#soren is currently dealing with his first crush

[firedragon1321]

Oh boy, I can't wait for my book to finally drop and people to shit on Soren for acting like an overdramatic twelve-year-old.

He's literally twelve years old.

[pangtasias-atelier]

How about an Ike/Soren feeder story, with Ike as the feedee? Maybe he asks Soren to stuff him with magically enhanced food and ends up immobile?

Had a lot of fun with this one!! I feel like I'm just overexxagerating but I feel like my writing is getting better? IDK, tried something different for this one and like, I like how it came out.

Finally wrote in past tense after so long though I know there's like an inconsistent tense change or time change I feel. Though I feel that happens all the time in my stories so oh well. This one feels off a bit off too but I just need to lighten up on myself lol

_______________

Constantly traveling meant spotting brand new ideas and thoughts. Radical ideas that differed so much from one's own prior notions. Ideas never before considered. Ideas that Ike found tempting to try out.

Ike and Soren having gone through with their idea of leaving Tellius and exploring the world, their perceived notion of understanding had been crushed soon after. Different customs and different people, some places felt just like familiar old Crimea. Others made them feel that even the Laguz on Tellius felt more alike to them.

Their current temporary place of residence was much like the latter.

Constantly moving, some of the villages and towns they passed through and stayed in were a sight to behold. And right now, this one had taken the grand prize.

Both of them weary after traveling a week with no town in sight, their arrival in the middle of the night had led to zero suspicions on their part. Sure, a rather surprisingly exceedingly hefty farmer had pointed them to the inn, his wings for arm fat hanging as he did so. And said inn was run by another portly kind man, whose weight dwarfed the farmers, but the exhaustion muddled with the assumption of coincidences led to Ike and Soren finding the experience odd but didn't think anything of it past said feeling.

Until the two had woken up, Ike's grumbling stomach refusing to let either enjoy peace in each other's arms any longer. Both freshening up and dressing, the sun's bright rays and bustling sound and nature of the market meant the day was on its way, morning already having passed and becoming noon.

A different clerk at the desk, this one had resembled closer to Ike and Soren. In age and in nothing else, the clerk resembling the one from the day prior in size and physical appearance. Appearing the same, the young man resembled the other one yet seemed even larger, his shirt straining to contain his gigantic gut as it rested over the counter, the clerk having no shame in the bare lower half of his stomach being exposed. His lazy salute to the two married travelers had tuckered him out, a huff of air escaping his lips afterwards. It wasn't until later that Ike and Soren discovered that this clerk was the prior one's sons.

Something perhaps now a bit off, their suspicions were validated as both stepped out, the entire market filled to the brim with hefty engorged bodies. A multitude of sizes and shapes, all waddling about in varying states of ill-fitting clothing, it was Soren who remained calm, immediately and discreetly asking about who governed the area. Ike had instead acted confused, staring at each waddling tires passerby, his eyes focused and roaming each roll that they pissed, his own hand wishing to reach out and to feel the plush skin, to test its heft.

Soren jabbing him, he whispered in Ike's ears, pointing him to where to go. Lunch foregone, the two had quickly headed out towards the manor. Ike didn't miss the way Soren's own eyes strayed, Soren taking a tad bit longer to respond.

Upon arriving, both had been ushered in, the portly yet busty servant escorting them to his Lord's Chambers. Instead of taken to a meeting room, the two had gone straight to his bedchambers. The two had been confused until the door was opened.

Numerous vast rolls littering the bed and even the floor, the Lord eclipsed all others in the area. Soren clearing his throat and keeping his face straight, Ike had kept a blush throughout the entire meeting, both of them welcomed and immediately hired for mercenary work.

Accustomed to their jobs, simple escort tasks, receiving shipments, dealing with bandits, their handsomely paying benefactor led to some serious savings both never felt before.

Planning to stay in the area for one week, it had only taken one week for Ike's monstrous appetite to catch up to him, his belt snug where it was once fitted. Bulging pants where they were once loose. A choking shirt where it once outlined his muscles.

Soren having immediately investigated the food on their first day of staying, his snooping quickly revealed to him the nature of this area, the crops magically grown and cultivated, the effects amplifying and multiplying their nutrients and calories. Each little bite was destined to end up chock-full of calories. And each bite filled one up as crazy calorically dense food should, but the local idea of more only led to hedonistic tendencies. Tendencies that Ike easily began to mirror. Tendencies that Soren was happy to instill in Ike.

His own plate free of seconds, Soren always seemed happy to oblige Ike's wishes for just another serving. Another serving soon followed by Ike snacking on snacks provided by Soren to that Ike would eat to fill in the gaps between meals. A gut soon grew to rest on his lap whenever he sat down. Soft padded breasts formed where rock hard pecs resided. Arms soon became dimpled and even heftier than they already were. Thighs grew monstrous, a hefty gait needed at all times. A shelf for an ass developed and sagges where perky cheeks were.

Where Ike would be considered large back in Tellius, here he was just average.

Of course, Ike was no idiot. Soren claiming stoicness meant nothing when he blushed and even stammered upon observing Ike's large hefty frame. Or the way Soren seemed to constantly short-circuit upon Ike squishing him against the wall or in bed.

A town once considered so strange and foreign soon grew to become a place where both could call home. So much money gained from here alone, land had promptly been bought. A sprawling semi remote area, it quickly became occupied with a house the two could call their own.

Ike, aware of Soren's research, had offhandedly mentioned about the two making their own garden at home in the name of frugality. Soren had nearly calmly nodded, but his head had been swirling, Ike's comment giving him all the more reason to already go through with his plan.

Eventually it had been Ike who confronted Soren, wishing to ensure that their silent mutual enjoyment of his size was indeed mutual. The cause for his sudden prompt had been a broken chair, Ike misjudging its sturdiness.

Soren confessing much the same, Ike merely grinned before hugging Soren. Or his definition of hugging. Ike's stomach too wide for him to reach around, Ike instead pressed Soren against the wall with his stomach. The two soon conversing about their garden, the realization of Soren's own magic laced in it became known to both.

Their garden soon abundant and ripe, both had been excited for it.

Ike already prepared, Soren brought him a chicken stir fry. Knowing Ike's enjoyment of meat, the homegrown vegetable laden dish had also been laden with chicken.

Tensely grabbing a forkful, mind racing to see the effects, Soren had eagerly crammed the food into Ike's eager mouth.

Standing to the side of him, his own noticeable layer of pudge pressing into Ike's, Soren visibly picked up as Ike let out a small moan, devouring the bite.

Suddenly pushed back, the small force had revealed itself in the extra round of fat outlining Ike's frame, his large chair seemingly smaller.

Both glancing down at the burgeoning plate, Ike's open mouth gave Soren the go ahead, Soren soon moving behind him. Bringing yet another forkful, Soren bit back his own bliss as Ike spread out a slight bit further, his massive frame growing.

Continuing to feed him, Ike kept growing, clothes straining before soon tearing, scraps of clothing lining his tanned corpulent frame. Chair kept appearing smaller, more of Ike's ass devouring and enveloping it, Ike soon appearing to float with no chair visible at all. His face grew wobbly, mouth opening slower and slower with each swallow that only kept adding to his enlarging body. Wood creaked and warped as Ike broke his chair, the floor soon bearing the brunt of his crushing weight. Fingers and toes grew stuff and unfit as they became rife with fat; hands and feet sunk wobbled alike with the rest of his body.

Soren merely stood behind Ike, moving every so often as Ike's wall of back rolls pushes further out behind and his shelf of an ass quickly turned to its own furniture, the hills spreading as did his stomach.

Ike moaning and groaning, he complained once it became apparent that the dish was over. Soren's extra magic doing this to him, Ike wheezes as Soren climbed on top of him, Soren slightly sinking.

Ike struggling to move, his range of motion was far too limited to do so alone. Soren giving a kiss to Ike, he began to wonder what even qualified as large here, his thoughts straying to hopefully finding out one day, Ike willing to find out as well.

[allisallies]

since I am gonna answer all of these for ike, gimme all of them for ranulf :) @aimeramie​

SHIPPING MEME.

//sdertre and i am not surprised at all :D shipping meme, ranulf edition, go! lol.

are you open to on-the-fly shipping with your muse?

//with like every other muses of mine, it’d happen only with a mun i’m very comfortable with, with whom there’s ooc communication about shipping. with them, i don’t mind shipping right away! with everyone else? hm, no. especially with ranulf.

what sort of things does your muse look for in a partner?

//them not being stupid assholes i guess lol. he just wants someone he can talk to and understand. someone with who he can connect. (he also likes them dense *eyes ike*)

what sort of things does your muse AVOID in a partner?

//free ill-will, someone with a very close mind. also someone without humor :|

what is the lowest and highest age person you’ll ship with your muse?

//huuuh knowing ranulf’s age is a pretty big Unknown here (he’s probably terribly Old by Beorc’s standards lol) i don’t really know. bases on his looks tho, i guess the youngest would be someone in their last teens and oldest huuuuh… how old is Tibarn? because That.

how easily does your muse fall in love?

//he hardly falls in love. did he ever had before? who knows, probably not. if we ship, your muse’s probably the first one he actually fell for tbh haha. (in my own hc ike would have been his first romantic love tbh).

has your muse dated before? if so, how long did those relationships usually last?

//despite not falling in love, i guess he did date a few times, especially when pretty young, he wanted to be like everyone else, so he tried. it never lasted very long tho, never more than a month, because he really never felt anything for the other party and they knew it.

would your muse ever get married?

//in the prospect he finally finds someone he does love, and enough for thinking about it, i guess he’d think about it. but just think. he’d never bring the subject to the other by himself.

does your muse usually take the lead in relationships?

//he doesn’t really, he’s usually pretty uh, not submissive, but laid-back? idk, in any case, he doesn’t put much efforts into them (unless he is finally into a romantic relationship he actually cares about, then he will put efforts and does things too, depending of his partner, he’ll lead most of the time).

who are some characters you ship your muse with?

//The Question, lol. Ike and Janaff. then soren bc hey, gimme the amazing crack ship. once i thought about him and tibarn and It Was Fun, so that too. and that’s pretty much it. i could be convinced for other ships, but it’d be hard.

do you tend to write more romantic ships, or more platonic and familial ships?

//with ranulf? it’s more platonic and familial i guess? that’s how his muse works after all, but ramie’s the exception to the whole thing ;)

how long does your muse have to know someone before they decide to ask them out?

//he’ll probably do it on a whim, so it doesn’t matter. time doesn’t matter to a laguz LOL.

what is your muse’s love language?

//…he purrs????

how easily would your muse get over a bad breakup?

//if it was someone he actually loved, he’d be in a pretty bad shape and would throw himself into work and battles without rest just to think about something else, until he just passes out by lack of… well, everything. he’d probably be a waste lmao. he doesn’t know how to deal with that kind of Feelings.

does your muse usually plan out dates or go with the flow?

//he fucking goes with the flow, bUT if his partner’s a beorc, he knows most of them are really attached to traditions like celebrating birthdays and things like that, so he’d plan stuff for those. but most of the time, he’ll just go with the flow.

if your muse is uncomfortable in a relationship, will they address the problem or keep quiet?

//he’ll keep quiet and leaves. you’ve been dumped.

does your muse believe in soulmates?

//no. but he will tease the heck out of his partner about it lol.

would your muse forgive their partner for cheating on them?

//uuuuuh, maybe. if he’s really attached, but he doesn’t give a third chance.

how many ships do you currently have with your muse?

//one haha. hi again ramie.

is there someone your muse has a crush on, but who you don’t actually have a ship with?

//yeah.

what would push you to drop a ship?

//a fall out with the other mun i guess? idk. i never really dropped a ship, even if i don’t write with someone for years, when they come back, the ship’s still there and we naturally go back to it.

[rhodanum]

One of the greatest challenges in writing anything multi-chapter for TDP is that it would involve me having to reconstruct the political systems of Katolis & the Pentarchy from scratch, so that everyone aside for Viren (and even he has his moment of impressive bungling) doesn't end up being an imbecile in terms of statecraft.

A quick recapitulation, starting with the dysfunctional mess that is the High Council of Katolis. And particularly That One Idiot who said, I quote: "Xadia sent assassins and they took the King's life. There hasn't been the slightest skirmish since then. Maybe that was it. They've had their revenge and everything will just... settle down now."

It's a good thing I didn't try to livetweet S2, because that would've caused a whole storm of "who the hell put this numbskull on the council? He isn't fit to look after a chicken-coop, much less a nation!" Seriously, that's the sort of opinion that a baker or a farmer or a cobbler or any other regular citizen is expected to give, the standard 'keep your head down and hope it all blows over by itself.' Not someone who is part of what is supposed to be a national ruling body.

The murder of a sovereign (no matter how morally justified on the side of the people doing the murdering) is, by definition, an act of war. You really don't want to be the first to strike? Fine, then. But at least mobilize the militias / the standing army and take precautions. But we don't see even the most basic self-defense measures being instituted.

Which links to the second glaring issue: not only is the council as a political body both unable and unwilling to act, it is paralyzed by Katolis seeming having no proper redundancy systems in case of murderized sovereign with an heir who is well under the age of adulthood. Standard procedure is instituting a regency (Viren wasn't wrong at all here, even if his goal involved Ezran never touching the throne) so the bloody kingdom doesn't end up in gridlock. It doesn't matter if the regency lasts a week, a month, a year or more. The goal of any ruling body is ensuring the continued political and economic functioning of the kingdom and the well-being of the people. Which cannot be done if decision-making is tied to the King's seal and said seal cannot be used by anyone other than the King's heir, who is missing and who has an entirely uncertain Estimated Time of Return. But instead of acting and picking up the regency for how long it takes for Ezran to be back, the high-rollers of Katolis sit & wait.

This is what drives me bonkers about Opeli, incidentally. She spends her time being an obstructionist force with no actual constructive and politically functional ideas behind said obstructionism. She doesn't pick up the regency or do anything to resolve the gridlock. Amaya, at the least, has the excuse that she's an essential component of the Breach's defense, through her command of the Standing Battalion. But even she takes a dunk in the 'Lawful Stupid / Stupid Good' fountain, when she justifies her refusal to accept the regency not through the importance of her military command right at the border with Xadia, but through 'Ezran is the rightful ruler.' Ma'am, 'rightful ruler' isn't going to matter a jot if you end up with anything from economic instability all the way to possibly getting invaded.

And then there's Harrow, whose inability to deal with his own burdened conscience and crushing sense of guilt when it came to the people he lost resulted in him effectively deciding to dump his people's well-being on the shoulders of a ten year old. It's not fair to Ezran and Callum (who effectively lost a third parent in a row) but, far more importantly, it's not fair to everyone else who has to pick up the pieces, because a ten year old cannot be expected to rule much of anything. (I'm looking forward to S3, but definitely not to the 'and he was a far wiser ruler, for he had the Innocence of Childhood' nonsense that will probably be going on with Ezran's plot-line. The only way his rule would make sense to me is if the council make him a figurehead and handle actual rule themselves. But I don't have much hope for that, because said council, as pointed out above, doesn't have a good track-record when it comes to actually decent statecraft).

