#nickell plays cyberpunk

[colorfulnickellandgarden]

NC//NIGHT

[pixelwrath]

au where johnny silverhand is actually ted logan

[infamousbeans]

I really do come back to street kid v and Mr Saul aldecaldos as a ship often

[devotedlystrangewizard]

my dad sometimes puts on the playlist of his favorite cyberpunk radio station but that was also the radio station i had on for the majority of MY time in cyberpunk so every time he puts them on i just immediately remember sitting there at my stepmom's pc at 4 am driving around the city and i get a little emotional

[alan900-art]

Filling out these @artfight journey things, because I might as well!

My first attack, Protocol Denied, was way back in 2019, as part of Team Nightmare. It's honestly not bad, though I think back then I used my phone camera to take pics of my attacks.

Then my latest, Froggy Gaming, was this past year, as Team Vampires (if i had 2 nickels for every time I played for an artfight team represented by a bat, yadda yadda). It was an acquaintance's sona, shown here on a DS because she was playing through Pokemon BW at the time. I think it came out really cute!

These next two slots are shared by the same piece, Mightyena Meetup from 2021, as Team Cyberpunk. I distinctly recall this massive pixel art piece taking two entire weeks to make, including 11 whole characters across a whole bar scene for a whopping total of 500.75 points. Still was far from enough to win us the year, but I had fun, and that's all that really matters in the end.

As for my favorite... Well, tough question, but I'm going with Good Day for a Swell Battle, my other attack from 2023 (yes, I only did two that year, was a busy month for me). It's the latest in a series of back-and-forth attacks between myself and the lovely @kumamedia, who I actually started speaking with outside of Artfight after last year! It's the first time I've actually started a friendship like so, and that's honestly a big part of why I like this and all the other pieces we've exchanged.

Excited to participate again this year!

[imstronglikeanamazon]

Listening to Malevolent and playing Cyberpunk 2077 is like... if I had a nickel for everytime the protagonist used a method of disseminating information only to end up with a gruff, grumpy, potentially homicidal voice in their head named John who was slowly taking over their body and forcing them to go on a quest to separate the voice while slowly becoming friends I'd have 2 nickels.

Which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice.

[tunaculosis]

If I had a nickel for every time Zach Aguilar played a Cyberpunk who gets rescued by a girl in short shorts with a two-tone A-line haircut I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

[extramachine]

If I had a nickel for every gay cyberpunk pixel-art bartending game I've played...I'd have two nickels but it's weird that it happened twice

[rpgsandbox]

Working alongside Skydance Television and the incredible team behind the hit Netflix TV series, we’re excited to immerse you in the neon-drenched cyberpunk sandbox of Altered Carbon with our official tabletop RPG.

In this transhumanist vision of the future, the human mind is nothing more than digital code – Digital Human Freight – saved and stored in a Cortical Stack, advanced technology that allows you to “re-sleeve” your entire consciousness into a new body. You can wear any body you can afford, transmit your mind across the cosmos in an instant, and, if you’ve got the credits and political cachet, you can re-sleeve time and again for centuries, accumulating enough wealth and power over the millennia to become the societal equivalent of an immortal god.

“Reality is so flexible these days, it’s hard to tell who’s disconnected from it and who isn’t. You might even say it’s a pointless distinction.”

Whereas character death is a natural occurrence and ever-present threat in tabletop RPGs, Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game offers a unique angle on the concept. As opposed to creating a brand new character, players will have the opportunity to transfer their character’s consciousness, memories, and experiences into new Sleeves post-death… but at a cost.

Mind you, immortality is not invincibility. Losing a Sleeve is a life-altering setback, and “Real Death” awaits anyone whose Stack is destroyed. That being said, Sleeves introduce their own refreshing challenges to players and storytellers alike. Augmentations can instantly upgrade your athleticism, but a world-class surgeon in an unadjusted Sleeve can botch a basic procedure. The possibilities for characters and campaigns may change from one Sleeve to the next… making long-term gameplay more versatile, while empowering the story to steer character advancement at its own pace.

Bay City is divided into three major territories – the Ground, the Twilight, and the Aerium – each a world of its own; ruled by different kinds of people, playing games for different kinds of stakes.

