#HE WAS ONLY 51 MOONS... HE HAD SO MUCH GOING FOR HIM...

[shinitaichanuwu]

I love you, I don't want to.

Christian Yu x Reader. ᵈᵒ ʸᵒᵘ ʷᵃᶰᵗ ᵗᵒ ᵉᶰᵗᵉʳ? ⇢ʸᵉˢ         ᶰᵒ

Word count: 1,118 Warnings: None. Based solely on the song "i love you" by Billie Eilish. Summary: Unable to hold it in any longer and without thinking twice, he blurts out his feelings for his best friend.

┌────────────────────┐ i love you Billie Eilish 1:21 ────⊙─────── 4:51 ↻      ◁  ɪɪ  ▷     ↺ └────────────────────┘

Christian and Y/N had been friends for years. They had known each other since he was fifteen and she was twelve.

After more than twenty years of friendship, everyone knew she had feelings for Christias, except him.

Although it seemed to be very obvious. The way she blushed every time he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, the way her eyes sparkled every time they saw each other…. It wasn't normal for someone who was only his best friend.

Still, they were inseparable. They'd always loved karaoke dates, places where they could play games or just go for a walk and eat ice cream.

Y/N never dared to reveal her feelings, NEVER. She was too scared to risk it. Declaring her feelings was a double-edged sword: it would go well and they would become an inseparable couple, or she would lose her best friend and be alone at best. She didn't want to indulge that feeling, but she couldn't help it. Every time she tried to look for or have a relationship with someone else her thoughts always went back to those brown eyes that seemed to hypnotise her, to that beautiful smile that only he gave her when they went out and to those tattoos that she used to colour with her make-up when she got bored. And so she ended up staying single since she was twenty-five, just like Christian, teasingly promising that when he turned thirty-five, and if he didn't have a partner by then, they would start dating.

She knew that would be unlikely, as Christian clearly used to attract the attention of numerous women. And he was a hopeless flirt.

And yet, she had the small hope that this joke would become real, even if it was her last option. She was devoted to him, anyway. And not just because of the crush, but also because of all the help he had given her as friends. He had seen her laugh, cry about breaking up with boyfriends, finish her degree, and even her most humiliating moments like binge drinking.

And one day, everything changed for both of them.

One of those nights when Y/N's insomnia struck, she went out with Christian, late at night. They didn't do much, just walk through Central Park. The walk was filled with laughter and little nudges, as part of their friendship. She seemed to gawk every time he laughed or joked back, making her heart race.

She wanted to hate him, hate how her heart raced every time he showed her the slightest affection, when little gestures like picking a small daisy from the grass to give her made her nervous, how confident she felt every time they hugged and how he held her gaze.

Despite all that, she couldn't hate him, she loved him like a devotee.

Once they were tired of walking they sat on the nearest bench, dimly lit by the park's streetlights. Y/N looked up at the sky, admiring how clear the sky looked, the stars shining in the darkness of the night and the full moon accompanying them. After a few minutes of comfortable silence she decided to speak.

‘So… What happened with that girl? You know, the barista, how did the date go?’

‘Hmm… Not so good. She was looking for something physical, I couldn't offer her that.’ Typical Christian, being a flirt but looking for something sentimental, something where he could behave loving enough that he would even attract bees with his sweetness.

‘Oh, I'm sorry… I see you're still having trouble getting a girlfriend.’

Christian's appearance made him look like a typical bad boy, but he was anything but. He was the sweetest, most loving boy Y/N had ever met. He loved cuddling, public gestures of love, and short kisses on the lips whenever he was given the chance.

‘Forget it, someday the right one will come along.’

Soon she started talking about her day at the office, from how her boss threw her coffee on some important papers to what she decided to have for lunch. Meanwhile, Christian watched her intently, admiring how the dim light from the street lamps and the moon illuminated his best friend's features, how her eyes sparkled with excitement as she recounted her day, the laugh she gave at something funny, and the little gesticulations she made as she spoke.

And soon, without even thinking or processing her words, Christian blurted out three words.

‘I love you.’

She fell silent, feeling her heart pounding, her breathing stop for a second before she looked up at him.

‘Chris, don't tease me like that.’

First low blow.

‘I'm not joking… Really, I mean it.’

An awkward silence, her still processing his words. In another moment she would have cried from happiness and rushed into his arms. But she was still, frozen in place.

‘Really… Don't lie to me Christian, it's not funny.’

Another low blow, this time wounding Christian's heart.

‘God, I'm not lying, I mean it!’

‘Really… This isn't funny, if you went back to gambling with Dabin to tell me this I-’

She couldn't speak any further, the tears streaming down Christian's face made her panic.

‘I'm not lying to you, I can't lie to you. Why don't you believe me? I know I'm flirtatious sometimes, but I can't stop thinking about you. My relationships don't work because it's not the same…. You understand me, you listen to me and you love me in a way that no one else has ever been able to’ His voice was a little clipped, but he still made an effort to speak “You are a wonderful woman, Y/N, it was inevitable not to fall in love with you”.

She didn't answer and just hugged him. They both stayed in that position for a long time. Y/N hid her face in Christia's chest, hugging him around the waist and clinging to his shirt while he hugged her shoulders as if she was the only thing keeping him alive at that moment, hiding his face in Y/N's hair and enjoying the scent of her shampoo.

Soon, she spoke, her voice trembling.

‘I love you too, and not exactly as a friend. I love you, I don't want to, but I do.’

They stayed like that for a couple of hours, enjoying the tranquillity of being able to hold each other like that, finally relaxed from letting their feelings out.

They didn't know what was next, but now they weren't terrified. They loved each other, they loved each other back. And from that moment on, they wouldn't hesitate to enjoy how long or short that relationship would last.

[x-lee-cya]

okay but what if jack was originally a spring spirit. what if he was a spring spirit but got turned into a winter one by manny, or mother nature, or fuck, even pitch - but for this one let's go with mother nature.

no one'd believe him. he'd've been around for, what, 50 years before she changed him, at most, bc i imagine that's how long it takes for immortal spirits to catch notice of any newbies, esp given how jack seems to be the only (major/[ ] who stays there] spirit in burgess. so. 51 or 53 years in, MN comes in, goes, "hey yeah you're a winter sprite now" and jack just goes "what the fu-??"

he assumes, for the next decade or so, that it's a joke. (whenever faced with evidence it's true, he stays in denial for another six.)

it can't be true, ignoring how his mud-brown hair has turned white (there's only one stripe of brown left, by the time the movie comes about. he dyes it the same shade of ice-white the rest of his hair has turned into over the last 300 years; the reminder is more painful then anything, at that point, and so it's better left forgotten, in his book) and his well-tanned skin into the pale complexion of the likes of which he's only ever seen on winter seasonals. ignoring how one of his eyes is now bright lakewater-blue instead of both of them being sun-shone gold-brown, how his freckles are white like little snowdrops embedded into his skin instead of like miniature sunflowers sprouting themselves again and again with every new spring.

and now imagine how hard it'd be for jack, to transition from Type A to Type fuckin' Z, even if slowly - but isn't that even more painful, in the end? he loses the ability to make his flowers, his vines, his grasses, his trees - he gets sluggish in early spring and is conked out every time by the 30th of the first month of the too-warm (much, much too warm, and when has anything ever been too warm for him?) season, no matter how much he tries to stay awake, to see just someone's flowers even if not his own. he fails. he always, always fails.

then '68 comes around. things go wrong, jack gets upset, he can't remember why, and he makes a storm - even after all this time he's still shite at controlling his winter magic: he gets a scar from bunny aswell as a flower - a snowdrop, ironically enough; his old namesake, 'fore he became jack frost instead of jack snowdrop - and bunny a scar and a few snowflakes from him when winter finally comes 'round again.

then 2012 comes around, and, well. there's no point TELLING the guardians that he used to be a spring sprite, not when they'd never believe him, bunny especially. he'd take it as an insult, probably. some kind of mockery, some slight against him and all his fellow spring seasonals (once jack's fellow spring seasonals, but not anymore, NEVER anymore) - after all, if no one else ever believed him when he tried to explain what'd happened, what MN had done to him, had changed him, they'd all just laughed.

(well, laughed and then hurt him, but that's besides the point).

but THEN bunny catches him trying - and failing - to make animated flowers using his frost; they melt as soon as their shape solidifies. mother nature'd changed him so much, jack thinks, a tad bitterly, that he can't even make anything vaguely spring-y with his own (new, strange, wrong) element.

"why can't'cha make those? ya made that frost-bunny for jamie jus' fine," asks bunny.

"yeah, well, why don't'cha ask miss mother nature that question and then get back to me in three-to-give business days," jack grumbles, not even making a paltry attempt to hide the bitterness, the borderline resentment in his voice for mother nature, for the one who changed him, the one who ruined him. resentment's a dangerous thing, jack knows, but he thinks he's allowed it, in this one case.

(he'd never resented the moon as much as he'd resented mother nature.)

bunnymund blinks, taken aback, ears flipping back to press against his furred neck. taps his foot against the ground, gently. he's still looking at jack, looking at his failing, melting, broken frostflowers, his one visible blue eye - jack'd always kept his other one hidden, 'least round him and all the other guardians. the one time bunny'd tried to ask, the frostbite'd gotten all defensive, and so bunnymund'd let it drop - dead and tired.

(jack didn't look back, even as he felt eyes on him, heard the sound of bunny's signature tunnel opening and then close, once again.)

and then bunny does just that.

[hope-luvs-hrtstppr]

my tlt annotations! part two: Harrow the Ninth (by Tamsyn Muir) *spoilers ahead*

- “Nonagesimus, nobody is coming to save you. Not God. Not Augustine. Nobody.” (Muir, 15) starting off strong

- i love ianthe calling harrow “harry”

- “The past is dead, and they’re both dead, but you and I are alive. What are they? What are they, other than one more corpse we’re dragging behind us?” (Muir, 16)

- “Sometimes you would forget who you were, and at recalling yourself, weep like a child.” (Muir, 30) HARROWHARK GET BEHIND ME

- “‘And you shouldn’t call me God either,’ he said. ‘You don’t comprehend the word, and I don’t want to be God to you yet.’” (Muir, 39) ianthe and harrow are the first lyctors to become god’s hands after growing up worshipping him. augustine, gideon, and mercy have known him since the beginning. they understand that to worship god is to let him use you. that god doesn’t want ‘his hands’ clasped together in prayer, he wants ‘his hands’ balled up in fists. harrow must learn that from teacher before she can know him as god.

- “‘Ortus Nigenad died thinking it was the only gift he was capable of giving,’ you said, ‘and I have wasted it—like—air.’” (Muir, 45) GOOD GOD this hurts. griddlehark’s pseudo-lyctorhood is painful enough, but all the cavaliers that were fully absorbed by their necromancers?? pyrrah and gideon, cristabel and mercy, alfred and augustine. to be so devoted to someone that you offer your life on a silver platter so that they, your other half, can become full without you. jod when i catch you jod. jod when i catch you!!!! (not saying that all the cavs consented to being absorbed, just spiraling abt lyctors as a concept yk)

-the only reason harrow is alive is because “she had cost too much to die”. her life was never her own, it had always belonged to the 200 children of the ninth (plus the latest addition, gideon nav). she fights so hard to stay alive (despite her personal desires to die) because she’d be damned if she let the souls inside her die twice.

- “Love had broken her life into two separate halves: the half before she had fallen, and the half afterward.” (51) THE WAY GIDEON IS DESCRIBING HARROW’S LOVE FOR ALECTO BUT IT’S TRUE FOR HARROW’S LOVE FOR GIDEON TOO

- when harrow recalls that “There had been another girl who grew up alongside Harrow—but she had died before Harrow was born.” (54) she’s not wrong. pre-lobotomy harrow grew up alongside nav, and nav died before post-lobotomy harrow was born

- ianthe calling harrow a skull-faced fruitcake

- “You staggered over to the Body, standing so quiet by the wall, and you buried your face in her thighs.” (67) i’m picturing the “there goes my babyyyyyyy” pose

- THE EGGS YOU GAVE ME ALL DIED AND YOU LIED TO ME

- taking a moment to acknowledge that this series has vastly expanded my vocabulary. i would include a little word bank of all the words i had to look up in order to comprehend what was going on, but that feels too boring to subject other people to

- harrow’s brain conjuring the image of baby-nav’s corpse while in the river for the first time is so beyond fucked

- IS THIS HOW IT HAPPENS?????? (spoiler: it isn’t)

- ianthe looking down harrows robe at cytherea’s funeral is so classic ianthe

- the girls are fighting!!! (the girls being ortus and harrow in harrow’s dreams)

- “But when she was scared, she was a child again, and she was almost afraid of being a child again than anything else in her life. Almost.” (133) :(((((

- i feel like harrow’s the type to eat uncooked pasta

- can someone get harrow a tshirt that says “i heart my frozen corpse wife”

- “… because Ianthe was overfamiliar and frankly a pervert.” (161) LMAOOO

- “‘I want that sword,’ said Ortus the First. / ‘What?’ / ‘Give me her damned sword,’ said Ortus the First. / ‘You’ve already got a whole complement of oversized weapons, greedy.’” (191) this whole exchange reminds me of Schmitt at the aquarium demanding a lion fish (New Girl reference lol)

- “For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams / Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.” (196)

- harrow may have repressed everything besides her beef with septimus lmao

- i like to think that the whole of tlt so far was just elaborate world building for the real story: a commentary on gun control (starring Commander Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead)

- i have so little respect for g1deon. bro really attacked A NAKED TEENAGE NUN.

