#so making a compilation was a nice change of pace

[ghostlyheart]

CBS Ghosts Positivity Event

Day 3: Favorite Recurring Bit- Sam's eternal struggle not to freak out everyone around her will never fail to make me laugh. Featuring Jay suffering

Captioned under the cut!

[wheneverfeasible]

Based off this post because I’ve lost all control of my life.

cw: sex trafficking, reference to non-con

Modern au. FBI au. Stobin became inseparable when they both started training in the FBI around the same time, though it started as a bit of not-so-friendly rivalry at first. Robin felt like she had to prove herself as a woman in the FBI, while Steve felt like he had to prove himself as a legacy who has always been a disappointment to his father. A fateful rookie hazing that went a little too far bonded them inseparably, however, and now years later they are the go-to team amongst the younger agents.

Also if you try to separate them then all hell will break loose.

Anyways, so one day there’s need for undercover work. They’ve been tracking this sex trafficking ring for a while and they finally believe they’ve discovered the mastermind behind it all, some newly famous rockstar called Eddie “The Freak” Munson.

So someone needs to dress up like a prostitute and infiltrate their ranks to get hard evidence to put this lowlife away once and for all. As she’s really the only girl on the team that fits the age demographic, Robin is picked as the fake prostitute. Except…well, let’s face it, she’s never been the most feminine of girls. Not a true butch or anything, more a soft futch than anything, but dresses and high heels and makeup? Yeah no.

As soon as Robin wobbles herself out (falling face first in the process) it’s not just Steve immediately telling her no and to go change back into her FBI kit because she looks super uncomfortable and there’s no way they can make her do this, whether or not she could even convincingly play the role to begin with.

And so comes in Steve.

Now, Steve isn’t exactly femme either. While he’s certainly not the butchest agent on their team, he was a jock in high school and even now still picks up the occasional game with civilians or other agents when free time allows. What had once been a respectful firmness to his stomach was now a verifiable six pack, his biceps and thighs filling his clothes out nicely as his FBI workout regimen added some muscle mass.

But there was more to Steve than just the stereotypical musclehead jock. Steve had also been a bit of a prep in high school, and even now still brought some of that with him in his civvies and beauty regimens, especially with his hair. He also opposed to a bit of a shiny lipgloss when the mood hit. And secretly? He’s always wanted do undercover work like this. And it’s not like the victims were only girls.

Plus, though Robin would call him sexist for it, he didn’t like the idea of sending Robin or any other woman into the pits of hell alone like that.

Steve struts out of the changing room wearing the skimpiest outfit he’s ever seen in his life (think like, Julia Roberts’s first outfit in Pretty Woman), except he didn’t shave at all so his hair thighs and chest hair still poke out. There’s no hiding his physique, so he’s going for the whole hairy thing, and he knows it works for him. For any gender.

With a grace that might belie that this isn’t his first time in heels, Steve is on his way to the hotel where all this is going down, slipping in easily, Steve starts casing the place and compiling evidence before the big event that night where hopefully they catch Munson in the act of selling victims to the highest bidder.

Except, while sneaking around trying to gather as much evidence as possible, he runs into Munson himself. Not in some big penthouse full of drugs and weapons and whatever else used to keep the product in line, but in a small little unused room Steve had slipped into to avoid one of the muscled “bodyguards” Munson kept on hand.

No, Steve slipped in and found an anxiously pacing dweeb of man in Garfield sleep trousers and what looked like a homemade shirt with the graphic of a devil face on it, black polished nails being gnawed at by the hunched over form. The figure with frazzled hair matched the images of the mastermind he had seen, though he looked startling different from the persona he put on in public.

Munson’s eyes bugged out a little when he walked in, his eyes taking in Steve’s form with an appreciation that made Steve smug at being the correct choice for this sting after all, but then Munson was groaning in a less appreciative way and slapping his hands to his face.

“I told Dad I didn’t want a fucking hooker,” he mumbled to himself, before dropping his hands with a wince as he held up his hands beseechingly. “Sorry, nothing wrong with prostitutes, darling, I just…now is really not a good time.”

And…huh. Okay. This was the Big Bad Boogeyman who had been giving them the slip for almost a year now? He looked like a wet rat despite being completely dry.

So Steve struts some more, plays his part, simpers and encourages Munson’s eyes to focus on his bare skin and not the slight bulge to his thigh high heeled boots where his gun and handcuffs were hidden. And Munson looks, because Steve is hot and he’s only human, but he also looks really really nervous and lets out a choked giggle when Steve pulls out his charm.

And then Munson again apologizes, says he never met a prostitute before he and he seems like a really nice boy but that he wasn’t the one who hired him and he’s not looking for sex right now, just wanting to get through tonight and go home to his cats, Smaug and Shelob.

Which is unexpected. Even more so when Munson claims he didn’t even want to be there in the first place, that his dad was in charge of setting up the event, though he did so in Munson’s—Eddie’s—name, just as he had been doing ever since Eddie first caught a break for his music in high school. Had dragged Eddie away from his garage band and friends and instead threw Eddie headlong into being a solo artist and creating the persona of The Freak, acting as a kind of shadow manager. Working behind the curtains so that barely anyone even knew he existed.

And…oh. Ohhhhh. Suddenly, Steve didn’t think Eddie was the mastermind they were after. He just looked like nervous kid (who was technically older than Steve but whatever) thrown into the a spotlight not of his own making and made the scapegoat for all of his father’s illegal activities.

Not that Eddie knew anything about the current operation, that was more than evident. He thought it was an actual auction for like antiques and shit. Thought the only person being sold that night was a date with him, his father’s idea. It was why he was hiding out in an unused room to have a little freak out away from everyone treating him like a doll to do whatever they wanted.

But his father had suggested bringing in some hookers to help him calm down, which Eddie had rejected, but which he now thought was what Steve was. Just a hooker his father had bought for the night to help his son relax.

And Steve thought his father was a piece of work.

They talk, Eddie’s nervousness and discomfort in his life causing him to spill secrets he otherwise never would have, not just about his father’s past but also his own, talking about how much he missed his high school band, the Dungeons & Club he used to run, his uncle he hasn’t seen in years, and just a life where he could live it how he wanted.

Much to his surprise, Steve also revealed some truths about himself. Not about his real job, of course, but about his own father, about not ever being good enough for him or his mother, about how they had always held his inheritance over his head until he’d told them to stuff it and that he wasn’t going to marry some socialite of their choosing. He smudged some details about his work, which he felt weirdly guilty for, but needs must.

And well, Eddie’s babble reveals that they really have to change the focus of the sting, which means Steve needs to get a message to Robin pronto. Luckily, she should be nearby undercover as one of the hotel staff with a couple other agents.

Steve does get the message out, but in the process the truth is accidentally revealed to Eddie and he is devastated. He had known his father wasn’t a good man, but he hadn’t realized just how evil he was. He was also, surprisingly, hurt by the knowledge that Steve was just doing his job and the connection he had thought they’d formed wasn’t real.

Except, as Eddie worked with the FBI to take down the operation, getting shot by his own father in the process in a misguided attempt to protect Steve, Steve can’t help but wonder if maybe there was a genuine connection after all.

Later, Steve visits Eddie in the hospital, bypassing the armed guards outside because, while they have proof it was Al Munson behind the sex trafficking and forcing the victims into prostitution, Eddie is still a person of interest as a witness and they still need to fully clear his name regarding any knowing involvement.

Robin, of course, was sick of hearing Steve mooning about Eddie and encouraged the meeting, though she later regretted it when it just caused Steve to talk more about the former rockstar—Eddie was quitting, hating the lonely fame, and wanting to reach out to his old friends and apologize for abandoning them. She was fond of the man’s cats, however, going with Steve to make certain they were taken care of while Eddie was convalescing in the hospital.

Later again, once Eddie is cleared and the trial is over and Al is rotting behind bars, Steve meets up with Eddie when it’s no longer a conflict of interest. He also reveals that he kept his undercover outfit and the two of them put it to good use.

Robin, meanwhile, has likewise grown closer to one of the former victims, a young woman by the name of Chrissy. She had helped her and the others deal with everything, especially those who felt uncomfortable around the male agents. Eddie of course apologizes profusely to her when they meet, but Chrissy knows he wasn’t a part of it and actually helped save her and the others in the end, bringing him into a hug that helps heal the both of them a little bit more.

Steve and Robin and the rest of the team are honored for their work, but to them the real honor is in the loving embrace of those they saved, and who in their own way saved Steve and Robin too.

-

Hostage tags: @derythcorvinus @katyawriteswhump

[thesamoanqueen]

Nothing left

Raiting: 18+

Warnings: smut, jealousy, errors.

A/N: As we said here, leave your hands at home.

She loved their room. Maybe she would take a picture to put on her phone, frame and look at in moments of despair, because she didn't want to get out of there.

With a deep breath, she took off her heels abandoning them under a chair, while already she slipped off her earrings and the whole package. Behind her, it took Roman longer just to close the door, but Y/N had already taken over the bathroom to fix her hair and change. It had been one of the busiest mornings of her life and it was absurd considering that for years she had followed the pace of two rosters during the PLEs and the weekly routine. She hadn't had to run around endless hallways that day, the headphones hadn't stuck to her ears, there hadn't been any change of plans, no one to call in hurry, staff and technicians had been helpful, even offering Y/N her favorite frozen mango lemonade smoothie. They were so nice, but she liked the hotel room better. She needed a break.

- Have you changed your mind? Is it not a good opportunity? - she heard Roman ask from the room, finishing unbuttoning her dress to replace it with something more cozy.

They were not talking about a four am program, he watched it too when at home.

- It's a great opportunity Ro, for the company and above all for you - she obviously noticed, receiving a strange look, when she came out of the bathroom - it will give you visibility, it will increase your stats, it will help establish you on a wider audience and that’s the long-term goal for the future, even if you will boycott it with your list.

Standing next to the table, Roman cracked a smile taking the blow as she lay back on the bed, laptop already open on her legs, in what in a few minutes had become her personal sprint to shut the rest of the world out for at least a couple of hours.

- Is that why you are not happy to go to the studio? For my list?

Oh no, she was happy about that. Everyone out there seemed unable to get him to talk about anything other than his titles. At least they had found a compromise to please the company while still supporting him as more than the face of WWE.

- You can make all the lists and smiles you want, to whoever you want, don't worry. Do your things - she reassured him, opening the report to be sent to the executives for the following day's appointment.

Biting the corner of her lip, fingers racing across the keyboard, she finished in record time with a couple of randomly thrown standard phrases too, but she couldn't concentrate quite as well on emails, Roman staring thoughtfully at her without moving from one inch.

- What's up? - she asked, however, avoiding taking her eyes off the screen.

- You're not jealous – he threw out of blue and Y/N took a break to look at him this time.

Of course she wasn't. She wasn't that kind of woman. She didn't make a scene, she didn't get angry, she had learned to distinguish who deserved her attention and her precious time, she had survived a year of nothing with her head high and had been repaid with a perfect relationship, she knew what value she had for him and what value she had herself. She didn't low down to those levels, they even joked, she had compiled a list of the most obscene and hilarious comments about him found on the web.

- What should I be jealous of? - she asked.

Because she was really curious to know what made him suspect that her desire to go back to the hotel, get the boring work done quickly to have some time to relax and maybe be ready for a night out in a city that offered a million opportunities to celebrate those small successes, without having to worry about shots, uncomfortable or trivial questions, suits and skintight dresses, people who treated her as if they had been homies and greeted him with hugs that not even their coworkers dared, was for jealousy.

His phone, lying on the table next to the welcome note, rang when Roman had just shook his head and Y/N knew that it would be the end if her eyes hadn't locked there for a second too long. And she also knew that he had noticed it, but they would have not talk about that nonsense. Because it was stupid, meaningless and she wasn't jealous.

She went back to work on her laptop, ignoring him as he reached out to pick it up and Y/N opened the email, ending up ignoring even the latest updated communications from the program for the following day and scrolling through it. Roman glanced at her again, quickly, but Y/N forced herself to stay focused until he left the phone to go to the bathroom too. She took a deep breath as soon as she was sure he was out of range and she mentally forced herself to regain control.

It had only been a moment, perhaps because of this new set-up, all those changes, she really had nothing to stop and think about. Even if that hug had been a bit too much and… no, she had to stop thinking about it!

When Roman came out with his inseparable tracksuit to lie down next to her, Y/N was still with her laptop, gaze focused on some shots sent as pre-show tests.

- I would never do it, you know – he reminded her after a few seconds of silence, making her stomach do a flip.

Yes, she knew it… she trusted Roman more than anyone and she never doubted him for a second. She hadn't even doubted that morning actually, she was just… annoyed, but not for him. The truth was that Y/N had only wanted to go back to the hotel because it was simpler and because she didn't feel right fighting with a woman like her, although perhaps she could have since it were her hands that had been on him longer than necessary. But practically nothing had happened and Roman had went back to Paul's side as soon as possible.

- I know, I'm not the jealous one here – she reminded to both him and herself, while he was playing with his watch.

She had also had a moment, yes, but him… oh, he was a league on his own! Y/N had stopped counting before they even decided to put a name to their relationship, the times it happened. It was pathological.

- I value what belongs to me. I don't take you for granted - he returted seriously, no doubt in his voice and Y/N found herself staring at the screen, her stomach freezing this time.

Roman was a man, not a boy. He knew how to take care, respect and support her, he treated her as the only thing that really mattered and what would have been a flaw on anyone else, on him looked terribly sexy. And she always fell for it, without exception. Especially after spending the morning, trying to fight off the mood at having seen too many hands on her man.

- You're unbearable when you do that – she snorted, closing the laptop to leave it on the bedside table and climb on Roman without hesitation.

With a smug grin, Roman helped her into position, eyes searching for her, as she reserved the same fate as her laptop for his watch, fighting then with the zipper of his hoodie.

- Don't you want to know what time is our reservation? – he chuckled hoarsely, hinting at the message received minutes before and helping her anyway when she quickly stripped him of his shirt as well, her hands sliding down his chest to stop on his shoulders.

- I already know, I chose it - she murmured against his mouth, biting his grin.

Jealousy was for those who lacked confidence, not for them. She wasn't jealous. In that relationship, born out of nowhere and raised between dates at unthinkable times, meetings in lockerooms and buses, calls and messages from everywhere, mental and physical breakdowns, nights spent sleeping and mornings of sex followed by doubts, she shared more than the path with Roman. She had discovered that she was as possessive as he was, because she valued, them. What they were building together was everything to her and she wasn't willing to lose it or let someone ruin it.

She felt Roman hold her, hands sliding up her hips, keeping her pressed against him, as they deepened their sloppy kiss and Y/N ran her fingers over his chest. The rapid beat of his heart slammed under her fingertips, warmth surrounding and encouraging her to move, grinding against his pants which she had merely undone. He was solid beneath her, ready to let her control even though his tongue had already won their fight. Knowing that he belonged to her, to have power over him, to be the only one to have his attention and to be able to have him like no one else out there thought was an injection of confidence that excited and pushed her to reclaim what belonged to her and her only.

His big hands had worked their way through her soft clothes, stroking her hips, touching her skin, ass, eyes glued to hers as she slowly traced every inch of his torso after pulling away from the kiss. With the taste of him still in her mouth, she reached down to kiss one pec and then the other, working her way up to his neck, his beard pinching her cheeks as she licked the jugular then bit his ear, feeling him pull her up to place her on his boner now awake. She rocked on top of him, feeling him hard against her center, his hands moving up under her shirt lifting her breasts and hers going down instead, moving his pants down. Slowly biting the skin of his neck, Y/N took it in her hand, squeezing his meat just enough to feel Roman stiffen, his breath catching in his throat, her tongue stopping under his ear, merely tasting his skin, sensing the blood pressure without marking him.

- I don't need to do it… - she whispered, nail scratching his already wet tip -...not this time either... -she added, rubbing up and down until she drew a hot breath from him - ... right? - she asked, placing an innocent kiss on his full lips before leaning down and taking something else into her mouth.

A low, rough growl filled the room as she ran her tongue over his vein, feeling the flesh throb, the taste of it overpowering as she slid it against her palate until it touched her throat, in that one smooth motion she'd been busy to learn. She liked the feel of it pulsing against her tongue, his hand gripping her hair and indulging in the slow movement of her head, before curling into a needy caress as he struggled to fight the instinctive thrusts. Y/N loved seeing him close his eyes, his breathing getting heavy every time her lips licked the tip, sucking out all the air in his lungs to make him pulse.

-Ain't going anywhere babygirl – Roman panted, licking his lips, biting the lower one when she slid her fingers over the sensitive skin to scratch and free him – do what you want-

She let it slam against his bare stomach, a trail of spit and precum dripping onto his skin, those dark curls driving her crazy. Getting up on her knees, Y/N locked her eyes on him and threw away the extra clothes, remaining only with the shirt that soon ended up covering him too, when she slipped it into her soft hot folds. Her body greeted him with an almost sigh of relief which he returned low and dangerous, their bodies warming and melting like every time they did it.

She had fucked every kind of man in her life. But with Roman it wasn't even sex, with him it had always been more than that. Everything in him seemed made to slip inside her and mix, it was a loss of consciousness, something shared back, something unique that made her feel at peace, in her place. Her place was with him and his with her.

Nails digging into his torso, she slowly, unhurriedly rocked her hips, his now-rigid erection spreading her deeply, never letting go as her butt lifted.

- Mmh… keep it slow, like that… yes, thats it – he approved hoarsely and Y/N reversed the movement, guiding him inside her in that weak gasp which was setting both of them on fire.

Her caramel skin itched, thighs taut and soon her shirt became a torture, one Roman took care to make worse by sliding his hands down her side, catching a dark nipple between his fingers to turn it over and make her moan with a cry. Y/N ducked a little, her center filled with his flesh, as she flattened against him resting where someone else's hands had been that morning. Her mind clouded by the arousal brought back the memory, clear and her hips instinctively moved, without increasing the pace, only deepening the thrusts until Roman slammed against her sweet spongy spot.

They could make jokes, imagine, try even, but no one would have what she had. No one would feel him tightening his grip on her hips, throb from the grips of her body, know what it was like to burn, as the sweat trickled down her back, between her shoulder blades and up to the curve of her round ass from his thrusts or the kisses he left on her skin. No one would see the bleary, hungry gaze he gave her as her eyes lowered to seek him, the heat building more and more at the bottom of her belly.

- You're so good for me… so good inside me… ahn!

- Take it… le-mme hear those pretty sounds yes

His hand slid under her shirt again, this time without searching for her breast, his thumb digging into her wet folds, where their bodies joined to rotate slowly around the button of nerves she had rubbed against him until that moment. The contact sent a sharp shiver on her body, and Y/N dropped her head back, moans becoming almost cries as her back arched, giving Roman more room. Everything in her was burning, relentlessly, slowly, consuming her down to her toes, making her melt on him in a mess of moods and sweat. With an effort from his abs, Roman sat up, a big strong arm sliding behind her, pulling her close to him, his finger moving slowly and forcefully between her folds. The desire to kiss him made her almost cling to his neck, getting up again a little on her knees, helping him in that last run that had filled the whole room with their smell and the sound of their bodies clashing. One thrust, another, like a carousel she never wanted to get off, until the heat became too much and Y/N felt it explode suddenly, making her squeeze around Roman's stiff shaft, letting his name rush desperately from her lips to be swallowed up by the kisses he never spared.

There was nothing left in her mind, except that feeling of peace and satisfaction that only being with him could give her, that drained and recharged her as soon as his arms tightened around her, when her body welcomed his limitless lunges and his seed, which filled her like a mark that no one else had granted and that no one else but her deserved.

She rested her cheek in his hair, his face buried in the crook of her neck in an embrace that was everything to her. New York and its frantic pace couldn't take that away from her. Nobody could do it.

