#Comrade cy's work

[benis-chillin]

Sonic Wolf 6 Profiles: Raccoon the Bear

Alright gamers, we're back at it again with our boy, Raccoon the Bear!

If you wish to first learn about Jack: https://www.tumblr.com/benis-chillin/704396379625291776/sonic-wolf-6-profiles-jack-the-wolf?source=share

And Cyber: https://www.tumblr.com/benis-chillin/704803828992720896/sonic-wolf-6-profiles-cyber-the-canary?source=share

There you go.

Anyway, let's get this show on the road!

Name: Raccoon the Bear

Age: Unknown, but presumably in the 15-17 age bracket.

Bio: Raised by wild animals on a remote jungle island, devoid of any civilized contact, Raccoon lived free until Eggman tore through it as part of his world conquest. Eventually, Jack found him ripping through Badniks with his bare hands and teeth while on a recon mission there, and managed to quickly gain his trust by giving some of his rations to the starving creature(Raccoon had been trying to eat the Badniks to no avail). Jack was able to very quickly teach Raccoon how to understand spoken language, and while he IS able to form basic noises(like saying "Ja" when addressing Jack, and "Cy" when addressiing Cyber), his throat is too accustomed to growling to actually speak. Jack compromised by teaching him sign language instead, a skill taught to him by Sarah. This is how he gained the name Raccoon, insisting that was his name(In actuality, it's a slight mistranslation from someone new to sign language, and Raccoon just decided to stick with it), and the two soon became a duo in the Eggman war, with Jack having some affection for him as a caretaker. Eventually, they found Cyber, and the three retired to the Mystic Ruins after the war ended, with Jack deciding on that area to give Cyber some privacy, and because he didn't want Raccoon missing the freedom of a jungle to roam around in(though it WAS Raccoon's decision to stay with Jack in the civilized world). Currently, Jack is trying to teach Raccoon how to read, but progress is going very slowly on that. Due to his upbringing, Raccoon has enhanced senses and reflexes, but is very animalistic in his behavior, acting somewhat similarly to a dog(though Jack and Cyber have collaborated to teach him stuff like table manners). He has a plush Chao backpack called Lady Chao that he takes whenever he has to ride a vehicle, since he otherwise gets very nervous.

Raccoon's creation is two-fold. Firstly, like Jack and Cyber, he has his origins in the Sonic Forces OC maker, inspired by the bare hands and feet mod I found while looking through various Sonic skins on Gamebanana. If this character became canonical, I imagine Sega would mandate some sandals be slapped on this boy, since they don't seem fond of their blob-footed furries wandering around unshod(something I think a few Sonic OC artists could afford to be mindful of), but all of the sandals in Forces are, quite frankly, hideous, so we're leaving them off for now.

(Though on that note, the toes are just part of the mod. I don't consider them canonical)

Anyway, I found it funny to just run a character through a war zone like that, so I started using the mod for my own amusement. It was when i stuck the Chao backpack on that I started thinking of the character, and the idea of them being more animalistic than their comrades in the Eggman War took hold here. But how would that affect their perspective?

So I looked to my real life for inspiration on that.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my dog PJ. A big, black Newfoundland who, despite being a complete dumbass, inspired the majority of Raccoon's characterization.

Basically, PJ likes to people-watch. She'll sit at our fence for as long as you'll let her and just watch the neighbors do their business. And she's clearly paying attention to what they're doing, having her own thoughts about how people work. She likely has a concept of cars and how they work, but I began to wonder how she looked at society. Does she understand electricity? Is this just some kind of magic that she accepts? That was my hook, my in to this character's perspective. A completely uncivilized creature of the jungle, suddenly discovering the civilized world for the first time. A primitive scholar, of sorts?

From there, the character and his abilities came together cleanly. Super strength, based off of PJ's own stubborn strength, sharp teeth, like she has, Lady Chao was chosen based off of her own love of pink pig toys(and her pink harness), and other such traits of PJ's that I thought would fit well within the framework of a Sonic story. However, his tendency to vocalize with growls was inspired by another dog of mine, Fred Jr(don't laugh, we were in a period of deep mourning when we got him).

But since I'm not a complete dumbass, I recognized that he'd probably need a way of communicating with others, which is why I added in the sign language for both him and Cyber. I probably could've given these characters regular speaking voices, but it didn't feel right when I built them in my head, so I left them as not traditionally verbal. With Raccoon especially, it gives him a near-constant separation from interacting with society, which I think serves for interesting character stuff.

So yeah, that's Raccoon. A bit less going on with him vs the other two, but that's his point, really. Jack is the stern and serious leader, Cyber is the supportive, light-hearted middle to the group, and Raccoon is the cute kid who can easily get ferocious if provoked. I do plan on developing Raccoon a bit more in the future, but we'll just have to see how that pans out.

So anyway, join us next time for the members of Jack's team(well, the ones I've bothered naming), with Wolf 6!

If you wish to read these stories: 

The full Wolf 6 collection: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2802334

And his highlight story made to promote Then and Now: https://www.tumblr.com/benis-chillin/698685171165184000/subject-has-been-reported-to-interfere-with-eggman

[canmom]

i crave your thoughts on gurren lagann

hell yeah anon, I'll try and give you your money's worth. here let me find the one meme cut in the gif picker sdfsdf

Gurren Lagann! Hiroyuki Imaishi's magnum opus, and in essence the foundational text of Studio Trigger! What a show, what a show. It's basically about celebrating a certain concept of active, virile masculinity, which isn't usually my thing, but it does it with such charm and bombast that I can't not love it all the same.

Hiroyuki Imaishi is basically the last devotee of the once dominant Kanada School. You can read about that history in a great deal of depth over on Matteo Watzky's blog, or just skip to his piece on Imaishi. Matteo can spot some of the elements of the Imaishi mix that I would miss, like the allusions to profoundly influential Dezaki anime Ashita no Joe in Kanada's death sequence. (Damn we're crazy overdue for Dezaki aren't we?)

But of course regardless of whether you've got an encyclopedic knowledge of all the important anime since the 70s, you'll get Imaishi's style immediately: it's bombastic, it's comedic, it's got extreme stylisation and snappy motion and dirty jokes and doesn't take itself at all seriously but (contra Watzky, imo) can still carry a surprising emotional charge through the sheer energy that infuses everything.

So, Gurren Lagann! I wrote an Animation Night post on this one too, written not long after I watched the series so I was able to give a fairly substantial review. But let's write something a little more.

Famously, the show that Gainax made in the aftermath of Eva [i remembered that totally wrong it's FLCL they made in the aftermath of EoE - thanks for catching that @attemptsupon ] Made ten years after ever and clearly a sort of working through many of the the same themes (psychological metaphor through otaku cultural imagery), it's certainly not exactly relentlessly upbeat and hopeful, with Simon's arc certainly hitting some dark points, but certainly a very different sort of story: depression and grief conquered by sheer determination etc. etc. The great achievement of Gurren Lagann is to make this feel exhilarating rather than hokey. And of course, it's substantially a coming-of-age story, with Simon learning to step into the shoes of his idol Kamina after his death. And yet, one that ends up kind of ambivalent: after his victory, Simon becomes a hermit, withdrawing from the society he built...

The series comes in two broad arcs: the initial one follows the humans rising up to defeat the Beastmen who once conquered them; the second after a major timeskip sees divisions appear among them as they attempt to rebuild society, followed by another escalating series of battles against the universal force called the 'Anti-Spiral' which wants to snuff life with the humans' special power of willful evolution, which the humans answer with a series of bigger and bigger robots that scale first to the size of planets, then ultimately to the point of chucking galaxies as shurikens (it's a very goofy show).

Along the way Simon has to contend with his wife Nia being mind-controlled and imprisoned by the anti-spirals, and his friend and comrade betraying him to form a military dictatorship which wants to suppress the heroes who won the humans freedom in favour of mass-produced (ultimately useless) robots and a pyrrhic evacuation plan; later he is trapped in a lotus-eater dream by the Anti-Spirals. In every case, the winning strategy is to be unreasonable, attempt impossible things, and your spiral energy will grant you the powerup you need.

So for a story that's primarily about cool and sexy guys being cool and sexy in ridiculous ways that defy reality, what becomes of the girls? Where do they fit into this universe?

Yoko is definitely there for fanservice in some significant part - though the Gainax animators lavish as much animation talent on, say, a boob squishing against a wall as everything else and the passion there makes it all feel less cynical. Sexuality is certainly appropriate to the show's themes but... well let's just say the hot springs episode is a lot. Anyway, she doesn't get dropped, but she goes from being a core part of the main trio who fights enthusiastically in their battles and expresses and acts on a convincing attraction to Kamina... to being increasingly sidelined, especially in the second half where she has a schoolteacher B-plot. Despite this, I am fond of Yoko.

Then there's Nia, who Simon initially finds in a box, discarded by the Spiral King Lordgenome (at the time the show's villain, though he later gets a kind of redemption). She's... more frustrating, in that she gets to exert fairly little agency in the story or even, in a story that's all about throwing caution to the wind and boldly pursuing your immediate desires and ambitions, seems to have much she's fighting for. She takes care of Simon when he's mega-depressed following Kamina's death, and then becomes Simon's love interest; she's a terrible cook and generally a bit of an airhead, and she's p likeable... and then she's a prisoner for most of the second half, at the end of which, she dies! That's just kind of how it is though. I don't want to belabour this point and get stuck on doing nothing bat shallow pop-feminist analysis, but I would have liked more.

Imaishi certainly grew on this point though. Kill la Kill shows that you can put that same bombastic personality into girls and it's fantastic lmao

One other thing - the Gurren Lagann recap movies are a mess, because they faced the impossible task of taking two cours of an already pretty dense story and cramming it into less than half the runtime which means the character arcs are mostly just gestured at rather than actually felt. So despite an impressive animation upgrade to the already strong final sequence, and the incorporation of Yoh Yoshinari's splendid animation from the Parallel Works collection, they are better taken as a supplement to the series. Two cours may seem a lot but it'll fly by.

Here's the meme format:

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

fav characters: Everyone on the cast loves Kamina - especially the camera! - but let's try and pick some less central characters because they give us plenty to choose from.

