Odyssian FanFiction

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PennyBassett
Fudge Marble
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Ope new characters... I'm intrigued!
"Let me get this straight. I bet all those non-friends of yours try to embarrass you about your love for that stuff, right? So, you almost feel like you have to hide your treasures away and can only take them out in secret on rainy days when your mom goes to the store to get more liver and nobody is around to berate your sensitive spirit. Is that what you’re saying?" -Jay Smouse
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EnderWarrior36
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i'm just not gonna comment on this, good writing tho.
screeeeeeeee
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EnderWarrior36
Strawberry
Posts: 85
Joined: December 2016
Location: Bombing Area 51

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i'm just not gonna comment on this, good writing tho. :clap:
screeeeeeeee
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ByeByeBrownie
Strawberry
Posts: 87
Joined: July 2019
Location: How I Do Is Nothing Great

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Bethany Shepard??? I am here for this!!
Shiyanne Rylie Steele

Buck and Jules Shipper
Wooton is the best character on Odyssey ever. Fight me.


"It's not that we don't make sense, it's that we have a different way of looking at things that do make sense." ~Wooton Bassett
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Miah Robinson
Chocolate Chip
Posts: 48
Joined: February 2019
Location: across the pond

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Chapter 12
(finally)
Jay’s POV
Most normal people leave anonymous notes alone, or throw them in a trash can, or burn them, or turn them into ammo for the next spitball war at school. But fortunately, I’m not normal. When I first pulled the white envelope addressed to none other than myself out of my backpack, I didn’t really think anything about it. Until I opened it…
By now you may know that social status and money are strong motivators for me, or so my genius dad says. So when I opened the envelope and read the words, ‘Meet me behind the football field bleachers at Odyssey High School at 4:55 pm next Monday and we’ll pay you’, I freaked out… literally. My freak out moment consisted of throwing the bag of Cheetos that I was eating on the ground, panicking at what I had just done, then frantically trying to stuff them in my mouth. Oh yeah, and my mom has an unhealthy phobia of germs so when she walked in to me knelt on the floor hurriedly shoving “contaminated” chips in my mouth, she smacked me with the dishrag she was holding.
“Hey! Sorry- sorry!” I scrambled to stand up.
“Jay, what have I told you about not eating things off the ground?!”
“I’ve eaten worse-”
“What?”
“Nothing…”
She marched over to the pantry, extracted a broom and dustpan, and shoved them into my arms.
“Clean them up and don’t eat any more.”
Man, couldn’t be more direct than that.
She left the room without another word. I awkwardly leaned the oversized broom against the wall and sighed. It seemed like the only way for a dude to gain approval was by being popular in sports or having money. I looked over at the open envelope on the counter. Maybe I had finally hit a jackpot...


