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lala-ladybug · 4 years ago

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Healing Hands: Chapter 3

Happy finals week, ugh. As always, reblogs are appreciated!!

Jasonette Sword Art Online AU

Read here on AO3

Tag list: @iloontjeboontje

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Chapter 3: Well shit Babs, maybe I like ponies

Marinette sat on a rock and paddled her bare feet in the water. It was a beautiful day, the sun was warming the top of her loose, dark hair and the ocean in front of her stretched for miles and miles.

A noise disturbed her peaceful moment. A distant cry, probably a seagull.

She sighed and leaned back on her hands to breathe in the smell of--

Marinette choked. Why was there smoke in the air?

The cries grew louder as she looked back at the water before her. She started when she saw that they came from her friends, who were in the now-tumultuous water, trying to keep themselves afloat. They were only a few yards away, she could make it if she just--

A force around her waist tugged her hard as she leapt to her feet. Her face collided with the concrete beneath her-- the top of a building, she realized. If the water level was up this high, then....

From where she lay, she could see directly down into the water. It was no longer clear, but a deep crimson. There were dozens of figures scattered about, some still struggling and some motionless. She scrambled to get up as her eyes snapped to Alya’s hand disappearing below the waves.

That damn force jerked her to the other side of the building, farther from her friends.

“No!” Marinette cried out desperately. The force released her and she whirled to find her attacker.

A flash of red caught her eye, and--

Oh.

It was Ladybug.

Marinette shook her head, not understanding. If that was Ladybug, then.... No, it couldn’t be Ladybug, because she was Ladybug. She fumbled for her earrings, but felt nothing.

Ladybug stalked deliberately up to Marinette and pushed her to the ground. Marinette landed on her hands and knees, both of which were now shaking.

“Look at them,” it was her own voice that spat so harshly from Ladybug’s lips. “Look at them.” She grabbed Marinette’s hair from behind and forced her head up.

Marinette could now see Adrien, Kagami, Luka, and Chloe in the ocean in front of her. Their lifeless faces floated just below the surface, the bloodied water doing nothing to conceal their frozen expressions of terror.

Marinette sobbed and closed her eyes. Ladybug pulled sharply on her hair again, and looked into Marinette’s eyes.

“Look at them. Don’t you dare take your eyes off the mess you’ve made. You will never be able to save them all,” Ladybug’s eyes, her eyes, blazed with the vehemence of her words. She opened her mouth to speak again, but a loud beeping sound was all that came out.

Marinette gasped and sat up in her bed, the alarm sending her heartbeat into a frenzy. Tikki flew up next to her as she slumped over with a hand over her eyes.

It was just a dream.

Another Kwami must have turned off her alarm because the beeping had stopped, but Marinette could still hear the echoes of her friends’ dying breaths ringing in her ears.

“Marinette... are you okay?” Tikki placed a delicate paw on her chosen’s arm. “We heard you cry out while you were sleeping.”

The girl lifted her head and gave the little god a shaky smile. “It was just a dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Tikki floated back down to where the other Kwami were piled on the side of the bed with similarly worried expressions on their faces.

Marinette exhaled a bracing sigh. “Okay.... It was Syren. Or-or Chat Blanc, I’m not really sure.” The Kwami exchanged a look at that. This was not the first time she’d had a nightmare about water. “But Ladybug was there, and she was attacking me.”

Tikki looked especially concerned about that new piece of information. She opened her mouth to say something when Marinette’s phone lit up with a call. The ringtone was Alya’s.

Marinette picked up, trying to control the shaking of her hands. “H-hey girl, what’s up?” Her tone was deceptively cheerful.

“Hey Mari! Just checking to see if you’re awake. Nino and I are ready, he even put on the goggles already!” Marinette instantly relaxed as she heard Alya’s excited voice bubbling out.

“Yeah dudette, they feel really weird. But comfy!” Nino must have leaned over to pitch in.

Marinette shook off the last vestiges of the nightmare with a giggle. “Yeah, it’s kind of tricky to get the headset to fit over your glasses, but you’ll get used to it!”

“Well if you’re not ready yet then you’d better hurry up, girl! The game launches in five minutes.”

Marinette scrambled to check the time. “Oh crap! I gotta go, see you guys soon!” She hung up and rushed to untangle herself from her blankets.

“Good thing you set three alarms, huh?” Tikki followed her down from the loft and watched her brush out her hair.

Marinette stuck her tongue out at the god of creation.

* * *

Red Hood stalked into the Batcave, nearly running Oracle over as she wheeled herself up to her station at the Batcomputer.

“Woah Jaybird, don’t let me get in your way there,” Babs glared at his retreating back. “Asshole,” she muttered to herself.

Jason hurled his helmet onto the floor of the bathroom and began shucking off his suit with far more force than necessary. He started a shower and looked over his new wounds in the mirror. He’d been stupid, so damn stupid, on patrol.

“Red Hood, report in,” Batman’s gravelly voice cut through on his comms. “Hood, you are not to engage alone. What is your location?”

But Jason couldn’t hear him. The only thing he could hear was blood rushing in his ears, but it wasn’t his blood. No, it was the blood of every monstrous, corrupt asshole in this city. And he wanted it to run on the streets.

The Joker had sent thugs out to a meet-up. Well, Red Hood could send them back in a casket. He crouched beside a gargoyle and watched for the arrival of the van he’d tailed. There were only two men. They left the vehicle and waited outside, lighting cigarettes. Too easy.

Red Hood swept down the building, guns never leaving their holsters. He wanted this to hurt. Them or him, he wasn’t sure. But he got his wish as he beat the two men to a pulp. He wasn’t sure how far he’d have gone if not for the arrival of the gang the Joker’s men were supposed to meet with.

They slashed his back with knives. Shallow wounds, easy to manage. By the time Red Hood turned to face them, the others had arrived-- Batman, Nightwing, Robin. And boy were they pissed.

Jason winced as the hot water hit the cuts on his back. He rolled his shoulders and just let the steam ground him. He didn’t kill again, even if every time that green-haired bastard got involved, he went off the rails.

He would get to choose his own path, not the one Bruce wanted for him, but damn well not the one Thalia wanted for him either. This story was his, he reminded himself while gingerly toweling off. Even if he couldn’t look his own reflection in the eye.

He gripped the countertop, staring down as he let his hair drip into the sink. No, he wasn’t feeling desperate enough to see if his eyes were green again.

Damnit, he had to apologize to Babs. He felt calmer now, but he’d been a real dick when he came in. Jason dressed quickly in sweatpants and an old shirt, then padded quietly back to where he knew his sister would be at the computers.

“Hey,” he said, knocking softly when he entered to announce his presence. Barbara didn’t respond for a moment. She was leaning forward in her chair, typing something into one monitor while listening to police chatter, then nodded to herself and sat back.

“Hey.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Robin told me what happened on patrol.”

Jason scowled. “That little tattletale.”

Barbara offered him a reassuring smile. “That little tattletale is the only reason I didn’t hack into your bank account and order a damn pony.”

“Well shit Babs, maybe I like ponies,” Jason snarked back, but his heart wasn’t into it. “Listen... I’m sorry about earlier. If replacement talked to you already, you know what kind of mood I was in, but that’s no excuse.”

Babs turned her chair to face him and held out her hand. He stepped forward and took it, and she said, “We know you’re trying, Jay. Stuff like this? This is who you are. A year ago, you wouldn’t have been caught dead apologizing to me!” She cringed. “Ah, no offense.”

He chuckled. “None taken, it’s about time you started getting in on the undead jokes.” He patted her hand before walking away back to the main space of the cave. “But thank you, it means a lot.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth!” She raised her voice and turned back to face the computer.

Dick and Tim were already waiting in the cave. Tim was fiddling with some beds and what looked like opaque ski goggles. He always fidgeted when he was nervous.

“Hey replacement,” Jason shouted across the room. He noticed Dick bristle, but cut him off before he could get the patented older brother speech. “How much time ‘til the launch?”

Tim’s eyes lit up, and damn him for caring, but Jason just didn’t want them to be afraid of him.

* * *

Connor and Zatanna were washing dishes in the Cave’s kitchen after dinner. Connor heard the distant sound of someone arriving via zeta tube. He let Zatanna know as they finished drying their plates, then followed her to go greet their visitors.

Wally and Artemis staggered into the room, both weighed down by overflowing boxes of equipment.

“Oh thank god, please help me!” Artemis said, spotting Connor. He obliged and easily took the heavy box from her. She rubbed her arms and smiled gratefully as he held it aloft in one hand.

“It must be so handy having him around,” she sighed to Zatanna.

The magician giggled. “It certainly has its perks, but....” She lifted her hands and said clearly, “Flesruoy egnarra.” The contents of the boxes, some assorted cots, VR headsets, and computers, floated up and placed themselves into a neat formation. “A girl can get by by herself.” She gave Artemis a fistbump.

The zeta tube activated and they all looked up to watch it. The AI announced Wondergirl, and Cassie Sandsmark walked out. She looked up from her phone and waved. “Oh hey guys, whatcha doing?”

Wally zoomed around the set-up Zatanna had created. “We’re just setting up to play this new virtual reality game that’s coming out at midnight! What about you?”

“Oh, what a coincidence, I was just--”

Cassie was cut off by the zeta tube activating again. This time it was Bart, carrying Jaime bridal style, and running at full speed. He skidded to a halt, put a very ill-looking Jaime down, and ran a hand through his windswept hair.

“So totally crash! What’s poppin’?” He made finger guns at Connor, Zatanna, and Artemis.

Zatanna started explaining, “Well, like were just telling Cassie, there’s this new video game coming out at midnight and we--”

She was interrupted by the screech of a green pterodactyl swooping in from the zeta tube. It circled once around the high ceilings of the hollowed-out mountain, then landed and shrank into Beast Boy.

“Just a heads up, Arsenal’s right behind me and he’s a little angry-- oh what are you guys doing?”

Connor was getting frustrated now. “We’re trying to get set up for this new video game that’s launching in five minutes, so if you guys wouldn’t mind--”

A small explosion sounded from the door to the exterior of the island. Roy burst in amidst a cloud of dust.

“Hope I’m not late, I lost my phone.” He sounded like he was in a bad mood.

Bart whispered to Connor, “He means he destroyed his phone.”

Roy dusted off his pants, then looked to Wally and Artemis and asked, “The hell are you doing here?”

“AUGH,” Artemis had had enough. “We’re here to play the video game coming out at midnight! If you want to join us, fine, but if you don’t then get out.” She pointed to the zeta tubes.

Garfield tried to placate her. “Sheesh, it’s just a game! No need to get so worked up.”

Jaime gave him an incredulous look. “Weren’t you just throwing a tantrum yesterday about Bart kicking your ass halfway to Bialya in Smash?”

“...Noted.” Garfield answered.

“Well, looks like we’ve got plenty of hands to help get everyone set up. Let’s get to it!” Cassie expertly maneuvered the two teams away from setting off their more explosive members. They distributed headsets and assigned reclining positions without further delay.

* * *

Marinette put the headset on and laid down on her bed.

“Ready to go back?” Tikki asked her.

She gave the little god a grin. “Definitely.”

In the distance, the bells in Notre Dame chimed six times, but Marinette couldn’t hear them. Her mind had gone somewhere far, far away. Somewhere new.

#healing hands #jasonette #sword art online au #virtual reality #maribat #maribat fic #batfam #batfam fic #yj #yj fic #young justice #young justice fic

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silvia7272 · 4 years ago

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Miraculess Ladybug Salt AU: You Always Liked To Play With Fire ~ Blossoming Friendships???

I really hope you’re all enjoying this new series; I honestly just came up with the idea on a dime, and then after I started developing it, I knew I needed to share it with all of my fans.

Also, when I actually get around to including more characters from the movie, it’s gonna be fun giving them some personality traits. I can’t wait.

And er-… I may have accidently messed up with some off the names. Since I changed most off the names already, I then decided to change them for Barbara and Olympia, however I had forgotten that I’d already written their names down in the story. Opps. I thought this would’ve been better since I think I saw some people complain about the United Hero’s super names, so I changed them, as well as if I’m going to add in going to Gotham into the mix and there’s already a character called Barbara, I just know I’ll get hella confused for who I’m talking about. I don’t want people to get confused but maybe I should make a post off the names I’ve already changed to begin with, just to defer from canon. Well, here it is.

My OC: Rosaniline Keyne-Hill was Rosina Scoats

Soliane Rin was Crisono Tassa

Canon Counterparts: Jace Keyne was Jessica Keyne

Aveon Keyne-Hill was Aeon Hill

Medusa was Uncanny Valley

(I kept Olympia the same)

Nebula was Majestia

Brianna was Barbara

Eostrix was Night Owl

So, I might just change them when I can be bothered to.

This fanfic and its ideas were all made before season 4 came out, so if something doesn’t add up please don’t worry. That information wasn’t available then, and unless it fits into my story or I like it, I won’t include it in my story. Also, that new Miraculous wiki can get lost, I’m not putting any of that new information in here if they couldn’t even put it in the show. (Also, so far, I do not care for season 4 whatsoever so yeah, I may not include any of that in this work and the other.)

Word Count: 9435

Tags: @vixen-uchiha if you wish to be tagged all you have to do is say. Also, if you change your name please tell me, I don’t want to leave you out since you’ve asked to be tagged. I’m very sorry if I’ve missed anyone.

Well, I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Summary:

Note: This fic contains OOC scenes of Miraculous Ladybug as well as a ton of salt, so if you don't like that stuff you may scroll past and have a nice day.

In a world with no Miraculous, no Hawkmoth and no Ladybug, how does our little heroine do?

Well, it usually would be hanging out with her friends, as any other teenager would do...

But, of course, this wasn't normal.

This was reality. It was cold, hard and definitely not welcome.

So, when this girl wishes to have some kind of adventure in her boring, mundane life…

How long does it take for her to regret it?

***

Mlle Bustier had always believed her students were the best in the whole Collège.

In fact, she whole-heartedly believed that all her students could do no harm.

In her mind, they were at the peak of maturity, though they may be in their adolescence and had some seemingly petty dramas, they all prevailed to take whatever they wanted for themselves, when they saw opportunities, they rightfully took.

And Mlle Bustier only wanted the best for her students.

As much as Caline would never admit it to any of her work colleagues, she always knew her class was exceptional.

Kim, Alix, what with two of the sportiest people that were bound to succeed.

Max, A genius who was able to develop a fully functioning AI, when he was a teen no less. She could only imagine what other inventions her little Einstein could invent later on. The type of universities he’d get into, the job offers, oh the endless possibilities.

Ivan, Rose, Juleka, A lead vocalist, guitarist, and drummer in a popular rock band. Though she had heard there may have been a few mishaps in the band, she was sure they would be even better than before.

Mylène, A passionate environmentalist who only wanted to help the world become a cleaner place, and entered as many organisations as possible.

Nino, An inspiring DJ/filmmaker. She always wanted to help out by lending the classroom key afterschool, that way he could work on all of his works. Allowing everyone to take part even, it was truly one of her best rules.

Alya, A journalist's whose goal was to become bigger than Lois Lane.

Adrien, A model, the most famous teenage one by Parisian standards.

Chloé, The mayor's Daughter.

Sabrina, The head of police’s Daughter.

Nathaniel, an inspiring comic book artist that had gained a lot of attention online.

And Lila, a Daughter of an Italian diplomat.

Although she could admit to herself that not all of these aspirations were something that she could boast about, she could show off that all of her students had something they would work for or even show off.

And what did the others have?

Two weather girls and a writer? Caline would have to laugh, compare that with her class and you could clearly see who was at the top.

Although she hadn’t said a specific name for a reason.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The young fashion designer/baker’s girl.

For a while, that name had left a sour name in her mouth, whenever she had been forced to say it for the register, it only took her a few days for her to realise how much it annoyed her whenever said girl was late to her lesson. Honestly, did that girl not value punctuality? Nevermind in the workplace; what about her reputation as a teacher?

She was becoming a lot more reclused, gaining a disrespectful attitude towards her she had no recollection of when she had gained it, and became incredibly upset when she remembered every year on her birthday, the girl would give her a whole assortment of pastries and desserts.

Now, because she had somewhat highly encouraged her students to send gifts for a better grade, it was just a box of chocolates.

Just a small box of chocolates!?

How could she show off her gifts to the others now!?

And worst of all?

She refused to be the good little Class President anymore.

Her example?

Her Marinette off the world?

Did she not care about setting a good example? Or to be a role model to the class?

Really, to be so selfish, to all of her friends, how ungrateful.

She believed she had sorted this little problem when Chloé, in a fit off understandable jealousy, drew over her gift.

Marinette was unreasonably angry at the poor girl, and so Bustier had said how better it would be for her to rise up and become a beacon of light for Chloé instead of letting that hate and anger fester inside her.

To let go and help out everyone.

To not let your negative side take a hold of you and be positive around everyone in your vicinity.

After all, sharing and helping makes the world go round, and we do want to help the world, right?

She remembered those words she had spoken so fondly to her, as she was always someone anyone could come to for advice. It had always worked after all, after students were able to see the correct side, she’d be thanked which always left a small flutter of happiness around her.

Mendeleiev scared many students away, D’Argencourt with his eccentric personality, made students want to avoid being seen near him after lessons ended, and hardly anyone spent their time in the art club room.

Caline believed she was seen as a shining example of light by the other students, and knew she was seen as a Disney Princess by many, Rose had even called her that once.

However, getting back to the matter at hand, she was very pleased when Marinette had gone out of her way to make Chloé happy, of course, her attitude still remained mostly the same but Caline was smart enough to know it wouldn’t take one nice event to help the girl, so she was so proud when she carried on helping the poor girl out. Chloé was smiling more and even asking for a multitude of things from the blue-haired girl, and if she ever saw Marinette get unreasonably upset again, she’d send a very disappointing glare.

She knew being disappointed in students was a sure-fire way for them to do better and work harder, she knew how guilty her students would feel if they ever managed to get that gaze from their teacher, and… If the elder had done this a bit more on Marinette than anyone else… Well, she would just smile, telling them how much Marinette was able to accomplish, her trips for the class were so good, everyone was jealous. So, didn’t that seem good?

And even though she did see most of it going in the trash, she knew Chloé was just a little bit picky, she’d liked the interest in her, it was normal.

Her home life wasn’t something to be overlooked, she just knew the girl only wished for attention, and she was sure to be able to give it to her.

But then she… Stopped.

Caline had believed the girl had gotten wrongly impatient and told Marinette she shouldn’t be so extreme, but Marinette dared to fight back, against her?

She exclaimed that it wasn’t just Chloé anymore, how could she be expected to be nice to both her and Lila?

Bustier was confused, Lila? What did she have to do with this?

And so, the girl explained that she was just lying for attention, every breath that came out was just a lie. And she couldn’t stand it, she’d apparently turned her friends against her.

