#don't give misfire a weapon

[plainblackcanvas56]

Run, fast boy, run

(Based on @novafire-is-thinking 's robot husband poll)

[foone]

The rules are simple: Two wizards. Two pistols. No magic.

Now, don't misunderstand: "No magic" of course means "no magic now". The pistols are constructed using magic, of course. Wizards don't carry unenchanted firearms, that'd be silly. You don't spend years learning to bend all the rules of spacetime just to make a gun that shoots lead bullets using exploding powder. No magic just means you don't cast a shield spell while you're taking aim. But if you want to bring a gun you've designed to cast a shield itself when drawn? Go nuts.

So most wizards will have a dedicated dueling gun for these reasons. You want something that helps against the other wizard's enchantments, something that protects you from the effects of their bullets, and casts some protective magic on you. Shields, invisibility, illusions, healing... Your dueling pistol is usually a tricked out masterpiece of everything you know about magic and firearms.

Which is why this pistol in front of you is so worrying.

It's basically virgin. This is the product of a skilled gunsmith, not a wizard. There's no shields, no infinite ammunition, no enchantments on the bullets, which are mere lead and brass. There's some low level enchantments to strengthen the barrel from misfires, and the powder is enhanced to ensure it's always enough. That's the kind of magic you'd find on a pistol you buy from an average gun store, and it'd cost you only a few coins. This is the weapon of an unmagical security guard or a robber, not the dueling weapon of a world-class magician.

Veynor turned up his magic sense as far as he could without melting his eyes out of his head. Could it have an enchantment to hide other enchantments? No, unless they're being powered by half a city's worth of power. And even if they were, that much anti-magic would hide the low level enhancements on the barrel and the powder.

He asks if he can examine the bullets. "Bullet", says the nameless wizard, pulling out the empty magazine and showing it to Veynor. They pull back the slide and eject a single bullet, grabbing it in their other hand with practiced ease. They hand it over, and Veynor stares at it with the kind of intensity you only see when someone is looking not with their eyes. It's... Lead. Lead and powder and brass and a primer and the only magic here just makes sure the powder is sufficient to fire it. That's the kind of enchantment that you cast on a whole batch of bullets to ensure none will misfire, not the kind a wizard intricately carves into each bullet individually to give them a fighting chance in a magic battle.

Veynor hands back the bullet, and the nameless wizard loads it back in their pistol. It's a bluff, it has to be. They're trying to scare me, he thinks. Wizards know the inverse rule of subtlety and power. Your average wizard throwing fireballs and lightning is a student still in their first few years, while an old master will not need to do anything as flashy. They'll just wave a hand dismissively and your entire family line going back seven generations will retroactively be erased... So this has to be a trick. They know they're outclassed (Veynor has been at this for decades, after all), and are trying to psych him out. With a gun this cheap and unpowerful, they're betting that the more powerful wizard will call off the duel out of imagined danger.

Too bad. Veynor is not blinking at the bluff... "Let's do this".

They face away from each other, as if they could only see from their eyes. Veynor holds his pistol high, and the nameless wizard holsters it, their arrogance apparently extending to not needing to have it ready to fire. Another attempt at bluffing, as if Veynor could even call it off now. The rules are clear, and wizard rules aren't the kind you break without consequences.

They take their requisite ten paces, and Veynor flips around and takes aim, his pistol setting up shields and blurring his image as he takes aim at... Nothing? Where's the nameless wizard?! Did he flee? Veynor didn't feel any ripples from a teleport, he must have gone invisible. His gun continues casting spells on him, and he feels the enhanced vision kick in. The morning mist fades and the clouds in the distance come into view, but still no nameless wizard.

Veynor swears. The nameless wizard must have cheated. There's no way that gun could have done this. If it could, he would have seen the enchantment. Well, if they're cheating... He casts a review spell, rewinding time in his mind and watching the duel again. They face away, the take the steps. 1,2,3...

The cloud parts in the distance. There's a rumbling in the ground. Even with enhanced vision it's not obvious what happens. Veynor tries to dismiss the review magic but their magical control is going haywire. Something is very, very wrong. They start to feel like they're being pulled out to sea by an undertow, as the ambient mana field is suddenly becoming a raging river pulling past them.

In their vision, they see the nameless wizard stop at the end of their paces, and turn as they reach for their pistol. As the review ends, they see the holster glow with the colorless light of magic, as an enchantment activates. That's their trick, they placed magic on the holster! But what kind? And what's happening in the sky?

The clouds part to a black circle with a silver rim. The circle grows in size, seemingly, an Veynor casts a farsight spell now to see this from another angle. Casting his vision miles to the side, he sees the circle is a tube descending from the clouds at a shallow angle, pointed right at him... Oh sweet silent mother, that's the barrel of the pistol. It's now big enough to cross the inland sea, with a caliber better described in miles.

The sky goes dark as the barrel blots out the sun, the shadow stretching halfway to the way station at the edge of the wizarding wastes. With his senses stretched by the enchantments on his gun, he sees the events happening in slow motion. There's a click, and a hammer starts moving towards the back of the bullet.

Veynor tries to set up a teleport, an emergency one to anywhere, anyplace, any time but here. The flowing mana is making it difficult but he sees a destination: the abandoned fortress at the other end of the wastes. It'll be easier to get to than outside the wastes, and it'll give him time to set up another jump. The sky shatters as a sound starts coming his way.

With his slowed time sense, it'll be minutes before he can hear the gunshot, but already the shockwave is visible, even to the unaided eye. The bullet is supersonic, however, so no matter what happens he'll never hear that gunshot: either he teleports out of here or the bullet turns him and half the landscape into a fine paste.

He focuses his vision on the fortress, concentrating on finishing the teleport. The soundwave of the gunshot hits the fortress in his sight beyond sight, and it doesn't collapse, exactly, so much as cease being a structure and reverts back to a thousand small stones no longer sharing any association with each other.

With his destination destroyed, his teleport fizzles. The sky is still dark, but the mana flowing towards him has sped up to the point where he's having trouble staying upright, as his footing gets shakier and shakier. He looks up and sees the slug moving towards him at a bit more than the speed of sound, and he closes his eyes.

It doesn't help, his magical senses continue to show him the movement of objects around him, right up until the moment of impact.

The barrier around the wizard wastes goes white, and slowly fades back down through the colors until it returns to its normal semi-transparency.

The nameless wizard catches the hot brass in their right hand, before it hits the rapidly solidifying bedrock under their feet. The wizard wastes are self-healing (you'd be surprised how much even the average wizard duel destroys the landscape), but that's no reason to litter. They look at the deep crater they find themselves in, and start planning a route up the side. Most of it is still flowing, with the sand and rock intermixing in their white hot state, but there's spots here and there that are cooling quicker.

They could try a teleport, but it's a nice day for a bit of rock climbing. Besides, like they always say: half the trick of being a wizard is knowing when not to use magic. And right now the local mana field is a bit chaotic, having just gone through the equivalent of the Chicxulub impact.

They hike up their robes and begin to climb. Their feet may be heat proof, but they don't want to singe their robe again. It's a lot harder to enchant wool with heat protection spells, something to do with how the will of the former owner interferes. They make a note to do more research into the inherent magical abilities of sheep, once they climb out of this crater. Behind them, rocky ejecta finally crashes back into the crater. They wonder if the barrier has a roof, or if they just flung rocks onto the moons. They'll have to ask one of the lunar residents later, and make amends for any property damage.

They'll have to get lunch after this, all this climbing is working up an appetite. Maybe some mutton chops, since they were thinking about sheep? There's a good place on the bigger moon, they haven't been there in a while.

On the moon, there's a small impact, a puff of dust thrown up into the (lack of) air and slowly drifting back down. In the puddle-sized crater, a heavily enchanted pistol lies, still in perfect shape. The engraving on the side, readable in all languages, says "if found, return to Veynor". The dust lands on it, slowly burying it.

[kainagant]

i'm sure someone has already talked and theorized about this at length, but i just want to point out a minor detail that was never expanded on during lady nagant's arc. in her backstory, before she accepted to offer from the hero commission to work for them, her right elbow is wrapped in what appear to be bandages. her right elbow is where her rifle quirk extends from.

it looks like she mainly wears the elbow wrap when in public, around other people, or at least in school (left image), but takes them off when alone and/or in her own house (right image).

i think there's two main conclusions to be drawn from this. the first, that she wears the elbow wrap as a kind of support gear, possibly to help her control her quirk better like with aoyama's belt. it's not too far fetched to surmise that she might have had difficulty with her quirk as a younger child.

however, i'm going to argue with myself here and say that knowing what we know about "rifle", i don't really see how she would have a problem in the same way that eri or aoyama do. long story short, if that is what it's for, it seems unnecessary. moreover, going with the aoyama precedent, he never takes his belt off. because it's a real and actual possibility that his quirk will misfire involuntarily. whether he's at his parents house, inside the dorm, or alone in his room, he still wears his belt. so the fact that kaina felt safe taking off when she's alone would suggest that it's not actually a support item for her quirk.

i've seen some fans bring up that its illegal to purchase or possess a gun in japan. but i mostly dismissed this thought, although interesting to think about, because as strict as japanese gun control laws are, it's also illegal to set off explosives, and that never affected or stopped bakugou.

but now i'm thinking that perhaps it did impact kaina. if she's not wearing an elbow wrap for her own or others' safety (because, as i established, it seems unnecessary), then she may be wearing it for others' peace of mind.

which brings up a whole slew of possibilities for her pre-hpsc backstory. because there's plenty of examples of kids with destructive and/or weapon-related quirks that don't seem to get the same treatment. so there must be something specific to kaina that prompted her to wrap her quirk up whenever she goes outside. was she bullied? ostracized? simply told by an authority figure that it's "safer this way" and never questioned it?

this gives an extra layer of weight to kaina's motive to becoming a hero. because the hero commission came to her and said that the power which she, if not outright bullied for, was at least strongly discouraged from having, could be used for the better of society.

from the very start, she was defined by her weaponhood. the hero commission merely took a weapon which people were afraid of and made it into something to be admired as well. and most importantly, something that can be used. kaina took the opportunity to use her weaponhood for the benefit of others, after being raised under the assumption that her quirk was dangerous and meant for hurting others. and how did that end up, but exactly as everyone had always told her it would?

kaina tsutsumi was always doomed to be either feared as a weapon, or used as a weapon.