- harrow = that one snoopy picture that’s like “belly full of soup”

- “And the Saint of Duty lifted his cigarette to you in an unmistakable salute.” (235) oooh he’s so nonchalant

- the scene where harrow regrows ianthe’s arm feels like an inverse sex scene. like a reverse orgasm.

- “That first night in her bed, you’d placed your bone-dressed sword between you, and felt better…” (258) ah, yes. me, my gf, and her ex’s six foot two hander

- “You do know there are children present? Should I kill them, or what?” i love mercy so fucking much

- ianthe is so me, my first instinct when drunk is also to kiss the homies

- the question is: would harrow be so devoted to worshipping the locked tomb if ‘the body’ wasn’t hot?

- “Kill me all you like. I would know you in the blindness of my eyes…in the deafness of my ears…as a shadow smudged against the wall, annihilated by light…stop. Not here. Not now. Let it go, love. I just want the truth…after all this time.” (Muir, 291) HELLO?!??!??????!!?

- harrow when she runs into camilla on a planet she’s meant to kill: “my main goal is to blow up and act like i don’t know nobody heheheheh” (please tell me you get the reference)

- TASMSYN MUIR LET GIRLS KISS CHALLENGE ( harrow trying to kiss the body:( )

- “…the Emperor of the Nine Houses had someone, and then, like all his Lyctors, the Emperor of the Nine Houses had lost someone.” (346) this reminds me of that Langston Hughes poem, “I loved my friend. He went away from me. There’s nothing more to say. The poem ends, Soft as it began,— I loved my friend.”

- “And you walked to your death like a lover” goes hard

- rip BARI-star au you will always be famous <33

- the scene where harrow remembers gideon is sickening. the grief of losing gideon hitting harrow all over again after months of repression. her body crumpling and her throat raw from screaming. “She dug her hands into the mattress and she cried for Gideon Nav.” (380) LIKE HELLO?????

- YOU SAWED OPEN YOUR SKULL RATHER THAN BE BEHOLDEN TO SOMEONE. YOU TURNED YOUR BRAIN INTO SOUP TO ESCAPE ANYTHING LESS THAN 100 PERCENT FREEDOM. YOU PUT ME IN A BOX AND BURIED ME RATHER THAN GIVE UP YOUR OWN GODDAMNED AGENDA. ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡HARROWHARK, I GAVE YOU MY WHOLE LIFE AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN WANT IT!!!!!!!!! (390-391)

- “…probably because i am a good girl and you are an evil nun…” (391) god i missed you, gideon

- both ortus and harrow feeling crushing guilt over gideon’s death:(( so much guilt over a situation with no one to blame (although, the real villain here is capitalism. but that’s another post.)

- “Child, that bee smashed you.” (406) my fav line in the whole book.

- “‘Hell no! I’m going to pull your whole ass off,’ I said. ‘You want that? You want Harrow to grow you a new bone ass where I pulled off the old one? Let’s dance, Tridentarius.’” (429) i just missed nav so much you don’t understand

- gideon and harrow not reuniting despite being so close (GIDEON IS LEGIT INSIDE OF HER) ((ayo)) gideon is a part of her mind but still can’t see how harrow thinks of her. she’s operating her body but can’t feel how much it misses her touch. FUCK THIS BOOK BRO

- as a dancer, the way harrow describes watching matthias nonius and wake fight is how i feel when i watch people dance. the admiration for different approaches to movement stylistically, and making inferences about the intentions behind their movements. the appreciation for different skills in different areas and the keen eye for artistic choices. anyways.

- a reminder from marta: chickenshits don’t get beer.

- “She had not said goodbye. Harrow so rarely got to say goodbye.” (458) MUIR WHY WOULD YOU SAY THATTTTT

- “… meet Commander Wake Me Up Inside, sincerest apologies if I got that wrong…” (468) HELP

- gideon meeting her mom for the first time as a soul taking over the body of a lyctor she and harrow killed, after briefly having had a thing for said lyctor while she was impersonating a woman she’d never actually met— is messy, to say the least.

- “…Were you ten, Harrow? Was I eleven? / Was that the day you decided you wanted to die? / You remember how the fuck-off great-aunts used to say, Suffer and learn? / If they were right, Nonagesimus, how much more can we take until you and me achieve omniscience?” (477) they make me ill. i can’t even dissect this. just know i am ILL.

- mercy making jod say that he loved cristabel and never wanted any harm to come to her as a sort of final confirmation he was who she feared he was. because they both know that he let mercy kill her knowing full well she didn’t have to die. the fact that he is able to look mercy in the eyes and refuse to be honest, after all this time; the way he still won’t take accountability for his actions; confirms that the lives of others mean nothing to him compared to revenge.

- PYRRHA DVE HAS ARRIVED Y’ALL

- the thing at the bottom of the river with all the teeth and tounges??? like who thinks of this shit

- “‘There’s a difference between keeping a shred of a dance card’ said Harrow Nonagesimus, ‘and saving the last dance.’” (502) tamsyn muir is just toying with us atp

hi!! so this was… long. if you’ve somehow read all of this then you deserve a medal and ur favorite snack:) i hope you enjoy these!

part 3 (ntn) is on the way!

[imagionationstation]

51 and 52!! 💉🪡 with Rise Leo and Mikey please! Also love your little blurbs so far! Thank you for writing them!

💉 -> I know you hate needles, but you need this! 🪡 -> You need stitches

“BARRY!”

Someone lands on his couch. He can’t image the strain that his spring are currently under. Not that it was a good couch anyway. He’d had many of far better quality in his previous home.

“BARRY!!!”

Oh right. The intruders.

Draxum sets down his equipment and stands up from the kitchen table. He heads out into the living room, a hand in the doorway as he surveys the two turtles on his couch.

Mikey has both arms around his brother, a swirling golden portal above them. Eyes squeezed shut as he sucks in another lungful of air, he bellows, “BARRY SHEEP DRAXUM!!!”

“That is not my name.” He scans the bleeding wound as blown eyes pop open. “What is going on?”

“Leo’s hurt!”

“And why bring him to me?”

“I didn’t!” He points up, losing his grip, and then scrambles to regain hold on his brother as he slips limply off his lap. “That did!”

“That portal is yours-” He stops himself from a pointless discussion. “You are hurting yourself. Close the portal.”

“I need my hands.” He pleads. He does not.

But that is yet another pointless discussion.

With a heavy sigh, Draxum flicks his hand and a vine extends from the pot near them. Massive and curling in on itself, it moves over to the couch. Mikey pushes his brother onto the surface, dark red staining down his orange hoodie as he raises his arms and claps at the portal. It shuts with his unnecessary movement.

The scars on his hands continue to glow.

Of the two pressing matters, Draxum chooses the one that’s at risk of bleeding on his floor. His brother’s arm has been sliced open. Nothing detrimental to his abilities, but if he’d lost enough blood to knock him out, then his very life was in imminent danger.

“He will need stitches and infusions.” Draxum reports as he places gloved hands on the wound, examining it. “And you need to temper your magic before it drains you.”

“I’m trying!” He says through gritted teeth, glaring at his hands. The way his eyes pinch read of pain, but the glow doesn’t fade. “It’s not working. Is Leo going to be okay?”

A small vine sprouts from the big one. Draxum rips the sleeve from his robe and gives it to the vine. It presses down and curls around the wound as he goes to retrieve one of the first aid kits that he keeps in every room. There’s nothing safe about an alchemist’s work.

When he turns back, Mikey is at his brother’s side, hands patting the sides of his legs rapidly. The scars burn brightly, only dimming when he comes to stand next to him. Draxum sets it down on his makeshift table. “They are responding to you. Stop perceiving danger.”

“I’m fine!” He snaps. “Leo’s the one bleeding!”

“His wound will heal moons before yours does if you do not calm yourself soon.”

“I’ll calm down when he’s okay!” The yellow is blinding to glance at. There is no realm where he is not in pain. Tears prick at his eyes as he glares. “So help Leo!”

“I am attempting to help both of you.” He hands him a vial. “I know you hate needles-”

Mikey takes it, uncaps it, and jabs it into his arm. Draxum stares at him as he takes it out and slams it on the vine-table. “Now help him!”

Draxum doesn’t move. Mikey throws out his arms. “Well?! What are you waiting fo-!”

Mikey passes out, crumbling to the floor. The marks on his arms die.

Draxum gently lifts him from the floor and sets him on the couch. Then he goes over to his brother.

The vine offers the needle and surgical thread. Draxum checks to make sure the bleeding is slowing as he pulls out his phone. He sets it down next to him, mindlessly accessing his contacts.

He dials. She picks up.

“Draxum? Why are you calling me?”

“O’Neil. We have a situation.”

Teeeechnically, I’m looking for combo characters or combos emojis BUT you’re so sweet that I can’t bear to disappoint! Thank you so much! ✨

[lake-spy]

𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖.

Artem x GN! Reader

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 12:51 𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐱! 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 ||| 991 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬.

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Summary:

Artem finds himself thinking about you late at night when he should be working or at least sleeping. Who could've thought that such a small interaction with you would drive him to wonder about you all night? Now he's wondering if fate will ever let him meet you again.

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It’s unlikely for Artem to stay and lie in his bed. For someone who would’ve been so engrossed in his work by now, he instead finds himself scrolling through his phone, let alone just scrolling through it for the 20th time in the dead of the night. He reminisces, it was an afternoon in December when the two of you took the subway train to ride up to the central business district. It was also when you bumped into each other but didn’t say hi cause Artem looked away. He started to think that maybe that was the biggest mistake of his life.

Then, Artem catches himself thinking about you again—he just can’t stop thinking about you—and he starts to feel like he’s going crazy, like he has lost his mind. But of course, he wants to deny that. There’s no way he’d admit to himself that he’s going crazy just from the mere thought of you. Could you go and tell him that he is going crazy?

… God knows how surprised he is with himself. He knows that he shouldn’t let you get through him like this, you are just a stranger to him, a stranger that Artem never even said hi to, someone he only met once and probably never again. Yet something tells him that this won’t be the last time he’ll ever see you. That thought alone was enough to get him all giddy, but Artem pushed it deep down. He can’t let himself get his hopes up. He shook his head to regain his senses; he needed to get back to work, or finish at least read one of the files from the cases he held.

He sighed and sat up, and when he placed his phone on his bedside table, that’s when he noticed the time. It’s already 12:51, nearly 1 am. He wasted so much time thinking about you as he lay in bed. He thought that the feelings he harboured would’ve been gone by now, but it isn’t, and from Artem’s perspective, it’s embarrassing to admit it. Artem ran a hand through his hair.

“Get a hold of yourself…” Artem muttered to himself, telling that to himself for the hundredth time this night. He just can’t do it anymore, he can’t keep thinking about the what if’s. What if you’re the one who’ll set fire to his soul? What if you’ll be the one to wake up his heart? You’ve been keeping him up all night, and he had been dreaming all night wide awake. Just what kind of pathetic little sleepless night is this be? Maybe its the kind where he’s in love and it keeps him up. Ah, what is he thinking? Scratch that! It’s too soon to jump into such things.

He stood up from his bed to get to his desk, yet he couldn’t help but side-track again. The moon shines so bright tonight. Could you still be awake? Are you also thinking about this stranger? Or could you be sleeping so blissfully unaware of your effect on this stranger? Ah.. He’s thinking about you again. He groaned and rubbed his face with his palms–mentally berating himself. Maybe if he could have just approached you that day, then perhaps he wouldn’t be thinking like a high school teenager who just got a glimpse of his crush!

