#it was lucky we brought a chain lead with us

[cloudninetonine]

Could I make a soft request of simple domestic moments with the chain? 👀

It could honestly be anything honest to god. This was all triggered by me finding a POV Video of your comfort character taking the last slice of bread from you bc they had the butter HAHAHA

I think the boys need some major TLC and what better way to give it to them other than domestic moments, right?

I hope you liked this <3 I wasn't entirely sure what to do but I was listening to some oldies but goldies and it came to me

You liked Lon Lon Ranch, a break from the hiking life and a time to relax without a care in the world.

Well, you got the luxury of relaxing. The others weren’t so lucky, not that you weren’t willing to help around the ranch or barn, but Malon had decided it was the best chance to get to know you, know of your world and just learn about you as the other heroes worked their arses off outside.

Some much discussed, such little time, you made sure to tell your favourite farmer everything as simple as you could when the topic changed to your phone, glinting in your pocket and catching her attention.

“It’s a phone! It’s kind of like Wild’s Sheikah slate? I can use it to communicate, play games, take photos, listen to music-”

“Music?” Her tone sounded interested and she leaned in. “Please, do tell me more.”

And that’s what lead to the scene the boys walked into. Your phone blasting music, the red head and you, hand and hand, dancing happily around the kitchen as you sung your lungs out. Malon didn’t know the words sticking to giggles and laughter as you span her and dipped her.

The two of you only noticed the nine when she made an attempt to spin you, your eyes looking upon them in a shock and the words on your lips dying in the second as you fell quiet. Malon looked confused at first before she turned, blinking then smiling towards the boys in greeting.

“Join the party!” The men hesitated, sharing unsure stares amongst themselves. “Hm! Aren’t you a boring lot! Don’t stop now, (Name), we can’t let them ruin our fun!” 

Malon spun you away, your voice a squeak in surprise when you landed in the arms of Sky, looking down at you curiously while you flushed.

What an embarrassing thing to be caught in. It wasn’t too bad with an audience of one, Malon’s extroverted personality taking over your natural bashful nature until you were a barrel of laughs all over the place. You’d do this back home, with your mama, with your friends- this felt like normalcy after so long of oddity.

But these men were highly respect heroes. You couldn’t just goof about and sing in front of them, what if they made fun of you? You already lacked enough in the fighting department, Hyrule’s tiny dagger the only thing to your name that you couldn’t even yield. You didn’t deserve to goof off, to have fun, you were supposed to be quiet and stay in line, stay out of their way, to-

Then your song came on.

And everything was thrown out the window.

Tugging Sky towards you, ignoring his surprised yelp you sang, not a care in the world, not holding back. The dirty blonde looked shocked at first, letting you tug him about like a ragdoll and take control before a similar goofy smile crossed his face and then you were both dancing together.

Malon clapped happily, yanking at Time’s shirt to tug him into a dance while the others stood about unsure.

You couldn’t have that, could you?

Spinning you, Sky let you twirl away before you grabbed the hands of Hyrule whose ears flapped happily at your attention. Your smile was beaming, his was almost blinding as you began to dance with him too, Wild joining quickly after and soon enough your little trio was a mess of limbs and giggling away.

They sung too, something you realised after a moment but it only brought more joy. “You guys know the song!?”

“Of course we do!” Wild started, dipping you then letting Hyrule pick you up to twirl you, your squeal heavenly to their ears.

“You would sing it all the time!” Hyrule finished, finally placing you down and you tugged them into a hug.

You managed to move to each of the boys. Wind was happy; Four was bashful; Warriors held your enthusiasm; Twilight looked flustered with his fanged smile and Legend someone managed not to curse your entire bloodline as you twirled him around the dinner table. Time was your final partner, your head against his shoulder while he gently swayed you opposite to the toe tapping beat, the others in their own world around you.

A happy night, a deserving one as you partied. The laughter and mirth shared amongst the kitchen a lovely sight amongst these heroes forged from tragedy. You hoped it would bring good memories, this night, you hoped that in moments of darkness they would think back to the time you shared laughter and dance moves.

You hoped you did good.

Your phone finally died and a shared groan ehcoed around the room before finally you moved to eat.

[notgonnaedit]

Hero of Mistakes

Summery: The Chain travels to Legends home

Focus Link: Legend

A/n: I've only played half of ALttP and Link's Awakening, so this chapter is heavily based off of my theories

Master list

Legend leaned against the wall of Wild's house. It was cramped in there, so the hero wanted to get a breath of fresh air. He felt bad for causing the Champion to storm off, he didn't mean to upset him. 

Legend let out a sigh. The sun was beginning to set, making the flowers in Wild's front yard have a golden tint. He thought about what Flora had asked him. What he was.

What was he? The Veteran had told the Princess that he was a jack-of-all-trades. He was a blacksmith, mainly. But in his heart he knew he was an adventurer. Seeing new worlds never bored him. Holodrum, Labrynna, Hytopia, the Dark World, Lorule, Koholint.

Koholint.

Legend closed his eyes at the memory. If he focused, he could still hear the waves lapping against the shore as Marin sang. Sometimes he could even see her when he falls asleep, a painful reminder that she was never truly real. Even though it had been a few years, Legend would never forget the Ballad of the Windfish.

Sleepers wake

Dreams will fade

Although we cling fast

Was it real?

What we saw?

I believe

Lost in dreams

We sleep on

Tossing and turning

Stay with me

By my side

Never leave

What if the worst comes?

If someday this sweet reverie ends

We too

Our memories

For real

Fade us by

Dream with me

By the sea

We watch the waves crash

Hold my hand

Think of me

And I'll fly

Marin's voice rang in his ears as the Hero opened his eyes, and a small gasp escaped him. Instead of flowers, Legend saw a familiar portal. He turned to go inside and get the others, but a soft voice stopped him.

"Is that...?" Her voice was heavily accented. Wild and the Princess had returned and were examining the portal.

Wild nodded. His scars looked eerie in the fading light. "We need to go. It might lead us to the cause of these strange portals."

Flora nodded. "Right."

                           ~~~~~

With Flora's help, the Chain was ready to go within minutes. She even gave them food for their journey. Wild looked back regretfully at her, but she just smiled. Legend wondered what they were talking about on the mountain.

But he didn't have time to think about it. He stepped through the portal, unsure of what has awaiting him on the other side.

                             ~~~~~

Legend brought his hand up to shield his eyes. The sun was much brighter here than it was in Wild's Hyrule. But Legend recognized it. They were in front of his house. How lucky was that? 

Time looked around. "You know this place?" He must have seen Legend's recognition.

The Veteran nodded. "It's my house." He walked up to the simple home and opened the door. Inside was dark and dusty. That made sense considering Legend hadn't been home for months.

But his comrades seemed to think it was charming. They began to look into his various chests and barrels of stuff. Legend glared at them all. "Nobody touch anything!"

Twilight looked up from where he was examining a red cape. Four stopped putting on a hat. Sky grunted from a wall of shovels. "Do you really need this many shovels?"

Wind gestured to a wall of instruments with his baton. "Look at all of these! You should play something for us?"

Legend scowled. He didn't even know why he kept the Instruments of the Sirens. Because Marin would've loved them.

The Sailor moved to a box of rings and tried to put one on, but the Veteran stopped him. "No! Some of these are cursed."

Hyrule looked over a barrel full of rolled parchment. "Are these all maps?"

Legend groaned. "Yes. Look, let's just grab some gear, and get outta here." He didn't want to stay any longer than he had to.

Hyrule frowned. "Do you usually keep live animals in here?"

Live animals? Legend looked up from his chest of swords. "Huh?" He looked over to Hyrlue and saw a small white bird fluttering around. Wait... If Sheero was around that meant...

"Mr. Hero!"

Legend scowled at his purple counterpart. "Ravio! What are you doing here?!"

Twilight and Four held him a sword point, causing the cowardly merchant to stumble to the ground. "Aah! Please, I'm not armed. Or I am, but–"

Legend helped him up and turned to his friends. "It's okay, guys. This is Ravio. He's a friend of mine." He turned to his green eyed counter part. "What are you doing here?"

Ravio fiddled with his sleeves. "Well, um, since my renting business did so well, I figured that maybe I could do it again. If that's okay with you, Mr. Hero."

Legend tried to hide his disdain. He hated that name. Mr. Hero.​​ Some hero he was. Suddenly, he got an idea. Ravio traveled a lot, maybe he knew something about the portals. "Ravio, do you know anything about strange portals that have been appearing?"

"Strange portals?" The merchant asked. "No, but I bet the Princess does. You should probably go check on her. After all, she is your–"

Legend glared daggers at him, and Ravio immediately shut up. He didn't need his comrades to know about the affair. He didn't want them to think less of him. The Veteran turned to the others. "Well, looks like we need to head to Hyrule Castle." He turned to Ravio. "You wanna come with?"

Ravio shook his head. "No thanks, Mr. Hero. I've gotta set up shop here." He said the last part with a grin.

Legend sighed. "Alright, let's go." He walked out of his house, the others on his heels. Time walked up to him.

"How do you know that boy?"

"Who? Ravio? He gave me this." Legend tapped his bracelet. "This Hyrule has another side, a counter Hyrule called Lorule. Ravio is my counterpart from there."

"Do you think we all have a Ravio?" Wind asked. 

"It probably depends on the time we each live in." Said Four. 

Twilight nodded. "Is that where you turned into a rabbit?" Everyone laughed, except Legend.

"Laugh it up." He growled. "But it's complicated. I first turned to rabbit in the Dark World, and I guess over time, the Dark World became Lorule."

It was strange to think, another world just like his own. But Legend didn't want to think about it. He just wanted to talk to Zelda and get out of there.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the castle, considering Legend lived only a mile away. The guards made no move to stop him, as they should. The Veteran nodded to them before moving on.

"They sure seem to respect you." Warriors noted. 

Legend scoffed. "They're just acting on orders. They don't respect me. They despise that I bested them time and time again."

Twilight snorted. "Ha! I know that feeling."

"So how do you know the Princess?" Sky asked.

Legend bit his tongue. "I first rescued her from the dungeons a few years ago. She called to call people descended from knights. Me and my uncle included."

"Uncle?" Twilight asked. "How come we didn't see him at your house?"

Uncle Rowen. Legend figured he should probably visit him after he saw Zelda. "He lives not too far from my house. He was the one who taught me how to wield a sword."

The chain understood. Most of them were raised by extended family, or in most their cases, adopted. Warriors and Wild were the only exceptions.

Legend remembered the night he heard Zelda call him. How he snuck out against his Uncle's wishes to find her. And how he found Uncle Rowen bleeding out in the sewers of Hyrule Castle. He had given Legend his sword before uttering his last words.

Zelda...Zelda is your..

Legend shook his head. Uncle Rowen was alive and well. After the Veteran wished upon the Triforce, all of Aghinim's evil deeds were undone.

Legend felt the stone floor give under his boot, and he realized he was walking on a red carpet now. He had been so lost in his thoughts he had just went on autopilot, and was now standing before the Princess.

She was wearing her usual white dress with a pink top, her arms adorned with golden jewelry. Her blue eyes and blonde hair were similar to Legend's, except there was no pink.

Legend bowed and the others did the same. "Your Highness."

Zelda stood up from her throne and walked down the steps to him, her long cape trailing behind her. "There's no need for formalities, Link."

Legend looked up from the floor and stood. He was nearly eye to eye with Zelda, only a few inches taller. She smiled. "After all, we've known each other for a long time and have been through much." She pulled him close in a hug, and Legend felt himself relax.

"Welcome home, brother."

Immediately, Legend tensed. He could hear the others standing up. "Brother?" Hyrule asked.

Zelda pulled away, her eyes darting to the chain. "They didn't know?" She turned back to Legend. "Oh, forgive me."

Legend shrugged. "It's fine. It was bound to come out anyway."

Zelda nodded. "Perhaps we should explain. Come, you must be hungry."

                          ~~~~~

In the dinning hall, Legend sat with Zelda. His comrades were seated around the table, each one eating their meal. Twilight sniffed a piece of bread before taking a large bite, and Warriors was teaching Hyrule how to properly eat soup.

"You mentioned that he was your brother?" Time asked Zelda.

She nodded. "It's rather complicated, but I'll do my best to explain." She took a breath. "My mother was the queen of Hyrule, but before that, she was the daughter of a prominent knight. She was raised in the nobility and when she came of age, was betrothed to the prince, my father."

"But," Legend said. "She didn't want to marry the prince-to-be-king. She wanted to marry my father, Rune, a knight. Well, it wasn't long before I came to exist, and the prince, now king, found out about my father. He didn't know about me, but he sent my father to the front lines." He paused for a beat. "He didn't make it."

His friends gave him sympathetic look, but the Veteran just waved them off. "I was just a baby. It's not like a knew him. Anyways, my mother gave me to my uncle and told him to keep me hidden until I was two."

Zelda took over. "And then she was married to the king, and I was born a year later. She passed away when I was twelve. It wasn't until I was taken by the evil sorcerer that I learned of my brother's existence."

Legend smiled sadly. "Y'know, I remember when the Royal Family would come through the market in their fancy carriage. The queen would always smile and blow me a kiss. My uncle told me it was because I was a special kid."

There was a long silence, until finally Hyrule spoke up. "I'm sorry for your loss. Both of you."

Zelda nodded. "Thank you."

But Legend just chuckled lightly. "Don't bother. They're already dead, so what's the point?" He stood up suddenly, feeling as if his throat was closing. "I need some air."

He took off down the hall and didn't stop until he reached a balcony. He leaned against the railing, practically gulping air. Why did his eyes sting so bad? He hadn't felt this, since...after Koholint.

Why did this always happen to him?! All he ever had, anyone he ever cared about. They all die. Marin, Uncle Rowen, his parents. He slammed his fist into the stone railing, barely registering the blood trickling down his fingers.

Soft footsteps sounded behind him. "I just need to be alone, Zelda."

Ignoring him, the Princess walked up beside him. She folded her hands and looked out at the courtyard. Up close, Legend could really see the resemblance. They had the same blond hair and blue eyes, but even more, Zelda had a light layer of freckles. Something Legend had when he was a boy.

Legend let out a sigh. "Why would anyone call me a hero?"

Zelda remained silent, ushering him to continue. "I'm not even supposed to exist, I'm a mistake! Just like everything I do. Because of me, Marin is gone!"

