#multicolored menace has entered the ring! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kyoonqs · 4 years ago

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iluso amor ; first part.

↬ summary: Cora has always considered herself elusive, easy to bore and adventurous to the last fiber of her body. One day for no apparent reason, she appears in front of the manager of a globetrotting circus passing through the city where she is temporarily staying to fill her life with magic. Baekhyun, as serious as he is handsome, has no intention of playing a role other than on the main canvas of the circus. He decides to separate Cora from her life of fantasies created by her travels and sets out to show her reality as raw and cruel as he knows it. Or so he believes.

Will time run out too quickly before love and passion devour him and he decides to risk everything for a love that lasts… Forever?

↬ pairing: baekhyun x cora fem!reader.

↬ circus!au ; illusionist!baek x hitchhiker!oc ; strangers to lovers au!

↬ genre: fluff ; romance ; angst ; drama.

↬ length: 2.8 k words.

↬ tag list: @changshapatrol @spacebyuns @fluffyhunnie @soos-goddess @hoho-cham @shadoukiti @sunbyun21 @mangobaek @suhotly @pororodks @bbhbae

If you’d like to be tagged for future chapters, please let me know!

↬ masterlist.

↬ author’s note: this is my first time writing a series, hope you enjoy it and any feedback will be appreciated. thanks for reading! ♡

Vanilla, caramel and butter scents invaded her nostrils the moment she stepped on the re-centering and she reminded herself that from now on she should get used to the smell due to her timely madness. Beyond her view, occasionally blocked by some old trucks, a red and yellowish-white circus tent loomed along with several smaller tents and a host of caravans. The largest tent, dotted with gold stars, had a large, deep blue sign bearing the name of the circus and its owner. In addition to a few tethered horses, Cora saw a number of huge cages with animals and all kinds of unsavory people, including some pretty dirty men, most of them encrusted with mud and rust.

She was beginning to regret the moment when she had ripped the worn out brochure from the lamppost and the idea of joining the circus scene rose out of boredom. Yes, that was the case, curiosity had killed the cat and she could not contain herself that late afternoon when she had driven her bicycle past the front of the tents and the multicolored costumes of the artists had simultaneously caught her eye. But now it was not like that, the moment she advanced towards the train car where she was to present herself for the position, everyone stopped what they were doing and fixed their eyes on her. Without thinking too much, she stepped forward steadily as her sneakers sank into the sandy ground and she staggering as she stared at the ticket booth where the same brochure she was carrying was presented.

Away from the scrutinizing stares that once haunted her, she took the steps of the carriage two at a time and froze when she saw him inside. He had hair as dark as molten chocolate and chiseled features that would make his face look too beautiful if it weren't for the firm jaw and menacing frown. Men who possessed that brutal appeal had always attracted her but at that moment she would have chosen someone less intimidating to interview her. She tried to calm herself by reminding herself that she would not have to spend more than a couple of hours with him and that it would all be over as soon as she explained clearly why she was applying for the job, which she was still completely unaware of.

She cleared her throat and began with her introduction, first name, last name, place of birth, previous jobs and reason why she was there - from the latter she omitted boredom as a possible factor. The man in question did not give her a single glance and, of course, did not speak a word. She stared straight ahead, the unyielding lines of that hard profile making her skin tingle.

–“I, I want to learn about the trade...” She swallowed.

–“I'm really interested in the job, whatever it is...” She swallowed again.

–“Bastard.”

Until the man in front of her turned his head and looked at her, she didn't realize what she had said. He arched a dark brow with mild curiosity, as if he wasn't sure he had heard correctly. Her impulsiveness took control and she felt her lips tremble, for it was clear that they didn't share her problems in restraining her inappropriate thoughts.

The metal legs of the chair where he was sitting screeched against the hard floor of the wagon. He stood up, ironed the wrinkles of his pants with his hands and looking into her eyes for the first time, he said in a stern and inflexible voice:

–“You are hired. Meet me after the last show behind the main tent.” And without further ado, he passed her by without giving any other explanation.

She could barely suppress a sigh. She directed a furtive glance at the boy, still nameless and wondered what she had gotten into but an irrelevant part of her was dying for new adventures and without a doubt, he would be the greatest from that precise moment.

–“Ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to begin! Come closer everyone!”

The man who made the announcement was the same man who was encouraging people to buy tickets the day the circus had arrived in town, although now he was wearing a red master of ceremonies jacket. At that moment Cora appeared before the young man in the carriage, leading a black horse by the reins with one hand. It was then that she realized that he was not only the manager of the circus but also one of its performers.

He was dressed in a velvet jacket, a velvet vest with nothing underneath and black trousers tucked into high leather boots that snuggled over his calves. A jewel-encrusted band of all colors surrounded his torso accompanied by fine iridescent chains and some ribbons of razo that fell from his pocket. He also carried a rolled whip hanging from one shoulder. Curious about the skills he would display in the arena –she had gotten one of the dancers to tell her when they would leave and to her surprise it would be the next morning– she followed the man with his eyes. At that moment he saw her. The decision she had made had been too recent to seek a way out and she still did not feel comfortable talking to him. Cora tucked her hair nervously behind her ear and refuse to take her gaze from the horse following him when he began to walk towards her.

–“There are unsavory people hanging around the circus. Until you know how everything goes, stay where the rest of the audience is, always” he told her as he adjusted some rings on his slender fingers.

–“Understood.” She responded, since she had just promised herself that she was going to put forth her best effort and not get carried away by first impressions that day.

–“Come in and take a look at the show.” His tone was firm, despite the fact that she was already heading back to where she was previously.

–“Wait! What is your name!?” She asked hastily, not realizing that perhaps she had sounded somewhat desperate.

He glanced at her over his shoulder with the corner of his mouth slightly curved. “Baekhyun!” He said, chuckling, and with that he returned to his place in line with the rest of the artists.

She was still feeling hot as she circled the crowd and entered the tent through the back entrance. She found a free spot in the stands. They were weathered white-painted planks of wood, hard and narrow, with nowhere else to rest one’s feet but on the seat of the spectators in the row below. But she quickly set aside her feelins of discomfort the awkwardness when the lights dimmed, a drum roll crescendoed and a spotlight illuminated the emcee on center court.

–“Welcome to the happiest circus in Valencia, welcome to Gran Fele Circus!”

The music exploded, played by a band consisting of two musicians with drums, a synthesizer, and a consola. A lively version of New York, New York began to play and a white horse entered in the arena with a girl who carried a flag with the name of the circus. The other artists followed, carrying colorful banners, smiling and waving to the crowd.

It was the troupe of acrobats that caught Cora's attention; three handsome men and a beautiful woman –whom she identified as the dancer who had helped her earlier– named Laia, dressed in gold sequins, shiny leggings and thick makeup. They were followed by a group of horsemen, clowns, jugglers, and trained dogs.

Baekhyun entered the arena alone, riding his fierce horse, and unlike the other artists, he didn’t wave his hands or smile. As he circled the track, he seemed such a distant and mysterious being. He was no stranger to the presence of the people, but somehow he remained isolated and gave a strange dignity to the colorful display.

As the show progressed, Cora was amazed at such talent.

Suddenly, the lights went out and the music died away. A blue spotlight illuminated the master of ceremonies, the only one occupying the dark center court. His voice turned dramatically low and a haunting, folk melody began to play in the background.

–“How many times have we wondered if we were crazy? How many times did someone make us doubt our actions? How many times has someone come before us with the idea of changing our thinking? Sanity makes us useless, many times it is better to be crazy. Life is made for taking risks and if you don't think so, let the next person convince you otherwise...before time runs out.”

The lights began to gradually increase in intensity, the music resounded and Baekhyun entered the middle of a path that seemed illuminated by small streetlights, thin beams of light that danced around him and that were reflected in the small sequins of his suit. With indisputable ease, he untangled the whip dangling from a waistband and sliced through the air in all directions with it. Small particles, like glitter, floated in the air suspended around him. He performed a series of skillfully executed feats that were both daring and dramatic. They had brought a few accessories onto the floor during the emcee's presentation: ribbon targets, fluorescent balloons, chandeliers, and more. Circling the runway, he popped the balloons one by one, and a bright red explosion, like drops of blood, shot through the air with each snap of the whip.

The lights dimmed until only he was illuminated by the spotlight, and he grabbed a second whip and made them pop and dance in all directions with such masculine grace, Cora gasped. The dance was increasing, with faster and faster movements and, as if by magic, the two whips became one. With a powerful twist of his arm, Baekhyun lifted him above his head to set him off in flames. The audience gasped, the lights went out, and the flaming whip danced wildly through the darkness. When the lights came on again, he had vanished.

–“What are you doing here? Hasn't anyone taken you to the motorhome yet?”

Cora roused herself, her eyes snapping open. Looking up, she saw the same deep brown eyes plaguing since afternoon that day. For a moment, she couldn't remember where she was but then everything came to mind: the circus, the manager, the show, his whip.

She suddenly became aware of Baekhyun's hands on her shoulders, it was the only thing that had kept her from falling off the old stool that she had been seated on while waiting for him. She had decided to wait there since it was the most illuminated area around the tent, next to government mandated public toilets where there was still a queue to pass them.

She shifted uneasily under his hands and tried to regain her balance with the idea that he would release her.

