#i mean. we already know that were getting another ww cover

[wildshona]

Another Sunday

So I signed off from you people yesterday cos i was going out with Chris for lunch and a movie. Lunch was a little Italian in Kew and then to the Musical Museum. They were showing the 1921 Swedish silent classic 2The Phanton Carriage" but with the music creatde on the spot by a guy playing the museum's mighty Wurlitzer organ which in its previos life had been the cinema organ at a cinema in Kingston upon Thames back in silent days. Absolutely brilliant experience to watch a silent film as they would have watched it in Stockhol back in 1921. I love Chris - so many new things.

Ww went home then and i knew we were going out for dinner but not where, Sunday is often quiet night in with just me, Chris, dinner, a movie and sex but this must be special cos he dressed me in one of my more repectable dresses, red with a flared skirt down to the knees, little shoulder straps. i mean its easy to slip off when the shoulder strips are pulled off the shoulder the dress will slide to the waist easy enough. but im more covered than usual. Underneath I had a little sheer black strapless bra - a bra for fuck's sake - a sheer pair of matching knickers, stockings and suspenders and high fuckme heels.

now last time i wore stockings was for Toni so my hopes were up and my cunt was starting to get damp. We got a cab to a big house near the common and knocked. it was Toni and she looked beautiful just like the week before, a black dress silk that clung she clearly was not wearing underwear. she wore stockings too but must have been self supporting.

Anyway lovely meal which she confessed she hadn't cooked as she had a chef for special occasions, then to the basement wheer she had a home cinema. Fuck i love Chris's flat but to live here. Movie night after all i was a bit disappointing cos i was sowet by now. but thinking of it the week before we had a sexy movie and then that strange sexual act so maybe ,,,

But no sexy movie anything but - "The Others" Nicole Kidman scary movie. not a hint of sex anywhere well apart from one scene but u didnt see anything and there may have been sex and there may not have been.

anyway back up to the lounge. Toni sits on a sofa and Chris leads me to the centre of the room. Stands behind me. Slips my shoulder straps off my shoulders and pulls the dress down to my waist. I can feel the excitement build my breathing is already ragged. Chris puts his hads round my waist and then up to my bra and the slight pressure not even pressing brings my nipples already erect into almost painful hardness. Ohhhhhhhhhh i so want to touch myself but i havent been told to and i know this is a do as u r told session.

he takes his hands away and i am visibly shaking my knees are trembling chris breathes on the back of my neck and down my spine. and that is it theearthquake comes and i am shaking and Chris is holding me preventing me from falling my eyes are closed im screaming. as the shakes subside and i can hold myself up Chris hands go to the clasp of my bra and undoes it. it falls away and i open my eyes, Toni naked except for stocking and heels is standing in front of me red lips parted black hair loose she is the most beuatiful thing i have ever seen breasts perfect brown nipples hard shaved cunt.

I want to just throw myself on to her or go on my knees and beg her to fuck me but i just look at her. Chris pulls my dress down over my hips to the floor and Toni comes to me lightly touches my nipples and an electric shock seems to go through me. she kisses me then full on the mouth my lips part she pushed her tongue in and our tongues play. she seems so tall. for a minute maybe we kiss and then she pulls away. her body moving from me and she leaves.

Chris dresses me. There is already a cab waiting. so much tension in the cab. when we get to the flat as we are in the lounge he pulls my dress off literally tears off my knickers and fucks me on the floor the bra comes off at some time as after he cums he drags me to the bedroom and we fuck again like animals.

and this morning i lie in bed getting my thoughts together so i can write it down for my tumblr friends and i am weta again and need to be fucked again.

[bad4amficideas]

I just had a reverie of 15. This is kinda the transcription (The next part would mean that the League is obsessing with them and not letting them go because yandere is life).

It's even more funny when you know I don't know anything about this villain except the basic, so daydream this was like WTF?? And I found funny someone calling them Alice.

Summary: Kinda Bat!reader ends in another dimension (what if? the opposite of Batman ending in Bats dimension happened), lol ensues.

Rabbit hole (Earth 1T8)

As a typical midnight in Gotham city, you've found yourself running through a warehouse covered in colored smoke and eccentrically decorated in a Wonderland style while chasing the Mad Hatter. Said villain is running away from you with his last "Alice" while waving a device which look more suspicious than his usual repertoire (definitely not a headgear), as he states that once they reach the tea room, the black rabbit -remember, thats you, apparently- could not interrupt them. He still didn't understand that this was not a game of hide and seek and there was no safe place.

When you have practically reached them, the device is activated and opens a portal. You could hear an "oh come on" from your family in the distance. Before the two of them cross, you grabbed "Alice" abruptly, breaking the grip of Jervis, you retired her hair ribbon where you knew was the mind-control device and you went rolling on the portal in her place. Everything seems to have lasted an eternity, but haven't been more than thousandths of a second.

Your wheels and look around, putting up, immediately alert and ready to continue pursuing Tetch. Around you the lights are warmer, youare in a clean, spacious place full of people on a defensive stance. You still have time to catch a masked child hitting Hatter on the head with the hilt of a katana, causing the fall and breakage of the dimensional gates open in the process.

Oh well. You looked behind you. Your robins could save "Alice". But they were going to go crazy for not "saving" you. Ironies.

You put up with the desire to sigh and/or take hands to your nose and head, Damian, of course. The -you hope- entire Justice League from another world with some of their sidekicks stares at you intently. "Of all the places..."

You approached your Jervis with slow, deliberate steps. No one tried to stop, but with the vision of Superman and good, you look like bat, should have a good idea of what they might expect. If you do not underestimate, that was.

This league was very full for your taste as a foreigner, but also in your world some of its members had just joined now (S, GA, BC, WW, MMH, GL, F, B, A). You were not going to get out of there without answering a few questions.

They didn't look as their evil versions, not wearing black suits, the place didn't has an air repellant like "weare gods among humans, kneel lower being", neither they looked like zombies, vampires, werewolves, demons or something, and you knew you will be already condemned or eated if so, so you tilted blithely you to view the status of Jervis. The first step was to get back home know howyou went from first.

He had some blood on his head. And you thought your birdies were hard, tsk tsk tsk. You checked his pupils to double-check and wake him up.

-Hatter, do you know where you are? - you captiously asked, as he had not been very consistent before crossing the portal, but it would do. But then he looked at you with wondering in his eyes.

-Alice! Finally we can start the party! - He smiled happily. If you had been in this less time, you would have checked that you still have the cowl on. With what was made that katana, Vibranium, Amazonium, Mithril?

Someone laughed behind you. Maybe Alice in Madness Return, but not even that. You noticed to your non-exactly-conterpart examine the pieces of the dimensional key.

-But I liked the previous tea room Hatter, and the mugs were nicer. Was the March Hare who gave you the key to this place?? - you decided to go along with it, you'll knock him unconscious later and soon you willreturn to be the black rabbit before you know it.

-Oh no, that was Lex, he said that the black rabbit wouldn't bother us here. That damn rat never let us have our party in peace, Alice! -

Jervis continued to babble, but you stopped listening, wondering what Luthor's sudden need to get rid of you was about. And why Clark hadn't been more attentive to HIS villain. It would be best if you returned to Gotham as soon as possible.

You got up, leaving unconscious again Tetch along the way. You looked to Batman, apparently paying attention for first time to the heroes from this world. - I suppose you could not make a fix, no? - you pointed the scattered pieces, (thanks Damian), of the gift of Lex. Thanks Lex and Clark.

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1018 - Initial Thoughts

And we're back on that bombshell

Oda had to leave us hanging but we've finally made it to the next week Time to see what more this revelation has to give

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release as well

An Ulti/Pay-Pay cover page reminds me that I adore Ulti and Pay-Pay's dynamic, just wish she didn't attack Tama

As anticipated, with Tama giving the order it also makes her a target, Usopp and Nami on the case to protect her

Daifugo and Speed are also here to help out, but Speed almost left without Usopp. Komachiyo is also fine, Gazelleman found him but no word on Hihimaru

Nami's also come round on Zeus, instead of servitude it's a partnership that's now born

I can spot the panda, but also it seems that others are turning coat on their own volition, what was that about Pirate Alliances and Betrayal?

Numbers have dropped 16 to 9, though it is unnerving how well this is going...Kaido and Big Mom are still massive threats and BM's crew still struggle to access Wano

CP0 though are debating whether a certain someone is allowed to live after this, seems that there was ulterior motives at hand

That person is Who's Who, as CP0 question his chances against Jimbei

As expected, WW has a problem mainly with Shanks, but because he ate the fruit it extends to Luffy

Whoa his Fang Pistol made Jimbei bleed through Armament, I mean nooo Jimbei but I think it's cool that Rokushiki can break through Haki

WW's Fang Pistols though are affecting the floors below, he's whittling down his own forces as well as making the floor unstable, Onigashima may collapse on itself at this rate

Aaaaaaaaand he had to slur, unsurprising that the ex-CP9 member is a Fishman racist, though how does this work with Jack and Sasaki?

Another thing? WW should probably change his name to X-Position

'Sun God' Nika huh? Is this a variant of Joy Boy I wonder? Someone who will bring joy and freedom and liberate slaves. Maybe that's why we talk about the Dawn

Looking at the name itself, Nika is a variant name for Nike, one of Zeus' many children and goddess of Victory, it can mean 'good', 'true' and 'chosen', the use of a sword and spear is an odd combination

This story though was enough to put a target on WW's back, which does seem to validate his clinging to it

Back with the racism though, WW expect Jimbei to know about it because his crew was the Sun Pirates and that Fishmen history is a history of slavery

WW though has gotten way too overzealous with his fingerpokes, and now he has broken fingers. I dunno how though, I wanna say Conqueror's Coating or Fishman Karate having a defensive layer but something about Jimbei's defences amped up

Jimbei is full on pissed off now though, tanking WW's attacks

Haha, got him in his tail, nowhere to run and then BAM, Gargoyle Tile Fist

But another break now? Oooooooodaaaaaaa!

So rather than delve deeper into why Luffy's fruit is important, Oda throws us another mystery of this Sun God Nika. I don't expect this character to be a proper 'god' though, Skypeia has curbed that expectation and I prefer it that way. But it doesn't rule out that Nika wasn't otherworldly, Skypeians, Shandians and Birkans all descended to this world from a moon after all.

Since WW has this information though it's likely that CP0 won't help him out so easily, but I'm still convinced he won't die, being a raging fish racist only adds to his heat when Oda wants to use him antagonistically again. As for the fight, I'm not sure if it's finished just yet, we already had CP0 act like Jimbei was the safer bet in the fight and while KOing him now will give the W to Jimbei I don't think we can rule out his Ancient Zoan durability coming back into play. Also let's not forget that Jimbei needs to take the cat harem.

If not then perhaps we'll move to another fight, or finally get Usopp some spotlight as they attempt to protect Tama. But the week break is a sore spot still, I think it was like this last time: we got 3 consecutive chapters then a break, is Oda preparing a color spread maybe? Or is a really big chapter coming soon? 1000 and 1010 were A-tier chapters so what about 1020?

Sucks to wait but it's always worth it

[hyunsracha]

poetry —  kim seungmin

word count: 2k

summary: why are crushes so difficult?

“why are crushes so difficult?”

this was kim seungmin’s dilemma.

he flops down on his best friend’s bed, glaring at the romance movie posters plastered on the walls.

“what’s so difficult about them, minnie? they’re fun! you get butterflies and blushy and you start trying to write poetry...all that fun stuff?” his best friend, hwang hyunjin, didn’t even look up from his notes to speak.

hyunjin was the sappiest, most love-filled person seungmin knew. he loved romance movies and dating and being in love.

seungmin, on the other hand, had never had a crush before. sure, he’s been attracted to people, but no …. poetic thoughts.

“p-poetry?”

“yeah. do you….oh my god.” hyunjin stood from his desk chair, “do you write poetry about y/n?”

“n-no!”

“KIM SEUNGMIN.” and he pounced. he landed right next to seungmin on the bed, hands coming out to smack at the younger boy as he squealed.

“show it to me, show it to me!!!! i’m your best friend, minnie!”

“WHICH IS WHY IT’S WEIRD GET AWAY FROM ME-”

hyunjin huffed, his bottom lip jutting out.

“fine. but you’re really whipped, you know.”

“yeah. tell me about it.”

“okay! well, for example, today y/n came into the lunchroom and you spilled your milk-”

“HYUNJIN I DIDN’T MEAN- okay.” seungmin sighed, turning to face the boy he ‘unfortunately’ called his best friend, “what do i do?”

“have you ever thought about, i dunno, confessing?”

“eat my shorts.”

hyunjin went back to his desk, returning his attention to his math homework, “then sit and be in love and fucking Perish.”

it wasn’t seungmin’s fault he didn’t wanna confess!!

maybe he would confess if everyone else wasn’t >:(((

he understood that you were like … super pretty and nice and smart and perfect in every way (◕ ◡ ◕)

but it was like someone new confessed to you Every Day

even people from other schools!!!! >:(((

one day, he was leaving the school, and he saw you on the sidewalk with a boy from ur school’s Rival School

and the boy was blushing >:( and he had a flower in his hand >:(

but u rejected him!

just like u rejected Everyone

and he didn’t understand,,,

u could have Anyone U Wanted

whatever! he liked u better single

it meant he still maybe had a chance :(

to be honest, seungmin doesn’t remember when he first starting liking u

maybe it was when you two got paired up in chemistry and you knew Nothing about chemistry

“okay so put in one drop of the clear.”

“w-what’s in the clear?”

“it’s water, y/n.”

“oh!” and you blushed and seungmin’s heart went JFSGJSKH

or maybe it was during hoco when he was just chilling, drinking some punch, chomping on a cookie

and you came up to him :((( all shy :((( and u looked SO GOOD

and you asked him to dance with you

yeah he choked on his cookie a little bit but then that boy was ON THE DANCE FLOOR

surprisingly, seungmin Did know how to dance

being best friends with the co-captain of the dance team since kindergarten has its perks!

u were a lil shocked too like that mf just Took You In His Arms and started swaying and u were like HUH????

when did seungmin become a MAN

he didn’t, he’s just a very sophisticated Boy.

hyunjin thinks seungmin started liking you when you first met

seungmin thinks hyunjin is fucking stupid

he was FIVE and all seungmin cared about when he was 5 was sour gummy worms

“isn’t that all u care about now?”

“sour gummy worms AND Y/N!!!”

so yeah, seungmin was #whipped

AND THE POETRY THING KSJGSKGJ ok hear him out

it was 4am and he had spent like 30 years studying for a chemistry test and he was stressed to the Max and just wanted to lay down

and when he lays down, his mind naturally turns to U

and in his sleep deprived state his mind was just . Mush .

so he dragged his body back to his desk and just ~wrote~

yeah, he couldn’t look you in the eye the next day but he got his feelings out.

he couldn’t help his crush on u, especially when u were in his group of friends

hyunjin, jisung, felix, seungmin, you, and jeongin

sound like chaos? because It Is.

u and seungmin have basically become the parents of this little friend group

“jeongin let me see what u have”

“a knife”

“NO”

and

“How did jisung get on the ceiling.”

“FELIX TOLD ME I COUDL BE SPIDERMAN”

“JISUNG GET THE FUCK DOWN”

of course, being the parents meant a lot of … Teasing

especially from hyunjin, bc he was the only one who knew about seungmin’s crush

hyunjin: so when’s the wedding :D

seungmin, halting his onion slicing: Excuse Me?

you: hehe whenever seungmin’s ready!!  i know he wants to go to law school first!!

seungmin, chopping onions at LIGHTNING SPEED: HAHAHA OKAY Y/N

you always said things like that and it made him JFKDJK

one time the others were teasing him bc he dyed his hair red and they kept calling him cherry and u just went:

“so WHAT if he looks like a cherry he’s my CUTE cherry” and u grabbed his hand and glared at everyone like -__________-

seungmins brain: WHW-WW LIPSTICK

seungmins heart: H UHU H MECEHRY

seungmins mouth: YOU- WHAT - HUH- ME?

and after that :(((( u started calling him cherry :((( even after he dyed his hair again :((

back to the main point: seungmin’s whipped and he doesn’t know how much longer he can take this but he Won’t Confess

hyunjin’s got a plan!

he calls it How Does Y/N Feel and he swears it’s a secret

it’s not, he wrote it on his whiteboard in pretty pastel markers

“what’s this plan of yours, sweetie?”

“MOM CAN U GET OUT IM A SECRET AGENT”

“ok mr secret agent come downstairs and eat your peas”

“MOM”

so basically his plan was to ask if u liked seungmin but hes VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT OK

“hey y/n~~~” he sang as he sat down next to you in geometry.

“jinnie!!! how are you today :D” ugh look at you, an angel.

“good, about to be better...or worse.”

“why?”

“i need to ask you something.”

“Ominous!”

“do you like seungmin?”

“ya.”

hyunjin: OUSUGH?

you: how did u say that out loud

“YOU LIKE SEUNGMIN-”

you slapped a hand over his mouth, “KEEP YOUR FUCKING MOUTH SHUT JESUS CHRIST-

i thought you knew i like him??? like...i’m not hiding it?”

hyunjin knew seungmin wouldn’t believe it if he just told him

so he was audio recording the whole thing on his phone :) what a sneaky dude

so after geometry ended he fuckign NYOOOMED to english

“SEUNGMIN SEUNGMIN SEUNGMING HSJG SJISEUGMGING”

“dude did u do crack or something holy shit-”

“SHUT UP LISTEN TO THIS.”

“if this is another one of your boyfriend’s songs i swear to god-”

but he put in hyunjin’s earbuds (not airpods) anyway

“t-this isn’t jisung….”

and he Listened

I Thought You Knew I Like Him.

“are u fucking with me jin. is this a fucking skit i swear to god if you're MESSING WITH ME-”

“they don’t even know i was recording them.” hyunjin giggled, the snake.

“oh so you’re a total douche.”

“i just did you the hugest favor and you just called me a douche...okay! friendship cancelled, give me my phone, put your stupid airpods back in-”

“don’t call them Stupid!”

“sorry, i can’t hear you, i don’t have my STUPID AIRPODS IN!”

seungmin couldn’t concentrate for the entirety of english

your words kept swirling around his brain, and he resorted to just doodling hearts on the margins of his papers.

and then he went to Chemistry!

there you were :((( in your cute little lab coat and safety goggles :(((

seungmin didn’t think anyone would ever pull off a lab coat and goggles like you did

“h-hey y/n…”

“hey cherry! ready to make some chemistry? :D”

he inhaled, knowing that there was a chance he was going to regret his next statement for the rest of his life:

“i think you and i already have enough chemistry.”

now it was ur turn to JKSGJKH

you flushed a bright pink, turning to your lab table to hide the shy smile growing on your face

“yeah?” your voiced cracked a little bit

and seungmin knew

“yeah.”

class went by quickly, with the two of you exchanging Looks before quickly looking away

and then you had lunch! and since you ate lunch together, you walked together

this time, You wanted to be the daring one

so you were walking through the halls side by side

and after a minute you just …. Held His Hand a little bit

and he squeezed your hand in return and your tummy felt like JAOGHNJ

then you entered the cafeteria and your friends’ eyes immediately went ZOOM on your interlocked hands

“W-W-W-WHAT IS THIS?” jeongin, the poor baby, spluttered

“are you out of the loop? they’re in love!” jisung was practically shooting heart eyes at the two of you

“no one tells me anything.” jeongin pouted

“are we Not In Love, jisung.”

“jinnie u know i love you but this is FRESH and it’s FUN let me ogle.”

“JISUGN???”

felix just smiled at you two, patting the space next to him, “i always knew this was gonna happen.”

“what are you losers talking about?” seungmin asked.

“yeah, nothing happened. seungmin and i are just friends.”

“you- just- HUH????”

“he hasn’t asked me out yet.” you shrugged, pulling your lunch box out of your backpack.

seungmin gasped, dropping your hand to cover his heart, “do i have to?”

“i deserve it, you animal. i’ve only been waiting since middle school.”

MIDDLE SCHOOL???

well, this was a shock.

“MIDDLE SCHOOL???”

“yeah? you kicked that dude in the shin for me. it was nice. no one’s ever done that for me before.”

“t-the shins? you started liking him over a shin kick, y/n?” felix deadpanned.

“i was like 13 can you shut the fuck up? i don’t just like him because he kicked a guy in the shins for me.”

“oh? why else do you like him?”

“we’re not having this conversation right now, jeongin.”

“oh hell yes we are.”

“SEUNGMIN??”

but he just :D at you and you were whipped so :///

“Okay! i like him because he’s...just a good guy. like he’s smart and he’s funny and he’s….really cute and he would probably kick jisung in the shin if i asked him to.”

“i would.”

“bet!”

“okay!”

“hey what no- OW SEUNGMIN!” jisung whined, pulling his leg up on the seat

“kiss it better jinnie-”

“jisung no.”

“JINNIE :((((“

you grinned, looking over at seungmin.

he was already looking, and you could practically See the heart eyes he was sending you.

did it make you super flustered? yeah. did you mind? not really.

“so,” you leaned in closer, speaking quiet enough so that your friends couldn’t hear over whatever they were yelling about this time, “you gonna ask me out or not?”

“i’ll walk you home?”

“i’ll be waiting.”

the rest of the day went by Painfully slow

but after your last class, there he was !!!!

and he was walking you home !!!

and he held your hand !!!!

“let me get something from my house real quick.” seungmin lived closer to the school than you did, so you always passed by his house.

you waited on the porch while he ran outside

he came back in a minute, flushed and holding a folded piece of paper.