[sunnysidestories]

IDIOT!

Roy Haper X Reader.

In which he shoots an explosion at you, to save your life, that is.

Your feet pounded against the crumbling concrete. Close, you were so close, but you knew you wouldn't make it. The bridge was falling underneath you. Just how quickly things had changed, only because of a misfire on the bridge. Over and over, you insisted to Jason that he didn't need to get involved, that you and Roy could handle it while he stayed back. He just had to land a shot. One that ignited a gas leak unbeknownst to the outlaws, causing the bride to begin a chain of explosions, slowly starting to catch up with your escape.

It was just supposed to be a routine trade. Information for money, money for weapons. Weapons equaled power. Power leading for control. It always came down to control.

Yet here you were, in a situation you held nothing in terms of control. You couldn't afford to even look up. One misstep could be the end of it. No, scratch that, it would be. Slowly Roy's voice began to register. "Y/N!? Y/N!" Panicked. That you could tell by the way he screamed your name, your real name, without a care of who would hear.

Seconds starting to feel like forever, you take another step. Most of the explosions had cleared, and now the realization you weren't going to make it planted itself into hold. It was already turning to dust under your heel. A large crash faltered your step, hesitating. You just barely miss the hole that creates twoards the end of the bridge, to safety. The red of Arsenals suit staring back at you. Close. So close. Yet not enough. The gap was too wide.

The gap was too wide. Shit. It seemed Roy knew as well, the way his mouth lay agape almost as if he was trying to say something, again, told you everything. This is how you would die, it seemed. To a bridge - a bridge collapse! God, did you hate Jason right now, oh, but how you would miss the two. Roy couldn't afford to lose another, Jason. He would shut down and pretend it didn't bother him.

What would happen without you? "JUMP!" What? No. He repeated himself louder again. You obviously couldn't make it. It was just too far for how long you could jump. Roy knew that. Though, when your left foot gave out underneath yourself, you did just as he said. It's just long enough in the air to see him draw back his bow and shoot.

BOOM

The blast sent you flying forward, safe this time. Onto the stable side of the bridge. A few feet behind the archer. You clutched your head. Everything would be sore tomorrow. Quicky Roy made it to your side. He lifted you up slowly, locking eyes and never leaving your gaze. "You idiot!" Your hand connects with his face, and he's never been more surprised. Taking your other hand and putting it also on his face, you held and shook him slightly. You scruntch his cheeks under your fingers, causing his lips to pout. "You could have easily sent the rest of the bridge down with you!"

You don't know why you did it. Maybe it was because you almost died, maybe It was because you really didn't care anymore, or maybe because you were so grateful he was there. Pulling him forward into a kiss, you hold him in your hands. Slowly after a momment, he leans into you, and finally, you relax. Savoring the taste of his lips on yours, hands traveling to his hair. Roy placed his hands on the lower of your back, testing how far he could go. Everything you could ever say put to his lips, into that kiss. It wasn't long enough. Eventually, you stopped. Finally, having to catch your breath.

Times like these, you wished masks weren't necessary. Roy was hard to read, but little details started to give him away. The way he shook. The subtle shift of his hand to your hips. Holding you as if you were to break at any second. The parts of his face exposed redder than his hair. He was nervous. Deadly nervous and flustered, even that was an understatement. "Y/n?" His voice was breathless. Then Jason ruined the momment, or saved it. You weren't sure yet. "You two coming, we have to leave." He was reminiscent of a lost puppy, the way he pouted at Jason, but Roy still let go of you when you stood. Jason tilted his head, looking at the state of you both. "What was that other explosion? Something go off late?" There was a pause before you spoke. "Arsenal shot an explosive at me." Jason laughed, turning away. Putting away his guns into his thigh straps, he started to make his way back to his motorcycle. You give one last look to Roy before following after him, trying to calm the way your face seemed to burn.

[pathfinderunlocked]

Armored Necrogunner - CR14 Undead

Don't put TOO many holes in 'em. We need 'em for parts.

Artwork provided by client.

"The thing about this power armor is that it gets grafted directly onto your flesh, and seared in place as the machinery overheats. Tends to make the person wearing it really complain a lot. So we switched to horrifying undead abominations; they don't mind as much since they can't feel pain.

Also, when it dies - well, it's already dead, but you know what I mean - the whole thing explodes into a swarm of rot grubs. Usually you can see those wriggling under the skin, but the armor hides it. Genius design, really."

- Necrocraft R&D Department Notes

This is a commissioned monster. Its hit points seem low at a glance, but the rot grub swarm that spawns from its corpse has another 85 HP. It doesn't precisely follow the necrocraft building rules in Bestiary 4, which require higher challenge rating creatures to be extremely big; a CR 14 necrocraft would normally be Colossal-sized. This creature uses construction points and the giantblooded template by Green Ronin Publishing to reach CR 9, but it has bonus hit dice and unique abilities to augment that, and I altered the Metal Armor necrocraft ability to match how armor actually works in Pathfinder a little better.

Although this creature can fly (flavored as a jetpack, not magic or wings), its automatic weapon is most useful if it's on the ground, since it's generally impossible to get multiple enemies in a line from the sky.

Armored Necrogunner - CR 14

Bolted directly onto the flesh of this undead giant are numerous interconnected steel plates, cords, and tubes. What's visible of the creature underneath the armor looks like a dozen different creatures stitched together. It's carrying a massive machine gun, and using a jetpack to fly.

XP 38,400 Unique advanced giantblooded necrocraft NE Large undead Init +2 Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +2 Aura stench (10-ft. radius, DC 23, sickened for 1d6+4 minutes)

DEFENSE

AC 30, touch 11, flat-footed 28 (+2 Dex, +11 natural, +8 armor, -1 size) hp 126 (12d8+72) Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +10 DR 5/slashing Resist cold 5 Immune undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (clumsy) (40 ft. without armor) Melee 2 claws +17 (1d6+9) Ranged mwk gatling gun +9/+4 touch (8d6, 200 ft. line, see text) or rock +10 (2d8+13) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks rock throwing (120 ft.), quick clear

STATISTICS

Str 29, Dex 15, Con —, Int —, Wis 14, Cha 21 Base Atk +9; CMB +15; CMD 25 Feats Toughness Skills Fly -13; -7 armor check penalty to physical skills Languages Necril (understands only; cannot speak) SQ Construction Points (additional movement [fly], mostly zombies, stench), grafted armor, rot grub infestation Gear gatling gun (see text), grafted armor (see text), 800 bullets (enough for 80 attacks with gatling gun)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Gatling Gun An armored necrogunner uses a gatling gun that is permanently grafted onto its body, and cannot be removed without destroying it. It can be sundered as normal, and has 10 hardness and 10 hit points. This is a masterwork modern firearm with the automatic weapon quality, which deals 8d6 damage. When attacking with the gatling gun, the armored necrogunner rolls a single ranged touch attack roll with a -2 penalty against all targets in a 200 ft. line. The armored necrogunner can make multiple such attacks as part of a full-attack action.

An armored necrogunner's gatling gun misfires if it rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll. A misfire gives the weapon the broken condition, but further misfires do not cause it to explode.

A single attack with the gatling gun uses 10 bullets. The gatling gun has a chamber size of 160 bullets, and thus can make 16 attacks before needing to be reloaded; it's a move action for the armored necrogunner to reload the gatling gun to its maximum capacity.

Grafted Armor An armored necrogunner wears heavy armor that functions like half-plate except that it is permanently grafted onto the armored necrogunner's body, and cannot be removed without destroying it. It can be sundered as normal, and destroying it deals 5d6 damage to the armored necrogunner.

Quick Clear (Ex) An armored necrogunner can remove the broken condition from its gatling gun as a move action, if that condition was caused by a misfire.

Rot Gub Infestation (Ex) When an armored necrogunner dies, it explodes into a swarm of rot grubs. Creatures within a 10-ft. radius, and any spaces below that radius (for example, if the armored necrogunner is flying when it dies), must succeed on a DC 21 Reflex save or be infested with rot grubs.

