#I can see how having a ship as a base of operations would have worked out for a DLC. Maritime DLC? AC: Odyssey marine missions style?

[heliomanteia]

A lot of stuff in the VG artbook looks like it would have worked out great for a DA:I/DATV DLC but would absolutely flop at logistics in a full-fledged game of a DA scale

[anyroads]

How to actually support small businesses on Etsy

With Christmas approaching and people starting to look for gifts, I thought it might be useful to let people know how to best support Etsy sellers, since we get a lot of sales this time of year! Etsy has a lot of policies that affect sellers which they don't really disclose to customers, and often there's a communication gap that can be damaging to sellers without customers intending them to. Hopefully this post helps more people avoid this kind of thing.

A while ago Etsy implemented the Star Seller program. When you go to an Etsy store, you can see badges at the top of the page, denoting if the seller has done well in three main categories:

Speedy replies

On time dispatch with tracking

Good reviews

If you clear the bar for all three as a seller, you're a Star Seller. This is an important badge for sellers, which I'll get to in a bit. Etsy evaluates your stats monthly, and bases them on three months' worth of data:

Each has specific determining factors, which also advantage large operations like dropshippers over small businesses, but we'll get to that too:

As you can see, the criteria is really demanding. You have to respond to 95% of first messages (ie. the first time someone contacts you) within 24 hours or you lose your Star Seller status. This can be really damaging to a small store.

You also have to dispatch 95% of orders on time, ie. within the set timeline you've chosen for an item listed, and you have to give tracking info. This, by the way, is frustrating and disingenuous; I ship my product in envelopes because they're small and thin, but the mail service in my country doesn't offer tracking for envelopes. I'm not going to spend up to 3x as much on shipping just to have a tracking number (shipping would cost half the price of my product if I did), but if I don't include tracking info I don't get a Star Seller badge even if I ship all my orders on time. I get around this by writing "unavailable" in the field where tracking info goes, but this still poses a transparency issue to customers and rightly so. I end up compensating by issuing a lot of replacements for delayed orders, which I can recoup costs of through my mail service which is a lot of extra work and time.

You also must have an average of 4.8 star reviews or higher. There are no adjustments made for small stores, and this is a big one where dropshippers have an advantage.

As you can see in my stats here, I had 11 reviews in 3 months. That means if just one person gives me a 4 or 3 star review, I lose my Star Seller status for 3 months unless I get a ton more reviews quickly. A dropshipper who makes hundreds of sales a week won't be affected by one middling review. And you'd be surprised how often people who leave 3 or 4 star reviews actually meant to leave better ones but clicked the wrong button without noticing, or just don't understand how the system works.

Because Etsy doesn't explain this to customers. So people will leave a damaging review in perfectly good faith. The number of times I've gotten an "excellent product, would buy again!" review with 3 stars is astounding. I always message customers to ask what I could do better and explain the system, and the response is almost always that there was nothing wrong, they just usually don't give anything higher than 3 out of 5 stars unless the product radically improved their lives or was transformative (and to their credit, most customers change their reviews after this exchange but again, it takes time and effort).

3 stars is average, and what customers rate is their experience receiving and using a product. What Etsy uses these ratings to gauge, however, is whether a customer was satisfied dispatch timelines, craftsmanship, and if a product met the expectations set in the listing.

As an added bonus, Etsy hoses money off sellers by offering to advertise for them. The way this works is that if a seller opts in, Etsy will advertise their store in relevant searches on search engines like Google, and in exchange they take a percentage from any sales made from clicks on these links. And then some. Because if a customer clicked an advertising link once, then Etsy will keep taking that cut from any further purchases from that IP address. So if you click a Google link to an Etsy store and then purchase from that store, and then bookmark that store and go back six months later to get another item, Etsy will keep taking their advertising cut with each purchase you make.

Depending on whether or not you opt in to advertising, Etsy can take up to 30% of your earnings in fees alone. That means if I sell, say, bookmarks for $10, I only get to keep $7. Hopefully that covers my operating costs, but if I charge more for an item that takes me a lot of time and work to make, I have to factor in that Etsy offers free shipping on orders over $35 whether or not sellers agree to give it. So if I sell a product that costs $35, not only do I only get to keep $24.50 of what I was paid after Etsy takes fees, I also have to cover the cost of shipping. And if I'm selling a product for that much, it's likely shipping will cost $5-10, so now my profit is down to $15-20 for an item I sold for $35.

Why is the Star Seller status so important? Because it's the main way the average Etsy store gets onto the algorithm and has visibility, and without visibility you don't have sales. Drop shippers can afford to purchase advertising space, so they'll always show up in searches. They can also afford to have a variety of products, high-end professional photos of their products, and because they have a lot of sales, the occasional bad review or delayed shipment won't cause a blip on their rating system. In comparison, the average Etsy store who makes, let's say, 50 sales a month (and that's a small store that's doing well), is going to feel the impact of a handful of 4 star reviews and one day of delayed orders/message replies due to a family emergency. If you contact Etsy customer service to explain your legitimate reason for having a delay, they're unable to intervene. They can't give you back your Star Seller status, which means you're dropped from the algorithm for the three months it takes for those delays to stop counting towards your averages, and you then have to work your way back up into the algorithm once that time passes, which is even harder to do. (And while you can put up an auto-reply, there's a time limit on how long it'll be up, which is usually 24-48 hours. Which may not work if you have a personal emergency that the average small business would understand and give you time off for in ways Etsy refuses to accommodate.)

So what can you do to support Etsy sellers?

- Give good reviews. If you have problems with a product, message the seller and give them the opportunity to fix the problem or send a replacement/refund. Unless you feel the need to leave a scathing 1 star review, don't leave one unless it's a 5 star. Etsy counts anything under 5 stars the same as it does one star. (This goes for Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo, etc. too. Review kindly.)

- Message sellers during the week. It's harder to get to messages during the weekend, and not everyone remembers to put on their auto-reply.

- Don't click advertising links. If someone promos their Etsy store on their own social media account, it's fine. So if you click a link from an instagram profile or a tumblr post, that's fine. But if you see a link on Google or in a dedicated advertising space, even if it's a sponsored spot on Etsy, don't click on it. Instead, search the shop name on Etsy and go to it through that search. This way the seller won't lose more fees to Etsy.

[wishful-thinking64]

Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss Rewrite Ideas #01

I truly believe that both shows have a lot of untapped potential that we'll unfortunately never get to see thanks to Viv refusing to take criticism and the fact that her writers are all yes men. However, that doesn't mean I can't give out rewrite ideas like they're candy to those who wish to tap into either show's said potential. With that being said, here are some rewrite ideas that you could use for Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss! ______ #01.) Have Mrs. Mayberry become one of the residents of the Hazbin Hotel. I promise you, this one writes itself. #02.) Have Glitz & Glam be Fizz's rival co-workers to parallel his time in the circus when he worked with the Buckzo twins who acted more like a family to him. #03.) Write some new workers for the Hazbin Hotel since they're still severely understaffed. You could make these new employees a Hellborn, a Sinner, an Overlord, or Goetia royalty if you wanted too. The possibilities for this one are endless! #04.) Let Heaven contrast with Hell based on how they operate. For example, in my rewrite for the Hellaverse, Heaven doesn't use currency at all. It quite literally doesn't exist up there. Instead, they use the Bartering System as they view it to be the most fair exchange of goods and services. #05.) Have there be a character who doesn't belong in Hell but got sent there anyway for whatever reason. I'd recommend using Valoris (my take on renaming Vaggie) if you don't mind keeping her as a fallen angel or using her original Sinner backstory however I feel like Amélie (I renamed Emily solely because her name is so common. It's not bad but you can tell that there was barely any thought put into it either.) could work just as well since she'd be a fallen Seraph. #06.) Make Lucifer and Stolas evil as they were originally intended to be before Viv scrapped the idea in favor of something worse. Stolitz is a toxic ship no matter how much damage control and retconning Helluva Boss tries to do and when initially asked about how Lucifer would act later in the series on an old livestream, Viv originally wanted to have his character be on par with that of Willy Wonka so do with that information what you will. #07.) Allow for Charlie's, "Anyone can be redeemed," mentality to constantly be challenged by those around her. Don't be afraid to have her be in the wrong because we all know that not everyone can be redeemed. Some people (Valentino) truly aren't deserving of it and others won't be accepting to change. You can lead a horse to water all you want but the horse has to decide to drink it. #08.) Create a proper foil ship for Fallen Star (I hate using the ship name Chaggie) cause if even Stolitz can have one in the form of Fizzmodeus then Fallen Star should have one too. Most people opt to use Emilute but I'm a damn GuitarSpear shipper so I opted for a crossover ship that has Emily and another character from Helluva Boss instead. Listen, if a rare pair and joke ship like CherriSnake can become canon over a ship like Sir Pentious x Rosie that actually makes sense when you consider they're from similar time periods, then a crossover ship being in my AU rewrite is the least of my problems.

For context, here's a screenshot for one of the HH mockup episodes before Viv and her team decided to scrap it. Like the majority of the HH mockup episodes. ______ Well, that's all I've got for now so happy writing and good luck!

[swiftyangx12]

🟥🧲Two Old Bots & Their Spark❤️‍🩹⬜️

[Pairing]: TFA Ratchet x Cybertronian!Autobot![Reader]

[Synopsis]: It’s not always easy to work in a special unit with a well-rumored commander, especially if you’re their grownup kid*.

Sparkling*

[Inspiration]: The request from awhile ago and @signedaiko wrote the HCs out. (HCs with the Special Ops![S/O])

[D/N] = Designation (Your Name)

[S/D] = Sparkling’s Designation (Your kid’s name)

[Gender Neutral]

[(A/N)]: Welp, I lied. I’m definitely writing out the next chosen characters from that request awhile back. The two fics would probably be a longer than the Optimus one (which I’m considering to turn it in a lengthy story).

[(A/N #2)]: This fic is based on S1;E7 from the series.

[WARNING]: Still, possible misuse of Cybertronian Vocabulary and Terminology, Little more than Canonical Violence, some Energon (Blood) spillage

[Back on Cybertron, everybot knows the Elite Guards and many famous figures with a high-ranking status. Especially the infamous Commander of the Information Operations, [D/N]. Rumors about them have circulated for a long time; how they served in the war and stories of them taking down Decepticons twice their size. Most of the population are afraid of them, even mentioning their designation sends shivers down the struts. What many Cybertronians don’t know is you never mess with their unit.]

[Fortress Maximus]

[D/N], marching down the halls: *In their commanding tone* Sentinel Prime!

Sentinel Prime: *Internally panics* A-Ah, Commander [D/N]. I didn’t expect to see you here.

[D/N]: Cut the slaggy formality. Did you or did you not harm one of my teammates? Specifically, my unit’s medic.

Sentinel Prime: “Frag, they tattled on me.” You see-!

[D/N]: *Snatches the Elite Guard and lifts him off the floor* Answer my question, now.

Sentinel Prime: I can explain-! *Winces as he feels the built-in blades poking into his chassis*

[D/N]: Confess, now.

Sentinel Prime: Yes! Okay! I did beat your medic up!

[D/N]: *Lets go of the Elite Guard*

Sentinel Prime: *Falls on his aft* Ow! I’ll report to Ultra Magnus for this!

