#pilot is done!

[justanotherblogger]

Shadow Trails ~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie looks up at the demon. He's taller than her, with card symbols all over his wings and outfit. He wears a black bowler hat and a white dress shirt with a red and black blazer, one that has the sleeves rolled up and two white J's standing back to back on the left chest pocket.

His gray pants are baggy, but dont bunch around his ankles while having diamonds, spades, hearts, and clubs going down in lines. He looks down at her with almost glowing yellow eyes.

Charlie rubs her eyes, blinks twice, and then gives a big smile. "Hello there! How can I help you? Are you here to stay at the Happy Hotel?"

The sinner tips his hat to her politely. "Heya. And, ah, no, I'm not exactly looking to stay here." The cat sinner ruffles his wings. "The name's Husk, gambling overlord, y'know. I own the casino "Chips and Trades" down on Betters Way. I was wondering if..." Husk had started.

But Charlie stopped listening when he said the casino name. This is the King of Cards. The King of Cards. Outside her door. Seemingly looking for her specifically for whatever reason. She should've noticed sooner with his souls being heavier than a normal sinners. Oh shit.

Husk coughs into his clawed hand before speaking again. "What do ya-" She closes the door in his face. Oh crap she closed the door in his face!

She quickly opens it again. Husk stares back, confused. "Uh, hello-" he tries to speak, but she closes it again. Aw crap. Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap-

"Uh, Vaggie?" Charlie yells into the lobby, voice a bit wobbly.

"What is it?"

"The King of Cards is at the door..."

"Wait, what!?!" Vaggie yells, sitting up from the couch.

"What should I do!?" Charlie pulls on her hair, pacing in front of the doorway.

"Well, don't talk to him!"

"Who?" Angel pipes up, seemingly done with his popsicle as he waves the stick around for emphasis.

Charlie bites her nail before looking back at the door. Maybe he wasn't here for any bad reasons? He did seem like he was trying to talk to her civilly. But what if hes trying to ruin or take the hotel? Ugh! This is going nowhere!

'Y'know what? Im gonna do it. This hotel can't have it that much worse anyway.'

She finally takes a deep breath before opening the door again, looking Husk straight in the eyes. Sorry, Vaggie.

He looked down unimpressed. "Can I continue?" He asked in a bored tone. "You can." Charlie responds, trying to remain a bit confident.

Husk just shrugs in response before ducking through the door, almost knocking Charlie over with his wings. "The name's Husk, but I already told you that. I'm here to make a proposal for you and your... lively hotel." He looks around the battered entrance and cringes. "To give a good fix-up in return for something I suddenly need."

"Wait, really!?!" Charlie stopped herself before continuing. "Uh, *ahem* so, what do you need exactly?" She quickly saves, following him to the lobby.

But before Husk can respond, an angelic spear is aimed straight at his throat. "Stop. Right there." Vaggie suddenly snaps. Husk snarls down at the weapon.

Charlie quickly steps between the two. "Vaggie, stop! We don't need violence right now. He's here to make a proposal for the hotel!"

Vaggie huffed before rebuffing her statement. "What would a gambling overlord have to gain from our hotel? One that's also specifically known for trickery and manipulation?" She gives a harder glare towards the overlord.

Husk swats the tip away from his neck before speaking. "Just so you know, I only do that to lower level assholes I don't like. I can be civil when I have to, and with the right people." He adds the second bit like an afterthought.

"And what business do you have at our hotel? Do you even believe in our hotel's cause?" Vaggie asks skeptically.

Husk suddenly laughs. " Oh! Yeah, no. I don't really think your whole 'redemption' thing is going to work out in what I think you're hoping for. I'm just here to see if this could be something interesting enough to invest in."

If looks could kill, Husk would be dead where he stood as Vaggie glared holes into the back of the overlords head.

However, Charlie suddenly grabs Husk's arm and leads him towards the staircase, trying to deescalate the situation. "Well then, I think a tour is in order for our future investor!" She laughs nervously before shooting a begging look to Vaggie.

Vaggie stands still for a second. Finally, she glares at Husk's back before lowering her weapon, groaning, and shooing them off. Charlie gives a happy squeak and starts dragging Husk off around the top of the staircase.

Vaggie throws herself back onto the couch and sets her spear within arms reach. She starts to rub her temple violently. This isn't going to end well.