Buck’s POV
I switched on the basement light as Jason set down the metal paint cans.
“So, you ready to do some painting?” he asked, stretching his back.
I nodded. “Yup.”
“Okay then. Let’s do this.”
Jason poured the thick white paint into the blue, plastic tray. Little air bubbles appeared in the goopy liquid. I picked up the rollers off Mr. Whittaker’s desk and handed one to him.
“How’d you get Katrina to let you paint the basement?” Jason laughed, taking the roller from me.
“Ha! I’ve basically had to beg her to let me do anything ‘strenuous’ for the past month. But she gave way when I reminded her that the doctors said I could start doing stuff again after four weeks.”
“Well, at least she cares.”
“Yeah.”
Jason dipped his roller in the paint, I followed suit and began rolling paint onto the rough concrete wall. No one said anything for a while. Music drifted softly out of Mr. Whittaker’s antique radio.
“How’s school going?” Jason finally asked, cutting off the glorious silence.
“Not bad. I’ve got my ACT in three weeks, so that’s kinda crazy as far as studying goes.”
“Hm, do you feel ready?”
“Not really,” I laughed. “Katrina been trying to help me with practice tests and stuff, and I’ve been studying with Jules.”
“That’s good. You excited for auditions?”
“Oh yeah! That’s gonna a blast. It’s the same weekend as the test though, but I’ll survive. Are you planning on auditioning?”
“I wouldn’t miss it. When I was five, I was supposed to be the kid’s chorus for Music Man, but um, I kept forgetting to wave with my left hand so they cut me from the show,” Jason said, a faraway look in his eyes. “I’m looking at this as my way to redeem my past musical theater failures.”
We both laughed.
“I bet you could get the lead again. You’d be a good Harold Hill.”
“Maybe. I’d rather not get the ‘con man’ part though,” I laughed, redipping my roller in the paint.
“That makes sense. But you probably wouldn’t have a lot of competition if you wanted to.”
“Aside from the fact that Mr. Westcott put flyers for the audition all over town.”
“I guess we’ll see what comes of that. Are Jules and Eugene auditioning?”
“I know Eugene is. I’m not sure about Jules though. I’ll have to ask her when I see her later.”
“Ah,” Jason smirked, “you guys going out?”
“Yeah. I think we’re gonna get Starbucks or something.”
“You’ve given up on our drinks?” he asked in a horrified British accent.
“Uh-”
“I’m kidding. It’s fine.”
I laughed slightly. “It’s the whole Connie being a vulture thing that gets bothersome.”
“I see… You know, Jules uh- she had a really hard time with you being out of things.”
I looked over at Jason, my roller poised mid-air.
“Have you asked her how she felt?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.
“No.”
“Maybe you should do that. She’d probably feel blessed.”
“Yeah…” I muttered under my breath.



Jules’ POV
I sat across the small, round table from Buck. The warm paper cup of peppermint hot chocolate in my hands. I watched the steam spiraled up from the cup in rhythmic swirls.
“So um, are you planning on auditioning for Music Man?” Buck asked, drumming his fingers on the wooden table.
“I mean, yeah I think so. Are you?”
“Heck yeah!” he laughed. “Jason said he’s going to too.”
“Hm, nice. When’d you see him?”
“Earlier today. I repainted the basement with Jason.”
I eyed his speckled face and hair. “That would explain why you’ve got paint in your hair.”
“Ha yeah, painting is messier than you’d think.”
I watched a tall man in a thick black coat walk through the door.
“Okay, so I um- I wanted to ask you about how it was with me being in the hospital and stuff?”
“What?” I laughed at the sudden change of topic.
“Like- how’d it make you feel?”
“Um, well it was- hard,” I swallowed. “I kept seeing his face every time I’d look at you laying there. It sort of enforced the feeling of hopelessness.”
“That makes sense…”
There was a momentary pause. I glanced out the window to see a squirrel scamper up a dead, snow-covered tree.
“I uh-” Buck turned and looked out the window. “Hey, is that Bethany?” he pointed at a girl running along the sidewalk.
“Um, yeah I think so…”
She blew past the window, eyes on the ground. The yellow and black flannel tied around her waist fell to the ground, she didn’t seem to notice.
“Um, we should probably go take that to her,” Buck said as I watched her run across the street, walked up to a house, and opened the door.
“I guess she lives there?” I muttered.
“I guess. Shall we?” he stood and zipped up his coat.
“Let’s do it.”
I stood up and looked into his eyes. There was something bothering him, but those blue eyes were so hard to read sometimes.



Bethany’s POV
I think it’s safe to say that my trip to Whit’s End was an epic failure. I had walked into that victorian style house when all those painful memories came crashing back into my head. The ones of Aubrey and- well, we’ll get to them later. All I can say is that it was a disaster. I had a full-blown anxiety attack in that three-foot bathroom stall before I was able to calm myself down enough to act my way past my parents and Connie and leave. Fortunately, our house is right next to McAllister Park, so it was only a five-minute run. But then I arrived home only to be attacked by another onslaught of uncontrollable emotions. I ran into my bedroom and slammed the door. My chest heaved. I stared at myself in the mirror above my desk. A cloud covered my blue eyes. A thin stream of tears ran down my face. The monster inside thrashed against my lungs.
Stop feeling! Stop feeling!
“Agh!” I pulled my off black beanie and threw it on the ground.
Blades dug into my heart. Nausea. Always nausea. That was the source of what my parents liked to call an eating disorder. Anxiety attacks were frequent visitors to my room. All because I couldn’t numb my feelings. I looked down at my shaking hands. They had turned white from gripping my chair so hard. My dirty hands, covered in red ink from the pen that I had accidentally snapped in half in one of my recent anxiety attacks. I gulped back the feeling that I was losing control. My therapist had given me multiple exercises to keep the attacks down, but the problem was remembering to do them.
C’mon, five things. Just name five things.
I looked around and began naming different items in my room out loud.
“Bed- clock- lamp-”
Deep breaths.
“Carpet- chair…”
Four things you can touch.
I reached over and picked up a marker that was lying on my desk. That wonderful feeling of the cold plastic in my sweaty palm brought relief. I began touching different items and naming them out loud. Soon that horrible tightness in my chest loosened and I was able to take steady breaths. And then the doorbell rang…



