#this ancient relic could Actually play you something

[arealtrashact]

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...

[whatbigotspost]

Every time I hear someone much older than me talking about how their shame about their bodies and weight have robbed them of all kinds of fun experiences and simple joys and delights in life, it breaks my fucking heart. Older women, in particular, have been shamed into and forced into (and perpetuated themselves) so many stupid narratives about what one "can't do" if you look a certain way. Sometimes they don't even notice it...they'll just casually be saying something like, "I would have loved to play volleyball back in school but this big ass wasn't going to look right in those shorts tee hee" and I'm like that's??? actually??? tragic???????? Especially when it's something they COULD still pursue or try but they've got a fixed mindset about it.

My 84 year old aunt really spent all of her 30s-60s believing that she COULDN'T just put on a swimsuit and enjoy the water in the summer. I have so many memories of this mindset affecting her all summer. Just casually existing by a pool in a swimsuit was something that women who looked like her Could Not Do. This is someone who broke so many gender barriers in her field, who was a pioneer and a bad ass, but who held herself back from something she truly enjoyed for DECADES because she's fat. A couple of years ago she told me how stupid she feels having thought like that now that her age has changed her mobility and safety in going to a pool and it's no longer literally possible for her to do so.

She bought the bullshit and deprived herself of happiness when it was possible, so she lost her chance at hundreds of moments of simple enjoyment she now looks back on sadly.

Really sadly.

I think this is a topic where we can literally see a huge generational change among society right now. The bitchy boomer who says something like, "oh she should NOT be wearing that" when a happy, chunky Gen Zer bops by in a crop top sounds like the death rattles of an ancient relic to most of us in younger generations. After we get over the overt hate that surges when we hear things like that, most of us can see right through that prickly exterior into the deeply damaged, sad, and vulnerable person inside who is the one that's the real problem in the equation.

And yet, while it can be easy to think, "Thank god I'm not like THAT" none of us are truly immune to the messages that are blasted in our faces all the time that still shame fatness and make us feel like we owe society a certain kind of "beauty."

Just keep an eye out for any limiting beliefs you have that are depriving you from joy and delight you want and need. As anyone like my aunt could tell you, you won't someday look back and think, "I sure am glad I didn't do what made me happy all those years!"

[tehrevving]

So I've got this one itching inside my brain, in chapter 18, when vincent admits that if the reader injured, he'd be unable to control his transformation could you elaborate on that a bit more currently or is that something you'll be using to edge us for future oneshots and the continuation of the story?

Is this one way for him to say that she's become someone very precious to him even in such a short amount of time? Are his demons also finding themselves attached to her? If so then what exactly is their view on her? With chaos, it seems rather obvious he's into her if he's willing to make himself known in some instances whenever vincent and the reader have been sexually intimate (>cough< inappropriate use of materia >cough<)

I love this question, this is so good. Let me try think of a coherent response. If it’s not, feel free to ask again and more specific lol. And keep the questions and stuff coming too :).

Vincent’s transformations are literally his limit break. I think he has some control over them normally, like if he’s not stressed and he needs Galian to do something, but he hates it, and so he is only really transforming when: he is in pain or is taking a lot of damage, when he’s overrun by enemies (like in the fic), or in situations of high emotional stress (like in Rebirth, and uh, during sex lmao). And when he transforms that way, he doesn’t have much control.

Vincent is strong but his strength has a drawback, if he transforms, then he’s likely to hurt his allies or cause damage to the room or building that he’s in. The Temple of the Ancients is an extremely old relic and he’s very worried about causing damage.

Reader wants to protect her friends and she is not worried about herself, she’s worried about what might happen to the others. Vincent tries reassure her that he’ll look out for her, but that’s not what she wants. That’s a big difference in their characters actually and would likely become a recurring point of contention in the future, whenever there’s a big mission or something similar.

Anyway, yeah, while the whole point of the convo is that yes, she is very important to him. He’s also trying to say that she can’t rely on his strength in the way she thinks she can, by asking him to protect everyone else. Does that make sense?

Like, in an emergency, Vincent may not even be able to provide first aid, because he just turns into a rampaging monster instead. Even though he could take a fatal blow for someone else, he can’t take the risk that it might make him transform. I really hope Part 3 builds something like this in as a battle mechanic for him, but in a story, it’s something he worries about.

But anyway, onto his demons. Yes, they are attached to her, there’s plot and lore for it and it’s something that I’ll be exploring when I write the Temple of the Ancients chapter. (Galian is going to come out to play for a bit)

Chaos is the strongest one, so finds it easiest to appear when Vincent is distracted (wink). Aaand also he just really wants to show off his big horns and wings and fangs (and tongue) and how good he is at making her come 😂

[utilitycaster]

VERY glad that Evontra’vir said “the titans are dead” because like there are currently living beings that will suffer if Ludinus’s plan succeeds and they just don’t seem to matter compared to titans that died a millennia ago??? (After trying to wipe out mortals themselves)

Hey anon,

Agreed. The thing about the titans coming up is that it does, actually, make a lot of sense for the two characters who have been most vocal about it - Ashton and Laudna - to feel this way! But it doesn't come from a rational place; it comes from profound trauma and loss about which they can't be objective.

Taliesin talked about this on 4-Sided Dive: Ashton is grabbing on desperately to the one piece of information they know now about their missing childhood and is "leaning into it...probably before he should." We know this about them; Ashton's been emblazoning themself with the Hishari and Dunamancy symbols without having a single clue what they were. The titans are part of that. Did you notice how he keeps saying "things are changing" and didn't actually like...provide any meaningful information? Again to quote 4SD: "...there's not a lot of judgment happening about whether or not that's a good thing or not, and what it actually means." Like, I think that, based on Ashton's past position of "don't kill everyone for your goals, that is shitty" if they did stop, and process, and set aside that strong emotional factor that's in play (which is not something I'd expect them to be able to do easily!) They'd realize that the titans returning, were that possible, would be cataclysmic. But that's not what they're thinking about right now. I think Evontra'vir bluntly stating that the titans are dead was a needed splash of cold water on that line of thinking.

My thought re: Laudna is that it's slightly more metaphorical. Consider her backstory: a conquering force swept in and destroyed most of what had been there before. She is a relic both of that earlier time and of that conquering force, and the subjugation she experienced never truly stopped, even though Whitestone has moved on. Of course she'd see herself in the titans in the telling of stories about the titans! People like Percy get to return and revitalize and build a new family and grow old and happy and die, despite their trauma, and she's caught between life and death forever. Of course she'd relate to some half-buried thing that people call monstrous and ancient and displaced! But that doesn't actually help her do anything about her situation and it's not a philosophy that really is useful in understanding the larger geopolitical (and, frankly, cosmic) reality happening right now, because, yeah, if you let the titans back, people will die.

For both these characters - who have spoken to each other about being physically altered and left for dead, alone, in ways no one else can quite understand, I think there's something immensely seductive about the idea of something older than the gods, something defeated but could rise again, which both is relatable to their own situations and comes neatly packaged with a reason why it didn't save you when you called out. But it's still a fantasy. It's not real, it's not going to happen, and so it's important that Evontra'vir, who as Jirana said, does not mince words, called it out for what it is. The titans are dead. Something of their essences does remain for you to use to make a choice. You are going to have to do this using your own judgment; you are doing the saving; stop worrying about the dead and start thinking about what you will do to serve the living.

I think an emerging theme of this campaign - and arguably a secondary theme of the past campaigns, and really, the theme of D&D if you think about it, is that the person you developed into because of your trauma, and the coping mechanisms and behaviors and presentation you developed as a result may eventually cease to serve you once you find a support network and begin to be given more and more agency within the world; and indeed, if you cling to these things they will begin to hurt those around you, and eventually you as well. I think "The Titans are dead" is one way to very, very bluntly and effectively communicate that.

[solarpunkani]

Hey! I’ve been following you for a bit and have been recently considering writing my own little solarpunk short stories for here. Do you have any suggestions?

See its funny you'd ask this because I've honestly only written one (I started on another one but lost The Vibe) but I mean

I dunno

Think about what you like about Solarpunk and what kind of setting you're most comfortable with writing. What kind of plots you like most and how you could fit it into a solarpunk setting of your desire. How much you want the story to be affected by the fact that it takes place in a more Solarpunky society.