There was a beat of silence.

Zelda looked over to him. "When I was young, and me and our mother would ride through the market, she would always point out a little boy. He had scraps and bruises from playing outside, but he always wore this huge smile. Mother would say, 'That little boy is something special. Be kind to him, Fable, for he may one day help you."

Legend looked at her. " 'Fable'?"

She nodded. "She said that one day I would go down in history, and I would be a Fable to tell." She glanced down and saw his hand. "Oh, no." 

She reached for it, but Legend pulled away. "It's fine. I've had worse."

Zelda frowned. She bent down and grabbed her cape. She ripped a piece off and took Legend's hand. She wrapped his hand in the silk cloth, and the Veteran knew that even the softest Hytopian cloth couldn't hold a candle to his sister's. "Why are you helping me?" He asked. "We're barely even siblings. I'm only your half-brother."

Zelda smiled softly. "Half-brother. It's funny, does it mean only half of you is my brother?" She tied off his bandage and looked up at him. "Whether it's all of you, or only half, you are still my brother. We may have lost our parents, our mother to the plague, your father to war, and mine to sickness. But we have each other, and I want you to know, I'll always be here for you."

Legend swallowed hard. He felt as if he was being choked once again, but he wasn't mad at it. He pulled Zelda to him, burying his face in her neck and holding her hair. The Princess rubbed circles in his back as he cried. She was the first person since Marin he felt he could talk to.

He had tried to tell his uncle, but he didn't understand. The only person that understood in the slightest was Twilight, but he wasn't the same as Zelda. Legend took a shakey breath. "I-I love you, sis."

Zelda smiled. "I love you too, brother." Legend pulled away smiling. He sniffed and wiped his cheeks with his sleeve, soaking the dark fabric with tears. He may have lost more than anyone deserved to, but he gained something irreplaceable: a sister.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

One weird trick to make monopolies self-destruct

Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2020 novel Ministry For the Future was a groundbreaking work: it’s the tale of a detailed, plausible transition from a world on a collision course with civilization-ending climate catastrophe to one where the challenge is met, with humanity collectively deciding to save itself:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/03/ministry-for-the-future/#ksr

Robinson’s book is important: it not only disproves the (variously attributed) capitalist realism aphorism that “it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism” — it also imagines the means by which that ending was brought about.

It’s a tale of what I’ve called “The Swerve”: the day we stop listening to the first class passengers at the front of the bus that’s barreling towards a cliff, rush the driver and yank the wheel before we go over the edge:

https://locusmag.com/2022/07/cory-doctorow-the-swerve/

Since the book’s publication, it has been the subject of intense foment, such as the excellent Crooked Timber seminar on the book’s strengths, flaws, and future:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/12/seminar-for-the-future/#imaginations

The latest project inspired by the book comes from NESTA and The Prospect: Minister For the Future is a series of policy proposals to someone holding that office, as proposed in Robinson’s novel, for dealing with inequality, food, demographics, networks, mental health, automation, pandemics, health, and other subjects:

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/specialreports/minister-for-the-future

I also contributed a piece: “Enticing monopolies to unwind themselves,” which addresses the existential risk of monopolies: when monopolies reign, it is all but impossible to make good policy, because the monopolists can outbid all comers and turn every truth-seeking exercise into an auction that they win:

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/enticing-monopolies-to-unwind-themselves

That is, after all, the story of the climate emergency itself: a handful of giant firms colluding to distort science, delay action — and risk billions of lives to make trillions of dollars. Monopolies create superdense concentrations of power that, like a black hole, warp the normal rules:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/05/eldritch-physics/#wouldnt-start-from-here

The best time to tackle monopolies would have been 40 years ago, when all over the world, regulators stopped enforcing anti-monopoly law. The second best time is now. Lucky for us, antitrust regulators have the bit between their teeth and have vowed to halt the march towards market concentration, blocking mergers rather than waving them through:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

They’ve also promised to take on existing monopolies, unwinding the predatory acquisitions and anti-competitive mergers that produced so much concentration in so many industries, which now rule over their regulators, hurting us in a million ways with utter impunity:

https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

But while breaking up monopolies is important work, it’s also slow work. It took 69 years to break up AT&T!

https://doctorow.medium.com/podcasting-jam-to-day-c451dd289f2

Blocking future monopolies without ending existing ones is a huge risk. Any monopoly in an industrial supply chain can destroy the smaller firms it buys from and sells to. Think of how Big Pharma’s mergers let it gouge hospitals on drug prices, leading to regional hospital monopolies that had the bargaining power to push back. But then those hospitals turned around and started screwing insurers, who also formed regional monopolies in order to defend themselves from price-gouging.

In the end, monopoly leads to monopoly, with workers and consumers at either end of the supply chain, unorganized and vulnerable, which is why health workers make less money under worse conditions and patients spend more money for worse care. It’s not enough to prevent future monopolies — we also have to break up the ones that are all around us.

How can we make that happen without waiting 69 years while the monopolists use their vast cash reserves and influence to delay the reckoning? That’s where my proposal comes in.

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/enticing-monopolies-to-unwind-themselves

I am old enough to remember when corporate raiders took over companies in order to break them up and sell them for parts, rather than merging them into monopolies. Rapacious, remorseless finance assholes once stalked the corporate world, shattering firms with impunity.

What if we brought those monsters out of retirement for one more job?

My proposal is simple: a two-year capital gains tax holiday on profits from unwinding any 21st century merger involving a firm with more than £10b in market cap: “Watch them do in months what decades of courtroom grinding couldn’t hope to accomplish.”

This is a very Ministry For the Future kind of idea — one of the novel’s subplots involves bribing oil companies to leave oil in the ground by buying up all their stranded assets, and swallowing the galling proposition of giving still more money to the people who wrecked the planet.

I’m ambivalent about my proposal for the same reason I was ambivalent about Robsinson’s stranded-assets thought-experiment. But the last time I talked with Robinson, he shrugged and said, “We’ll just take it all back with a wealth tax.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfgfh3SYu8Y

The whole “Minister” package is a fascinating one, and there is something extremely refreshing about imagining a post-Swerve future, where high officials are bent on actually addressing our most urgent problems, backed by an unstoppable political will.

Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Jimmy Baikovicius (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/jikatu/22143653260/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[Image ID: The Google 'Googleplex' office by night. It has been split in two by a giant axe, whose handle is emblazoned with the Wall Street 'raging bull' statue.]

[twilightknight17]

Yesterday on P5T, it’s a nice day for a white wedding~

Namely, Joker fantasizing about his wedding. And my gosh am I happy that you can fantasize about marrying any of your teammates.

I watched them all, and I’m impressed that they’re all actually well-done? Like, damn. Good job, Atlus. They’re all a little silly, of course, but there’s some genuine moments in all of them. Now I’m even more annoyed that Goro and Sumi aren’t here. Akira’s just as close to them, if not closer in some ways. This isn’t even real, it’s all in Joker’s head, so like, it’s not like the other Thieves would be uncomfortable if he was an option.

So we broke the rest of the rebel army out of prison, and now we’re finally ready to take the fight to Marie directly!

(As far as you remember, Ann! *cries in PQ2* *cries louder in Hours*)

These two are such a fun team. And Toshiro’s finally growing a spine, with everyone’s support. This war sequence is great. We gave the little hats cannons!

The Rebel Corps is going to keep the main army distracted so the Thieves, Toshiro, and Erina can get into the castle itself and go after Marie. So they make it in, and find a projector revealing part of Toshiro’s missing memories. Apparently she is both his fiancee, and one of the shadowy figures from the beginning. Turns out, the real Marie, Marie Anto, is a CEO’s daughter that his father arranged for him to marry. As I told Po when I was texting her about it, Toshiro’s family gets money, Marie’s family gets power, Marie gets to be the wife of a future Prime Minister, and Toshiro gets… emotional abuse. X’’’D

We get to have a brawl in the fancy dining room, though, so that’s awesome.

After that, we find a creepy bear in a hallway that represents Marie’s view of Toshiro, and it gives him a major wakeup call about how he’s acted and how people see him. It steels his resolve to go after Marie, and he’s ready to push forward.

Also the sprite of Makoto grabbing Morgana after the bear starts talking is adorable.

So now it’s into the chapel to face Marie! And she’s a terrible person. But we knew that! And Toshiro finally finds the courage to stand up to her, which pisses her off enough to provoke her into a fight.

She throws exploding bouquets, tries to run us over with her tank, and keeps using that stupid collar and chain to single out one of your fighters to drag them in front of the tank and target them. It’s a tough fight and it requires a lot of maneuvering, but it was good!

After a certain point, she full-heals herself, and while she’s gloating, Toshiro has a spark of inspiration and runs off. This man gets into the rafters and drops the chapel bell on Marie once we get her in position. Get rekt, lady.

She whines and cries about how she was just taking what she deserved. Yeah, yeah. But then as she fades, she ends on this ominous note:

But we’ve won! It’s all good! Erina makes the announcement that the Kingdom is free, and so many rebels flood into the room to celebrate that we lose Yusuke somewhere in the mob. XDDD

Finally, we can approach the door at the back of the chapel. The same as the door that brought us here. It’s time to take Toshiro and go home, knowing that Erina and her world are safe now. Akira opens the door, and the Thieves walk through…

...into Feudal not-Japan.

Toshiro gets recognized as a wanted criminal after trying to help a young lady being bullied by soldiers, and the young lady leads us to safety in the hallowed halls of… Leblanc. Again. These Kingdoms are centered around Toshiro, so why is Leblanc, of all things, showing up repeatedly?

...what?

But we’re putting a pin in that and going inside. This girl’s name is Yuki, once again the only person in a world of hats. They’re lucky they’re cute, or this would be really weird.

The Kingdom is ruled over by a beatific tyrant named Lord Yoshiki, who takes the appearance of an all-loving Buddha. The citizens adore him, because if they don’t, they’re whisked off to the “Labor of Love”: a work camp.

Erina, who came with us on accident after sticking her head through the door to try to catch a glimpse of our world, wants to help free these people, too. And the Thieves theorize that if there was a door in Marie’s castle, there’s probably one here as well. Lavenza doesn’t know what’s going on, no one has any better ideas, so we’re set up and ready to topple another corrupt ruler. Who, let’s be real, is probably the other shadowy person from the opening.

.

So, still having a good time with this! Interesting that the second… person… oh man, THIS is the game where we needed to call them Monarchs, jesus Atlus. Anyway, interesting that the second Monarch is also on about a twisted form of love. I wonder if this is gonna be a recurring thing?

The sidequests are genuinely tricky, and are more puzzle-like than the main story battles. It’s actually really fun to figure out how to work the mechanics to reach the goal they’re asking for.

I do wish that you could just sell your old weapons in the shop menu, or buy new weapons from the Velvet Room. Having to leave the shop, go into the Velvet Room, sell the weapons, and then come back to buy the gun I couldn’t afford was a little weird.

I really like Erina as a character so far. She seems at least a few years older than the Thieves, but not by much, and it’s nice to see how she fits in with the group without being a Thief herself. Not that she doesn’t want to be; it’s cute seeing her trying to summon a persona when no one is looking. (Love the dialogue option to just yell “Persona!” back at her. XD) I genuinely don’t know if she’s going to have a persona in the end. Toshiro, maybe. Zenkichi got one, after all. But Zenkichi also had a few more points in his favor in terms of likeability when I was 13 hours into Scramble. XDDDD At least the wet blanket has upgraded to merely damp.

I am rethinking that Erina is his kid. Like, she’s clearly connected to him somehow. If the Monarchs are people he knows in the real world, the rebel leaders (using that term loosely for Yuki) are probably people he knows, too. But this man does not have a speck of Dad Energy anywhere in him. He’s not even up to uncle status right now. He is not invited to Coffee Dad’s Coffee and Dads Meetup. XD

So, with the Thieves still trapped in the metaverse, and the future uncertain, we press on. But at least one person is having a good time.

[zarvasace]

Bubbly Water

2.5k worth of LU fluff. Disability AU and blatant Four favoritism. Sorry. Gen in every sense of the term. :) AO3 link here! (this is really not that good but. I had fun. So whatever.)

--

"Wars, where are we going?" Twilight asks, craning his neck to keep Wild and Wind within his sight as they all do their best to weave through the dense crowds of Warriors's Castletown. They can't go very fast, but they have a wedge formation, so there's room for Four to roll without hitting people and for Hyrule to walk alongside him. 

Since Warriors walks at the head of the wedge, he can't exactly turn around to sign. Four sees his hand wave in a sort-of acknowledgement, but Twilight's question goes unanswered for now. Four isn't too worried about it, he knows that Warriors knows that they're all tired from three solid weeks running around the Great Sea. They'd run into monsters no matter where they went, and had only managed to spare two days saying hello to Wind's grandmother on Outset. Four is a little irritated with the day. He just wants to flop face-down on a bed and not move until morning, honestly. 

It seems that Warriors is leading them to the hospitality district. Four remembers the tall, bright blue-painted inn they'd stayed in last time. The stairs hadn't been fun to navigate, but like always, they managed. 

Warriors walks right past the inn and towards a nicer building, made with light-colored stone and lit up with colored glass in the lanterns, visible even in the bright overcast afternoon. The colors are cool, making the place look like it wavers underwater, an illusion only enhanced by the shells and pearls painted on the outside. The ocean theme is a little old, after three weeks of sailing and hearing waves, so there must be some good reason Warriors brought them here. It doesn't really look like an inn, and it's definitely not a tavern. 

The lobby is nice, with marble or marble-patterned tile stretching from the front entrance to a counter, with doorways and stairs on either side. Four feels bad about the grime his wheels are undoubtedly smearing across the light floor. At least his aren't the only marks. 

Warriors straightens his scarf, runs a hand through his hair, and puts on a smile. Backed by Time, he heads up for the counter. Warriors is lucky, sometimes. He's a celebrity in his world, though not always immediately recognizable to his people, and many of them have learned bits and pieces of sign because he uses it. The girl at the counter evidently knows enough to book them with whatever service they offer here. 

Wind clearly wants to go explore, but Wild has his arm, and Twilight has Wild's belt. They make a very interesting chain as they all head into the arch Warriors directs them to. 