Buck’s POV
We stood outside the white brick house. I pressed the little black button on the doorbell. A loud ring sounded through the inside of the house. A shadow appeared on the other side of the glass. The door opened. Bethany stood there; her eyes were puffy. I noticed cardboard packing boxes strewn about the poorly furnished living room.
“Hey Bethany, um- you dropped this,” I handed her the shirt.
“Thanks… Where’d you find it?” she asked, eyebrows furrowed.
“On the sidewalk in front of Starbucks,” Jules said.
“And you knew it was mine?” Bethany twisted her hands together.
“We saw you drop it.”
“...What?”
She had a vacant look in her eyes.
I looked over at Jules. She shrugged.
“Bethany, are you okay?” I asked slowly.
She blinked. “Um, yeah… Thanks for bringing it back. Bye.”
The door shut.
“Okay then… What now?” Jules asked, her hands in her coat pockets.
There was something about Bethany’s eyes, a reflected trauma of sorts. I had seen that same look in my own eyes too many times. Something wasn’t right.
“Jules, what do you think about inviting her to go on a hike with us next week?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“I mean- I guess. Why not.”
I rang the doorbell again. We waited for around two minutes before the door opened again.
“Do you need anything else?”
“Actually yeah. You wanna go on a hike with us next week?” I smiled.
“Um… I- maybe. When?”
“Next Sunday.”
“Okay maybe. I need to ask my- yeah okay, I’ll think about it.”
“Okay, great!”
“So um, I’ll text you later I guess…”
“Sounds good,” Jules nodded.
Bethany fake-smiled and closed the door.
I think the stress that she radiated had caught up with me. I let out a tight breath.



Jay’s POV
Monday afternoon was a fancy day for me. I whistled as I pushed through the mass of kids gathered outside Odyssey High School. The nice thing about being smaller than everyone else is that no one really notices you, so you can get around relatively easily, but you also get kicked a lot. When I finally got to the football bleachers, I noticed a man in a black leather jacket, gray skinny jeans with a chain hanging from the pocket. He looked pretty swanky.
“Are you Jay?” He asked, readjusting his Ray-Ban sunglasses.
“Mhm,” I said, leaning against the light pole nonchalantly, trying to match his ‘I’m cool’ vibes.
“Good.”
“So, uh, what do I have to do to get the money?”
“First, I have a question…”
“Okay?”
“Do you know this person?” he showed me his phone.
“Yeah, that’s Buck. You’ve never heard of him?”
“Kinda.”
I laughed. “Everyone’s heard of Buck. He’s kind of famous.”
“How so?”
“Buck Meltsner! The con artist turned star football player-”
“Meltsner? I thought his last name was Oliver?”
“Well yeah, it was. But Eugene and Katrina decided to adopt him or something.”
“I see… Listen, I need you to meet me here in two days. Same time. Got it?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure. Do I get the money then?”
“We’ll see… Wait- here,” he pulled a wad of one-dollar bills out of his pocket, “ten bucks upfront for your troubles.”
“Sweet!”



