#listen if i was in charge of making an emerald hack

[leavingautumn13]

no, seriously, where was groudon for the last half of emerald before sootopolis?

and how on earth could maxie not find it again. it's massive. it causes the sun to scorch everything around it. it's a walking natural disaster and there's not even a path to follow??

[sebastianshaw]

Shaw pisses off a witch and gets turned into a rat. He still has his mutation but he's now stuck as a rat. In order to run the Hellfire he must Ratatouille someone.......

This was not the first time that Shaw had woken up as some kind of animal after a party with Sersi. The fact he kept attending said parties was a testament to the talent of the hostess, but he really wished that she would stick around AFTERWARDS to undue such undo damage!  As ever, however, Shaw had to do everything HIMSELF around here. With a tiny huff, he extricated himself from the couch cushions, jumped from the considerable height of the aforementioned couch, located his trousers, nosed his way into the pocket, and pulled out the cellular phone---so convenient!---using his teeth. One it had been withdraw, he was now faced with the issue of unlocking it. Fingerprint, face recognition, and passcodes were all too paltry security for the likes of him; his phone scanned not his skin, but his very DNA and thought patterns.  Which, in fact, despite his altered shape, still matched him. Let in by the device, he was able to tap with his little hands to make the call. Sersi’s voicemail picked up. Ugh, of course. He left her a VERY curt message. . .and realized only after he’d done so that it had been entirely composed of enraged squeaks. For Sebastian Hiram Shaw, you see, was currently in the form of a rat. A large specimen of the Rattus norvegicus, to be exact.  And he had work today. Not at Shaw Industries, which he could manage from his laptop, but the Hellfire Club. And that required his physical presence----something that would NOT be accepted in his current state.  Not fancying finding out if his mutant powers remained by testing them against brooms, clubs, and objects thrown by staff should he set paw there, Shaw’s keen mind began to think of a plan.  And then Donald Pierce walked in to gloat. * * * For the next week, Sebastian Shaw was nowhere to be seen, and yet both the Shaw Industries and the Manhattan Branch of the Hellfire Club ran smoothly. While there had been times before that the Black King had retreated physically to the shadows while continuing to oversee his domains from a safe distance, so no one thought much of it besides wondering what the latest threat was that he was concealing himself from.  Meanwhile, Donald Pierce had taken the remote approach with the Reavers and Purifiers as well, not abandoning them but merely sending them on missions quite far away.  Thus, it was by himself that he infiltrated the Hellfire Club’s party tonight. His knowledge of the security and how to shut it down from inside clearly showing that he must have hacked it. That must be what he was doing all this week, holed up away while his cyborg soldiers sowed hate elsewhere.  But there was no programming that could prepare him for. . . “SERSI!” he cried out accusingly as he burst through the ceiling. As the other guests scattered in fear, the emerald-clad woman merely gazed at him in bored appraisal.  “Sebastian’s going to charge you so much for that, you’ll have to sell off all your body parts just to pay off half, you know,” she said, “Really, it just might be a mercy right now if I turned out into an armadillo. Though then he’d probably sell you as a purse. In fact, maybe THAT’S what I’ll--” “I’m not here to fight!” he proclaimed, sounding desperate, and at that she raised a well-shaped eyebrow, as if to say that now she was listening. He continued, “You need to come with me. I don’t want anyone else to see this.” “An obvious trap if there ever was one,” Sersi dismissed,  “But since whatever you have up your mechanical sleeve can’t possibly best me, I’ll entertain it---just because I want to see what you’re going to try. It might be even more amusing than some of the outfits tonight. Although it would be hard to beat that absolute mess from Valentino that the Madripoorian diplomat was wearing tonight for sheer--” “IF YOU PLEASE, MADAM!” Pierce bellowed.  Sersi, as one might imagine, looked QUITE offended. “Well! If you can’t be patient enough for my presence, you don’t deserve it! Forget your little ---AAAIEEE!!” Pierce had just grabbed one of the spilled platters of canapes and, with a brief look of

deep regret at the waste of such fine food, hurled it at her. . . and her custom designer gown. The fact that Sersi could, of course, simply reshape the atoms to be clean again, was immaterial. His crime was unforgivable, his fate seemingly sealed. He did the only sensible thing. . .and ran. Sersi quite literally flew after him, hurling energy blasts that threatened to reduce him to so much molten scrap if he was so much as grazed by their heat. At last, he led her to a private chamber, and turned to face her. . .  And lifted his hat. “Sersi!” his mouth said, “It’s me, Sebastian! I’m the rat!” For, under the hat, pulling at the very stringy strings of Pierce’s blond hair, was a large rat, sporting large sideburns. And Sersi remembered, come to think of it. . .  “Oh, that’s right, I did do that last week, didn’t I?” she said, tapping the side of her cheek, momentarily defused.  “I suppose you want to be turned back.” “Indeed!” Pierce’s mouth barked as the rat yanked his hair accordingly. “I must ask first, however are you puppeteering this poor fellow?” “A fluke, really,” Shaw explained via the puppet in question, “It seems when he was connecting all his mechanical limbs to his brain so that they would respond to his mental signals just as a natural body part does, his hair got included. Thus, his body responds to it as it would to a command from the brain. He never realized til I took hold of it by chance; quite serendipitous, really. I’ve managed to run my company and the Club through him online, with no one any the wiser, including his own little cults. I just shut him down when I have to sleep. Really, it’s quite easy. Getting you back at a party in such a short time, that was the Herculean task!” “I know Hercules, that’s really NOT much of testament to something be difficult,” Sersi casually reshaped her opera gloves into fingerless ones and examined her purple nails, “And you KNOW I have very a busy social calendar. You should be grateful you were able to get me again this century!” “Well, since you’re here, I’d be even more grateful if you could spare a moment to---OH!” Shaw hadn’t even finished his sentence before he was restored to his former shape. . .absolutely naked and sitting on a now-collapsed Pierce.  Sersi stepped towards him, looming down, her red-hot ire from earlier returned now in an icy and even more terrifying form, “Now, Sebastian, about my dress. .  .” Shaw suddenly wondered if maybe he should have just stayed a rat for life.

[kitkatopinions]

Tbh I have no idea how people unironically say RWBY is about trust and how good it is to trust when people have literally had their trust betrayed leading to horrible things in SEVEN major plot points.

Number 1. Before the start of the show, Blake trusted in and believed in Adam, her mentor and (likely romantic) partner. Blake's trust in him was broken, as he went too far and started down a destructive and likely abusive path. This made it incredibly hard for Blake to trust anyone again, which is only made worse as Adam comes back into her life in an incredibly traumatic way, stabs her, cuts off the arm of her friend, and tries to behead her. Adam continues to be a major threat to her and her loved ones for months after, until she is forced to kill him in self defense. Blake's trust in Adam was proved to be wrong, and he hurt her and others.

Number 2. Ruby's trust in her friend Emerald - as well as Mercury and Cinder who were more acquaintances - was broken in an incredibly traumatic way. After discovering that Mercury was faking being injured and had lied about Ruby's beloved sister, he cheerfully stops her from saving Penny, who Emerald orchestrates the death of, and Ruby makes it past him only in time to see her dead, dismembered friend's body. Then Cinder purposefully causes a violent attack leading to the deaths of likely hundreds or more people and murders Pyrrha right in front of Ruby. Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder become central antagonists that the group sees again in Haven, who laugh and jeer about the deaths of their loved ones and almost kill Weiss. Ruby's trust in Emerald and her team was proved to be wrong, and they hurt her and others. Number 3. Leo Lionheart was a trusted member of Oz's inner circle and friend to him and Qrow. Although they (and Ironwood,) are all on edge over recent sketchy actions he's taken, Qrow and Oz give him the benefit of the doubt and Qrow even drops potentially dangerous information about Raven having the Spring Maiden. Lionheart has been working with Salem for a while, however, having gotten many of the Hunters in Mistral killed and having knowingly let Cinder infiltrate Beacon and cause the Fall. He gives this info to Salem and let's her operatives into Haven to capture children, kill children, and specifically murder Qrow - his friend and ally - and even tries to fight and kill, himself. The group trusted Leo, and it was proved to be wrong, and he hurt them and others. This betrayal clearly affects the whole group, but prominently Oz, who says Leo is not the first to betray him and uses it as another reason behind his own lack of trust in the group of teenage protagonists, which leads us to...

Number 4. In season 6 it's revealed that Salem and Oz had once been very close and romantic, but after a lot of stuff I can't take the energy to write out, Salem had changed for the worse, had lied and manipulated him, and started down a dark path he couldn't stand behind. When he tried to leave her with their kids, she exploded and murdered him and caused the deaths of their four young children. Since she couldn't die and Oz always reincarnated, this started a vicious cycle of Salem hunting down, hurting, and murdering him at every chance she got while she also tried to destroy the whole world and Ozpin tried in growing desperation to stop her and keep the world safe. Salem's actions caused great trauma that Oz has been clearly shown to have never fully healed from. She's the direct cause for his fears, paranoia, and isolation. His trust in Salem was proven to be wrong, and she hurt him and others. Number 5. Oz lied to the main cast several times and kept things hidden from them, and even after he swore not to keep any more secrets, he lied to them again. Despite Oz's problems being highly sympathetic, the show clearly intended us to think of this as a betrayal, framing the action as unquestioningly wrong, the complete lack of sympathy of our main cast being entirely unquestioned, and with doubt still being cast on Oz two seasons after. It's clear, however, that even though it’s sympathetic and understandable, Oz caused the others emotional pain through his actions, and the show intended to show us that Ruby and her team's trust in Ozpin was misplaced. Number 6. Ironwood showed major trust in the main characters, dropping charges against them and stopping them from being arrested, telling them all his plans immediately, letting them keep the Relic, giving them their Hunter licenses, sending them on high security missions, and listening to (and sometimes adhering to) their advice or concerns. But Team RWBY betrays him first by lying to him about crucial information (which he actually forgives iirc) and then by going behind his back to aid a vigilante who was stealing much needed supplies and telling her incredibly sensitive and dangerous government high security secrets. And then they never told him about it. Ironwood's trust in the protagonists was proven to be misplaced, and... Yeah, since Blake and Yang more or else helped Robyn get away with stealing supplies that were needed to finish Amity, their actions hurt James and others. Number 7. The Ace Ops and Penny trusted in Ironwood. The show had already framed Penny as having her trust broken by Ironwood when he decided to save the many while leaving the few, which the audience was meant to see as the evil option, but after that, Ironwood worked with a criminal to hack into and control her body and then threatens to bomb the remaining people of Mantle who Penny wants to protect. The Ace Ops and Winter agreed with Ironwood's choice to save Atlas and the already evacuated people of Mantle at the cost of the remaining few city blocks, but were clearly perturbed when he stopped saving as many as he could, and started actively killing whoever he wanted. And meanwhile, Oz himself was also betrayed by this turn of events, making it the second person in his very small inner circle to directly try to murder him. He clearly doesn't need any more reasons to think trusting people is something he doesn't have the luxury of. Oz, Penny, and the Ace Ops' trust in Ironwood was proven to be wrong, and he hurt them and others. And that hurt to type lol.

It's just all very strange. For a show that supposedly is meant to make you believe in the goodness of trust, there's certainly a lot of betrayal, back stabbing, lying, and mistrusting. There's something to be said about shows where bad things happen over and over and our main characters must struggle to continue to be good and trusting still even after they've been taken advantage of... But RWBY is not that, because the main protagonists themselves lie, mistrust, and betray, and the show frames that as good, letting us know Ruby was one hundred percent right and writing in fan favorites berating the people who question that, while they have Ironwood kicking puppies and shouting irrationally to remind us that Ruby's instinct of mistrust was completely good and right. I honestly can't take it seriously. RWBY's messages are juvenile at best, but this one was just severely ill handled. When I say that RWBY has a problem with 'Show Don't Tell' this is one of the things I mean. They didn't construct a narrative where Ruby and her team rise above cynicism, trust in others, and get the good consequences of not being frequently betrayed - thus showing the benefits of trusting and relying on others. They didn't even construct a gritty, sad, but ultimately hopeful narrative, where Ruby and co push through disappointment and betrayals and decide every day to continue to hold onto their morals of giving people the benefit of the doubt and offering redemption. What CRWBY did was construct a narrative where it seems like people would be stupid to keep putting their trust in each other, where it seems likely that anyone could be secretly evil next, and where it seems like the protagonists just don't have to adhere to any rules or standards and will be framed as right and congratulated no matter how they act or who they themselves hurt. And then we're told that the show is about trust, and Trust Love, and how your feelings will always lead you in the right direction despite being shown the opposite. I don't get it at all.

I don't feel like RWBY has anything to do with trust anymore.