The Ground: The underclass — known as “grounders” due to their inability to inhabit the skyscrapers as residents or personnel — continues to soar in numbers. Grounders are satiated with automated dispensed foodstuffs, public housing, and a neon-soaked parade of carnal pleasures. On paper, the features of the city seem almost Utopian, but the majority serves only as cheap labor for the vast bureaucracies of the Protectorate and the Meths whose own lives are glittering paradises in comparison to the empty, endless grind of the greater population.

The Twilight: A razor thin middle class serves as administration, managers, and highly skilled technicians to service the various technological marvels of society and its endlessly expansive bureaucracies. These skilled individuals are said to inhabit The Twilight, somewhere between the darkness of grounder society and the dazzling brightness of the high life of meth aristocracy. Most aren’t far removed from some criminal element, either by choice, close relation, or the occasional contractor through one of their shell corporations. You’ll scarcely find a programmer who hasn’t moonlighted as a “Dipper” at some point. Most dabble with decadence or crime (often the white-collar variety), if only to search for some form of existential purpose... The extra money doesn’t hurt either.

The Aerium: This network of skyscrapers is the domain of the meths exclusively. Their towers pierce the sky by several times in height the normal skyscrapers of Bay City. Each tower has the luxury of supporting a multitude of sprawling estates, all free and far above the need to see the rabble below, the unseen underclasses toiling under permanent cloud cover. Only specifically registered air vehicles and police aircars are permitted to fly anywhere near this complex. The much vaunted Suntouch House is part of this complex.

The core edition of Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game takes place on Sol (Earth) in the year 2384. With the help of a gamemaster (GM), you and your friends can create your own stories and Sleeves in Bay City, the futuristic Californian metropolis that serves as the main setting of the first book and Season 1 of the Netflix series.

The human eye is a wonderful device. With a little effort, it can fail to see even the most glaring injustice.

Take control of police, military, technicians, artificial intelligence (A.I.), special operatives (CTAC), and even the influential elite of high society (Meths) as the core neo-noir themes of Altered Carbon promise endless sci-fi adventures:

Mystery — Solve the unfolding mystery. The gamemaster themselves may not even know who the culprit is at the beginning of the story!

Intrigue — Augments and re-sleeving don’t come without their own costs. Story-driven mechanics challenge players to balance their personal egos and baggage, influencing how players interact with one another and how their characters develop over time.

Action — An original game engine uniquely designed for the RPG, delivering a strategic yet dynamic zone-based combat system with exotic high-tech weaponry and streamlined options for more action-oriented gameplay!

Drama — The twisted reality of transhumanity enables players to create challenging stories, complex characters, and century-spanning epics, all which explore the darkest aspects of human nature that the value of life and fear of death once held in check. When murder is little more than extreme property damage, transhumanity is the perfect playground for noir storytelling that delves into the moral depths of our own humanity.

Working in tandem with Skydance Entertainment, we're able to provide a deeper dive into the world of Altered Carbon. As a result, we're expanding on elements of lore, and the colonized worlds that previously we unexplored until now!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Tee2_LgSiUPM4arGX6-IE5pIpre7Q0LF

                                     Click for a clean Character Sheet

The Core Rulebook contains everything gamemasters and players needs to play the game.

Building a Neo-Noir Narrative. Build an authentic noir experience with a multi-layered mystery that unravels over time. Plot twists, MacGuffins, red herrings, and informants all provide the ever-adjusting structure you need to bring mystery and intrigue to your players without the need to pre-plan every detail at the start.

Starting Adventures. Enjoy two complementary modules designed to teach you everything you need to know to run the game and teach players the Hazard System.

Creating a Character. Ready to jack in? Pick an archetype: Civilian, Socialite, Official, Criminal, Technician, or Soldier. Generate core attributes like Strength, Perception, Empathy, Willpower, Acuity, and Intelligence. Game elements like Stack Points, Health Points, Ego Points, and Influence Points help flesh out your characters and determine how they perform and progress through the story.

Baggage. Your time in Altered Carbon takes its toll, as damage to your ego builds up over the years… as do the ghosts of your past deeds from sleeve to sleeve.

Variant Characters. Explore a range of unique playable and non-playable characters such as artificial intelligence beings, envoy soldiers, and high-class meths.

Re-sleeving. The body is merely a shell, and death is not the final destination. Each Sleeve comes with its own strengths and shortcomings. An impossible task in one Sleeve may be child’s play in another. Meanwhile, your enemy could be wearing your friend’s sleeve, so use your intuition and ingenuity to observe the details, break through the obvious, seek out new solutions, and stay alive.

