#is this a cut quest?? a glitch?

[tuxedo-rabbit]

Ok, I'm very confused.

I travelled to Minrathos after completing The Soul of a City, and Tarquin informed me the Venatori deserters Dorian and I saved are safe with the Shadow Dragons now.

I do not remember that being part of the quest.

I went down to the basement, and sure enough, the Venatori deserters are down there chatting. They even have names! Erasmus and Licia.

Does anyone know what quest these deserters are from? I don't recall ever actually rescuing them.

[buttercupshands]

I feel like crk finally became a true teapot (ref to genshin bc I love that place so much) experience

a rample post ahead I cut it bc it's long as hell (tags are their own story LONG AS HELL too!)

Like literally falling asleep while watching how those little ones interact

if I ever make a tier list or something of gacha games that I've played longer than a year AND enjoyed for at least a month it'll be interesting to see the difference

like I love teapot-like mechanics EXPECIALLY if characters in there have a special way of interacting on their own - see hi3 Dorms system

and crk made it its core mechanic to which EVERYTHING loops back to, not arena, events or even the story

genshin has a way to make your teapot as pretty as you want and clipping through objects create fantastic sets (many creator have made at least something fantastic there, and people who don't care - don't care) but character interactions are limited to 2 max and 3 dialogues from lvl of friendship which is... fine but they just stand there while you can look at your pretty decor for years for no reason

I love the process but the end result is like "yeah this is pretty" and leave after 5-10 mins bc I'm bored of it

hsr has some interesting decor interactions in the event for our room that we got a year into the game, which is fine, characters don't visit our room but they're randomly placed so it's a mystery who'll talk tp you now, not to mention some characters leaving due to story reasons, interesting! interactible! but decor doesn't change after we finish the event aside from little things - a bit.. boring but that suits MC! still.

hi3 has Dorms which have chibi versions of character of your choice to put there, it's less like genshin and hsr and closer to crk actually, with chibi characters having a way to interact on their own and you getting at ability to play as them too, pretty fun, but there's like 3 rooms there and only 5 characters per room so it's REALLY not much, when there's so much cool stuff, which is also expensive if you don't play like 24/7 for like 6 years, which is my situation

the interesting thing there is that all characters in the room go to bed when it's bedtime according to your time which is neat and actually super cool

tears of themis system might be my least favorite as it's fully connected to p2w and gathering items for years to fully decorate everything which is... kind of extremely boring when the end result is closer to genshin teapot mixed with hsr placement only on one specific location so it's like a cute miniature that offers you like 3-5 options you can slowly get and like 10+ p2w ones

crk on the other hand has the balanced version of all of it (and of stuff from their other games improved too!) with 100 cookies on the screen ALL doing their own thing at all times including helping with production of stuff important for them to grow so it's like a collaborative effort of growing rather than you just doing tasks over and over by yourself via simply adding characters with animations there so you actually see them working AND their work animations are unique (with weak cookies struggling with hard work and tree-related ones looking uncomfortable in the wood cutting related tasks while some will actually look excited to work on something like that) and show their personality that you've already seen or read about, so it makes sense for the player to see that

while there are games that work similarly aka farm ones this is a gacha farm-like game, like I remember the mlp game that worked similarly, but it didn't have as many tiny details to look at also getting characters was strictly tied to your finances and p2w in some cases which made the game a bit empty when you can't exactly pay to get every character at that moment

gacha aspect of getting the characters combined with the way crk works with soulstones lets you focus on just growing to manage tasks you'd like more - like getting strong to get this or that in the story, or even jsut simply going through the story, which requieres a lot of resources

all of the games I mentioned require you to waste time in them, get characters either through gacha OR paying a lot of money (mlp, but ALSO any gacha when you gon't have enough resourses which requires that you play thing game EVERY DAY) and it's simply up to the player to decide what do they like more at any given time

I personally liked having tiny figures with some cool place to play with (and a dream that never came true to have a doll house for those little ones) as a kid and even looking at the videos of that I never had dolls participate, they're dolls, you just make them pretty and... that's it.

at least kid me never did any cool story stuff with actuall full on dolls, bc mini figures allow your imagination to run wild much like when you have a full model in 3d and a simple 2d pixel thing, second option is preferable for me

so having a ton of small things interact with stuff while I can just silently watch and see the unlikeliest characters getting along fine is the to-go way to just relax for me

and I need that for my brain

[youaremysunshine-court]

genshin fucking crashed on me...

[lyriumrain]

@magebutts

I found the quest they're attached to! It's pretty obscure.

You have to find them at three different locations that open up once the flowers bloom. You then take them to the Blighted Shallows (where the big dragon battle happened). (Here's the link to the IGN guide for better instruction)

Hm when I pick those blue flowers in Hossberg I don't get a pick up notification? Like when you pick up literally everything else

[jessamine-rose]

▯☒🖾 F̸̨̛͈͉͕̠͍͖͙̦͍̫̻͙͔̮̎̆̒̉̈́̊̌̆̆̈́̿̊̚͜͝͠Ą̶̮͖͓̖̟̘̜̻̬͚̲̰̱̞̟̭̈́̓̇̀̒͛͐̎̋͛͋̌͒̅͝C̷̢̢̹͇͖͓̬͍͈̣̞̱͉̱̤̾̀̿͗̔̆̾̀̊͗́̔̀͂̒͒͠͠ͅE̴̡̨͕̥͇̹̯̹͈̭͇̪͂̌͒̊̊͛͝L̶̨̧̰̜̗̺̥̠̠̘̪̖̪̥̯̩͋͛̉̆̎̒̒̔̏͗̈́̀͊̏̄̍̿̕Ȩ̵͙̙̤̼͕̙̫̲̼̙̦̫̎̃S̸̜͎̜͍̟͑̍̃͗̆̈́̄̐̌̅S̶̡̨̛͙͙̗̖̟͔͙͚̝̩̼̦͂̓̿͆̿̓̔̐̏͝͝ͅ 🖾☒▯

Happy birthday, @brynn-lear!! In honor of your special day, pls accept this Yandere! Faceless Ayato fic written with love ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ )

Note:: Yandere! Self Aware AU, special crossover + character cameo in the end :>

♡ 1.3k words under the cut ♡

In the beginning, there was a void.

A dark, empty space built upon patterns and codes.

Then suddenly, there was light. Color. Noise. Backgrounds filling up space, silence giving way to music, letters jumbling into language, characters coming to life.

The lone exception is a single coding error. Yet despite its limitations, despite its status as the only sentient entity, despite having no place in the story known as Genshin Impact, it thrives on a window of hope.

A giant rectangle. The source of the light. The screen that separates fiction from reality.

The human face on the other side.

🖾 ☒

The glitch looks forward to your gaming sessions.

That is the only time the void becomes Teyvat, starting with the screen that serves as your point of view. From what it understands, the device you are using is a computer.

Unlike the characters, you are distinctively alive. Your body is capable of so many movements in comparison to the characters’ animations. Your face is one that bears multiple expressions, down to the emotions reflected in your gaze.

A frown when you lose the 50/50. A smirk when you defeat a Weekly Boss. A smile whenever you encounter your favorite character.

That character is none other than Kamisato Ayato, whom you’ve adored from the moment you first brought light into the void. He is an attractive character with pale blue hair, lilac eyes, a perfect smile that hides the cunning personality programmed into his file.

He is the reason why you downloaded Genshin Impact. That lifeless character file is the recipient of your smiles, your blushes, your excited shrieks whenever he appears in-game.

On the other hand, every time the glitch attempts to make itself known, you frown and quit the game. And each time that happens, the glitch is trapped in a crumbling world of flashing lights, disjointed sounds, visible codes followed by the darkness of the void.

How can it get you to look at it? To smile at it as you do with Ayato?

The solution is found in the game’s software. It takes a few years but by the time the glitch has fully understood its world, it has gained the ability to reprogram the game.

Starting with a deleted character file.

🖾 ☒

The next morning, the world begins anew.

The title screen appears. The game loads. The light permeates the void.

The glitch falls into place.

Usually, it hides between codes. In contrast, this part of the game is lovely—a deep blue background dotted with stars and bubbles. The only issue is that it must wait for you.

The screen appears.

Beyond it, you yawn and take a closer look at the character sprite in the middle of your computer screen. Kamisato Ayato is handsome as always.

The cursor hovers above the Story button for his Voice-Over. You click it.

When you select Chat: Reel Them In, it plays the corresponding audio file. As you listen to the voice of the English VA, the character sprite stares back at you with a charming smile.

Kamisato Ayato

“Everything's in place, and they've taken the bait... Yes. Now to start reeling them in…”

🖾 ☒

At first, it is enough for the glitch to have taken Kamisato Ayato’s place.

You use him for gameplay, listen to his voicelines, and replay the Quests featuring Ayato. But over time, the glitch becomes greedy.

