#ooc: definitely not in the clear

[socialitesleuth]

All things considered, Penelope let the jibe slide. In fairness, Alan was still lower down on her list of Tracys-To-Ask than Gordon was. She wouldn’t point that out, of course, as that would have been a sure fire way of returning to their previously argumentative state and, although Penelope was sure that eventuality would come inevitably come to pass, for their argument had not yet been fully ironed out, she couldn’t deny that this brief moment was a nice reprieve. Penelope despised confrontation with those she held near and dear, even when it was necessary.

The smile that had failed to crack her stern expression earlier finally broke free. It was small and hasty, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sort, but it was a smile nonetheless. Perhaps it would have brightened up her features for longer had the alarm not blared on the other end of the line.

It was a natural reaction to be startled by the sudden interruption, and before Penelope could even contemplate any sort of lecture, she found herself nodding. “Good luck. Be safe.”

Minutes felt like hours after that. Penelope was never usually one to worry about the boys all too often. It was their job, after all, and they were all beyond capable of performing it well. She’d seen them in action first hand plenty of times to know that worrying about them was unnecessary. She tried to have that philosophy when it came to Gordon too. Nine times out of the ten, he came home unscathed (minus the odd cut or bruise that was simply an occupational hazard).

That evening, however, Penelope couldn’t stop her mind from waltzing into Worried Territory. What if something malfunctioned? What if he got injured? What if he didn’t come back? And it didn’t matter how many times Penelope would reason with her brain that it was all just irrational fear, her mind continued to dance with those agonising questions. It didn’t help that her anxieties weren’t entirely baseless.

Gordon had promised her that he’d call her back, but the torment of waiting seemed endless. More than once did Penelope contemplate calling him back instead, to check in on him, to make sure everything was going to plan. The only reason why she refrained from doing so was because she knew it was ridiculous. At best, she’d get a simple “yep, fine, will call you back once I’m home”, and at worse, she’d be distracting him from his job. Distractions led to nothing good, not on a rescue mission, and so Penelope ignored the burning sensation she felt every time she remembered her communicator was within arms reach.

Despite cancelling many of her afternoon plans, Penelope was still able to keep one. Though distractions were frowned upon in the world of rescue missions, they worked marvellously in the world of waiting, and so she welcomed the brief half-an-hour catch up call with her cousin, Augustus.

Dinner passed.

A bath was had.

And Penelope tucked herself into her bed, all still without a single word from Gordon.

The late hour had her mind playing cruel tricks on her once again. Now, in the quiet of her room, Penelope had nothing to distract her. She pulled up a file on her datapad, a dry and dull document regarding the operations of Fulcra (for one could never be too prepared), but any hopes she’d had on it taking her mind off the waiting fell flat and Penelope soon found herself hopping over to the news sites in order to catch-up with the latest news reports. Only briefly did she hear someone yell the word Atlantic before Gordon had hung up, but there was nothing being reported yet by the major press agencies.

She yawned. Her jaw clicked. She was getting tired.

Gordon had been tired. He’d look utterly exhausted when she spoke to him.

Penelope fought to remember what the last thing she said to him was, before she’d wished him luck. Given their recent spat, she’d hoped it hadn’t been something she’d forever regret if the worst—

No! Don’t think like that. You’re just tired yourself, Penny. You just need to sleep. Gordon will be fine, you know he will.

And although she could never hate Gordon, she did find herself irritated by his earlier quick dismissal. What else he was supposed to do in that situation, Penelope could not say, but to leave her hanging like that? It was hardly fair.

He’d thrown her off balance. It had nothing to do with the weight on her heart that felt absolutely crushing. Yes! The worrying was his fault. And, when he finally did call her back, which he would if he knew what was good for him, she’d let him know.

But if Penelope thought sleep would come easy to her after deciding such a thing, she was wrong. In fact, Penelope was unable to doze off for quite a while. She tossed and she turned until finally her body gave in to a restless nap some hours later.

:COMMS BEGIN:

Lady P,

Sorry for the early morning comms, hope this doesn’t wake you too early - I make it just after 5 your time.

We’re just finishing up a mission in the Persian Gulf - a luxury hotel collapsed overnight, on an island just offshore Doha. Only built two years ago, whole place is pretty new and shiny.

Been a rough night, Pen - fifteen we were too late to help, including two kids. Just families on vacation...