“here.” he shoved the paper in your hand, taking your free hand in his and dragging you along.

“MINNIE let me read this!!!!” you whined.

he sighed, stopping on the sidewalk to let you read it clearly.

you had to reread a few lines because they were just so pretty.

you didn’t expect something like this from seungmin, he was usually so direct and not so flowery.

but it was beautiful.

“why are you crying WHAT’S WRONG IS IT BAD-”

“SEUNGMIN HHHHHHH” you launched yourself at him, wrapping your arms tightly around his waist.

and he held you just back as tightly.

“so uh. do you wanna like….go out with me or something?”

“yes, you big dummy. i would love to.”

[stusbunker]

WW - S06 E04 Weekend At Bobby's 😘

(Weird Wednesdays are brought to by bastardizing the wiki)

One year ago and shortly after trapping Lucifer and Michael in Lucifer's Cage, Bobby summons Crowley and demands the return of his soul. Crowley refuses and smugly quotes his contract, which states that he only has to "make best efforts" to give Bobby his soul back. He agrees to give Bobby ten years of life, but that is all. Bobby then reveals he has trapped Crowley in a devil's trap made with black light paint, but Crowley threatens him with his hellhound until Bobby releases him.

Bobby’s junkyard dog, Rumsfeld, who everyone forgot about, perks up at the sound of a new friend and Crowley relents and summons Juliet for a playdate. The dogs run the perimeter of the salvage yard and the owner’s discuss training and stories of when they were pups. Bobby brings out some glasses and Crowley falls for the holy water in his scotch. Eventually, they laugh it off.

In the present day, Sam and Dean are in Wisconsin (namely Kenosha, where my husband was born) on the trail of a monster that cracks open the bodies of its victims. It leaves a large black claw in the chest cavity of the latest victim, and they call Bobby for help. Even though Bobby says that he's busy. And Sam always has wifi. Bobby steps up and spends hours researching, going so far as to break into a University library to find a book that he needs. I mean, they’re his kids, who else would he go to jail for?

And we wonder why he was the one with all the drunk and disorderlies...

It's early morning the next day when he calls Dean to tell him that they're hunting a lamia. Usually only in Greece, a lamia "juices hearts and chugs the blood." Which Sam quickly jots down, because that could be the next step in his smoothie fixation. Bobby tells them it can be killed by a silver knife blessed by a priest. What kind of priest? Who knows, who cares. Probably an acolyte of Apollo or some shit. But, they can do their own research now, moochers.

After he's off the phone, Bobby goes down to his basement, where he has a crossroads demon tied up and caught in a devil's trap. He wants to know Crowley's true name - the name he had as a human before he died and became a demon in Hell - so he tortures the demon by using a blowtorch to singe its bones. Finally, she admits that Crowley, who is now the King of Hell, was a Scottish man named Fergus MacLeod in life. The other demons call him "Lucky the Leprechaun" behind his back.

Which just goes to prove that demons are stupid and unofficially most Scots and Irish end up in heaven, because there is no way it was that funny of a joke.

Once Bobby has the information he needs, he burns the demon's bones, killing it and its host. And no one is really surprised, we are only allowed to worry about vessels when it’s a recurring character.

After killing the demon, Bobby answers phones and backs up other hunters posing as various law enforcement officials until Rufus knocks on his door. Rufus has the police on his tail and needs Bobby's help burying the body of a Snorlax, a monster usually only seen in Japan. They bury the body on Bobby's property and Rufus leaves just before Sheriff Jody Mills shows up with an FBI agent, Agent Adams. Agent Adams is looking for Rufus.

And as exhausting as this episode is, it just shows what Bobby Singer’s life really is like. It wasn’t a single week of annoyance, it was always like that. He’s a goddamn saint in a cantankerous facade. Bobby is a fucking hero.

Dean calls while the FBI agent is there and asks for help killing the lamia because they couldn't kill it with a silver knife blessed by a priest. Bobby tells him to find salt and rosemary and "blend the herbs, saute over a high heat, and cook well," and hangs up when Dean finishes his audition for Cutthroat Kitchen and flambes the lamia. Agent Adams is persistent, and Sheriff Jody Mills tries to distract him, but Adams finds the spot where the Snorlax was buried. Fortunately, there is no longer any evidence of a crime because the damn thing is gone. Unfortunately, Rufus didn't stab it enough times to kill it, and it has been feeding on single white gamers while they sleep.

Rufus and Bobby deserved a fucking spin off for this episode alone. Jesus these two were perfect.

While Bobby was interrogating the crossroads demon, Marcy Ward rang his doorbell with a homemade peach cobbler. She has been his neighbor for six months now, and seems to be interested in him romantically, asking him over for dinner and a movie and then, when he seemed hesitant, asking him to come over and take a look at her wood chipper, which has broken down. When he learns that the Snorlax might be after her, he breaks down her door with a shotgun, scaring her, but drawing out the Snorlax, which had been waiting in her bedroom to kill her. Her playstation still paused to the final boss.

When the Snorlax is killed in Marcy's (obviously functioning) wood chipper, she is covered in blood. Bobby still tries to salvage a relationship with her, but she turns him down. He never was as cavalier as he wanted to be and victims are rarely as grateful as they are in fanfic.

Rufus thanks Bobby for helping him with the pokemon, and tells him what his contacts in Scotland have learned about Fergus MacLeod, aka Crowley. Crowley had a son named Gavin MacLeod, whose signet ring is now on display in a maritime museum in Andover, Massachusetts. Rufus is already there willing to steal the ring for Bobby. Because, that’s what friends do. And no matter how annoying or argumentative they are, both of those ornery bastards listen when the other is talking or dealing with their own problems.

Dean calls to talk about Sam and how he's changed in the past year, Dean can’t stand his new manscaping regimen especially, but when Bobby puts Dean on hold to talk to Rufus (who is fleeing law enforcement after stealing the ring), Dean accuses him of being selfish.

I have seen people go off on Bobby for this rant and I just want you all to know, FUCK OFF. Bobby had every right to say what he did in this episode. We all knew Sam was “WRONG”, Dean should have picked a different way to unload on Bobby about it.

Bobby asks for Sam and he yells at the brothers over speakerphone, calling them "whiny, self-absorbed, sons-of-bitches" that he does everything for without a word of thanks. He reminds them Crowley still has his soul and tells them to "sack up" and help him for once. Sam says all Bobby had to do was ask. While Dean pouts in the corner because he didn’t want to talk TO SAM about SAM. He wanted to gossip.

As a favor to Bobby, Sheriff Mills extradites Rufus and allows him to "escape custody" so that Rufus can deliver the signet ring to Bobby. You just gonna gloss over how he got it to South Dakota safely? Really? That level of dedication is just overlooked these days.

Bobby uses the ring to summon Gavin's ghost, and they "have a chat." He then summons Crowley, who arrives and discovers he is trapped in another devil's trap. Which, why isn’t he always at this point? Summon him constantly gents, it’s like a round of musical Crowley. No? Too much? Eh, what do you know.

Crowley repeats his position that he won't give Bobby his soul, but Bobby counters by revealing his son Gavin's ghost. Fergus, aka Crowley, and Gavin hated each other so Gavin is useless as a bargaining chip, but he gave Bobby all the information he wanted about Crowley, including where his bowling shoes were buried. Which I don’t think Gavin would have known, but that’s just more confusing shit for a later episode where we time travel to find the real Gavin and not just a bitter old spirit.

Bobby hands Crowley the phone so that he can talk to Dean, who tells him that he and Sam are standing over Crowley's comical size sevens in Scotland. Bobby makes Crowley an offer: his beloved shoes in exchange for Bobby's soul, and Crowley agrees. Bobby makes sure that he will still have the use of his legs before releasing him from the devil's trap, with a pat on the ass for good measure.

Crowley appears in Scotland moments later, where Sam and Dean are still standing over his supposed grave. Dean threatens to burn the lucky bowling shoes anyway, but Sam tells him to stand down, saying "a deal's a deal." Crowley picks up his personalized bag and disappears, and Bobby thanks Sam and Dean for flying to Scotland and helping him get his soul back.

Dean was on a plane for 8 hours? Sam must have given him that good shit, because aint no other way that was happening....

[theonyxpath]

More Q&A – because YOU requested it! Well, maybe not you personally, but we sure did get a great response to last week’s blog…So We’re Doin’ It Again!

“But seriously, why is International shipping so high on the KSs?”

What backers are seeing from us on the Kickstarter pages are the shipping numbers we have received from our fulfillment partners, and no, they aren’t inflating them and we aren’t inflating them – those are what we are hearing from shippers like Fedex and USPS and others.

The fact is: we are not Amazon. We aren’t C’Mon Games or other companies that send out a massive volume of packages. We’re in the same boat as a lot of TTRPG companies, many of whom are dropping international shipping entirely. Instead, we made the call to give our backers the up-front info so they can make intelligent decisions, while we continue to search for less costly shipping options.

“Why aren’t all Storypath Games the same?”

I’m assuming that this is in reference to the Storypath System, and not the settings for each game line that uses it. Because that’s the only way the question makes sense to me.

One of my goals with the Storypath System was that it be flexible enough to work as the basis for any game we care to create with it, and part of that design was that the basic system would then have additional rules attached to it depending on the game line’s needs.

Or, here is more from Eddy Webb, who has been overseeing the Storypath games, as well as doing design work on the system. He sez:

Each game takes the core system and tweaks it in a variety of ways to better emphasize what’s important in that game. A game about myths like Scion doesn’t need comprehensive weapon mechanics, but a game about salvaging equipment like Dystopia Rising does.

Basically, Storypath was never intended to be exactly the same with every line that uses it, like a generic system, but to allow a base level of familiarity so players just need to look into specific, game line intrinsic, additional rules.

“Why won’t you publish all the Clan/Tribe/Tradition/etc books again?”

OK, that’s a multi-part answer, so let me unpack a bit on this one.

First, and very specifically, we aren’t recreating the “Splat books” as we do new editions because those lil’ books aren’t cost-effective to create with our current publishing model. We do however, love to gather the “splats” into larger books like we’ve already done with Lore of the Clans, or Lore of the Bloodlines.

Which brings us to the second part of this, which is what I touched on in last week’s blog, which is that we don’t have carte-blanche to create just any WoD (or CofD or Exalted) books that we want to create. We have to have their pitches approved by our licensor, White Wolf/Paradox, before we can do any work at all on projects.

So what I’m saying is that we wouldn’t just recreate the old splat books, but we would do a differently formatted version, and that version still needs to be greenlit by our licensor. And right now, that has not happened.

Aeon Aexpansion art by Pat McEvoy

“Why are there approvals stages for Scion or Scarred Lands- don’t you own those?”

The business productivity answer is that we try and keep our processes the same in game book creation to make them go through the stages consistently.

The RichT answer is that I want to be able to review, tweak, and fine-tune the game lines my company owns. I mean, I do it with our licensed game lines, so by crackee, I’m doing with my own durn games!

“What stores carry your books?”

Y’know, I don’t actually know all of them at this point! What we hear from our sales partners at Studio2 and Indie Press Revolution, is that more and more stores are ordering as they become aware that we are putting select books into the distribution/retail channel.

So the notices I see are focused on which distributors have ordered what, although I do still get a chance to chat with retailers who pledge during our Kickstarters. Some of those folks have been with us since our first KSs, like our friends at Trollune in France, and more come on board with each KS.

Mighty Matt McElroy is a lot more hands-on with stores and retailers, and maybe we’re at the point where he’d be willing to pull together some sort of Retailer list we could post on this site. I will ask him very, very, nicely if such a thing could be added to his already massive workload.

But be sure that we truly appreciate each and every order from retailers that our sales partners receive. A Friendly Local Game Store is one of the best places to learn about all sort of games, new and old, and we’re glad we were able to figure out a way to once again get books into those shelves!

And if your FLGS doesn’t yet know that they can order books from their favorite distributor like Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition, or Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero, or Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau and others, with even more yet to come like V5 Chicago By Night and the Trinity Continuum books, then please, let them know, let us know, let the world know, that you want them to order our books for you!

Witch Queen art by Nate Pride

“What are YOU excited about that’s coming from Onyx Path?”

Scion: Demigod and Titanomancy to continue the core Scion mythological experience, and Dragon and Mythos to show how Scion has potential beyond that experience. Trinity Continuum: similarly, very excited to bring back Aeon and Aberrant as lines and especially to revisit Adventure! and deliver an exciting game that emulates all the Pulp Genre excitement that I’ve loved during countless hours reading Doc Savage and The Avenger, but in a way that’s compelling for a modern audience. Then, to finally expand from the three original game lines to other time periods and genres with new games that we’re working on but haven’t announced yet.

Legendlore is another game line I’m really looking forward to. In fact, I think the developed text should be coming my way later this week, or next week, and I can’t want to see what Steffie De Vaan and team have done to take this long-established world and bring it up-to-date and relevant like I mentioned about TC: Adventure!

White Wolf gamelines: For CofD, I’m champing at the bit to start sharing Deviant: The Renegades during its Kickstarter. I’ve loved the concept of the wronged seeking revenge for what was done to them since the project was conceptualized, and Dave and Eric and crew have really delivered on that premise, and more! It’s gut-wrenching, horrific, but also empowering!

For Exalted 3rd, I’m really glad we’re finally doing the Storyteller’s Guide, which combined with another book we’re waiting to hear back on from WW, will provide players and prospective Storytellers with a lot of answers and material that fill in some of the blanks in the core EX3 rulebook. Hopefully, these sections will allow even more players to “get” Exalted 3rd, and so they’ll all want to GET Exalted 3rd!

And, of course, I really can’t expand on much for WoD without the OK from WW/Paradox, but we’ve been so thrilled by the reaction to the V5 Chicago By Night Backer PDF that I’m really looking forward to the next WoD projects from Matthew Dawkins, as well as finally delivering our outstanding 20th Anniversary projects!

Distant Worlds art by Rutledge

They Came From…!: Speaking of Matthew, he is gravely hard at work digging into new sources of fun and inspiration for the follow-up They Came From game, and I’m such a fan of the whole genre/time period it covers that I can’t wait to read it!

Creature Collection 5e: for Scarred Lands looks to be gorgeous! I’m both jealous that Johnny Hodgson was able to pull together so many fantastic artists, and thrilled that our efforts with his Handiworks Games is producing such a fantastic book. Look for its KS soon!

These aren’t advertising blurbs here folks! I truly am excited to be able to bring all of these game lines to life, and to be part of bringing them to all of you – as well as those poor misguided souls who don’t yet read this scintillating blog, or know of our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Keep an eye out in this space as well as on our social media for the Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter that will be launching after August wraps up!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features an interview with one of the unsung new talents of Onyx Path and one of the nicest people working in the TTRPG industry: Meredith Gerber! Go to https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/ or to your favorite podcast venue!

No Onyx Path News this week, with Matthew having been away at Tabletop Scotland! But here’s a nice photo of his group at that convention enjoying a session of They Came from Beneath the Sea!

Here’s our upcoming Twitch schedule, and as you can see, it’s getting very full of content! Between Travis Legge’s Myths & Matchmakers for Scarred Lands, Near Dark Studios‘ Chicago by Night, our very own Pugmire: Paws and Claws and Aberrant: Collateral Damage, and more, we think you’ll find something to entertain you! Even if you don’t, we’d very much appreciate a follow on www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath!

Outside our Twitch channel, the Botch Pit have started up a new chronicle for Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition! And if you’re not into actual plays, they also do breakdowns of lots of our other games: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQfcGvYILEV1vznP5__bOWg

Did you check out the www.gamerstable.com for their actual play of A Slippery Conspiracy? No? Well, now’s the time to catch up and give their actual play of They Came from Beneath the Sea! a listen!

Devil’s Luck Gaming continues with Pirates of Bloodwater for Scarred Lands right here: https://www.twitch.tv/DevilsLuckGaming Also check them out for an excellent Shadowrun actual play they’ve started. We know it’s not our game, but we’re happy to promote such a fine cast of players.

If you’re a fan of Scion, check out https://ragnarokandroll.podbean.com/, a podcast that tracks all the way from first edition Scion: Hero to Scion: Ragnarok, but is now looking into the second edition of the game!

We’re going through Wraith: The Oblivion character creation over on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/jflNxrN3i6o And part two will be uploaded this week!

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’re offering our monthly Exalted 3rd Edition PDF for Hundred Devils Night Parade!

Conventions!

Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Redlines

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Development

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Manuscript Approval

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

W20 Art Book (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Post-Approval Development

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

V5 Chicago Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Editing

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Post-Editing Development

Memento Mori (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e Companion)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars – Contracted.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Contracted. Sketches still coming in.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – Contracted.

Deviant (KS) – Contracted. LeBlanc’s art already in.

Trinity RMCs – Contracted.

Cults of the Blood God (KS) – Sending out art notes.

Chicago Folio – Art notes going out this week.

Mummy 2 (KS) – Got Matthew’s notes.

In Layout

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Dark Eras 2 – Files with Aileen

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

VtR Spilled Blood – With Josh.

DR:E Jumpstart

Aeon Aexpansion

Proofing

C20 Cup of Dreams

V5: Chicago – Inputting errata.

Geist 2e – XX’s and then Indexing.

Signs of Sorcery – Inputting errata.

M20 Book of the Fallen

DR: E – Inputting errata.

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Deluxe at Studio2, shipping wrapping up.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – At Studio2, shipping wrapping up.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Shipped to Studio2, shipping wrapping up.

Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2.

TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity Core – Printing. PoD proofs ordered.

Trinity Aeon – Printing. PoD proofs ordered.

Shunned By the Moon – PoD proof coming.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

On this date in 1346 – Hundred Years’ War: The military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armored knights is established at the Battle of Crécy. Thus spawning whole rafts of longbow lovin’ moments in gaming! (Also can be seen as a victory for the common man that will echo through history and turn out even more badly for the French nobility 400-some years later).

[jaimetheexplorer]

The Long Denial

I can’t help but feel that there is a lot of denial doing the rounds at the moment about the fact that the living won against the AotD and the Long Night is over. 

Partly, I understand why. I was, maybe not sure, but seriously contemplating the possibility that this season would cover time jumps spanning a long time, possibly years, given the fact that the first Long Night lasted allegedly a generation. I was expecting the motivation and underlying mythology behind the NK and the WWs to be more sophisticated and complex than “they are evil ice zombies who want to destroy humanity” (although, granted, I think there might still be something afoot there in terms of them having been created as weapons of mass destruction by the CotF in the first place - could there be a parallel with dragons here, where dragons are the “fire” equivalent of the CotF’s WWs to the Targaryens?). So it can be hard to discard years or even decades of theories, when they all seemed to make perfect sense, and maybe, some of them even more sense than what we got. I had some of my own too. 

Maybe the books will do it in a more extensive and satisfying way than concentrating it all into the NK, but it’s entirely possible that even in the books the WWs are essentially just (a more sophisticated version of ) Death coming for the living. And if the main role of the NK and the WWs *was* to be mainly just a symbol of Death coming to get the living that forced warring factions to unite against a common threat, and all those theories were really overthinking, I don’t see how this episode was so terrible in wrapping that storyline up. 

1) While in this particular season the threat was confronted and defeated in one episode, people seem to forget that this isn’t the first time we see Jon and company face the NK and his army. We had several encounters that begun way back in season 1 and 2 with the Night’s Watch plot and became increasingly bigger with Hardhome and Beyond the Wall. This was the biggest, final showdown between the living and the dead. It took literally eight seasons of preparation to manage to get someone close enough to the Night King to kill him in the right spot. It wasn’t exactly an easy feat. Maybe they could have had the battle stretch across several episodes, instead of one, but the outcome would have hardly been *that* different in the end. The buildup had been done already across the seasons.

2) Logistically speaking, it makes sense for it to end here: this was the strongest and most prepared the living were ever going to be. They were lacking Cersei’s armies, but they had everybody else and two dragons. If the Night King had won here, the survivors scrambled for a retreat south, with more and more holds falling and the AotD gaining more and more soldiers as a consequence, yes, it would have been cool to see King’s Landing and Cersei being affected as well, but the plausibility of the living winning would have been even lower and the sense of a Deus Ex Machina cop-out to defeat the Night King even bigger than people currently feel about Arya.  So I’m sure that, eventually, some (maybe different) people would have been disappointed just the same.

3) Saying “the story was always about X” doesn’t really mean anything, because that’s a personal opinion. For some people it’s about the WWs, for some people it’s about the throne, for some people it’s about power more generally, for some people it’s about legends and prophecies, for some people it’s about Jon and Daenerys... Nobody gets to decide what it is truly, ultimately about, other than the writers themselves. And my feeling is that, to them, it’s about all of these things, not one single thing being more important than the other. Which leads me to...

4) GRRM has complained in the past about not liking the fact that Tolkien glossed over the nitty gritty issues of how exactly Arargorn was going to rule after they defeated Sauron. There’s a good chance that at least part, if not all, of “A Dream of Spring” (if it ever sees the light of day), will be GRRM’s “fix it LotR fanfic” dealing with that aspect of the story. That’s why it wouldn’t surprise me if the second half of the season is indeed about human politics and what do people choose to do after surviving such a threat, just as the question before was about what they choose to do when facing it. I feel like there was an expectation that the War for the Dawn was going to last for most of the season, leaving only the final episode to wrap up the human side of things in a very classic fantasy style, with all the surviving heroes having learned the value of cooperation when facing this apocalyptic threat and therefore able to settle the issues they warred over for years fairly easily, because all the problematic characters were killed off (Cersei, Euron, the Night King). GRRM’s has always been about subverting the style and tropes of classic fantasy, so I would be more shocked had this gone down the classic path of “all the good guys put aside their issues after surviving” than what we seem to be getting. 

