#i forgot i used to be called meta hoe

[bookofmirth]

why Illyria still matters

Hi, tis I, your friendly meta hoe trying to get us to take off our shipping goggles.

This post gave me a lot of thoughts about the Illyrians, so thank you anon and others who contributed! I have to admit that I didn’t have those thoughts before because I had been looking at everything from a shipping perspective. I am here to talk about the Illyrians and why their story remains important, from a logistical plot perspective, but also from a cultural standpoint, irrespective of whatever ships happen.

Many of our main characters are Illyrian or partly Illyrian. Rhys, Cassian, Azriel, and Emerie. We also know of Balthazar. Why would we assume they would ignore a major part of their heritage? It’s always part of them. They don’t cease to be Illyrian just because they aren’t in Illyria.

Illyrians are the only “lesser” fae race that plays a major, consistent role in the story, as a counter to the High Fae.

Ramiel is sacred; it is the third mountain left that has not been explored, after the Prison and the mountain in the Middle where Amarantha held court (thanks @xnightwolfx). We still have a fourth Dread Trove object to find. Ramiel?

The Blood Rite, a sacred, incredibly important part of Illyrian macho culture, was not only infiltrated and won by women, but it was also rigged. Essentially the major cultural touchstone of the Illyrians was desecrated, in their eyes. There will be repercussions.

The characterization of the Illyrians is a major eyesore on the Night Court, and frankly on Sarah. They have been described as brutish, misogynistic, etc. Leaving that culture as-is, and having it be the main non-white culture in the books... I think you see where I am going. Whether she does it intentionally or not, Sarah needs to resolve this whole racist mess she has created, and to do so from the inside: IE using characters who come from that culture.

While Cassian seems able to work with the Illyrians, Azriel still has some major unresolved trauma regarding his upbringing. No matter how ships end up, he needs to reconcile that trauma so that he can move on with a healthy-ish life.

Briallyn infiltrated the Blood Rite, on Koschei’s behalf. This ties in to point 4, but also leads to bigger implications - why was she able to get Illyrians to help her betray the Rite? There is still discontent. We now have a connection between the Illyrians and Koschei.

Illyrian discontent would be a good way for Koschei to expose a Night Court weakness. It could be as simple as a distraction to make Rhys & Co. look away from Koschei for a minute, or Koschei could go so far as to manipulate or exploit their discontent, getting them to ally with him. 

The Illyrians are warriors. Cassian mentioned that some of the previous Blood Rite winners had died in the war that occurred during acowar. There is little to no reason why their cooperation wouldn’t be needed to go against Koschei. However, their cooperation is going to be hard won at this point.

I’m still personally hung up on the idea of combining Illyrian and Valkyrie techniques, and how Nesta’s statement had some sort of fate/world-altering effect that we don’t understand yet.

Anything else to add? Feel free! 

[kdenbibi]

Endless Chapter 6

Warnings: none

Authors note: holy shit ya girl updated, yes its currently 2 in the morning and I have work tmo but do I give a damn? No Anyway I really hope you guys enjoy thank y’all so so so much for being as patient as you are I can’t tell you hoe much I appreciate it, anyway lemme shut up, it’s been a while since I've done this and I forgot if people actually wanted to be tagged in it anyway hmu if you do ilysm feedback is always appreciated -Admin A 

It was one of those mornings where you wake up a minute before your alarm goes off and sleep is pulled from you forever.

Okay I'm being dramatic but who can blame me, it's so early the sky was still dark, not even the birds were up yet. Thankfully, due to being a human punching bag the last few weeks the sharp pain shooting up my feet from the freezing floor did nothing more than wake me up. I felt like a zombie as I shuffled my way towards the expansive kitchen of the base, I could still easily get lost in the place, thankfully I knew exactly where the essential spots were, like the kitchen, the training room for our daily sessions, the little rooms I could hide in to avoid said sessions, all in all I had a system.

I sat on the countertop staring blankly at the fridge, my brain still in the process of waking itself up. I took the rare moment of silence to break down all that had lead me to this moment.

