#and also how many people did he use that trapdoor on

[nenoname]

there's many questions that could be asked about the time between the portal incident and the mystery shack becoming stan's home

like how long did it take for the memories to become too painful that stan had to board up ford's room and hide it behind a shelf, leaving it untouched for decades?

when did he feel comfortable enough to let himself pack up or throw away all of ford's stuff? to add in all the furniture and decorations that he liked?

and most importantly

how long did it take for him to press that giant red button

[aiza-luna]

Watch Dogs Headcanons - Animal Quirks/ Symbolisms.

By Aiza Luna :D

Feels like I'm writting a newspaper but nah, just more delulu Aiza journal 😭

Anyways!! Remember when I said I had Headcanons of giving my fav characters animal refs/ symbolisms? Well... Decided to do that today! 🥳

So lemme start with the list! First gonna do with some of the characters from WD1 that got most of my attention/ are more well-known. ( PS: trigger warning for people with Arachnophobia when arriving at Clara's part? Is right under Aiden's, skip if you so wish)

Aiden Pearce - Gray Fox. (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)

Ok, this one is basically common knowledge since we all know that's where his damn nickname comes from lol.

Aiden has a lot of paralels with Gray Foxes, from the round faces, to climbing skills to hunting abilities!

Foxes in general represents Cunniness, Witt, a Sharp Mind and a Dubious Morality with it's Trickstery Nature. However, Gray Foxes represent neutrality, a symbol of maturity, but also sadness and indecisiveness... That sounds familiar, does it? It fits Aiden's description awfully well!

For my HC of his mannerism:

- When Aiden was younger, he used to climb trees all the time back at Belfast. His mom used to yell at him afraid he would fall. ( Wich he did. A lot actually.)

- Like a fox, he has great hearing, detecting easily when people are approaching by.

- He loves fruit (He likes Strawberry Shortcake and Banana Cake) and meat! Although he rarely has time to cook for himself and relies heavily on fast food, he is an enjoyer of chicken and hare meats!

- When Aiden manages to sleep without stress (in very rare occasions), he tend to sleep curled up under his sheets without noticing.

- He has a strong smell. When not because of his constant exercises running after criminals, is because of his wooden deodorant + his trench coat of leather. lol

(Like even after showering, his smell is not bad, just strong than usual.)

- His face is secretly very sensible. If he shaves his face and gets touched their somehow, he'll shiver and recoil bc that's a VERY sensitive face. Even with his stubbles, he can easily feel the texture and touch of someone on his cheeks, like a fox with it's whiskers. 🥺

Clara Lille - Trapdoor Spider! (Liphistius malayanus)

This one is also, once again, common knowledge! I mean, she's called like that in game- lol

Our dear Badboy17, the tattoo girlboss herself, it's pretty obvious where the spider parallels go with Clara: Her lethality, how she work in the dark, carefully using the web in her favor... But is there more to it? 🤔

Spiders represent the Resilience, Unseen Danger and the Connectedness.

All those meanings fit Clara perfect: She's connected to many things, Aiden, the Club, Dedsec... She works in the dark corners, weaving her web of connections and the benefits she can get of it. Similarly, she is an unseen danger, a person that can discover everything about others without them even suspecting, and using that against them... But she's also Resilient. Despite her connections and actions, she weaved her own path to redemption on helping Aiden, to try to fix her mistake and make amends for her past actions... And much like a spider, she was easily killed, because while Spiders are easy to disappear from our sight, people won't think twice about killing them if they're considered a "threat" to them...

For my HC of her mannerisms:

- Clara is excelent with handscraft: Eletronics, Art, Sewing... She's great at anything that requires hand work since she's very precise and perfectionist.

- She's into Urban Exploration! She loves to find dark, abandoned and hidden places left in urban areas, specially if they have some connection to Blume as a bonus.

- One of her favorite foods is Sushi! Is quick, pratical and she just like fishes. (One of Trapdoor Spiders prey 🥰)

- Is not afraid of insects but doesn't like them at all, will either kill or try to take them away from the place, if the insect is harmless.

- Clara has pretty good instinct, mostly reflex in near-body combat, but she rarely displays them since she rarely needs to fight someone nowdays or is caught offguard by gunned opponents.

- She is a solitary person, in the sense that she stays hidden in her little corner and rarely gets out with others, aside for working at the tatto studio she works on. :')

Jordi Chin - Korat Cat. (Felis Catus)

This one was suggested by @paul-poppy-art but I think everyone here agrees Jordi gives major cat energy. XD

Our favorite Fixer is funny, odd and sarcastic lovable sociopathic asshole and we all know it, but saying out loud, that does fit the description of a cat! 😂

Cats are hunters, and their symbolism is mostly tied to Indenpendence, Inteligence and Mystery, this fits Jordi perfect.

A man that works indenpendely, his only criteria is who pays more, wich will be more advanteging to him. An Inteligent and calculative killer that always has a plan in mind and a mysterious person whose' past we know nothing about! Still, he stays by Aiden's side and display his affection in a more non-verbal way (like a cat lol)

For my HC of his mannerisms:

- He has a pretty light walking, you can't hear him comming behind you... Wich is either very dangerous or annoying, depending on your situation.

- Jordi is incredibly sensitive to his surroundings and always knows what is happening around him. You can't surprise him, you simply can't.

- When not working, he tends to stay layed down or sit a lot, like a "big lazy cat". lol

- Is a clean freak. Likes to keep all his work and himself the most well-presented her can. He absolutely despite Aiden's lack of self-care. 😭

- Has extremily good reflexes and flexibility, if he gets to you, you're Fcked. (proof is at WD2)

- Is not a verbal type of guy to express his feelings, but more of the type of doing small gestures to the people he cares for. He brings them food as one of his love languages.

(Kinda like when a cat brings a bird at home to "feed their human". lol)

T-Bone Grady - Bearded Collie Dog. (Canis Lupus Familiaris)

Now is turn for the legendary Hacker Dilf himself!! 🥳

Honestly T-Bone was both easy and hard because well... His name. XD

I struggled a Lot with what race he could be, but looking a bit up, I think Bearded Collie would fit like a glove! For his character design, mostly. 😂

Dogs symbolism is tied to Loyalty, Fidelity, Alertness and Protection.

We see this a lot on T-Bone, he won't hesitate to attack to defend himself, although to his friend's he's loyal and always watch over them and their safety.

(Him trying to reach Aiden to alert him in the Bad Blood DLC) and of course, him always being in alert for Fixers after him.

My personal HCs for his mannerisms:

- Will occasionally pace around or throw/ destruct somethings if too stressed.

- Spend a lot of time on his hair and beared, and tends to let some hair strings behind.

(like a true big furred dog lol)

- Like the Bearded Collie breed, T-Bone doesn't usually "bark", he bites first.

(See his meeting with Aiden-)

- Can't really stay inside for too long, gets easily bored and just generally hates being idly by.

- Is curious and enjoys a challenge, this old a-hole will take anything to unlock areas/ information that no one else has access to.

(See his Wiki)

- Will always be around the people he cares for, like, physically. He follows/ stays around his friends like a dog with his owner. 😭

(Shows much more Physical Display of Affection out of the main Trio tbh)

Nicole Anne Pearce - Bumblebee. (Bombus)

HEAR ME OUT OK? The patterns on her shirt and her color palette reminded me so much of a Bumblebee! 😭

They're so chonky and floofy! Tell me Nicky ain't cute like them? 🥺🥹

Bumblebees symbolises Hardwork, Productivity, New Beginings and the Importance of a Community! I think those describes Nicole very well!

She's a hard-working single mother providing for her child(ren), her job as an Event Planner reminds me of the systematic work system of bees! Her community (family) is extremily important to her and she fought for their best... Unfortunetly, she had to re-start her life after everything that happened in WD, so all the animal symbolisms fit her character very well. :')

My personal HC for her mannerisms:

- She has the habit of "hum" while working, doing chores or running errands.

(Like the buzz of a bee lol)

-Nicky loves flowers but she doesn't have a garden since she rarely has time to dedicate to it. :')

-She loves honey! And she used to eat a lot of honey-made when she was a kid! 🥰

- Woman can't stay still, she's always moving around trying to do things: Chores, return calls, etc. Aiden used o joke she was "too much of a busy bee".

- She has a pretty characteristic floral smell. Almost all her house smell likes a garden, always with a floral hint in the air.

(Aiden used to find it comforting whenever he visited her and the kids.)

And that's it for today!! There are still missing some other characters from WD1 I still wanted to correlate to animal symbolisms, but this already long af 🥲

I'll (MAYBE) post a part II about the other characters I wanted to associate + another part talking about WD2 characters and their animal symbolisms I Headcanon them with 🥰

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading my delulu ramble, love you all 🙏🏽🩵

[maaarine]

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution (Cat Bohannon, 2023)

"If you put a pregnant mouse in an enclosure with a male who isn’t the father, she’ll abort (this is called the Bruce effect). (…)

Apparently, 5 percent of American rapes result in pregnancies. Rates in other human communities are similar.

That might not sound like a lot, but the chance of pregnancy resulting from a single bout of intercourse on your most fertile days is only 9 percent, with that chance dropping to near zero on non-fertile days.

For a little while, it did look as if human women might have a mini version of the Bruce effect, though: a woman who’s having regular sex with a man is more likely to become pregnant and carry that baby to term than a woman who has sex only once or twice around the time of her ovulation.

At first, researchers thought this was maybe a way to ensure the success of a local male’s sperm—after all, he’s more likely to help with his own offspring, right?—and reduce the chances of carrying a wayward male’s baby to term.

But with further research, it doesn’t seem to be a built-in monogamy booster after all—so long as they don’t have a sexually transmitted infection (STI), women who have sex with multiple men frequently are also more likely to carry their babies to term.

So it’s probably immunological: being exposed to sperm regularly, whether it’s with a monogamous partner or many partners, could help a woman’s body “recognize” the intruding sperm and attack them less, a bit like how slightly allergic people can get used to pollen or pet dander.

Why human women have so many miscarriages after the egg implants in the womb may also have little to do with the partner.

Most miscarriages occur in the first thirteen weeks of pregnancy, and even more commonly in the first eight.

And most of them seem to be due to chromosomal abnormalities.

That means one of two things: either the egg or the sperm already had some genetic issues, or at some point in early cellular division something went wrong.

That’s not a Bruce effect. It’s simply a body ending a pregnancy that would not have produced a healthy baby. (…)

Modern human beings don’t have anything like the Bruce effect, which means our ancestors probably didn’t, either.

We do have sort of foldy vaginas, but they’re not “trapdoor” vaginas, so it’s also likely that we didn’t evolve with a lot of gang rape going on.

The human reproductive system doesn’t betray a past in which competitive men regularly committed sexual violence or infanticide.

Ancient hominins just weren’t all that rapey. If they had been, women would probably have fancy vaginas, men would have hi-tech penises, and women would have a more reliable miscarriage response to rape and male threat."