–“Could you tell me what time it is? I've lost track of it waiting here for you.”

–“It's about 30 minutes to midnight,” Baekhyun put his hands in the pockets of his coat. Instead of the suit he donned for the show, he wore jeans ripped at the knees and a white t-shirt printed with the word ‘Supreme’ in terms of design. Despite the casual attire he didn’t look any less intimidating.

–“Look dulzura, you will have to get used to my presence, since I will be your guide and housemate from now on”. It wasn’t as if Cora hadn’t tried to do it before, in fact she had been attracted to him the moment she met him, only his personality –and now a whip– had slowed her down. He, at her lack of response, muttered something under his breath and after a sigh, spoke again.

–“Come on dulzura, I'll show you where you'll sleep for the next few months.” He turned and left at a fast pace to where the group of caravans were together, paying little attention to the fact that she had luggage that weighed a ton, the consequence of her idea to buy a memorable garment from each city she had visited until now.

–“Wait!” Her scream had an edge of hysteria, but he seemed not to hear it as he continued walking toward the line of caravans. She rubbed the sole of her sneakers across the ruff, gathering some on the toe of it as she dragged her foot. With a gasp, Cora started walking again. Baekhyun approached two vehicles that were parked next to each other. The closest one was a modern white caravan, it looked spacious inside and on its roof you could see a satellite dish. Next to it was another caravan, dented and rusty that appeared to have been silver previously. She begged to herself that it was the space caravan and not the other.

He stood in front of the ugly rusty trailer, opened the door, and disappeared inside. Cora grunted but conceded since she had stayed in worse places. Perhaps the inside wasn’t as hideous as it looked on the outside. Baekhyun reappeared at the door a moment later and watched as she approached fighting with her backpack towards him. When she finally reached the metal step, he offered her a cynical smile.

–“Home, sweet home, dulzura. Come in and settle”.

Cora had always found the Spanish language something to delight in but this was the third time the nickname had come out of his mouth directed at her and she could swear that the way the word rolled on his tongue and briefly hissed before pronouncing the syllable "zu", surely it was close to the song of the angels that received you when you entered paradise.

She sniffed and climbed the four steps that separated her and...the interior was much worse than the outside. Narrow, messy, it smelled musty and old, with a hint of mothball. In front of her was a miniature kitchen, the countertop metal, it had spots with peeling paint. To the right of the kitchen, the faded upholstery of the small sofa was barely visible under a pile of books, newspapers, and men's clothing. In addition, she saw an old, medium-sized refrigerator, wooden cabinets, and a bed with rumpled sheets.

Baekhyun stared at her blankly, genuinely doubting whether she had noticed.

–“It is a small caravan as you can see, but it is comfortable and cozy in the cold. It's all there is and all I have.”

The bed took up most of the back of the caravan, nothing separated it from the rest of the "rooms", the only thing that seemed to be secluded was the bathroom –which she would make sure to explore as soon as she had the chance. On the sheets there were tangled clothes, a towel, and something she couldn't make out from where she was standing.

–“I think I'll sleep on the couch, it would be better…”

He gazed absently at the tip of his foot, then looked up. She stared into those dark eyes –which depending on the light could be paler or even more blackened– and she felt a chill run down her spine, followed by another strange sensation that she did not want to examine further.

He slowly raised his hand, adjusting a lock of hair that had been tousled while she was struggling with her backpack, Cora froze and pursed her lips as she felt the softness of his thumb brush the hollow under her ear with something that it seemed like a caress.

–“Do whatever you want, dulzura. I have to go, I still have things to do.”

Cora gasped when she realized she should have felt danger but her skin had taken the brush of his thumb with pleasure. She felt Baekhyun's insolent hand move away from her hair as he pulled away from her, even though he had left something light on the trailing of her ear. The trailer door swung on its hinges. Baekhyun looked at her and stepped out of it, dropping his gaze from her face to a nonexistent point. Once he was out of sight, she reached for the object that was barely tickling her cheekbone and held the geranium between her fingers with a furtive smile on her face.

↬ This is all for this chapter, I promise to try to write more in the following parts. I will try to update every Saturday. Honorable mention: Oliv (@changshapatrol) without her this story would be nothing, thank you for your patience and trust in me. I love you, a lots ♡

#baekhyun fluff #baekhyun angst #baekhyun smut #baekhyun x oc #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun x you #baekhyun fanfic #baekhyun fanfiction #baekhyun scenario #baekhyun scenarios #baekhyun serie #baekhyun series #baekhyun au #exo fanfic #exo fanfiction #exo scenario #exo scenarios #exo au #iluso amor

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auroreswritings · 5 years ago

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Finally managed to finish day 2 YAY! Went with the prompts Dreams, it’s kind of a scary story, I mean, it’s not so bad, maybe more like suspenseful ^^ It’s almost 3,500 words long, so kind of a long read.

Part 2 of this will come with day 3′s prompt!

The villain is based on Tsutsui Yasutaka, his ability on his book Paprika (it was made into a movie), it’s about dreams and has some weird stuff going on, which is why I used it for my character!

I hope you guys enjoy it, hopefully the next prompt will arrive faster than this one did haha

It’s on AO3 as well!

Welcome to Paprika - Part 1: Stuck in a Dream

Fog was everywhere; Chuuya could hardly see his feet. He had woken up just moments ago and had no idea where he was. His senses were dull somehow; he couldn’t feel the air on his skin or his breath going in and out of his lungs. The fog wasn’t hot or cold, the ground under him wasn’t hard or soft; he felt weightless, as if he was floating through the atmosphere, yet he knew his ability was not activated. The only things he could sense were his heart beating in his chest, a little faster than usual, and the uneasiness that was slowly engulfing him, cold sweat seeming to form at the back of his neck. He tried to scream, but to no avail: his voice was but a mere whisper, a counterfeit of his usual powerful vocalizations. He wrapped his arms around himself, apprehension sipping more and more through his veins, trying to understand what was going on. He didn’t want to give in to panic but the apathy brought on by the fog around him was slowly getting a hold of his heart, the lack of senses paralyzing his blood and thoughts more as seconds passed.

Atsushi’s eyes fluttered open, revealing an electric blue sky spreading above him. He blinked a few times, the color almost burning his sensitive eyes. As he got used to the brightness, he observed his surroundings. Trees and bushes were scattered around, neon pink and vivid yellow leaves detaching over the unnaturally green field. Multicolored birds were flying over heads, large wings moving without a sound despite their size. Atsushi knew he was lying down but couldn’t feel the ground under him, the wind and blades of grass seemingly going through him without a single caress. Nature’s smells were not reaching his nose; the sounds around him were muffled, as if his ears were clogged. He tried to rub his eyes and stand up, but his body wouldn’t agree with him: all his limbs felt heavy, as if filled with lead. He had no choice but to stay on the ground, eyes fixed at the abnormal sky and birds, jarring colors making his head spin. Fear started spreading in his body, his eyes darting form left to right in search of help, his voice stuck in his throat.

The air seemed to clear somehow; Chuuya could see a little farther ahead, he could take a step without fearing what would happen next. The extreme nervousness in him quieted down a little, he was regaining his calm. He took one tentative step; nothing happened. He went ahead, one foot after the other, hoping he would eventually find something in the greyness surrounding him. He moved for some time, unable to see farther than his feet, unable to feel anything against his skin, unable to tell how long he had been walking for. The more he walked on, the more dread was spreading in his veins again. He could have been walking for two minutes or five hours, he didn’t know. He could have been walking in a straight line or in circles, he didn’t know either. He came to a stop, paralyzed by fear. Where was he? What was he doing here? What was happening to him? His mind was running fast, questions after questions not finding their answers and making his heart pump faster and faster. Was anyone close by? Just as the words formed in his mind, a blood-curling scream erupted far away in the fog, echoing all around him.

His muscles were starting to feel a little lighter and soon Atsushi was able to turn himself on his stomach, taking his eyes away from the overly bright sky. The pressure around him was decreasing, not enough for him to stand up and use his body properly but at least he could move his arms and legs and hide his face away. He started crawling at some point, body grinding against the grass without feeling a single touch. Colors were still attacking his vision, he could even feel them, if not a little duller, when closing his eyes. He crawled for a while, moving through the field that seemed to never end. What had happened? Why did his surroundings seem so surreal? These birds flying over him, what were they? They looked menacing but seemed to ignore him for now, which he was thankful for: he didn’t need something to add to his anxiety. He kept on going, desperate to find an escape, needing to flee from this unbearable place. Someone, he needed to find someone. He went on, more desperate than earlier, but quickly came to a stop: a terrifying cry ripped through the sky, chasing the birds away and leaving him petrified.

Chuuya was looking around, trying to find where the sound was coming from, but without success. It was resounding all around him, and whenever he felt like he had found the direction from which it came from, another echo was reaching his ears from behind. The sound wasn’t stopping, bouncing around him again, and again, and again, and again. Chuuya put his hands to his ears, trying to block the horrifying scream, and crouched to the floor into a ball: he couldn’t take it anymore, this was torture, and he needed it to stop, now. As despair was starting to fill him, his mouth opened, ready to scream along the cry around him, but as he was about to do so, the fog started clearing a little more. Looking up at the sky, he saw gigantic birds going over him, their wings silent in the air, chasing the fog away. Their feathers were extremely dull; Chuuya could hardly tell the different colors as they were all ranging on the grayscale. As they flew by, more of the fog cleared up, revealing a sky as colorless as the smog itself. The ground under his feet was of a similar hue, the grass barely detaching against the bleak roof overhead. Having gained some visibility, Chuuya started walking again, heading to where the birds were fleeing from.

