#and hes the one that pipes up with knowledge about dragons in 2 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gyucore · 4 years ago

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long live the king

pairing: mage!hueningkai x noble!reader

tags: fluff, royalty au, friends to lovers, hueningkai can do magic

word count: 3.3k

prompts:

011: "May I have this dance?"

019: "I don't think anyone could ever be as lovely as you."

020: "You look incredible in that."

Tonight had been advertised as the night to end all nights— a masquerade ball held by the king at the palace, and a brightly lit ballroom decorated with gold and the continent's finest silk, adorning the kingdom's rose insignia. Entertainers and musicians positioned around the vicinity to perform their best acts and tunes, and the gates were left wide open to welcome everyone who wanted to join in, given that they tried their best to dress for the occasion.

Today was an event open to all the kingdom's citizens, from high seated nobles to common men by the streets, everyone was welcome to participate in the king's annual ball. However, that fact didn't matter for a family such as yours. Your father was the Marquess, which meant that you were invited to every single ball or gathering held by the nobility for the nobility. At least, that was how it had been until the incident.

The peering eyes of both the nobles and commoners alike have left you frozen on your spot by the pillar. Your bright red ball gown, although beautiful, was not helping you hide away from the eyes of the crowd. It was evident they were all thinking the same thing.

The unfortunate daughter of a fallen marquess.

News had gotten out about your family's crisis and had spread to the public like a disease. The Grand Marquess losing money, property, and power: The fall of a great noble. The story made headlines for weeks on end— rumors mixing in with the truth, and eventually, everyone had drawn the same conclusion. Pitiful.

You worry about your parents at the other end of the room, doing their best to mingle with the other nobles. The heavy atmosphere was weighing down on your chest.

Closing your eyes and taking a deep breath, you try to think of the things that calmed you down: the rustic smell of old books at the public library, the warm feeling you'd get when the rays of sunlight touch your skin as you sit by the window with your face buried deep into your favorite classic, the bright smile the common mage boy would give you everytime you crossed paths—

"Wow."

A familiar voice brings you back from your thoughts.

"You look incredible in that." The same bright smile you'd envisioned earlier now stood in front of you.

You gaze in awe at the man before you, dressed in what you could only describe as the most beautiful and elegant ensemble you'd seen tonight. The way the white suit hugged his waist left little room for the imagination. You doubt even the king himself could top this off.

"Lady Y/N. I believe fate must have brought us together in this fine evening." The man gently bends down, taking your hand and planting a kiss so fleeting that you barely felt it. Even with the golden mask on, you could easily tell who it was.

"Kai.."

"Ah, and here I was hoping I'd be a little more mysterious tonight." Kai holds back his laughter as he gazed upon you once more. You can't help but do the same.

Tonight, he looked nothing of a common mage but that of a king himself. If you hadn't known him beforehand, you would've mistaken him as so, especially with tonight's main event— the reveal of the king's successor. But alas, what the mage boy had going on for him was merely for appearances. A commoner like him could never be king in a world where even dreaming of becoming one was considered to be of highest absurdity.

"I thought you said you weren't attending?"

Kai shrugs, folding his hands behind his back. "And refuse my lady when you so graciously asked me out?"

His response catches you off guard. "I don't recall ever asking you anything of that sort."

"You asked if I'd attend."

"And that counts as asking you out?"

Kai chuckles. "When you asked me with such a cute look on your face, it was difficult to think you weren't looking forward to me being here."

And he was right. Given your circumstances, Kai being here with you was like a breath of fresh air. You'd been praying all night that he'd magically arrive to help you take your mind off of things, and you felt like crying out in joy when he actually did.

Kai looks around, seemingly getting a sense of the pressure you were in. "Shall we take a stroll around the garden, my lady?"

You follow his line of sight and spot the royal garden just outside the window. "I'll let you accompany me if you drop the whole my lady business."

Kai purses his lips as he takes your hand in his. "Can't you let me be fancy for one night?"

Every moment you'd spent with Kai up until this point had been the highlight of your days. As the daughter of the Marquess, you'd spent most of your time holed up inside your manor. Women barely got any education aside from the usual classes on manners and societal etiquette, and that included nobles as well. But that never stopped you. Once a week, when the guards changed shifts by the gate, and the maids and butlers were all busy with the weekly general cleaning, you'd take the opportunity to slip out in disguise, undetected by anyone. The main goal was to get to the public library and obtain access to educational material— ones that didn't involve any prim and proper rubbish that you've read over a thousand times.

The first time outside was rather difficult. You barely managed to get inside the library's more educational section while passing as a man. However, every succeeding attempt became easier and easier until coming out in secret and gaining access didn't seem like that much of a hassle anymore.

At the library, you were free to read any book you want, and used this opportunity to brush up on some business and economics as well as some of the basic sciences. You spent the first few months stocking up on knowledge until you felt it fine to relax a little and start reading novels to pass the time without the help of a disguise.

There was a section in the library that you hadn't checked; one that you'd deemed unnecessary as it only contained children's literature. It wasn't until you'd heard the sound of a man's voice followed by children's laughter that you felt compelled enough to take a peek.

"And then, the dragon swooped down onto the village and attacked the innocent villagers! ROARRR. Breathing fire as hot as, well, uh— FIRE!"

You slipped up and giggled at the young man's amusing narration, piping down a bit after realizing that he had noticed you from behind the shelves, throwing a knowing smirk your way.

It was then that he pulled down his cloak. Wavy brown locks gracefully reaching the back of his neck, bright eyes that could make any person let their guard down— he looked around your age which made you feel more at ease.

The young man steps back, dramatically breathing fire out of his mouth as the children cheered. Some were yelling at him to continue until only smoke came out, and you swore you heard one of them ask if he could make the fire turn green. Ridiculous, you think. But you were no different from these children, only being able to stand there in awe at the young man's trick. Perhaps turning the fire green wasn't such a terrible idea.

You've heard of mages among the commoners before, and had met a few that visited your manor but this was the first time you'd seen one in action. The flames that came out of his mouth looked awfully hot but the young man didn't even blink or showed any signs of pain.

He stops the fire and clears his throat, now kneeling down to face the children. "The villagers were worried sick! What would happen to their crops, their produce, their livelihood? If only a hero would come along and save them!" He makes an overly exaggerated wail before gasping.

"Well, who do we have here? A warrior has come to save the villagers!" The young man points at your direction and you feel your blood run cold as all the children in the room had turned their attention towards you, hopeful.

"A young maiden has arrived to slay the evil dragon!"

You quickly shake your head at his statement, holding your arms out in a cross. "No, kids. Don't believe what this man says. I am not a warrior, and I'm certainly not here to slay any dragons"

The young man raises a brow, getting up from his spot. "Then why do you have the magical sword that was forged to slay the mighty dragon?"

"What sword?"

The young man snaps his fingers. "That sword."

The weight on your hips dip on one side and you couldn't believe your eyes as a sheathed sword had magically manifested beside your waist out of thin air. "How did you— wait, is this a real sword?! You can't play around with real swords in front of children!"

The children turn towards the young man in confusion.

"Well, kids. Do you want the kind lady to slay the dragon with a real sword?"

"YES!" The children cheered.

The young man turns to you with a smile. "You gotta give the kids what they want, Miss."

An exasperated expression makes its way to your face. "I am not slaying any made up dragons!"

"Now, what's all this talk about slaying dragons?"

Taehyun, one of the stricter librarians, had come out of nowhere, surprising everyone. His eyes scan the room and quickly notices three things: (1) the dangerous sword hanging on your waist, (2) the excessive amount of children in the room when the sign on the way in definitely mentioned a capacity of only five, and (3) someone let the mage boy inside the library again. The culprit was evident.

"Jung Kai, I swear to the heavens I will—"

"Alright kids, time to go! We'll end the story next time!" The young man, Kai, rushes the disappointed children out of the section before they heard something they shouldn't.

You were about to walk away yourself but was quickly stopped by Taehyun's hand blocking your path. "Kai, didn't I tell you that you're not allowed to perform magic inside the library? And seriously," He confiscates the sword on your waist, holding it up in the air. "Violence?"

Kai looks at you and grins. "I suppose we could've gone with a more romantic ending. Something like the warrior's kiss saving the dragon from his curse, and he turns back into this super handsome, super cute, and super macho mage."

The way he shamelessly described himself left you speechless, and you steal a glance at the librarian who looked as equally disgusted as you are.

"Just clean up the mess before you leave. And that means you too, Miss Dragon Slayer."

"But I didn't even—" You cut yourself off after Taehyun dismisses himself from the room.

The section falls silent and Kai walks up to you, a smile ever present in his face. "I'm guessing this is the start of our new friendship?"

And that was what started it all. Everytime you'd visit the library after that, you seemed to bump into Kai more often than you liked. He saw through the disguise the first time he saw you wearing it and had promised to not utter a single word to anyone. The mage boy was much more reliable than he seemed to be, often helping you in your studies and teaching you more than the books ever could. Sometimes, he'd convince you to take a stroll around town and had shown you sights and wonders you wouldn't have expected to see inside the kingdom.

Before you knew it, Kai had become someone you'd cherished, and someone whose company you genuinely appreciated. He was patient and understanding as your makeshift mentor, and was this fun and outgoing guy whenever you two were out together. Kai became the first friend you'd made on your own regardless of status and the only friend you wished to keep by your side.

"I take it that the people in the ballroom were too much?" Kai speaks the moment arrived at the garden.

"Please. I couldn't even breathe in there." You play it off with a chuckle but thoughts of worry still plague your mind. "I'm guessing you probably know by now."

"About what? The fact that you're the daughter of the Marquess or that the Marquess has been in a crisis for a while?"

"Both."

Kai reaches for your hand, holding it reassuringly. "I've known for a while but that doesn't change anything now, does it? We became friends without the burden of our status, and we'll stay as friends regardless."

You hated this, hated how he always knew exactly what to say. The heat rushes up to your face and you squeeze his hand tighter, avoiding eye contact. "Thank you."

But truthfully, there was a little voice in Kai's head that wished you could be something more. Not after you'd shared those intimate moments alone at the library at dusk, not after he rushed in to catch you in his arms when you fell while shelving a book on the top shelves, and especially not after you almost shared a kiss after saying goodbye that night he'd helped you sneak back in.

Even now, as he lovingly gazed at your silhouette beneath the moonlight, he'd hoped that he'd have the chance to tell you how he felt. But then again, the chance could be right now at this very moment. The two of you were, afterall, at the king's ball.

"So, how were the gentlemen earlier?"

"What?" You raise your head to face Kai.

"I've no doubt that hundreds of people had been lining up to dance with you all evening." Kai grins as he gently lets go of your hand.

"Please, I haven't danced at all tonight."

"I find that quite hard to believe."

You sigh, recalling the events from earlier. "No one would want to be seen dancing with a fallen Marquess' daughter now would they?"

"Not when you look this beautiful?" Kai jokingly walks around you and you shy away from his gaze.

"You know I never say things I don't mean, Y/N." Kai bends down and holds your hands in his. "And believe me, I don't think anyone could ever be as lovely as you."

"Is flattery your main personality trait now?" You say as an attempt to not let his compliment affect you any further than it should but fail miserably so.

Kai stands before you with an unreadable expression. You'd argue this was the most serious look he's ever had since you'd met him.

"Care to dance?" Kai asks, leaning in closer, your faces merely inches apart. You feel your heart beating loudly in your chest, and you're almost afraid he might hear.

The moonlight casts a shadow on Kai's face, and despite the darkness, his eyes glistened, reflecting your own as you stared into his. You've never seen anyone look so beautiful. And here he was, telling you that you're the loveliest person he's ever known.

"Right now?"

Kai nods, taking off his mask and tossing it over to the side. "And I'd like it if we could dance without our masks too. I've been wanting to get a good look at your face all night."

You chuckle, removing your mask and tossing it to to the ground next to his. "And how do you suppose we dance without music? My reputation's already dirt at this point and I do not want to be branded as the crazy noble dancing at the royal garden in complete silence."

Kai fails to suppress his laughter, holding on to your shoulder to maintain himself upright. "Well, I wouldn't want to let my dear lady look crazy now would I?"

"And what are you planning to do?"

"Well, I am a mage." Kai smirks as he manifests a scepter out of thin air, leaving a trail of golden dust flurrying down.

This was the first time you've ever seen it in person. Kai had mentioned how he needed the aid of his scepter to perform high level magic, but he'd never taken it out in front of you until now. One look at the scepter and anyone could tell not just any old mage owned the darn thing. It looked majestic by all means, intricately decorated with gold and topped off with a brightly colored red gemstone you couldn't seem to identify. You'd heard that mages often created their own unique gemstones as a manifestation of their mana but for Kai's to be red, which had been said to be a quite powerful variant, made you wonder just how powerful your friend had been.

"And here we go." Kai takes the scepter in his hand and drives it into the ground. The impact causes a wave of light to burst from the scepter and spread throughout the reaches of garden. In a split-second, the wave of light rushes back into its source, compressing into a huge orb of light lifting up into the sky, rivaling the moon with its glow. The orb splits into smaller pieces and starts to dance around the garden, leaving you in awe at the spectacle.

Kai finds himself grinning from ear to ear at your reaction. He'd studied magic as an expression of rebellion against his father but now, he'd found another purpose to perform these little tricks of his. He places his hand on your waist and pulls you closer. "Wait for it."

The orbs of light find their places around you, slowly taking the shape of various instruments you've seen inside the ballroom, from strings to percussions, and even wind instruments. Smaller pieces of light continued to hover the surroundings, resembling glowing fireflies in the dark.

"Kai, this is beautiful." You look up at the young man, and he steps away, bowing his head as he plants yet another kiss on the back of your hand.

"May I have this dance?"

His eyes meet yours and you feel your heart skip a beat. It was rather difficult to explain. The Kai in front of you right now had been the same Kai you've always known, but somehow.. different.

You raise your hand for him to take, guiding your other hand to find perch on his shoulder, and his finding its place on your waist. With the first step, the instruments started playing. It's a piece you've heard before, one that Kai had fondly hummed nearly everytime you were together at the library.

It was as if the world had faded into the distance, and at this moment, there was only you and him, dancing alone in the garden. He pulls you close, his hold gentle and warm. Kai spins you around. The heel of your shoe collides with a rock, and you nearly stumble back until Kai manages to grab you by the waist on time, pulling you back into his arms.

You spot the smirk on his face under the moonlight, and you press a finger against his lips. "Not one word."

"I wasn't going to say anything." Kai lets you go, and you quickly grab a hold of his arms to find balance.

"Of course you weren't."

"Well, I do have something I have to tell you. A few things, actually."

You cock a brow at him, and he steps forward. "I'll tell you the most important part first."

"And that is?"

Kai reaches out to cup your cheeks, gazing into your eyes as if asking permission. You didn't need to say anything for him to understand, and he closes the gap between you, pressing his lips against yours. The feeling was foreign but certainly welcome, and you soon close your eyes and reciprocate, wanting to feel more of his soft lips, and wanting to hold him closer and closer.

For long had you held out on this, on actually acknowledging your growing feelings for the lad in fear of having to live with the thought of him not feeling the same. But in this moment, you felt a heavy burden being lifted from your shoulders.

"Kai, I.."

The light from the orbs dim down and soon dissipates. Kai pulls away, gazing upon your flushed face. "You mean the world to me, Y/N. I don't think my life would ever be the same without you."

The trumpets blare in the ballroom, a signal that the new king was to make an appearance soon. You feel Kai's hand around yours. "As for my other confession, I think it's best we head back first."

He leads you back into the ballroom, and disappears the moment you find your parents in the crowd. You join them in the center as everyone gathers to get a glimpse at the new king.

The herald makes his way beside the grand staircase, straightening himself up to make the announcement that every citizen had been waiting to hear all evening.

"Presenting the next in line to the throne, to rule the vast lands of our esteemed nation, and lead us into a continuing era of prosperity! Our future King, His Royal Highness, Kai Kamal Huening!"

The doors open, revealing Kai, your Kai, adorned in the royal family's crest, robes, and jewelries as he made himself known to his loyal subjects.

Behind him was public librarian, Kang Taehyun, who had been revealed to be serving as one oc the King's advisors, and now, for the new monarch.

"Long live the King!"

Kai could pick out your from the crowd in a heartbeat, hos gaze meeting yours as he flashes you his signature smile. You couldn't believe what was happening— Kai, your best friend in the whole world, had just confessed his love to you. And now, that same Kai had revealed to you and to the public that he had been the future ruler of the country all along. The crowds cheered.

"Long live the King!"

"Long live the King." You whisper to yourself, wondering what the future has in store for you.

#txt #tomorrow x together #txt imagines #txt scenarios #txt x reader #txt fic #hueningkai x reader #hueningkai imagines #huening kai x reader #huening kai imagines #hueningkai scenarios #hueningkai fluff #.reqs

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emmi-kat · 4 years ago

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SPG Kazooland Master Post

Kazooland is the alternate dimension in the Steam Powered Giraffe Universe. This post contains various facts and tidbits mentioned by David and Bunny Bennett about it on tumblr and the official SPG websites over the years. Please feel free to share more information in the reblogs!

Kazooland was named for the mentor of David Bennett, Bunny Bennett, Jon Sprague, Erin Burke, and Bryan Barbarin, Mr.Jerry Hager's mime persona: Kazoo the Mime

By 1897, Peter Walter had unlocked the power of Blue Matter and subsequently, created an alternate reality he dubbed Kazooland.