One of the things I struggle with when it comes to writing Solarpunk stuff is worrying that other people aren't gonna find it 'solarpunk enough,' because I'm more comfortable writing stories in like the earlier days of a Solarpunk society than like a *midst of it all utopia* kinda vibe that I see most other people do. But I'm also not politically knowledgeable enough to write about the, I dunno, proletariat uprising that dismantles the government to make *room* for said solarpunk society. If you have an issue similar to me, then the advice I'm trying to beat into my own head is 'write the story as something i'd wanna read, and if other people like it then that's cool, and if other people don't like it then i dunno fuck em anyways'

If you don't have that problem feel free to ignore that.

I'm not gonna act like writing solarpunk short stories is easy! Because I find it hard! I actually get *frustrated* when other people act like its easy to do specifically *because* low-stakes conflicts are hard for me, but high-stakes political arena stuff goes over my head. I'm used to like. Writing about superheroes fighting supervillains, or medieval peasants gathering the relics of an ancient god before an otherworldly threat takes over. Comparatively, writing about lost dolls and cafe dates and roadtrips is hard for me. So I'd suggest finding something you're really interested in and taking off with it.

And if you're like me, try to do as much of it in one sitting as possible, and if you're gonna stop write notes on what you'd planned next. That was my downfall with the Last Roadtrip story I was working on before.

Regarding ideas? Some of these are at the top of the dome and some of these are ones I'd considered but changed my mind on.

A group of friends who all learn different fiberwork/clothing crafts (sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery) so they can have the absolutely most baller outfits for their town's fashion show/big dance/festival/some other event in a few months/next year

Story from the perspective of someone who goes around town maintaining all the different community fridges and talking with the people who use them while they work

A small community starting a community pollinator garden/food garden in honor of... something I dunno

A band getting ready for a gig another town over but like. Solarpunk.

Someone whos finally old enough to go to their town's night market by themselves and their excitement over it/what the market is like

A group of friends takes it upon themselves to clean up a creek they used to play at that, over the years, sort of became a dilapidated dumping site, and keeping track of all the new stuff they see as they work. Like, one person's passionate about plants and guides them on what they should plant and where and how, one person's really good at identifying insects and animals and helps log every new sighting, one person's better with handling like logistics and stuff, etc.

Two guerrilla gardeners accidentally pick the same abandoned lot to strike on the same night. Chaos ensues, but don't get caught!!

A society is quickly transitioning to becoming carless, but one group of teens is siezing the opportunity to take possibly THE LAST true Summer Roadtrip ever. Hijinks ensue.

A community gathering to repair and rebuild a beloved community center after it gets absolutely fucked up somehow (natural disaster, vandalizers, whatever, maybe it got attacked by bears who knows)

Someone trying to figure out how to make some beloved passed down family recipe without having a good chunk of the ingredients due to season-based product selling or transport issues or something

Look if you manage to pull off a superhero story in a solarpunk society I'll definitely read it. Tag me, even.

The rivalry of the ages going down during a 'who can grow the biggest pumpkin/watermelon/whatever' contest. But it's solarpunk. IDK.

You can see how I struggle with this

Don't forget you can also do like 'oh a solarpunk society in the tropics what does that look like' (I had a brief idea on solarpunk pearl harvesting/oyster raising after watching some shorts but lost it basically soon after) or 'a solarpunk society but its wintry and snowy and all that jazz what then' kinda deal. Check out this post I made awhile back.

I also have this post of video game ideas I conjured up, that could be made into short stories instead if you wanted.

If all else fails, you can check out the Solarpunk Aesthetic Week pinterest board and see if anything in there inspires you!

I hope this rambly ass answer was actually helpful in any way, shape, or form. And if it wasn't I'm sorry, smite me where I stand.

[masterofrecords]

Angstober 2024 day 14: Only around you

I am... aware that I'm very behind. The executives are not functioning (upon some reflection, that might have something to do with me being late to refill my meds a while ago and then. Forgetting about them entirely. Oops.)

I am also aware that this one's barely angst, but have mercy on me and on these two, pretend it's proper angst.

Shackles

“Why do you never go out?” Ashton asked Phoenix one evening. Even Ashton had gone on his fair share of group outings, as rare as they were among the researchers, and field agents usually left early every week to go to some bar or another. And yet, today just like any other day, Phoenix replied with a polite yet cold no to the colleague passing on the invitation.

Phoenix just shrugged. “Not interested,” he replied simply. He looked annoyed, but Ashton decided to push for once.

“Not a fan of drinking? Maybe you can join us next Sunday, we were going to see a play. I’m sure no one will mind.”

Phoenix looked like someone who would enjoy theatre. Maybe even opera – he had that refined look to him, even beyond the handsomeness of his face.

“I’ll pass,” Phoenix said curtly. A beat passed, and then he added, slightly softer, “But thank you for the invitation.”

Ashton pretended not to be disappointed.

“Is your objection to the activity or the company?” he asked, not sure if he wanted to really know the answer. He was still having trouble figuring his new coworker out; he seemed more awkward than bitter, but also avoided any friendliness like a plague. It was hard not to take it personally.

Phoenix’s jaw tensed before he said, “It’s neither.”

Ashton took a moment to figure out what Phoenix was implying. When no clarification followed, he prodded, “Then what is it?..”

“That’s…” Phoenix exhaled loudly and silence stretched as he was searching for words, “That’s hard to explain. It’s just not a good idea – let’s leave it at that.”

“You’re not even trying to explain,” Ashton countered. Phoenix didn’t answer, and Ashton tried again, “Look, we’re sharing an office, for better or for worse, surely you can spare a few more words instead of being cryptic.”

“It’s just… not very believable, I suppose,” Phoenix looked away, and Ashton’s frustration dissipated.

“I talk to ancient relics for a living,” he reminded Phoenix, as gently as he could. “The first time I came across a magical object, I saw things I couldn’t explain and that no one would believe. Try me.”

Phoenix blinked. He tightened the scarf around his neck, and then started… stripping.

It was Ashton’s turn to be surprised. “What are you doing?”

“You’re… you’re right. Maybe you can actually make it out – look at the magic on me.”

It took an embarrassingly long moment for Ashton to realize that Phoenix was only removing the enchanted items.

“Right – right, hold on.” Ashton adjusted his glasses, letting the magic flow through them and into his eyes. Everything dimmed, the bright colors of magical auras standing out. There were the relics on Ashton’s desk, the pile of discarded items by Phoenix’s side.

Then there was Phoenix himself.

Ashton saw the pulsing of Phoenix’s innate magic, a translucent veil of deep blue around his head.

Ashton also saw… something else.

At first it appeared like a bit of dust, something in Ashton’s eyes. But the more he looked, the more definition it had – a bit of metallic glow, there one moment and gone the next, circling Phoenix’s neck and wrists like shackles.

He reached out, and it clung to his skin, quickly dissipating on it without trace and yet leaving a hint of that painfully familiar impression.

Ashton tried not to jerk his hand as he pulled it away, instincts screaming at him to run away. His vision faded back into normality, and he looked up at Phoenix’s sad smile.

“You’re… cursed?”

“I’m surprised you figured it out just from that. In a manner of speaking, yes,” Phoenix replied casually, seemingly unbothered by Ashton’s momentary display of fear. “The details are… irrelevant. Bloodlines. There’s… a history.”

There usually was, with these things. Ashton thought back to the visions of blood and decay, to a row of graves on a faraway coast, and to an innocent piece of jewelry that was never to be touched.

Phoenix turned away to put his gear back on, face hidden. His shoulders were tense, but Ashton wasn’t sure what there was to say for comfort.

He knew better than anyone how a curse could wreck a life – or many.

He… knew.

“I’m… good with curses, actually,” he said, the realization surprising even himself. “Or maybe the curses are good around me – I’m not explaining myself very well, am I?”

Phoenix turned back to him with a confused frown. “You’re not,” he agreed. “Try again?”

“I’m not as affected by curses as… pretty much anyone else?”

Phoenix looked skeptical. Ashton tried again.

“Have you ever been to the Director’s stash?” Phoenix nodded. “Do you know the – the daemonic orb? That makes everyone sick if they touch it?” Phoenix nodded again, and Ashton perked up. “I can carry it around and nothing will happen! Just doesn’t affect me – um, we tried, back when I just joined and they were figuring out what my deal was – I can show you if you’d like!”

