#tari talks books

[oppsiedoo]

Happy holidays from China! How about presents?

@grinnames : AHHHHHHHH WTF-

(You got Opp! The best gift in the world!)

@bear-boi-5 : Sick…..

(Those cool glasses that can change eyes depending on mood! Just be careful if you get too angry they’ll explode prolly)

@its-a-me-mango : *Sipping hot chocolate*

(A magical book that summons the 3 Ghosts of Christmas! Opp was actually trying to get you a pair of PANTS but they were all sold out of the grinches…)

@michealscorneroftheinternet : The hell?… OI!- WHY’D I GET THE LAMEST THING-

(You got!-…. A Uhm.. bottle of liquor. But hey! It’s brewed by yours truly; OppsieDoop! At least you can forget about your troubles like the sad pathetic souls we are!)

@tiredsmashbros : *Sighhhh* I love wholesome pictures of Tari secretly taken of her at her most vulnerable of times ….

(We don’t talk about how Opp got it)

There’s more like these coming soon for new years!! Will refinery be late like a week but whateva

[occidentalavian]

Something I'm always fascinated by are the minor mundane things that exist in Exandria. Little objects and inventions here and there that don't play a major role in the stories but just kind of exist in the background.

Early machine guns: Yes, Percy's invention of guns was a major plot point in Campaign 1, but what I'm talking about is how they've changed since then. Percy's guns were flintlock, but by Campaign 3 the guns that Bells Hells encountered in Marquet are caplock, only 30 years later. And because of this, this has allowed for the invention of the Kshatriya Special, Exandria's equivalent of the Gatling Gun!

Phonographs: Called the Audiomatic by its inventor Hazel Copperpot, it uses wax cylinders to record and play back audio, such as her reading of Tary's books. Invented by 826 PD, conceivably these could exist in a more widespread fashion 10 years later by Campaign 2.

Electric lights: Another one of Percy's inventions. Using the acid pits that Ripley left beneath the castle as a battery, Percy was able to create a grid of electric street lamps to light up Whitestone.

Soda: This one's my personal favorite. There's mentions of root beer and sarsaparilla in Campaign 2 that could be chalked up as only jokes, but Explorer's Guide to Wildemount also lists a drink from the Menagerie Coast called Queen's Water as a "soft drink", which often refers to carbonated beverages. Finally, the Ruby of the Sea cocktail from Exquisite Exandria, a book that canonically exists in-universe, uses tonic water!

Theoretically, Percy could go to a cafe in Whitestone at night, order a sarsaparilla, and sit in the outside dining area lit by electric street lamps while the cafe plays a recording of "Jordan, Fetch my Whiskey" on their audiomatic.

[mxxnlightwriting]

Writemas Day 2

Thanks to @agirlandherquill for hosting this challenge!

Tari's Note: Oh, I had so much fun writing this yesterday, and I'm doing it again today because now my brain has ideas™ and I must write them down (I've missed this feeling). This one is technically a continuation from Day 1, but it's a different POV so you don't need to read Day 1 to enjoy this one (I'm trying to keep them all connected). Also, please excuse any typos! I’ll be writing these directly here so they’ll have minimal editing. Thanks for understanding.

Writemas Day 1

Prompt: The smell of a bakery Synopsis: Rae's day goes from bad to worse when she realises everyone in her town already knows her ex is back in the old cabin. Genre/age group: adult contemporary (I’ll turning this into a sapphic romance just so you know) Warnings: Swearing (once) Word Count: 0.7k

Rae dug into her third slice of blueberry pie of the day, ignoring the worried glances her brother and best friend threw her way. She was grateful none of them asked her what had gotten into her because if one of them asked, she'd probably combust right on the spot.

Just thinking about it made her nostrils flare. Fourteen years. Fourteen years of no messages, no phone calls, no contact. After fourteen years, she should've been over this, no? She should be a well-adjusted woman in society, not someone who apparently couldn't function at the sight of her first love.

You're so embarrassing, Rae, she thought as she shoved some more pie inside her mouth. She leaned back on the leather booth, crossing her arms over her chest, taking in the slow movement of her brother's bakery. Most people stopped by to get a final order or to take some of the remaining pies for dinner.

She inhaled the sweet scent of baked goods and tried to relax in the only place in this town that didn't remind her of Emily. At the thought of her, she massaged her temples, trying to get the image of her at the door out of her head.

"Everything alright?" Ginny asked. She had her curly hair in a low ponytail, her golden skin flushed from the heat of the bakery. "Do you need another slice?"

Before she could answer, the bakery's bell rang as Mrs Mueller stepped inside at a fast pace, her eyes wide.

"Henry!" she yelled as she walked towards the counter, out of breath. "Where's Rae?"

"He's in the kitchen, Henrietta," Ginny said, looking at the woman over her shoulder. "And Rae's here."

Some of the panic faded from the old woman's features and she joined Rae in the booth, her eyes glancing at the empty plate and then at her.

"So you already know," Mrs Mueller said, nodding to herself. She patted Rae's hand, hers cold from the weather outside. "You have nothing to worry about. I'll talk with my book club friends and we'll find a way to send her away. Now that her grandfather's dead, they'll probably sell the property anyway!"

"Henrietta!" Ginny said as if she was reprimanding a small child. "Don't speak ill of the dead!"

"I'm not speaking ill of the dead! I'm speaking ill of Emily. That girl is trouble."

Tell me about it, Rae thought. Whenever Emily was around, trouble was soon to follow.

"Just let her be," Rae eventually said, trying to seem casual about the whole thing. "And I doubt they'll sell the property."

She stood from her chair and grabbed the plate from the table, disappearing into the kitchen area, where her brother sang under his breath to the radio as he finished cleaning the counters.

"What did Henrietta want?" he asked, lifting his eyes to look at his sister. "Was this about the furniture in the driveway? I told her you'd take care of it."

"I took care of it." Rae dropped her plate and fork in the industrial sink. She gripped its surface and pressed her lips together, fighting the urge to speak the words out loud. She couldn't. "Emily's back."

Saying her name out loud was like someone punching her in the gut. Seeing her in person was ten times worse.

"Oh," was all Henry said for a while. "And Henrietta was here to tell you that, is it?" Rae nodded, feeling her brother's gaze on her. "But you already knew because she was the one responsible for the furniture in the driveway. Wasn't it?"

Rae looked at her brother. He nodded in understanding when their eyes met.

"I told her it was nice to see her again which was obviously a fucking lie." Rae let out a bitter laugh. "And now Mrs Mueller is set on telling her book club friends her master plan to drive Emily away from town."

"And do you want that?" he asked, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Rae leaned on the sink and hugged herself, keeping her eyes on her brother as she said, "What I want doesn't matter, Henry."

"Right," he said, shaking his head slightly. "Keep lying to yourself, sis. You won't get closure that way, though. And we both know you're in dire need of it."

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© mxxnlightwriting 2024 All Rights Reserved. Copying, reposting, translating and/or modifications of my work are strictly prohibited.

[eggo-da-axolotl]

chapter 1 of Opposites attract <3

Thursday morning a certain blue meme guardian woke up feeling.... Happy ? No that wasn't it and he brushed it off and started cleaning the castle because his friends and smg3 were coming over! He checked the calendar and it was the 23rd of May so he started to clean and what not and his phone started to beep and he opened the group chat with his friends!