Excerpt from The Story of the Cavalcadium

The Cavalcadium tried to make a permanent portal to Kazooland in their building, based on Peter Walter I’s studies.

The Cavalcadium was wiped from existence in an instant, and it took Peter a few months to realize it had simply vanished. Time and space itself left a void to forget it ever was.

The Cavalcadium building now exists in the seams of Kazooland, and acts as a hub to many other parts of the dimension. A few doorways even exist on Earth.

Current link to the map of Kazooland: https://www.thecavalcadium.com/Kazooland.html

Information available about Kazooland as late as 2014

Asininia* The dark kingdom of Ignatius Becile. Long having taken refuge from Earth, the black-handed Becile has built a giant city which is depleting Asininia of its natural resources and precious rock candy veins. His aim is creating an unstoppable army of candy-powered automatons to consume the universe.

*name is derived from “asinine”

The 8th Dimension of Absolute and Infinite Terror The only persistent door to the terrible 8th dimension. Its history is unclear but it is indeed locked and guarded by Jumbo, The Pink Whale With A Top Hat.* The 8th dimension is notorious for being the place of fermenting nightmares and evil Lovecraftian Beasts.

*Jumbo can be found in the album The Vice Quadrant, guarding Commander Cosmo and The Necrostar

Horroria

A jagged mountain range of ash and death, which is primarily a refuge for monsters. A couple of human settlements exist, but the majority of inhabitants of the continent are Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Zombies, Witches, Cultists, Poltergeists, Man-Eating Hamburgers, and Hamburger-Eating Men.

Hypexion V

A presumed alien homeworld of the Hypexions; thin bipedal humanoids with a sweet tooth.

Ironically Foreboding Shaped Islands

The Chaos Sea marks these bodies of land as a legend, but time travelers and fortunate explorers speak of adventurous sailors, pirates, and buried treasure. It is believed the famous Captain Albert Alexander was the first to have sailed the Chaos Sea, yet only stories remain.

Lola

The Hypexion Moon infested with the diabolical Moon Worms. The Moon Worm Queen is held responsible for eating a chunk of Hypexion V before she was destroyed, but a newly born Moon Worm Queen is the talk among the stars. The talking stars of course.

Lotsasand

An ancient dust land belonging to the ancestors of the Kingdom of Set. Though primarily a land for the outsourcing of dust and camels, the age old tales of Jackal Men, Living Mummies, and Scarab People still invoke questions of mysticism in even the most skeptical of skeptics.

Meh

An icy northern land of Snow Queens and Mystical Creatures. Many a wise pipe smoking old bearded man tell stories about this enchanted place, but few are listened to.

Merveille

Merveille is the remains of the once great Circus Empire, which exploded eons ago and left a watercolored land of saturated imagination. The inhabitants are mostly the Speechless Ones, also known as Mimes. It is often described as a tangible dream, and artists from all over the multiverse have tapped into its presence for inspiration and escape.

Cities: Bip

The capital of Merveille was named after its founder, and is a favorite spot for vacation for Peter Walter VI. It was also in Bip that the Great War of 1823 was ended by a mysterious mime with a magical kazoo.

New Pieland

Once a paradise of wilderness, pilgrims from Old Pieland settled here declaring it New Pieland after their former continent was completely devoured since it actually lived up to its namesake. It was quite literally a giant land mass of flaky crust with a warm gooey appley interior.

New Pieland is home to many American immigrants and many other multiverse settlers. Humans, Robots, Clowns, Cat People, and Vleeds are just a few of the races you'll find in the melting pot which is New Pieland.

Cities: Biscuit Town

Biscuit Town is a famous small mining town in the eastern part of New Pieland. It is home primarily to clowns, wizards, and talking animals. Biscuit Town has been run by Walter Robot The Jon until recently, and was the first town in New Pieland to elect a robot for Mayor. Currently, in the Jon's absence the Mayor's Assistant Boft is struggling with the encroaching rogue nation of Asininia, a resource-hungry super kingdom of mad scientists and candy-powered androids. Preferbia This large sprawling landscape of suburbia is a metropolis of 1950's ideals, where the beautiful residents are protected from the ravages of time by a blue matter rich force field over the city. Created by a visionary man from Earth after slipping through an interdimensional rift, Howard Lloyd saw the potential of the unstable rift and created what some have called the 1950s utopia of mankind. Those who enter the city rarely decide to leave the prospect of eternal youth, but some do choose to escape Preferbia's roving gangs of fish mutants and frequent attacks by the Hypexion Moon Worms.

Snornia

Snornia is the last remaining haven for mystical beings. It is cut off from the rest of the world by a vengeful Dragon God, but those who have seen it speak of a fantastical world of magic and danger, with princesses in towers, dexterous elves making shoes, and six winged warlocks. Humans who find ways to enter usually do so to train to become wizards or dragons, but many are eaten by the Dragon God, and even more give up and sail to Party Island.

South Adventurica

A largely unexplored tangle of constantly transforming jungles, swamps, and plains unbound by any mappable record of time. Adventurers have sought to unlock the continent's mysteries for years, and its surprises still continue to surprise avid surprise seekers. Dinosaurs, giant insects, carnivorous plants, elementals, Forgotten Gods, Bobby Darin, and Santa Claus are all said to live here, but the only proof of their existence are the ravaged journals from explorers of the past...

And that captured dinosaur amusement park off the coast.

Verk

A rainy settlement of time travelers from the 1890s. It is separated from the world by an ethereal mist of aether called "Henry's Breath," long believed to be generated by the fat ghost of England's Henry the 8th. Most settlers began traversing the aether via multidimensional travel from when Colonel P. A. Walter I discovered Blue Matter in 1896, but all matter of being from the multiverse seems to have leaked through to embrace knowledge, Victorian style, and to tinker with steampunk abominations.

Cities: Dandyton

The Capital of Verk is a bustling city of inventors, scientists, airship pilots, alchemists, airship pilots, ghosts, and airship pilots. It is home to the Verk Dandy Candy Factory, many airships, and the Verkian Rift, a dimensional hub to countless other realities.

The (old) Cavalcadium landing page including links to Worlds (Earth, Kazooland, and the 8th Dimension), Characters, and Species

Characters include (but are not limited to): Beebop, Bip, Boft, Brown Suits, Buster Becile, Captain Albert Alexander, Delilah, Doc Laborday, G. G., Guy Hottie, Hatchworth,The Highwayman, I. M. Becile, Kazoo, Lily Brennan, Lorene Keaton, Norman Becile, Peter Walter I, Peter Walter II, Peter Walter III, Peter Walter IV, Peter Walter V, Peter Walter VI, Rabbit, Rex Marksley, The Jon, The Spine, The Suspender Man, Uncle Ralphie, Upgrade, and Wanda Becile

Species include (but are not limited to): Robots, Samurai, Scarab People, Seafarers, Steampunks, Talking Animals, Trolls, Vampires, Vleeds, Warlocks, Werewolfs, Witchs, Wizards, and Zombies

The Temecula Rift

Prior to the 2013 Walter Robotics Expo, an accident occurred while 26 y/o Peter Walter VI accidentally sealed a Blue Matter Rift that he was trying to open for high speed inter-dimensional travel between Earth and Kazooland. The result was an explosion that singularly hit Peter Walter VI in his face. He now wears an iconic keyhole mask to hide whatever the results of the explosion may have been.

Links:

https://pawaltervi.tumblr.com/post/49702485000/regarding-the-temecula-rift

https://pawaltervi.tumblr.com/post/51763873084/walter-robotics-owner-peter-walter-vi-hospitalized

https://pawaltervi.tumblr.com/post/52636220497/a-message-from-peter-walter-vi

Audio posts of Isabella Bennett discussing Kazooland Canon circa 2015:

Kazooland Canon 1/3

Kazooland Canon 2/3

Kazooland Canon 3/3

Rabbit’s white faceplates are made from a porcelain-like material from Kazooland called Impossium

#spg #spgiraffe #steam powered giraffe #kazooland #lore masterpost #lore

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amindofstone · 4 years ago

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Emptiness filled by sorrow

a/n: The moment I found out about Sabo and the way he grew up. The moment I learned about his amnesia. The moment I saw him take the pipe out of all the other weapons during his training as a kid, got me crying! I felt so bad for him. I was heartbroken! I was sobbing at 1 am and shedding tears. Damn me and my emotional and sensitive ass.

Words: 2332

Genre: anime imagine?

Warnings: This is going to be a bit sad. Just a bit, I guess. [Maybe grammar or spelling mistakes. (I genuinely apologize. English is not my mother tongue and I´m really trying to improve. So please be so kind and have mercy)]

Spoiler(s): Mention of the battle in Marineford, mention of Ace´s death, mention of his childhood with Ace and Luffy, mention of his amnesia. Other than that please don´t spoil me or any reader if there are any facts about him above that because I´m… well… I forgot what the title of the chapter was but Sanji is (I´m crying!!!!) getting married (?!). That´s where I am….

Character(s): Sabo/Chief of staff/ Sabo the revolutionary

Info: For better reading keep in mind that the words in italic are Sabo´s train of thoughts.

!!! Please do not steal my idea or work. Credit me if this is shared or published in any other platform or any other way. This took me a lot of time. So please respect me as the writer and my work. Picture is not mine. Credits to the rightful owner. If anyone knows who drew this please tell me ASAP so I can give them the credits (found on the internet). !!!

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“Thank you for helping me Koala. You were a huge help.”. the blond man smiled at his friend. “No need to thank me. I´m glad I could help. And besides I owned you anyways thinking about the last time you helped me reorganize the archive.”, the young lady kept talking to him while making sure to keep his mind occupied with anything but the news that put the world into a tremendous shook. “There we are. And now do all of us the favor and go to bed and rest. We can´t have you fall asleep in another meeting with Dragon.”, said the female partner and friend of the chief of staff. “No worries. I will definitely go to sleep. The amount of work I had to deal with today was enough.”, the tall blond man reassured his friend that he will rest before they both parted and wished each other a good night.

Sabo, the revolutionary army’s number 2, made his way to his room. His room that was a place in which he could drop the happy and jolly facet he had. His room, where he could stop pretending that he was fine. His room, his place, his four walls that could shield him from the eyes of the people who saw his as the strongest.

Sabo entered his room while he still had a little smile upon his lips. A smile he kept alive until he closed his door and locked it. He held onto the door handle tightly until his knuckles turned white and slowly laid his head on the door and closed his eyes. He tried his best to keep a hold of his mind. He tried his best to not let his mind trap him in scenarios that probably never happened. He tried to keep himself far away from his mind that told him that everything was his guilt. He tried his best to not listen to his mind that told him that if he wouldn´t have left and set sail 10 years ago the battle would have never happened. If only he could turn back the time and never leave his home. If only he stayed there and waited for a bit longer. If I stayed there. If I stayed in that hell of a whole that man called my home would I have been able to go back to Ace and Luffy? Would Ace be still alive?

Without knowing he was trapped in his mind all over again. Like every other night in the past three weeks. Sabo let go of the door handle and let out a heavy sigh.

He was exhausted. He was tired. He was restless.

It is not like he didn´t wanted to sleep. It´s just that he simply couldn´t sleep. Whenever he tried to close his eyes, whenever he searched for the comfort of his bed and sleep. His heart clenched while his soul asked him how he could sleep and rest when Luffy had to suffer all alone just by himself. Luffy, the boy he called his little brother.

Luffy. I wonder what you are doing right now. Did you eat? Did you sleep? Are you hurt? Are you alone or with your crew? I wish I could ask you but I don´t know if I would be able to look into your eyes after all the incidents and years that past. He felt numb. He felt small and weak, something he usually never felt. He was strong and a fantastic fighter. He was smart and a good man but he felt like all of that washed away. Fake is what he saw himself as, after he had all of his memories back. He felt like the person he grew into was not him. The person the entire world knew, feared and respected. The revolutionary army´s number 2 and chief of staff, Sabo.

The tall gracious looking man took of his beloved hat and placed it on his dresser that stood right next to his full length mirror. Who am I? What am I? Where is home? Who is home? He was lost. He felt lost like the moment he was nearly killed by a celestial dragon. He nearly got killed. He nearly was about to die. Die. Death. He never thought that he would ever want something like that. He never thought he ever would think about something as scary as that. But right at this moment that was exactly what he wanted. Death. He wanted to die. He wanted to be the one that got buried and not his brother. His brother that always suffered and was left alone. Ace. Sabo couldn´t bear looking at his face and turned his head to the side and closed his eyes. You didn´t deserve to die. Slow steps lead him to his closet which he opened with trembling hands. Left glove and then the right glove was taken off and neatly put away. Breath in, breath out. That’s what the young man told himself over and over again while trying to not tell himself that he selfishly left his brothers behind just to set sail alone although they promised each other to do that together when they were 17. We promised.

How could he leave his brothers alone? How could he be so selfish, when they promised to stay together forever and always? Tears threaded to fall down his cheeks but he held them back with all his might, when he remembered what Ace once said. “Did you guys know?! We can become brothers when we exchange this cup of sake!” He clearly remembers his voice. The voice of his brother he betrayed. He clearly remembers his little brothers laugh and excited look in his eyes when he heard what was said. A soft sob left Sabo and he put a hand over his mouth to hold back more. He tightly closed his eyes and tried his best to fight the guilt and pain in chest that grew with every minute passing.

He remembers the letter he wrote them. How could he forget the promise he gave them. He remembers every word he wrote. He remembers the joy he felt while writing to his brother. “We brothers should become pirates one of these days! Then we can meet again somewhere out there. This ocean is vast and free. We´ll meet again someday!”

He lied to him and Luffy. I lied. I lied and broke the promise. I lied and broke his trust in me. I lied. If he only could turn back the time. If he only set sail a bit later. If he only waited a bit longer. If he only waited for his brothers. If he only were a bit stronger. Weak is what I am. A traitor is what I am. His clenched fists trembled and he started to focus on his breathing again with the hope to calm down. Slow steps were made towards his balcony while his now open eyes were glued to the floor. His light blue curtain hid the door to his balcony that held him back to open the door and breath in the fresh air of the night. The fabric was thin and allowed the light of the moon dimly enter his bedroom that was other than that dark. Sabo pushed the thin fabric aside and let the light the moon put over the world shine into his room. The moon that filled his room with a bright light seemed to be his only comfort since the day he started to remember again. The door in front of the young man was now open what allowed the soft wind enter his room.

Careful steps were put to reach thr balustrade. As if someone might hear him. As if he would wake up every person on the island if he was to loud. With his head lowly hanging he reached for the barrier that stopped him from walking. That stopped him from falling and dying. How could he die? Ace, the little boy that never turned his back to any fight. The little boy that had no fear when it came to fights between stronger and taller opponents. The little boy that turned down any wild animal back at home. The little boy that always hunted the biggest animals with a huge grin on his face. The memories of him and his brothers as kids put a soft small smile on his lips. The thought about them coming back home with new wounds and a bunch of new scratches made a small chuckle leave the boy while hot tears streaming down his cheeks. “Ace. I´m so sorry.”, said the now fully crying revolutionary. “I´m sorry for not being able to keep my promise and see you and our little brother.”

“All this time I could have seen you. All this time I could have spend so much time with you, without having to fear anything. We could have watched over Luffy together. Oh, Ace…”, his hands that were tightly holding onto the balustrade turned his knuckles white from the pressure. He wanted to scream. He wanted to destroy anything around him. He didn´t know how to deal with the loose and the knowledge of him being able to have him around if only he would have been stronger. His legs turned weak and couldn´t hold him anymore so he fell on his knees. What did I do, that life hated me so much. I only wanted to be free and be left in peace. Am I asking for to much? His hands that were lying flat on the balconies floor turned into fists. They turned into fists only to be smashed against the floor over and over again. “Why!? Why!? Why did you have to die?!”, his heart was aching and his mind was going crazy. He didn´t know how to deal with the pain. The pain hurt him more than any weapon could. It pained him more than any war could. If only he could stop remembering. If only he could get back the emptiness that he felt in his heart. He might have felt empty and sometimes even lost but at least it didn´t hurt him as much as remembering did. He didn´t wanted to remember. He wanted to forget. He wanted to forget so badly.

Sabo didn´t know what to do anymore. He needed to let go. He couldn´t hold his emotion in anymore. He was in the verge of breaking and losing control. So he simply let go and let his emotions take overhand. He let the pain spread all over his body and let sorrow take over his mind and soul. The blond man sat up and looked up to the sky and screamed. He screamed from the top of his lungs while more and more tears wetted his cheeks. “You said you´ll never die!! What made you break your promise! Is it because I was unfaithful?! How could you betray our little brother!? How could you betray yourself!!”

Sabo let pain take over his mind and soul. He let his guards down and allowed himself to drown in sorrow and regret. The calm and peaceful night with the most beautiful full moon was confronted by the helpless screams and sobs of the heartbroken male. He forgot where he was. He forgot who he was and allowed himself to get lost in the emptiness that was now filled by hatred, pain and sorrow. Every person in the hideout could hear him. They could hear his scream and feel his pain. They felt horrible for the young man that always had a beautiful smile on his lips. They wanted to help him and comfort him but sadly no one knew how to. So it came that they all silently listened to his screams filled by pain and loneliness. And absolutely no one ´t dare to close their eyes to fall asleep while he suffered.

It took the heartbroken man a while until he calmed down. It took more than just an hour for his tears to stop falling and wetting his cheeks. But eventually they stopped. Stopped only for the boy wishing he could cry more. If only I were stronger.

