the big gun.” Reno placed a hand on Tseng’s shoulder to brace himself as he dug around deeper in the bloody hole in Tseng’s upper arm. He nearly dropped the tongs in surprise when he felt Tseng’s other hand on his wrist, holding him steady.

Tseng’s dark eyes watched Reno’s expression carefully and quietly, the intense concentration in the pale green strangely calming and a refreshing change from the punk-ass defiance Tseng usually saw in them. He had been trained for many years to resist pain, be it from a stab wound, bullet wound, or plain torture. There were a variety of techniques to raise mind over matter, but the simplest would always be to find something calming to strengthen your resolve.

He certainly didn’t think to find that in Reno’s eyes, but he would take what he could get. “Do you even have it, Reno?”

Reno hissed as the bullet narrowly avoided the tongs’ grip. “Yeah, hang on a minute. This fucking thing is in deep. -- Heh, did you tell her that too?”

Tseng smirked and looked away. “Perhaps next time.”

“Hah, there’s going to be a next time?” Reno snickered. His eyes then suddenly lit up as he felt the tongs grasp the bullet. Slowly, Reno slid it out, and after a painstakingly long moment, was now staring at a bloodied, malformed bullet. “Want me to send it to her in a heart-shaped frame, or what?” He dropped it into a (somewhat) clean ashtray, reaching over to grab the dampened cloth Tseng had ready on the coffee table in a small bowl.

The smirk on Tseng’s lips broadened slightly. “A romantic idea, but no. Just toss it.” He took the cloth from Reno and began carefully cleaning away the dried blood on his pale skin. “Hn. Thanks, Reno.”

“No problem, Boss.” Reno waved a hand. “These chicks are fucking nuts, I know that.”

Tseng smirked as he smoothly started bandaging his arm. “You fuck anything that moves, Reno; I’m certain it isn’t just women you’ve pissed off.”

A wolfish grin spread across Reno’s face, and he wiped his hands on another cloth, leaning back on the sofa with his arms behind his head. “None of ‘em have shot me.”

“Not yet.”

The grin on Reno’s lips got wider. “There’s the fun.”

=END=

Author’s Note: Writing Tseng is HARD. Also making Reno be a smart-ass and not a massive tool is difficult. I hope I succeeded in making them sound *vaguely* in character. XD

Ficlet - Kingdom Hearts - "Charades"

2009-06-19T19:41:53Z

Title: Charades

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (post kingdom hearts 1)

Characters: Cloud and Leon, mentions of Aerith and Cid

Rating: G

Prompt given by dazedpuckbunny and thus, dedicated to her :D

Cloud had been actively exploring Hollow Bastion for roughly a week, taking full advantage of his recently recovered health. He had physically been in the “city” for longer than that, but he wasn’t conscious for it. The first face he had seen when he came to was Aerith’s smiling one, and he was briefly comforted by her sparkling green eyes and warm smile before it was utterly shattered by Cid’s ugly mug demanding how the hell he planned to cut anything with his sword wrapped in bandages.

He shuddered slightly at the memory; it was jarring to be comforted and scarred within seconds. Aerith quickly apologized, but Cloud could barely hear her over the sound of Leon’s laughter.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” she had asked.

Cloud closed his eyes briefly, his chapped lips curling into a frown. “Coliseum. I was called there by Him.”

“Him?”

Cloud shook his head. He didn’t want to tell them about Sephiroth. His body ached as he recalled brief glimpses of their fight.

Sephiroth was still too much for him.

He was too weak.

He’s always too weak.

Leon shared a look with Aerith, who nodded quietly. They didn’t want to tell Cloud that they had heard him mumbling Sephiroth’s name during fitful bouts of sleep.

Gripping the handle of his cleaned and upgraded Buster Sword, Cloud practically stalked past Hollow Bastion’s “city” limits, where the “Restoration Committee” worked to keep the Heartless at bay. Stopping abruptly, Cloud noticed immediately that there was a strange calm in the area.

“What the hell,” he muttered. He had come to this area specifically because it was so dense with Heartless. “What’s going on here…”

A slight tug to his pant leg provided the answer. A little white mushroom with a red cap and a heartless brand on its white sweater was standing beside him and once it had his attention, started to fan itself.

“…?” Cloud shook his head and turned to leave, but found his path blocked by two more of white mushrooms, but one was shivering and the other had a darkened ray of light above its head. “I’m out of here.”

Unfortunately for Cloud, his presence alerted the other mushrooms in the area and soon he was surrounded by an impressive number of white mushrooms that were either shivering, looking depressed, or fanning themselves. Cloud suddenly found himself wondering if the Heartless had cults.

“This is ridiculous,” Cloud muttered and readied his sword, easily calculating he could take out the lot of them with two swings at the most. Raising it up to about chest level, Cloud held it out as he eased into an offensive stance, ignoring the stiff pain in his body that was still slowly easing itself out. The wide, flat blade turned slightly with a slight turn of his wrist, the glint giving Cloud the go ahead --

“Cloud!”

Pausing in mid-slash, Cloud turned his head and saw Leon jogging up, hand held out. The older man’s eyes were wide with shock, but also relief that he had gotten there in time. “What?”

Leon slowed to a stop, and straightened up. “They’re not harmful.”

“They’re Heartless,” Cloud replied coolly, expecting that to be the end of it. “They’re surrounding me to attack.”

He was surprised to see Leon crack a smile. “No, they’re trying to get you to help.”

Cloud blinked slowly, and glanced at the bizarre circle of white mushrooms that were still miming shivers, sadness, and fever. “…are you serious?”

“As a heart attack,” Leon nodded. “Aerith and I discovered this when we first arrived after Sora defeated Maleficent. These White Mushrooms are afflicted with some kind of condition that mimics fever, sadness, and shivers.”

Cloud lowered his sword, but didn’t sheath it. “Right,” he said, not believing a word of it. “What did you do?”

“Here, I’ll show you.” Leon walked over to one of the mushrooms that was fanning itself and cast a small blizzard spell. As the spray of ice crystals left his fingers and fell onto the little mushroom, it suddenly brightened up and bounced, shaking Leon’s finger. It held up a little box that Leon graciously took before suddenly vanishing. “See?”

Cloud groaned softly as he rubbed his eyes. “The ones that shiver need fire, the ones that are hot need ice, that’s simple enough. What about the depressed ones?”

Leon smirked. “They need a jolt of thunder to get them out of their rut.” He demonstrated the tactic on one of the moping mushrooms, to a positive result. “I suggested we try this with you, but Aerith said it wasn’t a good idea to try and push the boundaries of how spiky your hair could get.”

“Much appreciated,” Cloud said flatly, sheathing his Buster Sword. After a long pause, he glanced away. “I’ll help you get rid of them, but then I’m going to train.”

A small smile came to Leon’s lips, seeing a lot of the man he used to be in Cloud. “Can’t ask for more than that. Thanks, Cloud.”

=END=

Star Trek - Spock, 3D Chess - PG

2009-05-29T18:15:12Z

Title: Stalemate
Rating: PG, because somebody is a potty-mouth.
Universe: Star Trek IX - The Original Reboot (which, obviously, I don't own. Durrr.)
Warnings: I don’t know a damn thing about Chess. It’ll show, believe me.
Summary: I was given a prompt by sjen which was “Spock, 3D Chess.” This kind of got away from my control, but I’m pleased with it. :) There are, however some parts that are a little retarded and I apologize. XD;;;

“…Captain.” It was a quiet, barely noticeable inflection in Spock’s tone that no one outside of Uhura would probably have noticed, but it made Kirk twitch instinctively. It never meant anything good, and this time was no exception.

“I seem to recall hearing that Vulcans have amazing eye-sight. Can’t you see I’m busy here?”

Spock raised his head slightly, chin somewhat jutted out as his lips pursed. It was the Vulcan equivalent of a smirk and Kirk had gained immense experience with regards to it. “It cannot be called a game - an activity extensively designed to amuse and exercise the brain - if one party does not participate.”

Kirk slammed his fist down on the table, causing the Chess pieces on the elaborate, multi-levelled board to wobble slightly. “Damnit, Spock! I’m the Captain, not a chess master!”

“Perhaps you should spend less time with Dr. McCoy. Your voice does not lend itself well to his verbal habits.” Spock’s pursed-lips-which-is-totally-a-goddamn-smirk “non-expression” hadn’t left his face. In fact, it had become more noticeable. “The longer you take, Captain, the easier it is for myself to postulate several different move sets.”

Pulling what was a less than mature face, Kirk drummed his fingers on the table, and stared almost blankly at the pieces. “Enlighten me again as to why I’m even playing Chess?”

“The human brain can recall the most fascinating things,” was Spock’s seemingly idle reply.

Kirk jutted his jaw out and slightly to the side as his piercing blue eyes narrowed slightly at his 1st Officer. “It’s recalling right now that you’re still a smug jackass.”

“Your negotiation skills will benefit from a seminar, Captain.”

“I already told Starfleet I wasn’t teaching material.”

“It seems to me you greatly enjoy hearing yourself speak.”

“Who doesn’t like to hear me speak?” Kirk grinned.

Spock sighed shortly and softly, and finally glanced at him. “I meant to take one.”

“Don’t be so down on yourself, Spock! Get that stick out of your ass and I’m sure you could negotiate your way out of a paper bag.” Kirk smirked and gave Spock a cheeky wink.

Were he an expressive individual, Spock would have rolled his eyes so hard they sunk back into his skull. Instead, he lightly tapped the table with his right index finger. “Make your move, Captain.”

“No, I think I’m done for today. Thanks for the verbal sparring, Spock! I think I’m getting the hang of talking to you.” Kirk stretched languidly and promptly rose.

He was nearly out the sliding door when he heard Spock’s calm, never-rising-in-volume voice: “Will you enlighten me then Captain on how you will earn the respect and trust of the Zyrankar if you cannot play and win at their favourite game?”

Kirk, not missing a beat, turned around and put his hands on his hips and faced Spock with a grin on his face. “I’m going to use my infamous charm and dazzling wit to win them over. No reason why it shouldn’t work this time.”

“A brilliant plan if the Zyrankar were known for getting into brawls in drinking establishments. However. Seeing as how they are an intelligent people …” He gestured very slightly with a tilt of his head to the seat Kirk had vacated. “Back into the chair.”

There was a momentary pause before Kirk groaned loudly in defeat before practically stomping back over to the chair and flopping down in it like a petulant child. “Green-blooded hobgoblin…” He muttered bitterly.

“Again, I humbly request you desist in spending so much time with Dr. McCoy, Captain.” Spock gently lifted a black piece, tapping it against the mid-level of the board to indicate it was the last piece moved.

Kirk unfolded his arms after staring at the current layout of the pieces and sat up. Spock watched, vaguely intrigued as there was that tell-tale spark in the Captain’s eyes when he’d gotten a fool-worthy idea into his head.

As he gently lifted one of his white pieces and lifted up to the highest level, Spock interrupted: “That will not work.” There was no spot that he could think of that would work in Kirk’s favour should he decide to put his piece there.

“Shut up, Spock.” Kirk eyed a few spaces and exhaled softly. “Not everything goes the logical route.”

“We are engaged in a game of Chess, Captain. There are only so many ways to move; fewer still where you are currently.”

Kirk placed his pieced down and pushed Spock’s piece out of the way, picking it up. “Checkmate, Mr. Spock.”

“--Impossible.” Spock sat up straight and closely inspected the board. After several long moments and finding no fault in Kirk’s move, Spock sat back and had genuine shock on his usually stoic face. Quickly, he pursed his lips and regarded Kirk. “While this is an impressive move with surprising ingenuity, Captain, it could be seen as nothing more than luck. A second game will determine whether or not you have the skills necessary to head this diplomatic mission.”

Kirk smirked and leaned forward, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “Spock... if you want a rematch, just say so.”

Spock said nothing and began to reset the pieces with unsurprising efficiency and speed. Once the pieces were in place, Spock regarded his Captain. “…Ready, Captain?”

