#true neutral quadrant at least

[deconstructivesurgery]

"gale is too good aligned to get along with astarion-" if you play the dark urge and get the scene in act 2 where you literally try to murder him he fucking tells you "at least there's plenty of enemies out there for you to kill! a feast for the violent at heart :)" entirely fucking unphased. you cannot tell me he would give a shit if astarion straight up started eating people as long as there was some vague reason for it. he's literally straight up telling you as long as it's aimed at foes and not friends he doesn't care if you engage in gleeful butchery for crying out loud

[allywthsr]

PREGNANCY JOURNEY | (l.norris)

summary: Lando and your pregnancy journey

wordcount: 3.9k words

pairing: landonorris x fem!reader

warnings: pregnancy and it’s symptoms

notes: this is going to be a series! Look forward to the rest 🤓

It all happened without planning, Lando always said he wanted to become a dad when he retired and had more time for his child and you.

But the best things happen when you’re not expecting them, at least that’s what his mother always says.

It all started with you feeling unwell for your usual walk at the docks, headaches, nausea, stomach pains and sore boobs were part of your daily life. At first you put them off as classic period symptoms, since that was nearing, but you never would’ve classed them as pregnancy symptoms.

Lando was being as caring as he could’ve been, bringing you hot water bottles, painkillers and cuddling you all the time. And when you flew to Australia, for the GP, you waited for your period to come, but it didn’t. You flew with Max Verstappen, Kelly and P in Max’s private plane, thankfully. While cramping in the seat next to Lando, he rubbed your back, placed his hand on your lower stomach and kissing your hair repeatedly. He wished to take that pain away from you, but he couldn’t do anything else than watch and be there for you, whispering sweet nothing in your ear, hoping to distract you from the nausea and stomach pains.

And when you missed the practices on Friday, because you couldn’t keep your food inside of you, emptying your guts out in the toilet, that’s when Lando actually became worried. You weren’t even up for sex, and that was never a problem, Lando just had to blink and you were ready to jump his bones, and you did, usually.

Your period was two days late already, and that got you worried too, when calling your best friend and telling her about your symptoms, she waisted no time in telling you, that you should take a pregnancy test.

You laughed at her and told her to stop messing with you, you couldn’t be pregnant, Lando and you used protection all the time, when she insisted on you doing a test, you got worried she might actually be true, but you didn’t wanted to do it alone, you couldn’t.

So when you were hanging over the toilet when Lando returned, he decided that you needed to see a doctor, with his phone already out, checking for the next doctors office, you called out for him to come into the bathroom.

“Y/N, you need to see a doctor, this is not normal.“

“Yes, Lando, it’s normal.“

“No, Y/N.“

“I think I’m pregnant, Lando.“

“You… you’re… what?“

“I think pregnant“, when he didn’t react and only looked at you in shook, your eyes started to fill up with tears, “And you’re not happy about that?“

He slowly came back, “No, baby, just shocked, I… did you take a test?“

“No, I wanted to wait for you, and take it with you, can you run to the shops and get me like three? Just to make sure.“

He nodded, “I love you, I’ll get them, you stay here and don’t worry too much, we got this, okay?“, and quickly he changed out of his McLaren gear, in a neutral hoodie, a cap that hid his curls and sunglasses that covered his green eyes. With several kisses on your lips, on your face and a small caress on your lower tummy, he said goodbye and ran out.

You exhaled loudly and paced around the suite, checking Lando’s location every two minutes. Butterflies were flying in your stomach, you were nervous, its not like anything would change between you and Lando, but still your life’s would change rapidly, you wouldn’t be able to follow Lando to every race, sure you could still work for Quadrant, and do your normal email work, but you wouldn’t be able to come to every shoot.

But life could also be more beautiful, playing with your little love until Lando comes home and he or she will squeal until they’re in Lando’s arms. Taking them to a race and sitting them in Lando’s car, or Lando would stream and his son or daughter would steal the spotlight.

But before you could think about any of that, the test had to be positive. Maybe it was just pre period symptoms with a stomach bug, and all of this was something you and Lando would laugh about, when laying in bed later, but you needed to know now. And Lando was still running around in the store a few blocks away from the hotel.

Finally the door unlocked and a panting Lando came through the door.

“Did you run up here?“

“Of course, it’s not every day that your missus tells you she could be pregnant.“

You chuckled and grabbed the bag from Lando’s hands, you looked inside it and found five pregnancy tests, as well as some chocolate, other treats and multiple things to help you with nausea, headaches and stomach pains.

“Did you buy the whole store?“

“I wanted you to feel better, pregnant or not.“

“Shit Lando, what are we gonna do if I’m pregnant?“, you started to panic again, this time Lando was there with you and hugged you before it would get worse.

“We’re going to buy a changing table, and clothes, and diapers, and the cutest little stuffies, and you’re going to be the best mother ever. If you’re actually pregnant, then we’ll deal with that, I love you so much, that won’t change anything. Let’s just take a test, and then we can worry, okay?“

You nodded and he pulled you to the bathroom, “Are you going to stay here while I pee?“

“Yes? If we’re doing this, we’re doing this together.“

“But can you at least shut up? I need to concentrate“, he nodded and sat on the bathtub, waiting for you to do something.

You pulled out a pregnancy test and quickly read through the instructions on the box, you held the stick under yourself and did what you had to do. With Lando watching you, it was more funny than serious and you two couldn’t hold back the laughter, the whole situation was bizarre, you never thought you would be doing this without planning it.

You placed the stick on the sink and set a timer for five minutes, now you wandered around the bathroom, nor Lando and you said a thing, all that was heard was heavy breathing.The minutes felt like hours, and when your alarm finally rang, you both jolted at the sound, scaring you. Now it was clear if you would be drinking champagne or juice to celebrate, both results would be fine, you and Lando would get through everything, if you had each other.

You grabbed the test and looked at Lando, he held your hand and squeezed it tight, ”We got this.“

With one last breath, you turned over the stick and read the letters, with a gasp you turned around to Lando snd showed him the test.

PREGNANT

You two didn’t know how to react, the feelings were switching between happiness and shock, sadness and confusion. But before anything else could happen, Lando wrapped his arms around your shoulders and squeezed you tight. Tears slipped from Lando’s and your eyes, it was the shock. Lando and you had been together for a little over five years, it wasn’t unusual for couples to become pregnant, but Lando and you had such a busy life, that you didn’t know if a baby would fit in there.

With tears in his eyes, Lando held your face in his hands, and wiped away the wet stains on your cheeks, smiling at you.

“I love you, okay. We’re going to be the hottest parents there are, you’ll be a milf. Nothing will change, I’ll love you just as much as I love you right now. Forever.“

“Everything will change, Lan. We’ll have a baby with us, a breathing human that will rely on us, we can’t just go on random trips anymore, we can’t spend all day in bed anymore, we certainly can’t have sex all over the apartment anymore.“

“But Y/N, this is a beautiful thing, we can still go on trips, we’ll just have to pack an extra bag and hold small hands when the plane takes off, the baby can lay in bed with us all day, and I’ll still fuck you in the kitchen when the afternoon nap is happening.“

You chuckled and pressed your lips on his’, one of his hands found its way back to your lower stomach and rubbed small circles on where the baby was growing.

“I need chocolate.“

“Luckily I bought some at the store, pregnant or not, you always crave chocolate“, with a chuckle he kissed your forehead, “Lets lay down on the bed, okay? It was a hectic day.“

You nodded and he led you to the bed, with his head resting on your stomach, you combed your fingers through his curls, enjoying the silence between you two. In just nine months, all that would be over and a small creature would be filling the silence, that thought got you a little excited, you couldn’t wait for the future.

“When do you think it was conceived?“

“Well, what does the pregnancy test say?“

“It said two weeks.“

“Before we left for Saudi Arabia then.“

“But how? I always forced you to wear a condom.“

“Remember that morning where we were tired and horny? I think we forgot, I did try to pull out but I think that didn’t work.“

You sighed and kept combing through his hair.

The next day was weird, you felt better and only had to throw up once in the morning, so you were walking next to Lando through the paddock. No one knew your secret, and yet, Lando was gliding over the concrete, he wanted to tell everyone, clearly happy about the news, you both were. You both were glowing and happier than ever, people were laughing and saying that the night must’ve been a good one, but they didn’t know that all you did last night was, talking about the future and how to tell your family and friends.

Knowing you were expanding your little family, while no one knew about it, made the butterflies in your stomach doing somersaults, you had to slap Lando’s hands away from your stomach, every now and then, too scared someone would catch you. You wanted it to be a secret for now, telling your family and friends, as soon as you figured out how. It should be special and memorable, you couldn’t just get them all together and tell them ‘We’re pregnant, by the way.’

When you traveled back home after Australia, you immediately booked an appointment at your gynecologist, making sure Lando could come with you, as he requested. Lando was nervous when you two climbed the stairs to the doctors office, holding your hand tightly. Due to Lando’s and your ‘celebrity’ status, you could immediately go into the room where you would meet the doctor. And she came in quickly after you settled on the mattress, Lando right next to you. She did an ultrasound, and found the baby, seeing that all was well, and healthy so far. She advised you to take it slow and not do everything at once, you could still do your normal routine, but not stress too much about things, and Lando took that seriously. When you were back at the flat, he bent down and opened your shoe laces, removing your feet from the shoes, bringing you water all the time, making sure you always had some snacks and you were comfortable. It was cute at first, always having someone around you and someone to make sure you were alright, but it got annoying after three days, you were surprised you’re allowed to go the toilet alone.

