#Arc 12: Intermission

[tinfoil-jones]

For Your Own Good: Masterpost (Story Complete)

Askbox? Closed

If you don't know what this post is about, "For Your Own Good" or tagged as "Early Amnesia AU" on tumblr is a dialogue-only Gravity Falls fanfiction I've been working on.

The basic rundown of the plot is that Stan has his mind mysteriously wiped thirty some odd years early, in a scenario where Ford doesn't build the portal.

Ford happens across Stan in Gravity Falls, a few months after what would have been the Portal Incident, and quickly realizes that Stan (who believes his name is Stan Malone) has no memories of his true identity, or anything from before he was kicked out, in fact his memories have only been clear for the past year. So Ford does the only reasonable thing a man in his position would do, and immediately kidnaps him. And later drags Fiddleford into his shenanigans.

This story is a Dramedy. Yeah, the focus is Ford and Stan's relationship and the drama of holding a grudge against someone who straight up doesn't know who you are, while also trying to help them. But there's a lot of jokes and banter because the scenario isn't going to pretend like it isn't off the wall.

Also, there's Fiddlestan in the background. Bill is also there, but he isn't a malevolent figure. He's more like an enigmatic instigator and chaotic entity who strives to raise Fords blood pressure, he's entirely too busy simping to actually be evil. Bill and Fords relationship isn't intended to have them be a couple, because Ford's is portrayed as Asexual, but if you want to read Ford and Bill as a romantic but not sexual couple, I wouldn't fault you.

It's also loosely based on the "Mystery Trio" concept. In this case, you can boil Fiddleford, Ford, and Stan down to: Done, Extra AF, and Cartoon Logic, respectively.

It's going to be about 25 chapters long.

Anyways, here's links to all of the posts:

AO3 Link: FYOG

Chapters (Tumblr): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, BONUS: The Stranger, FINAL: Trivia

Nutshell Posts: 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25

Art (done by @nekobeats0): Comic #1, Comic #2, Comic #3, Comic #4

Other: Fiddlestan Scene (18+), Intermission, Ford in Ch.20, 20.5, Stanchez, Rick in Ch.24, Jimmy Snakes

Asks: Fords 'Denial', Stan and Kidnapping, Cereal, Filbrick, 'No One Mourns The Wicked', Jimmy, Stan the (ex)-Con man, Crimes Stan Wouldn't Commit, What to Tell Fiddleford, Does Fiddleford know about Bill?, Stan and Gangs, BIG TALK Stan, What if Stanford wasn't there in time?, Shermie, Updated Stan Lore, About: Trivia, Fords Regrets, What If: Twin Bond, What if: Stayed Dead, In Every Universe, Stayed Dead Filbrick, Fords Arc, Routine Interview

[morimakesfanart]

Sindria's Prophet #42

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [Intermission] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41]

[AO3] [wattpad]

Sinbad x OC

*emotional and physical flashbacks described for Mori's 1st POV *Child abuse and domestic violence mentioned throughout Mori's POVs *Sinbad officially enters his yandere era at the end of the chapter. He'll be like this for several arcs before he recovers ~POV Sinbad~ The shock and fear on Mori's face was a clear answer. Somehow in the next 5 years, Sinbad would have originally become someone willing to destroy the world. He had always wondered how much he would change while pursuing his dream. Just what was the taboo information? What secrets did it hold that would make him willing to do such things? Sinbad smiled for their benefit. "Mori, it's okay." As his words sunk in, their fear started to release them enough that they were actually seeing him again. "Since I know now, there's no way I'll repeat the same mistak-" "Why would you think that you're the one??” The words burst out of them like an accusation and desperate plea.

---

~POV Mori~ I didn't mean to cut him off. The question was out of me before I realized I had found my voice -not that I kept it past that.

Why was Sinbad able to consider that he will start the 2nd Calamity??? I couldn't look at Ja'far for more information because I was barely comprehending Sinbad. I was definitely experiencing tunnel vision and not the fun type.

His smile was unchanging. "You said there are people that think they are chosen by Fate and would ignore the risk of the taboo." I was hearing Sinbad's words but why was he saying them?? "You also said the tragedies in my past were caused because I think that way, didn't you?"

'The taboo, hubris, the tragedies from Adventures... Oh.' He was answering my question.

"In your visions, my death occurs around the same time you said the 2nd Calamity will happen. It's just like how King Solomon died after using the taboo information, isn't it?" Sinbad had truly figured it out.

'If only I hadn't gotten drunk that night and spilled about his death. No, even if I had let some things slip, both of these two have been clinging to their denial for over a decade.' But they definitely believed what they were saying or they wouldn't have brought me this deep into the Purple Leo Tower. The jeweled mosaics on the walls and intricate patterns of the glasswork lanterns made it undeniable where we were. The fact that they were taking this so seriously had uncapped an old venom in my heart so I couldn't stop it from making my stomach turn no matter what they said.

Ja'far attempted to placate me. "There's no vision you could tell us that would be more shocking than this. I promise I will believe whatever you tell us from your visions."

'Does he actually mean that? Mr. Stabs as a warning?' I couldn't bring myself to check Ja'far's expression but I felt both of their eyes on me. All of my muscles tensed. I've dodged surprise attacks from closer in my own home and from point blank from a dog with separation anxiety. The faded scar from the dog on my upper lip was the only remaining proof and would have been much worse if I wasn't good enough at dodging and deflecting to normally not get hit. ((It's almost completely faded now btw :D))

Sinbad's voice was full of an emotion I couldn't comprehend properly. "I understand that you must be surprised that we figured it out, but know that we decided to tell you because we want you to trust us." His gentle smile only made the hole in my stomach greater. "Do you remember how you told me that there's more than one way to change? That I can choose a new path whenever I want?"

The person encouraging Sinbad to dirty his hands all these years was Ja'far. Sinbad would express the smallest amount of remorse or guilt and Ja'far would shoot down that line of thinking. What was stopping him from doing the same thing right now? I was too scared to look. He refused to accept the mere concept that Sinbad had the potential for the same evil as other Kings.

I know some ways to de-escalate a situation to prevent someone from having a violent reaction to a call out. And if that doesn't seem to work, I also know how to influence when they snap. An attack is an opening to escape and, depending on the person, an outlet for the emotion so they can actually have a civil conversation. But there wasn't a 100% guarantee that Sinbad could prevent Ja'far from hurting me if he snapped.

Sinbad leaned forward and picked up one of the Fate scrolls I'd made. My eyes followed his movement and the waves crashed into me when I looked at the table. The distance between the metal vessels and where those 2 were sitting was too great for them to reach without getting up. They made a point to sit away from their metal vessels, and made sure that they sat on the opposite side of the table from me so there was something separating us. Sinbad even said he knew their weapons made me nervous. They knew I would panic about this and wanted to put my mind at ease. 'I'm having a PTSD attack.' Them putting so many precautions in place was the first thing to start setting me off, but I couldn't deny that I would have panicked, regardless, the moment Sinbad explained they had figured it out.

Memories from the other me fluttered across my consciousness and I accepted their influence. They helped ground me faster than I would have with my own experience alone. Anger management issues and violent tendencies aside, Ja'far was not one of my past abusers. And no matter how manipulative Sinbad can be, he wasn't one either. Neither of these men were my enemy. Projecting doesn't help. My defensive anger was subsiding, but not my fear. I still knew what these men were capable of even if they weren't likely to direct it at me. But if I couldn't mask this feeling, I didn't want to be afraid. Being angry was so much easier.

--- ~POV Sinbad~ Mori sat there frozen. Anger, desperation and fear took turns on their face while they were unable to respond. Whatever plan they made to avoid the 2nd Calamity was completely destroyed. But lying to them, and hiding this would have been worse in the long run; Sinbad was sure of that now. How long were they testing and judging him for a sign of his future self? He'd never earn their trust that way. They were only panicking because he had moved things too quickly. It looked like they were barely breathing until they glanced at the metal vessels on the table. Even though he had prepared for this possibility it still hurt to see it happen. Mori really was this scared of both of them deep down. It's no wonder they were unable to see him as a real romantic option.

For now, the only option he had was words. Hopefully over time, Mori would come to understand that he truly meant them. He held up a scroll to emphasize his point. "I know now that you were also right about me ignoring my intuition. Even when I first arrived in Reim and got swindled I ignored the feeling that something was wrong because I was blinded by opportunity." He placed the scroll back on the table but didn't remove his hand from it. "After how things ended in Riem I started turning to others for help but I was hiding the truth of what I was asking because I didn't want to disappointment them again." He laughed at his past self and shook his head. For the first time in a while he was excited to be able to try something new in his pursuit towards his dream. "I'm human even if I can feel the waves. I'm not going to blame my mistakes on fate anymore."

--- ~POV Mori~ 'That isn't Sinbad. That isn't the Sinbad I read about!' The Sinbad I knew shouldn't have been able to accept he was a human person instead of chosen by fate -not while he could still feel the waves. (Although he was quick to accept it when that happened.) I was only in this world for two months. How had he made such a leap in such a short period of time? Sure, Sinbad is shown changing his stance quickly and without shame multiple times in the series, but-!