Anyway, victims are saying they felt tremors, it certainly looks like a quake from the debris now the sun is up and J is absolutely confident it came from beneath the sea bed (absolutely being a rather irritated direct quote, so I’m not asking again).

But… this isn’t a quake hot zone. It doesn’t make any sense, and there haven’t been any aftershocks either while we’ve been working. Five can’t get a good read because of the debris and mineral interference underground. The whole place is on top of the enormous old oil fields, and it sends the scanners haywire.

The company that owns the hotel has set my squid sense off though. Name’s Fulcra, I’ve sent you the profile on them. Ran by a guy named Randall Price. He’s a venture capitalist from Houston originally, but the company’s HQ is a London address. That’s as far as I’ve managed to get.

They own a couple of the small artificial islands around here that are being used as tourist hotspots. Think luxury waterfront villas on stilts kinda stuff, the hotel that’s collapsed was the biggest. Nice place, high end, lots of good dive spots.

This area’s all under a World Heritage protected marine environment permit for a biosphere reserve. They’ve spent decades trying to replenish the mangroves and coastal vegetation after what the oil fields and production did to the waters here, the aquatic populations are only just starting to rise comfortably. I didn’t understand how they even got permission for this sort of work but…

They’ve got a giant platform further out in the Gulf that’s supposedly ‘cleaning the sea’ and helping to replenish the sea bed. Seems to be some sort of agreement that they can build these resorts, in exchange for what appears to be green work. I tried to get a proper look at the platform in Four, out of interest, but they’ve got laser nets up. I got an autoturret my way for trying to go any further in the exosuit…

I’d like to think they’re just really protecting that biosphere, but I don’t get a nice eco-friend impression.

My gut says I’m getting Hydrexler vibes, and you were right about that oily CEO last time. I’m not sure I want to be right, but I do want to know what’s going on here… and I thought you might too, as our resident top agent with a passion for all things Earth-saving.

So, I thought I’d hand it over to you, and let you do what you do best - cosying up to the billionaires and getting them to spill the tea.

Lemme know if you know or find anything on them. We’re going to be here another couple of hours, finishing up stabilising the debris field and having another run through, and then heading back. S managed to get the Price guy on comms briefly, but he wasn’t much for talking. Maybe you’ll have more luck.

G 🦑

:COMMS END:

FIRST DATE?

The flickering light and the soft buzz from her compact device caught her off-guard. Penelope, who had positioned herself in an armchair beside her tall windows after giving up on sleep half an hour earlier, sat herself up a little straighter. The blanket which she’d wrapped around herself was pulled tighter to her frame as her eyes read the message.

The hour might have been earlier and, on any other day, Penelope might very well have still been sleeping, but today was different. She rubbed her tired eyes as they scanned Gordon’s words. At first, she’d hoped it had been something akin to a social call. She rather enjoyed those, especially when they came from Gordon, but the more she read, the more Penelope realised it was anything but that.

Her interest peaked as she reached Gordon’s conspiracy.

Her mouth grew dry when she reached Gordon’s information.

The blanket was thrown off her body and Penelope stood. With her comms device still in hand, her eyes still darting from left to right as she continued her reading, she crossed her bedroom and gently tugged on the bell. 

Minutes passed before a very sleepy Parker knocked on her bedroom door. Penelope, having only just finished Gordon’s message, opened it.

“Terribly sorry to wake you, Parker, but it seems we have a situation. I need you to cancel my schedule for today and then get me all we have on the company known as Fulcra. CEO is a man named Randall Price.”

“But, m’lady, that’s—”

“I’m perfectly aware of that, thank you, Parker. See if you can arrange a meeting of some kind, if that’s at all possible.”

Parker nodded, still more asleep than he was awake, before he trundled off down the hallway to make good of his ladyship’s requests.

Penelope returned to chair by the window and curled herself back up. The sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon as she typed out her reply.

COMMS BEGIN

@squidsinashirt, Thank you for your concern — I shall look into this and get back to you when I

Penelope ceased her typing and sighed. She knew it wasn’t fair to lie to him, not after her sent her looking. A moment or two passed before Penelope deleted her previous sentence and began to re-type it. 

COMMS BEGIN

Gordon,

This company?

