#In the meantime have this I hope you like it

[dailyadventureprompts]

See You Back at the Bonfire: Checkpoint Based Resurrection in D&D

Artsource

Between doing a writeup on soulsborne inspired campaign settings and another on the oldschool/newschool disparity between challenge and story, I got to thinking about death and its place in gamified narratives. Darksouls was the obvious influence, but I couldn't help but think of Dungeon Meshi, World of Warcraft, and supergiant's Hades.

Back in the day death was common in d&d, the challenges were unforgiving and the characters were expendable as they were simple. High level might as well have meant "high scoring", as the rewards for overcoming deathtraps and monsters with save-or-die abilities were directly translated into character progression. Death in this instance amounted to a combo breaker, being sent back to square 1 in a roguelike to do it all again. Over time though we started getting attached to our avatars, especially those of us who played primarily for story, leading characters to become too emotionally or mechanically complicated to feed into the blender.

This leaves the modern DM in a bit of a lurch: death by mooks or misadventure denies a satisfying (or heartwrenching) endpoint to the story you're collectively telling with your players. Look no further than Critical Role, where there are a small number of plot-meaningful deaths ( Vexhalia in the Tomb, Mollymauk to the Iron Shepards) and then a much larger tally of obligatory moments where someone fails one too many death saves and requires the use of a spell slot. The DM is forced to play with gloves on much of the time, holding back from creating real challenges because they don't want to kill any of their characters at the wrong time.

What I’d like to propose is that when it comes to challenge vs story we can have the best of both worlds if we’re a little more freehanded when it comes to resurrection. It'll take some tinkering and it won't fit for every story, but as a baseline assumption to the d&d formula, I think it could be quite useful.

How It'd Work: If someone dies before their appointed time , their body can be brought to a local temple to have the gift of life restored to them. Temples of their own deity are thought to work best, but lifegiving deities like Pelor or Illmater are known to be quite freehanded when it comes to raising the dead, and even small countryside shrines are known to work in a pinch. The resurrection may not work if the body is damaged, desecrated, or incomplete, though sometimes the spirit is simply incapable or unwilling to return.

For adventuresome types, this means that if you bite it while exploring the wilderness or some dank ruin you best hope your companions like you enough to drag your corpse back to the nearest altar. Likewise hope that you've kept on good terms with that god. If your entire party wipes, there's a chance for a good samaritan (or enterprising corpse picker) to help you out, though they'll usually help themselves to what's in your pockets in the meantime.

Some temples also sell rare tokens or burnable offerings that can transform any mundane campfire into a one-use resurrection altar, though the expendable nature of these charms mean they are in high demand.

Behind the scenes: what we've done here is turn character death from a plot derailer into a plot generator. Whenever someone in your party dies, it's your excuse to introduce new npcs, questhooks, and worldbuilding. Hades uses this trick to soften the blow of defeat with story progression, and DunMeshi uses it to build out the setting.

We can likewise take a point of inspiration from soulsborne games which use the player's desire to find a safety granting bonfire to spur exploration; What's the first thing the party are going to when hitting a new settlement after renting a room at the inn? Check out the neighbourhood temples to see which of the local gods is sympathetic to them. Same thing with seeking out the shrine nearest to the dungeon entrance before descending lower to face greater threats, which has them engaging with the location's story while discovering a minor questhook to endear themselves to the shrine god.

This is also to say nothing of all the fun adventure-fodder surrounding the mechanics including all the delightful "came back wrong" possibilities.

Finally let's talk about some gameplay assumptions: It's a tricky art building d&d encounters, especially since 5e play tends to default towards having fewer encounters per day, meaning a greater importance on these encounters being more challenging. This is a problem that I and many other DMs have wrestled with; finding the right degree of challenge for the encounter to be meanacing and meaningful, but without going so far as to risk an unexpected character death derailing my game. There's only so many permadeaths a player (and a story) can endure, to say nothing of the narrative killing tpk, which can scrap months of investment and storytelling potential.

Videogame designers figured out this balancing act of narrative and risk a long time ago, bumping characters back to a checkpoint when the player is overwhelmed by a challenge. The Soulsborne franchise built it's reputation on this "If at first you don't succeed, die, die again" mentality, which let them build the challenging ( read: engaging) gameplay the series is known for. Games like Hades go so far as to make this reset a centeral point of furthering the plot, allowing the narrative to expand with each stumble along the player's insurmountable climb.

By allowing characters to be easily revived, we end up with the best of both worlds when it comes to narrative vs. difficulty. The encounters we build can be more challenging in the moment if we know we won't accidently end a campaign if the dice get mean. This also makes players more likely to make big swings and try for optional content knowing the campaign less likely to end if they fuck up.

While some people might take umbrage with the idea of making resurrection commonplace, D&D already allows for characters to be revived though in-game mechanics at the cost of cleric spells and diamond dust. The devs figured out pretty early that even in a game centred around frequent violent clashes, it sucks to have a character you're invested in die unexpectedly, and it's better for the health of the game/narrative to be able to get those characters back at a cost. The problem is that these resurrection mechanics are siloed off to mid/high level characters, when it's the low level adventurers who are most fragile and thus most in need of an in-game safety net.

Secondly, look at the Soulsborne series as the inspiration for this post: part of the reason players are able to "Git Gud" is because the fast respawns allow for players to get right back into the action after making a fatal error, allowing for a "die, die again" playstyle focused on persistence and adaptation. This likewise allows developers to develop gameplay scenarios that are properly intimidating:

[jadeazora]

PLZA Wishlist/Hopes, gonna divvy it up between both, past, and present/future:

Both:

Obtainable AZ's Floette

At least one new Zygarde forme. Imagine if it could go beyond Complete.

An underground area based on the catacombs (doesn't have to be mass grave tho)

Hostile rogue Megas being our rampaging Noble equivalent

Bring over (at least most of) the ORAS Megas

More Kalosian Megas, or potentially re-introducing Battle Bond as a "pure variant" of it (especially since Mega Evolution was mentioned to have terrible effects on the Pokemon.)

Yveltal being a threat to the city at large at some point, with a team-up with Xerneas to corral it.

AZ getting more story importance.

Letter "A" Legendary Pokemon, perhaps based on one of the Kalos League statues?

Past:

Malva, Sycamore, Lysandre, and Diantha ancestors (I feel like Sycamore or Malva's ancestor has the highest probability of being our main villain)

I feel like it's more likely to get his Floette here? It's gonna be a hundred and something years till it returns to him, we can look after it in the meantime!

Old starters getting new regional forms a la PLA

Going more into depth about the discovery and origins of Mega Evolution.

More lore on the war from 3000 years ago.