[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

Ready set go rank your top ten TØP songs and why (purely audio)

Have them featuring images I’ve drawn where applicable! (This is totally not me wanting to be asked about the characters.)

“Polarize”: I’m super morality-oriented, and oh, if that pull isn’t something that resonates in my soul. “I wanted to be a better brother, better son…” YEAH. Go listen to Abbey Glover’s and Tessa Violet’s versions.

“Fall Away”: Same reasons as above. Also has a super pretty piano part (even if rapping while arpeggiating is not feasible)! “ ‘Cause I will save face for name’s sake, abuse grace, take aim to obtain a new name in a newer place, but my name is lame, I can’t walk and I ain’t the same, and my name became a new destiny to the grave.”

“Doubt”: It’s the perfect companion track for “Polarize”!

“Trapdoor”: I can actually play this one on piano, and lyrically, it sounds like if you took a bunch of Arthur Miller characters (specifically, Reverend Hale, Joe Keller, and Willy Loman) and made them fuse with each other. (Fun fact: All My Sons was baby’s first Miller play!)

“Goner”: This one is more hopeful than many would think. I love the bridge and the ending’s implication of a resolution! Even if Blurryface doesn’t disappear fully, it’s the assertion of control over him that matters.

“The Craving”: This is where you’d be seeing more art of the four/two/it's complicated people above if I had more time. "Say enough, say enough / Did I let her know, let her know / If I found my body in chains / I'd lay down and wait / 'Cause it's the fear of the unknown / That cripples every step we take / And I'd just hate to put this on her / But I swear that I will give / More than I take away / Mmm, the craving / Now I see intentions don't mean much"?! IT'S SO THEM. I can also play that on my ukulele!

"The Judge": "I don't know if this one is about me or the devil." As our beloved @artist-issues put it, Tyler's admission that he's as worthy of condemnation there is just...really vulnerable and honest and it flies in the face of everything the world teaches us. To me, it's like reading "I'm not the dragon. I'm not the princess either" and then getting later to "Okay, so I'm the dragon." Plenty of little girls dream of being princesses. All of us dream of being "good people," or at least "good enough" that we're basically the same. Not only are we not what we dreamed, we're the antithesis to that, but there is thankfully God's grace so that we don't always have to be. This song is the grasp for that. And you know I would be drawing the four/two/it's complicated people again for this one.

"Car Radio": I love those second-verse lines about faith and sleep and choosing our sides in this battle for our souls. Do I need to say any more?

"The Line": STRINGS! PIANO! My best friend got into TØP because of this one after quite some time of me being wild about it on my own. She had to bug me (affectionate) for a few days about hearing it and when I finally did? OH THE EDITS I WOULD MAKE TO THE FOUR/TWO/IT'S COMPLICATED PEOPLE I DREW.

"Mulberry Street": It's so Little Fires Everywhere-coded. "Keep your bliss / There's nothing wrong with this"? "Move out of our way / We're pushing sideways / Keep sidewalk under your feet"? Okay, Elena Richardson, pakialamera extraordinare. And the plinkity plink plink of the piano. How could I ignore that?

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

hello! im reasonably new to your account and i just saw that you have an arcana playlist (love the idea of that) and i dont know if you still take suggestions for the playlist, but in case you do, i have a few songs that remind me of characters (aka just Muriel, like literally just him) that might be of use :)

On the Mountain Tall - the Oh Hellos, not only does the name and the general vibe of the song fit him but there are a few lyrics in it like "I know you want me to be afraid, I know you want me to love you" "Up out of the grave of an angry ghost, Firing bricks from broken canon and prose, To build a wall so high it reaches the heavens in the sky" "Still you beat your drums, Raising holy war with every strum, Shouting down the quiet kingdom come, Brushing at your fingers, hoping you'll come around" that honestly just fit very very well

How to Disappear Completely - Radiohead cus its sad as fuck. "I'm not here, This isn't happening, I'm not here, I'm not here, In a little while, I'll be gone, The moment's already passed, Yeah, it's gone", if thats not a man dissociating through traumatic expiriences i dont know what is. The song keeps repeating "im not here", and seeing how Muriel chose to have a curse that makes people forget him, it is very fitting

Trapdoor - Twenty One Pilots, i have had an arcana obsession since like? 2019? when i was still a massive fan of this band, and this song always reminded me of muriel. "Take me out and finish this waste of a life, Everyone one gather around for a show, Watch as this man disappears as we know, Do me a favor and try to ignore, When you watch him fall through a blatant trapdoor, 'Cause nobody know his life (i always thought it was "he's alive")", it gives the vibes of how the people of vesuvia did Not Give A Shit About him. They just thought hed willingly murder so many people, nobody saw the literal chains he was stuck in and thought "hmm maybe hes being forced to do this"

No Suprises - Radiohead, it reminds me of how Muriel pulled away from all society after he fled from the colosseum. It reminds me of how he was so scared and so ashamed to interact with people, how he just wanted some silent and rest after all the horrible things he went though, not just in the colosseum but his entire youth. "You look so tired, unhappy. Bring down the government, They don't, they don't speak for us. I'll take a quiet life, A handshake of carbon monoxide, No alarms and no surprises, No alarms and no surprises, No alarms and no surprises, Silent, Silent", to me the song always feels like it needs to be sung while sobbing.

Sleep - My Chemical Romance, i 100% believe Muriel has so many nightmares, i mean its even shown in his route once. A symptom of ptsd is night terrors, and seeing what the guy has lived through theres no way he goes to sleep normally. I think this song catches the vibe of this pretty well.

PTSD - Joost, literally just a (dutch) song about ptsd. its a massive vibe and cus i hc that Muriel has ptsd i thought it be fitting

Me? Having massive brainrot abt Muriel? perhaps...

i hope this can be useful for your playlist!! (also if youd like i can give more of this, it is very fun to do lol)

@canofpeaches00000 woah, these are all awesome suggestions! I really appreciate how you broke down the lyrics and added context to them too, it doubled my capacity to enjoy them! ^.^

I've added them to the playlist and I'm putting them on the tag, thank you for all the recommendations friend! :D

[glassprism]

I’ve only ever seen Phantom on Broadway, and I’ve been so curious how the show looked in comparison when it went on tour. I’ve asked family members who saw it, but they don’t have the same level of interest in shows that I do, so they couldn’t remember any specifics. How would they do the chandelier and the candelabras coming out of the stage? Or the theatre de-aging at the beginning? Was there a proscenium constructed for the Phantom to do his appearances during Il Muto? Or the moment with the angel? Thank you in advance for all your Phantom knowledge! ❤️

Well, it depends on the tour you're talking about.

The Phantom of the Opera has had four tours in the United States (and also Canada, which the third and fourth tours went to). The first three tours, which collectively ran from 1989-2010, were extremely similar to Broadway in almost everything: sets, costumes, blocking, even the actors (many actors would get their start on the tour then move to Broadway, or switch back and forth between them). If there were any changes, it would be very minor and done because the theater they were in did not have capability to do a certain thing, e.g. the Red Death running offstage instead of going down a trapdoor. So whatever they do on Broadway, assume it is done the same way in the first three national tours.

The fourth tour is what a lot of fans called the restaged tour, as it radically altered all of the above, while still retaining just enough of the look to show that it was inspired by the replica. I've made this gifset and this post explaining the differences, but to also answer your specific questions:

The chandelier is already half-raised when the show starts and covered in a sheet. During the Overture, the sheets are sucked into the chandelier and it rises to where it will be for the rest of the show (until it falls of course).

There are no candelabras in the Phantom's lair in the restaging, apart from some small ones on his desk. The candles float from the ceiling (actually the inside of a big "drum set").

As there is much less in the way of drapery and backdrops to move around, the de-aging is done mostly with the actors. As the chandelier rises (a short distance), Raoul remains onstage. The rest of the people at the auction move offstage and are replaced with the various dancers and actors for Hannibal, moving in a dream-like manner. As Raoul goes offstage, they move into rehearsal mode, indicating we are now fully in "the past". Finally the boxes spin into view and a false proscenium is lowered.

There is a false proscenium, as indicated above, but the Phantom does not use it; when the chandelier drops, he is in one of the boxes instead.

There is no Golden Angel in the restaged tour either; instead, the Phantom sings his reprise on an anatomically correct Apollo statue that is on the stage floor.

If you want even more information about the restaged tour (again, the previous three national tours were virtually identical to Broadway so I assume you don't need more info about them), you can also take a look at a bootleg here. I hope that helps!

[the-stray-storyteller]

Get to know my OC!

*trumpets* @tea-and-mercury

Gently Tagging: @cabbojage @rickie-the-storyteller @palebdot @wubsbian @anonymousfoz and open tag

Also I copy pasted the questions only at the bottom of the post so it will be easier for you guys, you won't have to filter out the questions from all the shit I wrote.

______________________________________________________________

I walk on to the stage. Loud clapping ensues.

Me bowing down: Thankyou! Thankyou!

I sit down on a couch and take a thoughtful position.

Me: Everyday, especially Mondays, I wake up and think "School is fucking horrible" but then I remember that Havenpoint Academy is worse. So here I am with my favourite delinquent from Havenpoint to make me feel slightly better about my own life. Can I hear a cheer for AIDENE RAYNERS!

Aidene runs onto the stage. Everybody screams loudly. Aidene takes the seat in front of me.

Me: How are you doing today Rayners?

Aidene: Well...I tried not to punch somebody but he was too fucking annoying so I ended up kicking him in the stomach. Then he pulled my hair and then my friend attacked him. It was an all out brawl in the school hallway. It felt real good seeing him get hit so many times. So In short I am doing relatively fine.

Me: Damn! Let's not waste any time and get to the questions shall we?

Aidene: Go ahead love.

Me: Are you named after anyone?

Aidene: Naaaah....my name is so fucking unique that typing the words 'Aidene name meaning' on google will show 'Did you mean: Maiden name meaning.

Me: When was the last time you cried?

Aidene: The last day of my old school. It wasn't exactly sad crying though. Don't miss anybody over there.

Me: Do you have kids?

Aidene: Darling...I am still a virgin and a minor by law.

Me: Do you use sarcasm?

Aidene: Not really, that is more of Anne's and Penelope's thing.

Me: What's the first thing you notice about people?

Aidene: Are they rich or not?

Me: What's your eye colour?

Aidene: A deep brown that looks like honey under the summer sun and silver pools of starlight at night. That's how Anne describes it sometimes.

Me: Any special talents?

Aidene: Uh...I can be very very very annoying.

Me: Scary movies or happy endings?

Aidene: I have an over active imagination. I watched 'Lights out' and I felt like somebody was following me whenever I went into some place mildly dark. I couldn't sleep for the next week. So happy endings please.

Me nervously: Where were you born?

Aiden looking at me judgingly: In my mother's womb.

Me: What are your hobbies?

Aidene: I play both acoustic and electric guitar and sing occasionally. I tried my hand at art but it wasn't pretty enough for people. Also *cough* stealing *cough* and *cough* lockpicking *cough**cough*

Me: Do you have any pets?