'No. There's still a chance this is all a show.' I knew this pattern. He could just be saying this to sedate me. Eventually he will grow tired of this and then he will stop pretending. When an opportunity to gain more power shows up, it won't matter what he's been saying, he'll dirty his hands like he did in the original. I won't believe him until he actually makes a different decision during a major event. Trusting him before that would just be setting myself up for failure.'

I subconsciously glanced at Ja'far for confirmation. 'Oh.' That was not an expression he used when he agreed with the situation. But it was one he wore when he had to accept it regardless. 'They really did talk about this before coming to me. Ja'far was forced to accept that Sinbad did those things, and is choosing a different path now because Sinbad said so.' That meant Sinbad really meant everything he was saying.

'Of course Ja'far would be uncomfortable. Whenever Sinbad said he wanted to change Ja'far was the one that talked him out of it. Even if you say that Sinbad's decisions are his own, Ja'far will still blame himself for not noticing the truth.' That scowl was because Ja'far sucks at coping with guilt. He grew up having to ignore and deny his own guilt to live as an assassin, so of course he couldn't understand Sinbad until now.

I knew something felt different about this Sinbad for a while. He trusted me. Really trusted me and the things I said about Fate. He would look for supporting evidence and cracks in my words to find what I wasn't saying, but he believed that I wasn't lying. And more than that, he had no problem making changes based on the new information I shared. Which was something he did in the original but not when it came to his self perception.

My eyes grew warm with the threat of tears and I held my breath on instinct. This didn't feel real. 'If this really is a fanfiction then this has to be a doomed draft or something, right?' This was more than just trusting my words; Sinbad read the scrolls and was able to accept and acknowledge his own flaws as a human person. He was already starting to make changes based on this information that was new to him.

"You're always like this." I sounded bitter. I was bitter but not at Sinbad or Ja'far. "Whenever you get new information and perspectives you have no problem changing your actions to accommodate them. I already knew that, but" being on the receiving end is...

He made it look easy. 'If it's so easy then why couldn't they do it?' Why did I have to grow up in a situation where I had to see words as more important than a person's willingness to follow through? I had forced myself to suffer through so much because of that conditioning.

My legs would not be able to support me if I stood -let alone carry me out of here. Since coming to this world I had managed to cry a few times. Back home I was so practiced in holding it in that I didn't know how to let myself cry anymore, but this place made me feel safer than I had been in ages. I could only hope I'd be able to hold out until I left.

--- ~POV Sinbad~ "Can I have a minute please?" Mori covered their face with their hands.

"Of course."

One minute easily turned into ten.

"You're correct." Their voice came muffled through their hands, so they dropped them. The eyes that peeked up at the King were very tired and glossy. "You will use the taboo because of the opportunity it poses in contrast to the recent losses." A deep breath. Mori glanced between the two men and their show of faith on the table. "They were so unexpected and great that you finally realized you're a flawed human like everyone else."

Mori had previously said he would repeat the mistakes of his past. Was it something like that that would originally lead him to realize he's human?

The Prophet held their hands together in their lap. The growing acceptance on their features was heartbreaking for multiple reasons. There was a pain in their eyes that he recognized from many people he had saved. He had the sinking feeling that Mori's ex wasn't the only person that had hurt them. Sinbad gripped both arms of his chair to stop himself from getting up. If he moved while they were this fragile he'd definitely startle them.

Mori took a slow breath to keep control of their tone. "I don't know what your specific thoughts were, but there was a point that you thought of your parents as you were processing it."

Of course he thought of his parents and childhood. When his father was alive was the last time he felt like a 'normal' person. After that he couldn't act like the other children in his village. His mother's health declined, so he had to start working much earlier than others. And then the war took all of the able-bodied men, so he had to help the whole village, not just his mother. Sinbad normally says that his citizens are his family -he knows most of them by name and walks amongst them regularly- but he hadn't felt that type of connection between a close group of people since his parents died. And after learning about Magi and being a Singularity it made sense to him that he couldn't find anyone he wanted to start a family with. Who could possibly stand next to a Singularity as an equal? Who could possibly be his family? Sinbad found himself answering these questions and remembering his parents since meeting someone else who could feel the waves of fate. So realizing he's human would definitely lead him down a similar line of thought. ---

~POV Ja'far~ King Sinbad had once explained that Mori was the type to turn away when admitting to a painful truth. So when they looked towards the windows and their arms wrapped around themself to grip their sides, Ja'far knew their words were going to carry more weight.

"Even though you knew no one else wanted you to do it, you kept finding yourself wanting to anyway. You couldn't understand why until you-" They cut themself off and after a moment found the will to finish. "...Until you went through with it. You realized it was because you wanted to see how far you could go with your own strength as a human. For the first time in your life you relished in your own power and coveted something just because you wanted it."

Sinbad was greedy. Everyone knew that. Even the Djinn had to cut him off from capturing more Dungeons. It was obvious that Sin found using his power thrilling. But it was also true that all of the power and wealth Sinbad was gathering and using was in the name of his dream. The only things Sin ever sought out for indulgence were travel, alcohol or sex. Even all of his personal possessions were easily replaceable things. Ja'far had to ask, "Wait. If the thing holding back Sin's greed all this time was him thinking he's some chosen one," he sent a glare at the King in question who flinched as if to confirm his words, "then why have you been trying to get him to accept that he's human? It doesn't make any sense."

Mori turned back to them. "He'll figure it out on his own no matter what happens," she glanced at the King in question but couldn't hold it, "so I just wanted him to get there when he hasn't experienced such a major loss." Ja'far turned to Sin as well to see his eyes widening and a hand raising to cover his face. "If he has the time to become self aware instead of his desperation making him impulsive, then he can find something to focus his greed on that won't hurt others or disappoint himself in the process."

It was a good thing Mori wasn't looking. The smile growing on Sinbad's face was one he rarely wore, but Ja'far knew it well. At least Sin had enough shame to cover his mouth even as he said, "Yes. I believe you might be right about that." He couldn't look away from 'his Beautiful Prophet' if he tried. The King had realized what he 'needed' to move forward and he wasn't going to accept 'no' for an answer. "But now I'm curious. What made you think you could convince me?"

Sinbad wasn't looking at Mori the way he looked at his possible one night stands. It was somehow worse. This was the very greed that was at the root of their problems. And yet Ja'far couldn't bring himself to truly consider reeling Sin back in. Mori had managed to break through the mask that they had all watched slowly form on their King with no way to stop it. Ja'far couldn't judge if any of this was right for Mori, but it was definitely good for Sinbad and Sindria, and by the sounds of it, better for the whole world. Was this why Hina and Drakon kept pushing for Sinbad to settle down? Mori's face reddened. His overly flirty tone was not lost on them. "Well, because you felt remorse. Both in the past and future." They twisted to try to turn more away while staying in their seat. If they weren't saying something important, Ja'far would be gathering his things to leave the two alone. "Even when you used the taboo, you left openings so someone could try to stop you. And when several came to talk you out of it, it took a while but you were relieved to find a new answer even though it was too late to stop everything completely." A pause. "And in the end, you used the last of your strength to make sure everyone else had a chance to survive. So I knew you would be at least willing to listen to me..." The smile on the King's face softened. He only waited one beat before standing and walking over to her. Mori flinched when he kneeled on the floor by her feet but relaxed when he took her hands. The General didn't need to see the rest. He silently grabbed his things and left. Ja'far sighed. This past month he had been hoping their theory was wrong, that -if nothing else- the pattern wouldn't repeat again. His chosen master both was and was not the person he thought. All of this turned his stomach into knots in a way he hadn't experienced in at least a decade. He believed Sinbad when he admitted to the past. He would always follow whatever choices Sinbad made. On occasions like this, the ex assassin couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It's why he had always advised Sin to stick to his plans, his dreams, his methods, the thing that had worked all along. Change was here whether or not Ja'far was ready for it. And it was necessary. ((A combination of working on this chapter and other self help let me finally reach the point of being able to truly mourn the relationship with my ex. One night in the middle of summer I felt my brain rewiring when it finally all hit and I cried. Thank you all for sharing in this journey with me :3 I'm not done this story yet though! This is just the first of my bigger therapy goals being achieved :D The next is trying to feel comfortable being in a relationship again once I realize I can trust that person enough to try. This took a bit longer to get out than I thought, and not because of making the JJK fic. The antibiotic I had been on started causing too many problems, so I had to switch again. The good news though is that it's almost completely out of me :D I was told that by the rate I'm going I might actually be infection free by February!! I hope everyone had a good holiday, and will have happy New Year!))

[shrekgogurt]

Well folks. I’m on my substitute teaching grind again this week! Scheduled each day up in hopes of getting some good writing done. I did on Monday! And then proceeded to finally start reading @ninemagicks Game/Set/Match yesterday and did that every bell so uhhhhhh. Today………..well ummmmm…..yeah today I worked on chapter graphics because I’m in big procrastination mode. I want to keep riding this wave of engagement (that sounds corporate gross) but I’m also very much in my head about delivering. I should probably channel this energy into writing the chapter since such pressure is Baz’s literal arc but uhhhhhhhh why do that when I could Simon avoid. I love being mentally well!