[D/N]: Go ahead. You know well he’s afraid of me, and I have evidence against you for harming the team’s medical officer.

Sentinel Prime: *Shuts his intake up* …

[D/N]: Hm, thought so. I have important business to attend so don’t bother me unless it’s actually a world-ending dilemma.

🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️

[The Commander and Medical Officer traveled in one of the stealth ships to Earth to see the certain Field Technician. Their ship landed in a forested area away from the city and [D/N] already has their Earthly alt. mode (due to secret visits) so they helped [S/D] find one too. Afterwards, the two rode off to Team Prime’s base.]

[Earth, Michigan, Detroit]

[Outside of the Autobots’ Secret Base]

[D/N]: Ratchy! We’re here!

[S/D]: Hi, Sire.

Ratchet: [D/N], [S/D]? What are you two doing here?

[D/N]: What? Am I not allowed to see my Conjunx?

Ratchet: It’s not that. What’s [S/D] doing here?

[S/D]: Had a rough time back on Cybertron. It involved with a certain guard possessing a hideous double-chin feature.

Ratchet: Ah, that brat.

[S/D]: Carrier almost offlined him.

Ratchet: [D/N]

[D/N]: What? No bot messes with my family.

[Just then, Optimus Prime came outside to investigate the sudden voices.]

Optimus Prime: What’s going on here? *Sees the two Special Ops ‘Bots and salutes them* Commander [D/N] and Medical Officer [S/D].

[D/N]: Ah, Optimus. You can stop with the formality, we’re off-duty during the visit.

Optimus Prime: I apologize, [D/N].

[D/N]: Don’t be too hard on yourself. Why don’t you and Ratchet introduce us to the team?

🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️

[The Plant: The Autobots’ Base]

Bumblebee: Wait, hold up! You mean to tell us you have a Conjunx the whole time?! And you two had a Sparkling together?

Ratchet: You never asked and not even tellin’ you young bots about my personal stuff.

Optimus Prime: What’s actually more shocking to learn is you’re conjunxed to Cybertron’s most scariest commander.

[D/N]: …It’s the paint job, isn’t it? It’s what I get for accepting this role long ago.

[S/D]: My carrier isn’t scary when off the breems. Those were rumors by bots too afraid to approach them.

[D/N]: Sweetie, it’s okay. It’s noble you’re defending your creators but I accepted the terms so it’s bound to have everybot on their pedes around me.

Bumblebee: Oh hey! Why don’t we show you around Detroit? Everyone would love to see new ‘Bots around.

[D/N]: Why not? Ratchet told us about the humans here and it wouldn’t hurt to meet some.

🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️

[The tour took up a whole day as [S/D] was fascinated by Earth and its quirks while [D/N] knew some facts, but still surprised by new discoveries. Well, and some people who kind of freaked out to see two intimidating-looking Cybertronians (which the misunderstanding was cleared up right after). Then night fell upon the ‘Bots.]

Ratchet: It’s primitive. It’s barbaric.

[S/D]: There needs to be a law against this.

Optimus Prime: Ratchet, [S/D], it’s just an Auto-supply store.

[S/D]: …Whose screws are loose enough to cause an accident, just for parts in the open area?

Bumblebee: *Comes out of the garage of the store* Hey guys! Check out my new horn.

Ratchet & [S/D]: *Both deadpans at Bumblebee* Of course.

[D/N]: *Vents out and smiles while nodding their helm* Like Sire, like Sparkling.

🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️

[Ratchet and [D/N] trail behind the others.]

Ratchet: …

[D/N]: Ratchet, you’re being quiet all of a sudden. And I know which kind of quietness you’re showing.

Ratchet: *Vents out* Just got a funny feeling, is all. Old war wounds actin’ up again… *Rubs over his wound*

[D/N]: *Gently holds his servo* Do you want to talk about it? About your wounds.

Ratchet: No, I’m fine. It usually means trouble when old wounds act up.

[D/N]: *Worried for their Conjunx* You know I was there, too. You can always open up when we’re alone together, alright?

Ratchet: *Reassuringly squeezed his partner’s servo* Yeah, when we’re alone.

[Then the unexpected happened.]

[D/N]: RATCHET, WATCH OUT!!!

🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️

[Optimus, Ratchet, Bumblebee, [D/N] and [S/D] returned back to base and right away, the grumpy technician performed some self-diagnostics. The team’s leader went to check up on him, and the two chatted before the young Prime takes his leave. Prowl monitored the activities of the mysterious vehicle through the news outlet, then the screen shows live footage of the chase and the off-duty commander recognize the exact vehicle from their war days. Afterwards, [D/N] insisted to go with the team but Ratchet refused as he doesn’t want his family getting hurt, especially by a figure from their past. When the team left the base, [D/N] didn’t listen as they have a terrible feeling about the situation, so they transformed into their alt. mode and sneakily drove out of the building with [S/D], who also changed into their mode, driving behind their Carrier in complete silence. They followed Ratchet’s energy signal and when the two arrived to the area…]

Ratchet: *Thrown across and crashes hard into a pile of junk*

[D/N]: Ratchet! [S/D], take care of your Sire. I’ll handle this fragger.

[S/D]: *Nods affirmatively and rushes over to Ratchet for aiding*

[D/N]: Hey Lockdown! Remember me? Kicked that back-bumper of yours eons ago.

Lockdown: Ah, yes. You were the commanding leader with that team during the war. Y’know, you have pretty good parts I could use. Some I could keep as my trophies.

[D/N]: I don’t think you can handle them. *Throws a range of knives at the bounty hunter*

Lockdown: *Dodges the knives* Heh. Not bad, for an old bot. *Swings his hook at the commander*

[D/N]: *Swiftly dodges the attack and kicks him square in the chassis*

Lockdown: *Stumbles back a little*

[D/N]: This ‘Bot still learns new tricks. *Charges at him*

[The two bots battle each other as the commander strikes more blows to the hunter’s towering frame.]

[D/N]: You better let the young Prime go or so help me I’ll rip your-

Lockdown: *Shoots them with the Electro-Magnetic Pulse Generator (EMPG)*

[D/N]: *Passes out as their frame falls down*

Ratchet & [S/D]: [D/N]/Carrier!

Lockdown: Knocked out and vulnerable. *About to pick them up*

[S/D]: *Sprints in to stand between [D/N] and Lockdown*

Lockdown: And what are you gonna do, medi-bot?

[S/D]: *Pulls out their electric tonfas* Kick that slaggy skid-plate of yours. *Starts hitting the hunter*

[While [S/D] fights off in defense, Ratchet uses his magnets’ electric currents to lift up Lockdown from the ground and throws him away from his family.]

Ratchet: *Rushes over to his unconscious Sparkmate* [D/N], get back online. *Holds their helm facing up*

[D/N]: *Groans as they become conscious* Ratchy? That aft-hole has your generator.

Ratchet: I figured. [S/D], get your carrier and yourself out of here before-

[Lockdown returns back to kick Ratchet off of them and grabs hold of their kid.]

[D/N]: Ratchet, [S/D]! You… *Stands back on their pedes* Let them go. This fight is between us, only.

Lockdown: *Lets go of [S/D]* Well, if that’s the case. Then I hope nothing happens after this fight.

[D/N]: *Protacts their built-in blades* Stay away from my family. *Charges at him and swings their blades him*

[Lockdown pulled out the many hidden utilities owned by previous users and the most recent addition is Optimus’ grappling hook.]

[D/N]: *Terrified by the discovery* …

Lockdown: Like the new upgrade~?

[D/N]: …You son of a glitch. *Thrusts their blades at Lockdown successfully jabbing into his chassis near his Spark*

Lockdown: *Groans from the stab yet grabs them by the neck guard with his left servo*

[Before [D/N] could escape from strangulation, they felt a sharp object hooked into their chassis. They coughed some Energon out of their intake.]

Lockdown: Any lost words, commander?

[D/N]: C-Clear…

Lockdown: What now?

[S/D]: CLEAR! *Shocks Lockdown with their tonfas*

[D/N]: *Slices off the arm and falls on their aft* *Pulls out the hook* Frag…

Lockdown: *Screams in pain and passes out from the tactic*

[In the duration of the fight, Ratchet was able to find Optimus and rescued him before the ship took off. [S/D] is by their carrier’s side aiding their wounds after retrieving a crucial instrument from the unconscious bounty hunter.]

[S/D]: *Rips off the EMPG from Lockdown* I believe this belongs to the Field-Tech I value as my role model.

Ratchet: *Huffs out of some pride* Nice work, [S/D].

[D/N]: *Holding their wound* Good job, you two. Now, I need medical attention, ASAP. *Coughs out more Energon*

“[D/N]/Carrier!!!”

🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️❤️‍🩹🟥❤️‍🩹⬜️

[Autobot Base, Med-Bay]

[Optimus is being repaired by [S/D] in the background while Ratchet helps his Sparkmate.]

Ratchet: *Patching up [D/N]* For Primus’ Sakes, never risk your Spark like that again.

[D/N]: *Laughs dryly* Can’t promise that, Ratchy.

[S/D]: When we return back to Cybertron, I’m writing you out on medical leave until you’re fully stable.

[D/N]: [S/D], that’s not necessary.

[S/D]: *Glares at them*

[D/N]: Fine. You’re the medical expert. They inherited my optics…

Ratchet: Huh. Like Carrier, like Sparkling.

[S/D]: …I’ve been wondering for some time. And I’m not the only one curious about it. *Motions at Optimus*

[D/N]: It’s about our times during the Great War, right?

[S/D]: *Nods*

[D/N]: We should tell them, Ratchet. For their sakes.

Ratchet: *Vents a little and nods* We can’t forget what happened during those dark times.

[And so, Ratchet and [D/N] opened up to Optimus and [S/D] about their time in the Great War without sparing any details. Nothing left unsaid.]

❤️[Reblogs help creators and creates more content]❤️‍🩹

[(A/N)]: Please check out @signedaiko and their work. Their writing is so much fun to read. However, by the time I posted this story, they’re not open for requests. When they are available for new requests, please be respectful and read their rules before hand as they stated some boundaries the writer set a while ago.

Also, read the following answers they were frequently asked about.

[adeptus-nonsense]

humans are poets as well as warmongers

Humans nowadays are well known far and wide in this galaxy. Mostly because they are some of the most chaotic, Stupid or bold "daredevils" around (think i used that word correctly).

While i do recall my first meeting with the humans very V E R Y badly since i served in the contact wars when the Graktuka a well known theocratic empire and very influential and politically strong contender in the galaxy stumbled across human colonies. They saw this as an hostile action since the planet they were settling were a holy world, That however is a story for another time.

Just know that the Graktuka empire shrunk by a significant margin to the point where they asked for militairy support. The humans had apparently developed a kind of magnetic accelerated firing plattform piercing through multiple layers of hull completely ignoring shields. Given that Graktuka empire relied on shields since most of the galactic arsenal is plasma based but their hull wasn't weak at all. Unconventional weapons had to be used to even dent their armour. Realising that the humans ships were massive but rather primitive and slow a ground based invasion was seen to be the optimal way off going.

If you were there you would know why humanity is as feared as they are. Masters of the what did they call it? Art of war? Yeah something like that. Fields of bombs buried into the ground detonating with a light step. Weapons dedicated to injure soldiers just enough to save them but not kill them in order to make the invader spend more resources on saving said soldier.