Tons of Traits. Tier-based Trait system allows you to easily build your own Archetypes or assign a set of unique abilities that complement one of our pre-set character builds, with plenty of crossover options so that no two Archetypes are really the same.

Wealth Level Based Economy. Rather than nickel & dime every transaction, players can acquire gear and supplies adjacent (or above — if they’re willing to risk greater consequences) to their Wealth Level in order to keep the focus on story momentum.

Technology & Equipment. Nemex, Shard Pistols, Portable AI Emitters, ONI Interfaces, Merge9; the Core Rulebook provides all the mechanics for purchasing, acquiring, and modifying a plethora of futuristic weapons, apparel, and gadgetry with an expansive list of customizations for nearly every item.

Expanding the Altered Carbon World. While the Core Rulebook focuses on Bay City and Season 1 of the series, we’ve got big plans with Skydance who is currently in production for Season 2, and we'll be working alongside them to discover more ways to explore the colonized worlds in future RPG supplements. In the meantime, fans can explore Osaka and other parts of Earth 2384 via our stretch goal modules listed below.

Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game will employ the Hazard System – a brand new game system that finds inspiration in popular engines like the Cortex System, Savage Worlds, and Outbreak: Undead.. all while delivering unique gameplay specifically designed for this RPG.

SKILL DICE: Actions are done using an appropriate die type depending on your level of skill.

Which are rolled against a Target Result (TR) assigned by the GM or Scenario:

12+ - Trivial

10-11 - Easy

9-10 - Normal

7-8 - Tricky

5-6 - Challenging

3-4 - Complicated

0-2 - Nearly Impossible

With success determined by rolling EQUAL TO OR UNDER the Target Result. The difference between the result and the TR are the degrees of success/failure generated.

Natural (rolled) 1's are considered an “Ace” - and always succeed with a flourish.

Besides the basics of rolling equal to or under the Target Result, the Hazard System provides a list of easy-to-apply modifiers that will help to quickly and contextually flush out a scene.

Bonus Dice: Players can be awarded Bonus Dice, which can be of any Die Type. Bonus Die results can take the best results (serves as an advantage).

Luck Dice: When luck plays a factor on the outcome (for better or worse), Luck Dice of any Die Type may add to Skill Check Results. Even players with D4s as Skills may fail if luck turns against them. Luck can even displace Difficulty altogether in the right situation.

Example:

Christopher is trying going toe to toe with an off-world assassin in a synthetic Sleeve but decides the fight is a little outside of his league — so he wants to escape. He could simply dart away, in which the GM will ask him for an Athletics - 5 (challenging) roll. He has a D10 in athletics so its reasonable. Or he could use a chaff bomb, which will disrupt the synthetics sensors and maybe cover his tracks. That just requires a Throw - 10 (easy), and even with a D12 that shouldn't be a problem... shouldn't...

Since all dice can roll low, there is ALWAYS a chance of success.

=========================================================

Kickstarter campaign ends: Wed, March 4 2020 6:03 AM UTC +00:00

Website: [Hunters Books] [facebook] [twitter]

[kireon]

Store Bought Hero

x-posted from my writing account as well as my author blog.

If natural heroes didn't work, store bought was fine too.

At least, that's what you keep telling yourself. It becomes a mantra as you peruse the discount racks at your favorite clothing store that definitely does not start with 'K'. Setting aside the whole ‘escaped from the lab you were created in’ thing, you haven’t noticed any serious differences between natural heroes and the lab created ones ('store bought', as they say) except for the whole income disparity thing.

Oh, and the sponsors.

Everyone knows natural heroes shopped at Gucci and their sidekicks at Macy's, bare minimum, they simply must be outfitted with the best at all times if they are to be known in the world. You can hear the professor from the labs’ rant clear as day even fifteen years later. While you definitely like a select group of brand name items? You have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and a gigantic fucking load of student loans on your back.

No rich parents, tragic enough backstory, or sponsors for you: a 'store bought'.

With a sigh, you eye a sequined leotard and run your hand up and down the rough fabric. There is something satisfying about the way the colors shift from a too shiny silver to a lurid cherry red. You like shiny. You like shiny an awful lot, as a matter of fact, and that's how you got yourself into this entire mess in the first place.

