#and also i have report cards to make which does not help

[effysayres]

i need a kiss from my girlfriend and 14 hours sleep and for work to be cancelled in the morning :((

[peanutpinet]

Little Things - Sylus x Isekai Fem Reader

Summary: When your consciousness somehow ended up in the LADS MC’s body right as Sylus’ character was released. You went through what the MC was supposed to do in the game and while waiting for the next update, you’ve gotten closer to Sylus that he treats you with everything you couldn’t have in your world

A/N: I can’t help but make a fic where you took over the MC’s body and became the MC. Though in this fic, Sylus already knows that you’re not exactly the MC yet he’s also not complaining about your company and even started to open up to you and even allow you to use his money but he’s confused as to why you’re not spending as much as he thought

I was inspired by a fic that I read on Tumblr by @atoltia

Sequel: Welcome to My World

Disclaimer: I do not own the images nor the characters or you (the MC). All images were taken from Pinterest.

Warning: will be using MC instead of (Y/N) as it’s easier for me, fluff, slight angst (no character death), overthinker MC, soft Sylus

“You go talk to him” Luke nudged his twin brother who stared back at him thinking that he was crazy

“Are you crazy? I’m not talking to him. Have you seen how he’s been the past few weeks? He’s been on his phone, checking something out almost every day unless he’s with MC” Kieran replied back as both he and Luke were eyeing Sylus who was in his study, wearing some comfortable clothing and glasses while scrolling through his phone

“Do you think that he’s planning to do something for MC? Like maybe propose to her? I mean. ever since their first meeting, he’s been different? More attentive towards MC. He even gave her the brooch which is the direct access to the N109 zone. He even let her drive his cars and do whatever she wanted with the place though I like her style. It feels more homey nowadays” Luke pointed out and Kieran agreed with his twin

The twins kept on talking in front of the study room until Sylus had it and called the twins inside. “I know you both are out there. Either come in and report what you want to report or leave before I stop letting either of you peek around”

Immediately, the twins walked into the study where they saw their boss still not looking up from his phone. The twins looked at each other before agreeing to speak at the same time.

“We cleaned up at the next like you said” Kieran mentioned

“Are you going to propose to MC?” Luke mentioned

The twins looked at each other, confused that their twin telepathy was not working when they needed it. Hearing a grunt, the twins immediately apologised and begged Sylus to not hurt them or worse; make them clean the entire penthouse.

“What Luke meant was how is MC?” Kieran quickly changed his twin’s wording

“Yea. That’s what I meant. I mean, you seem to be glued to your phone boss. We assume that it’s because of MC so we were wondering if anything happened to her or if you need us to watch her?” Luke added on

“Actually, perhaps you can watch her for me” Sylus mentioned and the twins sighed of relief until they heard the next words come out of Sylus’ mouth. “I’d like to know why isn’t she using my card like I expected her to”

The twins looked at each other, confused once more. “What do you mean she’s not using your card, sir?” Kieran asked

“Do you think she lost it? Or perhaps she gave it to someone and that’s why her spending is crazy” Luke added on and for the first time, the twins saw their boss put his phone down only to open up several holographic files; specifically transactions from his card

“No. It’s quite the opposite actually. She has my card. She uses it but not as much as I thought. She’s only spending on the daily necessities and occasionally a book or two. Never any jewellery, any new clothing. She only bought one hairdryer set and never any other hair tools except a brush and clips and even those are cheap. The most she spent was just a water dispenser and an air fryer. What, does she think that she’s being stingy if she were to spend a lot of my money? Or perhaps she wants to seem more independent? What if she thinks that I’m in debt?” Sylus kept going on until the twins stopped him

“Uh, boss. I don’t think it’s any of those reasons” Luke mentioned, catching Sylus’ attention. “What do you mean, Luke?”

“I mean. I’ve, we’ve, talked to her sometimes and she just mentioned that she doesn’t know what to use all the money for. I don’t think that she thinks you’re in debt or feel bad about using your money. It’s just that she’s not used to it. Not used to having a lot of money that she’s overwhelmed?” Luke explained while Sylus had a deep thought

“Overwhelmed? It’s the first I heard of this. You would think that when someone has this amount of money in the palm of their hands, they would go crazy almost immediately” Sylus replied

“Well, she’s not like most people, sir” Luke added on and that’s what got Sylus to get up from his study room and go to find MC

Sylus looked around for you in the penthouse from the kitchen, living room, the guest bedroom where you typically like to be when you’re alone, and finally, his bedroom which is practically your shared bedroom ever since an incident that happened early in your meeting together.

As he was walking towards the master bedroom, Sylus could hear some music playing. Slowly opening the door to the room, Sylus peeked in and saw your small figure on the bed, humming to the music that was playing from your phone at the same time doing something.

Smiling to himself, Sylus decided to lean by the door as he made himself noticed by you. “Sweetie, what are you doing in here all alone?”

Looking up from your hands, you looked at Sylus who put on that soft smile only for you. “Hi Sy. I’m just trying to stitch up a T-shirt of mine. I’m almost done. Do you need help to make dinner?” you asked, finishing up the T-shirt you were stitching as Sylus made his way towards you

“No. I’ve decided to order in for tonight. I got your favourites” Sylus mentioned as you hummed

“There we go. Finally done. So, dinner?” you mentioned, placing down the T-shirt you were sewing which made Sylus chuckled

“It’s on its way, sweetheart. Which means…” Sylus grabbed your hand and yanked you towards him, laying down on the bed together as he held you close. “We have a bit of time to ourselves before dinner comes”

Giggling at his clingy behaviour, you accepted defeat that you couldn’t fight him on this and just leaned your head to his chest, listening to his slightly abnormal fast heartbeat while feeling Sylus’ fingers going through your hair.

“Sweetie…” Sylus called you while you hummed, feeling a bit drowsy

“Why do you work so hard to sew your T-shirt when you could’ve bought a new one? You know that I can find someone to make the exact same one with the same materials and everything” Sylus mentioned

“I know” you answered, drawing circles on Sylus’ chest while continuing. “I know that you could most probably buy anything I want and more. But while all that sounds good, it’s the little things, the memories that come with what I have now that matter”

“Is that so?” Sylus asked, as if he was still unsure of your answer and the tone he used made you look up at him. “Is there something wrong with my answer? Was it not what you expected? Along with how I’ve been using your card?” you asked back which made Sylus chuckle

“You know me so well, don’t you kitten?” Sylus chuckled, caressing your cheek with his large hands now making you giggle

“I mean, I’ve been observing you longer than you observing me. But you should know, I’m more than grateful for you giving me your card. It’s an incredible privilege and it makes me know how much trust you have in me. Though, I don’t need all that when I can do all the little things with you. Even as simple as cleaning together or moments like right now is what I cherish the most” you mentioned and using his hand that was on your cheek, Sylus gently lifted your face as he gave your lips one of the softest kisses you ever had whilst caressing your cheek at the same time

Pulling away, you were met with Sylus’ soft gaze and smile once again and instantly felt the heat rush to your cheeks as you questioned him. “W-what’s with the sudden affection”

Smirking, Sylus pulled your smaller body with him as he sat on the bed, leaning at the headboard. “Why not? You said you cherish the little things and moments. If you won’t accept being spoiled by my wealth then I might as well spoil you with what you actually want, isn’t that right?”

Hearing those words out of his mouth made your head feel light. Throughout your life back home, you rarely get any affection from those close to you; resulting in indulging yourself with what used to be a “silly game” until you somehow ended up in the silly game yourself.

You closed your eyes, worried that water that was building in your eyes would spill because of the constant worry and thought that this was all just a dream. Noticing your quiet self, Sylus grew worried and cupped your face with both his hands and saw that a tear managed to slip out of your eye. “Sweetie? What’s wrong? Was I pressuring you?”

Shaking your head, you managed to reply to him. “No. You’re not. It’s just…I’m, I worry”

“Worry? About what sweetheart? Take your time. I got you” Sylus replied

“I…you know I don’t belong here and yet you still spoil me. What if one day, I somehow wake up and I’m back in my own world? What if one day when you wake up, it’s who you were supposed to meet that greets you? What if…” Sylus didn’t let you continue as he immediately kissed you once again, though this time was slightly rough with a sense of urgency

“I don’t want any what ifs, kitten. You’re here. In my arms. My lips are on yours. Your body might be someone else’s but your soul is what I care more about. Even if one day you go back. I’ll find a way. Against all odds, I’ll find a way back to you even if it’s against the universe” Sylus stated, his grip on your face getting a bit tighter as if he was afraid that you’d slip away

“Sylus…” you softly called him, holding his hand that was on your face when Sylus grabbed your hand, interlacing your fingers together

“You feel this? It’s real. Just like me. Just like right now. So stop saying these things or do you need me to show you how real this is?” Sylus mentioned, his tone was a bit harsh but soft at the same time

“You’re crazy you know that. Defying the universe to go to another” you pouted but it successfully made Sylus chuckle

“I am. I would do that you know” Sylus took your hand and kissed the knuckles. “I’d do whatever it takes to find you”

“But you don’t know what I actually look like” you argued

“I know your name, your age, how you act” Sylus replies, making you chuckle

“You really are a stubborn crow, aren’t you?” you teased and Sylus leaned down to kiss your forehead. “Only for you, sweetie”

“Come. Dinner should be arriving. We can put on that show you’ve been wanting to watch. Or we can do something else” Sylus mentioned, picking you up so suddenly that you immediately wrapped your arms around his neck

“Can we just chill on the sofa with some chill movie and cuddle?” you asked

Smiling, Sylus kissed you again. “Anything you want, sweetie. We’re making the most together and appreciating all the little things, remember?”

Sylus then brought the two of you to the living room where he let you turn on the TV and ate dinner together, wrapping a blanket around the two of you as you both enjoyed the rest of the night basking in each other’s embrace and enjoying these small intimate moments together.

A/N: OMG thank you so much to everyone who has been reading, liking, and reblogging my Sylus fics T^T I truly did not expect so many people enjoy my writing especially the fact that I'm new to the LADS space. If anyone wants to be mutuals on the game, do message me!! Otherwise, thank you for reading and hope this fic managed to brighten your day!! xoxo peanutwott

[verinarin]

The mission and how it teaches him the slight difference between protectiveness and possessiveness

(Dr. Ratio x Partner Fem! Reader)

Part One (￣^￣)ゞ - Part Three ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

This would be a trilogy so expect one more part

This is mainly spicy fluff as I like to call it (fluff with sexual tension ψ(｀∇´)ψ) The sum of this fic is… let’s watch Ratio lose his marbles over Reader gambling her life yet again !

comment what do you think about this part, it sorta motivates me lolololol (*⁰▿⁰*)

Support me on Ko-fi ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

If someone could be an embodiment of both the path of erudition and nihility it would be you, because he couldn’t fathom how a person could be so strategic yet so careless at the same time

Your eyes glimmers with vexatious enthusiasm as the dealer distributes the cards, he shouldn’t have agreed to meet with the potential client in a casino of all places

“Don’t fool yourself, think before anything else,” he leans beside your ear, trying to at least guide you to not do anything heedless

“Veritas Ratio, don’t you worry we’re not here to gamble,” you smile as you glance at your cards

He audibly sighs as he leans back, his arms folded as he see your opponent in front of you, a well known casino owner in Penacony someone so powerful that the IPC would want in their pocket

You’re tasked to invest in said casino, no matter what choices you have to make in the future, you need to report back with satisfactory results

That’s something you never cease to succeed in, doubling the profits. While he is here to assure your safety while doing so and the legality of your methods, while the casino owner over there ogles all over your body, how disgusting…

“I’m here to extend my sincerest gratitude for setting the meeting for today,” you extend your hand for a handshake towards the man seating before you, which is reciprocated but you can’t help but to feel a little bit distraught over the firm handshake

“Now now it’s not a big deal really, so what does the IPC wants from me hmm?,” the man chuckles, his eyes glaring at you, like a predator stalking its prey

Ratio took notice of this, the man exudes a strange aura that he can’t seem to pinpoint, leering at you while seemingly unaware of him currently seating beside you

“Ah a man that gets right to the point, I like that ! Ratio if you don’t mind,” with that he nods as he took a briefcase filled with a hefty amount of credits

“We’re here to invest in your casino sir, to further aid us in widening our connections and intel pool,” Ratio opens the briefcase to reveal its contents for the casino owner to see and he doesn’t seem to be interested at the slightest

You study his micro-expressions and quickly state that everything is negotiable if credits doesn’t suit his taste, he smiles before revealing his true desire

“Well now I’m a casino owner and I have plenty of investments under my name, I need no more credits in my life, but well what I do need is a beauty like you,” hearing this a gear starts to move on your head, your eyes glints underneath the yellow light

Ratio on the other hand can’t believe in such fool existing, worse yet breathing in front of him with such mediocre want, if his sharp gaze could be considered blades, then this man already have his neck severed seconds ago

“A lady like me have a high price tag y’know ?,” you let out a small snicker as you fold your arms, a sudden soreness blooms on your thigh you struggle to keep your smile as you glance down to see Ratio’s hand digging itself into your thigh

You glance up to see his expression, it’s screaming ‘foolish girl are you seriously going to do what I think you’re going to do’

You forgot that Mr. Veritas Ratio over here also has a PhD in reading you, he knows very well you’re going to gamble away your life yet again