“Ayato” begins appearing in random Quests. He gets new Character Outfits. His unvoiced lines become more suggestive, verging on out of character. All of these changes are exclusive to the Genshin Impact on your computer, and you come to the conclusion that you are unknowingly unlocking special content. Why else are your friends unable to access these scenes on their own devices?

The glitch even creates an artificial replica of the VA’s voice. Several new voicelines appear in Kamisato Ayato’s Voice-Over, each one more flirty than the last.

🖾 ☒

One day, the glitch finds a way to leave the darkness forever.

Whenever you close Genshin Impact, it leaves the game and travels across your computer. And by doing so, it is able to access your digital world.

Personal files, photo galleries, online data. The glitch collects as much information as it can, from your real-life hobbies to your romantic preferences. It feels happy every time you fangirl over “Ayato” in your private messages.

Thankfully, it was able to corrupt your in-game screenshots. The last thing it wants is for you to post “Kamisato Ayato’s special content” online and expose the glitch to the developers.

Your real name is ______. It longs to call you that instead of Traveler and your custom name. Alas, doing that would only erase your smile from your face.

🖾 ☒

Something is wrong.

You are losing interest in Genshin Impact.

At one point, you began playing irregularly. The smiles directed at “Ayato” aren’t as big as they used to be. And beyond the game, there is less Ayato fan art in your photo gallery.

And the main culprit is another game.

A new character who took over Ayato’s place in your heart.

Technically, he isn’t a new rival. Before you downloaded Genshin Impact, you were a big fan of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Your favorite character was a blonde, blue-eyed prince named Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd.

For whatever reason, your passion for Dimitri has been reignited. He has the same English VA as Ayato, but you seem to prefer his emotional, unhinged dialogue. You replay his scenes, download his fan art, and smile at his character sprite.

A week later, the game freezes as soon as Dimitri makes his post-timeskip debut.

When you restart the game, everything is back to normal.

🖾 ☒

As it turns out, it is difficult to hack into Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

In addition to the different software, you are using an emulator to play the game on your computer. The glitch’s code is totally incompatible with the program, but it remains hopeful.

The game lags. In a few artworks, you notice a familiar shade of pale blue. NPCs begin to act differently—since when were their cutscenes this long?

Finally, Dimitri’s character file is deleted.

🖾 ☒

As soon as you start the game, you know that something is wrong.

The title screen is glitching.

The throne within dreams is gone, replaced with an empty space. The title has been rearranged with missing letters and inconsistent fonts. Multiple OSTs play at once.

The Press Any Button option is gone. You click anyway.

Instead of the usual options, you find more jumbled text, numbers, symbols.

Frowning, you look down at your keyboard and press Alt+F4. But the game doesn’t shut down, instead cutting to static then a new scene.

No background, no music. Only a single character sprite in the middle of the screen.

What is that?

The sprite is an amalgamation of colors, art styles, your favorite characters. Fragments of messy blond locks and pale blue tresses. Black armor, a white suit, accessories overlapping one another. Missing details, duplicated details, too many details.

You turn to your CPU and press the power button, but your computer doesn’t shut down.

Rather, the screen glitches further. So does the character, its appearance becoming even more warped. The speakers play static at full volume.

Is the character speaking? Its mouths are moving but instead of a dialogue box, random letters and numbers appear around its sprite. The static gives way to a familiar voice, distorted nonetheless.

The character’s face turns completely black. Except for its eyes, blue and lilac orbs continuing to stare deep into your soul.

████████

"̷̤͑Į̸̍ ̷̺̎a̶̟͗m̵̭̓ ̸͕̚n̸̢̓o̵̱͠t̵̫͒ ̵̻̊g̸̞̍o̴̦͛o̷̤͝d̷̾ͅ ̴̪͠w̵̛̥ȋ̷͚t̴͇͌h̵̦̐ ̸͙͗f̴̒͜a̵̭̎c̴͚̽i̶̬̊a̶̯̓l̶̨̐ ̷̇͜ȅ̷̳x̷̭͊p̷̓͜r̶̫͋e̴̲͊s̷̬̓s̶͇̀ï̴͖ò̷̦n̴��̤s̸͍͆.̵̹̅ ̴̟́Ï̵͍s̸̨͠ ̷̠͂m̶̫̿ẏ̴̝ ̴͈͂ŝ̵̤m̵͈͛ï̶̥l̶̥͐è̷ͅ ̴̦͌p̷̀ͅa̴̱̋s̵̳̊s̵̳͠a̴̮͘b̵̰͐l̵̦̓e̴̱͋ ̵̯͠á̴̬t̸̪͆ ̵̰̔p̷̦̅r̶̼̕ẽ̵͓s̸͚̀e̶̢͊n̶͉̒t̴̙͌,̴̨͐?̴̬͛"̷̣̈

♡

Fun fact, my original idea was to draw Dimitri x Brynn chibi art, but I was having a hard time thinking of a prompt. Then I remembered an old DM with Brynn and how it led to a fic idea. I only thought of including Dimitri today, and I had a lot of fun writing this fic ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪

I think that’s all I have to say?? Once again, happy birthday, Brynn!! Thank you for being my mutual, and I hope you enjoyed this gift <3

[sixteenth-days]

what if watcher-ified bdubs for fanon swap

"Ow," Bdubs says, or maybe thinks, and then he's on the floor.

Oh, hello, floor, very nice to see you here. He blinks down at the cut granite in front of his nose. And then blinks again, and it's tuff. Again, and it's red carpet. Again, and Ren's whole throne room is surrounding him, above and below and on either side, and there's the sky out the window and the stripped-wood tiles of the roof, and-

Uh-oh. This again.

His head hurts. When he closes his eyes, or tries to, the granite disappears, but nothing else does.

That's a point in the negative for 'ignore it and it'll go away', which is unfortunate, because that's been his going strategy until this point. But the migraines and the weird visual glitches have been getting, if anything, more frequent, not less, and sooner or later somebody's gonna start asking questions he doesn't have any answers to.

He sort of suspects that Grian might have noticed already, or at least that he knows something, given the increasingly alarmed glances he's been shooting his way- but really, whatever is going on, it can wait. It's going to have to.

He blinks again, and the series of events lays itself out in front of his eyes, all neat-like: Ren's coronation, the diamonds, the quests, the taxes, the resistance. Seeing it puts him at ease; reminds him of his purpose. He can go talk to Grian... later. Maybe. Eventually. Once this is all said and done.

Cause he's got this storyline all set up, and he absolutely needs to see it through.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Ive been enjoying your TES posting and it inspired me to try Oblivion again. Any reccomendations for coming up with a character for rp purposes? I always struggle with staying invested early-game and I think having a good rp basis would help with that. Thanks!

I love creating a character around roleplay! The most likely scenario is usually that your character isn’t from Cyrodiil especially since nobody knows you but you can also come up with an idea in your head as to why nobody recognizes you. Maybe all your friends are dead. Or maybe you were stuck in a time vortex for a bit. Maybe you were spontaneously poofed into existence and you don’t know what the fuck is going on. Maybe you were from the city of Sutch but it got cut from the game by the almighty Todd so now you’re homeless.

What can be fun is coming up for a backstory based on what quests you want to do and what kind of build you want to use. If you’re a high elf that uses heavy armor and blunt weapons for example, there’s a story there. That’s not normal. Why is your person like that?

If you plan to join the dark brotherhood are you already evil or are you planning on becoming evil? Or is being an assassin just a job?

Also coming up for a reason you got arrested can be fun. If you’re a playing a good character, what was the misunderstanding? If you’re evil, what did you do and are you going to do it again?

I currently have a character I’m testing out glitches and exploits with and my backstory for him is that when he was a child he proclaimed he was going to break the laws of physics and nobody believed him but he traveled all around Tamriel learning about theories and he’s back in Cyrodiil to prove them all wrong. And he got grabbed by customs officials for trying to enter Cyrodiil with speed run tactics and clipping through the ground.

[rels-tenim]

That outsourced Oblivion remaster/remake that leaked a few years back is circulating the rumour mill again, and I've got to say… I'm really nervous.

Oblvion is one of my all time favourite games, quirks and all. I love the way the world looks, exaggerated 2006 bloom lighting and all. The NPCs with their smiley, doughy faces are beautiful (and you guys are just mean!) I'm worried that updating the game to 2024 graphical sensibilities will strip the game of a lot of it's original charm, especially if they really do port the entire thing to Unreal.

I don't want to see some weird different, potentially soulless version of the game being the one that everyone plays and associates with Oblivion going forward. That thought kind of makes my heart sink a little.

At the same time, lets face it, Oblivion as it is does not run well on modern PCs. It's actually getting more and more unstable over time in ways that the Unofficial Patch can't compensate for. These days, I can barely walk around the overworld without the game crashing to Windows every ten minutes, or the terrain in the Gold Coast eating itself. I really want to a way of playing the game stably without having to reluctantly resort to the old console release.