The clear night sky over the revolutionary´s hideout was slowly darkening while the moon that shined brighter than any other night got bit by bit covered by dark clouds. Sabo couldn´t cry anymore but he wished he could. He wished he could cry away the pain over the loose of his treasure he called brother from the bottom of his heart. But he couldn´t. The quiet night that was his only comfort seemed to understand him and his pain that lingered upon his chest so it cried for him. It cried for him and over his lose like a mother would cry over the pain of its child.

Rain wetted his clothes and the land he was standing on. His head that was lowly hanging on his body looked up at the sky and let his face get wetted by the rain. His face that not even awhile ago was wetted by his hot tears, got now wetted by the tears of the night sky. And for once he felt understood and embraced with genuine love and support.

With a soft small smile upon his lips that barely could be seen, he stood up and slowly made his way back to his bedroom. Sabo was rain drenched from head to toe but he didn´t mind at all. He felt numb and at the same time relived. His eyes were burning from the huge amount of tears he shed and needed to rest just like his entire body. He looked around his room until his gaze fell on his bed to which he headed to only to let himself fall on it and close his eyes with only one thought on his mind.

I will find Luffy.

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manychocolatefactories · 4 years ago

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CatCF Dark Chocolate: Part 2, the tour

Willy Wonka and his factory:

For the Factory in this version, I wanted to give a feeling of the factories of the 19th century. Something between a place where a mad scientist would work and a steampunk fantasy. Willy Wonka himself is based on Jules Vernes.

Willy Wonka himself is a man with an "impressive beard", a solemn but kind air on his face, and an overall feeling of knowledge and wisdom. Wearing a thick and tight jacket, a black top hat and a dark green coat, his appearance actually gives mixed signals: his short hair is fluffy and shaggy, like a man of free spirit, of amusement and not much care, but his beard and mustache are neatly trimmed and cut, like any serious and respectable man. His hair is brown, chocolate-colored, but with touches of white and gray here and there. His eyes are kind and twinkling, but his mouth is a harsh thin line. He is the kind of man that will say the most extravagant things perfectly seriously, but treat serious and common business as a joke. Don't think however that is an extravagant or funny man. Again, he rather gives the feeling of a kind mad scientist.

As for the Factory itself, actually the locals, the people of the town over which the Factory looms, dislike it. Sure, the Factory is admired by people wordlwide - tourists come to see it, painters come to paint it, it is a landmark admired in foreign countries. But the locals do not like it at all. It is a tall, dark, cold and stern building, with no color of beauty, only locked doors, metallic fences, thick walls and high chimneys. The Factory does not employ anyone of the town, in fact no one ever saw the Factory workers arrive or leave. Wonka himself has never left his factory for decades now. Couple that with strange white silhouettes seen at the windows, and the ramblings of the local homeless man who apparently hates the Factory and keeps insulting it, and quickly a bad reputation was built for it. Adults believe Wonka is trying to hide a shameful secret, the kids tell tales of "the haunted chocolate factory"...

In fact, I wanted an air of creepiness for the Factory. I took back the original idea of Dahl that all the workers are regular humans dressed in white, and I pushed it a little further: they are basically so covered in white you can hardly see them anymore. They have white blouses and jackets, white gloves, white masks, white caps, white helmets... After each kid's demise, a mysterious poem is recitated (like in Dahl's original drafts), mysterious voices that could be eithe the worker's or something else... In fact, with each kid demise there is an element of sppokiness which may be the kid hallucinating out of fear, or not (Augustus in the river thinks something is tying to catch him or drag him down ; Wilbur and Rice in the dark hear and feel creepy things...). And Wonka himself keeps making ominous references to "selling your soul to the devil"...

But in truth the Factory isn't a death trap at all. Behind the scenes, the workers are just normal people with their own life and their usual office routines, and who happent to leave very discreetly the Factory. The Factory is also based a lot on the Menier chocolate factory, which is the "real-life" Wonka factory. I may speak more about it one day.

Anyway... now let's go on with the tour!

# The Labyrinth. Behind each entrance, before each exit of the Factory, is a labyrinth, a maze Wonka designed after the works of Penrose and Möbius. Only he and his workers know the way out of them. This is merely a security measure.

# The Edible Garden. For this garden, I wanted to insist on the idea of it being fake and artificial - Wonka didn't try to create a perfect replica of a landscape. This room doesn't even have any real sense in the Factory, it is merely a piece of art he created so that he could come in here to relax and mediate. There are no windows, all the lights come from spots on the far-away ceiling and the ground is grey stone (because Wonka is revolted at the idea of making grass out of candy, it would be too dirty). There are trees of hard caramel and mint candies, orchards where the fruits are made of gummy, lollipops shaped like flowers and numerous sculptures of sugar - none of this is to be eaten however. At the back of the garden, there is the Chocolate River. The River serves a double use: on one side, it is merely an aesthetic addition to the Edible Garden. On the other, it is a source of energy for the Factory - it used to be a water mill, and Wonka kept the ancient structures but replaced water with chocolate. As such, the production of chocolate actually helps create energy back - and the river ends with a series of different pipes, each one leading to a different room where the chocolate will be used.

This is where Augustus Pottle meets his demise. The competitive glutton tried to empty the river of its content, and fell into it. Sucked up by one of the glass pipes, he did a long travel through the tubes and pipes of the factory, which crushed and reshaped his fat into a cylindric body - before he fell into one of the boiling vats. There, the heat was enough to have all his fat melt, like in a super-intense sauna. Hopefully, he was rescued before being boiled alive - but Augustus left the factory as a mass of sagging, extra-skin, his wrinkled folds dragging on the ground, like a skeleton wearing a bride's dress made of human flesh.

# At the back of the Edible Garden, there is a long hallway that passes by a balcony. Said balcony allows one to see the "Mosaic room", a place where Wonka makes mosaics out of pralines - and since the room is really vast, he can make giant mosaics.

# The Vanilla Fudge Mountain. While it looks like a miniature mountain kept inside a giant room, this titanic hunk of vanilla fudge is actually a fragment taken out of the Honeylaya mountain range (located somewhere between the great Black Thunder chocolate mines, and the sugar marshes of the Sea of Marmelade). [References to the Himalaya, the Black Thunder coal mines, the Black Thunder chocolate bars, the Sea of Marmara and salt marshes ]. This room is basically a copy-cut of Dahl's deleted chapter of the same name, with workers breaking down the mountain, piling the fudge in wagons and then sending it to the Cutting and Pounding Room.

This is where Wilbur and Rice meet their demise. Unruly, and tired of having all their pranks and "fun" sabotaged by Wonka and Bertie Upside, they decide to ride the wagons. Of course, they are sent down the Cutting and Pounding Room - hopefully for them, Wonka has installed an intelligent wire strainer/net that can catch all impurities detected, to clean the fudge. So the kids are saved, right? Well the thing is that, while waiting on the wire strainer for someone to save them, the kids, bored and gluttonous, ended up eating all the fudge that fell down around them. They ate so much of it, that the machine ended up identifying them as "fudge" instead of "impurity" (since they were basically 80 percent fudge after their gorging Xp). So they where sent down in the Room, thrown on a conveyor belt... ready to be pound and cut into slices. The workers realized this of course and stopped the conveyor belt before the knifes - but the kids still got pounded. Wilbur, who was lying on his side when he got pounded, became tall and thin ; while Tommy, who was standing up, got pounded on the head and became small and large. In fact, when they got out of the Factory, their angry parents ended up mistaking one for another and going home with the wrong boy.

# After the Vanilla Fudge Mountain, the tour goes by another hallway, this one with numerous tall and colorful windows - stained glass made of sugar. Each window illustrates a famous chocolatier or candy-maker, but in the style of saints in churches. You have Philippe Suchard (the grandfather of Milka), Henry Isaac Rowntree (the maker of the Fruit Pastilles and Fruit Gums), the Menier family (the biggest chocolatiers of 19th century and first half of 20th century Europe, and distant relatives of Wonka) ; the Murrie family (creators of Hersheys) and the Mars famly (bheind the Mars bars, the M&Ms, the Snickers and the Milky Ways). "All families" Wonla notes with an air of sadness. Indeed, Wonka always wanted a family - or rather at this point in his life he regrets to not have a family and an heir, isolated that he is in his factory.

# Inventing Room number 3. There are numerous "Inventing Rooms" in the Factory, dedicated to developping, inventing, testing, studying products or just do crash tests. The number 3 is clustered with huge, squat and heavy dark machines, with vats, cauldrons and ovens, and all sorts of other structures dragon-like due to the steam and fire they spill out. It quite a grim and sinister place, but it is also where Wonka tests his most fantastic inventions, like the Rainbow Drops, the Luminous Lollies or the Three-Course Meal Gum.

As you guess, this is where Violet Beauregard will meet her demise. I set myself a rule to avoid all blueberry transformations when dealing with the demises of the Violets, so here I rather use the tomato soup: after chewing (not only did Violet took the gum due to her "talent" but also because she misheard Wonka and thought it was a "tasting" room), her face becomes red and chubby, her skin smooth and glossy, her cheeks puff out, her nose bulges, her forehead bloats, her throat becomes big, her lips thick and her ears thin, pointy, green. Result? Her face looks like a mass of tomatoes. Tomatoes for cheeks, a tomato for a forehead, tomatoes instead of eyelids, a tomato for a nose and two for the lips... Think of the Arcimboldo paintings, how he made faces out of flowers and vegetables. It is the same thing here. And while her parent is furious at first, they end up actually realizing it might be for the better - because now she is truly unique and attention-attracting, and that's what her parents always wanted...

# Follows a long hallway with a series of different rooms: two are taken from the original book, the Fizzy Lifting Drinks and the Squares that Look Round. One I changed slightly: the Chocolate Milk Room, where Wonka keeps special cows that have a chocolate-flavored milk.

# The Heating Room. A room taken from Dahl's deleted chapter "The Warming Candy Room".

This Heating Room looks like the negine room of a submarine or a freighter, filled with turbines, pistons, pipes, wheels and pressure gauges. This is where Wonka creates all of his heat-related products: hot ice-creams to fight chilling days, hot ice-cubes to give back warmth to a cold drink, and finally the warming candies (see the original deleted chapter). Marvin Prune, absolutely outraged by what he perceives as Wonka breaking all laws of science and physics, tries to prove that he is a quack by stuffing himself with handfuls of warming candies. Which results in him over-heating: he becomes red, sweaty, thirsty, removes all of his clothes (save for his underwears) and screams to death.

Wonka will have him put in the freezer, and also covered regularly in water, to avoid him drying up to death or combust. But even as he is leaving the factory, he is still red, sweaty, steamy and in underwears - the falling snow melting as it touches him.

# The Nut Room. Another classic piece of the original factory that I wanted to reinvent. Basically, here the kids do not visit the Nut Room proper, but the Under-Nut Room, or Sub-Nut Room. You've got the Nut Room where the white-clad workers separate good nuts from bad nuts Then the "bad" batch is then in this under-room, where trained squirrels will sniff out any potential "good nut" the workers may have missed. All the nuts are on a conveyor belt, that is getting then thrown down a chute.

Of course, Elvira Salt meets her demise here by trying to take one of the squirrels by force, resulting in a squirrel attack. However, the squirrels do not push her down the chute. Rather, she climbs on the conveyor belt to avoid them and has her fur stuck in the belt. She could have escaped if she had let go of it, but she refused to let it go, so she fell down the chute... and Wonka cannot remember if this particular chute leads to the compost vat he uses to grow his fruits, vegetales and berries - or to the furnace...

But don't worry, she actually falls down in the compost. Elvira will leave the factory extremely dirty, unbearably stinky, so much not even an entire week of baths and showers can remove it, and probably with one or two diseases, but alive.

# The Television Room. I did not had time to clearly prepare this one, but it will be where Michael (Mike) T-V meets his demise. Discovering he can go inside television, he is more happy to oblige, and is absolutely thrilled to be in his favorite shows. But as soon as he leaves the television, he realizes that he is now as small as a television character! No bigger than the screen! He will be sent back to his home, now only able to play with his toys and figurines, the only things at his doll-like size.

# The Molding Room

This room is also taken back from Dahl's original draft. Basically, it is where Wonka creates many of his chocolate sculptures - he has an entire zoo of chocolate animals, and very recently created a machine able to form men, women and children out of chocolate. And this is also where Bertie Upside will meet his demise.

You may be wondering: Bertie? What has he done wrong? He is kind, gentle, generous, perfect. He helped Charlie on numerous occasions, he stopped the mischief of the brats... Isn't he a good kid?

HE IS NOT. Grandpa Georges was right all along: if he appears better than the others, it means that he twice as worse.

Bertie Upside truly has a heart of gold. Which means a heart of cold and hard metal, not of flesh.

Bertie Upside is a psychopath, a sociopath, an evil little boy. Sure he knows how to put on a nice and gentle facade, but it is just manipulation. If he is orphaned, it is because he killed his own parents, and now that he is left alone with Charlie (Wonka being busy elsewhere), Bertie will try to kill him, just for fun, by putting him in the "Chocolate Boy" mould so that he would be smothered in a chocolate statue.

However (I have to admit this part is a bit blurry), Charlie will resist and Bertie will end up thrown inside another moulding machine... A piñata-creating machine. When Bertie will get out of the machine, he will still be a living boy... but now with a flesh as fragile as papier-mâché, and insides filled with candies. Now he is really a sweet kid inside as he is outside. And he will have to be really gentle... if he doesn't want to break.

And of course after that Charlie gets the factory, as it turns out that Wonka was looking for an heir with this tour. Happy end!

Now, as I mentionned a poem forms itself through the story, rhymes being added after each kid's demise (an idea originally taken from Dahl's first drafts of the story). It goes like this:

"Nine little children, in the garden they went,

But one fell, and then they were eight."

"Eight little children, an unruly mix,

Two rode to Chicago, and then they were six."

"Six little children went into a room as busy as a hive,

But one did not listen carefully, and then they were five."

"Five little children, less and less at every door,

One had a fever and then they were four."

"Four little children saw squirrels down the tree,

One fell down the squirrel hole, and then they were three."

"Three little children, and none are new,

One went to play and then they were two."

"Two little children, we are soon to be done,

One got his trickandtreat, and then there was one."

"One little children, everything he won,

He lived ever happily, and now we are done."

#charlie and the chocolate factory #catcf #willy wonka #wonka factory #tour #dark chocolate #demise #veruca salt #augustus gloop #violet beauregarde #mike teavee #charlie bucket #bertie upside #marvin prune #tommy troutbeck #wilbur rice

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teacup-tai · 4 years ago

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Top Five of 2020

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (ish) favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

My lovely @the-starryknight thanks for the tag! I’ll tag a few people, but you probably already did it: @ruinsplume @kasjophe @gallifrey1sburning @quicksilvermaid @prolix- @dazedandinked

Right. This year was insane, I got stuck first half of the year in Ireland with only 2 friends close by, all my family in Brazil or Spain while I was writing my bloody master thesis (that is what I’m proudest of this year, but it’s not published yet, so won’t go in this list). I managed a lot of hard emotions in solitude, by myself, while reading drarry fics to keep afloat (great coping mechanism, actually!). And after handing my thesis and moving to Spain, I was feeling deeply empty. So I went back to fic-writing, after 2 or 3 years of not even looking at my old fics.

It all started when I saw the posts for prompt claiming on the @hd-hurtfest blog. To think how that post changed everything in my life is just bizarre. So I am very thankful! It has been a huge pleasure to go back to fic-writing and to re-embrace the HP fandom, mainly the drarry squad! To get to know so many lovely people and I’m forever grateful for that.

Here is my Top Five:

hear me (with your whole body): (Drarry, E, 9k) this is the fic I wrote for the hd-hurtfest 2020. I saw @quicksilvermaid’s prompt and I shivered. It lured me so much I had the whole plot in my head as soon as I finished sending the claim. It was so hard to write it. Because the topic is very sensitive: open relationships, sexual mismatch, bad communication skills. I brought most of my bad experiences in all these sensitive topics as if I was purging it from my body while writing ‘hear me’. It was a very raw process of looking into my own still bleeding wounds, but very cathartic. And it was hard because it was my very first drarry (I love drarry and I normally only read drarry, but I’ve never felt confident enough to write it), so I was very nervous. And in bloody English xD LOL but I’m bloody proud of it. I wanted to write something real without making a show of blaming one of the parts, at the same time I wanted to use and unreliable POV (Harry’s) and to bring forth all those very uncomfortable realities of jealousy, insecurity of one’s sexuality etc. in a way people could relate to. I’ve never imagined the response to this fic would be so nice, and many of the comments drove me to deep reflection. I’m specially happy about this fic because after writing ‘hear me’ something cracked open inside of me, in my own personal-romantic life and also in writing. Like a small miracle. And then, I couldn’t stop writing anymore.

Rebel Rebel: (Sirius/Remus. E, 5k) heh, Wolfstar is my OTP *-* So writing this tiny fic with ‘there was no war’ prompt for the sirius black fest was a bloody delight. The feeling of exploring their youth, in the early 80s and the whole atmosphere of that time was exhilarating! Bowie’s concerts, HIV+ and Aids, queer community and old school crushes. Giving them a future and professions was fun as fuck. But the best part was making Sirius Black fuck around, wild and free, you know. Because he bloody well deserved it. I love the writing style I explored there, very influenced by Caio Fernando Abreu, one of my favourite Brazilian writers and it was just great great fun!

