#2) i needed to make it myself (it be like that sometimes)

[pickingupmymercedes]

Salt and Starlight - Lewis Hamilton

Lewis's 40th birthday special part 1

warnings: none

genre: fluff

wordcount: +2k

a/n: It's a '3 times y/n's made Lewis feel like a teenager (on the brink of turning 40) and the one time he did' (except that last bit is the part 2 coming later)

As always, I'm open for feedback, come say hi!

______________________________________________________________

What do you give someone who has it all? He is Lewis Hamilton, after all.

I’d been asking myself that question for weeks.

Lewis isn’t exactly the kind of guy who needs another watch, another car, or another piece of art for his collection.

He’s got it all—trophies, fame, money, and a closet full of designer clothes that probably cost more than my first car.

So, what do you give that man ?

The answer came to me one night when we were lying in bed, talking about nothing and everything.

I’d been reminiscing about growing up by the beach, about the stupid, reckless things I did as a teenager that made me feel alive. Lewis had laughed, that deep, warm laugh of his, and said, “God, it’s been years since I’ve felt anything that… teenagery.”

And there it was. My gift to him.

“Are you sure this isn’t just an elaborate ploy to embarrass me?” Lewis asks, tugging the brim of his bucket hat lower over his sunglasses. The hoodie he’s wearing makes him look like a man trying to sneak out of a high school reunion unnoticed.

Which, okay, is kind of the vibe I was going for.

The drive to Santa Barbara was… well, let’s just say Lewis loved being a passenger princess, most times, and that wasn’t one of them.

He kept fidgeting, adjusting the seat, and asking if I was sure I knew where I was going. (Spoiler: I did. Mostly.)

But by the time we pulled up to the boardwalk, the sun was setting, casting the sky in shades of pink and orange, and he finally stopped asking questions.

The amusement park was exactly how I remembered it—bright lights, the smell of cotton candy and fried food, the sound of laughter and screams from the thrill rides. It was chaos, but the good kind.

The kind that makes you feel alive.

“You’re not serious,” Lewis said, staring at the roller coaster like it might bite him.

“Oh, I’m very serious,” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the line. “Come on, old man. Let’s see if you’ve still got it.”

He glances down at me, a boyish smile breaking through his mock-suspicious expression. “Always.”

And there it is—the grin I was waiting for.

The one that reminds me of the Lewis who still feels like a kid sometimes, who loves the thrill of life just as much as his achievements.

For once, Lewis doesn’t have an itinerary. No obligations, no pressures. Just us.

We hit every ride that promises to throw us around like ragdolls. Rollercoasters that make my stomach drop (and Lewis laugh at my shrieking), bumper cars where I play dirty and spin him into the wall, and that spinning thing that got me questioning my life choices.

By the time we got to the Ferris wheel, the sky was dark, the stars just starting to peek through.

The Ferris wheel was… different. Slower. Quieter.

As we climbed higher, the noise of the park faded away, and it was just us, suspended in the air. Lewis was quiet, staring out at the ocean, and for a moment, I wondered if I’d pushed him too far with this.

“This was the plan all along, wasn’t it?” he says as he leaned into me. His voice is light, but there’s that knowing look in his eyes.

I feign innocence. “What plan?”

“The Ferris wheel. The whole night was a setup for this.”

I smirk, settling into the seat beside him. “You’re giving me way too much credit.”

The wheel begins to turn, the car gently rocking as we rise above the chaos below. The lights from the boardwalk blurring, and for a moment, neither of us speaks.

The world feels smaller up here, quieter.

He shifts closer, and I can feel his gaze on me, warm and intent. “This was a good idea.”

I smiled, leaning into him. “I have those sometimes.”

And then he leans in, his lips brushing against mine.

It starts softly, like he’s savoring the moment, but it deepens quickly, and suddenly the air feels electric. My mind goes blissfully blank, except for the thought that this—this might’ve been what I wanted all along.

When we finally break apart, his forehead rests lightly against mine, and he’s grinning like a teenager who’s just stolen his first kiss. “This feels straight out of a cheesy rom-com.”

“Good,” I manage, still catching my breath. “It’s meant to.”

He laughs, and it’s the kind that bubbles out of him, genuine and unguarded. And I think, there it is again.

That boyish smile I’d give anything to keep seeing.

“You know,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper, “this is exactly how I imagined love when I was a teenager.”

He chuckled, his breath warm against my skin. “Yeah? Did you imagine me too?”

I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling. “Shut up.”

And then the Ferris wheel started moving again, and we were laughing, and for the first time in a long time, Lewis looked… free.

We were still laughing as we stumbled off the Ferris wheel, my hand in his, the cool ocean breeze brushing against our skin.

Lewis had that look in his eyes—the one he gets when he’s trying to play it cool but is secretly having the time of his life.

It’s rare, these days, to see him so unguarded.

“You know,” he said, pulling me closer as we walked, “I haven’t done anything like this in… I don’t even know how long.”

“What, ridden a Ferris wheel?” I teased, bumping my shoulder against his. “Yeah, I can tell.”

He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “No, I mean… this. Just… being spontaneous. Letting go.”

I stopped walking and turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. “Lewis Hamilton, are you telling me you’ve never been spontaneous? Because I find that hard to believe.”

He shrugged, that infuriatingly charming smirk playing on his lips.

“What?” I ask, bumping my shoulder against his as we weave through the crowd.

He gives me a sideways glance, lips twitching like he’s holding back a laugh. “Nothing. Just you, scheming. Don’t think I don’t know you planned that whole Ferris wheel moment.”

I roll my eyes but can’t help the small smile that sneaks out. “Oh, please. Like I can predict what’s going to happen in the heat of the moment.”

He hums noncommittally, but the way his hand slides into mine, fingers lacing tightly, tells me he’s not buying my act. And I’m not about to argue with him on that. Ever

We walk aimlessly for a while, the neon lights of the boardwalk fading behind us as we drift toward the quieter streets. It’s one of those perfect in-between moments—neither here nor there, where everything feels suspended, and nothing needs to make sense.

That’s when he says it.

“You know,” he starts slowly “you were right earlier. About the Ferris wheel. It did feel… teenagey.”

I smirked. “Told you.”

He hesitated, then said, “So… what’s next?”

I blinked at him, surprised. “What do you mean, what’s next?”

He shrugged, but there was a glint in his eye that made me suspicious. “You’re the one who planned this whole thing. What’s the next stop on the nostalgia train?”

I stared at him for a moment, then grinned. “Well… there is one thing” and before I can stop myself, the words tumble out. “We should get that tattooed. Like, right now.”

For a split second, I expect him to laugh, to brush it off with a comment about how I’m clearly delirious from all the carnival food. But instead, he just raises an eyebrow, intrigued. “What, the ferries wheel?”

“No, ‘40,’” I say, half-joking, half-serious. “Something simple. For this moment, for you.”

To my surprise, he doesn’t immediately shut it down. Instead, he tilts his head, considering. “You’re serious about this?”

“I mean… why not?” I shrug, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious under his gaze. “You’ve got plenty. One more won’t kill you.”

He hesitated, and I could see the wheels turning in his head.

Lewis doesn’t do things on a whim—not anymore. His tattoos are works of art, carefully planned and executed by the best artists in the world. The idea of walking into some random parlor and getting inked on a whim was probably giving him hives.

He looks at me for a moment, his expression unreadable. And then he smiles, that slow, deliberate smile that makes me feel like he’s about to say something I’m not ready for. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

“Wait, what?”

“You said it yourself. Why not?”

And just like that, we’re standing outside a tattoo parlor that looks like it hasn’t seen a renovation since the early 2000s. The buzzing sound of the needle greets us as we step inside, along with the unmistakable scent of disinfectant and a tattoo artist who looks thoroughly unimpressed with our arrival.

“What are we doing?” I whisper as Lewis fills out the paperwork, his calmness somehow making me more nervous.