Now, normally, Bustier knew Marinette wouldn’t lie.

But, she also knew she couldn’t let this ‘lie’ be revealed.

It might harm her reputation.

She couldn’t have that happen.

So, she knew what she had to say.

That this was just girl drama that all teenagers had.

She couldn’t afford to let her empire fall so soon.

And for something like that.

The faces of the other teachers.

The gossip surrounding her.

“Looks like Caline’s not so good a teacher after all.”

No, she couldn’t bare it.

Who said a little white lie would hurt anyone?

In order to keep her class, exactly the same.

A few snips were made to maintain its image.

And if she had to snip her most prized student.

Then… So be it.

***

When she entered her classroom it was just like any other day.

Her students forming around a desk in the front of the room.

She always commended her students for such actions, she knew how sweet and silent the girl could be and loved how accommodating the class could be to her.

She couldn’t help the wondering gaze that looked upon the back row.

A certain seat was empty, but that was routine by now. And even though there was still 5 minutes till the bell, she still marked her late in her book.

Sometimes Caline had to think if at some points she had expected too much of this single girl… But only to remember that, no, in fact, when Marinette had a better attitude, she had expected too less. Back when she gained some confidence, she had always surpassed her expectations, her trips were the highlight off her job, her morning snacks were a welcomed surprise, her need to prove herself let her have as many responsibilities as possible, yes some were meant to be her own paperwork, but she’d never seen Marinette excel so much, it was a dream come true.

If she could just push her, just a little more… She was sure Marinette would go back to her obedient self, and it would make Bustier’s job a lot easier.

Although… The new student seemed like the perfect candidate as well, since Marinette may not follow her good example, she may be able to get a different example.

She could see just how sweet and pleasant the cherry haired girl was, she’d be perfect for the role. Sneaking a quick glance at the girl who was simply minding her business reading a book and keeping to herself. She did take note she had a bit of a limp for the past week, but didn’t bring it up just to not embarrass the girl in front of the whole class. She just knew if she was able to simply send her views her way, a new example would be made, hell she may even be able to have two if Rosaniline became such a good influence on Marinette she may even change again.

She also just knew Rosann would be good for Chloé, after all, they’d have so much to talk about, and coming from similar backgrounds she could make sure they could be paired together as much as possible.

Of course, only she knew about her family name, Monsieur Damocles had been informed by her residence that they’d prefer not to spread this information about, for it had been such a hinderance for her to make friends before.

Bustier frowned, she knew very well her students wouldn’t try to suck up to her, she almost felt insulted that she wouldn’t trust her students.

But the worst part was that she couldn’t brag about her new student to anyone, no one could find out or they’d all face some action from her Mother, she was very clear on that.

However Bustier tried to not let it bother her too much, after all she was sure she could give a gentle nudge in the right direction about trusting friends and not keeping secrets, to coax her out of her shell. She’d just have to be excruciatingly patient.

Clapping her hands was a symbol for them all to pay attention, she’d never raise her voice to them, not even a little, and she knew they would respect it and quieten down their chatter.

And just like that, the door opened to a fashionably late bluenette. Bustier would feign ignorance to the rather disappointing glares stares the girl was receiving, after all, she was giving one off her own.

She sheepishly walked to her seat just as the bell rang, honestly, she’d given her a lot of warnings before about her punctuality, did she really need to brief her Parents in about the situation?

“Well class, since all of you are here now, I can get on with the lesson” And so began her teaching.

It was fairly simple, she knew her students would be able to easily understand, after all, she knew they were the best, the smartest.

She had to explain the project they were bound to complete to a high standard, she just knew it was another to her list of student’s accomplishments she could brag about.

The project entailed 30% of coursework they must do in pairs in the span of 2 months. They could choose any topic so long as it followed the theme.

And this year’s theme was history, generally her students would groan at this topic, but considering they were able to decide on their personal preferences that should help encourage them to complete it to the best of their ability.

Plus, it helped towards their end of the year grade, and helped their teamwork skills. Of course, Mlle Bustier would always try to be as generous as she could, she wouldn’t remove marks from accidental mistakes unlike a purple haired teacher would, she just couldn’t bear to be so mean to them when she knew they were trying so hard to get all of their marks, she couldn’t punish them for that. Even if it was not necessarily the right thing to do, she couldn’t let there be any wrongful disappointment.

As long as they carried on being a great example, she could never fail them.

Besides everyone loved her projects, while having to be in pairs they always got to present it in any way they wanted, a science experiment, PowerPoint presentation to even a play, she was so very proud when Mylène did that play from last year, so impressive and she had gotten out of her shell. All she had to do was make them follow a simple rule before they could go all out. Her students loved the independence, and when they asked what type of ideas she had, she gleamed and expressed her own interest in the fairy tales. There was so much you could do with so many magical stories and elements, the possibilities were endless. She loved always talking about them in at least all of her lesson as she knew how many life lessons could come out of it.

And besides, in a sense, the other thing that made her the best teacher, she let them pick their own partners.

Of course, she had to make it seem like that.

It was always the same since kindergarten, everyone’s names would be placed in a bowl on a piece of paper, and one by one she’d pick a name up, when she read it out loud other people could raise their hands to ask to be their partner.

Normally it would be the first person to raise their hand, however, Caline wasn’t stupid, there were certain pairs she didn’t always want together.

Such as Alix and Kim, if it were a presentation about sports, she wouldn’t mind as much, knowing they would present a physical display of their athleticism… However, she knew if they were paired up for a slideshow presentation about let’s say, politics. She knew they would only start at the last minute, and include a very messily strown up slideshow. And with Marinette refusing to help out her classmates with even the simplest of matters, her hands were tied.

So, if they ever stuck their hand up for either of them, Bustier would wait to see who else would put their hand up, most of the time it was either Max or Nathaniel respectfully, and since they were all friends, no one had called her out for it.

And that’s how she got around it.

So, she started doing her routine, swirling her hand around the, she picked one up and began to read it aloud.

“Lila Rossi. And who would like to be her partner?” Immediately several hands shot up, bringing a smile on her face again, so many wanted to help this girl it filled her with pride and comfort.

And well, she always had to help by picking the most knowledgeable of students.

“Max, I believe I saw your hand up first” Some students moaned that they couldn’t be with Lila, but they knew that maybe next time they would get a shot.

“Ivan Bruel” Unsurprisingly Mylène’s hand shot up first followed by Juleka and Rose, now normally she wouldn’t let couples be together, but she couldn’t break them up, they did their work so well, so she let it slide.

Grabbing the next piece of paper Caline’s once bright smile, dropped as her eyes scanned over the name before sighing audibly, she didn’t need to hide it, everyone knew whose name it was.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng took a deep sigh.

As soon as Bustier told them about a presentation she was immediately filled with dread.

She could quite easily do it well, or at least get a well enough grade considering Bustier’s shady marking skills.

But her partners influence would be something she dreaded.

Best case scenario, they’ll be so repulsed to be in the same room with her that they’d work independently, and it would more or less seem like two separate presentations in one. Her grade was low.

Worst case scenario, she’d be subjected to either do it alone, or screamed about how much they don’t want to be near her. Her grade would be lowered.

Not theirs, hers.

Bustier would exclaim how she wanted the bluenette to rise above it all and forgive them, and until she was a better student in her eyes, she’d be punished for it.

It didn’t help that when her name was specifically called out, there would be a silence they’ll have to endure for what would seem like eternity.

It would either stop when someone so nobly sacrificed themselves to team up with her or Bustier would be forced to wait until the end for the last name to be picked out.

And she hated having to feel like this.

They were all friends, why did it have to be like this?

And well, just like this silence, it would last for a rather uncomfortable time, more than Marinette liked.

Her head rested on the desk, she at this point didn’t care about her appearance in front of the new girl. It had been a week already and at this point Marinette knew they’d be no point getting to know someone who was bound to abandon her.

It was a despairing truth she’d learn from experience, it was why no one hung around her, even from the other classes, they would be a target next.

Marinette couldn’t blame them, if the situations were reversed, she doubted she’d have enough courage to go out of her way to help.

So, she’d just sit, head on desk as time would pass.

“H-Hey! Why do you have your hand up, we told you how she was a bully, why would you want to be her partner!?”

???

Wait-

That wasn’t meant to happen.

Hesitantly, Marinette picked her head up, only to find her seatmate with an eager hand in the air.

She looked over to her face, a smile present as she glanced towards the teacher, waiting for her to say they would be paired together.

“I want to be Marinette’s partner, and I haven’t seen yet why I shouldn’t” Rosann’s head turned innocently to her classmates, she was radiating happiness as they stared in shock. A blond very much as he did want to be her partner when her name was called out, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

“Marinette! Did you threaten her as well, girl you’re unbelieva-”

“I’m afraid you are being mistaken Mlle Césaire, I wouldn’t willingly make a partnership with my enemy, now Mlle Bustier you may continue if you would please” Marinette gasped, she- she’d just put a target on her back. For her! This girl was crazy…

And yet, despite her cute appearance, she hadn’t seen someone look so confident and polite.

‘Wait did I say cute-’

Even though the girl had stated her answer, it wasn’t the answer the class was looking for.

“Mlle Bustier you can’t put their names down together” Someone protested. It sounded like Lila, she was always leading the class for this sort of thing.

“Yeah, put my name down for Rosaniline instead, we know she doesn’t mean it.” That was Alya.

“But I-” She felt guilty for the new girl, she really did, she would’ve warned her how you’ll never truly be able to say your opinion without everyone interfering or as she put it, butting in.

“She doesn’t know what’s she’s gotten herself into, the poor girl” Rose spoke, if Marinette wasn’t so used to it she’d flinch from the words Rose spoke about her.

What was bad, Rosann wasn’t able to speak.

What was worse, Bustier was very much considering it.

“I guess it would be for the best” Marinette couldn’t believe it. The one person who willingly decided to pair up with her, was being ignored to be partnered up with someone else.

Not that Marinette wanted them to be with someone else mind you, but it was their decision, why wasn’t she spared a thought and have people notice that maybe they didn’t have to decide for her?

What was crueller, was that Marinette found the one person that was on her side… Was the one person who was the first to make her clamper up.

“This is ridiculous absolutely ridiculous” Of all people, it had to be her to join in?

“How extremely hypocritical of you Mlle Bustier, if I couldn’t change my partner from the last project then neither does Dupain-Cheng in this one, isn’t this school meant to teach fairness. Well, the only fair thing I see is the fairly incompetent from this class” Of course the students didn’t take kindly to her words as Bustier sighed yet again.

She knew Chloé had a point, she’d tried to persuade Chloé to have a different partner than Sabrina a few times in previous projects, it would depend on the person, if Chloé didn’t mind, she’d moan but nothing else. If it was someone she didn’t like, she’d threaten to call the mayor, most of the times she wouldn’t considering out of all the teachers even Chloé would admit she liked Bustier the most, she’d never blame her for anything and she loved that about her, but she had a point none the less.

Besides, Bustier believed that maybe Rosaniline would prove to be a very good example to her previous one, and this could be a great place to start.

“Yes Chloé, I believe I understand now, it would be highly unfair if we didn’t let Rosaniline decide for herself” Marinette couldn’t help the somewhat annoyed glance she gave to the teacher for that comment.

“But Mlle-”

“No buts Alya, now why don’t we use the idea Chloé suggested?” The class all heard the snicker from Chloé, they couldn’t believe she could stoop so low like this.

And then it carried on like it had been, but Marinette couldn’t help but let her curiosity get the better of her and as the class was carrying on, Marinette swallowed the gulp that had formed in her throat and turned to the girl next to her.

“Err- Rosaniline?” She gently tapped the girl’s shoulder, she turned and showed she was listening.

“Yes?” Oh god Mari don’t lose confidence now.

“Why, why did you do that?” With that, she saw a smirk emerge from the girl.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious, but I am rather petty since I refuse to take the word of someone else before doing my own research” Oh. Somehow that wasn’t what she was expecting, but honestly it was better than pretending to care.

“Although… I should apologise, for how abrupt I was about it” Marinette widened her eyes, why- she didn’t do anything wrong?

“I would’ve preferred asking for your consent first, but seeing the opportunity I may have taken it rather quickly” She grasped one of her braids, a nervous habit maybe, Marinette couldn’t help but notice before giving her answer.

“N-No its fine, I-I don’t mind you being my partner, not like I’ve got anyone better- I mean- I didn’t mean it like that. I just- erm, I just. I’m glad you thought about me” If Marinette had been able to look past her hair, she would’ve noticed the small blush creep up on her cheeks.

“No problem”

***

Normally, a weekend would be extremely relaxing to the young designer.

She had as much time to sleep in, plus she started a late shift anyway, her Parents were the best when it came to that, since they knew how much trouble she had getting up on a school day, they knew they couldn’t ask her to get up early for work, especially since it was their workplace.

And she had completed other homework assignments a while ago, so surely there was no reason for why she should be pacing around in the living room so early for her.

Well, it may or may not have something to do with the new girl.

She really should stop calling her new girl, she gave her her name for god’s sake.

But she just felt so nervous.

She told her Parents about this new assignment, and how she actually volunteered to be her partner, and how Marinette in the spur of a moment offered to go to her place on Saturday to start it. And she couldn’t deny when she saw the relieved expression she had when she offered. But now…

She hadn’t had someone over in years, everyone else avoided this place like the plague, the Parents still came though, and although they were slightly informed of the situation, they also just believed it was teenage drama.

Her own Parents showed their own worry, they loved their girl, and they truly didn’t want her to ever be hurt like last time ever again, but they also knew if she never gave this girl a shot, she’d never know.

Was it better to know than to ponder it forever?

That was a phrase Marinette was all too familiar with. However, it still didn’t calm her nerves.

Her Parents had told her if she didn’t want Rosaniline to be around anymore, they’d be more than happy to just so happen have an event take place right at that moment that she would have to leave, even if Marinette hoped that wouldn’t happen.

So, as she continued to pace, she was able to see from her balcony the Parisians all around, her doorway was slightly ajar so she could hear the sound of birds chirping, cars passing, and a motorcycle coming to a stop.

The noise of a motorcycle made her come to a fond thought of her Nonna. She loved her very much, and her free spirit.

Whenever she came back from one of her grand trips, she’d always get Marinette some type of fabric that always made her determined to incorporate into some type of clothing.

It was somewhat why she always stayed in the path of fashion, not just because her Parents would be disappointed in seeing her so unmotivated, but because she still liked the challenge of turning fabric into something.

She giggled, besides that thing from last week, it was the only adventurous thing she had done.

The sound of steps interrupted her as she saw her Maman, she nodded before Marinette felt a slight drop in her stomach.

She was here, she just needed to calm down, it would be fine.

She’d just smile and brace for it.

Walking down the stairs to her bakery was the same as always, she could smell the fresh bread from the oven. She always appreciated this aspect, living in a bakery always meant the aroma was lovely.

Going through the door after her Maman she braced herself to see the ne- er, Rosaniline.

What she didn’t brace for was the little girl cuddling her leg as soon as she entered.

“Hi, my names Piper, can we go to your room now?” She had to compose herself so she wouldn’t fall over with the girl in tow, but she couldn’t help internally awwing at the little kids’ appearance.

Black hair tied back in a red bow, a pink leotard with a lighter coloured tutu skirt. And a short but worn-out blue cape. And to top it all off, sparkly pink shoes faded to orange.

“O-Oh, hi there.” She gave a little wave, still completely confused.

“I’m so sorry Mari, Piper was just too excited to meet you, I’m very sorry for the shock” She saw a concerned look coming from Rosaniline. She sure did fret a lot- ah, she knew she didn’t mean it as a bad thing she just, well, she was used to being quiet and observing.

“Its fine really, but how come you brought your… Sister here?” She was unsure if the guess was right but considering the nod from the other girl, she relaxed knowing she was right. And considering she had to ignore a comment made from her Parents about a nickname she was given, she could just ignore that.

“I’m so sorry for the late notice, it’s just, something came up and I couldn’t find anyone able to take care of her. I’m really sorry for not telling you before but I- I don’t have your phone number so I couldn’t tell you. Eheh. I promise she won’t cause any trouble. Right?” The smaller girl, now back at her Sister’s side, bounced and repeated yes several times.

She looked to her Parents, almost asking them if it was alright, this whole situation caught her slightly off guard, and she momentarily forgot the question was directed at her.

Luckily her Maman was ready.

“Of course its fine, my, your Sister is such a cutie. And what’s your name sweetie?” Her Mother crouched down to make eye level. The girl puffed her chest out before standing straight up.

“My name is Piper Keyne-Hill ma’am, and I am 6 years old” She held one hand up before she looked up.

“Did I do it right?” Rosaniline smiled before bending down to her level as well.

“Do you believe that is the right answer?” Her use of that caused attention to Piper’s hand as the little one looked back, she gasped before proudly extending another finger up.

“There you go” She ruffled her hair as Marinette saw her Mother continue talking with Piper.

And yet… She felt that dread from earlier flee away, seeing Rosaniline interacting with her Sister so fondly brought heat to her cheeks and inside. She just, felt so calm around her.

And that warm smile…

She, kinda wanted her to smile like that to her…

“Marinette?” That broke her out of her trance, she looked over at her Papa who had a confused look.

“Shouldn’t you two start working on the project?”

“Huh? Oh- oh yeah, yes of course the project… Eh, Rosaniline lets go, I’ve got some kid books to keep Piper company” She didn’t mind the weight on her arm, or the way her Parents smiled at her interactions with the cherry haired girl.

She just minded how heavy her heart was pounding for some reason.

Marinette never considered her room big, she always found it spacious, it might be due to her always misplacing at least something when she’s in a rush, but she knew where it would be.

Stepping over to her desk draw, she pulls out a bunch of child books, since Nadja always did spring a babysitting job on her, she figured there was no reason to place them somewhere that would be too much of a hassle to keep getting out. So, she kept them closer.

Turning back, she saw the two looking around her room, Piper held so much excitement as Rosaniline wore a smile.

“Woooooow, it’s so pink, Rosalee what type is it?” Tugging at her Sister’s cardigan the older girl smiled.

“There are many different types, so I doubt I know the exact one… But I’d say it was a coral pink” She pattered her head as she too looked over the room, a somewhat reminiscent expression as she takes it all in.

“Mari I’m so jealous, to be able to live in a bakery with all of those magnificent smells around every day, it must be like heaven” Marinette scratched her head, ok- this was all so different, no matter how much she wanted to go back to her usual self, there was always something holding her back. Almost like, if she fell in this trap again, she’d mess it up, before she could be comfortable.

There she goes again, over thinking the situation like before.

No wonder-

“Ahh- it’s a tiger, look look” Piper’s voice brought her out of it as she saw Piper sitting in Rosaniline’s legs.

“Mmhmmn, so, Mari should we get started?” Marinette could only nod before they pulled out some books to get started.