With a grin on his lips, Kirk nodded. “Always.”

=END=

Note: I have no idea if Zyrankar are a real species, and if they are smart. Hopefully that does not take away from everything else. XD; I hope I got Kirk and Spock’s voices even a little bit from the reboot. Please be kind, but tell me what you think. : )

Impressions on Star Trek, from the eyes of a n00b

2009-05-17T21:02:41Z

I saw STAR TREK with tealouie yesterday and here are my impressions of it. When I'm less out of it, I'll have a post about my wanderings afterwards.

It was AWESOME. The complaint of there being "too much lens flare" didn't really apply to me (I didn't even notice it) but someone needs to take the shaky camera away from J.J. Abrams. I hopped on board with the science of it all - I have this very "so thingy x does result y? I'm in!" sort of approach to sci-fi and it helped. As long as they kind of mentioned what was going on, I was able to follow what was going on. The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" didn't bother me - it really fit with little!Kirk being a hellraiser.

Onto the meat of things, the characters. Being an absolute n00b to Star Trek, all I knew about the characters is very basic and based on popular culture: "Beam me up, Scotty!" "Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a (insert other profession here)!" and I feel it helped me look at these characters with a different set of eyes. The writers loved these characters and loved them enough to present them in new ways, keeping the ESSENCE of what made the fans of The Original Series love them in the first place and I admire that.

Yuuki mentioned how squicky it was to her about Spock/Uhura and I sympathized, but I felt that the pairing WORKED in this movie. Spock is very uncertain/wrestling with powerful emotions due to his being a "child of two worlds" and is still quite young (as are the rest of the crew) so he isn't the subdued, subtlely snarky Spock that was presented in TOS and I felt Uhura's personality rather complemented his. She could get through his somewhat "arrogant" attitude of being superior to humans (I liked the touch here - Spock tries very hard to appear above humans though he is partly one himself, also he had this little smirk throughout the movie XD) such as when she convinced him to put her on the Enterprise crew as she felt she was more than qualified for it AND HE RELENTED. But she could also be there for him when he needed to let his guard down, ie) the scene in the elevator.

[I loved the whole mini-mini subplot of Kirk trying to find out Urhura's first name and finds it out when Spock and

Uhura are saying goodbyes on the transporter XD AWKWARRDD

Kirk: ...so her name's Nyota?
Spock: -- I have no comment on the matter.
Kirk: >_> Yeah okay.]

The fact that they're all still very young and new to the Starfleet makes their characterization work, as the personalities presented in TOS are just blossoming, so of course they aren't like that yet, but it's shown where those characters "began" so to speak.

The Kobayashi-Maru test was hilarious. The apple just took the cake for me and how over-the-top not caring Kirk was about the whole thing was just <3

Kirk: Who was that pointy eared bastard?
McCoy: *shrugs*

LEONARD NIMOY. Wow, he was significant and moving in this movie and I loved his scene with young!kirk (who was baffled as fuck, lawls) and that it was him that bridged the haterarde between Kirk and Spock ~~and the fact he totally lied to Kirk XD~~. There's not much I can say save for the fact I loved the scenes with him and the young version of his late friend.

I LOVE SCOTTY AND CHEKOV. <333 Chekov is so cute and high energy and ADORABLE.

McCoy: ... how old are you?
Chekov: 17 sir! ^^
McCoy: He's .. 17.That's great, he's 17.
Kirk: Let it go.

Simon Pegg as Scotty was brilliant! (Also loved the tribble in the cage behind him!) and "find scotty in the tubes before he dies!" mini-game scene was hilarious. Pegg also has amazing comedic timing:

Everyone: *quiet*
Kirk: *STARE*
Spock: *SEETHE*
Scotty: I love being on this ship! IT'S SO EXCITING!

Also, much love for Bones calling Spock a goblin XDD

The last scene with Spock Prime and this timeline's Spock was incredibly touching and poigant, though now that I know of the scene that the writers wrote for Shatner -- that being when Spock Prime spoke to his alternate self, he played a message Kirk Prime left for Spock Prime about their friendship and how it impacted him and so on -- would have fit nicely, but as we all know, Shater was a bit of an asshat and the writers cut it so cest la vie. XD

I CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE. YAY!

FIC --- "Piano", FF7 [G]

2009-03-14T04:49:44Z

What's this? Actual writing? FESTATIONS! Maybe someday I'll write something that *isn't* a scene piece about Vincent being an angst-muffin. XD

Title: Piano
Rating: G
Fandom: Final Fantasy 7
Spoilers: Only if you have no burger-flippin' idea what Vincent's story is.
Summary: In Vincent's return to the Shinra Mansion, a place he's inexplicably tied to, he finds an important memory buried in the dust.

It seemed he couldn’t stay away from this place. For better or for worse, his life was tied to this miserable, abandoned mansion. He sighed softly, his breath moistening the red fabric of the high collar of his cloak as his search yet again yielded nothing. The door closed soundly behind him, dust pluming around his tall form. Any other man would have coughed and winced, but he remained quiet and resolute; he wanted to get out of his building as fast as possible.

And yet, a part of him desperately wished to find a fond memory to associate with these tragedy-laden walls. The solid clunk of his tipped boots and soft rustle of his cloak’s tattered edges against the cracked floorboards were all that was heard as he walked up the broken steps to the second floor, interrupted only by the occasional clink of the charm affixed to the handle of his customized rifle.

Left or right … neither direction was more preferable to the other, yet he found himself wandering to the left first. It took two tries to turn the rusted doorknob of the first room’s door, and on the second try, he grunted and pushed his weight into the turn. Quite suddenly, the door gave and he partially stumbled in. As he looked up, his body froze and his eyes widened.

The piano.

He was amazed it was still here, virtually the same as the last he saw it save for the un-godly amount of dust it had collected in the last thirty years. Very slowly, almost reverently, he walked over to the old piano, effortlessly pulling the white sheet off and letting it drop to the floor as he touched the piano’s surface with his right hand. Without thinking he sat down on the seat, carefully lifting the sliding lid that covered the keys, a thin smile coming to his lips as he recalled a cherished memory.

“Play me a song?”

He looked puzzled. “I’m only here to protect you from those that oppose your research, Dr. Crescent, not play the piano.”

She giggled, a warm smile creasing her soft pink lips. “Music helps me concentrate. And now that you’ve admitted that you know how to play, play me a song, Vincent.”

“Ah -- hmm. I suppose you’ve got me there,” he admitted, a small but genuine smile gracing his usually expressionless face. “I don’t do requests however so you’re stuck with whatever I decide to play.”

She raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, her smile still warm. “As you say!”

With a soft sigh, he stared at the keys as if attempting to draw inspiration from their presence. Eventually his fingers settled on the keys and he began to play a beautiful but haunting melody that he recalled hearing sometime before. She stood beside the piano’s right side, hand lightly on the edge of it as she listened, the smile never once leaving her lips.

When he finished, she walked to his side and placed a kiss to his forehead. As he looked up at her surprised, she laughed again, but kindly so. “My thanks for indulging me, Vincent. That was beautiful.”

“Ah…you’re welcome, Dr. Crescent.”

“Please, call me Lucrecia.”

Surprised, he went to protest, but at her insistence, he couldn’t help but smile. “Very well, Lucrecia.”

Lightly his fingers, both normal and clawed, touched the off-coloured keys as if straddling the line between playing and losing his nerve at memory’s doorstep. He closed his eyes as a soft sigh left his lips, thinking back to that day he played for her: her smile was so warm and kind, like the sun on a quiet summer’s day.

“Play a song for me?”

“Of course,” he murmured softly. Slowly his fingers obliged, the same melody he played for her all those years ago starting to form. Soon it was as smooth and haunting as it was then, as if he had never stopped playing, the rich sound filling the distorted walls of the mansion. At the song’s end, his fingers slowly slid off of the keys, as he softly exhaled as a heavy weight removed itself from his shoulders.

“You’re full of surprises.”

Jerked out of one of the very few pleasant reveries he’d ever had, Vincent was very quick to draw Cerberus, pointing it at the intruder. “--Cloud.”

Cloud pushed himself off of the wall he had been leaning against and came over, a thin smile on his lips. “I thought I’d find you here.”

“…If Reeve has another ‘request’ for me to do, tell him no.” Vincent shook his head, carefully pulling the cover back over the keys.

“Heh, no … this has nothing to do with business,” Cloud said, sitting down beside him on the seat. “I wanted to talk to you. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to track you down, though.”

Vincent was somewhat pleased to hear that; it was good to know that he hadn’t lost his touch. “Is that so…”

Cloud looked at him seriously, his unnaturally bright blue eyes holding Vincent’s crimson ones in a tight gaze. “The others can’t help me with this… this is between you and me.”

Vincent’s expression darkened slightly, but he nodded. “…go ahead, Cloud.”

“We need to go to Edge.”

“Edge?”

“Yes. There aren’t any phone stores in Nibelheim, after all.”

Vincent blinked slowly before levelling Cloud with a highly unimpressed look as he realized what the blond man was getting at. “… This is regarding what transpired at the Forbidden City?”

Cloud smirked slightly, confirming it. “You bet. But you’re getting one too. It’s a pain in the ass trying to get a hold of you through anything resembling normal means.”

Vincent sighed heavily but stood. “Very well.”

As the two men started to leave the mansion, Cloud glanced at Vincent. “The others will be interested to hear how you learned to play the piano.”

“Not if something were to happen to you on the way to Edge,” Vincent replied flatly, walking ahead of Cloud, his cloak being rustled by the strong wind.

Cloud had to pause in his response to try and ascertain whether or not Vincent was joking, and even when he decided that the older man was, he wasn’t entirely sure that was the case. It was hard to tell with him…

-END-

oh no oh no oh no

2009-02-19T16:28:37Z

no no no this cannot happen again ... my hp laptop upstairs keeps freezing. Like i don't even DO anything. I need it for school and I can't handle not having it and oh no oh no oh no ...

when i go to ctrl alt delete it just goes to a black screen and with just the mouse and I dont' know what's going on!!! *cries*

Ficlet: Kingdom Hearts/Chain of Memories "Don't patronize me."

2008-12-14T05:11:28Z

late-forming prompt from sjen that I kind of just ran with. This ficlet probably sucks since I power-wrote it, I just wanted to write SOMETHING. I think I'll try some Leon & traverse town shenanigans next.

Characters: Organization XIII members
Rating: G
Prompt: "Don't patronize me."

“Why did you drag me all the way up here, Saïx?” Axel asked, arms loosely folded as he leaned against one of the eerily white walls. “I’ve got things to do.”

Saïx scoffed slightly, “I’m sure.” He turned around, blue hair swishing around his shoulders. “I know you have been running in circles … like a dog on a very short leash.”

Axel snickered. “Using similes you relate to, Saïx?”

“Cute.” Saïx glanced out the high windows, lips thinly pursed. “Number 1 wants you to go to Castle Oblivion.”

“…Marluxia’s playground? What for?”

“He’s planning something, that much is obvious,” Saïx replied softly, seemingly in thought about something else. “Infiltrate and convince him and whomever is in on his plan that you are as well. You have full authority to eliminate whomever betrays the Organization.”

Axel’s green eyes glistened with interest. “I’m flattered, Saïx~ I would have thought you’d chomp at the bit for a job like this.”

Saïx’s lips curled into something of a snarl. “Hardly.” He turned finally and flicked a strangely-shaped card at Axel, which the other deftly caught. “This will get you in. Don’t screw this up, Axel.”

“Screw up the most fun I’ll have in days?” Axel threw his head back and barked out a laugh. “No…I’m going to have fun with this.”

Saïx slowly walked over to the Organization’s number VIII, and while his expression was dim, Saïx’s eyes were sharp. “Should you prove incapable of completing this mission … I will finish you off myself.”

“…Heh.” Axel pulled his hood over his head and pocketed the card. “Love you too, Fido.” With that, he vanished into a door of shadows.

Not one second after Axel’s departure, Xemnas appeared out of his own doorway. “Did he take the bait?”