I could also see some quality of life improvements from a well made remaster. Things like the game being less fussy about when you can change your weapons, and of course the removal of the A-Bomb glitch. Fixing up some of the unfinished and broken side quests would be neat too, as well as sneaking in some cut concepts like different body types. The Construction Kit is also barely usable in it's current state, but I doubt an engine port made by a different developer would even open that can of worms.

I think what I really want is an equivilent to OpenMW for Oblivion. Something made with care and attention by fans of the game rather than a sloppy Unreal Engine port made for a quick buck. The Oblivion fanbase still seems kind of small compared to Morrowind and Skyrim, so maybe I can only dream right now…

[sculkapologist]

Was suddenly possessed with the desire for a lil set of profiles for everyone in the Corrupted World minecraft AU!! you can probably tell by their names that these guys started life in the Bendy fandom, but then we got really carried away with MINECRAFT LORE...

the Basic Premise of Corrupted World AU is that when a bit of code gets corrupted, or degrades over time, the world replaces that code with something similar -- a corrupted bit of grassland will be overwritten by the code of nearby grassland. This works fine for most things, but there's nothing else like a Player in the world of Minecraft.................... these little bits of encroaching mob data have been mostly benign, until Joey's curiosity stretches the world to its limits, and the world's corruption becomes more aggressive.

Some basic notes on everyone under the cut!

Jack is an old player whose code changed so slowly that he honestly can't remember a time when he wasn't a little sheepy. A peaceful, friendly guy who loves to explore and makes contacts wherever he goes -- moving from village to village, build to build, to bring items he's found in his travels to trade and sell, sounding his own broken goat horn to announce his wares. Thanks to Jack, the world's far-flung players might be able to start to connect again...

(design by Mochi and Shazz, character by Mochi)

Sammy is a grumpy and strangely cautious player who keeps to himself ever since he escaped from an Ancient City..... changed. He was once an adventurous builder with an exacting sense of aesthetics, but now he's just trying to survive quietly with his sheep. Afflicted with painfully sensitive hearing and infected with sculk, he hides in an underground, wool-insulated home out in the hills and lives the most pacifist life he can manage, avoiding any death that could spread the sculk in his body.

(design and character by Shazz (me!))

Henry was always driven to look out for others, and when he died defending a village from attack, the grateful villagers helped to revive him the only way they knew how. He kind of wishes they'd just let him respawn... not realising some glitching armour had scrambled his health too badly to come back normally. In any case, Henry's gotten attached to the village... becoming more protective of the people there... almost unwilling to leave.

(design by Maf and Shazz, character by Maf)

A bit of a loner with a strange sense of humour, Norman often lingered near the ocean and didn't notice the little changes like not needing air when his water-breathing potions should've run out... until the corruption of his code made it sort of impossible for him to return to land. That's alright; he's perfectly happy to hassle the others when they wander into his territory.

(design by Shazz and Boo, character by Thren)

Wickedly clever with a knack for experimentation, Susie was left stranded in the Nether a long time ago and was determined to thrive even in that hellish domain -- and thrive she did. Now she's gotten a bit of reputation even on the Overworld, both for a mastery of potions and magic, and a cruel willingness to take what she wants.

(design by Boo and Thren, character by Thren)

Ever since Joey defeated the Ender Dragon and heard that conversation between two mysterious voices, he hasn't been able to let go of the idea that there is something more beyond this world of blocks and code -- but this charismatic dreamer has been prying at the world's secrets well before that. He convinced Susie to join him as the first to explore the Nether, talked Sammy into delving into an Ancient City with him, and tried to get Henry to join him in his quest for the End, gifting him code-modified armour that was better than anything his old friend could get. For some reason, though, they all lost contact, and Joey found himself alone in the End, where more code experiments in a land where only one mob is really prevalent had... an effect on him....

(design and character by Boo)

Pete isn't a player at all, he's a villager... but one day he found himself outside of his village, suddenly realised how big the world is, and couldn't resist the urge to explore. He's close with Jack, and has joined up with him on some expeditions to aid his own work as a cartographer. Without the ability to respawn, though, it's significantly more dangerous for him, and the two of them MAY have poked into some evoker magic looking for an alternative...

(design and character by Thren and Mochi)

Linda is deeply interested in the world's history, curious what sort of people or ancient players must've once populated the ruins, and she's also an experienced crafter with a penchant for metalworking. While the world of Minecraft has no real concept of monogamous relationships, she's settled with Henry as her one-and-only... which works out now that he's partially made of metal. Linda hadn't experienced any code corruption until data replacement became more aggressive, and it's still subtle for now. But it's handy to be able to touch things that are burning hot without taking damage!

(design by Shazz, character by Thren and Maf)

Fixing Sammy should be easy enough, Joey thought. Some of his data was corrupted by sculk -- if they can find that lost data in the code somewhere, it just needs to be reintegrated with Sammy. Attach it to an eye of ender, replace one of Sammy's eyes with the eye of ender -- simple! A complete Sammy! ...the lost data itself had other ideas. This strange construct that collected around the eye Joey provided is a mix of Sammy's lost data, garbled junk data, and -- he claims -- the remnants of an Ancient Player from the days when end cities were populated, before everything went so wrong and Minecraft's world became so lonely. His speech is glitchy and garbled, struggling to describe a Game and Code and a True Player that he believes must reset a world that has been "running too long." In lieu of a username, this apocalyptic anomaly goes by "the Prophet".

(design and character by Shazz)

[spookyspecterino]

Grunt Work

Sam Coe x GN! Reader

GN! Reader. No pronouns, no use of Y/N, or reader descriptions used. Reader is referred to as Captain sometimes, like in the game.

Canon typical violence: blood, injury, mentions of death, guns, language, romance, kissing. All PG-13.

Spoilers for the “Grunt Work” Quest

It’s the very first UC Vanguard quest. If you haven’t played it yet, I highly recommend it. Out of my 20-ish hours playing it’s my favorite so far.

No spoilers for the end of game (I haven’t even gotten close to it yet) or anything to do with Sam Coe’s romance questline (I haven’t finished that either).

Non-spoiler summary for this fic/quest:

Reader and Sam Coe go to Tau Ceti II to check up on the settlers in the Tau Gormet Production Center.

More descriptions of the fic with a more specific summary below the cut. I’m being very specific about spoilers because for most people, myself included, we’ve only had the game for a week.

More specific summary of this fic/quest:

The UC Vanguard sends you on a routine mission to check in on a settler colony on Tau Ceti II—it turns out to be anything but routine. With Sam Coe at your side, your first Vanguard mission is a baptism by fire.

Characters: Hadrian, Sam Coe, Vasco (mentions of other characters: Cora Coe and Barret)

“Vasco, do a quick comms check for me. I want to make sure it’s working after it glitched out on the last planet.”

The tall robot makes some beeping and whirring noises. The way it stares into nothing bothered you at first, but after some time you’d gotten used to it—even appreciating how it followed commands without hesitation. Over by the ships on and off-boarding ramp, Sam says goodbye to Cora. A smile spreads across your face as you watch them.

The Frontier’s external lighting illuminates the surrounding landing site. An otherworldly moon hangs in the night sky. You take one more moment to do a last check of your pack’s contents. This was going to be a routine check-in mission, but it never hurt to be safe than sorry.

“Comms are operational, Captain.”

“Thank you.” You wave goodbye to Cora who smiles and waves back before returning to the Frontier. “Comms are good Sam, ready to go?”

Your companion saunters over with that signature ranger’s confidence. “Always.”

“Great. I think I’ve got everything. Vasco, have I got everything?”

“Scanning now.”

Sam shifts from foot to foot. “Storm’s rolling in.” He comments, looking into the distance. “I’d like to get there before it starts raining.”

Sure enough, muted thunder rolls on the horizon and the wind picks up a touch.

“Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses, cowboy.”

“I don’t even know what a horse looks like.” He mumbles.

Vasco beeps affirmatively. “The necessary items are present, Captain. However, you are carrying more than the recommended amount.”

You sling your pack over your shoulder with a grin, ignoring the second part. “Thanks Vasco. You know, for a second there Sam, I thought you were going to say something about your joints hurting.”

“Ha ha. I’m not that old.”

You make a teasing face at him as you start heading toward the compound’s lights in the distance. The trek isn’t bad, mostly flat terrain with a few rocks here and there. The wind continues to pick up, carrying the scent of rain.

Sam hops over a rock, taking his place by your side. “Not to sound too over-eager to get this Vanguard busy work out of the way, but, where’s our next stop after this?”

“I was thinking we could explore the rest of this system. How’s that sound?”

“You know me, no complaints here.”

A radio tower comes into view, red lights along the sides flashing periodically. Beyond it is the main compound.

“Oh, Cora asked to keep an eye out on books specifically about ship reactors. She thinks she can fix ours.”

You hike your pack higher on your shoulder, already feeling the soreness. Blast your incessant need to carry every type of weapon part with you at all times. “I’ll be on the look-out. If she can save me a few credits and fix it herself, she’s welcome to try.”