One might say I need to find my own bravado. (more under the cut)

lol the chapter title for 13 is bravado by lorde

ok anyway

“Work In Progress Wednesday” right? That means I can talk about the progress of every part of the process? Huh? Yeah? Are you gonna stop me? TRY! TRY TO STOP ME!

Aggression aside, let’s get into it.

As previously stated on Sunday, we find ourselves at intermission. But that’s just the theatrical way of slicing up the story. The fun thing about 24 chapters (I got rid of my originally planned intermission chapter because I didn’t want to write it anymore) is that math really loves the number 24. It’s scrumptious. Yummily divisible. Ergo, IKABIKAM also has/is/will be deliciously divided. Afterall, I do keep saying I’m cooking on it.

Now, to put @alexalexinii on blast (sorry for perceiving you), they wrote in the tags of a Chapter 12 reblog: #made me realise that this fic had proper arcs? And I grinned. I cackled. I rubbed my grubby little hands together at the top of my tower as I’ve been doing this whole time because oh ARCS???????? YOU WANT ARCS???????????? I’VE GOT ARCS LYING IN WAIT LIKE YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE. (I love overselling myself.)

Allow me to let you in on some of the building blocks thus far.

Chapters 1, 2, 3: a complicated reunion which is shaky but ultimately sets up

Chapters 4, 5, 6: developing the friendship which is a crucial foundation for

Chapters 7, 8, 9: the gay (Baz’s increasingly more external “hi i’m gay”, Simon’s internal “oh wait me too”) which then explodes into

Chapters 10, 11, 12: all that political parent stuff that’s been hinted at in passing which is BIG relevant and incredibly intertwined in this tangled up mess that leads into the work of….

You get it. They’re mini trilogies. Don’t ask me about dividing the chapters into groups of four because I didn’t have that in mind while writing. I like threes better. Always have. Absolute banger of a prime number.

If you for some reason want to read more about the structure, I write a little more about it in this wipsday from when I was procrastinating 9.

Now, @cutestkilla keeps telling me I’m at the downward slope now but honestly delivering on what I’ve set up scares the shit out of me WAY more than the grunt work. I’m uhhhhh yeah. This is why I’m chronically unable to finish projects but by GOD I will finish this one. I swear by it.

So here are three sentences. You get to guess from who and when.

Loving him comes as naturally as breathing. It’s intuitive when I’m not thinking. Or rather, when I’m not panicking.

If you want to follow along with all the songs I’m hyperfixating on as inspiration I’ve been sharing them over on the “shrogurt” instagram. There’s nothing I love more than talking way too much about this damn fic. Thanks for reading!

And thank you for the tags today: @nausikaaa @facewithoutheart @hushed-chorus @artsyunderstudy @prettygoododds @emeryhall

Now tagging: @brilla-brilla-estrellita @captain-aralias @dani-vc @ebbpettier @excalisbury @facewithoutheart @fatalfangirl @hagnoart @iamamythologicalcreature @ileadacharmedlife @imagineacoolusername @ivelovedhimthroughworse @j-nipper-95 @larkral @letraspal @martsonmars @messofthejess @moodandmist @mooncello @nightimedreamersworld @onepintobean @palimpsessed @raenestee @rimeswithpurple @theearlgreymage @theimpossibledemon @thewholelemon @valeffelees @whogaveyoupermission @youarenevertooold @you-remind-me-of-the-babe

[whumpsday]

🩸 Kane & Jim Masterlist - Writing order 🩸

Click here for chronological order masterlist

(vampire whump, whumper turned whumpee, whumpee turned caretaker)

Jim had lived as the prisoner of a cruel vampire for years, forced to provide blood for his insatiable appetite, before finally escaping. A decade has passed since then, when he hears word of a vampire in the custody of a group of hunters matching the description of his former captor, Kane. Wanting closure, he negotiates to have custody of Kane transferred to himself. But when he finally lays eyes on the vampire, it’s like he’s a complete stranger: A sobbing mess begging for mercy, not the arrogant man he once knew.

-

listed in writing order! click here for chapters sorted by newest update (and click here for canon drabbles sorted by newest update).

emojis indicate arc :)

❤️‍🩹 It’s Been a While (#1) + Bonus + Bonus 2

❤️‍🩹 Grateful (#2)

🏠 Run (#3)

☀️ A Peculiar Device (#4) - Kane’s captivity arc is interactive, see here! anything tagged “canon kane whump” is canon!

❤️‍🩹 New Rules (#5)

❤️‍🩹 Visitor (#6)

🏠 You’re Mine Now (#7)

🏠 Tomorrow (#8)

☀️ Sunrise (#9)

❤️‍🩹 For the Wash (#10)

🏠 Too Sick (#11)

🏠 Family Reunion Part 1 (#12)

🏠 Family Reunion Part 2 (#13) + Bonus

🌱 The Knight (#14)

☀️ Hunger (#15) + Bonus (coming soon!)

🏠 Quiet (#16)

❤️‍🩹 Papercut (#17) + Bonus

❤️‍🩹 Guilt (#18) + Bonus

🔪 Something New (#19)

☀️ Opened (#20)

🏠 Broken (#21)

🏠 Out (#22) + Bonus

🏠 Home (#23)

❤️‍🩹 Refusal (#23.5)

🏠 Happy Birthday (#25) - i know i’m putting 25 before 24 trust me it works better this way

❤️‍🩹 Understanding Part 1 (#24)

❤️‍🩹 Understanding Part 2 (#26)

⌛ Crunch (#E1) + Bonus

🏠 Rebellion (#27)

☀️ Make Me (#28)

🏠 Slice (#29)

🌱 Clean Break (#30)

☀️ Choices (#31)

☀️ Impending (#32)

❤️‍🩹 Reminder (#33)

🏠 Curls (#33.5)

🔪 Power (#34)

❤️‍🩹 Kane’s Mark (#35) + Bonus

☀️ Bystander (#36)

☀️ A Small Funeral (#37)

❤️‍🩹 Heat Wave Part 1 (#38)

❤️‍🩹 Heat Wave Part 2 (#39)

☀️ Better Vermin (#40)

🌱 The Contents of Several Unopened Envelopes Delivered to Kane de Sang (#41)

☀️ Raw (#42)

🏠 Everything’s Different Now (#43)

❤️‍🩹 Sweet 116 (#44)

🔪 Names (#45)

🏠 A Nice Thought (#46)

☀️ Failure (#47)

❤️‍🩹 Basement (#48)

☀️ Helpless (#48.5)

❤️‍🩹 Sunny Days (#49)

🌱 On Your Own (#50)

☀️ Locked In (#51)

⌛ Stay With Me (#E2)

❤️‍🩹 Trust (#52)

🏠  Healing Right (#53)

🏠  Bad Night (#54)

❤️‍🩹 Feeding (#55)

❤️‍🩹 Else (#56)

❤️‍🩹 Indulgence (#57)

Drabbles: (this is all canon content, just in shorter pieces. much of kane’s captivity arc happens in here.)

🏠 Jim’s captivity drabbles: Calm Down, Midday Snack, Jim’s Nightmare, Fuck you

🔪 Intermission drabbles: Playing With Food

☀️ Kane’s captivity drabbles: Deserve, Dartboard, Stitched, Take a Deep Breath, Taunt, Collared, Healthy Snack, Problem Solved, Five Minutes, Keep That In, Go to Hell, Cement, Iron Kane-den, Dog, Light & Laughter, Greatest Wish, Kane’s Nightmare 2, Bites Him, Barbed Wire, Blowtorch, Useful, Into

☀️ Kane’s Whumptober Bites: Masterlist

❤️‍🩹 Kane & Jim Present arc drabbles: Kane’s Nightmare, Bloodsucker, Stairs, Fangs, Sunburn, Haircut, Kane’s Bad Day, Jim’s Bad Day, Mirror, Thirty-Four, Spilled Blood

⌛ Epilogue drabbles: Accident

🩸 Click here for part 2 of the masterlist because i was approaching the link limit! contains:

AU writings where Kane & Jim get into new situations

Crossover series

Fanfiction

Related series set in the same universe

And more!

