#the other commanders can't deal with that level of chaos

[phantom-of-the-501st]

The 501st battalion is just a collection of all the clones that the other commanders didn't want

Like, can you imagine Wolffe having to deal with Hardcase on a regular basis?

[nothingxs]

FFXIV Write // Steer

The air was choked with heat and smoke, the din of clashing steel echoing through the paths and corridors as soldiers pushed on further and further. The initial frontal assault on Castrum Meridianum was always just one part of a two-pronged attack, and now that the so-called Warrior of Light had upheld their end of the deal and the magitek barrier had been disabled, what was once a feint now became a real threat.

And so, it was up to them to make do on the threat. It was up to us.

"I wonder," Ilysa shouted over to the rest of us, "how much longer do you think before the Empire surrenders this position?" She held her planisphere (so much as one ever does) to her right, running alongside us and looking down to find a line of soldiers who had pressed the rest of the Flames.

"Ain't bloody likely!" Renolt shouted right back, keeping his pair of blades close. "They know how important th' position is, they won't surrender unless they're made to!"

Dameron and Nenera had nothing to add to that, following up behind me. I was about to check with them before Lanna, who had leaned ahead, had made to duck behind cover and motioned to the rest of us to do the same.

"It's a big unit," they called out to us. "From here, four magitek armors. Couple of dozen soldiers. They want to clear us out." They turned to look at me. "It's on you, Red. Our men could overrun theirs, but not with those armors with them. What do you say we give them hell?"

I remember feeling myself grin as I looked to the others.

"Right. Ilysa, give Ren and Lanna a little boost. Dameron, you rain some hell to give Ren a shot at one of 'em. Lanna, see if you can't briefly commandeer one of their machines to cause problems. Nene, once Lanna's clear, burn 'em." I drew my sword and readied my shield, confirming my instructions with everyone with a nod.

"Right, Red," Ren fired back as he started to pull some throwing daggers from his belt. "So what are you gonna do?"

"I'll be right there with you."

What followed always was a bit of a blur.

It's hard to really key in on things; we've always just trusted each other to have each other's backs. I saw Ilysa draw cards and pass blessing both to Renolt and Lanna. As soon as Dameron's massive fireball caused the Imperial ranks to shake for just a small moment, one of Ren's daggers had found purchase right through the neck of one of the pilots.

Nenera and I moved to draw attention, getting quickly behind cover and providing enough of a distraction for Lanna to swing around, quickly leaping up to the disabled pilot's machine, reaching in, grabbing the controls and letting loose on the Garleans themselves. Dashing out from cover and cutting through the line of soldiers with other Flames at my back, Nenera's Ruby followed through and unleashing hell upon the remaining armors as Lanna fell back.

And amidst the chaos, pressure from all of us on the now-scattering force was all that was needed. A few well-placed cuts to fuel lines and joints from my sword and the encouragement of levin, wind and ice joining soon after the explosions were the only things we needed to disable the machines. And so, we charged ahead.

Or in any other case, we would've charged ahead.

A small pain that I'd dismissed in the back of my skull, now radiated throughout my head. The deeper we got into the Castrum, the deeper the feeling had got. I had dismissed it as a lack of rest, but this wasn't just a headache. It felt like I was being pulled.

Pulled away.

As we advanced, I stopped, and clutched my head, and looked ahead in the distance. My breath caught and I was filled with what I could only call dread. Ilysa and Nenera, who had been tending to the lightly wounded in the back, caught on, and Nenera was with me first.

"Cel, love, what's the matter? Why've you stopped? Are you hurt?"

"…Something's wrong, Nene." My eyes were fixed forward.

"Well, it's war; I'd hope—"

"No. Nene, listen to me," and I crouched to meet her eye level, hands on her shoulders, though I could still not bear to look anywhere but into the depths of the Castrum. "Something is wrong. Something feels wrong. We need—we have to retreat."

"Retreat? Love, are you mad? Th—"

I had finally turned to look at her.

She never told me what it was in my expression that convinced her. I just remember her looking at me with some level of horror, swallowing, and nodding.

I sounded the call to retreat. Our men seemed confused, at first, but the urgency of the call convinced them of its seriousness.

We'd started to fall back. I like to think it was the urgency with which I was waving men back that convinced them it was serious. Our men had stopped to help the wounded to get back, as well. Among the wounded had been a few Garleans as well, and several Imperial soldiers had advanced… confused as to the sudden ceding of ground. Still, they didn't chase, choosing to gather their wounded.

The pain in my head suddenly felt like it might split it in two.

I yelled to my men to hurry.

One of the Imperial officers met my eyes in the confusion.

I yelled at him to run.

We were told there was a flash of blue and white, right after. None of us remembered.

All we remembered was waking up outside of the Castrum, our wounds being tended to, having been too close to the blast.

...did those Garleans make it out...?

[paperanddice]

Alehouse drakes are small dragons, roughly the size of a large housecat, and are among the more friendly and genial of the drakes. Intelligent and lazy, they much prefer finding a comfortable bar, trading house, or coaching inn, and living in the rafters or cellar, justifying their presence by killing pests and throwing a fit if evicted. While not the most lethal of creatures, their small teeth and claws painful but hard pressed to kill quickly, they have enough magic and abilities that can make dealing with one a huge pain that few proprietors are willing to put up with the effort. Letting the drake have access to some of the ale and pull occasional pranks on customers is preferable to a truly furious drake unleashing all its fury on the building.

Despite their small size, alehouse drakes can live for an incredibly long time, often outlasting the owners of the tavern where they've established themselves. The oldest on record lived over 400 years, and younger ones in 200's are reasonably common. Given their generally laid back nature and affection for alcohol, these drakes can be incredible sources of information and gossip. A few drinks and you can hear about all the patrons in the bar for the past several decades, any private discussions the drake overheard, and the details of the secret tunnels in the basement leading to the old smuggler den.

Given its general features, this drake isn't meant to be the central star of a serious battle. Rather, they're a more comedic and social encounter based creature, or a twist to put on another fight going on. Any fight that takes place in a bar can feature an alehouse drake jumping in for one side or the other, or even just sowing chaos on both sides, depending on what seems more fun. More serious fights will likely drive the drake to side with whoever will preserve its home, but regular bar fights are spiced up by some sudden faux-drunk additions.

Inspired by the Tome of Beasts 1. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

Pathfinder 2e

Alehouse Drake Creature 0 Tiny, Dragon Perception +5; darkvision Languages Common, Draconic Skills Acrobatics +5, Deception +5, Diplomacy +5, Alcohol Lore +4 Str -2, Dex +3, Con +4, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +3 AC 15; Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +5; +2 status to all saves vs. poison HP 18; Immunities paralyzed, sleep Speed 40 feet, fly 80 feet Melee jaw +5 (finesse), Damage 1d6 piercing Melee claw +5 (agile, finesse), Damage 1d4 slashing Innate Occult Spells DC 13 ; 2nd calm, invisibility (×3), laughing fit; 1st charm, command, enfeeble; Discombobulating Touch [1 action] (attack, emotion, mental); Frequency 1/turn; Effect The alehouse drake makes a claw Strike. On a hit, it deals no damage and the target must attempt a DC 15 Will save. Critical Success The target gains a +2 status bonus to Dexterity based skill checks and attack rolls for 3 rounds. Success The target is unaffected Failure The target gains a +2 status bonus to Dexterity based skill checks and attack rolls and is confused for 1d4 rounds. Critical Failure The target gains a +2 status bonus to Dexterity based skill checks and attack rolls and is confused for 4 rounds. Intoxicating Breath [2 actions] (occult) The alehouse drake burps a cloud of alcohol vapors in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must attempt a DC 16 Fortitude saving throw. If it fails, it is clumsy 1 and stupified 1 for 1 minute (also stunned 2 on a critical failure). The drake can't use Intoxicating Breath again for 1d4 rounds.