The smell of flowers, citrus, and vanilla fills Four's nose as he pushes his way under the arch. There are a few doors out this way, spaced evenly with little shells glued to them in the shape of numbers. Four makes a noise of comprehension—it's a bathhouse. He hasn't been to many of these, and none since his accident. Hyrule looks more suspicious than usual. It doesn't explain why Wild, of all people, looks excited, though. Four has never seen a bathhouse or anything remotely similar in Wild's world, but to be fair, there's enough space there to hide an entire fortress or three. Sky has an absolutely delighted smile on his face, and Warriors's own smile is a little smug in light of that. 

"Ooh," Wind says as he heads into the door Warriors opens up, and his voice bounces off of the tile. "It's so steamy in here!" 

'Natural hot springs under the city,' Warriors explains, holding the door open with his shoulder. Sky repeats the words out loud, mostly for Hyrule's benefit. 'We can use any of the soaps over there, just don't go too crazy with them.'

The room is beautiful. This is no second-rate bathhouse. The ocean theme continues in here, with decorative nets hanging from the wooden rafters and more pearls painted in swirling designs along the plaster walls. In the center of the room is the bath, sunk into the ground and lined with a mosaic of sea turtles. The water ripples ever so slightly, under the influence of what Four assumes is a vent to circulate the water. It does, indeed, steam. 

Wild makes a beeline for the floor-to-ceiling shelving that Warriors indicates and starts picking up each bar and jar to sniff and prod. Twilight pulls off his furs almost immediately, setting them on top of one of the counters along the other side. Sky follows suit, removing his weapons and cape. Wind plops down on the side of the bath and pulls his shoe off of his foot, then dangles it in the water as he wrangles with the laces holding on his other leg. Legend mutters to Hyrule, explaining what a bathhouse is, while Time runs a hand along the murals. 

Four rolls in, and Warriors lets the door drop shut behind him. "How deep is it?" he asks softly, under the sounds of the others getting undressed and talking. 

'There are steps,' Warriors assures him, understanding the concern, and Four nods as he watches Warriors turn the lock. 

He knows that if he really wanted to, he could stay out, or use one of the many buckets instead of actually getting in. His chair is magical enough that water won't bother it, which had been a very good thing the last three weeks. The portal to Wind's world had dumped them a few yards offshore, and Four had gone entirely under before he knew what was happening. Luckily, Legend had reacted quickly enough and had enough swimming strength to get them both up above the surface before he sucked in any salty water. 

Needless to say, Four isn't exactly overeager to go underwater again. Swimming takes up a lot of energy, and he can't do it for more than a few seconds at a time, since he mostly relies on his arms. 

He gets a little closer to the water to look inside. True to Warriors's words, the bath gets deeper in stages, with wide steps that descend down a foot or so at a time. Gauging depth through the water isn't an exact science, but it looks like the center of the bath is about four feet deep. Even if he could stand, it would be a bit of an issue, but he can probably stick to one of the steps and be fine. 

Besides, it looks warm. Four's a bit achy, and his hair has been salt-crusted for such a long time. A nice, warm bath really does sound just about perfect. 

Sky, in his loose, embroidered undershirt and no shoes, walks around the edge of the bath, dropping in handfuls of white powder that sud up the water at the edges. "Nobody drink the water," he says, and his voice echoes, too. 

Wind's eyes go wide. "Is that soap?" 

"Bubbles!" Twilight says, grinning like an idiot. He turns red when the others turn to look at him. "What? Nobody else had bubble baths growing up?" 

Wild shrugs. He's holding a bar of soap in each hand and weighing them. "I don't know."

"I did," Four says with a smile of his own. "Been a while, though."

"Bubbles?" Hyrule asks suspiciously. "Like…"

"Not the enemy kind," Wind interrupts. He shucks off his tunic and shirt and throws them to the side, where they're likely to get soaked in the water on the floor. Twilight rolls his eyes and picks them up to set them on the countertop. 

Wind continues, heedless of the rescue of his clothing. "Come sit! They're a fun texture." He stirs the water with his foot a bit and scoops up a handful of the resulting bubbles to squish between his hands. 

On the other side of the bath, Twilight, Sky, and Time get into the water. They're all delighted by the bubbles, and only Time tries to hide it. Legend complains a bit, but sits on one of the steps near Hyrule and Wind playing with the bubbles. Warriors and Wild hold a quiet discussion about the different soaps and what they're made out of. 

Four watches the puddles of water grow from the edges of the bath, splashed by Twilight and Sky and Wind. He rolls over the countertop and reaches down to pull off his boots, then his socks. He's so caught up in his thoughts of how to wash his hair that Time's voice startles him. 

"Are you getting in?"

After Four's heart calms back down, he looks up at Time and nods. "I'm planning on it. Maybe a little worried about slipping, though." 

"Want some help?" Time asks. Time is probably the only one who can ask Four that question with any kind of regularity and not annoy him. 

Four considers the myriad of ways he could slip on the tile, then nods. He stands for a few seconds to get his tunic and leggings off, then grabs his brush from his pack and lets Time pick him up—one arm behind his back, one under his knees, and both of Four's arms around his neck. He feels his face turn red, but tries to fight it down. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. He's just glad he's the smallest, so when people do have to pick him up, he doesn't present too big of a problem. 

Time gets into the water slowly, making sure not to slip or fall. Some water droplets from Twilight and Sky's bubble fight fly their direction, and Four shields his face with a laugh. The water is delightfully warm, and the heat soaks deep into his skin. He can feel the dirt leaving him. It's nice. 

Perhaps sensing his contentment, Time doesn't put him down immediately. He stands in the deepest part of the bath, with the waterline nearly over his chest. The warm water covers most of Four, too, though it seems like Time is careful to keep his shoulders above water. Bubbles float past him, sent over by Legend agitating the surface of the water with his hands. 

Four smiles a little and lets go of Time to pull some of the white suds a bit closer. He looks up to see Legend watching him. Legend's eyebrow moves upward, seeing the mischief that must be in his eyes, and Four answers with a wider smile. Legend just makes more bubbles and pushes them Four's way. The water ripples as Sky goes under the water, pushed by Twilight. 

Once he's gathered enough bubbles, Four scoops as many as he can into his free hand, then slaps them on Time's face. He's nice and keeps to the lower half of it. 

Time jolts, his arms slipping a little as he splutters. His eye is wide as he looks down at Four, shocked and betrayed. 

Four can't help the laugh that breaks out of him at that expression. He's joined by Twilight and Legend, who'd seen the whole thing. Twilight's laugh cuts off after a second as Sky dunks him back. 

"Four?!" Time says. He spits out bubbles, and Four's laughter redoubles. 

Wind almost manages to catch Legend's face with a handful of bubbles, too, but Legend pushes him away with a shout, a spot of white just on the end of his nose. Wind and Hyrule's giggles add to the cacophony. 

"Don't even think about it," Twilight says to Wild, who gets in by them, though the intimidating tone is dampened somewhat by his smile. 

"I wasn't!" Wild protests. "Much. Here, this one is for you." He hands Twilight a bar of milky green soap, and gives a pale blue one to Sky. "I chose the scent, Wars chose the type."

Twilight takes the soap with a scrunched nose. "Type?" 

Wild shrugs and slips through the water to offer Hyrule another bar of soap. Warriors finally gets in, stretching and sighing at the heat, and answers Twilight's questions about types of soap. 

Time continues to spit suds out as he takes Four to the side of the bath. One of the steps is at the perfect depth for Four to sit, and Time is only a little salty when he lets Four get down. He wipes the bubbles from his face. 

"Bleh. Those do not taste as good as they smell."

"It's just soap," Four says with a gremlin smile, curling his fingers around the edge of the step as he sits there. He's a bit slow to react when Time scoops up an unfair amount of water to dump on his head. 

Four shouts in protest. Sopping wet hair falls into his eyes, and drips some bubbles into his mouth. It's his turn to spit out soap. "Oh, you are asking for it."

They play for a while, letting out some of the stress of the last few weeks. The water doesn't get any colder, though Wars shows them a spout on the wall where they can get cold water into buckets. That sets off another round of dunking and splashing. Nobody's immune to getting ganged up on and dunked. Hyrule is very good at it, somehow. 

It seems that Wild chose different soaps for all of them, and he makes sure everyone appreciates the scents he chose. Four does appreciate the minty, deep smell of his own. Sky takes a break from the tussling to sit by Four, and tells him that the light scent of his own Wild-chosen soap is apparently named "spring breeze." 

Somehow, Legend wrestles Wild into sitting still so he can work at his hair. Four has to wince at the way the water around Wild gets gray from the dirt and salt. He intends to do his own hair by himself, but can't say no when Wind asks quietly if he can help. 

When everyone has been scrubbed and washed and tired out, they sit at the edges of the bath and wait for the bubbles to dissipate. The conversation turns to where they'll stay that night, though it's just a little before dinnertime now. Wild suggests a cafe he'd eaten at on a previous visit to this town, and Sky starts to fall asleep in the heat. Warriors says he has a place in mind, one away from crowds where he thinks he can get a ground floor room. Four doesn't have a lot to add to the conversation, but he enjoys listening and adding thoughts and snide comments every so often. He doesn’t say anything when he notices Legend inspecting the soaps, getting teary-eyed at one of them, and tucking it away for later.

Maybe tomorrow they'll all fall in the mud, or get covered in monster blood again, but for now, Four enjoys the feeling of being clean and tired and safe. He kicks his feet out in the water. His toes poke out, and he smiles. 

They call it an evening when Wind drops off to sleep and falls in. The towels provided on the shelves are fluffy and just warm enough. Four changes his mind about the day—it’s nice. He likes it. He would like to spend the rest of it eating and reading past his bedtime. 

[maple-writes]

WHG 21 - The Reaping

This took way longer than it should have but it's something ~1.6K words.

tagging @concealeddarkness13 @pen-of-roses @ratracechronicler

POV: Rantha

---

I’d never seen Wayton so busy before, crowds likely larger than the population itself seemed to have gathered from what I’d glimpsed on the way in, led by Jack’s tight grip on my arm. He shoved me into the small town hall building, hardly more than an office to discuss town planning and hold important records. Inside Hannah and Mark, who I’d seen around but never really spoken to, were waiting for me.

Jack shut the door behind him and drew the blinds letting only a sliver of light shine in through the dusty window. No one spoke. All I could hear was my heartbeat in my ears, feeling it hammer against my chest. My breath seemed too loud in the quiet, standing still under everyone’s eyes. Was I supposed to break the silence? Nervously I fiddled with one of the chains around my wrists, running my hand over the links that matched the one around my neck and around my ankles.

Outside muffled noises of chatter came from the those passing by on their way to the town center. I’d gathered that there was something happening today, and that I would be sent away. No one would tell me where and I got the sense that they didn’t really know themselves.

“Did she suffer?”

Hannah’s voice surprised me, directed and poignant in the small dark room. She didn’t need to tell me who she was talking about. Irene had come in after her mother’s funeral, furious that Cecil had been gone and I had performed the ceremonies on his behalf. Drunk and spitting insults and threats there was nowhere for me to run. She stood between me and the door with only a desk between us. When she reached for a gun I shot first.

I shook my head, heart heavy and eyes lowered. “No, it was quick.” We were close enough that I shot her in the forehead. “I wouldn’t have left her there if she was alive and in pain.”

Beside her Mark growled, arms crossed tight across his chest. “Good thing you didn’t because if you did I’d consider beating you myself before handing you over to that ambassador.”

A hand closed around the back of the chain around my neck, pulling up and making me gag at the pressure on my throat. Jack yanked me back. I stumbled and choked, hands at my neck to try and fight the pressure as panic and breathlessness built in my lungs.

He sneered, pulling higher on the chain necklace. “A monster like him should never have been allowed to train under Cecil in the first place. Didn’t we all know this would happen?”

I struggled against his grip, choking like a hanged dog. This was wrong. It was wrong for anyone to touch a mage’s chains like this, especially in anger. Hannah and Mark watched cold and uncaring as dark closed in from the edge of my vision inwards, my head light and dizzy and my hands weakening. I stopped feeling the pain of the chain digging into my throat and my eyes grew heavy.

Jack let go and pushed me down. I landed on my side on the hard cold floor, gasping and panting to catch my breath.

“Lucky for you they want you alive.” He glared down at me. “Now get up and dust yourself off to make yourself at least half presentable.”

I took a couple more long deep breaths and pushed myself to my feet. My throat ached, sore and tender where I brought my hand to my neck. My other hand clenched to a fist by my side but I didn’t dare act on it. Keeping my head down I chewed on the anger threatening to come up from my stomach, on the curses I wanted to utter.

It would only prove them right.

I kept my head down when they lead me outside and a roundabout route to the center of town. A stage had been built, or maybe brought in, the material far too shiny and new looking for it to have come from around here. We stopped tucked away by the side of the stage where a strange looking woman had stepped up to the front of the stage. I tried not to stare but I couldn’t figure out how any of her many dazzling layers connected to each other, or even where one piece ended and the other began.

I wouldn’t say it to her face because that would be rude, but she looked weird.

She started a speech, one I couldn’t hear very well from where I stood. Jack held my arm in a tight grip, fingers digging into my skin hard enough it would bruise by tomorrow. Not that there was any need for him to hold on so tight. Where would I go? Where could I run to unarmed and against everyone who’d ever hated me?

Maybe they would let me say goodbye to Cecil before they took me wherever this woman had come from.

“There’s your cue, hope they eat you alive.”

Before I knew what was happening Jack pushed me towards the stage, pointing towards the stairs. The speaker had stopped speaking, waving enthusiastically for me to come join her. I took a deep breath to steady myself and walked before I could think too hard about it, putting one foot in front of the other. My skin burned under the stares of the crowd as I crossed the stage.

My legs wobbled and my heart worked its way up into my throat but I kept my breathing as calm as I could and kept my back straight like Cecil had taught me. In times of stress, crisis, and fear a mage was to appear calm before others. A mortician mage especially at times. Serving those who were grieving, preparing and investigating the bodies of those whose lives were taken too soon, sending loved ones off and calling for the attention of spirits and gods, I could show no apprehension. The last thing anyone needed was a nervous mage to set everyone else on edge.

Would he be proud of me now despite what I had done?

“And here he is!” The woman standing center stage grinned wide, her teeth unnaturally straight and white. She tossed her arm around my shoulders and pulled me in beside her. “Rantha Cathartes!”

She flashed another smile, and out of the corner of my eye I saw it waver just a moment when no one reacted, as if she’d expected fanfare. I took a deep breath and tried not to make a face at the strength of her perfume. The pause went on way too long before she decided to move on.

