#mob Rubee

[kamigui]

In every other universe, Rubee falls for Wally ,and in every other universe, it doesn't end well…

Well, it's a first time for everything, right?

Welcome Home Hunt vs Hunted AU Wally ( @nonomives) x Human Ruby (W➡️⬅️R)

Welcome Home Mob AU Wally ( @clownsuu) x Mob Rubee (W⬅️R)

Welcome Home Haunted House AU (me) x Maid Rubee (W➡️⬅️R)

ASGDHDFBKSDFJSDF, I finally made it! Hope you guys like it!

[kamigui]

Spider!!!!! Love the design!!!!

and my baby girl is so cute qqqqq thank you!!

Our arachnid seamster, Mob Hopper Huntsman!

Info on Mob version of Hopper:

A Seamster

Since not a poisonous spider, he uses needles or acupuncture to stun enemies.

Has 5 arms due to Wally taking one.

12ft tall, tall boi.

Eyes inverse, black to white, to see better at night.

Poor eye sight, has a pair of reading glasses.

To make a web, he’s unable to in this version, is that he makes special sewing nettles that he ties special string that is strong and sharp and throws them in a way that simulates a web.

Also some doodles of other mob oc’s!

Mob Robbie and Lovelie by: @clownsuu

Mob Dolly by: @nonomives

Mob Robbie: @eldritchparasol

Mob Odalia and Ashton: @ashchoo

Mob Poppet: @cupophrogs

Mob Colt: @thelone-copper

Mob Terrin and Silvie: @theknifeclown

Mob Clover and Daisy: @chimeracarnival

Mob Rubee: @kamigui

Mob Maria and Marcos love plus Hopper Huntsman: @ok-i-draw (mine.)

[thisapplepielife]

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest.

Who's Counting?

Day #4 - Prompt: Eddie | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: Language | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Future Fic, Famous Corroded Coffin, Older Steddie, Exes to Lovers, Let's Try This Again, One More Time

Hoping tonight won't be the night that his skin-fucking-tight leather pants split right up the asscrack when he squats down, Eddie drops into a crouch right in front of center stage. Looking into the eyes of the guy right in front of him.

And nearly falls into the pit. 

Steve Harrington is looking back at him. Older, and more gorgeous than ever. Looking right into Eddie's eyes the way he is, makes Eddie miss the next line, but he recovers, gripping the wedge monitor at his side to stand back up.

Turning his back on the crowd. On Steve. Again.

What the fuck?

This can't be happening.

They couldn't be together, but they couldn't be apart. Until they were, and now here Steve is. Forty-something, and fucking fine. 

Eddie finishes his song, the set, but he's off-balance. Rattled in a way he hasn't been on stage in decades. 

As soon as they step off the stage, Gareth slings his arm around Eddie's waist, leaning close, "So, what'd you do up there? Shit your pants? You froze like a goddamn rube."

Eddie laughs, but turns to look at his best friend, "Steve was right there."

"Oh fuck, goddamn. I'd rather have shit my pants than come face-to-face with any of my ex-lovers."

"Don't say lovers," Eddie says. He doesn't know what he and Steve Harrington were, but lovers sounds wrong. They were just two kids that couldn't make it work, no matter how hard they tried, or how many times.

"You gonna find him?" Gareth asks, like that's an actual option.

"In a crowd of forty-two thousand? Yeah, I'll get right on it," Eddie snaps, but yeah, of course he's going to do exactly that. He knows he is, Gareth knows he is, because he'll always go to Steve if there's a chance. Any chance.

"Yeah, okay. Don't get mobbed," Gareth says, squeezing Eddie's side with his hand way too hard, then he's gone.

Eddie's showered, pulled his hair up off his neck, and is standing outside the venue, watching the remaining crowd slowly file out. Stragglers. 

Steve's gone. Steve's always been gone. 

Just out of his grasp, never his to hang onto for long.

Eddie pushes off the wall, turns the corner of the arena, and down in the distance is a familiar figure, leaning against the wall.

Eddie laughs, and the sound must echo and carry, because Steve turns to look at him.

"Wrong side!" Eddie yells, pointing at the building as he jogs towards Steve.

"We always were out of sync like that," Steve says as soon as Eddie's approaches, standing straight and opening his arms. Eddie barrels into him, hugging him around the neck.

"Good to see you," Eddie says, because it is. It hurts, it always hurts, always will, but it's been way too long. 

"You too, Eddie," Steve answers, pressing his face to Eddie's neck.

He smells good, his hairspray and cologne, familiar. 

Eddie pulls back before he does anything stupid.

"How's the missus?" Eddie asks, holding onto Steve's elbows.

"Ex-missus, these days," Steve says, and it feels like Eddie's heart turns over in his chest.

"Oh, I hadn't heard that. I'm sorry," Eddie says, even if he's not sorry, not really. That's not true. He wants Steve to be happy, and he thought he would be when he got married. Both times.

Steve smiles, "Thanks. It's not new news. Not now. I figured Henderson told you."

Henderson definitely did no such thing, the little prick. 

"He didn't," Eddie answers, "and he'll pay for that."

Steve laughs, "Don't be too hard on him. You know he was just trying to avoid implosion number, what would it be now, six?"