The next races until you were finally home for a bit longer, were hectic, you wanted to rest, but due to constant traveling, you couldn’t, and not joining Lando would only be more stressful for you, what if he crashes and you weren’t there? When the Monaco GP came, you could fully breathe, you knew the city, you could sleep in your own apartment, cook whatever whenever you wanted, but that also meant that Lando could live out his protective side. He wanted you to stay home and watch the practices from the window, and arguing was useless, he had his opinion and there was no changing that. It was also when you first started showing, on the media day for the Monaco GP, you were laying in bed with Lando and you two just woke up, his hand went from touching your face, to your boobs to your stomach, when he gasped and sat up, while pulling your sleeping T-shirt up, so it rested underneath your boobs. With a worried “What?“, you screamed at him, thinking he might saw something bad.

“You have a bumb!“

“Really?“

You looked at your belly and indeed saw your tummy being a bit bigger than the night before, while you knew that it wasn’t the baby that was making your stomach looking bigger, but more like your uterus, but you weren’t going to ruin this moment for him. The rest of the morning was spent in bed, with Lando kissing your belly and cuddling until he really had to go. You put on a more summer like dress and hoped no one would saw the slight bulge in your stomach.

But on Saturday, when the whole Norris and Y/L/N family was gathered in the city, it was time to reveal your pregnancy, on Sunday you wanted to tell the close team.

It was magical, everyone acted just like you hoped, a lot of tears were shed and hugs were exchanged, especially the team at McLaren couldn’t be happier, they tried to be the tough boys, but you saw some wet eyes when they all hugged you.

From now on it was easier, you could tell your family updates about the baby every day, in the garage everyone kept an eye out for you and handled you with extra care, offering you a seat or water every second of the day.

With each day, your tummy started growing more, and after a few weeks it was more than obvious that the belly wasn’t from eating too much. Your whole body was growing, especially the boobs, which made Lando really happy, he couldn’t stop looking at them every day, but it also made things very obvious for the fans something happened. You didn’t post on social media anymore, and you barely came with Lando to races, and if you did you wore huge sweatshirts to cover your belly and boobs up. When you crossed the twenty week mark, there was no denying that a baby was growing inside of you. After finding out the gender, you made a post on instagram. You felt good and didn’t want to be stuck in your apartment anymore, you needed to join your boyfriend at his races again.

The freedom you felt once you could go outside in normal clothes, was amazing, and the people were swooning over you. You were glowing, and with that bump of yours, Lando couldn’t keep his hands of off you, always touching you in some kind of way, either on your belly, or at least a hand always on your back, to protect you from straying to far away from him, his words.

There wasn’t a day where you two wouldn’t be cuddling, either he was laying with his head on your belly, or talking to the baby, or kissing your belly, or caressing it. He loved his child already so much, he was overwhelmed sometimes from the love he felt. He always thought he couldn’t love someone more than you, or his family, but the way he felt the need to protect his unborn child already, sometimes he just wanted to burst.

But for now all he got to protect, was you. He did whatever he could so you were save, when in crowds, he would hold your hands and shield you from the people as best as you could. He fell in love with you more every day, seeing you growing your child and doing whatever it takes to make you and your baby happy, if that meant he needed to run to the shops at three AM for certain chocolate, he did that. No matter how disgusting your eating behavior was, he would always get you what you wished for, he even almost missed a practice because he ran out quickly before the start to get you crisp you desperately needed.

The first kick was special, Lando always made fun of instagram videos, where the parents freak out over some belly movements, but when you were in the kitchen, cooking yourself pasta, Lando came and hugged you from behind, caressing your growing stomach and kissing your neck, it was his new favorite thing to do. While talking to you about some changes they made on the car, you two gasped at the same time, looking down to where Lando’s hands lay, you felt something kick from inside of you.

“The baby kicked, Y/N!“

You nodded your head and turned around in his embrace, kissing your boyfriend on his lips.

“It’s actually alive in there, baby. Can you believe it? In eighteen weeks we have a breathing human being.“

You wiped his cheeks with your thumbs, tears threatened to spill out of his eyes, smiling up at him you repeatedly pressed your lips on his’.

This memory sure would be one you two wouldn’t forget.

Lando was the happiest when he was with you, he always thought the happiest he can be was in his car, driving around in full speed and being on the podium after, seeing you in the crowd cheering for him, but now, there wasn’t something he wanted more all day than lay on your lap, talking and feeling the baby, while you’re brushing through his curls with your fingers.

He loved to take pictures of you when you’re in underwear, to document the growth of your belly, but also because he wanted to take pictures of you in underwear, he never thought you could look even sexier, but to him, you did. So he looked forward to seeing you change your clothes every morning and evening, shamelessly looking at your nakedness every time.

But it was fine, your sex drive was through the roof sometimes, when Lando saw you naked, he got horny, and you were too. It wasn’t unusual that Lando and you would disappear during a race weekend for a few minutes, you needed him, whether he would go down on you or give you the real thing.

But pregnancy wasn’t perfect, there were a lot of downsides to it. Everything hurt, your back, your feet, your head, your boobs and even your legs. Lando tried and eased your pain whenever he could by massaging every body part, but he couldn’t fully remove it. Foot massages were on the daily agenda, and when he was lucky, he massaged your boobs, which always lead to you leaking milk and Lando would get horny after seeing your big boobs on display.

But when you saw this viral trend on TikTok, where the boyfriends would lift their girlfriends stomachs, you had to try it out, and when Lando stood behind you, hands under your big belly and lifted it, you let out the biggest moans Lando ever heard. Not having to carry the weight of the baby, relieved the tension of your back and you could breathe again. Lando was shocked how heavy the baby actually was, sure he heard it every time at the gynecologist, but feeling it was a different thing. Everyday Lando did that lifting thing for at least twice a day, and it were the best minutes during the day.

After week thirty you weren’t able to put your own socks on and putting on your shoes was also impossible, just as shaving in the shower, luckily you had a supportive boyfriend who did all these things for you, when he was around. He shaved your legs and private parts for you, and he found it exhausting, every time he would say that he didn’t know how women could do this every now and then.

Certain smells made you almost puke, yesterday your head was already over the toilet when you smelled bell pepper, it drove you crazy.

Traveling also got harder, you got cleared by your doctor before every race, but still, it was exhausting. The long plane rides, the long car rides and the sitting in the garage were tiring, you tried to support Lando from the garage, but for some practice sessions you stayed at the hotel, watching it on your laptop and laying in bed. You even thought about staying home, but you knew that would only stress you more, at home you couldn’t always be there for Lando when he needed you, and you needed him.

The fans were the sweetest too, giving you two gifts for the baby, drawings, clothings, accessories, and many more things. Your favorite piece so far was the handmade baby McLaren suit, so the baby and Lando could match, you couldn’t wait to see these two together.

The room was done by mostly Lando, but you bought most of the furniture and accessories, Lando put them all together. The walls were painted in a light blue and the room was cloud themed, there were clouds painted on the wall, clouds hung from the ceiling and cloud pillows were placed everywhere. You two couldn’t wait for your little love to arrive.

The last GP was hard for you, you were thirty-seven weeks pregnant and couldn’t really move, your stomach was huge and standing for more than five minutes was not possible. Lando didn’t want you to come, and you almost didn’t, but you thought about going in labor earlier than expected and not having Lando by your side, and that freaked you more out than the thought of delivering your baby in a different country with Lando. So you waddled around the paddock, with Lando’s hand in yours you made your way to the hospitality, feeling better when you could finally sit down again.

You sat in the garage and watched the race, and when it ended, you were more than happy that Lando was fine and healthy, going for dinner with his family after the season officially ended. And almost immediately after you were back at the hotel, you packed your things and flew back to your Monaco home, and when you arrived, you could enjoy the last few weeks of pregnancy. The nesting was driving Lando crazy, everything had to be perfect, you were washing the last few clothes for your baby, filling the drawers with diapers and whatever the internet, books and especially yours and Lando’s mum told you, you needed. In general your families were the biggest help, they told you were to start with shopping for the baby, what you actually needed and what you didn’t.

Christmas time came around, your apartment was decked with decorations and the smell of cookies was everywhere and on the eleventh of December, you woke up because of sharp pains in your lower stomach. At first you thought these were normal stomach pains or Braxton hicks, preparing you for the birth, you had them quite frequently now, but when you started counting them and they came on more often than normal you shook Lando awake. And before you knew it, Lando drove you two to the hospital, where the next chapter of your life began.

[ryin-silverfish]

LMK S5 trailer, Chinese pantheon infodump, and some ideas

…Man, normally, I feel the urge to write fix-it AUs after rewatching episodes and coming across particularly bizarre theories and takes, not before the new season's even out.

Thanks, S5 trailer.

Consider this your spoiler warning, because the rest of this post will all be my personal opinions about a few major story beats that were revealed + the rough outline for a fix-it AU.

It's also a bit ranty, and features some criticisms of the general narrative, so if that's not your cup of tea, feel free to avoid this one.

Li Jing becoming JE/the regent of the Celestial Realm is just hilariously absurd. I mean, it makes a teeny tiny bit more sense than the "Nezha will be the new JE" fan theory, but that's not a very high bar.

1) In-universe, he had done a grand total of nothing while shit was hitting the fan, and only showed up after it was all over. Which, tbh, isn't too far from his role in FSYY. No, wait, at least in FSYY, he killed Luo Xuan via a pagoda to the head, after the guy had all his fire-based magical treasures neutralized and taken away by Princess Longji.

Yeah, congrats, LMK's Li Jing, you've somehow become even more useless than your FSYY and JTTW counterparts——which is a true feat.

