#And not totally not basing Scout over the fact that I did that myself

[ghostthecryptid]

Anyways,

I think itd be funny if Sniper took the other mercs camping. Just because of all the different mercs personalities and how they would react to camping.

Like Sniper I would assume is fine with camping

But I think Soldier would go fucking feral. Like full on "This is how real soldiers live during war!" or some bullshit like that. Mans would rub dirt on his face and everything. Demo is following him because "why the hell not". Just besties being besties i suppose

and could you imagine Sniper teaching Scout how to whittle wood? Scout would not move or talk for at least an hour.

Pyro would be making the biggest fucking bonfire ever with Engie, Medic, and Heavy helping (because their allowed to have fun too)

Spy is god knows where

And the night ends with them all around this bonfire having a good talk and laugh. Cracking jokes and letting loose.

[saskiamcc]

Producer's script breakdown and locations meeting

15/02/2024

I wanted to fully break down the latest script that we had for myself as I knew there was a lot of locations and characters that I had to consider for this film.

Firstly, I went through all scenes and determined the locations that we need. It looked as if we needed a total of 7/8 locations:

Flat interior

Hardware store

Bench overlooking Edinburgh

Edinburgh streets x2/3

Bus

Next I went through and highlighted all the characters we needed. This came to 2 main characters:

Mr Balloonhead Man

Gary, the hardware store owner

And 5/6 extras:

the voice of Sarah, Mr Balloonhead Man's boss

the bams in the street x2

the person on the bike

the people glaring at him on the street x2

I had a zoom meeting with Duncan to discuss the locations and what we can do where.

Locations

Interior flat

Initially, for the interior location, we wanted to use Lili's flat since it had red walls and interesting shapes, however due to availability, we cannot use it. As an alternative, we have decided to use Duncan's flat, which is also beneficial because he has a living room which is quite close to the kitchen so set ups won't be too difficult. Additionally, Duncan knows the space really well and it helps that he can block and plan in his own time. We also have this space planned to use for the creative exercise, meaning that we can practice movement and lighting before the shoot.

Duncan and I discussed that while the space doesn't have the coloured walls we were looking for to make the space look visually interesting, it's great for accessibility and planning. We're hoping that we can make up for this through production design.

Hardware store

For the hardware store, we have already scouted a few around Edinburgh, including one in Marchmont, and one in Morningside. I particularly like the one in Morningside because it is a big space with walls filled with products. This is so important for the script as we want to make this space as intimidating as possible and as an added benefit, we have two potential unit bases less than 10 minutes away for actors to use as a green room.

Duncan and I have already been to the store in Marchmont, so in this meeting we discussed doing a recce to the Morningside shop in the next few days. There are some limitations here to consider however. The shop is on a main road, meaning that there could be quite a lot of foot traffic, however after last semester when I filmed in a corner shop, I am confident that this will not be a problem since I am experienced working around the general public.

Exterior bench

For the final scene on the bench, Duncan, Gus and I discussed using a particular bench on Queen's Drive, just on the base of Arthur's seat. I knew that this is quite an ambitious location as Arthur's seat is a key landmark in Edinburgh, so I emailed around to some lecturers to see if this would be a good idea. The general response I received was maybe to try somewhere else as getting this location may require a hefty fee, however I am really determined to get this location due to the beautiful view. On my call with Duncan, I did extensive research and found the website Historic Environment Scotland, which provided me with information about filming at historical sites.

I was pleased to see that for student films, the fees don't apply, so I applied for a permission on the website, detailing the requirements for the shoot, the crew and cast numbers. Duncan and I agreed that we could do this scene with a skeleton crew if needed. After our call, Duncan walked over to the bench since he lives quite close, to scout out if it was appropriate to film on and sent me the coordinates and any possible issues. The only possible issues that he found was the sound may be an issue due to the fact it is quite a busy road. However he did go at around 6pm and after doing some research, I found that Historic Environment Scotland actually close the road from 08:15 to 15:45, which is perfect for us.

Run and Gun locations

After extensive discussion about the street scenes, we decided that we were going to do some run and gun filming to capture the stress that Balloonhead Man feels in the outside world. We agreed that there were quite a few nice quiet streets around Duncan's flat just off the Royal Mile, which could work quite nicely, as it is a mix of new and old buildings. This means that we could film in locations quite close together while making it seem like its all around the city. We agreed that Duncan was going to decide which places he wanted to film in for each shot and get back to me so we could scout them out.

Casting choices

Mr Balloonhead Man

Our next discussion in this meeting was who we were going to cast. For the body of Mr Balloonhead Man, I messaged an actor on the MA acting course who some of our course mates have worked with before. Lev has done puppeteering in the fringe before, and I have been told that she is incredibly skilled in movement acting, so I knew that she was someone I wanted to consider. She agreed to taking the role almost immediately, so I went ahead and started organising a meeting with her and Duncan so they could discuss the project further.

For the voice, I already had someone in mind since I have worked with them before, however Duncan and I also thought it would be a good idea to send out casting calls and broaden our options. I contacted David Clarkson, who I worked with on A Tight Spot last semester and he immediately showed interest, so I was pretty certain that we were going to cast him, as I know that he is brilliant at conveying anxiety through his voice.

Having two different actors playing different parts of one character can be extremely difficult, but I am confident that this will work. I know that Lev and David have worked together before, which means that they know eachothers' style of acting well and I think this could be really helpful in getting the mannerisms of Mr Balloonhead Man just right.

Gary

For Gary, we needed an older actor, so I wrote up casting calls to send to India to format them onto the template design. The key information we needed to put across is:

Male presenting actor

Any ethnicity

Aged 45-65

Must be available 14th-17th March

I asked Fionntán and Duncan to send me some character inspiration for Gary and they sent me three options:

Jackie Elliot (Billy Elliot)

Begbie (Trainspotting 2)

Malcom Tucker (The Thick of It)

Sarah (the boss)

For Sarah, we needed a voice actor who was available after the shoot. I wrote up some information to put on a casting call to send out:

Any ethnicity

Aged 25-40

Must be avaliable in late March/April for voice recording (dates TBC)

Duncan and I felt so much more confident about the shoot after this meeting, it is really starting to come together. My next tasks are sending out the casting calls, securing locations and figuring out which days we should shoot which locations.

[justanotherpersonsuniverse]

Game Master Akuma AU by  crisisdparity

Xavier Duchamp was rather proud of himself. What he had before him was an absolute masterpiece of a campaign if he did say so himself. The product of over six months of study, research, and rebalancing efforts followed by two weeks of discussion with his five players to hash out schedules, meeting times, characters, backstories, potential character arcs, and getting them set up with a messaging app that was really good for sending discrete messages between the GM and the players. Valentine and her boyfriend Justin were onboard in an instant. Within days, he’d greenlighted their Half-Elf Bard of the College of Glamour whose spell list was 100% Illusion spells and Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight) who was focusing entirely on Abjuration as Rena Rouge and Carapace respectively. Olivia had spent a few days coming up with a Halfling Rogue and debating subclasses with him until settling on Scout. Along with some discussion over how her special magic item’s stunning and paralysis effect would work with Sneak Attack, the campaign had its Vesperia. Jeanette had gone back and forth with him for a week looking at various homebrew subclasses for her Gnome Artificer before they both agreed on one particular Master Tinkerer entry that would be balanced and do the character justice. And with that they had their Ladybug. Even Matt was on board with a stealthy human Chat the Barbarian using the Path of the Beast. The class choice was something Matt had insisted on (and that Xavier would have suggested anyway just for the high hit point totals given Matt’s history with characters dying) and he’d even come up with a backstory that Xavier felt was quite compelling compared to Matt’s usual efforts. Morally ambiguous, likely to be tempted by promises of power, but with a great deal of story potential to work with. Which was a relief. Getting a new player into their group to replace Matt was not something Xavier really felt comfortable with. There were too many unknowns with introducing a new person, far too many for him to risk his masterpiece on an unknown factor. He knew Matt. He could work with Matt. Despite the history. He’d put everything he had into this. Every known Akuma ever fought by the heroes had been made into a boss-tier foe. He’d carefully documented each and every power the heroes had shown to craft special legendary magic items based on the Miraculous. Hawkmoth and Mayura themselves were going to be the final bosses of his campaign. In response to criticism about the difficulty of his campaigns (he tried to make them fair, but still challenging enough to be memorable), he’d made several guest NPCs based on every other hero that had ever been called upon, statted out like player characters that might show up in a pinch to help. He even had a genuine Deus ex Machina that he was ready to use to get the players out of a truly impossible jam if they found themselves in one. Not always, but a few times at least. Enough to get them to the point where they wouldn’t need it anymore. —– It was thirty minutes in, right in the middle of exposition from the Guardian NPC, when Xavier got his first message on the app. Matt/Chat - Chat’s going to wait until everyone breaks up and follow Ladybug stealthily. Xavier/GM - Starting party conflict on the first session? Not what I’d advise, but it’s your character. Go ahead and make your Stealth roll now. Matt/Chat - <photo> 17 Xavier/GM - Yeah, that beats everyone’s passive Perception easily. You’ll sneak off handily without anyone noticing. —– “Jeanette, Ladybug is grabbed from behind by an unknown assailant. Roll to resist the grapple.” “Geez, already? Okay, what did my assailant get for their grapple? How screwed am I?” Xavier pretended to roll a die while consulting the message from Matt. “19.” “Okay, difficult, but not undoable… Crap.” “What’d you get?” “Nat 1…” “Hah! I rip off her earrings and claim them for myself! The Wish is mine!” “Seriously Matt?! What the hell?!” “Because it’s payback time! Payback for every character of mine killed in these hellish

campaigns!” “Oh, come on! You’re not the only person whose had a character die at this table! <GM> runs some pretty challenging campaigns, but they’re always fair!” “What about the time he killed Allric the Allmighty in a single round of combat?” “Dude, you tried to Leroy Jenkins straight into melee with a 4th-level Wizard that had a CON penalty. Even at full health you had like 10 hp.” “14!” “Not much better, dude.” “Guys, it’s fine. I can handle this. Okay, Matt. Chat the Barbarian managed to get the earrings-” “Yeah, Ladybug screams bloody murder when he rips them out. Good luck getting out of this in one piece.” “The moment Rena hears Ladybug scream, she bolts for the sound.” “So does Carapace.” “Vesperia too.” “-and with their current locations and movement speeds, I assume you’re all using the Dash action?, you’ve got maybe one round to decide on your Wish before they’re all over you, so choose carefully. And be aware that I plan to grant whatever you wish for in the worst possible way, just as I would if any of the others pulled this.” “Rena screams ‘What the HELL, Chat?! We’re supposed to protect the Miraculous, not use them for our own selfish purposes! Didn’t you listen to the Guardian? Such actions always bring misfortune upon those who misuse the Miraculous!’” “Because I am Chat, avatar of Destruction and I WISH THIS WORLD NEVER EXISTED!” There was dead silence at the table. “Matt… What… just… WHAT?!” “Hah! You like that?! How does it feel now that the shoe’s on the other foot, huh?!” “What the hell is your problem, Matt?!” “My problem? MY problem?! Do you know how much time I’ve spent making characters for these shitty campaigns only to have them turned into paste in one session?!” “Because you made primary spellcasters and played every last one of them like a barbarian, charging in headfirst without thinking! All of us breathed a sigh of relief when you revealed that your character finally matched your playstyle!” “I HATE BARBARIANS! THEY’RE BORING! I SHOULD GET TO PLAY CHARACTERS THAT CAN AT LEAST CHUCK FIREBALLS!” “THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP RUNNING THEM FACE FIRST INTO ENEMY SWORDS!” “NONE OF YOU COULD EVER HANDLE THE FACT THE I MAKE MORE AWESOME CHARACTERS THAN ANY OF YOU, SO YOU JUST LET THIS DOUCHEBAG KILL THEM OFF SO YOU WOULDN’T GET OVERSHADOWED BY HOW AMAZING I AM! WELL NOW I KILLED SOMETHING YOU ALL WORKED HARD ON, SO SUCK IT! I’M DONE WITH ALL OF YOU FOREVER!” “MATT! HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU JERK! MATT!” “Crap, I think Olivia might actually kill him this time…” “It’s going to take all of us to stop her from getting arrested at least.” Xavier just watched numbly as the rest of the group ran out of his apartment. Over six months of work. Gone in less than an hour. He’d given so much to making sure this would work. He’d apologized to Matt at least twice for every character of his that had died to get him to come back. He’d agreed to demand after demand just to keep a familiar face on board, never dreaming he’d pull something like this. He’d nearly gotten fired from his job trying to rearrange his schedule to fit with everyone else’s. They’d somehow, miraculously, gotten the whole day with no other obligations among any of them and decided to make the first session a true marathon. They’d meet in the morning after breakfast and eat both lunch and dinner at the game table before calling it a night late in the evening. It was barely 10:00 in the morning and the whole campaign he’d slaved over for months was kaput. He never noticed the butterfly landing on his custom Miraculous-themed Game Master screen and being absorbed into it. “Game Master, I am Hawkmoth. Few people appreciate the kind of effort that goes into making something truly grand and memorable. I shall give you the power to bring your entire world to life and in return, I ask only for a few simple things.” This was wrong. Hawkmoth was the worst of the worst. The kind of person who would be at home among all the final bosses he’d ever made for his campaigns. Heartless, manipulative, cruel. “Not

enough? Ah, but what is a game without players? How would you like to have the Miraculous heroes themselves run your great campaign? Surely they would be far more appreciative than those ungrateful peons that left you alone with nothing but the broken remains of your efforts.” He knew all these things, but the allure of bringing the world he’d spent so much time on to life… What creator could ever turn down an offer like that? “I, the Game Master, accept… Hawkmoth.” “Excellent. And in exchange, you shall bring me one of two things: The Miraculous, or the identities of their wielders.” “No.” Hawkmoth was silent for a moment. “I beg your pardon?” “I said no. I am the Game Master. I make the world. I craft the challenges. I decide the rewards. But I do not do anything for anyone. If you want these things, get them yourself.” “If you refuse me, it shall be very unpleasant for you.” “No. As Game Master, I decide the limits of all powers within my realm. And I decide that you have none over me.” And with that, he unleashed his creation over all of Paris, drawing everyone and everything within into his sphere of influence. —– Ladybug blinked the spots (ha) out of her eyes as the flash of light died down and looked at herself. She didn’t remember transforming, but she was clearly in her spots. Except her red and black superhero uniform didn’t usually look like it was headed to a steampunk convention. Looking around, she tried to figure out what had happened and her eyes landed on a familiar belt and pants combo. Problem. Whoever this was, their groin was at eye level for her. She looked up. And up. To find a grinning Chat Noir, sans anything resembling a shirt and having put on at least a foot of height and apparently a hundred pounds of pure muscle, grinning down at her. “How’s the weather down there?” Chat Noir chuckled as he flexed his unfairly attractive muscleman physique. “I WILL END YOU!” the heroine snarled, already 100% done with whatever new insanity Hawkmoth had cooked up. Characters: Ladybug - Gnome Artificer (Master Tinkerer - Homebrew) Chat Noir - Human Barbarian (Path of the Beast) —– Vesperia had to admit, as Akuma attacks went, this was pretty dope. She was currently a halfling. A halfling! If it wasn’t for her fantasy ensemble being yellow and black, she’d have thought she stepped straight out of Lord of the Rings. Of course, fantasy setting or not, there were still things she’d have rather left back in the real world. Like racism. And stigma against mixed couples. Not directed at her, but rather at the two walking down the street next to her. “You know, people are staring…” she said as she craned her head to look at her companions. “Let them,” the Half-Elf Rena Rouge (who looked like a cross between a musician and a belly dancer) said from her perch atop the shoulders of the heavily armored (and surprisingly buff) Half-Orc Carapace. “They’re just jealous because their boyfriends can’t carry them everywhere.” Characters: Vesperia - Halfling Rogue (Scout) Rena Rouge - Half-Elf Bard (College of Glamour) Carapace - Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight) —– Ryuko blinked as she studied the apparent snake-man-thing before her who claimed to be Viperion. She lifted a hand to study it and found what appeared to be bronze scales covering every inch of her skin. She sniffed herself, smelling the sharp tang of ozone. What was she? And why did she appear to be wearing wooden armor? Characters: Ryuko - Dragonborn (bronze) Druid (Circle of Storms - Third Party) Viperion - Naga Sorcerer (Divination Magic - Homebrew) —– Polymouse giggled as her friends ran over her. Okay, she’d freaked out a little to find a swarm of mice (with hair like hers no less) crawling all over her surprisingly mouse-like body when she’d come to in the middle of some forest somewhere. But she’d gotten over it pretty quickly. It helped that her new friends were adorable. It might help more if she could figure out where she was. Or find another person. Characters: Polymouse - Kobold

