#probably be a lot more streamlined from now on

[ourceliumnetwork]

yeah guys idk I'm just thinking maybe the lightheadedness and desire to sit down about halfway through putting away groceries my whole life might not have just been a reaction to the way my parents were when i was a kid and the accompanying anxiety and sudden flurry of movement, but also possibly maybe i have a Health Thing about this...

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on Sonic 3!

On December 10th, 2018, I was on the last day of a trip to Milwaukee. The night before, I'd attended the wedding of one of my best friends, Jake, who I've known since high school. Even though half of us were sick the whole trip, it was a great time. Derek had asked the wedding DJ to play "One Week" as the first request of the night, and proceeded to lip sync the entire song on the dance floor. On that cold winter morning in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home, Derek and I groggily checked Twitter on our phones and saw the shocking news: Paramount had teased the design for Sonic from their upcoming live action film. Even in silhouette, the shape of his face and the realistic curvature of his limbs made him look like a grotesque little homunculus. This movie was going to suck.

Six years later, I've now seen the third entry in what's become a hugely successful Sonic film franchise. It features Keanu Reeves as the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog in a fairly faithful adaptation of his story from Sonic Adventure 2. At the time of writing, it currently sits at a whopping 86% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, vying for the title of the best-reviewed theatrically released video game movie of all time. Critics are saying nice things about the emotional journey of Shadow the Hedgehog. Never in a million years did I think I'd see this day.

I, too, have now seen this movie, and... yeah, it's pretty good.

I'm gonna get deep into spoilers here, so I'll just say up front that I liked the movie. It feels like just about the best possible execution of this version of Sonic. But that's also damning it with faint praise, depending on who you ask.

If you're a fan of the games who didn't like the second movie, you probably won't get much out of this one, either, unless you just really love Shadow so much that nothing else in the movie matters to you. It doesn't reinvent the wheel for this film series. It's still got a heaping helping of broad comedy, cheap pop culture references, bad one-liners, and characterization that diverges greatly from the source material. This is not high art, nor is it a direct adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. If you're the kind of person who hates this portrayal of Sonic and Eggman, or a lore nerd who'll hate that they let Shadow do Chaos Control without an Emerald, then just don't bother with this.

On the other hand, if you did enjoy the last movie, then you'll probably have a fun time here, too. Shadow is very cool. The action is the best it's ever been. There's a bit more focus on characters from the games, and less on human characters invented for the movies—with the exception of Agent Stone, who's in this a lot because everyone likes him. There's a lot of SA2 fanservice. They even play "Live and Learn." It's a fun time! Be sure to stick around through the end credits.

And now, to dig deeper, let's get into the spoilers! I'm gonna jump around a lot and talk about different aspects of the movie, spoiling everything along the way.

Shadow and his reams of lore

Here's the main thing you came for: Shadow is great in this! They really did him justice. Keanu Reeves is extremely solid in the role. He can be a bit flat as an actor sometimes, but I think he did well here. He can be tough and menacing, but he can also be earnest and emotionally vulnerable. Good casting call. Excited at the prospect of seeing more of him in the future.

Really, as a Sonic Lore Nerd I'm most interested in discussing the changes they made to Shadow's backstory. I'm sure there will be many fans upset with the changes, but for the sake of streamlining a complicated backstory that was subject to a bunch of retcons and multiple layers of amnesia and fitting it into a 110-minute movie, I think they generally made smart choices.

For one, Gerald didn't create Shadow using Black Arms DNA, because Gerald didn't create Shadow at all! Instead, Shadow arrived on Earth inside a meteor, and Gerald was merely the prominent GUN scientist who studied him after he was captured. (That meteor does have very strong Black Arms vibes, though, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of them exploring that stuff in the future.) This simplifies things a lot and allows Shadow to be a direct foil for Sonic, kind of a version of our hero who was treated as a lab rat and lost the only human he considered family instead of finding happiness like Sonic has. Then later Shadow hurts Tom and Sonic wants revenge, and it mirrors Shadow's feelings about Maria, and after they fight they can empathize with each other over this, Shadow sees the error of his ways and helps save the world, yada yada yada. You get it. People predicted 95% of this movie's plot from the trailers, but it's effective.

Likewise, all of the stuff about creating Shadow as the ultimate life form who's immune to all disease to cure Maria's illness is completely cut out. Shadow's still called the ultimate life form, but he's treated as more of an energy source than a genetic research project here, playing off of the stuff about Eggman wanting to harness Sonic's natural Chaos Energy in the movies. The original intent behind the ultimate life form project was always hard to explain in the games and doesn't even come up that much, so I don't blame them for cutting it.

Because Gerald isn't doing genetic experiments and creating artificial life, the Biolizard also doesn't exist. It does, however, appear in an old monster movie Shadow and Maria watch in a montage, with Shadow later commenting that he worries he's a monster like the one he saw in the movie. That's a clever way to include it, I think.

The ARK sort of exists. There was no space colony back in the '70s, all of the events of Shadow's flashbacks just took place at a secret GUN base on Earth. Fair enough for a version of the story ostensibly set in the real world. The big space laser in the third act of the film is obviously supposed to evoke the ARK, but it's referred to as simply the Eclipse Cannon. It's still not a full-blown space colony, just a weapon of mass destruction Gerald designed for GUN in exchange for his release (while also secretly planning to use it to blow up the planet in an act of revenge). I am, however, pleased to report that the Eclipse Cannon still has a giant Eggman face on it.

And as for Maria: I like her in this! She's obviously not going to get a ton of screentime, and she's always going to be a very straightforward character, but she's more playful and lively here. She teases Shadow for being grumpy and plays with him a lot. She feels less like this perfect embodiment of everything good and pure in the world and more like an actual kid. She's still not a complex character, but it works.

And the most important question: do they show a child getting shot and killed by the military? The answer is almost. In the flashback, GUN soldiers chase Maria, Shadow, and Gerald and ready their guns, but the young Commander Walters (who's in his 20s rather than being a kid) grabs them and tries to stop them from firing on a child. In the chaos, a soldier fires, missing Maria but hitting a generator that then blows up and kills Maria. So, y'know, close enough I suppose.

So, yes, many of the details change here, but they captured the gist of Shadow's story from SA2. The emotional core is there. I will say, though, I almost feel like Shadow isn't in this movie as much as I thought he'd be? I think he's used effectively in all of his scenes, and they make room for his backstory, and BOY does he get to kick ass in his fights, but for much of the middle part of the movie he's overshadowed by Ivo and Gerald. Though this might be a compromise to leave more screentime for...

Tails and Knuckles

I'm relieved to report that Tails and Knuckles both get a good amount of cool stuff to do in this! They don't feel like an afterthought.

I was worried that Tails in particular would completely fall by the wayside, since even his debut movie didn't entirely know what to do with him. But he's good here. He pretty much just feels like the Tails from the games at this point, especially since they dropped that fawning admiration he had for Sonic with that running gag of him going "Only Sonic the Hedgehog could do that!" He often chimes in as the one who wants Team Sonic to stick together when Sonic and Knuckles bicker. He particularly gets to shine in the Mission Impossible-inspired heist sequence at the GUN headquarters in London that serves as the climax of the second act, which feels like it was tailor made to let him shine as the tech guy of the team. He also gets several opportunities to swoop in and catch someone for a save in an action scene. He's good in this!

Knuckles is... fine. He's definitely fallen into the role of the comic relief dumb bruiser since joining the good guys, but he's at least a little better than he was in his own streaming show. The jokes lean more into him just being really brash about his strength and skill, rather than him being this archaic warrior who doesn't understand anything about the modern world. He also gets a few more serious bits in the back third of the movie where he gets to shine a little more, so overall it evens out to him being fine. They could've done way worse.

As for the relevance of the Knuckles show: Knuckles is now said to be the guardian of the Master Emerald, like in the games, though with no Angel Island this amounts to him hiding it somewhere for safekeeping. It's eventually revealed that he just gave it to Wade, who gets exactly one scene (sorry, Wade-heads) for a joke about him using the Master Emerald as a hockey puck. So, the miniseries explained why Knuckles has a connection with Wade. That's it! Also I think Knuckles might use the Flames of Disaster a bit in fights, but they never called the technique out by name, so I never really thought about it. So, yeah, the six-episode streaming miniseries about Wade bowling has zero meaningful relevance to the Shadow movie. Who could have seen this coming?

Miscellaneous humans

For that matter, the human supporting cast is MASSIVELY downplayed in this one. Tom and Maddie are there for two key sequences (the beginning of the movie and the GUN HQ heist), but otherwise they disappear for long stretches of the movie. They don't go to Japan in act I, nor do they go to space in act III, and there's no subplot for them during those periods, either. There's nothing like the wedding subplot in Sonic 2 where they'd constantly cut back to Hawaii for comic relief with the humans and only reveal why this was relevant to the plot near the end. (There's also no random dance battle in Siberia.) If a human character is here, it's because they have something to contribute to the plot right away. Most people will probably consider this an improvement, and I'd certainly say it makes for a much tighter script, though I have to remind everyone that I thought the wedding being a GUN sting operation was such a funny twist that I'm a defender of the Hawaii subplot.

On the subject of Tom, something funny I've noticed is that they've just completely downplayed the fact that Tom and Wade are cops. Tom being a cop never comes up once. Wade being a cop only gets referenced via the fact that he's practicing hockey on the roof of the police station in his one scene, but he's not in uniform or anything. They clearly got the memo that we don't want Sonic to hang out with cops.

Here's something else funny: Rachel and Randall got character posters, but they're actually not in the movie! Not technically, anyway. During the heist sequence at GUN HQ, Tom and Maddie use some gadgets Tails invented to holographically disguise themselves as those other characters. But the real Rachel and Randall never show up in the flesh. It's a very odd way to shoehorn the actors into the movie. (Jojo is also absent. They did not give her Amy's role of being the girl who reminds Shadow of Maria. Instead they just let Sonic have the big heart to heart with Shadow that makes him switch sides.)

You know who IS in this movie? Krysten Ritter. Not as the voice of Rouge, as the fandom once hoped, but as a director for GUN. She gets like three scenes and she feels completely checked out the whole time. Can't say I blame her! She's not really a character, just a plot necessity. Commander Walters dies in Japan but gives Sonic one of two keycards needed to activate the Eclipse Cannon, and then Ritter's character assumes Sonic stole it and labels him a bad guy. So that's why they have to break into GUN HQ in the second act instead of just talking things out with them. Still, I am at least relieved that Sonic doesn't work with GUN for most of the movie.