2) Even if someone's making him JE/regent, it wouldn't be the Ten Kings. To put it simply: the Underworld doesn't have that authority. They are the most pathetic of all divine bureaucracies, who pretty much only show up to get pushed around and revive the occasional dead guy in JTTW (and I still love them).

Like, they ain't no Hades or Satan. Just the 10 judges of the Dead People Supreme Court. To heavily paraphrase Di Ting in the original JTTW novel:

"How much power do Underworld gods really have? (幽冥之神，能有多少法力)" "...Certainly not enough to stop a rampaging demonic macaque who's as strong as SWK, if I say the truth out loud in here and piss him off. Just send them to the Buddha, please."

An analogy: if the Celestial Host is the imperial court, the Underworld is the ministry in charge of judicial processes and prisons. They don't even have authority over the imperial censors who answer directly to the emperor, let alone the power to determine a successor to the throne during a major crisis.

If this was to make the tiniest bit of sense, Li Jing would be the one commanding THEM, not the other way around. Or if it's Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha himself giving orders to Li Jing…for some reason.

But we know that ain't happening bc of the show's strange aversion to showing Buddhist deities on screen, not to mention it would be very OOC for Ksitigarbha, whose job is granting relief and salvation to souls in the Path of Hell, not judging and punishing them like the Ten Kings.

3) If you must make Li Jing the emperor/regent, you have a more mythos-accurate and obvious choice than the Ten Kings, considering you already got the Four Divine Beasts involved!

Yes, I'm talking about their bosses, the humanoid "directional + elemental gods": Lord Father of the East (Wood), Queen Mother of the West (Metal), Emperor Zhenwu of the North (Water).

No South though...because our mythos can't agree on a single directional god of the South, but for shit and giggles, just imagine Zhurong, Yandi, Huaguang, and the Star of Fiery Virtues all sitting on the same narrow bench, staring awkwardly at each other.

Maybe we can have Ziwei, Great Emperor of the Central Sky and North Stars, who is one of the Four Sovereigns(四御) in Daoism (two of which could also be an alternate choice, but maybe a bit too obscure for foreign audiences).

He commands the stellar deities and heavenly bodies——which the Four Divine Beasts would technically fall under, as guardians of the four quadrants of the sky, each in charge of 7 Lunar Mansions.

4) But if you already have these deities, why the hell would any of them make Li Jing the regent? Wouldn't it be more likely for them to create a Celestial Council of Regents themselves, with Devaraja Li Jing under their command as the leader of what's left of the celestial army?

Like, you can still have them, or one of them, going after the gang and ordering Li Jing to put the fillet on SWK.

I can see Zhenwu the Demon-Vanquisher doing that, since the fillet isn't too different from what he did to Huaguang and a lot of the demons he subdued in JTTN: feeding them magical water/fire pills that would corrode/ignite their insides whenever they tried to resist.

(Yeah, compared to that, the fillet would look like the lenient option, since it's just pain and won't actually dissolve/cook you alive from the inside out...)

And it wouldn't be bc he thought SWK was to blame for the Brotherhood's epic fuck-up...somehow. Like, what even is that logic?!

I mean, I can kinda see the Ten Kings doing it as a pre-emptive "Don't blame us for our shitty security, blame that guy over there!" move...except they are no longer answering to any higher authorities who'd hold them responsible at that point!

"What about Li Jing?" You may ask. Yeah, WHAT ABOUT LI JING? Why does Li Jing have to get involved in this?

If he's forcing the Ten Kings to pass judgement on the gang (which surely doesn't look like it in the trailers), why's he enlisting the help of the weakest faction and not, y'know, his celestial soldiers and other gods?

If the Ten Kings get Li Jing to be their enforcer...well, how the Eighteen Hells did they manage that? What could the Ghost Supreme Court and their crappy prison-torture chamber-soul customs office complex even offer Li Jing as a bribe?

And if their goals were to avoid responsibilities by blaming someone else, how stupid did they have to be to actively involve/create a higher authority who can punish them once the cat gets out of the proverbial bag, instead of, I dunno, just stay where they are and keep their head down???

So in my fix-it AU, it's more of a "Better safe than sorry" scenario, where every demon working for the new Celestial Council must prove their loyalty via swallowing the water/fire pill, now that even more dangerous demons have escaped and are running around in the aftermath of S4.

And Great Sage and company are not exempt from that new law either——"If you are truly righteous and Not Like Them and not planning to rebel, what's there to be afraid of?"

Horrified by the Demon-Vanquishing Mansion's 16th century standards of "justice" and "mercy", they naturally would not have any of it, and thus the conflict begins.

Not only would this show the fallout of Azure's misguided rebellion——that, in trying to make a better world, he had made it 120% worse for both humanity and demonkind in less drastic and more realistic ways aside from dooming reality to irreversible destruction, it would also help with the major show-not-tell problem about Celestial cruelty bc the "good guys" in power saw no problem with this kind of shit.

If you want your lawful antagonists who take Order to its extremes, the warrior sovereign in black leading an elite army of demon-hunters + penal legions made of "reformed" demons would be a better choice than the Ghost Supreme Court, don't ya think?

(Fun fact: in Zaju plays, Zhenwu was often said to be the boss of Nezha and Erlang, so him commanding Li Jing wouldn't be too out of place either.)

Now, you may ask, why do I even care? After all, isn't it clear that the show is neither mythos-accurate nor trying to be, considering the JE got K.O.ed by a Bodhisattva's cat of all things?

Not to mention the season's not even out yet, so why jump to conclusions so quickly? Maybe the actual episodes will have explanations that make sense. Relax.

...Cause I don't mind less-than-stellar animations if the story's good, and since I keep noticing the less-than-stellar animations, it clearly isn't good enough.

Also, it's not like it's only the implications that are absurd——my problem is with the whole premise of "Li Jing becoming the new JE/Regent" and "The gang is prosecuted by the Ten Kings for bullshit reasons, even though these guys should not, and never have the power to enforce anything over SWK."

I don't like calling narrative choices "wrong" per se, and prefer to see it on a gradient of "least to most narrative potential". When it comes to adaptations, if the option that is faithful to the original work will result in a less interesting story, then I'll happily take the one that isn't as faithful and takes creative liberties, but makes a better story.

And here, I feel like being faithful to the Chinese mythos inspirations will add to the narrative potential instead of subtract from it, and the idea they come up with kinda...goes against how Chinese pantheons work, in a very simplified and "westernized" manner.

Mostly bc I am a Chinese Underworld mythos lover and think they deserve better than being ominous Hades/Grim Reaper knockoffs. And out of all the possible Chinese gods, Nezha's asshole dad is the least qualified or interesting candidate to fill in the power vaccum left by JE's death.

[scribefindegil]

If you're up to sharing, do you have any examples of works for your narrative chart? These seem incredibly tasty to think about but I'm not sure what sorts of things to look for

okay here are some v. eclectic examples of Narratives That Are At Least A Little Bit Alive because that's what I'm thinking about right now, with explanations:

Princess Tutu: Absolutely the most extreme version of both "is alive" and "wants to eat you". The Narrative is a literal guy pulling all the strings behind the scenes! And he sucks! All that matters to him is The Story and not only does he view all the characters within it as puppets, he's dead-set on manipulating things until the story turns into a tragedy.

Stranger Than Fiction: (I don't know how many people have watched this movie, but I love it) The Narrative is alive and it will stop at nothing to turn this guy's life into a beautiful tragedy--until the author realizes that her protagonist is real and has to decide whether or not to interfere with her own story to save him! Could argue that this is further right but because it's the author and not the character fighting it, that pulled it further towards Love for me.

Discworld Witches: The Narrative in every Discworld book is alive, but the Witches books are Stories About Stories in a very specific way. The Narrative knows what it wants, and it's going to fight back, and all of the protagonists are positioned against it (because everyone knows the witch in the story is Bad, right?)

Midst Podcast: The Narrative is alive but it is just having a funky good time. True neutral on the X axis.

Community: Really hard to categorize because like. The narrative is alive but it's also self-imposed. Whether it loves you or wants to eat you varies SO MUCH from episode to episode and between characters within any given episode. But I feel like the show as a whole is ABOUT trying to build a narrative that loves you (as a way to love yourself and the people around you). Skews heavily to the right post-Season 3.

TAZ Balance: Most ttrpgs (actual play shows and irl games) are going to be somewhere in this quadrant just due to the nature of the medium. They're about the characters because they don't function if they're not, and also there is someone literally building The Narrative in real-time! But Balance really leans into both aspects of this and I love it.

MP100: He is the protagonist of this story!!!!! The narrative is only slightly alive but the love is off the charts.

[serfuzzypushover]

the wway i go about shipping ashen ships is i either:

ask myself "if they wwere pitch wwould it wwork" and if no then i givve them a guy to make it wwork

OR if one at least has a kismesis already, i ask "howw bad is this hate crush" and if its bad enough that they could b kismesis wwere they both single, then i givve them a guy to keep them at bay so cheating doesnt happen

the best ashen ships ar the ones wwhere both is true <3

and specifically for figuring out if a person could b a good auspistice—i try to understand howw they interact wwith both parties. the best auspistices are neutral parties so probably shouldn't b a person in ones quadrants...

