#I mean we probably can get by with the gear I'm currently using for a while

[furshrimps]

Aside from having issues with the pure kibble Sammy seems fine and in relatively good spirits (just more hungry than usual since I'm being maybe overly careful not to strain his digestion) and since he was bored yesterday and he also recently suggested we go a different route too I decided to do a scootering walk around the other side of the block today. We all enjoyed seeing something else for a change! And it feels nice that spring is creeping closer.

Anyway, it went really well compared to the last ones, just a small amount of chaos and Sammy offered a surprisingly brisk pace especially in the beginning. That was nice. He did slow down a little around the halfway point, but that's normal. Overall he was still faster than during the other walks. I think this is a nice development :) Also he didn't complain at all about the harness today either. Filing that away as a victory!

[wirewitchviolet]

Sudokuvania: Digits of Despair is one of the most impressive works of pure game design I have ever seen.

Before I say anything else, I am going to be talking about a game that is VERY new and has pretty terrible search optimization, so in case this blog post somehow came up near the top of results for someone, here is the as-of-this-writing-current 1.02 release, and for good measure, here is the official FAQ page with the full version history, any future patches, and an FAQ for some of the more confusingly worded stuff that crops up later into the game. Now on with the praise-heaping!

So... Sudokuvania pretty much exactly what the name implies. It's a -vania, that is, a Metroidvania, and specifically one styled after one of the ones that's actually in the latter Castlevania series so that naming convention actually makes sense. Exploring a big castle, fighting bosses, getting various items letting you explore more areas, maybe breaking out of the borders of the map to find cool secrets here and there.

Also, it's a variant of sudoku. And I don't mean someone sat down with some videogame designing toolkit and made a videogame where some of the gameplay is solving logic puzzles on a grid you fill with numbers (I mean, I guess technically I do). I mean that link to the game I posted takes you to a website with a little built in standard app for solving sudoku puzzles and weird variations thereof, and the particular puzzle it's pointing to, somehow, manages to have a big map to explore, boss fights, special items that give you new powers, NPCs, and for good measure, fog of war. It is, again, an absolutely amazing hacky thing and I'm flabbergasted at how well executed it is. Now you're probably wondering how that even works, and that's why I'm writing this big gushy blog post. Here's what you see when you first load it up:

You're going to notice there is some absurdly small and kind of important text you can't possibly read, and that's because again, this is kind of a hacky thing this site so was not designed for. So it's kind of annoying but if you access this through the proper introduction page, it'll explain that the first thing you need to do is click the little gear icon in the floating tool palette, toggle on Visuals: Draw arrows above lines and Disable emoji replacement, then scroll all the way down to Experimental and turn on Test Large Puzzle UI. That enables you to zoom in and out with the scroll wheel, and right-click drag to pan around. It's... a little clunky because again, this website was NOT built for this, but tada, now you can zoom in, read the text, and start solving at a reasonable size. Then there's a couple gameplay concepts it does its best to explain, but... most people I've shown it to myself included needed extra explanation of a couple important early concepts. So let me just do a little color coding here to make this easier to get...

The map is not, in fact, one great big grid. It's 9 squares (and one rectangle that's not quite square over on the east side). Each of these is its own 9x9 Sudoku grid (well, the starting one is 6x6 and has those mutant 2x3 cells instead of the usual 3x3, and there's that weird eastern mutant). If you're solving stuff in one square, you completely ignore everything outside that square, except for where they overlap, in which case the numbers you're placing have to fit for both puzzles. So if we look at the light grey/green intersection on the left, those three overlap cells respectively can't be 4 6 or 5 (and whatever use you deduce in the grey box, but the pure green cells completely ignore all that, you're just focusing on the green 9x9 (which is going to have the overlap as a starting point, naturally).

The next bit that through me off a ton is the way fog of war works. Let me reasonably zoom in and do a little solving here. One second...

Here's the whole starting area all marked up to hell like you do when you're kinda bad at Sudoku and don't know how to spot a starting point. Penciling in little numbers in the corners. You'll also notice a that... most of the map is covered in this dark grey fog of war. A lot of in-game stuff mentions that you shouldn't go clicking out into the fog of war, because it'll show you names of later areas and preview certain special rules and all, but that's talking about clicking WAY off from what you can see. You are 100% allowed to solve stuff out in the fog of war, and it's pretty stingy about de-fogging. Don't go blindly guessing because then you can maybe end up sequence breaking but... yeah. Sorry I'm spoiling the Front Gate, it's basically the tutorial though. Anyway, first move is obvious, only one place we can put that 6, and suddenly...

Tada, important space so it rewarded us with a little fog clearing. You can also see that this will handily point out stuff in your pencil notes that can't be true, but only if A- it's untrue for standard sudoku reasons not special stuff, and B- it's not in the fog of war (or on the other side of some. You also maybe noticed that weird green thing under that first hint 6? That's something we need a tool for, you don't worry about it until you have that tool. Solving this out some more...

Little more de-fogging, both of the puzzle area and the margins where we're getting new information on playing the game in general. Now right here if you're observant, you'll see that bottom right corner has to be a 6. It's out in the fog of war, but you can mark it if you know what it is. And...

I was cropping it out before but the big purple number pad is always floating off to the side there, and the green text box over it, which among other things has an area name and flavor text for whatever grid you're in. This won't ALWAYS happen when you place numbers in fog of war, but there was a trigger on this 6 to load in a little piece of the first real area, and oh hey, we unlocked "Guide THERMO!" That's our first tool, and it's described up in the upper left.

So tada, from here out in addition to standard sudoku stuff, you've got these "bronze Guide THERMOs" that show up here and there and have this extra rule. You basically never get free numbers in the grid past the Front Gate, it's all slow-marching into new areas using what you're bringing in plus some easy starting examples of how your new tools work, plowing on from there. The fog of war is pretty stingy but it keeps you focused. You'll also notice the rules here mention bosses, all the 9x9 ones have one. It's clearly marked, and you should PROBABLY expose it from the fog first, but any time you're in the area really you, if you scroll around in that green text box or hit the rules button when in a grid, there's a link you can click to go fight it. The boss fights are all separate puzzles (site's good about auto-saving so don't freak out if it takes over your tab and you have to hit back after). These are very themey, sometimes VERY evil (especially boss #1, feels a bit overtuned) self-contained 9x9 puzzles, probably using the same tools their area is themed around, and I don't think there's a single pre-placed number in any of them. Beat the boss puzzle, it gives you some flavor text and a number to place in its cell back in the main castle puzzle, plug that in and you're always going to unlock something cool. Usually a new item, sometimes other weird stuff, and it just goes on like that.

Don't expect to be able to fully solve a given grid in one go. It's a Metroidvania, backtracking is expected. Even if you've fully de-fogged a grid, later stuff might reward you by straight up adding new symbols you couldn't see before or doing weird stuff with fog. It IS all solvable with pure logic... but there ARE a few places that do that thing I hate in tougher sudokus where you just kinda have to pencil in in a different faction and explore 2 possible futures for a bit to see which eventually contradicts itself. And of course the last couple of grids do some really evil mind-bendy stuff.

But yeah aside from a couple gripes where the way a tool works could maybe be a lot more grammatically clear, that first boss being a lot to deal with as you're first getting your feet wet, and a particularly cruel twist later on, I don't really have any complaints. Well, it might need a cool soundtrack. Maybe play some Castlevania music. Maybe switch it up for some real proper boss music when you're nearing victory.

Again I am just completely blown away that someone made something so meaty in a standard sudoku site's normal UI, and really managed to make it feel so much like playing a DS Castlevania. Some real proof of game design being an art form here. And now you too can just completely lose a day or two to it!

[futbolfatale]

Loyalty Above All

Pairing: Alpha Diana Taurasi/Omega Reader

Tags: Omegaverse, Fast burn, Biting, Marking, P in V, Light Dacryphilia, knotting

Summary: Diana meets a lovely interviewer and she can't help but want to have her.

Word count: 1.5K

It’s only your second year as an interviewer and your first WNBA. You know pretty much nothing about basketball but you're the only one who is allowed to conduct interviews. The league only allows omega interviewers as alpha’s asking personal questions tend to lead to fights. That’s actually how you got your job. The woman working the position before you was an alpha who asked too many questions and got into a scrap and the league banned her, which is what leads to your current situation. You're set up and in some small room in the arena waiting for Diana Taurasi to join you. She may or may not have been the one who started the previous scrap but surely she won’t start anything today.

You startle as the door bangs open “You're the Gatorade girl.” She asks one eyebrow raised. “If you mean am I sponsored by Gatorade the answer is yes,” you answer through gritted teeth. “Perfect let's get this over with” She rubs her hands together before taking a seat next to you. The camera starts rolling and you shake off your remaining nerves, sure Diana can still smell your nervousness; she doesn't need to see it too.

 “Hey, you’ll I’m here with Diana Taurasi and today we’ll just be asking her a couple of quick questions. We’ll go ahead and get started then first we have "What's your guilty pleasure when you’re not playing basketball?” You relax and turn in your chair to face her more directly. “I collect hobbies. I tried piano, different languages, and like table tennis. I was great at table tennis. The Olympic table tennis team needs to hit me up.” A soft smile graces her face and you can’t help but smile. Her mood is contagious for better or worse. Her scent fills the room with bergamot and tobacco. It is nauseatingly delicious.

“If you were stranded on a desert island who would you bring with you?” Your leg bounces as she thinks the question over. “BG. She’s just amazing. I love her and we would just make the best out of it and have a really fun time.” she nods happily to herself. “That's so sweet. Hopefully Britney says it to you too.” You don't really think about it. “You're interviewing BG,” Diana asks with a smile dropping off her face. The scent in the room quickly turns sour making the air feel thick in your lungs. “No, but I imagine someone will ask her after watching this video.” you cough a little after most likely from the sour scent.

“What’s something people don’t know about you, but would definitely make them swoon?” You ask trying to calm your own scent to help her mellow out. “A lot of people think I'm an asshole. For the record I’m not I am just aggressive. Plus Sue is way for of an asshole than me. So I guess the answer is that I am secretly really sweet at least to the people I like.”Her scent returns to its relaxed state. “That’s all we have for you today Diana thank you for joining us.” You stand and extend a hand for her to shake.” Thanks for having me Gatorade girl” She uses your hand to pull you into a hug. She holds you surprisingly tight for being strangers. You're so close you can smell the sweat on her skin. 

Once the camera stops rolling you help your co-worker start packing up your gear. “I see they finally took my advice.” Diana learns against the wall as she speaks. “About?” You ask carefully to put camera equipment in its assigned containers. “ Omega interviewers, the alpha they sent last time was foul.” She rolls her eyes and you can smell the annoyance coming off her. “Well, it's in the league rules now.” You try not to pay attention to her; she is probably just trying to rile you up. “What are you doing after this,” She asks, crouching beside you. Even crouched, she is taller than your sitting form. “I'm going home and watching Jersey Shore. I have to work tomorrow.” You try to push her away without having to be too direct. It’s definitely against company policy to go on a date with the person you interviewed. “I love Jersey Shore, we could watch it together”. ‘’You aren't going to leave this alone are you.”. “I might but the thought of you in bed even just to watch TV is too tempting.” She smirks, tucking a stay hair behind your ear. “Fine but one hour then you have to go.