[fighting-god-69]

Things I liked about Chain of Thorns

I have a love hate relationship to this book. Like many people in the fandom, I wqs fairly disappointed. But there were also things I liked:

1. Matthew's alcoholicism recovery plotline

2. Grace and Christopher's dynamic

3. Cordelia and James. Need I say more?

4. The way Matthew was never written as legitimate competition (at least not to me)

5. Thomas and alastair

6. Will and Tessa being written as more present parents than they were in the prior two books (it never made sense to make them so absent)

7. Anna ceasing the womanizer shit (I think the progression was written unnaturally but I like that it happened)

8. Ariadne finding her way (pissed that she went back to Anna because what Anna did is unforgivable to me. Guess you can't have everything)

9. James healing arc from what grace did to him

10. Graces redemption arc

11. I liked seeing cordelia in Paris. It was undoubtedly a bad decision but she's spent so much time being a hero and putting others first so it was refreshing to see her prioritize herself and I think it improved her as a character. I think it was also a character development point for Matthew and one of the main reasons the merry thieves realised that all their secrets were harming themselves and each other

12. I like alastair becoming friends with the merry thieves (I do wish that they acknowledged that they also fucked up at times tho)

13. The descriptive writing and prose was as good as ever

14. I like that family relationships overall seemed more highlighted in this book

15. I likes the glimpses I saw of sonas healing arc (can we talk about the unmet potential between her and Risa? Cause that's a ship I'm down to board)

16. Tatiana was given larger scope as a character. This book showed her complexity and how fascinating she is as a villain more

17. The intermission grief chapter was written really well

18. The London falling plotline was interesting and the atmospheric writing was good. I dont think the fight scenes in the plotline (and in general) were written as well as in past books though

19. The love declarations were as good as ever. They even would endear me towards ariadne and Anna a few times before I remembered how I actually felt about them

20. I loved the epilogue for the most part, although I wish the group did something in their ceremony to directly honor Christopher. But I disagree with people in the fandom that are saying Christopher's death wasn't mourned. I do understand where they're coming from though

[bearterritory]

Cal Rallies Past Colorado

Bears Overcome 20-Point Deficit to Beat Buffs 82-78

BERKELEY (AP) – Jaylon Tyson scored 23 of his career-high 30 points in the second half as the California men's basketball team erased a 20-point deficit to defeat Colorado 82-78 at Haas Pavilion. It was the Golden Bears' largest comeback victory since Feb. 14, 2009 when they trailed by 22 in the first half of an eventual 82-75 win over Stanford in Berkeley. On Wednesday, Cal (6-10, 2-3 Pac-12) trailed 40-20 with 2:09 remaining in the first half and by 14 at the intermission before taking its first lead, 63-62, on a Tyson dunk with 5:38 left in the contest.   "We are going to have many more wins that are impressive over skilled opponents. This is the start," Cal head coach Mark Madsen said. "I know we're going to hit a pothole or two, but I'll tell you this; we're going to fight, fight, fight every step of the way."   Colorado (11-5, 5-3) built a 14-point lead in the first half behind a 15-point effort by Eddie Lampkin Jr, and the Buffaloes were up by 16 points, 52-36 after a J'Vonne Hadley layup with 15 minutes left in the second half. But Colorado went scoreless for almost four minutes while Cal scored 11 unanswered points to start a 20-6 run that pulled the Bears within two, 58-56 with 8:16 left.   A 3-pointer by Jalen Cone with 2:32 left put Cal in front for good, 73-70. Tristan da Silva hit a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to get Colorado within one, 77-76, but Tyson hit two free throws, and after Cody Williams' jumper Cone hit the first of two free throws to make it 80-78. Following a missed 3-point attempt by da Silva with four seconds left, Cone iced the game with another pair of free throws to set the final margin.   Tyson became the first Cal player with a 30-point game since Jordan Shepherd scored 33 in a 78-64 road win at Oregon on Feb. 12, 2022. The 30-point effort was his fifth consecutive game with 20 points or more, which had not been accomplished since Sean Lampley did so between Jan. 4-13, 2001. Tyson was perfect in the second half, shooting 8 of 8 from the floor – including 2 of 2 from 3-point range – and 5 of 5 at the free throw line on the way to 23 of his 30 points.   "Man, JT is special," Cone said. "He's a first-round draft pick — sooner or later people are going to recognize that. He was phenomenal for us. The team came together on the defensive end and on the offensive end he led the way and he didn't disappoint."   Cone, who was 4 of 12 from behind the arc, finished with 17 points while Fardaws Aimaq added six points and 10 rebounds. Grant Newell and Jalen Celestine scored eight points apiece.   The win earned Cal back-to-back wins for the first time this season.   Lampkin finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds for Colorado and da Silva hit 4 of 7 from 3-point range to add 20 points and six boards. Williams contributed 16 points and KJ Simpson added 12.

STAY POSTED For further coverage of Cal men's basketball, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalMBBall), Instagram (@CalMBBball) and Facebook (/CalMBBall/).

[moldsporr]

Finished act 4!!!!

Act 1 reaction here

Act 2 reaction here

Act 3 reaction here

Intermission reaction here

Act 4 reaction:

“Next image” or “end game” What. What we just started ???

Ohhh I like this music tho

YAY JOHN AND HIS SWAGGY CLOTHES!!!!

This looks like an rpg lol

HI??? FROG??? SALAMANDER???? Whatever you are you're adorable

Hi adhd amphibian

These guys are great I love then

Ohhh they're salamanders

This section would be a lot more fun if I could. Play Homestuck. Curse my computer for not allowing me to read homestuck

This section is also taking a very long time to load. It is pictures you're fine phone

YAY BACK TO FUN STUFF!!! HI RENEGADE

DONT KILL WV DONT KILL WV

Did he lift thr pumpkin off wv's head. Gay

HELP don't kill him he's turned gay it's okay

Yay hi Jade!!!!

???? There IS a pumpkin there what the fuck

FUCK YEAH GLASSES PESTERING!!! LIKE HAL!!! BUT SQUARE!!!!!

Love the difference between John and Dave's reactions to Jade's dog

hi karkat!!!!!! You're being so mean… be nice to john or I'm Gonna bite you

Man I can like. Feel John's frustration karkat you're being so annoying I'm gonna bite you

Dave schizo arc … no I know he's being silly about the psychosis thing

Slur count: 9

“I love him” Dave why are you so random. Good for you though beeeee who you aaaaaare for your priiiiiide

ROSE IS IN PAN LAND!!!! They're putting chemicals in the water to turn the Rose's pan

Okay so we're going through the game thing again

???? Dave why do you want john to drink your piss,

YAYAYAYAYA THE SPRITE !!!! YOI WILL BE SO ANGSTY LATER

Well that's one way to wake Jade up

I think WV, PM, and AR could be a poly

GO JOHN WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK

Hello?????

GRANDPA???????????

JOHN NO BAD CHOICE

Oh :( Rose's mom left…

Egg

Slur count: 10

Okay which troll is this. Don't be rude about Rose's mom!!!! Bad troll

Best hatefriends forever <33 who are you

“Shit the bed” KARKAT TALKS LIKE ME!!!!

I understand why i was told i am karkat-coded

Slur count: 11

Laughing at a blind girl? Not cool egbert

OHH it's that one. The. Vriskas girlfriend!!!!

Guy with cat ears <4333

Hello???

Awooga

Oh. Oh that map is. Not great

GO ROSE GO ROSE !!!!

Yo that shot looks sickkkk…

Yo rose is metal af

“TG: i command her alright i am like the pimpmaster hustledaddy of all snippy bookshrews” Dave what

Okay my font changed here. Easier to read tbh. Idk if it'll translate to tumblr but oh well

Omg… yuri?????

Help why do trolls sound so gay

Oh green troll is pretty… what's her name….

Honktraband

I KNOW THIS ONE!!! Great rap Tavros

Whatever video they linked to for “I got a present for you casey” is unavailable… rip

Trolls watch movies with modern manga titles. Will keep in mind

Terezi is so right. John is a stupidly adorable little guy

OMG PM IS A QUEEN!!! SLAY

Meow

Awww… jaspersprite kinda types like my buddy. Meow meow

John's blasting off again

Did I miss something. When did Dave get a suit. When did Cal get added to the sprite. Wha

Yo what. John and Jade died??? Terezi noooo why did you ruin their session…

Slur count: 12

FUCK YEAH DAVESPRITE!!!! THERES THE GUY!!!!! I LOVE YOU DAVESPRITE

That didn't happen the way I thought it would. I think it's sweet that Dave chose to become a sprite to protect his friends. If they don't treat him nicely I'm killing all of them

But dang… doomed timeline…

OH MY GOD CAPRAIN PLANET

Dave and Davesprite are so chill. Love them

AWWW. John remembered Dave's note….

Ohhh sick… jack is a queen(?) Now!!!! The guardian people are fighting!!! Yayyyyyy

Oh thank God Hussie will explain what's been going on

CAL IS REAL!!!!!

My reaction to Hussies's joke ._. That was. Lame

Aww. Terezi just wants to be his friend :> this better not be a trick my baby boy is so gullible

ROSE'S PLACE!!!

Dr Meowgon Spengler

John :( he's real Dave. John don't be ungrateful… honestly it's fair of Davesprite to be mad. Like John died in his timeline. He went back and chose to help the other Dave and all his friends and. Ourghh. Be nice to him

Yooo cal gets a cute little outfit !!! He's zipping around <333

HELP HE PASSED OUT

Awwww… more bunnies!!!

IS THIS SOLLUX. I've heard of this one. Eridan lover

They are jamming!!

CAL NO

Maplehoof Maplehoof

JADES GRANDPA!!!

Haha get pranked

I love the differences in how Rose and John name things

John you're So stupid why would you just stand on it

FUCK YEAH CAL IS HERE

Fuck yeah ride the pony

AR so swaggy

Okay so. I swear. These guys are the midnight crew. That is literally Deuce. I'm not crazy right. They look the same. Maybe this is their sleepy selves… godtier… do they get godtier. Hmm

FUCK YEAH JADE

NO NOT GRANDPA FUCK WAIT

Idk what just happened in that animation but yay WV

Needlewands!!!!

