#I put a little spyro in the background.

[snakeoil2]

Skytober, Day 18, Ally

Something I always find kinda sad is how forgotten a lot of the NPC's from Spyro's Adventure are. The Floppa Trio are beloved, Persephone reappears, T-Bone and Larbo make cameos, but Gurglefin and Diggs don't appear in the canon a second time. At least they have a prescence in the fandom. General Robot and the Arkeyan Weapon Master just... have nothing. I always adored General Robot, so I drew him.

[quonka]

The Lasting Effects on Writing Concentration That an Aggressive, Near Insatiable Childhood Obsession with Neopets: The Darkest Faerie Can Inflict on a Man

The first console that I ever owned was the PlayStation 2, and while we had many games, most of them were nearly and completely unplayable. Mostly because I was like, eight.

That's why I made my sister play them.

Maybe "made" is a strong word, it was technically her console-- her games-- but I definitely begged her to play certain games more than others, just so I could sit and watch on the teeny tiny little box television, its frame decorated with neon orange and white acrylic paint, and SpongeBob stickers.

I had a couple favorites I liked to cycle through, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom, and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa -- but no game was I more annoying about than Neopets: The Darkest Faerie.

Just a Bit of Background Research

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie is a third person, single player action-adventure game released in 2005 and developed by Idol Minds Digital Entertainment for publishment on the PlayStation®2 system.

The console game is based off Neopets.com, which was an extremely popular fantastical pet collection and care browser game published to the internet all the way back in 1999. While still active today, it has gone through multiple dubious changes and similarly perhaps questionable owners. However, the current owner of the site, Dominic Law, is looking to really dig in and overhaul the site for a modern era, with a budget of four million dollars.

I did play on the Neopets website when I was younger, but not as much, or as well as my sister knew how to. I more just played the minigames to earn Neopoints for my sister's account-- Neopoints being the sites currency.

Nostalgia Brained

despite my lack of relative interest to the site, I was completely enamored as a child with Neopets: The Darkest Faerie.

The game was, and still is, fantastic.

The graphics are... well. PlayStation®2 graphics, with the console's technological limitations making for a better experience when played on a much smaller, less detail-oriented television screen in the early 2000's than the ones we have today.

But despite the game generally being a little blurry, in my nostalgia-coated opinion, it still holds up pretty well. With its characters and semi-open world all being taken and expanded on directly from the Neopets website and put into 3D; there's a lot of gorgeous design and color and creativity given to the environments and the anthropomorphic Neopets inhabiting them.

You can even switch between the two main characters, a knight named Tor and a sorceress named Roberta whenever you want, only having to press two buttons at the same time once you get to the third act of the game where they meet. This allows you to instantly be able to change between their respective brute melee sword attacks and ranged magic attacks.

There's magic, and monsters, and multiple heroes and villains, all thrown into a medieval fantasy setting-- and despite how many video games I've either played myself or watched others play over the years, I really can't think of a single other game like it, in both gameplay and soundtrack.

"I'll Do it Myself"

Being a game made in 2005, there is nowhere to buy the official Neopets: The Darkest Faerie soundtrack like you can with many modern-day games. The cinematic scoring producer of the game, Jack Wall, doesn't even have the soundtrack listed on his website with his other projects, or on his Spotify. The In-Game music producer Keith Leary doesn't even appear to have a website or Spotify.

This has left the creatives of YouTube to render their own easily accessible versions of the music.

In 2019, user monster860 uploaded their three-hour seven-minute render of the OST to YouTube, "This music was rendered using the tool I wrote, so it might not be totally accurate."

Then, in 2021, they uploaded an eight-hour five-minute render of the soundtrack, "This is the new and improved Neopets: TDF soundtrack video! Now featuring all of the variations, adding up to 8 hours, and also in stereo. In addition, certain issues are fixed, such as the flute part in the Bazaar District music not having the trills."

While not being technically official, it sounds very much like how it does in-game, and the inclusion of all the minor variants, as well as any cut and discarded tracks make this cataloguing of the game's OST perfect to study to for me.

Cause and Effect

In last week's post about Darkwood, I talked about how the horror game's OST was such an essential part to the horror atmosphere, that the intense focus I carried in-game, transferred out of the game when simply just listening to the soundtrack, and that it helped me with concentrating on my work.

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie OST has a similar effect, but in a different manner.

I have kept my PlayStation®2 specifically for the purpose of playing this game every couple years or so, with my oldest save on the disc being from 2014, and my newest being just from last month, 2024. I have beaten the game in entirety at least three or four times, and created a new save file much more than that.

Because I have played the game so incredibly often since childhood, whenever I have the soundtrack on, I can remember exactly where each song plays in the game.

It of course helps that monster860's video has its chapters titled with song currently playing, which is where it is found in the game-- but most of the time as I'm writing in a different tab, just through memory I am able to recognize the specific area, what its main color palette is and what character is available to play, and how far that specific song is in the game.

Instead of the soundtrack promoting a bit of healthy fear in order to get me working, the Darkest Faerie OST is calming, comforting really.

Don't get me wrong though, there are a lot of really fun and intense tracks in the game, my favorite specifically being "Brightvale Battle" at 4:39:32. Just starting off with that call and response melody at the beginning, on what I assume to be some sort of keyboard, is immediately effective at grabbing one's attention, which is apt for fight music. Then a little later into the song at 4:40:05, when the flute comes in on top of all the lower instruments, it sounds pretty and adds a bit of contrast while still feeling just as powerful as the heavier drums.

My absolute favorite piece of that song, however, is when the piccolo comes in at 4:40:41. It immediately pierces through the other instruments, sharp and passionate, and extremely impactful for how little time it actually stays in the song.

There are so many songs on the soundtrack just like this one that definitely don't inspire the horror that Darkwood's does but are comparably exciting-- and I think this drive that I get from more of the battle tracks, in combination with the calmer, atmospheric tracks-- in further combination with the nostalgic familiarity I have with the game and its idiosyncrasies-- leads to the Darkest Faerie OST promoting a similar concentration on the direct task at hand for me.

Recommendations

Honestly, I definitely would recommend for anyone struggling with concentrating when writing to try listening to the soundtrack of a beloved childhood videogame, or one that just meant a lot to you at some point. I'm not certain it will work like it does for me, but it'd be interesting to see more people talk about what their specific "work music" is and the story behind it.

Unfortunately, with the game being so old and so niche, the only way to play Neopets: The Darkest Faerie legally now is through buying a PlayStation®2 that works, and then also the disc. This is a lot to ask, I recognize.

If anyone is interested though, there are countless playthroughs on YouTube, so just find a commentator that doesn't annoy you and enjoy!

With the 25th anniversary of Neopets coming up, along with Dominic Law's aforementioned four-million-dollar plan to renovate the site, hopefully there is at least a miniscule possibility for a remaster of the game. I realize this is incredibly unlikely but considering both Spyro and SpongeBob: Battle For Bikini Bottom got their remasters semi-recently, maybe it's not completely out of the cards.

[shadesofgrace88]

I watched Elemental for a second time last Friday night. It was really neat to take in more of the details (background, music, character design, etc.) this time--while also still enjoying the movie. I really wanted to appreciate it on the big screen again and help the box office (even if it was a little). It was just as exciting and touching to watch as the first time.

[I kind of wish this was the title screen in the movie, but alas...]

Now, some further thoughts...

🎨THE ART🎨

I got the art book as soon as it was available, but made myself wait until I watched the movie to open it. I got it a month before the movie released. Legit left the plastic on, haha. The art in it is so mesmerizing. I do wish some of the behind-the-scenes 3D stuff had been added as well, or even a single layout from the movie. (hopefully some bonus features for the DVD!)

As much as I love and admire 2D art (which the art book is full of), I'm not sure if that alone would have displayed the emotions this movie needed and portrayed as deeply. I'm also pretty sure 3D has always been Pixar's thing anyways...Correct me if I'm wrong though!

But reading through the art book and learning about how they handled the process, how long they studied certain things for animating and creating this world was so fascinating. Finding ways for it to connect and work together made my art-loving heart so giddy. I remember coming across a Twitter post where one animator talked about how they managed to animate fire hugging by putting two matches together. Sounds simple, but it's so interesting and with the level of lively detail given to the fire characters, I imagine it was difficult to construct and render.

On the second watch, noticing when Ember lit up when happy was so cool. It wasn't just a smile or happiness of the eyes, but the entire character! I also found the stretch and squish of the characters to be really fun and cute. How the different elements reacted to their world was cool. Wade's hair! It's a wave that constantly moves! There's so much detail hidden in so many little things. The way they reflect onto one another. The glow from her fire. I love the outline to their characters. I think the art book referred to it like a membrane? It's more visually pleasing being kind of sketchy and not just a slab of bold lineart.

There are so many stunning panoramic scenes throughout the movie that showcase the brilliance of the world-building and characters. Such as the rainbow shot in the gif below. I honestly love the underwater scene so much. I found it more romantically alluring than even the Tangled boat scene.

💞THE ROMANCE💞

It's not just a slap-them-together-and-call-them-a-couple kind of romance, in my opinion. They have a plausible meet cute into not really "enemies," but they each have their reasons for the events that mesh them together. They have arguments. Like, realistic arguments...For a "kids movie." (I honestly hate that mindset so much because I prefer animation over live action stuff, but that's an entire essay, so moving on). The arguments aren't petty and stupid or miscommunication. They help each other to grow without being controlling or overbearing. And omigosh, THE CONFESSION! The date montage!

The romcom moments matched the evolution of a typical romcom beat sheet. (I'm writing a few myself so I've referred to it often). They have individuality as much as being a unified couple. Their relationship progresses fluidly along with the story. Low key kinda sad the gif below was just promotional, haha. She's like a gremlin teasing him 🤣

🎶THE MUSIC🎶

Gosh, the music. I get so excited with how well it matches the movie overall, and how well it crencendoes and grows quieter at just the perfect moments. There are so many scenes where it's just chef's kiss, but I don't want to spoil them, so...yeah. It's so whimsical. The Firish music is imagative and charming. Some of the musical bits reminded me of Spyro the Dragon, which is my favorite game series.

Thank you Thomas Newman for bringing Elemental alive with such a gorgeous score. And to Lauv--"Steal the Show" is such a bop.

✍️THE WRITING✍️

One critique I've seen a lot from people is how the story is unoriginal. To be honest, tropes exist for a reason. It's not the tropes that's the problem, it's how they're executed. And Elemental does it splendidly. Me personally being a hopeless romantic, I of course adore the romantic aspect of the film, but the relationship between Ember and her father is so vital to the story. It's practically why the story even kind of exists. Especially after watching it the second time and catching how many beat sheet moments align with her and her dad. When Ember said THAT near the end, I was crying even more, because...relatable.

As for the immigration part of the story, I can't speak much on it since I haven't had to experience that. It doesn't feel like my place to talk about, but from what I've read from others who can relate to that, they've mentioned it being well done. I hope this message of the story can find more audience, because as much as I enjoyed the trailers (that teaser was perfection--no plot spoilers, simple, cute, awesome introduction to the setting and characters), the official trailer and TV spots did not do justice to the heart of the story, in my opinion. I really kind of despise how much they advertised the "toot toot" joke when it could've involved more about the central theme of the movie. Like I said, Ember's relationship with her dad is so important.