5) The story itself has warned us about prophecy since the very beginning. That they’re not straightforward, that they’re not reliable, that they can come bite people in the ass, that they can drive people to terrible actions. I think the biggest point of the prophecies in the story is to provide motive and motivation for characters more than actual predictions of where things are going to go. Azor Ahai motivated Melisandre, Stannis and Rhaegar. Maggy’s motivated Cersei. And maybe there is a certain degree of truth to them, and maybe some of their interpretations will still pan out (one interpretation of Azor Ahai and Lightbringer was that it referred to Jon and the Night’s Watch, for example - which can still fit with what went down, since Jon was single-handedly responsible for bringing together all the people, armies and force necessary to create the situation that allowed Arya to strike that final blow). But given the warnings, it is kind of naive to expect them to play out to a T, and deliver the most predictable outcome.

Now, could there be a twist where in episode 5 suddenly we find out that, actually, that was a false victory and the WWs, or a new Night King or Queen are still a threat to contend with? Maybe. I’m not ruling anything out. But I would also find it kind of implausible at this point and, frankly, rather clunky writing. You don’t spend millions and months to film the biggest battle in cinema history only to go “haha, kidding! this actually didn’t count and now they have to do it all over again!”. You don’t build an entire episode around the big, unforeseen twist that it’s actually Arya that delivers the final blow that saves humanity, only to take it back later and have predictable hero Jon be the one that ultimately, truly saves it from that same enemy. You don’t build up the Night King as the main antagonist north of the wall only to then go “actually, you know what? there’s another Night King*** now that you never heard of before!”. If that’s the route they’d be going down, they’d better have a REALLY good explanation and some pretty powerful reveals, or it will come across just as a story that didn’t have the courage to stand by its decisions and eventually knew it had to gave into delivering what the audience at large expected. It would have been a better look NOT to pull out this “Arya kills the NK and the Long Night is over in episode 3″ in the first place than it would be to cop-out of it later. 

***I do have a half baked suspicion about that scene where the Night King throws an ice dagger/spear at Daenerys when she’s trying to fly away on Drogon after she attempted to dracarys the shit out of the NK. Was that a throwaway scene where he was just trying to kill her and failed, or was that spear capable of potentially turning Dany into his Night Queen? I suspect the former is the most likely explanation, but who knows. 

[ohjaimelannister]

What are your predictions for 8x04 and the rest of the season? Plus all the major characters, like who do you think will live?

Oh god anon, Im sorry I didnt see this until now! 8x04 is kinda redundant now, and no one could have really predicted that storm of shite.

Okay so this is gonna be long I guess but here we go.

To be honest with you I only have a few prediction as to where the story’s gonna end up, I’m more concerned with the characters but :Kings Landing and the Iron Throne are destroyed by Cersei and/or Daenerys and Drogon. There is no more ‘King or Queen’ of the Seven Kingdoms, they have a council of a few (possibly elected? but probably not because this is Westeros) lords in a democracy or each kingdom goes back to being completely independent (which in the Norths case I wouldn’t actually mind) .

I’m not sure whether the White Walkers are truly gone or not? I’m not sure whether there’s gonna be something to do with them, but probably not. But basically there’s gonna be a lot of destruction and dismantling of the normal before this is all over.

I think this isn’t going to be type of “The End” situation, life will continue and maybe we’ll get some sort of epilogue about how one of the characters we’ve come to know is murdered under /mysterious/ circumstance (just like how the series began with Jon Arryns murder) or there’s another rebellion and the cycle begins all over again. There will be the inlaying message about how the wheel is never ‘broken’ because power will always be coveted and power will always be taken from those that have it. Basically they’re doomed to live this cycle over and over again. Hence the ‘bittersweet’ ending. All those that died along the way, died for nothing because the politics, backstabbing and wars will never be over.

Characters :

Lets start with The Starks, Sansa- I have nothing much for you except I just hope she lives at this point? Honestly, Id like her to rule and be Sansa of House Stark, First of her Name Wardeness of the North. She cares about her people and loves them endlessly so she’s perfect for ruling and protecting the North because of all she’s learned from figures like Tyrion, Cersei, Littlefinger etc.   I don’t really mind if she marries or not but I’d like her to at least experience a loving relationship at some point in her life after all the shit she’s suffered through, and she just deserves to be happy basically. Though saying all of this considering how they’re writing it at the moment I honestly and truly expect her to end up ruling the north completely alone without any of her family with her because that ‘subverts expectations’ and D&D are shits.

Jon - well I hope for the best again but let’s be honest we’re not going to get it. Therrs two ways this could go : 1.) He doesn’t want to rule and I honestly don’t think he will. I would like him too, he’s good in leadership positions and he’s got the ‘saving the masses’ temperament (re: Wildings and getting himself killed for it) but I’m getting real big “gonna kill my auntiegirlfriend” from him at the moment, and I think we all know by know its been implied that Dany is going to go ‘mad’ and hell do it it to stop her from continuing to destroy an already burning city and more people from dying later on when shes finished with Kings Landing. Itll sort of parallel with Jaimes story in the end, though instead of being protected by the new ruler and his family, Jon will confess to his ‘crime’ and be sent to the North to exile, and go off with Tormund via Castle Black. I don’t want to say he establishes a new Nights Watch because there’s really no need for them now? Unless the WW aren’t really gone, then hell feel like he has too and the cycle will start all over again. Either way, he’s going to end up alone pretty much. As Beric and Ser Alistair said his life will never be easy and hell end up fighting others wars forever.

2.) Basically the same thing as before ^ but instead of being exiled, Drogon will just burn him to death in the Throne Room for killing Dany.

Either way Jons not going to get a happy ending I don’t think.

Arya - Her whole arc on the show has been badly written, and in the end I just want her to be happy with her family and Gendry. BookArya just wants a ‘pack’, basically a family. She fought so long and hard to get back to where she was, and even announced it to one of the most dangerous men in the world that she was “Arya Stark of Winterfell” and that she was going home. Where has that been this season? I want her not to kill Cersei, I want her to see what impact Cersei and Dany tearing each other apart has on KL and decide that vengeance isnt the best route and go to Gendry, who she clearly loves and he clearly loves  her. The Hound might even try and convince her to seek out Gendry because there’s someone in the world that obviously loves her for who she is.  But in all honesty? I think theyll have her just leave without saying goodbye to any of her family and just disappear again to find out what’s “west of Westeros”.

Dany - Dead. I dont like saying it, because I think Emilia has done her very best with whats been given to her (and D&D have done her dirty) but Dany is going to end up being killed by Jon for going mad with power and bloodlust basically. All signs have been pointing to it for a while now and without her morale compass in Ser Jorah and experiencing the pain of the abduction and then murder of someone she loved as a sister is obviously going to send her over the edge. I dont think shes ‘evil’ as such but, shes always had a problem with her anger and temperament, which the others have been skillfully subduing for years, with them gone, watch out world. Of course I could be epically wrong and she could actually win, murder all the Lannisters and Jon in a shock twist and take the Throne for herself??

Cersei - Dead. I mean it would be the ultimate shock and plot twist if she somehow lived and killed all the others? And tbh with the writing at the moment I wouldn’t actually hate that. I think shell probably either get killed by Jaime or take the easy way out like she was going to try to do before Stannis got to her during the Battle of the Blackwater. Nothing too surprising on the horizon there I think (hope).

Jaime - I want him to live? I mean I’ve known for many years there’s a 99% chance the he will die but I still have the smallest hope.  If he has to die let it be heroic, let it be him killing Cersei to stop her from blowing up KL to get at Dany and co. Hed only die if he was wounded in the fight to get to Cersei (which is highly likely), or if he was caught by Dany and she has him executed because it looks like he betrayed them all, when in reality he was the only one who could get close to her. Im not gonna say anything about the leaks because I really hope that if he has to die its a GOOD death (and not falling from towers or jsut to be with cersei at the end or some shit) and that its his redemption arc completed and I really hope while hes killing Cersei he says “The things I do for love” and she KNOWS its not about her anymore. I will really be angry if this is a D&D screw up and they mess his entire character arc up because of this “addiction” nonsense. If he has to die let it be with Brienne by his side (because shes gone chasing after him) cradling him. “In the arms of the woman I love”

My dream for him would be that he lives, goes to Tarth, marries Brienne (after begging her forgiveness and shes punched him, ALOT) and they have warrior babies. The end.

Tyrion - I have two endings in mind for him, Dany finds out about someone is plotting behind her back and either Varys sells Tyrion out so he can keep playing his little games (or they both get found out) and he has a trial and is executed. Or if Dany dies he becomes part of this council thats going to lead Westeros.

Brienne - She lives? I cant see anything bad happening to her at this point unless she goes to KL to save Jaimes dumb ass. Either way I think shell live and end up bearing Jaimes child (whether he lives or not) because they were together for weeks and weeks, and it’ll be a plot device used to carry on the Lannister bloodline when the other three die, like Gendry was for the Baratheons. Which lets face it would cover the whole “bittersweet” ending really wouldnt it? She has to carry and bare the child of a man who loved and left her (with hopefully good reason) but shell never know that so she has to raise him/her alone on Tarth as a constant reminder.

Gendry - Well. Boys got two options (maybe three) But I dont think hell stay Lord of Storms End possibly? If its a choice between Storms End or Arya, I hope hell pick Arya. Shes never cared about him being a lord, she loved him for who he was way before he was made one. Or they just live in Storms End together and raise children. (They have to give us something right????) And the third option - Ive always had this really weird foreboding feeling he’d end up married to Sansa, Arya said no and made it clear she doesn’t want to marry, and if she leaves then…….the whole “i have a son, you have a daughter” thing still becomes a reality.

Pod - Well, I hope he lives, gets made a knight and helps Ser Brienne on Tarth basically. Hes too pure to be ruined (though D&D will probs give it a shot)

Davos - Might live? Im not so sure, if he does hell be helping out the new ruler/rulers in some way?? Or hell just be down in FleaBottom adopting random kids left and right.

The Hound - Will probably die in Cleganebowl and Arya will actually give the gift of Mercy this time, but not before he bestows his dad wisdom on her about Gendry/Life. And if he does by some miracle live hell probably go somewhere, build a house and live there in solitude for the rest of his days.

Bronn - Well I had a joke that this shit (i loved the character early on but this season has just been no) would avoid all the major battles somehow, live on over all our faves and get his damned castle……..Im probably not wrong about this one….

Sam and Gilly - Their goodbye already seemed pretty final? I hope we see more of them because just leaving them at Winterfell seems a bit open ended and weird considering Sam was like, part of the most MAJOR plot on the show? Maybe hell put on this council or be Lord of Horn Hill with Gilly as his wife, which would a great middle finger to his horrible father.

[imagineyourstars]

＼(^^)／weeeee it's my birthday soon ww. Can I get a birthday scenerio with Tori? Thanks ヾ(･ω･`)ﾉ

it’s here !!!! it’s finally here !!!!! i really hope you like it !!! it was the first time i wrote a scenario for Tori lmao so i wasn’t super happy with how it came out and ??? i ended up rewriting it several times ??? birthday requests will be the death of me i’m already late for adonis and midori’s birthday sweats nervously  - mod mademoiselle

There’s one thing Tori is terribleat.

Sure, he’s talented, super cute, andhe always knows what to do to get youto spoil him rotten. His social skills are a bit… lacking sometimes, butnothing age and experience can’t fix ! But there’s something he absolutelycan’t do. Something that’s just impossible for him.

Tori can’t keep a secret.

He’d been super enthusiastic for thepast week, giggling and clinging to you constantly. While it wasn’t so unusualin and of itself, he’d get really fidgety whenever you’d ask him why he was insuch a good mood. Or he’d blush profusely while asking what exactly you wouldwant as a gift, “but you know, it’s justa question ! I-I’m not going to buy you anything, really !”

Yeah, he’d been planning something.Your birthday was coming soon, so you weren’t surprised, but you still found itpretty endearing. He was overexcited already ! Maybe it’s because he’s alwayslonely… He does tend to put you on a pedestal, too. So you knew for sure he’dgot something ready when you arrived to his mansion, right on time, at 3 PM.But well, you never thought he’d go thatfar.

You stated your name after ringing the intercom, and smiled nervously at the security camera right above the gate toTori’s house. Soon enough, it opened and a smiling Yuzuru greeted you.

“Welcome to the Himemiya mansion. Ihope you feel fine today. If you would please follow me…” He guided you throughthe gardens, trying his best to make you more relaxed with small talk. As usual,you were a bit nervous… Why is everything so formal here ? It’s notunpleasant, but it always takes a little moment for you to get used to it.Tori’s house is so big and fancy and… covered in balloons and party decorations?

You stopped right before the mainentrance, puzzled as to why someonefelt the need to put flowers and balloons everywhere, including where they shouldn’t be for securityreasons. It kind of looked like a very enthusiastic three-year-old wasresponsible for the decoration today. The colors were bright, cheery andabsolutely mismatched too. You could only try your best to suppress yourlaughter, while Yuzuru looked as serene as usual, holding the door open for youto step inside…

… and you were immediately greetedby a giggling Tori, jumping in your arms as soon as he saw your face peeringinside. Was he waiting right behind the door ?

“You came, you came~ ! I’m so happy ! Look, look, Igot everything ready for you !” He was practically screaming inyour ear, holding you so tight you couldn’t breathe. Right when you thought youwere going to drop him, he jumped down, smiling brightly before getting on histiptoes and kissing your cheek. You could only smile in your turn at such awarm welcome.

“What do you mean, you got everythingready ? Did you…” He nodded already, gesturing for you to follow him.Before you could even finish your sentence, he was gone, bouncing happily witheach step. He looked even more enthusiastic than you, actually !

You followed him along a corridorand eventually stepped into a small dining room, haphazardly decorated withmore colorful balloons and a large banner that read “Happy Birthday !” Yourname was written in bright red paint, and the banner looked like it washandmade. On second thought, judging by the paint splotches here and there, itwas definitely handmade. Tori wasbouncing on his feet, excitedly waiting for your reaction.

“So ? So ? It’s great, right ?” He looked super proud of himself, and beamed when you kissed himgently, patting his head to congratulate him.

“Yes, it is ! Did you make all that by yourself ?” Tori nodded at your question, a self-sufficient pout slowly forming onhis lips.

“Of course ! It was not hard at all ! I did just fine!” Yuzuru was smiling politely when he leaned down to very audibly whisper in your ear.

“Young master actually had quite a lot of… unforeseen accidents, but he did his very best for your sake. I hope you appreciate hisefforts.” You chuckled, trying to imagine all the disasters andmayhem Tori could have caused while trying to get everything ready.

“Hey, Yuzuru ! Stop it ! You didn’t even help thatmuch, you’re not allowed to complain !” Tori wassulking, half because of his butler’s impromptu comment and half because yourattention was no longer on him for a couple seconds. “Besides, I didn’t mess up the cake too much ! It tastes just fine !”

The cake ? Your attention wassuddenly caught by a small table, on which was proudly displayed a mess of acake. It was three stories high but leaned dangerously to the right, with messyicing and what was supposed to be a small almond paste sculpture of you on top.

“Oh, right, the cake. It’s… it looks delicious, Tori !” He smiled brightly at your comment, visibly relieved you liked it.Yuzuru was still smiling, as politely as ever, but you could just read thesnark in his eyes.

“I made some snacks too, just in case you feel likeeating something more… palatable, shall we say ?” Anothertable was covered in cupcakes, parfaits and various assorted sweets, lookingmuch prettier than Tori’s cake, you had to admit. Said Tori puffed up hischeeks, eyes throwing daggers at Yuzuru.

“Stop it ! I told you, it tastes fine ! I removed allthe egg shell bits too, but you weren’t even here to see it ! Come on”, he added, taking you by the arm to lead you to the table, “let’s just eat. And don’t pay attention towhat he says. Yuzuru, bring tea. Hurry !” You couldn’t help but smile asyou followed him, and he graciously gestured for you to sit before he did sohimself.

He insisted you blew the candles andmade a wish before (clumsily) cutting the cake himself, giving you the biggestslice with a huge smile. To be fair, Tori was right and the cake was ratherokay. Now, the icing was a bit too sticky and sugary, but you assured him hedid great for a first try, and he felt a bit better once you told him so. Youwere on the lookout for bits of egg shell, but were relieved not to find any. Yuzuru’spastries were amazing too, and even though Tori was intent on ignoring them, heeventually gave in and shared some with you, happily opening his mouth wide foryou to spoon-feed him. Once you were absolutely full with sweets, Tori beamedat you.

“So ? How was it ? Amazing, right ?” You nodded happily, and he kept going, eyes twinkling. “But that’s not all, you know, I also have giftsfor you !” He gestured forYuzuru, who came in carrying a pile of elaborately-wrapped presents. How manywere there… ? You couldn’t even count them all !

“Here ! The gifts ! I want you to open them all, okay? Here’s the first one ! I did it myself, you know ?” You hesitantly took one of the packages, feeling a bit sad at thethought of ripping that gorgeous wrapping off.

“Yourself ? Oh, Tori, you’re so sweet… Thank you somuch !” Yuzuru, who was taking the teacups away, gave you alittle smile.

“I suggest you open it before thanking him, next time.” Torilooked so offended at his butler’s comment that you had to suppress yourlaughter yet again.

“Like you can even say that ! Yours suck, you know !You’re becoming way too cheeky, Yuzuru ! Anyway, don’t listen to him. He’s justjealous.” You nodded, smiling, and unwrapped the presentquickly. It was… a painting ? It looked rather abstract. Maybe you were holdingit upside down ? You tried looking at it from another perspective, but Torigently put it in its original position.

“No, no, it’s like this. So ? It’s pretty great, right? Look, this is you, this is me, and this is the night sky, and in thebackground there’s also…” He blabbered happily about the deepmeaning of his masterpiece, while you were left squinting confusedly at it.Yeah, you couldn’t quite identify what was what, despite his explanations. Butthat’s just geniuses for you, always misunderstood by the masses…

“… and anyway that wraps it up, I think. You can hangit in your bedroom, I can give you a frame if you want !” Uh, why not, after all… That painting was definitely unique, but youstill thought it looked better upside-down. Tori quickly moved on, oblivious tothe fact you were holding his precious masterpiece the wrong way.

“But I also thought, ‘What if they don’t like it’, youknow ? So I wanted to buy you something, but then again I couldn’t choose justone gift, so I bought several !” Oh, so that was the reason behindthe pile of gifts. Could you even accept that many gifts ? How much did hespend on you exactly… ? He didn’t notice your sudden unease and kept going,bouncing on his seat excitedly.

“If you don’t like any of them, just tell me and I’llbuy something else instead ! Money’s not a problem, so don’t hesitate ! Butthese are all things you’ve been wanting lately so I think it should be— Hey, areyou alright… ?” Oh, right. You’d been lost in your thoughts for amoment. He looked worried, leaning over slightly to study your face. “You don’t look good, do you want to gooutside for a bit ? Yuzuru, can you bring—”

“Oh no, don’t worry, I’m fine,” you cut him off, shaking your head, “I’mjust… really thankful. It was a lot of money, and… You’re just so sweet, Tori.”His eyes went wide when you pulled him into a hug over the small table, andhe stayed quiet a moment. Worried, you pulled back to see if he was okay, andsure enough, his eyes were glistening with tears.

“Y-You’re the one who’s always so sweet ! I messed uptoday, I really did, the cake and the painting and all, and you’re alwayshappy… No”, he added when you shook your head vigorously, “I know I messed up, don’t lie. The cakewasn’t that good, and that painting ! Come on, it’s super ugly. But still… Iwanted to give you something I did myself…” He sniffled a bit, lips partingalready to keep speaking, but you cut him off with a kiss.

It was rather shy, but Tori kissedback, clumsily. His lips still tasted of chocolate syrup, and his cheeks werebright pink when you pulled back gently.

“You know, Tori, I don’t care if the cake’s a bit toosweet, or if the painting is… uh…” You caught his disbelievingglare, and laughed a bit. “Well, it’s abit weird, okay, but I still like it ! And that’s because you did it all byyourself.” He smiled shyly, cheeks getting a bit pinker at your words.

“Then, I’m glad you like it. I’m so, so glad you likeme, too…” He looked away a moment, visibly hesitating, buteventually gave in and hugged you tight again, pressing a gentle kiss on yourcheek.

“Happy birthday… I love you, you know that … ? And Iwon’t ever stop loving you, so you’d better be ready for many, many more messedup cakes, alright ?”

[saltyslack-toast]

#KnockTheBook : Anne Frank

“The nice Anne is never present in company, hasn’t appeared one single time so far, but always predominates when we’re alone. I know exactly how I’d like to be, but, I’m only like that for myself. And perhaps that’s why, I’m sure it’s the reason why I say I’ve got a happy nature within and why other people think I’ve got a happy nature without. I am guided by the pure Anne within, but outside I’m nothing but a frolicsome little goat who’s broken loose”

I knew this book exist since I was in elementary school it was on the 6th grade I guess. I saw this book in one of the notability book store (re: Books and Beyond) in kinda so-so Bandung Mall (re again: Istana Plaza). I read the behind book preview and my curious ass was really intrigued, that time I didn’t know wtf is holocaust and my English skill was so poor, I mean like still but now its getting better right?????  My 11 years old wallet was penniless, so I didn’t buy the book,  that’s ok though because book wasn’t the main source of my happiness and I don’t really read much books that age. Many years later, there was BBW Bandung in 2019, and I’m so excited since I started to read quite a lot of books after I’m in college and just like that, I found a gem I’ve been wanting for since I was starting my puberty and now I’m at the edge of my puberty era (STILL COULDN’T MOVE ON FROM MY PUBERTY DAYS, PLEASE CHECK THE PREVIOUS POST OF MINE OR I’LL KILL U! Never mind it was a trash anyway). I’m gonna review this book in a way this book relating my life, because I SWEAR TO GOD Anne Frank is me in 1942 indeed.