"How was I supposed to know the stupid anklet was his downfall?" You grumble as you tear yourself away from the sequined nightmare. Restraint isn’t something that comes easily but you’ve had years to practice. A half-hearted paw through the racks of clothing marked at sixty-percent off or more reveals a pair of dark red pleather pants that might just make a good costume base.

"It's not like I walk around with my weakness in plain sight."

It wasn't even a decent anklet either; not even sterling silver or real diamonds or brand name. It was a cheap nickel plated piece of flash and the rash it gave you still itched even a week later. Some sort of curse for the unwary, or so the hero had claimed when you'd given it back to him a day later.

You neglected to inform him of your nickel allergy during the confrontation.

Well, maybe not wisely. You might have been able to get some sort of financial compensation outta him for the damage done to your skin. The rash and blisters did look really awful when he’d caught up with you and he looked horrified when he saw the results.

Heroes had that whole ‘do innocents no harm’ thing, after all.

You'd rather die than admit to anything so common as a nickel allergy, so you accused him of having a curse put on it. He ate up the accusation and used it to his advantage, as they all do. In exchange for falling for the good old fashioned sob story that was your life-- lightly embellished, of course--you had to become his sidekick as penance for your (petty) crimes. Also to completely remove the effects of this nonexistent curse.

After all, you were in ‘dire need’ of a good role model, yadda yadda yadda. You’d stopped listening to his moral prattling about the same time he tried to invoke the ‘daddy issues’ card. The last time someone had pulled that shit on you, they woke up woozy, confused, and completely unaware of the clown makeup as they walked out (pantsless) into the busiest part of the city. Waterproof makeup at that.

Just as a little extra “fuck you” to prove a point; you don’t like doing more than petty retaliation if you can help it.

You can be quite nasty, after all.

In the end, Hero McDadguy puffed up in his usual self-importance and gave you an entire fifty bucks towards a ‘basic’ costume and sent you on your way with a time limit. He was currently busy getting some frothy concoction at that one coffee shop just around the block. Far enough away that it’s a test of trust and boundaries but close enough he can close the gap and probably haul your ass in if he needs to.

The added caveat that you weren’t to embarrass him with your costume choice makes you want to do it even more. The only thing holding you back is the fact that you do have to wear the costume. In public.

Petty and spite take a backseat to pride and self-preservation.

Not like he was one to talk. He had that whole ‘90s cyberpunk meets Dad-on-Tropical-Vacation’ theme going on. Fanny pack, socks with sandals... the works.  You’d rather go to jail than try to figure out how to replicate, keep in theme with, or otherwise find something to compliment that mess.

You mutter that very thing under your breath while you snag a few promising pieces-- and the leotard because fuck self-control you deserve something nice-- off the rack and head for the dressing room to start trying things on. Twenty minutes of posing in the mirror in varying outfit combinations later and you ignore the request for 'photo evidence' of you behaving and call your oldest child instead.  

“Hey, what’s the name of that one bird that steals shit?” You ask as you shimmy into a pair of leather shorts with sequins on the ass. You’re definitely about ten pounds shy of ‘Juicy’, as the flashy hot pink word on your butt says, but this could very well be the start of something amazing.

“Maybe you wanna be more specific unless you want me to read descriptions for the next ten years?”  

Nat is much like you; level-headed, brilliant in school but woefully under challenged, and has the same smart-mouth that had gotten you slapped through a wall once or fifteen times in your early life. You would never lay a hand on your kids regardless of how mouthy they get with you and so have to find other methods of curbing their attitudes when they get too out of line.

There’s a lot of yelling and someone sounds like they’re on the verge of tears in the background. A muffled Nat’s voice tells them to ‘calm the hell down, it’s fine’ before they come back on the line.

“What’s all that about?” You ask as you sift through the tops for something that would go with it. This opportunity might be a wash with how little luck you’re having. Might be time for Plan B- especially if there’s a problem with the kids. Your hand lands on a peacock blue-and-green number that doesn’t look bad but isn’t quite what you’re looking for. Ugh.

It’d clash with that highlighter orange from Mr. I Sweat Burberry Cologne.

Your middle child’s voice is loud and clear on the line now. “If you buy those shorts I am putting myself into the Child Relocation Program and you’ll never see me again.”