Omg that's such a cute outfit for Rose I love it

Welcome to the party motherfuckers

Okay I'm really excited to see what Jade’s sprite is

I don't remember Dave getting thay suit. Did he steal it from future Dave. I mean future Dave doesn't really need clothes anymore but…

Oh okay yeah it's future Dave's. but cool!! Not a bad suit at all

Beautiful sword actually

Dave you're scaring the hoes

Dave looks like the autism creature in that selfie he took

Meowmeowmeowmeowmeow

Wizard fanfic!!!!

Dave is so real here. Rose and her mom could've talked :(

DAVE THERES A GUY IN UR HOUSE

Uhhhh. Dave ded :( that's not good. Present Dave you gotta fix this

Man what if that Dave was still alive

BETTY CROCKER

Nanna!!!!

I'm gonna bet 10$ that the goo John's getting is gonna be the alpha kids

FUCK YEAH I KNEW IT!!!!

Oh there are more beta kids as well okay

They are holding hands !

karkar you can't say that. Wait that's not his name. Whatever. Karkat bad!!! Unless you're like me as I am like you. Schizophrenic I mean.

Awww.. Lil dirk loves Lil cal… that's so sweet

Babysitter au!!! John be careful with all these babies

These babies are uglJAKE PUT THE GUNS DOWN!!!!

Karkat never say daddy again thank you

J???? JAKE??? YOU KILLED HER GRANDPA

Harley… like Jade Harley…

Jack Noir…

That was the best ending of an act. Oh my fucking god. I am crying

[west-texas-memories]

Blows the dust off this bad boy

Showtime. List of certain changes, plans, and organization ideas

- seperate uploads by phases per chapter. Complete an entire chapter, post the sections weekly, and take a break by drawing 4-5 pieces that aren’t comic panels. Afterwards, begin next chapter development

- no layclaire arc holy shit you’re terrible at writing romance

- figure out a link tree to properly organize posts for ease of backreading

- tweak some designs , finish fine tuning epilogue chapters & additional backstory arcs in the background. Story should be 100% by the time we reach Monte D’Or

- previews with face shot + song relating to the chapter?

- world building posts in between major arcs (Stansbury, Monte D’Or, Domestic, Relics)

- possible intermission between first and second half?

- deadline for chapter one: december 2024/january 2025

CHAPTERS (?)

1. Childhood development Stansbury gang + Desmond’s

2. Stansbury arc (ranlay meeting -> quinceñera)

3. The Incident, Akbadain, Confrontation

4. Hershel’s first years in Britain, Ledore Wedding, Akbadain second expedition, Monte D’Or startup, Descole, Professor Layton

5. Monte D’Or

6. Azran Legacy

7. Monte D’Or Renovation, Ledore marriage counseling, Randall gets hurt

8. Flora World Tour, Katrielle, The Cabin

9. Houston

10. Family

12. Rotten Roots; Muñeca

13. Rotten Roots; Juniper

14. Rotten Roots; Shrike

15. Genesis

16. Extra chapters, readers decide which ones come first. (🐶, 🎰, or 👥)

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Alternate Master Post

ULTRAMagic Alternate is the story of Blood-Wraith Raynot, a founding member of The ULTRAMagic Guild. This guild is a collection of powerful mages and warriors who help keep watch over the Cosmos from the mysterious realm known as The Unlight. The Cosmos is a chaotic place and many dangers try to usurp and take over the Cosmos. It is up to Blood-Wraith and his guild mates to defend The Unlight and keep the Cosmos safe. With his friends, family, and powerful allies, Blood-Wraith vows to keep getting stronger and foil evil wherever it arises.

This serves as a guide for the various stories and arcs of the series. Here you will find the first chapter of each, in mostly chronological order.

Patreon, if you want to support me. Read at least Prelude or browse my art before deciding.

- - - - -

The Main Story:

Book 1: Prelude - Cover - Table of Contents

Book 2: Interlude - Cover - Table of Contents

Book 3: Shadowland - Cover - Table of Contents

Book 4: Interlude Bonus Chapters - Cover - Table of Contents

Book 5: Chaos - Cover - Table of Contents

Book 6: Interval - Cover - Table of Contents

Book 7: Eon 1 - Cover - Table of Contents

Book 8: Babel - Table of Contents

Book 9: Eon 2 - Table of Contents

Book 10: Aftermath - Table of Contents

Book 11: Eon 3 - Table of Contents

Book 12: 0X - Table of Contents

Book 13: Intermission - Table of Contents

Book 14: Phantasm - Table of Contents

Book 15: Deadlock - Table of Contents

ULTRAMagic Compendium (Short Stories)

Cover - Table of Contents

Haze and Chaos

Schwarzes Biest

Chaos Angel

Reference Material

Character Encyclopedia

Alphabetical Character Encyclopedia

Location Encyclopedia

Alphabetical Location Encyclopedia

Glossary

Rules and Boundaries (Potential spoilers)

Families and Organizations

Lore

Lore Posts

UMAE - Table of Contents

Atlantis - Table of Contents

Spiritus Magni - Table of Contents

The Unlight - Table of Contents

The ULTRAMagic Guild

ANTIMagic

Heaven and Inferno - Table of Contents

Purgatory & Limbo

The Liger Brigade

The Magic Anomaly Investigation Group (M.A.I.G.)

The League

The Red Order

The Devil's Brew Coven

The Weave Collective

The Death Knell Coven

Other Stories

Note that these may not happen if the events planned for these are covered in short stories or the main series. These are a bit up in the air at the moment.

Heaven & Inferno

Saga 1 - Table of Contents

Saga 2 - Table of Contents

Purgatory

Limbo - Table of Contents

Earth

Atlantis - Table of Contents

Wayward - Table of Contents

- - - - -

And the story isn't limited to those arcs. Who knows what might pop up in the future? Will I be linking lore here? No, that stuff should get it's own master post.

Copyright:

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

Phantasm LLC © 2021 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

Other works used (Public Domain):

Frankenstein © 1818 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly

Jabberwocky © 1871 Lewis Caroll

Treasure Island © 1883 Robert Louis Stevenson

Dracula © 1897 Bram Stoker

[rozetheeuwu]

How the Reborn Comic chapters are going to be split!

Note: Some side quests and stuff will be thrown into certain chapters but most of them will be shown quickly or as a little montage so they won't take up time/pages and I can work on the main story or possible extra content I have planned to add.

Of course some quests that involve the main plot a little (Like meeting characters in quests and stuff that's optional) will have proper pages dedicated to them.

Also any type of tw will be shows at the top of the pages!!

Now the chapters:

Chapter 1: Welcome to Reborn City.

Up to defeating Julia.

Chapter 2: Frenzy Plants

Up to defeating Florinia

Chapter 3: Broken friends, broken families Part 1: Plant Frenzy

Up to the scene with Corey on the bridge.

Chapter 3: Broken friends, broken families Part 2: Strings of destiny

Up to Sigmund taking Heather away.

Chapter 4: Prison break

Up Sirius kidnapping the kids and Miles leaving Shade's gym.

Chapter 5: Fate is kind to no one Part 1: Do you trust me?

Up to Amaria and Miles leaving Black Steam Factory

Chapter 5: Fate is kind to no one Part 2: Extinguish Flames

Up to Miles and Cain leaving Aphophyl Academy after the events on top of Pyrous Mountain

Chapter 5: Fate is kind to no one Part 3: Our family is more toxic than the wasteland.

Up to defeating Cain.

Chapter 6: Finally, free... Right? Part 1: Prison Break. Again.

Up to everyone escaping Yureyu HQ and getting out of the railnet/

Chapter 6: Finally, free... Right? Part 2: Mirror mirror on the wall...

Up to defeating Serra.

Chapter 7: The dragon that guards it's treasure, her family.

Up to Saphira taking the kids and Laura and leaving the Belrose Mansion.

Chapter 8: God's light, God's might.

Up to Luna getting captured and Radomus telling Miles to get to 7th Street.

Chapter 9: Safe and quiet moments in the dark.

Up to defeating Luna.

Chapter 9.5: Intermission

Do all sidequests/optional interactions left in reborn city + some more character development for Miles, ect.

Chapter 10: Welcome welcome to Agate Circus!

Up to Amaria and Titania jumping off the waterfall

Chapter 11: No time for breaks Part 1: You remind me of her.

Up to Aya getting abducted

Chapter 11: No time for breaks Part 2: Destruction is beauty.

Up to defeating Charlotte

Chapter 12: Can I trust you? Part 1: No more running from the past.

Up to Cal giving Miles a lift down Ametrine Mountain and saying goodbye.

Chapter 12: Can I trust you? Part 2: Oh, I played this game when I was younger!

Chapter 13: The choices you make will impact the world's fate. Part 1: What is right what is wrong?

Up to Miles leaving the water treatment center.

Chapter 13: The choices you make will impact the world's fate. Part 2: Showdown at Fiore Mansion!

Chapter 13: The choices you make will impact the world's fate. Part 3: Aerial Ace!

Up to Ace's disappearance.

Chapter 14: When one thing goes right, two things go wrong Part 1: Home once again

Up to Arc's MegaZ ring quest.

Chapter 14: When one thing goes right, two things go wrong Part 2:

Devon?