[unholyhelbig]

Evergreen | Chapter Two

Summary: Beca Mitchell is a reporter that travels across the east coast. When scarlet fever begins to overtake much of the world, she’s forced to cover a story in one of the largest, newest, hospitals. She is soon captivated by the head nurse and then stolen by something more.[The Prequel to "What's Forever?"]

Read the series | Read Chapter One | Request prompts 

The scream sounded like a vase shattering against hardwood floor. It was so guttural and primal that Beca Mitchell believed with her entire body that it hadn’t sounded off in the first place. She was hazy from sleep, stiff from being propped up on the brick wall of her tiny room- a room she didn’t recognize at first. She hadn’t remembered falling asleep, but Emma was right, she had missed dinner.

She found herself yearning for a moment, for the floral chair that was always positioned in the corner of her room at home. It was draped with a fleece blanket and a sharp chill had settled over her room here. Her eyes wandered to the shadowed edge of the space now and she found nothing but a nasty crack dripping with rusted water.

That scream.

It made her jaw ache as it sounded again, over the hum of her own heartbeat. She had dozed off with her dip pen in her front pocket, the ink she had set up on the night table. It had leaked a spot that looked too much like Australia against the front of her pinstripe shirt. The button of her pants dug uncomfortably into her stomach as she scooted to the edge of the cot.

Evergreen Sanatorium, that’s where she had ended up. It had been so breathtakingly silent when they arrived like trained animals sat at the edges of their cages as Emma lead her down corridors. There wasn’t a sound to be had, but this one was so horrifying that it made the wallpaper curl.

She rushed to pull the faux gold watch from her front pocket. It popped open with a little click, the metal cooling against her sweaty palm. It almost burned with its starkness, but she licked her cracked lips and read the time. It was half-past two in the am.

Beca stood with much effort and slid the device back into her pocket her pants, ignoring the way the chain fell unevenly down the front of her slacks like uncombed hair. She crept silently to her door and flinched as it wailed like the source of the scream.

The hallway was still bathed in harsh neon lights, the fixtures humming above her like trapped flies. She glared at them for a moment, as if that would cease the buzz. It gave her nothing but spots to blink away as she peered down the corridor. It was empty, no one seemed to stir at the commotion.

She had pushed her boots off and left them by the cot, and thankfully so. Her socked feet made no noise as she tracked past the other closed doors that finally lead to the staircase. There was an echoed hacking bouncing off the walls, but that wasn’t the noise that disturbed her. It cut across the air once more, ending in a garbled crackling cough. It was coming from upstairs.

Beca gripped onto the railing as she walked up two full flights. Each floor was set up in the same way; unnaturally bright and deathly cold. Instead of living quarters, functioning rooms stretched to her left and her right. There was a reception desk at the top of the third floor. she squinted at the emptiness of the world.

There was an orderly, a dark-skinned man dressed in white linin slugging a mop across the tile. Beca let the breath caught in her chest pool in front of her as she pulled her shoulders back and walked towards him. The bucket that he used was muddy, and so was the water that he pushed around. There had been a stain the size of a notebook there before and he scrubbed toughly at the edges, dried and caked.

He glanced up, then down, and up again. He had pretty emerald eyes. “Ma’am?”

Beca suddenly didn’t know what to say. She was barefoot and quite disheveled and out of breath from her jog up to this level. And here was this orderly with a strong build and a kind smile with confused eyes. She hadn’t thought her way through anything. I’m the reporter from Chicago, what were those horrid screams?

“Ah, bathroom?”

He laughed dryly and leaned against the wooden stick of the mop like it was a crutch. His chin lifted towards a long hallway that jutted from the rest, and suddenly, if she did have to use the restroom, the prospect of venturing into the shadows deterred her. So did the scream that echoed once more, louder this time.

“Right, thank you-“ She frowned, holding her finger up as if to stop herself “What is that noise?”

“That would be Miss Mesa. She’s been a resident here longer than most. Likes to holler her head off until she gets somewhere with it. Usually, we can hold her off for a bit longer, but she’s unruly tonight.” He lifted his chiseled chin “You visiting family, Ma’am?”  

“No, I’m a reporter with Chicago Gazette.” The words felt like jelly in her mouth. She had never said them to a man before. It was easier with Emma, it was a part of her title and branded into her skin. But this was different somehow, this tore through her chest in a flutter of disbelief.

“In that case, apologies for the disturbance. Anything else I can help you with? Other than directions.”

She scoffed “What’s your name?”

“Ian Atkins Ma’am, the best damn orderly in this place. Just don’t’ say that to any of the other ones or they’ll try to prove me wrong, that will get them to work a hell of a lot harder.”

Beca decided that she liked Ian. He had bags under his eyes, the deep green pools reflecting the awful checkered pattern of the floor. But he worked through it and she found that admirable enough. She smiled and relished the lemon cleaner that burned her lungs.

“I'm Beca,” She offered, narrowing her eyes “This Miss Mesa, how long exactly has she been here?”

He pressed his lips into a thin line and leaned into the stick of the mop a little more. “Well, that depends, I’ve been here for a few months now and that rooms always been occupied by her shouting. She’s a bit of a legend around here, suppose.”

“How’s that?”

“Well, you ain’t hear this from me, but some of the lower staff have bets on when she’s goin’ to croak. There’s a money pot in the back. But the more religious of us believe that even when she does bite the dust, she won’t go far. You’ve heard her yell, that’s not something stopped by death.”

Beca hummed for a moment and stared down the stretch of hallway. Ian looked like the only spirit here. The mop squelched under his weight, its water a dark color that was akin to blood. If she didn’t need to use the bathroom before, her midsection ached as if it had to now.

“Religious, are we?”

“Not all of us, no.” He shook his head, kicking dumbly at the dingy yellow bucket “When you live in a place like this it’s easier to cling to the idea of something, suppose. Some of us prefer logic, but there’s a temple in the basement if you’re inclined.”

She wasn’t, not in the slightest. She wished she wasn’t blinking away sleep or the raw feeling in her bones. She should have brought up her journal, something to pull bytes from. She would shield his name from the public- no one with sense listens to an orderly, but lucky for Beca Mitchell, she didn’t have much, to begin with.

Beca fished into her front pocket, still soaked with ink, and produced a folded five-dollar bill. It was damp from her own sweat, or maybe the coolness of the weather. She clamped it between two fingers and held it out “Five on her not making it until I leave.”

Ian eyed it apprehensively for a moment before that dazzling smile cut through his expression. He grabbed and unfolded it, letting it snap like a wet towel in a locker room. “It’s a bet, Beca.”

“What’s a bet?”

A certain blush of color rushed to Ivan’s cheeks. It was painstakingly visible under the fluorescents. He stopped leaning on the stick of the mop like a vice and pushed its soaked base around. Beca stiffened at the sound of authority in the stranger's voice. This wasn’t Emma, and by the sharp tone, it wasn’t a patient either.

“Nothing, Miss Beale, the new kid and I were just discussin’ a few things.” He cleared his throat.

Beca let her shoulders drop as she turned to face the woman. Her lungs contracted and suddenly she felt like no amount of water, or liquor, in the world would quench her thirst. Even in the light of the harsh overheads, the woman held a certain archaic beauty to her; a painting that was left unfinished by just one stroke of a brush, a pencil drawing smeared by the palm of the hand.

Her hair was like fire, or the sun bouncing off of a large body of water. It flowed around her shoulders and stood out magnificently against the mint green undershirt that was hidden by a nurse's apron. She wore the same shoes Emma did, and Beca realized at that moment that they were impossibly quiet and that she had been staring, open-mouthed, for two long.

“You’re the head nurse?” She took note of the name. “I wasn’t expecting…”

The woman narrowed her eyes “No, go on, finish your sentence.”  

“Someone so young.”

“Right, well, someone as young as me also isn’t as daft as one would think. I don’t take kindly to my staff betting on the mortality rate of my patients. You seem well seasoned, I figured you would know that.”

Beca felt like she had been punched in the gut. The only thing worse than doing a bad thing was getting caught doing a bad thing. Emma had said that the nurses wouldn’t take to her in any capacity. But Nurse Beale’s hostility made her skin prickle. She was taken aback by the insult and even more by the beauty of the mouth spouting it.

The nurse must have sensed this, she lifted her chin, tone softer as she walked towards the stairs “Follow me.”

The reporter gaped for a few moments before dashing off behind the woman. She gave Ian a half-decent goodbye first. She pretended vaguely to not be out of breath. Nurse Beale was fast, and mean, and damned attractive.

“Not even an hour here and I’m being taken to the principal’s office.”

“I’m not in charge.”

“Sure act like it.”

She stopped abruptly. Beca was shorter than her and walking faster, her shoulder hitting the other woman’s. The nurse was cold, not just in demeanor, but by the touch of a hand. Beca felt every inch of hair raise as her breath caught. She smelled metallic and hot like the base of a tea kettle.

“While you’re in Evergreen, Miss Mitchell, there is a certain code of conduct that is to be followed.”

Beca swallowed hard, “Which is?”

“Respect,” She drew out the word like the long edge of a blade “The staff respects me, and I mind Emma. But when Emma isn’t around.”

“You’re the one to follow,” Beca nodded slowly.

“Right. And I don’t much appreciate you snooping through the halls at night. Not for a puff piece.”

Beca let out a laugh that might have been too loud and nervous for the situation, but she didn’t care. Her cheeks here hot and her fingers were twitching, and the woman in front of her was dragging her stare up and down her body.

“A Puff piece? This is going to be the story of the year.”

“Quite cocky for a woman.” Beca frowned and the woman held up a hand “Mind yourself, Miss Mitchell. You know where your quarters are. I suggest you find your way back to them.”

The woman walked briskly past the staircase and through a set of doors that were labeled in big red letters. Off-limits. Beca watched as she vanished. She stood at the top of the staircase for a few moments, fingers trying to rub some feeling back into the place where her arm brushed with the head nurse.  

[mobius-prime]

200. Sonic the Hedgehog #132

Can you believe it? We've reached the two hundredth issue, everyone! It seems like not that long ago that we had only reached one hundred, yet here we are! Of course, the actual comic itself is nowhere near two hundred yet, but we're counting total volume of issues here. We're over halfway done with reading the preboot by now, but we still have over a hundred left to go in front of us, so we'd better dive right in!

Home (Part 3 of 4): A.D.A.M. and Evil

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Dave Manak Colors: Jensen

Eggman can't believe what he's seeing as Tails and Sonic fly overhead, having been certain that Sonic could never be fast enough to reach him in time to stop the missile launch. Sonic leaps down from the Tornado with a pair of handcuffs to arrest Eggman with, but Eggman isn't worried, as he has M to protect him… and as Tails hacks into Eggman's database to stop the missile launch countdown, he finds he has another problem to worry about.

Well that's worrying… Meanwhile at Fort Acorn, as General D'Coolette gets the soldiers under his command ready for battle, Julie-Su argues with Knuckles inside the fort. Knuckles apparently wants to take point in the fight, but Julie-Su is adamant that he not put himself in such direct danger, as now without the power of the Chaos Emeralds, the only power he can rely on is his natural strength, which while formidable pales in comparison. She's doubly worried since last time he put himself in direct danger like this he literally died, but he still insists that he can handle it, pointing to his backup.

Uhh… looks like Amy has seriously powered up since last we saw her! Vector is in charge of heading off the swatbots' first advance, which he does by blasting his music loudly enough that it literally blows all the robots apart before they can reach the fort. While this is going on, Sally, her parents, and Uncle Chuck monitor the situation from the Technolo-Tree, as now that A.D.A.M. has taken control of the Tornado Tails is in serious danger. However, Chuck reasons that with A.D.A.M.'s attention split three ways, he may not be able to properly concentrate on controlling the plane, the missile countdown, and the robot army at Robotropolis effectively. A.D.A.M. forces the controls of Tails' plane down, intending to make him impact with the water of the ocean to kill him, and with M attacking Sonic in revenge for hurting her "father," things look bleak. However, Tails, thinking fast, decides to test A.D.A.M.'s skills with riddles, asking him "Why does the chicken cross…"

I think you've found A.D.A.M.'s weakness, Tails! As he keeps the virus distracted with some more puzzles, Vector laments the destruction of his stereo equipment due to the sheer volume of noise he just unleashed on the swatbots. However, that's only the first wave - and Amy Rose is ready to take on the second wave single-handedly. M starts viciously beating up Sonic while Eggman gleefully "introduces" her to him, noting that unlike A.D.A.M., she was an intentional creation to act as his personal enforcer. She flings Sonic into the water nearby, and Sally, watching from home, is horrified, as she knows Sonic can't swim.