Eddie grins. Six, eight, ten, who's counting?

"Wanna get a drink? Talk about which accelerant we should try this time?"

Steve laughs, and gives him that warm smile he's missed so goddamn much, "Definitely."

Eddie's hand is high on Steve's thigh in the fancy hotel bar, in a secluded room Eddie's name opened the door to, with ease. 

It feels different this time, easier, and Eddie hopes that this is not just his big fucking blindspot for Steve Harrington rearing it's ugly head.

"You got a room upstairs?" Steve asks.

And the grin on Eddie's face feels ear-to-ear and wicked, "You know I do, big boy."

Eddie drags his tongue up Steve's belly, and maps all the changes. 

"What happened here?" Eddie asks, running his tongue over a new scar. Healed, but fresher than the bat bites. 

"Appendix burst. Nearly died," Steve says, like that isn't the most horrifying thing Eddie's ever heard.

Eddie whines, and Steve laughs, "I'm fine. You're being dramatic. Just like Robin was about it."

Eddie's not. He knows he's not, and neither was Robin. But at least she got to know.

"Oh, you almost died and nobody told me. That's cool. Love that," Eddie says, sarcastic. 

"If it'd gotten bad, somebody would have called you," Steve assures, and Eddie isn't sure that's true. Not anymore.

Eddie doesn't want to talk about it, though. So, he runs his rough fingers over Steve's chest, making sure there isn't anything else new he needs to know about. Not finding anything, he leans down and kisses Steve's stomach, loving the feel of the rough hair under his mouth. 

He's missed Steve. All of him, and he hadn't been prepared for him to stumble back into his life after all this time. It'd been too long, he thought Steve was married, again, and Eddie would never be over it, over him, even if he'd learned to do without him. Had to. He hadn't had a choice.

And now here Steve is, back under Eddie's hands. 

"I've missed you," Eddie says, and Steve cards his hand through Eddie's hair, grinning.

"Me too, Eddie. Think we can do it this time?"

Eddie has no fucking clue. History says no, but his heart says yes, so he looks right in Steve's eyes, smiles, and declares, "Fuck yeah, we will."

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @corrodedcoffinfest and follow along with the fun! 🦇

[clownsuu]

Hello, sorry to bother you, I really love your oc and au, so I drew these drawings!

Because I was shadowbanned a while ago, so I’m not sure if you’ve seen these before.

Please let me know if this bothers you! Have a nice day!

Robbie is really cute and cool, he’s giving a vibe like “Chaos? I called it FUN!!!”

And of course, Mob! au, I can imagine that Robbie throw Rubee to speed her up and help her change the direction!

And the besties went to jail together, I love relationship between mob Julie and mob Sally, so cute!

AWEEEE ROBBIEEBBBBB SO MUCH LIL GUY CONTENTTTTT

[the-final-sif]

Anyways, I don't think I did put the chicken and the egg idea here, so!!

The chicken and the egg is my idea for a "test" for admins when they first create a server. It's hardcored in to ensure the person starting the server knows what they're doing, at least a little bit. Like a puzzle that needs to be solved.

The rules of this problem are simple; in order for mobs to start spawning there must be both a chicken and an egg present on the server. A chicken despawns instantly without an egg, an egg despawns instantly without a chicken.

The solution to this is for an admin to run the tasks in parallel, they happen at the same time, and because the tasks are processed at the same time, both come into existence together. No despawning, and you're all good to go.

c!Dream when starting his own server encountered this problem with no formal training. He got stumped by this for awhile, before finding a solution he was very proud of!!

One day, someone, probably c!Phil is looking through the server code and realizes that the server. straight up. Isn't using any parallel processes. He's not even sure how that's possible. It shouldn't be possible, because you need at least one parallel process to start your server and spawn mobs.

Since he can't figure it out Phil asks Dream how he solved that initial puzzle, trying to figure out what's going on. Dream is very happy to explain his solution!!

Start trying to spawn a chicken in a loop, basically spamming the command.

Paint a painting of an egg in an item frame.

Take an actual item frame and place it in front of an observer

Pause ticking so the observer can't update

Replace the item frame with the picture of the egg in an item frame.

Resume ticking.

The Observer now believes there is an egg that has been placed in the item frame, because the observer believes there is an egg, the server now believes there is an egg.

Because the server now believes there is an egg, it allows the chicken to spawn. Once he has the chicken, c!Dream spawns in a real egg.

Profit

Dream even kept this setup in a tiny little bedrock enclosure so nobody could mess with it. He shows it off to Phil whose just stuck between awe and horror that this worked and the broader implications for what kind of weird rube-goldberg ass server they're on right now.

[frogaroundandfindout]

“Just get me an arm up over the charivari…allez oop!”

“The charWhat?”

“The clown mob! You spend much time with circus folk?”

“What do you think?”

“I think I forgive you in advance for not recognizing our slang, like—Hey Rube!”

“Ah, the old rally cry for help! Got your back dickie-boy!”

