#quote from 'The Quarry' game i think

[puer-aurea]

Meredy: It begins with an L. Like the L word?

Midnight, Jellal, and Racer: Lesbians?

Angel: Lost, guys. We're lost.

[aidaronan]

The years go by. The retail jobs that Steve thinks are temporary keep piling up, but he has no idea what else to do with his life so he just keeps on keeping on.

Until a large tree falls on the lawn of the little house he managed to buy and he gets the quote on removal and the number literally hurts his soul.

He buys a small chainsaw instead. Over the course of a few weeks, he gets most of the branches cut up. He collects some large rocks from down by the quarry and digs out a fire pit in his backyard. On his days off, his friends come over and they sit out back and have a few beers. The pile of wood dwindles. The giant trunk is another story though. His chainsaw isn't big enough for it. Burning it would take forever, and Steve's terrified he'd disappoint Smoky the Bear. He's at a loss.

Until he sees another giant trunk in someone's yard carved into a bear.

He knows what to do then. Not a bear, but something else. Through trial and error, the trunk becomes the rough shape of a woman, the remnants of the branches like a crown on her head. It's not as amazing as the bear he saw, but it's his. He finds he loves the smell of sawdust and the feeling of creating something.

Just like that, Steve realizes what he wants to do. It takes several months and a lot of yard sales, but he scrounges up the tools he needs to start woodworking. He learns to measure twice and cut once. He makes tables and chairs and carves them with art and designs that get better and better the more he learns. Shockingly, people actually buy his pieces.

Even more shocking comes the realization that he's making enough money to do it full time. He puts in his two weeks notice at Melvald's and hands in his assistant manager badge.

He's not sure he's happy, but he is content. It feels good to work hard and actually have things to show for it. It also feels good to work muscles he hasn't used since high school. He carries on for a few years like that, creating and learning and creating some more. Then Eddie Munson blows back into town. Invited back so Hawkins can have their most famous alumnus sing the national anthem at homecoming. Steve's honestly surprised he shows at all. "Can't believe you didn't tell them kiss your hairy ass," Steve says. Because of course Eddie ends up around his fire pit, sipping on Steve's cheap beer like he doesn't have three Grammy awards on his mantel. The years fall away with each drink, reminding Steve of just how much it had hurt when Eddie left. He'd wanted Eddie so bad back then, more than he'd ever wanted anyone. He can feel the echoes of that deep ache across time.

"Pfft. Don't you know all famous people wax our asses now? All the rage in LA." Eddie cuts a look at him and smirks when Steve rolls his eyes, grateful for the lighthearted moment to snap him out of his maudlin nostalgia. "Really though I thought about it, but then I thought it would be way funnier to donate a metric fuckton of money to Hawkins High with the stipulation that it go to the theater and band programs. Kind of bummed they couldn't honor my other request though."

"Which was?"

"My old Hellfire throne. I miss her, but apparently she's not around anymore. Something about water damage."

"Oh yeah. Water main busted a few years back and flooded the theater. I remember that." "Yeah. Had to settle for the promise they'd make a game lounge and stock it with all the supplies a budding young nerd needs."

"That's really nice, Eds."

Eddie shrugs. "I've been known to be nice on occasion. You'll come to homecoming, right? Moral support?"

Steve hasn't been to homecoming in years because he sees the other people who stayed in town all the time, and he has no interest in seeing the people who didn't. He can only answer the same questions so many times. Oh, I'm doing woodwork now. Yep, I still live right here. Nope, still not married, no kids.

He goes though, and he answers the uncomfortable questions. Because Eddie asked him to. Because no matter how long it's been, Steve can't deny that some part of him still...

He says goodbye after, and Eddie leaves again, and Steve tries not to think about that too much in the following days.

He's halfway into the project before he realizes what he's building. He'd seen Eddie's throne quite a few times back when. What he doesn't have memories of, he makes up. He adds his own touches too, making it a throne fit for a rock star, a nerd, a friend.

He carves ornate patterns, he creates scenes of dragons being beaten back by a man with a guitar, crowds of people that could be knights or concertgoers.

It's his favorite piece he's ever done, and his hands are shaking when he dials Eddie's number. He gets an answering machine and stumbles through a message.

"I made you something. I guess it's kind of silly, but it's here in Hawkins if you want it. Or I'm sure you can afford the shipping if you don't want to come. Just, I made you a chair. It's more of a... Well, you'll see. Unless you don't want to... It's Steve by the way." He hangs up before he can embarrass himself even more.

Eddie doesn't call him back. One day passes and then another. Steve tries not to let it get to him. He works on orders and new projects. He enjoys his little backyard oasis. He rents a few movies and thinks they're okay.

He's debarking some wood in his driveway when the rental car pulls up, Eddie stepping out in ripped jeans and an old Metallica tee. "Hi again, Stevie."

"Oh." Steve clears his throat. "The thing's in the garage. I'll..."

Eddie doesn't say anything for a long time, circling the throne, running his tattooed fingers over each little detail.

"You made this whole thing?"

"I did."

"For me?" Eddie looks at him then, one hand still touching the wood like he doesn't want to let go. Even under the harsh lights of the garage, his eyes are such a warm shade of brown that Steve forgets to breathe.

He nods. "For you."

"Why?"

There are a hundred answers Steve could give, but he spent so long not knowing who he was or who he wanted to be. Too long. "Because you'll always be the one that got away. Because some part of me will always want to make you smile no matter how long it's been."

Eddie falls into the throne like he just got the wind knocked out of him.

"You don't have to respond to that," Steve says. "You can just say thank you and take the chair."

"I can." Eddie blows out a breath. "But that would be incredibly stupid considering half my early ballads are about you."

"What?" Unfair. Steve doesn't have a chair to fall into.

"Oh sure, I changed the hes to shes for a while there because..." Eddie waves his hand. "But they're about you, Steve. God, I should've asked you out. I just thought..."

Hearing those words is a lot like seeing that carved bear all over again, something clicking into place that wasn't quite right before.

"Go out with me now then," Steve says. "Or stay in. I've got a frozen lasagna and I rented Contact."

"Steve Harrington? Asking Eddie 'the Freak' Munson on a date? Did hell freeze over?"

"Pfft." Steve takes a step closer toward what he wants most. "Hell froze over in 1986, Eddie. You were there."

Five months and a lot of long distance phone bills later, Steve opens Harrington Woodworking in Los Angeles. That same day, Eddie takes photos for Rolling Stone posing in an ornate throne in his living room. He tells the reporter exactly who made it and what he means. At concerts, he starts singing those ballads the way he always wanted to. More often than not, Steve stands in the wings singing along.

[artbyblastweave]

Another loose thesis about Fallout’s overall implementation of the retrofuturistic aesthetic-

 From an environmental design perspective 4 and 76 knock the 50s retrofuturism out of the park. As a MA resident, Fallout 4′s version of Boston is extremely immediately recognizable as a retrofuturistic version of the real city, which also happens to have unrelatedly undergone an apocalypse; both components are visible and prominent, and in that order. In Fallout 3, by contrast, the salient aesthetic element is “rubble” and this much more immediate sense of oppressive environmental devastation, rather than the sense you’re specifically in a 1950s version of D.C. The fifties stuff, the art deco stuff is still there, certainly omnipresent when you remember to start actively looking for it, but in my experience it was an element concealed an inch below the grit. 