"So, what's with whisker?" Angel suddenly asks, sitting down on the arm of the couch and staring at the pair walking all over the hotel. "Y'know, the big fluff-ball ya got Charlie dragging everywhere?"

Vaggie pipes up, exasperated. "Wait, you don't know the King of Cards? Husk? Husker?"

"I've heard the name 'Husker' used around the studio sometimes, usually in passing." Angel stands up and sits in the armchair across from the couch. "Huh, woulda thought he'd be a bit less, y'know, cuddly. Don't know much 'bout him otherwise."

Vaggie looks even more exasperated than before. "You don't know about his deals with The Legends?" Angel shrugs. "His rise up in ranks over a couple of days? The one who tore down all existing systems and pioneered his own on a straight up gamble?"

Angel gives another shrug before crossing his arms. "I don't really follow politics. I might start if he's front and center, though." He gives a smirk in the overlords direction.

"Ugh, Angel Dust..." Vaggie sighs before continuing. "The King of Cards arrived in hell just before the Overlord Slaughter."

Angel Dust sags. "Oh here we go."

"Shut up. Anyways, he had never shown his face before the overlords started to go missing. People say he organized the whole thing to take advantage of the other overlords, who were called The Legends for surviving the massacre. He preyed on their fear of death from whatever being killed the others, and gave them protection in exchange for parts of their domain, their power, and some even gave away their souls to avoid the next slaughter.

"This sudden surge in power gave him the ability to do almost anything he wanted. He started to tear down the previous influences of the other overlords, things like brands, buildings, and even whole districts, as he rebuilt things to his liking.

"This is how Betters Way was created, with Chips and Trades as the star of the alley. You couldn't walk two feet without seeing an ad for whatever the King of Cards had going at the time. And he never stopped growing.

"He'd take sinners and demons alike to his table, letting them think they even had a chance in besting the head of the gambling district. They would all fail, as the house always wins and have everything taken from them. Their possessions, their achievements, and their own souls would be ripped from them to be added to the ever growing mound.

"This is why we can't get involved in something that runs around him. He lies, he cheats, and he always finds some way to have his interests win over all or tear you down to bits until you can't be anything without what the King of Cards holds in his hands." Vaggie takes a deep breath.

Silence is the only thing between them before Angel speaks up again. " Hah! Well, to me, he looks like an oversized build-a-bear accident."

Vaggie grumbles before glaring back at the Overlord, who was with Charlie and starting to walk back down the stairs. "Well, I don't trust his intentions."

Angel Dust raises a brow but says nothing, looking at the pair now standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Vaggie seemingly has enough as she gets up and drags Charlie away, leaving Husk to his own devices in the lobby.

Only when they're far enough away does Vaggie speak again. "You can't seriously be thinking about trusting that guy, right? He literally gambles peoples souls away for a living. He doesn't believe in what we're trying to do here, and he might even try to take one of our souls or tear down all of our work! "

Charlie glances at Husk before grabbing one of Vaggie's shoulders. "I know, Vaggie. He's definitely not here to be redeemed or to help with the idea of redemption in mind,"

Husk is now looking at the paintings on the walls, walking in front of them all with little to no interest for what's depicted on them.

"But this is what our hotel is about. To give sinners a chance and to have faith that they can be better! Turning someone away isn't something I can do. Just trust me this once, ok? Also, I'll give you full reign to do whatever if he tries anything."

Vaggie seems to think it over before answering. "Ok, just be sure not to make any exchanges, deals, or anything like that with him, got it?"

Charlie giggles before letting go of Vaggie. "Don't worry so much, Vaggie. If there's one thing I learned from my dad, it's that you dont take shit from other demons!"

Vaggie watches as Charlie confidently walks back up to Husk. "So, uh, Husk. I know you probably don't believe in what I'm doing and are just here for personal gain, but I do believe in what we're trying to do here." She says with a serious tone.

"This hotel is about taking chances and having the idea that sinners can be better in the first place, so I accept your offer to help out in our hotel. No strings attached or whatever you do with bets in your casino."

Husk squinted down at Charlie. "Hey now, I never made an offer like that. I made a proposal to help fix up this hotel in exchange for getting my name back into the game. I can give you more in exchange if you desire."

Husk suddenly holds out his hand as their surroundings turn a warm orange hue; soft voices echoed throughout the air.

Charlie immediately backs up from Husk. "Yeah, uh, no. No deals, no hand shaking, no exchanges, ok? Uhm, what about this instead."