Nightwing, Hawkman, and deadman take on the possessed fighters and find Ollie (The Brave and the Bold (2007) #15)

[eccentric-nucleus]

i read this the other day and it made me think about minecraft mods

it does kind of strike me how many of the Traditional Rationalist Singularity Things are fundamentally... single-player? not a lot of 'you will be able to love and be loved' happening. a lot of 'you will be able to have a big mansion with sexy servants'. even the bit about 'appreciating art' is about appreciating an endless stream of flawless ai art, in much the same tone as the bit about being able to appreciate all the physics the ais will figure out. art, physics, same thing, right

so there was this minecraft mod called 'equivalent exchange' that assigned every item in the game a numerical value. dirt was 1 point. diamonds were 8192 points. iron was 256 points. sugarcane was 8 points. and so on. and the two big things you could do is there was an 'alchemy tablet' that would record stuff you put in it and maintain a points buffer and let you take out any item you had the points to create. so, yes, you could turn one diamond into 4 gold or 16 iron or whatever. equivalent exchange! the other thing was a solar reactor that would just constantly give you points. so once you had found any one thing in the world, you could make infinite copies of it, given enough points.

this mod was somewhat contentious. some people loved it! others did not love it. minecraft is kind of a game that trades on the specific. items aren't fungible. there are sugarcane farms and pumpkin farms and iron farms and mob farms etc, and different kinds of items require different infrastructures to obtain in large quantities. equivalent exchange got rid of all that; suddenly every item is fungible!

you can look at various minecraft mods and be like, okay, is this a mod about giving you a solution block, or is this a mod about giving you a flexible framework to figure out your own solutions? equivalent exchange is pretty much pure 'solution block', but stuff like minefactory reloaded or mekanism is also pretty heavy on the solution block: this block makes cobblestone. this block makes ice. this block makes lava. meanwhile, mods like botania or create are more about giving you blocks that do very broad interactions ('this block places another block in the world', 'this block moves around other blocks', 'this block breaks other blocks') and expects you to make your own rube goldberg machine that automatically manufactures stuff or w/e. because some people find the challenge and complexity of that more satisfying than just being able to press a button to get infinite power. something something there are many lessons we could learn from elf-only inn

anyway until your local transhumanist can design a minecraft mod that people would like to play i don't think i'd trust their ai to design a utopia people actually want to exist in

[thealogie]

😂yeah matthew's mother (who is insane) was divorced from his dad for the second time & had an affair with woody's dad (a hitman for the mob) right around the time matthew was conceived. two little texas boys with a dream and a red string of fate <3

I knew about woody’s dad being a hit man but this is an insane level of coincidence. Not even a red string of fate, more like a red Rube Goldberg machine of fate

[iwrotemrtambourineman]

married to the mob is great the mob has their meetings at a fucking medieval times with a pianist that sings a song when the mob boss enters and the fbi agent is a freak of a man who has a rube goldberg machine a la wallace and gromit to get him ready in the morning michelle pfeiffer sounds like shes going to start crying at every moment and gives the spoonman a dollar even as she’s failing to find a job to try and escape the mobs grasp its great everyone watch it!!

[kamigui]

Whenever Rubee sees a broken doll, she picks it up and fixes it. Whenever she sees a broken limb, she wants to sew it back together. Maybe it’s to make up for past mistakes. She is just doing this to make herself feel better. She doesn’t know why, but it works…

Fun fact (?) Rubee made mini dolls for everyone in the family, but she never had a chance to give it away.

[ok-i-draw]

The buzz around the neighborhood! 🐝

BEE GANG! 🐝I’m starting to make a lot of bug friend groups….

Bill bumble by: @theknifeclown

Rubee bee by: @kamigui

Human Mob!Marcos and human Mob!Maria sketches in @clownsuu art style!

[12pt-times-new-roman]

c3e45

this episode was pre-recorded and these guys are probably under contractual obligation to plug DDB. please do not subscribe to D&D Beyond. in fact, if you're already subscribed, cancel your subscription.

"I done made 'em curse!"

Apparently any kind of conflict can set off FCG's kill switch. So the question now is whether this thing is an intended feature of a Care and Culling automaton, or if it's a short circuit that happened some time in the past millennium. And if it really is just a short circuit that could be fixed by someone skilled enough to work on Aeormatons, that really does put a different spin on the Bells Hells going to the Feywild instead of to the Seminary.

Ashton recognized somebody in the airport casino -- Violet is someone who does a lot of things, they're very good at convincing people to do things and at finding people who don't want to be found. They went to make sure the Hells weren't being followed by Violet's people, but they got compelled to spill a bunch of secrets about the group, so Ashton agreed to go do a job with Violet in exchange for them not turning the group in. "There were cops, there were mobsters, I may have kidnapped a mobster, a lot went down." So it sounds like the Bells Hells now have a reason to get out of Yios fast.

Violet was in town to get information out of one of the local mobs -- the Baneful Brood -- and Ashton agreed to be some hired muscle while they tried to prove that the mob was dealing with stolen and/or smuggled artifacts. "Turns out he doesn't keep a ledger, he has a kenku, so we kidnapped the kenku, tied up the kenku, rolled them up in a very expensive rug... there are a lot of rooms, and next thing we know, we're unconscious, tied up in the kitchen."

That was the most Rube Goldberg story and I love it so much for them. This would be such good material for a one-shot.

According to Violet, there were some "weird Dwendalian people" calling themselves the Ruby Vanguard coming through town a few weeks ago, and they pissed off every criminal in town.