(rodentlike) Ranger (Swarmkeeper - Reskinned) —– Purple Tigress sighed as she felt the hair (fur?) on the top of her head being shifted around and twitched her new catlike ears in mild annoyance. “Are you quite done?” “Almost!” Pigella’s cheerful voice answered. “Your fur is so comfy!” Tigress sighed. Of course Pigella would end up being a fairy, and having her normal cheerful enthusiasm cranked up to previously unimagined levels. “I love you dearly, but if you start shouting 'hey listen’ I will stick you in a bottle.” “Aw, I love you too! Hey, what’s that?” “I think it’s my character sheet?” Characters: Purple Tigress - Tabaxi Paladin (Oath of Glory) Pigella - Fairy Cleric (Order Domain - Reskinned) —– “According to my analysis, we have been placed into what appears to be a Dungeons and Dragons campaign under 5th edition rules,” Pegasus stated in a mechanical monotone. “I am apparently a Warforged Wizard using the School of Conjuration whose spells create portals to bridge dimensions and summon or banish my intended targets. You are what is known as a Simic Hybrid, with the class of Monk, following the Way of the Drunken Master.” “Aweshum,” King Monkey slurred, his generally human appearance clad in monk’s robes marred by his monkey-like hands and feet as well as the monkey tail swishing behind him. “Why do you keep slurring like that? According to my sensors, your gourd is filled with only water.” “Gotta keep up appearanshes!” King Monkey grinned as he continued faking drunkenness. Characters: Pegasus - Warforged Wizard (School of Conjuration - Reskinned) King Monkey - Simic Hybrid Monk (Way of the Drunken Master) —– Hawkmoth studied the dark red horns growing out of his head in the mirror. The change in appearance was disconcerting, but he felt a rush of power in this new form that he’d never felt before. “Hmm… perhaps I can work with this…” “Speak for yourself…” Mayura muttered off to the side, ruffling her peacock-like feathers in annoyance as she tried to glare at the beak on her own face. Characters: Hawkmoth - Tiefling Dark Lord, Warlock Patron, Contracted by Lila Rossi, Volpina, Queen Wasp, and many others. Mayura - Kenku Assistant to the Dark Lord, Creator of Monsters —– “Oh, come on!” A figure in a cyan and white hooded robe complained as they waved a similarly colored umbrella around angrily. “Everyone else gets to be part of this adventure, why can’t I join them?” “Because you’re too OP. You’d completely break everything and remove all challenge from the adventure.” “But sitting around is no fun at all!” “If you like, I can put you in the position of the main quest giver. Your job would be to direct them towards their enemies and means of becoming stronger.” “That’s it?! I’m on 'mysterious hooded figure’ duty? Boo! Why can’t I fight with them?!” “Because you’re too OP. But if you insist, I’ll allow some Deus ex Machina interventions.” “YES!” “Five.” “I’m sorry?” “I’ll allow five interventions at your discretion to aid them when they are in peril. Once you have come to their aid five times, I will allow no more meetings save to impart quest information.” “That’s it?” “Yes. Choose your interventions wisely.” “So… if I manage to save one for when they fight Hawmoth and Mayura in the final battle…?” “Then I would allow you to join them of course.” “Score!” Characters: Bunnyx: Mysterious Hooded Figure, Deus-ex-Machina (5) Game Master: Akuma Lord of the Miraculous Campaign —– Addendum When the Game Master is finally purified and the damage reversed, it turns out that he took the effort to trap all of Paris in a temporal stasis bubble so that no matter how long passed inside no more than a few moments passed outside. Meaning that after what seemed like months in the bubble, it’s basically less than a minute after he was akumatized when everything is put back. All his friends, minus Matt, come back in bringing a new person named Zack that they vetted themselves to take Matt’s place in case he pulled something like what he did. And while he

has a similar playstyle to Matt, he’s savvy enough to know what kind of characters that is suited for and he loves playing barbarians. They all sit back down and restart the game they were all looking forward to.

—-

oh wow- that’s- wow. good job dude, seems like you worked on this a lot. Next time You should post this on your own account though, as this isn’t getting tagged or anything. Thank you though, you did a good job with this.

[bluebellhairpin]

Apple Pie

Levi Ackerman X Reader

A/N: If you try the recipe, let me know! It’s mine, and everyone likes my apple pies. I’d love to know how yours turns out if you try! - Nemo

Summary: Nothing quite sparks nostalgia like food. Living in a world where death is always iminente, times call for a breath of fresh air - or freshly baked apple pie. 

Listening to: ‘Vagabond’ by Caamp - ‘I look at you and I see my friend.’

Masterlist  

Step One; Peel, quarter, core, and slice eight apples. Place them in a pot with ¼ cup of caster sugar, and ½ cup of water. Bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer until the apples are soft. Drain the apples of most liquid, then rest. 

Every year, after harvest season, your mother was able to set aside some apples. With them she’d bake a pie for you and the rest of your family. 

Sometimes there wasn’t enough apple to complete the filling, or enough sugar saved to dust over the top, and only once do you remember the pie being fully complete with cinnamon on the top. 

But it always made you feel at home. The whole process did. 

From getting flour over your nose, to the dough stuck between your fingers. The smell of it as it baked, and the steam that rose from the filling as your mother laid the slices in front of you and your siblings. It was something hot. Hearty. Sweet. 

There was always some leftover after everyone had a slice, and in your father’s good natured kindness, urged your mother to cut up the rest and wrap them in parchment paper. He gave the pieces out to you and your sibling, one by one, until there were no more pieces left - you usually had two slices total - and then set you all out to give them to others. 

There was something about your father making you share a hot slice of fresh apple pie with complete strangers that always stuck with you.

Maybe it was because it was so human. 

Now you’re grown, and you cling to that pure memory like it’s the last piece of breathable air in the world. Now you know what was really meant by ‘Behind those walls are giants that want to eat us’. Now everything isn’t quite so pure. Not quite so human.

───────✱.｡:｡✱.:｡✧.｡✰✧.｡:✱───────

Step Two; Cream 185 grams of butter and a half cup of caster sugar, then add an egg yoke. Add 1 ½ cups of plain flour, ¾ cups of self rising flour, and ⅓ cup of corn flour, then knead into a dough.

It had been a rough day for everyone. Even the ever-stoic Levi Ackerman was looking worse for wear and wasn’t bothering to hide it, that was just about as uncommon as it gets. 

There was no two-ways about it, they all needed a pick-me up.

You, ever since you joined the Military as a Scout in the Survey Corps, hadn’t been able to destress. When you were back home you always took to the kitchen. With the family’s business as a bakery, your stress-baking was never frowned upon. But now, without access to proper ingredients or full-kitchen use, you hadn’t been able to do that in years. 

However, a couple weeks ago while you were on dishes, you eyed a couple jars of stewed apples. Keeping a keen eye on them ever since, you knew exactly what to use them for now. 

With the members of the Scouts at least halved, you doubted you’d need to put a lot of effort into asking to use up some of the sugar and flour. In fact you decided then and there as the base was coming into view that you wouldn’t ask at all. This would be one of the very few cases where asking for forgiveness would be better than asking permission. 

As soon as you’d put your horse away, and cleaned your gear, you set off to the kitchen. To your surprise, it was empty. While people were normally full from rations that they’d taken on an expedition, some were too sick or nervous to eat them, while others just blindly ate, retreating to the kitchen to gorge on food or drink from one of the bottles hidden under the floorboards. 

You ignored the quiet, beginning to put the jars from their place in a cupboard's dark corner to the countertop, and then set to opening them to make sure they hadn’t gone off. 

“The hell are you doing?” Your head snapped up to the doorway, your arms instinctively performing a flawless salute despite the spoon in your hand as you recognised Levi. 

“Captain,” you lulled, “Um, I was just -”

“Feeding your face?” Your eyes looked back into his from where they’d drifted to, and you shook your head.

“I wasn’t planning to eat much, if not any of it myself, actually.”

───────✱.｡:｡✱.:｡✧.｡✰✧.｡:✱───────

Step Three; Take two thirds of the dough and knead into a ball, then roll with a rolling pin until you get a base. Gently move the pastry into a greased tin. Spread the cooled apple mix evenly on the pastry.

 He’d asked you another question, you were sure, but between explaining that you were going to bake up something for the other cadets, and managing to get a taste of the stewed apples, you lost a sense of reality.

You hadn’t tasted apples like this in such a long time. If home had a flavor, this tasted like yours. 

“Hey,” Levi said, coming up beside you to flick your forehead, “I asked if you needed help.” 

“Oh no, I should be fine.” You said, rubbing your head subconsciously as you chucked the spoon in the sink before lugging out a bag of flour. You paused in your stride a second, looking over at him to see he was tracking you very intently. “But you can stay if you’d like.” 

In hernest truth, you probably needed the company, in case your thoughts of the day got to you more than you’d let them. He was probably here for that too - company - not that he’d ever say even if he was.

Surely he was hurting too. Even if he was good at hiding it, he must have felt some of the hurt that everyone else did. He was humanity's strongest. He was human. He had to feel it. But why was it bothering you?

You hadn’t even noticed that the dough was ready to be rolled out until you snapped out of your thoughts by grabbing a too-big handful of flour to coat the table in front of you. The puff of white that rose from the table to lightly coat your uniform was comical. Levi, letting out a characteristic ‘tch’, even noticed, from where he now sat in the corner drinking tea.

“Should’ve worn an apron.”

“Do you see any aprons, Captain?” His eyes darted around the room, and you continued to look at him and wait to be proven right as your hands started working the dough. He grunted, taking another sip from his tea, now watching your hands as they worked. You’d be done in no time and you both knew it. 

Admittedly you were getting tired. 

You hadn’t rested since that morning when you woke, and with the harsh events of the day it came as no surprise that at least your legs were starting to ache from standing. But just getting the pie’s in the oven would give you time to rest later. Just a little longer.

───────✱.｡:｡✱.:｡✧.｡✰✧.｡:✱───────

Step Four; Roll out the remaining dough for the lid. Move the pastry onto the tin, and press a fork along the edges to seal them together. Brush over the top with the egg whites, and sprinkle over sugar and cinnamon. 

After the, multiple, pies had been put in the oven to bake, you set to cleaning. 

With the day’s activities bunching up, and your very small collection of injuries from the expedition - even though you’d gotten away with scrapes at worse, and bruised limbs at best - you were still aching. Still tired. Still hurt. 

By the time you lugged yourself though tidying up the kitchen, Levi had drunk at least another cup of tea, all the while making no effort to help. Why should he too, you made the mess. You didn’t have the time to rest like you’d predicted either. The pie’s were ready, and the long overdue presence of Sasha and Connie entering the kitchen only spurred your energy a little more.

You ushered Sasha to go round up whoever of the remaining cadets that felt like eating, with a promise of a slightly larger slice, while you busied Connie with helping you get plates. 

By the time the cadets all filed in, you’d reiterated to Levi’s corner with two plates. 

You were half asleep while you ate. Levi noticed, naturally, and slipped your plate out of your fingers before it met the ground with a messy smash. Sasha was more than happy to take care of it while he guided you back to your dorm. 

All that hard work you gave making those things, ‘and for what’ he thought. 

For a craving? For nostalgia? For the other sakes? For having one thing normal? One thing nice, and sweet, and pure? 

He thought that was very human. He thought it was something that should feel like home. 

Step Five; Bake pie at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 150 degrees Celsius and bake for another 35 minutes. Once it’s done, enjoy with ice-cream, or thickened cream. Maybe even both?

[mst3kproject]

The Navy vs the Night Monsters

Of course, it’s not like bad things stop happening now that 2020 is finally over… we just get to start counting again from zero. Kind of like how I’ve started counting thirty-six Episodes that Never Were per year, beginning with this one. It was co-directed by Wyott Ordung from Robot Monster and features familiar faces like Russ Bender and Mamie Van Doren, the latter for once not playing a teenage delinquent.  It also has one really obscure MST3K connection: it was based on a story by Murray Leinster, which the sharp-eyed will remember as the name of the ship attacked by Evil Count Zarth Arn’s lava lamp weapon at the beginning of Starcrash!

A plane carrying specimens of Antarctic flora and fauna makes a rather rough and unexpected landing at a naval base on remote Gow Island in the south Pacific.  There appears to be nobody on board except the pilot and a few penguins – the former is in a catatonic state, and the latter are... well, penguins... so what happened to the rest of the passengers and crew is a complete mystery.  Did the pilot go mad and kill them?  Did the penguins?  Or did it have something to do with those mysterious ancient trees discovered growing around a geothermal spring in the heart of the frozen continent?

The first ten minutes of this movie are spent trying to be a comedy.  Before we get anywhere near the plot, we first have to listen to the guys on the plane try to be funny about their lunch and their tastes in women.  Then on the island, we watch a guy who can’t seem to figure out how to inflate a balloon, followed by a dude talking to his dog, and then a really icky bit where two women convince a man he had sex with both of them, which he buys because he was too drunk to remember.  Only then do we finally establish what’s actually going on.  The impression one gets from this beginning is that The Navy vs the Night Monsters is going to be peopled entirely by Jackass Comic Relief characters, and I actually turned the film off and sat on it for a couple of days to psych myself up to watch the rest.

When I finally turned it back on, to my relief the movie turned out not to be quite that bad, but it’s still pretty damned bad.  The dull and unfunny opening is followed by an abrupt shift of tone, as a man maddened by terror jumps from the plane to his death!  The only thing set up by the opening that turns out to be relevant is Spaulding the meteorologist’s crush on Nora the nurse, when she’s in love with the base’s second in command, Lieutenant Brown.

I complain frequently about useless love triangles in movies.  This one is very useless, and all the more so because the script totally forgets to resolve it.  Spaulding hates Gow Island but stays because he’s in love with Nora – he wants her to go back to Miami with him and marry him.  When he puts this idea to her, however, it becomes obvious that Nora can’t stand him, and it’s clear enough why: Spaulding is an asshole and he treats Nora not as a partner but as a possession.  Never does he show any sort of tenderness towards her.  Every time they speak to each other, he seems to end up shouting, and his jealousy of Brown repeatedly leads to violence.

Brown, on the other hand, treats Nora with respect and actually shows vulnerability around her.  He’s been left in charge while the base’s commander is on the mainland attending an important meeting, and he’s really feeling the pressure as the base is surrounded by tree monsters in the dark.  He talks about his anxiety and Nora comforts him, and the audience rolls their eyes because it’s perfectly obvious which of these guys she’s going to pick.  And sure enough, at the end she’s in Brown’s arms… but nothing about the whole situation is exactly resolved.

Brown and Spaulding did get in a fist fight, though it wasn’t explicitly over Nora, but nobody ever talks about the problem. Spaulding never realizes that he’s treated Nora badly, and it never seems to even occur to him that she might prefer Brown over him, or even that she has emotions or preferences at all.  He definitely never seems to understand that he’s lost.  Brown and Nora seem to feel a need to hide their love affair from the other base staff, but we’re never given a reason why (although I guess ‘Spaulding’s a dick’ is reason enough).  Nora never tells Spaulding that she prefers Brown… maybe she’s afraid he’ll assault her?  I hate everything about this situation, but nothing more than the fact that as the movie progresses we get hints that Nora may be warming up to Spaulding, as if she’s supposed to consider these two guys equal contenders for her affections!  Fuck everybody who wrote this, seriously.

It’s kind of sad to see Mamie Van Doren in a role like this after meeting her in things like Untamed Youth and Girls Town.  Those movies were gross and exploitative, but Mamie’s characters were central to their plots and she filled those shoes reasonably well.  She wasn’t Oscar material but for what the films were, she was enough to carry them.  The Navy vs the Night Monsters is a little closer to being a ‘real movie’, but in this respect it represents a step down for her, as she is relegated to being something for two men to fight over.  Furthermore, Silver from Girls Town and Penny from Untamed Youth were both characters who required some range – Nora the nurse mainly spends the whole movie being annoyed with the men in her life.  Van Doren could have done much more if anyone had bothered asking it of her.

Let’s see… what else do I hate about this movie? I hate Private Chandler, the guy who stays a Jackass Comic Relief character once that opening is over. Shockingly, The Navy vs the Night Monsters actually kills him off, but he’s not nearly as annoying as Dropo or the guy from Outlaw, so his death merely feels mean rather than having any entertainment value.  The guy was just about to actually get laid by one of the women who’d made fun of him earlier – though she, like Spaulding, showed no sign of being sorry for past jerkitude.

I hate the monsters.  Normally I have a soft spot for plant monsters.  They’re a cliché in their own way, I guess, but they’re a fun idea.  The ones in The Navy vs the Night Monsters kill and digest people with acidic sap, and a character theorizes about how and why such a thing would evolve, which is cool. The execution, however, sucks. While the poster for the film shows us a humanoid Treebeard-looking thing, the actual monsters in the film are dumb-looking stumps that waddle along like a couple of guys trying to move a piece of furniture corner-by-corner because it’s too heavy to lift.  The result reminds me of The Creeping Terror, in that you have to want to get eaten by these things.  At one point a guy walks right up to one, inspects it, and escapes its clutches merely by backing away slowly!

The trees reproduce using insect-like larvae that are, themselves, lethally venomous.  This is also a neat idea which is, once again, ruined by the execution. The tiny ones are being pulled along the floor by a sometimes-visible string, and then they grow into stumps that look like they should be stools around a boy scout campfire, which move even slower than the adult trees!  There’s a scene where the characters are holed up in the base under an onslaught of these, with planes arriving to napalm them just in time, and it is ludicrous in its attempt to feel threatening.

I do like that Gow Island is a bleak middle-of-nowhere rather than a tropical paradise.  The landscapes kind of remind me of the Falkland Islands, though the weather on Gow is evidently better.  You can see why some of the characters hate it here, surrounded by barren scrub inhabited mostly by ten thousand smelly, raucous seabirds. Unfortunately this backdrop makes the ‘comedy’ opening seem even more out of place, though it’s also kind of nice that they didn’t give us any stereotyped ‘natives’ as either comedy or monster fodder.

As for a theme… well, The Navy vs the Night Monsters is clearly about an invasive species.  The biologist, in suggesting how the tree monsters evolved, points out that they are suited to the hostile environment of Antarctica in ways that make them nearly unstoppable anywhere else.  We’re told that they devoured all the penguins the scientists were bringing back for study, and as well as eating the people, they wreak havoc among the Gow Island seabirds and reproduce out of control.  The parallels to things like cane toads in Australia, or housecats just about anywhere, are obvious.

