#We didn't manage to finish it all in one session anyway so we'll see if they survive next week lmao

[lexicals]

God it's been so long since I GMed anything I'd forgotten the experience of sitting with your head in your hands going "...are you sure you want to do that"

[beerecordings]

Wolf Bite - Part 25/25

"It's falling apart. It's all falling into pieces."

"Don't you dare break it, Marvin, I swear, I have spent hours on this cake."

"Well, you didn't make it moist enough, did you?"

"Don't say moist! No one likes the word moist!"

Chase and Marvin both gasp as the bottom of the cake almost gives out on them, but they break into a mix of laughter and yelling and manage to get it on top of the other layer. Chase wheezes out a breath of relief and turns to see JJ and Henrik both shaking their heads at them from the kitchen table.

"Cake-making should not be so hard," Henrik tells them.

"I'd like to see you try!"

JJ scrawls something on his pad of paper. Henrik leans over to read it. "He says it looks very nice. That is extremely generous of you, Jameson."

"Teach us to say it," Marvin insists, wiping his hands clean.

JJ signs to them as requested: "It looks very nice. The cake looks very nice."

"At least it smells very nice," Chase agrees, getting out the frosting. "Food doesn't have to look nice, you just have to enjoy eating it!"

"Don't worry," Marvin purrs. "Sean will go nuts for it."

"We better hurry, though, or we'll be late for our last class," Henrik reminds them.

Jameson watches them all move around, finishing the frosting, packing up the cake, and helping each other get ready to go. Henrik comes over to make sure he has everything he needs, bringing him his shoes without being asked. JJ signs "thank you" and Henrik signs "you're welcome" without hesitation.

He's been human again for a week. He does not regret shifting back.

"Let's go, gamers!" shouts Chase, and Marvin rolls his eyes so hard he might actually make himself dizzy.

By the time they reach Jackie's house, Anti is already sitting on his porch, waiting for them with his hands clasped and his eyes dark. He straightens as they approach, and JJ smells that uncertainty on him, that awkwardness: he doesn't know when his brother will lose the fear that one of these days, JJ is going to decide he hates him, but he'll do whatever he can to dispel it in the meantime. He leaps at Anti and pins him onto the porch, baring his teeth playfully.

"Oh, little terror," growls Anti, tackling him off the porch and into the grass. A minute later, Jackie's heaving them both up by their collars, clucking his tongue.

"We'll be late to Sean's. Come on!"

JJ's stained with grass and laughing. He intertwines his arm with his brother's and Anti's flushes, hiding their affection at the back of the group as they walk. Anti mumbles something about being glad to see him, even though they've seen each other every day since his release.

"How was your meeting with the corrections officer?"

Anti puffs. "He's not going to be nice to me, but I can play the game. It'll be a couple years of drug testing and supervision, but I'm not going to prison, so I'll do what I need to."

"I'm glad you'll be drug testing anyway," says JJ. "I never want to smell that stuff on you again."

Anti looks down at the ground. JJ presses his head into his shoulder and scents his wild, lightning smell, bright and blazing.

Jackie knocks on Sean's door as obnoxiously as possible, and Chase starts shouting his name over and over again, so by the time Sean opens the door, he looks about ready to make them run laps for today's rehabilitation session.

"Haha," he says sarcastically. "Oh, what's that?"

Marvin presents the cake proudly. "For you. Since it's me and Chase and Henrik's last official class."

Sean looks truly touched. "You shouldn't have done that! Oh! It smells like coffee! Come in, everybody. JJ, how are you?"

He wraps him in a hug and JJ hugs him back. It's only their second session together, but Sean's always like this: so genuine you wonder where he gets the energy to care that hard. He does the same with Anti, and Anti glares, but he's not going to push away the advocate who helped save him from prison.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grouches.

Sean cuts the cake for all of them to share, pulling out a laptop in the meantime as a substitute for a TV. "Okay! So for today's class, I still have to teach you some stuff. I am going to put on a bunch of scenes from media involving werewolves and we can all talk about what's wrong with it. Anything from anti-lycanthropic sentiment to bad CGI."

"Okay," laughs Jackie. "But hold on, we want to talk to you first."

"What's up?" Sean sits down at the table with his cake. "Oh, no, is something wrong? Is it your probation, Marv? Your supervisor did tell me I need to help you find a job or you could be in violation. Or is it custody, Chase?"

"No, I'm good," Chase promises. "As soon as I show the judge my certification at our next hearing, I'll be on equal footing with their mom again. My attorney thinks I'll be able to have our time split evenly soon."

"Oh, good," sighs Sean.

"Stop catastrophizing and listen," says Marvin, reaching out to grab his hand. "You're right, my probation officer told me I need to figure out a job."

"I can take you to an employment agency tomorrow. Or we'll call businesses together. What do you want to do for work? I - "

"Sean," Jackie scolds. "Stop."

"I figured out what job I want," says Marvin, and JJ smiles as he sits up and straightens. His smoke scent blooms with pride and mint. They've all been planning this for the whole week.  "I'm going to work here, with you. I want to do what you do."

Sean's face lights up - and then his expression crashes, his scent souring. "Oh, Marv, that's such a good idea, but - I - I'm really sorry, man. I just don't have the funding to hire anybody new."

"Yes, we know," signs JJ, and Anti translates for him: "He says everybody knows you're broke, Sean."

"Actually, you're barely getting paid yourself," Henrik adds. "And you're putting your own money towards keeping this place running because your organization doesn't have enough funds either."

Sean looks pale in the sterile lights of his worn-out office. He rubs at his face for a second, eyes ringed in red.

"Hey," says Marvin, softer. "We said we were going to find a way to help you get some sleep, right?"

Sean scoffs. "Yeah. I guess."