I gotta be honest: when Walters pulled a credit card-shaped object out of his pocket, I thought he was about to give Sonic another Olive Garden gift card as his final act before dying. Part of me wishes that happened.

The supporting human character in this who really gets to shine is Agent Stone, which I'm sure most fans will agree was the correct choice. There's a LOT of Agent Stone in this. He's good. I don't have much to say about him, but he's fun as usual.

But, of course, the ones who steal the show are Jim Carrey, and his costar Jim Carrey.

The Robotniks

I've gone back and forth on whether or not I can actually see movie Robotnik as Robotnik. I think with this third and final entry in the Jim Carrey Robotnik Trilogy, I've landed on... yeah, that's just Jim Carrey playing a Jim Carrey character. He's absolutely having fun with the role, and I enjoyed watching him, but I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that I'm a millennial who grew up watching Jim Carrey movies. If you didn't like him before, this movie will probably be nails on a chalkboard to you, because now there are two of him.

Ivo's arc here leans very heavily into the fact that he grew up as an orphan and never knew his family, a thing offhandedly mentioned in the first movie that's never been a thing for any other version of the character. Here, he learns that he has a living grandfather who's also a mad scientist, and it feels like a hole in his heart has been filled. It certainly makes sense for a place to take this version of the character, and it fits with the movie's themes of finding and losing family, but the cartoonish, childlike affection Ivo feels towards Gerald and all the scenes of them frolicking and dancing together have basically nothing to do with the characters from the games. He's a fun villain for this movie, but he's overwhelmingly used as comic relief this time rather than as a serious threat. He doesn't particularly feel like Sega's Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the arch nemesis of Sonic the Hedgehog who'd take over the world with an army of robots and a fleet of airships in the span of a day if Sonic wasn't around to stop him. He's a guy who lives in a big crab robot and has some drones. He has more in common with Carrey's depictions of the Grinch or the Riddler or Count Olaf than Dr. Eggman. Though he does, at least, finally get his outfit from the games by the end of the movie. So that's something. And also he's in a fat suit now. They only make jokes at the expense of his weight a little. Hooray...?

Gerald, meanwhile, is... largely the same character as movie Eggman, but older, so they can make jokes about him having saggy flesh and smelling funny and needing dentures. (Also, his voice kind of sounds like Homer Simpson sometimes?) To his credit, Carrey absolutely nails the handful of more serious scenes Gerald gets, whether it's Maria's death or his sinister turn when he reveals that he actually wants to destroy the Earth. But then it's right back to goofs about there being two of the same guy. Even the final battle features a lot of slapstick shenanigans with the two Robotniks fighting each other. I was able to enjoy the absurdity of it all, but if the humor doesn't land for you the dual Jim Carrey schtick is a hell of a lot of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more Gerald than Shadow in the movie, when you go and tally up their screentime. I was able to enjoy the sheer absurdity of it, but your mileage will vary.

I will, however, say that the split screen stuff they do with the two Carreys is EXTREMELY impressive, from a filmmaking perspective. They were absolutely flexing with their ability to pull the effect off. They don't rely on cheap tricks like cutting a lot, or having shot/reverse shot scenes where you're looking at the back of a body double's head. Instead they have a lot of long takes where the two Robotniks are talking to each other, you can see both of their faces, and they'll even hug and touch each other a lot, and the whole time the conversation maintains a natural pace like it really is two actors playing off of each other. It's really well done. It's an incredibly silly idea, but boy did they commit to it.

Sonic

I've hardly said anything about Sonic himself in all of this. It's his movie, isn't it! Well... I don't know, he's fine.

I feel like movie Sonic is a known quantity at this point, and either you like this take on the character or you don't. There was some speculation early on that this was supposed to be a younger Sonic who would grow into being the character we know from the games and comics, the one who's still got lots of quips but is also kind of aloof and cool, a free spirit who goes where the wind takes him, a figure the other characters look up to. And... no, that didn't happen. Once again he gets more serious as the stakes are raised, and he's totally badass when he goes Super, but the rest of the time he's still a little goober with tons of generic one-liners who learns schmaltzy lessons about the importance of family. He's still constantly going to undercut the tension of most scenes by cracking a pop culture reference that will make the average American parent go "haha I've heard of that." I don't think they're ever gonna change that. I think this just what the writers think Sonic is like.

And, again, for what it is, it's fine. He's a little annoying. You already know how you feel about movie Sonic. This third entry won't change that. But they do, at least, have him say "Talk about low budget flights, no food or movies... I'm outta here!" before jumping out of a helicopter. As my thoughts on the climax will show, I am not immune to fanservice.

The climax

God, the climax is SOOOOO fucking good. It's fantastic. Easily the best action these movies have ever done.

Rather than saving Super Shadow for the team-up with Sonic at the end, they have both of them go Super to fight each other first, and they just go full DBZ with it, fighting across the entire planet. It absolutely rules. I think this is the new coolest fight the two of them have had in anything ever. And then they have to stop the Eclipse Cannon together, and sure, there's no Biolizard. But Gerald DOES release a swarm of GUN Hunter robots, and the ensuing space battle turns into some Gundam shit. It's good! It's so good!!! The movie's flaws kind of melt away for me here when I'm watching Super Shadow take out an army of robots with Chaos Spears on the big screen. What a timeline we're living in.

And yes, they play "Live and Learn." They had to. They knew the assignment. They actually play a slight remix, but it's still got the original vocals, so it's perfectly recognizable. Actually, the tune of the song is used as a leitmotif for Shadow throughout the movie, first introduced via an acoustic guitar version played by Maria, and I really love that. I've been begging these movies to use more music from the games the whole time, and I'm glad they finally did so here. (They also use the traditional level clear jingle early in the film, and Eggman's theme from SA2 is very briefly used as a ringtone.)

... Anyway, uh, meanwhile Eggman, Tails, and Knuckles straight up just kill Gerald to save the world? They unceremoniously knock him into an energy field at the end of their slapstick fight aboard the Eclipse Cannon and he disintegrates like he hit a bugzapper. It's over in an instant. It's not graphic or anything, but it's, like... I didn't expect them to show it, or for it to be such a casual murder! Eggman has one quip about it and then immediately moves on.

Shortly after this, Eggman and Shadow sacrifice themselves to stop the Eclipse Cannon. Shadow's sacrifice doesn't stick, obviously (he's revealed to be alive by the end of the second stinger—pretend to be shocked), but Eggman's probably dead dead. I seriously doubt Jim Carrey's gonna come out of retirement for these movies again. His final moments before the big explosion are also SO dragged out and belabored. He has a dramatic final line like ten times in a row. It really just feels like the series saying goodbye to Carrey. And, again, it feels like a fitting enough end for this Eggman's arc, but it's an odd adaptation of the character from the games.

And so, that's what we're left with. This is far from Sonic Adventure 2: The Movie. It's not that, though there are many, many references made to that game in particular. It's a sequel to the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that has a similar tone and style, but Shadow and Gerald are in it, and Shadow gets some really cool fights, and there's a liiiiiittle more focus on stuff from the games than last time, and the script's a little tighter. If that sounds fun to you, you will have fun with this. I know I did. If it doesn't, you're probably better off waiting for them to inevitably do an animated reboot whenever this live action series runs out of steam.

It hasn't quite run out of steam yet, though...

The post-credits scenes, and the future

One of the big questions going into this was: what's next? How do they top a Shadow movie with heavy Sonic Adventure 2 overtones, in terms of hype for the fans? How do you fill Eggman's shoes after Carrey retires, for real this time? There are still more fan favorite rival characters to get through, but how many movies in a row can they introduce a furry foe for Sonic who inevitably turns good and helps him stop a larger threat by the end? And when the hell are we gonna see the girls?

Well, we now have our answer, and it's one I'm cautiously excited for: a whole army of Metal Sonics, and Amy!

Yes, Amy! Finally!! It's an absolute crime that we've gone three whole movies and a streaming miniseries without including the female lead of the series. I've complained about this ad nauseum (and also the fact that they cut Rouge from the story). But at least now they're finally doing something about it.

But now the question is, how will they characterize Amy? Sega's struggled with her for years, and there's a million different directions you can take her. Her one scene here has her smashing a bunch of Metal Sonics and wearing a cloak for the sake of a dramatic reveal, which gives her the vibes of a mysterious, badass action girl. This is, of course, completely different from how Sonic and Amy met in the games. What will her personality be like? She doesn't speak here, so who will they get to play her? Where did she come from? Will she even have a crush on Sonic? All of these have yet to be determined. So, like, I'm hyped to finally see Amy, a character who should've been in the movies from the start, but they could so easily end up playing it safe with an incredibly boring girlboss version of Amy who's no fun at all. We'll have to wait and see.

(My prediction: they're going to try to cast either Zendaya or Ariana as Amy.)

Metal Sonic, likewise, is very exciting, and he looks perfect. He looks just like the design from the games. But the question is: what will they do with this army of Metals? Will they be lead by one main Metal Sonic, perhaps Neo Metal Sonic, who gets to be a proper bad guy? Will they take some cues from Sonic CD, Heroes, and the OVA, or do something completely original? Where did they come from? Were they activated as a failsafe after Eggman died? Did they and Amy come from some sort of bad future, riffing on Sonic CD's time travel? Will they explore the fact that Metal wants to be the one and only Sonic? Or will they just be an army of disposable robot grunts for Sonic and friends to mow down like it's a Dynasty Warriors game, while some other villain takes center stage?

It could go so many different ways, and some prospects are more exciting than others. I mean, the Knuckles show had endless possibilities for what it could do with him, and none of the options on my bingo card were "Pachacamac's ghost tells him to help Wade win a bowling tournament." And while I'm a sicko who thinks it's funny that the Knuckles show is what it is, forgive me for keeping my hype about Amy and Metal Sonic in check here until we learn more.