Viral's a fun one. He's as determined as any of the main cast but because the beastmen are not blessed with Spiral Energy he just gets his ass kicked over and over.

Lordgenome's generals are a fun bunch. Naturally I like Adiane.

Ron, the mechanic, is fascinating, not least bc like having an effeminate gay guy on the team (in a very curious set of design decisions, really wanna know what was going on there) is an interesting element in the show's story about masculinity. I only wish they'd been brave enough to have Kamina respond positively to Ron hitting on him. Another place Imaishi grew I suppose, considering Promare!

least fav characters: Despite my complaints above, I wouldn't say Nia is a least fave - just disappointing they didn't do more with her. so instead uhhhhh that minor character Kittan. Can't say i liked that guy. His showing in Parallel Works doesn't help matters lol, that one really makes you sympathise with the beastmen he fights.

fav relationship: We don't get a lot of gay ones to pick this time around lol. Ron/Kamina would have been sick like I said above but they weren't brave enough to make Kamina not be straight, which would be a genuinely interesting decision. (Although it's funny just how many 4chan dudes were made to question their sexuality by him to the point that 'gar for kanada' became a meme!)

Anyway, of the ones actually portrayed onscreen, Yoko/Kamina has the most convincing performance of attraction from both sides. I think it's fun to interpret Simon freaking out over seeing them together as him feeling adolescent attraction to Kamina rather than Yoko though. It doesn't really change the story much and it makes his grief all the more stark.

fav moment: The battle scenes are suitably exhilarating but I'm not sure which one to narrow it down to. there's a moment perhaps in the battle over the Spiral King's base where the music takes on this register that just makes it all feel so grand and horrific in scale, I find it hard to describe exactly how, but i would say that bit i guess! Kamina's death didn't have the impact it might've because it was spoiled for me going in (but who knows if i'd even have watched it if not for that praise) so it was kind of like... ooh, here we are, the famous bit where this guy dies!

headcanons/theories: Drawing a blank here ngl. It's pretty upfront about what it's doing and there aren't a lot of holes to patch.

unpopular opinion: Can't think of anything I have to say about this show that is all that out there honestly. I mean, except that it would be way cooler if it was gay, but Imaishi literally made that film lmao.

how’d you find it: Just plain fun, like Imaishi always is, but with enough substance to not be forgotten immediately. I took a long time to get around to seeing it but I found it held up very well, even with the hype. Could easily be the definitive super robot show, but I haven't seen enough of em to say.

random thoughts: To me it seems natural to see Gurren Lagann as essentially the first Trigger project before Trigger actually existed, the same way Nausicaa is the first Ghibli film before Ghibli actually existed.

Now Trigger is an odd beast - their style is deeply rooted in anime history and at the same time stands very distinct from just about any other studio working in the industry. Of course Imaishi's shows all look like Imaishi's shows, but you also have stuff like BNA that's in a similar territory. I think that's really cool! Though that said, they're certainly not just the house of neo-Kanada school. Their two shorts in Star Wars Visions illustrate their range pretty well: Imaishi directed the one where Lio Promare is a sith which was a fun spin on the aesthetic elements of a now very stale franchise, but they also had one which went for a much more realist aesthetic as a samurai movie and did a decent job of calling back to the 90s vibe.

Politically - I said Imaishi's gotten better, though of course being pro Kill la Kill is itself very controversial lmao. (I should probably read that Beautiful Fighting Girl book at some point.) But that said, for all that he has absolutely boundless energy and an admirable well of like, general anti-authoritarian feeling, it does feel like it often ends up a bit muddled. That's fine though - it's not exactly what these films are about.

Also shame Trigger's labour practices are well, labour practices of an anime studio!

Speaking of super robot shows and Trigger, everyone raved about SSSS Dynazenon so I guess I gotta watch SSSS Gridman and then that at some point. I'll admit... the main thing that's stopped me is mostly that the design sensibility of the robot lmao

[ask-de-writer]

DARING DO and the ADVENTURE of the X'IBIAN VASE! : MLP Fan Fiction : Part 5 of 21

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DARING DO and the

ADVENTURE of the X'IBIAN VASE!

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck) @ask-de-writer​

And

Carmen Pondiego @askcarmenpondiego​

Cover Art by

Doctor Dimension

52630 words

© 2020 by Glen Ten-Eyck

Writing begun 08/26/15

All rights reserved.  This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

//////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions, provided that such things are done without charge.  I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images.  

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Down in the comfortable lounge, with its dark, almost cave like atmosphere, she relaxed and had the waiter sit with her.  They were quietly chatting in X'ibian while watching the front doors, over in the area of the lounge open to the public.

Soon the doors opened and a confident young looking mare with a forelock, mane and tail of an amazing blue that was almost black walked in.  She had a single eye, centered in her forehead.  She was carrying a document case.

Two big earth ponies, easily half again her size got up from a table and stated, “Just hand over the papers, Miss.  We are Doctor Do’s personal secretaries and we will give them to her.”

“No.  My orders are to put them directly into Daring Do’s hooves ONLY.”

One edged behind her, pulling a knife.  The other pulling threatening hoof, ready to punch, demanded, “Hand over the papers or we are going to have to get REAL rough, got it?”

Her smile of sheer delight should have been a warning.

She dropped the dispatch case and backed hard.  That slammed the one behind her into the stout doors of the club.  Reaching back and grabbing, she had the thug’s foreleg.  She lifted it to her shoulder and snapped down, while driving forward with her hind legs.  With an audible snapping and rending of the joint, he flipped up, horror on his face.  She slammed him down like a big meaty hammer on top of his fellow thug!

That unfortunate was trying to make a grab for the case when he was flattened.  The mare, an expression of pure joy on her face, hauled her “hammer” back and whipped him over again.  He not only hit his fallen comrade, his head flopped back as he came down.  The shattering of his neck could be heard throughout the room.  

She hoof rolled the corpse off his buddy and leaped almost to the ceiling, landing on one hoof, putting the full weight and force of her body on the last one’s spine.  The splintering of ribs and the softer snapping of his spine announced the death of the second thug.

He twitched once and lay still. The cyclops eyed mare, simply glowing with delight, carefully rolled both bodies to the tiled part of the entryway.  She examined the carpets and gave a high hoof!

Speaking at last, she exclaimed, “Perfect!  Not one drop of blood on the carpet!”

With her face composed to a light professional smile, she came to Daring Do’s table.

She placed the case on the table.  Daring Do smiled up at her and said, “Thank you, Cyrene. It is an honor that Eris sent her documents in the company of her best bodyguard.  That was amazing to watch.”

Cy replied, “The honor is mine, Doctor Daring Do.  In here are not only Eris’ releases and other documents, I have the honor of delivering the Royal documents and a formal notice that your expedition is under the Royal Wing.”

Turning to the Guadian, she made a deep formal X'ibian court bow and said, “I thank you, Guardian. I saw you draw your knife to throwing position but withhold your strike.”

He returned the bow and replied, “I saw that you did not need my assistance, Watcher of the Exalted One.  We of the Guardians have been given the honor of watching recordings of your many actions on Her behalf.”

Cy replied, “I began by watching the works of your ponies on Her behalf.  I learned much.  I am pleased to be able to thank one of you in person.”

He put his hooves together and bowed his head.  “The greatest compliment that a teacher may receive is a student who excels.  The Student has far surpassed the teacher.  We are proud.”

Daring Do, ignoring the nearly frantic police at the club entrance, opened the case and began to inventory the contents.

She was delighted at what she found.  Expedition clearances, of course.  Letters of credit.  Travel documents from Equestria and the Chineighese Empire.  There were even documents for X'ibia, even though it was technically a province of the Chineighese Empire.  Her eyebrows rose at PRE CLEARED Chineighese Artifact transportation and export.

She muttered to herself, “They must not want a repeat of the Darkling collection fiasco.”

To her surprise, her comment brought a smile from both the normally impassive Guardian and Cy.

She had just packed it all back and sealed the case when a pony in the uniform of a Canterlot Police Sargent Major strutted up self-importantly and made a grab for the case, snapping, “This is evidence in a double murder!”

Cy’s blindingly fast move snapped his foreleg away from the case.  She said in an utterly level voice, “Sargent Major Haystring, I would think that you would remember the last time that we met.  It only took you five years to recover your rank.

“This is a formal legal statement in regard to the present double ponycide.  I, Cyrene Yvonne Clopes, was given detached duty from Eris, Inc.  My duty, given under the Royal Wing, was to deliver a case containing documents for Doctor of Antiquities, Daring Do.

“Entering the Adventurer’s Guild, I was accosted by two thugs attempting to steal the case and documents.  They first tried the ruse of being Doctor Daring Do’s secretaries.  When that failed they attacked me.  I killed them both and delivered the documents properly.

“This whole event is legally protected by the Royal Wing of Equestria.”

Sargent Major Haystring sourly examined the ID’s offered by both Cy and Daring Do.  Smarting under the memory of a five year dent in his career, he handed them back.

Truculently he demanded of Cy, “Don’t you ever let anypony live?”

To his surprise, she replied promptly, “Of course I do, if they have useful information for Eris or the Princesses.  Otherwise, no.  Where is the fun in letting slime ooze away?”

Defeated, he retreated to his fellow officers and held a conference of whispers with much hoof pointing at Cy and Daring Do.

The Guardian smiled serenely and offered, “If your personages will be so good as to follow me, we can avoid further foolishness on the part of these most unwise police.”

They both followed him into the tidy service areas of the Adventurer’s Guild.  They passed through the surprisingly busy kitchen and on to a service elevator.

They went down two levels and got out in a big underground service tunnel filled with heavy cables, mains for water and other things that Daring Do did not have time to identify.

Cy did, though.  She happily twirled several handwheels and pried open a big gray box.  She pushed the button inside and neatly shut the box again.  The Guardian watched with sparkling eyes.  He quit trying to maintain an impassive face and started to chortle as he led them down the dusty and spider webbed service tunnel.

Cyrene, smiling angelically, explained, “The police were setting up a hard point in front of the Guild.  They use the ponyholes for the electric and gas when they do it.  Those all have emergency fire fighting pressure spray systems in them nowadays.  I just routed the sewer into the fire fighting line and set off the sprinklers!”

