#and will eventually give you a huge bonus later

[newnevermind-sanity]

How the fuck did I write this chapter in one day like

I haven't done that in a while

[seokjinsonlyone]

How do you think each of the members are like as a best friend? I'm curious as to your take. You always somehow get them spot on.

a/n: first of all,,, thank you!!! second idk if this is what you was looking for but it turned out to be a luh calm mini headcanon,,, lemme know what u think 🫢

namjoon:

wants to hang out 24/7; always tries to make you be friends with his other friends so he can have one huge super group of friends to hang out with all the time

lowkey your biggest opp; like you’ll be having a heart to heart ranting about your life and what’s going on and ��why is it always me? 😩” and then he’ll read you for filth detailing exactly why whatever’s happening is happening and what you need to do to fix it; and you sitting there like 🤥 because you was just tryna complain

perpetually busy but will literally drop whatever he’s doing the second you say you need him

seokjin:

people wonder if y’all are even friends because all you do is bicker because neither of you can fight the urge to play devil’s advocate on every single subject

the type to be the brother you never wanted; always tryna scare your boo things away; loves either going to your family home or having you at his; randomly puts you in headlocks to assert dominance; posts awful 0.5 pics of you on his close friends story

he may play with you but he don’t play about you; he can be mean to you because he loves you but it’s a no for everyone else; 100% not afraid to check someone who say something slick about you

yoongi:

likes to buy you random gifts in lieu of actually expressing affection

takes pride in being your bestie; if anyone else claims to be your best friend he’s gonna look at them funny and give them some push back; goes to you later on to confirm that He is in fact your best friend as if you’re not allowed to have more than one

regardless of whether it’s his cup of tea or not when you want to do something with him he always goes along with it

hoseok:

sends or tags you in every single video he finds even slightly amusing and expects you to react to them all; (bonus) you’d definitely make one of those muni long made for me videos

the one you call when you’re bored at work and y’all stay on the phone yapping for the rest of your shift

your shopping buddy!; sometimes you’ll both order a stuff online or maybe you’ll go thrifting or to target or something and then go back to his place and do a lil fashion show with all the stuff you bought

jimin:

would have the type of relationship with you that makes prospective partners suspicious because y’all are too close; it’s not your fault that people don’t understand y’all soul ties!!

the devil on your shoulder at all times; he’s the one you go to when you want validation to do something you know you shouldn’t do

whatever someone tells jimin they sign up to telling you too; you’re a package deal <3; there’s an actual tea party that takes place once a month that’s dedicated to spilling tea

taehyung:

the type to stick beside you no matter what; doesn’t matter how wrong you are no one gon ever catch him on anyone else’s side

has an uncanny ability to talk you into his harebrained schemes so you’re always getting into escapades and shenanigans

follows you on spotify to monitor and critique what you’re listening to; you’ll get random screenshots of what you’re listening to and what he thinks you should be listening to; never admits when you put him on to an artist or song

jungkook:

a fellow dnd warrior; may not have your back immediately but he will always have it eventually

you speak in terms of tiktok audios and obscure references of things that happen in your day to day life that were unreal

y’all will agree to go on a diet together and then proceed to watch mukbang/cooking videos for 3 hours and end up breaking the diet within a day of starting it

[donelywell]

I love your at so much!! It’s so soft! But what do you mean by ‘Hedgefox’? You mentioned it a couple of times but there’s no explanation on the page?

Thank you! And I'm glad you asked! >:D (I'm basically waiting for people to ask for this stuff, or else I'm just gonna hold it until I eventually post it way later down the line)

The HedgeFox is this AU's equivalent of the Werehog, but since wolves are HUGE, I changed the species to a Werefox (plus Sonic and Tails being the same species is an adorable bonus).

He wasn't cursed by Dark Gaia when the world split apart, he was just born a were-being.

(super rough idea of what the different moons do to his appearance)

I go on a super babble-fest, so there's an entire rant below the cut.

When a Super Moon (3-4 times a year) appears, Sonic's HedgeFox form increases from 56 cm to 65 cm to reflect the roughly 14% increase the moon appears to be then and becomes 'super charged' in a sense.

He becomes super paranoid and overstimulated when it's a Super Moon, thinking goes into more primal instincts, with him calling Tails his 'cub' even.

A Super Moon to a were-being in this universe is a nightmare, but it gives you plenty of time to realize what's about to happen so you can find a spot to hide (kind of to protect others, but mostly to protect yourself from the sensory overload you're about to face).

The cycle of a Full moon takes place in normally 3 nights in a row once a month.

Night 1, Transform. Day 1, Revert to normal. Night 2, Transform. Day 2, Revert to normal. Night 3, Transform. Day 3, Revert to normal until next full moon cycle.

But for a Super Moon, it goes a little differently.

Night 1, Transform. Day 1, Stay in form. Night 2, Super Moon Further Transform. Day 2, Revert to Normal Full Moon Form. Night 3, Stay in form. Day 3, Finally Revert normal until next full moon cycle.

Yep, they remain in the Full Moon form even during the day when it's a Super Moon, it saves them energy from going straight from their base form to their Super Moon form.

Their power is basically doubled on a Super Moon, but that just leads to them being incredibly paranoid that they'll harm someone they care about by accident.

During a Super Moon, Sonic cannot release Tails. He seriously tries, knowing that he's being overprotective, but his mind is too clouded with worry that he can't even begin to fight it (not really that Tails minds, it does though worry him that his dad is going through so much in his mind and all he can do to help is just be in his arms). After Knuckles joins the party, they learn that he can finally release Tails if Knuckles is nearby, but he still has to keep a sharp eye on the kit.

A Micro Moon is a lot more simple. Due to how far the moon is, they can actually choose whether or not to transform into the were-being, but it's 14% smaller and half as strong as normal.

Ehem- uh, sorry for the rambling. I really like the Werehog and well, since this is my AU, I can make it stay. >:) It probably doesn't make any sense, sorry about that.

[elly-grace]

The best day

Pairing Joe Burrow x reader

Thank you @funnyjb for proof reading

You and Joe stood in the Hotel bathroom getting ready for the NFL honors. Joe was in the running for NFL MVP. He was extremely excited to even be considered for it. The Bengals had a great run this season going 15-2, and they are playing in the superbowl on Sunday!

You knew eventually you'd have to wake your daughter up. But as for now you were enjoying alone time with your husband, even if he was blaring his Kid Cudi. You didn’t have anything against Kid Cudi’s music but it wasn’t what you’d choose. You were trying to listen to Taylor Swift while curling your hair, key word trying. You sighed, setting down the curling iron and turned to face Joe.

“Babe, can you turn your music down, please?”

“But, the music is so good!” He whined out in a joking manner.

“So is my Taylor Swift, but I’m not blaring it.”

He dramatically sighed and turned his music down.

“I have something to tell you.”

After you said that, you heard the bathroom door open. You see Brianna scuttle in the bathroom. You looked towards Joe giving him a small smile then mouthing ‘I’ll tell you later’.

Brianna was a mini you, she had your hair color, facial structure and if you asked Joe she also got your attitude. The only thing she got from Joe were her bright blue eyes.

“Mommy?”

You felt a pull at your dress and picked up the five year old.

“Yes my love what’s up?”

“You look so pretty!” She says while looking at you. She then turns to Joe, “and daddy, nice music dude.” She said sarcasm laced her voice. She definitely got the sarcasm from you, which was part of the reason Joe says she adapted your attitude. You tried to stop the laugh from coming, but you couldn’t. Joe gave you a look which was his way of saying, ‘come on be more mature’. But even he couldn’t stifle the laugh that left his throat.

“I’m going to go get her ready, please turn off the iron for me.”

You said then put Brianna down, she then ran back into the other room. As you were following her Joe grabbed your arm and pulled your back into his chest. Placing his lips on your ear.

“I do agree with Bri that you look incredibly pretty. It makes me think about making baby number two.”