Future:

Set maybe a couple decades after XY at most rather than the far future. (Descendants would be cool, but I'm more interested in the characters we actually know tbh.)

Sina and Dexio sharing a joint professor role since they give you the Zygarde Cube in the Alola games. They could potentially carry on that research.

Vastly expands outside of the Lumiose we had in XY, further into Kalos. (I always wanted to explore the ruins of the Ultimate Weapon.)

Villain Sycamore or Malva. Or both. Like I said when I brought this up before, I don't think Sycamore would be evil, just misguided and let his guilt get the better of him. Malva is still more of a villain, and we need more lady main villains in this series. It's only really been Lusamine and Sada (if you played Scarlet), but this girl had hella potential in XY, and it's always been super frustrating to me that she got so little screentime.

The Flare scientist girls too! The only one of them that really got any slight fleshing out was Xerosic.

Diantha gets more story importance. She's another character who got majorly shafted in XY and deserves another chance!

Kalos starters with new Megas, secondary Kanto or Hoenn starters.

Potentially canonize Lysandre's survival from Masters here. It would be neat to see him get stuck with the same immortality curse AZ has, condemning him to live in and adapt to the world he lost faith in.

What are some of the things you all want to see? 😄

[universalzones]

"Guess it would make things easier if one know how Gaia Gifts worked, though my dad used to say sometimes you might not like the answer." Twist was sure they could be any number of reasons, though that included ones that weren't ideal. The lemur was sure there are people still trying to figure out, though that was their choice. He was fine with not knowing nor did he intend to try and find out.

Twist would follow Dawn to where they were taking care of the injured. "We should try to move everyone we can. My contacts said they want to do an investigation so that means The Restoration will have to be shut down for a bit. Clearly they won't do that with people still hurt." The lemur did know they'd be a bit pushy so best to try and get as many out as possible.

===========================================================

"I would certainly hope so seeing as I sentenced them to be your personal bodyguards, though I suppose that shall have to wait." Yara was sure it'd be better that Rough and Tumble not attend the talk with President Thawne until he can clear everything with G.U.N. "In the meantime I suppose I shall get whatever information these two have on Clutch as I'm sure G.U.N will see that as a fair trade off." The royal was sure it'd be an easy deal to manage.

"Geez, now we gotta remember all those dumb orders and anything we saw." Rough's memory has never been the best when it came to certain things. Anything boring he didn't pay too much attention to, and the long orders were just hard for him to remember everything. Though the skunk couldn't recall anything too odd other than the scheme to get rid of The Restoration.

"Well, he didn't really say anything worth of note when we were around, and we did the normal grunt work. I suppose the only thing I find odd was him wanting us to take all of The Restorations cash. Clean Sweep made a lot of money, and there were easier ways to get The Restoration to go out of business." Tumble wondered why he wanted them to take the money they made.

"Good luck trying to figure out what these two morons know, if anything at all. We gotta jet." Surge would grab Jewel's shoulder and then dashed off. It didn't take the tenrec long to find the entrance back into The Restoration from the sewer. After that it was just a matter of dashing all the way to the command center. Which was done in a matter of seconds as the speedster came sliding to a stop. "If you gotta throw up, then do it now." She stopped at the door to the command center.

It was no surprise to dawn that Twist struggled to understand a gift of gaia. It wasn't really something most mobians thought about at least not the why. most just accepted that some of them were born special, and gifted. To some it was being touched by light gaia and to others it was thought to be a curse of Dark Gaia. Still many more informed thought was simple mutation but, the truth was no body really knew. Mobians were just born gifted, or curse and had to live with there abilities. Dawn never believed for a second it was worth thinking to deeply on.

" hah! no problem, honestly i wish i knew the real reason but ya know my ma' use to say--- some mysteries in life are meant to stay a mystery. Now go clean your room! "

Her duplicate smiled as she lead twist down the hall to the triage wing where many of the worse injuries were being kept. Lots of duplicates rushed around with carts and first aid kits trying to care for many patients.

" Yea, Capitalism is always a drag... But i bet there is some program to help out. Well anyway it was just a thought..."

Her ear twitched at the mention of watching someone lose an arm and being fine. She had to endure such wounds during the war, and while her duplicates tended to disappear when suffered major injury. She still had vivid memories of getting sliced up, crushed, or maimed during the war. It didn't leave a mark on the real dawn but the mental trauma of enduring was everlasting mark on her psyche.

" Here we are... come on let's get these folks patched up... and ready for transfer to GUN's facility. Least the ones we can move! "

=============================================

In truth Jewel didn't know much about Yara's family but they did have a well known reputation concerning thieves. Made her wonder if that's how he lost his tail, or if he was born that way. She just hoped the prince would treat them well and not be to hard on them. She made a mental note to check up on them later. though Surge's report did seem to worry her to no end. Why was GUN being so cruel? she'd always had goo report with Mr. Tower, and now this?

" I See... that's still concerning. Thank you Surge for the update. Also thank you again Highness... your talents are still most welcome. But i did mean what i said. I expect you to treat the boys well... i'll be checking on them to insure they aren't mistreated in the days ahead...everyone deserves a chance at redemption after all."

She turned to Surge and buzzed up to eye level as she felt it helped her seem more commanding.

" Surge i need you to get me back to command as soon as possible. I can't help but feel my place is in the command center with the others. With things feeling a bit dire... i need to try and contact General Tower and see what is actually going on... i can't believe he'd authorize a move like this..."

[leighlew3]

So...

I know a lot of people out there are feeling lost, helpless, hopeless, and especially perhaps the younger crowd wonders: what now? As someone who has taken hit after hit after hit of trauma, abuse, homelessness, suffering, struggle, loss, illness, etc in my life that at times seems never ending... dealing with perpetual trauma and finding hope in the face of devastation is uhhh sorta my specialty.

*dorky wink and finger guns*

So, first of all on my end let me explain my plans, and then get into the 'why' and what else I plan to do and how I think we all need to tackle these coming days, weeks, months and sadly -- years.

For mental health reasons on the heels of still struggling with my grief and what sadly has become chronic health issues, I'm probably going to spend the foreseeable future hyper-focused on writing, fictional ships, planning my next tattoo, the WNBA free agency, the end of the current NFL season, and doing everything humanly possible to boost my immune system for what will inevitably be the next pandemic/plague that this administration will laugh at as Americans drop dead again because "sCiEncE iSnT rEaL".

And I advise others to find what will help them survive as well.

Here's the thing though: "give up" is not in my DNA. Nor is burying my head and hiding out away from "anything negative", because that's a hella privileged position to take, and I'm not about that life.