 I am doing a hockey interview early tomorrow.” You agree. Okay and maybe having a hot alpha at your apartment isn't the worst thing in the world. “Gross hockey” she fake gags and you roll your eyes. “The hockey girls are nice.” You argue KK has to be one of the sweetest girls and you look forward to every interview with her. “Oh they're nicer than me,” she asks as you grab your bag and head out the door. “Well, you called me Garderaid girl, at least the hokey girls know my name.” You laugh as she catches up with you. “Okay, that's what the coach told me. But I'll admit I should have asked your name but we can play 20 questions in the car. I have some exciting questions” The two of you reach the parking lot and you turn to her. “Where is your car? I was carpooling with my co-worker today. Driving is all you.” It’s over here” She pulls your hand to guide you and it feels perfect. Okay so maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Turns out this was definitely not a good idea. You barely got one episode of Jersey Shore over before Diana was running her hand up and down your bare thigh. Rather than watch TV in your bedroom as you had originally planned, the two of you sat on the couch. This was your subtle attempt to avoid this situation. The last thing your company needs is another HR violation with the league. Your arousal scent is surely filling the room and who could blame you? Her hand is so big and warm like what are you supposed to do move her? No way. 

It’s another whole episode before Diana grows more bold. You had turned to get more comfortable leaving your legs in Diana’s lap. Rather than sitting up like a normal person, she stretches her body over you, her head resting against your breast. By the gods, she has to know what she is doing to you. Your underwear has to be soaked through and the scent hangs thick in the air. It wouldn’t be that big a deal except when you got home you changed into a comfy pair of shorts and a low-cut tank. You relax for a moment until Diana runs her tongue along the top of your breast. You inhale sharply and she just looks up at you with the most evil fucking smirk. How could you deny her she’s the one who came onto you? That would be your excuse when HR inevitably asks you what happened.

“Do you have to do that?” You ask, shuddering slightly. “No, but I want to and I think you like it.” her voice takes a teasing tone you’ve never heard before. “I do but..” “No buts just let yourself enjoy it.” she returns to niping and sucking at your skin and you can’t help but subtly grind into her. “Watch your show baby.”She chides using a hand to turn your face towards the TV.

“What are you crying for baby,” Diana asks cock pumping into you at a fast pace. “I can’t. Im gonna cum” You whine tears dripping down your cheeks. “Then cum I’ll cum with you ready.” You nod vigorously to the coil in your stomach impossibly tight. “Okay be a good girl and cum for me.”She mumbles right in your ear cock deep inside you as she rubs circles on your clit. You cum and she quickly follows. It’s not until you feel her knot pressing into you that it truly hits you what you’ve done. “ You can’t knot me, I can't get pregnant” You try to push her away but that just stretches your insides painfully. “It’s a little late for that baby” Daina’s laugh should frustrate you but it doesn’t if anything it makes you want to laugh as well. “ HR is going to kill me” You go ahead pushing back into the pillows. “Who says you have to tell them” Daina tucks her head into the crook of your neck and lays there peacefully. “They're going to know” You stare at your ceiling. “ Fuck’em. You can be my mate and I'll get you interviews with any WNBA player you want,” she speaks into your skin so the words are slightly muffled. “You're lying.” You can’t get hopefully Alpha, especially cocky ones like this, have only let you down in the past. “We’ll get it shorted tomorrow just rest”

[justsomedrawing]

Pls kinda lad, drop some operation robloxia bits... I'm starving 💔💔💔💔

HELLO ANON ! Sorry for the late response. I didn't exactly get your ask until now. I figured you wanted some facts, so i might as well just list a few things i've already mentioned in my twt account. Of course, most of this are mostly about Pre-O:R or stuff that aren't spoilers to the game

idk if this makes sense but Player *is* us. They are not a separate entity from us as the player, WE ARE THE PLAYER. I want to be able to let people have self inserts (in a way), which is why the player is not a separate character from you. Your choice in game is yours.

While the pre-o:r comics suggest that 1x sees Roblox as her grandpa (seen in Paranoid, this doodle, and Gift), this does not mean they're blood related. All of the admins and Roblox are not blood related despite being created by the same person, though some kind of became like this little found family. quick messy family tree i made an hour ago

Speaking of family; Shedletsky, MrDoombringer, and Matt Dusek sees eachother as brothers (again not blood related. I love found family in a sense HELP)

O:R Shedletsky and 1x have a healthy father daughter relationship. I can't say the same for Shed and Roblox or 1x and Roblox

Emmet's favorite flavor is cherry, second is cookies and cream (this goes for drinks, candy, ice cream, cake, etc.)

Emmet has a cat named Kitters and they are the thing keeping them together.

As a plum, Shedletsky likes to bite Roblox a lot.

Roblox doesn't know how to cook.

Builderman was forced to toughen up and take Shed's place after Shed left HQ, which is why he looks so tense in the og refsheet i made.

like the description of her refsheet, BrightEyes and Shedletsky is "divorced". Though, this is probably to cover up something else.

Assistant is a character that will appear alongside 1x I believe. She is created by my co director, @timeshift-playground :]

Every early admin has a trueform. After 2x2 merged with earth, the later admins are mortals granted god-like powers (demideity)

For those who don't know, RSA means Robloxia Secret Agency, and we are playing as an RSA agent !! RSA was created some time after Shed left HQ

007n7 is just a chill dude guys trust !

Speaking of 007n7, don't tell anyone but he is currently making more c00lkidds to add to his little army

I imagine the c00lkidds acting like lickers (heh Resident Evil mentioned)

Clockwork's true form is like, super tall. If you know G1 Optimus Prime, Clockwork's true form is as tall as that

Emmet is a huge fan of Clockwork, mainly because they are interested in gears and technology or something. Also huge robot fan heh

Yes the may madness gang will be in O:R. Timesy is the one writing them so for now I don't know their role, yet.

Emmet is actually my robloxsona! Originally they are a conspiracy theorist who got brainwashed into working under Roblox. After some VERY LONG re(d)write with the help of Timesy, I have far better lore for Emmet. I'd tell you their old lore was VERY MESSY

Operation: Robloxia was actually made out of spite, because I couldn't find a good game in Roblox that isn't a snooze fest and it pisses me off HELP. I always wanted more story focused games, which is why I'm currently developing O:R and doing the best I can !!

most of the agents stuff is inspired by Resident Evil, because I really love the game. The RSA was inspired by the BSAA. Spencer was inspired by Albert Wesker. Emmet was inspired by RE2 Leon S Kennedy. Most of the vibe I'm trying to give was inspired by RE itself lol

Click here to view the original threat on twt

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW !!

[eggs-attorney]

[< Prev]

2:45 PM - Egg Quarters

Reiker: Huff... Huff... Good aftern-

Eggman: Strait! It's about time you got here. Let’s get down to business before we waste any more time.

Reiker: ... What, no "hi"?

Eggman: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember a certain black-feathered lawyer complaining that our last talk left him no time to "speak with his client" or "review evidence", so I'm cutting corners. Just for you, by the way.

Reiker: (This is gonna be a long, long employment…)

Reiker: So, what's this case I'm taking on?

Eggman: [Sigh...] So I assume you've heard the news about our local Extreme Gear racer, Radika Bodacious.

Reiker: Yeah… Kind of hard not to. That "breaking news" jingle was loud.

Eggman: Yes, well… We've apprehended a suspect, and they're calling for a public attorney. They're currently waiting in one of the holding cells.

Eggman: Perhaps you two will get along well. Birds of a feather, and all that.

Reiker: Please tell me the trial doesn't start in 20 minutes…

Eggman: No, no, it's far too late for that. I prefer to keep court sessions limited to a single day, if I can.

Eggman: Besides, this case is a big deal for the city. My relationship with the Extreme Gear International League is one of the few things keeping me from being labelled as an imminent threat by most countries. Accelovice is going to be furious to hear I’m already having issues like these. They may kick me from the League just for that…

Reiker: Accelovice? Didn't you start that company, like… A decade ago?

Eggman: Finally, some acknowledgement!

Eggman: Yes, I was the founder of Accelovice. It was one of my less evil achievements, but I unfortunately had ownership of the organization stripped from me shortly after I unearthed the Babylon Gardens.

Eggman: I have to admit it was a lot of fun, though, and I missed it, so I decided to create a similar one under a pseudonym. It was sort of a way to show that I didn't have purely sinister intentions. All I wanted was to build a perfect racer before I was wrongfully booted out!

Reiker: (Babylon Gardens? Perfect Racer? This story is getting weird fast...)

Eggman: After I made Extreme Gear racing the popular sport it is today, the current owners of Accelovice had the nerve to make their own league! They put down some extremely specific certifications to make sure everything was “fair” and "safe", which just so happened to mean that I couldn’t compete, and where's the excitement in that!?

Reiker: Right… And Radika?

Eggman: Who? Oh, yes… I ended up holding auditions for a spot on Sunnyside's official team, and Radika was the fastest qualifying racer! I was originally only allowed one representative, but with how well she was doing, Accelovice was considering giving us a full team of five! Now we'll be lucky if we're in the next season at all…

Reiker: (Seems like he's just gonna keep lamenting about this competition… On one hand, I should probably go speak with my client and make use of the time I have, but on the other, it could be useful to pick Eggman's brain about details of the case…)

Reiker: (Man, thinking about it, this case is a lot more open-ended than last time! I should probably remind myself of the different paths I could take!)

Reiker: (Just like the previous case, I can Talk to whoever is present with me about any topic, or I could Present a piece of evidence in my Court Record to ask them questions, get an opinion, or gauge their reaction.)

Reiker: (I can also Investigate the surrounding area! If something looks out of the ordinary, I should take a closer look. I could even ask someone nearby if they know anything about it!)

Eggman: STRAIT! ARE YOU LISTENING AT ALL!?

Reiker: Y-yes, sir! Loud and clear!

Eggman: Good. Now, do you have any questions for me, or is your ever-inquisitive mind satisfied with what I gave you?

[Next >]

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

I'll cut these lil post-scene edits shorter this time, but welcome back to Eggs Attorney! Just like last time, we will take any Reiker Actions through Replies, Reblogs, Asks, or similar!

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Trey Clover - Platinum Jacket Vignette

"Happy 100th Anniversary"

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Trey: It's pretty fascinating how all these anecdotes that I grew up with are displayed on all these paintings.

Trey: Just as I'd expect from an art museum that's reaching it's 100th year.

Trey: Oh hey, this painting… It has some card soldiers on it. Heh, I feel like I can understand these guys a little bit.

???: Oh, right, all you Heartslabyul guys do the same kind of thing, don't you?