He whispered into your ear, his voice sounded husky. You let out a soft moan at how he was making you feel and Joe definitely caught it. He turned you to look at him, a huge smirk plastered on his face. He knew what he was doing, he was trying to turn you on. He was seceding.

“Joe, that’s what I wanted to tell you. I’m already carrying baby number two.”

All the lust he was feeling moments prior was gone. Now he stood in front of you, his face lit up like a child’s face on Christmas. He hugged you tight then picked you up and spun you around. Once your feet we’re back on solid ground he gives you a long passionate kiss.

“When did you find out?”

“This morning, when I didn’t get my period two days ago I thought it was just going to be late. But when it didn’t come this morning I decided to just take a test. I was shocked to see that it was positive. I know we weren’t trying.”

“Oh my god baby I’m so happy!”

He gave you a peck although you could still feel the passion behind it. As you were going in for another quick peck there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

Joe yells from the bathroom.

“Ja’marr.”

Joe sighed. Of course it would be his best friend ruining this moment. Joe felt like alone time with you was impossible.

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

He yelled, although he knew as soon as Brianna heard Ja’marrs voice she’d be already unlocking the door. Brianna loved Ja’marr, he really was her bonus uncle. When you and Joe walked out of the bathroom you saw Ja’marr sitting on the couch. He was in a conversation with Bri, which quickly turned into him tickling her.

You looked between Joe and Ja’marr sensing they needed some bro time. You quickly jumped to action grabbing your five year olds hand.

“Hey Bri, let's give your dad and Uncle Ja’marr some guy time.”

“I want to be by uncle Marr though!”

Brianna started to throw a tantrum. Which all three of you went to shut down. But Ja’marr beat you and Joe to it.

“Hey bean, you can hang out with me later after we’re all done getting ready. But you have to get ready, you can’t show up to the NFL honors in your pajamas.”

You and Joe look at each other with pure happiness. You were so lucky that Ja’marr was in your lives. Not only was he Joe's best friend but he became one of your close friends, and he’s great with your daughter.

After hearing Ja’marrs words Brianna quickly jumped off the couch and ran to the bathroom with you to get ready.

Once you and Brianna were in the bathroom Ja’marr started talking with Joe.

“Joe your the favorite for MVP”

“I know but if I’m being honest, I don’t need the award. Today has already been amazing. I got to spend l mostly uninterrupted time with my wife, and you want to know the best part? I found out I’m going to be a dad again.”

“Oh my god, Y/n’s pregnant?”

The smile on Joe's face was large, almost like a cheshire cat grin.

“I can’t believe you were able to wait four years. I thought you guys would be pregnant right away, with the way you two are. But I am so happy for you two!”

“Thanks man! Also it was kinda hard to be active with a little kid running around 24/7.”

Ja’marr laughed.

“We're going to be offensive player of the year and MVP. I'm calling it right now Joe!”

With that he walked out of the room, and went to finish getting ready himself.

Joe walks into the bathroom where you and Brianna were finishing getting ready. He stares at you causing heat to rise to your cheeks and butterflies to erupt in your stomach. You may have been married for almost five years but everytime he stares at you the same thing happens.

“How are my beautiful girls doing?”

“Good! Mommys music is way better than yours daddy!”

This caused both you and Joe to laugh.

“Oh is that so? You like Taylor Swift more than Kid Cudi?”

Brianna nods her head and stares at Joe waiting for his response. He knew Brianna loved Taylor Swift, she knew every song.

“Okay, Y/N I think we need a son. I’m out numbered. It’s not fair.”

Joe spoke acting like a four year old, which in response you patted his back.

“You love being a girl dad, don’t even lie.”

He sighed, you smiled knowing you were right. Joe loved being a girl dad.

“Now don’t go revealing my secrets! You two look beautiful, are you guys completely ready?”

“Yeah almost, I just have to put my shoes on.”

Joe went and grabbed your shoes and told you to sit.

“Here let me”

He put your shoes on for you. You thank him with a kiss.

After the three of you were ready you went to Ja’marrs room and all got into the car that was sent for you. Joe and Ja’marr requested to listen to Kid Cudi, which did not shock you at all. Once you get to the event, you and Brianna walk inside to your seats and wait for Joe to finish walking the nfl honors carpet.

The night went on as the nfl honors were being announced then finally it was OPTY. Which Ja’marr won! Then it was MVP. This was the moment that had Joe nervous, he was up against Lamarr, Patrick Mahomes, and Jalen, which was some tough competition. As they announced it you could see Joe started to shake slightly, but then they said his name. Joe just won MVP! This was the best day of his life. He looked at you as he received the award.

His speech was short and to the point making sure he thanked everyone who made it possible for him to revive this award. Coach Taylor, Ja’marr and his other receivers, his O-line, and then most importantly You and Brianna.

[2hoothoots]

So I was going through your blog (again) and found some of your stuff mentions fsau Raz having ADHD, as somebody with adhd I’m intrigued, may I have some of those headcanons (canons??) related to that? Also, I would give “a penny for your thoughts” but I’m out of pennies, so here’s various images of a drawing of ur blorbo I put next to my animals, note that a rock had to be added in one picture to keep him from flying away (BONUS: his now permanent place with the wifi guardian frog)

NOTHING brings me more joy than seeing physical drawings of these guys, like, out and about. in situations. thank you for this gift, and ALSO for the great ask because it's a perfect chance to ramble

so first of all, canon Raz having ADHD is very real to me. he's constantly fidgeting and moving around, getting distracted by sidequests and scavenger hunt objectives, always talking to himself out loud, gotta write everything down so he remembers it because there's so much to DO!, running away from home because his dad yelled at him one time and now Raz assumes he must hate him forever... i could go on, but i think there's a lot of room for interpretation there!

in my headcanon, he never got diagnosed as a kid. maybe there were some notes about it in his reports each year, sure - but a little hyperactivity and distractability never seemed to slow him down. he excelled in lessons and on missions, and when he was with his family their performances gave him something to focus that energy into. it was only really when he turned 18 and graduated to a full agent that the cracks started to show.

because there's a big difference between the responsibilities you have as a minor, and the responsibilities you have as an 18-year-old living away from home! one who's expected to cook and clean for themselves, and take care of adult life stuff, and also work the 9-to-5 office job he's just graduated into that involves sitting in front of a computer and write reports all day.

short-term, he found he could get himself to power through a deadline with energy drinks and psi-pops (a lot of psi-pops...)

long-term, something had to give. he was working himself to exhaustion, constantly stressed, swinging between days spent staring at his computer screen doing nothing and all-nighters desperately trying to finish his paperwork before the deadline. it just didn't make any sense to him. he'd finally started his job as a Psychonaut, he was living independently like he'd always dreamed, he'd gotten top surgery after planning it for so long. he should have everything he ever wanted. why wasn't he happy?

following a deep post-surgical depression, about a month before his 19th birthday Raz was living out of his car, couch-surfing or sleeping in his office. he got kicked out of his apartment after falling behind on bills and rent. it wasn't that he didn't have the money, it was all just too much for him to stay on top of.

he'd probably have stayed in that misery hole for a lot longer if Frazie hadn't marched into his life and demanded he let her help him move into a new place, or she was telling mom that he was homeless. together, they sorted through all of his possessions from the last place - everything that had been hastily shoved in his car, or tossed in a box in his office, piled in a heap that was giving him anxiety even looking at it.

things do get better for him from there.

when he eventually explains things to Hollis, she gently suggests that he should get a roommate. he ends up moving in with Phoebe, and they become pretty good friends after a couple months! something about having another person around to help do the chores and wash the dishes and share the space helps, even if it takes him a while to admit it.

he gets his ADHD diagnosis, and finding the exact right medication and dose is a journey he's still on years later - but they're a huge help in getting him to actually knuckle down and finish his work on time. and the whole thing ends up being a chance for him to take a step back and really think about what he wants to do with his life. he'd always assumed that being a Psychonaut was his dream, but he'd never really reckoned with what that dream would look like before.

in the end, he sticks with it, but also decides to follow Lili's example in branching out. he applies to study a part-time Bachelor's in Psychology on a remote course, and gets accepted. juggling missions and paperwork and study and relationships (because the whole thing made him realise he also wasn't setting aside any time for himself, and wow, dating is a thing) is a lot - but he manages to figure it out, day by day.