So, I will be signing all the petitions possible, making calls to reps who actually have proven they care, protesting when possible, sharing important info on social media, volunteering, etc as well.

Which brings me to the point here: don't give up. Do what you can. But also... recognize your humanity and limitations whether they be financial, physical, psychological or otherwise. Because sacrificing your own sanity and health isn't going to help anybody. And then we're down one less soldier in this battle for the greater good.

IF there's another election in four years (never in my lifetime did I think that would even be a question), we will have a lot of rebuilding to do regarding lost progress. We need to be ready.

In the meantime, dive into something productive and/or comforting for your own life that keeps you fulfilled but also be ready and willing to do what you can help those around you, at key moments. It's that whole "put on your oxygen mask first when the plane is going down" thing. You can't help a damn soul if you can't even breathe.

Be kind to the people you love. Tell them you love them daily. Connect with like-minded individuals. Protect and defend our most vulnerable wherever possible (the disabled, marginalized communities, fellow women/girls, etc). Hug your pets and if you don't have any, consider adopting a rescue.

Vote in the 2026 midterms. Volunteer at or donate to your local women's shelters, homeless shelters, racial justice organizations, LGBTQ+ organizations, animal rescues, environmental organizations, nursing homes for the elderly, etc.

We have to find the balance between self-care for ourselves and making our own lives tolerable amidst this bs, especially any of us who belong to one or more of the above groups -- while also plugging in to help others and the community as a whole, as needed.

And trust me, it will be needed. More than ever.

You're not alone. Even if IRL you feel like you're the only person in your family or circle who hasn't 'drank the Kool Aid' and lost all sense of reason or basic human empathy.

If you're reading this right now -- please take a second to take some deep breaths, step away, and start setting both short-term and long-term goals for yourself and your life that will help you moving forward so you can continue to fight for yourself, and for us all.

Please remember, we're in this together.

I'm with you. 💜

[five-rivers]

Ghost puberty but like bug version for the soft body horror idea request

The body horror here is a bit more subtle than with the other ones I've done, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. :3

.

You didn't know that Clockwork had a garden, but you are sitting in it now. You decide it suits him. It is divided into quarters, into seasons, the tree at the center flowering, fruiting, and withering all at once.

You are in the spring section right now, among copious flowers. There is enough pollen in the air that even your nose twitches, and you never really had any problem with allergies.

There is a tiny bare pavement square in the middle of the section, ringed with benches. At the center of the square, there is a plinth. On the plinth, there is a beehive, and this is what occupies your attention at the moment.

It is not a typical beehive, like what might be found in the human world. The bees weren't alive. But neither were they exactly ghosts. Instead, they were tiny clockwork automations, exquisite works of bright bronze, blackened steel, and gem-bright glass. They flit eagerly from flower to flower nonetheless, and you wonder what they get out of it, if anything. Not food.

A few of them land on the rim of your bowl, which you have momentarily set aside. Clockwork has been feeding you a lot, lately, mostly a series of sweet, parfait-like concoctions. You aren't complaining. You've been hungry, and your weird not-biology craves equally weird things. Whatever Clockwork has been feeding you, it helps with that.

"Bees are holometabolous," says Clockwork from his position next to you on the bench. "Do you know what that means?"

"Something to do with their metabolism?" you guess. You shake your head. "No, not really."

Clockwork hands the bowl back to you, a silent encouragement to eat. "Holometabolous insects undergo what is called a full metamorphosis. They begin life as an egg, then hatch into larvae, which then turn into pupae, and finally emerge from their pupae as adults. Butterflies and moths are other examples."

You nod, trying to show that you are paying attention, even as your eyes are on the mechanical bees that have landed on your arms. You scoop a large spoonful of maybe-yogurt, probably-granola, and hopefully-honey into your mouth.

"The mature versions of such an insect are often quite different from the larval form," continues Clockwork, "and, at least in the case of bees, their final form is dependent on what they were fed as larvae."

"Like, whether they're queens or workers?"

"Precisely."

You sit quietly for a while.

"Clockwork," you say, "what does this have to do with what makes an Ancient an Ancient?"

He doesn't answer right away, and in the meantime, you are distracted both by your food and by the bees. They really are beautiful, with all the intricate gears and fittings.

"Would you like a closer look?" asks Clockwork.

"Huh?"

"At the hive?"

Your spoon clinks against the bottom of the bowl, and you nod. "Sure," said Danny. "If it won't disturb them."

Clockwork smiles and holds out his hand. You take it. At once, you feel yourself shrinking, just like that time with the Fenton Crammer. You squeak and cling to Clockwork who is also shrinking. By the time it stops, the bees that were crawling around on your hands earlier are twice or three times as big as you.

Clockwork, still holding your hand, knocks on the abdomen of the nearest bee and it opens up.

"Here," says Clockwork, gesturing at the opening.

"Um," you say. "We can fly?"

"At this size?" asks Clockwork, mildly.

You are even smaller than you were when you and Dash were hit by the Fenton Crammer. Your powers failed very quickly that time.

"It is a very long walk," continues Clockwork.

"It's just weird to crawl into a bug," you say, as you crawl into the bug. It takes off, and you marvel at the smooth movement of the gears - and lean into Clockwork, wary of getting hair and fingers caught in them.

The flight to the hive is uneventful, otherwise, and when you arrive and emerge into the hive, the way that the mechanical bees bustle around makes you feel like you're some kind of celebrity or dignitary.

Clockwork leads you around for a while, showing you the honey-gold and bright bronze of the hive. Old bees are repaired by their sisters, and new bees are constructed, bit by bit in specialized cells. Then, you enter into a large, long room with a grand dining table complete with chairs in the center. Among all the honeycomb and the bees, it looks like something from a dream.

Your stomach rumbles.

"Hungry?" asks Clockwork.

You duck your head, embarrassed. You just ate. But maybe you're finally coming up on the growth spurt that will take you up to your father's height.

"A snack, perhaps."

You sit down at the table, and in doing so, you remember the conversation you were having outside, on the bench.

"You never answered my question, you know," you say, not accusing, exactly, but curious. You'd asked for a reason.

"I suppose not," says Clockwork. "One moment." He takes a tray from a bee. It is covered in small bowls of honey. "Here, try this."

He holds out a honey dipper to you, and, aware this is another tactic to distract you, you take it. "I still want to know," you say. Then, you decide to suck on the honey dipper like it was a lollipop, which is probably not the intended use, but you don't really know what is.

"Yes, yes," says Clockwork. "As I was saying, the type of adult depends on what it is fed as a larva, before it pupates. Queen bees are fed only royal jelly as larvae. Ancients are similar."