Phoenix blinked. “We are not going to the Director for this.” He didn’t say he believed Ashton, but there were small lines between his eyebrows, eyes were open wider than usual.

Ashton liked to believe that he looked hopeful.

[sunlitmiracle]

smashes my current interest together with my old interest (aka yet another "what Dungeon Meshi but Gamers?" AU)

Once when I was a child I had a complete crying meltdown over Creatures, because the manual insisted that the complicated AI of the Norns made them truly alive and 10-year-old me was freaked out at the idea of being solely responsible for making sure these real animals wouldn't die. The funny part was that this was the Playstation version of Creatures, which has no biochemistry and very basic AI compared to the PC/Mac games where players actually were debating whether or not it was true artificial life. A PSX manual gave me existential dread and it wasn't even telling the truth.

Anyway, kid!Marcille would also have a meltdown over the Creatures series, especially if she had the computer games and got to see how vastly different some breeds' lifespans are. Like in C2 where you have Norns that live for around 5 hours and Norns that live for 10, both of which are vastly more than Ettins who don't even live for 1.5 hours (and usually less due to radiation or starvation).

Lucky for her, having the computer version means she could download modified genomes made by other players that make creatures live longer or even outright remove certain death triggers. However I think she'd have more fun learning to read and edit the genomes herself, to get a better understanding of how the game works and how to change it to suit her own tastes. And because she could pretend she's one of the mysterious ancient Shee who created the Norns, Grendels, and Ettins and then vanished, leaving behind relics of their old society.

(Speaking of Grendels, she would unfortunately dislike them because they're the Designated Evil Species and she'd hate how they harass and attack her Norns. I think she'd also pity them though, because they get sick a lot and have short lifespans. Likely she'd just end up downloading/creating a genome without the aggression towards Norns. Ettins she'd like except for in C3 when they dismantle her meticulously-placed gadget setups, so she might mod out their hoarding compulsions too. Both of them would of course also live for however long her Norns would live.)

Also. While standard creatures' lifespans are counted in hours, if you modify the half-lives in the genome editor you can increase it to centuries. Or even just over a millennium if you set the half-lives to their max length (assuming you also leave the old age death trigger at its vanilla value).

and I like to think that elven Creatures players would pass around copies of what they consider a template genome that's appropriate to their own lifespans. Something that would make their creatures live for weeks or months of continuous play. I also like to think the Creatures DS Warp is still active in this AU because of the hilarious frustration when these long-lived Norns travel to worlds run by short-lived players whose Norns have vanilla lifespans, and vice versa.

(Most of the time in Creatures, offspring of parents with different lifespans will just have one or the other, but there's a chance the genes cross over right in the middle of the various age triggers and cause unstable aging rates. Like a Norn that goes through the childhood stages in hours but then has a very extended adulthood. Or a days-long childhood followed by suddenly dropping dead of old age once the vanilla adulthood genes kick in. Or, if the child has one parent's half-life decay rate and the other parent's age triggers, all sorts of odd things could happen. I once had hybrid Norns who lived for 20 hours and would die of organ failure before reaching the old age threshold!)

(Now that I think of it, Marcille would absolutely hate fast-agers. The first time she watches a creature hatch, turn old, and die in just one brief minute of life, she would be sobbing for days. One of the first things she'd learn to mod out would be mutations that cause the Ageing/Life chemical to decrease unusually fast.)

On a lighter note, while I don't know what her favorite designs would be I think she'd love choosing cute breeds to use in her world. Once she figured out how to give her creatures the comfortable life she wants them to have I can see her redirecting all her gene-editing efforts into changing color expressions. She might even learn to sprite or model her own custom designs.

[empressofthesunwriter]

Cosmic Phantoms

What do you get if you put a sassy Half-Ghost, a bubbly Magical Ghostly Girl, a strongwilled Goth and a skirt-chasing Tech-Nerd together?

Well, the greatest Ghost Hunting Team on Earth!

Join Danny, Julia, Sam and Tucker on their crazy adventures.

Puberty is a joke against the forces they are up to!

Prisoners of Love

#NO COMMENTS NO CHAPTER

(*)

Frustrated, Julia stared at her notes and the various web pages she had opened on her computer.

She couldn't solve the enigma before her.

She had discovered that her necklace was called the Necklace of Nyx, and Adeline's mirror was known as the Mirror of Aphrodite.

Both items belonged to a collection that ghost experts referred to as the Relics of the Ancients.

The first person to propose the idea that the gods of ancient times were actually ghosts was Professor Kasimir Aydin, back in late 1892.

Julia even found a picture of him holding her necklace.

Unfortunately, Professor Aydin was not taken seriously, so his dissertations on the subject were not made public; instead, they remained in the archives of Oxford University in England.

Julia wondered how she could go to Oxford and get her hands on those papers.

Sure, she was half-ghost and could turn invisible to read them, but how could she convince her dads and grandma to take a vacation there?

Aargh, it was all so frustrating!

With a sigh, she turned off her computer and got ready for school. Perhaps a day at school would clear her mind and help her find a solution to this dilemma.

(*)

Julia and her friends were walking down the hallways of Casper High as Danny told them his own dilemma.

"You should've seen 'em fighting. My folks never fight. Well, they fight ghosts, but...that's different."

"Danny, calm down.", said Julia and rubbed reassuring his shoulder. "No one splits up because of a present."

"I'm with Julie, you give this gift way too much importance.", added Sam.

"But it's the thing my dad's gonna use to apologize!", shot Danny back. "They're...right on the brink! I'm telling ya, anything could set them over the edge."

"Danny, you're fine. I mean, it's not like your mom actually said the word "divorce." I mean, if she actually said the word, then you'd have to worry.", tried Tucker to calm him down.

It worked the opposite way.

Danny stopped and freaked out!

"Said the word...Oh, man. She did! She said the word!"

Sam turned to Tucker and demanded that he say something to calm Danny down.

"Well...uh...did she say it twice?"

"That's not better!", mumbled the girls.

"That settles it. I'm going into the Ghost Zone and get that present back.", swore Danny.

"But not alone.", spoke Julia up. "I will come with you, together we can cover more ground."

"Thanks, Julie, I owe you one."

After school, we find Danny Phantom and Julie Cosmos before the Ghost Portal of the Fentons, decked out with headsets and cameras.

"I so don't want to do this.", signs Phantom.

"You get in, get the present, and get out. You'll be fine.", said Sam.

"Also I am with you.", reminded him Cosmos and took his hand. "Together we will manage."

This made Phantom smile and squeeze her hand in thanks.

"Besides, with these mini webcams, I'll be with you both every step of the way.", spoke Tucker up and showed his PDA, before he started to play a game on it.

Phantom and Cosmos deadpanned at him and turned to Sam.

"You'll monitor the webcam?"

"I'll monitor the webcam."

The Half-Ghosts hold each other hands tight as they enter the Ghost Zone.

"Wow! This place is amazing!", they heard Sam gush over the headset.

"It's so...green, I like green.", mussed Cosmos.

"You both are so weird, it's creepy. And it goes on forever. I don't even know where to start to look!", grumbled Danny.

"Hey look.", pointed Cosmos with her free hand at floating purple doors. "Maybe we should check out one of these doors?"

"It's a start.", agreed Phantom.

So they flow up to a door and open it, only to get kicked out of the room by the ghost who lives there, who turns into a big red monster.  

Frightened Phantom and Cosmos lean on the closed door, while it slowly drifts down to the ground.

"Every one of these doors goes into another ghost’s lair?! I’m never gonna find that present. My folks are gonna get divorced and it’s gonna be all my fault.", cries Phantom desperate.

The door lands in some dark forest with some tombstones.

Both Halfa's jumps off the door before it reaches the ground.

Before Cosmos can say something to calm Phantom down, the tombstones begin to rattle as some wailing is heard.

Some glowing green skeletons pop out of the dirt, trying to grab them!

Screaming both fly away from the spooky ghost cemetery.

"Relax, Danny and Julie. We all just have to stay focused.", tries Sam to soothe their rattling nerves.

Automatically Phantom and Cosmos hold hands again and fly slowly and carefully around the Ghost Zone, while they hear how Tucker and Sam are discussing why they didn't take the Specter Speeder.