The casino owner notice quickly of the tension between you both and so he cuts straight towards his price “I’m willing to let you invest in my casino for 40% profit if you win sweetheart, but if you lose then you’re going to stay and be my personal doll,”

Before Ratio could even open his mouth to disapprove these moronic terms, you’re quick to give your own terms

“Now now as I say before I’m quite the expensive asset, if you want me to be your pretty little doll then I’m afraid you’re going to gamble more,” you pout your soft lips at the casino owner, successfully riling up both him and Ratio at the same time

“With a cute face like that, you’re making me want to gamble my life away,” he boisterously laugh

“Then please do !, if you win you’ll have me but if you lose you’re going to sell this casino of yours and the payment would be the amount of credits that’s inside that briefcase,” you quickly reply

The man scoffs before dimming the cigarette he was smoking “What makes a pretty little thing like you so confident about winning ?,”

“Let’s just say I have a winning streak these past days, now what do you say sir ?,” well that’s true to some extent Ratio needs to applaud your constant stream of luck but that doesn’t justify whatever this is

“I love that feisty attitude of yours, so let’s gamble !,” the casino owner seemed to be riled up by your confident nature

While Ratio is currently questioning how does his life leads to being stuck in here between two gambling maniacs with questionable intellect, his cover his face back with his alabaster head, not wanting to interact with this monstrosity of a situation

“Great !, Ratio please draft us a contract immediately, I can’t wait to start,” you turn your head to the side to reveal Ratio glaring at you, with that look of disapproval emanating from his person, well you can’t see his expression but you definitely feel it, like mentally and physically feel his disappointment…

“Of course excuse us sir, while we compose a fair contract,” Ratio took off his alabaster head before excusing himself outside the private room, dragging you with him

Before you could protest however, he shoves you towards the wall and pins you in place with his arms caging you in, holding you captive for as long as he deems fit to scold you

With one of his arm on top of your head and the other holding you in place by your waist you could hear his uneven breathing pattern accompanied by his rather intoxicating scent “Did I not make myself clear earlier, think before executing your task !,” he whispers beside your ear, his tone deep and demanding

At this point you wish for him to yell at you instead as per usual because being close to him like this makes your brain melt, especially after that incident an hour ago.

‘What’s with the sexual tension !!!?!’, you silently scream as you try to come out with an excuse, but your brain has failed to do so because it’s currently overheating

He’s grown impatient with the silence you gave, he uses his hand to gently force your face to look at him, forcing you to stop ignoring him. “I-i umm if I win this gamble y’know how profitable it’ll be right ahahaha,” you nervously mumble, your sentence was a bit jumbled because of him unnecessarily squeezing your whole face

His eyes stares dead into yours before asking one more question with that deep silky smooth voice he used earlier, “What if you fail to win ?, it’ll be a tremendous lost for the IPC and you’ll be gifting away yourself in a silver platter to a fool who doesn’t deserve you, not even worth your time,”

‘ASDHDJFHKSK,’ is the inaudible sound that internally plays inside your brain as you feel his thumb caressing your bottom lip. I mean sure the IPC would suffer quite the loss for losing one of its high rank employee but not tremendous loss and what’s with the last statement?!?, you feel like Ratio is threading on a thin line between being protective and possessive

“I live by ‘audaces fortuna iuvat’ and I’ll stick with it till the rest of my life Ratio, so please believe in my ability to win or at least try to be supportive of me,” you sternly reply

There it is, the fiery passion reflecting in your eyes that he oddly founds to be attractive

Well this whole ordeal goes against his way to conduct negotiations and he doesn’t like to admit that the stakes are pretty tolerable considering the reward. As much as he hates to admit it, you do have an unparalleled ability to gamble your way out of situations; scarily reminds him of a peculiar person back at the office

“It seems that you’re certain with your decision, once I draft this contract and send it to headquarters there’s no turning back and I can’t assist you in anyway,” he sighs as he puts both of his hand on your shoulder, insinuating the high pressure of this gamble

You already feel the pressure by his mere presence, but you won’t back down not when you already manage to lure that casino owner into a shitty gamble

“Draft the contract, I assure you by the end of this I’ll be taking the Casino’s land certificate,” you smile, with that he can’t help but to take a deep breath and sigh, that’s it there’s no going back now

“You can’t afford to lose, this is your freedom we’re talking about and you’re not a damn trophy he could flaunt,” he huffs as he now retracts his hands away

“Relax, if I don’t know you any better I might mistake this as you feeling a little bit too possessive over me,” you jokingly punch his arm

However his reply is no joke at all “Maybe I am, who knows it’s open to interpretation, but do note that I can’t afford to lose you too,”

“W-what for what possible reason?!?,” this man has a tendency to really keep you on your edge doesn’t he ?

“I have my own reasons and agenda, that I will not disclose at least not when you’re gambling your freedom away,” he sighs as he massage his temples

“Fine have it your way mister I’m soo morally ambiguous!,” you huff as you walk back towards the door, however he grabs your wrist and pulls you back towards his embrace,

“May fortune bless the bold,” he mumbles against the crown of your hair, his arm loops around your shoulder as, holding you close against his chest as he inhales your calming scent for the last time, you took this weirdly affectionate Ratio as a good sign of luck !

Since he usually hit your head with that ridiculously heavy codex instead-

“Stop worrying about this, you know that the chances of me winning is higher than that guy !,” you mutter against his broad chest before pushing him away and turn your heels toward the door

With a huge smile on your face you open the door to reveal decks of cards and poker chips waiting for you “Let’s gamble shall we ?,”

[turtle--soup]

Okay.

I have not seen ROTTMNT yet, but I've picked up some stuff from just floating around the fandom. Something I've learned, which is discussed in this post here, is that Rise Leo is generally considered - and considers himself the 'Face Man' of the team. (GIFs below are swiped from the linked post by @risestarkiss - I couldn't find them in tumblr's gif search function...)

Anyway. This is interesting to me because I am, for my sins, also a fan of The A-Team.

(I promise this is going somewhere! If you want to find out where I'm going with this, I'll put the rest of the post under a cut because it got a little long...)

For those of you unfamiliar with The A-Team, it's a (very silly) 80s TV series about a group of Vietnam War veterans who are on the run from the government after being convicted of a crime they didn't commit. The four of them spend their lives in hiding, making a living by using their combat skills to help people in need.

Here they are:

Left: Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith, leader of the team, brains of the outfit and most likely to have become an evil mastermind in an alternate timeline.

Right: Sergeant B.A. Baracus. Nicknamed 'Bad Attitude' due to his lack of patience for bullshit, B.A. is the resident tough guy but also an absolute teddy bear of a man, and is always ready to help people, especially children and the elderly.

Left: Captain H.M. 'Howling Mad' Murdock is the team's pilot and can fly just about anything. As his nickname suggests, he's considered a bit eccentric and is a silly kind of guy. (He's also a permanent resident of a psychiatric hospital but let's not get into that right now.)

Right: Lieutenant Templeton Peck. His role in the team is to provide them with whatever they need, whether that be vehicles, weapons, tools or access to places. He usually achieves this using his charm and wit, gaining him the nickname 'Face Man.'

Okay, so bearing these descriptions in mind, look at Leo's dialogue in this GIF:

I'm assuming that Donnie is the brainy guy, Raph is the smashy guy, and Mikey is the 'eats peanut butter with his fingers guy'. And Leo is the Face Man. That's his role.

But these descriptions fit the members of The A-Team too. Hannibal is the brainy guy, B.A. is the smashy guy, Murdock is the guy who absolutely eats peanut butter with his fingers (while maintaining unbroken eye contact throughout). And then there's Face.

How is this in any way relevant?

Well.

It just so happens that someone else is a fan of The A-Team...

Of course the Mirage turtles watched The A-Team! It was a popular show in the mid-80s, and you have to admit - they do have a lot in common, being four guys fighting injustice from the shadows and all... The A-Team even have a friend on the outside who helps them out - Amy Allen.

She's a reporter. Like someone else we know...

But which of the Mirage turtles in the image above is suggesting they should watch The A-Team?

According to this bio card from 1990 that coincides with the 1987 series...

... it might be Leo!

Was this intentional on the part of the Rise writers? I don't know!

Is it relevant? Probably not!

Does this tentative link between these two silly 80s series make me ridiculously happy? Yes!

Was this entire post just leading up to this? Yeah... sorry...

I like to think that the link is intentional. I've heard that Rise makes reference to other iterations of TMNT, as they all do. I would just personally love it if someone on the team wanted to draw parallels between these two series on purpose!

Anyway.

I just noticed that and really needed to get it off my chest! Thank you to everyone who stuck with this longer-than-intended post right to the end! 💙💜❤🧡

[sleeplesssmoll]

How do you think vertin would parent the suitcase kids?

I think the best example of how she parents is Jessica's story, but the kids' voicelines also paint a great picture. You can read many of them on the fan wiki.

Vertin for the most part seems to give them freedom, unless its a safety/health concern. She also likes to mess with them too, but in a very playful way. The kids look up to her too. They feel comfortable asking her for things and like her involvement in their activities. Vertin actively engages with them too, which is probably how she fostered these little relationships. Ms. Moissan asks Vertin to help check Sotheby's homework and stuff too, so even the adults recognize her skills when dealing children.

In Jessica's story, when Jessica gets in trouble for misbehaving at the school, Vertin doesn't yell at her. Instead she talks to her and tries to find the root of the issue, while redirecting/guiding her. She also seems genuinely upset by Jessica's expressions of loneliness and dissatisfaction and tries to make things better.

If I had to sum up how she interacts with kids:

patient

playful

invested/engaged in their activities

cares about their health/safety

seems to share snacks with the kids

mentor/role model

stern when she needs to be

Here are some of voice lines to help paint a picture (left out head pats/hand holding but she does a lot of that and its not exclusive to kids). There's a lot more interactions than this and I'm sure you'll see them pop up throughout the game.

Eagle (age 13)

Bond Morning: "Good morning. I will sketch the way you wake up now in my diary." (poor Vertin's barely awake)

Intimacy :Please praise me... Will you?

Praise: Tough. Brave. Never give up. You've done a great job.

Morning: Good morning. Let me help you put the tent away, please. (seems like Vertin took Eagle out on a little camping trip or maybe just set up a spot in the Wilderness?)

Avgust (age 8)

Bond Morning: I prepared breakfast for you! It's Runium slag... The critters told me it's the best food in the world. But I think people don't like how it tastes. My mom says she likes it, though she has never eaten her breakfast in front of me.

Night: I have blankets and milk ready, Vertin. Now you must lie down for story time. The story I'm going to tell is about the Snow Maiden, the granddaughter of Old Father Frost …

Praise You deserve a certificate, or an award, and a medal! I will make one for you. I've seen them make it before …

Intimacy: Could you give me a Picrasma? My snowman needs a nose!

Mondlicht (age 10)

Intimacy: Hey are you free now? I found this book in my room. Could you ... (this once is cute because she's usually trying to protect everyone but here she is being a kid and asking for story time)

Twins Sleep (age 8)

Bond: Night No, no! I don't want to brush my teeth! (Vertin has it tough sometimes)

Spathodea (age 14)

Bond: Morning Vertin, would you like to try a new hairstyle? Like boxer braids... Look, I 100% respect your choice, but are you sure you don't want to give it a go? I've been thinking how perfect it will look on you...

Clothing and Torso: Whoa... No, haha... It tickles... Hahaha! Oh my... I-I have a strange feeling of deja vu. Something like this happened before, but I don't remember what it really was...

Intimacy: Wow, I've never had any chocolate like this! Emm, I mean, it's not the best chocolate I've had, of course. The best one has something to do with a special moment that means a lot to me... While this one, I like it simply because it's appetizing... So, can I have one more?

Chitchat Ⅱ: Wait... Wh-What is it that you're holding? A piece of paper from my... bag? Aaaaah! That's my report card! Stop reading!

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 19/20

Blinded By Rage

Welcome back for a final time this year to Fantasy High where we’re covering both parts of the finale in one go! 

Last we left off here, the Bad Kids had gotten control of the Hangman post dragon fight on election night and were flying back to a much changed Elmville, sky turned an angry red in the process of becoming the divine domain of rage. 

When we return, they’re running out of clouds to ride on and need to pick a place to land. Fabian is concerned about just plopping a chunk of his house randomly in town but time is of the essence so they land at school on the Bloodrush field. It’s 10:20 PM, so they have less than two hours until the polls close at midnight. All the non-Bad Kid students get the hell out of Dodge because they’re useless in a crisis as always and all the brave and competent students (read: The Seven) have graduated. 

Brennan rules that, despite how crazy it was, the K2 Divine Intervention was technically buttoned up and allows Kristen to choose a special effect. She wants K2 back to help with spellcasting which Brennan grants (and will live to regret). 

Elmville is NOT doing well. It’s like 107 degrees and they can hear sirens and gunshots. There’s some real The Purge energy. Mazey has the duffel bag of votes but says she’s not allowed to count them until midnight so they all take a short rest to get their stuff back. They send Jawbone and Ragh to make sure Lydia is OK. They also strategize and throw on a bunch of buffs. Gorgug drinks his crazy strength potion he got as a present from Riz that takes him to a 25 Str. Adaine casts Rary’s Telepathic Bond so everyone can communicate telepathically plus Fly on Fabian, Gorgug, and herself. Kristen handcuffs the duffel bag of votes to Mazey for safekeeping. Perhaps, most crucially, Kristen has K2 cast Ice Feat which has ascended from a mistake to a bit to a homebrew spell with the following effects:

Every creature targeted by this spell takes a level of exhaustion and 1d12 cold damage.