Up to defeating Zel and leaving Devon Corp(?)

Chapter 14: When one thing goes right, two things go wrong Part 3:

It's up to you!

Up to the defeating Adrienn.

Chapter 15: The consequences Part 1: The view from up here.

Up to getting to the train town and leaving to fight Titania.

Chapter 15: The consequences Part 2: A knight, a beast and the unending battle.

Up to Titania leaving her gym to take care of Taka's body and sending Miles of to Amaria.

Chapter 15: The consequences Part 3: The last few breaths I took felt so soothing and calm.

Up to Miles leaving Fiore Mansion.

Chapter 16: Void kissed Part 1: The glass isn't the only thing that shattered.

Up to Miles getting send to the void by Gardevoir.

Chapter 16: Void kissed Part 2: When two shooting stars meet.

Up to Miles being saved from the void and everyone leaving the glass factory.

Chapter 16: Void kissed Part 3: The battle for Agate City!

Up to defeating Hardy.

Chapter 17: The Siege for Labradorra part 1: Time to fight back!

Up to Miles getting into the tournament building.

Chapter 17: The Siege for Labradorra part 2: Labradorra tournament.

Up to defeating Terra and leaving the building.

Chapter 18: Reborn Part 1: To the road of victory!

Chapter 18: Reborn part 2: The champion of the New World

Chapter 19: Reborn is reborn

(Note, all intermissions won't be focusing on the main story but more on all the characters getting a breather and interacting)

Act 0:

Intermission

Events after the start of the new world and Miles's disappearance up to Miles returning

Act 1:

Up to Cresselia

Act 2:

Up to the end of tier 1

Act 2.5:

Intermission

Act: 3:

Up to the end of tier 2 and the events at Vanhanen castle.

Act 4:

Up to the end of tier 3.

Act 4.5:

Intermission

Act 5:

Up to the end of tier 4

Act 6:

Up to the end of tier 5

Act 6.5:

Intermission

Act 7:

Up to the end of tier 6.

Act 8:

Up to catching Giratina

Act 8.5:

Intermission

Act 9:

Up to the end of tier 7

Act 10:

Up to the (personal and not the in another time) epilogue.

[grumpygreenwitch]

Machina Ex Machina 6-6.5

In case it isn't obvious, first-gen refers to programs that look like something out of the original Tron, while last-gens look like something out of Legacy. Mid-gens look like anything in between.

It's actually a little hard to do the Real World Intermissions, as it were, because I cannot format them as I did in AO3. I'm hoping the colors come through to convey the different people talking.

As always, if you enjoy the writing, please like and reblog. There's no algorithms here; my publicity is you. And if you'd like to buy me a Ko-fi, I certainly won't complain.

1+2 - 3+3.5 - 4+5 - 6+.6.5 - 7+8 - 8.5+9 - 10+11 - 12+13 - 13.5+14 - 15+16 - 17+17.5 - 18+18.5 - 19+20 - 21+22 - 22.5+23+24 - 25+26 - 27-28 - 29+30 - 31+32 - 33+34 - AO3 Link

SIX

Halcyon’s Spire came alive looking for destruction. This time, the elegant Queen of the Grid wrapped her arms around her children and defiantly braced herself.

“Go, go go!” GAM shouted at the rogue when she turned to look at him, and they both sprinted through the nearly empty warehouse, desperately trying to outrun the leading edge of the storm to the Sector’s central plaza. He considered the baton, but a crawler would never make it past all the junk and debris of time piled up everywhere.

They raced instead for the area where the Ilosians had been disembarking. One of the first buildings there had already been finished, a multipurpose central hub. It was a hexagon, one level aboveground and two below it, every beam and wall reinforced according to the data that had been recovered from Ilo.

Even more, aside from the Sector 42 buildings being structurally tough to begin with, they and a number of newly designated shelters across Halcyon had been hastily reinforced by following the structural equations for the city walls themselves, the most formidable defense any city in the Grid boasted, unbreached even by the heaviest assaults Pevir had ever been able to muster. There was a reason the Red City bowed its head to the Queen of the Grid where it knelt to no one else.

The storm struck the outermost wall; lightning arced out from the black clouds and stitched destruction against the immense protections that encircled the city, taking chunks out of them that flew up in the air, derezzed into primal, molten matter. But the damage was basically cosmetic, barely scratching the surface of the wall. The storm found its speed abruptly arrested.

It was the first time that onlookers realized there was an intelligence of some sort directing the behavior of the Spirestorm. It swirled into a vortex, the clouds spiraling faster and faster, the lightning inside it growing brighter, focused into much larger flashes of energy. Suddenly, rather than striking wherever alongside the wall, the storm launched all its energy at a single spot.

The blow was devastating, and Halcyon felt it even at its deepest level. The outermost wall was breached. It nearly took the feet out from under GAM and the rogue but they stayed upright, barely, and sprinted on. Looking up, the Sentry noticed that the storm seemed to have paused as if it, too, needed to catch its breath after that massive strike.

Then they were in the plaza, by the temporary Sailer station, and there was a familiar figure at the doors waving at them. “GAM!”

He put on a last burst of speed. The rogue and him flew through the doors. One of the other Sentries keyed them shut at once, and the other two rushed forward to brace them with piles of crates and boxes.

GAM spun around. “Adas, head count.”

“We’re all here,” she hurried to him.

“Down,” he told her, then pitched his voice to carry. “Bottom levels, now.” He fished the rogue up by the scruff of her neck.

“Hey!”

He didn’t seem to hear her, stalking forward to the broad stairwell leading down, even as the Ilosians scrambled to pick up their scarce belongings and flowed all around him, the other three Sentries bringing up the rear.

“I thought this building was reinforced!” Adas was trotting alongside GAM, trying to keep up.

“It is. The storm just took out the Outer Wall.” He paused and visibly gathered himself before turning, the black faceplate reflecting the GO4’s frightened face back at her. “The storm stopped, thought about it and then put a hole in the Outer Wall,” he informed her, then trotted down the stairs. “I want as much protection between it and all of you as possible.”

“I can walk!” The rogue writhed in his grip.

“That’s what worries me,” GAM replied, but he dropped her anyway.

“It’s sentient?” Adas was horrified. “What is it? A program? A virus?”

“It’s not a virus.” They passed the first sub-level, which was a combination habitat and infirmary, and rushed to the last set of stairs. GAM turned to one of the other Sentries. “Lock the partitions once everyone’s through.” He got a nod and started moving again. “It’s…”

He hesitated. He hadn’t known what it was until Adas had asked him, and then the knowledge had just been there, as if it had always been and he’d simply not known to look for it. “It’s a hack.”

“A what?”

“Someone’s trying to get in. Someone not from the Grid.”

“But… There’s nothing outside the Grid.”

“Ask Om about that,” the rogue muttered as she kept pace with them.

“That’s philosophical, this is real!” Adas declared, hating that she sounded squeaky with fright but unable to keep her emotions at bay.

Something immensely powerful hammered down on the building and everyone went stumbling, crying out. The lights faltered and in the momentary dark the collective wavelength went from fear to outright panic.

Adas and the rogue didn’t fall. The Sentry had caught them, one on each hand, and he steadied them against his unyielding presence. “Adas, calm them down. Rogue, I’m going to guess you can see decay lines. Find me the strongest point of this level. Is there an uplink console in here?”

“Yes,” Adas wheezed. “But it’s one of yours, it needs those bean things.”

“What luck, I have those,” GAM pointed out dryly. “Where?”

She pointed and the three of them split up. Half the lights came back on, the last of the evacuees raced in and the partition doors slammed shut. Another tremendous blow crashed into the building from above, but while most of the Ilosians crouched down in terror Adas remained upright, speaking calmly over their scattered, frightened noises, projecting a surprisingly powerful, soothing wavelength.

GAM moved up to the console. Like most such things it had dedicated power and data links; you couldn’t risk either faltering mid-upload and costing someone their beans. He drew the baton, pressed it against the screen, and leaned his hand against the reader.

The upload was nearly instantaneous; it was one of the simplest functions that could be uploaded in a baton. Which was just as well, because the next strike of the storm took the power out altogether, and made both the ETCs and the console flicker uncertainly.

“WallSec 42.” Janus’ voice startled GAM when it came through the dedicated line. “Can anyone hear me?”

GAM heard several replies, and waited to add his own. “WallSec 42, central plaza. Four Sentries. All evacuees accounted for.”

“GAM, are you all in the main building?”

“Yes.”

“Get out.”

“Get out how? Why?”

“Find a way. The Spirestorm’s on you. And it’s not dissipating.”

GAM froze.

“GAM, are you hearing me?” Janus’ tone was terse. “It’s after you. Something or someone in there has its attention -”

“Hey!”

GAM spun, as did most everyone in the area, to see the rogue waving frantically at him. “Hold on, Janus.”

He hurried to her, and she trotted hastily to meet him halfway, pointing. “The place’s solid over our heads, but there’s a hole leading to the city’s sublevels.”

“There’s a what?”

“Sump system. Old overflow. I don’t know, some sort of big pipe that’s not there anymore!”

GAM was glad for his faceplate, for so many reasons. “Is it safe for normal programs?”