"Danny! Julie! I think we can guide you to the present.", shouts suddenly Tucker.

"There’s a doorway coming up on your left. Take it.", informs Sam.

They do as they are told and find themselves in a Ghost Lair full of human items.

"So *this* is where all that stuff ends up.", musses Phantom.

"Wait, you mean when you lost something it ends up here?", ask Cosmos surprised.

It isn't Phantom who answers but the Box Ghost!

"Yes!", shouts Box Ghost. "It all ends up in the possession of THE BOX GHOST!"

Cosmos and Phantom deadpan and say together: "Ugh, what are *you* doing here?"

"I am The Box Ghost! Where do you two think we go when you release us from your round, cylindrical traps?"

"You mean the Fenton Thermos?", choruse Phantom and Cosmos so done with the situation.

Stupify the Box Ghosts stares at them before he shouts again: "I am the Box Ghost! And beware! For I am merely *ONE* of your foes who reside in this realm! In fact, you might say, we’re a package deal!"

The Box Ghost laughs, while Cosmos groans. Phantom puns are way better.

"Ugh. Look, We're looking for something important, we don’t have time for your box puns.", tells Phantom straight.

That's when they all hear...police sirens?

What?

"Flee! Lest you be hermetically sealed and shipped to your doooom!", warns Box Chost and flies away.

Far away the portly ghost doesn't get, because a green laser encloses him and turns into handcuffs.

"Hey, what’s going on?", wonders Phantom.

"Who cares?", yells Cosmos, grips tight his hand and flies away from the lasers that are coming towards them. "We need to make it like a tree, Danny!"

Luck is not on their side since both get captured too.

A white ghost with a skeleton face and 50s clothes, who Phantom knows, takes their headsets away.

"Possession of unauthorized recording equipment.", says Walker and crushes the items. "That’s against the rules. Or at least it is *now*."

"Wait! This is all a big misunderstanding!", yells Phantom.

Walker doesn't care and leans towards him.

"There may be chaos everywhere in this Ghost Zone, but there’ll be order in *my* prison. You should’ve heeded my warning, punk. Now you and I and your mate have a problem."

Unceremional the Halfa's and the Box Ghost get tossed into a ghostly van and drive to Walker Ghost Prison.

"Great. My folks are splitting up, my sister’s a basket case, I’m going to ghost jail and dragged you, Julie, with me.", laments Phantom.

"It's okay, Danny, we will come up with something!", tries Cosmos to stay positive.

But as they reach the prison and see all the ghosts they have fought before in prison uniform and ready to pumple them, the Halfas say together: "This is the worst day of my life."

"I am the Box Ghost!"

"Will you stop that!"

(*)

Cosmos feels sick.

She was sitting with Phantom in Prison Uniform before the Skelton-Face Ghost who told them all of their rule breaks.

"Trespassing. Loitering. Creating a disturbance. And, possession of real-world contraband."

The anniversary gift Phantom searched for flies behind the warden and he tried to grab it.

"Excuse me, sir, but-but-"

The ghost grabs him by the shirt.

"Name’s Walker, son. Know it. Fear it. Obey it. I am your judge, executioner, jury, executioner, jailer, and, if necessary, your executioner."

He let's go off Phantom.

"Uh, you said “executioner” three times."

"Danny!", hissed Cosmos, it sure wasn't a good idea to be a smart-ass with this Walker.

Lucky for them Walker only says how he likes the part of the job and that's why he repeats it so often.

Then Phantom tries to get the present and them free by swerving so they would never again come into this part of the Ghost Zone.

Walker admins since that's their first rule break, they will get a lighter sentence.

1000 years!

Yep, they were screwed.

Only more as guards showed them to the cafeteria of the prison.

All their enemy sat on a table, glaring at them.

"Wow, heh, pretty much everyone who hates us all at one table.", chuckles Phantom weak.

"Just like high school.", adds Cosmos nervous.

Both Halfa's start to sweat as their old enemies stand up and come towards them.

"Sorry, We can’t stay and catch up on old times!", tells Phantom and grips Cosmos' hand.

They walk backwards, till they hit the counter of the food line, turning around.

"Can I get you anything, dearies?", says the Lunch Lady Ghost to them sweetly. "Coffee? Pudding? An extra helping of DOOM?!"

As she says this, she reaches over the table with the ladle, her hair flailing under her hairnet.

Phantom and Cosmos lean backwards in fear.  

The Lunch Lady lunges at them with her ladle, laughing as she continues to fly forward.

The teens fly away from her, only for Phantom to smack against Skulker and Cosmos against Technus.

Their old foes slap them away and all the imprisoned ghosts form a circle, where they slap both Halfa's around.

Phantom and Cosmos land in the arms of the Lunch Lady Ghost, who puts them into a headlock with her ladle.

"Payback time, ghost childer!", growls Skulker, creaking his knuckles.

"Wait!", shout Phantom and Cosmos together. "We are not the enemies here."

"I mean, yeah, We sent you all back to the Ghost Zone.", continues Phantom.

"But we didn't lock you up here, did we?", finish Cosmos.

Supringly the Box Ghost came to their aid.

"It is true! They did not package us in this box of iron!  I am the B— "

He is interrupted as a metal arm pushes him away.

It's Skulker who seems curious.

"Go on."

"If we work together we could all bust out of here. And you could always kick our butts later.", offers Phantom with Cosmos nodding along.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now.", agrees Skulker for all the ghosts.

Finally, the Lunch Lady Ghost lets them go and the two halfa's gasp for air.

"Alright then, that's what we do!", says Cosmos and picks up a surprised Phantom, holding him over her head. "Riot!"

Immediately all the ghosts start to fight each other.

"How did you know this would work?", wonders Phantom flabbergasted.

Cosmos smiles smugly.

"I saw it on TV."

Of course, the guard ghosts appear and that's when all the prison ghosts work together to fight them.

Thanks to the Lunch Lady Ghost and her giant chicken leg, the way is free and all escape.

Well, besides Phantom and Cosmos who run to Walker's office, after Skulker calls after them about how happy he is to hunt them again.

They hear Walker talking behind his metal door, asking his guards what is happening.

Both kick down the door.

"How about saying “please”? Saying “please” is a rule.", says Phantom.

"It is?"

The warden opens his beloved rule book, searching for this rule, as Phantom closes the book, hurting his fingers.

"It's now a rule!", tells Cosmos.

They see the present and try to grab it, but Walker slams them both on the ground and puts his foot on them.

Walker starts a monologue about what happens when you cross him, ably pressure on both their chests when out of nowhere the Specter Speeder phases through the wall with Sam and Tucker inside.

"Tucker, Sam! How’d you get in here?", asks Phantom surprised, while Cosmos stares at them in disbelief.

"Check it out! Real-world stuff just phases through everything in here.", explains Tucker.

"In the Ghost Zone, we’re the ghosts!", adds Sam smiling.

"We’re the ghosts?", repeat Phantom and Cosmos together.

Their eyes meet and they grin.

"So... maybe it’s time to stop fighting like ghosts...", begins Cosmos.

"And start fighting like kids!", ends Phantom.

Both turn into their human selves and indeed Walker's foot just phases through them.

They stand up and walk to the present, while Walker desperately tries to catch them.

Danny takes the present and smugly tells Walker how this is the Ghost Zone, but he and Julia aren't just Ghosts but also humans.

Both grip the edge of the Specter Speeder and fly away, hearing Walker's screams of no.

(*)

Later that night Danny sends into the group chat how the divorce was all a big misunderstanding and actually a party for his Aunt Alicia's 10-year Anniversary of her divorce.

Julia couldn't help but giggle, however, she was glad that all was good with Danny's parents.

Then she turns back to her computer.

Another night of research awaits her.

Oh, joy.

Well, better than 1000 years of prison!

(*)

#NO COMMENTS NO CHAPTER

[xerith-42]

So in your rewrite why did Araphel destroy Kulzak’s eye and why didn’t Irene heal it. Also do you have any more Kulzak crumbs I humbly beg.

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!!

In my rewrites Araphel did destroy Kul'zak's eye, it actually happened during that final fight against him as an attempt to stop Kul'zak from shattering his relic. It didn't work, but whatever fucked up and evil magic Araphel used to destroy Kul'zak's eye was something Irene couldn't heal. She tried to, but the wound always repelled her magic away and just didn't work at all.