The targets are cured of all disease and poison.

All creatures targeted by this spell make constitution saving throws with advantage and their hit point maximum and current hit points increase by 2d10.

The targets gain immunity to fire damage and the stunned condition.

Remember that last one for later. 

Anyway, there’s a lot more that they do but I’ll mention stuff if they come up in a big way. For now, let’s bust into the gym where Porter plus Jace and the Rat Grinders are trying and failing to do the ritual because they never got the proper name (highlighted by Buddy who in his same blind earnestness from before he was rage star’d thinks Bakarath is the true name and they’re just not believing hard enough).

Porter is furious that he was tricked into using the wrong name and grows to an enormous size, doing the foot stomp stun thing from earlier in the season but Ice Feast gives immunity to the stun condition so with a successful “Loser says what?” from Gorgug, it’s time to roll for initiative! 

To set the scene, the gym (and all of Elmville really) is breaking apart. Team Porter has invoked all this energy but can’t do anything with it so it’s kind of like a ticking time bomb ready to explode. The floor of the gym is cracking and there’s bubbling lava underneath–lava that is actually the carcass of Ankarna and the rage domain is spilling into the material plane. 

I also want to mention that even though several people have abilities/spells active that allow them to see Invisibility, no one can see Kipperlilly. We learn later it’s because she’d never been truly invisible, she’s just that good at hiding. 

As always, I’m gonna just hit highlights for the fight but ooh man, there are some highlights:

Riz on his first turn does a super clutch casting of Slow which gums up the works for the Rat Grinders for a big chunk of the fight. 

Just as they planned earlier (both in game and as we learned during the AP, out of game) Oisin is the top priority to deal with. A tag team of Fig and Gorgug gets him off the board in the first round before he can even cast a single spell. 

Ivy attacks the Hangman on her turn and Fabian returns the favor by brutally one-shotting her his next turn. Like, *extremely* brutally. He has low key had it out for her since she was mean about Mazey way back at the top of the season. But even Mazey (who is joining the fight because they can’t actually kill her, logistically speaking since she needs to count the votes) is like hmm, don’t know if I *love* that. (For the record, Ivy is killed first but Oisin is attacked first. That’s why I have them in this order). 

After Ruben hits everyone with a 9th level spell (highest level a spell can be for anyone not familiar) Fig gives up on the dude. Once the 9th level spells get broken out, the time for talking is over. In disguise as Wanda, she rips a very confused Ruben a new one for not being receptive to any of her attempts to coax him onto a redemption arc. She eventually blasts him into hell which sounds brutal until you remember that it’s functionally just her office. 

Because the Rat Grinders are clustered together in a very non-strategic way, Adaine is able to hit them all with Synaptic Static which not only does damage but also forces a bunch of their spellcasters to lose Concentration on spells. Everyone but Buddy I believe. 

Kipperlilly gets Riz with 8 points of damage but he gets her with 21 damage on his Attack of Opportunity as she escapes which is almost triple. That’s crazy! 

And I wanna pause here to make a quick point. The Rat Grinders are kind of bad at this. Like, they have all these high level abilities–and we know Brennan can be brutal in how he runs NPCs cause we’ve seen them in Neverafter and ACOC. But the Rat Grinders are just seriously dropping like flies. And that’s due to a combination of three things. One, the Intrepid Heroes and by extension the Bad Kids are just really good at this. They’ve had a lot of practice and they’ve had time to strategize. They read the rules. They’re making clutch decisions. Of course they’re good at what they’re doing. Secondly, they got some great rolls. For instance, initiative worked out that they had the opportunity to merc Oisin before he could start slinging 9th level wizard spells. And finally, as we learned in the AP, the Rat Grinders had level 20 abilities but they were still very squishy because they didn’t level up properly. 

Anyway, back to the fight.

Jace splits himself into 4 copies and finally gets Ankarana’s name with a Detect Thoughts on Fig. That’s not the only road block for the Bad Kids. They’re doing really well considering but also taking some Ls. Fabian drops (as does Fig later) and Adaine gets caught with Flesh to Stone.

Riz tries to find Kipperlilly and, when he can’t, he goes under the gym floorboards, shoots at Porter, and introduces the last big element to this combat: with his last 5 feet of movement, he jumps into the lava to hide. Because, as Emily mouthed to him a few minutes earlier, because of Ice Feast, they’re all immune to Fire Damage. Brennan forgot to account for that. The lava is only a hazard for his NPCs. The Bad Kids are all immune. Kipperlilly is so baffled that she goes, “What the fuck?” and gives away her position. 

From this point on, utilizing the combo of Fly and fire immunity to stay out of range of enemies–either in the sky or below the gym floorboards in/near the lava–becomes a major part of their strategy. For instance, Kristen goes under there to do some Mass Healing without being a target.

Porter in this fight is very fearsome. He has Legendary Actions and he can attack so hard that you get hit just from the air moving so fast before his weapon even hits you. Later on in the two-parter, he stops on Gorgug’s skull and gives him two death saves. It’s a whole world of hurt. 

But, the Bad Kids also are no-selling him at every single turn. He insults them but they just say he was a shitty teacher. He tries to activate their rage crystals but, guess what? They all avoided taking a rage token all season so it has no effect. He even tries to give them a speech about how the school sucks and they should be on his side but they’re like, my brother in Ankarna, YOU’RE a big part of why the school has been sucking. Adaine and Fig have great back to back lines. Fig accuses him of having no principles, just pride. And Adaine says the school didn’t MAKE them waste their summer on the Night Yorb quest. That was their mistake and they fixed it. He seems a bit surprised and confused that they won’t engage with his philosophy but that’s really on him if he thought THIS would tempt the Bad Kids at all. They’re great at getting mad all on their own. All he’s offering is the destruction of their homes. 

Riz on his next turn sets himself up in a purposefully clumsy hiding spot where he will be easily visible to anyone looking for him but they will have to get in melee range to hit him and he readies an action to catch a spell. 

On Fig’s turn, she gets away from Porter to get in position but that earns her a nasty attack of opportunity from him that's so powerful it starts carbonizing her blood (which is what happened to Yolanda you'll remember so now we know for sure who killed her). But once she gets away from him, she is safe in the lava (which is also Ankarana’s body). She tells Ankarna that she needs to choose her own path and then does a huge Fireball (which is the actual killing blow on Ruben btw). The Fireball also breaks Buddy’s concentration on the spell he’s been holding all fight which was a Banishment on the ballot box. They now have a way to get the votes delivered! 

This is where part 1 ends but we’re rolling this all together for the recap so let’s keep going! 

(I also have to note that for part two, everyone but Brennan is dressed in emo gear. Do with that info what you will.)

Fabian pulls out Bakur’s gem and throws him out like a Pokemon. He doesn’t break out right away but Brennan takes the opportunity to intro a new mechanic where portals open and on a high enough roll, the Bad Kids can call allies to help. 

Fabian ALSO has the idea to push Jace (well, one of the 4 Jaces) into the lava which, surprise surprise, the fighter/dancer is stronger than the waifish sorcerer. And that’s 18d10 damage so yeah. This fight largely becomes the throwing people into lava challenge. And can you blame them? That’s so much damage!

We get a little bit of elucidation about how the rage crystals work. Porter is a kind of hive queen and he can exert influence over the people with crystals in their chest. We see him do it to Jace and we see crystals leave the chests of Oisin, Ivy, and Ruben (well not his chest cause he’s in hell but from where he was standing). The crystals are parasitic and jump ship to try and find new hosts. 

Mazey gets rage star’d. Bad! K2 Banishes Buddy. Good! (Extra good bc K2 is Invisible and can’t be Counterspelled) 

Porter chugs some devil’s honey and calls to Ankarna that he’s trying to rez her so he can worship her which we know is a lie cause his real goal is to usurp her. Fig and Kristen treat her like a friend who’s getting back with her shitty ex and are like girl he’s lying to you! 

In one of my fave moments of the ep, Kipperlilly falls for the trap Riz laid in part one, going to attack him where he’s awkwardly positioned and not realizing that he was actually forcing her to jump over a pit of lava. The moment she does, he hits her with a Hold Person which stops her in her tracks and causes her to fall straight into the lava. Riz gets in the last word in this one-sided rivalry, “Very good on paper, but no practical application.”

She sinks into the lava and, as she does, we see she doesn’t have a visible rage crystal (only a symbol) because, unlike the others, she is a full willing participant. (Note: She DOES have a crystal to be clear, Brennan mentions that later, it’s just put in a different way).

Mary Ann fully jumps into the lava to attack Fig, tanking the damage and downing a very injured Fig in one hit. 

Adaine gets a very clutch move next, whisking all her injured friends to safer parts of the battlefield and drawing a legendary action from Porter even though she’s one of the least tanky members of the group. But with her Mirror Images, she gets off scott free! Adaine, Battle Wizard! 

Since Mazey is under rage control, Porter tries to make her disband the school but a Clippy style pop up of Arthur Aguefort shows up to say that mind controlling the class president to make them do stuff doesn’t count, you have to win fair and square. The things that this man plans for vs what he overlooks is baffling. 

Not only that but with Kipperlilly dead (and no cleric to heal her since Buddy is banished) their plan is kind of screwed. Even if they can rig the vote, their candidate is dead. 

When Jace and Porter are squabbling about plan logistics, Porter says, “Figure it out Stardiamond or I’ll kill you again,” which confirms that Jace got roped into the plan that way. Maybe Porter knew he needed someone with spells?

Gorgug gets a Nat 20 to pop up (from Porter downing him and giving him 2 death saves as I mentioned earlier) and then destroy another Jace clone, again with lava. 

Gonna pause again to say that I am really skimming over a lot here. Battle episodes are just not conducive to straight up recaps when they’re this long and involved. I’m gonna steal a trick of Adaine and quickly reposition everyone so you know the state of the battlefield where I’m jumping back in with the plot-forward part of the fight. Bakur has busted out of his gem but isn’t sure which side to join at first. The Bad Kids eventually are able to roll high enough to get some allies on the field–Ragh/Lydia/Sandra Lynn/Jawbone/Gorthalax plus  Squeem and Balthazar (but don’t worry too much about them. The most notable things there are Lydia does a sick wheelchair jump assistant by Ragh to get an attack in and Squeem heals everyone with cortados). Mary Ann goes down to lava. Fabian is able to break Mazey out of her rage with The Power Of Getting Your Kisses In and they make it official vis a vis boyfriend/girlfriend titles. 

Fig and Kristen try to tag team to tell Ankarna that Porter is lying to her but they don’t make the Dispel Magic roll to get rid of the Devil’s Honey. You know who does though? With a crit? As she farts and days Blimey?

Yeah, I told you Brennan was going to live to regret letting her live. Zac takes over again and Brennan just says, “No,” and leaves for a bit while everyone else howls with laughter. 

Brennan is so over it that he rules that, after this fight, K2 will be granted true life (Pinnochio style) and then banished to real life actual England. (Which seems dangerous considering Unsleeping City takes place irl but dig your own grave man). 

ANYWAY, All Of That aside, the Dispel Magic does work and Bakur is able to see the lies despite the Devil’s Honey. He joins the fight on the BK’s side. 

Also the bird cop shows up to shoot the last Jace. Don’t worry about it. 

OK, so going into the endgame of this fight, All the Rat Grinders are dead except for Buddy who is Banished. Bakur is there, and fighting with our heroes. Some of their allies have arrived. Mazey and Fabian and both down. All but one Jace (the one who got shot) is fully off the board.  And they still have to convince Ankarna that Porter is a big liar. 

OK, pieces repositioned, let’s finish this fight up. 

Having just been brought up by Sandra Lynn (like I said, I skimmed a LOT), it’s Adaine’s turn and she decides to do something uncharacteristic for a wizard. She takes a leap of faith. She uses her earworm present from Fabian to cast Detect Thoughts on all of her friends in range (Kristen and Fig) plus Bakur and Porter. 

According to the wording of the card (which I assume has been partially homebrewed for the setting bc it’s a bit different than the one in the official book), using the earworm to cast Detect Thoughts sends the information gleaned to the nearest extraplanar creature. Which in this case is Ankarna.   

The Devil’s Honey is dispelled now so it’s just up to if Porter makes his save or not (Adaine tells her friends to fail on purpose). He makes it, but Gorgug throws one of his inventions–a flashbang grenade–at him with another great line. He goes out of his rage and says, “Hey. Don’t be blinded by rage.” FLASH! The grenade goes off and he’s distracted enough to fail the save. His thoughts get broadcasted right to Ankarna. 

Adaine says, "Is this justice? Is this a new dawn?"