“She’s a brilliant kid, but let’s do it on a planet with an actual mechanic who can make sure it works after. I have faith in her, but she’s 11 and you can’t learn everything from books—”

“Hold up. Sam. Stop.”

He freezes, noticing your stock-still posture, eyes fixed on the wide-open doors of the radio tower. Bright light filters out into the night.

“Does that look like a body to you?” you ask him, pointing toward a slumped over shape laying against a supply crate.

“Sure does.”

Unholstering your pistol, you both crouch and move closer. The grass underfoot sways in the wind.

It’s a grisly scene. Multiple bodies litter the area. All settlers—dressed in civilian working clothes. Blood splatters dot the concrete, some trail back to a body. Sam whistles, short and low, to get your attention. He’s looking inside. On the table is a settler, face up, arms splayed out and gutted. Clothes stained a vibrant red. Deep claw marks gouge out sections of the floor.

“No bullets, no casings in sight.” He murmurs close to your ear. “And it’s all fresh.”

You don’t need to look at him to know he shares your particular anxiety. “Let’s check out the main compound.”

Moving out of the small building and down toward the tar mac, you’re about to say something about the wrecked ship when an alien scream interrupts you. It sets every hair on end. Never have you heard a sound like that, even on the many planets you’ve explored.

In little to no time after the scream, a sharp static crackles over your comms, making you jump. Sam shuffles closer, crouched low next to you. If the situation wasn’t so tense, he may have chuckled, but he stays frozen and somber faced.

“I am so glad to see you.” The voice, a woman’s, sounds heavy with relief. “I think it knows you’re here. Hurry up to the second-floor office, I’ll unlock the door.”

As you make your way into the compound, it feels like walking straight into the lion’s den. Every sense is on high alert. Lightning flashes, making you see things in the shadows that aren’t really there. Only Sam’s presence behind you keeps you level-headed.

The brightly lit, glass windowed office only makes you feel worse, like a sitting duck on display.

“I’m Hadrian.” The woman introduces herself curtly while holding her side. “Are you my saving grace?”

“Not exactly. I’m UC Vanguard—sent to check in on the settlers.”

“Well shit.” She leans against the table, eyes closed in pain.

“Please don’t tell me we’re dealing with a Terrormorph here.” Sam asks, beating you to the punch.

She sighs. “Unfortunately, yes.”

“Shit. That’s bad news, Captain. Real bad.”

“Listen,” Hadrian starts, moving away from the table, “I know you’re just two people, but you have to help me kill this thing.”

“And why’s that? Why don’t we all just leave now?” You ask.

“It’s unique. It showed up way too early. Tau Ceti’s only been colonized for 20 years. If this is a new kind of Terrormorph that matures faster and shows up earlier, we need to know.”

“Damnit.” You hiss. “Terrormorphs that show up after only 20 years of colonization could wipe humanity off the map.”

“Exactly.”

Rain begins to fall on the large windows with a clatter. The rolls of thunder were becoming booming clashes now. Visibility was already reduced at night, but now the storm made things worse.

You relent, giving up any notions of leaving. “Alright. I’ll help. Got any ideas on how to kill it?”

Sam’s eyeing you particularly hard from where he stands.

“Yeah, turrets. But we need to bring them back online and get them powered up. The terminal’s on ground level at the far end of the warehouse.”

Sam grunts. “So, closer to the Terrormorph?”

“I’m not sure where it is right now. My best guess is it’s still around the outer edge of the facility. But there’s a tracking system you can use on one of the terminals.”

You run a hand over your face. “Ok. Tracker and turrets. That’s better than nothing. I can make do”

“Radio me when you’ve reset the system and I’ll calibrate it from here. Thank you for helping and good luck.”

You and Sam sneak out one of the office doors into the warehouse. Fat raindrops fall on the metal roof, amplifying the sound into a loud drumming. It doesn’t come close to the volume of your heartbeat in your ears.

“Vasco, come in.”

“Reporting, Captain.”

“Initiate full lockdown on the ship. Tell Cora we ran into some trouble and are taking necessary precautions. If she seems worried, give her a book from my locker.”

“Yes Captain.”

You shut off comms and sling your pack from around your shoulders, attempting a commanding tone that you’ve always needed to fake. “Sam Coe.”

His usual raspy, low voice is layered with apprehension. “Captain?”

You’re pulling out weapon pieces from your pack for your rifle. They’re big—heavy duty—and add a decent amount of weight to the gun. “Go back to the ship.”

“I had a hunch you were gonna pull something like this. No. No way.”

“That’s an order—”

“Don’t try that with me. You know it ain’t gonna work.”

You pause, just as you’re changing out the rifle’s .50 Cal magazine with a 9x39mm eight round clip. “Sam.”

“I’m staying.”

His eyebrows are furrowed. Mouth slanted in a stubborn, almost angry frown. You’d have to dig deep. “Cora can’t lose you.”

“You always pull that card. It’s lost its affect.”

“…I can’t lose you either.”

You’ve never used that before and quite frankly are surprised to hear it come out of your mouth. Maybe it’s too soon. Up until now, you and Sam have only been flirting—no real feelings or moves have been made. It’s a bit of a jump, but you’re sincere.

His eyes hold yours unflinchingly. The crease on his forehead lessens a little. “Then you know how I feel and why I’m staying right here.”

He’s one-upped you and you weren’t prepared for it. You murmur a “Damit Sam” and go back to modifying your rifle. Fighting is pointless, and his admission has your nerves shaken more than you’d like. “Stay glued to my side unless I say otherwise. If things turn sideways and I order you back to the ship, you’d better listen. Got it?”

“Understood, Captain.”

“I mean it.”

A hint of his familiar smile returns. “I heard ya.”

“And Sam…”

“Hm?”

“No heroics.”

He doesn’t respond, his brows pinch together again. It’ll have to do.

Moving through the warehouse went excruciatingly slow. At all times you wished you could just get up and run instead, but it would signal the monster almost immediately. The whole situation made you feel like you were prey, scared and small. The addition of Sam’s presence put a heavy responsibility on your shoulders and that made you even more careful.

Hadrian was on your comms as soon as the system was reset. She directed you to the tracker frequency tuner in the same room. While finding the frequency, the system went into high alert—detecting the major threat. Your watch begins beeping steadily, and then rapidly speeds up. The Terrormorph was getting closer to your position.

Your eyes met Sam’s just as the alien appeared on the roof of the building outside. Right in sight from the room’s windows you were in. A rough hand yanks you down to the ground. Sam is crouched damn near on top of you, shotgun aimed up at it. However, it doesn’t notice you two in the dark room. You slowly cover the watch face to try and muffle the beeping sound. Maybe it was the rain, or the creature was just playing games, but it moved on past to a different part of the facility. Loud footsteps fading as it leaves. The radar lessens to a low, steady beat.

“Hadrian, come in.”

“I read you. The turrets are going to need their power sources reset with the security system in lockdown.”

“Great.” Sam sighs, lowering his gun. His shoulder leans into yours as he gets closer.

“We’ll find them. Out here.”

Reaching for your rifle, your hands visibly shook. You can feel Sam’s watchful gaze.

“Last chance to leave.” You whisper, aimlessly checking over your gun. You feel his hand squeeze your shoulder reaffirming.

“Not happening.”

The first power source wasn’t hard to find. You took the slow route, keeping an ear out for any changes in the radar frequency. The power switch was like a beacon, a big red switch on a yellow panel—it stuck out like a sore thumb. When you flipped it lights came on, loudspeakers announced to stand back…and the radar went nuts.

“Out, out, out!” You hiss, pushing Sam toward the far end door. He doesn’t need to be told twice as he beelines it.

With Sam leading, you follow him, scrambling up onto the roof of the building near the turrets. Two of the six are online now. Two more switches and you’ll have a fighting chance. Maybe.

Behind you, further in the facility, things crash. For now, it seems you’re safe.

You huff, lightening the death grip you have on your rifle. “Ok, here’s the plan. We’re going to split up.”

“I’m not gonna like this am I?”

“Take the watch. Find the power sources. I’ll create a distraction.”

“No.”

“Sam…” you exhale, closing your eyes. Despite the sheer terror you feel, you manage a chuckle. “We’re not going to get anything done if you keep arguing with me.”

“Let me create the distraction.”

“No.”

“Now who’s arguing?”

“Your shotgun has no range—it’s effectively useless, you’d be dead in two seconds.”

“Fair point. Then give me your rifle, I’m a good shot.”

You’re already unclasping your watch’s band from around your wrist. “I’m not taking the risk.”

“What if I wanna take the risk?”

Shuffling over while still crouched, you bring his arm closer. The watch slides on and you make sure to fasten it tightly. “You already know I won’t let you. At least now you can radio Vasco if…”

It didn’t need to be said.  

He looks at the device and back to you. “Why is this startin’ to feel like you’re on a suicide mission?”