*****************************

DA COOL GROUP

=============

Fish🐟: My cousin’s doing a back bend while watching little bus

Squid🦑: Good for you boopkins

Gamer girl🎮: What

Maryo🍝: GUS I CEE DAT PIZLE GIY

Ex-enemy🟣: Guys what is Mario talking about-

Everyone: idk-

*****************************

Smg4 chuckled a bit then put his phone down and continued cleaning and after a bit he heard a knock at the door. He opened it and saw.... Smg3....?

3: hey Smg4..?

4: hey 3 your um here early?

3: wdym I thought u said 3:30-

4: it's 2:30-

3: what. Oh crap my clocks one hour behind I'll just go-

4: no it's OK you can stay

3: really-

4: yea u can help me set up

3: sure!

4: your so tsundere smg3

3: s-shut up baka!

Smg3 and Smg4 were cleaning while a certain.. TV host.. Was in his studio...

Mr puzzles: UGH I GIVE UP ON THESE 5 STARS

He would throw papers against the wall in rage

Mr puzzles: I think it's time I get a job...

He would go on his computer and look for places hiring.... That won't be important

Right..?

Anyways let's go back to the ga- I means guys

3: crap I forgot my gift for the white elephant

4: go get it I'll finish cleaning and the others should be here soon

3 would leave and the others would starts arriving...

Boopkins: hiya smg4!

Meggy: Hey guys

Tari: hello!

Melony: hi!!!

Bob: WhAtS uP gAnG

Mario: HEY ES M GEE 4

Saiko: こんにちは(hello)

4: hello everyone! Meggy: um smg4 isnt someone missing

4: oh yea smg3 said he'd be here any minu-

Smg3 would arrive

3: h-hey guys

he'd be out of breath from running

Everyone would say hi

4: come on giys lets go to the gamimg room and we can start the white elephant!

They would all go to the gaming room and there would be 9 gifts in the middle of the circle

4: ok guys pick a number from the hat and thats the order your going in

They woukd all pick numbers from the hat and the order would be

1 mario

2 meggy

3 bob

4 boopkins

5 melony

6 smg4

7 saiko

8 tari

9 smg3

4: let's start!

Mario would open a gift and there would be spaghetti..?

Mario: OMG I GOT A RESERVATION AT SPAGHETTI PLACE!!!

Meggy: um mario its says an italian restaurant but ig they have spaghetti there-

meggy would go next and get a beanie

Meggy: aww this is so cuteee

After a while bob would get a manga book which he was mad about boopkims ofc took the book from bob then bob got another gift and got a gun, melony would got a pokemon plush and then it would be smg4s turn amd he would get a... Mysterious pink potion..?

4: what is this-

Boopkins: i took some potion making classes!

4: what does it do..?

Boopkins: idk

4: Uh- anyways lets continue anyways Saiko its your turn!

Saiko: ああ、かわいい桜のピン(aww cute cherry blossom pin)

Tari would get a duck and smg3 would take the last one and would get a hoodie.

After a few hours everyone except Smg3 had left...

3: i bet u 20 bucks u wont drink the potion

4: wanna bet

3: bet.

Smg4 would grab the potion and start chugging it and would be empty in a few seconds.

Unknown to smg3.... smg4s eyes would have a hue of........ Pink?

3: dang i didn't think you would actually do it-

Smg3 would be getting his money out when smg4 would stop him.....

[mooshy333]

Idk why but Mr Puzzles seems like the guy to just bust a move lol

So the movie and the live stream was really fun :D I loved so many parts and details: the Titanic scene, and the plushie scene, I was crying of laughter, the epic villain song, (it's in my playlist) we got content of 34, Meggy and Tari, Bob and boopkins too, I loved how much angst was in there, especially right before Mr puzzles song, they were in 4D AAH they looked so good, and the details of Meggy hyperventilating from remembering her traumatic experience with Wren, and how Four looked down in shame from IGBP, I wanted to hug them honestly. They deserved it. I did expect Mario to show up more than he actually did, but what he was doing the whole movie was also funny and the final battle was AWESOME, and when Four did the final hit on Mr puzzles— bro- it was so cool :D and WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT LUIGI? For a few seconds I was actually debating he was about to die, but idk if he's going to be a hammer for the rest of his life- and how he went straight to Puzzles to attack him as a hammer- *smacks lips* perfection just like the other arcs/ movies in my book.

[chimkin-samich]

How would like if I dew sun, moon, and tari as dragons (that’s my favorite mythical creature, also just curious; have you read wings of fire and have you seen the how-to-train-your-dragon movies/tv show?!)

also I love your art, I JUST WANT TO HUG TARI, SUN, AND MOON SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😫😄

Oh that would be so cool! Please feel free and give us a tag! We love seeing your guys art!

And we have read wings of fire (I read up to book 5 and feral up to book 2?) but I’ve been wanting to read the rest, we have to ocs! My raingwing Gecko and ferals night/sky wing hybrid Helix!

We absolutely love HTTYD as well we have both rider and dragon ocs! We have mine an albino night fury and feral has sandwraith/night fury hybrid as for our riders Feral is named Birka but known as Roaris “Lionheart” Cromwell, Shes a sky pirate that’s rides a stormcutter named NightFall and the go around stealing from other pirates and freeing dragons and sea beasts

My oc is named Torben, a feral dragon man that lives amongst dragons and acts like one, he ride a night fury/skrill hybrid named Typhoon, Torben can barely speak (didn’t speak for years just “speaks” like a dragon) he can say words here and there, but he can communicate through writing he also goes around freeing dragons and sinking trapper ships which is how he and Birka meet!

That’s not even to mention all the dragon ocs and other ocs we have lol, we have tons of Aus and ocs even have Eragon ocs as well!

Yeah sorry for the ramble tho 😭 I really love all our ocs and Aus we make of ourselves but I only get to talk about it with feral, not sure if y’all would like them but even for the boys we make tons of Aus that we haven’t brought up, not to mention all the little stories we make of alternate scenarios for the original AU or even other Aus we have of them DJFKF

[thefandomtrashpit]

What's sad about MD ending is not that it's ending

Putting a read more because like a lot of my other text post, this one got long

Welp, by now I'm sure the majority of the fans have heard about the trailer for the 8th episode of Murder drones, and how that trailer is called the 'Series Final.' Of course, this is upsetting in itself. This story about these weird little robots, the world that the live in, and how this 'big bad eldritch abomination of a code error' feels like it is ending way too soon what the show has built up in its run time. There feels like there's still to many questions that are going to be left unaswered, and too many mysteries that are going to be left unsolved...but at the end of the day, it's also better to leave a series in a high note then to continue banging it out and watch it become a mess of what it originally was.

Yes, I am sad that after waiting for so long, I hear that something I was looking forward to is going to be ending with an episode that's coming up in a few weeks at this point in time. Much like a lot of other fans, I was holding onto the hope and the copium that Murder Drones would be getting a second season after Glitch finally released the awaited 8th episode. And I was very much disheartened with seeing the episode trailer being called it's series final and just the season final. But I can except than the book for this crazy little story has to come to a close. I now just hold out hope that the time the people working on the show has put into this episode will leave all us fans satisfied with where this crazy and wonderful story we all stuck around for ends.