“Yes.” Saïx turned, a small smirk curling his lips. “You were right, sir. He would turn on us just as easily if the ‘right’ motivation were to appear. I won’t doubt you again.”

Xemnas closed his eyes, sighing irritably. “Do not patronize me, Saïx.”

“I would not dare, sir.”

50 sentences, "The World Ends With You"

2008-11-16T22:59:59Z

I decided to give this a try, and I probably shot my chances of getting any work done, but ... whatever. This felt nice to get something out.

Fandom: “The World Ends With You” (General)
Sentence set: Gamma. from 1sentence

01. Ring

He stared at Tsubasa, the D+B clerk, for a long moment before pointing at an item in the display case; this year’s logo ring would look really nice on Shiki’s finger.

02. Hero

While Neku thought Beat was being silly, the kitten snuggled to the blond boy’s chest thought he was a hero.

03. Memory

They were sitting on a bench in the crowded square by Hachiko’s statue when she looked up at him and said quietly, “I’m sorry I forgot you.”

04. Box

“I don’t know what his problem is,” Kariya drawled, sucking on his lollipop, “I thought Sho would like a box of pie.”

05. Run

Hanekoma slowly sipped his coffee and murmured, “you can’t run from your feelings, Yoshiya.”

06. Hurricane

Beat glared at Neku as the pair hung on as tightly as they could to the edge of a dumpster and yelled, “you jes had’ta pick a fight with da Grindcore Minks, didn’t ya?!”

07. Wings

Hanekoma’s eyes widened slightly when Neku quietly asked from behind him, “Can I touch them?”

08. Cold

Beat looked over as Shiki shivered, and glanced away for a moment before putting his heavy coat around her shoulders, muttering about how fashion was stupid.

09. Red

Konishi’s scream of incoherent rage thundered throughout the halls as she discovered the black fabric of her stylish one-piece had been dyed bright red.

10. Drink

“D’ya ever notice…” Beat started, looking over at Neku as they sat in the food court of the mall, giving his cup a shake, “dat the girl at da fast food place only gives you da fresh cola?”

11. Midnight

Shiki slowly and tiredly opened her phone as it beeped, and smiled to herself as Neku’s text apologized for spilling cola on her skirt earlier in the day.

12. Temptation

Eri bit her lip as she looked at the gigantic slice of chocolate cake in the display case; finally getting the slice when Shiki teased she could use it.

13. View

Minamimoto’s fingers lightly trailed along an errant pipe sticking out of his junk pile as he sat atop it, quietly enjoying the absurd aesthetic of Scramble Crossing.

14. Music

777 panted heavily and released the microphone, and as he stepped back to look at the screaming fans, as well as his band-mates BJ and Tenho, he knew he’d made the right choice.

15. Silk

Kitaniji leaned back on his red couch and swished the wine in his glass, quite enjoying the feel of his black silk robe against his pale skin.

16. Cover

“Now, let’s run through this again,” Hanekoma started, “you wanted to jack Shibuya while still alive…”

17. Promise

“If we meet in the final, Yammer, we go all out! Okay?” Shooter said, grinning.

18. Dream

Beat stared out at the skate park from atop the ramp and made a promise to himself he’d make good on the dream that gave Rhyme hope.

19. Candle

By the soft light of the candle’s flame, Uzuki’s enraged expression became increasingly demonic as her eyes came upon Kariya’s refusal letter for the position of a Reaper Officer.

20. Talent

Looking up at the new addition to the wall in Udagawa, Beat turned to Neku and with a grin, said, “Not bad at all, Phones.”

21. Silence

The silence was deafening as Makoto’s face warped into absolute terror, while Neku mischievously wondered how best to take advantage of this.

22. Journey

Yosh Ishino pulled a weird face as he was going through old stacks of vinyl records, wondering how the hell a Journey record made it into the pile.

23. Fire

(Flammable, non-flammable … you gots to be a damn dictionary to know what burns,) Beat thought irritably as he waited in the principal’s office.

24. Strength

His fingers tightened around the revolver and as his eyes met Joshua’s from across the room, he felt any resolve to pull the trigger leave him.

25. Mask

“I’m saying it again,” Neku muttered as he pulled on the Black Slammurai’s mask, following Beat who was dressed as the Dead Slammurai, “this is stupid.”

26. Ice

Yuu Narumi sighed as she rested her chin on her palm, indulging in a far-off fantasy of receiving a beautiful diamond ring from that cute boy with the purple headphones.

27. Fall

Minamimoto grinned maniacally as he looked down at the roughed up Composer at his feet and couldn’t help but say, “miscalculated your escape, you overbearing ellipsoid?”

28. Forgotten

As he watched the tightly-bonded group reunite at Hachiko’s statue, Joshua’s lips curled into a frown; he’d been forgotten, and quite happily so it seemed.

29. Dance

Mina panted heavily and hunched over, her palms resting on her kneecaps as a voice in her head demanded to know why she agreed to go against Eri in DDR.

30. Body

Green sighed contentedly as she found the centerfold picture of the Prince, shirtless, in the newest issue of “Idol Weekly.”

31. Sacred

“Hey!” Beat yelped, grabbing the “diary” out of Neku’s hands, “Don’tchu know dat something’s are jes’ sacred, man?!”

32. Farewells

Joshua’s pale lips curled into a small smile as he watched Kitaniji accept his fate, and softly murmured as he raised his hand, “Thank you for your work, Megumi; this was fun.”

33. World

Neku’s hope that he had found a shop where there wasn’t a creepy shopkeeper was blown out of the water when he heard HT Masuoka’s voice cheerfully greet him with a “what a small world, hon!”

34. Formal

Deciding to take pity on the fidgeting boy in front of him, Hanekoma asked, “wouldja like me to show ya how to tie that tie, Phones?”

35. Fever

As Kariya rang that infuriating bell, Uzuki had the sneaking suspicion he was faking the fever.

36. Laugh

Shiki blushed as she realized that the thought that Neku had a really nice laugh had crossed her mind.

37. Lies

Konishi smiled at Kitaniji as she said, "Of course, sir; I am loyal to both you and the Composer."

38. Forever

Neku didn’t know what eternity felt like until he was stuck in Cadoi City’s Natural Puppy store watching Joshua try on pastel pink dresses.

39. Overwhelmed

Shigemi was frustrated to the point of tears as the accidents, mistaken orders and angry customers piled up, but then she saw that cute headphones boy enter the restaurant, and it all went away.

40. Whisper

Jun Odajima smiled thinly as he leaned over and with his lips just barely touching a female customer’s ear softly murmured, “you look absolutely stunning in this dress, miss.”

41. Wait

Neku paused in his steps and turned his head to look incredulously at an embarrassed Shiki, who explained after her outburst that she forgot Mr. Mew in a department store.

42. Talk

Shiki bit her lip and squeezed Mr. Mew as she walked up to Eri, tapping her friend on the shoulder.

43. Search

Miki groaned as she stared at the pile of boxes that was that week’s shipment and she wondered how much that customer wanted that hoodie.

44. Hope

777’s eyes widened as he spotted a familiar microphone within the wreckage that he, Tenho and BJ had spent the last couple of hours tearing through.

45. Eclipse

Joshua hated eclipses; the thought that something small could overshadow something bigger and obviously better never sat well with him.

46. Gravity

“Any tree can drop an apple, I’ll drop the freaking moon!”

47. Highway

Minamimoto gripped the handlebars of his motorcycle, growling with the same intensity as the engine as he tried to forget the miserable experiment in Udagawa.

48. Unknown

Beat and Neku shared a hesitant look before they turned their sights to the black corridor that awaited them beyond the Shibuya River’s entrance.

49. Lock

“It’s for da stats!” Beat defended, as he tightened his grip on the Darling Lock purse that he had purchased from Pegaso.

50. Breathe

Neku looked from May Kurokawa to Beat, who gave a helpful shrug, then relented and leaned in to take a sniff of the cologne that the Pegaso clerk had sprayed on her wrist.

Sonic Drabble thingy ... SUR-PIES.

2008-11-09T05:12:39Z

Here, have some Sonic fic, completely G-Rated Gen-fic! HURRAY!

[Angel Island]

Knuckles grunted softly as he hooked his left fist into the rock of the cliff he was scaling, finding it difficult to get up this particular kind of rock. “Almost there…” He sucked in a sharp breath and forced himself up the rest of the way to the top, where his right hand was suddenly grasped by a gloved hand belonging to one Sonic the Hedgehog. “Sonic??”

Sonic pulled him up the rest of the way and looked harried. “No time to talk, Knucks! We gotta move!”

With a sigh, Knuckles brushed himself off. “And why’s that?”

“Tails and I saw these punks heading off with the Master Emerald! If we hurry, we can catch them!”

Instantly, Knuckles was alert. “What?! Where did you see them last?”

Sonic jerked his thumb behind him. “Back this way. Follow me!” Knuckles nodded and took off after Sonic, who slowed down enough for Knuckles to be able to follow him through the thick jungle of Angel Island. “Looks like they know the island pretty well! Sure you haven’t had any unwanted visitors recently?”

“I was sure,” Knuckles replied, clenching his fists. “Let’s just hurry!”

“Speakin’ my language!” Sonic grinned, kicking up his speed. “Don’t choke on my dust!” Knuckles wasn’t amused by Sonic’s humour at a time like this, and stayed single-mindedly focused on finding the villains that dared to steal the Master Emerald. They travelled from one end of the island to the other, Sonic cursing every-so-often that they had just missed the thieves.

Getting irritated, Knuckles snapped, “Do you even know where they are, Sonic?! We’ve been going in circles!”

Sonic knocked on a wooden door, the pair having jumped into a hidden room underneath a waterfall. “They’re here.”

Knuckles shoved him aside and smashed the door with his fists, ready to throw down. “Come out and show yourselves! I’ll make you pay for what you’ve---”

“Surprise!” came the chorus of well-wishes from the group of their friends that popped out of hiding, including the Chaotix, Amy and Tails. “Happy birthday!”

“What the…” Knuckles stared, dumbfounded, and then turned to Sonic. “You set me up you jerk!”

Sonic grinned, completely unapologetic, and folded his arms as he leaned against the nearest wall. “You’re really gullible, Knucks.”

“You…I’m going to get you back for this.”

Sonic waved a hand. “Save it for later, sour-patch. You’ve got a party to enjoy.”

=End=

Author’s Note: HURR HURR THOROUGHLY PREDICTABLE. I’m going to try and write something with Sonic and Emo-chan (I mean, Shadow).

Revamp - Original Story - Opening Ficlet

2008-10-06T02:53:56Z

This is a test, a ficlet to see if I could get on a roll with the new style and direction I wanted to do after not knowing where I was going the first time. I have this problem of creating good starting points, but having a rough time closing it or putting in a middle to the plot. I want to change that and hopefully this is the start. Ficlet starts after the cut!

So everyone, please, give it a read and let me know what you think. It's rated G, and well, no spoilers for anything since it's all in my head. XD;

A slow exhale of breath escaped his chapped lips, as his pale blue eyes glanced around the surrounding area. He could practically taste the ignorance in the air and clenched his teeth in disgust; if there was any lingering doubt in his mind, it had been erased with that inhale of breath. Returning his gaze to the intricately designed black door, he withheld the strong desire to touch the engraved designs, knowing full well it would trip the ward set by one of their strongest spell casters.

Fortunately for him, he was better.

The phoenix on his shoulder chirped quietly, but was hushed by a tap to the beak by his finger. “Quiet,” he murmured. “You’ll be safe soon.” With a slight rustle of its feathers, the phoenix folded them and stayed still, talons slightly curled into the worn leather of his trench coat. It would only take one touch to do this right, or to fail and have the last chance to change everything wiped out along with him.

It was enough motivation for him. Slowly, he raised his left hand, his fingers “sparking” with yellow energy and eyed a specific symbol on the door. He flexed his fingers to remove any last nervousness, and slammed his fist into the lower-left symbol which translated to ‘nobility’ in the “accepted” language of the state. The door disintegrated, giving way to the entrance of a bare, white room.