This is kind of the beginning of the era where the comic started to clip Sally's wings. A year spent thinking her closest friend was gone has robbed her of some of her usual fire, and though many people call it out of character for her, while to some degree I agree, in other ways I kind of don't. Sonic is in many ways the opposite of Sally - he rushes into things, acts first and asks questions later, while Sally is much more calculating and prefers to have a plan before jumping into action. With the wild attitude of Sonic gone from her life, she's had her parents in her ears for the past year, once again pushing her to act like a princess and not get involved the way she used to. Instead of being the general, the leader of the rebellion that she's always been, she's being pulled back, reined in, told that she must only direct her troops' movements from the safety of her home. While certainly Sally isn't the type to meekly listen to whatever her parents tell her to do, I think the trauma she's faced has affected her in more ways than even she's aware of, and she's not nearly as certain of herself anymore, leaving her more open to manipulation from her parents than she once would have been.

At Fort Knothole, Amy is only half-conscious after the battle due to exhaustion, but perks up when she's told that she managed to wipe out half the attacking swatbots… on her own. If there's one thing I love about the comics, it's that they never downplay Amy's immense strength. She's a one-woman army in her own right, as long as she has her hammer in hand, and ultimately the comics give her a lot of chances to shine as the badass she is. Everyone prepares to fight the rest of the bots, but a shadow above alerts them to the arrival of the special GUN team from Station Square, heralded by Rouge the Bat. In Old Megaopolis, Eggman tells M that he won't believe Sonic is dead until he sees a body, so she dives into the water, just as Sonic manages to pull himself from the water after finding a lucky ladder close by.

M's eyes begin to glow, glaring at Sonic as she prepares to attack…

Mobius 25 Years Later: The Unveiling

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jensen

There isn't much teen interaction in this second installment of Mobius 25 Years Later, so there isn't as much to complain about compared to last issue, but there are still a few things to cover. For one, we get our first introduction to Kenders' weird attempts to include some diversity of sexual orientation in his work! We open at Lara-Su's Unveiling, as Julie-Su proudly watches her dance with her father in the middle of the festivities. An echidna named "Mace" arrives, and from his dialogue we can gather that he's Knuckles' half-brother, the one whom Lara-Le was pregnant with before Sonic's space adventures. Julie-Su questions his friendship with a friend of his, Demi-Na, but he insists that the two of them are just friends and it's "nothing serious." She then warns him away from flirting with any of the other people present, as they're all already married. Apparently, Kenders' intention here was to indicate that Mace is in fact gay - that he's not interested in Demi-Na because he's not into women, and that Julie-Su never specified the gender of the people he shouldn't be flirting with. However, there's not even the slightest hint of any of this in the dialogue - y'all know how online fandoms will grasp onto any tiny hint of two same-gender individuals being cordial to one another as being true love and ship them accordingly, but I doubt even the gayest of fans would look at the dialogue surrounding Mace and think "Oh, he's definitely A Fellow Gay!" I do get that at the time this comic was released, acceptance of LGBT individuals wasn't nearly as widespread as it is now, which would actually make Kenders a bit ahead of the curve of society as a whole in terms of acceptance, but this is still a really, really weak attempt at including a gay character in his work - and it's not even the weirdest example yet.

See, even here, something that could have been an opportunity for gentle ribbing from father to daughter is instead used as an excuse to essentially pull a "well, other people have it worse" on Lara-Su. The dress really doesn't suit her personality-wise, making me wonder who even decided that was what she should wear in the first place. Meanwhile, we finally get to meet Cobar, Rotor's old friend, as the two meet up and discuss a very serious matter.

Okay, this is definitely the most interesting thing we've seen so far in this world. This is a problem much more reminiscent of the types of conflicts we see in the main storyline of the comic. However, we're already facing another weird "LGBT inclusion" scenario! Go ahead and take a look at the way Rotor and Cobar interact with one another. Seem shippable to you guys? Well, despite the fact that they seem no closer to each other than two ordinary scientists with a polite working relationship, Cobar is basically supposed to be Rotor's husband! That's right, Kenders apparently always saw Rotor as gay, and while I'm 1000% on board with that interpretation… well first of all Cobar looks like he has one foot in the grave while Rotor would barely be like forty-something in this timeline, but also, again, there is no noticeable hint they they're even slightly into each other, let alone in a long-term relationship. Frankly, Rotor deserves better if we're looking to set him up with a nice man.

Meanwhile, back at the Unveiling, Vector and his son Argyle arrive fashionably late to the party, and Vector and Knuckles step aside to have a chat while Argyle moves in to dance with Lara-Su. Vector frets, thinking that Argyle essentially isn't cool enough to know how to charm a lady, but his fears are totally unfounded.

Hmm, seems serious, Knuckles… I'm sure this interesting part of the plot isn't going to get sidetracked by trite teenage drama and a bunch of adults yakking at each other about Adult Stuff, right?

[another-sonic-blog]