This isn’t something the characters care about, though, even the ones who profess to be scientists.  At the end, enough of the trees are destroyed that the humans can safely evacuate, and what happens after that is clearly Gow Island’s problem, not humanity’s. I really would have liked to see the script go into this a little more, but then, The Navy vs the Night Monsters is not a movie that wants to go into anything, even stuff it sets up in some detail.

At the end, The Navy vs the Night Monsters feels pretty half-assed.  Somebody wanted to make a movie, and then put in the bare minimum effort possible to have all the parts present.  They clearly understood how movies work, but they didn’t have the money and didn’t want to go to the trouble.  The result is deeply mediocre.  There’s a few laughs out of the dumb stump creatures, but mostly it’s just bad.

[crisisdparity]

Game Master Akuma AU

(Note: Originally submitted to @justanotherpersonsuniverse, on their advice I will be using my own tumblr for anything in the future related to this AU.)

Xavier Duchamp was rather proud of himself. What he had before him was an absolute masterpiece of a campaign if he did say so himself. The product of over six months of study, research, and rebalancing efforts followed by two weeks of discussion with his five players to hash out schedules, meeting times, characters, backstories, potential character arcs, and getting them set up with a messaging app that was really good for sending discrete messages between the GM and the players.

Valentine and her boyfriend Justin were onboard in an instant. Within days, he'd greenlighted their Half-Elf Bard of the College of Glamour whose spell list was 100% Illusion spells and Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight) who was focusing entirely on Abjuration as Rena Rouge and Carapace respectively.

Olivia had spent a few days coming up with a Halfling Rogue and debating subclasses with him until settling on Scout. Along with some discussion over how her special magic item's stunning and paralysis effect would work with Sneak Attack, the campaign had its Vesperia.

Jeanette had gone back and forth with him for a week looking at various homebrew subclasses for her Gnome Artificer before they both agreed on one particular Master Tinkerer entry that would be balanced and do the character justice. And with that they had their Ladybug.

Even Matt was on board with a stealthy human Chat the Barbarian using the Path of the Beast. The class choice was something Matt had insisted on (and that Xavier would have suggested anyway just for the high hit point totals given Matt's history with characters dying) and he'd even come up with a backstory that Xavier felt was quite compelling compared to Matt's usual efforts. Morally ambiguous, likely to be tempted by promises of power, but with a great deal of story potential to work with.

Which was a relief. Getting a new player into their group to replace Matt was not something Xavier really felt comfortable with. There were too many unknowns with introducing a new person, far too many for him to risk his masterpiece on an unknown factor. He knew Matt. He could work with Matt. Despite the history.

He'd put everything he had into this. Every known Akuma ever fought by the heroes had been made into a boss-tier foe. He'd carefully documented each and every power the heroes had shown to craft special legendary magic items based on the Miraculous. Hawkmoth and Mayura themselves were going to be the final bosses of his campaign.

In response to criticism about the difficulty of his campaigns (he tried to make them fair, but still challenging enough to be memorable), he'd made several guest NPCs based on every other hero that had ever been called upon, statted out like player characters that might show up in a pinch to help. He even had a genuine Deus ex Machina that he was ready to use to get the players out of a truly impossible jam if they found themselves in one.

Not always, but a few times at least. Enough to get them to the point where they wouldn't need it anymore.

-----

It was thirty minutes in, right in the middle of exposition from the Guardian NPC, when Xavier got his first message on the app.

Matt/Chat - Chat's going to wait until everyone breaks up and follow Ladybug stealthily.

Xavier/GM - Starting party conflict on the first session? Not what I'd advise, but it's your character. Go ahead and make your Stealth roll now.

Matt/Chat - <photo> 17

Xavier/GM - Yeah, that beats everyone's passive Perception easily. You'll sneak off handily without anyone noticing.

-----

"Jeanette, Ladybug is grabbed from behind by an unknown assailant. Roll to resist the grapple."

"Geez, already? Okay, what did my assailant get for their grapple? How screwed am I?"

Xavier pretended to roll a die while consulting the message from Matt.

"19."

"Okay, difficult, but not undoable... Crap."

"What'd you get?"

"Nat 1..."

"Hah! I rip off her earrings and claim them for myself! The Wish is mine!"

"Seriously Matt?! What the hell?!"

"Because it's payback time! Payback for every character of mine killed in these hellish campaigns!"

"Oh, come on! You're not the only person whose had a character die at this table! Xavier runs some pretty challenging campaigns, but they're always fair!"

"What about the time he killed Allric the Allmighty in a single round of combat?"

"Dude, you tried to Leroy Jenkins straight into melee with a 4th-level Wizard that had a CON penalty. Even at full health you had like 10 hp."

"14!"

"Not much better, dude."

"Guys, it's fine. I can handle this. Okay, Matt. Chat the Barbarian managed to get the earrings-"

"Yeah, Ladybug screams bloody murder when he rips them out. Good luck getting out of this in one piece."

"The moment Rena hears Ladybug scream, she bolts for the sound."

"So does Carapace."

"Vesperia too."

"-and with their current locations and movement speeds, I assume you're all using the Dash action?, you've got maybe one round to decide on your Wish before they're all over you, so choose carefully. And be aware that I plan to grant whatever you wish for in the worst possible way, just as I would if any of the others pulled this."

"Rena screams 'What the HELL, Chat?! We're supposed to protect the Miraculous, not use them for our own selfish purposes! Didn't you listen to the Guardian? Such actions always bring misfortune upon those who misuse the Miraculous!'"

"Because I am Chat, avatar of Destruction and I WISH THIS WORLD NEVER EXISTED!"

There was dead silence at the table.

"Matt... What... just... WHAT?!"

"Hah! You like that?! How does it feel now that the shoe's on the other foot, huh?!"

"What the hell is your problem, Matt?!"

"My problem? MY problem?! Do you know how much time I've spent making characters for these shitty campaigns only to have them turned into paste in one session?!"

"Because you made primary spellcasters and played every last one of them like a barbarian, charging in headfirst without thinking! All of us breathed a sigh of relief when you revealed that your character finally matched your playstyle!"

"I HATE BARBARIANS! THEY'RE BORING! I SHOULD GET TO PLAY CHARACTERS THAT CAN AT LEAST CHUCK FIREBALLS!"

"THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP RUNNING THEM FACE FIRST INTO ENEMY SWORDS!"

"NONE OF YOU COULD EVER HANDLE THE FACT THE I MAKE MORE AWESOME CHARACTERS THAN ANY OF YOU, SO YOU JUST LET THIS DOUCHEBAG KILL THEM OFF SO YOU WOULDN'T GET OVERSHADOWED BY HOW AMAZING I AM! WELL NOW I KILLED SOMETHING YOU ALL WORKED HARD ON, SO SUCK IT! I'M DONE WITH ALL OF YOU FOREVER!"

"MATT! HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU JERK! MATT!"

"Crap, I think Olivia might actually kill him this time..."

"It's going to take all of us to stop her from getting arrested at least."

Xavier just watched numbly as the rest of the group ran out of his apartment. Over six months of work. Gone in less than an hour.

He'd given so much to making sure this would work. He'd apologized to Matt at least twice for every character of his that had died to get him to come back. He'd agreed to demand after demand just to keep a familiar face on board, never dreaming he'd pull something like this.

He'd nearly gotten fired from his job trying to rearrange his schedule to fit with everyone else's. They'd somehow, miraculously, gotten the whole day with no other obligations among any of them and decided to make the first session a true marathon. They'd meet in the morning after breakfast and eat both lunch and dinner at the game table before calling it a night late in the evening.

It was barely 10:00 in the morning and the whole campaign he'd slaved over for months was kaput.

He never noticed the butterfly landing on his custom Miraculous-themed Game Master screen and being absorbed into it.

"Game Master, I am Hawkmoth. Few people appreciate the kind of effort that goes into making something truly grand and memorable. I shall give you the power to bring your entire world to life and in return, I ask only for a few simple things."

This was wrong. Hawkmoth was the worst of the worst. The kind of person who would be at home among all the final bosses he'd ever made for his campaigns. Heartless, manipulative, cruel.

"Not enough? Ah, but what is a game without players? How would you like to have the Miraculous heroes themselves run your great campaign? Surely they would be far more appreciative than those ungrateful peons that left you alone with nothing but the broken remains of your efforts."

He knew all these things, but the allure of bringing the world he'd spent so much time on to life... What creator could ever turn down an offer like that?

"I, the Game Master, accept... Hawkmoth."

"Excellent. And in exchange, you shall bring me one of two things: The Miraculous, or the identities of their wielders."

"No."

Hawkmoth was silent for a moment.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said no. I am the Game Master. I make the world. I craft the challenges. I decide the rewards. But I do not do anything for anyone. If you want these things, get them yourself."

"If you refuse me, it shall be very unpleasant for you."

"No. As Game Master, I decide the limits of all powers within my realm. And I decide that you have none over me."

And with that, he unleashed his creation over all of Paris, drawing everyone and everything within into his sphere of influence.

-----

Ladybug blinked the spots (ha) out of her eyes as the flash of light died down and looked at herself. She didn't remember transforming, but she was clearly in her spots. Except her red and black superhero uniform didn't usually look like it was headed to a steampunk convention. Looking around, she tried to figure out what had happened and her eyes landed on a familiar belt and pants combo.

Problem. Whoever this was, their groin was at eye level for her.

She looked up.

And up.

To find a grinning Chat Noir, sans anything resembling a shirt and having put on at least a foot of height and apparently a hundred pounds of pure muscle, grinning down at her.

"How's the weather down there?" Chat Noir chuckled as he flexed his unfairly attractive muscleman physique.

"I WILL END YOU!" the heroine snarled, already 100% done with whatever new insanity Hawkmoth had cooked up.

Characters:

Ladybug - Gnome Artificer (Master Tinkerer - Homebrew)

Chat Noir - Human Barbarian (Path of the Beast)

-----

Vesperia had to admit, as Akuma attacks went, this was pretty dope.

She was currently a halfling. A halfling! If it wasn't for her fantasy ensemble being yellow and black, she'd have thought she stepped straight out of Lord of the Rings.

Of course, fantasy setting or not, there were still things she'd have rather left back in the real world. Like racism. And stigma against mixed couples. Not directed at her, but rather at the two walking down the street next to her.

"You know, people are staring..." she said as she craned her head to look at her companions.

"Let them," the Half-Elf Rena Rouge (who looked like a cross between a musician and a belly dancer) said from her perch atop the shoulders of the heavily armored (and surprisingly buff) Half-Orc Carapace. "They're just jealous because their boyfriends can't carry them everywhere."

Characters:

Vesperia - Halfling Rogue (Scout)

Rena Rouge - Half-Elf Bard (College of Glamour)

Carapace - Half-Orc Fighter (Eldritch Knight)

-----

Ryuko blinked as she studied the apparent snake-man-thing before her who claimed to be Viperion. She lifted a hand to study it and found what appeared to be bronze scales covering every inch of her skin.

She sniffed herself, smelling the sharp tang of ozone. What was she?

And why did she appear to be wearing wooden armor?

Characters:

Ryuko - Dragonborn (bronze) Druid (Circle of Storms - Third Party)

Viperion - Naga Sorcerer (Divination Magic - Homebrew)

-----

Polymouse giggled as her friends ran over her. Okay, she'd freaked out a little to find a swarm of mice (with hair like hers no less) crawling all over her surprisingly mouse-like body when she'd come to in the middle of some forest somewhere. But she'd gotten over it pretty quickly. It helped that her new friends were adorable.

It might help more if she could figure out where she was.

Or find another person.

Characters:

Polymouse - Kobold (rodentlike) Ranger (Swarmkeeper - Reskinned)

-----

Purple Tigress sighed as she felt the hair (fur?) on the top of her head being shifted around and twitched her new catlike ears in mild annoyance.

"Are you quite done?"

"Almost!" Pigella's cheerful voice answered. "Your fur is so comfy!"

Tigress sighed. Of course Pigella would end up being a fairy, and having her normal cheerful enthusiasm cranked up to previously unimagined levels.

"I love you dearly, but if you start shouting 'hey listen' I will stick you in a bottle."

"Aw, I love you too! Hey, what's that?"

"I think it's my character sheet?"

Characters:

Purple Tigress - Tabaxi Paladin (Oath of Glory)

Pigella - Fairy Cleric (Order Domain - Reskinned)

-----

"According to my analysis, we have been placed into what appears to be a Dungeons and Dragons campaign under 5th edition rules," Pegasus stated in a mechanical monotone. "I am apparently a Warforged Wizard using the School of Conjuration whose spells create portals to bridge dimensions and summon or banish my intended targets. You are what is known as a Simic Hybrid, with the class of Monk, following the Way of the Drunken Master."

"Aweshum," King Monkey slurred, his generally human appearance clad in monk's robes marred by his monkey-like hands and feet as well as the monkey tail swishing behind him.

"Why do you keep slurring like that? According to my sensors, your gourd is filled with only water."

"Gotta keep up appearanshes!" King Monkey grinned as he continued faking drunkenness.

Characters:

Pegasus - Warforged Wizard (School of Conjuration - Reskinned)

King Monkey - Simic Hybrid Monk (Way of the Drunken Master)

-----

Hawkmoth studied the dark red horns growing out of his head in the mirror. The change in appearance was disconcerting, but he felt a rush of power in this new form that he'd never felt before.

"Hmm... perhaps I can work with this..."

"Speak for yourself..." Mayura muttered off to the side, ruffling her peacock-like feathers in annoyance as she tried to glare at the beak on her own face.

Characters:

Hawkmoth - Tiefling Dark Lord, Warlock Patron, Contracted by Lila Rossi, Volpina, Queen Wasp, and many others.

Mayura - Kenku Assistant to the Dark Lord, Creator of Monsters

-----

"Oh, come on!" A figure in a cyan and white hooded robe complained as they waved a similarly colored umbrella around angrily. "Everyone else gets to be part of this adventure, why can't I join them?"

"Because you're too OP. You'd completely break everything and remove all challenge from the adventure."

"But sitting around is no fun at all!"

"If you like, I can put you in the position of the main quest giver. Your job would be to direct them towards their enemies and means of becoming stronger."

"That's it?! I'm on 'mysterious hooded figure' duty? Boo! Why can't I fight with them?!"

"Because you're too OP. But if you insist, I'll allow some Deus ex Machina interventions."

"YES!"

"Five."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'll allow five interventions at your discretion to aid them when they are in peril. Once you have come to their aid five times, I will allow no more meetings save to impart quest information."

"That's it?"

"Yes. Choose your interventions wisely."

"So... if I manage to save one for when they fight Hawmoth and Mayura in the final battle...?"

"Then I would allow you to join them of course."

"Score!"

Characters:

Bunnyx: Mysterious Hooded Figure, Deus-ex-Machina (5)

Game Master: Akuma Lord of the Miraculous Campaign

-----

Addendum

When the Game Master is finally purified and the damage reversed, it turns out that he took the effort to trap all of Paris in a temporal stasis bubble so that no matter how long passed inside no more than a few moments passed outside. Meaning that after what seemed like months in the bubble, it's basically less than a minute after he was akumatized when everything is put back.

All his friends, minus Matt, come back in bringing a new person named Zack that they vetted themselves to take Matt's place in case he pulled something like what he did. And while he has a similar playstyle to Matt, he's savvy enough to know what kind of characters that is suited for and he loves playing barbarians.

They all sit back down and restart the game they were all looking forward to.

[hyperfixationation]

me ideas relating to boots n bombs but it’s a list for the world to see 

Disclaimer that these are all cross-faction (RED demoman BLU soldier because WAR! comic is good stuff) and i cannot promise that they make sense because over the months of writing/yeeting ideas/rambles at myself and sal ( @/0-salty-potato-0 shoutout to her for being my ramble sponge) also in part because i’ve kinda developed BLU and RED team members independently fjskds

summary of summary: perfect world, modern, established relationship, timetravel, royalty, amnesia, mermaid, and then some (20 ideas in varying summary length in total lmao) underneath the cut (if tumblrs a butt and does not cut i sincerely apologies)

Perfect world au Tavish and Jane spend their days fighting each other, belonging to two different teams yet thick as thieves in the bright of day. Their jobs are fun and engaging, their teams close as families, and late nights laughing together over a few bottles of beer to look forward to on the empty battlefields. They’re happy, they have everything they could want and everything is perfect. So why was Tavish saying it’s not? 

Modern au  where Tavish lives in the affectionately (or not) named RED cul-de-sac, given from the fact that all the houses had some sort of red color tint or highlights. An interesting neighborhood, with even more interesting neighbors. Life fell into an odd but familiar routine since he moved there, life was comfortable. That was until one of his neighbors crashed one of Conagher’s barbecues announcing that his twin brother none of them had ever heard about was going to be living with him for the time being. This wouldn’t have been much of an issue, if Tavish didn't live in the house right next to Solly. (In a vaguely similar vein theres also one where Soldier’s a ghost/eldritch being haunting a house that Tavish buys

Established Relationship AU where BLU Scout stumbles across his Soldier and the RED Demoman being buddy buddy’s not long after the WAR! after a long battle in Dustbowl, confused and a bit betrayed by the Soldier’s actions, he runs back to his base only to be intercepted by none other than the RED Spy. The Spy asks for secrecy, after some persuasion Scout agrees reluctantly. But, how long could the Scout keep a secret anyway? Story deals with both teams reaction to their teammates relationship with an enemy merc

Timetravel au where the RED Demoman drunkenly begs for a chance to fix a great wrong and  he’s sent into the past by Merasmus. Only he’s sent far into the past, right in the middle of the WAR! between him and the enemy Soldier. Tavish has to navigate this old world, interact with teammates with years of familiarity gone, without bringing too much suspicion upon himself. All at the same time trying to make sure the future never goes the way it does. It’s almost too much, but he was the bloody Demoman, he’ll persevere. He had to. Even if it meant reliving one of the worst fights in his life against a man he could no longer bring himself to harm.