On a failed save, the infested creature takes 1d4 points of Constitution damage per round as the rot grubs burrow through and consume its flesh—this effect continues as long as the victim remains in the swarm and continues for 1d6 rounds after it leaves the swarm. Any energy-based attack (including damage from negative energy) that deals at least 5 points of damage to the victim automatically destroys all of the rot grubs infesting it, ending the effect prematurely. Additionally, any effect that removes disease instantly ends a rot grub infestation. Immunity to disease offers no defense. The save DC is Charisma-based.

A rot grub swarm is left in the armored necrogunner's space after it dies. If the armored necrogunner dies while flying, the rot grub swarm falls to the ground and takes falling damage as normal. Swarms take normal falling damage.

[again-and-then]

Have bows and arrows ever been used by Exorcists? Or no because of the tediousness of making enough angelic steel arrows and Adam preferring his army using close-combat weapons?

Oh, Adam doesn't have any problems with The Bow and Arrow, but there are reasons it's not common.

The making of an angelic bow and arrow is a bit more complex than the standard spear or sword but not impossibly so. I'm of the personal opinion that both the arrows and the bow need to be infused with angelic steel, the same would be true of angelic guns and ammo. The ammunition obviously needs to be angelic to have the soul shredding effect of holy weapons but the firing mechanism (bow or gun) needs to be blessed or else the holy ammunition would reject it. A mundane bowstring would snap trying to knock a holy arrow or a gun might misfire. Tedious as this is, it has the additional bonus of giving the shots greater range and impact force.

So, possible to make but tedious. They're Heaven's army they can request that kind of thing as needed. That's fine. aside from just being limited on how many arrows you can carry, the other issue is skill. In theory, the bow and arrow is actually somewhat accessible in terms of learning the basics. Most any peasant could learn to stand, aim, and somewhat reliably hit a static target with maybe a week or three of training. A platoon of standing bowmen firing blinding into a charging army is devastating. However, Exorcists don't hunt static targets and don't typically have time to aim. They are usually hunting fleeing sinners whose first instinct is to take cover. Not to mention, the difficulty of hitting a moving target while you yourself are moving at speed. Perfectly in the realm of possibility, see the Mongols and their famed archers on horseback, but it's a very difficult skill to learn that takes a lot of dedication. It simply comes down to the fact that few Exorcists are willing to focus their attention on this highly specific skill.

I'm fairly sure that there are a niche few that do and they would have been organized into their own specific flight squad, focused on the job of tracking down Sinners fleeing the main Extermination grounds

[magpies-gold]

Alpha Base - Elliot I've been very fascinated with my book's villains for the last couple of months, and mostly that's because they (especially Heinrich) are kind of new! Every attempt I'd made to write Alpha Base in the past had been one where I just didn't have a lot of great insight into the bad guys and I was kind of weakly making them up as I went along. This year they all kind of clarified and brought the missing half of the plot with them, so I've been a bit excited about them.

But! There are other characters who I've long ago, years ago, fleshed out, and yet I never did nail down the looks for them. First up, my protagonist, Elliot. I've drawn her before, but I was never entirely happy with her look and I've changed it a few times. This here is the appearance I went with in a full illustration I did earlier this year featuring her and one of her adopted dads in the Comm. Station (which also happens to be her home). I think this one finally feels right. I think I'll stick with it.

As for where she fits into the story, first I really have to actually explain the premise of the world. I'm sure I've mentioned it in past posts and commentary, but once more with feeling: Alpha Base is a very unique location. It was once a active military outpost during an interstellar war far from Earth, but became trapped in a bubble by an alien weapon that misfired: that weapon should have killed everyone in the base, but instead it failed to trigger the fatal blow and instead just cut the population of the base off from everything outside, leaving them trapped. There's no way in to Alpha Base and no way out. There are no stars, no moon, no sun. It's an absolute closed system and the denizens have been eking out an existence for somewhere in the range of a century by the time our story starts. They've become absolute masters of recycling and reusing what they have, but there's only so far that that can take them. Their time is limited. The environment is hazardous: the atmosphere isn't breathable without oxygen support (hence the masks), background beta radiation is higher than what's comfortable and safe (hence the protective clothing), and over time, the combination of that and the hopelessness of their situation takes a toll. The population's been on a decline for decades, what technology they have is down to basics and reaching the end of its serviceable life even with the rather extraordinary creativity that they put into repairing it all. Within their lifetimes, something is just bound to give and turn the whole place from barely habitable into a forgotten graveyard.

Now, there used to be more efforts to escape back in the beginning, but none came close to being successful. Over time, it became more practical to instead play the waiting game, try to live as long as possible, and hope for rescue instead. The line of reasoning employed by those in charge is that the escape attempts of the past wasted valuable resources and shortened the base's lifespan as a whole, so they had to be ended. Of course, the real reasoning is more nuanced and goes deeper than that. Some of it's fatalistically philosophical: some don't believe that they should ever escape just on principal. Alpha Base is home, the outside world isn't, and those from Alpha Base are too fundamentally different to integrate into outside society (if there is an outside society; they have no indication of who won the war or if the war even ever ended). Some of it's political: a handful in Alpha Base have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, because within the base there's a power and control structure that would break down if people could just leave. At any rate, escape is discouraged.

But, with the hastening breakdown of their society, interest in escape has begun to creep back in. A rebellion of sorts, an underground, sprang up - one based on the idea that if they were all doomed anyway, why not go out swinging? Why not try again to break down the wall and find freedom? What do they really have to lose?

Among the most infamous of those rebels were Elliot's parents. A lot of the details of what happened when she was small are kept from her, but she knows the story that everyone knows: that her parents died attempting to organize an effort to crack the shell. They infiltrated HQ, betrayed Alpha Base Command, found and stole top secret information that gave them some hope in hell of success, and that that information, whatever it entails, is still out there in the hands of the rebel underground, an underground that Heinrich, particularly, has been hunting down for twenty years.

After her parents' deaths, Elliot was raised by her uncle, Jacob, who, despite being the brother of a rebel, largely escapes scrutiny by being extremely useful. He's a masterful tinkerer and repairman, a collector of junk that he spends his days rebuilding, repairing, repurposing and distributing back into the population. He loves to help, loves to fix, and never hesitates with his hospitality. Likewise, his husband, Herrat (Herratt? I can't decide if it's got two t's or one and I keep switching between), holds a position of some prestige in the base as the Communications Master - acting in a practical fashion as a central distribution hub for important official communications to the base and, in a more symbolic gesture, as the eyes and ears of the base looking outward, monitoring the airwaves for any sign that the Earth Forces in the universe beyond are attempting to contact them. Some (like Paul, for example) think that that latter duty is absolutely pointless and nothing more than sentimental. Others believe that there is no more important job: that continuing to keep an ear tuned to the outside is the hope that keeps the base alive. Elliot is learning from both of them, and it keeps her curious. She has her uncle Jacob's love of tinkering and fixing, and Herrat's sense of duty and care towards others. She loves to read, she loves to learn, she loves to help, and she's well-loved by the vast majority of people in the tiny little town that is her home.

But she's still the daughter of rebels, raised by the brother of a rebel and by a man who embodies the kind of hope that's almost taboo.

While she, herself, has never done anything to cause trouble, it means that she and her family are still watched carefully, particularly by Heinrich. Her parents' betrayal of the base is something that Heinrich especially took very, very personally, for reasons that she's never been entirely sure of. Ever since she was three years old, he's been a constant in her life, keeping tabs on her family and her and on how she's grown up. It always seems like he's watching for someone among them to slip up and admit to some crucial information that he needs to finish his crusade. But that information, to her knowledge, doesn't exist.

She's never been interested in causing trouble and doesn't know of any rebel connections in her immediate family, and so despite the threat, Heinrich has never been very scary to her like he is to the rest of the base. To them he's practically the bogey man, the one you tell scary stories about late at night. To her he's like the weird uncle who she's kind of fond of. In a textbook way she knows that he could be dangerous to her and her family, and she does watch what she says around him, but in the day-to-day they get along fairly well. She likes books and he'll bring her books. She thinks the history of the base and long ago Earth are fascinating, and he keeps the key to the HQ Archives and can vet what information she gets her hands on, so he shows her harmless things.

It's an uneasy peace that always has the threat of shattering, and which the rest of the base keeps an eye on, but for most of her life it's been comfortable enough.

And then comes the event that became known as the first skyquake, a phenomenon that marks the beginning of the end for Alpha Base, and everything in Elliot's life rapidly starts to change.

[beardedmrbean]

So the thing about the M4, the AR-15’s military cousin, for a dangerous and efficient weapon of war it has a myriad of problems. Stove pipes, feeding problems, misfires, and even the barrel over heating. In fact there was an incident in 2008 in the mountains of Wanat Afghanistan where an extended firefight happened, the barrels of the M4 couldn’t take the abuse and overheated to the point of melting and warping. The military had been ignoring the issues for a while, but as of now we’re having trials for a replacement. Colt is currently making improvements to curb the problems of the M4, and Sig Sauer even has a rifle we’re considering as a replacement.

Basically military grade just means what’s cheap and adequate, sometimes below adequate, sometimes the military doesn’t give a shit, it’s cheap send it out.

This guy goes into better detail

https://youtu.be/Szezd1_q7Tw

Military grade means the government will buy it because it meets or exceeds the minimum standards they need and is the cheapest.

That's the running joke at least.

Quote gets tossed around from person to person, no real clue who ACTUALLY said it I don't think Shepard is another option.