Tag squad: @sunnyfleur23 @racerchix21 @alyyaanna @angelreigns444 @romanreignsdefencesquad @romanstheory @claymorexpunisher @keybladeofsteel @msbigredmachine @nayys-world @gobbersworld @utika151209 @cumxxslutt @civildawn @romanmydaddy @triscillal @papireigns-05 @helensanders92 @ichdrachenfrau @darqchilddaydreamz @meggylynnloves @unfriendly--blvck--hottie @nicolewoo @wrestlezaynia @reignmyworld @reigns-central-blog @kianaleani @daguenoire @extra-11 @thedonsfactory @snowpanda18 @brattyfics @mzv11 @romanreignseater @namjoonspinkytoenail @tribalchiefdaily @2baddies2furious @vebner37 @raeluvshammett @depressedneedingrevenge @cyberdejos2 @thewarlordsworld @jeonmahi1864 @jxtina-86 @harmshake @harlem11680 @joanoai @southerngirl41 @blkbutterfly816

[nausicaaandhermouth]

some thoughts on act 1 so far. huge long ramble. spoilers obv. do share your own, would love to hear other perspectives or additions!

didn't really come in with much expectations, was just gonna receive openly whatever the writers had planned, so that's why i don't have much strong opinions for the most part 😭but on a story perspective, i do have some thoughts.

story-wise

considering act 1 was obviously going to be a huge shift from a first season and something that's meant to set up 6 other episodes, i'm still definitely feeling that the pacing could've been better, slower. the show's always had such tight pacing which has served it for the most part but it can also cut off moments where perhaps the moment could've been served better had it been a bit more drawn out.

s2's act 1 feels much faster-paced but my hope for the season overall isn't entirely tanked. could go several ways. on it's own, it feels a bit jarring, lots of information is being given in such short time. but also we don't know how that will stand once act 2 and act 3 are out. the latter acts could be more drawn out, justifying act 1's pacing, it could be even more squished, which would suck.

love how the characters given have only grown more important, the spotlight on them becoming more emphasised, even side-characters like salo seeming to have more presence this time around. also really like how already present characters were utilised to aid more prominent characters (elora, amara, huck, smeech). so i'm on the fence about officer nolen. it could've been an opportunity to develop a character that was already present in s1, so it's not all these new things compiling (which can further that sense of things going to fast) but more so building on what was already there.

there's also smth about how the dialogues were written that... idk, something about it isn't quite hitting. especially with jinx's. can't quite point out what. also "affection" holding jayce and viktor in the past???? kill me, my heart gave up after that point. the writers can definitely hurt you if they want 😭

animation, it's amazing, show-stopping, bound to be. never doubted fortiche. i always expect them to deliver, and they always delivers. quintuplets this time even. i particularly love smeech's design, how he moves, makes my skin crawl and i love watching it.

characters

the character arcs... also on the fence about that. same thought about it as the act's pacing. it's certainly quite quick, i wonder how it would've gone had they slowed it down. but i'd want to see act 2 and 3 in order to shape a better opinion on that, since act 1 obv stands to serve the latter acts, as well as carrying the story over from s1. that's a lot of weight, so that's my benefit of the doubt.

looking forward to how ambessa will affect the story. she's already such an intriguing character to begin with, and a good call too to introduce her in s1, so the audience gets that time to acclimate (what they should've done to other characters that may be of greater impact on s2, whoever those will be, but that's neither here nor there).

with caitlyn, i was never as invested in her story on s1, but act 1's changing my mind on that. it lowkey feels like a madness arc but in a... facism direction, as opposed to jinx's psychological madness. does make them interesting oppositions. curious to see how the writers will handle that, if they handle it at all.

jinx's change feels a little bit out of nowhere, i wish the writers would have explored the in between stage of this s2 jinx and s1's ep9 jinx. it was foreshadowed briefly in that apathetic look she had after silco died and the scenes after that, but how it was reintroduced in s2's act 1 feels like it developed further but we weren't shown. she's far softer in this s2 too, as far as act 1 shows, still deranged but far less, and it would've been nice if that progression was shown more rather than just the skip.

kinda liking how jinx and sevika buddied up, though also a bit rushed. they were so antagonistic towards each other in s1 that i feel they deserved something a bit more than what was given in this act. i can understand it from sev's pov, her loyalties lie with zaun - anything that fucks that up will be on her hitlist, and we know jinx can definitely fuck things up, and if jinx stops doing that, i can see sev acquiescing and being more open to allieship. but from jinx's side, she kind of just relented? the whole "something i could fix" thing has an interesting idea, maybe she just wants to stop fucking things up and sevika is a start? but it wasn't exactly explored all that much either. no idea. would love to hear other perspectives on this

as for the little girl, it’s definitely setting up that found family trope. i do worry that they’ll just jump to, like, ‘and now they have a deep bond and care a lot about each other because they spent time together!’ but then not show us. if they do, and it’s done well, that would be an interesting analysis. but more often than not it doesn’t go that well. another worry is that she'll be treated like sky - introduced just to die shortly after. however it is appearing like the kid will have more importance while she's alive, so that's great, but also,, don't tell me you envision her making it out alive 😭 i just hope it won't be rushed

jayce, my guy was struggling fr. he's remained consistent with his late s1 self which feels like a nice anchor, familiar, and i think they handled him better. though i suspect that that may be because he may not have as much of a larger arc ahead of him, he's got the divorce lined up for him, fighting for piltover, qualms with the arcane, not much else. it would be fun to see if they do add something else. looove how it really built upon who he was in s1 while introducing hints of who he might become later on, really love. one thing jayce does well and ik u can count in him for is his huge heart, so im glad that has maintained. i'm interested in how the writer's will go about crafting his conflict against the arcane or hexthing, whatever vik's wielding, since during act 1 he's still very much up for it.

viktor's change feels a bit more sudden, slightly jarring for me, but i'm not entirely opposed and i do kinda like it. to be fair it's untreaded ground he's headed towards, and we're not entirely sure what exactly the fuck the hexcore/arcane is affecting him. currently it feels a bit too quick, that jesus arc came outta nowhere (which isn't to say i don't like it, i absolutely love vik's jesus arc, but that's not as unbiased, i'm up for anything with this man), but it could be explained in the latter acts which will put his act 1 arc into better perspective. i'm hoping for that. love this seemingly overpowered man arc he's on, and i wonder how that'll be tackled later on, and jayce's reaction to it.

definitely feel like the arcane is manipulating him through guilt and grief, that’s how i’m perceiving sky’s part in his jesus arc anyway. vik’s whole aim for the most part of s1 was to help people, and so the guilt he would feel if he opposed those aims would be great. enough to be manipulated by it? we’ll see in the coming weeks.

the whole thing with the arcane being defiant because they keep testing/prodding it, i’m not entirely sure about. i don’t recall any seeds of that idea planted in s1 (though correct me if im wrong) so it feels like it sprung out of nothing, but we’ll see how that holds up after the next acts come out. i do like how the arcane's being treated like a character, that's interesting. even in s1 there were hints of that, and it seems like they're only building up on that, especially so if in fact vik's being controlled by the arcane in some manner.

mmmm that's all for my thoughts on, will definitely revisited after act 2 and 3 are out. no thoughts yet on mel, her real arc seems to only have started, but i'm intrigueeed. if it's anything arcane/magic related at all, im all up for it.

also i fucking screamed when silco sank 😭 look me in the eye and tell me they didn't show us that exact framing in s1 😭 THEY WERE TELLING US HOW HE'D BE BURIED SHUT UP

[betweenlands]

reblogged all the positivity from yesterday so i can Make My Own Post TM about the epidemic of "this should've been a miniseries" -- because pacing-wise, tone-wise, plot-wise, Ocean should never have been three hours long. it's one of Legs's longest non-compilation videos and it is also full of a lot of... not much happening besides the same core gameplay loop.

that'd be fine if i was looking for podcast/"second monitor" content that i could put on in the background while i do something else, but 100DMV is an ARG. there is no reason to make a video this long for a series that is, secretly or not, part of a running plotline. the two are at odds with each other. an ARG needs to be something you want to give your full attention to, make sure you aren't missing anything, pick apart and rewatch multiple times to analyze strange details. a three-hour video is directly hostile to that and a timesink for no reason.

i don't have a problem with longer videos -- there's a reason i cite hbomberguy as my usual exception to the Three Hour Balk Point -- but with Legundo's stuff, i'm increasingly finding it just doesn't have the same substance to hold together its own runtime. i mean, Ocean is longer than:

Sculk Apocalypse (kind of on the long side and could be shorter, but generally uses that runtime to keep a strong sense of tension and fighting to survive. has a very strong hook, multiple "time limits," and a clearly defined endgoal from the start.)

Undercover (a video with Legs actively trying to pretend he's not playing on the server he's playing on, consisting of secret community interaction, cool builds, the potential for a lot of lore drops, and a clearly defined time limit/endgoal from the start.)

Nights (the S1 finale of 100DMV, containing a whole bunch of separate mods to tinker with that hadn't previously been seen before, a good deal of lore, uses its runtime to keep a strong sense of tension and fighting to survive)

the Zombie Apocalypse scenario (full of interpersonal tactics and tension, contained a lot of person-to-person interaction and discussion, had a clearly defined time limit/endgoal from the start)

Dimensional Doors (the video that got me into 100DMV! full of strong plot beats, had variety but began cutting stuff when the dungeon pockets got too repetitive, contained a good deal of lore. also had the bonus of namechecking a mod i knew, recognized, and enjoyed that then made up a good deal of the playthrough's runtime)

the entirety of Deceit Season One, including the wrap-up episode (I DON'T NEED TO TELL YOU HOW INSANE DECEIT MAKES ME. JUST. HUH???)

and then there's the one i suspect started it all, the Game of Thrones scenario.

the GoT scenario is long. it clocks in at a little under 3 hours. but the difference between GoT and a lot of the other long videos is that it uses every single second of its runtime. there is a clearly defined endgoal and a time limit for that endgoal. there are a lot of different mods that play off each other and are used in interesting ways for interesting tactics (as well as smart use of vanilla mechanics). it has clearly defined sections for people that don't want to binge-watch all at once (including one that is pointed out to the viewer in-video as a good time to take a breather). it has, and this is critical, multiple running subplots owing to the fact that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 50+ players on the server, most of whom are working for one team or another.

GoT works because of interaction between other players. a singleplayer quest for the Iron Throne would not feel nearly as tense or engaging -- but because there's a great deal of interpersonal politics, planning, and battle tactics, it keeps up the variety and nicely flows between downtime, negotiations, and battles. and, because there are multiple players in the conflict, something is always happening offscreen. the world of GoT isn't static, and doesn't only change when Legundo Specifically does something. it is always changing, all the time, when even a single person is logged in, and it means that there is no possible way to get stuck in one gameplay loop for too long because someone is always going to either finish that loop or throw a curveball into it from completely offscreen.

i've made my peace with Haunted Winter being so long, even though it probably should've been a four-part miniseries with one episode per each season. it still has those clearly defined "season" segments, has multiple mods that are being used in different ways at different times, and contains both a known time-limit and interesting editing that keeps up a decently strong sense of tension. it's also the S2 finale of 100DMV, so i can understand how it'd run a little long.

but, and i cannot stress this enough, there is no good reason Ocean -- which consists almost exclusively of a core "loot ships, return to current base, build/mine, loot ships" gameplay loop with no real variation until the mod in the thumbnail really comes into play on day 74 -- should be three hours long. there's no good reason for it to be longer than GoT, than Sculk Apocalypse, than Deceit S1. in the time it takes to watch Ocean, i could rewatch most of Deceit S2. if i set the Ocean video to loop and walked away, i could go rewatch every single Dominion episode that Legundo has ever uploaded and come back in time to find the Ocean video only partway through its third loop.

i really hope this doesn't keep happening. 100DMV used to be something i could recommend without caveats, at the most go "it's got some slightly clickbaity intros, and it might start a little slow, but it picks up quickly and stays really good." now i'm in a situation where the second season runs incredibly long and i genuinely don't know if i'd tell people to get into it anymore -- because right now, at the pace the story is progressing, with the length of videos being put out, it just is not worth the time investment.

i like 100DMV. i like 100DMV a lot. i mean, i'm writing a multichapter fanfiction about it, of course i like it. but if i hadn't gotten into it when i did, with an hour-and-a-half long video about Dimensional Doors, i would be seeing 2-3 hour long videos in my recommended, shrug and go "nah," and then go watch something else.

and this frustrates me. i know 100DMV can be good. i know 100 Days videos can be tightly edited, engaging, interesting fiction with a lot of strong plot hooks despite having a fairly repetitive gameplay loop. i know there's got to be a way to fix this, but i can't do that. all i can do is point out how it comes across to a specific subsection of the audience and hope that it doesn't just come across as needless bashing on something kind of popular.

because it's not. i say all this because i love storytelling in MCYT videos -- it's why i've been here for so long. i say all this because i don't want it to become a lost art for more and more people because long videos do better in Youtube's algorithm.

[casperrscapes]

kogagoshi fanfic rec list !!

+ some sort of sendai frogs fics!!!

hello hello hello! ヾ(•ω•`)o it’s me, casper, back with another fic rec list! kogagoshi is one of my all time favourite ships, so i’ve compiled some into this list!! there are, unfortunately, not many kogagoshi centric fics, so i thought this list might help my fellow kogagoshi shippers!!! feel free to add your own recs/recommend some to me !!!

As always, be careful, and make sure to check tags and warnings before reading !!!

there is no particular order to this! fics marked with an astric are my absolute favourite fics!!! fics marked with a frog emoji (🐸) include the sendai frogs!!!

Remember Our Youth by bumbl3b33 (NR) 4,729 words, 1/1, [Kogagoshi] --- Goshiki thought about their time together in high school for the next few days. 

He thought about their brushing hands and wide smiles. He thought about the feeling he got, something warm but aching, when he looked at Koganegawa Kanji. Most of all, though, he thought about what would have happened if he had done something, anything. What would’ve happened if he had leaned over and pressed their lips together? Maybe he could’ve done it when they played video games, sitting at the foot of Goshiki’s bed. Maybe he could’ve done it when they sat down in the grass after playing volleyball in the park. There were so many possibilities that he didn’t know the answer to. Although, he knew one thing for sure. Koganegawa had no business showing up and confusing Goshiki all over again.

this is so!! i love this!! just so adorable gahhhhh!!! they’re so cute :’). 

Just Breathe by crow_writing (G) 723 words, 1/1, [Kogagoshi] ---  Goshiki has an asthma attack and Kogane helps him through it. 

kogane best bf <3. very cute fic :). 

**complications of infatuation by ClementineKitten (NR) 14,409 words, 1/1, [Kogagoshi] ---  Goshiki has a problem, and his name is Koganegawa Kanji.

this fic!! is so good!! goshiki just running around trying to get love advice from his uncles senpais. all of the characterizations are so; *chefs kiss*. just a goofy funny fic, and i love it. first crush kogagoshi fics just hit the spot :’). 

It’s a Date by crow_writing (G) 1,385 words, 1/1, Kogagoshi ---  Goshiki and Kogane’s journey from texting buddies to boyfriends.

kogagoshi texting fic after the training camp or whatever it is. such, such a cute fic.

Wide Enough For Two | KogaGoshi by AnxiouslyShipping (G) 3,285 words, 1/1, [Kogagoshi] --- When a storm hits Miyagi, Goshiki is unfortunate enough to not have an umbrella. However, he is fortunate enough that Kogane finds him on his way home…

this is!! so adorable!! perfectly encompasses kogagoshi’s idiot energy; the odd umbrella backstory is so funny.

**E-Mail My Heart by asynchrony, girlkita (peerlessbellbird) (T) 4,754 words, 1/1, [Kogagoshi, Ushiten-ish, Aofuta-ish] --- Hey Koganegawa-san, what’s the deal with this picture? I’m not sure I understand what a sexy truck is, but I showed it to Tendou and he forwarded it to himself on my phone. He hasn’t stopped laughing about it for the last two hours either. Koganegawa and Goshiki exchange emails, and then much more.

GWAHHHH!!! they’re so cute!!! just two silly awkward teens with their first crushes. kogane is so cute :’). HE CALLS STUFFED ANIMALS “SOFTIES”, IT’S ADORABLE!!!

🐸 love isn't easy (but it sure is hard enough) by AP0LL0S (g) 7,210 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi] --- “I’ve known them for years, and I don’t remember a time when Kogane wasn’t head over heels for Goshiki.” “No way!” Kyoutani audibly gasps. or,, where koganegawa has a crush and his friends are done with him

SENDAI FROGS CONTENT>>>. and once again, we get kogagoshi being idiots (in love), and tsukishima and kyoutani try to get them together. (fair warning, you might not like the tsukishima and kyoutani characterisation in this, it depends!!) 

soldiered storms by AP0LL0S (g) 1,249 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi] ---  “I’m proud of you.” Goshiki spoke softly. “Why?” or,, where the sendai frogs lose an important match and koganegawa has to face his emotions

so cute :’). just goshiki being an amazing partner, and sad kogane. very good hurt/comfort. i normally see kogane comforting goshiki, so this was a nice change of pace, though i like both !!! 

**a snack by poutyongs (g) 2,575 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi] ---  Koganegawa uses a pickup line on Goshiki without much thought, except Goshiki is painfully oblivious to anything that is not volleyball related.

THIS. this is exactly how i imagine their dynamic. goshiki is so oblivious :’). kogane having fun with the pickup lines, as he should!! ‘shiki trying to figure out the pickup lines is hilarious. absolutely freaking adorable!!!

nickname by kogagoshi (g) 1,131 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi] ---  After training camp, Koganegawa exchanges emails with Goshiki (and gives him a nickname, too).

goshiki is flustered + panicking so hard, and i love him :’). i genuninely can’t tell if kogane is just dense, or intentionally teasing him. knowing him, it’s probably all of the above. just a cute, short little fic !!

There’s more to life than just volleyball, Tsutomu by WaterBear45 (t) 1,792 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi, semishira] --- “I guess now you know why I didn’t come to practice.” “Um… I do?” Goshiki squeaked. Semi frowned pulling down his hood and revealing a collection of matching red marks on his neck. “Haven’t you seen a hickey before?” “Oh!” Goshiki’s hands spasmed at his sides, balling into fists. “Sure! Lots of times!”

this fic is?? so weird?? and i don’t know how to feel about it?? not in a bad way!! it’s just- you need to read it to understand what i mean <(＿　＿)>. i do genuinely reccomend it, though!!

**kogagoshi fics <3 by london_artfully (t) 4,271 words, 3 works/?, [kogagoshi, ushiten, minor semishira] 

The Rather Unfortunate Circumstance of Goshiki Tsutomu by london_artfully (t) 2,919 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi, ushiten, minor semishira] ---  Shiratorizawa's third years know that Goshiki has a boyfriend... but Goshiki hasn't quite realized it himself. They feel the need to do something about this.

of angry birds and rainy days by london_artfully (g) 637 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi] ---  On a simple rainy day at Kogane's house after practice, Goshiki introduces his boyfriend to a certain mobile game.

breaking point by london_artfully (g) 715 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi] --- Goshiki wasn’t like Date Tech, an iron wall. He wasn’t unbreakable, and he broke far more often than one might think. Why did everything have to bother him so much?

i genuninely love this series so much, it is spectacular. all of the fics in it are amazing, and i sing nothing but praises. please, please, check these fics out. 

🐸 **Scaredy Frogs by copyrightings (t) 4,835 words, 1/1, [tsukiyama, kyouhaba, kogagoshi] ---  In a feeble attempt to find out which one is scarier, Koganegawa finds himself actually becoming good friends with the Sendai Frogs' most terrifying players, Tsukishima and Kyoutani. To be honest though, he doesn't even understand why people think they're scary in the first place until he meets their partners...

even though this isn’t strictly kogagoshi centric, i just HAD to include this. kogane POV fics are suprisingly rare?? so this was like a breath of fresh air. this fic is hilarious, and i adore it. the sendai frogs are all so whipped. please read this :’). 

**Ankle Weights by sophie_scribblz (g) 3,150 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi, ushiten] --- How big of a crush can you develop on someone in less than a week, anyway? Not that he has a crush on someone, no, that would be dumb. He barely knows the guy; there’s no way he has a crush on him. Yeah.

But then there’s the heart fluttering and there’s the weak knees and oh, for the first time he wants someone else’s mouth on his and it all seems so appealing all of the sudden— but that’s dumb, because he barely knows the guy.

He’s a little silly, Tsutomu supposes, the guy he likes. Tall, with about four times the amount of enthusiasm you’d think should be able to fit inside his body. Clumsy, but in a charming sort of puppy-dog way that makes you want to pat his head and tell him he did a good job. 