Quietly, he stepped into the room and his eyes settled on the boy sitting against the center wall. The boy’s dark purple eyes were blank, staring ahead into nothingness, his entire body limp and unresponsive. Kneeling down beside the boy, he picked the phoenix off of his shoulder and set it gently on his arm while he placed his own right hand on the boy’s chest. A void opened quickly, as if one had turned a key in a lock, and a smile came to his lips.

“Go,” he instructed the phoenix. “This is it.”

The phoenix looked at him and nodded, spreading its wings and hovered for a moment before heading straight into the boy’s chest. The void closed as soon as the phoenix entered, showing no signs of such a thing happening. With a soft groan, the boy’s eyes sharpened, and were blinked a few times to adjust to having sight again. “…what…?”

“There’s no time to talk, Phoenix.”

Phoenix frowned, his body aching from having been stationary for so long. “Who are you? Where … are my friends?”

“What?” (Hell, they did a number on your mind … I nearly forgot.) “…I’ll take you to them. Get up.”

“But--”

“Ransem Lorade!” an enraged voice yelled, their voice thundering down the open corridor. “You have gone too far!”

Ransem cursed, and grabbed Phoenix’s arm, pulling him to his feet. “When did they get the lead out of their asses? Come on, Phoenix, we’re going into the city.”

“My … My friends are there?” Phoenix’s thin lips curled into a frown, confusion clouding his features, hearing noises and feeling sensations he had little idea of what they were. “Mr…Lorade? Are they there?”

Ransem didn’t answer, and threw his arm out - creating a doorway of his own. “…time to change the world.”

=TBC=

Tekken Fic "Roll and Choke" [PG]

2008-09-15T03:30:51Z

I spent a good portion of the afternoon looking at Tekken 6 trailers and looking at characters and backstory and I wanted to write for it again. Man .. Steve has such a shitty accent .. I bet a North London accent would've been a lot better, though I can't remember what he sounded like in Tekken 4... anyway! Have some Hwoarang-centric fic. =D

Title: Roll and Choke
Rating: PG for language and violence
Series: Tekken
Warnings: Spoilers for Tekken 6 and specifically what's become canon for the game, concerning Jin's backstory in the game.

Hwoarang grunted painfully as he stumbled to his knees, his throat scratched raw by thirst and frequent coughing. He had no idea what day it was - it could have been the same day or weeks later, for all he knew. Roughly, he was yanked to his feet and a pistol was jabbed sharply into his mid-back, prompting him to continue walking forward, despite the fact the rough cloth pulled around his eyes prevented him from seeing where these steps were leading him. The only thing he could hear aside from his pain-addled breaths were the controlled exhales of the four men "escorting" him, and nothing else. Nothing to help explain why he was suddenly pulled from the streets like a bad tooth and taken to wherever the hell this was.

Not that he had gone quitely. But the men that had abducted him were prepared, and he was subdued with one tranq dart that had enough serum in it to take down an elephant. When Hwoarang had regained consciousness, he was blindfolded and bound by his hands, in a small room that was barely big enough to comfortably keep him sitting down. He hadn't taken to this lightly, demanding for the first few hours what the hell was going on, as loudly as he could.

It only took a few beatings for it to sink in that he wasn't going to be able to have the slim chance of fighting his way out of this.

The slow creak of what he imagined were two huge doors snapped him out of a painful reverie. His head was ringing from the constant headache he suffered from lack of sleep, food, and un-cracked ribs, but he could hear the slight shuffling of what had to be at least a hundred men. Where the hell was he? Despite the blindfold still being around his eyes, Hwoarang's eyes moved from side to side, as if trying to "sense" what he was now neck-deep in, and how badly he was screwed. Abruptly, he was shoved to his knees, which were exposed and sporting varying degrees of cuts and bruises due to the ripped holes in his once new jeans, and he hissed in pain.

"We've brought him as per your request, Boss," one of the men said in Japanese, and Hwoarang's blossoming knowledge of the language could only pick out "request" and "boss". Boss? Had he pissed off the boss' son in a fight? Punk must've deserved it, if that was the case.

"Remove the blindfold," came the order, from a voice that was low, devoid of emotion, and somewhat husky.

Hwoarang grimaced as the blindfold was whisked off fast and hard enough to leave an invisible line of white-hot pain. His brown eyes struggled to function, his field of vision blurring for painfully long moments before slowly settling and the young Korean was able to see that he was inside of a huge room, surrounded by grunts in sharp black suits. The ensignia on their lapels startled Hwoarang - he had seen that symbol before, on --

Roughly, a hand grabbed his bright red hair (which was now dirty with mud and dust) and yanked his head upwards, forcing Hwoarang's eyes to meet those of Jin Kazama. "It's been a while," Jin murmured, his voice no longer tinged with that tragic hero whinging, but instead, a powerfully dark edge. "Hwoarang."

Hwoarang swallowed tightly, trying to wet his throat, but it was only serving to further rub it raw. "K-...Kaz...ama.. t'hell ...?"

Jin's thin lips curled into a smirk, and he kneeled down, his grip on Hwoarang's hair still as tight as a vice-grip. "Things are different now ... but I didn't want to leave you behind, after you go to such lengths to follow me. I'm going to keep you around... as a pet." Before Hwoarang could balk at the statement, Jin captured his mouth in a bruisingly hard kiss. It was ended quickly, and Jin rose to his feet, giving the signal to his henchmen to pull Hwoarang back to his feet. "Take him to the prepared room ... see that he's cleaned up."

"Yes, sir!"

Hwoarang growled. "I'll get you for this, Kazama!" It hurt like hell to talk, let alone yell, but Hwoarang wasn't about to fall without a fight.

Jin merely smirked. "You're nothing. Soon you'll realize it."

"You bas -- argh!" Hwoarang yelled in pain as he was suddenly clubbed in the back, and fell into a crumpled heap. "Piece .. piece'a .. shit ... you're even .. more of a jackass than ... than you were ... before. Hah .. can't even do it yourself? Got someone t'piss for you too?"

Jin was the one to growl this time, and grabbed Hwoarang's collar, yanking him to his feet. "You don't know when to quit. Do you even know the power I have now?"

"Peh," Hwoarang answered, spitting on Jin's cheek. "Unless it .. somehow made ya strong enough t'beat me, I don't give a shit."

Several of the Mishima Zaibatsu grunts had their pistols out and ready to shoot Hwoarang's head off, but Jin raised a hand, staying them. He returned his focus to Hwoarang, who was starting to smirk smugly. "I'll take care of you myself."

Hwoarang pushed himself closer so they were nose-to-nose, his painful pants intermingling with Jin's partially-controlled breaths. "Bring it, Kazama."

=TBC?=

Author's Note: Oh it feels good to write Tekken again. I can't wait for Tekken 6 to come out .. whenever it does .... *giddy!*

Original Canon Drabble ... "Haircut."

2008-09-12T22:37:20Z

Title: "Haircut"
Rating: G
Summary: (original series canon) Phoenix decides it's time for a change.

Nobody but firemasterskye is going to care about this, but whatever! XD If you're not firemasterskye and want to read this anyway, but you're confused as to who is who here, I'll link to the profiles here for your reference.

The announcement game out of the blue, at the dinner table, during what was until that point a completely uneventful meal. Sasha paused, then looked over at Phoenix, who had seemed startled that he had said anything aloud. "Not to...rain on this triumph here," she started carefully. "But..what is it you're going to do?"

Phoenix smiled shyly, and reached for his long blond hair, which reached his waist and was neatly tied into a ponytail, giving it a demonstrative tug. "I'm going to cut it."

Skye dropped her fork in surprise. "What? Why would you do that?" she demanded, being not-so-discreet with her dismay that Phoenix had decided to get rid of his pretty, soft, blond hair. "It's so pretty! And you get to take good care of it now!"

"All good reasons," Phoenix replied, smiling embarassedly as he brushed back the silver-dyed section of hair that covered his left eye. "But this is a new start here for me, you know? And I want to ... do something that signifies that. A tattoo came to mind, but that's more of a statement than I'm comfortable making. The only reason my hair is long is that I was too poor to cut it and I had other things on my mind ... like trying to survive." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I want to cut it, and make a fresh start. I don't know how much, though..."

"As long as you don't go bald, I don't think it'll shake anyone's world to the ground," Rick interjected, in between hurried mouthfuls.

Sasha hummed thoughtfully, reaching over to lightly place a finger just at Phoenix's shoulder. "Right here. Maybe layer it a little bit.. jaggedly, maybe? Mm.. that'd look really nice on you."

Phoenix blinked slowly. "You ... really think so?" He blushed slightly as Sasha's finger gently poked his cheek, lingering longer than was perhaps necessary. "A-All right. That sounds good. -- Will you come with me?"

"All of us? Isn't that a little much just for a haircut?" Rick questioned, grunting when Skye jabbed him in the gut with an elbow.

"He was asking Sasha you knob," she admonished. "Who's a lucky bitch.."

Sasha waved a hand. "Yes, yes, I know, I'm a damn hussy." She smiled at Phoenix though, hoping to look assuring. "Of course I'll come with you. It's important! At least you know the value of a haircut, which is something I can't say for somebody else at this table."

Rick balked, and sputtered at the indignity he was being given. "Excuse me? I go for haircuts! Regularly, even!"

His sister snorted. "Only when Mom strong-arms you into it. If we left you alone, you'd look like Cousin It."

Phoenix smiled to himself as he watched the siblings bicker, while Skye sighed heavily, valiantly attempting to keep herself out of this kind of foolishness, though they all knew she enjoyed taking part herself. These three people were becoming increasingly important people to him, and he had thought, not that long ago, that he wouldn't ever be lucky enough to meet a person he could trust enough to count on. Now he had three! He gave himself a little pinch, wondering if he was dreaming. "Ow," he murmured, rubbing his arm. "I guess this is really happening."

"It's just a haircut!" Rick interrupted, clearly not realizing that what he was talking about and what Phoenix was talking about were two completely different things.

"Ah? Oh ... ha ha .. yeah ... it's just a haircut," Phoenix stammered sheepishly, trying to play along, and failing, miserably. (I have a lot to learn, though...^_^; )

=END=

Caps from the Precipice of Darkness - the penny arcade game!

2008-09-12T01:31:23Z

I played the demo just now and it's a lot of fun! I can't wait for the first episode to come out on the PSN, I'll just have to connect it to the internet XD; I took 8 caps and here they are under the cut! Man I need a Penny Arcade icon or something ...

Look! It's me and a disembodied voice telling me to book it!

Here's my trusty weapon! My RAKE.

BATTLE! The cat is useless, by the way. XD

Hey look! It's our happy trio. Don't you love my schnazzy clothes?

This cracks me up for some reason. Gabe's so absent-minded. XDDD <3

I love how affronted my character looks. More like she's trying to say, "Hello, if you're going to have a threesome, let me join in!"

BATTLE TIEMZ. I love that when Tycho attacks, he throws his book up in the air then shoots his tommy gun. XD

Our happy band of detectives! Or two detectives, and me. XD

That's all I took since the demo ended soon after. I want the gaaaaaaaame now. It's so much fun. If you throw oranges, the fruit fuckers go after it and hump it, giving you time to attack. 8D

"Wild Card" Parts 2, 3 and 4

2008-09-11T22:02:26Z

Continued from this is the next three parts of my self-twewy thing ... as hell, I can't draw, so I'm going to write. If you were brought here by my pimping out to subarashiki_ds then ... you already know that.

Part 2 has spoilers for Week 2
Part 3 has spoilers for Week 3, as does Part 4

PART 2

Beat pulled and tugged at his hat as he sat on a ledge on the Miyashita Park overpass, knowing he had to get back to Towa records, where Neku and the prissy kid were going to be soon. Rhyme, now a noise, chittered softly and nipped at his ear. "What am I gonna do? I can't ... it's Phones, y'know? Plus I ain't got a partna outsida you." She chittered sympathetically and nuzzled his neck. "Guess I gotta go it alone."