FCG, Fearne, Imogen, and Laudna head into the Seminary to meet with Professor Ishal, who they were told might know something about Aeormatons.

He's a young firbolg, tall, thin, with soft maroon fur and red hair.

"Sorry, we're not supposed to let people--- oh." His accent is similar to Ormid Haas, I think?

He knows Joe, who he calls "one of the best minds in automaton mobility in Marquet." They write to each other sometimes.

"You are an Aeormaton, and specifically, a harmonious Aeormaton. A very particular design of the old Arcanum city, they were designed as peacekeepers and diplomatic associates, often used as guides and communicators in the city... I've heard rumors of Aeormatons emerging, but none have come to Yios before." He's heard of the Care and Culling and has apparently read "many books" about it.

In FCG's power core, where Joe stopped before, they are "fitted with quite the unique arcane power accumulator. It's far larger than what is needed for an Aeormaton of your size, which may confirm that you were created for the Care and Culling event... destructive [spells], that makes sense, but healing, that's a bit confusing."

Ishan pulls the power core out of FCG's chest. It's a large sphere of deep blue, almost purple color. It looks very much like the other arcane cores they've seen, but it looks stranger, more intricately connected, larger. "I think this might be the source of your [arcane] powers, but I caution, it could be unstable due to age or damage... if it were to overcharge with arcane power, it would take out most of this building." There's no power leaking, and it's very safe as long as no one goes fiddling with it, connecting exterior arcane terminals to it, etc.

"The enchantment technology that was utilized in the creation of Aeormatons was specific to Aeor, and were lost with the city. No one can make new beings like you. You are from a time when this secret was known and utilized, but that time is passed. You are both a relic of history, and a very unique, special person... A lot of Aeormatons worked very hard during that time to establish themselves as equal to their creators. As much as Aeor gets a lot of negative information written about it, and rightfully so, there is a beauty in some of what they made. You are not defined by what you are told your purpose was -- you carve your own path. You are not defined by a binary answer. Being alive, being conscious, free will -- it's frightening. But it's worth everything."

FCG is being fitted with an EZ-Bake Oven inside their chest. This is the most fitting end to this encounter I could possibly have thought of.

Meanwhile, Imogen and Fearne head off to find Kadisha Sumal's office. There are, like, 7 different locks, and she only opened the door because Fearne mentioned Ruidus-born.

She's an older orc with long braided hair and grey-green skin, with heavy bags over her eyes and casual clothes. Her office has a window with a curtain drawn, shelves filled with books and papers, little baubles.

Sumal appears to recognize Imogen's mind powers. Liliana was one of the first people who came to the Omen Archive, and she was instrumental in many of the earliest breakthroughs they had.

The exaltants had the most powerful abilities, and Liliana was the first one who came to the Archive. There isn't a large history of exaltants, there are very few historically, but that number has been growing exponentially. There were 12 at last count that the Archive knew of.

As the Archive was trying to test the extent of the exaltants' abilities, it became more and more uncomfortable as outside forces were peering at them. Members of the Verity began to disappear, so they scattered and buried their research.

Exaltants were the first to speak of the "railora," beings they think come from beyond Exandrian cosmology -- some of the exaltants began having shared dreams where they met a collection of entities, crimson beings that referred to themselves as the railora. The further the Verity pushed into their research, the more alarming it became, so they pulled back.

They theorize that the flares are a way for the railora to connect and tether themselves to Exandrians, "reaching out to someone and holding that tether." Their intelligence was hard to understand and the Verity had no concept of their morality, so their studies became more about finding proof beyond the dreams.

Liliana was trying to develop her abilities regarding entering other peoples' dreams. The Verity guided her through it using induced dream states, and her progress was "incredble," but it became so worrying that the Verity stopped helping her and told her to stop trying.

"There's only so far you can reach into the unknown until the unknown starts pushing back."

Some railora were solid flesh, others were made of energy. They were intelligent, alien, always in a crimson hue similar to the landscape of the dreams. Some enticed with promise, others demanded, others brought empathy and comfort. They speak wordlessly, with imagery and emotions.

THEY ARE INTERRUPTED BY LUDINUS DA'LETH.

Fearne is going to get herself killed.

......okay, he tried to charm her first.

(to Sumal) "You have ignored Assembly requests for an audience for weeks now, and we are on a short timetable." Ludinus is the nightmare she's been waiting for for a very long time. (to Imogen/Fearne) "Sit. You might learn something."

"The archive we recovered is extremely important to our research, but there are excerpts missing." He charms Sumal. "I do hate robbing them of their will... but some things are more important."

He turns to Imogen. "She was right... you do look just like your mother. It is, genuinely, a pleasure to meet you. I've heard of your prowess."

Then to Fearne. "And you... not quite an exaltant, but definitely of the red moon. How fortuitous."

god, Ludinus is so cool. This intimidating, calm demeanor, so confident in his abilities, so full of wizard hubris and selling it. Lawful evil at its fucking best. And that makes it all the more impressive that he was genuinely off-put and shaken by Jester.

Liliana has been working personally with Ludinus for a long time, and her contributions have been integral to the Vanguard's research. This is from Ludinus himself, though, so take it with a grain of salt.

