#He also jumped into lava after he said he could make the jump

[sparkly-butthole-on-ao3]

*record scratch*

*freeze frame*

Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation...

[cottoncandybitchfuck]

Riz Gukgak, a little rogue from a single-parent household. A natural detective, going nights without sleeping and worrying his mother to death. He was looking for his babysitter who had gone missing, he didn’t care about friends. He was the briefcase kid, he was used to getting bullied. He gets thrown into a trash can and called “The Ball.” He stole a teabag in the name of getting clues and got detention. He brought a gun to his first day of school. He killed a monster, making the worst but smartest choice of jumping into the corn monster. He joined the A.V. club with some gross people just to solve a mystery. He started taking care of a random rat just because he could. He used his suitcase as a skateboard during combat. He shot Coach Daybreak when he was unconscious just to make sure he was dead. He knew they weren’t done yet despite the cops having the palimpsest. He took 7 damage to try to save someone from a palimpsest. He shot 2 of his classmate’s fingers off to get him to answer their questions. He holds the sword of shadows. He kills a dragon and then eats him. “Fury of the Ball” He becomes a licensed investigator. He lied about having a partner, and it manifested and kidnapped him. He comes clean immediately. He gave up a secret only to save his friend he never thought he would have. He tried to help Fabian feel better after the fight at the Row and the Ruction. He helped save Adaine, helping take down a Plyon. He found record of the coin from the Nightmare King in Kalvaxus’ Horde. He was also the first to find out about the Shadow Cat.  He represented Fig in a legal trial in Hell. He met his dad and almost thought he was bad. He became part of the Lower Planar Reconnaissance Task Force. His biggest fear was getting left by his friends getting in relationships. He came up with the way to destroy Kalina. He used magic to be able to drive. He ran over Fabian. He joined every club he could and became a campaign manager so that he could go to college since his mom couldn’t afford it. *His principal cast Hold Monster on him…  He didn’t hesitate to protect Fig from the moon by throwing her into his briefcase and jumping in after her. His nightmare followed him, it attacked his friends. He got away again. He learned to talk shit. He hid so well and helped with the Last Stand so much. He found the rogue teacher, he solved so many points of the mystery. He killed another dragon! He is so protective of his friends, and he hated what the rat grinders stood for. “Make sure to cut his head off so he can’t be revived.” He submerged in lava just to throw Kipperlilly off.  “Very good on paper but… no practical application.” He apologized to Fig and Kristen for pushing them to do school when they didn’t want to, as well as made sure Kristen actually wanted to be president. He is Riz Gukgak, The Ball, and he is a huge part of the bad kids despite being so small. And the one thing Porter was right about? Riz is a “Little Shadow” and he is good at it too. 

It took me three hours to write this because I had to condense and cut so much. It’s 1am (12:14) in a warehouse in the middle of the sea (a dorm room) and I am finally done with this style of post. At least 4 more Bad Kids posts are coming, and then I’ll be normal again (posting about other fandoms and dnd shows)

*I said this was important! He used dominate person on Ruben, so that was a choice Grix made, there are no mechanical reasons for monster to work vs person

[crescynnt]

Some thoughts about the Influencer Arc

Green hurt each of his friends on a personal level during the Influencer Arc.

The most obvious example is the lava prank for Blue. After climbing out of the lava, Blue cooled down his leg with a bucket of water, likely a reference to the Piglin War episode where he was burned on the same spot while saving the little piglin.

Although it was never confirmed, the two most likely sticks to suggest making the blooper video were Blue or Red (I'm going with Blue for the sake of argument). This means Green actively rejected his idea for it not being "quality content".

Yellow was also an obvious punching bag for Green. His jump in Green's Minecraft vlog was deleted after a commenter said he was "pretty useless".

Arguably, the cut superhero video (where Yellow was making a robot) was Yellow's idea to prove that he wasn't useless. His role in the previous two superhero videos was just the cop/officer, which was likely what prompted the commenter to say he was useless. By creating a video where the main villain was something he created, he was trying to prove that he, too, could do something "useful" for the videos.

As for Red, the hyperactive one, he was the first one to feel Green's neglect towards his friends. He was the first to be seen walking away at the end of the Minecraft vlog and had his arms crossed multiple times in the behind-the-scenes.

Later in the TikTok videos, Green also redded out the background of a video due to his friend's lackluster dancing.

For Second, it was a little more complicated than just deleting his dancing videos. The thing Second values the most is his friends. When he saw Green pushing each of them away, to the point of hurting them for content, he tried to take the phone away and get his friend to stop.

But Green didn't see a problem with it and acted as if everything was normal. That was the breaking point. Second was protecting his friends against someone who'd turned on them.

It wasn't just about losing Green to social media. Green was a friend that was actively pushing each of them away, both intentionally and unintentionally. Even though they wanted to support him and help him create content (they weren't exactly enthused to make TikTok dances but did it anyway), all Green had been doing was actively rejecting their help.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Bruh I was gonna write this as a ficlet but I ain't never gonna finish. Here, feel free to add or contribute if you please or enjoy:

This wasn't how Wukong's day was supposed to go. He was supposed to just do a quick flight over to the city, check his former brother's seal, and return home to another binge marathon of Monkey Cop and pigging out on peach chips. None of this successor stuff, none of this fighting to save the world bullcrap. Just a normal, regular old day of being completely alone aside from his younger and more feral subjects, the cubs often curling up on him or practicing their grooming. Just like he's done for the past 500 plus years.

His sister-in-law and her son finding a way to actually succeed in their quest to release his brother wasn't in that plan... neither was the unexpected reunion between Wukong and the little cub he'd given up all those years ago. Qi Xiaotian, or MK as he was known as, had grown up quite a lot in the years since he'd broken his own heart by placing a human disguise on him, sealing his powers away, and left him to the decendants of his late master and brother to find. Don't get him wrong, he hadn't done so out of neglect or because he didn't want to keep the cub. Hell, he hadn't even completely abandoned him either, consistently checking up on the little guy and keeping him safe from a distance as he grew. But he wasn't stupid either, the kid would have been miserable growing up with Wukong, would have never had a normal life if he was left with the old king, and that was the last thing Wukong had wanted for him.

Even so, seeing him suddenly appear out of nowhere had near made Wukong's stone heart jump out of his chest. Why his cub (Wukong firmly shook his head at the reminder that MK was NOT his cub anymore and he doesn't have the right to call him that) was even in that dirty alleyway climbing the pipes he has no idea, but at the moment Wukong had bigger things to worry about. Like his brother rising from the ground as his staff was lifted by some weird gauntlet his nephew had built and the fact he was in no way capable of fighting his brother again.

The kid promptly running away and then losing the staff in some hairbrained scheme to get it back to him after he picked it up hadn't been the best. Nor was the kid nearly being blown into a lava field by his sister-in-law and being forced to save him and carry him the rest of the way to Huāguǒshān hadn't been the best outcome either, but he'd take it.

He just wished it hadn't come at the cost of the kid discovering Wukong's secret. He had kinda figured it'd get out when the kid decided to try to return the staff to him, but he kinda wish it hadn't happened the way it had. The kid had seen him as he transformed back into his true form from his eagle form, which normally wouldn't be an issue, except Wukong had gotten up that morning and decided not to even bother brushing his fur or changing out of his pajamas.

Like he said, he had been planning a quick peekey weekey at the staff to make sure nothing was amiss and then binging his shows, nothing exciting or cleanup worthy. And considering his pajama shirt proudly proclaimed 'Baby on Board' there was simply no hiding the truth. Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, was pregnant.

Had been since before the Journey that truly made him a legend had even properly started, not that anyone beyond Guanyin or the Pilgrims had known.

MK had naturally been extremely excited to meet his idol and also quite confused about his condition. Wukong had just laughed off the matter for the most part. It certainly wasn't the worst reaction he'd dealt with in regards to his condition, Zu Baije had taken the cake for that one. And of course, Wukong had to be a kind host and lead the kid back to his hut, partially so he could change out of pajamas into something more fitting for company, while the kid rambled on about the Demon Bull King. It was during the walk back that Wukong had, essentially, admitted to spying on the kid.

And admitted to his own fault in getting the kid involved, confessing that he had sort of panicked in the moment. It was only fair that he fessed up, as he truly hadn't intended to put him in any true danger. He needed a distraction. Something to get that staff away from the IronBull Family, and the kid was the only available option. Especially when considering the more than likely negative feelings the IronBuul Fanily harbor towards Wukong and his precious egg.

He'd even complimented MK's handling of the staff, which was quite impressive considering exactly what Ruyi Jingu Bang actually was and the fact the kid had no prior experience with staffs or any type of weaponry as far as Wukong knew. The fact he could even lift the ancient artifact at all was impressive. He even joked that he might as well make him Wukong's successor for real after seeing that, after getting the staff back. That was a mistake. The kid took the joke seriously and decided that, since Wukong clearly couldn't fight in his condition, he would fight of Demon Bull King in his stead.

Wukong was almost impressed, if he hadn't been busy panicking over how BAD of an idea that was. MK is mortal!! He could get hurt! But apparently stubbornness is a common trait among Stone Monkeys and their ilk, because once MK had the idea in his head he refused to let it go. At this point, the best Wukong could do is damage control.