The rest of the Pentarchy suffer from the same flaws as the rulership of Katolis. The same 'head in the sand / hope the storm passes if we ignore it' malarkey. The same waiting for others to act before committing to anything. Queen Aanya of Duren says noble, nice-sounding things in refusing to commit to preparations for war. I'd find them less of an irritating manner of writing if the show ever presents neutrality in a state of war as being absolutely no guarantee of safety. (I was talking with @ma_ya_mo_ri about this. I find neutrality a cheap cop-out in terms of writing military conflict because the both of us, as Eastern Europeans, know from our history that it did jack-shit when it came to keeping our countries from getting the shit conquered out of them). While we're at it, Aanya's platitudes, coupled with her essentially waving the Divine Right of Kings in Viren's face is, as far as I'm concerned, another notch in the 'this is why you don't let children anywhere near political power' post. (That scene is extremely telling and it says a lot about issues of class within the Pentarchy -- it means that you can study as much as you like, become as much of an accomplished specialist in your field as you like, sacrifice until your very body is crumbling and falling apart... but you'll still be shot down by a random kid with a crown on their head, whose only real achievement was winning the lottery of birth).  

Mind you, all of the above doesn't mean I think Viren didn't make mistakes either. His most egregious was the plan concerning the Princes, because he should have known that Soren and Claudia wouldn't have ultimately been able to go through with it. Two (relatively untested) teenagers, who have been life-long friends with the targets? It was always doomed to fail. I can sort of see why he did it, if I squint -- he needed two people that he could place his utmost trust in, on very short notice. It was still a stupid choice, likely one motivated by desperation and lack of any other immediate option.

What should he have done instead? Well, for one, Viren should have given very serious consideration to bringing Ezran back alive and using his position as his father's best friend / unofficial uncle to teach the kid and mold him into the sort of King he thought was necessary for Katolis and the rest of the Pentarchy. It's apparent why he didn't do it and went with the nuclear-option instead. If war is on the horizon, you don't have enough time to forge the young King you need, while also being in a state of constant war with the rest of the council for influence over said King.

If the kill-option was the only viable alternative in his mind, he should have ensured it was entrusted to someone who could go through with it. A stone-cold, trained killer-for-hire, instead of his kids. Regicide isn’t a course of action where you can afford either half-measures or mistakes. Even better, while we're at 'should have done's': have a small team of wetwork specialists trained in secret, taught to be utterly loyal and employ them for highly sensitive operations, where any sort of mistake or bungle can spell disaster. But he didn't have such a team trained (just as, for example, he didn't cultivate loyalty toward himself within the Crownguard, thus ensuring the rest of the Council couldn't use this fighting-force against him) because he never actually planned to take head-of-state powers within his own hands, before the disaster with Harrow.

The actions we see from S1EP4 onward aren't those of a man who always planned to overthrow his best friend and stage a coup, but rather someone who acted rashly, saved Harrow's soul against his will... and then was stuck in an impossible situation, with a kingdom without a ruler and paralyzed into complete inaction, along with the loss of humanity's greatest asset against Xadia (the Dragon Prince egg). No wonder he looks as if he's flying by the seat of his pants, juggling seventeen things all at once and actually failing at the basics of a proper coup (such as ensuring the support of the armed forces).

Viren's fault, that trips him up again and again, is (hilariously and ironically enough) the fact he isn't actually ruthless enough for the position he's currently in! He's an idealist at heart and genuinely believes that people can be persuaded to make the rational choices, with the right arguments. This is what leads to his fall-from-political-grace and arrest at the end of S2. He takes an enormous risk in using the King's seal and lying about his status as Regent in front of the other rulers of the Pentarchy, effectively putting all his eggs in the one basked titled 'surely they'll see sense and act', if the danger is presented to them in a clear and concise manner.' But that's not what happens and his enormous gamble backfires, in that his lie becomes known to the rest of the council and results in Opeli's efforts to have him arrested. His idealism in thinking reason could sway the rest of the Pentarchy bites him right in the arse.

[littlemisssquiggles]

I don’t know if you’ve already addressed this, but I was wondering if you strongly think Rayla and Callum’s relationship from The Dragon Prince will eventually become romantic. If so, do you think the evidence we currently have from season 1 and 2 is enough to prove this? (Yep, first it’s Rosegarden and then Rayllum for me 😣)

Do I thinkRayllum from The Dragon Prince will eventually become romantic? Well, to quote MurderofBirds,does a bear shit in the woods? Basically what I’m saying is hell yes.That has got to be what the Dragon Writers are planning to do with them. Theydefinitely dropped a few more breadcrumbs of Rayllum throughout Book 2’sruntime especially with that last episode near confession from Rayla.

IfI didn’t think Rayllum wasn’t going to become a thing in Book 1, Book 2definitely sealed the deal for me. That being said, I still get the impressionthat this pairing is going to be a slow burn (begrudginglyjust like RoseGarden). At the moment, I think Rayla might be starting to have feelings forCallum but isn’t quite there yetwith realizing it for herself. This is why I’m excited for Book 3. Not just because this willbe our first official season with just Callum and Rayla travelling together ontheir own to deliver Zym (still can’t believe they broke up the draconic trioso soon only after two seasons) but also because, I took a look at the map onthe Dragon Prince official website and Moonshadow Elves are expected on the trek toward Xadia.

Thisis a chance for Callum to see where Rayla grew up and learn more about her andher past. This will especially be interesting given that the elves areprejudice against humans. I feel like Book 3 will be a good chance to focusmore on Rayla just as Book 2 focused more on Callum and Ezran. So I’m excitedfor that. I also feel like Book 3 will delve more into Rayla’s growing feelingsfor Callum. Perhaps by the end of it, Rayla will realize how she truly seeshim.

Asfor Callum, I’m not sure. I know Callum cares for Rayla but…Book 2 touched onhis crush on Claudia. The two even nearly shared a kiss together. Given whathappened with Claudia and Soren, I’m not convinced yet that Callum is overClaudia.

Afterall, Callum told Rayla that he’s known Claudia (and Soren) for years and thathe and Rayla aren’t there yet in terms of trust and closeness. This was asearly as the second episode. I think C8 showed Callum being stern with Claudia.

Clearlyhe’s angry with her for her betrayal but…I’m not sure if he’s over her. So evenif Rayla realized her feelings for Callum and tries to make a move, it’llprobably turn out as it did with Sokka and Suki the first time when they triedto kiss but Sokka was still hung over his feelings for Yue.

Ironicallysince Callum and Sokka share the same VA. Ironically again since Sokka’s firstlove became the Moon and his second love was a trained Kyoshi Warrior.

Holdup. Is that whatthey’re doing with Rayla? Is Rayla supposed to be like a fusion of Yue and Suki?

A trainedwarrior who is connected to the moon and gets her power from the moon.

Areyou kidding me! Really Dragon Writers? XD I know one of its creators used to bethe lead writer for A:TLA but seriously? Ya’ll ain’t slick. I see what you didthere.

Anyways,I do see Rayllum becoming romantic. It just may be a while before anythinghappens between them; mainly on Callum’s part. I am looking forward to watchingRayla fall for Callum though. I feel like her part in it is going to be a realpeach to observe over the seasons. But that’s just me.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[gascon-en-exil]

FE16 Black Eagles (Edelgard) Liveblogging

Up through Chapter 4. At this early stage the plot is nearly identical, so I have to say on the matter.

I haven’t made use of any of the NG+ features yet. I’m stockpiling Renown to finish off the saint statues, and while it’s true that pretty much the whole cast looks better post-timeskip I found it too odd to have them walking around like that during the school phase. It’s also off-putting that you can only toggle the appearances of characters in your current party, so those from the other houses can’t be updated along with them.

Starting with the Lions clearly spoiled me, because I’ve noticed that the Eagles are slightly weaker across the board. Caspar is nowhere near as tanky as Dedue, Ferdinand has taken longer to get going than Sylvain, and while Edelgard is a great frontliner she can’t compare to how Dimitri’s utterly broken growths. As expected the Eagles are as a whole better in the magical department and are proving to be quite flexible in that regard; Hubert and Dorothea both have strong 1-3 range spells, and Linhardt and Dorothea both have Physic for heals that can just about match Mercedes when used in conjunction. Hubert surprised me the most, as I’m so used to heavy and inaccurate dark magic that’s pretty much worth using only for its overpowered gimmick spells (FE7 Luna, FE13 Nosferatu). Hubert’s accurate, fast enough to double around half the time, and as mentioned versatile with Mire’s 1-3 range.

I’ve been challenging myself not to use Byleth at all, mostly because I did it once before and I’m utterly bored with him. The only problem with this that I can see is that it will hinder support grinding, but Byleth has so many opportunities to build support outside of combat that it hasn’t shown itself to be that big a deal.

Edelgard’s first support with Byleth is locked until later in the game. I remember people were theorizing that supporting her was necessary to get her route, but I think that’s been disproven.

Character/Story observations

So far it’s all been much the same as my Lions playthrough, which in itself is a bit strange. I still put down Lonato’s rebellion, this time with less context, and next chapter I’ll be heading off to kill Sylvain’s brother. Dedue and Sylvain are still the ones introducing basic monastery features during the first exploration session too. For all that Edelgard/the Eagles were the favored house in pre-release marketing and get the most overall story focus in the war phase, it’s the Lions who have that privilege in the school phase. You just can’t get away from all the crushing personal drama in Faerghus.

Outside of supports the only notable story difference is that Edelgard expresses vague approval for Lonato’s actions after he’s been killed. Of course she’s also playing coy about stringing along the Western church and commanding the Death Knight, but that’s only something that comes from reading spoilers online the hindsight of a second playthrough.

On supports: Ferdinand is a pompous ass with his heart in the right place, and I kind of love him. Too bad he’s only got the one same-sex option, but I guess he’s secretly got a goth kink? Forays into loving women aside I also find Dorothea very relatable; she hunts for sugar daddies because she knows her looks will fade, and she’s not above propositioning dense men like Caspar who think they’re going to get sex but instead get roped into manual labor. Hubert is...weird. I can’t tell if the severe pseudo-vampire thing is all an elaborate act or it’s just naturally creepy and abrasive. Caspar and Linhardt don’t resemble Ike and Soren at all in personality, so their relationship is more of an aesthetic callback than anything.

And...right, Bernadetta. Why is she the fandom’s newest #1 waifu? Are that many straight men seriously attracted to women with absolutely no social graces who are under the impression that everyone wants to (literally) kill them? I’m aware of her abusive family life and I presume her supports will involve less screaming and running away as they progress, but at this point I find her very annoying.

[aetheternity]

Moon tattoos (Possibly P1??) Rayllum tattoo au.