13th Age

Alehouse Drake Weakling 1st level spoiler [small dragon] Initiative: +6 Discombobulating Bite +5 vs. AC – 2 damage Natural 16+: The target gains a +2 bonus to attack and damage, and is also confused (easy save ends, 6+). While confused in this way, there’s a 50% chance each round that the enemy targets its enemies instead of its allies with the random attacks. C: Intoxicating Breath +5 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies in a group) – The target is dazed (save ends). Limited Use: 2/battle, never two turns in a row. The drake can regain one use of this attack by spending its action drinking an alcoholic beverage. R: Drunken Suggestion +5 vs. MD (one nearby enemy) – Effect dependent on the attack result. Natural 1-5: The target gains a +2 bonus to attack and damage until the end of its next turn. Natural 5-11 hit: The target loses its next move action. Natural 12-15 hit: The target is dazed until the end of its next turn. Natural 16-19 hit: The target is weakened until the end of its next turn. Natural 20: The target is stunned until the end of its next turn. Flight. Invisible Escape: The first time in a battle the alehouse drake is reduced to 0 hp, the drake turns itself invisible and flees the battle. If somehow prevented (truesight and intercepting it for example), it regains all its hp and fights to the death. AC 15 PD 16 MD 13 HP 18

[kohakhearts]

okay so what if mew *was* goh's first pokemon somehow - it chooses to stick around him for reasons unknown after that first time they meet, maybe he doesn't necessarily catch it but it humors him and listens to his commands for the most part. i'm thinking so hard about what Being Chosen By Mew At Six Years Old would do to his ego

OH MY GOD WHAT I LOVE THIS!!! THIS CONCEPT IS LIVING RENT-FREE IN MY BRAIN NOW

((ok tangentially before i get into this i just want to say in the deep lost osa pokemon au i haven't actually worked on in forever, this is exactly what happens to poseidon LMAO mew is my chaos analog so enter: 12 year old boy and his mythical drama cat dealing psychic damage to everyone within a ten-mile radius of them. mew is such a little shit of a pokemon so like. theres that))

anyway. GOH.........actually, i do think obviously this would over-inflate his ego quite a bit. but at the same time, i think it's important to consider that like...goh's confidence is a projection. he's incredibly insecure, and all of that has to do with his lack of relationships. if he were chosen by mew at a young age - and mew being a little chaos-wreaking jokester, too - would probably only make things harder for him. i don't think his friendship with chloe would survive it and i think that would mess him up in a lot of ways because on a deep, very human level like. of course he cares about her more than he cares about mew. but on the psychological level of someone with such a deep Need to be Special, i don't think it's something he could turn away from.

so in like this weird, complicated way - i think he would resent mew a bit? like this is a lot of pressure put on him suddenly! sure, mew listens to him for the most part, but it's also an incredibly powerful pokemon that likes to play practical jokes and sometimes takes it too far. goh is a kid who can't seem to connect with people. in canon, he blames other people for leaving him, because they think they're better than him or whatever. but on a deeper level, i think he has some awareness that it's something about him (i say this because in his relationship with ash, their arguments really centre around things that ash does "wrong" that goh caused himself, or otherwise also did "wrong" - especially their last big argument, where he had this idea of leaving and he was upset with ash for saying it first. because ash doesn't get to leave him. it has to be on his terms - i really don't think he's upset at ash's decision simply because he's afraid of being abandoned. i think he's upset more because he's been feeling Complicated about his own choice but it's such an easy decision for ash to make. if that makes sense? and it's the same thing at the beginning of jn, with the ivysaur. he's angry at ash for not listening to him, he's annoyed because ash is ignoring the fact that pokemon need to be able to do things for themselves. he's angry about this because if a person can help pokemon, a group of creatures he identifies STRONGLY with in lieu of like, actual human relationships lmao, then that means people can also help Him, but they don't. and he justifies this as needing agency more than he needs help. in 90% of their conflicts, ash did literally nothing lmao. i think goh knows this intrinsically). in this case, i think it'd be a little more complicated? like...undeniably, mew is at fault for the fact that people don't talk to him. and it's not just thinking he's weird or anything - they'd probably be a bit afraid of him.

so what would he do? he'd rationalize it of course and make it into a "good" thing. i.e. to deal with feeling like everyone is fucking terrified of him and his crazy pink monstrosity, he'd tell himself they're jealous, or in awe, of him. jealous, especially, with chloe i think. it would be a huge disconnect between them. it makes zero sense. she doesn't even want a pokemon - why would she be jealous? i actually think they'd become...pretty bitter enemies, lmao. but at the same time, professor cerise would absolutely not be ok with goh just. secreting mew away. a) that's a child whose parents are notoriously Not Around Much and b) that's a mythical pokemon that has not been very studied at all, really. so i do think that he would try to establish a connection with goh because well...that's his daughter's best friend and he knows the reason she's acting like she hates him so much is really because she feels hurt and upset at the fact that he's not really being a good friend to her, and also like. it'd be very clear that the pressure of looking after a mythical pokemon is way too much for a kid to deal with. even one who is as well-researched and "prepared" as goh (spoiler: he is not really prepared at all LMAO, he just thinks he is).

so the situation is kind of like...chloe has this extra layer of Issue with her dad because he wants to help goh even though he was a huge jerk to her and cerise knows that, but at the same time goh is even more isolated than in canon. in fact, he's probably of the opinion he doesn't Need friends because he has mew. mew is his friend and that's all that matters. does mew protect him? honestly, maybe. he's got Big Feelings and mew is a psychic-type, so it probably reacts to them on some level. that's a good reason for his peers to fear him (is he allowed to have a pokemon at school? probably not - so that would be why he'd just stop showing up LMAO). on the other hand, i actually think his parents would worry about him less because they think he seems very happy AND he's got a playmate who hangs out with him all the time and seems to look after him. they are not involved enough in his life to see that it's cause significant rifts between him and other people his age, and since he's on email terms with professor cerise, they probably never even find out that he and chloe aren't friends anymore.

all in all - he would be a whole different flavour of insecure, with the added bonus of like...he achieved something so great, but he actually isn't happy about his achievement because in many ways, it's making him miserable. he doesn't want to blame mew, even though he knows mew is to blame. idk if it's possible for him to become more cynical, but he probably would somehow.

i doubt he'd have a fateful lugia encounted with ash à la canon, but they could still meet in similar circumstances. maybe when cerise opens his lab, research done on mew would be like...something he specifically mentions. since ash was invited by professor oak to check it out, he'd meet the trainer who "caught" mew - and they would absolutely get into it beacuse goh would be crazy protective of his role as mew's Person, but lets be real...mew would take a real shine to ash LMAO. in a way, they might actually have more in common, except ironically ash is like undeniably Chosen One MaterialTM and absolutely refuses to claim the title becaue he's content being Just Some Guy (but who is nonetheless epic in a pokemon battle), meanwhile goh has the chosen one complex without...really being much of a chosen one. he would have to realize that he doesn't Have to be special, and that he can have both a relationship with a pokemon like mew AND with people, but he's got to be like. more aware of the fact that mew doesn't listen to him out of genuine affection and respect - and that's something he has to work to earn from it, in order to be listened to by it. i cannot think of anyone more equipped to help him learn that particular lesson than ash and pikachu tbh!

anyway yeah this would change a lot of things - it's worth noting that meeting mew for the first time was what kickstarted his obsession, so if mew stuck by him from that moment on, his obsessing would be of a very different flavour. at the end of the day though...he's still an insecure obsessive know-it-all (AFFECTIONATE. EXTREMELY AFFECTIONATE) so he'd probably still hole himself up in his room for research just as much as before, lol

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

By resistance I was referring to When everyone was taking on nine in the final battle in the series.

Ah so that's what you meant. My bad, anon😅

So for anyone reading this, the ask anon is referring to can be found here.

I'll answer your previous question with this bit of clarification in mind (and under the cut cause I kind of went off😂)

ㅤ

I think just like with the very first ask my question is "how/when does this come about", of which there are a few options in my eyes.

Nine cloned himself before meeting Sonic

Nine cloned himself after meeting Sonic and before being captured by the Chaos council

Nine cloned himself after the S2 finale

With that being said, though, I find these options to be most to least plausible in the order presented. While Nine pre-Sonic did not think he needed anyone (and while I maintain that he's more likely to build a robot for help during this time than clone himself), this point of time is before he really deals with the identity crisis of possibly just being a copy of someone else. So I think this is an era where as long as the conditions are right, he can clone himself without first worrying about what it means to not be the only "you" out there.

And for option 2, I can largely see him resorting to doing this so he can have more of him doing what he needs. Though it's only a choice I can see him making as long as he's under the assumption that he's the original and has command over the others before cloning himself, I think having multiple versions of himself with the same vision would allow him to multitask (in this case, work on building the Grim into this perfect home for himself and Sonic while being able to go get Sonic, for instance). I can see him starting out believing that it's just a tactic he's using to have more hands on deck (+ assistance with the same cares and intelligence level as himself).

For option 3, though, I really only see this as plausible or a good choice narratively as long as he has the time to go about making a whole machine to clone himself, already has a method to clone himself (one that creates a permanent being like the alpha grim robots rather than a temporary one like the grim troopers), and/or still has the time and energy to make robots anyways. This is because the gap between Nine leaving Ghost Hill and Sonic and Shadow arriving in The Grim is presumably not a very long span of time. And while this could easily be handled by making time slower in The Grim compared to Ghost Hill, I still...I don't know. Unless the time it takes is ungodly slow (like we're talking a few weeks for The Grim versus like less than a day in Ghost Hill), I personally feel like cloning himself and building the robots is too many things to happen in the same short span of time (no matter how the clones are created).

