#not sure what's the bottom left and rightmost though

[teecupangel]

Today in... teecup gets distracted and stopped writing for today.

Sooooo... page 21 of Altaïr's Codex had this as part of the 'poison blade' upgrade

And me being me...

I sorta felt this sense of familiarity with the leftmost flower.

It might be wolfsbane.

And I know what you're going to say.

"teecup, it can be foxglove too."

Which is a valid alternative.

But I honestly like to think it's wolfsbane due to the leaves but also because I am bias lol

The middle right flower might be Poinsettia though...

[rynneer]

Misty Memories Cold

When you wake in Fíli’s bed with no recollection of anything after an accident in Mirkwood, he’s ready to risk anything, even his uncle’s wrath, to bring back what you had together.

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Chapter Two

You’ve never missed plumbing more than you do now, looking around the bathroom. Polished stone walls, a polished stone floor. Just like every room in the mountain. Oh, how you long for a warm, hardwood floor.

Small basins sit on a granite counter below a mirror, with a bucket tucked underneath for easy refilling. The mirror is covered with a heavy cloth—Fíli says it’s been shattered and will fall apart if the cloth is moved. The rightmost basin is spotless, reflecting the light from the lamp hanging over your head. Another is decorated with long hairs that you pulled from your head when you tried to brush your poor mane.

Though at first you chuckle at how neat Fíli keeps his side of the counter, it dies in your throat. Maybe he no longer does it, but you recall that early in the journey, he would only tidy his things up when something was bothering him. To see his side scrubbed so clean—he must be very bothered.

It doesn’t take much to figure out what’s bothering him, either. It’s been a few days since you awoke in the middle of the night, head emptied of your life together. And while you certainly have feelings for him, your schoolgirl crush falters against his fierce love. Your heart leaps when you imagine touching him, yet you flinch from his hands. The right balance has yet to be struck.

With a sigh, you swipe your hand along the cool metal of your washbasin, gathering the hairs into a ball and flicking it onto the counter. You’ll dispose of it when you finish.

Fíli, eager to tend to your every need, already filled the large, marble bathtub with hot water. A pleased sigh escapes you as you step in. But your heel slides forward on the bottom of the tub, and you fall with a yelp, your head smacking the stone before you slip under.

drowning. drowning drowning drow–

Sudden panic shocks your system. You surge back above the surface, your breaths coming in short, shallow bursts.

“Y/N!” Fíli bursts through the door. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?”

Instinctively, you hug your knees to your chest to hide your body. Fíli rubs your shoulders from behind. “Easy, love. What happened?”

You take a moment to compose yourself, taking deep, steady breaths. The back of your head throbs painfully. “I just fell. I’m alright.”

“You’re not alright,” comes his worried voice from behind you. A groan of pain escapes you when he touches the tender spot where your skull met the stone. He leans forward over your shoulder and rinses his hand in the water before standing and snatching a towel from the counter. You stare dumbly at the red liquid falling through the water from where his fingers left it. With a shaky hand, you probe the back of your head. Your fingertips come away red with blood. More pain, as Fíli presses the towel against your hair.

“It’s not too bad,” he says after a long silence, lifting the towel and gently parting your wet hair around the wound. “Just a cut. Head wounds always look worse than they are.”

You’re not sure if he’s trying to reassure you, or himself.

Fíli dips the bloodied towel in the water and wrings it out. He places it in your hand and brings it to your head. “Hold that there for a moment.” You hear him bustling around in the wooden cabinet by the door. He mumbles something under his breath about dust and cobwebs before grunting in frustration. “There!” His bare feet slap against the floor. For the first time, he comes around in front of you. In his hands, he carries a roll of bandages and a small flask of alcohol.

You almost drop the towel from your head in your rush to cover your chest. Heat pulses from your face in waves so intense that he must be able to feel it.

Fíli’s shoulders sag. “I’m your husband. You do not need to cover up in front of me,” he reminds you, though you both know you won’t listen. He strips his belt from his trousers and places it in your hand. “Close your eyes. Bite down on this.”

Your brow furrows, but you do as he says. Fíli removes the towel from your hand. You hiss in pain as he presses an alcohol-soaked bandage against your head, burning like a brand of fire. You’re glad for the belt now as your teeth dig into the leather. You lean forward instinctively to escape the pain, but Fíli quickly puts a hand on your forehead and pulls you back

“Hold still,” he grunts as he begins to wrap you up. You strain against him, the pain starting to make your eyes water. “I said, hold still!” he snaps this time, fingers digging into your temple.

Surprised at his harsh tone and rougher handling, you relent. After days of feather-soft touches and kind, understanding words, it’s almost a relief. Maybe he hasn’t quite lost his edge yet. Silence falls as he finishes his ministrations.

“I’m sorry, amrâlimê,” Fíli says at last. He shifts so he’s kneeling at your side instead. “I hate to see you in pain, and then my touch caused you more pain when I was trying to help… it’s too much like the first time.”

“The first time?”

Fíli winces and curses. You guess he didn’t mean to let that slip. He holds out his hand, helping you out of the now lukewarm water. It takes all your willpower not to hunch over, to cover yourself in front of him. He reaches up to the curtain hiding the mirror. Before you can protest, remind him that it’s broken, he sweeps the cloth away and wraps it around you as a makeshift towel.

The glass is pristine, newly polished. Not a single flaw mars its surface.

“I didn’t want to add more to your worries if I could help it,” he explains. “I wanted a chance to warn you before you saw.” Fíli leads you to the mirror.

When your face comes into view, you gasp. A harsh pink scar slices across your right cheek, ending on the underside of your jaw. You raise a shaking hand to trace the path, feeling now the slight dip in your skin. A few other scars pepper your body, ones you’ve already seen, but none as obvious as this.

“I tried to keep you out of the fighting, I really did,” Fíli’s whisper is shaky. “But we got separated… and then it just wouldn’t heal properly and–” He breaks off, tears welling up in his eyes, the memory clearly upsetting him.

With tears in your own eyes, you step closer and lean against him, resting your head on his chest. “I’m sorry,” you murmur. “For everything. I’m so sorry, Fíli.”

Fíli takes you into his arms, laying his cheek on your head. The two of you stay like that for a long time. He was right—you do fit very nicely in his arms at this size.

“Y/N? Fíli?” There’s a thudding on the door. “Are you finished yet? I need to take a piss.”

Fíli kisses the top of your head, pulling away from you. He adjusts the curtain around your shoulders and smooths the bandage over your wound. “We’ll get you a proper bath later. Promise.”

We’ll get through this, you hear instead. Promise.

He ushers you out of the bathroom, barely dodging his little brother as Kíli blows by you and slams the door behind him.

You raise an eyebrow. “Wow. He really needs to piss.”

Fíli shakes his head and chuckles. He flings open the wardrobe doors and pulls out a long, dark blue dress, trimmed with silver. His colors. “I thought you might wear this tomorrow night,” he explains, crossing back over to you and holding up against your front. “I just had it made.”

“It’s nice,” you hum in agreement, rubbing the velvet sleeve between your fingers. “Um, what’s tomorrow night, again?”

He rolls his eyes. “Amad insisted on a big celebration for my first birthday in Erebor.”

You snap your head up. “Your birthday? Fíli, I’m sorry, I didn’t know–”

“I’ve had eighty-two of them already,” he reminds you. “It is not that big of a deal.”

“Not a big enough deal to tell your wife?”

He replaces the dress in the wardrobe, grabbing a discarded nightgown from off the large bed. “My wife has had other things on her mind.” Fíli pulls it down over your head, smoothing it down your sides as you finally drop the curtain. There was a hint of a smile on his face when you called yourself his wife.

“Re-learning her way around Erebor, for one.” Kíli emerges from the bathroom and gives you a friendly shove, sending you stumbling.

One thing you’ve learned well, the brothers are a package deal. Fíli doesn’t go far without Kíli dogging his steps. You’re almost surprised he doesn’t share your chambers—but his chambers do neighbor yours.

Fíli catches you, flashing him a glare. “Careful, Kee.”

Kíli returns his brother’s look with wide, innocent eyes. “What? We’ve got to toughen her back up.”

“She’s hurt her head.”

“Oh, I thought the bandage was some sort of new fashion.” Kíli pulls you away from Fíli, lifting you by the waist and tossing you onto the bed. “Straight to bed for you, then!”

“Kíli!”

The cold air stung your eyes and shocked your lungs as you made your way, haltingly, back to the gates of the Lonely Mountain. All around you, soldiers celebrated triumphs or cradled fallen comrades. Most remained on the fields, but a few dwarves were also making a beeline for the mountain. Company members, all of them. You’d hastily agreed to assemble in the entry hall whenever it seemed the battle was over.

Bofur. Ori. Nori. Glóin. As you reached the gates, you found yourself taking inventory, scanning your companions to make sure everyone was accounted for, and mostly intact. It made you feel like you were doing something useful.

Five were missing.

You turned your anxious eyes towards the Ravenhill. Thorin. Dwalin. Bilbo. Fíli. Kíli.

A hand squeezed your arm. “Lass–”

“Don’t, Balin,” you interrupted him. “Please don’t tell me they’re gonna be okay.”

He cleared his throat. “I was going to say, you need to get your face seen to.”

“It can wait,” you shrugged him off. Your face had long since numbed. Unfortunately for the rest of your body, it was better shielded from the cold by the thick clothes you’d borrowed from the dwarves. Your left ankle throbbed, sending twinges of pain up your leg with each step. A trail of dried blood led down your arm from a laceration to your shoulder, slowly scabbing over.

Balin shook his head and led you to sit down by the wall. You leaned your head back against the stone. Every breath billowed out in a frosty cloud.

He pulled a handkerchief from somewhere in his coat. “Óin!” he called to the medic, checking up on Ori a few yards away. “Anything for our lass?”

There was no response from the half-deaf dwarf until Ori swatted at his arm and gestured towards you. Óin grumbled something and tossed a flask in Balin’s direction. The old dwarf wet his handkerchief and started gently wiping at your face. You winced at the cold touch.

“Look!” someone shouted.

You lifted your head, dreading what you would see. Two figures appeared over the crest of a hill. Bilbo and Dwalin, you assumed. Canon survivors. You held your breath, tracking the movements of the eagles in the sky, waiting for them to descend with dead bodies in their talons.

But none did. Behind Bilbo and Dwalin, three more dwarves followed. Alive—one limping, another clutching at an arm. But alive.

You scrambled to your feet, ignoring Balin’s protests, and sprinted as fast as you could. Jolts of pain shot through your leg until you could run no more. Fíli caught you in his arms as your ankle finally failed beneath you.

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” you gasped, clutching at him. “You’re okay!” You’d forgotten all other words.

He hugged you to his chest, burying his face in your hair. “We’re alright. Everything is alright, amrâlimê.”

“Are you hurt?” you mumbled.

“Not badly.” Unsatisfied with the closeness, Fíli’s gloved hand curled around the back of your head and brought it even tighter against him.

You stifled a hiss of pain as his armor rubbed against your cheek.

He pulled back immediately, his eyes round and worried. “Oh, Mahal, Y/N,” he breathed. Fíli bit the end of his glove and yanked it off, tracing his thumb along a sensitive path on your face. When you again winced, he scooped you into his arms and rushed to catch back up with his brother and uncle.

Kíli, the limping one, nevertheless flashed you a quick grin. “We did it,” he panted.

You didn’t know what reaction you’d expected when Thorin and the boys returned. Cheers, celebration. Instead, they were met with silence, all activity stilled, the Company eying Thorin with uncertainty.

Thorin looked around. You could see him doing the same thing you had done, conducting a headcount. Satisfied, he gave a short nod. “See to the wounded. Balin, Dwalin, a moment.” The three dwarves gathered in the corner of the hall, heads down and voices low.

Careful of your ankle, Fíli sat you down and began cleaning your thawing face with Balin’s abandoned handkerchief. The gentle motions were comforting, until the alcohol-soaked cloth passed over your cheek. You jerked away with a yelp at the unexpected burst of pain.

Fíli winced, but he took your chin in his hand firmly. “It’s a bad wound, Y/N. I need to clean it.” He stripped off his glove. “Bite down on this for the pain. I’ll be as gentle as possible,” he promised.

Your eyes watered as he wiped you down, but you squeezed them tight and sank your teeth into the glove.

“I’m done,” he said at last. He patted himself down for a second, tearing off a scrap of his tunic and holding it against your cheek as a makeshift bandage. Taking his glove back, Fíli gave you a small smile.

You looked into his blue eyes, so full of life. Not hollow and sightless, the face that haunted your dreams. And Kíli, resting against the wall as Óin examined his leg. Not bleeding out in the snow. Thorin, talking quietly with his friends. Not lying atop the Ravenhill.

They were okay. Everything was okay. Finally, you let the walls holding back all your anxieties and fears fall. You collapsed against Fíli, weeping.

“Shh, shh,” he pleaded. He pressed gentle kisses into your hair. “Amrâlimê, please, please don’t cry.

“You were going to die,” you whispered, your breath hitching. “Please don’t leave me.”

His hand rubbed up and down your back. “I won’t ever leave you. I want to marry you!” Fíli drew back to look at you, his brow creased with sudden worry. “You will marry me, won’t you?”

You blinked away tears, voice still shaky. “Are… are you proposing?”

“Are you saying yes?”

The word stuck in your throat and it took you several tries to get it out. “Yes.”

The tension melted from his face. Fíli grinned, leaning in to rest his forehead against yours, still careful of your wound. “We’ll be alright, amrâlimê.”

[cornbread-but-minecraft]

Beta 3 for Cornbread's Texture Fixer is now out on Planet Minecraft!! Featuring a bunch of fixes for the new Tricky Trials blocks, items, and UIs, as well as a ton of other miscellaneous things like the chat settings popup and various gamepad helpers!

I have not yet updated the cover to reflect the release of the Tricky Trials update, but I will soon. Eventually.

Link

Changelog:

General Changes

The hover and pressed textures on the Realms button on the Title Screen are no longer swapped. (Added textures)

The rightmost pixel on the Realms button on the Title Screen no longer appears slightly stretched on some monitors. (Added JSON)

The enchantment glint no longer appears pixelated on the Mace. (Added Texture)

The item stack count in container screens is now layered correctly again (Mojang, why did you break this? It benefitted no-one). (Added JSON)

The hotbar is now aligned to the pixel grid. (Added JSON)

The item durability bar is now aligned to the pixel grid. (Added JSON)

Sandstone and Quartz Slabs now have their side textures again (Mojang broke them). (Added JSON)

The bottoms of Quartz Slabs now use the correct texture again (Mojang broke these as well). (Added JSON)

Specifically normal Blackstone Double Slabs now use the correct texture on their tops and bottoms (kind of an oversight on my part, but it still wouldn't have happened if Mojang had done it right themselves). (Added JSON)

Cartography Tables no longer use a custom bottom texture. (Removed JSON)

Polished Tuff Slabs now use a custom side texture. (Added JSON, texture)

Item Locks are now consistently layered above their associated item in container screens, like they are on the HUD. (Added JSON)

Tweaked anti-aliasing on the icon for the Darkness effect. It should now look better at lower HUD opacities. (Added texture)

The gamepad helper on the Dressing Room button on the Pause Screen now properly disappears when Hide Controller Hints is enabled. (Added JSON)

Various icons that should not turn green no longer do so when hovering over their associated buttons while using this pack alongside leaf4e's green hud with the default green hud subpack enabled. (Removed, added JSON (kinda? i mostly just renamed it))

Fishing Hooks are now rotated along a less broken looking axis than in vanilla. (Added JSON)

The Close Button on the Chest and Horse Screens now uses custom textures (textures/cb_custom_ui/dialog/) that fit a tiny bit better into the allotted space. (Added JSON, textures)

The Crafter Screen no longer looks horrendously broken! Still controls a little funky, but that's a job for Conglomeration (different resource pack). (Added JSON)

The pipes in the Brewing Stand Screen are layered correctly again! Not actually entirely sure what Mojang even did to break them in the first place, though. (Added JSON)

The shaded part of the indent on the Chat Settings panel is no longer a lighter color than its background. (Added JSON, texture)

Moved the Close Button on the Chat Settings panel (and similar) a pixel down and to the left for consistency with container screens. Hopefully this doesn't break anything. (Added JSON)

The scrolling elements on the Chat Settings panel are no longer cut off! The scroller is still slightly farther left than I would like, but those are hard :( (Added JSON)

The Gamepad Helpers on the Chat Screen are now properly layered beneath the darkness that appears when the Chat Settings panel is open. (Added JSON)

The Gamepad Helper for pasting text on the Chat Screen now properly disappears when Hide Controller Hints is enabled. (Added JSON)

The rightmost pixel on the background of the banner/panel thingy that appears when you click on a resource pack no longer appears slightly stretched on some monitors. (Added JSON)

The rightmost pixel on the outline of the world thumbnail on the Edit World Screen no longer appears slightly stretched on some monitors. Its size has not been fixed, though. (Added JSON)

Technical Changes

Moved all custom block textures (those being the ones that aren't in vanilla, like the slab side textures) to a new folder "textures/cb_custom_blocks" and renamed most of them.

Yes, I am aware that the folder name makes it sound like the blocks themselves are custom. I'll deal with that later maybe.

Removed an unused folder from the subpacks folder. Not sure why that was even there in the first place.

Furnace tweaks were moved to Conglomeration in a previous version. I have now removed the associated texture (textures/cb_custom_ui/container/furnace_arrow_on.png).

Unused part of the JSON for the background of the scrolling panel on the Trade Screen is now commented out instead of ignored.

Added global UI variable ("$cb_is_texture_fixer_beta_3": true).

A comment in ui/_global_variables.json that referred to java edition as just 'java' no longer does so and now ends with a period.

[s2project]

Xbox Adaptive Controller Hub

A dedicated page for information on the Xbox Adaptive Controller. Continuously updated. A more detailed breakdown is available past the jump.

Useful links:

Video guides to using the XAC by the MS Gaming Accessibility Team: Detailed visual breakdown on how to use the various XAC features, easier to parse and find info than the dedicated support pages.

Xbox Adaptive Controller Input Device Specifications: Specs on how exactly the ports on the XAC are wired, what inputs are supported, and how they connect to TRS and TRRS connectors. Useful for making custom switches/potentiometer based devices for the XAC.

OVERVIEW The Xbox Adaptive Controller is essentially a hub for pairing multiple input devices into a which output as a regular Xbox controller. The advantage of this is more flexibility in what devices and games you can connect to, without a reliance on separate software.