Mermaid au where the ocean had always called out to Jane. An odd sense of anxiety settles inside of him when the company he’s been working for to fend off supernatural beings from american lands stations him to protect the coasts. And it was fine, he was born to kill monsters. That was what they told him. So why did one of the enemies, a deadly siren with a missing eye, know his name? Why did he seem so relieved to see him? Claiming to know him from a past he had forgotten?

Royalty AU     okay i have like 4 takes on royalty au but one of them is that RED and BLU are enemy kingdoms but a sudden out of the blue truce that the RED court is informed of via BLU sending some members of their court as ambassadors, suspicions and tensions are naturally high and they both have to learn to deal with it, however the BLU general and RED prince seem to be getting along surprisingly well after a few spars

Amnesia AU talked a bit about it in that ask anon sent, general concept one day the BLU Soldier goes missing, nobody is able to find him until one day the RED Demoman, Sniper and Spy get stranded in a nameless off the map town. Finding a man who looked, sounded and acted just like the missing Soldier in a bar, only he showed no recollection of them. 

Another spin would be the whole BLU team goes missing, also with more of those brainwashy-culty vibes

Classic 5+1, five firsts and one last that details their life together before, during and after the WAR!

Post MVM pre-comics setting where the former BLU Soldier confronts the former RED demoman at his own home, age old lies are uncovered and old bridges rebuilt as the two learn to live together

Canon comics except Jane’s also there, whats on the tin   when Miss Pauling goes to recruit Demoman to find the australium for the Administrator she was expecting an immediate yes. She planned for it. Yet the Demoman hesitated, and soon she saw the reason why. Tavish would only go if Jane could come along, car ride’s a bit cramped but it would have to be a minor inconvenience

Idk name of ones/random drabble ideas:

Self indulgent Jane is brainwashed by Gray Mann after the gravel wars, after Gray Mann is defeated he sends Jane (“General”) to protect and hide Olivia Mann so that the company stays his, post comics red team + Pauling have been looking for them but Tavish was the first to find them while reminiscing in Gravel Pits and basically “jane the fuck that kids a devil”

During Scream Fortress where Jane and Tavishs long buried guilt and self hatred regarding their relationship with each other takes form as living nightmares as mountains of gibs and sea of heads

Fusion au except idk how to write fusions so it’d focus more on the vibes

After red v blu wars but Before MVM tavish goes to have an actual talk with jane for the first time in years

BLU Soldier gets turned into a kid and somehow stumbles into RED base

Misunderstanding with Merasmus gets tavish and Jane bodyswapped

Undercover, RED’s protecting some random guy and BLU’s there to kidnap/kill in a fancy rich person ball sort-of setting

Wings au

Soulmate au

Honestly just she-ra au, let them be princesses 

[sitorrothekitsune]

This short story is dedicated to my grandfather. “Life is a game of Choice, Chance, and Will.”

The story is based off of the following prompt from @writing-prompt-s: After years of praying to Lady Luck and winning every game you played,  she finally gives you a visit. The goddess confesses she hasn’t had a  hand in it at all and your perfect winning streak baffles even her. With  a curious smile she asks, “Would you like to gamble on a planetary  scale?”

Like all my posts, feel free to add on or change parts of it yourself, just make sure to give credit to me on the parts you didn’t change when you do!

“Golden Game”

I entered the arena, sitting down at the table in the center. I bowed my head, praying. I’ve prayed before every game I played, and I’ve won every game in which I prayed. I looked at my opponent, who had just sat down in front of me, and shook his hand. Henry Conqord... good at games, but not the brightest bulb in the box... he was often off in his own realm, talking non-sense about the Greek Gods or whatever. The referee asked if we were ready, and when we both said yes, started the clock in the center.

----------------------------------------------------

“It depends on your terms.” I said, looking at the self proclaimed goddess in front of me. She was shorter, around 5’3”, and rather pretty. From the past hour I had learned 4 things. One, Lady Luck was just a formal nickname among the gods because of her last name. Her real name was Luminella Luck, and she was not, in fact, the Goddess of Luck, rather, she was a messenger God, an ambassador between the humans and the gods. But she was known for having phenomenal luck herself, having earned the title of Goddess by participating in the war between the Gods and Titans as a human and winning. No one knew how, except Luck’s preference for humans, and their sheer refusal to die, but win she had. And that is why she had been assigned to me. To recruit me to the God’s tournament, because against all odds, I had done something worthy of the title myself. Because, as the second thing I learned, I had won against the disguised form of Apollo; the Greek God of Knowledge. I am not sure when, it may have been the Olympic Martial Arts tournament, or it might have been that Olympic Chess tournament, but I had, supposedly, beat a God that not only knew every move I would make, but also knew the reason I would make it. The next thing I learned was that even the Goddess of luck reported that she didn’t play any part in my winning streak, not that I didn’t win by luck, just that it hadn’t been boosted in any way. Apparently, no god knew how or why I won. Apollo, who had scouted me, reportedly said “It doesn’t matter how much you know if you don’t know strategy, at least not against that monster.” And the last, she said, she could not tell me here, and asked if my week was free. I told her that I planned on quitting my job and living off my earnings from games soon, so yes, it was free because I wasn’t going anyway. She nodded, and put a hand on my shoulder. I felt faint; and my surroundings had changed, greatly. I was in a room, filled with people, and a gold clad figure was sitting on a throne in front of me. I panicked, unsure of what to do, and prostrated myself. He was sitting on a throne, so definitely important. “Rise, mortal.” The figure said, and my body stood on it’s own.

“I am God, the one who oversees all. Whether they be a human or a diety, they answer to me. Introduce yourself, you may speak.” The bubble in my throat dissipated, and I steeled myself. “Ah... uhh... hello... I-I am Richter. I am the human who has never lost. Whether it be a game of strength, brain, or will, I will prevail.” W-what did I just say...? Crap, I just made a huge mistake. The figure chuckled. “That bravado will either be your domain, or your downfall... answer me, do you have any family back home?” I answered, quickly. “No sir; my father is jailed, my mother died of cancer, and my sister found a loving husband in Egypt. I haven’t seen her since the wedding.” The figure looked to be in some sort of pain. “I see; that is unfortunate. Well, no matter. I had originally intended to ask you if you wanted to play our game of the gods, and I still intend to do so, but I will give you a new purpose. You are no longer Richter, son of Oliver and Angie Madden. You are Richter, an ambassador to humans and the Diety of Games. You may still return to the human realm if and when you wish, I will also allow you other abilities so you may do your job properly and dutifully, but mortal you are not.” I felt a euphoria wash over me as a golden light enveloped my body and lifted me up. “W-wait!” I said, panicking. “I- I appreciate the offer, my Lord, but I don’t want to be a God! Or... I do, but I want to work for it!” I said. And then I realized the mistake in my words.

The figure stopped, and then laughed. “Don’t say that, I might have to make you the God of Jesters instead!” He laughed some more, and the rest of the room broke out in laughter as well. “I-I don’t understand... did I say something funny?” I questioned, sheepishly. The figure composed himself. “No... I apologize. I was just confused why you thought you hadn’t earned it yet. You beat Apollo; do you mean to say that you won easily?” He laughed while speaking, thinking about the implication. “N-No, my lord. I have never had a clean game. I’ve only ever just barely won. Even when pitted against the worst player you could think of, I win by the skin of my teeth. I don’t even know when I played him. I was told that he was not in his godly form, so there is no way for me to know.” God chuckled. “He was your so called ‘rival’, Henry Conqord. You played against him a total of 329 times, in games ranging from chess, to mancala, to tennis. You won every time.” Wait what? Henry? He was pretty good, but he never struck me as the knowledgeable type. “Really?” I asked the figure. “Indeed.” He replied. “Are you sure?” I asked again. “Indeed.” He said, chuckling. I sighed. “I do not know if I am worthy for the offer you have given me. I do not even know if I will be able to serve you properly, but I will try.” The figure nodded, appreciatively, the golden light filling me with euphoria once again. The figure congratulated me on my ascendance. “Now... Richter, would you like to participate in our so called Game of Gods...?” I looked over myself... my... clothes had changed? I now wore a futuristic set of armor, and a visor over my eyes flashed various spouts of information. I took the visor off for now. Probably best to look the literal god of the universe in the eye. I snickered. “Is that even a question...?”

<-<-<-<-<-<-<-<-To be continued...->->->->->->->->

And now a poem because I feel like it.

I have won every game I’ve ever played; I have won every bet I’ve ever made. I have won the hearts of women and men alike, and I have won at the game of life. But that doesn’t mean I cannot lose; lose myself in what I choose, for after all is said and done, I won’t enter heaven from the games I’ve won.

[prongsisabadger]

TWP Chapter 20

It hadn't been a separatis attack, we all knew that. There were no blaster wounds on any of the fallen troopers, and droids -as far as we could tell- did not make a habit out of parading their victories by putting clone helmets on spikes. All deceased clones had either been stabbed to death, had their necks or spines shattered or died of internal damage. There was no way this had been a droid attack.

Chairman Cho insisted otherwise. While both Jedi masters followed Rex and his squad to an abandoned separatist base, I was left to keep the dignitaries safe. While they argued over which party was responsible for the attack, I helped Nax and his men bury their brothers. We scanned the wrists of every fallen man and buried them in the most dignified way we could. We took their helmets and used them to mark each grave. A total of thirty men had been killed.

"I know clones, for the most part, don't believe in the Force," I started, once all the bodies had been buried and all that was left was to honour them. "I know that becoming one with the universe seems far-fetched at best to some of you. But believe this: they died as soldiers. They died fighting for a cause they believed in: not for the republic, but for their brothers. They died so that we didn't have to. Let us honor their sacrifice and make it count."

Four troopers stepped forward and aimed their rifles to the sky where the wind made snowflakes fly like bullets. Four rounds were shot, and for the next minute, only the storm could be heard. It was getting worse, and Masters Kenobi and Skywalker were still out.

"Commander, I just got back word from Rex. He and the squad are on their way, but both the Generals decided to keep investigating." Nax said when he approached me.

"Good, do me a favor and check if the team inside managed to get systems operational. We are going to need them if we are to survive this weather." I answered.

"At once, Commander." But the man hesitated, he stood in place as if wanting to say something else.

"Anything else, Nax?" I asked.

"Just- thank you, Commander."

Rex brought troubling news: as we had expected, it had not been a separatist attack. The CIS base had also been overrun and decorated in a similar fashion to our own. Thing is, they had found surveillance footage, and the planet was, in fact, populated. The news brought no joy to the Chairman, the man all but called the Captain a liar and denied the fact that Orto Plutonia could be inhabited. Pantora had had the planet under its protectorate for generations, after all. But we all kept our mouths shut. Rex did because he was a professional, I did because if I said something I would probably start yet another intergalactic conflict. That and Obi-Wan would be pissed at me. Call me what you like but if there was something I hated it was disappointing people.

I decided to leave the command center to the politicians, maybe then they'd have a sense of control and stop harassing troopers. So I went to the hangar to "oversee" inventory and reparations.

"You know, Rex? I really admire your self control, it took all the training I had not to kick Cho's ass back there." I said as I jumped on the hull of a speeder and sat down.

The captain chuckled underneath his helmet as he crouched to check that the speeder's systems were working properly.

"Oh, kid, you wish it was self control," he said, taking the tool I offered. "Trooper helmets have different communications settings and they can cancel audio input and output. You'd be surprised at how much chatter's been going around today."

"The amount of gossip must put a Hutt's spy network to shame…" I chuckled.

"It's not all bad," he said, turning the speeder on and running diagnostics. "Most of it was troopers wanting to see how Cho would fend against a Jedi Padawan. For all his talk, most of us think seeing him bested by a seventeen year old would be quite entertaining."

I shot him a playful glare. I knew it was wrong, but Force did I want to kick his ass. He was arrogant, rude and a total womp rat to senator Chuchi. Patriotism died in the face of toxic masculinity apparently.

"You know I can't do that, however tempting it might be…" I said.

"We know, but watching you try to hide the impulse is very entertaining."

He dodged the snow ball I threw at his head, chuckling as he made his way to the next speeder bike.

…

As soon as Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker returned, I realized for the first time that my lightsaber was the wrong color. I did not have the patience to be diplomatic with people like Chairman Cho, the man deserved a roundhouse kick in the ass and absolutely no authority over other living beings. And everyone around me agreed. Master Kenobi was so done with the man, he couldn't even bring himself to be sassy anymore, and even worse was the fact that Master Skywalker wasn't speaking at all.

The only person who was genuinely interested in changing the Chairman's mind was Senator Chuchi and to be completely honest, the woman deserved an award. I would have beaten some sense into him but Obi-Wan's seriousness frightened me more than the frustration the Chairman provoked.

The Chairman insisted that the Talz had no jurisdiction in Orto Plutonia, that they were savages trespassing on Pantora's territory and that they were a threat to them. It didn't matter that they didn't have the technology to leave the planet, or to get light that didn't come from a fireplace for that matter. Nothing mattered, only that we were all on his land.

To be fair, those kinds of situations were the reason I'd decided to become a Jedi, but every time the Chairman opened his mouth I wondered whether it had been the right choice. I decided to just keep silent and follow Master Kenobi's lead, I couldn't trust myself on this one. If I had, Pantora would have had to hold elections for a new Chairman. there was nothing I hated more than entitled beings.

To be honest, I didn't really think the Masters' efforts to resolve things peacefully would work -not if the Chairman was the one carrying out negotiations. And we all should have seen the result coming clicks away. The first indicator was when we were setting off for the meeting with the Talz and Cho told Rex to gear up for war. Granted, General skywalker told him there would be no war, but someone had yet to tell that to Cho.

The Chairman had had every chance to change his mind. The Talz had proved to be intelligent enough to monitor us, to have scouts follow us, to have evaded our scanners. Their status had been put in question when it was proved that they were intelligent enough to have developed not only a language but also a writing system -however rustic. The Talz had every right to be respected, they just didn't have the luxury of a sensible person on the other side of the negotiations table.

And the Jedi? We could do nothing about it. Chairman Cho had declared it all an internal affair, and not even Senator Chuchi had the authority to denounce his authority. So war was declared. Ironically enough, however eager to declare it an internal affair, Chairman Cho was ordering our troops around as if he had any right to them. It was sickening to watch, and I could stay silent, but never idle.

"Master Kenobi, I'd like to escort Rex's squad." I said as soon as Cho started ordering troopers to gear up.

"Kriari, the Chairman has declared this an internal affair. the Jedi cannot intervene." He sighed.

"Then he has no right to our troops, Master." I insisted. "I know you are not going to let him go undefended, but at least let me go as backup. The men don't deserve to die for his arrogance."

Obi-Wan seemed to consider it as he looked me in the eyes. Maybe he was searching for something. Maybe he found what he was looking for.

"Very well, but you are not to intervene for anything other than protection. Understood?"

"Yes, Master," I said, and in my relief I hugged him. "thank you."

…

The only good thing I had to say about chairman Cho was that at least he rode at the very front of the suicide squad he had assembled. The clones followed him only because thos had been their orders, they were not stupid. The enemy was only the enemy because the man at the front of the charge had made them so -even if they had reason to resent them. The Talz were in their homeland, they knew the territory, the best spots for ambushes, they were not hindered by the weather conditions. We were at a disadvantage, a big disadvantage. And still they followed orders, because above all, clones were good soldiers, and good soldiers followed orders.

Good soldiers died that day, for a man who was not worth the life of a single one of them.

It happened so fast yet so slow, as battles often do. We were ambushed and as we had expected, the Talz weren't messing around: colonizers were not welcome in Orto Plutonia. I jumped off my speeder and took point, cutting spears left and right and deviating others with the force. We were surrounded, Rex got the men to take defensive possitions. We were all doing our jobs tight, everyone was in possition, but we were being overrun by an enemy who had the numbers and the terrain on their side. Six troopers went down.

"Retreat!" I yelled over the noise of blaster fire and the growl of the beasts Talz rode. "Rex, get the men out of here!"

The Chairman tried to protest, to call me a coward, to say they could never retreat when faced with beings so inferior. I cannot say if I could have prevented him from getting stabbed when he did. I was too busy making sure the troopers lived to fight another day. It might have been wrong for a Jedi to admit, but I didn't care if he died.

Rex took the wounded man and mounted up. I covered as much of the retreat as I could before jumping on the back of Nax's speeder. We were not in the clear, not yet. The canyon stretched around us and the enemy knew the terrain well. Even in our retreat we were losing men. Some got shot down, some got caught in a trap. I tried desperately to Force push spears away from the troopers, to cut down those that got past me. It was difficult work when trying to hold onto the back of a speeder bike.

To our dismay, the enemy had booby trapped the ice bridge that led to the tundra as well. two more troopers went down when they were trying to get across. The bridge collapsed, and with it our only way out. We were surrounded, the storm had jammed communications, and as far as we knew, no support was coming.

"Just like in Christophsis, ey, Commander?" Said Rex beside me.

I smiled sadly at him.