I remember telling Jon, at his request, everything that went down with Nightwing in detail. He went to my house that day, after school we decided it was high time to come clean with each other about our powers.

The sun had made another rare appearance but did nothing about the bitter winter air nipping at any exposed skin, we walked fast, I wanted to get out of our uncomfortable uniforms and into my Superman PJs my mother gifted me ironically after I told her about my childish crush, if you say Superman isn't even the least bit attractive you're straight lying to yourself.

When we finally got in I wasn't surprised to see my the apartment was empty, minus cheezers our pesky cat who sprawled himself out on Jon's lap as soon as he sat down.

"Want anything to drink?" I yelled over my shoulder from the kitchen, I rummaged through our refrigerator waiting for his response. "No thank you!" He chimed in from my couch, his voice was always light, I’d noticed, it carried through the air like a breeze. 

I came back in the room with a can of coke for myself tucked under my arm and two half eaten bags of chips squished in my hands, I plopped in the recliner adjacent to him, not before ungracefully tossing the junk food in his lap of course, and sat back with a sigh.

He stared at me with those ridiculously pretty eyes, a nervous expression on his face as he waited for me to speak, his fingers were running through cheezers fur absentmindedly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to?" I offered after taking in his expression.

"No no!- I want to tell you I do, I'm just not sure how you'll take it." I shook my head at the taller boy, popping a chip in my mouth. "You don't gotta trip chocolate chip- I don't think there’s anything you could say that would change how I see you, powers or not your still my Ramen buddy." I finished with a wink. His nervous smile broke into a real one. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth, then closed it.

He did this a few more times before I stopped him.

"How bout' I go first?" He nodded releasing a breath.

"Well, it started when I was younger, I can't pinpoint exactly where I got them, I just realized after a while the string of luck I had wasn't just luck, it was something else entirely, something watching my back at every turn."

 He nodded along, an unusually serious expression gracing his soft features."For awhile it was just that, a helping hand that lead me out of sticky situations," I shook my head taking a long drink of my soda. "Up until that night on the roof that is."  He nodded once more, his fingers rhythmically tapping along his knee.

"What do you think triggered it?" He asked sounding more stern than I'd ever heard, I eyed him before shrugging off his strange behavior. "I'm not sure really, I think its because I was scared, I mean any other time the light has come out hasn't been in a situation where I felt that unsafe." I laughed thinking of the boy wonders face as he flew across the roof. "And then at the bank well, you were there." He leaned back against my couch, cheezers lifted his head to stare at the boy in displeasure before laying back down. 

"You're mom isn't a meta?"

"Not that I know of- as long as we're not counting her inexplicable ability to know when you're lying, although that may just be a 'her' thing." He shot me a smile, but a second later his face returned to it's neutral state, his head turned slightly as if he heard something he didn't like. "So it must come from your father- I think." He offered, I gave him a half smile, my nails tapping against the smooth metal of the now nearly empty can.

"I wouldn't know." His baby blues widened. "(Y/n) I'm Sorry-I didn't know.."

"Oh it's okay! He peaced out before I could really know him, so I got lucky." His face remained uncomfortable, as if he was guilty for asking, so I reassured him. "Really I've made my peace with it, after all, can't really miss someone who was never there." Jon nodded before abruptly standing.

"I uh, I need to go to the restroom!" He said, I cocked a brow at my friend's outburst before motioning in the direction of the bathroom, I chocked it up to him simply being nervous about telling me, I walked over to the recently disturbed cat and placed him in my lap. His big brown eyes stared back at me as I scratched behind his ears. "Is it me or is that farm boy acting all kinds of weird?" The animal simply blinked before resting his little head on my arm. "Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say."

Jon's POV 

I practically ran to the bathroom, turning on the water to try and hide all the noise I could. I quickly yanked out the expensive and inconspicuous flag ‘pin’ Damain had given me, I brought the tiny microphone to my mouth knowing he could hear me. "Was that good enough?" I couldn't hide my irritation with the young Wayne, he had me spying on my best friend, her personal story she trusted me enough to share was just information for the kid to put in his computer, it made my chest sink, I felt like garbage.