Even our bases of operations with shields were not safe, let me tell you if you think regular humans can cause damage to stuff by touching things dont even get near trained saboteurs with your stuff. They break things in a ways that seems like a simple malfunction and will work after a simple repair. When the shield generator first broke down i thought i could fix it in a matter of minutes, I still havent fixed it to this day and i have taken that thing apart thousands of times without finding the fault.

safe to say we lost that war and this is just one one planet. This was the short part. Just be glad that they pack bond with just about anything. Saw a human carry a cleaning unit and named it "Ronald the Roomba" And that is apparently our ships mascot. But this is things we all are aware of. Let me tell you of their poetic side

This is not something most of us see as common knowledge about humans, but their cultural aspect besides war is for a lack of better words beautiful. This thing they call music.

for all their wars they know how brutal they are and write songs about everything they did wrong and how they wished how they could change it. But that is not all, according to human Jakob music portrays emotions and ones feelings in a way that regular communication doesn't and you dont even need to understand the words to understand the emotion said piece is carrying. Which i know to be true, it's almost therapeutic

I think My log of it will be a better way to describe since it is honestly hard to describe [alltough be careful their music is quite loud for most prey species]

Year 4574 human sector 456854 log 1 of service leave. I am currently here on a passion project of mine. While the war has ended 6 years ago off now the tensions do still exist. Me and some comrades in service are taking some time off and going to what humans call a bar and apparently there is a human performing. I have no idea of how this is gonna go. All i know is humans are incredibly chaotic especially when intoxicated. Still i should probably record this for the culture scientists at social scientific hub.

Log 2

*murmur and loud talking in the background at the bar*

"for clarifications sake, my name is Groakslo, i am here with my two comrades Kyukla and Telosa. We are currently at the bar only to see that humans are actively drinking poison, i was quite shocked to hear this and asked if it isn't dangerous and the bartender said and i quote "nah we gucci" note to self find out what gucci is."

Log 3

"the humans were beginning to get rowdy and even slight outbursts of violence did occur but nothing the surprisingly loud bartender couldn't handle by a very concerning threat, followed by him saying that the band is preparing so settle down. Telosa and i looked at each other very confused but still awaited this "band"

Log 4

"the band arrived and started to set up weird things, long instruments with metal strings, of varying thickness, i asked the a human who were close by what they were and he said instruments. I asked what they were used for and he said to play music. I was getting nowhere and decided to see for myself what they were gonna do."

Log 5 (i decided to be quiet for this one)

"welcome folks and aliens of all sorts shapes and kinds! Thank you for coming to this bar for our first debut our name is The Lines In between, and for those who dont know human music, we'll slowly lean you into it with this first on and it is namned Memories beneath the stars" [3 hours of music recorded]

Final log (yes i know i could voice record but i want to write while the memory is fresh i'm bad with words)

I never knew that humans could make such songs. Telosa and Kyukla was particurlarly affected. The song was as the name suggest the memories we made sneaking out to watch the stars as younglings, reminiscing about the times when the stars were the most unknown, adventure filled and beautiful place to be in. But also about the connections they've lost over the years, the good times wiped away like a water slowly polishing a stone into sand. It was odd, beautiful calm, sad all at once.

The voices i heard when i fought humans in war can not even be compared to that of the singer in that band, what is most perplexing is that the once borderline rioting bar was completely quiet when the band was performing, almost as if in a trance completely captured by the singers voice, smooth, rough, raspy but controlled in a way i thought impossible. A song about 4 human minutes somehow managed to capture the full emotional spektrum of not only humans but multiple species in that bar.

Humans truly are an astounding species. Truly a species that are on all of the extremes, stupidity, ingenuity, violence, poetry and many many more. For now i'll sign off and hope you at the social cultural exchange fellas have a field day with the music file attached to this.

Grokslo, highly decorated former geothermical shield generator militairy specialist.

[yomipurge]

ITS DONE!!!!!!! finally after like two weeks of on and off work (and about 12 hour between today and yesterday) ive finished this !! i have so many feelings about these two but im going to save the ramble for under the cut.

this is set in a theoretical continuation post kh3 !

anyways <3 i love kingdom hearts yuri

ill keep this brief as it is 1am for me currently, a rough version of the designs can be found on my tumblr!

this isnt as polished as i would like and things definitely couldve flown better but i dont have any time really left to work on it sadly for a good while

the animatic is set in my own au version between kh3 and kh4, where after struggling to track down anyone from their past, lauriam and elrena learn about ventus and go to see him to try get a lead. things happen and eventually they decide to settle down in the land of depature as a tempoary base of operations.

i imagine lauriam ends up getting back into the swing of being a keyblade user a lot more easily than elrena has, who has a lot of conflicting feelings about having a heart again, which mades her very fustrated and struggling to reconnect with who she was, just kinda . conflicted on how safe being a nobody felt and how it clashes who she was in the age of fairy tales, and eventually it leads to her training with aqua and bonding with her over a number of things that happened to them both in the past

elrena does not know how to handle having anything other than shallow feelings for anyone without it sending her into an absolute crisis and as a result she ends up kinda lashing out several times especially because i imagine suddenly having a heart again after so long not having one feeling emotions would be overwhelming. also because i think her and lauriam are worsties and he likes teasing her. what else is there to do around these parts other than think about how ur sister and probably everyone u cared about before is dead

in this au there was some sort of romantic feelings between elrena and strelitiza, as well as um. an oc x canon ship because its my animatic and i get to control the cringe ! there is a whole lot more in my head to this but i really want to get around to writing a fic about it eventually.

idk. i would love asks abt this if anyone is curious to know more but i need to go to bed . i love aqualarx <3 i love crackship yuri <3 these guys are my ocs and most of this does not make sense without the rediculous amount of lore in my head for this au

[captain-astors]

Finished my reference sheets for @tokyoghoulartfight2024 at long last! (Note: I removed Aoki’s gold earring because it looked weird)

Individual profiles

Shizuya Kei: Quinx, Blood Type AB+, 5'10. 28.

A solo-operating First-class investigator who underwent the Quinx surgery with a Bikaku kagune from an ghoul known as Kelpie. Prior to meeting Aoki he was almost completely apathetic, but as the two have collaborated, Aoki's requests have rejuvenated a desire for life in him. Also, his vision is awful. He sees blurs of color at best.

Aoki: Ghoul, Blood Type A-, 5'3. 24.

The infamous S~ rank Kakuja, codenamed "Kelpie", currently imprisoned in Cochlea; the grey oversized clothing is his prison attire. However, as opposed to being forced there, Aoki is there by choice, comfortably living in safety from his fellow ghouls as he directs Shizuya to eliminate various ghouls and gives him the advice needed to do so. (Note: I accidentally switched his earrings around for the Kakuja form, the base ref has them right) DO:

Draw them in ships, they have a weird gay thing going on with each other but they can absolutely be weird with another person, just know they're a package deal. If one of them is dating a character the other one either will be too or will be third wheeling.

Draw them interacting with canon characters/your OCs

Change their outfits/hair/whatever as long as they're them, Aoki's markings are just little patterns he he's taught himself to make on his skin with RC cells out of boredom in Cochlea so they can take just about any shape.

Blood/gore/angst

Ask me any additional questions about them!

DO NOT:

Draw NSFW of them

lighten Aoki's skin (lighting and stuff affects it of course but he's not pale)

Mutual Story (under the cut for length but I strongly encourage anyone interested to read it!)

Shizuya grew up in an entirely unremarkable lower-middle-class family with even less remarkable grades; he was never really expected to go far by anyone, so when he was accepted into the CCG training school he believed it might finally be his time. In reality he just had an aptitude for fighting, and by looking at his records V determined that if he were to die in action his body would not be highly sought after and therefore make suitable food for the garden.

Though he doesn't know the latter, he managed to figure out the prior by the time he graduated, but continued as a rank 3 investigator on the principle that he simply didn't have anywhere else to go. Despite being a talented fighter, he was so severely dispassionate and depressed that he never rose through the ranks and amassed scars from simply being careless in fights. The only thing that really interested him was joining his coworkers at bars and such after their shift, but Shizuya didn't know how to start up a conversation and mostly just ended up listening silently as they chattered and feeling emptier than before.

Aoki, meanwhile, grew up on the streets with a burning resentment towards just about everyone. Despite being claimed as part of a "pack" of ghouls, they abandoned him and his mother when they were cornered by Investigators, and his mom, who had been sharing her food with Aoki, didn't have the strength to outrun them. Instead she hid him as best she could in an alleyway, covering him in tattered blankets as she was cornered. Aoki watched, horrified and powerless to help as they killed her and called ghouls heartless beasts.

Aoki has never been able to forgive the ghouls that abandoned him, nor himself for not trying to help her, even if at such a young age couldn't have done a thing regardless, so he channeled his self-loathing into external hatred of his own species. He almost strictly consumed ghouls, eventually developing his Kakuja.

The "Kelpie" name is more fitting than just aesthetics, as one of his main strategies was to use his day job as a dancer to lure fellow ghouls to his home under the guise of kinship, just to devour them. However, this worked progressively less as he developed a reputation among ghouls and the CCG alike, and counterattacks became increasingly threatening in spite of his strength.

Their meeting was little more than coincidence. Shizuya was assigned to dispatch some ghouls that had been causing trouble in the 10th district, and Aoki happened to be attacking the same group. Shizuya got to them first, while Aoki watched from a distance, undetected. Aoki was overcome with an idea as he saw Shizuya dispatch these ghouls without a single spark of the hatred that he'd seen in the investigators that killed his mother, just melancholy.

Aoki attacked Shizuya, fully covered in his Kakuja. Aoki slashed his face, and Shizuya realized rather starkly that this wasn't like his other fights, where he was injured out of a lack of caring; Aoki was fully capable of overpowering him. However, as the two fought, Aoki managed to pin him to the ground and have a conversation with the Investigator. Shizuya admitted he felt aimless, and Aoki promised to give him purpose if he guaranteed the latter's safety. Shizuya, who, as predicted had no real allegiance to humanity or morals and just wanted to feel wanted, agreed. Their "fight" then proceeded, and Shizuya, under Aoki's direction, gouged one of his Kakuhou out of his back.

The first Kakuhou he took from Aoki was turned into his harpoon-like quinque, and shortly thereafter when the primary Kakuhou had heald, it was extracted and placed within Shizuya. The concept was to leave the ghoul alive and regularly transfer RC cells from the original host so that the Kagune would acclimate and be controlled with much more ease and less risk; and all the while Shizuya was supposedly torturing Aoki for intel and compliance.

However, this was really anything but the case. Aoki allowed this all for the technical protection of Cochlea, specifically entrusting Shizuya with his Kagune. With the publicity disaster with Shiki Kijima shortly before Aoki was taken into custody, Shizuya managed to arrange for all monitoring of the room to be shut down while he was "interrogating" Aoki, so that the public would never get the chance to form empathy for a mistreated ghoul. In reality though, Shizuya merely uses this time to deepen his relationship with Aoki, and seek his direction in which ghouls must be killed, and which investigators might be lost along the way. Their path is one of mutually assured destruction.