Whoever marketed it as "Romeo & Juliet," I have a question...Why??? That play is a TRAGEDY. Just because "they can't be together" should not have meant they passed the advertising as a story similar to Romeo and Juliet. Wade and Ember are also more clever, lol. People are saying they haven't seen Elemental marketed, while others say it's been everywhere (signs, billboards, etc.). BUT, either way it was marketed poorly. The official trailer really should've delved more into the family and father/daughter dynamic more. For releasing Father's Day weekend, why was that not a decision during marketing???

By the way, it's not just Zootopia but with elements like I've seen people saying. This is an actual romcom, meaning the romance is actually crucial in it. I ship Nick and Judy, but it's not confirmed--let's wait for Zootopia 2 though, which announced back in January. Both films handle discrimination (and I love Zootopia), but where Zootopia has an actual villain, the "villain" of Elemental is the pressure Ember feels being an immigrant daughter and the opposites attract. External forces vs internal. Just because it's a modern city in both films, it really seemed like it had to be that way for Elemental. Like how the elements live among their world. The intro scene when the parents first arrive paint such a good image of the setting immediately.

I also feel like Wade and Ember are older characters. At least 20s, considering the passage of time mentioned and worrying about careers. Which is cool to me as an older audience member. I really want Elemental to survive and possibly maybe continue the story in some way, but after reading an article stating that a writer said there was going to be a baby at the end...Like, please don't. Let them live first, lol. As a couple. As Ember getting new experiences. Let her have her internship. What's Wade doing after they move? If they did a kid route, please do it as an epilogue or later short like Carl's Date. I just hate how society/movies/books are like "the couple has to have kids to prove their love" kind of thing. Bro, I think Wade has proved his love...

Anyways...

The casting was also terrific! Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie really did an awesome job bringing Ember and Wade to life. The emotion in so many scenes hits hard. Side characters were done really well too. I know some people wanted air and earth to be shown more, but maybe they could be more in the future? In the art book, the reason water founded Element City was because it was assumed the most opposite to fire.

I've read that people will just wait until it's on Disney+ because of fast releases anyways. Cheaper too, I guess. But Elemental really deserves to be enjoyed at the theaters with good sound quality and epic graphics. As much as I can't wait to own this movie to re-watch at home whenever I want, I'd gladly wait an extra few months to let Elemental shine in theaters to try to make it's money back and more.

Again, I'm begging people to give Elemental a try. It touches on so much more than romance, even though it did an amazing job as an official animated romcom. Family is a subject that is just as important to the core of the film. It's fun, funny, and artistically and musically awesome.

Thank you to Peter Sohn for pitching Elemental. For getting this story told and made. Thank you to each and every Pixar crew member who helped bring this world alive. I appreciate your time and effort put into this movie so so so much. You deserve so many awards and love for this project 🩷

PS, hubby found the classic Pixar "A113." Did you spot it?

[madamegixxysticks]

This was going to be my local fair's cover but.... Nope, didn't get picked, kinda broke my heart, I putted quite some work to this one!

I guess I can explain my art processes while I'm here...

So, the "Grow It" part, I went for a watercolor art-style like the 1980s incarnation of Strawberry Shortcake, but with cute anthropomorphic animals, with a little buck showing off his giant strawberry, this part was going to be the original cover idea I had but it didn't go so well.. But I guess, in a way I made it work.

The 2nd part, "Sew it" I went for an manga style, and I think this is really just how I NORMALLY draw but edited. I kept this part mostly black and white like most manga are except for the girl's jacket, which she made herself.

Last but not least is "Show it!" which I was inspired by the art style of Rob Duenas for this one, if you don't know who he is he's the guy who was one of the artists for Skylanders, Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time. For the pose I used Dreams (The PS4 game) to make my reference, and Modnation Racers to make a good idea for the background...

And I suck at backgrounds. And I didn't even bother shading the cow, chicken or the tractor.

[fairyfindr]

Dino+Dragon Stroll @ Canterbury Village

🦖🦕🌿🌴🦖🦕🌿🌴🦖

May 27th was me and my wife Skyrah’s 7 year wedding anniversary and we are both HUGGGGGGGE dinosaur fans so we gladly signed up to go on the Dino+Dragon Stroll at Canterbury Village and it was the most magical experience, honestly! There was such good and positive vibes, it wasn’t overcrowded, and the animatronics were great :) it was fun to get somewhat of a sense of what some of the dinosaurs might have looked like! My fave ones were the giant bird-dinosaurs with feathers and wings or the furry ones like this guy, the Troodontidae!

Isn’t it crazy to think that alligators, crocodiles, and many birds like chickens are being scientifically proven to have descended from dinosaurs, or at least extremely close relatives to the dinosaurs. Really puts things into perspective.

The was my first time going to see any animatronic dinosaurs, and even as an adult, it was truly magical and captivating in every single way! They were HUGE, they moved, and even made sounds! I felt connected to them in a way I’ve never felt before and it was amazing to feel like if I closed my eyes I could imagine being back in time and hanging out with the dinosaurs like it was normal everyday life! 😂��

The village wasn’t too crowded, they sold tickets for certain time slots so the crowds weren’t overwhelming, and it was honestly really nice. My wife and I don’t have kids, and we were a little nervous before coming out that we might be the only adults there, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. There was people of all ages and cultures and backgrounds, it was truly beautiful to see everyone coming together to enjoy and marvel about something more ancient and giant than us and our human lives.

I’ve been obsessed with dragons and dinosaurs ever since I was a little kid! I played with my little Dino and dragon toys probably more than any other toys I had! That pure sense of wonder and imagination of what it would be like to be a dinosaur or dragon captives my imagination still to this day!

Halfway through the stroll, we stumbled upon an amazing little shop inside of Canterbury Village called Down The Rabbit Hole, and I just have to say, it instantly gave me a whole VIBE! I saw the word “fairies” in the window and just knew I had to go in! As soon as I walked in, I was instantly moved by how beautiful and ethereal the essence of the shop was. There was something magical, beautiful, or unique at every twist and turn! My fave were the black fairies, there’s a huge lack of diversity in the fairytale community, more so throughout history, but black folks are beginning to reclaim fairy tales for themselves by retelling them with black characters, themes, and stories, and I’m HERE👏FOR👏IT!

#BLACKFAIRIESMATTER

The shop owner, Amanda, was extremely kind, thoughtful, and helpful while my wife and I browsed around. We ended up connecting over our shared love of fairies, fairy gardens, and fairy tales, and I’ll be interviewing her soon for a deep dive on the Down The Rabbit Hole gift shop!

At the end of the Dino & Dragon Stroll there were tons of really cool vendors and artists that sold various goods including dinosaur and dragon themed goods- lots of 3D Printed dragon art sculptures which were amazing! I even got myself this adorable 3D printed dragon wand that looks like Spyro the Dragon!

I can’t wait to come back next year, and maybe even be a vendor with my weird dinosaur dolls, custom painted minis, customized toy castles, and dinosaur fairy gardens! Who knows- the future is MAGICAL! ✨✨✨✨🦖🦕🦖🦕🦖

May The Dinos & Dragons Bless You,

Alex the FairyFindr

[badgersighted]

Crash 4 Review/Drabble

Just finished the main story mode, these are my thoughts:

Gameplay:

I'm not the kind of guy who picks up on minute differences in gameplay across games, so I'll say this much - Crash and Coco were a joy to play as; they felt pretty much how I remember (or imagine) them to be, so I have no complaints there.

As for Cortex, Tawna and Dingodile, I could probably take them or leave them. I think a symptom of me being somewhat disheartened at playing their levels was due to the levels being so punishing (see Level Design), so I expect they would have been fine in a more forgiving game. Either way, they're good - but not as good as Crash/Coco, and I would have just as happily played the game without their levels.

It's about a 7/10 for me - high for Crash and Coco, subtracting a little for the other three and some of the punishing levels.

Level Design:

Here's where it gets tricky. I both appreciate and dislike the level design for the same reasons (hear me out) - I appreciate how challenging it is, but it doesn't fill me with the desire to go back and get those gems/crates. I think this is more down to the levels being so long than anything. If they were shorter levels, broken up into 5 or 6 levels per hub rather than 2 or 3, it'd be easy to jump in and replay them - end up missing a box and decide to do another lap to get it right. But these levels being 10+ minutes long really does take it out of you.

In Crash 2-3 it'd be 3 minute levels, maybe 5 minutes at most, and you wouldn't feel winded at the end of them if you missed a box. With 4's levels being so long, and such pixel perfection required, I don't feel encouraged to go back and run through a level because I know how much time I'll spend doing it.

So I appreciate the challenge, but the length of the levels really puts a dent in that appreciation. I'll also briefly mention that the crate placement feels a little 'throw crates at the wall and see what sticks' and bollocky, cheap off-screen placement is a little too common, but in shorter levels that would be easier to live with.

Level design is somewhere around a 6.5-7/10. Great mechanics, but levels are just a bit too long to cope with how aggressively punishing they can be.

Mechanics:

I really like the implementation of some of the mechanics in this game. The Quantum Masks are all equally interesting ideas and they get plenty of time to shine (mostly Akano and Lani-Loli as they're in the game longest, Kapuna-Wa and Ika-Ika seem to get the short end of the stick). The vast majority of their segments are enjoyable, encourage you to think and are challenging without being painful (let's ignore Cortex Castle in that description, that level is pain), and they don't overstay their welcome. They blend nicely with the existing gameplay.

Another thing that blends nicely is the rail grinding; it's a nice change of pace, though I would have liked the ability to speed up/slow down so it felt less automated.

I would maybe say that some of the other new abilities that made it in, for example the ropes, felt like addition for the sake of addition and went a little underutilized, but ultimately the game's new mechanics feel nicely implemented.

Lands about an 8.5-9/10

Art Direction:

I really love the style Toys For Bob has going right now between Spyro and Crash. I have no issue with it at all, though I found that certain things didn't track as "Crash Bandicoot" to me sometimes. Some character designs were dead on to me (i.e N.Tropy) while others felt a little too far removed (I don't think Coco needed so much clutter, the goggles alone would have been enough). I think this is more symptomatic of 22 years passing in the real world and a different studio helming the franchise than any real issue with the direction itself, however.

Overall I really like it, it'll just take a hot minute to associate with Crash. It's bloody beautiful, they did a great job on it, so that's a 9/10.

Soundtrack:

I have to say from what I heard I was expecting big things from the music, and it did deliver in certain instances - though admittedly this was mainly where leitmotifs from previous games were used, especially in the boss levels. Overall I liked the music, but it had the same issue as Spyro Reignited that it lacked the punch and was relegated to the background and didn't feel as much part of the level as everything else.

The only level I feel like they really went all out in was Off Beat (one of the best levels in the game). The way the music was a huge part of the level felt a lot more impactful to me, and I think it's why that level sticks in so many peoples' minds.