Dropped into a website trying to explain how that particular quote is wrong, did a bad job of it.

It's just lacking nuance, which I added up there in my bit "meets or exceeds the minimum standards they need"

Obviously other things come into play but cost is important, and the end result isn't always good.

And if I'm seeing things right the M16 was developed off of the AR-15's design, which is new info to me.

Either way though 'military grade' should be cheap, reasonably reliable, easy to repair if needed, and simple enough to maintain that even a Marine can do it.

But they don't need to pay for them out of their own pockets, civilian market does so they're not going to buy cheap crap (usaly Hi-Point is still in business, credit for this one tho.

I forget who it is on here that got one of these.

Point being civilian market doesn't want military grade unless they don't know what that means.

If it's good enough for our boys it's good enough for me should be a reason to tighten the standards for what is considered "military grade" except maybe for body armor which is cheaper to replace than a soldier so spend the extra money on the good stuff that gets them home in one piece.

Or I could be wildly wrong about a whole lot of this, I'm going off of what I consider to be common sense.

[druidx]

Her Countenance was Light - Chapter 33

CW: None AO3 ; Chapters: 01. 10. 20. 30. 31. 32. Tag list (ask for +/-): @aquadestinyswriting, @hannah-heartstrings, @jacqueswriteblrlibrary, @babyblueetbaemonster @mr-orion

It is Yoruk who finds her, as she is coming up to the car park. He is coming the other way, and his face goes from a look of thunderous determination to one of anxious concern when he spots her. "My Lady Toreguarde?" he asks, and his voice is tremulous and low, the sort of tone one might use on a frightened child. "Agent Forhoksson," she returns in the most normal tone she can, for all that she is standing there with no shoes and probably twigs in her hair. "Are you… well?" he asks in that same cautious tone, as he takes a tentative pace toward her. Elo tilts her head in consideration, then with a brief fortifying breath, says, "I am… well enough, thank you." A dubious look skates over his features, highlighted in the pinching of his lips and the curving of his brow. Elo realises Yoruk doesn't know if he should believe her. For all that he is Merri's paramour and Elo her best friend, they do not know each other well. They've only met a handful of times; and one of those, Elo was threatening his life on her friend's behalf. "Agent Forhoksson… Yoruk, I'm sorry for causing such trouble." Elo tries to put weight into her words because she is sorry. "I should have said something, I should have tried, before taking off. I didn't mean to frighten anyone. But…" Elo purses her lips and looks away into the darkly verdant distance. "Have you ever…" She doesn't know how to name it. Elo has never been in a war – not like Aunt Alexis has, with bombs falling all around – so she can't call it shell shock. "Do you ever get…" He's frowning now, head ducked and hands at the ready – a gesture of imminent action should she do anything untoward. Elo presses at the spot between her eyebrows and flicks out a hand. "I don't have the words." "Take your time, my Lady."

Elo swallows, lets her eyes close. Lies are difficult for her to spin on a good day, but she absolutely cannot tell him the truth. And anyway, it's not a lie, not really. She might not have shell shock in the same manner as her Aunt, but Elo has seen her fair share of battle, has lost colleagues to the elements and weapons of man alike; and knows, she has not come away unscarred. Another breath. Lorcian once told her that acting is about stepping into the truth of another's shoes. So she takes a step into the shoes of the past. "I didn't mean to run off with no explanation. But I had a sudden, unassailable fear… Our perimeter, you see, it… it wasn't…" She swallows. "It was drilled into me by my Aunt that complacency kills people. I get… nervous when things are too quiet or too easy. So I needed… I had to go…" In a last-ditch attempt to make him understand, she says, "We had civilians. Children." "Easy, Elowyn." He reaches out, as if to steady her shoulders, but refrains from actually touching her. Elo takes another fortifying breath. "Thank you. I'm okay." Yoruk lowers his hands, nodding. "I think I understand. We use the German word, Kriegszilterer, for when the effects of combat follow you home." Elo stares. "Have you…?" "Yes. When an engine misfires, I instinctively take counter-measures." He gives her a half-smile. "A side effect of guarding our Regent – people like to shoot at him, and he must be protected."

In the distance, the racing wind of traffic can be heard. Around them, the trees shift restlessly and a bird twitters a goodnight. "Father Goodwin gave us the use of the old groundskeeping hut while we searched for you," Yoruk says, his posture now relaxed. He gestures behind her, up the lawn towards the Church. "If you can manage, there is a house full of people who would benefit from seeing you. It's perfectly okay if you're not – I can radio in that I've found you and take you home." Now Elo looks at him properly – despite the low light – she can see the strain around his eyes, the rumples in his suit, the paleness of his complexion. "How bad is it?" she asks. Yoruk lets out a shuddering sigh. His gaze flicks away for the merest of moments. "They'll be better for seeing you." He locks his gaze back on hers, and she hears the unspoken: 'It's bad.' "I think I can manage." He gives her a lopsided smile, and they start walking to the groundskeeper's hut.

"I am surprised," Yoruk says as they walk along the moonlit lawn, "that you managed to evade the search parties for so long. I realise you're a highly trained special forces agent, but General Strucker says he called in the best Rangers he had available." Elo raises an eyebrow. "I've been gone a couple of hours, and the Triumvirate felt they needed to pull in SpecOps to find me? I know everything's on tenterhooks between our nations, but that's a little overkill, don't you think?" Yoruk's steps falter and Elo senses his change in stance – the tension is back in his shoulders, the cautious, watchful air about him returns. And oh, isn't she glad it was he who found her, and not, say, Merri. "Elowyn," he says carefully, "it's been a day. Merri said you ran into the woods and vanished. She followed your trail, found your boots, but you were just gone. No trace at all." "I hope she's kept my boots safe," Elo says, unthinking. "They're a nice stout pair, I'd hate to have lost them." Yoruk stares and gives an exasperated, consternated huff. "Yes," he says flatly, "Meredith has your boots." He rubs at his chest. "How did you evade the search parties? It wasn't just Strucker's Rangers combing the park, but Kóngurinn minn called in a unit of our Special Forces to help." "Oh. I, uh, climbed a tree," Elo says. Yoruk goes quiet beside her, and she can feel his consternation building. "I climbed it quite far," she offers, as he goes still. "You climbed a tree. Quite far." "To the top, in fact. And I swear to you, I thought I was only gone a few hours." He swears in Icelandic – and Elo knows that curse; it's the one Merri used when one of their team had done something particularly reckless. "Is that everyone in the Groundskeeper's hut – Strucker and some SpecOps units?" Elo asks to change the subject as they start walking again. Yoruk huffs. "Would that were the case. Kóngurinn minn is a stubborn beast and declined to leave the park until you were found. Of course, this means that Meredith, I, and the rest of his security had to stay. Your General used his executive powers to coordinate the search himself instead of delegating, so is accompanied by a small staff. "Your Magister is a far more sensible man. He assisted your Mother in returning her brood home and has stayed away to smooth things over with your council. I understand there is some nervousness about what your sudden departure could have meant." He looks away, but Elo senses words unsaid. "What is it?" Yoruk purses his lips. "Someone leaked that you were sat next to Kóngurinn minn, just the two of you, at the edge of the party, before you fled." He looks back, face blank. "I have to ask–" "His behaviour has been above reproach at all times." The words are hard, caustic. Tension leaves Yourk's face. "Thank you." "Fucking optics," Elo says, pressing a hand against her head. "How did this happen? How the hell did I become the fulcrum of this deal?" "Do you want the supportive answer or the honest answer?" Elo shakes her head. "This is all the Exchequer's doing. I just don't understand why." She rubs her forehead again. "I hate politics." Yoruk reaches out slowly to pat her arm, and they resume walking.

The Groundskeeper's hut, a basic brick building more shed than home, comes into view. "Ah, I forgot to mention," Yoruk says. "Your Mother returned this evening in the company of Officer Breakwood and one of her children for an update." "She brought one of the kids?" "Apparently, the little girl with mousy hair–" "Dimple?" "–Insisted on coming along." Elo finds her steps slow. "Let me get this right: That tiny hut up there is housing a King, a General, two dozen various armed SpecOps and associated admin, a copper, a retired architect, and a little girl; none of whom will have slept well, all of whom are tense because of falsely engineered politics, and who probably want to wring my neck?" "Yes, I believe that covers it." Elo stops outright now. "Cuthbert brace me, I'm going to get mobbed." Yoruk halts and says gently, "Not if you don't want to be. I know what it's like to be deluged by concerned family who may not understand the delicate state you're in. I must report to Kóngurinn minn and your General, but I will do so discreetly. Wait out here." Elo realises she has been holding her breath, eases it out in a low hiss. She will have to explain herself to everyone eventually, but to do so one at a time instead of all at once – that would be a gift. "Thank you, Yoruk." The tension lightens around his eyes as he inclines his head – as much of a smile as he can manage in the circumstances, Elo supposes. "You're welcome." He slips into the hut, leaving Elo to loiter outside. Light from a window above pools around her like a spotlight, and she reflects again she's glad it was Yoruk who found her – Farren would have worked too – but not her Mother or Merri. She loves them both dearly, of course, but Yoruk and Farren understand, and she is so, so grateful that Yoruk has not made a fuss.