***

‘This was easier when I had to do it on my own’ The bluenette thought, now don’t get her wrong, they weren’t arguing or anything, they just couldn’t exactly agree on a subject together.

When Rosaniline suggested gory fairy tales, she had to physically force herself not to shudder, fortunately the girl opposite her said it was a mere jest, thinking it would’ve been funny to see the teachers face when they spoke about it, but maybe it would be too much.

Rosaniline even joked that they may not have anything in common at all, that did nothing to soothe the young girls’ nerves. She just knew this might not have been the best decision, if they couldn’t find a topic, she knew Bustier would blame her for it, and if Bustier blamed her no doubt the class would as well. And it would just be one more point for them as they’d slowly but surely turn Rosaniline away from her.

It’s not like she would be disappointed or anything, it’s just, she’d rather be right now than in the future with her hopes up.

But, it didn’t help that her feelings were so mixed about this. Why was it she wanted to get to know Rosaniline?

Knock knock.

“Girls, I think you’re due a break now, don’t you?” Marinette was relieved, surely after some food they’ll be able to come up with at least one idea.

“Yes, Mlle Dupain-Cheng, that would be lovely.”

“Now stop that, you can call me Sabine, aw such a polite child you are” She blushed as she rubbed the back of her head.

“Marinette dear, mind if you help me?” Her eyes were confused, her Maman would normally never ask for help, what was so different now?

But not wanting to cause a scene she nodded and proceeded to climb down, just as Piper was moving onto a different type of picture book.

Going over to the kitchen she saw that her Mother had prepared so much food it would’ve looked like a feast, but that was how she was, whenever guests came over you could see more food on a table than a table.

She hoped Rosaniline and Piper had an appetite.

“Is everything alright dear?” She felt her Maman’s hands on her shoulders, it was always reassuring that her Parents did so much to look out for her, even when she pretended to be just fine her Parents would give her time just to be by herself if she needed it and then be there if she wanted to talk.

“Yes Maman, she’s really nice… We just haven’t figured out what topic to do yet.” She laughed nervously as her Mother couldn’t help but give a somewhat serious expression.

“You know, if you at all feel uncomfortable, we can still make up an excuse-” She shook her head.

“No Maman its fine really, if anything we’ll just keep it to the school library… She’s- I don’t know, I can’t explain it, I just feel-”

“Relaxed?” Her Mother finished the sentence for her, she nodded as Sabine thought how glad this girl was making her feel.

“Alright, well then get back up there, you don’t want her thinking you abandoned her?” She nudged her cheek as Marinette pushed her hand gently. She gave her Mum a kiss on the cheek before making her way back up to her room.

She couldn’t explain the feeling much, it was like she was feeling peaceful, a smooth tranquillity around her.

It wasn’t a feeling she had around her older friends, it always seemed like whatever they did was rushed, no time to process it. Or they didn’t let her speak.

Rosaniline did, she let her speak, she listened to her, she made her- feel.

She didn’t want that feeling to go away.

“Piper- I know you like this book, but I don’t think you should be flicking through it.”

“But why? Marilee gave me these. And they look so pretty I want one.” The little one responded, she didn’t demand, she was raised better than that.

“Well, I don’t think she meant to give you this one.” She was confused, wait what book was it?

Her heart stopped as she saw a pink cover-

That- that was her commission book!

She was rushing too much to even notice that she’d given Piper that one book.

Oh god, she was going to see her secret, that she was starting her own commission blog, that she was MDC- that she could tell everyone at Collège Françoise Dupont, and it could ruin her career. That everyone could post lies about her, making nobody trust her and demand refunds, and maybe she’d get taken in by the police- be sent to jail and never have her dream job of-

“Mari? Hey, Mari can you hear me?” She felt warm hands wrap around her own. She could feel herself look up as silver concerned eyes looked back at hers.

She felt another tug at her skirt, looking down to see Piper with her own worried expression.

“Did I make Marilee upset?” It was a simple question that pulled at her heartstrings, she felt tears prickle at her eyes for her overthinking. But she didn’t mean for Piper to be upset, or for Rosaniline to be worried either.

There she went again, overthinking every little thing that she couldn’t account for, why did she have to be this way, why did she have to be so cynical and downright negative.

“Oh no, heavens no Piper, I just- er had something in my eye, yeah. You didn’t do anything Piper, I’m glad you like the books I gave you.” Piper smile grew as she proceeded to drag Marinette over to the books again.

She seemed to be putting on an act though, from what Rosaniline could see. She was panicking over something, why? She didn’t know, she did want to find out but didn’t want to push it. She had a habit of wanting to find out answers, it wasn’t a bad thing, she remembered her Mum say, it’s just sometimes she could be just a teeny bit insensitive about it.

Looking over the scene she saw her little Sister pointing excitedly at the pages of sketched clothing, her saying how much she loved them and all the colours that she used and said how the author was so creative.

Marinette laughed along, her tears faded as she enjoyed Piper’s enthusiasm, almost making a note to definitely make her something- and for Rosaniline of course, it’ll be weird to make it for one and not the other.

And then- an idea struck.

“I know, why don’t we do it about the history of fashion?” The dark-skinned girl spoke up. She saw two heads turn towards her as she grinned. Putting her hands together near her cheeks as she spiralled in her own thoughts.

“I’ve always wanted to learn more about it, to see the transformations going through all the ages. And this could be the perfect time. So, what do you think?” It was a question that seemed as if she could reject it, but it still felt like a trick.

What if she didn’t suggest this as a solution, but for convenience for herself, since now she knew she liked fashion and would make her do all the work, it’s not like it hadn’t happened before, so why did it hurt so much to have her do it?

Did she have any right to object, wouldn’t it seem like she was being way to fussy? They already saw her sketches before, so she couldn’t deny she was a good artist. But then what if the others thought it was her idea?

That she made Rosaniline chose this subject, and get told how selfish to have done so, a disappointing gaze from Bustier, a disapproving gaze from Adrien, she felt her chest tighten up again, oh god, she was overthinking again, why did she have to be like this?

“Hey- hey Mari, we don’t have to if you don’t want… I-er saw you liked videogames; we could always do it about that if you want?” But Mari felt so disappointed in herself, she was being so accommodating to her, why, why for her? She didn’t deserve this.

“B-But Marilee’s so good at drawing, she can really really really draw. I know you can do it.” Piper enthusiastically cheered, she would’ve smiled but couldn’t, not yet, she just had to think through it.

What could she do?

“Piper, not now” Rosaniline slightly scolded, she never liked doing it honestly, but besides her Mother she had the trademark glare that told her to pack it in.

Unfortunately, Piper never did look at her while she was in such an energetic mood.

What could she do?

“Rosalee she’s amazing, she’s the best in the world. Don’t do it about stupid video games.” She tried persuading her Sister to see some sense, in the short time that she had known Marilee, she was pretty much enarmed with her, she found another Sister that needed a confidence boost.

What. Could. She. Do!?

“Piper!- Look, sometimes not everyone wants to show their skills to other people, and we have to respect that, ok?” She crouched down to her level, kids felt less intimidated when you weren’t so tall, besides, Piper didn’t mean anything by it, she was always told to follow her heart, and if she was proud of something, she should show it off for the whole world to see.

What could-

Wait?

Could someone really be so accommodating? Could it really be true? Could all of this be true?

“Aww… Ok Rosalee, sorry Marilee” Piper hugged Marinette’s leg, and even though it felt like she was getting told off, she knew she wasn’t in real trouble.

Or was it a persona?

“I’ll do it.”

If this was a plan, a plan to make her do all the work, then she’ll go along with it. It felt so mean, so immature, so senseless that she still wasn’t trusting her, but she didn’t want to turn Rosaniline away without any evidence, besides, if this was all a trick, then surely it was better this way, she would’ve foreseen it and everything would go back to normal, she’d go off to join the class while she’d be alone once more, maybe they’ll have passing glances and memories of what could’ve been but she wouldn’t leave her here open and out to be in such a vulnerable position.

Not just for her, but for both, she didn’t know what would happen after another heartbreak.

“Huh?”

“I- I don’t mind if we do it about fashion, I mean, only if you want to, I don’t mind teaching you about it, I-I even had some books stored just for this, so I guess its lucky right” A nervous laughter evolved as she looked at anywhere but her.

However, the cherry haired girl wasn’t as convinced.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I guess little Piper just convinced me.” The little girl fist pumped to herself before running along back to her books before the bluenette felt soft hands on her shoulders.

“As long as you want to as well, I… Wouldn’t want to force you or anything” Quick, she had to ease the tension.

“-Psst- Don’t worry so much Rosaniline, c’mon I’ll see where I put those books, also how far do you wanna go back, if we go too far, we might not be able to cover everything. But if we go to a few years back our presentation would just be too small. Maybe we can just go halfway. That reminds me maybe we could have a physical element, I could throw together some pieces of old works together and show them of as we talk- or” Her shoulders were gently grabbed again as she looked at the close proximity she was in, it made her blush just a tad more than she thought she ever could.

“Maybe we could discuss that, over something to eat?” She quickly looked down and remembered the food on the ground, no doubt cold now. She felt guilt come in before seeing her passionate smile.

“Sorry, I just saw how passionate you were about this, I couldn’t bear to stop you, but then I got worried if you’d run out of air, Eheh. Think we can heat the food up?” She nodded, maybe it might be better to eat downstairs after all, now that Marinette knew what topic she- they were doing, they could crack on and complete it earlier than the deadline.

She’d have to get Rosaniline’s phone number of course, just in case they needed to discuss other things but that could wait.

Of course, it could wait.

She was just so happy in that moment, she- she may have really wanted to try and be her friend.

And maybe-

No- she just wanted to continue to be near her, to hold her hand when she’s upset, to help her when she’s had a bad day.

To be… Closer to her, to that warmth.

… Was it selfish of her to want to be near that warmth for longer?

***

Night had fallen upon Paris, but the lone girl on her balcony didn’t mind at all.

Ever since that day, a part of her wished something else would happen.

No- she didn’t want the hero to be hurt again, that’s by far too sadistic to even think about… But she was really excited by all of those events, when she was able to get a breather, there was a rush of adrenaline throwing through her veins, and even if she did want something else to happen, she’d prefer to be out here just to see if she could get a glimpse of the hero again.

It had been a week since it happened, and Marinette could only guess she must have been resting from her… Fight? Was that the right word? Oh well, she must’ve been resting since she hadn’t heard anything about her from the news for a while, she could only hope her wound would heal by professionals instead of her shoddy work. But- she had to realise that she had to hope for the hero’s survival.

For Soliane Rin’s survival.

… She may have read a bit more into her- but it was only out of curiosity, she wasn’t going to gain another obsessive crush over someone famous again, nope, nada, she wasn’t going to fall for those really amazing silver eyes the press had made sure to call grey, but she was sure they were silver.

Wait, no it wasn’t like she looked at them for particularly long or anything, she definitely didn’t get lost in them, she saw a poster of them! Ah- this wasn’t helping. She needed to change the subject immediately!

Clang.

She jumped up instantly, her commissions book that was resting on her lap was now flying through the air! Oh no, she was going to lose everything, crap! Her designs!

A figure, however, flew up to catch them before landing in front of the startled girl.

“I believe these books were trying to plan their escape from you mi Belle” It was her; it really was her! She was-

“You’re alright” Her happiness took over her before she could even register that she had leapt into the arms of the hero of Paris.

She was going to regret this so much.

With her cheeks rosying so much, she jumped back until she fell back onto her chair, apology after apology escaping the girl not daring to look at her face.

‘How embarrassing, how inappropriate, how childish. Why did she have to make a fool out of herself now? In front of the new hero no less? Again!’

“There’s no need for any embarrassment, I was unaware I’d caused you such panic over my recovery, if I’d known you were worried, I would’ve visited a lot sooner.” Ah- she was always so formal with her choice of words. It was great, she was great- wait what?

“But I- didn’t realise you’d wish to see me after my blunder from last time.” That made her perk up, what… What was she talking about?

Soliane’s gaze seemed to be fixated on the ground as she looked so- so frustrated with herself. Why?

“To have failed on the first day as a hero, to have troubled a civilian with help. I can’t thank you enough to have woken you at such a godly hour just for my sake” She bowed her head forward as Marinette couldn’t help but try to make her stop.

“It’s nothing really, I mean I’m sure anyone else would help out a hero like you. I-I mean maybe not everyone else since there are some bad people but I’m sure most will. Not that you don’t need it, I mean you do- don’t I- I’m sorry I’m rambling again” Soliane Rin didn’t appear to hear her as she carried on with her tirade.

“But to not even know who it was that harmed me. I-I don’t deserve to have my title as a hero.” Why? Why was she saying this? She- no she couldn’t be serious.

But that look made it all the more real, she’d seen it so much. Every time she ever looked in the mirror after crying for so long, regret, disappointment, anything and everything negative flashed through her mind and she could tell, see everything, all of it.

And knew it broke her, would break her.

Marinette knew she didn’t have any powers.

She couldn’t shoot lasers from her eyes.

She couldn’t fly.

She couldn’t control objects through her mind.

But- how Mother always said she had a talent for one thing.

Empathy.

She could be so understanding when her mind was so calm, when she wasn’t worrying about what others were thinking of her, when she could see, truly see inside their heart, all of their feelings out on display, and helping them, by being there for them.

For knowing exactly what to say…

It- may not always work, but no superhero comes out of every battle unscathed.

“Please stop” She looked up, but it was still such a pitying look. She could see through her smile, but it felt as if she wasn’t even trying to hide it, like there was no use concealing it.

“You can’t keep blaming yourself for a mistake like that, it’s not fair to you- or to me. Yes, I was scared when I saw you injured, but I’m so glad that you’re here now. You’re still standing. You still want to continue even when you were hurt. I’ve seen just how strong you are, how confident you can be when the world tried to throw its worse at you.” She stepped closer to her, having gotten up from her fallen position.

“So please don’t give up for one mistake,”

She stepped closer…

“Don’t give up when I know you have the strength in you to persist.” She wrapped her arms around her again, and this time she wasn’t so embarrassed about doing it.

She was crying…

She tried to use those words for someone else.

It hadn’t worked… So, she had to believe in anything and everything for it to succeed now, for her.

“You risk your life every day, and yet you never ask for anything. I want to thank you for all that you’ve done, on behalf of Paris, no, the whole world. You’re a real hero Soliane Rin. Please don’t doubt that.” She hugged a bit tighter; she hadn’t meant to get so emotional on her, but maybe that emotion wasn’t just for her.

It was silent.

Too silent.

Marinette had to hold her breath in anticipation, did- did she go too far? Did she overstep her boundaries again? Did she-

“Ah I see. Thank you, I-I mean, I appreciate your gratitude Marinette” When she looked back, she could see her cheeks were red, she could see her silver eyes look back at her before seeing her own cheeks reddening as well- wait, she was so close! Again!

She jumped back again, not falling this time, thanking the heavens that she wasn’t making a fool out herself as much as usual.

“I must commend your stubbornness my dear. I- I hadn’t imagined you’d have a positive opinion of me after that, I must apologise for making such a rash assumption about you, and for- eh snapping me out of that. I’m thankful to have met such a kind and respectable hero like you.” She bowed her head again as Marinette had to comprehend what had just happened.

It felt awkward, Soliane Rin was blushing a lot, Marinette was blushing like crazy as well.

“Me a hero, what no way. You’re just joking, don’t tell me you hit your head too?” She waved her hands in front of her. She recalled how clumsy she was, how often she’d trip on the stairs to Collège or even when she dropped her tray of pastries on the floor, that one was particularly embarrassing.

However, she was too late to see that Soliane had stopped her smile as Marinette began to panic again.

“No! I didn’t mean hit your head I meant did you crack it- no check it- no I mean, how can I ever be a hero to anything, I’m just me, Marinette. I don’t have any superpowers or anything I’m just an ordinary girl ehehehe” She felt her hand taken by the hero again, her heart stopping for a moment before jumping to x2, she couldn’t believe she was holding her hand again.

“Just because I wear a mask and costume doesn’t make me a hero. It’s my ideals and thoughts for the people. Marinette, you may not have powers, or a hero name. But you can be a hero still. After all, All that is needed for the prevail of malevolence is that individuals concede defeat.” Marinette was shocked, she just- wow, that was cool. And… So sweet. To say that, about anyone, about her. Even if she didn’t fully believe it at first, she’d be sure to keep those words very close to her heart.

The bluenette smiled back, before they both looked over her balcony and over Paris, they share a moment just looking out, the silence was comforting to them as some time passed.

There was a question that may have crossed her mind at one point, she felt guilty for taking so much time out of her day- night- schedule? Oh well, she had to ask just one little thing.

Marinette fiddling with her fingers, she took a deep breath.

“S-So do you have to do a patrol or-” Soliane looked up surprised before checking something around her wrist, she laughed nervously before turning back.

“Huh- oh yes, unfortunately I won’t be able to stay longer, however it would be even more unbefitting of me to avoid my job any further” She wanted to deny what she said was true, but saw her giggle so slightly, knowing it was a small joke, she lightened up as Soliane Rin bows again and flies off from her balcony railings bidding her adieu.

With her hand resting where her heart was beating, faster than usual, faster then whenever she was late for class. Faster than-

Oh no.

No no no! Not again, how did she not realise it sooner?

How!?

This familiar feeling.

Why did it come back?

And why did she want it to stay!?

***

I hope you enjoyed it.

Anyway, I’m willing to take a bunch off prompts for Rosann and Mari on date nights/doing couple things, whether you want some added salt from the class is up to each requester, I may turn a few away if I either feel uncomfortable or simply not able to write it, these prompts will come out randomly, I have no structure to anything. To submit, I’ll allow for the idea to be within any time frame, i.e. when they first meet, to being friends, to being a couple. I do love angst although I’ll be unsure how to make it work when it should be a ton off fluff stuff. If you have any questions don’t feel afraid to ask, I might have to clarify some points. I’ll be ordering the prompts, and stating when they come in the main story, what you would’ve need to have read before, if it contained any spoilers for certain chapters and any trigger warnings, although you may need to state what might be triggering as sometimes, I too get confused on what I need to state, if anyone can do that then that’s alright.)

Even though I like a Saltinette, sometimes I still wanna see a different perspective of her, an anxious, guilt-ridden, cautious, mess like this version. I just think it’ll be interesting to basically rewrite Marinette’s character. Instead of this sassy overconfident one in most fanfic’s I’ve now changed the status quo. Haha.

And I believe I’ve taken a somewhat realistic approach to Marinette trying to trust someone else, I didn’t want to just rush into it. However, I do think it’s a bit different with Soliane Rin because she is a hero, and I think Marinette could trust her a lot easier than Rosaniline.

Also did you know that Majestia’s quote was a straight rip off of Edmund Burke’s?

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.

Yeah...

Cya next time.