"Tighten up formation, Captain. I'll do my best to redirect enemy fire away from the men." It had become a habit of mine to default to 'business mode' when in a tight spot. Compartmentalizing was a lot easier when the lives of others depended on you thinking clearly. "Ger Coric to tend to the wounded right in the middle of the formation. Hopefully we'll make it out without any more losses."

But hope was often worth jack shit in war. We lost three more men before the gunships showed up. The sound of the LAAT/i engines over the roaring storm almost made me cry, and the ceasefire on the enemy's side even more so. I turned my lightsaber off and grabbed Rex's forearm. He grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. We had made it through another one, if barely.

"You okay, Rex?" asked Skywalker as soon as they got off the ship.

"Just a scratch, sir." he said.

"Tell me." He said, voice low and grave face.

"Eleven dead and several injured including the Chairman. Would have been a lot worse if the Commander hadn't been here." He said patting my shoulder.

Master Kenobi had been looking at me the whole time, waiting for me to say something maybe. Or maybe just checking for injuries. I shook my head, I didn't want to talk about it, not right now. The price for one man's arrogance had been too high. Too many men had died needlessly because one man decided colonization was worth more than peace.

I am not ashamed to say I was glad when Chairman Cho died. In my eyes, he deserved it. Maybe his death would at least be a little consolation for the eleven troopers who lost their lives that day. I didn't hate people easily, but I hated that man, and I was glad that he had died. An even better consolation was Senator Chuchi denying the man his dying wish. There was cruel satisfaction in knowing that he failed to achieve his aim even when he had died for it. The fact that the Talz had been recognized as sovereign over Orto Plutonia gave me ever lasting satisfaction if only because that meant all those troopers hadn't died in vain. And then, there was one less war to fight in the galaxy.

[tripstaysnoided]

Flow Just Like Water

Story and writing-related transparency update and my many shames...

The Question on Everyone’s Mind

“Hey you haven’t updated No Stars over Uptown in almost a year...”

Hmm, I hate it when you’re right. (This section has been rewritten ad-nauseam to curb back the bitchiness by the way)

So back in early/mid 2018, the idea was to divorce Uptown from a person who influenced it (and myself) heavily. She was my most important audience member, the closest friend I ever had, and unfortunately someone who used her power to bully, ostracize, and hurt others with my help. I cut contact when the hurt + some self-awareness finally reached me. Apologies were made and I feel like my work will never be done with it, but there was still Uptown.

Between censored comments, entirely recasting Axel’s save, different plot threads, and a load of disclaimers, there was nothing that would scrub her influence from the story. There was no way to cleanly drop everything because of how deep her influence went. It disgusted me to look back at it, and I had to private the blog because I feared what it endorsed, even if just in the past.

I pulled back from that sims writing community. I had its main thread on the Official Forums removed too (I guess if that was a mystery to anyone). It was a surrender that I never wanted to do, but I had it in my mind that if I was gone, then she wouldn’t be there either. Uptown became this cursed item, and as I quietly retired it, I noticed that she went quieter too. Not gone, but enough to make me sleep easier at night and even occasionally say hello to old friends.

And I hope deep in my heart that no one else is getting hurt in my place, but now this is gonna haunt me all day huh!

The two paths forward...

1) Complete Uptown rewrite that I’ve been threatening everyone with all year. While it won’t ever be clean because I can’t undo time, I do have a sound outline for a story that is much more true to my actual vision and how I’ve evolved, with a few necessary boundaries in place that are going to be there for all stories moving forward: no more casting calls and no more collaborative efforts. I am not going to open myself up to this happening again, even if the people have changed.

2) Same as above, but I continue the original Uptown as a favor to loyal readers alongside the rewrite. I would try to put the effort into it that I initially did, but with no promises on an update schedule and no advertising. I did ask myself “is there Patreon but without pledging money, just the private posts function” but it could operate as part of a private forum, a members-only part of a website, etc.

Also readers of the original would be beholden to a rule of “don’t spoil the rewrite for new readers, c’mon guys”. I mean, not really, but it is a good courtesy to extend to people.

Priority on this isn’t high but you at least will see what is!

I will probably make the blog public again either way due to the many broken links on my Tumblr but we’ll see. There are other things to deal with as I shall list!

Where Life’s Been Regardless

Been spending more time with my grandpa every weekend. Life’s pretty good and he’s warming up to my dogs.

Shiny New Webbed Site

Cucumber Fields Forever is a site I own now. We have a full domain, cucumberfieldsforever.com, a blog with one post, and the framework needed to host stories the way I want to and still through WordPress. The functionality of likes, comments, and following should still be the same but you know...I’ll take feedback too...

The main blog still has an undefined purpose though I do have drafts sitting around about:

The maybe/maybe not hoax band that was on the Metal Archives and the history of Funeral Doom Metal.

The curious case of when Sims 4 babies get their genetics and my only collaboration (read: was talking about it with a friend and might quote her if needed, it’s actually a bit of a doozy)

Amazon.com’s fake dried udon noodles, an actual issue by the way.

Things I’m reading! (This’d be a monthly feature if so)

For the sake of unity, I am thinking of solutions for hosting old and shameful content there including Uptown and for the real fans in my followers feed, Eight Cicadas...a world I totally have plans for too (not really). I don’t want them to be front-and-center, and that’s why I mentioned forums/members-only content. I finally have that power! Maybe.

Ooooh but what are the costs? Not too much to handle, that’s what. 😉 (Like really, I don’t need any hand-wringing about this, I can manage my finances)

Project Queue (In Order of Confirmedness)

Outrun the Scythe: have you seen me post out-of-context Sims 3 pictures? Did you want more? Did you hope it was Linda in Custody? If the answers are yes, yes, and “meh, whatever you want”, then you’re in luck.

Outrun the Scythe is a Sims 3-based tale of a young gay man and his zombie grandma, as they are both offered separate roles of being the undying intermediaries between the world of humans and the influence of a race of space daemons. It’s pretty familiar if you’ve been following me pre-Uptown, taking some cues from stories I’ve kept under lock and key like Eight Cicadas, The Chains of Lyra, and the not-so-locked-up Ironstar Immortals (of which Outrun is just the direct sequel to sans any retconning...ah the smell of early 2013 and performative heterosexuality)

Ah, back to my roots.

It’s a hybrid of gameplay, story, and lore about my little race of daemons with a lot of my own idiosyncrasies that I’m not really ashamed of: basing it off a super-polarizing Sims 3 challenge from a site I moderate, using a lot of EA’s pre-made townies and their genes, lots of unnecessary posemaking, stupid references. It’s a comfort to have in my roster.

While the first few chapters are in the middle of revision, I have around six in the queue and will be making this public when I have ten. I’m guessing December then?

Undocumented Black Widow Challenge: I just did this for fun/forum kudos (yes, in fact I have joined many forums), there was going to be a short story but it was quickly becoming something against my code of ethics. I mean, sims die and all. (read: I had to choose between “heterosexual widow” and “widow with some same-sex marriages that still end in tragedy, reinforcing negative stereotypes to the public for the sake of me not getting bored and detached during gameplay” so there were no good choices. Except for her affair with the mailwoman, 10/10) I hope to finish this before October ends and get my medal on Boolprop, I’m pretty far through it all. I might upload the sims involved anyways. This is for TS4.

I mentioned it because it’s keeping me busy. But not for long!

NaNoWriMo 2020: Dipping my toes into that again! It’s not sims-related, just a tale of lesbians, nosy neighbors, a haunted beach house, and some light murder and kidnapping. And I actually got my brother to scout out locations for me this weekend. If there’s any demand, I can share chapters as the rough drafts are finished, especially for the sake of proofreading.

Not saying I’m publishable, but wouldn’t it be nice? Will keep me occupied for much of November.

Untitled “Dear Diary” Challenge: Tired of feeling left out of the fun on the Boolprop forums, their “Dear Diary” challenge was the one that appealed to me the most on first glance. Why? Probably once I found an idea that let it be set in the early/mid-2000′s to begin with and explore some interesting characters through diary entries (which I have mixed feelings on as a literary device but I think that’s just me saying “well I didn’t like Dracula”, yes you get bonus points for writing it like a diary)

Also writing is the one skill I’m good at across multiple games. Wanna hear me bitch about the cooking skill tree in TS4 or riding in TS3? I’ll spare you.

I guess I could have included “spending time on Boolprop with old and new friends” in where my life has been. It’s a nice lil community if also a place with its own idiosyncrasies as well. So it doesn’t feel like I’m promoting another community if/when I make a thread there for Outrun the Scythe, I want to have a couple chapters of this ready to go by Outrun’s release, though it’s not gonna be the highest priority compared to it nor as long because I think I can blast through the gameplay quickly.

This one will be played in TS4 due to it having the easiest writing skill/I dunno variety is the spice of life. And hopefully another December release.

Defunded or Forgotten?: Oh shit I actually released stuff in 2020 and told no one? I do have a “mortifying ordeal of being known” sinking feeling whenever I get a site hit because it’s not my best work (but good enough) and veered sharply into issues I may be over my head in, though I try to be a good noodle with research and listening. Maybe hiding is bad after all.

Being based off a very flawed and incomplete Sims 3 challenge I found in the annals of the Official Forums, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work just making sense of things. And I’m scared of working on reconstructing the house but I haven’t abandoned the project yet. The story has eight chapters so far and is pretty game-based with some additions here and there. Scared of how long it could be though!

Date for this unknown.

Untitled Sunlit Tides Decadynasty: another year-long abandoned TS3 project with a much stupider reason why. Last update was about Hua getting ready for her wedding, and I wanted to do some poses for a bait-and-switch wedding chapter because to put it mildly, her real one was an absolute disaster.

Blender decided to fuck up its interface again, I got discouraged (this probably does account for some of the Uptown delays too), and when I decided to plow forward, it was for other projects instead.

Meanwhile I played all the way to Gen 5′s teenhood and the only thing stopping me is time (it takes almost 30 minutes to load the file right now, though they’ll be looking at moving towns in a couple gens) and maybe fear of the Logic skill.

Date for this also unknown but it’s easy to pump out updates once I’m in the groove for it. My third heir had a difficult life so maybe I’m just trying to bury it.

Also I just noticed the view count there was really good and probably because I linked it here on Tumblr last year. Thank you so much guys. I can’t really fret over views on Carl’s forum these days thanks to the years-long death spiral pretty much every forum anywhere has been riding on. But it’s a nice surprise. And it’s an alright little challenge recap to read during your lunch break or whatever.

The Wawas

I figured I’d end on the real news everyone wants! Both the chihuahuas are a year and a half now and reached their adult size around a year ago. For the most part, they are happy and healthy dogs.

[frozenartscapes]

Monsters Don’t Save People - Part 2

I was inspired to do a follow up to the first part, found here. I might have kinda combined it with what happens in Shambala but with someone else we know who can turn into a giant, magical monster.

---

“What do you mean you lost them?!”

Her scout captain took a step back in alarm, not used to hearing such an outburst from the Emperor. “I...I apologize, your Majesty,” he stammered, “But after that attack in the village the other day... In the chaos, we lost the trail. I’m afraid we have...erm, nothing.”

Edelgard grimaced, her teeth gritting so tight they were beginning to hurt. “There are no signs anywhere of where they might have escaped to? No magic signatures? Discarded weapons? Footprints?”

He shook his head in dismay. “We will keep looking, your Majesty,” he vowed, “And your spymaster is conducting interrogations of the surviving villagers as we speak. But...it’s not looking hopeful.”

A spike of frustration and anger shot through her heart. She clenched her fist to the point her gauntlet strained under the pressure. “Then keep looking. You may go,” she commanded.

The scout captain nodded, failing to hide his relief, and scampered out of her tent to the relative safety of their base camp.

Once alone, Edelgard returned to her desk with a map of Fodlan spread out across it. Little flags and markers traced the path they had taken so far, all on the hunt for Those Who Slither and their hideout. They had been following a decent lead, until their foe took drastic action, flooding a village along their route with mutated monsters in an attempt to distract them.

Apparently, it had worked.

Edelgard let out a low growl in frustration, scouring her map and attempting to figure out where they might have run to. Every possibility didn’t seem likely. Her enemy this time around wasn’t as predictable as a foreign power. They were elusive, sneaky, and desperate. They could have led them on a wild goose chase before warping across Fodlan, for all she knew.

Anger surged again. Foolish. She was foolish for thinking this would be easy. She should have kept following at a distance. Assembling her Strike Team and attacking Those Who Slither alerted them to her plan. And now they were back to square one because she couldn’t be patient.

She had spent too long being patient. She didn’t have much time left, she couldn’t afford to be-

CRACK!

In her rage, she had slammed her fist down on her desk. But rather than stopping when it met the wood, she had struck with such a force that it went right through, splitting the solid wood desk messily in two.

Not expecting the table to give, her momentum sent her stumbling forward, into the wooden debris. She caught herself before she was flat on her face, but still had to take a moment to recover from the shock.

She let out a long, shaky breath. Calm. She had to keep calm.

She pulled her hand out of the wreckage of her desk and was anything but calm.

Black, charred skin. Long, razor-sharp claws. They had ripped clean through her metal gauntlet, leaving the shreds dangling from her hand.

With a startled gasp, she staggered backward until she collided with the edge of her bed. She shakily sunk down, eyes never leaving the monstrous appendage.

‘Breathe,’ a voice in her head instructed her, ‘Breathe. Calm down. Or else it will get worse.’

She struggled to take in a few weak breaths, but panic was quickly taking over. Her wicked hand clenched into a fist under her will, confirming that this was, in fact, real and a part of her.

Tears pricked in her eyes. ‘So it does come easier, now...’

“Edelgard?”

Her head shot up toward the entrance to her tent. Another attempt at a deep breath, and: “Yes?” Her voice only sounded slightly strangled, so she took it as a victory.

“Is everything all right? I heard a crash... May I come in?”

It was Marianne, and while she would rather not have anyone see her like this, of all the people who could have come to her tent she was probably the best. Edelgard gulped, and hid her mutated hand behind her back.

“Everything is...fine. Yes. You may enter.”

Marianne entered the tent with a look of concern on her face. Her eyes first landed on the destroyed desk, and a gasp escaped her lips as a hand shot up to cover her mouth. “Oh dear!” she cried, “What happened?”

‘Shit,’ Edelgard thought to herself. She had forgotten that she’d have to explain the desk. Her monstrous hand twitched behind her back.

Marianne turned toward Edelgard and her worry shifted in an instant. The Emperor’s face was deathly pale, her eyes wide and brimming with unshed tears, and body trembling like a leaf. It was such an odd sight to see of the woman normally so unflinching.

“Edelgard?” Marianne asked softly, “Are you ok?”

“I...” She thought about lying. But her confident “yes” had been caught in her throat. She might have been able to sound convincing but she knew she didn’t look it.

Marianne noticed how the Emperor held one hand tightly behind her back, and her frown deepened. “Are you hurt? I can take a look at it if you want, or I can go and get the Professor-”

“No!” That word fell out of her mouth before she could stop it, and it came tumbling out as if she fumbled something easily breakable. When she met Marianne’s confused and startled gaze, she sighed, “No. D...don’t get Byleth. Not...not yet.”

Marianne tilted her head in response. “But...” she began slowly. Something was wrong. Edelgard shared everything with her fiancée. Even Marianne knew that.

Edelgard swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, resulting in a few wayward tears falling down her cheeks. “Promise me you won’t tell a soul about this,” she choked out, attempting to maintain authority despite feeling more and more like a helpless child chained up in a cell.

“I promise,” Marianne breathed. Concern filled her voice, but there was a gentle earnestness to her that gave Edelgard the confidence to reveal what was hidden behind her back.

Marianne gasped when she saw the monstrous appendage, her hands flying up to cover her mouth in shock. Though her eyes, wide with horror, showed a slightly different emotion.

Edelgard looked away from her, glancing back down to inspect her hand with morbid curiosity. “I...don’t know what happened,” she explained, trying desperately to hide the tremble in her voice, “I...was angry. Frustrated. And when I went to slam my hand on the table it just...”

She sighed heavily, clenching the hand of the Hegemon into a tight fist. “I suppose I will have to be more careful, now. Ever since becoming the...that thing...to win the battle a few weeks ago, my emotions have been...strange. More potent, and more volatile. This is proof, now, that it’s...dangerous...”

Marianne still gazed upon her with those big, brown eyes. Yet despite the lingering shock on her face, she took a step forward. Then another. Slowly, she approached until she stood right in front of the Emperor.

Then, without a moment’s hesitation, took that horrid hand in hers.

Edelgard couldn’t hide the terror on her face. She wanted to rip her hand away, but restrained herself only because she feared what those claws might do to Marianne’s delicate skin. As she floundered, struggling to find words that would gently tell this sensitive woman to get away from her for her own safety, Marianne did something she rarely ever did to anyone.

She smiled at her. Reassuringly.

“You are not dangerous, Edelgard,” she said softly, carefully running her thumb over the rough, charred skin.

“Yes I am,” Edelgard breathed, unable to tear her eyes away from her hand.

“Tell me, Edelgard: Am I dangerous?”

It was with those words that the Emperor found the strength to beat her fear. “Of course not,” she answered, confident, as she met those warm brown eyes.

“Then you are not, either,” Marianne told her simply.

Edelgard’s eyes widened. Of course: her Crest...Maurice...

“But you never... I have...”

“Perhaps I haven’t,” Marianne said with a small sigh, “But as long as the Crest of the Beast dwells in my blood, there is a chance. Do you still think me safe to be around?”