Okay let’s cut the shit off of the personal history attached to this book, cause no one cares, no one probably read this master of shit.

The title of the book is “Diary of A Young Girl: Anne Frank” written clearly in the book’s grayish cover and it has a picture of queen Anne herself writing on her diary I suppose?? So it basically Anne frank writing her story and someone took a picture of her posing like she was writing the story and the picture became the cover of her story that she wrote when someone was taking that picture, got it?. The book is published by Wilco Publishing Book in 2013 in Mumbai, India. The book’s price is written on its cover, it was 19.95 in US Dollar and converted to Rupiah approximately worth RP 326.569, please note that I convert this price when USD 1 is worth RP 16.300 (fuck you corona). But don’t worry, if you are going to buy one in BBW the price is 50% cheaper than the original one, omg someone take me to BBW RIGHT.NOW!.

For those who dumb in history but insist to read this history-biography kind of book (WHICH IS STRANGELY CONTRADICTION, like dude u suppose to have good grades in history class if u like this kinda book, but whatevs I don’t judge), chillax there’s gonna be a short sum about what’s happened in WW II and the origin short story of Hitler gon’ mad with his bonkers political party. Also, there is a little summary about Anne’s previous life before she starts writing her diary in that crazy era she’s living. This book is literally her diary, I said diary, it means u could see her recounting her daily activities in a writing book (Except the fact that she named her diary with Kitty and consider it as her friend).

In this book, you are going to meet plenty bold characters. Here I describe few of ‘em that quite memorable for me. First is Queen Anne herself duh! She’s fucking THAT BRIGHT, I mean she was 13 when she wrote the story of her life, loves to read books, emotionally instable just like a mad teenage typical but she really has very unique perspective of how she depict the whole condition when she was in hiding. Second is her fucking family duh!(2), her mummy is weirdly kind of remind me to my mom FOR REAL, both of them were as problematic as her youngest daughter, sensitive, and caring as regular moms out there. Daddy is totally a sweetheart and kind of hard-working just like most of the Jews I guess?? And Margot which is Anne’s older sister, you know that golden child in the family who always be the spotlight in your big family gathering? Yes she is one of the kinds. Not only Anne and her family that is pretty intriguing, but there is also one little family which also joined Anne’s family in hiding, that is Mr. Van Daan Family and all of their dramas *applauding* that is caused by Mrs. Van Daan’s deportment (She’s quiet funny for me though) . There is still a lot amount of characters that is also involved in this book, but you can read the book by yourself its good honey trust me its good and worth it.

I think for the first time I managed to look serious in previous paragraph right?

What’s very interesting to me is how Anne and her mom fighting could be very relatable to all of us. The peak of these fighting dramas was on Friday, April 2nd 1943, when Anne refuses to have her mum took prayers with her, I would say that was truly heart breaking moment. You know the time when you had a huge fight with your mom and you feel so miserable because you disgust the situation where no one was there for you and all you can do is to blame yourself because you love your mom and realized that she got nothing wrong, and what you did is  self-loathing all days long, as her mom said,

“I don’t want to be cross, love cannot be forced”

I’m on my fucking tears for reading that sentence, perhaps people that has lots of problem with their life might be understand exactly how it feels, for longing to just vanish from the world because die in all likelihood would still make people around to be distressed because of you? (OMG Ana, u really need stop exposing yourself!). However, after all the fights with her mum, Anne figured out that it’s only the matter of unpleasantness and misery rebounding all the time. She learned that it still much better for hard words on paper than to be carried along with her mum’s heart (it’s a pro tip y’all!).

“Leave me in peace, let me sleep one night at least without my pillow being wet with tears, my eyes burning and my head throbbing. Let me get away from it all, preferably away from the world!”

           Anne was hiding for 761 days, of course many things happened and her relationship with Peter (the only son of the Van Daan’s family) is one of the cutest story I liked. Peter was 3 years older than Anne, in my vision he’s the type of nonchalant chap, yet very sweet inside. Started with Ana’s frustration to be alone, ended with having another person other than her family to be talked to. Peter and Anne, after they were close to each other (because they weren’t really get along together at first), they spent most of their times in the attic which is Peter’s basecamp in the annex, talking about life as a teenager and their complicated family before the life in the annex. It kinda remind me of how surviving life becoming the point of how we see each other’s color, Anne had become comfortable to talk with Peter about all her difficulty and so otherwise. Anyway, their fucking love story gonna prompt you to the nostalgia of young love in mid school.

“Already this morning I noticed that peter kept looking at me all the time, not in ordinary way I don’t know how, I just can’t explain……. I made a special effort not to look at him too much, because whenever I did, he kept on looking too and it gave me a lovely feeling inside...”

It’s not over yet, there’s going to be a lot of scenes that giving you goosebumps which cause by a burglar, yes not a ghost, but a fucking burglar, and other shits that would give you a nerve because Anne’s diary also described how the current war situations going (IT WAS SO INTENSE F U HITLER ROTS IN HELL U DUMBASS). The war was not only happened outside the annex but also inside, the war over making noises when everyone’s sleeping and the use of a little table in afternoon between Anne and Mr. Dussel, I perceived it quite hilarious!

. That’s probably a glance of how this book is so intriguing for me. The perspective of Anne Frank of everything sometimes could be so naïve but also relating to my life as well, even until today. Especially during this corona outbreak which has becoming the pandemic, I’ve stay at my home only for 39 days but already feeling sick even for an introvert and antisocial like me could be that JADED, so right now y’all bitch imagine being Anne Frank have to stayed in a hiding for fucking more than 2 years with exactly the same annoying people every fucking day. Nevertheless, if you guys interested to read this book you can buy it in BBW which available in Tokopedia on 27th April until 3rd May this year, so please don’t miss the chance! (to be noted that im not having any relation to BBW, im just so happy that this bazaar coming up into my life). And also you can check the official website of Anne Frank House in www.annefrank.org, there’s a lot of information you could uncover about Anne and other people in furthermore and the visual of the hiding they have been living (IT’S SO MUCH COOL BRUUH).

I think that’s it, I really had no idea how to review a book, this shit just basically me mumbling my opinion about the books I have read. I hope my writing is getting better than the previous post (even I thought this trash was a degrading quality of mine). And a bit information, I finished and posted this writing in the time of corona virus, it was so hard to everyone enduring all the negative impact from this pandemic on our life, so please if you’re lucky enough to  still be able enjoy all the fortunes, please help those who badly impacted of this pandemic and I. BEG. YOU. TO. STAY. AT. YOUR. FUCKING. OWN. HOME. If you’re still strolling around for unimportant purpose and not even using a mask, im literally gonna kill you bitch!

So yeah, that’d be all. Thank you for read until this much guys!

*me talking to non-existing audience*

Xiao, see you in advance!

[clearui]

THANATOS NiGHT - Tower Record Tokuten　「Translation」

*DO NOT POST THIS TRANSLATION ELSEWHERE!!*

The content might be confusing if you don’t listen to the CD, I would suggest to read while listening.

And feel free not to read, if you can understand the CD ww

I might be saying this again, BY ALL MEANS, DO NOT RE-TRANSLATE/USE/REPOST THIS TRANSLATION.

The translation is under cut, have fun~

00:08

Izaya "Hm?"

00:11

Nia "Hee~h? Which one?"

Seth "This one here. The ranking raised too quickly."

Nia "Hah? I remember the girls in my class do that."

Izaya "Nia and Seth? It's unusual for them to be together."

00:25

Nia "Oh? Izaya, welcome home."

Seth "Welcome home~"

Duran *yawn*

Izaya "Why is everyone here?"

Oliver "Is it because it's almost the test?"

Seth "It'll be troublesome if teachers find out we're playing around outside."

Nia "Well, it's not like we're studying here though. Yeah, I got it all together."

Izaya "That doesn't mean you can just gather here. You're in the way."

Nia "Saying things like that even though you just came and sit here."

Seth "He's somewhat a lonely guy after all."

01:01

Seth "Back to the topic, what should we do about the test? My attendance record is already bad here."

Oliver "It's not like you can do something about that, right?"

Nia "But this time is the end of the semester. Don't you think it's getting bad?"

Duran "......In the first place, when will the test start?"

Seth "Hahaha! As expected of Ran-chan~ his level is totally different~"

Seth "Aaaaa~ I'm dead......"

Nia "The test starts tomorrow. That means it's too late to fuss about it."

Duran "Hmmm~ It's not like I have to break a sweat though."

Izaya "In the first place, we, fallen angels, studying won't get us anywhere. It's a waste of effort."

Nia & Seth "That's true~!"

01:42

Nia "Ah?"

Liam "Hey, everyone. By the way, I just thought of something fun."

Duran "I get a bad feeling about this......"

Izaya "Count me out. Coming out from this shameless guy is never been good."

Nia "True~ then what is it, Liam?"

Liam "Everyone hates the toilet duties, right?"

Seth "There would be no one who likes that of course."

Oliver "I see."

Liam "Now then, the one who gets the worst score from this test will have to do the toilet duties for a week."

Duran "You, what are you saying?"

Oliver "Toilet duty, huh? What's this? Punishment game?"

Nia "Aaa, I'm dead. Hey, isn't this just difficult, Seth?"

Seth "Right? But this is actually addicting~"

Liam "Natto......?"

Nia "Haaah?"

Liam "For not listening to me, I will cover Nia's room with natto."

Nia "Haaah!? Why!?"

Izaya *laughs* "Isn't that great? Rather than the cleaning duties, that one is more crue--"

Liam "In Izaya's case, I'll forcefully make you to eat my cookies."

Izaya "Haaah!?"

Liam "And also~ I'll bully everyone who runs away from the test. How about it? Is everyone motivated now?"

Oliver "Who's actually motivated? It's more about the reason of you running away from the test, right?"

Liam "Feel free to run~ and then I'll rub every inch of Oliver's room with wasabi~"

Oliver "Ha?"

Liam "For Duran...... I'll whisper to your ears every time you are asleep. You hate noisy things, right?"

Duran "That's another level of being noisy."

Seth *gulp* "Lia-chan...... you won't do cruel things to me, right?"

Liam "I guess. Seth is a good boy, I'll let you off with the body that cannot listen to music."

Seth "That's the scariest one, isn't it!?"

Liam "Too bad, but you can't run away from me. Either you want me to bully you, or do your best on the test, it's up to you."

Oliver "I get it. This guy just want to bully us."

Izaya "That's why I hate him."

Liam *laugh*

04:22

Izaya "It's the worst...... I couldn't remember anything at all. I thought I might do well with the test, but...... the risk is just too dangerous now."

Izaya "I definitely don't want to do the toilet duties!"

Izaya “Dammit. It's all Liam's fault! Because he said something troublesome like that......"

Izaya "But...... I definitely don't want to eat his cookies......!"

Izaya *sigh*

Izaya "Studying isn't really necessary, but at least I need to nail tomorrow's test."

Izaya "At least, I can get higher score than the others...... and no one comes here. Here I can quietly......"

Nia *laugh* "Too bad, seems someone came here also."

Izaya "Huh?"

Nia "It's fine, they haven't realized yet."

Nia "Look-"

Izaya "Nia?"

Nia "It's fine, just look here."

Izaya "Tch. I thought no one would be here. Well, it's fine as long you leave me alone. It's my loss if I make a fuss."

Izaya "Tomorrow is Science, so...... I need to memorize the materials here...... there should be a way to memorize this......"

Izaya *sigh*

Nia "Hey? I really want to know more about you. For example, like what kind of type of guys you like. Whoever is fine. Please tell me everything about you(whom I love)."

Izaya *grunt*

Nia "I really love you."

Nia "I'm serious, I'm not joking."

Izaya *memorizing*

Nia "Then, let's kiss. So, you'll know I'm serious."

Nia "It's fine. No one will notice."

Nia "Eh?? Voice?"

Nia "You're not allowed to pay attention to that. I here cannot hear any other voice beside yours."

Izaya "Grgh!"

Nia "So......"

Izaya "SHUT UP!"

Nia "Oh? Wha? Don't tell me......"

Nia "It's really Izaya. Since when have you been here?"

Izaya "I know you've noticed me from the start, but you were freaking noisy! I don't care what you are doing, but this place is mine! Get lost!"

Nia "Ah?"

Nia "There she goes...... damn it was on the best part though......"

Izaya "You also, get lost."

Nia "Aa, so cold. So what? Were you studying? You really are working hard~"

Izaya "Are you fine without it?"

Nia "It's an easy victory for me. The women have been gathering a lot of information for me~ So, what I know well what will appear."

Nia "Then, how about I tell Izaya too?"

Izaya "No need for the trouble."

Nia "Aaaa~ Well, it's fine then~ tomorrow's science will cover a lo~t of material after all~ I thought I should help you out."

Izaya "!?"

Izaya "Seriously?"

Nia "Really."

Nia "I don't tell lies."

Nia "Hey, want me to tell you?"

Izaya "Tch...... Not really...... no need. I don't want to borrow your stren--"

Nia "Aaaa~aa of course~! Sorry for bothering you and I'll be going now!"

Izaya "Aa."

Nia "Huh? What is it?"

Izaya "Ah......ugh...... It's nothing!"

Nia *smirk* "Heeh, good luck with your studies~"

Izaya "Hmph. Even I can do this alone."

Izaya "How many materials this test will cover though?"

08:28

Nia *grin* Izaya is really fun to tease with~"

Nia "Now then......" *pick out phone* "I'm free now I guess I should use someone else."

Nia "Who~ should~ I~ choose~?"

Nia "Hm~ this girl might do~."

Nia "I'll be waiting for you at the infirmary...... and sent."

Nia "The teacher is...... oh, not here. Lucky~"

Duran *sleep*

Nia "Eh? Don't tell me, it's another occupant?"

Nia "Sorry to bother you. This place will be used now, can you go out--"

Duran *snore*

Cat "Nyaa~"

Nia "Isn't it Ranran? It's unusual for him to be in the infirmary. And also he brought a cat here."

Nia "Oi, Ranran, sorry, but wake up."

Duran *sleep*

Nia "RANRAN!" *slap Duran's cheek*

Duran *sleep*

Nia "He's not waking up."

Nia "Oi! Wake up! Tch."

Duran *sleep*

Nia "Haah...... so troublesome...... he'll become a bother if he stays here. And also tomorrow is the test. Waking him up for Ranran's sake is fine, right?"

Nia "But he wouldn't wake up no matter what I've done, so~"

Cat "Myaa~"

Nia "Ah! Find a good spot~"

Nia "I should tie this guy here. If he cannot move, he should wake up soon, right?"

10:32

Nia "Done......"

Nia "Hahahaha! An old man! Look!"

Duran *sleep*

Nia "Wait, seriously?"

Cat "Meow~"

Nia "Alright, come here, neko-chan~"

Nia "For this special occasion, I'll give you the permission to sleep on Ranran's face."

Cat "Meow~"

Nia "Be a good girl, please."

Nia "Right~ Here, casually."

*Nia plays with cat, which is on top of Duran's face*

Nia "How does the cat's back feel~ of course it feels nice right~?"

11:19

Nia "Oh good morning, Ranran."

Duran "...... Are you trying to kill me?"

Nia "We are fallen angels, so we won't die~"

Duran "That's not the problem......!"

Nia "Ah, damn, has she arrived?"

Nia "Erhm."

Nia "Yeah, who's this? Ah, where are you know? It's fine, it's fine. Just stay there. Since the infirmary seems to be impossible. Yeah. Yeah. I'm coming. I'm really looking forward meeting you."

Duran ".......What was that?"

Duran *cough*

Duran "It's always a trouble just being close to that guy."

Cat "Meow~"

Duran "Next time you sleep on my face, I'll make you into a pillow."

Cat "Nyaaarh~"

Duran "Gotta sleep."

12:29

Oliver "There he is!"

Oliver "Oi, Duran!"

Oliver "Huh? This is Duran, right?"

Duran "I look different to you?"

Oliver "Your are all tied up in bandage. What happened to that?"

Duran "Nia did it."

Oliver "Heeh, I don't get what actually happened, but who cares. And also you've been sleeping before the test, right? If this keeps up, you'll have to do the toilet duty, you know?"

Duran "I won't clean up. I won't study."

Oliver "You want to be haunted by Liam?"

Duran "Huh? Hrrgh...... I'll just deal with that."

Oliver "You really are...... I'm saying this though, I've had enough of toilet duties and wasabi."

Duran "It's none of your business whether I get the bottom or not."

Oliver "There is. Geez, just listen. Hey, Duran, how about teaming up with me and make the others at the bottom?"

Duran "Not interested."

Oliver "Wait, at least, please think about it."

Duran "If you don't have any more business, I'm gonna sleep. Good night."

Oliver "Oi!"

Oliver "Tch! I thought it'll be fine with Duran, since I know he won't do any of the toilet duties even he gets the last place. And knowing I'm in the same class with him, I'll have to do it in his place."

Oliver "Tch! I can't rely on this guy anymore. I better go looking for another way."

14:20

Oliver "But still, I don't want Liam to bother me. Liam is also annoying. The safest choices would be either Izaya or Seth."

Oliver "Huh? Hahahaa...... Talking about the devil."

Oliver "Oi, Seth!"

Seth "Oh, Oliver? You still haven't gone home yet?"

Oliver "Well somehow, how about you?"

Seth "I'm planning to go to a friend's house, but I forgot something here. I'm hurrying back now."

Oliver "Heeh~ you are really lively, aren't you? Are you doing fine with the test."

Seth "It's not fine at all, but I have a friend I can rely on after all~"

Seth "Those girls offered themselves to teach me today. There are upperclassmen who took the previous test, so at least I don't have to worry a lot about being in the last place."

Seth *chuckle* "Sorry. I didn't plan to betray you though."

Oliver "Heeh."

Seth "See ya. I can't make my friend wait for me any longer. I'll be going now. Oliver should hurry home to and study--"

Oliver "Wait up."

Seth "What is it?"

Oliver "Pass me that smartphone."

Seth "Ehh? Why?"

Oliver "Don't ask, just pass it."

Seth "What's this? No way."

Oliver "I told you, just pass it too me."

Seth "Alright, but you must return it to me soon."

Seth "Eh? What are you going to do with that?"

Oliver "Catch and......... RELEASE!!!" *throws the smartphone out of window*

Seth "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?"

Seth "Wa- down- and drown!? Uaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Oliver "Heh. With this you can't go to your friend's place, huh? I'm sure you won't even remember her house also."

Seth "Seriously, What have you done!?"

Oliver "It's not fair if you're the only one taking it easy. If you're a man, face it head on."

Seth "HAAAAH!? So Oliver has done with!? That shouldn't happen. Oliver won't even study in the first place. And also, it's unfair that you interrupt me."

Oliver "Nonsense. I haven't done anything unfair at all-- Aah."

Seth "Ah! Just now, you averted your eyes! You definitely have something inside your head."

Oliver "Shut up. It's more like I got pissed off looking at you being so cheeky and high up!"

Seth "That's not enough reason to throw someone's smartphone away!!"

Liam "What happened? Fighting like that isn't good at all."

Seth "If you have complain, say it to Oliver! I'm not at fault-- hah!? Lia-chan?"

Oliver "Uwaah, here comes the trouble."

Seth "Why is Lia-chan in school though?"

Liam "Why you ask? I'm also a student of this school in the first place. Look, I also wear the uniform properly."

Oliver "Just coming, but you never attended any class, didn't you? Is tomorrow going to snow or something?"

Seth "Perhaps."

Liam *chuckle* You really talk what you want. Do you think is it really okay?"

Liam "This, what is this~?"

Oliver "Huh? Paper, right?"

Seth "What paper is that?"

Liam "Tomorrow's test's questions."

Oliver & Seth "Eh!?"

Liam "I found it by chances. And also you two shouldn't have been prepared, right?"

Liam "You want this, right?"

Seth "You're giving it to us?"

Liam "I don't mind though, but I don't feel like letting go of it easily."

Oliver "Grr. What are you planning?"

Liam "Huhuhuu, if you listen to what I wish for, I don't mind giving this to you though."

18:27

Seth "Should this be enough, Lia-chan?"

Liam "It's perfect. Then the next would be plant this bulb."

Oliver "Oi?"

Liam "What is it, Oliver?"

Oliver "Don't ask me what is it. Why I also have to do the soil?"

Liam "That's because of my request, right? The others are not interested, so they are left uncared."

Seth "You don't go to school, but how do you know that?"

Liam "Hmph, that will be a secret~"

Seth "Hurry Oliver, your hand have stopped moving. You don't want this paper?"

Oliver "Tch. Why do fallen angels have to do something like this......?"

Seth "Let me say this, I should be the one asking that. If Oliver didn't throw away my smartphone, right now I would be......"

Oliver "Right, right, Sorry, I apologize. Thats should be enough, right?"

Seth "No way, even you apologize, you are not reflecting anything at all."

Oliver "Heh. In the first place, what kind of flower is this? The color looks poisonous though."

Liam "It's fine. This one is not a shady one."