(New Vegas has the same thing going on to a lesser degree- the 50s elements are definitely present, but in a way that comes part-and-parcel with setting something in Vegas. A lot of the rest is rubble, and the western elements are mixed in as a confounding thing. Harder to describe what’s going on with New Vegas aesthetically, particularly when you throw in asset reuse due to the short turnaround time.)

But. One area where I think Fallout 3 and New Vegas actually surpass fallout 4 and 76, one area where I think the newer games back-tracked a bit in terms of 50sishness, is the mutant design. FO3/NV Mirelurks are a big example of this. The regular ones went from bipedal near-humanoid crab people of the sort you’d see in a b-movie from the fifties, to.... semi-plausible Big Crabs. The super mutants went from kinda looking like guys in yellow rubber costumes to lovingly-detailed-and-animated abhuman colossi. Ditto for the feral ghouls, who went from looking almost sculpted (and textured with pictures of raw meat!) to the twitching, crawling, lurching serkis-folk of Fallout 4. The 3/New Vegas deathclaw feels to me a bit like a Ray Harryhausen sculpted clay thing, while the Fallout 4 deathclaw is, well, the Fallout 4 deathclaw.  And fundamentally both games and films were subject to the same process here- better fidelity became possible. The monster designs of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas were informed by the limits of what was technically possible within the engine of the time, and did a great job within those limitations, just as the cheesy rubber-suit b-movie beasts were informed by the limitations of their effects budget, and often did a great job within those limitations. The budget improves, the tech improves.... insert Brian Eno’s quote about medium emulation, you know? Fallout 4, Fallout 76, those are monsters you fight in a green-screen environment. Fallout 3, those are monsters meant to be fought in a rented quarry that’s doubling for a new planet every single week.

[willtasker]

NYCC 2024: A (Redacted) Review

I had planned out NYCC months ago, back when they announced Hayley Atwell in the spring. Everything else in 2024 had the volume turned down after that announcement. And with time, they also announced some of the cast of Starship Troopers and then Rachael Leigh Cook.

I'm happy to say that everyone was wonderful, glowing even. Some maybe a little more than others but over all, this was by far the best year I had at a convention in terms of people just being... nice.

So foremost is that I overbooked myself. Five cast members from Starship Troopers was at the same table and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let that slip by. I had to go Thursday, as Dina Meyer ((see above)) was only there for one day only. She was an absolute sweetheart, despite trying to duck out to make her plane on time. I almost walked away before they called me back because I forgot to take this photo with her. "Give me some sass" is what I heard in my ear over the deafening crowd and ... well, its not my worst photo but certainly not my favorite either. But she has these huge, chonky glasses I wish she'd kept on for the photos.

Michael Ironside was incredible. I've been a fan of his for decades and despite having a voice like a gravel quarry and that constant sneer painted over his face, he was very funny and very warm. He noticeably perked up when I mentioned his performance in "Crime & Punishment In Suburbia" and how Roger Ebert said it was the best work of his career. He nodded in approval, "I'm glad someone saw that. The director is a a good friend of mine."

Casper Van Dien was ... actually exactly what I suspected. He was standing in front of his table, talking to everyone, pitching the new SST Extermination game. He's high energy, happy to see you, quick with a joke.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of time with either Seth Gilliam or Denise Richards. Seth was on his way out but seemed to be overly kind with everyone there? Does that make sense? Denise was rushing to get out because she had some sort of socialite appointment elsewhere in NYC but she was trying so hard to be accommodating and patient with people. I think she was aware of what her legacy is with men of a certain age. I purposely didn't take too long at her table - it was 7 pm and everyone was tired - and I think she appreciated the fact I didn't make a bad pass at her or stop the line for 5 minutes to show her art I had done in the hopes she'd follow my Instagram (witnessed both of these things happen in real time).

Now on to the main event:

I didn't know what to expect from Hayley. I'd never met anyone who had interacted with her, so I was a little pensive at first. I had brought two photos for her to sign - the one above I had blown up to an egregious size - but it was the other one that rang her bell.

The person running the cashbox passed my photos down and said "Hayley we have some very nice photos from this gentle..."

"This is from Howard's End!" Her eyes popped, a mix of genuine surprise and appreciation behind them.

We talked a little bit about her Margaret Schlegel versus the 1992 movie. She asked me a couple of small questions before we really hit it off on something I wouldn't expect: I told her how I found a lot of American television too "active" and how much comfort I found in rewatching not only Howard's End but just UK television in general. She sized me up quietly before agreeing, telling me she watches the same handful of shows over and over to unwind, as a comfort.

She signed the Howard's End photo first (not pictured here, I've determined it is a little too personal), then the above photo before going back to the first photo with "May I add a quote to this?"

I was left with words in my mouth for a second. I managed to say "Please!" once my brain rebooted and she said "I loved this character so much. And this quote." After we said our goodbyes - she's so effusive, high energy - I quietly found a corner of the convention hall to see she'd written "Only Connect" under her name and I sighed like an old dog sleeping on a cold kitchen floor.

I later had a photo op with her. I look pretty stiff and not my best but I've taken worse photos. She was extremely gentle with everyone in line, I think getting a sense that most everyone was having the same "Holy shit, thats Hayley Atwell" realization.

Finally, and certainly not the least of all...

Rachael Leigh Cook came out an hour late, wearing a cream colored sweater and necklace. Laugh as you must, gentle reader, but I'm absolutely going to my therapist this week to ask why a stranger like herself is so completely nice to everyone (but especially: why is she nice to me). She's the type who touches people on the hand or arm as they talk - she hugged the couple in front of me when they mentioned their engagement - and she has this natural ... I honestly don't know what to call it - grace? vibe? spirit? ... that makes the cold hearth of my soul blaze like a Christmas fireplace. I don't mean to suggest theres any sort of connection, simply that she gives off a vibe of generosity and familiarity that I've only ever felt with old girlfriends.

I thanked her for her performance in Stateside, which made her eyebrows go up like a Tex Avery cartoon, and complimented her on getting her character's diagnosis so wonderfully right. She listened to me, stopped writing, listened some more, would write some more. I'd hate to think I somehow overwhelmed her - I am often told I don't "play my cards" despite my being afraid I'm overplaying them - but she was sincere and gentle, her voice this almost ASMR tone. We took a selfie (THAT photo looks awful, I need to learn to not only pose in photos but not to cock my head away from the other person) and later a photo op (Which looks better! But like the one with Hayley, I look rigid compared to her practiced grace) where she invited me into her hooked arm with a "Hey you, wow, sharp dresser!" and straightened the front of my shirt with a pinch.

And finally! Mystery solved?

This is an update for @justrachaelleighcook - this photo was taken at Cannes! She'd not seen Anna in some time and the press (or whoever was behind the camera) asked for a photo together! "I've never seen this photo but I remember taking it because Bookies was running out of competition". So that dates this photo as 2002? (She'd also not heard Anna had been unwell of late and regarded what little I said with a bit of a furrowed brow.)

Needless to say I wish I had more time to talk to her but I'm forever aware theres a line of people behind me hoping for some time as well.