Overall, soundtrack probably gets a 5/10.

Boss Fights:

The boss fights were fine - N.Gin and N.Brio were pretty decent, Cortex 1 felt a little cluttered together, but Cortex 2 did everything much better, so I presume they were holding out for that. They're mostly comparable to Crash 2 and 3 (Brio's is almost a direct life), so I'm somewhat surprised they didn't try to do more with them.

The most disappointing boss fight for me has to be the Tropys. When I saw they only had two hit points between them I felt a little let down - it came across as an anticlimax for each of them to only have one hit each, and they barely even did anything.

Boss fights get a 5-6/10.

Story & Characterisation:

I'll say one thing - a platform game doesn't need much of a story, but when it has one it has to make the most of what occurs within it. I think Crash 4's story is decent, but it had focus in the wrong areas. Certain characters went very underutilised - notably Aku-Aku and Crash himself, while others were a little too much.

There was a point where I was wondering why we needed Dingodile and Tawna in the game when their plot relevance amounted to very little and the Quantum Masks would have benefited from more characterisation with the time that would free up.

The most egregious case of misused characters for me is the Tropys. The strange little narcissistic selfcest they had going on seemed ripe for a lot of jokes and dialogue, but they were only in about two cutscenes together and then they were gone. Much like Dingodile and Tawna, it made me wonder what the point of having a female Tropy was if she was there and then gone again three levels later... but then Tropy prime didn't exactly do much either. Felt like they failed to stick the landing in that area.

I find it especially odd that Cortex was his more campy form from Twinsanity onwards. I could maybe see it if they'd taken the angle that 3 defeats had made him that way, but they present his Crash-1-self the same way. I think it would have been more interesting to have the two contrast rather than be the same.

For me the story is decent, it's just a bit off and mismanaged, and the characterisation doesn't completely track from Crash 3 to this game. That's a 6/10 for me.

TL;DR - it's about a 7/10 if I'm being harsh and looking at aspects individually, while stepping back and looking at the full picture is around an 8/10.

The game was really fun, I loved the challenge, I think some stuff just needs time to set in for me and my score will probably rise.

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

Here some more headcannons of my Sanders Sides Gamer AU nobody wanted!!!

Here’s part 1 if you missed it or just want to look over!

Background Time!!!

They’re all childhood friends that live in the same neighborhood. Patton and Duncan live in between Logan’s and Remy’s houses and Emile, Virgil, and Roman live across the street (in that order).

They had at first been forced to hang out by their parents and they really tried to get along (well, at least Patton and Emile) but they were all just too different.

But then one day on Emile’s birthday older brother gave him his old PlayStation plus all three Spyro games and he immediately set off to play it.

This of course caught the attention of the other boys (who had been dragged to the party by their parents) and timidly asked what other games he liked.

And that’s how they all found similar ground to work off and become friends, they all got along swimmingly after that. Remy showed the group an old GameBoy he had that his older sister repaired for him. Virgil talked about all the computer games his dad showed him how to play. Roman showed off his Magic The Gathering cards that were basically like video games in real life (so he said). The twins said they had a Game Cube and invited everyone over to play Mario Kart. Logan timidly said that he liked Pokemon which got an enthusiastic reply from everybody: I LOVE POKEMON!!!

So, yeah, the rest was history. Of course they’re all good friends but it seemed like Remy, Emile, and Duncan got along best and tended to hang out more while Logan, Roman, Virgil, and Patton did the same. They all still like to get together and hang out but they have their main group that’s real tight knit.

Fun Facts!!!

Note: they’re all in high school and around 16-17 years of age.

Logan hates Navi with the burning passion of a thousand suns! I know how to open a fucking door!!!

Virgil actually really likes Luigi’s Mansion because of the cheesy spooky aesthetic and he can relate to Luigi’s constant anxiety.

Roman and Emile have tag teamed and binged played through all the classic Disney games with NO cheats. Including the impossible Lion King game!

Patton played The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole even though people kept saying he wouldn’t like it because it was too raunchy. He ended up loving them and lending them out to Roman.

Roman likes the series well enough but prefers The Fractured But Whole because of the smoother combat system.

Remy has played through the entirety of The Mother series but refuses to replay them because they still kind of freak him out.

Emile does a lot of video game fan art and often does commissions online.

Virgil is pretty straight faced and steady when it comes to playing horror games with jump scares but Logan is a fucking wall! It’s freaky how he doesn’t even flinch or show any sort of reaction towards anything!

Duncan also really likes sports games too, especially the FIFA series. He’s pretty good at them too, he has no idea why though.

Roman cried for two days straight after playing Valiant Hearts. The others didn’t understand why until they played the game for themselves then joined Roman in his depressed blanket fort.

Logan was obsessed with Clash of Clans! Then PokemonGo came out and he proceed to highhandedly take over ALL the gyms in their area.

Emile learned to play all the band songs from Night In The Woods on the ukulele. Patton begged him to teach him! They put on a mini concert together.

Roman knows the how to play piano so sometimes he joins them in their video game jam sessions.

Duncan one time just came barging into Logan’s room and slammed down Super Mario Galaxy in front of him and demanded he play it. They did not see Logan for hours afterwards.

Duncan does this a lot actually, he finds games he knows his friends would like, buys it, tracks his friend down, and orders them to play it. They usually do, if they aren’t still playing something, because Duncan always somehow knows what they like.

Virgil played Welcome to the Game 1 & 2 and was paranoid for a week and refused to sleep alone beCAUSE WHAT IF THEY COME TO STEAL MY ORGANS ROMAN!!!

Remy still has his GameBoy and convinced his sister to teach him how to repair new and old game consoles. He then in turn taught Logan (because he’s a nerd and wants to know everything) in exchange that he teach Remy how to fix up and assemble PCs and computers.

They are now each of their squads tech advisers and are usually the go to guys when it comes to rearing, installing, or debugging stuff.

Remy also likes a lot of tap games for phones like: Tap Titan, Battle Cats, and Free Flow.

Enter Player 2: Thomas Sanders!

They hang out a lot at this game/comic/novelty store called Rainbow Bird Games (and sorts) the parentheses are in small letters underneath.

Obviously it’s owned and run by Thomas and his friends. They have an appreciation for games and all things geek culture but also what to provide a safe place for LGBTQ+ youth.

It’s a mediumish two story building squished between a dry cleaning business and coffee shop located in a small plaza.

The first floor is dedicated to all things games be it video games, bored games, or card games. They have a few refurbished arcade games scattered about, good to play for a quarter and they host a lot of gaming competitions and meet ups. Like for DnD, Magic: The Gathering, Smash Bro tournaments, etc.

The second floor is dedicated to any thing comic, movie, or tv shows related. They have a wide selection of comics you can read and little lounging areas you can read them in. If you can’t find something you like you can always ask the front desk and more then likely the next time you come around it’ll be there waiting.

Obviously, Remy found it first because it’s near a coffee shop (and he knows all the BEST coffee spots) and peeks in out of curiosity. He geeks out over all the cool stuff the store has before racing back home and dragging Emile and Duncan over.

They proceed to geek out as well and like the soft bro he is Duncan immediately texts Patton about it. Soon enough everyone’s there and it becomes their permanent hangout spot/part time job because Thomas grows to likes these kids and could always use the help.

Roman helps organize tournaments and events because he’s good with advertising and crowed. Virgil and Duncan help stock and organize things as well as keep inventory. Patton and Emile man the cash register/front desk. Remy and Logan are IT support and repair.

Roman sometimes asks Duncan to help host events when it involves a younger audience because he’s surprisingly the best with kids.

The store wasn’t all that popular before the boys came in but now with more help and a younger perspective to help bring in more clientele business is going smoothly.

[niiwa-angel]

A Cold Winters Eve

//Authors note: this was based off a headcanon from @musekicker who was very kind in allowing me to write a fic for it. I sincerely recommend you check out their blog and I hope you enjoy this fic. Feed back is always welcome and if you have suggestions I would love to hear them. BTW the cat and the bread thing was inspired because my cat STOLE AN ENTIRE LOAF OF BREAD!//

Skylands was well known for its winters, they always had lots of snow and ice every season, as a hatchling, Spyro had grown up playing in the snow and on the ice. However, the problem with having no hair, and being reptilian is that you're cold blooded, so every winter, Spyro would bundle up as much as he could while still being able to move. Then he would venture out into the sub-zero semi tundra that was Skylands in the winter time.

This really didn't help at night, when even the steady hum of the space heater in his room couldn't give him the illusion of enough warmth to chase the chill from his bones. So most nights, he tucked his blankets into a tight nest, with heated bean bags (authors note: those bags of something that you stick in the microwave? Great for cramps? What are they?) And hot water bottles that inevitably grew colder throughout the night. Overall, Spyro liked winter, just not as much as warmer weather, like late spring, early fall.

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

Stealth Elf was born in the warmer parts of Skylands, and was quite accustomed to a milder climate, so when she first went to the academy, she was woefully unprepared for the frigid temperatures come winter. Still, she attended all of her classes, spent time training, and perfected her teleportation. And if she got a little homesick alone in her room at night, nobody needed to know.

Unfortunately, when the cold got a little bit to much, she really contemplated just going back home, she didn't like how her hair was always cold after a winter training session, she didn't like how her room was always just a little to cold, and she didnt like how the outside paths became a twisted game of "the floor is lava" when they froze. But she made a commitment and she was going to stick to it (regardless of how awful she felt when the north winds brought snow) she would be a full fledged skylander and then make her own team somewhere warm.

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

Eruptor came from a very hot place, being born from a volcano, and was always excessively hot, and as such, was not affected by the cold temperatures of winter at Skylanders Academy. He did however notice, that his housemates might not be so lucky, based on how sluggish Spyro moved, and how down right depressed Stealth Elf was. He had brought it up with Professor Jet Vac, who had simply put it "they just aren't used to the cold, I'm keeping an eye on them, don't worry."

But when two of the happiest people you know are going to be down for an entire season, you worry. So Eruptor took it upon himself to try to cheer them up. Knowing how warm he was, he would go out of his way to be close to them in class and training and occasionally sling an arm over their shoulders. It was sort of working, but their house was still drafty, and the classrooms were still cold, and Eruptor felt an odd kind of helplessness knowing he couldn't make his friends feel more comfortable.

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

Spyro was recounting the stars outside his window for the umpteenth time, completely unable to sleep from the bone chilling draft in his room despite the heater, blankets and water bottles. He was tucked as tightly as possible into his selfmade nest and eager for this blasted winter to be over. With a groan, he pushed himself out of bed and wrapped five of his fluffier blankets around himself. If he was going to be cold, he was at least going to read his comics. Walking as quietly as he could down the hall, he bumped into Elfie, slipping out of her room in what was clearly very fuzzy pajamas, sheep slippers, and a forest green house coat. Her ears were drooping and her normally pristine braid was undone and slightly matted.

"Can't sleep?" Spyro whispered, trying to keep his voice low so as to not wake Eruptor, who could be heard snoring from his room across the hall. Stealth Elf shook her head.