"You're not going alone." Beat scrambled to his feet and raised his fists, seeing a Tenor Reaper before him. "Lower your fists, I'm here to help you, Beat."

"Why should I trust ya?" Beat demanded. "You wain't even showin' me yer mug!"

"Fair enough." The Reaper reached up and pushed back the hood, revealling a young woman with brown skin and black, layered hair that had a layer of dyed pink hair on the lower layers. "My name is Sasha. You're not the only one playing like you've got nothing else to lose. I'll help you take them on."

Beat lowered his hands, but he was still iffy. "Why'd you become a reapa, den?"

"I didn't have a choice," Sasha replied simply. "I won the game but the Composer changed his mind and we weren't allowed to get the ressurection we were promised. There's someone I have to get back to, and I'm willing to do anything to get to the Real Ground."

The younger teen paused, then rubbed his shoulder, sympathetic but clearly uncertain. "What's in it f'you? Helpin' me?"

"Headphones' partner. I have unfinished business with him."

"Was he yer partna first?"

"...he aws the reason I couldn't go back. So what do you say?"

"I..."

"What is it?"

"I dunno if I did da right thing, y'know?" Beat sighed and flopped down on the ground, legs loosely crossed.

Sasha sat down beside him and rubbed her neck. "I feel you. This isn't very easy for me either, but I'm .... out of options. I have two evil paths, and I've picked one and I have to go full force. It's all you can do when your back's to the wall and you've got no where else to go but down that road." She sighed. "It's what I keep telling myself, anyway."

Beat looked at Rhyme, who chittered quietly, then looked back over to the older girl. "Yeah ... I busted outta Coffee King's hideout 'cause I had t'find out how t'get Rhyme outta her pin and da Reapers knew how. But dere's no turnin' back now dat I'm here, rite? -- d'you regret it? Choosin' dis way?"

"Like I said, I didn't have a choice ... it was either become a Reaper or nothing. We played by the Composer's rules and he screwed us over," Sasha answered, twisting a silver ring that was around her right index finger. "That was ... a while ago. But now I have an out: a plan. It's risky, but it's going to get me out of the UnderGround. So ... if I can give you any kind of advice for you, it's .... do whatever you can to get what you deserve, Beat. No one's going to make sure that you're going to get it but you. If it's important enough, you'll do anything to get it. Right?"

"Yeah ... YEAH!" Beat agreed, grinning as he jumped to his feet. "You all right, lady! I'm not going to stop until I get Rhyme's body back, and her memories ...!"

Sasha smiled faintly; Beat's energy was contagious, and highly similiar to her twin brother, Rick. She pushed herself up to her feet. "Ready?"

"Yeah! I'm ready to ROCK! And ... thanks, Sasha. You're pretty cool."

"Thanks, Beat. I am pretty awesome."

=TBC=

PART 3

Week 3. It was unheard of that a Game would go for more than the standard week, and this one had gone on for three in a row. Even more alarming were the measures that were being taken to ensure that this week was the last: virtually all the other players had vanished - erased, she figured - and the effects of the second week's seventh day were still being felt. Minamimoto was defeated on order by the Conductor himself, and the Composer's whereabouts were unknown. On the books, one partner gave themselves up to protect the other against Minamimoto's final attack, but Sasha was unconvinced that the Composer was really out of the picture. Not him. As per Minamimoto's orders, however, she had intervened when a veritable herd of taboo rhino noise were going after the pair.

The Composer had airily given thanks, but she ignored it - his words were as empty then as they were when she first heard him speak. She was certain he was catching onto her role in things, but he had said and done nothing. And now, with him out of the picture and an emergency call issued, things had gone topsy turvy in wonderland's bizarro room.

How was she going to get out of this one?

(--No time to think! Just go! Get to WildKat!) she told herself as she ran across the rooftops. (I have to stay ahead of Konishi-san .. as if things weren't impossible enough.) Soon she caught sight of the cafe and jumped down, landing in front of the entrance. She entered, and looked around. "...?"

"Good, you made it."

"--Hankeoma-san. Just .. how deep does your involvement go?"

He paused, and admitted, "pretty deep. But there's no time now. There are no pacts now, no alligences. Are you comfortable with operating that way, despite the consequences?"

She didn't hesitate to nod. "Yes. I'll do anything to end this and get me out of here."

"Good." Hanekoma nodded. "Here's what you're going to do: protect Beat and Phones, and get them to the River. If everything goes proper ... this will be over."

Sasha nodded, watching as Hanekoma walked to the back wall of the shop, putting something into a safe. She was first approached by the "Producer" when she was temporarily "partnered" with Beat during the Game's second straight week. He then dispelled any misinformation she was given, giving her a new direction to take. She was running down a dangerous path, true, but it was no where as dangerous as the one Hanekoma himself was on as he was helping not only Minamimoto, but Neku as well.

"Once they find the key, I stay with them until the end?"

Hanekoma nodded. "We're already breaking rules left and right, what's a few more? But since you'll be confronting not only Konishi but Kitaniji, you should be very careful."

She swallowed a little. "Yeah."

He grinned lazily. "Scared?"

"A little," she admitted.

"That's good. Keep your head on straight and don't look back," Hanekoma advised. "You know the power that a strong imagination carries. Use it to the fullest extent, which means you've got to live ev --"

"--ry moment as if it were my last. I remember," Sasha finished, smiling. "Hey, Hanekoma-san ... is Phoenix ... is he..?"

Hanekoma nodded. "Yes, he's fine and he's waiting for you."

Sasha visibly relaxed and looked incredibly relieved. "Good. Good. I can do this, then. Right. Yes? No .. No! I can."

"Get going!" Hanekoma suddenly urged, as he looked sharply to the door. "He's coming." Sasha didn't have any time to ask 'Who?' as she felt an insanely strong presence approaching. She turned and booked it out of the store.

(Hang on for me, Phoenix .. everyone. I'm going to come back!)

Seconds later, she heard the crashing of glass as Minamimoto descended upon WildKat.

=TBC=

PART 4

She stood silently beside Beat and Shiki as Joshua, who had revealed himself to the three as the Composer, spoke to Neku about the true purpose of this Game: to determine Shibuya's fate. Everything was done to reach that final decision and this was it. She felt terrible for Neku as he wrestled to comprehend that everything that had happened during his weeks in the game was done under guise of someone who had masqueraded as his partner, and was in fact the person that killed him. Where could you even start, to look at the factures that this caused in their relationship?

As Neku gripped his head, Joshua turned to face Sasha, his smirk darkly smug. "And you... our little wild card. I will admit you surprised me; I didn't think you had such rebellion in you."

"When you screwed me over, I vowed I'd do anything to get my life back," Sasha answered, her hands resting inside the front pockets of her hoodie. "I'm not the kind of person to accept when I've been wronged."

Joshua raised an eyebrow, his slips slightly parted as a slender finger rested on his chin. "Oh? News to me. Do you think I'll give you back your life now that you've broken all of my precious little rules?"

Sasha narrowed her eyes. "I haven't broken any rules, since there obviously isn't any that we can follow and win, when it comes to you. I played the Game the way you play it. You denied me my right to ressurection because you felt like changing the rules that day."

"It's in my right as Composer to do so," Joshua replied easily, smiling. "Such as it is to destroy Shibuya if I see fit to do so. Perhaps you've forgotten, that, little Reaper. Let me guess, you'll give me a rousing speech as to why I should stay my hand, yes? I'll save you the trouble: There is nothing here that is worth saving anymore. It's gotten stale."

"It's because you have."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Your imagination .. your soul, it's stalled and you're disgusted with it and people in general. Shibuya changed to mirror that, and that's why everything's slowly becoming more self-centered ... why people think no one else is worth saving, because that's how you think," Sasha stated, her stance hardening. "That's probably a side-effect of being Composer. Perhaps you've forgotten about that."

Joshua's jaw stiffened, and his lips pursed. He seemed ready to either strike her or erase her, but he chose to do neither. Instead, he turned around and regarded Neku. "How about one last Game, Neku? This one decides everything~"

"You did what you could," Shiki whispered, reaching for Sasha's arm to hold onto. "Let's ... hope that things work out."

"..I hope so," Sasha murmured, watching as Joshua tossed Neku a pistol. "I really hope so."

***

Sasha groaned, feeling as if she was dropped from a high height, and flattened by slab of rock for an extended period of time. As she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of worried amethyst eyes, slowly realizing who it was that was staring down at her. "--Phoenix..?"

"Sasha! Thank God," Phoenix breathed, his long, pale blond hair that was tied into a ponytail coming over his shoulder as he leaned over her, pulling her into a tight hug. "I was taking a walk and then I saw you just lying there.. I nearly had a heart-attack! Where have you been?"

She gave a weak smile. "Doesn't matter," she said, swallowing thickly. "I'm back." (Why did he bring me back? Maybe he learned something ... oh, thank God ... I'm back.. I'm really back.)

"--Can you stand?" Phoenix asked gently, worriedly, reaching over to brush her hair back with a gentle touch, and Sasha was pleased to see he still painted his nails black. When she nodded, Phoenix helped her stand, and kept her stable. "Come on, everyone's been worried sick."

"Sorry for worrying you," Sasha whispered. She looked up at the sky, and smiled thinly. (Thanks, "Joshua" ... you'll see that this is a pretty good place to live.)

=END=

PAX, DAY 3 and The ride home

2008-09-02T18:38:08Z

Today was spent mostly in the exhibition hall, where I bought quite a few things, including a Red vs blue box set (signed by everybody but Church), Pink Godziilla stuffed toy, RoosterTeeth comic book (this was on my third trip back to them, they must have thought I was loopy) and two shirts from the Mega 64 booth (who randomly used tax in their sales ringing-up wtf.). There was also the fifth round of the Omegathon, which was Jenga, and the runner-up from last year, whom I'm told is MC Dover, ran up to the Jenga tower, and knocked it over, yelling "FUCK JENGA!" we nearly died. XD That being said, Jenga is one hell of a stressful game, especially when there's a trip to the Tokyo Game Show and $5000 up for grabs. There was a guy who looked exactly like Carlton, and since we hadn't seen him for the entire day, joked that C had somehow become an Omeganaut. XDD

After that, I kind of blanked: we probably went back to the "ex-hall" to get my boxset signed by Caboose, or ... someone else that I was missing, but probably Caboose. XD Joseph said I should do what usually happens to them, and go "OMG are you really Caboose?" and ignore the other guy. But I couldn't! I'm too nice .. damn it. XD After that, I think we went to eat at the Palomino (Palomiro? Something. That nifty place Doug, C and I went to with Tony!) and I had a pizza! THE INCREDIBLE PEPPERONI! XDDD Pat came in halfway and ate my pizza with me, then insisted he pay for my dinner that night since he ate my pizza. I was assuring him he didn't have to, but he insisted. XD; So more Expo hall! Then there was the final round of the omegathon! It's always some super secret game, last year it was Halo 3, and this year it was ... VS EXTREME BIKES. If this suddenly eludes you, don't worry; it was a nintendo nes game that was only released in Japan (it's an assist trophy in SSBB) and ... it was really no contest for the red guy, but hell, it was funny to watch all the same because the old NES games are HAAAAAAAAAAAARD. Anyway, winner was crowned and we went back to the hotel to hang until everyone was gathered for dinner.

Dinner was at Genghis Khan's, a nifty chinese restaurant, of which we promptly scared the living hell out of the staff, I'm sure. There were 14 of us! So at first, Doug, Pat, C and I were in a little booth and the others were in a round table (haha lulz). Then we decided to put another, smaller, round table beside theirs so the "two dinners for 6" plan could work out better. So we ate, and we laughed and we were having a BLAST. The night wasn't over, oh no, when we left. Everyone came back to our hotel room and there was beer (american beer, which, hilariously enough, is sold in the open in wal-mart, but more on that later XD) and some "randomosity" card game that made everyone but me, Pat, Jeff, Chew and other Chew cringe (we were playing Brawl). Then security came up and said in a more diplomatic way, for us to STFU or we'd be kicked out the hotel on a third warning. So the guys over there packed up and took off to be loud somewhere else, and the rest of us played brawl until I was too tired to continue and fell asleep.