And by that he meant 'reign the kid in enough to get an actually viable plan up off the ground.' A plan that, upon reaching the city where the IronBull Family were beginning their conquest, and being surprised to see MK's friends rise to the occasion to try to fight the demon family themselves in the process, immediately went belly up in the water. The kid was supposed to stay back, let Wukong handle distracting the king while he got his friends to safety and snuck close enough to try to summon the staff from where it was being used as a battery in the generator DBK was wearing to power himself up. But then Wukong collapsed as soon as they landed, the multiple trips and carrying a teenager across an active volcano field being too much in addition to the baby that consistently drained his powers and the dao around it. Because of course Stone Monkey pregnancies can't be easy, right!?

Seeing the situation, MK promptly took Wukong's role and challenged the Bull King, leaving Wukong groundbound and trying to sneak close enough to get to the staff.

Then MK fucked up.

Wukong has no idea what the cub was thinking, but he decided to go for the generator himself, causing a massive explosion and a ton of property damage. And for Wukong, that resulted in a building falling on top of him. Luckily, Wukong is the Monkey King and was able to cast a last second protection spell upon his stomache to prevent his baby from getting hurt and he himself is immortal and mostly invincible, unfortunately he doesn't have the strength left between everything to get out from under the building. And he's fairly certain he has a couple of broken ribs and his leg is most definitely not supposed to bend that way. Meaning he was stuck, injured, and vulnerable out in the open with only him hastily throwing his dirty and ripped scarf over his head in a desperate attempt to stop anyone with unfriendly intentions, namely his former brother, from recognizing him.

In short, he was screwed.

See, an unfortunate truth about Stone Monkeys is that the reason they are

so rare in spite of their unique methods of procreation and power... is because it comes at a heavy cost. The stone egg that grows within a celestial primate feeds upon their very life force and the dao around them. Meaning that between the egg, multiple trips between his island and the city, and the work he put in to just keep the shrapnel from the battle form hitting any of the mortals who just had to stop and stare, Wukong had very little of his strength and power left to do something as simple as moving a couple thousand tons of rubble, debris, and shrapnel that was now burying his lower body. Some of which was digging painfully into his leg. Sometimes he wishes he had never let himself be redeemed, things would have been simpler if he didn't care about dorky mortals who foolishly hang out where they shouldn't be or pick fights with ancient demon kings.

"Hey, hey!" Wukong's ears perked as a voice shouted over the explosions of DBK's cannon. Blinking, he turned his head towards the sound, trying to blink past the dust and debris clouds that looked just a little too much like smoke in the waning light of the sunset. When did it get so late!? A large, stocky figure that would be considered short by most demons' descriptions but looked a giant in Wukong's own unglamorous opinion began to fade out of the dust around him, and bringing another sense of panic to him.

Zu Baije's decendant.

The monkey demon absolutely could not risk him seeing him. Being recognized in this vulnerable state would be bad news for him and his baby, that aside, he himself is msot certainly not mentally or emotionally ready to handle seeing a potential reincarnation of his brother! It doesn't take a genius, when one has Eyes of Truth, to realize the soul now running towards him through the debris shared the sound of his ancestor. Wukong squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think of a way out fo this as the piglet fell to his knees next to him.

"Are you alright!? Jeez... what am I sayin!? Of course you ain't, a building fell on you! Hey, don't worry, well getcha outta here."

The pig was rambling as he took in the filthy orange fur and unnatural angle of the monkey's leg. Wukong forced a smile upon his lips, all teeth and praying it be reassuring. Time to try to convince him to leave.

"D-don't worry about me. I'm fine." Wukong coughed out, cursing the way his voice stumbled over the words. The pig did not seem convinced, or I pressed for that matter, with. Wukong's reassurance. Instead he collapsed next to the monkey demon and began digging at the debris.

"H-hey, what..." Wukong tried to weakly shove him off, "I said not to worry! A bunch of rocks isn't gonna hurt me, you should just get out of here yourself! The fight is heading in this direction!"

AHHHHH!H!HH!H!H!H!

@a-tea-goblin you seeing this!?

This is gotta be one of the best gifts i've recieved in a long while!

I love the descriptions of Wukong + MK instantly deciding "I protec you now." when he realises that the Monkey King isn't doing so great cus of the baby.

And Dadsy to the rescue!! You know Wukong is caught off guard - I love how you have him protesting getting helped the entire time. He's not used to people caring about him again.

Even if you never "finish" this as a ficlet, I immensely enjoyed what you wrote!

[starflungwaddledee]

🕰️🩷🧋and 🥘 for starstuck Dee please and thank you.

[ >>> kirby oc ask meme <<< ]

🕰️ (Clock) - What would a Dreamy Gear version of them look like? What sort of accessories would they have? What kind of role do they play?

well i couldn't resist drawing it once i'd thought about it, so here she is! still pretty recognisable, but i think that large elements of her story and the suspicions surrounding her would be different, due to the fact that waddle dee/bandee is usually the one and only waddle dee. i think she'd still be found in a meteor crater at the edge of town by meta knight, but i think this time he'd bring her to bandee instead of president dedede, mostly due to the clear visual similarities. bandee would take her in instantly, and she'd follow him around the mechanic shop, learning to tinker and serving as his glorified assistant. learns to make really good apple tea instead of being a friendly chatterbox she would be shy and selectively mute, speaking out loud exclusively to bandee. though she still forms relationships with kirby and meta knight, i think that sadly in this world president dedede would frighten her, despite how highly bandee thinks of him 😭 at meta knight's suggestion, after he finds her squinting skyward on the roof at night a few too many times, she makes herself a pocket telescope for looking at stars and surveying the weather. she uses it to give bandee reports, which he discretely passes on to kirby and dedede for their races.

🩷 (Pink Heart) - If they were a Dream Friend, what would their moveset be like? How much HP do they have? Would they be a strong attacker, or would they take on more of a support role?

she would be a support role for sure, but i also can't resist also giving her some specialised abilities... > hp: small health bar, but practically immune to damage. will still die in insta-kill scenarios like lava or crush blocks > basic attack: if bandana waddle dee, meta knight, or king dedede are on the team she'll get a simple swing attack with a toy/training version of their weapon. if at least two are on the team, it's upgraded to an attack with a three-swing combo, and she'll alternate at random between which weapon she pulls > basic support: drawing magic from the environment around her or other allies or enemies present, she can give a wide variety of power effects. i previously said she'd give blustery and i stand by it, because even if there are no other elements around there's always air, but i think she could give the others too. she cannot attack with any of these herself > healing: under CPU control she'll focus on running ahead to pick up heal items, and bring them back. if everybody has full health, she'll actually store the item and bring it out later whenever anyone gets below half health; tdlx bandee style > meteor shower: this is a charge attack that starts with a 3 minute cooldown. after charging, she can use it by jumping in the air and pressing a multi-button combo, to avoid accidental activation. this is a full screen, crash-like attack with a shooting star visual, similar to team meteor. all on screen enemies defeated, and most bosses down to at least 1/3 health. > downed: unfortunately after using the charged attack she will drop her inventory, pass out, and need to be piggy backed for about 5 minutes if you want to keep her on the team (walking over to her will activate a 'piggy back' bar instead of the standard 'revive'). she cannot heal or give buffs during this time, but can be dropped by accident or when attacked, and can take damage that cannot be healed. if she makes it she wakes up at partial health, but returns to being invulnerable while conscious

🧋 and 🥘 both answered here!

[murkystarlight]

Screw it.

Dreamzzz season2 spoilers pt.1

(And my personal comments)

Alright. Starting from episode 1

I didn't realize that Cooper having a sudden interest in chips would be a hint to something later(it probably isn't but it seems like it to me). Cooper apperantly had a full list of things to fix and make... also the Night Bureau really can't do their job done properly can they. How does Cooper go to school? And study? And get good grades?? Also love how everyone names their cars

It was cool seeing Sneak working with them. And Nova, too bad they... uh- dissapear after like... episode 4? I think

Mateo trying to find a way to get z-blob back, and the Nightmare king... why is he such an icon all of a sudden?? Like-

Also, I like that how Mateo got the kid show treatment. Might as well sing 'we're all in this together'

And Dallas joining the knitting club!!

It was pretty nice. Just a simple small detail, but I like stuff like that so... Looks like he's not going to be bullying anyone now

It was very fun watching the crows(ravens? Don't remember) snatch their memories. When I saw what the memories that was stolen were about I started screaming like-

I actually think they all have a good reasoning. Logan always loved his music(would've been better if he forgot how to sing entirely) , Cooper... well he's the tech guy, and for Izzie, she was the who accepted the dream world the fastest. Who liked it the most in the first season right? There are more cool and amazing reasons than this but my stupid brain can't think of anything else right now

Episode 2

Apperantly there's a lava realm? Cool

Mr. Oz being angry, Logan being.. well, Logan. And Cooper is just adorable. He's having so much trouble. His purpose in life kinda snap

And when everyone else just jumps into the castle, Izzie takes her time to take the stairs

And Izzie having trouble with "dont open your mouth" she's so funnn

I had trouble understanding Astrid-

Royce guy has a weird whistle.