But now it time to get into what I put in as the title. As sad before, the series coming to an end is going to be sad, but I personally don't think that's going to be the saddest part. No, I think the saddest part is going to be slow death of the memory of the show. Why I think this...Well, it's what happened to Meta Runner. This was the first show of the Glitch Productions channel, and we barely see anything about it getting talked about. Glitch didn't even so much as tweet anything about Meta Runner on the anniversary of the show, all the past merch was put under the 'Glitch Classics' section of the store, and said merch is forever sold out as no more of them are being made. Sure we got a little Tari figure in the new 'Glitch Inn' that the company is doing, but that really is only because Glitch acknowledges the fact that some fans still remember Meta Runner. Tari on the SMG4 channel has just become than just a 'quirky' background character to the other characters on that channel, her purpose of advertising her show long gone by. What was once the driving project for this indie show company has been reduced to getting nothing more than fun little call backs.

Eventually, the same is going to happened to Murder drones. The merch is going to stop being made, when the last of it gets sold that's it for it all, and it is even possibly going to be moved under the Classic section of the store to make room for whatever other projects Glitch does to be one the front page. Kevin and Luke aren't going to be talking much about the show, as there's not going to be a reason to with it being over. And eventually the projects they do after the show is going to push the shows playlist on the channel down. There is going to come a time when we look back on what happened and think 'Wow, this show only exists in references now.'

So yeah, those have been my thought about what sad about the show coming to an end.

[magicalyaku]

Why is it October already and why am I still talking about books I read in April?! I'm like half a year behind in time than the rest of the universe. So let's make this quick, eh? The theme of this part is Gay Adult Fiction series, my comfort food. uAu

The Prince's Assassin series (Ariana Nash): I picked this up on a whim, at the end of April when I was in a slump, and then I read all 3 books and the novella in about a week. It's good! In the beginning, it has quite a few parallels to Captive Prince but I didn't mind and it quickly becomes its own story. There's magic and elves (who are very different from what you usually imagine as 'elves') and some dark themes. I liked reading it a lot and I enjoyed Nico as a character. That he actually walked away from Vasili when it got too much. And that just when I thought "how often will you repeat this?" they worked it out. :D

The Paladin's Shadow & The Sword-Witch's Heart (Radiance 2+3) (Tavia Lark): The easy-going ones, here they are! Not much different to say from the other books I read by this author. Enjoyable adventure, romance that works, good world-building. For the third book, I was very apprehensive to read about the second protagonist because I didn't like him when he appeared in the second book. But suprisingly, he got better and I ended up liking book 3 a lot more than book 2. The series got new covers recently btw. These look a lot better than the old ones. :'D

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen & The Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel (The Doomsday Books 1+2) (KJ Charles): Omg, so much fun. I loved reading the first book, so 4 days waiting for the second volume to be delivered was testing my patience really hard. yAy It's fun and at times suprisingly dark (as in people die) and I really like the portrayal of the marsh, as a place, as a home. That was the one piece I missed a little in the second book, but otherwise I liked that one just as much. Can't go wrong with KJ Charles. :)

Running Close to the Wind (Alexandra Rowland): As it turns out, we started with the darkest and end with the funniest book. :'D This one is not exactly a series, but set in the same world and slightly connected to the events of the author's previous novel A Taste of Gold and Iron. This one took me by surprise. It's hugely different than its predecessor but so much fun! It's a comedy, really, and a smart one at that, despite it consisting 70% of dirty jokes. (There are no explicit scenes, though!) I enjoyed reading every second of it. It's just great. Good characters, smart writing and dialogue, adventure, absurdity. Highly recommended.

There's still 4 more books on my list but I just decided that I don't to need to talk about them much, so have one (or three) sentence(s) for each and then be done with it:

Snow Boys (Simon Doyle): Cute, contemporary story with coming out drama and family drama. Why does it change covers so often?

A Spark of Magic (Tari Riley): Self-published fantasy story with a budding romance between a teen witch and an accidental merboy, first book of a series, was pretty okay. The only thing that irked me was how they were constantly grabbing things (instead of taking them or picking them up or fetching them ...). :'D

Only Mostly Devastated prequel novella (Sophie Gonzales): Of course, I've already forgotten everything about the main story except the main points and that I enjoyed it, yet it was easy enough to get into the prequel.

The Cat Who Saved Books (Sosuke Natsukawa): I didn't like it, because it's not about the cat but the usual Japanese teenage manga protagonist, but because it's a novel instead of a manga suddenly it's great and serious? My ass. It makes some good points about our modern reading habits but is very simplified, and if you let me talk any further, I will only rage about every single point that annoyed me, so I stop. :)

[gachawolfiebloom]

Two Hearts In The City of Love

Chapter 8: No Power Means Nothings is Okie Dokie

Everything seemed slow today. Luigi had nothing planned and everyone just wanted to relax. They were all staring at their phones, except for Mario, who was rolling around on the couch and complaining. "Mario is soooooo bored!!!"

Three looked annoyed as he pointed to the TV behind the stupid Italian and said "Then go watch some TV and stop bugging us!" He threw the remote over to Mario, who instantly cheered up. "Yippee! Mario is gonna watch teletubbies!"

He switched on the TV and started flipping through the channels. Bob was watching some kind of weird thing that Birdo was doing when a notification came on that his battery was at 10%. "NO! HONEY! STAY WITH ME!" He grabbed a huge plug and starting jamming it into a nearby outlet. "HELP IS ON THE WAY! HELP IS ON THE WAY! HELP IS ON THE-"

"Stop jamming it in like that Bob! You might make the fuse go out!" He didn't listen to Meggy as he took the other end and plugged in his phone. "THERE! NOW I CAN GET BACK TO MY BOOBY TIME!" He turned back on whatever gross thing he was watching and just a second later, the battery died. "WHAT THE HELL?"

He tried unplugging and replugging his phone several times, but it wouldn't charge. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS THING!?" Mario was enjoying his TV time when it shorted out into static and shut off on its own. "Nooooooo!!!!" Mario started running around crying and Bob kept throwing a fit. "Shut up you kids!" Three yelled and both unexpectedly stopped. Not because of Three's yelling, but because the lights had gone out.

Four immediately jumped out of his seat in a panic and started shaking nervously. Tari looked just as terrified as she clung onto Meggy. "Relax you two! The power just went out!" Four didn't believe everything was hunky dory as he said "Remember the last time we had a power outage..."

"It will be fine guys! I'm sure this will be cleared up in a few hours!" Three narrowed his eyes at his two idiot friends and said "What did you guys do?" Bob pointed at Mario and said "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! TALK TO HIM!" Mario stuck his hands out and replied back "Mario was just watching TV!" There didn't seem to be any damage to the outlet or the hotel TV and there wasn't even a storm outside.

"Strange..." Three tapped his chin in thought. This mysterious reason of what caused it made Four even more unsettled. "I don't like this...it doesn't seem normal for the power to just go out like that." Three could sense how distressed Four felt. He held him in his arms and said "It's alright Four. I won't let anything happen to you." He rubbed Four's back softly as he told Meggy "You should probably go talk to the front desk or something before Four and Tari have a panic attack."