Note: Please tell me if I should add anything else to the card, there will be one of these cards for all 15 chapters, however, because I have uni work all updates will be slower because I really need to focus on the uni stuff, then I might be able to upload quicker. They also may change in the future because I can never stop adding stuff.

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marginalgloss · 3 years ago

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I turn 35 tomorrow. How better to celebrate that than with some notes on the handful of video games I have managed to finish over the last ten months. In no particular order:

Judgment (PS4)

Something I think about often is that there aren’t many games which are set in the real world. By this I man the world in which we live today. You can travel through ancient Egypt or take a trip through the stars in the far future, but it’s relatively rare to be shown a glimpse of something familiar. Hence the unexpected popularity of the new release of Microsoft Flight Simulator, which lets you fly over a virtual representation of your front porch, as well as the Grand Canyon, and so on.

I found something like the same appeal in Judgment, a game which took me longer than anything else listed here to finish — seven or eight months, on and off. Like the Yakuza games to which it is a cousin, it’s set in Kamurocho, a fictional district of a real-world Tokyo; unlike other open-world games, it renders a space of perhaps half a square mile in intense detail. I spent a long time in this game wandering around slowly in first-person view, looking at menus and in the windows of shops and restaurants. The attention to detail is unlike everything I have ever seen, from the style of an air conditioning unit to the range of Japanese whiskies on sale in a cosy backstreet bar. And this was a thing of value at a time when the thought of going anywhere else at all, let alone abroad, seemed like it was going to be very difficult for a very long time.

It’s a game of at least three discrete parts. One of them is a fairly cold-blooded police procedural/buddy cop story: you play an ex-lawyer turned private eye investigating a series of grisly murders that, inevitably, link back to your own murky past. In another part you run around the town getting into hilarious martial arts escapades, battering lowlifes with bicycles and street furniture. In another, you can while away your hours playing meticulous mini-games that include darts, baseball, poker, Mahjong and Shogi — and that’s before we even get to the video game arcades.

All these parts are really quite fun, and if you want to focus on one to the exclusion of the others, the game is totally fine with that. The sudden tonal shifts brought about by these crazy and abrupt shifts in format are, I think, essentially unique to video games. But the scope of Judgment is a thing all its own. As a crafted spectacle of escapist fiction it’s comprehensive, and in its own way utterly definitive.

Mafia: Definitive Edition (PS4)

I was amazed when I found out they were doing a complete remake of Mafia, a game I must have finished at least three or four times in the years after its release back in 2002. Games from this era don’t often receive the same treatment as something like Resident Evil, where players might be distracted by the controls and low-poly graphics of the original.

A quality remake makes it easier for all kinds of reasons to appreciate what was going on there. (Not least because they have a lot of new games in the same series to sell.) But in the early 00s PC games like this one had started to get really big and ambitious, and had (mostly) fixed issues with controls; so there’s a hell of a lot more stuff going on in Mafia than in most games of that era. It was also a very hard game, with all kinds of eccentricities that most big titles don’t attempt today. Really I have no idea how this remake got made at all.

But I was so fond of the original I had to play it. The obvious: it looks fantastic, and the orchestral soundtrack is warm and evocative. The story is basic, but for the era it seemed epic, and it’s still an entertaining spectacle. The original game got the balance of cinematic cutscenes, driving and action right the first time, even while Rockstar were still struggling to break out of the pastiche-led GTA III and Vice City.

They have made it easier. You’re still reliant on a handful of medical boxes in each level for healing, but you get a small amount of regenerating health as well. You no longer have to struggle to keep your AI companions alive. Most of the cars are still heavy and sluggish, but I feel like they’re not quite as slow as they once were. They’ve changed some missions, and made some systems a little more comfortable — with sneaking and combat indicators and so on — but there aren’t any really significant additions.

The end result of all this is that it plays less like an awkward 3D game from 2002, and more like a standard third-person shooter from the PS3/360 era. Next to virtually any other game in a similar genre from today, it feels a bit lacking. There’s no skill tree, no XP, no levelling-up, no crafting, no side-missions, no unusual weapons or equipment, no alternative routes through the game. And often all of that stuff is tedious to the extreme in new titles, but here, you really feel the absence of anything noteworthy in the way of systems.

My options might have been more limited in 2002 but back then the shooting and driving felt unique and fun enough that I could spend endless hours just romping around in Free Ride mode. Here, it felt flat by comparison; it felt not much different to Mafia III, which I couldn’t finish because of how baggy it felt and how poorly it played, in spite of it having one of the most interesting settings of any game in recent years. But games have come a long way in twenty years.

Hypnospace Outlaw (Nintendo Switch)

If this game is basically a single joke worked until it almost snaps then it is worked extremely well.

It seems to set itself up for an obvious riff on the way in which elements of the web which used to be considered obnoxious malware (intrusive popups and so on) have since become commonplace, and sometimes indispensable, parts of the online browsing experience. But it doesn’t really do that, and I think that’s because it’s a game which ends up becoming a little too fascinated by its own lore.

The extra science fiction patina over everything is that technically this isn’t the internet but a sort of psychic metaverse delivered over via a mid-90s technology involving a direct-to-brain headset link. I don’t know that this adds very much to the game, since the early days of the internet were strange enough without actually threatening to melt the brains of its users.

(This goes back to what I said about Judgment - I sometimes wonder if it feels easier to make a game within a complete fiction like this, rather than simply placing it in the context of the nascent internet as it really was. Because this way you don’t have to worry too much about authenticity or realism; this way the game can be as outlandish as it needs to be.)

But, you know. It’s a fun conceit. A clever little world to romp around in for a while.

Horace (Nintendo Switch)

I don’t know quite where to begin with describing this. One of the oddest, most idiosyncratic games I’ve played in recent years.

As I understand it this platformer is basically the creation of two people, and took about six years to make. You start out thinking this is going to be a relatively straightforward retro run-and-jump game — and for a while, it is — but then the cutscenes start coming. And they keep coming. You do a lot of watching relative to playing in this game, but it’s forgivable because they are deeply, endearingly odd.

It’s probably one of the most British games I’ve ever played in terms of the density and quality of its cultural references. And that goes for playing as well as watching; there’s a dream sequence which plays out like Space Harrier and driving sequences that play out like Outrun. There are references to everything from 2001 to the My Dinner with Abed episode of Community. And it never leans into any of it with a ‘remember that?’ knowing nod — it’s all just happening in the background, littered like so much cultural detritus.

A lot of it feels like something that’s laser-targeted to appeal to a certain kind of gamer in their mid-40s. And, not being quite there myself, a lot of it passed me by. Horace is not especially interested in a mass appeal — it’s not interested in explaining itself, and it doesn’t care if you don’t like the sudden shifts in tone between heartfelt sincerity and straight-faced silliness. But as a work of singular creativity and ambition it’s simply a joyous riot.

Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)

I stopped playing this after perhaps twelve or fifteen hours. There is a lot to like about it; it still looks stunning on the PS4 Pro; Aloy is endearing; the world is beautiful to plod around. But other parts of it seem downright quaint. It isn’t really sure whether it should be a RPG or an action game. And I’m surprised I’ve never heard anyone else mention the game’s peculiar dedication to maintaining a shot/reverse shot style throughout dialogue sequences, which is never more than tedious and stagey.

The combat isn’t particularly fun. Once discovered most enemies simply become enraged and blunder towards you, in some way or another; your job is to evade them, ensnare them or otherwise trip them up, then either pummel them into submission or chip away at their armour till they become weak enough to fall. I know enemy AI hasn’t come on in leaps and bounds in recent years but it’s not enough to dress up your enemies as robot dinosaurs and then expect a player to feel impressed when they feel like the simplest kind of enrageable automata. Oh, and then you have to fight human enemies too, which feels like either an admission of failure or an insistence that a game of this scale couldn’t happen without including some level of human murder.

I don’t have a great deal more to say about it. It’s interesting to me that Death Stranding, which was built on the same Decima engine, kept the frantic and haphazard combat style from Horizon, but went to great lengths to actively discourage players from getting into fights at all. (It also fixed the other big flaw in Horizon — the flat, inflexible traversal system — and turned that into the centrepiece of the game.)

Disco Elysium (PS4)

In 2019 I played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. I’m talking about the actual tabletop roleplaying game, not any kind of video game equivalent. For week after week a group of us from work got together and sort of figured it out, and eventually developed not one but two sprawling campaigns of the never-ending sort. We continued for a while throughout the 2020 lockdown, holding our sessions online via Roll20, but it was never quite the same. After a while, as our life circumstances changed further, it sort of just petered out.

I mention all this because Disco Elysium is quite clearly based around the concept of a computerised tabletop roleplaying game (aka CRPG). My experience of that genre is limited to the likes of Baldurs Gate, the first Pillars of Eternity and the old Fallout games, so I was expecting to have to contend with combat and inventory management. What I wasn’t expecting was to be confronted with the best novel I’ve read this year.

To clarify: I have not read many other novels this year, by my standards. But, declarations of relative quality aside, what I really mean is that this game is, clearly and self-consciously, a literary artefact above all. It is written in the style of one of those monolithic nineteenth century novels that cuts a tranche through a society, a whole world — you could show it to any novelist from at least the past hundred years and they would understand pretty well what is going on. It is also wordy in every sense of that term: there’s a lot of reading to do, and the text is prolix in the extreme.

You could argue it’s less a game than a very large and fairly sophisticated piece of interactive fiction. The most game-like aspects of it are not especially interesting. It has some of the stats and the dice-rolling from table-top roleplaying games, but this doesn’t sit comfortably with the overtly literary style elsewhere. Health and morale points mostly become meaningless when you can instantly heal at any time and easily stockpile the equivalent of health potions. And late on in the game, when you find yourself frantically changing clothes in order to increase your chances of passing some tricky dice roll, the systems behind the game start to feel somewhat disposable.

Disco Elysium is, I think, a game that is basically indifferent to its own status as a game. Nothing about it exists to complement its technological limitations, and nor is it especially interested in the type of unique possibilities that are only available in games. You couldn’t experience Quake or Civilisation or the latest FIFA in any other format; but a version of Disco Elysium could have existed on more or less any home computer in about the last thirty years. And, if we were to lose the elegant art and beautiful score, and add an incredibly capable human DM, it could certainly be played out as an old-fashioned tabletop game not a million miles from Dungeons and Dragons.

All of the above is one of the overriding thoughts I have about this game. But it doesn’t come close to explaining what it is that makes Disco Elysium great.

#gaming #judgment #horace #disco elysium #horizon zero dawn #hypnospace outlaw

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twilightknight17 · 4 years ago

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So I fell asleep last night before I could make the post, but I got P5 Scramble yesterday and I’m having a blast so far. ^_^

I’m probably going to go through it the same way I did my Royal playthrough, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t click through on these posts!

Before we start, I just want to mention that I don’t really know anything about the story. Somehow I’ve managed to avoid spoilers for an entire year except for a few small things.

I do know the identity of (who I assume is) Kyoto’s Jail Monarch. (Monarch is kind of a weird, formal word. I think I liked Jail King better. Or... Warden? Warden might have been the best choice.) ANYWAY, I think I know their identity, and by extension, I have a vague idea of why Shadow Joker exists. Other than that... You’re getting speculation and bullshit untainted by later plot revelations. XDDD

I did find it funny that when I booted the game up, I got a “No save data found, unable to start game” message. Like... no shit, PS4, it’s a brand new game. But the little starting tutorial fight was cool, and I liked the opening movie!

The police briefing was...interesting. It’s good to see them actually being somewhat logical? Like... considering everything that happened the year before, it makes sense that they’d assume this is the Thieves again. They have no way of knowing that there’s no way to access Palaces anymore. This isn’t really the Thieves MO, though. Except for the guy who confessed to document tampering. The author shredding his work for no reason and the guy streaking through the criminal justice headquarters don’t seem like they did anything wrong. Those seem more like psychotic breakdowns.

But... I guess we don’t know if the police ever knew anything about Black Mask, or if Shido was convicted on only real-world crimes and not the metaverse hits he ordered. I wonder if that’ll get elaborated on.

Zenkichi’s introduction was him laughing at the streaking guy in the middle of this Serious Police Meeting, so I think I’m gonna like him a lot. ^_^

Anyway, the “higher-ups” really want this case closed, according to “Commissioner Kaburagi”, who I already don’t like. If you’re the police commissioner, Makoto really would be a better choice, holy shit. She’s already prepared to go after Akira, who is the only Thief they know the identity of, so I guess that’s fair. But still. Has he not been falsely accused of enough for a lifetime?

Although... if you’re gonna look up all his life details, can you maybe... share some? Just a few things? Hometown? How are his parents? Anything?

Coming back to Leblanc was cute. Got some Trickster’s Maze vibes from the initial text conversation where they were talking about how people kept not responding to texts, but I think it’s all good. Love that the Sayuri is still on the wall, and that Morgana’s been home with Akira.

Naming the app “Emma” is never going to stop being hilarious to me, because reasons.

Y’know, Atlus, this would work a lot better if he could like...respond to their curiosity. At least these dialogue options seem to suggest that talking things out with his parents went well. Even “I missed you” isn’t inherently negative. He’d miss them either way.

.......so when my boyfriend gets back from his soul-searching vacation, he’ll be welcomed back with open arms, right, Ryuji? Right?

Meanwhile, for summer break plans, Yusuke wants to go to Kyoto for a month-long art tour. Unless...

Never change, dear. Never change.

Nice of Sojiro to water my plant and keep my room from drowning in dust, but he really couldn’t have replaced the bedframe with literally anything other than the plastic storage crates? XD The attic looks so empty and lonely without the shelves of trinkets and plushies, and the TV.

So my reaction to this next part was literally, “LAVENZA, IT’S BEEN LESS THAN 24 HOURS”. X’‘‘D Akira really can’t catch a break. But Lavenza’s dialogue sounded actually sad that he was being dragged into this again. And she’s promised repeatedly that she’s going to be there for him. It’s sweet, even though my room is still a prison and she’s still using torture equipment. Iron maidens, Lavenza, really??

I’m a little concerned that Igor’s not around, though. Lavenza did the dream/reality/mind/matter speech instead. Where is he? I know he’s never around for spinoffs but considering my headcanons I’m very curious now. And why didn’t he like... tell Morgana that Lavenza said ruin is coming again? Even if we don’t count thirdsem events, Morgana still knows that he’s Hope, and he still has a bond with the Velvet Room. Talk to your cat damn it.

Oh no, she’s cute and Alice-in-Wonderland themed. I’m doomed.

She called it her “EMMA keyword” and I immediately blurted “what? keyword??” and then everything went directly to Hell immediately. Keyword was the key word, I guess. X’‘‘‘DDD

And you can tell it’s been six months, considering that these nerds got caught almost immediately. And got their hands bound. And got dragged to the throne room and forced to kneel!

...I’m doomed.

Someone at Atlus looked directly at this fandom and all the fanart of the interrogation and said, “Yeah, they’d be into that.” XD Steppy steppy. At least she’s not a rapist like Kamoshida, but jeeze, we keep getting beaten up and thrown in the dungeon by royalty. All we need is a princess and we’ve got a whole royal family!

Although, I suppose the prince didn’t bother with a dungeon. XD

I think it’s interesting that apparently the guards tried to take our Desires and failed. I guess being a persona-user means your mental state is stable enough that something like that can’t manifest.

Oh no, she’s cute. I love her. Another for the collection of Joker’s baby siblings. This is number... 5? She kind of reminds me of Jose, a little. I’ll be interested to see what she is, since she’s got amnesia right now. She can’t be just a straight AI.

But if she’s Yald’s mom, I’m also going to be majorly weirded out.

I really like the gameplay? It’s so interesting to see how the characters move and fight when they’re not limited to turn-based attacks. And I like being able to jump to different points and use them to ambush enemies. I don’t fully understand all of it yet, and it’s hard for me to keep an eye on things like status ailments and my teammates because everything is so chaotic, but I’m sure I’ll get it.

I did die to a miniboss, and when I hit “return to checkpoint”, it gave me the prompt to select a language for the voice acting again. I dunno what was up with that. X’D And I’m baffled by the concept that you can just leave the metaverse and come back and it restores all your health and stuff. No penalty. Time doesn’t pass. You didn’t waste a day. Have the kids finally learned that we are capable of entering and exiting more than once on the same day? Hallelujah.

...this boy is angry that we have to deal with the Jails instead of having a BBQ feast. Never change, Yusuke.

If you go by the crepe shop in Shibuya, Morgana still doesn’t think you’re a crepe person. I’m so tired, Morgana. It’s also a bit weird and forced that Iwai and Takemi are both out of town. We couldn’t have seen at least one of them? I know we’re not gonna be able to use those shops when we’re on the road, but we could worry about that then.

(Disturbingly easy to return a gold bar that you apparently bought off the dark web. Omg. That was hilarious.)

AND THEN YOU GET UP THE NEXT DAY AND ZENKICHI IS JUST IN YOUR HOUSE? SITTING IN THAT CHAIR? That is not the “detective chair”, sir, that is my boyfriend’s chair, and you need to move. At least he likes the curry, but jesus fuck. Sir, I have unresolved trauma of adults coming into my house to snoop into my business. Get out of my house. X’D

You give me a detective sitting in my boyfriend’s chair and then immediately send me to a taping of the same show in the same studio where I first met him. God, P5S, you’re trying to kill me.

Alice clearly knows that giving out the keyword is doing something. She’s being very deliberate about this. But I don’t think she’s actually aware of the Jail. Love that she’s so arrogant that she can’t imagine that Akira just... didn’t use the keyword, and that’s why she can’t control him.

So I guess the Jail Monarchs are called such because they’re imprisoning other people’s shadows in their distortions. So these are people that want control over something to the point that it distorted their worldview. Part of me wants to go off on a ramble about how this relates to Mementos or Apathy Syndrome, but I’ll wait and do that when I have more information. I’ve got some more of the dungeon to do, and I cannot wait to see Alice’s boss fight.

I’m having so much fun. I really missed these kids; they’re grea--

.......I hate these children. X’‘‘‘‘DDDD

#Li plays P5Scramble #still refusing to call it ''Strikers''

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script-a-world · 5 years ago

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Clearly there are some settings which make no sense scientifically. But how do I decide when to intentionally ignore reality, can't bother to do research, don't understand research, and thus create scientifically impossible places? When are such things considered be offensive or overused cliche or have a reader point out the impossibility and can't get into the story? I'm guessing some of this might be structural issues instead of world building?

Tex: One of the perils of attempting to write about highly technical subjects is that you run into the issue of not understanding your writing. I do raise a nominal objection as your first sentence, because sensibility is a sliding scale based on one’s familiarity with a given subject. I don’t know crap about, say, textile art (however much I might have bluffed readers in the past - no, no, this is just good googling skills on my end), but that doesn’t mean the textile arts are an inherently incomprehensible subject.