Leona: What's even the point of painting the roses a different color? As someone who cares not an ounce about flowers, I don't get it at all.

Trey: Hey now, Leona, don't say that. It's not done for any specific reason, it's just one of the laws of our dorm.

Trey: Also, I don't really think the card soldiers changed the colors of the roses just for a change of scenery, though.

Trey: They say that the Queen they served loved red roses. They were probably just trying to please her, right?

Trey: But still… painting the roses, huh. I remember there was a bit of trouble with that when I first enrolled here.

Leona: Oho? What kind of trouble could the super pacifist Trey Clover possibly cause?

Trey: It wasn't any big deal. When we were first years, Cater and I were responsible for painting the roses, you see…

Trey: And we mistakenly painted some roses white when they were supposed to be red. That's really it.

Trey: Well, to be fair, the mistake wasn't really our fault, but the fault of our upperclassmen who told us the wrong thing.

Trey: But when the mistake was discovered and the Housewarden at the time asked who caused it… Those upperclassmen placed the blame squarely on our shoulders.

Trey: As punishment, Cater and I were made to leave the dorm for a whole day. That really grinded my gears.

Leona: You say that, but you got some stupid grin on your face. You don't look too angry about it.

Trey: Well, yeah… That'd be because Cater and I put together a plan to get them back.

Leona: So you two schemed something up, huh. You might look gentle and mild-mannered, but I guess there's a reason the Dark Mirror called you.

Trey: We didn't do anything that crazy. I just changed the flavor of those upperclassmen's cake to something a little more invigorating at the next dorm party.

Trey: See, it wasn't anything more than just a silly kid's prank, right? …Well, I had a bit of a hard time after that, though.

Trey: A HARD TIME CONCEALING MY LAUGHTER AS THOSE UPPERCLASSMEN CRIED ABOUT HOW SPICY IT WAS, THAT IS.

Leona: Hahah, how terrifying.

Leona: Well, Cater is one thing… But I see that even someone like you, who's stuck always pacifying that hot-headed Riddle, had an incident like that.

Trey: I mean, isn't that how all the new first years here are like? They're all mischief-makers and rambunctious.

Trey: Even our current first years are way too excitable and are always causing problems, so I sure wasn't an exception.

Trey: Eventually, they'll get used to this school and their dorm, get underclassmen of their own, and even find rivals in other dormitories…

Trey: And step by step, they'll mature into good card soldiers. At least, our Heartslabyul students will.

Trey: Just like we all did.

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Trey: This painting is, let's see… a depiction of "the fairies gifting magic in celebration of the birth of a princess in a certain country."

Trey: The princess herself isn't drawn, but I'm sure she's in the bed that these ladies are peering into.

Trey: But is this actually the scene where they are gifting their presents…? It just looks to me like they're chattering away aimlessly…

Leona: Maybe it's just as you say? They look to me like a bunch of carefree types.

Trey: I'd refute that, but… Well, it's hard to know what actually is true in the stories passed down, I guess.

Trey: Speaking of birthday celebrations and fairies…

Trey: Have you ever heard of the saying that "fairies are born from the laughter of children," Leona?

Leona: Sounds like a tall tale for kids. Never heard of that in my country.

Trey: It's actually a pretty popular myth in the Queendom of Roses.

Trey: Back home, whenever a child is born, that family would bake cakes and gift them to everyone they knew.

Trey: The cupcakes made then are called "fairy cakes," as a nod to that tale.

Leona: Fairy cakes, huh. I can taste the sickly-sweet flavor on my tongue just from the name alone.

Trey: Hahaha… Shoulda known you of all people wouldn't say there was a bit of romanticism in that.

Trey: But that takes me back. I remember when my sister was born, I helped my parents bake a cake, too.

Trey: I was only 4 years old, and didn't really know how to make anything yet, but I did what I could to help.

Trey: We set out the finished cake on a table in our yard, and ate it with family and our neighbors…

Trey: That cake we ate then under the blue sky tasted even better than any other cake I'd ever had.

Trey: And on top of that, all the adults were praising me, saying how "amazing" and "well done" my cake was…

Leona: Can't think there'd be any adult who'd tell a 4-year-old that the cake they made was terrible, though.

Trey: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, when I went back and looked at the pictures of the cake I made back then, it was actually pretty terrible.

Trey: But I took those compliments to heart.

Trey: Because yeah, after that day, I would join them in the kitchen to help bake cakes.

Trey: But truthfully, I would make a mess of the flour just trying to make one layer of the sponge for the cakes, or snag a taste of a few of the cut fruits here and there...

Trey: I'm sure I was a huge bother for my parents, who were trying to work.

Leona: How adorable. You got all excited just from a little flattery. Sounds completely different than the way you are now.

Trey: Please, kids are all like that. Especially me, I was the type that would even climb trees just from the slightest dare.

Trey: I'm really not any different now, either. I'm completely different from you, Leona. I'm just a plain and simple guy.

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Leona: Seems like this is a painting of when the Sorcerer of the Sands got a hold of the magic lamp.

Trey: So, this is the legendary magic lamp, hm. It's a lot smaller than I was expecting… It looks like a teapot made for only one person.

Leona: You know… That kind of response really only shows how shallow your thoughts are. Is that all that comes to mind when you look at a painting showing a scene from that very famous tale?

Leona: This was the lamp that he went through so much and finally got his hands on. Even someone like him, who embodied the spirit of deliberation, might be drowning in absolute elation in this very moment―

Leona: …Or whatever. Anyway, you should read more from this painting than just the size of the lamp, is all.

Trey: Ahaha… I'm just no good at interpreting the actual story behind the art, just from looking at the painting.

Trey: But, based on what you just said, it makes it sound like even someone as great as him, who's left his mark on history, has a human side, huh.

Leona: Even the greats were just people… Although from I remember, he wasn't a human in the end, but a genie.

Trey: That's right, he became a genie in order to overcome the limitation and weakness of a human body. He certainly dreamed big.

Trey: Overcoming weaknesses, huh… If only I could have done that, just as the Sorcerer of the Sands did.

Leona: Huh? Why're you just gazing off into the distance all a sudden?

Trey: Oh, I was just thinking back to how I've recently been running myself ragged trying to overcome this one food I dislike.

Leona: If you don't like it, then just don't eat it. Is it really anything to really overcome?

Trey: Of course it is. Like see, you know how all of the sandwiches and meat dishes in the cafeteria come already covered in that one condiment?

Trey: …I'm talking about mustard. It's tedious for both me and the chef when I have to ask each time for them to remove it, you know?

Trey: Sure, there's a lot of different ways to hide the taste, but I feel it's rude to the chef to change the flavor of something they so painstakingly made.

Trey: That's why I tried so many different ways to overcome my dislike of it, hoping that it would solve everything.

Trey: Every time I made my own dinner in my dorm, I'd add mustard to every dish…

Trey: For about one week or so, I made sure to eat at least one dish each day with mustard in it.

Trey: IN THE END, I EVEN TRIED PUTTING IT IN THE CAKE.

Leona: Well, you sure created a strange, new cake there. So, was it even edible?

Trey: I didn't eat it, so I don't know. My dormmates stopped me, so I wasn't able to actually add it to the cake.

Trey: And so, when they stopped me there, I finally came to a realization.

Trey: If I still can't eat it after all this effort, I should just give up. It isn't something that's going to have a huge impact on my life, after all.

Leona: Hah, took you a while.

Trey: Hahaha… I thought so too.

Trey: Seems like I'm the type where once I start something, I get a little wrapped up in it… This incident really got me reflecting on that habit.

Trey: But hey, thanks to all of that, I can at least eat mustard if it's just there for a bit of flavoring.

Leona: Well, good for you, then. All that continuous mustard eating turned out to be not completely pointless.

Leona: Anyway… All that talk made me thirsty. I'm takin' a break from all this. Bye.

Trey: Okay, see you. …Never thought I'd see the day that Leona would even hold a conversation with me like this. I wonder if it'll rain candy tomorrow or something.

Trey: Alright, next I think I'll go check out one of the paintings of the Great Seven I haven't seen yet… Ooh wait, this one―

Trey: Whenever I see this painting, I always think of "that guy." He's got the same kind of hard-to-read expression on his face.

Trey: I remember back in the day where I'd play along with his pranks and we'd cause a little bit of mischief for people who asked us for directions on the street.

Trey: "Which way ought you go from here? Well, that depends a good deal on where you want to get to!" ―And the like.  

Requested by Anonymous.

[brightside-brigade]

Questioning and exploring potential possibilities: Partial/incomplete programming aka "frameworking"

READ WHOLE POST BEFORE RESPONDING SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO.

The purpose of this post is to note down what I've noticed before my brain eats it all again and see if anyone else has similar experiences, or if what I'm experiencing in sys is something else. Also because I find it interesting as I've always been fascinated by how our system functions and all that.

Disclaimers:

1: I am not directly/for sure claiming to be a programming or TBMC/ OEA / RAMCOA survivor. These are observations I've made within our system that has some similarities to accounts we've heard as well as stranfe happenings within our own system. I fully understand this may not be what's happening.

2: the term partial is used because if the hypothetical is true, nothing ever came of the potential programming, or it was never fully utilized, hence "frameworking,"

3: keep syscourse off this post and our blog. Despite the overall stance of this particular subgroup of the plural community, we are pro endo and consider ourselves mixed origins for multiple reasons. Any hate regarding this will be blocked at best or reported at worst. This post and our blog is not the place for that. Move on if you don't have anything nice to say.

4: in that vain, fake claimers can also swallow a full cactus. Any aggression will be ignored, blocked, or reported.

TW below cut for discussion of the above mentioned topics.

Disclaimer 2: if any of this is unclear, I apologize. I'm having to fight through a bunch of dizzy to write about this and I'm fueled by spite and spite alone.

With that out of the way let me get into the meat of the this.

We are bodily 22, and have known we're a system for six years now, give or take. This is a rough estimate. I am Jack, the current host, hi. Roughly last year I learned about programming in systems, and all that came with it. I got briefly fixated on the topic, as I generally tend to gravitate towards morbid or dark subjects. This does not mean I condone or romanticize them, I'm sure we've all been there.

Regardless, it was last year I started to notice in-sys happenings that point to something being up. I took a step back from looking into the subject as I suspected the fixation may be what was causing it, but after roughly a year of noticing things still going on, and old reactions returning upon looking into the subject, I suspect maybe something is up.

I'm progressvly getting more and more pain in my head and neck as I type this and I'm straight up forgetting words. , so I'll keep my points simple.

I'll start with points on why we "probably aren't" programmed.

We have never been a part of any cult or TR, nor has the bodies family had history of those.

Our body does not show symptoms of long term physical abuse (scars, permanent pains, ect.)

We live a normal life currently. (Not saying survivors can't have normal lives or that everything in our lives is pleasant. But we live relatively safely in our childhood home, ect.)

I cannot find a way to fit long term abuse into our timeline. Some trauma, yes. Anything OEA or RAMCOA levels? Not currently.