“Ok.. Ok Rayla.. You can do this.. He's not that pretty..” She rolled her eyes at herself, breathing her inner monologue away. This was going to be her 5th time this week going to the Katolis tattoo shop. And probably her 50th time this month alone, trying to ask the pretty tattoo artist for his number. Her originally plan about 2 months back had been to get a small crescent moon tattooed on her upper back. But she'd seen the cute guy that was gonna do it for her. And the rest was history.. He just had to be gorgeous with his shimmering green eyes and perfect smile, his t-shirt always seemingly clung to his chest. Arms bulging showing off the sneaky blue dragon curled down his bicep. Seriously Rayla wasn't the shy type! Not at all. But she'd also never had a crush this strong before, not to mention an assortment of moons running over her back and shoulders. It was embarrassing! And stupid. Stupidly embarrassing.. But she couldn't stop herself from coming back just to see him. Couldn't stop herself from getting the same tattoo over and over again. Couldn't let the words she'd been trying to ask slip off her tongue. “Would you like to get coffee some time?” It was 8 words and yet it eluded her in every possible aspect. Every time she tried he'd flash that pretty smile and suddenly she had to “go feed her cat.” She doesn't have a cat. But she might as well get one considering the male named Callum was probably gonna be married at the rate she was going. She entered the small tattoo shop, nodding to the other artist's either working on people of their own or cleaning off their needles. “Hello Rayla!” Called the male named Soren. “Hi.. Soren..” Because of Callum she just happened to know everyone in this place by first name. As if her slightly debating on asking Callum to tattoo his own name on her skin hadn't been embarrassing enough. The blond squinted pretending as if he was deep in thought. (Which he clearly never had been in his 27 years of living) “Let me guess. You're here to see Callum.” Rayla couldn't help the heat that soaked her cheeks. Her eyes darted away and she had half a mind to cover her face with her hand, but decided that would be way too obvious. She just nodded as a reply scrunting up her features. “Alright.. I would say head to the back but you've been here so many times that I think you know the drill.” Rayla turned to go to Callum's corner in the back of the shop, burying her head as she walked. Most of her mortification stayed trapped in her cheeks only getting worse when Soren decided to yell, “Callum! Rayla's here!” If she could catch fire she would. She stalked into the back room, face still hotter then if should be. Immediately thrilled that Callum wasn't there. That is until she started to wrack her brain over why he wasn't here. He couldn't have possibly missed Soren calling for him. Even the store next door heard him. That thought making her skin flush more profusely if that was still possible. She stared at the floor seating herself on Callum's stool, just beside the table where people would lay to get their tattoos done. The one she'd sat on so many days. Well laid on.. She bounced slightly on the surprisingly comfy stool, spinning it once as a test, then again just for the fun of it. “Hey. That's where I sit.” Rayla almost flew off the stool from the sound of the voice at the door. Teasing and gentle. “C-Callum! ” Her inner cartoon character emerged and she practically flipped off the stool. “I.. I.. Uh!..” The green eyed male laughed. Irritating Rayla as she tried to get her life together. Hair astray and currently struggling with whiplash. “It's ok Rayla. You're not the first one to try my chair.” He announced, gesturing her to the table beside where she'd been sitting. “It's been a little bit since the last time you came-” Callum announced, whether sarcastic or not Rayla couldn't tell. Had he.. been counting?? It certainly hadn't been that long it was Thursday, the last time she'd been there was Tuesday night. Was he surprised that she didn't come on Wednesday? Did he actually notice? Was Callum secretly paying attention to the amount of times she came in here, in the same way Rayla had tasked herself, in memorizing what colors Callum looked best in? Honestly he looked great in almost every color the only exceptions being light variants of orange, and bright green's. “Rayla?” “Huh?!” The elf girl bounced a bit, cheeks flushed, soft white hair brushed back to reveal her face as she peeked back at the male. “Y-yes..” Body temperature instantly sky rocketing as she wracked over if she'd accidentally spoken out loud. Callum chuckled briefly, running his hand over the zipper of Rayla's shirt before coaxing it down a touch, revealing the assortment of moons splayed over her back. “Are you sure you wouldn't want maybe a sun in the middle? Couple stars to make it looks more like a map of some sorts? Or even a different phase of the moon in the center?” He asked, the sound of his chair relaxing and the wheels coming closer, echoed through the room. If Rayla was being honest with herself she kinda wished she'd asked a couple moons ago for some stars or even a sun. It probably looked like a mess back there and she was honestly glad she couldn't see her own back. It wasn't like she'd never thought to ask for something else, it was more that asking for something else required her to work her lips and brain at the same time. A skill that had long vanished the second she met Callum. “N-no.. It's ok..” Were the only things she could ever make her brain muster. Callum sighed softly, his breath coaxing over Rayla's body in an unbelievably ticklish manner and she forced herself to stay still. “Ok, if you're sure.” She heard the male mutter. “I'm gonna go for this blank spot right here ok.” He patted, Rayla's lower back and she nodded, moving her hips back a bit more to get comfortable. She already knew the drill after the first 10 tattoos, no longer jumping when the cotton ball stained with rubbing alcohol was dabbed on her skin. While also being mentally prepared for the needles tip to brush her skin after it'd dried a bit. She was an expert in a way she hadn't wanted to be. Seriously Rayla? Come on just ask him while you can't see him! She barked to herself in annoyance, having to stop the very real groan, that was coming to respond to her thoughts. Why was this so hard?! “I still don't really know if this is a moonshadow elf thing but…. I think.. You have a lot of dedication towards your race, I like that..” Callum remarked breaking the silence, thumb stretching Rayla's skin a bit. She had to bite her lip. Had to! Had to keep every reaction to Callum's soft hands to herself. Even if he was wearing gloves her skin still burned, ached for any little touches. “Rayla?” Her face deepened with warm color, soaking down to her neck. Shit, he'd paid her a compliment.. What was she supposed to say back?? How should she respond?? “If I'm being completely honest.. I'm so glad you came here for your first tattoo.. Even more glad that you came to me..” Wait.. What?? “I didn't really wanna say anything cause Soren says we're running a professional business here, but he also says butter tastes good with everything, so I don't think I should always take his advice.” Callum chuckled, needle making a smooth curve over Rayla's back. Wait.. Wait a minute. What?? “Uh.. I guess I'll just say it.” Callum huffed, the sound of his chair rolling closer made Rayla's breath catch and her ears perk with attention. “I.. Really like you Rayla. And I have since you first walked in here.. And I was wondering if you maybe wanna.. Go grab coffee sometime??” “Wait what?!” This time Rayla said it out loud. Her body jerked up as she tried to face Callum, needle dragging across her skin. And she fell back with the incredibly painful sensation. Callum rushing to stand, placing the needle back on his table and removing his gloves. It wasn't really as bad as pain she'd experienced just from trying to clean up messes her friends made, but the embarrassment of it all sold it way more. “Oh my god! I'm so sorry!” He apologized quickly, moving to grab another cotton ball. “I'm so so sorry!” He continued, trying to clean up the blood but Rayla kept flinching away, nails digging into the chair. “It-it's not your f-fault..” She tried, she could feel the blood pooling from the open wound, trickling down her back a bit. But Callum's hands were more than enough to help with the pain. He'd asked her out!! Callum found her attractive! She barely knew what to do with this new information. Should she say yes now that she knew? Should she tell him she'd liked him back?? “I'm so so sorry about this.. Soren is gonna kill me.. I shouldn't have asked.” Rayla flinched again and her ears fell at Callum's words, if not for the great deal of pain she currently felt she might've just left. Completely exhausted from making a fool of herself in front of this human boy. “Maybe I should take you home..” Callum offered. “I don't have much here to help with the pain and cotton balls can only soak up so much blood.” “Yeah.. Ok.” Rayla agreed, too tired and a little pissed to actually say no. Callum threw away the cotton ball he'd been using to dab Rayla's skin. Zipping up the back of her shirt, being careful not to bother the very exposed cut running along her back. Rayla took Callum's hand when it was offered to her, back hunched as she took a few steps forward. She couldn't believe it. She'd been wanting to ask Callum out for months only to get asked out and immediately dumped on all at the same time, not to mention her injuring herself less than a second of being asked out. Rayla had never been good with rejection, in any shape or form since she was a kid. Back then she could throw hour long tantrums, but right now all she wanted to do was go home and scream into a pillow. “Soren.. We had a little bit of a situation. Can I take Rayla home really quick?” Rayla just stayed quiet, staring at the floor instead of the approximately 20 people in the shop currently wondering what had occurred. “What? You just got here not that long ago!” Soren argued, coming around the counter. “What happened anyway?” Rayla's violet irises peaked up to look at Soren, immediately feeling a bit guilty for the irritation that shone in Callum's direction. “I know I just.. there was an accident..” Callum admitted, squeezing Rayla's hand a bit, the young elf would be lying if she said it didn't send sparks fluttering throughout her body. “Oh, great an accident!” Soren began, crossing his very muscled arms. “Who's paying for damages Callum? Or riddle this! Who's gonna take your shift! All the girl's always come here for you, for some reason especially since I'm here, with you gone we're gonna lose a lot of money-” “I won't be gone that long I swear I'll be less than an hour!-” Wait.. just how many girls actually came here for Callum specifically? While Rayla did know she couldn't be the only one just how many of them came here to try and steal Callum? “This all happened because I wasn't paying attention and I-” “It's not his fault Soren.” Despite the pain, Rayla pushed herself to stand a bit taller, Callum helping her balance all the while. “I jumped because I got a text.. Callum didn't do anything wrong I don't blame him..” Callum's green eyes flickered over to Rayla, shimmering beautifully he gave her a soft smile mouthing, “Thank you.” So Soren wouldn't hear. As if Rayla's skin wasn't hotter than the surface of the sun from just holding Callum's hand. “Not your only problem!” Soren continued, immediately getting Callum's eyes. “Who's gonna cover for you?!” “Claudia can take over for me.” “Oh, yeah sure! Since Claudia clearly has nothing else better to do then take care of all the pretty girls that want you.” The raven haired girl across the room replied sarcastically, currently tying her long hair up in a ponytail. “Yes, thank you.” Callum remarked, completely ignoring the sarcasm in favor of getting Rayla out of the shop as quickly as possible. “Where do you live?” Callum asked once they were out on the street. Rayla had lived in the same apartment building for about 6 years now. It had been a gift from Runaan and he'd even lived with her for about a year and a half, mostly helping her get unpacked and used to the new arrangement, since she'd never lived all alone before. Mostly helping her cook and clean. Even making her a budget so she could afford anything she wanted after rent was paid, and food was brought. Though after her 20th birthday most of her saved up funds had gone to Callum. “It's.. Right up there..” Rayla winced, her arm now stretched over Callum's shoulders. And fuck were they nice.. Broad shoulders that bulge nicely under a perfectly fitting tee and if Rayla were any braver she'd give them a squeeze, pretending it was the pain making her wince. She'd managed to somewhat ignore the pain seeing as they were walking pretty slowly, but every now and then a person would walk past looking slightly confused by the scene, and Rayla's face would go up in flames all over again. She handed Callum her keys as they approached the brownstone on the corner of the block, squished up nice and tight against the building just next to it. From day one the deep red of her apartment building had her enamored, it was in a good place for her and her neighbors weren't awfully loud. Runaan had given her just what she didn't know she needed like he always did. Once the front door was open the two adults fell silent the entire walk up to Rayla's apartment. 3 floors of wincing and stopping and gripping onto the banister on her opposite side for better balance. “Rayla I know I said it before but I really am so sorry..” Callum apologized, handing Rayla her keys once her front door was unlocked. She was suddenly glad she'd swept around a bit and cleaned up the mess Ellis had made trying to make blueberry pancakes but with raspberries. She always had been the kind of girl you'd label “kooky” if you were trying to be nice. “Do you have any gauze, maybe some band aids?” And suddenly Rayla was also really glad for Lujanne who constantly found ways to scare people and get them hurt in her apartment. “In the medicine cabinet!” Rayla announced, surprised that she could make a full sentence without breaks in front of Callum for once. Then again she couldn't see him anymore so that probably made it easier. Callum's boots made a very satisfying “clomp clomp” on the hardwood floors as he came rushing back with the first aid kit. “Cool apartment.” He tried, looking over the soft lilac carpeting and plastic covered couch into the living room. Since the kitchen and living room were connected. “Thank you.” Rayla replied to the ground. “Uh..” Callum was standing at the kitchen counter that separated the kitchen and living room while Rayla laid against her front door not looking at the man in the slightest. “I..” He started but stalled, face whipping away to the window on the other side of the apartment. The second Rayla looked up she could see the deep blush dusting his cheeks and a bit of his neck. He looked so awkward. So cute. And kind of unCallum like. “I.. Kinda need you…. To bend over..” He finally explained, to the ceiling instead of the moonshadow elf next to him. “Gonna buy me dinner first?” Rayla blurted, immediately wanting to open her apartment door and jump down the flight of stairs they'd came up. Surprisingly enough Callum gave a small chuckle, relaxing a bit, though his face didn't get any less red. “Let's see how this goes first.” He replied, pulling some gauze from the small kit and.. Wait did he just flirt back?? Rayla hoped she didn't seem eager as she bent over the counter, brushing her hair aside so Callum could unzip her shirt again. If she had a dollar for everytime she'd been embarrassed today she could make back every dime she'd spent trying to win over Callum. Right now her knees were buckling, fingers gripping the counter like her life depended on it. And she hoped with every fiber of her being that Callum either, wasn't paying attention, or didn't notice. “I have to say I'm sorry again..” Callum announced with sympathy tucked into every word. “Why….What happened?” She was partially worried it was about the injury and partially worried he was gonna break her heart again by explaining how he shouldn't have asked her out. “Well..” Callum started, but paused as he rubbed alcohol over her injury. “This might leave a little scar honestly-” Rayla flinched as Callum continued to pat lightly over the cut. “It.. can be covered up.. If you wanted.. with maybe some stars or.. something but I know you said you didn't want that….” “I!” Rayla started but clapped a hand over her mouth when she heard her volume, and saw Callum jolt behind her. “It.. wouldn't be.. awful.” She mumbled “Maybe..” She finished looking over her shoulder. Callum's eyes sparkled, he wasn't looking at her back anymore. He was looking right at her. Right into her eyes with that soft pink blush and those dangerously beautiful green's. She jerked her face around, wanting to just hide her face by laying it on the table. Almost succeeding but overall ended up banging her entire forehead on the marble. “You know what might as well just stay down Rayla, can't get any worse today.” “Are you ok??” Callum asked as Rayla let out a soft groan of disgust in herself. “Y-yes?” She sounded as if she didn't know herself. “All the moon's look really pretty on you..” And seriously?! Were all human boys this confusing?! She was almost tempted to pay him a compliment back. But she definitely wouldn't be able to stop if she did. It'd start with his beautiful eyes and would still be going on about his dragon tattoo. “Th-thank you..” Callum finished and Rayla raised her head suddenly feeling a bit more naked, being in her apartment all alone, with the guy she'd been crushing on for months with her shirt unzipped. She was about to fix her shirt but Callum moved to do it first. “Y-you might wanna rub some Vaseline on that spot later.. Or have someone else-” He explained but cut himself off with a shake of his head. He pulled the zipper up to the top. “Maybe some ice.. I didn't put a bandaid on it because you don't have one long enough..” The male stepped back crossing an arm over his chest. It wasn't obvious to Rayla that she'd been looking at the male tattoo artist for too long, until his embarrassed eyes came up, to meet her's. “I know I should go.. I have work..” He suddenly blurted. “But I just.. I have to know-” Whatever it was seemed to conflict him and Rayla sucked in a breath unconsciously, unable to move as she watched the gears in his head turn and ponder the question on his lips. “D-do you like me?” He finally asked “..Because I like you.. And I have for the longest but I.. didn't know what to say or how to-” “Yes.” “What?” Callum stopped. The room stopped. The fucking world stopped. He was staring at her and suddenly it was 500 degrees hotter in the room. “You..” “I-” Rayla tried, but choked on the ball suddenly lodged in her throat. “So.. you do like me??” And fuck why did he sound so cute and relieved! “Yes! Ok! I was all worked up because I thought you were maybe ignoring me when I talked to you or maybe you're just a quiet person but yes!” He rambled on and threw his hands up like he'd won a prize. And Rayla couldn't help but smile so hard her cheeks began to hurt. It was as if a weight had been pushed off her chest. She could breathe again. “Oh! Ok then. Do you like sports?” Callum asked, doing a cute little trot back over to Rayla, holding onto the countertop next to her. “I.. Guess..” Rayla hadn't really ever paid much attention to sports, since it was more of a human thing. She'd only recently been introduced to it because of Ellis and even then she was mildly confused. But it wasn't like it wasn't interesting especially if it served Callum's interest. “Sure.” She finally decided on. “Would you.. Maybe wanna see a soccer game with me.. Sometime?” Her brain screamed “love to” but she managed to just say, “Yeah sure.” Callum gave off another one of those electrifying smiles that made her stomach explode with countless butterflies. “Great.” He said, his hand fell to his pocket and when it emerged it came up with a blue pen. Without disrupting eye contact with Rayla he quickly scribbled his number down on her arm. “Wow he writes 6's adorably too.” Rayla thought, body vibrating under his touch. “Don't tell Soren.” He stated, putting the pen away with one hand already on the apartment door. “I won't.” Rayla replied with an unmissable sigh of content. “Bye Rayla.” Callum practically giggled, a sing songy tone escaping with his words. And with that Rayla was alone in her apartment again. Unable to hide the toothy grin on her face.

[lunaraen]

For Anon

Prompt: D'you think you could write something Halloween-y (no pressure you can post it in December if you want) for Lukivesse?

This fall's warmer than last year's; her fingers aren't even numb yet.

An apology, maybe, for how crazy it was last time, and while nature doesn't normally seem the type to care about human acts of nonsense, like Witherstorms or the horrors they bring, the ground here was once stripped to bedrock, the trees and hedges and meadows all plucked up just like the people.

For all the good their recovery efforts have done, as amazing as mass-scale building and rebuilding can be, maybe nature's still recovering, just a bit.

Regardless of the why or how, Olivia won't complain. The walk to the hairdresser would be way more unbearable if the weather was anything like last year's, and the wait outside would be worse.

(Time marches on, natures heals, and Lukas's hair grew longer than he ever intended to let it while they were in the portals.

Olivia's half surprised he didn't take care of it himself as soon as they all got back, but he deserves the chance to kick back and they've all been a bit too busy trying to get back to life the past few weeks.)

Their conversation lulls as they approach, lapsing comfortably, and Olivia stretches, stepping away from the door.

Thanks to how it’s made almost entirely of glazed glass, she's also stepping out of the distorted and hazy beam of light passing through it.

Her fingers curl, briefly, around the back of the bench set between the salon and the nearest shop, a cafe with cute sayings written in chalk on its sign and few lights currently on inside, enough to keep monsters from spawning and little else.