Daring Do joined into the merriment as they trotted away down the rarely used tunnels.  They emerged near the Canterlot Central Railroad Station.  Daring Do bought them all tickets.

Almost as an anticlimax, the ride to the modest seaport of Milestago was uneventful.  They enjoyed the scenery along the way and dark had fallen by the time that they arrived, but that was the worst of it.  

Soon they were all relaxing around a table in the Rusty Barnacle.  Their rooms were paid and a modest meal of the locally famous sea-grass, harvested only days before, was in front of them.  Daring Do was studying the ship schedules and docking reservations.

Cy pushed back from the table and said, “Doctor Daring Do, It has been an honor to deliver the documents to you.”  She paused and her face took on a grin that was paradoxically both savage and serene at once.  “It was FUN, too!  I am so glad that it did not upset you like it does so many others.”

Daring Do looked up from her schedules and asked, “Has been?   Are you leaving us?”

“I will be with you until time to sail, Daring Do.  Then I have duties for my Mistress, Eris.”

The next morning, they were assembled about the scarred and battered table in the Rusty Barnacle. With daylight, the delightfully tacky decor of the place stood out starkly in view.  There were the usual nets festooned about, antique looking whale spears, phony treasure chests and, though it was easy to miss, in the corner, enmeshed in the net, dangled a lovely fake skeleton of Sea Unicorn.

Daring Do did take the time to admire the place once again.  She had started many expeditions here and the management used that knowledge in their marketing.

Daring Do was picking at her breakfast while making many Magic Net mirror calls.  Finally she sat to eat seriously.

She snickered as they all set out to examine the many assorted goods that she had ordered from the many Chandlers of Milestago.  “Never turn your back on food.  Who knows when you will get the chance to eat again?”

Their expedition’s supplies finally seen to, they reported to the ship that she had engaged.  The Captain met them at the gangplank.  He had a phony smile pasted onto his face.  “I am sorry, Miss Daring Do.  We have been otherwise engaged.  They paid twice the lading deposit that you did.  I have your deposit right here.”

He started to hand her a check. Before he could complete the action, Cy had him down, one hoof on his back, his foreleg bent up at an unnatural angle.

Over his yelps of pain, Cy said clearly, “GOLD ONLY.  You were paid in gold.  I do recognize the name that check is drawn on.  R.O.T. will not honor it.

“Get Doctor Do the coin NOW. If you do not, you will be known as Captain Svien the three legged. If you survive.”

Perhaps it was the sheer happiness that was radiating from his assailant that caused the Captain to fold at once.  “Nicor!  Get the bag of coin from my quarters now!”

When Nicor showed up with the bag, he handed it over promptly.

Cy said cheerfully, “Count it, Doctor Do!  It is five gold short, to make it look like a miscount of stacks.  The good Captain has the missing five right here in his pocket!”

Betraying himself, the Captain demanded, “How could you know that?”

Daring Do instantly replied, “She is Eris’ personal bodyguard.  Where there is anything amiss, Eris lets her know.  Not sure how that works, but I’ve seen it happen often enough.”

They took the gold and left the Captain trying to rise on his twisted foreleg.

Sitting in the Rusty Barnacle, they were approached by an elderly faded red sea-pony with a wooden stump replacing part of his left hind leg.  He had a battered captain’s cap worn around the stump of a horn.  His eyes, though, nothing old about them.

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[wildfaeworld]

Okay how about "Take me Instead" with Keith! and with platonic Klance or Kidge. :3

Administrative stuff: this is for the @badthingshappenbingo, in the Voltron: Legendary Defender fandom.

For reference, red X has been done, blue circles requested. not that y’all couldn’t figure that out, sheesh

Alright, here goes!! “Take Me Instead”, with platonic Kidge (good one, I live for Kidge friendship) :D This monstrosity is about 1800 words, beware. It was just too much fun.

*PSST*: you can also read this on AO3

——————

“I don’t understand.” Keithscowled over Pidge’s shoulder at the device on the counter before them. “Whatdoes it do?”

Pidge, unwilling to let suchmundane things as purpose dim the stars in her eyes, dug out her pouch of GAC.“It’s a robot, Keith, it doesn’t needto do anything now, I’m gonna upgradeit! How much?”

“Three thousand GAC.” The way thealien shopkeeper’s assessing gaze roamed over Pidge gave Keith theheebie-jeebies. He stepped closer, looming behind her.

“Pidge. You don’t need this robot.”

“Keith.” Pidge did not look upfrom her wallet. “I need this robot.” Now she did look up at him, and somehowher eyes were bigger, wider, and her face was doing something that made it hardto remember why he had thought the robot was a stupid idea. Oh.

“Are you… using puppy-dog eyes onme?”

Her eyes got bigger (was thatpossible? Apparently so), and now he felt guilty for accusing her.

“Is it working? I’m short a couplehundred GAC.”

And just like that, whatever magicwas in the puppy eyes was gone. “We’re supposed to be looking for supplies forthe castle.”

“With your money! I brought myown. I just need a couple hundred, you know Coran gave you way more than we’llneed. Please, Keith, I need this robot. Look at it! It’s socute! How can you say no to such a cute-” “Pile of metal?” “Keeeiiiith,” she whined, whacking him inthe arm. “Pleeeeeeeaaase, Keith?”

Matt probably would have beenable to say no. Shiro too, maybe even Lance. They all had experience withyounger siblings. But no, they sent Keith, who had no idea how to handle hugeeyes and a face full of desperate need for something frankly trivial. He wasnot prepared for this at all.

Sometimes surrender was the onlyoption. Keith yanked out his wallet and began flipping out GAC. “I’m nothelping you fix it.”

“But Keith, you’re my best labassistant! C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Pidge tucked the robot lovingly under her armand turned a blindingly bright smile up at Keith.

Keith sighed and shook his head.He had a feeling that he was going to end up helping fix the robot. “C’mon, weneed to look for that component-thingy.”

“Flux modulator,” Pidge correctedabsently, engrossed in fiddling with the robot. Keith dropped a hand onto hershoulder to steer her through the teeming masses, scowling out from under hisbangs at the scurrying aliens who hurried this way, that, and always across thepath he was trying to steer Pidge through. Crowds had always been hard for him,but since bonding with Red his instincts tended to go haywire whenever he feltsurrounded or not in control.

“Woah,” Pidge muttered, peeringup over her glasses as Keith yanked her to a stop just before a horde of tinyorange aliens screeched across the end of the aisle. “Keith, you okay, man?”

“I’m fine,” Keith said tightly.Something was wrong; his instincts were screaming – he needed to fight, run,fly – anything to calm the fire burning down his spine. “Let’s just get the frackmandala” “Flux modulator-” “-and get back to the lions.”

“You got it.” Perhaps picking upon whatever had Keith’s senses firing, Pidge put the robot into her satchel andpeered around at the stalls. “Ooh, maybe over there.” She wriggled out from underhis hand and darted over to the corner stall.

Something was coming – he couldn’ttake it anymore. Keith drew his bayard, glad he had ignored Allura when she orderedthem to leave all paladin-identifying gear behind. Screw the flip-flop macerator,he was getting Pidge out of here. They could find it somewhere else.

“Pidge, let’s- PIDGE!” Keithpelted for the alley, heart in his throat. A large green arm had snaked out ofthe shadows and latched onto the littlest paladin, yanking her out of sightbefore she could so much as startle at the unexpected contact.

Keith activated his bayard, arrivingin a whirl of violence. Five huge aliens blocked his way, while a sixth hauleda struggling Pidge down the alley, heading for a pod parked at the other end. Ithad her tucked under its arm like a ragdoll, one three-clawed hand wrappedentirely around her head, and though Pidge was one of the fiercest people heknew, without her bayard the size disparity was simply too great for her to domore than annoy the hulking alien with her struggles. 

Keith charged, cutting down oneof the aliens with a swift slash across its throat before the rest swarmed him.He raised his blade to block an overhead strike, letting the angle of his sworddeflect his opponent’s blade down and off to one side, before whirling hissword about to parry the next attack. Shoving the blade off of his own, Keithyanked his knife out of its sheath at his back and stabbed blindly to his left,where he could feel a third alien approaching from behind. The alien gurgledand screamed, but kept coming, and the other two were swiftly recovering aswell. And all the while Pidge was being hauled toward the pod. Keithglanced about the narrow alley frantically. He needed some sort ofadvantage; between their size and their numbers, there was no way he was goingto take all three down on his own. 

A pile of crates stackedhaphazardly against the wall protruded from a mounded pile of discarded trash.Keith yelled and ducked under the rightmost alien’s scythe-like weapon andjumped up the mound. His footing was precarious at best, but his back wasagainst a wall now and he was nearly at eye level with his opponents. One swungat him with a heavy-handed overhead strike – really, again? Clearly these guyswere not used to actual opposition – and Keith blocked it easily, twisting theblade aside and lunging in to take out the alien’s eyes. Three down, two to go.

The one he had just blindedstaggered into one of his remaining opponents, keening loudly, and Keith tookthe opportunity to leap atop the other one, wrapping his thighs around its’ neckand stabbing downwards through the alien’s skull. He rode the enormous body tothe ground, cleaving the last alien from neck to navel on the way down. Thatleft only the blind one, staggering across the alley in futile search of itscomrades. Keith took a running start and leapt up its back, using his momentumto bring the disoriented alien crashing to the ground. Stunned, the alien frozeas it felt Keith’s blade against its’ neck, cold metal warring with hot bloodagainst its scaly flesh.

“Let her go!” Keith shouted, proudthat his voice projected only his anger and not the crippling fear underneath. Not Pidge, please not Pidge. “Let hergo, or you lose the last of your team!”

The alien halted, its reptilianeyes skittering over the carnage Keith had wrought. Over its clawed hand, Pidge’senormous brown eyes locked onto Keith’s.

“You have brought blood-debt uponyourself, stranger,” the alien snarled.

“Let her go, and I’ll give you achance to collect,” Keith retorted. Beneath him, the blinded alien shifted, andhe ground his heel harder into its spine until it stilled.