“Well then, wish him luck and he may just end up among the best of the best!”

Her smiling mask slipped again when the crowd didn’t give her what she wanted, some even scowling at the idea of wishing me luck.

She sighed, muttering under her breath, “huh, tough crowd…” A quick breath and the showmanship was back. “Thank you all for your hospitality. We’ll be setting up some equipment so you can view the whole show from right here once it all gets started. Farewell and may we meet again!”

This time she didn’t spare a moment to wait for a reaction, turning me with her arm still over my shoulders to guide me off the stage. Even if I knew I wouldn’t like what I saw I looked out at the gathered crowd as we walked. Familiar faces, people I’d grown up alongside, people who lost parents and children and friends by my mother and father’s hands.

At the far end of the square I found Cecil. He stood leaning against the side of a building with his lanky black dog Taiga sitting by his side. Dressed in his mortician mage’s cloak he watched and I faltered for a moment at the look in his eyes.

I’d never seen anger like that on his face before. Sharp eyed and strong jawed like that it looked like he could damn near burn Wayton to the ground. Taiga mirrored his expression with her ears pinned back and lip curled to show sharp teeth bright against her black muzzle. Together they noticed I’d seen them, heads moving in unison to follow my path across the stage.

Cecil’s face softened, eyes closing while his shoulders raised in a deep sigh. He nodded once. The same nod he’d given me countless times, a quiet token of approval and praise for something well done.

I was lucky we’d reached the other side of the stage and down the stairs because I couldn’t keep up the unreadable facade. Tears ran down either cheek, joining together under my chin and dropping down to my shirt. What ever happened next I knew that despite everything I’d made him proud. That in what was more than likely the last time he would ever see me he did what he could to show me thought as much. That he didn’t hate me, hadn’t washed his hands of me after finding a bloodied corpse where I should have been waiting for him to return. That he probably still loved me.

[timeoverload]

Well I have a lot to say at the moment. I have had the itch to write this all day but I couldn't because I was very busy at work. First of all, I apologize for my antics the past week. I'm still a little upset about what happened yesterday but I realize that some of that was my fault. Maybe I'm not being patient enough. I'm sorry if I ruined anyone's day. I'm definitely not as angry as I was last week and I was in a great mood all day despite being extremely stressed.

I was such a mess yesterday. I was so uncomfortable and I really don't want to go out by myself again. I wish I enjoyed doing that but I never have. I guess that's just the way I am. I was really looking forward to seeing you but I understand why you weren't there. I'm not planning on responding to any more indirect requests from anyone asking me to show up somewhere. I'm not going to keep subjecting myself to that anxiety if nothing is going to come out of it. I think I should have proven myself by now.

Another thing that triggered me while I was there was seeing someone that I used to be close to. There was a guy I went to high school with in one of the bands that played and we were good friends for a while. We had a very brief fling but literally nothing ever happened between us because I was acting psycho and that lead to the end of our friendship. It was definitely for the best because I treated him very poorly even though he was very kind to me. I knew that he wasn't the one for me. It seems like he is doing well now and I am happy for him. I don't think he recognized me but that's ok with me. Seeing him reminded me of how terrible I was in high school and I don't think I realized at the time how crazy I was acting. It brought back a lot of bad memories. He isn't the only person I acted that way towards. I was such an asshole and I did a lot of crazy shit back then that I would never do now. I'm not surprised that I don't have any friends left from high school.

I had a tough time keeping friends back then because of my behavior too. I was going through a lot of traumatic shit so that didn't help. I also used to be more of a risk taker too but I think a lot of that was due to mania. I didn't make the best decisions. I can't blame everything on my mental illness but it didn't help that I was not properly medicated for that until I was 24 or 25. I'm really surprised that I only got in trouble once in high school and it was for smoking cigarettes. I got pretty lucky I think. I have learned a lot since then and I think that I'm a much better person than I used to be.

Anyway, I also drank too much too quickly yesterday without eating so that was a stupid decision. I was fine though and I didn't throw up so I'm happy about that. I don't remember the drive home but I didn't have any issues. I'm glad it wasn't dark outside. I am never doing that again and I feel horrible about it since that is against my morals. It is very irresponsible. I know better and it was still scary.

I remember my mom driving drunk with me in the car all the time when I was a teenager. She would pick me up after school and she would usually be late because she had already been drinking or was hungover. Almost every day she would stop at walmart when we were on our way home so she could buy more $3 garbage wine. Then when we got home, I had to help watch my brother and sister and help with dinner so she could go sit in the garage. She would sit out there for hours and talk to herself while she was chain smoking and drinking. She would usually have at least 1 bottle of wine every night. I remember she would go to the bar at night and drive home drunk frequently. She hit mailboxes and other unknown things with her car. I remember waking up in the morning and looking out my window to check to see if she had parked in the yard again because it happened several times. We lived in a pretty nice neighborhood so that looked really bad. She got several DUI's and I'm thankful she never hurt anyone. I'm glad she doesn't have a car now because she can't be trusted with one. I don't want to end up like her but I also know I wouldn't let myself get to that point. I also lost a friend I met in high school because she was on her boyfriend's motorcycle with him and he was drunk and they got in an accident. He lived but she didn't and it was very sad. She was such a sweet person and I'm glad I got to spend time with her. It's hard for me to think about.

After I got home last night, I didn't drink that much more and I ate some food. I didn't want to do anything otherwise. I had no interest in being on the computer. I was upset and not in the right state of mind to be on here. I wanted to watch tv because I haven't in a long time so that's what I did. It was nice. I wanted to distract myself because I was not looking forward to today.

There were 75 cases all together on our side of the hospital. There was a lot going on. I had 16 cases this morning and 15 in the afternoon. There was a 45 minute delay around lunch time because there was an issue with the disposable sterile supply packs that come from the manufacturer. I'm not exactly sure what happened but it messed up the rest of the day and we were extremely behind. It was exhausting trying to catch up after that. The last case didn't get done until 6:20 so I didn't get out of there until 6:45. I was there 12 hours because I got there early this morning too. I think that tomorrow will be slower so that's good.

I am glad that I have Wednesday off but I'm also very anxious about it. I'm not going to be able to sleep in but I'm sure I will need a nap afterward so I should have time to do that. I am still looking forward to seeing you even though things haven't been going well recently. I know we will figure stuff out eventually and I need to stop worrying so much. Everything will be ok. I love you. 💖💖💖

I have been writing a long time and I know I'm going to continue going on tangents if I don't stop. I'm not going to have much time to relax tonight because I still have stuff to do. My right eye is also bothering me again too so I need to give it a break. I'm not sure why it hurts so bad and it has felt like something is in it all day. I have been wearing mascara more often so maybe that's the issue. Hopefully it feels better in the morning. I just ate dinner and now I have to get ready for bed. I really hope tomorrow is a better day.

I hope everyone else has a good day tomorrow too!!! :) Thank you for listening to me. 💖💖💖

[denimbex1986]

"I don't know if there's many actors who like looking at themselves on camera, maybe I'm wrong. I've seen it, I've seen - I've seen it, I was kind of; I was completely knocked out, I was completely kind of emotionally winded by the whole experience. It, it does leave you kind of in tatters, you know? Yeah."

"You know I was talking to Matt Damon about this because he had to do very similar equations in Good Will Hunting, and it becomes kind of like hieroglyphics, you know? It was very satisfying to do it and very satisfying to learn as I wrote. I had a vague, conceptual kind of understanding of what, of what I was doing, but I remember the first time I got to write the, the equation - I'd be practicing for months and months and months - and then Chris just turned the camera on me and not on the board so you never even see it."

"Oh that's interesting. Yeah that's interesting because normally I do have a playlist for, for every film, but for this one I, I didn't - yeah, I didn't. I think because it was so intellectual and there was so much weight - I mean he was, he was very into the arts, Oppenheimer; I mean like he really appreciated music, he wrote poetry, you know, he was, he was a big reader, spoke so many languages. But no I, actually for this one I didn't; I don't think I had enough room in my brain."

"Oh gosh. Gosh, that's a very difficult question. Oh, I don't know. I, I - you always hope that there's one film you make that touches someone and kind of speaks to them directly and that, that can be held up as, as a work of art, if you can do one of those I'd be very proud."

"Yeah, I actually sleep pretty well. The - we worked at such a furious pace on this film, like we shot it in 57 days or something, like we were flying all over America and I, I - so I slept, I slept, I slept pretty well when I, when I could, yeah."

"Oh I don't - I don't know. You see like I, you know many of his contemporaries said he was the most brilliant of them all - of the men of, of that time in physics; that he was the most brilliant. I don't know, you, you, apparently he had a very, very dry sense of humour, he made a great Martini; I'd probably keep it on that level, yeah. Yeah, yeah."

"You get used to it. I mean I'm lucky that I've kind of, I'm a, I'm a Nolan veteran so I'm used to the, the cameras and we have an amazing DP, Hoyte van Hoytema, so you - you get used to it, you know; you get very, very used to it. They do make an incredible racket when they're rolling, but again you just get used to that."

"He was busy; he's very much in demand these days. But yeah, Rob, off the back of Tenet, where we refer to Oppenheimer and I, and I wrote a thing about this incredible moment that, that Oppenheimer and the scientists of the Manhattan Project had where they could not completely eliminate the possibility that when they triggered that first gadget, that first atomic device, they might start the chain reaction that would destroy the world. And that, we use that as metaphor for Tenet which, which Rob was in, and as a wrap gift he gave me a book of Oppenheimer's speeches from the 1950s, where you're reading these great intellects trying to deal with the massive consequences of the way in which they've changed life forever for all of us. And I really got, got hooked and got hooked on the story."

"You know, I think I mean all of these big gags from, you know, stuff we did to Dark Knight, Tenet and obviously Oppenheimer with the Trinity Test, you're always focused in on that moment where your massive team of talented people have brought it together for some giant event that there is the limitations of theory; you've theorized about it, you've planned it, but you never quite know how it's going to go off, and so you have to build in massive safety margins and, and all of that. But there is incredible tension leading up to that and, for example in The Dark Knight where we destroyed the hospital and Heath, as the Joker is walking out of that hospital, that was a one-time thing. That building was collapsed at the end of it and, and we were done. And so there's incredible focus and tension from everybody and doing the Trinity Test in Oppenheimer in camera, doing real world effects and having us out in the desert with the actors waiting for this incredible moment, it gave us you know, some small feeling of, of what it must've been like to be there for the, the original detonation and it was - it was thrilling and terrifying and beautiful and dangerous all in equal measure."

"I, you know, I am a pretty good sleeper these days but no, sometimes you get a lot of thoughts going on, you, you're trying to wrestle with all those things and yeah, you'll, you'll process them and that'll keep you awake sometimes. But I trust that process; that you need to be working things out in advance and then you get to set or you hit the typewriter, or whichever bit of the process you're engaged with, refreshed and, and having thought a lot ahead of time about what you need, because my job on set is to provide answers. You know, I have to be there to answer everybody's questions and wrangle things and everything, so preparation's everything and yeah, some of that preparation does happen in the middle of the night when you'd rather be sleeping, yes."

"I couldn't possibly answer that other than by saying probably the latest one, whatever I've just done. Yeah, I mean that's the thing, you don't know; I mean the thing with every film is - for me the film's not finished until the audience finishes it. You know, you put it out to the audience and you're in a dialogue with them and they're telling you what it is you've done, and that's when you feel what the movie is and how it might resonate in the future. And you know, my hope for every film is that it sticks with people in some way."

"Oh no, I don't, I don't really notice it that much anymore. I can't - I think maybe it's just like you become a creature of habit, of trying to block that out and maybe I was just sucked into the vortex of Cillian's eyes too much to notice anything: I was just like: "That's all you see.""

"Also Hoyte, our, our DP, and he operates; he's very - he's very unassuming, he's very -"

"He sort of disappears, and Chris also is not someone who hides behind the monitors, he doesn't even have monitors -"

"No, he's right there."

"He'll stand by the camera and Chris is like a tall guy, but you somehow don't see him either. I don't know; there's so much focus on set, that's what I think is really it. There's no chaos, there's so much focus that even as you're doing the scene whether there's a massive IMAX camera or Chris Nolan right there, it's focused on you, so you just are concentrating."

"Well there's also an intimacy like, you know, you're kind of in a little group, in a huddle that it's like you're there with Hoyte and Chris and talking, and then suddenly Hoyte's got the camera on his shoulder and -"

"I don't even know how he puts it on his shoulder."

"I know that camera's gotta be 100, it's 85, something crazy like that."

"He's just permanently in back pain, he must be."

"Nobody's - you don't complain on a Chris Nolan set, ever."

"Drinking? I mean I was sort of just, I was practicing off set, but I wouldn't do it on set."

"Yeah; I don't think you can play drunk that well if you're drunk."

"I've tried it once; I've tried it once. Yeah, not on this one - years ago, and it was a disaster."

"There's a famous story about Brando doing that."

"And about Robert Shaw on Jaws."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Brando went down to a beach and said: "Come and get me when you're ready to shoot" and he was just -"

"Was he wasted?"

"Passed out. That's the story; I don't know that, if it's, if it's -"

"The amazing speech in Jaws that Robert Shaw does, they - they tried it one night and he'd been drinking, and they went and re-shot the whole thing the next day, because Robert Shaw woke up the next day and he said to Spielberg: "How badly did I embarrass myself?" and Spielberg said: "Not monumentally, would you like to do it again?" and he goes "Yes." And he did it again - and of course, it's the best monologue in history."

"This one."

"Yeah, this one would be right up there. I mean, there's not a bigger story to happen to humanity in the last, you know, in the history of humanity. So I don't know, I don't know what bigger story there would be to tell."

"I'm so proud of this one. Yeah - maybe this one."

"I feel like my problems are so insignificant compared to Oppenheimer's, you know?"

"But what Opp - what, what his problems wrought on and you know, his beautiful brain kind of wrought on the rest of us, that keeps me up at night. That's certainly one of the things I think about, and I think about it a lot more now having done the film and having kind of re-engaged with this. Because it's that kind of thing when you start to think about it you go: "I don't want to think about that, it's - it's too much", but it's there and it's been there, kind of looming over us, for, for eighty years now."