But then there’s his laugh, the way his eyes squeeze shut and this sound that embodies his joy bursts forth, bright and loud, just like everything else about him does. There’s his drive to be better, the fact that every time his upperclassmen told him he was hopeless, it only made him want to practice more. His generosity, his passion, his never ending kindness. And he gives the warmest hugs.

(Sure, his hair is a little silly but Tsutomu will let that one slide)

i don’t really know how to describe my love for this fic but,,, they are so sweet, and soft, and i love them (and this fic) so much. 

2019 Winter Exchange by snazzy_scarf (g) 10,492 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi]

Matchmaker, Matchmaker! by snazzy_scarf (g) 4,233 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi] --- It all started when both Lev and Hinata received two text messages around the same time. 8:18PM Kowenga: haha when did Goshiki get so cute lol 8:26PM Goshiiiiiikiki: hey so remember how i said liked guys? by guys i meant Koganegawa sjdhfbsjf

Say That You'll Hold Me Forever by snazzy_scarf (g) 6,259 words, 1/1, [kogagoshi] ---  Goshiki's had a crush on Koganegawa for some time now, and finds himself getting flustered at every little thing he says. Is he flirting with him, or is it just wishful thinking? Maybe a series of awkward conversations and loving gestures will help him find out.

this one’s a lot longer than all the other recs, but it’s real good!! the first one is an outsider pov from lev, and the second one is just a normal fic from goshiki pov. it’s just all very soft and silly. they’re both dense, and it’s quite cute :) 

annndddd, that’s a wrap!! i definitely missed a few that i didn’t bookmark (；′⌒`) please feel free to add your own recs, i’d love to see them!!! i also hope you liked the sendai frogs fics (‾◡◝). feel free to request/ask for other recs,,, i can’t promise i’ll have any, but i can try my best!! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ hope this was enjoyable!!!

ps. should i tone down my use of emoticons?? 

pps. a list of fic rec lists i’ll probably post in the near future!! : yukeru (fruits basket), semishira (haikyuu), percy jackson/heroes of olympus, trials of apollo (sepreate cause why not!), maybe stars align, and if i’m feeling silly, i’ll do chad/ryan from high school musical!!! once again, feel free to request lists you’d like to see!! 

[harper-collins]

[Scarian - Desert Duo] The Love and Hardship of Living - I Hear a Symphony

Rated: Teen and Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death (not really, he's fine, it's just 3rd life) Fandom(s): Hermitcraft SMP, 3rd Life/Double Life Categories: M/M Relationship: Grian / Scar Characters: Grian, Scar, Mumbo mentioned Additional Tags: Timeline of their time together, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Grian is Not Okay, Protective Scar, Cactus Ring, Grian's fishing obsession, this compiles from the beginning of Hermitcraft S6 to Recent Hermitcraft S10, Slow Burn, A lot of this is taken from the canon of slightly fanon moments and slowly degrades into my own writing, I mean its all my own writing and I've rewritten a lot of stuff, but I mean there are canon moments that have been rewritten and fun ideas that I thought were canon or wanted to include in this fic. Summary: Grian always thought something was interesting about Scar. Scar had always liked Grian. Will they ever go through and get to know each other properly? What would happen?

OR

Grian and Scar's relationship from HC S6 through the life series (at least two anyway) and up to HC S10. SONG FIC Warning that this fic is like 11k words.

I used to hear a simple song.

Joining Hermitcraft had been interesting to start, Grian had quietly told himself. Meeting many new people and being near his best friend. He and Mumbo hadn’t been on a server regularly before, so it was a nice change of pace for the feathered individual. Finding new ways to annoy people and getting to know the people around him had been quite fun so far.

Yet, not everyone could be there for the launch of season six. He’d been told they would meet soon, leaving Grian almost anxious. He wasn’t someone who craved the acceptance of others by far. He was usually okay with not knowing others. After all, he didn’t know the majority of the hermits personally. He just knew their faces, so it confused him that he seemed to want the late-comer’s attention so much.

Even when he’d finally joined the server, he was so busy trying to make up for his late arrival that the thought of going over to see a new hermit had utterly escaped his mind, and Grian was far too nervous to see him himself, especially with how stressed he’d sounded over the group chat for the server. Mumbo merely laughed at him and told him to see Mr. Goodtimes, but it didn’t feel that simple.

Maybe he’d meet the other sometime? Perhaps he'd see him at the shopping district and have a pleasant conversation with the other? Probably while he was building his pickle shop? After the thought had occurred to the other, however, he began actively avoiding the shopping district, letting his nerves get the better of him. It wasn’t too late, of course! He just needed to push himself. Why did this seem like such a difficult task?

That was until you came along.

Meeting Scar had been an experience. The other was clumsy, very interesting, and quite loud. It had taken Grian a little bit of time to adjust, but soon enough, he was enjoying the company of the other. They didn’t meet often—the feathery male was sticking close to Mumbo after all—but that didn’t stop the two from meeting occasionally, especially while they were shopping in the shopping district.

When the war came around, they weren’t actively against one another. No, Scar hadn’t joined team STAR; he was ConCorp… So technically, they weren’t against each other… Yet, Grian couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that the male hadn’t joined him in the Prank War. It was silly fun, even if it did look like it was being taken seriously sometimes.

Scar just seemed like this remarkable individual that Grian wanted to know more about, wanted to understand and see on a more regular basis… Yet, he didn’t make any effort. He was too nervous. He didn’t know him! Why would Scar want to get to know him? He was just your crazy feathered pranker. People both tolerated and despised him. It was how he was! Grian couldn’t fathom sometimes why Mumbo still stuck around despite everything.

Still… Something about GoodTimeWithScar seemed captivating…

Now, in its place, is something new.

He felt pretty excited when he realised Scar’s base was close to his starter base at the beginning of season seven. The other was living in what would be a snail, but it wasn’t quite finished yet. Grian could practically feel the excitement coursing through his veins as he set his starter base up, knowing how many pranks he could pull on the other without it looking too weird. They were neighbours, after all.

When he found the zombie spawner near their bases, he knew how to introduce Scar to how it would be this season, with the two being so close. It may have taken hours and lots of lost sleep, but he couldn’t have been prouder for such a pleasing prank when it was finally finished. With the zombies set up to come from the jungle bushes, it would take some time for Scar to find the bubble elevator bringing them up.

Grian watched from the bushes as they began to slowly appear, causing Scar to get attacked by them in the middle of his building. The feathered hermit began to chuckle before quickly putting his hand over his mouth. He wanted to watch Scar figure it out alone, not catch him in the act! It took the other half an hour before he began looking for the source of the zombies, and he knew exactly who was at fault when he found the source.

“Grian!” He called, knowing the other would be near. He couldn’t help but giggle as he finally made his entrance. He tried to act like he’d heard the call from his base, but he knew Scar wouldn’t believe him no matter how much of a show he’d put on. When he arrived, he noticed that the other was quite the mess, his items everywhere from his repeated deaths as he struggled to go against the several zombies that had found themselves chasing Scar.

“Well, well, what’s happened here?” He asked, faking innocence. However, Scar didn’t seem to care for the play he was putting on as he began to get attacked once more. “Kill them, please! Just kill them,” he pleaded, close to death for the third time in the last few minutes. Grian quickly took his sword out and killed the rest of them, letting Scar promptly grab all his items as he huffed in a high-pitched voice, trying to calm himself down from the attack.

Grian began to feel concerned as the other caught his breath. “Are you alright, Scar?” He asked, getting a little closer to the other. The Elf merely looked in his direction with a smile on his face. He was sweating and stressed from the situation but could already see the prank was supposed to be a harmless joke. The avian could already feel the relief pouring through his body as he helped the other calm himself down and grab all of his items before safely storing them away.

After that, the two stayed around one another for a while, with Grian ensuring the other was perfectly fine and that he hadn’t lost any items through the whole debacle. They had settled on Scar’s makeshift couch, which was secretly just a couple of chests tightly packed together with some carpet over them to make it a little comfortable. They were mostly silent as Scar recounted the footage he’d been trying to record.

“You know,” Scar suddenly spoke softly, turning to Grian as he put his communicator in his pocket. “I was expecting something like this, but not quite a zombie spawner!” He joked, smiling at the other. Grian awkwardly laughed back, feeling quite guilty for what he’d done, even if the relief that his friend was all right was still fresh in his mind. “Well, as I said, I’ll make it into an XP farm now that the prank’s over,” he affirmed to the other, nodding as if confirming that this wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

Scar smirked at the other. “Never thought this pretty bird would ever feel sorry for a prank! Brighten up, G! No harm’s been done! I can confirm that all items on my person have been retrieved without them de-spawning,” Scar spoke, his bright and positive attitude practically engulfing Grian as his cheeks reddened. He ignored the little comment and tried to feel glad that no harm had occurred.

“Alright, alright. Just let me know if you need anything. All right?” He asked, observing the other as he stood up, preparing to leave. Scar beamed, looking at him with the happiest expression Grian had seen in a while. “Of course, G! You’re welcome anytime,” he said, waving at the other. The avian smiled back before turning and leaving; they were still on foot.

I hear it when I look at you.

Grian enjoyed making a little bit of war on the server, and despite last time, he thoroughly enjoyed the Mycelium War even more than anything else he’d done before. Maybe it was the fact that there was such a visible difference between the grass and the mycelium, but it didn’t feel like just that, not when Scar, one of his best friends, was on the other side of this silly war.

The two had grown quite close whilst living close to one another, and then the whole Mumbo for Mayor campaign that Grian had started and Scar going for himself had caused quite a bit of commotion on the server. It didn't feel right with the Shopping District going green, not to Grian either way. Yet, having Scar missing in his antics felt a little odd. Yes, he was on the other side of things, but he wouldn’t get his company being on the opposite side.

Even during the mayoral campaign, he went over and regularly hung out with his good friends and did some pranks with and against one another. Now, the only time he saw Scar was when he was working as Mayor at the Shopping District, and the only time he went near the other’s base was when he was stealing doors— No, he meant looking around to embrace its beauty. The enchanted area that the Elf had made sometimes overnight was magnificent, and Grian felt his lungs empty each time he saw it and looked around at the details.

Being Motherspore meant he had even less time for home-base things, though the Mycelium Resistance was also growing in size, and it was taking up most of his time and restocking the barge. In this instance, Grian saw a fellow hermit coming around to buy a few things from his shop. While restocking, he ignored the other’s presence for the moment—not many hermits tended to interact much while they saw him adding more things to the barge.

Only when he heard someone clear their throat behind him did he turn to look towards the individual, who turned out to be Mr GoodTimeWithScar. He forgot to breathe as he took in the Mayor, and his outfit paired with his sly smirk. He could see the other was trying to speak to him. His mouth was moving, but after not seeing Scar for two weeks, the sudden appearance just short-circuited his brain.

When he realized he’d been looking without talking for too long, he briefly noticed Scar’s face turned from excitement to concern. Grian wanted out of the situation quickly after having messed up like that. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t get away that easily, no matter how hard he tried.

“G? Are you alright?” he asked, stepping back from the other. The smaller felt himself breathe shakily after stopping himself for quite a while. “Y-yeah, I’m fine! I should probably get going, Resistance stuff and all—” he mumbled, diverting his eyes from the green eyes that were staring back at him. He tried to move away, completely forgetting about his current task at the barge, when Scar grabbed his arm softly.

“I didn’t want you to just walk away, G; we haven’t seen each other for a while! I just wanted to know if we could come to an agreement. You know, finally decide that grass is better—”

“Scar, Mycelium has always been here. It lives here, Grass doesn’t—”

“But Grass is so much better!” he whined, returning to the groove of their playful arguments. Grian couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the statement. “No, Scar, until you submit to the mycelium resistance, I won’t be stopping,” he snarked back, his tone colder than it had meant. Scar let go of the other, more to the pure shock of how aggressive the other seemingly was.

“I’m sorry— I didn’t mean—”

“It’s alright, G. Is it getting a bit intense for you?” he asked, frowning at the other. We could call it off or take a break! We aren’t being serious after all—” Scar stopped, sighing. Watching his friend was making him feel a little uncomfortable. He looked spooked and apologetic, emotions that didn’t look right on the avian’s features.

“No, it’s fine. I'm just sorry for snapping at you,” he mumbled, looking back at the open shulker box filled with sand to put on the shelves. “You don’t have to apologise, as long as you’re doing alright, that’s what matters,” the other replied, smiling at Grian. He couldn’t help but smile back at his good friend. He awkwardly shuffled back to the shulker box in question and began getting more sand out of the box.

“How are you doing anyway? Is everything alright with you?” he asked, glancing briefly at Scar, who was observing him. “Oh, I’m fine! Just so many mayor things to do! Who knew that there was so much to do? Sometimes I do think Mumbo would’ve been better at this than me,” he grinned, trying to appeal to the other’s previous campaign that had unfortunately lost.

“Nah, despite what’s going on at the moment, I do think you’ve done brilliantly being a Mayor Scar; I’m glad you won,” he said, smiling at the other. Scar’s smile and heart softened at his friend's admission, and he laughed a little. “Oh, well, that’s very nice of you, G! Whenever I see Mumbo, I’ll bet to tell him that myself,” he said, giggling a little more.

Grian just shrugged as he watched Scar, studying his friend’s beautiful—err, lovely-looking face with its mayor additions. “I’m sure he won’t mind; I’m the one who set it up in the first place!” he replied, giving the other a grin, too. It felt good to talk to him again, even if they were still on opposing sides. Something about Scar set his heart going a million miles a minute.

He was perfect.

With simple songs, I wanted more.

A new series of sorts was upon them, and Scar couldn’t be more excited. He was nervous; it was tough, with only three lives before you were out. Still, he was determined to make it through as long as possible, sticking close to his friends. He just hadn’t teamed with anyone in particular yet. They were all sticking close together, especially since it was a new experience. Hardcore was a thing, just not on the Hermitcraft server, nor on the other servers other old friends seemed to be in before they’d been moved here.

It had all happened so suddenly, with Grian barely warning them out of nowhere before they’d been brought over. He hadn’t given context on how he knew either, making the other extremely suspicious. He’d also left alone but returned now that they were all around a small village. It was relatively light and the whole group was in a circle, par from Grian. He’d been dipping around the village occasionally but not genuinely paying attention to any conversation.

Scar noticed that the avian was moving to his left, coming in and out of his view before he heard a slight sizzling noise behind him. Before he could realise what was about to happen, he’d already died, leaving him in his yellow life. He respawned in one of the village beds and started breathing heavily, his heart beating far too fast for the death that had just occurred. There was a commotion outside, but he felt more hurt; everything had happened so fast, and he didn’t feel like trying to speak to the smaller one that had just killed him.

When he finally managed to get out of bed, he saw tons of people staring at the creeper hole, some shouting at Grian. He looked panicked, the moment that the messy blonde’s eyes latched onto his own, he moved away from everyone in favour of going towards him with one of the more guiltiest looks Scar had ever seen on his best friend.

“I am SO sorry Scar, I’ll do anything to make it up to you, I genuinely didn’t think it would kill you,” he said apologetically, the others quietening down at such an offer. Some were still arguing, but hearing someone make such a sincere and deadly offer during a death game… Well, Grian had balls, that’s for sure. Scar didn’t know how to feel. A part of him wanted Grian to throw himself off a cliff just so they were both yellow lives, but that was a tiny part of him.

The other, the entrepreneur, saw potential, deviousness, and a best friend willing to make amends. Scar thought about it whilst the others watched them in silence. “I’ll give my life,” Grian quietly murmured, just so the two of them could hear. This was beginning to get interesting. “Oh?” Scar replied, urging the other to go on and try to give the offer to its fullest. He wanted to know.

“My entire green life, I’ll follow you, do what you ask; it’s all I can do to repay you unless you have another idea,” Grian said, his voice confident now, although it had soured at the end. Some of the players behind them gasped whilst Scar raised his eyebrows. “Deal,” he said, putting his hand out. Grian took it and shook quietly, the two staring at one another quietly.

From there, it didn’t take the two of them much longer to leave the small band in the village in favour of finding their land to live in. They’d taken the Llama there and began wandering around the small perimeter they would temporarily call home outside Hermitcraft. They would do it together, as best friends.

“TRAITOR!!” The scream rang high in his ears as he felt the sword plunge into his side. Bdubs had just been killed, and Grian was angry. Why wouldn’t he be angry? He’d been betrayed, betrayed by Scar. “Traitor Scar!” he shouted again to emphasize his point, but he was quieter this time. He was getting ready to swing again in the water but feeling more hesitant now that it was just the two of them together. Alone in the world, with everyone dead.

Scar watched his partner’s facial expression, one of hesitance but hurt, one that he’d made. Scar watched Grian quietly for a moment, taking him in. He’d been so helpful and loving this entire season. Sure, he may have gotten in the way of some deals he’d made with other people, but he’d helped Scar the whole way, keeping him alive despite his first death being at his hands. Scar loved how they’d gotten so close during this death game, and although he didn’t want it to end, he knew he’d already gone too far, been too bloodthirsty, just like the male was in front of him now.

“You can kill me,” he said, his voice set and firm. He hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but every word was accurate. If he had to die in this death game, he wanted it to be by the man he’d gotten the closest to, the person whom he’d shared everything with, including the bed on some nights when it had been too cold for both of them to be separate.

“What? No,” Grian replied, confused. What was he thinking? Didn’t he just want to kill him just moments ago? Maybe it had been the willingness to give his life for the other that had stopped his thirst for blood so quickly… Scar couldn’t be sure. “For everything you did to me to keep me alive this long… You may slay me and take the enchanter,” he said, bowing his head down and crouching in front of Grian in the water.

It was uncomfortable. Everything was wet. There was something everywhere, whether it was Bdubs’ blood, his own or the water. It felt disgusting, and it didn’t feel right at all to get so deep in the water, to submit to the one who’d been submitting to him for so long, but there was one big part of Scar that felt so loved that trusted Grian more than he could have ever trusted anyone. It was finally time for Grian to take back his independence.

“No, I can’t,” Grian replied, his heart breaking as he stepped back, going deeper into the waters. “No, I literally can’t, I can’t do it,” he continued, bringing Scar his head up as he watched Grian. He looked as though he was grieving for Scar despite him standing right in front of him. He’d been so close to killing the other in anger. Why was this so different? Scar would never think badly for Grian killing him, especially after all they’d been through together.

The two got out of the water, trying to rid themselves of what they could that was wet beyond belief; this was the end anyway; they didn’t need everything on their person. Grian moved away for a moment, going completely silent. Scar left him to his own devices, thinking the other wanted some space after a terrible amount of bloodshed all around the server.

He sighed, turning back to Scar. “No, these spectators want a fight,” he murmured, glancing nervously at Scar. The brunette-haired male didn’t know what the other was talking about, but he took it in stride as if he knew fully what the other meant. “No, no, no, no, we got this! We have a friendship, don’t let them break—”

“They want blood, they want blood,” Grian replied, his voice scared and nervous.

Scar sighed, sorting out his tools as he used the crafting table as a desk. “Okay, can we at least do the duel if we have to at Pizza’s grave?” He asked, keeping his eyes away from Grian. The other was being pushy over what these spectators wanted, even after they declared they wouldn’t hurt one another; it was getting unnerving.

“All right, let’s get—”

“Get in the boat!” Scar barked, getting tense. The other got in quickly.

“Alright, this is the last bro moment we have—why are we in a boat in a pond?!” he shouted, feeling bamboozled by his best friend. Scar glanced over at him with a quizzical expression, not having figured it out just yet. “What?” He replied.

“Step into the ring,” he boomed, having just put the new cactus next to Pizza’s grave. It was a ring. Most of the cacti only had one instead of the typical three as they’d just been put down, but as long as they didn’t jump around, it would be plenty to keep them in a boxing ring-like situation. He’d already gotten rid of everything apart from the last bit of cacti; he was only waiting on Grian, who confirmed to Scar he was getting rid of everything as he emptied the rest of his pockets.

Grian stepped in, getting to the other side of the ring, and the two stared at each other for a long moment as Scar sealed them in, quietly watching one another with bated breath. They gave one another a moment before they went in… Grian spoke first.

“Scar… I don’t feel good about this,” he admitted, staring the other down. Scar nodded, feeling a little nervous about this entire ordeal himself. The ‘spectators’ had ordered them to sheath their armour and use their fists against one another, which was bound to leave one another bloody, no matter who won. It made the hairs on Scar’s back stand up just at the thought of something so degrading.