(Lili comes back to the Psychonauts after graduating. she and Raz have both changed a lot over those four years, but on their first mission together they hit it off like a house on fire - and the rest is history!)

[swappingbryn]

Always Save Before You Exit

Kenny was tired of the drudgery of life, working, gym, his nagging girlfriend, even his friends were boring him. It didn’t matter that he was good looking, rode a motorcycle, he was just bored, which wasn’t helped by his tedious construction job.

He’d heard of a new service where you could rent out your body, you’d set the price, set all the limits, and if any conditions were violated, the rental would automatically end. He’d been thinking of doing a trip across the country during the summer, and this would help him be able to afford it.

He set up an appointment and heard them out. He wasn’t sure, but he figured he’d give it a chance, he had nothing to lose, if no one liked his price or the rules, they’d turn him down. He started simple, no smoking, no unprotected sex, no tattoos or permanent marks, he opted to be unaware of the time he was being rented, he chose not to give the person access to his memories, and then shot for the moon with the rental fee, $1,000/day, clicking “Save” after each page. Once he got to the last page, he clicked “Save” once again and walked out, unaware he didn’t click “Submit.”

As he walked out, he didn’t see anyone else around, but that was a mix of adrenaline and tunnel vision, as there was an old, thin man sitting in the corner who entered the room next to fill out his profile.

When Icarus walked into the room, he noticed the computer was still opened to Kenny’s profile, and he could still make edits. Icarus went to town making changes, knowing he’d love to have Kenny’s body. He changed the limits, the rules, the settings, even the price. And then he clicked “Submit,” finalizing Kenny’s account, and setting up his own.

No less than an hour after he arrived home, Kenny received an email saying his body had been rented. The email noted the renter agreed to everything Kenny listed, and so if Kenny accepted, no further bargaining was needed. Kenny was prompted with a warning when he clicked accept “Warning: All rentals over five days required additional disclosures. Are you sure you want to engage in this rental? All rental funds will be placed in escrow earning interest until the end of the rental period. Do you agree?” Kenny happily clicked Yes. He was expecting to wake up a few days later, with a huge deposit into his account.

However, Kenny was instantly unable to move, with his body moving on its own. He was petrified, thinking something had gone horribly wrong. His body was moving without him in control, he could hear his voice talking, “Hmm, this feels so good. This voice is so deep, and I’m so young and hot. This is the best use of my annual bonus from work. I don’t regret spending 7Gs got this body.” Kenny realized he never looked at the rental time, but figured while he hated this arrangement, it would only be for a week. His body went into his bedroom and jerked off, several times, with Kenny feeling it each time. Then his girlfriend came home and Kenny heard his voice say “Hey Clarice, want to have some fun?” To which he thought ‘how does he know her name?’ She relented after a few minutes and they fucked, over and over, with her moaning how much better it felt than usual. Kenny also realized how good it felt, and that his body wasn’t wearing a condom.

Kenny realized how much he’d fucked up. Whoever this guy was, he somehow had access to all Kennys memories, Kenny was aware of the rental, and apparently none of the rules were in play. Kenny felt his body smoking like a chimney, felt tattoos being applied, felt his body fucking like crazy, his girlfriend, random women, even men. It wasn’t until the eighth day Kenny was scared, as he was still unable to control anything.

This hell went on for days beyond count. Kenny eventually gave up and retreated into the recesses of his mind. Until finally, he woke up and had control. He woke up to kids running around, jumping on his bed.

His phone, which he knew was his, but it was much different and high tech-y pinged, “Thank you for using our service. The rental fee of $7,300 plus 5% annual interested has been deposited into your account. We hope you enjoyed your rental.” And “A deposit of $19,369.08 has been made to your account.”

Kenny ran from bed and looked in a mirror. He was old now, grey hair, leathered skin, he felt a craving for a cigarette which he instinctively lit, and he saw tattoos covering his arms and chest.

He ran to the rental office to demand answers. It turns out he now had six kids, from four different women, still the same shitty job, and the same bike. It was only then that he was shown a copy of his rental agreement. “No rules, full awareness, full memory access” was all that was written, not the pages of rules he set up. And then he saw that the rental amount was different too, rather than $1,000 per day it was $1. Kenny had given up twenty years of his youth for $7,300, and while that almost tripled in size, he now had a huge family, a bad job and a nicotine addition.

@malevessel for the picture and rental idea

[total-drama-brainrot]

World Tour Assistant Noah AU (where he is always an assistant):

After the gross kiss failed to stop Alejandro's flirting... Noah begs Duncan to convince Alejandro, that Noah is too dorky to date... but Duncan has an even better idea; make Alejandro jealous for fun!

(In this AU, Duncan and Courtney had broken up before Season 3, so Duncan isn't a cheater!)

Duncan: "Thanks for letting me return to the show, handsome.~" 😘

(Duncan kisses Assistant Noah's cheek.)

Alejandro: "Duncan, I will DESTROY you!" 😡

Noah: "I just want to be left alone!" 🙄

Wait hold on... hold on... this is just the premise of my favourite Dunnoah fic series but with an assistant Noah twist. And extra Alenoah flavouring. That's not to say I'm against the idea.

Though I can't really imagine Duncan ever committing himself to flirting with Noah unless the two had struck up a deal prior- Duncan's that specific brand of 2000s era bigoted where being seen as anything but straight is a social crime (despite the fact that Duncan is definitely a boykisser, just in denial), but he's also aware of just how much of a threat Alejandro is in the competition and the latino's huge obvious crush on Chris' personal assistant, so I think Duncan could push aside his own internal biases to at the very least propose a similar idea to Noah.

Really, it'd be beneficial for the both of them; Noah gets to subtly-not-so-subtly tell Alejandro to back off by responding to Duncan's advances but not his, and Duncan gets to rile up Alejandro enough to redivert his attention away from the competition itself thus increasing his own chances of winning. It's strategic, really, nothing more.

It's that line of logic that has Noah eventually conceding that, for all intents and purposes, it's a good plan. So he deigns to play along, at least for a little bit, just to get Alejandro off of his back.

And, canonically, they're both shown to be at least half-decent at flirting, so whatever displays they have planned to annoy Alejandro would be just convincing enough to really get under his skin. Especially since Alejandro's shown in canon to be the protective/possessive type (mostly in All-Stars, in how he reacts to José insulting Heather) and likely wouldn't take too kindly to Duncan swooping in on "his amor" or whatever Spanish nickname he'd substitute it with.

Which all eventually leads to the scenario you proposed; Duncan plants a wet one on Noah's cheek and Alejandro sees red.

Noah's already exhausted by default, but feels weariness seep into the marrow of his bones as a seething Alejandro glares poisonous daggers towards Duncan, who's committed enough to their little ruse to in turn shoot a wink and a pair of finger guns towards the assistant. Deciding that he isn't paid nearly enough to deal with the inevitable confrontation between the two idiots who've apparently taken an interest in him (Duncan's, of course, being a known ruse), Noah leaves to go and do his actual job.

...

And then, Alejandro confronts Duncan directly in the Economy cabin, claiming that he doesn't deserve to so much as look at Noah, and that he (Alejandro) was the one Noah kissed and therefore the object of his attraction so Duncan better lay off. This is news to the punk, and adds a whole new layer of complexity to their plan. And perhaps something he can later exploit to give himself a leg up in the competition.

But why does the idea of Noah kissing Alejandro make his chest tighten up with envy?

