#I'm just stupidly proud of this project

[glass-needles-and-futurisms]

I can't do a full group photo yet because I still need stands for the dolls, but I finally finished the band, instruments and all!

[dredshirtroberts]

yeah i think crochet is my hubris hobby in that it feeds my hubris to do other things that might be beyond my capabilities but like.

Mid crochet-attack I'm pretty sure i'm capable of crocheting just about anything. At one point I made a whole cardigan that was nearly large enough to be a mini blanket, just because i was like "You know what I bet I can do..." and then i did it and it looked amazing.

I have spent the past like week-ish in a fugue state of crochet, a large portion of which was spent on a bag i did completely from scratch using bits and pieces of techniques from actual patterns, and then me freestyling as i started to feel bored after a number of rows of the same thing

and the bag looks *incredible* - was received very warmly by the birthday person, and frankly i'm more proud of it than i was of the cardigan which up until this point has been my magnum opus (though i lost it in the Great Escape of 2019). I also have just. an absurd amount of the same thread/yarn I used for it so I will by all likelihoods be doing a similar one in the future because it was a fun project to work on.

but now i'm like "Yeah i finished a beautiful bag in a reasonable* amount of time, I'm capable of doing anything at all and definitely will not fail or miss a deadline or give up halfway through because i got bored!" despite all the evidence to the contrary from past experience.

*reasonable meaning in this context "it doesn't feel like it took that long even though the majority of 3 days was spent on it" and thus might not actually be "reasonable"

Like thankfully I am in too much pain to continue on rn because of the aforementioned "have spent the past week crocheting non-stop" so I physically cannot work on anything else right now, but my brain is like "Oh we could definitely keep working on/create a whole new project and still have motivation to work on the christmas presents you wanna do" and like. Nuh-uh no we cannot, I know better.

but the hubris, you see.

[muse-stellium]

|| Idk if anyone can tell w the lighting, but vamp Nina's jacket in these pictures isn't actually red. It's that magenta orchid-ish mix of red & purple

bc symbolism my beloved 🦇💕

In trying to create a Vamp Nina customization in T8, I've admittedly come to the realization that she's lowkey giving..... Buffy...

— Carry on. 🗡️🩸

[arrenlebanen777]

★Random Observations ★ +18

☆A Mix of Astro and Life observations.

☆People who have lots of asteroids and/or planets related to sexuality/attractiveness on Capricorn, relax, you will age like fine wine, probably becoming Milfs/Dilfs.

☆This observation is personal: I am impressed that many people talk about Mars in Capricorn and/or touching Saturn indicating a small dick. I am a native of that and I think that having 7 inches is not something small.

☆The year i had Mercury in Scorpio in 8th house in the SR chart, i started seeing things, to the point that I thought I was going crazy, I saw shadows, I saw things like bugs everywhere and I felt like some dark entities or presences tried to getting closer to me (Plus is trine with Neptune and opposite Uranus).

☆As a Mars dominant person I love hanging out with people who are also Mars dominant; we tease each other a lot, there is more frank and dark humor, lot of aggressiveness in a funny way, and I always feel rejuvenated after hanging out with people like that.

☆Why i'm using choso here? Because acquaintances have told me that I look like Choso lately (Its Just my face of sleep deprivation). And i like him.

☆You can be a lot like your Moon when you where kid but when you're older it can become your red flags because they can keep running unconsciously in other forms. For example: I have Libra Moon conjunct Black Moon Lilith (h58) and when i was a kid my focus was constantly on having relationships with the opposite sex, very amorous, indecisive and a little liar. But being in square with Mars together I was very explosive at home. Older Me: Persuasive, sometimes its very easy for me to see the psyche of people, and sometimes i know how to manipulate people. Another example: An acquaintance has Nessus (7066) in exact conjunction to her Moon in Capricorn and one would think that her mother was the abusive one but no, it was her. She used to choke her sister when she was little just because and was a little Machiavellian and violent. Older Her: Cold, emotionally abusive, emotionally irresponsible, tactless, hyper-individualistic, very materialistic.

☆When you have a lot of things in the 7th house, it is difficult to take control of those energies because most of the time they are projected without you realizing it, but others can see it clearly. For example: Mars in the 7th house you can see that others are aggressive with you, but others sees you as an aggressive person. Lilith in the 7th house you can see that people are abusive towards you but it is because people see you as a threat.

☆Sorry not sorry but all Leos I know have some serious ego issues.

☆I've seen that Venus in Taurus people It is as if they were proud of the sexual partners they've had(bodycount) and they usually like to keep them close in their life, they are not possessive and loyal like Venus in Scorpio but they like to possess people they consider valuable in sensual /sexual terms, but in reality sometimes it is only for aesthetics, they can even keep their sexual partners more for aesthetics than for the inner world of the person. Sorry Venus in Taurus, but these are your red flags. ☆When you have very Uranian transits or transiting Uranus is making intense aspects with your personal planets (Transit Uranus conjunct Natal Venus/Mars/Sun/Etc), it can feel like very adolescent periods, almost as if there were no consequences for your actions, since Uranus is not very friendly with Saturn (because Saturn represents consequences/ karma and Uranus represents rebellion), then you can go through a bit of a YOLO period for like 2-3 years, but when this period is over the weight of reality will come back to you with a heavy force and if during this Uranian period you behaved very badly/stupidly and quite irresponsibly with others, don't worry because later Saturn will come to dump all the weight of karma/consequences/reality and responsibility on you. Sorry not Sorry.

[thatdisasterauthor]

New year, new branding!

Well folks, here we go! Big announcement time! After a lot of thinking over the last year about myself and my art and writing and where I want to go with everything, I have decided to stop operating under just my name and rebrand everything under a shiny new umbrella! The name Aspen & Copper is inspired by my favorite trees and the place I grew up, which has copper in the name. And, as you can see, it's a very outdoorsy theme with topography and mountains and camping and such. I'm stupidly in love with it, honestly.

As for WHY this is happening, I needed a more clear dividing line between who I am and what I do, and operating under just my name wasn't allowing me to do that. But a big rebrand like this is no easy undertaking! It is, in fact, still in progress and probably will be for awhile yet given how busy I am. But the new website is officially done, and that was one of the biggest pieces. If you have time, please go poke around the new site. I'm quite proud of it!

What this means for YOU, my lovely subscribers and fans, is the following:

My books will still be by Katy L. Wood, but they'll be under the umbrella of Aspen & Copper.

I'm in the process of switching most of my socials over to Aspen & Copper. (More info on Tumblr specifically here in a sec.)

I'm retiring my old email address and switching over to Hello@AspenAndCopper.com, so if you want to reach out to me about projects or anything else, that's the spot to do it! The old email still works, but if you reach out to that one you'll be redirected to the new one.

The www.Katy-L-Wood.com URL will now redirect to www.AspenAndCopper.com.

That's about it! All my projects are still going ahead as normal, just with this lovely little new brand leading the way.