Got up at 7:30 am and packed all my shit together and put it in a neat line so I could be able to get it out of the hotel easily enough. Doug and C half-maybe kinda woke up around 8, and then we were out and gone sometime later. We stopped about 10ish at Denny's and that place made me feel so much better about myself. So many fat, white trash, backwater-looking people there >_< I now really understodo Jesse's lack of patience with them. ANYWAY. We ate and hit the road again. I fell asleep off and on and kinda resting my eyes-ness when we were in BC and I didn't realize you could get really bored of seeing mountains until this trip back XD; Anyway, about halfway home, we got A&W's, and headed the way back home to Alberta. I fell asleep and C poked me when we reached the house. I unpacked the laptop and put things in a vague area until tuesday morning, where i'm totally skipping orientation because damn it all, I'm TIRED.

And that is the greatest con report ever written, folks. Get to accolading me. XD Actually, wait until the pictures. (20 in total)

HotHead games, who are making the Penny Arcade game, "On the rain-slicked precipece of Darkness" .. it looks pretty fun!

Tony B and his signed XBox,side 1, the friend side.

Tony B and the Famous People Side of his xbox. Tycho has the lamest sig ever. XD

Going into the exhibition hall, and there's the new prince of persia banner. Looks to me he stole Jecht's clothes and ran into future!Zanarkand. 8D

Skybridge, leading into the exhibition hall.

PYRAMID OF PLUSHIES at the pink godzilla store. I bought one! :) They were $10 83

Line for the omegathon XD;

This is everyone leaving the convention center as the last round of the omegathon is the end of PAX, and there's Chew in the middle, in the PAX 08 shirt 8D

Going down the street towards Genghis Khan's. SO PRETTY OMG.

More downtown pictures! *.*

Inside the restaurant!

So there's (from L to R) Franco in the red, Jeff, Parabola (forum handle, I don't know what his name actually was), Tony B, and Joseph in the corner.

Carlton being a silly bitch. XD

The roof of the restaurant. WHAT. I like this sort of thing!

Me, with Doug and C who are being silly bitches.

Aaaaand again. I look kinda strange here. 8D;

Half of my face and Pat being .. Pat. XDDD

So this is half of what the room looked like when everyone came back to our room o_o; so many people.

L to R, that's Jordan, Doug's back, and Parabola.

L to R, Franco's head, Pat in the back, Chew-boy, Jeff, and Al.

Well that's it! I'm officially starving and everything's up :)

-- oh god, school starts tomorrow. x_x;

PAX, DAY 2 (Saturday)

2008-09-02T18:19:46Z

So we all woke up around 9:30am, since we're all tired as hell. Doug bought the internet from the hotel, so once I find my USB I'll upload my pictures. The internet only works on Doug's laptop, so I'll just keep the photos separate and upload them when I go home. We went into the exhibition hall (Me, Doug and Carlton), but I wasn't able to get near the Rooster Teeth booth to get the RvB episodes, or the Mega64 booth, because of the simple fact everything was a clusterfuck. It soon became time for the PennyArcade "Make a strip" panel, which was hilarious, and Gabe even changed Tycho's expression in the comic due to a suggestion from the audience. After that, Doug and Tony left me and I had to find out where they were (in the Pike Annex) and there was the Mega 64 panel, which was hilarious, but I hadn't watched an episode from Final Fantasy 12, but it was pretty damn funny. We met up with everyone in the hotel, and then went down to the hotel restaurant (WHICH WAS SO EXPENSIVE) and the food wasn't that great, but I've started this trend where I buy something and end up getting a huge-ass portion. Right now, the guys are sitting around getting their shit cleaned up because our hotel room looks like a mess.

Jeff, Carlton and I think the rest of the guys are going to go to the concert tonight, but I kinda don't wanna. I probably will stay here and play on the wii, or my DS. Or, since the internet is free in the lobby, I might go down there and upload all of this and maybe be able to chat! I've also somehow only have $250 left when I came with $400 .. by my calculations, I have spent about $150, so it makes a lot of sense, yet it's only been on FOOD. I barely bought anything for myself and it makes me sad. So the next day, I was going to remedy that.

PHOTOS! 14 in total

Booth babes? Anyway, they were there for "sacred 2" and C and I got to be shirt twins on the ride home wearing the shirts from this game that we got for freeeeee.

Vader, and some storm troopers. They were again spotted playing rockband, of which Vader was decent, but as usual, the storm troopers failed hard.

Doug and his "baby salablunder" or whatever that he got at playing a twin skies mmo demo. He basically replaced us with it for the day. XD

These were down the road across the street and on the street of the convention center. This one was my favourite. XD There were others like "Why your IT guy is calling in sick" or etc.

Heehee, the taxis were different colours. Like lime green and pink and stuff. XD

The rest of these are from the "make a strip panel" which was like make a strip / q and a, so here we go!

The sketchiness, then gabe inking it on his tablet as Tycho answered questions.

A "whole" view of the strip, which was hard to get, considering he had to zoom in to get the detail right.

Someone asked Gabe to draw business cat and something else. LULZY! These guys were awesome.

So at first Tycho in the comic looked miffed/kinda disgusted (see above) then someone asked if they could make him look devastated. XD

The girl here was wearing just a t-shirt, and was originally, as you can see, a brunette.

Someone then asked if they could make her a red-head, and bribed gabe with cookies, so he happily obliged. XD

I just really like Gabe's ":D!" to Tycho's ";_;"

How the text was put in!

The kind of finished product!

NOW FOR SUNDAY'S PHOTOS! WE'RE ALMOST DONE, KIDS.

PAX, DAY 1 Part 2/2

2008-09-02T18:03:21Z

HERE ARE THE PHOTOS! There are 22, so dial-up, if anyone has it, be warned. :) of course, you've got my witty commentary with it.

There was this huge room before the main theatre which was literally called "the line up room" we were here from 8-2 *_*; we got sometihng to eat at like 1:00.

Yuffie! Her shuriken was massive.

Dude asking Jeff about his AWSOMESAUCE BEARD. XD

Camera guy, and the rest of the massive room lines.

Beat! I wish I had figured out how to change the image setting to indoors earlier. ._.;

Me, trying to brace up properly against Doug while we all played the multiplayer of Ring of Fates. XD

A much better picture XD

The line-up to get into PAX!

Enforcers, that one guy on the right is wearing a mudkips hat. 8D

A booth called "sweet kitty" aka the only anime booth there. XD

The DS/ nintendo area

BIIIG NINTENDO SIGN

Me and a .. ferarri? Porshe? It was near ... midnight club racing, I believe. LOOK AT MY "THIS IS WHAT YOU COULD WIN!" pose XDD

OMG IT'S A GAME NOW YOU GUYS.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS, BUT IT'S COOL.

The Razer/PAX 08 mouse that was $60. Joseph bought this and eventually got Gabe and Tycho to sign it.

The Keynote speech by Ken Levine. I seriously needed to know how to change it to indoor photo taking but CLEARLY IT DID NOT HAPPEN HERE.

I need to use the phrase "banished to nerd siberia" a lot more now. Seriously.

In this shitty photo, you should see Gabe (left) and Tycho (right) XD; at the Q&A

Heavy and Spy from Team Fortress 2. I think the Spy had a british accent; i'm not entirely sure anymore. 8D

OMG PYRO'S A WOMAN! (this is what some guy yelled. we laughed XD)

I really don't know what this is, but in one of Doug's photos, it's about to eat me. D:

OKAY. TIME FOR SATURDAY! I didnt' take any pics of the concert because I had a seriously hard time seeing myself and I was tired and headachy :(

PAX, DAY 1 (Friday) Part 1/2

2008-09-02T17:46:27Z

THIS POST IS QUITE LONG. The photos (of which there are 22) will be in the post right after this)

FRIDAY - THE DAY OF ROAMING.

I got up bright and early, 7:30am, showered, and everyone got ready, heading down to the lineup hall. Actually we were supposed to go at 8, but the guys got up and started watching venture brothers. So then we went down and waited for hours and hours! To get into PAX. It was so hard since we hadn't eaten, but Pat, Doug, C and I were playing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates in multiplayer and .. wow, we're the worst team ever. But after a while, there was a red light on my DS, and we had to quit. Then Pat, C, Doug, and some guy named Tony went to subway to eat around 1:00. An hour before the doors opened, and we had gotten our wristbands for the concert tonight.

Firstly, Jeff and I and Pat and Chew went into the exhibition hallway, and I bought a keychain mushroom, and a PAX 2008 shirt for Ne0, and Pat got me a babydoll's version of the 08 shirt. We wandered around, and I pilfered a Resistence 2 bag and a Little Big Planet bag from the sony thing before we hurried out to watch the keynote speech by Ken Levine. That man is fucking hilarious and a lot of profanity that PAX encourages. After that, was the Q & A for Tycho and Gabe. I have a lot of quotes that i wrote down and here they are:

Ken Levine: ... so when the Dark Lord asks for a high-five ... you give him a high-five!

Tycho: *refuses to sing a song*
Gabe: SING IT, MONKEY.
Audience: XD!

Tycho: o/' If you're really a woman~ o/'

Gabe: Everytime we sit down to write, we have the mics set up for the podcasts. I think we should really do more and put them up, but do you know what he says? "Fuck 'em."

Tycho: This is also a "wewy" con too, you know.
Gabe: Yeah! Thanks for the million billion mingle-points, everyone.

[Sasha: This is for the wewy people on my list. XD Seriously, you walked about a step and you got 10 people for mingle mode, and a lot of them played TWEWY. XDD]

Dude: *babbles* I just want to thank you for giving me the opprotunity to do this to a lot of people at once ... *rickroll*
Gabe: Enforcers, grab him!

Gabe: Did (so and so) tell you to do that knuckle thing?
Dude: I swear to God I didn't say shit!

Dude: Did you have any more information on PAX East?
Gabe: Yes. *pause*
Dude: ... can you share it?

Tycho: (My Baldness) gives me the super power to keep myself from killing you.
Gabe: *Whispers* Don't ask about the hair!

Tycho: We're too stupid to know when to quit.

Gabe: Do YOU have any candy?
Dude: No...?
Gabe: Then we're going over THIS way.

Dude: I've never shot up the school, but I play these games --
Gabe: Well the school year just started.. -- too soon?

Tycho: I'm getting flossed by this chord...

Girl: I hear you two are close friends--
Gabe: Are you SURE You listened to the podcasts?
Girl: -- you guys ARE superstars --
Gabe: MEGA superstars, thank you very much.

Gabe: You're making a Paranoia reference? I love you. LET'S BE TOGETHER.

Gabe: I dare you to drink whatever's in that jar.
Tycho: Why are you doing this?!
Gabe: I DOUBLE dare you!
Tycho: Why are you doing this?!
Gabe: TRIPLE DOG DARE.

Dude: I don't know about anyone else in here....
Gabe: ME NEITHER. I mean, have you SEEN some of the people here?
Jeff: They love to derail any comment ...
Me: Give them a pause, and they just run the othe way with it.