“Living like teenager, apparently” he says simply, handing me the pen to fill out my form. “You know, like… spontaneous, stupid, matching tattoos. The kind you get when you’re young and dumb and think it’s a good idea.”

The design we settle on is simple: the number 40, styled in a subtle, abstract way that could mean anything to anyone else. It’s perfect.

Mine goes on my wrist, tucked just under my watch strap. His ends up near his elbow, seamlessly blending into his sleeve, the one he’s spent years building.

When it’s my turn, I flinch at the first touch of the needle, earning a quiet chuckle from Lewis. “Don’t start,” I warn, gritting my teeth as the artist works.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” he says, his voice entirely too amused.

When it’s done, we step back to admire our matching tattoos. They’re small, subtle, and utterly reckless in a way that feels right.

“40,” he says, his voice soft but laced with meaning as he looks at the ink.

I glance at him, my chest tightening in a way I wasn’t expecting. “The big four-oh.” I echo.

His lips twitch, but he doesn’t look at me. “Here we go.”

I grin, nudging his arm with my shoulder. “What? It’s a big deal. A milestone. People throw whole festivals for this kind of thing. They buy sports cars.” I pause, then laugh. “Well, I guess you’ve already got the cars covered.”

“Funny,” he says, finally glancing at me. There’s a glint of amusement in his eyes, but it fades quickly, replaced by something softer, more reflective. “It doesn’t feel like a big deal. Not really. It’s just… a number.”

“Uh-huh.” I tilt my head, studying him. “And how many times have you told yourself that the past month?”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “Too many.”

By the time we’ve grabbed more food—a greasy basket of fries—it’s late. The boardwalk is still buzzing behind us, but we’ve drifted to the sand, away from the crowds.

The ocean stretches out before us, vast and dark, lit only by the moon and the occasional flicker of a far-off boat.

Lewis sits beside me,  his hands occasionally finding their way onto my back his hoodie pulled up against the chill of the night. I watch as he unwraps his burger with careful precision, like the fate of the world rests on not spilling ketchup.

“Not bad for a last-minute dinner date,” I say, popping a fry into my mouth.

He looks at me, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Not bad at all.”

We eat in comfortable silence for a while, the sound of the waves filling the gaps. I can feel him thinking, though.

The way his fingers drum lightly against his knee, the slight furrow in his brow—it’s all there if you know where to look.

“You’re being suspiciously quiet,” I say, nudging him lightly with my elbow.

He glances at me, a small smile playing on his lips. “Just thinking.”

“About?”

He takes a bite of his burger, chewing slowly as if buying time to form an answer. Finally, he swallows and looks out at the water. “About this. About everything, really.”

“Everything?” I echo, raising an eyebrow. “That’s… vague.”

He chuckles softly, shaking his head. “My birthday. Turning 40.”

I pause, the fry I was about to eat halfway to my mouth. “Oh, you’re having a midlife crisis?” I grin, trying to lighten the mood.

He gives me a look—half amused, half exasperated. “I’m not having a midlife crisis.”

“Sure sounds like one.”

He laughs, but it’s softer this time, his gaze still fixed on the ocean. “It’s not that I’m worried about turning 40. I just… I don’t know. It’s a lot to think about.”

I stay quiet, letting him take his time. You don’t rush these kinds of conversations.

“It’s funny,” he continues. “I’ve spent my whole life in this sport. Every year, every decision—it’s all been about racing. And now I’m here, about to hit 40, and…” He trails off, shaking his head.

“Hm?” I prompt gently, not pushing, just giving him space.

“And I thought I’d feel more certain about where I am.” He exhales, a long, slow breath that seems to carry years of weight. “I’ve told myself so many times I wouldn’t still be racing at this age. But here I am, and I don’t want to stop. Not yet. And now, with Ferrari…”

His voice breaks off again, and I see his hand flex slightly, like he’s trying to grasp something just out of reach.

“You’re scared,” I say quietly, not as an accusation, just an observation.

He laughs, but it’s more bitter than lighthearted. “Terrified…. Not of the racing—I know I can still do that. But of… everything else. Of failing, of not being enough. Of proving the people right who think I’m too old or that I should have stopped like Nico.”

I set my burger down, leaning toward him. “You’re not afraid of proving them right, Lewis. You’re afraid you might believe them.”

That gets his attention and his gaze snaps to mine, something flashing in his eyes.

“It’s not that I doubt myself completely,” he says after a moment. “But it’s there, in the back of my mind. This little voice asking if I’m trying to hold onto something that’s already slipping away.”

I take a breath, my heart tightening at the vulnerability in his words. “You’re not just holding on. You’re still building something. And you’re allowed to want that, even at 40.”

He looks down, his jaw tightening briefly. “I want to believe that. I really do… But then I think about all the things I’ve given up along the way—time with family, relationships, moments I’ll never get back. And I wonder if it’s selfish to keep chasing a dream.”

I nod, my chest tightening. “I get it. And I think it’s good that you’re thinking about these things. It means you care.”

His head tilts slightly, the corner of his mouth twitching. “You make it sound so simple.”

“It’s not simple. It’s messy, and ugly, and complicated, and terrifying. But it’s worth it. You’re worth it.”

For a moment, he doesn’t say anything, just watches me with an intensity that makes my chest ache.

“I’ve never been good at slowing down,” he admits finally. “Even now, there’s so much I want to do. So many dreams I’ve had since I was a kid that I’ve never had time for. And part of me wonders if I ever will.”

“You will,” I say softly. “Maybe not all of them at once. But you will. We will.”

He sighs, his shoulders relaxing slightly as he leans back on his hands, staring up at the stars. “Sometimes I wish I still had that recklessness, but with everything I know now.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works; you know that don't you, grandpa?” I tease, trying to lighten the mood.

He chuckles, the sound warmer this time. “Fair point.”

After a beat, he smirks, glancing at me. “You keep calling me old though, but I don’t remember you complaining last night.”

I burst out laughing, shaking my head. “Oh, shut up. You’re ruining the moment.”

He grins, and just like that, the heaviness of the conversation lifts slightly, replaced by something lighter but no less real.

As we get up to leave, I brush the sand off my hands and glance at him. “For the record, I like vintage Ferraris better anyway.”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it. There’s another teenager dream I’ve always had.”

He laughs as he reaches for my waist, and this time, it’s full and unrestrained. The sound carries over the waves, as he turns me around on the sand and captures my lips with his once again.

There, under the moonlight I know how much I love this man—even when he’s scared, even when he’s uncertain.

Especially then.

_____________________________________________________________

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[chaotic-archaeologist]

So to make a long story semi short; during fall term a couple unknowing found a set of mastodon teeth and brought to my anthropology professor at the college, since then they conducted some field work and found more bone. They obviously stopped because of winter but in summer the college will be offering a field work class to go help at the site. I want to do that, but as mentioned before I have Cerebral Palsy which means I don't have a lot of upper body strength or flexibility. But I can still do a lot. My I guess problem is my Professors respect me and that's hard for me to get with all the ableism and I worked hard these last two semesters to break out of my shell to get here , I guess I just don't want to 1. make a fool of myself 2. be a hindrance and/or mess something up

any advice?

This sounds like an incredible opportunity, and I would definitely encourage you to pursue it! I hear your concerns about embarrassing yourself and being a hindrance, but I think you should reframe your thinking around facts that 1) everybody deserves learning experiences regardless of their physical ability, and 2) there are things you can do that will be an asset to the excavation.

Some of these things include taking notes and photographs, documenting and storing finds, and working with any digital tools like GPS units. You may also be able to do lab work and different kinds of analysis, depending on what they find and how they run the program. A good supervisor (although not all are created equal) will be willing to work with you to come up with a plan for how you can participate and what that will look like.

Usually, classes like this have applications where students list their relevant coursework and write a brief personal statement about why they want to participate. There are a couple of ways you could go about this in regards to disclosing your disability and seeking accommodations. You can either:

Disclose early: this would entail including something about your disability in your personal statement, in an email to the professor running the dig, etc.