Dragons Don’t Know Paradise: (Drarry + Wolfstar, E, 40k+ WIP) I need to post 3 more chapters along this next few days. I’m adding Dragons here because NEVER. IN. MY. LIFE I thought this story would come out of my head into the pages, and I’m so bloody happy, so bloody proud of myself. I cannot believe how much I’ve written in a month, about a plot that had some path in my head but never a shape, and how this all blossomed inside of me and how it’s coming out just brilliantly. I know I’ll think back at some point and think this and that are not great. But I think this fic is one of my best works, it deals with the queer community, with depression and acceptance, with HIV+ folk, and deep emotions. Everything I’ve ever dreamed of writing. And here it is, and writing it made me manage the fact that I wouldn’t be able to spend this xmas with my family, so I spent this last month with this characters and feeling the opposite of lonely. And to be able to write Harry having a family, you know, being raised by Remus and Sirius is just marvellous. I’m over the moon with wolfstar being great gaydads :D

Scorching: (Pansmione, E, 1.5k) first time I translated a Portuguese fic of mine to English. It was fun to do it, as it’s purely smutty smut and well, I love pansmione and it makes me greedy to go back to writing about this ship. I like how it turned out, but it’s not beta-ed so maybe it’s not great. But damn, I really like this Pansy. ^^

The Old Ways: (Voldemort/Walburga, M, 3k). So, I have a whole word document full of snippets on the Black family. As the Black family is my huge guilty pleasure (that’s why Tainara Black has been my pen name since 2005). I don’t like to think Walburga was only a mad pureblood bigoted woman, I like to think of her as being strongly magical and very sure of herself. Someone three-dimensional with knowledge of Dark magic of the old ways and a deep insanity that comes with legacy of pureness, but also with financial influence and management of old wizarding land. I realised Walburga is only 1 year older than Voldie, she is closest to his age than her husband or brother (if we follow the Balck Family Genealogical Tree), and this sparked a whole idea inside of me. So this fic is a character study of Walburga when Sirius is only 10 and Voldemort is organising a war, and I honestly think is one of my best fics (even though it wasn’t beta-ed). I loved writing about this powerful witch, that got stuck in keeping her bloodline alive, that gave up on great deeds of power and freedom to become a pureblood mother and wife. But it’s the fic no one reads, so I’m adding a bit of it here in hopes it may interest someone:

He climbs the last step of the noisy, rusty, winding stair, his eyes mapping the place in silent wonder. The rooftop is sombre. Rough grey cement floor and dead flower beds in a far corner, big dark clay pots with dead branches and dry bushes scattered around; the only living thing is an imposing carnivorous plant, it’s toothed lips opening and closing sharply around bugs and other insects.

She is right there, in the centre of the chaotic rooftop garden and he thinks the house is in shambles, and so is she. The moon is reflecting its cold brightness over her as if it were a stage light. He takes a second to contemplate her stance. He has never seen her like this before. It is such an incongruous sight it almost feels like he’s intruding. Is not a feeling he’s used to.

She’s perched in a high frail copper chair, her ankles crossed lightly, with pale bare feet against the dirty coarse floor, one white arm falling languidly from the armrest, her elegant fingers holding a thin long smoking pipe. Rings of smoke rising into the night sky. The back of her skull resting on the back of the chair, he can’t see her face from this angle, but he’s stunned by the imagery.

She looks almost mythical; with her long black mane messy and loose, barely touching the ground. He can’t remember when was the last time he’s seen her hair down, but he’s pretty sure it wasn’t that long, nor were there silver strikes colouring it in a mix of salt and pepper.

“How long do you plan to stare?” her voice is as rusty as the whole house and he scoffs.

keep reading

#my writing #my fics #tainara black #top five 2020

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readingfanfction · 4 years ago

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Chapter 2: Songs and Agreements

I didn’t spend much time explaining the layout of the tower, while i was writing i just thought of a tower of the likes from the movie Tangled but with a doorway to the stairs instead of a trap door like in the movie. Anyways, here’s chapter 2, i like slow burn romance so you have to wait... hehe

It certainly took some time, but Lucy was able to clean up the tower. Thanks to the water wheel she was lucky enough to have a good supply of fresh, clean water and even enough power for the lights. The pipes that would normally bring the water to the top of the tower had rusted, so she had to carry buckets of water up to the room, she was just grateful that the water had no issues going back down. While picking up all the books and papers that were everywhere, she organized them into the many bookshelves that made up the walls of the tower and noticed a theme. Going through more and more of the many things left around the tower, her theory was proven correct. This tower once belonged to a wizard, and not just any wizard but a celestial wizard.

By the time she had finished cleaning and after having her dinner Lucy sat down with one of the books left to her by the celestial wizard and began to study. Bothered by the silence she began to sing a soft song of the stars. She felt truly lucky that the tower once belonged to a celestial wizard that left their research, Lucy had always felt a strong connection to the stars and enjoyed learning all she could about them.

Her father hated how she spent her time in the library studying, a woman especially a princess, should not seek out knowledge and never speak out of term. Now that she was locked in the tower with no company, she was happy she didn’t listen.

Lucy quickly became absorbed in her studies, her voice carried by the summer breeze to the beast resting in his cave. She sang to herself with all her heart, no longer having to sing quietly for fear of alerting her father to her forbidden activity. The wind outside quickly picked up, sending her papers flying in a sudden gust that died as fast as it came. Curious as to what caused the strange anomaly Lucy tucked her papers under the book she was reading and walked to the window.

The tower was easily three floors high, there was no doubt in her mind despite the top floor being the only real floor in the building. Frozen in place, she shook as a large red dragon stood on the grass and looked back at her. His golden eyes were level with her, he had no need to look up at her, he was so tall. Lucy let out a squeak as he began to push his head through the window until his black horns lightly hit the frame of the window. Stumbling backwards to stay out of the reach of the massive jaw Lucy bumped into the table and let out another squeak when the dragon blew hot air onto her.

“Sing for me princess?” the dragon asked, his voice sounding deep and warm. Lucy staired at his teeth as they appeared momentarily while he spoke, the long fangs easily longer than her arm.

“H-how do you know I’m a princess?” Lucy stammered.

“Only princesses get locked in towers, wizards seek them out.” The dragon explained.

“I could have sought out this tower.” She argued with a pout. The dragon made a strange sound from deep in his throat, almost like a purr. “Are you laughing at me?”

“You’re right, I suppose ya could of come here on your own. But I watched ya arrive.” He explained as he blew more hot air on her. “Will you sing for me, princess?” the dragon asked again, pulling he head partly out of the window, so his nose rested lightly on the window ledge.

“I don’t know, I’ve never sang for anyone before.” Lucy answered, her face turning a bright red.

“Sing for me and I’ll bring ya anything you wish for.” Glancing at the supplies that were left to her she nodded in agreement, they didn’t leave her with much and she knew that she would be out by the end of the week.

Taking a seat so that the dragon was across the table from her, Lucy began to sing once again as she studied. He closed his eyes as he listened, eventually taking his head from the window, and wrapping himself around the base of the tower with his head directly below the window.

#fairy tale #nalu #natsu #lucy #fanfiction

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ahatintimepieces · 4 years ago

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Maybe something with tardigrade song or the moss ,by Cosmo sheldrake? All his songs are pretty whimsical

Many feelings right now, post-writing, and 1) Never heard this music before this morning and now The Moss is forever embroidered into my being, 2) This got way outta hand and finally 3) THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING THIS I surely hope I captured the whimsy at least a little! Please enjoy!

“Legend has it that the moss grows on the north side of the trees,” Hattie reminded herself as she looked out at the columns of frosted stone, perched on top a giant, frozen wishing well. Or maybe just a well. It was too frozen to tell if golden wishes fell into this well. And it was too frozen to see if there was moss on the crystalline trees.

“Well, legend has it when the rain comes down, all the worms come up to breathe,” a squeaky voice of a dozing, floating raccoon bequeathed.

Hattie looked up, spotting the crown pon on the cap of the raccoon clinging to its pillow. The rift was overrun by these sleeping fellows who whispered in their dreams of fables and things.

“Well, legend has it when the sunbeams come, all the plants, they eat them with their leaves.” Hattie readied herself and leapt forward. The stone column cracked beneath her and began to sink. With a jolt of fear, she immediately jumped to the next one, flying beneath the raccoon who dropped to squash her. She wacked it with her umbrella and pilfered the pon before jumping to a cluster of cold leaves before the stone column crumbled beneath her.

The raccoon fell with the stone and Hattie panted, before catching the shine of the parchment below.

Careful, she descended the stairs of slippery leaves. Her boots scuffed the icy blue branches before she stooped down and gathered the page that was one piece of one puzzle of a forest of spirits and souls and sleepy spiders and dwellers. Swiftly, she tucked the page away and ascended the stairs and stone.

Paying pons in exchange for escaping the ice and moss-less trees, Hattie jumped into the pipe and dropped into a new level, finding shadows trapped in glass vessels.

“Well, legend has it that the world spins round on an axis of 23 degrees,” Hattie breathed. She examined the scene before her with confusion and barely jumped back before an inky-black octopus with waving tentacles emitted a ring of combustion.

“But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?” A smaller shadow asked in a raspy voice as she incapacitated the octopuses and raccoons. “Or the cow that hopped the planets while straddling a spoon?”

Hattie shoved the crown pons into her pocket as the other smaller shadow chimed in, its form looking like a carnivorous plant in one moment before wavering into the form of a dragon with a pointed beak just as its twin.

“Or she, who leapt up mountains while whistling up a tune and swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom?” The dragon bloom cooed.

Hattie shook her head, the movement causing her to spy a space in the wall with an opened door. She wandered over to find wooden planks leading down into the center of the structure perched in a murky moor. She jumped down and came to a dark room sparse save for a handful of shelves stacked with books. Another parchment puzzle piece shone but its shine was swallowed by the surrounding shadowy nook. She swiped the storybook page and retreated from the dark, jumping up the steps with calculated arcs.

Before she could reach the final pipe opening with hissing smoke, the middle shadow shaped like a sea serpent with spiraling tail and spiked shadows and short snout spoke.

“Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few from that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe,” the shadow whispered with a scarlet star blinking where its eyes usually sat black as tar.

Hattie paused, waiting for further explanation but the serpent seemed as petrified as a mask, the shadows shifting behind the curved glass. She dove through the final pipe and came to a raft, adrift in a sea of murky mist with distant trees shivering as if caught in a draft.

Focusing on her task to reclaim her time pieces, she cracked open the violet rift and it shattered along creases with collective whispers of the subconscious forest, asking if she could learn something from the puzzle pieces. Or…

Or the girl that sang by day and by night she ate tear soup,

Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewers’ droop?

The whispers begged her to understand, but the hatted child grabbed her hourglass and disappeared before knowledge could land.

Hattie returned to the forest and gingerly tucked the time piece away. Curious, she took out the pages of the storybook crafted by memories in the rift and went about her day.

Following the cobblestone path, she scanned the title page with a claw mark through a broken heart. A gaggle of subconites trotted over to her, following and asking if she wanted to join them in their game of sharing stories and art. One lifted his mitten hand to his chest, his light glowing as he pressed.

“Come listen, all ye fair maids, to how the moral goes,” he declared dramatically as Hattie mostly ignored him to scan the next page of a prince and a princess holding hands with hearts round their golden crowns, looking proper and prim.

“Nobody knew and nobody knows,” another subconite chimed in while the next chapter showed the princess in her crown meet the children in town covered with masks and hoods standing in rows.

Hattie glanced towards the hooded figures around her, dread welling up as they casually continued their recounting of characters.

“How the Pobble was robbed of his twice five toes, or how the Dong came to own a luminous nose,” the first subconite said while they walked. Meanwhile, the princess saw her prince’s palm clasped with a maiden of strawberry-rose locks.

“Or how the Jumblies went to sea in a sieve that they rowed,” a quiet third subconite sounded like they were smiling as Hattie stared, wide-eyed at the page of the princess’ heart shattering and her tears freezing, all framed by her golden hair.

“And came to shore by the Chankly Bore where the Bong-trees grow.” The girl with the rose-colored braid held up her hand, revealing a coin that might have once fell into a well made for wishing while the prince turned to see his princess fleeing.

“Where the Jabberwocky’s small green tentacles do flow, and the Quangle Wangle plays in the rain and the snow,” a noose dripping blue called from above in a haunting tone, causing the subconites to scatter with child-like screams and leaving Hattie alone.

Hattie stopped walking, steps faltering. Shadow tentacles rose around the green-garbed princess in droves while the prince tried to reach out, desperate to dismiss the princess’ doubt.

Pondering the woods, Hattie trembled, finding the story too terrible to continue. The shadow dragon blooms, the sleeping raccoons, the subconites and the cold, endless night that clung with the clefted moon. The young pilot charted stars, not stories withstanding; how was she to make sense of this pictured misunderstanding?

As if hearing her distress, a shadow appeared with a clasped claws and Cheshire grin. He twisted around her, wondering what was causing the child such chagrin.

Pressing the storybook to her chest, concealing the tale, she appeased, “Legend has it that the moss grows on the north side of the trees.” But nothing grew in the phantom forest. Crinkling her nose, she continued her pleas, “Well, legend has it when the rain comes down, all the worms come up to breathe.”

But the shadow reminded her for breath the dead have no need.

“Well, legend has it when the sunbeams come—”

There was no need in the forest of spirits for the light of the sun.

“—all the plants, they eat them with their leaves…” Hattie trailed off in grief. In a final plea, she said, “Well, legend has it that the world spins round on an axis of 23 degrees.”

The soul Snatcher widened his smile and began to beguile her scientific theses.

“But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?” He dove into the trees and puppeted shadows in a haphazard cartoon. The rabbit looked more like a man sewing cow plushies in a crescent room. “Or the cow that hopped the planets while straddling a spoon?”

Snatcher popped out of the trees and snatched Hattie’s hat, disappearing up in the leaves and forcing her to pursue with grappling hook threaded through the noose.

“Or she, who leapt up mountains, while whistling up a tune,” Snatcher continued, twirling her hat on his finger in an animated loop. “And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom.” He winked, tossing her hat back and summoning her contract to remind her of her tasks.

Hattie furrowed her brows and held out the storybook with memories cruel and true.

“Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few,” she repeated the morals whispered in the rift as she mused, “from that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe.” She turned the page to reveal the final clue, “Or the girl that sang by day and by night she ate tear soup.”

The phantom froze and the girl gripped the page, both staring at the shadow depicted in his cage. Crown discarded; tears pooled in the eyes of the prince fooled into thinking love over sorrow could rule.

Hattie turned to the ending, the final picture that explained the strictures of the woman in the manor.

Petrified by the page, the phantom swallowed thickly as he added bitterly, explaining the story of jealousy’s cold coup, “Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewer’s droop.”

“Snatcher.” Hattie reached out but the ghost of the prince fled in one fell swoop.

#a hat in time #megxolotl #ahit hat kid #ahit snatcher #my writing #song lyric drabbles #im SO PECKING BAD AT POETRY BUT MY ONE DUMB BRAINCELL WAS LIKE NO WAIT I HAVE AN IDEA #ALSO I FREAKING LOVE THIS SONG #I WENT A LITTLE OVERBOARD WITH THIS ONE IM SORRY #BUT ALSO THANK YOU FOR INTRODUCING ME TO THIS GUY IN GENERAL OH BOY #i need to lie down now that took a lot out of me #but also i loved writing it a lot so i hope it's just as fun to read?#prose poetry my good friends #is not my forte but boy to i love it

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amairauthor · 4 years ago

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Storytelling for Sales Engineers

In 2020, I did something I have been dreaming about for some time. I published my first book.

It is a goal that I have been keeping to myself for many years. I knew I had talent as a storyteller but lacked the technical writing skills to complete the task. I told myself a story, a story that I believed. The story told me I would never be a writer.

In June of 2019, I sat across the table from a colleague who had a different story to tell. It was based on the same character arc as the story I told myself, but his story had a different outcome. His story was all about the journey of setting a goal, obtaining the skills, and completing that goal. His story told me that I was not a writer yet, but there was a path in which I could be. Fortunately, I also believed in his story. A little over a year later, I published my first book.

Storytelling is the process of using words and actions to communicate basic facts and context to another person to relate to those facts.

Everything is a story, and everyone is a storyteller. The history of storytelling is the history of how humans learn and communicate. Whether we use oral, written, or visual storytelling, we have been telling each other stories since before the beginning of our recorded history. The mediums change, but the process of storytelling remains.

There are many reasons why stories are such an effective method to transfer information. Stories give an audience the basic facts; they help give context to a problem; they help the listener identify with a problem.

For engineers, these features of storytelling are critical. Your audiences may not be engineers, and they may have a wide range of responsibilities; they may only be interested in the bottom line or have some other problem they need to be solved by technology. An engineer, especially a Sales Engineer, would do well to incorporate effective and compelling storytelling into their communication.

Storytelling consists of at least the following concepts. First, to prepare a narrative, you must identify and understand your audience. Second, determine what story you are telling. And finally, tell the story with context.

If you don’t know who your audience is or what they may care about, you may end up talking to the metaphorical wall. As engineers, we spend a lot of time understanding all the many aspects of the devices we sell or utilize. Our technical curiosity and knowledge may overwhelm someone if one feature after another is described, demonstrated, or presented to them. And if that someone is a customer, your impressive knowledge may only intimidate and confuse them instead of them purchasing your solution.

“Engineers love features; everyone else loves benefits.” – Andy Callan

But if you allow your engineer mind to kick in, you can understand how to help someone see the prescribing solution's benefit. Like when you are assessing any problem, you need to understand all the variables.