And then maybe Duncan finds the untamed passion of Alejandro's genuine fury kind of hot and he too enters the metaphorical boxing ring of feelings? Aledunnoah endgame? The intern server has been posting a lot of Aleduncan lately so letting those two get together (and with Noah in there too, as a bonus) just seems natural to my brain at this point.

[ghostinthegallery]

It should be no secret that I adore Oltyx. He's one of my favorite 40k characters. Which is amazing because let's be real, he's an insufferable little shit who spends most of the books consumed by entitlement, paranoia, or both. He's just so damn well written, the elements that make him awful (which also form the starting point for his character arc) don't quite overshadow his redeeming qualities (which prove he is a person worth giving the opportunity to grow).

Those early chapters do some serious heavy lifting, character-wise. Oltyx comes out the gate swinging for "worst protag of the Year award". He's bitter, he's convinced all of his problems are someone else's fault, he is needlessly cruel to his subordinate (ready to kill Neth just because one grot made it to the stairs). A real winner, right here. Except for two things:

1) he doesn't want his soldiers to die. Sure, he justifies this with facts and logic. Attrition will eventually diminish his forces, leaving him unable to defend his shitty planet, and he isn't getting reinforcements anytime soon. But still, he wants to preserve the lives under his command. He wants to create a "new way of war" which is surprisingly sympathetic for someone who acts like a surly teenager (more on THAT later). Bonus that he does not in fact kill Neth

2) his flashback where he sees Djoseras' first lesson to him. Where we see that Oltyx is not exactly a reliable narrator regarding his elder. And if he's wrong about Djoseras, what else is he wrong about? The narrative is doing something here.

That second point is super important. Because there's a huge difference between reading an asshole protag where the author knows they are an asshole vs. where the author doesn't. The former can be incredibly satisfying as you watch someone grow and change. The latter is annoying AF. That flashback (for me) is like a footnote from the author promising "hey, not all is as it seems, bear with me."

Oltyx's hints of compassion are the incentive.to.give him a chance. Which is then further cemented when we enter the tomb and get to see Oltyx's affection for Yenekh, the first character we see Oltyx caring about. Proof that he has relationships that matter. He doesn't actually hate everyone and everything. And as the narrative continues, we peel back the layers to see what Oltyx actually is.

While I reading those opening pages, I joked to my spouse that Oltyx sounded like a teenager who listens to too much emo music. Turns out that was not actually a joke, that was the entire character. As we get more of his interactions and flashbacks, we are shown someone trapped in perpetual adolescence. Who had the compassion beaten out of him by war, trauma, and neglect (or literally sliced out of him, fuck Hemiun). The more you see of Oltyx the more heartbreaking he becomes. Not because he isn't terrible (he is) but because he didn't have to be. Yet it is so understandable why he is. The lessons he was taught even by the people that loved him (life has no value, compassion is a weakness, lies will come from those closest to you) twisted a kind soul into a conflicted mess. It excuses nothing but explains everything.

But despite ALL OF THAT Oltyx still tries to do the right thing. He tries to save the dynasty that exiled him, he tries to fight beside the brother he taught himself to hate, he tries to resist the madness that he thinks will make him a monster. He literally has the mind of an eighteen year old, trapped in a metal body that is slowly destroying what little sanity he has left. That's a lot!

Crowley had a fine line to walk writing Oltyx, making him sympathetic but not dulling the impact of his darker traits. For my money he did it brilliantly. Oltyx is my precious son who has done everything wrong and I love him.

[callsignspark]

Hello, yes. It’s me.

Tell me more about the frat boy Bob college AU!

this is one of my favorite AUs I have bubbling in my brain because frat boy Bob? he’s a sexy sweetheart 🤤 also this is like 80% @withahappyrefrain’s fault because she’s the one I originally word vomited this onto

it all started sometime last January when Rainey posted that photo of him on his birthday and his keys were in the photo, a gym membership tag on the chain. (and it’s a crime I can’t find it rn omg) but it really cemented my favorite thing about Lewis. which is how he’s so “just a guy” all the time. famous dad? just some guy with a gym membership tag on his keys. second tier character in 2022’s biggest movie? just some guy who does theater in his spare time. he has two hats, and three shirts, and one pair of boots. I like him so much because he’s Just Some Guy™ - just a simple man. I adore that about him. having said all that: I present my frat boy college!Bob AU

Bob feels like someone you would have gone to college with, had a huge crush on for all four years, then forget about after graduation. But not without a lot of work to stop those feelings and pining, but eventually, a few years later he floats away. Except for those few times he appears on a mutual friend’s social media. And every time you see him on social media, the crush reignites. Just a little tiny bit.

One day you run into him randomly and find out he’s moved to your city. He doesn’t know anyone else and you exchange numbers, you learn he actually did you know in school. He actually had a crush but didn’t do anything about it and would you like to go out now?

Because Bob was the cool nerd in school. Like he’s quiet and shy, so studious and freaking brilliant. But he’s also in a frat somehow and on the baseball team at a school that doesn’t care about baseball. So he’s absolutely in shape and at the gym in his free time but no one ever notices how big his biceps and how handsome and funny is his because they’re staring at the football players.

But our leading lady notices him.

She likes the quiet guy from her creative writing class (an elective for both of them) who has the same backwards baseball cap on every time she sees him at the gym. Bob also notices her at the gym when he goes in the evenings for him team workout. His morning workout is rowing in the river in town, and if the dock where he likes to start his mornings happens to go by the apartment building where his pretty classmate likes to do homework on her balcony while the sunrises? Well that’s just a bonus.

She’s part of the school’s dance ensemble club (a relaxed, just for fun, non-performance version of the dance team) and he loves the glimpses he gets of her through the studio door. Her smile is always so wide and bright as she moves to the music in the little studio. The studio which is conveniently next to the weight section he always ends his workouts in. They frequently end up leaving the gym at the same time and always give each other polite smiles. He eventually gets brave enough to open the door for her and it becomes a little tradition that he quick walks ahead to grab it for her. Eventually they get up to exchanging “thank you” and “have a good night” and smiles but they never talk more than that.

Cue graduation and real world starting. And bam then they’re running into each other at a gym. As he’s finishing his last cool down stuff he notices a familiar head and watches as she walks out of a barre class. He scrambles to open the door for her - his established way of flirting!!! - and our story begins. There’s nothing sexier than a courteous man. Especially one that has sweaty little curls poking out the sides of his hat!! And once they tumble into bed she finds out how much sexier those sweaty curls are when she’s the cause of them.

[cynical-sprite]

OTP Prompts Ideas

Imagine person A walking out of the bathroom after a shower, half-naked and wreathed in steam, and B immediately dropping whatever they were holding. Bonus if it’s an animal which gives them the stink eye before slinking away.

Person A has given up on love. Nope. Love is not for them. Forget that…. And then they meet person B and think; “Annnd this is the asshole who will ruin everything.”

Imagine person A of your OTP relentlessly flirting with B in public, just to see B blush.

Imagine Person A of your OTP seeing Person B with bed hair for the first time, and being totally blown away by how cute/hot/etc. they look with their hair being a huge mess. Bonus: if Person A gets flustered when Person B pokes fun at them for liking it.

Imagine your OTP intertwining their fingers together while they’re in bed.

Person A leaving thigh hickeys on person B.

Imagine your OTP getting in a fight and one of them yelling that they love the other one and then it gets really quiet.

Imagine your OTP stuck in an elevator after they’ve had a fight.

Imagine your OTP cuddling under a blanket on a cold winter night. Person A gently wrapping their arms around Person B and lightly kissing down their neck making Person B shiver from something other than the cold outside.

Imagine person A of your OTP wearing person B’s clothes.

Imagine your OTP running into each other under the mistletoe. Person A blushes and goes to suggest that they don’t have to kiss but Person B cuts them off with a kiss.

Imagine person A of your OTP wearing person B’s clothes.Imagine person A of your OTP coming home from the gym all sweaty. Person B sees this and gets instantly turned on.