"Too cold." She tucked the robe tighter around her shoulders.

"Tell me about it," Spyro snorted, peeking into Eruptors room, "jeez he seems warm."

"Good for him." Elfie snarked, popping up beside him. Eruptors room was warmer than most rooms in the house, simply because of its occupants higher than average temperature. Spyro walked a few steps into the shadowed dorm and deeply inhaled.

"What are you doing?" Stealth Elf hissed, watching Eruptor as If her glare alone could keep him asleep and their trespass a secret.

"Trying to warm up," Spyro quietly replied, stretching his wings, seemingly soaking up the warmth of the room, "look he's still asleep." Spyro crept to his friends sleeping form, and leaped onto the bed with the grace of a nimble house cat stealing a new loaf of bread off the counter and effectively ruining your dreams for a sandwich.

As he curled up on Eruptors feet, Stealth Elf crept closer, her concern for ruining her friendship with the volcano being showing in her pupilless eyes. "If he wakes up, he'll be so mad!" The thought of once again being friendless and alone wouldn't have normally made her eyes tear up as they did, but she hasn't been sleeping and the cold was grating on her emotional stability. Despite her efforts to conceal it, Spyro noticed.

"Hey Hey, whoa! Elfie come on! He's out, and I'm just on his feet. Come on, warm up for a few minutes, then we'll leave." Spyro gently pulled his tired friend closer to the bed, urging her up. Stealth Elf crawled up and leaned against Spyro and Eruptor, shifting to face Spyro, she pointed a finger in his face.