“No matter what happens, we can call this a double victory, right?” He said softly, keeping still as he watched Scar fiddle around a little with his fingers. The brunette nodded vigorously, moving around in his little area. “Yes! We’re good, we’re good,” he confirmed, trying to inwardly hype himself up for something he didn’t want to do. He didn’t want to hurt Grian; it was why he had allowed himself to be killed by Grian in the water; he’d waited for the other to use his sword and cut him down…

Did they have to do this?

“Let’s let the ghosts count us in then,” Grian replied, moving around as he prepared for the fight. Scar had no idea who the ghosts were, probably the ghosts of his past friends, the ones who’d been slain, whom he’d killed. He couldn’t hear them, though, giving Grian a slight edge. Scar remembered to close the ring as he turned around, ignoring the inward counting the other was doing.

When he realised what was happening, the other was urging him to begin, approaching him at a terrifying pace. From there, it was a mess; punches were thrown left and right, up and down, with some thrown with a jump to add more weight. Scar’s head, sides, stomach and body hurt, but a small part of him couldn’t be happier. He inwardly wanted Grian to win the game, he’d been so good after all, so loyal. He couldn’t have asked for anyone else to kill him and pledge their life for him on their first day.

Scar was throwing punches, too, but they weren’t as strong, and he kept getting stuck by the cacti. He watched Grian’s expression. He was remorseful, he was hurting, and he didn’t want to do this, but there were no other options; they both knew that… Even if Scar didn’t quite understand why. They gradually and somehow moved out of the ring, moving towards Pizza’s grave; he was close to death now; he could feel it. He hadn’t been punching or hurting the other enough to have him anywhere close to death.

“I’m so sorry,” Scar blurted, his heavy breathing making the statement gaspy. There were so many other emotions, so much hurt, pain, love, and trust filling his heart, soul, and body, but there wasn’t enough time, not when the punches kept coming, and he kept trying to throw them. “I’m sorry too,” Grian blurted back, far less breathless than Scar himself. He had a sad expression covering his face, but the brunette couldn’t help but feel it was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.

He repeated his apologies as they got closer and closer to Pizza’s grave until suddenly, nothing was beneath his feet. As he began to panic, he shouted, “No!” Out before he felt the final punch from his best friend, killing him in midair before he could hit the floor. It went dark, and the moment was over. His burning passion ceased, and his body replenished as he was sent home.

Yet, no matter how far Scar would get from the moment, away from the Cactus Ring, he knew secretly, he’d never, ever leave it.

Perfection is so quick to bore.

“Get away, Scar, get away from me,” he shouted angrily at the other, shaking from the pain and anguish he’d experienced less than an hour ago. Scar stood his ground, refusing to leave, but he didn’t come closer to granting his wishes. “We said, didn’t we? It was a double victory. We did it, Grian—” he told the other, trying to comfort him.

“No, no, you don’t get it! I used my fists against you, killed you in cold blood… You didn’t even try!” he shouted back at the brunette. Scar felt a little taken aback by Grian’s attitude but understood. He was seeing it in his mind. He was seeing the pain. It might’ve been different for Scar, whose memory had faded from death to Hermitcraft, but for Grian, it had been all too much.

“It’s okay! G, no matter what, I forgive you, okay? You had to do it. Those spectator ma jigs told you to, didn’t they?” He assured, taking a step closer. Grian was tearing up, and my god, Scar just wanted to hold him close and keep him tight until the other was okay. He knew the mental scars would be there for far too long, maybe never leave… But he wanted to take care of the other and assure him he was okay.

“But I still—” He broke himself off, trying to hold in a sob as he desperately tried to curl in on himself, his feathers puffing up as he tried to hide. Scar ran over, taking Grian in his arms and hugging him tightly, quietly whispering comforting words. The dirty blonde was quick to latch on, sobbing into his shoulder as the two quietly digested the obscenities the other server had brought them.

How close they were to one another, but how hurt they’d been from such an experience. Scar doubted they’d be the same again.

You are more beautiful by far.

“Scar?” Grian shouted, nearing the Swaggon with speed. Scar quickly whisked himself to the door and opened it, seeing the dirty blonde at the door. He was so irrevocably different this season. They’d only been together a handful of times since they’d moved into Boatem with everyone, but Scar felt he couldn’t keep his eyes away from the avian every time.

His face was so full of colour, his emotions full of energy and positivity, his wings so beautiful and delicate. It caught the other off-guard every time, but he tried to take it in his stride. After all, he couldn’t just admit to the other he liked him. Once he realised that the other was waving his hand in front of his face, he couldn’t help but blush as he finally paid attention.

“Earth to Scar! God, what’s gotten into you lately?” He asked, laughing a little as he smiled at the terraformer. “Sorry, G! Miles away,” he laughed awkwardly as he let the other in. Grian walked into his home and began to look around, almost like a child curiously going on a new walk and wanting to look at every nook and cranny around.

“It’s fine, Scar. I want to make sure you’re alright… I love your build; it’s so beautiful…” he muttered, admiring the interior despite its work-in-progress. Beautiful like you… Scar found himself thinking. With a smile, he quickly shook his head and joined Grian on his adventure through the Swaggon.

“I’m glad you like it. It's a shame it’s not closer to you!” He replied, snickering and giving a classical grin to the avian. Grian could only huff and turn away at the comment. “It’s not like I can walk to your base without going through a portal or using my wings…” He began listing, making it sound a little ridiculous that the brunette still didn’t find it close enough.

Scar huffed, crossing his arms. “Well, if you think it’s that easy, maybe I should move away!” He replied, shaking his head for effect. Grian could only giggle as he turned back to look at his friend. “Don’t be silly, Scar; I like having you close! Anyway, you can’t leave Boatem now; we’re a team; we will all be working together, staying close,” he explained, watching the other’s expression closely.

Sounds like a dream… “As long as you don’t blow anything up, it’ll be fine,” he chuckled, going into a shulker box nearby to look for food. Do you want any tea, pies, or cookies?” he asked, trying to be polite. “Oh, I’m fine. I just wanted to check up on the build and you, but you seem to be doing just fine,” he replied with a grin.

Realistically, Scar knew the other had just come over to procrastinate on something he had to do on his build. However, having a smaller base to make this season (as the other had proclaimed) should help alleviate just how much procrastination he was due to do this season. He was looking forward to it. He ignored his brain’s inward monologue in favour of staring at Grian’s pretty face—or something like that.

“Alright, well, you know you’re always welcome here, G!” he replied, grinning at the other. Grian only smiled back at the other, enjoying his company a little more before he had to leave.

Our flaws are who we really are.

“Annnd finally! We got it in Grian! After all that time, the creeper is finally in,” Scar cheered, pleased that after so long, they’d finally been able to do it, finally been able to sort out the creeper and put it in Grian’s menagerie. “Thank goodness, I was beginning to think it would take all day,” he sighed appreciatively, getting close to the glass cage. It was surprising that a layer this thin would stop a creeper from blowing up someone, but he was glad for it nonetheless.

Then Grian remembered something. “Oh, Scar, did we name it?” He asked, turning to the brunette in question. He laughed nervously before looking at his inventory, clearly seeing the name tag. He was silent for a long moment, enough for Grian to know exactly what his friend had done. “Scar! We’ll need to break into that and put it on now,” he whined, looking nervous.

The brunette turned to look at his friend, who seemed quite nervous. They’d already blown a charged creeper or two, so getting another in a building named to ensure it didn’t despawn was going to be a task… But it was ultimately Scar’s fault. It was his business, and he had to ensure everything was right with the other’s order, even if he wouldn’t do this for anyone else.

“I’ll do it, not to worry!” He said, grabbing the name tag and getting close to the glass to open it up. “Oh hey hey, dude, is it such a smart idea? I don’t mind doing it—” Grian tried to protest, foreseeing what Scar was about to do, but it was far too late because by the time the dirty blonde was cutting himself off, Scar had already opened the glass and he was trying to get the creeper to come closer for the name tag.

“Come here, Boo… That’s it…” He quietly baby-spoke to the creeper. As soon as it was close enough, he name-tagged the creeper and celebrated, but it was too late. Instead of closing the small window, the celebration gave ‘Boo’ enough time to blow up, destroying the bottom floor of the menagerie and Scar along with it.

He woke with a start at the bed not too far from the disaster, and he heard Grian panic as he went over to see the collateral damage to his little shop. Scar felt his stomach churn. He’d been so sure he could fix the issue for him. Now he needed to fix the shop before they could get another creeper… He’d have to make this right, somehow.

Scar had been away from the Swaggon for a few days to gather resources. This wasn’t unusual by far; it helped him calm down and relax occasionally, especially if things back at the base were getting too much for the hermit. He was not expecting the mess that would be there when he returned.

When Scar closed the door and went up a level, he quickly realised he couldn’t go further into the Swaggon. He frowned, using his elytra, which were still strapped onto his back, to get up and inspect the damage. It wasn’t anything significant; a minor fix would have sorted the issue out just fine, but the ladder was broken and one of the more essential parts of the whole Swaggon.

When he came to inspect the area, he noticed a little note had been left via a sign in the middle of the area, which he quickly saw was one from Grian. Scar had trouble reading the sign; he tended to struggle to read many things, but this was more due to the context of the words than the words themselves.

“Creepers can climb ladders?” He asked himself quietly, shaking his head. Well, at least he knew Grian had been looking for him, even if it was only because of the mess left behind. “Better go and check on G later… He’d probably be quite nervous,” Scar muttered further to himself, taking the sign down as he pondered on what used to be there and what he could do to fix the small hole that a creeper had made.

It took Scar twenty minutes at most to fix the little issue before things were back to normal, and he could continue as he was before. He would have to check on Grian later, though. He strangely got scared or nervous when issues with Scar happened. He knew about third life… Scar mentally shuddered at the reminder, but he’d always done it, even before the death game they’d had.

Scar began to unload his items from his trip, trying to shrug it off as a friend being concerned for another friend. There was no point in overthinking now.

I used to hear a simple song.

It was always Scar. For some reason, the Watchers always wanted him and Scar to be paired. At least, it seemed that way. Even though he’d screamed when he’d found out he and Scar were soulmates, the rush of panic had been all that had pushed him. He was just thankful that the other had no idea. He’d been able to finally come to terms with his emotions by the time it was necessary for Scar to figure it out, and the other had been thrilled for the most part.

He’d been more preoccupied by the Jelly Panda’s, but the other had been delighted when he’d found out. He’d said, “If we are the final two again, we won’t have to kill each other!” And other such lines, but the past was all he could think about. It was fine being with Scar on Hermitcraft; it wasn’t as though anything was indeed on the line, but it felt like making bonds on the life series made things all the more realistic in a hurtful way.

The day he’d beaten Scar in the Cactus Ring was when he lost a part of himself and never wanted to do it again. Scar was far too precious. He should never be put anywhere near death. So that is what he’d do this season, just as he’d done before. Ensure they stay alive and avoid getting close to Scar.

It worked at first. Scar would get confused about their time in separate beds on cold nights. Other times, he'd push him away when Scar wanted to do something that Grian would consider intimate or close. However, whenever he was in danger, he’d step in to avoid the other getting hurt, to the point that Scar had barely touched a sword during the season.

Then he began to see BigB. At first, he makes a silly joke to try to take the edge off of constantly being on guard and cautious around Scar and their relationship. It escalated far too quickly, however, as he began to go there more often to take the edge off of his anxiety. It got to the point that he knew Scar was suspicious, but he didn’t want to admit weakness to his soulmate.

He knew he’d have to face his actions at some point. He just hadn’t realised it would be so soon. After a few hours of ‘disappearing’, he returned to see BigB and Scar waiting at the entrance. He looked unhappy and a little distressed. It raised his anxiety right back to where it had been before he’d even left, making the past few hours almost meaningless.

“Where have you been, G? I thought you said you’d go see the ranchers, but I went over to check up on them, and they said they hadn’t seen you all day! You can’t be lying to me, G… We’re soulmates…” He said, his voice breaking a little as he watched him with a hurt expression. Grian turned away, disliking the look on his face. It broke his heart to see him so upset. Yet, he knew it was all his fault.

“I-I’m sorry,” He stammered, avoiding eye contact as he began to play with a bit of his red jumper. Scar was just too precious. He couldn’t get hurt. He couldn’t know… He had to get out of this… Somehow. “Don’t you dare; I know that look from anywhere, G, and I don’t want to hear lies,” Scar spat, taking a step closer, a step too close in Grian’s opinion.

He felt the other breathing against his hair before a rough hand clutched his jaw and gently brought the other’s head up so the two could look one another in their eyes. They were close, closer than Grian had ever remembered them. Suddenly, he felt his body hot, his cheeks lighting up with red as he watched Scar’s upset and tightly constricted face watch him. He was trying to decipher what was happening in the other’s mind, but it was only filled with Scar.

He momentarily forgot to breathe, but the other had used his soft words to keep him taking slow, deep breaths. He must’ve thought Grian was having a panic attack to react so gently with him. The dirty blonde tried to look away, but Scar’s hand was firm and unwilling to move. He was trapped, stuck in a consequence of his actions. Of course, he should’ve seen this coming; he had, in a way… Just not in such a close situation.

“I’m sorry,” he quietly repeated, staring into Scar’s eyes and seeing sorrow staring back at him. Scar didn’t try to reply to him this time. The male had set out the rules of this conversation, and he held his thoughts, unable to make words of them. How could he tell Scar about his insecurities? His worries, him going off to see BigB to alleviate the stress in the only way he’d learnt how: running away from his problems.

The silence between them left Grian awkwardly, trying to fill it with something. He just didn’t want to admit it just yet. “I-I just, it’s difficult, okay? That doesn’t mean I don’t care about you because I do—” he cut himself off, groaning at his stupidity as he watched Scar’s eyebrow quirk in amusement. Of course, of course, Scar would find this amusing. It wasn’t as if he was still holding Grian’s face, and they were mere centimetres apart. Of course, that wouldn’t be mind-melting to the other male.

“I’ve been going over to see BigB, just to relax over with him, nothing else,” he blurted, avoiding the other’s eyes as much as possible. The two were silent for a long moment, with Scar’s breath hitting the entire him before he finally sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want you to see your friends, but why would you hide it from me, G?” he quietly complained, trying to keep the whine out of his tone. It worked, mostly.

“I would rather not hurt you, that’s all,” Grian finalised, shaking his way out of the other’s grip. The brunette didn’t try to get close again; he looked genuinely hurt by the other’s behaviour. “Has this all been about—”

“Don’t mention it,” Grian stated coldly, turning away from the other, and Scar knew he’d hit the bullseye. He quietly moved to stand next to the avian, not quite looking at him and not making the other stare at him either. The best of both worlds from Scar’s perspective. It had comforted Grian a little, too; not having to look the other in the eye made things a lot easier on himself.

“We’re together this time; it’s either us or nothing,” Scar quietly spoke, glancing at the other nervously. He flinched but tried not to make a big deal, although the brunette had seemed to notice somewhat. “We might not even make it to the end. G, will you throw this because you’re scared of a repeat?” Scar asked, his face clearly showing a look of disappointment. A feeling of guilt began to bubble up in the other’s chest, but he wouldn’t let it slide.

“You’re far too precious, Scar; I’m not letting you get hurt just because we decided to get close again. I hurt you last time, and I don’t want to repeat that same mistake,” he snapped, avoiding the other’s eye contact. Scar laughed a little at the irony of what the other had said. “ Hurting me? Grian, you’re already doing that by staying away from me! We do things as a team. That’s what this season is supposed to be about… You actively pushing me away is only hurting the both of us,” Scar pleaded, feeling upset as he watched the other’s face morph into one of guilt.

“I…” Grian tried at that moment to find a way out of the situation, an excuse to tell that would further go with the idea that he’d been subjecting himself throughout the entire season…

But it was empty. His brain was empty of ideas.

That’s what broke the dam. As he began to tear up, Scar took notice almost instantly and moved to comfort the other, bringing him in a hug. Grian latched onto him with an urgent need as the waterworks properly began, and he continued to sob loudly into Scar’s shirt. The only change that bringing Scar close made was that his sobs were muffled, and he had someone else to lean on.

He’d been hopelessly lying to himself this entire time, wishing that there was some way to avoid the same pain and hurt that he’d previously been subjected to. Maybe, if he listened to his partner, the rest of this series would be enjoyable. All he had to do was let go.

That was until you came along.

Grian was majestic to Scar. The way he flew made trouble for many people around him, and the way he built was so beautiful. He almost wanted to live there, be by his side, and love—errr. Maybe his thoughts were getting away with him a little there. The point was that Scar adored Grian, and seeing him in such pain felt inhumane.

Mumbo had left to go on holiday, which initially felt like a bit of a hiatus but now felt a little more permanent than many people on the server, especially Grian, liked to admit. Their moustached friend had given him special permission to do what he wanted with the vault and its contents (however minor they were). Still, it was obvious to Scar that Grian would never be capable of doing such a thing, especially with how much he treasured its small contents.

The whole area was almost biblical to the other, even where a new version of Grumbot was somewhat under Mumbo’s base, away from his builds on the ground. Watching the other constantly pour over the cave, the rift, and the machinery almost made Scar feel sick. It was a sad obsession, and he knew the other wouldn’t normally do anything like this.

More often than not, the scarred male found himself dragging Grian out there for some self-care while avoiding making any progress on his base. It was one of the places that Scar had become most accustomed to during this season, and it was also starting to become concerning. He also left his wings on more often than not these days. Grian may have the natural wings of an avian, but his Elytra was not made for 24/7 usage.

Scar’s efforts were appreciated. However, Grian had made that very clear, especially with how he had previously been quite combative with coming out of the dreary cave, where now he would follow the other’s directions rather than fight. The other would sometimes even follow Scar throughout Scarland for more company. It partially felt like he was babysitting the other, but he didn’t mind.

He wouldn’t ever say that he enjoyed the other being clingy, even if it was a little evident. Grian may not have picked up on it yet, but clearly, the others had. He’d been teased quite a bit about how he’d take care of the other, including being teased that the two were together in a relationship, but he’d only deny them and never mention any of it to his already hurting friend.

He continued to explain why he shouldn’t tell the other when he got a ping from his communicator. It briefly took him out of his element, and he realized he’d been outwardly ranting to a piece of Scarland he’d been making. He shuffled to bring it out and sat down to read everything. There was no doubt that he’d missed a few pieces of conversation.

He quickly read through the main chat from all the hermits, but nothing was too attractive for him before he realised he’d been whispered by no one other than Grian himself. ‘Can I come over? Movie night, maybe?’ he asked, raising Scar’s eyebrows. He knew what suggesting a movie night would become, which only concerned him. Grian never brought up those fearing Star Wars talk, but it seemed they were a little more interested today.

He shrugged, telling himself he’d mentally check on Grian when he arrived. ‘Sure! When are you thinking?’ he quickly replied, ignoring the further message the dirty blonde had sent to ask Scar whether he was awake. He got a very quick reply, which indicated to the other that he’d been waiting for Scar to reply and watching the conversation.

‘I’ll be coming over now. If you’re busy, I don’t mind just watching you for a little,’ he explained over messages. Scar shut the communicator off quickly, knowing there would be no point in replying when the other was already coming over. He was in a part of the park that was a little more difficult to find than being out in the open. This meant that although Scar had heard him enter the park, Grian wouldn’t see him for several minutes.

The brunette took the opportunity to finish his build a little early, complete the small part he’d been working on, and move swiftly into Grian’s vision, where the avian came up to him reasonably quickly.

“Scar! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” he whined, speeding into the other’s personal space. The other only laughed as he watched Grian with an adoring look. " I just had to finish something; you are doing okay, G?” he asked, inspecting his friend with too much precision. Maybe he’d just gotten good at doing it so recently, but it was almost scary how he could pick up the small details of Grian’s well-being from his looks.

In all fairness to him, it looked as though he’d showered not long after messaging him. His hair was mostly dry now, but there were still little bits that were damp in his hair, which was nice to know. The other took care of himself minimally to the point Scar had once had to drag him into the bathroom and lock the door until the other had showered and dressed himself in new clothing that wasn’t his dirty ones.

It had been unpleasant for all involved, but they’d made the most of it. Returning to the present, he noticed that the other smelled like a mixture of fresh scents, and his wings were pretty much preened. The brunette was pleased to see the other in such good condition without his help. His smile got a little wider than before when he listened to him.