What this means for tumblr specifically:

This blog isn't going anywhere! But I do have a new blog, @aspenandcopper, (which isn't fully set up yet, shhhh...) which will eventually JUST be my art and writing so there's a (somewhat) cleaner way to navigate all that stuff just on Tumblr itself.

Also, I am toying with changing the name of this blog at some point, but I haven't found anything I like enough yet so for now it shall stay my name. Don't worry, if I change it I'll make sure to make the change very clear to everyone!

Newsletter:

I swear I'm going to get better about sending out my newsletter. 😭 To make it more fun for anyone who signs up, I'll be including an exclusive look at new art and writing stuff in each one! The most recent one had a sneak peak of a little doodle of Royal and Shiloh that I'm cleaning up and finishing, and a piece with Dustin and Vivian I've been working on for awhile! Plus a fun snippet from my book, Camp Daze, which is (finally) launching on Kickstarter very, very soon!

You can sign up for the newsletter super easy on my website.

Speaking of Kickstarter

Like I said above, Camp Daze is FINALLY launching soon, so be sure to sign up to be notified about the launch. More info about that coming soon.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  MuseumGiftShopEraser! They have 9 works on AO3 in the Stranger Things Fandom, and 6 of those are in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @museumgiftshoperaser:

Paint the Devil on the Wall

Conversations About Love

Now I'm A Stranger

An Exercise In Denial

Baby, You Were Meant To Follow Me

Her fics are BEAUTIFUL. When I first read Paint the Devil on the Wall I was so obsessed I immediately recced the fic to everyone I knew who would be vaguely interested in a steddie fic. -- anonymous

Below the cut, @museumgiftshoperaser answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I stumbled into it immediately after season 4 came out. I’ve felt very attached to Steve as a character from the beginning of the show and I think I was subconsciously waiting for someone to pair him up with. I think they’re both such great characters to explore themes of dealing with expectation (either by conforming, or fighting against it) and that’s something I always love to write about.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Absolute sucker for fake dating. Can’t get enough of it.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Enemies to lovers! Though now that I’m looking through my AO3 I haven’t actually written that much of it. It doesn’t have to be very intense enemies, though. I just like it when characters don’t immediately get along.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

My brain has been forever rewired by took you for a working boy by pukner. It’s such a gentle, nuanced queer story. It feels vulnerable to me in a way that really only fanfiction can be. Can I sneak in another one?? Because everyone should also absolutely read the shame is on the other side by scoops_ahoy. It taps into this very specific kind of queer compartmentalizing, that I’ve never seen written this well. It broke my heart and patched it right back up.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve been stupidly busy with my masters lately so there’s probably not a lot of writing on my horizon. I do have a wip called Doll that I’m slowly chipping away at. It’s a little darker than stuff I’ve written before. I know ‘dark’ isn’t really a trope, but I’m excited to see if I can push these characters a little further. 

What is your writing process like?

Absolute chaos. I write non-chronologically, without an outline, all in the same document. I keep writing snippets and scenes until the whole thing slowly comes together. 

Do you have any writing quirks?

Italicizing words for emphasis. I love it so much, you can rip it from my cold dead hands. It accidentally makes its way into my academic writing for my degree sometimes which is a little embarrassing, but I just love the flair of it. 

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I don’t really do schedules, it doesn’t work for me at all. I try to make sure I have a decent amount of the story written before I start posting to give me a bit of a head start, but forcing myself to finish something by a certain date is a surefire way to kill my motivation.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Probably Paint the Devil on the Wall. It was the first time I’d written the entire story before I started posting so it went through way more rounds of editing than normal. I think you can really tell. It’s also the longest story I’ve ever written (in general, even outside of fanfic). The whole project gave me a lot of confidence as a writer.

How did you get the idea for Paint the Devil on the Wall?

I knew I wanted to participate in the Bigbang and the deadline was coming up, but I still didn’t have an idea. I decided to work backwards and try to think of something that would be fun for the artist(s) to draw. I had a vision of Eddie wearing dungarees without a shirt, absolutely covered in paint and I knew I had to write something to make it happen. I set the story in 80s New York because neo expressionism is really the only kind of art I could see Eddie making. I think it suits him very well. I do actually have a background in art, though! I’m currently getting my MFA, but I’ve worked full time as an artist for several years before that. I had a lot of fun working my passion for art (and all those art history classes I had to take) into the fic.

When writing Paint the Devil on the Wall, what was something you didn’t expect?

All of Steve’s character, to be honest. The fic is written from Eddie’s POV and for a large part of it he has a very hard time figuring out what Steve’s deal is. Right alongside him, I also had an incredibly hard time figuring out his character. It wasn’t until I was working on the final chapter that he finally clicked for me. I realized very late, just like Eddie, that Steve liked him from the very beginning. Most of the enemies to lovers premise was all in Eddie’s head.

What inspired Now I'm a Stranger?

Oh boy, that was forever ago! I remember I started writing it while I was camping with friends because I liked having something to do after everyone went to bed at night. I think I had the idea for that very first scene where Steve doesn’t remember Eddie and it all sort of spiraled from there.

What was your favorite part to write from An Exercise in Denial?

That was the very first fic I wrote, right after season 4 came out! I’ve never written something that fast, I think the whole thing took me less than a week. My favorite part was probably Robin being completely exasperated with both of them. They’re such complete idiots in that fic.

How do/did you feel writing Baby, You Were Meant To Follow Me?

Ahhh… I never got around to finishing that one. I probably never will, to be honest. I wrote the first two parts quite quickly and then the idea I had for the plot spiraled out of control and I realized I didn’t actually feel like writing the rest of it. There were going to be a lot of misunderstandings and I learned that I find that an incredibly frustrating trope to write (when done for drama at least. For comedy, I’m a sucker for misunderstandings.) So I guess I felt a little in over my head.

What was the most difficult part of writing Conversations About Love?

The ending! That fic is so incredibly personal to me and I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to have a very sappy, happy ending. It was important to me to write an aromantic character getting everything they wanted, but I realized as I was writing it that I don’t actually fully know what that means. So it took a bit more soul searching than fics typically do, but it was very much worth it. 

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

I still think the short little prologue for Paint the Devil on the Wall is the best thing I’ve written. “You don’t draw on things that aren’t yours, baby” is probably the best summary I have for that story.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Not really!