It was an exhausting two days at NYCC. I probably spent 15 hours there and of that, more than 13 hours was standing in lines. Overall, it was one of the - if not THE - smoothest and more effortless visits to a convention I've ever had. If any of them come back around, I'd love to meet them again. <3

[devilbrakers]

was tagged by @gothimp to do this tag game!

tell me about...

01. a character you love.

dante... :). i'm sure everyone who follows me at least knows OF him fdjsklf. but he's a mercenary who specializes in the supernatural, mainly demons. he is sooooo silly but also so riddled with sadness and grief. i have an art board of him sitting on top of my aic box set rn

02. your favourite food from your culture.

fry bread my fuckign beloved.... it's such a comfort food to me especially when my dad makes it. also german style pretzels are always a joy. i love carbs 🫶

03. what your dream apartment / room / house is like.

a decent sized house that i can live in with my friends :). not too big but enough space to not be cramped. but i'd also settle for an apartment. also would love to have a spot to display my record player/record collection

04. your personal style or aesthetic.

i'm not as fashionable as i'd like to be ig? i'm broke and also get overstimulated by fabrics pretty quickly so i keep it simple for the most part. my clothes are usually soft and baggy since that's the most tolerable for me. oversized t-shirts and flannels, or hoodies. i usually wear sweatpants if i'm out but just loose pajama pants if i'm at home. but i'll occasionally wear stuff like this if i'm going out with friends or smth.

05. a happy memory.

so there's this quarry close to where i grew up that i went to with friends a lot before they moved away. we'd get food and go hang out on the peak or close to it. it was simple but i always really enjoyed it.

06. your favourite way(s) to spend time.

playing video games, writing, painting, watching movies/shows with my friends on teleparty, making edits, baking, etc

07. story behind your url / title / quote / description / icon.

devilbreakers are a weapon nero uses in dmc5! missing a letter bc the proper spelling is being hoarded 😔😔😔. my title is from the crow which is my favorite movie

08. something that comforts you or brings you joy.

my cat!! she loves pasta, scrambled eggs, and sitting on the couch like a person 😭

09. what you’re looking forward to.

honestly not much atm 🥲 i have an mri coming up that'll maybe give me some answers but we'll see fjdkslf

10. something else that’s important to you.

i can't think of anything so here's bob <3

tag list (opt in/out): @numbaoneflaya @katsigian @dmc4 @opaleyedprince @mrs-theirin

@celticwoman @vvanessaives @theonlyadawong @aztarion @quickhacked

@ebongrove @pitchmoss @hibernationsuit

[queenofbaws]

Ohh, never sent anything like this your way and so I don't want to take the reigns too much! But I loved some of the prompts you RBed. Maybe "I keep thinking that something must be wrong with me. Even right now, it feels like I'm ten feet away from myself." In relation to anything Supermassive (UD/Quarry maybe) because I love love how you write fics for those games; take it anyway you'd please. I just super enjoyed the prompt lol

not-quite-six sentence weekend :P

The whole thing had seemed like a joke at first, just another way that the universe could grab them by the ankles, give them a good hard shake, then grab up all the loose change that spilled from their pockets while their heads were spinning. Things had been normal before camp - things had made sense. The sky was blue, the grass was green, and the things that went bump in the night were usually just your imagination or one of your pets knocking into something in the dark.

But now there were monsters. Now it was impossible to tell where reality ended and make-believe began. Now...

Well, now they were in a dingy little basement that reeked of burnt coffee, sitting on uncomfortable foldout chairs. It had to be the strangest support group that'd ever existed, bar none, and even that wasn't going the way it should've been...not with the other quote-unquote survivors doing what they were doing. Most of them were fine, but the Blackwood Bunch?

Oh. Oh, the Hacketteers were pretty fed up with them.

"So there I am, soaked to the bone, wearing someone else's clothes, I'm tired, I'm hungry, everything hurts, and it's like...every time I thought things were going to be okay, I...I ended up alone again. It was just...way too much. Insult to injury, you know?" Emma let the rest of her breath out in a heavy exhale, anxiously tucking her hair behind her ears. Per the usual, she hadn't let stage fright stop her from going at the first opportunity she was given, working her way through her story with tight smiles and shallow laughs. She licked her lips, took another breath, and -

"You think that's bad," Jessica spoke up from across the way, the collection of chairs a little too sloppy to be called a 'circle,' per se, "try having frostbite. And a concussion. And being in your underwear for most of it."

There was a ripple of low chatter from a couple of the others - not the Hacketteers, not the Blackwoods, but the others, the ones who'd been watching with slow-growing amusement and exasperation as their strange turf war had developed. In voices too low for the (warring factions) rest of them to hear, a man missing a suspiciously clean chunk of his ear leaned over to murmur, "Bet this is the one where they start throwing chairs," only for a woman with a garishly bright red pixie cut to dip her chin and respond, "Twenty bucks and you're on."

At the forefront, Emma's smile tightened, becoming something automatic. Automatonic, really. "I was in my underwear for a lot of it, actually."

"No frostbite, though," Mike cut in, happy enough to take over Jess's argument for her. "Seriously, you guys don't even know what you're talking about, okay? Like, yeah, sure, I know you got scared or whatever, but until you're fighting for your life out in subzero temps? Pfft. You don't know what it means to survive."

"Says the guy who stuck his hand in a bear trap," Jacob shot back, not bothering to lower his voice.

Mike had been ready, though. "Says the guy who stepped into a snare, then stepped into a bear trap, then...wait, wait, how'd he put it last time?" he asked, making a show of turning to Emily, then Jess, then craning his head around to Sam. "Oh! Right. Got dragged into a hillbilly sex dungeon. All in one night. Rip on the bear trap all you want, my guy, my one moment of dumbassery hardly stacks up to you going full fucking Loony Tunes. Walk off any cliffs while you were at it? Try and blow out a stick of dynamite thinking it was a birthday candle?"

"Hey man, that's not fair!" It was then that Nick threw his hat into the ring, sticking up for Jacob's case without a moment of hesitation. "You guys weren't down there! You have no idea what it was like, being in those cages all night!"

"Uh, hang on. A-a-agree to disagree." Chris was the one who spoke that time, but Ashley had lifted a finger beside him, the two of them seemingly lodging their complaint as a unit. "If we want to talk about dungeon experience, you...you really don't have a leg to stand on here, man. Sorry. You don't. Ash and I were in a fucking Saw movie, okay? So, I-I-I'm sorry that like, you got to sit for most of the night, but - "

"I was a fucking werewolf, dude!" Nick fired back, actually getting to his feet. "A monster! You don't have the first idea what that's like! My body exploded, I almost killed Abi, I...things still feel wrong! I still feel wrong! It's like...sometimes I don't even think this is my real body anymore, like I'm here, but I'm also standing ten feet away from myself! You don't get to just act like you've been there, done that - fuck that!"

A clearing of a throat. An unnecessarily loud, pointed sniff.

And then Josh entered the fray.

