#spr group

[redeemingvillains]

the playlist - mattheo riddle

summary: enzo overhears something about you he shouldn't have and when he tells his friends, all hell breaks loose.

word count: 1.5k

soundtrack: dress - taylor swift

a/n: just some fun, sweet and silly banter with our favorite boys! i made enzo italian? not sure if that's a thing. and i definitely took some liberties with italian, so please forgive me!

warning: the group is lowkey mean to enzo about his english not being very good; this in no way reflects my personal views about that. anyone that even attempts to speak or learn more than one language (esp english!) is amazing ♡

"Alright, I've got another one"

Pansy's voice carried from your bedroom into the bathroom where you were curling your hair, getting ready for your girls' night. She was fiddling with your phone, playing music through your bluetooth speaker.

"Fuck, marry, kill: Blaise, Mattheo, Theo."

"What is the actual matter with you?" you responded, laughing. "I'm not answering that, none of them" you said resolutely about your best friends, even as your heart trilled in your chest at the very obvious answer you had in your head.

She laughed deeply, "Gods they would simply die. Any of them would be on their knees to marry you, I swear to Salazar... or fuck you for that matter."

"Pansy!!"

"Ok, ok, I give up."

"Anyway, how are things with you and Draco?" you asked, looking to quickly change the subject.

A heartbeat. No response.

"Pans?" you asked, your ears listening intently for her answer before you became worried. "You okay?" you asked, concerned as you carefully set down your curler and peered around the doorframe to find her with a shit-eating grin on her face, staring at your phone.

"Pansy..." you said cautiously as you slowly approached her.

"I just found a very interesting playlist on your phone. 'M.R.'? Gee, wonder what that could be?" she said slyly.

Your feet started moving quickly towards her. "Nonono, nope that's not what you think –"

Now she was on her feet, running away from you. "Oh, GIRL, ohhhhh my goddddssss!"

"Give it back!" you shouted, lunging for your phone as she dodged out of your grasp.

"This is all Taylor Swift! Down Bad, But Daddy I Love Him, DRESS!?! I KNEW IT, I FUCKING KNEW IT!!!!" she shouted as she scrambled on top of your bed and jumped up and down. "This is the best thing that's ever happened to me, please, Mattheo is going to lose his mind!!!"

"Oh gods, Pans, please, please you cannot say anything, not to Draco, not to anyone."

Her eyes flicked from you to over your shoulder and your heart dropped into your stomach as you turned to see Lorenzo standing in your doorway.

"...Ciao bellas..." he said hesitantly, eyebrows raised as he took in the scene in front of him, Pansy, out of breath, standing on your bed, you clambering up beside her as you were both shouting at each other.

"Uhh, hey Enz, what's up?" you said as casually as possible as you climbed off your bed.

"I'm here to borrow your potions textbook, you said I could?–"

"–Yes, gods, yes I did" you said, scrambling to search for it from the pile on your desk before brandishing it at him.

"Thank you bella" he said as he left, a cheeky grin on his face.

"Fuck how much of that do you think he heard?" you said, looking up at Pansy.

"Babe, he barely speaks English, you're fine" she said nonchalantly. "But as for me, you have a lot of explaining to do."

Enzo made his way into the common room where the rest of his friends were gathered around the TV playing a video game as he plopped down onto the couch beside them.

"Where the hell have you been?" Draco asked without breaking his concentration on the screen.

"I was with la dolce e la piccante, eh, I needed her book" he said, using his affectionate nicknames for you (sweet) and Pansy (spicy). "Amico, she was talking about you" he said suggestively, his eyebrows wiggling.

"Yeah, what did she say?" Draco asked, his curiosity piqued.

"No, not you, la dolce, she was talking about Mattheo."

Mattheo had been sprawled in a large armchair with his hood over his head and eyes closed, but they fluttered open at that. Be cool he thought to himself, even as his heart raced in his chest. Enzo immediately registered his reaction and smirked.

"Care to share?" Theo grunted, jamming the buttons on his controller.

"She has music for you" Enzo said, his eyes never leaving Mattheo.

Mattheo's heartrate slowed.

"She sends me songs all the time, we have a shared playlist, Enz" he said, waving him off as he pulled his hood back up.

"No, no, it was not for sharing, it was a secret."

"You mean a surprise?" Blaise tried.

"No, no, la picante, she found it and la dolce was upset, it was a secret playlist."

Mattheo sat back up.

"A secret playlist... for me?" he asked.

"Yes!" Enzo said, happy to finally have gotten his attention and the message across.

Enzo's confirmation was met with some chuckles and ooohs and aahhs.

"Did you hear it?"

"What was on it?"

"I bet it was the same depressing alternative shit you two always listen to" Theo said.

"Shut the fuck up" Mattheo snapped back, narrowing his gaze at him.

"–It was Taylor Swift!" Enzo announced proudly, and four sets of eyes shifted to him, with three blank stares.

A pause.

"Ok, but like what era are we talking about here? Lover? Folklore? TPD?" Theo said and four sets of eyes shifted to him.

"What the fuck?"

"Bro, what are you talking about?"

"Am I supposed to know what any of this means?"

"Che cosa??"

"Taylor Swift is a fucking icon and anyone who says otherwise is either deaf or ignorant" Theo retorted before snapping his gaze back to Enzo, the video game in the background long forgotten now.

"Tell me exactly what you heard."

"Ehh, Down Bad, Daddy something something, and Dress" he said, nodding as he remembered each.

Theo's controller fell off his lap as he leaned forward intensely, eyes narrowed on Enzo, "You are fucking certain that's what you heard?"

"...Yes..?"

Theo let out a noise somewhere between a howl and a laugh.

"Oh my fucking gods Matty you lucky son of a bitch!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Mattheo asked. He was sitting upright now on the edge of his seat and he could feel his pulse in his neck as he'd watched the conversation going back and forth between Theo and Enzo like a fucking tennis match.

"Dress by Taylor Swift? But Daddy I Love Him? Hellloooo???!!" Theo was cackling now, falling back on the couch, his hands on his stomach.

And then panic ensued.

"Put it on! Someone pull it up!" Blaise shouted, scrambling to his feet in search of his phone.

"Gods" Draco muttered, his hands on his head as he tried to process the information as tears streamed down Theo's face with laughter, and maybe a small bit of bitter jealousy.

Enzo looked around with wide eyes at their reaction, somehow more dramatic than the girls'.

"No!" Mattheo said finally, standing up and grabbing Blaise by the arm as he was frantically trying to find the songs. "All of you, just shut. the. fuck. up" he said firmly, his voice low and serious as he enunciated every word, causing each of them to stop what they were doing and look at him.

"This is bullshit, he doesn't even speak English" he continued harshly, gesturing halfheartedly to Enzo. "I'm not wasting my time with this shit, can we please just get back to the game?"

He sat down resolutely, picked a controller up off the floor and moved to restart their game.

The group exchanged quiet glances with one another before settling back into their places.

Mattheo had been able to project a semblance of controlled anger the rest of the night, despite the sideways glances he received, but on the inside, he felt like a kettle full of boiling water, ready to scream.

He was fuming that Enzo repeated what he'd heard in front of everyone, furious at the way Theo laughed and annoyed at everyone else's reactions. His life, his feelings, and especially his friendship with you were private; it was none of their godsdamn business.

He also didn't like the idea that Theo knew your music better than he did, music was something the two of you had always shared with each other... since when did you listen to Taylor Swift anyway? And why was her music such a big deal?

He was tossing and turning in bed now, playing and replaying the evening's events in his head until finally he reached for his headphones, shoving them in his ears as he grabbed his phone. He needed to know, needed to understand why Theo was making such a big deal out of it. Theo's voice echoed in his head: "Matty you lucky son of a bitch!" and excitement and jealousy stirred in his stomach in equal measures.

It doesn't mean anything he told himself, tampering his expectations. The last thing he wanted to do was get excited, like one song was going to change anything anyway.

Dress he typed - tapping play.

Decent beat he thought, she's got a nice voice...

And then he hit the bridge.

Say my name and everything just stops I don't want you like a best friend Only bought this dress so you could take it off

He had stopped breathing.

Everyone thinks that they know us But they don't know nothing about All of this silence and patience, pining and anticipation My hands are shaking from holding back from you –

He ripped his headphones out of his ears and sat straight up in bed, his hand falling subconsciously to his beating chest as he tried to catch his breath. He swallowed. He blinked several times, trying to register what he'd just heard.

I don't want you like a best friend?

Well fuck he thought, me either.

T H E P L A Y L I S T

🏷️ tagging a few of my beautiful mutuals: @girllblogging777 @draco-dormiens @dracosbabygirl8 @leona-hawthorne @noble-serpent @sectumsempraaa @reys-letters

[in1-nutshell]

Silver Aid the sparkling (long version)

SFW, Platonic, Romance, Slight Famialal, Cybertronian (techno organic) reader

TFA

“WHERE IS SHE!?”

“I THOUGHT SHE WAS IN THE ROOM!”

“SHE’S JUST A SPARKLING, SHE COULDN’T HAVE GOTTEN TOO FAR!”

“HOW DID SHE EVEN GET OUT OF THERE!?”

A few hours before the incident…

“Megatron are you sure this is… wise? We don’t know its full extent; it could be dangerous.”

“That’s why we are testing it.”

“I know the reason Megatron…”

Megatron looked over at Silver Aid.

She had made her way to his side with one servo clutching her med kit. Her optics scrunched a bit in concern and curiosity. Probably wondering who she was going to fix up once this ‘experiment’ was done.

The Decepticons had recently uncovered a ‘relic’ of sorts. It emitted a high energy level, possibly enough to power the spacebridge for longer periods of time. If this worked, more supplies and troops could be sent through the bridge.

“Everything will be fine.”

“You don’t know that Megatron, its dangerous to gamble with relics.”