Regardless of what they do, it'll still be hard to top the hype of Shadow, and it'll be hard to fill Jim Carrey's shoes for general audiences. So despite this clear statement of intent, I have no idea what the future of this film franchise holds. But regardless of what they do, I can say one thing for certain: the kids in my theater were hyped as hell for it. They popped off over Metal Sonic, and they were screaming their heads off with excitement over Amy. I heard a teenage girl on the opposite end of my row of seats say "finally!" over Amy's reveal, verbalizing my exact thoughts. She also said that this movie was "peak," though it diverged from the games, and she hoped they'd do a movie with Silver and Blaze someday.

The kids are gonna be okay.

[becauseicantthinkwritings]

Objects in Motion

Part 1

Alpha! Billy Russo x Omega! Reader

A/N: My very first A/B/O fic, that I started a while ago, and just decided to post.

It all started after finding out how much that lovely coat Billy wears in s1 costs.

Warnings: Masturbation, omega in heat.

You’re often overwhelmed.

It’s the hitch of your breath when your feelings are too big for your body, or the way your throat hurts with all the words that go unsaid.

There are not enoughs and there are too muchs and hardly any moments when things are… just right.

The coat in your hands is soft- ridiculously so, the label offers you an explanation- 100% cotton. You can't help the way your hands tighten on the material, as if you’d fight off anyone that tried to take it from you. Like for the first time, just right isn’t just a far away idea, it’s here, in your hands, against your chest.

How had you ended up here? Curled under your bed sheets, pillows all around you, clutching this lovely black coat to your body?

Today had been very overwhelming, your phone had pinged, alerting you to your impending heat, reminding you that you needed to pick up supplies. 

Your heats were formidable too, always too hot or too hungry or too needy. There was never a part of you that existed within the realms of fine.

At least until now.

When you were clutching this delightful black coat in your hands, bringing it up to your nose so that you could catch a whiff of the bewitching scent. 

It's bergamot at first, followed by notes of citrus that makes your eyes flutter shut. Delight spreads out inside you, fanning at the flames of your desire- your heat coming on faster as your nose lingers on the scent. You catch hints of pepper at the very end and it prompts you to take another long inhale.

Based on the size of the coat, your mind formulates an idea of the size of the person that wears it. The very thought causes you to clench your thighs together.

You didn't mean for this to happen, you'd only gone to pick up your silky PJs from the dry cleaners, designed specifically to be worn during your heat for maximum comfort on your skin. The delicate, gossamer material demanded special care, but you were very glad to have been gifted them some years ago.

You'd just picked up your item, when your nose had zeroed in on a scent that had made your body perk up curiously. It was the first time your senses had streamlined onto one thing, where throughout the day you'd had a number of difficult sensory encounters, leading you into wearing a beanie and noise cancelling headphones and the biggest jacket in your closet in any attempt to feel less things. The scent had made your brain ache for more, demanding you follow what your body had accepted- that this specific scent brought you absolute pleasure.

Even through the garment bag it was stored in, it had activated dangerous thoughts in your hindbrain, and before you could even look around for cameras, you'd reached over the counter and swiped the garment bag when the girl at the front desk wasn't looking. It had been tucked to your chest and smuggled out of the dry cleaners without even a moment of guilt.

Realistically, you wouldn't be in that much trouble anyway, omega behaviour was usually forgiven, even if it didn't make sense. No one would lock you up for swiping a men's coat, especially not so close to your heat.

You have a few hours left, and you use it to make sure your food supplies are easily accessible. Your heats tended to run on for five days- higher than average- which means that you were in a lot more danger of starvation and dehydration.

You wonder if he would take good care of you. Your mind spinning back to the owner of the coat, having already made up some basic idea of him.

You knew his designation, by scent alone, but you were too afraid to admit it to yourself, worried about the consequences of having stolen a coat from someone like that.

Would they be mad? Probably not, you were sure with a scent like that, they were used to omegas swarming around.

The thought made you unreasonably jealous, for a person you didn’t even know.

.

Your heat hits you in the early hours of the next morning. 

You wake with a whine, sitting up, thighs damp with your arousal. You reach for the pills on your bedside table, taking them quickly and swallowing down some tepid water, before lying back. They would help you go back to sleep until morning alleviating some symptoms of your heat. You turn, finding the coat lying beside you. You take a deep breath into it as you fall asleep.

.

You can’t focus on anything as you pump the slick pink dildo in and out of you. There are tears streaming down your face, desperate for much more than you could ever give yourself. 

You bring the coat up to your nose, crying harder as the scent wraps around you.

“Alpha.” You pant into the soft material, imagining your fantasy version of the owner. 

You take a deep breath, envisioning him here with you, presumably large body curved over yours, taking up all the air around you, smooth skin available for you to scratch and claw at, his scent glands on display and eager for your mark.

“Alpha.” You beg again, into the loneliness of your apartment.

.

The coat becomes a centerpoint in your nest.

On day three when it’s fully finished to a satisfactory level, an arrangement of pillows and sheets all around your bed, you tuck the coat in beside you, delighted at the way the material feels on your flushed skin.

The scent is strongest at the collar, where it's probably rubbed on his neck often, brushed against his gland when he turns to examine something.

You groan, mouth watering for a bite of him, whoever he was.

There’s a lot of buttons and buckles on it, and your hindbrain is somewhat obsessed with what you think he looks like wearing it, probaby commands any room he walks into. 

The label at the back says Burberry, and though you're not very familiar with the brand, the clean stitching and soft material tells you that it’s definitely got to cost more than what you pay for your own coats.

You sigh, stripping out of your PJ’s and opting to slide into the coat itself.

A groan slips from your mouth, the material feels coarse on your oversensitive skin, but you welcome it as you feel his scent engulf you.

A fresh wave of arousal coats your thighs, and you can’t help inching your hand down between damp thighs until you find your swollen clit.

.

On your knees now, face down into your bed, you bite down on the collar of the midnight black coat.

Your eyes roll back into your head, muffled grunts as you pump your overstimulated cunt to the brim.

You rub your face into the collar, arching your neck so that your scent gland rubs against the coat, a low whine at the severe taboo thought of rubbing your gland against a stranger's.

It's frowned upon, but the very thought of it is what brings you to orgasm just a few moments later. 

You struggle for air, hair tickling your cheek as you huff, some of it clings to the saliva at the corner of your mouth, some of it is caught in the tears that smear your cheeks.

You want- like never before.

.

When your heat is over, the guilt kicks in.

You know better than to wash the coat yourself, only wiping gently at the interior in hopes of wiping off any lingering traces of… you away. You think about getting it dry cleaned yourself but you’d used the last of your money on the alleviator pills to help with your heat symptoms. You wouldn’t get paid until the end of the month.

Finally, you rummage through the pockets, checking to see if anything had been left behind by the owner. You find a crumpled napkin with someone’s number scribbled on, leaning in, you take an experimental sniff and draw away from it in disgust as the scent hits your nose.

You almost put it back, but you figured it was crumpled anyway, probably meant for a bin in the first place- so you put it there. Searching again and you smile when you come across a tub of lip balm, opening it and giving a little sniff of the inside. There’s no scent to it, and you curiously swipe a bit onto your finger and smear it onto your lips.

You begin to get a sense that the person this coat belongs to, has very refined tastes, and after a quick search, your eyes widen in shock when you discover the lip balm costs near fifty dollars.

Which is how it starts- an itch at the back of your head that tries to warn you of the possibility that the coat in your possession costs more than you’d initially thought.

You let out a slow breath, typing in the information stitched onto the label and your eyes bulge out of your head when you finally see the price of the coat sitting in your lap.

Three thousand.

The coat you stole had cost nearly three thousand dollars.

You look down at the item in betrayal, the scent of its true owner just barely clinging to it. 

You take a deep breath, pushing your phone aside as you begin rummaging for a box capable of returning such an expensive item.

Thankfully, you know where to return it to, as the name and address had been hooked to the garment bag.

Delivering it is another difficult task on its own, but you manage, having to call in a few favours and explain in lengthy detail to the courier that your package wasn’t dangerous in any way but you’d rather not deliver it yourself.

Luckily, you’re able to convince them of your cause, the urge to help an omega in distress working in your favour.

.

It’s nine a.m on a Saturday morning when Billy comes home from his run. 

He’s fishing for his keys in his pocket when he notices that there’s a box sitting in front of his door.

He pauses for a moment, looks at the item, before stepping forward to examine it.

There’s a card on top- one of those printed ones you can get at a convenience store- light blue sky and a panda holding onto a handful of bamboo stalks. 

There’s an “I’m Sorry,” printed on, and then something added in below in pen.

‘From a very apologetic Omega.’ It says.

His eyebrows twitch in amusement, he brings the card up to his nose to catch a whiff- the scent of light, floral perfume fills his nose. 

He’s aware his coat had been stolen, he’d seen video footage of the crime itself, watched as a small hooded frame had reached across and nicked his coat before it could be cleaned. The dry cleaners had sent him the footage when they’d explained what had happened.

He’d thought it had been gone for good, deleting the only copy of the footage and moving on. He could afford to replace one coat. 

This though, was interesting, it seems like the omega had felt some sort of remorse, and had returned his coat to him.

It was sweet, he found himself smiling as he reached down to pick the box up, cradling it under one arm and flipping the card open as he enters his apartment.

He huffs, feeling a little sorry for an omega that couldn’t afford a dry cleaning bill, then again, the cost of the coat would definitely bring up the price a lot more.

‘Dear Alpha,

                   I’m so sorry I took your coat. I tried to clean it as best as I could, but I couldn’t afford to have it dry cleaned for you. It’s wrapped tightly to protect you from the scent on it. I'd suggest not opening it, and taking it to be cleaned as soon as you get it. I’m very sorry.

P.S. You have a very nice scent.’

Curiously, he tugs the box open, finding that the garment bag has been folded carefully and wrapped in plastic wrap. 

He sniffs the box experimentally, searching for any hint of a scent, or any indication that the package could be dangerous.

All he gets is more of that pleasant perfume that he figured was doused in the box to protect him from the scent.

It only makes him more curious.

Billy grips the plastic wrap, and very carefully tears a little hole into the plastic, breaking the seal.

His body goes rigid. 

He feels his pupils dilate, his hindbrain roaring to life as he catches the scent of an omega in heat.

His omega.

He rips the plastic furiously, fumbles with the garment bag and rips the zipper open. His eyes scan the coat, as he takes one long, slow breath.

The first scent he gets are apples, and then light notes of vanilla, but under it all, is the kick of pheromones, that sticks like honey on his tongue.