Aidene: No but this crow comes by my window everyday. I give him food. In return he brings me little trinkets. I named him Corvy.

Me: What sports do you play/have played?

Aidene: I am a pretty decent swimmer and I am really good at running. I have won a couple ice skating competitions too.

Me: How tall are you?

Aidene lay down on the couch diva style and sighs deeply: Woe is me. I am only 5'4 but at least I am not as short as Valentina. She is only 5'2.

Me: Favourite subject at school?

Aidene: I like watching the art students paint from the window while skipping computers. So I like computers.

Me: Dream job?

Aidene: I really don't know....I like mythology so something related to that maybe. Or a musician, that would be cool.

Me: Well that is all we have for today and Aidene I believe you have a trapdoor to open. So until next time....so long farewell and don't die.

Curtains drop.

______________________________________________________________

THE QUESTIONS:

Are you named after anyone?

When was the last time you cried?

Do you have kids?

Do you use sarcasm?

What's the first thing you notice about people?

What's your eye colour?

Any special talents?

Scary movies or happy endings?

Where were you born?

What are your hobbies?

Do you have any pets?

What sports do you play/have played?

How tall are you?

Favourite subject at school?

Dream job?

[ambiguouspuzuma]

Pipes

The rats he could handle. They were a common or garden pest - run of the mill, or the barn, or the farmhouse - and something that many people had to deal with. There were established ways of doing so. Emre simply sprinkled some strychnine on the floorboards, baited some traps, and waited for the scuttling and scratching to stop. They kept coming back, of course, but he just put down more poison. The rats would run out before he did.

He couldn't do that for children. At least, not legally. Emre could have put spikes on the walls or built a moat around the garden, but that would certainly have been frowned upon, especially if they went home injured - or never went home at all. Their parents were clearly lax enough to let them wander off, but they would change their tune if they went missing, and then the town's adults would also find their way out to his cottage in the woods - with pitchforks, Emre imagined. He might add all the defences in the world, but he knew that even a fortress couldn't protect him then.

The children were too damn persistent. Like rats, they were cunning, resourceful little creatures. They could climb, they could gnaw, and they could probe for weaknesses. He could just about keep them out, but not without risk of injury, which brought that more adult attention: even if he could demonstrate that it wasn't his fault, that the scamps had smashed his window and cut themselves of their own volition, it would raise questions of why they'd been at his home in the first place. Questions which he didn't really know how to answer.

Emre had just wanted to play his pipe in peace. He'd thought he might find some of that here, far away from the dozenth town he'd been forced to flee in half-a-dozen years, deep into the woods where his only neighbours were the red deer and red foxes. But that had just been a pipe dream. He could manage a few tunes in privacy, but then the rats began to scurry underneath the floorboards, and he heard the distant babble of children on the horizon. A little music, night or day, and they decided it was time to pay a visit to the piper.

He'd tried child-proofing the house in more moderate ways: not those little rubber balls on the corners of tables, safety handles on his drawers, but by cutting down the tree that overhung his garden, and adding shutters to his ground floor windows. Not a gate on the stairs, but a lock on the gate. Emre couldn't add trapdoors, but he could stop the little rascals from falling through the doors he had. Or at least he could give it his best try.

The slide was his first big breakthrough. At great personal effort, Emre had dug a tunnel underneath his home. A pipe, really. It felt counter-intuitive, but it stopped the pesky blighters - rats and children both - from scrabbling others of their own. He needed an outlet to relieve the pressure. He lined the tunnel with varnished wood, connected it to his water tank, and curved it so that it deposited intruders back round to the front of the house.

His garden became a playpark. As children began their ceaseless circuits of his contraption, he realised that it had an added benefit: he now had an answer for their presence on his land. It made some sense that they would flock there, and any adult seeking out their missing spawn would only observe them performing the usual repetitive inanity that passed for play amongst their ranks. To help to sell that explanation, he constructed swings, a see-saw, and other decoration that they never used, driven only to press closer to the music that he played.

But then he went one better. Not a playpark, but a skatepark. If he put the children on wheels, they were even more committed to one-directional travel, locked into whichever loops he built for them, unable to scrabble up the sides or try to dig a tunnel of their own. It was difficult to strap them in, granted, but he just had to get them buckled to a board, or wearing skates on their hands and feet, and they were all set for hours of fun. Plenty of time for him to play, and then release them when playtime was over.

He built them ramps, halfpipes from the piper, trenches to halt their advance. In time, they started strapping themselves into the skates, unable to crawl up the inclines without building up the proper momentum. Of course, they still couldn't make it all the way to Emre's window - the waves growing higher as they rolled deeper into the ocean - but it kept them entertained as they danced to his tune. The noise was atrocious - but only when he played, which many would have said would be the case anyway.

[parasite-core]

Last night in pathfinder, we had a downtime episode. Questions were answered. Love blossomed. And the first of eleven Crone Queens was slain.

@scarlet-the-girl

Baba Yaga, still trapped in a doll but capable of speaking and moving about in a limited manner now that she’d returned to the Dancing Hut, addressed us formally for the first time in our journey. She told us to take a break for a day, as Elvana would be expecting us to come straight to her, and she needed some time to recuperate. She would call on us when she was ready to make her move and take back her city.

She also ordered Nestian to slap Ratibor, and Edeya to slap Calio, because it’s funny, and because no one was going to argue with Baba Yaga.

After Zorka took Baba Yaga elsewhere to rest, the party noticed the trapdoor to Vigliv’s grotto had reappeared. Aenland heard Vigliv’s voice, telling him that she had something for all of us, but that he should stay behind after because she had something special for him specifically.

At the same time, Zorka returned and told Calio that their boss wanted to speak to him when he had a moment.

The party went to speak with Vigliv together. She greeted them, telling them this was the time they were finally meant to have met. The party had faced many things she had foreseen, and avoided many fates she had feared. Now she had one final boon for the party, and she could answer any questions the party had, within her power.

Calio asked her if Keisuke was planning to kill him, as he’d become concerned with that possibility since hearing the voices telling Calio to ‘return to the family’. Vigliv told Calio that Keisuke wasn’t planning to kill him, much to Calio’s relief. He didn’t catch on to the silent addition that there seemed to be something he was planning still.

Nestian asked for confirmation on if Keisuke had killed his father, to which Vigliv confirmed: yes, he did.

Vigliv noted that two of them had questions about the same man, but she suspected Aenland’s would not be. Aenland confirmed—he wanted to know how to free Xanthadon from the grip of her demonic patron. Vigliv said this was why she wanted him to stay after—playfully she said she couldn’t offer much: just the exact steps Aenland needed to follow to break his hold on her.

Edeya asked Vigliv what she should do about ‘Edeya Karanasi’—to which Vigliv asked ‘which one?’, this got Edeya thinking. She thanked Vigliv, saying she had an idea, then she left, as Nestian and Calio already had.

When Nestian and Calio left, Nestian stopped Calio, putting a hand on his shoulder. He told Calio he had a very serious question to ask him. Calio—usually very good at reading people—has difficulty reading what was going through the bear-man’s mind right that moment and worried this was over the whole ‘Keisuke killed my father’ thing again.

Instead, Nestian asked: how do I tell Edeya how I fell about her? Calio laughed in relief, and told Nestian that honestly he didn’t think about it much, he just did it. Just be confident, be yourself, and if the other person likes you then things will turn out fine. Nestian thanked him, writing down the advice in a little notebook, then left.

He went from person to person asking for advice for each person residing in the Dancing Hut. Nadya told him to do exactly what her husband had done (kill steal her hunt and then kiss her when she went to tell him off). Jadrenka told him to throw her on his bed and confess his feelings in a place where she couldn’t up and leave (Sevet told Nestian to take her advice with a grain of salt). Greta said since he couldn’t go to an opera and make a fool of a Winter Witch as a first date—that was really specific—he should just be honest and straightforward about it. She also told Nestian not to put it off—do it tonight. Ratibor told Nestian that the way to a woman’s heart was through her stomach—he should hunt his own meat to show he can provide for her but then cook and plate a lovely meal to show his sensitive side. And then when she’s sleepy from a good meal he can go watch ‘the game’. He was this close to good advice. I forget what Zorka’s advice was, I just remember it was something completely ridiculous. Cesseer’s advice was to fight her in single combat to get to know each other’s bodies—she didn’t really get the whole ‘romance’ thing she was a better source for talking about lust than love. Anastasia’s advice was some good advice splashed in with some very out there advice specific to nobility. Dimitri told Nestian to meet her father and ask his permission to court his daughter, and maybe bring some cows along as a dowry. Illivor was offended that Nestian didn’t come to her for advice since she was the closest one to Edeya, but Nestian explained he’d thought she would tell Edeya, to which she admitted she probably would have. But since she already knew now, she advised Nestian that she knew all Edeya’s favorite cafes in Whitethrone, and she could share them with him to go to as a date spot.

While Nestian had been busy doing that, Aenland had been talking to Vigliv, learning the different steps to break Xanthadon’s curse. He’d already forged the twin rapiers he’d need. Now he needed to meet and gain the help of a follower of Cayden Cailean, a follower of Calistria, and a powerful wizard, all of whom would be in Whitethrone. They would give him the means to safely enter the mushroom forest and to destroy Xanthadon’s unholy spellbook—which was bonded to her body in the form of a parasitic fungus. After he’d destroyed the spellbook and healed Xanthadon from the damage it would do to her, he simply had to draw blood from her using the cursed rapier, and her connection to the Demon Lord would be broken.

When Vigliv had finished explaining everything she smiled and asked Aenland if he’d ever seen a bear burst into a room asking for romantic advice before. Aenland had a moment of confusion, before Nestian burst into the room with Illivor on his shoulder.

Vigliv answered his question without being asked, although she admitted he wouldn’t like her answer: just follow your heart.

Nestian asked Aenland, and Aenland’s eyes lit up. He told Nestian to follow him, and he dragged the bear-man up to his room. He changed the appearance of his usually spartan bedroom into a wooded dining area, set for two. And he began teaching Nestian how to dine like a proper gentleman, since Edeya had grown up as nobility. He gave Nestian permission to use his room to have a fancy dessert with Edeya alone that night. And so Nestian went off to start baking.

While Nestian was going around asking for romantic advice, Calio had been summoned to talk to Baba Yaga. He was dreading this conversation—if even half of what Rasputin said was true, he suspected he wasn’t getting out of this unscathed. But at least he might get some answers before she does him in.

Baba Yaga told Calio it looked like their plan had mostly gone off without a hitch—except for one little problem. Why was she still trapped in a doll? He was supposed to have done something about this.

Calio pointed out that he had amnesia and wasn’t entirely sure where their plan had gone wrong. Baba Yaga asked if that had anything to do with him fucking her son instead of focusing on the mission, which Calio quietly confirmed might have something to do with it.