“It’s a gamble we must take.”

Silver just sighs and closes her optics.

Megatron let a small smile on his face and gently pulled her to his side. He smiled more seeing her fight a growing smile on her face.

“You’ll see my dear. Everything will turn out right.”

Silver Aid huffed a bit giving him that small smile.

“LORD MEGATRON!”

Megatron and Silver Aid jumped apart at the sound of Lugnut’s voice.

Megatron sighed, while Silver Aid giggled a bit at his dismay.

Lugnut walked in front of the pair and bowed a bit to Megatron.

“Lord Megatron! The device is ready for testing!”

Megatron nods.

The three walked behind the safety tape. Megatron moved slightly in front of Silver Aid, who swatted his servos in response.

“Its fine Megatron, or are you going to admit I was right about this being slightly dangerous?”

Oh, Primus she was smirking at him!

Taunting him!

He was not going to lose this round.

The warlord turned to Starscream and Blitzwing who were at the side of the device.

“Proceed with the activation.”

Starscream grumbled under his breath before starting up the machine. He and Blitzwing soon flew to the group on the safe side of the safety tape. The team waited in anticipation for the device to start working.

The device started glowing and whirling with life. Bits of sparks flew, but otherwise remained steady. According to the levels in data pad, the energy it was putting out was increasing rapidly. Soon enough the levels were starting to go above the estimated levels.

Silver Aid tugged at Starscream’s servo and pointed at the increasing levels with a worried look. If anyone here was going to agree with the danger of the surge in power levels, it was going to be Starscream.

Starscream’s optics widen and went to tell Megatron.

BOOM!

The entire group was thrown back from the explosion.

Megatron and Starscream were thrown on their backs; Blitzwing landed on his chassis with Lugnut landing on his wings; Silver Aid had been thrown on her side a few feet farther than the rest.

Silver Aid rubbed the side of her helm groaning.

“Sound off, anyone offline?”

Muffled yelling was heard from underneath Lugnut causing Starscream to wince a bit.

“I think Blitzwing will if Lugnut doesn’t get off of him.”

Lugnut quickly rolled off the Triple changer, his cursing much more audible now.

Megatron slowly sat up popping one of his back struts turning to her.

“Are you alright?”

Silver gave him a smile before it was replaced by a frightened one.

No one had noticed the stray energy beam that had been produced from the explosion. Neither did they realize the beam heading straight towards Silver Aid before it was too late.

Megatron got up and reached out to her.

“SILVER!”

“MEGA--!”

BOOM!

The Decepticons were once again thrown back from the smaller explosion. Once the ringing stopped in his audials, Megatron stood up looking back where Silver Aid had once been. In her place was a bunch of rubble and some pieces of equipment.

“Silver Aid!”

Megatron sprinted to the rubble and immediately started digging through.

Blitzwing, Lugnut and Starscream soon came to his side and started digging.

Starscream muttered under his breath as he continued to dig.

“I swear if you offline and leave me here with them…”

He swore in his mind he was going to personally offline her if she was terminated by a measly blast! The Second in Command’s servos started to shake the more time passed and not a single sign of life was found.

Blitzwing, for once, had settled on one face to concentrate on the digging.

Hot Head was screaming and wanted to blast the rocks so he could find her. An idea that Icy heavily argued against doing.

Random was strangely quiet.

Icy was the most composed and just kept on digging.

Lugnut was getting even more anxious the time went on. He knew as well as the others that Silver Aid was not as durable as they were, curse her softer organic side! He should have done something! Strika would have!

Megatron looked emotionless as he dug.

Inside, however, kept on playing the fearful look on her face before the blast hit her chassis.

Why did these things happen to her!?

What else did the universe want to punish her for?

What did she ever do to offend it!?

He needed to get her out as quickly as he could… she didn’t like cramped spaces.

His digits brushed something warm, the warlord didn’t hesitate to pull it upward.

Megatron was not expecting to be holding… a sparkling?

The sparkling with a familiar color scheme…

The other Decepticons had the same dumbfounded look on their faces.

“What… the… f—”

THWACK!

“Hey!”

“You never swear in front of a sparkling! That’s a new low even for you Starscream.”

Starscream rubbed his helm glaring at Blitzwing.

“Just you wait until I—”

“Enough.”

Megatron stood up with the sparkling in his servo. The little one just blinked while looking around curiously.

“We need to figure out how… this happened. And as soon as possible.”

Lugnut steps up and gently pokes the sparkling on her tummy, a little giggle escaped from her.

“And who should be in charge of watching her?”

Megatron paused thinking about Lugut’s question before he looked down again at the sparkling.

She blinked again.

“Eeta?”

No one knew what that was. Must have been sparkling gibberish.

“Nel?”

Yes, just sparkling gibberish. Megatron shook his helm.

“Everyone will take turns in watching her. In the meantime,”

Megatron walked over to his habsuite and emerged with a crib.

All the Decepticons gave him mixed looks.

“Is that—”

Megatron cut off Blitzwing.

“Silver Aid wanted to try building contraptions out of the left-over scrap that wasn’t safe to have in the base.”

“Sure…”

Megatron carefully puts her down.

She whined a bit before finding a coloring data pad in the crib.

“Decepticons, move out and find that cure!”

Blitzwing and Lugnut waved a bit at the sparkling before leaving.

Starscream shrugged but did eventually leave with a little smile on his face.

Now it was just Megatron and Silver Aid.

“Oppy?”

Megatron looked down at her.

“What?”

“Oppy?”

“I don’t understand…”

The sparkling made an annoyed sound and sat down with her coloring data pad.

Megatron sighed and sat down.

This was going to be a long day…

It had been a couple hours and the babysitting system the cons had was going exceptionally well… until they completely forgot to tell the other it was their turn to watch Silver Aid.

Silver Aid just looked around bored.

The nice bots that were around earlier were nowhere to be found, o one wanted to play and still no sign of Oppy!

…Maybe Oppy, Nel, and Eeta were in trouble!

They were always in trouble when she wasn’t with them. That was the only explanation to why they weren’t with her!

She had to find them!

Good for her, Silver had quickly learned this new webbing thingy was stretchy and strong, maybe if she hit it o those rocks over there…

With one go, the little sparkling was flying across the room and landed a bit roughly on the damp floor.

Wobbly, she stood up and began to walk around until she found an exit.

At the opening, Silver Aid saw a bunch of lights in the sky

Colors red and blue.

Just like Oppy’s colors!

That’s where Oppy must be!

Carefully Silver Aid started making her way down the entrance and followed the pretty colors in the sky.

It was a couple minutes later before all four mech suddenly appeared in the same room.

“Lord Megatron? I thought you were watching Silver Aid?”

“No, was it not your turn Lugnut?”

“No, I thought it was Blitzwing.”

“No, it was Starscreams turn.”

“No, it was Megatron’s turn.”

There was a silence before they all ran to the crib to find it empty.

 “WHERE IS SHE!?”

“I THOUGHT SHE WAS IN THE ROOM!”

“SHE’S JUST A SPARKLING, SHE COULDN’T HAVE GOTTEN TOO FAR!”

“HOW DID SHE EVEN GET OUT OF THERE!?”

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 16

Kipperlilly Copperkettle and the World's Smallest Violin

Welcome back to Fantasy High where everyone’s graduating with A pluses and we’re *finally* figuring out what the hell Kipperlilly’s deal is! 

But, before we get to that, we have some loose ends to tie up. You’ll remember that the Bad Kids just demolished the Last Stand Exam and dropped Gavin Pundle off at the Council of Chosen office in Bastion City. It’s the day before Spring Break so hypothetically they should be relaxing–they don’t have a Spring Break project like everyone else because of the Last Stand–but these are the Bad Kids. They don’t get breaks. 

First order of business when they get back to Elmville is to check the crystal they left recording at the crime scene. They see a massive figure--14 to 15 feet--wearing a hood approaching Buddy with their back to the camera. The stones behind Buddy glow with Ankarna-style light so they check to see if Bakur is escaping the gem he’s trapped in. He isn't but Riz using his spy tie can tell it's def something Ankarna related based on the magical mDNA he's clocking. Based on the footfalls, it seems like something big and humanoid (though not like a tabaxi or dragonborn with their digitigrade feet. Giant is def on the table though).

The figure moves closer to Buddy and Kristen thinks they’re about to slap the symbol on Buddy’s chest but Buddy’s body spasms and blood spatters as his organs seem to crush. He jolts awake with a pained roar and then says in his southern drawl, "Dang, y'all. I worship a nameless god of rage." The figure kneels over Buddy and they both vanish. 

So, yeah. Good call setting up some CCTV. 

Fig right away speculates that maybe all the Rat Grinders died and were brought back to life in that way. Maybe in the Mountains of Chaos, Fabian adds. Kristen points out that KP has been angry since Freshman Year and they all finally get around to digging into the file that Riz stole. Has she always been a follower of Ankarna or was she scouted at some point because of how insanely aggro she is?

Everyone piles on buffs to Riz’s already stupid Investigation score so he gets a 32. I’m going to bullets to organize all of this info:

Her Freshman and Sophomore Year accomplishments are pretty meh. She was doing quests but pretty low level, easy ones

We find out the reason KP hates Riz so much and it’s his tragic backstory. In a meeting at the top of Sophomore Year, they see KP complaining that it’s so unfair that Kalvaxus killed Riz’s dad. She’s too suburban and normal and she hasn’t been able to find any sordid secrets in her lineage that would make for good plot hooks essentially. Her parents went to *Mumple* for Cassandra’s sake! Over the course of Sophomore year she started having rage outbursts. and saying that kids with tragic backstories had an unfair advantage in adventuring and their grades should reflect that. 