I shall look into this as you requested but, I must warn you, you may not like what I find. Randall Price is… let us say a man I am already familiar with, or rather his business is. What I can tell you is that, for the most part, Fulcra is celebrated as a rather clean company, but that doesn’t always mean much — you were right to mention Hydrexler. The Persian Gulf was supposed to remain a protected marine environment, at least that was how I understood it. I’ll ask some of my World Heritage connections what they know too, see if I can get a bigger picture for you.

Give me a couple of days. I’ll try and, what was it you said? Cosy up to the billionaire? Get him to spill the tea? Parker is going to try and get me an appointment but, if that fails, I do have an alternative plan.

Do try and get some rest once you’ve finished up. The mission in Doha sounds like it’s been a terribly distressing situation for all involved. You know I am always here if you need to talk about it. Any of it.

I’ll be in touch once I hear something.

Stay safe, 

Penny x

COMMS END

-------------------------------------

Once upon a time, names held weight. Penelope had thought that Scott’s name had simply been too tied up with International Rescue for Randall Price to give him the time of day… until she too was ushered away once the more difficult questions were asked. From her other sources, Penelope had heard only rave reviews of the company. Yet something felt… off.

It was just after dinner when Penelope began her second message to Gordon.

COMMS BEGIN

It's too clean. Not sure what’s going on but I definitely sense something. Plan B is in operation. Randall Price might not have wanted to speak to me today, but he did invite me to his Charity Ball this weekend — I’ll see if I can find out more then.

I’m hoping you returned home safe and sound and that you managed to have a good rest. I suppose it’s my turn to apologise if this message wakes you. 

Penny x

COMMS END

[shepcdr]

i know that Shepard asking about aliens and about literally every new piece of intergalactic info you come across is supposed to be for the player to be able to learn new information. but for Yishai I like the take that he just fucking sucks

he was taken into the alliance on account of biotic potential. he was raised on the streets and has a very basic grasp of reading/writing/arithmetic that he came into on his own. he at least took advantage of alliance enlistment incentives whilst trying to manage enlisting "the right way" ... got some studying help so that his asvab scores went from "abysmal" to "not great and still non-qualifying" until they were waived on account of his LE3 implants operation, and then he was training to be put on the front lines.

he joined the alliance with hopes of getting away from the gang he was heavily entangled with and until then reliant upon to survive. with no intention of ever becoming a commanding officer or goals for any position that requires that sort of knowledge. he aimed to be stationed near or in the Skyllian Verge and especially only started pushing for a large role in the operation targeting torfan, and by then he had some n7 training to show for it.

he has had supplemental education since joining the alliance as part of his benefits, and help from VIs ensures he can navigate the more paperwork oriented parts of his job. without VI help he can recognise and jot down basics esp military jargon/abbreviations. but he is to some degree functionally illiterate outside the alliance. he Is capable of reading materials, given a lot of time and patience. he is not used to it and does not often want to do it (he is not going to stand for more than 10 seconds in front of a direction post on the citadel to figure out what it says. instead we're wandering around in the presidium in circles for another half hour!)

how realistic is this for an executive officer? Probably not very, and I need to learn more about how the alliance operates and the irl military equivalent, but this is the future and VIs and other developments have likely made these things easier to navigate and are integrated in ways that make it Possible that Shepard ended up where he is, in this situation. simply because that is how I want it to be for his specific case

when people talk about intergalactic politics and history and about only knowing "what they learnt in school," shepard is at least 10 steps behind because history class? he didn't take those. And he is not cracking open history books in his off time or listening to audiobooks. (his life is about the silly little personal missions and quests that he does in relation only to his work in the alliance and to the original Yishai shepard I made for his backstory.) the Normandy crew are educating him from almost nothing and he loves them for it. Hugely intense cultural exchange. Unfortunately weird sometimes when the commanding officer that took you onto his ship is like "so the genophage what is that? 🤪" but he is always learning smth new...

I also think he has some decent improvements in reading/writing without VI assistance throughout me1-me3 but that's my silly little headcanons there. maybe I'll expand on this, format it and make it look better to repost down the line but for now this is self-indulgent Runo rambling, tbd

[whomuses]

// Just a like quick reminder that I am extremely uncomfortable with characters from H*rry P*tter, H*lluva B*ss or H*zbin H*tel. This comes from a lot of places for me, but suffice it to say that the creators are viciously transphobic. (I've seen every excuse under the sun for this). If I like you enough and you are good about tagging in a way that I can block, I am having some allowances for multis. But I've actively blocked folks before who use characters from those medias as mun fcs and similar. If I'm not interacting/following back/showing interest, this is very likely to be a reason why.