“This small one is a lawful prize,taken fairly. She will bring good price to me.” The alien shook Pidge slightly,and Keith’s gut twisted at the strangled whimper that emerged past the thickscaly claws wrapped around her head. “What have you to offer, stranger? Your blood-debtis already greater than you can pay.”

Everything was speeding up,unlike in battle when time seemed to slow; this was too fast, too much, and allKeith could think was not Pidge, notPidge in endless, frantic loop.

“Me,” he said, ignoring Pidge’ssudden muffled cy. “Take me.”

The alien snarled. “I havealready said your debt is greater than you can pay. I tire of this. Flee, whileyou still can, before the debt-hunters are given your scent.”

“I’m a paladin!” Keith blurted. “I’ma paladin of Voltron, heard of them?”

The alien’s sudden stillness wasanswer enough.

“Take me, and I’ll pay yourblood-debt. But you have to let her go.”

The alien watched him, reptilianeyes unblinking and hard as stone. Keith stepped off the blinded alien,shifting his sword back into bayard form and sheathing his knife. “Take me,” herepeated. “But let her go.”

“What is she to you?”

“No one,” Keith said quickly –too quickly, damnit. “A messenger,” he tried again, locking eyes with Pidge’s furioushoney-gold orbs and hoping that just this once he could communicate what he wanted.“She’s just a messenger. I hired her to carry my stuff while I shopped. She’s aninnocent.”

The alien lifted Pidge, eyeingher satchel dubiously. With a single claw, it ripped the satchel down thecenter, sending the robot and various other wires and connectors they had alreadypurchased clattering to the ground. It glanced back at Keith, gaze lingering onhis bayard. Keith thanked whatever gods held sway out here for its distinctivered-and-white coloring. Thanks to Coran’s Voltron shows, most of the galaxy nowrecognized the paladin colors and bayards. Beside him, the blinded alien rolledover, scrambling to its feet, and Keith stiffened, but kept his bayarddisarmed. “Take me,” he repeated. “But let her go.”

Slowly, the alien lowered Pidgeto the ground. “Go, child,” it said harshly. “Offer thanks at your hearth thisnight for the foolish ideals of this paladin.”

“Keith,” Pidge whisperedhoarsely. Bruising was already darkening her pale skin, crossing her face inmottled hues that didn’t belong.

“Go on,” Keith said, his mindstill circling madly, stuck in its loop ofnot Pidge, not Pidge. “You’ve got a job to get back to.”

“No, I-”

The alien shoved her towards theentrance to the alley when she stayed rooted to the spot. “Run, child. Deliveryour messages.”

The giant claws descended on him,then, wrapping around Keith’s torso and pinning his arms painfully to hissides. His bayard clattered on the ground, but the alien’s sinuous tail snakeddown to seize it as well.

“Get out of here!” Keith snarledas it began to drag him away. He couldn’t try to escape until Pidge was safelyaway. She couldn’t start tracking him until she was back at her lion, she wasn’tsafe until she was back with Green.

Finally, Pidge fled, dashingtears out of her eyes, and finally, Keith’s panic over her began to subside,even as his own spiked. But Pidge was safe. He could handle whatever came next,as long as it was him and not her.

[gingerxtrash]

As the years go on/3

Hey so I’m going to switch Lucy’s last name to Heartfilia for story purposes so please forgive me y’all ;-;  And I’m also sorry for taking so long to update but I have been busy trying to find a job because I need money lol -Author’s note

---Third Person---

In the halls of Magnolia Academy it was crowded with people talking to each other and sharing  their weekends activities. The halls filled with the innocent and not so innocent kids who use their lives to party or stay stuck in a house. Some of them complaining, and some of them gloating of their supposedly “fun” lives. In this school the kids are either the hunters or the prey to all sorts of abuse. Students that reside in gangs are the most dangerous kids in the school and no one dares to defy them. Even some teachers will let them get away with certain things because they fear those students. Every inch of Magnolia is a part of a battlefield of rival gangs who fight for what they want.

While the students are spread out through the hallway, everyone’s voices came to a stop once the front doors opened and revealed the ten kid gang members of Fairy Tail. Walking down the halls they all separated into pairs except for the leader of the group, Natsu Dragneel which is the future leader of Fairy Tail. The current leader is his father Igneel Dragneel, known as the “King of Dragons” and most scariest man in Matnolia. This makes Natsu the most feared student in the school, also known as the bad boy that every girl wants. He has salmon colored hair and black onyx eyes that any girl will fall for. A bonus to his physical figure is that he has the muscles of a god. Except for his murderous look, he is perfect.

Natsu’s P.O.V.

After opening the doors to this boring hell on earth, every head in the spacious room is focused towards me and my comrades. If someone was to drop a pen everybody would hear it with no doubt. People look at us either in fear or look as if they praise the ground we are walking on.

After a minute everybody goes back to their conversations about what they did during the weekend. I ignore the people (mainly girls) who are walking to me and finally approached my locker to get my books for the day. I open the small little metal door and see a necklace that has a small key with the sign ‘cancer’ engraved on it. I slightly furrow my eyebrows knowing that I can never give this to her. ‘Damn, why did she have to leave? Is she safe? I would do anything to see her again, to see those eyes.’ Natsu thought to himself but pushes away those memories. I close my locker to see a girl standing there who was wearing a very revealing outfit with a decent amount of cleavage showing and short shorts. This girl had silver hair and it was topped off with a cow lick on the top of her head. Most guys would jump to the opportunity to flirt with this girl who dresses to seduce, but that doesn’t work on me.

“What do you want Angel?” I said with a look of disgust on my face. “Oh wow Mr. Bad Boy you’re so scary” Angel said with a smirk spread on her face. “Well I don’t have time for girls who try to get guys from looking like a hoe” I said while walking away to my English class. Over my shoulder I see her mouth in the of the ‘o’, surprised by my comment.

I walk up to my friends/comrades and start walking together and had small talk to occupy the time while we all walk into a boring 45-minute class. “Yo Salamander, we saw you with that silver-haired weirdo just now, was she just tryin to flirt with ya?” Gajeel yelling over the voices of the students passing by. This boy has long spiky black hair and piercings all over his face and arms, in other words, “metal head”. Next to him is Levy and she has short blue hair, although she is pretty short so Gajeel never stops calling her shrimp. “Oh yeah, that whore is tryna add me to her sex list, hah pathetic right?” I said and earned a laugh from Gajeel. I look forward and see Erza and Jellal, the two that are never apart, always staying by one another’s side as if it’s their last day together. My best friend/rival Gray is with his semi-girlfriend (Juvia claims so but Gray won’t admit his feelings for her yet. But we all know he likes her back so we just say their dating already). Next up is Laxus, people consider him to be even more scary than Erza by a long shot, if someone messes with him they will most likely end up badly bruised or dead. He is accompanied by Mira who is considered scary and nice, which is probably a reason why her and Laxus get along so well. Lastly there is Cana and she is currently holding a bottle of apple juice, although it’s a disguise bottle for her booze. Well, she did make a goal of drinking the most “apple juice” in the world so she sure does not disappoint, although she is still drinking rivals with a “wild” man named Bacchus.

“Hey leader! We all know you don’t wanna go for any other girl because you’re saving yourself for Lucy “Cana said giving me a sarcastic wink while drinking from her “apple juice”. Everyone was a bit surprised to hear that name and looked a bit sad but quickly shrugged the thought aside and laughed at the joke, knowing that she didn’t mean it as an insult to Lucy. I proceeded to go into class to get to my desk in the back corner of the class next to the window. All my friends are sitting around me while everyone else is sitting next to me. On the other side of the room is Minerva, Angel, Jenny, Midnight, Racer, and Cobra. They call themselves the neo-seis and they are those one of the groups who oppose Fairy Tail. They call themselves that name because that gang was found from six people 50 years ago from some people who are long dead now. Minerva, Angel, and Jenny haven’t changed much over the years except having their tits and butt grow bigger like all other girls, well except for Levy. I don’t pay attention to Levy like that but Gajeel always fawns over her butt and makes fun of her boobs to annoy her. With those three girls I still consider them some hoes because all they do is find a cute guy with money and take them to bed. That is one of the only reasons why they have their little ‘boy toys’ defending them all the time.

Midnight has black messy hair and while long hairs on the front of his face, he also wears lipstick which makes him look a bit like a draq queen. Although, Cobra is a bit different. He also has chestnut brown messy hair and the tan skin every woman would want. ‘Dang, I sound really gay when I say that’ I thought to myself kind of shocked by that happening. He lost his eye a few years ago so that makes me slightly respect the guy, but never a comrade.

Once we all get settled into our seats the teacher, Mr. Bob starts the lesson assigned for today. Mr. Bob is a very fat, very bald, and a very ugly man. I don’t know why but this school has the weirdest teachers ever. “Okay class, we are going to learn about Roman Mythology, so I expect you guys to listen to this unit because it is something you all will br intere-“Mr. Bob was interrupted when the door slowly creaked open. All the heads in the room started to turn their heads towards the door including my friends. They had a scared and surprised face which made me a bit curious. I slowly turn my head to the direction of the door and I don’t believe my eyes…the first thing I see are the most beautiful chestnut colored eyes, ‘Lu…cy?’

---4 years ago---

Natsu’s P.O.V.

“I already have everything I want, but my goal is to never lose you guys as my dearest friends!” Lucy said with a big smile on her face. When I hear Lucy’s laugh my mood lightens up, when I see her smile I want stay with her, but the eyes are the most dangerous part of her. Her eyes will enchant anybody who looks at them. Out of everyone, I know Lucy the best because she is my best friend. And because of that, I know when she is sad when others can’t, I see through her fake smiles. I know that she has been bullied, abused, hurt mentally and physically but she refuses to have me help her. I don’t want to ignore the fact that she is hurting but she is very stubborn when it comes to the topic. She made me promise not to tell anybody and to not bring it up because it makes it sad for others to worry for her. Although, if I had a choice I would kill each one of them for even laying a finger on her. I don’t care that I’m only a 13-year-old, anyone who hurts my Luce will get hurt in return. That is why my goal is to become the strongest person, so I can protect her.