Unknown’s POV
“Sir,” the young man in front of me dropped the report on my desk, “his last name is Meltsner, not Oliver…”
“And how, may I ask, did you come by this information?” I asked, picking up the stack of papers.
“A boy; Jay Smouse.”
“You’ve resigned yourself to using a fifteen-year-old child who has no experience?” I looked up from the page, “That’s pathetic.”
“...Sir, this- boy,” he swallowed, “he can help us. I’ve been watching him. He knows everyone, he listens well, he’s quick to learn, and he knows his way around. And in all honesty, he’s lone-”
“Honesty is what I expect.”
“Right, sorry. Like I was saying, he’s lonely, desperate for acknowledgment even. So if I play him, I think he could be useful.”
“Hm… Okay then, you have my permission.”
“Thank you, sir…”
"Well, that wasn't Shakespeare's Henry IV, but it'll have to do." -Don Polehaus
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Miah Robinson
Chocolate Chip
Posts: 48
Joined: February 2019
Location: across the pond

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Chapter 13
Bethany’s POV
Isn’t church supposed to make you feel welcomed and at home? Odyssey Community Church definitely didn’t make me feel that way. When you’re in such a massive building filled with thousands of people, all expressing worship in different ways, it can get pretty overwhelming. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so small and insignificant in my life. Our small church in Connellsville was far more inviting than that megachurch filled with flashing bright lights and bright, colorful, fake people… Dad was seriously into it. I mean- after all, his job was now at this church. “Repair Man Extraordinaire” is what he likes to call it, an extremely unimpressive job title. Why would someone want to work nine hours a day, five days a week in a building like that? Now don’t get me wrong, I love the church, I love spending time with God, but in my own unique ways. I feel most connected to God when I can express myself through my actions, skateboarding for example. I’ve tried to explain that to people, but no one seems to understand. I don’t like expressing affection in public, which would include worship. That's probably why most people are surprised when they find out I’m a Christian.
Oh, the quirky girl who spends her time skateboarding, hiding out in her room, and obsessing over medieval weapons is- gasp, a Christian.
Why is it that no one understands? It’s irritating in all honesty.
Anyways, I hated Odyssey Community Church. I know that’s harsh, but it’s true. After about thirty minutes of unnecessary socializing, we finally left. During the drive home dad and mom gushed over how great of a service it was while I silently died in the back seat...



I reached over to my bedside table to turn the alarm on my phone off.
Twenty-seven minutes until my inevitable doom.
I sat up, rubbed my throbbing eyes and looked out my window. The blinds were parted slightly, letting golden slivers of light into my dull bedroom. A wave of nausea attacked my stomach as thoughts started pouring into my head.
You turned them down once. You’re a disappointment. They’re only pitying you, they don’t really want to be your friends. They’ll leave just like everyone else. No one cares about you and you’ll be all alone again.
I snapped back into reality.
Shut up and move.
I stood up and headed into the living room. I grabbed my black denim jacket off the back of the couch and walked over to the table. My hand closed around my car keys. For a split second, I considered putting them back down and not going, now I wish I would’ve. I could’ve continued my simple, mundane life in peace.