“Uh…” She hesitated. “Well, it goes into the energy effusion system, so I guess if no one jumps into a channel they’d be fine?”

“I’d say something, but you strike me as the sort who would jump into an energy effusion channel. WallSec 42,” he called out into the channel. “We’re going into the energy sublevels.”

“How far down are you going?!” Janus asked in disbelief.

“I don’t know. We’re below ground and about to be a whole lot lower. If you can send reinforcements to find us, I’d appreciate it.”

“On our way.”

“Adas!” When she came running, he pointed. “The rogue’s -”

“My name’s Vidi.”

“Not a pleasure. Yet. Adas, Vidi’s found a way into the energy sublevels. Start moving your people in.” He turned to the other Sentries. “Support and crowd control. This has to happen -”

The sound of absolute destruction came from directly overhead and GAM understood what Janus had not said. The storm was digging after them, peeling the reinforced building above them apart, floor by floor. It was slowed down by the reinforced inner structure but, as with the city wall, it merely had to stop and focus. Eventually it would break through. “This has to happen quickly and calmly,” he gritted out. The Sentries nodded.

“GAM?” Adas asked in a tiny squeak.

“Do you trust me?”

She nodded

“Don’t let them jump in the channels.”

“Who even does that?!” she demanded, scandalized, and hurried away with the Sentries.

“Um.” Vidi shifted warily.

“Go,” he told her.

“I don’t know that there’s any further down I can find, WallSec,” she protested.

The black faceplate stared silently at her for a long moment, and she shuffled nervously from foot to foot. “I meant you’re free to go,” he clarified calmly. “But I would appreciate it if you stayed and helped. If there’s no further down, look up. Warn me when the storm’s close to breaking through.”

Vidi looked up. So did her hair. On the other side of the room, the Sentries were helping the Ilosians jump down. GAM could see Adas sorting out the line and sternly commanding the evacuees to leave their packs behind. For one thing, they wouldn’t fit through the hole with them and, for another, either they’d be there when the Ilosians came back, or there’d be nothing left and no one to come back to it. “Janus?”

“Four nanocycles, going on five, and it is not stopping this time, GAM.”

The Sentry blew out a sharp breath. No, of course not. The hack knew what it wanted; perhaps it had known all along, but now it also knew where it was.

It had never been about population density. It had been about one or more specific programs. Halcyon told him nothing. GAM suspected the real answer was hidden in a question no one had yet answered: which had the Spire targeted, Ilo or the Island?

“WallSec 42,” one of the other Sentries called out. “Evacuees are clear.”

“Let’s go,” GAM told Vidi, who was still looking up. He touched her shoulder when she didn’t move. “Vid- ”

The energy discharge that came off the first-gen blew him clear across the room, every command and subroutine gone to static. He slid across the floor and slammed into a wall so hard that even the static went quiet, his world nothing but a thin, high-pitched and steady tone.

Above him, the Spirestorm roared like a thing alive, hungry and entirely too close.

GAM rolled onto his hands and knees, head held low. What in the name of every dead pixel. He fought his code into order, his circuitry into an organized flow. He knelt back with a sharp exhale and felt dizzy. A quick scan told him his entire short-term memory was full of gibberish, flash-downloaded without a care for his built-in protections.

A virus? Was she a virus?

He isolated the time-stamp just before he’d touched Vidi and force-purged the entire mess. It disappeared instantaneously. Not a virus, then, too easily removed. He looked up and found out that she had, apparently, fared no better. She’d slammed into the uplink console hard enough to bend the mooring and render the device unusable, and she was limp on the floor. Even her hair was sprawled motionless all around her head. “Great,” he ground out, forcing himself up on his feet and rushing for her. “Vidi!”

“Help me.” It was a whisper, a croak. Her hands were curled into fists and her eyes were wide open, and she wasn’t moving so much as a fingertip. “Help me, help me, I don’t want to see it anymore.”

He slid to a kneeling position next to her, not knowing what to make of this new development but knowing that it couldn’t be good. “Close your eyes. Close all your eyes! Vidi, close your eyes!”

“It won’t let me,” she forced every word out through a mess of static.

He threw caution to the sea and picked her up. She was a wisp of nothing in his arms, barely there, her head lolling back. Her dreadlocks twitched helplessly and her eyes stayed firmly open. GAM had a suspicion that if he tried to close them himself they’d end up back on opposite sides of the room, trying to sort out code from gibberish yet again.

Instead, he ran for their escape.

The storm either sensed its prey was about to get away, or its timing was just that horribly good. The world turned into a wash of light and energy, power enough to fry a program, or black out an entire sector. The reinforced building above GAM simply disintegrated, turned back into primal matter and then volatilized into such tiny droplets that it seemed to have simply been erased from existence. A spiraling column of lighting arced down into the massive crater -

- and slammed down into the Sentry’s shield, the blueprint he’d downloaded while he’d been able to access the uplink console.

GAM cried out; it went unheard in the fury of the maelstrom above him. Power surged and crackled and crashed into his shield, beating him down until he was on his knees, Vidi crushed against his chest with one arm, the shield held up with the other. He felt as if the entire weight of the Grid were pressing down on him.

I am a Sentry.

He felt it then, an awareness, a sentience, alien and uncaring, focused only on its goal, battering against his shield, his presence, his very core.

I am a Wall.

It was not of the Grid, and that was all he needed to know. He would stand, to derezzing if need be. It would not get through.

The Spirestorm screamed, and all of Halcyon heard its frustration. It swirled, gathering itself, collecting its power as it had for the outermost Wall. There would be no further denying it -

The Spire went abruptly dark. With it went the power to nearly all of Halcyon, barring emergency supplies and a few scattered places where the surge protections had not been completely overwhelmed by a lightning strike. Surgically precise paths of destruction had been carved through the city, from the breach in the outermost wall, to six separate Sectors. Nothing else had been struck unless it had been on one of those explicit routes. Of every targeted Sector, the only one where programs remained online was Sector 42.

6.5

“Nononon-FUCK! Fuck you, Kane, what’d you -! Put it back!”

“Seriously?! Me?! You –! Again, Moll. We’re here again, with you going behind my back and pulling this shit! And you, Rob? Seriously?! This hot to get into my sister’s pants that you go along with this?”

“Hey!”

“Kane, I’m sorry, I didn’t think -”

“Yeah, that’s kind of the problem, no one’s fucking thinking! She fried everything in the cloud, she fried most of I/O, she nearly fried H1 and now here you are, helping her finish the job?”

“Fucking -! Plug it back in! I was there, I was almost there, you asshole!”

“Uh, actually, I/O’s dark.”

“I/O’s -”

“PLUG ME THE FUCK BACK IN!”

“You fried the entry server. Literally, other than watching, all we have is the ability to pop programs in the Grid. And you fried that.”

“There’s five other servers in the garage -”

“And we can put NOTHING in them.”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh, she didn’t tell you? Zero locked us out. We can’t crack it.”

“We can if we get insid-”

“Yeah, if she told you something else, she’s lying to you, man. We can’t spread the baseline anymore. The servers you see, that’s it. We can’t expand the Grid anymore. So now that’s she fried I/O, that’s lost, too.”

“Um, I didn’t say it was fried, I said it’s dark.”

“I – You know what, why don’t you give it to me in small words before I punch someone, Rob. Because, god, I fucking feel like punching someone right now.”

“It’s shut down. It’s there, we just – it’s not – Nothing’s responding, nothing’s reacting, that’s all.”

“… Oh my god. Oh my fucking god. Hah… Ahahahaha. Moll. You still – You want to look me in the face and tell me it’s not real anymore? What, do you think the little computer fairies came in at some point last week and miraculously moved every program out of I/O and – Where are they, Rob?

“H1.”

“So every program in I/O bypassed all the manual certifications, all the firewalls and the antiviruses and the scans we have in two separate places so nothing crappy or buggy gets through, and somehow, without our input, ended up in another server?”

“Give me the fucking relay, Kane!”

“No. Rob, you wanna leave.”

“But I – Oh, god.”

“Don’t you fucking dare, Kane.”

“Seems I told you that like, three times already. You didn’t listen to me, why should I listen to you?”

“Don’t you – You put the hammer down.”

“Rob, where was she trying to upload herself?”

“H1.”

“She burned H1.”

“No. I mean, yes, but. It’s back, Kane. Not all of it, but with the I/O program migration, it was nearly back to full population and, uh…”

“What.”

“Well, all those weird programs? The ones with no numbered tags? There’s like… a whole directory’s worth of them there now.”

“… That’s what you wanted, isn’t it. Because they’ve got the flexible memory thing going. That’s what you were doing, looking for them specifically.”

“Put. the hammer. down. Kane.”

“I’m good. I think we’re done with the laser fun times.”

“Don’t y- KANE! SHIT! FUCK! I’ll fucking kill you!”

“Y’know, I can’t help but think, when Flynn gave us the code, he was worried about other people. Isn’t that just hilarious.”

[dhowellafisheromen]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Devin Royal scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and Ohio State throttled Valparaiso 95-73 on Tuesday night.