Cooper looks so happy until his mind went blank and his face is just- 'dude wait, what was I doing?' I thought he lost his tech skills?? Why did he become... dumber? It's cute though

"Sorry-" _ Izzie

Also, Logan said a lot of smart stuff in this episode. One of my favorites was

"If I forgot it, how would I know?"

Mr. Oz trying SO hard not to swear. I could see the struggle-

And the flash cards 😭 when did they get a rule book?!!(first ep)

Also, how many eggs do you think Cooper cracked. How does he not remember how to not but a bolt and screw together?? Just- stick it in! Learn to do it again? Poor thing

And the Night Hunter! +Susan and Snivel. They're a bunch of sillies

Cooper getting pressured by his family again- (is it just me or does he get his character development after like... two episodes and be the one stable guy holding the team together? He's useful. Like actually useful) Cooper's voice also wouldn't stop cracking

"Do you ever get sand in your eyes? Or your shorts?" (The Sandman had legs?? Yes, had. He... he gone now.)

Also kinda funny how all of Mateo's dreamcrafting gets blob-ified

"The one time! I actually want to hear your beats, and you forget?!"

Zoey! Why would you randomly jump into a cauldron!! (Also, the Night Hunters memory being Zoey- I already had a feel)

Mrs Castillo is the best

I'm also very curious of... what or who the Never Witch is??

There is a lot of pushing and shoving people. And it's only the second episode

Also-

"So you're not the tech genius you used to be. You still got- ....uh.... what other talents do you have?"

Oh godddd noooooooooooo he said it- Oh god........

"I'm gonna go drown my troubles in the candy realm" (kids. Too much sugar isn't good for you)

(He can't even figure out how to put his phone on silent anymore) he got an A+ in a science project, by cooking?? I thought it was a SCIENCE PROGECT??

Imagine a kid suddenly pulling out an apron and asking for a kitchen to work in. During a science project (he's a chef now), he also just... kept the flan? Thing, in his locker-.... is that... okay?

I mean... I did watch this science show on Netflix about these super smart girls and their names being mc². And one of them bakes. Using science. I mean... science works in everything... and I guess if the teachers said okay then its.. okay?

Sandman and Never Witch fighting, he will be remembered. It was pretty cool actually. I wonder if they have any history

Next part

Bonus(also the reason of why I said screw it)

[starscreamerfan]

This was originally shared to the Transformers discord Im apart of but its so amazing fucking weird i decided to share ENJOY THE FREE NIGHTMARES!!

"Just jolted awake from deeply troubling yet oddly calm nightmare and i must share this abomination with you, so it started off with a spooky little island that was just a victorian house and rock (already sus) but under the house was a decepitcon slave mine where the Vehicons like shared the work with captured human slaves and G1 extra autobots (a bunch of no name background charaters) mining some shit (idk what) but then BAM! the dream jumps and I'm watching a small group of army dudes and a couple of autobot (Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet and it was either Prime or Ironhide tbh i said who and the nightmare said yes it could have been both) going to investigate the little island which is now super dark and spookily abandoned and they all go down into the mine and start seeing weird ass shit that looks like a meat bee nest (that disgusting rotten flesh hive I've seen float around social media) and then BAM HORRIBLE TRANSFORMERS/HUMAN/FLESH AMALGAMATION THATS LIKE 100% WORSE THEN ANYTHING RESIDENT EVIL, SILENT HILL OR DEAD SPACE COULD PUMP OUT and all the army humans get sucked in (cuz brain said fuck the canon fodder meat monster needs more meat) weird tentacles start dragging and melding with the poor nameless fools (like srsly they had no Business being there) and the autbots say FUCK THIS and run barely making it out and they lock that shit up faster then Blurr and take a fire lava baths to make sure they don't become some horrible fleshy nightmare horror monsters, que brain shoving in another time skip because dreams be like that, and some dumb ass human scientist person goes to the island and breaks into the mine (wearing a hazmat suit and a gas mask also dont ask i dont understand why they fine in just that its dream logic shit dont make any sense) and finds and a horrible optimus prime fusion meat mimic thing (but like its not the real OP like Daddy Optimus was safe) and the meat Optimus thing has become sentient and was somehow broke into pieces and was trying to rebuild its self slowly absorbing meat and forming it into a collective of different parts it remembered seeing (it was like meat optimus and several other autbots Frankenstein'd together) and so dumb ass cave diver science dude decides "I'm take it home and study it at my lab" and grabs the head which looks like a gross Meaty Optimus then i scene jump AGAIN to random Scientist dudes lab which it was a weird outdoor lab (no house in sight because brain didn't load anymore BG) in a giant tube science man had the mimic head and then he Proceeds to try to communicate with it, which seems to work (tho i couldn't hear what they were saying to each other) then the unholy flesh Optimus turns to face me where i was like floating watching everything go down passively the whole time being a third party watcher the this ungodly nightmare and it says in a SPOOKY FUCKING AMALGAMATED NIGHTMARE VOICE (WHICH I PHYSICALLY FUCKING HEARD!!)

W͕͕͎̭̜̰̘ͥ̂̈́ͣ͢ͅȦ̘̥͉̙̝͕͖͘K̵̲̩̟̣ͧ̓̂E̜̠͙̭ͮ͞ͅ ͔͖͙̤͕̞͎̯ͮ͌̀U̷̗̱̠ͧͦ̈́P͉̠͎̮̲͐̕

And i just jumped ten feet straight up in my bed and i swear i was having a heart attack and a panic attack all at the same timeIt was a definite "OH FUCK NO NO THANK YOU" moment"

(To those you i know on discord and here who saw this post on discord yes i did add more i noticed i missed some info at og time of posting that day and adding the missing bits maybe 20-30 mintues after the og discord post i was fucked up thinking about this hours after this nightmare ended)

[egg-emperor]

'Show me one time where he's genuinely a good person with good intentions, where selfishness, ego, and desire to survive and save the world so he can rule it isn't involved. There isn't any.' ehh, i don't know, id argue eggman saving tails in lost world counts. dude doesn't need tails to get past the yeti, only sonic. he yells 'tails!' to try and alert him and sounds generally concerned when doing so. He also makes the decision to save him in less than a second, meaning he didn't have time to weigh the pros and cons of saving one of his worst enemies, he just instinctively went to help him. mind you, this doesn't even contradict him threatening to turn tails into mincemeat in sa1, because as he explains, he's a complicated guy *shrug*. not trying to start any drama or anything, but i def believe there are a few stand out moments in game canon when eggmans 'human side' is shown that cant really be explained away without heavily reaching imo

I knew this could possibly be one of the moments someone could raise. But I have a response locked and loaded, I always account for everything and am ready to go lol. And I don't think it requires what I'd consider heavy reaching to explain away because I go by what can be seen/heard of game then carefully think about what it means while considering his character and what tracks with everything we know.

I see Eggman's save of Tails as calculated decision. There are a lot of benefits: Making the team up seem more genuine and convincing, winning Sonic over some more and possibly finally Tails after how hostile they were towards each other, the way the more is up against the D6, the better, and the way Sonic could possibly be less focused on the mission if he lost Tails. Also the bonus of how he'd prefer to kill both Sonic and Tails more personally than some random unplanned battle robot, just like Sonic falling into lava would've been underwhelming.

Eggman could see that he was starting to gain Sonic's reliability when he said that they need him to shut down his machine, while Tails wasn't happy about it and felt like Sonic trusted Eggman more. So if he jumps in and acts like a hero and saves Tails, it's going to help him seem more genuine and possibly win Tails over more too after their beef with each other. It makes sense for him to be prepared to act to seem convincing whatever it may be, even though he of course couldn't have predicted the modified robot to attack him.

I don't purely say this off vibes because when Sonic says "you could've gotten yourself killed" Eggman quickly smiles behind Sonic which makes him seem very suspicious I love it lol

It looks sly and mischievous for a guy who just saved someone's life, it's not giving "he did it out of the goodness of his heart", more like "yes it's working, Sonic said he 'can't figure me out', I'm convincing >:)"

If you think it's not possible that he could've thought that fast to weigh pros and cons, he had the plan to betray Sonic and Tails the moment they got him past the Deadly Six and back to his machine and new Eggrobo all along. So I contextualize everything within this. That gives plenty of time to plan on trying to make his facade of a willingness to work with them without any tricks all the more convincing. This is why I feel that him jumping in to save Tails was more calculated than it appears at first watch.

Plus, we know he can think and act that fast anyway. Because in the Lava Mountain scene where he fakes his death, he was planning to do that the whole time and was prepared but he couldn't have expected for it to be kicked off by the Deadly Six breaking the bridge. Yet he was able to quickly act to save Sonic, so he could still keep the Zeti back while he went to reprogram the machine and he could destroy him himself with his new mech as planned.

Him suddenly thinking fast to save Sonic was for selfish and sinister self motivated reasons, and I think it makes a lot of sense for the same to apply to Tails.