Oliver "You were just laughing at me."

Seth "Stop fussing around and do it. I've been the only one doing it!?"

Oliver "Aargh, geez. I get it!"

19:50

Liam "My, that one has bloomed. I didn't think it would be this beautiful. You're really doing your best."

Oliver *grunt* "I'm getting fed up with this......!"

Seth "Wait a moment, Oliver. You stop moving your hands again."

Oliver "I know, I know."

Oliver "Oi, Seth, there is a worm."

Seth "Hah!? Where? Where? Where's the bug!? I cannot handle bugs at all. Oliver, hurry and took it off."

Oliver "Oh, it wasn't a worm. It was just a branch."

Seth "Huh?"

Oliver "You get scared too much. So lame."

Seth "You better don't mess with me......!"

Oliver "I just saw it by mistake."

Seth "......"

Oliver "Oi? Don't take everything too seriously every single time. So annoying."

Seth "It's not like I fuss, but...... Payback!"

Oliver *grunt*

Seth "Since the one who started it was Oliver after all. It was all Oliver's fault. I haven't forgiven you for my smartphone."

Oliver "That's why I told it was out of kindness. It was the kindness for you to live more!"

Seth "You said something about me being the only one having it easy, didn't you!?"

Liam "One, two......"

Oliver & Seth "Guaah!?"

Oliver "Huh?"

Seth "Cold! What are you doing, Lia-chan?"

Liam "You guys were both so dirty, I thought I clean you up. I'm glad that you two are all cleaned up~" *laugh*

Seth "Eh??"

Oliver "So scary......"

Nia "Oh, Seth is here. He? What's with that clothes? Playing with water? And also, why is Liam here?"

Seth "Nia-chan......"

Nia "I found this in the back, this is Seth's smartphone, right? It fell in the pool."

Seth "Oh? Thanks~! Aa, the water has gotten inside......"

Liam "So Nia went to the pool and picked it up?"

Nia "That shouldn't be possible. I just need to call, and a lot of girls would gather and pick it up for me."

Oliver "As expected of a scum."

Nia "I don't want to hear that from Oliver~"

Izaya "Oh, there he is! Oi, Nia!"

Nia "Izaya? What happened?"

Izaya "It's about what you said earlier though. For just a bit only...... eh? What are you guys doing? Playing with sprinkler?"

Oliver "Did you see that guy smirking there while holding a hose?"

Izaya "L-Liam? Why are you at school!?"

Liam "That's the third time today."

Duran "Damn that cat, it kept meowing and so noisy......"

Nia "Oh Ranran, you've finally woken up?"

Duran "Why is everyone gathering here?"

Oliver "It's not like there's special meaning to this."

Liam "Ah, it's already the time for the school to close."

Izaya "Wha? It's already the time? In the end, I didn't get to study at all."

Duran "So, you were studying?"

Izaya "Of course. I don't want to do the toilet duty."

Duran "Heeh. So, these tree here?"

Liam "I would gave them the questions that are going to be put on the test in exchange for what they are doing for me."

Izaya "Huh? The test's questions? Seriously!?"

Oliver "Oh, right. Oi, Liam. We've helped you out, so give me that paper."

Liam "Yeah, sure. Well, this is the old one though."

Seth "Huh?"

Liam "Hee...... The wind is getting stronger, let's get inside first. Oliver, Seth, be careful."

Seth "...... you gotta be kidding......"

Oliver "You really are cruel......"

Liam "I didn't say anything about this being test's questions."

Oliver "You said it, didn't you!?"

Duran "......so noisy."

Izaya "And Nia, about what you said earlier......!"

Nia "Hmmm."

Nia "Attention, everyone gathers. Except for Liam."

Liam "You're leaving me out? So cruel......"

24:08

Izaya "What's with that? And also, I did--!"

Nia "Ssh. Your voice is too loud."

Seth "What is it?"

Nia "I just noticed now, but Liam has never come to school, right?"

Oliver "Well, I've never seen him coming to school."

Duran "No idea."

Izaya "So, what's with that?"

Nia "That's about that. It's probably he...... cannot study at all?"

Everyone "!?"

Izaya "Now that you said it...... that would make sense. I've never seen him studying once."

Duran "Idiot?"

Oliver "If he's an idiot, would he make a penalty game like that? Isn't he actually the type who hides behind the shadow?"

Seth "His status is just vague. And also is there something wrong with his head?"

Duran "Umm no. There's definitely something wrong with his head."

Oliver "Well, there's definitely something wrong with his head."

Izaya "I won't argue to that."

Nia "It's just my assumption, but I think he really tried getting the question list. And because he failed, he wanted to drag Oliver and Seth with him."

Oliver "You gotta be kidding. That's the worst."

Seth "Somehow, it's more irritating that it came out from Oliver though."

Seth "So, in the end...... Lia-chan is actually...... an idiot?"

Izaya "So then, the last place would be......!"

Everyone "!?"

Liam "Hm? Have you finished talking? And do you want to join me planting flowers, Izaya? It's fun."

Nia "Then. Let's scram."

Oliver "Good work."

Izaya *sigh* "So stupid...... I don't need this textbook anymore."

Duran *yawn* "Gonna sleep."

Liam "Ufufuu. I wonder who will take the last place. I'm looking forward to it."

26:14

Seth "It's the moment of truth. Doki-doki-happy-time~!"

Izaya "Liam is not here though?"

Oliver "Isn't he just too scared to see?"

Duran "Who knows."

Nia "So then, let's see from the top. Ah, I see my name. Yay, number 1 in class."

Izaya, Oliver, Seth "Huh?"

Duran "From bottom."

Nia "From the top. I nailed it, isn't this awesome? I should thank the girls who give me those information."

Oliver "S-seriously......?"

Izaya "Wait, it's not like we're aiming for the top."

Seth "No, wait~! I just see something bad~"

Izaya "What is it?"

Seth "Over there. Look."

Izaya "Gah!? Besides Nia and Liam, everyone has the same rank!?"

Oliver "And also it's on rank 597...... how idiot are we?"

Duran "Who knows."

Seth "It's probably Liam on the bottow, isn't it? He never came to school."

Izaya "Yeah...... you're right. Liam should be on the last place, right?"

Nia "...... or so you thought~ Everyone, please take a look here."

Izaya "Ah?"

Nia "Liam's name is located higher than me~!"

Izaya "Gh!?"

Oliver "Liam is?"

Izaya "is the top of this school!?"

Seth "Eeeeeh!?"

Liam "Ah, the result is out, huh? Hm~ this time is properly the first, I guess."

Izaya "Liam, why?"

Liam "Everyone, have you ever think how I don't get to repeat years even though I never come to school?"

Duran "Now that you said it...... why?"

Liam "That's because...... I kept getting the first place on every test. That's why the teacher have been excusing me. Not just in this school, but the score is far beyond that."

Seth "Something like that......"

Izaya "!? Then, in the first place, who said Liam is an idiot!?"

Nia "There's actually someone that tell such a cruel lie, huh?"

Oliver "Get here, you liar. I'm gonna beat you."

Duran "So there's only paper-thin difference between an idiot and a genius, huh?"

Liam "So, the 4 of you are in the last place though. What should we do with the toilet duty?"

Izaya "Eh, look, even in the same rank, my name is located the top among us. At least I'm not the last place at all."

Seth "That's because a-i-u-e-o* order, isn't it!? If that's the case, I'm not the last place also."

Oliver "So, the last place is......"

Duran "I'm gonna kill you."

Izaya "Don't make that scary face. In the end, we have to deal with this together. Just deal with one week of toilet duty."

Duran "I guess that's the case. Please do your best in my place, Oliver."

Oliver "I'm gonna kill you!"

Duran "Being so arrogant and petty, I guess that's the same for being fallen angels or human."

Nia "It seriously is!"

Seth "That's enough. Let's do janken! No hard feeling with that."

Izaya "That's the only choice, huh?"

Oliver "Sure, I'll be your opponent. Let's do this. The last one is......!"

Izaya, Oliver, Seth "Gu!"

Duran "Ah, I won. Then I leave it to you."

Nia *laugh*

Izaya "Wait, Duran!"

Oliver "You, bastard!"

Seth "That wasn't fair!"

Izaya "Wait there!!"

Liam "I like these kind of things."

*fades*

   *DO NOT POST THIS TRANSLATION ELSEWHERE!!*

Translated by clearui

[queenrozaay]

it’s a date? | 05.29.17

bg: rosé had taken an interest in taehyung and somehow had gone through hell and back just to get ahold of his kakao. mustering up the courage she sends him a text and one thing led to another and the two have made plans to catch a movie together.

pcy:

/okay. truthfully speaking, she couldn't remember how on earth she got his kakao id, but she did and she needed him to answer an important question  for her so hopefully he wouldn't think she was too strange for messaging him out of the blue like this; [ kkt -> bwee ] oi- you got a minute?

kth: /he glanced down at his phone at the sound of the delightful 'ting', confusion running over his expression that was soon replaced by intrigue- [kkt| rosé]: For you I've got multiple. What's up?

pcy: /rosé was in the middle of finishing a dance sequence when her phone went off. in the background she could hear her members griping- something about how blackpink's comeback was next month and that she should be taking practice more seriously; oh quit it. we've been going at it for hours- let's take a short water break. /she suggested as she unlocked her lock screen to find a message from him; [ kkt -> bwee ] on a scale from one to ten, where would you rank your interest/love for superhero movies?

kth: /Taehyung, who'd been lounging on his phone, didn't waste much time with responding. Time in Korea between BTS' tour stops was always short but not having to worry about wifi was always a relief-  [kkt| rosé]: probably 9.5? There's always a part of me that thinks I won't be interested but once I'm in the theater I always love them. Honestly can't wait for Wonder Woman; Gal Godot is my hero.

pcy: /her fingers ghosted over the letters on her keyboard for the longest time unsure whether she should even suggest it or not; get it together chae- /for now she decided to play it safe; [ kkt -> bwee ] AYEE that's what I like to hear. Though to be perfectly honest with you, I'm more of a marvel movie kinda gal. D.C. Movies don't give me the same burst of excitement.. Buuut I must admit... the trailers for Wonder Woman might just be a game changer.

kth: /when it came to movies Taehyung didn't discriminate, but he did have a soft spot for DCU and their brooding emo aesthetic-  [kkt| rosé]: Ha! That's what I like to hear. Marvel has it down to a science but I feel like Wonder Woman and Justice League will officially put D.C. on the map, you know? If you'll have me I'd love to take you to see WW, I need to fully convert you.

pcy: Oh- /she voiced aloud, eyes widening some having not expected the conversation to head in this direction so soon, but was somewhat relieved he had done the hard part for her; [ kkt -> bwee ] I feel like Marvel has a tendency to play it safe most of the time. They found what worked for them and stuck with ajdjsuebzbaie /her members had snuck up behind her at some point and being the nosy punks they were tried to read over her shoulder. startled by their sudden appearance she had accidentally hit 'send' mid-reply. rosé deadpanned and excused herself out into the hallway without another word and the others knew better than to follow after her; [ kkt -> bwee ] **stuck with it. phone please- [ kkt -> bwee ] and what is this converting nonsense you s p e a k of? [ kkt -> bwee ] I may consider it if you throw in a tub of white cheddar popcorn- and since I'm feeling generous maybe I'll sneak in a box of your favorite boxed candy too.

kth: [kkt| rosé]: I'm fixated on convincing you that these books will bring about an entirely new chapter of superhero culture. White cheddar popcorn is a fair sacrifice to make if it means saving you from Marvel Hell ™. Plus candy? This is starting to sound more like a treat than a rescue mission.  /his good mood increased tenfold at her 'kind of' acceptance to his offer, big smiles and his nose stuck even further into his phone convincing a few of the members that he was in fact NOT going to be joining them for Overwatch anytime soon-

pcy: [ kkt -> bwee ] oh-ho. I must warn you though, since I haven't seen many superhero movies outside of marvel- there is a high chance I may say something stupid. feel free to- oh I don't know flick my forehead or something as punishment. [ kkt -> bwee ] aha- is that what it sounds like?? Consider these snacks a reward for contributing to a worthy cause - aka me. I am a nearly a lost cause. /rosé had caught herself smiling like an idiot. luckily, no one else was around to witness it and question her about it. just to be safe, she started down the hallway with purpose, dark brown eyes peeking into each room until she stumbled upon a vacant room where she took cover for the next few minutes or so; [ kkt -> bwee ] my phone keeps autocorrecting your name to 'beer' and I'm not sure if it's trying to tell me something or what- it's driving me nuts [ kkt -> bwee ] a n y w a y s- what are you up to? am I distracting you from your work?

kth: [kkt| rosé]: Oh, I know better then to fight a marvel stan. You guys will defend your movies to the death and I already admit my defeat when it comes to that. But c'mon, stick with me and there is yet hope for salvation 🙃  /Since his last message Taehyung has since closed his laptop 90% of the way, headphones still in despite not listening to anything so the members would stop shouting at him to do things- 

[kkt| rosé]: Beer? Maybe I should quit the idol life and start a brewing company.  [kkt| rosé]: Nah, I'm just at the dorm TRYING to have some alone time away from these hooligans. We're always together because of our tour so I'm not a bad friend for wanting them to be quiet for just five minutes, right? Maybe even just three. Please... [kkt| rosé]: What about you? Hopefully your day is more interesting than mine.

pcy: /a laugh escaped her lips, frame shaking lightly with each laugh. It was no secret that marvel stans were quick to defend themselves when they feel the least bit threatened even if the other had meant no harm by it; [ kkt -> bwee ] hey, that tub of popcorn has me sold. I'm down. The movie comes out when? Sometime next week right? I'll keep a date free. Just let me know! Ah- /before she forgot, she took it upon herself to message her groupchat and told them she wouldn't be able to make it home in time for dinner and made up some excuse about having a few errands to run; [ kkt -> bwee ] if you do, I volunteer to help you taste-test. 🤗 I've been told I'm a u i t e helpful. /after skimming through the rest of his messages, she breathed a sigh of relief. Becoming a bother to someone else was the last thing she wanted to be; [ kkt -> bwee ] LOL. Maybe I can help you with that. Have you eaten yet? I'm actually done with practice for the day. We've been slaving away these past couple of weeks and the amount of times I've seen the sun I can count on one hand. I'm not even joking..  I don't know if you've read articles recently, but we're having our first comeback of the year this June which explains the uh- slaving away thing. Can't tell if it's better or worse than yours.

kth: /he sighed, impending tour dates, their 4 year anniversary activities for the fans, and new album preparations running through his mind as he attempted to pick a date- [kkt| rosé]: I think the movie comes out June 1st? I actually leave for Osaka tonight, we'll be there for three days. After that we won't have to be in Hiroshima for a few days so anytime between the 2nd and the 6th I'm all yours. [kkt| rosé]: I've heard! I'm looking forward to it, you guys have yet to release a bad song and I'm sure this comeback will be just as good as your debut. /he grinned at the prospect of speaking to someone other than the 6 boys he spend every waking moment with, jumping out of bed while ignoring curious eyes- [kkt| rosé]: If you're offering to grab something to eat with me so I don't go crazy my answer is please. Yes please. I'll even pay.

pcy: /that's right. It's times like these she often forgot that others have been in the industry must longer than she has been, so their schedules are naturally more packed than hers; [ kkt -> bwee ] all mine aye? /rosé tore her attention away from her device and thought for a moment. Oh who was she kidding- she didn't have any major plans next week outside of practice; [ kkt -> bwee ] how about the 2nd? or the 3rd or 4th? It may be a bit crowded still, but not nearly as crowded as opening night. My work load next week is relatively easy, so whatever works best for you I can accommodate! /she picked herself up off the floor and left the room, slowly making her way to the elevator whilst crafting yet another reply; [ kkt -> bwee ] as you wish~! [ kkt -> bwee ] what are you craving? burgers? tacos? pasta-? me? [ kkt -> bwee ] Kidding. but really though. I'm not picky when it comes to food. unless there is celery involved... [ kkt -> bwee ] oh and don't worry about paying for me! I don't mind paying for my own share! I've been budgeting wisely this month so I think I can handle it 

kth: [kkt| rosé]: how about the 3rd? We can buy tickets early and even go to a showtime that no one goes to. Like 11 am or something. It's fun to see all the elderly out and filling places you'd normally see kids in! Truly proves that the soul never ages.  /he slid on his shoes near the front door despite having no clue where he was off to, shouting a simple "be back soon" over his shoulder before stepping out the door- [kkt| rosé]: You know what? Let's eat tacos. I haven't had a taco in ages. I could also go for a burger, though. Just something full of fat. [kkt| rosé]: You can think of it as a thank you. For saving my career and BTS. I don't know how much longer I could have stood being back home. [kkt| rosé]: should I meet you at your company? It's a bit intimidating compared to mine but I'm a big boy.

pcy: [ kkt -> bwee ] That'll work! I'll put it in my calendar so I don't forget. I swear, you think someone wth a goldfish memory like mine would have more creative ways to help me remember things right? /Tacos did sound pretty good and come to think of it she couldn't recall when she last had one either. Rosé had made it down to the main lobby when she received another string of texts from him. Not wanting to block anyone's way, she found a bench by the doorway and seated herself for the time being; [ kkt -> bwee ] tacos it is! I was actually reading a few comments fans had left on our wall and learned that there's this new Korean-Mexican fusion restaurant nearby. Did a little more digging and found its rated 4.5 stars on a 5 star scale! I think it'll be promising. And if it isn't? You can put the blame on me [ kkt -> bwee ] mm.. if you want to stop by, you're more than welcome to! and don't worry, you'll have me beside you at all times so I can assure you no one will try to bully you.

kth: [kkt| rosé]: don't worry, I'm not picky when it comes to what food I shove into my mouth. 🙃 [kkt| rosé]: it shouldn't take long, I'll drive there. Parking is a nightmare but I feel like it'll be safer for us? Especially with dispatch always poking their noses around. Not that I'd really care but I'm sure you don't want to get caught up in some huge scandal just for some tacos. [kkt| rosé]: even if they're 4.5 star tacos. When we find a 5 star place is when all bets will be off. [kkt: rosé]: I'm stealing (borrowing) my manager's car so it's less obvious, I'll be there soon- don't miss my bants too much. /Taehyung tossed his phone onto the passenger side seat after hitting send on his last message, promising his manager he wouldn't crash his car for the nth time as he drove off towards the YG building-

pcy: /Augh. That's right.. she can't go around frolicking in broad daylight like she used to. She could- but people could easily recognize her these days, but it helped now that her was darker and less orange creamsicle looking. Should she borrow a hoodie or something?; [ kkt -> bwee ] I'll try not to miss you too much [ ikr -> bwee ] drive safe! /She figured she'd respond to everything you had said prior in person. After hitting send, rosé got up and ran toward the lounge where she was sure there was probably a change of clothes she could wear just in case someone had been keeping a close eye on her today. The last thing she wanted to do was inconvenience him;

kth: /how he'd managed to get his license was a miracle given his short attention span but he figured him not having been in an accident yet, knock on wood, was a good sign that he was doing something right. Finding the YG building was easy enough, but finding a place to park that wouldn't get him weird looks proved to be a tad more difficult. Taehyung contemplated in the car, settling on waiting for her instead of going in- [kkt| rosé]: I made it alive [kkt| rosé]: I'm in the blue car, by the way. A bit off to the left once you step out the door. [kkt| rosé]: I doubt anyone will recognize me but I don't want to get you in trouble! I don't know your company rules about boys and stuff.

pcy: [ kkt -> bwee ] and just in time too! I'll be right out. if it helps I'm wearing a black baseball cap that says 'bless up' in white lettering on the front.  /and with that, rosé stuffed her phone back into her pocket and headed out the door. In the sea of black, grey, and occasionally a splash of red cars- it wasn't /too/ terribly difficult to locate his car. At least- she /hoped/ it was yours.  After climbing in and locking the door behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief to find him sitting in the driver's seat; oh thank god. I saw maybe two or three blue cars out there and literally did that 'eenie-meenie-miney-mo' thing in my head and picked one. I hope it wasn't too much trouble getting here?

kth: Yes, it's me and not some crazy stalker. No worries. /he shrugged, turning a bit in his seat as he continued to speak to her- Finding it wasn't too bad. Convincing those guards over there that I'm not here to kidnap one of the artists through awkward eye contact was a bit more difficult. So! /he tapped his hands against the steering wheel, his body facing forwards again. Taehyung started to drive, having absolutely no idea where he was going but he'd been in Seoul long enough to know how not to get completely and utterly lost amongst countless similar looking buildings and one way streets- where am I going? Please tell me it's not in the opposite direction. If it is we're going to have to go around the block, oops.

pcy: I mean you could be a cleverly disguised sasaeng for all I know. There are people out there who parade around as different people all the time- I think the term for it is an 'identity theft?' /she was rambling needlessly now or so it felt like. when the car started to move, she instinctively reached for her seat belt and tried to buckle herself in but for the life of her struggled. classic rosé; errr- well I thought 4.5 stars wasn't good enough for you, so we were gonna look for a 5 star one? But honestly, I'm so hungry I could eat anything and anywhere. I'm not even joking..

kth: Oh, you got me! Taehyung is the best looking member so of course I had to pick his identity to steal. /he noted her struggle so he reached one hand over, buckling the seatbelt for her with ease- Sorry about that. I keep telling my manager that this seat belt is constantly trying to kill me by getting stuck at the worst of times. It also hits me in the throat which is just lovely. /he chuckled quietly, eyebrows furrowing slightly at the thought of seeming pretentious- I'm not like that, I'd even eat street food right now. Or any time, I don't think there's anything quite like buying tteokbokki from old ladies outside.

