Professional Lurker

Ending // Begin // All is Different (1/?)

Aria’s original wish was to peacefully pass on, despite all pleas to continue living. One key promise and changed mind later, she may have altered the future she wouldn’t know otherwise.

[An alternative story based on the novel Guilty Gear Begin]

Aria of the Sol (3/3)

Five days after the Justice/Jack-O fusion, Aria finds herself waking up in a new body lying in a hospital bed. The same day, she meets her daughter, her son-in-law, and her old Flame (of Corruption.) In the coming days, she tries to make the most of this second chance at life she’s been given – and figuring out who that mysterious voice in her head is.

[Set during the three-week gap between Revelator and -Strive-]

Who Knows What Tomorrow Holds (13/?)

A trio of (unlikely) heroes finds themselves protecting the President of the United States after a hostile takeover of the White House. On top of that, there’s the looming threat of an axis of time attaining godhood. It’s going to be a long day. [Following “Aria of the Sol,” this is a retelling/reimagining of the Guilty Gear -Strive- story mode.]

[Current chapter (13): After Story 1, part 1]

B-Sides and Rarities (3/?)

A miniseries of extra scenes from "Who Knows What Tomorrow Holds.” The Valentine sisters visit their mother in the castle’s prison, later assisting an intelligence director in footage review. The next day, a Secret Service agent shows two of the White House’s special guests around the premises.

[An alternative Another Story and arcade routes (script drafts here) are in the works.]

Little (Killer) Queen (2/2)

It’s Father’s Day, and the daughter of a particle physicist has a surprise planned for him. Later that same year, said girl’s family and friends have something planned for her. [Modern AU]

The March of the Gear Queen (1/1)

During the final battle of the Second Holy Order Selection Tournament, Sol claims victory in the showdown against Justice. It’s then that something seems off. To satiate curiosity, the winner spares the fallen.

Do You Wear the Mark (1/1)

The (former) Princess of the Gears finds the letters she addressed to her long-dead mother. Each was dated for the second Sunday of May.

Of All Places to Meet You, It Had to Be Here (2/?)

Two people chasing the same person for different reasons were unaware of how the three of them are connected. An Italian church is a weird place to find out that the seemingly random person you’re fighting armed soldiers with is actually a blood relative.

Father of All Machines (1/1)

Despite everything that’s happened, all one scientist wants is something he’d spend a lifetime working on.

[Set before the events of Tekken 6]

The Stardust of a Song (1/?)

Chun Li

Björk

but sometimes, you see a little girl doing her makeup for twelve thousand instagram followers. she’s nine. sometimes you see a man breaking up with his girlfriend for youtube likes. sometimes you are standing in a room and are in the background of fifty snapchat stories but in nobody’s actual lives. 

it’s mostly okay. but so many of us grew up in a time where they basically ignored the internet while teaching us cursive in school. digital literacy was “don’t look at wikipedia”. none of us knew what the next generation was being set up to. we taught ourselves our own rules. many of us, it didn’t come soon.

it’s mostly okay. but the other day, i asked my freshman students: if you could, would you go back in time and take the internet away from yourself in middle school? if so, when do you think is the right time to be exposed to social media?

over and over: yes. yes. yes. i’d go back and never look up those skinny tips. i’d never spend so many weekends in the dark in communities that encouraged me to self-harm. i’d never lose my brother to radicals. i’d never, i’d never, i’d never again.

I wouldn’t take the Internet away from myself in middle school. because it was 2004-2008 and the sum total of my Internet usage was reading Nightmare Before Christmas fanfiction, watching Flash videos, making crappy MS Paint base edits, and looking up Mediaeval Baebes lyrics. on a desktop PC. I occasionally talked to people on forums (I had a Gaia Online account for a while), and I emailed or AIM-ed my friends, but my social media access was nil. No MySpace, no Facebook, no nothing.