Baba Yaga decided to start from the beginning, since Calio didn’t remember anything from the past year. Although she could start from the beginning of his life if she wanted—she knew much of what happened in her realm, and while she didn’t fully understand the darkness that he’d been born with—that was a part of Irrisen and sometimes lashed out at her people and her foes alike—she was aware of him. Instead she started with his death, and how ‘that’s nasty little thief’ raised him up and brought him to his people, who sent him to try to assassinate her.

How had Calio tried to kill Baba Yaga, one of the most powerful beings in all of Golarian? He’d grabbed her butter knife and attempted to stab her in the back.

It was such an endearingly stupid move that it amused her, and he’d appeared at *just* the right moment, when she needed a secret weapon of sorts. She made him a deal, that she would truly resurrect him, and he would work as her rider for a specified time. Calio was all for the idea.

Baba Yaga suspects, from seeing since then that Calio is far more intelligent than that, that he’d specifically chosen that method of ‘trying to kill her’ to try to endear himself to her.

Since then he’d acted as her ‘Grimm Rider’ not Grim Rider, as Calio had been spelling it. It was a reference to a term from Earth that Baba Yaga found amusing to use for her secret fourth rider. Calio had become a protege of sorts for her.

Then Baba Yaga received a message from Rasputin, calling her back to Earth. Baba Yaga sent Calio to spy on Elvana, to see just what the siblings were up to. Then she went to Earth alone.

Calio made his way into Elvana’s inner circle through the Winter Witches. He used his charm and social skills to enter the high society of Whitethrone, rub shoulders with the most despicable of people and make them think he was their friend and confidant, learned their secrets, and eventually secured a meeting with the queen herself.

When he met Queen Elvana, he secured her trust with a lie folded into the truth: he told Queen Elvana that Baba Yaga had sent him to spy on her and learn her secrets, but that he had decided since coming to Whitethrone that she was going to be the winning side, and he would pledge his loyalty to her as her rider instead.

Elvana took the bait, although she rightly did not trust Calio. She often scried on him to be sure of his loyalty, and he had to be cautious of when he made his move. He was generally smart about how he acted—such as slipping a warning to Cesseer while in her bedroom, knowing Elvana wouldn’t scry on him when she thought he was ‘letting off some steam’.

Then Elvana took him to Earth, and he met Rasputin. He worked with him there, all the while looking for the secret of the World Engine.

Unfortunately, he found it when Elvana was looking.

Elvana sent Rasputin a message to kill the Grimm Rider for his betrayal when Rasputin and Calio were drunk and partying. Rasputin cried to Calio that he was going to have to kill him now. Calio convinced him that killing him here on Earth and disposing of his body on this world would be a bad idea—if anyone found his equipment there would be questions, and then Elvana would be mad at him. Despite his betrayal, Calio didn’t want Elvana to be mad at Rasputin—they both knew that didn’t end well.

Rasputin took it hook line and sinker. He followed Calio’s plan to send him back to Taldor with a contingent of men who would do the deed back on Golarian. Taldor was far from any of their plans so even if Calio were to try any funny business, he would be unable to interfere with Elvana.

Or so Rasputin thought. Calio knew that the Winter Portal was due to open soon. So he had a Contingency cast on himself, using his Breath of Life to bring himself back some time after the soldiers kill him.

It all would have worked out—if only the mess of magics within Calio hadn’t interferes with each other. The Geass, being a rider for two different people, his necromancy from Keisuke, the dark power he’d been born under, and now this contingency—it all came together in just such a way that it wiped out his memories of the last year and sealed away all of his power.

And he knew the rest. He woke up in a grave in Taldor with no memories. Because Calio Caecos had planned the death of the Grimm Rider. Because there was no one else he could trust.

Baba Yaga told Calio that he had technically done his job—twice over. So if he survived the confrontation with Elvana he would be rewarded twice over. When this was over he would be given two wishes. There was one catch, however. Only the first wish could be for his own benefit—the second had to be on someone else’s behalf.

Once Baba Yaga sent him away, the party met for dinner. But they noticed Edeya was absent. Calio and Nestian went looking for her. They heard her talking to someone in the swamp room, but they tripped over each other due to the sticky mud and alerted her to their approach. Edeya came to them—alone. She looked tired, and Nestian noticed that she had some minor injuries. Nestian asked her who she’d been talking to, and she said she’d been talking to Illivor. Nestian got the feeling she was only telling half the truth, but he didn’t push further. Instead he asked what about. Edeya said she was making a plan for what they were going to do in Whitethrone. She didn’t elaborate, but Nestian noticed her hide a pair of gauntlets away—Greta’s gauntlets that let her take human form. Greta had been in Winter Wolf form all day for reasons no one knew.

Calio, fortunately for Edeya, did not notice she had these.

Edeya surmised that she was late for dinner, and ushered the others back to the dining area with her.

The party ate dinner, and afterwards Nestian invited Edeya to come with him elsewhere. Edeya tried to invite Calio along, but Nestian said no, just her. Edeya commented Nestian must still be sore about the whole Keisuke thing. Calio didn’t comment, being certain this had to do with his earlier conversation with Nestian—especially since Greta had informed him that she’d given Nestian a time limit ‘to see what would happen’.

Nestian took Edeya to the private dining area Aenland had set up. There Nestian had set out an enormous berry pie. They two of them ate (and both knew the proper forks to use). Then Edeya asked Nestian what the occasion was.

Nestian admitted he was not good at words. He wasn’t sure how to tell her what he was trying to. But with how crazy things were and with the things on the horizon he felt like he needed to.

Edeya got up, walking over to him. She said he looked like he needed another helping. She put another slice of pie on his place, and when she leaned over to place it on his plate she kissed him in the cheek and said ‘me too’

Edeya admitted that she’d felt the same way for a while, but she hadn’t known if Nestian felt the same, and also didn’t know how to tell him. She told him she was glad he’d gone to Aenland for advice on how to set this up, since some of the others probably would have given much worse ideas. Nestian showed her his little notebook with everyone’s suggestions, and they chatted and laughed about it for the rest of the evening.

The next day, it was time to finally return to Whitethrone. Calio tossed the miniature Dancing Hut figure in—the first key. Greta asked about the second key, since there were always two. Baba Yaga said she had hidden it where Elvana would never get it. Not because its guardian was powerful��quite the opposite—but because it was somewhere she would never think to look.

Zorka untied her headscarf and threw it into the pot.

The party stirred the pot, and Baba Yaga had the Hut land outside of Whitethrone this time rather than within the city.

We stepped out into a blizzard on a cliff overlooking the city.

And just outside was Queen Jadwiga, the first Queen of Irrisen, the Torq of Kostchchie still around her neck.

Jadwiga raised an arm to cast an empowered mythic spell.

And nothing happened.

There was a flash, and a spectral figure in large heavy plate armor appeared before the undead queen. He placed a hand on her shoulder and told her it was time to take a break. Then he told us that he should let her have it, before vanishing.

Our trap, set thousands of years in the past, had at last sprung. And we dogpiled her, destroying the undead queen in a matter of seconds before she could truly comprehend her loss of power and then her loss of life.

When she was destroyed, the blizzard calmed. And a spectral image of Queen Elvana appeared in the sky above Whitethrone. She mourned her sister’s loss—and told us that one of our family members each had been marked for death in return.

Baba Yaga assured us that we didn’t need to worry—Aenland’s mother was in Kyonin, Calio’s parents were in Ustalav, and Nestian’s family was in Taldor. It would take Elvana time to send anyone after them. Our families were only in real danger if they were already here.

Edeya went pale, realizing it was *her* family that was in danger. She told us we needed to get in there NOW. She prepared a Greater Teleport spell. Aenland told us he’d meet us there. He tied the same handkerchief around his face he had the first time he’d disguised himself as a Milani rebel, and jumped on Nevra’s back. He said right now the people needed hope. Nadya asked to come with him, and joined him riding the dragonkin, and they flew over the wall. Jadrenka disguised herself as a Winter Witch and took Dimitri and Anastasia with her to enter the town directly. So Edeya teleported the party plus Cesseer and Greta (now back in human form). Their intention was to teleport straight to Edeya’s home.

Instead, they were caught in a trap. Shattered mirror glass surrounded them as they heard the laughter of the Mirror Edeya Karanasi.

And so, separated from Aenland, the rest of the party is trapped in a Demiplane of twisted mirrors created by Edeya’s doppelgänger. And they’re on a ticking time limit, with no idea how long they have before one of all of them lose a family member of Elvana’s vengeful outburst.

[thestuffmybraincomesupwith]

April 15, 2021:

Dreamt that I rescued a bunch of cats off the street (grassy area by a river). Kept them in my dream's second property. Both my properties were on an island off a mainland. I was trying to find the owners of the different cats. Fell asleep while texting one. I was surprised she also had a number from the same area code as me (irl). Cats were in the kitchen and barricaded off. I walked back to my other property on the other side of the island. Said hi to everyone, I was well liked. I had friends visit both properties. I was there to study sharks. I really liked them apparently. I was an army guy (think like Riley from Buffy). I can't tell if I was in a relationship with anyone. The next day I reported for training and debriefing on the mainland (I think my research was going through the military?). They told us that we were going to be doing something i didn't agree with. I don't remember if it was an assignment or deployment or what. There was this thing people could do that was essentially considered suicide, where you took this blue electric liquid and applied it to yourself somehow and you lost all memory and identity of yourself. Many people died or became homeless and were never heard from again after taking it. I decided it was my only option. So right before I was going to report for whatever it was I was supposed to do for the military, I went into a bathroom stall and did it. This stuff was freely available everywhere, and I remember waking up in the stall dazed and confused, and there was a little garden trowel with printed lettering on it with exact location and coordinates on it that said to hold up to the nearest monitor (there were screens everywhere, even in bathrooms). I held it up to the screen, which was flipping through news and nothing was happening. Some cleaning ladies came in and they looked at me sadly with pity. The longer nothing happened, I was getting scared. I told the ladies I was scared and I didn't know what else I should do. But then a trapdoor hatch in the ceiling opened up, and I grabbed a large balloon string, and it pulled me up through the hatch. I don't know how much time passed, but then I was spit out onto a street with only underwear on, on the island somewhere. I got chased by a gang (think like a 1950s gang of greasers). People kinda stayed away from me, like I was a crazy homeless person who could attack them at any moment. A friend(?) found me and knew immediately what I did and was heartbroken, but tried to take me back around the island to try and bring my memory back. He had been taking care of my affairs and my estate while I had been missing. As I failed to show any recognition as he took me around, he got more and more heartbroken. I feel like maybe he loved me but I wasn't sure. He even gave me a little pamphlet with different Shark types in it to see if I would look interested in the sharks (I wasn't, I was more interested in killer whales, and even then I just thought they looked kind of cool). There was something he was going to show me at my first property, when I saw something that reminded me of the day I rescued all the cats, but then blue electricity shot across my vision and I woke up.