10 Days With ShadAmy (Day. 2)

It was already late and Shadow got into the rookie’s room in order to get some sleep. He wasn’t in a good mood after leaving Amy’s room. It's not like he was romantically interested in Amy, but he low key wanted her to say that he might like him. “Mister Shadow! Ah, you can go ahead and take the bed I can sleep on the floor!”- The red fox said and Shadow just followed the flow. He took his shoes off and climb to the bed while the rookie just happily laid on the floor next tot he bed. Not even five seconds have passed when the rookie began to speak. “Mister Shadow, are you awake?” “...I am now” “Can I ask you a question?” “You already did” “Well, not-” “Just get it over with already”- Shadow turn around and gave his back to the rookie. “how was Sonic the Hedgehog?”- The rookie finally asked. “...Why do you want to know that?” “Before my village got destroyed, people would always talk about the adventures of Sonic and his friends. They would even tell their stories to the kids.... I wanted to ask Miss Amy or Mister Knuckles about him, but I don’t think they are ready to talk about it” “....He was annoying...” “Ah...I see....”- The red fox didn’t get the answer he wanted to hear, he wanted to keep on asking, but he didn't want to annoy Shadow. “but... it was tolerable”   The rookie smile, happy to hear an answer. “I would of like to know more about him, but am really happy right now as well” “Why is that?”- Ask Shadow. “Never in a million years I thought I would have the opportunity to meet Amy Rose, Knuckles the Edquina and my favorite hero of all times, Shadow The Hedgehog!”- the rookie then suddenly he realized what he said. “Sorry! I mean, like sorry if I made you-” “Don’t worry about it kiddo”- Shadow didn't want to make the situation awkward for neither of them. He didn’t want to admit it but.. he was kinda happy knowing that someone admired him. “I have another question... if you let me” “Spit it”- “Do you actually need to sleep? You ARE the ultimate life form after all”- the rookie asked. “As a matter of fact, I don’t need sleep. I won’t die from sleep deprivation. However, I do feel the need to sleep. Just like I won’t die from starvation, but I still feel hungry...You know what I mean?” “Yes, I think that explains many things..thank you!”- The rookie said as he could happily go to sleep now. “What do you mean by ‘that explains’ many things?”   The rookie stood up from the floor and looked up to Shadow as he did the same when he heard the red fox stand up. “Well, like you know.. that’s why you went to Miss Amy’s room right? It's not like you NEED affection, but you still WANT it, right?- The red fox said and Shadow got extremely surprised at his comment. “Wait, are you inferring that Amy and I?...” “Well before leaving the main headquarters room you both looked pretty intense, so everyone assumed that you both-”   The rookie was once again interrupted by Shadow. “Listen to me...listen to me well... AMY AND I WILL NEVER, EVER-” . . . . “EVER BE TOGETHER”- Amy said as loud as possible in order to make Silver understand her point. “Sorry Amy, it was just a thought”- Silver said trying to defend himself. “At this point, I don’t think Shadow is worth my time” “Then, why did you invited him to join the resistance?”- Silver asked amused “Well, because we need his strength, he is a very powerful hedgehog after all...” “I am pretty sure I can take him one on one”- Silver said confidently in which Amy smirked. “It will be a very interesting battle to see, Shadow is very skillful in combat tho” “And so am I!” “Yeah that’s right” “Amy....” “Ye-Yees?”- Amy noticed that Silver got serious, and it wasn’t like a normal serious, Amy would only see this type of Silver when he was fighting an enemy. “you are hiding something from me...ever since you came back with Shadow, your hands haven’t stopped shaking...”   Amy hated him.... she hated how much Silver knew about her. “It must be cold, it's getting a bit chilly around-”Amy began but Silver stopped Amy mid-track and grabbed her hands. “Amy, please don’t lie to me...”- Silver looked at her in the eyes and Amy knew she couldn’t hold it for long. “Its just that...when I was talking to Shadow before coming here... he made me realized something...”- Amy felt bad for lying to Silver, but all of it wasn’t lie. “What did he made you realized?”- Silver never looked away from Amy’s eyes. “He made me realized how... everything, everything is just falling apart...Silver, am scared that one day, I just wake up and... and the resistance is no more... I am afraid that one day, you will never come back from a mission... I am... so.. so afraid...I can’t stop shaking.....”- Amy was in tears and Silver hugged her so lovely, Amy for the first time in since Sonic’s death, she felt safe. “I am also afraid... so afraid that one day I come back from a mission, you will not be there...when you went missing yesterday, I was looking for you the whole day, I thought Eggman had kidnapped you...just like you...I was so afraid that I couldn’t stop shaking...Amy, you are really important to me, so please never leave my side...together, we will both get out of this” Amy has another worry now...but also another motivation to keep on going. . . . “Where the heck is Amy and Silver?!”   Both Amy and Silver woke up at Knuckle’s sudden yell. They knew he was coming. *KNOCK KNOCK* “Silver, Amy hurry up...SHADOW IF YOU HEAR ME WAKE UP AND THE ROOKIE AS WELL THERE’S A MISSION!”- Knuckles said as he entered Amy’s room. It wasn’t the first time they have slept together, it wasn’t anything new to Knuckles or the rest of the resistance of how close Amy and Silver were. However, a black hedgehog wasn’t aware of it. “What happened!”- Shadow quickly got into Amy’s room and saw how Silver and Amy were still sitting on the bed together. “Great... you both are going to stink for the whole day” “It's not like we care anyways”- Amy said and they both stood up. “We don’t have the time for this lovers quarrels, we have a mission, I’ll see you in five minutes at the main headquarters”- and with that Knuckles left.   Shadow, Silver, and Amy were all in the room. Shadow was in the door, his back touching the edge of the door, one of his foot touching the ground while the other foot was also touching the door, arms crossed. While Amy and Silver were still in the bed. “Are you ever going to leave the room?”- Silver asked as he stood up from the bed. “I should be asking you the same”- Shadow said. “I was with Amy, and you?” “I was with her as well...I always am”- Shadow said, while he pointed the flower ring design on Amy’s hand. Not only that, but he also showed Silver his own hand, his index finger containing a matching ring just like Amy’s. Silver turned around and faced Amy who was speechless. She knew what Shadow meant by saying “I am always with her” since she knew Shadow could hear and know where she is at every second. “Well, it's me who Amy smells like right?”- Silver said and as he put his arm around Amy. “Not for long...”- and with that Shadow left the room, ready to join Knuckles in the headquarters room. . . . “You guys are late!”- Knuckles said, the rookie standing right behind him. Shadow arrived first, and then Silver and Amy came up together. “Sorry...”- Silver and Amy said together. “Uh, anyways let's get going with the plan...Amy, please show me a map of Eggman’s Space Colony” “Yes, commander!”- Amy then got ready to work and took her place behind the computer.  Quickly a detailed picture of Eggman’s Space headquarters. “So here is where our next mission is going to be”- Knuckles said. “You must be crazy if you think you can infiltrate Eggman’s base”- Silver said. “Maybe not us, but Shadow can”- Knuckles then turn around to look at Shadow and everyone did so as well. “Of course its possible, however, I don’t see a space shuttle nearby, right?”- Shadow said, sarcastically. “We have been preparing this for months, the resistance alongside Tails, have successfully built a small space shuttle. Only two people will go... Silver, you are in charge! Take Shadow and he will guide you through.”- Knuckles said confidently. “Wait, what!? Shouldn’t I-”- Shadow said, but was interrupted by Knuckles. “Silver is really capable and knows how to manage well with teamwork, you can learn something from him as well Shadow”- Knuckles then turn around and proceed to explain more about the mission. “Eggman’s Space Colony is the greatest source of power that his weapon-based industries work with, if we successfully destroy the Space Colony, there would not be weapons to fight us with. Therefore, that will be the perfect time to attack and once and for all finish this war”- Knuckles ended his speech, there still many questions so they followed up. “What about looking for the last two Chaos Emeralds”- Amy asked. “We will focus on that right after Silver and Shadow come back, if Eggman’s Space Colony has taken enough damage, there will not be any possible way that Eggman can build it back up in such a short amount of time, anyways we have located one Chaos Emerald already, but lets focus on this mission first” “How are we going to exactly destroy the base?”- Shadow asked. “The old way. Amy will hack into Eggman’s Space System and will guide you along the way in order not to get caught. You will secretly place three extremely powerful bombs in three different locations of the Colony. One in the North base, another one in the South Center and the most important one in the Heart of the base... once you place the three of them, you will take the shuttle back, and on your way back, you will detonate the bombs with the amplifier that will be given to you before you leave for this mission, meaning, tonight.” “Tonight!? Commander, don’t you think is a bit early?”- The rookie asked. “We can’t lose any more time, everyday Eggman grows stronger, we have lost many of our own already... we can’t afford this anymore”- Knuckles said. “It's alright, I am ready for this”- Silver said. “Silver, are you sure?!”- Amy asked him. “This is the reason I came back for”- Silver looked at Amy, and once again Amy saw those determined eyes, there was nothing that could stop him now. “You better be back”- Amy said. “If you are guiding us, then I don’t see what could go wrong!”- Silver smiled and Amy did the same. “You better do whatever I tell you to do, if not I’ll let you to die in the Space Colony”- Shadow said. “The same goes to you, Mr. Shadow”- Silver and Shadow looked at each other, it would seem that a fight would go down, but right now wasn’t the time. “We don’t have time for your rivalry!”- Amy interrupted. “Is this how Mr.Shadow and Mr. Sonic would fight?”- The rookie asked and he sighs at his mistake, it was a question meant to be for himself but it just came out of his mouth without any objectives. “Ha! Sonic and Shadow were way worst! Those two looked like they were more so in love with each other!”- Knuckles said, and he laughed a little. Even Amy smirked at the thought of Sonic and Shadow fighting...ah, what would she do in order to get to see him again. “Well, anyways let's get ready for tonight!”   And with that said Knuckles and the others began to make preparations for tonight. Everything was going smoothly the technology department of the resistance had everything almost complete. In the outskirts of the village, everyone in the resistance gathers in order to show support to the legendary hero and the new uprising hero, Shadow, and Silver. Amy wanted to go, see them depart, but she needed to be behind the computer guiding them. She then heard the main door of the resistance room open, she turns around to see Tails standing there, like if nothing ever happened. Amy could see how the light of his eyes left him when Sonic died and how tired he looked even after mourning his death for months. “I thought you were going to see your project be executed”- Amy said smiling. “I prefer to see it depart my final project with a friend”- Tails said. “Tails, we need you, you can’t just leave us...Who is gonna help us create more weapons, or what if anything happens to you and what if like Sonic, you, you..”- Amy wanted to break down again, she didn’t want to lose another friend. “Amy...just like you, I need time to grow, after Sonic passed away, I know you haven’t picked up your hammer...I know it pains you to see it because you couldn’t use it to protect Sonic...but just like you, I couldn’t use my technology to protect him when he needed it, I failed him...and I just need a break to clear my mind and heal the pain...I already taught everything that I know about the Technology department.. you don’t need me here anymore”- Tails said as he grabbed Amy’s hand as to comfort her. “I will be here whenever you need me”- Tails said and over him was heard the voice of Silver on the computer. “Amy, do you hear me? We are ready to depart”- Silver said and Amy went over the computer alongside Tails, she was about to speak but instead, she looked over at Tails and smiled. “Would you do us the honor, one last time?”- Amy asked “With pleasure”-And with that Tails stood in front of the computer and began to speak. “Silver, this is Tails, I would be in charge of this mission alongside Amy”   His voice was heard through all across the departing field and everyone was startled, they couldn’t believe that the famous Tails Miles Power was talking through the mic. “Is that...is that Tails Miles Power?” “The hero? the guy who defeated Chaos four?” “Sonic’s right hand?” “I thought he was devastated after Mr. Sonic passed away...” “This just shows how strong he is” “He worked on this space shuttle by himself for 2 months...just how great he is?”   Everyone still couldn’t believe that a legend was speaking to them all, it felt as if they were part of a story they would tell children in their village. “Great to hear from you Tails!, Shadow and I are ready for action!”- Silver said. “Let's do this!”   The spacecraft departed from earth successfully and Shadow and Silver were able to see Eggman’s Space Colony. “We are able to see the Colony from here Tails”- Shadow said. “I’ll activate the invisibility field around you now”-Tails said and as he made some clicks on the computer, the invisibility field was activated around the space shuttle. “We will prepare to land”   The landing was as well successful and they landed without getting noticed. “Ok, from here we will take on the bombs and place them in their corresponding place. We will follow your guide through the communicator individually.”- Silver said. “I will guide you through the North Center Silver and Amy will guide Shadow through the South Center individually”   With that, Amy hurried up to the computer that was in front of Tails, put on the earphones and microphone. “You hear me Shadow?”- Amy asked him through the microphone. “Yes I do”- Shadow said. “Ok we are ready to go, are you able to locate us?”-Silver asked “We do!”- Amy and Tails said simultaneously. The screen showed a very complicated map, and within it, it showed a red point for Amy, indicated Shadow’s movements and a green dot for Tails indicating Silver’s motions.   Everything was going in smoothly and Silver and Shadow were both very careful with everything. “Shadow so you hear me?”- Silver asked “Load and clear”- Shadow said through his communicator. “How do you destroy robots without making any sounds?” “You have to make a clear shot through the robot’s center, in the center, the ‘heart’ of the robot is found, if you take it out within one movement, the robot becomes impractical”- Shadow finished saying. “...thanks”-Silver said. “this only works if you get them by surprise... if you fight for them for too long or if they notice your presence they will alert other robots and without knowing the whole base will be after you”- And with that Shadow focused on getting to the South Center. “Shadow, take a left and go straight down the path, there’s going to be a locked door, I will hack into the system. You have to seconds to enter”- Amy said. “Copy that” “And remember that *cough* *cough*”- Amy suddenly began coughing uncontrollably. “Hey Amy, are you alright?”- Tails asked concerned. “Yeah, sorry”   Amy got worried, it wasn’t like she didn’t know. She knew that the poison that was in her body had begun to take effect on her. “Amy...after this, let's go find the Chaos Emeralds”- Shadow said through the communicator, it was a conversation between him and her and therefore, Silver nor Tails could hear them. “worry?”- Amy asked, deep down she was happy that Shadow showed some concern for her. “Worry? The only thing I worry about is the possibility of smelling you when I get back” “Well, you don’t have to get near me, the farthest you are from me the better” “Even if you smell like Silver, I still like to be with you, you know that” “Shadow stop saying those things...” “Why? Does it make you feel embarrassed?” “N-No, what makes you say that?” “I see it, I know that you are interested in me, just like like I am interested in you” “No way that I-”   *beep beep* That’s when Amy realized that before getting a coughing attack, Amy forgot to tell Shadow to be careful with the lasers. “What the heck is happening?”- Shadow asked. “Shadow have you placed the bomb yet!?”- Amy asked panicking. “Yes, but we still need to place the third bomb” “Silver have you placed the bomb in the North Center?”- Tails asked through the communicator. “Yes, but what about the third bomb?!”- Silver asked. “Your safety is more important, there are robots coming your way, meet with Shadow and get out of there!”- Tails said. “This is our only chance we can’t miss it!”- Silver said. “Silver, this is an order get out of there” “I will place this bomb, whether you want it or not... I am sorry”- And with that nothing else could be heard. “Silver turn off his communicator”- Tails said. “Shadow, you have to find Silver, please bring him back!”- Amy pleaded him. “Find, but I am gonna do it my way now” “Shadow?...SHADOW?”- Amy began to panic “Shadow turn off his communicator!!!”- Amy said to Tails. “Dammit......Damn both of them”-Tails couldn’t do or say anything else. . . .   Shadow encountered many robots in his way, he had to finish things very quick. He had to find Silver, place the bomb. Shadow has been here a couple of times, he knew the place very well and needed no assistance whatsoever. From the beginning, he knew that this plan of the resistance will not work. Eggman’s weaponry industries do not only get its energy from this Space Colony, Eggman’s has learned from his mistakes and now has different energy provides all around the Earth. He took some time and told Eggman about their plan, he agreed to let them get this chance and make them believe that the resistance has the advantage over him in order to get the Chaos Emeralds. “You better get those Chaos Emeralds Shadow!”- And with that Eggman stopped communicating with Shadow.   Shadow took a right turn this time and found the cells section. “Well, what do we have here?”- Shadow said as he got closer to one of the cells. “Shadow? It's being a while since I last saw you...are you here to rescue me?” “Yeah, I am not really glad to see you either...I really don’t have time to chat right now so, I’ll get to the point” “Go ahead” “I open this door, take off your handcuffs and you can leave this place with the space shuttle you came from” “And what do I have to do in exchange?” “You stop being Sonic the Hedgehog”   Sonic stood up from the chair he was sitting in, he stepped away from the shadows and directly look into the black hedgehog. “what do you mean by that?” “You have to pretend that you don’t have memories of who you are. I am not doing this because I want to, but because I have someone I want to protect” “...is it Amy?”- Sonic asked him. “....” “I knew it, I knew you always had a thing for her” “...Just like you do”- Shadow said and he turned around and inputted some codes on the touch screen next to Sonic’s cell. “You are right, so right”- Sonic finally got out of the cell and Shadow took off his handcuffs. “I don’t know exactly what your plan is but... thank you” “Now leave, she is waiting for you”- Shadow said. “She is waiting for both of us”   Oh, only if Sonic knew.......

[indigo-rainn]

Keep Me Close

Chapter 2 – Dream

Sakura struggled up into a seated position against the wall, the tiled wall cool against her shoulder blades. Her heart fluttered dangerously against her ribcage. At least six nurses crowded around her, blocking the florescence and badgering her with questions that she swirled together in a dense loudness. She inhaled, closing her eyes for a moment before exhaling and opening.

"Back up, everyone," she ordered evenly, using the wall to help herself to her feet. Although there remained a faint ringing in her ears, whatever had so violently gripped her had left. Sakura allowed herself a moment to regain her balance, shooing away with staff who remained with a gloved hand. She refused eye contact, keeping her narrowed gaze on the tales, tracing the outlines methodically.

Something had happened to Sasuke. That much was clear. The chakra signature that had entered her, the screaming in her head – it was all unmistakably his, and that knowledge frightened her. He had never tried to contact her before, and this escalated far beyond anything like that. His last known contact had been in Kyreen – much too far away for chakra signatures to be detected and to contact one another. Yet, somehow, he had done that.

Now, it was her turn to respond. She needed to do something, immediately. She had to get to Naruto.

"Everyone, back to your business. You, please come with me," barked Sakura. Her favorite nurse trailed her as she blustered out of the emergency room. She blew into the locker room, ripping off her scrubs and yanking on her shinobi garb while she spoke:

"Koira, what happened in there?"

"You passed out, m'am. It looked like a seizure, but you were quite conscious." The nurse's voice trembled with nerves.

"Did I say anything? Could you hear any screaming?!" Sakura demanded, rounding on the nurse, her voice lurching on the verge of maniacal.

"N-no, m'am. Screaming? No," the nurse said quickly.

Before the nurse could stutter another word, Sakura took off. She sprinted down the hall, slammed through the main doors, and flash-stepped up to the roof. She darted as fast as she could across the town, leaping from building to building, her eyes trained on the Hokage building.

Terror gripped her still. How could something like this happen? She couldn't get the sound of Sasuke's screams out of her head. She never thought anything would happen to him – he and Naruto were unbeatable... So, what the hell had happened? She had never felt something like that before, that visceral tug wrenching at her chest over such a great distance. Had he done it on purpose? Was he trying to call her? Was he alive? She had an image in her head of him stuck somewhere, alone in the dark, hurt and unable to move, and a single tear snuck past her defenses and cascaded down her cheek. She needed to help him. She couldn't leave him out there. Wherever he was, dead or alive, she needed to be there. She had to protect him.

When Sakura arrived at the Hokage building, she burst through the doors to find Kakashi's chair empty. Naruto stood on the porch outside, his back to her, surveying Konoha with a distant expression.

"Naruto-kun!" she shouted, rushing across the room to meet him and bursting past the sliding glass door. She stopped at his side, and looked up at him. Naruto's eyes were darkened, glazed, his jaw set in a firm line, and he didn't move to look at her. She could feel the fury radiating from him like a heat, and when she set a hand on his shoulder, she felt him trembling beneath his orange jacket.