The cry was still ringing in the sky, bids flying away in a whirlwind of ostentatious feathers. Atsushi tried to cover his eyes and ears, in vain. The shriek was as loud and terrifying as ever and the colors were as vivid and hurtful as they had been since he had woken up. The fear coursing through him slowly unlocked his muscles and he started crawling again, following the bids as his instinct was telling him they were escaping this way for a reason. As he thought so, the scream finally came to a stop. The pressure on him was still strong, holding his body to a ground he couldn’t feel as he dragged himself forward. His arms and legs were heavy but he kept pushing on, ignoring the discomfort, following what panic and instinct were dictating him. His head was dizzy from the effort, dizzier from the sight around him, his head spinning as the colors were entering his eyes and bouncing in painful nervous signals in his brain. The birds were slowly getting out of view, their immense wings taking them away faster than Atsushi could manage. He tried to keep calm, only focusing on the movement of his limbs, tiny slither of hope telling him he could escape whatever he was going away from. The birds had now completely disappeared, leaving Atsushi alone with his anxiety and desperate flee.

Time did not make sense anymore. It hadn’t made in a while, but it seemed even more striking now. Chuuya had been walking. He knew he had been walking, but that’s the only thing he knew. The colorless birds had disappeared from the sky behind him what felt like days ago, he wasn’t even sure he was still going in the right direction anymore. The landscape looked the same, dark and light grey trees and bushes appearing in the remaining fog sometimes, hardly visible against the lifeless sky and dull ground of the field he was in. The little faith he had managed to regain when he had seen the birds earlier was getting flimsy, was there anything here apart from a black and white field? His steps were getting more hesitant, his hands shaking as all negative emotions were coming in full force again. Frustration was taking a hold of him, anger slowly creeping in the midst of fear and hopelessness. He tried to walk towards a tree to let his exasperation out on it in the form of kicks and punches, but as hard as he tried, the tree remained as distant as ever. He finally collapsed, giving up. The never ending field was stretching all around him, a frown contorted his face as his fists tightened to the point it should have been painful had he felt any physical sensations. His eyes were not focusing on anything in particular until his gaze was caught: something was wiggling on the ground farther ahead.

Atsushi was on the verge of giving up; the lack of progress in his movements was starting to get to him. His eyes were tired; he couldn’t take the harshness of this environment anymore. He stopped moving, resting his head in his arms. The colors were still harassing him, but not as strongly as before. He couldn’t seem to find the strength to go on, this was all too much for him and surviving in such a place didn’t seem like a viable option anymore. The scream from earlier hadn’t echoed again, and whatever had produced it or triggered it hadn’t showed up since it had gone quiet. The birds were nowhere to be found, and Atsushi was starting to feel the loneliest he had ever felt. Even if they were strange, the creatures had been a sign that there were beings other than himself here, and it had given him a bit of courage. Now that they were gone, true despair was flowing through him, and he didn’t see how he would be able to survive anymore. He looked up from his arms, giving one last hopeful glance around before he would completely surrender. Nothing had changed, the same trees and bushes were splashing their multicolored leaves around. As he lowered his head again, something odd caught his eyes: what seemed to be another tree was standing farther ahead. It was rising towards the sky just like the others, if not a little less high. What really caught Atsushi’s interest was its color: it was pitch black, something he hadn’t seen since he had opened his eyes in this strange land. He started crawling again, advancing towards the dark tree in hope of finding answers or help there.

Chuuya could feel his legs running under him, the weightlessness dissipating a little. The wiggling form on the floor was getting closer, slowly, surely. This felt like his last hope, the only thing he had left that would help him in this world of numbness. His steps were large, he was almost floating between each one as if he was on the moon, jumping from a leg to the other in slow motion. As he was finally getting closer, he could discern the wiggling shape a little better: it seemed to be a man, crawling on the floor, coming towards him. His thoughts were lighting up: he had finally found someone, another human being, in this terrible ordeal he was going through.

As Atsushi was progressing forward, faster than he ever had before, the form he had taken for a tree’s reveled itself to be that of a man, moving in his direction. Could this be help coming for him? Someone who was sent to save him from this torture? After some time, the form was close enough that Atsushi could see who they were: a man in a black coat and black hat, wearing a stylish suit underneath. His hair was falling on one of his shoulders, the orange tints seeming almost life less against the harsh colors surrounding him. Atsushi welcomed this dullness, his eyes were relishing in the calmness of this man’s appearance, the quietness of his colors. The man was standing, apparently not affected by the power keeping Atsushi on the ground.

In front of Chuuya was a young man in a white shirt and black trousers, silver hair surrounding his face. It seemed like he couldn’t stand up and was stuck to the floor by an invisible force. Chuuya’s breath caught in his throat as his eyes met the other’s: beautiful yellow and purple hues were dancing in his gaze in an intense and magical waltz. He couldn’t help but let out a yelp:

“-Colors! I can see colors again!” He dropped to his knees in front of the man, his next sentence escaping his lips in a whisper. “Your eyes… they’re beautiful…” His eyes were set on Atsushi’s, unwavering as if he was scared to look away. He put his shaky hands on each side of the young man’s face, pulling him a little closer without breaking eye contact.

At the touch, Atsushi felt the weight on his body decreasing considerably. He pushed himself up, regaining control of himself, without taking his eyes off the red-head’s. The blue in it was soothing, far from the electric burn of the sky’s. They both stood up, Chuuya’s hands still around the tiger’s face, eyes glued to the other’s, finding in them some solace from this awful place. A high-pitched voice broke their trance.

“-Welcome to Paprika, where your dreams come true and your nightmares reality!” The voice resonated through the sky.

The two men turned around, trying to find where the voice came from. What they saw left them speechless for a moment. The world had found its colors back for Chuuya, the soft green of the grass almost shining under the clear blue sky, the trees and bushes calmly standing with their yellow and orange leaves falling from the branches here and there. The sense of dread had disappeared, and although he still couldn’t feel the wind against him or smell the scents in the air, things were starting to become a little more normal. Atsushi was looking around with wide eyes. The sky had lost its jarring color and was now stretching above heads in a quiet, calming shade of blue, while the grass was slowly moving in the wind, jade green blades swaying softly. The other plants had also regained their usual colors, autumn shades reigning over leaves, all traces of bright neon gone. Things still didn’t feel completely right, but Atsushi’s aching eyes and mind welcomed the changes nonetheless.

As the two men were looking around with wonder, a vicious laugh resounded in the sky. This time, it was clear the noise was coming from just above them, and as Atsushi and Chuuya looked up, the figure of an oddly dressed man appeared, floating in the sky. His long hair was falling to his knees, jet black flowing around him. His eyes were a dark shade of brown, small streaks of gold visible here and there. His outfit consisted of a long sleeved shirt and trousers, both adorning red and white stripes. A blue collar was going up around his neck while ruffled fabric of a similar shade was circling his wrists and ankles. His feet were encased in white shoes with red laces. His laugh was still resonating around, sending shivers down Atsushi’s and Chuuya’s spines, reminding them of the terrible scream that had ripped through this field some time ago. The man floated down to the floor and set down with grace, his hair elegantly falling around him, seeming to almost hug his body. He bowed down in front of the two men, left hand behind his back, right hand on his heart. As he straightened up, another sinister laugh escaped his mouth.

“-Ha ha, yes, welcome, welcome indeed! I am Tsutsui, and as I just said, you are now finding yourself in Paprika. You may have guessed it; we are not in the real world anymore but in one of my creation. A world of wonders, of magic, of dreams… of nightmares.” A smirk crossed his lips as he said the last two words, glint of malice shining in his eyes. “Only your minds have entered this place, your bodies are still in the real world, sleeping like babies. You may have realized that there is no point in using your abilities here; they won’t work no matter how hard you try! Now, you’ve already had a small glimpse of what could happen here: the fantasies of those trapped before you will entertain you for as long as needed. Whatever happens here will not harm you physically… That is, if you can escape before Paprika makes the two of you hers forever!” His high-pitched laugh erupted again as the man disappeared from view, the sound echoing through the sky again in an ominous cry.

Just as the man vanished, the floor started trembling, the landscape changing around Atsushi and Chuuya: sharp, high mountains were rising from the ground, the sky was filling with dark, menacing clouds, all vegetation was receding. Thunder was brewing above heads and undetermined creatures were starting to fly around in a whirlwind of screeches. Without thinking, Chuuya grabbed Atsushi’s hand and started running, trying to escape from the ghastly beasts. One of them noticed the two men fleeing and went chasing after them, gaping mouth full of teeth ready to swallow its preys. The Mafioso was still leading the way, not daring to look back as he could hear the flying monster behind them. Atsushi was holding onto the other man’s hand strongly, as if letting go would mean losing any chance of escaping from the beast, and escaping from this nightmare as well.