She talks about how much she loves her party. The way she speaks, she's def the leader (which we kinda already assumed from the vibes). She seems especially fond of Lucy and says that she's the only one who sort of "gets it". Apparently, KP came up with the name "High 5 Heroes" and Lucy was supportive of that because it meant a lot to KP. Rat Grinders was a name that Ivy and Oisin came up with (they're the other pair of besties in the group which checks out because they were the ones hanging out and playing beer pong together). Ruben voted for the change to piss off KP and Mary Ann voted for it as well and refused to elaborate (on brand). 

In her Junior Year she gets even more unhinged. She talks about wanting to straight up murder Kristen. She thinks Kristen is going for President as a joke and won't even do the job when she's elected. And she he hates Fig for boxing her out from confronting Kristen.   

There's a note that, for Spring Break, they're going to the Mountains of Chaos for the second time. The last time they went was a week or two after Spring Break last year, right before Lucy died. They had a school chaperone because it was too high an adventure for their abilities in the school’s view and no prizes for guessing who that was: Jace Stardiamond. 

As we kind of already know, KP has been gathering Bad Kid info via Jawbone--specifically, stuff about the Prompocalypse/Kalvaxus fight and the Yes! Stuff. These questions are coming Sophomore Year, post the first Mountains of Chaos trip. 

With a dirty 20 Insight, Fig sees that, starting at the end of Soph Year, there's a change in KP's language where it goes from, "I don't think X is fair"/"I think they get special treatment" to just straight up, "I hate them."

The group wonders if Jace is the mastermind here and scoped out which of the students were susceptible to rage poisoning or if maybe he died during that mountain trip and got taken over just as much as everyone else. As far as they know, he was super chill prior to this. 

They take a brief detour to razz Fabian about The Incident in his dance class with some excellent puns and then another brief detour to IRL razz Murph because he makes the grave mistake of saying the phrase, “honor the cock.” And then, Kristen has a brain blast. She wonders if maybe the difference between someone who gets a crystal put in them and comes back as a rage person (eg: Buddy) vs someone who is left in limbo like Yolanda and Lucy is that you get a choice and you can either come back full of rage or refuse and stay dead with the mark on your chest. Brennan doesn't even make Ally roll for it, Kristen just gets it in one. And everyone realizes it makes sense. Yolanda was super principled and Lucy always stuck to her guns according to Ruben. [Note: This also offers a potential reason that Ivy wasn't shocked to see Lucky at the party–maybe she thought she finally took Ankarna’s deal.]

Another list of info just to keep things neat:

They check the tape from the Coliseum and see that there's a ten minute gap between the Bad Kids leaving and the figure coming to rez Buddy so that’s a bit of a timeline established (assuming no chronomancy BS I suppose). 

They also get the thing about digitigrade feet I mentioned earlier at this point but I just thought it fit better with the other tape stuff above. 

Ruben has deleted most of his social media presence from a little bit before last year but they can see from photos where he's tagged with his friends that the emo thing started after spring break of Sophomore Year, confirming what we assumed from his old Yearbook photo. Before that his vibe was more soft rock/folk pop (based on the musician they reffed who I've never heard of but just Googled--Jack Johnson). 

The Bad Kids think they might have to waste yet another Spring Break, this time chasing the Rat Grinders into the Mountains of Chaos, but before that, they have in-town business and downtime to attend to. 

Everyone's parents and guardians are so happy and proud of them for their Last Stand victory. 

Sklonda asks Riz if there's anything she can help with and he asks if she can look into Bobby Dawn. She says  Bobby used to go to Aguefort (info that has come up before according to Brennan though I don't remember it) and asks if Fig knows he's teaching there. It seems like a non sequitur until she reveals (via Emily figuring it out at the table with very impressive swiftness) that Bobby Dawn was at the center of Sandra Lynn's sordid past! For those of y’all who don’t remember, we learned in Sophomore Year that Sandra Lynn joined a party when she was young as a replacement member. There was a married couple in the group who were older and more powerful than her. She fell in love with one of them and when it all came out, she was kicked out and slandered (even though it takes two minimum to tango, as we all know). She was basically blacklisted from adventuring after that which is why she joined the rangers. Well, now we know who that couple was: Bobby and Pamela Dawn! 

Which, ugh what an upgrade Jawbone and honestly even Gilear are from Bobby Dawn.

(Also, as an aside, we learn Pamela is the chief paladin of the church of Sol which, como se dice, yikes. That whole pantheon needs better reps. Tracker is doing all the heavy lifting herself.)

Gavin checks in to say that the Council of Chosen is looking into things but the body is missing. The Bad Kids, who already knew this, share their footage because they have to do EVERYTHING around here. Gavin also lets them know that they’re completely free from academic requirements other than filling out a teacher eval and attending graduation (which is odd considering they aren’t graduating but Aguefort is a weird school and Brennan never went to trad high school so shrug–we’ll see if that’s just a weird Aguefort thing or a something suspicious).

Back to Riz and Sklonda, he asks his mom if she's ever heard of Eugenia Shadow and she tells him that she's a granddaughter of one of the founders of the Society of Shadows (which was named after their last name--it's literal AND a metaphor. She offers to drive him to the cemetery in Ashgrove which is about 90 minutes away. 

Wilma and Digby are exuberant as always about Gorgug's success. They’ve finally fixed up the Hangvan for him and give him the keys. He thanks them and then asks about why Frosty Fair picked their tree as the new event site. They think it's just because they're heavily in the Frosty Fair circuit and also someone (who we know is Ruben) vouched for them. But they mention that the FF reps had a lot of questions about their tree including whether the tree was a Root Warden. They don't have a Druid or Ranger who would know but Kristen gets a Nat 20 (and Cass is a sylvan goddess so it checks out that she would know some stuff about trees). 

A Root Warden is a tree that is so magical that it's a little more alive  than a normal tree (without fully being a treant) and has an Int of like 1 or 2 instead of zero. So it's basically the big, old tree that guards the other trees in the area and tells them when to have their guards up and protects them from general bad mojo. Brennan calls it a sentinel. The Thistlespring tree is the Root Warden for the trees in all of Elmville county.  Gorgug rolls too low to tell if the tree is corrupted but his parents do tell them that the people who came by to check on the tree dropped something into the roots with eye droppers that was absorbed. Everyone is worried about rage pollen, especially since it’s the middle of spring. And once he’s looped in, Riz can see on a map that Loam Farm is significantly outside the tree network that Thislespring tree is a part of. It seems clear that they were trying to make sure they were not only operating within the network but poisoning its very heart. 

Fabian gets a proud message from his dad now that they’re synced up with infernal/material plane communication. Gilear asks Fabian about baby clothes so, naturally, he burns them all. He also gets another 20k gold allowance because his life is full of intense highs and lows and that’s about it. 

Kristen’s parents text her to ask her to make sure Bucky is going to his classes. Suspicious! She agrees to check up on him. 

Aelwyn has accepted the job at Leviathan so she starts coming by the mansion again since there's a door/portal to the library which saves her the spell slot. Adaine tells her she can just come back home if she wants and Sandra Lynn agrees. Aelwyn asks if all her cats can come and everyone says yes, even if it means kicking out Kristen (which is a joke…mostly lol). So yay, Aelwyn is back in the bunk beds baybee! And during the month of my birth irl and in canon. Ty Brennan. Kristen tries to verbally spar with her because she knows Aelwyn is uncomfortable with people being too openly nice to her but Aelwyn accidentally claps back too hard and sends Kristen running back to her room near tears. Sorry, K! She’s working on her people skills! Fig of course has her President’s back and gives Aelwyn a wet willy which majorly grosses her out but she doesn’t sling any retaliatory spells. Progress! 

Gorthalax makes sure that Fig knows he’s always a resource for any help with anything infernal. Meanwhile, Adaine has a couple of spells she wants to cast. She makes a Simulacrum of Kristen, to make it confusing for anyone who wants to go after Kristen. It’s a clone of her with half her HP which is slightly British and slightly straight. She casts Legend Lore on Kipperlilly and gets no info which means she’s a basic ass bitch. (Riz, in comparison, does get a ping but it’s for being the 5th person to summon the Night Yorb so he is keen to do better than that). Finally, she casts Scry on Kipperlilly and doesn't get anything because she has Nondetection casted on her. She realizes that all of the Rat Grinders do at all times which is 18 third level spells a day which is crazy. Clearly, they’re scared. 

Graveyard time! On Saturday, they head to Ashgrove and find the grave of Eugenia Shadow who died at the age of 111. Adaine swaps to Ethereal Vision to try and find her but Riz (with his Blindsense) is the one who finds her (she’s carefully ducking behind Adaine to dodge her line of sight). Eugenia is annoyed to have two students find her in one year but very happy to drink, smoke, and do drugs with the Bad Kids(just go with it). 

Despite being dead, Eugenia knows a lot about stuff that's going on and congratulates them on passing their Last Stand. Riz asks her about what "the Rogue teacher found her" re: Kipperlilly means and Eugenia says that KP somehow found out that she was dead (despite the fact that as far as Shadow knows, the only records of her death exists in Aguefort’s office) and showed up at the grave with a rented backhoe, threatening to dig her up unless she showed basically. Which, yes, is grave desecration and messed up but is it any more messed up than the concept of a rogue in general? Like, I hate KP as much as the next person but this feels like normal rogue behavior. As Eugenia says in this very scene, rogues do crimes! Anyway, Eugenia reiterates something we already knew about Kipperlilly:  that she's obsessed with technicalities and loopholes. We learn for a fact that she's a Mastermind Rogue and Eugenia says that she's a lot like Riz but walking a darker path. 