“Yeah, feeling a little better today, but I just wanted to see if I could treat Mr Goodtimes to a movie night of his choice! You’ve been doing so much for me lately that I thought you’d enjoy doing what you want a little more,” he replied shyly, giving him a big smile. Scar beamed at the other, feeling extremely pleased with the other’s thoughtfulness.

This may not be quite the turning point that Scar would hope that lasts long-term, but it was something that the other would cherish for a long, long time.

You took my broken melody.

“So I was wondering,” Grian warily started, watching the other as he went through the training course he’d made in Scarland. “Hmm?” The other replied, trying to concentrate as he kept hitting the targets. “I was wondering if Hotguy had a sidekick,” he blurted, looking away from the other. The question made Scar turn around and stop, staring at him with an empty expression as he processed the words.

“You’re asking if I have a sidekick?” he asked to confirm, looking a little confused with the other. Grian nodded a little, shifting uncomfortably with the other’s eyes on him. “…I don’t. Why do you ask?” he questioned, looking suspicious. Grian felt a little self-conscious as he had the other’s eyes on him.

He promised himself it would be fine; he’d spent a lot of time practising and making his outfit… All he needed to do was tell the other. “I was just wondering if that position was available?” he asked, keenly aware of Scar staring at him with a look of curiosity and pure joy. “Yes! Yes!! Oh my god, G! That sounds wonderful!… You’re talking about yourself, right?” He asked, realising he’d assumed without questioning the other.

Grian chuckled a little to play off his nerves whilst he nodded. “Yup, advocating for myself,” he warily replied, his hands itching to place down the shulker box with his outfit. “Oooh, ooh! What’s your name going to be?” He asked, using his Elytra to float down and stand beside Grian. The dirty blonde smirked, pleased that he seemed to be so excited.

“Well, since you’re Hotguy, I thought I’d be Cuteguy! Y’know, because I’m so cute?” He suggested, faking an excited grin to the other as he felt the anxiety create a pit in his stomach. Scar whistled, winking at him. “That is a perfect name Grian, I wholly agree, you are such a cutie that it feels like it’s the only name that fits,” he replied quickly, as if he’d been preparing the line for years.

The words made Grian blush a little. He turned away a little to try and avoid Scar seeing him light up like a Christmas tree. “W-well, I’ll be needing an outfit for this—” he tried, trying to prevent the redness of his cheeks as a topic of conversation. Yet, the suggested topic had only made Scar gasp as he excitedly began to think of ideas.

“Oh, I’ll make one for you right now, Grian! Oh how cute you’ll be in the outfit I’ll make you, oh we can do so much super stuff together! Hotguy-ing and Cuteguy-ing anyone we see! We’ll be an amazing duo,” He began to chatter, not allowing Grian time to speak as he moved towards one of the back areas of Scarland to make an outfit.

The other shook his head fondly. He may have an outfit, but perhaps Scar’s would be made more out of love and far more worth his time. Before he followed the other, he took out the shulker box and took out the black outfit, mixed with red and orange lines. It looked a little similar to Hotguy’s outfit, but he shook his head, binning it in some fire before closing the shulker box, taking it, and putting it back in his inventory.

He shortly followed after Scar, wondering what kind of ideas he had for his first proper outfit.

And now I hear a symphony.

It was… Concerning, to say the least. To say Scar wasn’t worried for his friend would be an understatement. The whole shebang to do with Mumbo had grown to extreme levels, so Scar had stopped seeing the other as much. Even though there had been good moments, such as everything with Cuteguy (which did still happen on occasion, just not nearly as much as Scar liked), there were still bad moments, this being one of those moments.

Grian had been hanging around him less overall recently. Usually, they’d have movie nights, or the other would follow him to avoid working on his base, but now it was as if he’d disappeared. He knew that sometimes he didn’t leave his abode, but it was growing more than concerning now.

Scar decided to go see him. The other wasn’t replying to his messages on the communicator, so he had to stage an intervention in person. It was the only way around it. He brought his Elytra back on and moved toward Grian’s home. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far away, but there was a reasonable distance.

Once he got to the front, he immediately noticed that the door was open and that the house was empty, at least in the area visible from the door. Scar hesitantly went into the house and looked around; he saw nothing. There was no sign of Grian being there, at least in the last few hours. It made Scar nervous, but he knew he’d find the other.

After checking the house, he checked the rest of the base, including the storage area, the small farms, and even Mumbo’s base. He discovered only one place he hadn’t checked: the hole where Grumbot lived. Hesitantly, he went inside and briefly looked at the closed rift before turning around and checking the rest of the area.

He almost left before finding a small crevice he’d never realised existed. He moved past the rock around and found a small, dimly lit room. The dirty blonde was there, around a circle of candles and under a drawing… What that Mumbo’s face? He quietly sneaked in to not alert the other; he noticed the other sniffling, and his heart quietly broke.

“Grian?” he quietly asked, looking at the other with heavy concern. The avian swiftly turned to look at Scar, his face tight and wet with tears. His cheeks were red, and his eyes were puffy. He looked like a mess, his hands covered with a black substance, probably the chalk he’d used for the floor of the small area and its Mumbo Summoning circle.

“S-scar?” He whispered, his voice breaking as he stared at the other in shock. The other nodded, trying to stay quiet in case that set the other off. It seemed that Grian stood up shakily without much thought, his legs not supporting him as much as they should’ve as he ran towards Scar, hugging him tightly. Scar clutched and held him close, giving Grian the exact thing he needed: compassion and comfort.

It took Grian a while to calm down after that. From all the crying and struggling to breathe as he desperately tried to calm down as Scar told him it was okay to cry, it took at least half an hour to have Grian back on the floor, sitting next to Scar as they stared at the Mumbo summoning circle that Grian had made when he was desperate.

When he’d stopped clinging, Scar had got them both to retreat for the floor in the worry that Grian would’ve toppled over at the slightest movement; he seemed strangely weak. Now that things had calmed down, however, Grian was silent, avoiding any semblance of a conversation.

“I’m glad I caught you. I was worried about you… I’m not sure what you were doing, but it seemed like you needed the hug,” Scar mumbled, trying to talk to the other but seemingly talking to himself as Grian mostly spaced out next to him. It was unnerving, but he understood it was the other’s way of comprehending the events and what had happened.

“Why… Why do you look after me, Scar?” the dirty blonde asked, looking miserably up to him. The other hesitated; he didn’t want to admit his true feelings to the other. As well as being friends, he loved the other; that was why he cared about Grian so much. He was just so beautiful, so funny, idiotic, and explosive… But Scar loved every part of it.

“You’re my best friend,” Scar simply replied. It wasn’t quite a lie, but it wasn’t the truth. It comforted the brunette a little that he’d said some semblance of reality. Grian didn’t look as if he’d believed it, though. “No, come on, that excuse wore out the moment you let me sleep in your bed three times in one week; we both know that’s not the only reason you’ve stayed. Do you think you’ll get something from keeping me around? Did Mumbo ask you to make sure I didn’t hur—”

“He did not ask such a thing, and honestly, I’m a bit hurt that you seem to think that,” Scar interrupted, looking like a hurt animal with a slightly blanched face. Grian threw his arms up in frustration. “Well, what is it then? Because I sure as hell have no clue,” he scathingly replied, crossing his arms. Scar gulped, looking away as his cheeks began to redden. He supposed he’d have to say it.

Well, Scar inwardly reasoned, he didn’t have to. He could keep trying to fool the other into thinking that he just wanted the other to be okay and that they were best friends. Although it was true, it didn’t feel right to have that as the simple excuse for his behaviour. He gulped. For it all to end at this moment felt odd, but he knew it was better to do it now or never.

“I love you… I don’t mean in the way of ‘oh, you’re my friend, and I love you and wouldn’t want you to be hurt, no no, no, my dear sir, I mean, I love you. I want to kiss you the type of love, and I’d love to keep you close and hold you kind of love,” Scar admitted, playing with his hands shyly as he kept his eyes away from the other’s face. It was silent, and it was making Scar squirm.

“I m-mean, if all that makes you feel uncorf- uncomp— weird, then I can go, but I just want you to be okay, and we can just ignore all this if—”

Scar’s chin was quickly taken hold of, and his lips were shoved against Grian’s. They were kissing, but the whole ordeal was messy. Being a little shocked at first, Scar couldn’t take in what was happening until it was too late and Grian had already moved back, his face looking so cute and puffy, a mess, but Scar’s mess.

With enough confidence, Scar goes in for the next kiss, capturing the other’s lips as he softly and simply kisses him, holding the other securely as they get comfortable against one another. It wasn’t heated nor messy; it was just them, their lips, and their silent confession. They love one another, always and forever.

Moving away almost felt like a crime to Scar. Still, he knew they’d both have to have proper breaths of air eventually, especially Grian, who’d had trouble breathing not longer than ten minutes ago. Once separate, Grian watched the other for a long moment before giving a small smile at him. It wasn’t a big smile; the other was still mentally recovering and had dry tear marks on his cheeks, but it was a smile nonetheless.

“I love you, Mr GoodtimeswithScar,” Grian whispered, watching the other with a look of fondness that he’d only been a handful of times before. A smile pulled at his lips as he lifted his hand to stroke the other’s cheek. “I love you too, Grian,” he whispered back.

And now I hear a symphony.

Scar was getting impatient. Grian could tell. It was a little amusing to him, but he couldn’t help but feel the love from the other as he kept close to him, supporting him through the trouble he’d had with the sea recently. Was it the sea? It felt more like a deep river… Alas, the water, with its fishing rewards, wasn’t treating him well.

Being Grian’s partner, Scar swore off mending himself until Grian also got the mending book from pure fishing. It was heartwarming that the other would do something both sacrificial and painful. It reminded Grian of the bond the two had made together through the love, the pain and the difficult times.

They hadn’t decided to live together just yet, with Grian being at the dock and slowly making progress on his own house whilst Scar became a zoo keeper in a train for the tenth season of Hermitcraft. The two were living life, and it was peaceful, other than Grian’s continuous shouts of anguish.

Speaking of anguish, the dirty blonde felt a tug at the line. Scratching his new beard, he began to pull in, and Scar began to whistle, letting go of Grian’s side to focus on the catch. With little pushback, he managed to bring whatever he’d fished up easily. It was a book. He held his breath as he took it off the line.

He opened the page, showing that the book was just another Depth Strider rendition. Grian angrily groaned and threw it toward his not-mending book chest. Scar made a noise of sympathy for him before gently tapping on the wood, letting Grian grumpily sit back down. Scar got close to him and began to cuddle up as Grian put another line out and held it, hoping he’d catch another book soon.

“It’s alright, G. We’ll get you that book one of these days,” he softly murmured, taking the avian’s hand as he tried to comfort the other. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll just find it next week, like we said last week, that we’d find it this week,” Grian angrily mumbled, stroking the back of Scar’s hand to comfort the other and himself.

Scar lightly laughed. “Yeah, something like that. We’ll get through this together,” he replied, giving a slight smirk to the other, who wasn’t paying attention to his face. “You make it sound like someone’s died,” Grian muttered, keeping a tight watch on the line and where it lay in the water. The other gave a light chuckle.

“Your hope and dreams have died, haven’t they?” He asked, his grin widening as he watched the other move away from him and look amused and fakely hurt. “Scar! You rude git,” he replied, snorting as he shook his head and got comfortable beside him again. Scar hummed back, relaxing next to the other until he got another tug on that damned fishing line.

[lilietsblog]

Stardew Valley mod rec compilation

this is a regular question asked on the discord so I wanted to put together my own constant pack to link.

These are NOT all mods I use. These are the mods I’m **completely confident **in recommending together, that definitely work well, combine well and won’t create any cognitive dissonance.

(Note that I’m not listing any prerequisites. Whichever mod you’re installing, you obviously need to install its prerequisites too)

(Most of these are on Nexus, but not all. MARGO is on GitHub, for example. Search on Nexus first, then duckduckgo or google it if it’s not there)

Utility if-you’re-modding: (mods that maybe won’t improve your game per se and you don’t want to install Just Them if you’re picking and choosing, but if you’re already using other mods, you want to look at these)

Advanced Save Backup (obvious function is obvious, don’t let mod fuckups permanently ruin your save)

Generic Mod Config Menu (absolutely mandatory if you’re installing like… >1 other mod)

CJB Cheats Menu + CJB Item Spawner (the more mods you have the more likely you’ll need this to recover after glitches. There are vanilla bugs you might want this to help you with too)

Jump Over (or noclip, in case you get stuck somewhere)

Mod Update Menu (fully optional, but might be nice)

Quality of Life (mods that I’m completely confident work well together and will improve your game withough particularly changing it. You do want to meddle in config for many of these though. Increase complexity at your own pace)

Action Sitting

After Midnight Speed Buff

Easy Coal

Balanced Quarry

Better Artisan Good Icons

Better Beehouses

Better Chests

Better Ranching (turn off “prevent failed harvesting” in config, add Fix Animal Tool Animations for that functionality instead)

Bigger Backpack

Collapse on Farm Fix

Destroyable Bushes

Gift Rejection

Grass Growth

Horse Overhaul - Immersive Scarecrows

Immersive Sprinklers

Lucky Rabbit’s Foot

Mail Services Mod

MARGO - Tweex, Tools and Ponds modules

Remember Birthdays

Robin Work Hours

Expanded Big Shed

Sturdier Saplings

Time Speed

Zoom Level

Friendship QoL: (I’m putting these into a separate category because they specifically make one thing easier and might be unbalanced together - but if you want lots of custom NPCs they might be necessary as a breath of air)

Part of the Community

Passive Friendship

Friend of a Friend

Visual (This is specifically the combination I use, that I know for a fact works well and looks good together. These are mods that don’t alter any mechanics or add any content and mostly don’t impact balance, they’re purely to make the game look better)

Custom Menu Background

Better Water

Cuter Coops and Better Barns or Coop and Barn Facelift

Darker Vanilla Crops

Darker Vanilla Forage

Dynamic Night Time

Dynamic Reflections

Happy Fish Jump

Iridium Sprinkler Desaturated or Burnished Bronze Iridium Sprinkler

Less Ugly Spouse Rooms

Medieval Buildings

Simple Foliage

Skell’s Flowery Tools

Starry Night Interface (deleted from Nexus)

Vintage Interface (and this if you’re using Bigger Backpack)

Vibrant Pastoral Recolor

Way Back Pelican Town

Wind Effects

Yri’s Modular Flowers

Eemie’s Dark Wood and Gold Craftables - Scarecrow and Rarecrow Recolors - Climates of Ferngill

Swimsuit Selection

Spritemaster, and you can turn off the smoothing just for faster rendering everywhere with no visual changes

Dialogue + NPCs (Thoroughly vetted - exclusively the mods that don’t create any contradictory lore, fit fully with vanilla, and might make you feel like vanilla was always intended to be this way)

Dusty Overhaul

Community Wednesdays and Community Center Reimagined

David the Hamster

Demetrius Visits Farm Cave Redux

Diverse Stardew Valley

the ethnic wedding outfit collection (Emily Ukrainian Wedding Dress and others with the same naming scheme, entering “wedding” into search is a good way to find these)

Haley Reads Magazines (plug of my own mod)

Immersive Spouses

Jean and Jorts

Social Haley

Unlikely Friends

Immersive Sandy

Make the game more fun (This is a fairly diverse category - these are the mods that will substantially alter the game and give it a decidedly non-vanilla feel and balance, but that I’m willing to vouch for as fun, non-conflicting, non-glitchy and not making your life harder. Some of them are smaller than others)

Walk to Desert Redux

Archery + Archery starter pack

Artista

Cape Stardew

Cat gifts

Deep Woods

Farmhouse visits

Festival of the Mundane

Hot Spring Farm Cave (or another farm cave mod)

If It Fits I Sits

Improved Cindersap Forest (plug of my own mod)

Like a Duck to Water

Lost in the Mountains (or another custom farm map mod) (plug of my own mod)

MARGO - Combat, Professions and Taxes modules

Stardew Druid

Swim Mod

Wren’s Expanded Greenhouse (or another greenhouse mod)

Animals Need Water

Even More Secret Woods

NPC Adventures (and content packs for it)

Map Editor Extended

Free Love pack (This is for the people who think SV is nice in allowing the player to date multiple people, but unnecessarily restrictive in allowing them to only marry one of them. I’m putting other romance/marriage/parenthood mods in this category also) necessary: (these are the mods you need to make a multi-spouse household function smoothly, period. Need extensive configuring, usually, so pay attention when you install them)

Bed Tweaks

Custom Spouse Patio Redux (this one can glitch, but Map Editor Extended has fixed it for me fine every time)

Custom Spouse Rooms

Free Love

Wedding Tweaks optional: (these are the mods that can substantially improve your personal life if you’re into them, but Free Love functions fine without them)

Platonic Partners and Friendships

Bachelors and Bachelorettes stay friends

Fourteen Heart Events for All

Gender Neutrality Mod

Not In Here By Yourself (plug of my own mod)

Hugs and Kisses

Multiple Spouse Dialogs (+Tia’s and Liliet’s packs for it) (plug of my own mod uwu)

Planned Parenthood

Swimsuit Selection

Unique Children

Unique Children Talk - T’s Spouse Room

[sfsolace]

Makinata Mondays: A Hakumei & Mikochi read-along

This is a weekly series where i read through my favorite manga and share my thoughts along with some screenshots.

Chapter 8: Warm Hearth and Gambling

Plot Summary: Hakumei and Mikochi are far from home, with the weather getting more snowy and colder by the minute. As a last resort, they decide to try their luck at a nearby inn that Hakumei frequents. The situation gets slightly tense, as Hakumei still has to pay off her gambling debts from her last visit.

I was honestly surprised that this chapter is in volume 1 of the manga! From my memory of reading Hakumei & Mikochi a while ago, i thought it would be way deeper into the series, like chapter 30 or so.

Maybe the anime confused me a little bit, since they reorder the chapters and a bunch of volume 2 stories come ahead of this one.

The snow is a really nice change of pace from the usual weather and i love how it's drawn. So much of the page/frame is almost blindingly white now, while the nighttime sky still gives that strong contrast. One of my favorite things in this manga is the strong sense of contrast that makes every image pop.

We also meet the Dondoya sisters! Together they run the inn "Dondoya - Dengaku & Robatayaki".

Mimari is definitely the friendlier one, with a calm, cheerful personality.

Shinato, on the other hand, has a few rough edges. She drinks a lot, holds grudges and in this chapter, has it out for Hakumei for allegedly still owing her money from their last game.

Most of this chapter is dedicated to the high stakes game Hakumei sets up to erase her debts from the previous game and secure lodging for the night; with Mikochi and Mimari just along for the ride.

To be completely honest, i kind of lose the plot as soon as someone explains rules or plans, so i never really got into gambling manga/anime. (sorry Kakeguri fans, sorry D'Arby)

I'm mainly here for the character interactions and the art.

But even if I'm a bit loopy when it comes to the rules, the way it's rendered and paced still makes me excited for the twists and turns to come.

This concludes volume 1 of the manga! Thank you for following me along so far; i hope i could motivate you to read the manga or even buy a copy somewhere (much appreciated).

Next week I'll tackle volume 2. I recently purchased an actual physical copy of the manga (bc i adore it so much) and I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the next volume.

I'm also going to post a compilation of the chapter art from volume 1 soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that. I didn't want to include the chapter art in my read-along bc it felt lazy to me, since all of these should be appreciated on their own. Let me know if the compilation post is fun, otherwise i can also post them one by one. I've seen both methods used for dungeon meshi chapter art (shoutout to dungeonmeshititlepages ) and both have their pros and cons.

Love y'all!

[mcl-mia]

//so... i have (finally) began trudging my way through the routes of wh again (done every route prior to rembrant's, sans klaus 2 because i am petty and still think it shouldn't have existed), and i've finally gotten to nox's route. just finished rembrandt's. and like... man do i have Thoughts. so i'm going to compile them and scream into the void. many of them will probably be on rembrandt's route, but that's because.... you know. the one i just finished.

first of all. narrative wise, i ADORE the continuation. i love how they are all in one connected timeline, it really brings such a finality to season 2 and it does, despite having its own issues, fixes what one of my biggest problems with the s1 routes (i.e. self contained story lines that don't connect anywhere). they introduce like, 80% of the cast that you're going to be interacting with and dating for the forseeable future and it makes it feel like a proper overarching storyline actually EXISTS!!! AND THERE IS ONE!!! AND IT WILL SOMETIMES REFERENCE S1 STUFF!!! IT'S SO GOOD. SO GOOD.