"Yes, although I wouldn't be surprised if she caught on, your acting skills are awful." I could hear the smirk in his voice, the earpiece he'd given me to hear the questions he wanted to ask felt even more uncomfortable than before. "Excuse me if I'm not good at lying!"

"You aren't lying to anyone, I simply was apart of the conversation, besides, you're one step closer to being ready for the team."

I felt stared at my reflection conflicted.

I knew what I did wasn't necessarily lying but it still felt wrong, like I'd used her trust for something bad. On the other hand this opportunity- this team they were building, it was my chance to finally step outside the huge S shaped shadow my father cast- I could become a hero all of my own.

Yes, I was conflicted, and Damian's smug voice in my ear wasn't helping anything.

"-kent? Are you even listening to me?" He spoke, voice rising in impatience. "Honestly no, now do you have what you need?" There was a moment of silence on Damian's end, the sound of tapping on a keyboard could faintly be heard before he finally responded.

"Yes but-" 

"Good." I yanked the earpiece out of my head and crushed it, along with the microphone, between my fingers. I have no doubt in my mind I'd just destroyed a thousand dollars worth of equipment but that was the least of my worries, the guilt was still there, but it seemed to wash down the drain with the remains of the machine. With a deep breath I made my way back out in the living room, (Y/n) sat there, doing absolutely nothing but still looking like someone from a movie, her head snapped up as she noticed my presence. "You okay there Jonny boy?" I smiled at her nickname, taking my previous spot on the couch now much more relaxed. "Yep! Just needed a moment but now I'm ready." Her pretty brown eyes stared at me unsure. "You don't have to tell me if you're uncomfortable, I understand-"

"No! I'm okay really! I promise." Finally that smile returned to her face as she nodded, gesturing me to continue when I was ready."I'm Kryptonian! Well half Kryptonian anyway!"

(Y/n)'s POV

I stared at the bright grin etched into his face, an uneasy smile on mine as his words bounced around my skull.

Because if he was Kryptonian that meant-

Wait-

"Your dad is- you oh, oh okay that's um oh man am I allowed to know this? Is this legal? Oh, oh man, oh jeez." He suddenly rose from his seat and made his way over to me, a wide smile on his face. "Relax, (y/n), trust me okay? Everything's alright." I laughed rubbing my temples in the process. "Okay okay, so um, wow this is-" the blood drained from my face as I realized our previous conversations- the late night, sugar high induced conversations where I openly gushed over how fine Metropolis's space savior was.

"You let me sit there and talk about how hot your dad is?! To your face?! Jonathan Samuel Kent we are fighting- not really cuz’ you'd probably mop the floor with me but yes! Definitely fighting!" 

We spent that afternoon talking about everything, good and bad. He told me he was scared he'd never fill the shoes of his father, I told him I was afraid I'd never understand what I could do, it wasn't until later that evening when my mom came home from work did we realize how long we'd been talking, she offered him a ride home but he just smiled and politely declined.

I was brought back to reality by the helpful AI program we knew as Athena spoke to me, her automated voice calmly called out from one of the many speakers littered around the base. "Miss (Y/n), the time is approximately 5:34 AM, would you like me to initiate your 'get ready playlist?" I looked around the empty room, still not used to having to talk to someone without a body. "Uh no thanks Athena, I don't wanna wake anyone else up." I spoke in a whisper afraid to disturb my teammates sleep. "Robin is currently in the gym, would you like me to alert him of your presence?" 

"Oh absolutely not, no thanks A."

"Okay miss (Y/n), if you need anything don't hesitate to call me." I gave her a friendly wave off as I made my way towards my room, unsatisfied with what I found in the refrigerator.

It still felt pretty unfamiliar living somewhere without my mom, not waking up with her music blasting throughout the walls was a very foreign concept to me. Few weeks back, when Nightwing first came to my house to lay out the ground rules of what exactly was gonna go down, my mother was less than thrilled.

"So you want my daughter to move into some secret location? Not only that, but live with a bunch of other teenagers with incredible abilities and just you to supervise them?" Dick shot her a smile bright enough to blind someone if they looked directly at it.