Though before Shizuya had no particular love for anything, now, as long as he's killing under Aoki's request, he does so with a deeply unnerving bloodlust, but it is nonetheless a passion.

Aoki is a surprisingly capable emotional support, (he just willfully ignores his own problems), and tenderly caring for Shizuya's wellbeing has actually done wonders for the deeply hateful worldview he's surrounded himself ever since the death of his mother.

They're anchored by each other, and their time together in Aoki's cell is usually just embracing and consoling each other in a weirdly tender way as Shizuya tells Aoki about anyone he's killed for him, and Aoki advises Shizuya about using his Kagune or who to hunt.

Shizuya keeps Aoki safe, Aoki keeps Shizuya sane.

Also they kiss, I'm not really sure where to mention that, there's not an exact label on their relationship it's just desperate attachment and fondness, "dating" doesn't exactly cover it.

Other facts:

Their rings are a sign of promise to eachother, Shizuya usually hides his under a glove but he deeply enjoys wearing it visibly when he can.

Shizuya regularly delivers meat to Aoki, so that if needed Aoki can always break out. It's not foolproof but it's better than nothing. He also makes sure Aoki's administered RC suppressant dosage is way too low.

Aoki doesn't technically have a last name but between them he is Aoki Shizuya, Shizuya said something about "sharing his" and it stuck.

[divine0rdainment]

IMMA WRITE SOME FANFICS!

So imma try and write some more fanfictions soon. Attempt is the correct word becuse my ADHD is a bitch. But I was wondering which of my Au's you'd like to see written about first. Imma share the ones I like the most below and if you guys have a specific interest in one, please Comment the ones you'd like to see. I'll set up a Pole to have people vote on based on which Au's have the most people interested and work from there.

Now for the aus, I'll write the name of the au and description so you know what I'm talking about.

1) Taking What Is Forbidden (Continuation)

I already wrote two chapters for this but I have a few ideas I could expand on after, but in summery, An Eden au where Adam eats the apple of knowledge on purpose to find a way to make Lucifer fall in love with him, (or straight up force his angel in to isolation with him) resulting in them both falling. Heavily implied Yandere Demon King Adam vibes.

2) Operation Replace Lilith AU

Adam dies and goes back in time to the day he was created and has the brilliant idea of seducing Lucifer in order to get Lucifer to take him to hell Instead of Lilith, and not have the same death he had in his last life (Lucifer beating the shit out of him and then being stabbed by Nifty.) Too bad he's bad at flirting and Lucifer is accidently great at it. And now he may have to accept the fact he's not so straight.

3) Paradise Found au

Michael and Lucifer switch roles, and Michael ends up going to hell with Lilith, while Adam, after his death, ends up married to Lucifer in heaven since Lilith was sent to purgatory. He's still an exterminator in this time lone and Lucifer is part of the High Angelic Council. They have two daughters (Lute and Charlie) who are both working along side them and they have found their happy ending... Till Emily, the daughter of Michael and Lilith shows up with her plans for "redemption" and Charlie's missing girlfriend. Then everything the two built falls apart in ways they can't control.

4) Lucifers Labyrinth AU

Adam is a single dad of 4 kids who are very irritated at him when he misses a big school event. After a big argument, one of the kids make a wish that end up sending the four kids and Adam to the demon realm. The king of the realm, Lucifer, makes a deal with Adam that if he can make it to the center of Lucifers very very large labyrinth and get his kids to forgive him, he will let Adam take them home. But if he fails, he and the kids would be trapped in the Demon Realm forever. Turns out, Lucifer just had a crush on Adam and wants to convince him to stay willingly but doesn't understand humans well.

5) Charlie is The DM Au (Multiple Ships in this)

Basicly, Sinner Adam, Lucifer, Vaggie, Husk, and Angel play DND with Charlie as a bonding exercise every week. They each have their own characters and get to tell a fun story full of weird interactions and funny dialogue, but all while telling a good story that helps them with their real life problems in hell too. Alastor joins soon to cause even more problems in game. (May actually make Character sheets for everyone to share in case you like them)

6) Mafia Bodyguard Au

Another Single father Adam au, where Adam is struggling with a group of kids (under the age of 10k after his wife Eve died. He is Ex military and is too filled with PTSD and stress to figure out how to survive as he is. Luckily his ex wife, Lilith, comes to see him at a bar and offer him a job working for her second Ex husband as a bodyguard to their child, Charlie. In doing so he'd get free housing, schooling, medical increase, food, and even a fully bullet proof car. All Adam has to do is work for the Morningstar Mafia. Oh, by the way, her ex husband is the leader of said Mafia. Adam accepts for his kids sake, and shit goes crazy from there

7) She's Just a Baby Au

(also known as I'm Just A Man Au)

During the war between Heaven and hell, Adam is told by Sera that Lucifer and Lilith had created a nephilim. An abomination that, according to the higher angels, will spell misfortune for Heaven and Hell, and sends Adam on a secret mission to destroy this monster. When Adam gets there during a battle outside of Lucifers castle, he finds the monster in question and realizes it's just a baby, a demon like baby, but still a baby. He tries to bring himself to kill her and can't, and instead protects her till Lucifer comes back. Lilith dies in the battle sadly, so now Charlie only has her father. But Adam, now breaking heavens orders a second time, knows he can't go back. So Lucifer lets him stay. The two raise charlie together.

8) Testing Love Potions Au (One Shot)

Velvette was making a love potion in her office during an extermination, only for Adam to slam in to her office, preparing to killed her. To defend herself, Velvette broke his mask and hit him in the face with a love potion. And before he can open his eyes, she escapes. Adam sees Lucifer on a billboard and instantly is stricken with love. Chaos happens. And Lucifer is VERY confused. Especially since his wife just left him last year to go to heaven.

So please do tell me your opinions! Tell me which ones you'd like to read first! I hope to do all of them, but I gotta start so where!

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

The tenth Doctor in journeys end (i think?) said a TARDIS is made to be piloted by 6 timelords, what roles would each have in the TARDIS?

What roles would six Time Lords have in piloting a TARDIS?

This is more speculative, based on the known features of a TARDIS.

Console Panels and Systems

A TARDIS console is split into six 'panels', with each panel operating a different aspect of the TARDIS' systems. When there are six pilots, each Time Lord would likely specialise in operating a specific panel and system. Although the console layout may change with each TARDIS's 'desktop theme,' the six fundamental panels remain the same.

[Image ID: On the left is a top-down diagram of the 9th and 10th Doctor's coral theme TARDIS, divided into six panel sections. Each section is labelled from 1-6 clockwise starting from the 12 o'clock position. On the right is a text list of the panels and their names: Panel 1: Mechanical and Master Control, Panel 2: Diagnostic and Internal Ship Systems, Panel 3: Fabrication and Information Systems, Panel 4: Navigation, Panel 5: Helm and Dematerialisation Systems, Panel 6: Communications and Exterior Monitor./.End ID]

See this page on the TARDIS Technical Index for more variations on desktop themes.

👨‍✈️ Roles and Responsibilities

Here's a breakdown of each potential role and their responsibilities:

🔧 Panel 1: Mechanical and Master Control

Role: Chief Engineer

Responsibilities: The chief engineer monitors the TARDIS's overall operation. They ensure that all the mechanical systems and master controls are working properly. If anything goes wrong, they step in and fix it.

🛠️ Panel 2: Diagnostic and Internal Ship Systems

Role: Systems Analyst

Responsibilities: This person is all about the internals. They monitor life support, environmental controls, and the internal power grid. Basically, they make sure everything inside the TARDIS is working as it should.

🖥️ Panel 3: Fabrication and Information Systems

Role: Data Specialist

Responsibilities: Managing the TARDIS’s databases and info systems, and handling any fabrication needs. Whether it’s creating new tools, repairing old ones, or just making sure the information systems are up-to-date, they’ve got it covered.

🧭 Panel 4: Navigation

Role: Navigator

Responsibilities: Plotting courses through time and space. The Navigator makes sure the TARDIS lands where it’s supposed to, calculating all those tricky temporal vectors and spatial positions. They work closely with the Pilot to make sure the journey is smooth and safe.

🚀 Panel 5: Helm and Dematerialisation Systems

Role: Pilot

Responsibilities: This is the person at the helm, controlling take-off, landing, and in-flight manoeuvres. They handle the dematerialisation and rematerialisation of the TARDIS, making sure it takes off and lands without a hitch.

📡 Panel 6: Communications and Exterior Monitor

Role: Communications Officer

Responsibilities: They handle all external communications and keep an eye on what’s going on outside, involving sending or receiving messages or watching out for any threats or anomalies.

🏫 So...

Potentially, each Time Lord on the TARDIS would have a specialised role associated with a specific panel. Ideally, they're probably all working together like a well-oiled machine. However, poor old solo pilots have to jump around like madmen trying to cover all the controls at once.

Related:

🤔|🛸🧬The Life Cycle of a TARDIS: How TARDISes are born, grow, and die.

💬|🛸🧑‍✈️Do all TARDIS models require a 6-Person crew?: Piloting through the ages.

💬|🛸🌌Can a TARDIS be altered for travel in the multiverse?: How you might go about getting to the multiverse in your TARDIS.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[loosesodamarble]

Hello, I was the one who requested a few Nacht head canons that you wrote recently. I loved them so I'm here with one more request. It's a very long one so you can ignore it or take as much time as you want. So here it goes: How would the magic knight squads react if they find out one of their members has a crush on Nacht? How would things play out after that.

Oh my! Welcome back then, Anon! Glad you enjoyed them, despite their timing.

….......

Black Bulls

Everyone would have to pause and go "our Nacht Faust?"

And you'd have to confirm "yes, our Nacht Faust. As if there are any others."

Half the squad would bust out in hysterics.

The other half would be dead silent from shock.

Remember, Nacht's first impression with several members was... poor. To say the least. So hearing that you liked Nacht was an experience for everyone.

Asta and Yami are the first ones to cheer you and Nacht on though.

Followed by the likes of Noelle, Henry ("Henry, don't change the floor plans so their room are together. HENRY WAIT!"), Grey, and Gordon.

Vanessa and Finral would be down to set you and Nacht up on a date. And they'd throw in a makeover free of charge!

Gimodelo and the other devils are very excited to see Nacht get all romantic. They just want their master to be happy!

Don't be surprised if the Bulls start calling you to dinner later than the rest of them and doing the same to Nacht so you both are force to sit with each other at the only empty seats.

And there would be other schemes to keep you two in close proximity.

Really, the whole squad just wants to support their squadmates and friends in the very normal endeavor of starting a relationship.

Golden Dawn

William does his best to show a polite amount of interest in your crush. After Nacht's key role in the Spade Invasion, William feels he owes a debt to that man.

And William thinks that he can repay the debt by setting Nacht up with you since you've taken an interest in him.

At best, William offers you opportunities to visit in the Black Bulls' base (delivering paperwork or parcels) if you want to see Nacht in person.

David is the nosiest of the squad and will ask all the details. How you first met Nacht, when you started liking him, do you plan on confessing, etc.

You might start hanging around Yuno if you weren't already close with him. You know, to ask about Nacht's appearances at any vice captain meetings.

Blue Rose Knights

SHIP SHIP SHIP SHIP SHIP!

The ladies of the Blue Rose Knights are going to have your back if they find out about your crush on Nacht.