"That's why we're going to make you some more money," says Chase, grinning shyly at him. "I posted a new video last weekend. I told my whole audience."

"What? Chase, that's amazing. I'll watch it tonight!"

"It was amazing," he agrees. "The response was really good. You know, my pals and I used to run charity streams, back when we were really famous. We might have a little bit less of a production team, now, and I'm definitely lost a lot of relevance, but I think we can still really raise some money, especially since they're already writing stupid articles about, you know, 'Famous Youtuber Bit In Werewolf Attack.'"

Sean blinks around at them. "What - you think anyone will actually give to a cause like this? People kind of see our mission as the anti-human sometimes, you know."

"That's stupid," Anti snarls, with unexpected vehemence. "Just anti-werewolf shit. Even I would tell everyone how much you help. If they actually don't want to get bit, they should want us to have good rehabilitators."

"Plus your victim advocacy," Jackie adds. "You help werewolves who have never hurt anyone way more than werewolves who have. I was a feral, abused seventeen-year-old kid when you helped me. To this day, I have no idea what anyone would have done with me if you hadn't saved me, Sean."

"I'll tell everyone you put me back on my fucking feet, too," Chase swears. "We all will. This place is important, Sean, and you need some help. So yeah, I think we're going to make you some money, and we'll send it all to this organization. You'll have enough to add a position for Marvin. Then you won't be alone any more."

"And we're sure," Henrik says. "Because my parents want to be your first new donor."

He reaches out with a check in his hand, and Sean stares at him for a long second before he takes it. JJ feels himself grinning like an idiot, and he covers his mouth, leaning against Anti's arm.

Sean's scent and his face both stay locked into this confused look for a long moment as he reads the check. He sets it down on the table and grips the seat of his chair for a moment like he might fall off it.

"Yay?" suggests Marvin weakly, and JJ sees that Sean's eyes are tearing up, and then so are Chase's and Marvin's.

Sean leans back in his chair and presses the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to breathe steady. In that moment, JJ wishes he could just smell what it smells like when he's truly happy, but the truth is, Sean just seems to have reached the end of some long road, and finally he's crumpled into bed to rest.

Maybe that's even better than happy, at least for now.

"Thank you so much," Sean manages finally, and it's all Jackie needs to fall on him with ferocity, hugging him so tightly he does end up halfway pulling him off the chair. Chase jumps on them next, and then Marvin notices that Henrik's trying to avoid being pulled into it, so of course he yanks Henrik close too and forces all five of them into a hug that's going to wind up on the floor, and that has them laughing again.

For his part, JJ looks at Anti. For a second, he feels something in his gut wrench. There's a discrepancy there, and he wishes there wasn't.

"What?" frowns Anti. "Hey, what's wrong?"

JJ shakes his head, biting his lip to stop it trembling.

"What? Hey, tell me."

"I just want you to heal here," he signs finally. "I just want you to be able to rest."

Anti tsks his tongue and reaches out to hold him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Don't cry, Jamie."

He pushes into his brother's arm, wiping at his face.

"Hey," Anti repeats, and then, with a certain desperation, "I will heal here. You and I both will. Okay? I will."

"You have to let it all go, Anti. Everything you're carrying. I just want to see you leave it in the past where it belongs. Leave her in the past."

Anti swallows. JJ squeezes his hand, looking up at him.

"You're sure this is where you want to heal?" Anti murmurs to him. "Aren't these wolves still just strangers to us?"

"No," says JJ, with so little hesitation he surprises himself. "This is pack."

Sean's on them a moment later, reaching down to hug them both, and Anti growls again. "You two are a part of this too," he says. "I mean it. This pack found a piece of itself when it got you back. Both of you."

It's warm right here in this place, pressed between the pair of them, and the whole office has stopped smelling like mildew, overwhelmed by their fond pack scents: summer air and lightning, chocolate and caramel, lemon and mint.

And, of course, a hot cup of coffee.

"So!" Marvin claps his hands together. "When do I get to start running this office?"

Sean hums, tapping his chin. "I don't know, Marvin. I have a lot of candidates to look through. I'll let you know if you got the job in a couple weeks."

"Excuse you! As soon as I'm hired I'm going to fire you!"

Jackie's cracking up so hard he's turning red. But he's not laughing at the jokes, JJ doesn't think. He's just laughing because they're all here, celebrating, and whatever comes next, whenever it comes, he will lead them all through it together.

That is the only promise Jameson needs.

.

It's late that night when Anti finds himself out on the balcony of Sean's apartment, watching the cars rushing by on the street below.

It's a warm night, a pretty night, with a quarter-moon on the rise. Everyone else is downstairs, still watching stupid movies. They'll be more comfortable without him.

He tilts back the last of a beer he stole from Sean's fridge, savoring the taste.

"Is that the best thing for a recovering opioid addict?"

Henrik slides open the door to the balcony and steps out in socks, pushing his glasses up his nose. Anti scowls and searches his scent, but, not for the first time, he finds the doctor's smell frustratingly collected.

"Can you call me a recovering addict after less than a month since my last dose?"

Henrik steps up beside him and takes a beer himself, twisting off the cap. He takes a swig of it and makes a face.

"Not to your liking?"

"I know I'm German, but I never developed the taste. My family doesn't drink and I had very few friends throughout my life before this. What about you? A social person before all this?"

"No," says Anti darkly.

He had one brother who loved him, and one dear friend beside him. She turned into his highschool sweetheart, and then his Alpha, and then -

No, he doesn't consider himself an extrovert.

"Why did you come up here?" Anti asks.

"To check on you."

"Why?"

"Why did you come up here?"

"Needed a break from all the sappy shit."

"Mmh," hums Henrik, drinking from his beer again. "Right. Couldn't be because you're still punishing yourself for all that you've done."