You squint at Clockwork and pull the honey dipper from your mouth. "They're given something special as younger ghosts? Something that makes them develop into Ancients?"

"And each of the Ancients has a version of royal jelly that they keep safe, in case they might want to use it."

You still, the dipper in front of your lips. You aren't stupid, really, and the implication there...

"The word pupa ultimately derives from a word meaning 'doll,'" says Clockwork, apparently oblivious. "It is very appropriate for the pupae of the Ancients."

You think, for a moment, that you can feel your skin hardening around you, but you shake it off. Or, at least, you think you do.

"Clockwork," you say, "this isn't- You haven't been feeding me--?"

Clockwork leans over and puts his hand on your shoulder. It is firm, comforting. You can almost feel the vibration from his ticking clock echoing through your bones. "Daniel, it is a metaphor. The 'royal jelly' of the Ancients isn't anything like food."

You nod, but you put down the honey dipper. "I think I'm done eating for today, though." You stand up. You must have been sitting longer than you thought, because the movement is stiff, your limbs half asleep.

(You experience a brief moment of alienation, as if your body isn't yours, as if it doesn't belong to you.)

Clockwork shifts his grip as you move, almost as if he is contemplating picking you up. He doesn't, to your relief. Instead, he pats your back and walks ahead.

"There are other things here that might interest you," he says.

You follow.

[anxiousapplepie]

Dude I super duper love your Rose knights stuff but I have questions :3

First, pls make a master post so I can find all of the comics and lore stuff without having to scroll five miles in the Rose Knights tag

Second, is this an au of something else or an original work?

Third, do u think Siffrin and Lapis would be friends

Fourth, what ISAT craft do u think ur Rose Knights OCs would gave

Fifth, does Lapis have ADHD/Autism

I think I already did this ask but forgot, anyway love both your ISAT and Rose Knights comics (Lapis is so silly to me :3)

*aggrieved noises* I know I should make some kind of Masterpost for all my RK stuff, but I'm too distracted making Art right now! I'm so sorry, forgive me and my creative sins! Spare me! Don't banish me to hell just yet!! (for real tho, I'll get round to it! eventually! thank you for being patient in the meantime <3) Rose Knights is 100% an original work of mine! :D I've been chipping away at this project for over a year, and I hope to turn it into a comic series one day! ... as soon as I get the endurance for that kind of commitment XD Imo Siffrin and Lapis would raise their weapons, share a few puns, then pass on like ships in the night. Friendly they would be! But friendship would only be gained after an epic adventure together methinks Depends? I think Tara and Bristly would be Rock. Barbara, George, and Jim would be Paper. Lapis and Morgan would be Scissor? Rodgeric might be Rock/Paper. Lapis is definitely on the neurospicy spectrum. :3 Don't ask me what flavor, you guys can figure it out XD Thank you for liking the ISAT shenanigans I got up to and now my lil rainbow weirdos matey!! <333

[sanyu-thewitch05]

What if F! Yuu’s Dad got transported to Twst with her: The Black AF Remix

Getting into a car crash in your city known for terrible drivers was to be expected

Waking up in a common with an uber cute cat was not to be expected.

🦀: Where are we?….

All your father needed to see was the numerous white kids in hoods to let him know to run to safety with you.

🦀: Yuu, run! We’ve been captured by the Klan!

You burst out the coffin holding Grim and run out the ceremony much to the confusion of everyone.

🐦‍⬛: Umm, excuse me. Do you two need some help? We don’t know who these Klan people are that you’re running from, but I can assure you we are very honorable people.

Your father looks at Kalim, Jamil, Jack, and Leona and relaxes a bit.

🦀: Ok, do you know where we are?

🐦‍⬛: You’re in Twisted Wonderland and in the prestigious school of Night Raven Academy-

🦀: And how do we get away from here and back home to X-city?

🐦‍⬛: We can find a way to bring you two home, but it will take time. In the meantime, you can stay at one of our dorms.

🦐: Ooh, Dad, I bet it’s better than a room at the four seasons.

You were wrong. Significantly wrong.

🦀: Stop the cap! Where is that unseasoned bird?!

🦐: He’s gone.

You two are forced to walk into Ramshackle and upon seeing the ghosts, your father immediately walks out and closes the door.

🦀: I’m not dealing with three murderous white ghosts today. Come on, we’re heading down to the town.

Unfortunately, with no way of knowing where town is, you’re forced to fight the ghosts with your father. You win and look at Ramshackle in disgust.

🦐: I guess we’ll stay upstairs…

Your father, Grim, and you go upstairs and find the lousy rooms with just the basic of furniture and a proper bed.

🦀: I hope this place has a washing machine. Come on, let’s strip the bed.

After hand washing the bed sheets, you relax on your bed, and notice a pale boy with horns in the garden. You sneak out and talk to him.

🦀: So, Grimmy, where did you come from?

🐈‍⬛: Yuu’s with some boy outside.

🦀: WHO THE DEVIL IS THAT AND WHY IS HE IS TALKING TO YOU DURING THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING?!

Your father leaps out of bed and breaks up the conversation you’re having with Malleus.

🐉: So that cap on your is a bonnet and it protects your head-

🦀: Who the hell are you and why are you talking to my daughter?!

🦐: Dad, this is Tsunotaro.

🦀: That is the most dumbest thing I’ve heard. What’s your actual name?

🐉: I can’t give you that. But luckily, your daughter has decided to name me, Tsunotaro. It’s a lovely name, don’t you think?

🦀: Boy, do I look like Boo Boo the Fool to you?

🐉: I don’t understand the question. Who is this Boo Boo the Fool? Is he a clown or jester of some sorts?

Your father rolls his eyes and leads you back inside. He locks your windows, and closes the curtains.

🦀: Yuu, why were you talking to him?

🦐: He seemed interesting and looked like he knew his way around here. I figured he might be able to help.

🦀: I…you know what…just go to sleep. Grim, you keep an eye on her.

You do as your father says and begin your first day at NRC.

Your father absolutely hated it once he found out how weird the staff was. He actually liked Sam.

That’s when the trouble with Heartslabyul begins.

Your father disliked Ace and Deuce as friends mainly because they were too pugnacious for his liking.

Then Ace’s troubles with Riddle began and it set your father off.

♥️: Hi, Yuu, you don’t mind if I stay in your dorm until my issue with Riddle is resolved?

🦐: Don’t worry, you’re welcome to stay.

♥️: So, you don’t mind if I sleep in the same bed as you, do you? I promise I won’t take up much space-

🦀: Get out, white boy!

♥️: But-

🦀: Out! Now! Honkey begone!

And so, Ace ended sleeping on the front steps of Heartslabyul.