“-We need to find a place to hide!” He was panting somehow, even though he couldn’t feel the air in his lungs still.

“-As if I didn’t know that!” The tiger could hear the fear sipping in the harsh tone of the other man’s voice.

The creature behind them emitted a piercing scream. Atsushi turned around at the sound, realizing it was still rather far from them but seemed to accelerate, flapping its wings harder than it previously had. Looking forward again, Atsushi tried to run faster, pushing on the red-head’s back with his free hand. Understanding the gesture, Chuuya increased the speed as much as he could. The went on for what felt like ages, the beast crying behind them, the dark, terrifying mountains rising around them, the stormy sky thundering above them. Atsushi took another look behind: the beast had decreased the distance between them by half, its jaws about thirty centimeters away from the tiger’s head. The blood stopped in his vein, his face contorted in terror, his voice stuck in his throat. Just as the beast snapped its jaw at him, Atsushi got pulled to the side and fell backward onto something soft. The beast tried to follow but seemed to be stuck, unable to reach him no matter how hard it tried. Atsushi realized he was in a narrow cave, barely large enough for him and the other man to hide inside. A groan rose from under him, and he quickly stood up, understanding the soft thing he had fallen onto was the red-headed man. He helped him up, apologizing for using him as a cushion.

“-Don’t worry about that, at least we managed to hide from that thing.” He pointed at the creature at the entrance of the cave. “I don’t know how we’re gonna go out though. We have to find a way to escape this world, and I doubt we’ll find anything in this tiny hole.” They both looked around but couldn’t see anything of interest, the hide out hardly big enough for them to stand without touching. Atsushi rubbed his face in his hands, trying to think of a solution.

“-I suppose we could wait until the thing goes away, it will get tired of waiting at some point.

-We don’t really have a choice, and if what that weird jackass from earlier said is true, then we won’t die of hunger of thirst while waiting. We’re in a world of dreams after all.” As Chuuya said those words, a faint voice reached them, a lot quieter than that of Tsutsui’s, almost sounding like a whisper.

“-Atsushi! It’s me, Dazai! It seems you are stuck in someone’s ability with that midget Chuuya. We will find a way to get you out, I promise!” The voice died down, leaving the two men in the cave to stare at each other, confused by what they had just heard.

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edh-a-to-z · 7 years ago

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Dominaria - Legendaries, Part 1.

JUST IN TIME FOR THE PRE-RELEASE

There’s 30+ Legendary Creatures and Planeswalkers.

That’s like some Kamigawa, like some Legends level of legends. And that’s not including all the Legendary other cards I covered in my other sections.

So I’ll split them up. White and Blue and Black, Red and Green, then the Multicolors, Planeswalkers.

White

Danitha Capashen, Paragon

1 of the 99: B

Commander: C+

Builds: Voltron

Whew, that’s a good card. Good as a one-of for equipment and other Voltron decks, as well as making a solid Voltron option herself.

And look at that french vanilla word salad! Boy, have we come a long way from the Uncommon Legendaries of Legends.

Baird, Steward of Argive

1 of the 99: B+

Commander: D-

Builds: Pillowfort, Combo

Baird is straightforward. He’s a defensive commander. He’s there to tax people attacking you. Unfortunately hiding being a fort in MonoWhite isn’t really that great.

He’s a great choice for established Pillowfort Suites looking for more defensive options, and ones that need some blockers. For W more than Ghostly Prison, you also get a 2/4 vigilant blocker - nice to hit undefended players, and keep out stray creatures that pay the tax.

Evra, Halcyon Witness

1 of the 99: ???

Commander: D

Builds: Voltron, Lifegain

If you got guts, this can be a killing machine. At best we get a new health of 4-6 (if we can buff Evra), so we’re hyper-vulnerable to Instant speed damage. If we have 8 mana, we can swap again, so that’s nice.

We can sneak in thanks to White’s great relation with Equipment or Auras (and thus unblockability), and Evra can easily kill a player. As one of the 99, we can also use some Boros toys, like extra attack steps and Fling.

Kwende, Pride of Femeref

1 of the 99: B- (In a Narrow FS deck)

Commander: D

Builds: Voltron, Go-Wide

Best friends with Archetype of Courage. First Strike can always be found in White, and if we can get some evasion or Trample, we can really raise hell. With an army of First Strikers, you can make a nasty assault on the field. Seems like an easy to build commander, and a usable asset in a lot of White decks relying on combat tricks (tons of combat tricks grand FS as well!)

Lyra Dawnbringer

1 of the 99: B

Commander: C+

Builds: Angel Tribal, Lifegain

Baneslayer Angel basically. And that’s just where it starts - it makes the whole Angel token crew become Baneslayers.

Also makes a solid beater creature, or any deck with a handful of angels, or some Angel token creators. You can include non-angels alongside the set of Angelic Armaments, Angelic Destiny, Call to Serve.

I’ve waited my entire life for this commander, so take my ratings here with a grain of salt. The first Angel Angelic Tribe commander. She’s a simple, elegant dame. Plus, with all this lifegain, LG win-cons are super easy when you get life at chunks of 5 at a time.

Shalai, Voice of Plenty

1 of the 99: A-

Commander: C

Builds: Counters.dec, Combo

It must be my birthday, two angel legends. Feels like Avacyn Restored.

Technically Selesnya, and feels like a Sigarda, and looks like a fairly costed card. The last mana dump ability is sugar on top of its amazing text. Play Avacyn 1.0 alongside her to see non-UB players start crying.

Doesn’t really enable any particular win-con, but Creature hexproof makes combos easier, and fits really well into any other deck trying to do...well...anything.

Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle

1 of the 99: B+

Commander: C+

Builds: Artifact, Historic

I like free stuff. And this fella plays the Sun Titan better than Titan sometimes. Given that Red and Blue have much more artifact synergy, and Sisay makes the best Legendary deck pilot, and I’m not sure about Sagas in EDH yet.

There’s plenty of CMC>= 3 creatures out there, from classic white HateBears to mana dorks. Teshar feels more like a 1 of the 99 legendary so the birb can have more color synergy,

Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp

1 of the 99: D

Commander: D+

Builds: Voltron, Blue Goodstuff

3U and Improvise is nice. Basically a strictly better Mahamoti Djinn, but I still wouldn’t run that as a commander if I have other monoblue options, and same CMC I could play Wurmcoil Engine.

Not dodging Commander Tax is disappointing, but not too bad. Mechanically fine, but not my cuppa tea.

But seriously, I wouldn’t have Mahamoti as my commander, and I’d barely consider it for 1 of the 99.

Naban, Dean of Iterations

1 of the 99: B+

Commander: C

Builds: Wizard Tribal

I love ETB effects, and wizards have a lot of good ones, even simple ones like Archaeomancer. Also works fine with going crazy on Aura Shards or Cathar’s Crusade. Works better as part of the team than the commander, but Naban will be a solid workhorse like Brago and blinking.

He’s so bloody cheap it’s hard to deny using him. Grab a Panharmonicon and have some fun.

Naru Meha, Master Wizard

1 of the 99: C

Commander: D

Builds: Spellslinger, Wizard Tribal

For 1 more mana than Dualcaster Mage, you get 2 more stats and a Lord effect. Decent for a tribal commander, but since Inalla is already so good, Naru has some tough competition.

And adding 1 to Dualcaster makes it a lot worse, unless we’re throwing infinite mana round.

Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

1 of the 99: B

Commander: B

Builds: Infect, Ninjitsu, Vraska’s Assassins (Sultai?)

The newest delivery system for murder. So many 1 mana creatures can deal some nasty effects when unblockable, from Vraska 1.0′s Ult assassins, to Master of Cruelties.

For mono-blue, there’s a handful of Blue Infect creatures like Viral Drake. Plus literally any creature - super top heavy stuff...okay, Red has most of the X/1 creatures, but I think there’s tons of potential here.

Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep

Free Willie

1 of the 99: C

Commander: D-

Builds: Leviathan Tribal?

Kraken tribal is there. Whelming Wave, and now this, it’s time is soon. /s

Blue loves a big body, and for a kicker of 1U, Whelming Wave is a 95% chance of a board wipe, with 2% being that one time someone else played a blue fatty, but that’s okay, and 3% when you go against Merfolk Tribal, which isn’t.

Sure, any 8 mana 10 mana spell can get countered, and it makes you feel like trash, but so what? Splashy plays are the name of the game, and it’s why casual EDH exists.

Demonlord Belzenlok

Gas Demon, Ultimate Faker

1 of the 99: B

Commander: D-

Builds: Griselbrand Wannabe,

Hey, why is he an Elder?

He draws only nonlands, and can chain a bunch of 4+ card draw. So if you build your deck to have a CMC of 4 average, he can probably net you 1-3 cards, maybe more on lucky days where Sol Ring doesn’t mess things up.

In top-heavy CMC decks, he’s more dangerous, as he could pull ten or fifteen cards in really bad days.

Exile and Reveal clause kinda stinks for black, who usually gets to tutor and draw in secret from their library.

Josu Vess, Lich Knight

1 of the 99: B+

Commander: D

Builds: Tokens, Zombie Tribal, Go Wide

Wow, some seriously scary zombie token army, that doesn’t entered tapped.