Royal was 11-for-16 shooting making only 1 of 4 attempts from beyond the arc and 8 of 9 foul shots. He reached his previous scoring high just 10 days ago, registering 22 against Rutgers. He accomplished his prior rebounding high snaring 12 against Evansville on Nov. 19.

Reserve Evan Mahaffey made all six of his shot attempts and scored 15 points and Micah Parrish and Bruce Thornton scored 14 points apiece. Ohio State played without Meechie Johnson, who is on a personal leave of absence.

Despite making just 6 of 19 (31.6%) from 3-point range, the Buckeyes (7-4) shot 33 of 61 (54.1%) overall.

Wright scored 22 points for Valparaiso and Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro and Cooper Schwieger each added 16 apiece. The Beacons (5-5) managed just 35.8% (24 of 67) shooting.

John Mobley Jr.'s 3-pointer with 11:31 left before halftime gave Ohio State a 16-14 lead, Parrish followed with layup and Mobley added another 3 and the Buckeyes never trailed again. Royal made two foul shots with 6:17 left before halftime for Ohio State's first double-digit lead (26-16).

Devon Ellis' layup brought the Beacons within 29-24, but Ohio State outscored Valpo 12-6 over the last three minutes of the first half and were up 41-30 at halftime. Ohio State is now 7-1 when leading at intermission.

Ohio State led by double digits for the remainder at the 16:54 mark. Sean Stewart's layup with 5 1/2 minutes left made it 84-54.

Valpo travels to Western Michigan on Friday. Ohio State hosts No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP collegebasketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

[29pageshomestuckeveryday]

Homestuck, page 1,170

[I] SS: Examine vendetta itinerary.

These are the mugshots of everyone you are going to kill. You got a head start. You already offed CROWBAR (7), MATCHSTICKS (11), and QUARTERS (14), depleting them of some of their muscle. You've still got to watch out for the others, and stay wary of their despicable time shenanigans. ITCHY (1) has given you the slip repeatedly. DOZE (2) you've captured and interrogated just as repeatedly, to no avail. TRACE (3) has broken into your secret hideout more times than you can count, while FIN (5) always seems to be a step ahead of you and scoops your heists. CLOVER (4) has all the intel and is highly cooperative. You might need him to crack the vault. He'll be guarded. Best to avoid DIE (6) in any direct confrontations unless you want a temporal mess on your hands. But if you need any repairs, you could always get to STITCH (9) and "persuade" him. And you might need to if you can't kill SAWBUCK (10) with a clean shot. EGGS (12) and BISCUITS (13) are morons. But they are dangerous morons. CANS (15) is a tank and your crew'll probably need more ammunition than you packed to take him down. No one knows what LORD ENGLISH looks like. But that'll be corrected tonight. You've got dibs on English. He's all yours.

Author commentary: Here we are introduced to mug shots of the cult fan-favorite gang of time-traveling mobsters known as the Felt. The arc of this intermission as a whole has an uncharacteristically clear objective by Homestuck standards. Slick is supposed to kill all of these guys one by one, then finally encounter Lord English and kill him. (LMAO at this notion. It's a nice thought though, Slick.) The fun of this caper involves getting to know these morons, seeing their stupid powers in play, and generally getting swept up in the delirious idiocy of the resulting time shenanigans until everything goes to shit. So, somewhat a microcosm of Homestuck itself. In fact, this intermission turns out to be a great primer that helps brace the reader for keeping up with a lot of insane time-travel nonsense that quickly picks up steam soon after.

[bongaboi]

UNC Asheville: 2022-23 Big South Men's Basketball Champions

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Drew Pember had 29 points, Tajion Jones scored 16 in the final 7:35 and No. 1 seed UNC Asheville stormed back to beat seventh-seeded Campbell 77-73 on Sunday, winning the Big South conference tournament championship and advancing to the NCAA tournament for the fifth time.

Ricky Clemons hit a jumper to give Campbell a 66-52 lead, and then Jones took over. The senior guard scored 10 straight points for the Bulldogs (27-7) after Pember made two free throws to cut their deficit to 68-64 with 3:41 to go. Clemons and Jones traded 3-pointers and Pember followed with a three-point play to get UNC Asheville within 71-70.

Clemons hit a jumper with 1:44 to play but the Fighting Camels would not score again. Pember, who has attempted and made more free throws than anyone else in the country, sank a pair. Clemons was fouled but missed both free throws and Jones buried a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs on top 75-73 with 55 seconds left. The last time UNC Asheville had had the lead the score was 13-11.

Pember, the Big South's Player of the Year, hit 9 of 19 shots but just 1 of 6 from 3-point range. He made 10 of 12 foul shots. Jones sank 9 of 14 shots, including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. They each grabbed eight rebounds. Fletcher Abee hit three from distance and scored 11.

Jay Pal scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Fighting Camels. The senior made 11 of 18 shots and grabbed 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. He added four assists and blocked two shots. Big South Freshman of the Year Anthony Dell'Orso scored 12 points -- just two after halftime -- and snagged seven rebounds. Clemons, a former walk-on who is now a senior, hit two 3-pointers and scored 17 before fouling out.

Pal had 16 points and eight rebounds by halftime to guide Campbell to a 38-35 lead at intermission.

The Fighting Camels (16-18) made their only trip to the Big Dance in 1992, losing to eventual champion Duke in the first round 82-56. Campbell is the sixth No. 7 seed to advance to the Big South title game. All six lost to the top seed.

UNC Asheville sports a 2-4 record in its four previous NCAA tourney appearances.

[enki2]

My favorite movies aren't even short-story scale but poetry-chapbook scale. Luckily, streaming creates a space outside of television & theatres for audiovisual work that is closer in narrative scale to novels -- a "season" of a streaming miniseries is functionally an 8-12 hour long movie with recommended intermission points, intended for consumption in a single sitting.

There's a whole... tempo thing, though. (Which has a connection to style, but a deeper connection to narrative.) For instance, people generally read western comics a lot slower than manga, because manga has been constructed for fast consumption. Some novels are best consumed in as few sittings as possible; others are best consumed over a long period of time. A story that places a lot of weight into an accumulation of equally-important details (ex., a story that has a bunch of complicated sudden twists, or that has an enormous cast of minimally-sketched characters) benefits from quick consumption -- details can be kept in memory for a few days at most, so if you try to spread this kind of story out further it tends to become literally incomprehensible, and fast consumption promotes taking twists at face value, so often if you spent too much time considering the plot of this kind of story it starts to seem stupid too. Meanwhile, a story that puts you in the position of sharing a character's arc will benefit from slow consumption because people take a long time to change. Stories that need to be consumed slowly are less easy to re-consume (since they require more mental & emotional labor and also are more memorable) but benefit more from being revisited. And in one sense, any auditory or audio-visual work has its tempo fixed at one second per second. But actually, semantic density can vary a lot, as can thematic density, and sometimes works that seem the most sparse from one perspective are the densest from another (ex., Tarkovsky's STALKER). Binge-oriented streaming miniseries, because they only have a primary market (you only watch them on the streaming site, instead of having a theatre / home video separation like movies, or a seasonal / syndication / home video separation like broadcast TV), are often high-tempo shows (in order to drive early engagement) and end up being disposable.

I get annoyed by like... the length constraints on movies making it kind of impossible for them to be fully fleshed out and self-consistent. Tho I think this is mostly just a subset of the general issue of people having different preferences in their media than me

[askthepokemutants]

Reid: Right... she mentioned her father to you, but never said his name, right?

Vris: Yep... and back then, believe it or not, I suggested she’d fit in with our group... don’t know if I jinxed her or some sick form of fate is at play here...

Faril: Faril is fine. Besides, we’re getting lost here, did my brother have anything to do with this “shadow training” nonsense they put you through?

Carla: And what if he did... my mom’s the one who initiated all of this... he just-

Faril: Went along with it? Your mother is basically death for us... even if he loved her, I doubt he’d even bother trying to challenge-hmm?

Carla: Of course he’d... he’d try... ugh...

Faril: ... Carla... listen... we can continue this later... (let’s try to keep this argument going a bit longer...)

Carla: Huh...?

Reid: Huh, they’re talking too low for even me to hear...

Vris: Humph, if we get too close they’ll notice us...

Faril: Yule was definitely weak-minded... he wasn’t cut out for the whole Shadow Pokemon thing, seriously...! (There’s a weird aura flowing around us...)

Carla: W-what?!! (I... recognize it...)

????: ...

Zenix: ... I will make use of it... I apologize, R-Teddy, but I believe this is the most logical move.

Faril: NOW!

Carla: Right!

Vris: Who is this guy!?

Reid: ...?

Reid/Vris/Faril: ...!?

Faril: Last I heard, he was a Scrafty!

Carla: We were in the same area when he apparently died! R-Teddy brought him back somehow, at least that’s what he claims!! He has bizarre powers based on R-Teddy, he was able to defeat both Alan and Pyre!

Reid: W-what?! What did... what did you do!?

Faril: Not the time to grow a spine, Reid!!

Zenix: ...

Vris: Reid... we’re in no shape for a fight with him, no matter what form he is...

Zenix: ... Please disable these spires... I’d rather not make things worse for you two.

Carla: Get away from him!!!

Zenix: ... Alright then.

Carla: Damn it!

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