Anti grips the bottle of his beer, resisting the urge to throw it at the cars below. He'd love to break a fucking windshield right about now. Get a crowbar and go to work. He'd break Henrik's fucking skull in.

He rubs at his face, pushing his hair back. No, he wouldn't like to do that. What the hell is wrong with him?

"You're shaky," comments Henrik, less certain of himself, suddenly.

"Withdrawal," says Anti shortly.

If Henrik's disagrees, he doesn't say so.

"Why are you here, Schneep? Why would you check on me?"

Henrik nurses his beer for a long moment, staring out at the buildings and the moon rising behind them. "You smelled like fear," he says. "Sometimes, I can smell it on you from rooms away."

Henrik's shoved back against the brick of Sean's walls a half-second later, his beer crashing to the ground. Anti grips his shirt and pins him in place, staring at him, breathing puffing heavily from his lungs. Henrik grabs him back, holding his hands where they are.

They're locked together for one breath, two breaths, three breaths. Anti tries to breathe out. His chest shakes.

"You," he begins. "You - you - "

Henrik stares at him, steady as a heartbeat. His eyes flash. There's no anger. A moment passes, and then -

Henrik tilts his head, exposes his neck, and defers to him.

Anti releases him, stepping back.

Fuck, he shouldn't have done that. What's wrong with him?

"Anti," says Henrik, too quiet, too much like pity. "She is gone. I know there are psychological effects, but she is incarcerated, she will not touch you again, she will never - "

"You're all fucking stupid," Anti sneers, trying to catch his breath. "You think I'm scared of her? I'm scared of me! You should all be too, what's wrong with you?"

"Oh, for crying out loud," growls Henrik. "Is that what this is about? You're the idiot. Do you really think a single one of us would allow you to be here if we didn't believe you were in control of yourself?"

"I know what I'm capable of."

"No, I know what you're capable of," snarls Henrik, stepping right up into his face. "Because I was a defenseless pedestrian coming home from a twelve-hour shift when you tore me to the ground and put your teeth in me so deep I knew exactly which muscles were tearing. I writhed in my hospital bed with my own blood dripping out of me and staining my hands. I've had nightmares about you, panic attacks, compulsions to make me feel in control of my body. I know exactly what you're fucking capable of."

Anti feels empty of oxygen again. He think that, when he stops yelling, he's going to have to ask Henrik to help him figure out why he keeps losing his ability to breathe.

"And I am still letting you come here and sit with my packmates," Henrik finishes, voice slowing. His eyes slide shut for a second as he composes himself. "I know you, though you do not think I do. Jackie too. He comes across as naive to you, perhaps, but you will find, as time goes on, that he is much too sharp to allow anything dangerous near his pack. We have all discussed this, Anti, we all know exactly where we stand with you. So let me tell you now, as someone with every right to hate and fear you: I do not hate you. I do not fear you. And sometimes, when you are a werewolf, you trust the pack's intuition before you give in to your own."

Anti's eyes are burning, his breathing hurts. He is shaking now, properly.

"I can't do that," he croaks. "I can't do any of this."

"You're thinking about it too much," says Henrik, much more softly. "It's not so abstract. All we need to do is stay in the moment and deal with each new thing as it comes. Anti. Come downstairs and watch a movie. It will make JJ smile, and if you stop thinking so hard, you will realize that no one in that room has the slightest anxiety about you hurting them. Or haven't you noticed Chase trying to make friends with you for days now while you sulk?"

Anti shrugs, feeling listless and stuck.

"Anti," Henrik repeats. "Come have coffee cake."

One step at a time.

"What are you, anyway, a shrink?" he gripes.

"No," says Henrik. "But I do know how to get inside someone's head."

"Oh, haha, very fucking funny."

And he goes back downstairs, and it makes JJ smile, and he watches a movie on the couch.

.

Marvin knows that all three of his newbies have adapted to the sleep cycle of a wolf when the house is dead quiet at eleven in the morning, two days later.

Marvin rubs Chase's fuzzy back absent-mindedly, his heavy wolf breathing steady against his leg. Henrik's on his other side, flopped out on his back, dead to the world. He was up late making sure his dad got back on his flight to Germany okay, and he came home tearful but steady, somehow, talking about how things will be better with his parents now, he thinks, and how he's done living in the past.

Afterwards, he shifted back into a wolf for the first time since he was feral and fell asleep on Marvin's big round pack bed, moved into a spare room. Marvin's finally given up his own apartment. Doesn't need it anymore, not when Chase was so excited to have him move in here. Jackie will keep his house - no matter how much he loves being an Alpha, Jackie will always need his own space. Marvin laughs at the thought of him and Anti trying to work around each other in that little house. They'll figure it out over there, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have Anti here instead, pretty soon, because he softens every day.

Marvin extricates himself from the pair of wolves dozing in his bed, stretching and padding out into the quiet living room. It's tidy in here and Marvin and Henrik's decorations have joined in with Chase's to fill the room out, adding color and comfort. Light pours through the windows. Marvin flops down on the couch only to hear an inquisitive noise behind him, startling him for a second. JJ's scent is so entrenched in the smell of the home Marvin didn't notice him back there.

"Oh, why are you sleeping back there still?"

JJ slinks out from behind the bed and ducks into the bathroom for a minute, coming back out as a man, and fully dressed. Marvin rumbles and reaches out for him, and JJ crashes into his side sleepily. He signs at him and Marvin picks up on a couple of the words, trying to answer him as best he can. JJ doesn't seem to mind his fumbling. When Jackie asked him and Anti to teach them all sign, it lit something up in JJ that still seems to give him a glow of his own.

"You still comfiest behind the couch, huh? You can come stay in the pack bed if you want, or at least one of the spare beds."