As they're speculating how KP could have gotten into Aguefort's office (via Jace maybe?) Mazey comes up since she's acting principal and Eugenia reminds them that Aguefort is not a normal school with normal positions. Things are set up so that whoever is VP has to follow whatever the Principal says no matter what since Kalvaxus is supposed to be in that position as a prisoner. Equally importantly, Aguefort is more than a school. It's a hotbed of very important magical threads that Aguefort had going and they'll unravel without someone at the helm. That fact and the fact that killing her would mean chaos and not a simple transfer of power to another party is probably the only reason no one has tried to assassinate her yet. At his friends’ urging, Fabian texts Mazey to hang out, to help keep an eye on her. 

Eugenia tells them to keep their guards up and that she expects to see all of them in Rogue classes next year. She gives Riz an eval form and Fig asks about a Landscaping Company that KP contacted (which I think must be in cut footage because this is the first time it comes up in the ep. Eugenia says that the name of the company is Loam Landscaping which gives everyone pause for obvious reasons. 

Speaking of the Loams, they're on the same death clock as Lucy since it's been a while since they died and Adaine wonders if they can Plane Shift to where they are if they can figure out where that is. Brennan says that the vibe is that Yolanda and Lucy are probably with Cassandra, wherever Cass is. 

Downtime before Spring Break!

Fabian is up first. 

He rolls a 27 for Popularity. People are hoping he's gonna keep up lofi study nights over the summer and they're so psyched that his birthday is the same day as the election (the 31st). Adaine realizes that THIS must be the bday party/election victory she keeps having visions about and tells him he has to do it. For his second track, he asks Mazey out on an official date to Krom's Diner. She says yes and, on a 20, we get a very sweet scene where Fabian has a nice normal date with a genuinely nice, down to earth person.

Even though she's not supposed to play favorites, she tells him that Kristen's basically demolishing Kipperlilly in the election so far (which she is impressed by because she didn't think Kristen was going to take it seriously). She also lets them know that technically any place (including a big house party perhaps) can be a polling place as long as someone from the school admin is present (which could potentially be Mazey or Riz). 

Mazey gives him a goodnight kiss (getting his kisses in!) and we move on to his third roll which he uses to try and mend fences with Kristen for Gertie’s sake. He offers her any satisfaction she wants from an apology to combat and she chooses combat. With a 30 to her 16, he handily defeats her and she considers her honor satisfied. They'll chill now. And he even gives her some tips on flirting with Kristen. Trying to make sure his girl gets her kisses in too I see. 

Corsica and Terpsicore find him to give him eval forms. (Also, on a Nat 20, Fig steals RIz's eval and changes his one negative comment about her doing drugs with her students into a positive one because of course Fig loves her).  He just barely gets his Owlbears roll with a bardic and that's his last roll. 

Adaine is up next. She uses a portent to get a 29 on mystery to learn about the Astral Plane and figures out that when a god is dead in the Astral Plane there's still some level of intelligence, like how a mortal can die but then have Speak With Dead cast on them and answer questions. She also finds some weird linguistic trickery in a passage about how where gods die, where they go, and where they're borne--not born, borne as in carried. Imagine the laws of the universe hinging on a pun. Wild. They wonder if that's what Bakur was trying to do/if the proper location would have been the Mountains of Chaos.

Brennan also says she gets some interesting stuff about the Mountains of Chaos and its history and is left with the question of, "When Ankarna was said to have 'died' in the Red Waste, what does that mean?" Adaine decides to roll to learn some spells to help her party survive in the Astral Plane if they need to go and on a 29 spell she learns one new spell of each level. She also talks to her teacher (Tiberia Runsetaff) who, in addition to giving her an eval to do, says she's been talking to Aguefort (Chronomancy) and when she mentioned that she was having problem getting supplies for wizarding, Ayda left her a geocache. Runestaff gives Adaine the coordinates and she texts Fig so they can go together because she assumes Ayda left stuff for both of them.

Next, she wants to roll Relationships and throws an ice cream party for the whole manor which everyone really enjoys. She chats with Sandra Lynn who tells her that the Mountains of Chaos have been nuts lately and social animals like wolves have been killing members of their own packs as of the last few weeks. That sounds very rage-y to Adaine so she tells Sandra Lynn everything they know (except for the Bobby Dawn stuff so Fig can be the one to break the news). 

Adaine asks if Sandra Lynn will take them to the mountains since she knows the area so well from work and Sandra Lynn says they might have to sign some liability waivers but she's down as long as her bosses are down. They also have a very sweet conversation where Adaine says she’s very grateful to them for taking her in and she admits that she's not very good at being a kid. Sandra Lynn says that she's always available for any conversations that Adaine wanted to have with a mom and couldn't (on account of her mom being a raging bitch and also being chased by the Vands of course). Adaine thinks she's about to give her a talk on periods and dashes away, much to Sandra Lynn's bafflement. 

Fig does her evals for her teachers including Lucilla who is weeping over her not remembering her name and just calling her "Attractive bard teacher", Porter who is irked to be sharing a sheet with Zara, and Zara who wants to see Fig because she send her a flap of flayed skin with writing on it (the contract from Bill). Valid concern. 

Adaine wraps up her downtime by rolling to Scry on Jace and gives him a 1 to make sure he fails. She sees him sitting quietly working in his office where he's Fantasy Googling the Complicated Women podcast. Adaine doesn't see what else he's working on with a low Luck roll but on a 17 Perception, she sees that he's starting to sweat in his toasty office. He takes off his scarf and, as he does, she catches a glimpse of him in the mirror, revealing a deep ragged scar in his chest. He looks at the scar and, for a moment, his eyes flash red. 

Detention

Kipperlilly for All Of That

Girl are you KIDDING ME?

“Oh boo hoo. Riz is so lucky. School is so easy for him because he has a dead dad to avenge. Some people have all the luck.”

Man, kick rocks. And she was like that *before* she got involved with Ankarna. 

Also, sidenote, it’s not even like Riz ended up killing Kalvaxus because of his tragic backstory. He didn’t even know there was a connection going in. He just wanted to find his missing babysitter and the other missing girls! You’re a Mastermind Rogue. You want a plot hook? Nancy Drew it up, bitch!   

You want Kristen dead? You want her DEAD? You’re jealous of Riz who lives in a household where sometimes you have to eat your cereal with water because there’s not enough milk to go around? Truly, get a grip.

Honor Roll

Kristen for Making a Clutch Connection

This should really go to Ally but yeah. What a great leap figuring out that staying dead is an option and that’s most likely what happened to Yolanda and Lucy. 

This very likely explains a longstanding loose end from much earlier in the season. Ivy didn’t look shocked to see “Lucy” (Fig in disguise) at the party even though we know she was dead. With this new info, it seems likely that Ivy assumed that Lucy had finally given in and come back as a rage acolyte. 

Anyway, baller connection and she got there before I did. I love it when Brennan is so impressed he doesn't even ask for an Insight roll. 

Random Thoughts

Here is a super useful timeline of events Re: the Ratgrinders by @ratgrinders. 

I’ve seen a lot of people assume that the RG’s died in the Mountains of Chaos but I’m not convinced that happened. Because that was way before Lucy died and we know that once she died, she refused to come back as a rage person. And we know you can take a rage crystal without having to die first. That happened in the mall fight with the wizards. If they TPK’d there and Ankara offered to bring them back, then they would have come back without Lucy because she would have said no.

Here’s my current theory: They went to the mountains with Jace. They either stumbled into information about Ankarna or were led there by Jace if he’s proper evil and not just taken over. They were offered a deal and everyone went for it but Lucy. KP really wanted Lucy to join them–esp cause she considered Lucy her best friend. She tried to strong arm her into it (maybe even forging her god change form) and, when she stuck to her guns, she organized everyone to kill Lucy, forcing her into a position where she’d have to say yes to Ankarna in order to stay alive. In KP’s head, Lucy would do this and maybe be annoyed for a bit but in the end see it was for the best and forgive her–maybe even thank her. But she miscalculated the strength of Lucy’s conviction and voila. Dead Lucy. 

Edit: Wanted to come back and edit to note that it is of course possible that in the mountains everyone died except for Lucy and that's when they took the Ankarna deal, but even if that's the case, the rest of the theory would proceed as written. I was mainly thinking that while what we saw with Buddy is a strong possibility it's not the only possibility. If they died then they're a bit more sympathetic because self preservation is an understandable motivator and taking the deal doesn't make them craven--it just makes Lucy and Yolanda extremely principled. However if they just took the deal because it was offered to them then that's more eyebrow raising. Even though I'm skeptical, I'm kinda hoping their hands were forced because I think that's more interesting and we've had straight up petty power grabbing already from Penelope. But anyway, just being thorough.

"Flash of Stupidity” is so funny. 

It's not surprising that Ivy and Oisin are one of the pairs of besties in the RG's--they were introduced playing beer pong together--but I'm super curious about what their dynamic is. And ditto for Lucy and KP. Was it like a high strung one/chilled out one kind of thing? I really wish the Bad Kids had been a bit nosier about their whole deal.

Do we think KP maybe wanted to make sure the BK's died in the last stand alongside Buddy and Pundle so they'd all come back as rage people? Maybe that crossbow bolt was laced with some rage mojo?

KP being mad at Riz for trying to pickpocket Jawbone of her file when (1) she’s literally a rogue as well and (2) she pickpocketed Kristen and Buddy of their revivify diamonds is insane. 

I love Lou committing to the bit of being appalled at the thought of half-siblings via Gilear because I know he knows that every time he explodes it becomes even funnier which means it’s more likely to happen but he can’t stop because he’s Committed To The Bit. Classic Lou. 

Wizards casting Legend Lore on themselves as the in-universe equivalent of Googling yourself. 

I love the detail that Mazey’s family lives in a Labyrinth in the Red Wastes. 

Kinda bummed we didn’t get to do more with the Relationship track so the special ability never came up and Brennan had to just reveal it (it can reduce stress but also increase it). 

I am so stressed about the bylaws and also Bucky. They keep coming up and then falling off of everyones’ plates and we’re running out of runway here. 