Shrugging it off and saying he's just a complicated guy was also the perfect thing to say that wouldn't make it obvious that he was trying to convince them to keep him around. Because otherwise they would've likely realized it doesn't add up with how he was acting just a couple scenes ago when he said he thinks he "liked it better when [he] was trying to destroy [Tails]" If he dismisses it in such a casual way that can't be disproven, he's not trying too hard to convince them.

But if you think parts of that are a little too speculative, though it does have a little something on screen and the context of why he's teaming up with them to support it, we can also go by how he visibly acts much more blatantly in the later cutscene at Silent Forest, when Tails falls into the trap.

Eggman has no reaction, he just stands and silently watches. Doesn't even have the slightest look of suprise or shock like the Frozen Factory Tails save cutscene, which makes the latter feel more performative of a response while he was right in front of Sonic.

He then gives Sonic a little speech while he's devastated to motivate him, so that he'll "make sure his sacrifice isn't for nothing", his sly way of saying "alright but you've still gotta help me, I'm not letting you get hung up on this" lol

He needs to make sure Sonic won't lose focus of their mission and still work hard and not lose hope, so he can get him past the Zeti and betray him later.

And he just gives a little "eh whatever" shrug while Sonic isn't looking again. Much like how he grinned when Sonic wasn't looking in the other scene. Like when Sonic isn't looking, you see the real same old Eggman and how he really feels about both situations.

It's really funny how much he just doesn't even react or give a fuck in this scene lol. I think it really testifies against him really caring about Tails in his previous save considering this is the next cutscene he's even in.

It makes sense for the reasons behind the save is a combination of performing heroics to seem more reliable in this truce because he was planning to betray them the whole time, along with how he expected Sonic to lose focus of their mission and not perform as well if he was devastated by the loss of Tails. So when he couldn't save him this time, he brings out the little motivating speech since it's all he can do now.

Especially since the modified battle robot would've certainly resulted in Tails' death which of course would've had a heavy impact on Sonic and could've affected his performance, while they weren't sure what the Deadly Six were going to do with Tails though Eggman did think of it as like a "sacrifice". So I see that as explaining his earlier actions of the save.

Like this, I can't think of any others that I wouldn't also have an explanation for that tracks with the way he's selfish and self motivated. Lost World, to me, really seems like another prime example of that instead. I love Lost World Eggman and just how much there is to explore and consider about his actions, knowing that he was using them and was going to betray them the whole time.

Eggman does a have a human side and genuinely human moments in the series because being human isn't being a good person. There are many ways to be. Selfishness is very human too. He has a bunch of human traits and moments that remind us that he's human and none involve him being a genuinely good selfless or caring person because it's not required for him to be.

I haven't seen anything that people use as examples of him being a good person that I can't find reasons to argue against and they don't require any huge reaches or speculation as there are always scenes and dialogue to support my points, like the stuff I used here. The more I go back and reanalyze, I only find more to support them despite my open mind and neutrality looking into it.

I only see a pure evil villain with a funny side who is exclusively self motivated only acts for purely selfish reasons that personally benefit him. Which tracks with the kind of egotist and narcissist he is, it's the strong defining core of his character that influences his mindset, goals, and actions throughout the series consistently. There isn't any scene where I can see any exceptions to this.

I encourage you to have your own take and disagree so we can have a discussion like this though. I understand you're not trying to start drama and respect your perspective, I'm interested to see and discuss and share my thoughts. I understand what it's like for people think it's your intention though, it sucks. This is always a chill space to agree or disagree as long as you're chill about it too. 🤝

[tigers-eyes-26]

Destiny

Before his nonna died she gave everyone in the family advice. Some of it was good some of it sounded like the crazy ramblings of an old ill woman.  The advice his nonna gave to Luigi was “Marry a girl whose name starts with D.” He was a little disappointed but brushed it off as the illness getting to her head. He wrote the “advice” in his journal and didn’t think about it. That was until he became interested in girls.

None took notice of him until after he grew his mustache in the last years of high school. Luigi dated Destiny Del Vecchio in high school. It was his first date, first girlfriend. He remembered what his nonna said and thought they were destined to be. Literally Destiny.

They broke up before she headed off to college in another state. He was going to the local trade school. She told him maybe they would be able to meet up after collage. “You never know what could happen.” They moved on with their lives, but sometimes he would have dreams that they would be married and live in some apartment somewhere.

After the whole magic world debacle. She did call him. She saw the newspapers and her parents told her about the crazy day that a lava filled monolith broke through the road with a fire breathing dragon turtle. The date was ok, but they didn’t click. They shook hands and bid each other goodbye. He stopped having dreams about her after that.

Luigi saw the relationship between the Princess and his brother blossom. He was so happy for them. It was cute seeing them become flustered. He always knew princesses would like Mario. Every Sunday they would have family dinner in Brooklyn. Their family would tease Mario about the Princess. Luigi would look at his uncle Arthur and his wife Marie and their kid. He kinda wanted that for himself. Eventually.

During the week he looked around him. They worked and lived among toads. He loved the toads but if he was going to eventually find a wife, he would have to spend some of his time elsewhere. He told Mario he would be spending his Saturdays back in Brooklyn. He asked his family to find some nice girls he could go on dates with. They happily did. He went on dates every Saturday. He clicked with none of them. His life was just too different for them to accept. He was happy with his life and living in the Mushroom Kingdom. After a year of failed dates, He decided he would put a pin in dating for a while. He went back to only going to Brooklyn on Sundays.

Luigi continued on with his life. He didn’t need to rush things; he didn’t need to force things. One day Princess Peach called him, Toad, and Mario to go investigate the desert. The Kongs wanted to build a racetrack there, but Peach wanted to make sure they wouldn’t be messing up a tribe or ecosystem that lived there. She also wanted them to investigate if there was anything from the earth that showed up in the desert and assess if it was safe.

****

They surprisingly met up with DK while in the desert. “The princess didn’t trust the Kongs to do their own research before they built a track?” The gorilla started. Mario and Toad wouldn’t stand for anyone to bad mouth the princess. Luigi backed away from the impending fight. Only to be poked in the back. He turned to see something tall in an orange hooded poncho and a shy guy mask, pointing a spear at him. Luigi yelped, alerting the others that something was wrong. Suddenly cactus-like balls burst from the sand creating a cage around the group.

“Why are you here?” The tall shy guy demanded. It sounded like a girl. Luigi looked down out of nervous habit. Out of the bottom of the poncho were some long human-like legs. Mario opened his mouth to answer but DK got to it first. “It’s none of your business!”

 Mario glared at DK. “Don’t say that!”

“WHY NOT! IT isn’t.”

“It clearly is!”

“How do we know?”

“CHE!” Mario threw his arms up in the air. Another argument started between the two, Toad jumped in to defend his best friend.

The figure ignored the squabble and poked Luigi again. “Answer!” she demanded.

He put his arms up in surrender. “W-we were seeing if we could build a kart racetrack here.”

“You can’t. Now go home.” She lifted her spear.

“Wait! W-we need to tell our higher ups why?”

“Because I said so!”

“W-well who are you?”

She huffed, “I’m Daisy, I protect this neutral land from either side of your stupid war.”

“There isn’t any war anymore. Bowser has been defeated.”

The masked lady looked at the still flaming argument. “Are the Kongs and the Mushroom Kingdom going to war over this land?”

“Oh, heheh No we are on good terms, it’s just those two” He pointed to his brother and DK, “have some kind of rivalry going on. And Toad just…” he flipped his hands around trying to find the right word “...likes to jump in whenever he can.”

“They are annoying.” She stated.

“Yeah well, family can’t live with them can’t live without them.” She gave a snort. Did he really make her just laugh? He continued to talk. “So…you some kind of shy guy?”

“No.” her defenses raised back up.

“I haven’t seen anything like you before. Me and my brother here, are kinda new to this world.”

“….”

He rubbed the back of his head at the silence. “…Well, I guess I have to break up their fight before they start throwing punches. Hehe…” He turned around. A whistle rang out; the Pokeys dug themselves back into the ground. The yelling from Mario and DK stopped. Mario smiled at his brother, “What didja do Lu?”

He shrugged, “Just talked I guess.”

The Kongs begrudgingly accepted it was neutral ground and stopped their construction plan. Luigi and Mario told Peach that they may have encountered another female human in the desert. This excited Peach. She suggested that they all go to try to meet her again.

*****

They did meet her again. “Go away!” Daisy pointed her spear at them. “I told you we don’t want to be on anyone’s side!”

Peach stood up taller. “Who is we?”

“Like that gorilla said, ‘None of your Business.’” She turned to leave. “Now never come back!”

“Wait! Are you human?” Daisy paused her retreat; Peach continued. “I’ve lived here my whole life and I have never seen a shy guy with such long limbs.”

She gave a sign and lifted the mask. A tawny freckled face framed by auburn hair was drawn in a scowl. “You’re right I’m human, what do you want a prize?” She sniped out and turned again to walk away.

“Don’t go!” Peach reached out. “I need your help!”

Daisy swiveled around. “With What!? You’re a princess with a kingdom, why do you need my help!?”