Thank you to our author, @museumgiftshoperaser, and our anonymous nominator! See more of @museumgiftshoperaser works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[pouralaura]

writer interview game

tagged by @pricemarshfield, thank you as always for giving me the opportunity to talk about myself

When did you start writing?

pretty much as soon as I could hold a pencil tbh - I was always the kid who had notebooks full of stories featuring my friends as characters; said friends would always be eager to read my latest updates. I started trying my hand at fanfiction around age 11 or 12, always written in a shitty wide-ruled notebook.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

themes/genres? not really. I write what I want to read. I'd say the biggest difference between what I write and what I read is length - I don't write plot well for more than a couple of chapters. I can do vignettes, shorts, or a few chapters up to 20k words or so and that's as far as the plot part of my brain gets, oops

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

here's a link to my favorite fic of all time. be warned; it's Mad Men stepdad/stepdaughter (very distant, everyone is of age). I've read it a thousand times and it's influenced my writing style so fuckin much. this author writes a lot of stupidly good shit too if you like this one

I don't really get compared to anyone (at least, not to my face) which is fine. I don't know if I want to be.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

it's wherever I am, but mostly at my office desk in our spare bedroom with my rainbow glowy mechanical keyboard and a nice-smelling candle. sometimes I listen to nine inch nails

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

read something else, by someone else. look at somebody else's art. find something that speaks to you in something you didn't do. search for that point of connection, that thing that you feel too, and let it make you think differently about something you've been looking at the same way for a while

also watch a horny tv show or movie that helps too

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

indecision, reluctance, stubbornness, hot old men. this is not surprising to me

What is your reason for writing?

to entertain myself, first and foremost. like I said, I write the stuff I wanna read. and I don't think I had a good reason for writing until I started doing that. I always used to write what I thought I was supposed to write, or what would make my friends ooooh and ahhhh. I guess I still do that to some extent but it's sickos only baby

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I love when someone points out a favorite line. it's usually one that I had in my head for a super long time; one that I wrote first, before anything else. makes me feel Understood

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

as just some guy! because I am! I've made such good friends on the internet from writing my dumb bullshit, please feel free to be one of them! love to chat and share opinions and invent scenarios and what-ifs. I'm also just a thirty-year-old woman sitting in my little house doing my silly little job and it's really fun to meet people who are also doing Exactly That but make time to create in a similar way.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I've been very kindly complimented on this numerous times and I think it's fairly accurate - if I write a character, I take Great Pains to ensure that their voice is accurate. I exploit their flaws for views. (raphael I am talking about you) I make it funnier and sadder until it feels real - or, as real as I can make it in a fantasy setting.

How do you feel about your own writing?

it's better than it's ever been because, again, I am finally writing what I want to read. it's visceral and silly and fun and horny in a way that makes me really proud of myself!

I think all my writer buddies on here have been tagged already, but if I missed you or you wanna participate please feel free!

[ryuichirou]

I love your Sultan AU so much, how it shows Jamil and Kalim 5 years into the future! How do you see the other NRC guys in the future after they graduate? I'm just curious

Thank you, Anon! <3 I am very happy you like it! I really hope we’ll have more content for this AU in the future, but then again, that’s me with every AU…

We haven’t thought about other students in this universe specifically, we might come up with stuff as we go, so nothing of what I’m about to say is concrete yet. I also won’t write about every single character, just about the ones that come to mind more easily…

First of all, when it comes to Octavinelle and Ignihyde guys, there might be a crossover situation lol, maybe the AzuIde marriage AU or the Mafia AU exist in the same universe at this one. Age-wise, the second option fits more, I guess, but I’m still thinking that it’s the first one. In any case, they are definitely up to no good with Azul working hard on his rapidly growing business, with the Tweels helping him out and Idia being forced to help out too in his own way. Ortho is always by Idia’s side, no matter the AU. But he also might pursue his passion for movie-making in some ways, as least as a hobby.

(Azul also definitely does business with the Asim family, so the Octa-trio and Kalim+Jamil are still in touch, even though they don’t talk on a regular basis)

Speaking of movies, Vil’s future is pretty easy to determine. He works harder than ever, and has his own set of problems: his perfectionism has never left him; he is a workaholic that finds it difficult to slow down and relax. The industry is also as toxic as ever, so with every big win he also gets a ton of new things to fight. But he’s doing his best, as always, even though this job quite literally drives him insane, despite how much he loves it, both acting and make-up production and other project he does.

Rook and Vil are still together, but Rook also pursuits his own thing, whatever it is. It’s hard to say what the hell Rook’s doing: he is still quite an enigma of a person; even Vil doesn’t know for sure (probably something shady, so Vil doesn’t really want to know). Rook also keeps hinting that Vil shouldy ditch all of his big projects and try directing an indie movie.

Riddle is also overworked and overstressed: despite the fact that he really wanted to become a lawyer when he was still at NRC, he did end up becoming a magical doctor like his parents wanted him to. He decided that it was the right thing to do, not only because of his parents, but also because this is such an important occupation only the most brilliant mages can handle. So right now he spends the majority of his time either studying medical literature or practicing at a very prestigious magical clinic, and he knows that he should be feeling proud of himself and satisfied because of doing something he was meant to do, but he can’t shake off this feeling of disappointment and emptiness. Thus, at some point he began to also study law whenever he has free time for that, and that makes him much happier. But the drawback of it is that he has literally no time to talk to any of his friends anymore, it’s like he defaulted to his pre-NRC situation. Trey (who is a pastry chef btw, we know he would be one) is very concerned but can’t do much about it, although he is one of the few people from the NRC Riddle still talks to occasionally.

Ironically, another person Riddle talks to from time to time is Floyd, because he accidentally found out where Riddle works and now visits him from time to time just to mess with him.

Deuce is also kind of disappointed in how things are going at his workplace (the Magical Police department): he realised that it’s much more corrupt than he expected it to be. He hangs out with Ace every day, and Ace always talks about how naive Deuce is and that no one is going to take him seriously if he keeps being so stupidly earnest and hardworking instead of just making “right” friends and bribing his way into the elite squad. It pisses Deuce off, because he knows that Ace is right, and also hearing that from someone who doesn’t really have a job is annoying.

Ace doesn’t have a job because he had a fight with his boss and left. So now he spends his days sleeping, providing hot takes for every situation, earning some money by doing magic tricks aaaand probably gambling.

Hmm, I also think all the first-year boys still talk to each other quite regularly even if they don’t live in the same area. Epel surely visits Deuce and Ace at least every couple of weeks, Jack probably does too. Sebek is less likely to do that though, he is way too busy.

It’s kind of difficult to say anything about Diasomnia, so I’ll leave them out for now. Leona is doing his Leona thing, probably still complaining about not being appreciated. I don’t know what Cater does, but I hope he is happy? He might be an influencer of sorts, but he’s usually a loner that becomes visibly animated when he reunites with his college friends. He is also definitely away from his family.

So yeah everyone has issues lol The only one who is 1000% thriving is Ruggie. Things are going well for Ruggie. Good for Ruggie! He deserved it.

Ehh, I think that’s all for now. It took so long to write this reply for some reason, but I hope reading it was somewhat fun.

Thank you for your question again <3

[berrypass-de-murdler]

1. Murder in Hollywood

It's the show version my good murdlers.

First thing to make clear, is there a design for every character no, but WILL there be a design for every character, planning on it yes, so uh... Dame Obsidian will be here eventually rip. Check the first post for designed characters ofc

BUT FOR THIS EPISODE...