Edelgard nodded, perhaps a little too eagerly. “I would never consider you dangerous, Marianne. You’ve proven yourself to me countless times over.”

Marianne gave her hand a small squeeze. “And I watched a great, magnificent creature place herself between myself and a monster, all to protect me and my companions,” she said softly, “You could turn into the Hegemon right now and I wouldn’t be afraid. No one would.”

Edelgard stared into that gentle gaze, focusing only on the comforting touch of a fragile hand against her demonic one.

She had been so caught up in her emotions she didn’t even feel her hand change back.

“There, see?” Marianne said with a delicate laugh, “All that worry for nothing!”

Edelgard regarded her bare hand in total shock. Never had she been happier to see her scarred skin - at least it wasn’t that sinuous hide anymore. She looked back to her companion and offered a grateful smile. “I really must thank you, Marianne,” she said earnestly.

“No need to thank me,” Marianne replied, “I would not be here if you hadn’t helped me overcome my own fears. I simply returned the favour.”

———

Finding Shambala turned out to be the easy part, much to everyone’s dismay. Edelgard had been forced to dial it back, but her initial attack had scared Thales enough for him to fire a second warning shot, much like Arianrhod. Though that still meant undue soldier and civilian casualties, Those Who Slither had chosen to obliterate a small fort town rather than target anything big.

The mistake they made in doing so, however, was that it allowed Hubert and Linhardt to track the magic signature, something they had been working on since Arianrhod had been destroyed by a Javelin of Light.

Now they knew where Shambala was, and it was time to raze the snake nest.

It turned out the technology of Those Who Slither in the Dark - or the Agarthans, as they had learned - was far more superior than any of them realized. Edelgard even found herself cursing Thales and his ilk for utilizing such medieval and antiquated procedures on her and her siblings when it was obvious the Agarthans were well beyond that.

Still, she had to put it all behind her for the moment. The Agarthans had learned of the army sent to destroy them, and like fire ants out to defend their hill, were swarming them with wave upon wave of mages, monsters, and golems.

She and Byleth worked to keep the Eagles together, moving as one powerful unit rather than splitting up. But that eventually proved to be impossible in the onslaught of chaos, and eventually, Edelgard found herself alone.

She took down another mage with a Crest-enhanced swing of her sword, breathing heavy and sweat dripping on her brow. The brief lull between enemies allowed her to survey the battle taking part around her, and a fear she was becoming too familiar with struck her heart once again.

“Truly a shame, isn’t it? To lose so much…potential.”

Her blood went cold. Her grip tightened around Aymr’s handle. She spun around, rage boiling in her soul. “You,” she spat.

Thales seemed bored at best by her fury. “You once told me that your little human friends were strong, capable warriors,” he drawled, “Seeing them here now, I’m almost inclined to believe you. We could have made them better of course…” He paused when someone - Annette, it sounded like - screamed in fear and pain. A wicked smirk stretched across his face. “But alas… Nothing will remain after today.”

“You’re right about one thing,” Edelgard growled, readying her axe, “Nothing will be left, but of this wicked place! Of you and your miserable people!”

“Put that thing down, girl,” Thales warned, “Don’t forget who made it for you.”

“And now I’m going to prove how great a mistake that was!” She surged forward, letting out a fierce war cry as she swung Aymr back.

Thales merely raised one hand, and she collided with a solid forcefield of energy before she could so much as touch him. The resulting blast sent her flying, Aymr landing further away with a clatter.

“Do you realize what you could have been had you stayed with us?” Thales demanded as he stalked toward her. Before she could pick herself up, he struck her with another shockwave, sending her careening away.

“You could have been the greatest Emperor Fodlan has ever seen!” Thales declared. Another wave of his hand, and she felt some unseen energy pluck her up into the air, only to hurl her into a nearby pillar.

“You could have been a legend!” Another wave, and this time she was thrown into the far wall with a sickening crunch.  

“You could have been a god!” He pitched her high this time, slamming her up onto a platform elevated above most of the fight. Her body crumpled to the floor of the platform. She struggled to get her breath back, struggled to shake the spots from her eyes.

Thales appeared beside her out of thin air, and grabbed her by the throat. He hoisted her up so she could see below them, at all of her forces currently being just as trounced as herself. “But you can still be something,” he hissed into her ear, his slimy voice sending shivers down her spine, “Once this is all over, we’ll rebuild you. Fix the flaws we missed the first time. Yes… Perhaps grant you a third Crest… Mend that meddlesome mind of yours so that you’ll obey… You might have to be replaced, of course, but your contributions to the Empire will still be highly valued.”

Edelgard struggled against his hold, but no matter how hard she kicked and thrashed she couldn’t escape. Memories began to flood her mind, and suddenly she was twelve again, fighting against this same hold to no avail while her family died around her.

But then Thales let out a pained shout, and released his hold on her as if he had just been burned. Or shot.

“Y…you leave her alone!”

She looked up from where she was on the floor, only for her heart to seize in panic. Bernadetta, bless her, was standing a few feet away, aiming a nocked arrow at the Agarthan’s head. She was trembling from head to toe and was pale as a ghost but she still stood, staring down the most dangerous man on the continent.

Thales reached behind his back and tugged the arrow from his shoulder blade with only a small wince. “And what are you going to do?” he sneered as he stalked toward the terrified archer.

“What are you going to do?” Uncle Volkhard - no, he wasn’t her uncle anymore - let go of her neck and allowed her to fall to the floor, his attention now turned entirely to one of her older sisters.

Before her sister could respond, he struck her, hard, with such a force it knocked her to the ground, her bold, defensive stance rendered utterly useless.

“Take that one next,” her not-Uncle growled at one of the mages, and they hauled her beloved sister away before she could do or say anything about it.

They threw the corpse back into the cell a few hours later.

“No…” she breathed. She pushed herself up as far as she could, only sitting, really. A violent cough sputtered up from her lungs, bring a good portion of blood with it. And the pain that shot through her side told her she likely had a couple broken ribs. And even if she could stand, Aymr was down on the lower level and all she had left on her was a dagger.

She was once more that helpless little girl in a dungeon, unable to so much as protect her siblings the way they tried to protect her. Thales was going to kill Bernadetta, and all she could do was watch.

But then a low growl escaped her throat. One that wasn’t human.

Amidst the panic seizing her heart, she felt a fire growing. One that quickly became a raging inferno, boiling her blood and searing her skin from the inside out. This time she didn’t fight it, didn’t try to stop it, and it came naturally. Her bones split and stretched into something that almost felt normal, her skin ripped apart and hardened into charred leather and scales and for the first time since they got to Shambala she felt safe. She flexed wings she didn’t have seconds ago, swished a tail that hadn’t existed.

She was nothing but claws and fangs and dark magic and righteous, protective fury.

Thales prepared to crush this trembling little human like the bug she was, but suddenly a massive hand grabbed him, claws narrowly missing anything important.

Bernadetta watched as the Hegemon yanked Thales away from her, and her paralyzed eyes met those sinister red ones of the monster before her. The creature offered only one word, one that would ensure the archer’s survival: “Run.”

And so Bernie did.

Thales chuckled from her hand. “So the rumours were true,” he laughed, “You did produce the anomaly. Oh…my wondrous weapon!”

Edelgard slammed him against the wall, squeezing until she could hear his bones breaking. “I’m going to enjoy this.” Her voice came out rumbling, distorted, every bit as menacing as she felt. But he was squirming, and for once she did not care how much blood she was about to have on her hands.

“Yes…yes…” Thales gasped, “Such power… Never…never forget…who gave it to you!”

Something inside her stirred. Her head swam in emotion, all her tightly bottled anger and resentment being released and feeding her actions. She couldn’t contain the twisted grin that spread across her face. Finally. Finally. She’ll have her revenge for what he did to her. For what he did to her family. And what better irony - to be killed by the very monster he helped design?

But then another scream pierced through the vindictive clouds in her head. Suddenly the roaring thoughts of crushing Thales, of tearing him apart and bathing in his blood, were overcome by the sounds of the battle around them. Shaken by the shift in her mind, she dropped Thales, turning to observe below them.

The Eagles - her friends - were losing. Mercedes was administering a healing spell to Annette as Ingrid and Marianne fought off a monster trying to reach them. Hubert and Dorothea were doing what they could against the mages, but were clearly outmatched. Ferdinand, Petra, and Caspar had been pinned between two massive Titanus. Lysithea and Linhardt were both taking cover, trying desperately to heal each other. Ashe had found Bernadetta and the pair were attempting to provide cover but there were too many enemies. And Byleth…

She watched as Byleth charged at a particularly large Beast, managing to sink her sword deep into its throat only to have the blade be stuck there. The Beast went unfazed by the weapon and batted her away. It then ran at her, teeth bared and waiting for blood.

“You’re still…going to lose,” Thales taunted as he struggled to his feet, “Kill me now, girl, and you’ll still lose.”

Her jaw set, her mind made up. With a swish of her tail, she swatted Thales away like the insect that he was. She then leapt over the ledge and entered the fray.

Byleth braced herself for the Beast to bear down on her, waiting for its teeth to pierce her armour. But then there was a loud crash, the ground shook underneath her, and the Beast charging her was slammed away by another, more familiar Beast.

“El!” Byleth shouted in alarm, suddenly more worried about how and why Edelgard had once again transformed into the Hegemon Husk.  

Edelgard killed the enemy Beast with one swing of her claws. “It’s alright, my Teacher,” she said in a voice that did little to comfort Byleth at that moment, “I am in control this time.”  

Her red eyes then locked onto the golem about to crush Caspar under its foot. “Call the others back into one group. We must take our enemies as a unit.” She then surged forward, throwing the golem away as if it were a mere toy.

Byleth shook her head, snapping out of her stupor, and raised her sword to rally allies near her together.

Ashe and Bernadetta ran up to meet her, both helping Lysithea and Linhardt limp forward. “Is that…Edelgard?” Ashe asked, his face pale as he watched the mutated Emperor fight against the golem.

“She did it again?” Lysithea demanded, “Is she crazy?”

“She…she did it to save me,” Bernie stammered, shrinking in on herself as she spoke, “Oh gosh… I…I hope she doesn’t get stuck like that b…because of me.”

“It’s ok,” Byleth assured them, “I think El’s got this under control.” There was a loud bang and a flash of blue-green light as the Titanus exploded under Edelgard’s dark magic.  

“I certainly like our odds,” Ferdinand said as he and the others joined them.

“I’ll say! Did you see how she just smacked that thing away!” Caspar exclaimed, “Saved my ass for sure! I owe her one!"

“What’s the plan now?” Dorothea asked as mages and soldiers began to flank them.

“We fight, and win,” Hubert declared, reading magic in his palms, “For her Majesty!”

There was a low rumble, and cracks of dark magic surged through the ground under the enemy’s feet. Spikes erupted from the openings, decimating the group. “I appreciate the sentiment, Hubert,” a demonic voice said behind them, though the smirk was unmistakable even with the distortion.

As the Eagles regrouped, so did the Agarthans, surrounding them with groups of soldiers and mages. More Demonic Beasts burst from the shadows and charged. Archers lined up from the ramparts high above. A final Titanus exploded through the wall behind Thales’ throne, sword glowing and ready for blood.

“Ashe, Bernadetta: take the archers!” Byleth commanded, “Ingrid, cover Ferdinand, Petra, and Caspar as they take the soldiers. Mercedes, stay with them in case they’ll need healing.”

“Hubert, Dorothea, and Lysithea: mages. Marianne, you, Byleth, and Annette take on the Beasts. Linhardt, stay with them.” The Titanus slammed its sword into the ground, resulting in a wave of molten rock and fire to surge out toward them. Edelgard held out one hand, and a shield of purple energy stopped the wave before it could reach them. “The big one is mine.”

With everyone good with their tasks, the Black Eagle Strike Force moved out in one formidable unit. When one hit, another was there to hit again. If someone had their back turned, someone else was there with a shield. Magic and arrows flew true and swords and axes hit with strength and accuracy. United, they were unstoppable.

The Titanus fell to Edelgard’s claws and she turned to find the battle over. Those Agarthans left alive were fleeing, and all the major threats were dead. She couldn’t stop the small smile that broke through the scales on her face.

As the Black Eagles gathered together to celebrate, wicked laughter echoed through the city remains. Edelgard whipped around and let out an involuntary snarl when she spotted Thales, clearly too injured to fight, kneeling on what was left of the dais.

“You…will never enjoy your victory,” he declared through heavy breaths. His cold eyes met Edelgard’s one final time as the floor underneath him lit up in archaic runes. “For all Agarthans.”

The entire city began to vibrate. Dust and rocks were shaken loose from the ceiling. Linhardt, who recognized the runes, gasped in alarm. “No, it can’t be!”

Suddenly the entire ceiling was ripped open with a massive bang, rocks and debris raining down around them. Now that they could see the darkening sky, it became clear what Thales had done. A bright light appeared in the sky, almost like a star. But then it grew brighter, and brighter. Purple circles appeared as a giant column leading the light down to the ground. More lights appeared in the sky.

“That idiot isn’t that crazy, right?” Lysithea demanded in a panic.

“Head for the exit!” Byleth shouted, “Now!” She turned to El, who was still staring at the sky. She didn’t like how the Hegemon’s wings twitched in anticipation. “El, let’s go!”

Edelgard turned, just a little, so she could see Byleth. Magic began to form around the skeletal wings on her back, filling them in to resemble something more like an eagle’s. Something that could actually fly. “I’m sorry, Byleth,” she said softly, nodding to her family, “I won’t let him do it again.”

And with that, and a mighty flap of her wings, she was off and into the sky.

“No! El!” Byleth screamed as she watched her love go. She wasn’t the only one, as the others from the team all had similar sentiments.

Edelgard stared down the first Javelin, magic and fire dancing down her long arms and collecting in her hands. Once enough energy had charged, she released the powerful blast. The moment it connected with the tip of the Javelin, the entire thing exploded in a massive, brilliant fireball.

Another column of circles formed nearby, and she quickly swooped into that path to take out the next one.

And the next.

Her position was too awkward to catch the one after, and she was forced to watch it strike the opening of Shambala and hope she had bought everyone some time to escape. Another column formed, and she snapped out of her worry and intercepted that Javelin.

Byleth could only watch in horror. Edelgard seemed to be doing fine, but the few Javelins that slipped past her were really starting to bring the city down. Thales had been lost in the chaos, laughing like a maniac as the boulders from the ceiling caved in around him. It had been made abundantly clear just how destructive one Javelin was, and El was up there swooping directly into their paths to take them out, narrowly avoiding the infernos.

El managed to destroy one more Javelin, and what seemed like the last one. And for a brief second, there was a moment of respite where it felt like she could breathe. Like Byleth could breath. Edelgard spotted her down below in the rubble, and the universe stopped. Just for them. It was over, they both survived. Things could finally…

Byleth saw it first. That flash of light, the circles… She shouted for El, hoping she’d see it in time. Edelgard whipped around, only having enough time to see the gold tip of the Javelin before it struck her directly.

The explosion rocked the city now exposed to the elements. A chorus of screams and gasps was overpowered by the loud boom. Rocks and dust blocked out the sky, fire rained down upon them, forcing them to take cover.

As the dust settled, Byleth shot to her feet, shoving aside rocks and debris as she began a frantic search. “El!” she called out, hoping - praying. Yes, she just watched the woman she loved more than anything take a direct hit from a Javelin of Light but the Hegemon was virtually indestructible and Edelgard was even stronger than that. She had to have survived. She just…she had to.

She pushed a large boulder out of the way, revealing what was left of Thales’ corpse, half-buried under the rubble of the civilization he was once so proud of. A maniacal grin still smeared across his face. Byleth clenched her fists tight, so tight her fingernails dug into her palms. After all that, after every life he destroyed, he goes out like that? Crushed by some rocks moved by his own hand?

She spun away, feeling her anger beginning to reach a boiling point, and that’s when she spotted her. That red cape, so easily seen through the dust.

Byleth raced to her side, falling to her knees and carefully scooping the Emperor up into her arms. She felt so…fragile, now. And cold, despite the burns on her body. But, despite her injuries, her chest still rose and fell.

“El…” Byleth uttered, resting her forehead against her beloved. “It’s over.”

Slowly, lilac eyes fluttered open. A faint smile danced across Edelgard’s lips. “My Love,” she whispered, “We won.”

“We did, El,” Byleth replied, feeling tears on her cheek and not caring in the slightest. She heard the other Eagles shouting. She spotted Dorothea all but dragging Linhardt toward them. “Just hang on, a little longer. And I swear to you will have that day where we do nothing at all - just lounging around and eating as many sweets as we can.”

A breathy chuckle escaped Edelgard’s chest, a violent cough following not long after. “I’ll…hold you to that…” she said weakly. Her eyes began to droop shut.

“Just hang on, El. Hang on…”

…

“The path we walk isn’t at its end yet.”

———

Enbarr in was at its best in the Garland Moon. It was warm, but it wasn’t yet so unbearably hot it almost made one wish for a Faerghus winter. All the trees had fully grown all their leaves, the first of the summer blooms were in full swing, and birds sang without a care in the world as they flew about the gardens. The sun sparkled off the water in the Palace fountains, warming the stone balconies and filling the rooms with soft yellow light. The air was fresh, with a touch of salt from the nearby sea.

Edelgard drew a deep breath in from where she stood on her balcony, wincing only slightly. Her ribcage was still fairly sore, but the fresh air was more than worth it after spending so much time trapped in her bed.

“El?” Byleth’s concerned tone came from inside, causing her to sigh lovingly at her wonderful fiancée.