"Do you feel the pull? Northward? [Do I? Yes.] Then follow the instinct. Both of you, if it's there."

"I know you've had dalliances with the masses who try to meddle in our work. I know you've confronted my associate, Thull, and I'm not blind enough to believe you're seeking entry to our merry band. But I also know you only speak from a place of ignorance, misunderstanding. I'm not the one doing this. There are many of us working together to make this happen. This is important work, it's my life's work. [Liam's alarm bells go off here.] So. Do you want to know how to help? Stop resisting."

[Are you Ruidus-born?] "I have my connections to the red moon." [Insight check: 17, contested.]

"I think your mother would like to see you. She talks about you. She's sad that her destiny took her on a different path, and she hoped it wouldn't lead you to the dangerous threads of fate that tug her ever away. But it seems you share a similar destiny."

"Do you know what we're doing?" [We're learning bits and pieces. The power's pretty enticing, though. I gotta say.] "The power is just a tool. All power is just a tool. Fools throughout history use it for personal gain, for forgotten means." [If you succeed, will it go away?] "Parts of it will, for those who have cheated through boons unearned beyond just faith. This society is borne on those who have gained power through transactions, unearned except for granting their succor and obsession to these gods. We don't need them. They've always needed us." [It's happening soon, right?] "Sooner than I'd like. But we'll be as ready as we can be." [Well, maybe we'll find you to the north.] "I think you will." [What are you doing with those papers?] "Don't want to spoil the surprise."

"I watched the world burn at their behest. I saw the ruin their gains left of our people, the destruction they brought down to stunt the potential of mortal minds and hearts. They act only to preserve themselves. So, if there is even an ounce of you that finds faith in them, there is no place for you amongst us." [How old are you?] "Old enough... you're not of faith either, are you? Why?" [They don't mean anything to me.] "Good."

"We are the seeds they plant, and till, and water. We struggle in the maze they shaped. Then, when we expire, they return to their private gardens to harvest, because they told us there was no alternative. They tell us this is how it is, and we thank them for it. We may be their creations, but all children outgrow their parents. The Age of Arcanum, the Matron... they feared our developments, the growing power of the mortal mind. The Divergence, it wasn't to protect us. It was to protect them from us."

I'm pretty sure Ludinus cast feeblemind on Sumal.

Orym sees Ludinus walking down the steps of the seminary as they're waiting outside. He walks into the crowd, is joined by the two Vanguard operatives who escaped, and teleports away.

The Bells Hells regroup in Sumal's office.

"Was he looking for you? This is her office, it's always here, why did he come now?" FCG's getting at it.

Sending to Ryn: "We're in Sumal's office. We need a fast exit. She's been hurt." "Well, shit. I was really hoping that she was elsewhere. On my way."

Man, I'm learning so many new words today.

Ryn arrives. "Oh, my dear... this is a bit far from my purview." Sumal needs a greater restoration -- Ryn can't do it, but she knows people who can.

"As far as I know, the remaining pieces of the Archive that were part of those papers included the names of all known living exaltants in Exandria, the rotations of Ruidus, and the pattern of its orientation during each flare through recorded history."

....great.

To the Feywild!

Morri lives in a place called Ligament Manor. Fearne neglected to tell anybody this.

"You find yourself in a creepy magical marshland of gnarled trees that form a web-like ceiling of corkscrew branches and trunks. You don't even see any leaves, it's just a latticework of trees, with the faintest gaps of pinkish-purple skylight that peeks through." Welcome to Fearne's home!

"Does anyone else feel like they've taken too much?" Ashton (/Talisein), I love you.

oooooo Matt definitely took inspiration from Subnautica for this

"When you look at Fearne, she's Fearne, but there's something different about her. Her features are sharper, her eyes are deeper and bluer. The ears are longer, her limbs seem to be slightly exaggerated. There's an otherworldly air about her that's just... unique. It's upsetting at first glance, but everyone else looks normal."

this is super interesting. b/c to me it seems like the Bells Hells are only okay here at level 9 because of Fearne -- like she's some kind of fey lord or royalty who's tethered to the land like Morri is.

Friendly reminder that Fearne can indeed speak Sylvan

"Roll persuasion with disadvantage." "26."

I think I've said this before, but Matt has gotten so creative with his encounter design. It's super fucking cool, of course, but it also fits very well with the campaign -- the Hells are a control party, they want to twist and manipulate encounters instead of using brute force or subterfuge, so encounters with multiple solutions are their jam, but it's enhanced all the more by the absolute trust that the players have in Matt and that Matt has in his players.

if anyone wants an approximation of this, here is what a jazz pan flute might sound like.

Through the forest, Fearne picks up a familiar scent -- the oils Morri uses, the lanterns she burns.

The find a domed, circular clearing, ringed with thorny walls and thicket. In the middle, a massive tree covered in hundreds of hanging vines, like a frozen waterfall of deep green and teal streamers, completely obfuscating the center of the tree. It rises over a hundred feet, just scraping the top of this dome; the shape implies a dozen or more branches with the vines draped over them like a weeping willow. Within, there are hundreds of small nests, empty wooden cages, lanterns, and many, many unique wreaths tied throughout, subtly decorating it. The air hangs heavy with a presence that leaves breath thick and chilled.