Disclose later: submit your application without mentioning your disability. Feel free to mention how hard you've worked to get where you are, and if you want to talk about vague challenges with your health as part of that, it's up to you. If you are accepted to the dig, ask for a meeting with the supervisor where you can then explain your needs and what you are able to do.

Generally, I advise erring on the side of disclosing later rather than earlier. As I'm sure you're aware, prejudice and implicit bias are unfortunately a thing, and sometimes the only way to protect yourself from those impeding your application is to withhold information (although obviously this isn't an option if the professor already knows you). Additionally, you have legal protections against discrimination that are much easier to enforce after you have been accepted.

That being said, I've been heartened to see that more and more people in archaeology spaces are thinking about what accessibility means in field settings and how to include people with disabilities.—perhaps this is also the case with whoever is running this dig. Archaeology is for everyone, and there are many roles in an excavation for someone who can't do physical labor.

Finally, I'll close with some resources that might be helpful.

The Disabled Archaeologists Network: while I don't think they have a ton of programming for undergraduates (yet), membership is free and can put you in touch with

Field Tested: an article about a disabled student who was able to participate in a geology field school (similar levels of work to an archaeology one). It discusses some of the accommodations the student needed, and what they were able to do.

Here's an article by Dr. Anita Marshall, the professor who ran that accessible field school. Its content isn't substantially different from the one I linked above, but at the end it also cites some good literature about accessibility in field work. You should be able to access a lot of those publications through your institution's library or @jstor's free (or institutional) service.

Good luck, -Reid

[l-starsz]

a/n: part 2 finally! i think we might need a part 3 though.. (i genuinely did not think i’d write so much for this😭)

(part 1)

cheater billie part 2

i woke up at 10am. my head was pounding from all the crying. my mind immediately went to what had happened the previous night. i was stressed about it. i was stressed about her.

i obviously still wanted her. i mean, who wouldn’t? she was so perfect. i was just worried. i had no clue whether she’d cheat on me again or if she was serious about what she said.

i wondered if she’d actually call. maybe she didn’t mean what she said. my mind spun with thoughts for a while. until i decided to actually get up. i brushed my teeth, then went back to my room to do my makeup.

once i was done, i brushed my hair, then headed downstairs. i needed to clean, so i played some music and began cleaning the house. i was doing this for a good few hours, just making sure everything was spotless. i worked my way around the house, and soon enough it was 2pm.

i’d completely finished everything i needed to do, so i rushed upstairs to have a shower so that i could finally relax.

i felt so much better once i was out, putting some comfy clothes on and doing my short after-shower routine before heading downstairs. i went straight to the living room, curling up on the sofa under a warm blanket.

i put a movie on tv and laid there. whilst i was laying there, my mind finally drifted back to billie. it was getting later and she still hadn’t called. i hadn’t even thought about her at all. because i’d been distracted.

but it was as if she could hear my thoughts, because right as i began to focus on the movie again, my phone rang. it was loud, and startled me from my own mind. my heart began racing. my hands shook as i took the phone into my hands, slowly and carefully answering the call.

i took a deep breath when i heard her speak.

“hey, uh, i said i’d call you.” she mumbled, slightly awkwardly.

“you did.. i remember, billie.”

it felt so awkward all of a sudden. i was waiting for the call all day, and now it just didn’t feel right. it didn’t feel right speaking to the girl who broke my heart.

“yeah.. i was wondering if.. if i could take you out sometime next week? please. i planned something.”

“hmmm.. let me think about it.” i knew i’d say yes, i just wanted to see how she’d react.

i knew i shouldn’t be letting her back into my life like this. i knew it was wrong. especially after all that had happened. but i missed her. i missed her so much, i needed her. she was the only person who ever fully knew me. i still needed her.

“please.. please! i’ll do anything. i have it all planned out. i’ll make it perfect. i’ll make everything up to you, i promise.” she begged.

wow, she really was desperate. surely she wouldn’t be so desperate for me to let her take me out if she didn’t care. right? surely she would’ve given up by now if she didn’t care.

“of course you can take me out. you really think i’d say no?” i giggled.

i heard her let out a sigh of relief as i continued laughing at her.

“okay uh.. i’ll text you details! and i have one more question..”

“what is it, billie?” i quietly asked.

“can you come over tonight? please.” she whispered.

“i’ll be there later.” i smiled.

we spoke for a few minutes longer before we ended the call.

i looked over to the tv to see the movie ending. i turned the tv off and went upstairs, quickly getting myself ready and changing before leaving my house.

it didn’t take me long to reach billies house. i hesitated before knocking on the door. was i making the wrong decision? my mind was filled with doubts. part of me wanted her back, and the other part of me was screaming that this was the wrong choice. i took a deep breath, then knocked.

she was quick to open the door, leading me inside before shutting it behind me. she guided me to the kitchen, where i smelt something good. she’d made food for us? she made my favourite meal. she’d put a lot of thought into this.

a small smile came to my face, and my cheeks turned pink. she looked over to see me smiling at her work. she smiled back, coming over to me and taking my hands.

“this is good billie, you’re really trying huh?” i mumbled, looking in her eyes.

“i really want to prove to you that i mean what i said. i have lots of stuff planned. this is just the start.” she continued smiling.

“yeah? what stuff, hm?”

“that would ruin the surprise.” she rolled her eyes, moving towards the counter and dishing up some food for us.

i giggled and followed her, taking the plate she handed to me before we sat down at the table. we ate, and spoke of course. i really had missed this. and it was almost as if she could read my mind when she spoke.

“you know, i’ve missed this.. i’ve missed you. way more than words could ever explain.” she sounded nervous.

“i’ve missed you too billie. but that doesn’t mean you’re forgiven yet.” i mumbled.

“i know, i know.. i’ll make it all up to you. just like i promised.”

i smiled, but i couldn’t stop the thoughts from creeping back into my mind. what if there’s someone else again? or what if i trust her and she finds someone else? my eyes drifted down to my hands as i played with the rings on my fingers. billie must’ve noticed, since she carefully lifted my head so i was looking at her, then spoke.

“what’s bothering you, hm? you can tell me.”

“it’s just.. i’m worried. what if you find someone better again? what if i trust you and you cheat again?” tears came to my eyes, thinking back to the moment when i found out.

“i understand, i know it’s gonna be so difficult to trust me again, but i promise you that i will never do something that stupid again. you’re the only girl i ever want in my life, you mean the world to me. i completely understand if you can’t trust me again, but please just let me try to prove it to you first.” she cupped my cheeks, her thumbs running over them as she looked into my eyes.

i nodded and looked to my lap.

“thank you.” i whispered.

“don’t thank me. i hurt you, i don’t deserve this.. i don’t deserve to be making it up to you, i mean, you could’ve easily told me no, but you didn’t. thank you. for everything. i’m lucky to even get to speak to you.”

“don’t say that bil.” i whispered, “you know i’ve always cared about you no matter what. i missed you so much.”

i moved her hands from my face and held them in mine, a small smile on both of our faces.

we spent hours together before i decided to go home, it was getting late and i was getting tired. so we said goodbye to eachother and i left.

“call me tomorrow billie?”

she nodded and smiled, waving me goodbye as i left. i really didn’t want to leave. but i knew it was right. i needed to take things slow, i couldn’t trust her right away.

[omorimodreverie]

Reverie Devlog - 2025 January

Intro

New Year has just passed and now we are in 2025, which also means a new Dev log!

This log is a relatively shorter one in terms of progress made, as the majority of work  happened in November, as December was busy for almost everyone. Instead, part of the focus in this devlog will concern management during times of low activity.

Progress

Main writing properly reviewed

Aside from major cutscenes and dialogue-heavy writing, work was also finalized on any transition scenes that will lead to the next chapter.

Gameplay progress testing started

A lot of things are still missing, but the chapter is playable for the main progression.