Imagine your OTP moving in together. They’re unpacking each other’s boxes when they find, ah,interesting things they didn’t know the other person owned.

Imagine your OTP not having enough blankets for both of them and sharing. It takes some doing, but they settle comfortably into each other’s arms and fall asleep listening to each other’s heartbeat, smelling their hair, feeling the rise and fall of their breath. The next morning, they’re still in the same position.

Imagine your OTP waking up at the same time for a midnight snack and Person B scares Person A on accident.

Imagine your OTP living together. The air conditioner breaks during the hottest week of summer and your OTP has to figure out how to stay cool. Alternately, the heating breaks during the coldest week of winter and your OTP has to figure out how to stay warm.

“I sent a selfie of myself in the tub to the wrong number and you responded back with another selfie. Holy shit you’re really attractive.” au.

Imagine person B of your otp uses person A as a pillow.

Being on the brink of admitting their feelings for each other but then getting interrupted.

Both of them being the best friends that everyone just assumes is a couple and no one is even surprised when they announce they’re official because ‘wtf do you mean you weren’t before?’

i fell asleep on your shoulder and you were too polite to move or wake me up au

Imagine your OTP having sex, and one of them gets the hiccups during the session.

Imagine person A somehow loses or breaks their glasses in some sort of city, and after running into a few walls and poles, person B convinces person A to hold their hand to guide them around.

Imagine your otp playing Twister and getting kind of touchy-feely.

Imagine your OTP being walked in on every single time they try to get it on.

Imagine your OTP (or two people from your OT3) having really great sex. Person A keeps loudly moaning “Oh god!” And eventually person B (or person C, upon entering the room) says “What do you want? I’m right here.” Bonus if B (or C) actually is a god of some sort.

Imagine your OTP fucking on a kitchen counter. Extra: Person C walks in on them and just says they better sanitize everything later.

Imagine your OTP having shower sex. When it gets too tense person A ends up slipping and hitting their head off the soap tray. Shower cuddles ensues.

Whenever person A tries to get intimate with person B person C interrupts.

Imagine person A (the tougher one) getting shy about being naked in front of person B for the first time.

Imagine Person A of your OTP eating Doritos and Person B licking their fingers for them when they’re done.

[variouspolltournaments]

Anti-Propaganda is not allowed. Please only give reasons to vote for something and not give reasons to vote against something.

Propaganda

Marlana: Alana and Margot are beautiful badass manipulative women. They meet because Alana is Margot's twin brother Mason's psychiatrist, and also Alana is trying to help Mason capture Hannibal so they can torture him. Along the way, Alana and Margot start sleeping together behind the scenes (has to be behind the scenes from Mason because he's family head and a huge homophobe but it is onscreen) and fall in love, and eventually Alana and Margot develop a plot to steal Mason's money, have a Verger heir (I'll spare you the gritty details but let's just say the Verger DNA comes from Mason, not Margot 💀), get married, (and bonus they do end up killing Mason) and live happily ever after as a badass wlw couple with their son (at least until they have to go into hiding a couple years later for Alana's safety when Hannibal breaks out of prison)

[marrowcrunch]

What are your top 3 favorite vtm clans (or bloodlines)?

Bonus: which clan do you think you'd fit in with? :3c

Oh boy, this is going to be long lol

Favorite: Tzimisce 

Gosh, what a surprise :O

But yeah. I mean, firstly, the cool factor is undeniable. It's always such a joy designing Tzimisce characters because even toeing the strictest borderlines of canon they're allowed to get real weird with it in a way that most other clans aren't. I don't mean this as hate at all so I hope it doesn't come across like that, all clans are beautiful <3 but if you're playing Ventrue, Brujah, Tremere etc to some degree you'll always just be playing as Some Guy. With a Tzim it’s like…Do you want some sick-ass bone blades on your arms? No problem! Another pair of arms to put more bone blades on? Sounds good! Do you want to be bioluminescent like a squid? Great! Go crazy! 

Second: Full disclosure, I am the “My fursona is my TWOO SELF” flavor of furry. And the idea of having near total freedom of form— to be able to give myself a tail, claws, fangs, horns, [long censor beep], whatever I want, to abandon my human shape, fills me with Yearning. 

In the complete opposite direction, I also find personal meaning in the clan as someone who suffers from chronic pain. Shamelessly copy-pasting a reply to another post: 

The flavoring of Vicissitude as a creeping infection, as the actual body of the Eldest spread from generation to generation, able to rise up and consume its bearers at any moment, resonates with me very deeply as someone whose pain is caused by congenital tissue defects and which will inevitably get worse over time.

The idea that…there’s something horrible lurking inside your body. It can’t be cured. It can’t be removed. It is part of the very fabric of your being. And it is going to eat you alive, it is going to eat and eat until there’s nothing left. That no matter how you struggle, eventually it’s going to win. But you struggle anyways, because what the hell else is there to do?

The clan also has its revenant families, who are all collectively my most Specialist Little Guy in the world. I am a huge sucker for ye old trope of Special Family Bloodline Technique, and they scratch that itch for me in a really fun and interesting way. 

Second favorite: Giovanni. I actually don't have any deep reasons for this one, I just think that “fucked up necromancer vampire crime family” is such a fun concept lol. I like organized crime stories. It's also another one for the “bloodline technique” category— in v20, they even have their own associated revenant family, the Rossellinis! 

Third favorite: Salubri. The vibe I get is that they’re deeply underappreciated because people feel like their designation in both fluff and crunch as “the nice ones” means that they’re boring and clash with Masquerade’s overall tone. But I STRONGLY disagree— I think that's exactly what gives them so much potential for the sort of personal, existential horror that is supposed to be at the heart of Masquerade. I actually want to write a much longer post sometime that really gets into why, but part of it is this— being a magical pacifist unicorn prancing in a sunny flower field isn't “horrifying,” but being a magical pacifist unicorn in a dark forest where the only other animals are wolves that want to eat your face sure is. I also think the contrast between mainline (healer) Salubri and Salubri antitribu is a really rich thematic vein— again, I want to write more on this later. 

Bloodline lightning round:

Ahrimanes: Cat-themed woman power. I like the concept of Gangrel in tune with the spiritual elements of nature. Spirits in World of Darkness are fun because they can be anything. 

Ventrue antitribu: Knights in modern settings are cool.

However, if the question was “Which clan are you most like?” instead of “What's your favorite”, the answer is far and away Toreador. I love making art, and while I mostly just write now because my body has kind of fallen apart, I used to dabble in a bunch of different mediums and loved them all. That and I already do the “oh that flower/painting/ random pattern of light on the wall is really pretty *zones out and stares at it*” thing in real life lol so that would just be business as usual. If I couldn't be a Meat Criminal this is actually the clan I'd choose to be embraced into. 

Thanks for giving me a chance to talk :)

[argumentalist]

This tiny little 1/150 (N-scale) building was a "free" bonus when I bought something on Temu a little while back. I wasn't expecting much but I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out.

This is how the kit arrived - just a little plastic bag of pieces. No instructions or anything. I'm not even sure what it's made of... Resin, maybe? I avoided sanding anything and used superglue for assembly.

It went together very quickly and easily. It was fairly obvious how all the parts needed to go together. And it felt pretty solid once assembled.

I grabbed some models off my shelf to see how everything measures-up... Most of my gunpla collection is 1/144 while this building is 1/150 - so the scale isn't quite right. The building is a hair smaller than it should be, but it's not really noticeable. If everything were scaled-up it'd be a difference of inches.

You can see my little 1/144 pilot figure looks like he'd fit through the doorway OK. And the mobile worker looks roughly car-sized out front.

And you can see that Zaku II towering over a three-story building - which is just fantastic. I love adding things to set the scale of these models. Just seeing them up on the shelf it's easy to forget that just how huge they're supposed to be.

This was also part of my first airbrush project - if you read that post you know how it turned out. I struggled with the primer, hand painted the color, and then struggled with the topcoat. But I can definitely see the potential.