You do this by asking questions. It would help if you asked about their role and their business, and the desired outcome. You need to ask about the budget and bottom line. You should find out what the state was before they identified the problem and any known causes. Ask yourself the question, why do they care?

Understanding what may or may not be important is critical to crafting an effective and compelling story. Knowing the product's speeds and feeds is only crucial if the customer can relate to and understand its benefits—the what and how may not be as crucial until your audience understands the why.

Asking detailed questions is essential but listening to those answers is far more critical. Listening is not only hearing the words someone says but understanding the entire story they are telling. People do not only use words to talk; much of what they say is non-verbal.

This type of listening is called Active Listening. Instead of just hearing what someone says to respond immediately, the active listener engages and endeavors to understand the complete story behind what they are hearing. This type of listening takes practice.

Once you have gathered information by asking questions and doing whatever you can to understand your audience, you begin to craft your narrative. Crafting the narrative may be prescribing a solution, or it might mean making some other recommendation.

Ask yourself who your characters are they may be end-users, technical teams, power users, customers, guests, etc. Decide what products, services, technology, or other recommendations you believe will solve their problem. The last thing to remember is to keep it simple.

Once you have the solution designed, you will want to present that solution to your audience. Now is the time to tell your story, making sure to include appropriate context.

When writing fiction, an author describes the setting and background for the story. They place their characters into that setting and help the readers immerse themselves by describing the story's sights, sounds, smells, and emotions. You want your audience to imagine themselves in your story.

One way to do this is to understand some essential storytelling elements. Let’s use Bilbo Baggins's story, The Hobbit, from the famous tale by JRR Tolkien. The tale begins, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” But I am going to use a universal opening, “Once upon a time…”

Once upon a time, Bilbo Baggins lived in the shire. And every day, Bilbo would drink ale, smoke his pipe, and enjoy good food and the beauty of his surroundings. Until one day Gandalf, the wizard, recruited him for an adventure. And because of this, he joined a company of dwarves. And because of this, he journeyed to the lonely mountain where a dragon guarded a vast treasure. And because of this, he found a ring that made him turn invisible. Until finally, he was able to help the dwarves defeat the dragon and retake their home, and the treasure then returned home. And ever since that day, he knew there was more to him than just a regular old Hobbit who enjoyed good food, good drink, and pipe-weed.

There, the basic elements of a story using Mr. Bilbo as an example. I will admit, it does not do Tolkien’s masterpiece justice but lays out the essential story pieces. The idea is to tell the story with context.

Once upon a time… Or in other words, provide context. Of course, you do not need to use these words; that may be strange. This is a reminder to provide a setting or other context for your story.

And every day… Describe the desired outcome, the ideal state. This is a state where everything is working fine. Or it can be a state where everything could work better. If a business was working one way in 2019 and felt good about their growth and processes, chances are they had that state affected by the global pandemic of 2020, leading us to our next step.

Until one day… Describe the problem(s). “We built our unified communications systems around Skype for Business, and everything was working well until Microsoft forced us to migrate to Teams.” This is when the state is altered from the perfect or ideal, for whatever reason.

And because of this… Describe the results and what has been done to solve the problem. Repeat this for each problem. Problems may exist one after another (we solved problem X, which led to problem Y) or, problems may exist concurrently. Describe these problems and what has already been done to solve them.

Until finally… Present the solution. Here is where you present a full solution to the problems identified. Whether through your products, services, or other means, discuss how the prescribed solution will solve each of the identified problems. Describe the benefits and set appropriate expectations.

Now is a good time to mention, if your solution does not solve their problem, tell them honestly, and if possible, refer them to someone you know who may solve their problem. Good storytelling techniques only work with a good story. Make sure you only tell good stories.

And ever since that day… Don’t forget to describe the results. What was the outcome? Or what will likely be the outcome if the prescribed solution is implemented. “Our meetings are simpler to join,” “We have a much better user experience” Help them understand that your solutions will either return them to an ideal state or, if possible, enhance their ideal state.

You should also describe any unsolved problems or new problems identified. “The far side of our calls receive a much better experience, but now that more people are using our systems, the in-room experience could be better.” This is the perfect opportunity to continue your partnership. This is why it is so important only to tell good stories. Provide only solutions that solve their problems and not shoehorn in something less than ideal.

Now here is something to consider; storytelling does not need to be this formal. Storytelling techniques can be used in simple text messages or emails, or any form of communication.

To help those you communicate with imagine themselves in your story, remember the basic concepts:

1. Identify and understand your audience

2. Determine what story you are telling

3. Tell the story with context.

Why storytelling and why does it matter? Because everything is a story, and everyone is a storyteller. Stories give an audience the basic facts, help give context to a problem, and help them identify with that problem. Paul J. Zak, the director for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, said,

“Stories result in better understanding of key points, increased voluntary compliance, and improved memory.” -Paul J. Zak

If you want your audience to understand, remember and act on your solution, tell a story.

Sources:

• https://medium.com/@Brian_G_Peters/6-rules-of-great-storytelling-as-told-by-pixar-fcc6ae225f50

• https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/06/05/back-to-the-story-spine/

• https://www.watershedlrs.com/blog/business-and-data-alignment/data-storytelling-knowing-your-audience/

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319396522_Storytelling_as_a_Key_Enabler_for_Systems_Engineering

https://www.meetcortex.com/blog/the-history-of-storytelling-in-10-minutes

#Storytelling #Engineer #presales

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degenerate-perturbation · 4 years ago

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Chapters: 22/32 Fandom: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, Dragon Age II Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Female Amell/Female Surana Characters: Female Amell, Female Surana, Anders, Velanna, Nathaniel Howe, Oghren (Dragon Age), Justice (Dragon Age), Sigrun (Dragon Age), Varric Tethras, Isabela (Dragon Age), Male Hawke (Dragon Age) Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Self-Harm, Blood Magic, Prostitution, Drowning, Wilderness Survival Series: Part 2 of void and light, blood and spirit Summary: Amell and Surana are out of the Circle, and are now free to build a life together. But when the prison doors fly open, what do you have in common with the one shackled next to you, save for the chains that bound you both?

Loriel’s routine was by this point quite well-developed.

She woke at dawn, with the sun. Usually the light was enough to rouse her, but in case it wasn’t, she had a timed rune of frost under her bed set to go off half an hour after sunrise. On the rare occasions that she was inclined to laze in bed, it was enough to get her out of it.

Breakfast would be waiting for her, and it was never late. Loriel did not micromanage. Things in her Keep were done correctly the first time, or they were done by somebody else. Her breakfast varied little. One egg, hard-boiled; porridge, salty, never sweet; fruit, whichever seasonal. She could draw some energy from the Fade, but repeated use of blood magic attenuated her connection to the Fade enough that she still needed to eat. Someday she would look into eliminating that need entirely, once her other obligations were met. She would eat on a balcony as the sun rose, less out of a desire to see the day begin, and more out of a removed knowledge that some sun was necessary for her health. Someday she would fix that flaw as well, but for now, if she had to waste time eating, she could at least get that out of the way while she was at it.

Within a quarter of an hour she would be at her desk. A stack of letters would be waiting there. She would skim them; few really required a personal response. The ones from Avernus, she put aside to deal with later.

When she finished with that, she would indicate for her seneschal to enter. Her name was Brigit; she was bright-eyed and fervent, relentlessly competent, utterly indispensable. She was most of the reason the Keep still functioned at all. She would be waiting outside the door, a cup of tea in hand. The tea—bitter, biting, oversteeped—was Loriel’s one indulgence. She would drink it and listen to the daily report. Brigit respected Loriel’s time, and began with what Loriel cared about—first, had there been any sign of the Architect? Second, had any Wardens begun to hear the Calling? And third, had any been killed?

There was never any sign of the Architect. Most of the Wardens at Vigil’s Keep were far too new for the Calling. But every once in a while, there would be deaths. Loriel would ask for their names. She forgot them as soon as she heard them, but it was important she hear them.

The rest of the half-hour was an abbreviated exchange of questions and instructions. If there was anything that absolutely needed Loriel’s personal attention, Brigit would ask for it—but few things did. People needed or wanted the entity known as the Commander of the Grey, or the Arlessa of Amaranthine, or the Hero of Ferelden. Loriel held those titles by an accident of history; she had no personal characteristic that suited her for them.

Then Loriel would hand off any letters that needed replying to. Brigit could mimic her hand and her signature easily enough, and Loriel received far too much correspondence to deal with it all herself.

With the business of rulership out of the way, Loriel would descend to her underground chambers. She would work for ten or twelve or fifteen hours. If she tired early, she would sit and read. She avoided falling asleep underground—it was too disorienting. Each day she ascended, changed into the clothes left for her freshly laundered well in advance, cleaned her teeth, and slept. Once a week, she would bathe, whether she needed it or not—the alternative was to forget to bathe entirely. She did not bother to fall asleep naturally—there was a simple spell for that, and she saw no reason not to use it.

Her research went slowly. But it went.

And so the clockwork of her life ticked on.

tck

The work itself was going better than it had.

Her methodology was much like her daily routine—plodding, relentless, as bland as it was efficient. She followed procedure, did what needed to be done, even if she had no appetite to do it. Her reams of close-written notes were meticulous to the point of exhaustion. She lived and breathed rigor. Almost everything she tried failed, and each failure was a step closer to success.

Eventually—something would work.

A dim awareness fluttered in her mind that the bright scalpel of her mind was now little more than a crude cudgel, but what did it matter that she wasn’t brilliant? The work still got done.

Her underground lab had grown from a single rough chamber to a warren of interconnected tunnels and specialized chambers. The Underkeep stretched nearly as far as the Keep above. In one room, the vastly expanded lab space, tables of glass devices and cabinets of reagents. In another, her library, swollen with tomes both common and rare, with her own notes and manuscripts and diagrams. Another room stood lined with cages holding dozens of creatures subject to her experiments—rats, it turned out, reacted very much like elves and humans to the Blight, and they bred fast. Lines of entropy enchantments lined their cages, keeping them in stasis until it was time for them to be of use. An underground stream provided water, wrested from the depths of the earth and channeled through pipes of stone. All of it climate controlled with her elegant runes. It was never too hot or too cold, never too wet or dry; no mold, no pests, no sunlight, save that which she made herself.

And below that, another tunnel, deeper than the other, longer, and layered with more protections; it lead to the Deep Roads. She ventured there; sometimes for some purpose—to collect a sample, to check for deliveries from her friends beneath the earth—but most often simply to sit in the dark, to feel the miles of stone pressing down on her, and be empty of thought and of feeling and being.

tck

One of the few reliable reasons that Loriel ever left her Keep was when she went to see Avernus. Letters passed between them frequently, almost entirely of a technical nature—what reagent could be used to evoke such and such reaction? What were the best ways to keep blighted flesh preserved for study? Where were the most promising leads to follow up on to search for lost Tevinter literature on the subject?—But often letters weren’t enough. So once or twice a year, Loriel would gear up and make the journey to Soldier’s Peak. She would stay there for a handful of weeks, making aggressive collaborative progress with Avernus until both their tolerances for other people dried up and Loriel returned to her Underkeep.

“I see you are still being unreasonable about human subjects,” Avernus sniffed on one such occasion, while they both watched a cauldron boil in silence.

This was a frequent subject of complaints in his letters. “I see no reason in deliberately poisoning a well. Do you imagine the work would go faster if I was driven from my fortress with torches and pitchforks?

“Torches and pitchforks, hmph! As though peasants with torches and pitchforks are any threat to you.”

“Peasants, no. A Chantry army of Templars? A new Exalted March?”

“Do not tell me you still fear Templars. If that were truly your chief concern, you would not have let so many join your Order. ”

He was baiting her, and it wasn’t going to work. “I do not need to fear them to understand what is prudent, what is necessary, and what is not. The work will continue as it has.”

“And in the meanwhile, your Wardens will continue to die, because of what amounts to self-interest, hm? Because you fear the consequences of a little risk? Because you do not like to think of yourself the way you think of me?”

Bait. This was bait. She was too good to fall for bait. But Maker, Avernus could be really irritating in person.

“I am working with you to cure the Calling,” Loriel said evenly. “To save my wardens from a terrible fate. What sense would it make to sacrifice their lives in order to save them?”

Avernus snorted. “Very well, child, suit yourself. At your age I felt much the same.”

Something in the way he said child— not a word he often used for her, a word he clearly used now because he knew it would enrage her—sounded so much like Irving that she nearly lost control of herself. Who in the void did he think he was? If not for her grace, his desiccated corpse would be enriching the soil by now. She could have killed him when they’d first met. She could kill him now, if she wanted.

The old bastard watched her with a defiant, mocking eye, daring her to try. She could, couldn’t she? She was younger, faster, and yes, stronger. For all his experience, she had the more raw power to throw around. They had both seen battle, but his battles were a century old while hers were fresh and bleeding—and she’d bested him before. Granted, she hadn’t been alone then...but she was stronger now. Yes, she could kill him—

But the old blood mage was all she had.

“My title,” she said crisply, turning her eyes back to the slowly boiling cauldron, “is Commander.”

He rolled his eyes at her, and asked how her experiments with draconic gall had gone, and they spoke no more of it that day.

Avernus wasn’t all bad. He could be a cantankerous, amoral, belittling bastard, but he was clever, and not the worst to talk to. Sometimes he would be taken aback by her original ideas, rendered silent and thoughtful by her insights. Sometimes she would make a remark that seemed to her perfectly obvious, but which would send him consulting his notes and tomes, muttering under his breath. Each such instance left her smug and glowing for hours. Avernus never rendered praise—which she preferred—but this was better.

Pathetic, that she cared what he thought of her. And she did care. Commander or not, intellectual equal or not, she was his pupil. Avernus had plumbed depths of magic yet unknown to her, and his mind held secrets it would take her years to extract. And whatever his faults, he never lied, not about anything.

How badly she had wanted to please First Enchanter Irving as a child. How much she had lived for his praise, for his assurance that she was so bright, so special, so different from the other children. How pathetic he had looked when she had saved him from the Fade, how much she had hated his mealy-mouthed supplications to his Templar master. Each time she remembered it, she coated the memory with a fresh layer of poison.

Loriel was no fool, and she had no love for self-deception. She knew exactly what Avernus was, and what he was to her. But he, at least, was honest.

tck

Before she’d found Brigit, Loriel had managed intelligence of her keep with a network of enchanted crystals. Padding invisibly around her own Keep like a thief in te night would never have served for long. The crystals studded the halls of the Keep in unassuming braziers and in decorative sconces, transmitting everything that they saw and heard to a circle of polished silver in a dedicated chamber in the Underkeep. Crystals had special properties of resonance and purity that made them excellent for conveying sound. The real challenge had been getting crystals in a size and index that suited her. They didn’t occur naturally often enough to be worth harvesting, so she had had to figure out how to make them herself, with heated water and powdered minerals and careful spells of entropy to control their growth. It was finicky business; large enough to work, small enough to not be noticed, of just the right purity. The key was blood—her blood, connecting the network to the mirror and to herself.

The next problem was how to limit the flow of information. The Keep was just too busy to monitor all at once. She’d had the thought to fix it by keying the crystal network to particular activation words, to keep from picking up on discussion of that evening’s dinner—but even then, it was too much. Loriel had lost hours to the mirror, hypnotized by every irrelevant word and image it sent. On bad days, it was all she did.

Three chief things Loriel learned from her mirror:

First: The kitchen girl she’d so thoughtlessly forced to forget her on the first day of her new life was never quite the same afterward. She often cried for no reason, couldn’t remember whole weeks of her life, and she didn’t know why. Her dearest friend—a scullery maid—would comfort her, let her weep into her shoulder, assure her that no, she wasn’t mad, that she needn’t give herself over to the mercy of the Chantry, that surely the Maker would send relief soon.

Loriel regretted making her forget. She would not have done it, had she known it would break her mind. But neither did she indulge her guilt and shame. What a waste that would have been. Of course Loriel had hurt her—was that not entirely expected?

She knew perfectly well what she was.

Second: Nearly everyone in the Keep she ruled feared her. Some hated her, some revered her, some loved her, but everyone feared her.

That Loriel was a maleficar was not exactly an open secret. The new recruits didn’t know, and the old recruits weren’t sure or bold enough to tell them outright.

But oh, there were rumors.

Some seemed convinced that she had died long ago—that her seneschal had killed her, usurped her position, and only pretended to take her directives (after all, how long had it been since anyone had seen her? On these occasions Loriel occasionally made a point to appear briefly in the great hall). Others asserted that Loriel was the usurper, that the old commander had grown too popular and beloved and had planned to betray her, and so Loriel had betrayed and killed her first. Another version had it that Loriel kept the old commander imprisoned somewhere in the depths, chained up and tormented with blood magic. And that was well related to—

Third: People still spoke of the old commander. Anytime something went wrong— the old commander never would have allowed this. The old commander would never have allowed the patrol schedule to change so inconveniently. The old commander never would have stood for substandard breakfast offerings. The old commander wouldn’t have tolerated this. The old commander would have kept us safe. The old commander cared. Many in the Keep were very confident on what exactly the old commander thought and felt about any subject on the sun you could care to name.