Dude: Hello!
Both: Hey!
Gabe: How can we disappoint you? :D

After the QandA, was the RoosterTeeth panel and awesomely enough, the guy who voices Caboose was totally loaded. XD They're dicks, but it was so funny. ("Dude, that was 15 feet and you came up SHORT." "Hey, how about you have a ball-throwing contest with Gus.") Also, they showed us a sneak peak at what they were doing next: An animated Red Vs Blue that was one in hella good quality! It made me want to watch it again. So that ended about 8:00 or so, and then we went off to watch Round 2 of the Omegathon, Boom Blox. Well, I watched a little, but I wanted to get back to the hotel room to write this and get my wallet back from Pat, who had my LBP bag. So now i'm watching Pat play Sonic 1 (on Jeff's wii wtf) and we're all discussing how we never beat the original sonic game. I beat Sonic 2, and I think Jeff's the only one who has. We're going to the concert, so I'll be picking this up tomorrow! :)

We missed the first half of the One-Ups concert, but what we did catch was amazing. They're a little jazz, a little ska, and a lot video games. Chew left near the end to get their Cds for Jeff, and Jeff graciously got me volume 2 which was of what they were playing. After them was Freezepop, and they were AMAZING. Their music is "techno" influenced, and they're really, really good. I became a fan during that performance. Also, Doug and Carlton were at the front with Joseph, and Doug held up a sign that said "JEFF YOU LOST" (the game) and then later on, "JEFF I'M PREG-O" XD After they played an encore, Jonathon Coulton came out. He's the guy who did the "Stay Alive" song, and he's hilarious. I was so tired and achy that I wasn't enjoying his set as much as I should've, but I was ready to drop. I stuck around until his first encore, but then I asked Pat to take me back to the hotel, when he was going to a second one, but damn it, I was tired. XD I fell asleep right away.

PHOTOS COMING SOON. I swear, Photobucket is like as;lkjas;lkfja;kd stop it woman. XD;

PAX REPORT! Day 0, Part 1 of 2

2008-09-02T17:37:36Z

I'm writing this report, for the most part, in the hotel, so some of the details are going to be screwed for some of the days, since a lot happens. There are a lot of pictures for each post, so if you have dial-up, sorry. XD I think day 1 and 2 might be two posts per day, but we'll see how many pictures I can actually upload on photobucket.

Pax Day 1 - Thursday - THE DAY WE LEFT

So at about 12ish, Doug, Chew, Pat, Carlton and Jeff came by, picked us up, and off we went. It was a long, long drive, and pretty much had Doug and Carlton taking turns driving/sleeping and me being a totally unhelpful git. I was sleeping on and off here and there, and though I technically slept the most out of everyone, I felt like I had been driving for a few hours. I'm not a person that can take a few hours nap (see 1 or 2) and be ready to go. I was in different positions: at an L angle, lying on my back, switching sides, that sort of thing. So it's way early in the morning, about seven, and we've made our way into BC. We stop at a McDonald's, have breakfast, joke around, and after that, have about 4 hours before we reach Seattle. Some of the funniest stuff happened when we hit the border, as we got the one thorough guard who asked us if we had any fresh fruit or vegetables with us, how we knew each other, what PAX was, and that sort of thing.

Doug: *as we cross the border* Suckers! You let us through! You'll never get our cantelope now!
Me/C: *die*

So there was another four hours, and we made it to the hotel, and dumped our stuff. Basically, we had a plan: since we were only supposed to have 4 people in a room, so four would go in and then the other two would come in later and it would happen. Though, when Jeff went to check us in, he was able to get 6 keycards. They've got some kind of lady on them. XD So we set up our stuff, get showered/dressed, then head out to the cheesecake factory. THEIR PORTIONS ARE QUITE BIG. I had the chicken casoletta or whatever, and it was HUGE. Anyway, we get back, and after the others went out to some gameworks factory, I went to bed after playing some Mario Kart, and Chew and Jeff watched Venture Brothers.

ENOUGH FROM ME, HERE ARE THE PICTURES UNDER THE CUT! (29 pics)

C, with Doug and Jeff peering at his camera. XD This is at the 7-11 at my neighbourhood.

One of Doug's many attempts to get his camera's self-timer to work.

Doug and his fiendish ~~Double chin?~~ look of eeeevil.

Jeff has the best expressions ever. XD

The gas station/general store where we had stopped at

Doug and chew taking pictures respectively. XD We .. were quite tired and nutty.

I believe I may have scarred a whole lot of you with this picture. For that, I apologize .. XD

Pat and I hanging out at the pumps. XD

Doug was maybe-stripping and Jeff came in and was all "HEY GUYZ, FOOD." XDDD

BC! Mountaaaaaaaaaaaaaains.

More mountaaaaaaaaains! That's Chew's car up ahead. We lost them / ahead of them / whatever for most of the way there.

Kamloops! Pretty! :)

Doug, being a classy, classy man at the Mc'Dee's in Kamloops

A camwhore shot of me in the car, presumably still in Kamloops

Picture of doug taking a picture of me in the mirror. XD

This was ... near the border, and we thought it was hilarious. XDD

Seattle!

Doug being fiendish about our awesome bioware keycards ~~that we may have totally kept afterwards~~

View from our hotel~

Ceiling of the convention center .. or the area where the convention center was. It was cool.

The cheesecake factory, which was just across the street from our hotel, the Sheraton.

Here's where PAX was, as well as in the Pike Street Annex, which was across the street and down a ways.

The DS' were out in full force at the table. MARIO KART CAN BLOW ME. SERIOUSLY.

This is a word-for-word recall of what I said when I got here: "holy fucking shit, I'm at fucking PAX ..."

The "will call" booth where we canadians and internationals picked up our passes/swag bags. They should really mail them to us.

Some .. statue thing that was at the Enforcer sign up booth. The Enforcers are the PAX Staff and a distressing number of them were wearing man-skirts O_o;

Weird blown glass pieces in the convention center XD;

More weird blown glass pieces in the convention center!

SWAG! There was the demo for the PennyArcade game, a free trial of WoW, but mostly ads and stuff. And pins, which if you wore on your person, you could be challenged and attain a button army in handheld battlery.

Whew! That's it for thursday. I'll get to work on Friday's stuff now. XD;

Animethon 15 [24 pictures]

2008-08-10T03:44:35Z

Ergh, you could just tell that A-thon was thrown together at the last goddamn minute. Everything pretty much failed, except the cosplayers were pretty damn good this year. Anyhow, this is the grab list for me:

- Peace Maker Kurogane vol 1 and 2
- Fleur de lis pendant that's apparently from Code Gaess
- Judge Magistrate pendant from FFXII
- yellow mushroom charm for my camera from super mario bros

Yeah, not a lot and the hilight was the vietnamese restaurant we went to for foodz. ANYHOW. ON WITH THE PICTURES. There are a A LOT, 24 to be exact, so dial-up users, don't click. These are mostly the cosplayers i found :)

This is Grant MacEwan College's main building on the city centre campus. ISN'T IT PRETTY!

Behold, a field of losers! Srsly. I'm starting to realize I'm not an anime fan anymore and just haaate the majority of anime fans now. >.-

This is mostly for DG, but someone drew Yami Yugi on the whiteboard of a card-game room, so I took a picture for the lulz.

This poor bastard was cosplaying Tezuka from Prince of Tennis, and this psycho girl FLAT OUT TACKLED HIM and was giggling like a nutcase. Some people shouldn't be allowed out of their houses.

Theeeeese are some guys from Avatar: The Last Airbender and I took a picture of them because their costumes were nifty. :3

This is tealouie cosplaying as Kamio Akira from PoT. XD She chose it due to the heat and the fact it's easy to move around in ^^

Trucy, from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney :3 I asked her if she lost Apollo and she laughed, replying, "yes!"

MINION FOR HIRE down in the vendor room. Guy was giving tips to Doug and C about being a minion and how his services worked. XD

Random Snorlax I found sleeping by the locker tealouie had her stuff shoved in. XD

CORRECTION These two are from Guilty Gear. XD Well done costumes in any event! ~~I seriously don't watch anime anymore XD~~

I wanted to take a picture of the dude who was cosplaying Godot drinking Gatorade, and also managed to get a heartless, halloween!sora, and someone else. XD

Sakura and Tomoyo from CCS! They were smoking cigarettes when Yuuki and I asked them for a picture. XDDD;;;

THESE GUYS WERE AWESOME. They even did the Mario dance XDD

The Blue Badger! (the police mascot from the Phoenix Wright games)

SUPER PRETTY TSUBASA COSPLAY. My goodness, her costume was so pretty. She couldn't go anywhere without anyone asking for her picture. Well deserved, though!

I wanted to find the Goku that was with him earlier, but this would do. He said he was tired of hearing "IT'S OVER 9000!" everytime he walked by. Poor guy XD

Haven't kept up with Naruto, but this is apparently Tobi, who is the leader of the Uchiha clan? Something. Anyway, C said Amy would like this, so here we are XD

This is a two parter. This guy was handing out some kind of pamphlet, and I tried to get his picture. This is him running away from me. XD

Here's him hiding behind a pillar. XD

This .. is inside some dude's car that had a bunch of star wars figurines on the dash. We discussed how he could drive without any of it falling off.

And here's another view.

Random Link's shield that the vendor was selling for $60!

She was so cute even without this pose! Very cute Yuna indeed :)

AND THE BEST PICTURE FOR LAST.

"This is my assassin friend!" Doug is ... just .. awesome. XD

I'll leave this post open for a few days, then I'll probably lock it. Or not, out of sheer laziness. XD;

Pork City top floor ... dialogue .. SPOILERS!

2008-06-01T07:09:46Z

I got up to the top of Pork City, and ... wow, NOT COOL, BOSS. I'll just put this conversation here for reference's sake, both what Neku says on floor 12, and what he says up at the top.

[floor 12]

Neku: I knew this guy in my class ... I could relate to him. A lot of the time it'd be just him and me adn I was cool with that. I asked him to come. To Udagawa, to the CAT mural. But he never came. Only later did I hear about the accident. I was so mad. Then I eflt awful. I shouldn't have asked him there. If it weren't for me he'd still be here... it's like I killed him. Now I feel like I've killed him again. Like I'm going to lose Mr. Hanekoma. I don't think I could take it. It almost broke me the last time. If It happened again ... I ... No. I need to keep him here. Do what I can to help him, so he won't go away. There's gotta be something.

[ATOP PORK CITY.]

Neku: Mr. Hanekoma! What are you doing up here?

Mr.H: Heeyy, Phones!

Neku: Phones?? What's that?

Mr. H: Oh, right. Sorry; wrong you.

Neku: Are you OK, Mr. Hanekoma? And what are you doing all the way up here?

Mr. H: Ahhh ... just a little errand. I'm here to pick somebody up, but I wanted to check on something while I was here.

Neku: Check what?

Mr. H: ...... hoo, boy. I knew it. Visible in this world too, ... clear as day. This calls for serious action.

Neku: .... Look, Mr. H ....I want to help you! I want to pay you back for all you've done for me!

Mr. H: Well gee, Phones...

Neku: You just seem so busy lately! I mean, I know i probably can't do much, but ....but let me do what I can!

Mr. H: ... *rubs his neck* Thanks. That's real decent of you to offer, Phones. I'll take you up on that.

Neku: Really?! I'm happy to work at the cafe, or clean up or whatever! =D

Mr. H: I've had my eye on you for a while now....but the other you's in the middle of the Game.

Neku: ... 'scuse me?

Mr.H:And even though you're right here in the UG .. *Mr. H holds two feathers, one red, one blue* I can't exactly interfere ... even if it's just to test you a little bit.

Neku: *surprised* Mr. Hanekoma, what's gotten into you?

Mr.H: But this you is fair game. Let's have a look at what you can do. *BATTLE*

Week 3, Day 7 END OF GAME SPOILERS

2008-05-12T23:21:28Z

OMG OMG I ACTUALLY BEAT IT. Below's the whole convo from the time you beat Megumi to the credits. I kinda went overboard.

OMG! How the hell did I manage that? I guess those people on the TWEWY com knew what they were talking about! I beat it on normal with that lightning rook and ooommmmg... Joshua came back! o_o And Beat and Shiki and we're CAPTAIN PLANET COMBINED!!

AND THINGS EXPLODE.

Joshua: Hehee. Seems like I won.
Megumi: NOOO!!!! It can't end like this....Who else will protect Shibuya?

OMG HE HAS A TIMER ON HIS HAND. 00:00:02:77

All: A TIMER?! Why does he have a timer?!