"Yeah. Know what? True. True that. Not a one of us - and I mean this, Nicholas - not a single one of us has any idea what it's like to be possessed by something otherworldly, flung around according to its whims, changed beyond recognition, and then woken up to realize, aw shit, it's Monday isn't it? I need to get to work pronto, but I'm just covered in all this gross, sticky blood!" Slowly, moving with deliberation, he straightened in his seat, the reconstruction scars on his face almost gone but not quite, his left eye catching the light in that eerie way human eyes weren't supposed to. "Shit. Wait. Hang on. That's not what I meant to say. Sorry, haven't had any of that coffee burbling away on the counter yet, and you know I'm not myself until I've had my coffee, hee hee, ha ha, hoo hoo. What I meant to say was - eat my whole, entire ass. Get back to me when you can describe the taste of human flesh to me, how's about that?"

She'd been quiet until then, but Abi raised her hands in a silent plea for them to stop, scrambling to take hold of the back of Nick's shirt when he took a single step forward towards Josh. "Guys! Guys, hey, this...I...fighting isn't helping stuff, okay? We should just - "

"Okay. Honestly? Sorry, not sorry, I'm on their side with this one," Laura piped in, the Blackwood gang sneering as the Hacketteers whirled. "You guys have...no idea what a hard time is, okay? Yeah, wow, yikes, werewolves. Try being in a jail cell for two months, never knowing if the weirdo who kidnapped you was going to let you go, kill you, bring you something to eat, or just stand outside your cell breathing too hard. On top of the werewolf thing! On top of it!"

"Yeah, like, not for nothing, but we didn't even get to make friendship bracelets, you know?" agreed Max, still nodding right along with Laura.

"They didn't even get to make friendship bracelets," Emily repeated, sadly shaking her head.

"Big talk. Real big talk. I'm sorry, did any of you walk away from your weird little winter getaway missing a limb?" Dylan asked. "No. Didn't think s - "

"Chris messed up his knee!" Ashley snapped. "Mike's missing fingers! Sam's, like, almost totally deaf in her one ear now! You can't just - "

"Yeah, I'm sorry, you didn't get fucking mauled," Emily cut in, speaking over Ashley as she yanked her shirt to one side, revealing the massive scar on her shoulder. "Don't complain about - "

"Pretty sure I got mauled, actually! Pretty sure a few of us got mauled, in fact! You don't - "

"You guys weren't lost underground for hours, trying to find your way out." Matt, that time, his usual stoic silence thrown by the wayside. "Pitch black. In a maze. Hearing something hunt you - "

"Wow. All due respect, dude? You weren't listening to our story at all, were you?" Ryan accused. "We - "

And with that, the meeting devolved the way it always did, all of the younger survivors pointing fingers and shouting, comparing wounds and battle scars, stacking their traumas on top of one another's like Pokemon cards. It wasn't the most therapeutic of ways to go about things, of that there could be no doubt, but...it must've been doing something, because they kept showing up every week.

The world was a strange place, after all. It only made sense that they'd be strange now too.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 7 Minagoroshi pt. 31

My favorite arc/chapter/whatever term your prefer of Umineko is Chapter Seven. It featured a great amount of revelations in regards to the overall plot, and it featured some of the best, gut-wrenching writing I had seen in the Chapter 7 Tea Party. The main chapter itself ended on a wonderful note, a great blend of sadness, but optimism, only for the Tea Party to come along and just absolutely wreck the previously optimistic tone. It was, without exaggeration, so well written that I felt it absolutely made the entirety of that series worth reading just for that section alone. Which is remarkable to me, as with some of the earlier sections of Higurashi, I came perilously close to abandoning Umineko as well due to an intense dislike of portions of the narrative. I wish the tumblr search function was a more reliable device because there was a quote I saw regarding visual novels that summed up my experiences very well.

This will have to do. Basically the quote I’m thinking of describes VNs as a 40/60 mix of enjoyment to torture. Or something along those lines.

After the credits this comes up. Perhaps it says something about me, but I genuinely enjoy reading fictional documents like this in games and so on. Just little extra world-building minutiae of the day to day about people in the fictional universe. You won't see me passing up files in a survival horror on my first playthrough, oh no.

While this doesn’t outright confirm that Irie is dead, I feel it’s reasonable to assume that Irie “committed suicide” shortly before the gaming club got taken out by Takano and the Mountain Dogs. I feel it’s safe to assume Irie was the Institute Director, and Takano is the chief officer. And given what’s about to occur I really don’t think Irie would sign off on it. Also, everything from Emergency Manual 34 is in red text when it’s going line by line. As with Tsumihoroboshi the log just keeps it white on gray.

Could you imagine being part of this government kill squad, enacting your orders to kill the potential civilians in the telephone company building only to get killed by a different branch of the government kill squad? It’s like that scene at the beginning of the Dark Knight when the bank robbers are killing each other off as they do their job for the heist. Also, I could swear that they mention this quarry at some point earlier on in the series, but looking over my notes and screenshots I couldn’t actually find anything. So it may be I’m remembering something from a manga synopsis? Earlier than the post-game TIP at the end of Tsumihoroboshi I mean. Also, I might be jumping the gun here, but if your grand conspiracy is going to involve killing the entirety of Hinamizawa wouldn’t you burn the bodies afterward? They won’t find gunshot wounds in a pile of ash is all I’m saying.

I just love this little piece of the document. It seems to imply there actually is a giant Resident Evil laboratory filled with H173 and various other deadly diseases related to Hinamizawa Syndrome. So it seems that even though she was going insane with paranoia Rena was actually on to something when she said the secret research facility is located in the Irie Clinic. Someone should make a mod for Resident Evil 4 (original or remake) that replaces Leon with a Rena model. It would give me an excuse to play Resident Evil 4 for the thousandth time.

So, since Keiichi was taken in by the Secrecy Preservation Unit at the end of Tatarigoroshi why did they let him live for as long as he had? Was it because he was well and truly insane, thinking he had the powers of Oyashiro, so they let him live? Was it because this came out years after chapter three had been written, and therefore not really thought about back then? Or do you think he was found by the disaster recovery team instead?

Also this doesn’t have anything really to do with anything, but reading the emergency manual here reminded me of an old 1970s horror movie called The Crazies. It’s about an outbreak of a chemical that drives people insane and murderous in a small Pennsylvania town. And our protagonists have to escape from the military who was sent to contain the outbreak, and the titular crazies, who are sort of proto-zombies. There was a remake in 2010 or so, but I don’t remember that one being very good. Of course it’s been nearly twenty years since I saw the original, so maybe that doesn’t hold up either. It’s got a good poster if nothing else.

It’s interesting how this note portrays Hinamizawa Syndrome as a parasite infection disease as well as being a lifelong ailment that shows physical signs of the disease within ten minutes of infection. Maybe that’s to do with the version of the syndrome that was observed during the war? Which especially doesn’t add up because there was all that prior information of the disease more or less being eradicated at the time.

Now, when I read this last line something about this struck me as incorrect. The population of Hinamizawa had always been shown to be right around one thousand.

Here are screenshots from Himatsubushi and Tatarigoroshi where they talk about the death toll of the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. It’s not exactly the end of the world that this inconsistency exists, but it was just something that rubbed me wrongly when I read it. I don’t know when the population of Hinamizawa doubled, but there it is. I wonder if it’s a situation similar to the Ohagi translation issue in Onikakushi where they just said the wrong thing initially, and this version of the translation is the correct one. Like I said, it’s not the biggest issue in the world, just something that bugged me. Basically what I’m saying is we should string up MangaGamer by the short and curlies to make them pay penance for such a grievous oversight. Made the series completely unreadable it did.