@queen-shiba

[unsanctioned-if]

"Unsanctioned" demo will be up again soon

Having spent the past two days experimenting with speech to text and seeing how it feels to write, I have discovered that the former is very difficult to do for me when it comes to fictional writing which tbh I suspected would be the case, and the latter is also extremely difficult for me to manage with the injury even when it comes to coding and editing. It can be done, but...very slowly. In my last post I said that I would wait a week, but unfortunately I don't think it will make much of a difference.

With that in mind, I have decided to put the demo out (still) in its incomplete state. I will get back to working on it as soon as I am able to. Hopefully it should still be a smoother experience now compared to when it was released last month.

In the meantime, I will focus more on brainstorming, world building and working on stuff that doesn’t require as much direct writing and coding.

I also want to address the feedback I've gotten and the errors people have reported. I have tried to get to all of them, but some I have not been able to locate. I think it could in part be because of the different race + background variables to consider and how these sometimes mix and give different text. I have probably missed some entirely because of my own inattentiveness as well, and for that I’m sorry.

If you play the demo and notice errors or oddities, it would be very helpful and appreciated if you would send a message to my inbox and attach a screenshot so that I can see exactly where this happens since it is so much easier to find the errors exactly that way. Thank you so, so much to everyone who has been helping me with that <3

I will also get to answering more asks. I will try doing it using speech to text and then fixing it to make it sound somewhat coherent like I am doing right now. Sorry it's taking me so long to get to them.

I hope that I can get back to working on this story soon - if you read it and have any thoughts on it I would love to hear them!

[pseudowho]

i swear i must be your most silent reader. i peeked through my likes history and i havent made a single like since i started this account as a teenager and you are far far far and above the best writer/my favorite writer on tumblr.

does it upset you to know people dont like and reblog your stuff?

Nope. Couldn't bother me less. I don't fall on the 'reblog reblog reblog!!' bandwagon for myself or anyone else.

That's not to say I don't necessarily agree with the principle (because I fully believe in the existence of the social decline of artist appreciation, and the need to support artists, but that's not an individual in Tumblr's job, that's a wider issue of the Capitalist hellscape on which we live, in that the Government doesn't support it as it's hard to monetise joy), but I appreciate that:

Some people, like me, may just reblog the stuff they really want to be able to read again later. Sometimes you read something, and it's okay, but you're not struck with an 'Oh god, I can't lose this! I need to be able to read it again!' but with other pieces, you are. You can like something but not care to read it again. I get that. The thing is, the place you reblog stuff to is your blog for your own things, just the same as a writers'/artists' blog is their blog for their own things.

Some people, like you, just want to lurk and read and have fun and not get involved, and you know what? Good for them. You read what you like, beautiful people. Have fun.

I'm writing this shit anyway. I'm perfecting a craft here. Or...like...trying to. I didn't start writing looking for writing success and validation. I never saw myself as a writer. An audience is a pleasant and unexpected bonus. I'm aware there are others who have come here specifically for an audience and are disappointed to not receive what they believe they deserve, and as such that leads to...

I think there's an edge to the reblog culture that stinks of entitlement, where there are some writers or artists who blame a 'selfish audience' for a lack of perceived 'success'. It gives me the ick and I don't like it.

I'm aware I have 'reblog privilege' in that I enjoy a broad readership. It's up to my readers and audience to decide why this is.

Nonetheless, this is just me. I'm aware I may be a minority, here. Though I'm appreciative of every like and reblog, I don't yearn for them. There are some who do. Take notice, and be kind, and generous with your time and praises if you can.

In the meantime...

...I'll carry on doing what I'm doing.

Being quietly delighted that you enjoy my work.

And hoping you continue to stick around as a cheeky little lurker. I love you just as much as all the others.

Love,

-- Haitch xxx

[autism-autobot]

Flower of a Poisonous Seed Part 21

Part 20:

The only thing written on the whiteboard in the Demon Bull King's study was the word "flowers" in Nezha's handwriting.

The Demon Bull Family, Nezha, and Li Jing were trying to come up with what they'd do for Wukong's 7,000th birthday.

It wasn't as easy as they'd hoped.

For one thing, Wukong still hadn't fully recovered from surgery, and it was unclear as to whether or not he would recover in time for his birthday activities. Another thing to consider was that Wukong would still be sick even if he did manage to recover from the surgery in time.

And even then, they still weren't sure what Wukong would like to do for his birthday.

RS: Why can't we just ask him?

PIF: Because we're his family, and we ought to do something nice for him. He's been such a joy in each of our lives, and we ought to show him we care.

RS: But doesn't Uncle already know how much we care about him?

Nezha: This is Wukong we're talking about.

RS: Fair point. But what even are we going to do? "Flowers" isn't much to go off of.

Jing: Why can't we just throw a gala in his name and call it a day?

Nezha: Because, Father, Wukong gets far too anxious in crowds for us to even consider throwing any sort of party for him.

PIF: Poor baby, he got so nervous when my husband and I took him out to eat a few months back.

DBK: My brother wouldn't let go of my fur the whole time we were there. He could barely even speak up enough to order himself a salad, he was so nervous.

Nezha: Public outings are off the table, so is there anything else any of you can think of. I can only think of things we can do around the house, and Demon Bull King can't even fit inside my place. Wukong specifically requested that he be involved.

RS: My only ideas involve cake.

Jing: What kind of cake?

RS: Flower themed cake, obviously.

DBK: What kind of flowers?

RS: Um... the... regular kind?

PIF: We're going to have to do better than that for Wukong.

Nezha: Agreed. In the meantime, we can consider the flavor of the cake. What would be the point of the cake if not to eat it?

DBK: Yes, but what flavor?

Jing: Peach, of course.

Everyone else: NO!

Jing: Why not? He loves peaches!

Nezha: That was before his illness caused him to vomit whenever he consumed one. Citric acid doesn't sit well with him.

Jing: Oh. That's unfortunate.

RS: I once offered him a peach without knowing, and my poor uncle cried so hard.

Jing: Okay, so nothing peach related. Is there any fruit he can consume that he does like?

Nezha: Coconuts, apples, watermelon, raspberries, blueberries, any type of berry really...

RS: Did you memorize all his favorite foods?

Nezha: *smiles and shrugs* I love him very much, is all.

Jing: *raises eyebrow*

Nezha: Ugh, we're still just friends, Father. You can love someone platonically, you know.

RS: Raspberry cake sounds lovely!

DBK: And coconut shavings would make a good topping.

PIF: What about the frosting? What flavor should that be?

Nezha: Chocolate, maybe?