"Well I think, I mean to play a character like her was interesting because she's - I mean I love being a mother, I think Kitty was not a natural nurturer, I don't think she should have been a mother. I think she had great ambition for intellectual pursuits that she had to contort and limit to make sure his, his were fostered. And she did it happily; that was sort of what was expected of her at the time, but clearly you see a deterioration in the character, of that brilliant brain sort of going to waste at the ironing board in that isolation of Los Alamos. And so I think as a parent, playing her and how crap of a mother she was, was tough you know; I always feel bad like not being sweet with kids on screen, it was just brutal."

"But you were very sweet with them after that, after cut."

"I mean off set, I'd be singing like Peppa Pig and stuff and, you know, and they were so cute those kids; they were so lovely, so I just had to be so sweet with them when the cameras weren't rolling. And then when the cameras were rolling, I was sort of in eye-roll mode. I was like: "These poor babies.""

"No, God no, no, no. I, I never did that. We were laughing about it, it's like - it's a different language; and you just look at it and memorize it like it's hieroglyphics and you, and you try to get it right and, and the technical advisor looks, it was like: "You nailed it" and you're like: "Good, never make me do that again.""

[robinrites]

His Bard No More

Happy Day 13 of Whumptober everyone!

Prompts: Can't make an omelet without breaking a few legs, fracture, dislocation, "are you here to break me out?"

Summary: Jaskier has been captured by people who want to hurt him to hurt Geralt. Jokes on them, Jaskier knows Geralt won't come for him. Still, a small part of him can't help but hope that his White Wolf will come to save him.

TW: broken bones, failed escape attempt, prisoner whump, depression (Not a major thing tho)

Jaskier let his head gently fall against the wall behind him, his eyes taking in the ceiling for what seems to be the thousandth time since his capture. No new cracks have appeared, to his dismay, but it's better to look up at the ceiling then down. Looking down would mean acknowledging how shitty the situation he’s in is, which he’s already done far too many times. Jaskier pulls his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around them, hoping it’ll give him more comfort than it actually does. 

Shackles wrap around his wrists, both with chains leading back to the wall behind him, same with his ankles, but instead of the chains leading to the wall, they lead to a bolt in the middle of the room. His stomach grumbles, causing a wave of nausea to roll over Jaskier. He can’t help but laugh to himself, who would’ve thought that after three weeks of this he still wouldn’t be used to the continual hunger, sure they fed him but it was never enough. He rests his head on his knees and closes his eyes, trying to focus on anything but the hunger pains, but then he is faced with the fact that there is nothing better to think about. 

No matter how many times he’d told his captors, they never believed him. “He’ll come for you.” They swore, but Jaskier knew it wasn’t true and he’d hoped that by now they’d have given up and let him go, but of course he couldn’t be that lucky. He knew he was there to be bait and an informant, nothing more. In spite of the fact that he knew no one was coming to save him, he still couldn’t convince himself to give up any of the information he held. So he took the beatings. Jaskier pondered over what he would say of his time in captivity, should he ever escape. “Please, they beat me into the next week and I just sat there silently, not even a single scream escaped these lips!” Or perhaps, “Oh please, those brutes knew nothing about how to actually torture a man, I’ve felt worse from a bar fight.” But those would all be lies. 

Hours later, Jaskier’s thoughts are disrupted by the door to his cell opening, he quickly scrambles up right so he is prepared for what is to come. Three men enter his cell, one of whom is holding keys. Maybe this is my chance. 

“Fine weather we’re having, aren’t we gents?” He jokes, trying to break the tension in the room, but no one laughs. “I uh, I see you brought keys, so can I assume you’re finally letting me go home?” 

The men stay silent, much to his dismay. One of the men, who has a scar stretching down the left side of his face, walks towards Jaskier causing him to step back until his back is completely against the wall, his heart racing. He closes his eyes to brace for the incoming pain, but when it doesn’t come he opens his eyes slowly. His hands have been unchained from the wall, and are now bound together in front of him, the same goes for his ankles, which now have a short chain between them so he is able to walk. The man grabs Jaskier by the arm and begins to lead him out of his cell, his heart beating a hundred times faster than before. 

Jaskier nervously laughs as he exits his cell for the first time since the start of his captivity, “Where are you taking me?” When no one answers he begins to struggle in the man’s grip a bit more, “Stop! Please, where are you taking me?” The man tightens his grip around Jaskier and drags him forward, causing him to stumble. 

“You smell like cow shit.” Is all the man holding him says. Jaskier briefly looks back as they round the corner, wishing more than he thought he would to be back in his cell. He is led into a new room with a giant tub in the middle, maybe they really do mean to let him have a bath. Silently, the men uncuff him long enough to take off his clothes, then recuff his wrists, leaving just the shackles on his ankles, with nothing to hold them together. “You have five minutes, don’t try anything dumb,” Is all the man says before he and the others turn around. 

Jaskier quickly washes himself, not wanting to run out of time or miss the only opportunity he’s had in a month to get clean. After he finishes, he quickly dries himself off with the towel they’ve provided and puts on the clean clothes they gave him. The material of these clothes is far scratchier than the clothes he’d had on prior, but after three weeks of wear, they had been falling apart and absolutely disgusting, so he is grateful for the change. Noticing the men all still have their back turned to him, Jaskier takes a moment to analyze his surroundings and sees there is a second door that hopefully leads out of the room. 

As quietly as he can, he slips out the door, which leads to an unfamiliar hallway. Jaskier takes off as fast as he can in his current state, heading for the only door in this hall, which lies at the very end. He can’t help but stop when he passes a window, taking a brief moment to look out, trying to figure out where the hell they have taken him. He is greeted by snow covered roofs and trees, which tells him his gauge of the passage of time seems to have been correct. Before his capture, fall had already begun to pass, cold winds were beginning to blow in. Some mornings he would wake up to frost on the ground. Now it seems that snow has completely taken over for now. His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the door he just came through opening. Fuck. He turns to see the men enter, then looks back at the door he is going for and books it. He reaches the door and quickly tries to pull it open, only to find it locked. 

“Stop!” One of the men shouts at him as they race towards him.

Jaskier desperately pulls at the handle, begging it to open, “No no no no no,” he mutters as the men get closer to him. He is quickly yanked away from the door and pulled to the floor. “Please-” Jaskier begs as a kick lands in his side. “Please just let me go.” He sobs as another kick is dealt to his side, then a hand grabs his hair and yanks him off the ground a few inches, forcing him to face one of his captors. 

“We give you one nice thing and this is how you decide to treat us?” The man spits at him, rage turning his face red. His hair is let go and he falls back to the floor, the wind briefly getting knocked out of his lungs.

“I’m sorry!” Jaskier begs, tears running down his face, “I won’t do it again I swear!” 

“You’re right about that!” One of the other men shouts, “No more running for you, hows that sound?” 

Jaskier nods his head, “Please, I won’t do it anymore! Just take me back to my cell please!” 

“Funny, I don’t really think you’re in the position to be making any demands right now.” The third man grabs Jaskier’s wrists and pulls him to his feet, adjusting his hands so he has a good grip on Jaskier’s upper arms. 

At this point Jaskier doesn’t bother fighting, knowing that at least once he’s back in his cell, maybe they’ll relent and stop beating him. When they reach his cell, Jaskier is quickly thrown to the floor and rechained like he was before. He lets the breath he had been holding in, until he looks up and sees that the men are all still in his cell. He scoots back until his back hits the wall once more, as if that could protect him from these men, then he looks up. 

“I- I promise I won’t try that again.” He tries to sound less scared than he actually is, but it doesn’t work. 

“Damn right you won’t.” The man with the scar over his eye sneers at him, stepping closer. “Now tell me, bard,” he spits out bard as if it’s an insult, “are you familiar with what the punishment is for stealing?” Jaskier nods shakily, trying not to panic. “Well what is it then?” 

“You-you cut off the hand of the-” His eyes widen, “No! Please don’t!” 

“The hand of the what, bard?” The man repeats, “You didn’t finish answering my question. 

“Of the thief,” Jaskier chokes out.

“Now since this is your first offense, my men and I have decided to be generous, haven’t we?” The two men behind him nod their heads in agreement. “So we won’t cut off your legs, how’s that sound?” 

“That- that sounds good, uh sir, thank you.” Jaskier allows his heartbeat to slow back to normal, until he feels something grab his left leg. 

“Glad you agree, we’ll just break one of your legs instead.” Before Jaskier can even say anything in protest, he watches the man lift his foot up and then step down on Jaskier’s knee with more force than he would’ve thought possible. A scream shoots out from his lung, louder than he’s been in ages. 

All three men laugh, “Gods he couldn’t even take it like a man.” One of the men in the back jokes before stepping forward. “My turn.” This time Jaskier thinks he’s prepared for the pain, but another scream erupts as he feels his kneecap shatter. He wants to pull his leg closer to him, but worries that even the slightest movement could make the pain a thousand times worse. Then he remembers there is a third man. 

“N-no, no please!” He sobs, the pain from his leg radiating throughout his body. 

“Now now bard, is that anyway to say thank you for being taught an important lesson?” The third man chides, before smashing Jaskier’s shin. A look of satisfaction crosses the man’s face as he grabs Jaskier’s chin, “Now, say thank you.” 

“T-Thank you.” He sobs, trying to look away from the men despite being forced to make eye contact with them. 

“Good boy.” The man lets go of his chin to pat his head before turning around, leading the other two men out of the room. 

The second Jaskier is alone, he begins to cry, which quickly turns into screaming. He could handle the beatings and the loneliness, but now with his leg broken, the reality that he is never going to leave this place is far more real than it had been before. Despair shakes him down to his core. No one is coming for me. I’m going to die here, alone. At one point, someone bangs on his door to tell him to shut up, but he can’t seem to stop, despite knowing he needs to. Eventually someone comes in and gags him, threatening to cut off his tongue should remove the gag. 

If Jaskier had to guess how much time had passed since his leg was broken, he’d have to guess a couple weeks, maybe a month. Not that it’s shown much improvement, but the pain is a little less prominent than it was before. It doesn’t really make a difference, he can’t stand on it, and even if he could, there’s no way he’d dare attempt to escape again. His cell door opens and the man with a scar walks in with a piece of bread and a cup of water, causing his stomach to growl. It’s a sign that four days have passed, at least that’s what he guesses is the amount of time that passes between them feeding him, but without the sun it’s hard to say. 

The man pulls the gag out of Jaskier’s mouth, not that they need to leave it in anymore, he’s pretty quiet these days, the men just think it’s funny. “We’re helping you save your voice so when he comes for you, you can scream nice and pretty for him.” One of them joked at one point, even though they all know he’s not coming for Jaskier. He’s not his bard anymore, in fact, Jaskier would be willing to bet he’s happier now that Jaskier’s gone. He recalls at one point early in his captivity, when the men tried to get him to sing for them. When he’d refused they’d broken his lute. He could still see the smashed remains of his prized instrument in the corner of his cell, just out of reach. 

The man pushes the bread and water towards Jaskier, who quickly accepts them. “T-thank you.” He rasps out, his throat dry both from the lack of water, and the fact that he’s been gagged, which somehow also leads to him being far more thirsty. After he finishes eating, he hands the now empty cup back to the man, who goes to put the gag back in Jaskier’s mouth. “Please! I’ll be quiet!” He begs, same as he does every time they remove it. 

The man ignores this and shoves it back in Jaskier’s mouth, making a point of retying it far too tightly, while also catching some of Jaskier’s hair in the knot. “Tsk tsk bard, I think he would be very disappointed if when he comes for you, your voice is all gone, don’t you think? I mean that has to be the reason he kept you around so long hm? I can’t imagine you’re good for much else.” The man laughs, then turns on his heel and leaves the room, locking the door behind him. 

The next time Jaskier hears the door begin to open, he startles, his internal clock telling him that his captors are there early, or at least they seem earlier than usual. Usually he likes to be sitting up right when they come into his cell, so he can be prepared, but he is too tired and feels too weak to be doing anything but lay on his side. His eyes barely open as he watches the door swing open and shoes rush in. 

“Jaskier?” He hears a voice call, weird, they never call me by my name. He closes his eyes again, partially assuming it to be a dream, but as the footsteps get closer to him, he opens them again so he can at least look his captors in the eye before they beat the ever-loving shit out of him. When they open, Jaskier can’t help but do a double take as the man in front of him is his captor’s as he had been anticipating. He struggles to focus, only taking in the stark white hair of the man who abandoned him. The gag is gently pulled out of his mouth, catching slightly on his hair. 

“Are you here to break me out?” He rasps, his voice barely audible. “Or am I merely dreaming?”

“Oh Jaskier,” gentle hands cup his face, “I am so sorry.” 

Jaskier’s heart drops, “So I take it you’re here to kill me then?” Then Jaskier notices the blood on his armor. “Am I already dead?” 

“I killed them Jask, they’ll never lay hands on you or anyone again.” He sees the flash of metal and the jingle of keys, before feeling the shackles fall from his wrists. Moments later, he feels the shackles around his ankles also fall free, or at least on one of his ankles as he still can’t really feel his broken leg. “Let’s get you home.” 

When Jaskier wakes up again, he is in a bed, not the floor like he’s grown accustomed to. His leg also no longer radiates pain, when he opens his eyes he immediately has to shut them again, it is far brighter wherever he is now than it had been in his cell. The voices he hadn’t even noticed at first have now fallen silent around him, as if the owners have realized he is awake. 

“Jaskier?” There he is again, with his soft words and comforting voice. Why didn’t he come for me? “I’m here Jaskier, can you open your eyes?” 

He doesn’t want to, but he does anyway. There he is, seated by his bedside, his hand holding Jaskier’s, concern laced into every aspect of his face. “Geralt?” A cup with water is placed against his lip, his voice must be far raspier than he thought, but he doesn’t complain as he quickly drinks as much water as he can before the cup is pulled away. 

“Easy there,” Another voice, Yennefer, says as she places the cup on a stand beside the bed he is in. She must be the reason his legs does not hurt anymore. “There’s plenty of water now, no need to worry.” 

Jaskier looks at her, then at Geralt again, tightening his grip on Geralt’s hand. “You-you came for me?” 

“I’m sorry it took me so long, Jaskier.” 

“You came.” He sobs, “Oh Geralt, I’m so sorry I swear I never told them anything. Not even when I gave up hope you’d come. I swear on my life, I never said a word.”

“Even if you did Jaskier, I wouldn’t care.” Geralt rubs his thumb against Jaskier’s hand, trying his best to soothe him. “I just wish I had come sooner, I’m so sorry you were put through that.” 