Buck’s POV
Our walk had almost entirely consisted of me trying to start a conversation, Jules chiming in, and Bethany mumbling in agreement.
Up to this point at school Bethany had started to pull away; all that had started happening after she realized that I was “popular”. I tried to include her, but the crowd that followed me seemed to scare her off. At some point along the way, I decided to switch tactics: mention something from my life and ask if she’d ever had experienced anything similar. It seemed to work for a while until either Jules or I would touch on a semi-deep topic.
Once we got to the peak of the mountain I pulled the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of my hiking backpack and handed one to Jules and Bethany. Bethany took it from me reluctantly.
“You good?” Jules asked, peeling back the plastic wrap that surrounded her sandwich.
“I uh- I’m allergic to peanuts…”
“Oh…” Jules looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
“Oh! I’m so sorry! Here,” I took it from her and reached back into my backpack, “I brought an apple. Sorry, it’s not much…”
Bethany smiled slightly and took the piece of fruit from me, “It’s fine, thanks.”
“Well then, we got everything?” I asked, almost apprehensively. The last thing I wanted was another awkward interaction.
“Yeah,” Bethany sat cross-legged on the ground and took a bite out of her apple.
“Cool,” Jules sat down on a fallen log, I sat next to her.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. Birds chirped in the swaying pine trees. The sun beat down on the gray boulders scattered around us.
“...It’s so- peaceful out here. Not like Connellsville. Connellsville is crazy. We lived in the part of town where it wouldn’t be surprising to wake up to the sound of gunshots and police sirens in the middle of the night, or where you couldn’t go anywhere without worrying about getting mugged or- It just wasn’t anything like this. It’s just so- gorgeous...”
I watched Bethany gaze at the horizon silently, I felt Jules’ hand squeeze mine.
“I’ve been to that area, it’s definitely not a safe feeling place. What brought y’all to that part of town?”
“Ministry. My parents wanted to be in the thick of the action, where people most needed God. So that’s where we moved.”
She was finally opening up.
“Hm, where were you before you moved to Connellsville?”
“Out about thirty minutes from Odyssey, a place called Riley’s Farm.”
Jules looked at me, her eyes wide.
“Wait- like, the Riley’s Farm? The one in the woods with the apple orchards?”
“Yeah! How’d you know about it?”
“We do theater stuff there. We actually have auditions there in a few weeks.”
She looked up at us. “Wait, seriously?”
“Yeah, have you ever done acting stuff before?” Jules asked, taking the reins from me.
“Aside from acting my way through life, no.”
Jules laughed. “Hm, you should come audition with us.”
“I don’t know…” Bethany said hesitantly.
“It’d be fun if you’d try.”
“I guess it’s worth a shot.”
“Why were you guys at the farm?”
“Ministry stuff as well. We worked at the Timothy Center until I was thirteen.”
“Hm, so you guys are Christians?”
“...Yeah.” She broke eye contact and glued her eyes to her hands. “You guys aren’t, right?”
“I uh- no, we’re not,” I swallowed.
“Ah… I saw you at church today though.”
“Eugene and Katrina make me go.”
“They’re your parents?”
“Kinda. I’m adopted.”
“Oh…”
“Do you enjoy going to church?” Jules asked. “It seems like a waste of time.”
“It depends on the church. The environment can have a big impact on your experience,” she said, picking at her nails.
“That makes sense…”
I sensed her uneasiness.
“Hey, um, wanna head back down since we’re done eating?”
“Sure,” Bethany stood up. An almost triumphant yet terrified look in her eyes.
Religion definitely wasn’t a topic I had wanted to touch on...



We walked down the path silently, Jules’ fingers laced through mine.
“You know, there’s-”
Suddenly there was a loud grinding sound followed by a long screech of metal rubbing against metal.
“Watch out!” someone yelled.
We all jumped aside. I turned around to see Jay skid across the gravel path, his bike following close behind and slammed into him.
He let out a groan then a slow, “Ow…”
“Jay?” I asked, walking up to the sprawled-out young man.
“Heh, hey Buck…”
“You okay?”
Jay sat up and rubbed his head. “Well if you consider the fact that I was just hurled off my bike, skidded ten feet along a path covered with rocks, and had a twenty-pound bike slam into me, then yeah, I’m fine.”
I offered him a hand and helped him up. Jay brushed himself off and readjusted his crooked Elvis Presley belt.
“What are you doing out here?” Jules asked.
“...Uh- I was- um- I was biking with Vance.”
“Okay… Where is he?”
“And, he uh- he ditched me.”
“Ah.”
“Vance?” Bethany asked.
Jay looked at her inquisitorially. “You’ve never heard of Vance?”
Bethany shook her head.
“Hm, well don’t get involved with him. That’s all I’m gonna say.”
“Okay then..."
“So uh,” Jay picked up his bike, “I’ll just- be going.”
He made it about two feet before he realized that the chain had fallen off and his front wheel was bent.
“Um, I don’t think you’ll be getting anywhere,” Bethany laughed.
“Thank you Captain Obvious!”
“So, Jay. Want some help?” I asked, taking a step towards him.
“Help?”
“With the wheel and the chain.”
“Ha! You think I don’t know how to fix a bike chain?”
No one said anything.
“Alright! I don’t know how to fix it.”
“You gonna let me help then?”
“...fine.”
I flipped Jay’s red trick bike over, my fingers closed around the greasy chain.
“You've done this before?” he asked, arms crossed.
“Mhm.”
“Show off…”
I move to the front of the bike. My muscles strained as I bent the wheel back into place. The rubber tire was limp.
“Jay, you’ve got a flat tire. You’ll have to walk it back.”
“Ha! No way!” He hopped on his banged-up bike. “See ya dorks!”
Jay took off down the gravel path, flat tire and all.