DBK: We may have to come back to that one.

~~~

Wukong wakes up in his recovery room to a certain dark-furred monkey sleeping with his head against his chest.

"I thought you were supposed to be monitoring me, silly."

Macaque had visited Wukong in the hospital soon after hearing about the surgery. Wukong never expected Macaque to be so worried about him.

It was during that time that they managed to catch up and come to be on better terms with each other.

Wukong being hospitalized gave them the opportunity to sit down and talk about subjects long overdue. Sorries, praises, and "I missed you"s were said by both monkeys.

They even talked about where to go from there.

"Caque, I don't want us to be an us again. I don't want to be an us with anyone for that matter. I'm done with that. I don't want to give myself away to anyone who isn't him. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I get it. I... I just wish I appreciated you when I had you... and hadn't rejected you way back when. Maybe this *gestures to Wukong's bandages* wouldn't be happening if I didn't."

"Maybe it's a good thing you did."

~~~

PIF: MACAQUE!!!!!!!!!

Mac: *jolts awake* AAAAAAAAH!!!!! What??? What is it???!!!!

PIF: YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MONITORING WUKONG!!!!!!!!!!

Mac: AAAAAAAAH!!!! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep!!!!

PIF: *raises fan to hit him*

Mac: *shadow teleports away*

Part 22:

Masterpost

@istopaskingmemate @swkbiggestdefender @starrclown @ainnur @weaverpop

[collapsedsquid]

I mean not everyone is on board with this. his vision is about screwing the local citizens absolutely, Steve Bannon would not like this, he has a different view from this post-nationalist vision. But crypto-currency was supposed to allow you to bypass the nation-state, hasn't worked so far but they think it could. And they all have been hoping for a fiscal crisis to force the issue for decades, drown the state in a bathtub so it can't stop you. The tech guys think they can fool the religious nationalists and the barstool guys, they do not have a high opinion of them and hey they control the media. They think they can destroy their opponents later. And in the meantime they have their charter cities and network states.

And yeah, they think the godly women will be fine, you can find women who say that other women complain about sexual assault too much, they are hussies who are bating men etc. Not everyone will be on board, there can be disagreement about the role of women in the new society. Some of these exclusive cities can be led by women, with different views on what behavior is unacceptable.

And "temporarily embarrassed boss," you are supposed to blame your self if you don't become rich! Also with the victorian fetishization you can see the personal servant as an archetype, the butler of a nobleman is not a temporarily embarrassed lord. They are proud to serve. And who wouldn't be proud to serve their tech-overlord?

(Not to say that I think this is actually a viable or reachable society, but there are ways they think they can reach it)

OK I thought the dystopian vision I would point to was obvious, I'm talking about about that "Sovereign Individual" stuff, or the stuff you can read about with GM Tamas or Quinn Slobodian. With moldbug these technocratic centrist journalists get a frisson of semi-terrified excited about how he wants to "end democracy" which they're not really keen on either, all they can think of is various ideas of dictatorship, that's not the real risk here. The real risk is found more in the survival bunkers ahd private cities they want to found, the "sovereign individuals" they want to be, the "Great Reset" they want to initiate, the inside-out concentration camp, the little archipelago of technofeudalist hells they want to make the world into.

[moonlight-tmd]

Hi

I'm a little bit possessed by the headcanon that Longarm as an individual bot had existed at some point and he was working with many autobots before he was captured by Shockwave, who stole his frame.

I LOVE dancing around the idea that Shockwave was controlling someone's dead body, using it as a shell to camouflage.

Just imagine that somewhere in a secret laboratory, on the operating table, there is still a disassembled bot, from which the frame was taken, the optics were taken,the voicebox were taken, but the hearing was left so that he could hear all the reasons why he could never return to his friends again and could not do anything about it.

Yes, Shockwave would definitely tell him what he has done in details.

One more thing!

Shockwave is a mnemosurgeon, right? I'm sure he had been messing with Longarm's brain many times in order to get information about bots or behavior that he must comply with.

Anon... you have just send me the worst path of angst-filled romance i've ever imagined.

It's so sad- like, imagine you meet someone you were close to and they seem different than the last time you met them. Everything just seems so off but you don't know what...

Bumblebee and Longarm have started their friendship in boot camp. Even thought they were quite different from one another they got along perfectly and knew so much about the other without even asking.

Then one day Bee had to switch programs due to trouble he caused and was doomed to repair crew training just outside the campus. He snuck in whenever he could do meet with Longarm but eventually he had to leave cuz the program was finished.

They stayed in contact all the time, Bee messaged Long when he was working and Long called whenever he had breaks from lectures and training. But then everything went dead on Bee's end... the crew he was assigned in was declared missing. Longarm swore that he'll find them- he'll find Bee- once he becomes part of the Guard.

Years passed and there was nothing, Longarm did his duty and earned a status raise. During one of his missions the ship was attacked by a fleet of Decepticons, most of the crew were found either dead or missing. Except the temporary captain of the ship, Longarm. He was found wandering the wastelands cycles after the tragedy.

In the meantime Bee was missing his companion, even tho he was in stasis so long it felt like a nap, but the few years he spend on Earth felt like eternity stretching on. They had no contact with outer space nor anyone who could help them, their only chance was to wait and hope someone picks up a signal from their crashed and sunken ship. He wished to see Longarm again, to chat with him and hug him once more.

And his wish was granted since Elite Guard with Sentinel on board was came to the planet to investigate, and Longarm was on board...

He couldn't contain his excitement when he saw him and ran to him, embracing all he could reach. He was so excited and happy but when he looked Longarm in the optics- something was off.

It was the same as he remembered, the eyes, the smile, the voice... yet something didn't feel right. Even when he spoke the same way Longarm spoke to him it still felt different. Even in private when Longarm was much more relaxed and open Bee felt it.

Longarm was a prime now, much higher position than when he last heard from him. it would make sense he's gotten more mature and busy in the important tasks and not have much time for his friends but Bee expected something more when they met...

He knew people's relations change when they're far apart or not in contact for long, he knew how little it was for him to be in stasis and how long Longarm had to live thru without him... he really hoped it wasn't the case.

He yearned for the moment where Longarm would hug him unexpectedly or call him one of the nicknames they used in boot camp but it never came...

Decepticon activity on earth was growing stronger, both Elite Guard and Team Prime was working together to hold off the enemy. Still, it was most often than not that the teams followed their own plan instead of coming with a shared one, Sentinel could never talk with Optimus peacefully. Bee was assigned to infiltrate the landing site of the ships that recently came to earth.

Things have been going smoothly, at least until he spotted a familiar face wandering the zone. Longarm was there, seemingly doing the same as he. Bee wanted to call him over but he hesitated, he had questions and he needed to know the answers... He knew it was wrong but he stayed back, watching what the Prime was up to.