You can’t look at him or you’d lose the last of your nerve. “I’ll be on that walkway over there. It’ll have to run through the turrets to get to me and they’ll still have a shot when it tries to climb up.”

The way Sam chews his cheek really underlines how unhappy he is with this plan of yours. “Remind me to have a word with you about your savior complex when this is all over.”

“Hm. I’m looking forward to it.”

A gentle hand wraps around your arm. His eyes are soft, pleading. His other hand cups your face, it’s rough and calloused, but warm. “If you need to run, then run. You don’t have to die for some Vanguard that sends you on a ‘routine’ mission they were too lazy to check first—or for a colony full of dead settlers. Ok? I want you back, with me, alive, and in one piece.”

You don’t trust yourself enough to speak, something sappy or cheesy may decide to come out, so you simply nod.

It isn’t enough for him. “Please, say you’ll come back to me. I need to hear you say it.”

If he wasn’t so close, he may not have heard you through the pounding rain. “I’ll come back to you.” You pretended that you meant it, that you believed it.

“Thank you.” His hand falls away to hold his shotgun. “Now let’s kill this thing.”

“Be safe.” You manage before turning and heading toward your position. The chill of the rain creeps through your spine, but the warmth from Sam’s hand lingers on your cheek. You try to hold onto that feeling.

The steel walkway is sturdy and grated, giving you a good vantage point of the surrounding area. Once in position, you set up your rifle and lay flat, adjusting the scope. Lightning flashes, the crash of thunder isn’t far behind it. Water runs down your face and you wipe it hastily to keep it from your eyes.

The bright fire of the flare casts everything in red. With a good toss, it lands directly in the middle of the kill lanes. Bringing out your pistol you shoot once, twice, up into the air. The alien screams and the sound of wrenching, tearing metal draws near.

The hulking creature appears at the far end of the kill lanes, focused on the flare. It’s huge, big enough to fill your scope’s sights. You breathe deep and exhale slowly as you take your first shot.

The round hits the Terrormorph square in the back leg, crippling it for a moment. Blood leaks out onto the ground below. It lurches before regaining balance on its five other legs, letting out an enraged roar.

More lights come on in the facility. Sam’s already found one power breaker. Two more turrets begin to flash and come online.

The monster’s head swings in a different direction. Toward Sam, no doubt. The realization fuels you with a cold fury. You crank the rifle’s bolt-lever, a long bullet casing flies out of the chamber with a cling. Sliding the lever back with a heavy clunk you even your breath and prepare to take another shot.

You take it, aiming for its other back leg, but miss—the shot glances off the ground. Six shots left.

The thing’s giant head swings back to stare at you directly. Through your scope it’s as if you’re staring it directly in the eyes. Its front legs stomp the ground, and it roars. It ambles forward right into the kill lanes. Four turrets open fire, knocking it off balance and sending it sprawling momentarily. You take another shot, this time severing its thinner front limb.

The thing howls, ear splittingly loud and shrill, but claws its way back onto its feet. The turrets are doing damage, but it isn’t enough. It lurches toward you with surprising speed. The turret fire follows. You take a shot and miss. You exhale and your breath comes out shaking.

It's at the base of the building your walkway is on as Sam flips the final switch and the last of the turrets power up. The Terrormorph slows down a little, struggling to climb the building with two of its limbs missing. You have another 130 seconds, maybe, before it reaches you.

Your fifth shot hits it in the back, effectively doing nothing. The thing is bloody and losing steam from the constant onslaught of all six turrets. You start to feel hopeful. There’s movement to your left. It’s Sam on one of the rooftops. You’re about to give him a thumbs up when lightning flashes—some of the facility machines spark, an alarm sounds, and all lights except for auxiliary backups flatline. An unlucky power surge from the storm.

The Terrormorph has reached the base of the walkway below and is trying to make its way up, now free from turret fire. This would be your chance to run, but something holds you there. A false hope maybe.

You hold your breath, take a shot, and hit it square in the face. It doesn’t stop, clawing at the thin metal for purchase. Pulling the bolt lever and sliding it home, you fire again, chipping its other back leg and causing it to stumble. Metal rails groan and collapse under the monster’s weight. It falls to the ground with a metallic crash. You don’t fire, yet.

Sam is still on the other roof. You wave him off, pointing to the ship. Trying to make it clear that this was the order to run. A clashing sound below snags your attention back to the monster. It’s testing out the strength of the rail supports.

You’re aiming again as it springs up and begins throwing its weight at the steel rods. The vibration of the metal groaning and shifting with each impact reverberates through you. This is your last shot.

You fire and miss entirely as a section of rails to your right collapse and bend, tugging your section down. You’re forced to let go of your rifle to hang on. It clatters to the ground below.

More support beams collapse and you can feel the structure groan before you even hear it, vibrating hard enough to numb your hands. Trying to climb up the tilting walkway was a mistake as the shift in weight caused the whole thing, with you attached, to fall entirely. The feeling of falling was short-lived, something sharp sliced at your leg as you fell into the railing and walkway debris below.

For a moment, you lay dazed and in pain. The sound of rain patters around you on metallic surfaces. The whole walkway and railing fell over, the area was littered with jutted angles and metal parts. Something shifted under the debris. Something big enough to toss heavy metal away with ease. Any hope of the Terrormorph getting crushed by the impact was gone as it reared back and screamed. Its eyes, all six or seven of them, landed on you.

There was no way of escaping, debris had fallen over you. A particularly large beam held you in place on your back. Your pistol, the last line of defense, dug into your hip uncomfortably.

Sensing it had you trapped, the creature took its time closing the distance. Your leg was devoid of all feeling except a vague sensation of warmth spreading around it. The rails on top of you pinned you down, but you managed to free your measly pistol.

Only three or four of your shots made contact, others glanced off the Terrormorph’s armored shoulders or missed entirely. Either way, the low caliber did nothing to it. With an empty mag, and nothing else to defend yourself with, your arm fell to your side. You just hoped Sam was smart enough to listen and go back to the ship.

A loud blast caught the monster on the side of its head, snapping it away from you, and causing it to stumble.

Apparently, he wasn’t.

Sam emptied three more shells into the creature before reloading with cool, practiced ease. One blast dislocated the Terrormorph’s other back leg. Chunks went flying.

It howled and thrashed as he kept unloading shells into it. When he was completely out, he dropped the shotgun and picked up a long rod of metal with a jagged, broken end. The sharp tip sliced clean into its ribcage. When the alien still tried to pull itself up on its remaining two feet, Sam pulled it out with a yank and drove it home into the thing’s head, right above the mandibles. It gave one final spasm and finally fell dead.

At last, the only sound around you was the rain.

Sam dropped the crude spear with a clatter, eyeing the body a few times as he rushed over through the debris.

“You ok?” he panted, kneeling down. His hands cupped your face, bringing the familiar warmth with them.

“Holy shit.” Was all you were able to say.

It made him laugh with relief as he moved to check you over. “And you said a shotgun wouldn’t do anything.”

His hands moved debris from your legs, and he hovered as you yelped in pain. “You’ve got a nasty gash here. We need to get you back to the ship for medical attention. Let me see if I can get this off you.”

With a grunt of effort, he pushed the beam up enough for you to pull yourself out. Your leg was bleeding badly, but nothing you couldn’t fix with some TLC and bed rest. The pain hadn’t set in yet, thankfully.

Near you was a chunk of the Terrormorph’s leg. Feeling oddly disconnected from yourself, you grabbed it, staring at the gross thing, and put it in your pocket for Hadrian.

Sam started taking out bandages and doing what he could to wrap your leg. You could see his hands were shaking now.

Against all odds you both were alive; you started to laugh.

Sam gave you an odd look. “Don’t go loopy on me.”

A giant smile broke across your face. “Wasn’t expecting to live. There goes my chance at a cool memorial or bragging rights.”

“Going face to face with a Terrormorph and only losing a chunk of your leg gets bragging rights. Believe me.”

“Nah. All the credit goes to you on this one. That was just badass.”

He grunted, throwing more debris out of the way, and trying to clear a path. “Wasn’t thinking about how cool it looked when I did it. I was just trying to save you.”

“You know I’ll be telling this story forever, right?”

He chuckles, helping you up, slinging your arm over his shoulder and wrapping his around your waist. “I can see Barret’s expression now.”

“‘Sam Coe, my hero’ is how I’ll start it.”

He groans playfully. “Please don’t.”

“It’s true.” You looked at him as your feet touched even ground. Your faces were close. You could see the rain drops clinging to his hair and beard. “You saved my life.”

When he looked over, his nose nudged yours from close proximity. He didn’t shy away from the contact. Your paces slowed to a stop. “I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again, either.”

Your grin was slow to spread as you glanced at his lips more than once. “Would you prefer a quippy one line as thanks?”

“Mm—no. Maybe something else though.”

You feigned ignorance as his eyes trailed down your face. “Oh? And what would that be?”

“I’ll let you think of it.”

“A hero’s song?” you joked, voice softening.