Meggy nodded and said "Yeah. I'll go right now. You want to come Tari?" She was still clinging tightly to the orange haired girl. "I guess so...just please don't leave me alone!" Meggy smiled and said "Of course not!" She told the crew that they would be back in just a moment and went up to the front desk. "Hi! We were just wondering when the power was going to come on."

They were expecting a response of reassurance like "The power will be on in an hour or so" or "Don't worry, we have handled blackouts before" but the lady at front desk said something that was certainly not what they had hoped for. "I actually don't know ma'am. We've never had the power go out on in the middle of the day. We don't even know what caused it."

Tari began to quiver more in fear. Meggy tried to rub her hand to calm down and said "Oh...well thanks anyway." Tari whispered to her as they walked back "This is getting scary. Why would the power just go out randomly." Meggy shrugged and tried to encourage her that everything would be fine.

"Mario's bored again." He sat upside down on the couch while Luigi read a book. Bob just bullied Boopkins to entertain himself when he threw a pillow at the fish and that gave him an idea. "HEY MARIO! WANT TO BUILD A SICK PILLOW FORT!" Mario was on board right away as the two began grabbing pillows off the couches and stacking them on top of each other. Meggy approached the crew with Tari. "So...the front desk said they aren't really sure when the power will come back on. They don't even know how it happened."

Four felt a sharp pain of distress and became even more concerned. "I knew something wasn't right here! We've got to get out of here right now before-" He tried to make a run for it, but Three stopped him. "Calm down Four. Just take a breath."

Four rambled on "But why else would the power go out suddenly! I can't take this! It's too much!" He wondered if anyone cared about what was at stake. If he struck again then...

Three hated seeing Four like this. He tried to think of something to take their minds off this when the perfect idea entered his mind. "How about a game of Uno? I know how you like to win." Four actually stopped shivering.

He didn't say anything as he slid down onto the floor and held his knees while burying part of his face. "That would be nice..." Three smiled as he told the girls "You find a way to fix this while I keep an eye on these goobers." Meggy gave Three and thumbs up and went down the hall while he went to go grab the game.

"Now...where can we find a power box?" Meggy pondered as she heard a guy screaming from around a corner. They both peaked their heads around to see some kind of maintenance guy yelling "I'm not going down there! Find somebody else to go down and investigate the power surge because I QUIT!" He stormed off past the girls while Meggy had a smug grin. "You thinking what I'm thinking Tari?"

"N-No...?" She pointed over to the room that led down the hotel's power source and Tari collapsed on the ground from shock. Meggy began dragging Tari across the floor as she went up to the guy at the door and said "I heard that you need someone to go down there and investigate the blackout! Well me and my friend humbly volunteer!" She pulled Tari back on her own two feet as she waved nervously.

"Oh thank you! Nobody has wanted to go down there today and they keep hearing strange sounds down there." Tari went and hid behind Meggy as she asked "Strange how?"

"They say it sounds like static noises?" The girls glance at each other, wide eyed before the man handed them some flashlights and said "You'll be fine though! Let me know what the problem is and i'll fix it up in no time!"

Mario was trying to stack pillows, but they just kept falling over. He grunted angrily and said "Mario's pillows are broken!" He decides to check out how Bob's fort is coming along and his face turns to shock as a castle, made entirely from pillows, stood in front of him and almost reached the ceiling. Bob looks out from the balcony and says "BOW DOWN TO YOUR KING AND GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY!"

Mario immediately gave up on his fort and asked Bob "Hello! Can Mario come in?" Bob's eyes furrowed and he yelled "AMBUSH!" He started throwing pillows in Mario's face as he got knocked into the wall. Mario rushed behind his sad pile and started angrily throwing pillows back.

Three sat down in front of Four and started dealing out cards. Four tried to forget about the dark, but this awful feeling just kept him paranoid. Like an old foe was waiting for his return. Three takes the first turn and places down a card. "Ooh yes a 6! Best that Smg4!" Four shakily looks at his cards and places down a card of the same color instead of a power-up that he had.

After a while, Smg3 won and his competitive nature made him gloat. "YES! You suck! I'm the best!" Four didn't say anything and breathed heavily. He kept glancing down where Meggy and Tari went. Three stopped his overly excessive ranting and said "Hey...I didn't mean to make you feel worse. You usually win when we play. What's bugging you?"

He used his hand to move Four's face towards his. "I'm just worried about Meggy and Tari. They've been gone for a while." Three sighed and sat down next to Four. "Hey they're okay. The power will come back on soon."

"But what if it doesn't! He's going to take them and then he'll get us and-"

Three pulled Four into his chest and whispered sweet things to make him feel better while Four clung on tightly. "Nobody is going to get taken. Everyone is fine. Just calm down." Four whimpered while Three brushed his hair with his fingers. "Shhhh..." He pulled out his phone and asked "Would you feel better if I texted them if they were alright?" Four softly nodded as Three smiled and went to Meggy's contact.

Meggy and Tari walked down the basement with the clunking sound of their footsteps, but no static. Tari pointed her flashlight at any suspicious thing that made her jump. Meggy listened to her surroundings and said "I'm not sure what that guy was talking about. I don't hear any static noises."

She then shone her flashlight to a light switch in the corner. "Hey! Now we're getting somewhere!" Meggy flicked it on and the lights on the ceiling burst. "WHAT!?" She tired flipping the switch on and off multiple times, but the lights were dead. "Well Tari, looks like we'll have to-" The blue haired girl was nowhere to be seen. "Tari?"

"O-Over h-here..." Tari waved from behind some boxes stacked up randomly. Meggy calmly went over and knelt down next to her "You okay Tari?" She shook her head and said "This is too scary. I don't do well in the dark."

"I know, but our friends are counting on us. Don't you want to turn the power on?" She nodded and pointed further down the hall. "Just find the generator without me. I'll only slow you down." Meggy looked shocked and yelled "Are you kidding!? NO WAY!" She stuck her hand out to Tari and said "We're going to find that generator together and if something scary does show up, we'll beat the crap out of it! You've faced your fears several times. Are you really going to let a dark basement undo all that hard work?" Tari blinked serval times before looking down again.

She put on a brave face and grabbed Meggy's hand. "You're right! I can do this! Let's go find that generator!" Her phone then dinged as she saw it was a message from Smg3.

Smg3: How's it going on getting the power back on? Smg4 is freaking out and wondering if you guys are alright. 😏

Meggy laughed and sent back a message that everything was fine and they should find the generator soon.

"THE TYRANNY OF WAR IS UPON US!"

Bob and Mario were flinging pillows at each other. Any time one of them got hit even once, they would make sure the other regretted it deeply. Boopkins started to see that this was getting out of hand and said "Should we do something?" Luigi looked up from his book and wondered "Wasn't Smg3 supposed to be keeping them under control?"

He looked over to where the two boys were sitting. Three rubbed Four's hand and said "Meggy just told me that her and Tari are fine. You're worrying about nothing." He noticed the fish and Italian looking at them. "Can I help you?" 

"Uh...Bob and Mario are fighting." He pointed to the pillow forts behind them and Three rolled his eyes. "And...can't you see we're busy here!" Truth be told, Three couldn't bother to intervene because it felt so good to embrace Four like this.

"STAND DOWN MARIO!"

"Mario will never surrender!"