-100 points for having the rest of the s1 cast being almost fucking absent though. i understand that like. narratively they wouldn't always need to be there. however. i miss my boys. also -10000000 points for practically no amelia. where's my fucking wingman.

i 👏 love 👏 the 👏 night 👏 class 👏 boys. 👏👏👏 they feel like an actual friend group and shit like this makes me soooooo fucking emotional:

literally this makes me so feral. like, these people are liz's best fucking friends and it SHOOOWWWWSSS. the unconditional love here makes my heart want to burst.

i am eating so much good food lore wise. geography from bith hisoka and rembrandt's routes have me eating so good.

i like the time travel aspect well enough, though i do wish they did a smidge more with it? i'm not done with the rest of the routes yet obv but i'm curious to see if liz gets to keep her time powers. the end of rembrandt's route seems to imply that she lost them because the goddess crystal shattered, though?? status is currently unclear.

this line from mischa destroyed me:

like seriously. what the fuck. this is such a good line. and it reminds me that hugo, vain, and mischa have seen so many possible timelines that exist, and yet there IS one where hugo decides to take his shot. i know they basically have everybody be in love with liz but i think it's especially cute but very cruel for hugo, who almost certainly falls in love with her every time he meets her in a different timeline. just something to think about.

speaking of mischa. i think it's fucking adorable how chica and mischa are pen pals. besties. refined ladies. we love them. idk why tumblr doesn't want me to upload the screenshot but it's really cute.

so. routes. hugo's and hisoka's felt like..... nothing? like sure, they had some Big Picture Plot relevance, hugo's moreso for obvious reasons, but hisoka's felt like a beach episode. really weird.

hisoka's especially felt like nothing. like, cool that they introduce beastmen and , subsequently,the not so cool furry racism (wow i love fe9/fe10). but like. what else did it do besides have rembrandt take his watch back. and some geography. it was a nice change of pace, but the stakes felt so incredibly low compared to the two other routes its sandwiched between. don't get me wrong, i love the ending that came out from it. i LOVE the market idea and i love how it was walter fucking goldstein that sponsors hisoka. i just wish that, like..... there was bigger things going on in it. cute route overall, but just felt a little out of place. also hachi is a 10/10 familiar. would give so many pets.

ok. so rembrandt. i love, like, a LOT of how this route is written, to an extent. it is SO full of lore and dragonkin biology. i also like the overt head-smashing symbolism of rembrandt's magic being called "twilight" - not quite day, not quite night. if i were any dumber i'd call it clever.

so. to go back to the bad. because i think, very ironically, rembrandt is the worst part of his own fucking route. it's not that i don't find rembrandt exceedingly pretty, because he is, and his characterization is kinda... good? but he's just not the rest of the cast. literally the rest of the s2 squad consistently make me smile and giggle like a child, while i'm giving the "romance" a 1000 yard stare.

like, seriously. this small convo with lucious is just fucking great and better than any dialogue liz and rembrandt have ever had:

lucious calling his friends virgins is so funny. you go you funky little dude. never change, baby boy. but this is just soooo GOOD.

there's a lot of instances where they make it a point to show that the s2 cast really cares for liz, and that they are so comfortable around her. there's SO much good interaction and it's so cute... and then rembrandt is just. there. in the corner. losing his religion.

ok but seriously. let's talk about rembrandt himself for a sec. because like, rembrandt is fine. i appreciate that they don't beat around the bush that he is literally going to outlive liz. i also appreciate that everybody else is like, "do not fucking trust him, he is literally the enemy". unfortunate that due to the nature of the route liz is like "nuh uh" which makes everyone else be like "fym nuh uh". overall though i feel like he's just. too bland. which is WILD considering that he was a prison of war for like 1000 years. i know it's moreso that in his route he has (because of liz) finally started to trust humans again, but i wanted hesitation, i wanted DRAMA, a more romeo and juliet type beat!!! that came kinda close to it, but rembrandt being there and basically turning himself in is.... lame. very lame. sigh.

and then we have the incorporation of rembrandt into the main group. like, i love the night class boys SO much. and like, it bothered me a lot when liz would be like "oh don't worry rembrandt, we're your friends and you're part of the group now!" when rembrandt would do basically nothing but exist there. like, he barely interacted with them??? he felt very out of place, especially when the rest of the boys were still unsure about rembrandt. at least make fun of zeus like the rest of us, old man.

also. the plot point where rembrandt met liz when she was a kid, and she changed his whole outlook on humans..... uuuugggghhhhh. felt very unnecessary imo. it's like they just wanted to slap in another romance trope to make up for the fact that there wasn't a lot of romance to begin with. uuuuugggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

this was funny:

thank you for your services caesar o7

oh! and nox's outfit as nightmare is dumb. i know wh probably wasn't getting the greatest budget in the world but like... could have made it, like, so much better. i'll do a separate post for that in a min.

uhhhhhh i think that's all i got for now. i have . more but y'know. more to come.

[rpgchoices]

Sometimes I really want to read a short summary of what to expect from a game… and thankfully people can also submit their summaries of games they played and help me (and others) find games that cater to their interests!

submitted by @lairofsentinel

(click here for other videogames)

what to expect from ROAD 96: Mile 0

Story-driven game with little to play, and more about picking options. 

This game is a prequel of Road 96. Here, we understand Zoe’s background in detail and the reason why she, as the daughter’s Petria’s oil minister, left the main city.  Zoe is a character we met in the previous game I've talked about before.

You play with 2 teenagers: Kaito, the son of an exploited working class parents, and Zoe, the daughter of the country’s oil minister. There is no customization.

In this game, we are focused on the City of Petria, a fantasy mixture of north of Mexico and communist Russia, where the tyranny is led by an “elected president called” Tyrak. Mainstream media is completely bought and altered by his party. I have done a criticism about the first game and the real world countries that inspired it. Nowadays, ironically, everything that was done as a criticism of communism [for example, Orwell’s stories] applies perfectly well as a criticism for capitalism, so I’m torn about this game and where it’s aiming for, specially when you know it's a French production.

It’s needless to say that this game has a high content criticizing our current democracy systems. There is also some room for questioning fanatic behaviour in either side: fascist fanatics as well as revolutionary fanatics. One can agree or disagree with the content of this game, but I like how it stimulates your thoughts and your questions.

Its narrative is a lot simpler than in the first game.

We find and meet some of the characters we saw in the previous game too; like the only reporter of the city, Sonya; the kind policewoman Fany, the tired revolutionary John, or the genius kid who is on the road, Alex.

The game loosely presents the previous game’s  3 alignments: revolutionary, moderate, and mainstream. But they seem to be less tight than in the previous game.

This game has a lot of minigames that may end up being very annoying. 

Among the minigames, and as transitions between big acts in the storytelling, we have something called “rides”, in which Kaito and Zoe do a race in high speed in skater or roll skates. Despite being a beautiful, artistic resources, in which we are delighted with amazing music, fast-pace movement, colour and aesthetics according to the part of the story we are exploring [therefore, it has deep meaning and symbolism], they tend to be performed a bit off. There are a lot of camera changes you don’t control that make these rides a bit more challenging that they should be. For a nice compilation of all these rides, check this video [tons of spoilers, though]. I personally love this ride in particular, when the same tyrant politician who developed a police state a la Big Brother and controls and exploits the worker class to death in oil towns is elected again for 10 years more. 

The game has decent graphics without asking you to have a NASA computer. 

Game fully voiced.

Several different endings, I can count around 9, depending on the last scene choices, which are available depending on how much reputation as revolutionary, moderate, questioning or mainstream you were along the game.   

Short game, around 5 hours of gameplay.

——- Plot? ——-

You play as Zoe or Kaito, living in the city of White Sands, where the president, the oil minister, and the flashy reporter Sonya live. The main plot revolves about the friendship between Zoe and Kaito, and how the class difference and reality affects their perspectives and relationship so deeply. 

——- Gameplay? ——- 

You interact with the NPCs and the environment in a way that increase or decrease your moderation, mainstream support, or revolutionary views.  Sometimes there are boring, annoying mini games as the story progresses.

——- Characters? ——- 

Mainly Kaito and Zoe. 

 ——- LGBT? ——-

Nothing, so far I perceived. 

——- Sadness level? ——- 

Low, but keeps you thinking.

——- Happy ending? Deaths? ——-

There may be deaths depending on your choices. The endings are always bittersweet or bad. Zoe always leaves the city since she is found in the previous game on the road.

[sillyandquiteawkward]

If you made comic books of your ocs I'd totally buy them

yeah thatd be fun!! but also woof the time. the comic im working on rn (manifesting familiarity) is kind of a manifestation (haha) of the desire to make a physical print out/book of a story and comic. desire of. holding my art in my hands. hopefully doing the pace of two pages every week ill have 104 pages by the end of this year, where ever that leaves me. its honestly just a huge test to see how things Go with a long term project.

when it comes to my fallout oc comics i kinda wish i had some sort of clean line thru them all that i could compile them decently into something, just for fun. but alas, my bite sized snippets dont really mesh well with that. plus a lot of the stories id be interested in making into a long form comic id also want to change a Lot. something nice about just meandering along on this blog is that things are so fluid and i can just explore tons of avenues just for funsies.

i think maybe one day itd be fun to yoink cc and the gang into their own universe and give them a proper storytelling. <3

[princess-stabbity]

the main reason i haven't been posting much lately is i got pathfinder: wrath of the righteous for my birthday and it's eaten my brain. i suggested amy play it, and offered to compile a mini guide, based on the immense amount of walkthrough reading and trial-and-error i have endured to get the most out of this clunky but enjoyable game. this is that guide. feel free to read or reply with your own tips, tho technically i'm just posting this here so it won't get lost in our messages.

in order (so you can know where to skip to) we have

general tips

mods

combat tips

crusade tips

general build tips

party build tips

chapter 1 tips

chapter 2 tips

chapter 3 tips

chapter 4 tips

general story tips

the secret ending

general tips

if you want a more detailed and spoilery guide, check out neoseeker or search the pathfinder_kingmaker subreddit (which is the main source for neoseeker's guides). the wiki kinda sucks.

the toybox mod is highly, highly useful. it's basically a dozen mods in one: it lets you get achievements with mods enabled, changes the dumb alignment system, allows polyamory, lets you cheat stuff into your inventory, respec characters on the fly, hear dialogue interjections from absent party members, etc. i strongly recommend it.

save like crazy. good god, the backtracking i have done.

owlcat's sense of pacing is real weird. like apparently in kingmaker they completely reverse the usual rpg logic and you need to do main quests before you can kick it with side quests (...usually). wrath of the righteous is a little better, but still kind of weird and uneven. i'll try to give headsups in the story tips section, but if in doubt, check if there's a lil red hourglass symbol in the journal. that means you need to do that before the main questline is done. they also usually warn you if a main quest is a point-of-no-return for the chapter.

the alignment system is...pretty dumb, imo. as i understand it, "good" and "evil" choices actually pull you towards neutral good and neutral evil, so you can end up like a guy i saw on the subreddit recently, who ended up losing his paladin powers while being explicitly praised by an angel for "pleasing heaven." bc it knocked him into neutral good. anyway, this is why i strongly recommed turning on toybox's "fix alignment system" setting, which should make it work the way you'd expect it to.

have at least one companion with high perception (pets are great for this, and every character rolls independently so more is better) and keep your finger on that tab key, brother. there are hidden shinies every goddamn where.

the puzzles are plentiful and most of them are very bad and annoying. i don't recommend bothering trying to figure them out yourself, just look up a solution. i say this as somebody who usually rawdogs bioware's tower of hanoi obsession.

while resting in the field, there are roles that call for one character to have high lore (religion), one to have high stealth, one to have high knowledge (world), one to have high knowledge (arcana) OR (iirc) lore (religion), and two to have high perception. one character can't fill multiple roles at once. that said, the knowledge rolls are optional (crafting/buffs), and the perception roles won't be needed if stealth does well enough. main takeaway being: try to keep at least one character with you that has a high religion score, and one that has a high stealth score, so you can rest peacefully.

if you see a nice item in the shop, it will probably be available in later acts. i busted my ass trying to buy shit early, in case i lost access to the vendors who sold it, but i've found most things are available again later from a different vendor. there are exceptions, but like. don't worry too much. the main upside of buying stuff early is that in some cases, it allows you to get two. main ones to look out for, off the top of my head, are the icy protector and red salamander rings. you can get two of those. broadly i'll say that, if you're debating what to buy in chapter 1, start with hawke and joran's stock.

when you leave an area, a prompt comes up that allows you to snag all the loose gear left on the map. you can sometimes use this to get around weight limits by dropping stuff and picking it back up via this menu, right before you leave. that said, buy bags of holding as soon as you find them.

"bulk selling" allows you to gather all the vendor trash in one go, which saves a lot of time and helps show what is, in fact, vendor trash. which is smth i struggled with a lot, early on. sell those giant spider legs, they ain't used for shit in this game.

in general, if it ain't unique and you're not using it, sell it. i've even sold some uniques i know i'll never use, like that diadem only usable by kineticists.

mods

unity mod manager

toybox. strongly recommend turning on "fix alignment," "allow achievements," and "no jealousy"

modfinder. a tool that lets you browse, search, (un)install, and update mods from both the nexus and github quickly and easily.

won't bother linking them all (should be able to find them in modfinder if you're interested) but for extra subclasses, feats, etc, i use tabletop tweaks, expanded content, and tome of the firebird. i find it kind of tricky and glitchy, but visual adjustment 2 allows changing portraits and character models. respecmod allows you to fully respec characters, rather than being restricted to respeccing them from the level you recruited them at (e.g., you could make seelah not a paladin, or choose new hexes and spells for ember's first 3 or 4 levels).

note that when updates hit, your mods may need to be updated, and since they get baked into your save, you can be SOL if a mod you're using is broken by an update and been abandoned by the author. so maybe don't be like me and download like 4 different class content mods. (that said, in my experience so far, mod authors have been very fast at updating for patches. the toybox dev in particular is quick as hell, thank christ.)

combat tips

the difference between life and death in this game is buffing. try to get a grip on what buffs do or do not stack, and which ones can be cast in advance so you don't have to spend a turn on it. some good ones in my experience: mage armor, protection from alignment, resist/protection from elements, all the stat buffs (e.g. cat's grace), magical vestment, barkskin, haste.

pets are god. dogs, wolves, and velociraptors are especially great, because they can trip enemies (w/o needing to select the "trip" feat), which makes the enemy lose a turn (they have to spend it getting up) and opens them up to bonus attacks from all party members in melee range (attack of opportunity). mounts (esp horses) also rock because their AC and health essentially act as a barrier, so make 'em as chunky as possible. investing in better stats (via the boon companion and/or mythical beast feats) is recommended, esp if you're multiclassing.

don't forget to buff pets! i give them all mage armor and magical vestment, just as a baseline, and if a tough battle is coming i also use bull's strength/cat's grace and uh. animal embiggerer. whatever the name is, i forgot and don't feel like looking it up. both camellia and nenio should be able to get it. oh, barkskin is good, too, i have lann cast his on his pet, since he's rarely on the frontlines and has great AC. magic fang, esp the improved version that lasts for hours, is great.

scrolls are fun and easy to use. they can fail if your character doesn't have a high enough "use magic" skill, but there's no skill check if it's a class spell (i.e., one their class can learn, not necessarily one they already know). this basically means you get a free casting of that spell, no spell slot required. arcane int-based casters can also learn spells from scrolls (tho you lose those extra spells if you respec and will have to learn them again).

scrolls are also good for having access to cures for some of the nastier debuffs, especially in chapter 1, where you don't have access to a cleric unless you rolled one yourself or specced lann into it. buying some emergency remove blindness and restoration scrolls are recommended.

potions can basically act as a free spell, just like scrolls, but with the added bonus of not requiring any "use magic" skill. so have your fighters and rogues etc glug away

crusade tips

the key is to recruit either chief ageboya or setsuna shy as your general (and, if you create a second force, recruit whichever of the two you didn't pick first). place melee units to stand guard in front of archers, and use the archers + your general's scorching ray/fireball to wreck the shit out of enemy units before they can even reach your melee lines. once they get healing spells and some ranks in master of maneuver (+1 unit per army) shit really pops off.

don't accept heavy losses. reload.

never feel like you have to fight an enemy army that isn't marked green. just wait.

bite the bullet and give irabeth that 7k for extra soldiers, it's worth it.

my fav units so far are hellknights, clerics, shieldbearers, and any kind of archer but especially marksmen and mongrel archers. pick up more of these units often.

army get strong from more guys + the general leveling up

it can be difficult to figure out a good rhythm for moving your party vs moving your armies, but you pick it up after awhile. basically, have your army move until they run out of points, then send your party wherever they need to go. once the clock at the top of the page hits midnight, take control of your armies again to hit "continue" so they continue moving. switch as often as necessary to get everybody where they need to be.

when building outposts, start with the engineering workshop (lowers costs for all subsequent buildings), then start placing a supply cart in basically every outpost you've captured. inns can generate income, but only if you place them before/instead of garrison buildings.

i would also recommend saving the left block of space in drezen for the 4-square buildings, and building stuff like hospitals and apothecaries in the lower block of space, leaving the main block for military units and buff buildings. but that's just me.

don't feel like you have to wipe every enemy off the map. due to the way morale mechanics work, it's good to spread battles out a bit.

in chapter 3, it's better to spend funds on buildings and mercs than trainable troops (e.g. footmen, archers, light scouts). try to have a decent number of forts built up by the end of the act.

save a few decrees that boost morale for a rainy day. just in case.

there's a limit to how many forts and bastions you can have, so think strategically about which ones you want to upgrade. having the ability to teleport to different parts of the map can really help cut down on travel time (assuming you want to).

you can save while on the world map (tho only one save per in-game calendar day for some reason), and it's a good idea to save before entering drezen, because often scenes in the citadel will trigger automatically when you load in.

general build tips

i recommend tabletop tweaks and respecmod. the former adds some good content from tabletop (the pet feats in particular are great), and respecmod allows you to fully respec your companions (goodbye, subpar class choice and un-respeccable character levels!) or respec your main character without having to fully remake them from scratch and lose their 'biography' section. i can grab the relevant settings for you if need be (took a lot of trial and error to get a handle on that).

dexterity is king. high dex builds are generally much sturdier than armor-based ones. part of why cat's grace is arguably the best of the stat buff spells.

point-blank + precise shot are basically necessary for everyone except strict melee characters. even spellcasters have to take these as soon as possible, because many spells count as ranged attacks and frankly you don't have enough slots early on not to use a crossbow anyway.

due to an exploit, lots of people take the crane style feats to buff AC. it goes dodge -> improved unarmed strike -> crane wing/riposte/etc. i don't really think they're necessary on normal difficulty (and tabletop tweaks might remove the exploit by default? haven't checked) but it's good to know.

another very good feat chain is weapon focus -> dazzling display -> shatter defenses, especially if you decide to go with the trickster mythic like i did and get the persuasion 1 trick, or have a skald or dirge bard in your party.

the outflank teamwork feat is also fantastic. mostly for melee fighters, but if you have a feat to spare on a ranged fighter, you may as well (iirc they can proc but not benefit directly from it). make sure to get it on pets, too, including mounts (they count as being in range with their rider at all times!). pets need 3 int to choose teamwork feats, so either give them all a boost to intelligence, or wait until you have a +2 int tiara and keep it in the inventory to put on them for levelups (as i do).

archmage armor and abundant spellcasting are very good mythic abilities for spell casters. you probably want to prioritize them. note that archmage armor only works if YOU cast mage armor on yourself (e.g., don't have a party member do it for you), but the bonus still applies if it's via potion or scroll.

cleaving shot is a great mythic ability for ranged characters. it's free AOE.

if you get tabletop tweaks, there's a short feat chain that's smth like nature spirit -> animal companion, which is a pretty low-cost way to get an animal companion without multiclassing. go wild. who needs to fit thru doorways.