[xplrvibes]

re: snc review

what’s making me pause is how snc have given their holy word that not only did they hear the knocks coming from multiple directions (both inside and outside the house and its perimeters) but they also felt it. they felt the vibrations on the ground and that’s what’s making me go 🤨 because yes, sounds are easy to fake, but sounds coming from multiple directions and making the ground vibrate? yeah… I might need to think a bit more abt this

Yea, and that's the thing- I wholeheartedly believe snc in all this. I don't think, at this point in their careers, that they'd be stupid enough to take this kind of risk with faking something like this on such a grand scale. I don't think their families would be ok with bringing dead relatives into it, so I don't think they'd ever do that. I don't think they'd put all this into movie theaters if they were in on it.

I do think that Sam is a good enough actor to cry on command, given that he's done it before- but I don't think he was acting in this scenario.

The only non-paranornal phenomenon that I could attribute this to comes from a personal experience I had years ago, if you'll indulge an old lady telling life stories.

Many years ago, I went to Las Vegas and went on a ghost tour. At the end of the ghost tour, they told us that they were going to yake us to a certified medium to take part in a seance. I was very young, first time in Vegas, didn't really fully comprehend what Vegas can be like- so I was very excited about this whole thing. A seance, wow! Maybe I could make contact with some relatives, or a friend of mine who passed!

Anyway, we get there, and this medium is doing all the usual medium stuff, and it's all very exciting - and then the lights go out. Knocking noises start to happen, the room gets unbelievably cold, and the medium starts yelling out something about dark spirits sending snakes our way. The medium then screamed and disappeared, seemingly into thin air.

People in the room immediately start feeling snakes crawling all over them and start freaking out. Meanwhile, I am sitting right next to the medium, and when the lights went out, I heard the telltale sounds of a trapdoor in the wall being opened and shut. So, most of the other people around me could've sworn there were snakes crawling on them, but I was already wise to this whole thing being fake and somehow, I felt nothing.

But how did all those people feel the snakes?

I've always wondered that. Clearly, there were no snakes in the room, but so many people swore that there were. So, how?

Psychology is an interesting thing. Fear, and tricking people's brains into hearing things certain ways when they're on heightened alert due to fear, can make people hear and feel certain things.

I'm not saying the knocking was their snakes. I honestly have no clue. But that's the only non-paranormal explanation that I guess I can muster up.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Alright, you're the second person to go off about this, so I'm just going to make a statement to hopefully save myself from getting more angry replies: I used the word "betrayal" to refer to the betrayal of Marinette's trust, not some grand overall betrayal that makes Alya a villain who is unfit to be Marinette's friend. I like Alya. She's one of my favorite characters to write. How many times do I have to defend her and Adrien on this blog for people to get that I think that all of the characters have been done dirty and deserve better?

Miraculous has systemic writing issues that effect every character. Because of this, it's extremely difficult to talk about one character and the way they've been poorly treated without discussing the other characters in a negative way because of the writing issues. Because of this, I occasionally say negative things about the characters I like because their poor writing makes them come across poorly and I am not going to make these long posts even longer by assuring you every time that Alya is actually really cool and awesome and Adrien has been deeply wronged and so on. This is why my pinned post gives the disclaimer it does about this being a writing salt, character sugar blog. The above post was specifically about Marinette, so I kept it focused on the issues with her writing and I still stand by everything I said.

Alya promised Marinette to not tell Nino about her identity only to then turn around and tell Nino while also keeping this choice a secret from Marinette. That's a betrayal of trust. It doesn't make Alya the worst person ever or even unfit to be a hero. It just means that she betrayed the trust Marinette put in her and that act is what ultimately led to Gabriel getting the fox. In terms of the way stories work, this means that Marinette is being told that secrets are good and you shouldn't trust people with them.

This is the start of Rocketear:

Alya: Ah, you noticed! It's crazy how my costume automatically adapted to my new role. And it gave me the idea for my new name - Rena Furtive! Marinette: Cool, yes, but secret. We agreed that officially the Miraculous of the Fox doesn't have a holder anymore. Alya, you did tell Nino that you would never be Rena Rouge again, right? Alya: Well, it's just... Marinette: Alya! Everyone has to believe that you can never use a Miraculous again. That way, you can be our spy without anyone suspecting... For the plan to work, no one can know about it. And no one means no one. Even Nino has to believe that you'll never be Rena Rouge again!

Alya: (upset) I just don't know if I can lie to Nino like that we share everything and... Marinette: It's too late to turn back now. Tell yourself that it's not really lying. It's more- Alya: (interrupts) It's more like you don't lie to your boyfriend. If Nino ever finds out, he'll never trust me again. Marinette: I had to keep the truth from my best friend for a very long time, so I know how you feel. Tom: Girls! How about an Ultimate Mecha Strike Tournament! Marinette: Woah! Sorry, but, uh, we're doing homework, Dad! (shoves him away and closes the trapdoor) ...And see, I still have to lie to my family. It's been months since I hung out with my dad but... we don't have a choice. We've got to protect our superhero secrets. Alya: (sighs) Fine, I'll tell him.

This is what Alya agreed to and, by the episode's end, she tells Nino everything. The only on-screen outcome of Nino knowing is him protecting Alya in the fight against Strikeback which leads to Alya being outed which leads to her giving back the fox which leads to Gabriel getting it. In other words, the story is saying that Nino knowing was bad.

The end of Rocketear also frames Alya telling Nino as a bad thing. It's supposed to feel ominous, thus Nino's instant reaction being a concerned, "does ladybug know you're telling me?" Which is literally his only verbal reaction. He never thanks her for her trust or anything. Narratively speaking, this means that we are not supposed to view Alya as being in the right here. The narrative is saying Marinette keeps secrets and that is good while Alya told a person her secret and that is bad.

I don't agree with any of that. I think the show has treated secret identities nonsensically in terms of what reveals are okay and which ones aren't, but I'm not taking about my ideal version of canon here. I'm taking about what we actually got and, in terms of narrative framing, this is what you're supposed to take away. This is the writer's message. I'm just talking about what that message means for Marinette's writing.

And yes, Adrien is a victim who needs support, but the narrative isn't aware of that, so the teenage protagonist can't be aware of that either. Even if the narrative was aware of it, Adrien never tells anyone and Marinette doesn't keep her memories of the time resets, so Marinette has no idea of what's going on. She has no idea that Adrien is being abused. She just knows that Chat Noir learning her identity leads to the end of the world and that her learning Chat Noir's identity leads to the end of the world and so the lesson the narrative is teaching her is secrets = good. Which was the entire point of the above post. It wasn't to say Marinette perfect, Alya bad, Adrien bad. It was a writing critique. This is a writing critique blog.

You know what would make the Lucky Charm more balanced? Make it so that there are times where other characters figure it out, not just Ladybug. That way, it doesn't make Ladybug hypercompent and makes it possible for other people to save the day.

I don't mind Ladybug being the one best suited to Lucky Charm. I don't think it makes her hyper competent because you don't need a Lucky Charm to save the day. It's just the way that she saves the day. The other characters should have their own unique talents that let them win fights. Generally speaking, that's how strong teams work.

For a random example, let's talk about the teenage mutant ninja turtles simply because I think most people know something about that franchise. The character Donatello (aka Donnie) is the team's tech guy. He makes all kinds of inventions that help them save the day. The show would not be improved if all four of the turtles were able to take on this inventor role. I'd argue that it would actually be lessened because the characters would become interchangeable. This is something that the franchise seems to agree with as each version of the show gives each turtle unique skills and personality traits that makes each of them indispensable in their own way, which is what I think Miraculous should have done with the temp heroes.

That being said, I do think that there's a way to make your idea work. I'd just go a slightly different, more lore balancing route since Lucky Charm is technically bad lore and you all know how I feel about bad lore. So let's talk about giving it a minor tweak and how I think that would actually improve things.

Tikki is supposed to be Creation, not Luck, so the Lucky Charm shouldn't have anything to do with Luck. It should just be pure Creation where the holder comes up with a thing they want and that thing then pops up. It could also have a give and take element where the holder gets what they asked for if they want something specific, but they could also just call the power as a hail Mary and Tikki would come up with something on the fly, leading to the occasional puzzle.

This leads me to my proposed changed.

I personally think it would be hilarious and honestly more fun for Marinette's character if she could summon anything she wanted, but the Lucky Charms stay exactly the same because that's just how her mind works. Even when Tikki is helping, it's still all wacky items because Tikki knows how Marinette is and just goes with it.

For example, in Copy Cat, Ladybug turns a spoon into a hook for a cobbled together fishing pole. Wouldn't it be even funnier if Marinette summoned a spoon on purpose because she was thinking of the makeshift thing she cobbled together in order to fish up something she dropped from her balcony? Then, post fight, Chat Noir praises her like always, only to then ask, "So why a spoon and not a fishing hook?" And Ladybug just stares at him because oh, right, those are things they make. She could have done that. Ooops.

And in Malediktator where she summons a sniper rifle to get a laser pointer? Well, she was thinking about this silly comic about a cat assassin! She totally spaced on the fact that you could just get a laser pointer by itself.

Eventually, her team learns to just go with it and not ask questions. Meanwhile, the general public thinks that the Lucky Charm is some random item that Ladybug has to figure out and no one bothers to correct this misunderstanding. You can even have a running gag of new team members learning the truth and going through the acceptance process of, "Hey, you try thinking up how to set a trap while a 5 meter tall lollipop is trying to crush you! Your mind goes to what it knows, not to the ideal solution, okay???"

If we go with this setup, then other people can wield the Ladybug and use Lucky Charm effectively, they'll just use it in a very different way from the way Marinette uses it. There will also be people who are just not suited to the Ladybug since that was initially how the powers were supposed to work and it made perfect sense. Kwamis should have ideal holders along with okay backups and terrible backups. I personally think Alya would be an okay backup since she's creative, but not creative in the same way Marinette is, leading her to be a lesser Ladybug. Adrien, on the other hand, should generally suck at the Ladybug as he simply doesn't have that style of creative thinking. Which is fine. Better than fine, even! You don't want your characters to be interchangeable! They should all have strengths and weaknesses!

This is one of the show's big flaws. Since everything is on Marinette's shoulders, the other characters rarely get a chance to shine and so they feel interchangeable. For example, if gift always shows the target what THEY want, then why does Rose need to be the one to wield it? Juleka could wield it just as easily. And if Ladybug is generally the one telling Marc and Nathaniel what to summon with their powers, then their creativity is not needed. Anyone could wield the rooster and the goat! The show has completely failed to understand what makes teams memorable and so we have a bloated, boring team whose presence I'm dreading because they had five seasons to set these guys up and yet here we are.

[lokissuper]

Need To Be Safe| Carl Grimes x Reader

Summary: Carl doesn't want reader to get hurt during the bombing of Alexandria.