Adaine really said, “You didn’t just kill your parents? Skill issue.” She really is Aelwyn’s sister. 

The VP has to do anything the Principal says, right? And Mazey is the Principal, right? There’s gotta be a way to exploit that, especially now that Fabian is in her good graces.

When did Aelwyn get FIVE MORE CATS?

Answered and Partially Answered Questions

Last week I made as thorough a list as I could about what info we were missing and I wanted to note the answers we got this week. 

1) Why the move to Loam Farm for Frosty Faire? (The Thistlespring tree is a Rootwarden) 

2) How is Jace involved? Why is he manipulating Ruben? (We know Jace went w/ them on the trip but that's not a full answer) 

3) What were the exact circumstances behind Lucy’s death? Who was able to put the rune on both of their bodies and what exactly was the goal there? (We know the mark is from getting a rage crystal but rejecting it but we don't officially know who did it or what the goal was though you know my guess.) 

4) How did KP find the rogue teacher? (Threatened to dig up her grave. Info that she was dead was only in Aguefort's office so maybe got that from Jace?) 

5) Also what’s her damage? Why is she obsessed with Riz? What are her anger issues about? (She's a petty basic bitch) 

6) Why wasn’t Ivy surprised to see Fig in disguise as Lucy who was at the time fully dead? (Most likely because she thought she finally chose rage zombie resurrection) 

7) What’s up with the party vision that Adaine has now had at least twice? (We know this is election night and Fabian's bday now) 

8) What made the Rat Grinders become the Rat Grinders when they started as the High Five Heroes? (We know it was a vote led by Ivy and Oisin and joined by Ruben and Mary Ann but not the why behind it) 

9) Where exactly is Cass right now? (We still don't know for sure but it seemed like a realm within Ankarna’s dead body which is prob in the Astral Plane. We do know Lucy and Yolanda are prob with her as of this ep.)

As an aside, we still don’t know how Oblivati Mori was broken to write Ankarna’s name before the Bad Kids found it but is it possible that the person who wrote it was Ankarna herself? Because Ankarna is still “dead” right now, right? Because she’s been active all the same. Oblivati Mori disallows others from speaking your name but does it disallow the god themselves from speaking or writing their name if mortals find them somehow? Kind of a stretch but I’m wondering if there’s enough wiggle room there to make something happen, especially since this episode Brennan said that gods retain some intelligence even when they’re dead on Adaine’s high roll. I dunno, just spitballing. 

(Also, I don’t remember where I saw this but remember how Aelwyn said KP is randomly loaded? The previous best guess on that was money from Oisin–the boy who was just gonna give Adaine diamonds–but is it possible that she’s spending the embezzled Frosty Fair money? We don’t know much much it was so hard to say if it was enough to be funding whatever this is. But wanted to throw that out there since we’re tying loose ends as much as we can.)

Anyway, can’t wait for next episode which I’ve been told will be more than THREE HOURS LONG and Brennan said in the AP that it’s gonna be a doozy. Excited, trepid, and preemptively bracing for another long haul review. See you then!

[anchoris-sailor]

I wanna do a special little thing for the community, so if you want, send me your spr ocs, and I'll do a big ol artwork with all the ocs together like a group photo!

You can show me your oc through the ask box, message, or reblog. All I ask for is a clear picture with color. You have 7 days to submit your oc. Until then, see you later!

⚓️ ⚓️ ⚓️ ⚓️

[askvectorprime]

Dearest Vector Prime,

What do you know of Cybertronian martial arts? How do they differ from one another? You must have encountered more than a few unique styles and practitioners in your travels.

Dear Jet Judoka,

Ever since the first construction crane robot used its crane boom to deliberately knock over another robot eons ago, martial arts have been an integral part of our history.

You might assume that the warmongering Decepticons were the first to codify these disciplines of pugilism—and indeed, the brutality of their attacks and strategies gave them the edge at the outbreak of war. But the Autobots, who had lived as engineers and laborers, were able to disguise their training: every step, every turn of a wheel, every act of physical labor could be a secret technique, practiced thousands of times per cycle, until they had mastered the perfect move with which to surprise their adversaries.

Under Autobot schools of thought, there are two basic elements of physical combat: “Piston” and “Gear” motion. “Piston” is a direct, linear force: delivered by punches, rocket-powered fists, or other inbuilt ballistics. By contrast, “Gear” is a deflecting, rotational force: swiveling at the waist, or rolling, to create a “transmission” of the opponent’s energy into advantageous movement. In time, this framing came to influence Decepticon disciplines, until both groups were using the same terminology.

As the conflict between Autobot and Decepticon continued, fuelled by an escalating arms race to develop esoteric weaponry and enhancements, some chose to eschew ranged combat and instead specialize in martial arts based around stealth and melee. After sneaking into the enemy’s midst, a single warrior trained in this way could quickly dismantle those unprepared soldiers who relied more on their armament and abilities. Being a direct reaction to the highly technological mindset of both factions, it’s perhaps unsurprising that martial arts came to be spoken of using increasingly spiritual terms. Those trained in Circuit-Su turned inwards towards the personal energy of the spark, which practitioners of Metallikato would learned to channel through their weapons, striving to embody the “Ultimate Warrior” of legend. Meanwhile, followers of Yoketron’s Eightfold Path formed an understanding of self based on eight specifications: SPR-INT-SPD-END-RNK-CRG-FRB-SKL, each a separate aspect of Primus.

Other disciplines were influenced by offworld cultures. Crystalocution was developed by medics and structural engineers, after they observed the way Rock Lords would target their opponent’s fracture lines in hand-to-hand combat, and adapted the technique to focus on joints or brittle crystalline components in Cybertronians. The loose assortment of non-lethal forms commonly termed Diffusion, popular amongst the Autobots, are descended from a pacifist fighting style practiced amongst the Circle of Light.

Although these styles have been broadly recognised and adopted by countless fighters, it mustn’t be understated how deeply individualistic the martial arts can be: even within a single style, no two fighters are alike. An exceptional master may try to pass down their techniques, but the unique talent, ability, and perseverance of each student will inevitably transform these teachings into something new. Take, for example, the Turtler School.

Turtler lived as a hermit on an island, on Earth. Having felt undervalued by the Decepticons, he enjoyed the solitude this lifestyle afforded, living in peace from his Seacons. At some point in the distant future, a young simian Maximal arrived on a flying surfboard, wanting to learn martial arts in order to fight in the “Be(a)st Under The Heavens Tournament”. Turtler reluctantly took him on as a pupil, and over the course of several years, put him through a highly unorthodox training regimen. Some examples of the feats he had the Maximal perform included:

Climbing a mountain to catch a bird

Climbing a mountain again to catch a bird, but this time with Turtler strapped to his back in alt mode

Outrunning and outswimming Cybershark in a race

Painting Turtler's home (this one in particular was very unpopular with his student)

Eventually, the young Maximal proved his purity of heart—which wasn’t actually something Turtler had cared about in the least, as he really had just needed a few chores doing—and asked to learn the secret of Turtler’s ultimate technique, the King Poseidon Wave. Turtler, not quite understanding, assumed that the Maximal was talking about his laser cannon. He fired a shot to demonstrate—and to his surprise, the Maximal copied him, pressing two open palms together, and somehow firing a large energy blast! Before Turtler could even process what had happened, the Maximal hopped onto his surfboard and sailed away on a cloud, forever grateful for the good times he’d had with the old hermit over the years.

[autumnmobile12]

"If you're too short to stare down your nose at someone, keep your chin down, your eyes up, and don't blink. It's not as threatening, but it will show you are not afraid." -Mai (probably)

...

In exploring various avenues to go about a Ghost Hunt/My Hero crossover, one of the more entertaining dynamics I think would be the interactions between Mai and Endeavor.

To put it bluntly, there is a strength behind Mai’s character that I don’t think we in the Ghost Hunt fandom give her near enough credit for, and that is the fact that on a fundamental level, Mai is fearless.

As per general anime protagonist behavior, she is almost exactly like Deku when it comes to doing what she perceives to be the right thing.  Reckless, yes, and she is often running headlong into danger, but it’s important to remember Mai has also never been afraid to call anyone out on their bad behavior.

Within minutes of meeting Ayako, she called her out for talking down to her classmate, a classmate she was not even particularly close to.

She often calls out Masako and Naru both for their condescension and attitudes.

Takigawa was physically holding her back from going after the faculty at Rokuryou.

She called out Lin pretty quickly for his bullshit.

And she straight up yells at everyone in the very first case for their bickering and posturing even though she barely knew any of them.

In canon, Mai jumps at ghosts and she is easily unsettled/frightened, but even against Urado, she still has the inherent resolve to think, ‘Okay, you need to go.’

Also recall the fact that she has not hesitated to out Naru twice on minor secrets solely because he pissed her off.  That whole bit in the Labyrinth case where she demands to know why he didn’t tell them the full reason why they were there and he just answers with how ‘some people don’t know when to keep their mouth shut.’  Yeah, he didn’t say that because he didn’t think she could keep the secret.  Homeboy straight up knew she would weaponize that information if given the chance.

For all her compassion and the ‘good girl’ vibes we remember her for, Mai is petty af.

...

This is why I like writing Mai as an adult.  Canonically as a teenager, she’s already formidable in her own way.  As a young adult who’s dealt with Naru and company for a few years and has subsequently gotten used to the constant razzing and sass the whole group brings to the table (and let's be real, nobody in My Hero Academia would be prepared for the full force of SPR's combined sass,) adult Mai would be a force of nature.

So as intimidating as Endeavor is, I legitimately think Mai’s reaction to him would be a resolute,  “I don’t care if he’s three times my size and on fire, nobody speaks that way in my presence and gets away with it.  Hold my purse, hold my beer, time for a verbal ass-whooping.”