You can tell this was translated within the last decade because of the use of “it’s current year!”

Without getting too far ahead of it, I don’t entirely understand how the Great Hinamizawa Disaster/Operation Doomsday will ascend Takano to godhood. Either of them really.

[yuurei20]

Rook Info Compilation part 3: Rook and Leona

Rook seems to have a fascinating relationship with Leona, which may exist entirely in his own head.

To quote,

“If those sharp fangs of his pierced my windpipe, why, I’d be done for in an instant. The very notion makes my heart quiver.”

“I could watch Leona all day and never tire of it.”

“You have ample athletic ability and your physique would add extra flair to your dancing. Not to mention your wonderful, resounding voice.”

“Is the Roi du Poison perhaps jealous? You’re the fairest in the school, of course. You don’t need to feel threatened.”

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t get my hunter’s blood boiling every time I look at him.”

“I so ache to corner that calm, collected quarry just enough to make him bare his fangs. Oh, to find myself in the position to make him squirm!”

In a vignette, Rook corners Ruggie and blackmails him into revealing one of Leona’s weaknesses.

Rook catches Ruggie physically by the tail and refuses to let him go “until you divulge that which I wish to know”. When Ruggie will not, Rook threatens to seek out Ruggie’s weaknesses instead on the basis that a hyaena’s weak points must not be so different from those of a lion.

Rook is satisfied with Leona's "weakness" of disliking vegetables, saying he is uninterested in more damaging information, as, “I prefer something more…exhilarating. Like when one slides a pawn across the entire chessboard. Or like when one leads a beauty in their first dance.”

Rook and Leona share a homeroom class (which may or may not have something to do with why Leona's attendance is so poor), and Rook describes him as “a classmate and a friend, as well as a rival who puts my skills to the test. At least, he is for now.”

For Leona’s birthday Rook gifts Leona with a portrait of Leona himself. Leona says the portrait is “pretty decent” but “the thought of him watching me all this time creeps me out”, insinuating that it was Rook who painted it.

He asks Ruggie if he thinks his own fur would be better suited to a scarf, carpet or coat.

Rook catches both in the cafeteria and reveals the information he forced from Ruggie. He invites Leona out to dinner, saying, “the stronger the prey, the more I am driven to ensnare it.” (also: "It's rather cute the way his tail thrashed about when he's irate.")

(On NA Rook once refers to Leona as an “idiote”, but this was added to the English translation to the game. Rook has never name-called anyone in any of his original dialogue. Also, it seems that is the feminine form of the word? But Rook's French is described as "native level" during Glorious Masquerade.)

Vil threatens to remove Rook from his vice-housewarden position to rein in his harassment of Leona. To quote,

Vil: “While Leona is little more than a good-looking layabout, he is quite troublesome when angered. Do not let your provocations get out of hand.”

Rook: “Is that an order?”

Vil: “You’re welcome to take it that way…My vice house warden deserves a front-row seat to bear witness to my life’s work. I urge you to exercise discretion and ensure that you do not lose that seat. Because I would replace you immediately if you got our dorm into trouble.”

[lemonthepotato]

I Understand Goodbye Volcano High Now: A Short, Positive Review (Rambling)

When I first learned about this game, it was while watching a Dumbsville video on Life Is Strange 3, another game I enjoy. I have a peculiar interest in watching critiques of things I like. After watching his review, I found the concept and ending of this game to be humorously flawed. Intrigued, I decided to experience it firsthand. However, after only ten minutes, I found myself losing interest. I shared my thoughts on Discord, stating, and I quote:

“So I heard about this game called Goodbye Volcano High, and I opened a playthrough on YouTube to watch, got 10 minutes in and got bored. Read a review of it, and apparently it’s a story about a group of friends, emotional drama, blah blah blah, high school shit. And the ending, no matter your choices? THEY GET WIPED OUT BY AN ASTEROID. DID I MENTION ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE DINOSAURS. Oh that’s hilarious. I could get some ironic enjoyment if the dialogue didn’t feel so… stiff to listen to. I love it. Edit: Ok basically I’m 50/50 on this being either the best game or worst game ever. Imagine sitting through hours of choices about relationships and dynamics and then they get hit by a fucking asteroid. Edit: never mind this game is peak.”

So how did I change my mind only 40 minutes in? Let’s go on the journey. Who knows? Maybe YOU will change your mind.

Please note: I haven't personally played the game yet. I typically prefer to watch a playthrough before diving in, particularly for narrative-driven games like Life Is Strange or The Quarry. While it may seem unconventional, this approach allows me to provide insights on the story rather than technical aspects.

In fact, I will share the notes I took while watching.

At the 40-minute mark, I found the game to be peak during the tarot reading. The presence of foreshadowing indicated that the game had a deeper message to convey. I will admit though, the designs took some getting used to, the forward-facing Fang was a bit overwhelming. Perhaps the art team could have toned down the dinosaur features while maintaining their overall essence. It felt somewhat uncanny, (although I must admit it grew on me by the end.)

I appreciate the little moments in this game, like how Fang's small mishap with the MIDI controller caused a strong reaction. Pal, there’s a thing called “handle the situation with a thorough and careful cleaning rather than a light rub.” I love them, my little over dramatic iconic blorbo.

Massive kudos and praise to the talented artist responsible for the captivating visuals in this game. You’re a champ. Now, for the animation itself. Personally, I believe that animation is an incredibly challenging field, so I refrain from criticizing animators. The exceptional artwork compensates for any perceived shortcomings in animation, in my opinion. While the dinosaur aesthetic may not be my personal preference, I admire the creativity behind it. And you know, a criticism…

I often come across, is the criticism that Naomi's crush on Fang wasn't evident. However, personally, I believe there are several instances of foreshadowing that hint at their connection. Even if I were unaware of the plot twist, I might have still guessed it. It is amusing, though, that Fang is comfortable conversing with an unknown number.

Anyway, why do I cough and get wheezy when I eat?

Why are all the songs in this game so goood? They cut off suddenly sometimes, but still. Are they on Spotify? I’d love to listen to these. Honestly, I feel this games predictions isn’t too far off. If a meteor were to attack us, we would act non-chalant. Make memes. Older people wouldn’t care or comfort their younger kids. Everyone would pretend it’s okay.

While it may be, and probably just is coincidental, the presence of an intersex flag pattern on Trish's shirt in the F&F game has led me to a new headcanon about Trish. <3 Look, I just think it’s worth noting that intersex individuals often lack representation beyond being included as an "I" in acronyms. So even if it’s probably coincidence, I like it.

So it looks like this is the big reveal, with Naomi making the same dress the mysterious number showed Fang. And it seems like Reed is really down about the comet situation, and now it's all coming to a head. But the thing is, what can they even do? It's like no one wants to take action or even acknowledge it. I'm not an optimist, but there has to be something we as a species could do if an asteroid was heading towards Earth.

The tarot earlier was forgotten about, which is a shame, because I thought it was going to be explained. I forgot what it was so I can’t even google it. But yeah “death” isn’t good.