Those out of the way, I'll now note what I've noticed over time.

General interest in programming with a felt sense of familiarity

On a couple times, I've been able to guess and help with things going on in friends programming (I am not claiming to be able to help or know everything. I am not someone to come to for advice. This is just to point out how on a few times I've shown understanding on the subject I probably wouldn't usually have.)

in my case particularly, I overall tend to be more submissive in actions but not personality. My main concern is usually geared towards helping others and not myself, to the point of experiencing emotional shutdown when others around me are distressed so I can better help them. I also desperately seek praise and affection

I also struggle to do self care things without permission, including the bare minimum of eating and sleeping.

To further this, after learning about programming, I off and on deeply desire a handler

I also find myself wanting to BE a handler, like it's what I should be doing when not helping others. (Note: I would never, I'm simply talking about thoughts and feelings that are not actions.)

Our system occasionally spawns in "blanks," as I've taken to calling them. Blanks are not fragments, but are more like empty vessels that hypothetically could be programmed, which I occasionally feel the urge to do but don't, as I don't know what effect it would have on us. They sort of just despawn after a bit.

Dizziness: it varies. If I read about this sort of thing in terms of what it means for us, I get dizzy. I actually got a migraine halfway through drafting it. If I think about it in relation to OTHERS, however, the Dizziness isn't caused.

This can be accompanied by the feeling of burning skin on the arms and head.

I struggle with thinking I'm constantly "bad," if I'm not actively doing something for others.

We have an alter that only shows up to cause dissociation when whoever is fronting is in distress, though this is rare and we have yet to figure out what kind of distress brings them out.

Headspace itself is very hard to explore, every time I try and go past a certain point I never remember what I see or find and always find myself back in the main hub.

Our system shows signs of being what I can only guess is the "main," one, the ones who upkeep the front, as we really only consist of those who would hypothetically be needed to keep up the day to day.

There is more, but I'll leave it here as those are the main ones I can pull up in my mind rn. Feel free to comment what this could be, or if you've experienced similar. Please refer to the disclaimer points before you make your comments. This took a couple hours to get out due to the migraine that onset but I cannot be stopped.

Thank you, have a lovely day/night/morning/afternoon/purgatory time/ect.

-Jack

[pynkhues]

I recently read an article in which Quentin Tarantino stated that fewer movie stars exist as a result of "Marvel movies in Hollywood." I think Jennifer Aniston made a similar argument before saying that there are no longer any movie stars. I'm not sure what that means. I can think of a lot of movie stars right now, such as Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, and Zoey Deutch etc. what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and Quentin's comments.

QuillBot's

Months ago, when you sent me this ask, anon, I wrote out a really long reply and as soon as I hit post, my laptop crashed and ate the answer, and I was so annoyed at myself for not saving my reply, that I couldn't bring myself to try and re-write an answer. I'm really sorry for that, especially because I think this is such an interesting ask (or well, two asks, because I think the death of the movie star and the impact Marvel's had on the broader concept of a movie star, are kinda two different things).

I've been thinking about it a bit again recently though, particularly as the Oscar race gears up, and Jacob Elordi and Charles Melton''s respective stars are rising in an industry currently desperate to find the new young Hollywood male 'talent', and I've been thinking about it again because honestly?

I agree with Jennifer Aniston, I think the movie star is dead.

We are a long, long way from Golden Age Hollywood where actors like Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe could captivate a public imagination in a way that translated to big box office effect, after all. Hell, we're even out of New Hollywood, an era dominated by names like Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and Jane Fonda, and the Blockbuster era with Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford.

My original reply went into a lot of the different reasoning as to why this is (like with many things, I don't think there's any one reason for it), in particular how the advent of streaming has changed our relationship with films and TV shows, how the saturation of the market has diluted the staying power of celebrities, how social media and the perceived accessibility of celebrities removes personal mystique which in turn removes intrigue and increases a sense of entitlement, and the fact that so many people having stopped going to the cinema means that the experiential element of seeing a film in a setting larger than life has been diminished.

I think call out culture plays a role too, with any actor on the rise being torn down by tweets they made eight, nine or ten years ago impacting how their star rises, I think the dismantling of the studio system (which is a good thing!) also harmed actors in the long run as studios stopped investing the same resources into making and training stars (they used to be able to sing, dance and act! Now some can barely even act!), and I think, of course, the rise of prestige TV changed the industry substantially (after all, movie stars were movie stars - they traditionally did not, and would not, do TV, which created a clear class structure in terms of screen-based storytelling).

And yeah, I think the language shift from film and TV to content has done irrepairable damage to the artistry of filmmaking and the consideration of a movie star as an actor at the top of their field instead of an actor with the most Insta followers or YouTube subscribers (after all, if everything's content, isn't it the same thing? [no lol]).

Which I guess is kind of where Quentin Tarantino's argument comes in, right? What he's saying is that Marvel's made it so that the IP - the content itself - is the star, not the actor, and I'd say he's probably right with that.

Think of it this way - back in the New Hollywood/Blockbuster era, Harrison Ford was the movie star - he was leading new franchises left-right-and-centre between Star Wars and Indiana Jones, sci fi epics like Blade Runner, leading action thrillers like Patriot Games, The Fugitive and Clear and Present Danger and getting nominated for Oscars for Witness.

He was a movie star in every sense of the word because you could hinge a film - one with a new concept, not just remakes or sequels - on him and be virtually guaranteed a success. He was what sold the tickets, the director just hopefully had to make something good enough people would leave the cinema glad they saw.

Tarantino's argument is the Marvel model - - hell, even the new Star Wars properties, turned the franchise into the star, for better or worse, which means original films can't compete because nobody knows the IP. Back when Harrison Ford was at the top of his game, his name was what helped original films including smaller, standalone works like Witness find an audience, but the studios have changed that. Capitalism has changed that.

Properties with existing audiences and deep pockets for merch were prioritised, only now those franchises are faltering and you've got a generation trained that 'cinematic events' are reserved for blockbusters in established universes, instead of taking a risk on a new film because you know you love an actor who's in it.

Do I think we could go back?

Maybe, but probably not.

I think the place we are now in the history of cinema / TV / 'content' means you can't make a movie star anymore because I think the industry is simply so different that no actor can break through in the same way that even Leonardo DiCaprio could 30 years ago. That industry doesn't exist anymore, actors aren't guaranteed draws (Bones and All proved that for Timothee Chalamet, and Wonka I think could go a similar way), or they have to heavily rely on other industries to become household names which I think dilutes them as a pure 'movie star' (Zendaya's a great example of this - I like her a lot, but how many movies has she even been in? They built her career up in peripheral industries long before they tried to sell her as a movie star, and frankly, I'd question her even as a leading actress yet given she's typically only either been in ensemble casts or clear supporting).

It's a whole new world, and yeah, I think the movie star is dead.

[alterrune]

(Remember what I said about this needing 7 screenshots? Yep. This is an absolute doozy.)

CHAPTER 3, FINAL ACT: THE ABYSS ENDS

(We're currently chasing down the Iron Horse in an armored vehicle.)

THIS is what Terence's plan is?! He's fucking crazy!

So, Kyle...what's the plan?

I...I don't know. I actually have NO idea what to do here. But I may have an idea.

(I pull out a silver case with "The Nuclear Option" engraved onto it. Within it is a gilded, gold-plated Bazooka, which I load a rocket into immediately.)

We go in guns blazing.

Sounds like a plan to me.

I second that notion.

I third it.

Fourth.

Then we have a plan. We'll make the rest up as we go along.

READY...

(I fire a rocket into the side of the of the Iron Horse, blowing a hole into the wall, which makes an entryway.)

GO!

(We quickly blaze through the train, shooting every single Toppat Radical we see along the way. We also destroy all the weapons, fuel tanks, and generators as we go along, destroying each truck car in the process. However, the Iron Horse's engine room isn't destroyed, instead it simply loses all energy and brakes to a halt at the Foundry.)

Huh...y'know, I could use this for a mobile Chaos Creation Center base. The engine room car seems intact, I could probably get this thing up and running again.

Then go for it. But first, it's time for him.

(We immediately bust open the door, and---)

(BANG!)

KYLE!!!

(Kyle gets his head blown off by a sniper rifle shot!)

(BANG!)

ALTER!!!

(Alter, too?!)

Now you know how it feels to lose everything.

(Suave hits a button on his armor, and a few guided missiles are sent to the Airship. They manage to blow up part of the hull, but thankfully, none of them damaged the engines or the landing gear, thankfully allowing it to make a safe, albiet shaky, emergency landing.)

And I do mean EVERYTHING.

(I...I've never felt more angry then I have right now. Electric energy begins to crackle around me, as Henry and Ellie take a step back.)

Do you understand what you've just done? You not only took away the man who created this entire world, but you also took away my cousin. My own family.

No. Not just Alter. The CSB as a whole is like family to me.

Alter may be my cousin, but I consider him like the brother I never had.

And Kyle created this beautiful world. You just killed the storyteller himself.

You have no idea what hell you've just unleashed upon yourself.

I AM GOING TO SEND YOU SIX FEET UNDER THE FUCKING GROUND YOU STAND ON!!!

(I bring out Leadhead, stab it into the ground, and a lightning strike hits Alter, reviving him and powering him up.)

Well now, looks like I'm back. Thank you, Violet.

LET'S GET THIS FUCKER!

WITH PLEASURE!

(Terence shoots every weapon he has at us, but neither of us even flinch. I rapidly slice at him with my sword and Alter punches him repeatedly, and bit by bit, his armor goes away. Eventually, and after a long battle, Terence is forcefully ejected from his armor.)

Time to die, asshole.

Wait, stop! We can talk about this, right?

Nope. You're done for.

(cough, cough!)

(Wait, that cough. I know who it belongs to. We all turn around, and what do you know.)

KYLE?!

D-Don't...don't worry...about me...get...T-Terence...first...

(Kyle is somehow still alive. Henry and Ellie give us a signal that they'll stay here and look after Kyle. Me and Alter give them a nod, before looking each other and realizing exactly what to do.)

Let's go for a little fly, Terence.

(We quickly burst through the foundry's roof and over to the Airship. Reginald sees us, immediately knows what our plan is, and turns on the engines, causing the propellors to spin. Immediately after, both me and Alter dangle him over the very same propellor he was killed with the first time.)

Again?! I'm feckin' here AGAIN?! I thought you blokes wanted to be merciful to your enemies?!

We do that if they can be redeemed. However, you have no chance of being redeemed, Terence Suave.

Recruting you into the Toppat Clan was a mistake.

Letting you get all that power was a mistake.

Having you ever in our lives was a mistake.

And letting you into my story was a mistake.

(Kyle is being hauled over Henry and Ellie's shoulders. He's not looking the greatest at all, but at least he's able to be here.)

But regardless, there's one thing you should know before we kill you.

These mistakes are yours alone.

YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!!