For example, you could use the USB inputs on the side to attach joysticks to emulate each analog stick, with other individual buttons controller by various other styles and sizes of switch.

Because this is a hardware solution, it can also be used on various other platforms by using converters. For example, you could use a Mayflash Magic S adapter to play on Switch or PS4.

The various 3.5mm jacks on the back also correspond to various inputs, so they can be switched on the fly by simply plugging them into a different port. Each of these ports can also be reassigned using the Xbox Accessories app on Windows or Xbox, and up to three profiles saved to the controller itself--not including the default, unchanged profile.

USB Port Mappings

There are two USB ports, one on either side, and which one you plug a controller into will decide which analog stick it is mapped to, and what the corresponding buttons do. Controllers must be D-Input/HID joystick protocol, meaning no Xbox controllers or controllers reading as x-input are supported. PS4 devices are also generally not supported, though if it has a PS3 compatibility option that may work.

The first 8 assigned buttons will be mapped automatically. These buttons can be remapped, but there will be some overlap on each USB port, and the available buttons CANNOT be reassigned. You'll want to know which buttons are available beforehand. Directional hatswitches/dpads will also not be assigned, unless they read as individual buttons.

The default mappings are show below.

You can see that each side shares the X1, X2, Menu, and View buttons, though with each flipping the 1,2 and 7,8 assignments.

NOTE: Reassigning the Menu and View buttons will NOT reassign the corresponding buttons on the XAC unit itself. So if you're ok accessing those buttons through the hub you can essentially treat those as two extra wild card buttons (X1 and X2 are the other wild cards).

Supported USB Controllers:

A list of controllers I've personally found to work with the XAC.

-8bitdo Lite 2: left analog, face buttons and shoulder buttons available. Triggers unmapped. (8Bitdo Lite does not work).

-Brook Fightboard PCBs: XB Fighting Board not compatible. PS4 compatible PCBs can be used by assigning the directions to Left Stick and making sure it boots up in PS3 mode.

-GP2040ce Advanced Breakout Board. Can be used by assigning the directions to Left Stick and making sure it boots up in Dinput mode.

-Logitech X52 HOTAS: analog axis, trigger, pinky and top buttons, as well as T1/T2 buttons detected. No twist axis or hat switches. Must be plugged into throttle to function, but no buttons or axes on the throttle are detected.

-Saitek AV8R-01 HOTAS PS3 Edition: analog axis, trigger, top buttons as well as T1-4 detected. No twist axis or hat switches.

-Thrustmaster T16000 HOTAS: analog axis, trigger, top buttons as well as the top button row on the left side, and rightmost button on the row below are detected. Function buttons can be switched by toggling the left/right handed switch on the bottom of the stick.

[phantomrose96]

Buds After the Frost

This was supposed to be a short warm-up writing exercise yesterday and then it got... longer. Enjoy!!

...

The doors opened for Maddie Fenton with a pneumatic hiss. Pressurized nitrogen released, splitting open the vacuum seal on the door as its twin halves slid apart, slotting into the wall-mounted sleeves. The nitrogen misted out, cold and dry, air currents catching in swirls around Maddie Fenton’s lab coat. Her feet thocked against hollow metal, amplified by the coldness and the vastness of the containment room beyond.

She paused short of the specimen’s cell, mindful attention drawn to the panel of controls nested rightmost against the wall. The monitor read out stats, tracked metrics of the specimen’s heartrate and blood oxygenation and blood pressure. Dials beneath the screens offered her means of interaction, manipulating the cage’s environment without needing to tamper with it by hand. She ignored these, as she had been ignoring them the entire time, and paid mind only to the single switch which would seal shut the doors behind her.

She pressed it. Another pneumatic hiss followed, locking out the world behind her. Her breath curled, cold. She and the specimen were alone.

“No coffee this morning?” he asked.

Maddie sat down at the control panel, elbow leaning against the dashboard for support. She turned to the cage. “No. One of the interns broke the pot last night. New one should be delivered today.”

Phantom let out a huff of air. “You mean in this whole gigantic mega-hyper-futuristic government lab, there’s nothing that can stand in as a coffee pot?”

“I wouldn’t stay employed long if I tried using equipment to brew coffee.”

“Use one of the big ectoplasm beakers. Ectoplasm washes out with soap and water. Just suds it up and throw it in the coffee maker. I’m an expert about these things.”

“It’s more about protocol.”

Phantom waved her off. “’Protocol.’ Bureaucracy is standing between you and a delicious cup of ectoplasmic coffee, Dr. Fenton.”

Maddie looked forward now, taking him in. He’d hovered to the front of the cell, translucent reinforced glass separating him from the rest of the lab. Green eyes shined above a cheeky smile, a dusting of loose white hairs falling over his eyes, the rest of his bangs swept slightly to the side. His tailed flickered, his aura pulsed, his vital readings blipped out steady, normal, healthy.

“Phantom?”

“Yeah?”

Maddie paused.

“Why are you still here?”

The ghost boy let out a small guffaw. He motioned his arms around him, hands waving. “I dunno. Maybe the big ghost-proof box I’m in has something to do with it?”

“The shield is down, Phantom,” Maddie answered quietly. She set her eyes to Phantom, investigating. “…I put it down last night. It’s down now. You knew this.”

Phantom took just a moment too long to react, eyebrows arching up. “Oh, huh! Nope I didn’t notice. I mean it’s not like I’m constantly throwing myself at the barrier to electrocute myself so no I just didn’t try getting past it last night so I didn’t notice.”

“Phantom,” Maddie said again, voice measured, words stern. “You saw me crank down the dial that controls the shield.”

“Well I don’t know what all those buttons and dials do.”

“Yes you do. You’ve been observing me since day 1. You knew.”

Phantom kicked back in the air, floating a fraction back and higher. “Well maybe I thought it was a trap, I dunno. Or maybe I just like to get in your head, you know? What unpredictable thing will Phantom do next! Gotta write another 200 equations about ghost theory to figure that one out, Dr. Fenton.”

“Phantom.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you not want to leave?”

“Oh I wanna leave.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

“We’re having a conversation. That’d be rude.”

“Will you leave as soon as I exit the room?”

“Who knows?”

“Phantom.”

“Yeah?”

Maddie stood. She left her chair and the control panel behind. She walked up to the specimen cage instead. It was cubic, a skeleton of metal bar ribbings with a metal mesh that plastered the glass sides like a membrane. The top anchored to the ceiling, the bottom—raised by about a foot—anchored to a pedestal on the floor. Maddie stared through the mesh into Phantom’s eyes.

“Is there anyone who realizes you’re missing?” she asked.

Phantom chewed on the question. “Nah. Well um, trick question, actually. Probably not. Assuming I do this right, then no one has even realized I’m gone.”

“Do what ‘right’?”

“You know that thing about Clockwork I explained?”

“You said he’s the ghost that controls time and reality.”

“Yeah. SUPER powerful.”

“And you said you …were from one of those other realities.”

Phantom nodded. “Maybe I touched some things in Clockwork’s lair I wasn’t actually allowed to touch. Jury’s still out on whether I’m in trouble for that or not. I’ve been a little too ‘stuck in this reality’ to know if Clockwork is pissed. But yeah, I got um, bopped into your reality instead of mine. So technically my reality is lacking me right now, and yeah there’s people there who’d know I’m missing.”

Phantom flipped upside-down, as though laying on his back. He rested his palms beneath his head, elbows out, suspended in an invisible hammock, head tilted far back so that he still stared at Maddie. “Especially since it’s been, what, a month that I’ve been gone?”

“2 weeks.”

“What? No way. I’ve been here absolutely forever it has to have been at least a month.”

“This is day 14 of your observation, Phantom.”

Phantom blew a strand of hair out of his face. “Anyway. Two weeks is still long enough to have a search party out on my butt. But whether or not that’s happened is up to – it’s kind of a Schrodinger thing. Because here’s my strategy. Assuming Clockwork hasn’t banned me from reality-hopping forever, I can just get him to send me back to my own reality at the precise moment in time I vanished. And then bam, no one ever knows I was gone. And it makes no difference whether I do that today, or next week, or next month. So assuming you eventually let me go, then I’m all set there.”

“You say that almost like you don’t care when it happens.”

“I dunno, more like I’m just not losing sleep over it. It’s not like I have a say in the matter. You do. I don’t.”

“Is the time you spend here just meaningless, to you?”

“I wouldn’t say meaningless. I’m still aging goddammit.”

“You’re a ghost.”

“I’m complex.” Phantom flipped right-side-up again. “If I start growing facial hair, send me back. I’m gonna have some awkward questions to answer if I show up again with a ghost beard suddenly.”

“…And what if I never send you back?” Maddie asked, careful with her words. “How does your plan work if you stay here forever? If I destroy you first?”

“Um. …It doesn’t, I guess.” Phantom set a hand to his chin, thinking. “Yeah um, please don’t do that. I don’t wanna worry my whole family like that.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“What part?”

“That you have a family.”

“I mean. I think that came up in Interrogation Session #3. Consult your notes.”

“I just have a hard time believing you.”

“Because I’m a ghost?”

“Yes.”

“I’m a complex ghost.”

“I know. You keep saying that.”

“It’s true.”

Silence filtered in between them.

“…What is your family like, Phantom?”

Phantom stiffened a fraction, his eyes finding Maddie’s and shifting away. “Oh, you know, family.”

“Do they exist here too?”

“Huh?”

“You’re from another reality, at least you’re claiming you are.”

“I gotta be. The me from this reality died 6 months ago, didn’t he?”

“The you from most realities is dead, Phantom. You’re a ghost.”

“A complex ghost.”

“The you from this reality was destroyed 6 months ago.”

“Which you validated with your own sciencey equipment, right? You said so! So you know I’m not lying. Unless you think I recombobulated myself from being a protoplasmic smear on the sidewalk.” Phantom caught himself, registering the flinch in Maddie’s body. He deflated a bit, eyes averted. “S-sorry. Inconsiderate phrasing.”

“Why?” Maddie asked, tone flat, blunt.

Phantom’s eyes shifted back. “Um. Just. You know. That accident was. There were um, you know—”

“Human causalities.”

Phantom squirmed. “We don’t have to talk about that, you know? No one wants to talk about that. Okay as a ghost I guess ‘talking about how I died’ is sort of a bit more normal, but this is weird yeah, ‘talking about how an alternate-me died permanently’? That’s morbid. No one wants to talk about that.”

“Okay then. You can go back to answering my previous question.”

“Um. I forget.”

“Does your family exist in this reality?”

“Um, well who really knows, you know? I had like a grand total of 20 minutes of freedom in this reality before you captured me, so, don’t ask me like I’m any kind of expert about your reality. What’s it matter?”

“I want to know if there’s anyone in this reality who’s mourning you.”

Phantom’s face schismed with surprise. His front dropped, and the first look of genuine emotion sank into his glowing eyes. “Woah… That’s um, weirdly nice, of you, I guess. Why do you… want to know?”

Maddie said nothing.

“I. Um. I think the answer is no? So don’t um. Worry about that. If you were worried? Which is weird. I’m the enemy, aren’t I? Evil spooky ghost to be studied?”

“I’m not so sure what you are…” Maddie answered. “I heard you got destroyed trying to save them.”

“The um… the human casualties?”

“Yes.”

“I said we don’t have to talk about that.”

“Phantom.”

“What?”

“Do you know who they were?”

“The… casualties?”

“Yes.”

“Come on we’re on a different topic now.”

“Do you know who they were?”

“I don’t—how’m I supposed to know? I don’t know how I died here, you know? You think I’ve got some kind of like… parallel-universe death vision?”

“So you don’t know?”

“N-no.”

“I have a different question, then.”

“Okay, good, because I haven’t been liking these previous ones.”

“Are you staying just to keep me company?”

Phantom faltered. He looked left, then right, hand scratching at his chin. “I’m staying because I’m in a ghost-proof box.”

“It’s not ghost-proof anymore. The shields are down.”

“I feel like you’re circling around some accusation I’m not smart enough to follow. This feels like entrapment.”

“Then I’ll be more direct.”

“Oh no there is an accusation.”

“I think you do know how you were destroyed in this universe, Phantom.” Maddie took a step forward, and she let her left hand touch the glass, eyes focused on her fingers. “I think you know what happened at the Nasty Burger.”

“That’s—um—the human food… consumption… location… that the local human adolescents meet at, yes?”

Maddie looked up, and she locked Phantom with her stare. He squirmed, and he relented.

“I um…” he continued. “I—yeah—yeah, okay? I know about the Nasty Burger accident. It was supposed to happen to me too in my reality but I—Clockwork—stopped it from happening in my reality.” Phantom glanced left, right, as if staring beyond the confines of his cage. “When I first got knocked into this reality, I went to go find the Fenton portal so I could try to refind Clockwork and fix this and… Well it wasn’t there. And I tried to find some people I know and… I checked out the library in case the Fentons just lived somewhere else and. I um. I found the articles.” His eyes focused on hers again. “They all say you were the only survivor, yeah…?”

“I was sick, that day. It was just a cold. My husband Jack went without me.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It took my daughter and my son too.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“And it destroyed you.”

Phantom opened his mouth, but no words followed.

Maddie looked up.

“You knew this. You’ve known this ever since I captured you.” Maddie let her hand slide away from the glass. “Did you let me capture you?”

“Why would I let you capture me?”

“Because you feel sorry for me.”

Phantom’s eyes flickered about, unwilling to meet hers. “…Nah. Nah. I don’t—come on ‘sorry’? I’m a ghost you know? Bane of humanity! We’re enemies. You were just too skilled a hunter and you captured me.”

“And yet you won’t leave.”

Phantom lapsed silent.

“I um… I wasn’t happy to read about—to know the, the thing at the Nasty Burger happened here, okay? That’s something that I kinda didn’t want to believe existed in any reality anymore, but I guess… And if you were still alive. I was… maybe just kind of happy to see you? That you were okay. And still hunting. That was kind of, like a small relief.” Phantom glanced away, back again. “I wasn’t evil, you know. In my reality or this one. I care about what happened to the Fentons…”

“You let me capture you. …And you did it because you thought it would be a nice thing for you to do for me.”

“I Just—I thought maybe, um… I mean when you phrase it like that. I mean what else could cheer up renowned ghost hunter Maddie Fenton quite like a ghost subject to study? Me, especially? The ghost boy or public enemy #1 or whatever. I’m fun, aren’t I?”

Silently, Maddie pushed away from Phantom’s cage. She moved to the control panel, stiff movements and numb fingers. She entered the release code into the console, and unslung the key from her neck to twist into the override, and she threw down each successive lever in the row of four lining the top of the mechanisms.

The scrape of glass sliding away sounded behind her. All four walls of Phantom’s enclosure dropped away, metal mesh sliding away piece-meal. Phantom stared at her, blinking, floating in place.

“You’re free to go, Phantom.”

“I—uh—well hang on, I don’t think the Guys In White would be too happy about that. You can’t just let me—”

“Go, Phantom.”

“They could like, fire you.”

“I don’t care about this job.”

“I—come on, you still wanna study me, don’t you? Chat with me? If you feel bad maybe just get me a couch and some video games for my cage then I’ll be—”

“Phantom.”

“What?”

“Go home to your family.”

The half-hearted smile dropped from Phantom’s face.

“Come on. You can’t just evict me on such short notice. I’m not ready for Clockwork to kick my ass so soon.”

“Go home.”

“I’m not in any rush! I like talking to you. Don’t you—don’t you like talking to me too? In like a scientific way?”

Maddie lowered herself into the chair by the control panel. She leaned forward, arms pooled in her lap, eyes to the floor. “You have a family to get back to, Phantom.”

“It’s—there’s time travel shenanigans! Like I said they don’t even know I’m gone.”

“Every single day, Phantom,” Maddie looked up, eyes stern, “…I wish every single day that my own family would just come back home. I won’t do the same to you. I won’t do the same to your family.”

Phantom said nothing. A somber acceptance sunk into his eyes.

“They’re… alive, you know. In my dimension.”

Maddie dropped her head, and she blinked away the wetness in her eyes.

“I actually… in my dimension I’m kind of closer to the Fentons than I think the, the Phantom in this dimension was. It’s… complex.”

Maddie said nothing. Silence built between them.

“Jazz is um… Jazz is applying for colleges, y-you know. She got in early-acceptance to Yale but um, we all—they all—visited Columbia last month and I think that’s what she wants the most. I can see Jazz in New York City. I think she’d rock it.”

Maddie blinked again. Tears plicked into her lap.

“…Should I stop?”

“Jack… Tell me about Jack.”

“Oh. Yeah he um… big and goofy as ever. He’s got some kind of eight-armed-octogun he’s working on. I know because I was his target practice, involuntarily by the way. He keeps trying to merge “Fenton” and “octopus” together with mixed results. We—Mo-addie—you… are still trying to talk him out of ‘Fentoctopus’.”

Maddie’s ribcage shuddered, a repressed sob, a repressed laugh.

“And Danny?”

“Danny… um… Danny is...” Phantom’s shoulders fell a little bit. He looked away, and then back at Maddie. “He loves you. I know that.”

Maddie blinked, and blinked again, and her eyes wouldn’t clear.

“And are they happy?”

“They’re happy.”

“Am I happy…?”

“You’re…” Phantom’s tail bounced. “You’re happy, I think. I like to think so. I think you’re very happy. You have a great family.”

Maddie nodded.

“Now go.”

“But I still—”

Maddie reached forward, and she grabbed the ecto-gun propped against the control panel. She lifted it into her shoulder, and flicked the safety, and the charge built along the rising whine.

“Go.”

Phantom balked. He blinked. He kicked away from his wall-less cage. “Not forever. I’ll be back. You won’t be alone here forever.”

He was gone.

And Maddie was alone again.

…

Clockwork surveyed the boy in front of him whose head was bowed nearly to the floor, white bangs trailing along cobblestone, hands clasped, apologies repeated, begging case made.

Clockwork ran a hand along his beard, which unfurled, drew back, undid itself with the shifting of his form to a simple child.

“So let’s see. You have the audacity to break my rules andbeg me to meddle on your behalf in the time stream, all in the same breath? Apologies don’t usually come with additional requests for favors.”

“I know,” Danny’s head dipped lower. “You can punish me however you want for touching the restricted timelines but you have to help it, or let me help this one timeline. Please, please just send me back to the Nasty Burger incident so I can save it.”

“It’s already been saved.”

Danny faltered. He looked up.

“You died at the Nasty Burger incident that night,” Clockwork elaborated, form shifting older. “There is no you to ruin that future. That timeline is safe. It’s a very lucky timeline.”