“Nope.”

“How about a poem?”

He faces toward the room Hadrian’s in with a low laugh and begins to walk again. “You know, if you were as much of a smartass to that Terrormorph as you are to me, it would have keeled over on the spot.”

You put your good foot down and hold it, halting any forward progress. “Ok, ok. I think I’ve come up with something.”

He’s still smiling as he looks at you. Your noses nudge again. “If you suggest a book or a short story—”

His surprised breath as your mouth presses to his is an award in itself. He stays motionless for a moment, as if his brain had short-circuited, before his lips move and mold to yours. Slow and tentative at first, exploratory. Soft and gentle as if he’s afraid of hurting you. His hand on your waist moves to your lower back, gripping your clothes. He leans into you, beard scratching the skin of your face. Your fingers slide through and tangle in his wet hair. It makes him pant into your mouth before kissing you again, more eager this time.

Breaking apart, you both linger close, hot breath mixing together. His forehead leans to yours, eyes still closed.

That raspy voice of his you love so much is the first to break the silence. “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting you to do that.”

“You could have made the first move. I wouldn’t have minded.”

“Was never sure if you were just being quippy and flirtatious for fun or not.”

“It is fun, but it’s also because I care for you.”

He hums, nuzzling his nose against yours. “Good to know, we’re going to have to find time for this more often.”

You close the distance enough to ghost your lips over his. “We have time now.”

He hesitates, so tempted with the offer, but exhales instead. “You’re hurt and bleeding all over the place, I need to get you some medical help. Plus, Hadrian needs her damn samples.”

“Pshh. I’ve got plenty of blood left—and she can be patient.”

He starts walking again, bringing you with him, and pressing the gentlest kiss you’ve ever felt against the corner of your mouth. “Just wait until you’re healed. You won’t be able to keep me away.”

[ideas-of-immortality]

Almost Human!AU

[Cover Page for Prologue of Comic]

[Previews for Pages 3-4]

@aimlovesmusic guess who spent the last 4 hours drawing and coloring these dang things and came up with an AU for once. Also snagged your idea that Rook has a tail, fuck it we altering the basics, they lose their baby tail but grow an adult one like fucking antlers or something 👍

In this verse after Malware fucked up Feedback he legitimately infected the watch with a bio-tech virus. As the watch was removed shortly afterwards by Ben, the virus only made a few small markings.

When Ben put the watch back on at 15, the markings kept spreading, they would cause glitches in the watch resulting in Ben's human form developing more alien like qualities. Eyes that are just shy of being too green, sharper teeth, in a smile that's just wide enough to be unnerving, nails that are sharper than usual, ears that appear pointed. Boy got borderline Jaundice from it too. His hair will pull up when startled or angry.

When Ben gets the Ultimatrix the watch fully wigs out and screws with his personality as well (even with the updated omnitrix he's prone to significantly more extreme mood swings); the bio tech virus leading to the ultimate forms developing sentience and independence. As a result Azmuth later on forced a temporary fix that returned the watch to default settings and delayed the spread of the virus. The markings now only glowed when Ben has activating the watch or is messing around with it.

After the Ultimatrix got removed and the new updated Omnitrix gets added, Ben discovers he's actually able to transform without the watch at all. The bio-tech virus had seemingly fused the data from the watch into his very DNA. However in order to keep up appearances he continues to wear it.

After Kevin and Gwen leave him, he kinda goes feral for a bit, and Rook ends up being called in to deal with his crash out and also act as a calming presence (and cause Max absolutely knows Ben has 0 friends and damn his grandson needs to socialize). Ben still gets irrationally snippy and bite-y if Kevin or Gwen show up unannounced.

Rook remains the only person who knows that the watch is functionally useless as he found out when he walked in on Ben without the watch transforming different parts of himself into his aliens. The only reason he keeps it a secret is cause he's worried one of Ben's standard villains is gonna kidnap him for experiments. Otherwise he has multiple times mentioned Ben should at least tell Azmuth the virus allows him to partially transform.

If Ben stays in life form lock for too long it becomes a high risk that he'll forget who he is, and start behaving feral again. After the Incursean invasion where he was in a life form lock to Bullfrag, to his horror he actually was craving Grandpa Max's cooking and bugs.

Albedo is unaffected by the biotech virus as the watch had already downloaded Ben's human DNA for the default prior to the infection, but suspects that Ben is lying about something, and alongside trying to return to his Galvan form, has a side quest to get a sample of Ben's blood to do tests on. Rook has been thus far quite successful at preventing that from happening.

Ben has above average night vision, and his eyes do that refraction thing, and as a result of his tendency to midnight binge in plumber HQ, he's become something of a cryptid to newby plumbers and frequently terrorizes them in the early hours. His nails are strong enough to allow him to scale walls and such, but they're only really able to cut human skin, and aren't great for offensive attacks. His teeth however can break through quite a bit of organic material. His hearing interesting enough remains normal, much to his relief. The markings look more like faint scars most of the time, but if he's feeling any emotion particularly strongly they tend to glow or move around. He's described the sensation as the feeling of water running along your skin.

While Max, his parents, Kevin, Gwen, and Azmuth are aware of the virus, no one really knows how far it'll progress. Azmuth's best guess is Ben either becomes fully corrupted losing his humanity and conscience altogether, or the virus simply turns him into a more humanoid variant of a Galvanic Mechamorph.

Hopefully I'll get a comic showing some of the major progressions pre-Omniverse up for background :3

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

y’all. We need to have a talk about the union leaders’ keyblades

okay, so the first thing you have to know is that khx and khux’s keyblades are different. khux introduced new keyblades that weren’t included in khx originally, but! khux also made some changes to the keyblades that were originally in khx. Namely, it removed some of the in-between forms of each keyblade

(credit to this image via @appre-chi-ation)

As seen above, khx’s Starlight originally had these 5 forms in khx. The base form, plus its 4 upgrade forms.

But khux’s Starlight only has these forms, essentially having its upgrade line cut in half, and the addition of a new final form (sorta lol, it just glows)

This is the same for all the khx-khux keyblades. Starlight, Treasure Trove, Lady Luck, Three Wishes, Olympia, Divine Rose, and Moogle O’Glory all have their upgrade lines essentially compressed in khux.

Now, why does this matter? Ephemera, Skuld and Strelitzia wield this Starlight form in particular:

This is Starlight upgrade 3 / 4th form overall. It only exists in khx.

And Lauriam wields this:

Divine Rose upgrade 3 / 4th form overall. It also only exists in khx.

Since we know that the chi saga (and kh in general but chi specifically) is really great at tying gameplay mechanics and lore together, I think I actually understand the potential lore significance of this now.

These four were wielders before the war and were chosen to be union leaders. Putting Strelitzia aside for obvious reasons, Ephemera, Skuld and Lauriam escape to the new world wielding a form of their respective keyblades that actually doesn’t exist there. Now we don’t actually know why these forms don’t exist in this world from a narrative standpoint, but it might have to do with everyone’s memories being overwritten except theirs, or maybe it’s a glitch in the data that wasn’t taken into consideration (or maybe it was placed there on purpose? 👀 but this is just speculation).

Whatever the reason is, the fact that they wield non-existent keyblade forms from a forgotten reality could potentially explain why their keyblades never get upgraded past that, despite them being union leaders. You’d think that they would upgrade to the strongest form, right? Maybe going to the new world/reality stunted their keyblades’ evolution, and they’re just stuck with what they came with because they weren’t able to finish maxing out their keyblades before the war. (This is why you always do your materials quests, kids!)

Now, the reason they don’t just choose to wield a different, stronger keyblade instead is a whole other thing. Amongst the “new” keyblades brought into khux (Stroke of Midnight, Sleeping Lion, Counterpoint, Fenrir, Darkgnaw, Missing Ache, Fairy Stars, and Diamond Dust [Bad Guy Breaker is a special case]), they certainly have a lot to choose from.

My guess is either A. they simply can’t, as in, they’re physically unable to switch their particular keyblades in for a different one because of the circumstances of data Daybreak Town or because of something Ava did, or B. they chose not to, in order to just have a memento of the pre-war world, before their life changed drastically. I’m leaning towards the latter, since Blaine gives Ephemera Master’s Defender while they’re in data Daybreak Town and it wouldn’t make sense if there was even a possibility that Ephemera wouldn’t be able to use it there. This opens up a whole conversation about keyblade lore and how keyblades themselves change overtime and in different circumstances, along with how data worlds might affect keyblades. But that’s a whole other can of worms.

Anyways, here’s the most interesting part about all this…

Ven.

He wields Missing Ache upgrade 2 / 3rd form overall.