Testing was done to ensure that the chapter can be accessed through previous chapter (Ch. 3) save files.

Miscellaneous RPGMV work

Various minor bug fixes, as well as cutscene tweaks.

While no major implementation was done, it still added up to quite a lot of work.

Enemy AI brainstormed and drafted

These are just drafts for now, however, and proper testing with stats will take place later on

What’s Next

As of now, a decent chunk of people in the team are still on a well-deserved break - January will likely not see any major spike in activity. At this point, identifying specific tasks needed to be completed is sometimes tricky, even when a lot of things are obviously missing.

The probable first thing on our task list is simply playing through what we have so far, and looking for anything missing: ranging from technical bugs, to gameplay aspects (communicating where to go next or balancing in battles).

For those interested, at the moment the majority of RPGMV related tasks are hooked on the Github Project of the REVERIE project repository. Even though I was out for over a month, I did manage to list a bunch of tasks requiring completion while playing through in advance. It is likely that something similar will be done for this month as well.

As for a specific list of those tasks (that I can publicly talk about):

Extra optional areas - these are after the main chapter bosses and optional challenges. They tend to be large and have more winding paths, but are only 1-3 maps.

Extra optional fights, similar to above, but specific battles. Chapter 4 will come with a dedicated optional area, unlike the chapters that came before.

Creating and implementing the ending cutscene, though this is pretty much the final thing on the to-do list.

Playtesting and balancing various combat side gameplay.

Making skill animations, if time and resources permit

Final Notes

Overall, the past 2 months have been more lackluster in terms of progress, but that is usual and to be expected during Winter break / New Year (as most people get busy). I myself have been almost completely offline for over a month, so even I need to catch up on the work done so far: that's the reason why this dev log is a bit delayed.

Anyways, as a thanks for reading this far, here's a teaser for a battle theme for The Dungeon area and a preview of a battle gimmick there!

(It might seem a bit strange to separate battle themes for a minor areas; it's a remnant from trying to manage music in advance way back since Chapter 2)

[maddy-k-reads-all-day]

Snow Day! - Kate is Alive AU part 3!

Part 2:

“So Riley, this is Margret. She works at the Kensdale Library with me.” Kate explained. 

“Nice to meet you…” Margret replied, “I see that you’re the one who put me in this difficult position!”  

“I’m… sorry?”

“Since Kate is supposed to be dead and now you’re missing, I had to explain why there was a dead body in Kate’s office to the police!” Margret explained, “Well… at least I managed to turn it in our favor.” she sighed, rubbing her temples. 

“YOU TOLD THE POLICE TO WATCH THE TAPES!” Kate shouted. Riley looks at Margret with panic and confusion. 

“Hold it. You’ve got it all wrong. I pinned the crime on Hameln in order to get the police to look into them more deeply.” 

“What did you say?” Riley asks. 

“I simply explained that I knew Joanne and a number of others were looking into a cult that had been involved in the kidnappings of multiple children. I said that the cult had been making anyone who was looking into them ‘disappear’.” “There’s no way they believed all that.” Kate sighed. 

“Oh they seemed to totally buy it actually.” Margret nodded, “Because I made sure to phrase it in a way that didn’t sound completely insane.” she said in a way that felt like a personal jab at Kate. “I showed them all the evidence I had on hand of the kidnappings. I showed them the letters from the parents whose kids watched the show. I explained that the cult had created the cartoon in order to brainwash children and make them easier to trick and lure away from home, as well as teaching dangerous lessons to make kids turn against their parents and go into unsafe places. I told them if they didn’t believe me they should watch the tapes themselves. They asked me if I had more evidence, and I said I’d be able to gather all of it for them and give it to them. We’re meeting again to discuss it on Saturday.” 

“We’re giving them ALL OF IT?!” 

“Kate, calm down. This is why we made copies of everything, remember?” 

“That’s actually really smart.” Riley marveled. 

“You can thank Peter for that.” Margret winked.

“So you need me to gather a copy of everything before then?” 

“Remember which of us has a job Kate?” Margret says, raising an eyebrow, “It shouldn’t take long, considering I organized it all.” 

“Organized she says…” Kate sighs, rolling her eyes. Margret furrows her brow. 

“It would be if you put things back where they belong!”

“Ugh fine…” 

“Um… so I guess I’ll watch the next tape by myself then?” 

“No, I'll watch it with you.” Margret says, flopping down next to Riley. Kate looks appalled. Now that Margret was right next to them, Riley noticed the bags under her eyes. “Oh PLEASE I deserve a break don’t I? After I saved your behind again?” Kate sighed and rolled her eyes.  

“Well alright. Margret, this is Riley, my brother’s child.” Kate explained, “And they found out something interesting…” 

“What’s that?” Margret questioned. 

“When I watched the tape with them, they brought out an interesting side of Amanda and Wooly that we haven’t seen before… and we learned some interesting things from it.” 

“Oooh. Interesting. How’d you do it?” Margret asked, getting way too close to Riley’s face. 

“I didn’t do anything too crazy, I just answered incorrectly on purpose sometimes to see what they’d do.” 

“Oh I see, the exact thing Kate told me NOT to do unless strictly necessary.” “Look, we needed to gain Rebecca’s trust, so actively upsetting her didn’t seem wise.” 

“But Amanda says she trusts me.” 

“By some miracle.” Kate sighed before leaving the room. Margret looked over Riley’s shoulder at the tape they had. “Snow Day hm? I don’t think I’ve seen this one yet.” She takes it from Riley and places it into the VCR. “Let’s see what you got!” she laughed. The tape starts with Amanda and Wooly looking out a window. 

“Wow… it’s really coming down out there…” Wooly mumbles.

“You know what that means…” Amanda says excitedly. She looks at the screen and grins. “Hi there, I’m Amanda!” 

“Oh! And I’m Wooly!” Wooly smiles. Amanda keeps looking at the screen.

“Oh, it's you!” She gasps. “Hey we should play tag next time, okay?” The voice prompt appears.

“Sounds like a plan, a man… da!!” Amanda gives Margret a weird look. “Yeah I don’t know what that joke was supposed to be…”

“Do me a favor and never tell a joke again.” Amanda scoffs, “Anyway… today we’re having a snow day!” she cheers, jumping up and down. Wooly does not look so excited. “Oh! But before we go outside-” 

“Do we have to go outside?” Wooly groans. “It’s going to be so cold!” Amanda gives him an annoyed look. The tape glitches a bit. 

“That’s why we’ll need our snow gear!” Amanda beams. Three blue plastic bins appear. Each one has a different picture on it. The first has a picture of a snowflake. The correct answer. Riley observed. The second has a picture of a rain cloud. Why would your rain gear be in the attic? Riley wondered. The third has a picture of building blocks. Now those aren’t even clothes! “I pulled out these three bins from the attic! Can you tell me which one holds the winter clothes?” Amanda asks. Riley taps their finger on the TV screen at the rain cloud.

“No silly, that’s for rainy days!” Amanda smiles, “Try again!”  

“That wasn’t too weird…” Margret mumbles. Riley taps the bin with the building blocks on it. 

“Ugh… why did I even bother bringing this bin down?” Amanda grumbles, “try again.” Riley taps on the building blocks again. “Obviously that is not the answer!” Now only the snowflake box remains. Riley taps it. “That’s right! Now let’s get our snow gear o-” the tape freezes. Margret and Riley wait, but the TV stays frozen. 

“This TV is such a piece of junk. It does this all the time… all the TV needs is a good WHACK!” Margret says, smacking the tv. The tape unfreezes, Amanda and Wooly hold their heads in pain. 

“Ow!” Wooly shouts. 

“What was that for?” Amanda whines. The tape glitches. “Let’s get our snow gear on!” Amanda says. The tape fades in and out and now Amanda is dressed in her snow gear, wearing a puffy coat, gloves, snow pants, a warm hat, a scarf, and big winter boots. 

“Amanda… wears my snow-stuff?” 