Danny blinked. “N-no. No that’s not what I mean. Save it like you saved my timeline.”

“That did happen. You’re describing your own timeline.”

“I mean do it to THAT one.”

“You are misunderstanding timelines.”

Danny lapsed silent. Worry bled into his eyes, and Clockwork sighed.

“There is no undoing timelines, Danny. There is only forking them by meddling in the stream. All futures and pasts you witness exist, and do exist, and continue to exist,” Clockwork paused, “with the exception of realities I needed to cull, to prevent utter catastrophe.” His gaze fixed on Danny. “The futures that your evil self destroyed, I did have to cull. And culling a reality is not to be done lightly.”

Clockwork motioned with his staff. “There were a handful of surviving realities that I was able to save. That room you meddled in without my permission—they contain the realities off the main track where, for one reason or another, something else succeeded at destroying your future self. …Your own deaths, in fact. In every one of those realities, Danny, you are dead.”

“I don’t…” Danny shook his head. “So then just tell me how to save that one I was in, okay?”

“Oh, that’s easy.”

“How?”

“You don’t.”

Danny said nothing. Clockwork shifted young.

“You can let it live on in that room, or you could ask me to cull it, Danny. You could ask me to cull every reality in that room, so that the main branch, the one you’re from, is the only reality in existence. So you never have to worry about any existence where your family is unhappy. And it will be that way until you, or I, or someone else, meddles with the timestreams again, and more splits occur.”

Still, Danny said nothing. Clockwork continued.

“Sometimes, a mass culling of realities is healthy for the tree of time, like pruning a plant down to its stalk to survive an unforgiving winter, or a terrible disease. But I did that, just recently, to save all of time from the blight of your future self. It would feel cruel to snip off the first buds that have come after the frost.”

Danny lowered himself to the floor.

“Okay…”

“Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay. Just. I have a different question then.” He looked up, a young devastation wet in his eyes. “Can I still go back and visit that reality, sometimes?”

“No. I cannot give you permission to do that.”

“Please!”

Clockwork spun his staff. A portal swirled into being in the space between him and Danny. Washes of color formed patterns, shapes, objects, images. Like a mirror, it reflected Clockwork’s lair beyond its shimmering surface.

“This is a portal back into your own reality. It is set to the location and the time that you vanished. Go there, and leave through the Fenton portal, and nothing will be amiss.”

“No. No no I won’t. Clockwork you have to let me—”

“I am doing you a favor, Danny, getting you home after you caused more trouble. Do not make further demands of me.” Clockwork curled forward, old, sallow skin sagging, and he turned his back to Danny.

“You have to give me permission—”

“I am the only one who has permission to meddle in realities, Danny. This is an absolute.” Clockwork glanced over his shoulder. “And because this is an absolute, I have no reason to have a lock on the room housing those budding other realities.”

Danny blinked.

“I wonder if anyone might break my rules anyway. I wonder if anyone might be nosy, and enter that room anyway, and water the plants in that greenhouse without my permission.” Clockwork stared forward again.

“Clockwork…”

“Luckily I am the master of all time. I would be able to see this coming. And maybe plan for it. If ever such a person would come into my lair, and meddle in my timelines, and try to spread a bit of his own kindness to the realities he couldn’t quite save, I would be fully prepared to stop him.” Clockwork spoke into the green abyss beyond him. “Unless, maybe, I were to accidentally have my back turned.”

Silence trailed after Clockwork’s words. He kept his back to Danny, staring into the abyss of swirling green ether beyond.

“…Thank you,” Danny answered, quietly. “I’ll be back.”

“I imagine you will. Those realities may get lonely without you.”

When Clockwork glanced back over his shoulder, both Danny and the portal were gone.

[dsknsk]

battle system recap

You can choose up to 5 characters in battle, who will actively participate. However, 7 other characters can act as support, who will still somehow affect those that actively participate. I’m not sure how.

The five at the left are the participants, and the seven at the right are the supports. 

You chain the order of moves to enact at the bottom part of the screen. The order of everyone is decided by their own speed stats. If three of them are of the same color, they will be strengthened, and even further if they’re next to eachother. I’m assuming it’s like the Puella Combo thing in Magia Record.

You will be able to check what the move does and how effective it is against the selected enemy. The move icons in the distance will descend down if you use the ones at the front, and it’ll refill automatically. Because you can see the next two moves or so that appear later, you can technically plan ahead. You will also be able to guard, reducing damage. Each turn, a random ally will be given an extra column.

For as far as I can see, you can also check if it will be one-sided or if it will be a clash. By default, they will attack the frontmost enemy first.

Part of the combat system retains elements of Ruina’s: the Blunt/Slash/Pierce as well as their weaknesses, and Evade/Block/Counter. The latter though, is still in development. They’ll probably show us those later.

Stagger is still a thing as well. Similarly to the previous game, you can’t connect any move of a staggered unit. Not every move has to be chained, it looks like, and turns are ended anyway if you reach the rightmost part of the board. Once you do so, everyone will move simultaneously. Ruina did this too, but it’s a refreshing thing in the land of turn-based games anyway. It makes it so that I don’t see these two as strict turn-based games.

Used moves will be converted into elemental resources of their color. These resources keep passive abilities alive. However, you also need it to activate E.G.O on those who have it equipped. As it fluctuates, certain passives can become inactive.

The effects of E.G.O will also help the user in the turns afterwards. However, if the user’s sanity meter is low, then they can fall into E.G.O Corrosion. It’s more powerful but ‘they will be uncontrollable’. My best guess is that it’s like a more detrimental Doppel that charges aversively.

^ normal E.G.O attack

^ E.G.O Corrosion attack

The battle in a more advanced state.

Do keep in mind everything is still subject to change. Currently, a second battle video is in the works, and it looks like they’ve at least removed some of the motion blur. A video with combat against an Abnormality will also be uploaded.

[kaitoujokerscans]

The Night the Silver Cape is Set Ablaze CH8

<8> Battle Between Rivals

"Hmm, I don't get it..." In the Riviera HQ corridor, Joker tilted his head.

"Same here. Should we do a magic square or rock-paper-scissors like we did before?" Beside him, Hachi tossed out a random guess.

"The magic square and rock-paper-scissors... Ohh! I know!" Joker suddenly exclaimed.

"Joker-san, did you figure it out?"

"Yep, thanks to your hint. You have to combine the magic square and rock-paper-scissors for this puzzle. We just have to work out which one wins every time when going horizontally, vertically, and diagonally!"

"Really?" Hachi examined the numbers.

Joker took out a notepad from his pocket and copied down the 16 numbers. "First, going vertical. The leftmost column is {5, 0, 0, 0}, which works out to paper, rock, rock, rock. Paper wins. That means all the 0s lose," Joker said and crossed out the three 0s.

"Next is the second column. This is {2, 5, 2, 5}, making it scissors, paper, scissors, paper. Scissors wins here, so the 5s lose," said Joker, crossing out the two 5s. "Do the same for the third and fourth columns and X out the rest like this, see?" Joker crossed out the 2s in the third column and the 5s in the fourth column.

"I get it. So any of the numbers that lose here aren't the one we're looking for, right?"

"Yeah. Now go horizontally. Do the same rock-paper-scissors conversions we did with the columns, and..." He went across the rows crossing out one number after another, and in no time, there were only two numbers left out of the sixteen. The other fourteen were all crossed out. The remaining numbers were the 2 in the top row, rightmost column, and the 2 in the second column.

"Which of these two is stronger?" asked Hachi.

Joker puffed up as he answered. "There's still the diagonals, right? The line going from the top-right to the bottom-left is {2, 0, 2, 0}, rocks and scissors, so the scissors lose!" Joker crossed out the top-right 2 last of all.

"Which means..."

"Right. The 2 in the top row, second from the left, is the 'number that doesn't lose'!"

"I see now. That was incredible, Joker-san!"

"I got it because of your hint, you know. All right, time to push the button!"

"Okay! Right on!" Hachi jumped up and pushed the "2" button. There was a low beep, and then the clang of something unlocking. The door slowly opened, revealing the door of the safe holding the Riviera recipe behind it. It certainly looked like a sturdy door.

"Let's get to opening this thing up!" Joker pulled a giant electric saw out of hammerspace.

"Joker-san, what's that...?"

"Hm? This baby can crack open any door or safe. It's my custom Joker electric saw!"

"Then couldn't you just have used that from the start!?"

"Ha ha, now that wouldn't be any fun. A phantom thief uses his brain wherever possible when breaking in." Joker smiled from ear to ear, just before hitting the electric saw's power switch. After a LOT of noise and rattling, the safe was quite literally busted open.

Joker fished the recipe page out of the safe where it had been kept. But he didn't exactly look pleased. "Sheesh, what a letdown. And here I thought I'd finally get back at him for what happened with the Crimson Crystal."

What he said confused Hachi. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"This is where Noir works."

"Whaaat!? Really!?"

Joker picked up an empty popcorn bag off the ground and started to explain. "Yeah. After Noir quit being a spy, he ended up in charge of security at Riviera HQ. If you wanna protect an international secret, get yourself an international spy."

"That makes sense. So he got a job where he could put his spy skills to use... But then why is Noir not around? It's unsettling how there's nothing here."

"You've got that right. I thought sure he'd have a trap set..."

They looked around at the safe room again. It was stark empty, not even a desk or table in sight. Save for a small security camera in one corner, there didn't seem to be much of a security system at all.

"Well, whatever. Let's blow this joint."

Joker and Hachi were just about to leave, when...

The door that they had just come in through budged.

"It's gotta be Noir...!" Joker reflexively pulled out his cards. But the one who came in wasn't the person he had expected.

"Spade!"

"Spade-san!"

Right in front of their eyes were Spade and Dark Eye, who had opened the last door and entered the safe room. They looked surprised to see Joker and Hachi as well.

"Joker!?"

"Kyo kyo kyo!"

"Spade, what are you here for?""

"I could ask you the same thing? Wait, what about Noir...?" Spade asked, darting his eyes around. Apparently Spade had also learned about Noir's link to this place and had come to steal the treasure.

"He's not here. You were a step too late, besides. The 'Riviera Recipe' is mine!" Joker dangled the recipe page and waved it about.

"...Oh, so that's what you were after. Where's Noir? There's something I have to return to him," Spade said, taking an object out of his pocket.

When he saw what it was, Joker was shocked. "That's my Crimson Crystal!"

Spade held up the bright red gemstone and turned up the corners of his lips. "That's right. Noir left it with me because he wanted me to return it to you. But my pride won't let me do that."

"Pride? What exactly did Noir tell you?"

"Well..." Spade clammed up. Noir had said something that injured his pride, no doubt about it. Joker had some idea of what it was. Noir had stolen his treasure.

Then, realizing something, Spade inhaled sharply. "Now I get it. This is Noir's strategy."

"Strategy?"

"He damaged our psyche and provoked our anger, all so that we would come across each other like this."

"You mean he knew that we'd come here?"

"Yes, exactly. And we each have the treasure that the other wants..." Spade's gaze focused on the recipe in Joker's hand. He probably also wanted the recipe so he could put Noir to shame. And in Spade's hand was the Crimson Crystal which Joker had stolen from Kaneari. The two of them stared each other down.

"Joker, this is a great opportunity. How about whoever wins gets the other's treasure?" Spade shot an incendiary look at Joker. He recalled what Noir had said: "Go ahead and chase behind Joker forever..." I'll prove him wrong...!

Joker whipped out his cards and readied himself as well. "Fine by me. Let's do this, Spade!"

"Here I come, Joker!" Spade swiftly unholstered his Ice Shot and aimed it.

A low bellow droned through the dark sky. An enormous ship floated upon the endless night ocean. It was one of the world's most luxurious passenger crafts, Urban of the Sea. The ship, which was 3000 meters long, housed over 1000 guest rooms as well as all kinds of recreational facilities. With its own pool, restaurant, theater, multiple liquor lounges, an ice-skating rink, and even a rock-climbing wall, it was like an entire city stuffed onto a boat. It hosted over 3000 passengers per voyage and visited tourist destinations all over the world.

Tonight, this enormous ship was filled with silence.

The ship had been rented out to VIPs from the Kingdom of Lachla. These VIPs were staying in the best guest room there was, and it was in this room that the Lachla Crown was being kept under heavy security.

This guest room was near the fore of the ship. Spaced away from it, at the aft of the ship, was a huge structure. Though "huge" is an understatement — it was as tall as a five-story building. This cabin, with its obtuse angles, curved up to a circular floor at the top. It was meant as an observatory deck where one could survey the outside scenery. A man stood atop the observatory deck, his black cape fluttering. It was Noir. He was quietly awaiting Silver Heart. Soon, I can have my long-awaited revenge...

"So you're here..." murmured Noir, sensing a presence. A man had come up behind him. His white double-breasted suit was smartly buttoned, and his silver cape fluttered. His straight, upright bearing hardly suggested his age. This was the legendary phantom thief, Silver Heart!

"It's been a long time, Noir."

"Yes. I wanted to see you, Silver... or rather, you're Silver Heart now, aren't you?"

Strangely enough, Silver Heart didn't feel at all wistful as he observed Noir. He had certainly aged, but Noir's face hadn't lost the keenness from when he had known him as a spy. Silver Heart glared at Noir. "I heard, Noir. So you've become a phantom thief."

"Yes, I retired from being a spy. Because of you. Now I'm the head of security for a beverage manufacturer."

"Because of me?"

"You heard me. You ran away from me and kept being a thorn in my side..."

"You're right. I was probably running away from you... from my responsibilities as a spy. I couldn't put up with the ruthlessness of it anymore. I couldn't become as cold-blooded as you..."

"Heh heh heh, are you so sure that's the case?"

"What...?" Silver Heart continued to stare down Noir.

"We'll fight once more, with you as cold-blooded as you once were. Whoever wins the match can take the Lachla Crown," said Noir. He pulled the cloth off a table set up on the deck. Lying upon it was a crown studded with brilliant jewels. Noir had already stolen the Lachla Crown!

"I've already put the Lachlans to sleep. If you want this, you have to steal it from me."

"So that's what you're after..."

"This brings me back... you and I once infiltrated Lachla in order to destroy this. But it was your fault that the plan went awry. Now that I think about it, we've been at odds ever since..." Noir mused, his eyes focused on the crown.

But Silver Heart lowered his voice and spoke. "I will never again be like I was. There's not an ounce of spy left in me."

"Heh heh heh, humans don't ever really change. You're a cold-blooded spy. And if you aren't, you'll never be able to win against me..."

"That's not true. I'm going to fight against you as a phantom thief." Silver faced back to Noir and strengthened his grip on his rod. "Noir, our long-overdue reunion wasn't so emotional after all..."

"I expected as much. Here I come, Silver!" Not even a moment later, Noir kicked off the ground and lunged at Silver Heart.

The floor split open with a bang, and Joker and Spade plummeted down towards the floor below.

"Joker-san!"

"Kyo kyo, Spade-sama!"

Hachi and Dark Eye peeked down over the edge to see them lying on the ground, still squabbling with each other. The lower floor was a recreational sports center with a pool, exercise machines, a running track, and more. They let each other go, took their distance, and stood off against each other.

"Been a while since I fought you like this, Spade."

"Yes, but that's because you never take me seriously."

"Not true!" Joker took an advance notice card out of his pocket and quickly scribbled something on it. "Spade, I'm gonna take the treasure from you, no two ways about it!"

"Heh heh heh, now that's more like it. Then we'll face off in a minute-long match, like the one you lost to Noir in."

"Ghh..." Joker bit his lip bitterly. So Spade had known about Joker and Noir's match after all. "All right. I'll steal the treasure from you in one minute, no more than that!"

"And if you can't?"

"I can!" Joker pulled cards out of his breast pocket and threw them at Spade. "Emblem Fire!" The cards caught fire one by one and flew straight towards Spade.

"Ice Shot!" Spade used his Ice Shot to closely target and freeze the cards.

"Not bad! Emblem Fire!" Joker tossed more cards out. A flurry of cards scattered to every corner of the room, sticking into the walls and sinking into the pool. While Spade was shooting down the cards that were coming his way, Joker jumped to the side. He flipped around and leapt toward Spade. Once he was in front of him, he fanned out his cards. "Straight Flash!"

"Not good enough! Ice Shot Mirror!" Spade spun his Ice Shot around and made a small mirror of ice in midair. It reflected the light from the Straight Flash, blinding Joker.

"Gwah!"

"Ha ha ha! Your attacks are so repetitive!" Spade froze the pool with his Ice Shot, slid the blades out of his shoes, and skated onto the makeshift rink. "Catch me if you can!"

"Gah! Says the guy who only ever uses Ice Shot!"

Going after Spade, Joker stepped onto the makeshift rink. But he slipped and fell right onto his back with a magnificent thud. "Owwwww...."

"It's been almost a minute. There's no way I'm going to lose to you...!" Spade spun about on the ice and faced back to him. He was saying this not just about Joker, but about Noir as well.

"Say that again...?" Joker glared hard at Spade.

Spade was looking down at Joker with cold eyes. "Now that I'm standing before you like this, I feel a bit of pity. For myself. I hate how bothered I am by your existence."

"..." Joker listened quietly.

"Well, it's just about time. Fifteen seconds left... if you admit your loss here and now, I'll at least acknowledge you have the skills to be my rival." Spade silently pointed his Ice Shot.

But Joker shook his head with a derisive laugh. "No thanks. I'll decide my rivals on my own. And Spade, you're my rival in every respect."

"I'm what...?"

Just then, the ice under Spade's feet cracked loudly. "What!?" Spade involuntarily lost his balance. Joker immediately ran up to him and swiped the Crimson Crystal out of Spade's hand. At the same time, he pushed against the ice and jumped over to the poolside.

"Waaaugh!" The ice surrounding him split, and Spade splashed into the pool. Thoroughly soaked, Spade poked his head out of the water with a gasp and scowled at Joker. "W-What... did you do!?"

"It's simple. I set up my Emblem Fire inside the pool."

"You what...!?" Sure enough, when he looked at the ice, there were ashes from the burned cards. "...But the fire should have gone out when it was underwater!"

"Didn't you know? Gunpowder doesn't need external oxygen to burn, so it can stay aflame even underwater. There's a substance in fireworks that lets them keep burning even when they're immersed."

"You're kidding..."

"As soon as I saw the pool, I knew you'd freeze it over. That's why I shot Emblem Fire into it in advance. Then I just had to wait for the spot you were on to melt."