Bethany’s POV
My skateboard skidded across the smooth concrete.
Ugh.
I walked over and picked it up.
“Bethany?!”
I looked up to see a silhouette of a boy standing at the top of the ramp in the sunset.
“Uh- Jay? What’re you doing here?”
“Pulling off some sick tricks… Man, I should’ve guessed that you were the skater type! The uh- black clothes, ripped jeans, flannel shirt, Vans, and the snapback kinda gives it away.”
“Yeah thanks,” I planted my right foot on my skateboard.
“Wait,” Jay rode his trick bike down the steep slope and stopped in front of me. I noticed that it was different than the one he was on earlier. “Hey wanna sit with me at lunch tomorrow?”
“Ha! You’re like twelve! I’m good.”
“Hey ouch! A couple things, número uno: I’m not twelve, I’m fifteen. Número dos- why the heck would I want to ask you on a date?!” Jay pretended to gag.
“Um-”
“No no no! Since your crush ditched you, I thought you might want to sit with me and my buddies. You seem like a pretty cool person, and we’re always on the lookout for cool kids.”
“Whoa, wait- my crush?” that came out sounding way harsher than I had intended.
“Yeah, Buck! I’ve seen how you follow him around everywhere. But I’ve got news for you missy, the girl who was with you two earlier is his girlfriend!”
This can’t be happening…
I took a breath. “Jay, I know. And I don’t like Buck.”
“You don’t- wait he’s not- oh…”
“Yeah, so leave me alone.”
“Fine! But if you ever want to sit with weirdos like yourself then you know where to find us!”
I took off on my skateboard and started picking up speed as I approached the half pipe.
Weirdo huh? We’ll see about that.
I launched off the lip of the ramp. My hand closed around the corner of my board as I kicked out with my feet. The feeling of freedom rushed through my lugs as I flew through the air. I twisted my legs as I brought the board back to my feet and hit the pavement. I sped towards the opposite side of the pipe. People are stupid. Being a loner was way more appealing.
"Well, that wasn't Shakespeare's Henry IV, but it'll have to do." -Don Polehaus
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ByeByeBrownie
Strawberry
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Joined: July 2019
Location: How I Do Is Nothing Great

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I love your characterization for Bethany! Good stuff!
Shiyanne Rylie Steele

Buck and Jules Shipper
Wooton is the best character on Odyssey ever. Fight me.


"It's not that we don't make sense, it's that we have a different way of looking at things that do make sense." ~Wooton Bassett
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Miah Robinson
Chocolate Chip
Posts: 48
Joined: February 2019
Location: across the pond

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Hey gang! It's been a minute. The lack of fanfic is the result of my life being crazy. And I'm a huge procrastinator, so cheers. But, to the point now...FANFICTION. Do you want to hear more of this story? I could start a new storyline starring Jay, which would be cool. I could bring some old characters back and see how that goes. Or I could do all of the above. Any thoughts about what you would like to see happen?
"Well, that wasn't Shakespeare's Henry IV, but it'll have to do." -Don Polehaus
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ASmouseInTheHouse
Cookies & Creme
Posts: 286
Joined: August 2019
Location: Some little corner of the world
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I'm up for Jay fanfiction! :yes:
"Next up, Mark Morgan's message to all math maniacs in the middle school is meaningful if you mingle by the mezzanine for a momentous mix of methodological mayhem and a menagerie of multiplicative inversions. Ha ha ha! I bet I could say this backwards. Inversions multiplicative of menagerie a and mayhem methodological..."
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