Of course, you're probably wondering why he has to build the robots at all in this hypothetical au. This is largely because even if I rewrote S3 and stretched it out some (which I probably would if I was going to make an au like this), Nine can't do so much as protect The Grim without them, much less win an all out war. Having other versions of himself is very helpful for diagnostics, coming up with ideas, getting a lot of detail work done at once, etc. But although Nine can fight, he's at least a decent strategist. And if (during the s3 period) he needs to send someone out for scouting or gathering things, then he needs something most suited to the job. If he needs cannon fodder or fighters during the war or in case someone attacks him, better to have some resilient robots he can just resurrect with prism energy than send out a clone of himself, and to have multiple different kinds of fighters to cover a range of possible attacks and employ different strategies. If he has to fight a war with just himself and some clones, he'll likely be overwhelmed pretty fast (even if they're all in full health) because of the types of fighters and manpower the resistance has on their side. Even if they're just clones, I don't think he'd want to deal with seeing them die, and it's also unlikely that they'd agree to go out there just to die/be captured (because since they *are* Nine, they'd share his sense of self preservation). Final reason he'd build the robots, though, is that at very baseline I think (due to Nine's character) he'd either build Alpha Grim Sonic or revive Chaos Sonic, because even if he's "no longer alone" because of his clones, I don't think his attachment to Sonic and how "the betrayal" at the end of S2 affected Nine about it can be overstated. I kind of always see him turning to creating a robotic version of Sonic as a response to this, given how he still feels that attachment (and the hurt from the s2 finale), despite trying to act like he's over Sonic or doesn't care about him.

But I digress. All in all, I think a good middleground (and a prospect I like the most) is option 2, where Nine creates the clones after Sonic disappears at the end of S1 E3.

ㅤ

Okay, with the the how and when out of the way, let's move onto the effectiveness in taking out the resistance and camaraderie.

And honestly, I agree! If we go with option 2, and the clones have been around since after Sonic left New Yoke for the first time, there's a lot of time there for Nine and his clones to get used to each other and come to a sort of understanding. While I'd probably have to write a fic to figure out exactly how they all naturally are to each other (in my personal opinion) and how they all eact around each other by season 3, I can really only see them being more close knit after the season 2 finale.

After all, Sonic "betrayed" all of them by proxy, and if any of them are attached to Sonic half as much as Nine is, well...

Honestly even if most of the clones or all of them don't have any attachment to Sonic, it's probably enough that the original Nine is driven to make it so their group is without anyone else in a home of their making now.

With this, I think if we keep S3 as is (with the addition of the clones of course), I can see them talking over certain decisions they can afford to take even a minute of time over or at least trying to relegate roles of focus. With all of them and the robots, they theoretically have the potential to clean house and mitigate some of S3 Nine's exhaustion by either sharing or trading the strain/duty of drawing power from the paradox prism around. However, I think this is best case senario. This assumes they have different ideas but come to conclusions quickly, are confident enough to not be as bothered by the time limit of the universe breaking down as s3 Nine was, that they work together well in tandem without much infighting or friction, that they don't all (or most) end up working themselves to exhaustion, and that Nine shares his burden rather than taking it upon himself to handle the prism.

This is all to say that depending on the interpersonal relationships within the group and Nine's feeling of trust with the clones, with factoring in some slack for mistakes, quick decisions, or some friction, things can go...largely the same as s3. While they have the potential to be their own people, the clones are still all Nine. And we're assuming that they all wish to have "home", just as Nine does. And a lot of Nine's actions or impulsiveness plus his getting worse as the episodes go on are a combination of his working himself to the bone, trying to keep up a specific act despite exhaustion, feeling the increasing urgency as everything (and his potential "home") is breaking down, and becoming more and more cornered, with the threat of being killed or losing his home should he lose to the resistance immenent. Essentially, the conditions at the end of the season put him at his worst, at his most impulsive, and at his least sound of mind. I don't think the clones would be immune to this cycle either. Even IF only the original Nine handles the prism and we, say, have enough Nine clones to each command a subset of Grim Robots, I can very well see this group starting off fairly confident (or trying to seem to be) while working together to get Sonic, and end up working themselves without rest as the stakes ramp up and doom is immenent.

Now, anon, you mentioned that perhaps the only way they can be stopped would be to point out their camradere. While I suppose that's not impossible for an au such as this one, personally I think there are two outcomes under my framework if S3 has largely the same structure (just with the Nine clones added in) and Nine and the clones are winning at the end.

Nine and the clones successfully detain Sonic and drive the resistance to exhaustion or near death. They drain Sonic's energy.

Close to the S3 ending, Sonic personally comes for Nine and ends up falling into his lab with him. Sonic manages to wind things down and the fighting comes to a stop, as Sonic refuses to let either side die.

If Nine and the clones are cleaning house, I arrive to the same impression I'm sure drove anon's earlier ask. In this case, that Nine and the clones would not be prepared to stop or consider the damage if they do clean house and come close to winning. Sonic is the only one they need alive, and once you get someone desperate and cornered enough reason flies out the window. It's also important that once the resistance was winning the war at the end of the season, they weren't prepared to just stop fighting either. In other words, the conditions are right and tensions are high enough (and both sides, minus the inclusion of Sonic, hardly like each other or believe the other would spare their lives and homes) that without intervention (Sonic), they're each prepared to drive the other side to "punishment" (whatever that would mean).

So in all honesty these two options represent two outcomes. The first is the outcome where the clones get ahold of Sonic and quickly work to drain him and fix the Grim, not planning on stopping until all threats to home and safety are neutralized, and until they've finished lashing out. The second is the outcome where whether they get ahold of Sonic or not, Sonic plays mediator at the end, hammering in his (Sonic's) personal wish to see that all the people he cares about are allowed the right to live and have a home.

Does this sound like I'm saying that only Sonic can stop Nine and the clones under this framework? Yes. That is what I'm saying.

Sonic the Hedgehog by the end of S3 is the only one who cares about the well-being of both sides, and is the only one with any positive attachment to Nine. Plus, under S3's framework, he's the only one who really puts his anger and self destructive tendencies aside during the battle and tries to stay true to his ideals as well as a bit more sound of mind. Nine and the clones have been interacting with and dealing with each other for a while now, and they'd already be prepared for the idea of living in the Grim alone together. So pointing out their camradere or that they could be like a family to each other would be like...praising someone's teamwork.

No, once reason flies out the window and everyone is exhausted, acting on their negative emotions, and lashing out as they feel cornered and threatened by death.

Only reason can calm things down.

The very first outcome would be reason through revelation, as Nine and the clones have to deal with the reality of the consequences of draining Sonic of prism energy. However, the only reason I can see this bringing is to redirect Nine's attention from the losing of his home (since restoring the paradox prism allows him to fix that) to Sonic's life instead. With his home intact, it *could* be a situation of focusing on what's important. However, while this option can bring some reason, it would do nothing to actually stop the fighting altogether or defuse tensions, especially if Sonic doesn’t manage to successfully convince everyone to stop in this outcome. Even if Nine and the clones succeed and then have to deal with the fallout of draining Sonic emotionally, they're also going to have to deal with a resurgence in anger and pushback from the resistance for doing so.

And the second outcome well. This would lead it largely the same as the end of S3. Sonic would be able to make his intentions clear, wind things down, get everyone to agree to leave each other alone in their homes in peace, and get Nine to use the prism to restore everyone's homes. Under this outcome, while someone pointing out their camradere may not do anything to stop the war, I think that the clones and Nine being a group or family for each other would help *after* S3's war. While things would naturally end bittersweetly as before, Sonic (and us, the viewer/reader) would at least be able to hold onto the fact that even if everyone is separated, Nine won't be left in the Grim alone.

ㅤ

Or, tl;dr

While I don't think pointing out their camraderie would stop them, I agree with anon that they have the potential to clean house and be even more overwhelming to the resistance during the war.

[cagemasterfantasy]

Aarakocra Ranking and Features (5e)

Guide

1=do not play this class as this race

2=can play but not recommended

3=decent choice

4=perfect

Elemental Evil Player's Companion

Sequestered in high mountains atop tall trees, the aarakocra evoke fear and wonder. Many of these birdfolk hail from the boundless vistas of the Elemental Plane of Air. They are immigrants, refugees, scouts, and explorers, their outposts functioning as footholds in a world both strange and alien.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age. Aarakocra reach maturity by age 3. Compared to humans, aarakocra don’t usually live longer than 30 years.

Alignment. Most aarakocra are good and rarely choose sides when it comes to law and chaos. Tribal leaders and warriors might be lawful, while explorers and adventurers might tend toward chaotic.

Size. Aarakocra are about 5 feet tall. They have thin, lightweight bodies that weigh between 80 and 100 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Flight. You have a flying speed of 50 feet. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.

Talons. You are proficient with your unarmed strikes, which deal 1d4 slashing damage on a hit.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Aarakocra, and Auran.

Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

A winged people who originated on the Elemental Plane of Air, aarakocra soar through the sky wherever they wander. The first aarakocra served the Wind Dukes of Aaqa — mighty beings of air — and were imbued with a measure of their masters’ power over winds. Their descendants still command echoes of that power.

From below, aarakocra look like large birds and thus are sometimes called birdfolk. Only when they roost on a branch or walk across the ground is their Humanoid nature clear. Standing upright, aarakocra are typically about 5 feet tall, and they have long, narrow legs that taper to sharp talons. Feathers cover their bodies — usually red, orange, yellow, brown, or gray. Their heads are also avian, often resembling those of parrots or eagles.

Ability Score Increase. When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. You can't raise any of your scores above 20.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Flight. Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You can’t use this flying speed if you’re wearing medium or heavy armor.