JJ shrugs and shakes his head. Their boundaries are all a little different. Maybe someday he'll be comfortable being naked in front of them all when he shifts or sleeping in a pack bed, or maybe he won't. He's still theirs. Even when he starts his classes this fall and his hours change, he'll still be theirs. Marvin kisses the side of his head.

"Put on the video again," JJ signs. Marvin chuckles and turns on the TV. They open Youtube and Marvin gets up to make everybody breakfast, listening to the sounds of their video from the other room.

"What's up, guys, my name is Chase Brody and I am back again with another video - I know, they said it would never happen. I have to tell you guys I was so nervous last week after posting that, I really didn't know what everyone's reactions would be, if that would be the end of my career, you know, I really spiraled for a minute. And there have been a couple real assholes, I have to admit. But my fellow wolves out there and every human who was an old fan and has stuck with me through everything, or who just saw my face for the first time last week - thank you so fucking much. I don't know how to tell you how much it means to me to see that outpouring of love and support, and to know that maybe my openness and transformation has meant something to you too. So I've been crying my eyes out about it on my Twitter already, you probably saw. I don't know how much I'll be posting going forward, but I can tell you right now that for the first time in years, I feel like I have a real future ahead of me, and wherever I go next... I know I won't ever be alone. So if you're feeling like you've got nothing to live for, I just want you to know your people - your pack - they're out there, in the most unlikely, terrible circumstances, sometimes. You are never alone. So thank you again, and here's my next video as promised: just me and my pack, being stupid, playing games. Thanks for letting me record something, you fuckers. I love you, I'm so glad to have you."

Marvin whisks eggs and smiles as the video transitions into himself, Jackie, Chase, and Henrik shouting about Mario Kart together. When he comes into the room to give JJ his breakfast, he can see Jackie shoving Chase off the couch, trying to stop him from winning, and depositing him on top of a slightly grumpy black wolf lying beside all of them. On the TV screen, JJ is laughing and taking pointers from Marvin which are not helping him very much, steering Bowser Jr and signing between rounds, his words written across the bottom of the screen. Henrik pretends to angrily throw his remote after losing yet again and instead ends up spilling a drink everywhere: they all start cracking up and blaming each other, scrambling up to get paper towels and carpet cleaner.

It's just a ten minute video, and none of them introduce themselves to the camera. They would have played like that anyway.

There's no knock on the door as Jackie comes bursting into Chase's house in real time, Anti trailing beside him with his hands in his pockets and color back in his face again. He smells like rain and lightning, bright and dangerous, natural and untainted.

"Everybody up, everybody get your shoes on!" Jackie hollers. "We're going for a run, up, up!"

Marvin rolls his eyes at the scrambling noises upstairs, and Jackie comes over to give him a hug. "Aw," says Marvin, hugging him back. "What's that for?"

"Oh, nothing," says Jackie, scenting him lightly. "I'm just stealing your bacon."

"Hey!"

"Are we going or what?" Anti calls, and when JJ races over to him to jump at him, Anti just crouches to let him onto his back, hoisting him up and carrying him right out the door. "My little brother's antsy, let's get the hell out of here!"

Chase and Henrik come racing downstairs and Jackie wrangles them all towards the park. There's an old couple out for a walk who looks at them with shock and probably horror, a loud, large pack of wolves interrupting their pleasant human day, but who cares? They're allowed to live here. They're happy. They're not hurting anybody. What's even the point in worrying about it? What's the point in being angry?

Jackie waits for him to catch up, touching the small of his back for a moment. "You good?"

Marvin smiles at him, and then out at the pack. Chase and Henrik are practicing signs with Anti and JJ. Jameson signs something that makes them all smile, even, for a moment, Anti.

"I'm good," he says. "Beautiful day, huh? I hope the summer never ends."

"Nah," says Jackie. "We'd get sick of it. I like spring the best anyway. How all the new things grow out of the old. Come on, those four will leave us behind if we're not careful."

As Marvin follows his pack towards the forest, their scents all come washing over him in a rush. He takes in a deep breath, and then, in one soft exhale, he lets it all go.

[almostjollyprince]

100ish Days of Productivity: The Second Week

Day 5/100 - Jan 6 2024 I ran my D&D campaign. First session in months (we took a break for the holidays around October). Went pretty well. I had planned for that part that they were getting into to take 2 sessions, but I've got a pretty clever group so we managed to wrap it up in 1 session. Spookiness awaits. After the session I started finalizing the details for the Wednesday campaign because that's also starting up again in a few days. Rewrote some ideas as a means of hopefully jump-starting character development for some PCs. We'll see how it turns out.

Rest Day - Jan 7 2024 I took it easy and played games all day. I was hoping to be a little more productive yesterday, but I'm already feeling a bit of the burnout from this 100 Days of Productivity thing. On a side note, I'm almost done with Year 1 of Coral Island, so that's kind of cool I guess. I still haven't decided who I want to romance but it could also be that 1) none of the bachelors/bachelorettes really stand out to me as husband/wife material or 2) I don't care about the romance aspect of the slice-of-life farm game genre. It was like that with Stardew Valley, it was like that with Rune Factory, and it was like that with Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons.

Day 6 - Jan 8 2024 Weather was pretty bad, so I worked from home and provided support for the other developers. I'm trying to study for the certification exam, but the body doesn't want to do what the mind wants it to do. Like there's some sort of disconnect between wants and needs. I hate this feeling. Part of me wonders if I ever fully recovered from the severe burnout I had from one of my previous jobs that ruined my physical and mental health. I finished wrapping up the stuff I needed for the Wednesday campaign, so that was the evening/night.