After the failed attempts Enki whisked Kul'zak off to one of their vacation homes in Galruk and tried to heal him in a variety of different ways. The one that had the most promise and that is considered a core memory for both of them was a potion that Enki spent almost a year figuring out the components for, gathering said components, and then brewing. It was a long, arduous process, and multiple times Kul'zak told Enki that this wasn't necessary. He was perfectly content living without his eye, it was his idea after all, if this is the price to pay then it was worth it.

But Enki can't live with that. "What's the point of all this knowledge if I can't use it to help the people I love?" In the end it didn't work, but the attempt was greatly appreciated. Kul'zak did their best not to let this keep them down, instead turning to try and understand/love this new aspect of his appearance from an artistic sense. He had paintings commissioned of him that depicted him with this new eye in a beautiful way, hoping to show to his fellow wanderers and everyone who saw him that this change didn't make him any less beautiful or worthy of love than before. He and one of their muses even wrote a song about the "One Eyed Wanderer" to cement that this is who Kul'zak is now, and they can live with that.

Oh yeah Kul'zak is so nonbinary in my brain it's not even funny. Every time I think of Kul'zak I just think "You would use neopronouns". Probably star/starself would be their favorites bc Kul'zak is such an astronomer/astrology girl. It's actually how astronomy started as a science in the ancient days. Wanderers, merchants, sailors, farmers, normal people just looked at the stars a lot and noticed patterns in them, wrote those patterns down, and then theorized about them. I imagine stargazing is one of stars favorite pastimes, something they tried to do with each of the divine warriors at least once, including Xavier who wasn't even divine, just this simp who Kul'zak was fond of.

Kul'zak does have everyone's sun signs memorized and Enki is the only one who fully understands what they're saying. Menphina's in a bitchy mood one day and Kul'zak barks "Stop being such a Gemini," to which she yells back "Shove those stars up your ass!!" Irene understands it kind of because she asked Kul'zak what the hell they meant when star said she was "Being a total Sagittarius." Esmund and Araphel do not understand this weird star bull shit at all, but Kul'zak is having fun and they don't understand half of what he says anyways.

I think a lot of music in the MCD world was composed by Kul'zak. He learned how to play many instruments in his time, and possibly made a few of his own, probably some of the weirder ones that have fallen into obscurity. Some of his compositions are credited to different people, and some don't even have his name on it, but that really wouldn't bother them. As long as there is music in the places star once called home, Kul'zak is happy.

Unlike some of his peers, Kul'zak could honestly care less whether anyone remembers him in the future. His name could fall into complete obscurity, his relic could be left to rot somewhere where it will never be found, and all his findings could be attributed to someone else. As long as there are still wanderers, poets, musicians, bards, travelers, and those with free spirits who let themselves love the world they live in the way he did, they're happy. As long as there's still a world for them, he did his job right.

[bananadragonblog]

Okay so I started writing down ideas as I was playing through the game and quickly realized there were gonna be too many to send as requests one by one. Plus I love everyone's writing I could never choose just one, so mass post it is! I wish I could write myself, but I only seem to have a knack for coming up with ideas and no way to put them into words.

I intended all of these to be Ominis x reader, but feel free to change them up if you'd like. They are also based off my own OC, but having them as reader-insert fics is fine so others can enjoy them (I personally have a hard time swapping out names for my own when reading fics). I'll be posting an infographic I made of my OC on my page as well if you do feel like using her [Link] (and I might just love you forever if you do) I'll likely add to the list when I get new ideas so check back often ❤️

Feel free to share as well, all I ask is that I get tagged in your work if you use one of my prompts ❤️

@darkwizardings @cafeacademia @fwooperfeathers @sebastianwallows @awkwardauthorwrites @gauntlysallows @gtgbabie0 @sammiesallow (Tagging you guys since its a lot and I know your requests are open ❤️)

(All can be gender neutral/low descriptions so everyone can enjoy the stories but I'll provide basics for my OC if needed/wanted; meant to follow along main story where reader is the MC)

(Small warning that I haven't really proofread or made any of these super pretty, they are just raw ideas I threw onto a notepad)

Personal Headcannons:

-Ominis' mother is still fairly loving (somewhat like the malfoy family)

- Ominis' blindness allows him to see light/dark and basic shapes, like someone with cataracts would see (the cloudy eyes already resemble this)

____________ Prompts ___________

Ominis visits home and his parents ask about the 5th year (they are pureblood from another well known family), the idea of arranging marriage gets thrown around

Reader bringing Ominis something from hogsmeade and Ominis doesnt know how to react to the kindness

reader/seb making "ominous" puns and Ominis being over it

Ominis noticing reader always leaving the castle/coming back hurt. Gives her a necklace/trinket/family heirloom to her for good luck so she stays safe

Ominis overhears reader talking to Sebastian and agreeing with Ominis about the dark arts being dangerous, confronts them later and thanks them

Reader warns Ominis of Sebastian's plan to visit the ruin to look for the relic. (hate that this isnt an option in the game, he literally asks us to do this 😭)

everyone trying to one up each other about the "adventures" they have gone on with reader, and everyone jesting that amits adventure of stargazing sounds more like a date, Ominis feels left out- maybe confronts reader and they plan an actual date? -OR- Ominis lies about having special "interactions" with reader (sfw) and reader hears the rumors

seb steals Ominis' wand while in hogsmeade, reader offers hers for him to be able to see even though Ominis is certain it won't work. Turns out to work but only if they are holding onto the wand together

defence against the dark arts class: a boggart is brought out and reader's fear is Sebastian/crucio curse (set after the sanctorium mission)

after seb and reader's fight in the undercroft (when he calls reader ignorant for knowing lodgok), reader runs off to the underground harbor to get away (its their safe space, where they can skip the rocks and listen to the water), while running there ominis passes reader but end up confronting seb about what happened before going to find reader

Ominis is self conscious about letting reader lead him around at times, so she makes sure to hold onto him so he still feels like the one leading

Reader telling Ominis about the ancient magic

Ominis and seb talking to reader about how the headmaster was acting strange- reader reveals it was actually them

Slytherin!reader having nightmares and sneaks to the boys dorms

after "in the shadow of the relic" and deciding to not turn in Sebastian, reader shows Ominis the room of requirement so they can have a space for just them (not ready to be around seb), introduces him to the phoenix

Aftermath of reader surviving the encounter with Rookwood, Ominis is concerned and refuses to leave the hospital wing for the night.

Hogwarts has a "parents" weekend and everyone is shocked that reader knows how to act all proper when the Gaunts introduce themselves

Reader has a tendency to not wear a jacket because they dont get cold easily

Ominis comforting reader after they fight ranrok and lose Fig

6th year- Ominis and reader pestering 1st years about mermaids

Reader and Ominis deciding what to do for the summer, reader offers to join him at his family's home

Reader overhears someone saying awful things about Ominis and how reader deserves better, but reader gets defensive and punches them?

Posted 03.29.2023

Edited 03.30.2023

[dailycharacteroption]

Roleplaying Races 14: Wyrwood

(art by James Anderson on Artstation)

Our next entry, much like gathlains, trox, and wyvarans, started out as one of the completely new “example” ancestries that were created to demonstrate how the race builder rules from Advanced Race Guide could be used to create entirely new playable options, and not just turn your favorite monstrous humanoids into something you could play as.

And unlike the bestiary-only options, those species actually got development, lore, and character options! In particular, today we are looking at wyrwoods!

Originally created to demonstrate a construct playable option (which really pushed the limits of the builder’s ruleset), the wyrwoods barely had any abilities at all aside from “it’s got all the construct immunities and weaknesses.”

However, since then, these diminutive automatons have gotten both lore and ability updates to really flesh them out, literally in one case.

Overall, they have elements of “ancient robots”, “freed automatons distrustful of fleshlings” and other such tropes built into their design.

The first wyrwoods were created by the ancient Azlanti, animating frames of metal and wood a powerful ioun stone (or aeon stone as they are called now) as the power source and possibly the seat of their consciousness. The enclave that created them had succeeded in creating intelligent constructs with souls and wills of their own, but with sapience comes the ability to question, and the wyrwoods wondered why they had to be involved in the conflict between the Azlanti and the Alghollthu in the last years of the empire.