(Alter and I pull our hands back and throw Terence into the propellor with all our might. A blood-curdling scream is rung out as Terence dies yet again, this time taking his spirit with him. At long last, he's finally dead, this time for good. The electric aura fades as I drop to the ground, back to normal.)

You...you did it. Suave is finally dead.

'Bout time that bastard Brit got what was comin' to him. Though the Airship definitely took a hit, though.

RHM, we know. Tell Laurence to flag us down and have Kyle be taken to the medbay immediately.

Copy.

(RHM's visor drops down, and with a beep, he contacts GEOGRAM.)

Aight, you should be teleported away shortly.

By the way, we would like to personally thank you for killing Suave.

Thank you all for doing what we couldn't. Maybe you all aren't so bad with my son, after all.

Thank you, Carol.

(We all teleport away, a job well done.)

🎇OPERATION EMPEROR'S GATE & CHAPTER 3 COMPLETE!!!🎆

ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED!

End Of Suave (Emperor's Abyss Set)

RANK: Unstoppable (Stock Achievement Set)

BEGINNING EPILOUGE #1

So much pain...

(I'm currently in the GEOGRAM medbay. Dr. V said I was lucky to have survived. Suave shot me with a .50 cal sniper rifle. For those unaware, that's a pretty powerful bullet. Luckily, it seems his aim was off after shooting Alter, so he shot me in the stomach instead. It actually punctured my stomach and left a hole in my gut, but thankfully that was the only thing it did to my gut. It nicked my spine a bit on the way out, but it didn't hit the nerve, just the bone. It wasn't fatal, but damn did it hurt.)

(Suddenly, the CSB come in with "Get Well Soon" gifts.)

Hi, Kyle. How badly did you get damaged?

Well, Dr. V said the bullet hit my stomach and punctured it both as it entered and as it left, and the bullet hit a few of of the lumbar bones in my spine, knocking them clean off. I have to be fed through a tube until my stomach is patched up, and I have to lie down as with as straight a posture I can do until Dr. V can attach some new lumbar bones to my spine.

At least you're alive. And we did it. Terence is gone for good.

What about Jericho?

Jerry? Oh, he heard the news and immediatly realized he didn't want to stop working as what he was.

After telling Earl that he wouldn't pull a Tom Sawyer on his responsibilites anymore, and with Earl realizing he CLEARLY meant it, he's been released on promise that he'll work for GEOGRAM and actually do it this time, and he's actually done said work!

It's safe to say that Jericho and Earl Grey have finally made up again.

That's good to hear.

Oh yeah, this is for you.

(The CSB place a music box next to me, which features depictions of all the people in the AtO story, including ones from the PMD event and the Alternarune event, surrounding me, who is the "ballerina" of the music box [though my little figure is me at a DJ booth]. As soon as I open it, it begins playing a familar tune.)

Is...is t-that...?

Yep. It's "Into The Light" by Off the Hook.

We figured you'd like it.

(I begin crying tears of genuine joy.)

I'd ask for a group hug, but I can't get up from this bed.

Don't worry, Kyle. We'll just do it from here.

(The four surround me and gently hug me, making sure to avoid my wounded areas. After letting me go, they begin to walk off, but Violet suddenly stops.)

Oh, right. Almost forgot.

(Vi plugs a minifridge into an unused outlet, which is filled with both mango and apple juice bottles, and sets up a pill dossier with my sleeping aid pills neatly laid out on my bedside table.)

You still need your sleeping pills.

Thank you, Violet.

You're welcome, Kyle. Get well soon, okay? We love you, you lovable bastard.

(Violet then runs off with the others.)

I love you too, you guys.

BEGINNING EPILOGUE #2

What do you mean, "Terence is dead"?!

Just what I said, Phantom 1. He's gone.

Kelso, there has to be a way to connect with his spirit.

Arase. His spirit is the thing that's gone. Nothing can bring him back or even contact him. He's gone for good. On the bright side, at least that means our little "mistake" has finally been fixed.

Well shit. I'm going up next.

NO. I've had enough of waiting around for you people. I'm going next and you can't stop me.

And what make you think you can---HRRRRGH?!

(Suddenly, two giant snakes coil around Arase and Phantom 1, tightly constricting them.)

Ah, the famous boa constrictor. Nasty things, really. They can be tamed to constrict their prey, and then eat them whole.

ALRIGHT, YOU'VE MADE YOUR POINT!

CALL THEM OFF, KELSO!

(Kelso snaps her fingers.)

Both of you. Release them.

(The boa constrictors uncoil themselves from Arase and Phantom 1.)

See, while the CSB was out doing things elsewhere, I wasn't just training the Vipers. I was also training snakes. Constrictors, rattlesnakes, real vipers...all kinds of snakes, really. Training them to help me beat them.

Especially that Violet Wolfsbane girl. She's a botanist that clearly loves nature.

She put her full trust in me, and I betrayed that trust.

I wonder what would happen if the very nature she loves so much decided to betray her, too?

END OF EPILOGUE(S)

[lucky38-2077]

OC Interview: Vincent Ibarra & Naota Vasile

Tagged by @dreamskug It was really fun to do this and thank you for tagging!🖤🖤

NICKNAME

V: Most people call me V. Some people I've known since I was little still call me kid, but I guess I'm not a kid anymore, am I? Naota: My family and friends often call me Nao.

GENDER

V: Male. Naota: I am a demiguy.

STAR SIGNS

V: Don't know my exact birth date but I heard it was middle of December. So the thing with the archer? Sagutti...something. Naota: It's Sagittarius, V. (yeah that it!) Mine is Capricorn.

HEIGHTS

V: Why do people even care about the height? I don't know, haven't checked since teenager. Naota: I'm about 5′ 7″ and V is a little taller than me. I think... he could be around 5′ 9″. V: WOW. I'm learning about myself here.

ORIENTATION

V: I like men. Naota: I... I think the closest one should be Pansexual. Do you have preference? If you don't mind talking about. Naota: I really don't know, and it doesn't matter to me anymore.

NATIONALITY / ETHNICITY

V: Nobody knows who my parents were at all. Valentino is my thing. Naota: My father was Italian and mother was Japanese. I feel close to both. V, have you ever tried to look for your biological parents? V: Nah, have my family already. I've got old man Padre and Mama Welles. But don't you even think about a thing between them. They are good friends, nothing more.

FAVE FRUIT & FAVE SEASON

V: Green grapes and lemons. Well I don't enjoy eating lemons, but love lemonade. Naota: It's hard to choose... apples, oranges, cherries... V: And season? Summer. Not because of the weather, because I can play in water a lot. Naota: I like winter. I feel cold easily but it's still my favorite. Warm clothes, soft blankets and hot... Wait we have another question for that, please save it! Naota: Oh.

FAVE FLOWER

V: Not really interested in, but red or yellow ones are pretty. Naota: I do love flowers. Peony and hibiscus are my favorite. V: Don't forget a desert rose, D-rose. Desert rose- Adenium? Is there a story about it? I'd like to hear. Naota: Um... my partner gave it to me as a gift before. I still have the pot and it means a lot to me. And D-rose? V: The whole family calls him D-rose because of it. (Looking at Naota) You're blushed, amigo. Naota: ....

FAVE SCENT

V: Hmm never really thought about that. I think my man uses kinda perfume. No clue what it is, but he smells good. Naota: Fresh ones such as herbs. I like the smell of flowers, too.

COFFEE, TEA, HOT CHOCOLATE

V: Soda. But coffee is also good. Naota: Hot chocolate... oh this is why you stopped me earlier. Yes, I like winter and I like hot chocolate.

AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP

V: 6 or 7? I'm not a morning dude so probably wake up later than most people. Naota: I used to have a sleeping problem but it's getting better. V: Thanks to the biiiiig cuddly teddy bear. I have some plushies on my bed too. How big is it? Naota: No! It's... not... a plush. Let's move on.

DOG OR CAT PERSON

V: I like both, but with my baby Nibbles I'm currently a cat person. Naota: I've been always fond of cats.

DREAM TRIP

V: I want to go to the most beautiful, clean beaches in the world, not ones that are full of trash. Not sure if there is any left. Naota: I haven't thought about it. But with my family now, wherever will be great.

FAVE FICTIONAL CHARACTER

V: Rocky Balboa. If you want to talk about this with me, we should make another schedule. Naota: Unico. He's a baby unicorn who has a power making people happy. He's also very cute.

NUMBER OF BLANKETS YOU SLEEP WITH

V: Do you need more than one?? Naota: Yes, V. I usually have two blankets, more in winter. V: What? I mean. WHY? Naota: It's warm, comfortable... V: Man. I don't get it.

RANDOM FACT

V: I can hold my breath pretty long in water. Without any gear or cyberware. My record is 6 minutes 28 sec. Naota: That's amazing, V. Indeed. Do you train for it? V: Maybe a little? Think I was born with it. I just feel comfortable in water. How about you? Naota: I can't think of anything... I'll pass. OH.

I think most of people I know have already been tagged, but if there's anyone interested please go ahead!🤗

And this is Unico Naota mentioned, in case anyone was wondering. The idea just came up with when I saw the question. It was pure coincidence Naota has pink hair like Unico and I like it🤣

[cherrylite17]

Perfect 10 liners ep 3 (spoilers)

I swear to god i thought i made this post like 3 days ago wtf.

first note, even though i have not posted anything re: the first two episodes, I will say that i currently like the show. I am fully treating this show as three shows packed up in one show. (I'm thinking skam where the seasons were following the same people but different main characters each season except this show does not have seasons)

I originally was not sure if i wanted to watch this show, aside from force and book I dont really know much about the other two ships and even still i havent really watched many force book shows fully so i was fully convinced i wouldnt like the show

Theres still a chance i wont like the show but right now the first two episodes have been funny. yeah I know, im a sucker for silly goofy sound effects and cuts and this show is doing it. its also (i think) the same director as we are and I LOVED we are so we'll see!

I think it is interesting that Arc likes Arm and is actually going for it, unlike most shows where theyll beat around the bush around this, I cant wait for Arc to "find out" that Arm was the one who posted that photo of him because i am fully convinced he already knows and is so ready to mess with Arm when he "finds out" (though i hope hes not too mean about this)

ANYWAY, ONTO THE THIRD EPISODE!

not me saying that i was interested in the arm arc storyline only for the show to IMMEDIATELY switch off of their story line sigh

nvm i spoke too soon, back to arrmarc! NOT PUN AND JET KNOWING LOL THATS SO CUTE

also not the new car being a product placement

i also find it lowkey INSANE that this man got you into an accident, said he would never hurt you again, and then all of a sudden youre so fine with it. Like not even a little bit of "you know what, give me like a week before i get into your car" i know this is probably for us to see and assume that Arm already likes Arc even though he won't admit it but like… girl this man is being lowkey (highkey) rude af and mean to you and i get that youre idk,,, pushing it off because hes your senior but like i do not CARE how senior someone is to me and how much i like someone, if they got me into an accident, im probably not going in their car for a while.