After everyone was done playing at the tree we all started to go in separate directions to go home. “Hey everyone, we should hang out tomorrow at the usual place” I yell out to everybody and they all cheered about that. I started to walk home and immediately was wishing that tomorrow would come so I can see my friends.

…time skip to the next day…

I get to the tree to see that everyone is there except for one little blonde girl, Lucy. “Hey where is Luce?” I said out loud. “I don’t know but she must be on her way right now” Levy said. I just nod, a little sad that she isn’t here yet, but I’ll just shrug it off for now. “Hey flamebrain, when are you gonna admit to Lucy that you’re uncontrollably in love with her?” Gray said smirking because he knows that it will get to my soft spot. “I’ll tell her when you use your head to tell Juvia you like her, Ice Princess” I say back and just turn away from him. Although he annoys me, I just don’t feel like fighting today.

After an hour Lucy still hasn’t arrived and I’m getting worried about her. “Hey guys I’m going to go to Lucy’s house to see where she is” I said to everyone. “Oi, we’re tagging along with you. If you haven’t noticed yet, we are friends with Lucy too.” Gray said with a side smile. “Yea, and I still need to see how you two interact so I can make the perfect plan to get you two together!” Mira said with a devilish face but let out a giggle. ‘Wow, I really don’t understand Mira at times because she is like a devil in the disguise of an angel’ I laugh nervously to myself. “Natsu, Lucy and Jellal are mine and I don’t like it when people take what’s mine so I will take the honors of leading the way.” Erza said with a scary look on her face causing me to step back with a sweat drop above my head, Jellal was blushing a little bit from the what Erza said. Levy looked angry at Erza’s comment but decided not to join in because she didn’t want to be scolded by Erza. “Hehe, Juvia thinks it is a great idea to see Lucy!” she said to calm down Erza and Natsu from starting conflict. I just look at Erza and then look towards the direction of Lucy’s house and my legs immediately started to walk there. *Sigh* “okay fine, I guess you guys can come” I said jokingly to my friends.

Once we got to the Heartfilia mansion all our hearts immediately dropped in immediate confusion, ‘What happened, where’s Luce?’. I’m too shocked to move at this point and I feel as if my heart was shattering. I see trucks parked at the sidewalk with people coming in and out of the house carrying the furniture. There is no sold sign, so these people are not taking all this stuff with the Heartfilia’s. Without thinking I run up to one of the men and asked where Luce was. “Sorry kid, they just left out of nowhere and left everything behind, so we were told we can keep anything we wanted. If I say so that is generous of such a wealthy family, although it was surprising that they went bankrupt out of nowhere. Well, things always can go downhill in life so it’s none of my business to pry into their problems.” Hearing this from the random man made my heart drop and I am slowly starting to become numb. Tears slowly started to form in my eye’s, but I refuse to let them fall in front of everybody. I look back to see my friends all upset just as I am. Gajeel and Laxus always hid their emotions but you could tell that they were sad because they stood still and looked down to the floor. Gajeel was also holding Levy in a hug to comfort her sobbing figure. The great and strong Erza looked down to the floor to hide the tears that are slowly falling from her eyes. Juvia had her hands over her mouth and tried not to cry. Gray and Mira just stood frozen with the look of sadness in their eyes. Cana didn’t drink her apple juice because she did not have the desire to take a sip because of the sadness of Lucy’s disappearance.

Levy surprisingly spoke up, “guys, Lu must have a good reason for leaving, she is not the type to just leave without saying goodbye.” We all knew Levy was right but didn’t want to admit that our Lucy is gone. No, I didn’t want to admit my Luce is gone so I will wait for her, even if it means I must wait for the rest of my life. That is a promise and I never break my promises.

---Present day---

“Lu…cy?’ I whisper to myself making sure no one heard me. She shared the same expression I have now, but it was mixed with an expression of sadness. She had on an oversized sweater and wore jeans that were a little over-sized for her. She was probably the same height as Juvia and topped off her appearance with glasses. With her ensemble someone could barely recognize that it was her, but I know it’s her because of that blonde hair that shine’s like the sun and those chestnut eyes that I have been yearning to see for the past five years.

The look she had on her face absolutely killed me and caused me to stay frozen in my chair. She looked so different from the last time I saw her and she quickly looked down to avoid eye contact with me, like she was hiding from me. My friends were in total shock and some of the girls were holding back their tears, as a gang member we should show little to no emotion. “Dear, what is your name and are you a new student here?” Mr. Bob said, excited to have a new student in his class. “Yes, my name is Lucy Hearfilia” Lucy said in a soft voice but was loud enough to be heard by the teacher. “Well it’s lovely to have you, can you sit next to the big, scary pinky boy in the back?” Mr. Bob said and returned to the lesson he was giving.

Lucy slowly started to walk up to us to take her seat and turned her head to look at the wall. Once she sat down in her seat she turned to look at all of us, “I am so sorry to all of you guys for leaving without a word, and I will understand if you guys hate me” she said with a blank face, but I saw the message she was giving me “Things can’t go back to what they once were, so please just forget about me”.

Chapter 1- https://gingerxtrash.tumblr.com/post/173317577354/as-the-years-go-on

Chapter 2- https://gingerxtrash.tumblr.com/post/173429902759/as-the-years-go-onch2

[udemy-gift-coupon-blog]

How to manage strong emotions ##100%FREEUdemyDiscountCoupons ##elearning #emotions #Manage #strong How to manage strong emotions "Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges." When I was 10, I was admitted in a boarding school far away from my home. It felt like my parents hammered my fragile heart ruthlessly. That was a trauma for me at that time. Secretly cying in the corner walls of bathroom at midnight, hugging the pillow while sleeping as if my mother lay on my side, hoping every moment my mom would rise like the sun and show up and the door. My mind at that time became disturbed. When I was 15, I was shot in my heart seeing my mother enjoying sex with a friend of my father. When people used to gossip about it, it felt like salt been rubbed on my bleeding wounds. My mind at that time became disturbed. I couldn't see the world straight. I cried on petty things. I burst into rage ever other hour. This went on for 2 years. I lost my identity, strength, confidence and respect for my friends and family. When I was 21, I was betrayed. The people I believed in and was dependent upon turned out to be narcissists. I felt dirty about myself for selling my soul to these people. I lost my self loving them too much. My innocence was exploited. This time I couldn't even express my rage, hate and hurt because I was an adult, right? Huh! That's stupid. All these emotions build up in me and I become neurotic as I am banned to express the things I feel. My mind at that time became disturbed. This time I even developed many health issues and my body started to go against me. Falling sick, feeling worthless, being depressed and existence was a pain in the ass. But why was I so much in slump? I couldn't control my mind. That's because I didn't understand my emotions, feeling, thoughts, and how mind works. When my mind isn't calm I feel like shit all day long and it reflects in my gut being upset. 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Before everything else you should manage your mind, as everything you do then will be build on Mind Management and be much easier. We do not learn to manage our mind at school and not from our parents, as they have never learned it. Art of Mind Management Our mind is the singular most important factor determining the quality of our life. It has the potential of being our greatest comrade or worst adversary. If the mind is successfully controlled, it becomes our best ally. But if we permit it to run amuck, it steals our inner peace and undermines all our productive endeavors.  For entrepreneurs Stephen Covery says "Start with the end in mind" that is a powerful advise from the most recognized author in personal development world. His book 7 habits of highly effective people is a bomb. But, do you begin with the end in mind? Sometimes the mind is cloudy and confused to see the end. Sometimes it is too emotional and fatigued. 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A disturbed mind, An unorganized mind,A clouded mind,A monkey mind,A dull mind,Will never make you a world-class entrepreneur. To master this mind management thing you can search on google for free tips, watch youtube videos and read random articles. After that you'll feel as if you have your mind managed but it is farther from the truth. To save your time and energy instead I'd invite you to enrol for this online video course of 1 hour on mind management. It answers all the question asked above and gives badass strategies for managing your mind. 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[this-aint-no-place-for-no-hero]

(Trimmed)

*Russian anon drops his gun in shock...Cy-Cho just...erm...Cy-Cho?*

Boss! Look at this! Weapons! Girls! Vehicles! There is no way Marie could stand against us! Boss!....Boss?

*Cy-Cho put two fingers to his forehead,breathing deeply..muttering somthing*

Boss?...Cy-Cho? You okay comrade-

*Cy-Cho put his hand down..he looked at the girls,and the weapons at his disposal. He grinned*

Okay dexter. I will concede. These are some damn fine toys you got. But Lemme show you what IM bringing to the table.

*Cy-Cho cleared off a nearby table,and set his bag down. He began to pull out various pieces of tech. They all looked to be ledgendary,and increadibly powerful He slid a few over to the ppsh and Thompson women*

For the gun ladies,I’ve got accuracy enhancers,reload speed increases,and damage boosters. You’ll fire like you’ve never fired before and works with every gun imaginable. For dexter...

*Cy-Cho slid over some machines to dexter*

Damage boosters,Faster ink production,special Ability recharge time decreases And my personal favorite,

*Cy-Cho personally hands dexter a small device,about the size of a phone*

The Ability to Switch between ultimates/specials mid fight. You can toss booyah bombs,turn into monsters,whatever. You don’t have to just choose one before a fight. Call it cheating,but I personally couldn’t give less of a shit,consider what Marie is doing.

Side bets (CLOSED RP)

Understood comrade! We will move swiftly!

*With Cy-Cho piloting the helicopter,Russian anon in the rear and with massive amounts of Cy-cho’s weapons in the trunk,they move towards the military base dexter describes. Russian anon speaks*

Hey. Boss! Are you excited? We finally get to take the war to the sisters!

...

*Cy-Cho did not speak,driving towards the military base,an unnatural fire in his eyes*

@dexter-the-inkling-boy

[thirdhostage]

Telephone (Ethan x FemReader) fluff

(( gif not mine ))

(A/n): So just a while back I said that I would write an Ethan story SO HERE I actually did it be proud of me

Summary: You have some nieces and nephews in the family so you ask Markimoo, Tyler and blue boy to help you babysit. Mark and Tyler turn out to not be the only ones that think you and Ethan should date.