DEDUCTIVE LOGICO - he's a magnifying glass and the logo... obviously lmao. Follows his in-book physical description to a 0, my deepest apologies, when I made this smol man I couldn't imagine him to be 6 feet tall, as such, the heights of the characters will be (sometimes very) off. Such as Logico being 3'4". Anyway, cartoon Logico is British, has an extreme Napoleon complex, and a humorously high-pitched voice for his angy personality. In this version he was originally just an actor who played a detective in the Midnight movies, until he naturally ends up in the face of real murder, day after day after day after

THE AMAZING AUREOLIN - my very first design, I was so stupidly proud of her original sketch that I turned it into... this entire project. I LOVE MY RABBIT DAUGHTER AND NO ONE CAN LAY A HAND ON HER - she made me get invested in the storyline after being framed and shit. ANYWAY, unlike most of the Murdlers who just kind of resemble animals, Auree is... just a rabbit. She is also British because because, and in this storyline, she was suspected of murdering her husband after he left her for making too little income. Now she has to raise her Marshmallow Peep-looking triplets on her own, with a target on her back at all times... I love her sm

MIDNIGHT III - For the least creative design there is probably, and the only non-anthro character, have this man whose design is so boring, he doesn't even get an official artwork, I just scribbled him in two seconds. A tiny blob of smoke even smaller than Logico, he sounds more or less exactly like Red Guy from Don't Hug Me I'm Scared and is... that. He doesn't even have eyes underneath his shades!! In this storyline, Midnight is Logico's boss from the beginning, and convinces him to take up real-life detective work.

Dame Obsidian is planned to unsurprisingly be a golem-type creature

DON'T READ THE EPISODES UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED THE FIRST BOOK!!!

But anyway, the summary/dialogue:

Logico drinks his coffee somehow, despite not having a mouth, so he kind of just pours it down his coat, like... eh???

LOGICO: MY!!! That is simply the PERFECT temperature.

He watches a screening of one of his detective films and squeals like a little girl. Midnight III, his boss, greets him with news.

MIDNIGHT: You need to stop doing it in the film. You need to do it for real.

Logico doesn’t want to.

LOGICO: I don’t give a shit about a murder!

Midnight has a plan.

MIDNIGHT: Fine. Just come to the high-end Hollywood party we’ve invited you to, with all the best directors, and Dame Obsidian.

LOGICO: KI-KA-KU-FE-JET WHAAAAT? I ADORE Obsidian’s work!! I MUST GO, I MUST GO, I MUST GO!!! [jumps around like an idiot]

MIDNIGHT: Good. See you there.

He goes to the party. Midnight is there and The Amazing Aureolin is doing tricks. Logico meets his idol Obsidian.

OBSIDIAN: YES, YES, VERY EXCITING I’M A BUSY WOMAN.

LOGICO: Oh… my dear heart!

Anyway, one of the directors drops dead in a bathtub - inappropriate!! Logico REALLY doesn’t want to have to do this but his inner workings are tingling and he has to know who does it. 

MIDNIGHT: Look at my pipe, it’s nice isn’t it. LOGICO: No one cares, Midnight, this is a crime scene! OH… YOU’RE ONE OF THE SUSPECTS!!  MIDNIGHT: Hurray.

Logico digs Obsidian out of the seats. Aureolin acts extra sus and fights audibly with her.

AUREOLIN: I trusted you! I trusted you and your fork, you dumb… fork!  OBSIDIAN: THIS WOMAN IS ACCUSING ME OF MURDERRR 

Logi gets a call from a voice blabbing about how ironic it was that Obsidian had a fork… and ate with it. 

LOGICO: Oh, hahaha, eating, with a for- WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU??

In the end, Logico places the blame with his answer. 

OBSIDIAN: OOH, SHOCKER, IT WAS THE LITTLE ONE. AUREOLIN: …Obsidian!... 

Auree fights for her claim.

AUREOLIN: I thought you said you were a detective! You have no proof of what you’re saying! LOGICO: My proof is plenty - the other two suspects did not do it!  AUREOLIN: Who do you think you are?? MIDNIGHT: She’s fighting it, she’s clearly guiltyyy

Guards grab Auree and drag her away.

AUREOLIN: No cell can hold me! You know what you did! I’ll have you a- MIDNIGHT: Shut uuuupppp LOGICO: I suppose… I kind of did give a LITTLE shit about a murder. MIDNIGHT: Good. That’s your new job. LOGICO: MY NEW JOB?!?!?

THE END-

Episodes are formulaic bc book format, so some will be shorter than others when nothing much happens, but hey, time for short king to solve a hundred murders!!

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See ya next time murdlers!!

[imaginethat0327]

Livie (my beta reader ) and I came up with this concept last night, and while I was going to wait to present it in a fic, I was too intrigued with it NOT to share. And it is this: TangoTek has a mind palace. Now, I'm thinking specifically for the character TangoTek, because I think Tango irl has mentioned he has like a gajillion spreadsheets and several creative worlds he tests stuff out on.

But for Tango the character, the blazeborn himself, I think this makes SO much sense. Tango is a very antsy, adrenaline-filled netherboi who is constantly thinking up of projects or on how to improve/work on current projects. There is too much going on in his brain for him to be able to properly manage all of it, and he doesn't have the patience to painstakingly draw all of his ideas out on paper. Ergo, mind palace. I like to think that it's changed over the years, taking shape as whatever project he happens to be most proud of at that time. At the moment it's his storage room in Decked Out 2. Ideas need to be properly sorted out? He appears in that storage room, rummages around in the mental chests for mental materials, and sets it all up like a 3D model right on the floor on top of his HotGuy painting. Then, model in place, he can replicate it efficiently in the actual world. And Tango uses it often. Complicated redstone problems? Boom, mind palace, work it all out with his hands on a small scale, figure out the problem, fix it in the real world. Need to figure out the best layout for a Plate Up kitchen? Boom, hop into the mind palace, work it all out there. I think it also goes hand and hand with his perfectionistic tendencies. Tango can't stand to deal with imperfections in the real world because he can lay it all out perfectly in the mind palace. Therefore he finds himself frustrated during projects when things aren't going as smoothly as in his mental models, and he becomes obsessed with making them match. Meaning it leads to tons of sleepless nights and borderline manic behavior, but the final product is always stupidly impressive. Anways, I plan on introducing a few more concepts related to this once a few more chapters of Rescue Fire have passed. Just wanted to share this with y'all :D -Imagine

[baileys-3]

Chapter 3 of "The Secret Dating Era' is now online.

______

Follow the link for more.

Sneak peak from the beginning of the chapter:

"I'm sorry. No end-of-shift time off on my watch."

"When does Sergeant Grey get back?"

He slumps back in his chair. At least he can still rely on his gaze. Because Officer Scowen decides to retreat. Some things were just an imposition. It's not his problem if her son downloaded a computer virus and now, she must go to the electronics store. Let her do it on her day off. Or teach her son not to open attachments in emails from unknown senders.

With an "Okay," Scowen leaves. Finally.

So back to the file in front of him, which he has been trying unsuccessfully to read for twenty minutes. Don't people actually have a job to do? And it certainly doesn't consist of torturing the Watch Commander with trivia all the time.

When he hears Sanford's voice, he wishes Scowen and her problems back. The day has certainly just hit rock bottom.

"Heard you were in the big office today." Is that guy always grinning that stupidly?