combat reflexes and ever ready mythic ability are excellent choices for melee units, especially with trip and outflank. extra attacks of opportunity basically let your melee units say "oh no you don't" when enemies try to run past them to hit your ranged characters.

if you want to plan future builds, you can always save, then use toybox to grant yourself full levels to plot out the possibilities. i did that a lot.

party builds

seelah: a lot of people say seelah is a mediocre tank, but there's actually a pretty easy way to fix that: a tiny dip in oracle. i leveled her up as a paladin until 5, when she gets her horse, then took a level of oracle and chose nature mystery, which gives her access to an ability called "nature's whispers," which lets her use charisma rather than dex for AC. ta da! as a bonus, there's an "extra revelation" mythic feat option, so i also grabbed her the one that gives boosts to nearby animals. now she's one of the strongest members of my party. for the oracle curse, most people would rec wolf-scarred face, but i don't like that for story reasons, so i chose the one that affects her movement speed, because she's on her horse 24/7 anyway. "pranked" is also ok. if you don't use tabletop tweaks (or turn the fix off in settings) you can also take a dip in scaled fist monk, to stack the charisma AC bonus (i didn't).

camellia: pretty solid all-rounder, generally best as off-tank and skill monkey. i recently respecced her original subclass from spirit hunter to shadow shaman because i think it makes more sense, and paired with a two level dip into alchemist vivisectionist, i think i've finally got her in a good place after trying out a pretty subpar build. that said, straight shaman is not bad for her; general strategy is to give her iceplant hex and the icy protector ring to boost her armor early on, then have her slap on some buffs and go melee with her rapier.

lann: i recommend either giving him only one level of his default class, or, perhaps better yet, fully respeccing him into crusader cleric and/or demonslayer ranger and/or wandering marksman hunter. it makes more sense in-universe imo, and it's more useful (zen archer monk has some abilities that are kind of neat, but by endgame they have accuracy issues that weigh them down). i went ranger and it's been pretty swell, but i think next time i'll make him a cleric and give him "impossible domain: animal" ASAP so he can get back the sweet, sweet velociraptor buddy i gave him (true MVP of the party).

wenduag: sadly can't give too much advice here, but i've heard that mutation warrior + throwing axes turns her into an absolute beast. (note, however, that it takes a stupidly long time to get good throwing axes 💀 baby need CARNAGE)

woljif: haha sneak attack go brrrr. generally focus on self buffs (e.g., mirror image) and stuff like grease and haste and he'll do just fine. as long as another character is flanking the same enemy, or he's behind his target, he can dish out good damage, and sense vitals can fill the gaps in-between. that said, despite the name, i don't rec having him go arcane trickster, they're more of a blaster class. "slippery mind" rogue ability is a good idea, along with sneak attack debuffs.

ember: my baby. my joy. light of my life. against murder but very good at it! i personally leveled her as a mystic theurge (YOU get to be an oracle! YOU get to be an oracle! everybody gets a dip in ORACLE!!!), but that has devolved into a very delicate balancing act of spell selection, so you'll probably just want to level her as a pure witch, or witch with a minor dip in loremaster (so she can get, say, greater command, a spell available to oracles and clerics). pop that ring of the red salamander on her, give her weapon focus: rays and a few fire-based feats, maybe some enchantment ones to give her some very in-character non-violent CC options, and she's good as gold. pay attention to the description of hexes. some of them, like evil eye, are reduced to a single round if the enemy saves...which means, if you follow it up with a cackle each round, you can keep them debuffed forever, save or no save. protective luck and fortune are also great if you use toybox and toggle the option to have cackle extend for 10min out of combat. you can have ember buff-cackle-buff-cackle each party member to get universal advantage for hours.

nenio: ok look. scroll savant is not a bad subclass, i am told. but i highly recommend instead fully respeccing her as an arcanist brownfur transmuter. it makes just as much sense for her as a character, and they truly are the best buffers in the game. i am terrified to go anywhere without her now. she can juice all the stat boost spells, AND she can share "range: personal" buffs like shield or hurricane bow (tho i've recently learned seamantle doesn't work, i assume as an oversight 😑). she's effectively a spontaneous caster but can also learn spells from scrolls. as with vanilla nenio, all her lore and knowledge scores are crazy high, she can use basically any magical device (hello, spare wands!), and can take feats/gear to boost her illusion caster level to "fuck you, die." i'm telling you, brownfur transmuter nenio is the blueprint.

daeran: the king of healing. also an extremely solid buffer. honestly just go full oracle, maybe give him a second mystery. i went "bones" because, as a dhampir, i need the mcfucking help. it turns out animate dead is great for throwing meat(less)shields to buy time and protect squishy caster types. truly the backbone of the party.

sosiel: i used "impossible domain: animal" to give him a nice horsey, to keep him safe, since he is basically a dex-free tin can. "community" is also a very popular additional domain choice for him, since "guarded hearth" is apparently a good buff (can't say, have only remembered to use it once). keep him with glaives, there are a lot of good ones and the specialization is free, so...

regill: this little man slays. that said, you're way better off leveling him some more as an armiger, or dipping into cavalier, than giving him more levels in hellknight. i gave mine beastrider so i could put him on a smilodon, purely because that's fucking metal, and he rages around murdering shit. generally you'll want to give him two-handed weapon feats (to continue specializing in his weird hammer thing) and finesse stuff, tho you can compensate for his low strength pretty easily with the "enlarge person" spell, if you want to skip weapon finesse.

arue: honestly op. unless you really wanna try respeccing her from start as a bard or smth, just let her do her thing. "instant enemy" and "ranger's bond" or w/e it's called let her give good damage buffs to the whole party. ranged dps queen.

greybor: personally, i lightly respecced him to use throwing axes, but if you want to go vanilla, crpgguy on youtube has a solid build to check out. if you want to go with my build, keep him a slayer but choose ranged perks (except manyshot), two-weapon fighting, and weapon focus/specialization throwing axes. oh, and same recs as woljif for rogue abilities. i recently got him the ability to damage constitution with his sneak attacks and it's glorious.

chapter 1 tips

when you get to kenabres, an invisible timer starts counting down to a big, tough battle. you'll want to a) put it off as long as possible, and b) prep for it. online sources and my own experience leave the exact mechanics of the countdown kind of a mystery. best guess is that it relies on number of rests, so try to go as long as you can without them. some quests fail or change if you don't do them first, so try to do the following before the battle procs:

recruit woljif in the basement.

recruit ember in the market square.

scout the tower of estrod and kill the enemies there, if you can. this may or may not buy you time, i'm not sure.

meet prelate hulrun and settle the issue between him and ramien (i suggest showing hulrun the sword, and strongly suggest bringing ember).

go to the burning library (there's checks here for perception, lore (religion), and persuasion (diplomacy) you'll probably want to pass.)

as for prep: generally gain as much experience as you can so you'll be as strong as possible before it procs. grease and to a lesser extent create pit are useful for choke points and are available to both woljif and nenio, and can be bought or crafted into scrolls beforehand if need be. just remember you have no access to selective metamagic yet, so try to keep your own guys from slipping around all silly by either having them attack from range behind the trap, or stand in front of it (i went ranged, even for seelah). besides the very obvious chokepoints the game makes you aware of, you can also lay these down at the enemy spawnpoints by the ladders (though you will affect the allied soldiers, too, so keep that in mind). focus on the alchemists; every other enemy is secondary. kill or disable them as quickly as possible.

chapter 2 tips

if you saved the disciples of desna in kenabres and sang along with them in act 1, then solve the (pretty easy) puzzle at the altar of desna at the base of the lost chapel, you can recruit a very useful companion early. look for them in the drezen prison.

chapter 2 is less time-sensitive than chapter 1, but you get a lil reward if you finish it within 2 months. not too hard, imo

try to put off moving the camp to just south of drezen, because a whole bunch of shit kinda pops off at once.

pay attention to nurah. pop into her tent a few times. a high perception skill will get you far.

the only things really worth grabbing in leper's smile are the robe of silky veil (you can use savescum with quicksave to look for it without losing time) and the halfling in the crevice.

honestly i recommend cranking down the difficulty for a lot of the lost chapel quest because the game is keeping track of npc casualties and those motherfuckers pop like grapes if you don't nerf the shit outta enemies, even on normal difficulty. one fight in particular i kept having 3-4 out of 5 immediately die in the first round, even when i got a good initiative roll and came out the gate with controlled fireball. very frustrating experience.

to stop the constantly reviving undead in that one cave, you need to grab the interactable object near the center of the area.

chapter 3 tips

at the beginning of chapter 3, immediately head south, towards the chapel, and keep going until you get two not-so-random encounters.

then head towards molten scar (just south of greengates) with seelah to get a time sensitive quest done.

take arue to wintersun. (probably take someone with a good lore (nature) skill, too. and somebody with fire spells. dear god. you will need so much fire.) don't feel like you need to complete the whole map in one go, you WILL have to come back at least once for one of the side quests.

blackwater has a lot of tough combat. prep for electricity damage.

chapter 4 tips

still in it, so my advice at this point is just to start with battlebliss. the story flows more naturally that way, tho they don't tell you that.

you can turn the fleshmarkets into a tarantino movie, but buy the shit you want from the vendors first. or don't, and cheat it into your inventory via toybox. up to you. if you need the funds, returning to the midnight isles dlc can help.

as it turns out, you only get the one chance to free suture, so if you wanna do that, don't be like me and go "oobh i got plany off time"

general story tips

don't be a buzzkill at daeran's party by making him work. try to keep things fun, and tell him you think he can change or that he can trust you. he likes it if you banter playfully with him, and will interject during a lot of quests (i particularly enjoyed his comments in the grey garrison).

lann's mostly straightforward from what i can tell, but you can miss some of his content annoyingly easily. :/ make sure to check in with him every now and then (i feel like his dialogue updates more than any other companion so far, but there's no notification from the game when that happens, so you just have to swing by and talk to him to see). and take him camping with you, if you want to romance him. there's also no indication of this from quest markers or anything, but at one point he'll ask you to meet him back at your home base, but when you arrive, there'll just be a note in his usual spot. look for him by the local tavern. (not sure if this is romance-specific, but just in case)

wenduag has a massive humiliation kink

don't be judgey of greybor, and pay him what he's worth (or more, if you've got the money and are feeling generous, like i was). make sure to have at least 12,500 gold on hand when you go on the hunt with him, or you'll lose the chance to recruit him permanently.

bring your favs to the desolate hovel! the combat isn't hard, and there are some juicy character moments. kicking myself for not bringing ember, because i bet hers is great (thanks to toybox, i did get to enjoy a cute bit of dialogue between her and daeran).

the secret ending

i'm gonna try to lay out the requirements with as few spoilers as possible. if you don't wanna know, just skip this. i may be missing some stuff, or including some stuff that isn't strictly required, but this is my best understanding of it, distilled as much as possible.

note that unlocking the secret ending does not mean you have to actually choose it.

choose the crossbow in the prologue

keeping the purple stone knife is advised but not required

pick up every midnight bolt you see, and only use them against demon lords. (if you don't get a "new" crystal, you wasted the bolt on an invalid target and need to reload.) apparently if you use one on the big bad himself, you need to grab the crystal as quickly as possible or it'll disappear?

finish your mythic questline all the way through. don't choose the "legend" mythic.

help the storyteller collect elven notes

don't reject the idea of learning from demons

do not enable auto-crusade

research the sword of valor (first available in chapter 3), the crystals (first available in chapter 5), areelu's drafts (not sure, probably 5), and the records of pulura's stargazers (maybe as early as 3 for angels, 5 for everybody else) via crusade management

grab the book, accept its power, find a way to put it back together

have high perception, ask areelu about suture (not an option in the first convo with her, i think this is in chapter 4)

tell hep she shouldn't have trusted her dad

in the secret lab (not on the first visit, since they weren't there when i got there), click on the crib, drawings, and textbooks in that order, which will give you gloves. take said gloves.

pour the secret sauce over the summoning circle in the lab. kill the demon outside the summoning circle for convenience's sake

save the library

the ending date is important. enter the final area between 16 and 21 gozran. doesn't matter what year.

don't waste time examining areelu's wards, launch directly into "stop! listen to me!"

[autumnalwalker]

Empty Names - 7 - Compilation

Author's Note: And we're back after the holidays/new year hiatus with a proper buffer of chapters written after this one to boot. Time for everyone to meet an find out what their initial test run quest is going to be. For a minor spoiler, said quest was loosely inspired by this prompt from @deepwaterwritingprompts, although over the course of writing this chapter and the two that follow things have diverged a fair bit. Edit: This chapter was previously titled "Gathered Here Today". I was never a huge fan of that title though, so now it's been edited several months after posting to keep with the vague theme of Lacuna's POV chapters being computer/programming related. Hopefully the title change won't mess up existing links/reblogs too badly. Word Count: 4,307 Content Warnings: A creepy magic tunnel. Accidental misgendering (not malicious, Lacuna's just oblivious and this chapter's narration is from her POV). Gender envy and conflicted feelings about it.

<-Previous Chapter Masterpost Next Chapter->

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Lacuna asks.  “I don’t see anyone else around.”

“Big elm tree on Emmett Street across from the boarded up bed and breakfast,” Eris replies.

“Looks more like it’s under renovation than boarded up to me.  All that scaffolding and tarp.  And there are a lot of trees on this street.  We might have the wrong one.”  

Eris shrugs.  “Boarded up, renovating, close enough.  And this is the only elm on the street.  See those white flowers on all the others?  Those are dogwoods.  This old man,” she knocks on the broad trunk of the tree the two of them are waiting under, “sticks out like a fed at a hippie concert.”

Lacuna takes another look up and down the tree-lined street.  It did seem obvious now that her friend had pointed it out.

“Didn’t know you knew so much about trees.”

“I do have hobbies that don’t involve hitting things, you know.”

“I never said -”

Eris cuts off her stammering apology with a laugh.  “I’m just messing with you.  Lighten up.  First day on the job should be exciting.  And a little waiting around won’t hurt us.  We’ve got a nice shady spot and beautiful weather.”

Easy enough for Eris to say, generally at ease with meeting new people and dressed appropriately for the weather in tanktop and cargo shorts.  Lacuna’s neither of those things at the moment - or ever for the former - although she’s painfully aware that she only has herself to blame for showing up in this part of the country at this time of year wearing a heavy ankle-length skirt over thermal tights and her usual hoodie.  Even with the hoodie unzipped she’s already started to sweat just walking the block from the bridge out of Crossherd.  If anyone comments on it she’ll say she was expecting to be spending the day indoors with air conditioning.  Not that anyone ever comments on it, but that doesn’t stop her from running through hypothetical conversations in her head every time she goes out dressed too warmly.

“I guess it is a pretty street,” Lacuna concedes.

After several minutes of silent fidgeting and pacing while Eris leans against the tree Lacuna speaks up again.  “So, any idea who we’re supposed to be meeting?  Besides Road and Bridgewood I mean.”

“That would be me,” a voice from behind the tree answers, causing Lacuna to jump in surprise and Eris to take a quick step back with clenched fists.  A lithe woman in a flowing white dress steps into view with the air around her shimmering like a heat distortion for a moment before settling into clarity.  The sunlight filtering through the trees glints off pearlescent patterns on the mage’s shoulders and sleeves and catches subtle blue streaks in her long dark hair.  “Ashan Glassheart, at your service.  I do believe we shall be working together.”

“You in the habit of lurking around invisibly eavesdropping before introducing yourself?” Eris asks in a tone that Lacuna’s not quite sure what to make of.  Whatever it is, it’s not how she expected her friend to greet their new teammate.

“My apologies,” Glassheart replies.  “It was not my intention to spy.  It is just that I had arrived earlier than I meant to, and when you arrived it seemed prudent to verify who you were before leaving the ward I had set up to avoid undue attention whilst loitering.”

“Huh, I think that might be the first time I’ve heard a mage apologize,” Eris says, “and the last time I worked with one he lit my hair on fire.”

“Yes, that does seem to be an unfortunate trend with most of this world’s spellcasters.”

“You’re from off-world?”

“Technically no, but practically yes.  It is a long story.”

Eris relaxes.  “Well, I’m sure we’ll be having plenty of time to swap stories later.”  She steps toward the shorter woman and puts out a hand.  “Name’s Eris.  Sorry for the rude greeting.”

“My pleasure,” Glassheart says, shaking Eris’s hand.

“And that over there’s Lacuna,” Eris adds.

“Hi,” Lacuna says with a nervous wave after a moment’s delay of registering that she’s been addressed.  There’s a pang of embarrassment as she realizes she’d been staring.  Oh goddess, what she’d give to look like that. 

“Greetings,” Glassheart says.

“Well, that’s us,” Eris says.  “Don’t suppose you have any idea where Road and Sullivan are?”

“If I were to guess, I would say either in the building across from us or beyond this tree.  The anchoring is loose over there and this tree is a bridge.”

“Know how to activate it?”

“Not yet.”

Eris grins and rolls her shoulders.  “Well, there’s always the classic approach.”  She knocks on the tree again, this time hard enough to set the boughs above shaking and to set Lacuna taking a few reflexive steps back.  “Yo, Road!  We’re here!  Open up if you can hear us!”

No response.

“Does that normally work for you?” Glassheart asks.

Eris turns away from the newly debarked patch of trunk and puts her hands up in a shrug.  “No, but it’s pretty great the times it does.”

Just then, Lacuna’s phone starts beeping.

“Sorry, sorry,” she says, looking down to fish the device out of her pocket.  “That’s my ‘if we’re not there yet, we’re late’ alarm.”  She taps the screen to stop the beeping and looks up to find herself alone on the sidewalk.

“Eris?” she calls out hesitantly.  “Glassheart?”

No response.

She walks around the tree, giving the trunk a wide berth, but sees no one.  Cautiously, she steps closer and reaches a trembling hand out to knock, only to pull back at the last moment.  Backing away from the elm once more while still keeping an eye on it, she dials Eris’s number on her phone.

No response.  Straight to voicemail.

She remembers she still has Road’s number.  Chides herself for not calling them when she and Eris first arrived.  Dials it.

“Hey Lacuna.  Eris and Ashan are fine.  Sullivan’s just being dramatic about the bridge.  He’ll be back over in a second to pull you over too.”

Right on cue with Road’s voice the tree trunk ripples and a face breaks through the surface.  It’s a very angular face; sharp cheekbones, pointed chin, even pointier beard.  And in the spaces between the angles slicked back hair, dark eyes, and a smile like a devil sealing a deal.

The rest of the stranger’s body follows as he steps out of the tree.  Embroidered yellow vest over a shirt with puffy sleeves.  Tailored pants.  Shiny shoes that look terrifyingly expensive.

“Lacuna, I presume,” he says.  It’s a statement, not a question.

Lacuna nods, still holding the phone to her ear and more than a little unnerved to suddenly be alone with a man dressed vaguely like a vampire who just stepped out of a tree.

“Sullivan Bridgewood,” he says with a flourishing bow, “at my service.”

“At your service?” Lacuna asks, questioning the odd turn of phrase.

“Sounds like you’ve met Sullivan,” Road says from the other end of the still-active phone call.  “It’s just a private joke of his.  I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Just a private joke of mine,” Bridgewood answers, “not anything you need worry about.”

“You’re a friend of mine, so you can trust him,” Road continues.  “Now, this bridge crossing can be a bit weird on communication devices so you’re going to want to hang up before going through.  I’ll see you on the other side.”

“Okay.  See you in a minute Road,” Lacuna says - emphasizing their name while looking at Bridgewood - before hanging up.  “So, how does this work?” 

Bridgewood extends a hand, palm up.  “Take my hand and I shall escort you as a guest into my home.  Or I grab you and yank you through like I did with the others.”  He chuckles and his smile that had been resting on the line between charming and unsettling tips toward the latter.  “As fun as that was, my friend didn’t much care for the jape and asked me to be gentle with you.  So a gentleman I shall be for the lady.”

Still a little creepy, but Lacuna trusts Road enough to put her paranoia aside and trust the man in front of her.  The fact that even after a few years of transitioning being called a “lady” is enough of a delightful novelty to cloud her judgment more than she’ll ever admit goes a ways toward putting her at ease as well.  And so she only hesitates a little when she takes Bridgewood’s hand and follows him into the tree.