"You felt it too, Sakura?" he muttered. She nodded, wavering on her feet between fury and fear. She wanted to smash the culprit into tiny, insignificant pieces, but she couldn't undo what had already taken place.

"I was standing right here," he continued, eyes falling to his sandals. "Kurama held me up so I could really feel it. It was like this fire of chakra I didn't even know was there – like a part of the landscape or something – suddenly leapt up in size, towering over everything, only to wink out in an instant…" he trailed off. "And now it's gone. All of it."

"This is so bad, Naruto," she whispered, hands flying to her chest. "W-we need to go after him. What if he's hurt? Or worse, we need to get a team together–"

Naruto turned to her and gripped her shoulders. His bright blue eyes gleaming, he forced a grin: "Sakura-chan, breathe. We'll get him back. We always do. And I already called Taka. Suigetsu and Juugo are going to meet you and another team member at the crossroads. Shikamaru and Hinata are both back and rested from their most recent mission, so take your pick."

"Aren't you coming too, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde shinobi's expression tightened, his blue hues flecked with gray. He fell a step back and clasped his hands together, twisting them together as his brow knit up. His lower lip stuck, sapphire gaze flickered up to the clouds tilting overhead.

"I'll be right behind you," he said finally. The words visibly tugged at him, his hands balling into fists. "I'm standing in for Kakashi for the next day or so, and it's sort of a trial run. The counsel votes on my candidacy next week."

Sakura reached out and took Naruto's wrists in each of her hands, uncoiling his fingers and coaxing the palms flat in the space between them. Her small hands dwarfed in comparison, the Kyuubi's heat tingling against her skin. She grasped his hands firmly, emerald eyes darting up to capture Naruto's before he could look away. She could sense the turmoil lashing out in his chakra – his instinct to protect his friend far outweighing his responsibility to stay in Konoha. The scarlet and crimsons energy pulsed into the air around her, and she squeezed his hands tighter.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun," she breathed, holding his cerulean gaze. "You need to stay here. Let us help make your dream come true, this time. I can't let you throw away becoming Hokage – I will handle this. We will handle this."

"Sakura-chan, I can't just leave him out there, I need to go–" Naruto twisted around, about to hop up to the railing and launch.

Sakura balled her hand into a fist, and made to jab him in the chest, stopping just short. Her knuckles hummed against the fabric of his t-shirt, and could feel him rise to meet her touch with every thump of his heart. He froze, mid-stride.

"No, Naruto," she said, her eyes alight with flecks of searing gold. "Become hokage. You've earned it, and we can't afford to lose that spot to someone else who won't be able to protect us like you can. Hinata and I will get a head start, and you will meet us as soon as you can."

Naruto's jaw slackened, then reset.

"Sakura-chan..." he trailed off.

"Wait for my raven. I'll see you soon." With that, Sakura brushed past Naruto and leapt up to the railing ahead of them. From there, she charged up the soles of her boots with chakra and launched to the next building, wind tugging moisture from her eyes. When she tucked into a roll on the landing, she stole a glance back.

Naruto, still just outside of the office, rose a hand in salute. Sakura exhaled. He had really grown.

Cold.

That was the first sensation that rattled his core when he finally came to. Darkness – the sheer blackness pressing down – came second. The third, pain, arrived more distantly. He was aware of the wounds on his body, tearing at his skin, but he couldn't put his finger on any of it. As if the sensation swam around him, surrounding him, without an anchor.

His senses, apart from those three, didn't come to him. No smell, no touch, no sight. Like a soul detached from a body that he too, could not see.

Death. This must be death.

Then, a voice. Muffled and unrecognizable, but a voice. So far away. He tried to listen, tried to turn toward it, struggling against the blackness for a sense of being.

Wake up.

He recoiled. The voice was sinister. He didn't want to wake up. He fought back.

Wake up.

The pain that had once been so distant drew closer. He writhed away from it now, but he had no leverage, and it wrenched him into the light.

Sasuke awoke, choking. There was something over his eyes, and a wet piece of fabric over his mouth. He was choking, violently, and he couldn't breathe. He tried to move, but was bound tight with ropes that cut and burned at his skin. Beneath his bare shoulder blades, a cold metal table. Immense pain erupted in his leg, made worse as he jerked and fought against the suffocation. Voices above him, a chorus of rough hands holding him down.

Then, someone lifted the fabric from his face. Water spewed from his mouth as he hacked and choked in the air. Breathing. His heart hammered against his chest, his lungs on fire. His mind felt numb from oxygen deprivation, and he still couldn't see.

"Sasuke-kun," growled someone next to him.

He didn't recognize the voice. He began assessing his own body as the voice continued, trying to determine the state of things. His knee was busted, his wrist broken. A stab wound in his side. Cuts and burns that weren't there before on his chest. His chakra supply so depleted that he could scarcely lift a finger.

Assess.

He was being held captive, he knew that. He knew he was being tortured. He didn't know where he was, or who was doing this to him, and he didn't know why. How long had it been? He didn't know that either. Was anyone even looking for him? Would they know where to look? An unfamiliar discomfort twisted in his belly, and shoved the sensation down, but it coiled its way back up.

Fear.

Without warning, something hard drove into the wound in his side – someone's hand? – and he cried out. He tasted iron in his mouth and groaned, turning his head away. An intense nausea gathered in his throat.

"When I speak, you listen," snarled his assailant, standing above him somewhere. Sasuke was too disoriented and too weak to pinpoint where the voice came from, the darkness blinding.

"I'm assuming you know who Sasori is," said the speaker.

The Akatsuki puppet master? Sasuke tried to tether the thought down. He'd heard whisperings, long ago, that a certain rose-haired kunoichi had taken the guy out. Orochimaru had mentioned it, during training. He nodded once.

"Well, good, that's a start. I take many of my cues from Sasori-san, even in his death…" the voice trailed off, lifting with more sincerity than Sasuke was quite comfortable with. The speaker, whoever he was, had declared himself a lunatic follower of a dead man. Not a good start. Sasuke listened as the man trailed across the room, picked something up off of a metal surface, and paced back and forth. The echoing betrayed the presence of walls – they were in a relatively small room, from what Sasuke could tell, in a lab or hospital.

"He was on the right track. Using bodies as puppets? Genius…but his research never reached its full potential," the voice rang with pride. Footsteps, tapping on tiles across the room, approached. Sasuke blew out a held breath, fighting to stay calm.

"I asked myself – why stop at dead bodies? Why kill the host? So much of a body's strength lies in its living abilities…it seems so obvious."

Sasuke felt fingers curl around his arm, and the prick of an IV going into his wrist. He struggled across the chakra-infused bands that bound him to the table, with no success. They zapped what little strength he had, and his body went slack

"The real prize is in the kekkei genkai and preexisting skills of a living shinobi. Without those, the body is a husk, and the puppet is weak. I want the whole thing, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke felt his body go warm, his fingertips tingling as he drifted into unconsciousness.

The pinkette kunoichi darted out of the shade of the trees, dropped to a crouch, and surveyed the valley that dipped below them. Her dominant hand snapped to the kit strapped to her leg, fingers dancing between the weapons and scrolls tucked within. Hinata slid in behind her, her white eyes flashing as she checked for signs of approaching shinobi.

"Clear," the Hyuuga prodigy breathed, tucking a loose strand of jet-black hair behind her eat.

The women took off down the hillside and onward. They'd been running for three days, and the late afternoon sun shone golden on the trees spread ahead of them. The valley would take the rest of the day to get through, and the coast waited for them on the opposite side, beyond sight. There they would meet and camp for the night with Team Taka, and then make their final push north to Kyreen the following morning.

"Sakura-chan," called Hinata after some time had passed, darting up to run at her side through the tree tops. "Thank you, for taking me with you."

Sakura found the statement somewhat strange. After her conversation with Naruto back in Konoha, she had burst into Hinata's house unannounced and nearly dragged the poor girl out of the gate to get the mission started. It was hardly worth gratitude. A berating, maybe.

"What? No, don't be–"

"I mean it, Sakura," Hinata stammered. "It means a lot. Back when we were kids, I didn't understand. You and Naruto, and getting Sasuke back, it just didn't make sense to me, and I didn't help like I should have. I want to make that up to you. I get it now, and I am going to make it right."

She smiled at the rosette, her eyes glimmering. Sakura grinned, reached out, and gave her hand a tight squeeze.

"Thank you, Hinata. That means the world. I'm glad you're here, too."

The two kunoichi sped off into the evening, smiling into the setting sun. They would get their friend back, no matter what.

Suigetsu splayed out on the ground, in the middle of the campsite, his limbs outstretched in sleep. His mouth lay open, drool dribbling down his chin, his teeth exposed and glittering hazardously. Juugo stepped over him, grumbling something unintelligible as he dropped a pile of firewood next to the flames he'd put together. When he sat next to the fire, wrapping his shoulders with a blanket, a songbird landed to join him. He stirred the pot of stew he had heating up over the fire, and the bird watched intently.

Abruptly, a human whistle sounded out from the trees, and he responded in turn. Minutes later, the Konoha kuncoichi tiptoed into the light

They both stumbled with exhaustion – betrayed by the disheveled hair and clothes and the dark circles beneath each of their eyes. Sakura had a particularly hallowed look to her, her eyes flickering nervously around the campsite. Hinata, although tired, seemed slightly more calm.

Juugo motioned for the women to join him, and they sidled up to the fire gratefully. He reached into his pack and pulled out bowls, handing them to the girls along with a ladle and spoons.

"Juugo, this is so much. Thank you," murmured Hinata. They both devoured their first helpings, and went back for seconds. Juugo smiled, but said nothing before turning and giving Suigetsu a good kick in the side. The Mist nin yelped in his sleep, but did not wake. Juugo rolled his eyes and returned to the kunoichi.

"We should get some sleep," he mumbled. "We can brief each other tomorrow morning. Good to see you both. Despite the circumstances."

With that, Juugo lumbered to the opposite side of the clearing, and saw to laying out his blankets. Sakura and Hinata followed suit.

The exhaustion took Sakura as soon as her head hit the ground. Her eyes fluttered shut.

A knock at the door, one summery evening. The sunset light streaming in through the windows, dancing on the floorboards. Sakura wearing a slinky white nightgown that clung to her thighs, curled on the couch with a medical textbook. She wasn't expecting anyone.

She pulled a robe over her shoulders and opened the door, drawing back in surprise. Nearly year had passed since she'd seen him last, and here he was again. Obsidian eye glittering, dark hair long and unkept. Just standing on her doorstep as if it were any other day.

"W-what are you doing here?" The words bubbled from her mouth as she overtook the initial shock. She noticed that the dark lines under Sasuke's eyes had deepened, and he looked more like his father than she remembered.

"I was in town," he muttered, eyes holding hers so intently that she blushed.

"You… were in town," she repeated, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hn." Agreement? Acknowledgment?

"So, you decided to just drop in?" He raised his eyebrow at the statement, as if it were obvious, and shrugged. She shook her head incredulously, then turned back into her apartment.

"Well, come on in then."

She poured two glasses of wine, and they went out to the porch to watch the sun settle beyond the horizon together. They spoke for a while, exchanging stories and news from abroad. Sakura peppered him with questions about his travels, which he answered with as few words as possible, but answered all-the-same. They enjoyed the silence, too.

As the light dwindled, replaced by stars overhead, Sakura rose to her feet. She turned to him to say something, but found him suddenly closer than she'd realized, his hand gliding to rest on her shoulder.

His face hovered a breath from hers, porcelain skin as smooth as she remembered, his dark eyes softened, ever so slightly, staring impassively into hers. He drew closer, rested his forehead against hers, their noses nearly grazing. His hand lingered to cup her face, the brush of his thumb gentle against her cheek. His breath warm and sweet. Slowly she moved her hands to rest on his back, fingers tracing the sinew of muscles that moved and flexed as he did.

When his lips found hers, it was soft.

She'd never known him to be uncertain, but when he drew back, his expression was of veiled concern, searching her face for something to read. It occurred to her that he didn't know if this was okay. He didn't know if she was alright. A small smile moved across her face, and she drew him back in and kissed him back.

A/N

Thank you for reading, lovelies! Would love to hear what you think so far. :3 Happy New Year!!

xoxo

Indigo

[monsters00km]

I think what's interesting is I recently realized something. V7 is about trust and how with trust and love you can have hope and win. But, if you think about it. That's what V2 and V3 was about, but the people on charge failed at this. The fall of Beacon is because of James Ironwood and no one points this out. Let's talk about the big 4 Qrow, Ozpin. James, and Glynda. And what they did during these volumes.