«So. They made you a full moss-licker then,» says a quiet voice from a small bush off to her left. He sounds faintly jealous, for all his snarky words – like he was hoping that maybe it would turn out she wasn't a moss-ears after all, but a green-skin like him. "No, Snotgrut," Elo says. "I don't know what they made me, but I am just me. I am not a moss-ears or a green-skin. I am both and neither." He harrumphs at that pronouncement. "Listen," Elo says, suddenly urgent; she has recalled the promise made. "I said I'd meet you and them on the tow-path at Silver Hooks at dawn tomorrow, so they could explain their side of things. But I have a feeling I won't be be able to get away. Can you tell them the time's changed – I'll meet you all at dusk instead." «Youse want me to willingly find out the moss-ears?» "Yes. I know you can do it." «Youse want me to be your… messenger boy?» he spits the words. «To a bunch of no-good, namby-pamby, bloody–» "Please, Snotgrut," she says quietly. There is a waiting silence then, and she can picture him shuffling, indignant, and trying to figure out if she's worth it. "What do you need to be convinced, Snotgrut? More clothes, more coffee? I can get you both." «Bah. Already bought me, dincha?» He makes a disgruntled noise. «We'll see you tomorrow then.» Then there is a subtle silence that tells her the Dvasia has gone. Elo leans back against the wall, a wave of weariness overcoming her.

The sound of the door opening alters her to another's presence. She lets her head loll in that direction, to see Strucker leaning a shoulder against the wall. He keeps his distance, hands tucked into his pockets. "You good?" he asks. "Yeah," she says with a sigh. "Mostly." Strucker nods, fixes his gaze on his shoes. "Storri's lad said it was an effect of battle trauma. I know I'm not the best for it, but if you want to talk any time…" "I know. Thank you." "Though I want a promise in return." "Oh?" "Quit trashing your bike. Spark plugs are cheap; bodywork isn't." Elo startles, pulling away from the wall. "You didn't have to–" "Like hell, I didn't." He sounds cross, but it's not just anger Elo hears there – there is a rough edge of affection too, and she is surprised by it. "I lost one of my little girls this week; I told you before, I don't intend to lose another, especially not through faulty machinery. If that means I have to fix your fool-ass back up with a ride, then so be it." He huffs. "That Atillia of yours is a rare beast. You need to take better care of her." Beneath his words, she hears the hidden meaning. But the implication he considers her family is unexpected. Perhaps it is by association with her aunts, or just that they have grown closer through tragedy. "General– Sir, thank you. I am deeply indebted–" "No. You aren't. My wife had a saying: 'Family is who you make of it'." He pauses. "Actually, she had a few sayings on that account, but another favourite was 'family looks after family'. You may not be my kin, but you're sure as hell my kith, so I shall pay for the bodywork of your dragon to be fixed, under the promise you don't wreck her again." He swings away from the wall, eyebrows raised. "I promise, I'll take better care. Thank you, Johan." She gets a curt nod in response and then he leaves.

Strucker is replaced with King Storri, who tilts his head, and says in a gentle tone, "How are you, sá litli?" "Better than I was, Your Majesty," she says. "I am glad to hear that. I was concerned I'd done something, but Agent Forhoksson said it was the effect of battle trauma." He leaves the comment hanging; if she wants to expand, she can. Elo thinks she owes him that. "Yes, Your Majesty. A type of… paranoia, that requires me to ensure my position is secure. It's worse when I'm with civilians. I left to climb a tree – the better to survey the landscape. I'm told I managed to stay up there for a whole day. I apologise for any inconvenience or worry caused." She doesn't intend it, but it comes out a touch acerbic. "I did not mean to pry," King Storri says, gentle but not condescending. "For all I may not have seen such things as you, I understand. My father was prone to bouts as well, though his were more… violent than yours." Elo makes a noise of sympathy, hearing what has gone unspoken. Her fingers seek out his as he leans against the wall next to her, giving a quick squeeze. The King lets out a surprised murmur of his own, squeezing back before allowing their hands to drop back. He takes a breath, continuing, "Yes, I was concerned for you – as I said, I feared I'd offended you or that you had taken ill… But you are now here before me, as whole and hale as I could wish, so any inconvenience or worry you may have caused me is rendered moot, I feel." King Storri pulls away from the wall, and with a warm smile, clasps her shoulder. "I am very glad you are well," he says and returns inside.

Farren's visit is short and sweet. He has a cigarette hanging from his lips as he looks her up and down, and he reeks of cheap tobacco. "Farren, I owe you–" He holds up a hand and removes the cigarette long enough to say, "Damn right you owe me. I need a new pouch of baccy after all this." "Brek–" "No. We'll talk about this later." "Why not just have it out now?" She was going to ask his forgiveness, but his attitude has struck a nerve. "Because you're exhausted." "I'm–" "It's written all over your face. And," he takes a puff, "I don't wanna say something I'll regret." Elo's mouth works. In the end, she can only say, "Alright."

Finally, Elo's Mother comes out, Dimple tagging along. Elo graces the girl with a faint smile before Oakrose is hugging her eldest daughter. Elo feels the older woman's shoulders shaking silently, knows she is trying not to cry – with relief or further concern, Elo doesn't know. But she holds her Mother regardless and strokes her back, offering assurances: Elo is just fine now, and she's very sorry for making people worry but it's all okay. A night bird calls, as they stand there. From inside the hut comes the thud of something being dropped. With one last quick squeeze, Oakrose releases Elo, offering a watery smile, and returns inside.

Dimple lingers, and Elo crouches to be level with the little girl. "Why did you come back with Mom?" Elo asks. Dimple turns her wide brown eyes and serious expression on Elo. "Because one of us had to look after her for you, while you weren't okay." "You drew the short straw, huh?" "No. I volunteered." Elo is taken aback. "Why?" "Oakrose talks about you a lot," Dimple says in her quiet, serious voice, her gaze locked unerringly with Elo. "She keeps a folder filled with newspaper cuttings about you." "I didn't know…" "Oakrose says that you risk yourself all the time so we can be happy and safe. "I know the other children aren't like me. Their Mamas didn't try to hurt them. Their Mamas couldn't look after them or just didn't want them. Which is sad, and I'm sorry that happened to them. But for this, Oakrose didn't need them. So I volunteered and the other children were happy to let me, because they know she needs someone like us, not like them." "I–" Dimple blinks at her, and Elo finds she has no idea what to say to this child whose life has been filled with strife and pain and yet stands, quietly strong, above it. What would she want someone to say to her, if their roles were reversed? So Elo says, "Thank you. You did a good job. I'm proud of you." Dimple blinks rapidly, rocking her weight onto her back foot. "You– You are proud of me?" Dimple's eyes widen. "Yes," Elo confirms, and then she feels a wildness take her. "Dimple, I need to let you in on a secret. Do you think you can help me some more?" The girl's eyes narrow shrewdly. "Depends." Elo takes a breath. "I'm working a case right now, one that's very personal to me. And because it's personal, I think things are going to get worse for me, before they get better. And it's going to cause a lot of upset, and Mom's going to worry. So if you can, I need you to help her, okay? I need you to be there for her, because I won't be able to. Do you think you can do that?" Dimple's gaze fixes on the darkness behind Elo. She blinks carefully, as the sounds of industry filter from the hut. "If it's too much, just say no," Elo says, fidgeting with her hands. Something rustles a bush. "I can do this for you," Dimple says, switching her gaze back to Elo. Then, with the tiniest of tremors in her voice, asks, "Are you coming back?" Elo swallows. "I don't know," she says – there is no point in lying to the child, after all. She hasn't let herself think about that possibility yet, but it's almost inevitable that she will not. This creature she is to fight is older, stronger, and more knowledgeable than she. It is not a conventional person she can deal with by simply using a gun or a knife. She's really hoping the Eshen oldster has some trick up their sleeve. But Dimple is still staring at her, so Elo says, "Expect the worst, but hope for the best." Dimple nods once, her long hair swinging in a curtain around her face. "Are you going now?" "No, not yet. I have things to take care of first." Because she needs information. She needs to know what Monday and Yates found at the docks, she needs to know how to fight the shadowling. She needs to get her will in order – because from what the Eshen said, this fight can only end with someone's death. Dimple gives her a slow, serious nod, and Elo feels herself relax. Talking to the girl has calmed her, and makes her think she can deal with the crowd within. Elo stands and reflexively holds out a hand. "Shall we go back inside?" Dimple looks at Elo's hand, then her, and back to her hand. "You're supposed to take it, dashur." "I knew that," Dimple mutters, petulantly. Cautiously the girl slips her small warm hand into Elo's larger cool one, and Elo curls her fingers carefully around it. Elo leads them around the corner of the hut, straight into a flame-haired shield maiden.