The passage is a markedly different one from her experiences going in and out of Crossherd.  With all of those, one moment you’re in one place and the next everything’s subtly shifted and you’re someplace else.  Indeed, not noticing is often the trigger to activate those bridges.  By contrast, walking into the rippling trunk of the elm feels enough like walking into water that she reflexively closes her eyes, holds her breath, and pinches her nose with her free hand before it hits her face.  

To her surprise, the trip isn’t instantaneous.  The feeling of being submerged lasts long enough that her lungs begin to burn.  She forces herself to open her eyes but sees only darkness, not even her own outstretched hand that she can still feel Bridgewood holding.  Whatever she’s submerged in doesn’t sting her eyes like water would, but as she tries in vain to see anything she feels a sudden increase in pressure as if the fluid were alive and actively gripping her.  

Panic sets in and she begins to struggle, causing Bridgewood to tighten his grip on her hand.  She closes her eyes again.  Her held breath reaches its limit and she can no longer stop herself from gasping for air.  She can breathe.  The fluid does not rush into her lungs despite the feeling all over the exterior of her body.  Relief at not drowning is offset by a growing sense that she is being examined.  Assessed.  Judged.  Bridgewood’s grip tightens again, now painful.  The pressure around her lets up.

The sudden return to light and air blinds her momentarily.  Bridgewood lets go of her hand and she stumbles.  Falls forward.

“Lacuna!”

“It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

“Is she quite alright?”

“What, never been through a secure transit before?”

The voices all overlap so that she has trouble parsing the words being said.  She feels hands catch her and stop her fall.  Her vision clears and she looks up to see the same warm, reassuring smile that comforted her on a stormy night years ago.

“You good?” Road asks.

Lacuna blinks as her eyes finish adjusting.  She’s in a forest.  She notices Eris standing nearby with an arm out awkwardly.  Probably meant to grab her before Road beat her to it.  Lacuna takes a deep breath to slow her breathing and stop the shaking.  Shaking?  When did that start?  No, don’t focus on it.  Focus on not doing it.  Better yet, focus on anything else.  Take another breath.  Let it out.

“I’m good,” Lacuna answers.  Road lets go and she stands upright, turns, and looks at Bridgewood.  “What the heck was that?”

“Security system,” he answers casually, almost flippantly.  “Only residents and guests are allowed through.  As for anyone that forces open the entrance… Well, I was asked to be gentle so I’ll spare you the details of what would happen to them in transit.”

Lacuna tries not to shudder at the implication.  “So where are we now?” she asks.

“Welcome,” Bridgewood proclaims while throwing his arms wide, “to the Bridgewood Estate!”

Road chuckles softly nearby.  “And you accuse me of being a showoff.”

“What can I say, it’s been a long time since I had visitors.  Now come along everyone.  I’ll show you to the manor.”  With that he begins walking off without so much as a backwards glance to make sure the others are following.

As they all walk, Lacuna takes some comfort in the fact that with the way Eris and Glassheart are looking around she’s not the only one gawking in amazement for once.  It becomes obvious that the woods around her are more park than forest.  The paths and undergrowth are well-kept, the trees are all evenly spaced, and most have small signs in front of them bearing either a single number, an X, or a question mark.  Something else seems off about the trees too that Lacuna can’t quite place.

“Most of these trees shouldn’t be growing together,” Eris observes aloud.  “You’ve got a white pine next to a mahogany, I’m pretty sure I saw a baobab back there, and,” she points at a nearby tangle of above-ground roots, “somehow you’re growing a mangrove without a coastline.  I’m not going to ask how, because I know the answer is just going to be some magic BS, but why?  Even with magic that still has to be a Hell of an energy expenditure to maintain.”

To Lacuna’s surprise, it’s Glassheart that answers the question in an awe-tinged voice.  “They’re all bridges.”

“Right on the first try, wizard boy,” says Bridgewood.  “We are right now walking through the eponym to the family name.”

Wait, wizard boy?  But he’s so…  Lacuna glances again at Glassheart practically gliding down the path before shoving down the implications of this particular case of gender envy for the time being.  As it is, she’s already flustered enough to almost miss the ongoing conversation. 

“So you’re saying each of these trees is part of a pair like the one we came in from,” Eris confirms.

“Most of them,” Bridgewood clarifies.  “In some cases the other end of the bridge has been chopped down and made into something else and will spit you out into the biggest remaining piece.  So far I’ve wound up accidentally breaking and entering four times that way and found myself in a ship at the bottom of the ocean twice ”

“You say that like you don’t know where they all go,” Eris says.

“My dearly departed wife preferred to memorize family secrets instead of writing them down.  The signs are a recent addition.”

“Sullivan’s agreed to let us use the woods for transportation on quests,” Road chimes in, causing Bridgewood’s face to twitch on the last word.  “We’ll be going back through another one once we pick up some things from the house and I brief you on what it is we’re actually going to be doing.  And speaking of the house…”

As if on queue the group reaches the edge of the treeline, bringing a three-storied, multi-winged Victorian mansion into unobstructed view.  What look like cat-sized spiders skitter about, trimming hedges and washing windows.  As Bridgwood leads the party down the gravel pathway to the front door, the gazes of the marble statues they pass by follow them in a way that Lacuna can’t bring herself to believe is mere optical illusion.  As Bridgewood steps onto the front porch the double doors begin to swing inward, but not quickly enough to keep him from pushing them the rest of the way open by hand upon reaching the threshold.

The entrance foyer is dominated by a grand staircase leading to the upper levels whose balconies wrap back around to look down on the visitors.  Above the landing where the staircase splits and turns halfway to the next floor hangs a portrait of a woman in a blue dress of a style as antique as the house’s.  Her smile at the viewer is playful.  Playful in the same way that a cat is playful with a mouse.  Several closed doors line the walls on either side between the entrance and the staircase, although those seem a background detail compared to the small pile of black crates and out of place chairs in the center of the hall.

As Lacuna files in last in line she glances back over her shoulder at the sound of the doors creaking closed behind her.  They get about halfway shut on their own before getting stuck, causing a pair of those spider-like creatures - metal or maybe polished stone orbs with legs, she can see now that she’s up close - to scurry in from the shadows and push the doors closed the rest of the way.  Bridgewood’s voice pulls her attention back to the center of the room before she can watch where the constructs retreat to once their task is done.

“Welcome to my home.  Take a seat, because I don’t like any of you enough yet to give you the tour and we’ve got a job to get to.”  He drops sideways into a seat with his legs hanging over the armrest and gestures to Road.  “My friend, you take it from here.  I might be hosting, but this is your show.”

“Thank you Sullivan,” Road says while taking a seat next to him in the circle around the crates.  Lacuna finds herself sitting across from them, in between Eris and Glassheart.

“First off,” Road begins, “I want to thank the three of you for accepting my offer to be part of the founding party of this adventurers’ guild - ”

“We’re not calling it that,” Bridgewood interjects.

“ - and for showing up on short notice for this first quest.”

“Job,” Bridgewood amends.

“Mission?” Eris suggests.

Road shoots a look at Bridgewood who shrugs in response before continuing.  “I know I was sparse on the details of this mission when I called you in yesterday, but that was because Sullivan and I have been spending the past twenty four hours gathering those details and making the necessary preparations so that we could act once the five of us were assembled.”

“I presume these are the fruits of those preparations,” Glassheart says while gesturing to the crates.

“Partly, but I’ll get to that,” Road answers.  “Just after midnight yesterday morning an old friend of mine by the name of Lachlan Whelan whom I’ve helped before called me saying that he’d heard I was back in town and was hoping I could assist him again with an incident that had just occurred.  Among other things, Lachlan mans a lighthouse that overlooks a stretch of coast notorious in certain circles for being a seaborne crossover point with other worlds.  That night a ship appeared and immediately ran aground on what seems to be an island that appeared at roughly the same time.  Our job - our mission - is to go out to the ship and rescue any survivors.”

“A day and a half is a long time to wait for a situation like that,” Glassheart says.  “I am surprised you waited this long for us to arrive.  From what I have heard of your reputation I would have thought you would have rushed straight in by now.”

“I would have if I could have,” Road says, “but the water there’s rough at the best of times and there’s been a storm blowing for the past three days.  It’s taken me this long just to get my hands on a vessel that can make the short trip and be able to ferry who knows how many people back to shore safely.”

“Do we even know if there are any survivors?” Eris asks.

Road shakes their head.  “No.  Lachlan’s been keeping an eye on the ship since it showed up and he hasn’t seen any sign of movement.  But the storm has made it hard to observe and if there’s any chance that even one person’s alive and in need of help it’s a chance we have to take.”  Road pauses for a moment to look at the others and notices Lacuna shifting uncomfortably.  “Lacuna, do you have something to say?”

“Well, it’s just….”  She struggles to find the words.  “Okay, please don’t take this the wrong way because I want to help, I really do, but why us?  Surely there must be someone else already trained and equipped for this kind of thing, right?  Government or something?”

“There should be, but there isn’t,” Road says with a hint of annoyance.  Or is that anger?  Somehow the idea of Road being angry feels disconcertingly unnatural to Lacuna.  “At least, there isn’t any group like that Backstage who would be willing to intervene without an unconscionable amount of delays and red tape to get mobilized.  And, there are other complications.”

“By ‘notorious in certain circles’ they meant ‘the crossing mainly gets used by smugglers and refugees,’” Bridgewood clarifies.

“That may be,” Road says, “but that doesn’t make them any less people deserving of help.”

“So, we’ve got a boat shipwrecked on an island,” Eris says, “both of which crossed over from some other world at the same time, a storm making it hard to do anything, no idea if anyone’s actually alive to rescue or what might the ship might be carrying, our own boat, a bunch of boxes of what I assume are relief supplies and maybe a couple of magic trinkets to help us out, and a fifty-fifty chance that anyone who is alive might try to repay our kindness by trying to shoot us to keep their smuggling route quiet and steal our rescue boat.  Did I miss anything?  Local sea monsters that might try to eat us or drag us under?”

“Only that it’s cold up there, even at this time of year,”  Road says.  “I suggest taking one of the coats from the supplies once we get there.  I’ll admit, I wish I had more I could tell you all about the situation going in, but I think we’ve all been in more dangerous situations with less and gotten through alright.”  They stand up and look at each of their newly gathered companions in turn.  “So, are we all good to go?”

Lacuna quietly nods while Eris and Glassheart give their affirmations and rise to their feet in turn.  She doesn’t trust her own voice not to waver in the face of what she’s gotten herself into.  Bridgewood says something about a cart outside that she doesn’t really process until the others start picking up the boxes and carrying them to the door.  She belatedly moves to join in but feels a hand on her shoulder right as she’s about to bend down to lift the nearest box.

“Not so fast techie,” Bridgewood says and then spins her around to face him.  “I’ve got another job for you.”

“What?  Er, what kind of job?”

“One that you’re actually qualified for.”  He picks up a wide flat box that had been set to the side from the others and carries it over to a table against the wall where he pushes aside a vase to make room for the box with a marble-on-marble scraping sound that makes Lacuna’s skin crawl.  “Go ahead, open it,” he says.

Lacuna obeys.  “A laptop?”

“Not quite up to the specs you asked for, but it’s what I could acquire on short notice and will suffice for now.”  He produces a USB stick from some unseen pocket and hands it over.  “I’ve loaded this up with a list of tasks I want you to do, along with the installers and login info for the programs you’ll need.”

Lacuna looks from the USB stick in her hand to the laptop and back to the general direction of Bridgewood’s face.  “Thanks,” she stammers, trying not to let her relief show too obviously.

“Free advice: Just leave the heroics to those three,” he says and points a thumb over his shoulder.  “Focus on what you’re good at instead of trying to chase some fantasy that’s just going to make you into a liability for the rest of us to clean up after.  After all, someone needs to run the website and file the paperwork.”

“Website?”

“Oh, and while you’re here alone, don’t go wandering off or touching anything.  Especially not the statues.  This place is bigger on the inside and some of the security systems are a bit finicky about distinguishing between intruders and guests.  If you need the bathroom or something, just ask one of the cleaning golems and they’ll show you the way.  Follow them exactly and don’t stray.  I don’t want to have to explain whatever state we find your body in later.”  With that last bit of advice he turns around on one heel and jauntily walks toward the door, waving goodbye without looking back and passing Eris on the way.  “Have fun not drowning.”

Eris glances back over her shoulder at Bridgewood before stopping next to a suddenly far less relieved Lacuna.  “Hey, sis, you alright?  Do I need to have a talk with Sully over there?”

“No.  I mean yes.  I mean, fine.  I’m fine.  He was just telling me I’m going to be staying here and working on some IT stuff for him instead of going with you guys.”

“Oh, I can see how that would be a bummer.  But it’s also more of what you were hoping to do, right?”

“Yeah.  I guess it was.”  It’s not what she had been distressed about a moment ago, but now that it’s been pointed out she does feel unexpectedly disappointed.  What even was it she had been hoping to do here?

“Hey,” Eris says, getting her wandering attention again just before leaning in for a hug.  “You rock and you’re gonna be running this whole operation behind the scenes by the time this is all over.”

“E…”

“Alright, that’s the last of them!  Let’s roll!”  Road’s voice calls from outside.

Eris releases her grip and steps back.  “Gotta run.  See you when we get back.  Bye!”  She’s already out the door by the time she finishes, leaving Lacuna alone in the foyer.

“Stay safe,” Lacuna whispers too late for anyone to hear.

<-Previous Chapter Masterpost Next Chapter->

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

Another week, gone. Life seems to be flying by at an accelerated pace and I’m not fond of it.

I continue my React Native and TypeScript work, at work. I’m refactoring a bit of UI code to be shared in the project. It’s been a good experience. I’m definitely a fish out of water but making progress.

We’ll see what next week brings.

Hope you enjoy the links.

Alex Butler • UPI

Katie Ledecky left swimming rival Ariarne Titmus in her wicked wake, revving through the La Defense Arena pool waters toward a record ninth Olympic gold medal with another 800-meter freestyle victory Saturday in Paris.

YAY KATIE! 🇺🇸

Jay Famiglietti • The New York Times

The Central Valley of California supplies a quarter of the food on the nation’s dinner tables. But beneath this image of plenty and abundance, a crisis is brewing — an invisible one, under our feet — and it is not limited to California.

One quarter of the food on the nations table. That’s a big deal.

The big challenge moving forward is how do we get enough water to the Central Valley to continue to raise all those fruits and vegetables to feed everyone?

Yet again, we ignore climate change at our own peril.

Herb Sutter

That’s a great question. Cppreference is correct, and for all class types the answer is simple: The object is initialized on line 1 by having its default constructor called.

But (and you knew a “but” was coming), for a local object of a fundamental built-in type like int, the answer is… more elaborate. And that’s why Sam is asking, because Sam knows that the language has kind of loose about initializing such local objects, for historical reasons that made sense at the time.

Of course Mr. Sutter goes into great depth to explain how the declaration int a; is handled by the C++ compiler (how it’s supposed to be handled according to the standard.)

Remember C is a subset of C++. That was intentionally part of the goal at the time. To get folks to adopt C++ all the C code that had been written needed to continue working.

So, what does that mean for int a; in the question?

It means that declaration doesn’t really initialize a. It just gets whatever value is at that address. Let’s say there was a string represented by the memory now assigned to that declaration and the string began with the letter the ASCII letter ‘a’. Any guess what the value of ‘a’ would be? It would be 97.

In other words, ‘a’ is random.

Mike Masnick • Techdirt

I am excited to announce that I am joining the board of Bluesky, where I will be providing advice and guidance to the company to help it achieve its vision of a more open, more competitive, more decentralized online world.

This is surprising in a good way but I wish we didn’t have two competing decentralized protocols for the social web. It’s fine, I suppose, but having Blusky and Mastodon work with each other would be amazing. Threads still hasn’t delivered full integration with Mastodon, but Micro.blog has, WordPress has achieved some integration points, and Ghost is working on theirs. Tumblr would also be a nice addition but it’s now in a “keep the lights on” mode.

More Fediverse integration, not less.

Bradley Brownell • Jalopnik

Michael Andretti’s denied attempt to join the Formula 1 grid has been granted a DOJ investigation. American firm Liberty Media, which owns Formula 1 Group, denied Andretti Global’s entry to F1 earlier this year. The denial by F1, following a six-month review of the team’s application, which included a commitment from General Motors, claimed that it didn’t believe Andretti could field a competitive car in the series.

This has been a bit frustrating to watch. I would love to see another American company on the grid and I’d really love to see Guenther Steiner in charge of it! 😃

It would also put an American manufactured power unit on the grid from Cadillac. 👍🏼

Nadine Yousif and Michelle Fleury • BBC News

A US judge has ruled that Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly on online searches and related advertising.

This is going to ripple throughout the industry. Does Apple lose their $20 billion fee from Google to be the preferred search engine? I guess we’ll find out.

Stephen Moore

Every friend I have with a job that involves picking up something heavier than a laptop more than twice a week eventually finds a way to slip something like this into conversation: “Bro,1[1] you don’t work hard. I just worked a 4700-hour week digging a tunnel under Mordor with a screwdriver.”

They have a point. Mordor sucks, and it’s certainly more physically taxing to dig a tunnel than poke at a keyboard unless you’re an ant. But, for the sake of the argument, can we agree that stress and insanity are bad things? Awesome. Welcome to programming.

Programming is definitely part science part insanity. I spend my days agonizing over coding choices, bouncing between feeling kind of smart to feeling a complete idiot.

It’s just the way, at least for me. 😃

Hanaa' Tameez • Nieman Journalism Lab

MTV pulled down MTV News in June. After Deadspin was sold, many of its archives temporarily disappeared. This week, Flaming Hydra reported that The Awl’s archives are gone. And those examples are just from the past couple of months; in 2021, the authors of a Reynolds Journalism Institute report found that just 7 out of 24 newsrooms they interviewed were fully preserving their news content.

This is kind of sad, isn’t it? Journalists losing their work because a publication shuts down.

Then we had the recent kerfuffle with TUAW where someone purchased the site and content, ran it through and AI, and republished all the content under the original authors names with different profile pictures. That’s slimy.

It’s no wonder authors are backing up their own work. I certainly would and do. I have 23 years of blog posts.

Simon Willison

It’s amusing to see Apple using “please” in their prompts, and politely requesting of the model: “Do not hallucinate. Do not make up factual information.”

This is an interesting piece. Go read how Apple is approaching AI. I love their prompts including words like “please” and “do not hallucinate.” Classic! 🤣

Charlie Savage • The New York Times

A bipartisan American Bar Association task force is calling on lawyers across the country to do more to help protect democracy ahead of the 2024 election, warning in a statement to be delivered Friday at the group’s annual meeting in Chicago that the nation faces a serious threat in “rising authoritarianism.”

If Trump loses in November the country needs to be prepared for all kinds of slimy efforts to take the election for themselves.

I have no clue what they’re going to do, but it’s coming.

Nikita Shukla • earth.org

Generative AI has very quickly been adopted across various sectors. However, this has led to increased global electricity consumption that is only predicted to increase further as the technology expands, with many tech companies already at risk of defaulting on their net-zero commitments.

This is a new type of arms race between the big players. They have to do it but they’re not going to make money from it for a long time and oh by the way they’re going to strain the crap out of our power grid. Why? Shareholder value. So while your power is out and you’re baking in the heat of summer or the cold of winter they’ll be happily churning out their next iteration of a fancy pachinko game that isn’t really intelligent, it’s just a super fancy decision tree being jammed into everything because AI.

Each and every AI company should be regulated and be required to generate two times the power they consume, at no cost to the consumer, to offset their consumption. Darned digital vampires.

Stephanie Apstein • Sports Illustrated

U.S. Athletes Are Taking Full Advantage of Free Healthcare in Olympic Village

It’s amazing what a country can do for their citizenry, isn’t it? Healthcare for all, I say! Some things need to be done for the good of society. Healthy, educated, people are an amazing thing. It will allow us to invent and solve big problems. It’s good all around, in my opinion.

[horsemusicherald]

[Equinity] ROSACE PONY - Fall To Night | Dancefloor DnB

Here we have a fast-paced entry from Equinity’s 6th compilation album, ‘Expedition’! Making heavy use of vocal lines from the Princess of the Night and Starlight Glimmer. Evoking a simple and clean, yet fun sound throughout with upbeat bouncy saws and warbly grit in the basslines, this one is a nice refreshing ‘blast-from-the-past’ take on a genre that has seen so much change over the years.