Boopkins got in the middle of their war and said "Can we please stop fighting! It's not nice!" Bob scoffed and said "OUT OF THE WAY BOOPKINS! THIS IS WAR!" Luigi tried to stop his brother. "Wouldn't you like to read a nice book with me instead Mario?" His brother laughed and said "Silly Luigi! You know Mario never learned to read! Now get out of Mario's territory!" He grabbed a pillow and hit Luigi in the face when he got a wonderfully, awful idea.

He went up to Bob And yelled "You hate these suckers right!?" while pointing at Boopkins and Luigi. Bob slanted his eyes as he said "YES?" Mario smirked and told him "Mario offers you a truce! If we team up, we can pulverize them!" Bob thought about it for a second before he nodded and said "OKAY!" A pillow drawbridge opened and Mario rushed inside in excitement. "YIPPEE!"

Boopkins and Luigi sighed in relief. "Yay! They made up!" Luigi said "Yeah! Now we can-" They stopped in their tracks as multiple cannons came out of the pillow castle and aimed directly at them. Bob and Mario laughed evilly from the top while high-fiving each other. "WAIT! I thought you guys made up!"

"WE DID, BUT ONLY BECAUSE WE CAN'T STAND YOU!" Mario pressed a button and millions of pillows rained down on the two of them.

Meggy and Tari kept shinning their flashlights around, looking for anything like a generator. "Y'know this isn't the first time we've been in these situations before." Tari looked quizzically at Meggy and asked "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, we've faced at lot together. It makes me think that we've grown into really good friends." Meggy smiled at her and Tari agreed. "Yeah! We have! I love going on adventures with you Meggy."

The orange haired girl looked like she wanted to ask Tari something until she pointed and said "Look! We found the generator!" There stood a lone box in the corner that held the hotel's electricity. Meggy complimented Tari on her skills and they went up to check the box. Meggy flipped a switch and the power was turned on after what felt like forever!

The girls cheered for the success of their mission when Meggy looked confused. "Wait...if the generator seems to be working fine...then what caused the power to go out?" The girls pondered that question until something started echoing in the basement. It sounded like...static? The girls went to investigate the noise, but when they found out what was making that sound, they instantly froze. In a mad rush, Meggy took out her phone and started texting Smg3.

Meggy: Please help! It's an emergency! You have to come down to the basement immediately!

The two boys were still cuddling while Boopkins and Luigi were buried in pillows. The lights went on and Four finally managed to calm down. "See? Now what did I tell you. Everything's going to be-" Three suddenly got a text and he quickly stood up. Four asked "What's wrong?" He noticed the concern written all over Three's face as he started at his phone.

"Meggy says there's something wrong. She wants us to come down to the basement!" Four started freaking out again as he whispered "No...not again..." Three went over to the others and said "Party's over! We need to go check on Meggy and Tari!"

Mario brushed it off and said "Mario is sure the girls are fine! They're probably cuddling with each other like Smg3 and Smg4!" Three blushed like crazy and yelled "WE WERE NOT CUDDLING! NOW GET DOWN NOW!" He took out a bazooka and shot down the pillow fort.

"NO! MY IMPENETRABLE FORTRESS!"

Three dug out Luigi and Boopkins and sternly said "We're going to get our friends!" Luigi and Boopkins quickly followed, very worried while Bob and Mario just looked annoyed. The basement was the last place that Four wanted to go, but he knew that he had to go save his friends just like they would do the same for him.

Everything was dark as they searched through the basement until they heard a weird static noise and the girls were staring at something. "Meggy? Tari?" Three went up to them as they had horrified expressions on their faces. When the others finally saw what they were looking at, Four's blood ran cold. "He's back..." A TV box sat with a glitchy screen and familiar bent antennas on top.

Everyone looked shocked and appalled. How did he come back? Wasn't he destroyed? The only one who knew that this had to be his doing was Four. "Mr Puzzles..." The last thing heard was a small chuckle before everything went black.

Who's ready for the next show...?

Chapter 9: Miraculous SMG4

[drelmurn]

If you're coming from TCW/Rebels/Mando to SWTOR and expecting similar lore, the Mandalorian lore they're using in the game is actually a little different. SWTOR predates the Disney canon reset, so it operates on the old EU/Legends lore that Filoni built on for the TV side of things a while after the game started. And while it added a lot to the history, it's never really 'updated' itself to the current canon version of Mandalorian culture, just taken bits and pieces here and there starting from 7.0 onwards' storyline, and that's a ways out from where you are in the game.

But to answer some of your other questions: them calling the Mand'alor Mandalore is more or less the Basic version of the title, and it's what they add an honorific to. The Mandalore from the Bounty Hunter storyline is Mandalore the Vindicated. If you're heading to Taris you're about to learn a smidge more backstory for him and the game's Mando lore in general, but you get adopted into Mandalore's clan, Clan Lok. I don't know why they never really specified it until... I think the Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion? in passing dialogue with the Mand'alor? It's weird. Anyway. The house system (and the Protectors) is something Filoni created for Rebels a good 6/7 years after SWTOR's base game launched, so they don't use the house system or the Protectors, it's just the clans.

There's absolutely no reason not to headcanon an amalgamation of the Legends/canon lore as you play if you want, though, that's what I do! I didn't mean to infodump and sorry if this came off as condescending or anything, truly just wanted to help!

Haha I figured it was something like that. I saw something that said they don't really change voiced lines in the game. I was going to add something about just how much the fandom had changed in the perception of Mando'ade. A lot of the fanfic writers I follow got pretty into Mandalorian stuff in the Prequel trilogy era (even ones I followed from different fandoms haha), so I'm pretty used to that.

I've gone through the smuggler's storyline up to finishing knights of the fallen empire, so I'd met Torian Cadera. When I saw him while I did the right of passage to get introduced to the black list people, I was sure he was going to be my companion.

Even without that though, it feels janky? Like, me accepting becoming Mandalorians and then not being told anything about the culture or maybe getting like an intro book made it feel very gang like.

On them calling the Mand'alor Mandalore, I get that it's the basic version, but the way they use it is what feels weird. Like for one thing, they sprinkle in a bunch of other Mando'a (another trip pronunciation wise - I wonder if they hadn't settled that yet), so having them use the Basic word feels weird. But it's fine, we're talking in Basic and it doesn't really matter. What I felt was weirder was the fact that they use like a name. You don't go around calling kings "King", it's "King Such-and-such". You can use a style without the name - like "your majesty" or "your highness" - but just the title itself not really? Like, they don't even regularly call him "Mandalore the Vindicated", it's always just Mandalore. Which is weird.

[littlebunnyman]

Midnight craving

Percy is curious. Percival indulges him.

featuring another Merlin/Critical Role crossover, vampires, and smut

Read on Ao3

Beginning under the cut

“You’re alive.”

Percival looks up from his ale. A delighted smile curls around his mouth. “Percy! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Have a seat. How have you been?”

Percy doesn’t move. He can’t. Percival is alive. He truly is alive. He’d thought- The scry spell had failed so long ago. He had been getting used to the fact that he would never see him again, had come to terms with Percival’s death. He hadn’t believed it when Vax told him of Tary’s book, even when he read the relevant pages himself, dedicated to a married couple flirting with Tary, one of them described as a large, broad-shouldered man talking like Percival. Percy had thought it too good to be true, had tried to smother the hope blooming in his chest.