Husk pulls his hand back and looks at Charlie expectantly. She coughs into her hand, then looks to Vaggie giving her an approving expression before speaking again.

"I, Princess of Hell, hereby declare that Husk, the gambling overlord, is to help out and fix the hotel to his best abilities for however long he desires in exchange for Husk's, uh, publicity." She finishes before looking back up at Husk.

He squinted down at her, seemingly thinking about her choice of words, then nods. "Good enough for me." Charlie let a breath she didn't know she was holding out in relief.

Husk suddenly walked around the lobby, starting to pick apart all the things that needed fixing. "Where is the rest of your staff anyways?"

Charlie tilts ger head to one side. "Staff?"

"Yeah, staff. Y'know, to help keep this hotel running? Things like maids, customer service people, the front desk runners?"

Charlie shrinks slightly before pointing to Vaggie. She in response just glared back into the overlords eyes.

Husk flinches back a bit. "Ho, yeah. You're going to need more than that to keep this hotel from running into disrepair."

He scans the room before finally acknowledging the resident spider sitting on the arm chair.

"And what exactly can you do?"

Angel Dust smirks before answering. "I can suck your dick!"

Silence falls in the lobby with Husk just staring for a second. Then he sighs, and grumbles something akin to "I'm too sober for this."

Angel laughs in his seat as Husk walks back to the center of the room. "Well, this certainly won't do if you're going to keep this project running. I might as well use a couple of tricks up my sleeve to at least give it a chance."

He then takes a jack of hearts from his sleeve and throws it into the parlor fireplace. It suddenly lights up as the entire parlor becomes free of dust and debris, with a little figure blackened by char stuck in the fireplace.

Everyone just stares as Husk goes up, picks the figure up by the scruff, and shakes the ash right off it. A single eye looks back up at them as he drops her back to the ground.

She's smaller than everyone there, about 3 feet tall if someone were to guess. She has a red poodle skirt on, with a poofy white shirt with three red spots on the chest and a white J surrounded by a red heart embroidered on top of where a human heart would be. There's a small red scarf around her neck, and her hair is short with red and orange highlights. She looks around the room erratically with her yellow eye.

"This little thing is Nifty. She'll make this hotel the cleanest it can be and keep everything in order. Just don't get too close: she can and will stab you." Husk warns before stepping back.

"Hi! I'm Nifty! It's been a while since I've seen other sinners in person." She rambles before looking around the lobby. Her face immediately drops.

"Oh my gosh! This place is filthy! It needs a lady's touch, which is weird because all of you are ladies, no offense." She speaks quickly as she takes a duster from... somewhere, and starts to clean every inch of the place, sometimes stabbing roaches with a sewing needle.

Angel scoffs at her comment but says nothing more. After she's apparently done, she skitters back to Husk's side and looks up at him with a begging look.

"So when are you bringing Al?" She asks a bit jittery, but with certainty. Husk rubs his temple. "I just brought you here, Nif. Summoning you guys takes a lot outa' me, believe it or not."

"Who's Al?" Charlie pipes up.

"Ooh, he's the best!" Nifty speaks up before Husk can answer. "He let's me climb all over him and put on roach puppet shows at his poker table without shooing me away!"

Husk speaks up before she can continue rambling. "*ahem* He's my top dealer. Got his soul a couple of years back, and now he works the poker tables and on my schedule. Brings in more souls than the rest per week on floor 13."

Vaggie squinted in suspension. "And what can he do for the hotel?"

Husk shrugs. "You'll see." He grumbles the next part mostly to himself. "I need to get him anyway. He holds all my liquor."

He then takes a deep breath before pulling out an ace of spades card from his left chest pocket. He flicks it onto the open floor as it grows and levitates upright

As if thrown, a figure stumbles from the cards picture, making the card blank for the time being. It shrinks and starts to float down before the figure snatches it and puts it back into his right chest pocket.

A soft hum of static could be heard after his arrival. He's taller than Husk, but not by much. He wears brown dress shoes, black slacks, a long-sleeved white undershirt, a dark red vest, and a black bow tie with a red jewel in the middle. On his right chest is a pocket with an embroidered A on top of a black spade.

He has striking, wavy red hair, with deer ears that stick up on either side of his head and a small tail. The tips of his ears, tail, and hair look like they were dipped in black, with the hair framing yellow eyes with red irises. The only thing blocking them were gold framed glasses that had a beaded chain to hang them around his neck while not in use.