He takes another deep breath, groaning as his cock swells, pulsing to life, begging to claim the owner of such a delicious scent.

There’s so much of it, filling his space with sweet notes of frustration, yearning and unfulfillment. 

His omega, needing him.

A growl tears from his chest, something inside of him collapses like an avalanche, only increasing with time, decimating his thoughts and leaving a feverish burn under his skin.

He tugs the coat open, groaning, the tart smell of cunt clings to the inside of his coat, telling him that his omega wore his coat naked.

Desperate little thing, he thinks, as he dips his hand into his joggers, fingers wrapping firmly around his cock, squeezing in an attempt to force his orgasm away. He groans, the grip around his cock rewarding him with pleasure, and he can’t help pumping himself, trying to ease the desire inside of him.

He leans in, nose pressed to the collar of his coat, where the scent is strongest, where his omega must have rubbed their little scent gland vigorously against his coat,

Sweet, delightful, his cock aches for a cunt he’s never seen, his mouth yearns for skin he’s never touched. All he has, is the honeyed scent of an omega’s heat, and the screaming inside of him that demands he claim what his body knows is his.

His grip on his cock tightens, his vision blurs, head full of thoughts, ideas of a little omega under him, sobbing as they take his cock repeatedly, begging for more with broken cries.

He doesn’t stop until he comes into his hand, only then, does his thinking sharpen.

He puts his coat in bed beside him, he hopes the sheets will absorb the smell, so that he can have his little omega with him while he sleeps. He wakes with an aching cock, and the coat clutched tightly against his chest, struggling to remember fading dreams of little omegas that beg nicely.

He doesn’t get out of bed until he’s come twice into the palm of his hand.

.

He searches for days. 

But when he’d deleted the footage from the dry cleaners, he’d gotten rid of any hope of tracing his omega’s movements, and chances of finding an address. 

She doesn’t leave any record of one, always opting to pick up her items herself. 

At least he’s gotten that, a basic description, a height, an idea of her complexion and the colour of her eyes.

It was too vague to work with, but it was something he could think about before he went to sleep at night, with his nose buried in his coat, breathing in the scent of her, desperate to find the omega that had stolen his coat and unintentionally taken his heart.

He studies the card too, learns the handwriting, growing more and more desperate for his little omega.

Billy knew he wouldn't stop looking, not until he found the person who'd opened up a nest of possibilities in his head, giving him something he'd never had in a very long time.

Hope.

.

.

.

Part 2

[blockgamepirate]

This is my petty complaint time, this video annoys me SO MUCH and even more so what annoys me is that the latest comment on it is this:

HE TAUGHT YOU SO MUCH BULLSHIT, PLEASE NO, DON'T LISTEN TO HIM

And yes, I've been thinking about this stream for nearly three years now, I've been meaning to go through it to critique Wilbur's arguments, I just never got around to it

Wilbur: "Tubbo, you've created an anti-state capitalist dystopia"

So all Tubbo had explained so far was that his town had a big company that owned two other big companies. Nothing about the government or anything. It's true that one company owning all the major businesses is pretty dystopian, sure, but I have no idea where Wilbur got the "anti-state" thing from, usually capitalist companies are fine with the existence of states, states do a lot of dirty work for the capitalists

Spoiler alert: Tubbo's city turns out to be pretty much a city state so Wilbur is just wrong anyway, not that he ever acknowledges it even when it does come up

Also it's not like corporate acquisitions are completely unheard of in the UK, as far as I know. Admittedly the UK is also arguably a capitalist dystopia but you know what I mean, the concept shouldn't be all that shocking to Wilbur

He's being so dramatic and trying to make it sound like he's caught Tubbo in a mistake or something. He also keeps asking questions and then not letting Tubbo answer properly before taking like one word Tubbo says and running with it

But this is the one that I find the most obnoxious:

T: "I did some research into like economics and stuff and I discovered this thing called UBI, have you heard of it?"

W: "What's it stand for?"

T: "Universal Basic Income"

W: "Yeah, I know about that"

He clearly does not know what UBI is.

It becomes very apparent very quickly:

W: "So you've got universal basic income but then also the rich exist still?"

T: "Yeah! Yeah they do."

W: "How does that come about then,"

T: "So in my mind--"

W: "is this universal basic income different for different people?"

T: "No, no, the universal basic income is better for everyone, just the people who have--"

W: "In order for there to be a 1% that means someone's earning more,"

T: "Yes, someone is earning more"

W: "but that means the universal basic income isn't universal!"

T: "No no no, not everyone's getting paid the same but everyone gets the same to begin with, okay? But then you can build on top of it."

W: "Oh no, you've got a-- Tubbo, you've got a fucking social point system!"

T: "Have I made a social point system??"

W: "Tubbo, you've made China!"

None of what Wilbur says makes ANY sense here. The only explanation I can think of is that he didn't know what UBI was, made an assumption that it just meant "everybody gets paid the same amount of money" or something like that and then just spoke fast enough that Tubbo couldn't correct him

Tubbo is correct here, Tubbo knows what he's talking about, but he can't out-speak Wilbur who is just throwing so much bullshit out of his mouth that there's no time to even respond

So, UBI means that everyone in the society gets a regular payment of a specific amount of money that's the same for everyone regardless of their life situation (and generally a requirement would be that it has to be enough to live on, altho people do like to water this down a lot...) This would be completely irrelevant to your wages or salary or capital gains. You can choose to either live on the UBI or you can just do the regular capitalist things to earn extra money on top of the UBI

Obviously I'm not one of those people who think that UBI would solve all of world's problems, I mean I am an anarchist and all (and not an ancap either), but it's literally just a very streamlined welfare system. That's all. It would probably be a lot better than the current models we have but it's not fundamentally different. There's nothing particularly weird about it, the point is just to make sure that everyone has enough money to live on, in every other regard it's just normal capitalism

Wilbur completely misunderstands the whole thing (because, again, he does not know what UBI is so he's just trying to imagine what it might mean based on what Tubbo is saying) and jumps immediately to something he apparently has heard of, which is the Chinese social credit system, which has nothing to do with UBI. In fact I'm pretty sure it also doesn't actually have anything to do with income either, or at least not directly, so I don't think Wilbur knows what the social credit system is either

He's literally just talking in buzzwords

Like if you actually wanted to make a leftist critique of Tubbo's city, you could, don't get me wrong. But instead Wilbur keeps insisting that he's made a social point system despite Tubbo trying to explain why it's not that at all

Wilbur just keeps yelling over Tubbo until his own chat turns against him and finally Tubbo himself also kinda gives up

And from there Tubbo also kinda just starts playing into the bit and just lets Wilbur direct the whole conversation, the rest of it is just them getting more and more into the roleplay. Wilbur keeps talking about the state pension plan, even though Tubbo already tried to explain that it's part of the UBI (this actually is how UBI is supposed to work, it does indeed streamline most of the welfare spending! Obviously you can still raise questions about that (I can think of a few at least) but Wilbur didn't let Tubbo explain so I have no idea what Tubbo actually had in mind)

I could try to go through all of what Wilbur says here but it's just too much, so maybe some other time. Although to be honest there are so many other streams that I probably should talk about instead that some fans unfortunately took a bit too seriously because they assumed Wilbur knew what he was talking about

My point here is mainly that just because someone sounds really confident and knows a bunch of buzzwords doesn't mean they know what they're talking about.

[wings-of-ink]

Hello, my friends!

Just wanted to pop in with some info and updates.

*The "Cursed Birthday" won the 2k follower celebration poll. Sorry dads! I don't have an ETA for that just yet. I may write it here and there until the end of the year as the motivation strikes. I think the easiest way to tell the tale would be from Oswin's POV or even a shifting POV between him and Da (Kip). I'll decide for sure once I begin to write it. Also playing with the idea of doing this in Twine to make it playable. That way you could put your MC's specifics in for maximum emotional damage.

*I will still write things about the dads though, so all my Papa and Da fans out there won't be left in the dark forever.

*I will be "patching" Chapter 5 in the near future. I redid Zahn's scene (again) which gave me such a headache on release day. I formatted the beginnings in a much more streamlined way and fixed some bugs. When I have more time to sit and go through error reports, and make more corrections to typos, grammar, and code - then I will put the patch through.

*All chapters will be getting a scrub for issues in the text in the coming months. I will do my best to find them, but self-editing is very difficult (there's good reason that professional editors exist). In the future, I may need to ask for testers/editors.

*ASKS will be changing a bit. I do not know the full extent of how because it's a trial by fire. The rules will be updated as I come across things. But, here's why:

Spoiler prevention - as much as it is possible, I want to limit spoiling content for both new and existing readers. Not just for the plot points that are developing, but also for our mystery suitor who will have a lot of unraveling in the coming chapters. I will probably make a specific tag for answers that may contain spoilers, but some of the issue is the information in the Ask itself, which I can't hide. I may opt to compile these in a big post like once a month or so. This way, if anyone does not want to see anything spoilery, it's easier to avoid.

Time management - reaction asks specifically will remain limited and they will honestly have to be a lower priority depending on the condition of my inbox. I am very sorry for this, but these can take an inordinate amount of time. I write this IF in my downtime from work and personal life, and I also use those moments to manage Tumblr. I need to balance those so I can work toward releasing more of the IF.

Patreon - I still plan to give Patreon a go probably starting January. This will help me fund things for the game, such as art, and help me justify spending even more of my time writing chapters and extras. But like everything else, I will need to allot time to work on these things.

Personal Development - I'm taking a coding class! I can work on it at my leisure and it won't take a ton of time during the week, but it will take me out of my Tumblr time a little bit I think. Fingies crossed, I will learn a lot that will help me code a better game for you!

*Inbox - I have several Asks awaiting responses about chapter 5. As noted above, I am holding these due to spoilers to give readers a chance to catch up. (I may opt to compile these in one large post.)

Anyway, that's all for now (it's at least all I currently remember, lol).

Take care, all!