Scientifically, automobiles were once thought to be insensible. Scientifically, phones were thought to be a flight of fancy. Scientifically, 3D printing was improbable. Scientifically, quantum computing was the stuff of sci-fi nerds who just wanted to slap the “quantum” label on everything.

And yet we are now on the verge of robotic vehicles, mostly functional smartwatches, laser printing cells (PDF), and quantum computers (VentureBeat, IBM).

So I would argue that the insensibility of a setting would be due mostly to, yes, a structural issue - on the part of the author. No matter what you put into your world, internal consistency is key; nothing, no matter how ostensibly outlandish, will make sense if you contradict yourself.

I’ll volley a few questions back to you:

“[...] when to intentionally ignore reality” - Are you ignoring reality entirely, or just parts of it? Why? How does that decision benefit your world? How does it detract from your world?

“Can’t bother to do research” - Is it because you are discouraged by the breadth of your comprehension of a subject, compared to the subject’s depth? Or is it because of something else?

“Don’t understand research” - Is this because you don’t understand the academic papers that turn up in your search results, or because you have a fundamental lack of or misunderstanding of the given subject? Or is it because of something else?

“When are such things considered to be offensive or overused cliche” - As someone who intentionally arranges their studying around the plausibilities of the future, I would quite frankly be delighted to see more conceptual stretches of the imagination in this regard, as do many others on this blog, and beyond it. Why have you already passed judgement on the offensiveness or clichéd-ness of incorporating scientific things? Is this related to your other comments?

“[...] or have a reader point out the impossibility and can’t get into the story?” - If you are writing to please a specific individual or demographic, you are inevitably always going to fall short, because it’s genuinely impossible to meet every single item on a group’s wishlist without devoting your life to it (not an entirely worthy pursuit, in my opinion, but alas). What made you decide to be so concerned over the potential reaction to your stories that you worry about it before the story is even written?

I think I will put the majority of my curiosity’s weight on the last bullet point, as I’m seeing similar themes with the other portions of your question. It’s a fruitless endeavour to tie yourself into knots over a possible (not necessarily probable!) reaction - and quite likely from a stranger, to boot. Education is a relatively easy situation to fix, so long as you’re patient with yourself; dealing with anxieties over readers is… not so easy.

I can really only recommend that you take a close look at the goals of your worldbuilding, and see where you contradict yourself - once you have that in hand, it’s a relatively simple yes/no process of what concepts you want to keep. If the issue of decision comes from a lack of understanding, then make a note to yourself to seek out either the million wikis we Pylons utilize ourselves like any other worldbuilder, or to chalk it up as a genuine lack of context.

Please understand that even someone who’s dedicated their life to a certain aspect of science won’t know everything about it - that’s the point of research! We’re constantly asking ourselves questions, and pushing the envelope of known boundaries. Star Wars has lightsabers, but we don’t need to know how they work; likewise with holodecks in Star Trek. So long as an audience is reasonably entertained with the least amount of head-scratching, you can get away with handwaving quite a lot.

Lockea: On a scale between Star Trek and Star Wars, how “hard” is your science fiction?

I mention that mostly to illustrate that science fiction exists on a continuum, wherein science fiction with more “science” than “fiction” drives a story towards the harder end rather than the softer end. Also, a story’s place on the continuum will change based on what we know and understand about science.

I feel like everyone always beats me to saying all the important stuff about questions, so I’ll just give a few thoughts from my personal experience as a science fiction fan with two engineering degrees and a thesis about robots on the moon (yes really, I wrote my thesis on AI for moon robots). I really, really, love the creativity of science fiction writers. I think so often in defending the genre, we can get caught up in saying things like “science fiction predicted XYZ!” Well, sure, I may have studied Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics in my introduction to engineering ethics course, but I was also greedily reading my way through “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins at the same time. The fact that I sincerely doubt Panem will ever happen didn’t dampen my enjoyment of Katniss’s story. It was a fun read and it gave my friends and I something to talk about that wasn’t “feasibility of Battlestar Galactica” during our daily lunches.

The thing about writing science fiction is that, without a doubt, there will be someone who knows more than you about a topic who reads your story. Most of the time, I end up being that someone since everyone likes to talk about Skynet and robots taking over the world to a roboticist who sincerely refers to artificial intelligence as artificial stupidity. Y'all are seriously overestimating the field, my friends. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” even as I thought how impossible Project Insight would be. Honestly, something every READER of science fiction needs to make peace with is the fact that writers will get something wrong. Writers, despite their best efforts, are not always going to understand that a facial recognition algorithm will fail if you introduce tiny amounts of random noise and are thus going to treat The Algorithm™ as infallible in your crime drama novel.

It’s not the writer’s fault, though.

That deserves to be on its own line. It is not YOUR fault if you get something wrong. Would it be nice if science literacy was just better all around? Of course! But it’s not your fault if your science literacy isn’t up to snuff enough to parse the article I cited above. It’s also not your job. Your job as the writer is to tell the most interesting story you can and to maintain your own internal rules and logic such that the reader never breaks the willing suspension of disbelief.

I watch Star Wars and get really into the light saber fight scenes and forget that light sabers are basically impossible to make. Star Wars has the Force, which is basically magic, and that’s okay. Really. I KNOW it’s not possible, but I still have a lot of fun watching it!

So yeah, write that story about how the robots are going to take over the world. I’ll probably enjoy reading it even as I laugh off my friends telling me that I will be the first to die in the robot apocalypse (of course I will -- I have five robots in my living room alone).

Constablewrites: Tone and consistency are the biggest pieces of this for me. If it’s the kind of story where the answer to “How does this work?” is usually a detailed and plausible explanation, then getting an answer later that is implausible or slapdash will stand out more. But if it’s the kind of story where the answer to “How does this work?” is “You push that button and it goes whoosh” from the start, my expectations adjust accordingly. (It’s possible to have the latter version in a story that is mostly the former, frequently when it’s played for last. Again, tone is key.)

So yeah, a lot of this is execution and the way the story sticks to the rules it sets for itself, and also how central the implausibility is to the story. A realistic thriller that relies on cartoon logic for a background bit might be a little jarring, but not nearly as much as a realistic thriller that relies on cartoon logic to set up its main showdown. The more central it is to the story, the more consistency and accuracy matters. Learning how to balance this can take some practice and some insight from beta readers.

#pylons #research #believability #worldbuilding #Anonymous

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lori-hime · 4 years ago

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I haven't written much about what I've been up to lately, so here's some word salad updates~ 🥗

NijiGaku Anime

So I started watching the new LL. I hadn't been keeping up with SIFAS' story, but I did read some of it when it first came out. I gotta say, I'm really enjoying all of the changes they decided to make for the anime version of the story, to both the characters and story. It's starting to feel like something coherent. The story in the game was ok, but the main thing that interested me was the interactions with Muse and Aqours, overshadowing the actual "plot" and even Nijigasaki themselves. But the anime really made me interested and excited about the story and characters again. I would be a little annoyed about the personality and dynamic changes, but honestly, I'm used to it by now. LL always ends up doing this sort of thing, and the personalities only seem to become solidified after the anime airs.

A little disappointed in Kasumi's change in some vague ways I don't really feel like describing, but honestly it balances out because Ayumu is fantastic now (previously one of my least cared for of the group.) Yu's personality is surprisingly super gay fun and I'm really excited for her and Ayumu's dynamic in particular. They're so cute. Seriously feel like I'm gonna ship them hard.

I also really like Rina's initial personality in this. Not only is she bad at expressing emotions through her face, but she also seems bad at expressing them through words too. I feel like this is gonna be much more interesting than her already being cutesy and genki like in the promo stuff and SIFAS.

When Karin was first shown, I had mixed feelings. At first I was like oh god I'm gay and she's beautiful. But the whole sexuality flaunting thing kind of put me off for several reasons I don't really wanna get into explaining. I really didn't know how to feel. I started liking her a little more during SIFAS, when she competed against Muse in DDR and lost... started feeling like I was getting a glimpse of her real personality without the whole sexy idol persona. Although not much has happened in the anime with her yet, she's giving me Nozomi vibes and I love it. I actually think if I had gone into this without previous knowledge of the characters, I'd be betting she'd become my fave for sure.

My list has gone from Kasumi > Rina > Kanata / Emma > Karin > Ai > Setsuna > Ayumu > Shizuku to Yuu > Ayumu > Kasumi / Karin > Rina > Kanata / Emma > Ai > Setsuna > Shizuku

Still biased a bit towards characters that have shown up more in the first two eps, so it'll undoubtedly change. But It's really interesting how much the characters I already felt I had good placements for changed so much.

Edit for episode 3, because I didn't post this fast enough. Student council speedrun was fantastic. Yu continues to be incredibly gay. I wonder how this episode will affect the ships people will gravitate towards. LL has always been a fairly monoship fandom, heavily gravitating towards specific pairs. Of course that's largely the fault of canon itself, often pushing and developing single ships. Well, I suppose we saw a big change with Aqours, though, especially with season two. But even then, the ships tended to stay at least between girls of the same year (aside from my rarepair, shout-out to YohaRiko.) Now, I wonder. From the very beginning, before Yu even had a name, it felt like they were really pushing the shippy stuff @ the viewer. I wonder if that’s still gonna be the angle. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it yet. I really want to see more YuAyu rather than YuSetsu, but I can't really be mad at more gay content unless they try to make it a DEEP story and then fail to resolve it but haha they'd NEVER do that, I'm sure!!

As for the others... I'm guessing they're gonna push RinAi, KarinEmma, YuuKasu, and maybe YuuShizu? My original guesses were that AiKarin would be a thing, evoking NozoEli v3. But I guess that'd be too predictable a third time. KarinEmma sounds like it could be cute and sweet, RinAi feels like it has adorable potential, and YuKasu vs. YuAyu sounds like it could have some good comedic rival-y potential, given they don't make Kasumi super serious about it and make it really angsty. Not that a cute idol show would ever do such a thing haha!!!!!

Higurashi Gou

Also started Higurashi. I doubt many people know this, but I used to be a major Higurashi fan before I got into Touhou. It was my main "fandom" I guess, even though there wasn't really that much of a fandom to interact with comparatively. Anyway, despite that, I didn't think I'd get into this remake super hard... but I'm really loving it so far. The art style is really pretty and eye candy, and it turns out it's a direct continuation of the story rather than a remake. Very excited to see where it's going, and also to see a lot of my baby Rena again.

An interesting difference to me as I'm rewatching are my feelings for Keiichi. While I don't hate him, over the years I've really grown tired of the generic male leads (especially in harem anime) like him. Of course, he's definitely not AS generic as they come, or maybe perhaps that's just my bias from when I used to really like him. The me back then found him unique enough to stand beside the girls. Nowadays, I definitely can't say the same. At least he doesn't grate on my nerves as much as most other harem anime protags do, however. I feel like despite lacking the quirks that make the girls so likeable and unique, he still has something going for him... perhaps the fact he's framed as inherently different from everyone else, because he comes from the city, and the way he acts a bit more realistically to the scary things that are happening. Although those things are obviously explained away later, at least for now I still accept him for what he is, old bias or not.

Genshin Impact

Been playing Genshin Impact religiously and loved every second of it. Though I've caught up with the main story content, so sadly it's slowed down. I'd never heard of this game before it came out, so I was absolutely wowed that such a game was f2p. I've heard a lot of people criticizing it because they added gacha in at the last minute, and I definitely understand being annoyed through the pov of someone who was anticipating it. But part of me is still really thankful that the game is free at all. I suppose that full but paid 60 dollar game would still be a better experience, but because of my non-existent budget situation, I may not have ended up playing it at all.

Aside from the arguably shitty monetization practices, however, the game is fantastic. It really is as similar to BoTW as people have mentioned, and I really appreciate that. BoTW, from a gameplay standpoint, is absolutely my favorite game. It's exactly what I want from any given game. So I really appreciated this. The story and characters of Genshin are also really interesting. I really like Qiqi, Venti, Fischl, and Xingqiu, among others. I spent a while rerolling for Qiqi or Venti 5*s, and eventually got an account with Qiqi. Venti on the other hand I've been trying to roll for but sadly haven't gotten. I have 1 roll left before the banner ends, so hopefully.. My friends whaled him for me. I swear I tried to stop them! I owe them my soul...

HoloLive, Pikamee & Vtubing

I briefly started getting into HoloLive a little while ago. After the Aloe stuff, I started worrying a bit about how the company handles these situations as well as the girls' freedoms and how much of their donation money they actually get.. (I made a post about it a while back.) After a while my worries died down a bit, but then came back full force with the Coco and Haachama situation. After that and one too many uncomfortable sexual jokes, I decided to just distance myself from HL. It's a shame, because I really enjoyed their personalities, but it was making me feel uncomfortable more often than not.

I told myself it’s fine, I’ve got Pikamee if I ever feel like watching vtubers again. And then like a week later... Well, it’s not really something I wanna talk about here, but she made some posts on twitter that made me too uncomfortable to continue watching her either.

On a much lighter note... A friend of mine showed us how to use prprlive and facerig to use the Touhou CB Live2D models, and Asa and I played around with Mokou, Kaguya, and Lyrica’s. It was quite fun, and I do look forward to using the Kaguya one for private streams on one of my servers. I’ve actually always wanted to try out vtubing stuff myself, but not really publicly. Of course, the costs for getting a model drawn and made specifically for me are too much for something I’m not really committing to, so this is perfect. I’m excited~

Touhou Cannonball & Kagura Thoughts

It’s been a long time since I talked about Touhou CB on my blog, and I’m pretty sure I left things on a pretty bad note. Mainly dissatisfied with Mokou’s portrayal for pretty shallow reasons on my part, despite they game having just started and having a lot of room to grow. And grow it did. While I quit pretty early in because of that, Asa decided to take over my account. She realized that it was pretty easy to upgrade any given character you had to a 5* without having to rely much on the gacha. She ended up playing a lot with the goal of upgrading everyone we had. I came back to it around July and actually had a lot of fun with it. The cast had gotten much bigger and we really enjoyed playing on multiplayer. It wasn't the best game ever from a gameplay standpoint, but it definitely had it's charm. The announcement of its death, although unsurprising, came at the worst time. Asa and I actually cried a little when we saw the announcement, ngl. The game had such good, wholesome, Touhouy vibes to it. Nonetheless, we made the most out of the last month or so after the announcement. We played a LOT of multiplayer and had a lot of really cute and good interactions with other players. Near the end, we realized that Lyrica was the only character from the normal banner we were missing, so we grinded like crazy (mostly Asa) to try to get her... we ended up getting a number of 5*s but none Lyrica... she eluded us to the very end. It was quite sad, but how hard we worked for it still felt satisfying somehow. We were able to max out our multiplayer level and complete a ton of goals we wouldn’t have otherwise.

So after this bittersweet experience with Touhou gacha, and all the scummy things I've been hearing about Lost Word, I've been thinking like... I'm done with Touhou gacha, at least for now. Don't wanna hear anything else about it for a good while. And then the 25th anniversary hits and they announce Kagura. Ugh. Please, give me a break. Needless to say, I'm gonna have to give it a try. Touhou is my life, I love rhythm games, I love Touhou music, and I love character collecting games. And I've been waiting for something to replace SIF gameplay in my heart for a long time. I'd banked my hopes on SIFAS but it's really barely a rhythm game so.... at least now that I've gone through CB's death and seen how cruddy LW is, I'll have lower standards and not get my hopes up too high.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my rambles and have a good day~

#loritalk #super long im sorry #there's even more stuff i wanted to talk about but it was already long enough as it is

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rainbowkittyblossomwings · 4 years ago

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So I don’t want to get into a huge retrospective of how 2020 was for me, because it’s personal and I think we can all agree things have been bad. So instead I’d like to talk about great video games I got into in 2020!!! These games didn’t necessarily come out in 2020 just things I discovered and I’d like to talk about my top 10 faves

1. The first best video game I discovered in 2020 is the entire Trails Series (I played all of them in 2020, cold steel, ao, zero, and Sky). Initially I played Cold Steel 1 because my friend told me it was like “Playing Code Geass the anime”. The story was pretty easy to get into of a guy going to military school and you’re placed in the special class for commoners and nobles when there’s a huge class divide in your country. From there it had some basic anime tropes like a dating simulator like thing and various cliched characters, like the tsundere, the guy who’s trying to get everybody to work, the music kid, and the noble, you know?

But Cold Steel wasn’t cliché in the least bit. I played it after surgery recovery so I was in a lot of pain and out of my mind, but each character had depth, the entire world was fleshed out and after each game more of the story and the villains were revealed, secret robot technologies were given to the main characters and they slowly became more and more powerful after that.

I wanted to know more and more about the world so I played the first series trails in the sky and the Japanese only series, Zero and Ao, and they were even better. Not only that but in this JRPG there were canon gay characters that had traits to their character besides “I’m gay.” There were a lot of lesbians for me to pick and choose between as faves.

Not only that but I find none dating sim video games difficult cuz I get easily frustrated and rage quit. Cold Steel was turn based combat and never made me feel like rage quitting because they had a function called “Retry but easier” where if you died you could start the same battle but make it easier. That made it so I only had to die five or so times on things I was really stuck on and then I could move on with the story. And the game never felt like a grind fest and I could make the game faster in combat.

This series I may have discovered in 2020 but it’s become just as beloved to me as any other series. It’s one of my faves.

2. My second favorite game in 2020 was 13 sentinels : Aegis Rim. I love time travel so much and everytime a new time travel anime or game comes out I get super excited. Aegis Rim was a game that had all sorts of cool tropes, like time travel, memory loss, androids, different realities, and psychic dreams and it just sounded cool. Not only that but there were 13 different protagonists to play and I had seen it reviewed in LGBT+ articles, saying it had a canon gay character and a canon nonbinary character! It was a very fun game and part of the story followed a point and click formula and the other half followed a kinda strategy blowing up giant robot monsters formula, and I enjoyed it. Also the music and the art was amazing.

3. The House in Fata Morgana was my third favorite game I discovered in 2020!!! It was a visual novel I had gotten in 2019 but never started because “They didn’t have anime eyes so IDK if it’ll be interesting.” I had seen a lot of horror visual novel people review it though with stellar reviews. I ended up playing it when I was sick and man was it an amazing story. It gave me a lot of respect for people who write short stories that wrap up nicely, and a lot of the characters were flawed but I really enjoyed reading their stories. The story was pretty basic in the beginning of a maid telling you several different stories of the previous owners of the mansion she worked in, and the tragedies that befell them throughout her time there, and I really liked the sort of tragedy feel. One of the stories reminded me of Greek tragedies like Oedipus, and as the story got deeper and deeper and connected plot threads of the previous owners it became very cool. Also the game was very LGBT+ friendly with trans and bi characters and possibly an aro character too???