“Were busy, huh? What are you doing here?”

Percival sits at the bar of a tavern in a small village near Emon. It took a while to track him down but as soon as Percy did, he told Cassandra he had to leave on urgent business. She didn’t question him.

What is he doing? He can be glad Percival recognizes him, that he doesn’t have to awkwardly explain who he is. Has it been nearly a year already? That night has become nothing more but a ghost, haunting him with the sound of Vax’ moans, how his eyes fluttered shut, the way he held on to Percy. That he wanted him, once.

He gestures to the empty stool next to Percival. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“I guess I was waiting for you.” Percival grins though it is short-lived. “Is everything alright? You seem troubled.”

Percy perches on the seat and waves to the bartender. “An ale, please.” He slides a silver piece over the counter when the bartender places the tankard in front of him and turns to Percival. “Did you witness the attack of the Chroma Conclave?”

“Those dragons that attacked Tal’Dorei? I heard of what they did to Emon, yeah. Nasty business.”

“So you had left Emon before the attack?”

“I was quite lucky. Mordred had needed me elsewhere and I’d left just a few hours before, if I remember right.”

“I thought you had died.”

Continue on Ao3

[enola6]

An Interesting Mind

(Vector Hyllus/Reader)

Alderaan was not full of blitheness, nor was it serene.

It was elegant.

It was lush.

At the same time, however, it seemed hollow and lifeless to her. Under the guise of riches and luxury, Lady Thul was miserable. And though she was miserable and bored, she became entertained by an offworlder. Having captivated the attention of a Coruscanti journalist assigned to the task of covering politics off-world. And though she had once believed Coruscant to be the epitome of corruption and grief, she was certainly proven wrong by the Alderaanians—at least by the Thuls.

They were a people paranoid of their enemies. Even Urtel Moren, Lady Thul’s usually stoic bodyguard, illuminated an aura of fear when Jedi and politics were mentioned. The journalist followed him outside, notepad in hand.

"Miss (y/n)," he turned around while being followed in the palace gardens. "May I assist you in anything?"

The Coruscanti took note of the naturalness of Alderaan. Hills that never seemed to stop growing, rills that held water that would never stop flowing. A sky so clear you could see the stars at night and the shapes of clouds during the day...

It was everything Coruscant was not, and yet she yearned for her home.

"I have finished my report on House Thul." She stated, standing straight as if the Sith intimidated her. He waited for her to continue, confused as to why she was speaking to him. Being from offworld, she was only permitted to speak to her host family, not to anyone else, in fear of slander regarding the imperials on Alderaan.

"So you will be leaving us soon?" He inquired.

"No," Her answer startled him, yet he was not surprised. "I wish to explore this planet’s wildlife. Remember that man who visited the house when I first arrived? His eyes the colour of cinders, and he spoke using the word ‘WE’ instead of ‘I’".

"Yes, I remember the Joiner."

She found his tone welcoming and stepped closer to him, showing him the notes she had taken in her notebook. Scribbles as well as random words observed by the journalist graced her singular page dedicated to the man. She was quite embarrassed, to say the least, but the man and his talk of killiks intrigued her.

"I wish to research his condition... I want to venture onto Killik grounds."

“Lady Thul will not permit such an endeavor from someone she is hosting. Your safety will be at risk, Miss (y/n).”

“I know, my Lord. That is the beauty of it.” Thrantas flew above them, creating a gust of wind to close the pages of her book. She placed her book on the latch of her belt where it had always hung, sometimes hitting her legs. “On Coruscant I was given menial work, nothing of importance and seldomly allowed to investigate topics off-world. Now that I have the chance to investigate this… anomaly…”

He sensed her curiosity and recognized it as something dangerous. Journalists have the power to spread news of the war, they also hold the power to change it.

“If you do not offer me directions to their hives, then I will tell the lady of the house about your reports.”

She knew it was wrong, and her heart sank while she spoke to the sith. The enormous derelict camps on Taris reminded her of the jedi. She remembered a child, cradled in his mother’s arms, slowly transform into a rakghoul. She remembered returning to the camp, and her droid detected no human. There was the Barsen'thor, in the capital and when she begged she did not investigate.

Taris was no longer the planet of great civilization , and she blamed the jedi and sith and their stupid war.She however, also knew about his mission. That child was born with knowledge of sith legends , something the bodyguard was ordered to retrieve by the emperor .

“Do not fool me.”

His body softened and the clench he held in his fists was loosened. The redness of his robes created a soft breeze upon her skin as he turned around and began walking down the concrete , white path. From his steps, she thought she saw his footsteps illuminate red, but then again she shook her head and it was gone.

“Tomorrow morning before the sun rises , you will meet me here.” He turned his head around and spoke to her through telepathy, a skill she hated from the sith. “You will bring the coordinates but if you are lying then I will find you and strike you down. Don’t think Republic-ridden Coruscant will save you.”

Bright stars in the sky kept the curious journalist awake as she leaned on the pillows on her temporary bed. A bed she would know no longer.

It was bright and early, too early for (y/n) to comprehend her thoughts in the cold breeze of the mountains. Stupidly , She had not dressed for the cold, believing the weather to be warm and soothing, the perfect temperature for an adventure . A cold nip bit her cheeks , making her cheeks rosy and puffy. Ice stuck to her boots and she almost sprained her ankle on a rock which stood in her way. Urtel Moren took large strides , it was hard for (y/n) to keep up.

“My Lord” She called out while trying to keep his pace “my Lord!”

“Slow down, my Lord!”

He stopped in his tracks and didn’t bother turning , for he sensed her struggle behind him and let her fall on her face.

“There is no need.” He spoke calmly .

“This is … “

“Yes, miss (y/n), this is Killik territory . Feared by many , except the simple.”

She noticed his eyes darken.

Darken as they would around jedi.

Darken as they would around enemies of House Thul.

It was all too soon, he reached for his lightsaber and all she saw was the gleam of red haunt her vision with its overpowering force. Thoughtlessly, she instinctively stepped back, retreating from the looming danger of the sith. In her haste, she stumbled and fell into a hole, a refuge of desperation. Her heart raced as she landed, and her back collided with a jagged rock. Pain surged through her body, and the impact was enough to force her into unconsciousness. Once again , she hit a rock , forcing her to become unconscious as she heard the eerie sound of the kiliks. The world around her grew distant as darkness enveloped her, leaving her fate uncertain in the face of the menacing threat.

Her senses slowly abandoned her,as she was no longer aware of the looming threat of the red lightsaber or the haunting figure who wielded it. Instead, her unconscious form lay still in the darkness of the hole…

The killiks' delicate antennae brushed against her motionless body, as they communicated silently with one another in their distinct language . In their intricate and collective way, they assessed the intruder, unaware of her purpose . The unconscious woman remained at the mercy of these enigmatic creatures, her fate uncertain as they probed and examined her in the cold, unforgiving darkness.

They gently lifted her from the cold, rocky ground, their coordinated efforts carrying her with surprising care and precision. In their collective intelligence, they recognized her as something of interest, a puzzle they wished to solve.

Their joiner would know more about the strange woman.