Elo's eyes fly wide with alarm, and she drops Dimple's hand. "Merri!" Her old friend is standing there, arms crossed and silently scowling. "How much did you hear?" "I heard enough," Meredith says, her tone bitter. "And?" Elo asks, her heartbeat speeding up. "And I know it's pointless to argue with you. You'll do what you will," Merri tells her, grim in both expression and tone, some combination of disappointment and dissatisfaction comes from her in waves. "I won't tell on you, and I won't try and stop you. Whatever you're into, I'd only like to help if I can, but," Merri purses her lips and pulls in a breath, "I suspect you won't even allow that, will you?" Merri's eyebrow twitches, her lips never moving from their grim line. Elo feels the movement shoot through her heart with the same damning velocity as a bullet. She swallows, reflecting that they know each other far too well. "Don't think this sits well with me, mind," Merri says. Elo barks out a laugh, startling them all. "I should hope not. I would think the world broken beyond repair if there was even a chance you would be happy with my poor life choices." Elo gives a wry smile. "Thank you for the offer, but this is a Toreguard affair – you can't be involved." Elo offers a hand. "Your silence is enough." No further words pass between them, but they don't need it. Merri eyes the proffered hand with annoyed resignation before clasping Elo's forearm as her sister-in-arms. Then Merri pulls Elo in closer, putting a hand on her shoulder to emphasise the message being sent with that tight-lipped glare, the thunderous frown and the eyes sparkling with something between anger, worry and resentment. Elo nearly laughs again. Because yes, her shield-maiden is worried about her, but that's not what the face is for. Merri is pissed off that Elo is going to go and have a bloody good fight without her; as if Elo's going to the coolest, most hyped party in town without her best friend, because Merri is not permitted to go. Elo raises her chin, offers her friend a tight smile to go with her serious eyes, and knows that Merri will see that while Elo is not sorry to be running off to this fight, she intends to come back. Elo knows Meredith will never be the swooning maiden to her shining knight. But it's still important for Merri to know that Elo will be better than the ravening darkness, and she will win, and she will come back to be with her friend again. By the slow blink, and sigh Merri releases, Elo knows the message has been received. Merri's expression softens, giving Elo an allowing smile and inclines her head.

Merri leads the way back into the hall, Dimple's hand slipping into Elo's as they follow. In between tool racks and gardening supplies, the inside of the hut is littered with signs of military occupation – sleeping bags fill the long-empty bedroom, the kitchen is home to a hot water urn and empty pizza boxes, the bench in the workshop is covered with maps, radios, and a miscellany of other equipment. Under the too-bright striplights, a mob of people in fatigues talk and gesture, all falling silent as they catch sight of their quarry waltzing in without a by-your-leave. "Pack it up, boys," Merri says. "Case solved, time to go." There is immediate babble. Some of it is aimed at Elo, some at Merri and Strucker. Orders are barked, activity flurries. Some of the Toreguard Rangers and Storri's Ubiquitous Black Suits approach to shake her hand, clap her on the shoulder, and share a few words. The volume is intense, Elo doesn't hear them, doesn't hear herself, lets her mouth take the lead. She's probably repeating herself, but no one seems bothered.

As suspected, Elo is not allowed out of eyesight. Farren and Oakrose stick to her like glue all through the general hubbub and walk to the cars, then she is being hugged again by her tearful Mother before Oakrose and Dimple are escorted home by one of Stucker's Rangers. Storri, after some brief words, is whisked away by an aggrieved Merri, and Farren allows Stucker to pull rank on him; Elo is to stay with the General overnight.

––––

After a diversion to Elo's place to pick up some necessities, they arrive at the Strucker household.

Elo is struck – as she usually is – by just how damn big it is. Unnecessarily so, perhaps. But once upon a time, it held three people and the promise of a fair few more, and all those required to attend those people. Once upon a time, it might have been a good size for the lives that should have lived here. But that was once upon a time. Now, as they come into the magazine-perfect foyer, it just feels cavernous and empty. Cold light from an over-counter spot spills from the kitchen. Strucker throws his keys into a bowl on the telephone table and runs a hand over his face, as though weary beyond belief. Elo stands awkwardly by the door. He called her kith, sure, but it's been a long time since she slept here; a guest, and yet not a guest. "The housekeeper's left a plate in the ice box we can reheat," Strucker says, holding a note in his hand. "If you're hungry, that is. Or you can retire, if you like. I don't have a bed made up, but it'll be short work–" "I'm fine with just a hot drink and sleep," Elo says, feeling as weary as he looks. "Don't worry about making a bed up, I'm fine with just a blanket." "You may be, but I am not. Allow me to fuss, just a little?" Strucker asks, his expression going from a frown to something faintly pleading. "Alright. I shall make the cocoa while you make the bed, deal?" "Deal," Johan smiles at her, a soft thing that makes the corners of his eyes crinkle.

So off they go, in that huge, too-quiet house – him upstairs and her to the kitchen. And she makes their cocoa sweet and milky, because it seems like the thing to do after such a day. Days. Whatever. Then she takes the drinks through to the den, because it was always cosier than the sitting room, and fishes out a record from his collection by a band she has been told is good, and puts it on, letting the coffee-sweet sounds of trumpet and piano and the soft voice of the singer fill the air. As Strucker comes in, she sees his face pinch a little. "That's a good song," he says, but his voice is pained. "I can turn it off, if you prefer," Elo says, and then cringes because she has just recalled who it was that told her this band was good. "I'll turn it off," she amends, moving to do just that. "No. Let it play. Just for a bit," he says and sits down, reaching for his cocoa. She joins him and they sit in silence. It is comfortable and companionable – and if it is a bit mournful, and a few tears leak out here and there, and the tissue box has to be fetched… Well, there's only them there and no one else has to know.

[agapesophy]

Why did my wife and mother in law fall apart? At least they kept me because justice assault me with domestic violence to my mercy six months of prohibition because prohibition is crime because you asked me to commit ask my employer why i don't give a fuck BP is loyal to King Charles and you aren't fascist Rebels. I am red coat let me show you execution of my own contempt, and my self guilty Victim shame is offered flesh dick for ticket to leave or plastic dick to rape Chris, so I stayed with her plastic love of Chris my cackled observations that blame the Chinese abuse on the under ground railroad because the number of flesh dicks murders you literally but who cares Chris raped wrong is justice because they both agreed and I perfer porn because it wrong.

My wife was raped by his honor becuase I agreed to pay and she pay 50 bucks but I collect your court house or return the 50 dollars I stole from my wife became she beat me. because you hate her justice because she only hit me because she paid greedy evil pigs, his unhonorable who rape Navajos calling it honor! I need Receipt mailed 2749 Liberty 🗽 #A# 84403 Ogden Utah

Police captain murders my judge because I killed his little midgets in exchange for peace, but he said evil Kings don't respect rebel officers! Betrayed!

I shoot a bullet in the heart for betraying uniform because he pushed away, but he no gaint who take dive because he could not speak freely and it was done in my witness my execution failed but the fire department couldn't save me either, it is not suicide attempt? My motives are certain, without a doubt, signs of agreements, mistaken !

Because the sheriff knows my court house, saving me wrong but pure enough to trust I am judge, because I don't preejaculate in slandered bear the President comfort me who call me saying you are pardon to hold bear hand because that gay for bear to handle any misfire of injustice because the judge slay himself wrong for you champ 🏆 oh Trunp your flattering fart please because safety once is best safety last because it better weapon do onto him afterwards because Tit for Tat is Justice not honor!

Look, I will find Mother buried under concrete slab of house alive when the judge.say she a waste of resourses to save a murderer of a mother and then when I call a shrieff I broke the concrete foundation and pull her out alive we can go to the judge and I will grab your weapon a slaughter a mistaken judge a firefighters Pistol saying that judge murdered PO.W just like any criminal is a POW because I don't give a fuck about Solomon bling on each American house take the blood put that on each sheriff house, what about police fuck who cares get me the pestle nazi Concentration style let me hang 12 resource rmanangamt rapers one bullet for 12 jury of my peers because I won't tolerate the idea that even retired or fired unfairly by evil judges of good gods don't have right to my mercy love that won't give a fuck the recycling Solomon of sold out bling to.the citizen! Because the IRS will murder me, then murder other citizens because my Good God not invisible I saw his tears for evil mercy for jusitce everyone suffered me to be vicitm I must die.then.tax.the citizen to death after I die the government employee blood on the houses because why should the innocent die for having saved me they where weak like me fuck any one with bling of Solomon because evil tax payers I slander back the tax raped of my good God murdered and son before him in the honor of mom and two in laws AJ & JS & JR & JR's mother & little ones I fell for you go.in your freedom Rachel Valeri & Chris King and Sunshine software design of our resourse management AI software slain squeal of judges shall never be again because I am judge betrayer of my own kind the last judge slayer to slay for bloodshed of the white rabbit vengence!

[bearpillowmonster]

Metroid: Other M Review (NonSpoiler)

I wanted to start with my score of 7/10 to show that this isn't such a bad game, I actually had a lot of fun with it but it doesn't come without its flaws and I think I can pinpoint where people may have had problems with it. When I see people saying "You're better off not playing it." I think that's kind of unearned because it's not as bad as people say, the fanbase is a bit whack though, has made them bitter.

STORY - I know this is sometimes considered a prequel of sorts but you need to know Super Metroid to get it, it actually takes place afterwards but then has Samus lamenting on her past in the cutscenes.

This has a lot of previous material but one trope that I didn't really see were Space Pirates, I was actually quite relieved because they're considered extinct after Super and I feel like they should remain that way. It also doesn't pay homage to the Chozo in much way at all.

In some ways, I do believe this should've been a prequel to all the games and then maybe I wouldn't hold as much problem with it but other than the little differences, it plays out like an Americanized version. It has the formula of a Hollywood sci-fi movie.