"I'll wait out here." It's a wooden bench, making it ten times more inviting than a metal one would be even on a lukewarm night, and the nearest lamp is just far enough away for the lighting to be safe but relaxing, working well with the decorations and much smaller lights strung up around nearby buildings and the salon itself. Olivia's gaze jumps from the swirling patterns on the lantern glass to Jesse, matching her raised eyebrow with one of her own. "I know I wouldn't want to get between you and Lukas's hair."

Lukas reacts more to that statement than Jesse does, his lower lip sticking out a bit too much to be genuine, the brief chewing at it too harsh and timed to be a nervous tic. His arms cross, the pout as overly dramatic as it is pronounced, and she half expects a demand to apologize not to him, but his hair.

"You like my hair." Lukas's tone is as wounded as his expression, and just as manufactured, the brief tremble to it more likely to be due to the way his lips twitch upwards than any emotional ache.

Still, Olivia's amazed he never went into theater.

"And I can play with it at home." She snorts, hand on her hip. "Do you want a third set of hands messing with your hair? Because the hairdresser's going to have enough competition with Jesse on that."

"If it bothers anybody, then I'll just stop." Jesse says it the way a chicken wanders in a meadow; with too much ease and far too much daring. It's a little haughty, but mostly soft, as joking as the way she ruffles Lukas's hair again.

(His bangs are practically covering his eyes, falling from where they'd been combed back before they left the temple, his fingers twitching for the comb he left at home. It's cuter than it has any right to be.)

"Jesse, you saved how many people? How many worlds? You could spit on them and they still wouldn't say anything to your face. They're definitely not going to tell you to stop messing with Lukas's hair when we're paying for it." Olivia considers that statement, because she fully believes it but she's also known Jesse almost all of her life, and that sounds like something that could be taken as a challenge. "Not unless you go wild in there, but I trust you two to behave yourselves."

Lukas and Jesse grin, nearly speaking at the same time.

"First mistake."

They're still giggling and chuckling to themselves as they walk in, bell chiming quietly as they do, and they're dorks, absolute total dorks who amuse themselves better than anyone, but they're hers and Olivia's grinning when she sits on the bench.

They'll never be able to top the queen of the dorks, even if the effort's adorable and they're dorky in their own, less redstone-related and socially-awkward ways.

They pull off cute well, especially with how shaggy Lukas's hair's gotten, soft as ever but getting damnably long in a way that seems to bother him far more than it bothers Olivia or Jesse, who are equally happy to have more to mess with.

Olivia's amazed he never hacked it off before now, using one of the swords they had or even a pair of shears she's sure they came across at some point. She knows Lukas loves his hair, and would hate mutilating it even more than not properly caring for it, but it's been driving him crazy as it is just doing basic, normal things at home or during training.

If he'd had another week of running for his life and trying to deal with his hair falling in his face, maybe he would have given in and cut it. The portals seemed good at inspiring that sort of desperation.

The portals.

On second thought, maybe he did trim it at some point before it grew back and he gave up.

They were gone long enough, and maybe it just seemed like a waste of time.

Olivia rests the side of her head against her hand, elbow propped up on the bench armrest as she watches the string of lights above her tremble in the breeze.

They don't talk about the portals.

Not that they aren't affected near constantly.

There's been a lot of crying, a lot of staying up sleepless, a lot of working themselves to exhaustion to try and bypass the nightmares and lurking memories, but there hasn't been a lot of talking about the portal misadventures.

Or any talking, really. None that doesn't fizzle and shrivel up, pushed aside in favor of ignoring it all together as best they can.

(There are a lot of names, mumbled, whispered, shrieked, or casually said that mean nothing to her yet. It's maybe worse when she does recognize the names, her stomach turning when Lukas screams Aiden's name in his sleep before gasping awake, throat hoarse even before he can curl up and start shuddering with his own sobs, her mind screeching at her that she knew the Blaze Rods were nothing but trouble, that Aiden's threats were more than just talk.

It's awful to hear, to think about, but it's hardly talking.

Mostly, she finds out about portal things through Lukas's writing, rough drafts he passes her way in lieu of describing vocally. Olivia looks over the details with the scrutiny of a trusted editor; she memorizes them the way any concerned person would, friend, partner, or otherwise, and some of the descriptions are ghastly and are burned into her brain whether she likes them or not.

It's fair; she wouldn't have kind things to say about dying.

Lukas still hasn't written about the Blaze Rods, beyond a general, too vague and too passive summary of terrible things that happened in some city in the sky.

Olivia wonders if he ever will. She trusts him, though, to heal in his own way, and she knows he'll write about it when he's ready, even if it's just for the sake of giving the right beginning to his book.)

Maybe this haircut's one of the first steps towards trying to really move past it all.

Maybe not.

It could just be driving Lukas crazy without being symbolic of anything, or it could be the opposite; Lukas trying to force things back to the way they were and acting like things are fine when they aren't.

Regardless, she'll be here.

If he's trying to stuff it all down, he won't get very far with both Olivia and Jesse keeping an eye on him, and Jesse won't get far with trying the same thanks to Lukas and Olivia watching her.

They worry about Olivia too when they shouldn't, when she was kidnapped for little more than a day while they spent weeks and months scared and in terrible situations. They care so much, and maybe she doesn't agree with it, but she can work with them all looking out for each other.

Notch knows they deserve it, deserve some kind of break, even if they have to carve out a space for it between the doubts and nightmares and endlessly crushing work schedules because some nights they're busy leaders.

Some nights, though, they're just doing their best to have a good time and able to try. Some nights, that's more than enough.

The wind shifts again, whistling through a nearby alley and then up into the tree limbs, soft and deep and almost sounding like a wolf's cry before ending in the rattling of crisp and still dying leaves. A chill goes up her spine, making her curl in on herself, one arm wrapping around her stomach as her shoulders hunch. It's not much colder, but the shift gets Olivia to consider going inside, laughing at whatever Lukas and Jesse are up to or making comments about new directions Lukas could take with his hair.

Then the wind slows, and there's not another whistle from the alley.

Instead, two figures emerge, slowly and gently gliding out of the corner of her eye. Olivia wants to congratulate them on their makeup, soft and pale, ask how whatever party they were at went, and then her tongue goes dead in her mouth and she has to make sure she doesn't swallow it.

Because their feet aren't even on the ground. They're truly gliding, swaying side by side, holding each other's hands and looking only at the other. They're not up for outside questions, from the look of it.

Their clothes shine as much as their skin, silver and outdated likely beyond even Soren's standards. Holes that are there at one moment aren't in the next, and with each motion, their outfits grow less tattered and worn, fraying ends seemingly mending themselves as the figures begin to look healthier, happier, skin still never losing its pale, translucent quality even as the tired smiles melt into something brighter and more innocent.

Olivia watches them waltz down the street, glowing as softly as the string of pumpkin shaped orange lights hanging above the salon and the cafe beside it.

There's a melody in her head that wasn't there before, a catchy but tinny tune she could see playing out of a very old jukebox, when they fade out of view, dissipating into little more than brief shimmers of gold. It's as if they turn to glowstone, and by the next blink, there's nothing there at all but an abandoned street and an alley threatening to whistle and howl lowly again.

A leaf scrapes against the ground, tumbling as it passes from one sidewalk to another, and Olivia's...

Well, she's not sure about a lot of things, including if she's the only one who saw them or if what she saw was even close to real. She's not the superstitious type, and all the same she's seen weirder.

But she hopes they're having a nice night. Found peace, maybe, even if ghosts don't quite work well with that concept.

Olivia settles back into the bench, rests her head against her hand again, and smiles as she hears Jesse start to laugh, Lukas spluttering about something. There's a joke, hard but good to hear through the wall, about maybe trying out some new colors, about dyes on sale and colors that could fit him, and in that moment Olivia's found peace too.

[sirens-gemberry]

You’ve Unlocked a Cutscene from “Soren Ren-egade Sharp”!

Continue?

>Yes

No

Warnings are for the following: Blood, Violence, and slight alcoholism! Stay wary, Farmer! 

There's a couple reasons why my sister never let me into the mines. For one thing, it was really fucking cold. Like- holy shit my fingers are numb kinda cold. For another thing, I wasn't very strong. So mining was always a bit of a chore for me, compared to my impeccably strong and equally strong willed sister. 

Yet, when I found out she had gotten sick not too long after my arrival to the Valley, I took it upon myself to venture down for her. She protested briefly, and we argued about it for a good hour or two, before eventually sighing and shaking her head. “... Fine, it might help you get stronger anyway. Just stay within the first 20 floors at most, okay? Don’t forget to be home before midnight, either.” Yasmine had said to me, as her friend- and at the time crush- Harvey was preparing medication in the next room over. He was humming a tune under his breath of a song I couldn’t quite place. I nod, a determined grin on my face and the usual pep in my step as I wished my sister well and turned to head off for the task ahead of me. Yasmine’s quest was simple. Get 24 copper ores and bring them to Demetrius. Now, this particular week we were a bit short on copper, as we had been upgrading our tools for the next season. Normally my more experienced sister took on this task, but with her being basically forced to rest- that left me in charge. Despite as confident as I sounded to her, I was actually a bit nervous. After all, there were more than enough times I had seen my sister covered in bruises and bite-marks. First time I saw this, I joked that she hooked up with some dwarf in the mines, before she briefly socked my shoulder and gave me a bruise to remember. She briefly told me of her expeditions in the mines, and all of them sounded fascinating- if not terrifying. Not to mention unhealthy, as she had far too many stories of these trips for just staying a little over a year.

That was a few hours ago. Right now, I’m currently resting my head against the elevator wall, going down… down… and further down, all the way to level 20. She had floors up to level 65, and I was half tempted to challenge myself further by going down to floor 30… But I figured going 5 floors beyond her maximum requirement was more than enough to make her proud of me. I am stronger than she thought, just watch! I yawn, softly, shaking my head. I should've gotten more sleep last night. I reach into the bag, taking out an energy drink I snatched from my sister’s fridge on the way out before chugging the whole thing down. If it killed what little my immune system could deal with, eh, whatever. The bell dinged just over my head, drawing me from my thoughts as I slipped the now empty can back into my bag before trudging onward into the dark mines. Only a few lights shone overhead, and unfortunately for me, I only had a few torches. ‘If I want to be able to see well, I’ll have to carry what I have.’ I mused to myself ‘Hold the torch up, and keep pressing forward.’ So that's exactly what I did. I hum softly, occasionally setting the torch down beside me to take my pickax out and swing at a copper filled stone rock, grinning when I found a few pure pieces and sticking them into a smaller bag I brought with me for good measure. I hear a gentle squelch behind me, and I frown. ‘Monsters. Why wouldn't there be monsters?...’ I think with a dead panned expression, taking out the rusty sword my sister had given me a few days after I moved here. I figured I would use it more if some vines got in my way, but I sigh and twirl the sword in my hand before whirling around and swinging the damn thing… straight into the gut of a small, green slime. “...Oookay that looks vaguely… unpleasant.” I say to it, gently retracting the sword. I stick out my tongue with a slight groan to see some slime had stuck to it, before yelping and blocking its path when it jumped at me. “Damnit- okay you want death?! Then death comes for you!” I swing it again, harder this time, and it chops clear through the slime, yet it hardly seems phased. I sigh, and shake my head. Stupid liquid-y slime… whatever. I had to get this done, and get out.   It took a few more minutes of me aimlessly flailing about with this rusty ass sword, but the slime finally fell apart into a goofy puddle at my feet. I sigh, shifting my boots until they feel relatively normal on the ground again, and keep walking.

A lot of the trip ended up in similar escapades, mining with a slight struggle to pick up the pickax over my head, and dealing with slimes and occasionally what I referred to as ‘the rock crab’. Sure, they dropped decent loot, but it felt unnecessary. Eh, I just needed to get what I came for and dip. I had to remain focused on the task at hand, or it'd be more than likely I'd never get out of this pit. With that in mind, I kept going. So much so, that I didn’t notice I passed my original goal. Or if I did- I wanted to keep going to challenge myself further. It must have been around level 28 or so, after going through and collecting the last of the ore I needed, that I decided to head further down. Who knows, I might find something pretty for lil’ Abigail. She did mention in passing that she liked amethysts… That was… likely one of my many stupider mistakes. That list may be long, but the point still remains. It was mostly a normal room, wide and full with rocks along its edges. Monsters sat in the middle, as if waiting for my arrival. I sigh, swinging my pick until it was firmly strapped to my back, as I did with most of my tools, before drawing the sword from my side. “Alright y’pricks, I've already dealt with fuck knows how many of you lot, so let's cut to the point.” I growl to myself, eyes leveling with the group before sighing and charging forward with what burst of energy I could muster. Dodging, blocking, and slicing. I've learned better techniques with the hours I’ve been down here at this point, and I've learned to try and keep my ADD to a damned well minimum if I didn't want to get bit. Still, I take considerable damage, especially when a bunch of slime basically glued my one foot to the floor. “Oh for fucks sake-!” I swear, trying to slice away the slime as I get smacked repeatedly by the other enemies around me, and underneath my feet. Once I dislodge myself, I huff, reaching into my pocket. I didn't want to use this since, Yoba knows I have No clue how this works, but it had to be done if I wanted to finish this up rather soon. I take out a small cherry bomb, it was hardly the size of my palm but packed considerable damage. Lighting the fuse, I chucked the bomb into the crowd of monsters, before leaping back a few feet. “Fire in the- fuck you lot!” I yell, right before I cover my ears to avoid dissociating after the explosive goes off, the ground shaking slightly from the effort. I remain there for a few moments to catch my breath, and to let my over-sensitivity slowly ebb back down to functionality. A few pebbles had gotten in my hair from the small tremor the cherry bomb had caused. Once I manage to open my eyes, I see that the crowd of monsters have all but fallen apart. I sigh to myself, more in relief than anything, as I stagger back over to gather what loot can be mustered. I also shook my hair, trying to free the dirt and rocks that had collected, but to no avail. I’d need to shower when I get home.  