You consider it for a moment. Mortal embarrassment of your thirteen year old or being a slightly less fashion disaster than you feel. Tough decision, really. You feel yourself smile after letting Morgan sweat it out just long enough.

“Clean the kitchen and I’ll consider it.”

The quintessential teenage shriek of fury and angst comes loud and clear through the phone. “I knew you were going to say that! You’re the worst!”

Some parents prayed against having a child born with precognitive powers. While annoying to deal with, it’s also a lot of fun to use against them. It makes parenting interesting and more of a game to see just which future the kiddo wants to avoid- or get away with. “

You feel your smile widen at the range of futures said kiddo has likely foreseen. You’ll have so much fun with this particular set of visions and using it like baby photos against them. “So did you clean the kitchen?”

“Duh!” A most indignant tone.

You laugh. You can’t help it. “Put Nat back on the phone.”

“Promise me you’re not buying those first.” Stubborn and firm. A bit of desperation there too. Not quite ready to beg but not all that far off either.

The way they say ‘those’ makes you laugh all over again. “I’m not buyin’ ‘em, don’t worry.”

“And that weird guy isn’t buying them either?”

Damn it. “Nope. He won’t buy them either.” So much for that idea. Maybe you could-

“No stealing them either!”

Double damn it. “Fine, fine; the shorts stay in the store.”

“Thank you.”

The phone goes back to your oldest. “So, about that bird?”

“Jackdaw, Magpie, Corvids.” You hear scratching of pencil on paper. Homework? At, you check your phone, two-seventeen in the afternoon on a Saturday? Your eyes narrow suspiciously.

Who is it you’re talking to and what have they done with your child?

“Corvids? Like crows and shit?”

“Yup. And no, I’m not a body snatcher.”

A grin. “Sounds like something a body snatcher would say.”  

Jackdaw didn’t have that something you were looking for. Didn’t roll off the tongue the way it needed to in your head when you imagined some Big Bad Villain spotting you mid-villainous speech. Corvid didn’t either. Crow wasn’t hitting any notes either.

Raven was absolutely taken by no less than eighty-three variations in your city alone.

Rook had some fun possibilities if you had actually bothered playing and learning chess. (You can’t; you can’t sit still or pay enough attention for that shit and you own that.)

Your eyes fall on the silver-and-red sequined leotard again.

You hear your prophecy cursed child screech in despair in the background and the younger two who have gathered to watch the show tell them to shut up.

Nat, ever patient and ever your child, smiles on the other end of the phone. “I think that’s the one, Magpie.”

Magpie... yeah, you like the sound of that one. Magpie it is. “It’ll make a good base; is Morgan--”

“McFreakin’ Losing It? Yep.” You can hear the sounds of pencil scratching against paper again. Curiosity overrules any possible ‘do not need to know’ that you and Nat sometimes stumble into.

“Okay, I’ll bite; what are you doing?”

“Fulfilling the prophecy as foretold by the ancients long ago.” if Nat’s voice were any drier, they’d be dust in a forgotten tomb. “I’m designing the rest of your costume so you’re not a total train wreck and Morgan can die quietly.”

“You’re my favorite.” You say as you gleefully stuff the leotard-- you’ve tried it on twice and know it fits like a dream-- back on its hanger and wiggle out of the shorts. A wiggle that almost ends badly for you, at that, and you can hear the brats laughing at you in the background as Morgan probably mimics how you just about bit it in the dressing room.

“Remember that when I inevitably try your patience in all of forty-five seconds.” Nat hangs up on you and you feel nothing but pride in the way these sassy children have grown up under your less than skilled thumb. You’ve not been the best parent or even the best role model. It’s funny what unresolved childhood issues and bad habits will do, but damn it you have given it everything you have up to and including your favorite line of ‘do as I say not as I do’.

That is your right as a parent, goddamn it, to use that line and they can pry that right from your cold dead fingers.

They’re all good kids. They’re going to end up heroes in their own right with or without superpowers. That, above all else, is all you want for them so that they’re twice as capable as you’ve ever been in your life. Lab created and thus ‘store bought’ or natural born; it doesn’t matter and it never mattered to begin with.

Heroes are heroes in the end and the world could always use another helping hand as it spins through another chaotic cycle.

Your phone beeps and you glance at the text message.