Josu is fairly priced with some evasion. The real deal is the kicker - 16/16 worth of Menace stats for 6 extra mana is a bargain. Zombie and Knight are nominally useful tribal types, especially the former.

The only big problem is he’s. so. darn. EXPENSIVE. Down on turn 10 (optimally turn 8) is slow as heck, and lets your opponents dig up ways to deal with him and his army.

Karazov, Sengir Pureblood

1 of the 99: C

Commander: C+

Builds: Voltron, Vamp Tribal, Ping.dec

A decent enough Voltron with evasion and easy growth. Technically Rakdos, but I left this in the mono colored commander section.

Bringing in any Red AOE like Anger of the Gods or Pyroclasm will pump Kazarov fast, but the fact it drops at turn 7 really hurts his offensive potential. A threat you see coming 7 turns away? I bet someones already tutored/drawn Swords to Plowshares.

Torgaar, Famine Incarnate

1 of the 99: C

Commander: B+

Builds: Voltron~, Exquisite Blood

It’s been theorycrafted to get this guy out turn 1 (Swamp - Dark Ritual - three 0 drops, maybe two and a 1 drop, sac play) and probably doable turn 2-3.

He sets someone to . Great way to control the LG player like Magister Sphinx or Sorin Markov. Also makes it easier to beat face.

Torgaar ain’t complicated, get it out fast, buff it, whale on someone. Find some blink effects and keep everyone’s life total under wraps, or increase yours to 20 if below. Have fun!

Urgoros, the Empty One

1 of the 99: D

Commander: F

Builds: Discard Synergy, Voltron

Feels like Specters haven’t been around in a while.

Compare with Hypnotic Specter. It’s a flyer that, when it connects, forces a random discard. Unlike most specters, it also has a case where there’s another benefit if it can’t force a discard, so that’s nice.

With that said, a 4/3 flyer for 6 is a rough sell. Type doesn’t matter, evasion is only so-so, ability isn’t amazing, and it has no protection so it sits naked in the field for a turn.

Whisper, Blood Liturgist

1 of the 99: B

Commander: B-

Builds: Entomb, Meren-Style GY, Sac Decks, Token decks

Whisper is the cream of the uncommon crop. Built for combo potential, she needs some help to get going.

We need something to drop 2+ tokens, and maybe have a Phyrexian/Ashnod’s Altar out to make some mana. With some blue spells like Freed from the Real you can untap her all you want, resurrect all your big Entomb’d creatures, and run wild.

Works better as 1 of the 99 to get access to Blue’s untapping, and other colors offer more variety of creatures, but a solid Black commander.

Yargle, Glutton of Urborg

1 of the 99: F

Commander: F

Builds: Memes

Memes aside, it doesn’t pass the Bolt test. There’s Legends legends that are more interesting than this.

So that’s the first batch of Legendaries.

I was happily surprised to see solid Uncommon Legendaries, and am looking forward to seeing them on the battlefield.

See you soon campers.

#mtg #edh #edhatoz #commander #new set picks #Set Picks #dominaria #new commanders

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a-stray-black-cat · 7 years ago