He watched him wander around a bit before boarding one of the ships, he discreetly followed and hid inside. He was talking with someone, but he couldn't see who. The conversation was interrupted by a sound of a turbine powering on and ship's system activating. They were taking off. Bee tried to get away but he had no way of safely booking it to the exit, before he knew they were leaving the orbit. He couldn't contact his teammates, something in the ship was blocking all signal. He chose to stay in hiding for however long the ride took.

It was few hours until they landed, Bee had managed to slip out and hide inside the hidden facility on a small planet. The more he wandered the more he realized that the facility in question was one big crazy workshop. He found Longarm once more and followed him, he planned to confront him about whatever was going on but it all came to a full stop soon...

He followed Longarm but lost him just few moments later, he didn't have enough time to look around when he heard someone else coming his way. He hid inside one of the rooms- it was a laboratory. Wires and computers hanging from walls, tools scattered on various tables, and parts... actual mech parts along with vials of energon neatly put aside.

He had mere seconds to hide when the doors opened and Longarm walked in, holding something. He was talking to someone,.. Bee managed to peek out of his hiding- he saw Longarm standing near the medical station, the same one Bee was crouched next to a moment ago, but this time Bee could see what was on it; there on the diagonally angled table laid a wreck of a mech. Longarm talked to him sweetly, almost like one would with a pet, telling him all about team prime and elite guard and his tasks... Bee felt his own frame going cold at the scene, listening to every word Long said in silence...

But what happened next truly made his tanks drop; Longarm's frame shifted and merely a second later stood a Decepticon in it's place. It continued speaking about recent events and tests... eventually ending one of his sentences with the same name he's been using. "...won't you agree with me, Longarm?"

Another mech entered the lab, calling out to the Decepticon. They both left and slowly, Bee crawled out of his hiding spot. His optics landed on the remains of the mech on the table...

Its limbs were gone, uninstalled in a professional way, more than half of its plating gone revealing the skeletal-alike structure inside and vital mechanisms, parts missing and empty slots left in their place,... its helm was baren and cables plugged to processor slots, facial parts uninstalled to prevent recognition more so contact from the mech...

Bee looked at the unfortunate mech, unknown feeling swirling in his spark... he found himself focusing on details left behind; the specific attachments at shoulders, size and layout of the inner support, the headlamp remaining on its head but most importantly the spark... it pulsed is it's casing, uneven, scared... yet the feeling of its light was unmistakable.

Fear and sorrow had overtaken Bee as he realized this was his Longarm. The one and only.

Shaking, he reached out his servo and as gently as he could placed his digits on the mech's cheek structure. Bee could feel him shiver under the touch, he couldn't hold his tears as he uttered the same he's been misusing the whole time. "...Longarm?"

It was dark and quiet, he lost all senses so long ago and has felt nothing but fear since, all he ever knew was the enemy digging his claws into his mind and tearing it apart bit by bit. He wanted to die, he only wished to be killed and taken to the Well... but then there was a voice. Soft and warm, one he always would recognize, but now oh so agonizingly broken. He almost didn't believe it, he didn't want to fall for another lie, but his spark, oh his spark could feel another presence and it was not the enemy he always felt on him... he tried to speak, to call, to yell, let out any sound but all he could was force static electricity out his unconnected cables, hissing the desperate words he could not say.

"What did he do to you?" Bee wanted to cry, to wail and embrace the broken mech but the sounds of others approaching snapped him out. He couldn't stay here, no matter how much he wanted. "I'm sorry, i have to go. I'll come back for you, I promise." He whispered into Longarm's audial before being forced to hide again. The two mechs returned and started working on something away from the door, allowing Bee to slip out and run. He will come back for Longarm, he'll bring help and save him. He had to...

He found his way onto the take off platform, desperate to find a way back home. He found a small ship, capable of being operated by one bot. Starting it off turned out to be harder that he thought, just as he was taking off the alarm sounded from the facility. He fled and managed to get past the orbit but his hopes to escape were cut short as the ship was shot down...

Bee woke up in a medbay, much unlike the one he saw in the facility. He was confused and skittish but then Sentinel walked in. Bee was found adrift in space by a space patrol and brought onto Steelhaven. Sentinel wanted to know what he was doing so far away from earth but Bee never answered his questions. Soon after he was treated he was let out to contact his team in the control centre but just when they were leaving the medical sector the other mech approached... the fake Longarm.

Bee's energon boiled as the his pained processor forced back what he saw and he charged at the mech with his stinger. Other Elite Guard had to hold him down as he went into frenzy out of nowhere and screamed incoherently at Longarm. He was put in stasis and locked in medbay until they arrived at earth.

The word around the ship spread out and soon Jazz was looking into the situation. Bee was his friend and knew that it wasn't like him to go crazy like that... Against Sentinel's orders to let this situation be handled by him he went and under no one's watch woke Bee up from stasis. Bee was panicked and it took Jazz a little bit before he could speak with him- Bee was muttering something about him overhearing and Jazz didn't know what it meant until Bee broke and told him everything he saw. Jazz was beyond shocked, he wanted to help but Bee insisted to not tell anyone they don't trust 100% as the info would spill back to the spy.

They came up with a plan. They snuck out during shift-change hours and stole an emergency pod. It wasn't long before the systems alerted the crew of its deployment, Bee barely managed to steer them out of the radar. Bee managed to call his team with the emergency signal. They were all so shocked and worried about him, it's been nearly a week since they lost contact with him and things weren't looking good back on Earth. Bee told them what he found, who he found and everything else in one desperate breath.

"I knew something was wrong. I knew it! I- Primus why didn't I do anything- why--" He knew something was off and he never did anything. By the Allspark why didn't he do something?! Jazz was quick to notice the sudden meltdown Bee was having and comforted him while Team Prime listened over the call.

Bee knew Longarm for a long time, he was the best mech he's ever met. Longarm was very dear to him, the two shared so many intimate moments back in boot camp. Longarm always looked at him with such adoration before calling him the sweet nicknames only he was allowed to say. They've known more about one another than the time they spend together and yet, both of them knew it was more than just simple love. Bee felt so guilty for ignoring the warning signs and getting fooled by the mimic.

The two told them their plan to get the real Longarm back, Bee knew the coordinates of the facility. All of them were much against only the two of them going but Bee assured them they were gonna be alright and that they need to work on getting the fake Longarm arrested.