First Charlotte is blushing over Yami and now you for Nacht? It's like the squads are destined for something greater together!

The other squad members will insist that you and Charlotte have a double date with Nacht and Yami. Let your loves bloom together~!

It actually works out relatively well.

You keep Charlotte from panicking around Yami and in turn, Charlotte gives you plenty of openings to initiate conversation with Nacht.

And don't worry. Charlotte will shut down any egregious meddling from the squad.

Like say, locking you and Nacht in a closet without your grimoires so Nacht can't just shadow out of there.

Puli, the brains behind Operation Get the Devil (Host)'s Heart, is going to contrive of a lot of ridiculous scenarios though... Good luck.

Crimson Lion Kings

Nacht puts Fuegoleon on edge. His practices and demeanor aren't ideal in Fuegoleon's eyes but as a loyal Knight of Clover, Nacht is at least decent.

Fuegoleon warmly encourages you in pursuing Nacht. But he also warns you not to get too distracted.

"I don't have any romantic experiences to speak of but adding to your personal life is sure to give you more to fight for as a Knight."

It's just a nice way of saying that getting a boyfriend might improve your morale for work.../lh

Leopold doesn't know Nacht at all but he'd very willing to be your wingman by dragging you along to the Bulls' base when he goes to visit Asta.

I'm sure if you asked, Randall might bring your name up at a vice captain meeting and gauge Nacht's response.

Don't let Mereoleona catch you waffling on your feeling for too long. If she thinks you're being coward about your crush, then her hand might be forced and you'll find yourself doing volcano training alongside Nacht.

I say not in the sense that Mereo has an interest in romance, let alone others' romances, but I honestly think she'd get pissed off to know that a member of the Crimson Lions is being a coward about anything.

Other members of the squad would generally support you and urge you to do your best with getting Nacht's attention.

Silver Eagles

To me, the Silver Eagles are a squad wherein the members largely keep to themselves. It's mostly polite conversation with a bit of gossip from the noble circles.

Most of the Silver Eagles wouldn't pay much attention to your love life, if I'm to be honest.

However, they are an elitist squad (or at least that's their vibe) and with devil possession being Forbidden Magic, some might raise a brow at your crush.

"Even if he's a vice captain, that Faust man can't be anything but trouble. Especially if he's a Bull."

If Nozel hears of your crush, he'll have mixed opinions.

His opinion of devils and devil hosts is abysmally low due to his own history but Nacht proved himself a worthy ally and so not a horrible pick.

Nozel's bad at showing it but he does wish the best for you in your romance with Nacht. You are a member of his squad after all.

Like Fuegoleon, Nozel warns you not to let your infatuation get in the way of work.

Aqua Deers

The Aqua Deer has the vibe of being some free-spirited folks. Not so much as the Green Mantises or Black Bulls, but with a captain as young as Rill, the squad has learned to be able to accept anything.

"Following the captain's example and falling hard for someone, are we?" some will joke with you.

If you can catch Rill during his free time, he two of you could have a heart-to-heart and help each other sort through your crushes.

"Love can happen so suddenly, can't it?" Rill remarks. "Like bolt of lightning or like throwing a palette at an easel! It's bold and messy and scary too! But that's what makes it so amazing, huh?"

I imagine Fragil being a bit of a romantic so she might have some advice based on a romance novel or dating advice column if you went to her. But that's just what I think of her.

Coral Peacocks

Dorothy will be poking her nose into the business of your crush. No ifs, ands, or buts about it!

She's a bit of a gossip. So uh... prepare for Yami finding out via her loose lips.

In her sparse free time, Dorothy will encourage you to practice confessing to Nacht in her Glamour World.

Only to turn on you and tease you with her imaginary versions of Nacht.

This gif of Shouto form BNHA:

Dorothy creates a Nacht version of that to tease you. Good luck.

Kirsch will give you advice on how to be "beautiful" for Nacht to fall in love with you.

Green Praying Mantis

The folks in the Green Mantis squad are largely commoners. They're casual and a little wild.

So I'd imagine some of the more interested parties placing bets on how long it'll take for you to confess or maybe even betting on how you confess.

Some of the members might mention that Jack might've known Nacht in the past but going to him earns you the threat of being sliced apart (Jack being twin blind will be a sore spot for him from now on. No, this isn't relevant but I'm saying my piece.)

I dunno why but the Green Mantis squad gives off the vibes of inviting you and Nacht to a bar to let the alcohol break down your walls.

(Although if you're not a drinker of alcohol, that plan is a bust.)

The squad members would probably go out of their way to mess with the Black Bulls to get Nacht's attention for you.

Which... you might be thankful for the support or you might be horrified by their "plan."

They mean well, really.

Purple Orcas

All I can really say for the Purple Orcas is that Kaiser and her wife would be more than happy to give their insight on starting and maintaining a loving partnership.

[ostrichmonkey-games]

First playtest for Stampede Wasteland is tonight! Only doing minimal prep for it (since, ideally, that's all a regular GM would need to do). The biggest portion of that is rolling on some tables to generate a settlement that I'll be tossing the players into.

Thought it would be fun to show off the results and walk through how things are starting to come together with minimal effort!

Before I started any of this, I had a nugget of an idea about a faction of raiders that have taken over the town being one of the core sources of conflict, and now we're going to see how that might change or permutate based on how the settlement comes together.

Step 1 is rolling for the size of the settlement;

We get a Medium Town. Nice. Nothing too exciting just yet.

Next is to roll a number of Features based on the size we just got.

Medium towns get 3 Features. We get; Crash-Tech & Comms Relay, a Bazaar & Black Market & Foundry, and an Oasis and Stables. Each Feature has some extra options that help flesh them out, plus more specific mechanical things you can do with them, but I'll lave those for another time right now.

So far, this settlement has valuable Crash-Tech that helps keep it operating, a way to communicate with the wider world, places to buy cool things, but I'm paying special attention to the Oasis right now. Maybe that's why the raiders have taken this place over, to control the oasis? Let's see what else comes up.

The remaining tables are all optional details, but I rolled on all of them just to see what happens.

For a Key Figure in town, we get a Merchant "Prince".

Maybe they made a deal with the Raiders involving the oasis? That could be interesting.

Next up is the settlement's general Style;

We ended up with "rustic", I'm thinking very classic spaghetti western. Which is going to contrast very nicely with the town's Signature detail;

A massive, half-broken glass dome! Which also dovetails nicely with the already present Crash-Tech feature. Clearly, this town was built in the remains of one of the ancient seed ships that crash landed on the planet.

So what's Weird about this town?

Turns out the town is a cultic pilgrimage site. The crash site the settlement has been built on must be significant, maybe related to one of the Orbital Saints.

The next detail is about the local geography, giving some details on what the wider region might be like;

And we get perpetual sandstorms! Must make travel difficult, especially for those pilgrims.

Lastly, there's the "What Keeps Them Safe (For Now)" table. Life in the Wasteland is difficult, and any settlement that lasts sticks around for a reason.

We get "geographic quirk", so there's something special about the physical location of the town that keeps it safe. Maybe the town is built into cave systems that were dug out from within the crater of the seed ship, and that glass dome partially obscures the crater and caves from the sandstorms that howl all around.

And with that! The town is complete, aside from a name, but I'll figure that out later. Probably.

Anyways, testing of the tables complete and working as intended! I think a unique story came together with minimal effort and I'm excited to see what's gonna happen next.

[chaosk1ng]

I like the idea of Isaac Clarke constantly being on edge for different crossovers cause there’s no way in hell he would be okay with seeing aliens, military or “magic” in any universe after the whole thing with necromorphs and markers.

I can’t lie and say that I don’t think of this every once in a while. I do and usually it’s because I think of scenarios that are hilarious to envision. One of the most recent ones is a Star Wars one. I can see it at any point in time in Star Wars (I’m ignoring the Sequels because I forget they exist and couldn’t care less about them) and see it as the end of the remake since it was the only one I’ve played so far.

I like the thought that people would assume he’s a Mandalorian Jedi or something. The man only has his suit and weapons that aren’t even meant for combat, and is surrounded by planets and beings that he knows nothing about. Not only does he have this going but he can slow down areas and move objects seemingly with a flick of his wrist to anyone who sees him use the stasis or kinesis modules by chance. He would have to wear his suit whether he likes it or not but would probably prefer it since he would be on edge because of his most recent experience and would want to be protected from any harm.

Anyway, he would likely travel around in confusion, fully suited, and may only take off his helmet when in the ship he used to get away from Aegis VII. Depending on where on the timeline he is placed, people will either think he’s a new type of mandalorian, Jedi, both, or something inspired by them, I’m thinking this one for pre empire. If this is during or after the empire then he could be seen as a new version of mandalorians or someone who is like a weird amalgamation of both, or trying to be both. I don’t think a lot of people really know what qualifies as a mandalorian or Jedi since in the Mandalorian, Din is told to go to Mos Pelgo because there might be a mandalorian but ended up being Cobb and Jedi are pretty much seen as myths and are essentially extinct.

This ties into the post empire line of thought. I know that there are ways to get him to interact with characters from Star Wars but this is one of the only ones that feel kinda natural. For this one I can see him meeting Din because of the reason I mentioned before. He could be seen around enough that people think he might be a mandalorian, Jedi or both. I see it taking place during the first or second season of the Mandalorian when Din is looking for both a Jedi and Mandalorians. Something could happen that leads him to finding a lead to another mandalorian, who might be a Jedi, traveling alone.

He could eventually find Isaac after much difficulty because there is no way in hell Isaac would spend much time around aliens, he would probably only do some jobs here and there to make some money in this new universe to survive. Isaac could get used to the new species over time as he does more jobs which are probably based on engineering or maybe a little bounty hunting but not as much since he wouldn’t be that good at it. The engineering jobs would get him familiar with the technology of this universe, he could probably use some of his skills and use them to adjust certain things to be operated kinda like the tech of his universe.

On the topic of Isaac experiencing his new universe, he would likely still use the tools he uses in Dead Space. He would only have experience using his tools and not any other type of weapon so he likely wouldn’t use weapons of any kind. He would probably get a blaster just in case but never really use it, maybe reverse engineer it or try to understand how tech in this universe worked. Maybe because of his weapons and modules that people start taking note of him, aside from his unique suit.

Anyway, Din would hear about this somehow and would eventually find this dude who is barely seen. Depending on what part of the series this takes place, he can either think Isaac is another type of mandalorian if he’s already met Bo-Katan, or think he’s another person posing as a mandalorian if it’s after Cobb but before Bo-Katan.

Both Din and Isaac would be confused as hell regardless, this is a good way for them to learn about each other and become acquaintances. This could either lead to the two talking every once in a while or become partners of sorts with Isaac joining Din on his mission and using any ties he may have created to try and help. Either way, Isaac would be a good ally for Din to have and could help him a lot in situations like with that spider thing when he’s transporting the frog woman, or something as important as Din fighting Gideon. On the note of the spiders, Isaac by now has a lot of experience shooting off legs and tiny babies that can climb and shoot things at him. Maybe he tells Din about that fact and both confuses and concerns him if Isaac doesn’t really tell him about the Ishimura and the necromorphs.