When the figure finally steadied himself, he began to speak to the Overlord. "What fantastical event do you need me for now Husker-" he finally looked to the group as he turned around, eyes widening slightly as he set them on Charlie.

But he quickly took the situation in stride, patting down his uniform and speaking in his radio-like voice. "Why, hello there! My name is Alastor. It is a pleasure to be meeting you." He gives a nod, then a small smile, revealing sharp teeth through the gap.

Vaggie's eyes widen in turn, but she doesn't say anything back. "What exactly am I doing this time?" Alastor asks, now aimed back at Husker.

He huffed before answering. "You're gonna man the front desk at this "Happy Hotel". Making sure people check in, get the right keys and shit. Maybe a card game or two while they're here."

Charlie speaks up. "Wait what-"

Husk is already throwing the cards before she can finish. The cards surround the beaten up front desk, swirling around it and blocking the set up from view before throwing themselves back into Husk's deck, with a brand new poker table in place of the previous desk. The entire thing looks brand new, with fixed key holders to one side and a stock of liquor in the other.

Vaggie seethes. "What is this!? This is a place that discourages sin! We can't have a literal bar as our check-in desk!"

Husk raises a brow. "But it's not a bar. It's a poker table." He gestures to the surprisingly smooth poker table currently displayed as a desk. Angel Dust snorts before adding on. "Yeah, toots. That's obviously a poker table."

"Ugh! I can't with you two." Vaggie walks back over to the couch and flops down. Alastor grins at the scene before heading behind the desk.

Charlie takes this opportunity to go up and lean against the desk to talk to Alastor. "Hi! Welcome to the Happy Hotel! YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT HERE!!!!"

Alastor gives a small chuckle in response. "I think I might find this at least a bit entertaining. Haven't been summoned like this since 1997! It does get boring after shuffling so many cards and sitting around the same establishment all day, you know. I'm excited to see where this project will take us, my dear!"

Charlie gives a big smile to him as she turns back to Husk, waiting for him to say something.

He ruffles his wings again before speaking. "So, uh, what do ya' think?" He asks with a lazy tone.

Charlie literally squeals in delight. "This is amazing! Thank you so much, Husk!" Vaggie sits up just to mumble out a quick."I guess I can tolerate it."

"Good, cause I wasn't gonna change nothing anyways." Husk slinks to the front desk and just asks Alastor for the usual thing of alcohol.

Alastor just nods as he wrangles an energetic Nifty from his shoulder and sits her down across from Husk. "Try to stay still for once, Nifty."

Nifty is now bouncing in her seat as Alastor pours out Husk's drink. Setting it in front of him, Alastor exits the desk and picks up a now very jittery Nifty, making sure she doesn't go out on a stabbing rampage again.

Vaggie had already sat up, with Charlie now sitting next her her. They just watch the scene unfold, with Angel surprisingly quiet in the armchair.

The nice silence was suddenly broken as one of the hotels' walls crashed down, causing everything to be covered in a layer of dust, again.

The force caused the pair of girls to fall sideways on the couch, knocked Angel completely off the chair, and hit Husk's drink out of his hands before he could take a second sip. Alastor and Nifty are relatively unphased.

Manic laughter could be heard from outside as the group went and looked out of the crash site.

"It isss I! Sir Pentiousss! I know you're in there, Angel Dussst! Prepare for a rematch and to face my wrath!" The snake sinner declared as he shot up the surrounding area.

Husk stepped outside first, observing the threat level, and then deeply groaned. Alastor came right up to his side. "Want me to take care of it?"

Husk shook his head and started to ready his wings. "Nah, he spilled my drink. Also, I should show these guys what I'm actually made of."

With that, he took off right in front of the blimp. He punched the front, causing glass to shatter everywhere outside and inside the blimp.

Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel just stared as Husk went ham on the poor sinner. He threw cards that cut through the steel like butter, never-ending ribbons that restricted all of the blimps movement, and the bomb that was about to release got poofed into pigeons with a single touch after being completely covered up by the ribbon.

One card finally hit the engine, causing the entire thing to explode, sending the snake flying in the opposite direction.

Husk landed right in front of the group, all of them just staring at the explosion site. "Ugh... I need another drink." Husk finally spoke as he started to head back to the hotel through the smashed wall.