Talons. You have talons that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Wind Caller. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast the Gust of Wind spell with this trait, without requiring a material component. Once you cast the spell with this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of 2nd level or higher.

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it when you cast Gust of Wind with this trait (choose when you select this race).

Languages. Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.

Elemental Evil Aarakocra

Artificer 1 aside from flight Aarakocra brings nothing to Artificer

Barbarian 1 flight is always great but Barbarian is a poor choice for Aarakocra. The emphasis on remaining in melee combat takes away Aarakocra’s biggest advantage: mobility

Bard 2 flight is great for staying out of melee but that’s the only thing that Aarakocra brings to Bard

Cleric 3 Dexterity and a bit of Wisdom are great for a lightly-armored Cleric and flight is always fantastic

Druid 4 Aarakocra works really well as a Druid. Dexterity will help fill out your AC in druid-friendly armor and Wisdom will help with your spells. Flight means that you don’t need to spend your limited wild shape uses to turn into a bird so you can save them for more useful things like fighting

Fighter 4 Fighters really like races with a great stat line and few frills so Aarakocra is a great fit. Dexterity is ideal for an Archery build but if you want to be in melee you’ll want to use finesse weapons. Flight solves a lot of problems for Fighters since they typically need to rely on party members or magic items whenever an enemy is out of reach

Monk 4 it’s hard to think of a better option for Monk than Aarakocra. Dexterity and flight line up perfectly and flight is a massive boon for a class that’s almost completely locked into melee combat. Better still your flight speed is affected by Unarmored Movement so your already impressive 50 ft. flight speed continues to improve as you gain levels making an Aarakocra Monk among the fastest creatures in the game

Paladin 2 you could make a dexterity-based Paladin work and flight is always amazing but Aarakocra offers very little of value for Paladin

Ranger 4 likely an even better option for Aarakocra archers than Fighter Ranger makes good use of both of Aarakocra’s ability score increases and still gets the Archery fighting style to capitalize on Aarakocra’s superior mobility at range

Rogue 4 +2 dex +1 whatever else you need and flight. You could certainly fight at range but hit-and-run melee attacks work great too. Thanks to Cunning Action you can Disengage as a Bonus Action and perform easy hit-and-run attacks from the air

Sorcerer 1 same as Artificer

Warlock 1 same as Artificer and Sorcerer

Wizard 1 same as Artificer Sorcerer and Warlock

[birdsjuicy]

Shadow the Hedgehog rewrite

It goes without saying that Shadow the Hedgehog was a mess. Not very surprising, but I want to change this game dammit. So, here are some ideas for a rewrite.

First, the topic of the bad guys and Shadow's morality. The Black Arms are very evil. This is made clear by how their missions are dubbed "EVIL," where the missions with Sonic and co. are dubbed "HERO" with the only exceptions being Eggman. This goes against Shadow's antiheroism. It's unlikely he'd just follow the obviously evil aliens just for the sake of regaining his memories unless he was just being an asshole. So, here's my suggestion: Make the "EVIL vs. HERO" system less black-and-white. My idea was "CHAOS vs. ORDER," to match my overhaul of the Black Arms. The Black Arms are now a race of creatures obsessed with the Chaos Emeralds and their energies, tying into the later reveal in Frontiers that the emeralds are from space. They don't just send their leader in to make contact, but instead summon an illusion of Maria's spirit, promising to give Shadow the answers he seeks if he can seek the Chaos Emeralds for her. On the other hand, GUN would be pushed much more as the bad guys for the early parts of the story, at least until the Black Arms' true nature is revealed... where they are demoted to co-bad guys with the Black Arms, slightly lower in threat but still antagonistic.

The dichotomy is no longer "Be good or be evil," but "Seek the answers, at the cost of unwittingly supporting the evil invaders, or protect the Earth but forsake the answers." The true nature of the Black Arms isn't revealed until later, giving Shadow good reason to follow their commands for as long as he does. Meanwhile, the fake Maria selectively gives Shadow the memories that put humanity in a bad light, encouraging him to keep working for the Black Arms.

The gameplay structure is painful, to say the least, as you have to complete the game ten times over, meaning playing Westopolis ten times, each final level twice, and most likely the levels between several times as well. So, how about the chosen mission changes the level? Maybe, if you've chosen the Order mission, your companion will open a new route to complete the mission that can't be unlocked if you don't have them with you. This could also help deal with the problem of Eggman's missions requiring you to kill his robots, and then having Eggman get angry at you for bad game design; just have Eggman open a path for you when on his mission. But this isn't enough, since you'll still be repeating levels. Why not skip to certain stages? Even if restricted to the neutral path, this would save a lot of time.

Now for characterization, which was briefly touched upon. Shadow is supposed to be an exaggeration of Sonic, primarily his edge, but while keeping his better qualities in mind, sort of like an affectionate parody of him. This game made him a typical brooding edgelord ditching his original angle as a copy of Sonic, which the plot at least partially pushes. How about giving him dynamic development, then? Push him into a more "Disgusting humans, I'll kill them all" characterization if he's taken more Chaos missions, and give him a more "I will not let you destroy this world" character for Order.

On the Black Arms' side... first off, Black Arms? Seriously? It doesn't matter if this is any less creative, I'm calling them the Chaos Arms, and Black Doom is being renamed Chaos Doom (if you know the sonic dev lore, this name may be familiar). Anyway, the Chaos Arms masquerade as holy angels that serve in the name of the Chaos Emeralds. They claim to be the rightful owners of the emeralds, and later on claim that humanity is corrupting the Earth, but it's all a facade as they just want the emeralds and don't care about humans or the Earth at all. Chaos Doom's words constantly drip with manipulative subtext, promising Shadow will understand the truth once he finds the emeralds. All this being said, they don't have any big connection to Shadow. Shadow was entirely Gerald's creation without any alien parties involved, but they do see him as kin due to being attuned to the emeralds' energy by design and a useful patsy due to his need for closure with Maria's memories.

And on GUN's side, well, they're not being whitewashed this time. They're still the corrupt military SA2 established them as. While the president is well meaning, he has an outright vendetta against Shadow for trying to destroy the Earth, partially absorbing the commander's role in the story (though, since he's the president, there is still a commander, it's just he doesn't have a confusing, convoluted backstory and is mostly just subservient to the president.) Whenever GUN shows up, they're still likely after something for their own gain that they don't want the Chaos Arms taking. For instance, Westopolis is treated more as territory than a city in danger, GUN trying to keep the Chaos Arms from getting a foothold before trying to secure the area and keep civilians safe. It's shown not just in the Chaos missions, but in the Order missions as well that GUN is bad news. Still, after enough Order missions, the president learns what side Shadow is on and GUN stops shooting him on sight... which isn't to say they're better people now, it's just they understand that Shadow is also against the aliens.

As for the True Story? The Chaos Arms are still the villains, yes, but so is GUN, trying to mount a final assault on the Chaos Arms to retrieve the emeralds for themselves. It's just that Chaos Doom is the bigger threat to Shadow. Chaos Doom intends on using the emeralds to become like a god of chaos. The scene of the Chaotix playing a message to Shadow that also pins Gerald as a good guy all along? Gerald is being pointed as a more morally grey figure. He meant the best for everyone, but his emotions always got the better of him, even before Maria's death. He was, arguably, an embodiment of the negative side of chaos, letting one's emotions control you and becoming a wild, snarling beast... where Maria represented the positive side of chaos, encouraging loving and growing, living and learning, becoming a protector of others. Maria is reinforced as the good influence on Shadow, bringing him hope in the final hour and encouraging him to stop Perfect Doom.

The series would progress with GUN as an enemy, yes, but Shadow would strive to bring peace to the people of Earth, becoming its protector. Gerald would still be expanded upon, but his misdeeds aren't forgotten either. Shadow retains his initial character, and moves on with the character Heroes established as well. And, a neat personal bonus, it also retains the moral Heroes gave him (by NOT HAVING EGGMAN GIVE THE ANSWER ON A SILVER PLATTER) that, real or cloned, Shadow is Shadow.

[o5-10]

O5-10 “Janus” Character Profile

Name: O5-10

Aliases: Janus, Ten, Emery Lavinia Jonaitis [pre-Overseer name], Salt Newport (née Mine) [former legal alias], Lee Henson [current legal alias]

Gender: Non Binary, Maverique, Amalgagender

Pronouns: Any, it/its only when it is in a bad way

Orientation: Queer Asexual, accepts the labels bi and pan but feels no strong draw to them

Departments: Recordkeeping, Petty Affairs, Internal Public Relations

Birth Date: August 13, 1874

Promotion Date: July 2, 1936

Site of Residence: Site 2513, occasionally Site 01

Appearance:

Ten has long, dark hair, with a greenish tinge and a not insignificant amount of graying. Their hair is typically pulled back in a chignon or bun, sometimes with shorter pieces in front. Their eyes are large, and deep brown, though the left is yellowed and bloodshot, and is typically covered with a gauze patch, or a heavier eye patch, depending on the situation. Standing at 6'5", they are already quite tall, but they add to this by wearing 5" heels. They are fairly muscular and generally imposing. They also consistently wear immaculate, though colorful, suits, with ties tied in intricate ways, and have perfectly done, equally colorful, makeup and manicures, often using bullet casings as nail caps. They have arachnodactyly and their hands are a bit scarred from prior lab work.