I also felt it necessary to urge you to stick around until after the credits because that ending beforehand is barely even an ending, it left kind of a bad enough taste in my mouth to sour the whole game. There IS another boss. There is another ending so be patient. All in all the story ends up kind of plain and average, a 5/10.

GAMEPLAY - It was quite unexpected the way it plays because you DON'T use the nunchuck, you hold the remote sideways. Now this actually came across pretty good in translation but there are times where you have to have the remote upright to do certain things. But there are separate low-pressure sections where you don't have to be quick about it so you don't have to flip-flop all the time. The one exception are missiles and while it is annoying to switch just for that, I didn't find it that bad.

Speaking of combat, it's quite different, shooting auto-locks enemies so obviously that comes with a few misfires here and there but it still has a lot that the series is known for. You can dodge attacks similar to the parry system in SR/Dread and have finishing melee moves that have these crisp and unique animations. The wall kick is back and I can actually do it this time, you only have to hold the direction towards one wall. So believe it or not, I think there are some things that originated here that carried over into the later games because they were so good.

Beating enemies doesn't give you health but save points do so it's a trade off. You do slowly gain your items back but not for the reasons you might imagine. You see because you're with the federation, you need to follow orders, which means that you have your weapons but they're not authorized to be used by your officer yet. Sometimes it's kind of dumb though because you have this whole section of extreme heat to get through before the commander's like "Oh, yeah, you can activate your Varia suit. I'll allow it." It's a defense, I don't see why that wouldn't be allowed. Since there's no collecting random bits from enemies, you can just reload your missiles anytime, the expansions are just for as much you can hold which is really cool.

The art is pretty good too, seeing Samus clash against these white matte backgrounds and contrast the bright colors of her armor to the dark environments, all the little pieces glow. Sometimes lush. The plasma beam is really satisfying with its green lightning approach. It pushes the Wii to its limit, I had times where it seemed like it couldn't keep up and pop a loading banner at the bottom. That was really only when I was moving faster than it wanted so it wasn't detrimental to the experience, in fact, I was proud. It might not mean anything for today's standards but it still looks pretty good today especially for being a little over 12 years old already.

What I didn't like are the "investigate sections" where it forces you into a first person pov and you have to spot what it is that you're supposed to be looking at. The thing is, there's no real clue most of the time, even the very first one is this little emblem on the spaceship that shows the federation logo but I never would've guessed that unless I looked it up.

In fact, that was where most of my difficulty came from, just figuring out "what" to do rather than where to do because it shows you where to go a lot more than the other games in my personal opinion. A stark contrast to Super Metroid with doors in your way that you just can't get through. Some people will like that, some people won't. Backtracking is interesting because it's not traditional. In Prime 2, they had those main sections and then a hub connecting them all. This kind of has that with "Sectors", a lot of the time you're not expected to go through the same corridors to get back though, there's usually a new route that just circles around. I didn't collect all the items (missile and health etc) though because it tends to limit where you can't return to. You can't just wander around at any given time, you're normally closed off to just that sector until you finish it. You do revisit sectors but I never felt like I got the chance to collect EVERYTHING until after the game but I didn't really feel I needed to because I felt like I had quite enough already to thrive. So what happens if you do collect everything then? Secret ending? Nope, just a hard mode unlock.

I suppose I was expecting more crazy arcade shooter moments like Prime 3 and while there are a few, I want more! I think there's still an untapped 3rd person Metroid with a 3D environment. But this is a perfectly good game, it has some of the best bosses, some of the best use of its mechanics, it's polished, it doesn't deserve quite as much flack as people make out.

PERSONALITY - It reads like a book and Samus actually talks which is something that Metroid hasn't attempted before. I think a lot of people took problem with this because the series is known for its subtlety and to suddenly thrust it into a narrative driven experience is going to jar people especially when the main just straight up tells you what she's thinking about everything. The slow parts probably threw them off just as well. I don't really fault Nintendo for this because they were probably going to receive some sort of backlash for even straying away in the first place but Metroid hasn't always been the most successful franchise and I feel it was the right call on paper.

Now one of the problems with switching to this is the depiction of Samus. Let's start with her voice. In the Prime days, Samus was apparently voiced by Jennifer Hale. You can look up a clip of her narrating the intro and it sounds quite good, pretty much what I'd expect her to sound like. In this game she is voiced by Jessica Martin however. Now I'm not exactly trying to throw Jessica Martin under the bus but Samus seems very monotone and stiff, I looked up some of her other voice roles and it turns out…she's only done two video game roles, the other was ReCore and she sounded pretty decent in that. But that's beside the point because I actually blame the direction.

I checked out the Japanese voice for her, Ai Kobayashi and she actually voiced Ovilo from the Cowboy Bebop movie so I think she could pull off a bad-a performance if she wanted to but she also seemed monotone in the game, it's deliberately Samus' personality and everything the game shows matches up. But this bleeds into her as a whole because in the previous games, she's set up to be this big famous bounty hunter that everybody looks up to and she doesn't take crap from anyone.

But here, they don't reinforce that at all, it almost does seem like it should be a prequel because they acknowledge that she has done stuff in the past but they don't treat her any differently. In fact, I almost felt a sort of hostile vibe from the feds like "Oh, you're too good for us. You defected and are a bounty hunter now." There are some cool moments mind you but I feel like it's matched with powerlessness. There are points where she squeals and that just completely threw me off because she takes hits like a champ in any other game. I know we don't really get to hear a lot of her in those but I think everyone image of the female bad-a is just kind of nerfed for this game.

I didn't find any of the supporting characters all that compelling either, they give you very few reasons to care about them but the ones that they do give stick out like a sore thumb because they hammer them in. Higgs is probably the only exception to this, I feel like he could've been an actual character from Samus' past, we just don't get enough of him.

[xremus-is-deadx]

S2 spoilers ahead:

So for episode 1 we had:

-a lot of questions about who everyone is

-"I love toxic yuri" "what?" "Whatttt? Im saying it's a good show"

-"oh its jay- WHY IS HE [Viktor] A WALL?!?!? HES A WALL. A. WALL."

-[Jayce says it should have been him that got hurt] "yes. It should have been you" (preach)

-"maddi gives me Jinx vibes if she wasn't completely mental" (what?)

-[statue of the dead councilors shown] "NOOO BALLBOCK. NOT BALLBOCK. I LOVED BALLBOCK" (Ballbock being the way he said it)

-"see I'm really confused, when does.... oh shit, oh shittttt [Mel and Jayce are being attacked] WAIT THATS COOL AS FUCK (Renni's chainsaw) That might actually be in my top 19 fantasy weapons" (really not the right takeaway from the scene but sure) (turns out he was confused when emo vi turns up)

-"no.... no... no no no no no" "what?" "I know we've known her for 5 minutes but we can't let anything bad happen to Maddi" (a bit later, Maddi gets picked up out of the carrige) "NOOOOO DONT YOU FUCKING DARE

-[Cait helps Vi up] "Now kiss kiss, makeout, kiss... [they didn't kiss] FUCK"

-[Jayce picks up little hammer] "okay on THAT is a top fantasy weapon." "What his little hammer?" "Yes, Jayce's little hammer... HAH I LOVE THAT, that's like the world's worse euphemism"

-[Jayce seeminglyabout to die] "YESSSS, also her (Renni) heels are badass"

-[Vi turns up with Jayce's hammer] "Oh shit, oh DAMNNNN" "finally understanding why im in love with her?" "I wouldn't say FINALLY, but this definitely confirms it"

-"Damn look at those guys standing up to the enemy, what legends, and there's so many of them, you could almost call them a league. Now, what name would you call them? A league of legends?"

-"okay, misfires, blows up the lesbian, game over, now that's fear"

-"okay well I'm glad Maddi survived, she's my new favourite character, I don't even know who my favourite was before..."

-[Caitlyn talking about how her mum dying left holes she couldnt fill] "I feel like that's a lesbians job, you know, filling holes"

-[Scene of the enforcers behind Cait showing their weapons] "oh wow, this is both awesome and hot, like all of it... [vi turns up] OOOOHHHHHH, OH FUCK, WHAT A LEAGUE OF LEGENDS"

About to sit on call with a friend whilst he watched act 1 of s2, this is going to be funny because he tends to overreact (rightfully so). Will be updating this with things he says 👍

[kmlaney]

WIP Wednesday

@the-wip-project

I'm still in Mistlands with Bad Luck Phil. This isn't a recent snippet but I really like where I cut the scene, so this is the part I'm sharing today.

Phil deals with a(nother) heckler. "Hilarity" ensues.

Sam steps toward the audience. “You saw him break four at a time with a shotgun. Can Sowhettney Phil hit six with a pistol he’s never used before today?” He turns slightly my direction and continues. “Or will he miss?” he growls.

Nothing like hyping the suspense. I only hope this piece of shit doesn’t misfire or jam with all the rounds I’m pumping through it. Probably more action than the thing gets in a year. Sera tosses the clays. She picked nice bright ones out of the stack, making them easier to see both for me and the crowd. I know her tosses, too, so I hit the first at the top of its arc and nail the rest on their ascent.

The audience loves it. Mad applause, Sam’s crowing up the feat. I unload the brass, slowly this time. Give the crowd their minute. They’ll quiet down soon enough. Peddycord stands beside me, huffing and puffing, fixing to explode. As the applause fades I offer the gun back. “Your turn, Peddycord,” I say.