"Five minutes! Five! And then we leave and never do this again!" Spyro rolled his eyes and nodded, comfortably curling tighter around Eruptors feet. Stealth Elf sighed and leaned back, basking in the warmth her friends provided, between the much needed heat and the weeks of poor sleep, her eyelids slowly closed.

~~~~~~~~~

Eruptor blinked his eyes open, instantly aware of an unfamiliar weight on his bed, pinning him to his mattress. A quick glance around found the cause, Spyro was curled up near his legs like a cat, while Elfie was snuggled into his side. It was kind of cute, but not enough to not tease them.

"Hey! I am not a space heater!" He yelled, with faux anger, rousing his sleeping friends, who looked better rested than they had in weeks. Spyro lifted his head, tried blinking the sleep from his eyes, and curled back up.

"Well obviously, space heaters aren't nearly as loud." He murmered, as Stealth Elf grinned into his side.

"Seconded." She said, her voice muddled by her friends warm body, Eruptor snorted, before sitting up to drag Spyro closer to his pillows, citing a ramble of incoherent protests from the purple dragon.

"Oh hush you, if your going to sleep in my bed, you might as well be comfortable." He said as Spyro adjusted to his new spot.

//I suppose there are worse things in the world.// Eruptor thought to himself as he snuggled between his friends, and drifted off back to sleep.

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

Jet Vac was worried about the lack of movement from Stealth Elf, Spyro, and Eruptors dorm and peeked in to investigate. He had noticed how down two of them had been the past few weeks and was worried that this was the breaking point for both of them. Having been raised in the colder parts of Skylands he was quite accustomed to the weather and his feathers offered more than enough insulation for him, but with Stealth Elfs milder background and Spyros reptilian biology, he was worried for his students. His concern only got worse as he found empty room after empty room, and was about to call an alarm before peering into the last room in the hallway. Before him slept all three trainees snuggled together on Eruptors bed. Biting back a laugh, he snapped a quick picture and closed the door, leaving them to rest. They were all good students, and a little extra shut eye was going to do them no harm, Jet Vac chuckled to himself and walked away smiling.

Fin.

[glasskaleidoscopes]

Chapter 10 - Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Carolyn woke up at the sound of violent retching. She got up quickly and went into the hallway to see who was vomiting. She turned and saw Sallie standing in Vera’s doorway in her pajamas, with a severe case of bed head. 

“Who’s in there?” Carolyn asked emphatically.

“Vera. She got up about 10 minutes ago and ran to the bathroom. It’s weird, you don’t remember her feeling sick or complaining about anything last night, do you?” Sallie responded.

“No, she didn’t say anything. Weird how it came up all of the sudden. I wonder if she ate something bad?” Carolyn responded.

“Hmm, maybe. Although we ate most of the stuff she ate. But she definitely eats food when it’s borderline-expired, probably as a product of having so many brothers.” Sallie pondered.

“Yeah that is so true. Let me go get Janet.” Carolyn said, then headed downstairs and knocked on Janet’s door. Janet emerged from her bedroom, already dressed for the day, as usual. 

“What’s wrong honey?” Janet asked. Carolyn explained what was going on with Vera. “Oh yeah, I think there was something bad on the pizza we ordered last night. Brad, Andrew, and Jaret are all doubled over as well. Poor guys.” Janet explained, then Carolyn heard retching coming from Janet and Brad’s bathroom. Carolyn nodded, then headed back upstairs to check on Sam. Thankfully he was still sleeping and did not seem sick. 

Sallie got changed and then her dad picked her up a little later. Carolyn changed, saving the shower for later, as naturally all of the bathrooms were occupied. She then went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of cereal. Carolyn then walked into the dining room and was surprised to see Adrian sitting at the dining room table on his phone, sitting with an empty bowl. Adrian looked up and smiled.

“Good morning. Took you long enough to get down here.” He said as he set his phone down.

“What do you mean?” Carolyn said, slightly confused.

“I figured all of the puking would have woken you up earlier.” Adrian explained. 

“Oh, yeah I woke up when I heard Vera run to the bathroom. I guess I just didn’t hear what was going on on the boy’s end.”  

“Yeah I guess so...lucky. There were sounds I could’ve gone my whole life without hearing again.” Adrian joked. “Anyways, where’s Sallie?” 

“Her dad picked her up about 10 minutes ago.” 

“Oh, cool. I mean, not actually cool, I like Sallie. She’s fun.” Adrian tried to cover for himself. “I like you better though.”

Carolyn felt her face heating up, “Thanks.” She said bashfully. 

“No need to thank me.” Adrian smiled. “Anyways, what are you doing today?” 

“Mmm I don’t know. Maybe play some Sims, maybe read some of my book.” Carolyn said nonchalantly. 

“Oh I think that we could do better than that.” Adrian smiled, then he said, “Join me in the basement?” Carolyn got a little nervous and felt beads of sweat at what she thought Adrian was implying.

“Uh, I don’t know. I mean, everyone is still here in the house…” Carolyn explained.

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any of that. I mean, of course I would love to spend time with you, that way. But no, I meant we could pull out the PlayStation and maybe I could help you get better at Spyro.” Adrian explained.

“Oh great! That sounds like a ton of fun!” Carolyn smiled excitedly. 

“Awesome. I’ll meet you downstairs then.” Adrian said. Carolyn watched as Adrian put his bowl away, then turned the wrong way. Carolyn was perplexed, then she realized that he was heading upstairs rather than downstairs. Her stomach flopped in her chest as she thought of why he would go upstairs. She only hoped that he didn’t put a shirt on, but then again he probably should. Carolyn finished her cereal, put her bowl away, then went downstairs. She looked at the couch and thought about where she should sit. She decided to sit at the edge of the couch, where she could stretch her feet out, and also where Adrian could decide how far or close he wanted to sit to her. 

About five minutes later, Carolyn heard Adrian coming down the stairs and into the basement. Carolyn turned her head; he had put a shirt on. Adrian got the PlayStation set up and handed Carolyn a controller, then he sat next to her on the couch. Then, Adrian turned to Carolyn and asked, “What kind of music do you like?”

A little caught off guard at the relatively platonic question, Carolyn took a moment to answer the question, then said, “Well, I love the Beatles, but I also really like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, that kind of thing. I know it’s pretty girly stuff.”

“Well I’m not really into Katy Perry, but the Beatles are awesome.” Adrian explained.

“Really? I mean, how could you not? The Beatles are the best band ever.” Carolyn agreed.

“Yeah they really are. Here, give me a second before we start playing.” Adrian grabbed his phone and connected it to a speaker. Soon afterwards, Dig a Pony started floating through the room. 

“Ooh great song.” Carolyn said enthusiastically. Soon enough, they were playing Spyro and Adrian was gently teaching her how to play. They spent the next hour or so playing Spyro, and Carolyn was finally starting to get the hang of it. 

“Yes! Finally! Gah, I have never been able to get past that level!” Carolyn cheered at the accomplishment. Adrian laughed along with Carolyn’s cheering. Adrian sat his controller down and then turned towards Carolyn.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” Adrian abruptly got serious.

“Umm, yeah, sure.” Carolyn said, caught off guard again.

“What happened with your mom?” Adrian asked cautiously.

“Oh, umm.” Carolyn paused, unsure what to say.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up something sensitive. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Adrian reassured Carolyn, then he grabbed her hand and held it in his. 

“Oh, no. It’s okay, I can talk about it.” Carolyn said, then she took a deep breath and continued, “Umm. So I’ll start at the beginning, it’ll be easier that way... Ever since I could remember, my mom would just randomly disappear. I remember riding in the backseat of the car countless times while my dad drove us through the neighborhood trying to find her. Eventually he’d find her, usually barefoot, running through the park or climbing on the ledge of a bridge. He would get her back and then I’d just start counting the days until she would do something else crazy. One time she went to the airport, bought a ticket to Vegas, and maxed 14 credit cards at a casino. Another time I remember her climbing onto the roof and threatening that she would jump.” Carolyn paused and looked at Adrian to see how freaked out he was. He was looking back at Carolyn, with his full attention focused on her, but didn’t look anything but caring. 

“When she home she would hole up in her bedroom and stay in bed for days. I remember walking into her bedroom, and I saw her laying in bed completely still. I would try to talk to her, shake her to try and arouse her,  but she would just sit there. It didn’t matter what we would do, she just wouldn’t move. It was like my mom had two speeds: either 100% go, or just completely shut down. My dad never knew how to handle it. He spent his whole life trying to make sure she was okay. When he wasn’t at work, he was taking care of her.

“So that left Sam and I to fend for ourselves for the most part. We learned pretty quickly how to handle things on our own. We would walk to the bus stop and go to the grocery store to get food, because there would be nothing in the house. We had to steal cash from my dad’s wallet to get the money to do so. Then, about 2 and a half years ago, my mom left for good.

“I knew something was up when she left because my dad didn’t go after her. After she left, he totally broke down. He would say nothing for weeks on end. He would just go to work, then come home and go straight to his room. And you pretty much know the story from there. I haven’t heard from my mom since she left; I have no idea where she is, no idea how to even contact her, and honestly, I don’t even know if she’s alive.” Carolyn hadn’t even realized the tears that were streaming down her face. She had never told anyone details about her mom. 

Adrian bent over and wrapped his arms around Carolyn, pulling her close. She buried her head in Adrian’s chest and sobbed. She felt so safe in his arms. Adrian tucked his head on Carolyn’s shoulder, then he placed his large hand on her back. A few minutes later, Carolyn sniffled and slowly pulled her head up to look up at Adrian. Her eyes were puffy and red. Adrian reached his hand to Carolyn’s face and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Thank you for telling me. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, and I am so sorry.” Adrian looked deep into Carolyn’s eyes and Carolyn noticed that Adrian’s eyes were glassy with tears. 

“Thank you for listening. I’ve never told anyone any of that. It feels so good to have told someone.” Carolyn meant it, it was like there was a heaviness inside her that had lifted. The Beatles were still playing in the background, but much softer than before. Soon, the song ‘Julia’ came on. 

When the chorus started, Adrian started softly singing along, “Julia, Julia, ocean child, calls me/ So I sing a song of love, Julia.” Carolyn smiled and rested her head on Adrian’s shoulder, listening to him sing the song John Lennon wrote for his mother. They spent the next hour or so listening to the Beatles with Carolyn’s head on Adrian’s shoulder, holding hands. 

Carolyn heard footsteps coming down the staircase and she basically jumped out of her skin. She pushed Adrian off of her and turned around to see Sam coming down the stairs. Adrian scooted over on the couch and pulled his phone out quickly. 

“Hey Sam! How’s it going? Are you still feeling okay?” Carolyn asked quickly.

“It’s good, I feel fine. I was just wondering where you were. Trixie, Brittany, and I were going to play a game of Monopoly and I didn’t know if you wanted to play too.” Sam asked.

“I’m in.” Carolyn quipped.

“Yay! Adrian, do you want to play?” Sam asked.

“Sure, I’ll play.” Adrian said coolly. 

“Awesome!” Sam turned and ran upstairs. Carolyn exhaled deeply.

“Oh my god. That was too close. What if that had been your mom or Vera?” Carolyn said, shocked. Ever since last night, she was thinking that maybe this could actually work. Now she remembered why she was so hesitant. 

“It wasn’t too bad. You can hear someone coming down the stairs with enough notice.” Adrian explained.

“You say this like you’ve had experience with this.” Carolyn said, with a little jealousy. 

“Well, yeah, a little. All I can say is that the safest place in this house is the basement.” Adrian explained, trying to change the subject. 

“I gotcha. Let’s go upstairs.” Carolyn said, feeling Adrian’s resistance. The two of them went upstairs and played Monopoly with the younger kids at the dining room table. They played for hours and had a ton of fun. There was one near-incident where Brittany didn’t want to foreclose a property to pay rent, so she started getting upset, but Adrian was able to calm her down. They came up with an idea that if you went bankrupt, you could be the banker. The game ended up being a battle between Trixie and Carolyn, with Adrian staying along to play banker. Sam and Brittany had retired to bed when they both became bankrupt. 

Around midnight Trixie was declared the winner and the trio went upstairs to go to bed. Trixie closed her door, and Carolyn was just about to open her door when Adrian pulled her hand. He pulled her into his room and brought Carolyn near him. He gave her a quick kiss, then said “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Carolyn said breathlessly. She walked out of Adrian’s room and into her own, then quickly drifted to sleep with a smile on her face.

Tag list: @the-mockingbird-of-neverland

[macbookpro-hard-drive]

control [jeremy h. x squipped!reeader] pt.1

like what i do? consider buying me a coffee!

haha so i literally was on the fence abt how to do this first part before CB helped me decide ‘yeah this would work better so’ ;)

i’m gonna post this first part on it’s own since this one isn’t really heavy at all - but i’ll try to post the heavier parts w some fluffy stuff for people who need it/don’t want to read control

warnings: mainly just pain in this part. we’ll get into worse things later.

           The first day of eighth grade at a new school was stressful. You walked into your first class with shoes tied a bit too tight, backpack light, and your stomach tying itself in knots. You remembered finding your name taped into the corner of a desk, right next to a first: at the head of the list. You remembered not having friends for a while. And then you found yourself sitting behind Jeremy Heere in eighth grade physical science, and you found yourself partners with this awkward, tall, noodle-y thirteen year old for some stupid project that you actually didn’t remember. Jeremy Heere had planet stickers on his bedroom door. Jeremy Heere laughed at the same stupid jokes you did, liked the same music as you (plus more that you two got each other into), and loved video games like Spyro and Kirby. Jeremy Heere was your first friend, and then Michael Mell was your second, and the rest of eighth grade didn’t seem so tough anymore. You had friends to sit with at lunch, people to bitch about classes with, and video games to win and lose at sometimes with two pretty nerdy guys. But you didn’t mind that last part - you were fairly nerdy as well. They didn’t judge you for the little doodles you’d leave on your class notes or on your knockoff Vans or on the cuffs of your jeans - and neither did their parents, honestly. Michael’s moms accepted you like their own, treating you as if you knew Michael as long as Jeremy had. Jeremy’s parents were kind, his father soft-spoken and his mother bold and full of life even on her longest work days. You felt at home with the two of them.