Perhaps I'm biased towards Fang, but saying "fuck off" doesn’t really sound that severe when Naomi was kinda being a bit of a dick. While Naomi had a valid point, she also seemed dismissive of others' aspirations. Personally, I might have responded more harshly in that situation, which is why I struggle with friendships haha… Additionally, I didn't fully agree with Trisha placing all the blame on Fang for not understanding her feelings. Fang can't read minds, but it's a complicated situation given their denial. But still- unlike Trisha, Naomi’s outburst seems… sudden? Less justifiable? Maybe I wasn’t reading in between the lines enough. At least everyone made up in the end. Coolio.

Wow, that ending. My interpretation is as follows. It’s better to be together than alone in times of hardship. Life is fleeting, and we could lose it any-day. We need to live for the moment, not for the future. We need to live our dreams, not just wait for them to happen. When destiny fucks you, you fuck it harder, essential.

Overall, a sincere 5/5 game. The problems are so little for me, and I say that as someone who criticises EVERYTHING. My only complaints is that MY ship wasn’t validated /j. Nah, I have very few.

Pry my ship from my cold dead hands, essentially.

Ranking:

Story: 4/5

Art: 5/5

Game Mechanics: Again, I only watched a walkthrough, so I can’t comment on that.

Pacing: 3/5.

Overall: 5/5.

I don’t normally do reviews. But well, this was an exception. I did use an AI to make my points more professional sounding, but most of what I wrote was from the heart, raw.

Why do people hate this game? It’s what I call the High Guardian Spice Effect. People get a bad first impression, so judge the final product too harshly. Granted, I think HGS isn’t as good as GVH, tbh. I thought HGS was okay. Good, even. Not great, flawed in many ways. But it was pretty average. But GVH? I think it’s a worse case. While HGS had a questionable trailer, GVH didn’t really have many red flags. People just didn’t like that it had anthropomorphic gay people in it, so judged it because of that.

I went in thinking I would hate this, but I loved it. I can’t wait to see what KO-OP has in store for the future.

Because I only watched a playthrough and haven’t played it for myself, I don’t know how much different dialogue options affect the story. I guess I’ll have to see for myself, one day. For now? I’m going to give my recommend/don’t recommend status. If you like story driven games, small interactions, slow-pacing (too slow for some, which I understand) and want a surprisingly wholesome apocalypse story? Check it out. If not? Understandable. Not every game is for everyone, and no game is without flaw. Even though I enjoyed GVH, I don’t regret watching that review I did. Didn’t I tell you? I love watching media I like getting criticised. It gives me a lot to think about. But I just think the story works for me. And while the story may have a “sad ending,” it’s the journey that matters. Can’t that be said for life itself? The meteor may have hit, but it’s everything in between that matters.

Although, yes, portraying it like your choices impact the ending may have not been the best decision. Then again, “nothing you do matters” is probably a bit hard to sell. Anyway, that’s all I have to say. I’m gonna go do my Duolingo lesson (2099 streak baby) Feel free to tell me I’m wrong though. Or right. I guess.

[cellard0ors]

Fic: The Hand That I Hold (9/?)

Fandom: The Quarry

Series: A Full Deck

Pairing: Travis Hackett/Laura Kearney

Rating: EXPLICIT

Warnings: Age difference, time travel, mention of drugs and alcohol abuse, angst, horror, magic, mentions of child abuse, the 80s (a warning into itself 🤣), trauma, mentions of suicide attempt, sexual content

Summary: A retelling of ‘The Cards We Are Dealt’, but exclusively from Travis POV. While some of this story will reuse dialogue and scenes from ‘The Cards We Are Dealt’, there will also be some new content focused solely on Travis’s youth as well as unwritten moments he shared with Laura in the 80s.

Notes: Image by @spookyscaryscully. Now we get into the meat of the actual game! So, lots of quotes from the prologue worked into this chapter as well as my own theories behind Travis's thinking during it.

ALSO - there is a very clear mention of attempted suicide in this chapter! It's not super explicit, but it's clear what was attempted and I mention it as a warning so you can keep yourself safe!

Preview:

In the late eighties and all throughout the nineties, it's easy to hold out hope.

Travis has a lot of training to do in the police academy, but it's easy to keep his eyes on the prize. Whenever he isn't involved in his studies about the law and how to best enforce it, he's doing research into her. Or rather, research into missing girls, runaways, human trafficking and the like.

However, each time he thinks he has a break, it doesn’t pan out. Yes, he helps others with their cases, he even saves some lives and – while it’s all gratifying – it’s not what he’s looking for. Or who he’s looking for. It doesn’t help that everyone around him seems to move on so easily – to grow and change, to get older...

AO3 Link

[morganmerylhodgepodge]

To quote or not to quote?

Theres this biblical quote that opens up the original Mafia from 2002. While I dont really like it, specifically - I'd much rather it be something more relevant to the story of the game - I thought it might be fun to put some sort of quote that IS fitting at the beginning of my comic, as a reference/tribute to this.

Thing is, without spoiling either story, my favourite perfect quote for this game has also been referenced in another game I will be adapting for this project.

" The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future." 

Oscar Wilde.

It is referenced in the Curator's segments in Little Hope.

While for obvious reasons I wont be including the Curator bits in my Little Hope comic, I was wondering -- Is it weird to use a quote thats used in ONE game, in the adaptation of another? Its not like its FROM Little Hope. And both Detroit Become Human and The Quarry reference "An Eye for an Eye makes the whole world Blind" so -- Maybe its okay? What do you guys think?

[loracarol]

SO uh IDK if you were actually serious about this or not but?? I would cast a Greek Harehound/Hellenic Hound, and here's why:

According to this link (and yes that link starts with "penelope.uchicago.edu" so that's fun) it's thought that Odysseus's dog was probably a laconian:

Speed was an essential quality of a hunting dog, for which the most common epithet in Homer is Argos ("swift-footed"), the name of Odysseus' own hound. Indeed, Argos is the only dog in Homer to have a name (XVII.319ff). Trained as a puppy to chase after wild goats, deer, and hares, no quarry ever escaped him. This faithful dog, unable to move and thumping only his tail, dies at the shock of recognizing his master, returning home after twenty years. [...] Odysseus praises Argos for his speed and strength and beautiful appearance, but the breed is not mentioned. Given that Argos chased after less ferocious game, such as deer and hare, and emphasis is made of his swiftness, he very well may have been a Laconian.

Now that species of dog is extinct, but we know that they were:

[...] large, with a small head, straight nose, upright ears, a long and supple neck, and eyes that are black and sparkling. It should either be tan with white markings on the face, chest, legs, and rear; or black with tan markings

There is some speculation that the Greek Harehound may be a descendant of the laconian, and they look like this:

(image source)

They're also described as "originally bred as a scenthound for tracking and chasing hare in Southern Greece." (From the wiki page), which implies to me, at least, that they need to be at least someone "swift-footed."

And honestly, even if they're not, I feel like that description kind of matches? The only thing that doesn't is the ears being "upright", and in the picture I see on wiki of the laconian, the ears are broken off:

(source)

All of this is to say, given that the laconian dog doesn't exist anymore, if I had to cast Argos, I would cast a Greek Harehound. IMO the only real difference is the ears. Otherwise I feel like they work? It's a rare breed, admittedly, but if this is in animation, for example, I think it could work?