However, when I look up, a thin green smoke had begun pouring in. I raise my eyebrows, rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating, before coughing. Ugh, this certainly didn't seem healthy. I recall thinking about how it was getting harder to see, as it was dark down there as it was without a fog clouding the caves. I wave it off as nothing unusual, shaking my head and grabbing my pickax to look for the exit. It was then I feel something shove hard into my back, knocking me to the floor. “Ow, what the hell?!” I turn to look behind me, only to hear a distinct buzzing as something very large, and very wasp like flies right over my head. I couldn’t quite make out what exactly it was, but that’s the best description for those cream colored pricks. My pulse begins to race. If there was one thing that scared me half to death, it was wasps. Wasps, yellow jackets, the likes. Bastards stung me more times than I can count. Honey bees are little sweethearts, though… I digress. Breaking from my train of thought, I groan and wipe some blood off my face, flinching gently as a small shot of pain echos from my lip. “....I repeat, what the hell….???” I get back to my feet, facing the way the bug had originally came from, only to be shoved again from behind, knocking me back over. I swear to myself, for what must've been the upteenth time that evening, as I finally get a good look around me, holding up my torch just enough to project the light around me. My face drops in abject horror. ‘Holy hell- there must have been dozens of these things, coming from fuck knows where!’ It was after I thought that, that the whole mine descended into absolute chaos. Every time I tried to get back up, I would only get shoved back down, getting more hurt in the process as rocks scratched my cheeks, hands, legs and arms. That's not even to mention that this haze I had that was clouding the air was causing me to constantly cough and wheeze. Damn, it's times like this I hated being an asthmatic. Still, I had to force myself up. I had to just get to the ladder and get down… No, no that'd just get me killed. I had to get out of these mines, quickly. I had to get to the elevator. Covering my eyes, and using my rusty sword to block any oncoming onslaught, before opening my eyes as I charged towards the elevator’s exit. Still, I kept losing balance briefly from all the nudging and pushing; stumbling left and right until I reached and grabbed a firm hold of the edge of the elevator. “Gotcha-!” My victory is short lived, as I yelp when there’s a feeling a sharp pain going through my back. One of those wasp fuckers...they had a vicious bite, leaving me feeling drained between the throbbing pain and the likely wound that had opened as a result. I coerce myself to whip around, slicing the bug creature with what little effort I could manage, before backing up into the elevator and slamming the hilt of the sword into the top floor button. There was a distinct thud of the bugs as they slammed uselessly against the mine’s elevator- though notable dents in the metal doors leave my tension unmoving.

As the doors closed, I took a deep breath- trying to summon any energy to move. Or to, at the very least, calm the hell down. I felt it, very clearly as I slid my sword back into its little compartment in the side of my belt, the pounding of my heart that rang in my ears and left me feeling exhausted from head to toe. U g h. ‘Going beyond 25 was probably a mistake.’ ‘Going into the mines was a definite mistake, too.’ Still, I push myself to my feet once I hear the ding of the elevator, making my way outside. It was raining densely by then, and I had to keep myself from limping too badly. The sun had since mostly set, save for a gentle light that poured in from elsewhere- covered by clouds. The pain in my back was growing, and I had to stifle a whine through a stern bite to my lip. Which, quite frankly, only made me whine more from the cut there from earlier. I just wanted to go home and recuperate, however… There was still something I had to do. I had to make sure one of my friends didn't get too worried about me, after all- that’s the last thing I needed to top off the evening. Once I made it back into town, I sighed and swung my bag over, reaching through until I got some gold; putting it into a small satchel. I groan a bit from the pain still flaring from my back, but I’m honestly too afraid to survey the damage right then & there. Frankly, I probably should have, but the pain was making my head fuzzy, and out of sync with the rest of me. I’ll deal with it at home later, before Harvey notices. If he's even still with Yasmine, that is. At least, that’s the hope for the rest of this evening. With that thought in mind, I sigh, bracing myself for some sort of inevitability as I limp my way into the Stardrop Saloon.

The usual scene greets me when I walk inside. A few waves and a quiet laugh, though it does fall eerily quiet rather quickly once everyone seems to notice the state I’m in. Beaten to shit, and by then dripping from the rain. I wring out my shirt just a slight bit, before meandering over to the bars counter. Gus waves from the counter but immediately hesitates- likely noticing the bruises starting to flower along my face- not to mention the cuts I can feel pulsating along my cheeks and nose. He looks, wanting to ask… But says nothing as I sit briefly on one of the bar stools, setting the satchel onto the counter. “The usual, please Gus.” I mutter quietly, as is the usual routine I've done each week since I've moved here. He nods, looking back to Emily- who knew my order down pat by then. She turns to smile widely at me, before gasping. Damnit. “What happened?!” “Ah, got into a bit of a tousle. Don't worry about it, I’ll be good tomorrow.” I shrug off the concern with a lighthearted laugh, even if the fatigue was showing in my tone. Gus seemed to want to drop it, as if he could see the desperation of not wanting anyone else's concern on the matter in my eyes, but Emily persisted. “Soren, at least let me clean off your cheeks, your bleeding-!” She sighs, taking a spare cloth in her hand and reaching over the counter to dab at my face. My nose reflexively scrunches against my face, but I don't bother moving my head out of the way. “Emily..” I sigh to myself, gently pushing her off me once she's finished with my face. “I'm alright. Don't worry. Plus, I already told you-” I give a jokingly goofy grin, “You can call me Ren.” I reassure her, as she gives me a very concerned look through the tangled mass of electric blue hair. “...Okay… But be careful, okay? I don't need you getting hurt.” She demanded, pointing sternly to me. I defensively raise my hands up jokingly with a laugh, but nod all the same. My thoughts swim briefly between trying not to focus on the pain gently pulsating from my spine, and the dizzying feeling from probably being more exhausted than I gave myself credit for. “I’ll be careful, don't worry.” I say after a few minutes, as she turns away to work on my order. She turns back to me, handing me the glasses as she leans closer, whispering gently in my ear. “...You're gonna scare the crap out of him, you know.” She said, raising an eyebrow her eyes flickering over towards the other side of the bar, “I know you've been trying to at least befriend him but..” My eyes follow briefly, before I give a slight shrug. It wasn’t that big of a deal. “I've got it under control, Em. It's chill.” I smile reassuringly, getting up off my stool with both glasses in hand, before strolling over towards the fireplace and leaning against the brick right next to it. I smirk a bit, noticing that Shane- the same person I've been stubbornly trying to befriend for a few months now- has been spacing out into the mug he was drinking out of. I nudge him gently with one of the mugs I offer to him, and he snaps out of it rather quickly. “Hey, what gi-” He stops in what he says, blinking a bit out of probably buzzed confusion. It takes a moment, before finally taking a look at my state before rolling his eyes, relaxing just a slight bit. “Okay, what the hell did you do?” He said as he snatched the mug from my hand, setting the empty one aside in place of drinking the one I had given. I shrug my shoulders, staring at the foam bubbling out of my cup. “Ah, just spent a little too long in th’ pits of hell itself.” I joke, winking playfully. He scoffs. “Why do you still even bother to joke around with me and act like we’re friends?” He grumbled, and I smiled with a bold determination set in my expression. “Since I think you're probably super nice, I mean... beyond that rude shell of yours.” I respond with confidence, despite the uncertainty that lingered in my mind. What I usually expect was a scoff, or a roll of the eyes, or some other dismissive gesture, but instead he laughs. Not at me, for once, but what I had said. I was more-so used to it, from other people in my life. I can be a bit of a joke, that I knew. “Soren, you are a different kind of naive.” He replies with between chuckles as he settled down, taking another hearty drink until the mug was empty. I did the same, leaning back further until I was sitting down. ‘Yeah, I know that, too.’ I refused to voice my thoughts aloud, though, instead crossing my arms. “Maybe so. But hey, it's worth a shot, innit?” I smile, less bold but with a slight softness to it. I was growing weary, eyes fluttering as my body tried to force sleep. I could tell, from the silence that took over for a few moments, that he was debating on whether or not he was going to actually question all the cuts along what he could see. He must have settled on not bothering, sighing and shaking his head. “Whatever you say, kid.” He muttered, to which I pout, just a bit. “I’m not a kid!” I immediately protest, arms flinging out just a bit in overzealous expression. “You're like 4’5”. You're a kid.” “4’10”, first off, secondly I’ll fight you, mister!” I let my offence fade, giving a mischievous smirk, and putting my fists up jokingly. He shakes his head a bit. He tended to do that a lot around me. What can I say? I specialized in being a bother, and an annoyance. I’ve come to accept that.   “You would be knocked out in one hit for starters, missy, even if you weren't beaten to shit.” Shane replies, sighing as I shake my head to dismiss the remark. “Oh whatever!” He hides his amusement behind a slight smile as I go to get up, my stance slightly wobbly. Jeez, did the alcohol already get to me?... However, it was after a few steps that I get an answer. I heard a gasp right behind me. “Holy shit, Soren!-” I look back, confused, as he gets up and shakes his head, “Your back, Soren.” “Huh?” I raise an eyebrow, more curious than before, and reach behind me. A damp warmth takes my hand as I make the grave mistake to check, only to find the darkened crimson shade of blood staining my palm. My eyes widen, with a sick nausea briefly twisting my stomach. “Oh fuck.” “You should get that seen, and maybe fast. That looks pretty bad...” “No, No it's fine. I can fix this myself. I’ve taken scouts, I know how to patch this up. I just...need to head home.” I reassure with a smile. Shane doesn't seem to buy it, and goes to quickly object, but before he even could I had walked right out- hellbent on not letting Yasmine or Harvey know about this particular incident.

“I can fix this myself… I can fix this myself.” I reassure myself as I start walking home, not even listening to see if Shane has followed me. I had to keep pressing forward, it wasn’t an option to let Yasmine or Harvey know. So I kept saying that, just to myself, almost like a mantra. Before I could even feel it through, a wave of vertigo made me trip and fall- and wouldn't you know it? My head slams right into a rock. 

Man, my luck couldn't have been worse today. I saw stars, briefly, with pain shooting through my whole body between the damage dealt earlier, and the striking new pain blooming from the side of my head.  Either way, it instantly rendered my mind unconscious as the blood loss takes hold, some sort’ve muffled groan dying on my lips as it passes. 

[system-architect]

50 Q for Vax... please, I need it

OH BOY vax... i’ve been rping him a lot lately but he still remains a bit of an enigma!! lets see..

Personal

1)      Age? 23! he acts older than his age i think

2)      Gender? like all my other ocs bc i’m very self indulgent, he is a trans guy!

3)      Romantic/Sexual Orientation? vax can think boys are cute, but he’s never been a very romantically active person. he doesn’t lack a capacity for affection, he’s just always... busy with other stuff? it’s not something he thinks about often. if he’s buzzy around someone it’s probably bc he adores their cybernetics/etc work

4)      Height? probably smth like 3′9″

5)      Race? asura (+ cyborg??)

6)      What do they look like? (i.e, hair color, eye color, etc). i’m gonna link The Vax Draw, i’m undecided about whether his hair is naturally full black or if the white stripes are weird pigment loss... PS he has a ton of moles all over, not just on his face :D

7)      Any disabilities? hokay this is a Vax Secret but he has some sort of muscular and/or skeletal disorder i need to research into/get specifics on but the general idea is that he can get very weak and achey and have trouble moving sometimes! he deals with this via another Vax Secret i might talk about sometime

8)      Is there a meaning to their name? in asuran ?? idk i dont think their names have meanings, but irl its a shortened asurafied version of ‘vaccine’ bc i thought it sounded cool

9)      What makes them, them? Odd Question but he’s very shaped by his childhood experiences studying his father’s work and looking up to his dad and he’s very defined by his innate drive to bulldoze towards goals he has and wants to research... he’s a very stubborn and determined person who’s very much an agent For Himself

10)   What do they want to be when they grow up/what do they want to do with their lives? he is Growed Up but he really wants to keep chasing revolutions in prosthetics/augments/cybernetics.. he wants to help people in ways they couldn’t otherwise be helped (atypical inquest huh)

Family

11)   Do they have parents? What are they like and how do they act with their child(ren)? yes one parent, a single dad! ppl who’ve been watchin my hell rp server stuff will know his name is akka and he’s one of the top prosthetics smiths in the industry and was very private about his work but had a very cutting edge philosophy towards artificial parts and lead some really revolutionary work... dr. akka is a very kind and patient man with a good soul who is a tad weary from the world but he loved his son very much! he and vax had a great bond and vax was always eager to learn about his dad’s life work and his dad was always eager to teach him.. akka is an overall pretty amazing man, it’s a shame he joined the inquest for some reason and now we don’t know his current whereabouts......

12)   Do they have siblings? How do they interact with them? If not, do they wish they had siblings? he technically has a sibling! maybe more? but he’s never met them... vax is perfectly pleased with being an only child, we’ll have to see how he reacts if he ever meets this one. it’s actually a character y’all are already familiar with.......

13)   Extended family? Do they see them often? nope and nope

14)   Do they like where they live? (Is it a safe place?) vax essentially lives out of his workshop within the sigma-5 prime division laboratory space which is Not a safe place no....... but he loves it... he technically has an apartment somewhere in soren draa that is as much of a junk pile as his workshop whoops (vax is very much a ‘i know where everything is in this chaos. don’t move it’ person...)

15)   Where do they live? Are they wealthy? Poor? Middle-Class? i semi-answered this above but he has enough funding via the inquest to do his research projects as well as have a place for himself! i wouldn’t call him upper class probably just kinda middle ish, he keeps himself afloat alright

16)   Do they have a lot of expectations/pressure on them from family to do great? despite vax’s attachment to akka’s work and vice versa, akka is a very chill guy who never expected vax to live up to it or anything like that.. he just thought it was great vax had the interest in it

17)   Do they have pets? alas, no.... if he did i could see him owning smth more atypical like a ferret and fuck i kinda like that idea now i’ll have to meditate on it

18)   Who do they look up to the most/are the closest to in their family? take one guess

19)   This there anything special about their family? his dad being a renowned prosthetics doctors is pretty special yeah

20)   Do they wish they lived in a different family/household? absolutely not

Friends

21)   Best Friend(s)? alas vax is... very very much a lone wolf! this section is gonna be hard to answer and i’m probably gonna have to cross out some stuff because vax purposefully doesn’t really get close to anyone and he’s exceedingly unperturbed about this.. i meant it when i said he’s very self-driven! he’s not ultra egotistic and he doesn’t hate other people, nor is he unempathetic (i’d say he has a good degree of empathy actually), he’s just kind of... uninterested? he won’t hate you or be nasty to you for no reason, he’s just not interested in befriending/being around you as an aspect of his life

22)   Who was their first friend? probably some of the other progeny tried to befriend him in precollege he he was Smart which is Cool but they quickly learned that vax’s idea of friendship is he will give you a quick synopsis of what he’s currently on and then go silent as he continues to work on it

23)   What is their friend group like? there are a lot of inquest underlings who try to suck up to him because he’s their boss and also a shining star virtuoso with his work................. vax remains oblivious and unpeturbed

24)   Do they have a love/hate relationship with any of them? yes. specifically plex. who is his best tech ops drone but plex is a... sort of pushy person wrt trying to Befriend vax and he has a very obvious crush on vax and vax is mostly oblivious to it but sometimes feels weird about plex’s sudden ‘random’ bursts of being super buddy-buddy with him. in plex’s defense a bit, plex doesn’t know how to interact with people either

25)   Do they consider any of their friends to be like siblings?