Black thigh high socks. Get two pair. Amazon sucks for deals rn.\

U r not my fave >:(

You scowl and wish the walls would burn as you unfold the crumpled bills at the register. You don’t need Morgan’s gift of prophecy to know what that text message says and yet, like a fool, you look down at it anyway.

There’s a photo of all five of your grinning children holding up score cards. All of them holding 10s.

All of them dressed in Hawaiian shirts.

You have never felt so betrayed in your whole life.

[colorfulnickellandgarden]

NC//BLUE SKIES

[demonicsweaters]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iBkyJzJcyQ)

***DOWNLOAD https://anthillrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/polybius *** A high energy track in 7/4. I started this one with no real idea of where it would go, but then it really took on a life of it's own! Cyberpunk Math Chiptune? I have no idea, but I think it came out pretty nifty. The entire song and video were produced, recorded and edited in Ubuntu Linux 16.04. I made the main sequences in LMMS, then exported the stems to Mixbus 3.6. I recorded the drums into Mixbus using my Alesis IO4 along with the built-in audio interface on my core2 duo macbook using the jack audio connection kit giving me a total of 6 inputs! Though I only used 5 because my micro mixer has a mono output. So I just put both toms on one channel then panned them in post. I edited the video in Kdenlive.

On my drum tracks I DO NOT USE any time correction, triggers, samples or any other technology to correct my playing.

Drums used:

2015 Tama Imperialstar Bob Kit Hairline Blue finish Gibraltar floating tom mount system Tama Iron Cobra hi hat stand (main hats) Vintage Olympic hi hat stand (trash hats) Ludwig flat base straight stands (crashes) PDP boom stand (ride) Vintage Nuvader Nickel Silver 15" Hi Hats Meinl HCS 8" Bell Kasza 17" Dirty Bell crash cymbal Vintage NuVader 22" ride cymbal (Nickel Silver) Meinl HCS 16" Trash Crash / Generic 16" brass crash bottom (trash hats) Vintage Camber 18" Crash Cymbal (Brass) Aquarian Studio X on tom batters Tama single ply clear tom resonants Aquarian Studio X Dot on snare batter Tama thin clear snare resonant Aquarian Response 2 Coated kick batter Remo Vintage Emperor w/ Kickport 2 on kick resonant DW 6000 kick pedal Vintage flat base Slingerland snare stand Vintage MIJ canister throne

Mics: Cad KBM412 Kick Nady RSM5 Ribbon Overhead (used in Mid Side Miking Techique) Chinese BM-800 Condesner (used in Mid Side Miking Techique) SHS OM-450 x 2 toms (sm57 copy) Pyle Pro PDMIC78 snare (sm57 copy)

[myempireofsalt]

Store Bought Hero

Store Bought Hero

Dedicated to @caffeinewitchcraft and her eternal love of superheroes. Thank you for your writing!

--

If natural heroes didn't work, store bought was fine too.

At least, that's what you keep telling yourself as you peruse the discount racks at your favorite clothing store that definitely does not start with 'K'. Everyone knows natural heroes shopped at Gucci and sidekicks at Macy's. You, however, have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and a gigantic fucking load of student loans on your back.

You eye a sequined leotard and run your hand up and down the rough scale-like fabric to watch the colors shift from a too shiny silver to a lurid cherry red. You like shiny. You like shiny an awful lot and that's how you got yourself into this entire mess in the first place.

"How was I supposed to know the stupid anklet was his downfall?" You grumble as you, reluctantly, turn away from the sequined nightmare and start eyeballing a pair of pleather pants that might just make a good costume base. "It's not like I walk around with my weakness in plain sight."

It wasn't even a decent anklet either; not even sterling silver or real diamonds. It was nickel plated and the rash it gave you still itched even a week later. Some sort of curse for the unwary, or so the hero had claimed when you'd given it back to him a day later.

In exchange for falling for the good old fashioned sob story that was your life-- lightly embellished, of course--you had to become his sidekick as penance for your crimes. After all, you were in ‘dire need’ of a good role model, yadda yadda yadda. You’d stopped listening to his moral prattling about the same time he tried to invoke the ‘daddy issues’ card. He gave you fifty bucks towards a ‘basic’ costume and sent you on your way with a time limit while he grabbed some frothy concoction at that one coffee shop just around the block.

With, of course, the added caveat that you weren’t to embarrass him with your costume design.