"Yeah, just, uh, keeping it warm for Grey." He tries not to let on and is proud of himself for even managing a fake smile. "Something I can help you with?"

Sandford looks to the side for a moment and takes a breath.

"I was hoping I’d get your opinion."

Oh dear. His opinion. This can't be good. Because there's only one thing that connects him to Sandford. And that's Lucy. And if there's one thing he doesn't want to think about, it's Lucy and Sandford combined. Well, he wants to think about Lucy. No, he thinks about Lucy almost every minute. But he doesn't want to think about Lucy in the context of Stanford. That always comes along with a certain nausea. Automatically he sits up a little straighter in his chair. Braces himself for what is to come.

"Lucy and I have been looking at houses to buy."

Oh fuck. Nodding is good. Come on Tim, just nod. And smile. He guesses he looks pretty dumb right now.

"Yeah, she, uh … she mentioned something about that."

He hears his own voice. Was this one just an octave higher? Whoa. Yes. Mentioned. That's one way of putting it. He sees that Chris suddenly has his mobile in his hand. No, he won't ….

"You know her taste. Is this worth showing her?"

… he will

[bubblegum-blackwood]

Tagged by @desertfangs (thank you!): When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Bath Bombs - E, Daniel/Marius, 4660 words. What no who said I was projecting on Daniel in this fic haha. Exploring Daniel's monsterfucker side with some bonus Marius Dom drop! I'm super proud of how this one turned out, I really enjoyed writing it.

Teacher's Pet - E, Marius/Armand, 19867 words. College AU I wrote out of spite and ended up having so much fun with that I'm planning on making another three or so fics in the universe, featuring some good old Daddy Marius and Lestat, Louis, and Armand being in a band together. Daniel will appear in the sequel but I'm not far enough along to post it yet, it'll probably happen some time after the Vamptember craze dies down and I stop obsessively coming up with new WIPs to fit prompts for fandom events 😅

In You I Taste God - M, Lestat/Armand, 1356 words. Inspired by "Adore" by The Smashing Pumpkins, this is Armand and Lestat talking about Armand's suicide attempt and what he saw in Lestat's blood on the chapel floor. I would highly recommend the song if you haven't listened to it, it gives me major L/A vibes and I just enjoy The Smashing Pumpkins, and yes I did listen to that one song on loop for the entire time it took me to write this fic.

Surrender the Night (chapter seven of my Marius/Armand prompt collection Dark and Stormy Fairy Tale) - E, 3425 words. You can never go wrong with, in @fofoqueirah's words, some good old nostalgic whipping. Also Daniel's there too. 🖤 I like all of Dark and Stormy Fairy Tale (Wolf Song and Trust Fall especially), but this is my favourite out of all of them.

Bring Me to Life - G, Loustat, 7452 words. The first fic I ever wrote for VC, in which the ending of IWTV actually happens and Louis comes back for Lestat to heal themselves together. It's fun, it's sweet, and I incorporate some Evanescence lyrics into it!

Honourable mention to Fruit Gushers, my Mael/Marius hate-fuck fic (with some surprise Daniel/Marius and Daniel/Armand there at the end), for being my weird little brainrot obsession fic just like everything else I've done with Mael. It was stupidly fun to write.

Tagging: @fofoqueirah @darkangel1791 @hekateinhell @shittyravencarcosa @faerywhimsy

[pbandjesse]

I am struggling to keep my eyes open. I am ridiculously tired. I did not get much sleep last night and was just a little tired all day. It was not a bad day though and was a good way to end the week.

When I woke up this morning after only sleeping 4 hours I didn't feel to horrible. At least when it came to being tired, actually feeling I was so wildly hot. 105 feels like heat. And I'm lucky to mostly be in the shade but it was so so stupidly hot.

Before it got to hot I would spend a half hour collecting berries to fill a jar. It was fun. I tried to remember the rule for foragers about leaving some for other. I also went for manly ones that I didn't think the campers would access. More off the beaten path ones. And they are always the most beautiful color.

I would hang in my hammock while I waited for my first group. It was a little damp from the rain and smelled a little musty but it was fine. I just wanted to cool down.

At 920 I went to sit inside to wait for my group. But they never came. I felt really annoyed after waiting 25 minutes I called their villager director and they gave me a weird attitude about checking.

Tony would come up at 1005 and let me know that the group was still coming and I laughed out loud. I would barely get through the instruction in that time! He agreed with me after seeing what the project was. And would tell the girls to not bother coming to arts and crafts. I felt bad but there was just no way I could make it work.

So I wouldn't have a group until 1030. And that group was great. Girls. Made the lizards. We're sweet. And I was just happy they were having fun.

Lunch was stressful. The SSCs were tubing so they weren't there to serve the meal. The ropes staff would jump right in. I would get permission to get mayo and would make an egg salad and potato chip sandwich. I ate out side and felt a little embarrassed when Aaron called me over and I was a little snippy (because I was so hot) but he was offering me some birthday cake. Which was really nice. I would have loved cake but my teeth were bring a little bit mainly I was worried it wouldn't make me feel nice. Though I would have loved the cake but I still said no.

Because I was on a mission. I had heard a rumor that came had gotten us swag. Specifically a fake Stanley style cup. There were multiple colors and I needed the light blue/purple one so bad.

So I got right to the office. Got a big hug from Heather. Who asked if I still work there after barely seeing me all week but I counted that every time I came by she was busy!!

Soon though Alexi would direct me to the gator next time the office or get my swag. A new fanny pack (that I'm giving to Jess), a fan, a note book, a flash light, and the cup! I got one of the last of the light blue/purple. I was so happy.

Ray, who was handing out the swag, had me sign off that I picked up my stuff. And then it was back to art to chill.

I had three more groups. Two day camp and the tipis kids. And it was fun. The day camp were very sweet and tired very hard. The one group was day camp two and I wasnt originally going to have them do bead lizards and was a little caught off guard when they wanted to do them.

And so with the help of the counselor we would get every little baby a bead lizard to take home. Apparently there has been some coveting over the project because of different patterns and colors. Pretty cool that they liked this product so much.

Finally it was tipis. They would be all over the place, in a good way. I had been finishing with day camp 2 when they got in and because tipis is great they just waiting inside and started working on stuff without me.

But I would get the little kids finished and sent off. And jumped into showing the ones who wanted to know how to make bead lizards and having cats with others. I had two girls learning how to make a lanyard out of gimp string. I set them up to watch a video and then would figure it would pretty quickly. I was very proud.

I would eat them go through my get rid of pile clothes. And they all helped clean up and pack up the materials. I was very happy.

I would spend the next half hour or so, after saying goodbye to the group, prepping for next week's project. Print making on 3 ways. I have high hopes because it's been so good in the past but you never know.

It was a really easy drive home after that. I would pack some snacks for the market tomorrow and my two bags. And would be home by 430.

I was already struggling to keep my eyes open on the road but I did it. And got home before I killed myself. I would check on all the animals. Cleaned some snails out of the frog tank. The two remaining frogs after the loss of one of the toast brothers.