"You... predicted my attack..."

"Heh heh, you're pretty repetitive too," said Joker, spitting Spade's words right back at him. "Just as warned, I've stolen the Crimson Crystal in under a minute!"

"Ghh...!" Spade bit his lip and balled up his fists.

"Spade, you can challenge me any time," grinned Joker.

Just then, they heard a scream from outside the window. "KYAAAAAAAA!"

Looking out, they saw a blob of pink in the night sky approaching them at high speed. It was Queen, holding onto Balloon Gum.

"Queen!?"

Carried by powerful gusts of wind, Queen was hurtling their way.

She's going to crash into the window glass...! Joker used his Emblem Fire and Spade used his Ice Shot to break the glass, and Queen was forcefully swept into the building.

"T-Thanks."

"Queen, what's up?"

"Trouble. Noir sent out an advance notice. He's going to steal the treasure that Grandpa is after!"

"He's what!?" Joker and Spade exclaimed in unison.

Then there was a series of loud rumbles as reinforced shutters rolled over each wall and the ceiling.

"Oh shoot...!"

The three of them were trapped on this floor.

[momogaoka]

Header Coloring Tutorial

(Requested by anonymous)

What you need:

Adobe Photoshop (any version)

VLC Media Player/ KMPlayer / any player with screengrab capabilities

Mood music (optional)

Here I will be showing you how I make my headers, specifically in a pastel coloring style. This is a long image-heavy post! You can find the whole tutorial under the cut.

0. Put on some background music.

I like to listen to Tatsuro Yamashita's music when I make pastel GIFs/edits because I feel like his songwriting is pastel-colored. (He's also an amazing musician overall. I highly recommend his 1980 album Ride On Time!)

1. Find the image/scene you want to use.

When finding scenes to screengrab, I recommend working with video files that are 1080p or higher. 720p is adequate, but if you have the option to get a copy in 1080p, do it! Avoid working with anything lower than 720p.

To screengrab, open the video file in VLC / KMP / etc. then take a screengrab of the scene you want to use. Each player has different controls for taking screengrabs; go to Settings to find out the keyboard shortcuts.

The screengrab we're using for this tutorial is from Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Classic Episode 15. Here is the "raw" version:

2. Open your screengrab in Photoshop.

Open Photoshop, then click File > Open > [your screengrab]. Usually VLC / KMP will save the file in your Pictures folder.

3. Crop the image.

Click the Crop Tool, then type in your desired width and height in pixels (px). For headers, it doesn't really matter what size you pick as long as the aspect ratio is 16:9. This online aspect ratio calculator is incredibly useful.

(Disclaimer: I realized only after taking all the screenshots for this tutorial that the example I'm using doesn't have a 16:9 aspect ratio. My apologies. Anyway, do as I say, not as I do. LMAO)

4. Sharpen your image.

Initially, in the Layers panel, you should have one layer named Background. Right-click this layer, then click Duplicate Layer. Then click the eye next to the Background layer to make it invisible.

Now click the Background copy layer. On the menu bar at the top of the screen, click Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. These are my settings:

Sometimes the difference isn't so readily apparent, but when an image is sharpened, it goes:

(This next step is optional.)

To achieve a sharp look but with softer edges, duplicate the Background copy layer. Click the Background copy 2 layer. Then click Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. These are my settings:

At first the image will get all blurry, so set the Background copy 2 layer's opacity to 30%.

5. Create these four adjustment layers as your base.

This is the base I use for almost all of my edits. It helps set the "look" I'm going for.

(I learned this from this tutorial by @completeresources​.)

Above the Layers panel, you'll find the Adjustments panel.

a.) Click Levels (top row, second from left). This adjustment will lighten the image considerably and sort of wash out the colors.

These are my settings:

When you're done, click the arrow at the bottom to return to the Adjustments list.

b.) Click Selective Color (bottom row, rightmost).

Click the drop-down button next to Reds and choose Blacks (at the very bottom of the list). Then move the Black slider (bottom slider) up to 100%. This will "protect" the blacks in your image once you start going crazy with the coloring later.

c.) Click Vibrance (middle row, rightmost).

Set the vibrance to around 30-40. I went with 35 here. This will make the colors pop just a tiny (almost invisible) bit.

d.) Click Gradient Map (bottom row, second from right).

Click the black-and-white option, then OK.

In the Layers panel, change the Gradient Map's blending option from Normal to Exclusion. Then set the opacity to 10%. Now the image will look slightly faded.

Now let's compare the image before and after these adjustments:

6. Adjust the coloring.

So first of all, I just have to say that Selective Color is my best friend. I use it all the time (way too much).

As you can see, the most prominent color in the image is light purplish-pink. I was really feeling the pink, so I wanted to make the image even more pink. To do this, click Selective Color, then select Magentas from the list. I don't have a fixed formula for coloring, so all I really do is play around with the sliders until I find the color I want. Experiment as much as you like. After fiddling with the sliders, these are the settings I ended up with:

Now the purplish parts are essentially gone.

But the yellow-green of the trees is still a little too striking for me, so I clicked Selective Color again, then selected Yellows. I fiddled with the sliders again and ended up with this:

Now the trees don’t clash as much with the pink anymore.

I'm still not completely sold on this coloring at this point. Now I want to add a bit of blue. So I adjusted the Color Balance (middle row, third from left).

These are my settings:

And this is the image:

Some of the purple bits have returned, though they're not as prominent as they were before. The image is still mostly pink.

7. Add one last Gradient Map. For the final step, add a Gradient Map just like last time. But instead of setting the blending option to Exclusion, this time set it to Overlay with the opacity at 10%.

And now here is our finished header:

8. Add a divider. (optional)

If you want an asymmetrical divider or a torn paper divider, here's what you have to do.

a.) Asymmetrical divider - Click the Polygon Tool and make sure the Sides are set to 3 and the color is white (#ffffff).

Now draw a triangle over the header. Make it slightly bigger than the image itself. Then click the Move Tool and check the Show Transformation Controls box so you can adjust the size and placement of the triangle.

This is how the header looks with this type of divider:

b.) Torn paper divider - In the Layers panel, click the New Layer button (second from left, next to the trash can) and set the blending option to Screen.

Then select the Brush tool and pick a brush that could imitate torn paper edges. (The brush I used here is from @completeresources​’ 20k celebration pack.) Then draw over the image. Fill in any gaps if necessary.

This is how it looks with the torn paper divider:

9. Save your header. Click File > Save for Web & Devices. Alternatively, you could also click Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S. Make sure it's set to JPEG, then click Save.

Now your header is ready to use!

So that's how I make my headers, but this is definitely not the only way to color images. There are so many more tutorials out there for other styles of coloring. Keep studying and keep experimenting until you find the style that you really like.

I hope this tutorial helped!

[anistarrose]

Galar Region Map Analysis -Placing the trailer scenes

Let’s start with this segment, since it includes the apparent starting town:

The yellow-roofed house appears to be where the protagonist lives, and the red-roofed house seems to have the Fletchling weathervane from the intro of the trailer. It’s hard to see on the house itself on the map, but the windmill in the background provides another hint.

Fletchling in a beginning of the game cutscene? Kalos postgame confirmed

Putting the rest of the pictures under a cut, because it’s long.

Next, we have Route 1 and the town that it leads to. We can tell the Pikachu encounter is on that same route since the buildings in the background match (though who knows if there will actually be Pikachu on that route in the actual game).

Just beyond that first town is the purple house on the lake, with a small battlefield outside. There’s also a smaller house/shed across the lake that isn’t on the map.

This is just speculation, but I wonder if this is the professor’s lab. Another scene in the trailer shows the female protag in a very lab-like building, full of bookshelves, computers, and some sort of controlled environment, and then immediately cuts to right outside the purple house.

So not confirmed to be the lab, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I also could see the lab being the Fletchling weathervane building right next to the protagonist’s house.

Leading out of the red building in the first town is a set of train tracks, which eventually lead into a tunnel through a mountain. There are other potential locations for this scene, but it seems likely that this could be where the scene inside the mine takes place, thanks to the train tracks present inside that cave.

Or on the other hand, you could simply take a train through the mountain, since the building the tracks lead out of does look like it could be a station.

There’s one last detail I noticed about this part of the map: the road leading away from the protag’s house branches off in two different directions, one leading to Route 1 and the other towards what appears to be a forest with fog floating over it. 

That could be the same forest as this one, which we only glimpsed briefly in the trailer. The footage we have right now seems like it could come from a cutscene as we enter the area for the first time.

That’s everything of interest I can find for this section, so let’s move on to the next:

There’s some interesting stuff here, like the crumbling tower, the long bridge, and the red train station near the bottom that appears to match the station in the early town. Most prominent is the steampunk-looking city, which was featured in the starter reveal animation as well as several scenes in the trailer. Given how many cameos this town gets in the trailer, I’m guessing it’ll probably be the “mascot city” of Galar, much like Lumiose was for Kalos.

It looks like three different paths lead away from this city: one towards the brown mountains on the left, one towards the route in the middle of Galar with Stonehenge-like formations, and the last towards the green hills of the east. Both eventually reach towns that appear to have Gyms. 

This one, with the yellow fields surrounding it, got a lot of screentime in the trailer:

Based off the leaf symbol above the gym door and the general aesthetic of the town, I think it’s safe to call this a Grass-type gym.

We see this hill nearby the Grass gym town, which appears to depict a bipedal figure launching an attack. The town has a lot of Stonehenge-like rocks assembled into arches (seen in the map) and engraved with symbols (seen in the trailer), so it’ll probably have some plot importance.

This one didn’t get any shots in the trailer that I noticed, but between the color of the gym building and the apparent port theme of the town, I think it’s most likely a Water gym. There’s some striped awnings in the bottom left corner of the town, which could indicate a sort of marketplace where items are sold or moves are tutored. The boat at the dock might be able to take you somewhere in the postgame, especially since with the UK flipped upside down, that port isn’t too far from where Ireland should be.

These places didn’t get any distinctly identifiable appearances in the trailer either, and if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because a lot of plot stuff starts going down around here. We can spot at least two gyms: likely rock or ground for the brown building in the mountainous area, and possibly Poison or Psychic for the purple building in the mushroom area. (Or maybe Fairy, but that would feel like a bit of a rehash of Laverre City to me. Plus, the color would probably be pink in that case.)

We can also spot a couple different caves (including another featuring train tracks, in the bottom right) as well as one in the rocky area that seems to be beneath some sort of colorful... mural? My first impression was stained glass, but I’m not sure how that would work. On the rightmost side of the rocky area, there are three arch-shaped structures, and I’m not sure if they’re meant to resemble doors, faces, or something else entirely.

The gray-walled city has an interesting two-horned emblem on the front, which could be based off a new Pokemon. Too bad it’s not that detailed in the map.

Here we have the start of an extensive snowy area, featuring ice floes and some fairly fancy looking buildings that we see in the trailer:

If we look in the back of the map, we can make out another one of those gym buildings, which I’m just going to assume is Ice.

The last section of the map features a long icy stretch where it looks like the train track is still being laid, possibly serving as a barrier to block us from progressing in that direction until we beat whatever gym. The city is pretty clearly based of London, and you can make out Big Ben and the London Eye on the left side. 

That’s all I’ve noticed - tell me if I missed anything! I might do this again for future trailers, if people find this interesting.

[writeanapocalae]

Nano 2019 Day 14 Writing Part 2

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 part 1

There were more shelves, most of which were empty, and there were floor plans, maps, and large swaths of fuse boxes on the walls. The water was still underfoot, still safe beneath him, and there were a few lights on the walls that weren’t functional. The mildew and mold on the walls was thicker, stronger, and taking over so much, dipping down into the water and preserved under the glass.

And there was the spined thing. He hadn’t even seen all of it, but it pressed into the remnants of the door and, even though the wood was mostly solid down there, as soft as it was, it slid through. It slid through as if the door wasn’t even there. It moved like there were no obstacles, the glass that kept them apart being the only thing that slowed it down. The shill in Anton’s spine grew stronger, the fear that there was more to this, he knew. There was obviously more happening that he couldn’t see and, far more than that, there was nothing that he could understand. That was more of a fear for him than the things that he saw. He was a detective. It was his job to understand, to put things together and figure out what it all meant. He couldn’t. Everything here was nonsense.

It coiled beneath his feet, wriggling and clacking its bones against the surface tension. It was less agitated now and he didn’t know if that was more or less of a concern.

Another shout from upstairs. He couldn’t recognize the voice from where he was but it definitely his name. He couldn’t imagine it being anything else.

Then he saw the generator. It was an old style, with a large crank on one side, with tubes and wires on the front. It was, of course, under the water. Which would mean it wouldn’t work. He had worked so hard on this already and now, there was no point to any of it. He thought that he was going to make a difference, that he would get some electricity and that would help them find each other and get out of there.

But now there was no point, not to any of it.

He wanted to give up. He was already so tired and now he just wanted to sit, put his head against the wall, and sleep. He wouldn’t the mold was far too much, the smell of it making him feel sickly, but he felt tired all the way into his bones. He did get on his knees though, wrap his arms around his chest so that his hands were on his shoulders, and rock gently. It wasn’t something that he did often, something that came upon him when he felt too much anxiety. He hadn’t had anxiety in a long time either. He hadn’t had an anxiety attack since R came into his life.

There was a cracking sound. It was from the same distance as the yelling. It sounded like metal on cement, like something hard being thrown into something harder.

He looked up, not far, but just a bit. Whatever was going on upstairs, it was something that wasn’t supposed to be happening. It would have sounded different if it was supposed to be happening and his name wouldn’t have been involved.

Looking up though, he saw a bit of hope. There was a series of valves on the wall, right in front of him and he could have kicked himself at his own stupidity. Above the valves there was, written in the same painted font as before, “Draining Systems”. He wished that he had light, he would have surely noticed this if there was light. He couldn’t have been that stupid.

Anton pulled himself up to his feet and went to them, grabbing a hold of the first of the valves. None of them were labeled but there was a small pressure gauge to the side of them, the red hand sitting consistently at the right. He had to lower the gauge and by doing that he would lower the water level.

The first of the valves didn’t budge, but the one in the center, the smallest of them, did, easily, and when he turned it as far to the left as he could, he could hear the water start to drain. It wasn’t fast, he couldn’t see the difference, but the pressure was decreasing slightly. If he waited a minute or two he could actually see the needle move a tick away from the danger zone. He tried the third one as well and that one made a difference. It was hard to pull over to the left and he had to force it, hearing it scrape against the hole it was drilled into, and then he had to hold it in position. The smaller one immediately slid back to the right when he had his attention on the rightmost one but it didn’t seem to matter much, the gauge was still moving down faster.

Half way to empty and the gauge stopped moving. The water was only half way down and he cursed, looking at it. The generator still wasn’t going to work, it was fully soaked and saturated in moisture. The tank would be full of water as well.

The spined thing was no longer submerged. It was in the same spot as before, trying to get to him, more agitated than it was in the water. Now it was just floating there, not caring that that was impossible because nothing was possible about it.

He’d thought it was some sort of creature or, hopefully, a machine, though its body looked too organic for that. Instead it was literal spines, human spines, true in shape and length, braided and rolling along one another. Heads flashed in and out of existence, coiling into one another the same way that the echos of faces, of sentience, had in the androids they had first met. These faces were stretched and charged with agony, lit from within as if they were made of hellfire.

He couldn’t imagine what they were, nor how they even existed. He didn’t want to think about why they were there.

Back at the valves he shoved the fireax into the wall as best he could, dislodging chunks of cement as he dug the blade as deep into it as he could. The handle poked through the spokes of the valve, holding it in place, letting him move his attention back to the smaller of the valves. Like before, it moved easily, but it didn’t do much to lower the pressure. He was able to get it down another two lines before he gave up on it, moving once more to the stuck valve.

Now it moved. As it did water started to sputter and dribble from the hole that the valve was inserted into. It was still hard to do, and it shuddered with how he forced it, but it was something. The pressure was going down again. The right most valve groaned and pulled at the ax, but he ignored it. He was making progress.

He shoved the valve over, as hard as he could, and there was a loud draining sound. The water slicked down, rushing towards the drains that he couldn’t see. They must have been in a different room then, the water running through the wood in the same way that the bones had.

There were a few gas tanks on the shelves and Anton grabbed one. He didn’t exactly know what to do with it, it was, after all, very expired. He didn’t know the exact length of time it took for gasoline to expire, but he did know that it did. If it lost potency, it would still work though, he was sure of that.

The gas was expired, the generator was full of water, and there was both glass and something indescribable between him and the generator. He knelt down, looking at it. What was exposed above the waterline before wasn’t helpful to him, the crank didn’t reach high enough and if it had he wouldn’t have been able to turn it. He was going to have to break the glass in order to reach it. And, in doing that, he would have to deal with those spines.

He sighed. He breathed. He went over to the three valves and gripped the ax once more by the handle. He still couldn’t believe that he’d been able to drain the water like that. It was like something out of a video game. He tugged, even put his foot against the wall for better leverage, and when the ax broke free it took a good chunk of cement with it.

He looked at the spines. They had flared open, and they were rolling along the bottom side of the glass towards him. With a deep inhale and a better grip on the ax he readied himself. They were just bones, there was nothing scary about bones. The faces, well, that was something else but they didn’t look real, more like a projection. If he could hit them before they hit him he’d be fine. He had to say that to himself a few times before he was really ready and then he chopped downward, hitting the ground beneath him.

It didn’t break the glass. There was no glass in the first place. It was just the best metaphor he had and it had made it so that his head could make sense of the sensation of walking on water. When he struck it it didn’t shatter, it just vanished. He fell, his deep breath coughed out in surprise and he landed, too hard, on the cement floor, his legs crumpling beneath him as the shock burst in his knees.

All of his muscles tightened as he bit on a shout, clutching the knee of his bad leg.

He didn’t have time for pain though. He didn’t have time to strike first. The spines were rushing him, far faster than they’d followed him, and those face were whimpering in waves.

He didn’t even have time to try and swing before the spines whipped into him, the cords of them flailing as they shot into, through, him, going through and up, as if he was nothing, as if he was the door, as if he was the bright flicker of magenta.

Agony rippled through him as his back arched, bright light flaring in his nerves and darting from spot to spot. Rage filled him with a boggy wetness, a weight to his joints and a spike to his heart that made him want to tear himself apart as much as whoever he saw next. Hungry, a deep, eldritch hunger, unfathomable and cold, froze his throat and shrank his stomach. That hunger was the worst of it, not for food or sleep or anything of that nature, the realization of that coming slowly as the cold spread, as that emptiness poured through his veins. It was for flesh, it was for life, it was for everything and it would drive him mad if he tried to contain it.