I think that Din would be interested in Isaac’s weapons and how his suit works since they have nothing like them or the RIG he has. They could learn more about each other this way and about their respective universes. Isaac can learn about things like beskar, blasters, tech, Mandalorians (Mostly, if not completely, about Children of the Watch), and maybe some tips or stories Din has collected during his time bounty hunting. In turn, Din can learn about Earth, RIGs, how Isaac’s weapons work, and eventually things like the Ishimura, Necromorphs, Nicole, Unitology, the Marker and such. Either way, these things would happen as they get closer and more comfortable together.

Sudden thought, Grogu can get two dads by the beginning of the show and gets spoiled like hell by both, can’t convince me otherwise. Both Din and Isaac would probably just co parent rather than see each other in a romantic light in the beginning if anything. Isaac would’ve just come to terms with Nicole’s death and would be grieving or repressing it so it would be too early for that type of relationship. Regardless of where in time the two meet, Din likely wouldn’t feel ready at all for that type of thing since he was mostly occupied bounty hunting before he got Grogu. They don’t have to get together but honestly it would be kinda cute to see now that I think about it. The two would probably get together sometime during or after season two since season one can be used to get them close enough to be comfortable enough to be kinda reluctant to stop traveling together.

Another thought was if the two met right after Din gets Grogu and has the Razor Crest stripped. Isaac is confused but decides to help the man and the weird child out so he can find someplace to get supplies. Once they get to Navarro, the two part and after Din decides to go back for the child, he could run into Isaac and get his help getting the child back or run into him as he’s trying to escape. Either way, Isaac would be stuck with Din cause he would follow him to his ship and help get the child out. Regardless of how and when they meet, I can see Grogu getting two dads.

Instead of a clan of two it would be a clan of three. I can see Isaac being extremely happy about this after everything since he now has people he cares for and will fight for in this new universe. In turn, Din would be happy to have a family, a child he cares for but is willing to give up for the child’s wellbeing but willing to go to great lengths to protect and a partner that is more than willing to go the same lengths for the child and can fight with weapons no one else has. The three of them would be a good family for each other and would be heartbroken to eventually let go of each other when Luke takes the child.

Luke doesn’t have to take the child but if he does then both Din and Isaac would have each other to help ease the pain and would be there for each other. Din can still get the N-1 or they can use Isaac’s ship if they still have it. It would be useful because it’s pretty much untraceable since it’s not from that galaxy and could have parts added at this point to have parts normal ships would have. It has enough space for the two of them and the child when they get him back in bobf.

Speaking of, Boba and Fennec would have some opinions about the two. I see it as mostly judgment, both Din and Isaac would probably think it’s because of their choice in partners or something but in reality be because of their lack of knowledge about a lot of things. Imagine the four of them in Boba’s palace and maybe someone mentions Jabba and Isaac is like, “how did this jabba dude die?” and Din saying something like “not sure, heard he got killed by a slave girl or something. Don’t know, wasn’t really important for my bounty at the time.” But yeah, I think the four would get along but the judgment is real but they care for their idiot friends.

I don’t think Isaac would become a mandalorian, even if he ends up with Din. He would acknowledge that he’s kinda like them but he couldn’t commit to something like that, not even to Din’s way. I think the whole thing with Unitology, his mom, and Nicole kinda ruined any chance he would follow something like that or anything that might resemble a religion, cult, or a certain way of life. I think he would be like Boba, he is kinda like a mando, looks the part and acts it but doesn’t commit himself to it or follow any way, just respects it.

I think the Armorer wouldn’t really care if Din ends up with Isaac if he is already part of his clan but Paz would need convincing and would probably judge Din for getting with an outsider. I can see Paz challenging Isaac in a fight or seeing him do something that might gain his respect. If Isaac helped Din rescue the child and helped get him out of Nevarro then I can see Paz already respecting Isaac and being satisfied with Din ending up with Isaac since he’s already proved himself to him and the others that day. I can see Isaac coming with Din and when he finally finds the two but he doesn’t have to be there.

It’d be funny if at that point they weren’t together and both the Armorer and Paz are both judging and disapproving how long he has been with Isaac but not even trying to get with him. They would already know about how good of a choice Isaac would be as a partner and try to make him realize it. This could be a way that Don realizes he likes Isaac romantically. I know Paz probably wouldn’t be interested in Isaac but he’d probably help by saying or implying that he would go for Isaac if Din didn’t.

Maybe Din doesn’t realize right away, he can get upset at the thought of Isaac ending up with someone else or Paz. He could question why he’s so upset at the idea and thinks that he should be happy for Isaac if that happens. After that Paz can try to hit on Isaac if they meet or send gifts that he knows would upset Din, maybe tell a few childhood stories of the two when they were younger. Din gets upset and starts to think about what would happen if Paz or someone else did succeed in getting with Isaac.

He would lose another presence that he has gotten used to being around, he would lose the last of his clan of three, regardless if Isaac is a part of the clan or unofficially a part of it. If he and Isaac are using Isaac’s ship then he would likely have to get a new one and move out. If Isaac got with someone, he would talk to him less and would eventually stop completely because he no longer has any reason to be around him, Isaac was only with him to help with the child and he’s gone. Even if he didn’t get with anyone, he likely wouldn’t get with Din since he probably would’ve mentioned Nicole at this point and likely wouldn’t be interested in men if he doesn’t really respond to Paz’s courting.

When Din thinks of this, he thinks about how it would affect his future and realizes he wouldn’t know what to do, just like now, because he couldn’t see a future without him or the child anymore. He has grown used to them to the point that losing both of them would tear him apart, he would be listless, a shadow of what he used to be. Din would be even more lost than he already was and didn’t really realize how much he loves Isaac and now thinks he has a chance of losing him forever if he can’t get him to stay. He would probably feel stupid for not realizing it earlier and try his best to woo Isaac, even if he’s not interested in men, not knowing that he already loves him.

He would try his best when it comes to it but he wouldn’t be good at it since he lived in the sewers and doesn’t know how people in Isaac’s world court each other so he’s just fumbling, Isaac thinks it’s charming. Isaac probably realized he loved Din long ago and tried to flirt with Din or express his feelings by giving him little trinkets or weapons and try his best to court him in a way a mandalorian might like but, like Din, he doesn’t know how courting works for them. He probably tried a few times and got no response cause Din didn’t know he was trying to hit on him and thought he was being friendly. Grogu probably knew, he was either told by Isaac or felt it from the force and tried his best to help but Din was dense and didn’t realize. He probably gave up on it and decided to cherish his time with the two of them until Din found someone he would want to settle with. He just hoped that if Din kept the child he would still be able to visit the two.

Isaac would find Din’s new behavior charming but would be saddened because he would think he’s either trying to let him down softly, make him feel better after his attempts, or softening the news of Din possibly leaving. He would probably confront him about it before Din confesses and would think he’s trying to make him feel better but hope it’s true. He would tell Don straight that he stopped going after him because he thought he wasn’t interested when he was trying and didn’t want to pursue something that would lead to nothing.

Din would probably feel like a bigger idiot and lets Isaac know he is more than interested, that he couldn’t see his future with anyone else, he couldn’t see it without him in it and that he didn’t realize it until after Paz and the Armorer let their opinions about it known and when Paz stated he would court him. The two would get together and eventually get the child back. I feel like this would happen but I can see them getting together before the end of season 2 as well.

That aside, Isaac meeting Ahsoka would be interesting. She’d be very confused about why this Mandalorian’s friend can slow people down and move objects despite not being force sensitive. He might give a brief explanation to her about the stasis and kinetic modules but not a lot of details since he tries to keep them hidden. Isaac would probably explain that he has a limited supply that he can use since that universe doesn’t have the shop options there. He would’ve had to make something to replicate the ammo for his weapons and would’ve taken longer for something to replenish the stasis to be made.

Luke and Isaac meeting would be interesting but not even Din really meets him, only sees him when he takes Grogu. Luke learning about Isaac from Ahsoka would be interesting. She only knows a little about Isaac, has seen him fight and knows a little of what he’s capable of but something is off about him. He’s close to the mandalorian and child but the force is off about him, he’s completely null in the force. The force doesn’t touch him, it’s like he isn’t there but they know he is, Ahsoka has seen him kill people, interact with them, she knows he’s there but he just isn’t force-wise. He’s an anomaly, and both Ahsoka and Luke are curious but will leave him be.

I forgot about Cobb, Cara and Greef so imma speed run. If Din meets Isaac before Cobb he would be a big help when it comes to dealing with the Krayt dragon since he defeated things like the Leviathan, the Leviathan Remnant and the Hive Mind. This is to say that Cobb would like Isaac. Cara and Greef would like him since he can handle both the child and the Mandalorian and see him as their wrangler. Maybe when Grogu force chokes Cara he steps in instead of Din and stops him and teaches him a little he knows from his kinetic module and how to tell friend from foe, when something is serious or not. Greef would only really know Isaac from the glimpses of him he sees but likes him since he is close with Din and Grogu and shows how he would go to great lengths for them both. When they do properly meet, he likes him since he helped him against the Imps and chooses to stick with Din despite being offered a place like both Din and Cara. He thinks the two are a couple people should be scared of with how well they work together and how protective they are of each other and their green child. Overall, all three of them like Isaac and all think they're already together at that point and probably laughed their asses off when they did get together.

I can’t do anything past bobf since I stopped watching the Mandalorian after season 3 episode 3. My rant had spilled and now I don’t remember my original thought process and now I’m shipping Din and Isaac. Goddamn it, I need to stop thinking.

[sealeneee]

what's this. this bitch writes sometimes.

fandom: swtor

«failures», 762 words, pg-13, gen

warnings: swearing, suicidal themes, possible ooc

characters: theron shan & katona nardanna (oc); don't tag as ship

if you notice any typos/mistakes please let me know

Night has long fallen on Odessen as the Commander effortlessly steps over the railing of the base's roof. Carefully keeping her balance at the very edge, she grabs the banisters behind her, flinching at the coolness of the metal. Someone with a less grim mood would probably admire the starry void above.

"Going somewhere?"

The man's voice is rather casual for the situation he's facing. Katona smirks. At least he knows better than to get all teary-eyed at her.

"Yeah, wanted to go grab some bantha milk."

"What, you'd leave your kids all alone? I knew you were capable of cruelty, but that seems excessive even for you."

"«Kids», hah. Half the base's older than me, Theron."

"Aww, we're all still your little ducklings. Don't be silly."

The half-sincere, half-sarcastic tone of the conversation doesn't change. It has always been like that for them — masks of fake cheer not strong enough to cover the bleak nature of the conversation, but enough to chase away the heartrending unease of talking about your feelings.

"Seriously, though. What's bothering you? No promises on a resolution, of course, but I can offer things like getting blackout drunk or wreaking havoc."

"I already do the latter almost on a daily basis, Shan."

"True. So?"

"So."

The silence stretches for a couple minutes. It's never truly quiet — the soft hum of the electricity and the distant sounds of the local wildlife fill the void.

"I just feel like... like I'm running in circles. Powerless. Chasing shadows. Grasping at the faintest leads, and feeling them slip away from my fingers. I've accomplished nothing so far."

"Tona. You have an entire military base under your command."

"That was all Lana. I didn't even know it existed", she gestures at the buildings below them. "I didn't even want to lead this! But as usual, nobody else can, blah blah, it falls to me." The dramatic offense in her voice is insincere, playful.