~Lunan ^_^

[theoutcastrogue]

Undecided about D&D 5.5 and the 2024 rules

Pros:

Weapon Mastery

Cunning Strike

stat boosts and skills moving from Species to Backgrounds

the PHB rules glossary and the DMG toolkit (for ease of use)

origin feats, and general feats giving +1 to a stat

easier to homebrew player-facing rules (because feats and subclasses are more streamlined)

some big changes, some minor tweaks

Cons:

power creep (full assessment pending until the MM comes out)

uneven power creep

stealth makes no sense

they fully bailed on the skill system

strains suspension of disbelief even more

less support for homebrewed monsters

some big changes, some minor tweaks

The CR system needs playtesting with the new Monster Manual, so assessment pending. We're probably gonna see much more dangerous monsters: Cure Wounds straight up doubled the hp it heals, and healing in general is a lot more generous. I don't know if that bloat was necessary, or motivated by anything other than "players can do MOAR damage now, buy our new books to be COOLER!", followed by a domino effect.

At this point, I'm torn between incorporating a few 5.5 rules to 5e, or a few 5e rules to 5.5, or whole other subsystems to either (I'm looking at the skill system of Level Up a.k.a. Advanced 5th Edition, it's interesting), or abandoning D&D altogether (because I'm tired, not because it's that bad). But I'm pretty sure I won't adopt 5.5 as is.

Assessment pending.

[statementlou]

Hi💗 I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding your last post. It's probably because i'm too stupid, but do you want to explain a bit more about what you mean? I'm sorry to bother you, but I really want to understand. Lots of love🌞

anon I'm happy to help but I hope you mean the openstage one? If so: OpenStage is a "fan engagement platform built especially for the music industry"; it's a service that artists can pay for and in return they data mine their fanbase to tell the artist where most of their fans are from, their general demographics, what they respond to best, etc, and they send out promo emails and host artist pages with links all in one place (like a band caard kind of thing) and various other useful services like that. It seems great for small artists who don't have management companies to do all this stuff, but also for larger acts' management to streamline and outsource the work. Like LTHQ used to do loads of this stuff themselves, and they ended up repeating efforts a lot it seemed like and having to personally organize a lot of fiddly things like details of the hotspots and stuff; until they found OpenStage. They not only outsourced that work to them, Louis also said, this is a great platform with potential to help small artists and make money, and he invested in it personally. Little start ups getting investors means they can use the money to get bigger and do more stuff, but it also means the bigger they get, the more that investor's shares are worth. So someone gives a company xxxx amount of money in return for owning part of it which if it fails is worth nothing, the money is gone, oh well, but if the gamble that they will do good and grow is right, they will make money. So if a company is worth $100 than buying 4% of it costs $4, but if it then gets so popular that it's now worth $4000 then tada that 4% is now worth $400... anyway I'm not saying OpenStage was tiny when Louis found it, it was probably already pretty big and on the way up, but now they are EVERYWHERE and the fact that 100% of the Oasis reunion traffic is being run through an OpenStage link has to be huge. So what I meant was: it may be indirect, but when OpenStage succeed Louis makes money, so Louis is profiting from this reunion through his investment.

[r0sie-bun]

how do you imitate the danganronpa style so well?? it's always so good!!

Great Question!

First, having a somewhat decent grasp on anatomy (which is something I still need to practice lol) or “the basics” of character art is always a must imo. Having a good understanding of forms is our starting grounds for further stylization. Think of it as the “skeleton” of any style. Moreover, the Danganronpa style comes in various forms, all with different characteristics/visual characteristics.

However, and I think this is a very important distinction, I try to study Rui Komatsuzaki’s overall style as opposed to just Danganronpa. In other words, Rui Komatsuzaki, like any other creative, has his own personal stylization and artistic evolution throughout his career as an illustrator.

In DR1, Komatsuzaki’s style included much thinner lineart, bigger heads, and more gradients with the softer shading. The vibe is very much more “grounded” compared to later titles. (Example: Toko!)

In contrast, DR2 has slightly modified proportions (like bigger hands), simplified shading, and much more vibrant color palettes. The line art during this time was also streamlined with less lines and thicker pen pressure. It makes the sprites pop out a bunch! (Example: Mahiru!)

Of course, with UDG, we see these two styles somewhat overlap, resembling his later stylization. Here we see the modified proportions and color preferences from DR2 with the thinner linework and detail of DR1. (See Toko Again!)

Finally, we see this similar style philosophy continued in V3, only with even more contrasting colors, reflecting the hyper bright/attention grabbing palettes of serialized work. The shading is much darker than previous titles, and somewhat colder too. (See Miu this time.)

Of course, with all of this in mind, taking notes is imperative! Especially if you want to replicated a specific entry’s stylization. You can draw over some of the dr sprites just to get a general feel of the proportions. I can probably post more latter down the line, but this was the most recent thing I’ve done. See below! (I was trying to get a sense of how “high” the hair sits on top of dr)

Now, for his splash art work, Komatsuzaki’s began his process by blocking out his pieces in bluish hues before the polishing phase. he most likely applied a mix of “color”, “multiply”, or “color dodge” once we finishes rendering for finalizing colors. (As depicted below.)

You can also see how Komatsuzaki simplifies clothing and the like. He very much uses thicker brush work for these types of illustrations as opposed to the lines of his 2D work during this point in his career. Future points show how he plans his stuff with more thin line work. From here he most likely did the same thing. Focusing on the forms before getting to the hues and values

Sorry for going on a bit of a tangent, I have A LOT of thoughts on DR and Komatsuzaki’s artwork in general. I really love seeing his process, so I hope this brief overview can provide as a decent introduction! If more people want me to go over specific aspects of the style, I’d be more than happy to share my own thoughts! Thank you for reading!

[batfambyval]

So, the following analysis/explanation of Tim Drake’s childhood is in direct contradiction of widely accepted fanon and some of my other posts. It’s a more serious and canon complaint back story that I feel the need to put out there, just for variety.

Now, I don’t think Tim’s Bat-stalkingTM started in the lead up to A Lonely Place of Dying, he knew what he was doing, the process seemed fairly streamlined and that would have taken a lot of practice and trial and error. However. He wasn’t going out every night or anything like that, and the majority of his “research” was from newspapers and such because he couldn’t regularly stalk them in person. Why? Because he was at BOARDING SCHOOL!

Look, the Drakes were neglectful, but they weren’t callous or uncaring. They just didn’t make their child their first priority like they should’ve. They didn’t think about him enough. Once he was old enough to send to boarding school that’s what they did, probably letting the nanny go and forgetting that holidays and vacations exist. They didn’t just leave him to fend for himself, and they probably expected him to stay at school for breaks other than summer vacation which even they probably remembered and maybe even came home for. Tim was just a little shit who lied about having someone at home so he could leave campus.

Now this isn’t to say that the neglect wasn’t damaging to Tim, because it was. But it wasn’t like he was fending for himself in terms of food. He didn’t have a support system, didn’t have a stable parental figure he could rely on and probably felt very isolated. He was emotionally independent from a young age out of necessity. He relied on himself to fix problems in his life, he didn’t have an adult fixing things for him. Bullies? No choice but to deal with it himself, even if that means going to the teachers without parental support. Homework trouble? On his own. Friendship issues? Figure it out yourself. Even lacking things like simple comfort when you’re overwhelmed can be damaging for a child. Tim ended up with a confidence in his own abilities that borders on arrogance but also horrible self-worth issues and a detached and analytical view of emotions in both himself and others.

Point is, before Tim became Robin he was at boarding school and did have adult supervision and meals provided to him, even if he didn’t get much or any personal attention. Tim wasn’t running around on Gotham’s rooftops every night or even every week. And his parents weren’t quite as awful as fanon makes them out to be.

[catenary-chad]

I've alluded to the concept a number of times, but here's my redesign for OLC Belle the Sleeping Car wildly roleswapped into a Momma/Poppa figure for Electra, as Belle the GG1. You could probably give her a better name, but Belle is passable enough since all locomotives in the US have bells, I mainly kept it to preserve the flow of her song (see below cut for her version!). Based on their status and appearance in their absolute final running days in 1984. They may look glossy and pretty (if a WILD time warp) but they were on their absolute last gasp physically at this point after running for nearly 50 years, due to a lack of suitable replacement. Her dress follows a similar logic to Greaseball's outfit in that it represents the streamlined cowl, which is why she's less mechanical than most.

Personality-wise, she's also oooooold and based on Ella Fitzgerald, even more heavily than OLC Belle since she's fits perfectly with the time/place/personality of the GG1s. Both started in the mid-30s in New York City, and were noted for being "effortless" and almost unparalleled in their field. I tend to imagine her playing more on the "cute, humble, and improvisational" side of Ella, entering the big race just to have one last good run before she retires, and forgetting lyrics and making up something that sounds natural. In my mind she wins because the tracks are rough and winding, which she's far more used to that the other Nationals, with how decrepit parts of her Northeast Corridor were in the 80s and still are now- experience is a quality that counts for a lot!

She toes the line between OC and AU since she's such a twist on the original but stays largely true to her general concept. I'll call her more of an AU and say anyone is free to use this interpretation if they want, I'm not possessive of it at all.

Realistically she'd be dead as a doornail after 1984 (GG1s will just never run in preservation, they were in such bad shape and would need so much work to function on modern systems you may as well build a new replica). But make a cheeky joke about Controls' mom "sticking the old shell on a new body and not telling the kid" and she can come back. I like to think she'd have a flirty, playful rivalry with Momma/Poppa, she'd make Light At The End Of The Tunnel a duet about how steam is great.... for power plants! The Pennsylvania Railroad just stopped getting more steam engines when it electrified lines vs axing them so she wouldn't have any historical antagonism with them.

Here's my rewrite of Belle's Song largely following the original format, but now about the real history of the GG1s

Speed and youth ain't everything

Experience is a quality that counts for a lot

The sad thing 'bout experience is

By the time you've got it

It's usually all you've got...

I'm Belle, Belle, Belle, the GG1

Had my fifty years of fun

My frame is cracked, I’m almost done

Though in my heart, I long to run

I hauled the folks, I hauled the freight

I made good time, no need to wait

Just couple up and ride with me

I’d get you where you want to be

Once I was the hope for the future, wires run from coast to coast

Service every hour, to everywhere, hauling the post!

Now it’s just tragic…

The war then came, it all fell down

Restriction made the new tech drown

Let autos win, pave over it all

Watched the railroads slowly fall

Still I was a real mainliner, they struggled to replace me

Ran commuter trains into the ground

Down by the sea…. At least it was scenic

Oh, Belle, Belle, Belle, the GG-LOST

I’m worn down, yet I’m still boss

I may not be first class, but I'm not yet worst class

I can still take you when the night is dark

I’m withered, but I ain’t lost my spark

[sea-wolf-coast-to-coast]

7,935 total entries were submitted in 2023!