He felt like skin was stretched over the wrong body, like there were more lives inside of him, and he could hear the whispers of memories, a sunny day here, an argument there, too far away for him to catch the meaning of any of them.

Then the spine tore themselves out of his chest, the faces that adorned them screeching and sobbing. They spun around each other and, without a desirable host, they left him, racing towards the ceiling and through it.

He was left empty in a different way than before, a way that made him stammer and take a step forward, only to support himself, to spread out his center of gravity. He was no longer hungry, not longer angry. All he could feel was the ghostly sensation of cold fingers against his insides, probing for space, a place for those things to hide in him. And they weren’t things. They weren’t robotic either.

They were humans, at least, at some point. His mind went back to what Sarah had found about the graveyards. He remembered the book in Latin and the symbols drawn in red. This was all intentional. Every piece of it. The Caecus Corporation, somehow, they’d brought the dead back, at least they’d brought ghosts, and they’d forced them into the bodies of their androids. They’d tried to fake sentience by enslaving the souls of innocents.

R had felt all of this too. It had hated the feelings that had just been forced through Anton’s body, he could understand that.

@detectivesebcas​ @inthemoonshadow​ @etjwrites​ @lordfenric

[missgoalie75]

a gilmore christmas | fic: instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle

title: instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle word count: ~3,000 disclaimer: title is from ‘light a candle’ by neil young. summary: post-revival | in which paris invites jess over for hanukkah for reasons not limited to doyle screwing up his flight and paris cutting out everyone due to election day reactions.    note: this was written for a gilmore christmas, so please make sure to check out all the works! thank you @alspancakeworld for hosting this again. 

Jess only has Paris Geller's cell phone number because he babysat her two kids as a one-time thing: he happened to be in the city on the same night that her babysitter fell through and she had to go to a gala. It wasn't a bad night – he ordered pizza for the kids, they watched some animated movies that he missed when he was their age; he occasionally texted Paris, who checked in every hour. The kids were supposed to go to bed at eight, but he let them stay up and they tired themselves out by nine. Paris came home at one in the morning, tired and a little tipsy and she thanked him with a kiss on the cheek, which he doesn't think she would've ever done if she were sober. The next morning, he made breakfast for the family and then left.

That was about a month ago and he didn't expect to hear from her so soon, let alone a week before Christmas:

From Paris Geller:  I’m assuming you’re not doing anything for the holidays this year because I’m told you rarely see your family during that time, so if that’s the case, you can come to my Hanukkah gathering on the 24th.

From Paris Geller: I’ve had to cut out 80% of my social circle due to the election and Doyle isn’t going to make it until Boxing Day because he’s a self-centered writer and screwed up booking a simple red eye.

From Paris Geller: And my kids actually like you, so please.

Jess stares at the series of texts, completely flabbergasted.

From Jess Mariano: I figured since you were in the medical field you would be in better company.

From Paris Geller: You’d think, but they’re either too wealthy and want to keep their $$$, they’re self-hating Jews, and/or they voted for Jill Stein.

From Jess Mariano: Yikes.

From Paris Geller: It’s been a rough 6 weeks.

He knows. After the gala, after she kissed his cheek in thanks, she proceeded to hiss about an asshole donor who loves his hunting rifles and money too much and how he's confident about the upcoming administration, tears of rage in her eyes. He couldn't judge her for that since Rory was incapacitated for days and can only imagine Paris just functioning for her kids' wellbeing.

(And he himself punched a hole in the wall at Truncheon at two in the morning on election night, drunker than he'd been in years, but nobody knows that.)

From Jess Mariano: Yep.

From Paris Geller: So, can you come? Incentives: you sleep in the guest room, you have access to my PRIVATE gym, state of the art kitchen, books.

From Jess Mariano: You think you have me all figured it out don’t you.

From Paris Geller: Private. Gym.

Jess sighs and rubs his eye before cupping his jaw in thought. It’s true, he hasn’t gone out of his way to come to Stars Hollow for the holidays for a variety of reasons, most of which revolve around bad memories with Liz, and recently he’s enjoyed spending the time either by himself or with a few other misfits watching Reservoir Dogs (his choice) and Die Hard (definitely not his choice).

From Paris Geller: AND I’m buying good rugelach. I’m going to Park Slope for them.

He does have an appreciation for good rugelach. Besides, with Chris attempting to mend his relationship with his brother and going out of town and Matthew going to his grandmother’s house, he thinks he can close up shop for a few days.

From Jess Mariano: Do I need to bring anything?

From Paris Geller: No, just respectable clothes.

From Jess Mariano: Do you still picture me like I’m seventeen wearing camo and baggy pants?

From Paris Geller: Obviously. I bet it shocks you every time to see my short hair.

From Jess Mariano: Fair point. I’ll come after lunch.

From Paris Geller: No, you come FOR lunch. You’re a guest. I will feed you.

From Jess Mariano: I have a hard time imagining your cooking…

From Paris Geller: I’m going to take you out to lunch in a damn restaurant. Unless you have made up important work to get done on Christmas Eve.

From Jess Mariano: Okay…I’ll come for lunch.

From Paris Geller: Great. See you then.

Jess reads over the exchange and shakes his head.

**

"So, what are you doing for Christmas this year? Staying at Truncheon?" Luke asks a few days before Christmas Eve.

"No, I'll be in New York," Jess answers as he's doing sit ups on his bedroom floor.

"Who's there?"

Jess sighs, does two more sit ups, and picks up the phone by his hip on the ground. "Are the Gilmores around?"

"What, why?"

"Because I don't want to deal with a reaction right now."

"Okay, weirdo, no, I'm in the storage room. Why is this a secret?"

Jess runs his teeth over his bottom lip. "Paris."

"What?"

"Paris Geller. I'm doing Hanukkah with her and her kids."

"…But why?"

"Because she asked and I figured why the hell not." He puts the phone back down and does another set of sit ups.

He does a few before Luke asks, "Is this about Rory?"

Jess clenches his jaw as he propels himself forward. "Not everything is about her."

"You know you're always welcome –"

"Thanks, Luke, but I'm good."

"Okay, if you say so…but Paris? Really?"

"You know, she's not terrible."

"She's terrifying."

She's a force of nature, but Jess just thinks at the end of the day, Paris Geller is someone who takes what she wants by sheer will and has always had a hard time finding – and keeping – people in her life who respect it. There's nothing terrifying about it. (Although the glint in her eyes when she talks about certain things like politics and women in television is a little bit concerning.)

"You know Rory and Lorelai are going to find out about it."

Obviously, but Jess doesn't want to have a conversation about it with Rory, who will probably be territorial about it. "Whatever, at least it's not right now."

"What are you doing?"

Jess finishes his last sit up. "Sit ups. Now pushups."

"You still have to tell me how the hell –"

"Bye, Luke, speak to you later." Jess hangs up on him, flips over, and begins his first rep of pushups.

**

(Look, Rory being pregnant is…whatever. None of his business.)

**

Even though Paris told Jess not to bring anything, he buys bagels because that's typically his go-to 'thank you for hosting me' gift since everyone loves a New York bagel. And he buys jelly doughnuts since he wasn't sure if she just bought rugelach and also, he was hungry on his way in and wanted a quick snack. And going by the way her collarbones are sticking out and her face appearing a little gaunter than the last time he saw her, he's glad he brought both.

Gabriela and Timothy hug him and make him promise to draw and play games and do other kid things that will end up exhausting him. But he likes them – they're surprisingly warm children, especially considering who gave birth to them.

"Alright, let's get moving, we have a reservation!" Paris says over their excited squeals. "Coats on! Hats too!"

"Where are we going, exactly?" Jess asks.

Paris rolls her eyes. "Don't worry, I picked American food."

"I wouldn't have minded diversity," he says with an amused smile. "I grew up with six different types of cuisine in the same block."

"There's Chinese tomorrow night."

"Wow, really? Something tells me you didn't adhere to that Jewish tradition growing up," he laughs.

Paris smiles. "Definitely not, but my mom ate a handful of almonds and coffee on a daily basis, so that was out of the question."

"You're going to have to buy a vat of lo mein," he warns her as he gets down on a knee to help Gabriela zip her coat.

"Don't worry, you won't starve," Paris scoffs, ushering her kids out the front door. "And, obviously," she adds, as if he were crazy to suggest not ordering enough lo mein to feed a family for a week.

"Just making sure," Jess sighs, shutting the door behind him.

**

Jess didn't know much about Hanukkah prior to living with Matthew. Before, his knowledge stemmed from "The Hanukkah Song" and living in some predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. Now, he has a better understanding – he even knows the blessings recited when lighting the menorah, but he butchers the pronunciation, according to Matthew, so he was never expected to do the honors.

"Who remembers the blessings of the first night?" Paris asks.

Jess raises his hand.

"Who out of the practicing Jews in the room remembers the blessing of the first night?" Paris clarifies dryly as her children giggle.

"Can't I be an honorary Jew?" he asks. "I bet if we put it to a vote, I'd win." He grins at her children, who beam back at him.

"Be quiet, James Taggart. Gabriela? Your Hebrew School teacher said you were doing well," Paris says, running her thumb over the apple of her daughter's cheek.

"Who's James?" Timothy asks.

"A character from a bad writer," Jess answers.

"You can't judge a writer by one book," Paris argues.

"Ayn Rand writes the same s…garbage every time. One is enough. Let Gabriela recite the blessings."

Paris scowls and shakes her head.

Jess technically only knows the first two blessings which are said every night of Hanukkah, so when Gabriela stumbles over a word, he whispers the correct one in her ear. He lights the middle candle with a Bic lighter from his pocket when Paris gives him a nod. Gabriela and Timothy both keep a hand on Jess' when he lights the rightmost candle after the third blessing is recited.

"You did beautifully," Paris says.

"Couldn't have done it better myself," Jess adds, putting the candle back in the menorah.

"Tomorrow, you can light the second candle," Paris tells Timothy, who nods.

"I'm going to be perfect," Timothy announces, very much an echo of his mother.

Jess will be very interested in how Timothy will grow up.

Jess got Timothy a stack of coloring books and a nice set of colored pencils since he seemed to have the bigger passion for art the last time he saw him. He gave Gabriela a large set of multicolored beads and different kinds of strings to make her own jewelry.

"What the fuck, Mariano, what is this gift giving genius?" Paris says quietly through her teeth.

"Nice alliteration. I thought about getting them the likes of The Phantom Tollbooth and Jacob Have I Loved but I figured you should do the honors in a couple of years."

She looks away innocently, eyes falling toward the closet where he's sure she's keeping her children's gifts. He feels such a strange sort of fondness for her.

After the kids are tucked in, Paris opens a fresh bottle of wine and Jess places a gift for her on the kitchen counter.

She stares at it blankly for a second. "Really?"

"You really have a horrible preconception of me," he jokes. "It's not much."

She finishes pouring the glasses and puts the wine back in the cooler before opening the box, which has an Amazon gift card and a nice, expensive pen.

She smiles – a soft, genuine one that probably hasn't been seen by many.

"Okay, I got you something too," she says, going over to the closet outside of the kitchen.

He opens the neatly wrapped gift and laughs, finding an Amazon gift card on top of a pile of different sized Moleskin journals, all black.

"I'm a cliché, aren't I?"

"Yeah, but it's fine. We all have our faults."

He snorts and sticks the card into the topmost journal. "Got any more latkes?"

So they're sitting on the couch with a plate of reheated latkes, a bowl of leftover blue and white jellybeans, and full glasses wine.

"This upcoming year is going to suck," Paris whines.

He nods in agreement.

"I swear to God, if I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn't have had kids. I'm devastated that my children will be exposed to this bullshit and will probably have to fix it their entire lives."

Jess frowns. "Not that I'm Mr. Optimistic, but I'm hoping we won't totally fuck ourselves over irreparably."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I have a hard time imagining this future fucked up administration will turn your kids into assholes. I'm sure you're instilling good feminist values."

"Honestly, Timothy I think will bully his peers into believing the right things. He reminds me of me so much, it's scary."

"He glowers like you, it's unnerving," he agrees.

"Gabriela has her moments when it's like I'm looking in a mirror, but she's definitely got Doyle's demeanor."

"How's that going?"

Paris sighs. "I can't imagine getting back with him. He's not the same. And neither am I in some respects, but –"

"You feel like you've pretty much stayed the same," he assumes.

She stares at him. "Is that bad?"

He shrugs. "I don't think so."

They drink and eat in silence for a few moments.

"I can't believe she's pregnant," Paris says flatly before bringing the glass to her mouth. She takes a long drink. "I know she was going through…I don't know. A rough patch. But…pregnant?"

He vividly recalls sitting across from a desk, sipping half-terrible whiskey as Rory talks about having no underwear. He doesn't bring that up, but he hums in agreement and drinks.

"Is it weird to be disappointed in a friend? Because I feel that way."

He shrugs. "Don't know. Probably not."

She stares at him over her glass. "You were a dark horse."

"What?"

"I mean, I never would've guessed this scenario happening in a million years."

"Is it the hair?" he jokes.

"The success, the lack of attitude, the rippling pectorals."

He just stops himself from laughing out loud. "Please don't ever say that again."

"Oh, come on, you're jacked, it's ridiculous, who are you." She finishes her wine. "What are you even doing with your abs, because I can't for the fucking life of me get rid of this pouch of fat right below my belly button."

"Are we going to work out together tomorrow morning?" he half-jests, but judging by the way her eyes flash with determination, he knows she takes the suggestion seriously.

"I'm up at seven and I think the kids will be in a food coma."

He shakes his head and finishes his wine.

**

As much as Jess enjoys doing plenty of things on his own, it's actually not bad exercising with Paris. They keep headphones in for most of the time and they somehow motivate each other, mostly by Paris staring holes into his face while either of them are completing sets.

While they're finishing up, both of her kids come in and exclaim "Happy Chrismukkah!" which Jess didn't realize was still a thing people outside of his friend group – still stuck in the mid-2000s – said to one another.

"Can you make pancakes again, Jess? Please?" Timothy asks.

"Yeah, please!" Gabriela echoes.

"Depends if your mother –" Jess starts.

"Oh, don't worry, I have everything you'll need, I was prepared for this request" Paris interrupts him.

Jess laughs. "Of course."

**

He makes chocolate chip pancakes for the kids and omelets for himself and Paris, even though they end up eating a pancake or two.

Paris gives her kids a few gifts to open in the spirit of Christmas, taking pictures and sending them to Doyle. They change into new winter-themed pajamas and watch holiday-themed movies.

At one point, Paris orders a disgusting amount of Chinese food to have delivered, but Jess offers to pick up.

On his walk, he calls Luke.

"He lives."

Jess rolls his eyes. "Merry Christmas to you, Uncle Luke."

"Merry Christmas. How's it going over there?"

"Very nice."

"Seriously?"

"If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here. Have you seen Liz yet?"

"We're having dinner later. She didn't call you yet?"

"I'm sure it's coming."

"It's Jess, want to say hello?" Luke asks distractedly.

Jess bites back a sigh.

"Hi, Jess, Merry Christmas!" Lorelai says. "Remember, if you need help, just text the SOS emoji and we'll send a brigade."

"Pretty sure the brigade has the day off along with the post office – I think I'll survive in the meantime."

"Wish Paris and her kids a Happy Hanukkah."

"I will."

There a few seconds of silence until: "Merry Christmas, Jess."

He wets his bottom lip. "Merry Christmas, Rory."

"I have another chapter done – at this rate, maybe by spring, the first draft will be done."

"Your rate is definitely better than mine at the moment. I hope when you're done you'll consider submitting a draft to a smaller publishing company."

"Truncheon is number one on the list."

He smiles. He reaches the restaurant and comes to a stop. "I gotta go, but I'm sure I'll see you around."

"Bye, Jess."

He hangs up and for a moment, he considers the fact that next year, she'll have a few-months-old baby, and desperately wishes for a strong drink.

**

(There's a point when Liz calls and while the conversation is brief – he speaks at length with Doula of all the gifts she received and thanking him for his gifts that he sent in the mail – Paris at one point slides him a beer and they cheer to being better than their shitty mothers. When the kids go to sleep, they watch Reservoir Dogs and Miracle on 34th Street and eat more Chinese food. Jess considers making more of an effort to hang out with Paris and her kids with the new year.)

**

Doyle arrives early in the morning and there's a weird moment when he sizes Jess up, which Jess doesn't want to think about or consider.

But Jess leaves soon after, letting the Geller-McMaster family have their time alone. Paris sends Jess home with leftover latkes and Chinese food and a box of rugelach. He's not one for hugs still, but he's okay with hugging Gabriela and Timothy and Paris.

On his drive home, he sneaks a rugelach or two, considers where he's going to hang up the drawings Timothy gave him, his new beaded bracelets made by Gabriela rolling up and down his wrist.

(He's also very excited to hole himself in his room and read, but that's just because some things just won't change.)

[radical-boy]

Adventure.txt

I walked up the concrete stairs--two steps!--and then I was out of breath. Anyone would be out of breath if they were carrying as many books as I was. I couldn’t help it though; I was studying to pass the IQ test! Those who did not pass were never chosen. I was going to be chosen though--they laugh at me now but they won’t be when I’m the Dragon Master!!!!!!!

Today’s field of study was flight. I had to make sure I could answer every riddle the Dragon King would ask me about flight. Chihuahuas are good dogs even if they are hideous. Their light weight made them perfect for long-distance flying companions, but it was a little known fact that dragons preferred them. Preferred them to eat, that is!!! In truth, cats made much better companions; they never fall off.

“Meow! Ready for the test yet?” my feline companion Griswald asked--she talks.

“Yes Crookshanks,” I called her affectionately, even though she hated the Harry Potter series.

“Ay! Me name’s GRISWALD ye twat!” she yowled.

I set my books down on the table and held my hands out for cuddles. Griswald side-eyed me, but quickly gave in. Not even a grumpy cat could resist cuddles. She purred in delight as I scratched the backs of her ears. Lava is a great way to wipe shit off yer ass. That’s how dragons do it anyways, with their fireproof scales. I aspire to that level of hardass. And if I was--when I was--chosen to be the Dragon Master, I finally will reach that aspiration.

WWWWEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! It was the alarm to take the IQ test!!! It sure woke everyone up 100%. I quickly scampered out of the library, ditching my books. Griswald grabbed onto my clothes tightly and held on as we sprinted to the exam building. It was in the center of town, just past the fruit venders… and I stopped because I smelled some delicious apple pie.