pcy: Best looking member huh..? /she mumbled quietly to herself, still somewhat distracted by the seatbelt that wouldn't go in? But thankfully, he helped strapped her in; Ah- thank you. I was beginning to think that maybe I'm just incredibly unlucky and that your car was silently telling me I should get out and take a hike. /she half-joked. Though the mere image of that seatbelt whacking him had her chuckling some; oh- sorry. I wasn't trying to make it seem like you wouldn't settle for anything less than the best. Poor choice in words, my fault. /she bit her bottom lip out of habit, something she normally did when she was either anxious; If you're still hungry after tacos though, we can stop for some tteokbokki! It's actually my favorite street food. I live and breathe for spicy foods~ /rosé gushed while she fished for her phone once more and typed in the address to that fusion restaurant she had told him about earlier; okay- so make a left up here and drive for three more blocks.

kth: Alright! Left it is then. /he merged into the turning lane, turning off to the left once everything was clear- So, Rosé. Girl with the fancy 'E'. How's life been treating you these days? Aside from preparing for your comeback- I know how stressful that can be. /Taehyung was admittedly not the best when it came to face to face conversation, but he figured asking about her wellbeing was a good place to start given he was actually interested- Where do I go next? Not to interrupt, I just don't want to make us crash by suddenly swerving or something.

pcy: Terrible. I slept through all five of my alarms the other day and it had to be the day YG evaluated us on our performance for this month. /she made a face as the mere memory of it all came flooding back to her; -buuuttt. On the bright side- it was one of the best sleeps I've had in awhile.. I haven't been able to sleep very well sadly- oh- /rosé faced front again, eyes scanning the familiar scenery that lie ahead of them; I /think/ you take a right at this stop sign up here... or was it a left..? /she mumbled that last part under her breath. Perhaps this was why her members always joked that she'd make the worst Siri ever- er human GPS;

kth: Ouch- well, catching up on sleep is worth a scolding or two. Have you been feeling better since then? I bet it was the sleep. /he hummed, deciding on taking the right turn despite the worst word to hear when you don't know where you're going; think. The area didn't look too off, but at this point Taehyung was driving without a clue- You know, if we get lost it might be more fun. I've always wanted to do that whole go somewhere you've never been before thing but knowing me I'll drive into the ocean or something. I don't want to die trying to be an edgy cool Tumblr kid.

pcy: /the brunette got a pretty good laugh out of that and ending up along the ocean front didn't seem too bad. Well- there was a difference between driving INTO and ocean and ending up near one; i don't know about you, but I'm twenty right now and I still have a lot of things I still need to cross off of my bucket list and d r o w n I n g in the middle of the ocean with you is not one of them. I mean- not that I don't want to spend my last moments with you or anything- /And there she goes with the rambling again. Shush rosé shuush; ok I'm just gonna shut up now. /and so she did and distracted herself with her phone, pulling up the directions to the restaurant, ecstatic to learn that they were indeed going in the right direction; Oppa- make a left up at this light and it should be a white building with a black roof to our right!

kth: Don't worry! I'll roll all the windows down before we drive into the water so we have a way to escape. I changed my mind, I don't really feel like dying right now either. But yes ma'am, I'll trust your GPS. /and so they were in the aesthetic part of town full of modern shops, cafes, and restaurants where simplicity was the key to looking sleek and sophisticated. The restaurant was lively and easy to spot, but parking was a different story. After circling the block a few times an opening finally appeared and he wasted no time in pulling into the spot- Ready? I don't mean to be basic but we have to take cool photos around here. We can pretend they're candid but pose on the down low.

pcy: /she could only playfully roll her eyes at how ridiculous he sounded in the moment, but it didn't sound all that bad at all. rosé could feel the anticipation bubbling in the pit of her stomach. she couldn't tell if it was because she was hungry or if it was because she was actually having dinner with Taehyung himself. Out of all of her members, she would've thought she'd be the last person to share this moment with him; It's funny you ask, cuz I was about to suggest the same. And since we're talking photos and posing here, I figured I might as well tell you beforehand that I'm the kind of person who takes pictures of their food before eating it. /she hid her face behind her hands both out of slight embarrassment but also to hide the faint smirk that tugged at the corners of her lips; please feel free to judge me

kth: Truthfully I don't understand people who get annoyed with others when they take a lot of photos. It's like- have fun being bitter for no reason while I have lots of pictures that trigger fond memories. Totally a waste of my time. /he unbuckled his seatbelt, grabbing his phone and his wallet before stepping out of the car. Truth be told Taehyung was excited to see what type of photos Rosé would come up with. The blackpink instagram was filled with countless posts of the girls without a single flaw yet she seemed to always stand out to him the most. He met her on the sidewalk, a giant grin on his lips now that they were finally face to face- Do you want to go eat first? I know you said you didn't eat yet so I feel like we should get some food in you. I know I'm always starving after practice.

pcy: But if you're hungry I could understand why you would be semi-upset. Some people take their sweet time snapping pictures of a single dish. I once had a friend snap so many pictures my lasagna went cold. But it was still good either way! /she exclaimed, climbing out of her seat and stepped out into the street where she stretched her arms high up on the air. she met his gaze, an easy smile spreading across her face; we can if you're hungry! I think I can hold off for another thirty, but I know I'll have more energy after I've eaten. I say this but there are times where I've fallen victim to a food coma aha

kth: I'm the most indecisive person ever. You'll find that out soon enough the more we hang out. /he worried his lower lip between his teeth; a quick look around wouldn't hurt, right? He doubted they'd take more than fifteen minutes to explore their surroundings- We can have a look around, yeah? That way I can think about what kind of tacos I feel like eating. I'm sure you don't want to sit there while I have a mini existential crisis. /they could go left, right, across the street, through the alleyway next to some random pet shop. The options were endless. Taehyung huffed, turning back to Rosé- I don't know where we should go...close your eyes! I'll spin you around and whatever direction you're pointing in when you say stop is where we'll go to be typical nineties babies. /he leaned forward to be at her eye level, playfully squinting- no peeking either, miss.

pcy: But we can't have twoooo indecisive people in the same place at the same time- we'll never get anything dooneee!! /she wailed, making a big show of it by resting a hand against her forehead in a dramatic fashion, the corners of her lips tugging upward some; mmm. I don't know about that- I'm sure the stages of a very distressed Taehyung would be quite entertaining if you ask me. Well- at least for me heh- /his idea didn't seem too terrible and she was about to open her mouth to speak again but couldn't make much of a sound, not when he was inches from her face, but she managed to mirror his action, playfully squinting at him in return; -oh don't worry. I've been told I play fair and follow directions very well. /and with that her eyelids fell shut; I'm ready! Don't spin me too fast-

kth: Too late! You're stuck with me. Maybe. I think. /Taehyung joked, chuckling at how cute her overzealous reactions were. He lolled his head to the, shrugging as he playfully pretended to think- Ah...well, maybe I'll have a mental breakdown just for you. For the bants, of course. All about the bants. /he stood up straight as she closed her eyes, carefully spinning her round and round by her shoulders. People passing by on the sidewalk spared curious glances but he paid them no mind even though the two of them attracting so much attention probably wasn't the smartest idea. He'd take his chances, though; it wasn't everyday you saw Kim Taehyung out in a hoodie, baseball cap, and jeans- Tell me if you feel sick so I can run a bit that way, hah-

pcy: Just for me? Pfft. What did I do to deserve such a generous reward? Save a million lives in my past life? /rosé bit her bottom lip in an attempt to suppress her laughter. man- how long has it been since she'd been able to act this carefree? she wouldn't be able to tell you, but she knew that she would be savoring this moment for as long as she could. he made good company and it was honestly nice forgetting about work related business that had been stressing her out lately; uh I don't think so- if I'm going down, /you're/ coming down with me Tae- I take no prisoners.

kth: That's fair. Though I'd like to think I have an advantage at the moment. You're going to be pretty dizzy, so making an escape will be easy. /he stopped briefly, grabbing her hand in order to twirl her around his finger- it'd be less likely for her to wander into the street this way and he didn't exactly want to be the reason for a blackpink member's hospitalization/ but seriously, I'm glad we're doing this now and not when you've just eaten. THAT, would not be a good idea. A disaster in the making. But hey, I'd hold your hair back for you.

pcy: Honestly, it feels like I'm doing some kind of perpetual dance than anything else. /she mumbled quietly, managing to chuckle some. there was no doubt about it eyes were on them and she half wondered if they should even be doing something like this. again- the last thing she wanted to do was find their names in the news the next morning, not that she would mind- it'd just be troubling for you and she didn't want you to get in trouble or anything because of her; how /generous/ of you... //and after awhile she finally stuck her index finger out, "accidentally" poking his chest; oh. it seems like I've hit an obstacle-

kth: Dang. I think this is the universe trying to tell us something, don't you? Maybe it's saying "make up your mind Kim Taehyung, what the hell", or maybe it's a sign that we should dance? For real. /he spun her around one last time, pulling her into a ballroom position/ But okay I suck at dancing so if I step on your foot I'm sorry. /he chuckled, leading her around on the pavement with random steps that made them look like they were stumbling around rather than what he (sort of) intended/ How do I do this for a living again? Huh.

pcy: /her eyelids fluttered open the second they assumed the classic ballroom position. Her big brown eyes widened in surprise, confusion written in them, but even so she did her best and tried to follow his lead; Yah- what kind of dancing is this even? /she asked through fits of laughter, eyes disappearing into crescents. So much for lying under the radar. Oh well; You know I was wondering the same, but I mean hey- if BigHit thinks you're a great dancer I don't think we should question him. You're a lovely dancer.

kth: At least I haven't stepped on you yet? Plus, we haven't fallen either. I'd call this a success but that's just me. /Taehyung began to dance with her properly, guiding her down the pavement until they reached the corner of the cross walk. Reluctantly he let her go, gaze trailing off to the unexplored territory of the neighborhood they were in. Apparently they were traveling this way, as fate would have it/ hey, that building had a mural on the side of it. We can go take our basic photos over there?

pcy: Key word there is /yet/- /she made sure to emphasize that to him, though she was simply teasing and meant no harm by it. After the last twirl, Rosé caught her balance, curious eyes scanning their surroundings and eventually set on that very mural that captured his interest; Not only are you a great dancer, you seem to have an eye for the arts- /she mused and skipped passed him over to that building she had been looking at; you know- I s never been great at the whole modeling thing- Jisoo and Jennie unnie always have me beat.. how should I pose for this one? Should I be obnoxious and hug the wall like this? /and she does exactly that, pressing her stomach against the wall, arms spread out like a freaking starfish;  cute, right?

kth: It's a recent interest, actually. As of late I've been hitting up as many art museums as I can. The one in Chicago is my favorite so far. Everything there is gorgeous. /he followed suit, laughing at her silly pose/ You know what? That's actually perfect. /in seconds his phone was in his hand and he was snapping pictures of Rosé left and right. His personal opinion was that she was the prettiest in the group, but of course felt it wasn't in his place to say/ wow, I'm spamming you with all these photos of yourself later. You're welcome!

pcy: /rosé was about to comment about his interest in art museums and her members was never really appreciative of stuff like this so it was nice being around someone who did. but before she could even deliver her words, her attention was fixated elsewhere, eyes growing wide in a mix of both surprise and horror he instant his camera flash went off; Yah- what are you doing? Delete those this instant! /she's rushing toward him now and proceeded to make grabby hands for him- well, the phone in his hands, leaving a trail of laughter behind her while she's at it; You mustn't spoil the public with these rare photos Tae. No spamming. No nothing you hear?

kth: /he laughed loudly, wholeheartedly, raising his hands into the air in surrender/ Don't worry, these are for me. Not to be weird or anything- I just like the memories. They're actually cute. Here, take a look. /he held out his phone to Rosé, encouraging her to take the device and flip through his photo gallery/ I kind of feel like I should post something of me to the BTS twitter, but at the same time I don't want to ruin anything or make a mistake. /having a career in a field he loved was everything to him, but the tight restrictions did get irritating. He'd love to share their adventures with the world, but that'd have to wait until another time when it wouldn't potentially ruin their careers/

pcy: /she stood flat on her feet again, calming down some after seeing just how harmless he looked. rosé looked up at him with those big brown eyes of hers, lips forming into a small little pout; I don't think posting anything of you running around town would raise any suspicions. I'll even take the photo for you! Just- don't accidentally upload a photo of me by mistake.. that- might earn me a few antis, nbd. Aha. /she bit her bottom lip in thought for a moment before speaking up again; I probably won't upload anything remotely similar to yours, but I'll upload something to the blackpink Instagram, just show that I'm still alive and hey- my fans know I'm artsy fartsy anyways so I doubt they'd put two and two together. It'll be our little secret! /she chirped, giving his arm a little nudge, playful grin spreading across her face. That's if he wanted to. The pictures he'd taken of her weren't all that bad and he actually surprised her with how well she was photographed too, the light hitting her face just right. Not too much sky, not too much ground, just right; Guard these with your life. I trust you-

kth: These will be my new prized possession. A Kim Taehyung exclusive. They won't see the light of day, trust me. /he raised his left hand, the supposedly giant iPhone 7 plus looking tiny with his fingers wrapped around it, his right hand making an 'X' over his heart to nonverbally reinforce his promise of secrecy/ I'm sure I'm just overthinking things. I'm used to not even looking at people a certain way because fans will come up with countless theories out of thin air. /he laughed a bit, rubbing his nape with his free hand/ c'mon. Let's you and me take a quick photo, yeah? Just because I don't want the world to remember this doesn't mean I don't want to. /the offer was good willed and genuine, but he wouldn't be shocked if she said no. Having something like that could end in disaster; you could ruin your reputation with one wrong 'select' but he had faith in himself to not completely fuck up/

pcy: Pfft. New prized possession.. Taehyung puhleaaaseee.. /she repeated with a playful roll of her eyes. There was no hiding the amusement in her voice. It was there and it honestly  didn't surprise her when he confessed the tricks he had to learn to protect himself from weird rumors. She couldn't blame him- hell she'd even do the same if she were ever in his position; Geez. How terrible. Sometimes I wish reporters, netizens- would all understand that we're just normal people with basic needs, trying to make money to survive. But nah- privacy isn't in their vocabulary when it comes to us.. /she mumbled softly whilst shuffling closer to him. Rosé casually wrapped her arms around his waist in a side hug and moved where it seemed most natural before turning to look up at him; I'll help you burn these clothes later- /'ah- wait.' It took her half a second too late to realize the words that slipped passed her lips came out sounding a lot more suggestive than she had interested and she could feel her face growing warm at the sudden realization; -that came out wrong. I was referring to cooties- mine. My germs. Okay- i think it would be best if i just stopped talking. /Rosé coughed awkwardly and looked up toward the sky, anywhere but into his eyes. 'GG CHAE. GG.;'

[gabriellakirtonblog]

Want to Write a Successful Fitness Blog? Start by Mastering This

I hear voices in my head. In a good way.

You probably do too. There’s the voice you use when you’re around friends and family, the one that sounds most like the “real” you. Then there’s the one you switch to when you’re trying to impress someone, a voice with big words and the occasional study reference.

When you’re on social media, you probably use that first voice, the one with all the jokes. And when you write blog posts, there’s a good chance you switch to the second voice, the one with all the footnotes.

But you also have a third voice. It’s the one you use with clients. The one that’s friendly but authoritative. The one that explains things with words and coaching cues they understand, and motivates them in ways that address their goals and acknowledges their struggles.

And it’s that voice—the one that connects with the people who need your help—that’s most likely to build an audience for your content.

Before I give you some ways to channel that voice into your health and fitness writing, let me explain who I am, and how I learned what I’m about to share.

READ ALSO: How to Start a Fitness Blog: The Ultimate Guide

Game of tones

My first grown-up job, nearly 30 years ago, was writing jacket and marketing copy for Putnam-Berkley, one of the biggest book publishers of its time. I racked up more than 1,000 book covers in every conceivable genre, and an equal number of pages for the monthly catalogs we produced for booksellers.

What I wrote to convince a reader like you to buy the new Stephen King was different from the writing in the catalog, where the goal was to convince a bookseller to order a lot of copies. And both were different from what I wrote for the back cover of a Star Wars novelization or a Tom Clancy thriller or a western or a romance novel.

In my next job, as a writer and editor at Men’s Health, I had two challenges: The first was to give readers the information they’d paid for. The second, and equally important, was to do it in the Men’s Health voice, which was distinct from any other publication back then. It’s imperative and masculine, promising benefits with a couple of laughs and a bit of swagger. It’s the voice of someone you’d want to have a beer with.

Compare that to my subsequent years with Weight Watchers. WW’s brand was calm and earnest, with the voice of your nonjudgmental friend who minored in social work. It was like switching from classic rock to ASMR.

Mastering a voice like that requires knowing which words to use, and which to avoid. The second category, they told me, includes words like “exercise” and “workout.”

Sounds crazy, right—a weight-loss brand shying away from basic fitness terms? As they explained it to me, about a third of WW members exercise in the classic sense. The middle third walk and do little else. The other third do nothing. Our content needed to keep all members engaged, which meant that we didn’t want to intimidate or put off people who have no desire to go to a gym.

So instead of “exercise,” we used “movement” or “physical activity.” That way we could reach everyone and exclude no one.

My point: A brand’s voice is everything. It has rules. It has nuances. It also transfers well across any medium, which is why a clear voice is so effective. Once you capture it for your brand and audience, creating the content you need becomes a lot easier.

How to find your voice

Let’s get back to those voices in your head.

Consider all the conversations you have with your clients in a typical week. Do you talk the same way to each one? Not likely. How you instruct and motivate a middle-aged guy who just got divorced and wants to lose 25 pounds before he starts dating again will be different from the way you coach a 25-year-old woman who’s training for her first obstacle course race. And both of those are different from the way you talk to a 65-year-old who just had a hip replacement.

Once you identify the nuances that make your coaching effective with different clients, the next challenge is to re-create them in your blog posts, or anything else you write.

I’ve divided the following tips into three categories: your brain, your language, your audience. Each is a distinct battlefront in the struggle to get and hold your readers’ attention. But each, as you’ll see, overlaps with the others.

READ ALSO: Fitness Blog Ideas: 10 Proven Ways to Win More Readers

Part 1: Training your brain

Stop fast-forwarding through ads

And while you’re at it, stop deleting all your spam. Pay close attention to the language copywriters use to speak directly to their target customers. Chances are, that language repels you, but that’s okay. They’re not trying to reach you.

Analyze the stuff vying for your attention. Compare the copy that targets you specifically, based on something you showed interest in, to the spam that hits your inbox just because it can. What attracts or repels you? What can you learn?

Don’t accidentally repel those you want to attract

I made a point earlier about how your speaking voice relates to your written voice. It’s true in general, but the specifics matter. Your spoken language doesn’t need to be as precise because it comes with all kinds of verbal and nonverbal cues that signal your intent and authority.

You don’t get the benefit of the doubt when you’re writing for an audience who isn’t in the room with you. Something a client would understand as hyperbole might look like arrogance, or an insult to the reader’s intelligence.

Build empathy

To connect with the audience, you have to imagine what it’s like to be them.

What are their lives like? What are they dealing with? What do they want to conquer? Picture where they’ll be when they read your words. On a subway headed home? At their desk at work? In their pajamas in bed? Are they stressed or happy? Half-asleep or energized?  

You may know what they need, but until you can feel all their feels, you won’t be able to convince them you have the solution they’ve been looking for.

Part 2: Mastering language

Use words wisely

Your brain is filled with training-specific nomenclature you’ve learned through years of education, reading, and contact with people who think like you. Sometimes you use those words with clients, but would they understand if you weren’t there demonstrating and cueing the points you’re trying to get across?

True mastery of language means knowing multiple ways to describe the same thing. You don’t sacrifice any authenticity by explaining your ideas in words your audience will understand without Googling them.

Keep it short

Brevity matters. As a magazine editor, I learned to trim any story to fit the allotted space without losing anything important. If pressed I could compact 100 words down to a 10-word caption or even a five-word subhead.

The easiest thing to cut: The part where you tell readers what they already know. If you lead with, “You want to lose weight and don’t have time to exercise three hours a day,” you’re wasting your reader’s time.

Don’t ignore the nuances

Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

Words you think are interchangeable can convey different meanings to different audiences. It’s why one reader will react favorably to “toned” but be turned off by “lean and muscular.” One reader wants to be “strong” while another wants to be “sexy.” One wants to “get in shape” while another wants “more energy.”

We could be talking about the exact same program, but if your words don’t connect with your target reader’s aspirations, you won’t hold their attention.

READ ALSO: Fitness Blog Post Titles: 7 Rules for Making Your Headlines Irresistible

Part 3: Understanding your audience

Spring forward, fall back

Ten years ago, if you’d tried to lure a female audience with words like “badass” and “fierce,” you’d have made approximately zero headway. Today those words have been used so often, for so many products, they may already have lost their ability to inspire and excite.

I’m not the target customer, so I can’t say.

But that’s my point. You’re probably not your own target customer either. And if you’re not in close contact with the people you’re selling to, there’s a chance they’ve moved on from words that once triggered them.

On the flip side, your mastery of up-to-the-minute buzzwords may have no impact at all on readers who don’t follow trends and may even distrust someone who uses them. You can’t sell “self-care” to someone who doesn’t care.

Give ’em the real you

Not everyone is funny. Or alpha. Or an influencer. Or whatever ideal version of yourself you think you should project. So even though we all want to show ourselves at our best, your voice still needs to come from a genuine place. You can hide what you are, but you can’t fake what you aren’t.