Day 7 - Jan 9 2024 Roads were clear so I went into the office. Work work work. My buddy for the day and I built a modal that appears for one of the buttons, but after looking at how the original handles that part, it turns out that it should be a page of its own instead of a modal. That's fine, the heavy lifting is done and it shouldn't take more than a day to rewire it as a page instead of a modal. After work, I double-checked my notes for the Wednesday campaign and then just played games. Oh, and swap out the filters for the HVAC. It's supposed to get really cold over the weekend and it's around the time to swap them out anyway, so might as well do it while I don't have anything major going on.

Day 8 - Jan 10 2024 I'm in charge of deciding pairs every week, but it's really hard to follow the whole 'paired programming' thing when we're working with such a small team for the rotation, I can't pair certain roles together (orders from higher up), and the mid/senior devs keep getting pulled away to handle responsibilities that aren't even theirs to begin with. Someone confided in me that they were considering looking elsewhere because the whole reason they joined was for this pairing system and it wasn't happening. I get it, I really do. We should be getting some new blood in the office in less than 2 weeks so hopefully that can help shake up this feeling of drudgery. Rewiring the modal to the page didn't take longer than a half a day. We haven't coded any functionality into it yet because it sounded like we might be getting some new guidance for the project that might make everything we've done not matter. After doing some research, it looked like we could still connect what we have with the original framework after overhauling the older version of .NET we have for it to a newer version. Cool. That information will probably be presented at the meeting on Friday with the customer, so that'll be resolved. After some last minute prepping (once I got home from work), I ran the Wednesday session for my players. Like the Saturday group, they haven't played since October. Session went pretty well, but I did get some complaints about some stuff that went on during the session so I'll have to address them (again). It's the first session in months so I get that some of the rules we established were broken. Just gotta... remind them of said rules.

Day 9 - Jan 11 2024 Got some mediocre news in the morning. The paperwork I submitted over a year ago still hadn't been processed, and I'm still the only person on the team lacking those permissions the paperwork is supposed to give me. I can't really do my job as a team lead on my own without those permissions, but there's nothing either of us can do about it. The ball's not in our court. Did a team building event with the team in the form of a group lunch. The distraction was nice. The project manager asked me to submit an overview of the work I did for one of the projects I lead so that he could send that to the customer of a particular project, even though all that information is on that project's Trello. It's late enough in the workday that I'll just make a note of it for tomorrow, but I get how the other leads feel about all this work that isn't our responsibility being passed on to us. I had to start putting some events in motion for the Wednesday campaign, so I started sharing some information of what's to come with select individuals. I also do this with the Saturday campaign for their stuff. Speaking of the Saturday campaign... since they're about to wrap up an arc I need to finish finalizing the next arc. They're free to go to any of the other regions, but the only one that makes any logical sense is the Republic. So for that I'll need...

Day 10 - Jan 12 2024 I made sure to let the project lead know that there's some merge requests for the Develop branch. We'll need to lock down the code so that we're not introducing potentially new issues in the stuff that's being demo'd today. The project lead was having some issues getting one of the branches to work on his machine, so after verifying that it worked on mine he just recloned the project and got it to work for him after doing that. I also took care of the overview I put off yesterday while he was getting set up for the demo. After demo, the team played some Jackbox. The team's small enough that everyone gets to play. I didn't win, but I'm just here to have a good time. After work I reached out to an acquaintance about a design for the Saturday campaign. I'm lucky and thankful that I know a bunch of different artists. This particular artist designed some eldritch horror concepts for a different campaign that I'm in, and since I'll be needing one soon they were the perfect pick. We brainstormed some ideas and they got to work, but it was only after they had gone to bed that I came up with an even better idea, and for that, they'll need my notes... I'll make sure to compensate them for their efforts. Treat your artists well, and they'll treat you well in return. Kind of applies to all relationships in life, really. I don't know why some people struggle with that philosophy, but it is what is it.

Day 11 - Jan 13 2024 Oh hey the weekend. Unfortunately there's one hellova cold snap hitting the region and other places so whatever plans I had of going out is... just not gonna happen. I'm just gonna buckle down and stay warm. The wife finally got Monster Hunter World working again on her computer, so we hunted some monsters. My file of Monster Hunter World that we have on the Playstation 4 is much further than where I'm at on PC, but we can't skip cutscenes so it was a bit of a slog getting through more of story. On the Playstation I think I left off around the Alatreon encounter (big dragon fight right before the final big dragon fight), but on the PC version I still hadn't made it to the Elder's Recess (one of the later zones of baseline story). The wife and I are both seasoned veteran hunters so the fights were pretty easy. It was just... the unskippable cutscenes. And before I get any flak for skipping cutscenes, I just wanna say that I've already seen all the cutscenes on the Playstation version. Also, when the fights take less time than the cutscene itself (and you gotta watch the cutscene before other hunters can join you on the fight), there's an issue. Maybe that's just me. I enjoyed Tri, 3U, 4U, and Generations from the old gen, and Rise from the new gen. Maybe it's just the story pacing from World that's making it unenjoyable to sit through a second time. Hopefully Monster Hunter Wilds has a good story (not that Monster Hunter is winning in the story category anytime soon), or at least an option to skip certain cutscenes. Aside from Mon Hun, I sent over my notes to the artist and wrapped up Year 1 of Coral Island. The artist liked what they were seeing in the notes so I've got high hopes they'll design something exceptional. I was also asked by a different artist to conceptualize my character's late wife in a different campaign, and they did an amazing job drawing her.