The first of Vigil’s Keep wardens were the worst about it. They gathered together some nights to play cards and drink, just the three of them, and the old commander would come up. Anytime the three of them met, Loriel would be there, too, invisible, intangible, unwanted. It was almost an addiction. Oghren would tell embarrassing stories from back during the Blight, and insist that he’d taught her everything she knew about fighting. Velanna always looked vaguely angry when this happened, but she listened anyway, and even asked questions, and many times Loriel caught her suppressing a genuine laugh. They’d wonder where she was, what she was doing. Sigrun would crack a forced smile and say, probably having a great time without us. They’d laugh. They’d miss her.

Loriel had never heard anything so insulting in her life.

In the end, the crystals turned out to be a mistake. It had been a fun project, but a wasteful one. One day she shattered the viewing mirror. If she really needed it, she could always make a new one, but for now, she was done.

You couldn’t spend your life entranced by what you couldn’t have. You just couldn’t.

Anyway—she'd found Brigit by then. Brigit ran things better than Loriel could ever hope to. If Brigit made a popular decision, the Wardens all agreed that perhaps they were on the right track after all, with the Hero of Ferelden at the helm and all. If Brigit made an unpopular decision, the Wardens muttered that the old commander would never have stood for it, and if the Hero of Ferelden knew what was happening she would surely put an end to it.

Loriel herself rarely thought of the old commander. She had too much work to do.

tck

The first to go was Oghren. It had been for his own good. The Wardens had only ever been an escape for him, an excuse to wallow in his own refuse and avoid the wife and child he had been too weak to face. Well, no more. Loriel waited until he was sober, or as close as he ever came to it, to break the news.

“Go home, Oghren,” she’d told him. “Or don’t. Lay down in the gutter and finally drink yourself to death, if that’s what you really want. You can go wherever you want, but you can’t stay here.”

He’d sputtered, protested. Demanded to know why, and why now . Weren’t the Wardens supposed to take any old sod? Didn’t she have any respect for their long friendship? He’d kept an eye on her since she was naive little mageling fresh out of the Circle (now that was a funny joke) and now she was really just going to get rid of him? Just like that?

"Just like that," she confirmed, unmoved. “You don’t belong here. You have a family.”

He swore at her, so luridly that she was almost impressed. And then he calmed down. He called her a sodding waste of space, but his heart wasn’t in it.

She made arrangements to have him taken care of. Supplies, escorts, whatever he needed. She wasn't a monster. She tried to be good to her people, when she could. She hoped he really did go back to his wife and child, though both their names escaped her at the moment. Of course she hoped for the best for him.

But she never did end up following up, and whatever became of Oghren Kondrat, Loriel never learned it.

tck

What was really surprising was how long Sigrun stuck around.

Loriel had assumed for years that Sigrun’s presence in her life was just on the verge of ending. They hadn’t been on good terms since the Dragonbone Wastes, and these days Loriel was not on good terms with anyone at all.

And even if Sigrun was too loyal and true to simply desert, she was foolhardy. She fought like she didn’t care if she died, because she didn’t. Each morning when Brigit recited the names of the dead, Loriel waited and waited to hear Sigrun’s name. That she’d died saving a fellow Warden, or charging a group of darkspawn to give the rest of her squad time, or that she’d simply not returned.

But Sigrun was still here.

How fitting for a dead woman to haunt her Keep, one who continued not to die. If Loriel didn’t know any better, she might have even thought that Sigrun missed Oghren, though Maker only knew why. If Loriel didn’t know any better, she might have even thought that Sigrun missed her, in some strange way. Of the original Wardens of the Keep, Sigrun was the only one who occasionally knocked on Loriel’s chamber doors, tentatively calling out her name and even waiting a few minutes before giving up.

As though Loriel would tolerate her pity.

She hated to think of her. Hated to remember that she was still there at all, accusing Loriel of wrongdoing just by existing, even though she had no right at all to judge her. Hated to remember how much of herself she saw in the dwarf when she first saw sunlight.

Finally Loriel could take it no longer, and had Sigrun transferred to the Warden fortress in Orlais. Sigrun made only a cursory attempt to say goodbye, and within a blessed month, she was gone.

tck

Velanna was the last to go.

Velanna was not her friend. She had never liked her, and tolerated her solely because Loriel represented something that Velanna wanted—justification for what had happened to her sister. But she had understood her, in her own way. For that reason alone Loriel half-expected her loyalty.

Even so, it was not altogether surprising when it happened.

Unlike the last time, Velanna did not succeed in barging through the door. The weave of enchantments on the door was far stronger than before. And Brigit was there to intercept her.

“I said, let me through. I know for a fact that she’s in there—you were just about to go in yourself. You go in there every day, I’ve noticed.”

“I am sorry, Warden, but the Commander expressly forbids visitors who have not been cleared beforehand. If you like, I can make your request today during my daily report.”

“I don’t think so.” A burst of unfamiliar magic rattled the door. Loriel was mildly impressed. It wasn’t anywhere near enough to get the job done, but that she had managed to affect it at all was impressive.

“Alright, fine. You don’t need to let me in but I know that you can hear me, so you are going to listen, whether there is a door in the way or not.” A furious inhale. “Has some demon taken your mind and driven you mad? You are not the woman I agreed to follow.” False. Velanna had never agreed to follow her at all.

“For what purpose do you exile your friends and surround yourself with enemies? Are you ignorant or foolhardy that this Keep is now full of Chantry fools and their attack dogs?” True, but flawed. Yes, the Vigil had a great deal more Chantry-faithful, as well as former Templars, in its employ, than before. But all Ferelden was full of Chantry fools and their attack dogs. All Loriel did was permit them the opportunity to die in the name of some higher calling.

“You aren’t doing any of this for us. You care nothing for us, if you ever did. Are you even trying to cure the Blight? Perhaps you are not!”

False. Loriel was trying. Of course she was trying.

“And if I am wrong—if a lick of what I have said is not true—then open this door and call me a liar to my face, you wretched cowardly betrayef." A beat.“Well?”

It sounded like Velanna really expected her to respond to any of that.

Loriel heard a final frustrated slam against the door, hammering footsteps, and then silence.

After a time, Brigit entered, trembling and hiding it. She alone had the enchanted, invisible ring which allowed the wearer to enter.

“I apologise deeply, Commander,” she whispered. “She overpowered me with magic. I was paralyzed.”

“I’m very sorry you had to experience that, Brigit,” Loriel said flatly, not looking up from the letter she was reading. “No lasting harm done, I trust?”

Brigit collected herself and inclined her head. “No harm done.”

“Good. Then, if you might proceed with your morning report…”

Velanna disappeared that day, and didn’t return. When no one had seen her in days and it became obvious that she had deserted, Brigit pressed the issue during the morning briefing. “Do you wish her hunted down and brought to justice?”

By the ever-so-delicate crease between her eyes, Loriel guessed that this was certainly what Brigit wished.

“No. It won’t be necessary.” She paused, considering. "But if she ever tries to return, do not let her."

#dragon age #amell #surana #dragon femslash #please read my wizard lesbian fanfiction

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kaiju-z · 4 years ago

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Seon Adventures, Episode 34: The Journey to Tutum

When last we left off our adventurers, the party had prevented a duel to the death between Mournimar and a duelist, hired by his ex-boyfriend, follower of Potencia Lazarus, rescued a talking Celestial Warlock Dog named Samson by brutally overkilling a group of deserters from the war and reached the border of Aetorumia and the neighbouring lands.

In the evening, while Malak confronted Luctan over his past behavior and gifted him an Orb of Direction, Samson the Corgi nearly escaped with his life, avoiding a fight with the spirits ithat dwelled within the well he attempted to steal money from. In the morning, Malak would express his displeasure in the party’s actions against the ex-soldiers, empasionately as Malak would allow himself demanding that they could and should do better than this, before also gifting them items of their own.

A Pipe Of Rememberence for Jun, a Handy Spice Pouch for Belli and a Pot Of Awakening for Mournimar. He would then finish his meal outside, before the five + Samson would reconvene on their journeys...

To everyone’s surprise, however, at some point, while Malak bought a map, Luck made a 7 gold coin offering at the shrine and the rest restocked any provisions they might have sacrificed on the journey so far, Samson had trotted off on his own little adventure. A one dog army~!

After paying the Innkeeper handsomely for her food and donating for her establishment’s futue, the party would get in their carriage and, led by Kevin and Killer, make their way out the border town, their eyes taking in the massive expands of sands and dunes. No structures in sight, Malak being quite familiar to it. Having known this shit and the thought he’d said goodbye to it coming back to haunt him.

Before the group could leave on their weeks long journey, a laugh would catch their ears and as they’d turn their heads in the direction of the amused fellow, they’d see an aged orange haired man with a shit eating grin, making japes at the group for traveling as they appeared. In plates and leathers and all that sort of stuff.

Questioning the scarred man’s attitude, the party would note that he appeared off-proportioned in a way. Somewhat dwarven, but much taller. A Half-Dwarf!

While Jun asks him if he could guide them, which he planned to offer his services for the very pricey 2 PIECES OF GOLD FOR EACH SIDE OF THE TREK, Malak would recognize his colors as being of the Galorum army. Old enemies of Aeterumia, during the war. But to Malak, that was old news. Yesterday’s enemy was today’s ally and all that.

With a wooden leg and a confident demeanor, Arryn, as he introduces himself to the party and they back to him, appeared to be the kinda guy who just hopes for work. And work he finds as the party accept him on this long journey, to guide them and keep them from walking off the path.

It pretty quickly sets in on the team just how hot it can be in the desert. And the air itself was so thick. Extra THICK, even! It felt like there was led in the air or some thing at later evenings they’d spend out in the open. Temperatures being like under a blanket, but also nasty and humid.

The guide would mention it being left over bad energy from the war. The area is inflicted with the worst vibes. The vibes that took Arryn’s leg.

Days would pass. Weeks even as the group advanced through the dunes, past hills and rocks and rocks and small mountains around them, generally peacefully, with the exclusion of any foul business. Sure enough, Arryn was a trusted guide through these parts, getting them through the sands, to some more solid areas of rock and gravel.

The walk was a lot more even and paced from there, with the obvious dunes carrying on in the distance, but something would catch the travelers’ attention. Bones. They’d see lots of bones. Almost like a trail of them, leading to this sheer clear cliff face.

Investigating them, Malak would note that they were weirdly in tact, some of them. Dead and untouched. But there’s kind of a little curve around the corner, where the bone trail leads… He’d pick up a skull and cast “Speak With Dead”

“EYY!” the awoken skull would commence.

And the questions and answers would begin.

1. “How did you die?”- “Well, I was walking, right? And then there was this hot and cold stuff. And then it was just everywhere and it was really hot? And there was this big flappy beast behind me.”

2. What were you doing out here?” “Me and my friends were following a trail of bones and figured whatever did this’gotta be guarding some good shit.”

3. “Were you being guided by a peg legged man?” –“No, we didn’t get a guide. We thought it was a waste of treasure and had to share.”

4. “Did you have anything on you?” “I mean, we had our weapons and armor.”

5. “Is there anyone you’d like informed?” – “If me mate Chaz made it, he’s probably back at Havik by now.”

With the air of life leaving the skull, Malak would update the crew on his findings. From there, Jun would elect to poke the distracted Bard and suggest she send Orion to investigate the inner sanctum of the bone yard.

Orion slinks off and his body shrinks into the size of a normal cat, much to Belli’s amusement and the rest’s shock and awe.

He sneaks around the corner. Belli looks through his eyes. What happens is that he turns the corner and there’s this huge mammoth bone. Think elephant graveyard. He walks under that and he does a perceive... He steps out into the open, looks back where he came from and then Belli notices that the ground gets further away.

A pause. And poof. He’s gone.

Mournimar sneaks in, next, with a rope around his waist and careful maneuvering, feeling unseen as he makes his way through the yard, while Malak casts Aid on Arryn and the ladies. As the low armored part of the team.

With a careful eye, Mournimar sees the source of all these corpses. And as the Rogueish Ranger would raise his head up, the others would follow suit. And sea an Adult Blue Dragon, staring confusedly at his clawed mits, wondering where his quick little meal went. A great big fuck off blue dragon.

Electing to avoid a fight with the dragon, for now, the group would carefully maneuver their way back to the carriage and do a big twist to avoid being directly seen by the dragon as they’d carry on and cross a river, along the way..

One evening, during shifts, Luctan taking the first... the disguised tiefling would wake Jun and ask her for her presense during his watch. The two would hold a private conversation, regarding Jun’s offer to hear him out, where they’d discuss the matter of trust, personal insecurities and pain, the understanding of pain and treatment of pain... Capping things off with a genuine interest in learning how to carry on, after a tragedy, something which the unmasked red tiefling had trouble getting to terms with.

By the end of the 1st watch, Luctan and Jun would come to an understanding and carry on with talks when the time allowed it. But until then, Luck would wake Mournimar to follow through with the second sentry outlook, while he rested.

Mournimar’s watch would be uneventful, compared to what had occured in his dreams... Something he’d share with Belli, when the first signs of morning would come up.

The enthusiastic cook would poke for information, which the Tiefling Ranger would share, regailing Belli with a tale of his dream, wherein he was visited, or more like... found himself in Jorzoth’s office. One of the Archdevils had brought him in for a 1 on 1 pow-wow, where in he’d inform the archer of Lazarus’ intentions with the duelist.

Lazarus had intened, through this duel, for Mournimar to best his contractor as a means to check in on his ex.

...

To say that this is a weird way of checking on your ex, would be an understatement. And yet, that was the story he’d tell, through bites of an omlette.

In Mournimar’s own words, the break up and Potencia really changed him. Lazarus? He’s someone in need of praise. He used to be good and he was never like this before Potencia. There were... clear regrets there, in Mournimar’s mind and heart.

But Belli would protest to this thinking as you can’t change someone, who doesn’t want to change. While Mournimar doesn’t want him to be like how Mournimar was as a child, Belli reminds her friend that Lazarus is an adult, It’s his choice to make.

Breakfast is had amongst the group and Arryn remarks that this is the best hospitality he’s had. Ever.

From there? They’d venture forth and Malak tries to call Chaz. With a D100 he Sends a message to the dude. He gives him the full story, as best as possible. Chaz is sad, but the funeral was done already. He regets the nasty stuff he’s said over the year. But is greatful. Godspeed!

Drawing near to a river, Luctan would give Belli her pot. Like. Literal pot that had been in his posession for about a month now, give or take. Within one of the ceramic pots there were 10 silver ball bearings, each spelling a letter in Belli’s name.

And in turn, Belli would give Luck 5 smoke bombs. And she’d even show him her stash of a variety of bombs. Which she had been planning on using with the help of Orion as a dive bomber.

Stupified by his friend’s madcap ideas, Luck would be quiet for the most part during the next part of the journey as they’d cross over the river on a bridge and go through a town, populated by kobolds of different scales.

Initially weary of the group, they’d soon enough relax and observe, even follow them along as the party carried on through the town, when Malak appied his knowledge of the Draconic tongue, holding a friendly conversation with the locals, while Luck used his Prestidigitation to create funny images and smells for the kids.

As the town of Odum generally doesn’t generally get visitors, the party are kind of a treat to them. Through the talk, a kind of friendship forms with the Kobold settlement and the party learn that the dragon of the desert was quite the nasty one. Every time they’d send someone over to check what his demeanor was, they’d have to send another one, to check as well, because no one ever came back.

Mental note.

In the midst of this conversation, Jun would make friends with two of the littlest kobold kids, who’d climb on her and ask her all kinds of questions. Like why her face was the way it was. She’d happily use her shapeshifting power to appear like a Golden Dragonborn, much to the kids’ amusment.

With friendship in their heardts, the party would eventually carry on, venturing forth! Arryn would warn them that the next week is just gonna be desert. There’s a lake at some point, but that’s our lot.

While the week’s travel carries on, Belli shows off her vocal skills as she speaks in a few new languages she had picked. Among which was Dwarven, much to Luck’s shock. And frustration. ‘cause it took him 3 years to learn that on his own!

(”What? Like it’s hard.”)

Arryn, however, upon hearing Belli speak in Dwarven turns pale. When asked if he’s ok, the half-dwarf would reveal that anyone’d be shocked on hearing a nearly dead language.

In one day the dwarves and dragonborn in the area died off. Green evil magic took then down. Arryn survived, because he is part human. Malak knows this to be the effect of the Blight spell, but on a major level.

Jun suggests Steamroot to help with the pain. Her partner was hit with that spell and it had helped manage that. Arryn’s greatful for the suggestion.

They’d venture forth, once more, parallel to the main road. Mournimar asks about why we’re not on the main road. Bad things, ghosts, appear on the main road. Ghosts of the Dragonborn, particularly dangerous spirits. Spirits are his expertise and avoiding them is where the expertise is at.

One particular night, deep into their expedition, Arryn asks them over a warm evening meal where exactly they were headed. Not to Tutum itself, right?

The party reveal some of what they’re after, but that seems to be more than enough for Arryn to put 2 and 2 together.

“Of course, it’d make sense for them to eventually send someone to clean their tracks.” he’d remark, which in turn would push the party to question him on what he meant.

Arryn would say that it was never confirmed, but implied that the Council was involved in what happened to the dwarves and dragonborn. According to him, as he’d elaborate on events from the battle, as he was a soldier at the time, two dragons were in on the plan. One was dragged off to Guan and the other slain by the King’s Blade, which was burried within the tomb, onward.

Before anyone can stop her, a furious Belli’d send a message to River, demanding answers that she wasn’t even sure of the Halfling would have.

A hurt River would reply back with as much as she claimed to know, which was that this was a private job being done for a benefactor she couldn’t disclose. Upset, she’d question if Belli mistrusted her now?!