Request: from @hannahlovesfinnick​ I was wondering if you could do a Carl x my oc (Hannah) request, you don’t have to use the name, you can use y/n if you want. So maybe you can do something that takes place in season 8 where Hannah and Carl go out together and Hannah is there where Carl finds siddiq and gets bit in canon. But instead since Hannah is there because her and Carl are dating, Carl doesn’t get bit and Hannah helps Carl and siddiq fight the walkers off and no one gets majorly hurt. So, like in canon, Carl takes siddiq to the sewers along with Hannah. And while Alexanderia is evacuating, Carl and Hannah have an emotional goodbye after he convinces her to go with them after a small argument with her wanting to make sure he’s ok and him wanting to protect her. So Hannah goes with the others and the rest goes as canon. after the saviours bomb Alexandria, it can maybe end with Carl meeting them in the sewers and it can be fluffy with him holding her and trying to reassure her that everything will work out for them and that their ok

DISCLAIMER! I never really followed the timeline at the beginning of season 8, was just kinda confusing. So if there is anything wrong then I apologize, but thank you for the request. I also listened to Easy Street on repeat to write this for some reason. I didn't proof read this because I was too excited to get it out.

Living in a world full of zombies was kind of a pain sometimes. I mean you could probably guess that it would. But growing up in during an apocalypse isn’t what I though my imagined my future. 

Early on, my parents and I found a group and stuck with them. I found a boy my age and he became my best friend, Carl. His dad led us through the world of the unknown and protected us, especially me when my parents got bit. 

It was when we were finally settling at Hershel's farm and a herd made it’s way through the fields. I didn’t know what happened until everyone reunited after the damage and saw that they weren’t there, along with Andrea. The adults tried to put on a brave face for me but I had matured to much that I knew they were dead. But when we found Andrea again I had a little hope in me that they were still out there, until I overheard her tell Rick that she saw them get taken down by walkers.

From then on I had the whole group looking out for me, including Carl. 

Carl and I had been through a lot together, being there for him when he had to put his mother down, when it was confirmed mine were dead, and when Glenn and Abraham were brutally murdered by Negan.

I wasn’t there for the line-up, but just hearing about it made me realize that I couldn’t keep holding in my feelings for Carl. Especially in a world like our where something could happen to one of us any second.

So I told him and reciprocated. We’ve been dating ever since and continued to watch out for one another. 

We were always looking for people to bring back to Alexandria, people who could help us in a great deal. So when Carl came back from a run with his dad and told me he found someone I was onboard. I was a little hesitant at first because of our war with the Saviors, but if Carl was confident then I was too. We went out to find the mystery person hopefully in the same place as last time. 

We did find him. But surrounded by walkers.

So we helped him, Siddiq, with these walkers because he didn’t seem to know what he was doing. I killed the first one but then saw one cornering Carl and grabbed it off of him, pushing it to the ground. I then shot it in the head. 

Siddiq showed gratitude to us for coming back for him, we asked him our procedure questions and were on our way to Alexandria. We knew Negan and the Saviors were going to be coming tonight, and it wasn’t going to end well.

-

Carl and I snuck Saddiq into the boarded town, and to the opening in the sewers Carl found to keep people safe. Saddiq thanked us again before climbing down the ladder to the sewers in which Carl and I followed so we could get him settled. We grabbed a cot, pillows and blankets so he was comfortable and gave him food. Carl and I left him down in the Sewers for a few hours before the sun started to set, and we knew what was coming. 

Carl and I were standing watching the sun set from one of the watch towers when he started to speak.

“I want you down in the sewers tonight. I need to make sure your safe.” 

I turned my head to him and furrowed my eyebrows. I was confused since we always fought through these types of things together, looking out to make sure the other was covered. 

“No.” I said.

“It wasn’t a question. This is going to get out of hand and I can’t have you out here.” He said frustrated.

“Where is this coming from?” I asked.

Carl shook his head before responding,”You weren’t there that night. With Glenn and Abraham, seeing what Negan is capable of. We really made him mad this time.”

“Don’t you think I know that, I know he is a threat and dangerous. I know. I also wish I was there that night too. I wish I was there so bad it hurts, I know I shouldn’t but just the idea that something could’ve happened to you-” I cut myself off. “I’m not leaving you this time.”

He looked at me sternly, I could see in his eyes he understood where I was coming from but he still was standing with his choice.

“I don’t want to lose you either. But that is why I need you to be safe, where I know you will stay alive.” He said to me.

I fully turned to him now, growing angry with him.

“Not unless you come with me.” I said crossing my arms.

“I can’t, this is my show and I need to run it. Dad’s not here so I have to be.” He said.

I scoffed,”He’s going to kill you. If not you then everyone else, I understand where your coming from but if you die, then I die. End of story.”

Carl and I started to make our way down to the ground. Shaking his head on the way down, before he could say anything I spoke up again when I set my feet on the floor.

“I can’t lose you, your the only one I have.” 

He looked at me and saw tears welling up in my eyes. He knew I still mourned my parents death and that I felt incredibly lonely even though I had him. He walked closer to me and brushed a piece of hair behind my ear. 

“You have so many people looking out for you, so much family here. I can’t lose you either.” He spoke softly to me.

I looked him in the eyes and started to cry. I whispered, “Okay. I will go in the sewers. But as soon as things get hectic you bring you butt down there.”

Carl reached for my waist and pulled me toward him, smiling at me,”I understand.”

We walked hand in hand to the entrance to the sewers, everyone else had already been moved down there and I was the last one left. It was pretty dark out now and we had to hurry

I turned to Carl and brought him into a kiss, a passionate and loving kiss. One we hadn’t had yet in our relationship. I couldn’t go down there without kissing him, not knowing what was going to happen later. Our lips moved together and my arms were wrapped around his neck playing with the ends of his hair. Carl was slightly shocked with the power of the kiss but quickly wrapped him arms around my waist. I realized how much I loved him, even though we hadn’t said the three words to each other yet. 

I pulled away from him but Carl joined our lips together again in a long peck. He pulled away but only enough so he could whisper into my lips, “I love you so much.” I smiled.

“I love you.” I pulled away from him fully. I looked at him one last time before turning to the sewer and climbing down the ladder.

-

The ground was trembling and my ears were in pain because of the noise. I thought for sure there was no world anymore above us. 

The bombs were going off for a little bit now, I held Judith to my chest and hushed her to make sure she didn’t make any noises that could give us away. Not like they could hear her up on the ground especially with the sound of gunshots and grumbling of grenades.

Carl still hadn’t made his way down to the sewers yet, and it was far past safe from what I was hearing. Which meant Carl was either taken, dead, or just plain stubborn. I tried not to think about it to much, because Judith needed me right now. I was cooing to her when I heard the steel trapdoor to the sewers opened. We were told to be quiet when we heard to door open because we never knew if it was one of us or an enemy. But, when I saw my boyfriends sheriff hat I quickly get up to run to him but he out his finger over his mouth then pointed up. I quickly understood that there were saviors above us. He grabbed my hand that wasn’t holding Judith and lead my away from the entrance. When he deemed it far enough away he pulled me into a gentle hug, watching for his little sister in my arms.

I gently spoke in his ear,” We’re okay. Are you?”

He nodded. 

I pulled away and pecked him on the lips before giving him Judith. I was so happy he was safe.

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

A Failed Betrothal (Part 3)

There were a lack of stuff to read so I posted this instead.

[Masterlist]

(Part 1)(Part 2)

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PART 3

The next day was weird to say the least for everyone but for Marinette, it was another can of worms that she wished she didn’t open. For one thing, Chat Noir’s feelings obsession for Ladybug switched from one black-haired girl to another which unfortunately was Ladybug’s civilian form. Which meant Marinette had to deal with Adrien’s Chat-Noir-level flirting and bad pick-up lines.

Perfect, just perfect.

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Everyone thought that a declaration speech of ‘being soulmates and the only one for him’ in front of the whole class from the ‘love of your life’ would warrant a ‘blushing to death and stammering’ or ‘outright fainting’. Not a facepalm, a groan, “Why me?” and a “I am sorry but NO. I don’t feel the same way about you”. Marinette vaguely wondered if there was some kind of rule for interesting events and confrontations to happen during lunch break while the class waits for Mme Bustier to start the lessons.

Marinette went to sit in her seat next to Chloe in the back row where she and her friends had been exiled to. The class was in stunned silence and questioning about whether or not they had fallen into an alternate universe or dreaming. Nathaniel and Alix tried to hide their snickers. Chloe just started outright laughing, turning very red in the face.

Marinette felt a nudge from Plagg in her bag. Looking down, she saw them holding up her phone to show Lila’s gaping face of horror with a wicked smug grin on their face. She looked through the photos to see everyone’s faces of confusion and shock at her rejection. Eyes wide and jaws dropped on the ground. Different shots of her classmates in the same state. She smirked and showed them to Chloe who calmed down enough, letting out the occasional giggles and took the phone with glee.

“Thank you, Plagg. Here you go.” she whispered, giving them a camembert macaron.(Tom had started experimenting with camembert in his recipes. Plagg is his first taste tester for all of them, making Tom one of Plagg’s favourite people.)

Adrien didn’t take the rejection very well.

“But we are meant to be. You are a designer and I am a model. Our partnership is the one to be envied by many for the ages.”

“And by that logic,” The designer turned to her main model for her MDC website, “Chloe, my love, will you be my one and only? For our love shines so bright ,paralleled only by a thousand suns.” Using the same voice Plagg does when they go on one of their love odes about camembert before losing her straight face and giggling.(Plagg doesn’t know whether to be offended or amused.)

Setting Chloe’s laughter off again. “Mariiiii,...stop….I can’t..*gasps*....I can’t…”

Nathaniel and Alix, finally lost control and joined Chloe in death by laughter. Adrien was flustered, turning red in the face either from anger, embarrassment or both.

“But Chloe isn’t a model.”

Marinette decided to put a stop to this, just on the off chance that Gabriel finally decides to akumatized his own son. She recomposed herself.

“She is the main model for my website and we have a partnership. You, however, work for your father. So does Miss Rossi. Does that sound like the partnership to be envied by many for the ages? Hmmm, Agreste? Anyways, like I said before, I have no interest in dating you.”

“Why not? We are friends and sometimes, friends like each other enough to date each other.” Adrien angrily asked.

“Because-”

“Because, Adrikins,” Chloe cuts in, “friends having to date because one of them is interested in something more makes no sense and is fucked-up. Marinette doesn’t owe you anything. Besides, she already has a long distance boyfriend who lives in America.”

“WHAT!?” Adrien shouted.

“What?!” The class had snapped out of their stupor. Since when had Marinette gotten over Adrien and had a boyfriend?

“What?” Marinette looked at Chloe with wide-eyes. Last she checked she was still single so what the hell was Chloe playing at. For Kwami’s sake, she hadn’t been on a date since the one with Luka which went awkwardly before they agreed that they think of each other as siblings and it will be best to stay that way.

Chloe gave her a look that said ‘I will explain later.’

“Oh yes, they met online a few months ago and now they are all lovey-dovey together. It’s just so ridiculous, so utterly ridiculous how disgustingly in love they are. They have video call dates at least once a week and somehow make it work despite the time differences. He once came all the way to Paris just to see her. He brought her some special flowers that apparently meant-”

Marinette slapped her hand over Chloe’s mouth. “Well, Chloe, Queenie, as much as I love you as my friend, you can stop gushing about my love life now. Because class is about to start.”