"Right. And the killing of the Emperor was Lana too?"

"No, but if you didn't notice," she taps her temple, "that wasn't very successful either."

"Jeez. You really find a way to undermine all of your achievements."

"I'm just stating the obvious. I've failed spectacularly in many aspects of my life." Katona chuckles and shifts her weight, still balancing on the edge of the building. "Yet somehow that hasn't stopped people from assigning more shit to me."

"I don't see how most things in your life can be categorized as «failures»."

"Let's go through the list, then. Getting rid of the Emperor? Certainly didn't work out. Stopping his kids? Work in progress. Makeb? Not sure, but I was chewed out by Saresh anyway–"

"Hey, as if she doesn't chew everyone out for everything."

"Not the point. Still wasn't a good result. You know what else wasn't a good result? Fucking Ziost."

Theron's face darkens at the mention of the Imperial world. The failure of that operation can't be attributed to a single person, but he always seemed more affected by it than the rest.

"Anyway", Katona continues, not pausing to take a breath, "you get the point. I've failed many times. Guess the biggest failure is at being a Jedi — don't think I need to elaborate that one to you."

"No, you don't. But you know what?", he steps closer to the rails, "you're not the only one who failed at being Jedi here, Tona."

Katona turns to look at him, her expression skeptical. What he said is somewhat true, but the circumstances couldn't be more different. Theron doesn't stop at that.

"From one failed Jedi to another, let me tell you this. It gets better. Not quickly, that's for sure. But it does. And for days when it doesn't, I'll be here for you. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who shares the sentiment."

She doesn't answer him for a bit. When she finally does, her voice is softer, almost a whisper.

"Thanks." She smiles gently, turning her head to look at him. "So that's what we are, huh?"

"Yeah. Two nocturnal fuck-ups standing on a roof in the middle of the night."

Katona snorts.

"You came here of your own volition."

"Yeah, and now my volition says we're both leaving. You need at least a few hours of sleep."

Theron outstretches a hand, and Katona takes it, hopping back over the metal fence. The stars above them are just as uncaring, and the night air is just as cold, but something about the atmosphere doesn't feel as hostile and unwelcoming anymore.

[gellavonhamster]

u ship smoker and tashigi! 😭i luv them sm!! what is the most thing u like in them? And why u love them!?

Ok let's see, I can rarely put into words coherently why I ship one pairing or another, so I'm gonna freestyle here

I do remember telling @patron-saints when asked the same question that I like ships where both characters look in the same direction as much as they look at each other. I think this might be the thing I like about them the most - that both of them are people with a strong moral compass who try to do the right thing even if it goes against the rules, dedicated to pursuing actual justice not whatever passes for it for most other Marines. (I do wonder where they're gonna end up by the end of One Piece because I don't think that at this point the whole institution of the Marines can really be fixed). It's not an easy path, but they walk it together and they push each other to be better while at it. I love the moment in Punk Hazard where she literally yells at him that they should survive by any means whatsoever, even if it takes swallowing their pride, because they can't just throw away their lives - they have a duty to others:

And she's right! And he listens! And she's basically talking to him the way he talked to her in Alabasta when he urged her to become stronger, there's nothing nice about it but it works because that's how he operates and she knows it well by now. It also shows how more confident she's become and how they've grown used to working with each other - I don't think she would've dared to talk to him like that in Alabasta. And he, in turn, trusts her to carry on with their duty on her own and replace him as the leader if he doesn't come back...

...because she has become stronger and he knows that. (He's also protecting her here, and I think he also knows that appealing to her sense of duty would be more likely to make her not follow him into danger than insinuating she's not strong enough to face that danger with him. Because by now he also knows well how she operates). Not to make the same post again, but there's a similar moment in One Piece: Stampede, and it's, like. If I had a nickel for every time Tashigi wanted to follow Smoker into what might be a suicide mission and he had to force her to stay behind, I'd have two nickels, etc. So, battle couple but less in the sense of physically fighting back to back and more in the sense of fighting the same battle, working in tandem, guiding each other, and having each other's back. Or something.

Speaking of Punk Hazard, I don't think the bodyswap plot was done well with them. I think it was mostly an excuse to show Tashigi with her boobs out. But it did make my brain go brrrr because I started thinking about how he ought to apologize to her for being so careless with her body because poor girl must have caught a cold and probably developed a nicotine addiction, and imagining how that apology would go led me to ao3, and the rest is history (which included me writing my own take on the apology). Though I do think some seeds were sown in my mind way before that arc...

...for example, I feel like this panel in particular did something to my psyche.

Which brings us to the more headcanon-based and less serious part. I imagine their potential romance would grow to be a steady, solid thing based on partnership and trust (which is the kind of relationship I tend to ship because I'm boring like that <3), but it would start out extremely awkward. Because she's a sweet clumsy girl who tries hard to make people take her seriously and he's a gruff, rather rude guy who has a kind heart underneath that. Also, they're probably very much are not supposed to get into such kind of relationship considering that she's his subordinate. Potential for cute AND funny AND slightly angsty scenarios, for dancing around each other without knowing how to make the next step, whether to make the next step. Also for copious amounts of unresolved sexual tension... and what it would result in when it is finally resolved. And I like that for my ships.

(Also, lemme be shallow real quick: I think they're both hot, and even hotter together)

TL;DR I just think they're neat

[writeforfandoms]

Warrior Song 8

Find the series masterlist

Again: playing fast and loose with canon. Noteably with AIs and how they operate or don’t operate over distances. Also, I am not a medical professional, so y’know. Keep that in mind.

We hit our first major road bump since the fall of the Infinity. 

Warnings: violence, blood, questionable medical advice, swearing, some lack of self-value, Feelings, sweetness at the end. 

Word count: 2.7k

The next few days were quiet. Eventually, you had gone back to the Pelican, Fernando had apologized, and the lot of you had gone on your way to the next clue. 

Nobody brought up the cuddle pollen again. 

“Anything new?” you asked Joy idly. The AI had connected to your tablet to help keep track of things in multiple places at once, so you’d taken her along with you to gather up water. The stream you’d tested was clear and drinkable, so you were busy refilling water bottles and big containers to haul back to the Pelican. 

“Not yet,” Joy said, using the speakers on your tablet. “So far this place is pretty quiet!”

“I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” you drawled. 

“Wait.” Joy was quiet for a few moments. “I’ll update you later.” And she was gone, attention pulled to whatever was going on with Blue Team. 

Unease churned in your gut, but you figured she’d let you know if there was anything you could do to help. So you just finished up with your task, taking the refilled water bottles back to the Pelican before you and Fernando team lifted the water tanks. 

“We’ll have to head back to base soon,” Fernando puffed as you two shoved a water tank back onto the ship. “Getting low on fuel.”

“I’m surprised it took this long,” you agreed with a little huff. “I feel like we must have traversed half the ring by now.”

“Not quite,” Fernando said, shoving the tank back into place. “But close. And still no closer to having answers.”

You hummed, taking a seat. “Well, either they’ll find answers, or there aren’t answers to find anymore.” You shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe the part of the ring that got blown up, or whatever, is the part that had the answers. Maybe they don’t exist anymore.” 

“Would be nice if that’s that easy.” Fernando sighed. “Never seems to be, though.”

You hummed, tipping your head back against the wall of the Pelican. “Hopefully we’ll get some news soon. All of this is more boring than I thought it would be.”

“That’s because you missed all the fireworks,” Fernando said, sinking down into the seat next to yours. “That first week was…”

“A lot?” you suggested gently. 

“That’s one way to put it.” Fernando sighed. “Come on, one more tank to move. Let’s get it done.”

“Alright, alright.” You stood again and stretched your arms up over your head. Then you followed Fernando outside and got to work. 

You didn’t hear anything, didn’t see anything. One minute you were helping carry the tank of water, the next there was a boom and your leg collapsed out from under you. Fernando yelled, scrambling for his gun, and you blinked stupidly for a moment. 

And then the chittering of Jackals caught your attention, and you decided now would be a good time to move. Only your leg wouldn’t support your weight, and you crumpled with a shout. 

Fernando fired off two quick shots, kneeling next to you. “Can you move?” he asked, keeping his weapon raised and trained on where you assumed the Jackals had been. 

“No.” You clenched your jaw tight, pain lancing up your leg as you tried to move. A quick look showed blood. A lot of blood. A through and through shot, maybe. 

“Okay. This is gonna suck.” Fernando took one hand off his gun to haul your arm up and over his shoulders. And then he stood, dragging you with him. For a moment, the pain was so intense you feared you’d scream or black out, but you did neither. Just breathed harshly through your teeth and tried your best to keep your weight off the injured leg. 

Fernando fired again twice more, swearing near constantly under his breath. “Almost there,” he huffed. 

Your eyelids fluttered, attention fractured between the agony in your leg and the boom of shots being exchanged across the new battlefield. 

“Almost there,” Fernando muttered again. Two more shots - one from the other side, one from him. And then the two of you stumbled into the interior of the Pelican and he slammed the button to close the ramp. 

You fell to the floor with a high whine, panting through the pain. Logically, you knew this was bad. It certainly felt bad. 

“Joy, I need help here!” Fernando hit the floor next to you, hands hovering over you. “Oh shit. That’s a lot of blood.” 

“Press down,” you wheezed, pushing up on your hands to sit up. “Need the rags.” 

“You need biofoam,” Fernando objected, shaking his head, eyes wide. 

“No.” The vehemence in your own voice surprised you. “Save it. Only have two.” You took a deep breath, fighting through the pain and the shock.  You’d never been shot before. It hurt, a lot more than you thought. “Medical crate.” 

Fernando grabbed the crate and dragged it over, throwing the lid somewhere. He grabbed one of the biofoam canisters and you slapped his hand away. 

“Not for me,” you insisted, shaking. “Rags, under the exit wound. On top. Press hard.” 

“You need–”

“Listen to me.” You grabbed his hand with your blood-slicked one, holding hard. “Stop the bleeding. No biofoam. Not for me. Too precious.” 

“Joy, where the hell is my backup?” Fernando yelled, freeing his hand to put the biofoam injector down and grab bandages. He packed a few under your thigh, under the exit wound, and you keened when he had to move you. 

“On their way back,” Joy finally answered, sounding about as stressed as you had ever heard. 

“Press hard,” you reminded Fernando, taking several fast breaths. He pressed hard and you stuffed your wrist into your mouth to muffle your shriek. 

“This is not good,” Joy said. “You’re losing blood fast.”

“Just let me use the biofoam,” Fernando practically begged, though he didn’t let up on the pressure. 

“Steady pressure,” you reiterated. “It will stop.” You laid back, starting to feel woozy. “I haven’t bled out yet. Probably not an artery.”

“You are insane,” Fernando snapped. “Fucking insane.” But his hands didn’t let up at all. “Can’t I use some of that powder stuff?”

You shook your head, clenching your hands into fists. “Too deep,” you murmured. “Won’t help. Pressure.”

“Yes, keep pressure, stop the bleeding, I got it.” Fernando was sounding even more freaked out though. “You’re not passing out, are you?”

“Not yet.” You hissed out a breath as he leaned harder on your thigh. “You’re doing great.” 

“Do not tell me I’m doing great while you’re refusing the best treatment, you–” He broke off to swear in Spanish. 