Artem sighed once more. He really needs to stop, he isn’t getting anything done like this. He looked out the window once more, and strangely enough the moon seemed to shine brighter, and the sun would begin to rise in a few hours. He decides against reading a single file of the case he’s holding, its for the best. After all, what use will it be if he’s too tired? And what use is trying to get himself to focus in his work when he’s drowning in thoughts of you at the dead of night. He’s been drowning in the memory of your first meeting with him. Stuck with the idea of what could have been if he wasn’t so much of a coward to say “Hi” to you.

And though it shouldn’t matter because he the harsh reality of never crossing paths again, his heart would shatter if he never got to see you again. Yes, he might be moving on far too fast with this, but he wants to get to know and be close with you. He just can’t help but feel this strange feeling that he’s drawn to you. And most certainly Artem can’t just shake off the spark he felt when the two of you shared eye contact, he wonders if you felt it too…and he can’t help but think that maybe the two of you are meant to be; perhaps fate has something to say. He doesn’t want to believe in love at first sight, or red string fates, but with you? He can’t deny anything.

He wants to know everything about you, that is if you’re willing of course. He wants to know what would it be like to watch midnight movies with you, eat dinner with you, maybe even kis—

“No, that’s too far.” He shook his head, embarrassed at himself for even thinking about the last part. Hell, he even felt a bit flustered at himself. Good thing you aren’t there to see him. He’d feel so humiliated. He mentally berated himself before he decided to hit the hay for the night. Artem retreats back down in his bed; he looked at the clock– it’s already one in the morning. For sure, you’re already asleep by now. While he stayed up so late with you plaguing his mind. He yawned and lay on his side, away from his clock and phone. He’ll hit the hay for the night, and maybe.. He’ll try taking the same subway again, just to see if he could meet you again, and say “hi” this time.

[talonslockau]

Forest of Secrets - Chapter 52

Chapter 51 || Index || Chapter 53

Fireheart sat beneath the Highrock, sharing a pigeon with Bluestar as the rest of the Clan shared tongues. The camp was even more excited than usual: Goldenflower had sent for Dewshine and Yellowfang just before sunhigh, because Frostfur had begun kitting. The camp was full of speculation - how many kits there would be, what they’d look like, even what their names might be. The only cats absent from camp were Peppermask and Princess - they’d taken the kits out to a nearby meadow to play so they wouldn’t interrupt the healers working or irritate Frostfur (who even Goldenflower had admitted was ‘a bit snappish at the moment’). 

“Are you excited?” Fireheart prompted Bluestar after a long silence. She glanced up at him for a moment, chewing on the pigeon thoughtfully. Then she nodded and sat up.

“Of course. New kittens are always welcome in the Clan.” She purred, blinking happily in the direction of the nursery. “I know Whitestorm and Lionheart will be good parents for them. I thought, after Whitestorm…”

She trailed off for a moment, a worried look in her eyes. “After Whitestorm?” Fireheart prompted, but she didn’t respond. He recognized that look: the same one she often had when speaking about Snowstorm, or her kits. It was her being haunted by the family she had lost; and, as he thought about it, he realized he was fairly certain what she was thinking of. “Are you talking about the leafbare before I joined? He told me that he’d almost died from greencough.”

Bluestar sighed deeply and nodded in response. “Yes. Spottedleaf told me to prepare his vigil, for he would only recover from the grace of Starclan. Through Starclan’s grace, he did recover, although…” She didn’t finish her sentence, but Fireheart could guess at the ending - although many didn’t. “You know how lonely it is in the Clan without any family, Fireheart. It wasn’t so long ago that I faced the same. It’s hard to let go of the past, sometimes.”

Fireheart wasn’t sure he fully understood, but he dipped his head to her nonetheless. “But now he’s having kits. Surely that’s reason enough to move on?”

“Yes.” Bluestar agreed readily to her deputy, a smile flickering over her lips. “Yes, it is. I know he has always wanted kits of his own. And now they are here, and I hope they are everything he imagined them to be and more.” Pain still showed in her eyes - remembering her own kits, perhaps, or still lingering on how she’d almost lost her nephew - but she turned to Fireheart with perked ears, ignoring her feelings. “Your own nephews and nieces are quite lovely. Little Cloudkit especially - I’ve never felt kitten teeth so sharp!”

Fireheart purred at the compliment from his leader, remembering how Sootkit and Rainkit had knocked her over. “Yes, I’m glad they’re here in Thunderclan. I can’t wait to see their apprentice ceremonies - though they can hardly wait either!” He glanced fondly at the camp entrance, imagining them romping around in a field of flowers with reckless abandon. “They’re all so excited to have new playmates, though they don’t seem to fully understand how small newborns are.”

“It’s a hard thing for a kit to comprehend.” Bluestar mewed in understanding. “For much of their life, they’re the smallest cats around! It’s hard to imagine anything being smaller.” She sighed and wistfully looked off at the nursery, clearly remembering some time long past. “I didn’t get to see a newborn kit until Robinwing had her litter, when I was already a warrior. I was shocked to see a cat small enough to fit in my paws!”

Fireheart nodded, remembering how small Lynxkit had been. She was essentially the same size as Sootkit and Rainkit now, with Sorrelkit having become the new runt. The thought of her becoming even the three moon old kit she was now amazed him. “I know what you mean. They’re basically the size of a mou-”

“FIREHEART!”

The deputy sat up with a bolt of panic as he heard his name howled loud enough to be heard from Fourtrees. Princess had just clawed her way through the bramble entrance, racing towards him with terrified puffed fur. “Fireheart, Cloudkit’s gone missing!” She cried, her green eyes already full of tears.

For a moment, Fireheart felt frozen with fear. Cloudkit had gone missing? “What happened?” He finally managed to stammer out, feeling the heat of the entire Clan watching him as he swallowed hard.

“I- I don’t-” She took a huge gulping breath, her whole body trembling as she looked up at her brother. “They were chasing this - this butterfly, in the flowers. It was bright, I didn’t see anyone, everything was okay. Peppermask and I smiled at each other - it was just a couple of heartbeats! We were just - we were happy, everything was nice, and-” Princess’ white paws were kneading in and out of the dirt below her in an attempt to calm herself. “I swear, Fireheart, he just vanished!”

“Calm down.” Fireheart was grateful to hear Bluestar speak up beside him. “What about the other kits and Peppermask? Are they okay?”

Princess stared at the leader as though she had suddenly turned purple. “I- I don’t-” She took another deep shuddering breath, clearly on the verge of hyperventilating. “Peppermask told me to come tell you, Fireheart. She said she’d tell them a story to keep them calm and in one place.”

Why in Starclan’s name would Peppermask tell Princess to do that? The thought echoed in his mind for too long, as Bluestar and Princess both stared at him. What did they want from him? He didn’t know how to find a kit! He was just-

Right, he was deputy. He was supposed to take care of this. He racked his brain, trying to figure out what Quickflash would do in this situation. Maybe he could order a patrol? He hesitated at the thought. Was that an abuse of his power, though? After all, it was one kit - maybe he should just go and help her find Cloudkit. What would the Clan think if they had to search all over the forest for a kittypet kit?

No, he thought to himself after a heartbeat, that was a flea-brained thought. Kits were the most important part of the Clan! The warrior code itself said that no kit could be neglected, no matter their origin. Whether Cloudkit’s parents were kittypet or not didn’t matter. The Clan would expect to be sent out to find a lost kit. Their territory was safe, generally, but there was always a chance that something had snuck past one of their borders. Not to mention the owl, or hawks, any of which could pick off an unsuspecting kit.

“Speckleflight.” Fireheart stepped forward and spoke now, still keenly aware that nearly all of the Clan’s eyes were on him. The elder blinked at him in surprise. “Take Rosetail and go with Princess to help Peppermask keep the other kits calm. The last thing we need is two missing kits.”

The pale golden queen nodded, glancing around to see Rosetail already standing up. Fireheart watched as Speckleflight came up alongside Princess, mewing something softly to her as the two older tortoiseshells led her out of camp. The older queens, he figured, would be able to help calm Princess in addition to telling the kits all sorts of fun stories for however long it took to find Cloudkit.

He surveyed camp, assessing which cats were best to go out looking for a kit. “We’ll form three patrols, each taking a different direction from the meadow. I want Cloudkit found as quickly and quietly as possible.” There was no dissent at his order, cats beginning to sit up and wait to be called. “Mousefur, you’ll take Mistspring and Dustleap and head towards the Riverclan border. Sandstorm, you’ll take Willowbranch and Graystripe towards the Shadowclan border. Dappleshine, you and Tinyfrost will be with me heading towards Tallpines. Longtail, Cinderspark, Bluestar, and the apprentices will stay behind and guard camp.”

Across camp, Cinderspark turned away, her tail low in disappointment. Fireheart understood why she was disappointed that she hadn’t been picked - likely wondering if he hadn’t chosen her because once again, he didn’t trust her. He briefly wished he could reassure her, to tell her that she had been given the most important mission of all. He doubted that this was a ploy to get the Clan out of camp, but he couldn’t help but remember what had happened the last time kits had gone missing. Brokentail was dead, but his rogues were still out there - and now, more than ever, they were probably seeking revenge against Thunderclan.

Fireheart wanted this to be nothing more than Cloudkit accidentally running off, but he had to prepare for the worst.

“Let’s go!” He barked, lashing his tail once for the warriors to follow him before turning and leaving camp. He didn’t need to look to know they were following him - he could hear the march of many pawsteps and the rustling of brambles through the tunnel behind him. Fireheart instead kept his eyes on the trail again - following the thick fear-scent of his sister, which he had to focus on to keep from overwhelming him.

The meadow wasn’t far from camp - about as far away as the training hollow was, but on the other side of the ravine. There, Speckleflight was cooing softly at his niblings sitting amongst pale blue flowers, likely telling them a story about times long ago. Rosetail was sitting off to the side, doing her best to console Princess and Peppermask alike. The kits were occasionally glancing at their mama, clearly picking up on her fear, but politely listening to Speckleflight nonetheless.

He could see all four of them look eagerly towards him as the three patrols entered the meadow, but he had no time to stop and reassure them. He had to trust that the elders, Princess, and Peppermask would be enough eyes on his remaining niblings to keep them safe. Instead, with a swift nod shared between the patrols, they all turned and raced off towards their assigned directions.

“Dappleshine, you should take the lead. You’re the best hunter out of all of us.” Fireheart mewed, slowing down slightly to allow the tortoiseshell to do just that. There was no time for bragging, or for modesty: while Tinyfrost and Fireheart were both good hunters, it was well known within the Clan that Dappleshine had the sharpest nose and had taught two of the other great hunters in the Clan. 

She slipped forward without complaint at the opening, keeping her nose raised as she drew air over her tongue to try and find a scent. Silently, Fireheart motioned for Tinyfrost to flank her on her other side, the three spreading out so that they could cover as much ground as possible without losing sight of each other in the forest undergrowth.

The ginger deputy tried to keep himself calm, taking deep breaths of the scents of the wild to keep his heart from racing. As scared as he was for his nephew, out in the forest on his own, allowing his fear to overtake him would only smother the other warriors’ attempts to scent out Cloudkit. 

The forest was full of dangers - even things that would only bother a fully grown warrior could be deadly for a young kit. What if Cloudkit fell into a hole and couldn’t get back out? If he strayed out towards the Twolegplace, he would run into dogs - even the smallest of which would be impossible for a kit to handle on his own. And if he went towards the Owltree, and the owl was in the mood for a midday snack-

No, Fireheart couldn’t allow himself to imagine such horrors, forcing himself to take another couple of deep breaths as he continued flanking Dappleshine. For all he knew, one of the other patrols had found his nephew already. Maybe Cloudkit was already safe and sound, listening to Speckleflight tell a mighty tale about Lynxstar of Leopardclan and how she had driven out the fearsome Stonescales from the river. He could have even found his way back to the meadow on his own, having gotten bored of playing with himself.

There was no reason to-

“I smell him!” Fireheart’s ears perked forward as he heard Dappleshine’s call. Immediately, the other two warriors converged on her, finding her sniffing at a fallen log. “He climbed on top of this.” She explained as they both scented at the bark. Fireheart didn’t know whether to be thankful they had finally caught a trail, or furious that his nephew had gone so far into the forest on his own. They were almost at Tallpines! What had Cloudkit been thinking? 