In this moment, Brennan lets everyone roll as a cleric of Ankarna for Divine Intervention. I cannot BELIEVE he lets K2 roll but, thankfully, she doesn’t actually get it. It’s Fabian, unconscious and appropriately in a kind of liminal state that’s able to do it (Note: Mazey is supposed to be down at this point so I don’t know how this next thing happens–whether it’s just a continuity blip or in his head or whatever but I’m just reporting what happened at the table, OK?). In his unconscious state, Mazey is really emotional about Fabian going down. She says that he's a really great and caring person even outside all of the things that make him traditionally cool and she wishes they could have lost their V Cards together. Ankarna, goddess of justice, will NOT let such an injustice stand. That’s enough to make her emerge from the lava, fully formed (and Fig, who has the keys to her domain, of course lets her in). She pops up and immediately slices Porter in half with a huge ass god sword. Sayonara Porter! Maybe you can be a boat in hell with Goldenhoard. 

Things start to calm, but it’s still all weird and liminal as Ankarna’s domain is being reestablished. Everyone is separated and Brennan asks them all for a moment of something unfair that they regret accepting. What follows is a bit similar to the American Dream sequence in Unsleeping City where Ankarna offers each of them a chance for vengeance/justice but is turned down. 

Gorgug thinks of Porter unfairly writing him off. Kristen thinks of her bio family. Adaine sees her parents pitting her against her sister who she could have been loving this whole time. Riz sees how hard it was to connect with people but also how he pushed Fig and Kristen this year and sees a bit of Kipperlilly in himself. Fig sees all of her internal conflict from the past year from not being able to make a pact with herself to not being able to act for help. Fabian sees the burden of living up to his father's legacy. Ankarna heals everyone of their wounds but then sadly sends them to a Twilight Forest (presumably Cass’s domain) when they politely say that they appreciate the offer but don’t need vengeance.  

Fabian does have a moment come from this however as Gorthalax and Bakur tag team to bring Bill in for a little heart to heart with Fabian where he says that he’d love his son even if he wasn’t a Maximum Legend and he’d give up his legacy for one more day to spend with Fabian. 

(Also, Lydia and Bakur are cool now. They talked it out off screen.)

With all of that, everyone is now together and Cass is holding Ankarna who is badly injured. Ankarna kind of has the attitude that Cass had at the end of last season where it was like, it doesn’t seem like anyone really needs me and all I’ve done is cause trouble so maybe I shouldn’t be here. The Bad Kids reassure her that she’s more than just her usefulness and that contrary to her declaration that she has no followers, she has at least six in the six of them. Ankarna cries happy tears.

Cass and Ankarna are about to leave to have a well deserved reunion but Kristen holds them up to ask about where the hell Kalina is. Ankarna gets all agitated because she’s NEVER trusted that cat and she’s damn near about to go on a crusade to find her as soon as Kristen brings up her suspicions. Before they leave, they have some business to attend to. 

They raise Rat Grinders (sans Kipperlilly since she was a willing participant) and Ankarna takes her name off of Lucy and Yolanda’s bodies so they can be raised. Then, Cass takes a selfie with Kristen and Ankarna and drafts a social media post to send to Craig to post because Kristen may be great in a foxhole, but she’s not the most organized person in Spyre. 

With this all wrapped up, Aguefort (and Ayda!) finally show up but the Bad Kids absolutely refuse to let him take credit for their victory. Mazey counts the votes. Adaine gets Aguefort to remove the bit in the bylaws about drugs being illegal (he calls it “narc shit). 

Riz pulls Kristen aside to make sure she actually wants to be president and that she’s not just doing it for his sake and she says yeah, (though she later says she wants him to be VP with her which he is very down for). 

Bobby Dawn tries to leave town (without even taking his grandkid!) but Fabian is chasing his ass down for all of his bullshit against his friends. 

Lucy is brought back and confirms that her friends killed her but also says that Ruben was one of her best friends before this started, implying that he was fully personality changed by the rage stars (unlike Kipperlilly who was maybe made more extreme but was rageful from the start). We see this in action when Ruben is brought back, basically tabula rasa. He has no memories of his emo persona and is really stressed to have lost his puka shell necklace. Ivy and Oisin seem like they have more memories and are ashamed of what they did but there’s not an explanation given of why the difference in effect. 

Mary Ann is basically the same and has a very abrupt conversation with Gorgug where she asks him if he has a girlfriend, much to everyone’s delight. Gorgug is so baffled and frustrated but finally lands on, “She’s so hot,” to everyone's further delight. 

Time for epilogues y’all! 

Kristen decides to be a cleric for not just Cass but Ankarna too. She even talks to Tracker (who is on a break from both Nara and Nara's money) about maybe poaching Galacaea from Sol’s pantheon. She also drops Gertie for the possibility of getting into a situationship with Tracker, earning herself a nemesis. 

Riz decides to try and chill out a little and switch from coffee to tea. He still thinks change can be scary but he recognizes that without change, he never would have met his friends. 

Aelwyn delivers a letter from the Court of Stars to Adaine which they open over ice cream sundaes at Basrar’s. Apparently, some wizard is starting shit in Sylvere–their mother. They’re both ready to plan a road trip to go kill that bitch, but before their sister murder quest (a normal thing for sisters to do) Aelwyn says that she hopes she and Adaine can eat ice cream and do magic together forever, and that if the price to have Adaine was suffering their shitty parents, it was a worthy trade. Adaine happily agrees. 

Fabian gets the Tornado to put his house back and rolls for his first time with Mazey. The dice are not on his side but luckily Mazey likes him for his personality, lol. His mom and Gilear show up and announce that they’re expecting…a dog…to guard the new baby. Also Telemaine is moving in. Fabian is distraught, even moreso when he gets a ping on Nemesis Alert. The unborn baby has already declared themselves his nemesis. At least Cathilda is also back! 

Like Riz, Gorgug also takes some time to relax since he's no longer taking 4 classes at once. He hangs with his parents and gets some presents for Fig since she was such a big help to him this year. He also makes things official with Mary Ann. Aguefort asks if he's considered being a teacher after he graduates and Ayda boasts that she always knew he was special. Aguefort also stops just short of saying he might be the bad guy next year and disappears into a flock of birds when questioned. Maddening as always. 

Fig gets some time with Sandra Lynn who is very supportive of her (which is saying a lot considering Fig has Porter’s literal balls on a chain, do not even ask). She decides school isn’t for her and drops out which she is a little concerned Ayda might judge her for since she’s so studious but Ayda says that learning isn’t confined to a classroom and starts a spell to link Leviathan to her domain in hell. Ageufort is also OK with her dropping out personally, but he does warn her that attack robots WILL be tracking her down for dropping out. Insane, but she’s not too worried about that. She just wants some alone time with Ayda. 

And finally, two bits of unfinished business. Unseen to the Bad Kids, Buddy pops out of his Banishment, still a true believer in Bakarath. He believes SO HARD that a baby god comes into existence. Then, out of the shadows KALINA appears and says, "Buddy, we gotta get the fuck out of here. They are coming for us. Your grandfather is not gonna fucking believe this."

And that’s it! End of season. Class dismissed! 

Plot Post Mortem 

OK y’all there was a LOT going on this season and not everything was neatly wrapped up but I’m gonna take a little bit of time to try and put together what we do know. 

We know that Porter was the ultimate puppetmaster of his plot and everyone else was an underling of his to some degree. Jace had a visible rage star in him so it seems that he was forcibly drafted rather than being a fully willing participant. 

The Rat Grinders formed a party (at that time called the High Five Heroes) Freshman Year. They went to the Mountains of Chaos for Spring Break. Near the end of Sophomore Year, all of her friends killed her. 

The Rat Grinders are on record as just grinding rats which seems to be a half lie because we know from talking to rats that they WERE doing that for a time but eventually Porter recruited them and started farming XP for them.

And we know that Kipperlilly was a willing participant of the plan but the other Rat Grinders were forced. 

So my best guess for the series of events here are as follows. In Freshman Year or so, Porter forced Jace into having a crystal so he can have a minion with spells (again, Porter does explicitly say he killed Jace). He spends the year scouting for a good candidate for his plan and finds an already naturally aggro Kipperlilly. 

He starts showing an interest in her and lets her in on his plan. She’s super down because she’s already bitter about the perceived injustice of the system. He feeds her unhealthy thought processes. This is why she starts having more rage outburst in Sophomore Year.

Now it’s never made clear when the other Rat Grinders join the plan and how that goes down. The popular theory is that they all died in the Mountains of Chaos but that doesn’t quite make sense. The only way that works is if everyone died except for Lucy. Why would she leave Lucy alive though? Because she was the closest to her? Was it just happenstance? Another possibility is that once they got there, Kipperlilly was the only one willing to get rage star’d and everyone else got cold feet. So, once they got home, she started putting the pressure on everyone else and eventually started killing them one by one to forcibly recruit them, ending with the dogpile on Lucy. This is all speculation of course, I’m just trying to square the info we know to be true with the bits of lore we have. Kipperlilly expected Lucy to come back like the others and they didn’t. With her dead, they needed a new cleric for the plan which is why Buddy Dawn was drafted. 

Kipperlilly DID have a rage star–it just wasn’t put into her by force. She chose to take it on. It’s not entirely clear how much it affected her–or anyone’s–actions or personality. Emo Ruben still spoke fondly of Lucy and seemed sad about her death. Kipperlilly was more unhinged in Junior Year but it’s not like she was super hinged before. 

It’s also not clear how much autonomy you have when you’re rage star’d. It seems to me that the rage star doesn’t really mind control you so much as play up the rageful thoughts you already have–for instance Adaine when she almost gets rage star’d saying that if she was consumed by rage she’d destroy Falinel and Sylvaire looking for her mom. It CAN mind control you if Porter uses an action to control you but most of the time you’re just an angry version of yourself (though Ruben’s complete personality swap raises questions). 

Anyway, that’s the best I can figure. No need to keep spinning wheels now that the season is done. 

Honor Roll

Adaine Abernant for Some Unorthodox Wizardry 

I am biased towards Adaine but I think she deserves her props this episode. 

A Wizard putting themselves in a position where they have to tank damage is so risky, but she cares about her friends enough to Scatter them to safety and hope her Mirror Images do their job.

A Wizard getting in melee range with a Pally/Barb seems like a recipe for disaster but Adaine was able to parry Porter with her sword. 

And having faith isn’t really in a Wizard’s wheelhouse but she has enough faith in her friends to try a big swing in reaching out to Ankarna. 

(Big Honorable Mentions to Riz trapping KP and Gorgug using his grenade on Porter in the climax). 

Detention 

Kipperlilly for Being a Bad Rogue

I’m not even giving her this spot for being a bad guy. I’m giving her this spot for being a ROGUE and not HIDING when the plan hinged on her SURVIVING TO THE END. Girl, what were you doing in melee range??? You have a crossbow, bitch, use it! Frankly she shouldn’t have even been on the battlefield, but I know for story reasons she had to be. But if she had to be there she could have played it waaaaaay smarter. 

Random Thoughts

Oisin was rage star’d but I have to assume his grandma wasn’t, right? I mean she was buddies with Kalvaxus so she probably just is OK with pillaging and evil. From her POV was it just like oh thank Helio my nerdy-ass grandson finally got cool. 

The way that gods work in this world always kind of trips me up. Because gods have been established to not be autonomous individuals in the way that people are. Saying, “Choose your own path” is nice, but it doesn’t really make sense when your personality is literally decided by your followers. They’re more mirrors than they are people. Same thing with morality. If it’s not Ankarna’s fault that she was made into a rageful conqueror, it’s also not Helio’s fault that he’s a fratty college boy (allegedly, I still think that’s more what Kristen felt than what was textually there). Unless we’re saying that each god has a “true self” and anything that pulls them from that is anomalous, then it’s hard to have conversations about gods while viewing them as people with direct agency. 

What was up with the vision Adaine kept having? Was that a trick to get them to have that party? Because they probably wouldn’t have done that without her visions. Who did that? Was it a Dream spell like Fig was doing to Ruben?

I didn’t mention it but it was very funny for Adaine to pull a Brer Rabbit: Ohhhh noooo. Please don’t throw me in the laaavaaaaaa. 

Who was watching Fig/Wanda “die” in the window, Brennan????? You never told us!!!! 

I thought it was sweet when Kristen was like I do wish I had a sister and Adaine was like, I’m your sister :)

I’ll prob make a longer post on this later but I really do not understand why the Ankarna plot is what was picked for this season when it’s so similar to the Cass plot from last season: Goddess of a concept that can be good but people find scary/are skeptical about is changed by the actions of their followers into something monstrous that is being manipulated by bad actors in the current day who the Bad Kids win over to their side and one of them becomes the prophet/champion of. It even has the beat of the goddess, post-rezzing, being like, “Idk if you really need me.” They’re even married! I don’t have a problem with Ankarna the character but she does feel a bit like a rehash of Cass’s storybeats, just in orange instead of purple. 

I still have some thoughts but they’ll get answered over the next week as I go through the remaining asks in my ask box and I’ve been working on this for hours so I’m gonna cut this short. As a whole, I thought this season was so much fun! Plot-wise it was probably the muddiest of all the Spyre seasons and I would def have changed stuff but it didn’t hinder my week-to-week enjoyment and it’s always a good time hanging out with the Bad Kids. (Also you all know that the #1 thing I’m here for is Abernant Sisters content and I was extremely catered to in this regard, lol). 

Thanks for following these recaps this season! I really appreciate everyone hopping into the tags or asks to talk and theorize and stuff. 

If you wanna engage with more of my writing, you can check out my podcast: Absolutely No Adventures or my visual novels on itch.io. It would mean a lot!