4. Hades was my fourth favorite game in 2020!!! A lot of people have already talked about Hades before and what it’s about but I’d like to talk about why I liked it. As mentioned before I have a problem with video games that rely on skill. I get so frustrated that I either start yelling or crying because I don’t believe that the muscle memory will ever get into me or that I’ll ever be good enough to get past the hard part. It’s incredibly distressing and it makes me feel bad because I’m like “why can’t I do a simple thing other people can easily do?” Hades is one of the few games that taught me that eventually I will succeed, and the muscle memory will come to me. As you probably know Hades has god mode which increases your damage resistance every time you loose. I got to the max god mode very quickly of 80% and for about 10 runs even that wasn’t enough to beat the first boss and I was incredibly frustrated. I was like “they should have raised it to 90% cuz if even their worst players couldn’t beat the boss on easy mode then they’re missing out.” But as people have probably told you, Hades rewards failure. Each run you learn a bit more and get better skills and friendships with people due to grinding. And eventually I stuck to it and beat the first boss, and then all the other bosses. The muscle memory finally hit and I beat Hades and got the true ending and I’m really glad the developers made it accessible enough that even the worst players could beat it and I’m glad they rewarded failure.

5. My next favorite is Chaos;Child, which wasn’t made in 2020, but I did discover it in 2020. It’s another horror visual novel but by the people who did Steins;Gate. I absolutely adore Steins;Gate because of the time travel so I was curious about the other games in the series. Everyone said Chaos;Child was the murder mystery of what Steins;Gate did to time travel and they were right. It was a psychic murder mystery story and although it was very gorey it was very fun and I really liked the characters

6. Sixth favorite was Café Enchante a new otome dating sim released in 2020! You run a coffeshop for monsters basically and I adored it!!! I was a little worried before I got it that it would be boring because what kind of plot can you make in a coffeeshop? But it was very cute and I loved the monsters and the lore. Despite my misunderstanding the entire game did not take place in the coffeeshop and instead went into various monster worlds and expanded on the lore of each world in each route. The art was wonderful and I just love fake monster lore about Fae and beasts and angels and stuff and it was just a wonderful game and is one of my new fave otome titles.

7. I played Ai: the somnium files in 2020! I knew it would be a favorite of the year because it was made by the same people who did the zero escape series. It had a very different tone of the zero escape series of course, instead of being about psychics it’s about the inner workings of the mind. You play a detective going into people’s psyche’s to try to catch a murderer basically. It reminded me a lot of ID;invaded an anime that I think came out this year? Anyway it was a cool story and I liked the graphics but I did not like the timed missions. Without a guide I would have died.

8. The dark horse of 2020 was Untitled Goose Game. I did not expect to get it but my friend gifted to me and I hadn’t played it yet. And as everyone can tell you it’s just a fun time harassing people as a goose. It has 2 player mode so my sister and I played it together and it was great. I liked feeling like grand theft robbers and saying “BOOK IT” as we stole people’s stuff.

9. My ninth favorite game I played in 2020 was Little Busters! It’s by the same people who did Clannad so I knew I would be crying by the end. Clannad’s team is known for their great story telling and heart wrenching characters. It’s about a team of friends who start a baseball team and then it gets sad and time loop-y from there. I played Clannad too in 2020 but it was a little too homophobic for me to let it make it to this list and I don’t remember any homophobia in little busters, so little busters gets its spot.

10. Finally we get to Persona 5 Royal. I didn’t play much of the original persona 5 besides at my friends apartment so I was able to finally have a copy of this game on my own!!! I loved the idea of going into mean people’s minds and changing their hearts so they could understand the wrong that they did, it was just a good concept. I also loved that Persona 5 royal added a safety mode so you can loose and yet not die. It was a great game of 2020 and it only makes it so low because I spent way too many hours on it (135) and it was a great amazing game that I loved and enjoy talking about but would not replay because it’s just so long and I’m not quite sure what would be different on replay. Also I’m sad that you can’t date the boys because I love them. They are good beans. Either way though I’d recommend it if you haven’t played before and it was very fun, and still one of the best games of 2020.

If you want me to talk about any of these games in more depth instead of just a short review tell me!!!

#video games #rainbow chats #long post #trails #dating sims #text post #reviews #2020

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not-terezi-pyrope · 2 years ago

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Hi! I read a lot of your posts on AI and I’m just curious about your take on the impact of AI on people and culture? I don’t use twitter so I don’t know what is being argued with AI, but my personal qualm is that it could obscure human experience. I’m not really concerned about the ownership of publicly available media, but I am worried about how AI can be used on a large scale by corporations to control human narratives. We already live in a world controlled by media monopolies, almost everything is owned by Disney, and their stuff is absolutely formulaic enough to be written by AI. While humans are borrowing just as much cultural information, one is still an original thought about how art should be created and presented. A corporation’s use of the technology will prime whatever is released for pure profit. It doesn’t need to be thoughtful at all. Again, this is already happening, but AI is just another way to streamline it. That’s part of why the writers strikes are happening right now. That kind of automation technology can shoehorn us into the necessary ends that corporations find most profitable. After reading your posts I realized that I was clumping in the technology with the ill intent of corporations. I wasn’t really considering all of its applications in its current form and I was kind of focusing on fear. You’ve changed my mind about some things. But human learning is dictated by modeling. We are sponges constantly absorbing the media shown to us. What if what’s available to us is always something easily automated by a company with its own interest? Avoiding that media completely would just result in personal isolation. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this as someone who understands the technology!

I think the key point here is one you've already made; corporations are already churning out mass media pulp optimized for profit, and have been doing so for years. At present, that pulp is probably more profitable when produced by humans, at least in terms of the overall story design of our media, so incorporating AI probably won't change much about its quality except for noticeable shortcuts that are deemed acceptable. But this is already true in digital productions. Corporations will probably still try to compete with a baseline of quality to make big budget releases acceptable to markets. You can't cut all the corners with cheap tech, which is why we are not seeing those shitty knock-off animated movies in cinemas. Things need to be a least competent even if they are schlock.

In the long term, if AI really is able to produce entire movies or similar that are comparable to human-made mass blockbusters, then the implication of that kind of depends on who is in control of the AI. It might lower the barrier to creating good looking movies, it might just let Disney make more animated princess flicks faster. I don't think either of those outcomes is essentially bad. There's good and bad ways it could manifest.

Specific failings of the technology could result in things like subtle bias, or feedback syndrome where the AI has little new content to work on as all new artworks are themselves AI generated. These are both technology issues that can be addressed, though, and are far enough off at the moment that it's hard to speculate about any real harms.

Honestly, the biggest negative impact currently threatened by AI is the obvious one that the writers are striking over; capitalism isn't set up to provide for human livelihoods under increased automation. The only solutions to this problem are strict regulation on how corporations can employ automation, or, perhaps more simply, watering down or abolishing capitalism. UBI is most realistic avenue for this at present, I think, even if it's not totally ideal (I'd like those corporations to not exist in a form that creates a profit motive, thanks).

Cultural concerns aren't nearly as scary a prospect on the horizon for me. Yeah, AI can be used to produce cheap schlock, but humans can already do that, can even automate it with free software somewhat with no machine learning required. As long as humans are ultimately deciding how and when the cheap schlock is made, as they are now, I doubt much will change about the essential character of popular art. This is all just my personal opinion, though. It's hard to predict exactly how things will shake out.

Thanks for asking!

#not-terezi-speaks #asks #anonymous #ai

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artsninspo · 5 years ago

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NerdBae - Part I

A/N: Hey! Hey! This is my second series - requested by my boo @l-auteuse I did mister asshole in PULSE. Now, introducing NerdBae! I’m excited and this should be fun so buckle up and enjoy the ride. Also, Elle is her/she in french - assuming most of my readers identify as female its how I’ve chosen to name the characters in my works for Tre. So when you see Elle, it can substitute Y/N or you could imagine a character.

Summary: Tre and Elle have known each other since childhood and have been close like family friends. Tre’s always been a nerd but Elle’s always been kind. After some time apart they reconnect during the holidays. Sometimes adulthood changes things.

_____

NERDBAE

Elle always had a little crush on her best friends brother Tre. He was the antithesis of her type; timid, super nerdy and overly nice. Bat her eyes a few times and poof her homework was done just like that. Gina her bff sometimes mistreated his kindness leaving their homework with him to get done while they went out to parties they had no business going to, and bailing them out. Even when he left for college he was always a call away willing to go off the rails about anything with his special level of genius. Now he’s the brains of an extremely successful start up in tech doing an ai concept that’s way to advanced for a normal functioning brain to fully understand. Elle can’t help but look him over extremely impressed as she makes her way down the ramp at arrivals.

“What, you have money to see a surgeon now? Didn’t know they did muscular implants” she teases touching his arm and he laughs a little self conscious.

“Ha ha” he responds sarcastically pulling her into a hug and engulfing Elle in an extremely alluring scent. “Missed you, happy to have the ladies home for the holidays” he smiles taking Elles things putting it into the back of a Tesla.

“You got one of these space ships too?”

“It helps the environment and innovation” he begins before Elle lights up at his animation. He smiles nodding realizing he was geeking out again. “Want to drive it?” He asks instead to maintain his cool.

“No, be a gentleman I just had an eight hour flight” Elle responds to get under his skin and it works when his face falls.

“Sorry” he apologizes opening the door. “I just-“

“Tre, I’m kidding.” She laughs getting in. He drives safely and attentively as always pointing out the landmarks of his new city.

“So your mom and Ginas flights are delayed?”

“Yeah, bad weather” he swallows.

“You haven’t invented the remedy for that yet huh?” Elle comments and he blushes a little. “Aren’t you happy now that you didn’t peak in high school”

“Ouch” he mutters making her smile sweetly.

“You know what I mean, who wants to win the popularity contest when you can have a brain or millions” she shrugs

“You only dated the popular guys in high school” he reminds.

“They were the only ones with enough confidence to ask”

“Not true, I heard about others” he recalls despite their five year age gap.

“They didn’t know me enough to like me. Some people get buy on looks, like me. Some have brains” Elle shrugs with a playful confidence.

“You’re smart” he asserts to Elles amusement - she’d never been book smart.

“And some like you are lucky enough to have both” she winks and he shakes his head turning his full attention back to the moving traffic.

“Well if you ever need anything just let me know? You always talked about writing? Why don’t you take some time off work, find a place that inspires you and follow your dreams?” He shrugs always the perfect gentleman and supportive figure.

“Tre” Elle shakes her head.

“Come on, I have more money than I know what to do with. I don’t see what the problem is - we’re friends too right?”

“You are a business man now, huh?” Elle smiles looking him over as his eyes disappearing behind the black frames when he smiles. The grey turtleneck and black jacket compliment him well and it’s the first time he’s ever really looked tauntingly handsome.

“How’s dating?” Elle inquires making him laugh.

“These girls are all Monte-Carlo and zero calorie drinks, and Pilates all the time. They like everything I like. But I grew up around too many strong women to like a bimbo” he sighs honestly - too wholesome to be real.

...

Tre’s home is huge and decorated in a way that perfectly suits him. Elle showers enjoying the state of the art bathroom before exploring the rest of the home. The tiled floors lighting up under her feet on the way to his room make Elle smile. Living the dream of being obsessed with Michael Jackson as a child. His room is lit up and he’s sitting on the huge bed with headphones. He looks startled closing the laptop and removing the headphone’s when she comes in.

“Sorry, top secret invention?” Elle asks stepping back

“Nah” he swallows as Elle sits beside him on his bed opening his Laptop only to see a woman in a different position being plowed. Elle can’t help but laugh at the awkwardness of it all as she gets comfortable in the bed.

“You’re so wholesome it’s incredible - you could get a hooker or anyone really but you’re up here like a teenage boy” Elle muses looking up at him and he looks more mortified than amused. “Let’s watch it” Elle smirks getting comfortable and he hesitates before changing the audio and letting it play. The girl moans clearly enjoying the circus like position.

“What the hell? How isn’t he dropping her! How is she not worried about being dropped” Elle questions before covering her mouth probably killing his mood.

“Doesn’t look that hard” he says as they switch positions causing both Elle and Tre’s heads to tilt in unison.

“If she’s good and he can remember to hold on? I don’t understand and what about them they climax” Elle asks.

“He can put her down” Tre points to the bed just to the side of them.

“It would be hard, I still think he should put her down and to it the normal way” Elle counter’s only for Tre to get out of bed and picking her up by her legs only tand recreate the position effortlessly with her suspended. Elle can’t stop laughing. “I’m heavy as heck, you’ve been really in the gym huh?” She questions as he scoops her up wedding style tossing her back on the bed.

“Yeah” he agrees as you bounce before he rejoins her.

“What about this one?” Elle asks as they do the butterfly. It’s more of a sexual sex position.

“Simple” he reiterates making no move to demonstrate, much to Elle’s disappointment. Resting her head on his chest she continues to watch the video and he puts an arm around her. He’d always been cool, rarely ever told her or Gina no. Most of the time he allowed them too much rope and they walked all over him.

“Can I sleep here tonight, you know how I get about strange houses” Elle reminds the already prepared Tre and he nods.

“I know, got an oil diffuser with your favourite scent, your pillow spray and made sure the bed was big enough for you and Gina in your room” he explains but Gina isn’t here.

“This rooms more lived in” she says without coming right out and he gets up to keep her comfortable.

“Alright I’ll bring it here” he concedes getting up and disappearing. When he returns there’s a woven basket in his hands with all Elle’s favourite bedtime things. Sleep mask, bonnet, satin pillowcase, her favourite magazine, two books and a notepad with pens.

“Did you make one of your interns run around?” She blushes a little embarrassed by her idiosyncrasies holding it on her lap and feeling a little overwhelmed. He’s an angel.

“Nah, ordered the stuff and got it delivered” he explains earring a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks Tre” she smiles putting on the satin pillowcase and spraying it with your favourite scent. Elle had gone out of her way to meet his shyness with kindness as kids - she never took part in the tirades Gina his sister went on to embarrass him. She was always nice and for that - he’d always have her back.

“Ready to sleep already?” He asks setting up the diffuser with a raised brown.

“I can wait If you have work to do” Elle yawns.

“I’m good, you had an 8 hr flight” he reminds kissing her cheek before heading to the bathroom to get the water. It takes moments before the room smells just how she needs it to his house.

“Goodnight Tre” Elle smiles.

“Goodnight” he sighs.

___

Don’t forget to comment and share all your thoughts, questions and that good stuff :) Who’s excited for a new series? How do we like Nerdbae Tre’s Demeanor?

TAGS: @bugngiz @lifelover4u @l-auteuse @notsomellowmushroom @princessasaani @heavensangelxo @bakarilennox @tastingmellow

@chaneajoyyy @thehomierobbstark @jad3djay @thickemadame @doublesidedscoobysnacks @aanairb @hooliemooliedonutshawp

@tip222u @amelatonin @cherrystainedlipsbaby @keiva1000 @highlifeflylife @twistedcharismaaa

#masterlist #Trevante Rhodes #trevante rhodes x reader #trevanterhodesimagine #trevante #trevante x black reader #nerdbae

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bluepenguinstories · 4 years ago

Text

Happiness Overload Epilogue III

After a while, we finally won. It took more effort than we were told, but about as much effort as we expected. There was still much ground to cover even after the conflict died down. Like, I hated to admit it, but for a while I would just watch the fragmented remains of the world I once resided on. Meaning, there was a long gestation period where no new timeline was created. There was a lot of weight, y’know, and it was hard to remember the person I started that journey as, and whether I was different now that that journey had just about come to an end.

Beside me, at the front, was my girlfriend, my lover. Sometimes she’d shower me in kisses, but other times she would get annoyed with my antics. Couldn’t say that I blamed her, as it’s not like my growth meant I had to let go of my humor.

As for how we defeated the organization once and for all...we had some help. Some people went back to their time willingly. Some were less friendly. I didn’t really care to remember all those fancy little details. Only a few really stood out to me. Like after we booted Dr. Humble and Dr. Modest into some odd timeline in the year 1907 with just the clothing on their backs. Why 1907? Maybe that’s the time they thought they could pick up the pieces from and start fresh from the ashes, but when they told us that’s the time they were from, we just went with it. At least we gave them nothing.

Then, Coriander and I ran, firing away at guards along the way. There was a bit of a mess to clean up eventually, but that was neither here nor there.

Down some long sets of halls, we regrouped with Juniper, and were surprised to find she had made some new friends. With one in particular seeming rather close to her.

“Juniper! Thank goodness you’re okay!” I cried out in relief.

“Guys! I’m so glad to see you!” Juniper also looked overjoyed.

“Who’s this?” I asked.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Hepburn,” the taller figure answered. She extended her hand. I shook it. “I’m from the HR Department. Or was! It’s pretty cool that I can use past tense now!”

“Huh. What was your job, exactly?” Coriander asked.

“I mostly suggested things to departments. Though they usually got twisted and the way they got interpreted was a little out of my hands.”

“Really? How so?”

“Like, I thought we should have a Morale Department because I couldn’t help but notice our members had some pretty low morale. So I brought it up like, ‘hey, right now everyone’s kind of bummed out and demotivated, but I think if we had some kind of mascot, our company morale would be so much better. For example, Hatsune Miku is really popular and it’s a scientific fact that no one’s unhappy when Miku is around. So maybe if we got an AI to encourage us, we’d benefit. The same could be applied to humanity as a whole!’ Then later I guess they added a dash of evil to the proposed AI, but by then I was already suggesting things to other departments.”

“Dang,” I groaned. “Sucks when intentions get misrepresented like that.”

“Yeah, well this place is big so it can be like a giant game of telephone around here. I don’t blame anyone, really! Besides, at least they gave me credit on the project.”

“They did?” I was confused. I never heard of any Hepburn being factored into the plans.

“Well, I was actually named after the Mt. Etna in Italy. I later changed my name when I became a doctor, of course!” She informed me. That sounded like a potential shocker for information, but I didn’t know how.

“There’s a lot to dissect there, but I’m no scientist, so let’s put that aside for now. We still have much work to do!”

Coriander meanwhile, trying to show off her attitude as ever, grunted.

“So are you and her like a thing now?” She asked Juniper.

Juniper rolled her eyes. “Come on, guys! I’m not thinking about that stuff right now! I’m just glad to have made friends! Really!”

“All right. Can’t blame you. We can’t declare victory just yet.”

Indeed. Our reunion had to be cut short so we could round up more people. Thanks to the collective effort, though, at least it didn’t take ages, like many would have thought. I took it upon myself to destroy all time travel devices after someone left. Every little time cube in the room full of time cubes and then some.

All but one.

The same one I had pocketed. On the off chance that Coriander and I could ever leave that ship (or whatever it could be called), I wanted to hold on to it. For a while, we lived out our days on the ship, but we didn’t really seem to age. Not really, anyway. Maybe if we made it back to Earth, some version of it, we would find ourselves aged many years over. Or be just as young as we were before we entered The Flashbulb’s headquarters.