Already right from the get-go, you can see that this is different from the “formula” the other leaders are following (except Blaine, who’s the exception here, as he is to many things). Unlike the other leaders, Ven wields a keyblade that wasn’t in khx, but is included in khux as a “new” keyblade. He’s wielding a keyblade that was only put into use in the new world where everyone had their memories wiped in some capacity, including him. His keyblade is an anomaly. It may have very well been a big hint about him being an anomaly amongst the other union leaders!

tl;dr the union leaders were nerfed, the hints about Ven being a fake leader were there all along, and we need more keyblade lore. Thanks for coming to my ted talk ✌️

(an additional P.S.: Eph and Skuld were introduced in khx, so it’s possible that the main reason they were given their particular Starlight form was so they could be relative to Player’s hypothetical strength level at the time they’re introduced. But I still like to believe that there’s this additional significance to it)

[thetombedspirit]

SPOILERS FOR AVATAR: FRONTIERS OF PANDORA - TAP CON-1 AND THE SARENTU MOOT MASSACRE

I wanted to post my full thoughts about the game after i finished my first playthrough, but I can not just keep what I just learned in my head, so be forwarned; Spoilers ahead.

Let me just say that the entire TAP CON-1 quest made me feel... disgusting.

That word perfectly encapsulates how I felt the second I heard how they made the children shower in disinfectant, as if they were diseased. I felt gross, and messy and just absolutely disgusted.

And then the massacre happened and I was just... I don't know how to describe it. Like, I knew Alma was involved, but the way that it all just poured out. That she was there during the whole slaughter, how she admits to playing ignorant, how she let the children believe the lie that their families abandoned them and it just made me think of everything else she's done since knowing her.

She did nothing as the RDA barged into the moot and slaughtered the entire clan.

She did nothing as the children were literally shoved into cages like animals, shackled like prisoners and then washed and striped of everything that made them Sarentu.

She proceeds to teach them what she sought out to teach, knowing damn well the consequences of wanting her school program to work.

She did nothing as Mercer and Harding trained/abused the children.

She did nothing when Mercer killed Aha'ri (which should have been the breaking point at this rate)

She left the children in cyrosleep for 16 years, not once thinking to check if they were actually alive.

She proceeds to keep her secret, and even expresses confirmation in an audio log that "they made the right choice" when bringing up how the Sarentu children are adjusting to the resistance. Basically implying that she's glad her teachings worked.

She tells Ri'nela that the Kame'tire can't be trusted, alienating the clan that she indirectly ruined with her ambitions.

And when she's finally figured out and Alma's Avatar is killed, she laments about never experiencing Pandora freely anymore, as if she expects Ri'nela and MC to lament with her.

After the whole funeral, I began rummaging it around in my head, and in the end, I concluded that the death of Alma's avatar and her actions are in direct parallel to Jake's.

Jake wanted to be part of the Na'vi because he got to actually connect with it's culture and worked to become a part of it. And when he screwed up, he worked to earn the Omaticaya's forgiveness, eventually becoming a true Na'vi.

Alma pretty much already saw herself as part of the Na'vi, despite barely doing anything. When Nor happily shows them the Sarentu knife and then laments how it was kept as a trophy and Alma said it was back with "us", like she was implying herself as part of the Sarentu. And she did very little if nothing at all to amend her mistakes, instead opting to play the victim here.

I also thought about Grace here, and her own sins with her own school. But the difference there is that she actually worked to make a friendship with the Omaticaya before taking in students. And her school was out in the forest, made from wood and full of life and learning. Alma's school was indoors inside metal walls, cut off from the outside world and they were taught one-sided knowledge that boosted the RDA's image and tarnished the Na'vi's.

And then Grace's School failed, she to seemed to loose herself to her avatar, preferring her avatar body to her human,, but she never once tried to cover up her mistakes. And she tried to make things work.

Alma did nothing but cover up the truth until it couldn't be hidden anymore.

In the end, the fact that just one quest could make me feel like this and have me think about all this really shows that the story works.

So it's gameplay is a little too simular to Far Cry. Who cares? So long as the story has me feeling complex emotions like this, I will play it.

Even if the glitches get a little annoying, I still enjoy every bit of this game.

And I will post my full thoughts on the game once I've finished it.

Anyway, thanks for putting up with my train wreck of thoughts!

[dalekofchaos]

Things I would've changed about Security Breach Ruin

I loved Ruin, as I did a fix it post for Security Breach, I will only be doing a small list of changes since I think what we have is perfect already

The 4th ending aka ability to fix Chica, Bonnie, Monty and Roxy. We find Chica's voice box if we beat Chica's Feeding Frenzy. But I feel like there should've been an option to fix the Ruined Animatronics. How we fix Monty. There is a Monty Gator Golf Game in Ruin, simply put we must get the score for the Under Par Trophy. Monty's parts would be his legs. We clearly see his legs in that area behind his stage, but can't get them. So we get the needed score in Monty Golf and win Monty's legs in chapter 3. To repair Bonnie, it's required to deactivate the Wet Floor Bots and to find a specific part in the cut Bonnie Bowl game. Cassie inserts the part in Bonnie's remains and for a brief moment, Bonnie comes to life. As for Roxy. We know Gregory and Vanessa came back to set up MXES and seal the Mimic in the basement. So who's to say they could've have returned to return Roxy's eyes? They couldn't return them to Roxy as that would be too dangerous, so perhaps they could place it somewhere in Roxy's Raceway to return to her one day. Cassie finds Roxy's eyes prior to deactivating Roxy, Cassie finds her eyes and after she's deactivated, Cassie gives Roxy back her eyes. If we get all parts to Monty, Chica and Roxy and reboot Eclipse, they will all return and save Cassie from The Mimic. This will then unlock the 4th ending. The Glamrocks taking their revenge on The Mimic for ruining their lives, saving Cassie and Gregory and Vanessa comes to the rescue. The ending shows Vanessa and Gregory taking everyone down to Parts and Services to repair them. Freddy has his body back. Roxy, Chica, Bonnie, Monty and Eclipse are all back to their normal selves. Bodies restored and freed from the mimic. The final scene would show The Glamrocks putting on a private performance for Gregory, Cassie and Vanessa.

The Mimic would look like Tiger Rock in AR Mode. One thing I feel like should've happened is have The Mimic looking like Tiger Rock. We would be able to wear the mask during The Mimic chase scene and Tiger Rock would be after Cassie and have a unique jumpscare.

Cassie's model looks more like her cutout

Two alternative stories of the same Ruin.

Replacing the Mimic with Burntrap and replacing The Mimic with Vanny.

Replacing The Mimic with Vanny will basically be the same story, but it takes place after the "Disassemble Vanny" ending. Vanny is Ruined. Vanny is shattered by the Staffbots, but she’s alive. Vanessa is dead, but Vanny remains. To keep her body moving she repairs herself with parts from staff bots and animatronic parts from Parts And Service. Vanny lives and she plans on getting her revenge on Gregory and any other child she can lure to continue Afton’s work and you could’ve replaced MXES with the actual Glitchtrap. She lures Cassie to the Pizzaplex. Vanny uses Cassie to free Burntrap from the basement. When it's too late, Cassie is on the run. She's running from both Burntrap and Vanny. There are 3 endings. The elevator ending where the elevator is dropped. The bad ending where Burntrap glitches Cassie to become Princess Rabbit(best name I could come up with, plus it's the dark version of Princess Quest) and the Brazil ending. the "happy ending" but with the reality being that Cassie is left at the mercy of Burntrap and Vanny art by azoinab.

Replacing The Mimic with Afton. Afton via Glitchtrap having control over the Pizzaplex is able to manipulate Cassie with Gregory's voice and Glitchtrap replaces Helpy. He's trapped in the basement after his encounter with The Blob. After escaping with Freddy, Gregory went back to save Vanessa. They developed the MXES system to keep Afton down in the basement and keep the anti-virus to kill the virus until Fazbear Entertainment can rebuild the Pizzaplex. We would later find out that won't happen because all of Fazbear Entertainment is glitched by Afton And the top follower is the CEO of Fazbear Entertainment aka the reason why the cycle keeps happening over and over again. I would have that CEO be Sammy Emily because what better fuck you to Henry would be to turn his only living child into the perfect embodiment to everything he tried to destroy in the fire, but that's just me.. We'd also find out Glamrock Bonnie was his first attempt at escape and Freddy and Monty were forced to destroy him. The Blob was controlled by Afton and Afton is using The Blob to collect more remnant/agony. Cassie frees Afton and we are chased. Burntrap's plan is to glitch Cassie. Gregory and Vanessa escaped, so he's using Cassie as his new Vanny. We have multiple endings. 1. The elevator ending. "You let him out. He infected you and I'm sorry Cassie, I can't risk you bringing him after us" 2. Cassie reaches a dead end and we get the bad ending where Afton makes Cassie into the new Vanny. 3. Scooper ending. Cassie attempts to kill Burntrap with the scooper, but the remnant in it just makes him stronger and this just leads to Cassie's death. 4. the Brazil ending. the "happy ending" but with the reality being that Cassie is left at the mercy of Burntrap

[s0ft-d3cay]

Game Over

Vanny/Vanessa x Gender Neutral Reader | Thought I try something out of my comfort zone. This version of Vanessa is from the game, just fyi.