NOT THE AGGRSSIVE TYPING "dont forget to apply the medicine :p"

I also found this restaurant part so out of the blue? I know hes all like "well you said youre getting to know me now" but like bro you are in a sweaty ass jersey right now like go to either home or a street stall where there isnt an expectation on being dressed fancy.

fish on the balcony? 😭

poor po being stuck between two lovesick boys (bro is literally me)

if Arc thinks that this heart rate is "racing" bro would probably think i was dying if he heard my resting heart rate.

oh 😃 thats one way to end an episode. bro really said, yeah im gonna give my gear to you (because we will be dating) Im lowkey getting sotus vibes from their relationship at least right now. Like one mean guy who is the older senior and also has the explicit (kinda) role of taking care of the junior in terms of academics and school life and then a stubborn junior and also the giving of the gear (which ive heard is like a cultural think kinda so i cant really see that and be like OMG

ITS SOTUS!!!) but uh (cultural may not be the word im looking for but i feel like in canadian eng programs (dont wanna be to general and say all canadian university programs) we dont really have something like this, where you get something from the school and give it to the person you are dating as like a cute thing, maybe a canadian can correct me if im wrong tho) the confidence on this man i wish i had even half of that

FINAL THOUGHTS

once again another engineering show making me (an engineering student) feel lonely and sad about my own life 💀

i feel like i dont have any insight on this episode (not that i ever have) but maybe as the show goes on and i get used to making these posts again i will

that being said, I am sick and gosh darn tired of this fucking trope (?) where you can be mean to someone as a way of "flirting" with the other person. I mean even po and sand were all like "if I didnt know any better i'd think hes flirting with you" like maybe its just difference in cultures but if a friend came up to me and talked about someone in the way that Arm was talking about Arc in the first two episodes i would stongly encourage that friend to stay the fuck away from that person, like why are we making it okay again to bully people as a way of flirting with them (i guess you could argue that in this case its less bullying and more like teasing (which whatever) but my point still stands, i wish that shows would do this trope less or at the very least have some genuine consequences to this bad behaviour. and NO getting Arm hurt in the car accident is not a consequence to Arc for his bad behaviour, like sure he felt guilty about it but obviously Arm had no grudges held against him for that (i'm talking i want genuine serious like… idk how to put it. and this show may not be the best example ( again, maybe this is more teasing than it is bullying) but if someone treated me as bad as some main characters treat their love interest they would not be getting a chance from me (to which you might argue, "well if you like that person before then even if theyre mean to you they would get a chance" but thats often not the case in these shows, like main character 1 is mean for no fucking reason and main character 2 is like i hate you…. wait a minute I LOVE YOU!!! and there is no real consequence to main character 1s actions, they have no real reason to change)) but anyway thats neither here nor their as i am currently liking this show but given the time that the show is taking place (2 main couples are already established) i am wondering i… idk i forgot what i was gonna say

[childrenofthesun77]

Okay, this is like a continuation of two of my theories and I'm wondering if I'm onto something.

So I wondered if the count could have originally been a werewolf based on the fact that he seems to have always been immortal, gear saying that his kind has a technique to seperate a part of their spirit from them while pointing at his earing, that earing looking pretty similar to the pendants the count had on his necklace that seemed to contain the demons (probably sins he seperated from himself) and werewolves apparently being able to create descendants by sharing their life force with humans which apparently gives them and their human descendants special powers, just like the count letting humans drink his blood turned them into mages.

Now the only werewolf we've met so far is (neu)gear hatiwelt, a reference to the wolf hati in norse mythology who swallows the moon during ragnarok (doom of the gods). We even see gear use a technique that allowed him to temporarily swallow the red moon the antagonist have created to aid in the ritual:

In norse mythology hati also has a twin brother though, skalli, who swallows the sun during ragnarok. Could the count play the role of skalli? The preparations for the ritual to bring back the count did kind of block out the sun in tokyo, causing temperatures to drop and snow to fall in summer. Ragnarok too is preceded by a cruel winter:

The C3 tokyo branch uses characters from norse mythology for codenames, which makes it interesting to speculate if some characters in servamp will have a similar fate to their counterparts in ragnarok.

Ragnarok starts with the death of balder, a son of odin, caused by the deception of loki, the trickster.

Shuhei is called loki as a nickname by izuna, but shuhei is more like heimdall, the god of foreknowledge who has excellent eyes. Shuhei's ability to prepare for even unlikely situations is a recurring joke and his hawkeye ability allows him to see far and even through walls.

I think we can all agree that in reality the role of loki the trickster falls on mikuni. He lies, he cheats and tricks to get what he wants, he's charismatic and clever. Before he starts the ritual/ragnarok he kills tsurugi/balder:

This has already happened so the question is if the other characters will suffer a similar fate to their norse counterparts as well.

In ragnarok loki and heimdall end up killing each other, but while shuhei's and mikuni's relationship is complicated and at times antagonistic I don't really see them killing each other, but maybe shuhei will fight a mikuni clone and kill him and be injured by him.

Other important figures in ragnarok are odin and his son thor. We have no official character with the codename odin, but I think odin and touma might be linked.

Touma is currently wearing an eyepatch, meaning he's one-eyed like the wise allfather odin, who sacrificed one of his eyes for knowledge. Say what you want about touma, but he is smart and came close to figuring out how the ritual to create a servamp worked. Balder is odin's son and while they refer to each other as brothers touma and tsurugi's dynamic is somewhere between being father and son and brothers. Odin is also the father of thor and with both jun and tooru too injured to fight and mjölnir now in mahiru's hands I think mahiru can be counted as the new thor and unlike jun or tooru he is touma's/odin's son.

Odin and thor both die during ragnarok. Odin is swallowed by fenrir (a giant wolf and son of loki) while thor battles with jormungandre, a giant serpent, slaying the snake, but dying from the snake's poison only a few moments later.

So we don't know who fenrir could be. If he's not skalli maybe the count is fenrir? In some versions it's fenrir who swallows the sun, so I guess he could simply be both.

But maybe whatever I assume mikuni wants to do with tsurugi's corpse will turn him into fenrir? He did seem to want the corpse to be left as intact as possible:

and the corpse was gone when mikado woke up again, leaving only the blood behind. Tsurugi's character is also strongly linked to wolves, so turning him into fenris and having him fight/kill odin/touma would make narrative sense.

Mahiru on the other hand might end up fighting jeje/mikuni. Jeje is currently captured and mikuni was literally called a snake by higan in the most recent chapter so I guess mikuni counts as a snake alone too, but of course mikuni could go and free jeje and fight together with him against mahiru.

Mahiru is against killing, so I doubt he would slay mikuni on purpose, but there are also a bunch of mikuni clones running around right now that NEED to be killed so he could end up using lethal methods on the real mikuni by mistake I guess. Or he simply defeats him and/or jeje through other means. What I'm more worried about is that despite his victory thor dies from the snake's poison only a few moments later.

Thor is also not the only character mahiru has been linked to that dies at the end of the story from the poison of a snake. It's subtle, but both when mahiru was in kuro's mind the first time and later when mahiru and tsurugi's spirits talked with each after touma had shot mahiru he spent some time in a desert with a crashed airplane:

Which is a reference to "the little prince" by antoine de saint-exupéry, a novella that ends with the little prince getting bitten by a snake after the snake promised him it would bring him back to his home planet.

So...will mahiru win the fight, but still die? Hopefully he can be saved from that fate.

[gigglomancer]

If you want to impose your will onto this world or anything within it, you must first understand it. A rather daunting task, indeed, trying to understand the world; perhaps if it were some singular and static thing, this might seem more reasonably achievable, but there's a reason wizards are always depicted in libraries and observatories filled with massive tomes, big brass telescopes, hand-drawn charts and maps, and all other manners of study materials. This is why wizards become adventurers too: you can't learn the world through books and second-hand knowledge alone. There comes a time when every wizard must fuck... But that's another story for another day. I'm kidding, I will probably never write you a wizard fuck story. Probably.

To get back to the point: great knowledge is required to have deep impact. If you wanted to fix a watch, you'd have to understand it's many parts and their functions; likewise, moving a mountain is not just moving miles of dirt, but moving and alternating the habitats of a few thousand or million life forms, plants included, each functioning to some degree as essentially as the parts of the clock. Imagine you were trying to convince your parents to hold more progressive beliefs; you'd have to first understand where they currently rest on the issue, why, and how they arrived there - it's not as simple as showing them statistics and "correct" answers, as more than facts have informed their current position. Even in a "simpler" example - perhaps you'd like to save your job from budget cuts - you run into the same thing: several small moving parts that push and pull each other with their own force and momentum, affecting the ultimate outcome of any move or spell you make.

You might (likely tbh) have some luck lighting a candle, dropping the right offerings, and saying the right prayers to petition the deity of your choosing, depending on what you're asking. You may even have some luck just bleeding out a chicken and begging any entity to help you, but I wouldn't recommend it. Partially because that is prayer, service, and petition: important spiritual practices, but neither wizardry nor gigglomancy. When you achieve something through petitioning, you are relying on whatever deity, spirit, or other entity you've contacted and their perspective of the watch and it's gears, not your own. You are also in need of their continued service, which means you must continue to service them too. Again, there's nothing wrong with that: I cannot imagine a world in which even the strongest wizards didn't make prayers and petitions, but it's important to know who you're serving, why, and how to appropriately end that relationship if desired - we all hate being ghosted, you better believe deities, spirits, fae, kami, and so on generally hate it too. Don't offer yourself to just anyone or anything capable of helping you. Truthfully, I think this is somewhat disrespectful, too; build a relationship with those you ask to help you, corporeal or otherwise, preferably before you start asking for things. For the non-corporeal: light candles, burn incense, make offerings (water, flowers, fallen snow, baked bread, alcohol, or honey make due in a pinch for a vast array of beings - check specifics when you can, but who can turn down some wine-soaked bread?) At the very least, live a life that honors their values and virtues.

I was ranting to my husband one day about how my brothers used to sit on me and force me to watch Dragon Ball Z with them, though I actually enjoyed Dragon Ball, and absolutely going off about Nende, a character absolutely no one gives a shit about, when I stopped to ponder the dragon. The Dragon: Shenron. You got the balls, you get the wish, but can I ever think of a time he didn't seem pissed to be summoned? Actually, yes, the first two-ish times. It's just when he starts to realise that he's just a mcguffin, a wish-granting object to be used and discarded without care, not a respected and loved diety that he starts to seem really annoyed. Imagine you summoned Shenron just to ask about his day or talk about yours. Yes, it is a Herculean feat to gather the balls, I takes so much screaming in the weirdly blue desert, but that's what building a relationship means sometimes.

[lamuradex]

Friday Kiss Tag ❤️

Thank you for the tag @the-golden-comet. Always appreciated.

Rules: From Your Story/WIP, share a kiss. It can be any kiss, from familial pecks on the cheek, forehead kisses, platonic smooches, to full-blown makeouts.

And for excerpts without a kiss, you can use this post as a writing share! :

Rules: Share a snippet of your writing!