A debate is held on how to proceed.

Ultimately, the party agree to go talk to the sword and get the facts straight. From there they’d see where they’d go..

Arryn would remark with surprise on how quickly they’d trust what he had to say had any truth to it.

As the journey continued, they’d avoid the ghost town. Like. Town of ghosts. And keep going and going to a cave with funky carving.

There are carvings of a Tiefling with a big, big chonky sword. Fighting a dragon. An outline of an army that kind of fades and half of them disappear...

Underneath this is this really fine intricate dwarven lettering and runes. As we get to the shrine, we end the session.

Previous Episode / Next Episode

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smoothserg · 4 years ago

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Former police chief says Rochester mayor pressured him to lie about his response to Daniel Prude's death

BY VICTORIA ALBERT DECEMBER 17, 2020 / 10:10 PM / CBS NEWS DECEMBER 17, 2020 / 10:10 PM / CBS NEWS

Former Rochester, New York, Police Chief La'Ron Singletary has accused the city's mayor of pressuring him to lie about the series of events following the death of Daniel Prude and firing him after he refused. Prude, a Black man, died in March after Rochester police put a spit sock over his head and pressed his face into the ground for more than three minutes while he was naked and handcuffed, according to body camera footage and documents filed by his family.

The circumstances surrounding Prude's death were not made public until September, when the family released the bodycam footage and supporting evidence. The six-month delay raised questions about why his death was not previously disclosed to the public.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/rochester-police-leaders-announce-their-retirements-in-wake-of-suffocation-death-of-daniel-prude/

In a press conference the next day and in multiple interviews thereafter, Mayor Lovely Warren claimed Singletary told her that Prude died of a PCP overdose, said she had not seen the video footage of his arrest until August, and argued that Singletary downplayed the circumstances surrounding Prude's death.

"l have addressed with police Chief La'Ron Singletary how deeply disappointed I am in him personally and professionally for failing to fully and accurately inform me about what occurred to Mr. Prude," Warren said at the time. Singletary announced his resignation days later — but weeks before he was set to officially leave, he was fired.

But in his notice of claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, Singletary claims that he was fired because he refused to lie to the City Council to support Warren's narrative that she had been misinformed about Prude's death.

"On September 7, Mayor Warren asked me to withhold full and truthful information from the City Council investigation into the matter of Daniel Prude," Singletary wrote. "Mayor Warren asked me instead, to provide false information and to omit material information to support the Mayor's public narrative concerning her knowledge of the events in the matter of Daniel Prude."

Singletary said he was asked during that September 7 conversation to omit that he told Lovely in April that Prude's death was ruled a homicide, and that he had previously told her that officers had restrained Prude before his death.

Singletary further claimed that when he announced his retirement on September 8, he sent "a clear indication to Mayor Warren that if I publicly commented or testified in the course of any investigation including the City Council's investigation concerning the matter of Daniel Prude that my truthful testimony would inevitably reveal the mayor's false public narrative."

"For this reason and possibly others, I allege and believe I was terminated on September 14th," he added.

Singletary also claimed that Warren's narrative about the months following Prude's death has "damaged my reputation for honesty, integrity, and truthfulness."

"The Mayor of the City of Rochester, and others acting on the Mayor's behalf, impugned my performance as Chief of Police of the City of Rochester by making false statements and material omissions about my performance and discharge of duties in the matter of the treatment of Daniel Prude in the custody of the Rochester Police, his subsequent death, the internal investigations conducted by the Rochester Police Department and my communication with Mayor Warren and other city officials," he said.

It is Critical To Understand Why We Must Reform, Re-Imagine and Re-Structure Law Enforcement as Well as the Judicial System.

Simply Placing People of Color in a Corrupt System, Has Not Changed the Detrimental Policies and Procedures related to Law Enforcement...

My Father said If You Have An Problem, You Should Offer a Solution...

_______________________________________________________________

Re-Image Policing In Our America… Imagine Every City and Town Having Multiple SUV's or Big Vans…Fully Equipped…

With 4 Federal First Responders from the diverse pool of the citizens, Patrolling where they live…Ending Mostly White Policing of Mostly POC Communities…

These are Federally Funded, Regulated Responders

They Must Complete A Two Year Program And Pass a Comprehensive Test, in Order To Be Eligible for a First Responder Position... 1. A Social Worker…High Emotional IQ Individual, Trained Thoroughly at Deescalating Domestic Disturbances, Adept At Dealing with Mental Health Episodes… 2. A Social Negotiator… A Large, In Shape, MMA Trained, Perhaps a Former Football Player who didn’t make it to the NFL, High Emotional IQ Individual, Trained At Deescalating Domestic Disturbances. One who Backs up the Social Worker and Gives Everyone the option of complying with multiple reasonable request to deescalate an Emotionally charged situation or get Your Ass Man Handled. We dress them in Kevlar or Dragon Skin to give them some protection from a fire armed individual. We Give him numerous non-lethal tools to handle non-lethal situations 3. A Medic…With the Same Training as the Social Negotiator 4. And Last But Not Least, A Police Officer Who has Diversity Training, Deescalating Training, Non-Lethal Weapons Expert as Well As Firearms deployment, as a last resort. They stay near the Van, Until Called To Assist. We start all 4 First Responders $65K with bonus based on performance and Positive Outcomes… We subsidize their housing, and expenses which draws the best applicants and gives them huge incentives to treat everyone equally in order to keep their jobs… Everyone has Body Cams and If They are Turned Off, Immediate Termination Review…The Van Has Multiple Camera’s So Each Call is Recorded and Piped Back To Supervisors in Real Time... No One has Qualified Immunity… No Prosecutor Has Total Immunity… No Prosecutor works with the First Responders

Eliminate No Knock Warrants… Every Housing Block and Apartment Complex would have a representative in a Citizen Review board. We hold Bi-Weekly Assessment and accountability reviews We still Have A Diverse Police and SWAT Teams in the Event that people cross the line and require High Powered Convincing to Behave… We would Employ Thousands…

We would provide Safety and Security to All…

We Pay For This Program By Taxing People 2%, Who Make More Than a Million a Year...

Your Welcomed America...

Just 1 Sophisticated Savage Point of View…

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guard-dogbiscuits · 4 years ago

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CHARACTER IN FIVE QUOTES

Tell us your favourite quotes from your character. Give us an idea of who they are five things they’ve said. Then tag your friends:

Canon Quotes

1) Jake (to Roland, as he falls into the Abyss): "Go! There are other worlds than these!"

2) Roland: “Time flies, knells call, life passes, so hear my prayer. Birth is nothing but death begun, so hear my prayer. Death is speechless, so hear my speech. This is Jake, who served his ka and his tet. Say true. May the forgiving glance of S’mana heal his heart. Say please. May the arms of Gan raise him from the darkness of this earth. Say please. Surround him, Gan, with light. Fill him, Chloe, with strength. If he is thirsty, give him water in the clearing. If he is hungry, give him food in the clearing. May his life on this earth and the pain of his passing become as a dream to his waking soul, and let his eyes fall upon every lovely sight; let him find the friends that were lost to him, and let every one whose name he calls call his in return. This is Jake, who lived well, loved his own, and died as ka would have it. Each man owes a death. This is Jake. Give him peace.”

3) Roland: "I'm afraid to go to sleep. I'm afraid my dead friends will come to me, and seeing them will kill me.”

4) Susannah (Detta): “She felt as if all but the last two ounces of fuck-you had been squeezed out of her.” “I kill with my heart, motherfucker!”

5) Samson (when confronted about what he did to his fellow Templars): "Not your business, Inquisitor."

RP Quotes

1) Fana/Ivy : "...the Archive was not a single person in a single world. She was many people, of many colors, races, and even species, in many worlds, all in one. The only thing they had in common…besides the knowledge they shared…was that they were all female, or female-presenting. Unless of course it was a world where males could lay eggs or give birth…”

2) Samson: (an incident, the first time he’s allowed out of his cell)

"Th' brat's mum was distracted. By th' two older brats, havin' it out over a game o' Mumblety-Peg. They was arguin' over whose throw got closer t' whose, erm...bits. An' they was gettin' ready t’ escalate matters. By throwin' the knives at each other direct, 'stead of at th' ground 'twixt each other's legs."

"So whilst Mum's yellin' at th' wee hooligans t' pipe down er she'll confiscate th' shivs, sweet li'l baby sis crawls over t' th' mason's scaffold. Right under th' ladder." He sighs. "Where there's a bucket o' mortar balanced, on th' plank up top."

3) Samson, continued: "An' I'm standin' there thinkin', No. She can't. She won't. Because I'm a bachelor. Wiv no kids o' me own, Maker be praised. Because of course. She's a woman, ain't she? Age got nothin' t' do with it. She can. She will. An' damme if she don't, and she's halfway up th' fuckin' ladder before I can believe me own eyes."

"Of course I know what's comin' next. So I run, an' sure enough she gets t' that bucket right as I'm there under th' ladder. An' of course she crawls out there, an' the ladder tilts. I manage to catch li'l Angel-Puss when it tips over; along wiv a whole bucketful of mortar up-ended on me head."

4) Samson, continued: "And that's when Mum finally sees what's goin' on. And somehow she recognizes me even with me face covered in plaster, an' she starts screechin' about th’ Butcher of Haven, and how I personally burnt down th' place. Ya know...like I brought in th' fuckin' dragon on a leash. 'Twere as much a surprise t' me as 'twas t'everyone else. Got th' burn marks t' prove it. A reminder, so t' speak."

He sighed again. He was still covered in mortar, his hair was standing up in stiff spikes, he had a black eye and a goose egg on his forehead.

"Never knew there was so many shovels and pitchforks around this place. Good times, good times..."

5) Sally: (when the Man in Black shows up, at the Flyin' Pig Saloon)

"...Sally O’ Malley, as I live and breathe.”

“Yes to the first part,” she said coolly. “And unfortunately, to the second.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why, Miss Sally! Those are…unfriendly words.”

“They surely are,” she agreed. “The sort you should expect, from anyone who came out of Gilead.”

He shrugged. “Hardly my fault, that the Barony clung to outmoded ideas.”

“Right. Such as honor and loyalty.”

“Both of which,” he answered smoothly, “ depend greatly on the eye of the beholder. Or…his ka.”

“If you say so,” she retorted. “So, what brings you to the Borderlands?”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Just passing through.”

“Of course you are. And you just happened to see this place, and decided to stop by for a drink.”

“I’ll admit to a thirst. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to let bygones be bygones long enough for a glass of your best.”

“A glass of fair to middling,” she replied.

“The best is reserved for my friends.”

#tagged by @orsino-the-enchanter #tagging: y'all

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scarletta-ec · 5 years ago

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Original Sin Story: Re_Crime

CHAPTER TWO: ~EVE’S PROJECT~

Scene 1

It’s said that the witch of the forest uses a spoon instead of a magic wand.

Eve makes her living selling fruits and mushrooms from the forest. She is the eldest daughter of Nemu’s village chief, but she likes the work—she doesn’t have to stay cooped up in the village all the time, and the Excavators are always looking to buy her wares.

The “Excavators” refers to the people who are excavating Second Period artifacts to the forest’s east, presumably because they have filled what was once an empty plain with holes. The people of Nemu hold little ill will towards them over this, as the money that they spend has made the village prosperous.

Eve bought an “automatic carriage” with this money and is currently driving it, using it to carry her stock. It is a horseless carriage that makes the wheels turn through special gears that are powered by magic from the driver. It is controlled by a power crystal ball. This is something the “Excavators” discovered. Her mother’s connections allowed her to buy it relatively cheaply, but it was still pretty expensive.

Her mother is houseridden, after having injured her lower back two years before, causing chronic pain, so Eve has been doing merchant work in her stead. Eve’s other mother is also noted as being deceased.

Eve pulls up to her destination, and the men at work all gather around as it’s close to lunchtime. The most popular item she sells is pfifferling, which the Excavators put in dishes with venison that they buy from hunters. The next most popular is trauben, also selling wine made with it, too).

Once they’re done with their purchases, almost emptying the cart, the Excavators make soup with it and start to eat. One of them brings Eve a bowl. He goes to get a spoon for her, having forgotten one, and she airheadedly almost admits that she has a spoon of her own, the blue magic spoon that she’s not supposed to show people she has.

While eating, the Excavators talk about the “witch of the forest” using her lightning magic to drive out the “White Army” that has been terrorizing the region. They come from the east, all have white hair, and use fire magic and weapons. Her mother told her they were once nomads, but after some fight with the people of the forest long before, they slowly became resentful. They’ve killed hundreds of people in the forest already, and have also been attacking the excavation site.

Just as Eve is thinking about heading back to the forest, they hear screams coming from the north. They see the “White Army” fighting with a fleeing automated carriage much larger than the kind that Eve is driving. Seeing this, Eve leaps into action, driving her carriage in the direction of the fighting.

Scene 2

There are three carriages being attacked. All of them have the crest of Levianta on their side. One has stopped, smoking. The other two have soldiers firing at the attackers with guns. Unnoticed, Eve goes to check on the downed carriage, and just narrowly avoids getting stabbed by the occupant inside (Adam), who after a moment quickly realizes she’s not one of the White Army.

Seth is also in the carriage, with a minor head wound. Adam helps him get into Eve’s carriage. She introduces herself as Eve Zvezda, which he notes with some surprise. He introduces himself to her, and bids her leave with haste. When she asks about the soldiers— Gammon among them–he shrugs it off as their job, and Seth notes they’re fairly capable.

Some of the White Army are headed their way, so Eve starts up the carriage to take them to Nemu.

Scene 3

Eve is able to outpace their pursuers, and takes them to her house (Nemu has no doctors, and so her mother, who was a shaman among other things, is their village doctor in addition to being village chief).

Her mother quickly goes about tending to Seth’s wound, and then brings up that her wife was an old friend of Horus Solnste, the former head of the research facility, Adam’s “father”. Adam has to share the bad news that he died two years ago, since Chief Zvezda hasn’t been to the 12 capitals much lately, and that Adam has taken his position now.

She notices that Seth is blind in his left eye, and notes offhand that Horus’ left eye was blind too.

After they’re done, Eve and Chief Zvezda encourage them to stay, noting the White Army won’t attack here as Nemu is a village full of magic users— evidently this is not common knowledge.

Zvezda asks what they’re there for, since no scientist has visited the excavation site itself until now.

Her full name is “Raijoou Zvezda”, and she is a magic user too.

Adam reveals that they came to this forest to meet with Eve. This puts everyone on edge, especially given they were originally accompanied by soldiers. Seth pipes in then, trying to calm things down, alluding to not wanting things to be like the time of “the Witch of Merrigod” which leads to Raijoou accusing them of being on a witch hunt.

Seth says that Raijoou suspected them from the beginning— that she must have also known Horus was dead, which Raijoou confirms— she hasn’t been to the capitals, sure, but mages have their own information network using green onions.

Against Adam’s protestations that it should be him telling them, Seth explains what they’re doing there, introducing himself as Horus’ greatest apprentice (Adam says he just calls himself that on his own).

The explanation is as follows: Despite being called a kingdom, Levianta is little more than people assembled to follow the will of their gods, given that the very nation was founded around worshiping them and what they left behind. Thus, the leader must be someone who can hear the gods speak, a virgin maiden with high magical power.

Levianta is ruled by a queen, and they have several mechanisms from which to pick them; a special orphanage run by the Loop Octopus family, the Lighwatch temple run by the Asayev family, the research institute run by the Vaju family, etc. Whichever institution the next queen comes from, that family’s senate member becomes head of the senate. The current queen Alice is from the orphanage, hence why Gavriil is the only one able to interact with her, because he’s head of the senate.

The research institute is looking into ways to artificially create a new Queen/woman with extreme magical power and thus guarantee Vaju as next senate head—this is the “Next Queen Project”, which has involved women from all over participating to be this new queen’s mother. Seth insists these women participated voluntarily and were not kidnapped, despite rumors to the contrary.

So, the “Witch hunts” aren’t hunting witches to kill, but hunting witches to kidnap, which has happened recently. Seth explains that circumstances dictate they don’t have time to wait for volunteers—not on the Next Queen Project as Alice is still in her 40s and not close to death, but on the new project. Project “Ma”.

Raijoou dismisses “Ma” as just an old legend, the legend says that when disaster approaches the world, the two-headed dragon Levia-Behemo will be reborn as the “Twins of God”, and the woman who births them is the holy mother Mem Aleph, or “Ma”, despite Seth insisting that it’s all actually happening.

So, not only will the person who becomes Ma become queen, but whoever produces Ma will become head of the senate. Raijoou asks why Gavriil would give the research institute as many permissions as he has; command of their security, information, etc, knowing that if they succeed, he'll lose his seat to Vaju; Seth speculates that he must acknowledge that it’ll be hard to find “Ma” through his orphanage, and so figures that by collaborating with the research institute he’ll still be able to leverage some political influence after stepping down.

They came here searching for the “witch of the forest” rumored to appear in “The Forest of Held” to the south of this village. Supposedly, she does battle against the White Army attacking everyone here by using lightning and a blue spoon, and has green hair. They had the soldiers with them for protection- Eve wonders if they’re alright, but Adam assures her that while they can’t use magic, they’re all very skilled with swords and guns.

Eve already seems to have a crush on Adam.

Raijoou tells them that they’re mistaken— that this witch is not Eve. All the people in the village have magical power, and there are a lot of girls with green hair. While some people in the village are immigrants from elsewhere, Raijoou claims Eve is actually her adopted daughter. Her wife found her in a river, and they raised her as their own. She says that they should head to Held’s Forest for their search.