Before long, it was just a few of us. Coriander, Juniper, Dr. Hepburn, Dr. Katsushika (she said she’d leave eventually, it was just hard for her to leave all her art supplies behind), and I. Everyone else parted ways with us in some capacity or another. Many we grew to be friends with, but had to leave them behind all the same. That was fine with me, as a good few people always made me more comfortable than a whole crowd. Even with the company, it really was a lonely existence. Enough to drive anyone mad.

But we kept searching.

I would look around on a screen which displayed a nigh-endless supply of timelines. I narrowed it down to the year we lived in before we left home. Then, I looked for a place where Coriander and I didn’t already exist. At long last one day, I found such a place.

“Oh my god! Spicy! Meatball!”

“For the last time, don’t call me spicy meatball!” Coriander retorted. Yeah, yeah, so not all of my nicknames for her stuck, but I was excited enough to try.

“We can go back home!” I cheered.

Coriander leaned in close. “What?! Really?!”

It was decided long ago that if we ever decided to go back to Earth, it would have to be in a timeline where we didn’t already exist. I didn’t quite like the idea of killing myself off just to live on. I don’t know how it would have worked for Coriander, but she agreed that was for the best. What pained me was thinking that when this new timeline from the ashes of our destroyed world came about, was the uncertainty of not knowing what the version of Blanc would be like. If the version of me in that world would ever meet them or not. I think I would be content even if that Velvet didn’t meet that Blanc, but would I be content with the possibility that the Blanc of the new timeline wouldn’t be happy?

I didn’t want to focus on that. I really didn’t. I had my life, and my journey, and as painful as it was, I had to let such a possibility occur. It was better than no possibility at all.

“Hey Juniper!” I called over through the microphone. “I think I found a way to get home!”

If I had to guess, it was like an hour later when Juniper came through the doors, but time within those confines wasn’t something we really kept track of, as much as I wished we would. She was out of breath, having ran, but she was just as cute as a button as ever.

“Really? Guys?” She huffed, hunched over her knees. Jeez, I really should have told her to take her time.

Time...that was a strange word to use. But one that seemed unavoidable.

“There’s just one problem,” Coriander pointed out. “Apparently Juniper already exists on that version of Earth.”

“What?!” I balked. “That’s not fair!”

Popsigirl/Dr. Katsushika fell down from a ceiling vent and landed doing a cartwheel.

“That’s the way things go! You’re going to have to make a compromise to get your happy ending!” She snapped her fingers and grinned.

“Argh! I hate compromises, and I hate this ‘no perfect ending’ bullshit!” I turned to Juniper. “I wanted you to come along with us wherever we ended up.”

That was enough to get me to sulk. But Juniper just smiled.

“Aw, it’s okay, guys. I think it’s more important that you two get to go. Don’t worry about me!”

“But I’ll feel bad just leaving you behind like that.”

She shook her head. “Don’t think like that! I’m really glad to have met you guys, really. It’s not that I don’t want to return to Earth one day, it’s just that I’m fine with waiting. I always knew we would probably have to split, anyway.”

“What about you, though?”

“Honestly,” she looked away, still smiling, but she looked a little more nervous. “I’m not sure how my journey will continue, and I really will miss you guys, too, but I still consider you guys my friends and I’m more now that one day, I’ll have something of an idea. For now, I’m happy just having gone on this journey.”

“You say that, but I’m still worried about you being safe…”

“Please have a little more faith in me than that.”

I let out a long sigh. There was a handful of emotions attached, but when I drew in a new breath, I managed a smile.

“All right, then,” I said at last.

“So it’s decided, then? You guys are gonna go?” I could feel Dr. Katsushika’s excitement on her breath as she leaned in close to me. I wanted to shove her aside, especially when Coriander still couldn’t stand her presence, not that I blamed her for that, either.

“Not just yet,” I grimaced. “I want to make sure you’ll go home first.”

She flashed a grin, then wrested control of the monitor from me and with fervent motions, searched away until she found a time and place.

“I understand that I can’t really be forgiven for the stuff I’ve put you two through, but I think I’m going to enjoy being with nature again! Maybe I’ll be a sage or something, or take a vow of silence, or become a hermit who feeds ducks?”

“I’m sure you could pick up art again, too,” Juniper suggested. “You just gotta take it easy, is all.”

That got Popsigirl worked up into a storm of laughter.

“Hun, ‘art’ and ‘taking it easy’ don’t belong in the same sentence. But...I’d like to draw and paint, yes. And maybe I’ll get it right in time.”

I used the time travel device to open up a portal to the timeline Dr. Katsushika selected. I wasn’t sure which name she would choose in her timeline. Maybe she’d drop the doctor. Maybe she’d drop having a name entirely. There was a fondness I felt thinking about the possibilities, even if I couldn’t really forgive her.

When five became four (Dr. Hepburn, Juniper, Coriander, and I) I waited for Dr. Hepburn to enter the room, then I bade Juniper and her our final goodbyes.

“Hey, I can’t promise a perfect ending either, but for what it’s worth, I hope you the best,” Coriander told Juniper.

“I second that,” I added. If Coriander didn’t say it, chances are I would have. It was becoming more and more difficult to find the right words, so I was just glad Coriander could sometimes fill in the blanks for me.

“I would like to inform you that I had a board meeting with myself and it was unanimous that whatever happens, we’ll have fun,” Dr. Hepburn assured. I refrained from asking. Really, when you got down to it, she was a last minute character.

Juniper reached into her pocket and handed me something.

“Here, I made it. It’s a little invention of mine.” I looked at the object in my hand, a small metallic sculpture of a beetle.

“I call it a june bug! It can light up in the dark, but only in the month of June! That way you won’t really have to worry about leaving me behind too much.”

I laughed, though it almost came out like a cry. I had to wipe my face, even though it was more humorous than anything.

“That’s so dumb...I love it,” I told her.

I set the time travel device on the desk I had been sitting at. Coriander was the first to walk through the portal. I was sure I’d see her in just a little bit. But before I would, I turned to Juniper and Dr. Hepburn once again.

“If you guys do find a timeline you wished to go to and decide to leave, please destroy that for me. Or, if you decide to stay here...destroy it, too.”

Was it really necessary to do so? I mean, I could trust them, and all access to the headquarters from outside had been blocked off. Still, maybe it was the paranoia in me that told me it was better to be safe than sorry.

Wherever Coriander and I may end up next, with a good, a bad, somewhere in the middle as an ending awaiting us, I was just glad I would be brave enough to face it. No, that wasn’t just it. It meant even more to me to be able to spend the rest of my days, however that looked, not being alone.

#happiness overload #writing #after the end #epilogue #second to last epilogue #four will be the last one #then thats it #no more happiness #its time to calm down #fiction #whatever this story turned out to be #velvet #coriander #story

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journeysintowebcomics · 7 years ago

Text

Worm Liveblog #63

UPDATE 63: Just Like Them

Last time Jack Slash had encountered the person he wanted to recruit. It went badly for the potential recruit – Oni Lee. Theo will pursue Jack Slash and try to kill him with a time limit of two years. Meanwhile, Labyrinth was visited by Burnscar, who didn’t try to recruit. It didn’t go well either. Who is next in the Slaughterhouse Nine’s potential recruits? Let’s find out!

It takes me a moment to realize the significance of this candidate. It’s Colin, or as he used to be known when he was a hero: Armsmaster. Well this has the potential to be quite the interesting situation! Because despite everything, I don’t think Armsmaster would join the Slaughterhouse Nine unless he’s really upset about the consequences of his actions during the Leviathan attack. It doesn’t seem to me like he’s delusional, thinking it wasn’t his fault or anything like that. In my opinion, he’s of sound mind and has relatively stable moral opinions. He should be okay.

What worries me is which one of the Slaughterhouse Nine will visit him, though, because it’s very likely they’ll cause havoc no matter who it is. The question is how destructive they’ll be.

So! Armsmaster is at his house because where else would he be during his house arrest, when he hears a noise like tinkling glass. Shatterbird, perhaps? Better step away from anything made of any kind of glass, just in case. Armsmaster does precisely the opposite to that, contacting Dragon, who is currently busy examining a boring code. Hah! An AI is getting bored of code! This is great. Through the microphones, Dragon tries to listen and find out where the tinkling noise is coming from. This is good, I think. If anything happens to Armsmaster, Dragon will know immediately what it was.

There’s nothing to be seen outside through the window, which of course doesn’t mean he’s safe. The noise is coming from the vent, and I think it’s clear for anyone that anything that has to come from the ventilation can’t be benign. To defend himself, Armsmaster takes a small knife that seems to have disintegration based on nanotechnology, and considers going for his helmet.

The vent exploded from the wall with enough force to fly across the room and embed in the opposite wall. It was hard to make out in the cloud of plaster dust, but Colin saw a hand, all white, each joint segmented, fingers splayed, palm facing the room.

The hand tipped forward, and then dropped to the floor alongside the attached forearm, a length of chain stretching from the vent to the ‘elbow’.

…I remember in the crime scenes the Wards had fought the Travelers at one of the bodies looked like this – joints attached with chains and stuff separated. This has to be the person who made it. I can’t avoid wondering how exactly this parahuman can survive with such mutilation, from the description I’m reading here it should be an impossibility. This person must be a tremendously skillful tinker, because I suppose it relies on technology to work.

Do you know how creepy the idea of seeing exposed organs at work is? How do surgeons endure such thing? Golly!

He knew this one from the briefings. Mannequin.

Well the name is very fitting. From the physical description alone I’d say this one is the most memorable of all the Slaughterhouse Nine so far. There’s something extremely unsettling about him that goes beyond the fact he’s a shambling mess of a person walking and moving. Has someone drawn Mannequin? I’m certain there is. If you know some pretty good Mannequin art please show it to me! Call it morbid curiosity, because I’m sure I’ll kind of regret it once I see it, haha

Armsmaster reacts immediately, lunging forward with his weapon ready to hit while Mannequin is still lying on the floor unmoving, but of course it doesn’t work. What kind of Slaughterhouse Nine member would get killed like a chump? A large blade emerges from the hand, and Armsmaster dodges because he got lucky. Will Mannequin approve this? I think he will, it’s not like he expected a warm welcome, right?

The head is the last thing that gets to the body, and it truly is like a mannequin’s head. It doesn’t even have facial features, so I suppose that means Mannequin’s brain is the only thing inside? I’m imagining that’s what’s going on with him. Goodness, my imagination is flying about how biologically possible it could be. Mannequin seriously is such a weird character.

Dragon noticed what’s going on and help is already on its way. Will she use her speedy suit to come all the way from wherever she is, like she did with the Undersiders’ attack to the Protectorate? Maybe not because this isn’t a somewhat average villain from the city, this is a member of a worldwide threat. Launching yourself carelessly against Mannequin can’t end well...for Armsmaster because he’s the one who is vulnerable here.

Mannequin does what can only be intimidation tactics such as showing Armsmaster his spinning fingers and trying to ward him away with them, as if threatening to slice his face off with them. Instead, the blades touch the leg, and it bounces around in what may or may not have been a calculated move because of this:

All at once, it ricocheted, shearing through the computer, bouncing violently off of Mannequin’s head, then his leg again, the desk, then his arm.

It hit the computer. Maybe Mannequin heard Dragon talking, even if she was careful not to be too loud. I don’t think they’d be so careless as to make the computer what allows Dragon to listen, but Mannequin may not know that, to them any voice he heard may just be someone Armsmaster was talking with.

The blades stopped, Mannequin still isn’t saying anything. Just like I suppose, the destruction of the computer doesn’t stop the connection with Dragon, she’s able to give some useful information about Mannequin. It’s of interest to me too!

“Mannequin. Original name Alan Gramme. Tinker, originally went by the name Sphere. Specialty is in biomes, terraforming and ecosystems… or it was.”

Well this is the most information I know of any Slaughterhouse Nine member yet. Of course he’s a tinker, no surprise there, although now I can’t avoid wondering how exactly he turned himself into his current state. It doesn’t say he was a former hero, maybe he was like Canary, a rogue? His specialty is biomes and ecosystems. His, uh, his being right now may be related to that, if he can make a self-sustaining environment for what little remains of him. Who knows what kind of stuff is inside that mannequin. All in all, useful information.

“He became newsworthy when he took on a project to build self sustaining biospheres on the moon. He had ideas on solving world hunger, and building aquatic cities near cities plagued by overcrowding. And he was putting it all into effect. Until-”

“The Simurgh,” Colin finished.

So he was a genius, a veritable world-saving genius. Self-sustaining biospheres and aquatic cities are concepts that seem so science fiction it’s amazing to hear he was putting it all into effect, but the Simurgh...something happened with the Simurgh. That sounds familiar. Wasn’t the Simurgh one of the Endbringers? Behemoth, Leviathan and the Simurgh, if I recall correctly. The city he was in must have been obliterated, and he changed then.

“His wife and children were killed in the attack, years of work ruined. Everything fell apart. He went mad. He cut himself off from the rest of the world. Literally sealed himself away.”

Literally sealed himself away, no doubt. It’s a real pity such a promising mind went insane and is now one of the Slaughterhouse Nine. I can understand why he joined, though, or at the very least I can imagine why he’d be willing to take part of this group.

In what must be the world’s least surprising fact ever, Dragon says Mannequin has a body count. What’s important is what kind of person he prefers killing, though.

Like other serial killers, Mannequin favored certain types of people as victims. His prey of choice included rogues, those individuals seeking to make a profit from their abilities, especially those looking to better the world… and tinkers.

Pretty meaningful targets, if you ask me. I can’t say I know what’s going through Mannequin’s head, but I suspect he’s killing them out of rancor or envy, like they deserve getting killed for being altruistic or because he envies they’re actually being able to help the world without things going badly for them. Maybe this is also why Mannequin is here to try to recruit Armsmaster. He was trying to do what he thought was the right thing to do for the sake of the world – and his own reputation, but that’s beside the point – yet got punished for it, dishonored and thrown aside. His fall from glory was nowhere as dramatic or painful as Mannequin’s, but it’s close enough.

Being killed isn’t something Armsmaster is afraid of, he even welcomes it because he has nothing left in his life. That’s when Dragon reveals to him what the Slaughterhouse Nine may be doing in Brockton Bay. He didn’t see it coming, he’s not happy to hear he’s under consideration to join one of the global menaces. Yes! Just like I hoped he’s not interested. I hope my judgment of him isn’t wrong!

Mannequin doesn’t seem capable of talking. I suppose vocal functions are one of those functions that aren’t important, or at leIast I doubt he left his vocal chords intact. Instead of talking, he takes some of the keys from the keyboard to try to communicate. Somehow this isn’t the kind of communication I expected with a known murderer...communicating through keyboard keys. Somehow that doesn’t really increase the scare factor.

Mannequin swiveled his upper body to face the other direction and reached for the shattered monitor. He picked out a piece of glass and a piece of glossy black plastic. Pressing them together, he raised it to the right side of his face, looking down at Colin. Slowly, Mannequin changed the angle of the shard of glass with the black backing.

It took two long seconds before the villain’s intent became clear. Colin tensed, and Mannequin froze, fixing the angle of the shard.

With the black backing, the glass reflected an image. With the angle Mannequin had carefully found, the image reflected was half of Colin’s own face, overlapping with Mannequin’s head.

It took me a while to realize what Mannequin was trying to communicate. What can I say, I’m not very good with charades. After a moment I realize he’s trying to indicate he thinks Armsmaster and he are similar. Looks like I was correct! This is why he went to find Armsmaster and invite him to join! And unlike me, Armsmaster isn’t pleased. He refuses to think they’re anything alike.

“I didn’t date, I didn’t have kids, because I wanted to be out there, helping! I knew that any attachments could be used against me, so I went without! I was fucking smart enough to do that!”

Given how their deaths is part of what pushed Sphere over the edge, mentioning this seems like a ticket straight to getting your head bashed in. Mannequin doesn’t even do that, he’s silent even when Armsmaster demands a reply. He’s so upset Mannequin insinuated they were similar he’s throwing all caution to the wind, even with Dragon begging him to shut up. It’s because he’s certain he’s going to die, so may as well die telling the madman what’s what.

“You want to compare us, freak? Maybe we both had bad days. Days where nothing went right, days where we were too slow, too stupid, too weak, unprepared or tired. Days we’ll look back on for the rest of our fucking miserable lives, wondering what we would have done different, what we could have done better, how things could have played out. The difference between us is that I actually did something with my life, and I’m still trying to do more while I serve my sentence!” He stopped and took a breath. “You started your big projects, got every fucking person in the world to get their hopes up, and then you failed to finish anything because you couldn’t hack it when your fucking family got killed! You insult their fucking memories every motherfucking second you exist like this!”

I won’t lie, I’m kinda impressed. It can’t have been easy to say all that to a serial killer’s face, knowingly pressing all the buttons and aiming to enrage him as much as possible. I’m also pleased to know he’s trying to do something productive even while he’s trapped in his own home. Maybe there’s hope for this man. I’m not going to expect much because he did something rather extreme that cost a few villains’ lives and that’s not forgiven easily, but I’m glad he’s not sinking into hate for heroes or anything like that. He’s the first hero Taylor had contact with, and as such I’m sure Mr. Wildbow has plans about how to use Armsmaster’s character. Will he die here in this intermission? I doubt it, given how much potential he has.

As expected, Mannequin isn’t happy at all. He slams Armsmaster against the wall and stabs him three times, and slashes him across the face. Not only now he has lost one arm during Worm, he also is minus one eye now. Nothing that can’t be fixed with tinker technology, I’d say.

None of it hurt as much as it felt like it should have. More serious wounds didn’t tend to, odd as it was.

It’s the adrenaline, I suppose. He’s not letting the attacks stop him, he’s going to stab Mannequin with the knife. Praying it works so nobody else is killed by this monster, Armsmaster tries to stab and...well, he fails. Figures. He’s not giving up, though, he tries to drive the knife into Mannequin’s chest cavity – since it’s nanotechnology like the one his halberd had that means it should be able to cut through the materials of Mannequin’s body, right? Even if he doesn’t apply lots of force.

How many blades does Mannequin’s weird body have, geez!

Still resisting, Armsmaster makes the knife inch closer, Mannequin positions his face less than an inch from the edge of the blade. It’s so close the material of the casing is being affected, but...it’d be quite anticlimactic for the most interesting Slaughterhouse Nine member so far to get killed because he was sticking his face near a dangerous weapon as if he was a kid with a fork wondering what an electrical socket is for.

He was toying with me.

That he was. I’m glad Armsmaster did such an effort to try to win, even if he didn’t really have a chance.

Armsmaster is too weak to continue moving, he has to let the knife fall and collapses onto the floor, chance Mannequin takes to use the knife to cut the wall apart to make a daring escape. All Armsmaster can hear before falling unconscious is Dragon begging him to stay away. She even says ‘I need you!’. Huh!

