5 minute lifehacks

they say two heads are better than one. and four has to be better than two! ==>

hi my name is morton (25, they/them) and i’m diagnosed with loving twewy. i love writing and making friends so feel free to hit me up! i write rhyme as nonbinary and using any pronouns so dont worry about keeping up with they/them if its hard for u! she/her and he/him are also fine! press the quote above for links, and the arrow if you’re not sure where to start! my other blogs are-

With the faintest tilt of their head, Tai’s gaze would fall onto the human’s computer screen for a brief moment. A question formed in their head, but it was one they chose to ignore for the time being. Instead, they kept a smile on their face as they spoke.

“The techy type, huh? Cool!” Soft chuckling emitted from the taller being as they moved to take a seat next to this kid. Their small size reminding the creature of their sibling, which silently fueled their more protective instincts.

“I usually just give stuff a good ol’ whackin’ if it doesn’t work. Nice of you to help them though.” There was a pause as Tai turned their gaze away to breath in the fresh air. As they did, they caught the faint scent of something delicious, which made their nose twitch as they sniffed momentarily. However, the strange display was cut short when their attention fell back on the younger individual.

“So, what kind of app is that?”

Though Rhyme always did their best to be as polite as possible, they couldn’t help the slightly nervous laugh that escaped them as the other sat next to them and explained how they usually handled tech issues. Rhyme shifted their laptop a bit further away from the stranger, just in case. This guy sounded a bit like their own brother, in that regard, so they probably didn’t mean anything bad by the comment. Still though. Beat giving their desktop at home a small smack or shake wasn’t going to harm it too much, but their laptop was a bit more fragile, especially outdoors. One wrong move and instead of dropping to the nice, carpeted floor of their bedroom, it’d likely shatter on the concrete below.

Rhyme’s excited energy was quick to return as they asked them what kind of app they were working on, though. They did their best to push their nerves aside for the time being as they shifted a bit to face the other a bit better.

Gil wasn’t used to kindness these days. People just usually either taken advantage or gave up on them. Gilly takes a sigh of relief and trying to gather themselves together. “Y-Yeah….I don’t even have a partner yet and it’s like what?…The 2nd day?” Gilly frowns and looking at their phone.  “Man I really need to ask someone soon.”  

Rhyme blinked, seemingly surprised at the other’s words. They didn’t have a partner? All of the other Players Rhyme had encountered had been matched up since day one... Granted, it’s not like Rhyme had met many other Players besides Beat and that other team, but still. Wasn’t this game supposed to be built around having a partner? It didn’t seem fair that they would make someone play without one...

    Neku knew they had missed stuff while they were away. Memes, hanging out with friends, watching Rhyme learn and grow… But that wasn’t the focus right now. The internet was just as fast paced as brands and trends and things could change overnight. There was a lot for Neku to discover. Just three years late. 

    “Baby Shark sounds like a kids thing. Guess it got popular enough to branch out? I’ll hafta look it up later I guess.” They weren’t exactly broken up at missing a trend about a shark or a kids thing. That was far from their scene. They had to admit the plushies were cute though.

    Neku was now focused on FanGo as the game started to load up on his sparkling new phone. Just as the map loaded in, a whole nest of monsters popped up around them. “Huh? There’s a lot right here. I wonder if it’s ‘cause you play here.”

“I mean, I think it’s supposed to be a kids thing, but that doesn’t mean it has to be, right?” Right? Right? It’s not like Rhyme was insecure about being one of the youngest people in their friend group, or anything. That would be ridiculous... Although they supposed they were a little less secure about it now, with Shoka, Fret, and Rindo around. But still.

Though maybe they should just try to forget about that, for the time being. They were sure Neku didn’t mean anything bad by it, and it seemed they’d moved on, anyway. They let out a small little breath as they recomposed themselves, standing on the tips of their toes for a brief moment to look at Neku’s screen.

❝ Oh – er, congrats? ❞

[Alright, he was officially lost here. Tied for first place with a “Legendary Player” because they’d died on multiple occasions? Who was this kid? What was this “Player” thing about? Maybe they’d been talking about a video game this whole time ( a video game where your score was measured in…death?? ). Michael hadn’t kept up with any upcoming game titles in years…]

❝ So, is this…were we talking about a video game? Who’s this Legendary Player? ❞

A small little giggle escaped them at the man’s questions. They supposed this whole thing was probably pretty confusing to someone who didn’t have the proper context... oops! They couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for confusing him, but they also worried about talking too much about UG related things with someone who didn’t know about it... Hm! This was a tricky one. They’d just have to be careful about the way they went about this-

"Of course. Though, do be careful, Raimu, she tends to be--"

Before he can even finish speaking, Eve bounds over to Rhyme, nuzzling their leg with her head.

Joshua laughs. "Well, I was going to say she tends to be a bit aggressive towards strangers, but it appears she's taken a shine to you."