Not like he was one to talk with that whole ‘90s cyberpunk meets Hawaiian vacation Dad’ theme he had going for himself. You’ve seen runway fashion disasters with better sense than that and mutter that very thing under your breath while you snag a few promising pieces-- and the leotard-- off the rack and head for the dressing room to start trying things on.

Twenty minutes later you ignore the call coming in from your new boss and call your oldest instead. They’re much like you in that they’re level headed, intelligent, and have a smart mouth the likes of which would, and had, get anyone else slapped through the wall and into next week. You would never lay a hand on your kids, any of them,  given that you’d gotten your fair share of being knocked through walls growing up.

“Hey, what’s the name of that one bird that steals shit?” You ask as you shimmy into a pair of leather shorts with sequins on the ass. You’re definitely about ten pounds shy of ‘Juicy’, as the word on your butt says, but this could very well be the start of something amazing.

“Maybe you wanna be more specific unless you want me to read descriptions for the next ten years?” There’s yelling in the background and your oldest tells them to settle down.

“What’s all that about?” You ask as you sift through the tops for something that would go with it. Your hand lands on a peacock blue-and-green number that doesn’t look bad but isn’t quite what you’re looking for.

Your middle child’s voice is loud and clear on the line now. “If you buy those shorts I am putting myself into the Child Relocation Program and you’ll never see me again.”

You consider it for a moment. Mortal embarrassment of your thirteen year old or being a mildly less disaster than you feel you are on a good day. You feel yourself smile. “Clean the kitchen and I’ll consider it.”

“I knew you were going to say that! You’re the worst.”

There was some fun in having a child whose superpower was precognition. “So did you clean the kitchen?”

“Duh!”

You laugh. You can’t help it. “Put Nat on the phone.”

“Promise me you’re not buying those first.”

The way they say ‘those’ makes you laugh all over again. “I’m not buyin’ ‘em, don’t worry.”

“And that weird guy isn’t buying them either?”

Damn it. “Nope. He won’t buy them either.”

“No stealing them either!”

Double damn it. “Fine, fine; the shorts stay in the store.”

“Thank you.”

The phone goes back to your oldest. “So, about that bird?”

“Jackdaw, Magpie, Corvids.”

“Corvids? Like crows and shit?”

“Yup.”

Jackdaw didn’t have that something you were looking for. Didn’t roll off the tongue the way it needed to in your head when you imagined some Big Bad Villain spotting you mid-villainous speech. Corvid didn’t either; Crow wasn’t hitting any notes either. Raven was absolutely taken by no less than eighty-three variations in your city alone. Rook had some fun possibilities if you actually bothered playing and learning chess terms. (You can’t; your attention span is utterly lacking and you own that. You’d probably be good at it too is the sad part.)

Your eyes fall on the silver-and-red sequined leotard again.

You hear your middle child screech in despair in the background and the younger two tell them to shut up.

Nat, ever patient and ever your child, smiles on the other end of the phone. “I think that’s the one, Magpie.”

Magpie... yeah, you like the sound of that one. Magpie it is. “It’ll make a good base; is Morgan--”

“McFreakin’ Losing It? Yep.” You can hear the sounds of pencil scratching against paper.

“What are you doing?”

“Fulfilling the prophecy as foretold by the ancients long ago.” if Nat’s voice were any drier, they’d be dust. “I’m designing the rest of your costume so you’re not a total train wreck and Morgan can die quietly.”

“You’re my favorite.” You say as you gleefully stuff the leotard-- you’ve tried it on twice and know it fits like a dream-- back on its hanger and wiggle out of the shorts.

“Remember that when I inevitably try your patience in all of forty-five seconds.”

Nat hangs up on you and you feel nothing but pride in the way these sassy children have grown up under your less than skilled thumb. You’ve not been the best parent or even the best role model. It’s funny what unresolved childhood issues and bad habits will do, but damn it you have given it everything you have up to and including your favorite line of ‘do as I say not as I do’.

They’re still good kids. They’re going to end up heroes in their own right with or without superpowers. That, above all else, is all you want for them so that they’re twice as capable as you’ve ever been in your life.

Your phone beeps and you glance at the text message.

Black thigh high socks. Get two pair. Amazon sucks for deals rn.

[colorfulnickellandgarden]

SKY//OVERCAST

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NC//GATHERING STORM

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NC//SCENERY//CITY CENTER//1