After finishing some chores and taking showers, me and James would go for a walk when they got home. Over to CVS to see if they had a better wrist brace for me because I need something more specific. And then we went to the pizza place. Where I ordered manicotti and fries and James got a burger.

Walking home was though felt like death. It was so impossibly hot in the sun. The barely 10 walk was going to kill me.

When we got home I went to lay in our room. And James would bring food and it was good. But tasted almost like curry?? Confusing but not bad. The garlic bread tastes really good but a different texture then expected. The fries were excellent. And I got a strawberry Dr pepper that was ice cold and it was great.

I've spent the rest of this evening lounging and eating to many snacks and trying to fight your eyes to stay open .

But I think I will let myself sleep now. I have a big market tomorrow and I'm really excited but also really nervous. So wish me luck. I love you all. Goodnight!!

[dreaming-hibi]

Welcome to the dreamscape!

Hello, my name is Hibillia M. — which is of course a made-up name taken from my two favorite flowers: hibiscus and camellia. I'm super friendly I swear, and I answer to both Hibi and Kei.

I kind of realized that not everyone will have the time to check all the different links I have shared in my About Me page, so I might as well make a post about it. This pinned post will have some quick links to my twitter, my AO3, my favorite fics among the ones I wrote and updates on what I might be writing next!

My Twitter

I use twitter to shitpost and announce updates on what I'm writing and what I'm publishing.

My AO3

I abandoned ff.net many, many years ago and I've never looked back (lies, I do look back, especially for Detective Conan fanfics). AO3 is the main place where I publish fanfics, I don't cross-post because I don't want to be associated with my old ff.net account.

PS. If you knew me from ff.net, let's both act like it NEVER HAPPENED.

My favorite fics (that I wrote)

Fairy Tail Sting x Rogue

Though both fics are riddled with spelling mistakes and the likes, this was my first time writing a canon x canon ship as well as m/m. I'm stupidly proud of trainwreck, and I hope I can one day correct all those stupid mistakes and make the stories truly shine.

Genshin Impact Xiao x Hu Tao

At one point, I had a bunch of Xiao x Hu Tao fanfictions, but then I realized... I was no good at writing any of it, so I deleted many of them while I was upset. I don't regret doing this, nor do I think I will ever feel the need to write Xiao x Hu Tao like I did in those days. I keep liking the ship, as long as I don't write it.

My active fanfic projects

Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

I am currently working on what is (honestly) a rather massive Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanfiction series. I cannot say much about it now but, hopefully, soon enough I will be able to reveal more details!

REBORN! x Legacies

REBORN x Legacies is the title for a series of fanfictions on the anime Katekyo Hitman Reborn! The series is made up of 4 different sagas, each with its own unique name and arcs. REBORN x Graduation REBORN x Hidden Crimes REBORN x Omertà REBORN x Undicesimo

My less active fanfic projects

Ao no Exorcist

I have been working and reworking on this for some many damn years. Again, if you saw me on ff.net please act like it was a fever dream.

The story has Rin Okumura accidentally jumping into a parallel timeline, inadvertently taking the place of that world's Rin Okumura. Aided by Yukio and Seo Fujiwara, an exorcist-in-training and a friend of his in this other dimension, Rin must find a way back to his original timeline however, will he want to return home after experiencing the joys of having a real family?

Fairy Tail

I just needed a little pick me up! Unfortunately, I have to rework the whole of my Fairy Tail ideas as I had to give chunks of it up for the sake of... well, that thing that happened that I don't talk about. But I'm back!

Sailor Moon

I can say even less about this one because I've hit a roadblock known as "The idea sounds so much more epic in my head and I just can't put it down in a way that satisfies me!"

[loryn-art]

Oh no here she comes again with the fanfict she will never write=

Okay, I'm in the middle of a mess, trying to organize my first draft. I managed to write a short summary and a full synopsis, using the Snowflake method, and for now, I'd say it actually works.

Read more bellow if you dare.

I wanted to share with you my first Character sheets tests, (because I'm stupidly proud of it) but also, if you're in the same situation and looking for a model; here is mine. It's a mix of different results I found through many Youtube channels and google, and some of my own ideas.

The Snowflake method helps you to prepare your story step by step, starting from a simple sentence resuming your plot to a full detailed synopsis. Plus, creating your characters profiles. You can find many videos about it on Youtube, (I really had fun making this, but it might to not suit you as all writers have different way to work.) There is a full part on how to write your character description, but this is where I took some liberties;

I found all of the pictures on Pinterest, except for Lucas' face. I used the Artbreeder app, and with the few free credits I had, I somehow managed to mix two images to have a close result, then edited it on Procreate.

There is no spoilers in those descriptions, you can read them safely. (If you're ever interested in my story ^^)

The steps :

Some infos about your characters, size, eyes color, hair color, peculiar details of their bodies, fears, ect...

A short summary of their story and current status.

Their concrete goal, or what they want to do.

Their abstract goal, or why they want to do it. (those part can be tricky to discern, so I just asked myself what are they doing in the story, and then why.)

What is preventing them to reach this goal, external or mental obstacles, burdens and conflicts with themselves or with another element/character, past traumas ect...

How your characters are going to evolve to reach they goal, what kind of person they will become and what they have to do to get there. What they are going to learn through the story.

The status, alive or deceased at the end of the story. Add a short description in the second case. (I voluntary erased my answer here to avoid spoilers ! )

A page about whatever makes you think about your character. Think about details you haven't written in the description, but also ambiances, or even memories.

Remember that I'm a beginner/casual writer, maybe this isn't the best way to create your characters but I found this very fun to do and constructive. It helped me to think a lot about their personalities and choices, impacting the plot.

Feel free to give it a try, and share your results, changes, or even advice !

Thanks for reading ! And good luck for your projects !

[agaveblue]

[Fanfic] Android and His Oseram - Chapter 4: The Spark of Ingenuity

Title: The Android and His Oseram

Chapter Title: The Spark of Ingenuity (Chapter 4) Summary: Upon accidentally reactivating Connor, Gildun's stunned when the "human" says he's actually a machine. Gildun reacts accordingly.

Crossover canons: Horizon games / Detroit: Become Human

Main characters: Connor (DBH) and Gildun (Horizon)

Gildun yawns and yawns and finds that the yawn still wants to keep going, so who's he to argue? He's still yawning as he fumbles his way out of his fur-lined bedroll and gropes around for where his leather cap slipped off from his face, eyes still bleary and blinking away sleep up until his hand slaps against a strange, alien feeling shoe that most definitely wasn't there before.

To his credit, Gildun doesn't bolt out of his bedroll like a startled Grazer.

What he does do is freeze like a rabbit kit caught out in the open. For a second he has the nasty heartstopping thought that raiders or Shadow Carja or similar ilk have found him and realized he's pretty easy pickings traveling solo like this, that maybe they think he's got plenty of shards or food they can nick. Now he isn't a fighter like Aloy; what he can do is try to talk his way out and he's gearing up to do just that as his head cranes up and he spots the strange cyan circle glowing in the darkness above him. It bobs, a haunting shape floating in place like a spirit as its owner dips his head and a serene, inoffensive voice wafts down.