“I always had a feeling Noise liked me! I can’t usually see them, I guess I was right!” They gave the ‘dog’ a pat on her head. “If you ever need someone to walk her, let me know! Our parents don’t want us to have a dog, and I think Neku and Shiki are too scared to be around them even if I could get a dog...” A small, wistful sigh before they brightened back up.

Joshua quirked a smile back at him. They didn’t take the bait, and they didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by the reminder of what he’d done. There was something to say about that–Joshua wasn’t sure whether to call it kindness or naivety.

Except, Rhyme was fully aware of what she was doing. What was with these kids and their willingness to hand out completely unearned trust?

“You know, it almost sounds as if that’s the part you’re thankful for.” He giggled. “But yes, it was quite miraculous, wasn’t it?”

The whole time, the polite smile on their face never once faded. They may have never met Joshua before now, but in Rhyme’s eyes, they were already friends. Josh just didn’t know it yet.

shoka stares at the phone that’s back in her hands. she’s just been sitting here fidgeting, on the edge of her seat, waiting to see if rhyme would be able to do the impossible. she probably shouldn’t have questioned it, but despite her love for games, shoka’s not really good with the technological aspects of the hobby. she’s always been more the type to throw something when it stops working than to actually look into fixing it.

“…wow.” if she knew how to whistle, she’d whistle. “that’s… they’re all there, right where i left them.” it’s like seeing an old friend again. “i feel like buying you food here isn’t nearly enough to pay you back… uh. thanks.” as usual, she’s rather tongue-tied when it comes to gratitude. “now i have to figure out what to do with this thing… i could probably trade all the mons i wanna save to rindo, and have him trade them back…”

Rhyme looked on, proudly, a little excited twinkle in their eyes as Shoka observed the old account. They’d offered to try as a fun little challenge, but Shoka being so grateful about it was better than anything they could have imagined. Truthfully, Shoka hadn’t had to buy them food at all. Rhyme liked doing things for their friends when they were able too. If their technological knowledge could make a friend happy, then they would surely put it to use.

Besides, they had managed to recover the account, but it wasn’t a guarantee, going into it. Rhyme was just lucky there hadn’t been any countermeasures in place to delete it once it noticed someone tampering with it... But they wouldn’t tell Shoka that bit. All’s well that ends well!

Rhyme was immediate to hug their friend back. Though Beat had always make sure to make Rhyme's birthday at least somewhat special, they were still trying to get used to other people caring about it. It wasn't as if their parents ignored their birthday, or anything... They just didn't seem to put as much care into celebrating as they did into other things, but that was okay. It'd hurt a bit, not being allowed to invite school friends over for a party as their parents insisted that they should be studying for exams, instead, but that was all behind them, now.

"Mm hmm! It’s like they say, time flies when you’re having fun, and it’s hard not to have fun when you have such great friends!" They gave a bright smile and excited nod as Shiki adorned them with their gift, eyes sparkling in awe. They tried to stay as still as possible so Shiki could position it exactly the way she wanted, but found themselves unable to in their excitement. They always knew Shiki had been good with fashion and would have love something given to them by her regardless, but it was even more special now that Shiki ran her own brand!

Ever since the launch.??? Shoka certainly hadn’t been playing for that long. The only reason she got into this game was because Kaie made her an account that could transcend between the two planes of Shibuya. He knew how she struggled to talk to people, so this was a gift for her to be a bit less lonely and happy for a change.

After she was given the account, only then did she really get into the game. The monsters in FanGo were so much fun to collect and battle with… It was nice to have something fun to do outside of work, and especially something she could do while she worked around the city as a reaper. She isn’t one anymore, obviously, but she still very much enjoyed playing the game now that she was alive. At least now she had another friend to play with.!!

“Yeah, I think Neku might start playing, but Beat won’t ever get it,” Shoka replied with a chuckle. “And yeah, makes sense. You could always keep trying to catch off-colored monsters from these rare monster spawns.” Right now, she was currently trying to catch up with this new account she made after becoming alive… It was rough, but she was getting there.

          There was a small giggle at her words. Most of the time, Rhyme was fairly polite, and of course Rhyme loved their brother, but even they were still siblings, after all, and siblings had to roast each other at least sometimes, right? Especially little siblings to their older ones! (And since Neku didn’t have a younger sibling, Rhyme would have to fill that role for him, too, so-)

❝ I’ve died on several occasions in several different ways by now; I’d say it counts. ❞ [Being “scooped” was a death in and of itself, as was being operated as a meat puppet by an animatronic, being set on fire, etc., etc….and yet Michael had survived it all, horrifically. He was in bad shape.]

comfort meme

@peachrote​ asked;

“ i’m having a really bad day… ” - from shoka :^)

“Shokie-” Rhyme usually had at least some words to help comfort someone. They were by no means an expert on doing so, but they could usually think of something. Even if it wasn’t something specific to the person or situation, they could usually think of a helpful idiom, or a positive fortune cookie message they’d once read! They ran through a short list of options in their head, but nothing seemed quite appropriate, now.

So, they did what their brother always did for them when he didn’t have the words. They threw their arms around her and held her as close as they possibly could.