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((First, lemme just say...I’m only uploading this because my best friend wanted me to- shhh, we’re kinda playing a game of hide and seek and she’s trying to find this account of mine, don’t tell her you saw me ;3 x’DDDD Ialsofoundoutthatshe’sshippingthese twowhich...I...Idon’tknowhowtofeelaboutthat...honestlymakesmelaughabit x’DDD Second, yes, the little story attached is about Christmas...I rarely get ideas for Christmas stories in December. Its always in like November or even the start of January. I do have one other Christmas-y type story Id like to write if I can find the time but we’ll see what happens. Im not the greatest writer but....I hope you guys like it ^^;;;; I got the idea when I was just screwing around, doodling whatever and I drew this and yeah....ideas for some reason xDD I might actually make a full, proper pic of this scene rather than just having sketchy chibi thingies.......maybe....we’ll see x//DD Also small bit of info just cause I feel I do need to put this here; after Infinite has completely healed after the final fight, Gadget ends up becoming too concerned for Valkyrie’s wellbeing- and everyone else’s wellbeing for that matter- since he doesn’t trust Infinite at all after all the crimes he’s committed so rather than just watching them through surveillance camera’s, he decides to move in with them which....well.....results in a lot of fighting between the two ^^;;; Though don’t get me wrong, I still absolutely love these two as a shipping, it’s just not a thing in this AU because I don’t think Gadget would be able to forgive Infinite for you know....everything that happens in Forces. Anyway! I think I’ve rambled enough...soo...yeah....hope you guys....enjoy the story....if not, I’m really sorry, I tried, I just had this idea and really wanted to write it down and just ahhhh x////DDD)) “Infinite!” Valkyrie gasped as the refurbished front door slammed violently against the wall to his left, causing the photo frames and windows to tremble and quake as she watched the fading, fleeting figure of the black jackal as he raced as far after from the small cottage as he could, ripping through the bushes and brambles with his razor sharp claws as he fled. Did he know where he was going? Of course not. But at this current point of time, anywhere was better than being inside that house that almost made him feel like the walls were caving in on him. Turning on her heel, the black cat ran for the rusted umbrella basket, grabbing the only umbrella they possessed- cobalt blue with golden rings- just in case while looking over at the crimson wolf who stood in the kitchen doorway, showing no signs of going after the jackal himself or even any signs of worry or concern for him. Not that she had been expecting much of a reaction from him. “I’m going after him,” Valkyrie announced, turning and speed walking for the door. “I know,” Gadget responded knowingly as he quickly followed the cat, grabbing her by the arm before she could run off. As she turned her golden orbs up to meet his own hazel ones, his voice turned more serious. “If you aren’t back here in five minutes, I’m coming after you.” Her ears fell back as her gaze briefly fluttered over the large red Wispon that sat beside the umbrella basket, its shiny, bright red metal almost sending shivers down her spine as images of what events would occur next if they weren’t back in time flashed through her mind. Taking a deep breath, she steadied her gaze, staring directly into the wolf’s eyes. “There’ll be no need for that,” she assured him as she freed her arm from his grasp turning and giving chase, making sure to close the door behind her with a gentle click. The sky above that had hours earlier been clear as crystal, was now shrouded in dark, menacing clouds that seemed like gigantic black sheep slowly floating across the sky, biding their time, waiting for the perfect moment. The many birds and woodland creatures that all day they’d been able to hear chattering and singing away had since vanished, causing an almost eerie silence to fall over the entire forested area. In all honesty, the day had gone from looking bright and full of life to almost as though the apocalypse was right around the corner yet again. However, the scenery nor the silence seemed to get to the black jackal as he stormed on, his fast sprint slowing into a light jog and eventually an angered stomp as he entered a rather open, empty field, the blades of emerald grass being long enough to lightly tickle his knees. Giving a heavy sigh, he dropped himself down onto the ground, bringing his knees up to his chest as he sat in absolute silence, gathering his thoughts and finally taking the time to properly think about today’s events with a clear, mostly calm mind. His housemates, the black cat who’d been with him for almost a year now and the crimson wolf he was certain was more than likely planning fifty ways to kill him in his sleep- not that he could even if he tried- were plotting together behind his back to try and put together a massive Christmas celebration, and he was just expected to be happy and jolly about it? To come skipping down the stairs like some sort of overjoyed school girl, singing one of those many repulsive Christmas jingles he knew was going to get stuck in his head for months to come? To put on one of those ridiculous looking Santa hats or reindeer antlers and group up for a “wacky, fun” Christmas photo? Chaos, no. Not over his dead body. They could keep all that “holiday cheer”, as one might call it to themselves thank you very much; Infinite did not want a single part of it. Christmas had never been a good time of year for the jackal, not even during his younger years. Thinking about this time of year, about the upcoming celebrations, about all the laughter and joy that was suppose to be had…it seemed to make the canine’s heart weight heavy in his chest. Though there were a handful of times after he’d become the Leader of the Jackal Squad that Christmas wasn’t too terrible. The first few Christmas’s they’d spent together hadn’t been anything really noteworthy but the previous year’s Christmas…now that had been something to remember. Placing one of his clawed hands over his scarred chest, he let his eyes slowly close as he allowed the memory to overtake his mind for a few minutes, allowing himself to relish in these precious memories of times now long gone. Behind his eyelids, an image began to bloom into vision; the very first thing he could see was a small campfire, sparking and burning fiercely in the darkness with a long, thin stick cradled over the top, held in place by two forked sticks to make a sort of mini spit roast for the rather large ham they’d managed to get their claws on. The fire began to light up the small area slightly, revealing a few shadowy, blurry shapes as they began to twist and form… And eventually solidify into several different, varying people- no, not just people. They were jackals. Jackals that had once belonged to his Squad. The Squad that had been like a second family to him. The ones he’d loved as though they truly were his biological siblings. The one’s he’d promised to protect, no matter what….and the one’s he’d failed that cold, dark night. Before he could be consumed by these other thoughts, voices began to reach his ears, dragging him back into more blissful, peaceful and heart warming ones. He could hear each member of his Squad as they began to materialize gathered around the fire on each of his sides. He could hear them joking, teasing one another, laughing….each voice was so different and yet he could identify each one perfectly, even though most of the time, they were overlapping and yelling over one another in their excitement and happiness. He watched quite proudly as each jackal ate their fill, being quite ecstatic to see them all properly fed for once. It was so hard for them to come by a decent meal on a regular basis after all. At the end of the day, they may not have gathered a lot of food for a massive, mouthwatering feast that would take them weeks to finish. Nor did they have a fancy plastic tree decorated with jingling bells or bright, shiny balls. There wasn’t a single present for any of them to open and yet they were just all thrilled to be together on this special day, relishing in each other’s company. The greatest gift they had on this day was each other. However it appeared as though Mother Nature did have one gift for them, which came in the form of a single snowflake which cascaded down, lightly landing ontop of the Christmas ham that hung over the blazing campfire. Snow. It had been what everyone had been looking forward to the most. And just seeing that single snowflake sent all of the jackals into an extremely enthusiastic, almost bouncy, energetic mood. Infinite felt the corners of his mouth twitch slightly as he savoured these memories dearly, as though it would be the last time he’d ever see them. He felt his lips twitch once more as his mouth slowly began to curl up to form a-- “Infinite?” Suddenly, the jackal jolted to life as he practically sprung to his feet, spinning around and facing whoever was behind him while opening his multicolored orbs as his heart raced madly in his chest as he took up an offensive position, preparing to attack however dared tried to sneak up on him. He couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of irritation as he met the worried, slightly fearful golden eyes of Valkyrie as she stood a few feet behind him, a hideous cobalt umbrella spread out above her head as she took two quick steps back in surprise. He let his eyes narrow slightly as he felt his body slowly relaxing as the scent of her slight fear reached his nose while he ran a hand quickly through his long white dreadlocks mere seconds before a light breeze blew past, ruffling them up again. “Oh…it’s you.” He grumbled in annoyance as he returned to his sitting spot, seeming to be about to pretend like the cat wasn’t there or that the blades of grass that were tickling his legs- and were also making him quite itchy- were the most interesting things to ever exist. Swallowing hard once she felt her heart rate slowly returning to normal as her friend took his spot back, Valkyrie managed to put a weak smile on her face as she tried to add a joking tone to her voice that just didn’t quite seem to stick. “Well someone had to chase after you and we all know it Gadget wouldn’t take the role.” “For good reason.” The jackal coldly responded, pulling up a few blades of grass and twirling them between his index and middle fingers as his gaze rose up towards the dark sky above. Valkyrie felt her tail beginning to wag out of nervousness as her ears drooped back, speechless as to how to respond to such an upfront response. So instead, she decided to get right to the point. “Infinite….do…you not celebrate Christmas?” She inquired, twirling the umbrella in her hands slightly. The silence that followed her question seemed to stretch on for what felt like years before finally, he responded. “I think it’s a pointless holiday. It’s nothing but a massive waste of time and money. If you and that fool are still going to celebrate, then I shall hibernate in my room until you are done.” Valkyrie felt a sharp pang of pain in her heart as she took a small step forward, a certain sadness yet confidence to her voice. “But we’re setting all of this up for you…” Infinite’s ear gave a small flick in response yet underneath his cold, distant exterior, he was quite surprised to hear these words. Yet his voice refused to give away his astonishment.“What?” “I thought it would be nice,” the cat continued to explain as her gaze drifted down, lingering on her dark boots. “I thought it would make you smile…I didn’t fully understand the concept of Christmas since I’ve never celebrated it myself so I had to get Gadget to help me.” A rather nervous smile briefly flickered onto her lips. “You can imagine how hard it was for me to convince him to help …” She rose her gaze, looking at the white splotch of fur on the jackal’s back as she continued. “But I managed to do it and together, we’ve spent the entire day decorating the house, finding a tree on such short notice and even cooking Christmas dinner together just to make everything as perfect as possible….if you’re not there, then we’re missing the entire reason why we’ve done this.” Infinite shook his head briskly. “You two can still celebrate together. I don’t need to be there; you just want me to be there.” “I do. Because it wouldn’t be Christmas if you’re not there to celebrate with us. You’re suppose to celebrate Christmas with your close friends and family…and well…” Slowly, the black cat came to stand beside the jackal, looking down at him with a bright, warm smile on her face. “You’re my best friend, Infinite. You’re basically like family to me at this point and I’d love to spend my first real Christmas with you.” Now that confession shocked the jackal more so than her first one. Closing his eyes tightly, he turned his head away from her, his bushy tail giving a few soft wags- possibly from happiness or more probably from nervousness- as he ignored the cat, her words still ringing loudly in his ears. He hadn’t heard someone refer to him as being like family since…. “Hey look! It’s snowing!” The jackal slowly opened one of his eyes, gazing up just in time to see the first few falling snowflakes of the season. To his side, Valkyrie seemed about ready to burst with happiness at the sight of the falling white flakes as a wide smile quickly spread across her muzzle, her eyes seeming to almost sparkle at the sight before them. “It’s so pretty…” “You make it sound as though you’ve never seen snow before,” the jackal inquired in an ever so slightly curious way, while at the same time, still managing to make it seem like he truly didn’t care about her answer. “I haven’t. Well…not until now….” The cat’s smile rapidly began to grow as she looked down at her close friend, her tail wagging rapidly in excitement. “Now it really is going to be the greatest Christmas ever! Come on Infinite, you have to come back and join in with us!” Infinite was still on the fence about this whole Christmas thing; a part of him truly wanted nothing to do with this holiday. He wanted to just go home, go to his room and barricade himself inside for the rest of the day. He didn’t want anything to do with this holiday that seemed to only make his heart grow heavy with emotions he’d thought he had long since become numb to. Yet another part of him didn’t want the cat’s efforts to go to waste. She was, after all, doing all of this for him. She’d even somehow managed to convince that kid to help out- something he knows must have taken her half to morning to achieve- and even gathered together a Christmas tree and most of what was needed for a Christmas feast- most but not all. It looked like they were missing a fairly big chunk of the food required but they did manage to get their hands on a ham so that was to be applauded, he supposed. The jackal let his shoulders sag as a heavy sigh escaped him. Then, he rose to his feet as snow continued to lightly fall around them, beginning to lightly dust the emerald landscape in a gentle shade of white. “Fine….but if this just ends up wasting my time, you’re both going to hear about it for the rest of the year….” At those words, the cat’s excitement and happiness seemed to explode as a rather high pitched meow unintentionally escaped her, followed by rather loud purring escaping her. “Thank you so much! I promise, you won’t regret it!” “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered as he turned, following the cat back to their small little home, tucked away from civilization, watching her from several feet behind as she was practically skipping home. The jackal almost felt his lips curling up once more; perhaps this Christmas wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

#sth #sonic oc #little story thing #infinite the jackal #Christmas story thing #I really dont know what to tag this as honestly #Im really really sorry if its bad #But if you've read it thanks for reading #It means a lot

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thatboomerkid · 8 years ago

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The Shattered Fields & Twisted Stones of Khyledonia

The Shattered Fields & Twisted Stones of Khyledonia -- Pathfinder Campaign Add-On

Brought to you absolutely free to play, to test & to share, as always, by the fine folks of my Patreon.

In ages now lost, the decadent & magically-gifted nation of Khyledonia was a mighty seat of power: lording over the most valuable trade-routes of Avistan, feared across the Inner Sea, bowing to none.

Called by many the Heirs of Thassilon and the Eaters of Lost Devils, this proud old empire of madness-mages, city-prophets and spirit-binding cavaliers considered itself a northern cousin to the latter-day wonders of Jalmeray, Shory and Nex; along the snowy steppes, deep forests and ash-strewn ivory boulevards of the Khyledonian Empire, untold mystical wonders stolen from across ravaged universes are said to have been weighed, exchanged & sacrificed within an incomprehensible, sparking engine of blackest sorcery not seen since.

All too little is known about the culture there, however ... for the country of Khyledonia has long-since been utterly erased, swallowed-whole by purest chaos and retroactively boiled-away from the dusty recordings or remembrances of any lucid reality which we might comprehend.

Only a few scraps remain, half-faded from existence, appearing amongst the memories and collections of sages like dark fever-dreams. What little knowledge may be gleaned details a bizarre & Byzantine warrior-culture which thrilled to the exhibition of grotesque blood-sport in star-painted ziggurat arenas, intertwined deeply with the worship of Azathoth; we comprehend only the vaguest details about a deformed peasant-class ruled-over by immortal dukes, a society marked by the construction of vast cross-planar gateways ... and ultimately doomed to destruction by insane experimentation into the folding of eternity’s very soul.

Few can doubt that our world was left a far better -- and saner -- place for the loss of this aberrant and diseased shard of realty, and for the disappearance of those unclean secrets hidden there. Yet it seems, as the grim Age of Lost Omens wears on, that the too-thin borders separating Khyledonia from Golarion have begun to shred-apart once more.