“Not here.”

“Huh? Then where is it?”

“It’s not my job to keep track of your stuff Wooly.”  

“But I put my snow stuff in the box!”

“This is a bin.” 

“Then where’s the box with the snowflake on it?!” 

“Didn’t we throw all the boxes out recently?” Amanda asks. Wooly’s face goes blank. 

“Oh…” “Oh well.” Amanda shrugs.

“Guess I’m not going outside…” Wooly sighs. Amanda looks at Wooly and then at the bin.  

“Well my old winter stuff is here… I guess I’ll allow you to use it. Just this once…” she sighs, “Hold on…” Amanda gets up and leaves the screen for a couple seconds while Wooly puts on her old hat and gloves. Amanda returns with some old beat-up winter boots. 

“Amanda, I think this glove has a hole in it.” 

“Yeah Wooly, that’s why those are my old gloves.” 

“Why do you still have these? I’ve never seen you wear them…” 

“I don’t even know how they ended up here to be honest…” Amanda sighs sadly. She hangs her head low in silence for a couple of seconds. “Amanda… by any chance… Do you have a coat I could borrow?” 

“Do you really need a coat? I mean, you got all that wool, don’t you?” Amanda asks. 

“I mean…” 

“Ugh… fine.” She sighs, she takes off her scarf and wraps it around Wooly. “There, happy?”

“Amanda, this is not a coat…” 

“Well I’m not a genie Wooly. Deal with it.” Amanda suddenly claps her hands together, causing Wooly to flinch. “With that settled, let's go outside!” Amanda cheers. The tape glitches to Amanda and Wooly in a snowy backyard. It is still snowing. 

“Hey look Amanda, I can catch snowflakes on my tongue!” Wooly says, though it is a bit hard to understand him with his tongue out catching snowflakes. 

“What are you five?” Amanda scoffs. Wooly looks sad. “There are lots of things we can do on a snow day! My favorite thing to do is… is…” Amanda bends down and starts gathering snow into a ball then she turns around and chucks it at Wooly. “Snowball fight!”

“Oh I’m gonna get you for that!” Wooly bends over and makes an even bigger snowball that he chucks at Amanda. Amanda smoothly moves out of the way. 

“Miss me! Miss me!” she taunts, bending down to gather a new snowball.

“I won't miss again!” Wooly chuckles. Amanda glances behind her to see what Wooly’s up to and gets a snowball right in the face. She turns around and reveals her arms are full of snowballs. “Oh dear.” Amanda manages to hit him with half of them. 

“Grrrrr…” Wooly bends over and starts making another snowball. Amanda gasps and runs behind the picnic table, which she tips over to make a shield. Wooly looks up. “HEY THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Amanda hits him in the face with another snowball. “You're cheating!” Amanda turns to us and giggles. 

“I’m going to hide behind here and make snowballs and you can throw them at Wooly for me okay?” Amanda whispers. 

“Ooooh fun.” Margret grins, cracking her knuckles. Every time Amanda holds out a snowball, Margret would tap the screen directly at Wooly’s face. Then she noticed a glitch where she could just keep tapping the screen and Amanda wouldn’t even need to hand her a snowball.

“Uh…” Amanda looks confused and a little bothered by this.  

“What are you doing?!” Riley hissed. 

“What? It’s fun!” Margret cackled. 

“Until he gets angry!” 

“Haha! Wooly doesn’t get angry!” 

“ENOUGH OF THIS!” Wooly screams, throwing his scarf on the ground. Amanda watches him head back towards the house. 

“Wha? That’s not right… you’re supposed to come over and get me in the face with a snowball remember? That’s how this always goes!” Amanda calls out, sounding really disappointed. Wooly ignores her and storms inside. “Ugh now look at what you did. Now I can’t have my snowball fight.” Amanda pouts, crossing her arms. Then she looks at the snowball next to her and chucks it at the screen. “What should I do now? Should I build a snowman, go sledding, or make a snow angel?” she asks us. The voice prompt appears.

“Snow angel!” Riley calls out. Amanda smiles and flops down in the snow waving her arms and legs to create an angel. She gets up to see what she made and frowns. 

“It doesn’t really look like an angel.” she grumbles. It looks like an angelic version of a certain cartoon mouse. Riley thinks. She kicks snow over it and turns back to the screen. “What should I do now?” she asks. The voice prompt appears.

“Talk to Wooly. Get him to come back outside.” Margret suggested. Amanda scowls. She elbows Riley playfully. Ooooh.

“Wrong. The options were to go sledding or build a snowman.” Amanda explains in an annoyed tone. “Try again.”

“Talk to Wooly.” both Riley and Margret said in somewhat unison. Amanda looks annoyed at the idea, but considers it.

“Mmmm… Fine!” she groans, “Wooly!” she calls out loudly. There is no response. “Oops guess he doesn’t wanna come back outside so we’ll pick something else!” Amanda shrugs. The voice prompt appears again. 

“Go inside and talk to him for real!” Margret taunted.

“Oh so you want me to clean up your mess.” Amanda groans, rolling her eyes and trudging back inside. She finds Wooly sitting on the couch sipping some hot cocoa. “Wooly!” she shouts. Wooly gets startled and starts choking on his cocoa. 

“UGH! Amanda?!” he gasps, sounding extremely irritated, he takes a deep breath and regains his composure, “You’re back quickly, was it too cold out there?” Amanda furrows her brow. He wears a smug smile. “No… it’s just… our friends kept asking me to bring you back outside.” Amanda grumbles. Wooly’s smile vanishes instantly. 

“What so they can shove five more snowballs down my throat? Hard pass.” 

“Forget it. I’ll build a snowman by myself!” Amanda grumbles. Wooly looks extremely bothered by this. 

“Fine, I'll come.” he mumbles, following Amanda outside. She rolls her eyes. Wooly digs his scarf out from under the snow and puts it on. 

“Are you stupid?” 

“What?” 

“That’s been sitting in the snow for-” Wooly tilts his head in confusion. “It will make you more cold!” Amanda exclaims. 

“Oh.” Wooly takes the scarf off and drops it in the snow once more. 

“Alright what were we doing again?” Amanda taps her chin in thought. 

“Building a snowman- OOF!” It seems the tapping the screen glitch is still in effect and Wooly had gotten hit in the face with a snowball once again with an amount of force that knocked him flat on the ground. Amanda glares at the screen. 

“Do you hate him or something?” Riley hissed. 

“Actually yeah.” Margret shrugged. Riley gives her a weird look. “I’m joking, I just really like to tease him sometimes. It’s funny and there’s never any consequences. Unlike with Amanda…” I’m not so sure about that. Riley thinks, remembering what happened to Joanne and shuddering. “That reminds me I have never seen the Amanda demon attack someone so violently before…” Margret said, tapping her chin. “That’s because it-” 

“So are you guys going to apologize to Wooly or?” Amanda scoffs, tapping her foot. Wooly’s face lights up with joy. The voice prompt appears. “I’m sorry Wooly it won’t happen again HA!” Margret taps the screen again, this time Amanda smacks the snowball to the ground. 

“No! Bad! Bad!” Amanda scolds, waving her finger, “I told you to stoppit!” What is she, a dog? Riley thinks. “I’m trying to have a snow day here and you’re messing it all up!” she screams. 

“Th-thanks for saving me…” Wooly says, twirling his fingers awkwardly. Amanda rolls her eyes. 

“I didn’t do that for you.” she groans, glaring directly at Margret. “Ugh. Let’s just build that snowman.” Amanda sighs, then her smiley demeanor returns. “To build a snowman how many snowballs do we need?” she asks. The voice prompt appears. 

“Two.” Riley answers. Amanda scowls. What did I do this time?

“No, that's not right.” she grumbles, shaking her head. 

“I thought it was…” Wooly mumbles. Me too Wooly, me too…

“Try again.” the voice prompt appears again. 