Instead of thinking how you can be funnier, if that’s not your strong suit, try to convey the best you to your audience. What do your clients like best about you? Is it your service? Your knowledge? Your sincerity and empathy? Your everyday approachability? Write like that person.

Be a creator, not an artist

Perfectionism comes from fear, and boy, does that apply to writing. If you find yourself endlessly rewriting, editing, and tweaking, ask yourself an honest question: What are you afraid of?

If you don’t think you’re getting your message across, ask a colleague or mentor to look at your work with fresh eyes and give you an appraisal. But if the problem is that you don’t like the way you’re coming across, you need to ask yourself some hard questions. Are you trying too hard to be funny? Are you trying to cram in too much detail because you’re afraid you won’t look as smart as you think you are?

Step back and remind yourself this isn’t about you. It’s about the value of what you have to say. If your message isn’t strong enough to stand on its own without those jokes or memes or citations, maybe you just need to make it better.

Never, ever lie

Amid all these words about words, let’s remember not to use them to exaggerate, obfuscate, deceive, overstate, mislead, or perjure, no matter how cleverly you present the fib.

If you can’t tell the truth, you can’t sell the truth.

A version of this article first appeared in the January 2019 issue of Fitness Marketing Monthly.

 The post Want to Write a Successful Fitness Blog? Start by Mastering This appeared first on The PTDC.

Want to Write a Successful Fitness Blog? Start by Mastering This published first on https://onezeroonesarms.tumblr.com/

[theonyxpath]

At this writing, the Scion: Demigod 2e Kickstarter is almost at the half-way point and we’re over 300% funded and have over 1700 backers. Not bad at all for half-way! Of course, we’re also in the slow-down period for a bit coming up, so keep an eye out for the previews, actual plays, and interviews we have scheduled to keep everyone entertained until pledging picks up again!

Fun fact: the joint Kickstarter for Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero launched in September, 2016 – four years ago!

Also, as of this writing, we have attained Stretch Goals including unlocking the Reference Screen, KS backer exclusive T Shirt discount, and are building up the Scion: Demigod Companion with sections on new Boons, creatures, Guides, and followers – and are headed towards the next goal of a section on Solo Play!

Stretch Goals are something we continue to tinker with, and we’ve found that doing an overflow book like many of the Companions is really ideal. Backers get access to even more info about the game they pledged for, and we can create goal thresholds that are chapter-sized and therefore priced to such amounts that are achievable more quickly. Which makes the fun of surpassing an amount and achieving a Stretch Goal regular things backers can look forward to.

But we still also look at other possible goals if the KS can support them with the pledges. Pay bumps for creators is a personal favorite of mine, and some of our crew like Jumpstarts or Fiction, too. And sometimes ideas for Stretch Goal rewards come at us from backers or other sources. We’re always open to hearing ideas.

Terra Firma art by Sam Denmark

What we do try to stay away from these days are Stretch Goal rewards that involve adding new material to the book being KS’d, as we’ve seen that derail getting that main reward out to backers by months and months. I’m also extremely leery of rewards that involve working with another company, at this point. It’s a question of expectation by our backers.

We pretty much always phrase the reward to say that the reward means that we’ll work with the other company to create whatever it is they are creating. Then we do that, and after we do, the company, for all sorts of reasons, doesn’t deliver. We did our part, but folks feel like they simply didn’t get the reward that they were looking forward to. We don’t want that to be anybody’s takeaway from one of our KSs, so I’m avoiding those sorts of rewards for now.

Just today, we received word that Paradox is good with the preview of the WoD Ghost Hunters Kickstarter we sent over, so that’ll be our next one! This is for the 20th Anniversary WoD books, so expect a cool Deluxe book all about investigating the paranormal in the World of Darkness. This book would go with the V20, W20, M20, C20, and especially the Wraith20 game lines.

TC: Aberrant art by Jeff Rebner

Some Things We Discussed at the Meeting Today:

(For what it’s worth as an inside look at the meeting, most of the topics I usually put here as having been discussed during the meeting come from the first part of the meeting where general company issues are brought up and discussed. After that we review the status of the projects that fall under each in-house developer’s supervision and note any concerns based on how the in-house devs have seen things happen with their projects all last week.)

We discussed some Covid-19 repercussions, which are ongoing, including our relationship with Paradox and the WW IPs as Paradox was also slammed by the situations around Covid. Approvals seem to be back on track, at least.

We are still trying to help our printers deliver the various projects that need to get shipped out to KS backers, but we are seeing several of our KS ship outs being dragged out. Don’t worry, James will certainly let backers know if any of these challenges causes us to miss any estimated dates.

In terms of our creators, we have been trying to help everyone keep working on our projects and get through all these upheavals, We had thankfully very few freelances diagnosed with Covid-19, but even if an individual wasn’t themselves affected, we have folks whose friends and relatives were, and people just ground down by it all.

It’s very hard to put all that aside and work out compelling writing and get it on the page. Very few writers write in an iron tower that shuts out the real world. In fact, I’d say that creators need input to have creative output, and if all the input is fraught with existential despair and peril then they are going to have a really hard time turning that into some words about a made-up game world.

Some folks can do just that – their creative output is what they use to block the nastiness of the real world out. Most others, though, and I mean most, have needed a helping hand here and there during all this. Some bailed on assignments, some worked with their devs, and some devs also had issues and worked with our in-house devs.

Let the Streets Run Red art by Ken Meyer, Jr

We did big meetings to talk through things like our “Town Halls” – we have another scheduled for early October – and we had design and productivity meetings and courses by folks like Eddy and Danielle. We hoped these helped, and we’ve seen a lot of our freelancers respond positively to these efforts, so….

Finally, we talked about the latest sale over at Indie Press Revolution – IPR – our sales partners that handle our Deluxe Kickstarter press overruns. And much, much, more, actually! This month we have a sale on Exalted 3rd Edition. The big book itself!

The EX3 sale is now live at IPR:https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Deals-and-Specials/

And tomorrow morning around 9am CST the Scarred Lands Players Guide PDF will be free for 24 hrs:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197803/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-OGL-5e

That’s it for this week – have a great one, and I’ll be back next week talkin’ atcha about our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

Blurbs!

Kickstarter!

Scion: Demigod Second Edition blew through 300% funding last week, and is devouring all sorts of Stretch Goals! Currently headed for the inclusion of a solo-play set of rules in the Demigod Companion book! Check it out if you haven’t already:

Our Next Kickstarter:

World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters for the 20 Anniversary Editions!

Onyx Path Media!

This week: The folks at Bonus Experience podcast join the Trio for discussion and digression(s)! Bonus Experience consists of Monica and Rai, two queer freelancers who talk with authority about the RPG industry. They looking behind the screen, at the play experience, and the finer details of running and writing games. The podcast updates every other Monday.

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

A Bunch of Gamers gets top billing this week due to their new, fantastic interview with developer Neall Raemonn Price regarding the currently on Kickstarter Scion: Demigod! Check it out and enjoy: https://youtu.be/8TzYDKYQzXw

Two Scion: Demigod videos coming this week, including Vorpal Tales running Scion: Demigod and a Behind the Screen video on Scion too! Tune in on Twitch to watch live!

For anyone new to our media section, you can find us running and playing games over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath pretty much every day of the week! Plus, if you’d like your games hosted there, just get in touch with Matthew Dawkins using the contact link on matthewdawkins.com. 

Please give our Twitch channel a follow, as you can find a huge number of videos of all kinds of games being run!

This week on Twitch, expect to see these games and streams running:

Scarred Lands – A Family Affair

Technocracy Reloaded – Vorpal Tales

Scion – Behind the Screen

Scion: Demigod – Vorpal Tales

Danielle’s RPG Development Workshop

Hunter: The Vigil – Cold Cases Forsaken Spaces

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale

Mage: The Awakening – Occultists Anonymous

Vampire: The Masquerade – Boston by Night

Hunter: Unbound Anomalies – Devil’s Luck Gaming

Get watching for some fantastic insight into how to run these wonderful games and subscribe to us on Twitch, over at twitch.tv/theonyxpath

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more, including:

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale – E12 – https://youtu.be/NYI_zgcQqEw

Scarred Lands – Purge of the Serpentholds – S1E15 – https://youtu.be/YdE0czNeYGE

Hunter: The Vigil – Uptown Shadows Episode 4 – https://youtu.be/2qdLBpMu0lE

Realms of Pugmire – Paws and Claws S2E15 – https://youtu.be/7bc5HZxAkFg

Hunter: The Vigil – Uptown Shadows FINALE – https://youtu.be/8yKW18X1m9k

Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

Tom Murr continues with his amazing They Came from Beneath the Sea! audio drama over on his YouTube channel! If you’ve not checked out his playlist, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDwUZRXJBlcnfjjsQE88RkZ6q5M5v9cGv

Systematic Understanding of Everything is a new Exalted Explainer Podcast by Exalted Dev Monica Speca and Exalted Writer Chazz Kellner that is breaking down Creation in 45 minute chunks in preparation for Exalted Essence.

Their most recent episodes are available over on https://www.exaltcast.com/, with their newest covering the stunning terrifying Abyssals!

The Story Told Podcast continues their Fall of Jiara Exalted chronicle, and you can find their newest episode right here: https://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-26

Here’s the Keeper of the Archive covering Scion: Origin and Scion: Hero over on YouTube for your viewing pleasure! https://youtu.be/q2qUE0pJID4

Vorpal Tales assembled their playlist of They Came from Beyond the Grave! actual play episodes, and you can find all six of the episodes of this series right here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9fUj4KdqE4BTnVZv9pZUkSk7GpwnyKXG

Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

We’re told that the App Dev is currently creating an updated version for the latest devices, so keep an eye open for those!

Virtual TableTop!

Introducing a Virtual Tabletop adventure: the Gauntlet of Spiragos for Scarred Lands on Astral TableTop!

Scars of the Divine War, which ended less than 200 years ago, have still not healed. One such scar is the Chasm of Flies, a rent in the earth created when the titan Spiragos the Ambusher was smote down by one of the young gods, Vangal the Ravager. Now, the Chasm is inhabited by spider-eye goblins and their spider allies, but it is also thought to be the resting place of powerful artifacts from that elder age.

Gauntlet of Spiragos is a Scarred Lands adventure designed for 1st level characters, although it can be easily modified for characters of up to 5th level.

Astral TableTop is the easiest way to play any tabletop RPG online, free. Astral already supports popular systems like D&D and Pathfinder, and Astral can support virtually any tabletop roleplaying game. Get started quickly with built-in support for most popular game systems. Whether you’re brand new to TTRPGs or a veteran tabletop gamer, Astral‘s ease-of-use and built in automation is designed to streamline gameplay.

Astral is browser-based and uses the latest technology to streamline your storytelling experience. Connect with your party online and run your campaigns however you like. Astral offers tools optimized for phone, tablet, and desktop devices, no installation required.

Build epic battlemaps using Astral‘s enormous collection of scenery, props, and tokens or upload your own. Pro users gain access to over 12,000+ assets and fresh new packs every month. Add weather, visual effects, triggers, and so much more with easy-to-use tools

Build your own adventure, or choose from pre-generated game kits like Gauntlet of Spiragos. Create character sheets, craft maps, or just jump right in to connect with your friends and start your adventures!

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to provide our traditionally printed books out into your local game stores. Game stores can order via their usual distributors, and can also contact Studio2 directly. And individuals can check out our projects via the links below!

You can pick up the traditionally printed Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau main books, screens, and the official dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

Now, we’ve added Chronicles of Darkness books such as Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Our Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition books are also available from Studio2 in the US: https://studio2publishing.com/products/vampire-the-masquerade-chicago-by-night-sourcebook

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order

The EX3 sale is now live at IPR: https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Deals-and-Specials/

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

Tomorrow morning around 9am CST the Scarred Lands Players Guide PDF will be free for 24 hrs:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/197803/Scarred-Lands-Players-Guide-OGL-5e

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday we are blasting off and landing back on good old Terra Firma for Trinity Continuum: Aeon! Check out the Advance PDF on DTRPG!

Terra Firma expands the setting of Trinity Continuum: Æon by revealing some of the many wonders and secrets found on Earth and Luna, while also providing Storytellers with the material they require to set exciting campaigns on either of these two worlds. 

Terra Firma requires both the Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook and Trinity Continuum: Æon to play. Inside, you will find:

• Further information about 10 nations previously discussed in Trinity Continuum: Æon, including a detailed look at an important city in each nations. 

• Details on threats facing Earth, including revolutionary movements, dangerous cults, and criminal gangs.

• An exploration of some of the strange, and often deadly, mysteries found on Earth and Luna — from the ancient and terrible Gorgon Karst caves beneath eastern Europe to the bizarre Hadley Rille Anomaly on Luna. 

• New technologies used on Earth, examples of the many strange and powerful relics of the Nova Age, as well as new Edges and Paths specifically for the inhabitants of Earth and Luna.

Conventions!

Though dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, here’s what’s left of our current list of upcoming conventions (and really, we’re just waiting for this last one to be cancelled even though it’s Nov/Dec). Instead, keep an eye out here for more virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with:

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

We’re still waiting on word for this one, as a TTRPG publisher we weren’t included in the companies contacted for PAX‘s virtual con replacing their usual electronic gaming con(s).

And now, the new project status updates!

Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

No Gods, No Masters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion Fiction Anthology (Scion 2nd Edition)

TC: Aeon Novella: Dawn (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

TC: Aeon Novella: Meridian (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Legacies of Earth (Legendlore)

Once and Future (Scion 2nd Edition)

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! Jumpstart (They Came From…!)

Tales of Depravity! (They Came From…!)

Heroes in a World of Horror! (They Came From…!)

Tome of the Pentacle (Mage: the Awakening 2e)

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)

Trinity Continuum: Anima

Prometheus Unbound (was Psi Orders) (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Second Draft

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

M20 Technocracy Operative’s Dossier (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Development

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

V5 Forbidden Religions (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

CtL 2e Novella Collection: Hollow Courts (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Manuscript Approval

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution Fiction Anthology (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Post-Approval Development

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

V5 Children of the Blood (was The Faithful Undead) (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Editing

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

LARP Rules (Scion 2nd Edition)

The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Under Alien Skies (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)

V5 Trails of Ash and Bone (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Post-Editing Development

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Indexing

Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

Tales of Aquatic Terror – AD’d.

WoD Ghost Hunters (KS) – KS page to Paradox for approval.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Mummy 2

Deviant – AD’d.

Legendlore

Technocracy Reloaded – AD’d.

Cults of the Blood God – Artists chugging along.

Scion: Dragon (KS)

Masks of the Mythos (KS)

Scion: Demigod (KS)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (KS)

TC: Adventure! (KS)

Geist: One Foot In the Grave – Artists are working.

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness) – Breakdown brokedown.

Monsters of the Deep

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

Trinity Core Jumpstart

Aberrant – 7 out of 12 sections laid out. Art still coming in.

Proofing

Cavaliers of Mars: City of the Towered Tombs

Yugman’s Guide Support Decks (Scarred Lands)

TC Aeon Terra Firma – Sent back to Josh, looking good.

V5 Let the Streets Run Red – Hopefully going to WW this week.

At Press

TCFBTS Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Shipping from printer to KS fulfiller.

Pirates of Pugmire – Shipping from printer to KS fulfiller.

Pirates of Pugmire Screen – Files at press.

Dark Eras 2 – Files printing.

Dark Eras 2 Screen and booklet – Files at press.

Contagion Chronicle – Press prep, PoD files uploaded and ordered.

Contagion Chronicle Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

Lunars Wall Scroll Map – Shipping to KS fulfiller from printer.

Lunars Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate – Prepping files for PoD and press.

Scarred Lands Creature Collection – Shipping from printer to KS fulfiller.

Sunken Bones – Pugmire pirate adventure – Closing errata.

Titanomachy – Errata collecting from Advance PDF.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

In two days it will be the 9th anniversary of the release of Vampire: 20th Anniversary Edition at the Grand Masquerade in New Orleans! Soooo much has happened since then! V20 led to renewed interest in TTRPGs at WW, which led to Eddy and I doing those in-house, which led to me thinking I could be happy with my own TTRPG company, which led to Onyx Path Publishing!

[totesmccoats]

9/20/17

Batman: the Red Death The first of the Dark Knights rises! In Earth -52, Batman hunts the Flash for his speed force. With the Bat-Family dead, Bruce wants to steal Barry’s powers so that he can protect the entire world, much less Gotham. After a long and, for Barry, torturous chase, Bruce succeeds in merging himself with the Speed Force, becoming Batman the Red Death. Shortly thereafter, he is approached by the Batman Who Laughs, who tells him that his world is destined to die, but he knows of one destined to live – they just have to take it.

Metal continues to be, well, metal as hell. Let’s start with the Red Death’s awesome name and better costume. He looks insane! And instead of lightning, he leaves a trail of bats as he runs like some kind of super-fast Dracula! Dude! This is extremely my shit! The first half of the issue is the stronger one, really setting up how scary the Dark Knights are even before their new powers. Earth -52 Batman is just as intelligent and prepared, but completely ruthless. The second half is weaker because, one: it feels like a retread of the first, and two: the Red Death railroads the Flash. No build-up, no tension, just a straight curb-stomping. At least it looks dope as hell.

Batman #31 KITE. MAN. HELL. YEAH. Kite Man gives Batman and the Riddler the location of Joker’s final remaining safehouse, but it’s on top of a tower filled with traps. Only way in is through the windows, and only way to get Riddler’s army through 73rd floor windows is with…kites. That’s it. That’s the issue. Kite Man’s coup de grace. Riddler also manages to give an actually rattled Joker a beat-down, but Kite Man finally gets his win. And in the next issue, Batman does the unspeakable.

Superman #31 Another Lois issue! On assignment by the Daily Planet to interview a cartel boss, Lois goes to Bolivia only to find that Deathstroke had gotten to him and his crew first. Inspired, Lois decides to instead track down and interview the most dangerous killer in the world, and, being Lois Lane, succeeds, but also attracts the attention of another group of killers. Give. Lois. Lane. Her. Own. Book! Seriously. These issues where we follow Lois on her investigations are some of the best in the series, and offer a perspective that no other superhero book really does. If this were just a Superman story, it would involve Clark flying around the world to stop Deathstroke from killing people; but Lois goes to watch him, to interview him, even. Almost every other protagonist in a superhero book does things to change the world in some way – usually by saving it; but Lois’ actions are motivated by observation, not participation. She usually does end up being a part of every story she covers, but her goal is always to let things play out around her rather than intervene herself. And while I think James Bonny understands and nails this perspective, if Lois should get her own series, I wish it would be written by someone with a journalism background whom could also capture journalistic language as opposed to the novelistic style writers usually make Lois write in.

Green Arrow #31 With Hal unconscious and floating in space, it’s up to Green Arrow alone to take down the Ninth Circle’s satellite and also the goon in the mech-suit protecting it. Not the easiest task when you also consider Ollie can’t breathe in space. Luckily, he’s recently made some friends who might be able to help. Like last issue, the finale drops the political overtones from earlier in the arc for pure explosive action, but is still satisfying as a conclusion to Ollie’s personal arc of rebuilding bridges with DC’s other heroes. Ollie still has to take down the satellite on his own, but at least now he has friends to help clean up the mess he makes in doing so. And this change really does show an evolution from the fallout of the last arc with the destruction of Seattle, where it all fell on top of Ollie and his small team, with no-one coming in to help. Meanwhile, Black Canary also completes her arc, taking out the underground men with a triumphant catharsis over her own abusive upbringing, helping others so they don’t suffer as she had. All and all, and ending that reestablishes hope for Green Arrow’s corner of the universe, even as he heads straight into Metal and it’s dark universe.

The Wild Storm #7 We’ve got an info-dump! IO’s Jacklyn King, their chief of analysis checks in at work and assigns her team to look into the Angela situation before Skywatch finds out about the stolen technology and sparks a war between the two most powerful agencies on and off Earth. Meanwhile, John Colt needs a quick rescue from an IO blacksite he broke into before he gets found out and killed, which would prevent him from giving the HALO team the aforementioned info-dump about what IO knows about Jacob Marlowe and machine telepathy. As Cole says in the issue, it’s a lot to take in. Thankfully, Ellis still writes some of the most electric dialogue in comics, and still manages to squeeze in a propulsive fight scene right before the info-dump to give us something to wind-down from. But even then, it’s one of those “here’s what we know they know we know they know” info-dumps – one of the worst kinds – and after reading it three times I’m still not sure if I’ve taken away everything I was supposed to from it.

Wonder Woman/Conan #1 As a child accompanying his father to council, Conan was awe-struck by a black-haired girl named Yanna. Years later, after becoming the Barbarian, Conan happens upon a gladiator match between three men and one black-haired woman who manages to beat them. She demands her freedom, but cannot overpower all of her slaver’s warriors and is taken back in chains. Conan, once again awe struck, goes to rescue her. So far, this is unfolding as a Conan story with Wonder Woman in it. While Conan is full Conan here, WW is amnesiac, forgetting everything including her name, remembering only that she has powers, and once had a golden lasso. And, for some reason, she also fashions a passable enough facsimile of her costume out of rags and mud. We get plenty of Conan being Conan in this issue, fighting bandits, looking for gold and wenches, and sneaking into places; I just wish we got more Wonder Woman. Hopefully next issue.