"Misses (L/n), I get why you'd be concerned I really do, but this is all for the benefit of these kids, besides she almost an adult." He paused at the glare my mother gave him. "-but, but, yes, I would be there to supervise the team, not just me though, other hero's will come in to help train them." My mother was silent as she processed his words, she glanced at my face, taking in my hopeful expression before sighing.

"...If I say yes, I get to know where this facility is right? Just in case I need to go down there and whip some sense into somebody."

"Absolutely! And if it makes you feel better Jon's gonna be there with her." At this my mother visibly relaxed, I knew she trusted Jon so before this impromptu meeting I made sure to let Dick know about it, just in case she needed some extra convincing. "Well, I guess I can't say no, especially with her giving me those damn puppy eyes."

This time I brought myself back to reality, when I came to just in time to realize my feet had taken me somewhere that wasn't my room, to the training gym. I paused wondering why on Earth I walked there only to be met with quite the sight.

Robin, beating a training dummy like it personally hurt him, I still had yet to find out his identity, no one had actually, so no it wasn't a surprise to see his iconic mask adorning his face. He thought it was best if everyone remained anonymous, something about secret identities - but full disclosure at the time, I wasn't paying attention, I was too busy trying not to stare at the green kid a few feet away from me, i shit you not he was green, like head to toe green- that and I couldn't agree, mainly because I didn't even have a super persona yet, so when it was brought up I laughed and told the other members my name. "If you were smart you'd keep some form of anonymity, at least until we can trust each other." Robin scolded, The other four people in the room stayed silent, and I couldn't help but scoff. "You expect us to trust you when you're gonna have that mask on 24/7?" His glare turned to me, I tried not to flinch. "If you want to expose yourself fine, but I refuse to be apart of it." And with that he walked off leaving the rest of us in an awkward silence.

"Well, he's just a bundle of joy now isn't he?" I said watching his retreating figure, Jesus the kid even walked like he was pissed off.

"Real life of the party." The tall boy to my right spoke, he left quite the impression too, being that he looked like a blue iron Man, ya know suit of badass armor kinda guy. He was introduced as the blue beetle. I looked at him with a smile, relieved the rest of the team wasn't as stuck up as the bird boy.

"I can't imagine you'd wanna wear that the entire time either." 

This earned a laugh from beetle, and much to my surprise, instead of taking off a helmet it seemed to disappear, a light flash of blue with it as his face was reviled. "I'm Jaime Reyes, nice to meet you." I grabbed his hand with a wide smile. "(Y/n) (L/n), I'm sure you hear this all the time- but holy shit that's cool." He laughed again, this time the sound was clear, no longer blocked by, well whatever was on his face moments ago. It was nice, the kinda laugh that made you want to join in.

"If we're really saying fuck it to Grumpy's rules I'm Garfield Logan." The green boy spoke from behind me. I shot him a smile, he returned a smirk, his sharp canines peaking though the half smile. The only other girl in the room remained silent, weighing her options before she quietly spoke up."Rachel." Was all she spoke. I gave her my friendliest smile before walking over. "It's nice to meet you, I'm so glad there's another girl here." She met my eyes, a hesitant smile on her face as she agreed. "It is...nice, thanks for thinking so." Her voice was level as she spoke, I almost couldn't hear her over the two loud boys now chattering like they were best friends. 

I turned away from the shy girl to look for my friend. Noticing his unsure stare I walked over to him, away from everyone else.

"Yo, you okay over there farm boy?" Jon looked up from the floor, his eyes uncharacteristically troubled. "I'm fine!- just a bit, I don't know nervous? All of you guys are so great I mean, I guess I'm just scared I won't be able to keep up." I stared at the large 'S' on his chest, looking for the right thing to say.

"Umm?? Have you met yourself, are we talking about the same Jon Kent? We'll have to be worried about keeping up with you if anything." He gave me a bashful smile, looking down at the symbol on his chest then back to me.

"Don't give up before you've even started you dork." I said patting his shoulder and motioning for him to join the conversation, which he happily did after a small nudge.