[rosemary-is-in-pesterquest]

literally I was watching someone's playthrough of pesterquest as it was being released, and I almost finished it, but then I got spoiled for the fact that Ult Dirk shows up, and it totally knocked me off the wagon. like I've had it in my head that eventually I'll go watch Dirk's content, but it's been so long since I watched everything else... by this point it'd be kinda disjointed to even do that.

also, I was weirdly irritated by MSPAR in pesterquest? I found them so charming in hiveswap, because they were characterized as kind of a bumbling, overeager and well intentioned traveler that just wanted to help. but in pesterquest they get all know-it-all ish... it's reeeeeeally off putting. like I could forgive them being confused or disheartened, but they went a step too far and got all cynical and been-there-done-that, and gave a lot of advice that just wasn't good? as if they were some sort of expert or something. it makes pesterquest kind of irritating because you play as an irritating audience surrogate character who does shit that you don't actually want to do.

like, okay, Eridan's route, right? at the end, the advice MSPAR gave was basically "stop being an asshole" which is like... warranted and fair? but first of all, this Eridan needs different advice than homestuck's Eridan! and second, would a real asshole actually take advice like that? it's so... basic.

Eridan is a character that I'm not super attached to, but I get peeved when people get him wrong. in homestuck, the thing that Eridan needs, is to realize that if he wants something from another person, he has to try not to be a leech about it. everything is all about his perspective all the time. when he wants something, he'll ask, but if he doesn't get it, he'll whine and beg, and if people get mad at him for doing that, he gets all self deprecating and bemoans how hopeless his situation is, and how much everyone hates him. like he'll literally annoy one person into getting fed up with him, just so he can go cry to another person about his problems, and ask them for advice that he probably won't even take, because getting attention was the point, and this is technically what he wanted anyway. and the more people catch on and get frustrated, the more fuel he has for his "everybody hates me" pity party.

and the interesting thing about Eridan is that all of this probably comes from a real worry that nobody could like him, even if he tried. I mean, most of his friends are lower on the hemospectrum, and have a systemic reason to hold some sort of resentment towards him. so like, he probably likes Feferi because the two make an appropriate match class-wise... but he also probably likes her because she's his only friend that is more privileged than he is, so she can't hold his status against him.

also, pesterquest leans into that old fanon thing where Eridan is indiscriminately desperate and will date anyone. like... no! originally, Eridan specifically wanted to fill all of his quadrants! he wanted a matesprit (Feferi), a kismesis (Vriska), an auspistice (Kanaya), and a moirail (possibly Karkat). and not only that, but he wanted these specific people to fill these specific roles for him unconditionally and without conflict, in spite of their actual feelings. Feferi doesn't want to date him... she doesn't even really want to be his moirail because she's doing all the emotional labor and it's exhausting. and Kanaya had a red crush on Vriska at the time... the last thing she wants is to be auspistice-zoned! meanwhile, Vriska is becoming less and less interested in Eridan anyway because she's got her own unhealthy fascinations with certain people. so like, Kanaya wouldn't even be acting as a proper auspistice anyway... she wouldn't be helping to calm a volatile rivalry, she'd be trying to force a lackluster relationship to continue. that's like, the opposite of how it's supposed to be!

literally the only one of these that might've worked is Karkat as his moirail, because Karkat is amazing at giving advice, and dealing with difficult people's bullshit without getting sucked into too much drama. but like... that's probably the one relationship out of all of these that started from genuine charisma between two people, rather than Eridan deciding who he wanted to pursue based on a checklist of socially advantageous qualities. at least with that, it's implied that Karkat also likes talking to Eridan... like, both of them are getting something out of this. in all other cases, Eridan isn't even in it for the romance. he's in it to gain validation by living up to a societal standard.

it's only after our 12 trolls end up on the meteor after their SGRUB session that Eridan starts getting all weird about dating people other than the specific four he was already interested in. and that's specifically because there are now only 12 trolls left that exist. these people are the only ones left, so if he can't get a relationship to work with any of them, that's that. so basically, when pesterquest characterizes him this way, even though he still lives on a fully populated Alternia... why is he acting like that?

Eridan needs to learn how to actually put something into a relationship that he wants to get something out of. and to do that, he needs to believe that he has value beyond his status, and that it's possible for people to be motivated by more than class politics and spite. he treats people exploitatively because he expects them to try and exploit him just as badly... it's not just about fixing bad behavior. it's about him learning to put in work, and give another person reasons to like him, without feeling like a sucker for conceding any ground. the more defensive he gets, the worse he is.

and pesterquest messed up Jake's route too! what is it about hope players that stumps people like this?? I get that Jake is tricky, but jeez... I won't get into it as much, but Jake is always masking what he really feels, and the way his route handles him makes him seem like he's acting equally neutrally friendly to each of the other alpha kids. but then it implies that his true feelings are that he considers all three of his friends' romantic interest in him to be equally serious, and equally unwanted. that is... blatantly untrue. he knows Roxy might find him attractive but won't make a genuine move on account of Jane. she literally drunkenly told him so. and Roxy also drunkenly told Jake that Jane likes him. meanwhile, he also pretty much knows that Dirk had a crush on him when they were kids, but back then he kind of shut it down, or at least sent mixed signals, because he wasn't confident about having a crush on a boy. now Dirk himself is not confident that Jake actually likes him, and is trying to back off because he feels like his younger self was overly aggressive, but the AR is still as brazen as Dirk used to be when pursuing Jake, so it kind of undermines that attempt. still, Jake feels like he might've already come off poorly to Dirk. he does like him though... and he knows that Jane has a crush on him, and doesn't want to be the one who disappoints her, so he weasels his way out of addressing it. that is the deal with the alpha kids. not Jake just kind of bemoaning the fact that all of his friends are in love with him and he's not down for anything. so once again, we see a pesterquest route written on the basis of mistaken assumptions.

sorry for going on and on and on... I just find all of this so frustrating. half the characters are only the fan interpretations of themselves, and MSPAR sucks, and the meta is confusing, and... I wish it was good but it's not.

I love you for this ask anon, I never played friendsim but I did see a lot of people who tuned into all the friendsims express annoyance over the way Reader was portrayed in pesterquest. I can't even remember what happened in the Jake route bc I'm tired but it definitely could've been better.

Imo, best alpha kid routes go from: Roxy, Jane, Jake, and Dirk (half his route wasn't even dedicated to him lol rip)

[chuckling-chemist]

Silent Night (7/14)

((Seeing as this takes pretty much at the same time as the other one, obviously this means also would have Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy))

“Did you see ‘em?���

“Yeah. I did.” Valeba shook her head as they walked through the ballroom. “Can’t say I’m surprised. This seems exactly like her kind of shit.”

“Oh it totally fucking is. She was here last sweep too, just fucking…” Mayola shuddered. “God I hate that little puffball’s guts.”

She grimaced. “That about sums it up,” Valeba said wryly. She turned around, hoping to catch another glimpse of her and Dontoc, but they had disappeared into the crowd. “You know about everything right? Involving--”

“Lover boy fessed everything up last sweep to me, yeah.” Mayola’s fins fanned out, not incredibly, but just enough Valeba could see the darker pinks normally hidden. “I can’t believe I’m the nicer one outta the two of us, ya know? Least I fuckin’ know how to treat my goddamn date.”

The two stopped at one of the far walls, next to a huge, arched window covered with rich looking blue drapes. Mayola slumped against the wall with a groan. “Have I mentioned how much I hate her?”

Valeba shrugged. She found a nice open spot on the wall to lean on as well and let herself rest. She may not be wearing heels, but the hard flooring was still a heavy change from the forest floor she normally spent her time on. “I’m not gonna get upset at you saying something that’s true.”

She slid further down the wall with a groan. “I don’t wanna ruin your first real night doin’ fancy shit with all my bitching though. That just seems selfish.”

“I can’t believe you care about the well-being of your kismesis.” Valeba let out a high pitched giggle. With a kick back off the wall to face Mayola, she held her hand out to the other troll. “Come on now. May as well repay the damn favor.”

Mayola stared at Valeba’s gloved hand, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “This a trick?”

“Mayola, you know me.” Valeba smirked. “If this were a trick, this is far too obvious.”

“Then what the hell is it?”

The only answer she gave was a widened smirk and taking her arm, leading her effortlessly through the crowded forest of trolls gathering in every which direction to the sound of trumpets and violins. She let them get swept up in the rising crowd of gowns and suits coming to the dance floor, never keeping her hand off Mayola’s. It led them to the back of the ballroom, back to spare tables against the back wall covered in white tablecloths that brushed against the floor. The music from the main ballroom was still audible, but rather than the distinct blare of trumpets she could only hear a faint tinkle of...something. She didn’t know what.

No windows. No orchestra. No trolls.

She did a quick double take, making sure no staff or highbloods were watching them. With that affirmed, she gave a quick tug on Mayola’s sleeve and dashed underneath the table. With her tall horns, it was undoubtedly a tight fit, but she managed to get into a comfortable enough lying position to minimize any sort of unpleasant scraping by the time Mayola followed suit. It didn’t quite work. Mayola decided squatting, even with her own curvy horns, would be more comfortable. Never mind the little thunks they made every time she readjusted, or the pained expressions every time it happened.

“If this is you tryin’ to seduce me, it ain’t workin’,” she said. She shifted again, scowling. “God I feel like I can’t even--”

With a sigh, Valeba leaned up just enough to grab the collar of Mayola’s dress and pull her down into the space next to her. “Was that so hard?”

“Yes.” She rolled over onto her side right as Valeba slid an arm under her top. Despite being in such a compromised position, she could still reach the plastic bottles effortlessly. Not like Mayola had put the pieces together yet. “Oh fuck you really did bring me here to seduce me,” she breathed. “You goddamn minx. How did you know I--”

Valeba bent her head the short, short distance to give Mayola a quick kiss. “I’m not here to fill your exhibitionist dreams. I’m here so we can do this.” The hand underneath her top snaked back out with her plunder: seven different mini plastic bottles of darkly colored, expensive rum that they had carefully snuck in using one of the pouches underneath her dress. The one next to the knife holster. “We’ve still got some time until the bar opens.”