Seth then brings out a two-pronged iron rod— a Second Period device that can read someone’s magical potential… but he left the data output device in the other carriage. Adam requests usage of their carriage to head back over there and get it. Adam has magic too— enough to make the carriage run, at least.

Just then, Gammon arrives. He reports on what happened— they handled the situation quickly enough (it just took a while due to the higher numbers of attackers). He had his people go to the capital for reinforcements to go on the offensive against the White Army. Meanwhile, he’ll be doing the bodyguarding duties for Adam and Seth by himself. He has also brought over what they forgot in the carriage, meaning Seth can test Eve’s magic now.

The rod is connected to a box that beeps when he passes it before Eve, and also provides the readings numbers. Her “M” level is 72. Just a little stronger magically than the average person, not candidate levels. He tests it on Gammon, showing his level is 0. Raijoou’s level is 300, and Adam’s is about 200.

Eve is a little disappointed that she’s missed her chance to be a candidate, but then she knows her mother, who hates politics and only became chieftain because someone had to do it, would never let her join. She loves her mother, but doesn’t mean there aren’t things she’s dissatisfied with about that.

Scene 4

Seth heads to get treatment at a hospital in the 12 capitals just to be safe, while Gammon and Adam stay in Nemu for a while to look for the Witch of the Forest, with Eve acting as their guide and transportation to Held’s forest, paying her a lot to do it. She takes them to some of the villages in the forest that she knows, and they also go around places where the witch is rumored to be. No luck.

One day they’re heading along when the weather turns cloudy, and seems likely to rain so Adam suggests they turn in early.

According to his information, the witch appears to help people attacked by the White Army. Those saved forget what she looks like afterwards, though, save for the green hair, that she’s a woman, and she uses a spoon to fire lightning. Adam speculates that this witch can manipulate people’s minds, Eve brushes it off jokingly, saying if she had that power she’d use it to make herself queen.

Eve is almost 20 at this point, Adam just over 20.

Adam doesn’t know much of magic— he only recently learned of his high potential. While they are chatting, Gammon is just looking at their surroundings quietly. Eve’s internal monologue notes how much easier Adam is to get along with and that he doesn’t look down on her like some 12 capital people do.

Adam used to live somewhere west of the capitals, by the coast. But as he wandered the country on his own, Horus Solntse showed up one day and took Adam under his wing. He says his only mother figure was a blur under the ocean waves. Eve speculates that this was an incarnation of a forest spirit.

Eve recounts a time when the loneliness of not knowing her true parents led to her running out into the forest at night. She got lost, and came to a stop crying. Then, a fearsome bear appeared (it starts raining). Eve pulls up her skirt to show Adam a scar on her thigh (which flusters him initially because why wouldn’t it). The bear, probably hungry, attacked her. Just then, all the forest animals attacked the bear at once, driving it off. Since then she hasn’t seen a bear in the forest. She figures the forest spirits are protecting her now. This is something she’s hardly ever told anyone else.

Adam’s about to say something, but they suddenly hear an explosion from the direction of Nemu. And they see smoke rising from it. A White Army comes out from the trees, circling the carriage and trapping them. They are led by a woman. She is the “White Fiend of Jakoku”, Raisa Netsuma. Raisa says this is a test of her “Second Regiment”.

Raisa urges her strange-looking army to be careful, as Gammon is a skilled fighter and they are with the “Witch of the Forest”, meaning Eve. Eve denies this— Raisa doesn’t believe her, and charges with a long and narrow weapon wreathed in crimson flame.

Eve coldly takes out her mother’s spoon. She recites the “Medvedi ubit” spell, which sends lightning at Raisa and all her underlings, leaving the forest and its animals, as well as Adam and Gammon, untouched. Raisa is the only one who does not fall. Gammon goes to catch her before she can escape.

The village is still burning. Eve starts the carriage to go save them, but Adam thinks it’s too dangerous, as their main forces will be there. Gammon tosses Adam the sword that Raisa was using to defend himself with, as he has to stay with Raisa.

The people of Nemu were once a famous group of shamans and mages, so it’s unlikely they’re being killed so easily. Still, they head there as fast as they can.

Scene 5

Eve is the Witch of the Forest after all. She isn’t too burnt up over Adam finding out, given that he’s clearly trustworthy and doesn’t mean her harm. And being queen doesn’t sound like a bad thing, though she’d need her mother’s permission, and she’s not the kind to go against her wishes.

Nemu is burning, under attack by figures in red cloaks. Adam realizes, to his horror, that these are the Witch of Merrigod’s forces, the “Red Devotees”. She was once a “Ma” candidate, but the senate and the institute deemed her too evil to be made queen.

The figures circle the carriage as it arrives. Eve demands to know where the villagers are, but they all stare at her blankly out of the shadows. She prepares to strike, but the men part to let a red-garbed woman walk through— the Witch of Merrigod, Meta Salmhofer. She has a very adult air to her, but in terms of actual age she looks younger than Eve. Meta makes an offhand comment that Raisa is an Inheritor of Vlad.

Adam quietly notes that this explains the White Army they just saw— instead a white army made of the albino Netsuma Clan, Raisa had risen a white army of the dead, who lacked blood. Her earlier remarks make more sense.

Meta claims she’s not attacking this place because of the White Army, but rather, among other reasons that she doesn’t elaborate, to get revenge on the institute and Adam for “making a fool of her”.

Eve asks where everyone is, and Meta points to Eve’s house, telling her to go look. Eve heads that way with Adam. They find her mother in the garden, naked, covered in wounds, and crucified on a big cross that was erected there, already dead. She’s surrounded by the other men of the village, who are standing lifeless just like the Red Devotees.

Eve is horrified and confused as to how this happened, given her mother’s power. Adam explains that Meta is an inheritor of Gilles, and as such has the power to control men— she probably used the village men to attack Raijoou, and she, not wanting to hurt them, couldn’t properly defend herself.

Eve wants to go attack Meta, but Adam points out she’ll use the villagers to get in the way as human shields. They’re about to head to regroup with Gammon when they hear reinforcements from the capital arrive.

They came to meet up with Gammon, but as they were already there they fought against the Red Devotees. Meta and her forces withdrew, including, unfortunately, the men of the village. When the fires have been put out, they find the corpses of all the village’s women piled up in a cattle pen.

Eve goes with Adam to the capital. She has nowhere else to go.

Scene 6

Asmouse is one of the 12 cities that makes up the capital. It’s run by senator Ceci Vaju, and it has the strongest historical backdrop to it. Vaju is himself a descendant of those who first started discovering the Second Period stuff. He founded the research institute using permissions from the previous queen. Horus, who became the head, was a friend of his.

In addition to all the technological advancements of researching Second Period Legacy technology, they are also researching how to create people with magical power— that is to say, the “Next Queen Project”. But Horus died of illness before it could be realized. Hence Adam taking over.

Eve doesn’t care about any of that. The only thing that matters is that she’s an “Ma” candidate.

Adam gives her some coffee, which isn’t common outside the capital to try and calm her down— Eve seems restless and uncomfortable. She’s wearing bands on her arms and legs connected to a big box; the chair she’s sitting in is also part of the machine. that will help them properly quantify her magical ability like a larger version of the device they used in Nemu. It turns out that her spoon can both seal and amplify a user’s magical ability, apparently it was originally her late mother’s, so that’s why the earlier reading was inaccurate.

Adam runs the machine; Eve notes that it makes her feel queasy at first. It takes roughly an hour to run properly— they don’t have to run it nonstop but she can’t leave the chair until it’s over. She decides to pass the time by asking Adam about Meta.

Adam explains that Meta is from Merrigod, far further east than Nemu, which is used as a citadel for the dangerous organization “Apocalypse”, of which the “Red Devotees” and “White Armies” are simply different units of their forces. Some say they’re looking to overthrow the nation, while others say they’re just criminals. They are led by Pale Noel, and Meta is his girlfriend. They know almost nothing about Pale— even him being a man isn’t set in stone.

Adam, Seth, and some other researchers headed to Merrigod, backed by Gammon and his security unit. But things went wrong, and it turned into a battlefield. The researchers hadn’t wanted that, but Apocalypse and the security force (i.e., Gammon) did. The battle failed— Meta used her powers to control the security force, and there was infighting. Adam and Seth were the only researchers who survived, which is why even now the institute is short-staffed.

Eve asks what an inheritor is. Adam says it’s someone with supernatural powers, different from magic. Like Raisa and her undead army; they had originally thought that it was magic, but the only magic used by the Netsuma clan is the “fire arts”. They don’t know the source of inheritor abilities though, research into it is being undertaken by the Lighwatch temple run by Yegor Asayev. Adam doesn’t know much more than that, other than that they’re divided up into classifications like “Gilles” and “Vlad”, named after the godkin.

Adam is getting Eve hooked on coffee. She finds it too bitter but can’t stop drinking it.

Eve asks what the senate will do about Apocalypse— he says that according to what Gammon told him, they won’t do anything. They view it as little more than a fringe organization as it hasn’t attacked the capital much), and not worth the manpower it would take to get rid of them. Eve understands why her mom hated politics so much.

Adam says that’s why she should become ruler, going to write something down. The machine is still processing, but already her score is higher than her mother’s was. She seems unsure, noting that she’s just a simple girl from a village, but he reassures her. This leads to a sweet moment between them, confirming they don’t dislike each other. This is probably a point where he’s faking his affection to make her easier to manipulate, however as this chapter is from Eve’s perspective there’s no way to tell.

Adam knows enough swordplay to defend himself.

They still have Raisa’s oddly shaped sword. Raisa herself is in jail right now. Adam speculates that even if she fully recovers from Eve’s attack, she’ll likely be executed. Eve reflects for a moment on how much evil there is in the world despite her work as Witch of the Forest, and what she’ll need to defeat it.

Several days later, Raisa escapes from prison, likely with the help of a collaborator. Meanwhile, Eve��s M number exceeds 350, which is more than enough for her to be an “Ma” candidate.

Scene 7

Eve has to take a “Queen Test”— basically a formality, a ritual to get her accepted by the current queen as a successor. She and Adam are discussing this as they walk through Asmouse. Only the queen knows what this entails.

Having high magical power, in this country, signifies that one is closely related to the gods. The position of Queen used to be hereditary, but then the fifth queen couldn’t have children. So she declared that having strong magic was a sign of the gods’ favor. Conversely, those who don’t have magic were said to be unloved by the gods; there’s no actual persecution for that, but advancement for such people became harder. As such, those with magic became able to vie for the throne. Adam learned all this from Horus after he was adopted.

There was no school in Nemu, and Eve had no need for an education there, outside of which berries were poisonous and how to use magic and so on), so this is all new information to her. Adam says he’ll tutor her on all this stuff.

He takes her to a red-walled building— it turns out to be a shop for dining utensils for her to use. She notices a red glass, and is told what glass is by the old man running the shop (same as with us, but it can only be made by a legacy piece in Asmouse, and colored glass in particular is a rarity). It’s expensive— Adam says she won’t need it, as it’s a wine glass and she doesn’t drink wine. She says she’ll drink coffee out of it, and so he buys it for her. They buy some other things and then leave.

Eve needs clothes, too— she needs a lot of new things. Adam’s not hurting for money as the head of the institute, so he buys them for her, saying she can pay him back when she’s queen, very certain she’ll succeed. He says that since the moment they first met, he felt like they already knew each other. She does too.

Scene 8

Not even a month has passed, and they’ve fallen in love. They’re similar in age, get along, and are living together. Adam’s the first attractive, both intellectually and otherwise, guy that Eve’s actually been around. Of course, this gets her worried, because one of the conditions of being queen is to be a virgin maiden.

Adam reassures her that while it might be hard for them to be together publicly, he’ll always be by her side. She wonders how, given only the head of the senate can see her— he stumbles for a moment before saying he’ll maneuver things so Gammon becomes head of the senate, and he’ll be able to change that law to make things easier on them.

Adam has her drink more coffee, which, when she drinks it, makes all her worries go away—she’s basically addicted to it, and then promises that they’ll get married in secret when this is all over. Eve suggests Held’s forest— as soon as they’ve gotten rid of all the “evil” that’s made it dangerous right now.

Scene 9

A week later, Eve is called to the Round Hall in Alicegrad. She is greeted by Gavriil— they’re about to set up the trial. They are then greeted by a woman with streaked blonde hair in a long white robe over a gray dress, accompanied by a short middle aged man, who is Hugen Asayev, Yegor’s older brother. She is another candidate for queen (which shocks Eve, which Hugen mocks her for)— her name is Zellana Chirclatia, a priestess of Lighwatch temple.

Gavriil and Hugen bicker a little bit. As a note, Yegor apparently went missing very suddenly before this, abandoning his post and leaving Hugen in charge. Zellana questions Eve on being from Held’s forest, noting an “evil god” lives there. The people of Levianta saw Held as an evil god, but the people of the forest, and likewise, Nemu, saw it as a guardian deity. Eve is more inclined to believe Held is not evil, so she holds her tongue. She’s never seen the giant tree Held resides in herself due to her work taking her elsewhere with little downtime, though she made time every week to give him her thanks. The area with Held in it is inside the border of another country, and Leviantan citizens aren’t allowed to cross the border without permission.

Zellana is a bit pompous, boasting about the training she’s received as a priestess and that Lighwatch priestesses are able to remove the wickedness from someone’s heart. Eve almost brings up that she has brainwashing powers, but thinks better of it, as she knows it’s a power that frightens people more than the lightning and hasn’t even told Adam of it yet.

Gavriil reminds them all that this is serious business and a holy ritual, and they back down.

Scene 10

Eve goes first, heading to the Temple of Levia-Behemo where the queen lives. When she passes through the large door on the “First Wall” that only the senate are allowed to pass through, she sees a field of flowers— a garden in the center of Alicegrad. There’s a white building in the center of that— the temple. It’s small, about the size of the house she lived in in Nemu, which disappoints her. Inside is a dim space with four plain white walls. She walks forward and smacks her forehead into a glass wall.

This is a maze, made of glass walls, the “Hall of Glass”. Eve makes her way through carefully, growing more disoriented as she does. She calls out, but there’s no reply— though as she goes deeper inside, she sees a humanoid figure in a white dress sitting in a wheelchair. But the air feels like it’s getting thinner. By the time she reaches the queen, she collapses before she can get a good look at her face.

Scene 11

The first scene is of Neoeve and Neoadam after the end of the world, looking out over all the souls on the world’s ruined surface from inside the Clocktower.

In the scene, when he tells her the world is ruined, she asks if they can return everything to how it was—he says all they can do is do everything over again, putting his hand in his chest. Everything becomes white and disappears.

The next scene is Eve’s showdown with Elluka at the end of the sloth novel. As Elluka starts the body swap thing, Eve realizes that Elluka is the one who destroyed the world. As the light spreads, Elluka transforms into a large monster— one that appears both like a dragon and like a bear. Somehow.

The next scene is Eve in the cabin with Adam, noting he looks like the boy in the first vision but also someone else. They’re making food. The door opens and a cute boy and girl, her precious children, come home. Before she can greet them, everything goes dark.

It isn’t clear if these are memories, hallucinations, or future visions. If not evidence of a time loop, Eve has some way to perceive the future here, albeit in a fragmented fashion.

Scene 12

Eve wakes up in the middle of a conversation with Gavriil in the Round Hall, with no idea what she was talking about. Gavriil confirms that she is indeed the next queen, as she was able to meet with the current one and hear the voice of God— or see, more accurately. It seems she had related to him her vision, which he took to be future events.

Hugen is heading back to Lighwatch, with Zellana’s corpse in tow. Gavriil speculates that Eve’s lack of memory is a side-effect from receiving a revelation for the first time. After Eve went, Zellana also entered the Hall of Glass— then she was found running out of the “First Wall”’s door, screaming like a madwoman. She fell unconscious and then died, evidently unable to handle the ritual. Unworthy candidates face “Divine Punishment”, apparently. Everyone knows this. Except Eve.

Anyway, now it’s back to the institute to be impregnated with the divine seed. Eve has a ton of questions but she’s too exhausted to ask them. She’s also a little pissed at Adam for not telling her that the ritual was so dangerous.

Scene 13

Eve is lying on a table in the institute. Adam tells her she has nothing to worry about, but she knows now that he lies sometimes though she hasn’t pressed him on the ritual business. Still, after some conflict she convinces herself that he wouldn’t have sent her into danger if he’d known how bad it was. She’s afraid that their relationship will be over if she stops believing in him. She knows it’s stupid but she loves him.

Adam explains that the ark Sin is underneath the temple. It’s called the Dark Legacy because supposedly the Sin has the power to both save the world and destroy it—and the gods are trying to descend to the world through Project Ma in order to stop their power from running wild and doing just that.

Adam pulls up a cylinder with a cloudy liquid inside— he says this is the “Divine Seed”, which is taken from Sin, and is part of the gods’ body. He’s going to implant it into her to get her pregnant. Eve is nervous, but excited too— she thinks that the twins that she saw in her vision are the ones she’ll give birth to, and is eager to meet them.

She starts to conk out from the anesthesia. He tells her when she wakes up, she’ll be pregnant, and to “Sleep well, sleep princess”. “after this is over let’s get married at Held’s forest”. End chapter.

#infoedit #ec #evillious chronicles #story #fanfic #original sin story #adam moonlit #seth twiright #eve moonlit

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