“It’s fine,” you assured him, closing your eyes. “We’ll worry about stitches later.”

“Stitches?!” His voice climbed at least an octave on the word. 

“You’ll do great.” You opened your eyes again, feeling a little blurry. “We can risk some of the… the tea.”

“What’s the risk?” Fernando didn’t move yet, watching you like a hawk.

“Need to stay awake,” you mumbled. “Just hand me one.”

He hissed out another slew of curses but shifted his weight to one hand, pressing down hard enough that you whined. His free hand grabbed a vial of the tea and handed it to you, blood smeared all over the vial. It was a struggle to sit up enough to drink some and not just slosh it all over yourself, but you managed. 

More shots fired outside caught both your attention and Fernando scrambled for the gun. 

“It’s Blue Team,” Joy was quick to say as the ramp started to lower. “I’m letting them in.”

“Thank fuck.” Fernando dropped the gun again, refocusing on you. 

Chief was the first one in, dropping to his knees next to you. “Status,” he demanded.

“Through and through shot,” you gasped, hands curling weakly. “Didn’t hit an artery, would’ve bled out already. Fernando is doing a great job applying pressure. Next is…” You licked your lips and drew in a deep breath. “Next is stitches.” 

“Use the biofoam.”

“Don’t you dare.” You lifted your head to glare at John. “We only have two.”

“Base has more.” He grabbed one of the canisters. 

“We can’t make more of those,” you argued, trying to push up onto your hands to argue. Kelly knelt behind you, firm hands on your shoulders keeping you down. “They’re valuable.”

“So are you.” John moved Fernando’s hands and injected the biofoam into the wound. You slammed a fist into the floor, both from the pain and frustration. 

“John–” you started before your leg twitched reflexively and you sort of whited out, a little. 

“Isn’t that stuff supposed to be numbing?” Fernando asked anxiously, still hovering next to you. 

“It takes a minute,” Kelly said, voice cool and calm. “The bleeding is already slowing.” 

“They were using an MA40,” Fred reported as he and Linda clomped up the ramp onto the Pelican. “A few stragglers.”

“So just shitty luck,” you wheezed, trying to focus on anything but how much your leg hurt, which really only emphasized how much your leg hurt. 

“We’re going back to base.” John dropped the empty canister to the side and started clearing away the bloody rags. You lifted your head to watch and swallowed. That was a lot of blood that was outside your body. 

“Fluids,” you muttered, almost by rote. “And rest.”

“An excellent prescription,” Kelly agreed smoothly. “One that perhaps you’ll follow.”

“She will.” Fernando scowled at you, although you could see the fear behind the anger. 

You waved a hand limply and let your head thunk back against the floor. “Fine. Couple days off it should be enough.” 

A big hand caught one of yours, holding you gently, like you were delicate. To a Spartan, you kind of were, actually. A quiet conversation took place over your head about moving you to a seat versus leaving you on the floor. You voted for just staying on the floor. 

Apparently someone was still listening to your muttering, because John sat behind you to brace you, letting you lean back against his chest while Linda brought you water. Fernando stood outside long enough to wash off his hands before he stomped into the cockpit and shut the doors. 

You did feel a bit bad about that. 

As the adrenaline wore off and the biofoam did its job, you found yourself leaning harder back against John. He was the only thing keeping you upright, really. 

“We will have a talk about this,” he rumbled in your ear, and, oh, that was his normal voice. Unmodulated. He wasn’t wearing his helmet. You managed to look in his direction, blinking slowly. He was stubbly, just a little. Idly, you wondered how that would feel under your hands. 

“We will?” You finally got your mouth connected to your brain again. 

“Yes.” His jaw clenched for a moment, and you watched the play of muscles under his stubble with absolute fascination. “When you’re lucid.”

“‘M lucid.” You blinked again sluggishly. It was work to peel your eyes back open. 

“Rest for now.” One hand landed on your hip, helping to anchor you in place as the engines whirred to life and the Pelican lifted off.

You grumbled a little. Time blurred. It took much too long between blinks. You felt the Pelican in motion, then landing. Then the clamor of voices, hard armor under you, sudden pain in your thigh as you were lifted. 

Then dim lights and something more or less soft under you. You slowly pushed yourself upright, hissing softly at the residual ache in your thigh. 

“You should be laying down.” 

You blinked at John, wondering briefly how you’d missed him. He was a hulking mass in the corner, dressed down in a slightly too tight shirt and pants. “What time ‘s’it?” 

“0200, approximately.” He shrugged. 

“Why are you still up.” You lifted one hand to rub your eyes, wrinkling your nose at how dry you still felt. 

John was quiet for a few long moments, long enough that you refocused on him. “I needed to keep watch.” 

You almost very stupidly blurted out that you were in camp, why would he need to keep watch? Then you realized. He meant you. Keep watch over you. It was his way of admitting he’d stayed up to make sure you were okay. 

Warmth bloomed in your chest and you smiled, despite yourself. “I’m not dying,” you murmured. 

“Not tonight.” His lips pressed together, briefly distracting you. “You could have.” 

You sighed. “It was a logical choice,” you murmured, shifting your weight very carefully on the bed and letting your hands fall to your lap. “Biofoam is not something we can manufacture or replace here, whereas rags and pain tea are readily available.”

“It’s not the call you would have made if one of us was shot. If Fernando was shot.” 

You hesitated, because you knew he was right. If Fernando had been shot, or John or the others… You would have used the biofoam. Without question. You sighed, shoulders drooping, sinking in on yourself. “You’re right.”

“So why?” He finally stepped closer, his arms dropping to his sides. 

You frowned, struggling with the words for several long moments before you sighed. “You’re critical,” you finally admitted, gaze down. “Fernando is your pilot, you need him. Blue Team are all irreplaceable.” You swallowed hard. “I’m just a medic.” 

“And that makes you more replaceable.” He knelt slowly next to the bed so he could catch your gaze.

“Yes.” You closed your eyes, breathing slowly. “I’ve made some hard calls since we’ve all been stuck here. Sometimes that means someone dies. Sometimes it means just a lot of pain and a slower recovery.” You finally looked at him, throat tight. “I’d rather have the supplies for you, in case you need them. Any of you.” 

John was quiet for several long moments, giving you time to calm down again. “Your reasoning is flawed,” is what he finally said.

“What?” You blinked at him, running through your argument in your mind again. 

“You’re critical, as well.” He leaned in slowly, carefully, only getting close without touching, until he was mostly all you could see. “You’re not just a medic. You’re not replaceable.” 

“John?” You licked your lips, eyes wide, focused entirely on him. 

“I’m not good at this,” he muttered. One hand very slowly closed over yours, sending your pulse racing somehow even faster. 

“Neither am I,” you admitted, barely even daring to breathe. “Don’t tease me. What do you mean?” 

John blew out a slow breath, the only outward sign of his nerves. “You are… special. To me.” His fingers tightened ever so slightly around yours. “I would like to… have more. With you.”

“Like a relationship?” You couldn’t keep the hope out of your voice if someone had paid you. 

“Yes.” He swallowed, holding very still. Waiting for you to decide. 

“I would very much like that.” You smiled, shy and pleased and overwhelmed. “Can I kiss you, John?” 

He considered the question for a moment before he nodded, just slightly. “Yes, ma’am.” 

You freed one hand to cup his jaw - his stubble was a delightful little rasp under your fingers, and you smiled. Slowly, giving him a chance to stop you or pull away, you leaned in, until you could press your lips to his in a chaste kiss.

Your eyes fluttered open again to find the tiniest of smiles on his lips. “How was that?” you asked softly, unwilling to risk this new thing between you.

“Acceptable.” He paused. “Further research will need to be conducted.”

“Of course.” You tamped down on your own grin… mostly. More or less. It was entirely gone when he took the initiative to kiss you again. 

You could have quite happily gotten distracted with kissing him for the rest of the night, except that pain flared in your thigh, reminding you that yes you had gotten shot a matter of hours ago. At your grimace, John frowned a little and started pushing you back to lay down. 

“You need more rest.”

“So do you,” you muttered. “Please get some sleep tonight.”

“I will.” John leaned down to press a very careful kiss to your forehead. “Good night.” 

“Night.” You watched with your heart in your eyes as John rose, as fluidly as if aging wasn’t a thing that existed to him, and left the room. 

Your dreams were surprisingly pleasant, for once.

[akajustmerry]

on sherlock adaptations: what do you think of house

I have so Many thousands of thoughts of House as a Sherlock adaptation that I could write a book about it and chapter one would be called: A HOUSE IS NOT A HOLMES© because I don't CARE that they called him House and idc that his apartment is 221b and that he plays the violin sometimes and solves problems, that's not my friend Sherlock Holmes!!!!!

House doesn't work as a Sherlock adaptation because deduction as Holmes practices it in the stories is not SPECIALIST KNOWLEDGE!!! the whole appeal of Holmes is that you read it and you feel like you could also deduce things. Holmes teaches you a way to look at the world and be more observant and use that knowledge to help people.

Holmes isn't a politician or a policeman even, he's a guy who wants to help because he's studied a particular way to see the world and you can too.........House is a SPECIALIST DOCTOR with a typical Doctor's God complex. That's as far as you can get from Holmes!!! The whole point of Holmes is he's not part of an institution!!! He operates OUTSIDE OF IT. House's knowledge base is medically specialist, you can't engage with his deductive reasoning the way you can with Holmes in the stories because to know what he knows you have to go to med school for 20 years. There's never a sense when you watch that you could have figured it out. Also, House's job description is institutionalised and established. He's not doing anything (med malpractice aside) that wouldn't be in the scope of any other specialist.

Thirdly, Sherlock Holmes isn't a guy looking to have power of people. This is the thing that arguably pisses me off most about House which is the interpretation of Holmes as someone looking lord his intelligence over others. I think this comes from the prevailing tortured genus trope. But also people not being able to tell the difference between Sherlock as a character who is just very open about his observations and someone who's an asshole. Sherlock is actually a very honest character which sometimes yeah means he's harsh but mostly he's just truthful. House mutilates this trait beyond recognition to the point of near constant and unrealistic cruelty.

Finally, I think making Holmes a doctor literally means you can't actually have a Watson because arguably the whole point of Watson, other than to be the audience pov, is to add credibility to Sherlock's unorthodox career choice AND to provide a traditional scientific perspective. House being a Doctor means none of that is really needed. Everyone knows, understands, and respects what a Doctor is!!! Wilson as a Watson figure has nothing to do except be the audience's WTF POV. Even the way Wilson and House's friendship is done is simply, like.... they didn't read the source material. Do you get that these men are meant to be at the very least friends who enjoy each other's company?? Also I think people need to shut the fuck up about House MD being a secretly gay show. A show doing homophobia on the regular isn't gay in any way that matters.

I say all this as someone who's watched it and enjoyed it at times. House and Cuddy were literally like one of the first ships I ever shipped. Do you know how weird it is to be 15 rooting for 2 middle aged co-workers on tv to fuck?? Anyways, I have lots of other thoughts about how the show handles House's addiction and disabilities and how arguably these are also taken loosely from Holmes lore. But if House MD must be considered a Holmes adaptation, it's one that mostly just mutilates. Almost every criticism hbomberguy says in his Sherlock is Garbage video essay is also applicable to House MD.