Mayola bolted upright, banging her horns again on the table. The whole thing lifted for a brief second along with her. Had it not been Valeba was currently hiding underneath it, she was sure it was a sight to see.

“Easy!” Valeba barked. “We don’t wanna alert the staff we’re hiding out underneath a table.”

“Says the troll yelling,” she said. She rubbed the top of a horn gingerly. “Fuck that hurt.”

“Well yeah. It would. Hell, watching it hurts my pan.” She pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Least it won’t affect your intelligence.”

“Hey, hey, hey --” she accented each word with a real snap “--I actually need this thinkpan to be usable if I’m going up against Princess Staypuft.”

“Yeah, because you can’t just stab her and call it a night.” Valeba sighed. Having seadwelling quadrants did have its boons. Namely, she knew the intricacies that went into Mayola’s bid for Heiress. Trolls were a long standing violent, murderous race, yet the acquisition from bastard to Heiress, and then from Heiress to Empress, held enough pomp and circumstance to last a sweep. She couldn’t just cull the other troll right then and there.

No, first she had have the other Heiress abdicate their bid. Any Heiress that didn’t willingly abdicate would enter publicized single combat with the other. No other trolls. No assistance from quadrants, or a recommended highblood consort. Just you and the other troll. From there, she’d have to find some way to call out to Her Imperious Beguiler and repeat the whole process. In between all of this, Mayola would also have to find time to win over the planet’s currently divided support and gain control of the multitudes of industries Careen, Niehea or the Empress watched. It’s why Mayola went to these formal events in the first place. She couldn’t gain support if trolls far outside Sandyhorn didn’t even know of the Bastard of the Beaches.

Valeba always thought it was a stupid amount of politics for what effectively boiled down to single combat Duel Strifers.

But she didn’t express all of that to Mayola. Why would she? Mayola hated all the ceremony just as much as Valeba did, it’s part of why she ran from the position in the first place. She was all about killing and being done with it. You didn’t need a procession to convince the Empress to arrive on planet for the first time in however-many-sweeps.

So rather than sharing that, she tossed a bottle up to Mayola and said, “Here. Have the first one. It’ll be the only one you can take anyway.”

Mayola let out a choked laugh. “You wanna bet?”

Valeba propped herself up higher. “I can bet you hm...loser’s gotta be on bottom tonight. No fighting for it.”

Mayola gave Valeba a toothy grin as she whipped the cap off and downed it in an instant. The distinct, pleased noise escaping from her mostly-closed mouth. “Oh hon, you’re gonna lose so bad.”

Valeba nabbed a bottle next to her, uncapping and shooting it with a fluidity Mayola lacked. It was sweet. Almost too sweet. It didn’t so much hide the alcohol taste as it tried to bury it in spice and sugar. Enough so she wasn’t wholly sure she could feel her throat. She was just glad it wasn’t viscous as well, or else she’d lose this for sure. “You say this as I’ve consistently beat Ardeen in doing single malt soporific shots.”

Mayola grabbed another one. “Rum ain’t whiskey. You’re gonna fuckin--” she paused to drink the whole thing. Valeba watched her fins flutter, face flush, as she shuddered. “--gonna fuckin’ lose.”

“Yeah I bet.” Another shot. Valeba felt this one crawl down her back, almost pleasantly, warming up every area around her spine. “Though I’ve only got seven.” She tossed one up to Mayola. “Or uh...two. What’re we gonna do after that?”

“Eh, we’ll figure it out.” She opened up the bottle to do another shot, though slower than the previous times. It gave Valeba time to watch the array of faces she made as the liquid touched Mayola’s tongue and slid down her throat. Her face shifting from a grimace, to a mostly neutral expression, to complete pleasure in only a few seconds. “Oh wait! Why not get some shots when the bar opens?”

“Yeah, because that doesn’t look completely terrible.” She rolled her eyes and took another shot. One left. “Just a fuchsia and her kismesis casually getting shitfaced.”

“Yeah but we’re like...actually at a bar.” She paused, gaze darting down between at the scattered empty bottles surrounding the singular full bottle. “Oh shit.”

“What?”

“Uh...how many have we had between the two of us?”

“Well, you had one…” she pointed her left arm up at Mayola as she counted, “then me. Then you. Then me. Then you. Then me?” She frowned. “Yeah, it’s gotta be that. Next shot will be ahead of--hey! Fucking cheater!”

As she spoke, Mayola leaned down to snatch the final bottle and empty it. Valeba glowered the whole time, but Mayola avoided it by looking at her bottle. “You call it cheating,” she said, twirling the empty bottle between her fingers, “I call it getting ahead or winning.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Uh-huh. Sure. You gonna take care of these bottles then, winner?” She hyper-enunciated every letter at the end, letting the sourness of her tone really curdle. Truth be told, no matter what Mayola said, Valeba was going to clean them up. She had the option of possibly playing stupid if they caught her -- just cleaning up for some highbloods, no, she can’t reveal the name because they threatened her, you know how seadwellers get...it was a song and dance she knew all too well.

“...Nah.” Mayola kicked a few of the empty bottles into her open arms, where she scooped them up into her the bracer-sleeves of her top. “You know where to find me?”

She kicked back. “Course I do. You’re easy.” Valeba gave her one last grin as she rolled out from under the table, making careful sure not to bang up her horns.

The music and trolls had changed. She walked in on a slow, methodical waltz-sounding wholly comprised of clarinet and oboe with little variation and trolls spinning in equally methodical, dizzying circles. But they were distracted, and that’s what was important.

She scooted along the wall up to the dessert tables. The silver platters of cookies and cakes were picked clean, but the neon green trash can sitting against it was empty. Nobody even surrounded it to throw away their dainty, see-through plastic plates for cookies. She managed to get every single one of the little bottles dumped and covered in napkins without a soul paying enough attention to her to notice. Another successful mission.

She stretched her arms out, hearing the bones crack along the way. Maybe holing up underneath a table wasn’t the best idea, but damn if her and Mayola didn’t need the brief moment alone. They were much harder to get here for some reason than the Feast of Fools, or at her own damn Night of Frights party that she hosted. Apparently highbloods just couldn’t get enough of checking out the newest Heiress and her rustie of a date.

Just wait until they figure out just how many pies she’s managed to get her fingers into.

Valeba pocketed her hands into her skirt (oh thank God Aisral knew how pockets worked) and started down to the dance floor. Mayola should have made it out by now. She might be able to coax the fuchsiablood into doing one kind of highblood dance as a warm up before they started playing anything either of them cared much about. Not that Valeba was much good at either of them, but she was a quick learner and Mayola was a good partner. It couldn’t be that hard. And if not, she might be able to catch Dontoc and pry him away from Careen for five minutes. They were moirails. Moirails that Careen had made a careful point of making sure didn’t see each other the minute Valeba actually stayed in the city, enough so they didn’t know much about their own lives since Dontoc took her “just flirt with Pallia a little, not like she’ll notice” advice way too far and ended up further in the romantic-frustration hole than he would’ve liked. And that was still summer. She hadn’t even decided to dye her hair bright red at that point.

“Hey, shitblood!”

Valeba’s blood boiled. She didn’t recognize the voice behind her, but she sure as hell didn’t like the tone.

Fuck.

This is what she gets for drinking before eleven.

[justheretobreakthings]

Remember Me - Chapter 6

(First Chapter) (Previous Chapter) (Next Chapter)

Word Count: 3,913 (Total Word Count: 20,760) Read on AO3

Story Summary:

It was strange enough for the paladins of Voltron to have found another human this far from home, locked in a Galra prison. But it was stranger still when this human insisted that he knew them, and even that he was the former red paladin of Voltron.

That couldn’t possibly be true, could it? After all, if this Keith was actually a part of the Voltron team, then why does nobody remember him?

Chapter Preview:

“Ready when you are,” Lance said with a nod. “And hey, I know you’re still kinda convalescing right now, so I’ll go easy on you for the first couple of – ”

And before he even noticed Keith was moving, his legs were swept out from under him and he landed hard onto his back. After taking a moment to shake his head clear, he glared up at Keith, who had settled back into his beginning stance, looking perfectly innocent and for all the world like he had absolutely no idea how Lance had wound up on the ground.

“Don’t bother,” Keith said. “I think I can handle it.”

The night before a conference with a dozen planetary leaders from the coalition was a terrible night to have had difficulty sleeping. Throughout the seemingly endless meeting – the timekeeper on the wall of the room measured out three vargas, and Lance couldn’t remember how to convert that to Earth time, but he assumed it was somewhere in the ballpark of thirty years – he constantly found himself dangerously close to nodding off completely and would have to shake himself awake, barring one instance where it took Hunk kicking him in the shin under the table to get him upright again.

It wasn’t that the conferences were boring, exactly; more that they were mentally draining. Although all of the paladins had taken the time to study up on interplanetary geography and relations, they had barely made a dent in all they needed to know when it came to which planet was which, who was allied with whom, how trade systems on different galaxies worked, what embargos were in place, who had what resources, which planets had military forces, what types of governments and laws different planets had, all the important names to know…

If they didn’t have Allura on their side, Lance was certain the team would forever be hopelessly, embarrassingly lost. Sure, Shiro was always nodding along and focusing hard during these meetings, but Lance wasn’t sure if he was actually following everything, or just trying to look like he knew what he was doing. He didn’t speak up all that much when they weren’t discussing Voltron specifically, so Lance suspected it was likely the former at least as often as the latter.