Rest Day - Jan 14 2024 It took a bit of effort to motivate myself to write this new update for the 100ish Days of Productivity. It definitely ties back to that disconnect I briefly wrote about earlier in the week. I need to get better about it. Otherwise it defeats the entire purpose of this journey of self-improvement. It's still really cold out (yesterday it was in the negatives, today wasn't much better). Bundled up and played some Final Fantasy 14. There's a new patch for the game coming up, so I wanted to spend some time and deal with some of the Challenge Log items, which are basically weekly goals that earn you some extra coin for completing a certain number of them. It was also a good time to decorate the inside of the medium house I won back in December. While I wasn't able to decorate the entirety of it, I did make some good progress on the upper and main levels. I've got vendors set up inside the house that have housing items I can buy, and what I can't buy from them I go out and gather myself. I think I've got some great lighting on the upper floor, but I'll need to add more light sources to the main floor. It's too dark on the eastern side pretty much any time it isn't between the in-game hours of 6am - 12pm. Same thing with the western side but anytime that isn't between 12pm - 6pm. I wonder if the ceiling light is just no good for how I have the marble walls set up? I have tomorrow off, so I'm hoping I can overcome the disconnect and get some studying done.

[victorluvsalice]

They did indeed! Smiler broke out the old Charisma to close a few deals, and they and Victor rung up their various customers for six items in the end -- a rainbow egg, a zombie cake, a box of meat substitute jars, a happy-scent perfume, a crate of strawberry milk, and a raspberry pie -- for a total profit on the day of $2,502! :D Yeah, I know, not that much given how weird Sim economics is, but currently they're on one of the lowest mark-ups, and this is less a money-making venture and more of just a way to use up all the produce they grow on the farm. XD There was some worrying lag at times while they were ringing people up, and I got a Last Exception that makes me think some of Simsonian Library's stuff doesn't always play nice with Brazen Lotus's stuff, but it all worked out in the end!

Aaand Smiler managed to close the store before anyone could go into the bathroom and find Alice "marking her territory" on the floor. *facepalm* Alice. I know you're a werewolf, and Erratic to boot. But the stalls were RIGHT THERE! Like, seriously, RIGHT THERE! Fortunately, she cleaned up the puddles without any complaint, but yikes. *facepalm* Anyway, she and Smiler finished cleaning up the store while an exhausted Victor napped, and I bought the "First Simoleon" perk and hung it up behind the front counter, along with one of the best pictures from their earlier photo session. :) Though I may want to tweak the placement later...eh, we'll see what happens.

And with that, it was time for the gang to head home! Where, fortunately, there was no more Blizzard -- OR Clement Frost waiting to bug them. Victor Scruberooed himself and then Transportalated up to bed, while Alice let out a Somber Howl to lower her Fury and then sped up to bed. Smiler, meanwhile, flew up to their room to study the latest trends, then hyped and released their "Let's Play Sim Scuffle" video to take advantage of a burst of interest in video games. I hung up my other favorite picture of the trio in front of their store beside their room, then had them breed their frogs to make a new plasma pack --

And instead got a Leopard Frog, one Smiler didn't have yet! So I had them head up to the attic to put that in the collection. :) Now they just need a plain Heart frog, a plain Eggplant frog, and the Whirly variation on the Dirt frog to complete their collection! Nice!

And so this update ends with Smiler singing to themselves in the attic, Victor and Alice sound asleep in their bed, and everyone having had a successful TV Premiere and a pretty successful first opening of their store. Next time -- we have a PROPER grand opening, with a lot less bullshit. XD See you then!

[shades-of-sapphire]

Promises unbroken

The coda of Soon - go ver.

Even before she shouldered the glass door open, she already spotted her husband through the glass wall surrounding the little café. It was the same café where she saw him last time, which was three weeks ago before she had to go overseas to attend multiple back-to-back fashion week events. She suspected this had become one of his favorite place, because she noticed the familiar room as his background multiple times during their video calls session. 

He grinned when she confronted him about that. "This place is growing on me," he said, helping her park her suitcases. "It's pretty close from my office, with great ambiance and great lattes." He pulled her into a tight, long hug, to which she responded with equal enthusiasm. "Hi," he whispered to her hair. 

"Hello, darling." She buried her face on his chest and took a long, deep breath in effort to fill her lungs with the familiar scent of him. Tired and lightheaded from the giddiness of reuniting with her husband, she thought she could fall asleep right then and there. "I miss you." 

"Told you I'll see you soon. I never break my promises." 

She laughed, pulling away from him to pull on his arm so that he sat down next to her. "That you do. How was your day?" 

He told her about it, one arm moving animatedly while he let her clung to the other one. She was never this clingy under normal circumstances, but she always found herself wanting to be as close to him as possible, for as long as she could manage, whenever the two of them got back together after some time apart – which, with her line of work, happened quite often. She rested her head on his shoulder as she told him about her flight, feeling the laughter rumbling inside him as she told the funny conversation she had with the professor sitting next to her. 

"I feel bad for him, though," he said. "Imagine booking a window seat just to spend the entire flight grading papers." 

"It was dark anyway, it's not like he could enjoy any view." 

"Still sad, though. Reminds me of my own business trips." 

She gave the arm she was hugging a pat. "You should really stop hogging the window seat if you're going to stare at your screens the entire time." 

As if on cue, one of said screens – his phone on the table – lit up, followed by an identical chime from her own phone inside her jeans' pocket; both coming from the same calendar notification. She frowned at the reminder. "You still have meetings? I don't recall seeing anything past 9 on your calendar." 

He sighed wearily. "It's last-minute, an extended version of the previous one. Would you mind waiting? It's only half an hour, I promise. Then we'll go home." 

She kissed his jaw – the highest she could reach without too much effort – then retreated to her previous position of clinging to his arm. "As long as you can do it with one hand, because I'm not letting go of this one." 

He chuckled. "Fine, you can keep that one." 