[blue-thief]

respectfully asking you to drop those trans hcs for the bllk boys!!!

yeah sure ofc i'm so glad you asked!

i'll split them up based on which NEL team they're on for the sake of my own sanity

(i don't actually hc ALL of them to be trans so i'll just mention the ones i actually have a hc for lol)

bastard munchen

kaiser - THE most trans-coded of the bunch imo. like the whole thing with the blue rose tattoo to represent "turning the impossible into reality" and "defying the natural order of things". and his full name is "michael kaiser" which can be interpreted as "god's chosen emperor". there's no way bro was given that name at birth. he's also coded to have religious trauma which would become much more layered if you interpret him as trans. he's also, interestingly enough, the only one to NOT have a metal chain around his neck on his cover. he's the only one with glass. a lot of ppl have interpreted this as him having a fragile ego, but glass can also be taken to symbolize transformation (i just pulled this from a random website talking about the spiritual meaning of glass lmao). ALSO also him being annoyed by his long hair in ness's flashback. trans. plus his insecurity concerning how good he is in comparison to (who he perceives as) cis players just screams insecure trans masc who's relying too much on toxic masculinity to affirm his gender to his peers lmao.

ness - he totally thought he would have to fight his parents on this but they were surprisingly cool with it + even helped him w puberty blockers and stuff. he still hates them for the anti-magic stuff but at least they're not transphobic?

isagi - don't ask me to explain this i just get those vibes

noa - (reporter) "what is your opinion on trans people with an unfair biological advantage in sports?" (noa, a trans man who transitioned wayy before he got famous) "i AM trans people with an unfair biological advantage in sports"

pxg

shidou - he just has bigender vibes man. japanese isn't big on third-person pronouns, but once he starts getting better at english, he'd def start collecting pronouns like pokemon cards. he figured out his identity through chainsaw man ("wow denji's just like me fr but so is angel devil but so is asa but so is-")

ubers

(i have nothing for any of the ubers. feel free to prove me wrong)

fc barcha

bachira - non-binary but he doesn't know it yet (any and all pronouns once he does figure it out)

manshine city

chigiri - peak gender, everyone confuses him for a girl. he uses masculine language, and while he sometimes acts annoyed when ppl call him princess, he doesn't bother correcting them. does anyone actually know chigiri's gender? no. does he know what it is? yes. will he tell anyone? no. he thinks it's funny to keep ppl guessing with the constant contradictions

reo - i didn't actually hc him as trans at first but the post i was complaining about earlier was dunking on this hc specifically so uhhh yeah he's trans now sorry i don't make the rules <3. his dad's company also pioneered top surgery that doesn't leave any scars which is why no one in bllk has any. like with ness, his dad is surprisingly not transphobic but he sucks in other ways lmao (but now that you think of it, his whole struggle with wanting to live a life completely different from what his parents had in mind for him IS a very trans-coded backstory)

[bismuth-209]

what i want to play in Solo But Not Alone 4

So, there's a charity bundle on itch.io right now, Solo But Not Alone 4 is a bundle of 125 solo ttrpg-type games.

By ttrpg-type I mean that they aren't played on the computer, they usually have pdfs to download and then you need to bring the things like playing cards, tarot cards, dice and something to write with yourself (and very occasionally a jenga tower). They're usually rather focused on journaling.

If you want to know which games need which supplies, or what genres the games are, there's a handy dandy spreadsheet you can get here.

now, I've not really played any of the games yet, but there's ones I really want to play, and maybe I can make some of you excited enough to buy the bundle and support the charity Take This too. Take This is a non-profit to benefit mental health in the gaming community, but a little look on their website gives me the idea that their resources are useful broader as well, for example they have links to mental health resources for particular ethnic groups. It does seem pretty English-speaking country centric, but still a worthy charity to support I think.

without further ado! the games

Project ECCO is a game you play in a PLANNER. I've scrounged up an old planner I barely used and I'll be using it to play this game. It's a time travel game and you write your answers to the prompts on the pages of the planner you've "travelled" to. There's different ways to "travel through time" in the game, so you use dice, playing cards, tarot cards and a coin to determine what day you're writing on and what prompt you're fulfilling. I like the variety in methods, and i like that i'll be having limited space to write (although it's VERY little on the weekends. we'll see what i can manage on 3 lines)

If you want to play just this game you should definitely buy the bundle, it's usually 15 USD, while the bundle is just 10.

Corporate Onboarding is here mostly because of the formatting, I'll admit. But the formatting is so cool! It's AVAILABLE AS A POWERPOINT FILE. Also pdf, handy if you don't have the ms office suite. It fits on just 19 slides, but it claims that the average session is about an hour, which sounds about right. It doesn't have a lot of introspection far as I can tell, you need to find all your bosses to report to them without going over 5 warnings, and you have some stats for your character and all that.

Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop is another game worth getting the whole bundle for, normally 16 USD and it does seem worth that.

The game has such cool worldbuilding, you've got different towns and seasons and events throughout the year. I can see myself dedicating a whole notebook to this. And it's got a beautiful pdf (that's kind of formatted for print, but the print book's sold out). Also a fishing mini game you play by dealing a deck of cards.

5 act play is a game that gives you some guidance for the plotting of a play. It uses tarot, but also gives an alternative using dice and playing cards. It really USES tarot, you are expected to have a guidebook or look one up for the meanings of the cards and use them to inform characters and themes, but it does have tables for what you do with some of the cards. It's Shakespeare inspired, using examples from Much Ado and Romeo and Juliet to help you, and you're expected to write a tragedy or a comedy.

The Peace Engine is a game you use a jenga tower to play, which I don't currently have access to, but it looks incredible and I'm considering asking around if I can borrow one. You have to pull bricks from the tower when your scientist gains "burnout" and if your tower falls you fail. It has a complex system and it seems very cool.

Again a game more expensive on its own, so get it in the bundle!

Glyph is a sort of guide where you make sigils, it has a beautiful pdf as well. I like the method it provides. It recommends to be used for enrichment of other games, or just as a fun creative exercise

This bundle runs until the 9th of March 2024!

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT ECOMMERCE NEWS (INCLUDING ETSY), AUGUST 2024

Hello, and welcome to my very last Ecommerce News update here on Tumblr.

After today, these reports will now be found at least twice a week on my Patreon, available to all paid members. See more about this change here on my website blog: https://www.cindylouwho2.com/blog/2024/8/12/a-new-way-to-get-ecommerce-news-and-help-welcome-to-my-patreon-page

Don't worry! I will still be posting some short pieces here on Tumblr (as well as some free pieces on my Patreon, plus longer posts on my website blog). However, the news updates and some other posts will be moving to Patreon permanently.

Please follow me there! https://www.patreon.com/CindyLouWho2

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Etsy has banned gift certificates/cards sold by individual shops, as of Sept 15. Only Etsy Gift Cards are now allowed. The second quarter report press release says they plan on selling Etsy Gift Cards through third parties, but no official word on how and when yet.

Many Amazon Handmade sellers were unable to list new items after a site update on July 31 [post by me on LinkedIn]. While Amazon told sellers to apply for an exemption from the Product ID requirement, some report that is not working, or that they do not have the option to apply for one. 

Reminder that Canadian Etsy shops will be charged a 1.15% Regulatory Operating fee on the item price and shipping cost as of August 15. [I’ve set a bunch of things to expire. If Etsy isn’t profitable enough to pay its taxes, maybe they should consider cutting executive pay instead of squeezing microbusinesses even more.]

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy has updated its Privacy Policy, to take effect August 31. Changes include mention of biometric data. Note that some parts of the policy are screenshots, and therefore not easily searchable nor accessible to screen readers - I am not sure how they can get away with that. I used the Wayback Machine to do a comparison of the parts that software can actually read.   There’s also a new US regional privacy policy, which currently covers laws in several states.  

Etsy is promoting a Labour Day sale August 21-September 2, and has already set up the "Cyber Savings Sale" (November 18-December 3) for Cyber Week. You can schedule the official sales through links in the announcement.

Forbes covered Etsy’s sex toy ban [soft paywall; not safe for work photos]. To no one's surprise, plenty of the banned items are still found on site, including toys and vintage Playboy magazines. 

Etsy is accused of allowing shops based in “illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory” and profiting off of them. Etsy’s response: "[W]e have shared this information internally with the appropriate teams for review."

Etsy's promised program for buyers - Etsy Insider - will be rolling out as invite-only beta in September. It's a paid membership for US buyers and includes:

Free US domestic shipping on millions of items

A birthday bonus

Limited edition annual gift, designed by an Etsy seller

First access to special discounts and select merchandise

While some of the "special discounts" are paid by sellers, that is a voluntary program shops can sign up for here. That form also allows you to sign up to offer new items to Etsy Insiders first - “drops” - which does not involve offering discounts. Etsy has done these sorts of "offers" in the past, and I believe they have already reached out to sellers for the first round of offers in September (based on some emails I have received from shop owners).

You can now sign up for “Etsy Up”, the virtual sellers conference scheduled for September 10. However, despite saying they have announced “our agenda”, all that is provided is a vague set of topics (other than the fact they will be announcing the Etsy Design Awards Finalists). It makes me wonder if there are official Etsy announcements coming soon that they don’t want to reveal too early by posting the real agenda. If yes, around August 15 is a good bet, given that  Etsy’s Search Analytics will end that day, and many new policies kick in on September 15, just one month later.

The Etsy app is showing rectangular listing images in search for some visitors, but it appears to be a test [Reddit thread with screenshot]. I wouldn’t change anything at this time. 

No, Etsy has not replaced your listing tags. I covered that topic here on LinkedIn. 

I wrote about the new Listing Image Requirement policy and the email Etsy sent to some sellers on Monday July 29. [post by me on Patreon] And not everyone is being fooled by Etsy’s new Creativity Standards, but some acknowledge it will be difficult for Etsy to turn away factory-made goods at this point. [Disclosure: I am quoted in that article]

ECOMMERCE NEWS (minus social media)

Amazon

Amazon’s second quarter revenue was below expectations, and the company predicts nothing better in the third quarter. 

In a surprising change, Amazon has decided to cancel overage fees for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) inventory storage, retroactive to July 1. 

Canadian Amazon sellers will be subject to a new digital services fee as of October 1. This is due to Canada’s new digital services tax. 

In a case that may have an impact on other larger ecommerce sites, a court ruled that Amazon is responsible for recalls of products sold through Amazon, including through “Fulfilled By Amazon”. 

US Amazon shoppers can now link their Pinterest and TikTok accounts to Amazon to be able to buy directly from Amazon ads on social media. This is already available on Facebook, Instagram and Snap. 

Amazon is changing its refund policy for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) users: if sellers do not receive an automatic reimbursement for loss, damage and returns, they will now only have 60 days to apply for one.  A lot of ecommerce experts think Amazon is making a mistake in setting up a China to US section on the site.

eBay

eBay second quarter revenue and profit was higher than expected, but the third quarter projections are low.  

The eBay app has taken a lot of flack for inserting ads between each item in a purchase history. 

Poshmark

As marketplaces popular for pre-owned items compete for the best new stock, Poshmark is offering “rewards” for listing at least 1 item a week. 

Shopify

Shopify had a better-than-expected second quarter, and expects a decent third quarter as well. Getting larger businesses to use Shopify has helped the tech company, but I still wonder how that affects the small and micro businesses who used to be the target market.

Walmart

The Walmart Marketplace has added Chile as its fourth country, after the US, Canada and Mexico. 

All Other Marketplaces

Hundreds of business owners who sell on Temu held a protest at the marketplace headquarters on July 29. Fines for returns are one cited issue. 

Payment Processing

Credit cards issued by Chase in the US will no longer allow third-party buy-now-pay-later purchases, as of October 10. Conveniently, they offer their own option, Chase Pay Over Time. PayPal has expanded the quicker checkout solution Fastlane to all US businesses, which fills in customer information without a log in.

[valeriantempest]

"So, You Want to be Part of My Club?~"

"Club Dev Hour is a nightclub which is host to all kinds of individuals. Open every night each week, you will find some comfort in the music to dance the night away to, the tasty drinks and if you want to, in the pits of someones gut or have your gut filled~"

Here are some things about the Club Dev Hour lil universe. You are welcome to make original characters or writing based in this universe, see more info below~:

You must have a ticket to enter.

Do not remove your wristband you receive while in the club, you will not be allowed back in if you leave or you can be removed if there is no valid proof you had a wristband (eg; copy of a ticket, ticket receipt, etc.)

No devouring anyone without permission! Any misbehaving with this rule will have that happen to them, often carried out by Valerian himself.

Do not do anything without another permission PERIOD! Again, this can result in a ban from the club or possible Karma brought to you.

If any guests are making you uncomfortable, harassing, etc; report to the guards or staff of the club. We strive to make sure everyone feels safe in this environment.

All employees as part of their contract will be assigned reformation to ensure if the boss does get hungry, you will return!

Some job roles include; bar tender, bouncers/guards within the club, clean up duties, performers, dj's, receptionist and hosts.

Valerian has his personal body guards which are separate from those who's roles are to make sure everyone is safe in the club

Like any job, you are given holidays and with Club Dev Hour, you are not expected to work every night!

The pay is fair for everyone

If you are having issues or problems with your tasks or another staff member, Valerian and/or his body guards will happily help out in any way they can.

You call in sick? Don't worry, we all have our off days and Valerian will happily make sure to take the time you need to rest up.