In any case, his I-definitely-know-what’s-going-on face was on in full force today, and Lance tried to match it as best he could as he listened to the aliens on the different screens discussed the positioning of security personnel on trade routes that had been experiencing interception by rival forces. Allura had holographic maps up, with routes highlighted in clusters that looked to Lance like glowing bunches of yarn more than anything else, but which Allura was reading and manipulating like a piano.

Lance zoned in and out listening to the princess speak, searching out for names and places he recognized. “Our cargo line from the Griftsor system to the rebel outpost on Karimaw has been compromised, but now that we have a trade deal in place with the Yltraxians, we can reroute through their quadrant. There’s a tarriff in place on vulcanized esmerite if we cut through Theta-J-1-7’s orbit, but ultimately it would be less than the price of the fuel it would take to go around the rings of Yltrax altogether, so it’s worth the cost,” Allura would say, and Lance would understand some of those words individually.

The conference ran this dry for the majority of the meeting, until finally they reached discussion of recent activity in the battle campaigns on both their own side and the Galra’s, and Lance straightened up, back at full attention; this was the part where he could actually get use out of the information. They ran through an update on encounters since their last meeting – a handful of base raids by the Blade, transport vessels taken down by their rebel forces, the Galra attacking one of their armories and invading one of the moons of Qrandor, and the destruction of the public archives building in Olkarion’s capitol city.

Allura kept calm and composed, face neutral, during the full report, but at that last bit, her brow wrinkled a bit in worry. “They’ve been back to Olkarion? That’s… distressing. We had word a movement ago about an attack on Arus, and recently the Taujeerians reported signals of Galra activity in their vicinity.”

“There seem to be signs of planets previously liberated by Voltron being targeted through relatively contained attacks,” an Alien on one of the screens said – Lance recognized him as Puigian, but couldn’t recall his name. “It would be one thing to work to contain the coalition’s threat to their forces, but strategically it doesn’t seem to make sense for them to be focusing efforts and resources into reclaiming old planets when they could be using those resources to continue expanding outward.”

“We’ll pass along instructions to our Blade undercover operatives to look into this as soon as possible,” Shiro said. “In the meantime, Ryner, what’s the damage on Olkarion?”

“No fatal casualties,” Ryner answered. “There were eight parties injured by the incident, two of whom were considered to be in critical condition initially, but all are expected to make recoveries. It seems the contents of the public archives were being targeted more than the people maintaining and accessing them.”

“That’s a relief,” Allura sighed. “Any other significant damage worth noting?”

“Fortunately no major research operations nor particularly sensitive material was harmed, at least not beyond repair. But the public archives do have historical significance, not to mention sentimental value, so it was still quite the loss.”

“If you have the time to spare for it, I’m sure the Olkari would highly appreciate a visit from Voltron in a more ceremonial context. Never underestimate the importance of keeping up morale.”

The rest of the meeting was spent first on arranging for a visit to Olkarion within the next couple of quintants, and then on the status of and ideas for the public image campaign. Normally Lance would enjoy discussions on this topic, but the meeting had been running for so long by that point, they could have been talking about crowning him king of the universe and he still wouldn’t have wanted to sit still for another minute of it.

He let out a long sigh of relief when the screens finally shut off and they were excused to get up from the table. Immediately he made a beeline for the kitchen to grab a snack, snatching up one of Hunk’s handmade fruit bars before heading out toward one of the rec rooms in search of fun. Around one corner, he bumped into Shiro, only narrowly avoiding splattering the fruit bar all over his shirt. “Sorry,” he said. “Wasn’t looking.”

“No harm done,” Shiro said. “I take it you were pretty eager to wrap up the meeting and get your free time in?”

“Was I that obvious?” Lance asked.

“You left the room at about a thousand miles an hour, so, yeah, I’d say so. You know, if you’ve got spare energy to work off, you could head over to the training deck with me. I was going to stop by the kitchen real quick, so I could meet you there right after.”

Lance smiled and nodded. “God, yes, that’d be great.”

“Excellent. I’ll be back in a moment,” Shiro said, nodding to him and continuing down the hall toward the kitchen. Lance finished his own snack there in the hall before making his own way in the direction of the training deck, passing by the open doors of a ballroom, the holodeck, the med bay –

He paused and doubled back when he passed the med bay, peering through the open doorway. Apparently, Keith had relented and taken Allura up on her suggestion of helping Coran with cleaning, since there he was, back to Lance as he scrubbed resolutely at the glass of one of the cryopods. Lance couldn’t help but pause, taking a moment to stand in the doorway and observe.

He was wearing another set of Lance’s clothes, jeans that were too long for him and one of the close copies Coran had made of the blue-and-white baseball tee that Lance favored (after seeing the garish designs Coran had come up with when he first had made the paladins new clothes to cycle through, the paladins had all decided they’d prefer it if he just use the clothes they were wearing already as a style guide with minimal alteration; the Altean had muttered something about ‘stifling his art’, but had nonetheless agreed).

Lance couldn’t help but feel just a little miffed at Keith. It seemed he had taken the fact that Lance had let him borrow his pajamas as an indicator that Keith was free to raid his wardrobe to his heart’s content. Sure, the guy needed clothes, of course, but the least he could have done was ask, even if just as a matter of social convention. Besides, blue still looked terrible on him.

As Keith moved around to the other side of the cryopod to clean, he finally spotted Lance, and jumped back an inch in surprise. “Um,” he said, “… Hey.”

“Hey,” Lance answered, and for a brief and uncomfortable moment, the two of them were silent, just warily observing each other. “So, um,” he continued, scratching uncertainly at the back of his neck. “What, uh, what are you up to?”

Keith stared at him for a moment, then he shifted his gaze first to the cryopod, then to the washrag in his hand, then the bottle of cleaner at his feet, and then finally back to Lance. “I’m auditioning for Cats on Broadway,” he said flatly.

“Okay, mister sarcastic,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes. “Just trying to make conversation is all.”

“Oh.” Another pause before he edged back to the cryopod and continued wiping down the glass. “If you’re going to just be hanging around here anyway,” Keith said after Lance spent another half a minute watching him in silence, “You could go ahead and grab another washcloth and lend a hand.”

“Oh, no, um, I’m busy.”

Keith raised a brow. “You don’t look busy.”

“Well, I will be in a moment, just meeting Shiro to, uh… to train…”

The expression on Keith’s face softened, fell, a flicker of something that Lance couldn’t identify flashing across his eyes before he simply said, “…Oh.” For a moment he stood in silence, chewing at his bottom lip, then he pointedly turned his back to Lance to resume scrubbing at the cryopod, more vigorously than what was necessary, as if he were trying to sand a hole right through it.

“Lance,” a voice came from behind him, and Lance whipped around to see Shiro approaching him from down the hallway. “You coming to train or what?”

“Uh, yeah, sorry,” Lance said. “Just, ah, got held up.”

“By what?” Shiro asked as he reached the med bay as well and looked past Lance, seeing the answer to his question. “Ah. Hi, Keith!” he called. “Morning going all right?”

Keith leaned around the cryopod to look back at the doorway again. “Yeah,” he answered tonelessly.

“How long you been working on the cryopods?”

“I dunno.”

Shiro raised his brow and gave him a soft smile. “So, all morning?”

Keith shrugged. “I guess.”

“Don’t suppose you could use a break?”

“Nah, I’m okay,” Keith sighed, returning his attention to the cryopod. “I’m okay. Go – go ahead to your training, don’t let me keep you. I, uh, I’m okay. Go train.”

Shiro frowned as he watched Keith work. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the feeling you’d rather be training than doing this.”

Keith paused his scrubbing, and then after a few ticks, resumed, expression unchanged, as he answered, “Doesn’t matter. Can’t train, remember? Allura’s orders.”

“Actually,” Shiro said slowly, “Technically, she didn’t put a ban on training altogether. She just said you’re not allowed to use any of the training equipment.” He shrugged. “There’s training you can do without weapons and armor, you know.”

This time after his obligatory pause, he turned back toward the doorway, eyes wide. “Wait, are – are you serious?”

“Yeah. If you want to.”

Lance frowned up at Shiro. Nothing against the new guy, but he had been rather looking forward to getting to have some one-on-one training with the black paladin. He didn’t get the chance to often, especially considering that it should be a fairly common thing for leader and right-hand man, so the times he did, they were, well, nice. Now a wrench had been thrown into the works, and it was too late to double back; there was no way he could uninvite Keith without seeming like a major dick.

Keith, for his part, hesitated. “But, um, Allura said that if I question whether or not I should be going somewhere, then I – ”

“Well, I think that rule leaves a lot of wiggle room for claiming plausible deniability,” Shiro said with a shrug. “Come on, kiddo, you want to spar or not?”

Again Keith hesitated, and then, the corners of his mouth turning upward by just a hair, he slowly nodded. “Yes. I do, just, uh – just let me finish up here real quick, won’t be a minute.”

“Uh, Shiro?” Lance asked, tugging lightly at Shiro’s shirtsleeve. “Are you really sure that’s a good idea?”

“It’ll be fine,” Shiro replied. “And if Allura finds out and has a problem with it, I’ll take the heat, no big deal.”

“Well, yeah, uh, that too, but I was thinking more, um…” Lance worried at his lip as he fished for something to say, finally settling on, “He’s kind of a twig? You spar with him, you’ll probably break him in two with one hit.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Keith called from across the med bay, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at Lance. “And you’re one to talk.”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe he could break me in two, too, if I wasn’t so great at defense. I’m just looking out for you.”