“Fireheart.” The deputy looked up at the sound of his old mentor’s quiet voice, seeing Tinyfrost sniffing at the air rather than the log. “Do you smell that?”

Both Fireheart and Dappleshine scented at the air, trying to discern what Tinyfrost was hinting at. It took Fireheart several heartbeats, but as soon as he did, his face wrinkled in disgust. “That’s the foulest smelling dog I’ve ever scented.” He growled disdainfully, before fear seized his heart. It was a recent scent. “You don’t think-”

“It’s not dog. It’s badger.” Dappleshine snarled out, pacing forward as her hackles began to rise. “That’s close. Somewhere in our territory, I think.”

Fireheart didn’t know what to do. He’d never seen a badger before - only heard tales about them swapped between the warriors. They were huge, lumbering beasts, big enough that a cat the size of Lionheart could ride on their backs, with claws as long as whiskers. Mistspring had mentioned driving one off once, in a combined effort between Windclan and Thunderclan. Three warriors couldn’t be enough to chase one out of their territory!

But Cloudkit was nearby. They couldn’t leave, not without finding his nephew. What if the badger found him? He was a white kit, after all, standing out amongst the greens and browns of the forest. He hadn’t had any battle training - he’d be easy prey -

The two other warriors were staring at him. Once again, Fireheart could feel bile rising in his throat. He was deputy - he had to make a decision. But what if Cloudkit died because of him? How could he go back to Princess and tell her that her kit could have lived, if he’d just made the right-

“We find the badger first.” Tinyfrost cut through his thoughts with the same quiet, icy tone he always had. “If the kit’s smart, he’ll have scented it and climbed a tree to wait for us. If he’s not, then we better get to it before it gets to him.” With that ominous note, Tinyfrost turned and began leading the way through the forest, towards the edge of Tallpines. 

There was no need to taste the air now - the badger’s scent was thick and musty, like the marshes of Shadowclan had been when Fireheart had gone with Graystripe to defeat Brokentail and his rogues. It took everything in him not to completely block out the pungent odor - and he could tell that the other two warriors with him were feeling just the same.

“Help me!”

The voice was faint, but all three cats knew exactly who it was as it floated through the trees. As one, the three bounded forward, racing through the forest towards Cloudkit’s desperate cries. “Somebody! Help! Don’t let it get me!” They got louder and louder, until-

The three burst through the foliage into a large stony clearing sparsely covered by dry tufts of grass. On the far end was a small cliff, where a huge gray figure was swiping furiously at a crack in the bottom. Though he couldn’t see inside, Fireheart already knew what the badger was swiping at- Cloudkit.

“Tinyfrost, take its back! I’ll distract it from the front. Dappleshine, get Cloudkit out when it’s safe!” Fireheart was already barking out the orders as he dived forward, yowling a bitter battle cry as he lashed out at one of the badger’s front paws. It immediately turned towards him with baleful, beady eyes, returning his battle cry with a furious screech that rang through the air. Fireheart ducked as it swiped a large, clumsy paw at him, its claws easily thrice the length of his own. Fear and determination surged through his veins in equal measure; fear that this fight would be his last, and determination not to let it get to Cloudkit at any cost.

He swiped at its disgustingly large muzzle, his claws scoring through the coarse black and white fur with surprising ease. The badger was large, yes, but slow; slower than Tigerclaw had been, even. It let out another shrill scream as blood welled up from where his claws had been, lunging towards him with its massive bulk.

Fireheart took three quick steps back, luring the beast away from his nibling. It pounced towards him again, claws scoring into the earth once more as he took another pair of quick back steps. Before he could move further, however, a black shadow materialized on top of the badger: heartbeats later, it howled in furious pain as Tinyfrost dug into its thick gray fur with his claws and began biting for whatever he could reach.

The badger reared back, clearly intending to force its new attacker off, but before it could Fireheart had leaped forward to his former mentor’s aid, claws tearing away the tawny fur of its underbelly. He ducked back as the badger slashed wildly out with its giant claws, screeching furiously as it realized it was outnumbered.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Dappleshine race by with a distinctly white blur, and he immediately felt a wave of relief. Cloudkit was safe, which meant-

Fireheart yowled in shock as pain streaked through one side. He’d let himself be distracted for mere heartbeats - but heartbeats were long enough for the brutish creature, lunging forward to tear into his shoulder with its fangs. His first instinct was to tear away from it, but he forced himself to instead lean into the bite and use the opportunity to rake his claws down its neck. The badger immediately released him, shaking both one way and then the other as attacks came in from what surely felt like all sides.

Even as the pain filled his thoughts, Fireheart forced himself not to dwell on it, instead focusing on the beast in front of him. It was lashing out blindly now, clearly trying to get all the attacks to stop. “Tinyfrost! Let it go!” He called out to the small black tom.

Tinyfrost complied, sinking his fangs into its ear one last time before loosening his claws and letting the badger’s momentum throw him off to one side. It flailed out for another couple of heartbeats as the two warriors regrouped together, its tiny eyes flashing with panic as the attacks stopped as quickly as they had come. 

“Get out!” Tinyfrost snarled, advancing on the creature with his claws prepared for more attacks. Fireheart quickly copied him, advancing on the badger with his fur puffed out as far as he could get it. As soon as they did, the badger turned quickly away from them towards the open forest beyond Tallpines. As soon as it saw a clear opening, it bolted, bounding away on its stubby legs into the woods beyond their border.

The two toms stood side by side as they watched it race off, their hearts still pounding from the thrill of the fight. Fireheart’s side began to sting, a sign that he would surely be visiting the healers shortly, but he once again pushed it away to turn and look for his nibling. “Dappleshine? Cloudkit? Are you alright?” He called softly, a tiny bolt of anxiety spiking through him. They had to be safe, right? There was no way they could have gotten hurt while he was fighting-

He sighed in relief as Dappleshine waddled into the clearing, carrying Cloudkit by his scruff. He was a bit too big for it now, dragging in the dirt between her legs, but the older queen didn’t seem to notice as she came to stand in front of Fireheart and Tinyfrost. She released his nephew gracelessly, and he fell into the dirt below with a thin wail.

“What in Starclan’s name were you doing out here?” Fireheart snarled at the little white kit, his tail lashing in anger now that the danger had passed. “You’ve got your mother worried sick, and the whole Clan tearing up the forest looking for you! Didn’t your mother tell you not to wander off?”

There was genuine fear in Cloudkit’s bold blue eyes, but as Fireheart lectured him he could see that same stubborn defiance that his nephew normally had beginning to leak back in. “I didn’t wander off.” He refuted, his chin sticking up into the air as he stared down his uncle.

“Didn’t wander off?” Fireheart scoffed, his anger only rising at his nephew’s audacity. “This hardly looks like the meadow where you’re supposed to be playing with your siblings, does it? Not to mention you’re only treelengths from the border, with no other cat to be seen, hiding from a badger - how exactly do you expect me to believe you didn’t wander off?”

“I didn’t!” Cloudkit repeated, stomping one tiny white paw. “I followed a warrior out here!”

Fireheart could hear noises of confusion from the other two cats, but he didn’t stop to let it bother him. “And how, exactly, did you follow a warrior out here when all of them were back in camp?” He spat, lashing his tail once more in emphasis. “Which warrior was this? Graystripe? Mistspring? Maybe Lionheart?”

Cloudkit looked confused at all the names. “I- I don’t- he didn’t say what his name was.” He mewed plaintively, his eyebrows furrowing as if in brief confusion. “But he said he had found something super cool to show me, so I followed him, but then he was gone and I got lost and then- then that thing-”

“And I suppose you expect me to believe this imaginary warrior grew wings and flew, right in front of your eyes.” Fireheart snapped, losing any patience he might have had left for his nephew. “Making up some warrior that doesn’t exist isn’t going to get you out of trouble, Cloudkit. But I’ll let your mother decide your punishment.”

Cloudkit immediately started complaining, furiously reasserting that he definitely had seen a real warrior that smelled of Thunderclan and everything, but Fireheart tuned him out and turned to the other two warriors. “Dappleshine, why don’t you go find Sandstorm’s patrol near the Riverclan border and let them know we’ve found him. Tinyfrost, you do the same for Mousefur’s patrol near Shadowclan. I’ll take this little troublemaker back to his mother.”

The two warriors looked slightly dubious at his orders, but if they had any doubts they didn’t voice them, instead turning away and racing off towards their respective areas. Fireheart advanced on Cloudkit, who could only stumble back a couple of steps before he was unceremoniously scruffed by his uncle. With a bitter scowl, still trying to ignore the pain of the badger bite in his side, Fireheart began carrying his nephew back to Princess and to safety. Leave it to Cloudkit to ruin an otherwise happy day, he grumbled to himself, satisfying his anger at his nephew by imagining all the punishments that he would suffer for this as the two made their way back to camp.

[sleepyselkiesims]

Part 51

Alas, life didn't stop just because Andre was engaged! There were still all the daily tasks to attend to.

It was really hard to stay focused though, since all Hollie and Andre wanted to do was be near each other.

Everyone was just waiting for the day of the wedding! Even if they were a bit behind the times.

Andre's friend Christa was especially glad to hear her friend had finally moved on and found love again.

It looked like Andre's love story had inspired certain other sims to pursue love of their own! Unless Siobhan just wanted to upstage him for whatever reason.

The actual upstaging came from an unexpected source... and Sun was the only one who noticed.

Strawberry the bubalus was living his best life, going on many wild adventures.

The only person who really paid attention to Strawberry was Ana, who seemed to have a soft spot for tiny creetures.

And Sun, of course. Though the benevolent god suspected she was interested for other reasons...

Moon was also occasionally interested, though much less actively so.

Ana did her best to make sure the cats' interest stayed away from Strawberry.

Ana was never lonely, but still she was the only one who went out of her way to make sure Strawberry had someone to talk to about all his grand adventures. Who else would believe him, anyway.

Ana took meticulous notes on everything Strawberry did, hoping to follow in his footsteps and write a cool book of her own someday.

Outside of the house, Ellis was still struggling with the whole spellcaster thing. And he was getting quite the number of bumps and bruises due to his lack of skill.

So, he used his free time to try and improve his magical ability. Maybe he could finally learn to magically clean things, just like his foremothers had.

FINALLY!!! Ellis has learned how to create ice! it's the kind of thing you just can't be born with and try to hide your entire life.

Now he could go back to having regular fun in the snow! (Aka sneaking away to snowboard when i wasn't looking).

King of the snow, that Ellis.

And as all these things happened, Ellis' special plant finally bloomed.

Bonus

Yeah, Ana is still the only kid Alexa acknowledges.

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

From the Ashes Pt. 16

Pairing(s): Pairing(s): Rhaegar Targaryen x Lannister!Reader, one-sided!Jaime Lannister x Lannister!Reader, Jaime Lannister x Cersei Lannister

Warnings: slow burn fic

Words:

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 3.5  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40

Part 41 Part 42  Part 43   Part 44 Part 45  Part 46  Part 47  Part 48 Part 49 Part 50  Part 51 Part 52 Part 53 Part 54

Book Two of Dārilaros hen ōrbar se perzys (Heir of Ash and Fire)

“That’s too cliche.” The youngest Lannister sibling argued. He was a good one, Selmy reluctantly noted to himself as the two of them had already gotten into two arguments. Tyrion, despite his young age, was sharper than any blade and had a knack for making flawless argumentative statements. Each point he made took huge chunks out of any argument Selmy could muster.

“Not cliche, normal. Safe. We want to appear normal if we run into anyone asking questions.” Barristan was a patient man, had always been. Truth be told he actually enjoyed their debates. It kept them busy on an already long journey. “Fathers and sons are seen all the time traveling together.”

Tyrion refused to look the knight in the eyes, something that alerted Selmy to one of Tyrion’s sullen moods. “So are knights and their squires. We can pose being a knight and squire instead.”

Who would believe that Tyrion was his squire though? Incredibly short, even for a young child, it was all too obvious by the naked eye of Tyrion’s deformity. A long torso with short limbs, accentuated by his mismatched eyes. He could never be anyone’s squire.

If he were to tell this child that though, he would feel like a monster. There was no need to say it out loud; Tyrion already knew that in reality he could never be anyone’s squire. He could never be like his older brother Jaime.