Haven't done in tag in over a week. Been buried in trying to keep the momentum up to get Ninth Realm finished.

A lot of fun so far with a lot more romance in it than I initially planned, but that isn't a bad thing. So, let's have a kiss.

Barely a kiss, but we do later find them in bed together, so yeah.

Anyway. Here we go:

-

Some time on the rowing machine, and then onto the treadmill. He was a half a mile into his run when he became aware of someone else. Hunter was waiting in the doorway in sports gear.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked.

“I’ve never minded before,” Mike answered, slowing his run so he could talk.

“I know. It’s just things feel different now. Didn’t know if maybe you wanted to be alone.”

“Do you know what? I think I’ve been alone enough recently. I can’t think about all this shit anymore. False memories, evil scientists, aliens, Reggie…” His voice cracked but he swallowed and soldiered on. “I need to do something. And if it isn’t hunting down those creeps responsible, then it’s this.” He stopped the machine so he could lift some weights instead.

"You should have a spotter,” Hunter agreed.

Mike shot him a small look. He was only doing dumbbell curls.

“Sorry, clumsy metaphor,” Hunter explained. “What I meant is, you don’t have to do things alone. You know that, right?”

“I do. It’s just difficult. I can never just ask…”

“I get that,” Hunter smiled. “Pride cometh before the fall though. I used to hate asking my parents, or anyone for that matter, for any kind of help. But then I realised something. Your friends want to know how to help you. They want you to tell them.”

“It’s just…” Mike hesitated, formulating the thought. “I don’t really know what to do anymore. Without him.”

“Hey, welcome to the boat. We’re all in it,” Hunter patted his shoulder. “We’ll find a direction though. We’ve got one for the moment, hunting Solace. After that… we’ll work that out too, I’m sure of it. People have work, we’ll do jobs. Simple.”

Mike didn’t looked convinced, but he did smirk. “You ever thought of being a motivational speaker, Hunter? Because I’d advise against it.”

“Ouch!” Hunter said cattily. “All I mean is, we’ll keep doing stuff together. We’re a team. We’re all friends. More than that in places, but we’re all together. You understand that, right?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t walk out on you guys.”

“Always good to hear, but you don’t need to do it alone, is all. You don’t need to do anything alone." Hunter came and sat beside him. “There are things people can do together.”

Mike curled an eyebrow alongside his arm. “Another clumsy metaphor?”

“Less a metaphor, more a… double-entendre.”

“A clumsy one,” Mike chuckled. “But, before we do anything else, let’s get a workout in.”

“I can think of a good workout.”

Mike stared over his shades at him.

“Alright, that was a clumsy metaphor,” Hunter admitted, putting a hand on Mike’s shoulder and leaning in to kiss his cheek.

-

And there we go. Having a lot of fun with this book, so I'll still be pretty quiet until it's finished most probably. I'm 80K words in and still have a way to go.

Anyway tags:

@wintherlywords @stephtuckerauthor @fayeiswriting @mikathewriter @sableglass @agirlandherquill

By the way, if anyone doesn't want to be tagged, or alternatively would love to be tagged, feel free to let me know. Currently I'm just tagging Writeblr mutuals, as best as I can work out.

[dc-gt-plantbox-ideas]

A Small Date

Hello hope you guys like this lil story with Tim and Steph! This is like 3k so its not that long, have a good day!

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

“Just one more test and we should be done Tim, then we can finally get to work on getting you back to normal.” Bruce reassured as he carefully took another small blood sample from Tim and headed over to the batcomputer to start having it tested, this was not how Tim wanted his night to go.

For you see, Tim was not experiencing a normal side effect from some new rogue's gimmick, he was currently standing at 4 in tall and barely audible to anyone if he wasn't using a small microphone Bruce had gotten for him. Tim slowly sat down on the tray he had been left on bandaging up his arm. It had taken some time but Bruce had found a safe way to draw some blood from Tim and now could hopefully look into the serum that made him this size.

It had already been a very long night and this was definitely the cherry on top, only Bruce knew about the situation (for now) so Tim thankfully wasn't being too overwhelmed with how much bigger everyone was compared to him. That was about to change when Tim heard a motorcycle roaring down into the Batcave and quickly covered his ears as it got louder.

“Bruce!” ‘Oh no it's Dick’ “Why did you and Tim go quiet? Where is he?” Dick yelled as he marched over to the batcomputer and completely missed Tim on the examination tray, despite knowing the fight that was about to break out without his brother knowing his location he was a bit thankful for being ignored.

When Dick Greyson, the first Robin and current Nightwing, was angry you could feel it radiating off of him.

“He's fine, he didn't take any natural injuries after getting attacked by the new rogue we dealt with tonight.” Bruce stated bluntly not really trying to reassure his eldest son, Tim noticed Dick’s hands slowly balling up into fist and quickly grabbed the microphone he had been given.

“I'm over here!” Tim yelled and flinched as his brother snapped his eyes towards his direction, Dick found him quickly and started walking over to where Tim was.

His brother was normally taller than him but at this small size it was almost impossible to look up at Dick’s face, when Dick leaned over the tray placing both of his hands down on it. Tim stumbled back falling to the ground and still struggling to make eye contact with his brother.

“What the hell? Are you okay Tim?” Dick asked and Tim fought back from covering his ears with how loud his brother was, oh this was going to suck.

“Yeah-” Tim realized he didn't have his microphone and quickly grabbed it. “Yeah I'm okay, a little sore from the fight but besides that I'm fine!”

“I mean with the shrinking part.” Dick crouched down in front of the table, probably noticing how much his brother was struggling to meet his eyes well standing.

“Oh this? I'll be fine, you guys know where I am and no one that could pose an actual threat to me would be able to get into the cave so it's fine!” Tim put on his best smile and hoped that would satisfy Dick but with the way he narrowed his eyes at Tim and instantly went over to Bruce whispering something, yeah this was going to be a very long night.

And with how the universe wanted to mock Tim Drake it decided right now he would be getting an important phone call and heard his phone going off from the lockers, he looked over at Bruce and Dick to see if they were paying any attention to him and thankfully they weren't.

Tim thankfully hadn't had his gear confiscated after being shrunk so he still had his grappling hook and could easily get down to the ground without much trouble. Tim walked over to the edge of the table he was stuck on and shot his Hook off to wrap around the nearby med bay legs. With extreme ease and no real concern of anyone seeing Tim’s grand escape he got down to the floor and started making his way to the locker room.

It took much longer than usual with Tim being at such a small size but once the teen finally reached his locker and successfully got his grappling hook lodged in between the small window at the top of it Tim could finally make his way up and open the locker. Tim considered himself lucky he had so haphazardly thrown his phone into his locker, he didn't have a second grappling hook to get himself up onto the top shelf of the locker and there was no way with how smooth the walls of the locker where he could climb his way up.

So Tim slowly descended down to the ground and walked over to his phone that laid among the small pile of dirty clothes he had left in the locker. He quickly turned his phone on and checked the messages he had received well on patrol. Tim felt his body run a little cold as he saw the new message from Stephanie.

Hey, are we still on for tonight? Babs mentioned you suddenly went off the grid with Bats.

“Ah shit…” Tim mumbled to himself as he finally remembered what else he was supposed to do tonight. He and Stephanie tried to have occasional date nights where it would just be the two of them and they wouldn't have to worry about anything else, Stephanie had had to cancel two of their most recent dates well Tim had canceled three.

Tim already felt guilty about the reason why he canceled the last one and the idea of canceling four of their dates in a row just made the young hero feel worse, Stephanie deserved to do something nice and Tim was going to do his best to give her a nice night.

He would just have to change up some of their plans. He quickly texted her back.

Yeah, we're all good! But I can't really leave the manner so would you be okay if we have a date here? I'll get you whatever take out you want and we can watch your favorite movie?

Oookay we can do that, I didn't really want to wear heels tonight anyway. Be there soon! 

See you soon Steph!

Tim then quickly pulled up to one of Stephanie's favorite takeout places and started placing an order. Thank God he could do this over text because he genuinely did not know if his phone would pick up his voice. With how frantically fast Tim was moving he didn't even notice the large shadow that slowly fell over him and peeked down at what he was doing on his phone.

As Tim finished filling out his order for his and Stephanie's Chinese food a cold finger poked him in the back and caused his entire body to shiver, he very slowly looked up at his brother and instantly put on a nervous smile.

“So instead of canceling your date you're going to have one here? Do you really think you can argue with B like this?” Dick asked, resting his chin on one of his hands and still crouching down by his brother's locker.

Tim went from awkward smiling to pleading with his brother, there was no way he would win the argument at this size but if a particular older brother who loved and adored him very much was nice and helped him out? Maybe.

Dick seemed to catch on to this plan and let out a deep sigh as he slowly stood back up and headed towards wherever Bruce was.

Tim simply waited in his locker to find out what was going to happen, he really hoped Dick was helping him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stephanie waited by the door of Wayne Manor as she checked her phone and texted Tim again that she was here. She really hoped no one would intrude on her and Tim's little date but they were going to be having a date in Wayne Manor, the place was crawling with detectives who liked to put their nose in places they shouldn't.

No Stephanie wasn't going to be negative, she was going to have faith that Tim had taken the right precautions to get everyone to leave them alone. It would be fine.

Steph looked up from her phone as the door finally swung open and surprisingly instead of being greeted by Alfred she was greeted by Dick, Stephanie didn't think much of it as she walked inside and took her shoes off by the door.

“Hey Dick, is Tim still setting up where we're having our date?” Steph asked as she hung her coat on the nearby coat rack.

“Um, you can say that.” Dick bounced back and forth on his feet and Stephanie instantly catched on to his nervousness, oh god what did Tim do?

“What did my boyfriend do? Should I run while I have the chance?” Stephanie asked as she turned around to face the oldest Wayne and instantly became confused, Dick was holding out his hands revealing a small earpiece that was very different from their normal comms.

“So with the small incident that occurred that makes it so Tim can't go out you need to wear this special earbud, once you see him it will make more sense I promise.” Dick gave his award-winning grin to the confused blonde, Stephanie wanted to ask more questions but she had learned a long time ago questioning the bird boys was just a waste of time.

So Stephanie took the earpiece, put it in, and began her walk into Wayne Manor to find out where her boyfriend was hiding. Dick helped a little, only stalling her from finding the room once or twice, as usual Tim wanted to make sure things were perfect.

Once they found the room Dick slowly walked off, obviously waiting for Stephanie to go into the room, Steph simply rolled her eyes as she pushed the doors open and walked into one of the many living rooms in Wayne Manor. It was one of the more casual ones that obviously was reserved for the younger family members, the only odd thing about the room was the fact that Stephanie didn't see her boyfriend anywhere.

She hesitantly poked her head out into the hallway hoping to ask Dick where he was but the elders had already ran off to god knows where (hopefully keeping Bruce distracted so he didn't interfere with their date), so Stephanie realized she was on her own with finding her boyfriend.