“I’m out here!” she called, and Byleth was there in moments, not trying to hide her relief.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed yet,” Byleth scolded, though her playful smirk and tone gave her away.

Edelgard pouted, just a little. “I’d argue that the healing benefits of a pleasant, summer day were too good to pass up,” she countered, “Besides. I made it out here on my own, didn’t I? That should mean something.”

Byleth frowned a little, looking around the balcony for something. “That’s…right,” she said slowly, “How? You can’t really walk yet and we had to steal you cane after you kept sneaking down into the…” That’s when her eyes landed on the small hand axe El kept near the bed should an assassin ever try anything. The handle on it was just long enough. “…study.” She levelled the woman she loved a tired glance. “An axe, El?”

“I am nothing if not resourceful,” Edelgard stated in defence.

“Well, you won’t need it for this,” Byleth said as she pulled out on of the chairs at the little table on the balcony, holding a hand out to assist El over to it. Once she was seated, Byleth  returned to the room for a moment, and Edelgard could hear the sounds of tea being prepared. Sure enough, Byleth came back with a tray of tea and an assortment of various pastries and cakes.

“It’s not a mountain of sweets, not yet. Manuela says you still have to watch what you eat until your injuries are fully healed,” Byleth said, “But I just thought that… Well, this could be the first of many leisure days to come.”

“The first, huh?” Edelgard said with a small laugh, “Funny. I feel as though I’ve had nothing but leisure days since our return from Shambala.”

Byleth smiled as she poured their tea. “I’d like to point out that a coma isn’t exactly relaxing,” she teased, “Nor is lying in bed worrying about your Empire.”

“I wasn’t…always worrying…”

“I walked in on you at one point trying to will yourself into good health, El. You never stopped worrying.” She chuckled slightly at the thought. “But today felt like a good one for taking a break.”

Edelgard took a sip from her cup, breathing in the warm scent of bergamot and feeling it sooth the lingering rawness of her throat. “I suppose it is,” she said softly. She gently reached out and took Byleth’s hand in hers, brushing one finger over the gold and ruby ring she had given her beloved. Byleth did the same, admiring how her father’s ring looked on Edelgard’s slender hand.

“I really must thank you,” Edelgard said after a pause, eyes never leaving their intertwined hands, “I…don’t think I would be where I am now were it not for you.”

“El, I…”

“I’m not even talking about the war,” Edelgard admitted, “I… There was an incident, not long after the village where I became the Hegemon. In a moment of anger and frustration, I began to turn into it again. And I was so afraid to tell you because…” She drew a deep, long breath, clenching her free fist. “I’ve known I was a monster for a long time. I might not look it. Or sound like it. But what they did to me… It changed so many things. I couldn’t…I couldn’t let you see just how truly lost I was.

“But then in Shambala, when we fought together when I was… It felt just as natural as ever. Like I hadn’t changed who I was at all, despite being a giant, hideous creature.”

“The Hegemon isn’t hideous,” Byleth said quickly.

Edelgard laughed. “It’s alright, Byleth. I know what I looked like.” She frowned a little then, almost mournfully. “It’s still…disconcerting that such a creature dwells under my skin. But that was the second time it fully came out and all I wanted to do was keep you all safe… I don’t know if such a thing would have happened had it not been for you.”

Byleth offered her a comforting smile, squeezing her hand a little for added emphasis. “I’m always going to be here for you, El. We all will be,” she said, “And I wouldn’t be here without you, either.”

Edelgard returned the smile with a warm grin of her own. Her heart fluttered in her chest, overflowing with emotions she hadn’t felt in what felt like an eternity. Watching Byleth now before her, trying and failing to daintily eat a pastry, only renewed the fire in her heart. Her friends were all safe. Her Empire and all of Fodlan was safe. Her family was safe.

And she knew what it truly meant to love again.

“Thank you again for this, Byleth.”

“You deserved something special. Happy Birthday, El.”

[huntsman-ash]

RWBY V8E4 LiveThoughts

And were back at it again, this week with turkey and Italian preserved sausage as a snack! Lets see what RT has for us this week.

Oh, 20 minutes. Are they normally this long?

Oh, wait, the openings almost 2 minutes long. Thats more like it.

And now to Robyn and Qrow. Seems Robyns actually liking Qrow a little bit now. 

Guess the cells aren’t secured if a fly got into Schnee’s. This a “Fly on Mike Pence’s face” reference?

Qrow sounds more growly again. Did he get smacked back two seasons by Clover dying?

If by “darkness” you mean “Tyrian” then, yes. Also dude, its Clover. He was shit anyway. All the Aces are shit. Dont feel too bad about him.

And he’s got a point too. If Clover had thought with his head instead of his dick (yes, Im sure they were gonna fuck, Fair Games totally a thing), he probably wouldnt be dead now, and Tyrian would be the one with the sword through his chest.

But of course this is RWBY and V7/8 so things cant go their ways.

Ouch. Deep thoughts of Qrow. And some interesting stuff from Robyn too. I still think I’d prefer hopeandharmonizing’s Briar, though.

Marrows glare gives me life. Hare’s just a moron right now though, but thats no real surprise. She’s immature emotionally.  Honestly, shes...kind of like a less bad version of our current President. Always has to be the best at everything, fastest, leader, whatever.

Thats probably why this is grating on her so much. Even though shes TECHNICALLY the Ace’s leader now (I think? Seemed like she was Clovers lieutenant, so by rate of succession she’s in command now)

A glance at the little floating control pad... “Clerance access only”. Okay, that...seems weird. Shouldnt it say something like authorized personell only? Maybe it means access by clerance only or something.

Then Robyn’s name, and then process ID 4591-27. No idea what thats useful for but its there.

Also Marrow seems to be the only competent member of the Aces rn. 

Ah now we get to see some of the hills around Atlas. For those of you who have seen my headcanons on the Hunter-Killers and their base of operations, Fortress Academy, its out in these hills somewhere.

The music sounds like a boss fight.

The screen on Ren’s hoverbike reads “HVB Rhino” and “HD5800″ I can only assume HVB stands for “hoverbike” and Rhino must be its name, like how the dropships are Mantas. No clue what the number is. 

Also apparently the cold in Solitas is so bad it corrupts machinery?

Ahh, good, some action. Lets see what we get now. Ohh, teamwork. And again, signs that aura allows you to move faster and farther than a normal human

Heh, it really is like a boss fight, like the chase scene at the end of the first Viking level in For Honor.

Oh, and it can call for reenforcements literally out of nowhere? Or is the whole tundra of Solitas just CRAWLING with Grimm?

Yes, yes it did just call for backup, Yang. Maybe these are all forward scouts and ambush units from the Grimmstorm. They did say its the biggest...

Another banger from Casey Lee Williams...

What the hell happened in Solitas to cause this geography? Seriously, its a line of bridges over a gap in two cliffs...that cant be natrual, not that equal in distance.

Man, those bikes didnt even last half an episode...I guess thats fair, they are facing obsurd odds. Or maybe they just want Yang to be the only one with a bike.

And there goes the dropwall. Woops.

Also you can just kinda see it but they bounce off the rock and thats why they slow down. Useful.

Also this part with them falling off the edge reminds me of the ending cutscene of Halo 4s Forerunner level, where Chief flies out of a portal and almost goes sailing off a cliff in a Ghost.  Except here, the bike stays on the land and THEY go off the cliff.

I paused at just the right time cause YANGS FACE XD

Holy shit what are Ren’s weapons cables MADE OF? The one atop him is holding him AND the weight of his two teammates. And the one below has both Jaune and Yang. No sign of slippage or breackage at all. 

Ahhh there’s the whaleship (Monstra? Fuck it Im gonna keep calling it the whaleship). So yeah my headcanon now is the mountain its right next too is Menachite, where Fortress is. 

Oh hey back to the Schnee manor of all things! Does...this mean military invasion of the Schnee grounds. Hey Whitley. Lesbians are here. 

Someone make a video cut of Weiss banging on the door to the “Knock knock open up the door its real!” part of that one song.

Hehehehhe. Nice Weiss.

Also convenient about the house staff. Good thing RT doesnt need to animate them or Willow now...

I hope the staff took some of the silverware and some paintings on the way out.

Why is MAY the one carrying Nora.

Ah so now they’re stuck out there with no cell service. Hehe.

Ah okay so the cold in Solitas DOES eat aura. Good, my headcanon still kind of stands. 

I wonder, does wearing proper cold weather clothing (like bundled up stuff) help? Or does it cut right through...

Why is JAUNE the one hauling the bike? Isnt Yang the strongest? Or maybe they take turns.

Ahhh inter-team talking. Also, outpost. Hmm. Atlas one? Overrun if I had to guess. Unless he saw Fortress. Which I doubt.

I do love the circling shot here, with the light on Yang’s hair and the shadows on Ren. Its...really artistic and emotional. GREAT WORK RT. 

Rens got points. And hes saying stuff I myself have been saying for ages, which is good. I wonder why this is how Ren is now...working with the Ace Ops? Being afraid of loosing Nora? No one tell him what happened last episode.

Also, Jaune’s hair seems to have gotten less crazy in recent episodes. It looks less like a banana and more like a close tactical cut.

Yangs got a point.

Ahhh and now we get to see the inside of the whale. 

SALEM FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP SHOWING THE FUCK OFF. SERIOUSLY. WE GET IT. 

...this is gonna be a really criingy torture section, isnt it.

Someones gonna take that “hound didnt break you” line in the WRONG direction 

It is amusing the only thing holding Oscar down is the Hound actually. 

Ah so they’re still searching the remains of Beacon.

Also I like how Salem calls them “her forces” as if its anything but a random bunch of expendable monsters. Like, bruh, you cant search anything with THAT.

Ignoring the boring chat between these two, notice how the Hound’s shoulder literally flexes and shifts when Salem touched it. I dont think this thing is solid at all aside from the head and the bone claws...the whole thing is just amorphous Grimm material that can adapt to whatever situation it requires. A specialist unit. A...Hunter hunter.

Yo what the fuck was that. Magic? Huh. Did we actually SEE magic for once in the show? Only took us 8 FUCKING SEASONS...

Doesnt seem to be anything but an energy blast/pain never firing though. I assume his auras still gone, cause its completely singed his shirt, but it didnt do much else.

...Im not impressed.

She really needs to stop touching his face, its creeping me out.

HAHA SHE CANT DO IT HERSELF SHE HAS TO RELY ON HAZEL BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF HIM. I think we know where she stands now, doesnt she...say what you will about her letting Hazel have his vengeance (which is very valid, even he admits hit), but me? I think she A) cant actually beat up on Ozma herself because she still cares and B) shes almost out of magic too. Its weakened as the Gods have been gone and shes been forced to rely on the Grimm and on pawns. Basically, once she and Oz are both gone? That’s it for magic. Remnant will belong to the Grimm...and to technology. 

At which point without Oz around to hold them back Atlas is going to go fucking BONKERS and basically ensure the Grimm get pushed back into a corner and then finally permenantly STAMPED OUT.

More Whale insides. Seems like most of its empty grandious spaces. Or possibly muscle? Hard to tell. Either way theres a lot of open air in there...with tight corridors. If you fired a thermobaric warehead into one of the chambers the resulting blastc could possibly blow the doors off and send a raging fireball through the entire thing...Hmm. Filing that away for later.

NEO IS SO SHORT ITS FUNNY TO ME. I know its just positioning BUT SHE LOOKS EVEN SHORTER IN THIS SHOT THAN USUAL.

More note on the Hound; the “flesh” around its right shoulder spike actually sinks down when it stops moving. Its neck shifts and moves too, like the material isnt solid, but recirculating.

I also dont see any eyes. And it looks like it has some kind of...forehead mouth? Def looks like teeth down the ridge of its spine.

Oh boy yeah that...whole thing is basically melting in on itself.

I wont lie; hearing Cinder get berated by CORTANA (and yes, I still hear Cortana in Salem, espeically now that the two characters are kind of one and the same, both megalomaniacal leaders of giant armies, bar the fact that one of them is about a TRILLION times more dangerous than the other because one of them has access to Guardian Custodies and the other one is...well kind of lame and has to have beefy dudes beat up on small children etc) is pleasing to me. 

Get fucked, Cinder.

And THERE is Cortana again too.

Neo Marry Popins’s Ya’lling is fucking CUTE. And I love her little smirk.

Wait the whale’s that close?

..oh my...hold on.

...thats it. THATS ATLAS’S AIR FLEET!?!

12 AIRSHIPS? 12? EXCUSE ME!?

ARE YOU LEGITAMETLY TELLING ME THE BIGGEST MILITARY ON REMNANT HAS FEWER AIRSHIPS THAN THE SMALLEST NAVY ON EARTH HAS FRIGATES? YOUR FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT? THERE HAS TO BE MORE SOMEWHERE. THIS IS A JOKE, A STRAIGHT UP FUCKING JOKE.

...

No, thats...thats it. Thats Atlas’s airfleet. 12 tiny vessels. I swear it was bigger last season...

...HA! HAHA! HA! Oh, Ironwood, and Atlas as a whole...you deserve everything your about to get. I hope you die SCREAMING, and that when your bodies fall bleeding and shattered to Mantle, the people down there will realize that, no. You cant just assume Hunters will do all the work for you

THIS IS REMNANT. ITS KILL OR BE KILLED. YOU EITHER MAKE A FORCE POWERFUL ENOUGH THAT THE GRIMM RUN FROM YOU  OR YOU DIE INSTEAD. ATLAS FAILED. NOW THEY SUFFER.

Emerald stop simpin.

Also that is...the SHITTEST outpost...I have ever seen in my life. My overall thought process of Atlas is...sinking even LOWER than before. 

Though it seems more like a waystation. Bed, Dust, some dudes coat on it. Dead heater. Its probably a rest spot for Specialists out in the tundra.

Ren does the emo sit. Lol. Yang even says it. Brood himself to death.

Alright whats this now...something forcing itself out of the tundra?

And thats it for today! Cool ass concept art at the end there too. 

[writingdispenser]

New Chapter Excerpt While It’s Still Cooking

The new chapter is still in the works, and I am in fact gunning to have it finished by today! But while I’m still working on it, I know y’all have been waiting for a while now, so here’s a small excerpt from the beginning to tide you over.

For context, here’s where I’m at in the word document right now:

Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy it when it’s finally out.

It was an unspeakable hour of the morning, yet the BLU base was buzzing with more life than usual as everyone clattered around before the long drive. Heavy was helping Demo move the last of their bags down for the bus, as Scout raced from room to room anxiously, seeming to be looking for something lost. Engineer groggily drank a mug of coffee in the kitchen meanwhile, doing his best to politely ignore the loud food shoveling coming from Soldier next to him. He gave Spy a silently relieved nod as he entered the room, glad to have someone finally he could actually converse with.

“Mornin,” he greeted as Spy returned the nod back, already making a beeline straight for the coffee pot.

“Good to see you too,” Spy replied, checking the pot’s contents. “Surprised to see you here, actually. You didn’t have to wake up with us too, you know.”

Engineer shrugged as he took another sip, before Scout’s head poked through the kitchen door for what must have been the third time so far today.

“Yo, are you sure you haven’t seen my –”

“No, I still haven’t seen your lucky baseball card in the plastic sleeve ‘round here, and yes, I did look,” Engineer answered like clockwork amiably. “You seen it anywhere, Spy?”

Spy shrugged with a sigh, before downing a swig of coffee from his freshly poured mug.

“You always keep it in your pocket, yes? Have you checked the laundry room?”

“Wha – of course I checked the laundry room, I looked through ALL the stupid laundry, do I look like a dummy?!”

“…And you remembered, I assume, that we place items found in the pockets in the basket on the second shelf to the right then, yes?”

Scout gave a short pause at that.

“Uh…yeah! Totally! Totally checked those places I’ll – I’ll be right back –”

Scout ran just as quickly out of the room as he had entered it, Engineer giving a low chuckle as he watched him dash.

“Not the brightest crayon in the box, is he?”

“I’ve worked with worse,” Spy shrugged, before blinking as he finally noticed the stack of pancakes on the countertop. “Hm…was that you?”

“Nah, Demo got here first and made uh…a lot.” Engineer moved his chair a little bit to the side at that, as Soldier enthusiastically squeezed maple syrup out of the bottle a little too hard next to him.

Syrup gushed across on the table, but Soldier didn’t seem to mind or care as long as at least some of it landed on his horrifically wrecked plate of pancakes. Engineer scooted his chair even further as Soldier dove back into it, cleanly managing to avoid most of his coworker’s mess.

“Ha…he probably made too many on purpose,” Spy laughed lightly, already walking towards their table with a neatly stacked plate of his own in hand. “He likes to be helpful, but never wants to look like he’s trying to be helpful. If that makes any sense.”

Engineer made some room for him on the least sticky stretch of table as Spy pulled out a chair, sitting down.

“Well, you’ve known him longer than me,” Engineer shrugged now. “Only reason I’m up right now is I was plannin’ on driving to my other work arrangements early…what with all the fuss going on lately and all.”

He wasn’t lying there either; he really did want to get to work early today, although for reasons other than his own personal healthy work ethic. He took another sip of coffee with a quirked smile as Spy gave a snort in response.

The sooner he had time to make use of the teleporter he had hidden in the RED’s base the better…and who knows, maybe there would be something there that would help him slip into the old fighting grounds. Two birds with one stone, if he was lucky. Hell, he knew about the underground tunnels BLU used to operate, thanks to research he did back when he knew he’d be stationed here – who knows what the REDs had going on that’d be similar?