26)   Have they ever hurt a friend or lost one? he’s probably unintentionally driven off people by coming across as super cold... i think he feels bad if he accidentally upsets people with his demeanor but he’s not quite sure what to do about it bc he doesn’t really want to upset people but he also doesn’t want to force himself to be MegaFriendly anyway esp considering his trials with social interaction are kind of a hardwired brain thing (he’s got like... vague assorted ADHD-autistic spectrum traits)

27)   Do they have a crush on any of their friends?

28)   Do they share classes with good friends?

29)   Whom do they go to the most when they need a shoulder to cry on? vax internalizes all his problems and works through them privately khgjdf he’s a weird mixture of stable and mature but sometimes unhealthy

30)   What would this person do without their friends in their lives? [img of vax doing vague shrugging motions here] as aloof as he is he probably at the very least appreciates that other people have interest in his work! so would be a bit sad if he didn’t have that

School

31)   What grade are they in? If they aren’t in school, how come? he has graduated college! he was top of the class his year at dynamics

32)   Do/Did they like their teachers? Was there a good one? Bad one? i’m sure he’s had a Variety of teachers but most of his teachers probably liked him a good bit since he’s smart and yknow, Asura Be Like That... i’m sure he’s conversely had a few who butted heads with him over his philosophy on cybernetics because he has a much more open ended approach that’s a bit focused on the idea that prosthetics are body parts and people with prosthetics are Whole People not People With Additional Bits Slapped On/In and he’s very ginger with prosthetics/augments he handles and treats them like they’re the same as fleshy body parts and deserve the same delicate care despite being metal, and overall he has more of a focus on the actual people he’s working with i think, and i can see some more hardass/uptight teachers in particular not liking this because it’s kinda unasuran to more traditionalist types to have such a.. humane view on work rather than being enthused solely with your numbers and research results

33)   Do/Did they listen to their teachers or are/where they goofing off a lot? vax is very headstrong and if you have useful advice then its useful advice but if you dont then fuck off and let him do his work how he’s determined to do it... he doesn’t goof off but he has no respect for authority if authority gives bad commentary

34)   Are/Where they a good student grade wise? top marks except for in classes where he was abrasive with the teachers who’s work ethics clashed with his but what can you do

35)   Do/Did they need extra help? nope... he probably ended up tutoring a few people actually (which probably was due to a nudge from a teacher and not.. vax’s sole volition of wanting to tutor people)

36)   What is/was their school like?

37)   Do/Did they have bullies in school? i’m sure he Didn’t Get Along With some others bc he’s Weird

38)   Have they ever gotten into a fight at school? yes he’s absolutely metaphorically gone for someone’s throat because they had the audacity to challenge him on something that they were both wrong about and not as passionate about as him

39)   Have they ever done something stupid/embarrassing at school? i’m sure he has but i can’t rlly think of anything (boring answer srry)

40)   How far do they plan to go with school? If they dropped out, do they want to go back?

Other

41)   Are they dating anyone? Do they want to date? Are the married? Divorced? i already kinda answered this but he’s not partic romantically involved... however i think if he found someone he was In Sync With and who understood his mannerisms then he’d be very content with them... i think he would need a stable easygoing relationship based on shared interests and just casually fitting together and supporting each other rather than anything passionately heated or overly focused on traditional displays of affection

42)   What is their favorite hobby? Do they keep it a secret? he’s a big nerd who collects various prosthetics/augment models and he absolutely doesn’t keep it a secret...................... 75% of the RP i’m in with him rn has been him geeking out over augs. the other 25% was me describing the facility.

43)   If they could have one thing in life, what would it be? i think he’s more overall focused on the idea of a continuous stream of improvement over a few static goals? he’s constantly laying out new traintracks in front of himself to steam ahead on... he’d like to be happy and successful at what he does, ultimately, and really attain super advanced inventions

44)   Do they work? If so, what is it? If not, are they looking for one or even want one? despite everything i’ve said here about him being a good empathetic guy, he is Inquest........ the inquest funds his research he does at their labs and they pay him for being the sigma-five supervisor

45)   Do they use social media? i can’t see him using social media much tbh... he might be into podcasts and asuran youtube a bit

46)   Have they ever been in the hospital? due to his strength issues and some stuff that happened as a very small child he has been quite a bit yes

47)   Do they believe in the supernatural, that there is more than the eye can see? this is a weird question in the context of gw2 which has canon ghosts whoops.. im gonna interpret it as ‘are they superstitious’... vax isnt superstitious and i think he’d be very brave facing questionably supernatural forces but in a sort of logical way uh... he would Not be the first to die in a horror movie.... he’s a skeptic of non-scientific magic things with i think some lingering internal paranoia.. he’s a very logical person

48)   What do they do when they get angry, stressed, or upset? broods in private probably....... depending on what he’s heated about he might go sit by himself for awhile or he’s gonna take his anger out while working on a project

49)   Would they consider themselves as a good person, bad person, or morally grey? i think he tries to be a good person but he’s skeptical of that Status a lot and worries over it a good bit... again, typical inquest!

50)   Does this OC have any part of you in them? (I.e, personality traits, similar background, etc) all of my ocs have parts of me in them to some degree, i think vax carries some things related to my disabilities, interpersonal and moralistic struggles, and the nerdy passion over my special interests

[unstablemonstrosities]

⇋ Name: Juliette Henley Harmon.

⇋ Nicknames: Jules, Julie, Kitten.

⇋ Age: 18. [Real Age: 28.]

⇋ Birthday: July 29th, 1991.

⇋ Astral Sign: Leo.

⇋ Sexuality: Heterosexual.

⇋ Hair Color: Red.

⇋ Eye Color: Green/Hazel.

⇋ Height: 5’3.

⇋ Identifying Marks: Scars on the lower arms, three scars on chest, scar on neck, scarring to the stomach, two wing slits over each shoulder blade.

⇋ Unique Features: Black feathered wings with leathery wings tipped with claws over them.

⇋ Species: Undead Angel/Banshee/Eroseelie.

⇋ Occupation: Princess Consort of the eroseelie realm.

⇋ Parents: Janice Harmon, David Harmon.

⇋ Known Siblings: Millie Harmon (sister).

⇋ Children: TBA.

⇋ Other Relatives: N/A.

⇋ Marital Status: Engaged.

⇋ Romantic Partners: Nathan Shaw (ex-boyfriend), Chris Fleming (crush), Roland Ayres (crush), Soren Ikelos (fiance.)

⇋ Inhabitance: North Carolina (formerly), Henderson Asylum (formerly), Underworld (currently).

⇋ Faceclaim: Holland Roden.

⇀ Personality; Once, Juliette had been known for her kind and caring personality. She was sweet to everyone around her, she cared for those she came across. All that changed under the weight of the trauma and the depression. On the outside, she's dark, sassy and short tempered. She puts up walls and walls and can some be cruel in order to keep people out so she isn't hurt again by them, as she feels abandoned. On another, deeper level she also pushes people away as a means to protect them should she ever get killed again. She's very loyal to the friends she does have. Juliette is also incredibly intelligent, with a high IQ. Deep down, Juliette is shrouded in darkness, guilt, and pain. She doesn't really know who she is and has lost herself, and still suffers from not knowing who she is. Juliette has more good days then bad, but past all the walls she puts up, to the people who really try to get to know her, she's become wiser with what she's gone through.

⇀ Biography;  Juliette was not born to angelic parents, instead, she played to part of a prophecy that a human with the heart of an angel would later rise and wed the future King of Heaven. Nor she or her parents knew of what this prophecy suggested what was in store for her. She had a fairly normal upbringing, with loving parents who were not outwardly religious but spiritual. She was never particularly exposed to it, nor was she often brought to church in her childhood. She had a fairly mundane upbringing, aside from her remarkable intelligence. She had a few friends, and often immersed herself in things like volunteer work. Around twelve, the fascination hit. With heaven, with the afterlife. She was sure there was something more out there. She did all sorts of research in angels, in miracles, in the afterlife. She believed wholeheartedly that it was all true. Her parents supported her beliefs, even if they didn’t necessarily believe them themselves. However, the longer she felt the call and could not fulfill it, the more darkness filled her. She grew depressed and isolated herself. By the time she turned sixteen, she turned to self-harm, finding some relief in the pain. It made her feel grounded, and satiated the small fraction of her nature to be close to death, to becoming what she was, and therefore took away a bit of the darkness. Yet there was only so much the self-harm could do. And the longer she remained a human, the more depressed she grew. Her parents never knew of the cutting, but they tried to help her with antidepressants. Nothing worked for her. No treatment, no diet, no exercise provided any relief. She didn’t understand was she was so broken. Then she met Nathan, at first, they met through the volunteering circuit, and then he confessed what he was, and what she was meant to be. He told her she was part of a prophecy and when the time was right, she would die and join him in heaven. Some relief was brought with this, it made sense of all her thoughts. She hoped it would be the end of her depression. Little did she or Nathan know the side affect her destiny had cast on her, and the depression only worsened. The more time she spent with Nathan, the more she grew attracted to him. She immersed herself in everything angel involved, withdrawing almost entirely from anything normal in her life. Nathan’s much darker twin Noah learned of Juliette and wanted to destroy all happiness in Nathan’s life. So he went after her. He impersonated Nathan and convinced her it was her time. With no knowledge Noah was Nathan, she did as he said, and killed herself in the bathroom. She died, and Nathan only reached her moments before she took her final breath. He fed her his blood, and left her there for her transition. It didn’t go any more smoothly after she was caught by the asylum. She did not feel safe anymore. She felt paranoid and scared all the time. And things only worsened when Noan killed her once more, and Nathan decided to leave her for her own safety. It continued to go downhill from there. When the girl returned for a second time, she found herself having her life taken away from the female head demon, Freya, and this time for good. The girl woke up an undead, stuck in the walls of the asylum with no one to hear her scream through the pain she has experienced. There was another gene that was buried within her family tree. A dormant banshee gene that was awoken when she became so linked with death. The powers her banshee side gifted her only led to more bitterness and anger with the world. Juliette grew apart from most, a great deal shunning her, others just forgetting her. The ones who stayed she scared off, not wanting to deal with anyone else. She stayed alone for a long time, the only person she truly spoke to being a demon named Chris. Later, she grew closer to another woman named Ainsley. And in her third year in the asylum, she delivered a baby, and when the mother died, she took the child in, planning only on keeping her until she could find a home. When everyone was released from the asylum, she went to the Underworld, mostly for Ainsley. She lived there with the child she’d taken in for a long time. When an adoption was closing in on the child, and a second war threatened the Underworld, she agreed to take part in a marriage alliance with the eroseelie prince. When Ainsley died, she sacrificed the remaining years she had left as an undead to bring her back, and was revived by Soren as an eroseelie.

[keyofshadows]

@akingdomtheorist

So! Ridiculous conversation that’s gonna strike me as funny for the next week, probably. Which I could definitely use, but whatever. Thought I’d amuse you with it since your cupcake started it, lol.

keyofshadows Tomorrow's Eli's birthday. Confetti for all.

akingdomtheorist Adion will make him a cupcake

keyofshadows Awe. He'd be touched. And Adion would get a hug. Also one of those pointy birthday hats.

akingdomtheorist What if the cupcake was shaped like a pointy birthday hat

keyofshadows Pfffff he'd demand to know if the dragon was conspiring with his mom. She used to sew him a replica of Yen Sid's hat every few years and make him wear it on his birthday while she took pictures. From his literal 'I'm twenty minutes old' birthday until he was eighteen. IS THIS POINTY BIRTHDAY HAT CAKE A REFERENCE TO HIS HAT NEMESIS

sstingray yen sid knows about the hats

keyofshadows Is he amused or shaking his head because what is wrong with these people

sstingray secretly amused but won't show it is my wager

keyofshadows I wonder how much Eli was complaining under his breath about it during his lovely summer of responsibility training also I wonder how many dirty looks he was giving Yen Sid's hat while the man was wearing it because whoops

sstingray the master probably noticed it and said something to him eventually.

keyofshadows lmao. "It's not you Sir, honest! It's just...uh...nothing, actually, never mind, I'm supposed to be mopping or something, better get back to that." /slinks off because oh my god, explaining to Yen Sid about the Hat when he has no idea he already knows, pfff. Poor Eli.

sstingray not pictured: ray in the background trying really hard not to laugh

keyofshadows Oh sure, enjoy your amusement now, he'll get you back for it. Someday. Somehow. Maybe. She can babysit his eventual demonspawn, that'll do it. ...Which would be more of a punishment to the kids, actually.

sstingray and she'll get just as much fun out of that as she did watching him

keyofshadows Okay, we totally know what we're doing with Auryn when he misbehaves. Off to aunt Ray's for a pop quiz!

sstingray secretly gives him cookies when they're not looking

keyofshadows Ray's gonna end up with a kid that mouths off just to be sent for 'punishment', you know. Though he'll be more of an actual pain in the ass as a teenager. Amelia says don't worry about that, she and Nico will knock him into shape. With his own Keyblade, if necessary.

sstingray but eli she is not a tool to punish your children with! gosh!!

sstingray well if he misbehaves TOO badly he'll still learn not to cross her

keyofshadows The Grasshopper knows this. But really, it's Date Night and he and Specter really wanted to have some quiet movie time that didn't involve Auryn yelling in the background from upstairs. I should probably feel bad for Ray having to deal with the next generation of troublemakers, but nope. Too busy snickering.

sstingray it's fine they'll watch a movie that eli doesn't want him to see

keyofshadows Which would probably be anything with drunk elephants. Dumbo is Evil. So is Bambi, but for completely different reasons.

sstingray well. if auryn is up for it...

keyofshadows This is Eli's punk firstborn, of course he is.

sstingray welp. pink elephants on parade it is!

keyofshadows And Ray then gets to field ALL the questions, like how can elephants get drunk, and why isn't HE even allowed more than a can of soda a day if whatever Dumbo had was worse - wait, was that elephant beer? Or did he drink funny water? And if he drinks too much soda is he gonna see pink elephants too? Is THAT why he's not allowed too much? Can he have a few cans and find out?

sstingray fermentation is a terrible thing, you're too young kid, maybe idk but i saw this video once of elephants eating fermented fruits and getting totally trashed, honestly who even knows anymore, no, no it's because you'll get a sugar high and it's also terrible for your health, and no

keyofshadows He is completely unhappy with all of these answers, he'll have you know. Except the trashed elephant video, he wants to see that. BUT. He's gonna complain to Nico first (who will tell him to Listen To Aunt Ray She Knows More Than Them) and then he'll go home and whine at his dad BECAUSE AUNT RAY IS BEING UNFAIR FIX THIS

keyofshadows Eli just snickering and yeah, no, you have no idea of the meaning of 'unfair' when it comes to her, short stuff, sorry.

sstingray eli's probably like "that's what she does there is nothing i can do"

keyofshadows Nor does he wish to try, he's too old for another Darkside/Twilight Thorn/Who Knows What That Is pop quiz. He has kids now! (He's never too old, lmao. Kai'll boot him over for laughs.)