She said through gritted teeth as Mme Bustier finished taking her sweet time and walked in. Sadly, Alya wasn’t done with the conversation ,“Wait a minute, since when did Chloe and you become close enough that she is modeling for you? And a boyfriend? Why didn’t you tell me, Girl? I thought we were friends. What about Adrien, he just confessed to you and you had been crushing on him for so long” Many girls gasped, angry that Alya broke the unspoken girl code.

“You have a crush on me?” Adrien looked hopeful. Like a lost kitten that had been stuck in the rain, was let into someone’s home.

“I had a crush on you,” Marinette corrected him, emphasising on the past tense, “and Alya had no business of sharing that information to the entire world despite us not being friends anymore.” She glared at the journalist who at least looked ashamed.

“You wanted to date Kagami so I moved on.”

One of the reasons anyway. I found out that you were my partner who had no concept of boundaries. You are a coward who only wants to maintain the class peace at the price of my mental health, she thought.

“Instead of continuing to pursue you.” She hoped the ever dense and oblivious model would get the hint she gave him. Tikki ,just this once, Grant me that ladybug luck.

“And Mme Bustier, it is time to start the lessons, don’t you think? Instead of focusing on the class drama to gossip about later on.” Marinette glared at the teacher, reminding her to do her job.

“Oh. Right.” Mme Bustier tried to regain her ‘perfect teacher’ image after getting embarrassed at being caught, “Right. Class, turn to page-”

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As soon as the bell rang for the end of school, Marinette dragged Chloe all the way to her room. Alix and Nathaniel followed them because as far as they know, Marinette had no boyfriends and they were as curious to find out what scheme Chloe had cooked up this time. They were as complicated and crazy as Ladybug’s. No offense, Marinette.

“Okay, Queenie, you have to explain why I now have a devoted American boyfriend who I am so in love with.” Marinette crossed her arms with a frown aimed at Chloe. The kwamis got out of their respective hiding places and went to the tray of food set out for them.

The trapdoor to her room opened, revealing the rest of their friend group before Chloe said anything.

“Did we miss anything?” Kagami asked as Longg and Sass joined the other kwamis.

“Juleka said something about an American boyfriend and how he sounds so romantic. Does that have to do anything with the text Alix sent us to come here?” Luka added.

“To recap, Adrien made a love confession to Marinette,” Alix started, biting into some of the delicious pastries the Dupain-Chengs gave them, ”in front of the entire class after an entire day of flirting and bad pick-up lines.”

“Wow, even after having his memories erased of being Chat Noir, he is still after Ladybug.” Luka chuckled, with the others joining in.

Marinette whined, “It was easier when he was Chat Noir. But now as Adrien Agreste, teen heartthrob, it is going to be much more difficult to get into his thick head that I don’t see him that way and it is going to get harder, now that Alya outed my old crush to him.”

“Oof. Sucks to be you.”

“So, our Mari-bug rejected him. He threw a tantrum and sulked, so like Chat Noir, how did we not notice?,” Alix continued, “After demanding reasons why they can’t date, Chloe gave Marinette an American boyfriend who she was in a long-distance relationship with. Speaking of, why did you do that?”

“I have known Adrik- Adrien since we were in diapers and I know how that mangy cat works. He grew up on Disney and had all those fairytales stuffed into his head. If you had told him that you were just not interested in dating at the moment, it won’t work because he will try his hardest to ‘woo’ you, because he still has a chance. He won’t push his luck as much if you were off the market.” Chloe explained.

“I am sure that, judging by the fact that Chat Noir still tries to date Ladybug despite her saying she is in love with someone, Adrien might try to get more proof of this boyfriend to make sure Marinette is just not pretending to have one.” Kagami pointed out.

“Ahh, but luckily I have a back-up plan. I have a friend, Tim Drake. We met at a few galas when we were younger and kept in touch. He also owes me a favor.”

“I hope this Tim Drake is cute.”

“He is and he’s older than you by two years and,” Chloe typed something on her phone, “A fellow caffeine addict so you can bond over that. Here’s a picture of him and his brother.”

On her phone were two extremely attractive and fit young men dressed in expensive suits at what looked like a gala, the older one had a charming polite smile with bright blue eyes, looking somewhat interested at what someone off-screen was saying despite looking like he will fall over any moment. His brother, however, looked like he would rather be anywhere but where he was. He was tanned and had green eyes that promised murder for daring to even breathe in his direction. Marinette noticed that he looked a little familiar but she can’t place why.

“Tim is the one that looks like he hasn’t slept in days and that’s his brother Damian next to him.”

“Wait a minute. That’s Tim Drake and Damian Wayne. The sons of Bruce Wayne, the billionaire co-CEO of Wayne Industries, which Tim Drake is also co-CEO of.” Nathaniel said with wide eyes and looked at Chloe, “You are using your favor to give our Mari here a fake boyfriend.”

“Of course, only the best for our Mari-bug.”

“Chloe, no, he is probably busy as he is with running the company. No need to get him involved in petty teenage drama.” No matter how much she doesn’t want to date Adrien, bothering a busy guy to be her fake boyfriend is not worth it in Marinette’s opinion. Which, of course, gets overruled by the overprotectiveness of her friends.

“I, for one, think this is one of Chloe’s better plans.” Kagami commented, the others agreeing with her. Traitors.

“Hey!” Chloe exclaimed, an offended look on her face, “Anyways, I will call him later.”

“Children, you better go home now before your parents worry.” Sabine’s voice came from below, “Remember we are also going through some drills tonight so try not to be late.” Having a former assassin for a mother is handy when you want to train a team of teenage superheroes.

“Bye, guys. See you later.”

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“Just because you have been trained since birth does not excuse you from the drills. You also need to get used to the black cat.” Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ reprimanded her with her arms crossed. When Ladybug started her new team, she was the first permanent member but as the team got bigger, she stepped back to be back-up and mentor for the team.

“Yes, Maman, I know but I am nearly finished with this commission. I will catch up with you later. Promise.” Marinette stretched, looking up from her latest project. Plagg was napping in the little basket she had made for all the kwamis to sleep in which fit all of them and had some extra space for Nooroo and Dusuu after they had been retrieved.

The reason she had Plagg instead of Tikki who was with Alix was because of the new tactic the Miraculous Team came up with. To keep the balance the Ladybug and Black Cat must be active at the same time but with Adrien gone, someone must wield the ring until a new permanent holder is found and it was not a good idea for both of them to be on the same person at the same time. The team decided to rotate using the earrings and ring between them with Marinette using other miraculouses when the others have them. It also had the added bonus of making it harder for Hawkmoth to find out who has them at any given time.

“See you later, 灵儿 (líng er, means intelligence). I will give you 15 minutes but that’s it. Don’t be late.” Sabine sighed and got out the skylight and went towards the safehouse where the Miraculous team met to get training. (It is one of Sabine’s emergency safehouse to use in times of emergency and it had the required space to train 6 teenagers. Chat Noir never came to training, lazy cat.)

Marinette never made it to the warehouse.

Because a few minutes after her mother left, the skylight opened to let in five figures dressed in dark colours to easily blend into the shadows like they were trained to be. Too bad they weren’t as quiet. Marinette immediately summoned a bo-staff to defend herself.

One of them lunged at her and she retaliated by hitting the end of her staff to their middle, coupled with a couple more blows and landed one that knocked them out. The others threw throwing stars which she dodged by jumping back. Which landed her to be trapped by the two assassins, whom she didn’t notice, had moved. She cursed in every language she knew as she struggled against them. It led to no avail as she was badly out-numbered. There was a prick on her head and her world went black.

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Plagg awoke to a loud commotion. Irritated, they poked their head out to see their new temporary kit knocked out, tied up and hauled away. Recognizing the kidnappers as assassins of the League of Shadows, they scowled. Ra’s Al Ghul was going to pay.

Plagg may not act like it much but the black kwami was patient and smart. Smart enough to leave a note with an explanation somewhere visible with the messy aftermath of a fight before trailing the assassins. Oh, Roarr’s tiger was going to be pissed once she found out what happened. Wherever they were taking Marinette, it would be best to have a kwami of destruction to help her escape. The night made Plagg almost invisible and allowed to move unseen. They caught up easily and hid in their holder’s midnight hair. Now, their patience came into play. It was a matter of waiting for the right moment to pounce.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tag list: @alysrose-starchild, @buginetye, @lookatthestars1, @blackroserelina, @macncheesemonster, @mochinek0, @myazael, @tonicxworld, @thewitchwhowaited, @t1dwarrior-of-earth, @kissa-chan, @iwantasecretidentity, @theymakeupfairies, @user00000003, @woe-is-me0, @kashlyn, @mochegato,@moonlightstar64 , @greatcatblaze, @moongoddesskiana, @tazanna-blythe. @tonicxworld, @toodaloo-kangaroo, @frieddonutsweets, @local-witch-of-mn, @lady-bee-fechin, @iglowinggemma28, @indecisive-mess-named-me, @k-tea-and-coffee, @jayjayspixiepop

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(Part 4)

[redorich]

For the canyon au, what would happen if one of the hermits got hurt during a scout? Like, if etho is out scouting, something happens, and he’s unable to message the hermits or get help. Would he be willing to be seen? Would any smpers besides Puffy help him?

Zedaph didn't mean to leave the canyon, honest! He was just looking for a sheep of his own for a completely ethical experiment involving pistons and a perfectly reasonable quantity of peanut butter, thank you very much. He wasn’t about to steal a sheep from someone else’s farm, and for some reason sheep don’t tend to spawn at bedrock level. So really, he had no choice!

Zedaph is rethinking a lot of his decisions. He’s also wondering if he left the jump-powered stove on. Then he remembers that it’s jump-powered, and as he is not currently jumping on it, it is most likely unpowered. Unfortunately, it seems as though Zedaph is going to be eating a lot of cold food for a while if he makes it out of this alive, because he’s not going to be jumping on anything with a broken leg.

Despite his punishment for trying to take a cross-section of something that he now knows is probably sentient (oops), he can’t help but want to go back, to learn more. What is the rate of growth of those red vines? Are they all from the same plant? Are they actually sentient, or is the crimson kudzu in possession of an automatic response to attempted harm? Did the vine know it was hitting him off a ledge which would break his leg, or did it just know “whack human away from vine”? Would the vines taste good in soup? Are they flammable? Could Zedaph theoretically knit a fashionable sweater out of them, and if so would the sweater be capable of independent movement?

He is torn from his musings of a wriggly evil sweater by another thrum of pain. He hisses. There’s... more blood than is advisable. Outside of his leg, that is. Inside his leg is likely less than the advisable amount of blood, and come to think of it, his head’s probably a bit empty as well, seeing as how he’s having so much trouble thinking straight-- well, straight for him. His jumps in logic are incomprehensible to most on a good day, but right now even he can’t follow his own thought process. What was he thinking about again?