Charlie guided Vaggie back to the hole with a hand on her shoulder. Angel followed right after them, with Nifty skipping close behind. Then finally, Alastor came from the back.

He stopped right inside of the hole, snapped, and watched as the entire wall started to piece itself together again out of everyone else's view.

Once the wall looked good as new, Alastor went back to the front desk/poker table. He huffed to himself as he saw everyone crowded around Husk. The dust was still layered on everything, though. But that could be left to Nifty.

Previous || Next

[hinamie]

to moving forward

[bananafire11]

On The Hunt

[doctorsiren]

“Can’t change what you’ve done.”

[smovs]

bit of lackadaisy pilot fanart to celebrate it finally being here and also rocking so hard

[firstkanaphans]

Never forget what they took from us

[crossthread]

No jokes here. The Navy’s best pilot and the Navy’s best admiral. Between them, eight air-to-air combat kills and five stars. These were men who commanded respect with or without your approval. This was the picture of ruthless competence.

Debriefing (& Other Stories) • part 2 of Easier Done Than Said by @compacflt

[haliaiii]

I’ll look through all my oc art and being like “omg I really wanna see more of these characters 😍😍” fully aware that I’m the one who has to do that 💀

[vialism]

be my once in a lifetime ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

moodboard inspired by this edit by @add1ictwithapen

[bookshelfdreams]

how does anyone not love the pilot

[killjoy-prince]

House M.D. but it's when a character says the name of the episode

[pigglepiephi]

Never, ever would have thought that a penguin/ panther shapeshifter BL would have been high on my watch list…but here we are! Hats off to the person who crafted that excellent pilot trailer!

Also welcome back JaonineNokia!

[shaunashipman]

just pictured buck and tommy having just worked a fire together, buck on the ground and tommy in the air, and after the fire's put out and tommy's landed they meet up only this time buck is in the turnouts with soot on his face and tommy's the one who mauls him and gets a matching soot beard

[pourablecat]

SPACE COVEN SPACE COVEN

[smovs]

my clothes are boring, can I borrow yours?

spiritual successor to the destiny trio swap, 3 years later. courtesy of my Deciders Club on kofi & patreon 🧡

[specialagentartemis]

Murderbot September Day 3: Augments

“Augments” specifically refer to implanted, integrated, artificial parts with feed access and bio-feedback. An ordinary prosthetic isn’t an augment.

Three hundred years ago, augmentation was relatively rare. It was overwhelmingly done for specific careers, such as spaceship pilots, doctors, lawyers, and high-powered financial professionals—people who needed to process and juggle a lot of information quickly. This was when the ancestors of Preservation took off on the Pressy and were out of contact with the rest of the galaxy for two hundred years.

By the time they awoke from cryo-sleep, augmentation had become a LOT more common. Ordinary businesspeople were getting augmented as kind of a status symbol—saying, my job is so important, so fast-paced, so high-profile, that I need augments to keep up with it. I’m Important. It also became increasingly done by coders, programmers, tech professionals, in order to remain competitive in tech jobs. Brain-feed augmentation for children as young as 11 or 12 became increasingly common—the younger you get brain augments, the more neuroplastic you are at that point, the easier the integration is and the more natural it feels to connect to the feed. This is done both by parents wanting their kids to have an advantage getting high-profile jobs, but can also be sponsored by companies in exchange for promising the kid to be contracted to work for them for a certain number of years when they come of age. Sometimes, this is considered a really good deal.

The people of Preservation were incredibly offput by this.

Even now, nearly a hundred years later, augments are seen as a “corporate thing” on Preservation. Few people are augmented, and they’re still mostly doctors and pilots, and augmentation of children is illegal unless it’s for a legitimate medical cause (certain types of augments were developed for treating things like brain injuries or seizure disorders, for example.) As such, it’s rare but not unheard of to see augmented humans on Preservation. It still… tends to get a knee-jerk emotional reaction of “that’s a vain/barbaric Corporate thing,” though.

Pin-Lee has considered getting augmented before. By this point, you almost never encounter Corporation Rim lawyers who aren’t. When she’s negotiating interplanetary contracts, it’s a valuable tool to get on their level. And lawyers who aren’t augmented are kind of seen as naïve newbies punching about their weight class. But she hasn’t, partially out of 1) legitimate medical concerns that augments could interact poorly with her medication, and 2) pride and spite that she doesn’t have to make herself Like Them to be just as good at her job as them.