(source)

More random stuff under the cut:

Another source claims that the laconian may have resembled the greyhound (sort of? It quotes one source that says yes, and another that says no, they were "slow", and this source claims them as two different breeds.)

(Then this website claims that Argos was a "Greek Shepard" dog, though I disagree given that Argos was supposed to be a hunting dog & they don't actually provide proof of why that is + they're a "very hardy and strong breed and do not hesitate to defend themselves against larger and stronger animals such as wolves or bears" while Argos was a swift attacker of deer and hares.)

once again i am kindly asking to see a casting of argos in epic the musical. pretty please.

[firelxdykatara]

Just wanted to say that I've played through the quarry twice and *possible spoilers* it seems like you HAVE to have Laura and Travis work together to get the good ending. I don't ship it and on my first playthrough I made Laura as hostile as possible to him but I just want to say I can definitely see why people would. Their scenes are easily one of the best parts of the game. Just another badass female character who outshines most of the main cast and whose canon boyfriend is a wet noodle.

OH YEP EXACTLY, I finally broke down and got the game myself (it was on sale in the xbox store so i justified it that way lol) and I've played through once so far but from what I've seen poking around the fandom, the only way to get a relatively good ending/break the curse for good is to have laura and travis work together (and also you can have laura be as hostile and bratty as you want and as long as she doesn't actually shoot him at any point, you can still wind up with them working together, even if she kills some or all of his family, which is both sad and hilarious when you think about it).

And like you said, I can completely understand not shipping it--it's a dynamic that won't work for everyone, and that's understandable--but I do not understand how anyone with a working knowledge of fandom could possibly be surprised by the fact that the ship exists. Her canon boyfriend is a wet noodle (who i... sent for a swim having no idea what would happen haha oops) with whom she clearly has a strained relationship (their fight over the grad school rejection letter, if you find it and confront him about it, says to me that it's highly likely they would not have survived much longer as a couple even without the werewolf catastrophe, and I just would never be able to bring myself to keep Final Girl Badass Laura Kearney chained to him after everything, even if Travis weren't a factor for me), and the relationship dynamic with the most tension and the most development/potential in the game is between Travis and Laura.

(I don't dislike the other counselors, and some of the dynamics had potential, but I did spend most of the intervening time wondering when I could get back to Laura and Travis. I wonder what it says about me that some of my greatest interest in the other Hacketteers came when Nick was in the process of wolfing out on Abi and I was like oh... oh I can work with this lmfao)

To quote that one essay about why certain noncanon ships become popular, the bulk of the emotional energy in the game is between Travis and Laura, so it's no wonder that the ship has a decent amount of popularity even before you account for the fact that some of us just like DILFs and age gaps and attempted murder in fictional relationships.

[wibble-wobbegong]

@dungeonsdragonstdelinquents

I flipped through my book and found the scene where Eddie’s arm gets broken and it’s full of some pretty cool stuff

Unlike in the movie, where Eddie’s arm is broken due to a fall at the Neibolt house, Eddie’s arm gets broken by Henry Bowers in the book.

In the scene, there are four people attacking Eddie; Henry Bowers, Victor Criss, Moose Sadler, and Patrick Hockstetter.

Victor Criss and Patrick Hockstetter. Victor Creel and Patrick McKinney. Both of those people were victims of Henry Creel.

Another thing is that Victor Criss is Henry Bowers’ cousin, which makes them family just like how Victor Creel and Henry Creel are family.

There’s also Moose Sadler, which combined with the fact that the bullies are calling Eddie ‘Rock Man’ because of the rock fight that occurred earlier, really makes me think that Mike choosing to throw a rock while Dustin chose a stick at Sattler quarry was intentional. The spelling of those words is different, but the pronunciation is the same (Sadler = Sattler).

During the actual attack, Eddie’s, “Tears began to pour from his left eye.” He also gets a bloody nose right before he has his arm broken. It doesn’t get specified in the book, but his right arm is the one that’s broken in the movie. His left eye and his right arm are focused on. The bloody nose is interesting, because that’s also an indication of a curse from Henry.

If we follow the book, it seems like something is gonna happen with Mike’s left eye, then he’ll be cursed, and then something happens to his arm.

There’s also a quote at the end of the scene, from a future Eddie, which I find interesting as well.

“I think it was the first real pain I ever felt in my life. It wasn’t what I thought it would be at all. It didn’t put an end to me as a person. I think… it gave me a basis for comparison, finding out you could still exist inside the pain, in spite of the pain.”

What’s interesting about this is that unlike the other party members Mike doesn’t go through a serious, injury causing event. The only time he really experiences physical pain would be when Billy slams him into that wall, but that never really gets focused on?? He doesn’t seem to even react to any pain he might’ve been experiencing.

Mike has spurred on through a lot of emotional pain, similar to Eddie, but Mike has yet to go through something physically damaging. A lot of this stuff suggests his right arm being the victim of that damage that seems like it’ll be coming, if this is what the Duffers we’re thinking of while writing.

The fact that it happened in a DND game had me convinced because DND predicts future plot points, but this is some interesting stuff as well!! Thanks for pointing out the IT stuff to me :)

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (May 7/2021) - Corner Women and Roman Archives

Tommy and Ranboo do some “hotboxing” and railway-building, then Tommy hires Tubbo to help mine stone for them in the quarry.

It goes about as well as last time.

---

VOD LINKS:

Foolish

Tommyinnit

Captain Puffy

---

- Tommy is under the impression that a “hotbox” is where a family gathers in a room and lights a fire to burn things and intends to create one so that people continue thinking that he’s poor so that they help him more

- He asks Ranboo if he would like to hotbox together. Ranboo comes over

- Tommy makes a new room in his house and lights it. As it is made out of very flammable material, Tommy and Ranboo hotbox as quickly as possible as part of the house starts burning down

- Wilbur joins the call and asks how the stone-mining is coming along. He heard what happens when Tommy and Ranboo start fires and points out that it doesn’t seem like Tommy’s mining much stone.

- He says he’s disappointed and leaves before Tommy can show him the quarry

- Ranboo finds the drug room as Tommy continues to burn unnecessary items

- Tommy finds a book and quill and starts writing How to Sex 3:

Chapter 1:

Understanding Men.

Why are they?

- Tommy reads out an Instagram motivational quote to Ranboo:

“Having a loyal woman in your corner is a bigger flex than a bad bitch in your bed.”

- Tommy inspects the corners of his home but finds no loyal women there. He asks in game chat if there are any Loyal Corner Women on the server. Foolish says that there are five

Tommy: “There are Loyal Women in the Pentagon? Why are there Loyal Women in the Pentagon?!”

- Next, Tommy wants to make a railway down to the quarry for quick transit. He looks for his working clothes but can’t find them, so he grabs the creeper head and calls for Sam Nook, who does not appear

- Tommy starts building and they encounter a chicken in the house. Ranboo wonders if the chicken is what the quote was speaking of

- He finishes the railway and then seeks to hire some miners for the quarry and the mining industry

- They find a tunnel in the side of the quarry. Tommy goes inside but quickly realizes it’s the Dream-Team-side pathway to the Final Control Room and panics, running back out. The stream immediately dies 

- When Tommy comes back, Tubbo arrives to help them mine. They soon hit the sewers

- Tommy and Ranboo speak one on one to discuss plans away from Tubbo. He needs funds, and people on the server don’t work for cheap. Tommy then asks Tubbo what the price would be for five hours of labor at the mines. Tubbo replies, simply an apple.