That was weeks ago, Robin still, with his stubborn ass, kept that mask on. I wish I could say things were okay between me and the stern boy but they weren't, I get the feeling he wasn't too pleased to be here.

Whenever we would train, Dick was there to supervise, and since Robin was the most experienced out of all of us, he was in charge for most of the training- scratch that, it's more like the royal ass kicking he dished out.

I got the feeling he didn't like me very much, mainly because of the whole, almost throwing him off a roof thing, but the feeling was mutual. He just, he rubbed me the wrong way, like he genuinely believed he was above everyone else and no one could match him in anything. Not to mention the way he had to comment whenever I'd fail.

"You're stance is terrible, you're just asking to die."

"Do you enjoy your face meeting the mat (L/n)? Because you seem to do that every time we're in here."

He was just one of those people you had to try not to throw out of the nearest window whenever he opened his mouth.

"If this is your attempt at stealth you're fired."

I rolled my eyes dispite him facing the other way and walked into the gym room. "If I wanted to sneak up on you I could, don't get it twisted boy wonder." I knew I was bullshitting, he knew I was, but there was no way I was backing down from a fight with this asshole. He turned, wiping some sweat from his brow with a small towel, I could feel the squint get gave me through the rubber mask. "Why are you here?" I shrugged making my way to the closest bench and taking a loud seat. "For your information- I wanted to get an early start with my training." "Really?" He questioned leaning against the silicone dummy.

"Yes."

"In that?"

 I looked down to my PJs and gave him a shrug. "I could be in a fursuit and I'd still kick your ass." His face scrunched up in confusion before he scoffed."I have no idea what that is but don’t make me laugh, you'd be lucky to get me on the ground for a second." He turned back towards the dummy before sending a swift kick to it's neck, I flinched from the loud smack that echoed across the walls. 

Confidently, he spoke again, without even turning back.

"You got lucky once- never again."

The way he said that would have sent shivers down my back, had I not been raised a bad bitch, but alas, I was. 

I quickly stood marching over to the male. "Okay let's go-" 

My back hit the mat, the air from my lungs escaping with the force I was smacked against the floor. His smug face leaned over me. "What was that you were saying? I don't think I heard you (L/n)." I groaned before throwing myself up, glaring at the figure before me. "That was just the practice round-" his hand shot forward to, I assume toss me like a rag-doll again, but this time I was ready, I grabbed his wrist, stopping it mid swing and a force of golden light pushed us apart. He smirked from across the mat. "Without your powers you're as defenseless as a baby- you need to learn not to rely on them." I bit back my retort about his hairline being as defenseless as a baby because 1. It didn't make sense- I was just mad and 2. The son of a bitch had a point.

So I sucked up my pride and rolled my shoulders, cracking my neck with a satisfying 'pop'.

I gestured him to come forward with my hand.

"Then teach me."

[abundantchewtoys]

Hiveswap ‘17-10-01 : Heavy, wet darkness and takeout leftovers

Which door to pick, oh which should we pick?