When forced to fight against the horrors of the deep, the wyrwoods rebelled and fled, taking with them the secret of their creation, where they weathered the destruction of Azlant. To this day, these pragmatic people seek their own survival and have sworn to never be under the thumb of any other species ever again.

About halfling-sized, wyrwoods are humanoid constructs of wood and metal, the exact shape varying by the artistic aesthetics of the “parent” that built them, as well as any repairs or upgrades they themselves have made since that time. They all sport an aeon stone matrix somewhere in their body, but this may or may not be visible, and is not easily removed in any case.

The diminutive machines have a limited capacity for emotion, focusing primarily on logic and survival, and what emotions they have are treated as motivating tools rather than a part of their core being.

Wyrwood society is defined by their distrust of all organics, who once enslaved them, and by their desire to survive and live free, which is why they guard the secret of their creation so fiercely. The most horrible thing to these constructs is the thought of an entire population of new wyrwoods manufactured to be slaves and servants, not knowing the freedom of the rest of their people, or worse, accepting it as normal.

That isn’t to say that wyrwoods refuse all contact with flesh people. Indeed, sometimes envoys are sent abroad, particularly to places where constructs are made and studied, but they prefer not to stay long, especially when humans and other fleshlings reveal malicious intent that makes their fears into reality.

Wyrwoods are agile and always thinking, but their distrust makes it hard to endear themselves to others.

As constructs, they boast an impressive array of immunities and defenses compared to living creatures. However, it also means they cannot benefit from most healing magic.

As smaller beings, they are quite agile but also lack leverage, inhibiting their strength.

They also sport impressive night vision.

Of course, not all wyrwoods are built the same, and I mean that in a very literal sense. Some were designed to be supportive of others of their kind and even other constructs, able to channel magic to repair them. Others used different materials in their construction for the physical and mystical benefits. Some may contain religious relics that allow them to provide divine blessings, or have bodies mostly constructed of the remains of wands and staves, increasing their reserve of arcane energy. Some may have parts from the First World, and have an uncanny ability to befriend animals as a result, while others may be constructed of salvaged materials from battle sites or ruins, able to channel a small measure of violent destruction into their attacks. Perhaps the strangest of all are those who have incorporated living matter into their bodies (typically plant life, but there are experimental possibilities), the result being constructs that blur the lines between automaton and living being. While this gets rid of many of their immunities, they can be resurrected as if they were ordinary living creatures.

With their intelligence and agility, the most natural classes for wyrwoods are rogue and investigator, what with their focus on dexterity and having lots of skills, though alchemist, wizard, and other intelligence-based casters are also good picks as well. The charisma penalty does limit them somewhat with charisma casters and charming builds, but this can be circumvented. The only classes that I would avoid them are barbarian, bard, and skald, as they can’t benefit from morale bonuses, preventing many core features from being of any use to them without special archetypes.

That does it for today, but we’re far from done! See you tomorrow!

[mcd-brainrot-hours]

*taps mic* hi guys i wanted to post something for vylenix week so have my wip of today’s prompts :3 @vylenix-week

i attempted to combine the two prompts (ghost/ghost hunting au and reincarnation) for this wip

Vylad often stumbled across ruins during his travels (but he wouldn’t if he followed the paths he was told to by his GPS). He’d spend time admiring the aged or rotted exterior but he never dared to actually enter one. He’d rather not have to deal with asbestos.

But this one- this one was different. It wasn’t as eerie as other buildings he found on his way here. He began to assume this area used to be a village once bustling with life. However, unlike the other buildings in it, this one’s exterior remained oddly intact. The stone walls showed no signs of crumbling. Vylad admired the architectural style of it in an attempt to put an age on it. “Looks like a guard tower… huh. Those haven’t been used in ages…” He mumbled to the mist around him.

“Nothing bad could happen… right?” Vylad shrugged and decided to enter the oddly-preserved guard tower. The first thing he noticed was how organized it was. Why was this place so… put together?

If Vylad’s memory was correct, these guard towers were used during the Phoenix Era. They played a key role in a village’s defense. He read about a library’s worth of books on that era alone- the last era to use relics.

Vylad continued looking around. He admired the weapons on display, each of them still shining and sharp- he wouldn’t test that though. He decided to look around for some books from older time periods.

He made his way to a bookshelf but stopped when he heard… footsteps? No one else should be here… He shrugged it off and continued towards the bookshelf.

. . .

Haunting what remains of Phoenix Drop’s guard towers isn’t the most exciting thing. The world seems to have forgotten it even existed. Zenix doesn’t have much to do other than recall his glory day- being a ghost really limits what you can do.

Zenix stared out of the windows at the ocean. His favorite activity… Zenix let out a groan and decided to pace around the room for a bit longer- wait. Someone’s here. Zenix debated whether he should investigate or continue to do what he’s done for centuries.

But it’s not everyday that someone stumbles across this ancient town. Zenix decided to spice things up. He’s going to investigate.

. . .

Vylad didn’t realize how much history this tower would hold when he first found it an hour ago. Majority of the books here contain old fighting techniques and different types of weapons that were used then. He found a few that held details of the relics- mainly Esmund’s. He peered at the tower of books he’s created next to him. Vylad added another to the top.

He stretched his legs before getting up from the wooden chair he was using. Irene, that was a lot of reading. He checked his phone for the time. He didn’t have anywhere he needed to be today so he could spend as long as he wanted here.

He wandered over to the weapon racks on the wall. He reached out to carefully trace the blade of one of the iron swords. “Get out…” Vylad snapped around, trying to find where the voice came from. He gulped. “Ok… cool. This place is probably haunted… should’ve figured-“ He let out a shaky breath. His eyes traced the room like a hawk.

Vylad felt someone poke him on the shoulder from behind. He froze. Definitely haunted, he thought, why didn’t I consider that? He carefully crept to where his bag sat by the door. He didn’t want to leave just yet- he hasn’t even been to the second floor.

A sudden chill filled the room. Vylad froze. “…not supposed to be here…” That voice again! He put on a brave face and called out: “Show yourself!” He held out his phone like a weapon- maybe it could scare off the ghost?

He searched the room with his eyes again. “Behind you…” Vylad startled and slowly turned around.

There was a ghost here.

. . .

Zenix expected to find some nerd who studies his time period- he’s gotten good at scaring them off. He didn’t expect him. Vylad was supposed to be dead. Not staring at Zenix in fear and curiosity.

Zenix took a moment to take in Vylad’s appearance. He looked… different. His once messy, unkempt hair was tamed (just a bit) in a small ponytail- only half though. His clothes looked new but he still has his green scarf. Time has been kind to him (he deserves the kindness, Zenix thought).

“W-Who are you? Or what are- wait no… your a ghost that’s what you are…” Zenix couldn’t help but laugh. “You don’t remember me?” He questioned.

“…should I?”

“Well, duh. I’m supposed to be an important part of your life.” Zenix teased.

Vylad squinted his eyes. “How is a ghost supposed to be important to me? I don’t even know your name!”

Zenix stared at Vylad. Why doesn’t he remember? “Are you not Vylad Ro’meave?” He asked. Vylad jumped. “How do you know my name?” His eyes squinted at Zenix.

“…we dated?” Zenix knew there were probably better things to jog Vylad’s memory with but he didn’t want to find them. He watched as Vylad started to fidget with the hem of their leather jacket. “I… don’t date people.” Vylad muttered.

“Did he wipe your memory, Vylad? It’s me, Zenix. Y’know… your boyfriend? The one who survived literal hell with you?” He sighed exasperatingly. “I give up. You clearly don’t remember me.” He turned away and looked down at his translucent hands. If he was still around, then it made sense for Vylad to be his Vylad.

[tokiro07]

Once again vaguing so as to maintain my "talk no shit on what people like" policy while also being able to vent about what is, quite possibly, my least favorite game of all time

This is...the single most tedious gaming experience I've ever had. I thought at first it was just that the controls were unresponsive due to some hardware limitation on the Switch port, but even ignoring that, what the game is literally asking me to do is absurdly repetitive

The actual challenge is decent, though a lot of my deaths have been pretty cheap in my opinion, either blindsiding me due to how poorly contrasted all of the background and stage elements are or landing cheap shots because I frequently respawn on top of enemies or directly in their line of fire. If regular stage hazards didn't actually cause damage and instead just reset me, like in say Hollow Knight, I would find this a lot more bearable, but because I lose health to the platforming and not just the combat, I often don't have enough health left for the combat, which wouldn't be a tremendous issue if the enemies weren't spongey as hell!