She’s there to greet him – well, there’s a laptop. That’s good enough. Better this than waking up and finding a large armor right beside your bed.

Looking around, he saw a laptop propped up beside him, and a get well card from Miss Militia. She must have put the laptop there when she left the card.

For some reason I’m very amused by Miss Militia leaving a get well card, as if Armsmaster is just resting after an appendix surgery or something. Is there a ‘Get better soon!’ balloon tied to the bed, and a vase of flowers on the nightstand? Heh, but yeah, at least she was here. Nice.

“Your heart stopped nine times on the operating table,” Dragon said, “A lesser man wouldn’t have made it.”

Okay, that’s a feat of endurance. Most of the reason why he survived is because of the artificial parts Dragon invented that are now holding Armsmaster’s face and body together. I can’t avoid making a connection to Mannequin and the fact he also has artificial parts to keep him alive.

There’s still many surgeries Armsmaster has to go into, but he’s fine with it. With Dragon’s help he knows he can survive, and he’s not so far gone into his regrets he’s just going to stop caring about what’s being done to him now that he’s not staring at death to its plastic weird face. Props to Dragon for inventing stuff to save Armsmaster, too.

“You’re a fucking idiot, Colin. That was the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

List this sentence under stuff I never thought I’d read Dragon say. She always seemed so proper and composed, this is not composed at all. Must be because Armsmaster was the one to get hurt, all because he wanted to hurt Mannequin where it hurts.

“Wanted to provoke him. See if I couldn’t find an opening.”

“I repeat: Stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Was going to kill me anyways.”

“Was he? He could have killed you there. He didn’t.”

“He tried.”

...I hadn’t realized it before, but Dragon is bringing up a good point, now that I think about it. Mannequin Is a serial killer. He’s not going to fail just like that. He must have known what he was doing. Dragon’s suspicious is that Mannequin deduced Armsmaster was talking to her. He also left a photo that says ‘BRB’. Is he going to visit Armsmaster while he still is in the hospital? For everyone’s sake I hope not.

Trying to make the situation a bit less tense, Armsmaster brings up what Dragon had said right before he passed out, that she needed him. It doesn’t go well, there’s such a long silence even Armsmaster knew he had said something he shouldn’t have.

The silence stretched on for so long that he knew he’d made some faux pas. He just wasn’t sure what. Stupid. This was the kind of thing that had cost him his position, started the dominoes falling in such a way that they’d led him to being prisoner in that room, led to him being an easy target for Mannequin, to him being here, in this bed. Never knowing what to say, or how to say it, or who to say it to.

He really is starting to change, the first step to achieve that is acknowledging your flaws, and here he’s doing it. I almost can’t believe I’m actually seeing it happen! For once I have a purely positive opinion of this man.

There we go! Anyway!

He was about to apologize when Dragon said, “Those prosthetics I gave you? They were part of a bigger project. Something I’d intended to use for myself.”

Ah...perhaps she’s planning to make a body for herself? One that isn’t a battle armor. Interesting plans, hm...well, giving Armsmaster some of these prosthetics doesn’t mean she has to delay her plans, surely she has schematics and specifications, she can make more for herself. It should be matter of time before she finally has a body. Armsmaster thinks this is because she’s a cripple, he doesn’t suspect anything. The logic for these thoughts makes sense, it’s just that they’re incorrect, that’s it.

The intermission ends with a line that makes me wish this chapter had kept going:

“No, it’s not that,” she paused. “There’s something you need to know about me.”

Looks like she’s going to tell him the real nature of her existence. I really wish the chapter had continued, I’d have liked to see how she worded it, what his reactions were, what their thoughts were. I hope it goes well, I like Dragon and it’d be awful if this went badly for her. Mr. Wildbow will mention how it went later, I suppose. This is too interesting of a plotline to just toss aside.

That marks the end of the fourth interlude, I’ll check the next one right now.

The fifth interlude is...heh, call me impatience, but I’m immediately going to search for a name.

Hookwolf walked between the groups of his sparring recruits.

...I can’t decide if he would join or not. Back to the start of the interlude! One paragraph above. There seems to be a fight going on right now – it’s sparring, to be more precise. Looks like Hookwolf is currently supervising the training of his recruits, for his racist organization. Needless to mention, highly trained soldiers can hold their own against parahumans and special forces if they have the right moves and weapons. Bullets and knives are quite good equalizers in many cases, as seen before. What Hookwolf is doing, all this training, is a certifiable threat. This man is serious. Although...it makes me wonder what Purity’s group is doing? She’s not trying to use brute force, that much I know, but I’m not sure what she and the others in her faction have been doing.

Hookwolf isn’t the only one looking closely at the recruits’ movements, Menja, Cricket and Stormtiger are here too, watching and waiting to see which recruits are the best ones. They all have specific people already selected. After giving some positive encouragement to the troops, a person named Bradley is called forward to fight Menja. She’s not going to crush him into pieces in a one-sided fight as she’d do if she was using her full power. Bradley is already in disadvantage, being a common human who is tired from sparring, while Menja is fresh and using her powers a little. How well is Bradley going to do? That’s what everyone is waiting to see.

At first Menja easily gets the advantage, by virtue of having powers and all, but Bradley adapts quickly to the situation and manages to get a grip. True, he’s still at disadvantage for a variety of reasons, but Hookwolf judges he has seen enough once Bradley shows to not give up and endures Menja’s kicks.

“Enough,” Hookwolf said.

It wouldn’t do to let the man defeat Menja, and it was looking increasingly possible that he might. It would hurt her pride and weaken the position of his powered lieutenants in comparison to the unpowered ones.

Yeah, he might, if you give him like two hours. He wasn’t exactly kicking ass and taking names a second ago. Hookwolf judges him capable enough, though, and congratulates him. Welcome to the elites, Bradley! Who is next? Some gal named Leah. It’s her turn, and Menja wants her to give a try to fighting Cricket. It’s all about speed, you see.

Cricket stood from her seat in the corner and limped forward. She’d refused the same help that Othala had granted Stormtiger, both for the injury to her leg and the damage she’d taken to her vocal chords when she’d had her throat slashed, in a time before he’d met her. It would have taken a few days at most to restore her to peak condition, but she valued her battle scars too highly.

It’s kind of hard to think of Cricket as a hardened warrior when everything she has done onscreen is get hurt. I know she fought the Undersiders, but it didn’t end that well for her. The other big injury she had from what I remember didn’t even show her fighting. This is her chance to show she be in a fight without getting injured!

Of course. Of course she didn’t get the chance. Why would she have the chance. Not that I’m complaining, I’m not particularly fond of Cricket and these developments are of extreme importance:

The windows shattered with an explosive force, knocking the majority of the people in the room to the ground. Hookwolf was one of the few to remain standing, though he bent over as shards of glass tore through the layer of skin that covered his metal body.

Yeah, this is what Shatterbird does! Making glass explode! I remember someone once told me the Slaughterhouse Nine announce their presence by making all glass in a city explode like this. Does this mean they’re announcing their presence, in middle of their recruiting? True, it’s not like the heroes didn’t already know – judging by what Dragon knew – and there’s no way they’d tell the general public because there’d be widespread panic. This’d be the way to make all the civilians know.

A few of the recruits and one of the graduates are dead because glass exploded in their face. Many others are injured because they had cellphones in their pockets while sparring – who the heck does that? – and I honestly can’t feel too bad for any of them, given that, well, you know what they were hoping to do by being part of this organization. Also I bet Cricket is slumped against the wall, injured for the fifth time today. The Leah woman who was going to fight Cricket is currently bleeding out from a nicked artery. This whole thing pretty much delayed Hookwolf’s plans of having new useful recruits, it’s going to take a long while for everyone injured to recover, leaving aside the few who died.

He knows all glass exploding means the Slaughterhouse Nine are attacking, so he prepares himself for further attack through some invulnerability. I’ll take that as a sign the villain groups don’t know about the Slaughterhouse Nine trying to recruit. He also takes the time to think about his odds of winning against specific members of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Good! This should be enlightening.

He was virtually invincible in this form. That left few that could actively hurt him. Burnscar. The Siberian. Crawler. There was Hatchet Face, the bogeyman of capes. With the exception of Hatchet Face, the group wouldn’t be able to do much harm to him unless he was forced to stay still.

Of course Burnscar could hurt him, thanks to her fire powers. The Siberian is a fearsome opponent who outclasses a lot of parahumans. Crawler...I don’t remember what Crawler does. Hatchet Face sounds of special interest. The boogeyman of capes, eh? Quite the lofty description, given it’s of capes instead of a specific subset, so it’s like he’s a problem for all capes in existence. I already have high expectations for this Hatchet Face, I hope they live up to them.

More troubling were the Nine he couldn’t put down. The Siberian was untouchable, an immovable object, invincible in a way that even Alexandria wasn’t. Even if he were capable of hurting Crawler, he wouldn’t want to. Mannequin, he wasn’t sure about. He knew the crazed tinker had encased himself in a nearly indestructible shell.

For some reason he doesn’t want to hurt Crawler, but he doesn’t say why. A personal connection, perhaps? I remember Crawler is a monstrous thing who isn’t seen very clearly in the one photo there’s of him. Mannequin does seem rather tough, but from what I saw in Armsmaster’s interlude, it’s not impossible to damage its carapace, but you’d need some specialized weapons to do that, which I doubt Hookwolf can get access to.

Who else? He wracked his brain. Jack Slash was the brains and leader of the operation. Not a threat unto himself. Shatterbird couldn’t harm him, he was almost certain.

I wouldn’t underestimate Jack Slash, after seeing him. True, his power doesn’t sound like an intimidating concept, but who knows how cleverly he’d use them. Better be careful, anyway. Shatterbird...well I guess as long as Hookwolf doesn’t have anything with glass inside him he’ll be okay. That’s been seven killers, there’s one still yet to be mentioned.

Bonesaw. She was the wild card, the most unpredictable element in terms of what she could bring to the table. So often the case with tinkers.

Ah, so Bonesaw is a tinker. I like her name. It’s rather ominous, I can only imagine what kind of stuff a tinker named Bonesaw does. A tinker really is like a wildcard, who knows what this Bonesaw may have with her at the time of an attack. Hm.

Outside, all the windows and stuff is broken. Inside,

Surprisingly, Cricket is intact. Good for her! The reason why she felt something was off was because the glass was ‘singing’ to which I think it means it was vibrating. Hookwolf decides to go outside, so he leaves the care of all the injured in Menja and Stormtiger’s hands while he jumps through the window and lands in the pavement.

Cricket and Hookwolf hurry, running over the many, many shards of glass on the ground. Shatterbird is making barriers in front of them with the glass, barriers Hookwolf runs through without any problems. Dozens, hundred of barriers were one strike isn’t enough to clear the way.

Through the mess of dozens of dirty and wet panes of glass, he saw her. Shatterbird. A sand nigger, going by memory and the color of her exposed skin.

Wow. What classy narration, Hookwolf. Not slimy at all, nope, not at all, the slurs are just added charm, why’d that be bad. Then again, it’s not like it’s surprising, given who is talking right now.

To get through the barriers quicker, Hookwolf makes very big spears with his hands and punches through the barriers, shattering a couple dozen every time. He’s not moving as fast as he’d like, but he’s moving forward. Behind him I guess Cricket is following the pace. Shatterbird changes tactics once it’s clear he won’t be deterred, instead using the glass to form a big spike she makes hover in the air, and drops it down on him with strength.

Even if Hookwolf is very sturdy, a big spike of glass hitting you at full speed isn’t something you just shrug off. It hits him and he goes sprawling down while Cricket gets hit by glass shards and scraps of metal.

“Stand,” Shatterbird said. Her voice held traces of a British accent, and her body language and the crisp enunciation made her sound imperious, upper class. “I know you survived.”

‘Unlike the woman you brought with you. What an unfortunate demise’

Not wanting to overexert himself, Hookwolf absorbs the metal and tries to save energy, instead facing Shatterbird without any fear and preparing himself for what the Slaughterhouse Nine may plan. He doesn’t like hearing she’s here alone because it’s arrogant.

She shook her head, her helmet sparkling in the light cast by the setting sun. “I’m the Nine’s primary recruiter. I have an eye for people who can thrive among us, and I have brought more than five individuals on board. I thought long and hard before settling on you. I am not about to let you turn me down.”

...ah. The odds of Hookwolf being the one to join them just skyrocketed, by virtue of Shatterbird being the most successful recruiter. She not only has done a good job at that, judging by all the crazy killers currently in the group, she also is ready to force Hookwolf to join. I don’t know what exactly she’ll do to force Hookwolf to join...perhaps she’ll destroy his organization? I don’t think that’d be beyond her. If Hookwolf’s plans are completely obliterated, he’d have nothing to do other than join – or so some people would say, but I don’t think he would, he seems like the kind of guy that’d put his pride above everything else.

So that was why she hadn’t hit the entire city with the blast, shattering the glass and maiming or killing hundreds. She hadn’t wanted to kill any prospective members, wanted to reserve her power for when it would be most dramatic.

Ah, so it wasn’t to the entire city, it must have been only to the place Hookwolf was at. It was dramatic, yeah, and maybe it’ll make Hookwolf realize she’s completely serious when she says she’s not going to take a no for an answer, even if there’s no reason to doubt it in the first place.

Given Shatterbird’s pushiness, I suppose that means it’s settled: Hookwolf will be the new member of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Maybe she was the one who brought Burnscar into the group, since she doesn’t seem to be there completely willingly.

“You ally with the Aryan groups. Run one, but your motivations seem to be different. I have guesses as to why, but I’d rather you tell me.”

Eeeeh…well I suppose it’s within the realm of possibility Hookwolf’s ideologies aren’t the only reason why Hookwolf is running his group, but I don’t doubt he really is a racist asshat. I mean, the narration established it quite well, it’d be deceitful if it turned out Hookwolf’s thoughts and all that were a lie.

When Hookwolf keeps defying her, Shatterbird seems to try to use her power, but it doesn’t work as she intended. It’s Cricket, she’s using subsonics to cancel Shatterbird’s power. Right, of course she’d be capable of that, she noticed stuff like the glass ‘singing’, she could counter that. Kind of foolish to reveal it to Shatterbird like that, though. It’s not that I think this killer didn’t know already what Cricket is capable of, but…yeah, confirming it is a bit imprudent. What was it again, Hookwolf? Pride goeth before the fall?

“And here I was thinking you’d won the lottery with powers. Incredible range, fine control, devastating force, versatility… and all it takes is the right noise and it all falls apart?”

“Guess the men who bought my power should ask for a refund.”

O-kay! Cauldron stuff! They’re shaping up to be very relevant to the current state of affairs in the Worm world, more than I thought they would be! I’m having a hard time deciding what I’d like to see more of first, if focus on the Slaughterhouse Nine, or focus on Cauldron.

Not wanting to waste any time dealing with this whole thing, Hookwolf decides to just end this as soon as possible, and Shatterbird doesn’t seem to be in much of a hurry. She just takes out a gun and aims. While she did intend to take Cricket out so she’d be able to use her powers properly, she didn’t hit her with bullets, she did it with pieces of glass. Looks like she still could use them to some extent.

Okay, I was joking all this time that all Cricket does is be intimidating and then get injured, but I didn’t expect it to happen. Oh, geez. Yeah, she’s out of commission for real now. Of course Hookwolf doesn’t accept these developments, he intends to kill Shatterbird, and he’s sure he can do it by himself. He did indicate in his thoughts earlier Shatterbird wouldn’t be able to hurt him, after all. Maybe he really could do it, Shatterbird doesn’t outright deny it.

She can make herself levitate by moving the glass of her costume up! Well that’s a clever way to do that.

While she attacks, she tells Hookwolf what she thinks of him. The first thing she says isn’t unexpected, she says he’s a born warrior, and despite all of Hookwolf’s bad traits, he really is, and he knows it. What Shatterbird doesn’t know nor can understand yet is what Hookwolf is trying to do with his group. Hm. Want to enlighten me on this one, Shatterbird? Because I can’t think what he may be doing with them if he’s not completely sincere about his rhetoric.

Stormtiger turns out to be useful when he makes Shatterbird lost control of her flight and she crashes onto the ground. She even falls badly, she’s injured, and therefore an easy target for Hookwolf. I must say, this isn’t being as one-sided as I expected. I had thought Hookwolf was being too cocky when he thought he could defeat one of the Slaughterhouse Nine, but it seems he wasn’t. There he is, crushing her with a foot and burying some blades into her.

“A sword age, an axe age. A wind age, a wolf age. A world where none have mercy. I can believe this is your goal, your ultimate objective. Do you crave to reduce this city to darkness, blood and ash, so that only the strong will survive? Do you tell your followers that it is only the pure will rise to the top in the new world order?”

...well I hadn’t considered that. Hookwolf does seem like the kind of person to want that, theoretically, but I don’t know, for some reason I can’t believe that’s what he’s aiming to do. I fully believe he subscribes to the might makes right philosophy, but not to that extent. Guess I’ll know for sure once things continue here.

The second time Shatterbird offers him to join the group he again declines, planning to kill her, and she keeps twisting the knife by aiming to hit what Hookwolf cares about.

“Then kill me.” A thin smile crossed her face, though her expression was drawn with pain. When she spoke, it was in more short sentences. “But know that your dream is over. Unless you come with us. Once nominated you’ll be tested. By others, whether willing or not. I have left notes. Urging them to kill your soldiers. To raze any place you might call home. To bestow fates worse than death.”

As if they weren’t going to do that anyway. It’s effective enough, though, because Hookwolf raises his claws off her and actually considers the situation. Joining the group will make Shatterbird rescind the orders to kill and destroy everything Hookwolf had done so far, but he doesn’t plan to be there for long, just long enough to kill them, to destroy the Slaughterhouse Nine before they leave Brockton Bay. Okay, now he is being very cocky. No way he’d be capable of killing all eight members.

He wasn’t going to accept this. They’d insulted him, hurt his people. They wanted to subvert his mission and twist it to their own ends? No.

See? I think it’s likely Shatterbird is right, but maybe not to the extent she believes she is. There’s some loyalty here in Hookwolf’s behavior. There’s something deeper here than it seems at first sight, I’m sure of that.

Heck, he’s so against joining the Slaughterhouse Nine, against turning his back towards his group, he’s realizing he can’t deal with the situation alone. He’s going to need help. Is he going to ask Purity’s organization for help, perhaps? I think they’re the most likely people he’d ask for help. Maybe Purity would agree to aid him, since one of the Slaughterhouse Nine members tried to kill her daughter and Theo. How successful they’d be in fighting this worldwide threat...well that remains to be seen. I’m not going to get any high hopes; I don’t think they can do much.

That’s the end of the intermission! Who is next? I’ll see next time!

Next update: in two updates

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