[twinsoftriumph]

the sky concept art masterpost!

i compiled a bunch of official sky concept art in a google drive folder because i got incredibly sidetracked looking at elder references. it’s not all illustrations; there are a few 3d images from the game’s development. i also included dev notes when available as well as the slides from the art of sky presentation.

google drive folder here - note that this is mostly for easy viewing and saving the images if you want. i’ll be listing the direct sources below

tom zhao’s sky concept art - a classic. over 200 images. concepts for basically every major aspect of the base game. includes lore, story beats, environment concepts, etc.

art of sky cotl - a presentation by yuichiro tanabe + cecil kim on the art of sky. i believe some of these images are the ones you can see in the office area? the slides themselves are in the folder but the important commentary is all here!

7 days of sky - includes concept art from tom zhao so you will see some repeated images here. this one has the most dev comments. goes through all realms minus eden as well as elders + creatures. originally posted on twitter as 7 separate threads but this is the easiest to view

tiffany hayashi’s tumblr + concept art - some early development sky concepts. commentary taken from tumblr, the concept art page is the art by itself with a few not posted to tumblr

ashley coad - some concept art for various seasons. i didn’t include the flight promotional pic in the folder since it’s Promotional but it’s there if you want to save it

IGN first - a 2017 article with some dev comments and images of sky in development

feel free to suggest anything i might have missed!

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

quick note as someone who's experienced something very similar in another fandoms: whether you hate the cheating plotline or not, it's difficult to say it's ooc. especially for Seb, because we've seen a lot less of him than we have Big Red.

I think it was ooc for how it seemed the characters were going. but really, a lot of their personalities (especially Seb, again) were created by the fandom.

the similar experience I had is that we found out a character, who was engaged, was married from years prior and never divorced the spouse or told the current partner. so many people were outraged about how ooc it was, but some people reminded the fandom - we don't actually know that much about him. and what we do know matches with this

like I said, I don't care if you like the storyline or not. and for the way I personally view the characters, I think the kiss itself was ooc but the way they dealt with it was not (the guilt and ignoring it). but truly, we've created images of these characters in the fandom that are just that - in the fandom. I like those images, but we can't base the characters' standard off that :)

[lethalitisms]

[[ all the stuff happening rn As We Speak is serious but also . this is definitely a shirt the symbiote would make eddie wear ]]

[puzzledmemories]

((okay yeah i've decided i'm adding rio to this blog. give me a couple of days to get her on my muse list (mobile and desktop), but i'm pretty definitely gonna add her.))

((feel free to enable me or discourage me from adding (a) gx character(s) and/or making a kingdom hearts sideblog because i'm still wrestling with myself on that. temptation's strong. but i'm still like, what if i shouldn't, yknow. i'm just sitting here trying not to be too impulsive but also trying not to be too self-conscious about it))

[athalantan]

You know what line, more than any other, is the most compelling evidence for El having taught Gale at some point (although I still don’t think that happened til after Mystra’s return)? “Elminster’s not around so might as well.”

The thing is El is a reckless individual. Always has been. They’ve more than once thought themselves a fool and in the next breath thought that, if they weren’t a fool, they wouldn’t be themself. They’re prone to daring plans and also to experimentation, including with magic. (Mystra loves for those who wield the Art to get creative with it as well, and often tasks the Magister and her Chosen with encouraging that.) They’re far from tight-laced.

But, they are an exacting teacher. They have high standards and set challenges that will push you past your limits every day. They will frustrate you, madden you, damn near torment you. It’s all for a good cause, ultimately. They’re not just teaching apprentices to hurl spells. They’re teaching them to maintain focus and control under harrowing conditions. They’re teaching them to think quickly and creatively in a pinch. They’re teaching them to stay alive in fatal circumstances. They’re also guiding them — hopefully — toward ethical and, well, artful use of the Art. Too many focus on the prideful, power-hungry, destructive aspects of magic. They challenge their apprentices to think philosophically as well as mechanically.

So that line — Elminster’s not around — is 100% about El the teacher and not El the friend or adventurer. El the friend is not so forbidding. El the teacher will fix you with a look that’s brought godlike tyrants to their knees.