sstingray in which kai accidentally initiates a game of corridor ping pong with eli as the ball

keyofshadows Pfff. Kai says he thought he was going to get into trouble for booting the Epic Dork through Corridors, or does that only count when he's kicking him into the Maw?

sstingray nnnnno he'll probably be in trouble for it later but aunt ray has a life too you know she can't deal with your antics all the time!! there are seas to be sailed! treasures to be found! magics to learn!

keyofshadows Good, then can she take Soren with, he needs a way to deal with him this week that A - Does not involve setting his sneakers on fire AGAIN and B - Keeps Ro from rescuing him. Little brother gets seasick, little brother won't be warping over to pick him up. ...The maturity is astounding.

sstingray just for that she'll kick kai into the ocean

keyofshadows This is punishment how? He can swim. Also will probably open a Corridor and drop into it before he hits the water because he's a little shit.

sstingray either way he's off her ship so she'll count it as a win

sstingray not if she kicks him into her own portal and drops him right above the water

keyofshadows This is how you make enemies, Ray. (lmao, as if he'd do more than sulk for a few days before showing up again to get cookies/ask a favor/see what she thinks is a good present for Ro's birthday)

sstingray puhlease she'll take kai on pirate adventures someday

keyofshadows Do we really want a Keyblade wielder pretending to be a pirate. Or even just on the ship for longer than thirty seconds. (Yes.)

sstingray um duh?? how fun could that be

keyofshadows Kai's pointing out it should be Keyblade MASTER by that time, get it right. This from Mr. 'There's no way I'd ever be that good' who eventually is because whoops, Auryn's training is filled with fetching the chips Mastery Exams. I didn't know that traumatizing was another word for fun.

sstingray isn't that the epitome of everyone's time with their favorite aunt

keyofshadows There was just a resounding 'YES', so.

sstingray well there you go!

keyofshadows /snicker

keyofshadows The pirate thing is gonna turn into tradition, just like Ray taking on Eli as an apprentice started that ball rolling for him. She should pop on by one of the rabbit holes of Wanderer's Refuge again and see if she can land anywhere near Fen's time again. Be greeted by a slightly older (no more than 18, probably) Az, who happily informs her about how she's 'retraining' Celia's apprentice Seth, much to her dad's horror. Probably much to Ray's too, lol. 'Wait, wasn't he the boy that kept going creeper on you? That you hated? WHAT ARE YOU DOING'

sstingray no no its not a bad thing retraining is good

sstingray show him the light girl you go though lol god forbid ray ever have kids and they get mixed up with eli's family that's just gonna be chaos everywhere

keyofshadows Fen asks Ray to PLEASE not encourage his baby, he doesn't like Seth, he doesn't trust him, how does he know he's not going back to Celia and telling her things AZ IS NOT READY FOR THIS STUFF. OMG

sstingray also how would even feel about ray showing up again Oh welp

keyofshadows SO MUCH CHAOS.

sstingray that's the thing about light fen, sometimes you just gotta trust someone

keyofshadows Also no one minds Ray's random drop-ins, she's the Refs boogieman, after all.

sstingray and maybe put a tracker on them u know whatever works

keyofshadows He refuses to trust Seth, he's a little shit.

sstingray excellent her legend will live on

keyofshadows Az'll threaten her kids with Ray popping out of nowhere, just for the entertainment value.

sstingray I have a feeling her hypothetical family would get on great in the chaos tho lmao az can be like IT HAPPENS. A LOT ACTUALLY. we should probably do something about that

keyofshadows Just like how she's naming her firstborn son Jalen, also for the entertainment value. She can hear the grumping from the original through the rabbit hole, lmfao.

sstingray listen ray never asked to be an accidental time traveler it's weird ok

keyofshadows Also hilarious

sstingray she'll be sure to tell Jalen that when she gets back

keyofshadows The kid's gonna be the bounciest, most cheerful baby ever. /cackle

sstingray Oh how delightful!

keyofshadows Az thinks so~

keyofshadows Fen's twitching now because apparently Az is over her crush on Leo and he'd actually rather she go drool over the grease-covered boy Not From Here as opposed to the direction she's looking in. /facepalm

sstingray he could always come back :v

keyofshadows Imagine Fen trying to convince Leo to distract his daughter from the weirdo she's currently 'retraining'. For her own good, of course, not his nerves. /dies

sstingray leo is like whoa that is none of my business dude. slowly backs away.

keyofshadows Az is just smirking. Ha ha dad. But hey, nice to see you Leo, still eating sandwiches out of that toolbelt of yours? Somebody made rice krispy treats if he wants any.

sstingray great now that he gets to see her again, yes, and y e s where can find them?!

keyofshadows lol. Just opens a Light corridor and hands him a whole plateful.

sstingray !!! did he ever tell her he loves her cause he totally does

keyofshadows OH GOOD WAY TO START OFF THE AWKWARD BLUSHING LEO THANKS

sstingray thumbs up!!

keyofshadows Fen's trying not to applaud. Go away, you, quit trying to influence things. His wife would swat him.

[melindarowens]

Blockchain: Enter Google, Exit BitCoin?

The Path Forward for Blockchain

BlockChain is Fracking, Lateral Drilling, and Globex All Over Again

Before reading please note, these are general musings based on observation  and experience. No trade recommendations are offered. You should consider this as an intro into one group’s view of the future.

 Via Soren K. Group and Marketslant.com

Based on our collective observations and experience at Soren K. Group we feel as qualified as anyone to opine on the path ahead  for Blockchain adaptation and success determiners. One of us has already been publicly  dubbed as “expert” in the field of pygmies. We would simply say that our knowledge is based on applying existing models to the field.

What we do understand intimately, especially Soren K, “Bon Scott”, and “Fay Dress”, are that market structure is key to understanding the path of any disruptive industry developments.  That helps us handicap the path forward for this new game changing industry. We know how it ends. The trick is understanding the likely path to that end.

We love assessing new developments in old industries like lateral drilling in oil, fracking in Nat Gas, Retail (Amazon made Scaling less important than Networking) and now in Banking we see Blockchain as  totally changing its face in the next 10 years. How is dependent on the people at the helms of the industries affected by the new C2C model that blockchain’s enabling of secure individual ledger accounting created.

For now lets briefly focus on the immediate developments in Blockchain and what they broadly imply the potential paths are ahead for the groundbreakers (Bitcoin, Ethereum) and the lurking Tech behemoths (Google, Amazon). it is during these times of disruption that not only do industries reprice themselves but traditional measure menttools  like EBITDA etc. are worth less. These also are changing as new realities change the baseline for industry PEs. 

It is during these  times that conditional analysis and path dependency assessments are king in understanding change. When an industry is growing and its existing markets hare is up  for grabs is when knowing market structure and business models helps a lot in protecting yourself. 

To do this one must see the relevant models for the industry and their limitations. They are the models governing Network  and Scale.

 Network Effect and  Scalability Models 

Network Effect

The business model of cryptocurrencies is based on  the Network Effect model.   A business that relies on networking is focused on adding users. It doesn’t need to add infrastructure at first and increases in value  simply by adding users. Essentially, as a network adds users it grows in value.

The Telephone was a good example. Once the wires were hung, the way to increase a phone company’s stock  is to add users. A successfully “networked” business makes its service indispsensible to people. Imagine  being the last person in commerce to not have a phone. That businessman would pay a lot for the privilege or risk being excluded from his own business network. 

A more recent example  is electronic trading. Imagine being the last floor-trader trying to exit a position on a floor where everyone was gone and executing on their E-trade screens. That is pure Network effect.The Network effect is the demand side of the “scalability” model.

Scalability

A business “scaling” successfully means it can add supply at lower marginal cost (operating leverage). A great example is mining. Once the drilling is done, an increase in supply is basically just adding more variable costs like labor and turning up the speed of extraction. The hole is already dug!  But Scalability and Networking both have limitations.

Risks to Both Models

One of the risks to the network model is the ability to grow to accomodate new “traffic”. That means at some point it must add infrastructure. This is fairly easily done compared to other industries. Scaling a network based business is essentially opening up the architecture to other users with computing power. The problem, like in trading exchanges before them is people. And in Bitcoin we will see soon that the people in question are the voting members who control the mining servers and therefore their “fiefdoms”.

Scalability also runs into problems when it has a ton of potential supply it can bring to the market at a  low marginal cost but no one wants it. At this point they must acknowledge a need for a greater network to sell to. That means adding salesmen or marketing to raise awareness. Not easily done for any business whose people are “wired” for scale models. Again, the problem is management. Google has none of the issues that Bitcoin may have going forward. 

For here, let’s look at Bitcoin’s potential path by using Trading Exchange’s Application of the Networking Business Model. Our analysis shows the businesses are very similar. For now we will cut to the chase.

GLOBEX 2: Enter the Google, Exit the BitCoin

Right now the BitCoin group is running into what we call “floor trader fear”. The  voting members are chafing at the idea of scaling their supply by adding servers and/ or server power. This would disrupt their own little empires, not unlike the trading floor fearing Globex back in the day. And so many exchanges held out and protected the floor. And in the end they died. PHLX, AMEX, COMEX, PCOAST, CSCE, all gone or absorbed because they were late to adapt new technology and protect their liquidity pools. If Bitcoin removes power  from its voting members  control by demutualizing and uses those proceeds to increase server power they will likely excel. But Google and Amazon are now playing and they are all about unlimited  server power. 

When, not if, those behemoths are up and running they will immediately have an embedded network of both customers AND service providers  at their disposal in the form of search  eyeballs (google) and buyers (Amazon). They will be set up  to crush the opposition if they choose to create their own currency. Imagine Amazon  offering amazon money for amazon purchases. Now imagine them offering 20% discounts if you use  their money. The choices at this point boggle the mind. Tactical choices thought no longer used will come  into play again. Some examples: Freemium, Coupons, Customer Loyalty, Vertical Client Integration (P.O.S.), Travelers checks and more. 

To be fair, Google has invested in Bitcoin as well. What smart trader would not hedge himself. But just like Netflix is Amazon’s biggest cloud customer, but will eventually put Netflix out of business (after NetFlix kills Hollywood’s distribution network); So will Google/ Amazon/ Apple attempt to obviate the need for any currency but their own. 

Blockchain is  the railroad. Amazon and Google have the oil. Like Rockefeller  before, The railroad will be made “exclusive” to their products.

 Google and Amazon are Already in the Game

Attached is the Daily Blockchain News recap with an example of Google’s foray into Blockchain. The goal here is to introduce  their own currency or be brokers of deals using their “search engine” coupons. The coupons are the gateway to their new currency. Exactly how this  goes down we do nto know. This post is one example of how it could go down. The bottom line for the big tech companies is how they can  lever their networks more efficently and add scale without increasing fixed cost. That comes in the form of levering existing networks with new products geared to cement loyalty. What better way to do this than  to have your own money ? What will Home Depot do? WE HONOR AMAZON CASH? meanwhile the plumber, pipes, and sump pump you buy next month will all be through Amazon. And you’ll get a discount by using Amazon cash on your amazon credit card.

Amazon and Google are just a big cash  register with all their products at point of sale. Gum, Mints, and People  magazine will become Disinfectant, Steam Cleaners, Rugs,  and a Local Handy Man. And  instread ofaskingfor your loyalty card they will actually take blockchain driven Amazon currency. Remember ATMs? After everyone was on them, they stopped being free.

We feel that BitCoin is going to have problems going forward. They are also best positioned to overcome those problems. But if they do not increase computing power their client base will eventually be relegated  to people trying to export their wealth from oppressive regimes. Meanwhile you and I will be buying Nike sneakers on amazon for 20% off because we are now using Amazon cash on our Amazon Credit cards. And Google will also offer similar concepts if you click  on one of their paid advertiser links. 

Amazon Suggests : Do  you want a fidget spinner with your ADD Meds?

How to play it:

This is not short term stuff. When we made retail recommendations on how to play Amazon we could not personally pull the trigger on our own ideas as we were aware of short squeezes adnthings outside our commodity knowledge. But the question we asked ourselves  was simple: Would you rather buy Amazon  at ATHs or Sears at ATLs. The answer 3 months ago was Amazon. Which means we should haveshorted every retail firm that was not positioning itself to survive. That meant shorting Target. The client did. We did not. 

In that vein we are watching closely to see how Banks handle things as well as the usual players. For now; Bitcoin (NYSE) may do very well for years. Second tier players (like AMEX) in crypto will almost certainly go  belly up. Amazon and Google (Globex) will destroy certain industries already under pressure when they adopt blockchain. Even energy will be affected. This ties in with the blockchain trades china is doing with Russia for oil deals already going down. 

Imagine if Google  enters the commodity trading field replacing ISDA and clearinghouses?! Why not? They took themselves public. if one continues monitoring the economic, technological, and Regulatory drivers behind the current market structure, a person can tweak this simple analysis to make their own decisions.

Right now we are looking for new trade ideas in retail to sell short (downstream and upstream) with a 6 month time horizon and looking into shale oil’s increasing balance sheet cannibalism to stay operational (The marketmaker who eventually puts himself out of business).. and as always we are married to Silver and it will be the death of us!! 

– Soren K. Group

Current Crypto Prices

Bitcoin

Ethereum

Litecoin

Monero

Ripple

Dash

Zcash

Peercoin

Namecoin

 via Florin Oprea and Blockchain-asia

Deals, Investments & M&As

Blockchain Raises $ 40m From Lakestar And Google’s Venture Arm

Oscar Williams-Grut – Business Insider

Bitcoin Startup Blockchain Taps $ 40 Million in New Funding

Nate Lanxon – Bloomberg

Blockchain, the London-based bitcoin currency service provider, has raised $ 40 million of fresh funding, representing one of the largest investment rounds in the financial technology sector since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

PHILIPP SANDNER, Frankfurt School Blockchain Center:

Big IT companies such as Google have been rather quiet concerning blockchain technology so far. Therefore, this investment is a bold statement.

Top 5 Cryptocurrency ICOs For June And July 2017

The Merkle

FAO: And here’s the list: PRIMALBASE, TEZOS, EVEREX, DENT, CIVIC.

 Cryptocurrencies

How Big Is Bitcoin, Really? This Chart Puts It All In Perspective

Sue Chang – MarketWatch

Bill Gates’s net worth still beats bitcoin’s entire market cap.

FAO: Yeah but he is the richest person in the world….

On Bitcoin, India’s Government And Tech Companies Find Common Ground

Sindhuja Balaji – Forbes

The Bitcoin craze is catching on in India. While tech geeks and young investors eye the digital cryptocurrency as its value soars, the government, too, is contemplating a course of action surrounding its regulation.

 Exchanges & Trading Venues

New Ethereum-Based Decentralized Cryptocurrency Exchange Aims to Improve Security and Transparency

Diana Ngo – Coinjournal

Hong Kong’s Open ANX Foundation has unveiled openANX, a project aimed at building a new decentralized cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform built on the Ethereum blockchain.