This includes all entries that were submitted via the Google Form, including late entries (and excluding duplicate entries).

Which brings us to 50,656 total recorded entries since we began this challenge in 2017! 

And, we had 109 volunteer artists in 2023!! Which means that there are 109 prize-winners!

A breakdown of the stats + announcement of the Participation Prize winners are below the cut ~

Want to see all public entries? Here’s a link to the Master Spreadsheet. This omits entries that people requested to keep private between them and I.

There's a lot to be gleaned from the data this year. Firstly, this is the first year where we see a real dip in participation, numbers dropping to the pre-2020 range. There are a couple of probable causes for this dip: this year, I chose, a) not to promote the challenge in any discords, b) not to repost any prompts to twitter, and c) not to post reminders throughout the challenge for folks to submit their links.

I was curious to know how much my own direct participation effects the challenge these days, and the numbers seem to point to "quite a bit!" So, that's good to know.

Secondly, we have finally approached the "data visualization salad" limit in which there are enough data points to confuse the visualization of the data overall, rendering them a little tough to understand at first glance. So, next year will probably see some fine-tuning of the data so that it's easier to digest.

Now, onto the good stuff!

Total Participation Year to Year:

Prompt Participation by Year:

NOTE: The big dips are Make-up / Extra Credit Days. Lots of folks choose to take a break over writing Extra Credit. Legit!

Prompt Breakdown by Week:

Submissions by Day:

NOTE: Day 7 was the day before the 24-hour deadline went into effect. Hence, the big ol’ spike.

Submissions by Platform:

Participation Prize Winners

Winners were selected via a random raffle dice roll made by Moen and span all online writing platforms, including Tumblr, Ao3, Google Docs, and others (like Twitter). This writing challenge is not a contest - no one’s work was being judged for length, skill, etc. The prizes are based on participation only! The more entries that you wrote and submitted within its 24-hour deadline, the higher your chance of winning a prize.

Prizes are a simple black & white portrait of the winner’s character. Most are shoulder up but the artists are free to take liberties if they’d like. Prizes are not commissioned work, so ultimately it’s the artist’s choice for what they’d like to do for the piece. Some artists (not all) accept commissions and might be open to colorizing a prize piece, after it’s been posted, at their normal rates.

Due to recent changes in Discord's username format, this year (and this year only) all winners will be notified by yours truly (MoenMoen) via a friend request and message in Discord. Next year I'll be teaming up with some folks to find a better, more streamlined process for informing and connecting winners with their volunteer artist.

So, keep an eye out for me in your Discord friend requests/inbox over the next week or so (it will take me a minute to get to everyone):

As always, there are a few winners whose artists may need to drop out for personal reasons, and that’s ok! In those cases, the winners will be carried over into 2024′s pool of winners where another artist will pick up their prize and complete it.

Congrats to all 109 winners, and I'll see you in September 2024 when we do it all again!

[canisalbus]

Now that you mentioned the lightness under Vasco's eyes, I cannot unsee it.

Good to hear it's visible to you! Like I said, it accentuates his eyes a little bit, makes his expressions brighter and more open.

Vasco is, by the way, overwhelmingly the more complicated one to draw out of them two. It could be the fact I have way more experience drawing Machete so his shapes tend to come from muscle memory to some degree, while for Vasco it's regularly trial and error. His big ears, as cute and characteristic they are, always take a little bit of positioning so that they don't cover his face but also aren't too covered by anything else. I still struggle with the colors of his fur a lot of the time. While for Machete I only have to use four colors (base cream white + three different shades of light salmon pink for gradients, inner ear and nose), Vasco takes probably closer to seven or eight if I really put effort to it. I expect this part to become easier as time passes and my process gets streamlined a bit (I mean I hope so at least) but right now I'm spending about two or three times as much time drawing Vasco compared to Machete.

[calypsolemon]

I wanna hear about your favorite au you've made, I'm curious!

ack that's really hard to say any particular one is my favorite, though I have ones that I like over others.

Obviously, I've had transcendent au for the longest and probably have the most fondness and nostalgia for it. In short (and it should be said VERY short as this is a long and complicated au), it's an au where the ninja attempt to defy the destiny that has beaten them down for so long, but in the course of doing so they rise to meet it, destroying the world and becoming the gods of a new world in the process. I cannot call this au purely mine alone as it was a collaborative effort between members of my lego server. It's also probably the most messy, containing a lot of immature and underdeveloped thoughts on ninjago as a series, as well as just my emotional state at the time which was "angry abuse victim who just moved out of their childhood home." Over time my thoughts on the events of the au have evolved drastically and thusly the meaning of it has too, which isn't a bad thing. But it does mean its not really as streamlined or coherent as something I'd create now that I'm a bit older.

Oldman Lloyd au is also one of my favorites, and it sort of exists as a response to aspects of transcendent au I find myself now disagreeing with. Essentially, its just my imaging of what Lloyd's life will look like in the far future, where he has been doing the green ninja/ master lloyd/ conduit thing for enough ages that it has all become routine. This one is nowhere near as developed, existing mostly as a set of loosely connected vignettes in my mind. Still, what drives me to it is just the idea of following Lloyd thousands of years into the future, and seeing that he still has a life filled with meaning and friends he cares about even if they aren't the same set of friends he started with, something that I think the fandom is often hesitant to dwell upon.

Splinter-hearted, my adaptation of the classic fairytale "The Snow Queen," was at one time a ninjago au, which you might know if you've been around long enough. It was pretty straightforward, just a version of the Snow Queen where the characters were replaced with ninjago characters, having Nya as Gerda, Kai as Kay and Zane as the titular Snow Queen. However it isn't anymore as I quickly realized the characters were just too different from their ninjago counterparts, and the story wasn't benefiting much from continuing to keep them connected to ninjago. Still, I feel grateful to that early version for giving me the spark that would eventually lead to a more original story.

Finally, and most recently, I've been obsessed with my siren Jay/ With Your Voice au. Since it's the most recent it's not as developed, but I think I've seen very few au's of its nature in the fandom, so I've latched onto it. Essentially, it is an au about Nya struggling to cope with the loss of Jay (who is dead in this version of things), and her spiral into obsessive and self-destructive behavior as she chases a dangerous mythological creature that takes on Jay's likeness (the siren). It's kind of my first attempts at something of a horror story in one of my au's! I'm really excited to keep hashing it out in my mind.

This might just sound like I copped out because I listed so many au's in one post but tbh I actually have come up with many MANY au's for ninjago over the years. Most of them simply haven't been posted about on this blog because they just weren't focused on that long by me, weren't that interesting in the long run, didn't have much going on that would make good art pieces, etc. I still find many of them precious to me but I think these four are the ones I'm holding closest to my heart at this moment. Thank you for asking!

[kaija-rayne-author]

Dragon Age Veilguard wrap up review and final thoughts

So… I wrote that string of reviews (section one starts here) while I was playing the game. I’d write them either before or after logging in for the day, so I wouldn’t forget anything I wanted to mention.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard. Tried to keep them to a minimum, but they’re there.

My thoughts on breaking the media blackout I stayed under while I played Veilguard to completion.

A little about me. I’m an editor by trade. I’m an author and a reviewer. I’m a pretty heavily left leaning, queer as fuck, non-binary person, so I’m not one of the awful reviewers who are causing so many problems from what I’ve heard. No one paid me for a review or to write anything. I’ve played the game to completion and watched the credits all the way through to that awful last scene. These are just my thoughts and my knowledge. And honestly? My broken heart.

I’m just someone who has absolutely loved Dragon Age from the moment I first turned on DAO. Because I’m an editor and a writer… my reviews tend to be more in depth than an average person’s? Maybe? I have a medical background (Forensic Anthropologist) and I legitimately read encyclopedias for fun.

In case you haven’t guessed yet. I’m autistic/ADHD (AuDHD). Dragon Age has been a hyperfocus/special interest of mine for years. I’m absolutely a lore fiend. I probably know more about the lore than many people actually working at BioWare. Especially if Veilguard is anything to judge by.

Also, this is all my off the cuff writing. I haven't the time, energy, or desire to edit them.

The problem with Dragon Age Veilguard… well. There’re a lot of problems with it. I think what it really comes down to is poor adhesion to the established lore, a crappy fighting and levelling system, and poor writing. And with Trick Weekes as Lead Writer? I never in a million years would’ve thought I’d have to say that about Veilguard.

I’ve enjoyed Weekes’ writing for a few years now. Two of my favourite Dragon Age books are by them. I really wish I could write a positive review for Veilguard. But I just can’t.

There were some things I liked about it. I liked some of the mechanics. Ziplines and the Elven light puzzles were pretty awesome. I liked how some of the streamlining made the game better. I liked how the logs were a lot easier to walk across than they were in any of the previous games. Some of the characters grew on me despite their poor writing. I liked the map when I was at the Lighthouse. Being able to see when and where a companion wanted to talk to me was great. I liked the wardrobe and how nice and easy it made changing how your gear looked. There were probably a few other things I liked. I tried to be scrupulous in my review series on saying both the positive and the negative. So if you’ve got the time to read that long thing, it’s probably worth it if you’re on the fence about buying and playing it.

And if you had a hand in making that travesty of a CRPG? You really should read it. For professional development, if nothing else.

If you’re Solavellan? I’ll just flat out tell you not to. It’s not worth it. There is no happy ending for Solas and Inky. There’s no intimate scene. Every single thing most Solavellan’s have been hoping for… for ten bloody years? It’s not there. And in fact, they did Solas so dirty. There were memories of him. I wanted memories! I did not want memories of every awful thing he’d ever been forced to do as a rebel leader. They hammered home how awful Solas was with a freaking jackhammer.

As a diehard DA fan and a committed Solavellan? It was an outright painful game to play. It really hurt. And then to see his horrific wolf form (he honestly looks like a Chinese crested dog on a really bad day. I really wish I were joking.) And then to not have anything resembling a happy ending? It’s not worth your time, and it definitely isn’t worth your money. Fanfic writers will have to heal our broken hearts, because Weekes certainly did not.

No. Trick Weekes. That was not even a suggestion of a happy ending. And I will honestly never trust you again after you actually tweeted that to me. You gave me hope. And there was no reason to hope.