“Don’t get distracted!” Griswald yowled in my ear, digging her claws into my shoulder just a pinch.

“OW! Jeez, okay.”

The building was the ugliest in town. It was tall and grey and had just one window all the way up on the fourth floor. That was how flying dragons got in and out. Everyone else had to enter through the big white front door, and answer a riddle before the guard would let them in. To dragons, riddles were just like memes. Dragons loved memes; in fact, they created a guild called The Meme Loving Fucks. Most of the riddles at the door were just memes these days. I approached the front door and knocked three times--as was customary-- and the guard opened a little peephole.

“Here come dat boi,” a tiny green dragon gurgled through an alligator-like mouth.

“Oh shit…” I whispered.

“WHADDUP!!!” screeched Griswald, winking at me.

The dragon was most impressed, thinking we had planned that out beforehand. I, however, was still very confused--why did Griswald shout “whaddup” into me ear????? I didn’t dare ask though, and instead slipped past the chortling swamp dragon.  

“So, you dare enter my building and place of knowledge, eh? To take the IQ test, I presume??” said the swamp dragon.

“Yes,” I said to the guard, “which way should I go?”

“The opposite of Left Shark,” the dragon guard said.

“Ah, I see,” I said, though I did not, in fact, see. I was blind. The lights inside were so bright, I could only make out the corners of the rooms.

“Uhhh… go that way,” Griswald whispered, pointing to the right.

“Face God and walk backwards into hell!” the guard said in traditional parting. I bowed, kissing my kneecaps in the traditional way, and gallivanted off into the distance.

“Just follow the memes,” Griswald advised as the lights dimmed to visible luminance.

The hallway was one long mural painted with a large green ogre, and on the floor the word cofveve was inscribed golden cursive letters.  We got to the other end, and the hall forked off into five different directions.

“Which way should we go first?” I asked Griswald.

“YOU MEAN YOU DON’T RECOGNIZE WHICH HALLWAY HAS A MEME?” she screamed into my ear.

“Uh….” I stammered, not knowing a thing.

“Obviously, we go right, towards The Colors of the Sky mural on the wall,” she grumbled. I looked towards the rightmost tunnel, which had Do You Love The Colors of The Sky? written above the entrance. The walk was long, but beautiful, and I felt like I was flying through the changing sky. Soon, it got dark in the tunnel, and I wanted to lay down and sleep under the beautiful stars.

Grisland gently kneaded her paws in me to keep me awake. The kneading was soothing and made me want to sleep even more; I laid down gently on the floor and promptly began to snore.

Griswald used a very powerful spell to wake me up, screaming, “WAKE ME UP INSIDE!” to jar me from my slumber.

“SANTIAGO” I shouted upon waking, as was customary.

“What good manners,” Griswald praised me. She licked my hair into my face so I was more emo than before.

Finally, the hallway was colored dawn, and I felt more awake and refreshed than ever. The hallway opened into a big, huge circle with a ladder going up and a trap door in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, the trap door was covered in some very alluring Comic Sans. It didn’t matter what was written in the most holy of fonts; I was compelled to enter.

The door fell out under my feet and Griswald screamed in utter bliss as we plummeted down into the darkness. Once again, I felt the supreme desire to sleep, but I stayed awake because I didn’t want to hear any more of Griswork’s “singing.” The dark hole slowly began to take on the shape and color of a distantly familiar meme. Suddenly, I was sitting on a cloud, coming up over the horizon. Griswald’s fur bristled up so much she looked like a Tribble.

“Ba?! Ha ba ba?!! Ha bagada!!” a dog barked from a red airplane.

“I hate this meme,” Grisland yowled quietly. I, however, loved it.

“Ba! Ba! Ba!” the dog and I barked in total harmony. We began to sing and it resonated against the viscous cloud I perched upon, vibrating ever-so-slightly until it faded along with the other dog. At first, it looked like the void we were falling through was turning black again. But instead, flowers appeared in the distance and the air grew more and more liquid until I was sure we were underwater.

“GET BACK TO WORK ME BOYYYYYYYYYYOOOOO!!!!” a voice yelled louder than sound itself.

“Which meme is this?” I asked the cat.

“This meme represents the overlord bourgeois demanding endless work from the lowly proletariat,” she answered solemnly. I watched as the yellow square shaped “boyo” excitedly scampered into a kitchen area.

“I love you Krabby Patty,” he whispered to some juicy meat pressed between swollen buns. The Krabby Patty grew to the size of a small luxury vehicle and embraced the boyo.

“We should go,” Griswald said, tears in her voice. “Us mortals were not meant to see such beauty.” I agreed, but I was no longer in control of where we would go; a force I could not understand would take us to and fro.

Suddenly, an ax came through the flowery wall! An evil cackle was heard and I looked around and we were in a forest! I could no longer find that horrible ax anywhere around me. I looked down at my leg, feeling something odd, and saw that it was oozing blood!

“SHIA SURPRISE!” Griswald warned me, looking behind me in horror. I wrestled the burly man for the ax in his hand, and then I discovered myself decapitating my would-be assassin.

With a thud, we hit the bottom of the long void we’d been falling through, music playing in the distance as the dead body slowly faded.

Mmm whatcha sayyy, the music somberly screeched. I felt tears fill my eyes. I was ready for the next test.

“ARE YOU READY FOR A ROUND OF GUESS-THE-NEXT-LYRICS?????” boomed a very, VERY large dragon who descended upon us.

“HELL YEAH!” I shouted in equal glee.

“Then prepare your mortal heart for the biggest musical sounds in history…”

I stilled my beating heart and prepared myself for what came next.

The dragon opened its mouth and bellowed, “I AM GAY, GAY, GAY!” and then looked at me for the next lyrics.

I closed my eyes and felt time slow before me as I belted the next lyrics: “I LIKE LONG BIG COCKS, I AM SUPER SUPER GAY, I LIKE LONG BIG COCKS!!!!”

The dragon, with tears of lava pouring from their eyes, nodded in passionate agreement and said, “Let’s try a more aged song.”

I smiled, ready to accept my next challenge.

In a screechy voice, the dragon sang, “We’re no strangers to looooooooove…”

I instantly knew what I had to do next; I had to sing. “You know the rules! And so Do I!!”

The rest of the lyrics played over some loud speakers and confetti began to fly. It was the Dragon Conglomerate Anthem; every citizen knew it by heart. It played now on every speaker in the world to announce that I had passed the IQ test.

“Congration, you done it,” the dragon cried, handing me a diploma. It was, of course, written in Comic Sans. Its soft pink paper absorbed my tears and the glitter delicately coated every layer of my body. The anthem faded into a smooth Vaporwave version of the song--the Victory Version of the Dragon Conglomerate Anthem. Dragons everywhere came out of the shadows and began to dance and pulse to the pounding rhythm. My skin began to turn to scales as I joined dragonkind. The transformation was almost complete; I just had one more thing to do before I gained my wings.

“Go,” the dragon said, “and seek the Bone Hurting Juice potion to gain your wings.”

I didn’t want to; I was afraid; I was petrified.

“What if I give you a better meme?” I offered them.

“Then you would be a wingless dragon, for I cannot grant you the wings you must have.”

I understood. I evaporated into the black abyss in search of my potion. The first place I thought to search was Candy Mountain.

“You’ve got to come to Candy Mountain with us, Chaaaaarlieee,” a pretty pink unicorn sighed.

“Dear god, keep an eye on your kidney,” Griswaln warned. I took an eyeball out of my head, placing the spare on my kidney; if any of those fuckers tried to steal my kidney, I would be the first to know about it.

The pretty licorice letters began to sing and dance for me.

[ghostportals]

Rejet’s Star Revolution: Starting the game

Uh yeah idk if there’s already a guide out but I haven’t seen one? so i figured i’d post a bit of one

keep in mind if you’re reading i can’t actually read japanese, a lot of this was done with google translate lol. but it can still be helpful to make things quicker till a proper guide comes out (if there. isn’t already one)

Menu stuff is at the very bottom of the post ! The stuff before the menu takes you through the tutorial and the basics that aren't covered in that.

edit before you click: warning that there’s currently irl blood on my desktop theme (won’t be soon tho)

Welcome to the Starevo tutorial! Lines with an * at the beginning aren’t in the tutorial, but are stuff I’m mentioning for the later gameplay.

1. Joining

Enter your Player name. Last name, then first name, Japanese style.

2. Intro

The school’s stuco VP will talk to you for a while. I’d like to tell what he says, but I’m not quite confident enough in my jp listening skills to do so lol. He does call you “president-chan”, though. You’re given a dialogue option:

It doesn’t matter what you say, but the top says “I’m not very confident” and the bottom basically says “I’ll try to do my best.” Both are not very confident sounding either way, which is understandable considering you’re suddenly being thrust into a position of power in a dang idol school, lol.

3. Lives - require LP

If you’re used to mobile rhythm games, the gameplay is pretty easy to get from just the images. There’s only one “button” and it doesn’t matter where you tap.

*Select a song, select a friend or guest as support, select a team, and click the pink button to begin (out of tutorial).

Small pink circle: Regular tap.

Blue circle with trail: Tap and hold.

Green circle with shine in the middle: Swipe.

Big pink gradient circle: Tap with two fingers (or double tap real fast, if you’re lazy.)

Star shaped: Tap A Lot Real Fast. You need to get a certain amount to get a perfect; continuing after the star fills gives you bonuses.

*After a live, you’ll see your results and get rewards. If your support was a guest, you’ll get a popup prompting you to send a friend request; you can send it (blue) or not (gray).

4. Lessons - require AP

You can increase affection(?) degree in lessons. Select the lesson type by selecting one of the colored circles. Keep an eye on the characters condition-- how effective the lessons are is directly proportional to how in shape the character is! (Just like real life wow)

Tap twice on a lesson type (circle) to begin. You’ll need to tap through several lesson types to complete a whole session, and can give items to the characters to increase how much they gain in a certain attribute by tapping on the orange button with a coffee cup.

Sometimes characters will be too tired, or moody, to participate in a certain lesson. Keep an eye on their mood, especially if you’re thinking about using an item. Sometimes they’ll sleep, which means they don’t participate in that bit of the lessons. However, letting them get rest can up their FEVER gauge and their tone. When the FEVER gauge is filled, the effectiveness of the lessons increases greatly.

*You can give presents during the lesson to make something good happen. Try to give what the character likes! When a character participates in a lesson, their affection goes up! Let’s become good friends with everyone!

*Lessons are done by unit. Outside of the tutorial, when you click the lesson button, you’ll choose a unit to train.

5. Story

The tutorial will next take you to the story page. After the introduction (which you already read), the stories will no longer be fully voiced. *You need to spend star/story keys to read most chapters. The mechanics work like any mobile vn; if you don’t want to sit through it, you can expand the menu in the upper right and click the skip button to fast fwd through.

*If you’ve played Enstars, the stories are similar to that. They’re organized by unit.

6. Units

Time to choose your boys! The screen shows you pura.net at first; switch between them by swiping, not by tapping the arrows. When a unit catches your fancy (or you find the one you’re already dedicated to), tap the pink button. It will then ask if you’re sure you want to start with this unit; click OK.

7. Gacha

Time to scout. You’ll automatically be taken to the gacha page in the tutorial, where you’ll be given a card of one of the members of your chosen unit. This ends the tutorial.

*Not in tutorial: the actual gacha function. If you’ve played other mobage, you know this. If not, it’s simple: The regular gacha (at the time of writing, only one, but there will probably be more) requires the little rainbow star stones. Spent 15 stars, get one card. Spend 150, get 10 cards. Getting 10 cards ups your chances of a better card! The point gacha (lower card rarities) requires 5000 points(?) for a 10 pull, and 500 for 1.

The tutorial ends after you get your card. The game will give you a couple messages and then prompt you to let it restart so it can complete more downloads (shouldn't take long). Upon starting the game again, you’ll receive login bonuses and be thrown into the fray.

8. Other stuff tutorial mentions

Cards can be strengthened using items. These are what you obtain from playing lives and completing lessons. You require a story key (blue star key) to read story chapters.

9. Cards

The top button on the card menu is your team organization. There are 5 team slots. Clicking the rightmost button on the bar that shows the cards will show the active skills in the team.

You have two types of teams: live teams, and lesson teams. When you open it, you’re on live teams. Click the other button above the card images to switch. There’s a bunch more buttons on here, but at the time of writing this idk what they are, I’ll. fix this later.

Second button is to level up your cards. Select a card (I have to tap them twice? sometimes more lol) to level. I’d like to add more but I can’t do anything there yet so I’ll fix this later;

Third button is awakening. I assume this is like idolizing/changing/blooming/ect. It looks to require items rather than a second copy? Will update later as well.

The bottom button lets you view a card’s stats. Level, specific stats, and skills. Click the middle button under the card to see the character’s profile. The third button will bring you to the unit pages, where you can look at any character’s profile by tapping them.

10. Menu stuff!

The main menu can be accessed from most pages by clicking the arrow in the bottom left. It’s shown across the bottom, and is showing by default on the home page. You can full screen your character/cg with the button in the left.

Left to right: Home, live, lesson, story, characters, gacha, friends, more menu menu.

10a. Friends

The rightmost button on the menu lets you view friends. It begins as a desolate and barren wasteland of loneliness. Right side buttons, top to bottom: Friends list, friend requests, pending approval from the other person, and search (find some friends!) The search page looks a bit glitchy atm but nothing gamebreaking. Click the button next to their name to view their profile, or the rightmost on their little bar to send them a request.

10b. More Menu Menu

Left to right:

Profile, settings, storage/inventory (items) Shop, friends, Transfer data, help, contact us Opening movie, terms of service, back to title.

10c. Settings

System options -> Live options -> Story options

System options top to bottom: music volume, sound effects volume, voice volume, lightweight mode (makes it run better).

Live options top to bottom: music volume, SE volume, voice volume, lightweight mode, timing calibration, movie (animations), cut-ins (the character popups when skills activate).

Story options is just text speed.

10d. Welcome menu

...This should probably be first but whatever.

Tap the bottom left button to access. Left to right (to bottom): OP movie, takeover/transfer/”inheritance”, clear cache, contact us.

In all honesty I don’t understand the transfer stuff myself... It looks like you can put an account on for sure, but I don’t know how to assign an email and password to your current account.

And that’s all I’ve got! When I figure out how to assign transfer codes I’ll add that in.

[scriptmin]

100 ways to say I love you

Notes: This prompt was originally a request but 2k words into it I realised that it asked for “fluff” and never really mentioned if smut was okay so… if you’re reading this I’ll make sure to do fluff for your other prompt!

Genre: Angst-ish, rated M for semi-smut (again) and voyeurism / Words: 3k 051. “Are you sure?” | rebound!taehyung, college!au

Sleeping with Kim Taehyung took more than just a bewitched heart, or a bottle of liquid courage, moreover it had not been in the wake of such short-lived pursuits that you found yourself between his legs, draped over his chest like a couture shawl. When you beheld the truth, it had become clear that it was not the man himself at the face of which you had so willingly lowered your tail, neither had it been the alcohol that blazed beneath flushed skin.

You hadn’t known exactly what your motivations were, but you had admittedly prepared for this party with the purpose of looking for a good fuck with anyone but Jeon Jungkook. While it was not difficult to imagine each attendee had possessed their individual drives, most you knew were simply hungry for a partner in bed, or at least, that had been the first step in the grand scheme of things. Some knowingly, others not quite.

You belonged to the latter category. Belonged to the category of single women in desperate need of pampering, not exactly wanting anything more, yet still entertained the thought of it. And you knew no better fit for the role than the host himself, a host reputed for his sinful good looks and even more sinful voyeuristic gatherings. Taehyung called it a lover’s party, but in all honesty it had just been a classier take on having turned his bungalow into a pleasure house for the night. You were by no means a prude, but something of this caliber had always been out of your league.

Apparently Taehyung had not shared your opinion. Claimed by the waist from the moment he permitted you past his front door, you were surely the last woman to utter a word of complain. As host, Taehyung took mostly to the arrangement of sofas in the middle of his parlour, drinking leisurely and entertaining whomever might choose to sit within the velvety rectangle of conversation. Your presence had been more akin to a trophy in a glass cabinet than anything else, a trophy someone like Kim Taehyung was more than proud to call his for the evening. Though you had been extremely self-aware of your own sexual appeal, to say that you had expected this would be quite a stretch. Taehyung was never a man you thought you could claim—or rather, would claim you.

But although he appeared to have dedicated every expanse of his attention to his guests, you soon learned just how artful he was as both a host and a partner. Your ass nestled snug in his lap, legs draped over the edge of the sofa, the broad palm laid over your inner thigh with which he had used to subtly pin you down had never budged an inch despite the many engagements outside of your intimate physicalities he had subscribed to. That hand had soon become rather idle, transitioning then into a feather-light rhythm up and down, up and down the supple skin.

The gesture was nowhere near enough to quench the desire which ached between your legs, and you supposed neither was it enough for the hard on between his, judging by how solid he had gradually become and remained with every slight shift of your body atop him. Still, it had conveyed enough to the people within the bubble of conversation, to the ones who would glance down every now and then, their gaze preying on just how high up he would drag his fingers before pulling them down. And when they had gotten bored of the repeated gesture, they would leave and others would fill the seats they had abandoned. Taehyung had no shortage of guests, at that rate you wondered if you would ever have him to yourself. If he would know to shift his attention to you when the right person had taken the opposite seat.

“You’re getting bored.” It was the rumble in his chest beneath your ear that had signaled he was finally addressing you. You lifted your head, enough to meet his gaze and the tiniest of smirks on his lips, leaning into his touch when his other hand had come up to ghost your jaw.

“What gave it away? My second bottle of wine or the fact that I literally cannot feel my legs?”

“Hmmm.” Now the vibrations had been against your breasts, the deep, lustrous chuckle that proceeded to tumble out his mouth eliciting you to press closer against him. “Perhaps the wine. If I’d known you couldn’t feel your legs I would’ve done something else.”

Your body reacted before your mind—with a jerk and a squeak. Taehyung had been brazen enough to heighten the trail of his hand, a ministration that had taken a backseat until now, to dip past the hem of your minidress, quite literally flicking a finger at the thin material clothing your sex. The touch receded as quickly as it came. Desperate for more, your walls clenched unwittingly.

“Don’t do that,” you hissed between gritted teeth.

Taehyung merely laughed. “Stay with me baby, just a few more and I promise you…” He had finished the sentence by closing what little distance there was between your faces with a chaste kiss, pulling away just as you had begun to lean forward. You seethed in silence. He was good at this.