Slowly and silently, they made their way through the intricate tunnels, guided by an unseen force—their hive mind working together to transport their newfound discovery. As they navigated the labyrinthine passages, (y/n) ‘s unconscious form was brought closer to their destination.

Finally, they arrived at the nest where Vector Hyllus, the joiner, awaited. He was standing, surrounded by a soft, bioluminescent glow emanating from the Kilik nests. The Kiliks approached, their intricate chittering signaling their discovery to the human. He understood them and studied the unknown woman with interest.

A Killik stepped forward and handed Vector her belt. The belt seemed small in the insectoid creature's grasp, but the creature recognized it as useful and important.

With a mixture of curiosity and gratitude, he unzipped the pouch attached to the belt carefully and found the journal inside. The journal was filled with meticulous research notes and observations about Joiners and the enigmatic Kilik species. Vector's own history as a Joiner, someone bonded with the Kiliks, made this discovery even more intriguing.

“(y/n) (l/n)...” he whispered as he traced his finger over the title page of the journal.

He looked upon her once more and came to the realization that she was a woman he recognized from house Thul. He remembered her pheromones of curiosity and the way her eyes never left him.

As he flipped through the pages, his eyes widened with understanding and interest. (y/n) had dedicated significant time and effort to studying the connection between Joiners and Kiliks. Her research could hold valuable insights into the intricate relationship between the two and potentially reveal new aspects of their unique bond.

“Take her to a private area. She means no harm, just curiosity.”

In the darkness of his own private room, Vector’s black eyes examined the journal with such delicate ease, afraid to damage any pages from the thoughtfully crafted journal. As he examined the woman's journal and the intricate research she had compiled, his senses picked up on an unusual scent, a subtle and intoxicating fragrance that was carried in the air.

These were not ordinary scents, but rather pheromones, biological signals that held a profound and instinctual significance to the Kilik species. Pheromones were a powerful form of communication and connection for the insectoid creatures, and they conveyed a range of emotions and intentions.

Vector's unique bond with the Kiliks heightened his awareness of these chemical signals. As he inhaled the subtle, alluring scent emanating from the unconscious woman, a surge of instinctual emotions and thoughts flowed through him. He was aware that this was not just an ordinary human response, but a deep and primal connection to the Kilik hive mind, intensified by the woman's presence.

In that moment, a complex and unconventional bond began to form in Vector's mind, a connection that went beyond mere curiosity. He recognized the woman's pheromones as an invitation, an offer of unity with the Kiliks in a way that was both intriguing and unsettling. However, Vector was still a diplomatic and open-minded individual. A part of him was still human.

With these thoughts in mind, Vector Hyllus closed the journal, his mind filled with a mixture of fascination and uncertainty. The discovery of the woman's research and the presence of her pheromones had opened a new and uncharted chapter in the complex relationship between Joiners, Kiliks, and (y/n).

When she awoke some time later, her hair amess and out of the many braids she had twisted them in. She reached for her belt, she had packed a silver blade before she had ventured , not trusting the sith in his full capacity. However, when she reached down she felt nothing but empty belt loops that held no leather, and no notebook.

(y/n’s) senses slowly returned, and she found herself in the presence of Vector Hyllus and the Killiks. Confusion clouded her thoughts as she attempted to make sense of the situation. It was what she wanted , and for the first time she wished to be back at her office on Coruscant.

That was when the Joiner entered the room, causing (y/n) to turn around.

She said nothing as she made eye contact with the joiner. Her gaze shifted, and she suddenly noticed something unusual. His striking, pitch-black eyes met hers, and the sight sent a shock of surprise through her.

“You’re…” she began to stutter.

“We are Vector Hyllus ,” the joiner began to speak “Dawn Herald of the Oroboro nest. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss (y/n).”

“How do you know my name?” (y/n) moved hair from her eyes, looking fully at the man before her.

“We examined your journal. Just a precaution to see if you could be trusted.” His voice was deep and soothing , but one could hear the eusocialness radiate from his voice. (Y/N) didn’t have time to think of accents or tone. Instead, she jolted back when killiks entered the room with their menacing height and fangs.

“What frightens you?” he integrated.

“I cannot speak,” the woman began to compose, “For I am fearful of the creatures that stand in the shadows behind you.”

And though she was tired , (y/n) managed to stand and point at what was behind Vector with her ring catching his eye. It shined in the minimal light that was present in the cave. The only light seemed to be the gleaming light that radiated from the unfriendly aura of the killiks.

“These are the killiks, but you seem to be already knowledgeable about their unique anatomy and character. We have lived with them, worked with them and became them. So , Miss (y/n), what do you wish from us?”

Knowledge , research , the permission to record the hive. She would have answered that only hours ago .

“ forgive me, sir,” she began to speak “But I admit I am frightened by the eyes of black that you proudly bear. You have read my journal and know what I know…” she took a recorder from her jacket and pressed the bright red button on the top of the lip , “so tell me what the world does not for your kind is so interesting that I yearn to enlighten the world about your condition.”

They sat down and he began to speak.

For days she slept on the bed kindly offered by Mister Vector Hyllus and wrote her report, refusing to return to Coruscant without it.

But another thing made her stay. Sometimes, she would peek behind the tall walls of the cave and stare at him with complete fascination.

He would look back.

And she would blush.

Vector observed the blushing, skittish woman with a mixture of curiosity and intrigue. Her dedication to understanding the Kiliks and her unyielding determination to learn more about their bond fascinates him. He admired her. Her courage , her intellect and her beauty.

He one day caught her packing her bag. She had discussed with him the night before on her departure , how she would leave him and never see him again. That is what he feared.

“(y/n)” He called to her.

“Vector!” She loosened her shoulders and moved some hair from her face. “I haven't seen you all day. Where have you been?” she stepped closer to him, her pheromones becoming more and more present , almost intoxicating him with her unknowing spell. In the midst of the cave, a flower had bloomed from its hidden petals and became the only jewel in the room.

“(y/n) there is something we must discuss with you. We do not want you to leave.”

“Vector … I do not understand”.

“We have felt something since you’ve arrived . A sweet sensation that does not leave. It is strange we have never felt such…”

“Mister Hyllus,” She noticed his red cheeks in the darkness of the cave. “I believe you are trying to say that you like me… romantically .” she then thought of ways to convey her message to his hive mind , “in the way mates do.”

He looked down almost shamefully . No, that was the wrong word, for the feeling he felt held no shame.

“We believe so , (y/n)”

“Well , Vector,” she let her bag drop and walked closer to him. She twiddled her fingers and tried looking anywhere but him. The flustered state that they both shared seemed to be oh so contagious. “I don’t want to leave either.”

And that was her way of letting him know that she had also grown feelings for him.

“Leave the hive, just for a moment.” She whispered into his ear. The black of his eyes disappeared and a human was in front of her. A man.

“Let us enjoy ourselves…”

(y/n) did not leave for Coruscant that night.

[blorbologist]

💀📖 (book can be an episode or arc if you wanna do CR!)

💀: If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

Out of all of VM, Vax was the lynchpin of the party and really the perfect one to die IMO. I will stand on the hill that VM would have half the weight it does if Vax hadn't had to leave with the Raven Queen at the end.