Which turned out to not be too hard when she heard a quiet voice call her name from the coffee table in the middle of the room.

“Steph! Over here!” The blonde haired girl snapped her head over and narrowed her eyes when she spotted the small figure moving around on the coffee table, her mouth fell open as realization slowly dawned on her.

Tim was standing in the middle of the coffee table, he was no taller than the tissue box next to him, and well he was wearing more casual clothes. They were definitely clothes you wore during the colder season.

It was summer.

“Steph?” Tim’s voice wasn't very loud but thankfully it was still audible. “I know this is weird but-”

“Tiny.” Stephanie finally blurted out.

“I- yes I am.” Tim admitted not planning on denying his shrunken state.

“Itty bitty.” Stephanie continued.

“Steph please-”

“Tiny little man.” 

“Steph our takeout-”

“Super shorty. That's it, that's your nickname for tonight Super Shorty.” Stephanie's shocked face had disappeared long ago and now was replaced with a mischievous grin. She slowly walked over to the coffee table and sat down on the floor in front of the couch.

Apparently the fast sudden movements shook the coffee table as Tim lost his balance and fell onto his butt, Steph just continued smiling as she gently poked Tim’s face.

“Can you not? Also our takeouts going to get cold.” Tim shoved the large finger away trying to look angry but Stephanie could tell Tim was simply his normal annoyed self with her, if she really wanted to push it she could even say he might actually like the nickname she came up with.

“Yeah yeah, so what are we watching Tim thumb?” Stephanie asked as she opened up the bag containing their Chinese takeout, Steph was about to question why there was only one box but then remembered her boyfriend's very small size. 

“I thought my nickname was Super Shorty.” Tim walked over to the TV remote using his foot to hit the power on button and then started scrolling through the streaming service they were using to find a movie.

“Your nickname is whatever my brilliant brain comes up with next.” Stephanie responded as she noticed the small bowl that had been placed next to the carryout and started dishing some of her fried rice and a piece of her sweet and sour chicken into it, Stephanie rarely ever shared her food with anyone but with how little Tim usually eat she had gotten used to sharing some of her stuff with him. Plus Tim actually knew how to take a small bite out of something. 

“Whatever, I guess calling me mean nicknames is more important than asking what happened to me.” Tim said dramatically, pressing his hand against his forehead and pretending like he was about to faint, Stephanie couldn't help herself but laugh.

“You're not dead and you're obviously fine if you decide to still have our date tonight, plus you're good at giving me the information I do need when it's important.” Stephanie sneakily took the remote causing him to fumble forward a little and started typing into the search bar ’Honey I shrunk the kids’.

“Really?” Tim asked, crossing his arms and jokingly glaring up at Steph. “Don't you think that's a bet on the nose?”

“Yeah but I'm kind of in a horror mood, y'know?” Stephanie responded back she found the movie and pressed select. Tim walked over to his bowl of food pulling tiny utensils out of his hoodie pocket.

(Where the actual hell did Bruce get that???)

“Horror? You think Honey I shrunk the kids as a horror movie?” Tim asked, looking up at his girlfriend, quite a spectacle.

“Have you ever actually seen this movie before?” Stephanie asked gently poking him in the chest with her chopsticks, Tim shoved the sticks away, sticking his tongue out at Steph.

“No but I highly doubt this movie is that scary.” Tim rolled his eyes as he started eating his dinner.

“We'll see about that.” Stephanie said ominously ignoring how Tim rolled his eyes at her, she pressed play on the movie that she started eating her own dinner.

~~~~~~~~~

Tim seriously regretted his wording earlier from when they started the movie, it was an old Disney movie before they had started to pull back their punches and wouldn't hesitate to lean into genuine horror of the situation at hand. Tim had very slowly since the bee incident in the movie inched closer and closer to Steph and sometimes even mumbling her name to make sure she could hear him, Stephanie must have caught on at some point as she would quietly whisper his name back instead of looking down to face him.

At this point Tim was hiding behind one of Stephanie's arms as they continued to watch the movie, Tim wasn't actually scared of any of these things happening to him but it was still a bit unnerving to think if he had gone any smaller than he was now something similar could have happened.

Thankfully it was Tim's turn to pick the movie once ’Honey I shrunk the kids’ ended, he decided to pick a generic movie. Tim ended up finding schoolhouse rock and just picked it without thinking much of it.

Surprisingly the two really enjoyed the movie and got completely engrossed in it, once the movie ended and Stephanie checked her phone. Stephanie instantly rolled her eyes and put her phone away in her purse and started gathering up her stuff.

“Looks like I need to get home now, my mom thought she saw a certain bastard and wants me home now.” Stephanie explained, obviously getting frustrated. Tim frowned as he realized he couldn't follow Stephanie home as Robin just to also make sure her mom had actually just been seeing things.

“Do you want Dick to drive you home? I'm sure he would do it since it would give him a chance to avoid having to stay the night here.” Tim asked, as he stood up on the coffee table and followed after Stephanie and she got up to walk away, he stopped right at the edge of the table staring up at her.

“Yeah I would appreciate it, I'll go ask him- oh wait I need to give you something!” Stephanie crouched down in front of the coffee table and gently scooped Tim up into her hands, Tim simply stared at his girlfriend extremely confused as she brought him closer to her face.

“Steph what are you-” Tim went completely silent as Stephanie gently pressed her lips against Tim's face and some of his chest giving him a small kiss, before the Raven headed boy could respond he was carefully set back down on the coffee table.

Stephanie quickly got back to her feet, turned around and walked out of the room. Tim looked over at the reflective surface of the metal cup Stephanie had been drinking from.

And no Tim couldn't decide what was worse. The fact that he looked like a cartoon character with the big lipstick stain Stephanie had left on his face and shirt, or the fact that he couldn't tell the difference between Stephanie's pink lipstick on his own face anymore.

Bonus-

Dick had just gotten back from dropping Stephanie off at home and doing a few laps around her neighborhood to make sure a certain someone wasn't around, the coast had been all clear thankfully but he had sent a quick text to the huntress to check out the area before she headed home from her patrol.

Once Dick had announced he was back Alfred had asked him to go check on Tim who apparently had been sitting in the living room completely quiet since Stephanie had left, and with Dick being a very good big brother he happily agreed and eagerly went to go check on Tim.

What he saw almost caused him to burst out laughing but he quickly composed himself and cleared his throat to get his little brother's attention.

“Hey Tim, how did your date with Stephanie go?” Dick asked, walking into the room and crouching down by the coffee table.

“Oh it was great!” Tim quickly answered, rocking back and forth where he sat. “We had a great time, ate great food, and watched really fun movies!”

“Mhm mhm, I've got to say I really love the new design on your hoodie.” Dick commented no longer being able to hold back his laughter as he started chuckling.

Tim only for a moment looked at his brother confused until he looked down at his hoodie and realized some of Stephanie's lipstick was still stuck to it. It's obvious he had tried wiping it off but bright pink mixed with dark green wasn't the easiest thing to hide.

Dick fell to the floor with laughter as Tim’s face slowly started to turn a similar pink color and looked at Dick with venomous eyes, he would definitely be facing his little brother's wrath later but quite frankly he found it worth it.

[kehideni]

IDK if i ever flaunted all my characters in GW2... probably not.

Anyone interested? No? Too bad you're getting one HAHH

The main boi himself, my first ever character and main:

The Commander - Beasteye Denalien

This has been is 'mog for years now, i think he owns it very well. Hint of Ash Legion identity with the hood, and a whole lot of survivalist, dragon killer, ranger in the rest of the gear.

Chronologically the second is my warrior:

Wherever there is a Denalien there is a Lethupan. Beastclaw Lethupan was my first pvp alt who's since been downgraded into my legendary gear crafter. Artificer and Weaponsmith. He used to have his own fashion too, but i felt as my assigned crafter he should don the whole legy gear himself as showoff.

Third i wanna show off is my current pvp guardian:

Blackbeast Adrien is the only support i use. I use him as a condi dps in pve (raaaaarely, really rarely) but most often he is my go to in pvp as a support core guardian.

Fourth is the newest addition to the roster:

My cosplay character: Six Eared Macaque. I almost made him a necromancer because of the shroud ability but that would be my 3rd necromancer and also the only ability Macaque shares with necromancer *IS* the shroud. So this guy ended up being a thief for thieves can port, use staff and spear both (yes i know necromancer can too but necro staff is not martialarts-y like it is for thief) and Macaque is also more known for his sneakyness which is very thief like and thieves can go invisible so...

Fifth is the only human i have who is an elementalist:

Belle Thebeauty started out as a joke between me and my brother. He made a Beast lookalike and i made a Beauty lookalike that we both ended up using as our bank characters hahh... Ironically i placed all my ingame lorebooks on her so she is kinda fullfilling her dream as a living library as well.

Sixth is my halloween bag farmer:

Beastslain Daelin is a cruel joke on World of Warcraft's Daelin Proudmoore. If there was a shaman class in GW2, i'd have made him that, but the next best thing was making him a flame legion charr that's a necromancer. Essencially the joke is becoming the thing he hates the most. A "savage" monster.

Seventh is my only sylvari, Rúzsa.

He simply started out as a plant joke (hungarian joke, Rúzsa sounds similar to Rózsa which means rose.) Made him a revenant because at the time that was the only profession i haven't tried yet. Now he is my main condi dps for pve use.

Eight is Luna Shadowbeast

Thief and the account's jewelcrafter and tailor. She was simply made for me to try out thief and when i learned that thief is not my playstyle she retired as a crafter.

Ninth is another reference character:

My first asura and first engineer: Mikron Ojeneus. He is a reference to this guy:

Bet ya'all didn't know that Gizmo's real name in the DC Universe is Mikron Ojeneus. Hahahh

Tenth is a challenge character, that [RnR] made me do:

The rule was set specifically to me

i could not make the character a charr

it must be a condi character (because i am so set on being a power dps)

i must randomise it's looks and not change it

i must not use mounts

His name is Den Ecromancer which is a play on my screen name. Since RnR is inactive yet again, he became a "discover core tyria using only the turtle mount" character. Rules are: i'm only allowed to use the turtle mount and only can get off it if the discovery is impossible to do with it. There are very few objectives in core tyria that you can't do with turtle turns out.

Eleventh is my token mesmer i made only so i'd have a mesmer too:

Corva Beastmuzzle is currently collecting dust, awaiting a role for her. She is also a homage to my first cat, Happy who died last christmas. Her fur pattern is identical to that of Happy's.

Twelveth character is a clone character to my main

Not Denalien is a ranger, that is a clone to Beasteye Denalien. He exists because Arenanet sometimes retroactively messes up the repeatable storymode, making it impossible to record with Beasteye Denalien. That's when i use this guy to record the story, and it was this guy i used to record the OG Denalien's personal story.

And lastly, my thirteenth character

Huba Swiftbeast, my elementalist. He only exists because one day i was bored and i wanted another character :3 He was a roleplay character, that i ended up not using because as it turns out i'm not much of a roleplayer :D hahh