You are allowed to devour on duty, but do adhere to the rules of the club.

All guest are recommended to have an active reformation in place. We can provide a single night reformation service if you do not have one in place.

There are seven types of tickets; Prey ticket (if you are strictly prey; you will receive a special code to remember along with your full name if you are to be digested, more info below), Pred ticket (if you are strictly pred), Switch ticket (You lean both towards prey and pred, you will also be given a code like the prey ticket), D.N.E ticket (Do Not Eat which is a ticket for those who do not wish to partake in any vore happenings but wish to attend the club for its other entertainments or wish to observe instead.) and the highest priced tickets, V.I.P. tickets (Very Important Prey, Very Important Pred or Very Important Person (for those who do not want to be part of the vore aspects); these ticket holders have access to special rooms and services the club provides)

There are seasonal tickets as well which are like membership cards for reoccurring customers if they are interested. Tickets will be at a discount for these club members and offers such as a free drink or an upgraded ticket can be handed out to luck winners too.

You will receive a colored wristband which allocates you to your ticket so everyone can be identified. There are signs around the club to help you identify what each wristband means

These wristbands can not be destroyed easily so, for example, if you are an endo or temporary prey, the wristband will not dissolve.

There is on sight reformation locations for those digested on sight which allows you to receive your wristbands again. This is where you say the code or your full name to a staff member who will happily be of service to you. If you are a pred who has tested the waters, please provide your full name and we will see what we can do.

Of course I have this open to anyone who would like to create an oc or even do some writing based in Club Dev hour! There are some rules to follow that i am sure you all will do anyways:

Do not claim this as your own idea, its not nice to steal peoples ideas :(

No, you cant vore Valerian. He is strictly pred, sorry!

If you see anyone stealing this idea, please let me know!

Feel free to tag me in your works! I would love to see them so much if anyone does do anything! I might even do some works with your ocs (with permission of course ^-^)

There is a special tag for this now, #ClubDevHour ~

If you have any questions, my ask box is open for public and anon messages alike! You can also directly message me here or on my twitter or discord!

Thanks for reading, and do enjoy your stay at Club Dev Hour~

💟 Support me on Eka’s Portal for more content~

💟 Follow me on twitter where I'm most active! I also have discord under the same username, I am not very active there but feel free to send over a message there!

💟Ask box open on tumblr for anon messages if you have questions or suggestions~

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super Manga ch.88-90

The 2023 Dragon Ball Apocrypa Liveblog concludes with the DBS manga's adaptation of the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero motion picture.

First up, we have this three-chapter prologue/prequel thing starring Goten and Trunks in their lankey teen bodies. It's well-made, but I'm not impressed. Find out the reason why... inside!

Okay, as the image above shows, this is all about the boys' playing superheroes while they're in high school... just like Gohan did way back in Dragon Ball Z. The main difference seems to be that there's two of them doing it this time, and their motives are a little more frivolous. Gohan came up with Great Saiayaman because he just couldn't help but foil crimes, and the costume allowed him to save the day without giving away his identity. Goten and Trunks also want to keep a low profile, but they mostly seem to be doing this shtick because they're on a superhero kick lately. They call themselves "Saiyaman X1 and X2", but their act mainly imitates their hero, Cleangod, who has a franchise of movies, video games, and so forth.

The added wrinkle is that they're also trying to keep this thing a secret from their families, as Bulma and Chi-Chi wouldn't approve of the boys screwing around like this when they should be studying. I guess it was okay when Gohan did it, but times have changed, and Trunks in particular isn't doing so hot on his report cards.

That does keep things mildly interesting. For example, you'd expect the boys to use costume changing watches like Great Saiyaman had, except they don't want Bulma to find out. So Trunks asks Pilaf to make them instead, and Pilaf can't make them as quickly, so Trunks doesn't get his until chapter 88 is half-over, and Goten's isn't ready until chapter 89. And you know, it probably would make things a lot simpler for Goten and Trunks to avoid the Saiyaman stuff altogether if they don't want their moms to find out, since they've seen this trick before. But they're doing it anyway, I guess because they're just that deep into the Cleangod fandom.

However, this still feels like a retread of a storyline we've already seen. Reading this, I feel like I've gotten too old for Dragon Ball. I know that isn't true. I'm looking forward to whatever happens in Chapter 101 onward, and Daima seems promising, even if it wasn't what I had in mind. There's always something interesting around the corner... but I see stories like this one that are more interested in rehashing older material, and it just feels tired and stale. Younger fans may not mind at all, but I see this and wonder if all we have left is just rehashing ideas we've already seen before.

Besides all of that, I'm not a big fan of high school stories, and there's a healthy dose of Trumai... and let's just get this out of the way before we go any further: I'm not that interested in the whole "next generation" thing.

I know there's a lot of fans who really dig the whole idea of exploring what happens to Goten, Trunks, Marron, Uub, Bulla, and Pan. I respect that, but I've never been very invested in any of them. I liked what we got out of them in DBZ, but that's about it. Let me kind of single out Goten so I can discuss this more easily. For the sake of argument, let's just call the "next generation" concept "Big Goten", since it features the teenage or adult version of the character, as opposed to the little guy in the Buu Saga and most of Super. Trunks, Marron, and the rest can be lumped into this, but it's easier to just refer to one character.

Basically, this 3-chapter arc is probably the best "Big Goten" story by default. Your other options are the End of Z episodes which barely do anything with him, or that one GT episode where he fights Baby and gets possessed. Or the Super Hero movie, where he's barely in it.

And yet, we have this 3-chapter arc, and Goten's basically playing sidekick to Trunks. That's not a huge problem in itself. You'd expect these two to be side-by-side, but it's mainly a Trunks story. He's trying to get Mai to go out with him, but she's part of the Pilaf gang living at Capsule Corp, and they have to be useful or Bulma will kick them out. So she's too busy repairing these "helper robots" that malfunctioned recently. Trunks thinks he can investigate the case as Saiyaman X-1 and get Mai the weekend off so she can date him. Goten's just sort of along for the ride. He enjoys the superhero bit, and he likes goofing off with Trunks, so it's all good.

And honestly, you could probably switch these two around and have Goten be the one trying to solve crimes to go on a date, while Trunks is the supportive wingman. But that's the problem. We have this one story, and they both kind of have to share it, and it really doesn't matter which one of them gets the lead.

Like, in this arc, we learn a little more about Teen Trunks. He's not doing well scholastically, he lacks Bulma's talent with computers or science, and... he's still carrying a torch for Mai for some reason. Oh, and he's afraid of ghosts now. It's not much to go on, but at least he gets something. All we find out about Goten in this thing is that he likes Cleangod, just like Trunks. Oh, and Teen Marron has a brief appearance where it turns out she really likes Cleangod too. Also several of Goten and Trunks' classmates enjoy Cleangod. And Dr. Hedo likes Cleangod. You know, that's how you develop your characters, right? You make them all like the same thing.

The point I'm getting at is that for years I've heard that Big Goten is this untapped well of great story ideas and this arc finally gets around to that and... it's pretty underwhelming. That's the big idea? Superheroes? Again? It worked for Gohan because it was a fresh idea when he did it. And it worked for Dr. Hedo because it helped set him apart from Dr. Gero. But all it does for Goten and Trunks is give them another set of clothes. Trunks is still pining for Mai and Goten is still just happy to be here. It's not enough. It's not nearly enough.

So let's move on. The boys head into town one night to investigate the Helper Robots that are mysteriously disappearing. Turns out they've been hijacked by Dr. Hedo's Alpha series androids. Strictly speaking, the Alphas are just corpses stolen from a morgue, reanimated with cybernetics. Remember those goons working at the convenience store in the beginning of Super Hero? Well this is the same group of guys. Hedo's problem is that he's fare more brilliant than Gero ever was, but he lacks the resources and funding to make the kinds of androids that he wants to make. The Alphas are functional, but only just. Their brains are defective, and you can probably only steal so many bodies from the morgue before the cops get wise to you. So Hedo's big idea is to hijack the Helper Robots and use them to manufacture sushi packages for profit. He could build something more efficient for this, but this will have to do until he gets the cash.

Oh, I forgot to talk about how Pilaf built the Helper bots. I'm not clear on what they do, but there's a lot of them in the city, and apparently Pilaf pitched the idea to Bulma and she okayed it. At first I was surprised to read this, but then I remembered that Pilaf had his own Dragon Radar way back in the day. It wasn't as sophisticated as Bulma's, but it goes to show that Pilaf knows his way around technology. This isn't some new thing they slapped onto his character, like Trunks suddenly being afraid of ghosts.

For a second, it looks like Goten and Trunks are discovered by the Alphas, but it turns out Trunks' pals from school have snuck into the production floor, and they're the ones who get discovered, so Trunks has to go in and save them. Except his superhero wristwatch malfunctions, so Goten has to take out the lights to cover for him.

Trunks cleans house, even defeating Alpha 12, who was the strongest guy on Hedo's team. When Hedo himself arrives to find his base wrecked, his only clue is that it was trashed by someone who goes to "Blue Hal" High School. It's a major setback for Hedo, but what really upsets him is that Trunks took an important disc from his safe. Hedo wants to recover it above all else. Ironically, Trunks isn't even that concerned about the disc, since all he really cares about is disrupting whatever Hedo was doing to the Helper Robots. That way he can get his date with Mai, except it won't. Even more ironically, Mai still has to work on Saturday night, because she and the Pilaf Gang have to repair all the Helper Robots Trunks smashed in Hedo's base. Whoops!

Later, Trunks tries to use Bulma's computer to access the data on the disc he took from Hedo's sushi packaging shop. He briefly sees information related to Cell, but he doesn't recognize its significance, probably because he only knows Cell from hearing about it through his family. Anyway, the disc gives the computer a virus, which Bulla removes because that's her big character defining moment in this story. She's basically a carbon copy of Kid Bulma from the Jaco manga, but at least she's not another Cleangod fan.

Anyway, Bulma had decided to start sending Mai to school along with Trunks. Apparently she realized it might be awkward if anyone noticed Mai working for Capsule Corp. and not going to school. This just now came up? I mean, the Pilaf Gang have been here for a few years at least. If anything, it would have been more awkward when Mai was younger, right? I mean, I get it, this is just a way to get Mai involved in the story, but still...

There's also another new student in Trunks' class: Baytah. Trunks' friend Rulah takes an immediate liking to him, but this is pretty clearly a new android created by Dr. Hedo. The Alpha series was no match for Saiyaman X-1, so he created a new Beta class to infiltrate Blue Hal High School and find out who X-1 really is. Beta begins to suspect Trunks, since he displays some above-average performance on the basketball court, but he can't find a way to prove it without giving himself away.

So here we have this weird scene where they're getting soup for lunch, and Trunks is sad that he can't get extra. Then Beta pretends to trip or something, and throws his soup into the air. I guess the idea was that Trunks would have to use super powers to dodge it, or he'd get it all over his nice school clothes. But instead Trunks just sort of shifts to one side and the soup miraculously lands in his bowl. And he's happy because he gets extra soup? How does it all fit in one bowl, though? Is the lunch lady only filling them up halfway? This whole bit is really contrived, is what I'm trying to say.

Somewhere along the way, Mai figures it out and explains it to Trunks, so they know Beta is looking for Saiyaman X-1. So he knows to be careful about showing off his powers, but Goten just picks up a truck during recess to get a tennis ball back for his classmates. See, Trunks, this is how you get the ladies. Mai is like 55 years old. She doesn't care, but if you pick up a truck or two, all these teenage girls will go wild. Right now, these two girls are thinking about how much they wish they were trucks, being held in Goten's mightly-yet-gentle hand.

Anyway, now Beta is convinced that Goten is the one he's after, and Hedo tells him to attack and get the disc.

So Beta reveals he has a goofy superhero suit of his own, but Goten can't fight seriously because he doesn't have a transformation watch yet. Fortunately, Trunks does, so he shows up as X-1 and quickly slips Goten the new watch Pilaf must have made last night.

I'm not thrilled with Beta's design, but I like the concept. Faced with both Saiyamen, he deploys Beta 2, which is a robotic exosuit that can separate and fight in two modules. The Betas are here for the disc, but neither Goten or Trunks has it. Mai does, because Trunks gave her his bag while he ran off to pee or whatever excuse he had to switch costumes.

So Trunks has to save Mai from the Betas, and as he catches her, she briefly mistakes him for Future Trunks, the only version of Trunks Mai seems to have any interest in. The Saiyamen clean house, and the day is saved. Trunks very nearly tells Mai that he was X-1 all along, but Goten stops him before he can spill the beans in front of the whole school.

Okay, but what's the point? I mean, Goten just lifted a truck with one hand a minute ago? More importantly, Great Saiyaman was revealed to be Goten about ten years earlier. Not that I expect these students to remember that, but that's my point: Gohan was worried about everyone finding out he had super powers, and in the end no one cared.

I mean, there's still the matter of not wanting Bulma and Chi-Chi to find out what they're up to, but that sort of doesn't matter? I mean, the moms just want their kids to study more and screw around less. It doesn't really matter if they're playing superhero or going fishing. Their moms know they aren't studying, because they've got the report cards to prove it.

Back at Hedo's (other) base, he realizes he underestimated the Saiyamen, and realizes that he'll have to build even better androids to defeat them. And he's taken a liking to the Saiyamen's costumes, particularly their capes, so the implication here is that the Gammas' designs were inspired by Goten and Trunks' antics in this story.