“You’re, you’re not mad?” 

“Only at myself for not being there sooner.” 

Jaskier wipes the tears from his eyes with his free hand, not wanting to let go of Geralt’s hand. “Thank you for saving me.” 

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

[askthechronoverse]

Chapter Seventeen: For All The Times They Never Heard Your Battlecry

Last Chapter •||• Next Chapter

The residents of the cabin fell into a routine, which was weird for a group of friends on the verge of apocalypse. Rex spent most of his time with Hawkodile in the abandoned ruins of the old dojo, much to the disappointment of the younger Puppycorn. He did his best to try and watch his friend train, but Hawkodile usually noticed and shooed him away. Doctor Fox worked on inventions to help her friends in the days ahead and Unikitty worked to keep morale up. This left Richard to apply his duties as caretaker to Rex's cabin. 

"When was the last time the bathroom had been cleaned? I found a tree growing through the floor." The floating brick asked Unikitty, who was baking sugar cookies. 

"I don't know." The cat shrugged as she started to place cookies on a tray. "I never noticed a tree in there."

"Neither did our host, apparently. It's about as tall as you are. For someone who isn't here often lately, he's very messy." Richard began to float to the front door, grabbing the keys to Rex's pick up truck. "I'm going to get some cleaning supplies. Please don't make a bigger mess, princess." He floated out the door, past the Puppycorns playing in the yard and to the truck. "At least he keeps his truck in working order." He opened the door and drove into town. Heavy rock music blared from the radio and Richard turned the music down. "No wonder RJ is hard of hearing. He really should stop playing his mixtapes too loudly and think about his future hearing." The drive into town was relatively uneventful. 

He parked the truck and headed for the marketplace. The wanted posters for his friend group hung in the square. The brick looked at each of his friends' black and white photographs wistfully, dark eyes eventually landing on the poster of the man who literally crashed into their lives and started the chain reaction that brought Richard to this point in time. It was strangely the only one that was taken from a non-archive related source. It was from a social media post and an old one at that. He looked so much younger in this photo, like Rex had used an image manipulation tool to look that way. It was zoomed in, but you could see he was out on the beach. It was strange to see this manufactured version of a man who was warming up enough to the people he chose to surround himself with to let them in to the person below the surface. He looked around to make sure he wasn't seen and took the posters down, throwing them away in a nearby recycling bin. He then floated to a stall with cleaning materials and began to make his purchases. 

From behind him in line, he overheard a conversation from the only other people in the marketplace. "This place is getting so dangerous. We have had at least one criminal in our town within the princess's court and now the Doom Lords are stepping up to clean up from the rebellion. It's not right." Richard said nothing to combat any of it. The people seemed to be misinformed about the princess's intentions as well, but he knew that a low profile was what was needed right now.

"It's terrible how far the princess fell. It has to be that friend she made. He led her down a bad path." The other voice agreed. "She needs to stop making friends with everyone she meets."

"That's what makes the princess a good leader, though." Richard didn't turn around, but he had to interject if this is making them question Unikitty. His loyalty was too strong for that. "She's willing to provide a second chance to those who want one."

"I suppose. She is still going down a bad path and that handsome stranger is leading her down it. Shame on him." An elderly lady's voice chimed in. Richard thanked his lucky stars his turn to shop at the stall came next. He grabbed his purchases and started for the exit. As he did, he had to stop for a second. 

"Huh. That's odd." All of the street signs in the city were gone and the streetlights were all green. "That's a road hazard. I should get the police to do something about that." He was about to walk to the police station, but went back to the intersection and made a stop sign out of paper for each section of road. "This should make things a little safer until the lights are fixed. I can't just walk into the police station." He went back to the truck and drove down the road. The brick slammed on the brakes as he almost fell into a very large pothole. "Another road hazard." Richard found some dirt in Rex's truck bed. "I'm sure he'll understand." In due time, the hole at least wasn't deep enough to be a problem. He saw a jackhammer leaning against a light pole as he dug and floated to see where it came from. The handle had "Master Hazard" scratched into it. "Master Hazard? I guess that makes sense. I need to be on the lookout." He got back into the truck and began to take a route that was different from the one he took to get there.

Richard stopped again when he saw a cloaked figure just outside of town. His hood was off and his head was a flame. He was speaking to a teardrop headed figure. The brick parked the truck out of eyesight and hid behind a tree to listen in.

"It's almost over, right? Doom promised a cookout for the groundbreaking of our planetwide HQ." The fire being sputtered. 

"Yeah. We just need one win against the princess's buddies. We have lost two gems and Doom is not happy I failed to get the Master Breaker under my control long enough to frame him for the stuff we've been doing." The teardrop shook his head. "I would have had him if it weren't for the princess's bodyguard."

"I almost have the Unikingdom evacuated and Frowntown's been empty since Plague's stage of the plan. Our victory is all but assured." The fire headed being nodded. "We just need to stay the course."

"You didn't even need a gem for it! That's why you're employee of the month." The teardrop looked in Richard's direction, but didn't seem to see him. So there was no gem. Just one guy making things unsafe, so much so that they emptied the Unikingdom. This was oddly a sound idea and one the princess should have taken, though they were pretty busy running from the current law of the land right now. Richard's focus snapped back when the teardrop spoke again.

"So, there is one more push for the Master Breaker's unwilling involvement, right?"

"Nah. Doom's grown inpatient. There are other ways to pin the blame on him, anyway. It's not hard. We just gotta make it look like the kingdom was leveled by that punch of his when the time comes. Once we do that, it's over for him and victory for us." The fire headed being laughed with a crackle and a pop. 

Richard took mental note of this. It wouldn't be helpful to exonerate Rex if they failed, but he knew he could at least convince his own friends of the man's innocence if he needed to. He couldn't imagine having his mistakes being against him to this degree. Maybe he could find evidence of this plan. The Doom Lords had backup plans, so why shouldn't they? His mind was moving quickly now. How could he get evidence? He floated to the truck and noticed something in the glove compartment as he looked for something that could help: a tape recorder. It was probably used to record songs Rex heard on the radio for his mixtapes. This was just what he needed. He floated back to the two Doom Lords, who were wrapping up their conversation.

"Well, Doom's gonna address all that at the all hands meeting." The fire creature shrugged. "I've never seen her so excited about a plan before, but I get it. We'd better get going. Can't afford to miss this one." The two headed for the castle. This was it. If there was a time to get evidence, it would be now. Time to see how invisible he really was. He left Rex's truck by the side of the road and followed the Doom Lords at a shadow's pace. 

The brick had to suppress a gag when he saw how trashed his castle was. The current occupants had broken everything and spray painted what they couldn't black. He considered planting a taco detector on the first Tuesday his princess and her friends returned to the castle to see the whole place destroyed so it could be rebuilt up to his standards. The Doom Lords congregated in the throne room where the five friends' wanted posters were hung up on the wall behind the throne. Each one was defaced and had several darts a piece on them. Master Doom sat on the throne and waited for the others to settle down. Richard hung in a corner by the open window and hit record on the tape recorder.

"Alright, alright. Settle down." The Doom Lords snapped their attention to Master Doom. Richard began recording. "Despite our mistakes, we are close to our goal of flattening the Unikingdom. We need to make sure we look good here so we are left alone. That's very important since that child is still on this planet. I'm shocked… ugh … "Rex Dangervest" has the attention span to keep up this latest game of pretend." She leaned on the armrest of the throne. "He's being watched by the Queen's guard. This uprising could already be something she's aware of."

"I still have to play my part, Doom." Pain grinned wildly. "If anyone can remind the guy of the pain that drove him to destroy everything, it's me."

"Then make sure you make that a priority. We need to move as soon as possible. We don't know if the princess or the child asked for help from the Queen."

"To be fair, Rexy is too proud to have called for help. Remember, he tried to storm the castle all by himself." Pain interjected, which got her a glare that could freeze a bonfire from her boss.

"Still! Make sure you at least break his spirit to make things easier in the end. We can spin this as a plan of his if we have to. Especially if he isn't alive to tell his side of the story." She drummed her claws on the armchair. "We know the princess and her group will come to stop us. If he comes with them, he needs to not leave with them. That is your only mission when the time comes." Richard's pupils shrank. This was murder she was proposing. They really were plotting someone's murder in the throne room of his castle. This was a confirmation and a sickening one at that. The other Doom Lords murmured to one another. "Once that happens, I'll contact the queen's guard and let them know we caught the outlaw known as Rex Dangervest holding the princess captive and, while we were too late to save the planet, we were able to end the conflict and save the princess." 

Richard had heard enough. Talk of murder was enough to discredit them to the world at large. He waited until the room was distracted and attempted to fly out of the window. The window was closed now. He cursed his bad luck. Now he had to find another way to get out of the castle. Thankfully, the throne room was a room accessible to the public. He just had to wait for everyone gathered to leave. Which meant he had to remain undiscovered. He took a breath. He could do this. Absolutely. He was the hide and seek champ, after all. He hid behind the throne with the tape recorder and waited for the moment to leave.

The moment never seemed to come. Richard poked out from the back of the throne and looked around to see who was there. He saw Hazard, Fear, and the Doom Lord in a paper hat sleeping soundly on the floor. The moon was in full view in the window. The front door was open, letting a cool breeze into the room. All Richard had to do was leave. He held his breath and began to float above the Doom Lords, a firm telepathic grip on the tape recorder. The flame made a crackle like snore, making the brick swallow. He just had to take things slowly. Slowly but somehow fast enough to not get caught. He hadn't felt the emotions he was feeling now since his days on the other side of the law. It was undeniable that he was getting a rush. He sighed quietly to get the energy out. He couldn't afford to feel those emotions right now. It was too risky.

He was almost to the door when the paper hatted Doom Lord got up to his feet just a foot away from the door. Richard cursed his luck again and stood perfectly still. Unikitty always said he blended into the background. Time to test that to the extreme. He slipped into the shadows. He watched as the Doom Lord looked around the room, eventually focusing on the spot where he was floating. The brick held his breath. Think boring thoughts. Taxes… Cleaning… If Richard had to be honest with himself, this was starting to remind him of his days on the run, which wasn't the best thing to remember when he was trying to blend in. His heart was in his proverbial throat at this point and that feeling was giving him such a rush. He wanted to make sounds to match how he felt, but he knew he couldn't. He was calm. He was boring. This mindset must have helped a little, as the grey Doom Lord looked away after a nervewracking moment. The brick floated slowly toward the still open door. The hatted Doom Lord closed the door just after Richard left. 

Richard was on the verge of hyperventilation by the time he got to Rex's truck. He held the tape recorder close, opening the door with near reckless abandon. He fumbled in his raw energy as he took the tape out of the recorder, keeping hold of the tape and putting the recorder back where he found it. He started the truck and drove as fast as his morals would let him out of the town and toward Rex's cabin. He didn't stop until the cabin was in sight, parking the truck roughly where he found it. He rushed into the cabin where there were no signs of the group of friends being awake, with the exception of a lone light in the workshop. The brick floated though the open doorway and saw Rex building a ship. It wasn't in the colors he would have expected from the dark clad human and it only had enough room for five passengers. He was lying under it, his steel toed boots the only things visible to indicate he was down there.

"You forgot a seat." The monotone voice made Rex jump

"No. I didn't. If things go south, Princess Unikitty and her brother need to get off this planet." He got out from under the ship, revealing he was covered in grease and dirt. "Gonna leave this to you. I'm gonna stay behind and give you guys time to escape. Take them to this ship. The autopilot will take you to the Rexcelsior. Tell the first raptor you see that the captain has fallen. They'll know what that means." Richard lifted an eyebrow. Rex was being a little too serious. "Captain will have a way off planet. He's done this before."

"I'm not the only one thinking about backup plans tonight." Richard hovered closer to the human. "No one would think less of you if you left the planet with us if the Unikingdom gets destroyed, you know. You're one of us, RJ. We can't replace you if something were to happen to you." The human looked at the ship, hiding the fact he was moved to tears by those words. 

"I guess not." He knelt down to get back under the ship, but paused when he saw the green cased cassette tape Richard held. "You said you had backup plans, too. Is the tape a part of it?" 

"Yes. May I put this in the ship?" Richard put the tape in a small compartment when Rex nodded his reply. By the time the tape was safe, the man was back under the ship. "I'm sorry for borrowing your tape recorder without your permission."

"It's cool. There's a chance I won't need it where I may end up going."  There was no humor in the man's deep voice, but there was a thin layer of acceptance. 

"You said yourself that the future isn't set in stone." Richard pointed out.

"Richard." The human was back out from under the ship, expression more dire and fearful. "Puppycorn's future self tried six times to save me and couldn't. I'm… scared that this will end the same way. I have to prepare for the worst case scenario, because that could be the future that awaits me. What's different between try six and now?"

"I can't answer for what happened in other timelines, but I can tell you what I have seen. You went from being a lackadaisical man who took nothing seriously to someone who's loyalty to the kingdom is without question. This ship you built alone is evidence of that fact. I see a distinct change in how you hold yourself as well. That's not something to disregard." Richard bobbed in the air, a small smile where a frown normally was. Rex mouthed the word "lackadaisical" with a halo of green question marks over his head. Recognition slowly dawned on him with the rest with the question marks stopping altogether.  

"I just can't afford to lose another home." He responded as he went back under the ship. "Hope you aren't wrong about me, Richard." 

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Alan McGee born 29 September 1960 in East Kilbride.

  Alan grew up in Glasgow and attended King's Park Secondary School, where he met future Primal Scream founder Bobby Gillespie. McGee left school at 16 with one O grade McGee and Gillespie were heavily into punk rock, and they joined a local punk band, The Drains, in 1978.

McGee went on from there to found a successful club, The Living Room, in London, then buoyed by the success of their club, McGee funded the record label Creation, with two friends. Named after the ‘60s mod rock outfit, Creation Records’ first release was by the Legend! It was a 7" so bad that McGee reportedly hid most of the records underneath his bed, eventually melting them down after a dispute with the band.

He then signed up The Jesus & Mary Chain to his fledgling label. Due to their quite timely sound and some major championing from the star-making NME, the Mary Chain’s “Upside Down” was Creation’s first outright hit single, spending seven weeks atop the U.K. indie charts. Although the band eventually signed to the major subsidiary Blanco y Negro, McGee was able to reinvest the profits which provided them with enough to sign a string of artists who enjoyed success in the Indie charts. Primal Scream’s Screamadelica was a major breakthrough for McGee and the label.