She kept it indeed, using it as a pillow between her cheek and the table. She was still a little jet-lagged and tired from the long flight and time difference, so it was easy for his deep voice to lull her into sleep as he went through his meeting. She let her consciousness slip in and out, but never fully succumbing into slumber because she was a light sleeper and couldn't help but twitch awake whenever his tone sharpen – which happened quite often throughout the meeting. He sounded irritated, she registered, borderline frustrated even. And, beneath all that, tired. Now that she realized how tired he sounded, she wondered why she didn't notice the exhaustion earlier. 

He did keep his promise, though; at just a minute or two before his half an hour was up (which she was secretly counting), he wrapped things up, even though they're not finished yet. "That will be all for tonight," she heard him saying at the end of his summary. "I promised my wife to keep this meeting half an hour max, so we will revisit the rest tomorrow. Thank you." 

He disconnected from the meeting and closed his laptop with a force a little harder than required, not bothering to shut it down properly. He leaned to the back of his chair; she lifted her eyes to him, but his were closed as he let out a long, exhausted breath. "Did you just cut off your meeting for me?" 

He opened his eyes and smiled at her, his previously obvious exhaustion fading just a little. "I never break my promises, remember?" 

"Your team will think you're such a huge sap, you know." 

"Only for you," he grinned. He pulled the arm she was holding, pulling her with it. "Come here." 

She snuggled closer to him, leaning to his side as he circled his arm around her, pressing her close. She felt his chest inflating and deflating as he let out a content sigh once he held her against him. "You need some time off," she muttered. 

"Maybe," he hummed, voice a bit slurred. "Now I need sleep more. Sleep and you." 

"Sap," she chuckled. "Let's go home so you can have both, then." 

"Mm." He rested his head on top of hers, nestling until he found a comfortable position. "But I already have both right here, right now." 

"You want to sleep here?" 

"Fifteen minutes." From his voice, she knew he was slipping away already. "Need power nap. G'me fifteen, then home. Promise." 

Because she was also tired, she nodded and closed her eyes too. "Fifteen, then home." 

He never broke his promises, but just now for the first time ever he did, because they ended up sleeping for almost half an hour. Despite the rather uncomfortable sitting position, it was the best sleep she'd had in three weeks, because he was right there with her. 

[wanderinginksplot]

Warriors in Red Armor

Next | Masterlist

Chapter One

Hound I

"So, are we going to 79's tonight?" Hound asked. He had meant to be subtle about it, but the question burst out of him the moment his well-worn boots crossed the threshold of the small break space allotted to members of the Coruscant Guard.

As break spaces went, the one designated for the Coruscant Guard's clone troopers was an embarrassment. Some determined being had managed to cram a table and a handful of chairs inside, but it was a tight fit. If more than a few fully armored troopers went inside at the same time, none of them would get back out without removing some armor to clear the traffic jam. The lights flickered, the faucet leaked, the floor was always sticky, and the stuffy air held a hint of the chemicals that had been stored there years ago. Since then, the previous break space had been renovated into an office for one of the few nat-born commanding officers and this one had been created for the clone troopers.

Still, the smell of caf was stronger than the smell of chemicals most days and the light from a nearby advertisement screen lit the room so brightly that the flickering lights didn't give any of the troopers a migraine anymore. Hound always was a man who liked to see the glass as half-full. Maybe even a little more than half, if that glass was sitting under the dripping faucet.

Thire snorted at Hound's question, leaning back in his chair until gravity threatened to topple him. "Well, boys? Hound wants to know if we're going to 79's this lovely Friday evening. What do we think?"

Thorn glanced around the room, looking unamused by his brother's antics. "We think I'm the only other one here, di'kut."

"Exactly!" Thire said in triumph, obviously determined to ignore his fellow commander. "It's the weekend! Why wouldn't we go to 79's?"

"Because you've finally realized that it's a glorified zoo?" Thorn snapped, tone venomous. "79's is where civvies go to stare at clone troopers so they can feel like they're being daring. In reality, they're being irritating."

Having spoken his piece, Thorn tossed back the last of his cup of caf, always consumed as dark as his mood. Hound shuddered at the thought. Corrie Guard caf was brewed at the approximate concentration of speeder fuel and could eat through duracrete. Only a trooper who hated himself would drink it black.

Thorn always drank it black.

"So you don't want to go?" Hound asked again, sounding heartbroken.

"No, I'll go," Thorn told him. "Zoo or not, 79's still has the cheapest booze on Coruscant that doesn't use poison as a mixer."

"Well, that's the most excited I've heard Thorn get about anything for a week, at least," Thire smirked. "Commander Fox, you want in on this?"

The Head Commander of the Coruscant Guard, having just stepped into the break room to fill his mug with caf, shook his head. "No, I'm on duty tonight. The Clone Rights group has been cleared to march and the Chancellor wants an extra Guard presence. Stone will be stuck here as well, monitoring any new arrivals."

"Ugh," Hound said, summarizing everyone else's point of view. "Well, we'll be thinking of you both, Commander."

Fox lowered the datapad in his hand to shoot a look in Hound's direction. "Sergeant, don't you have that ARF PR stunt tomorrow at 0800?"

Hound shrugged. "Yeah, but I can do both."

"Make sure you don't miss it," Fox ordered sternly. "The last thing I need is to have to report to the Chancellor that you missed a chance to give the GAR a boost in civil opinion."

Hound saluted and Fox turned his attention to the other break room occupants. "Thorn, if you let your stubble get any longer, it'll be considered a beard and subject to facial hair regulations. Thire, sit on the chair like a normal being, would you?"

Thorn nodded and Thire grinned as he let the chair's legs slam onto the floor. Fox rolled his eyes at their antics, refilled his cup of caf, and left the break area. Hound idly wondered how many of the gray hairs appearing at the Head Commander's temples were due to the commanding officer team. Still, the Chancellor had let Fox choose his own team of COs, so there was no one to blame but himself.