So… yeah. I’ll never be able to cover all the bad in Veilguard in a short (ish) review. I’m trying to keep this short!

I’m not good at that. For what it’s worth. XD.

The Lore.

There is so much Lore they had to use for inspiration. Three full games, five books, six comics, at least two coffee table/art books and probably stuff I don’t know about. They had all of that to use as inspiration. What little they did use? Was so twisted it was hardly recognizable. I went into more detail in the longer review series so I won’t here. But they hardly used the amazing amount of Lore at all. They shoved it under the rug of bad writing to make a very unsightly lump to anyone with eyes to see it.

It’s almost like they were so eager to shuffle Solas off so they could move on to writing a new game in a different age that they just… I don’t even know. Treated him poorly doesn’t begin to cover it. Screwed up the story by sidelining a plot-necessary character also doesn’t cover it. Which as both an editor and an author, I really do not understand. You don’t do that with such a plot heavy character. It leaves the consumers unhappy.

After the game play reveal. I honestly didn’t have a lot of hope. I knew Varric’s fate even before that. (It’s not good. In case you’re wondering.) Becoming an editor has absolutely ruined me by making it easy to guess what’s going to happen.

The Writing.

I’ve actually heard and seen the writers saying they were pleased with how the characters came out. Professionally? And as kindly as I possibly can? May I suggest you all learn how to write better? Most of those characters and the plot were just so poorly written. The romances were ridiculous. And I’m a romance author? So I kinda know what I’m talking about? At every juncture, you all chose the most basic, most puerile options. The only surprises for me in that game were how you completely ignored the Lore and how bad the writing was.

I think Veilguard would’ve been perfectly fine as a non-Dragon Age action RPG. And for anyone who loves it for that… I’m truly happy for you.

But that’s not how it was marketed. It had all the right Dragon Age voice actors, character names, location names… but that is not Dragon Age. You’d need to actually use the lore for that. They did not. Or if they used a little? It was heavily retconned and twisted out of recognition. The only thing even remotely close to being like a Dragon Age game were the settings, environments, and scenery. Those were phenomenal and the only thing that held that travesty of a game together. Everything else? Goddess. How do you fail so horribly at something when you have every resource you could possibly need to make it good?

Because it could actually have been good. It could’ve been phenomenal. If they’d actually written that game for Dragon Age fans? You know… us middle-aged or slightly younger/older gamers who’ve lusted for another DA game for years? If they’d paid attention even a little bit to the Lore? If they hadn’t side-lined a plot-important character? If they hadn’t retconned soooo much that I often felt like I had whiplash playing it? If they hadn’t stripped it down to the very bare bones of mediocrity? If they hadn’t basically made it for children? While condescending to them? (Heads up… kids hate being condescended to.)

If they hadn’t nerfed rogues so badly that I don’t know why they bothered to call them rogues at all? You cannot pick locks, hide in shadows, sneak, set or disarm traps, brew potions or bombs… absolutely none of the fun stuff that makes a rogue a rogue is in Veilguard. If you’re a rogue player? Skip it. You’ll just be as disappointed as I am.

Nor can you garden. You can’t make potions or bombs or… anything. You can’t craft anything yourself. You go to someone called The Caretaker at the Lighthouse and use everything you’ve collected by smashing far too many barrels (why… why with the barrels?) for them to upgrade your stuff. You can’t really dress up your companions in funny clothing or armour. They’ve scraped most of the detail out of Veilguard like they were carving a pumpkin and had to get the guts out. The problem is? Those guts are needed for any story. It’s called world building.

Get this. BioWare… BIOWARE removed blood splatter from Veilguard. There’s no toggle I can find that makes it even possible. They truly made this game for kids and not for the middle-aged gamers who… y’know… usually have money to spend on games. Do NOT ask me how that made any kind of sense. Their logo for at least two games was a blood splatter Dragon ffs. And now there’s no blood splatter option in game. I just absolutely cannot understand it.

The fighting system.

Dear gods. The fighting system. So first? They tied how often your companions get skill points to how high their bond is with you. You increase your bond with them by taking them with you (and you can only take two) and doing their quests, etc. But do you know what that means in functionality? If you’re not a tank player? You’re basically cream cheese. I’m not a professional gamer. But gaming is my number one form of entertainment. I play on hard/ultra hard for most games I play. And a lot of them are live-fighting types like DAV was trying to be.

Guess whose rogue had a permanent tattoo of ‘I have aggro please come eat me now’ on their forehead? Mine. I have a very intimate understanding of the inside animations of the dragon’s mouths. If they’re going to keep that crappy leveling system, the least they could do is let us all have the ‘no death’ toggle on every level. Won’t matter to me because I can’t imagine ever playing it again.

I lost 14 hours of my life with the crashing, glitching, and reloading I had to go through to get the damned thing to even run. (And it’s not my computer. It has an ssd. The video drivers are all updated and up to snuff. It’s around a little over midway between necessary and recommended specs. It’s just a shitty game.) It’s a shame I can’t charge BioWare for those lost hours of my life. How could they have possibly thought that this game was ready for release?

If you want to know the rest of the negatives (and a few more positives) the whole review series is where you’ll find them.

But between the actual craptastic showing of Veilguard and that last scene taking all the agency away from every character who ever came before? Oh, and with the bad guys from across the sea wearing something an awful lot like a burqa? You know… the long black robes and veils many Afghani people and other Muslims wear? Nah. I’m done. Finite. I may occasionally enjoy the first three games. But Veilguard does not exist for me. And anything they make going forward doesn’t exist for me. That last scene… WTAF were they thinking? I actually can’t believe out of all the people who must have worked on that game that no one else made that connection about maybe insinuating that people wearing black robes and veils who live on the other side of the sea are evil is maybe a bad thing!?

I just can’t anymore. If you’re looking for a no-brain needed, kid oriented, action RPG (they really did simplify this soooo much for children that it’s absolutely condescending) then you’ll probably be fine with it.

If you love the Lore as much as you love the world? If you play rated M games with romanceable companions for the intimate scenes and the romance? (You’ll be disappointed.) If you have a few thoughts on whether it’s a great idea to remove the agency of all previous characters in the entire series as being bad? If you think maybe it’s a bad idea to insinuate people in burqas are evil? If you play anything other than a tank? Veilguard is not a game for you.

[zeldadeservesabreak]

“Where did all the Sheikah tech and shrines go?”

… is one of the most annoying questions I’ve seen repeated over and over again by people and theorists. Because the answer is quite literally in your face the entire game if you just pay attention to the details.

There’s actually 3 very obvious reasons for the shrines and towers disappearing. And since I get this question a lot, I’m gonna answer them here:

1. They were repurposed by Robbie and Purah.

This is the most direct answer with evidence you can clearly see. Purah and Robbie are still tinkering with stuff, and the Purah Pad is a perfect example of this. It is very clearly still Sheikah technology. It looks and acts just like the Sheikah Slate, but it’s more refined and streamlined. So it’s pretty apparent that since the events of Breath of the Wild she and Robbie have continued their studies and made improvements on the tech.

Additionally every one of the sky view towers houses guardians underneath. This is very clear in the little cut scene that plays out when you activate one for the first time. Guardian legs pop out, and then apply the appropriate gear to you before launching you into the sky. If you pay attention to Link’s reaction as well, the first time this happens in Lookout Tower he is visibly FREAKED OUT by this. No doubt a reflexive defensive reaction to his time fighting Guardians in the last game.

So the tech isn’t entirely gone. It’s been repurposed.

2. It was dismantled on Zelda’s orders.

This is not explicitly said, but it’s heavily implied. Zelda has been traveling with Link since the first game and helping to rebuild Hyrule. Part of healing from a calamity is removing evidence of that calamity so that people can move on with their lives and not be reminded of the thousands that died.

This is also probably because Zelda feels guilty about the role she played. After all she was the one who unearthed the guardians in the first place. She set up the very same guardians that eventually got possessed by Calamity Ganon and DESTROYED THE WORLD.

Also, having finally stopped the calamity it is in Hyrule’s best interest to remove technology that could still be beneficial to your enemies. The last thing they need is another calamity happening that reactivates all the dead Guardians… again. (More on this later)

You can find evidence of this in many places where shrines once existed now only exist an empty patch that resembles the shrine’s shape. These patches are clean, do not disturb the landscape much at all, and it seems much more controlled and surgical compared to what I’m about to talk about in the next section. I believe these patches are where Zelda’s construction team are responsible for dismantling the shrines.

So it’s pretty clear to me that healing the land from the calamity by removing them and any other Sheika tech/shrine would be a priority.

3. Ganon’s Gloom destroyed the rest.

This is also not explicitly stated, but is pretty clear when you examine the facts. Gloom is extremely dangerous. Far more dangerous than the calamity’s corruption. Gloom saps your life away and is the reason all weapons in Hyrule just suddenly decayed when the upheaval happened. It’s so powerful that it literally decayed the Master Sword! The most powerful weapon in the Zelda franchise got instantly destroyed by gloom from Ganon’s initial attack.

So taking this evidence and extending it further… what’s something Ganon would want to get rid of? How about something that could be used against him? Like, say…. The divine beasts and the guardians… or how about a magical shrine that could resurrect a fallen hero?

His calamity form was destroyed by the technology initially, and while he took his revenge by possessing them the next time, the divine beasts were eventually ripped away from his control by Link and the sages were able to fire upon him yet again. So that tech is dangerous and Ganon isn’t dumb. He’s not gonna risk the same mistake happening again.

And there is evidence of this as well. If you travel around Hyrule, in many of the places where Sheikah shrines once existed you will often find bandit camps or giant gloom infestations with sink holes into the depths.

So what happened to the divine beasts and the rest of the Sheikah shrines and tech that wasn’t repurposed or dismantled? Ganon’s gloom destroyed it.

Conclusion.

I know that it’s frustrating that there aren’t many reference to these things by NPC’s. It could easily have been handled by a couple lines of dialogue by a few random characters here or there. But to be honest I look at this as just another puzzle left by the developers.

Like so many aspects of the Zelda franchise, it’s often left to you (the player) to piece together clues and small details to form your own conclusions to things. Environmental storytelling is very much a huge part of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s world building. To me the fact that there are so many clues about what happened is an indication that the developers did understand that people would question this.