          Freshman year wasn’t so daunting either - the three of you moving onto Middleborough with a lot of familiar faces. Freshman year was when the three of you went to homecoming together for about thirty minutes before ditching to go play Mario Party 7 on the GameCube that Michael Mell still had in his basement with his brother sometimes chilling in the background every so often. Freshman year was when Jeremy met Christine Canigula for the first time, saw the winter play with her in it, and immediately fell. Freshman year was when you realized how the butterflies that stayed in your stomach whenever you were near Jeremy weren’t just anxiety-fueled, but a soft sort of yearning that fluttered whenever his hand brushed your own. The end of freshman year was when things started turning rocky. The start of sophomore year is when Jeremy starting becoming distant, and in turn, that’s when Michael followed him out of your life. Hanging out started to become a happy daydream, lunch grew too quiet and a time to lose yourself in doodles and music, and your afternoons were filled with homework and no one to bitch to about it. Late sophomore year is when you heard about the divorce.

          You’d been standing next to Jeremy after school one day, a week later, stomach churning with anxiety and loose feelings that began to resurface. “I’m sorry about what happened, Jeremy.” You’d mustered up, fingers curled tightly around your bag, sleeves dipping down over your fingers. 

          He looked over to you, slouched forward and hands shoved into his pockets - a habit he’d recently picked up, as if maybe he could hide himself if he just kept trying. “Yeah.” He sort of smiled a little, “it’s... fine.” He lied. You remembered how Jeremy would badly lie: teeth slightly clenched, gaze averted, voice quiet and wavering every so slightly at the end of his words. 

          “Is there anything I can do-”

          “No.” He said, a bit blunt, before finally adding on, “it’s uh.. it’s fine, [y/n]. Thank you.”

          You watched his dad pull up, gaze distant and soft. Jeremy left your side. Fifteen minutes later, your dad’s car pulled up to the curb and you were quick to enter the car.

          Five months later, you were a junior - so close yet so far from that bit of freedom you craved. Just two more years and you’d be out of high school, and you could deal with college when that got closer. Five months later, and you were stuck with Jeremy Heere in four of your classes. In your American History class, he sat desks ahead of you, close to the door - and you’d caught yourself staring at the back of his head while your attention evaporated, and you prayed that he didn’t notice that shit because staring was creepy, fuck, you didn’t mean to stare at him. In Chemistry, he sat next to Michael at a table close to the teacher’s desk - the one in front of him preoccupied by a certain Rich Goranski and some baseball player who’s name you never bothered to remember, all because they were trouble and that was the easiest way for your teacher to keep an eye on him. In American Literature, he sat across the room, hidden behind multiple football players which gave him the perfect cover to nap behind because that was in the mornings and he was a tired little shit sometimes - something you understood a bit too personally. And then there was algebra, where you sat right next to Jeremy Heere, who always asked you for your calculator because he forgot his own. 

          You’d begun to keep your head down, your focus on anything but the people around you, and your task to keep invisible. You hardly stood out - plain clothes that were usually dark in color, hair sort of kept neat as you could keep it, and the normal shitty acne that you’d been trying to get rid of. Maybe it was the stress. You’d caught yourself picking at your nails plenty of times (and fuck, you were going to have to find out how to break the stupid habit), or keeping close to the walls and shoving your hands into your pockets, or fuck - when anxiety reared up bad enough, you’d take to biting your nails. In the eyes of the world around you, you could only assume you were written off as some emo freak or some shit - not that you’d care, frankly. You were left alone for the most part, and that’s how you enjoyed it.

          Jeremy, on the other hand, wasn’t. Something apparently turned Jeremy into more of a target than you - and to be honest, you weren’t exactly sure what it was. You’d seen Rich make shitty remarks to him, ranging from just a simple “tall-ass” to shit questioning Jeremy’s friendship with Michael being just that. Maybe one day you’d gather your courage and tell Rich to fuck off. But you weren’t a blip on the radar - not like how Jeremy was. So you told yourself it was better you stay safe for right now because Jeremy had Michael: you had no one, and you weren’t sure if putting that target on your back would leave you to survive high school. The regrets were there, sure, but at least you stayed unseen.

          At least, until around three weeks into the school year. You had this habit of going to the mall after schools just to wander - never really buying too much since you’d been saving your money from your allowance and your commissions (as sparse as they’d been) for some sweet merch you’d been eyeing up. This habit didn’t lend itself to every single day of every single week - but it had been enough to call it a habit, just because the idea of heading home alone to do nothing but drown yourself with bullshit homework assignments and commissions started to turn your stomach. You didn’t spend a long time there anyway - just sort of wandering into Spencer’s or into GameStop before leaving, maybe grabbing some pretzels or cookies or something first. One Thursday afternoon, you tore out of Spencer’s as business picked up, and as fate would have it: you stumbled right out into the familiar frame of Rich Goranski. Lucky for you, he’d been alone - about to make some comment as he studied your face. Recognition flickered. He knew you.

          Your breath caught in your throat as you flung yourself back a step, “shit - fuck, dude, I’m sorry, I should have-”

          He looked absent. “[y/n].” He said, voice quiet, processing slowly your presence before he blinked several times, as if he was coming back to life right before you. “Right?”

          You gave a slow, cautious nod. “Yeah... look, I’m sorry about-”

          “Tomorrow,” he cut you off, “after school, behind the gym. We’ll talk.”

          Anxiety squeezed your organs. “Fuck, dude-”

          “We’ll talk,” he repeated, and that pretty much solidified the thought that well, shit, you’re probably going to die.

          You nodded slowly before he walked off, muttering something softly before stealing a quick glance over his shoulder at you. And then he was gone, swinging into some store before you let out a long sigh. Okay, so - Rich was going to kill you, you decided. At least that means no chem test for you to fail? You frowned. Weak attempt to be okay with that - but... then again, when you really thought about it, Rich wouldn’t just... kill you on school grounds, right? Especially right after school?

          You swallowed hard, before heading towards the exit. Twenty-four hours. Time to see how many scenarios you can dream up.

          The entirety of Friday was swallowed up by dread and panic and everything shitty. Your heart was beating hard in your ears during your last class, and you’d been pretty damn jumpy all day - accidentally nearly throwing your calculator when Jeremy asked for it, right on cue, and then you came up with some bullshit excuse that you weren’t feeling too peachy keen, Jeremiah, but you’d definitely feel better later. He stared at you before sliding the case from your calculator, slowly turning back to Michael to continue his work. Could that have gone better? Totally. But he seemed to buy it at least - and that’s all that truly mattered in the end. Your leg bounced continuously for the entirety of lunch and throughout the remainder of your final class, anxiety screaming for some sort of release and endless leg bounce was the best way you could channel it. The moment the bell rang, you shoved your things into your bag and bolted out of the room, heading towards the gym. To your surprise, you were alone when you first arrived.

          Twenty minutes later, Rich showed up, bag hanging off of one shoulder and hands jammed into his jeans pockets. He gave you a once-over, before shrugging his bag from his shoulder, tossing it to the ground. This was it: he was gonna fucking kill you and you sort of stumbled back, wondering if you could outrun him-

          “... Jesus fucking - Relax.” He frowned, staring you down as he stretched, joints popping as he did so, “didn’t think you’d show up.”

          You nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, uh, figured... you’d probably hunt me down if I didn’t - but... look, Rich, about yesterday-”

          He groaned, “god fucking-” He cut himself off there, watching as you tensed up, before letting out a heavy breath. “You...” He paused once more, studying your face, “you...” He spoke slowly, “you remember me freshman year, right?”

          You nearly said no. But you did: Rich Goranski, who sat next to you in Biology and... was actually rather quiet, speaking with a strong lisp that you weren’t sure if you remembered correctly because you’d never heard it again. Rich with the D&D dice set in a little pouch in his bag, who sorta smiled at you a little when you brought up this idea for a campaign you had but you didn’t have the players for. Nodding slowly, you finally answered him: “yeah. Biology-”

          “Then you remember how I was-”

          “Yeah? We talked about D&D a couple times-”

          “Don’t fucking bother me with that nerd shit,” he spat, “that’s not important right now.”

          You pressed your lips together for a moment, before finally speaking once more. “I... I don’t see what this has do to with yesterday-”

          “Shut up about that shit!” He snapped, and you flinched slightly and took a step back. He watched you, before he started to regain his composure. “Sorry. Habit.” Shitty habit. “Look. I thought you could use the help I got.”

          “What help? You went from being kinda nice to being a huge fucking dick-” You started before catching yourself. Anger flared up in his eyes. “Sorry-”

          “If you don’t fucking want my help, then fine-”

          “No!” You started, “no - dude, I just... what’s this help?”

          The smallest little smirk started to play at the corner of his lips, and he stood slightly straighter. “You like Jeremy, right?”

          Fuck, was it obvious? “How did you know-”

          He didn’t answer. His smirk became more apparent. Something about it was unnerving - and... Rich didn’t feel so Rich-like, as weird as it seemed. “I’ve got something that can help you with that.”

          “With... Jeremy?” You started, furrowing your brow, “look - Rich, Jeremy and I were friends-”

          “And you can be his friend again, and more, with a SQUIP.” Something about he said that made you feel uneasy. 

          But curiosity reigned supreme in the end. “A... what?”

          “A SQUIP,” he repeated, “it’s this grey, oblong pill with a supercomputer inside of it. You take it and,” he reached up, tapping the side of his head, “you don’t have to worry about shit anymore, because you’ve got it telling you all the right moves to make. You’ll be cooler or smarter or whatever the fuck you want to be! You want to fuck Heere - you can.”

          “I don’t-” You paused, cheeks growing warm, “is that... safe?”

          “It’ll help you.” He said. “Look, it’s six-hundred dollars-”

          “Six-hundred?” You parroted back, “oh, fuck, yeah sure, let me just pull out my fucking wallet with six-hundred in it right now-”

          “Are you always a sarcastic little shit?” Rich asked, stepping towards you, “give me your phone.”

          You pulled it out, unlocking it before holding it out. He opened the contact, and you could only assume he was punching his number into it. Thoughts simmered in your mind as he handed the phone back to you. Questions bubbled. You didn’t speak.

          “Text me when you get the money.” He gave you another smirk, “I know what you’re thinking but... it’s worth it. Trust me.”

          He turned, swiping up his bag in one hand before shrugging it back onto his shoulder, and left you standing there in the hot afternoon sun. Trust him. You looked down to your phone, Rich’s contact still open. You looked back up, watching him disappear into the distance, and started off towards your home. Six-hundred bucks for a pill that’ll change your life, by the sound of it. All you had to do was trust Rich. 

          You let the thought sit with you all through the rest of the afternoon, all through the half-assed attempt at homework that you’d probably finish throughout Sunday and Monday, through dinner with your parents. It wasn’t until you’d been tidying up your room that you found this old shoe-box hidden underneath your bed, and counted the cash that you’d found inside of it - seventy dollars. Why you’d hidden it away, you weren’t sure, but you remembered still having money from commissions that you’d been saving up on PayPal. Seventy as well, you were pretty sure. With your weekly allowance of fifteen dollars, that left you with over a hundred and fifty. Maybe getting six-hundred wouldn’t be too rough after all.

          So you took the leap and you trusted Rich.

          The next day, you called up as many family members as you could looking for any sort of work you could do. Your grandmother was happy to take you up on the offer, and for the next few hours you were outside doing a ton lawn work with the promise of fifty dollars fueling you forward. It wasn’t until you were sitting in her living room, ice-cold lemonade and cookies (the traditional grandma offerings, in your experience) between the two of you with conversation flying, that your phone started to ring and you were greeted with your aunts asking if you could babysit since your parents had said something about you wanting work and that they were willing to pay you forty for tonight - ten dollars an hour. Before you could question why Alexander (the oldest of their kids at age fourteen) couldn’t handle shit, you learned he’d been getting into fights and they couldn’t exactly trust him right then.

          So you thanked your grandmother for the refreshments and the money, and offered up to come help out again if she needed you within the next week before you head home to take a cold shower and head over to your aunts’ in a few hours. Time flew past quickly, and by eleven that night, you were sitting in your bedroom with ninety bucks to add to your total - and that was the moment it hit you that you should probably transfer your funds from PayPal to your bank account then instead of waiting.