“I need to know about people like me… were you born here?”

“Might as well be.” Her tone clipped.

 “Are… are there more of us?”

“No…” She quietly replied.

“D-did there use to be?” This time Luigi spoke up. He was sensing the sadness radiating off the woman.

She slid the mask back on and jumped up on a rock and ran away.

That night the group of adventurers ate around the fire. Luigi had cooked, he would have liked a full kitchen, but he had been learning from Toad how to cook over a campfire with little supplies. They were all surprised when Daisy stepped into the fire light. She sat down and curled her knees up to her face. The three friends exchanged looks. Luigi offered her some food.

She took it. The food smelled delicious even from miles away. She took a small bite. It was delicious!  She quickly finished what was on the plate. “Where did you learn to cook!”

Luigi smiled brightly, “from my Mama!”

Her eyebrows flattened at the revelation. “You have a mom?”

“Yeah! Don’t you?” Luigi slapped a hand over his mouth. What an insensitive question! “I-I’m S-soorry” he stammered out.

She waved away his apology. “No, this is why I came. I’m ready to talk about what happened. I figured that once I’m done sharing you can go away and stop bothering me.” She took a deep breath.

Daisy’s mom hadn’t survived giving birth to her. Her dad couldn’t take care of her alone. He was on his way to give her to nuns to raise. He took a shortcut through a construction site at night and ended up falling into a hole. While trying to find his way out he found a green pipe, he sat down on the edge and ended up in a shy guy tribe in the great desert. The tribe took in anyone who didn’t want to be forced into Bowsers army. Her father got sick, and no one knew how to help him. He died when she was 16.  

She finished her story and stared at the fire. Peach got up and sat next to her. She placed a hand on Daisy’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

Daisy just nodded. She took slow breaths trying not to cry around strangers. Luigi got up and sat on the other side of Daisy. He gave her a hug; she was surprised but didn’t shove him away.

*******

They had set up a correspondence between Daisy and Peach. They would talk to each other, Peach would visit her, they would challenge each other in many feats, and eventually Daisy would come to visit Peach. Luigi would make sure he was around when Daisy visited.

He got the courage, from the many pep-talks from Mario, to ask her if he could start writing her letters. She agreed. They wrote, talked, they would go on kart rides, compete with each other, and sometimes just go on walks together. Luigi found himself falling for her. She was loud, active, tough and spunky. He loved the energy she brought to his life. Like his brother she encouraged him to be all that he could be.

She wasn’t weirded out by the duo world living. She missed her family, so she encouraged him to visit them often and appreciate them. When Daisy did come over for Sunday dinners she could be as boisterous as the rest of his family. The brother’s uncles were impressed by her.

He tried to help her find her family on Earth. He looked through newspapers and missing persons reports. He even submitted her DNA to try to find any close relatives. It turned out her grandparents were dead, and she had an uncle and aunt who died in 9/11. Daisy just shrugged “I was never really apart of this world. I don’t even know how I would react if I could meet my family from earth…” They decided to stop looking for her relatives.

One Sunday Luigi was feeling nostalgic. He got out old photos and journals to show to Daisy. As he was reading over some of his old journal entries to see what he could share, he found what he had written just after his nonna died. “Marry a girl whose name starts with D.” He smiled. Maybe he would after all.

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

Author Note: After I broke up with my high school boyfriend I would have dreams about him all the time! One day during winter break when I was visiting my home town we went on one final date together and that was just what my brain needed to stop dreaming of him. Then I went back to university and meet my now husband.

I'm making fanfiction of the small throw away lines in the Mario move that made me think.

-------

[saria88]

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Impressions

I completed Echoes of Wisdom, so here are my impressions. Spoilers included:

Gameplay:

The dungeons are a true return to form and I'm quite happy about that.

The Echoes were fun to use and led to amusing situations like Zelda sleeping anywhere and some enemies jumping into lava. I liked backing enemies into a corner with multiple Echoes.

I made a conscious choice not to use sword fighter form unless it was needed for progression and I think I was better off for it, particularly for boss fights.

The world was very nice to explore though the villages felt a little small to me.

Good variety of enemies and bosses.

Story:

It was interesting that being trapped in a rift took away Link's voice. I figured that if he got it back there was a chance he would say something as the big shocker. He did as I expected. Though we didn't get to see what he said the reaction of the characters to it was priceless.

I loved that much of this game was a love letter to Ocarina of Time. Though despite all the references Saria or the Kokiri still didn't show up. Sad.

I also felt that the Deku Tree could have been a bit more involved.

It was nice to see Deku Scrubs though. Their part of the story was fun.

It amuses me that Gohma once again got some characters addicted to substances it created. What group will it go after next?

When I saw the holes of lava in the Eldin Temple boss room I said to myself "Is this really going to happen?" I had the biggest smile on my face when Volvagia appeared.

I was also very happy to see that the Goddesses were involved once again. It was mind blowing to me that the creation story was expanded on in a such a way.

Null was a very interesting enemy. It was really cool to see that the entire world of Zelda was created as it's prison, making it the catalyst for many things in the entire series. I ended up feeling bad for it when it was revealed it simply enjoyed the peace the void brought it before it was taken away. I kind of wish Zelda had come to a compromise with it.

Protect Conde at all costs.

Overall I enjoyed this game a lot. It delivered with most of the elements that I felt Tears of the Kingdom was lacking in and was a very enjoyable experience. I feel a bit more confident about the future of the series if they choose this as the template to go forward with and keep improving on it.

[mask131]

Roman gods are not Greek gods: Vulcan

VULCAN

Vulcan is, just like Mars, another one of those Roman gods that is really exemplifying the gap between the two pantheons.

After the Hellenization of the Roman pantheon, Vulcan was… let’s say “reduced” to a smith-god, and attributed the role of forging the weapons of the gods and heroes, with his forges said to be in the volcanoes of Southern Italy. He became the patron and “father” of all blacksmiths, and the deity of metallurgy, the spirit of the forge. But his original characterization was very different from the one of the Greek Hephaistos, and the “volcano” association here is key.

Originally, Vulcan was the god of fire. Not the god of the smith, but the god of the flame. And not just any flame – the dangerous, destructive flame. If Vulcan is associated with volcanoes so much, it is because he WAS the god of the volcanoes – in fact one of his earlier names was “Volcanus”. This is why Vulcan’s cult was particularly strong in the volcanic regions of Italy, and why the military rites of Vulcan (as with all Roman gods, Vulcan has a war-related side – here, Roman soldiers offered him the weapons they stole from their enemies and defeated rivals) were also tied to volcanoes (one way to “offer” the enemies’ weapons to the god was by throwing them into a volcano). The volcanic association Hephaistos (or Hephaestus as English speakers call him) has in people’s minds actually mostly comes from Vulcan.

But he wasn’t just a god of lava: Vulcan was also the god of wildfires. In fact, it was the entire purpose of his cult in Rome. The reason the god was originally worshiped was so he could protect the city against destructive fires – he was Vulcan Mulciber (he who softens) and Vulcan Quietus (he who calms), whose role was to appease the fury of the flames. This is also why Vulcan’s temples were usually located on the borders of the city, for him to act as a protector of its limits, and why he was originally associated with watch-dogs – just like them, Vulcan was a “guardian” of Rome. Similarly, his main festival, the Volcanalia, happened at the heart of August, during the hottest and driest time of the year, very prone to wildfires – and appeasing Vulcan during this festival came hand in hand with celebrating his agricultural role as the deity who could protect crops from drought and heatwaves. To appease this wild, dangerous, destructive, prone-to-anger fire deity, people used sacrifices. Not human sacrifices mind you – but live animals were thrown into the fire to be burned alive. Vulcan was a “devouring fire” that needed to kill to be appeased, and so small animals and fishes were thrown into the flames to avoid having humans burned alive.

It was only because of Vulcan’s fiery nature that he was associated with the Greek god of the forge, Hephaistos, but as you can see Vulcan was originally a much more “natural” god, tied to disasters rather than crafts, and his cult was all about avoiding the harm he inflicted or pleasing the god so he wouldn’t let the world burn. Mind you, Vulcan wasn’t all about destruction – as I said in my Vesta post, the Romans perceived fire as a fertilizing element and a life-giver. As a result, Vulcan was also seen as a… well, fertile god, who kept fathering heroes, kings and monsters, usually through strange fire-related miracles (for example a glowing amber jumping out of a hearth and landing on a woman without burning her, making her pregnant with Vulcan’s child ; or a phallus forming itself out of the ashes). As you can note, Vulcan had a hearth connection, just like Vesta – and in fact the two deities were often depicted together as a fire-duo, metallurgic and domestic fire, destructive and civilizing fire, to the point they were sometimes depicted as an actual married couple (despite Vesta’s eternal virginity). Vulcan was also sometimes given the goddess Maia as a female companion and/or wife, the goddess of the growth of plants, highlighting again the fire’s “fertilizing” nature.