Holding his tongue, eventually Selmy agreed to Tyrion’s suggestion. There was no harm in it. Let the boy live a little while he could. “Very well then, but that means you will have to act like my squire, young-”

“Vaiko.” Tyrion interrupts with that oddly loud voice of his. Green and black finally return to Selmy’s face. “Vaiko Hill will be my squire name. I’d much rather be a bastard than. . .” He grew quiet, refusing to finish that thought. There was no need. Barristan Selmy already was aware of Tywin Lannister’s treatment of his two youngest children. The relationship, if you could even call it that, was poor. Even as (y/n) married Prince Rhaegar, Tywin still held that permanent frown. Any other father would have been over the moon.

“Vaiko it is. Where did you get that name from?” It wasn’t a name you heard in Westeros.

In a simple manner, Tyrion replies “I read a lot.”

Nodding, Selmy trains his attention back to the road ahead. It had been a while since they had seen anyone on the main road. They took their chances and leave the safety of the forest. Barristan and Tyrion would need to go back on the established path eventually if they wanted to get passage through the Dornish Marshes. The Prince’s Pass was the only way to safely get to Dorne by land. It went straight through the mountain and led exactly to Starfall.

Passing through the Reach, Selmy and Tyrion saw first hand the horror of war. The older knight had warned Tyrion to close his eyes as they passed through a battlefield. Stubborn just like the Warden of the West, Tyrion refused to look away. This was what he almost enlisted himself to. So young but as he gazed at the carnage, the boy aged a good twenty years. Tyrion would never tell his companion that the site haunted him deep in his dreams. He would deal with the dismembered images by himself. The outcome of war and the deep scars it left on the land. At least it was enough to straighten out Tyrion and any thought of joining Rhaegar.

The mountain chains that separated Westeros from Dorne was becoming more visible as each day passed. Selmy could tell that Tyrion was beside himself with excitement as the boy squirmed on the saddle. Very likely due to the fact that he hadn't gotten to see this much of the world due to Tywin’s embarrassment. The Lord of Casterly Rock was acutely sensitive about having a dwarf for a son. A question came across his mind; since Jaime had vanished months ago with no sign of returning, who would Tywin declare as his successor? The Lannister family was a large one but surely Tywin wanted the famed title of Warden to one of his sons. Who would he choose if not Tyrion?

“Do you even know how to use a sword? A squire at least knows the basics.” explains Selmy to the overtly quiet Tyrion who stretched his neck up to the sky. Such a big world for someone as small as him. A big world where he was all alone. Right now all he had was Selmy.

It only made him purse his lips in agitation. “I wanted to. Begged father. But he said a dwarf has no place on the training ground.” His tone was defensive. Plenty of boys by Tyrion’s age already knew how to correctly handle a blade. Yet another reminder of how captive his life had been back home.

Slowly, he shifts the pressure of the horse reins and veers off the beaten path. His surroundings having changed, Tyrion asks “Where are you going?”

Safely in the heart of the forest, Selmy dismounts his horse and lifts Tyrion off as well. “You should at least learn the basics. We’ll need something for practice.” Barristan pulls a sizable branch, ripping it from it’s foundation. With a satisfied nod, he takes out a small knife and begins to quickly whittle away at the branch.

Tyrion stares nervously at the makeshift sword before looking back up at Barristan. The former captain of the King’s Guard had the starting lines of crows feet near his pale, sad, blue eyes. Thick threads of silver and white are overcoming his once blonde head. “You want to teach me how to use a sword?”

“Of course. It’s a very useful skill to possess.” True, especially during these times of uncertainty and danger. If Tyrion really wanted to be on his own in the world it wouldn’t hurt to know how to defend yourself. And Selmy knew that this kid was already a quick learner and an eager student. He would pick it up fairly fast, although it would take Barristan some time to grow accustomed to Tyrion’s height deficiency.

Switching from his small knife to the quickly fashioned training sword, Tyrion weighed it in his small hands. Tentatively, he takes a firm grip on the “handle”. While Barristan makes his own practice weapon, Tyrion slashes at the space in front of him. One of the most renowned knights in all of Westeros was going to be his teacher. Already his life had been so much better after leaving Casterly Rock. The beginning trek from the West hadn’t been an easy one, but Tyrion persevered all by himself.

He couldn’t stop smiling to himself. Too slow in hiding it, Barristan caught the sight of a happy child. When Tyrion smiled, his eyes were glossy with joy. Like his older sister (y/n). The short time she lived at the Keep, everyone knew of Princess (y/n)’s lovely smile. It made her beautiful. Personally Barristan didn’t think the youngest Lannister daughter was pretty. Plain and unimposing, (y/n) had a square face with bowed lips that were a natural soft pink. Unlike Cersei, (y/n) never wore makeup which would possibly improve her appearance. When she smiled, oh, she didn’t need makeup. Her lips would part in a gleeful laugh, showing off perfect rows of pearls. One could feel the joy by gazing upon her sparkling eyes.

“Mother says that (y/n) smiles just like Johanna did.” Rhaegar had told Selmy one day. (y/n) and Tyrion smiled just like their dearly departed mother.

Shyly, Tyrion inquires “When did you learn to use a sword?”

Thinking as he worked on his branch, Selmy easily replies “Possibly seven or eight.”

He nods, knowing that Jaime probably started at that age as well. Many knights started off young. It was the only way. Learn to wield a blade during childhood before becoming a squire for some lord. Grueling years of hard work; Barristan did not miss them but knew those years were essential to his growth.

“Better to learn now then never.” The old knight offers Tyrion with a small smile. His practice sword was ready. “Now, young Hill, stand in front of me and we shall begin the basics.”

From then on their days were filled with traveling and sword training. Not so bad considering that Tyrion had spent the majority of his life sequestered in the library of Casterly Rock. As Selmy had foreseen, Tyrion was a very fast learner. In the beginning it had been a bit of a struggle. The young boy was top heavy and with the slightest push back, he easily toppled over. The matter wasn’t helped by the fact of his short arms and legs that offered him no stability as he flailed in an attempt to maintain his balance. Easily frustrated by his disability, Barristan would force Tyrion back on the horse for a break and to continue their journey. His mission was not time sensitive, at least Varys didn’t tell him it was, but Selmy wanted to make it to Starfall as soon as possible. With a civil war going on it wasn’t safe to travel. Especially if someone from either side was to spot him and recognize the young boy he was with. Gods did the boy learn fast how to keep his balance and adjust his body.

Within a few more days, the duo was already at the pass to the Dornish Marshes.

Tyrion gazed at the massive mountain chain with trepidation. Once they passed through, they technically wouldn’t be in Westeros anymore. Despite being part of the Seven Kingdoms, Dorne still considered themselves a separate sovereignty.

Through the marshes, their adventure would truly begin.

Sensing the tenseness in Tyrion, Barristan halts his horse. “Are you ready?”

Little hands took the reins from Barristan and urged the horse onward. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Grinning, Barristan let Tyrion take the lead.

64.media.tumblr.com

Taglist:

@boywivlove

@esposadomd

@domoron

@yentroucnagol

[akeowc]

Well, this is a story from a novel on Wattpad called “Sleeping Love.” You can find it on Wattpad and read it because I have already published approximately 7 chapters

To be clearer, this is Lance x oc's story, ever since I watched the show I've actually fallen for him.

So I wanted to do a story for him with my oc.

Now I leave you with the information.

Name: Elena Harris

Japanese name: エレナ・ハリス

Alias: Sleeping head

CHARACTERISTICS

Age

15 (Debut)

16 (now)

Gender

Female

Hair color

navy blue

Eye color

Bright teal

Height

164 cm

Weight

51 kg

Birthday

May 7th

PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION

Affiliation

Easton Magic Academy

Occupation

Student

Status

Alive

RELATIONSHIPS

Family

Unnamed father

Dead mother

Leon Harris (Older Brother)

MEDIA

Anime debut

Episode 1

Manga debut

Chapter 1

Japanese va

Sumire Morohoshi

Elena's mother died when Elena was very young. After her death, Leon took care of his little sister until she was 5 years old, when he had to leave his sister and go to Easton Magic Academy. During this period, her father was so busy that he appointed a nanny to take care of Elena.

She took care of her until she was 9 years old and said that she could take care of herself, so she did not need a nanny, even though she spent most of her time sleeping, which made her personality to be somewhat lazy. One day when she was  10 She went to the forest to go for a walk, and on her way she came across a boy of the same age pumping iron

She talked to him and asked him why he trained like this, he only replied that his father only told him to do it, she later learned that his name was Mash, and I became friends with him, since most people can't stand Elena's lazy personality when she starts, but Mash didn't mind  she also knew that he loves cream puffs, and when he finishes training, they eat them

Appearance

Elena is a girl of average height. She has slightly messy dark blue hair and pale skin. She has a moon-shaped mark on her left cheek. She often wears simple clothes when she visits Mash, but when she entered Easton Magic Academy, she always wore a school uniform that consisted of a T-shirt.  White, with a red tie, a black skirt with black socks, brown shoes and a black cloak, she is often seen with a sleepy expression but with a small smile on her face.

Fanbook Stats:

Blood type: O-

Dominant Hand: Right

Foot size: 23cm

Good Subjects: Astronomy, stars and the sky in general

Bad Subjects: Annoying or arrogant people

Hobbies: Sleep at all times and learn new information

Favorite Food: Sweets of all kinds

Favorite word: Sleep is the solution to everything

Favorite type of opposite sex: I don't care much about appearance, the important thing is that he is a good person and can deal with my personality

Dislikes: Complex topics

Frequently visited school spots: Mash room, dormitory kitchen

E.g. of spending money: Buy astronomy books

How to spend holidays: Hanging out with Mash and sleeping

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

I hope you liked Elena. I tried as much as possible to try to imitate the style of drawing the anime, and this is what happened to me. The next chapter will be about the meeting of Mash and Elena. After that, I will start plotting the anime

See you in the next chapter!

[mydysfunctionalvampirefamily]

I know I know I know I am still in the middle of forgetting Ashville but someone made me so curious about 51 and 52 that I had to do an intermezzo.

Neil trying to split them to go each to their own domains, and then pendragon being like yes let's split up Britta stays with me lol.

Neil wanting to grab Britta to keep her with him and away from pendragon. 😭

Neil is so anxious, poor boy.

Uhoh. The shower went silent???

Miles daydreaming... But sir about what? 👀👀

Wait is this the same day? Because it sounds like Miles has been in office for a little bit? Or am I misunderstanding?

Johnny calling Miles your highness with sarcasm is so good.

Nara! Is she Miles's doorman now? What's been happening?

Miles is so casual about everything? Was his uptightness all because he didn't get laid?? You can't tell me him and Marcos didn't get it on now and then.

Miles is trying so hard, but this is all so complicated. Noooooo this is unbearable. I cannot deal with this awkwardness and Miles saying the wrong thing. It's too much, please I cannot handle secondhand embarrassment. Why would anyone want to be Prince?

What is happening right now??? Miles is being collected?

Okay not gonna lie, it's not that this episode isn't good so far, but I don't get the big deal with this episode. So far.

Johnny as senechal??? 😂😂 And primogen?? And Miles didn't even tell him beforehand?!? Why???

What???? These fucking princes, bunch of shitheads. I am so confused.

Wait praxis again?? Lmaoo is new haven going to be a revolving door of praxises? 😂

Not the rust coloured jacket!!! How dare they!

Okay but what is Miles's obsession with chopping people's arms off?

5 celerity actions??? Damn

Holy fuck. They are both absolute beasts this fight, like it's kind of scary actually.

He's trying to rip the guy's arms off??? I'm screaming!!! Reminds me of "is your weakest at the elbow or the shoulder?"

An sos from his fucking daughter???? Right now???? Can they never have a moment of peace???!? Fucking fuck.

Kabir!!! I totally forgot about Kabir!

Oh my God! New mechanic?? Seizing narrative control!?! That's cool!

Jesus christ!! That static was a fucking jump scare omg!!!

No little boy can survive....?!? Don't you dare touch Joey!!!! I will murder you.

This narrative control is crazy!!! So badass.

"my Joey" omg I'm gonna cry! 😭

Kabir is gone?????? Because she took narrative control??. Cruel but amazing.

"Baby?" Not the baby omg. 😭😭😭 Parents talking gentle about their children is my weakness.

The shower turns off and the sink begins to run? Why?

FESTER!! STOP! 😂😂😂😂

... Is that racist against toreador??

Can she even...? NEIL! How were you going to finish that sentence???

"I've done sex" clearly said by someone who has had sex... Clearly.

The way I cackled when Neil said that.

Neil just talking about how he likes that his family is closer and Britta is the glue. 😭

Fester! Don't you dare make Neil doubt that Britta loves him!!