“Oh, it’ll be fine,” Shiro said with a wave of his hand. “I can pull my punches if I need to.” He paused, and then smirked over at Lance, raising his brow. “Unless you’re hinting that you would rather be his sparring partner instead? I suppose two twigs would be a better match.”

Lance punched Shiro in the shoulder. “I’m not a twig! You’re just a hulk. Your perception’s all warped.”

“All right, all right, I’ll take him. Seeing as you’re not up for the challenge.”

“Hey, that’s not it at all!” Lance snapped, and he turned back toward Keith. “Hey, Mullet! I’m your sparring partner now!”

“Um, okay?” Keith said.

Shiro gave Lance a nudge. “Go get changed if you’re gonna spar with him. Wouldn’t be all that fair for only one of you to be wearing armor.”

Lance nodded. “Right. Meet you at the training deck.”

He took off down the hall, reaching his room and getting changed into casual clothes in record time. It had been a while since last he had done any sort of training in day clothes; it actually felt kind of nice, looser, lighter. He stretched his arms and legs out a couple of times and then, satisfied with his range of motion, headed back out to the training deck, where the others were already at their marks, Shiro standing against one of the walls along the deck, Keith out on the floor, his arms looking thin as ever as he stretched them.

“You ready?” Shiro asked.

“Am I ever,” Lance answered, striding toward the center of the room and taking his position.

Keith met him there, situating himself across from Lance and settling into his stance. “We going for three-second pin?” he asked.

“Sure,” Lance said with a nod. He set his feet and lifted his fists into a starting stance. “Ready when you are. And hey, I know you’re still kinda convalescing right now, so I’ll go easy on you for the first couple of – ”

And before he even noticed Keith was moving, his legs were swept out from under him and he landed hard onto his back. After taking a moment to shake his head clear, he glared up at Keith, who had settled back into his beginning stance, looking perfectly innocent and for all the world like he had absolutely no idea how Lance had wound up on the ground.

“Don’t bother,” Keith said. “I think I can handle it.”

“I – I didn’t know we were already starting,” Lance grunted.

“Gotta be on your guard, Lance!” Shiro called from the sideline, and Lance scowled at him before replying, “I know, I know!” He finished straightening himself and firmly planted his feet. “We’ll count down this time, keep it fair, okay?” Keith nodded his agreement. “All right. Three – two – ”

He struck out with a fist before reaching ‘one’, but Keith ducked out of the way before it could hit. He glared at Lance – uncalled for, really, he had just been trying to even things out in regards to false starts – but he didn’t say anything, instead opting to dive right into the spar.

And, honestly, unexpectedly, he was good. He wasn’t packing much power behind the jabs or attempted holds he threw Lance’s way, but it was immediately clear that he knew his way around a fight. He was strategic and calculating even as he kept up a rapid offense, aiming for pressure points and keeping watch for openings and opportunities. His form also wasn’t perfect, as he still stumbled or overshot a couple of times, probably just still unused to fighting at his current weight, but he made up for it with speed and, especially, reaction time.

Lance grew increasingly frustrated as Keith dodged or blocked everything thrown at him, and seemed to catch every opening Lance left even if it was only for a fraction of a second. He gritted his teeth as Keith landed another tap on his left arm as he turned out of the path of the punch from his right almost before he’d even thrown it. They kept a steady distance, Keith matching Lance’s footwork perfectly without even looking down. It was like a dance in which only one partner had been taught the choreography.

In fact, that was exactly what it was like, he realized, and mentally kicked himself for having taken so long to realize it. If Keith remembered training with Lance before in his little possibly-fantasy universe, then he would already know all there was to know about Lance’s moves and fighting style, already had learned how to tell when he was feinting or where he was aiming the next hit. And the same couldn’t be said for the other way around.

There came a point when a hit to the knees and a push to the chest brought Lance to the floor again, and Keith was quick to press Lance’s shoulders down. He was panting hard, Lance noticed, a sheen of sweat coating his pale face, but he didn’t seem to notice. “One – ” Keith counted between panting breaths. “Two – ”

Lance brought his knees up and bucked hard, managing to toss Keith off of him, and the smaller boy wasted no time rolling back onto his feet, going back onto the attack with just as much intensity before, if not more, despite the fatigue starting to take a noticeable effect on him.

They lasted several minutes more, each getting one more almost-pin in that the other managed to break free of, before, finally, Keith overcorrected dodging a hooked punch from Lance, nearly losing his balance and giving the other the opening he needed to bulldoze him to the ground. “One – two – three!” Lance shouted out, and Keith stopped his attempts to throw Lance off of him, instead letting his head collapse to the ground as he closed his eyes and caught his breath.

Lance clambered off of him and to his feet, and, after Keith’s breathing started approaching its normal rate again, he did the same, standing up unsteadly and then bending down to set his hands on his knees, expression unfocused as if seasick. Shiro moved from the sidelines and joined the two of them at the center of the training deck. “You all right, Keith?” he asked, brows pinched in concern.

“Yeah,” Keith said between panting breaths, not taking his hands off his knees. “Yeah, I’m good. Just – stamina’s not what it used to be, I guess.”

“If you’re not feeling well – ”

Keith waved him away. “I’m fine, honest. Just need a moment. I, ah, I haven’t done that in a while. Must have been going harder than I realized.”

“You really didn’t have to go all-out for this, you know. Don’t need you hurting yourself.”

“I know. I just, um, I wanted to.”

Lance snorted. “Wanted to what? See how long you could go before fainting?” Keith rolled his eyes.

“Well, hey,” Shiro said. “For your first time back on the horse in a while, that was really good.” At Keith’s raised brow, he continued, “I mean it. It’s pretty obvious you know what you’re doing a fight.”

Lance frowned and glanced between the two of them. “And, uh… any feedback for me, Shiro? I’m the one who won, so, if he’s good, then…”

Shiro smirked and brought up a hand to ruffle Lance’s hair. “Sure, Lance, you’re the universe’s greatest warrior.” Lance batted his hand away, and Shiro turned to Keith. “I think we’re gonna want to get you hydrated again. Come on, Coran’s got plenty of water pouches at the ready, and it won’t hurt to grab you something from the kitchen too.”

Keith finished straightening up and nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Excellent,” said Shiro. He turned and started toward the door. “You coming too, Lance?”

“Nah, that’s, uh, that’s okay,” Lance answered. “I think I’m gonna hit the shower first.”

“All right. Come on Keith, I’ll lead the way.”

He strode toward the exit, and Keith trailed behind him, but paused before he reached the door. “Hey, uh,” he said tentatively, turning back toward Lance. “Thanks. I - I missed this.”

Lance smiled at him. “Right. No problem.”

Keith nodded a goodbye and ducked out the door. Lance watched him go, letting his smile fall. There was a bitter aftertaste in his mouth from that sparring match, one that he couldn’t quite place, and he didn’t know where it had come from. He was feeling off his game, off-kilter somehow.

Sure, by the end of their spar, Lance had gained the upper hand, but that had only been after Keith had worked himself to exhaustion. He couldn’t forget that at the beginning, he had been getting his ass handed to him. He wasn’t the best fighter in the world, sure, and he’d had his ass handed to him before… so he didn’t know why this was bothering him as much as it was. Something just felt off.

Maybe he had been going easy on him, he thought. Subconsciously, that is. Maybe he’d thought he was giving it his all, but on some level had been all too aware that he didn’t really want to beat up a guy who looked like he hadn’t gotten a minute of exercise or a crumb of food in days, and had pulled his punches accordingly. Some sort of pity thing.

That made sense. That was probably it. Pity. That was probably why Shiro was going out of his way to be chummy with Keith, too. Just being nice and cheering him up a bit since he was down. And that must have been what had left Lance feeling off, too, reading that odd vibe on a subconscious level before the rest of his mind caught up.

Satisfied with that explanation, Lance left the training deck to head back toward the living quarters, deciding he’d go for a nice bath instead of a shower, just a little reward for a fight well fought.

[howtohero]

#127 Superhuman Civilians (and also a few tips on how to fight robots I guess)

While many superhumans see their great powers as indicative of a responsibility of equal or greater greatness to the greatness of their powers. There are a great many who don’t! These people don’t see their powers as an inherent responsibility to do something for the betterment of society. They see them as just sort of something they have. Like the ability to touch your nose with your tongue. You wouldn’t feel beholden to stop bank robberies or try to swashbuckle with sword-wielding mothmen just because you could touch your tongue to your nose. So why should they feel that responsibility just because they can melt metal with their acid hands?

These superhuman civilians can be very frustrating to those superhumans who do feel the need to spring into action whenever those three yetis with identical eye-scars roll into town. (Why do they all have the same scar? Is it part of some sort of ritual? Are they all clones? Who gave them the scars? Did it hurt? Are these yetis just lashing out because somebody slashed their eyes? Perhaps they’re not really evil at all! Oh wait, one of them just ate a baby. One second we have to go deal with that now.) See, superheroes are constantly putting their lives, their relationships, even their sanity, on the line to protect the world and everyone and everything in it. Meanwhile these guys can create force fields and, heck, there’s that one guy who can control gravity and they’re content to just sit on the sidelines eating cheese puffs and watching epic fail videos on the internet instead of lending a hand. The gravity guy wouldn’t even have to put that much effort in. All he’d have to do is like pay attention for maybe four seconds and crush the threat under its own weight. We wouldn’t even need anybody else to do anything ever. Any time there was issue this guy could just take four seconds, deal with it, and then go back to eating his cheese puffs! Selfish. He’s really bringing everybody down that guy. 