Even with Vulcan’s Hellenization, his fire nature stayed VERY strong – for example his mythological children rarely have any affinity with metalworking, but rather are said to control fires, breathe flames or be crowned by fire that doesn’t burn… And since the Hellenization spread the god’s duty to the “users” of fire, like smiths, Romans also started to see him as the patron of ANY job that uses fire – for example it was attested that Vulcan was the god of all oven-users. Cooks, bakers, confectioners, they were all Vulcan’s.

Many things came with Vulcan’s Hellenization: his role as a maker of weapons and jewelry for the gods, his appearance as an ugly and lame god, most of his legends were just the Greek tales of Hephaistos rewritten… And some even theorize that maybe Vulcan’s position as the son of Jupiter and Juno was a projection of the Greek myths. Indeed, there are records in the pre-Hellenized Roman religion of an unnamed god that gave birth to Jupiter – and people theorize that Vulcan might have been this god originally. The many strange tales of Vulcan impregnating women through “fire miracles” that somehow still left them virgin seems to be tied to this original tale of Vulcan being born of the union of a mysterious god and a “virgin goddess”, and the fact Vulcan’s two main consorts were earth-goddesses (Maia and Vesta) led to people thinking of a primordial “fire and earth” couple of deity that ruled over the pantheon at first, before leaving place to the Jupiter and Juno couple. This theory also goes along with other theories and hypothesis that interpret early Vulcan as either a lightning god (and thus a proto-Jupiter), and/or as being originally a sun god (hence his worship at the hottest part of summer, and how his original association with heat and fire might have started). Of course, these are just theories, and some less considered than others, so take all of that with a grain of salt. The only thing we are certain of is that originally Vulcan was the god of volcanoes and wildfires, before becoming the god of the smith and the forge to fit into the “Hephaistos mold”.

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

Top 5 quckity moments??????

I assume you mean c!Quackity?

5. His conversation with c!Bad after being taken to the Egg. From c!Karl's message being the thing to snap him out of his stupor, to the sheer panic in his voice, to his declaration that he indeed wants power but never at anyone or anything else's behest, to him desperately trying to reason with c!Bad, to his insistence that they can use the Egg for good (???)... GOD it makes my brain do jumping jacks

4. Okay. We all know about c!Schlatt's funeral. We all know about the cannibalism. And I almost put that here, too (so consider it an honorable mention). But I don't think enough attention is paid to him trying to bring Schlatt to life for "political reasons" immediately afterward. Oh, this little bastard and his complicated grieving processes...

3. I could honestly fill this whole list with only scenes from the Manberg arc, but I'll highlight Plan Ass specifically as an S-tier c!Quackity moment. He went back to negotiate with and swindle the man he was scared would kill him (while allegedly pregnant with his child!) all to dissuade c!Wilbur from sending the country he loved up in flames...

2. Much like Manberg, all of Doomsday could go here (for him, at least. My feelings about the event itself are... somewhat more ambivalent). Him singing the anthem and remembering the second verse, him asking c!Niki what's wrong and trying to persuade her to help, his incandescent hatred for c!Dream, "SaPnAp HoLd Me I'm ScArEd..."

But my favorite part without a doubt is his pre-battle turnaround. Man was so close to getting the hell outta dodge, but he was persuaded to return by the words of someone he wanted to execute only 24 hours prior. Then, he spent half the battle trying to return the book. And THEN, after all was said and done, he reached out to that person as a possible ally. Where are my boober friends to talk about this with me PLEASE-

Also, "let the horse run free" still makes me tear up a little. He loved that bag of bones so much. It was a reminder of happier times...

1. The entire day's events of September 14, 2021. On the same day he tried to torture two men to death, he jumped into lava without hesitation to save his best friend's life. And both times, they slipped away from his grasp.

If that doesn't neatly summarize his character and the reasons I love him, I don't know what does.

Honorable mention: every possible variation of the scene I made up in my head of c!Fundy leaving Las Nevadas and c!Quackity not killing him despite the contract's threats

Honorable honorable mention: that one six-hour c!Foolish stream I'm fucking obsessed with. That's a better c!Foolish moment, though. So that's another potential ask at least partially filled out

Honorable honorable honorable mention (hey he's my specialest guy don't @ me): literally every time he's ever interacted with c!Tommy or c!Tubbo

[somacruising]

A White Future, Volume 2 Episode: Ion, Sync, & Florian Translation Part 3

Prev | Next

Welcome back to my translation of Shiro no Ashita. The last section was about the creation of the seven Ion replicas. This chapter is going to cover Sync’s perspective as they’re all taken to Mt. Zaleho to be thrown in, as well as how he came to be called Sync. It will also show where that green mark you see on his body in his last fight comes from.

* * *

The cart shook roughly. Their wheels were now rolling over bare ground.

He had been thrown into the first of several carts that rumbled along.

“But, you never know what fate has in store for you.”

“Oh. Heaven and hell are real."

He heard a young man's voice. They were the assistants of Mohs’ subordinate, Ahmed.

“The seventh Ion is going to be the new leader of the Order. The rest of these things...will be dying out here."

“Let’s throw them in as deep as we can. If they all burned up, they’d be taken care of in an instant, right?”

“You idiot. What would you do if we all ended up taking a hot bath in the lava?"

All the assistants laughed in hushed voices.

‘Hot, bath, lava…’ He repeated to himself. Now that he thought about it, his skin wasn’t prickling strangely anymore. It was getting hotter and hotter.

With a clank, the cart bounced. The elbow of the boy next to him, which had been pinned against the cart, landed on his face. Annoyed, he brushed it off as hard as he could.

“Hey, it's moving!”

Voices came down from directly above him.

“Of course it's moving, it's still alive.”

“Let's just get rid of it. Haven’t we had enough of this?”

As soon as the cart stopped, the body of the boy who was with him was lifted up.

“Hey, hold it’s legs," the man said. “We’d better do it together—”

"Heave!"

He curled up into a ball at the bottom of the cart, listening to the men speak with half-open eyes.

There was a light sound of something falling.

“You suck at this. Throw it farther.”

They laughed.

“Kick it in.”

“That's fast.”

Soon, he felt a presence approaching him. A hand slipped under his armpit and raised him up. Another hand gripped his ankle.

When he was exposed to the hot air, his eyes snapped open. He smiled at the man's upside-down face. The man rushed to avert his gaze.

“Hey!”

He felt himself fly through the air.

‘If I don’t fall in, I’ll get kicked—’

They threw his body as far away as they could, but when he still landed on the hot ground, he rolled himself into the volcano’s mouth. Now inside, he spotted a large rock and quickly moved into its shadow.

Fortunately, the men seemed to quickly lose interest in him.

Once the men had finished throwing the naked boys into the volcano’s mouth, they quickly pulled up as the darkness of the night closed in.

How long had they been doing that? The next thing he knew, the darkness was fading.

‘Hot…hot, lava…’ He suddenly became aware of the heat searing his skin. He couldn't stand the pain anymore and sat up. Looking around, he realized that he was not far from where he had been thrown. He must have huddled against the rock after he’d rolled down the slope.

Below him, he could see the other boys clumped together.

None of them were moving. He raised his hand and tried to get to his feet. His skin was reddened, but he moved without any problem.

Then, he heard footsteps. He gasped in surprise and shrank back against the rock. The footsteps were slowly moving back and forth along the path they had taken in the cart, and then suddenly stopped.

“Are you there?"

The voice was familiar.

“I know you're there. All right, come on up here.”

'What should I do? Will he kick me if I go to him?’

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?”

Making up his mind, he jumped out from behind the rock. Two kicks on the hot slope and he was already on his way up.

“I'd seen your parameters," he said, “but that was a magnificent leap.”

The boy remained silent.

What should he call this man?

“‘It was regrettable…’” the boy spoke.

“Huh?”

A quizzical look appeared on the man's face. Was it not enough?

“‘It was regrettable… The synchron level was a problem.’”

“Heh, is that right?” The man laughed. “So you’ve recalled. Is that me? Although you’re able to recall me saying that, that is not my name.”

“Synchron level.”

“My name is Van. Van Grants.”

“Sync…Van….”

“That’s right.”

The man who’d called himself Van crouched down and examined his left thigh. The wound that the fifth body had received from the pen nib was still in place.

“The burns aren't as bad as I thought they'd be,” he said. “Does it hurt?”

He thought for a moment and answered, “…Hurt.”

The reddened area of his skin felt like it was burning.

“Is that so? I will fix you up, don't worry, isotope.”

“Hurt, hurt.”

“No, no.”

Van thought it was comical how unlike Luke this one was.

“Your name is, hmm... Let's call you Sync.”

“Synchron level.”

Van nodded and presented him with clothes he had on him. “Come with me and wear this. Can you walk? Or would you rather be like those ones over there who will disappear without a trace?”

Sync turned and looked down at the group of boys again.

“...Go.”

“Good. But right now, you are worthless to me. You must be stronger both physically and mentally.”

It would be better to leave the pain behind once and for all, Van thought. If possible, he wanted to get going before the sun got too high.

He laid his clothes on the ground and ordered the boy to lie down.

“Don’t move a single inch.”

Sync laid on his back obediently and watched Van’s fingertips draw close to his bare chest. Van’s lips parted and he spoke words Sync could not understand.