Qrow. As Ironwood pointed out. Didn't communicate his location or his status, as much as expected (this could simply be James expectation tho and Qrow doesn't report to James). Qrow saves Amber. But we never actually see him tell anyone that is was Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. May be he didn't see them. May be he does tell him. But we don't know. He then picks a fight with Winter (there are theories why) but he calls James a "sell out." Then James and him have that convo about shooting Qrow. But the entire time you can tell they don't get along.

James. Brings an Army uninvited to a Peace festival in a country his country invaded in the war 80 yrs prior that is the reason they are celebrating peace. At a festival that Headmasters don't travel to with their students (so he's like super not invited to this). Brings Winter into the fold, why? (Its sus he brings his groomed maiden to vale when vales maiden needs replaced, but still we don't know why he did it.) He clearly doesn't trust Qrow bc he didn't check in. And Qrow makes the point that James could have called Qrow, but he didn't. His first response wasn't to check in. It was to not trust him. They know something is going on, and with Ruby's direction. He wants to send an army to the "South east" to find it. (This idea is rejected bc its dumb. They don't know what's there and Oz is right a scouting mission is the best option). However. Bc the best option fails. He decides his option was best. Goes behind Ozpins back. Gets the Vale council to side with him. He is put incharge of security. But his cyber security is his downfall. During the fall his army is hacked and starts attacking people. He does all of this because he thinks he's right and Ozpin is not only wrong but untrustworthy.

Ozpin. He talks to James about how an army was a bad choice. He agrees with Qrow that Winter shouldn't be there. They send her away. He focuses of Pyrrah. As if Pyrrah being the Fall maiden will fix all of their problems (which is a hell if a weight to put on Pyrrah and its not a good idea either). But he also gives her until the end of the tournament to decide her future. (Another dumb move, bc everything seemed to be building to the tournament. May be im being unfair here. But the tournament was Salems opportune moment, and he didn't think of it that way) he decides a scouting mission is best. However, he lets team RWBY go bc he thinks they will go anyway (this move is iffy. His reasoning makes sense. But the mission fails bc of Oobleck and Ruby. Ruby found the white fang, and didn't return to her group, but shes also a niave child still. And she snuck away from her group looking for Ziew on Ooblecks watch, she is his responsibility. May be if he sent Glynda, not to bash oobleck but shes glynda, or a team that wasn't a first yr it wouldn't have failed. But idk). Then he loses power to James. And he doesn't do or say anything to him. He just kinda sits there and humms and watches the tournament. When everything fails he challenges Cinder a maiden and dies.

Next is Glynda. She is clearly on Ozpins side. And she seems to be who James listens to the most. She tells James he talks about trust but doesn't show it. She definitely doesn't like him studying aura and manipulating it. She expresses how his first move is always a dick measuring contest. She doesn't like that he brought his army. But ingeneral she supports Qrow and follows Ozpin. Personally I think he has a crush on her and I also think this is definitely 1 sided.

So what do we have? We have mistrust between Qrow and James, bc Qrow wasn't checking in on time. And that was James's first response. James believes Ozpin is hiding stuff from him. Let's be clear, this is a projection. Yes, Ozpin has secrets. BUT. James was doing aura studies without telling anyone. He also created Penny, didn't tell anyone about her and brought her to the vytal festival as a test run. James has secrets too, and he is pointing the finger at Oz. Then, when Oz handles a situation differently then he would (remember he's not only not supposed to be there. But this isn't his kingdom, he isn't suppose to have power or say here.), he goes behind Oz's back and takes the power from him, instead of trying to work with him. And then at the end of the day Salem used James's army to attack civilians.

When i think about it, I wonder if Beacon would have fell if James would have done what he was supposed to and STAY IN ATLAS.

Slow to realize two things about Ace Ops and Ironwood as of Volume 8 EP 7 “War”.

1) If the Ace Ops had carried the bomb into Monstra like Ironwood originally intended, then yeah the whale MIGHT end up destroyed…but Ironwood would also throwing away his most elite members, which would also gravely weaken his side, especially since Salem can just use one of her god-given save states to come back, and there’s still a fuckton of Grimm to deal with. Ironwood might end up trying to pull people from Atlas Academy to replace the Ace Ops, or he might just end up throwing them at Salem in his current mental state.

2) The above also made me realize just how much Ironwood’s mentality is driven by this subtle notion that if someone or something isn’t useful to him, opposes him for any reason, or fails him in any way shape or form, they’re to be disposed of or simply never to be used again even if the circumstances had changed.

Case in Point:

Ironwood had the robot soldiers and automated Paladins in Volume 2 and 3 with the intent of using them to fight Grimm and reduce Huntsman casualties, but because of Cinder and Watts’ virus and Torchwick, they got hacked and turned against him.

By the time of Volume 7, Ironwood has consigned them to Mantle, a place he doesn’t care for and essentially disregarded their usefulness simply because of what happened in Volume 3. No consideration of trying to strengthen their digital defenses against hacks by guys like Watts (especially egregious given that it was noted that Atlas had improved anti-hacking measures according to Watts), no improvements or using their numbers to help at least make them more useful at defending Mantle.

He just dumps them there because they failed him, and thus they’re useless in his eyes, and we only ever see the robots in small groups of 2 or 3 thus undercutting their effectiveness as cannon fodder. Additionally because of this, he doesn’t have any disposable fodder to be able to buffer up the predominantly human forces against Salem and Monstra when they attack Atlas.

Amity Tower was his big plan to unite the world against Salem by re-establishing communications to help the world understand the true threat, but the minute Salem might be on his doorstep (not taking into when she did show up), Amity stops having any value to him despite the bulk of the Volume being oriented around the idea, and he dismisses anyone who notes the potential value of Amity after the Salem bit, regardless of how much he focused on it before that point. It doesn’t even seem to cross his mind to consider using Amity for something else/as a distraction to give Atlas more preparation time, or even just to multitask and try to get as much done as possible; he just straight up abandons it.

Then there’s the stuff with Team RWBY, JNPR, and Robin Hill. He was willing to have the former two as allies until they decided to oppose him for not unjustified reasons, and then it doesn’t matter how much sense they make, how much they’ve personally dealt with Salem’s forces; he straight up decides they’re worthless obstacles and wants them out of his way no matter how much doing so cripples his own side against Salem.

Hell, prior to that, Robin Hill was noted multiple times as a potential ally who could make a lot of his plans for Amity and Salem substantially easier, but because she did not conform to being a “useful tool” to him, he disregards her value and different insights and tries to have her arrested and shunted aside, with Yang and Blake having to be the ones to extend a hand to her behind his back.

The guy has a bad tendency to only value things up until they fail him what seems to be only ONCE or twice, and if they don’t conform to what he wants or thinks it should be, they’re useless to him. And that’s exactly what he seems to be doing to the Ace Ops, even in spite of their loyalty.

It’s also kind of a parallel to Salem, in that while Salem does more or less only value someone until they stop being useful, she usually at least is willing to give a chance for them to redeem/prove that they still have value to her, and only really goes for the nuclear option to those who fail repeatedly (Lionheart).

EDIT: I know this seems super obvious and I’ve probably noted something like this in the past, but it’s something that I really noticed once I considered Ironwood’s mindset even before recent events.

[askdoctorlightsighter]

How did Darklooker become evil?

Well, It’s a long story, but, here goes!

Times were tough. Not just for him, but for everyone. Most people were humbly getting along, farming, trading, admiring our noses… But not DarkLooker, oh no! He had to have it all. He went out and bought a lottery ticket to try to win some money. He won nothing. The next week, he tried again, but to no avail. The next week, however, he bought every ticket in the shop. He won one emerald. Just one. He got mad. He used that one emerald, and bought another lottery ticket. This lottery ticket would change his life for the worse. When he went home, he hacked into the lottery system (somehow), and made his card the winning one. Not long after, he was the richest villager in our village. He was a billionaire. Of course, we were all very happy, no one knew he’d hacked it back then. He shared his wealth among us, and we all had plenty of emeralds! What could go wrong?

A few months had passed. He had everything he could ever have wanted. A nice minecart, several large mansions, and he was really popular. Everyone looked up to him. It wasn’t long though, until the lottery finally tracked him down though, and had him arrested. His trial was held, and he was judged guilty.

He no longer had a nice minecart, his house was a prison cell, and he was really unpopular. Everyone looked down on him. He had risen higher than ever before, taking us all with him, before falling lower than ever before, leaving us shaking our heads in sorrow.

When he got out of prison, one year later, he was jealous. The remains of his wealth were among every villager, except for him. Left with only some carrots, he went to many different villages, trading and trading, as much as he could, stopping at nothing to try to get some money back. When he came back, he still wasn’t a billionaire, but he had enough emeralds to get one of his old mansions back. It was there that he set up his lab. In the basement, he worked night and day, creating all sorts of potions and lotions. He set up a company, selling creams to make your nose bigger, polish to make your emeralds shinier and hoes that do the farming for you. It was this last one that backfired. You see, they didn’t know when to stop, so they kept on hoeing the ground, whether it was farmland or carpet, grass or your roof. The people weren’t happy about that. Mother, Father and I tried to stop them, but there was nothing we could do. Angry people will be angry people. Everyone set their auto-hoes on DarkLooker’s mansion. He woke up in the morning to find himself in a basement that had no house on top.

Finding himself homeless, he sold his basement, moved just outside the village and built a dirt hut. Anything to keep the costs down. He would charge creepers and send them to our wall, he would spawn zombies and try to get them in. I don’t know what happened to him, inside, but he really wanted revenge. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to help him, I really have, but he never listens. He’s been going so long now, I think he’s forgotten why he started in the first place. He thinks he’s the good guy. He’s clever, I’ll give him that, and he’s not a fool either. He’s persuasive, he’s proud, he’s deceitful, but he’s very misdirected. He is bitter. His name is Dr. DarkLooker.

[godiva640vbucks-blog]

A Stage-by-Step Guideline to Fortnite hack

Players, younger ones in any case, don’t seem to be to notice this kind of items. They’re after assault rifles (preferably the Famous SCAR), pump shotguns, bolt-motion sniper rifles (the scope is a boon), chug jugs, slurp juices, bandages, medkits, and protect potions. They see, and covet, skins that look great but don't have any bearing on activity Engage in; for twenty bucks, it is possible to don the Leviathan or perhaps the Raven. Or they fixate on dance moves, the so-named victory emotes you can have your avatar execute, in the warmth of fight or following a get rid of. The Floss, the New, the Squat Kick, the Wiggle—these have spilled out into the whole world. You might recognize people close to you, or Experienced athletes on Television set, breaking into Peculiar dances. The a person called Take the L is large lately within the Bundesliga and at Minute Maid Park.

Vbucks Fortnite Free

A good amount of completed players seem down their noses at Fortnite, the way, Probably, that some jazz and blues diehards, in 1964, dismissed the Beatles. The dances, the alliterative location-names, the dearth of correct postapocalyptic menace: these can suggest a lack of seriousness that to some looks spell-breaking. A classmate of Gizzard Lizard’s, ZenoMachine, a gamer for extended than would seem plausible (he began actively playing Workforce Fortress 2 in kindergarten and now develops his individual video games), is definitely the eighth grade’s resident Fortnite Scrooge. “First of all, I’m not a supporter of your polygons,” ZenoMachine explained to me. We were with a park bench, right after faculty—a uncommon strike of daylight. “It's a hi-res texture but minimal-res polygons.” Gizzard Lizard had warned me which i wouldn’t realize ZenoMachine, but I gathered that he was critiquing the sport’s aesthetics. He preferred a realer glimpse. He objected to certain inconsistencies. The pickaxe, one example is, which players use to demolish walls and properties, will cause Practically no harm to other gamers for a weapon. “How can that be?” he mentioned. “I see why a whole lot of people like Fortnite. It targets players who aren’t professional. But it surely violates the rules of regularity.” He explained that The 1st time he performed he gained—by hiding out until finally Anyone else had basically been killed off. This is named camping, and it is frowned on by standard gamers. “If something so simple as player preference has an effect on the opposite players’ experience, you’ve bought a design flaw,” ZenoMachine mentioned.

ZenoMachine develops his have games using a platform known as the Unreal Engine. Fortnite, mainly because it transpires, is constructed around the Unreal Engine, also. The game may be the creation of a company known as Epic Game titles, primarily based exterior Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1998, Epic released a first-human being shooter referred to as Unreal, which appreciated only moderate achievements but which, Pretty much by chance, had an enduring affect to the evolution of video clip games. Epic employed Unreal’s fundamental architecture, and a few of its elements, to help make what arrived for being known as the Unreal Engine, a fundamental System that supports all manner of online games, be they shooters, brawlers, platformers, or sandbox R.P.G.s. It’s fundamentally a set of instruments that developers can use to style and Make online games as well as other simulations. In lieu of starting from scratch in, say, C++, the favored graphic-coding language, impartial builders along with other companies utilize the Unreal Motor for making their particular games. (The licensing from the engine, consequently, presents Epic the dollars move to commit time and sources to the event of strike online games like Fortnite.) Each and every year, Epic makes use of present online games, some of them all but forgotten, to soup up the Unreal Engine, in order that it can tackle an at any time additional refined variety of calls for. Fortnite was the initial Unreal Motor 4 release. Amid other items, Epic had to adapt the motor to assist its servers accommodate the large level of facts that must be processed instantaneously when a hundred players are competing in just one Fight Royale spherical. The problem of which actions impact Many others, and from what length, on this broad storm-sieged island—the outdated if-then dilemma—is a lot more complex than it would seem.