Not the most financially astute man McGee was still losing money, even after he sold 49% of Creation to Sony the signing of bands like Sugar, the Boo Radleys, Teenage Fanclub should have helped but didn’t.

Things only changed when a band from Manchester fronted by a pair of brothers forced their way on-stage at a gig in Glasgow attended by McGee. Impressed by their attitude, he signed Oasis on the spot, resulting in a partnership that would launch both the band and the label into previously unimaginable success. Thanks to the deal in place with Sony, which quickly moved to shape up the anything-goes business style of the Creation offices, Oasis released a series of singles and a debut album that were met with pandemonium across the globe.

McGee a brick wall however when the hectic life of running a successful label and the years of high stress and out-of-control drug use saw him suffering a complete nervous breakdown. He spent the next two years in recovery. He gradually became less and less involved in Creation as Sony executives took over the label.

Alan McGee’s role in shaping British musical culture over the past thirty years is hard to overstate. As the founder of Creation Records he brought us the bands that defined an era. A charismatic Glaswegian who partied just as hard as any of the acts on his notoriously hedonistic label, he became an infamous character in the world of music.McGee continues to have an impact on independent music like perhaps no other, he has been managing bands in recent years including The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Happy Mondays, in 2018 he launched a new record label, Creation23 saying “I want to put records out again…I’ve missed it, 23 is my lucky number”

Bobby Gillespie sums Alan McGee up nicely “McGee was our Malcolm McLaren and Tony Wilson. An instigator and motivator, a born up setter. I’ve never met anyone like him and neither have you.”

Alan admits that during those years ‘We all took too many drugs, my behaviour was quite mad’  In a recent interview he says  I'm glad I'm sober and not an absolute nut job

McGee’s autobiography, Creation Stories, was optioned by Burning Wheel Productions and was adapted into a film screenplay by Monday’s birthday boy  Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh. Ewen Bremner, best known as Spud in Trainspotting, takes the central role, Danny Boyle is executive producer.

It’s an “okay” film, definitely not of the standard of Trainspotting, but as you would expect with Bremner in the lead role, it raises a few laughs.  Richard Jobson plays Alan’s father, Welsh, as usual makes a cameo appearance.

[helenarlett-rex]

Gorge World: Part 2

This post is a continuation from Part 1.

So starting out with my test play of Gorge World, I have decided on the modern setting out of the three available settings in the book.

Welcome to Ahmurica, brought to you by the Coalition of Corporations (CoC). It’s 1997 and there’s a War. A fast food cold war of sorts, as leading restaurant chains fight for dominance. A boost in integrated circuitry during the corporate conflict has caused a variety of growing pains. Neon has yet to be discontinued but LED shines bright in car dashboards. Cassettes still hold on while CDs and cartridges now hold enough data for 3D graphics, with new influence from ‘the Net’. Plastic shelled robots follow their owners commands to some degree of accuracy. To the point where even medical diagnostics and treatment is somewhat automated. And with all of this new progress, all corporations have used it for its advertisement and indoctrination. And it worked somewhat, as sects of brand loyalists dedicate their lives to the consumption of the brand and even fight for it. While others try their best to keep to themselves and live lives the way they want.

I will also be playing the game solo though use of the Mythic Game Master Emulator. It's not like I have anyone else who's going to play this particular game with me. I was lucky to get my regular gaming group to play Hc Svnt Dracones. If I tried pitching this to them... well... it's not going to happen. Besides, I want to actually play this... not just run it for someone else...

So I've got my little Helen mini ready for adventure, but she needs something to actually be doing. Let's start with a pretty standard setup. How about she goes out to grab something to eat? This is Burgerberg after all. Their society seems pretty centered around fast food. And if I look on Helen's sheet, we can see I listed her favorite food as "chicken," so if I look at the setting document in the book I don't see a place to get actual chicken, but I do see here that we have a place called Cheekin Chapel.

Cheekins (not to be confused with chickens) are delicious fat raptor-like creatures known for their white meat. Thus they are great for frying, amongst the other protein sources. No restaurant is known more for its fried cheekin than “Cheekin Chapel”, with its plus sized hen nun mascot holding a collection platter full of fried cheekin. As the pioneer of serving food in cardboard buckets, Cheekin Chapel is one of the few restaurant chains not suffering from growing pains due to the increased demand for larger portions. Even going so far as to up the size of its biscuits to that of burger buns. The current CEO, a very rotund shortstack eagle known as Gazette Gilded, daughter of the previous CEO Garter Gilded, is shrewd in her business practices and runs a tight ship. Also known for her loud angry yelling that can be heard three floors in either direction. Rumor has it she lives a double life hanging around malls and bars under the nickname “Glitter”.

This will do, I think. It may not be actual chicken, but it's close enough.

Forgive my medieval tavern full of human patrons, but I don't exactly have a KFC setup. Helen has poor eyesight anyways so I'm sure she can't tell the difference.

Helen goes up to the front counter to place an order, but I'm thinking she really wanted some actual chicken. So she's going to ask the bartender- I mean, fast food attendant... if he had any "specials" he can offer her. *Wink wink*

Does he? We'll have to consult the Fate Chart in the Mythic GM Emulator.

We are only just starting out so the Chaos Rank starts out at the default of 5, and I think the chances of them having any actual chicken they are just going to hand over to whatever random customer comes in and asks is Very Unlikely.

And we rolled 39. So that's a no. It's not an exceptional no, however. It's just a basic no. What that's telling me is that while he's telling her no, he's not being completely straightforward with her. He may actually have some chicken, or at least know where to get it. But now the question is, does Helen realize he's not being totally honest with her? She'll need quickness of mind here, so that's going to require an Agility roll. Helen's only got one pip in Agility, so she rolls 1 die, and we are going to say this an Average difficulty roll.

And that is a failure... So Helen does not pick up on the fact that he isn't being completely straight with her.

So then... with nothing else to do, I guess Helen will order a meal and go sit down to eat. She will order Fire Flakes. The book doesn't tell me what Fire Flakes actually are, so let's just assume it's like, spicy chicken strips or something... That will cost her 1 Trinket of currency and the book says it "Fills 1 point of Fullness."

Now my next question is, does anything happen while she's eating? We are going to go back to the GE Emulator to find out by rolling on the Event Focus Table.

And we rolled a 38, which is Move Towards a Thread. Hmm... We haven't actually pulled out the Mythic adventure sheet and added any threads yet, but I guess we do sort of have one now... "Find Real Chicken." So I'm going to go ahead and add that to the sheet.

So now that we have an actual thread to move towards, we need to figure out how we are doing that, or what is moving us towards it. For that we will roll on Mythic's Event Meaning chart. And by rolling two d100s I got Abuse The Physical...

Hmm... Okay, yeah... So I think what happens is, while Helen is eating she notices the bartender getting rough with one of the waitresses.

Let's say that she drops a serving tray and spills someone's food all over the floor and the bartender comes out and starts yelling at her. It says Abuse The Physical so let's say he actually slaps her. And being a woman herself, Helen won't stand for that.

She jumps to the waitress's defense and is going to try to make the bartender back down. We're going to use a Force roll to try to make the bartender back off as she bares her teeth and roars at him. And Helen has 2 pips in Force so she'll be rolling 2 dice for this.

Oh my god. And it's worse than a fail. It's a Flub. In Gorge World a Flub is basically like rolling a Critical Failure and the character is punished in some way. Now the rules say a GM may cause something bad to happen or evoke one of a character’s various features in a negative way. Since my GM is an emulator I'm going to have to roll to find out which of the two it wants to do. This will just be a simple 50/50 roll so we'll just roll a d4. Evens something bad happens, odds we evoke one of character’s features.

And I rolled a 4, so that's even. Something bad happens. And to find out what, we will again ask the Event Meaning Chart.

Lie Advice... Ah, okay. I know what this is. The bartender, completely unshaken by having this angry T-Rex roaring in his face, is going to "advise" Helen to back down and make up some kind of lie as to why she should. I'm going to roll one more time to find out what that lie is.

Negligence The innocent...? Oh, maybe he tells her that if they get into a fight there in the restaurant more innocent people are going to get hurt. Yeah, he puts on a show of being tougher than he actually is to make her think that he'll throw her all over the restaurant and create a full barroom brawl kind of situation if she tries to take him on. And because this is the punishment for her Flub Helen doesn't get to roll anything to try and call his bluff. So instead she just backs down and slowly slinks out of the restaurant with her head lowered in defeat.

But that's okay! Because remember, the whole point of this encounter was Move Towards a Thread.

So I think what happens is, after Helen leaves, the waitress chases after her, following her outside, to thank her for trying to stand up for her. And she's going to give Helen some advice on where she can find some actual chicken. And with one more roll that advice is...

Excitement Reality...

Oh... Okay... Yeah, I know what this means. And I will save it for the next post.

To Be Continued

---------------------------------

So after playing my first little session, as short as it was, I do already feel like I am starting to get a handle on the game. I only ended up doing two rolls in the actual game and the rest were all rolling on the Mythic emulator, but they were very simple and straight forward. I'll try making them a bit crunchier as the game progresses by adding in higher difficulties and experimenting with advantages and disadvantages, but so far I like the dice system. I didn't get a chance to try out combat yet either. I was kind of hoping things might go that way with the bartender, but that Flub kind of killed that. We'll see how combat goes when it happens.

As for the setting... This game is made to be played in any setting you want so I could easily homebrew something if I wanted to, but I figured since it's the first time I've ever played I should just use one of the stock settings provided. I didn't even realize it at first, but it's a very Burgerpunk setting. I've heard people joke about Burgerpunk before but I've never seen it actually implemented until now. I mean... I'm playing a TTRPG about trying to find a fucking chicken sandwich... but I'm having fun so I guess that's all that matters.

[foundfootagejoseph]

Blog 4

The film that i have selected is one of my all time favorite horror films that incorporates footage that is found revolving around true events. The film is titled Hell House LLC. I have not watched the film in over a year so it will be a good refresher and something I would love to use for this blog entry. The film is based off a group of young adults who want to create a horror house for the Halloween season as they pick this abandoned building to restore and build into there horror house. The whole movie bases its film off of them recording the experience that they had throughout there progress in the horror house. As the nights progressed more and more paranormal activity occurred causing the group members concern but not enough to where they would close to horror house. This was a big mistake because the night it opened was catastrophic. Now the basement was the biggest part of the evil paranormal activity, it setting in it was a dark chilling presence where they could not install cameras into because there was no signal even though the basement was how they leave the horror house and complete it. Now the thing that gave me the most chills was the creepy clown that throughout the film was possessed by some spirit causing it to move and watch them which just did not sit right with me at all. Every time he came into the frame it was the whole environment that had changed causing this eerie feeling that still sits with me to this day. The first day of the horror house was one of the scariest parts as everyone was positioned into there spots for the horror house but you could see one of the crew members running out of the horror house as we walk into the basement and see the girl chained to the wall screaming telling them to get her out which really caused a strange reaction of me because you could see something paranormal looking in the corner as out of nowhere it pops out making everyone scream and run back up the stairs as the chained crew member was screaming very loud leading to her death. As everyone ran the thing was coming for them and everyone was running out of the haunted house as the other staff members were confused but were trying to lead people out of the hell house. They got stuck in the horror house as the doors would not open up as the evil spirit locked it on them causing them to try and find new exits running for their lives but as they ran, you could look in the background as see all of the props starting to turn evil and possessed which ended up leading to there deaths. One girl who was a crew member was possessed made it out but got her good friend killed which after it was closed down on that horrible night these people in the future tried making a documentary on it using the girl who was still linked to the house and the evil spirits caused the film crew to come to the house and also get trapped which the evil spirits keep attracting people to the house to get brought into the demon house.

[Review] 'Hell House LLC' is a Chilling Good Time!

The Haunted House industry has been a staple of autumn in North America (and a few other lucky parts of the world as well) for hundreds of y

BLOODY DISGUSTING!

This is a review from back in the past on the film is pretty good and incorporates some of the same things i feel about the film but it gives some really good takes and how people felt back in the day when it was released.

Explore the haunt known as Hell House LLC - Modern Horrors

Halloween films don’t come around nearly as often as they should. I’m talking about the holiday, not the franchise that covers the butcher k

MODERN HORRORS

This source was around the time it was published and it gives brief knowledge of the film with some reaction to it.

[casspurrjoybell-17]

Heart’s Choice - Chapter 11

*Warning Adult Content*

- Carlos -

Today, Rexi's food truck is stationed near the entrance of a small recreational park, targeting parents with kids, hungry joggers and those recently released from the prison colloquially known as high school.

The eponymous Rexi has blue hair, a brash attitude and a passion for good food.

The burgers she serves out of her small food truck are simple but delicious and her fries are greasy, crispy, hot and always fresh.

Unlike a regular fast-food chain, though, when she's out of ingredients for the day, there are no more burgers to be had.

I'm not the only one with frequent Rexi's cravings, either and she usually closes up around two.

It's one-thirty already and I barely stop myself from running to get in line, instead forcing myself to match Detective Turner's more measured pace.

"You eat here often?" he asks, as we shuffle towards the ordering window behind a distressingly large family.

Not only will it take forever to get their orders but there might not be any burgers left by the time they're done.

Meanwhile, I'm nearly fainting with hunger and fidget uncomfortably, rocking forward on the balls of my feet and then back on my heels.

"Probably more often than I should. Two or three times a month. Though Rexi's only opened two months ago. Started out just wanting to support another small business owner. Now I'm hooked."

"It's that good, huh?"

"If we're lucky, you'll find out," I grumble, as the fruitful couple and their numerous offspring place orders at the window.

Luck is with us, however.

The kids all want chicken fingers, the father orders a veggie burger and only the mother asks for a Rexi's classic.

Even if it was the last one, I wouldn't grudge it her, she probably needs the energy.

Finally, it's our turn and Rexi greets me with a gap-toothed smile.

"Carlos. How's it going, man? Haven't seen you in a while. You been cheating on me with the golden arches?"

I laugh.

"Never. I even brought a friend."

Rexi looks at Turner and her grin widens.

"Ooh, es muy guapo. Bien hecho, güey."

She holds out her hand for a fist bump and I laugh anxiously.