Coinbase Appeals Decision in Cryptsy Collapse Lawsuit

Stan Higgins – CoinDesk

Coinbase is appealing a court decision from earlier this month in a lawsuit filed on behalf of customers of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy.

FAO: Although we are in soft launch, we cover topics globally – we covered this also – here.

 BitPeople

Cryptocurrency Liquidity Solutions For FX brokers: Conversation With B2Broker CEO Arthur Azizov

Leap Rate

 Latest Developments & Agreements

EY Launches Blockchain Financial Services Center In New York

ETH News

The Financial Services Innovation Center is a part of the firm’s global innovation network wavespace, but the key focus is in helping financial services organizations achieve breakthroughs.

 Regulation

The EU And Blockchain: Taking The Lead?

Finextra

Long time the European Union has taken a positive, but wait-and-see attitude towards blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Both related to use cases and regulatory intervention. But that is changing rapidly.

FAO: As I already commented in our sister publication, FinTech Daily News, it’s better late than never for Europe to move this way.

 Startups, Accelerators & Hubs

Startups See Service Outages Amid Ethereum Blockchain Backlog

Stan Higgins – CoinDesk

The ethereum blockchain is beginning to show signs it’s being impacted by a new influx of users.

Amid a surge in mainstream media interest, not to mention projects raising funds via ICOs, transaction backlogs were visible on the network. Data from Etherscan shows that more than 300,000 transactions were broadcast on 20th June, the highest amount ever observed on the two-year-old blockchain.

FAO: As I said yesterday, these are just growing pains.

 Analysis

Ethereum Briefly Crashed From $ 319 To 10 Cents In Seconds On One Exchange After ‘Multimillion Dollar’ Trade

Arjun Kharpal – CNBC

Bitcoin And Ethereum Crash… For A Few Minutes

Seeking Alpha

This event doesn’t change the fundamental bullish case for investing in Ethereum. Although, it highlights the risks.

FAO: Risks are part of our daily life. Humanity cannot evolve without people taking some risks…

Aberdeen Says Cryptocurrency Bubble Will Burst Even If Coins Change Finance

Camila Russo – Bloomberg

Peter Denious, head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, said we’re in the midst of a virtual currency bubble, and like all bubbles, it will eventually burst.

FAO: The stock market changed the economy at the beginning of the last century, and the global stock market crashed in the 1929…you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs…

source http://capitalisthq.com/blockchain-enter-google-exit-bitcoin/ from CapitalistHQ http://capitalisthq.blogspot.com/2017/06/blockchain-enter-google-exit-bitcoin.html

[everettwilkinson]

Blockchain: Enter Google, Exit BitCoin?

The Path Forward for Blockchain

BlockChain is Fracking, Lateral Drilling, and Globex All Over Again

Before reading please note, these are general musings based on observation  and experience. No trade recommendations are offered. You should consider this as an intro into one group’s view of the future.

 Via Soren K. Group and Marketslant.com

Based on our collective observations and experience at Soren K. Group we feel as qualified as anyone to opine on the path ahead  for Blockchain adaptation and success determiners. One of us has already been publicly  dubbed as “expert” in the field of pygmies. We would simply say that our knowledge is based on applying existing models to the field.

What we do understand intimately, especially Soren K, “Bon Scott”, and “Fay Dress”, are that market structure is key to understanding the path of any disruptive industry developments.  That helps us handicap the path forward for this new game changing industry. We know how it ends. The trick is understanding the likely path to that end.

We love assessing new developments in old industries like lateral drilling in oil, fracking in Nat Gas, Retail (Amazon made Scaling less important than Networking) and now in Banking we see Blockchain as  totally changing its face in the next 10 years. How is dependent on the people at the helms of the industries affected by the new C2C model that blockchain’s enabling of secure individual ledger accounting created.

For now lets briefly focus on the immediate developments in Blockchain and what they broadly imply the potential paths are ahead for the groundbreakers (Bitcoin, Ethereum) and the lurking Tech behemoths (Google, Amazon). it is during these times of disruption that not only do industries reprice themselves but traditional measure menttools  like EBITDA etc. are worth less. These also are changing as new realities change the baseline for industry PEs. 

It is during these  times that conditional analysis and path dependency assessments are king in understanding change. When an industry is growing and its existing markets hare is up  for grabs is when knowing market structure and business models helps a lot in protecting yourself. 

To do this one must see the relevant models for the industry and their limitations. They are the models governing Network  and Scale.

  Network Effect and  Scalability Models 

Network Effect

The business model of cryptocurrencies is based on  the Network Effect model.   A business that relies on networking is focused on adding users. It doesn’t need to add infrastructure at first and increases in value  simply by adding users. Essentially, as a network adds users it grows in value.

The Telephone was a good example. Once the wires were hung, the way to increase a phone company’s stock  is to add users. A successfully “networked” business makes its service indispsensible to people. Imagine  being the last person in commerce to not have a phone. That businessman would pay a lot for the privilege or risk being excluded from his own business network. 

A more recent example  is electronic trading. Imagine being the last floor-trader trying to exit a position on a floor where everyone was gone and executing on their E-trade screens. That is pure Network effect.The Network effect is the demand side of the “scalability” model.

Scalability

A business “scaling” successfully means it can add supply at lower marginal cost (operating leverage). A great example is mining. Once the drilling is done, an increase in supply is basically just adding more variable costs like labor and turning up the speed of extraction. The hole is already dug!  But Scalability and Networking both have limitations.

Risks to Both Models

One of the risks to the network model is the ability to grow to accomodate new “traffic”. That means at some point it must add infrastructure. This is fairly easily done compared to other industries. Scaling a network based business is essentially opening up the architecture to other users with computing power. The problem, like in trading exchanges before them is people. And in Bitcoin we will see soon that the people in question are the voting members who control the mining servers and therefore their “fiefdoms”.

Scalability also runs into problems when it has a ton of potential supply it can bring to the market at a  low marginal cost but no one wants it. At this point they must acknowledge a need for a greater network to sell to. That means adding salesmen or marketing to raise awareness. Not easily done for any business whose people are “wired” for scale models. Again, the problem is management. Google has none of the issues that Bitcoin may have going forward. 

For here, let’s look at Bitcoin’s potential path by using Trading Exchange’s Application of the Networking Business Model. Our analysis shows the businesses are very similar. For now we will cut to the chase.

GLOBEX 2: Enter the Google, Exit the BitCoin

Right now the BitCoin group is running into what we call “floor trader fear”. The  voting members are chafing at the idea of scaling their supply by adding servers and/ or server power. This would disrupt their own little empires, not unlike the trading floor fearing Globex back in the day. And so many exchanges held out and protected the floor. And in the end they died. PHLX, AMEX, COMEX, PCOAST, CSCE, all gone or absorbed because they were late to adapt new technology and protect their liquidity pools. If Bitcoin removes power  from its voting members  control by demutualizing and uses those proceeds to increase server power they will likely excel. But Google and Amazon are now playing and they are all about unlimited  server power. 

When, not if, those behemoths are up and running they will immediately have an embedded network of both customers AND service providers  at their disposal in the form of search  eyeballs (google) and buyers (Amazon). They will be set up  to crush the opposition if they choose to create their own currency. Imagine Amazon  offering amazon money for amazon purchases. Now imagine them offering 20% discounts if you use  their money. The choices at this point boggle the mind. Tactical choices thought no longer used will come  into play again. Some examples: Freemium, Coupons, Customer Loyalty, Vertical Client Integration (P.O.S.), Travelers checks and more. 

To be fair, Google has invested in Bitcoin as well. What smart trader would not hedge himself. But just like Netflix is Amazon’s biggest cloud customer, but will eventually put Netflix out of business (after NetFlix kills Hollywood’s distribution network); So will Google/ Amazon/ Apple attempt to obviate the need for any currency but their own. 

Blockchain is  the railroad. Amazon and Google have the oil. Like Rockefeller  before, The railroad will be made “exclusive” to their products.

  Google and Amazon are Already in the Game

Attached is the Daily Blockchain News recap with an example of Google’s foray into Blockchain. The goal here is to introduce  their own currency or be brokers of deals using their “search engine” coupons. The coupons are the gateway to their new currency. Exactly how this  goes down we do nto know. This post is one example of how it could go down. The bottom line for the big tech companies is how they can  lever their networks more efficently and add scale without increasing fixed cost. That comes in the form of levering existing networks with new products geared to cement loyalty. What better way to do this than  to have your own money ? What will Home Depot do? WE HONOR AMAZON CASH? meanwhile the plumber, pipes, and sump pump you buy next month will all be through Amazon. And you’ll get a discount by using Amazon cash on your amazon credit card.

Amazon and Google are just a big cash  register with all their products at point of sale. Gum, Mints, and People  magazine will become Disinfectant, Steam Cleaners, Rugs,  and a Local Handy Man. And  instread ofaskingfor your loyalty card they will actually take blockchain driven Amazon currency. Remember ATMs? After everyone was on them, they stopped being free.

We feel that BitCoin is going to have problems going forward. They are also best positioned to overcome those problems. But if they do not increase computing power their client base will eventually be relegated  to people trying to export their wealth from oppressive regimes. Meanwhile you and I will be buying Nike sneakers on amazon for 20% off because we are now using Amazon cash on our Amazon Credit cards. And Google will also offer similar concepts if you click  on one of their paid advertiser links. 

Amazon Suggests : Do  you want a fidget spinner with your ADD Meds?

How to play it:

This is not short term stuff. When we made retail recommendations on how to play Amazon we could not personally pull the trigger on our own ideas as we were aware of short squeezes adnthings outside our commodity knowledge. But the question we asked ourselves  was simple: Would you rather buy Amazon  at ATHs or Sears at ATLs. The answer 3 months ago was Amazon. Which means we should haveshorted every retail firm that was not positioning itself to survive. That meant shorting Target. The client did. We did not. 

In that vein we are watching closely to see how Banks handle things as well as the usual players. For now; Bitcoin (NYSE) may do very well for years. Second tier players (like AMEX) in crypto will almost certainly go  belly up. Amazon and Google (Globex) will destroy certain industries already under pressure when they adopt blockchain. Even energy will be affected. This ties in with the blockchain trades china is doing with Russia for oil deals already going down. 

Imagine if Google  enters the commodity trading field replacing ISDA and clearinghouses?! Why not? They took themselves public. if one continues monitoring the economic, technological, and Regulatory drivers behind the current market structure, a person can tweak this simple analysis to make their own decisions.

Right now we are looking for new trade ideas in retail to sell short (downstream and upstream) with a 6 month time horizon and looking into shale oil’s increasing balance sheet cannibalism to stay operational (The marketmaker who eventually puts himself out of business).. and as always we are married to Silver and it will be the death of us!! 

– Soren K. Group

Current Crypto Prices

Bitcoin

Ethereum

Litecoin

Monero

Ripple

Dash

Zcash

Peercoin

Namecoin

  via Florin Oprea and Blockchain-asia

Deals, Investments & M&As

Blockchain Raises $ 40m From Lakestar And Google’s Venture Arm

Oscar Williams-Grut – Business Insider

Bitcoin Startup Blockchain Taps $ 40 Million in New Funding

Nate Lanxon – Bloomberg

Blockchain, the London-based bitcoin currency service provider, has raised $ 40 million of fresh funding, representing one of the largest investment rounds in the financial technology sector since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

PHILIPP SANDNER, Frankfurt School Blockchain Center:

Big IT companies such as Google have been rather quiet concerning blockchain technology so far. Therefore, this investment is a bold statement.

Top 5 Cryptocurrency ICOs For June And July 2017

The Merkle

FAO: And here’s the list: PRIMALBASE, TEZOS, EVEREX, DENT, CIVIC.

  Cryptocurrencies

How Big Is Bitcoin, Really? This Chart Puts It All In Perspective

Sue Chang – MarketWatch

Bill Gates’s net worth still beats bitcoin’s entire market cap.

FAO: Yeah but he is the richest person in the world….

On Bitcoin, India’s Government And Tech Companies Find Common Ground

Sindhuja Balaji – Forbes

The Bitcoin craze is catching on in India. While tech geeks and young investors eye the digital cryptocurrency as its value soars, the government, too, is contemplating a course of action surrounding its regulation.

  Exchanges & Trading Venues

New Ethereum-Based Decentralized Cryptocurrency Exchange Aims to Improve Security and Transparency

Diana Ngo – Coinjournal

Hong Kong’s Open ANX Foundation has unveiled openANX, a project aimed at building a new decentralized cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform built on the Ethereum blockchain.

Coinbase Appeals Decision in Cryptsy Collapse Lawsuit

Stan Higgins – CoinDesk

Coinbase is appealing a court decision from earlier this month in a lawsuit filed on behalf of customers of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy.

FAO: Although we are in soft launch, we cover topics globally – we covered this also – here.

  BitPeople

Cryptocurrency Liquidity Solutions For FX brokers: Conversation With B2Broker CEO Arthur Azizov

Leap Rate

  Latest Developments & Agreements

EY Launches Blockchain Financial Services Center In New York

ETH News

The Financial Services Innovation Center is a part of the firm’s global innovation network wavespace, but the key focus is in helping financial services organizations achieve breakthroughs.

  Regulation

The EU And Blockchain: Taking The Lead?

Finextra

Long time the European Union has taken a positive, but wait-and-see attitude towards blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Both related to use cases and regulatory intervention. But that is changing rapidly.

FAO: As I already commented in our sister publication, FinTech Daily News, it’s better late than never for Europe to move this way.

  Startups, Accelerators & Hubs

Startups See Service Outages Amid Ethereum Blockchain Backlog

Stan Higgins – CoinDesk

The ethereum blockchain is beginning to show signs it’s being impacted by a new influx of users.

Amid a surge in mainstream media interest, not to mention projects raising funds via ICOs, transaction backlogs were visible on the network. Data from Etherscan shows that more than 300,000 transactions were broadcast on 20th June, the highest amount ever observed on the two-year-old blockchain.

FAO: As I said yesterday, these are just growing pains.

  Analysis

Ethereum Briefly Crashed From $ 319 To 10 Cents In Seconds On One Exchange After ‘Multimillion Dollar’ Trade

Arjun Kharpal – CNBC

Bitcoin And Ethereum Crash… For A Few Minutes

Seeking Alpha

This event doesn’t change the fundamental bullish case for investing in Ethereum. Although, it highlights the risks.

FAO: Risks are part of our daily life. Humanity cannot evolve without people taking some risks…

Aberdeen Says Cryptocurrency Bubble Will Burst Even If Coins Change Finance

Camila Russo – Bloomberg

Peter Denious, head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, said we’re in the midst of a virtual currency bubble, and like all bubbles, it will eventually burst.

FAO: The stock market changed the economy at the beginning of the last century, and the global stock market crashed in the 1929…you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs…

from CapitalistHQ.com http://capitalisthq.com/blockchain-enter-google-exit-bitcoin/