“Consider Fortnite as a visual method of media,” Jamin Warren, the editor from the culture-and-gaming journal Eliminate Display screen, explained to me. Regardless of what Fortnite’s allure as a game to Engage in, Additionally it is apparently by far the most beguiling one particular to observe. As video-match spectatorship fills arenas, and siphons a era from precise sporting activities, Fortnite is becoming one of the most seen video game on YouTube—by March, there had been Practically a few billion sights from the many classes that players had uploaded—and the very best recreation on Twitch, the streaming System. Looking at isn’t just for spazzes any more. “It’s produced A sort of global arcade,” Warren claimed. “As opposed to some kids looking around the shoulder of the new-shot more mature brother or whatsoever, down within the mall, you have a lot of folks watching, and the individual actively playing the game can be a millionaire.”

The medium’s breakout star is known as Ninja. He's a previous Skilled Halo participant named Tyler Blevins, that has said that he tends to make over 50 percent a million pounds per month by streaming his Fortnite sessions, and his free of charge-associative commentary, on Twitch (which happens to be owned by Amazon). His YouTube channel has much more than 10 million subscribers. Last month, he hosted a Fortnite Event in Las Vegas, within an e-sports activities arena, and Nearly 7 hundred thousand persons tuned in to his Twitch stream. I’ve listened to quite a few teenagers consult with him as America’s most important entertainer—which isn't as hyperbolic since it Seems. In April, Ninja ranked higher than any athlete on the globe in “social interactions,” a evaluate of social-media likes, opinions, shares, and views. Cristiano Ronaldo was No. two. In March, Ninja consented to the Fortnite session with Drake.

Blevins, that's twenty-six, emanates from outside the house Detroit and lives around Chicago (he won’t say where by) together with his spouse, who handles his small business affairs. He streams 10 to fourteen hrs each day, normally from about 9 A.M. to three P.M. after which from 6 P.M. until When. All advised, he logs about three hundred several hours per month. What 1 sees is his activity monitor, with his avatar in what ever skin he has chosen, and, within an inset, a perpetual shot of Blevins himself. A ninja headband girds a Bieber-ish shock of hair that he dyes distinct colors: emerald environmentally friendly, platinum, yellow. He’s a lean, boyish person who seems to make an work to keep up some semblance of a smile at all times. His spiel is goofy, caffeinated, and moderately cocky. He does impressions. In March, he was mumbling some rap lyrics as he performed, and someway the term “indica” arrived out as being the N-phrase. Amid the backlash, he apologized, type of, and, when it arrived time for me to speak to him previous 7 days, his manager’s one particular ailment was which i not ask him about it, as he’d by now stated what there was to convey, which was, in part, “I promise that there was no mal intent (I wasn’t even seeking to say the term—I fumbled lyrics and bought tongue-tied within the worst attainable way).” A scrupulous journalist may need referred to as off the job interview, although the teenagers I’d been speaking with regarding the game were being so impressed that I might speak with Ninja that I caved. At the last instant, however, Ninja bailed, saying sickness. Burn off! (“I’m really guaranteed that was BS,” one of those teenagers texted me. “I do think he was streaming these days.”) At any price, Ninja’s sensitivity is an indication that gamers like him are entering the mainstream. They may have to observe whatever they say.

Onscreen, the millionaire maintains the environs in the gamer boy. The digital camera will take in an acoustic-tile ceiling, wall-to-wall carpeting, bare drywall, and a fourposter mattress. There’s a framed Detroit Lions poster propped towards a wall, along with a mini-fridge stocked with Pink Bull. Ninja is a lifelong gamer, but he will make some extent to remind his lovers, lest they receive the fall-every little thing bug, that he did well at school, performed soccer together with other athletics, completed college while holding down a career at Noodles & Organization, and even appeared, along with his spouse and children, on “Relatives Feud.” The game ability is legit. He wins anything like 50 % with the a huge selection of games he performs every single week, in opposition to all comers. He’s a crack shot and it has a nose for your higher ground. As often as not, It appears he’s barely paying attention. He’s examining supporters’ messages out loud, like a communicate-radio host, or jabbering with An additional Fortnite star, such as Dr. Lupo or KingRichard, whenever they’ve teamed up for any game or two: “The recoil on this factor is stupid”; “You stated you had a full shield, ass”; “So maintain my dick”; “That person was attempting to consume a chug jug. What a noob.” All accompanied by occasional bursts of gunfire. “To anyone watching the stream, I hope you guys are having fun with the written content, gentleman.”

Gizzard Lizard’s shoot-out in Tomato Town occurred on the final night time of April, which was the last evening of Time three. Anticipation was functioning superior. One of many ingenious innovations of Fortnite will be to introduce seasons of about two months, as on the cable-tv series, also to combine new plot and match factors. (Last week, inside of a crossover masterstroke, Thanos, the indestructible villain of The brand new Avengers Motion picture, dropped in on the game—that may be, gamers could adopt a Thanos pores and skin—and so, for quite a while, the Fortnite set gleefully schooled different Thanoses in a means that the Avengers couldn't.) On April thirtieth, a comet that were hovering about the island was designed to strike right after midnight. For days, meteors were showering the game. Teasers—the most up-to-date getting “brace for impact”—experienced encouraged a raft of speculation and conspiracy theories. At the beginning, folks expected the comet to hit the crowded urban environment known as Tilted Towers, but some clues led Other individuals to forecast, the right way, that the comet would wipe out Dusty Depot, which was thereafter being often called Dusty Divot.

It had been hard to do research on a night similar to this; Gizzard Lizard returned to the game. He played on the Personal computer he’d built at school. It didn’t Have got a graphics card. He’d never been a huge gamer—his dad and mom were being fairly rigid about screens and experienced never consented to an Xbox or even a Wii—even though he’d played Minecraft for quite a while. This level of obsession was a little something new. He observed on his find-your-buddies bar that lots of schoolmates ended up enjoying, so he FaceTimed a person who goes by ism64. They teamed up and hit Blessed Landing. Gizzard Lizard wore an earbud beneath a set of earphones, to make sure that he could talk to ism64 when listening to the audio of approaching enemies. From a distance, it appeared that he was speaking to himself: “Allow’s just Develop. Be careful, you’re gonna be trapped beneath my ramp. I’m hitting this John Wick. Oh my God, he just pumped me. Appear revive me. Make all around me and come revive me. Wait around, can I've that chug jug? Thank you.”

I’d been struck, observing Gizzard Lizard’s games for a couple of days, by how the spirit of collaboration, amid the urgency of mission and danger, appeared to deliver out something approaching gentleness. He and his close friends did favors for one another, viewed one another’s backs, made available encouragement. This was a thing that I hadn’t seen Substantially of, say, down in the rink. Just one could argue that the outdated arcade, Together with the at any time-present threat of bullying and harassment plus the problem of declaring dibs, uncovered A child to the planet—it’s character-building!—but there was some thing to become explained for this kind of refuge, although it did involve assault rifles and grenades.

After which you can the John Wick was on him. “Oh God! Oh God!” Foiled once more.

A John Wick was an achieved player who experienced acquired a skin that bears a resemblance for the character performed by Keanu Reeves during the “John Wick” films. (Formally, the skin is known as the Reaper, presumably to avoid licensing fees, but players contact it John Wick.) It was accessible to anyone who had attained all hundred tiers of the game in Year 3—a combination of achievement and encounter which might have required playing for in between seventy-5 and a hundred and fifty several hours.

As the final hours of Season 3 expired, gamers scrambled to succeed in Tier 100, and get their John Wick skins. Gizzard Lizard was nowhere close. He’d began the time for a noob. Arrive the next morning, Day Among Year 4, he experienced a decide to put while in the several hours to have to Tier one hundred. It would acquire significant determination. For the first time, he purchased a thousand Fortnite V-bucks, for $9.ninety nine, with which to buy skins. He went Along with the Carbide, a sleek one that introduced to mind a wetsuit. This was The 1st time he—or, much more to The purpose, his mother and father—experienced at any time spent anything but quarters on the video game.

[brent-sunborn]

The Staff of Ammunae - Pt V

| Part I - The Dig | Part II - Zombies! | Part III - The Hall of Stars | | Part IV - The Altar of Ammunae | Part V - Guarded | Part VI - A Way Out |

~*~

The staff was wondrous, carved and shaped flawlessly. Every detail in its golden form was made intently, purposefully. The jewels shimmered mystically, bending the light in such beautiful ways. It almost hummed with the powers within it. Brent could feel the energy - the life-giving fuel used by the Titans themselves. He'd felt it once before, in Ulduar, in the chamber of the Keeper, Freya. Then again, as one of the fragments of Eonar was found washed up on the western shore of Hillsbrad. Now, he felt it for a third time in his life. The rejuvenating powers giving his battered and worn body a sense of youthful rejuvenation. Old aches were alleviated, old scars ceased burning. Truly, the Staff of Ammunae was a blessed artifact.

He reached out his hand, slowly, cautiously, as his ears perked up. Fully alert to any sounds or movements. There was no way it was this easy…

Of course it wasn't! As the tip of his finger broke into the column of light that surrounded the Staff, it was ripped away from him by some unseen power. The staff flung back before embedding itself into the chest of a large statue behind the altar, on the far side of the room. Brent gulped, as the room shook. The statue shifted, green energy running along crystal conduits that sprawled across its body. It's eyes lit up… the construct had come to life! Immediately, it stood from the kneeling position in which it had rested for so long, shaking the dust, sand, and coins that had settled on it over the years. It's emerald eyes turned to Brent. He'd woken up the Artifact Keeper!

“--Kai…” he called back. “Could use that ‘brute strength’ answer again!”

Kai’eka’s ears pinned back as the whole structure seemed to rumble. Slowly, her head turned towards the chamber’s guardian, kicking herself for not turning every statue she came across to dust in passing.

“Motherfucker,” she cursed.

She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, having worked up a sweat with her earlier feat of strength. Of course, she was far from tired out. Grabbing the hilt of her sword with both hands, she eyed the stone behemoth before breaking into a charge, weapon pulled back and ready to swing it like a baseball bat.

She knew Brent well enough to anticipate what he’d do. The Blood Guard made an excellent springboard, and the Pathfinder always took advantage.

She approached, ready to swing!

“Going up?”

Brent lept back, and drew his daggers. His cold, calculative gaze scanned the towering Keeper, searching for any weakness he could exploit. Admittedly, taking down constructs wasn’t his forte, but he didn’t have much choice. His eyes settled on the Keeper’s, as he smirked beneath his mask; eyes were a sensitive point on anything’s anatomy. Sometimes art imitates life.

His ear twitched, as he heard Kai’eka rushing up behind him. He crouched, spending a few precious seconds listening to her footfalls, before springing up into a backflip. He spun around - not once, but twice - before his feet landed squarely on the broadside of Kai’eka’s massive blade. Her swing propelled him upwards, sending him flying for the Keeper’s stone face at an incredible speed!

“Thanks for the lift!” he called back, mid-air.

His landing upon the Keeper’s shoulder was graceful and precise. Quickly, he set to work, lunging for the statue’s head and bashing its emerald eye with the hilt of his dagger. To his surprise, however, it didn’t work. The emeralds were much more dense and sturdy than he had hoped. Even the seam between emerald and stone was reinforced, securing the jeweled eye lense to the construct firmly. Art didn’t imitate life this time around. Instead, the eye - along with its counterpart - began to glow brighter. Energy amassed behind it as the Keeper’s gaze remained affixed on the Pathfinder. He swallowed hard again, before bailing; another leap sent him into a freefall off the Keeper’s shoulder, as twinned beams of energy blasted forth from its gaze!