Simply...an apple.

Tommy wonders if the dust from the mines is getting to him...

- Tommy and Ranboo leave Tubbo to the mines to go to the spider spawner, enchant a shovel, name it “Linda” and shave some trees

- They return with an apple to find that Tubbo has mined all the way down past the level of the pickle pit

- Tommy creates a more professional-looking area for the mine workers

- They go down to Tubbo and Tommy shows him the apple.

Tubbo: “The righteous fruit...”

Tubbo drinks the apple.

Tubbo: “So, you got any ancient scriptures on you?”

- Tommy shows Tubbo the area that he’s prepared. When Tommy tries to tell him not to put andesite in the box, Tubbo places down TNT and he quickly retracts that statement

- Tommy wonders if the TNT could be used to mine faster and asks Tubbo for it

Tubbo: “In exchange for...ancient scriptures that may need filing...in a kind of archive.”

- Tubbo hands him a little bit and asks for scriptures. Tommy briefly walks away and returns to find Tubbo has placed lines upon lines of TNT at the floor of the quarry. They ask him how he has so much

Tubbo: “I...work...for the Archive!

- Ranboo runs over and hands Tommy the scripture -- a single log inscribed with the following:

Marcus 4:20 

thou shalt not thy

- Tommy hands it to Tubbo and ignites the TNT. He realizes afterwards that he sadly blew up the pickle. 

- Tubbo requests another scripture and they all keep on mining

- Later, Tubbo falls into the quarry and Tommy drops some TNT on him, killing him and blowing up his stuff as “Take Me Home, Country Roads” plays in the background.

- Tubbo lost the original Pickboo, Hoeboo, the Manifork and potentially Checkmate and the Bane o’ Bees as well. He leaves.

- Next time, Tommy plans to hire more people to mine more stone

---

Upcoming events remain the same.

[goodqueenaly]

Hey it’s me the person who thinks everything in ASOIAF is connected to The Accursed Kings and I’m here to tell you that I think GRRM created the Herons (the Yunkish slave army bred and commanded by the so-called Little Pigeon) inspired by a certain part of the sixth novel in The Accursed Kings, Le lis et le Lion (The Lily and the Lion).

In The Lily and the Lion, Robert of Artois, exiled from the court of France, flees to England and the court of King Edward III. There, Robert suggests, to great enthusiasm, that Edward has a better right to the French throne than the current king, Philip VI, since “at the death of King Charles IV, Philip the Fair’s last son, the crown of France, even if one bowed to the French barons’ dislike of being ruled by a woman, should in all justice have gone through Queen Isabella [i.e. Edward III’s mother] to the only male in the direct line”. However, Edward fails to follow up this acclamation with a formal war against Philip VI, leaving Robert frustrated. Going hawking in the English countryside, Robert then makes these observations on seeing his quarry, a heron:

Robert and his equerry stared up at the battle in which speed of manoeuvre and sheer lust to kill counted for more than size and pacific strength.

‘‘Look at that heron,” cried Robert angrily; “It’s really the cowardliest of birds! It’s four times the size of my little falcon; it could kill it with a single thrust of its great beak; but the damned coward runs away![”]

...

“What a damned coward of a bird!” Robert repeated. “There’s almost no sport in taking it. These herons are noisy birds, but afraid of their own shadows, and start bawling when they see them. They’re really fit game only for villeins.”

But the heron then gives Robert an idea, and he presents the roasted bird to King Edward that evening with these words:

“Sire,” he cried, “I have here a heron taken by my falcon. The heron is the most cowardly bird in the world, for it flees before all others. I think the people of England should adopt it, and I should like to see it in the arms of England instead of the leopards. And it is to you, King Edward, that I offer it, for it belongs of right to the most cowardly and craven prince in the world who, disinherited of his Kingdom of France, lacks the courage to conquer that which is his.”

Edward then swears that he will launch his war against the King of France, and his courtiers follow suit, swearing oaths before the heron. (This is where the oath of Gautier de Mauny comes in.)

The book’s conclusion on herons being cowardly birds I think directly influenced GRRM in creating the Herons. Indeed, when he first introduces the concept of the Herons, as the free company’s recruits discuss the foolish Yunkish commanders in “The Windblown”, Archibald Yronwood practically quotes Robert of Artois and his experience:

“Herons are craven,” the big man put in. “One time me and Drink and Cletus were hunting, and we came on these herons wading in the shallows, feasting on tadpoles and small fish. They made a pretty sight, aye, but then a hawk passed overhead, and they all took to the wing like they’d seen a dragon. Kicked up so much wind it blew me off my horse, but Cletus nocked an arrow to his string and brought one down. Tasted like duck, but not so greasy.”

Just as the heron Robert of Artois caught was physically impressive - “a splendid bird ... from beak to feet almost as tall as a man” - so the Little Pigeon’s Herons are physically far more imposing than any other solider: “the tallest that any of the Windblown had ever seen; the shortest stood seven feet tall, the tallest close to eight”. Yet as Arch alludes to, herons are by nature (at least in this universe and that of The Accursed Kings) cowardly birds, more apt to take flight at the arrival of a predator than to use that advantage of their great size against an enemy. The Little Pigeon might pride himself on the astonishing height of his enslaved soldiers, but he has prioritized mere size over actual martial dominance: clumsy on stilts, their armor more fanciful and decorative than practical, the Herons are an object of derision rather than a terrifying fighting force (with Gerris Drinkwater laughing that “[n]othing scares me worse than stilt-walkers in pink scales and feathers. If one was after me, I’d laugh so hard my bladder might let go”).

Fittingly, then, when we actually see the Herons in battle (albeit for now only secondhand, in a reading of “Barristan II” TWOW), that inclination to flight over fight cited by both Robert of Artois and Arch becomes apparent. While Barristan initially targets the so-called “Harridan” trebuchet, he realizes that  “a maester’s chain is only as strong as his weakest link, and identifies the companies of the Yunkish lords as the weakest of his immediate foes, certainly weaker than the slave legions”. Barristan then “targets the Little Pigeon and his herons”, as “Barristan sees that they will be blind because of the dawn rising over the city, and like to break ranks easily”. Barristan’s unit charges into them, and “[i]n a moment, the herons are scattering and running away, led by the Little Pigeon himself”. Against the physically smaller force of Barristan, which nevertheless has something of the “speed of manoeuvre and sheer lust to kill” praised by Druon in Robert’s falcon, the Herons appear to flee almost immediately; their size and weapons - including “a spear as tall as [each Heron], with a leaf-shaped blade at either end” - count for no more than the “great beak” which Robert critically notes the heron refused to use against his falcon.

(It’s of course also worth pointing out that as people enslaved by the Little Pigeon, forced to have sex with partners he chooses for breeding purposes, the Herons have no incentive to serve as particularly stalwart defenders of him. Their flight is not cowardice in a personal, derogatory sense but the reaction of enslaved people, soldiers in name only, being put up against actual warriors led by one of the most talented and legendary knights ever to serve.)