Fearne feels that chill in the air as a warmth in her chest.

As Fearne gets within 5 feet of the tree, the vines furl apart like drapes, letting through the faintest flicker of firelight.

The tree is comparable to the Sun Tree in its thickness. 30 feet up, it splits into two trunks that corkscrew around each other; the branches off the trunks each hold a hut, a room.

"Enter. We knew you were coming." (Note that whoever is speaking had to invite Fearne into the home -- she didn't just enter.)

"It's hard to grasp a solid presence. At times, it's beautiful, and at times, it's borderline nightmarish."

There are knit dolls, animal skeletons posed in dancing positions, alien-looking potted plants that seem to guard their side of the room with ferocity.

"Oh, Fearne. How we have missed you." Fearne leaps into the arms of a... shape. The shoulders sit at 7 or 8 feet; the torso is like a barrel; swathed in a large, blue-green, patchwork dress, there are no feet visible, and the Hells can hear them like a sack of flour with each step. The shoulders are thin, pointed, skeletal. Around the top of the dress is a mantle of chiffon, from which emerges a head on a stretching neck, craning like a giraffe, framed in long white hair. A wrinkled old woman's face, a terrifying wide smile of jagged teeth, eyeless sockets with sunken golden glow, nostril slits with no nose. "Fearne, with your friends, like a cocktail... welcome, welcome. We have guests."

She pulls open the front of the dress, and in the chest is a massive pair of sunken eyes, a mouth that curls into a smile across the torso. "We haven't had guests in a while... come. Let me show you to my tiki bar."

[arom-com]

hi hope this is ok but i've seen sooo many of ur posts tagged as renbrand and i am ... perhaps .... a little curious .... would u like to tell me abt them !!!! 👀👀 (its ok if not ofc)

Ofc!! I sure have been tagging them a lot huh

The short version is that they’re my unhinged lesbian ocs stuck in a murder timeloop

Longer version is this:

(I am not going to be able to explain this in any way approaching coherent) (but I will try!!) (sorry in advance for the Wall of Text)

So RenBrand stands for these two:

Ren Hayashi (23, she/they) university student studying criminal psychology, abandonment issues out the wazoo, Going Through It

Brand Reitveld (26, she/her) local gang leader, Control Issues TM, definitely the cat in whatever cat-and-mouse thing they have going on

They’re in love — it’s not even remotely healthy.

Basically, through no fault of their own, they got stuck in a long-form time loop (days/months rather than strict 24h) that resets whenever one of them dies, which wouldn’t be too much of an issue? Except a) they’ve never met and don’t know they’re stuck together, and b) Ren keeps getting fucking murdered

Bc!! Ren’s psychology prof is running a secret cult (trying to turn his crim psy students into serial killers, it’s a whole thing, very cringe of him) so she gets killed for accidentally getting in the way a couple times (she doesn’t know about the cult), and then ofc starts investigating, which only makes it worse (I feel so bad for her but it’s also really funny, saddest most pathetic sopping wet oc I’ve ever created)

(Some of Ren’s deaths are also caused by Brand who’s like listen I don’t have a grudge against you or anything but you do keep getting my people killed so I have to eliminate the threat, no hard feelings! And Ren is like I am in abject misery)

(strangers to enemies to lovers except the strangers to enemies is a speedrun and the enemies to lovers is a slow burn)

The story they’re from is sort of a dark mystery-slash-romance (think nbc hannibal meets groundhog day, which is certainly a sentence), and it’s mainly centred around Ren and her corruption arc as she goes from “tired student just trying to finish her dissertation if it kills her” to “codependent mob-wife who kills first and asks questions later”

I’m obsessed with time as a narrative device, and especially time loops, because it can be used in such interesting ways!! And the interesting part about time loops to me is that they’re like,,,,, rube goldberg machines for character development? You only stick a character in a time loop when you need them to undergo a pretty drastic change without a proper catalyst, and it forces them to wear themselves down to their bones, to find the very essence of what they are, and then build themselves back up again into their ideal and purest form of self. (Of course, some people just use them as a tool for romance, but that’s boring!! Boo)

Usually time loops exist to make a character better, because they’re given some kind of epiphany that makes them the best and kindest version of themselves. (Alternatively, they can be used as the cosmic equivalent of a washing machine spin cycle if you’re writing horror) But what interests Me is the idea of using a time loop to make a character worse, which is what I’m doing to Ren (and to a lesser extent, Brand)

And it’s not just corruption for corruption’s sake, either! Ren, as she is, is miserable — she’s completely isolated, unable to achieve any of her goals, and ultimately ends up getting killed in an impersonal way for impersonal reasons — but once the loop begins and she gets her second chance, she starts to wear away at all her self-imposed barriers and boundaries until she can start making her own decisions and being an active agent in her own life. Of course, she’s not choosing to do good, but the best version of herself is not necessarily Good or Kind, it’s just Authentic.

Brand, on the other hand — because she has more support and isn’t as repressed — is experiencing the time loop less as a vehicle for character development, and more as a perpetual time travel fix-it (which is SO fun, having two characters get wildly different outcomes from the same experience). Her problems are more interpersonal rather than internal, so where Ren is using the extra time to understand herself, Brand uses it to understand the world around her (and is thus doing a much better job at actually solving the plot, we love a girlboss).