Warnings: I think I swore ?? but also TICKLING

_____

You were pretty excited about this actually. Your sibling had asked you to take care of their three kids for the day while they were out with their spouse. Of course, you obliged. You really liked their kids, but thought babysitting to be more of a chore.

For one person, three kids was a lot. So, you went and enlisted help from your band of friends. You knew for sure that they would love the kids instantly.

Traveling from your flat to Mark’s wasn’t a hassle. After two brisk knocks on the boys’ front door, Mark himself opened it with a large grin.

“Evening~!” He purred “Tyler is in the living room with every toy imaginable, go steal them from him!”

The three children giggled and pushed past him, calling a chorus of ‘hello’s.

You yourself couldn’t help but laugh, stepping up to the doorway gingerly.

“Thanks for doing this.” you said to Mark “It’s only for one night, but I didn’t think I could handle it by myself; sorry if it was sudden when I calle--”

“(Y/n),” Mark chuckled. He rested a hand on the small of your back and nudged you inside so he could close the door “It’s totally fine. I planned everything. They’re all sharing a room upstairs.”

You sighed and beamed up at him “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” he smiled back.

Giggly screams broke through your conversation. The both of you turned to the sound and walked toward it; past the living room entrance.

Their stood, by the far back wall, Tyler. One kid hanging from his left bicep, one tied around his calf and the other Ethan was about to crown Tyler’s shoulders with.

They all froze to look at the two of you.

“What even?” you chuckled walking around to reach out for the one hanging from his arm.

Grabbing her sides, you lifted her high and set her down quickly, tickling her ribs. She screamed in delight.

“DOES THIS MEAN TICKLE WAR?” Mark called in a silly tone.

“IT DOES.” Tyler confirmed.

The two men snatched up the other two children. Mark taking the one from Ethan. Everyone began to laugh as tickling ensued.

“This-- this isn’t fair- no!” the small girl breathed “Teams! T-Teams!” she hollered.

You smiled and released her, sitting back on your knees. “Alright,” you offered “Pick your teams.”

“Well,” she stood.

Her small frame was proud and determined to win this battle.

“Myself Prim,” she gestured to herself  “and Dane,” then to one small boy “Connie,” the other boy “and Ethwan.”

“And Ethan.” you laughed.

Getting up, you looked to the mentioned blue boy and commented “You have a team of warriors.”

“Of course I do!” he cheered “We are going to win!”

❆   ❆   ❆

Everyone got onto their respective sides.

Yourself, Tyler and Mark on the left side of the lounge with Ethan, Prim, Dane and Connie on the opposing side.

“Alright men,” you began “I’ll take out Ethan, their biggest threat. Tyler, you take Dane and Connie. Mark, you get Prim.”

“Roger.” the two said in unison.

“But, watch for Connie, soldiers.” you forewarned “He’s a wild card.”

“Copy that.”

You three broke apart and got into dramatic positions. The children giggled.

“No!” Ethan cried “Don’t let them distract you!”

“Guns ready! Three, two, one! GO!” Tyler cheered.

The seven of you broke loose. Anarchy rained and childish giggles laced the joyful air. Mark was quick to be taken down by both Prim and Dane. Tyler went to the aid of his fallen comrade but was soon after jumped by Connie.

You laughed hysterically, forgetting your assigned task.

“Mark, no!” you whailed.

Though, the sadness was short lived when two arms snaked their way under your own. You gasped in surprise.

“I got her! I got her!” Ethan chuckled. His hands went to work on manipulating your sides. You body betrayed you in letting a laugh bubble through your throat.

“God NO!” You began to screech with laughter in joyus bursts.

You couldn’t really run away, so instead you dropped to your knees, hoping to leave Ethan’s grip. But he only dropped with you, encircling his arms around your torso to lessen your movement.

“E-E-Ethan! Hav-hahah-have merccc-c-cy!” you whined, laughing intensified.

“Give in (Y/n),” you heard Tyler chuckle “their power is unmatchable.”

“I givv-v-ve up!” you cried.

Ethan laughed and let you go, leaving you to catch some needed breath.

❆   ❆   ❆

Once the war was won, you all resorted to playing with the toy’s instead.

One toy in particular you thought was quite cute; an old fashioned toy phone. The one with the spin dial and the coil cord.

“Ah jee, doesn’t this bring memories.” You said to Ethan. He was standing next to you as you picked it up.

“Holy shit, that sure does.” he laughed “I used to have one, it was green.”

You smiled at the faded blue toy “But where’s the phone?”

“Sh!” Dane suddenly snapped “I’m on a call!”

You shook your head silently and looked up to Ethan. He grinned and shrugged.

At once you began to feel a tugging on your legs.

Both you and the blue haired boy looked down.

It was Dane wrapping the phone coil around both of you. He started to chat happily.

“Ethan and (Y/n) sittin’ in a tree!”

Soon both Tyler and Mark had joined in. Followed by a laughing Connie and a smiling Prim.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” the group chorused “First comes love! Then comes marriage! Then comes a baby in the baby carriage!”

The coil bounded you and the youtuber together at the knees, hips and waist. You were physically pressed to each other.

Ethan’s face began to show a great contrast with his hair when it flushed red. Yours following suit.

“Mark, why are their faces red?” Connie whispered.

“Because they are in love.” Mark replied, beaming at the sight. Tyler let loose a hearty laugh when he heard Mark’s declaration.

❆   ❆   ❆

The rest of the evening was filled with many, many laughs and plenty of childish embarrassment. Though, the two of you did get freed eventually, the teasing did not let up. But, sooner or later, it drew close to bedtime.

You gently scooped up Connie and Dane once they began to yawn. Ethan picking up Prim.

“Time for the sleeps, kiddos’.” you lulled softly.

“Mark and I are going to clean this up,” Tyler smiled to you, gesturing to the cluster of throw about toys. You nodded to him quietly.

Gaining your way up the stairs, you reached the kids’ designated bedroom and placed both Dane and Connie in their beds. They both offered you hushed goodnights.

Ethan went to do the same, finding the small girl asleep in his arms. He was careful when resting her upon the covers, layering her in a fluffy down duvet.

“Awe,” you hummed “What a great dad you’d be.”

Though it was said in a joking matter, you had still meant it.

“Wouldn’t I though.” he beamed.

“Of course.” you agreed, walking to the door, stopping to let Ethan out before you.

He closed to door softly behind him.

“I’m sure I could master raising any amount of kids with one hand,” he joked.

You looked at him and chuckled.

“as long as you are holding the other one.”

You froze for a moment, your gaze raking his features. He simply smiled and leant forward.

Ethan’s lips meant yours in a calm, gentle kiss. You described it was warm, and firm.

Kissing him back was charming, you went and tied you arms around his neck, with his resting on your hips.

“So I expected you to put the kids to bed, not make some more.” Mark suddenly coughed.

Ethan and you were fast to break apart, the youtuber’s gaze collapsing awkwardly.

“Cooties...” Mark mumbled, retreating back down stairs.

You couldn’t help yourself when another placid smile captured your face. Babysitting sure wasn’t fun without friends.

_____

(A/n): THIS COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE I AM IMPRESSED

[degenerates-incorrect-quotes]

Star: On a scale from “damn Daniel” to “fre sha vaca do”, how are you feeling?

Cy: In between “it’s an avocado, thanks” and “how did you defeat Captain America”, but as a solid answer I would say “I don’t need a degree to be a clothing hanger”. How about you, Callie?

Callie: Probably “road work ahead”.

Comrade: I speak many languages, and this is none of them.

[generativethoughts-blog]

Generative Media Authorship

Hello Internet,  

Here are some thoughts I had while taking Generative Media Authorship. I wrote the thoughts down on a phone notepad and now am sharing them with you. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/arts/music/mourning-installation-taryn-simon-park-avenue-armory.html

what does “mahlerian” even really mean?

Bauhaus nouns

Gunta Stolz

what happens when we isolate elements from the whole and make conclusions without putting our conclusions in the context of our original unadulterated observation.

how can we program a machine that can be ‘fascinated’ with its own creation. is fascination exclusively non-algorithmic? how can a machine that creates art by way of algorithm change its output due to its own development of taste, preferences

how can you model choice, separate from random choices, in a computer? how do you get a computer to choose to filter its input.

John Coltrane Spiritual, I’m Old Fashioned

something about the authorial voice

Alva noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto

binoculars instead of canons

mobile on a white canvas

mobile on an empty canvas

cabuto and knights juxtaposed

async and disproportionate music

franz kline, cy twombly

art plus com

chris burton

tony ousler

identikit

ciney sherman

victoria vesna

persona

cubist guitar

n’obliee

je t’amine je t’aime (1968)

sol de witt

tom johnson

rebecca horn concert for anarchy

sine & context

zu bing

Johannes vermeer

camera obscurs

tim vermeer

Vendai Dots

Toshio Iwai

fujihata masaki - installations

bitfall (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AICq53U3dl8)

Binoculars instead of canon

Marcus “Pop Musik”

ferrofluid

Rebecca Horn (http://www.rebecca-horn.de/pages/biography.html)

periodic discrete events (events as used in programming) 

periodic incrementation on attributes of discrete events

simultaneous periodic incrementation of a sustained discrete musical event

how to dchoose global periodic attributes of functions (amplitude, rate, element cycle {sample array, chord array}, etc)

how to build software that is in its most abstract state?

what is the most fundamentally abstract state of software that is created to translate an aesthetic by the programmer through the software into an artistic medium 

how to structure software design when designing and building in an ‘improvisatory’ / proof of concept approach?

would creating an intermediary set of data that react to discrete musical units (by discrete I mean midi note values as opposed to audio files that represent audio signal), allow one to program changes to a computer’s personality in real musical time as the music continues. 

program software modeled after the interpretive side of how a human hears, as opposed to trying to make the software sound as if a musical human were performing 

neural networks vs expert knowledge

neat

state changes guided by a close-cycle of possibilities operated by conditional statements:

number of total states: x ^ number of x changes; y ^ number of y changes, etc where x is the number of possibilities x can move to, and y is a different number of possibilities y can move to. this would be similar to a program that simulates riemann chord transformation, except the changes don’t have to be limited to voice-leading transitions of three states

human improvisation and algorithmic design

-how permeable is a performer’s intuition in the instrument interface a programmer designs? (for instance, how many buttons should a hardware interface have for the given task, given a leap motion sensor, what motions trigger what events, how does the visual choreography inform a programmer’s intuition to privledge certain parameters 

the relation between “perspective” grids and “sequencer” grids — is there an underlying component of the mind that processes these two things after the aural and visual components are parsed. What can this elucidate?