"Oh, no. It's not... I shouldn't even say 'friend.' He's, uh... He's a cop."

Rexi's smile fades.

"A cop? What you doing, hanging with a cop?"

Turner takes over.

"Getting lunch. But when you have a moment, I do have some questions for you."

"You can ask now," Rexi says, nodding over our heads.

I turn around and see that there's a lull in the burger demand and no one else has joined the line.

"Then I'll decide if you're welcome here."

Unperturbed, Turner pulls up something on his phone and holds it out to her.

"You recognize this person?"

Rexi nods.

"Don't know his name but he comes 'round regular. He was here..."

She looks up and to the side as she searches her memory.

"Last Friday. He came just as I was shutting things down. There was a little league game in the park across the street and I'd already sold out."

Guilt twists my gut.

Kyle didn't take my money and run, after all.

"Was he alone?" I ask.

Rexi looks at me quizzically, as if wondering why I'm asking questions, too.

"Yeah. Far as I could tell."

"What did he say?"

She shrugs.

"Not much. I told him I was out of beef patties and fries but I had some veggie burgers left. He wasn't interested. He swore at me and fucked off down the street, probably in search of the next best thing. Haven't seen him since. Why? Is he missing or something?"

I glance at Turner, expecting him to step in but to my surprise, he lets me take the lead.

"Kyle worked for me at the shop," I say. "He was, um... He was murdered, last Friday."

Rexi's eyes go wide.

"Holy shit. Jesus, I'm sorry. Uh, I mean, how can I help?"

"We're trying to retrace his steps on the day he died," Turner says.

"You said he might have gone elsewhere for lunch. Any idea where, specifically?"

"No, not specifically. He headed that way."

She points west, down the street.

"There's a Wendy's and a McDonald's two blocks over but if he was really looking for the next best thing, he'd have gone to Burger Me, Daddy."

"Burger Me... Daddy?" I lift my brows at her.

"Yeah. It just opened. You haven't been?"

"Nope."

"Well, not to encourage the competition but give it a try. It's... different. Might be your scene."

She winks at Turner and he scowls with more than necessary vehemence.

"In the meantime, can I get you boys anything? Or are you just here to grill me?"

"I'll have the classic with cheese and a large fries and a chocolate shake," I say, the words spilling from my mouth before I can stop them. "Please."

Rexi blinks at me and looks at Turner.

He gives her a lazy smile that makes my heart clench with nonsensical jealousy.

I really need to eat something.

"The same for me," he says.

We retreat to a picnic bench to wait for our order and I make sure to sit as far away from Turner as I can.

"She's interesting," Turner says, nodding towards the food truck, where Rexi trades places with her one employee, taking over the grill while the other woman stands at the window.

"You believe her?"

"No reason I shouldn't," I say, shrugging.

"She seems genuine."

"Yeah," he agrees, still watching the food truck like a cat watching a bird. "She does. Then again, a lot of things that seem genuine turn out to be fake."

The burgers are delicious.

Mine is, anyway and from the first bite to the last, my attention is nowhere else.

Finally, my appetite sated at last, I look up to find Turner watching me with the same predatory keenness with which he'd been watching Rexi before.

Self-consciously, I wipe my mouth with a paper napkin and note that he's only a few bites into his own meal, while I've reduced mine to a bit of stray tomato and greasy paper.

"Sorry," I say, apologizing reflexively. "I was hungry."

"No need to be sorry," he says, still staring at me with a gaze that could spark a fire.

"In fact, that should be my line. I've been a poor host so far. I usually only eat one meal a day. I should have remembered most... people... require more regular nourishment."

I recall how, the night before, he'd eaten over half the pizza on his own.

"You always eat like that?" I ask.

"Since my divorce," he says with a shrug. "I'm no cook and it's less hassle that way. I only have to think about it once a day."

I laugh.

"I guess that's how it is in the wild, huh? Most carnivores are lucky if they eat once a day."

The look he gives me is so intense it makes me really glad we're not eating at that place Rexi mentioned because holy shit, he could snap his fingers and have me on my knees.

I look away, hoping he doesn't see that on my face, perceptive as he is and clear my throat.

"Anyway, if you're open to it, I can cook, if you like. I can, you know... While I'm staying with you, that is... To, like... help out or whatever."

"I won't stop you," he says, popping a fry in his mouth with a level of hotness that should be illegal. "I always appreciate a good meal."

'Jesus fucking Christ.'

If the man told me to bend over right now, right in front of Rexi's innocent food truck and the family seated at the next bench over, I'd do it.

I cough and take a sip of milkshake to cool my head.

'The fuck is wrong with you, hombre? Get your mind out the fucking gutter already. Concentrate on Kyle.'

"So, what next?" I ask. "We gonna keep on the trail or..."

As I speak, Turner's phone buzzes.

He holds up a hand, excusing himself and checks it.

Frowning, he rises and answers it, walking away and into the adjacent park.

If he means to keep his conversation private, however, he doesn't walk far enough because I can hear his side perfectly well.

"Hey, Becky. What's up?" he asks, and waits for a reply, hips angled as he rests his weight on one side, shoulders tense. "No, no. I'm not busy. Go ahead.

He listens, head cocked to the side as he holds his phone to his ear and I see agitation in the way he shifts it to the other side.

"Hey, hey. Slow down. You know I can't take them. I'm barely home as it is and..." he pauses again, listening. "No, I get that. But Becky, listen to me. I can't just..."

He goes stiff, chest heaving as if he's about to enter fight or flight mode and my nerves tingle as at a threat of danger as his voice raises in pitch and volume.

"You did what? I swear to God, Becky, if you don't..."

He holds the phone away from his face, checking the screen, then pockets it with forced calmness and strides back towards our table, face set as stone.

Scooping up the remains of his meal, he tosses it in the trash bin, plastic tray and all.

I cast Rexi a glance and press my hands together in a 'please forgive us' gesture and trail after him towards his vehicle.

"Hey," I call. "What's going on? You got kids or something?"

He unlocks his car with a 'beep beep' from his remote key.

"Or something," he says. "Get in. We're going home."

[hiromisuzukimicrojournal]

Late Blooming Girl

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Uncle Beard had no teeth, I was thinking. First of all, the reason he was called Uncle Beard was quite simple: he had a long white beard growing under his chin. The reason he was thought to be toothless was that he clucked his tongue like small drops of sudden rain hitting the roof, no matter what he ate. Uncle Beard, who was an elder brother of my grandma, ran a shoe shop on the edge of Tokyo. I was set to transfer to a new primary school that autumn and my grandma took me to the shop to have the school-designed one strap low heel shoes, pretty shoes so-called Mary Jane in the 1930s, made. Lovely leather shoes strolling could been seen through the display window, Oxfords, Derbys, marshmallow heel pumps, lace-up ankle boots, and knee-high boots. Even the flat shoes with corsages made by suede for little girls pretended to be prima donnas. In a faded poster of the 1966 tune These Boots Are Made for Walkin’, Nancy Sinatra laid sexy, holding Spotted Python to her breast. Uncle Beard showed me a leather sample book. There were a variety of animals, including cows, pigs, deer, etc. and even reptiles such as crocodiles and snakes. True or not, Uncle Beard told us proudly and exaggeratedly that once a year he went to the Amazon River and Río Orinoco to catch crocodiles. “Lunch is a crocodile dish,” Grandma called everyone from the main house at the back of the shop. On the kitchen table were dishes of chicken and white fish, which appeared to be cod, fried in used rapeseed oil. The plate was garnished with tartar sauce and cut lemon, with pickled olives and plastering a heap of French fries. I had lost my appetite.

Late that afternoon, Uncle Beard took me to a summer festival in the shopping district. Food booths lined the front of each shop in the arcade, I begged for grilled corn due to the temptation by the savoury aroma of soy sauce. We sat on a container of chilled bottled beer and nibbled on a whole corn together. I gazed at Uncle Beard’s mouth from motives of curiosity. When he opened his thin lips inside the bush of his long white beard, a reddish-black tongue glimpsed like a snake through the dark hole leading to his larynx. Then the teeth, which should not be there, especially the big front teeth, dropped the corn grains into his mouth like a bulldozer scraping sediment from a bedrock. The corn cores remained after being ground and eaten up by only his tongue rolled aimlessly away, lost in the footsteps of the festival crowd. ‘Do you want some watermelon?’ Uncle Beard said impatiently and brought two slices of watermelon out of eight equal portions into each hand, from the next booth. The droplets from the surface of watermelon, which had cooled in the icebox, evaporated in the heat of the pavement. I tried again to observe Uncle Beard, but his watermelon quickly disappeared into his long white beard. From a black hole, which might be his mouth, black seeds as small beetles jumped out vigorously one after another and died on the burnt pavement. The juice of watermelon spilled from his relax tongue stained his dry beard a pale pink.

There was a lottery at the exit of the shopping arcade. The Japanese lottery machine was a hexagonal rotating wooden box with plastic balls of about one centimetre in radius in various colours, red, blue, green, white, yellow, etc. The bettor turned a handle on the outside and the prize was determined by the colour of ball out. The first prize of the winner was a one-night trip for a couple to the hot-spring hotel in Hakone. “I hope we win the Fujiya Ryokan, where John & Yoko and Yukio Mishima used to stay,” said Uncle Beard dreamily as he stood in the queue. When it was our turn and I turned the handle of the machine in exchange for a redemption ticket, a white ball rolled out. The prize was a Hello Kitty perfume bottle-style keyring. The madam of the cosmetics shops in charge of the lottery said, “Congratulations, Kitty! you are lucky!” she smiled, hooked a ball chain on the tip of her glittery manicured forefinger and popped Hello Kitty into the palm of my hand. The liquid was noticed to be just water, coloured pink. Madame winked at Uncle Beard with her eyelashes like the wings of a swallowtail butterfly. “You should buy this girl a real perfume. Eau de Parfum named Ever Bloom would suit her. As you know, I work at a distributor of Shiseido Company. The shop is on the ground floor of the building on the corner back down this street. The next door of a book café. Do not forget!”

Even as the seasons passed, I could not adjust to my new primary school. I was a late-blooming girl who never pursued love or dreams. But I fell in love with a dreaming boy in my dream. I could only see his back in the distance. As I woke up from my dream, I was crying hugged the afterimage of his smile. I was listening to These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ on my pillow while eating an apple. Outside the window it was snowing. I thought of sexy alligator-skin boots strutting around town like a Nancy Sinatra song. I remembered the cute boy in the same class as me in the previous school. Although I had forgotten about the Hello Kitty keyring I won as prize on the day of the summer festival, and Eau de Parfum which Uncle Beard bought me. Even the scent of Ever Bloom might have remained in the back of my desk drawer, I cannot remember. I wondered if the truth or not that Uncle Beard was planning an adventure capturing black caiman and Orinoco crocodiles in Venezuela again next summer holidays. Above all, I could never forget the horrible scene, the little black creatures popped out from the dark hole inside his long white beard, then they died on the burnt pavement.

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RIContest theme image

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RIContest #1: Late Blooming Girl / Hiromi Suzuki

© short story by hiromi suzuki, 2023

published in RIC Journal (May 29, 2023)

…

via RIC Journal

[hiraethhh-h]

pyramid head with a gn!s/o who always pets him and scratches/rubs him underneath his helmet (Scenario)

Anonymous asked: Can you do a drabble for Pyramid Head with a S/O that always pets him and scratches/rubs under his helmet?

nonnie, u don’t understand how fast i ran to my google docs to write this HSKJDGH

wisps of fog curled around your body as you emerged from the trial. a soft sigh left your lips. you were lucky enough to find the hatch and escape from a very upset blight. an unpleasant shiver shot down your spine at the memory of the said killer mori-ing your teammates. yeah, the blight was not among your favorites.

a loud siren pierced through the sound of your thoughts, causing you to flinch. this wasn’t the campfire. rusted and beaten lockers lined the decrepit hallway, a flickering light visible at the end. you crept down the hallway, rubbing your forearms in an attempt to tame the goosebumps that began to rise on your skin. “pyramid head?” you called meekly, glancing around with a small frown. you heard no familiar sounds of the large killer, only the creepy ambiance of midwich. you came to a stop at an intersection. one way led down another hallway, the other towards where an exit-gate would be, and the final leading outside where large chains stuck to the ground. 

you headed down the steps that led outside, rain pelting down on you. water began to seep into your clothes, causing them to stick to your skin. you relished in the feeling, knowing you’d dry off regardless. caged bodies were suspended by smaller chains above you, some of them writhing around miserably. you simply paid them no mind, stepping in the middle of the three enormous chains that dug into the center of the open area. 

you slowly looked up to the dark sky, shutting your eyes with a soft sigh. despite being trapped in the Entity’s Realm, the sound and feeling of rain on your skin couldn’t help but remind you of the real world. a hand grasped your shoulder, drawing a yelp of surprise out of you. you pulled away from the being, eyes snapping open as you turned to face who or whatever had grabbed you. you were met with a dirty butchers smock and a large metal pyramid helmet tilted downwards to ‘stare’ at you. his trusty greatsword was held in his gloved left hand, the weapon tilted as it partially rested on the ground. “jesus… you scared the shit out of me.” you breathed out, placing a hand over your racing heart. pyramid head tilted his head every so slightly, faint, raspy breathing coming from the killer. you approached the male with a soft huff, gently bracing yourself against his torso. you paid no mind to the dirt, grime, and blood that began to stain your clothes and skin, simply savoring the warmth pyramid head provided.

one of your hands rested on his hip while the other began to drift to the bottom of his helmet. the male lifted his head slightly, giving you easy access. you came into contact with a slimy mass, which did admittedly feel weird, but it was something you got used to over time. you gently scratched at the pink flesh, humming contently. you brought your other hand to caress the side of his head. a deep rumbling sound came from pyramid head, the vibrations traveling down your body. you gave a soft chuckle, looking up at your lover. “feelin’ cuddly big guy?” you smiled, playfully prodding at the slimy mound. a pink muscle gently tapped your cheek, licking a stripe up your face. “eugh,  pyra!” you shrieked, pulling away with a laugh. 

his tongue waggled playfully, sticking out of the corner of his helmet where a small part of the metal was peeled up. it poked at your cheek much like you had done to him, eliciting another laugh as you gently swatted at his tongue. “okay, okay! i get it, you’re feeling cuddly.” you giggled.

 “we should head inside then, the rain is ass-bitingly cold.”