Brand’s conflicts are with her brother (who I can’t even Begin to explain without adding another thousand words to this post), and (as the leader of the local gang) with the police & the murder cult, which means that a lot of her loops are spent information-gathering (and murdering, dw abt it)

Personality-wise Ren is pretty quiet, she doesn’t like to ask for things which means she gets into miscommunications a lot (people not helping when she wishes they would, people helping when she doesn’t need it bc they think she just doesn’t want to ask), she’s a very “the only one you can rely on is yourself” kind of person, which isn’t exactly ideal for someone you’re stuck in a time loop with but at least it means she never gives up? She also doesn’t really care what people think of her — or rather, she does care, but she doesn’t let it stop her

Brand is suffering from a lethal combination of being the youngest sibling and simultaneously the eldest daughter, so she’s great at asking for help and using her resources but it means that she a) is a little entitled about it, and b) needs to feel like she has perfect control over everything or she’ll die. She’s very possessive and protective over things that she considers hers (hence murdering Ren for getting her people killed, it’s fine they get over it)

Renbrand also come equipped with two sets of narrative foils (Brand’s disabled ex-ballet dancer brother and his bodyguard/love interest, and the cult leader professor and his prized pupil who both hates and loves him for what he’s become) but the word count on this is already obscenely, embarrassingly long so I’ll talk abt them another day maybe

[summonhouse]

ok ermm questions about lawrie, 1. why did he decide to become a substitute teacher and 2. what does it do in its free time

this is a good question bc i realize i said "sweetheart is an au of lawrie" as if anyone knows Who lawrie is UHHH lawrie spotlight moment before answering;

art by slugwiki on here commission her 1 million times

hes for a roleplay i run which you can read a summary of here in a toyhouse advertisement or in a different format here on a tumblr blog in which ive written a few posts from lawries perspective actually

lawrence percival octavius ramsey sylvester sterling bartholomew jr ii is a wooden puppet/clock magically enchanted to come alive by his terrible terrible parents- however he has been lied to all his life and is entirely unaware that being made of wood is unusual and he believes hes a normal organic human and all that. his parents, clock and watch manufacturers, were killed by an angry mob after they used their magic to force people to work themselves to death, leaving lawrie extremely extremely depressed because he has been neglected so thoroughly he convinced himself his parents were very good loving people

WHY HE BECAME A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER:

one; after his parents death he spent a good year just in a dissociative coma before eventually attempting to return to acting like a human with meaningless minor motions, he wants to be a respectable man but has nothing to do so he begins to look for any job that will accept him so he doesnt continue just rotting in his home- if he has no job he has no purpose, two; the school he signs up to work at is evolution academy, an up and coming very well respected establishment advertising "unorthodox" teaching methods specifically trying to teach students practical things instead of what the headmaster mx dream deems as "useless" core curriculum stuff. lawries obsesssedddd with good image and what he sees as "respectable work" and real actual effort so he thinks the schools different approach is nice and he wishes to be a part of that, three; he has no qualifications, he never went to school and his parents hardly homeschooled him, despite this hed done a lot of reading up so hes not HELPLESS, but he certainly does not have any degree that would allow him to teach anything specialized, four; substitute teacher at ea means "mx dreams henchman" basically and hes forced to do all of the loose busywork around the school more than hes supposed to watch or teach students- mx dream specifically hires him because hes a fucking rube, major stunted attention whore who slurps up all the attention she gives him like a sponge and mx dream is intend to manipulate him, So despite his, to be frank, absolute fucking stupidity (hes terrible with interacting with people from, you know, the years of neglect) he is accepted into his position because due to that hes really, really easy to take advantage of (THE SCHOOL IS NOT GOOD), five; he really desperately wants to help everyone, he has an insanely strong sense of justice and right and wrong which is INSANELY SKEWED such that he believes capitalism and a strong economy will assist everyone- he wants everyone to have a good life and to get what theyre worth, genuinely, despite his idiocy approaching it, and he hopes working with younger people will allow him to help them- and he really, really hopes no one ends up like him or his parents. six; if he gets a job his coworkers are forced to interact with him Tee Hee hee attention whore moments

FREE TIME:

lawrie loooves reading, both nonfiction scientific diagram filled drivel, philosophy (especially if it fuels his own beliefs), and hes a BIG fan of artsy fiction (though he hates to admit that and is vocally against "frivolous pursuits" such as fictional story tales)... he also loves repairing broken timepieces (still doesnt know hes a clock but he deeply identifies with clocks, it reminds him of home and his parents).... ATM in the span of the rp he will not admit that he adores art and would love to create himself (his parents used to punish him for doing so) in the future whenever he gets over himself and is encouraged to act more like a person he will surely spend his time painting dramatic abstract paintings of himself and his friends, and working on plays with his (planned) boyfriend(s?)

sorry this is long LMAO im obsessed w lawrie ive said this b4 but he is my character of the year fr. i used him in a different rp at the start of the year from like jan-marchish and it died out in summer and eas been active sinceee like the end of september? and every time hes active he is All i can think about. SO theres a lot to say because i am Constantly thinking about his .. brain

[worldofwardcraft]

Another rube falls for the con.