And then there’s Yasuhara saying, “Go off, sis,” and filming for posterity.

Speaking of SPR's favorite bespectacled fiend, Yasuhara has definitely hit on everyone in the top ten.

Yasuhara and Mai both have probably ended up in this situation, possibly at the same time and the end result is always the same:

Naru stepping in.

"What exactly is your plan here? Putting them down or harming them are your only two options right now, only one of which is the smart option. Unhand them. You're embarrassing everyone."

...

SPR really be the Animaniacs sibs to every Pro with an ego. Which is, like, 90% of Pros. And villains.

...

But yeah, general cattiness between Mai and Endeavor:

"I didn't see you there, Taniyama. Perhaps your lackluster and unremarkable costume was to blame."

"Not all of us are trying to signal that Gondor calls for aid."

[brian-in-finance]

The actress Caitríona Balfe, center, taking her seat at the table. Photo: Rich Gilligan

T ENTERTAINING WITH

In Belfast, a Celebration of Art, Community and Pizza

In October, on the second floor of a former spinning mill in east Belfast, the visual artist and author Oliver Jeffers, 46, hosted a candlelit dinner for a group of Irish and Northern Irish artists and friends. The Portview Trade Centre, as the building is called, stopped producing textiles in the 1970s and is now home to 54 artists’ studios and creative businesses, including Jeffers’s, and his neighbors made up a large portion of the guests and the organizers. The occasion was a personal one — the launch of his 20th book, “Begin Again” — but he also wanted to celebrate his wider creative community. Accordingly, the evening combined tributes to both Belfast, where the artist has a home in the Holywood area, and Brooklyn, where he lived until recently and still has a studio.

VIDEO 📹 The author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers invited friends to toast his new book at a dinner in a former textile mill.

Jeffers is perhaps best known for his philosophical, understated children’s books, including “The Book Eating Boy” (2006) and “The Heart and the Bottle” (2010). And true to his style, “Begin Again” is curious, warm and quietly profound. “Not for kids, but not not for kids,” Jeffers says, the book is a vibrantly illustrated exploration of the climate crisis that attempts to lay out a hopeful future for humanity. “It offers an idea of slowing down, of using what’s near us — of starting over,” says Jeffers, “with the realization that we cannot do anything until we start to act with a sense of unity, to tell ourselves new stories that are defined by what we want.”

Jeffers, center (in tan jacket), sat beside the film director Lisa Barros Da’Sa, at left. Photo: Rich Gilligan (and Caitríona Balfe, at right… BIF)

Pearson Morris, the head chef of the Belfast restaurant Noble, pan-fried wild halibut in a makeshift kitchen set up not far from the table. Photo: Rich Gilligan

While guests gathered for drinks, the sun could be seen setting over the city; on the north side of the building, hills rolled down toward the sea. The food too — a collaboration between the local bistro Noble, known for its unpretentious ingredient-led dishes, and Flout, an American-style pizzeria on the ground floor of Portview — was unmistakably rooted in Belfast. Despite a limited power supply and a lack of running water in the room, dishes were assembled and cooked in situ using three portable pizza ovens and a small stove. The table was lit with clusters of white candles and, after the sun finally went down, said Jeffers, it glowed with “the warmth of a hearth at home.”

The dinner table stood at the center of the 10,000-square-foot room. Photo: Rich Gilligan

The attendees: Jeffers celebrated with his wife and business manager, Suzanne Jeffers, and a group of Irish and Northern Irish artists, including the actress Caitríona Balfe, 44; the portrait artist Colin Davidson, 55; the electronic musician and composer David Holmes, 54; the husband-and-wife film director duo Glenn Leyburn, 54, and Lisa Barros Da’Sa, 49; and the writers Glenn Patterson, 61, and Jan Carson, 43. “Everybody at this dinner,” said Jeffers, “was interested in the power of narrative, the impact of what they do and how it makes other people feel.”

The table: Guests sat at two long tables — pushed together to create a more intimate arrangement — in the middle of the otherwise nearly empty 10,000-square-foot room. The events stylist Rachel Worthington McQueen, 30, sourced an Irish linen tablecloth in the same navy hue as the book cover’s background. Mismatched dishes in traditional Blue Willow patterns (originally bought from secondhand websites for Worthington McQueen’s wedding two years ago) held squat candles, and food was served on simple white plates brought over from Noble. Seasonal blooms — including deep burgundy dahlias and pale pink spray roses — echoed the rich palette of the book and were provided by the local, sustainable flower farm Sow Grateful. Each display was tied with bright pink twine, sourced by Suzanne Jeffers to match the exact Pantone color (number 812U) of the book’s title.

New Haven-style mussels pizza by Peter Thompson, the founder of the pizzeria Flout, was served alongside Noble’s halibut. Photo: Rich Gilligan

The food: To start, Noble’s co-founder and head chef, Pearson Morris, 34, served crab and lobster from nearby Bangor Bay dressed with homemade mayonnaise and his Bloody Mary tomatoes (heritage tomatoes steeped overnight in a mix of vodka, celery and Tabasco sauce) on Flout’s blackened focaccia. “I bake things so you think they’re burned — that’s flavor for me,” said the pizzeria’s founder, Peter Thompson, 45. Next was a take on the classic New Haven-style clam pie made with steamed Galway Bay mussels, alongside which Morris served pan-fried wild halibut with a fish head sauce. Then came Flout’s Detroit-style pepperoni pizza and a salad featuring locally grown baby gem lettuces. Dessert was Noble’s chocolate delice — jaconde sponge cake topped with salted caramel, dark chocolate parfait and a chocolate mirror glaze — accompanied by a salted caramel ice cream with Flout’s sourdough chocolate cookies tumbled through.

The drinks: Noble’s front-of-house manager and co-founder, Saul McConnell, 38, oversaw the drinks, which ranged from a vibrant Blanc de Meunier champagne for arriving guests to an amber passito-style Liastos wine from Lyrarakis, Crete, for the dessert course. The Boundary Brewing Company, Belfast’s first tap room and one of Jeffers’s neighbors in the building, provided an alternative aperitif: a full-bodied English bitter called A Certain Romance, a favorite of Jeffers’s studio team.

Jeffers illustrated the evening’s menus. Photo: Rich Gilligan

Noble’s chocolate delice, a jaconde sponge cake with salted caramel and a chocolate mirror glaze. Photo: Rich Gilligan

The conversation: Many artists talked shop, swapping notes on the production problems they encounter in their respective industries, and conversation also turned to global events. “There’s always been a comparison between the conflict in Northern Ireland and the conflict in Israel-Palestine,” said Jeffers. “We talked about the divisive rhetoric that’s going on right now.”

The music: Jeffers enlisted the Irish producer and D.J. Marion Hawkes, who runs the record store Sound Advice in Portview, to create a playlist, which ranged from classic folk to contemporary electronic tracks.

The recipe for Noble’s mayonnaise: It’s hard to beat fresh, homemade mayonnaise, says Morris, and it’s a quick, thoughtful addition to a dinner at home. But despite its few ingredients, it’s deceptively difficult to make. He recommends starting with equal parts white wine vinegar and egg yolk (approximately 2 teaspoons of vinegar to two yolks), which prevents the eggs from splitting as you very gradually beat in 250 ml of oil, then season with 5 grams of sugar and 5 grams of salt. Morris likes to use extra-virgin rapeseed oil for its neutral flavor, and an electric mixer for ease.

The New York Times Style Magazine

Remember… there’s always been a comparison between the conflict in Northern Ireland and the conflict in Israel-Palestine. We talked about the divisive rhetoric that’s going on right now. — Oliver Jeffers

Anon: Thanks… didn’t see your message until 10 minutes after posting. 🙁

[drawingpad-studios]

You know,

Why hasn't anyone tried to make a redo game of SPR (or any of the Paper Roblox games series that are before SPR)? Like I know there was an attempt of an HD game version along with a few other cancelled things(from what I found and know of), but has no one else tried? Not even a written piece? A comic? Anything?

I mean when you think about it, the original creator doesn't own the story and the characters any more. So like it could happen without any like legal shit happening. And I don't mean a Story that is specifically said to be an AU or a continuation story where it builds off the original game's story. I mean a total redo with the same characters and possibly the same setting.

Like the shit a group of people already did with the storyline of the AF series, but with the Paper Roblox series storyline. Sure that AF game is probably a completely new game but still.

I mean, fuck it, if anyone wants/needs a writer for a SPR rewrite, I'm down as hell. I mean I'm already writing a novel length (due to me wanting equal chapter numbers per act and the first of the 3 acts ended up with about 12 chapters not including prologue and epilogue) continuation au fanfic, so I think I can down a full rewrite if someone wanted me too.

[shadowphoenixrider]

Get To Know Me Game

Thank you @elfgirl931 for tagging me! ^^

Last song: Don't Stop the Music by Dave Rodgers (2019 remix), mostly it's the soundtrack inspiring a certain fanfic of mine where I weld X-Men, Star Wars and VR games together because I can

Favourite colour: I'm a sucker for red, honestly

Last book: I...do not remember! XD I think it was So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole. Very good, highly recommend. Currently reading The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall, because I am a slut for Star Wars lore.

Last movie: Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Amazing film, really liked how the interpreted Sonic Adventure 2 into it. Teenage SPR would have lost her SHIT about this movie, and I'm happy for her.

Last TV show: Skeleton Crew! I watched its finale last night, and it was amazing! I'd definitely recommend it - it's aimed for kids, but there's stuff for adults too (there's an episode where less abled characters are taken care of by the other kids and my hEART)

Sweet/spicy/savoury: I have a sweet tooth, I think, but I have a liking for them all. Except spicy. I'm a wuss in that regard

Last thing I searched for online: What skin conditions glow under UV light. I was worried someone in our friend group was geniunely unwell until he added the additional information that he was painting with fluorescent paint. We were extremely annoyed that he hadn't led with that information first.