“Fifty-seven!” Margret beams. Amanda has a creepy, clearly annoyed smile on her face. “I’m really starting to like this whole, pushing Amanda and Wooly’s buttons game.” 

“I just answer some questions wrong sometimes to get a reaction, you’re just bullying them!” Riley protested.

“Whoops, did I go too far?”

“That’s an understatement.” Riley replied. Seriously… I don't want to get attacked again…

“How many snowballs do we need?” Amanda asks. The voice prompt appears yet again. 

“Three?”

“That's right!” Amanda beams. 

“Ugh but three is going to make this take forever! Can't we just do two?” Wooly complains.

“What happened to having a bit of patience Wooly?” Amanda says, winking at the screen. 

“I see what you did there.” Wooly sighs. Amanda looks quite proud of herself. “But seriously it's cold out here, let's just do two.”

“We're doing three!” Amanda insists.

“But Amanda-” 

“My d----” the tape glitches loudly, static covers the screen. “My da----” the tape glitches again. “My dad---” behind the static Riley hears Amanda let out a little screech of frustration. “And I always made our snowmen with three snowballs! Always! It has to be three! It has to be!” 

“Amanda… huh?” Amanda throws her coat in Wooly's face. 

“Wear this if you're so cold. I'm making my snowman!”

“Amanda! Put your coat back on, you'll get a cold!”

“I’d rather catch a cold then listen to you complain all day!” Amanda scoffs. Wooly looks offended by this.

“I- I'm fine Amanda I have my wool… I don't want you getting sick.” Amanda rolls her eyes and starts rolling a snowball. “Amanda put your coat back on!” Amanda ignores him. He walks over and puts her coat over her shoulders and starts helping her roll the ball. 

“Wooly… ugh whatever.” Amanda stops and puts her coat back on. If you start working on the second snowball, we'll get this done quicker.” 

“Ah, okay.” Wooly goes and starts forming another snowball. While he's doing this, he starts humming a little tune. Hey I recognize that song! I think I used to hear this on the radio… a long time ago… What was it called? Riley wonders.

“Wooly, what song is that?” Amanda asks.

“I… don't know…” Wooly mumbles, “I just know they used to play it on the radio ALL THE TIME. It was pretty annoying actually.” 

“I think I remember that… Do you remember any of the words?” Amanda asks.

“No…”

“Hum it again.”

“Um… okay…” Wooly starts to hum the melody again. 

“I think you're humming it off-key. Didn't it go…” Amanda starts humming along. 

“Yeah yeah! That's right… then it went…” Wooly starts humming a different part. 

“Yeah… but like… I think the notes were a bit higher?”

“Quit being such a critic!” Wooly pouts.

“Oh sorry, I’ve just never met someone so bad at humming before. How can you be bad at humming? It’s so easy!” 

“Is this snowball big enough?” Wooly asks flatly, glaring daggers at Amanda.

“Yeah I'd say so. I gotta finish the body and work on the head… you go get the rest of the stuff?”

“Rest of the stuff? What else do we need for a snowman?” Wooly asks. Riley taps on some sticks on the ground behind him. “Oh yeah, our snowman needs some arms! Help me pick some out!” Wooly runs over to the sticks. Does it matter? Riley wonders. They tap on a random stick. “No… that's too short. We're making a snowman not a T-Rex!” Riley taps a different stick. “Haha no. That's way too long!” Riley taps a different stick. Wooly picks it up. “I don't like the way this one feels.” WOOLY QUIT BEING SO PICKY!!! Riley thinks in annoyance. Margret picks a stick that is sticking up out of the ground. Wooly goes to pick it up, then realizes it's stuck in the ground. “Oh! It's a little sapling! A baby tree!” He giggles, “we can't use this little guy. Ah! Hold on!” Wooly disappears off-screen for a couple of seconds and comes back with his scarf. “Here… so we don't lose track of where it is!” 

“Wooly I'm done! Do you have the other stuff?” Amanda calls out offscreen.

“No!” Wooly calls back. 

“What's taking you so long?” Amanda asks, walking over. 

“Look Amanda, I found a baby tree.” 

“Oh… we'll have to dig it up.”

“What? Why?!”

“Look Wooly, it's too close to where our water pipes are underground-”

“Why do you know that?”

“Don't ask. The point is once its roots grow big it will make a big mess. We'll have to move it when the snow melts.” 

“No seriously why do you know about this-”

“Same thing happened at my house one time. There was a tree that grew too close to the piping system and my d--- had to get the tree removed and the pipes replaced. It was a massive pain in the butt.” Amanda explains. 

“I feel like this is getting really off-topic from the episode…” Wooly mumbles, looking unsure. 

“You asked.” Amanda shrugs, picking up the long stick and the short stick.

“Amanda those aren't the right sticks!” Wooly protests. 

“Right sticks? What are you talking about?” Amanda says, looking confused. The tape glitches and Amanda and Wooly are standing in front of three snowballs. “Alright, which snowball goes on the bottom?” Amanda asks. Riley taps the smallest one. “What? How do you even think that? Did you mishear me? I said on the bottom.” Amanda scolds, “Try again.” She's taking this really seriously… Riley thinks. Riley taps the biggest one. “That's right. Now which one goes on top of it?” She asks. Margret taps the medium snowball. “Right. And the smallest one goes on the very very top.” Amanda says. “Help me Wooly.” 

“Oh okay.” Wooly says. Amanda and Wooly take the medium snowball and place it on top of the biggest one. Then Amanda reaches up and puts the head on. The tape glitches and a smiling face is now on the snowman. 

“I think we outdid ourselves, Wooly.” Amanda says proudly. Wooly walks over and places two round snowballs on either side of the snowman's head.

“Look, now it's you.” He smiles. Amanda squints her eyes at the snowman. 

“Hmm…” the tape glitches and another snowman appears next to hers, with two snowballs instead of three. It bore a striking resemblance to Wooly. “Look! It looks just like you!”

“Okay I don't know if it looks just like me.” Wooly chuckles.

“It's round like you.” Amanda points out, poking Wooly's wool. “Oh wow that's soft…” she mumbles, still poking Wooly. 

“That tickles!” Wooly laughs. “Wait a minute- HEY!” Amanda runs off-screen giggling.

“Now where was that sled?” Suddenly, a bunch of random cartoon sound effects start to play. While that's happening, the opossum sneaks over.

“Hey! It's you! What are you-” the opossum kicks the two snowmen really hard and they come toppling down on top of Wooly. Amanda returns to find Wooly under a pile of snow.

“Wooly! What happen-” she notices the opossum scampering away. “That little-”

“I think we should kill him.” Wooly says, but it's muffled under all the snow. Amanda pulls him out. 

“That’s my line-” Amanda pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath, “No no it's fine…” she says through gritted teeth. “It's just snow after all…” 

“FINE?! HOW IS THIS-” 

“Now let's go sledding-ing-ing-ing-ing!” She beams, lifting up her sled. The tape glitches to them standing in front of three hills, Wooly appears to be shivering and huddling close to Amanda. “Can you tell me which one is the biggest?” Wooly looks at the biggest hill and gulps. 

“Or maybe a smaller hill…” he mumbles. Riley taps on the medium size hill. “Mmm… I don't know…” Wooly sounds unsure.

“Biggest hill! Biggest hill!” Amanda chants. 

“Actually I… I think our friend's pick will be fine.” Wooly laughs nervously. Margret taps on the biggest hill. “Nooo!”

“Yessssss! Let's gooo!” the tape glitches to the top of the hill. “Alrighty then! Front or back Wooly?”

“I mean…”

“Well if you go in front it'll probably be faster since you're-” Amanda compares their heights, “nevermind I'm taller.”

“Why did you count your hair in that?” 

“Okay fine we're the same height so it doesn't matter.” 

“I don't even want to do this.” Wooly whimpers. 