which of the following is preferable: a composition process that immediately audition sequences as you go; a process in which a large bulk of samples are generated; finally a process in which both are mixed. 

how necessary is the audible component of these sequencer software? should the user have to imagine the sound? how directly does the work the sequencer creates translate into the final artistic product 

csv file vs osc

rate-based music versus pulse-based music 

multi-channel panning as a means to keep track of events moving in relation to each other. Imitation occurring in a spatial manner; rates that occur in tandem without one framing in a classical meter or even mixed meter

to what extend do different layers with separate bpms and panning properties subvert classical pulse and meter? specifically and aesthetically, what would the difference of spatial panning and layering of different music w/ different tempi be from the use of irrational rhythms in stereo 

encapsulate routines in functions to pass arguments in supercollider 

music programming lends itself nicely to an aesthetic where intuition and instruction are one step removed and have to be described to someone indifferent

the merits of designing one’s own software and designing one’s own effects versus the time and effort it takes to build the software. what else can be gained by one’s attempt to program a computer and how should this factor into our own software building process. for instance, if one were trying to build software to model one’s musical or aesthetic preference or intuition, the programming could highlight irrational aspects of the aesthetic that cannot be described by logical sequences necessary in computation 

panel music (installation)

canon music (installation)

what parameters should be controlled? what has to happen in an artwork and what is the timing of this most consequential happening. how far from the original conception can this happening be modified to retain or highlight is underlying expressive purpose. how do future iterations of these happenings build on the initial aesthetic 

referential language, i.e. pronouns (empty pointers without the reference) versus exact pointers (i.e. the use of words from a foreign language) the word, a token, references something exact in the mind, but the manifestation of the token registers a different response from the person receiving the token

organum mobiles (dpi should be 300)

generative calligraphy trains that overlap creating a composite abstract work

old bayeux tapestry that moves at different rates in relation to modern abstract trains or modern abstract modes of transportation over music at different tempos or simple counterpoint in electronics moving at different rates

a program that generates calligraphy strokes that takes into account pen pressure and some sort of ‘expression’ {pen pressure, density, angularity}  

texture on a visual painting is crucial

Schoenberg Structural Functions of Harmony 1948 - visualize chart of regions and scalar substitutions using a javascript library

Sakamoto “Plankton” & some of Sakamoto’s instrumental works (subdued jazz quality, reminds me of the speech quality of Japanese)

John Coltran’s Autumn Leaves 

what aspects of counterpoint and harmony should one ‘re-embodied’ in a algorithm. if layered construction is desired, what is the minimum requirement that will produce a satisfying result. should the program be bass-centric as in a rameau treatise, or should the program privilege the motion of individual linear line. ultimately, the type of motion may be the underlying factor in deciding, but it is interesting to think how one’s re-embodiment of the musical thinking affects a generative program’s output. 

Takashi Yoshimatsu (beautiful, unassuming)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0guuuE6NjjQ Manchester Camerata (Sachio Fujioka)

“Written as a short elegy for a string ensemble, this piece came from an image of birds gathered around a dead comrade. Originally, it was to be written as a commission for an amateur ensemble, but the commission was cancelled, and the work alone remained. This is a simple piece in the form of a short, piecemeal song that becomes a faint melody which then develops into a melancholic recollection of a memory of long ago, before blending back into its original piecemeal form, and finally fading away. It was written between the summer of 1997 and the spring of 1998, and was completed in March. It needs a minimum of twelve player (4-3-2-2-1), but can be performed by up to thirty-seven (12-9-6-6-4).”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnUhitm0w4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJpPXNyM2Kk

discrete logic

tokens and algorithm

in and out of an aesthetic

the boundaries of an aesthetic

do aesthetics have definitions or are they the most primitive type of description (like tokens in computer programming, they can be referenced, i.e. a foreign aesthetic can be borrowed or commented on) but the aesthetics that is borrowed is discrete and in their own most reduced form. what are the attributes and necessary components of an aesthetic? how do you categorize combinatory aesthetics (i.e. the collage of multiple aesthetics in which the original aesthetics of each component still remain). is this bad art since the creator had no original input, or is this too simplistic an interpretation, since the creator could have decided to omit a personal touch.

what is the holistic boundary of creation in a creative process? what does remaining within the lines afford an artist, does breaking the boundary mean anything significant or is this a trope we often associate with the revolutionary artist. an artist can break a boundary, but this boundary can also only apply to the artist breaking the boundary, as the boundary has already been broken by someone else for someone receiving the work of art. in this context, what is the functional role that familiarity plays in adding meaning to art. is familiarity extended upon repetition over immense spans of time such as decades (i.e. when you listen back to something from the 90s). ultimately, is the receiver of art the generative component? 

how does familiarity play into the rigorous generative works

how does one reference a familiarity without drawing attention to the familiar object itself 

what are the subset of parameters that can manipulated expressively and ‘legally’ to the artist & what are the manners in which any of these parameters can change & how to the other parameters change when they are modulated by parameters in which they were not originally intended to be changed to

what are the working thresholds of material (what are the bounds on which the minimal expressive component of the work fail, i.e. in music, at what tempo does the feel become too slow or too fast, at what point is the manipulation too much or too little that it doesn’t register & when it doesn’t register what is the loss. if there is no loss, is this a good indication that the manipulation was not a fundamental component of the design at hand)

types of algorithms: simple recursive, backtracking, divide and conquer, dynamic programming, greedy, branch and bound, brute force, randomized algorithms

at what point do we categorize things by thoughts, labels, and experience. for instance, we may receive art through an intellectual mode, or we may find ourselves in a meditative contemplation of the work. how can one tilt the parameters of the art to connect along the lines of the creator’s desired channel. for one, the dichotomy of experiential and intellectual is too simplistic.

archetype of a moment and the ‘quality’ of information received in the moment; quality not in terms of good or bad, but in its sonic and aesthetic mode, the depth of destination the archetype seems to head toward, how the archetype disintegrates or solidifies itself in time

sound transferred in moments, defining the moments, picking the moments, and the surround elements of the moment 

how does an algorithm know how the ear is to register a moment? the asynchronous dichotomy in which the human ear perceives moments and how the computer parses moments of sound account for much of the lack of depth or intimacy or connection a listener may have with computer music or may exert pressure on the electronic musician to create states of music —though this may be the primary reason for creating electronic music (states that acoustic musicians would have difficulty sustaining due to the length, rhythmic coordination, etc)

how does one ‘fluidly’ account for moments in a computer program.  should one improvise with the computer in real time (by way of controlling knobs and buttons to enact change in a timely manner)

the problem with algorithms is that discrete tonal idioms may imply moments and are difficult to track for a computer other than a case-by-case basis. the computer by itself does not understand the acculturated idioms that allow musicians to communicated expressively with an acculturated audience.

recursive computational technique applied to linear nestling as in the lerdahl and jackendoff generative theory of tonal analysis

what is the minimum criteria for a reference to something

what is the minimum criteria for an acceptable ‘next’ passage of time in music

what is the minimum criteria to not reference something(how does this paradigm change when the reference is not understood by the audience)

would you rather have pleasurable moments in music or pleasurable states in music? would you rather have one extremely pleasurable moment in music or a gain in the overall pleasurable state of listening to music?

how do you balance pleasure vs consistency in the depth of expression or intellectual dimension of the experience; how cool is it to be caught in the middle of these two poles. do you have to wholeheartedly champion pleasure to incorporate pleasure in music? to extend this argument: ritual has been the prime role of music in western culture in the last 800 years in western art music (church), pleasure in music has been a more recent invention or acceptance, and most recently in a bipolar debate between hi and low art since the mid-century, pleasure has been a cornerstone in defining aesthetic stances. 

how to avoid the dialogue of hi and low art 

what is pleasure’s role in contemporary music (and also contemporary music of the past) and what derives pleasure past and present? what statements are pertinent to one’s stance to pleasure. are the very existences of stances an indication that an artistic community is toxic —i.e. stances can be, at times, instances of an aesthetic that allow a participant of a stance into a group or out. in an ideal artistic community would everyone listen empathetically and listen for expression intrinsic to the work, rather than categorize the work or create the work to strengthen one’s stance. how do stances arise in the first place anyway?

—ask the computer to keep track of an arbitrary parameter such as momentum. Each time something occurs faster increment the momentum parameter. Each time something occurs slower, decrease the momentum parameter. If the momentum parameter reaches a threshold, change to the next state

Toru Takemitsu In an Autumn Garden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkdTXW2G4Sc

Texture, the importance of texture, the affect of texture

a visual experience of texture versus the touch of texture, which is more impactful? Is the important part the fact that the mind registers the material and then conjures a host of memories associated with that material? How can textures be combined in music without being engulfed in pre-existing stylistic tropes. 

Paul Klee, seneca

geometric personality and the persona

a geometric persona that is larger in personality than a true figure (really the point of abstraction)

virtuosity or expressing skilled naivete

what do you take from skilled naivete 

how do you apply it to music 

Thomas Tallis, spem in allium, radial choir

expectation & projection, and relearning or remaking of projections 

a mode of analysis of music akin to derivatives in math, only the derivatives account for the change in expectation from one moment in time to the next 

[russian-anon]

Understood comrade! I will be keeping a communication’s line open between us so that we may...communicate!

*Russian anon flies towards the broken NILS statue,laughing a cheery laugh. He talks to himself,not realizing the radio is on*

Oh...this is great! I’m finally being able to go on a facking mission that has action for once! And no boss to listen in on me! I can say whatever the blyat I want! Hey Cy-Cho! Your a good boss,but goddamn does your fashion design need work. Ahahahaha!

*Russian anon turned on the radio..and plays...not what most people expect*

OPAAA!