Current obsession: Coral Island. After modding the game so bug catching doesn't make me want to eat my own skin, it's very enjoyable and I'm happily losing hours to it. Also I'm still very obsession with an X-Men whose name begins with 'G' and ends in 'ambit'. I am not immune to that Cajun charm.

Looking forward to: The weekend, and also the release of Civ 7 in February.

Tagging: @starrypawz, @hello-i-am-ber and @manyothermusingsofmine (no pressure to any of you!)

[sweetdreamscafe]

December 1st

"There you are."

Sprinkles yelped and whipped around to face the source of the voice, allowing himself to relax upon seeing it. The speaker- Sandy- tilted his head and raised a brow; Sprinkles looked away quickly, embarrassed.

"I wasn't even trying to be quiet," Sandy chuckled as he closed the distance and met Sprinkles next to the window, "what's got your attention in sucha vice grip you can't hear someone callin' your name from the other room?"

Sprinkles laughed nervously, now even more embarrassed at just how spaced out he had been.

"I was just... thinking," Sprinkles said, voice barely above a whisper. He thought for a moment, then continued before Sandy could inevitably prompt him to. "Sandy is the name your trainer gave you, right?"

Sandy gave another questioning look regarding the direction of the conversation, but responded nonetheless.

"Sure is. Woulda been fine with somethin' else, but Sixes liked it, so I stuck with it."

"Did you have a different name before? Before your trainer, I mean."

Sandy hummed, thinking. A second before Sprinkles could retract the question, worried he overstepped in some way, Sandy answered.

"Not really. Didn't really interact with other cacturne much so there was never a reason for one. When I did group up I'd get a nickname tossed at me, sure, but most of 'em weren't exactly the nicest things. Certainly not names worth keeping."

"Oh." It came out more disappointed sounding than Sprinkles had really intended, but he's sure Sandy would've picked on it anyway.

"Did you?" Sandy asked without missing a beat. Sprinkles shouldn't have been surprised at how quickly Sandy got to the root of why Sprinkles had asked about Sandy's name, but he had been hoping for more time to think of how to answer.

"I... think so. I feel like I did, but I can't-" the words came out in fragmented sentences, spilled out as they came to mind without time to piece them together properly, "...quite remember it."

"That's silly, isn't it?" Sprinkles added on before Sandy had a chance to speak, "Not remembering my own name, I mean. But its just-"

"Its not silly." Sandy asserted. "You were pretty young when you got taken away from your pa, right?"

The question didn't need an answer, Sprinkles knew that Sandy already knew, but he nodded regardless. Sandy hummed once more, turning away as he grabbed for a chair positioned at a nearby table. The shrieking of the chair's legs against the floor made Sprinkles recoil, but it was only a few seconds before Sandy had positioned it- and, promptly, himself- next to Sprinkle's own seat.

"Well," Sandy started, leaning against the back of the chair, "It can already be hard to remember things from when you're that young. Trauma messes with memory too. Real nasty storm, there. Its no surprise some things got lost in the fallout."

Sprinkles knew these things already, but hearing someone say it made him feel better about it. Still...

"I just wish I could remember it."

"I get it. Feels like you ain't got nothing connecting you back to that time, don't it? Having a name to tie you back would make you feel like you had some kinda link back to your pa, right?"

Sprinkles hummed a quiet agreement, watching the snow fall silently. A buzz in his brain signaled a memory trying to surface, but attempts to bring it to attention presented nothing but white noise, memory clouded by a snow storm.

snow.

"Winter," Sprinkles sputtered, "it had something to do with winter. I hatched the first day it had snowed in the Glimwood Tangle for decades."

Sandy looked over to Sprinkles, listening carefully, and gave a gentle smile.

"You just remembered that?" Sandy asked, Sprinkles not having time to affirm before Sandy continued, "That's a good sign. Means the memory ain't completely gone, just lost."

Sandy rose to his feet and reached over to ruffle Sprinkles' hair.

"Just don't strain yourself trying to remember it, that won't help you none," Sandy turned to leave, ending with what he had sought Sprinkles out to tell him to begin with. "Shop's closed up, by the way. Get some rest, kid."

Sandy walked out of sight, leaving Sprinkles by himself. As he stared out the window to the snowy night, Sprinkles drifted into a slumber filled with dreams of black fur and white snow.

[thenightling]

Back in 2007 / 2008 I took a course in parapsychology and you would be amazed how much studying the supernatural can make you jaded against claims of the supernatural. One of the first things you learn is about cold readings and the rainbow ruse and other simple manipulation tactics that con artists and fake psychics use. It became frustrating because suddenly things like TV ghost investigators, and famous TV psychics became obvious con artists based on what I had learned. One of my biggest annoyances was stumbling upon those who saw The Warrens as true demonologists and essentially as heroes of the paranormal. Any time I tried to tell people what they really were (charlatans) I'd be accused of either being jealous of their success or accused of not believing in the supernatural at all. You can believe and still be skeptical. I'm often reminded of the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) and Harry Houdini used to investigate claims of psychic phenomena together. Doyle was the believer and Houdini was the skeptic. Houdini used his vast knowledge of stage magician trickery to debunk many fake psychics however that did not stop him from trying to find the real thing. John Oliver clearly does not believe in psychics. But again, I remind you, it's okay to have an open mind, to believe in the possibility of psychics while also knowing that there are con artists out there. It should also be noted that many false psychics actually believe that they are psychic. They desperately want to see themselves as something special and convince themselves that their own deductive reasoning is psychic phenomena. Many may legitimately have mental illness. I've noticed that a great many people who claim to be psychic empaths (able to sense the emotions of others) are often, ironically, quite terrible at understanding the emotions of others. Again, that does not mean it is all false. However if they have a reality show, book / movie deal, or "haunted museum" where they take "dangerous" possessed dolls with them on tour, it helps to be skeptical. A trustworthy investigative group in matters of the psychic are the SPR in the UK (Society for Psychical Research) and the ASPR in the US, the very loose basis for The Talamasca in Anne Rice's novels.

[jack-in-the-dark]

Jack Builds Spaceboats: The Martinet, Part 2: Spam the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on this game, and some information I present may be erroneous.

So torpedoes in Star Trek Online are not natively spammable. If you want your ship to spew out photon torpedoes like it's Christmas at the Explosion Factory, you're going to have to jump through some hoops.

I believe I've mentioned that before in STO, torpedoes have a relatively long cooldown (from 4 seconds with Kelvin Photon Torpedoes to 10 seconds for Chroniton, to 30 seconds for Tricobalt) and every time you fire a torpedo, it triggers a global cooldown on all your other equipped torpedoes. So we have two cooldowns to manage here.

The global cooldown is, ironically, the easier of the two to deal with... if you're willing to pony up some cash (or be patient). The Terran Eagle raider ($30 in the game store) comes with a Covert Warhead Module universal console. It gives you a clicky that cloaks you and attaches a time bomb to enemies you pass close to, but that's not why we're here. We're here for this console's FANTASTIC passive: it sets the global torpedo cooldown to 1.5 seconds, or 0.5 seconds if the ship has pilot maneuvers (the Martinet does not, sadly). So as long as you have a loaded torpedo, you can fire a minimum of one ever second and a half. Nahbad!

Now, the torpedo cooldown itself. Naturally, she's equipped with multiple torpedo launchers - three fore, two aft. They're crafted Photon torpedo launchers, natively having a six-second reload. With the Covert Warhead module, that means I've fired all three torpedoes in three seconds (first, 1.5 sec wait, second, 1.5 sec wait, third), and the global cooldown is ready again after a total of 4.5 seconds - leaving us a second and a half shy of being able to fire torpedoes again.

The cheaper solution to this is to equip three Projectile Weapon duty officers that each give you a 20% chance to reduce the cooldown of torpedoes - you can't have more than three of them active, though.

The expensive (as in, currently priced at 230 million credits on the exchange) is the starship trait Ceaseless Momentum, which reduces all torpedo cooldowns by 1 second every time you fire a torpedo, addition to +5% bonus kinetic damage and kinetic damage resistance for 45 seconds (stacking up to five times). With Ceaseless Momentum equipped, that means that by the time our third torpedo launches, our first torpedo has completed its reload and will be ready to fire when the global cooldown finishes. It still leaves a gap with the aft torpedoes since there's only two firing, but the aft torpedoes exist to fill in the gap while I turn to bring the target into my forward firing arc.

It may be wince-inducingly expensive, but by god does it get the job done.

I mentioned earlier that the Photon Torpedo Launchers I have are crafted. This is so that each of them has the [Spr] modifier, which is so much fun. You see, the Bridge Officer Ability Torpedoes: Spread is sort of the torpedo equivalent of FAW (this is a bit of a lie, but you'll get the idea); When activated, it makes your next attack fire multiple torpedoes at multiple enemies in that launcher's arc - more torpedoes and more enemies depending on whether you're firing the rank I, II, or III of the ability. The [Spr] modifier gives the launcher a native 7.5% to upgrade the next torpedo attack to a free Spread I, which is just handy and fun. And Torpedoes: Spread is an AOE on each target hit as well, making it very useful against groups of enemies.

I think that's enough rambling for now. I'll give a more thorough rundown of the Martinet's build when I get around to writing Part 3.

[yvanspijk]

So, the word speak is pretty obviously related to German sprechen + Sprache, Scandinavian språk, and I'm sure plenty of words in the other Germanic languages, but I had the literal showerthought today that slav (which if I understand correctly means "word" in most slavic languages) could be a cognate with the aforementioned Germanic words, and the more I think about it the more it actually makes a lot of sense. Since you're basically tumblr's patron saint of etymology, I thought I'd ask: is there any validity to this hypothesis at all?