Personality:

Ten is generally quite aloof, and detached. They often go out of their way to maintain this detachment, even to the detriment of others. They can be quite severe, harsh, even, when they deem it necessary, and aren't known for being the most forgiving. Despite this, they make an effort to be approachable enough when someone needs to make a request. They are fairly responsive to such. When dealing with coworkers, in particular, they are quite petty, or at least can be. The Accountant is the main target of their petty digs, but he isn't unique in this at all. Ten has many strange ideas of what they "should" be, and try to abide by them flawlessly. They can't, as the standards they self-impose are unrealistic. Due to this, and workaholic tendencies, they're also prone to lashing out when put under too much stress.

History:

The person who would become Ten had been a researcher in chemistry, before [REDACTED], which prompted many changes, one of which was their drive to climb the ranks. They had been head of their department, when Command took notice of them, and they were promoted much higher than they had ever anticipated. From there, Ten was tasked with a variety of things, most of them to serve as the other half of Twelve's duties. They keep record logs of events, personnel files, and SCP files. They handle much of the scheduling and delegating of tasks to upper level staff. They also tend to monitor public chats. Unfortunately, despite working closely with him, they are in competition with Twelve. At some point, they invoked the ire of One, in particular, due to [REDACTED], a fact which only the two involved are aware of. This shook them deeply, and reinforced their drive to achieve perfection, and see their goals through.

In 1953, they submitted a proposal to alter the handling of reality benders on staff which passed. This is what they would consider their highest achievement. Some time after this, Ten decided to act as the face of O5, when necessary, and take the fall for mistakes made, despite not being asked to do so. This leads to an undue amount of stress, but they refuse to fold on this. They also founded the Petty Affairs department.

They have seen five of their colleagues get replaced since promotion.

Since 2018, they have been subject to two assassination attempts, one from the Chaos Insurgency that was detailed by O5-6 and one from Shūshū-In that was targeted at O5-12 where they got caught in the crossfire. The attempt from the Insurgency lead to many large transformations in many ways.

[rookinthecrownest]

Hey anon I just realized I was pulling questions from a different Rook questionnaire list and it's probably not the one you're referring to (I forgot I had this other one in my queue LOL) so I'm just going to answer both.

23: What do they do after an absolute crisis?

Madeleina has a bad habit of isolating herself after a crisis. She worries that if she can't maintain her composure, she'll be seen as weak. This was sort of drilled into her by her military upbringing at the hands of the Mercar family. The ability to remain calm, focused, and lead with a clear mind no matter what crisis may befall you was a value ingrained to all the Mercar children by Legatus Charon Mercar.

As such, sometimes she's afraid to let her companions she when she is struggling. After choosing to save Treviso, and seeing the devastation in Minrathous, she's more reserved and withdrawn, not wanting the Veilguard to see her fall apart. She knows intuitively that it's not a healthy way to handle a crisis, and wouldn't dream of considering her friends weak for falling apart if they were in her shoes, but old habits die hard.

In the Mercar household, their motto was very much, 'toughen up, deal with your shit, get back in the game, don't let them see you falter. When you command legions, you can't afford to show weakness.'

20: Would they side with Solas or fight him?

Madeleina would fight Solas if he truly couldn't be swayed to stop his plan to tear down the Veil. She doesn't see how drowning the world in demons and causing mass hysteria/chaos would help anyone. Although she, like Solas, dreams of a better world, she doesn't think that tearing down the Veil is the way to do it.

She does end up redeeming Solas in the game, convincing him to uphold the Veil with Harrehn Lavellan at his side. So she doesn't actually end up fighting him.

10: Are they proficient in playing any instruments?

Her father was a bard, who knew how to play many different instruments. His favourites were the Lyre and the Lute. He would teach her how to play both here and there before he left for work in the evenings. She wouldn't say she's particularly proficient at either of them, though. She had some further musical education at the hands of Livia Mercar, but found it was hard to make any headway into proficiency with how much her life revolved around combat training and magic.

She has a novice-level of ability with the Lute, Lyre, Fiddle, and Piano-forte. Just enough to play a little ditty that sounds good, but not enough to really be considered proficient.

23, 20, and 10 for Madeleina!

23. What does Rook wear in the off hours? Do they like dressing up?

Madeleina's usually wearing the purple Shadow-Dragon pyjamas. Purple, surprise surprise, is one of her favourite colours (*cough* Lucanis *cough*). And Lavender, her favourite flower, is her favourite scent as well. She prefers practical and comfortable clothes over fashionable clothes because she was partially raised in a military family. Much of her adolescence was spent learning hand-to-hand combat on top of mastering her magic, so she was usually in some kind of training ensemble (lightweight, breathable, plain). Eventually she was sent to the Circle in Minrathous where she was afforded very few chances to dress up (she basically lived in Mage's robes here) so it's not something she ever got into. That being said, I imagine at some point, after the events of the game when things have calmed down, she starts enjoying herself as she explores different styles of dress and fashion. I think this would partially come about because of spending more time with Teia (I can see Teia showing Mads her wardrobe and her falling in love with everything in it).

20. What's it like to see them smile? Laugh?

If you ask Lucanis, he would describe her smile as wide, warm and inviting. Her eyes seem brighter, and they crinkle at the corners because she tends to smile with her entire face. Her laughter is infectious because similar to her smile, it's completely unrestrained. If Madeleina thinks something is hilarious, she's laughing with her whole chest, and maybe even snorting too. She had a lot to unlearn after leaving the Mercar family to join the Circle and the Shadow Dragons. Growing up there, one couldn't be too loud, too smiley, rambunctious, too anything. They were disciplined in all things, so there was rarely a time for her to express how she was really feeling. But with the Shadow Dragons and her friends in the Veilguard, she's learned to let go a lot, and you can tell when she laughs/smiles it's quite genuine.

10. Does Rook know their history? Do they know of the HoF, Hawke, and the Inquisitor?.

Madeleina is fairy well read on both world history and military history, so she does know about all three heroes. But she is the most familiar with the Inquisitor, Harrehn Lavellan. She thinks it's kind of cool that all three heroes are female mages, like her (Serafina Amell, Marian Hawke, and as mentioned, Harrehn Lavellan).

It was actually through reading about Dorian Pavus' contributions to the Inquisition, and his later efforts to establish the Lucerni to bring about change in Tevinter, that inspired her to join up with the Shadow Dragons. Dorian is a bit of an idol/mentor to her. One day, she catches him outside the Magisterium after a session and asks him how she can help. He ends up connecting her with Tarquin and Viper. Dorian helps her maintain a 'cover' for a time, as she's both a Circle Mage and a Shadow Dragon until she's graduated. He makes excuses to her preceptors in the Circle for her long absences so she can go on missions. Her life gets tremendously easier once she has graduated the Circle and can dedicate herself more fully to being a SD.

[roublardise]

I love the idea of Amara and what she adds - and could have add - to the whole convo about Chuck's creation but mostly about family. Amara is the Darkness, she's Destruction ; while Chuck is the Light, he's Creation.

I don't think it makes sense that Chuck is still able to destroy but just can't do a « full reboot ». I'd love for Chuck to be actually stuck with creations he thinks as flawed. The fact he has to caged Lucifer, put Amara away, keeps creating new world, plays into this view. However we can see Chuck turns people into dust just bc – I'd love for him to not be able to even do that. The balance would be, well, more balanced. But that's not my point here lmao.

In s11 Amara shows up and doesn't straight away destroy everything – imo people assume she will just bc, but she's just vibing.

She brings nuance & adds a lot into the "Chuck as a villain" plot

"What they call destruction, I call it renovation." She tells Rowena. When Dean raises "his universe, his rules" Amara brings "what if there are no rules ?"

Chuck is Light, he's Creation, but he's also Rules, he's Order – just look at Heaven. Amara is Darkness, she's Destruction, she's Chaos, she's Disorder.

And I'm obsessed with introducing her in that way and then turning around and seeing Chuck as the villain. Disorder or Darkness don't have to be a bad thing. The idea of no-rules being dangerous has been created by Chuck – and it feeds into the whole "Chuck lies about Amara to fit his narrative ; she was never a threat to his world, she was just his equal and he wanted to be the Most Powerful" that we learn about in late s11.

She's a threat to Chuck, because even in Chuck's world, they can chose to not follow the rules - they still have free will - and Amara is trying to show them that. While Chuck is desperate to keep his control over his story.

Amara is Destruction, but she's amazed at every one of Chuck's creation ; she wanders on Earth and appreciates trees and flowers and fashion and her human body.

What she has an issue with is the blueprint - "my blueprints" she seeks.

As a cosmic being Amara sees the big picture, that's what she thinks are fucked up – the rules, the Order.

I won't push my anarchist Amara too much here, but I wanna focus on what it tells us about familyspecifically.