The Fractured Arrival of Khyledonia:

Each month of in-game time, there is a 1% cumulative chance (but see The Infectious Memories of Khyledonia, below) that Khyledonia will, without warning, suddenly “resurface” from the deepest Maelstrom in order to become coterminous once-more with the continent from-which is was long ago most-brutally sundered. During this time, creatures and objects may pass over the borders normally; after the strange nation of Khyledonia has existed in-conjunction with Golarion in this way for a period of one full month, the entire country -- and all within its borders -- vanishes back into the farthest Outer Sphere with a mountain-shattering, mind-rending clap of multicolored thunder as the percentage resets.

original image from here

Khyledonia always arrives to our reality immediately adjacent to (1d6+1) countries, over-writing the natural borders of the world in bizarre ways (see below). These countries are [Roll 1d100]:

1-4: Andoran

5-8: The Hold of Belkzen

9-12: Brevoy

13-16: Cheliax

17-20: Druma

21-24: The Five Kings Mountains

25-28: Galt

29-32: Hermea

33-36: Irrisen

37-40: Isger

41-44: Kyonin

45-48: Lastwall

49-52: The Lands of the Linnorm Kings

53-56: Mendev

57-60: Molthune

61-64: Nidal

65-68: Nirmathas

69-72: Numeria

73-76: Razmiran

77-80: The Realm of the Mammoth Lords

81-84: The River Kingdoms

85-88: Taldor

89-92: Ustalav

93-96: Varisia

97-100: The Worldwound

Note: Khyledonia has never once, in all of recorded history, appeared directly adjacent to Absalom; most scholars believe that the Isle of Kortos contains within it some measure of warding again incursion by such a threat. This protection is little-understood, however, and thus is far from guaranteed ... especially as the universe slips further and further with each passing day into entropy & madness.

It is possible, of course, that a given country might be selected (above) more than once; in such an instance, that nation borders Khyledonia from multiple angles simultaneously: roll one additional time (below) to select which precise borders the countries now share. It is also possible, although remarkably unlikely, that a nation might find itself sharing all four of its borders with Khyledonia, becoming effectively “landlocked” entirely within that sea of churning psychosis. There is no way out of the border-bound country, in such an instance, although travelers and other creatures might still find themselves wandering in.

larger, higher-resolution map here

For each country selected in this way (above), Roll 1d6 -- 1: North, 2: South, 3: East, 4: West, 5-6: roll 1d4 twice, applying both results -- to determine which border of each country Khyledonia arrives adjacent-to.

Thus, if you rolled a final result of:

[3]; 34, 66, 75; 1, 4, 5 (3, 4)

... the nation of Khyledonia would arrive in a geographically-impossible position simultaneously:

north of Irrisen (overlapping the Winterwall Glacier),

to the west of Nirmathas (both cutting-off the Bloodsworn Vale from access to Varisia and severing all passes through the Mindspin Mountains into Nidal), and

both east & west of Razmiran (devouring the coastline of Lake Encarthan and placing the city of Thronestep upon the treacherous borderlands directly between those two nations, while also arriving to the east and appearing “over” the River Kingdoms at Tymon).

For those on the opposite side of such a warped border, outside of the directly-adjacent lands, the way is clear and unimpeded: if you were traveling from Varisia to Nirmathas via the Bloodsworn Vale, for example, you would arrive without difficulty; similarly, if you were at-sail on the waters of Lake Encarthan in route to Xer -- or crossing the West Sellen from Tymon into the lands of Razmir -- you could make landing as per normal, encountering no delay.

Upon looking back, however, you would see Khyledonia itself.

image from here

Into the Depraved Lands:

The interior geography of Khyledonia is still little-understood: creatures who enter rarely return alive or intact, and those few who do are often driven far past the brink of sanity into something like religious terror.

The land itself, however, can be categorized by merest observation as highly morphic, suffused throughout with the most dangerous kind of wild magic (routinely augmented by sharp-edged results common to a rod of wonder ... or something even stranger); those who gaze upon the border may literally bear witness to mountains of glass & bone boiling or evaporating, to be replaced in mere moments by towering oceans ringed with thrashing forests of brick-fused squid.

Immediately upon viewing the nation of Khyledonia, any creature with an Intelligence score understands -- in some way -- exactly what it is that she is presented with: the grotesque, inhuman cosmos laid-bare.

Note: This is a free “fair escape” mechanic that prevents creatures from accidentally wandering into Khyledonia. Unlike the whimsical First World -- with its subtle passageways meant to ensnare fools, children, drunks, animals and careless travelers -- the Khyledonian Empire is less-than-subtle in its weird menace.

If you are being pursued east from Urgir by an orcish horde, for example, intent on fleeing across the border to Vigil or Gallowspire with ill-gotten gains, the orcs will NOT (under any circumstances) chase you over the border if the neighboring country has been -- observably -- replaced with Khyledonia.

Willingly entering the nation of Khyledonia is the sort of insane & suicidal act that only PCs (and a handful of desperate, named NPCs) would ever even consider.

For more on encounters & adventures to be had there, see Symphonies of Strange Flesh (currently under-construction).

original image from here

The Infectious Memories of Khyledonia:

During those blessed months & years when the Khyledonian Empire is totally out-of-sync with Golarion proper, it is “unmemorable”: that is, any previously-acquired knowledge of the nation -- or of its history -- simply fails to click: gibberish flows off of the tip of your tongue like poisonous oil, unnoticed by any, then slips away utterly from the consciousness of any creature present a mere moment later.

Sure, there’s an entire multi-street sub-district of Absalom constructed in the architectural style of the Khyledonian Empire, and nearly an eighth of all the root-words in Taldane share some trace derivation from the alien and inhuman language spoken there. What of it? The backwoods “Sons of Khyledon” are but a long-collapsed, mostly-forgotten state, no more interesting -- and no more relevant to the hard-&-fast matters of today’s crises -- than the ancient Jistka Imperium.

When the nation of Khyledonia returns, however, eerie memories come flooding back to those historians who lay eyes upon it.

For each rank that a creature possesses in Knowledge (history), that creature may choose (see The Choice, below) to roll once on the following table immediately upon gazing over the border at Khyledonia. If a specific piece of knowledge is ever gained a second time, select the next closest bit of information. These grains of knowledge are retained even after the nation vanishes once more.

NOTE: The first grain of knowledge is this: “All living memories of Khyledonia are dangerous, and beckon it forth.”

This single fact is free, and does not increase the percentage chance of Khyledonia‘s return.

Infectious Memories (roll d12):

Khyledonia, despite its appearance and ties to the Maelstrom, is not a chaotic-aligned realm; in fact, many of its most-fearsome occupants are coldly, efficiently remorseless in their ongoing plans.

The nation of Khyledonia was not sundered from Golarion during the Age of Legend, during the Age of Destiny or even in the Age of Glory, as some suspect. In fact, it happened only moments ago.

Amongst the seventeen duchies of Khyledonia, the largest (and north-most) is ruled by a most powerful warlord called Chuss the Ancient, a many-eyed warrior known to mate with white dragons.

Amongst the seventeen duchies of Khyledonia, the richest (and south-most) is ruled by an advanced psychoplasmic behir who keeps a living, mind-locked garden of all those he conquers.

The people of Khyledonia routinely feed on hybridized troll-blooded animals, bred for size and taste. A common delicacy involves slicing-off slabs of meat even as the beast still lives.

Khyledonia employs huge swaths of magical technology stolen from Numeria, including a slave-race of androids (employed as skilled labor) mutilated so that they may never pass for human.

Hive creatures are prevalent, including cults which perform routine human sacrifices to their “gods”; the Imperial Autocracy officially forbids this practice, but fields the creatures in times of war.

“Knights of Khyledonia” are questing antipaladins (usually of Azathoth, minimum level 11th); most of them famously use Fiendish Boon (summon monster VI) to call-forth chaos beast steeds. These hulking terrors often adventure abroad, leaving Khyledonia to spread destruction & anarchy in the wider world.

Although marked by floating castles and wondrous technological marvels (including 1920s-era telephones), the basic society of Khyledonia is primitive, still using Stone Age sanitation techniques.

There are three other Ascended, making a total of seven. All three are direct godlike rulers of their own duchies in Khyledonia, each one acting through an intermediary: a 20th-level mythic oracle.

Khyledonia can be navigated from within, and used as a “secret passage” between non-coterminous locations. This requires an hourly Wisdom check (DC 16) to avoid becoming lost, but a direct route to any real-world border can be found within 5d8 hours.

GM’s discretion; one random & bizarre piece of information, made up on the spot, that retroactively becomes canon.

The following themes, just to get your mind going, are appropriate for fact about Khyledonia: broken dolls, blurry photographs, Biblical names, faces seen in static, the sound of laughter from empty places, chiming bells, sterile burn-wards, dead cellphones, unwholesome insects, cold water dripping in a forgotten basement, moving shadows in reflection, colorful animal masks, rotting seafood, children’s shoes.

The Choice: For each grain of knowledge about Khyledonia that is acquired in this way by a PC -- or by an “on-screen” NPC -- the base percentage chance of Khyledonia returning at the end of any month permanently increases by +5%.

If you gain any knowledge of Khyledonia in this way, you also gain a supernatural scent ability, but only with respect to sentient creatures who have also gained knowledge of Khyledonia in this way.

If a creature has more total knowledge about Khyledonia that you, that creature possesses a strong scent; if a creature instead possesses twice the total number of facts that you possess, that creature has an overwhelming scent.

If you ever have line of effect to a creature who possesses a scent of this type and are within 60 ft. of them, you are also considered to have blindsight for that creature.

Until all knowledge of Khyledonia has been totally erased, the nation will continue to return ... and with increasing frequency.