What what what??? What is happening???? What is this conversation??? Neil's sire?? What? Fire?!? Molotov cocktail??? Fester Neil's sire??? I'm so confused?!?

He has some guts, just pulling her by the corset and starting to untie it. So fucking rude!

"it's just rational to let him help" suuuure Britta.

In front of a fucking mirror??? Pendragon is such a walking villain cliché.

Jan Petersen is Miles's sire right?

Also so far the only redeeming quality Pendragon has (aside from sexiness) is the way he says camarilla.

They're just having a normal conversation and I think oh this isn't so bad, but then he goes to brush his hands over her arms and touch her and I'm just squicked out! And forcing her to see her moon. GROSS!!!!

This man is using such classic abusive tactics of pulling her in, being semi nice, and then threatening her. Like what a piece of trash!

Don't you dare be disarmed by this girl desperately trying to save herself from meeting the sun!!!

He summoned her to the bathroom?!? Like dude you can just call her over she is like 15 feet away from you. You are such a piece of SHIT!

I hate pendragon. And I hate That part of me is still going 👀.

[strawberrycakelove]

Power levels in Dragonball are strangely consistent.

I don't have the patience to write much so I'll get straight to the point. Master Roshi destroys the Moon in the 21nd tournament in order to undo Goku's Oozaru transformation, In chapters 51 and 52.

His PL according to one of the official guides in that tournament was 180.

Which indicates that the minimum required to destroy the Moon is a PL of 180 in Dragonball. If you read the manga you will see that he does it with a lot of effort. Which is corroborated with Piccolo easily destroying the moon with a power of 329, in chapter 208.

His PL is read by Bulma in the next chapter, 209.

And in the Saiyan saga it is widely known that Vegeta had PL of 18,000

And Vegeta declares that he can blow up the planet in chapter 231

And you may be asking, so what? This is already known, but what is the connection between Master Roshi's 180 PL from fighting that destroyed the Moon and Vegeta's 18,000 that, according to him, could destroy the Earth?

Why is a 100x larger PL necessary to go from destroying the Moon to destroying the Earth?

The connection is the MASS between the two celestial bodies, as the Moon's mass is only 1% of the Earth's mass, and based on this it is possible to estimate the destruction capacity of the Dragonball characters.

Obviously I won't put prints here as this can be easily searched on Google.

To be more precise, if you do a quick Google search, the Moon's mass is 1.2% of the Earth's mass, but to make it easier I will consider 1%, which creates a consistent connection between Roshi's PL when destroying the Moon and Vegeta's PL when declaring that he would destroy the Earth, as his maximum power was 18,000, about 100x more, which is approximately the same mass ratio between the Moon and the Earth.

From then on, it becomes much easier to estimate the destructive capacity of the characters after this saga.

Then one might ask, what was Goku's destructive capacity in the Frieza saga, when his power reached 150,000,000 PL? (this information is also widely known) well, just do a simple math, 150,000,000/18,000, which gives approximately 8,333, and that, simply put, corresponds to approximately 26 times the mass of Jupiter, Frieza with 60,000,000 did not blow up Namek immediately (imagine the mass that Namek must have to not have been destroyed immediately!)

And this is still a long way from being able to destroy the entire Solar System as Cell declared he could, and this is also not inconsistent, as Future Trunks killed Frieza and his father easily, but he had no chance with the Androids who were weaker than Cell in its perfect form.

Because estimating by the mass of the Sun, which concentrates 99.85% of the Mass of the Solar System, it is necessary at least approximately a power capable of destroying 1000x the mass of Jupiter to be able to destroy the Sun, and just over 1000x to destroy the Solar System entire in DragonBall.

Cell in his perfect form was approximately 40 times stronger than Goku in his first Super Saiyan transformation, and this scale is quite consistent with how PL in Dragonball usually scales.

[fadedstarsfms]

Bianca Stone Intro

★ IN CHARACTER ★

FULL NAME: Bianca Stone SPECIES: Witch AGE: 51 DATE OF BIRTH: June 20, 1973 GENDER IDENTITY: Cis Woman NEIGHBORHOOD: Cherry Heights OCCUPATION: Owner of Video Vortex POSITIVE TRAITS: Passionate, Empathetic, Friendly NEGATIVE TRAITS: Disorganized, Defensive, Impulsive LENGTH OF TIME IN RAVEN’S PEAK: ~30 years FACE CLAIM: Melanie Lynskey

★ BIOGRAPHY ★

TRIGGER WARNING: drinking tw, infidelity tw Bianca grew up to a family of dedicated witches, all her life she was told that her magic should be first and foremost.  So she tried to be a dedicated student and learned from her family and their coven.  She loved her family and siblings and would do anything for them, but she never thought that one species was better than the other and made sure to tell her younger siblings that their parents were wrong in that sense.  So when her younger sister Kara started rebelling more and more against the family, Bianca was always encouraging of her and even showed her that leaving could be done.   Bianca went to college in Boston and didn't realize just how much she would love a new scenery.  The city had everything she never had and it was there that she truly found herself.  And the love of her life. She and Vermillion met in college and Bianca never believed in love at first sight until she saw him and it was like she was hit with a love spell.  The two fell in love fast and hard but Bianca had to admit she missed the small town life.  So when she heard about Raven's Peak she knew immediately she wanted to move there to experience the mix of species and knew she had to tell Vermillion what she was and why she wanted to move there.  To her surprise he didn't bat an eye and even wanted to move with her.  And a year later they were married and life seemed perfect. Though to this day Bianca holds some regret on bringing her family to the town because one day she got a call that her husband was attacked.  It seemed like everything was okay, he was going to recover, but Bianca worried that what attacked him was more than just a dog like everyone originally thought.  Her fears only got worse as he stopped bothering coming home and was out on a bender doing god knows what.  But when he did finally come home and promise to do better did they finally start working together to build a better marriage and help him through the curse that was now a part of their life.  They thought everything was better and fixed until one day a knock on their door brought them a son that Vermillion had from one of his night outs.  Sure the reminder of his infidelity stung but there was no way Bianca wasn't going to accept Banks into her life and she promised from that day on that she was going to be a mother to him as well as their other children.   Once things seemed to be doing better Bianca was back in touch with her younger sister Kara and told her about the town, promising that it was nothing like what their parents taught them and it could be a place for her to settle down as well.  But soon Kara was attacked as well and Bianca felt guilty once more, thinking she should have done a better job protecting her.  Now she promises to protect her family both by blood and anyone she practically adopts by any means necessary.

★ WANTED CONNECTIONS ★

Mom Friend - Bianca is the biggest mom friend there is, let her try to lowkey adopt you ngl

Frequent Fliers - Love movies? Look no further than a cute plot, please talk to her about movies even if you don't give her your money afterwards

Employees - If you work here she'd love you and consider you family

Literally anything! Bianca has been here for about 30ish years or so, she's practically the ambassador of Raven's Peak she's so friendly I'm not joking (unless you want a silly rivalry because she can also be petty at times)

★ PLAYLIST ★

A Case of You by Joni Mitchell

Landslide by Fleetwood Mac

Tiny Dancer by Elton John

Harvest Moon by Neil Young

River by Leon Bridges

99 Luftballoons by Nena

Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles

Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys

Vienna by Billy Joel

Somebody Like Me by St. Vincent

[antclan-blogs]

MOON 51

Stoatstripe is depressed, and his infection has worsened.

This moon’s story under the cut!

“Stoatstripe, you have to get up.” Glademoss was mewing, nudging his brother’s flank with his forepaw. “The clan needs it’s mediator.”

Stoatstripe grunted, turning away as he sat in his nest. “And it needs it’s deputy, too. Stop worrying about me.”

Glademoss narrowed his eyes. Both brothers had been under significant stress lately: Glademoss with his new position as deputy, a role he wasn’t sure he could perform half as well as Chaffinchbounce and Sunleopard had, and Stoatstripe with his decision to become a mediator. Leaving regular warrior life behind had been a big step for both of them.

“I’m worrying about you because that’s my job. You’re my brother, Stoatstripe, and not to mention that I’m your deputy. It’s my duty to ensure that you feel alright.” Glademoss told his littermate sternly. The role of deputy seemed to have aged him thirty moons.

“And I’ve told you, I feel fine.” Stoatstripe replied irritably. “Just a little down, like all cats. You can’t tell me you’ve not been affected by all this death.”

“Of course I have! But the rest of us are recovering from it, and I don’t see you doing that.” Glademoss replied, giving Stoatstripe another nudge. “Please, just get out of the den and come on this patrol. It’ll be good for you.”

“No, Hushstep says I can’t leave camp. My hind leg is infected.” Stoatstripe sighed. “I’m supposed to stretch it every once in a while, and that’s it.”

Glademoss rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. A little walk around the borders won’t harm you.” He said, but Stoatstripe stayed silent. Knowing it was hopeless, he began to trod away and looked back as he reached the den exit. “I know Berryspot meant a lot to you. But he would want you to be happy.”

Stoatstripe give his brother a long look before nodding slightly and turning away. Just then, Whisperingpaw bounded into the den with a cheerful greeting.

“Hey, Stoatstripe! How are we feeling today?” She called, her mew high and bright.

“Fine.” Stoatstripe replied shortly. He wished every cat would just leave him alone; constant visitors only reminded him of his days spent as a sickly kit cooped up in the medicine den.

“You don’t look it.” Whisperingpaw tutted, sniffing at his infected hind leg. “How’s the leg today?”

Stoatstripe let out a long, burdened sigh and shrugged. “The same. A little sore, kind of hot.”

Whisperingpaw nodded, thinking for a moment. “Hushstep told me to check it…he didn’t say what else to do. Perhaps I should go ask him.”

Stoatstripe sniffed. Whisperingpaw was steadily learning the trade of being a medicine cat, taking to the new skills much faster than she did as a regular apprentice. It was clear to all cats that she was a natural, and Hushstep’s proud gaze told them so.

“You do that.” He told her dryly, watching as she turned and trotted back across the clearing to ask her mentor for guidance.

Stoatstripe remembered his own apprenticeship like it was yesterday. His fondest memories were of sparring with Gladepaw, laughing and practising battle moves as his father watched on proudly.

He missed those days a lot.

awww poor stoat, i love how glade still cares for him as the dep tho

[eri-blogs-life]

Bones Before Hooks, Chapter 6: Floors 1-60

We've made it halfway through the Pit, which is awesome. But each section gets harder and harder, so we'll see how much longer I can keep the push going. I'm also definitely worried cause I don't think the final boss of the Pit can be superguarded, meaning I've actually gotta be ready for a real attrition fight.

Also, I was just looking up which floor you get the Bump Attack badge at, which I was thinking would be nice because it just lets us basically skip the first few floors where the enemies are weak, but uhhh.... Apparently it explicitly does not work in the Pit. I had completely forgot about that. Welp.

Alright, back in town and I just happened to wonder whether the Trouble Center is already open, and apparently... it is? So maybe let's take a lil diversion halfway through to do some Troubles.

Hopefully we can get some better rewards than just coins, cause coins ain't doing much for me right now.

Oh I guess there's something I could spend money on. The oil-drilling man. Get paid back hundreds of times.

Well, I guess not EVERY trouble gave me coins as a reward. One just gave me "advice". Every other one was just coins though.

Alright, let's get back to it. Floors 1-10: Every floor was just "Koops, use power shell and kill literally everything!" And then Mario used Sweet Treat for more FP each time we needed it. Early floors gettin so easy.

Floors 11-20: Basically the same thing. Got a mover partway through so we're making good progress.

Floors 21-30: Got a mover on floor 20, so we just skipped straight to 25 in this section. On floor 27 I got stuck having to do the same fight multiple times as these bandits put us to sleep then ran away with a couple of my coins. Oooo, plus some lakitus dropped a thunder rage, nice.

Floors 31-40: Oh heck yeah, zap tap means fuzzies don't even get any chance to hurt us. Nooooo Koops went down to some fireballs D: Oh but nice he got back up after the fight. I do think I gotta actually spend a healing item getting him healed up though. Aaaand of course we've got another floor of just a bunch of spiky parabuzzies. Time to practice our superguards! Actually... Oh hell yeah, they are vulnerable to lightning. Thunder Rage comin in handy.

Floors 41-50: Ooo the coin cap is not 999 as I had guessed it'd be. Let's see if we'll end up hitting coin cap at some point

Floor 51: Oooo, purple my favorite color! Though the idea of a bandit stealing one of my badges is pretty scary... Not even gonna try superguarding the bandits, I gotta regular guard to just ensure I keep them from stealing my badges. In the end, though, they almost killed me and I had to put the last one to sleep with a sleepy stomp so i could take some time to heal back up to full with sweet treat.