The problem I’m seeing is that after asking the question “where did all the Sheikah tech go?” people are either too unimaginative or very unobservant, and don’t bother trying to ANSWER that question.

The answer is in the game. It’s all around you. You’ve been walking over it, around it, and diving into it (quite literally) while you’ve been playing.

[makethiscanon]

SnowFall: Krel x Fem!Reader [Part 3]

Word Count: 2100

Rating: G

Tags: First Meetings, Winter, Skiing, Adventure, Third-Person.

Read Part 1: [HERE]

Read Part 2: [HERE]

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The ski-lift took Krel to a different mountain this time: one that was much, much higher than before. Unlike the blue course he had just done, when he reached the summit, he did not find a jumbled congregation of people elbowing each other for space. Nor did he find small children. Or much chatter at all.

“This is more like it!” he exclaimed.

The skiers were setting off in ones or twos, their pace fast from the start. They were much more streamlined, and Krel had to admit, it was entertaining to watch.

Krel noted this one was a much longer course than before. He could only see so much of the track before a sheer drop took it out of sight.

When there was a lull in skiers, Krel eased himself up to the starting point. He planned a route for as far as he could see, then quickly set off.

He couldn't bypass the other skiers as easily now. They seemed more aware of their aerodynamics and flew down the slopes at a pace. So instead, he enjoyed the rush of his own movements, zipping this way and that and he descended the mountain.

When the course suddenly dropped off, taking him to unplanned territory, he grinned and shrunk himself down towards his skis, picking up speed.

The course, again, was lined by trees, though their birth around the perimeter was much wider. It still felt secluded, but left Krel feeling like he had a lot of room to explore.

After a few minutes of descent, the course took a sudden steep drop, with a short ramp some few metres after. Avoidable, if necessary, but not something Krel worried about hitting.

Aligning himself with the ramp, he picked up speed then zipped into the air with some pretty impressive hang time, if he said so himself.

He landed the jump with relative ease, but had to swerve as soon as he landed to avoid colliding with a snow-covered boulder.

“Too close,” he said once he’d cleared it, letting out a small sigh of relief. When he looked back, wondering why on earth there was a course with that kind of monstrosity lying in wait, he noticed the snow surrounding the boulder seemed to be covered in large splinters of something.

He quickly felt the rush of accomplishment and threw his hands up victoriously, knowing he had bested an obstacle that might have claimed many. He raised his arms to shout in delight, but stopped himself when something up ahead caught his eye.

Someone was limping through the snow. Each time they lifted their left foot, Krel noticed the ski on that side was much shorter. He wondered if those splinters surrounding the boulder had anything to do with it.

Painfully aware of how fragile humans were, Krel felt compelled to check on this particular one in need. He slowed to a stop beside them then pulled down his mask to talk.

“Are you alright?” he asked, then caught the way they seemed to freeze up at his intervention. Perhaps they did not want helping.

He started to turn, readying himself to set off, but the person lifted their goggles and lowered their mask.

“I crashed. Think I twisted my knee.”

The airy, embarrassed laugh caught him off-guard, but no more so than the fact he recognised the face it came from.

“Tiësto Girl…? Great Gaylen, this planet really is small.”

She looked confused for a second, then realisation dawned on her.

“The guy from the lobby.”

“You remember me.” Krel said in delight. Then he pondered her earlier statement. “Will your knee untwist?”

A short pause followed. Unbeknownst to Krel, it was while the girl debated whether he was trying to make a joke or not.

“Well. Yes. Sort of? Um. You couldn’t do me a favour?”

He cocked an eyebrow curiously.

“I assure you I probably could.”

Another pause.

“Um… okay. Anyway. Can you go on ahead and radio for assistance?”

Krel blinked. He wondered if that sentence was supposed to make sense to him. He was, of course, willing to help, but where was he heading to and who was he calling?

“Uhh…”

“There’s an emergency shack every quarter mile. Didn’t you read the safety pack at the lodge?”

Krel had not planned to leave the comfort of his room today. Reading a human safety manual had not been up there on his priority list.

That being said, he didn’t want to look like a fool.

“Got it.” He lied. He turned to go, but paused a moment to double-check on her. “Will you be alright?”

She nodded.

“I’ll manage. Hopefully the rescue team’ll show up before I get there. Thanks, by the way. Four people passed by me before you stopped to help. Either they didn’t see me, or ignored me.”

This girl was in a neon pink-and-yellow puffer-jacket. Krel couldn’t imagine anyone was blind enough to miss her.

Feeling compelled to be of use, Krel set off down the mountain in search of this so-called shack. He wasn’t entirely sure what a shack was, but was sure he would know once he saw it.

Sure enough, as he zipped down the snowy mountain, it wasn’t long before he came across a small, log house just off to the side of the ski course. Judging by the antenna poking up from its roof, this was the place because there was a radio inside.

Krel slid to a halt at the edge of the track, then pulled himself from the groomed snow and onto rougher, uneven terrain, with his sticks. After a few wobbly manoeuvres, he discovered it was easier – although by no means easy—to walk his way to the cabin, lifting his skis in large, unbalanced steps.

Once he was at the front door, he unclasped his ski boots then went inside, propping his skis and sticks up just inside the door. The room inside was small, but seemed fit for purpose. There was a desk, a chair, a worn-out bed, some cupboards, and a hearth that looked like it hadn’t seen the flicker of a fire in a long time. Most importantly, though, was the radio sitting atop the desk.

“Excellent.” Krel said triumphantly, then studied the device for a moment, chuckling at such a primitive piece of technology. Still, he supposed it could do the job in a pinch.

Removing his goggles, his mask, and his hat, Krel sat himself in the chair then put the radio headphones over his ears and reached for the mic. Thankfully when it came to technology, he was very good at figuring out how to use new equipment on the first try. He pressed a button on the mic’s base then leaned in to speak.

“…Hello?”

He released the button and waited. He was about to try again when a crackly, static voice replied through the radio’s speaker.

“Reading you Cabin Twelve. This is Base Camp. How can we help? Over.”

“Ah- right. Yes. This is, presumably, Cabin Twelve. A girl is on her way and requires you to untwist her knee.”

The pause before the reply was unhelpful.

“…Do you need a rescue team? Over.”

“Yes. She wants to meet you at the cabin. She…”

Krel’s words tapered off as the cabin became bathed in a murky, grey light. He looked up from the radio, only to see that heavy snow had started to fall outside. His finger remained pressed on the communication button as surprise hit him. When he remembered to remove it, the reply through the speaker was mostly scatchy static with a few disjointed words.

“… wait… she… don’t…”

Krel frowned. Human technology at its finest, again. A little bit of bad weather and everything came to a standstill. Although, he had to admit as he listen to the sudden wind whipping against the side of the shack, this change in weather was particularly unexpected.

He spoke into the microphone as his view of outside became increasingly blurred by snowflakes.

“I recommend you hurry.”

As Krel continued watching the snow growing heavier, he suddenly saw a neon pink blob appear in the hazy distance beyond the window. Rushing to his feet, he only thought to throw on his skiing goggles before heading out to help the girl towards the cabin. He was very aware that unlike him, her body was susceptible to the cold and that the ever strengthening wind would only make things worse, especially when she could only walk as fast as her bad leg and broken ski.

As his feet came into contact with the snow, he sank down a little with each step he took. It stalled him slightly, but he managed to greet the girl just as she came off the course, onto the bumpier, ungroomed terrain.

“Base camp should be on their way.” He said in greeting, though found he had to shout to hear his own voice over the wind.

“What?” She shouted back.

Realising that talking was futile, Krel chose instead to take her arm and hook it over his shoulder to support her as she pushed her skis towards the shack. Thankfully, though he was in his human form, his strength was still that of an Akiridion. Even at her slow pace, it wouldn’t be long before they were both out of the bad weather.

As the wind and snow whipped up around them, the girl leaned herself towards him, her voice coming through as a dampened shout,

“Where did this blizzard come from?”

Truthfully, he did not know either. Earth weather was unpredictable at the best of times, but this seemed excessive.

As they made their way closer to the cabin, Krel suddenly heard a crackling sound that drew his attention. It was a fizzle in the air, like static. The hairs rose up along his exposed neck. He instinctively looked back towards the mountain, only to witness a bright flash of lighting, followed by a thunderous boom that rattled the trees and caused both of them to stumble. Krel’s eyes grew wide.

“What was that?” Asked the girl, regaining her footing after cursing like a sailor from the pain of putting pressure on her bad leg. But Krel did not hear her. Not because of the wind. But because every fiber of his being was now focused on watching the powdered snow picking up speed as it raced towards them down the mountainside.

Krel didn’t need to know what an avalanche was to know that anything hurtling towards him at that speed and ferocity was not something he wanted to be caught by.

He turned and began dragging the girl by her shoulders, forcing her past any speed that could be comfortable in an effort to get her to safety.

“Go, go, go, go!”

He shouted over the storm, unable to keep his gaze in one direction when he needed to look at both the distance to the shack, and the ever-gaining maelstrom behind them. It was so much harder to walk as the earth trembled, as the avalanche gained footing. He felt the pressure shifting. They were only meters from the shack but he knew they wouldn’t make it. Everything around them quaked as the rumbling turned thunderous, then the path ahead turned dark as the avalanche’s shadow overtook them.

Knowing he had no other option, Krel used all his Akiridion strength to push the girl the last distance towards the cabin with a forceful jolt, then turned and brandished his serrator.

“Run!”

He unleashed a shield, giving her just long enough to get to her feet and wrench the cabin door open, before the overwhelming pressure of the snowy landslide knocked his serrator from his grip, leaving him defenceless. The girl turned just in time to see him disappear beneath the avalanche’s onslaught before she had to force the door closed to save herself.

What followed was a few agonising minutes of pain, stress and screaming as she backed up and pressed her whole body against the door, begging it to hold as the entire cabin groaned and creaked under the pressure.  She begged it to hold. She begged it. Snow sputtered down the chimney, telling her that the shack was being submerged. She held still, hissing and cursing with even her bad leg jammed tight against the door.

Then, finally, the creaking subsided for the most part. Everything turned still. She listened. She couldn’t hear the avalanche, or even the wind. With her heart hammering in her ears, she pulled away from the door slowly, then when it did not cave in, she turned and wrenched it wide. Only a wall of powder-white snow greeted her.

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[WRITING MASTERLIST]