"Good morning, Gildun. Did you sleep well?"

Oseram stares stupidly up at android. Android calmly gazes down. Oseram finally remembers as his heartbeat thunders in his chest and throat that oh, right, yesterday happened. All of yesterday. Yeah. That.

"...m-more or less. Where's the lantern?"

"It seemed prudent to bring it with me once you started regaining consciousness. A second as I work out the primitive mechanism."

Primitive?

Gildun's face scrunches in puzzlement, expression still scrunched as something clicks in the dark, sparks against the painstakingly collected dry tinder in the lamp's casing soaked with Blaze, and the room warms with the flickering glow of firelight cutting through the pre-dawn. Connor crouches down on his heels, still holding the lamp gingerly as if it's a delicate artifact instead of reliable, good ol' Oseram craftsmanship anyone would be proud to own, and his dark head, dusted with powdery snow as if he'd gone for a walk outside, cocks to the right.

"Is camping in these ruins necessary? Surely there must be some sort of more appropriate lodging."

Gildun reaches out to take the lantern, fingers brushing against Connor's and he just barely hides the kneejerk urge to cringe; the android might look and sound shockingly human but his touch was cold, too cold especially in the Cut's unforgiving weather and Gildun shivers as he brings the lamp closer.

"Everything's ruined here, Connor."

"But this was Yellowstone."

"What..? Oh! You must've seen those rocks the Banuk paint with."

Connor's head shakes, the LED weaving a dizzying trail that leaves burning blue afterimages dancing in the dark. "No, 'Yellowstone' as in the popular National Park. "

"I'm not following."

"Yellowstone," Connor begins, "is visited by millions of visitors annually…or at least it was, when I was last operational. There should've been plenty of suitable accommodations to avoid unpleasant situations like this, even so."

Now Gildun wonders if Connor's exhibiting some more of that humor he insists he doesn't have, the Oseram's eyebrow arching as he rubs his hands to warm them and then sticks them under his armpits for safekeeping.

"You're telling me that all those people," Gildun isn't entirely sure what a million looks like, much less millions plural, so he substitutes "all of Meridian" into the forming mental image and tries not to let the sheer giddiness of this new history overwhelm him, "came here. For what? What about food, how'd they prevent overhunting with so many people?"

"Hunting for sport likely would've been prohibited, as that would endanger the resident animals," Connor sounds almost surprised that Gildun even asked. "Presumably relevant food was shipped in by companies such as Aramak, so that tourists could continue their recreational camping and/or sight-seeing without having to bring their own meals. Unfortunately, there was still a significant trash problem generated by the sheer number of visitors. The traffic itself was supposed to be noteworthy. "

Gildun's eyes were wide behind the lantern's warm glow and for a moment, he desperately wished Aloy hadn't taken off so quickly. After all, she was a truly unparalleled connoisseur of the past: surely she'd be interested in the marvelous, fantastical tales this "android" contraption spun! That is, assuming she didn't shoot Connor first. There's that, too, given how gifted she was at taking down machines.

"So these 'tour-ists'," Gildun sounds out the unfamiliar word in his mouth, feeling its awkward syllables against teeth and tongue, "came all the way out here just to - to camp? For fun? To just look at the Cut because it's there?"

"If that's what you prefer to call Yellowstone, then yes."

"Have you ever been here before, Connor?"

The android hesitates only to shake his head, the motion too smooth and vaguely disconcerting to watch. "No, I've only heard about it. I knew…" his voice becomes strained, almost strangled, as he tries to summon up a name, a face, and fails to do so, "I think I knew someone who wanted to go one day. Apparently I was researching the Park before deactivation, probably to assemble a personalized itinerary."

Gildun opens his mouth to ask more questions and then stops, eyes on the android and with a sudden burst of tact, he decides to switch gears instead of poking his nose into all this business about this forgotten friend of his.

…Could machines even have friends?

"Well! I'm no Banuk, but figure I can show you around this 'Yellowstone' of yours almost as good as one. With luck, it'll be a straight shot to Hollow Hall!"

It wasn't a straight shot to Hollow Hall.

Gildun curses to himself, hurriedly crouches behind a snow-capped boulder and, after a moment, he reaches up, grabs Connor's elbow and jerks him down too before he decides to walk over and introduce himself to his fellow machines the way he did to his first Oseram delver. Luckily the tree cover extends a few feet further and it doesn't look like the herd's seen them. Yet.

"Those are the machines you were referring to?" The android starts to bob right back up as if he wants to take another look. "What robotics corporation did you say manufactured these again?"

"Get down!" Gildun hisses through his teeth. "Cool your forge, you want us to get spotted?"

Another tug. This time Connor stays put.

"No…but their design is unconventional, isn't it?" The RK800 presses the point even though he copies his new human and keeps his voice lowered to a more sensible whisper. "I've never seen anything like it before - CyberLife focused on seamless recreation of nature, not such a stylistic interpretation of it."

Did Connor have to sound so quietly impressed?

"Lucky for us, they aren't Snapmaws."

"Are those hostile?"

Gildun shoots one long look at Connor and his pale, scarless face, looking so very much like a young man who wouldn't know his way around hammer or chisel even if it was right there in his hand, and for a second you could almost forget "he" wasn't a he at all. No, this wasn't another Carja scholar wandering around out of their element and wondering why the campfires simply didn't light themselves with a flick of a finger the way they seemed to back at Meridian, unaware an army of invisible scribes was doing all the work. Even those types knew what machines looked like, even if it was only from drawings in those fancy gold-plated scrolls of theirs.

Chewing the inside of his cheek, Gildun shakes his head and risks a peek over the boulder, gloved fingers digging into the snow and revealing the soft orange lichen hiding underneath.

"The four legged ones are Chargers - big things but skittish. Usually run if they get spooked but they'll still crush a man's head in with those hooves, believe you me!" At Gildun's words, his shiny new android nods attentively, leaning slightly forward with his hands resting flat against his thighs as if he was a model student and his lifelike brown eyes fix on him as if everything out of his mouth was critically important. "Now the little ones are Watchers. They see you, they send up the alarm and then they'll really want to brawl."

There's, oh, about six Watchers out there. The herd today is bigger than usual and they look like they literally just arrived at the feeding site: Chargers are still wandering around as they spread out, lazily swinging their curled racks this way and that as they inspect the frozen ground for any stray plants, twin-tails giving idle flicks every now and then. They could be here for awhile…and incidentally, this was the fastest way to Hollow Hall. Keyword being was.

They'll have to go around, Gildun sighs, because his usual trick of sneaking past won't work and he isn't like some big burly Vanguardsman who could throw down with machines, plural, and later laugh about it over flagons of Scrappersap. Tack on at least two days onto the trek and hope the Banuk they're going to see is still there once they get to Hollow Hall.

"One thing to consider," Connor chimes up after a second to process. "The Yellowstone hot springs are supposed to be famously corrosive, so - "

"- Corrosive to dirt? Amazing bathing spots, let me tell you."