Sync hissed through his teeth in pain.

A sharp burning shot through him, and Van’s fingers began moving as if he were drawing something.

“UWAAAHH!!” Sync started screaming.

The burning agony followed the path Van’s finger traced. If Sync hadn’t been ordered not to move, he would have fled from Van long ago.

Sync had no idea what Van was doing, but as the movement of his fingertips became more complex, the pain spread throughout his legs and engulfed his body.

All Sync could do was groan in pain.

Just when he was starting to feel faint, Van finally stopped.

“All right,” Van said, “I’ll add another fonic glyph to your back next time.”

‘What is a fonic glyph, why do I have to feel this pain—’

A jumble of questions, sorrow, and anger welled up inside Sync. But the questions only swirled in his chest and he did not know how to speak them.

Van picked Sync up and dressed him gently, trying not to irritate his skin.

“Listen to me, Sync. Everyone but me thinks you disappeared in the volcano. I'm going to sneak you out. But, you won’t survive if anyone sees your face.”

“…I understand.”

Sync nodded, and Van smiled in satisfaction.

“Then put this on,” Van said, pulling out a small mask. “I've got all your physical information. It should fit perfectly.”

Sync didn’t say anything.

At Sync’s silence, Van pulled Sync’s head back and put a beautifully ornate mask on him.

It covered the upper half of Sync’s face, tapering down to the tip of his nose. Only his mouth was exposed, but his view remained unobstructed.

“It suits you well.”

Van laughed into the rays of the morning sun.

Again, Sync said nothing. He felt cramped and suffocated—he felt terribly sick, but he still didn’t know how to complain.

What is this feeling that smoldered in his chest? Was it something Sync was born with, or was it something this man named Van had given him?

“It's getting light out. Come on, let's hurry up.”

Van started to walk, without regard to how Sync was feeling.

The first time he put on his boots, he could feel the ground through them. He felt the pain of his clothes rubbing against his burns and chest marking. He felt the heat from the crater, rising up and getting trapped inside his mask.

Sync was dizzy from both the overstimulation of the outside world as well as the surging emotions inside of him.

He tried to look back at those boys one more time, even at the end, but eventually he gave up on it. It would be more peaceful for them to disappear. Sync began to think he must have been a mistake to climb up the slope when Van had called him.

Jealousy and regret for the ones lucky enough to die bloomed in his heart.

[heliossecretdeskdrawer]

I... actually have a WIP Wednesday snippet for this blog this week.

A preview of that Solar Flare!MegaRod breeding kink request for the two anons. This fic isn't going to be canonical with Solar Flare, but uses that setting.

Warnings for the snippet: mentions of plug-n-play, nudity, alien (to the characters) anatomy

Megatron had known, of course, that one day Rodimus would likely want to actually make use of his spousal privileges beyond merely stealing his warmth at night.

Rodimus had even once mentioned to him after their union ceremony that he hadn’t had the opportunity to “enjoy the company” of any of his previous protectors, as they had all died beforehand. Once it had become obvious that Megatron was not going to drop dead, fling himself fatally into harm’s way, or jump to his death from a window like the others, naturally Rodimus would probably have started to get ideas.

One night, after several months of passively letting himself be used as a personal heater, he had little reason to be surprised when hands started to roam across his plating long after dark, long after Rodimus was supposed to have been asleep.

A hand planted itself on the middle of his chest.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Not that Megatron was opposed to linking up. Rodimus was pleasant to look at and, with his high energy frame, could probably take and receive a high amount of charge at unimaginable speeds. His defiant and independent nature would also ensure a unique experience.

“Nothing,” Rodimus said, as if on reflex.

An obvious lie, given that Rodimus was now using that hand to hoist himself up and… kick off the tarpaulins?

Cold night air rushed in to replace the liberated warm air formerly trapped by the covers. In the caldera of an active volcano, the nights were still “brisk” this many miles above the lava lakes. The tangle of the city below captured much of that radiant heat.

Rodimus clearly wasn’t trying to trade charge then, a relatively stationary interaction.

Megatron just sighed.

“Why are you making a mess of the berth?”

“What’s it look like? Getting stuff out of the way. Obviously.”

“Out of the way for what exactly?”

Megatron finally bothered onlining his optics to watch as Rodimus continued kicking away the bedding. In short order, he had managed to clear the entire recharge slab of anything that wasn’t the padding underneath them.

“Fucking, duh. Why are you so dense? I thought you were supposed to be smart, Megs.”

Well, he had had an inkling that that was what Rodimus had been after, but once he started destroying the usual nest of tarpaulins and cushions, Megatron had discounted the possibility.

Megatron pushed himself up on his elbows.

If Rodimus had wanted to interface, there would have been no need to move anything. They would only need to simply unspool a few cables from their chest compartments and link up to corresponding ports. Despite their different sizes, they probably weren’t different enough to require adapter attachments.

Or at least, that was the most basic method. Everyone had their preferences.

“I fail to see how that requires you to throw everything to the floor.”

Rodimus paused, putting his hand to his chin in thought as he sat on his knees. He looked off to the side like he had forgotten something.

“… Oh, that’s right. You don’t know yet.” He clapped his hands together and gestured condescendingly towards Megatron with them. “So… Primes do things a little differently. One of the better kept secrets, I guess. Probably easier to show you. Hold on a sec.”

Click. Hiss.

Megatron looked down to see a strange appendage pressuring in the middle of where Rodimus’s pelvic armor usually was.

“What in the void is that?”

“A spike.”

Megatron tilted his head to the side, not really following.

Red and rounded at the top, it looked a bit more like a toy version of a police officer’s baton than anything… spiky. What a weird looking thing. What was it for?

“Which is… what exactly?”

“So, you know how cables go into ports?”

Megatron nodded.

“This whole thing is like a very special cable.” A mod then, perhaps? “And I’m going to put it in your special port.”

“My what?”

[glapplebloom]

Going back to this world. (No Images)

In a cave somewhere, a small piece of flesh slowly goes deeper and deeper into it. That's when it was spotted by a larger creature. In one quick motion, the larger creature picked up the sentient flesh piece. "About time! You know how hard it is to do magic when a part of your spleen is missing!" The creature put the flesh into himself. Discord was whole once more. "Ahh! It is good to be at 100% again! Nightmare Moon should have known better than to shatter my statue and send me off to the far corners of Equestria. That Statue Spell was wearing off and I'm extremely good at puzzles. It was only a matter of time before I put myself back together." Discord finally steps outside to see a bright and sunny day. "I'm guessing even Luna could use a bit of sun every now and again."

Discord is now teleporting across Equestria seeing that it seems Nightmare Moon's reign is over. "How peculiar. It seems while I was pulling myself together somepony beat me to the punch. Now I could simply use my magic to see everything that happened till now, but where's the fun in that?" Discord teleports himself to Canterlot. At a cafe, he summons a stack of Newspapers that began after the Fall of Nightmare Moon to now. He reads them slowly while snapping his fingers causing random acts of Chaos. As he was halfway through, Celestia was walking past him not noticing. "Good Morning Princess Celestia!" Discord said without a care in the world. "Good Morning Discord," Celestia responded without a second thought. Then the realization came. She turned around to see Discord sitting there.

"Discord! How?!? You were shattered!!!". "You'll be surprised what a little bit of patience, and a lot of glue, can do to fix a little problem like that." Discord teleports to get closer to Celestia to fly around her. The Royal Guards tried to get him but were frozen in their tracks. "They're motionless, not statues. Totally different thing." Celestia jumps away from Discord and takes a fighting stance. "What do you want Discord?" The Chaotic Creature just laughed. "You should know better than anyone: complete chaos! It's why you were so focused on finding some new Element Bearers. But I swore it was going to be your protege and some random ponies she found. To my surprise it's a gaggle of different creatures! Very chaotic Princess, I approve." Celestia tries to shoot a magic beam at Discord but he splits himself in two to avoid it. "Leave them alone!" But it was too late. Discord was gone.

In Smolder's cottage, she finally got her indoor Lava Tub complete. It took a lot of bits and two of the strongest Unicorns she could find but it was worth it to have a little bit of her homeland at home. She jumps in, knowing the magic seals will prevent any Lava from spilling out of the circle and burning her house down. And with the magic spell able to keep this at this temperature forever, Smolder lays at the side of the pool and relaxes. “Ahh... This feels really nice. Like I’m back home in the Dragon Lands.” “It is nice, but don’t you think it should be a few degrees higher?” “Maybe if you’re a stickler but a dragon really doesn’t...” That’s when her eyes shot open. Across from her is a creature also bathing in her Lava Pool, complete with bubbles and a rubber duckie that isn’t melting. Smolder covers herself despite not normally wearing clothing. There’s just something that makes you feel exposed when someone shows up at your most vulnerable.