Family itself as been presented as a social order with rules in spn. John is introduced as a commander, Dean's a soldier to him. A lot of spn is about desobeying the father, and they made Chuck the Ultimate Absent Father with all the parallels with Cas and Heaven. Angels are soldiers, but they're also brothers, they're family. The lines between family & army are blurred. Because family is, in the same way, an institution of power.

Amara is a threat to Chuck's blueprint, to his social order, to his rules and systems he can't dismantle – not completely. On a more personal level, she's a threat to family.

And how interesting would it have been for TFW to see her as a threat for their family, only to realize she was just highlighting how the nuclear family was a lie, was a trap – hence bringing back Mary to show Dean it would've never worked the way he was taught to believe it would, they way he was taught to believe it could.

But then learning (learning from each others, Amara not having expected Mary to still bring something to Dean's life) that it could be better, it could be real, they could go against Chuck's rules even inside Chuck's world.

And then you got an arc about reappropriating family, making it about smth bigger, chosen family & found family. Family don't end in blood. All that shit. It would have SLAPPED is what I'm saying.

Amara doesn't understand the idea of family ; and TFW teaches her, shows her. Amara doesn't get what's the deal with the words "father", and "mother", and "siblings", and everything. She's been coparented by Dean and Crowley, but she doesn't see them as her dads, because she doesn't understand the dynamic.

She can't call them dads, or her fathers, without implying she's given them some sort of control over her. She calls Crowley "uncle" both bc she gets all the terms mixed up, and because Dean told her to - to mess up with Crowley (divorced dynamic). Chuck would tell her they're siblings, but she's frowning bc she doesn't get it – she didn't grow up with Chuck, they don't have parents, it doesn't fit. She calls Lucifer her nephew but it's sarcastic, it's smug, it's a joke, because he doesn't mean anything to her.

But she learns to get family, as caring for people. She gets being close to them, making a spot for them into your life, putting up with their shit and supporting them. She gets allowing people to impact your own life without sacrificying your own free will. That – she learns to get.

[leo-interactive-fiction]

Now that I've played the demo, I just gotta ask, how would the ROs react to an MC who got split, either by some unknown magic or something, into the 6 personality choices? Now there's just 6 MCs with varying personalities just running around and causing chaos and I can't stop thinking about it.

Oh jeez, that'd be a difficult situation for anyone haha. Let's see...

E: They, along with empathetic, self-assured, and principled MCs work together to capture the rest! "You can probably fuse into a super MC or something if you try hard enough!"

R: they scratch their head at the catastrophe wrought upon this earth, "Honestly, when I said I liked people who are 'multifaceted', I wasnt really thinking this."

L: they decide to put their heads together with the principled mc for a method to solve this situation, "Perhaps if we provided a lure? What is it you like most, MC? It's likely the others would be drawn to it too, no matter the personality."

V: externally, they stand a stone. Internally however, their head spins. They gaze out across the multitude of commanders, their voice hollow, "is it an army if it's only one person...?"

P: the level of frustration outweighs any amount of remorse they have for your situation as they constantly deal with your dumbasses. "Let's just beat five to death and be done with it."

M: Their mouth splits into a drowsy grin as they press their hands together meticulously, "Lucky me~"

Ra: They seem so overwhelmed that it negatively affects their mentality, and they ruffle their hair uncertainly, "This cant be happening! I-I cant keep track of them all at once!"

S: they perk up substantially at the unprecedented sight, "Were ya just hiding that trick?! No fair, now ya gotta teach me! Imagine what a dozen S's could do!"

F: Their mouth up turns in slight satisfaction, "Oh good, more servants. I was beginning to think you were useless, but perhaps it only takes six dogs to fetch a stick nowadays."

Thank ya for the ask haha

[ask-underfazverse]

"I would rather drink holy water than deal with the flawed societies created by man and the holy father."

He growls, digging his claws in his Styrofoam cup.

"I'm not even kidding. There are so many flaws in society! In the average hierarchy, when it comes to systematic flaws, there are complicated chains of command which can slow down decision-making, inconsistencies in management at different levels which can impede work, delays in communicating vertically through the levels and horizontally between teams, less flexibility to adapt and react to environmental and market pressures, disconnect of employees from top-level management, a strain on the employee-manager relationship due to lack of autonomy, difficulties collaborating outside of the team 'silo' or dealing with team rivalry, considerable amount of corporate overhead to support the many management layers... and that's just with the nightmare that is in the business world. Which I still hate, because money is a ticking time bomb that will lead to humanity's collapse, the second they collectively realize how much a few pieces of paper with big numbers are worth.

In actual society, the centralizing of power is still a flaw. With kings, dictators, priests, and even elected officials, there is still too much power in one place. Kings do not care for the people till the people stop caring about his power, same with dictators. When the people stop caring about their "places" they are brutally punishes and humiliated, and their deaths are considered normal my the twisted societies they live in. In democratic society, it's more difficult to get away with executing the "corrupted" people that wish for better lives, so the government creates and passes laws to villainize innocent people. Don't get me started on the slaves they technically get from imprisoning people that "break the law." Like, for fucks sake! People have been conditioned to see prisoners as something other than people, it's like the 1700s all over again!

Unfortunately, you can't completely trust society either. In communism there are still flaws. You cannot treat everyone equally, without everyone suffering. Some people need more or less than others after all. In a socialist society, it leans on for support from the people. Of a handful of people seek to be cruel, then violence within a community will spread, and it falls into chaos. There is not a perfect society, there will never be a perfect society, and no one aspires to be a decent society. They say they're the best and threaten anyone who's says they're not. The hierarchy in all societies needs to be destroyed, and people who actually care about the environment and the people should be put into power. Not someone too ignorant to put themselves in someone else's shoes."

There was at an interdimensional convention, where demons came to speek with other versions of themselves. Some were powerful edge lords, some were sassy and gay, some were rather stereotypical, but in the corner avoiding everyone was a demon that was 15 feet, covered in scars, and wearing tattered animal skins. He just stayed in the shadows, quietly drinking some water and eating snacks. He doesn't even TOUCH any alcohol that's at the meet-up. Which is really weird, since many demons are alcoholic. He's literally the only demon who drank ONLY water. He didn't even drink juice, just water...

@ask-underfazverse

Nearby, a large, hunched over Demon with red skin and spikes was also sitting away from everyone, holding a small cup of beer between his MASSIVE fingers.

[nothingbutfangirlsmut]

The Trials of Emi

Pairing: A little Minho. A sprinkle of Frypan. Gally x Emi(OC)

Summary: Emi, her twin brother Thomas, and a small group of gladers had been rescued and taken to a safe haven. Or so it seemed. It doesn't take long for Thomas to realize something is wrong. What happens next is a true trial for all of them but Emi's trials began the moment she was ripped away from a dying Gally. Watching someone you love die right before your eyes truly takes a toll.

Finally meeting the right arm could have been the end but betrayal leads to even more chaos and loss. A new mission to rescue those taken from them leads them to a city. The last city. After Emi finally comes to terms with everything that's happened something unfolds that changes everything again. She will have to not only deal with helping her brother take down WCKD and save their friend but also deal with all the new problems in her head and her heart.

Rating: As of right now it’s at most PG13. Some strong language that’s about it but it could change.

(This is the 2nd part/book to my other story "The Maze trials: A Gally Fanfiction". This will cover the events of the scorch trails and the death cure.)

Chapter Eighteen

Gally opened the door so we could walk back out to the others. Just as he stepped out the door I grabbed his hand. I saw the smile spread on his face as he walked back out to the group with his hand in mine. My eyes met Fry's immediately. He smiled as he looked down at our hands. To my surprise Gally walked straight over to Fry. Gally extended his hand to the other boy.

"Thank you Fry" he said as they shook hands.

Fry raised a brow at him.

"For taking care of her. For being there for her. For everything." Gally said as he let go of Fry's hand.

Fry nodded. The sound of footsteps had me turning around. Thomas and Newt stepped off the stairs. Thomas had his arm tightly around the blonde boy. Something was wrong. I could see it in both their faces.

"I'm in" Thomas told Gally as the two boys stopped in front of us.

I pulled my hand from Gally so I could step over to Newt. I grabbed his face making him look up at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I searched his eyes.

He gave me a small sad smile. He stepped back then slowly pulled the sleeve of his jacket up. What I saw made my heart plummet to the floor. He's infected. He's sick.

"No" I whispered as I grabbed his arm.

"Don't worry about me love. I'm good. It's fine." Newt said softly.

I hugged him tightly. We can find something. Thomas' blood helped Brenda. It can do the same for Newt.

"Are you ready?" Gally asked from behind me.

I turned to see him talking to Thomas. My brother nodded then stepped back over to Newt. He pulled the blonde away from me. He hugged him tightly then placed his hands on both sides of Newt's face.

"We'll get you better I promise." Thomas whispered.

"Tommy, stop making all these promises." Newt whispered with a small smile.

Thomas chuckled softly then pressed his lips to Newt's. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. I had never seen them kiss before but everything both of them felt was clear to everyone.

"Ok, I'm ready." Thomas said as he stepped away from Newt.