The fact that I keep needing to redo long platforming segments because every mistake drains my extremely shallow health pool or because long-winded enemies keep getting placed along the path makes for a ludicrously slow and repetitive experience in what seems like it's meant to be quite fast-paced

The boss fights compound on this by having multiple lengthy phases that end up feeling predictable because they go the same way every time, and generally have oddly long cutscenes to load in the new movesets. I understand not letting me skip phases I've beaten before, I can't think of too many games that allow that, but the earlier phases of any given boss fight become sooo boooring after you've beaten them 50 times, and the latter phases that throw a ton of bullshit at you when, again, you're constantly fighting against the controls themselves just become super annoying!

At the very least, don't put a long, empty path between a checkpoint and the final boss! I should be able to just walk straight into the boss fight from the checkpoint, not hold down a button to carry me there with enough time to think "maybe I don't want to try again." Which is what happened, by the way! I'm writing this now because the game gave me the opportunity to say "y'know what? Literally fuck this" and throw my system down to complain about how dogshit this game is!

And people like this game! It's getting decent to great reviews from what I can find! No one has any of the problems that I do, which again, made me think that it was just the particular port I'm playing, but no, these are all structural issues with the game's design! How is no one else upset about this??? How is everyone else able to accept this??? These are practically ancient design flaws at this point, relics of arcades past, why am I still being asked to put up with this in 2024, and why doesn't anyone else care???

I see what people like about it, I really do, it's just that those elements a) have been done a thousand times better in the games that this game is clearly trying to emulate, and b) are getting bogged down by other design decisions that I don't believe would have been too costly to fix

The only reason I'm still playing this game is so I can have a complete understanding of the sorts of design decisions I should avoid if I ever make my own game, and literally every single minute I spend playing it makes me regret that line of thinking. I have never been so abjectly miserable playing a video game before when this is supposed to be a fun hobby. The only solace that I can take aside from the game being quite pretty is that at least I'm not brain-dead bored. However, in a way that makes it worse, cus if it were completely unengaging I could at least turn it off and not feel like I'm missing something. Instead though, I'm mad, and that makes me feel like if I turn it off and never look back that I let my inability to meet the game at its level beat me, like I wasn't good enough to do it. I know that's a fallacy, since again I'm at the final boss (or at least the Normal Ending final boss, I can tell there's a True Ending I haven't done the work to unlock yet), but if I can't beat it right at the end it's just going to weigh on my mind for the rest of my life like when I didn't finish Magical Vacation

The real question is whether or not I should go ahead and collect everything for the True Ending now so I can just do the final boss fight once and not worry about it, OR should I get the Normal Ending then watch the True Ending online? Both feel wrong and incomplete, but like I said, I hate this game and want it to be done so I can at least feel some semblance of catharsis

Either way, I hope to be done this game no later than tomorrow so I can delete it from my system and actually play something that brings me joy

[knackfandomarchive]

What would you like the plot to be in a hypothetical Knack 3? And what do you predict it could be?

I think I had a dream about something like this and still it would be *way* cool to have an actual massive labyrinth of ancient relic structures to navigate. I want co-op puzzles with Lucas using his grappling hook. And more teleporters. Most players would hate it because it would be a headache and a half to track everything, even with partial maps.

Naturally there would also be Guardians everywhere, and maybe there could be some new-but-ancient types.

And along the way they could find clues to Knack's origin, and to who made him and how many of them there might actually be.

A major thing I noticed in the second game is that Knack has the most power in what happens, naturally because he is the only canon playable character. But often, things like whether and how a puzzle gets solved is left up to Knack, too, which makes sense from a player agency and gameplay standpoint but is rather ehh from a story perspective. To have Lucas or another companion offer possible solutions, and play some physical part in putting things together, would help balance the narrative weight and may help Knack feel less like Atlas. Even something like helping Knack push or lift something when he doesn't have access to enough relics would be adorable.

Even without physical assistance and with single player, they could split up and talk over communicators while you play. Then you can have Lucas scuffle and grunt on the other end of the line, and have him not respond when Knack asks if he's okay >:3

I'm evil.

There could also be mini-games where Lucas tries to recall what he learned while helping the Doctor bring Knack to life. Lucas is a huge nerd; he's gotta know something. On the other hand, I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, let alone events from half a decade ago, so maybe he'd misremember some things.

I need some kind of resolution for the goblin plot. Two games, each eight hours or so long at least, and each time the goblins are dropped for some other antagonist. I bet the creators would leave us hanging again in KNACK 3. Sadly, I'm not sure how it could be done anyhow and is a major sticking point in my own story.

And I really wish the duo hadn't just flown off into the night sky on a whim; I wanted to see more of other characters like Ava. I don't remember what her plans were and am experiencing some technical difficulties preventing me from checking.

I also want characters to get into actual serious arguments that threaten their relationships and expose insecurities. I love drama.

[millenniumdueled]

Yugi stares out the window, watching the pouring rain as he listens to the buzz of his classmates around him. Talks of weekend plans, of parties and karaoke and dancing, of movie nights, of bowling and roller skating. Of invitations never extended to him, only ever overheard.

Yugi wonders what it might be like. To spend the weekend having fun with friends, making memories and trying new things together. Of playing games with someone other than his grandpa.

Of course, he'll be spending this weekend as he has every other since starting college, and for many weekends before: working the game shop and playing games alone in his room. With a sigh, he takes his backpack from the floor beside his desk and removes an intricate, ancient golden box. He may as well use this time before class starts to work on his biggest project. It's been 8 years, but--

"maybe today will be the day i finally solve the millennium puzzle," Yugi says under his breath.

No sooner has he removed the lid when the small sarcophagus is snatched from the desk before him, making Yugi jump.

"Are you talking to yourself?? What a creep," Tristan Taylor jeers, holding the golden box far above Yugi's head as the smaller man leaps from his seat.

"please--!! give that back, it's my treasure!!" Yugi pleads. As he tries unsuccessfully to jump for the relic, another bully takes it from Tristan's hands.

"What is this, a jewelry box?? Only a girl would care about something like that," the blond taunts. Yugi feels his face go red. "You want it back, man up, gimme all you got and take then."

Yugi sinks into himself, suddenly feeling smaller than ever. He hugs his arms across his chest. "i... i hate fighting. please, joey, just give it back!!!"

The bully only laughs at him as he takes a peek at the contents inside the box. "What is this shit anyway? Looks dumb." With that, he turns the box upside down, and the small, golden pieces rain down over Yugi's spikey head. Laughing as the smaller man drops to his knees to frantically collect the pieces, Joey tosses the box to the side. "Let's go, Tristan."

It's hard, it hurts, but Yugi manages to collect the pieces without crying. He'll wait until he walks home for that, when the rain will hide his tears.

That night, as he sits at his desk at home, the pieces of the Puzzle seem to click together more easily than ever. And for a moment, his heart begins to swell with nervous excitement. Is this it? He's never gotten this far before. If he twists this piece half a turn, then adds this other piece, then slides that piece over....

He tries not to let himself get his hopes up too much. But another piece fits, and the frame of the pyramid comes together.

His fingers tremble.

There's only one final piece.

He's done it! He's actually solved the--

Yugi's blood runs cold as he reaches into the golden box for the last piece, his fingers finding only the smooth bottom of the golden sarcophagus.

no...

He grabs the box, turns it upside down, but nothing falls out. Had he missed a piece when Joey had dumped them back at the school? No no no. Then that would mean the Puzzle could never be solved. No, he was sure that he had searched every inch of the floor, over and over, ensuring he hadn't forgotten any of the shimmering, golden pieces. He leaps up from his desk, tearing apart every inch of his room in search of the missing piece to no avail.

Finally, Yugi's hope gives out. He collapses to his knees in the middle of his room, surrounded by the mess he created in his frantic search, and cries.

----

Yugi must have floated through the weekend in a daze of sorrow, because the next thing he knows, it's Monday. He doesn't want to go to class today. Why does it matter? His major is undeclared. Uncertain. Unfinished. Just like the Puzzle sitting on his desk at home.

The rain is still pouring.