I cut, painted, and glued some paper behind those windows. I didn't want to be able to see inside the hollow shell of a building. I was trying to convey the idea that some rooms were occupied and lit, while some weren't. And I think it gives that vibe.

My wife had some sticker-paper that I used to print off a tiny little cupcake sticker. Maybe there's a bakery down on the first floor there?

This picture really shows off how uneven the topcoat is. You can clearly see the splatters.

Added my Ez8 and a pilot figure... And now I'm thinking I need a few more buildings and a Gouf so I can re-create that scene from 08th.

And I threw in the mobile worker again. It's clearly inappropriate from a timeline/continuity standpoint... But I don't have a whole lot of little 1/144 accessories at this point.

I really like how this building turned out. I think I'm going to have to track down some more N-scale (1/150) architecture. It really helps sell the idea that these are giant robots.

I'd also like to get some more mobile workers... But it seems like those IBO option kits are awfully hard to find these days. I'm hoping for some P-Bandai re-releases when we eventually get the IBO reprints later this year.

[blood-and-pizza]

Time for Fazbear Estate lore!

Melissa Pomene has a very important reason for wanting to work at Fazbear Estate. It's not the money, though it's definitely a bonus. It was actually her dream to work there since she was a child, because she wanted to reunite with an old friend.

When Melissa was nine years old, she had a birthday party at the original Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Her mother made her invite her entire school class as guests, even the students who bullied her regularly. Her father was picking fights with her class crush and his mom. Also, her parents were divorced at the time, and things had ended quite badly between them, Melissa having gotten caught in the fallout. Needless to say, it was almost a disaster of a birthday. If it hadn't been for Classic Freddy consoling her while he directed his bandmates to do damage control, Melissa could have easily had the worst day of her young life.

Instead, it was the best birthday she ever had. And it left a huge impression on her young mind. Unfortunately, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza closed later that year, and Classic Freddy and his band were shipped off to Fazbear Estate for their second retirement. Melissa got wind of Fazbear Estate through a surprising source... her grandmother, Francine Cantor, who used to work for William Afton and Henry when she was younger, as a song writer and creative consultant, but now holds a bitter attitude against Fazbear Entertainment as a corporate entity. She's tried to keep her family away from Fazbear Entertainment and its characters, but after learning how happy Freddy had made her granddaughter, she knew she'd lost that battle.

So, in order to reunite with Classic Freddy, young Melissa began studying robotics and artificial intelligence in the hopes that one day, she would be allowed to see him again. In the meantime, her mother Dorothy bought her a Lonely Freddy, who quickly became Melissa's new best friend, and the key to her understanding (at least at a basic level) what kind of goofy-ass coding language Henry concocted to make the animatronics as lifelike as they are.

When Melissa was thirty years old, she began programming a singing AI named Melody. She was eventually joined by Harmony, a harmonizing AI. She treated both of them like her daughters, with as much kindness and love as she would have given a human child. As their awareness increased, Melissa watched them grow and learn, and took careful yet eager notes.

Eight years later, Melissa applied for an interview at Fazbear Entertainment. She introduced Michael Afton (Creative Director at Fazbear Entertainment as well as the current owner of Fazbear Estate) to Melody and Harmony - stored on one of Melissa's laptops - and explained that she wants to build bodies for them, and knows that Fazbear Entertainment's robotics are the the best in the business. If she had a chance to learn about Fazbear tech up close and learn how to perform proper maintenance, she could give her daughters the bodies they deserve, and she could keep them in good shape for as long as she was alive. She also told Michael about her ninth birthday party, and how she really missed Classic Freddy.

Michael honestly thought Melissa was a little kooky... but you honestly NEEDED to be a bit kooky to work at Fazbear Estate. Plus, he really liked Melody and Harmony. Maybe they were a little on the cutesy side for his tastes, but he was genuinely interested in helping Melissa give them proper bodies. And so, Melissa was hired.

Seeing Classic Freddy again the day she arrived at the Estate put Melissa through a whirlwind of emotions. She was pretty sure he wouldn't remember her after all these years... but apparently she had nothing to worry about. Not only did Classic Freddy remember her, he remembers every single birthday kid he's ever met, something that was carried on in every generation of Freddy's.

Melissa may have sobbed like a baby upon learning this and needed Classic Freddy to give her a warm bear hug to help her calm down. She's very sensitive...

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the comics: Doing good (Issue 34)

Moon Knight, Issue # 34: Primal Scream

Written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Bo Hampton. 

And Bonus short: The Vault of Knight

Written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Richard Howell.

Let's stop for a second. Take a little comic history lesson tour. 

This is not written by the usual Moon Knight team. 

Let's get into a little Moench history here and why he left. 

He did not really get along well with the then Marvel Chief editor James Shooter. Understandable. Here’s why: 

James Shooter got his start writing for DC then moved to Marvel. During the 70s and 80s, Marvel was experiencing a huge boom in content and new titles (like Moon Knight!) 

Further more, Stan Lee stepped away from monitoring comics to heading the animation works in LA right when Shooter became the cheif, leaving him fully in charge. 

Many felt that Shooter ran the place like a dictator, but there had been a huge influx of missed deadlines and Shooter put a stop to that. 

Despite keeping things running and overseeing a lot of new and important titles, he also alienated a LOT of long-time Marvel creators. 

Many of the long-time creators, like Moench, left Marvel to join with DC, who had a new editor. (He got to write for Batman!) 

NOTE: Shooter also enforced a policy forbidding the portrayal of Gay Characters in the Marvel Universe. In fact, the ONLY and first portrayal of a gay themed comic was of gay men attempting to rape Bruce Banner in the YMCA (which Shooter himself wrote), thus making Marvel to be widely considered Homophobic throughout Shooter's reign. (You should look into the history of LGBTQ+ in comics. It's a ride.)

I would like to point out that Moench's last issue during this time was about a reporter that was obsessed with making her deadlines and who wrote shitty pieces that were praised but awful and caused harm and eventual death in one character she wrote about. HMMMMM. 

When did he leave? Sources say the end of 1982, but those that understand the publishing timeline will note comic publish dates don't match the date they reach the shelves. 

So what is the official last Moon Knight Comic Moench worked on?

Let me put it this way... We aren't going to see Moench anymore for the 1980s run. 

He DOES come back for a bit later on, but it's short lived for a couple of limited run editions.

(And this is all new knowledge for me, who thought he originally finished the 1980s run and now I'm looking at an earlier review I did out of order because I'm an idiot and realize I've made a grave mistake.... Oh joy.) 

Farewell my sweet writer Doug Moench. Hats off to you. 

Now! That out of the way, let’s take a look at the first step we truly take away from Mr. Moench. 

For some reason, any time a guest writer sits in for early Moon Knight, they feel the need to over explain the character and introduce his past. Almost as if they were trying to explain who they are writing or getting a grasp on it for themselves. 

This is also a special double large edition. Another cause for writers to try to over explain characters as Marvel expects a bigger issue to draw in new fans. 

However, this is an odd story to push on the hopes of new fans. 

Let’s get into it! 

Yep. We open with a fast recap on who these characters are. 

It leaves me wondering what happened when Moench left. Did he have a script written out? Did he have to give notice and they knew he was leaving and this writer was already on the backburner? Or was this done in a hurry to get a planned comic deadline out on time? 

I would ALSO like to point out that when Bill left, he got a send off. Moench did not get a send off. He just disappears from the credits. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. 

"He was born Marc Spector and Spector wasn't a very nice man...Not so much evil as callous...A mercenary whose concern was reserved solely for himself and his Bankbook. 

That man could never have come to this deserted industrial wasteland on a mission made of equal parts mercy and vengeance." 

I disagree. Marc would be all over vengeance in a deserted wasteland. 

"Steven Grant could have. You've read about Grant... The committed millionaire about town...A pretty defendable guy as the upper crust goes. Still... 