Floor 52: Ice puffs. God, if I get frozen for even a turn that alone could cause me to die at this point. Speaking of... Thankfully I had at least already taken out one of the three, and had another at 1 hp and burning, so the one surviving couldn't do THAT much damage to us while frozen.

Floor 53: Just four of them boos, easy enough to take out with Fire Drive plus Koops's Power Shell

Floor 54: Chomps. Oof, those guys got a LOT of Defense. Yet another enemy that we've only got Piercing Blow to deal with. Though they're easy to superguard too so that was a pretty easy fight

Floor 55: Aaaand, even more high-defense enemies. Oh god this is gonna be a slog. Actually, I brought items just for times like these. Mr Softener, go! Oh. Wait these guys have 5 Defense. A Mr Softener only drops defense by 3, I ain't gonna be able to break through their defenses with just that.

Floor 56: Another purple floor, just like 51. Not too bad, thankfully.

Floor 57: One icy puff and one moon cleft, should be fine so long as we don't get frozen, which was easy to avoid by just putting that puff to sleep.

Floor 58: MORE PURPLE!!! And we leveled up and got some more HP

Floor 59: A bye floor, just a mover. Alright, well let's go see what the Floor 60 reward is.

Floor 60: Oooo, double dip... That could be handy, for sure. We'll have to try and get that equipped next

Alright, back to Rogueport. Time to get some items back in our inventory and get ready for another treck down

[yuugamu-omokage]

Play Session 4 & 5 (Days 49-55, Days 56-89)

Day 49: Oo raining at night,

What do you mean by that Takumi?

Ocarina of time?

WHAT THE MOON IS FAKE? IS IT LIKE ARK ? IS IT LIKE NEIR?

Hey there Ghostboy

Yeowch that sound like it hurt

Bro got scared by thunder lmao 

50: So gay 

Don’t tell me…

Oh it’s just Moko, how did she get past the flames tho? Did Ghost Boy let her pass? How does she know where to go? So many questions. Also I thought that the alarm going off was Ima trying to leave

51: They keep calling out my boy Takumi on Nozomi

Takemaru and Yugamu have a surprisingly interesting relationship

YUGAMU IN THE BATHROOM WHY CAN WE HANG OUT WITH HIM IN THERE

…

Oh, y’know what him having those kinks isn’t that surprising

Day 52: Go Kako!

IT WAS A KNIFE

YUGAMU NOT THE TIME, DARUMI NOT THE TIME EITHER

Oh wow Takemaru’s room is way purpler than I thought it would be 

Shirtless Takemaru jumpscare

Man I know they said they put in a lot of effort in the sprites but this is so crazy

Day 53: NO

I DON'T WANT HIM IN MY ROOM   GET OUT IMA

HOW DOES HE KNOW??

I JUST WOKE UP???

I CAN'T SAVE NO

…I kept trying to say no

What are we trying to make, some weird motorcycle , oh its a scooter, must have done it out of order 

Decided to check the courtyard, we have cages…

Huh…

Are we getting some POWs? Or like trapping some invaders, or someone?

Ohhhh the change in the persuasion format

Takumi chill!!!! Some of these options man 

So childish hahah (Does, Doesn't, Does, Doesn’t!) 

I’d say that this persuasion event was an interesting look to Takumi's character 

(I failed the persuasion event 5 times)

Day 55: Yay Kako and Ima join!

and then I immediately kill off Kako lol

I keep forgetting to make more defensive materials and potions 

Nooo, I got a my first letter that isn't an S, a B

Oh

Oh no, that’s a second commander with a stripe in their hair (the other I saw from Nosy Pixels review), I’m starting to think Takumi is like some sort of patient zero 

Our first POW

Also, can I say I am liking this format where we have different character arcs during the days 

Haha, forehead flick

Day 56: eppy

Day 57: No! Yugamu, I want to hear all about that dream!

Kyoshika we need to teach you some math

Yugamu options during the exploration are funny

58: Ima saying to off Moko, Interesting to say that Yugamu would do it if he were to treat it like a job Why do they keep talking about the prisoners like she’s a pet? Gaku is like the only one with sense, somehow. Tsubasa as well.

She don’t know ‘bout laundry machines (Kyoshika FTE)

Aw another memory dream

Day 59: oh? Let Shouma speak, he had no friends

Well I don’t know what to think about the invaders and their commanders, are they human as well? Another type of human? Kinda like how Metaphor has the tribes?

Huh. Eito, why are you dissatisfied?

WHY ARE THESE BOOKS CENSORED, I'M TRYING TO GET THE LORE

Roulette with Kako?, I didn’t take her to be the gambling type, oh it's not about the gambling, (FTE)

Day 60: Aw no new things from Sirei, cuz hes dead

Oh exploration with Nozomi

We’re not going to eat first at the very least?

Oo, CG

Strength training?What do you mean by that Nozomi?? How what, Nozomi what are you hiding

Oh straight up saying it

Wait her moms dead, her dad too

Well the theory is that she is Karua, maybe her mom died in between us getting to the academy, there’s some credence to that

WHAT DID THEY EAT, they brought rations or something?

Day 61: Eito just straight up say it , don’t be vague

Yuri…

What was that Moko? Tell us ,tell us, tell us.

Day 62: Nozomi opening up to us

STORYTIME WITH MOKO

Momma Moko, Darumi do you have a thing for strong woman

Shouma TMI

Huh, no meat

Gaku, why do you want to riff her so bad

Nozomi…

Yay! We get to hang out with Ima , oh it’s in the cafeteria we’re about to witness abominations against food I WAS RIGHT he has a sweet tooth

Day 63:

Too much for the morning LMAO

GAKU

oh she’s in her room

Y-yugamu

Aw that’s sad

Day 64: Eito outside Takumis room

OH SHE'S LEARNING THE LANGUAGE

Aw Kyoshika you sure are adorable and beautiful

Yo we gotta reign in Yugamu. Takumi! Offer yourself to be his vivisection subject!

Moko doesn’t seem to like what Shoumas talking about

This sort of dehumanizing talk isn’t sitting right with me

Oh Shouma getting defensive, Shouma the MVP

He’s trying any excuse to get that vivisection lol

Ohh who’s at my door, probably Nozomi

Yep

…starting to see her as a different person, and different feelings??? What do you mean by that, Takumi? Honestly, still don’t know if she is the same person or not, I am leaning she is, but I have no clue why her memory is very different.

Day 65: Just straight up name dropping those eroges

OH SHE AINT EATING MEAT SOMETHINGS UP FOR SURE WITH HER

(uhh but makes me feel that Takumi might not be a commander cause he eats meat, unless it isn’t like a biological thing but a belief thing)

Ey, why you eavesdropping , this is the very definition of eavesdropping Takumi

Moko something definitely happened to you, you’re not being slick

STOP WITH THE FLASHBACKS

Dang Moko, why are you acting so mean :(

Oh! Her room is so pink. Cute plushies!!!

Takumi you honest boy

Oh he's waking up, I bet we get to see Ghost Boy

Does that mean another attack?

HE MOVES?!??

WOAH MOKO WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE OH OH

WHY IS YOUR TEXT GLITCHING OUT

oh that’s creepy

STOP REPEATING TO GO BACK TO SLEEP YOU'RE NOT JEFF THE KILLER?

oh it’s creepy again

AHHHHHHHH

THAT'S SOO CREPPY

YEAH THAT'S RIGHT UNDYING FLAMES PROTECT US

OOOO JUST NOZOMI AND TAKUMI

OH MY THAT'S SCARY

hmmm when she’s covered like that she looks like she’s covered in stars

Ooooo shadow clones

Yugamu I thought you would have been into that

Oh wow, what an interesting power, I have no clue how they have supernatural powers like that, I guess it's like their own version of the specialist skills?

She can speak our language?

oh wow quite the art style change for the sprite

Wait, it makes it seem like this isn’t the commander's first time doing this sort of thing . How long have they been fighting us? Like we’re obviously not the first people to go against them but who were the others fighting before us? We’re clearly like some important group for this part of the war.

“Mortal enemies” huh

DARUMI FOURTH WALL BREAK LMAO

“I AM CALM” Dumbledore said calmly

Day 66: Oh she escaped didn’t she

Hmm, this is kinda like how Hiruko disappeared

The Traitor, but who could it be???

TMI Shouma

“Takumi would never lie” Aw it’s so nice Eito has so much faith in us

Oh the twins aren’t in their room, where could they be??

WHA- Kako?!?!

Awww she wants to save Ima

Dang this Prisoner knew what she was doing

Tsubasa on the job

Ask the ghost boy, maybe?

Man these last few days have taken a while

Day 67: Ah Gaku you willing to do anything for money lol

Day 68: YEAH YUGAMU COMMIT CORPSE DESECRATION

oh she passed out

OH

REJECTION SYMPTOMS?????? (wasn’t that in one of the trailers?)

Kurara I think that’s your fantasy

Dang no one wants to hang out today

Oh another dream memory

Awww, they both got sick

Day 69: WHAT ARE YOU SAYING SIREI

YES YUGAMU I’D LIKE TO GIVE TAKUMI'S HUMANITY TO YOU

aw that's a bittersweet promise

these memory dreams are plot relevant

my twin came up with a big brain theory: The commander said it takes three months for full assimilation to occur that's around 100 days Are they doing some sort of assimilation thing with the Defense Team?

Kako specifically wants Takumi, probably a vision

No Nozomi it’s not like that

What

Just a fade out like that???

Day 70: Oh Eito, good morning :)

Oh Yugamu, is he going to ask about his modifications?

Oh my the height difference between Eito and Kako

Wait talking to Yugamu after this I think he’s thinking about something else

Day 71: YO WHO'S RINGING MY DOORBELL

oh it’s Kako so it’s fine

Ohhhh Yugamu what do you mean by that I bet he put a tracker, Yep he did

Lol, he did do the corpse desecration, my man

EITO????? That is so unlike you?

what

YUGAMU PLZ ELABORATE ON THAT ??? NO? You’re not???

Wow new animation for the bus

Why Takumi got a face like that

PIXEL ART JUMPSCARE

Oh that’s the invader base isn’t it

Awww I feel bad for Kako

Day 72: One team to defend the school, one to attack the base

We’re definitely going to have two battles

Only five people willing to fight? new Kako sprite

Finally we learn more about this issue

So henoanima can reject

Oh so we all have special blood, i.e I bets it’s commander blood and THAT'S WHY EITO HAS HEALTH PROBLEMS ISN'T IT

Cryptogoblin...

Cannibilistic…

Now I’m thinking of vampire AUs

Wow I got 11 AP for one turn lol OH dude got a cool mask design

What the heck he’s a turret?

Eito MVP as always

Dang all day and night searching?

Day 73: oh prisoners dead

Day 74: Oh Yugamu i cannot wait to see the fruits of your labor

OH NOZOMI??

Awwww smol nozomi

Oh my goodness this whole thing reminds me of Ceroba from Udnertale Yellow

oh

Oh??

I KNEW IT

They might be test tube babies?? That’ll explain the weird discrepancy between Nozomi and their TRC. Like if going by the whole assimilation theory, I guess it could explain it? There's also what Sirei said earliers. As Eito said before there's definitely some time discrepancy going on that were not aware of

Why do you keep repeating happy end Takumi, you’re raising so many flags

Day 75: aww she is putting on a brave face :(

Gaku time

Bro the money convinced him

Huh explore? All on your own Eito???

Day 76: Aw Mozomi and Takumi are really great together ^^

YEAH EITO, defend your man’s honor

Bro, I realized I upgraded Ima for nothing

Why can we hang out in the bathroom with Shouma Oh he cleans them

Day 77: YAY I CAN interact with Yugamu again, he’s out of the lab

What is this drug bro

Ooo Gaku and Eito

TAKUMI YOUR KILLING HER

…Takumi, Gaku knows to do like one thing, it’s pretty obvious what they’re planning to do

Day 78: What makes 78 special? Probably a Japanese pun

WOW Gaku is so talented

Pretty good idea for your dumba*** BURN

THEY'RE STANDING NEXT TOGETHER

lol Darumi on the floor

Ah this CG is great

“Violently” LMAO

ahaha the classic festival date trope lol

Day 79: Don’t tell me we got drugged again

Oh lol he was just that tired

YO THE SOUND DIRECTION IN THIS GAME IS SO GOOOD I COULD HEAR HER SEARCH AND PUT THE MASK ON

WHAT

THERYE INSIDE

WHATWHATWHATWHAYWHAT

wow sneak section

Oh I do not like the heartbeat sound

WHAT THEY DO TO IMA

Owwww, noo Ima I don’t want to hurt you :(

Eito once again MVP

But I have to give Yugamu the finishing blow cause he was also MVP

Oh, reconstruction…you finally get to do some body modification Yugamu

Day 80: Ah seeing Nozomi in the morning

Day 81: I don’t think that’s what a person that’s fine says

Who’s at the door

Hello Kurara

Gratitude gets to her lol

AHHHHHH

I DIDN’T THINK IT'LL BE LIKE THIS

This is going to take some getting used to

AYY EITO WHY ARE YOU PRAISING HIM SO MUCH???