The big doors seem like they lead outside, since the other pair of big doors in this space also do so. But then, how do we get to all of the other rooms left in the house, the trophy room and the kitchen (and basement)? Maybe there's another hallway to the right. --- Gonna try the right door first, it seems less likely the trophy room is behind it. WWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOWWWWW. Never mind! This is the trophy room after all. Wow. So dark. So atmospheric. ... Such a creepy background noise we hear there. (Horrorterrors? Wait no. :P) Is there a monster in here, maybe? ... And so it came to be that Joey entered the Land of Wrath and Angels. :P The style of this scene, with light pouring in from outside, and the rest in black, reminds me of it. Bonus points for Jake being a Hope player. Blaperile has a good point, that we might not even be able to DO anything here before the flashlight works. So we'll ignore my first instinct of exiting the room again. It'll probably take us getting batteries from the radio in the kitchen before we can find the attic key. And then - according to the spoiler we saw for CHERUB KEY + ATTIC DOOR... Apparently we temporarily lose it again? :P We're on this ride forever. LISTEN: ... Something... Breathing? D: Definitely a monster, right? ... That, or Jude's pet got out. ... I don't suppose it'll be a fakeout with regard to Jude's pet, that it's one of pigeons, actually. :P Because, you know, the hamster tube. ... Unless he uses the tube to send and receive covert messages! With pigeons. Through the kitchen (that I suppose is through the other doors) Ooooohh! We tried to contact Jude but COULDN'T. It's like the walkey got jammed! ... Are the monsters responsible for this? Or is it just a coincidence, for instance because she's on the farthest side of the house, away from the treehut? On a brighter note, item combinations with the dark room actually work and give hilarious responses! :DO CHERUB KEY + DARKNESS : It only glows in her dreams, apparently. TREATS, SHOES, POINTES + DARKNESS : I'm getting the vague impression the narration is prepping us for Round 2 vs the snake monster? :P ... Wow. We exit the room, only for something heavy and wet??? to slam against the door, shutting it. Eesh, doesn't seem like the snake monster. More like an ooze monster. D: Then we make contact with Jude, and he recommends we restore power to the house before the sun sets. That's a good idea, actually! Wouldn't want to be left in the dark with these things about. Although, the power box is either outside or in the basement, none of which are good options right now. Who knows what out there, or down there in the dark? But Jude also says we'll need the power to retrieve the key?! Is there a powered device in the trophy room containing the attic key? As long as it isn't a Five Nights at Freddy-esque animal corpse-turned-automaton. *shudder* He doesn't want to discuss it further over this "unsecured channel", so I guess he might send a pigeon over with instructions! That'll get accosted by one of the monsters, in the kitchen. Oooh! We could contact Jude a second time, and then he mentions the circuit breaker's in the basement! That was indeed helpful. Unlike the lead-in comment, which just told us what we already know: the power outage gives the monsters a significant advantage. For now, it's limited to stealthiness, but they also feed on darkness, who even knows! Anyway, the trophy room is probably off-limits until power is restored. That was actually a sweet extra scene we would've missed out on otherwise. ... Yup, the door can't be opened anymore now. Onwards through the big doors then! --- This is the kitchen! Ah, the radio is highlighted to draw our attention. The static actually sounds a lot like highway traffic, or construction site sounds! So the kitchen is about directly beneath Joey's room, given that we can see the treehouse. I like the old fashioned tiny tiles on the walls, very appropriate for this room. "HOME SWEET HOME", today and on most day, however, isn't very appropriate in this family. The pictures on the fridge are a delight again. Puppy Tesseract! Camera shy Jude! ... Grandpa posing with blunderbuss on a landscape that brings to mind Hellmurder Island! (Green pastures and blue skies.) And Bigfoot. Oh Jude. I like the abundance of kitchen magnets, especially the paw print one, top right. Oooh! There's the fax I remember from concept art. I do wonder whether Jude has power in his treehouse. Or... would have, if the power wasn't out. Maybe he has a fax of his own. The stains on the floor, mud on the door, and trash and dirty dishes all about are more proof that sitter is a lousy housekeeper. The hamster tube ends in a loop here. Huh. No tube going outside. I also hear a clock ticking. ... That spider web in the closet though. ... The spider even moves! I've had my fair share of spiders already this week, thanks. ... Huh, the tube... goes down on this end of the room? Through the floor, to the basement?? And the room even continues beyond the wall to the right! There's the basement door... And