But you were no amateur either. You could not let him proceed without some form of retaliation.

When a round of new faces had taken up seats around the sofa formation, you chose to nuzzle by his neck instead of laying back down on the sturdiness of his chest. Though it wasn’tmuch, the contact was something he had acknowledged with a short but gentle squeeze to your thigh before he had resumed the rhythm he was stroking.

The mood lights had bathed every object under its path in an ocean of magenta, yet Taehyung’s golden skin still seemed to shine through. Much fainter than it perhaps originally was, the scent of his cologne was almost as sweet as the wine lingering in your throat, warm in the pit of your belly. You weren’t drunk yet, not by a long shot. And though you couldn’t say the same for fucking him, providing Kim Taehyung with at least some distraction was well within your means.

“… plan on taking things to a much… larger scale.”

His gaze slid sideways to regard you with lazy curiosity, and you had returned him with a coy smile, if not less, before your mouth had resumed its task over the taut, wet skin. By the time you realized that he had stopped stroking your thigh in favour of a feral grip, you had littered tiny pools of red and purple across his nape and shoulder. Taehyung had expectedly managed rather well, all the while able to hold a steady stream of conversation despite the slow tightening of his hand on you. His guests, however, were quite transparent. Though they responded to his sentences, their eyes were trained on you, their own hands on each other, subtle at first, but progressing to lewd, unreserved motions soon enough.

When you allowed the man to take your chin between his thumb and index, effectively putting a halt to your task at hand, you found all other occupants of the sofas to have gone. They hadn’t strayed too far, though, most were by the perimeters of the room, wholly engrossed with whichever partner, or partners, they had found for the night. Left in whatever scarce privacy you had begun with, Taehyung was now free to claim your mouth with his. His kiss was languid, almost lazy, but the connection—even if only physical—was all that you sought. He had plenty time to give you more if he had any intention of making good the unfinished promise he had whispered to your ear none too long ago.

“Are you done now?” You asked against his mouth, barely speaking the question before he pressed harder, deeper, back against you. He had taken one breast into his hand now, pinching the nipple in the valley of his fingers, while the other anchored at the base of your neck.

He broke the kiss lingering, a string of saliva hanging between your lips and his before he cut it off with a deft swipe of his tongue. His hand trailed from your back to grip your chin once more, angling your head in whichever direction he needed to deliver his point. “I am, but you’re not.” When your eyes finally settled, squinting through the dim but saturated colour, you had found a pair amongst many leaning against the rightmost wall of the parlour. The taller, broader figure, with cropped hair and soft bangs had regarded the smaller one with a single affectionate hand to the cheek, a scene of bliss dominating his features. The latter appeared standing still, but even though the lower halves of their bodies were obstructed by an end table, you could leave nothing to chance considering the context you were all amidst.

“He’s the reason you’re here, isn’t it?”

Your muscles stiffened, and you knew Taehyung felt it too. “How did you know?” You asked, mouth suddenly dry. It had been easy to forget, to deny, the true reason for your unanticipated attendance tonight.

“A little bird sang in my ear the other day…” A shiver skid down your spine as the hills and troughs of his knuckles skimmed over your cheek. His voice was tender, benign, “I heard it wasn’t pretty. Are you okay?”

“If I was anywhere near okay I wouldn’t be here.”

“True.” Taehyung was close to purring, something normally unsuited for a voice as baritone as his, but it had felt like milk and velvet in the bed of your ear. The figure you were watching jerked forward, his features scrounging, teeth biting down on lips. You looked away then. Taehyung’s words were barely registering. “Always the rational one, you. These things are too frivolous for your usual lifestyle.”

“Look, I just need you to fuck me.”

“Are you sure?” His knuckles left your face, the heat receding with the touch, before it returned in the form of the soft pads of his fingertips on your bottom lip. He dragged the finger down, tugging the plump flesh until it had slipped from his touch and popped back into place. Taehyung appeared sinister. Beautifully, beautifully, sinister. “Because you’ve got other things to get fucked over by right now.”

You sensed the arrival of new people before you had even freed your consciousness from the hypnotism he was surely exuding on purpose. He was sat before you now, knees spread apart, chest rising and falling with each laborious breath he inhaled and expelled. His partner was slung across his arm, her leg thrown over his left thigh as she rubbed small, tantalizing circles over his collarbone.

“You two have been busy.”

You could not bear to look, but in anchoring your gaze downwards, you had allowed yourself clear view of the evidence of their previous deeds. Jungkook’s zipper was up, but his button was undone. The neatly pressed navy blue dress shirt which you assumed he wore tucked in had fallen from the hold of his jeans, creased and wrinkled and teased.

“Not as busy as you.” The voice was feminine, high in pitch but almost as liquid as the decadent aged wine you were swirling in your glass all but ten minutes ago. She was beautiful and of the same build as you, though she was much fleshier in the areas you could only pinch and pull at whilst in front of a mirror.

“Mmm. At least you look like you’re having fun.”

Taehyung’s jaw was pressed against your forehead, and when he talked, the movement provided the smallest of distractions from the sin seated on the other side of the sofas. You had spaced out easily enough while the two chatted, only reacting whenever your partner would angle his head to press light kisses to your temple and cheekbone, to remind you he was with you, that you were still here despite the fiery urge to hightail it out of the estate.

Spacing out was no longer an option as you became more and more aware of the slow breach of territory that Taehyung’s hand was venturing. He was shamelessly up your skirt now, squeezing and releasing, rubbing smooth circles, grazing nails. It was enough for you to part your legs just that tiny bit more, permitting him a better avenue with which he could enter. His fingers had reached the dip of your pelvis, painfully close to where you wanted him to be, and where he had been infuriatingly avoiding.

Stubborn against joining their two-person conversation, you resorted to nipping kitten-like up the expanse of his jugular, starting from the base of his neck to the earlobe where you had paused to beseech him with a breathy whisper, “Please, please…”

Taehyung shifted, his hard on now pressed directly against your thigh. He said nothing, only tightened his free hand over your hipbone. His fingers continued to tease you short of your cunt. With the devilish ministrations he was applying beneath your skirt, you could not for the life of you believe they were discussing the salad bar at the university dining hall. And just as you had conceded your pride in favour of more friction, subtly rocking your hips forward, his finger had entered you.

“Fuck.”

You were absolutely throbbing, and it had only been a single digit. If you could bring yourself to turn and look at the people across you, you would notice that their line of sight had all but fallen to your lap, would notice that despite it being a few good minutes since Jungkook sat down, there was still the distinct heaving of his chest, his lips unable to purse shut.

He was fucking you slowly, drawing out to the tip of his finger before re-entering knuckle deep. It was not until your nails had left scarlet crescent marks on the skin under his shirt that he allowed you a second finger, thrusting at the same pace, but deep and vivid every time. You held down your moans half by sheer willpower and the other by nursing the mural you had painted on his neck, laving the flat of your tongue over and over again on the bruised skin, sucking until you felt your cheeks hollow out, before finally releasing it with a lewd pop.

You were only on the cusp of feeling a coil in your belly when a familiar warmth had returned to cup your chin. His thumb dug into your cheek, the rest of his fingers firm on the other side of your jaw.  “Don’t hide baby,” he murmured, grinning explicitly into his words, “let them see.” With this firm authority, he had lifted you away from his neck, had turned your face and thrust you into a world that hung by its axis, threatening to spiral into darkness at any given moment.

“Let them see how good you feel with me.”

It was then that you had made first contact with Jeon Jungkook, fire against the iciness in his pupils. His hands were splayed atop each leg, unmoving, his torso was straightened, his chin dipped, unmoving. Even his partner found no other means to maintain nonchalance, much less ignorance, and was unreservedly observing the two of you with the residue of satisfaction playing on her lips.

You held his icy gaze under hooded eyes, too blissed to sense even a fraction of the intensity that poured from him. Taehyung was more enthusiastic now, having captured their attention, keen on nothing but making a good show. The quickening of his pace had set your breathing in a race against his.

“I want…” You pleaded, “I need… more.”

He broke contact with the pair to glance down at you, his smile saccharine sweet. “Say please baby.”

He had crooked his fingers upwards and continued fucking you into a new dimension of pleasure, bruising the spot that could have you fall apart under him.

“P- Please,” you gritted out. It hadn’t even been a heartbeat before he had knocked your legs apart, the force sending them swinging over his knee such that your ass had fallen fully in the space on the couch between his legs, your back to his chest, spread nice and wide for their viewing pleasure. Throughout the movement, he had not once fallen out of rhythm with you, thrusting into you at the same pace, if not even faster.

“Come for me,” he purred against the shell of your ear. You’d almost missed it amidst everything else. “Come for me and I’ll give you more.”

He had inserted the third and final finger into your cunt, his thumb working fervently at your clit, and it was only a short of matter of time before the coil in your belly had finally unwound, the muscles in your thigh rippling as he fucked through your orgasm.

The magenta lights were bleeding scarlet into your eyes as your head fell back against his shoulder, your chests heaving in unison. The small audience of two had shifted scarcely in their seats, still locked together by the arm, but otherwise in comparably innocent positions compared to the two of you. Taehyung had given you only a few seconds to catch your breath, before he was slipping a palm between your flushed bodies, pushing you into a standing position by your ass.

As you rose, you felt something soft slip down under you. Caught by your knees was the black silk panties you had tastefully donned for the event, his fingers hooked around the waistband of the petite fabric. He slid it down the remainder of your legs, guarding your waist as you gingerly stepped out of it. You shivered at the coolness.

There was movement behind you, before the same heat was applied to your back once more. You felt strong with him over your shoulder, felt bigger than Jungkook, bigger than life.

Tucking your panties into his pocket, Taehyung reached out to the couple on the sofa, smirking deviously. “Join us upstairs, if you’re still interested.”

[samingtonwilson]

Loot - Part 10 - Jim Kirk

loot masterlist Word count: 2,693 Warnings: language, angst

A/N: wow the final chapter, y’all. the epilogue won’t be up for a few days. i love this story. there are parts that i didn’t like and was frustrated with but, over all, i love it. this part was hard for me to write but i love everything about it. i made sure to make it as real as i could in terms of conversational patterns and the whole thing about what the artifact actually is, is something i was plannin since the beginning, im just not sure how well i executed it. ANYWAYS, ENJOY N LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! thanks for reading :))

The Enterprise wasn’t built for interrogations. There wasn’t a room devoted to them, no group of officers were on board especially to carry them out. The purpose of the Enterprise, of every officer aboard the Enterprise, was to explore, develop and maintain peaceful diplomatic relationships amongst Federation planets, to understand space at a level never attempted before. So the lack of specifically designed rooms, specifically trained officers wasn’t a lack usually glaring. It just was now.

The cell was a bright white. Brighter than the white of the medbay, somehow, and more harsh. It stung to stare at the walls for too long and it didn’t help that each of the said walls, the ceiling, and the floor panels were lined with blinding tube bulbs in an alternating pattern of one bulb, then two. One of the walls, though, was made of glass and divided the cell from the vast, security officer manned brig.

You sat on the rightmost bench. Your right leg was pulled onto the shiny white surface that matched the walls, your knee at your chest. You curled your fingers over the edge of the bench, drumming the tips of your growing nails so clicks rang through the silent cell. You stared at Jim.

Jim didn’t look at you. His eyes remained on the bulbs behind you, the glaring tubes reflected in his blue irises. His jaw was clenched and his arms were crossed over his chest. He stood, in his Captain Mode fashion, beside the leftmost bench. His chest was puffed out, presumably with every malice-filled word he wanted to scream your way.

Perhaps that was the reason for Spock’s presence— to ask the questions in a partial, objective way that didn’t even verge on inadmissible. He wasn’t frowning, he wasn’t smiling. His pale, smooth skin sat in perfect stillness as he looked directly at you. His almost midnight black eyes held a motionless gaze you would have squirmed under had this been any other circumstance.

You were surprised there were still questions to be asked. It wasn’t the job of Commander Spock to decide your punishment, it was his job to understand if any damage had come to the artifact. Seeing as the hunk of metal was fully intact without even a small scratch beyond the rust you found it with, his job could’ve been completed by a pair of fully functioning eyes and a magnifying glass.

Yet, before you, the half-Vulcan and his captain sat and stood respectively. Meanwhile the artifact was placed in the archives of the Enterprise, its radioactive threat neutralized by Scotty just a few moments after he found it in the depths of your closet.

You would have held some resentment, but you should’ve known better than to keep it anywhere near your former quarters— especially while aware that Scotty was still obsessed with his now-closed investigation and wanted to pick up where he left off. While you’d thought that meant on the other side of the floor, you should have assumed he meant the entirety of Excited Ensign Village. It was an absent-minded mistake on your part— Scotty was only doing what anyone else would have done.

A little over a day had passed between your arrest and interrogation, and it was the first time you’d seen Jim in that twenty-eight hour span. He’d sent Spock and two security officers to execute your arrest only three hours after leaving you at your door totally dumbfounded with a confession you were sure had become obsolete. You knew there was no way he could claim to love you anymore— he couldn’t even spare you a glance.

You were tracing the slope of his nose when there was a knock at the glass to your left. You tore your eyes away and stared at the form on the other side as he splayed his fingers and created a small, round opening.

McCoy was scowling as he did so— and not in the endearing way you were accustomed to. He was scowling as if his worst expectations had come to fruition— as if he could brag that he’d told everyone so, he just didn’t want to as the victory of his worst suspicions felt like a loss.

Nonetheless, you felt a corner of your lips pull up and you opened your mouth to speak, cut off by an annoyingly calm voice. “Doctor, I do not believe a medical examination is necessary after only twenty-four hours.”

“S’not an exam, Spock,” he gruffly answered. The sound of his voice forced your teeth into your bottom lip.

He looked at you then— no anger fogged his hazel irises, no hatred creased his forehead. He only looked disappointed and saddened.

The flipping of your stomach in reaction was somehow worse than what hatred and anger would have caused.

He held his arm through the circular opening and motioned for you to grab a tiny paper cup and a larger water cup from his fingers. “It’s your sodium tablet and iron supplement. Take ‘em with the water.”

You took both cups. “Bones, —”

“I’m not doin’ you any favors,” he clarified— though you weren’t sure to whom. He glanced at Jim who continued to stare at the wall. “I’m your doctor, the ship’s CMO— gotta to make sure you don’t pass out or croak before you’re put on trial.”

“Thank you anyway. And not just for the supplements.”

He nodded once and took the now-empty cups from you, he instantly crumpled them. He looked at Jim once more, then at you. He couldn’t hide his sigh of discontent and his shaking head. “Told you to be careful—”

“That’s enough, Bones,” Jim stated sternly. It was the first you’d heard of his voice in hours and it was just as cross as you expected.

McCoy didn’t argue. He simply nodded and stepped away from the glass, his retreating figure vanishing with pieces of your ability to maintain the facade of strength.

“(Y/N), approximately when did you notice an increase in the artifact’s volatility?”

You looked at Spock. He’d picked an opportune time to begin interrogations again. You sniffled a little and needed to clear your throat. “Few weeks ago.”

“Does this ‘few weeks ago’ coincide with the venturing of the Enterprise through a particularly magnetic nebula?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“In order to decrease the effects of the artifact’s radioactivity, did you attempt to damage or destroy the artifact in any way?”

You sighed heavily and dropped your head back against the wall. You stared at the ceiling a moment before looking at Jim again.

Spock began to repeat himself, “(Y/N), in order to decrease the—”

“Don’t tell me you’re too emotionally compromised to ask the questions yourself.”

Jim shifted on his feet. He looked at the glass now.

You clicked your tongue against the roof of your mouth. You met Spock’s gaze and his eyebrows were still level. “You can look at the damn artifact and see that it’s unharmed— hell, have Scotty look at it if you can’t trust your eyes.”

You swallowed over the tightness in your throat. You set your foot on the ground and placed your hands in your lap. “If I refuse to comply with you, do I get a new interrogator?”

“Yes, regulations state that—”

“I’ll handle it from here, Commander,” Jim said. He glanced at you but it appeared to be a mistake with how quickly he looked away— you were glad his gaze didn’t linger, though.

“Captain, I feel your emotional state—”

“You have the conn, Mr. Spock,” Jim asserted in a louder voice. It echoed through the cell. “Relieve Mr. Sulu, have him set course to Teenax. Ask Lieutenant Uhura to contact the Fibonan Republic to inform them that the Abronath has been found.”

Spock stood up, clasped his hands together behind his back and nodded once. His blue shirt was as smooth as his skin despite the hours he’d spent sitting down. “Yes, Captain.”

Jim watched as Spock left the cell and followed him until he entered the turbolift to the bridge.

You pulled your left leg onto the bench this time. You drew random invisible patterns with your fingernail against your black trousers. You didn’t look at Jim.

He was looking at you. He sat upon the bench that jutted from the left wall. His jaw was still clenched, his legs forming ninety degree angles as he set his elbows atop his knees. He stared at the floor.

You took a breath— in through the nose, out through the mouth. While you thought doing so could increase your resolve, each breath from Jim did the exact opposite. His inhales tightened your throat and his exhales drained your lungs. It was as if you’d lost a bit of strength due to McCoy’s departure and Jim’s presence did away with the rest of it.

“Is that what it’s called? The Abronath? That’s fancy for something that’s such a fucking nuisance.”

He didn’t answer.

“If you’re doing this to prove that you aren’t too emotionally compromised to ask—”

“I don’t have anything to ask. You stole the artifact— plain and simple.”

“Jim, —”

“You had the artifact on this ship— plain and simple. You lied about ever seeing it, ever keeping it. You interfered with Federation affairs, you feigned innocence for weeks, you didn’t think once about the consequences— plain and simple.”

You knew he was shouting, you knew his words were meant to be venom, yet you couldn’t help but only feel relief. Relief that he had words to speak, relief that he was speaking at all.

But his words seemed to have run out.

You both sat in an overwhelming, almost deafening silence— you were afraid your blinks would resonate in each corner of the cell.

“I think a part of me knew you were lying,” he finally said in a gentler voice, cutting through the thick silence. His fingertips pressed his eyebrows when he placed his head in his hands, his eyes closed.

You stayed quiet. You watched as the air from the vents caused strands of his blonde hair to flutter ever so slightly.

“In the beginning, at least,” he continued, his voice a bit muffled by his hands. “It bit at me and I smothered it to death. I let myself trust you.” He laughed ruefully then. “I made myself trust you. Against my better judgement.”