          Sunday you started to clean things out, finding anything that you could sell. Thanks to trading in shit at GameStop, a lot of your old video games managed to add up to almost a hundred - only at the cost of childhood nostalgia. Counting everything up, you had roughly three-hundred and thirty dollars. This wasn’t so bad. You could handle this.

          Then came the idea of baking. That usually had a good payoff, right? Besides - you weren’t against the idea of baking at all, since it was rather therapeutic. You focused on baking cooking the entire night after dinner. You managed to rack up fifteen during the school day, fifteen more for baking shit for someone’s younger sibling’s birthday, and then twenty more from their mom for being such a nice kid and doing this on such short notice. Thursday comes and these seniors approach you after school, saying they heard you were the kid that bakes shit and asked if you wanted to come with them - and then immediately clarified they need your baking expertise for brownies, if you caught their drift.

          You did. You weren’t one for weed, but you were one for money. The girl with them drives you to one of their houses that looks a bit too fucking fancy for this kid to just be a stoner who goes to Middleborough. But you shook the thought away - you couldn’t really judge, could you? Money was money, and this wasn’t harming anyone. The three of them sat, talking you through everything while two of them pooled their money together to pay you upon your refusal of any brownies. The two come up with sixty, thanking you for being a bro and also using their vegan ingredients (which you honestly thought deserved an extra ten since vegan weed brownies weren’t your area of expertise) before the girl - Martha, you caught - drove you home.

          She asked you why you agreed. You told her you needed the money. She shoved an extra five into your hand saying that she can’t really pay much since she’s short on cash. You thanked her anyway, and immediately proceeded to do laundry the moment you got home just as a precaution because you really didn’t need to explain the smell of weed.

          Your allowance came the next day. That night you ended up texting Rich that you’ve almost got all the money, if the offer still stands. He told you he’d give you another week. The deadline surprised you, but you figured that you could maybe try to get some commissions if anyone was willing to buy. So you knocked down your prices seemingly out of nowhere, and you end up getting two takers for two full-body, full-background pieces for twenty each. You’d regret the work later. Through a mixture of art, more yard work, the selling of a couple books, you managed to withdraw what you needed with your allowance that Friday giving you the final bit you needed. You texted Rich. He told you to meet him behind the gym in an hour. You told him you’d have to sneak out. He told you it’d be worth it.

          So you trusted him.

          Picking the remainder of leaves off of your shirt, you looked up to see Rich approaching you, his truck pulled onto the grass with headlights shining behind him. His shadow stretched toward you, and soon he was standing before you, a shoe-box tucked under one arm and a Mountain Dew in his other hand. When you go to question him, he stopped you.

          “I’ll drive you home.” He said, shifting the box. You could hear rattling inside of it. “Where’s the money?”

          You reached into your sweatpants pocket, feeling the large wad of cash and for a moment, you had to wonder if this was a good idea or if Rich was just scamming you. Slowly withdrawing the money, you hold it out to him and he took it, shoving it into his own pocket. “You’re not going to count it?” You asked, watching him pop the box open.

          He looked back up at you. “Do I need to?”

          “It’s all there,” you said, “but... I just thought you’d-”

          “I trust you to not pull any shit.” He plucked a pill from the box, stepping towards you, “look. For some fucking reason, you have to take this shit with Mountain Dew. It’s going to fucking hurt for a bit but... it’s not gonna last long.”

          Cautiously, you took the pill from his hand, watching him uncap the Mountain Dew and hand it to you. You only watched him place the lid back on the box, stepping back for a moment to set it down, as he stared you down. Finally, you placed the pill on your tongue, and took a swig of the soda, the taste of mint chasing it’s way down your throat. A small smirk twitched at the corner of Rich’s mouth. Fear filled your stomach.

          “I... don’t think it-” You started, only for a sharp pain to stab through your head, “fuck-” For a moment, you thought that’d be it before the ache spread through your brain, pulsing. You let out a hiss, shutting your eyes, “shit, Rich-”

          > CALIBRATION IN PROCESS. PLEASE EXCUSE SOME MILD DISCOMFORT.

          Your legs shook underneath your weight, the pulsing threatening to knock you over, and before you knew it, Rich was there to steady you. But finally, your legs gave out, your hands flying to the sides of your head as you dug your nails into your scalp as the pain slowly increased, your breath growing more labored between the soft swears that started to spill from you. Then there was the strangest sensation of what you thought was something forcing it’s way into your brain took over. And then, all in a moment, it’s gone. You steadied yourself, looking to Rich as you were about to try to stand.

          “Was that-”

          > CALIBRATION COMPLETE. ACCESS PROCEDURE INITIATED.

          “Wait, Rich-”

          > DISCOMFORT LEVEL MAY INCREASE.

          “FUCK-”

          Barely a moment later, you’d been thrown to the ground as pain spiraled throughout every single fiber of your being. It grasped you strongly, seizing you with nothing but agony as spasms ran through you involuntarily, a shriek finally escaping you before Rich pounced, a hand clasped over your mouth as he swore, trying to keep you still. Tears streamed down your cheeks as your thoughts were gone, replaced with nothing but pain and the occasional swear and something else-

          > ACCESSING: NEURAL MEMORY.

          > ACCESSING: MUSCLE MEMORY.

          > ACCESS PROCEDURE: COMPLETE.

          > [Y/N] [Y/L/N].

          > WELCOME TO YOUR SUPER QUANTUM UNIT INTEL PROCESSOR.

          > YOUR SQUIP.

[merriway]

Late night dragon thoughts for spyro versions of Oranhamme and Fairy.

Oranhamme is probably half Beastmaker half Artisan. He possesses the generally lax nature of his Beastmaker cousins and keeps true to their philosophy of being close to raw materials to make their work. However, Oranhamme wouldn’t have much of an interest in making monsters in fact the only creature he is interested in is creature comforts. The big ol boy would live in the Artisans and combine both of his backgrounds to bring a unique flare of craftmanship to the artsy realm. He would dabbles in lots of things but I’ve yet to decide what his main focus would be.

I could see Oranhamme making furniture using lots of wood and stone to give it a very natural feeling but still have some of that flourish you see in the Artisans. He would also be a great chef too though and I could see him cooking up great grub thats inspired by his original home in Beastmakers. Hamme could also make a great butcher though. He may not have quite had a passion for creating beasts but learning to put them together certainly gives you a special knack for taking them apart. 

I talked about Fairy already a little bit. I thought Dreamweavers would be perfect for them because they are a dreamon but also the general goal of the Dreamweavers is keep nightmares away and make good dreams which perfectly fits the jellybean. Fairy has always had a love for plushies and pillows too so I kinda thought that’d be a good occupation for them. Basically I liked the idea of taking the ‘weaving’ idea kinda literally and Fairy using their magic to weave good dreams into the plushies they stitch together. Having one of their stuffed friends on your bed at night is sure to keep nightmares and stress dreams away. 

I think Fairy ends up moving to Artisans because their work is craft based and they feel like their stuffed animals would benefit dragons who don’t already have magic that keeps nightmares away. They also probably wanted a change of scenery. Living in a world where anything is possibly is great but its hard to stay focused and just appreciate the small things in life when they keep getting poofed into big things. 

I didn’t think of it initially but I think its cute that Oranhamme is inspired by a bull and Fairy by a sheep, Farm animal dragon friends. 

[turquoisephoenix]

Moneybags. I need your moneybags headcanons

Realistic Headcanon: Moneybags is actually younger than he looks; he’s in his early 30′s. Which I guess is pretty old when you put him next to a bunch of teens like the rest of the Spyro 2 cast (excluding The Professor of course)

Not really Realistic but Hilarious Headcanon: Is really quite embarrassing at social functions and a lot of the rich elite of Avalar just think he’s a loser. It doesn’t help that he has a low alcohol tolerance and tends to drink wine during these fancy gatherings, which usually devolves into him giggling constantly and spreading gossip.

Heart-Crushing and Awful Headcanon: His father, Sir Reginald Moneybags the second, fabled explorer of Avalar and Reigning Head of Council on the Avalarian Senate, died when he was in his late teens and his mother died when he was a little tiny bear cub, leaving an inexperienced kid with no business background whatsoever to take over the family trade. Moneybags actually has no idea what the hell he’s doing and as a result, his actions in terms of business and as a head of Avalarian government is essentially dragging his family name through the mud and destroying decades of his father’s goodwill. Some of the problems in Avalar were not caused by Ripto but rather by mismanagement on Moneybags’ part and it will take years to repair crumbling infrastructure. 

Unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own Headcanon: The Moneybags in the classic Spyro trilogy and the Moneybags in A Hero’s Tail and Spyro: Shadow Legacy are two separate people; they just have the same last name. That’s why Moneybags just randomly had a wife and children in Shadow Legacy despite being a greedy fiend; that’s just a separate bear entirely.

That’s also why Spyro in A Hero’s Tail doesn’t seem irritated by Moneybags. He knows this is a different bear and although doesn’t like the guy, at least tolerates him a lot more than classic!Moneybags.

Also one of those bear kids in Spyro: Shadow Legacy is Auric from the Skylanders franchise.

[soitsu]

Video Games That Did Stuff in 2017 List

I don’t know why I’m making this list...maybe purely out of boredom??? Whatever the case here’s a list of some videos that I gamed in 2017 that were pretty good in no particular order.

1. NieR: Automata Not gonna lie, I was actually gonna pass on this one because of all the hype around it made it look like it was gonna be overrated but after my buddies Carter and Ozark gave me a little push, I took a little bite. Probably my favorite game of this year. I took the time to do just about everything in that game, all the endings and easter eggs, etc. I ended up getting the original NieR and Drakengard 3 as well just to squeeze in some more Yoko Taro goodness.

2. Yakuza 0 I’d never heard much from the Yakuza series but always knew it was there. It took watching a playthrough of it by Super Best Friends to see how truly fucking awesome this game was. It hit all of my sweet spots with a game. Good plot, fun gameplay, amazing soundtrack, lots of angry Japanese yelling and punching shit. What’s not to love?

3. Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy I never had an original Playstation as a kid so I missed out on characters like Crash and Spyro, etc. but it’s great that they re-released this trilogy for PS4. It’s classic, mind-numbing, anger-inducing platforming fun rolled up into a bandicoot flavored package.

4. Sonic Mania The funny blue hedgehog does a spinny again but this time he does it in the most amazing way possible. Mania is probably the definitive entry for 2D Sonic, presenting awesome level design (Pressed Garden Zone and Mirage Saloon Zone were so good), gorgeous sprites and backgrounds and an amazing and memorable soundtrack. 

5. Va-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action I usually don’t play visual novel type games but this one had caught my interest for a while. I’d never seen so much love and effort put into an indie game since Cave Story but it really showed with Va-11 Hall-A. Great characters, funny references, that cyberpunk aesthetic that everyone loves and well written plot that makes for an overall comfy experience. I cannot recommend this game enough.

6. Metroid: Samus Returns  You would think I wouldn’t have much to say about a remake of Metroid II and you’re kinda right. It’s not exactly a straight remake though, it’s got a new map layout, new gameplay mechanics, beam stacking and a new ending on top of improved graphics. It’s the classic Metroid gameplay we all love in a shiny, new package. Regardless, I love it a lot and I’m glad Samus is back.

7. 100% Orange Juice This game is awful. Awful in just about every way but it’s got a special place in my heart. It’s very fun playing and messing around with chat friends. It’s also not as bad as I make it out to be. It’s a board game akin to Mario Party without the minigames and a battle system in place. Cute characters, catchy little character themes and tons of unlockables and collectable cards. Fun for the whole family.

8. Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds This game was gifted to me recently by an agent that goes by the name of Fat. Much thanks to him. Phantom Breaker is a cute, anime style beat ‘em up with a neat little story (that I didn’t pay much attention to) and a very nice feeling combo system not present in many beat ‘em ups. It’s not a very long game, consisting of only 6 stages and the final boss but it’s got catchy chiptune music and cute anime girls. Fun to play in a sitting or two.

9. Demon’s Souls While it is the most primitive of the Souls series games, Demon’s Souls has a sort of charm to it that isn’t present or as strong in later titles. In comparison to other games in the Souls series, the plot and lore are pretty much laid out for you, which is kind of nice seeing as how the world building for Boletaria was done just right. Gameplay is pretty standard for a Souls game albeit a bit archaic in comparison to Dark Souls or Bloodborne. That being said, I love this game and it’s overall atmosphere to bits and cannot do it justice with a description. I heavily recommend this game to everybody.

10. Street Fighter V This game....this particular fighting game has been quite the trip. A very rushed and shoddy launch, controversies with PR, balance changes and censorship, unrest in the playerbase, etc. All of that into account, the fifth entry in the iconic Street Fighter series has for the most part been a pretty big part of my life. I’ve made lots of friends through Street Fighter and I love the series to bits. 2017 wasn’t the best year for this game but it seems like many deserved improvements are coming in 2018 with the release of SFV: Arcade Edition. Hopefully it’ll take it’s motto to heart and Rise Up.

Sorry if you actually took the time to read this. I simply typed this shit up out of boredom while listening to oneyplays.

[zwei-the-penguin-with-a-pen]

‘Alright’

Penny and her bandmates were restless beyond belief on this airship voyage. Why did Vale have to be so far away? Neo had paced the floor of the vessel countless times already. Of course, Neo was always restless; she could hardly stop moving even when she was asleep. Magenta was holed up in a room with her guitar. Daisy was drumming on any surface she could find.