Ah yes. The overwhelming pain from being yeeted off a ledge. Come to think of it, the ledge he fell off-- the one he’s sitting leaned against-- is shaped awfully unusually. It must be manmade. Whoever made this is not a good terraformer. Zedaph should bake Scar some cookies. Is Scar allergic to peanuts? Ow. Ow. Ow. Zedaph will need to borrow Impulse’s oven-- or he could set up his own oven with an armor stand that jumps for him?

“Hey there, who are you?” says a female voice. Zedaph looks up. He doesn’t have to look very far up.

Standing in front of him is a woman with a cool pirate-looking coat (red, of course; all self-respecting pirates wear red), with long fluffy hair like white wool and rainbow fringe! Oh, and she’s, like, half sheep or something. That’s cool too.

Wait. There’s something about sheep he’s forgetting... How could he have been so stupid?! He came to the surface in the first place in search of a sheep, and now he’s (kind of) found one!

The cool pirate lady says something, but Zedaph-- well, he does hear it, but it doesn’t process. Words are just mouth-sounds. He is in pain.

“Found a sheep,” he mumbles, “Come back to the canyon?”

“You’re hurt, man,” the sheep-pirate-lady says. She has pretty rainbow hair, and the white parts look like clouds.

She laughs. “Thanks.”

Clearly, this woman is a mind-reader! As well as a sheep. Really, two for the price of one. Zedaph isn’t quite sure what to do with a mind-reader, but his head will be much clearer and therefore able to dream up wacky hypotheses once he respawns--

He gasps, jerking forward and choking on his own breath when he remembers the cold truth. Xisuma won’t be able to respawn him, not for several days. Zedaph doesn’t want to spend that long in the void.

“Woah!” the woman exclaims, rushing to steady him. “You look pretty bad, dude. Let’s get you home or something. Where do you live?”

“Canyon,” Zedaph rasps. “I’m not supposed to tell you that, I don’t think. Can’t remember why.”

The nice woman goes very still. “Hey. My name’s Puffy. I’m gonna take you to the canyon. Do you think you can stand if I help you?”

“Puffy..?” Zedaph squints off into the middle distance, trying to remember something. “She’s the person who keeps coming back to that barrel, isn’t she?”

Puffy pulls Zedaph’s arm over her shoulder and gently pulls him up to his feet. “She is,” Puffy says softly.

“I hope she liked the enchanted diamond shears,” he mumbles.

“She did,” Puffy says softly. “She didn’t even know diamond shears were a thing.”

“I was going to make an emerald flint and steel,” Zedaph rambles, “but it turns out that items made of flint and steel aren’t conducive to being made of not-flint and not-steel."

"Who would have thought?" Puffy laughs, then trips over a vine. Zedaph makes a pained noise at the jostle to his leg, which is dragging a bit on the ground because Puffy is so much shorter than him. She notices this, and rethinks her strategy.

"At this rate, we'll never get back to the canyon," she gripes. "Climb on my back instead, I'll carry you."

Zedaph obliges, but warns, "Tango says I'm heavy.”

“I’m stronger than Tango, I’ll bet.”

The Hermit is actually a bit heavy, but this is a matter of pride now. And also, quite possibly a matter of urgency. The Hermit isn’t responding anymore. He’s still holding on, so he isn’t dead or completely unconscious; still, he’s not in a good state.

As soon as the elevator down to the bottom of the canyon comes into view, Puffy books it. Surely, in the canyon base, the Hermit will have healing potions? He (They? Multiple Hermits?) gave her a whole beacon, so obviously he/they are late-game enough to have plenty of potions.

Stepping into the elevator, Puffy presses the button, then puts her hand on the Hermit’s neck. It’s a bit of an awkward position, since his chin is hanging over her shoulder, but it makes her feel better to have a hand on his pulse. He makes a pitiful noise as the elevator descends.

“Easy there,” Puffy says, “you’re almost home.”

The moment the doors open, she ventures out into the village. The only safe place she knows is the barrel where she leaves her items for the Hermit(s), so she takes him there. Now that she’s looking, she spots shadows, eyes, movements, throughout the supposedly empty village. One such person comes out of the woodwork, sprinting.

“Zedaph!” exclaims a tall, musclebound man. His face is twisted in naked worry as he meets Puffy at the barrel, which she sets Zedaph down on.

The large man, who wears a black shirt with a creeper face on it (does that mean something, Puffy wonders?) scrutinizes the blond man on the barrel for a moment before springing into action, splashing potions and bits of lapis and-- holy shit, is that a Totem of Undying?! When the blond man, Zedaph, seems to come back to himself enough that he could reasonably eat a golden carrot with minimal choking hazard, the new man hands him one. Finally, he turns to Puffy.

“Thank you,” he says. The relief in his voice is tangible.

Puffy shifts awkwardly. “I was just doing the right thing. I noticed, uh, his bracelet.”

They both look to Zedaph’s wrist. It’s got a woven bracelet on it. The textile isn’t astounding, but the pattern on it is intricate. Puffy would know, she made it herself as a gift for the Hermit. As Puffy and the other Hermit look at each other, she realizes that he is also wearing something she made: a pair of fingerless gloves which are now stained with redstone dust.

He catches her staring. “We all have one-- oh, uh, my name’s Impulse, and this is Zedaph--”

“Impulse,” a new blond man hisses from behind the two. Puffy jumps. She didn’t hear him coming.

“Tango!” Impulse greets, suddenly nervous. Why a man as big as Impulse would be nervous when facing anyone, let alone a normal-looking guy like Tango, is beyond Puffy. Maybe Tango’s red eyes have some sort of significance?

“Impulse,” Tango repeats, looking around for anyone that isn’t a Hermit. “You’re not invisible.”

Impulse’s eyebrows draw together in a frown. “I had to see Zedaph.”

“Yeahhh,” Zedaph slurs.

“Besides, if we can trust any of the natives, it’s Puffy,” Impulse insists. He crosses his arms in what should be an intimidating display, but truthfully looks more like a pout.

“You know what Xisuma said,” Tango says. “I’m grateful to have Zedaph back, but...”

“Xisuma would agree with me,” Impulse says stubbornly.

Tango sighs explosively, full of nerves. “Alright, fine, can we at least get out of sight? Anyone could come wandering across the surface and spot us.”

“How many of you are there?” Puffy breathes. Everyone’s eyes snap to her.

“Twenty-four,” Zedaph says happily.

“Zedaph!” Tango admonishes.

Rolling his eyes, Impulse scoops Zedaph up off the barrel like he weighs nothing. He carries the dazed blond man down the path and into a cottage-style house. As Tango goes to follow, he catches Puffy’s eye.

“Sorry,” he says, “nothing personal. Just trying to avoid being explodificated, which means not being seen by the people who live on this server. You get it, yeah?”

He jogs off to catch up with Impulse, and Puffy hurriedly follows. Tango’s got a bracelet like Zedaph’s, but it’s one of the ones Puffy made out of different shades of red. She wonders if all the Hermits wear something she made.

The inside of the house is a bit cramped, but it’ll do. It’s got a bed, at least, so Zedaph’s got somewhere to keep his leg off the ground. This all feels surreal.

“So, uh...” Puffy says into the stuffy silence of the room. “How about that, uh, bedrock?”

Nobody has anything to say to that. Fuck.

Out of nowhere, yet another Hermit shows up. There’s a trapdoor in the wall that, now that she looks at it, Puffy realizes that Tango was hiding intentionally. That’s all gone to shit, though, because a man with white hair and a mask over his face peeks his head out from the hole in the wall.

“Hey guys, what--” The man takes a look around, spots Puffy, and freezes. “...On second thought, I’ll come back later.”

“Wait!” Impulse says to the man. “Get Xisuma, or at least tell him Puffy’s here if he can’t make the trip right now.”

“Karl thinks you’re Mothman,” Puffy blurts out to the white-haired man.

The man looks very self-satisfied for someone who’s only showing a quarter of his face. “Oh? Where does he live? For absolutely no reason, of course.”

“Etho...” Tango groans.

“Oh, alright, I’ll go get X.”

The man leaves. Oh boy, thinks Puffy, this is going to be interesting.

[aslitheryprinx]

For the word prompt how about "What are you?"

I thought I'd do these together since they're pretty similar!

---

Ranboo's never been good at catching animals by hand. He's a little too tall and clumsy to sneak up on them, and most creatures are intimidated by his enderman heritage for him to befriend them

That's ok, he prefers solitude anyways. But it is a bit annoying when he needs something like a farm. Especially something as finicky as a honey farm. Bees are pretty delicate, and he doesn't want to risk hurting any trying to catch them. Even if he weren't part hostile mob, most people can't tame bees. That leaves only one option: a trap.

He'd gotten several books from the nearest village to help him. The setup for the trap was in a book by someone named Grian, while the redstone farm was in a book from M. K. Jumbo. The trap was easy enough to set up while the farm... Well he'd get it eventually.

Many flowers later, the trap was ready. It worked better if he wasn't in the area, so he went mining, planning to check it when he got back. Sure enough, the iron trapdoor had been activated, and he could see something fluttering inside.

Ranboo readied a lead, and sat in front of the trapdoor, the only opening. He flipped a lever and-

"What are you?"

"What the fuck."

They spoke at the same time. He and the tiny person sitting where a bee should be. At a closer look, they actually looked like a bee. They had antennas, gossamer wings, yellow and black fluff on their neck and hands, and compound eyes covered by a pair of goggles.

"You- you aren't a bee," Ranboo stammered.

"Yes I am," he denied instantly. "What the fuck is this supposed to be? I just wanted some flowers, and then I'm trapped inside? Did you do this, dickhead?"

"I'm trying to make a honey farm," Ranboo blurted. He winced, expecting the boy... bee... bee hybrid?... to be offended. But to his surprise, he seemed to relax.

"Oh, really? Well I can't help you with that, bossman, I'm a Tubbo, not a honeybee."

"What's a Tubbo?" Ranboo asked. He'd never heard of that type of bee before.

"My name, prick," the bee, Tubbo, said.

"Oh. Sorry. Um, I'm Ranboo."

Tubbo suddenly fluttered out, and Ranboo jumped. He crossed his eyes as the tiny hybrid sat directly on his nose.

"You don't seem to be very good at making a honey farm," he observed.

"Well, animals are pretty scared of me, and I don't want to hurt any bees trying to catch them," Ranboo defended himself.

"I'm not scared of you," Tubbo said, climbing up so he was sitting on Ranboo's head.

"You're a hybrid, that's different."

"I don't know what that means," Tubbo said cheerfully. "Anyways, you look like you need some help. And I'm like, the king of all bees. Just follow my lead, bossman. I'll help you make the best honey farm ever!"

Ranboo snorted. This was the last thing he'd expected, but Tubbo sounded like he knew what he was talking about... even if he also seemed like he thought he was just a bee.

"Ok," the enderman hybrid agreed easily. "I could use some help."

He also thought it might be nice to have a friend.