Later, we finally get to that convenience store we saw briefly in Super Hero. Hedo still needs money, especially if he plans to build something to defeat the Saiyamen, so he puts three of his Alphas to work at the "Mammal Mart". It's Krillin who makes the bust, and for some reason Mai is there too.

Despite his lofty plans for better androids, the best Hedo can manage is to send more Beta series androids after Goten and Trunks. Beta 7 looks like an Elvis impersonator, and he intercepts Goten's school bus, but Goten changes into X-2 and beats him. Apparently this sort of thing has been going on for a while now.

Mai takes Goten aside and reveals to him that they're being watched by a tiny spy-robot. After the Beta-1 incident at school, Mai investigated and learned that Dr. Hedo is a famous scientist in the area, and she believes he's behind all of this. Apparently he's already figured out Goten and Trunks are the Saiyamen, since he's been sending Beta androids to harass them.

Mai's plan is to defeat Hedo by using the school dance to lure him into a trap. The organizers have arranged for a live appearance by Cleangod at the dance, which... seems kind of odd for a high school dance, but nothing about this super-hero business really makes any sense to me.

Like, okay... I've been a comic book fan for over thirty years. I just read a bunch of Golden Age Captain Americas a few months ago. I think I know the genre pretty well, and nothing Dragon Ball Super does with the concept really rings true to me.

In the first place, the Dragon Ball characters are already superheroes. I went from Batman to Superman to Marvel to Dragon Ball Z, and it was a pretty smooth transition. I never stopped liking the other stuff that came before, so it's not like my tastes changed all that much. I just see DBZ as a natural extension of the same stuff I liked in Marvel and DC.

It made sense when Gohan became Great Saiyaman because the only trope he hadn't done yet was the secret identity thing, and the only reason it had never come up before was that he'd never needed one before then. Once he got into high school, he suddenly had friends he wanted to keep secrets from, so he did the same thing Clark Kent did in 1938.

But then you have Goten and Trunks doing it because they think it's neat, and they're fans of Cleangod, who is a fictional character to them. And this is probably because Hedo was doing the same bit in the movie, where he would wear a costume and do the poses because he was imitating other fictional superheroes. So the idea seems to be less about the superhero genre as I know it, and more of this ironic "Let's be comic book nerds and do cosplay, and also we have super powers so we can do more than just pose in the suits."

Which... fine, I guess. The thing is, I don't understand the fascination with Cleangod. I mean, it makes sense for Hedo to be an enormous fanboy, because he's a nerdy scientist. I'm a nerdy scientist, so I can relate. He wants Cleangod's autograph, and I'm running an anime blog in my late 40's.

But Goten and Trunks are not nerds. Neither, it seems, are most of their classmates. They all seem like fairly normal teens, mostly interested in dates and school stuff and snooping around abandoned factories or whatever. But this high school dance is going to feature a live appearance by a man in a superhero costume. That's the sort of thing a circus would do to get small children to show up.

Is this an ironic thing? Like, did Goten and Trunks start out thinking Cleangod was cringy kidstuff, and they just kept getting deeper into the fandom until they started liking it for real? Is that what's happening?

Sorry, I was explaining Mai's plan. Okay, so Cleangod will be doing a meet-and-greet at a high school dance party. Okay. Dr. Hedo is a huge mark for Cleangod, so Mai is certain he will crash the party just to meet Cleangod and get his autograph. And she plans to be there when he does, so she can shut him down once and for all.

And she gets to go to this dance, because she's attending with...

...Trunks. He wanted to ask her to this thing, but she asked him instead, so he's all a-flutter over this, never realizing that she's just using him to get at Hedo. Except.... she's attending this school now. She doesn't need a date to get in. Hedo is the one who has to find some way to get access to the building, because he's not a student.

I like Mai's armor in this scene, although it really never comes into play. Also, Trunks brought Hedo's disc with him, because.... I have no idea. Maybe he doesn't want to risk losing it?

As expected, Hedo does show up for this thing, and I guess it's because Beta-1 is still registered as a student? I'm more confused about this signing event in the middle of a dance floor. This just feels like a hot mess. Trunks and Hedo bond over their mutual love of Cleangod... wait, I thought Trunks was excited about getting to go on a date with Mai? Priorities, Trunks!

Anyway, Hedo confides to Trunks that he had a Cleangod autograph before, but it was stolen, so he's here to get another one. Hold on, doesn't Hedo know Trunks is X-1? I mean, he was sending androids after Goten, so he must know he's X-2, right?

Mai tries to get Hedo, but then Beta shows up, and Rulah explains that he got back into the school, so she asked him to the dance. I really like Rulah. She doesn't know what's going on, but there's a new boy in town and she's gonna make time with him. She's like an Archie character.

Then the cops show up. Yeah, just draw your guns in a big crowd of children, Krillin, that makes a ton of sense.

Hedo uses a smokebomb to escape and everyone chases after him. By the time Cleangod comes out to make his big appearance, everyone is gone except Mai, who isn't impressed. That's the thing I can't square with all of this. The running gag seems to be that superheroes are both cool and uncool at the same time. People were lining up to see this guy, but the punchline is that he totally sucks? I guess? Characters will praise Goten and Trunks' costumes and then later characters will call them corny.

Like, which is it? That's the thing about superhero comics, at least from my perspective. In the real world, you either think Batman's awesome or he's a giant dork in a fursuit. Fine. But in the Batman mythos, just about everyone takes him seriously because he's a mysterious badass. I get it, Cleangod's basically Adam West working car-shows in the 1970's, but Saiyaman X-1 and X-2 are the real thing. They fought robots in the middle of the football field in front of everyone. I mean, no one called Goten corny when he lifted that truck.

Oh, by the way, Dr. Hedo's jalopy is awesome.

Krillin (reluctantly) brings Goten and Trunks along to chase down Hedo, and he fills them in on the situation. The cops have been after Hedo because they think the Red Ribbon Army is trying to stage a comback and they want to contact him. That.... doesn't quite square with the movie, but we'll talk about that later.

Anyway, they get to Hedo's (third?) base and he's got a dinosaur android to stop them. This is the biggest, strongest one he's made so far, but it's still not very sophisticated, simply because Hedo lacks the resources to build anything better.

It gives the Bio-Broly Buster Crew a little trouble, but Krillin disables it with a kienzan, and then Goten and Trunks take it out with a double-team move. And Hedo's going to jail.

So what about that disc? Turns out it never mattered. Hedo memorized all the information on it a long time ago, so the disc itself had no value to him. What he wanted was the case, which contained, in addition to the disc, his prized Cleangod autograph. Remember? The one he told Trunks got stolen? They didn't know it at the time, but Trunks was the one who stole it in Chapter 88.

And that's really dumb, because Trunks did try to investigate the disc in Chapter 89. He didn't get very far, but he still had to open the case it was in, so you'd think he would have noticed the Cleangod autograph inside. I mean, another character might not have paid any attention to it, but Trunks is a huge fan of Cleangod himself.

And if Hedo truly had no use for the disc, why didn't he throw it away a long time ago? In this scene, he says he discarded it, but he must have only done that in the last few minutes, before Krillin showed up to arrest him, since Trunks had the disc before the dance. This whole thing is supposed to be clever, but it's kind of dumb.

Anyway, this whole caper explains how Hedo got sentenced to prison at the beginning of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. He could have been given a longer sentence, but according to this story, he agreed to return some of the Alphas back to the families of the corpses he built them out of. This is supposed to be funny, but it's just kind of bizarre. Like, are we saying Hedo resurrected the corpses? I thought the idea was he just used a dead body to build Alpha 12. But this seems to suggest Alpha 12 remembers his former existence. That's kind of fucked up.

Like I said at the beginning, there's a lot that is well done here. Toyotaro's art is on-point as usual, and there's some great action scene with Goten and Trunks. I think the big highlight of the arc were all of the side characters we see at their school, like Rulah and the others. Trunks' math teacher looked pretty cool. The problem is that they were never going to be the focus of this or any other story. It's taken years for Toei or Shueisha to do anything with Goten or Trunks, so their pals may never see the light of day again.

And that's what disappoints me about this arc, because it may have been the one chance of getting a good teen Goten and Trunks arc, and they blew it on this. Did we really need a backstory on Hedo's prison sentence? Did anyone leave the theater not understanding why he was in jail? Was anyone confused as to how he came up with the designs for Gamma 1 and 2's costumes? No. We didn't need this.

One of these days, there will be an official Big Goten story that gets it right. But this ain't it, chief.

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Secret in your Heart

These translations are not intended as a replacement for the game. Please support Cybird by buying their stories. Expect grammatical errors. Not 100% accurate.

Kate: "Here's today's report."

Victor: "Thank you, Kate. I received it as instructed."

Seeing Victor's smiling face didn't make my heart any lighter.

(Maybe it's because the mission I accompanied him on today was so gruesome. I should get back before I worry him.)

Kate: "Then, I一"

Victor: "Kate, I actually have a new magic trick I want you to see."

He cheerfully cut me mid-sentence, and I nodded.

Victor: "Really? Then, let me show you."

Victor: "Pay attention, okay? Here's an empty teacup."

Kate: "It's empty."

Victor: "Right? But when I hold out my hand like this..."

Victor: "Ta-daa! There's now a hot coffee inside!"

Victor's teacup was indeed steaming hot, but一

Kate: "Um. It's tea, not coffee."

Kate: "But it's still amazing!"

Victor: "Ah geez! I've made another mistake!"

No matter how many failed magic tricks he performed, Victor's cheerfulness still made me smile.

Kate: "Fufu. Can I have this? So it won't go to waste."

Victor: "Yeah, that would make me feel better."

As I sipped the warm tea, my heart felt a little relaxed.

(Speaking of which...)

Kate: "Why did you start doing magic tricks?"

Victor: "Hm?"

Kate: "I was just wondering if something triggered it."

Victor: "Yeah. Actually, Her Majesty was the trigger."

Victor: "When she had just ascended to the throne, she secretly visited the slums."

Victor: "I heard that Her Majesty decided to learn magic tricks to make one child there smile."

Victor: "Not sure if she was able to make that child smile, but she still does magic tricks from time to time."

Kate: "Why is that?"

Victor: "A country is made up of a group of people."

Victor: "She told me it was to help her remember how difficult and important it is to make one person smile."

Victor: "As her right-hand man, I, too, must not forget that. So, I do magic tricks to imitate her."

Victor: "Also, if I learn some magic tricks, I might be able to attract everyone in the crown and you!"

Victor: "I rarely talk about this stuff, so keep it a secret, okay?"

(I see, so she was the trigger.)

At that moment, a frustrating sadness welled up in my heart.

Victor: "Kate?"

Kate: "I was just feeling a little jealous."

Victor: "Jealous?"

Kate: "I'm always learning things from you."

Kate: "That's why I envy Her Majesty for teaching you something."

Kate: "Wait, it's disrespectful to have these feelings for the Queen."

Victor: ".........."

Victor: "Kate, you've taught me so much."

Kate: "----?"

Victor: "Cheerfulness, earnestness, diligence一"

Victor: "And the way you try not to let people know you're struggling after a tough mission."

(No way.)

(Did he see through all that?)

Smiling at my surprise, he offered me a set of cards.

Victor: "Now, here's a quick fix for that magic trick I did earlier. Draw a card from this deck of cards."

From the 52 cards lined up in his hand, I pulled one out, and the card I chose was一

Kate: "Ace of Hearts."

Victor: "Oh? I've got proof that you stole my heart."

As I grew even more surprised, his jewel-like eyes sparkled, and his mischievous and charming smile deepened, making it hard for me to resist.

(I wonder what kind of person does this guy love from the bottom of his heart?)

I started thinking about that.

Fin.

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

I'd like to illustrate a problem here for a second about documentation and having ID expire every 5 years or whenever you move, while disabled in Canada, or at least Ontario.

To renew ID you need 3 pieces of documentation, one for proof of citizenship/status/immigration etc, like your birth certificate or registration etc, one for proof of residence like personally addressed mail, a bank statement or bill...

And the third, which must be separate, which is "proof of identity" for which the following is accepted:

credit card

valid Ontario driver’s licence or temporary driver’s licence

valid Ontario Photo Card

Canadian Immigration Identification Card

Certificate of Canadian Citizenship (plastic card)

Certificate of Indian Status (paper or plastic card)

Confirmation of Permanent Residence (Imm 5292)

only if signature is shown

current employee ID card

current professional association licence

Old Age Security Card

Ontario motor vehicle permit (plate portion only)

passport (Canadian or foreign)

Permanent Resident Card

only if signature is shown

Record of Landing (Imm 1000)

student ID card

union card

I have crossed out the ones I can't get as a disabled single adult with no dependents who was born here, is not elderly, cannot drive etc... Your average single young disabled adult born and raised here.

The certificate of citizenship I could [have, previously] technically get, but as a natural born citizen other sources will insist my birth certificate should be enough and I should never need this... And they STOPPED ISSUING THE PLASTIC CARDS LISTED HERE AS VALID ID!

I can't get a credit card approved because of my income.