But maybe that's hindsight talking - if we're talking non-canon permadeath, I think an AU where Scanlan stayed dead (refusing revival, instead of blowing up after the fact) could have been a fascinating turning point for VM! You get the 'oh shit this is no longer a joke' that Bard's Lament offered, but... tbh I don't feel like that episode is the big change to VM some people consider it to be? Like yes, Tary shows up, and the party starts checking in on everyone a smidge more and there is some angsting (mostly on Percy and Pike's end iirc)... but it's nowhere near the trajectory change that Molly's death had on the M9. Scanlan being gone-gone, and there being no chance of reconciliation, would absolutely rock a VM who so far have been able to save everyone that mattered to them far sooner and with far more finality. I could see the year break being less a thing of 'hey we're done our to-do list and can chill now' and more 'hey do we even fucking want to do this anymore? when our friend died in a puddle of piss?' Kill their Molly, except with more bad blood.

📖: If you had to remove one book arc from the series, which would you choose?

... okay this IS the unpopular opinion game. Preface: I can't really discern any clear arcs in C3 like I can in C1 or C2. This is mostly because they have huge overarching goals ('Treshi plot', 'Preparing for moon' and 'Da Moon' is how it feels to me) which the characters really... don't make much clear progress towards during most of those long arcs? (Vs, say, the Vecna arc, where you have the initial discovery, then that bad fight, collecting trammels, etc.). Not to say that the other campaigns didn't have their own meandering arcs - Tary arc comes to mind - but it's... really hard to figure out what I'd cut out when my instinctive answer is 'so fucking much, IDK what anything is contributing to any goals/wholes anymore'.

BUT the curing Keyleth mini-arc irritated the hell out of me for little discernable reason and I'd like it Gone Please.

Ask me about my unpopular opinions!

[mxxnlightwriting]

🎹 One Last Show Cover Reveal 🎹

Click the image to see it in better quality!

A massive thank you to @.catarinabookdesigns for her incredible work on this cover. She's super talented and amazing, and I couldn't have asked for a better book cover or a better way to introduce you (visually) to Emma and Dylan.

It's my first time getting an illustrated cover with people on it, and let me tell you, what an incredible feeling. There's nothing like your characters coming to life in this manner. I look at this cover and can't stop smiling at how these are my characters and this is their story.

This cover has a lot of easter eggs that tell you a little bit about the book and the story at first glance. You have Dylan with his bleached hair holding a baseball (he plays baseball), Emma with her dark purple hair holding a paper sheet (is it song lyrics? You decide). There's the stage, the piano in the background (which is a character in its own right), and the atmosphere and colours bring it all together.

I love this cover. I hope you love it, too.

I can't wait to properly introduce you to Emma and Dylan and to share more about this book with all of you. I can't believe we're already less than a month away from release.

A quick note: I'm still looking for ARC readers, so if this cover makes you want to read the book, you can find the link to apply in my pinned post!

🎹 One Last Show Blurb 🎹

Emma and Dylan used to be best friends. Now, they barely talk to each other.

Emma Hoffmann knows what she wants: to get selected for the local newspaper internship. Emma also knows what she doesn’t want: to join the school musical organisation as a songwriter. That’s in the past, much like her friendship with Dylan.

Dylan Williams needs a sense of direction in his life. After dedicating his entire life to baseball, he’s starting to question all of his choices. When he comes across the school musical audition call, he decides to give it a try for old-time’s sake. This might be his last chance to step on a stage, and he doesn't want to miss out on it.

Against Emma’s better judgement, she joins the school musical organisation committee. Against Dylan’s expectations, he gets cast as the male lead. Now, three years later, the two ex-best friends find themselves in close proximity again, but they never felt more distant from one another.

Is it time to close the curtains on their friendship for good? Or are Emma and Dylan only in need of a change of script?

One Last Show is a YA coming of age novel about two ex-best friends who find themselves working alongside each other to bring their school musical to life. Will they rekindle their friendship or call it quits for good? If you enjoy High School Musical and Heartstopper, then this book is for you! It'll be released on December 19, 2024. Follow me if you don't want to miss any updates regarding this release!

Until next time, Tari 🌙

[insomnia3555]

I know everyone is talking about the movie boy and the heron.

BUT PLEASE ALSO READ THE BOOK : HOW DO U LIVE

It's the book the movie is based on, and it's sooooo beautiful. I loved it soo much. It was published in Japan 1937, right when the world was gearing up for ww2 and Japan was overtaken by mil*ristic regime. The author was vocally against the useless w*r effort and wanted to write something for a young audience. His aim was to help give them hope in the midst of all of that turmoil and help them understand the value of cooperation.

He did a wonderful job of writing about a boy learning about the world and understanding his place in it while subtlety critizing mil*tary valor and while also giving the audience something to strive towards.

[sp1tkn0t]

𝐅☆𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐈 , 𝟢𝟢' 𝖧𝟥𝖫𝖫☆ 𝖪𝖨𝖳𝖳𝖸 𝖥𝖠𝖲𝖧𝖨𝖮𝖭 𝖶𝖤𝖤𝖪

F ☆TARI

collection book // pt one ☆

PART 1 // 2000 HELLO KITTY FASHION WEEK

( HARAJUKU , JAPAN 00’ )

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₉. * , * > 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗔𝚉𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝟧.𝟢𝟢$ • ( 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴 #𝟭 ) 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 麷⭏ ₉ ㌐ ₀₀ ★ 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗐! 𝟧𝟢% 𝗈𝖿𝖿! ❚ ❚ ❚ ▬▬▬ 𝚅𝙴𝚁𝙸𝚂𝙾𝙽 𝙰 , 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 ㌮ ㌯ ꖹ·˚ˎˊ˗ 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟳 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹. 𝗌𝗉𝗂𝗍𝗄𝗇𝟢𝗍'𝗌 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨! ❜

    당신의 𔘓 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙩 %! ▬▬▬▬▬▬ 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗔𝗧 𝗠𝗘!

-        チャン  𝟣:𝟣𝟩 𝖯𝖬 ,  harajuku , japan

. 精旗᭟ ## ◜ the fashion show that has everyone in a choke hold ◝ ◕ The streets of Harajuku were abuzz with excitement for the inaugural Hello Kitty Fashion Show Week! Hundreds of people from the small town made their way to the side streets to participate the sight with their very owned Hello Kitty merchandise. Photographers were all over, capturing the beautiful atmosphere of the event.

◕ . . . . Miso Youko, the genius mastermind behind this creation, caused a cultural shock with models from various backgrounds taking part, and this subsequently became a talking point on the internet and in international magazines. Here are some amazing photos of the event that were captured by the photographers.

🤍 . 精旗᭟ ## ◜ when asked would do more conventions like this◝ ◕ Youko laughed and nodded in agreement, she went on to explain, 'I had the thought of putting on a fun and offbeat fashion show in Japan, using a recognized kawaii character. My teammates then suggested, 'Hey, why not use Hello Kitty?' And that's how the show idea was born!'

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☺︎︎ ▬▬ し＞︿＜ ★ welcome to this collection book , this is not an au but more of a collection of images i made . The images are not real so please don't waste your time on searching them up , but if you would like to use them i will upload them onto my Pinterest and tumblr . This book with have parts it such as this being PART ONE : 2000 HELLO KITTY FASHION WEEK ( HARAJUKU,JAPAN ) . this is just for aesthetic purposes only so yeah. 🩷🤍🖤