"Hey" I said pulling Gally back by his hand.

He turned to face me. I grabbed his shirt to pull him closer.

"You be careful out there and keep an eye on my brother for me please." I told him softly.

"You got it" he smiled down at me.

He placed a soft kissed to my temple then jogged away to catch up with Thomas who was already in the other room.

"You two are getting along great I see." Newt smiled as he came to stand next to me.

"Yea" I smiled.

I grabbed Newt's arm that showed the infection spreading through his veins. I softly ran my fingers over it. Newt sighed then pulled his arm from me. He shoved the sleeve of his jacket back down to hide his arm.

"I'm fine Emi. Seriously, don't worry about it." He said then patted my cheek.

How can I not worry? Newt had been my best friend for years now. Granted we haven't been as close recently due to him and Thomas and everything else going on but that doesn't change a thing. The people in this room and the two idiots that just left are my family. I'd lost and gained family and from this point on I was more than determined not to loose anymore. Now that I've gained so much back I can't loose anything else. I'll burn WCKD and every supporter they have to the ground if I have to. I'll do whatever it takes.

"So, this Gally guy was the one you told us about?" Jorge asked stepping over to me.

"Yea, that's him" I said with a smile.

After a few minutes of sitting the group decided to wait in the room Gally and Thomas had left through. We sat around the table silently waiting for their return. The moment I heard the metal cover shift I knew they were back. Fry and I ran over to the cover to help move it. Thomas was the first one out. Next was Teresa with a bag over her head. Both Gally and Thomas were helping her climb up. As soon as Gally replaced the cover he grabbed Teresa then roughly shoved her down into a chair. Thomas sat in a seat next to the table beside Newt. Gally pulled the bag off of Teresa's head then walked over to the table to lean against it. I stood between my brother and Gally. Teresa took a moment to look around the room at each face that was staring at her until she landed on Gally.

"Gally?" She questioned in surprise.

He sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Here's how this is gonna go. We're gonna ask you some questions, and you're gonna tell us exactly what we need to know. If you don't, Emi is more than happy to make you. We'll start off simple. Where's Minho?" Gally asked as he stared Teresa down.

Teresa immediately turned to Thomas.

"You guys don't seriously think-" She started to say.

Gally grabbed a chair then slammed it down in front of her. He sat down in it blocking her view of Thomas.

"Don't look at him. Why are you looking at him? Look at me. He's not gonna help you. Now, we know you have Minho in the building. Where?" Gally asked radiating the most command I've ever seen from him.

I couldn't lie it was pretty hot to see him like this.

"He's with the others in holding. Sublevel three." Teresa said quietly.

"How many others?" Newt asked.

"28" Teresa said simply.

We all turned to look at Brenda. She was over our transportation to get out of there.

"I can make that work." She said with a shrug.

"No. No, you guys don't understand. The whole level's restricted. You can't get in without a thumbprint ID." Teresa explained.

All we need is a thumbprint? Well, I could handle that quick and easy.

"That's why you're gonna come with us." Thomas said.

"Well, I don't know. We don't necessarily need her." Gally said as he stood from the chair.

"Right?" He asked as he walked over to the table beside me.

"Not all of her." He said as he grabbed the small knife from the table.

I smiled at his action. Oh yes, please, cut that bitch.

"We just need her finger." Gally said as he turned back to face Teresa.

"Gally back off." Thomas said softly but sternly.

I turned to look at Thomas in utter disbelief. Is he seriously still going to protect her?

"What, are you squeamish? I guarantee you she's done a lot worse to Minho." Gally said angrily.

"I agree. I want to see her bleed." I said with a smile as I glared at her.

"That's not the plan. Back off. Both of you." Thomas said as he stood from his seat.

"It won't make a difference. Do whatever you want to me. You still won't get through the front door. The sensors will pick you up." Teresa said harshly.

"We know. We're tagged. Property of WCKD. You're gonna help us with that too." Thomas said as he held the small knife out to her.

Newt was the first to get his tracker cut out. After him was Fry. When he was done I took the seat in front of Teresa for my turn. The boys were sitting around the table several feet away.

"This will sting a bit." She told me quietly.

"Just get it done." I snapped at her.

She was right. It did sting a bit but at this point the pain didn't bother me. I'd had worse.

"So, Gally's alive." She said quietly as she worked on pulling the tracker out.

"We're not doing small talk." I told her.

She sighed.

"I'm sure you probably hate me but I need you and the others to understand why I did what I did." She said.

I chuckled dryly.

"I do hate you. There's no probably about it. You're a pathetic traitorous bitch. If it was up to me I'd take your fingers to use then put your head on a spike right outside the front door of WCKD just to say hello to your best friend Ava. I don't give two shits why you did it. All that matters is you did it. You chose WCKD over your friends. Over your family." I explained darkly.

I wanted to get my point across but keep myself calm at the same time. It was easier said then done.

"You're done" she whispered.

I was immediately on my feet walking back to the table. Gally stood from his seat as I walked over to him. It was his turn now. He handed my a white cloth then walked over to Teresa. I held the cloth against the back of my neck as I sat down.

As soon as Gally was done Thomas took his place. I stood up to give Gally his seat back. When he sat down he pulled me to sit on his lap.

"She enjoyed that." Gally grumbled as he tossed his bloody cloth onto the table.

"You're probably right." Fry chuckled.

—

[lost-eternity]

Matchup requests: CLOSED

Matchup request for: anonymous 

Okie dokie. I match you with...

Undertaker!

You are absolutely fine, dear. My form is about thrice as long so I totally get it. Besides, This way I have more to go on. Anyways, I can already tell that we would get along so well, pffft.

It honestly took me all of 5 seconds of reading this to decide your ship, I hope you enjoy it. 

Power couple right here

I mean, seriously 

There is no hell you wouldn't raise

I hope you don't mind getting your hands dirty, though 

But my goodness, no one is safe from the two of you

Your humour, dark and inappropriate as it may be, is right up Undertaker's ally. You can send him howling with laughter with a single offhand remark or retort. 

Most of the time, I would ship someone with chaotic energy with someone who is more calm and level headed but honestly, Undertaker is the exception to this rule

He would genuinely get on the nerves or anyone who can't match his level of chaos

But ooooh boy would he be able to keep pace with you.

The constant playful bickering would be extremely amusing to watch, not that any of you would get any work done 

The two of you would be too buzzed on caffeine and laughing until your guts hurt

Every night at his place is more like a sleepover

So many go there more sparingly. You both technically need sleep.

Also pet names!

You two would have the weirdest pet names for each other

"Undie"

"Death goddess" (Undertaker has a cruel sense of irony)

This is the only instance where the pet name "Boo" is acceptable 

~

Undertaker would be able to see right through your dirty, airhead façade, if only because he puts on the same one.

It piques his interests. "What is she hiding?"

The first time you saw one of his "guests", he assumed that you would be off put by her presence as most were. 

She was a young female, brutally mugged on the street, her corpse left to rot when the thief accidentally killed her. At least, that is what he thought. 

You, on the other hand, did not seem even the slightest fazed.

He actually looked a little disappointed. "What? No screaming? I love the sound of my goddess mewling." Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. 

You kinda look at him incredulously.  "It's a dead body. What is it going to do, get up and chase me?"

The smirk on his face was slightly alarming. "Maybe..."

Okay that was a little bit... worrisome. 

Regardless, Undertaker concluded that she resisted her mugger and he slashed her throat, killing her before running off

Of course, you saw a completely different story and pointed out something that slipped his notice entirely. But of course, you would be grinning from ear to ear and speaking in a light-hearted and airy tone as you loom over a gruesome maimed corpse. "No, no, the multiple lacerations to the jugular could not have been the cause of death. Notice how there is little to no blood-clotting and the edges of the wound appear singed. The injury was cauterized and simultaneously inflicted. And since blood loss, not asphyxiation, is the primary COD on slitting one's throat, this could not have been the killing strike."

A little bit taken aback, an exuberant laugh bubbled from Undertaker's lips. He was impressed.

To use a heated knife meant the killer, whoever it may be, did so on purpose with the intent on keeping her alive long enough to torture her. 

Hmm...

~

You two probably met in the weirdest fashion

You were in the city, heading to get a fitting for your newest corset when you heard someone shrieking.  

It took you a few moments to register that it wasn't exactly shrieking that you heard- rather maniacal laughter. 

Pausing, you noticed a group of individuals clustering around a shop labeled "undertakers". If their clothes were anything to go by, these people were nobles. 

A woman dressed from head to toe in scarlet held a pale, unworked hand to her lips.

Beside her a kid slightly taller than you on the account of the wooden heels he wore on the back of his shoes looked quite ticked off. 

It was quite an interesting collection of individuals. Besides. What would nobility be doing WAITING outside an Undertaker shop? They usually had other people waiting on them, rarely was it the other way around.

On second thought,  who in the world had the guile and lack of self-preservation skills to make nobility wait?

The door creaked open as a raven haired man stepped outside, looking all too pleased with himself.