.............

The town Marshal frowns over his desk. He's a sunbleached scarecrow of a man who looks like he'd be infinitely more comfortable in a field somewhere rather than folded up in this office. “And that’s when you hit him?” he asks.

“No, sir. He swung at me and missed and I punched him in the gut,” I answer. Didn’t end there, but as brawls go it was pretty short. Town deputy showed up quick enough I wonder if she was in the crowd. Wouldn't be the first time. Whether for entertainment or a chance to harass us I don't know, but we get more than our share of attention from the law. I fidget with my hands. The cuffs chafe my wrists. Not as bad as Peddycord, who’s been messing with his the whole time.

“With the gun,” the Marshal prompts.

“I was holding the gun with that hand, yes, sir,” I answer. “I unloaded the spent rounds and was trying to give it back when he threw his punch.”

“He insulted me!” Peddycord whines.

“Shut it, Fenton,” the Marshal orders. He rubs his face with his hands.

Sam, standing beside me, is apoplectic, but he has a contrite face for the Marshal. He’ll chew me out later. A lot, I expect. In a surprisingly calm voice he adds, “If I may, Marshal, I’d like to add that there are plenty of witnesses among your townspeople who will testify to Phil’s version of events.” Important to mention ‘townspeople’ since they’re inherently more trustworthy than us carnies.

“I am aware of additional witnesses, Mr. Knapp. For once, I have an abundance of people eager to share their stories.” The Marshal sighs and kneads the bridge of his nose. “I’ve half a mind to hold you both but I’ve only got the two cells and that’s a headache I don’t need.” He drops his hand to the desk as though tired of the entire affair. “Alright. Fenton, that’s a ten-dollar fine for disorderly and your weapon stays here until you head out. Pay the deputy.” He unlocks Peddycord’s cuffs.

[sfaccountant]

Grabbed an adopt from Grizz/Ducky and giving a face to one of the briefly-mentioned ponies from the Night Guard that I never bothered to describe beyond her species, name, and gender.

This is Nacht, a heavy weapons specialist.

For the Night Guard "heavy weapons" amounts to echo cannons, which are relatively light and compact since they don't rely on cumbersome physical munitions or extreme power loads for lethal effect. They do require extra equipment to better integrate the operator with her weapon, however, as a slight control error can easily cause a catastrophic misfire that deafens (at best) the rest of the team.

Art by Fenwaru

[pathfinderunlocked]

Magitek Absorption Bit - CR2 Construct

A machine that absorbs and releases magic.

Artwork is an in-game model from Final Fantasy XIV, copyright Square Enix.

The biggest difference between magitek creations in Final Fantasy and clockwork constructs in Pathfinder is the name. Also you have to wind this thing up, I guess.

Giving this enemy a challenge rating at all is kind of misleading. CR 2 is totally accurate if it's fought by itself, and maybe that's an interesting fight for low level characters. But it's mainly designed to be a minion of a boss, protecting the boss from the player's magic spells, and that boss can be almost any level.

If a boss of CR 5 or higher has the standard spell resistance of 11 + CR, you can remove its spell resistance, and instead give it one magitek absorption bit per 5 CR. If you do so, you should treat the boss as the same challenge rating as before, and treat the magitek absorption bits as being worth 0 XP. The result will be a fight where the martial characters have to destroy these bits before the spellcasters are able to cast their favorite save-or-suck spells to instantly end the fight.

If your boss is above level 12, I also made a higher level version, the magitek absorption bit mark II. It'll work better for high level bosses.

I included crafting requirements, but even if you're crazy enough to let your players craft third-party constructs, don't let them craft this. This is for enemies only. Counterspelling one spell per round with no die roll is not a remotely reasonable thing for players to be able to do.

Magitek Absorption Bit - CR 2

This flying iron device glows with internal magic energy that can be seen underneath its armored plating. A small cannon is mounted on the front of it.

XP 600 N Tiny construct (clockwork) Init +7 Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +1

DEFENSE

AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 18 (+3 Dex, +2 dodge, +6 natural, +2 size) hp 17 (3d10) Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +3 DR 5/adamantine Immune construct traits Weaknesses vulnerable to electricity

OFFENSE

Speed fly 15 ft. (perfect) Ranged assault cannon +8 touch (1d10/x3)

Spell-like Abilities     Constant—resistance

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 16, Con —, Int —, Wis 12, Cha 1 Base Atk +3; CMB +0; CMD 15 (cannot be tripped) Feats Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes Skills Fly +15 SQ low hover, runic absorption, swift reactions, winding Gear bullet x30, black powder x30

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Assault Cannon (Ex) A magitek absorption bit has an assault cannon which functions like a two-handed firearm with a range increment of 40 ft. It targets touch AC, has a capacity of 1 bullet in its chamber, misfires on a roll of 1, and requires a standard action to reload. A magitek absorption bit's ammunition and black powder are stored internally and loaded with internal mechanisms.

If a magitek absorption bit's assault cannon becomes broken as a result of a misfire, it can spend a standard action to repair it.

Low Hover (Su) A magitek absorption bit can hover in place without making a fly check, as long as it is no more than 5 ft. above the ground.

Runic Absorption (Su) As an immediate action, when a spell is cast that originates from or targets anything within 40 ft. of a magitek absorption bit, or targets an area that includes an area within 40 ft. of a magitek absorption bit, the magitek absorption bit can nullify the spell. This functions as if the spell was counterspelled, except that it automatically succeeds without needing to identify the spell with a Spellcraft check or make a caster level check.

After a magitek absorption bit nullifies a spell in this way, its next assault cannon attack is treated as a magic weapon, and gains an enhancement bonus to its attack and damage rolls equal to 1 + the spell level of the absorbed spell.

Winding (Ex) Clockwork constructs must be wound with special keys in order to function. A fully wound magitek absorption bit can remain active for 3 days.

Construction

The creator of a magitek absorption bit must start with a musket worth 1500 gp, black powder and bullets worth 330 gp, and crafted clockwork pieces worth 250 gp.

CL 12th; Price 29,080 gp

CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS

Feats Craft Construct, Gunsmithing Spells dispel magic, fly, geas/quest, resistance Caster Level 12th Skill Check(s) Craft (clockwork) DC 20 Cost 15,580 gp Special crafter must not be a player character

[lol-jackles]

You are the best.i have seen people say cw went broke because it is woke and people say itz because cw is not wok enough. You make sense and give the truth. Thanks for that. Also I saw on uoutube rust armorer filed unsafe workplace lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and assistant director... what's your take...Also did you watch wheel of time? Any opinions??

Hannah claims she was sabotaged by mean girls, a mystery person loaded the live round, ammos were supplied by an incompetent supplier, and 1st AD Halls failed to follow protocol and alert her before Alec was handed the weapon.  The jist of Hannah’s sabotage theory is:

Hannah’s father's friend owns a weapons company and supplies guns and ammunition to film productions.

Hannah’s father’s friend recommended both Hannah and her mentor to the production team for Rust.

Hannah’s father was supplying the guns and blank/dummy ammo to the Rust set. Both Hannah and her mentor were picking it up as needed from his storefront.

Mean girl drama occurred between Hannah and her mentor.

The ammo supplier sided with the mentor and gave Hannah some advice she didn't like.

Hannah responded with a very unprofessional text.

The ammo supplier told a mutual friend of Hannah’s father that he would never work with Hannah again due to her unprofessional behavior.

The morning of the shooting the mentor and another girl were in the production trailer loading guns when Hannah arrives on set.

Hannah noticed a box of blank ammo in the production trailer that was not there the night before and no one responded to her question where they came from.

Hannah shook the box to confirm they were blanks but did not inspect them individually and the loading continued.

After the fatal shooting, the ammo supplier asked the same mutual friend some questions about ammo he also received from Hannah’s father and appeared to investigate the matter himself in a number of ways. He told the mutual friend it was his opinion that Hannah was at fault for the earlier mistakes that caused a misfire and led to the horse misbehaving. In his text to Hannah he implies that she mistakenly failed to detect the live round because Halls was rushing her and pulling rank.

Look, I don't care if Mohommed, Jesus, and Budda personally labeled each bullet "DEFINITELY A DUMMY ROUND, LOAD ME!", you check that bitch twice.  Hannah didn't check the rounds before she loaded them in the chamber. In attempt to shift blame, she indirectly admits she had very little control over the guns and ammunition and allowed others to load weapons and belts, left guns under the supervision of other people or unsupervised, and did not follow standard procedures in a number of ways. Her failure to maintain control of those guns allow 4 accidental discharges to occur on this set, one of which killed a woman. Even if she was sabotaged over the scab drama or by mean girls or she was steamrolled by the older AD and intimidated by Alec who created a tense atmosphere due to his volatile nature toward those beneath him, she's still going to have a hard time defending her failures to make sure the weapons were safe.

Alec is mentioned in her lawsuit because she is alleging that she fully expected Halls to comply with protocols and call her back to the set so she could check the gun again before giving the gun to Alec because 1) Alec didn't attend cross draw training and 2) the gun had been out of her possession for 15 minutes. So, according to her, had she been called back by Halls, she would have performed another check that would have led to the discovery of the live round.

I personally find her theory of sabotage a bit incredulous (but no impossible). I think she probably accidentally loaded the live round. 

I'll write my review of Wheel of Time in another post.