"Meet at 2100?" Thire asked. "That's prime time for 79's and there'll be plenty of talent. I'll go ahead and apologize, vode. When you look this good, you automatically get your pick of the females."

Thire brushed a hand back across his hair - meticulously trimmed to maintain the subtle horizontal lines shaved into the otherwise regulation cut - and grinned at the other two. Hound and Thire rolled their eyes, but agreed anyway.

---

Kai I

"Hey, do you guys want to go to 79's tonight?" Kai asked, perched on the desk she was supposed to be sitting behind. She was always restless and neither of the other women blamed her for the odd choice of seat - even though it made inter-desk communication a bit of a pain.

Arkularia - who, for the sake of Kai's sanity, allowed the others to call her 'Ark' - was the first to respond. "79's? The clone bar?"

"Do you want to drink, dance, or find a one-night stand?" Ransom asked from behind her expansive tech setup. "Because there are better places for any of those. Closer, too."

"No, I want to go to 79's," Kai said, kicking up her chin. "And as for what I want… I want all of them. All three options, please and thank you."

"Did you just try to order a night out? Like from a menu?" Ransom asked. From the tone of her voice, Kai had managed to earn a rare smile from her boss. Of course, that was only a guess since Ransom didn't emerge from her den so Kai could verify the expression.

"No… but can you imagine how much easier that would be?" Kai asked in her own defense.

"It would take some of the fun out of it, I think," Ark said slowly.

Kai chucked a wad of flimsi at her friend and co-worker's head, cheering to herself as it connected and bounced off of Ark's white-blonde hair. "I know that, Ark! C'mon guys, do you want to come to 79's with me or not?"

"I'm out," Ransom said immediately, shutting down the projector option on her desk. She was still illuminated by the ambient light from the schematics on her datapad. The cybernetic implants in Ransom's arm gleamed in the blue glow as she dragged a hand over her shaved head. "I have to work late if we have any hope of finishing our next job on time."

"Ark?" Kai asked, not too proud to sound like she was begging.

Ark sighed, pale eyes hopeless in the face of Kai's wheedling. "Fine, I'll go along."

"Yes!"

"Ransom, are you sure you can't come, too?" Ark asked, her voice a bit desperate.

"I really do have to stay and work on this," Ransom apologized, gesturing at her assortment of datapads. "My condolences."

"We're going to a club, not facing a firing squad!" Kai admonished. "Besides, I just want to find someone fun."

"Like that last guy?" Ark asked, squinting a bit as she applied her prodigious memory to her own question. "What was his name?"

"Not sure," Kai admitted. "But he was so much fun! Great tattoos."

"So you are looking for a hookup! I knew it," Ransom crowed.

Ark frowned. "Why a clone trooper? They're never on-planet for long before they have to leave."

"Exactly," Kai said with a wink. "Love 'em and leave 'em."

"Didn't the last one stick around for a while? I thought I remembered seeing him more than a few times…" Ark pondered.

"Hardcase! His name was Hardcase," Ransom remembered. "He came by every day of his leave."

"Strange name," Ark commented.

"Strange guy," Ransom said with a shrug.

"But he was hot," Kai countered, folding a piece of flimsi to look like a tooka. At least it did in her imagination. "And so much fun. I need another someone like him."

"What happened to him?" Ark asked curiously.

Kai would have blushed if she had any shame - too bad for Coruscant that she didn't. Instead, she pouted. "He moved on with a Zeltron who works at GAR headquarters. That's the best place to meet troopers, but they don't give access to civilians unless they have official business."

"Hardcase didn't seem like the type to ghost you out of nowhere," Ransom mused.

"I… may have freaked out about him asking me to be his girlfriend," Kai admitted. "I don't want anything serious, you know? Besides, I'm the one who introduced him to the new girl. She's a sweetheart. He adores her and she's the same about him. Can't be too upset with that."

Ark and Ransom exchanged loaded glances, but Kai had no interest in a therapy session. "Right! So, Ransom, you're still out?"

"I have no interest in coming along and I have work to do here."

"Well, that was almost nice," Kai congratulated. "Ark, it's you and me. When should we go?"

Ark shrugged. "Why don't we just stop there on the way home from work?"

"Are you kidding?" Kai asked, aghast at the idea. "We aren't exactly wearing Senatorial dress, but we're still too professional for a club! No, we need to go home, change, and meet there. How long do you need?"

"I don't know… half an hour?"

"How long do you need to find an outfit that makes sense in a club setting?" Kai rephrased her question.

"Two hours," Ark corrected herself, sounding sheepish.

"That's more like it," Kai said, satisfied. Her look turned wicked as she said, "Now, let's talk about makeup…"

"Are you sure you don't need any help here, Ransom?" Ark asked their boss, her eyes widening with hidden significance.

"No, it's too late!" Kai denied. "Meet me at my apartment and I'll help you. Let's say eight."

Ark glanced back at Ransom, who gave a sympathetic shrug. Ark sighed. "Fine, eight."

---

A/N - Hello, and welcome to yet another Clone Wars-based story! I can't leave these poor guys alone. They deserve so much more than they got! So, you may have noticed that some of the characters are a bit different from the way they are normally portrayed in fan fiction. The first fic I read with the Coruscant Guard had Thire as a happy joking guy and Thorn as a serious doom-and-gloom trooper. I'm coming to realize that is not typical for fanon interpretations, but those characterizations are embedded in my mind. I hope you didn't find this too jarring!

I'm experimenting with a new Game of Thrones-style POV tracking format. Hopefully that will keep things from getting too confusing as we bounce back and forth across eight different POVs! I apologize for the short length of this chapter, but it's just a simple introduction of (most of) the characters.