While you couldn't ignore the handsome curve of his face, his smug expression told you all you needed to know regarding the sheer levels of impudence and egotism surrounding this individual 

Those wine russet eyes opened, directing a firey stare at you, boring into your own gaze. 

You held his eye contact for a moment then turned on your heels and continued on your little errand. 

The rest of the nobility seemed to finally be allowed in the shop

~

On your way back from the fitting, you decided to stop by this Undertaker's to try and find out the reason for the things you witnessed. Those nobles seemed to be long gone so you were safe as you stepped inside.

It was black. Pitch black. A peal of deranged laughter echoed from the abyssal chasm within. 

You remained unnerved as you folded your arms and gazed across the room with steadfast resolve 

Something nudged against your foot looking down, through the shaft of light that shone through the door frame, you were able to spot a literal skeleton hand on your foot

You quickly kicked it off and appeared even more incredulous 

Whoever had been trying to scare you appeared to give up

The candles flickered back to life and you spotted a grey-haired man, swathed in a black coat, lackadaisically stretched across an examination table. His silver mane tapered into a thick fringe which completely obscured his features save for the cheshire grin that seemed to be a permanent fixture on his face. "My. It's not often that I get two customers in one day..." he purred ominously 

"Yeah. About that. What was with those nobles earlier?"

He chuckled and pressed a clawed finger to his lips. "A gentleman never kisses and tells."

You just kinda looked at him like ???

It really wasn't your business what this Undertaker and that butler were doing in here alone as everyone else waited outside but wasn't that a bit-

The thunderous laughter that burst from Undertaker's chest told you that he was joking

How he managed to do so with a straight face was beyond comprehension. But perhaps he found your genuine consideration of his sentence to be amusing.

You two end up striking a deal. And it was a weird one. Undertaker would tell you what the nobles were doing and in return you would have to get a fitting for a coffin. 

He lamented that it was not his usual payment but "The little Earl is being so stubborn, he refuses to let me fit him. You are just as tiny. I think you will do wonderfully."

Like "uhhh? Thank you?"

It's not every day you get a chance to be fitted for your future coffin. 

So you allow him to take measurements 

His fingers ghosting against your skin as he does so, sending goose-flesh pricking across your arm

Once he is finished, he divulges all he can, which only seems to confuse you more.

Nobles who solve murders? Isn't that the Yard's job. What are nobles doing getting involved. Half of them have never cleaned a single dish in their life, how can anyone expect them to catch a killer.

The Undertaker watched you with a smirk equal parts knowing and amused. He just loves seeing you think things through and figure them out. 

Meanwhile,  you caught on to his mannerisms. He knew more than he was letting on. But you doubted he would tell you more.

Thanking him for his service, you headed out.

You barely made it a block when you were jumped by someone.

A shadow

Strong arms pinned you to a wall, you tried to call for help but the soft leather of a gloved hand clamped over your mouth. You were left to stare into those same burning russet eyes for the second time that day.

The boy from earlier, taking a step out from behind his attack butler crossed his arms. You noticed the eyepatch he wore, but did not have the mind to question it. You were currently pinned to a wall, your mind was a bit preoccupied

"Why are you following us?" The kid demanded

You rolled your eyes and looked back at him before angrily gesturing to the mildly irritating hand over your mouth.

The kid looked just as irritated. "Sebastian."

The butler needed no further command. He removed his hand but kept you constrained in place. 

You appraised the pair warily. 'So, the butler's name is Sebastian... heh. More like Sebastard'

You were also smart enough to know that if they were investigating such a high profile case like Jack the Ripper, they were probably into some pretty shady stuff. If they were speaking with Undertaker, then they had connections to the Underworld. After all, every dead body killed in the underworld usually makes its way to the Undertaker at some point or another. It was quite brilliant, actually. 

The boy looked impatient so you answered truthfully.  Albeit carefully. You were wondering what a bunch of nobles would be waiting for and wanted to meet the person who had the nerve to keep them waiting.

The kid seemed somewhat satisfied with your answer, if not entirely indignant towards it. You had a feeling that you chose your words well because he appeared to agree with what you were saying. He obviously did not like the Undertaker. 

Sebastian- sorry, Sebastard, on the other hand, did not appear all too convinced. But he seemed to have gauged that you were not a threat and decided not to voice his concerns.

You were let off with a stern lecture about meddling in "Phantomhive" affairs. 

Dodged a bullet on that one

Still. The revealment of his surname only brought more confusion upon you. Phantomhive was a KID'S toy company.  Why is the head of a kid's brand investment murder?

The more you looked into it, the less it started making sense 

And that sent you down a spiraling trail that eventually lead you back to the Undertaker 

Whether or not you return to him as a friend or one of his "guests" is completely up to you and how careful you walk this dangerous tightrope

Oooh, ominous. Thank you for request, dear.

[daz4i]

*takes a very deep breath* okay so

(so sorry, there's no read more since I'm on mobile, this is your sign to either press j or start scrolling fast since this is long)

i went with a specific group from my ocs (I've got,, 15-ish excluding fandom related ones so i tried to focus on this group of five that i really like) who already got powers in their universe, and some could be cool to translate into blands universe yknow?

I'm gonna start with jay since I've got most ideas for him! his existing power is kind of summoning animals, but he doesn't really control it at this point so animals just flock to him and he can't make it go away. he's kind of similar to fl4k in a sense that in-game, animals would follow him and fight for him even w/o commanding them (they just don't do much damage unless you decide to buff them). i wanna say he'd be called Jay The Summoner

as for his ability, I've thought of it as sort of the bl2/bltps skill tree type, that like it's the same ability but you can tweak it to what you choose rather than 3 different abilities for each character. well, in his own story, he's got a hobby of,, demonic rituals (that's how he got his powers!), so i decided to use that! he can summon some sort of ritual circle on the ground, and it stays there for a few seconds and deals damage to the enemies who stand on it.

with the trees you can tweak it either to making that circle bigger or to deal more damage, or you can make it so if you or your allies stand on it it heals you/buffs you. the third tree i assume would be nostly for buffing your "pets", making them stronger or heal you, etc.

next I'm gonna go with aline! her power in-universe is that if she touches someone, she kinda basically,, breaks their mind. ig if we bring blands into this, she'd turn regular people into psychos :P so i thought maybe translating her ability into something,, confusing (to the enemy). unfortunately I don't have a class name for her yet ;( (i assume Aline The Mindbreaker is a bit too much heh.)

her ability is essentially making the enemies target each other/turning an enemy to her ally for a limited time (excluding badass and boss enemies). i think you can basically tweak it according to skill trees again - making it so you can cast it on more than one enemy, another tree making it so whoever you cast it on is turned into a badass or is invulnerable for the duration of it (but like, in a high level), aaaaand maybe one tree being like true chaos thing? basically turning anyone in a certain area into somewhat of a goliath, so they attack just whoever's closest to them? haven't perfected it yet heh.

next up I've got lide!!! her in-universe power is bringing objects to life, so i thought of making her like a pet class (aka like gaige/tim/zane/axton), where her ability is you press f and something starts fighting for you so you can fuck off somewhere and opens all the loot containers you can find. don't really have a name for her either, ig a (something)-mancer could fit but that's way too similar to gaige hehehe.

i haven't managed to really figure out exactly how it'll go. you can't actually rely on the objects around you in-game, so i thought maybe she like, touches the ground and out of it comes garbage and skeletons and other stuff that could be in the ground that rise up and fight for her for the duration of the ability/till they run out of hp. another option i thought of is maybe just stuff she carries on herself, but then i couldn't figure out what the exact stuff would be heh.

specifically with lide i imagined like, if she was more of like the bl3 vhs so she had 3 ability options, since another ability i could think of for her is around the fact she's a skater irl, and her ability is kind of like a hoverboard that gives her increased speed and height so she can attack from above the enemy/not touch the ground in case she needs to avoid it (which could've come in handy in some bl3 fights for example). obvs to balance it it has to have fair durarion and cooldowns but yeah

fourth one I haven't 100% figured out yet. it's flint, his in-universe power is basically he makes people blow up/go up in flames with his mind. it's,, a bit too straightforward for a class based fps game i think hehe.

i did figure out his skills could be a bit similar to moze's ig, like adding fire or explosive damage to regular shots, but that's p minor stuff :| uuuuh maybe if we go with the bl3 skill trees ideas, one of his abilities could be scaring enemies away sorta (it'd just be like he's pushing them away technically) which would be ideal for sniping, like basing it off his actual backstory ig. or maybe stuff that rely on him being really fast, maybe like a few-second cooldown blink ability? like i said I don't quite have him all figured out hehe

i mentioned i worked on 5 characters, but ming-mei's power is the least combat friendly thing ever (if she touches a person, she instantly learns every language they know up to the level they know it), so ig for now she'll be like an npc :P (if the other 4 are like tps vhs, then lide is athena and ming-mei is janey hehe.)

if you've read through all this i love you, i have another group of 4 ocs i thought maybe i could tweak into a blands au but tomorrow hehe. feel free to tell me abt your blands aus/ocs or suggest ideas if you have any :D

fuck it. i’m gonna treat myself *makes a borderlands au for my own ocs*