[imthecleric]

ooc: i think one of my biggest fears for s5 is that in order to build up el and her family they will focus on her, hopper, and joyce and kind of ignore jonathan and will (ngl they lowkey did that in the s4 finale with the boys not getting a filmed reunion with their mom and it going to el). not that el is not important to joyce and hopper but i think their needs to be balance their family isnt just parents. and the boys deserve an quality time with hopper and joyce as well especially coming from their upbringing (bringing a new dad into the mix... like that is interesting to me at least plot wise)

does this make sense?

[ladyseidr]

good morning! i made elise an official muse page finally! also she is 5'11" and often wears heels which means i can post these images again:

[hopefromadoomedtimeline]

as a long time roleplayer do you roleplay for ships or just interactions

An interesting but fair question.

To make it plain and simple: I always, always aim to just interact with other blogs, no matter how big or small that interaction is. I follow blogs bc I like them, not for the sake of shipping.

Admittedly, I still haven't done as much interaction with other blogs as I actually want to do, but that doesn't change my intentions. First and foremost is just me wanting to throw Trunks at y'all. And then we can see what type of dynamic the two build as time goes on.

Honestly, I have a hard time as it is even approaching people about shipping as it is (I think in all my years here I've only managed to talk about maybe five people about it? Maybe even less) not because I'm highly selective about shipping or something of the sort, but pretty much bc I'm indecisive and worried about how I'll come off even though it's literally not even a big thing.

If I was just going for ships, I'd be doing a terrible job at it.

[spaced-out-muses]

Aight new headcanon you know how when you're shoveling snow off a driveway, and it's powdery enough that you can just push it instead of shoveling, so you push. But when you push enough of the snow away there's patches of ice under the thin layer of powder thats left and if you're not careful as you're pushing you can slip and almost fall— Yeah so Mori most definitely eats shit on those and he hates it.

[ofcrossrcads]

Let's talk emotions: does she feel them? short answer: it's complicated.

In her default, unaffiliated verse the general consensus is that demons aren't capable of feeling positive emotion, and they as a species tend to play into that. the truth is a little more complex; positive emotions (love, compassion, joy) sit just barely out of reach at most times. the emotion can be there, but it's disconnected, muted, like it belongs to someone else.

She absolutely can feel the negative side of the emotional spectrum: rage, spite, possessiveness, desire...anything that isn't inherently good is far more accessible.

That said, those positive emotions can begin to break through. If she's decided that she likes you, she's willing to do a sort of "fake it till you make it" sort of thing. She'll engage in your passions because they're important to you, make romantic gestures because they'll mean something to you, because even if she doesn't quite understand the emotion that's supposed to be behind it, she'll learn and adapt, because if you're important to her? so is your happiness.

Given enough time, that detached fondness/possessiveness can develop into true emotion. She is, in fact, capable of love! It's only happened once so far and it was super distressing for her t b h, but it's proof that it can indeed happen.

(her verses in Supernatural and TVD/TO are somewhat exceptions since it's established demons have ✨feelings✨ in that lore. they're present, but still toned down)

[byanyan]

byan on an average day: glitter. very cute but too many hairclips. makeup done and usually quite vibrant. fitted clothes (oftentimes showing a little extra skin) involving a lot of bright pink. colourful platform boots. more glitter.

byan on a bad day: makeup smudged or non-existent. hair a mess, either falling out of a ponytail or not even pulled back. oversized hoodies and baggy pants. more black than usual. simple combat boots. no glitter.

and they're really out here with the gall to say that they're good at hiding it when they're having a rough time... smh my head

[espercr]

You: reblogs a meme with romantic ships as an option

Also You: How dare you assume I want romantic ships for my Muse?

hi anon, i didn't say i don't want romantic ships for my muse - i just said they take effort , plotting , & more often than not end up being slow burns due to the nature of my character (she has a history of unhealthy relationships). i have plenty of romantic ships for hope , but i also have discussed these ships at length with my partners & plotted out how they are able to move past hope's skittishness in love - which honestly makes the ship so much more fun to write & compelling ! i simply meant to establish that it's not as easy as people might think & takes communication between muns as well as substantial plotting . ya girl does not fall easy , but it's not impossible : )

[ebitenpura]

wah....I didn't expect to clear golbez ex in the 2nd time ive done this fight but I also died an embarrassing amount of times while having to flipflop every party/clock spot and being braindead (I feel bad for my party but they were nice) but we tried to farm it and hugely unsuccessful- OTL