It wasn't too long before they arrived back at the facility, after scanning the area from the orbit they made a quick and stealthy landing and got inside the facility. While Jazz worked on getting the alarm systems down Bee made his way back into the same laboratory. He rushed to his beloved and worked on getting him off this damned machinery. He carefully unplugged all the cables and binds keeping him there while hastily whispering words of comfort to Long. There wasn't any designed way to move him but Bee managed to get him onto the supply wagon along with the energon IVs. It was then that hell broke loose. Jazz was trying his best to keep the guards away so Bee can make the escape. Soon they were both running thru the corridors dodging blaster shots and other guards ahead. Jazz held them off while Bee got Longarm into the pod and started the engine. Jazz managed to make it just in time before Bee blasted off back home... but during that he got a serious injury. Once they were set on steady course Bee hurried back to them and patched him the best he could but Jazz was still losing energon quick... Bee panicked and scrambled to do anything to help, the pod shook at it got caught by an EM magnet and pulled into the slot of the bigger ship. When the doors opened Bee was greeted by the lesser crew of Steelhaven.

They took the injured mechs to medbay at once and set course back to Earth while Bee sat there, waiting anxiously for the outcome... When Bee saw Optimus ran into the control centre he bursted into tears, mumbling apologies over and over. Optimus just held him, glad that he was okay and safe. Soon the whole team reunited. Bee learned what battle ensued during his mission and that the fake Longarm was caught trying to scrap agent Blurr. The majority of Steelhaven crew was down on Earth with Team Prime, Optimus has let them know of what Bee discovered therefore they were able to catch the impostor. Ratchet was more than glad to disassemble every single part of Longarm's off this scrapheap's frame. (According to Jazz, he was fine and Prowler was worrying about nothing... which earned him a slap to the helm.)

It was weeks before the Longarm was ready to function again, Bee has stayed by his side every moment of it. When Longarm first woke up he was still adjusting to coordination and speaking, when he saw Bee again he tried to move towards him. Bee leapt off the seat and embraced Longarm for the first time in forever while Longarm tried so hard to hug him back as his voicebox garbled noises in attempt to speak to him.

Bee stayed by Longarm's side every day and night, he spoke to him and told him what happened. Longarm told his story the best he could- he still had a lot of recovery and rehabilitation to do but as long as Bee was there it would be okay.

The moment he was allowed to roam Sentinel came up to them informing him of the status and a high raise as a compensation for all he endured. But that didn't matter to anyone- "I don't want a compensation, I don't want a high rank... I quit. I'm staying here, with Bumblebee."

No matter how much Sentinel tried to persuade him to stay, that he shouldn't make serious decisions like that when still recovering, it was all for nothing. Longarm filed the official resignation and Optimus welcomed him with open arms to his team.

Bee has said a lot about Longarm in the past and now that they had real Longarm with them they were more that happy to get to know him. They've redone Bee's room to house the two mechs together and Longarm couldn't have it any other way. He missed Bee so much.

Once everything has calmed down, when the city has been repaired they would go on a dates. Bee would show him around the city and all his favorite places. They would find a secluded area by the river and spend the entire day there until both of them would perform their conjunx ritus at sunset, just the two of them alone, like they always wanted...

And Shockwave would still be locked in a dark cell, missing parts and plating to cover the painful wounds no one ever bothered to fix fully.

You give me angst, I give you a fic-sized post. Hope you're happy.

Oh, and Wasp was never really in the picture, he got transferred to a higher program when Bee was forced to switch and no spy rumors ever existed. No murder hornets for them, my bro.

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

Had this edit in progress for like a month before I finally got around to finishing it

Credits below:

Song: Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

SFMs:

[S2FM] Moment to Speak (Neal)

Birthday Suit S2FM [REMAKE] (Nuclear)

Other clips are from the Half Life: Alyx Announcement Trailer + some misc hl2 clips

[kimmkitsuragi]

oh my fucking god i don't have any clothesssss

[musicallyiinclined]

It hadn't taken much for Danny to bypass all of the guys that Raisa had previously dated, and he'd had that handled long before they'd even become a couple. Everyone else had tried to be worse than the last guy--or so it seemed to him when he listened to her stories--and that was what got him so frustrated. The fact that she hadn't found one decent guy before they met had definitely worked out in his favor in the end, but it sucked that she'd had to put up with so much bullshit in the meantime. "I don't know how to be anybody else but me," he joked, hoping to lighten his own mood. "So I'm glad you're already a fan."

Sipping his lukewarm coffee, Danny's stomach growled immediately at the mention of cinnamon rolls, replacing every thought currently in his brain but one. "I like that idea. I still have a few people I need to buy gifts for." He set his mug aside and gave Raisa's thigh a pat. "Speaking of, that little box on the kitchen counter is for you. I didn't want you to feel left out, and when I saw it it reminded me of you, so." It was an ornament in the shape of a ruby red stiletto, and it had her name written all over it. "Go check it out."

She knew the scent of plum and vanilla was likely leaving him in that pleasant fog it often did, even though Danny still teased that he'd smell like her when she lathered her own shampoo into Danny's soft mane. Raz relaxed as Danny exhaled, the warmth of his breath reminding her of how it felt to fall asleep in his arms. That subtle roughness to his tone immediately put her back on alert, fingers training over rock-hard abs as she tried to soothe him back down. "Except you were doing that before we started dating," she reminded him. Danny was sweeter than any guy she'd ever met, subtly trying to take care of her in small ways even without the incentivizing perk of sleeping with her. "So you were already outshining all of them. You don't have to try. Just be you." Raisa processed her emotions about those messy moments the moment she talked about them on stage; her set was practically a publicized therapy session. "Mmm. Day off," she said. "I brought eggnog cinnamon rolls from Gemini's home after pilates yesterday. They're in the fridge." She'd brought them for him, though; she wasn't all that interested in sweets for breakfast. "Did you want to keep this theme going?" she asked, nodding to the tree. "We can go to that little Santa's village they have set up, with the small business booths. Get hot cocoa and..." Raz swept her tongue against her lips. It felt too soft, too gooey to suggest finding an ornament for her; something she hadn't had growing up.

[egophiliac]

So the final character turns out to be based on Ryugen, but it feels kinda weird how there is also one based on Zangetsu and they aren't brothers

Or what if plot reveals they are brothers and he was actually adopted or stollen

I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S ACTUALLY RYUUGEN?! I made a joke about it when Toten got revealed but I didn't actually expect... (I'm counting it as a win though, which means I guessed three out of sixteen! ...given how wacky some of these got, I'm actually pretty proud of that.)

he seems very sweet though! I hope he and his secret hamsters are very happy together. 🐹

(also:

THIS WAS MY EXACT TRAIN OF THOUGHT TOO! either this is an incredible bit of meta foreshadowing, or an incredible bit of Takahashi trolling, and I -- I honestly don't know which is more likely)