Grant couldn't have found this place without Jake Lockley. Jake is the eyes and ears of Grant and Spector...A cabbie whose heart pulses to the beat of the city." 

Putting a bit on Steven, but he'd want to do good. But a gritty back alley is not really his style. 

"Ready for the kicker? Spector, Grant, and Lockley are all the same man...A man you know better as..." 

(A side note... We see Moon Knight running through a warehouse complaining it smells like a sewer. HE WOULD KNOW. And then he's startled by a cat. This is hilarious to me for so many reasons.) 

And that leads us to the title page where a young man is leaking off the crates above to tackle Moon Knight. 

"Frank? Hate to do this to a hopped-up kid, but the quicker I put him down...the less chance of his getting hurt! Though when I think of what he did to Gena..." 

He tosses Frank across the warehouse. 

Moon Knight again alludes to the damage this kid did to Gena's diner after getting high on some new 'junk'. 

Moon Knight is about to call in to Frenchie to get the medics out to take care of the hopped-up kid when the kid takes off. 

He isn't worried. The fight has been knocked out of him and the police shouldn't have an issue. 

Now we head back to the diner where we find Jake having a cuppa wihth Gena and Crawley. 

Crawley is talking about "The Raiders" which is a young men's social club (read 'Gang'). They are known to be brutal and even the police are afraid of them. 

Gena mentions about how she never raised her boys to run in gangs. Out back, we see Frank leading a group of gang members up to the back door of the diner. 

The gang busts in and attacks the patrons, demanding food. 

Jake isn't about to lay down and let it slide. 

He clocks one of the kids and worries about his friends. 

"Gotta get over to Crawley and Gena fast! They're not used to this kind of action!" 

Jake's heart is made of gold. 

One of the kids jumps Jake, growling and snarling. 

"A for effort, punko, but I've seen a real werewolf up close--And all you've got in common with him are lousy table manners!" And Jake flips the man off. 

Frank jumps on Genna while Jake is preoccupied. He cries out that he's hungry and he bites into her arm. 

Her cries distract Jake and someone bashes him on the back of the head, knocking him out. 

On waking up, Jake immediately asks how Gena is. He finds Gena loading up into an ambulance. 

"His name is Frank... So much for my perfect record. Find him before the police do, Jake." 

"I...Understand. I'll make sure the boy isn't harmed." 

"You don't understand! I want that ungrateful little maggot harmed! I want him harmed so badly he won't ever be able to walk upright again! I treated that boy like family! He treated me like today's hot lunch special! Get him for me, Jake! Bring me his stinkin' head on a platter!" 

Jake's pretty irked about Gena getting hurt, but... 

"But that's not what Moon Knight stands for, is it? I'm the agent of vengeance, not vengeance itself." 

That’s an interesting thought for Jake to have. Jake who so often slips out to let the others handle the Moon Knight mission. He trusts that they can handle things. But what is the difference between being an agent of vengeance and vengeance itself? Perhaps, looking to another comic is where we see that line and the difference between Moon Knight and the Punisher. 

He sets out to find Frank and his gang. He hopes having Frank brought in will help Gena. 

"Because I never want to look into the eyes of someone I care for and see so much hatred and despair there. I've seen it too many times before... Within myself." 

So this issue I’m just going to be crying over Jake the whole time. Okay. Good to know. 

Back at the diner, Gena is out of the hospital and facing her fears. 

Moon Knight is searching the hideout of the Raiders. He fllows the smell till he comes across a delirious woman with some sort of chemical burn blotches all over her. 

Looking around, he realizes, Steven Grant has been here before. An old factory he had been trying to save to create jobs has fallen into ruin. 

The factory is left to rot and all the chemicals inside are left there as well. 

He radios to Frenchie to make sure medical is on standby. These kids have been living in the toxic waste too long. 

He asks if the police got anything out of Frank when they grabbed him. 

Yeah... they didn't get him. He got away. 

And he's still looking for food from Gena. 

Back at the diner, we see Gena trying to clean up on her own. 

She is skittish as she cleans but tries to tell herself that no one's coming for her. 

"Besides, I'm not gonna let anybody or anything chase me away from what's mine!" 

And that's when Frank breaks back into Genas’.

Moon Knight finds one of the kids conscious enough to talk. Alcaide, their leader, didn't let them leave the hideout. He found drums full of a top secret toxic waste that drove people wild and crazy. 

Moon Knight recalls that Grant had learned that the factory used to work for the government. 

"Grant saw that in their public records. But the Spector part of me can't help but wonder if they didn't also do some more discreet research for the feds." 

Bingo bango. He finds the drums, filled with "Primal Project" chemicals. 

Oh! time for a Marc Spector flashback! 

"Spector was working for the feds at the time, escorting a man named Wenzel through a south American jungle..." 

They were heading to meet up with a professor in Manaus (that’s in Brazil!) to shut down the Primal Project. 

"It was supposed to slow a man's thinking process...Make him docile...Easy to handle. Something went wrong." Wenzel talks about the project. 

Marc stops them in their tracks. He hears something stalking them from the trees above. 

A creature leaps at them and Marc fires his gun. 

The beast is hit and lays dead. Deformed and animalistic. 

Marc asks if this is the work of the professor they're heading to see. 

"Spector...That IS the professor." 

They reach the campsite to find men dead across the site and more creatures running around. 

They are attacked adn have to fend off the beasts. They ended up blowing up the site to get rid of the beasts and the remaining chemicals. 

Apparently not all the chemical was destroyed. 

Now, Alcaide, the gang leader, approaches, fully a beast now. 

Back in the diner, Gena fights for her life. 

The cops have arrived at the factory and the paramedics are working on the gang. 

Moon Knight still battles the crazed beast and so does Gena. 

The next day, Jake stops in to see Gena. 

Most of the kids will make a recovery and their lawyers claim they were unter the influence of the Primal toxin. 

Gena is still shaken deeply. 

"I trusted Frank like he was one of my own, Jake...And every time I come in here all the pain comes back. Maybe it wasn't all his fault, but nobody forced him to join that gang. And is it right that I can't walk into my own diner without getting sick?" 

Jake tries to comfort her. Or perhaps, he reaches out to her in a way that he wishes he could with himself and with Marc. Because he knows that it does eat them up. It eats Marc up every day. He isn’t sure if it will ever stop eating them up.

"No. But you're too good a lady to let this eat you up forever." 

"Yeah... I'll work it out."

Poor Gena. 

She shoos them away. She needs to lock up for the night. 

This story is beautiful. This one time special guest writer, Tony Isabella and artist Bo Hampton really did a beautiful job here. 

They manage to keep the usual Moon Knight pace and story feel. We have Jake trying to protect his people. We have Gena facing a kid she helped to raise up, despite him not being her own, joining a violent gang and hurting her, we have Governmental neglect to clean up their mess and doing experimental biochemical weapons on unsuspecting people (a thing that really did happen in ‘Nam), we have economic failure for the factory that lead to the failure to clean up the toxic chemicals, and then we go back to Gena who is now facing trauma. 

No one in this story won. No one goes home feeling good about the day. They just have to pick themselves up again and move on. And they shouldn’t have to. Yet here they are, facing it all alone. 

This moves us to the short story afterwards. "The Vault of Knight." 

This is a weird one. Stranger still is that the short is written by the same person who wrote the main line. That’s pretty rare. Usually the short is done as a commission to be filler or bonus issues. 

Weirder still is the way it’s presented. A commentary on the main storyline! I've seen it done before. It's sort of like the Watcher to the audience. 

We have a strange looking character that addresses the audience. He's dressed like a baseball catcher with a Cubs cap on. Fitting. 

He calls himself "The Score-Keeper". 

And this... Let me tell you....

"Aloha, Adventure-addicts! Was twenty-four pages of gratuitous Do-Gooding enough for you...Or does your Hero-Habit demand even more of (yawn) Moon Knight's exciting escapades? I'm your sinister statistician, The Score-Keeper, and what I wanna know is... 