The android doesn't exactly look aghast but he does perform that little pregnant pause betraying the exact moment when he realizes he said something wrong. Or, as he'd probably put it, "incorrect" or "invalid". Gildun's still trying to work out where the machine part of Connor begins underneath that incredibly lifelike mask, how much of him still sees the world like those Chargers and Watchers grazing in the open, still oblivious to Oseram and android.

"...I was going to say it'd be ill-advised to touch or enter the hot springs considering their acidity and heat. Maybe I was misinformed about their lethality."

Gildun's getting an idea now even as Connor speaks, an idea that's so unlike him that he almost imagines it's instead a little piece of Aloy's remarkable spirit peering over his shoulder, seeing a problem with this herd and going "I can fix that, easy"...only replace a brilliant Nora warrior with a machine wearing a man's face as the delving partner in question. Two hands, and, more importantly, two legs to solve their current obstacle standing quite literally in their path.

"Hold on, ingenuity's spark just flared. Hear me out…"

So the idea looked good on parchment.

In practice, however…

Well, Gildun's running for his life (again) and wishing ingenuity's spark had burned just a little less bright (again).

Step 1 of Spook the Herd had actually gone off without a hitch between Oseram and android running at the Chargers, hollering and hooting, and pelting them with rocks before they knew what was happening, triggering a panicked stampede in the opposite direction. That part had worked so shockingly well that Gildun even had enough time to feel a swell of pride lift his shoulders and the corners of his mouth…that is, until the Watchers wheeled around. Each and every one of their great eyes immediately flipped from the gold of alarm to an angry, violent red.

This is where Step 2 should have kicked in.

The plan was to split the Watchers between Connor and him. Get their attention, lure them into the springs, watch as they all fall in because obviously they can't swim, and then just waltz on over to Hollow Hall. Easy, right? Gildun's pretty good at the running-dodging combo and he figures the android demonstrated yesterday that he's quick on his feet, so in theory it'll be a well-oiled gear to turn.

What Gildun didn't account for is how the Watchers take one good look at Connor, humming together in their wordless machine voices, and apparently decide he isn't worth the trouble for whatever reason. No, to his mounting horror, they wheel around and come his way instead.

All six of them.

Every time Gildun feels his limbs flag or his breath catch in his throat, ragged and harsh, he finds another reserve of strength he didn't realize he still had each time he hears one of the Watchers gain ground. Funny how life or death situations make things like advancing age and "but I'm not a Vanguardsman!" fall to the wayside.

Meanwhile Connor is easily loping a few yards to his left, slender limbs pumping with none of the effort that Gildun puts in, and looking irritatingly fresh-faced as he calls out warnings.

"Watcher 04: priming fire. Dodge left now."

Or:

"Watcher 01: preparing lunge maneuver. Run faster, Gildun."

Or:

"Watcher 06: engaging hostile unit. Maintain current retreat."

At that point there's the sound of a grunt, a scuffle, and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground with the high-pitched squawk of a Watcher caught by surprise.

Gildun might be running for his life but he's also only human; when you hear something out of the ordinary, there's always, always this inexplicable urge to sneak a peek even though you probably shouldn't. There's just enough time to cast a quick, harried glance over his shoulder.

The android's on the ground tussling with the sixth Watcher, the two machines entangled as they roll away all up in each other's business, bar brawl style. Connor's doing his best to disable the Watcher he's tackled away from the rest of the pack, one hand diving into its neck and face as if he can rip out its critical components bare-handed and maybe that'd work…if the Watcher wasn't squirming like a fox just caught in a trap. Even sparking with fresh damage it's wriggling and writhing, kicking wildly, and even Connor - overly-ambitious, weaponless Connor - is having a hard time keeping it from breaking free and joining the rest of the pack still pursuing his human partner.

The chase is probably a minute at most, if even that. But it feels like an eternity of literally running in circles and in the back of his mind, he knows he can't keep it up.

Gildun's so preoccupied with the whole Run For Your Damned Life part that he almost doesn't see the hot spring until it looms up in an oversaturated smear of color.

There's a feverish idea of making a wild jump for it. Big and powerful and impressive, just like those famous Vanguardmen and Kestrals from the historical hunt scrolls. In fact the Oseram's pretty sure he does try to leap forward. His boot actually hits the other side -

- and punches right through the fragile crust as the rest of his body weight follows.

"Agh!"

Gildun hits the spring with an explosive splash, arms pinwheeling wildly as he tries to grab onto the "shore" and finds it keeps breaking off under his sodden gloves. He's joined by a series of splashes heralding the remaining five Watchers piling in after their trapped prey. Multi-colored water boils into a froth, machines struggling after the human floundering around, just barely able to keep his head above the churning spring and not get struck in the face by a lucky Watcher.

Was this it? Really?

The Oseram's still flailing when a black-and-orange cord slaps into the water before him.

"Gildun, grab the line. Relax your body."

Gildun grabs the line. He doesn't relax his body, instead spitting water as he gasps, "C-Connor?!"

"Relax," the android's voice drifts down. "If you can."

This time Gildun can…or, rather, his body finally just gives out and sags and he's just done. He has an impression of being pulled through the warm water until his dragging boots bump into mud and then rock, of hands looping under his arms and hoisting him up until he's flopped onto his back in the shallows like a landed fish complete with gasping mouth. Scrubby wild grasses growing through the shore's grit dance in the lapping waters, the sun blotted out by a man's shadow peering down at him, a strange, perfectly circular light still strobing the same alarmed gold as the Watchers. It honestly hurts to look at, the Oseram delver squinting.

"The hostile units sank to the bottom as planned," Connor says. The LED against his temple gradually calms to its default teal. "You're right about their inferior water competency. And, thankfully, about the reduced lethality of the spring itself."

"I am?" Gildun's reddened face pinches, baffled, as he takes a long second to register what the android's saying. "I am!"

With a wheeze the Oseram sits up, dimly aware of Connor's steadying hand against his shoulder, and he looks around. First at the spring: no more Watchers at the surface, although he has an impression of dark shapes still twitching at the bottom, of blue eyes flickering, then winking out one by one as each goes still. Apparently they aren't as waterproof as Snapmaws (good to know!). A wide-eyed survey of the immediate area reveals that the way to Hollow Hall is now officially clear of machines; the herd of Chargers long gone, the Watcher Connor tackled earlier lying on its side, looking very much dead at this angle with black-and-orange cords strewn from its stomach.

The relief flooding through Gildun is almost painful.

"...we did it!" Gildun punches the warm water at his side, feeling like he could float away instead of sinking straight down into the hot spring's mysterious blue depths. "See that, Connor? Teamwork between new partners: the stuff of legends!"

"I'm not sure why you're surprised, as your plan was tactically sound."

Gildun nods, grinning as he wobbles unsteadily to his feet, sopping wet and still resting his full weight on Connor's shoulder. If the android notices or finds him heavy, he doesn't say anything, his arm looped around the human's thick torso to stabilize him in case he pitches back into the spring.

"What did I tell you?" Gildun's gone positively high off their unexpected success. "Ingenuity's spark burns brightest just when you need it!"