The passport I only ever got because when I was younger I could travel, and it wouldn't get money taken off my pension etc... But most people in my position won't have or maintain this, and indeed mine is still with someone I took a trip with in my 20's and is lost to me, and I have had no real reason to renew it or report it lost. I can't renew it without getting the info off the old one and I can't apply for a new one without already having valid id AND BEING ABLE TO FIND 2 PEOPLE TO VOUCH FOR ME... Which I don't have, frankly, and I am going to go out on a limb and say that when you are more or less house bound and an inconvenient disabled who people are prone to abusing it is quite common enough to not be able to find 2 people to vouch for you. You also need a guarantor and someone to take photos! And sign them! And why would you? Why would you maintain a passport when you can't even travel??? It isn't accessible to me anyway.

So most people in my position, which is a lot, will ONLY have the photo ID card as "proof of id" which you NEED to 1. renew your health card, 2. renew the photo card itself.

My problem with this is that technically you need a photo ID card that's still valid, to make your photo id card valid again. They technically are not allowed to use your health card as this kind of ID.

I am disabled and therefor often things are LONG expired by the time I have the ability to get them renewed, so in addition to all this, my health card and photo id expire at the same time every time now.

They wanted to have a photo id alternative to the driver's license to help with issues like this to begin with, but they haven't made it much better.

The next issue is it's the only government Id that's of any use to me and that I am encouraged to get but it costs 35$ because it's treated as optional, instead of it being free like your health card is... So actually your health card does cost 35$ to maintain... Because you need your photo id card to stay valid... So actually our "free" healthcare has an out of pocket cost of 7$ per year minimum. That's not a lot, but that's not free if that 35 every 5 years stops you from being able to have health coverage.

I want a form of government ID, that counts as proof of identity, for the purpose of renewing my very important health insurance card, that doesn't bloody expire all the fucking time.

Because you're actually supposed to renew your health card every time your address changes... And when you are poor and disabled you tend to either be stuck with your parents, or stuck moving constantly to escape abuse.

And just... Do you know, how many times, for how many months I have been effectively between health coverage, in a country with free healthcare, and thus unable to seek medical attention, because my id has expired and I did not have the physical energy to go get it renewed? And that shouldn't happen!

Technically, by their own laws/policy they should have turned me away to renew my id, which would have left me 100% fucked with no existing valid ID to use to get other ID. That shouldn't be able to happen to you every 5 years or every time you move, especially when you are disabled.

And they shouldn't charge 35$ for it, considering you need it to get your health card renewed at all, technically speaking. It should be FREE! Especially if you are disabled!

If I still physically had my last passport I might be able to keep renewing it without this bullshit headache, but I can't without my old one.

They should have never switched to health cards that expire, I don't care if they wanted photo id, it was fine before, this is bullshit. This makes healthcare potentially inaccessible to the disabled because they have put it behind these stupid hoops you have to jump every 5 years and when you move.

And do you know how many disabled people have memory and mobility issues???

This is stupid.

And the kick in the teeth is that once they have my photo taken they will randomly chose to use older photos they have on file, because clearly my appearance hasn't changed enough through my adult life for them to even care how old the photo is! Why does the photo id have to expire if the photo can be over 10 years old according to their own records!? Their whole excuse for them expiring is that your appearance and address need to be up to date!

For those of you who don't know because it might have been before your time... health cards used to be white with a red stripe and no photo or address and they never expired. You only needed a new one if it was lost or stolen and that was fine. You could memorize the number on it and not even carry your card like you do with your SIN.

And then they switched us to the new photo ones to make sure everyone would have photo ID

And then they decided health cards couldn't be photo id because they didn't want to manage who got health care and who could buy alcohol with the same system for whatever reasons, so they came out with the "photo id" that you are expected to have as an alternative to a drivers license if you don't drive...

But they wanted money, so they charge 35$ every five years and make you pray to their monument of bureaucracy to get it.

Anyway fuck this my ability to make medical appointments shouldn't expire in a country with free healthcare. If they had a problem with people using each other's health cards before and messing up records, they should have made it easier to get your own health card, and not harder. And yes they should have made it so anyone even an illegal immigrant or someone who lost all their ID in a fire could walk into a clinic and still get basic care.

Not this bullshit song and dance.

So gee, if I fail to renew online just before these card expire you will hear me rant about this bullshit again in 5 years.

They could at LEAST give you a disability id card that never expires that you can use for shit like accessing the food bank or for proof of identity etc... Maybe even then it would be easy to have discount programs for anyone on a disability pension, maybe any groceries that are deemed basic necessities enough could be partially or fully subsidized without extra applications and headaches?

But no it's like they want to make healthcare inaccessible for the people who need it the most.

[regretevator-headcanons]

based on the fact i found regretevator roleplays in da amazing bunker simulator,

here is what everyone would do in da bunker

Bive would be on the third floor working in the offices, maybe she'd go around delivering mail to all the NPCs, or maybe she'd be in the laboratory studying samples.

DrRETRO would also be in the laboratory, studying samples, since she is a doctor.

FleshCousins would replace the NPCs wandering around da bunker, especially the ones in the staff canteen. Since FleshCousins are already not sentient, it would sorta make sense it would be repeating the patterns of buying items, wheeling in bodies for the laboratory, etc...

Gnarpy would spend all xyr time in da 7/11 and down sodas (on the first floor). Endlessly. I don't know what makes me think xyr would, but I'm sure if given the option, xe would. Either that, or Gnarpy would spend a lot of xyr time in the staff canteen selling items to other NPCs.

Infected does not have a lot of options for fun in da bunker. At the very least, I think he would have fun with the events that take place and maybe buying suits, but otherwise I have no idea how else he would pass the time.

Spud! just based on the fact that there is a way to puke (from drinking a lot of soda) and you're able to mop it up, Spud! would hang out on floors one and two, play bingo and clean up puke. The only thing is, I think this might be a little overstimulating for him since there's a lot of loud noises, which could trigger his trauma response.

Lampert works as the lighting manager. He is the only person in da bunker capable of handling the lights. He also sometimes hangs out on floors four and five, and sometimes the vault of past seasonal items in floor 1, to look at his options. He probably collects suits/furniture.

Mannequin Mark feels like he'd be working as a builder in da bunker, similar to Wallter, though I think he'd be making items.

Pest likes money, that much is obvious. He'd spend a lot of time on floors five because there's da ticket land; there's a slot machine (obviously) as well as a blackjack room. I'd imagine he'd spend a lot of time there along with Bive. Also, since Pest is notable for using scrap, being able to make robots, I think he'd be the main repairman of da bunker.

Poob is here to have fun—to party, even—so he is often organizing the events and also proposing items to add to da bunker. His job may not sound fun, but it keeps the spirits high in da bunker.

Pilby's role is to, I'd imagine, sell suits. They're the suit shopkeeper. Poob often tries to drag them into helping plan events because they're just nice like that, though Pilby's ideas don't tend to pan out very well.

Prototype has a very important job of surveying the others to know their needs, and report to the people necessary to get those needs met, which mainly goes to Poob and Pest. Prototype also does everything at least once everyday, going to each floor and trying out each activity for the sake of it. Out of all the NPCs, he knows da bunker da best.

Reddy is the main form of entertainment at da bunker, mainly being the man behind the DJ booth. Yes, I made him da dj man.

Scag works as the ticketer in da ticket land, handing out daily credits, exchanging tickets, and giving people prizes. Obviously, she cannot walk because her wheels are glued to the floor, but that's neither here nor there.

Split works behind the desk at the bingo area, handing out bingo cards to others. Alternatively, as of writing, the April Fool's event (suit contest) is currently available, and I like to think Split is hosting that. She's already the host of her own show, so it's fitting that she also hosts events alongside Poob.

Spud! runs da 7/11. It's a nice hangout spot for some of the other NPCs and they find the familiarity of stocking shelves in a safe environment rather relaxing.

Unpleasant is absolutely useless.

Wallter strikes me as the type of guy that's building alongside Mannequin Mark, but since their preferences in materials are different, Wallter is the one patching up da bunker or making changes and expansions to it.

MRManueverer and MR work together on floor five, at da ticket land.

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Libraries and Librarians on Film: The Night Strangler (1973 / TV Movie)

The Night Strangler was the second TV movie to feature Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, the investigative reporter who would go on to be the star of a short-lived but highly influential TV series called Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

The formula of most Kolchak stories goes something like this:

Kolchak is an investigative reporter who's having trouble finding / holding down a job. Sometimes it's because he steps on too many people's toes, and sometimes it's because the cases he investigates are simply unbelievable.

He gets a new case, which seems at first to be ordinary, but it turns out that there's actually something paranormal going on.

He uncovers evidence, but people don't believe him. He yells at his boss, and his boss yells at him.

HOWEVER, he does gain one or more allies along the way. Sometimes they just believe his story, and sometimes they actively help with his investigation, even if that means putting their own lives at risk.

More stepping on toes. More yelling.

The case is solved by Kolchak, who knows that he's right about the vampire / zombie / etc. that was really behind it all. But either nobody believes him, or the people who do believe him can't do anything about it. Kolchak's newspaper story is either suppressed entirely or changed completely.

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm a big fan of the Kolchak movies and TV show, as well as Kolchak's spiritual successors like The X-Files and Fringe.

But why am I singling out this particular story? Because one of Kolchak's allies in The Night Strangler is a smart, curious, and helpful man called Mr. Berry (played by Wally Cox in one of his final roles). Mr. Berry isn't a librarian per se, but he DOES work with archives. He works in the morgue of the Daily Chronicle, which is the newspaper in Seattle that's employing Kolchak as he tries to solve a bizarre series of murders.

Kolchak himself isn't a big fan of research, but he knows that he needs a researcher to help him with this case:

When he meets Mr. Berry, he quickly learns how he feels about research:

[Personal Question: So, should I have "Research. That's where the joy lies." put on my business cards by itself? Or should I also add in the line "This is where the meat is found."???]

ANYWAY, Kolchak visits Mr. Berry multiple times during his investigation, and it's Mr. Berry who first suggests that the current murders are very similar to some murders that took place 21 years earlier ...

And this encourages them to search further back ...

And further back ...

And even FURTHER back ...

By the time that Kolchak has stepped on so many toes that he's been handcuffed by the police, it's Mr. Berry who comes to the rescue with supporting evidence that will show that Kolchak isn't crazy after all:

Which leads us to Mr. Berry's moment of justly-deserved recognition:

Of course, just because Kolchak was right doesn't mean that his story is going to be published. In fact, the real story will never make it to print. Sound familiar?

But on the plus side, the success of these TV movies DID lead to Kolchak's own TV series!

While the New York Public Library doesn't carry any of the Kolchak TV movies / series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker IS included in the book The Greatest Cult Television Shows of All Time by Christopher J. Olson.

If you'd like to immerse yourself in the Kolchak movies and TV episodes, here are some links to help you find more information about them, as well as any renting / streaming / buying options:

The Night Stalker (TV movie): IMDB / JustWatch / Amazon

The Night Strangler (TV movie): IMDB / JustWatch / Amazon

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (TV series): IMDB / JustWatch / Amazon

[pjsk-writin]

i feel a little bad for requesting right after the inbox opened again...but also i don't want it to get overloaded before i do so 😭

weirdly specific scenario..what abt rui/ena x a dyscalculic reader who hasn't been talking/hanging out with them much and they're not quite sure why, so they plan to ask them on an upcoming school day, and then *on* that school day the reader has a breakdown in the middle of class over a report card/missing assignment report because they have just about all their math assignments for that semester missing, and the reason they haven't been spending time with their partner is because they've been getting detentions because they just have. that much missing work they cant get thru because mat h.

take ur time with this !!! don't overwork urselffff

-💠

VDNSKFJDN glad u did bc hoo boy did it get overran/lh but I gotchu, math is a btich and I am sending u support!! hope u like this !! <3

♡ DYSCALCULIC - Rui Kamishiro and Ena Shinonome x Reader

Rui:

Rui is, unsurprisingly, used to people dropping his company out of nowhere. This is why he's not too surprised when you stop hanging out with him, but he still wants to ask anyway

On the day he tries to ask you, he walks in on you breaking down in class, clutching a piece of paper in your hands.

It's more instinctual than anything when he embraces you in a hug and kisses your forehead, holding you close as he looks down at the paper

It shows your report card, and how you've been failing your math class due to the amount of work you've missed.

"Oh dearest, is this why you haven't been around much?" You simply nodded, and he hugged you closer. "Shh, it's alright, I'll help you."

True to his word, he helps you out, even offering to sit with you during your detentions to tutor you!

He knows that your dyscalculia makes math incredibly difficult, but he's more than willing to find what works best for you if it means you passing math and hanging out with him again <3

Ena:

Ena is more than aware that it's hard to talk to someone who only takes night classes, but she still notices how your messages have dwindled. What was up with that?

She decides to visit you during the day (which takes a lot for her to do) but is surprised to find you breaking down in class

She does not care if she is trespassing, she's taking you by the hand and bringing you to a more private place, hesitant but wiping your tears either way

She glances down at the paper in your hands while doing so, and finds out how you're failing math because of how much work you've missed.

"Hey, I know I'm not one to talk, but this doesn't look good." She mutters, looking at the paper before looking up at you. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

She may not be the most academic person, but she's definitely going to try her best to find anything that can help you out-

The last time she tried to help you with your math, she cussed your homework out, so she helps you find other ways. Still though, she's with you the entire time as moral support, your number one cheerleader <3