Hey kid. Russian anon here. Today’s your lucky day. *Russian anon slams a piece of paper onto a nearby desk. It’s dexter’s criminal record...Completely blank.* Cy-Cho felt bad for ya. He accepts the apology by the way.

"THANK YOU! I got his letter as well!" Guard: "alright young man youve been paid for your release. lets get that tracker off." Dexter: "WAIT!" he looks at the russian anon. "Care to have the honors COMRADE?" He says moving his leg with the tracker next to him the guard holding the release key towards the russian anon.

[ask-de-writer]

Daring Do and the Adventure of the X'ibian Vase : MLP Fan Fiction : Part 5 of 21

This link leads to the whole tale

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to MLP Fan Fiction

Daring Do

and the Adventure of the X'ibian Vase!

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

And

Carmen Pondiego

Cover Art by

Doctor Dimension

52630 words

© 2015 by Glen Ten-Eyck

Writing begun 08/26/15

All rights reserved.  This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

//////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions, provided that such things are done without charge.  I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images.  

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Down in the comfortable lounge, with its dark, almost cave like atmosphere, she relaxed and had the waiter sit with her.  They were quietly chatting in X'ibian while watching the front doors, over in the area of the lounge open to the public.

Soon the doors opened and a confident young looking mare with a forelock, mane and tail of an amazing blue that was almost black walked in.  She had a single eye, centered in her forehead.  She was carrying a document case.

Two big earth ponies, easily half again her size got up from a table and stated, “Just hand over the papers, Miss.  We are Doctor Do’s personal secretaries and we will give them to her.”

“No.  My orders are to put them directly into Daring Do’s hooves ONLY.”

One edged behind her, pulling a knife.  The other pulling threatening hoof, ready to punch, demanded, “Hand over the papers or we are going to have to get REAL rough, got it?”

Her smile of sheer delight should have been a warning.

She dropped the dispatch case and backed hard.  That slammed the one behind her into the stout doors of the club.  Reaching back and grabbing, she had the thug’s foreleg.  She lifted it to her shoulder and snapped down, while driving forward with her hind legs.  With an audible snapping and rending of the joint, he flipped up, horror on his face.  She slammed him down like a big meaty hammer on top of his fellow thug!

That unfortunate was trying to make a grab for the case when he was flattened.  The mare, an expression of pure joy on her face, hauled her “hammer” back and whipped him over again.  He not only hit his fallen comrade, his head flopped back as he came down.  The shattering of his neck could be heard throughout the room.  

She hoof rolled the corpse off his buddy and leaped almost to the ceiling, landing on one hoof, putting the full weight and force of her body on the last one’s spine.  The splintering of ribs and the softer snapping of his spine announced the death of the second thug.

He twitched once and lay still. The cyclops eyed mare, simply glowing with delight, carefully rolled both bodies to the tiled part of the entryway.  She examined the carpets and gave a high hoof!

Speaking at last, she exclaimed, “Perfect!  Not one drop of blood on the carpet!”

With her face composed to a light professional smile, she came to Daring Do’s table.

She placed the case on the table.  Daring Do smiled up at her and said, “Thank you, Cyrene. It is an honor that Eris sent her documents in the company of her best bodyguard.  That was amazing to watch.”

Cy replied, “The honor is mine, Doctor Daring Do.  In here are not only Eris’ releases and other documents, I have the honor of delivering the Royal documents and a formal notice that your expedition is under the Royal Wing.”

Turning to the Guadian, she made a deep formal X'ibian court bow and said, “I thank you, Guardian. I saw you draw your knife to throwing position but withhold your strike.”

He returned the bow and replied, “I saw that you did not need my assistance, Watcher of the Exalted One.  We of the Guardians have been given the honor of watching recordings of your many actions on Her behalf.”

Cy replied, “I began by watching the works of your ponies on Her behalf.  I learned much.  I am pleased to be able to thank one of you in person.”

He put his hooves together and bowed his head.  “The greatest compliment that a teacher may receive is a student who excels.  The Student has far surpassed the teacher.  We are proud.”

Daring Do, ignoring the nearly frantic police at the club entrance, opened the case and began to inventory the contents.

She was delighted at what she found.  Expedition clearances, of course.  Letters of credit.  Travel documents from Equestria and the Chineighese Empire.  There were even documents for X'ibia, even though it was technically a province of the Chineighese Empire.  Her eyebrows rose at PRE CLEARED Chineighese Artifact transportation and export.

She muttered to herself, “They must not want a repeat of the Darkling collection fiasco.”

To her surprise, her comment brought a smile from both the normally impassive Guardian and Cy.

She had just packed it all back and sealed the case when a pony in the uniform of a Canterlot Police Sargent Major strutted up self-importantly and made a grab for the case, snapping, “This is evidence in a double murder!”

Cy’s blindingly fast move snapped his foreleg away from the case.  She said in an utterly level voice, “Sargent Major Haystring, I would think that you wold remember the last time that we met.  It only took you five years to recover your rank.

“This is a formal legal statement in regard to the present double ponycide.  I, Cyrene Yvonne Clopes, was given detached duty from Eris, Inc.  My duty, given under the Royal Wing, was to deliver a case containing documents for Doctor of Antiquities, Daring Do.

“Entering the Adventurer’s Guild, I was accosted by two thugs attempting to steal the case and documents.  They first tried the ruse of being Doctor Daring Do’s secretaries.  When that failed they attacked me.  I killed them both and delivered the documents properly.

“This whole event is legally protected by the Royal Wing of Equestria.”

Sargent Major Haystring sourly examined the ID’s offered by both Cy and Daring Do.  Smarting under the memory of a five year dent in his career, he handed them back.

Truculently he demanded of Cy, “Don’t you ever let anypony live?”

To his surprise, she replied promptly, “Of course I do, if they have useful information for Eris or the Princesses.  Otherwise, no.  Where is the fun in letting slime ooze away?”

Defeated, he retreated to his fellow officers and held a conference of whispers with much hoof pointing at Cy and Daring Do.

The Guardian smiled serenely and offered, “If your personages will be so good as to follow me, we can avoid further foolishness on the part of these most unwise police.”

They both followed him into the tidy service areas of the Adventurer’s Guild.  They passed through the surprisingly busy kitchen and on to a service elevator.

They went down two levels and got out in a big underground service tunnel filled with heavy cables, mains for water and other things that Daring Do did not have time to identify.

Cy did, though.  She happily twirled several handwheels and pried open a big gray box.  She pushed the button inside and neatly shut the box again.  The Guardian watched with sparkling eyes.  He quit trying to maintain an impassive face and started to chortle as he led them down the dusty and spider webbed service tunnel.

Cyrene, smiling angelically, explained, “The police were setting up a hard point in front of the Guild.  They use the ponyholes for the electric and gas when they do it.  Those all have emergency fire fighting pressure spray systems in them nowadays.  I just routed the sewer into the fire fighting line and set off the sprinklers!”

Daring Do joined into the merriment as they trotted away down the rarely used tunnels.  They emerged near the Canterlot Central Railroad Station.  Daring Do bought them all tickets.

Almost as an anticlimax, the ride to the modest seaport of Milestago was uneventful.  They enjoyed the scenery along the way and dark had fallen by the time that they arrived, but that was the worst of it.  

Soon they were all relaxing around a table in the Rusty Barnacle.  Their rooms were paid and a modest meal of the locally famous sea-grass, harvested only days before, was in front of them.  Daring Do was studying the ship schedules and docking reservations.

Cy pushed back from the table and said, “Doctor Daring Do, It has been an honor to deliver the documents to you.”  She paused and her face took on a grin that was paradoxically both savage and serene at once.  “It was FUN, too!  I am so glad that it did not upset you like it does so many others.”

Daring Do looked up from her schedules and asked, “Has been?   Are you leaving us?”

“I will be with you until time to sail, Daring Do.  Then I have duties for my Mistress, Eris.”

The next morning, they were assembled about the scarred and battered table in the Rusty Barnacle. With daylight, the delightfully tacky decor of the place stood out starkly in view.  There were the usual nets festooned about, antique looking whale spears, phony treasure chests and, though it was easy to miss, in the corner, enmeshed in the net, dangled a lovely fake skeleton of Sea Unicorn.

Daring Do did take the time to admire the place once again.  She had started many expeditions here and the management used that knowledge in their marketing.

Daring Do was picking at her breakfast while making many Magic Net mirror calls.  Finally she sat to eat seriously.

She snickered as they all set out to examine the many assorted goods that she had ordered from the many Chandlers of Milestago.  “Never turn your back on food.  Who knows when you will get the chance to eat again?”

Their expedition’s supplies finally seen to, they reported to the ship that she had engaged.  The Captain met them at the gangplank.  He had a phony smile pasted onto his face.  “I am sorry, Miss Daring Do.  We have been otherwise engaged.  They paid twice the lading deposit that you did.  I have your deposit right here.”

He started to hand her a check. Before he could complete the action, Cy had him down, one hoof on his back, his foreleg bent up at an unnatural angle.

Over his yelps of pain, Cy said clearly, “GOLD ONLY.  You were paid in gold.  I do recognize the name that check is drawn on.  R.O.T. will not honor it.

“Get Doctor Do the coin NOW. If you do not, you will be known as Captain Svien the three legged. If you survive.”

Perhaps it was the sheer happiness that was radiating from his assailant that caused the Captain to fold at once.  “Nicor!  Get the bag of coin from my quarters now!”

When Nicor showed up with the bag, he handed it over promptly.

Cy said cheerfully, “Count it, Doctor Do!  It is five gold short, to make it look like a miscount of stacks.  The good Captain has the missing five right here in his pocket!”

Betraying himself, the Captain demanded, “How could you know that?”

Daring Do instantly replied, “She is Eris’ personal bodyguard.  Where there is anything amiss, Eris lets her know.  Not sure how that works, but I’ve seen it happen often enough.”

They took the gold and left the Captain trying to rise on his twisted foreleg.

Sitting in the Rusty Barnacle, they were approached by an elderly faded red sea-pony with a wooden stump replacing part of his left hind leg.  He had a battered captain’s cap worn around the stump of a horn.  His eyes, though, nothing old about them.

(to be continued)

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