Just then, Medic suddenly burst into the room behind them. The doctor barely acknowledged his teammates as he darted past them with a grunt, grabbing three pancakes from the countertop stack and shoveling them haphazardly into his face. He just as quickly grabbed the entire pot of coffee off the machine before dashing back out of the room, leaving the door swinging, as he left nothing but muffled curses from his still stuffed mouth behind.

“…What’s got his goat?” Engineer asked curiously.

“He had some experiments this whole…excursion of ours is interrupting,” Spy replied calmly. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Honestly, he’s always like this.”

“He could have at least poured his own coffee instead of stealing the entire pot…”

“I WILL MAKE A NEW ONE!”

“Soldier, no –”

It was too late to protest however; Soldier shot up from his seat proudly, still covered in sticky syrupy mess as he made his way towards the coffee machine.

“Hold on just a second, Soldier!” Spy quickly got up after him, stopping the man in his tracks with a hand to his shoulder.

He winced quietly as he tried to ignore the brown sludge now sticking to his unfortunate gloves, Soldier curiously turning around towards him, grin still plastered across his face.

“What’s the problem, private?” Soldier asked, clearly itching to unwittingly spread his mess further.

“You know, we’re going to be leaving in about a half hour,” Spy replied, keeping his voice smooth as best he could. “There will be…higher ranking officials seeing us off. And our ah…previous engineer besides. You do wish to look your best, don’t you?”

Soldier paused, before looking down at himself, then back up at Spy. Clarity regarding his situation finally seemed to sink into him.

“…ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, NEW PLAN! YOU MAKE THE COFFEE, I HIT THE SHOWERS!”

Soldier made a race for the door now, running straight into Sniper who stumbled in surprise as he was pushed aside. Sniper looked down mournfully at his newly ruined clothes, as the hurried stomping of Soldier’s boots faded down the halls.

“Well,” he sighed quietly. “Off to a great start.”

“You and the rest of us,” Spy replied, shaking his head in sympathy.

Spy tossed his own sticky ruined glove in the sink, before replacing it with a fresh one from his jacket pocket. As he pulled out an unused coffee pot from one of the cupboards, Sniper finally made his way inside with a shrug.

Spy passed Sniper a roll of paper towels in the meanwhile as the man muttered his thanks, pausing to wipe himself off as best he could.

“Surprised to see you here this early Truckie,” Sniper murmured, tossing the now sticky towels away into the garbage.

“Yeah, I’ve been getting that a lot today so far,” Engineer chuckled as he went back to his coffee. “Well, except from Soldier. I think the man actually expects me to keep this early morning schedule as a regular thing…”

“Christ,” Sniper muttered now, as he stopped fishing around for a clean plate long enough to fully take in the absolute state of the kitchen table left behind. “Don’t tell me this was all his work?”

“Just got him to go to the showers,” Spy snorted, already placing the newly filled coffee pot into its machine to heat up. “I might have used Everett’s name, of course.”

Sniper gave a low laugh at that, as Engineer looked between them curiously.

“Everett…?” He asked, voice trailing off in question.

Sniper and Spy exchanged glances at Engineer’s question, causing his back to stiffen up at that. Things had been going so well, he had almost forgotten…in many ways to his own team he was still practically speaking, an outsider. It’s not as if he knew it couldn’t be helped; most teams he joined already had a much longer shared history going, before he was ever added into the mix.

“Ah, apologies – that was the name of our previous Engineer,” Spy finally replied, shrugging as he now returned back to his seat, coffee duties finished. “I just thought it was alright to use his actual name, given he’s technically retired…”

 “Soldier used to follow him like a puppy,” Sniper added in bluntly.

He took a seat at the same table now himself with his newly procured plate of pancakes. Spy sighed, shaking his head towards him at that. Sniper didn’t seem to notice though, or at least pointedly ignored Spy’s reaction. He reached for the syrup then before hesitating, pulling his hand back. It appeared as if Soldier’s misuse of the stuff had put Sniper off for now.

 “…That’s certainly one way of characterizing it,” Spy replied slowly, choosing his words carefully. “He harbors admiration, I think. Everett served in the previous World War, keep in mind – officially I mean. And you know how Soldier – hm. Soldiers in the badlands in general. How they tend to be.”

“Ah,” Engineer replied slowly as well, swilling his mug. “I was too young to get drafted for most of that business myself…although if I’m being honest, it was a pretty close shave. I turned 18 in September of ’45.”

Sniper gave a low whistle at that.

“That’s more than a close shave mate; you must have the luck of a saint.”

Engineer snorted, before downing the last of his coffee.

“Boy, I wish…if I did, maybe Miss Pauling wouldn’t have chewed us out as long as she did after yesterday’s dance with the GRNs.”

At that Sniper gave a raspy laugh of his own, Spy’s eyes crinkling in amusement himself.

“It’s a miracle we got off as scott free as we did,” Sniper finally managed to add, a lighter smile now on his face. “Outside of the talkin’ to, I mean…”

“It’s ‘cause all them pencil pushers in admin know y’all are gonna be out of their hair soon anyway,” Engineer chuckled. “A few respawns on the GRN’s don’t cost ‘em as much as the usual bail money with these sorts of situations anyway. And I’m pretty sure those fellas had to have gotten a chewing out too.”

Engineer grinned at the thought of that…he sure hoped they did.

“Speaking of Pauling,” Spy mused. “I heard she’ll be arriving in the bus we’ll be leaving in today…although I highly doubt she’ll be driving back with us. I assume a different member of administration will be assigned to keep tabs on our lot while we’re away.”

“Probably Miss Howard then,” Sniper shot in over another bite. “She’s the one we see most often ‘round this area anyway.”

“Can’t say I’ve met that member of admin yet…”

[partyinthemysterymachine]

sucks in a breath

if you thought i was done with my CATS bullshit you were dead wrong

rewatching the jellicle ball I Noticed that Alonzo, Plato, and Admetus join both Munkustrap AND Tugger’s quintet piece. Coricopat is switched out for Mungojerrie in Tugger’s.

S O 

shoves up sleeves

anyway i got more Ideas for that whole “munkustrap has magical abilities” thing even tho i really gotta go to bed bc i’m zzzz but fuck me tbh

to refresh: Munkustrap makes the Jellicle Choice and Macavity was supposed to go to the Heavyside as a Choice

Alonzo, Plato, and Admetus are captains, so to speak, of the guardians. each of them have their own “unit”. the three of them oversee their respective units and have their tasks cover the bases that relate to what Munkustrap needs and what Tugger needs. Tugger and Munkustrap each have their own right-hand man, a combined advisor and scout. 

ALSO SOMETHING TO NOTE (for myself lol) is that in the quintet, Munkustrap is in the center, but in the last row. in Tugger’s, he’s up front. that puts it perfectly. Munkustrap’s duties in protection are in the inside and Tugger’s on the outside. Tugger is the “face” of things, he’s bold, he’s up front and center, can’t ignore this dude, while Munkustrap stays in the background, watching, observant, calculating, protected and protecting.

Munkustrap needs Coricopat on his side of things. because they’re both attuned, it’s best that they work together to control the inner defense of the Junkyard. Coricopat caught on to Munkustrap’s static first, having a higher perception and strengthened connection to his magic before the tabby started figuring his own out. like Misto, Cori’s (and thus Tantomile’s) plane doesn’t align with Munkustrap’s. Cori and Tantomile align more with Misto.

i age Cori older than Munkustrap in this scenario. if Munkustrap is, say, 35 now, Cori would be 41. six years isn’t too significant but it’s enough to put Cori much higher in his attunement - and he did have a lot of practice and a good mentor. his relationship and usage with his sister helps a hell of a lot. unfortunately, there’s no tutoring Munkustrap. 

in fact, he still doesn’t even know what his magic does. there’s something closed off to Cori and Tantomile when they try to pick at Munkustrap’s head or at his static. there’s a forcefield, for the lack of better phrasing, in Munkustrap’s psyche and if they try to penetrate his attunements, the static shocks them right back. he’s a total mystery and it puts both of them on edge. they were able to needle at Misto and other attuned, so if they can’t prod Munkustrap, that feels very shifty and concerning.

they picked each other out, though. Munkustrap could feel their static and approached both of them for a part of the inner defense team, but Tantomile refused. she didn’t want anything to do with it; the static didn’t set well with her. she tried to dissuade Cori from accepting but he eventually did. Tantomile’s main concern is depletion. she claims that being around Munkustrap enough seems to deplete her psychic energies, but Cori says he hasn’t had problems with it. it causes a bit of tension between them. Cori’s tried to reassure her that if he gets closer, he might be able to make sense of whatever the hell Munkustrap is. that’s kept her mostly agreeable so far.

so Cori and Munkustrap work together to maintain and keep on top of the inner defense. then the three captains are consulted, any changes made, and they’re off. Munkustrap and Cori’s relationship is friendly and upbeat. they like each other, though they remain very wary all the same. it’s a really odd place to be in. (not to mention how the siblings reacted about Macavity, and after that really strange Ball, or when he left..)

on the other side, the three captains also look to Tugger. Tugger commands the outside defense. that’s the perimeter of the Junkyard territory and beyond into the streets. he and Mungojerrie go back quite a ways. they even call each other best friends. being so forward, outgoing, congenial, and silver tongued, they can utilize their particular strains of it to their benefit. this isn’t to say that they’re 100% conscious of it the entire time. both of them have their moments in which they purposefully use their best weapons to get somewhere. they have the gift of the gab and differing swaggers that are, honestly, moldable. 

Tugger relies on Mungojerrie and his connections across the grapevine. meanwhile, Tugger does his own means of protection by doing the same thing - but more face to face. he’s a charmer, that one. Mungojerrie is too, but again, it comes down to their distinct brands of it. from here, Tugger can pull the captains together and let them know what’s going on so they can reassign roles appropriately.

interestingly Tugger’s role as a tactician and protector goes unnoticed within the tribe - and that’s intentional. for all everyone else knows, he and Munkustrap share their close friends and, of course, Tugger is closer to Mungojerrie and Munkustrap, Coricopat. it’s no big. they’re all buddies. keeping Munkustrap the forefront leader for the protectors allows the focus to be trained on him. Tugger and Mungojerrie are looked at only for what they’ve made themselves, and so go otherwise unnoticed and unsuspected. 

it works very well.

Tugger is not attuned. he doesn’t have any static, no magic, nothing. he can’t feel it from his brother or any other magic user, no matter how close he is to them. non-attuned can’t feel attuned at all. 

while everyone knows that Coricopat, Tantomile, and Misto (with the common knowledge of Macavity aside) are magic users, no one has an inkling that Munkustrap is at all. it’s for his, and the Jellicles’, safety. not to mention that his attunement is so goddamn essential and honesty, very controversial. it’s a hard burden to bear. no one (else) can know what he is and what crucial role he plays.

So Tugger doesn’t even know that his brother IS a magic user. again, for the best. he was thankful that Munkustrap even suggested that he take over outside protector duties. it gives Tugger something to focus on, to do, to get out and about and doing what he wants, while also honing his skills and serving the tribe.

he really needs that distraction.

things have gotten better, but he’s still on shaky ground with his brother and father ever since Macavity left..

[hanmajoerin]

Tagged by the magnificent @inuyashasimp–thank you so much for the tag!

Rules: answer some questions and tag some bloggers you wanna get to know better.

Name: Megan Elisabeth

Nickname: Megs, Megatron, Meggers, Meggie, Megsie-pie, Meehan, Mija, etc.

Gender: I’m a lady 💃🏼

Sexuality: Queer

Height: 5’ 1/4” (on good days, I’m 5’ 3/4”)

Language: English

Nationality: American! I thought about trying to build a life for myself in Japan but I ended up moving out to desert and now I have my precious kitty, Kohaku. Even if I did move to Japan and take him with me, he’d die of anxiety on the plane ride over so American it will stay 👉🏻😭👉🏻.

Current Time: 9:52PM

Favorite Season: I’m a sucker for spring 😍.

Favorite Flower: Yellow Roses because of Yaten Kou and Irises because of my baby girl, Iris Kennedy.

Favorite Scent: Nothing butters my egg roll like the smell of vanilla or coffee.

Favorite Color: A soft, pastel pink.

Favorite Animal: I’m definitely torn between cats and dogs.

Favorite Fictional Character: 510% Kagome Higurashi. I love that she kicks ass in her middle school uniform, I love how she’s a fantastic ride-or-die, I love her flaws, I love her desire to do what’s right, I love it all. Kagome Higurashi is my queen 👑.

Average Sleep Hours: 6-8 hours.

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate: I can’t drink coffee that much anymore thanks to a rad chronic condition but I was a solid addict for over a decade and every time I sneak in a cup now, it’s amazing. But I do have to give a shout out to tea, I rely on it a lot more now.

Number of Blankets You Sleep With: It depends on the weather. Summer is like one or two while winter is four or five.

Dogs or Cats: Both! They’re equally as wonderful for different but totally valid reasons.

Dream Trip: I want to visit Niigata, Japan. I was so lucky in college to have studied abroad in Tokyo but I never got to visit Niigata. I was planning a vacation with my boyfriend in July but thanks to COVID, the trip remains a dream.

Dream Job: I’d love to write animation scripts. It seems like a fantasy considering my fickle muse and like... my non-competitive personality 😂😭. Even though it’s not creative writing, my current job includes a lot of writing and I’ve found happiness in it.

Followers: 797 although I feel like a solid chunk of them are porn-bots 😂. I’ve definitely been getting new followers as of late for my InuYasha posts and fics which I really appreciate. Both my new and older fan-based followers rock! Thank you guys so much for letting my garbage appear on your dashes 🙈.

Blog Established: In high school, many, many moons ago.

Reason for Your URL: Long story short, I once tried to make my character Erin A. Chiba a Sailor Moon and InuYasha OC. So she was “han” for half (like half-human) and “majo” for witch (like someone who has the power to transform into a sailor scout but doesn’t have a planet? I honestly don’t remember the logic behind using the term “majo”). I started using hanmajoerin as a username because I knew no one else would have it 😏. I do like to go by hanmajo, though.

Random Fact: The first InuYasha character that I ever saw was Shippo. My sister started watching the series before me and from the way she described him, I thought he was a very tiny man with a few rolls looking for love. I felt like such an idiot when she showed me on a Best Buy display computer what Shippo looked like 😂😭.

I’m also super bad at tagging people in this post so if you want to, please feel free to fill this out and tag me in it if you want me to get to know you a little better!

[ja0-s-blank-canvas-fic]

Chapter 22 - 1-B Battle Training: Sometimes It’s Ok To Copy

AO3 - here

Fanfiction.net - here

Welcome back with a new chapter! We've got part three of the third day and it comes with 1-B Battle Training! Again, I wasn't originally planning to write these out like the 1-A battles that get skimmed over in canon. But after writing those and feeling pretty happy with them, I thought I should give 1-B their time to shine as well. And it was interesting looking into those characters more since we don't get as much exposure to 1-B as 1-A. So yeah! Hope you enjoy! ^___^

Linktree to all the things!

End notes for the chapter are under the line.

Hope you liked 1-B's battles! Just like with 1-A's janken tournament, I did the same amount of random number generating to decide who teamed up with who and which teams faced off. The order was completely random and I did not force any pairings. Which somehow led to the two 1-B recommended students on the same team. (They're Tokage Setsuna and Honenuki Juuzou by the way if you didn't know.) I swear upon Izuku himself that I did not rig that! Scouts honor! Oh, another pairing that I was super happy that happened was with Monoma and Kuroiro. That fight was fun to plan even if it was quick. Anyway, same with 1-A's additional fights, I researched each character on their Quirks, abilities, and personalities to determine how the pairings worked together and how the fights panned out. So I hope y'all liked it! ^____^

Now, Izuku has talked to Monoma. Will they be friends? I'm not entirely sure myself 'cause I'm still figuring out future interactions. But they will at the very least be amicable with each other. Also, as someone pointed out in the comments last chapter, they could totally geek out over quirks together. Analysis buddies! And I feel that Izuku will be like Kendou when calling Monoma out on his rants and such about 1-A.

Izuku has finally made it to the studio! :D Seriously, UA, give the green bean time to build things! (I know I'm the author but I blame the story. It's writing itself, ya know. ;) ) This means the quirk replication has begun. Can you guess what Izuku's going to make based on Gran Torino? ;)

Fun Facts About Japan:

When it comes to communicating with the teachers as an ALT, it could be rather difficult at times to reach them. Teachers in general are always so busy and finding them at their desk wasn't always the best option. But there were other ways. Like leaving notes on their desks or getting their contact information. The type depending on the teacher. Most used a form of messaging app like WhatsApp or, the one I used primarily, LINE. Email was also an option.

Schedule changes happened all the time. In the US, from my experience, my school days in junior high and high school had a regular either daily or weekly schedule when it came to classes. Daily having the same classes in the same order of period through out the day. Or weekly with a block schedule of certain classes happening in a certain order on a certain day. Ya know, orderly and routine. Japan on the other hand...not so much. The order of the classes seemed to be random every day of every week. There was no set time for English class or science class. I have no idea how they decided what subject was taught when but the order changed a lot. Even the morning of the schedule could change. For example, I would have had English class with one class during second period, but something came up and they needed to switch English class with PE. But I would already have a different class to go to during the time English class was switched to so I would no longer be teaching that particular class at that time. So basically every day was an adventure of finding out if the schedule was the same or not. XD And often times they forget to tell the ALT the changes. Oh well.

That's it for this chapter! Next a tired man collects a smart boy to go an collect some smart notebooks! Thanks for reading and let me know of typos and weirdness! :D