The Pathfinder caught himself on a pillar, digging and dragging his dagger along its surface to slow and control his descent. The scraping of his precious metallic daggers on the stone surface caused him to cringe, ears pinning back in recoil from the harsh sound as he landed on the ground safely. But he had no time to rest - another deft dive spared Brent from being slammed by the behemoth construct’s fist! Another punch or two was thrown, each coming closer and closer to smashing the Blood Elf into a pink mush. The last of the series of blows came so close, Brent’s only option to evade was to leap on top of the construct’s fist! He quickly acquired his footing and ran back up the length of the Keeper’s arm to take another shot at his head. But the Keeper beat him to the punch - literally. His ear twitched, hearing the rush of stone behind him as he found himself once again on the Keeper’s shoulder - a broad-handed swat, sent right for him by the Keeper’s other hand! Brent was slammed hard, knocked from the construct into the wall behind it. He barely managed to find hold onto a sconce which protruded from the wall, preventing himself from falling the several feet back down to the ground. But it seemed he’d have to anyway, as the Keeper’s eyes charged up another blast. Brent was in trouble!

Kai’eka wasn’t having better luck from her position on the ground. Her large sword barely chipped into the construct’s stone surface. Even concentrating on the knee joints as Brent kept attacking from above didn’t appear to phase it in the slightest, as though the two relic hunters were no more than annoying insects.

She took a solid kick, knocking her back into a pile of treasure, though she managed to keep a hold of her weapon. A blasting sound made her scramble to her feet quickly, and she looked up to see Brent hit the wall, barely managing to hold on as the Keeper charged up another blast.

“BRENT!” She called, taking off into a run towards his position, getting ready to catch him, “Let go!”

He didn’t have any other options - Brent let go, falling freely down the side of the wall as the Keeper opened fire. Narrowly avoiding obliteration, the Pathfinder dod what he could to slow his descent, giving Kai’eka precious extra time to make it to him. He dug his blade into the wall, the shrill sound of scraping only outdone by eye blast’s explosive noise. It slowed him enough to give Kai’eka the time she needed to get under him, and break his fall. By no means comfortable for either of them… but still more comfortable than landing on the hard ground. He nodded in wordless thanks, before springing back up out of her arms. They needed a plan. He glanced at the pillars, then to Kai’eka.

“Ever chop down trees, Kai?” he asked, smirk apparent in his eyes. “I’ll get him in position!”

He took off running for the Keeper again, before curving out towards the altar again to get its attention and lead it away from Kai’eka so she could get to work. The Keeper took the bait, following Brent with its emerald eyes. It stepped closer and reached out to try and squash the rogue under its massive hand, but Brent deftly evaded. It was odd for him to intentionally try to remain seen by something - not exactly his speciality. But so far, it seemed to be working.

Kai’eka let out a grunt as Brent landed in her arms and hopped back to his feet. She opened her mouth to protest his plan but grit her teeth instead. He was already playing bait. It made sense, him being the fastest and more agile of the two, but he also couldn’t take a hit like she could…

Too late to argue about it now. The Blood Guard made for one of the pillars, grasping at her sword and beginning to hack away at the pillar like a lumberjack would a large tree. It took longer than she wanted it too. An axe would have worked much better, but she made due with what she had… and what she had was a giant sword.

When she finally managed to weaken one of the pillars enough, ready to fall at the slightest hit, she leaped over and began hacking at the other one.

‘So far, so good…’ Brent thought, as he led the Keeper around the room.

He fought the urge to dive in and attack, like he normally would - it didn’t seem to work against the stone goliath. Instead, he stuck to evasion tactics; dodging behind objects, kicking up coins and jewels to divert attention. He called on the shadows a few times, to blink him to and fro in order to evade some of the closer calls. But too much of that was taxing, especially in such a bright environment. He was really out of his element on this one…

The Keeper landed a hit, grazing him with a backhand. Brent went flying into a pile of coins, skidding across them like a rock over water. He scrambled quickly to get back on his feet and keep moving. A sharp pain wracked his body as he pushed himself up off the ground - his left arm was broken now, fractured from the impact. He let out a groan, as he cradled his broken arm and kept moving. It slowed him down quite a bit, as he would use his arms to vault over obstacles and push against tighter angles. The shadows swirled about him, offering something of a multi-image facade to help him evade another hit like that. It was a taxing maneuver, but he had to make up for his arm somehow. He looked to Kai’eka, watching her progress. As she started hacking the second pillar, he diverted course, and rushed for the space between the two weakened structures - the Keeper closing in behind him...

“Kai!” he called out. “Get ready!”

<< PREV |–| NEXT >>

[octariane]

OH BOY OH BOY HUNGER GAMES SIMULATOR BUT WITH GEMSONAS

Warning: long post

Please read I spent a fucking hour writing this garbage

We have here:

The lovely Pyrite, my first Gemsona that I made.

Ogliclase, The Smol™

Adventurine, who has no other description other than when I got an irl sample of it I thought it was a Malachite and made a Malachitesona instead.

Amethyst. Just Amethyst. You can decide whether she’s the canon or otherwise.

Obsidian, who burst out of a fuckin’ volcano, flipping the bird to everyone below.

Pink Tourmaline, who blinks too much.

Rose Quartz, again, you can decide whether or not the’s the canon one in this scenario.

Orange Amethyst, who is like Amethyst, except you know that picture that’s like “Daniel” and then next to it is another pic that says, “The cooler daniel”? that’s her.

Sodalite, who mcfuckin’ chugs soda.

Meteor, who fell from space and somehow didn’t die.

Color Change Sapphire, who, as you will see, is obsessed with being both a Cutie™ and a Serial Killer™.

Emerald, who blinks too little.

Sunstone, who praises both the sun and toaster ovens bc she thinks both are gifts from some kind of gods.

Flourite, who flosses even tho she doesn’t need to.

Gold, who thinks she’s superior to Pyrite in every way.

Copper, who’s only there bc she’s useful and has no idea everyone uses her.

Nickel, who is anti-vore. Put any vore on her dash and she will find you and end you.

Onyx, who is that stereo-typical emo edgelord kid who listens to Wake Me up Inside on a repeat in class, except they’re an immortal gemstone-based shitlord.

Drusy Quartz, who is that one person when making an art project who screams “MORE GLITTER”

Bi-Color Tourmaline, who is slightly less murder-y than Color Change Sapphire.

Calcite, who makes sure to get her daily recommendation of calcium everyday, despite NOT NEEDING IT.

And finally, Citrine, who is that one chick who, when asked to describe herself, says, “Indescribable.”

Let THE BLOODBATH begin.

Idk what sais are, but Meteor has already snatched that shit.

Gold runs away like a pussy.

Nickel runs away like a pussy.

Copper and Pink Tourmaline get into a cat fight over a Gucci bag filled with fruit roll-ups, but then Pink Tourmaline quits and runs away like a lil’ bitch.

Rough Blue Calcite runs away like a pussy.

Oglioglase runs away like a pussy.

Adventurine, determined to murder some bitches, grabs a shovel.

Sunstone runs away like a pussy.

Rose Quartz runs away like a WAR HERO/CRIMINAL!

Flourite runs away like a pussy.

Color Change Sapphire, feeling bloodthirsty, prison-shanks the glittery Drusy Quartz, and begins to...

Is this script right?

Drink her fucking glitter-colored blood?

Holy shit.

Sodalite spawn-camps the cornucopia for resources.

Obsidian runs away like a pussy.

Bi-Color Tourmaline grabs a shield or whatever.

Citrine runs away like a pussy.

Pyrite runs away like a pussy. My first gemsona has become a massive pussy...I am dissapoint.

Calcite high-tails it outta there, her calcium giving her a boost.

Steel, Onyx, and The Cooler Daniel Orange Amethyst work together and mc-steal some resources, just ignoring Sodalite I guess.

Emerald runs out of there, she is oh too precious to get hurt by these miscreants!

Amethyst runs away, clearly being the normal Daniel in this situation.

Amethyst makes a slingshot, determined to be The Cooler Daniel in this situation.

Emerald chases Rough Blue Calcite because she gave her art a bad review. As we speak, her fangirls will soon also arrive to witch-hunt Rough Blue Calcite.

Copper collects fruit, because apparently this stadium makes you have the cravings of a human.

Pink Tourmaline chases Oglioclase because Oglioclase lied about her height on her Tinder profile.

Flourite prepares to shoot some bitches.

Steel goes on a nature-walk in a death arena, because why not.

Adventurine gets a murder-hatchet from Arby’s.

Rose Quartz also gets a murder-hatchet from Arby’s.

Gold tries to sleep though this bullshit.

Sunstone also tries to sleep through this bullshit.

Obsidian suffers from a well-known gem disease, called The Thirst, which primarily affects Pearls, but can also affect other Gems.

Pyrite tries to slash at Meteor’s face-zone, but her nails break, so Meteor McBolts it outta there.

Bi-Color Tourmaline discovers an abandoned Love Cave,,, this will be useful.

Onyx just wants to go home to sleep in  a bed. Don’t we all?

Orange Amethyst wheelies away from Sodalite.

Citrine grabs a pitchfork out of her gem and chases Calcite, who just wanted some Calcium.

Color Change Sapphire constructs a shack, the glitter blood of Drusy Quartz still on her hands.

Nickel considers seeking a therapist after watching Color Change Sapphire succ the blood from Drusy Quartz until Drusy looked like a mummy.

Drusy Quartz found dead in Miami. She’s alright but she’s dead.

Meteor hums They Might be Giants new hit song, Kazoo Parade on Drusy Quartz’ Dead Body Found in Miami.

Flourite just wants some juicy chicken nuggets, but they burn and she just wants to sleep now.

Rough Blue Calcite, who bit her tongue and is somehow bandaging it.

Ogliclase and Copper decide that they’re going to hunt down these scrubs.

Gold bandages her chipped fingernail and thinks of insults she could say to Pyrite.

Color Change Sapphire just wants to go home. Mostly because she heard that that bitch Chrysocolla, who she THOUGHT she had killed 990 years ago, was found in a nursing home posing as an old lady near Clearwater Beach, FL.

Onyx tracks down and kills Amethyst, and Amethyst just accepts that she can never be The Cooler Daniel.

Emerald, Calcite, and Sunstone sleep and shifts, but only Sunstone keeps watch because honestly these Era 2 kids need their rest if they want their bones to grow properly.

Pink Tourmaline and Adventurine sleep like assholes while Pyrite has to keep watch. GOD ERA 1′S ARE SO LAZY.

Citrine rolls a 20 on dexterity and sneaks into Obsidian’s MTV crib and fucks it up. That 20 dollar bill? burned. Those fries you were saving for later? Eaten. That picture of that Gem that planted your Gem and sat and waited for you to emerge? ...Maybe don’t break that.

Orange Amethyst is recognized as The Coolest Daniel and gets some McDonalds sent to her, free of charge.

Steel has a weird dream where all her teeth fall out and Yellow Diamond’s face turned into spiders. What the fuck, Universe?! She wanted a wet dream!

Sodalite dies because of her soda-deficiency.

Bi-Color Tourmaline burns her McNuggies and just goes to bed. Honestly? She deserves it.

Nickel smells some burgers, but stays away because she’s on a diet, even tho she can’t change her physical form in that way. Shh, don’t tell her. I’m proud of her for sticking with this thing.

The sheer weight of her hair makes Rose Quartz pass out.

Steel makes a shack out of steel. Does this count as cannibalism or body horror or...?

Emerald chases Flourite because she ‘SAW HER HANGING OUT WITH KAITLYN YESTERDAY” “E-EMERALD, IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!” “I WON’T HESITATE, BITCH!”

Pyrite just accepts at this point that she has all the common traits of a psychopath and decides to use that power.

Copper gets some clean water from Dasani. GODDAMMIT SHE WANTED FIJI!

Meteor steals a slingshot off of Amethyst’s shattered gem.

Obsidian recieves...a bomb.

Oglioglase is now suffering from The Thirst as well, a fate worse that death.

Orange Amethyst overhears Sunstone and Citrine talkin’ shit in the distance and makes a mental note to hack their Tumblrs later.

Color Change Sapphire camouflages herself and sets her sight on her next victim.

Pink Tourmaline and Calcite split up to look for some calcium.

Gold attacks Onyx, but she manages to somehow wrangle out of a death-grip.

Rough Blue Calcite flees from THE WAR CRIMINAL!

Adventurine smells some mighty fine health-potion cooking, but decides “Fuck it.” and walks away.

Nickel receives a hatchet from some sweaty guy watching her on his TV.

Bi-Color Tourmaline somehow ignores all the sHEER DEATH AROUND HER AND STOPS TO SMELL THE FUCKING ROSES. YES, BECAUSE YOUR BEST FRIENDS VICIOUSLY FIGHTING EACH OTHER AND KILLING ONE ANOTHER IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN ACKNOWLEDGING THE FUCKING DAISIES.

That’s all for now, folks! since I spent. A fucking. Hour. Writing this. On a school night. it’s now 2:30 AM dear christ.