“Jim, —”

“You couldn’t even be bothered to extend me the same courtesy.” He lifted his head from his hands. When his eyes met yours, you dropped your gaze right away. “I spent myself trusting you and you didn’t think to tell me the truth.”

Your breath hitched.

Even as he sat in your scissor-like presence, even as he sat in his anger, broken, he remained soft. Every part of him remained soft.

He shook his head to himself. “I didn’t know what to do when Scotty came to me. I didn’t know if I should go against my training, against everything I’m supposed to stand for, for you.”

The back of his head hit the wall behind him, his eyes on the lights of the ceiling. “I thought of getting input— so I wouldn’t have to make this decision alone. But the first and last person that came to mind was you.”

You swallowed once more. Your voice was nearly inaudible as you asked, “So what’d you do?”

He shrugged just one shoulder. “I knew what I was supposed to do— without input. I just didn’t want to.”

“I think you did the right thing.”

He blinked several times as his gaze left the ceiling. His lips, void of expression at an almost Spock-like level, formed a straight line. “You do,” he wasn’t asking.

You nodded. “Yeah, I do. You’re too good of a captain not to do the right thing.”

He offered you the smallest of smiles and you returned it easily.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” you said after a few moments. “I know you trusted me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve— I could’ve done something.” There was an edge of desperation to his voice that forced you to look away again.

“You couldn’t have done anything, Jim. I wouldn’t want you to do anything.”

“But, (Y/N), —”

“It was my burden, my problem.” You placed your feet on the ground and let your legs shake a little, doing away with some of your itchy anxious energy.

He opened his mouth to speak again, so you just increased your volume, “It’s just me and I’m getting what I deserve.”

He placed his elbows on his knees again. He rubbed his fingers against his jaw. He sighed audibly and heavily. “I’m still so mad at you.”

“I—”

“You lied to me without a second thought, you messed with Federation business without a second thought. For what? You risked peace between two planets, even your own damn future for nothing.”

You knew you could’ve corrected him. You could’ve told him why you took the artifact, why you held onto it at all costs— that a man, unnamed and utterly terrifying by the sound of his voice, sat on an unknown planet with strange coordinates awaiting the artifact with likely your life as insurance.

But you deserved Jim’s anger and didn’t have the right to correct him— you knew that.

You simply nodded in response.

“Maybe you were right to end this weeks ago.”

Your questioning hum was at a much higher pitch than you intended, but your throat was too tight to create a pitch indicative of indifference.

“You warned me that this wouldn’t work and I should’ve—” he stopped himself and sighed out shakily. He rubbed his fingers against his lips. “The ship would’ve docked, you would’ve been gone, and everything would’ve gone back to normal—  just like you said.”

You winced quietly.

“Is anything about you true? The things about your mother, your aunt, your father—”

“All of that was real, Jim.” Your eyebrows were together and you looked at him incredulously— as if you could blame him for doubting you. “Everything I told you, everything about me— it was all real.”

“How can I believe that?” he nearly yelled. “Why should I believe that?”

“Because you know me!” you shouted back. “Because you know all of that was real. You wouldn’t have fallen in love with me if you didn’t see truth.”

“Call it a lapse in judgement, then.”

Your lungs were drained again. Drops of saltwater freed themselves from your lash line and fell to your cheeks before you could wipe them away, hide yourself away.

You looked down at your feet that had gone pigeon-toed, chewing on the inside of your cheek for a moment.

You wiped your cheeks with the heels of your hands and met his gaze once your skin was dry. “I guess prison is going to lead to a sharp end to it this time. An arrest this serious is probably a deal breaker.”

“Dishonesty this serious is a more severe deal breaker.”

You nodded. “When does the ship dock?”

“Not for a few weeks.”

You nodded once more.

“The admiralty has asked you be sent to Earth by runabout with a team of security officers as soon as we can assure satisfactory condition of the artifact.” He rose from the bench, dusting the lap of his trousers to rid himself of nonexistent dust. He rubbed two fingers under his nose and sniffled. “Now that that’s done, I can go. The security officers will arrive soon.”

He nodded once and moved quickly to the door.

You cleared your throat, unable to let him leave just yet. “You know, the burns, Jim? They came from the artifact— be careful when you handle it.”

He had a small smile stretching his lips when he looked over his shoulder. “You forgot to swipe its case, sticky fingers. Makes it easier to hold onto.”

“I’ll call you from my jail cell.”

He laughed through his nose. “I’ll have Uhura block the number.”

“Careful, you might break my heart.”

“I’ll just be following the trend you started,” and the door slid shut behind him.

tagged: @outside-the-government @daughterofthebrowncoats @multifandom-slytherin @buckyy3s @cinema212 @caaptain @dani-fae @wonders-of-the-enterprise @imaginesofdreams @the-witching-hours12-3 @kaitymccoy123 @anyakinamidala @vevsee

[lunaamatista]

[Walkthrough CH1] Fausts Alptraum

Official English website | Steam page | Facebook | Plurk

Made by LabORat / Translated to English by etvolare

For now, if you find any text transference or encoding issues, you can report them to etvolare here. 

Make sure to look at the News from the Steam page to grab a link to the font. Installing it should fix most errors. 

[Prologue/Chapter 1] / [Chapter 2] / [Chapter 3] / [Final Chapter]

Prologue + Chapter 1 walkthrough under the cut. I will leave hints in italics.

To finish the game, you will have to inspect everything written in bullet points.

For convenience’s sake, I will skip marking down where there are matches, chocolate, save points, or books that give no relevant information to solving puzzles (they might, though, give relevant information to understanding the story). It is worth it to inspect every drawer and bookcase for these.

Characters will only be specified if they have a profile in the site. 

1F: 1st floor. 2F: 2nd floor. B1: basement 1, and so on. 

Prologue

New characters: Heinrich Faust. Elisabeth Faust. Mephistopheles. 

2F.

Elisabeth’s room. (Save point)

Wake up. Inspect room. 

• Bookcase. On left side, game instructions:   - Move: arrow keys   - Confirm or inspect items: Enter/Space/C   - Cancel or back: Esc/X   - Menu: Esc   - Pressing Alt+Enter switches to full screen mode.   - Chocolates will increase walking speed, matches will increase line of sight. Keeping to a certain walking speed and sight radius will decrease the chances of danger.    - If the screen blacks out, you will return to your bed. This does not mean you died, and what has already happened does not need to be repeated.    - Some items can be worn.    - The cat will give you some clue by reacting to specific items.    - If the screen is too dim, please increase screen brightness. Earphones are recommended for play as some puzzles are accompanied by music.    - Text that has already been read will appear in this bookcase. 

• Bedside table. Retrieve “key for right corridor”. 

• French doors. Locked. 

• Table. On right side, paper and ink. You can make a record here. On left side, retrieve “matches and a candleholder”. 

• (Menu) Rag doll. 

Exit. Trigger event, meet Mephistopheles. 

1F.

Hall.

Note: stepping on mice will decrease your range of vision/speed.

• Left corridor door. Locked. 

• Small door to the right of stairwell. At the end of its corridor, there is a locked door. There is a keyhole with a widely open eye engraved.  

• Right corridor door. Open with “key for right corridor”. 

Enter right corridor.

Chapter 1: Puss in Boots

New characters: Siebel. Porkhyaden. Homunculus.

1F.

Right corridor. 

Enter first door. 

Dining room. 

Enter door on the back. 

Kitchen. (Save point)

• Dead fish. Retrieve “fish eye”. The prettiest facial feature is the eyes! 

• On wall: some plates. They’re stored pretty high. These would make a ruckus if they fell!

• Cauldron. Its contents look like they could melt something.

• Door. Locked. Its window overlooks a pond and, on the other side, another window.

• Plaster sculpture. 

• Furnace.  

• On wall: “The witch’s sums”. There are missing wooden pieces. 

Exit kitchen.

Dining room.

• Plaster sculpture. 

Exit dining room.

Right corridor. 

• Plaster sculpture. Retrieve “metal wire”. 

Escape plaster sculpture by exiting and reentering corridor.

Use “metal wire” to unblock second door. Retrieve “living room key”. Use key to open door. 

Living room. (Save point)

• Table. Read “Puss in Boots I”.

Follow Siebel the cat, exit living room. 

Right corridor.

Retrieve “key on the floor”. 

Living room.

• Left bookcase. On right side, retrieve “map”. The top right end has a sun, and the top right end has a moon.

• On wall: empty hook. Maybe you could hang another painting here.

• Window. Locked. It overlooks a pond and, on the other side, a door with a window.

• Top left corner drawer. Photo frame. Retrieve “note”. Letters and numbers are written in color ink. 

• Small table beside save point:

Q. Mary was an apple girl. She was going to give an apple to her hungry cat at home, but bumped into a starving mouse along the way. Although she really wanted to give the apple to the cat, she couldn’t let the mouse stay hungry. What should she do?

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A. Give it to the mouse. (Mary is an apple girl)

Retrieve “golden key”. It seems to have a thick layer of paint on it. Maybe something could melt the paint... 

Exit living room. 

Kitchen.

Dunk “golden key” in cauldron. Retrieve “iron key”. Exit kitchen. 

Right corridor.

• Display Room. Locked.

• Piano Room. Can enter but will immediately exit; afterwards locked.

• End of corridor door. Locked. It is day time outside the window.

Exit right corridor.

Hall.

Use “key on the floor” to open left corridor. Enter left corridor.

Left corridor.

• First door. 

Q. “A sparkling interior shines but for a moment, only internal beauty will endure throughout the ages”. 

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A. Use gold-turned-iron key to unlock. 

Sitting room. (Save point)

Bottom part of the room.

• Table. Spilled inks mix to make new colors. 

• Drawers. On left side, retrieve “map of 2nd floor”.

• On wall: sheet with added letters. 

• Small closet. Four numbers to open; follow three hints:

Q. 0 0 0 0 

H1. Mixed inks.

H2. Colored letter / number note. 

H3. Sheet on wall. 

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A. A=red, B=blue, C=yellow, K=black. 1=purple, 2=green, 3=orange, 4=black. B+C=2; B+K=4; A+K=4; A+B=1. 2 4 4 1 

Retrieve “small key”. 

Top part of the room.

• Clock. It has no hands to mark hours. 

• Table. Read “Puss in Boots II”. 

Siebel joins. Exit sitting room. 

Left corridor. 

• Second door. Locked. 

• Painting beside second door. A queen with a high wig.

• End of corridor door. Locked. It is night time outside the window.

Exit left corridor.  

2F.

Elisabeth’s room. (right corridor, second door)

Use “small key” to open French doors. Exit. Trigger event. Enter rooms on right or left side of Elisabeth’s from the veranda, and then unlock their front door from inside: 

Three pigs’ room. (right)

• Furnace. There is a small flame. Maybe at a latter time it can be lighted. 

• Doll. It is over a safety deposit box. It is a featurless cloth doll. Maybe its features could be carved.

• Table. Retrieve “bookmark”. It lists organ prices.

Hole room. (left)

• Safety deposit box. Locked. "Start with the most expensive”. Prices?  

• Cracks in floorboard beside chimney.

• Table. Read “Puss in Boots III”. 

Exit either room.

Right corridor. 

• First door. Locked. Trigger event with Porkhyaden. Apparently you’d have to be nicely dressed to enter...

• Second door. Locked. “Opening hours: 4:00.” Where can we figure out the time?

Glass of painting by second door will break when Elisabeth walks by. Touching the glass will send her back to her room. 

• Drawer at end of corridor. On right side, retrieve “clock hand”. There was somewhere it could belong... 

Go down. 

1F.

Sitting room. 

Place hour hand on clock at 4:00 mark. Exit sitting room. 

2F. 

Right corridor.

• Second door opens at 4:00. 

Gallery. 

Enter door on back. 

Marguerite’s room. (Save point)

• Table. Read “Bound book I”. Trigger event. Siebel leaves.

• Bookcase. Read “Bound book II”. Retrieve “wooden handle key”. 

Open redwood cabinet with “wooden handle key”. Retrieve and change into “formal dress”. Would this do as a nicer dress?

Retrieve “paper fragment” from the floor. Numbers from 1 to 4 go from the top left to the top right. 

Read “Bound book III”. Exit room. When going down the gallery, avoid rolling plaster sculpture head by moving to the side. 

Right corridor. 

• First door. Seems a pretty dress won’t do. Need something cool and pretty. 

Hole room. 

• Safety deposit box. Four numbers to open; follow two hints:

Q. 0 0 0 0 

H1. Bookmark with organ prices.

H2. Newspaper fragment with ordered numbers and organ illustrations.

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A. The pattern is always 1, 2, 3, 4, without repeating, from left to right and going back from the left if 1 is positioned later in the row. 1, 2, 3, 4 // (3), 4 // (1), 2 (4) // 1, (2), 3 2, 3, 4 // 1 3=Heart; 1=Tooth; 4=Eyes; 2=Blood. Priciest to cheapest: Heart (3), Eyes (4), Tooth (1), Blood (2). 3 4 1 2

Retrieve “spade”. A spade is for gardening. Might be able to dig up soft dirt. 

Read “Bound book IV”. Something was left by a pond. 

Exit room. 

1F.

Right corridor. 

The door to the dining room is open. 

Dining room. 

The door to the kitchen is open. 

Kitchen.

Retrieve “plate fragments”. These are pretty sharp. They could tear through cloth. 

Exit kitchen. 

2F. 

Three pigs’ room. 

Use “plate fragments” to tear a mouth for cloth doll. Use “fish eye” to give it some features. Retrieve “painting”. Where can it be hung? 

Retrieve “fish eye”. 

Exit room. 

1F.

Living room. 

Hang “painting” on empty hook. A door can be heard opening. Look through window. Door is on the other side. Exit living room. 

Kitchen. 

The door with a window is open. 

Pool. 

• Flowers in pot. Bugs seem to approach fresh flowers. 

Use “spade” to dig on disturbed soil beside fountain. Retrieve “yellow gem”. Isn’t it rather pretty and cool? 

Retrieve “bracelet”. It has bells and a name. Don’t cats use that? 

Read “Puss in Boots IV”. 

Exit pool. 

2F.

Right corridor.

• First door. Present “yellow gem” to open door. Trigger event. A game of hide and seek will begin. You must find three piglets all throughout the game.

Waiting room.

Retrieve “yellow gem”. Read and retrieve “Old Diary I”. 

• Data Room. Locked. 

• Unlighted candleholder. The match is too short to reach it.

• Door. Not locked, but won’t open. 

• Drawers. On left side, retrieve “handaxe”. 

Exit room. Siebel joins. 

Hole room. 

Use “handaxe” to open the crack on the floor beside the furnace. Go down hole. 

Library. (Save point) 

There is an empty bookcase with papers on top. Push it together with the rightmost bookcase from the middle row. Read and retrieve “Old Diary II”. Music will start playing.   

• Third bookcase from top left. On left side, hint of the witch’s sums. All make 15. On left side, something shiny will trigger event. Siebel leaves. Now the key is too high to reach either way. If only someone could jump up there.

Exit library. It will lead to a “known” place. 

???

As you walk along hall, music will get louder. At the end, there is a save point. Make sure to save. 

Crossing the door is a maze of desks. A desk can be pushed if there is no other desk in front, behind, or to the sides of it. There are several ways to get to the end. 

Read “Memo I” and cross the door. There is another save point. Make sure to save. 

A darkened maze. There is no danger in crossing, but it will be blocked at parts.

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Steps: 2↑, 2←, 1↑, 3←, 4↑, 5→, 1↓, 2→, 3↓, 1→, 1↓, 3→, 1↓, 2→, 2↑, 1←, 3↑, 2←, 1↑.

Read “Memo II” and cross the door. There is another save point. Make sure to save (for real). 

Read “Memo III” and (if possible) cross the door. As long as it has been read, entering again will automatically skip the room. 

Read “Memo IV” and “List”. Trigger event. 

2F.

Elisabeth’s room. 

Wake up. Siebel joins. Trigger event. Put “bracelet” on Siebel. Retrieve “key with a label” from close to door. Exit room. 

Marguerite’s room. 

• Chair beside window. A tail is peeking out. Trigger event. 

Exit room. 

Waiting room.

Use “key with a label” to open Data Room. 

Data Room. (Save point)

• Bookcase on top left. On right side, read “How to Create a Golem”. Some powerful words are mentioned. 

• Table to right of first bookcase. Read “The Blue Bird I”. 

• Painting to right of second bookcase. It is locked to the wall. 

• Third bookcase. On left, there is space for a book. Insert “old diary”. Painting will unlock. Retrieve “sun-shaped key”. There was a sun somewhere in a map...

Retrieve “umbrella”. Where would it be raining inside?

• Table on top right. Read “Letter”.

• Small table between two bookcases at the bottom. Retrieve “long match”. There was a candleholder that needed lighting up. 

Exit room. 

Waiting room.

Use “long match” to light candleholder.  

Mirror room.

Enter. Trigger event with Homunculus. 

• Large center mirror. There is a keyhole with an almost open eye engraved.

• Mirror to the left of center mirror. 

Exit room.

(*If Siebel was not with you yet, Siebel joins.)  

1F.

Library. 

• (Optional for Secret Ending) Third bookcase from top left. Retrieve “small key” with Siebel’s help. Exit library. 

Left corridor. 

• Painting beside library door. Queen. A rather gaudy one with a tall white wig.  

* There are some very obvious footprints which lead to a crack in the wall. It can be opened, but it is not necessary to conclude Chapter 1, so it will be explained when it is useful. 

Kitchen.

• Furnace. A tail is peeking out. Trigger event.

Right corridor. 

Use “sun-shaped key” to open door on the end. It is raining, so return inside. Equip “umbrella” to exit. 

Greenhouse.

Greenhouse South East.

Walk straight ahead to the next section. 

Greenhouse East. (Save point)

Save. This concludes Chapter 1.  

Maps at Chapter 1 conclusion

Hole room = unlabeled leftmost room Mirror room = Mirrors Data Room = Reference room 

Items at Chapter 1 conclusion

• Rag doll • Original dress • 1F map • Formal dress • Iron key • Yellow jewel • Small spade • 2F map • Fish eye • Chocolate • Matches • (Optional) “Right Hand” label key

Books at Chapter 1 conclusion

• Instructions • Puss in Boots I • Puss in Boots II • Puss in Boots III • Puss in Boots IV • Bound book I • Bound book II • Bound book III • Bound book IV • Old Diary I • Old Diary II • Memo I • Memo II • Memo III • Memo IV • List • The Blue Bird I • Letter