November 21, 2024

Lots of people think Elon Musk, the illegal immigrant from South Africa, is a certified genius. But this is the guy who bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and immediately destroyed its brand by changing the name to X. Then he proceeded to run the social media platform straight into the ground by inviting in all manner of MAGAs, Nazis, racists and assorted loonies. Today, X is worth less than $10 billion. Some genius.

Musk's reputation as a business mastermind was built on his ownership of the Starlink satellite internet service and the quasi-successful Tesla car company, making him one of the richest men in the world. But as CNN points out:

[H]is "creations" deserved an asterisk — his businesses emerged through absorption of other people’s technologies, ideas and start-ups.

Moreover, both companies rely on billions in federal grants, subsidies and tax abatements, rather than on Musk's personal brilliance. Indeed, the demolition of X raises the question of whether, instead of being a genius, Musk is in fact an idiot. Degenerate con artist Donald Trump apparently seemed to think so. He spotted Musk as an easy mark a mile away.

From being a supporter of Democrats, such as Obama, Clinton and Biden, Musk fell for Trump's flimflam following the COVID pandemic and became a full-on, red hat-wearing MAGA. According to Fortune magazine, he gave at least $132 million to elect Trump and his allies this year. Plus, he used his social media platform to push Trump's election, even though Trump had very publicly left it to start up his own competitor site, Truth Social.

But the list of those who jumped aboard the Trump bus, only to be thrown under it once Trump had no further use for them, is a long one. Just ask Rudy Giuliani or Mike Pence or dozens of others. And the signs that the Trump-Musk bromance is ending are already beginning to show.

Like Trump's recent humiliation of Musk by naming him and Vivek Ramaswamy (another discard) to lead an imaginary “Department of Government Efficiency” in his second administration. Also, as Politico's Playbook reports, insiders say:

Musk has become almost a comical distraction, hanging around Mar-a-Lago, sidling into high-level transition meetings and giving unsolicited feedback on Trump’s personnel decisions.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post tells us Trump’s inner circle is displeased with the perception that Musk has been operating as a “co-president.” And in Trump's mafia mob world, there's only room for one narcissistic boss. Sooner or later, not-as-smart-as-he-thinks Elon Musk will turn out to be just another gullible victim of an accomplished fraudster.

[vox-off]

re: your grumpy friend who’s annoying playing mtg

I’m not as socially deficient as this guy, but I get some of where he’s coming from. While I do like to play competitively or recreationally, things like storytelling, art, lore, the feel of the world, etc. are a big part of what attracts me to one game or another, one expansion or another, etc. I also really don’t care about limited formats or draft formats, for the same reason. Deck cohesion and theming is a big part of what makes card games fun to me, so I’ve only ever really like tribal sets in limited.

I’m not as big of a crybaby about people playing to win as I used to be, or as much as he is, but idk how old he is. I was obnoxious as a kid.

ANYWAY, actual advice:

If you guys really want to keep him as a friend, have you considered just playing something else? It seems like he’d have a lot more fun playing a collaborative game, or a ttrpg, or doing a different activity with more of a role-playing creative aspect

not trying to tell you how to live your life, but I can see how a guy like that would find a competitive game very frustrating, I almost exclusively play single player games and watch movies these days, or play commander precon v. precon as a very casual party game.

league of legends was like, life-ruining frustrating for me, as much as I got invested in the world and its characters, the actual gameplay experience was just kinda ass

oh believe me, i also get where he's coming from, i'm not saying that his style of play and what he finds rewarding in magic is wrong or lesser than mine, and if my original post implied that, that absolutely was not my intent. i get it from a parallel sense; he enjoys constructing stories with his decks and i enjoy constructing rube goldberg machines with mine. both are correct ways of playing magic

i also feel i should clarify the pod's "competitiveness": we all play kitchen table. my favorite 60 card deck of mine to play is a madness deck that costs about $6. the most expensive deck ever to hit our table was around $70 and it was HIS eldrazi deck. it's never been a rout either, he has the second highest winning record in the pod. we keep a tally - he wins more than he loses. lol i have the worst record in the pod by far, and it is a bummer i very much get it, but i don't scream obscenities at my friends when i lose

and we DO play ttrpgs - half of my mtg pod is also half of my tt group (it's like a venn diagram of my nerd friends). i've invited him to play multiple times, but he only wants to play rogue trader or 5e and i'm currently running a pbta campaign. i've encouraged him to run his own rogue trader campaign - i've been a DM for over a decade, i LOVE opportunities to be a player again - but he's never taken me up on it. our magic nights are sort of... open? if that makes sense? we post times and who's hosting in the discord, whoever wants to show up shows up and we play. no one's forcing him to play magic with us, he's making the conscious choice to come to magic nights

what bothers me is that for him, gameplay is not a two-way street. if he takes out something on my board, that's "strategy." if i return the favor - because on what planet am i going to let Krenko, Mob Boss stay on a battlefield already covered in goblin tokens if i have a Murder in hand - i'm "targeting him." he behaves as if his opponent is supposed to be his audience, not a participating player in a game

also, if this puts anything into perspective, he's almost 40