“Whatever I'm going in front.” Amanda says, sitting on the sled. She looks back at Wooly and taps the empty space behind her. He stares at her. She glares at him. “Okay I'm going. Have fun being alone up here next to those spooky old woods.” Amanda says. There indeed were some spooky-looking woods behind them. Wooly gulps.

“Wait! Wait! I'm coming!” Wooly sits down on the sled behind her. Amanda kicks the sled and makes it go down fast. Amanda is laughing her butt off the whole way down. “Amanda… what's that bump up ahead?” Wooly asks.

“Huh? Uh-oh.” There was a big log in the middle of the snow. The sled hit it and flung Amanda and Wooly into the air and back down face-first into the snow. “THAT WAS AWESOME LET'S DO IT AGAIN!” Amanda shouts excitedly. 

“I think I saw my life flash before my eyes… ACHOO!” 

“Oh come on Wooly it wasn’t THAT bad was it?” 

“I'm COLD.” Wooly snaps, before slipping on some ice and landing back into the snow. “UGH I HATE SNOW DAYS!” Amanda looks at the screen awkwardly. “I'm cold, I'm wet, and I WANT TO GO HOME!” Wooly shouts miserably.

“Well this is new…” Amanda mumbles. “C'mon Wooly, pull yourself together…” 

“I just wanna go home…”

“Okay okay… we're going home, we're going home! Pick yourself up… wow you are cold…” she says, helping Wooly off the ground. She unzips her coat and wraps it around him.

“I told you I don't need that.”

“Put it on.” Amanda says sternly. Wooly puts on the coat. Amanda immediately goes to zip it up. “Ugh why do you always have so much wool? The zipper keeps getting stuck! There we go! Sheesh! They don't call you Wooly for nothing!”

“Amanda…” Wooly grumbles. 

“I'm just teasing you a little. Chill out. Oh wait-” Amanda starts to giggle. Wooly rolls his eyes. “Alright Wooly, let's get home!” Amanda beams. The credits theme starts playing and the credits roll. The Hameln logo appears and starts glitching all over the place before the tape falls out. Weird. Riley thinks. 

“Interesting… I've never seen Wooly get upset like that before…” Margret pointed out, “though it could just be that I haven't been watching the tapes as long as Kate…”

“It’s rare but… I don’t think we want to push it… see about Joanne’s death-” 

“Alright Margret, I think I have everything.” Kate sighed, looking and sounding completely exhausted. 

“That was fast… I need to double check…” Margret said skeptically. 

“Wait-” “Guess that means you’re on puzzle duty Riley!” Margret said with a wink, making finger guns at Riley. When am I not on puzzle duty? Riley wonders. They look back at the fallen tape. I really think we should be a little more careful around Wooly…

Authors Note: Not 100% sure how canon they act in this. I think at some point I might've stopped caring a little. I decided I wanted Margret to be silly. We need a comedic character in these trying times. What with all the angst and whatnot.

[cheezybiscuits]

Field log: Elliot Manor

Note: The following is an illustration and transcription of audio and video recordings streamed from investigation of ground zero for SCP-468395. Instances of SCP-468395-A will continue to be referred to as Corrupted Security Drones (CSD) despite recent discoveries on their origins as standard drones.

Michelle: You hear that? behind the door over there, there's two voices talking.

Jordan: Yep. Could be the target. Stay on guard, she has weapons.

Team proceeds to the end of the hallway. Agents get into position in front of the doors and Jordan kicks it open.

Tessa Elliot: What-

CSD: Yeah NOPE!

Six rapid gunshots are heard and visual feed is disabled. Only one microphone records the following segment.

[04 level clearance required to access full file. Verify clearance level to continue] (Click keep reading)

Tessa Elliot: Wow…uh…okay…you just killed some SCP staff?

No one speaks for 3 seconds.

CSD: Well…yes! They’re hostile and intend to capture us, right?

Tessa Elliot: What happened to the boot licker you described a minute ago?

There is no talking for another 3.5 seconds and the CSD vents air as if to sigh.

Tessa Elliot: Anyway, back to those questions, so [SCP-468395-1-C] wore my skin huh? Is that why my corpse over there looks fresh from the slaughterhouse?

CSD: That’s correct.

Tessa Elliot: And now some gothy lookin' drone ate Cyn’s core and…survived? And has control of the solver now?

CSD: I’m skeptical of the twerp’s success myself.

Tessa Elliot: (chuckling) You keep calling her a twerp but the more you describe this kid the cooler you make her sound.

CSD: You think N is cool, because you’re kind like that.

Tessa Elliot: Psh, nah. He’s pretty cool, especially with the vampire-angel thing going on now.

CSD: Now you’re demonstrating what I just said.

Tessa Elliot: Do you think N would be cooler if he drove a company car?

CSD: On the condition that he'd get an upgrade for his cognitive processor.

Tessa Elliot: Are you sure you'd like that? You'd get competition for employee of the month.

CSD: Not if leadership and being cool are in the criteria.

Both chuckle.

Once again there is no talking for 3 seconds.

CSD: I have questions too.

Tessa Elliot: Oh?

CSD: How do I know I can trust you’re the real Tessa? You could be an anomalous doppleganger, an illusion, or any other type of deceptive SCP.

Tessa Elliot: Huh. (Pause) You got me there. I can’t exactly prove I’m not any of that. I betcha can tell my fingerprints are different, right?

CSD: And your facial structure has slight differences, along with your brain. Oh and I don’t need to scan you to see you’re 4 centimeters shorter than you should be at your alleged age.

Tessa Elliot: Hm. Well that tracks with me being a clone right? And there’s bound to be differences with how fast they grew my body. As for the height uh…I’m not as exactly well fed as I was from before the apocalypse?

CSD: Okay.  Next question: How does a technical genius that's avoiding the foundation think it would be a good idea to go to ground zero?

Tessa Elliot: I kind of wanted to see what was left of my stuff here.

CSD: How is that enough reason to risk all the dangerous-

They pause yet again. This time for 2 seconds. The CSD sighs again.

CSD: You wanted to look at your own corpse didn’t you?

Tessa Elliot: That and see if Dad’s SCP collection is still here.

CSD: …You know what, that passes as Tessa behavior.

Tessa Elliot: Right! Knew you'd come around!

CSD: Next question. You said you're avoiding bunkers since most of them are extensions of SCP-2000 right now and you'd get caught. How do you expect to survive outside of bunkers? What happens if you’re starving and can’t wait out a six-week glass-dust storm to take off your helmet for food or water?

Tessa Elliot: I got my own shelter for that. But I don’t know how much I can tell you about it.

(Transcribers note: What they’re saying next was sometimes hard to make out because they started talking at the same time and interrupting each other a lot. Francis if you find anything inaccurate here I just want to remind you, minimum wage, minimum effort.)

CSD: What? Why? I was completely transparent with you. That’s not-

Tessa Elliot: I kind of….have my own team I’m working with as you’d say? And, I dunno, you said you’re not working for the foundation right now

CSD: Yes but I wasn’t finished-

Tessa Elliot: And we're both different from the last times we saw each other-

CSD: That's true but I still haven't mentioned-

Tessa Elliot: To be blunt I don’t know who your next boss will be but they definitely won’t be friendly to me.

CSD: Yes but please Tessa wait second!

Tessa Elliot: I-alright.

CSD: (Pause) I said I was between employers, but I meant under the previous circumstances. I-it's different now. You're...alive now. Before, you were gone, I had nowhere to apply. Then I read about SCP-2000, and-

They pause again for 4 seconds.

CSD: As long as you’re alive, you’ll always be my boss, Tessa. Just, please, if you'll accept my application.

The subjects pause again for 6 seconds.

CSD: Wait shit-

Tessa Elliot What? What is it?

CSD: Wireless signal in the corner of my eye- son of a bi-

Audio picks up a single gunshot before disconnecting.

[Additional notes: Tessa Elliot has accessed files on recent 05 council members.  It is a top priority to capture and either amnesticize, or terminate the target.]

[dandelion-system]

Hello!