Megumi: Then youll do as you intended? *WHITE SCREEN, Joshua is taller, whiter hair and wow wtf* end .. shibuya? But Composer ... sir! Why!?

Joshua: I've decided to wash my hands of it. It has no future value to me or anyone else. so I'm shutting it down.

Megumi: Wait, sir! Shibuya is still full of so many possibilities!

Joshua: Yes, and people too dull and clouded to see them. Shibuya's influence is too strong. I have to end it now... before other grounds are poisoned and all is lost.

Megumi: The problem is the people? If they changed to something more suitable you'd stay your hand?

Joshua: Yes, but it's clearly beyond them.

Megumi: Sir! Give me a chance to prove you wrong. I swear I'll remake Shibuya in a way that can please you.

Joshua: ... A game, then.

Megumi: THE game?

Joshua: That's right. The rules will be simple. If you manage to fix shibuya, then you win. Shibuya stays.

Megumi: And if I can't fix it?

Joshua: then you lose, Megumi. You and Shibuya will be erased.

Megumi: that's all right ...if I can risk my life to protect Shibuya, I will. But what chance do I have of beating You?

Joshua: Relax, Megumi. I'll be sure to handicap myself. I'll retreat to the RG and I won't challenge you directly. But I will pick a player to represent me. Since you've piqued my interest with this talk of rebuilding, expect me to be watching from the sidelines.

Megumi: Very well, sir. I'll enter your game.

Joshua: Then I'll need to colelct your entry fee. *timer of 30 days appears on Megumi's hand* You have one month. I wish you nothing but success. *WHITE SCREEN* *BACK TO NORMAL*

Megumi: You're going to erase it... the streets I know and love, gone ....

Joshua: You did well, Megumi. That was one of my more enjoyable games.

Megumi: I have it my all, sir. I have no regrets.

Joshua: You know, I liked your idea. Shame it didn't work out.

Megumi: You gave me a wonderful opportunity. Thank you, sir. *to Neku* As for you ... well played, player. I still can't fathom why my imprinting failed to affect you.

Neku: Me neither ...WAIT! That's right!

Megumi: ANOTHER Player pin!? Why do you have two?! I only gave you the one! Haha. Of course. Neku... it's up to you now.

Neku: Huh? *WHITE SCRENZ* Joshua? What's going on?

Joshua: All of this was a Game-- one set up by me.

Neku: WHAT?! That means you're --

Joshua: Let me make it obvious. Hmmm ... I suppose they'll serve. *makes Shiki and Beat immobile*

Neku: Shiki! Beat!

Joshua: Hee hee. It was me, Neku. I'm Shibuya's Composer.

Neku: What? But that .. can't be ...

Joshua: I know that must unsettle you. Especially since we spent all that quality time together. Still it's the truth and I need you to face it. Megumi and I decided to play this game to determine if Shibuya should exist or not.

Neku: Then everything I've done .. all of it ...

Joshua: Mm-hmm. You were playing for my team. Really, you did a bang-up job. I couldn't have won without you.

Neku: Then .. what have I done?!

Joshua: I had one role in this Game: Picking the player who would play for me. One boy .. from the RG.

Neku: Me?

Joshua: Very sharp, Neku! Give yourself a hand! I knew I picked a winner.

Neku: But it was Pi-Face that killed me...

Joshua: His bullet was meant for me. For some time now he's been after my seat. Maybe he thought that I could be killed in the RG. -- a gross miscalculation.The Composer, unlike the reapers, can use some of his power in the living world. So poor Minamimoto failed, and fled back to the UG. But I like keeping him around. He knows how to heat up a game! Unfortunately, he overheated this time, so I had to retire him early. Couldn't have him spoiling the climax!

Neku: Then you're the one who beat him?

Joshua: Why yes! You're just sharp as a tack, Neku. Anywya, the pest followed me everywhere-- even into the RG when I went to get you!

Neku: !! Into the RG? Wait... no!

Joshua: Hee hee. Why don't I return all the memories I've been holding onto? *neku groans*

MEMORY

UDAGAWA STREETS

Neku stands at the wall of CAT's graffiti, smiling happily. He reaches to touch it, but Joshua races it, with a gun, seemingly going for him. one shot fired, it went past Neku to Minamimoto's arm. Minamimoto fires his pistol eight times, but Joshua stops all the bullets. Minamimoto flees, and Joshua fires once at Neku's head. The Player pin falls on Neku's shirt, the screen fades to black.

REAL TIME, COMPOSER'S ROOM

Neku: *huff, huff* It was you! ....... I thought ... I thought I finally found a friend I could relate to ... BUT IT WAS YOU. YOU KILLED ME!

Joshua: Hee hee. Now, Neku. Why don't we play one last game?

Neku: You tricked me ... (picture of the gun in question)

Joshua: The winner gets to be Composer, and do whatever he likes with Shibuya. If you win, you decide. If I win, I decide. Of course, I've already decided.

Neku: You're a MONSTER.

Joshua: Neku? You'd better pick up that gun. I mean, this IS going to be a duel. I'll keep the rules extremely basic. I'm going to count down from 10. On 0, we shoot. See? easy.

Neku: Don't screw with me, Joshua!

Joshua: I assure you, I'm not. Life's little crossroads are often as simple as the pull of a trigger. Neku ... Hee hee. Your face is priceless. Don't you remember what Mr. Hanekoma told you?

Neku: I'm just ...

Joshua: Oh, before I forget! I've collected your entry fee.

Neku: Now... let the game begin .. 10... 9...

Neku and Joshua stand across from each other, but Neku's tears hit the pavement. He pulls up the gun, holding it tightly. Neku's hands shake, but he doesn't fire. Joshua fires, and Neku falls, seeing Hanekoma and Joshua before it all goes to black.

We see the Scramble Crossing, like Neku's started all three weeks ... he remains hunched, as the people walk by. "Why..?" "What the hell?!"

7 DAYS LATER

Neku: Same streets .. same crowds too. Yeah. Shibuya hasn't changed a bit. But still. I don't think I can forgive you yet. You don't see it, but .. those few weeks .. were very hard for me. Learning to trust people; having that trust broken, finding out the town I pegged as small stifling and empty .. wasn't any of those things.

Shiki:"Neku talk to me! let me in!"

Joshua: "Only by allowing strangers in can we find new ways of being ourselves."

Beat: "I'm asking you man .. please ...please .. help me save her."

Shiki:"Neku, that's the first time yo used my name!"

Joshua:"But Neku, I thought you couldn't afford to lose? Give up on yourself and you give up on the world."

Beat:"You're not my partner anymore, you're my friend."

Neku:...I'm glad I met you guys. You made me pick up on things I probably would've gone on ignoring. Trust your partner. And I do. I can't forgive you. But I trust you. you took care of things, right? Otherwise .. Shibuya would be gone and my world with it. Hey .. did I mention? I've got FRIENDS now! We're getting together for the first time in a week. See you there?

Beat: yo!
Rhyme: over here! *they meet up, talk, and Beat gives Neku a friendly headlock ast he credits roll, probably because he was jealous of Rhyme showing Neku her pendant*

KH drabbles f. Leon, Cloud, Sora and puppies!

2008-05-01T02:47:35Z

The first one is by a prompt by dazedpuckbunny, the second was one I thought of while looking through my KH2 strategy guide. :3

Characters: Leon, Sora
Prompt: Big Brother, noogies, dalmation pups

"There you are, Leon!" Sora's cheery voice rang through the large hallways of the Bailey, triumphant that he had found his target.

Leon turned around, standing up, and wiping the dust off of his gloves. He gave a small smirk that betrayed a genuine smile. "Sora. Taking a break from saving the world?"

Sora nodded, putting his hands behind his head. "We decided we needed a pit-stop and get some supplies. Whatcha up to?"

"Ah, don't worry about it. I've pretty much finished--" A small yip interrupted Leon, and a small dalmation puppy in a blue collar ran up, stopping at his feet. The small pup wagged her little tail, looking up at him for praise for obediently stopping. "..."

Sora blinked, then grinned wider than even Mushu at the realization. "Got a little friend, Leon?" More yips followed and 98 puppies came through the hallways, and sat in a neat formation. "Hey .. wait a second ... these are the puppies from Traverse Town!"

Leon sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead scar in exasperation. "Yes, they are. When we liberated our hometown, we brought the puppies along with Pongo and Perdita here. There's more room for them."

Extracting another sigh from the scarred man was the sight of Sora barely listening and playing with some of the pups. "They're getting big! So what were you doing down here?" Glancing over to where he could see various little doghouses and a bigger, half-finished one, Sora slowly realized what Leon was doing down here. "You're building them homes! You're such a softie, Leon!"

"Stuff it," Leon muttered, though he picked up a blue-collared pup that was pawing at his boot, setting her on his shouder. "Since you're here, do you want to help me finish the bigger doghouse?"

"Really??"

"Sure. I'm sure some part of you is handy." With a smirk, Leon then regarded the pups. "Stay where I can see you." The pups barked in unsion, and in understanding. Leon nodded, then led Sora over to where the half-finished "Master Doghouse" was located. They spent the afternoon working on it, with Sora proving to me more handy with a hammer and tools than he was with a computer. Project finished, Leon looked at the doghouse carefully, then nodded, pleased. "Good work, Sora."

Sora grinned sheepishly, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hehe. Thanks, Leon! Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you have a soft spot for puppies. -- Except Aeris. And Yuffie, oh and Goof -- urk!" Quite suddenly, the Keyblade Master found himself in a tight headlock, with Leon's right fist rubbing against the top of his thick head. "Hey!"

"You're not immune to noogies, kid," Leon smirked, continuing the torture until finally Sora surrendered.

Sora grumbled, trying to set his spiky hair back in order. "I thought you were cool up until that."

"Somehow, I'll find a way to sleep tonight." Nudging Sora forward with a push of his elbow, Leon smirked again. Sora threw his hands in the air and started out of the Bailey, ranting and raving about how underappreciated he was, and how much of a stiff Leon was, leaving the gunblade specialist to just shake his head ruefully. "Like the dim-witted brother I never had."

***

Characters: Leon, Cloud
KH2
Prompt: Scrooge's Skateboard

"You can't make 350 points," Cloud stated, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "I don't know why you agreed to test out that piece of junk for Scrooge, anyway."

Leon inspected the skateboard, then gave Cloud a small grin. "For the ice cream." He set the skateboard on the ground, with one foot on it to keep it in place. "And I can make 350 points, easy... pouty puss."

Cloud glared intensely at the nickname. "You'd break your back before you hit 20 points."

"Why are you here again?" Leon practiced "kicking" the skateboard up and setting it back down with his foot.

"I'm here to make sure you don't kill yourself."

"Right ... I've heard the stories of your love affair with snowmen." Leon smirked slightly as Cloud bristled. "Keep track of my score, Strife. 10 for a heel grab, 20 for a flip board, and what was that last one ..."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "50 for not splattering your brains on the sidewalk?"

Leon turned and gave the blond man a look. "Something like that. Keep your griping to yourself." Leon pushed off with his right foot, getting some distance before starting to do some tricks -- the tricks clumsy at first before the brown-haired man began to get the hang of it .. while garnering some very decent hangtime. Though his landing was less than desired, no bones were broken. "Score?"

"Two."

"....Strife."

Cloud sighed. "360."

Leon looked so pleased with himself, the Ex-SOLDIER was close to wiping it off of his face. "Thank you. Come on."

"... Come on where?"

"We're going to get my reward, of course. Sea-Salt Ice cream will cheer even you up."

Cloud pushed himself off of the wall, and nodded. "Fine. But it better be good."

Leon shook his head, tucking the skateboard under his arm. "Or you'll pout at me?" He laughed as Cloud gave him a shove towards Scrooge McDuck's ice cream store. Cloud was opening up, and was willing enough to put up with socializing .. it was a good sign.

A tall man dressed in black smirked as he leaned against the wall, the wind playing with his long silver hair. "Have your fun now, Cloud ... you can't outrun the darkness for very long."

-Fin? XD-