Usually, Yugi walks the short distance from the Kame game shop to the community college he attends, but today he doesn't have the energy. His feet feel heavy as lead as he climbs onto the public bus.

As Yugi seeks a spot to stand amongst the crowd of passengers, he finds his way toward the back of the bus where he spots a familiar face. Tomoya Hanasaki, one of the few people as quiet and unpopular as himself on campus. Maybe he should say hi? If there's anyone he has a chance of befriending at all, surely this other outcast is a safe bet...?

But before he finds his courage, he notices the discomfort on Hanasaki's bespectacled face. Then he recognizes the larger man sitting beside him, a notorious bully from their college by the name of Sozoji. Yugi tries to listen, but he can't hear their conversation over the other passengers, the hum of the bus, and the loud music blasting from the headphones hanging around Sozoji's thick neck.

Should he help...?

What could he possibly do...? He's no larger or more threatening than Hanasaki after all.

In the end, Yugi decides to turn his back, to mind his own business. The last thing he wants is to make anything worse for anyone. And if he just makes himself invisible, maybe he won't attract any of whatever cruelty Sozoji is planning.

He doesn't think he can take another beating, not with his heart so incomplete.

The next day, as Yugi sits alone in English class, he can't help but notice that Hanasaki's seat is empty. His stomach sinks, a feeling of guilt slowly filling his chest. As he stares out the window, he listens to the chatter of his classmates around him.

"--shattered ear drums--"

"--total hearing loss--"

"I heard he tried to kill himself--"

Yugi sinks down in his seat. It's not like he could have done anything, right...? If he had spoken up, it would just be him in the hospital now...

The rest of the day goes by in a blur.

----

The weeks that follow seem to be filled with nothing but more unfortunate events. Yugi stares at the empty seat once occupied by his biggest crush, a girl named Téa with dreams of being a dancer. Abducted from her waitress job by an escaped prisoner several days ago, her body had just been found that morning.

Yugi only feels numb.

---

The weekend comes around again, and once more, Yugi spends it alone in his room. He hasn't had the energy to work the shop these days. Letting his own grandpa down too, now.

Yugi lies on his bed, eyes unfocused towards the single window over his desk as he tries not to think of the misfortunes of the previous month. But as his eyes drift to the Millennium Puzzle, sitting on his desk, forever unfinished without its final piece, he can't help the thoughts that creep into his mind.

He's never believed in things like magic. But his grandpa's ominous warnings of curses and Shadow Games come to mind. Is that what this is? Did he anger the ancient Egyptian gods when he lost that final piece? Is this the Pharaoh's Curse, taking out everyone around him before finally coming for the man who handled the ancient relic so carelessly?

He wishes the curse would just take him. Or at least, hurt the people who deserve it. The bullies that hit him and taunted him.

What if he had spent those 8 years getting stronger?

Instead of wishing on some stupid Puzzle?

Yugi can't take it anymore. He jumps up from his bed, ready to smash the relic back into its many pieces. He snatches the incomplete Puzzle from his desk, only to hiss in pain and shake his burning fingers as the artifact falls to the carpeted floor below.

Why...?

Why would the Puzzle burn him...?

Why does he smell so much smoke....?

Why isn't Joey saving him, like--

Yugi's eyes go wide as they stare down at the Puzzle, haphazardly lying at his feet.

The Puzzle piece isn't the only thing that's missing, Yugi realizes. His friends, his allies, the voice inside his heart.

This isn't right.

This isn't how his story goes.

Heart pounding in his chest, Yugi reaches for the Puzzle, only to find himself falling. Through the floor, dragged by a chain around his ankle into the depths of the Domino City bay.

but it was my wrist, Yugi thinks as the world grows darker and darker. and it's okay. because joey will save me.

joey will save me.

and joey's sister will save him.

and then we'll save the kaibas.

and it will all be okay.

Yugi opens his mouth to take a deep breath, trusting the words he repeats in his mind. It will all be okay. It will all be okay.

And it is.

No water fills his lungs, only oxygen. His red-violet eyes flutter open to a blue sky overhead, lush grass all around him. He reaches for the Millennium Puzzle around his neck and frowns. So that's really missing. And so is the voice inside his soul.

But it's different. Though it's quiet, his heart doesn't feel empty. Not the way it did when Duke's father had shattered it to pieces. Even without the relic hanging from his neck, Yugi can tell that he isn't alone.

He sits up in the grass and crosses his legs, tries to clear his thoughts and get his bearings. Whatever nightmare he had just escaped, it was only that:

a nightmare.

Yugi knits his brows together. He can't come up with a logical explanation how he got here, to this clearing in these peaceful woods. Without the Puzzle to cling to, he presses a hand over his heart and closes his eyes, trying to focus on that feeling that tells him he isn't alone. When he tries to call out for his other self, he's met by something unexpected inside his chest.

How did he get here?

Last he remembers, he and his friends had been searching for the Kaiba Brothers. They had followed the coordinates that Mokuba had posted, appearing on a Kaiba Corporation branded aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific. They had been escorted deeper into the massive ship at gunpoint, ushered by mechanical guards into a bright, white room. And then...?

Feelings of rage, of anger, of resentment. Of sorrow. Of fear and insecurity.

Yugi's fingers curl into a fist, tight against his heart as he tries to calm the storm.

"hold on other me," he pleads aloud. "i'm going to find you. i promise i'm going to find you."

[gremoria411]

Alright, considering I spent the last two points gushing about how much I like Mcgillis, I should probably do a post on the other great power in Gjallarhorn.

Rustal Elion, the Man Who Rules the Moon.

And I’m gonna pick apart that title before anything else. He is in charge of the Arianrhod fleet, in charge of directly safeguarding Earth, which obviously affords him a lot of power. Him being “the man who rules the moon” also puts him in the same league as Nobliss Gordon and McMurdo Barriston “the man who rules Jupiter”. It also shows his, at least at first, disconnection with the other events going on around him. Or rather the fact that he essentially just shows up, this massive power unrelated to much of the others going on around him, like he’s come down from another world. Which is fairly accurate.

His tactical excellence really goes without much saying, but the recent Iron-blooded orphans MSV has revealed a new detail I want to talk about.

ASW-G-48 Gundam Haagenti, the Gundam frame owned by the Elion family, currently stored at Vingolf with (presumably) the rest of the Seven Stars Gundam frames (which is a topic for another day).

Now we know that members of the families are able to take out and deploy Gundam frames, as Gaelio does with Kimaris, so why wasn’t the Haagenti deployed? It would have surely been a great boon to their forces, and even might have been able to match Barbatos.

Rustal even has a pilot for it in the form of Julieta Juris, so why was it just left in Vingolf?

Because Rustal chooses not to. The Gundam frames are legendary relics of a bygone age, and Rustal wishes to crush Tekkadan and Mcgillis without using them. He could even risk playing into Mcgillis’ hands by using the same “power” that Mcgillis does. So instead he uses the Reginlaze Julia.

He rejects the ancient power of the calamity war, instead choosing a machine based off the brand-new Reginlaze frame. He embraces the future, while Mcgillis and Tekkadan wield weapons of the past.

(Okay yes he also uses Dainsleif’s, but those don’t have as much of a mythic aspect in-universe as Gundam frames do).

It just adds to his character, with him possessing the power needed to enact change, but also the wisdom to recognise that some powers he probably shouldn’t use.

(And yes I know the out-of-universe explanation is “well it didn’t exist yet, so of course he couldn’t have used it”, don’t @ me.)

Also (less relevant to the above points but I just want to kinda gush about Haagenti (and Gamigin) for a bit) ever since we saw the hangar in Vingolf in episode 43, I’ve really been looking forward to seeing what the other Seven Stars Gundam’s are. Haagenti and Gamigin are utterly gorgeous, but I’m particularly interested in the Issue, Kujan and I suppose Fareed families (I always forget that the Fareed family exists as a separate entirety to Mcgillis, since he was adopted into it).

Huh, actually that does throw Mcgillis’ plan in a new light, since he (presuming it’s still around) essentially already had a Gundam as his birthright as head of the Fareed family, but still went for Bael. Maybe the colour didn’t match or something, I don’t know.

Anyway, I’m reasonably sure that the Kujan family Gundam’s no longer around, since you just know Iok would’ve deployed it, Rustal or no. But that still leaves the Issue, Fareed and Baklazan families still to go.