Using Khyledonia:

“So ... this is cool and all, but how do I use this in my game?”

Khyledonia is weird, and your players can’t know everything about it: there’s no book or website out there with all the mysteries already spoiled. Wanna scare your “seen-it-all” PCs? Make their precious maps useless ... or take them off-the-map entirely!

Khyledonia fits directly into an ongoing campaign and then slots right back out when you’re done using it. You can even adapt the random countries-list, above, to fit with any other continent on any other fantasy (on urban fantasy!) world.

Khyledonia can be used to “lock-off” a part of your world. You don’t want your PCs going to [fill-in-the-blank country]? Oops, it looks like Khyledonia is in the way. Try again next month! Oh, you’re chasing a guy? He ran into Khyledonia ... shucks, better try to pick up his trail on the other side of the continent!

Khyledonia is a perfect source of truly bizarre monsters. If you’re looking to use Sir Aalamure Ye-Saviith, Knight of the Mirror-Serpent, Rides-on-Storms-and-Whirlwinds or Mr. Gug -- but don’t want them as your center-stage Voldemort, Godzilla or Terminator! -- you can make any one of them a “questing knight” who has to be back in Khyledonia before the end of the month.

Khyledonia can let you use weird “splinter canon”: bizarre history that normally requires a new setting but still fits into Golarion: do you want a clan of asexual Babylonian/Aztec dwarves who serve Shub-Niggurath, dress like Galactus and carry the bones of their honored dead on their backs like mausoleum-armor? Awesome, those are now the official Khyledonian dwarves.

Above all, Khyledonia can be all of the things you love about Ravenloft mixed with all the things you love about Heavy Metal ... without any of the baggage or negative associations involved with either.

———

NOTE:

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#pathfinder #mythos #campaign #essay #GM Advice #mind screw #horror

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itsworn · 7 years ago

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This Compound-Turbocharged Cummins-Powered Ford F1 Makes 1,200 HP and 2,000 LB-FT at the Wheels

Whatever you do, do not call this pickup a rat rod—let’s clear that up from the start. Owner/builder Scotty Birdsall hates the term because it implies shoddy construction, either on purpose or due to a lack of skill. To call Scotty’s handbuilt, tube-chassis, 1,200hp 1949 Ford F1 a rat rod, well, nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing rough-looking about this pickup is the weathered exterior. Peer past the faded paint, and you’ll see incredible fab work, top-shelf parts, and meticulous attention to detail.

Scotty calls his F1 “Old Smokey,” a pretty obvious nod to its outrageous powerplant. In what must be a first for Car Craft, we’re prominently featuring a compound-turbocharged diesel pickup in these pages. “I did it to be different—to stand out,” Scotty told us. Mission accomplished. The pickup made its first major appearance in the AutoMeter booth at the 2016 SEMA Show, and between the multicolored exterior, menacing stance, and gleaming inlet plumbing, Old Smokey drew a crowd like Puritans to a witch burning. What most of the crowd at SEMA missed was the thrill of witnessing the 5.9 Cummins as it spools up. Even the starting procedure is a fascinating sequence of switches and buttons. The inline-six’s droning idle is oddly pleasant, made even more delicious with the chopping whine of the two Garrett turbochargers. Under full boost at the top of the rev range, it sounds like a chorus of angry weed eaters—certainly not what we’re used to hearing, but definitely cool in its own right. Those Garretts only take a second to spool up, and under even partial boost, it’s virtually impossible for the rear tires to maintain any sort of traction with the road. At full song, the engine will see more than 100 psi of boost and be making more than 2,000 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. During our shoot, Scotty was seeing rear-wheel speeds of nearly 180 mph while letting the smoke out of the set of “burner” tires he has mounted on a set of steel wheels for just such shenanigans.

Old Smokey is much more than a tire-burning smoke machine, however. Scotty built it to compete in standing-mile events, drifting, and open-track events. He’s been a professional driver for more than 20 years and is currently an instructor for Driving Connections. He knows how to get a car around a racetrack, and he built the chassis for this F1 with all the knowledge he’s gained through years of driving experience. The massive brakes, wide tires, premium coilovers, aggressive suspension geometry, and Winters quick-change rear axle aren’t there to show off. Everything has a purpose.

Scotty is a self-taught fabricator and chassis builder who left a corporate life behind to build cars full time. The shop is named after his father, Charles, a lifelong police officer whose handle on the police radio was Chuckles. Among his goals for the pickup, Scotty wants to hit 200 mph in a standing-mile event. Considering the weight-to-power ratio, that shouldn’t be a problem, and it’s an impressive feat, considering this whole project started with a $225 Craigslist buy.

“I bought it to flip it,” Scotty told us, but the truck grew on him, and as these things inevitably happen, once he started working on it, the build snowballed into what it is today. We can all relate.

Tech Notes

Who: Scott Birdsall What: 1949 Ford F1 Where: Santa Rosa, CA Engine: Scotty began with 5.9L Cummins engine from a 2005 Freightliner, making significant internal upgrades to handle the power he wanted to make. ALC Racing Engines, in Santa Rosa built the engine with Mahle pistons, Carrillo connecting rods, ARP head studs, a Hamilton camshaft, and Hamilton pushrods. Scotty installed the engine completely behind the front axle centerline for optimum weight balance. Induction: Yes, there are two turbochargers breathing into the engine, but don’t call this a twin-turbo system. In a compound-turbocharging system like what Scotty built for Old Smokey, one turbocharger feeds the other. The result is more boost than you’d get from a single turbocharger and quicker spool-up times than you’d otherwise have with a really large single turbocharger. Here’s how the system works: exhaust gases exit the engine, passing through the exhaust housing of the smaller turbo first, then the larger turbo’s exhaust housing, then into the downpipe and out the back of the car. Air enters the engine in the opposite direction: pulled in through the bigger turbo, compressed and sent to the smaller turbo, where it’s squeezed even more; in Old Smokey’s case, 100 psi of boost at the intake manifold. You read that correctly—that’s nearly 7 atmospheres of pressure! The turbochargers are Garrett’s GTX series and measure 96mm and 80mm. The inlet air is cooled twice, first through an air-to-liquid intercooler positioned between the two turbochargers and a large Mishimoto air-to-air intercooler between the 80mm turbo and the intake manifold. What’s the result of all this boost? Power output levels of 1,230 hp and more than 2,000 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. Electronics: Scotty is using a stock Dodge ECM to monitor and control the engine functions, including boost levels based on wheel speed and what gear the transmission is in. Hardway Performance did the programming using HP Tuners software, with an emphasis on power with minimal black smoke. A complement of AutoMeter Z-series gauges was installed in and around the dash so Scotty can quickly monitor all of the pickup’s vital functions. Fuel: Compared to a gasoline engine with port fuel injection, diesel engines are direct-injected and need a lot more fuel pressure in the system to overcome cylinder pressure, especially under boost. Performance diesel engines can see more than 25,000 psi of pressure in the fuel rail, and the pumps need to maintain that much volume and pressure. Scotty has a pair of Industrial Injection’s XP series CP3 fuel pumps, supported by a PureFlow Technologies’ AirDog 200-gph lift pump. Transmission: Harnessing more than 2,000 lb-ft of torque is a challenge for even the best transmission builders in the country. Scotty turned to ATS Diesel Performance for one of its 47RE transmissions with billet internal components. Rearend: Wanting the ability to change axle ratios easily to suit the type of event he’s competing in, Scotty chose a Winters Performance Pro Mod 10-inch ring-gear Quick Change rear axle. Chassis/Suspension: The front suspension includes SPC’s adjustable upper A-arms, custom-built lower A-arms, and remote-reservoir Afco coilover shocks. Scotty built the rear suspension from scratch. It’s a four-link design with an adjustable Panhard bar and Afco coilovers. He also built the chassis, which is modeled after a NASCAR cup car. Brakes: It’s hard to miss the big 13-inch Wilwood rotors on all four corners. There are six-piston calipers up front and a pair of four-piston calipers on the rear. One pair of rear calipers is actuated by the big lever next to the driver seat, meaning Scotty can initiate a drift anytime he wants. Wheels/Tires: We love the sinister look of the CCW wheels, which offset the pickup’s mottled and faded brushed enamel paint job. Scotty uses Toyo Proxes R8R tires, with the rears being a massive 335/30ZR18. For our burnout pictures, he installed a pair of Cragar steel wheels and cheapo “burner” tires on the back. Thanks: Scotty wants to thank the community of Santa Rosa. His was one of the of homes destroyed in a series of wildfires that ravaged Sonoma County in early October 2017. The fire consumed more than 137 square miles, leveled more than 5,000 homes, and killed 24 people. “We had no warning,” Scott says. “We barely got out with the clothes on our backs.” Fortunately, he and his family are safe and on the road to recovery. The outpouring of relief from the community has been overwhelming, and Scott has been directing any further aid to local charitable organizations helping with the rebuilding efforts. Donate: If you would like to help Sonoma County in the aftermath of the fires, please search “North Bay Fire Relief” and go to the Redwood Credit Union’s website to make a donation.

The post This Compound-Turbocharged Cummins-Powered Ford F1 Makes 1,200 HP and 2,000 LB-FT at the Wheels appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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