Generations: The Marvels Under (pre-Secret Empire #10) mysterious circumstances, Kamala Khan is sent back in time to when her hero, Carol Danvers, was still Ms. Marvel; and working on a failing women’s magazine spun out of the Daily Bugle. Kamala accidentally becomes an intern at the paper, and has to help Carol save the magazine, and the world, from an alien invasion. As she’s tended to do with crossover stories, Wilson seamlessly blends what could’ve been an interruption into a natural extension of her main Ms. Marvel story, turning this one shot into another part of Kamala’s growth from being Carol’s acolyte to a Ms. Marvel entirely her own. Working closer with Carol than she really has before allows Kamala to really nail what their differences in personality and heroic philosophy are, and how she can be true to who she is while still being the Ms. Marvel the world needs her to be. And Wilson also makes this arc into Kamala’s strategy for saving the magazine, by having her explain to Carol the sort of balance between fun and function that modern women want from their reading material. Villanelli and Herring’s art is a perfect match for the alternate history setting of this story too. My impression was that the issue looks almost like a 70’s manga, with Villanelli’s manga-inspired character designs and style and Herring’s coloring giving the book an aged patina. The whole aesthetic really gives the impression of something foreign but familiar that I really enjoyed, and also fit Kamala’s experience in the issue.

Spider-Men II #3 The origins of Miles Morales 616. Miles had taken a fall for the Rigoletto crime family, finding himself in Rikers; and Wilson Fisk gets himself thrown in to tell him he’ll be out sooner than expected. Morales helps defend Fisk while their both in their, starting a friendship that takes them to the top of the family. Honestly, not a great origin? Having our earliest introduction to this new minority character finding him already arrested for gang activity is pretty problematic, even considering he’s supposed to be a bad guy. But even besides that, it’s just an origin that we’ve seen before way too many times. And like in most things, Wilson Fisk completely steals the spotlight. And while there are are definite similarities in flirting style during a scene where Miles meets his future wife, this issue doesn’t do much to make the two Miles’ feel like doppelgangers, which was kind of supposed to be the conceit of the story. Really, more than anything, after reading this I want more young-Kingpin, and could care less about Miles-in-name-only.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #4 Spidey, Teresa, and Torch manage to survive the Tinkerer’s assault in Kingpin’s penthouse, but find out they’ve been fighting a decoy the entire time. And they come home to more bad news: that JJJ is running with the Spider-Man aiding a traitor to SHIELD story he was leaked, meaning that Spidey and Teresa are also now on the lam! Luckily, there’s one place Peter can think of that nobody would think to look for them, but asking to crash on someone’s couch is a big ask before even a second date! This is probably the loosest issue of Spectacular so far, having enough slack for Spidey to do a tight-five of stand-up while on the run, but I honestly like it. Compared to where Amazing is right now, I enjoy having a Spider-Man series that is more loose and silly, even a little chill despite itself. Spidey’s stand-up sticks out from the issue like a sore thumb, but it’s fun page; and I really wouldn’t mind if the entire series continues the trend and leaves slack in the story for silly side stuff life it in the future.

Snotgirl #7 Lottie takes Caroline to Haters’ Brunch in an attempt to integrate her new friend with her old ones, but it doesn’t go that well. But later that night, Caroline’s brother Virgil convinces Lottie to invite her to a comic con party with the other girls, take her out of the city for a while on a road trip. Meanwhile, a slightly amnesiac Charlene wakes up from her coma to a waiting Sunny, and, under the advice of a mysterious stranger, begins to retrace her steps from New Years. What makes this such an interesting series is that, for all the exquisite detail the book gives us into each of these character’s inner lives and monologues, they never seem to be the details we need to solve the series’ main mysteries – mostly surrounding Caroline and now her brother. Instead, the issue is more concerned about Lottie’s continued attempts to impress Caroline by hiding how much she enjoys things like waiting in lines to get into fancy restaurants, and comic-con. But of course, it turns out that Caroline actually wants to go to the party after all, despite it being nerdy. Plus, showing us Lottie’s self-conscious side does do a great deal humanize her, keeping us on the love-hate relationship rollercoaster this book’s set up between us and the protagonist. It’s super interesting how the book divides our attention, really – because it wants us to care about Lottie, and gives us so much of her that we’re kind of forced to despite how terrible of a person she may be, but never lets us forget about this big mystery that Lottie barely even knows is something to be solved. It’s a really fun push-and-pull to play with/against, especially as you never know what the stakes of any given issue is gonna be.

Bitch Planet: Triple Feature #4 Another successful book of short stories from the Bitch Planet universe. Deschamps, Lee, and Olea’s “Life of a Sportsman” shows us a corner of the world we haven’t gotten to before, revealing the hyper toxic-masculinity of sports in this world, following the career of a megaton player who gets off better than OJ and Brock Turner combined. Sara Woolley’s “Bodymod” shows us the extremes that plastic surgery went to in Bitch Planet, making women into literal angels and mermaids who live in constant pain for their beauty. And Ayala and Gifford’s “To Be Free…” is a heist, where a ballerina is recruited to steal something of incredible value from a history museum in order to help the resistance. Unlike last issue, none of these stories feel like they’re repeating themselves or stepping on each-other’s toes. This issue also has some of the most distinctive art of these collections yet, further expanding the universe.

—

9/27/17

Marvel Legacy #1 One million years ago, Odin and Agimotto joined ancient versions of the Pheonix, Starbrand, Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, and Black Panther to lock a Celestial deep under the Earth. Today’s versions of those heroes begin having dreams of those events, not understanding what they mean in the context of a world removed from its status quo. Welcome to Marvel Rebirth, essentially. Secret Empire really messed things up for the Marvel Universe, and it’ll take another universe threatening cataclysm to shake things back into shape. Not gonna lie, the Avengers One Million BCE is badass, if archeologically bonkers, and I’m excited to see more of them. And I’m also all about the return of Marvel’s first family. And also Space Wakanda. But overall, this felt a lot like Rebirth #1 without the soul. Just a bunch of hints to future stories.

Generations: Spider-Man Bendis does what he does best and writes an issue where two people just sit and talk to each-other. Miles Morales wakes up in the past, at Empire College, where he runs into a young Peter Parker, who is about to have one of the worst nights of his life. But instead of seeing that story (again), we see what happens when Miles talking to an exhausted Peter after the action, and learn what it means to live as Spider-Man, and the person under the mask. When forced to tell a story in one issue, Bendis really can do wonders, even in his normally dialogue heavy style. At its core, this issue is one Spider-Man revealing to another that being Spider-Man is never easy, it’s always sacrifice, and it’s always personal. And that’s exactly the sort of thing the first needs to talk about to learn when he’s won, and the second needs to hear to learn that he’s doing a good job.

Black Panther #18 The Midnight Angels go on a mission to retrieve Asira as T’Challa and Shuri investigate a village whose people were stripped completely to the bone. Shuri recognizes this from a Wakandan legend involving the Originators, but further investigation points towards a different origin. A lighter issue than most of Black Panther, consisting almost entirely of two action scenes with a last act reveal. Really not much to review in this one; it’s mainly a set-up for a big Legacy rematch.

Wonder Woman #31 Well, it’s not a great sign when the first issue of your Wonder Woman run barely has Wonder Woman in it. Instead, most of this issue concerns a fight between Hercules and Darkseid’s daughter, Grail. Wonder Woman’s only job in the issue is to find out who won. Like, the set-up is interesting enough, but I pick up this series to read about Wonder Woman, not Young Darkseid.

The Flash #31 Flash tries to evacuate the city before Bloodwork can hurt anyone, but with his powers still causing destruction everywhere he goes, realizes he has to stop this problem at the source. But hearing Bloodwork’s motivation helps Barry realize that his negative powers may be feeding on the same impulses, and realizing that can help the hero and villain alike. The end of this arc masterfully threads the needle from moody black-suit hero to reformed opportunistic hero, without letting Barry off the hook for being a jerk to his friends and family. Barry understands why his negativity has been ruling him, and promises to take steps to fix that, the first one being accepting responsibility for his actions. This ain’t a clean-slate for better-Barry. It’s self improvement, and it’s work. And its great that Williamson isn’t ending this arc with everything hunky-dory. It ends with Barry on the first step to healing, himself and those he’s hurt.

Batgirl #15 Dick and Barbara try to get some info on the Red Queen out of Mad Hatter, but he’s not talking much while in critical condition, and the hospital might not be the safest place for them at the moment, anyway. And in the past, Robin and Batgirl go undercover at a high school party to investigate where the drugs are coming from, but only find a strange song. And Barbara begins work on Ainsley’s project, which involves nano-bots with an intriguing glitch. I’m still charmed by this book strictly on the basis of DickBabs. It’s like, the one ship in fiction I’m actually invested in, and this story is handling it so well! Honestly, all I’m asking for are more Robin and Batgirl adventures, cute awkward flirting and all!

Nightwing: The New Order #2 Finally, a superhero about fascism I can get behind! Ok, “finally” is a bit much considering that this is basically an X-Men mutant registration story with DC characters; but what makes it work, unlike, say, Secret Empire, is that it addresses fascism’s marriage with bigotry. This issue flat-out says that this started because people were afraid of their neighbors, of the “others” that creeped in until it seemed like they suddenly overwhelmed the “normals.” And it shows that Nightwing, in a state of panic, gave into the fear and slippery-sloped the world into fascism. The details are unrealistic, of course, but the broad strokes ring true. The story does have one of the big issues that most X-Men stories like this also share, which is that unlike skin-color or religion, a superpower could actually pose a bodily threat to other people, and like weapons, should have public oversight…but that’s one of those dissonant you’ve just kinda gotta accept as part of the genre. Also, Bat-MVP Alfred-fucking-Pennyworth, refusing to stand down to fascism, bringing a bat to a gunfight, and showing Dick how it’s done. Next issue hopefully begins the Nightwing apology/ass-kicking tour.

Saga #47 We catch up with The Will, whom has been kidnapped by the vengeful widow of one of the many many many people he’s killed, who is using a magic VCR to playback his memories to find someone close to him that she can kill, and make him watch. Sadly, for both of them really, she’s having more trouble finding someone close to The Will still alive. It has been a minute since Saga featured the universe’s most unfortunate bounty-hunter, but this issue more than makes up for it. Through the magic VCR we witness the childhood incident that turned him into a freelancer, and an early mission with The Stalk, before his kidnapper discovers a memory she can do something with. The developing rapport between the Will and his kidnapper is also golden. She’s trying way too hard to play the supervillain, prancing around and taunting, to break the Will, but he’s already too broken to care, and has nothing left to lose anyway. I really can’t wait to see how she eventually becomes his new sidekick or partner and the sorts of hijinks they’ll get into.

Crosswind #4 After a pleasurable, but confusing, night out with Cason’s fiance, June finally decides to try and call the man whose body she’s inhabiting by calling herself. Fortunately, Cason – in June’s body – picks up, and the two have a conversation about being each-other. And June needs the advice, as Case’s life is about to get very very dangerous. It’s really an accomplishment that this issue can have a body swap conversation – in a silent medium, remember – with characters that are rarely using their own names, and still have it be completely legible. Case and June just have such distinctive “voices” in syntax and diction and style, that they’re clear even coming out of the other’s mouth. Just from a writing perspective, that’s super impressive on Simone’s part. But it’s also the rare body-swap conversation where the characters aren’t complaining to the other about how hard their lives are, the opposite in fact. Each compliments the other for the good in each-other’s lives. Cason compliments June on her son and gentleness, while June tells Case how impressed she is by the respect everyone shows him. But they also tell the other to be careful and not mess their lives up before they can swap back. And the issue rounds off with each actually making steps to work on maintaining the other’s appearances, with June hiring some people to watch her back; while Case goes to a neighbor’s house to find out how to be more ladylike. The conflict in this book isn’t with each-other at all, it’s already present in their own lives, and the other just has to deal with a completely foreign situation. Also, Simone gets in a couple of good boner jokes! Always a plus. Lastly, Staggs is doing so much with these characters’ body language. Posture, reactions, how they hold phones or go to sleep tells us so much about every character completely wordlessly, and in the sort of fine detail that’s not easy to come by in most comics. This is a wonder on every level.

Comic Reviews for 9/20/17 and 9/27/17 9/20/17 Batman: the Red Death The first of the Dark Knights rises! In Earth -52, Batman hunts the Flash for his speed force.

[theonyxpath]

Well, hello!

I’m back from both GenCon and then a week off on family vacation, and big thanks to the amazing Dixie for filling in with this blog last week!

I’m full of energy and rarin’ to go. Doing that thing where you bounce on your toes a bit – which is kind of hard to do typing away as I have been all day!

If my emails were physical mail, the letters would fill my office, so I’m taking a bit of time to get through all of them. Plus, this week’s Monday Meeting was a fair bit of catch-up for all of our crew (besides Eddy, who is still on his vacay visiting wrestling events), with a few reports from us on GenCon, and the meetings that came out of it.

Which I’ll share with you now:

First, the message we relayed at our various panels was that we’re continuing to change/evolve as we need to as a company. So if you think our Kickstarters are only about Deluxe books and we run them like we did in 2013, please check again, because we’re far more likely to run a KS in order to do a print run of books to get into retail stores.

Which is another continuing evolution as we continue to add projects that will mean books that get into distribution and stores via our sales partners at Studio2 and IPR– all while maintaining our availability on DriveThruRPG and our other venues.

Distant Worlds illustration by Sam Denmark

The big change at GenCon was our choice to not appear there with an Onyx Path booth in the Exhibitor Hall, so that was something brought up a fair bit at the convention.

So far, from talking things through today, we’re still thinking it was a good decision. Both Mighty Matt McElroy and I had much more time to talk with creators like Travis Legge, our friends in the business (either existing or prospective), translators, and I even made a walk-through of artist alley and got to chat with some of our favorites.

Meanwhile, as we anticipated, our panels were a great place to field questions from our regular attendees. Thanks to all of you who attended and put us through our paces with your questions! We’ll be getting a report on how our demo games went later from The Wrecking Crew, but I, at least, only heard good things about those.

If you were there, or had friends there, and heard anything otherwise about our presence at Gen Con, please let me know – either here in the comments or directly to richt@theonyxpath.com. We really do appreciate knowing how others saw things.

Book of Oblivion illustration by Drew Tucker

Another big set of questions were about White Wolf/Paradox and how Vampire, V5, WoD, 20th Anniversaries, CofD, and Exalted are going to be created, published, handled.

Part of the confusion was within that “not happening like it used to” theme we talked about. WW/Paradox is signing lots of licensees for all sorts of projects; mostly for V5, but also for other WoD projects. Seeing boardgames come out from four or five different companies, several card games from different companies including the rebirth of Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, and also several computer games is a lot happening that we should be thrilled about as fans.

What seems the most confusing for folks, though, is when they see different companies producing V5 TTRPGs, maybe because they’re concerned about V5 game books being created by multiple companies and that’s just not how it has been done, or they’re are concerned about rules and setting coherence, or overall quality. Or maybe because it’s not clear how the rest of the WoD game lines will be handled.

We at Onyx Path can only reply as we did at the con – with our understanding of the situation. Which is that it is not easy to reconfigure a business as WW/Paradox has been reconfigured and that currently their team is juggling a lot of existing licensed projects as the folks responsible for overseeing the V5 brand. That means, in answer to the concerns of coherence and quality, that WW/Paradox reviews and approves all the projects and follows through their creation with further approvals to maintain everything V5 the way they want it.

Which is another good reason they are working with the fine folks at Modiphius to get more V5 TTRPG material published, as Modiphius can take the biggest portion of the nuts and bolts of publishing and working with other licensees like Onyx Path off of WW/Paradox‘s busy hands and let them focus on brand management.

As for us, well, the wonderful accolades for V5 Chicago By Night‘s Backer PDF, the strong interest in the follow-up material for CbyN that came out of the Kickstarter Stretch goals, and the recent happy excitement over the V5 Cults of the Blood Gods press release, are all music to our ears and are great data-points when we discuss further projects.

(And hey, I know that sometimes it seems like we say stuff over and over on all our social media, including this MMN blog, about our upcoming projects, but we heard from so many surprised folks after that Cults press release who had no idea it was coming that you just gotta let us keep getting the word out in as many ways – and as often we have to in order to reach our far-flung fantastic fans!)

Beyond V5, and figuring that the time will come that other game lines get attention, it’s always going to start with what WW/Paradox wants to do, so they’re the folks you want to politely let know your thoughts and feelings about those WW game lines. We can, and do, submit pitches as a licensee, but they’re the owners and decide which things get the green light to move ahead.

Aeon Aexpansion illustration by Gong Studios

Back to overall Onyx Path changes, we noted at Gen Con that there was no new brochure debuted at Gen Con, as we want to do a full year one – Jan through Dec. So expect 2020 one to debut a month early at PAX Unplugged this year and then throughout 2020’s cons starting with MidWinter in Jan.

That also means that we didn’t spring any new projects at the con, as we usually build them into the brochure. Part of that is the brochure timing thing, and part of it is that we’re looking at announcements that roll out through the year rather than happening at a single event- unless tying it to the event makes the most sense.

You can expect some of those about new projects unannounced that are already in the works, as well as those we worked out in meetings at Gen Con, throughout the rest of this year and through 2020, as we keep on making:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Keep an eye out in this space as well as on our social media for the Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter that will be launching after August wraps up!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features an interview the team conducted with Travis Legge, the man behind our Twitch endeavors and creative genius for the Scarred Lands!

The Onyx Path News was live today and can be found on our YouTube channel right here, along with Matthew’s Wraith: The Oblivion actual play, uploads from Twitch, and a request for you to submit Deviant questions:  https://www.youtube.com/user/TheOnyxPath

And mentioning Twitch, Travis has continued with our streams of actual plays, interviews, and more, and would love to have you join us live! Please tune in and subscribe to get notifications of upcoming content: https://www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath/ There’s Pugmire: Paws and Claws, Scion: Athens, Ohio, Pirates of Bloodwater, and more!

In other news, the Story Told Podcast just interviewed part of the team behind the Changeling: The Dreaming Player’s Guide! Please check out their show here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-33-c20-players-guide-round-table-interview

Do you love Exalted? Please please please check out Beamduck‘s show right here, as it’s excellent: https://www.twitch.tv/beanduck

Occultists Anonymous are hammering out new episodes of their Mage: The Awakening chronicle, and we’d love for you to check them out. Here are the details:

Episode 34: Broken Things – Mammon works with the Mysterium to determine what is going on with his memories of Beck. Elsewhere, Atratus searches for the reason behind her trouble with spells. Wyrd searches the city for her own answers. https://youtu.be/1mS2Cz8ymtQ

Episode 35: Watching Eyes – Mammon and Hiza flee a Grigori as they search for the reason for Mr. Graves’ intrusion on Mammon’s memories. Atratus travels into her own soul with Songbird and Wyrd on the advice of the Apeiron they named Hephaestus. https://youtu.be/b3RLfdK9vZM

Do you listen to Twin Cities by Night? If not, why not? This show puts out a whole host of different actual play content, and if you want a gritty Chronicles of Darkness game, they’re one of the best places to go: https://twincitiebynight.podbean.com/

Our good friends over at Caffeinated Conquests are continuing to run The Sacrifice from Chicago by Night using V20 rules! There are very few playthroughs of that story that involve a Gargoyle and a True Brujah, but theirs certainly does: https://www.youtube.com/user/CafConIsOn/videos

Devil’s Luck Gaming is always a fantastic place to go for your Scarred Lands hookup, too. One of the best actual play channels going today: https://www.twitch.tv/DevilsLuckGaming

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’re putting the PDF and physical book PoD versions of Book of Oblivion for Wraith20th on sale!

The Book of Oblivion Includes:

New Shadow Archetypes, Thorns, and an array of horrifying new antagonists.

Chapters devoted to Spectres, their terrible cults, and the rare process of Spectre redemption.

Deep explorations of the Tempest; the Labyrinth; the Dark Kingdoms of Flint, Gold, Ivory, Obsidian, and Swar; the Mirrorlands; and several other bizarre and fascinating Necropoli.

Conventions!

Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

W20 Art Book (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Redlines

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Development

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Manuscript Approval

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

V5 Chicago Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Editing

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Post-Editing Development

Memento Mori (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e Companion)

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle

VtR Spilled Blood – All the art that is in is approved. Felipe is working on stuff.

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds – Waiting for Gregor and Darko to wrap up.

Trinity Continuum Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Contracted. Sketches already coming in.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers – Contracted. LeBlanc doing the splats.

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties

DR:E Jumpstart – Sam Denmark is doing this.

Deviant for KS – Contracted.

In Layout

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Dark Eras 2 – Files with Aileen

Proofing

Aeon Aexpansion

C20 Cup of Dreams

V5: Chicago – Backer PDF out, errata lock down Friday.

Geist 2e – XX’s and then Indexing.

Signs of Sorcery – Inputting errata.

M20 Book of the Fallen

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Deluxe at Studio2, shipping after Gen Con.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – At Studio2, shipping after Gen Con.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Shipped to Studio2, shipping after Gen Con.

Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2.

TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2.

Book of Oblivion – PDF/PoD versions ON SALE WEDNEDAY.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity Core – Printing.

Trinity Aeon – Printing.

DR: E – Backer PDF out to backers.

Shunned By the Moon – PoD files uploaded.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

On this date in 1990, Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton found to date, is discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota. Y’know, I sure love dinosaurs. As a kid, I corrected Miss Larmen, my Kindergarten teacher, when she misidentified and mispronounced their names. Lest you think I was just a little know-it-all, she encouraged me to do so, thus unknowingly setting me on a life-long path as a smart-ass.