for some reason the tube both extends through the floor AND goes into the wall next to the basement door, huh. D'ahh, and there's a distinguished houseguest here. Looks quite like one of THE distinguished houseguest - the Napoliteanian mummie! It blocks one of the doors here. Maybe that door leads to the street? So, if we get no other stuffed humans in this game, this at least let's us reach our quotum. :P FAX : Apparently the device is quite important to Joey somehow. BATTERIES + FAX : ... Pfffffff, Joey takes the opportunity to think back with nostalgia to an 80s invention, the battery-powered fax machine. This is so meta, and the prompt acknowledges it: Decade-based nostalgia can be a tough row to hoe. POGS, TREATS + FAX : Oh Joey, keep being so silly, please. CHERUB KEY + FAX : Oh, so it's actually called the GREEN KEY? ... Does that mean there's a RED KEY somewhere too?? On Alternia, perhaps?? POINTES + FAX : Another dud! LOOK at FRIDGE : Welp, someone forgot to do groceries again? ... I guess all the takeaway leftover should've been a dead giveaway. Then again, how do they pay for the stuff, anyway? Does the sitter use her loan? Do Jude and Joey get an allowance? SNACK : Yup, sitter is slacking on the food shopping front, as well as all those other fronts. :/ BATTERIES + FRIDGE : ... Pfffffff. Now that's a spin on the old wive's tale (that might be true?) that cooling batteries in the fridge can restore some power to them. ... Also, seems like it's time for us to get more intel on the sitter. ... It might be more info than we bargained on, however. We're starting to learn about all the ways in which she is neglectful. POGS + FRIDGE : "Not even the FRIDGE can make POGS cool!" ... I should've seen that pun coming. And Joey, that was actually a good one, don't fret! GREEN KEY + FRIDGE : ... Cold case. ... Of course. In actuality, the fridge is of course slowly getting warmer from losing power. POINTES + FRDIGE : ... Hats off to you, Joey. Hats off to you. Trying to OPEN WINDOW : Oh, right, this is the window that the pigeon and monster bat will come flying through later on! BATTERIES + WINDOW : PFffff, now the narration is slamming on Gen-X' tendency to need batteries for enjoying everything, even sunsets! GREEN KEY + WINDOW : Heh, hearing "scratch" mentioned in the same sentence as the key makes me think of Doc Scratch. SHOES + WINDOW : I actually didn't think this would prompt her to dance, but here we are. POINTES + WINDOW : ... And I didn't expect this to prompt such a deep and meaningful message, but here we are. "If ballet be the hymn of wratch, let's dance" That's actually a very nice quote. I wonder if it's pre-existing? At least it's not misattributed. In fact, this whole prompt kind of reminds me of the texts accompanying the atmospheric scenes all B1 kids had! Oooh! We can finally acknowledge the hamster tube! ... TUBE HIGHWAY, pffff. Well, yeah, the pet can use it to zip from room to room in a hurry. Of course, there don't appear to be any ways for it to exit the tube, probably only from Jude's room? So, it must really be a slender animal. ... Or an octopus, they fit into everything. :P But yeah, there were hints it's a vertebrate. So a snake at this moment seems most likely. TREATS + HIGHWAY : Hmm, so it DOESN'T like the treats? I thought it did, the prompt for Jude's room said they made it get riled up? ... So does that mean it doesn't eat meat, perhaps? What could the "very specific" diet be then? ... Maybe Jude has trained his snake to eat insect only. You know, to de-bug his room, make sure he can't be overheard? GREEN KEY + HIGHWAY : OOOoooooh, this is some VERY specific denial going on here, it's very likely it's a serpent now! ... Bonus points for if it's a two-headed snake! That's a naturally occuring mutation, after all. :D SHOES + HIGHWAY : Yup, as I thought to remember, the pet gets worked up by tap dancing. Something about rhytmic pacing? Does it remind it of its prey? Trying to make Joey to CLEAN DIRTY DISHES : Heheheh, first time that it's addressed that Jude kind of bailed on his sis in a pinch there. Not that I blaim him, flight or fight response is a bitch. GREEN KEY + SINK : Joey says she's been having a weird feeling about the key all day. Yeah, prized though it may be, if it has any agency in sending Joey off-planet, its intentions can't have been all good. CHINESE FOOD PACK : ... Oh the irony. They order takeout to avoid doing dishes, then avoid taking out the trash instead. But apparently Mom is a decent enough chef! Who'd have thunk? Roxy's only ingredient was pumpkins, after all, there's not much routes you can take with them. Well, not much variety in routes, at least. POGS + PACK : Hahahahah, another reference to the fact that Jude probably filled those Pringles packs upstairs with pogs. Joey is suddenly chilled to the bone by, as she put it, a cold otherwordly wind. Dun dun DUNNN. --- With the kitchen half explored, we'll stop for the night. I think it's not going to be that long anymore until our first real strife! At least, I shouldn't think so. Maybe even in the next room we go from here!