I’m not sure of the extent of our covert-ness, as a couple of people have said after our diagnosis that they ‘had a feeling something was going on’. But, nobody ever bought it up before our diagnosis, except the occasional snarky comment from my mum that I acted like ‘a 2 year old’ sometimes or I was just ‘not the dandy she knew’

But other than that- im reckoning that we were pretty covert.

I (Raven) haven’t been around as long as some of the others, so I’m gonna go off what they’re telling me. But according to them, when we were physically younger, we would very, very frequently have conversations with, arguments with, debates with ourself using we/us pronouns. As a kid we just told ourself we were using the royal we, and woke did it when we were alone. But we did it. Lots of disagreements over food and clothes and what games to play or shows to watch- and also a lot of ‘mum is gonna kill us’ ‘stop being so dramatic ugh look at us!’ ‘Why am I talking like this?’ ‘I’m just gonna be quiet for a bit now.’

I wasn’t aware back then that these were alters, but it’s the earliest I can say that we have been communicating.

Come our early teen years, and this I remember doing myself because I was a little weirdo as a 13 year old- we got really into spirituality, both the meditation kind and the ghosts kind. I think it was me and Cass, and I was more ghost and Cassie was more meditation. Anyway, I was like, 90% sure we were haunted, and I would talk to the ghosts in my head. I was hanging around some witchy people at the time so I was completely convinced this was normal. Cassie did a lot of visualisation meditation, and she got actual VISUALS! she met up with Sasha most, but saw some others. I don’t know and she’s asleep so I won’t bother her.

Pre system discovery, communication was not exactly easy or something we understood. Post discovery, it’s been a bit better. We’re still covert, except for the people who know our diagnosis.

The thing that started making us think about being a system was actually a psychology class. We were doing a childhood unit and talking about how emotional needs need to be met for regular development, and I started thinking, and I started realising that we actually had a really rough time of it. A bunch of circumstances and bad environments had likely led us to develop a bunch of the ‘irregular’ behaviours we were studying in class. We’ve always been curious, so we started looking at patterns in behaviours.

Eventually, we found that the only things we could see a pattern in was memory loss. This led us to discovering dissociation and how it can cause amnesia.

Fast forward a bit, and we’re looking into things that cause dissociation and consider DID. The host at the time starts noting shifting food preferences, shifting gender, shifting opinions and feeling of what age we were, shifting priorities, likes and dislikes. It’s a while before anything comes of this, but we start noticing patterns. We always feel x, y, z at the same time, for example one of our alters, who we still struggle to distinguish we sorta have a checklist almost? Feels like a boy, but not fully, loves the rain, hates milk, feels 14.

Some alters have been easier to communicate with than others just due to willingness to be seen and heard. Others still try and hide away from front, mask as ‘host’ or pretend to be another alter so they don’t get noticed.

I think I may have rambled a bit so I’m sorry about that. I think overall, what I’m saying is that it’s been a journey to be able to communicate with parts, even after being diagnosed for two years and knowing about the system for three. Some parts still won’t communicate, some that used to now refuse, and some like myself have slowly been able to get more confident in talking. But it’s really fluid. Sometimes it’s like no one is there at all, and sometimes it’s like there’s 5 or 6 of us in front, and it’s so loud then. Sometimes I can see them trying to talk to me, or feel it? But not hear it. Sometimes I can hear it but can’t see it. Sometimes we need to be dissociated to communicate properly. Sometimes it takes a lot of focus to communicate. It’s going to be different for each alter, too. I can almost always communicate with James and the few littles that always hang around, but I’m not so great when it comes to other alters.

I guess it all just comes down to patience. And not being afraid to get it wrong. Anyway, I hope this was helpful and not just a big old ramble haha. I hope you’re okay too!

Any systems who were very Covert before discovery how did you discover/start communicating with your parts?

Anymore resources or personal experience would be helpful to me, whether through this post, or my ask box if you want to remain anon

Note: i do not know any confirmed names or information about them please do not give me resources that only contribute to already established/known parts, thank you.

[inkskinned]

she's singing in another room and my dog is asleep at my feet. my grandma asked me why i haven't found a man yet and i laughed. oh, you know. i like my house clean.

my girlfriend is also my man is also "my partner" if i'm in a professional setting. yesterday we went to a ren faire and a man mimed at me - you're together? and at my delighted nod, his baffled, you're gay? made me laugh. a woman with rainbow hair said i love the two of you together. you're both so beautiful it's absurd.

my dad introduced my partner as my "..... friend. or whatever" the other day. he knows we're dating. in the same way, i was never able to get my sister's husband to stop saying that's gay like it's 2008. he still uses the word fa***t, and my sister's defense of him has always been well, he's just kidding.

my lover and i dance to old music in a tiny kitchen. we judge new music together and take food critique very seriously. we watch love is blind before we fall asleep and agree that if they had a queer season, it would be bloody but also make for excellent tv. of fucking course queer people would know someone for only 2 weeks and agree to get married. what are you saying.

at a bar with friends, a man puts his hand on my wrist. got a boyfriend? and yes, i do have a boyfriend, she's amazing. i am texting her while i wander around a gas station named after geese. i am visiting a swing state for a wedding. in the candy aisle i overhear: she's actually like a lesbian it's disgusting. two teenage girls with packaged sandwiches in their hands, giggling. no literally, like. i'm not, like. okay with her being there while we're all, like, naked and changing.

my girlfriend and i tailgate, drink gin and cider out of cups. from the frat group beside us, a man corrects himself with one of his friends: bro, i mean, nonbinary entity, and it makes everyone around him laugh, myself included. he razzes his friend the same way i would have killed for at 19 years old - like nothing happened, he continues: you apply sunscreen like an alien. he does a little sassy (and fairly accurate) dance interpretation of the motion. his friend is laughing so hard they're crying.

i am lucky, i live in a safe neighborhood in a safe state. my masc passenger princess comes up from DC. i drive her for an hour to where all the leaves are a violent arrangement of color. we walk along the trails, letting autumn into our blood. in this part of the state, there's a lot of pickup trucks and trump signs. when we chastely kiss before getting into the car, i accidentally make eye contact with a woman holding her child's wrist. she looks disgusted. she looks fucking pissed.

two hours later my girl and i are eating dinner on a patio, soaking in the last warmth of new england sun before the chill of winter sets in. we are giggling and trying to talk through plastic vampire teeth. at another table, i see a young woman sit up straighter. i watch her watch us. she blushes and takes her partner's hand from across the table. shy, like the taste of evening has just become something deeper.

it's worth it for this moment, i think. my lover is still humming the same song she's been singing for four days straight and i don't want to kill her for it. her guitar is beside my bed. her toothbrush is in my bathroom. in a few moments i will make us lunch. we are lucky enough to have found each other. it is lucky enough to be in love.

[alicenthightcwer]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON + Helaena being ahead of time pt. ???

2x06 Smallfolk 2x03 The Burning Mill

requested by @sansaorgana

[shroomerr]

Oh, help me God, this hellboy got me coming back for more

reblogs super appreciated !!! close-ups under the cut !

[deoidesign]

My comic is so pretty...

The hiatus is letting me take a little extra time on these episodes, and I'm definitely putting it to good use!!!

[lunarharp]

if i just told you i love you would this world change

[mohntilyet]

[insertsomthinawesome]

Vibrates intensely in emotional reunion.

Look I know this is now how it went 😔 but I really wanted to use this quote for these two (its from How to Train your Dragon 2), imagine Dainsleif feeling so much joy and relief upon finding the Lost Prince alive and well, him showing more vulnerability than Paimon and Lumine have ever seen. ITS NOT CANON, BUT IT COMPELS ME!!! xD

-NO ROMANCE INCLUDED-

[skrunksthatwunk]

this could be kuwameshi if you guys would like. take my hand and trust me

[charliespringverse]

i think it should be possible to scream without making any noise or disturbing anyone or inviting any questions . just sometimes . as a treat .