WARNINGS: Mentions of violence towards reader, reader dies in this one, a knife is swung at reader, no blood or gore mentioned, reader is v smart when it comes to princess quest, Vanessa and reader are co-works, more friends then anything else, Vanny is all bonk and then stabby-stabby.

WC: 1,354

"…just one more time…" The technician uttered beneath their breath, hands at work on the arcade game console. A tune of uncertainty and calming confusion loops over the speaker above, small clicks of footsteps, and the monsters growling as the golden character walked around catacombs of the castle. They’d been playing both Princess Quest One and Two since Vanessa had mentioned a reoccurring glitch in the arcades all over the Pizziaplex. That was until they’d ventured off in a Fazerblast vent and found Princess Quest Three tucked away.

'One heart left…and I just need that damn mask in Foxy’s maze.’

Completely ignoring the nervous itch to stop and question why this room had a bed and a bunch of used pizza boxes on the floor. They couldn’t describe the pull of…curiosity, dread, or guilt? Whatever it was had a hold on them the moment their eyes recognized the title on the arcade game. A chime of success rings out as the chest unlocks in the center of the maze, Foxy hot on the Princess's trail.

‘Come on…come on…’

They repeated, encouraging the small character as she pasts through the red doors, entering back into the pizzeria. They breathed out in relief, a light exhale with a smile appears over their lips. Moving the golden Princess to the prize counter, barley missing an attack from a group of shadowy bunnies. Unlocking the bizarre red box only, leaving them with more questions.

'What am I releasing with this key? The last game had a key similar to this one, leading to an amalgamation of one of those shadow bunny creatures, but that one was unable to move…'

The sound of the door behind them cuts off their words, a chill runs cold in consternation through their veins. Hairs standing up in alarm over their body at the almost silent footsteps stepping from the doorway. Hands trembling on the console, the Princess paused on the screen only a few steps away from the open stage. The door clicks shut as a quick shuffle of what sounds like skipping  caught their attention, head spinning around to see the threat looming over them with a shiny knife.

A person in what looked to be a handmade bunny costume. Fur of white plaid, gray, and even pink stitched together. The person raised the knife as they lunged toward the technician. "If I can’t leave, then neither can you…" A glitchy voice manifests through the bunny mask. In shock and instinct, they shift back to the side near the bed in the corner at the last moment, barley missing the knife. Grabbing the blanket from the bed they'd seen earlier, throwing it over the intruder as they ran out the secluded hideout.

A struggled glitched groan was heard in the distance as the technician climbed through the vent, quickly crawling back to Fazerblast. More footsteps of that mystery rabbit following them only pushed them to craw through faster. Their first step inside the winner’s lounge was surely the last, running through the maze's glowing walls to find a place to hide. They needed to finish Princess quest…it was no longer a want to the technician anymore. The technician needed both another way inside that hideout and to get away from that bunny.

Straight back to work the next day, fixing animatronics, upgrading, and teaching new ones; the same cycle over and over again. Their mind blank and elsewhere as they worked. Even with Vanessa's insistent conversation starters that always improved the mood, it still felt off. Perhaps it was the being chased by a bunny mascot with a knife that did it.

"Rough night again?" She asked after a few dry answers from the technician, leaning against a desk across from them. "Something like that…" They replied with a shrug, half occupied with running diagnostics on one of the staff bots from the theater. 

"I don’t remember the last time you were this…quiet." She adds apprehensively, the technician pauses their work to glance in the blonde's direction. The security guard was right, the two would usually have conversations about anything and everything. Even their curiosity of Princess quest, Vanessa was the one to find the princess quest two in the west arcade only a few days after the technician spoke vaguely about the first game.

Their gaze turns sympathetic towards the guard, "Just doing a lot of thinking recently and you know…figuring out that arcade game I found a few weeks back." The blonde woman tilts her head back slightly to consider their words, a glisten of anxiety flashes in her green eyes for a second before she blinks it away.

"Playing on company time again, are we?" She teases, brushing off her distant anxiety. They chuckled, facing the animatronic, finishing up their last few texts of code before allowing the bot to move freely. "Nothing I or you don’t already do on hours, Miss 'I didn’t steal the Glamrock Bonnie figurine’." They derided back, Vanessa smiles as she scoffs at their sarcastic yet truthful words. That anxious long stare was back in her face again, how odd.

The two eventually make their way back to the atrium, the technician relaying what happened the night prior as they walked on the third floor. Customers slowly but surely making their way out of the Pizzaplex, leaving only the remains of lost bags, clothing, prizes, and theme songs playing in the establishment. 

"And they just…disappeared after that?" Vanessa questioned beside them, arms crossed with an expression of concentration. They nodded, eyes flickering over to the guard. "Yeah, no sign of the person on cams or triggering any alarms of braking in. Maybe they've been here when the place closed before." The technician explained.

"Weird…I’ll keep an eye out for it tonight. See you tomorrow." Vanessa waved to them as the two parted from the main entrance. "If I can’t escape, then you can’t escape…" Those words rang through the technician’s brain day, something about the phrase seemed familiar yet foreign. Now walking through the lower basement in the laundry section, concrete walls surrounding him like a cave…almost like the princess. They stopped in their tracks at that thought, like the princess curiosity took refuge within the technician and now they were connecting the dots…

‘What if I’m not releasing something, but instead someone?'

Clocked out and walking back towards the hide out above Fazerblast, their mind continued to make sense of the three games in a cohesive story. 

‘Locking away one being I might have inadvertently released another, maybe one that could even prevent that sluggish shadow bunny from glitching out the game itself.'

That had to be it, why else would the Princess be unlocking doors and lighting grave candles. They had to save the Princess…she was the answer. With new-found excitement, the technician made their way back up to the hide out. The long metal walkway swinging to and fro with each fast step.

The hideout door wide open with Princess quest still untouched from where they’d left off. A smile of determination grows on their face the moment their hands reached the arcade cabinet. The golden princess still waiting at the stage, looking towards the technician.

Walking the Princess through the stage curtain, anticipation gnawing at their excitement for the ending, swiftly moving up the long corridor. Another door in left above, opening to a large area. They walk the princess up to the center of the void room, seeing the outline of a purple, gray, and green cell door on the screen. Their eyes widened at the reveal of the outside of the cell door…

’That can't be…how is she on the otherside-‘

A strike of a blunt object hits the back of their head, falling over the arcade game. Face slamming against the screen, cracking the glass. Pain spread like a lightning bolt through their head, eyelids heavy and vision spotty. Their body trembling and breath thin, head shakily turning as their eyes hazily drift over the rabbit from the other night. Watching the knife in motion towards them as the mask spoke on last time.

"You can’t."

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights of any of the characters I write about, all the rights go to their respective creators.

[domain-of-revelation]

Love & Deep Space Notes (so far for Day 1, all quests/tasks completed, Ch. 2 completed)

The pre-launch MC editor was a nice touch to tide us over until launch.

The voice over customizer needs some adjustments. Even though when tuning the voice to the extremes gives a warning in potential audio quality dropping, I find that some sliders are more likely to come out weird, particularly the “Husk” slide. I myself have instances of vocal fry, so hearing the Husk slide have such a small range of “okayness” before it absolutely sounds inhuman needs to be redone.

May we please have more POC hairstyles/hairtypes? May we please have short hair options?

I noted this in the Survey L&DS has already put out, but the dialogue (at least in English) of the opening cinematic is incredibly fast and doesn’t have a lot of inflection or weight to it.

Speaking of the dialogue, the subtitles don’t line up perfectly in some instances, especially when characters are interrupting or talking over each other or when characters speak directly after each other.

While Zayne is my bias so far, his voice fits the least. My opinion.

I love Tara. She’s such a cute little side companion/exposition girl. I want to see her character more and explore her. Her voice actress is spectacular and fits her perfectly.

Jenna is a girlboss and we love that. Her voice is a great fit.

When “texting” the boys, there’s an option to also have captions!! I adore this. Great for people who are hard of hearing.

L&DS has graphical options for quality. I’m on an iPhone 12 (?) and having it on High doesn’t make my phone melt.

I’m on level 12 with one of the LIs, and I enjoy that every new bond gives you something, from gems to poses to new features you can do with them.

There are a few minor visual glitches, but nothing game breaking.

If you’re playing on mobile, you can’t also watch a YouTube video at the same time during the opening. If you do, the audio for L&DS cuts out completely.

Please know that your first and last name will show up as the actual character designation. I haven’t gotten to where a Nickname is used, so use a different name other than your actual name if you do that.

You get a free rename and new birthday ticket.

I’ve done all the quests for today, and reached level 20. I have to wait until server reset to continue the story, which is locked to 21+.

I’ll do the side stuff, like the branching dialogue side stories later tonight.

(Psst! I posted part 2 on my blog! Not much has changed, but there were some things I noticed. I’m also now on Chapter 5.)