Penny didn't dare practice, as both her voice and her trumpet would annoy the other passengers. Being loud would have unfortunate outcomes for the four of them. Dust, why did this trip need to take so long?

Penny took solace in the thoughts of seeing her wonderful red girl. Ruby Rose had promised to make the scene at the show, and would probably want Penny to stay with her for as long as she could. The Rooster's Teeth was Penny's most favorite venue to perform, and it made the Mechanical Girls sound stellar. Atlas's very own Extra Life was a decent venue, but Penny had played there millions of times, so it had long lost its sparkle.

Also, a show at the Rooster's Teeth meant quality Ruby time. Ruby would move to Atlas, she'd told Penny many times, if she weren't so desperately needed at Signal. Qrow was always away on missions these days, and Ruby had stepped into his slot. There were not very many scythe wielders out there, and their prowess and experience were invaluable.

That didn't change how Penny felt, but she respected her girlfriend's wishes all the same. She wished this airship ride didn't last so long. She wouldn't have so much time to think about such things. A practice session would be lovely, but most of the passengers were certain to be asleep at this late hour. There wasn't much else that would take her stress away.

Her scroll beeped and vibrated. She snatched it up from her handbag and tapped the 'Unlock' button. A message from her most favorite person showed on the screen.

'Hey, lovely. :)' The message read. Penny grinned from ear to ear at reading that.

'Hey, Gemstone!' She tapped away. 'I can't sleep on this airship to save my life.'

'Yeah, that's always a real drag. :/' Her Gemstone replied. Penny tapped away at her Scroll excitedly. She was so happy Ruby had been awake. Her nerves had calmed down as she read Ruby's messages and tapped out her replies. Ruby was better at texting than talking unless she was right there with someone, so Penny didn't press her for a phone call or anything.

Within just a few more hour she would see her favorite person.

\/\/\/

"PENNY!!" Ruby shouted as Penny moved past the terminal. She tossed her bags down on the floor and rushed over to hug Ruby, the two of them crashing onto the floor. "Whyyyy?" Ruby groaned, knowing full well she'd brought that on herself.

"I'm so happy to see you, Ruby! This flight has been horrendous. We've had almost no time to practice, which was about the only thing that could keep me from stressing out."

"Yeah, trumpets are loud, and airships aren't exactly spacey. You guys can have a session at my place. If they're all willing to haul over there..."

"I'm sure we'll get a session or two at the Teeth. I have a little time for you, though. Shall we grab a bite to eat?" She asked politely. Ruby beamed at the idea.

"Ursa Major has the best eats in Vale! Wait, you don't eat animals..."

"I eat fish, as long as it isn't looking at me. No other meat, though."

"Oh, well they have a pretty awesome seabass there," Ruby cheered. Once Penny reclaimed her bags, the two of them made for Ruby's truck. Their meal at Ursa Major was stellar, and Penny left their waitron a positively monstrous tip. The young girl had cheered loudly and hugged Penny, and she even packed a nice dessert in the girls' doggy bag.

Ruby dropped Penny off at the Rooster's Teeth. The rest of the band had already checked in, so Penny walked into the venue and up to the desk.

"She's a sound tech, she's with us." She told the staff woman, who nodded. Ruby thought she saw the woman wink, but it didn't matter. Ruby was backstage with her girlfriend's band and would be onstage for the performance, at least according to Penny.

Neo slapped and plucked the enormous strings of her bass guitar, the anticipation causing her eyes to change colors. Daisy smashed away at her drums while Magenta ran chords with her guitar. Penny tuned her own guitar, though she'd probably hardly need it, and tested out Magenta's saxophone. With two horns they could play one of Penny's favorites.

"So, could we run through 'TANK' real fast, ladies?" Neo smirked wildly at the mention of the song, slapping out the familiar rhythm with her bass guitar. The beat took over Daisy's senses, and Penny and Magenta thrust their horns up. They traded back and forth, as the song was little more than a huge horn solo.

"Incredible as always..." Ruby cheered as the band finished. Penny winked, her bright green eyes melting Ruby's heart. She really did love this woman. The distance could be trying at times, but she had Signal and Penny had the Mechanical Girls. Were there any Primary Combat Schools in Atlas? She was unfamiliar with how the school system worked there since the military and all that was crammed together.

"Penny, I think I want to move to Atlas with you... Is there a PCS there, do you know?" She asked her girlfriend. Penny's eyes turned to stars at the very idea.

"My father helps students at Alsius Academy to forge their weapons. He mentioned they were looking for a new teacher for their Creatures of Grimm course. Isn't that what you teach at Signal?" Ruby nodded. "I'll call him after the concert and see who you'll need to get in touch with to see about that. Oh, I can't believe we might be able to move in together!" Penny cheered at the height of her voice. She almost knocked Magenta over with her trumpet. "Oh, sorry Gen." Magenta shrugged it off. She knew how excitable Penny could be, especially with the little redhead around.

A technician for the club called for them to make the stage. Penny smiled and kissed Ruby before she and her bandmates ventured to the stage for sound check and to perform.

"You can come to the stage, too, hon. I know you aren't really with the band, but Penny might kick our faces if we don't let you up there." The tech told Ruby, winking as he followed the band. Ruby rushed up to the stage, trying not to get rose petals everywhere.

The Mechanical Girls' set went perfectly, as did that of the incredible Dark Crystals, the biggest band in Vale. The four of them even got to chat up the four Crystals. Spyro Tenerife and Shade Targary talked guitar and vocals with Magenta and Penny, while Kilgann Chase talked with Daisy about rhythm. Neo and Sunset 'Crash' Bakudan spoke somewhere that no one could hear them. Being silent was part of Crash's stage persona, and Neo just didn't talk that much.

Penny had spoken to her father, and he'd said he would put in a good word for Ruby. As the daughter of two members of Beacon's most well-respected team, as well as a Beacon alum herself, she should have no problem getting the slot. They desperately needed it filled, and Signal did have some extra staff these days. They'd replace her in no time, easy greasy.

A few weeks later, Ruby had gotten the slot at Alsium Academy, and she and Yang were packing her things for the big move. Yang and Taiyang were both immensely proud of Ruby, and Ruby could not wait to be in Atlas with the love of her life.

"Write to us when you aren't too busy being incredible!" Taiyang told her. Yang chortled.

"Or shagging that girl that's waiting for you out there." Ruby rolled her eyes at her sister, and Taiyang tried to pretend he hadn't heard that. Ruby hugged her sister and father before cramming her things into the taxi and hauling off to the airport.

She could hardly wait to see her Mechanical Girl again.

\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/

Day 12: A Deceased Character

Y’all know I’m still mad about Penny. Pyrrha too, but again, you already know.

So I’ve done this concept before, at the end of my last RWBY challenge. Penny Polendina and Neopolitan, along with two background OCs, make up a ska punk band called the Mechanical Girls. The first time around, this was just an excuse to write a Nuts And Dolts fic, because I ship them a little bit. Hell, if Lindsay Jones ships it, who am I to argue?

Also, in ‘Snow (Hey, Oh)’ from day two, the trumpet girl mentioned was none other than Penny. I wonder if anyone noticed?

I’m trying as hard as I can to catch up. I’m over 13,00 words in 12 fics, though, so I’m doing fine aside from being late. 

EDIT: The Dark Crystals are also mine. I forgot to bold them before... XD

[severalbakuras]

survey thing           

i think this is under a cut, the edit post function isn’t giving me any indication that it is though. so sorry if this post is super long.

edit it’s not aaaaaa

Rules: Tag 9 people you want to get to know.

Tagged by @scrawlers

Relationship Status:

single af

Favorite Color:

you want me to pick one wtf? all reds, all purples, warm browns

Lipstick or Chapstick:

chapstick

Last Song:

that sia song from the MLP movie it’s p. good.

Last Movie:

some christmas movie about a reindeer that isn’t rudolph. he’s prancer’s estranged son and not used to his mother marrying some other deer and getting a stepbrother and he gets kidnapped by eagles led by a white wolf who hates santa because he killed her brother i think and the main deer teams up with some loner deer to save his brother and also he can casually fly.

i think it’s a sequel to some other movie bc there’s got to be a reason prancer and forgettable mum deer divorced. for how cheap it looked the backgrounds were surprisingly nice.

my baby cousins loved it so what i think of it doesn’t really matter lel

Top 3 Shows:

khhhh i don’t watch many tv shows tbh

revolutionary girl utena (+ movie)

yugioh

voltron legendary defender (subject to change in the future if i get bored)

Top 3 Ships:

i’m shamelessly copying scrawlers here to describe my ships lelel

Top 3 Romantic Ships:

keitor - keith/lotor (VLD) - ok so like this ship murdered me it came the fuck out of nowhere about midway through S3 and at the time i was like ‘welp cracky trash ship for me! there’s always one!!’ but then it suddenly Wasn’t around the time S4 came out and it’s not even close to canon but tbh when has that fucking stopped me see the next ship on this list lmaoo

garrosh/jaina (WoW) - canonically, absolutely fucking not because he’s dead and was incredibly shitty, but in AUs? my god i want all the AUs. give them to me. what happened to that one ‘boar and lioness’ rp blog i need it. the aesthetic of this ship slays me every time and there’s so much POTENTIAL.

tidus and yuna (FFX) - LISTEN. listen. ffx was both my first FF game and my first RPG. it was my third videogame after pokemon and spyro. i had literally never seen this kind of thing before. little eleven year old me was so invested in these two that when they kissed i was sobbing. ‘suteki da ne’ still kicks me in the heart as does pretty much every song on the ost. i will defend every awkward translation or dialogue to the death. (and i will call him ‘teedus’ the day i say ‘jif’) (THE STORY REVOLVES AROUND THE OCEAN AKA CHANGING TIDES AKA TIDE-US FUCK YOU)

Top 3 Familial Ships:

magdeline and biggs (WoW) - ocs are cool right. anyway. both undead. both worgen. magdeline is the literal official deathlord of acherus. biggs is... not. he’s huge but he’s incredibly clumsy. they met when he failed miserably on his assignment during the destruction of the scarlet enclave and magdeline ended up rescuing him. she took him under her wing to save him from razuvious after being inspired by thassarian and koltira and they’ve stuck together ever since. in cata and with the return of gilneas to the alliance (sort of) biggs managed to track down his still living family but was soundly rejected. so did magdeline, who was only able to find her sister. biggs sort of wonders if magdeline would’ve kept him around if mackoire had accepted magdeline. the answer is absolutely. mackoire might be her older sister but biggs is magdeline’s little brother.

kolivan and keith (vld) - kolivan is doing his damn well best to keep keith alive the finale of S4 was not kolivan’s fault. just getting that out of the way. but yeah anyway. i live for keith getting a father figure alongside shiro (like the fact that kolivan is introduced and he and keith can connect before shiro vanishes is one of my favourite things because kolivan isn’t filling a void he’s just helping keith explore a new piece of his identity). and i live for kolivan taking a personal interest in the newest recruit and accompanying him on missions and by god just tell him about his mother if she was a blade already ;;;;;;;;

farkas and the dragonborn ‘diego’ (skyrim) - oc again. i’m pretty sure that farkas is everyone’s bro in skyrim but fuck it he’s diego’s bro the most. she want ballistic when his other brothers and sisters in arms insulted him and brawled them into submission, when they’d barely known each other a day and he wasn’t even in earshot at the time. she cured his lycanthropy without question, securing his soul a place in sovngarde. she trusts him to protect her beloved wife and children and home. he was her first friend in whiterun and she’ll never forget that.

Top 3 Human & Animal Companion (Platonic Soulmate) Ships:

valcia and eleanor (wow) - ocs again lol can’t stop won’t stop. eleanor the white devilsaur is valcia the blood elf’s most trusted companion, from pretty much the beginning. when valcia came of age just prior to the rediscovery of pandaria she made her way down to un’goro crater, surviving one of the fiercest jungles on azeroth as a sort of ‘skip the frying pan let’s jump into the volcano’ thing. there she found eleanor, trapped in a tar pit. initially she considered putting the poor thing out of her misery, but there was something in those bright eyes that made her put the bow away and use what little magic she knew (and rope) to pull the devilsaur free. she expected her to run away or try to attack once the tar had been cleaned off and she recovered her strength, but neither happened. instead, she just followed valcia around the entire crater, not too close but never too far away. one night her sleep was interrupted by vile chittering and silithid carapaces being crushed. when she investigated she found the devilsaur trying to fend them off - the two of them fought at each other’s side until daybreak and all of the bugs were dead. valcia treated the devilsaur’s wounds and after that they were inseparable. she’s loyally battled alongside valcia against gods, demons and everything in between, she’s crossed dimensions, planets, even timelines alongside her with little to ask in return except a chin rub and maybe a nice kodo haunch. it’s eleanor’s judgement of someone that matters most to valcia and she’s the only family valcia needs. i love them i could write more but that’s getting into nitty gritty wow lore lel.

i actually can’t think of any that i’m as emotionally invested in as these two lol so i’ll leave it at that

Tagging anyone who wants to do this lol

[celestiaknight-blog]

Carried Down The River

Ah, the Legend of Spyro. Such wonders you brought me as a child and still do to this day. This painting was based on the opening scene of the first game, when Ignitus put Spyro's egg into the mushroom and sent him off in the river. Lately I've been practicing painting backgrounds and scenery, so what better way to start than with something familiar? I always loved the colours used in the game for the water with all the surrounding mushrooms and the overall ambiance it gave, I always found it so magical. I had fun with this little piece! Something simple, I'll just go into more and more complex backgrounds as I go to practice. I'll just say; painting water isn't easy. Painting GOLDEN GLOWING water is even harder. Yikes.

Hope you like it! Go check out my links, I have commissions open and I have a Patreon page, go check them out!