Hi there! That's an interesting question. I had to look up the etymology of the word 'slav', and what I found is a group of words descended from Proto-Slavic *slava (fame), such as Ukrainian 'sláva' and Polish 'sława' and a group descended from the closely related word *slovo (word), such as Ukrainian 'slóvo' and Polish 'słowo'. However, these do not have a common origin with 'to speak' and 'sprechen'. The Slavic words stem from Proto-Indo-European *klewos, just like Greek 'kléos' and Proto-Germanic *hlewaz, found in Proto-Norse names such as 'Hlewagastiz'. Moreover, to many people's surprise, 'to speak' and 'sprechen' are not related either. There are no other examples of related words with a "mobile" r, so groups of cognates of which some have 'sp-' and some 'spr-' (or 'sk-/skr.' etc.), which makes it nearly impossible for them to be variants. 'To speak', Old High German 'spehhan' and Middle Dutch 'speken' (which didn't survive) are seen as descendants of Proto-Germanic *spekanan (to speak), while 'sprechen' and Dutch 'spreken' are seen as stemming from *sprekanan, which is related to a group of words meaning "to crackle". The evolution of the meaning "to crackle" to "to speak" can be found in other languages too. This has become a very long reply, but I hope it answers your question. Feel free to ask more! :)

[wintersoffall]

"The Diary Of a 21-year Old"

Chapter-1

Yesterday at 5:33 p.m., our SPR(Student Placement Representative) dropped a list on our WhatsApp group with a bunch of student names, and to my anticipation, my name was not on the list. I heard my heart beating with a significant amount of pain, it was almost as if someone plunged a big rock on my chest. All I could feel was another interview, another rejection and one more proof of why I am a failure. Sounds way too heavy for someone who is just twenty-one years old and is pretty. My eyes felt blurry and suddenly I was crying while eating Sub with my boyfriend(bless him) who just wanted to stop me from feeling that pain but it was not as easy as feeding me with food. He dropped me home, I went inside my room switched off my phone went to my bed cried and fell asleep. Sleep indeed is a escape.

Chapter-2 Out Soon

[elizaditton]

TSTBA And Life Update

Hey everyone, I thought I'd give an update on what's going on with me and on my progress with Too Small To Be Afraid. TL;DR at the bottom for those who just want the quick deets.

I've been struggling to work on the story since the start of the summer, mainly because I got a "real" job (as part of the IT department at a local high school). Despite the fact that it's only 17.5 hours a week (3.5 hours every weekday), it was a lot more than what I was used to (which was literally doing nothing except for volunteering at various places maybe one to three times a week), and it took me a really, really long time to adjust to that mentally. I would come home dead tired and just... not feel like writing. Or doing anything at all. Sometimes I'd come home at 3:00 pm and proceed to take The World's Longest Nap™ only to wake up when it was time to go to bed anyway. Part of this, I realize, is probably the result of an undiagnosed sleeping disorder of some kind (my psychiatrist says maybe sleep apnea) mixed with ADHD telling my brain to Not Work™. But yeah, this has been a major contributing factor in my lack of writing time recently. And on top of that, I got another job working for my church on Sundays as a Production Assistant, which has so far been awesome, but it means I'm also exhausted on weekends. Not only am I working 7 hours on Sunday (setup + rehearsal + service + do all that again for the second service), but I'm also waking up at 4:30 am now at the very latest on Sundays depending on what campus I'm working at. And on top of all that, I'm still working occasionally for my old boss one Saturday out of every month until he wants me to start coming in more frequently. So all in all, I'm pretty much working every day but Saturday, except for when I'm also working on Saturday. And I do enjoy working all of these jobs, it's just that I've been struggling to adjust to working so much and how to balance that with my hobbies and my home and family life. So there's been little time for writing these past few months.

The writing club I was a part of also lowkey disbanded as we haven't been meeting for several months. (Hi if any of you are reading this, I miss you guys lol.) Before we stopped meeting, I was pumping out a new chapter at least every two weeks, and it was amazing! I was part of a group that encouraged each other to write and on top of that even edited/critiqued each other's writing. I really do miss it. The group always got me so motivated to write during the week and to write during our meetings, and I haven't felt that same joy about writing since we stopped meeting. I'm thinking I'll start another writing group, either online or at my church. Leaning towards at my church since I need in-person contact with people, but idk hit me up if you're interested in an online writer's group??? Or being a beta reader???

Lastly, something that's actually related to the story itself. The plot. Hoooooooo boy the plot. The plot is... a thing that exists. There's things I want to tie into the story that I want to be a big deal, but I'm not sure if I introduced enough elements beforehand for things to make sense if I go the route I want? Then there's the fact that I look back at the first few chapters and sort of cringe, thinking of all the things I'd change if I would let myself have at it before the first draft is done. But yeah. Things are... going. I've been very, VERY slowly but surely working on fixing up things in my outline so I know where I'm going, but yeah, all the aforementioned has kinda made it hard to actually write.

So that's where I've been. So where do we go from here?

For one thing, I'm at least somewhat confident that chapter 18 WILL come out in the next few weeks, before the end of the month. It's going to be a long one, and I hope it's worth the wait.

I previously had a goal of finishing my first draft by the end of the year, but if I'm honest, I'm thinking I won't get there until at least the spring of 2025. And then, of course, after that comes editing, revising, rewriting, and so on. I'll likely be writing at least a second draft before I even think about printing.

But can you expect me to update more regularly from now on? To be honest, I have no idea. All I know is that this book is still my dream, and I haven't given up on it yet. As long as this fire continues to burn within me, I'm going to continue to write. As long as it takes. Until it's done. But maybe starting another writing club would help hold me accountable for regular updates, ha ha.

Thank you all for your unwavering support as I've gone through this journey. Whenever I see someone's been enjoying this story, it fills me with so much joy, you don't understand. I hold every little comment close to my heart.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you soon with an update to the story!

TL;DR: I suddenly acquired three jobs and am very tired all the time. This combined with no accountability after my writing club lowkey disbanded has made writing difficult. I'm still writing, slowly but surely. Expect a new (and long) chapter this month for sure. Hmu if interested in starting a writing club/being a beta reader btw

[theothergueck]

im gonna continue with my silly narrator lore i might aswell focus on the important guyis

We're gonna start off with the oldest/first narrators to be brought into existence who make up a group known as the firstborn, the group consists of the most powerful narrators (and the eldest as their power grows the older they get) they are the main reason the narrators managed to escape the clutches of their seals and rule their species (allong with the realities they've made)with an iron fist

This is miaryvitr, or Helios, sol, phoebus, bhanu..basically the narrator of the sun and guidals twin brother, he's also the father of solstice!,

Personality: very joyful and over confident, he is prideful in everything that he has created and hates seeing it get destroyed, he's also very laid back most of the time

Appearance: his head is the sun, except it has a mouth with teeth made from a material that looks like clear quartz and gums that are made from black obsidian, his mouth also works as an eyelid for his remaining eyeball, he's constantly on fire and is 12 feet tall(he has to shrink to get to earth so he doesn't accidentally disintigrate it this is the smallest he can get), he wears loose 2 layered cape sleeves covered covered in jewelry which only reach up to his humerus/biceps, he doesn't wear a shirt but rather a short cape, his chest and his body are covered in filaments which work as veins and nerves that are connected to his heart, his pants is a tied up torn piece of toga covered in mostly patterns related to the sun

Lore: he was born allong with his brother guidal, long before their little sister (the narrator of the moon) and the old world came into existence, he was seen as the bigger brother of the two due to his size and his capabilities (he was physically stronger than guidal for example), as they grew older the firstborn(allong with guidal and him, this was when the moon narrator was born) grew bored at the fact that they could barely use their powers, so they created the old world, a narrative to fix that boredom, this also started the creation of more narrators, and robloxians, after the narrators realized the robloxians saw them as gods, they decided to bless them with shelter, food, water, enrichment and Safety, miaryvitr and his little sister used to rule the kingdom before miaryvitr got bored and causing his little sister to overwork herself to keep the robloxians and other species in the kingdom happy, in search for an heir they create equinox and (moon narrators son ((btw narrators cant give birth gotta say this just in case people don't think moon narrator did the boombayah with some other narrator to create equinox, same goes for sun narrator)) and also solstice, miaryvitr's son, both of them aided the two into becoming the great rulers they are today, while guidal was still stuck with his father the aspect of light trying to keep the large kingdom safe from threats (such as the voidkin, and guidal also tending to his dying wife but we will get to his lore in another post), everything was going awesome until dusekkar, scriptliss and Tess, guidals grandson rebelled and caused the kingdom to fall apart, getting most narrators sealed away allong with the old world, miaryvitr blamed guidal for tesses actions and caused a big argument with bro, and after some millennia long isolation they decided to mend their relationship and come up with a plan,(they could talk to eachother as their seals were connected, adding to the fact that they were twins) their plan was: have guidal try to convince someone to sneakily reopen the seals as during the isolation guidal had found a way to interact with dusekkars dimension, find their family members and the rest of the firstborn, and schedule a mass ambush on dusekkars world and reclaim it as their own, creating the world of PRHD except with added spr and spr:dd characters(which worked for a while until protag got too suspicious on why he was missing his memories) in the silly au i created he's posing as a torchkin named sullee who works as guidals right hand man (guidal being the mayor of the large town that is crosstown) until the day of the valestrum rememberance festival (a festival that celebrates the existence of the narrators and all the good they've done(allong with their history), specifically the firstborn and mourning the passing of the old world, yes the old world ends up decaying away as soon as the narrators and the others sealed away in the old world find their way out of it)

fun fact: he was very Bratty when he was younger, unlike his mostly mute twin guidal, often throwing tantrums and setting things on fire when he didn't get what he wanted, to some of the older narrators he was like a child who couldn't grow up, meanwhile guidal was considered an 'old soul'