What is this Turkey in his cowled skivvies accomplishing? Does he really make a difference? Let's add it up. You can't lie to a Scorecard!" 

Interesting. A common question that pops up in Moon Knight comics. 

"Take last story for example. Sure he put ONE gang of teen terrors out of commission, but what's he doing about the rest of the anti-social adolescents in this city?" 

We see Moon Knight on a stakeout, waiting where someone's been hitting the same place for a week. 

The someone is two punks that dress up like werewolves and rob the shops in the area. In fact, they've hit five places in the past week alone! 

They hit a store where an old man cowers in fear....Until Moon Knight swoops in and knocks the thugs out. 

"You...You're that Moon Mensch fella! And you came into MY shop to save me from those Gonifs." 

"It's sort of my job." Moon Knight pauses. 

"Nu? To you, it's maybe a job. To me, if my store gets robbed, maybe I don't eat that night. So I thank you a lot, you and your job." 

"Friend, it was a mechaieh." 

Oh boy oh boy oh boy you have no idea how happy I am to hear Moon Knight say THAT. 

Back to the score-keeper, he's not impressed. "Why can't these heroes ever save Bloomingdales?" 

And the score-keeper starts talking about Gena and the previous issue. 

"What about Gena? One of Moon Knight's own team and he couldn't prevent what happened to her in this issue's other story. I don't think she's over it yet." 

We see Gena's boys Ray and Ricky head into the diner. 

"What did you want to talk to us about?" 

"I...I was talkin' to your uncle Rollie today, the one with the big restaurant out in Houston and he...Well, he kinda offered...I mean..." 

Score-Keeper scoffs. 

"Way to go M.K. While you're brushin' up on your Yiddish, one of your closest friends is bookin' this urban paradise. Maybe we should ask the rest of your little outfit what they think of you..." 

And this cracks me up because we get Frenchie, Marlene, and Crawley. Each one speaks of a different altar. And Frenchie is just SO pissy about it and so protective of Marc... He calls him his friend. Marc could always count on Frenchie back in the day. 

I’m…Not going to get into the “Faces of Eve” thing. It’s… A lot. But it was the big DID story and eventual movie that came out around this time that somewhat inspired a loose input into the creation of Moon Knight having DID. 

"You ask me, you care more about these guys than you care about Moon Knight." 

A misnomer. These people are what makes Moon Knight and keeps him going. In his adventures, helping him, and even when he fails them, they stay with him. 

Score guy jabs at it, noting that Moon Knight hasn't protected any of them. 

Frenchie's girlfriend, Marlene's brother, Crawley's son... 

He moves on to Detective Flint. 

Flint waits for him in a back alley. 

"Something happened --Didn't want you to read about it in the papers first. That Alaide kid you brought in was found dead in his cell an hour ago." 

"Yeah, that would've ruined my Breakfast all right." 

(Honestly, Jake is the one that reads the morning paper and eats breakfast. Jake would have been upset.) 

"Wasn't anybody's fault, guy. You know how crazed the kid was --He strangled himself before anyone could get to him." 

"That supposed to make me feel better?" 

"No...This is. It's the room number of the officer that was injured that night." 

Moon Knight pays the officer a visit. The officer is surprised to see him, thinking that he might not come. 

"Flint tells me that storage drum busted three ribs. I'm sorry. Maybe if I'd moved a little faster..." 

"It's all part of the job. But I don't have to tell you that...

You know, I figure you're pretty much a regular guy under that mask. Weird clothes, but no special 'powers'. I'll be honest... This job scares me a lot, like all the time. I was shaking when I went into that warehouse." 

Sometimes he doesn't see the good he does. 

Sometimes all he can see is the pain he leaves behind. Blaming himself for the pain of his friends. 

Maybe he doesn't really understand why this Daniels is thankful for him. But maybe in this moment he thinks it might be worth it. It might be why he is still trying. 

Back to Score-Keeper. It's time to add up the score. 

"Is Moon Knight doing any good or is he just swinging against the wind?" 

He looks at the results and seems surprised. Ripping up the scorecard, he tells us to figure it out for ourselves and leaves. 

A weird story, but I'm not mad at it. It ties into the main story line, shows the aftermath of what happened, and still shows their friends standing by them. 

It also lets Moon Knight take a moment to feel appreciated. 

And it does ask a question that Moon Knight has asked time and time again. “Am I doing good?” 

Is he causing the harm or is he just shouldering the blame because of his past traumas? The question remains over the years as things become more and more broken for them, and the answer has always been there. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard for them to see it… or accept it. 

[candlecoveisland]

Episode 3: Love and Hate

Oh shit.

OH, SHIT--

NEW MIIS

As promised, I added Calvery, Dr. Heartfelt, Ms. Laughingstock, Sunny, Hoody Hans, and ManBearPig.

ROMANCE

We have our first crack ship of the game!

Of course, I helped this poor lovestruck fool and gave him advice on how to woo Sunny using his best assets.

The man can hit those high notes.

Admittedly, I'm not sure how this will work out long-term seeing that they have opposite personalities (Skin-Taker is outgoing and Sunny is independent) and there are (unverified) claims in the TL community that opposite personalities don't make good couples, but I don't know. You can really never know what'll happen in this game. In any case, they currently seem very happy together.

FRIENDSHIP

Percy wanted to "introduce" Poppy and Milo, but for some reason, they were deeply confused by each other, so they didn't become friends that time.

Milo met up with Poppy again later, so they did eventually end up making friends.

Janice and Calvery are best friends?? I have no idea when this happened.

Percy and Skin-Taker had a MASSIVE fight. What it was about, I have no idea.

Thankfully, Janice intervened, and they made up.

Poppy told me that he and Percy don't seem to be getting along that well. I told him that his and Percy's friendship was nothing special, and (surprisingly to me) he said that he wondered if there was a way for them to become closer, so I have hope for them.

Skin-Taker tried to make friends with Milo, but they didn't really hit it off. He asked me later if I thought he and Milo would make good friends, and I told him that their relationship wouldn't be anything special. (I did this for Milo's safety.)

I predict ManBearPig and Hans will become best friends. They've been each other's only friends for quite a while (two people tried to make friends with MBP and failed, and nobody has even bothered trying to make friends with Hans), and I always see them hanging out together.

They're my broTP.

EVERYTHING ELSE

Basically everything is open now that I've accomplished most milestones in this game (add 10 Miis, solve a decent amount of problems, have a decent mix of males and females, have someone confess their love).

Also, more rankings on the rankings board have been unlocked.

Orange is the popularity ranking (which is based on how many friends a Mii has), and green is the pampered ranking (which is based on how much attention I give a Mii). (Percy, Skin-Taker, and Horace are at the top because they're the ones always asking me to buy them shit--)

Oh! And another thing that has been unlocked is Quirky Questions!

What is it with people asking me for grits?? Janice asked me for grits too last episode. Is CandleCove Island in the south???

On the topic of food, Skin-Taker seems to have a problem with candy.

I feel like Milo is turning into a finance bro. I gave him this snazzy jacket, and he's always talking into this cell phone I gave him, and one time he asked me to look into his head (this a normal Tomodachi Life occurrence btw), and he was thinking about graphs??

(Oh, he also asked me for hair dye btw, that's why his hair is green.)

Speaking of looking into people's heads, Calvery was pondering a cactus (?), and Ms. Laughingstock had no thoughts, head empty.

Also, short announcement: I left out a lot of less-interesting stuff relating to friendships and food, clothing, etc. that I give the Miis just because the huge blocks of text are kind of unsightly (and they're HUGE blocks of text now that I have so many Miis), so I'll start recording that information in separate logs. Also, like last time, bonus footage will be its own post, and that's probably going to be the usual for this series.

Anyway! Next episode, Sea-Dog, Salty Jojo, Banana King, Phillip Fly, Joe Shortlegs, and Susan Siren will join in on the drama. See you then!