“GAH! Who the heck are you?!?” Discord snaps his fingers, making everything disappear. Then the Lava Pool began to swirl and then erupt. “I AM DISCORD! THE LORD OF CHAOS!” And just as quickly everything went back to normal. “And you’re Smolder: the Element of Loyalty. Ha! What a laugh!”. This got Smolder mad. “And what is that supposed to mean?” Discord snaps and they’re in a classroom. Discord is the teacher. “Ahem. Dragons are known for being greedy and only caring about themselves. One of your best stories was about a dragon betraying their Dragon Lord to take over. And YOU are the Element of Loyalty?” Smolder hearing this is upset and flies towards Discord. “Hey! While all of that may be true, we can change! I’ve changed! We can be better than what we were!” “Oh really? So you’ve told your family this?” All of Smolder’s bravado has fallen to the side. 

“You left the Dragon Lands looking for night. You and your new friends became the Elements of Harmony and spread the news all across Equestria. All except the Dragon Lands... You told them you would handle that, yet you did not. Are you ashamed of them?” Smolder is rubbing the side of her arms. She hasn’t told anyone in the Dragon Lands because they do not like to see what they presume is weakness. Even when she was helping Gar-Gar be a better dragon it was under the guise of toughening him up. Despite returning to the Dragon Lands multiple times, she never really told anyone what she’s doing outside of it. Not even her brother. This made her feel ashamed about it. And her colors grew more monotone. “The Element of Loyalty and ashamed to admit who they’re loyal to. Does that really make them loyal?” Seeing his work done, he teleports them back to Smolder’s Cottage and disappears, looking for his next victim.

While that was happening, a knock was heard at the Ponyville Library. Gallus answered it to find a Canterlot Guard who seemed to have lost his breath. It's like he flew straight from Canterlot to Ponyville non-stop. That’s because he did. He had an urgent letter from Celestia and had to give it to the Element Bearers. Gallus read the letter and his eyes widened. A Spirit of Chaos is loose and the Elements of Harmony are needed to defeat him once and for all,. “Ocellus” Gallus screamed to the Changeling upstairs, “Celestia needs all of us and the Elements of Harmony! Grab my element so we can get the others.” “Right!” Ocellus replied. What should have been a quick grab suddenly took longer than Gallus thought it should. That’s when Ocellus ran downstairs. “The Elements! They’re gone!

Back with Discord, he’s juggling all the elements with one hand while pondering with his other. “Smolder was easy, but it seems the others are much trickier to infect with Hopeless Magic. No deep rooted issues that conflict with their elements that I could find. So if I can’t make them the opposite of their elements, I have to find something else to do.” But then he realized something. “Then again, I didn’t really make Smolder the opposite of herself. I mostly made her fear take over her.” Then a lightbulb popped above his head. He proceeds to take it and throw it towards a wall. That’s it! Instead of attacking their elements, I’ll attack them with what they fear the most! And they’ll do whatever I challenge them to to get these back.” Discord continues to juggle the Elements using his magic as Discord does a scheming pose. “So let the games begin.”

[laxyaklovesloz]

The Legend of Zelda: Real Courage | Chapter Twelve: Heated Words

After eating, Mori flew anxiously behind Lila as she stormed down the lonely mountain path. He couldn't get a single word through her ranting.

"I can't believe that jerk! Why did he set me up like that? Did he seriously think he could fight Volvagia? He's an idiot if he does! And he has the nerve to call me weak. I was sent on this mission by Lady Ganondra herself! I am not weak!"

"You shouldn't say that so loud."

"If I were weak she wouldn't send me on these quests, you said so yourself. I had to work hard to get her approval. At least, I think I have her approval. She doesn't really tell me about her plans."

"Seriously, you should shut up."

"I don't even know what she wants with this stuff. What good will new chainmail and gauntlets do? They don't even fit her! Unless they're for me. Why does she want me to get this stuff? Maybe something big's going to happen."

"Lila, shut up!"

"That must be it. She must have a plan. I wonder what my role will be—"

Mori flew right in Lila's face. "Stop talking."

Lila blinked and stopped in her tracks. "What—?"

"You can't go mouthing off about the chieftess’s plans, even if you don't know what they are," Mori chided in a hushed tone. Lila had never seen him so angry. "Anyone can hear you out here."

"We'd see anyone—"

"We have passed several bushes and crevices where someone can hide. Now, will you be quiet?"

Lila's heart pounded. How could she have not noticed? It was the same situation as last night, only this time she was the one revealing secrets. She looked around, searching for anyone. She didn't see people, but the shadows seemed to jump out at her. She started running down the mountain.

How can this day get any worse?

Finally, she made it to the bottom of the path. People were milling about the town, everything so peaceful and normal. The valley floor was filled with laughing and talking. The sight made Lila sick.

"Let's get back to the caves," she muttered to Mori. She wasn't going to take any more chances.

"I couldn't agree with you more."

Lila kept her head down, but her eyes darted around, keeping a look out for anyone suspicious. No one paid her any attention, even when she passed Ruggy's shack. When she got to the entrance to the mines, she leaned against the rock and sighed in relief.

"Keep moving," Mori urged. "We should get into the secret tunnel."

Lila nodded and followed him. She looked around one more time to make sure she wasn't followed then slipped into the darkness. Lila lit her torch and followed the path. This time she kept her eyes open for any mythical bomb flowers. She really hoped Zale was right about them because she wouldn't be able to continue if she didn't find any.

It wasn't long before she came to the crater left from her first explosion. There she turned right and entered the lava room. Monsters of all shapes and sizes had crawled their way back into the chamber. One of them noticed her walk in and charged.

Lila had her sword out in an instant. The two-legged creature raised its club, and she knocked it out of its hands. As it looked for its weapon, she slashed its head off. It fell into a pile of dust, alerting one of its buddies. This one blew a horn, and two new ones came to attack her.

"Watch out! He's calling for backup!"

"Yeah, I got it," Lila muttered. As the two bokoblins charged, she ran at them, but only to get close to the one with the horn. At the last second, she changed direction, slashing at one of the bokoblins in her wake. She didn't bother to see if the monster disappeared and instead went right for the ally caller. The monster jumped and ran in the other direction on its stubby legs. It was no match for Lila's momentum, and it also fell to her blade.

Adopting a defensive stance, she turned around to the last creature. It was charging at her with sword raised, leaving room for an easy attack. Lila shifted her feet slightly so she could swing her sword into the monster's side. The momentum of the beast's charge caused Lila's sword to slice it nearly in half. Like the others, it disappeared in a puff of dust.

Lila let the tip of her sword drop as she wiped the sweat from her forehead with her other hand. Now that it was safe, Mori chose to join her.

"Nice job," he chirped.

"No thanks to you."

"I warned you about the horn."

"I knew about it, weirdo. Not a help." She continued down the path, careful to avoid the lava flowing on her right. "But it's no different than any of my fights. You like to spout out useless facts I already know." The two of them arrived at a wall that looked as though it had been created by a rock slide. "Now the question is, which way do we go?"

"You seem to know everything. Why don't you figure it out?" Mori teased.

"Fine. I will." Lila promptly turned around to look for some clues. She noticed a few islands in the river of lava. By jumping from island to island, Lila could reach a protuberance that looked to have another pathway.

"That looks promising," she pointed out. Without waiting for a reply from the keesee, Lila carried out her plan. With a running start, she was able to jump on the islands to her destination. Perfect. Mori followed lazily.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

As Lila landed on the island, her foot sunk a little into a hole, and a door opened up in the wall. Inside the wall was a bomb, resting on a pile of leaves.

"I just confirmed the existence of Bomb Flowers," Lila gloated. She walked toward the flower, but the hole closed as soon as her foot left the hole. She ran forward, but it was too late. "Dang it! How am I supposed to get the bomb?"

"Maybe you should put a rock on the button," Mori suggested.

Lila got an idea. "Mori, come here for a second."

"What?" he asked without moving.

"Come look at the glyphs on this wall."

Slowly the keesee moved forward. "What's so special about glyphs?"

Before Mori could react, Lila snatched him out of the air and shoved him into the hole. He wriggled and shouted, "Hey!" but couldn't escape.

"Thanks for finally helping me," Lila teased, and then she snatched the bomb off from its bed of leaves. She stashed it in her bomb bag and walked back to Mori. Behind her, she heard a little sound and looked back to see the bomb flower growing another bomb.

"Hey, that's cool!" she said and took the new bomb as well.

"Are you going to let me out?" Mori complained.

"When my bag is full. Don't worry, it only holds ten bombs."

Mori grumbled incoherently just for the sake of grumbling. Once Lila had all ten bombs loaded in her pack, she finally released her companion. She then hopped back across the lava and to the weak-looking wall. This time Mori didn't follow her all the way.

In excited anticipation, Lila placed one of her new bombs in front of the wall and then lit it. She hurried back out of the blast radius and waited for the explosion.

There was a loud noise, a bright flash, and lots of dust. Once it cleared, Lila finally had a way to progress through the dungeon.

"Yes!" she cheered. "Let's keep moving."

"Alright, let's go then."

Lila peered through the opening to find more lava. To the right, the river of lava fell into a chasm and continued throughout the room. Islands stood much higher than in the previous room, and a large bridge was suspended above her about one floor up.

"Which way next?" Lila asked.

"Up."

"How?"

"You'll have to explore a little more, won't you."

Lila sighed, tired of arguing with Mori. "Okay, fine. Let's start this way."