Day 82: OH I REALLY MESSED UP UPGRADING IMA LMAO

Oh so that’s how we get a translator

Uh oh that’s not good news

Uh why he acting like that

Day 83: what why he didn’t choose Takumi

Day 84: ?????

WHAT

Ohhh, Tsubabsa saw him?

Day 85: KAKO YOU SMART GIRL, FINALLY SOMEONE WITH SENSE

Wow that’s sure is convenient for Takumi

Well now we’ll find those secrets for ourselves

Oh a body

HUH

Yo the traitor got the her didn’t they

BUT WHO??

awww

Ima watchu thinkin

Day 86: FAST AND FURIOUS IN THIS

stuck in time?

Another stealth section

WTF IS THAT

THAT ALARM SOUND

oooo new stage to fight in

EXODUS?

Artificial Artifact? Must be the moon

Nigou just be killing himself

Takumi really be saying don’t worry about all dat kitten to himself

Day 87: why is that music playing

Why so many dots??????

Wha???

SHIZUHAHRA????

KURARAS FACEEJDD

THEY JUMPED MY BOY

LMAOO CLASSIC TOAST RUN THATS SIREI????

WHAT GHOST BOY

Takumi screams :)

Now how does that work?

Oh cool everything sounds deafened, the words are scrambled as well

I think that’s a giant leap there Ima

DJ GAKU FOR THE SAVE

Oh this commander slays

Eito???

Day 88: Depressing day

Decided to combine the two cause the first one was a pretty short session and then I finally got the time to play all day

[coachrivero]

How can Tulane improve basketball?

Fire Ron Hunter. Take the program seriously and hire a young innovative coach

We know that simply isn’t going to happen, at least not this cycle. To be honest I’m not really frustrated that Hunter will back next season, like I was this time last year. I was flabbergasted when Tulane didn’t fire him last March following an extended tank in year 5. But here he is, unfired, most of that team is gone and he was awarded a clean slate to rebuild in year 6.

24/25 started off bad like you would realistically expect with a coach you should’ve fired and a ragtag roster of freshmen and transfers. Then Tulane got into AAC play and started winning a few games. Granted the AAC is weak as fuck. If you take out Memphis it is essentially the Southland. However, Tulane did start playing complimentary basketball and stopped losing Quad 4 games. The Green Wave finished with a Division 1 record of 17-14 (12-6 AAC).

Was Tulane good? No. We were definitely Quad 4 merchants. Went 12-2 in Quad 4 and 5-4 in Quad 3. Tulane had zero good wins in the eyes of the NCAA. 0-3 against Quad 1 and 0-5 against Quad 2

Using both the eye test and the analytics that the NCAA considers gospel, Tulane is a flawed basketball team. The NET is 145 which is slap in the middle of Division 1 basketball. They do play hard though and became fun to watch later in the year. I actually enjoyed watching them. Rarely have I seen a Green Wave basketball team compete like they did. That should at least count for something

To conclude the introductory portion I can at least rationalize bringing Hunter back for the final year of his contract given the moderate improvement of the team.

Now how does Tulane improve its program?

Cheat the Metrics

The NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) is the primary metric used by the NCAA to sort Division 1 basketball teams.

The NET is different from RPI which only factors 3 components, your winning percentage, your opponent’s winning percentage, and the winning percentage of everyone your opponents play.

The NET uses

- [ ] Game results

- [ ] Strength of schedule

- [ ] Game location

- [ ] Net offensive and defensive efficiency

- [ ] Quality of wins and losses

Basically, the most important thing the NET looks at is playing tough competition, especially on the road and neutral locations. It’s better for your resume to play SEC teams at their place and lose than play Quad 4 teams and win. Hunter is scared to play good teams on the road nonconference and get boat raced, but it’s more palatable in the eyes of the NCAA than playing cupcakes. We also have a bad habit of losing buy games so best to limit them as much as you can.

A quick breakdown of the Quadrant system:

* Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75

* Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135

* Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240

* Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353

Non Division 1 games are rightfully not recognized by the NCAA. The fans love beating Dillard University by 40, but it does absolutely nothing for your NET rating, so there’s no point to even play these games. It’s a waste of time

Admittedly it will be difficult for Tulane to get many Quad 1 games on the schedule, because these are likely serious programs who care about their NET and want to make the NCAA tournament. Also, if you are playing Quad 3-4 games, you better bully the fuck out of these teams. The NCAA selection committee frowns upon Quad 3 and Quad 4 losses.

So this begs the question. How does Tulane cheat the NET? Simple. Look no further than the Mountain West, who has been farming NET to get fraudulent teams in the NCAA tournament for years.

Schedule as many good teams as you can. Doesn’t matter if you play them home, away, or on the moon. Quad 4 games offer little upside and high risk. So avoid scheduling Southland, SWAC, and crappy online schools who have poor NET ratings. If you can’t get marquee matchups against SEC teams, then get as many Quad 2 games as you can. Play good mid majors on the road, or average teams who farm their NET with power conference games.

Tulane needs to be smart with the way their build their nonconference schedule in 25/26. The American Conference doesn’t offer many Quad 1-2 opportunities besides Memphis. Lazy scheduling and padding the win column with non-D1 games serves no purpose but to get to Cancun as quickly as possible.

But you do have to win at least some of those games against good teams

Be good at Basketball

The most important thing to the NCAA is metrics. A distant second is actually being good at the sport

Player retention is critical. Gregg Glenn running it back is cool because having an athletic forward who can handle the ball is important in Ron Hunter’s offense. The most important would be Rowan Brumbaugh, one of the best Green Wave point guards in recent memory. Defections will obviously happen, but I would make it a priority to retain him. The best way to construct a basketball roster is around great guard play.

Clearly Brumbaugh is the wildcard. If he bolts the team will assuredly be worse. Tulane might as well fire Ron Hunter at that point, like any other D1 program would have done on March 15th, 2024 at 8 in the morning

More production we should try to return. Asher Woods, Percy Daniels, and Mari Jordan. All of these players developed as the season progressed. Kaleb Banks and Kam Williams would be nice but I don’t see them returning. Banks likely has his destination lined up and Williams hired an agent so you know he’s about to pull a Mensah. In this day and age I wouldn’t be surprised with any defections including the aforementioned group. We’ll probably lose more players than we’re comfortable with. Hopefully not a mass exodus

The transfer portal works both ways also. We need to add talent. Contrary to the belief of the philistines in Tulane’s basketball fanbase, our 145 NET Crown Royal tournament team wasn’t that good. Tulane is unlikely to sign elite players out of high school due to the program being ass. Our bread and butter will be transfer recruiting. Perhaps we can entice some portal players over here for a slightly larger bag than they were making.

There are quite a few holes in this roster. I wouldn’t grade any specific needs over other ones because we could use good basketball players. Plain and simple. I would like to see Tulane add a wing who can shoot at least. Guard depth would be nice so we could hopefully run combo guard sets with Brumbaugh. Memphis killed the AAC with guard play behind foul merchant PJ Haggerty despite sleepwalking through conference. Another role player big doesn’t seem too much to ask for. We struggle in the paint defensively against teams with legit college bigs

You can recruit good players, but you also have to coach them up. Ron Hunter’s coaching performance in American Conference play was decent at times with the limitations of this team. I wouldn’t say great because the only “good” win was UAB at home. But he actually made some adjustments and got this team to defend and rebound. Hunter teams usually play zero defense and treat rebounding like a federal crime, so this was good to see.

Maybe I have become the very thing I hate. Maybe I am a glazer. Lifetime contract loading? 🔥

Invest in the program

Capital investment in Tulane Basketball is unlikely to happen. I can list several things more likely to happen, like me being elected the next Pope, or getting a lap dance from Kendall Jenner

I’m sure Tulane could invest in hoops. I just don’t expect them to randomly wake up one morning and pour resources into a sport they’ve been neglecting for the last 30 years

I should probably also not expect Ron Hunter to randomly wake up and say “Hey! I want a competitive schedule to help our NET rating!” Or Tulane players to say “Hey! I want to pass on a bigger payday and greater stage to help uplift this dormant program!”

Perhaps this is a fool’s errand, but investing in getting better is the best way to… get better. Memphis is good because they invest 3 times more than most other mid majors. Tulane is a place where success typically has to come first before investment (see football). So invest in a better basketball coach when Ron Hunter retires or gets fired next season.

The basketball arena is an interesting subject. It does provide a good home court advantage on the rare occasion it is packed. However, it is hella outdated and nowhere near standard should Tulane miraculously catch a break in conference realignment. Hold on I just got a snap from Kendall Jenner.

I can beat this dead horse until it’s barely recognizable that it was a horse to begin with. Bottom line is we need some kind of breakthrough to get the University, community, and students interested in Tulane hoops.

I always tell people this. You can’t make Tulane care, but if you care about Tulane sports give to NIL. Whether you give a little or a lot, anything helps the greenies win. Fear the Wave Collective works tirelessly to aid Tulane coaches in acquiring and retaining talent. I’m not the biggest glazer of Tulane. In fact I hate quite often, but I will glaze these dudes. Arata, Ordeneaux, and Comarda are the real deal.

It’s hard to make the NCAA tournament. To us it seems like a pipe dream, having not gone in 30 years and counting. I’m here to tell you it can be done. 64 teams do it every year. Some with less resources than us.

If Tulane aspires to do more with less, it would easily be an improvement over doing absolutely nothing. The only thing I can think of besides a complete overhaul of infrastructure (grabs nightstick again) is a young energetic head coach who will come here and absolutely kill it.

Carlin Hartman would be our basketball Jon Sumrall. Slam dunk hire that everyone wants. There are others too. Pick the best mid major coach and pay him a million dollars annually like Ron Hunter makes and they’re probably coming. Some suggestions: Robert Jones, Matt Langel, Bucky McMillan, Takayo Siddle.

Some form of institutional commitment would be nice. Always being cheap and taking the easy way out gets you 0 NCAA tournaments in 30 years.

Conclusion

Tulane fandom is not easy. That’s part of the allure why I continue to pull for the Olive and Blue despite having no real connection to the school. I would be a sidewalk LSU fan like everyone else if it wasn’t for my dad.

We all remember how hopeless Green Wave football was until it wasn’t. That’s what make winning here so special. Why we will talk about the Cotton Bowl for the rest of our lives. Because it happened and it was awesome. Despite how incredibly unlikely it was.

College Basketball, especially March Madness, is a big deal. It’s a huge stage for exposure and to uplift the profile of the school. Basketball is just a child’s game in which participants put an orange ball through a hoop. Sports are unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but they are the most visible aspect of your university.

Specifically, if Tulane aspires to join a P4 conference and be associated with greater academic and athletic peers. Men’s basketball is the next thing to fix.

For now, we exist in purgatory. An irrelevant program who was only good in the 90’s playing a bunch of NAIA’s and junior colleges in front of 300 people.

Putting down the nightstick covered in the now emulsified horse remains. We are playing in a postseason for the first time since 2014 (CBI).

This upstart consolation tournament is not an accomplishment but I’m not going to downplay it either. It’s Tulane playing basketball after the season ends which typically never happens.

You may say “hang the banner” (I’m sure we will) but I will be watching. Interested to see how Tulane does against a bunch of down-bad big conference teams.

I hope this isn’t the pinnacle. The basketball standards are too low. Personally I would consider qualifying for March Madness 30% of the time (3 out of every 10 years) with a floor of NIT/ Crown/ (whatever shitty consolation tournament) most years a good baseline for success. Going to the tournament every few years or so but at least being decent most of the time.

Essentially I think seasons like the one we just had should be the floor and not contract extension worthy

If Tulane football can do it why not basketball?

Thanks for reading. Roll Wave! 🌊