But it’s important to remember that it’s their life and they can do what they want. Just because you’ve decided the best way to spend your time is to leap around in a leotard fighting sentient uranium rods from the Volski Quadrant, doesn’t mean that everybody like you has to do the same. In fact, maybe they’re doing other worthwhile things with their powers. Fighting bad guys isn’t the only thing superpowers can be used for. Maybe these people are helping to advance science, perhaps they’re spending their time dazzling the public with their fantastic ability and making people happy, maybe they only use their powers to help the people they care about. I think that’s all right (and I am the expert). There are other guys who are protecting the world (so many that we’ve had to separate you all into your own territories) let these people just live their lives. 

Really the only time superheroes should need to worry about these superhuman civilians is when they actually do decide they want to help. If you’re in the middle of fighting… let’s say… The Dead President Society… Which is… A bunch of animatronic zombie versions of American presidents… That destroys banks... because banks hold “dead presidents” (that’s a cool old guy way to say “money”). There’s no specific reason why whoever built them made them zombies. That’s just what they decided. So you’re fighting the Dead President Society, and you’re in your zone. You fight robots all the time. This should be easy. All you need to do is slap a How To Hero Brand Technology Neutralizer™ on their chests and they’ll shut down. But then all of a sudden some guy in a hoodie (superpowered people without real superhero identities always just wear a hoodie when using their powers, as if that covers any part of their face, for shame) jumps into the fray and starts trying to help. It turns out the fight has gotten too close to the barber shop he owns. If it were a trained superhero, you’d welcome the help. But this is an untrained civilian. They don’t know what they’re doing. They haven’t read this blog! (You’d better hope you have the pocket sized version in your utility belt. And that you have the entry on mitigating collateral damage chapter bookmarked.) So now you’re tussling with all the presidents and you’ve got to watch out for this guy with his laser eyes. Who has only ever used them to heat up food. Heating up food and fighting robots are very different activities? Don’t believe me? Go microwave a pop tart. Then, go fight a robot. You may notice that there’s not a lot of crossover between those skills! Ok, yes, technically you could use a microwave to beat a robot in a fight. All right, let’s just run through that real quick. Robots will explode if exposed to too much radiation. Especially if it’s in a confined space. Like a microwave oven. So if you shrink your mechanical menace, or you enlarge the microwave (Making it a macrowave oven presumably.) and then put some really tasty nuts and bolts in the micro/macrowave to entice and entrap the robot, viola, you’ve destroyed a robot. 

But this untrained civilian doesn’t have that knowledge or those skills. They’re just a massive liability. They’re going to get in your way and probably endanger other (non-superpowered) civilians. So you need to shove them out of the way and wrap up this robot president situation super quickly so you can politely explain to Laserface (what are the odds that their last name was actually Laserface! Wow! This character I’ve invented sure is whimsical) why you shoved them so they don’t retaliate by shooting you with a laser (from their face!). When you have to rush through a takedown like that you run the risk of being sloppy and making a mistake. The robot might upload itself into the internet or release nanobots into the city’s water supply. You’re not going to have the time you need to carefully disable and dismantle the robot and take possession of and destroy any electronics it might’ve touched. All because this turbo-revvin punk thought that they could do your job better than you with zero training or experience. Let them know that you’d be willing to train them, or at least put them in contact with someone who would be willing to train them, and that if they don’t want to go through the proper training then they need to stay on the sidelines. 

At the same time there may be a time where you actually need these superhuman civilians’ help. Sometimes there are threats that are so grand and sprawling and terrible that it absolutely requires all hands on deck no exceptions even the guys on house-arrest. Or perhaps you’ve found yourself in a situation where only this one civilian’s very specific powers can diffuse the situation. When approaching a superhuman civilian for assistance try to be respectful. Don’t yell at them saying they’ve squandered their potential until now and that now is the time for them to finally make something of themselves. That’s not how you get someone to help you. Hate, yes. Help, not so much. Instead you should make sure to make clear to them exactly what is at stake, maybe emphasize the fact that their loved ones are also at risk (or their barber shop, basically just find out what’s important to them). You should also make it clear to them that this is a one time thing. That if they help you they won’t be drafted into some sort of superhuman army or be forced to protect the world all day every day. If you’re charming enough you might be able to get them to sign on before the planet is paved over and turned into an intergalactic parking lot.

While for many being a superhuman superhero is a dream come true there are others who simply want nothing to do with that kind of lifestyle. As a superhero it’s your job to protect them and defend their right to that sort of lifestyle just as you would anybody else. Maybe you’ll find yourself fighting alongside them one day, maybe you won’t. What they do shouldn’t concern you, those yetis are still eating babies go do something about that already!

[fantroll-purgatory]

Theme: This is the first troll in my set of Pride Trolls based off Gilbert Baker’s original meanings for his rainbow flag! Rather than make all the trolls neon mutantbloods I wanted to give them a shot as canon-ish trolls that simply have the color of the “nearest neighbor.” This is set in what would be the equivalent of Troll 1980s, which would have been a while back for us if Hiveswap is anything to go by, and is meant to be semi-canonical. Mythun’s theme is “sex,” which I am interpreting as “sex/sexuality/gender” to give myself a broader launching pad.

(mod note: obviously since these are my personal trolls they wouldn’t be given the same priority as the ones submitted by non-mods; these are mostly there for if you wanna review a troll and there isn’t one available)

Credit goes to fan-troll for the buzz cut, naphal for the eyebrows and eyes, fantrollartroom for the combat boots, and h0m3s7uck_4d0p7s-d9wpswp for the selfie arm.

Pride themed trolls sound like a great idea, I love that! 

Name: MYTHUN NAPASK (Derived from Sanksrit “Maithuna” meaning sexual union and “napumsakalinga” for their neutral-gender signifier)

W/ a name like that and a sexuality/gender theme, I hope she’s an nb lesbian.

Age: 12 sweeps

Strife Specibus: 2x3dentkind (while I know it’s canon for heiresses to use this my backups are swordkind and axekind)

Is… is it because sword lesbian jokes? You could give her a 2x1glaive. To mimic the trident’s double sides but make her a sword lesbian.

Fetch Modus: ARTICLE MODUS, which switches language every time she pulls it up. She has to guess if the item’s article is masculine, feminine, or neuter to eject it. If she guesses wrong, an item with that signifier is ejected

Good luck to her if she gets space german.

Blood color: Fuchsia

Title: Mage of Time

This is really interesting. Knower of Time… She’d have the active ability to perceive the flow of time and would probably have visions of the multitudes of events that could occur, or will occur if she takes a particular action… Might even be able to Know The Past, too. It’d probably get pretty confusing. Her inverse would be Heir of Space, which would allow her when she gets more powerful to just kind of. Move shit around to make way for a better understanding of time… Which lines up pretty well with her goals, really! 

Moon: Derse. While her lovers might feel that Mythun is living in the moment, she’s keenly aware that she is unlikely to survive her encounter with the Condesce and has something of an obsession with perpetuating sustainable changes throughout Alternia.

Looking to the future, not revealing her true nature to the people around her, putting up a particular image… yeah, seems dersite to me! And with that her EZ sign would be Piries, The Dissenter. Fun. I might draw on that if I decide to try to edit lambda- I’m still hmming about editing it too much.

Symbol and meaning: A lowercase lambda, which was declared the official international symbol for gay and lesbian rights in 1974. I was originally going to give her the linked Venuses because she’s a lesbian and it fit the trident bloodcaste signifier, but I was hoping she’d be themed off sex/gender/sexuality rather than just as it pertains to herself. I don’t know how well a lambda fits the language? It has three spokes for sure…

I’ll try a few things out in the design phase.

Trolltag: affluentLadykiller. For this troll set, I want all their tag abbreviations to come from the LGBTQIA initialism. Picked this one because Mythun is something of a playboy and is not at all shy about the material wealth her hemostatus affords her.

This is a really really minor change, but maybe affluentialLadykiller. Affluential means Rich AND socially influential, which relates back to her goals as well as her social standing. 

Quirk: uses abbrevs and cuts wrds short when pos ;) tends to ovruse th wink moji ;)

(reasoning: lambda denotes a half-life so she effectively decays words as she types them.

Neat reasoning, very good, A+.

Lusus: Gl’bgolyb

Personality:

Mythun Napask is the Bruce Wayne of Alternia at the time that she’s alive. Rich, famous, a seeming laissez-faire to all her actions (which often include taking beautiful women home with her). Beneath it all, though, Mythun is a woman out of time. Constantly aware of the small window she has to make lasting change in Alternia before her predecessor kills her, Mythun is always working at various theories for how to create true change in Alternia’s culture, fearing that authoritarian declarations will simply be overwritten by the next “heiress.” Her primary focus is on sexuality, since, despite trolls’ ability to be bisexual, the culture still shows a marked bias toward couples of differing genders.

She should probably have a marked interest in gender, too. Alternia does still seem to have a gender binary, which is stupid because they’re a race of bug aliens, Andrew Hussie- so she might have a marked interest in dismantling that nonsense. Either way, I love this… Does she use her tons of money to fund indie gay movies, maybe? Help Create Art, Ma’am. 

Interests:

Deeply invested in propagating the troll race ;). While she exists pre-SGRUB, she still lives under the Condesce and feels her odds of survival are not good. Whenever she develops a relationship in a quadrant with a fellow woman, she makes sure to add both their DNA to the slurry, her rationale being that if she doesn’t survive at least she and her relationships will live on in future trolls. (lambda as # of offspring generated in evolutionary algorithms.)

Her radio show. While she understands that her status as heiress affords her something of a captive audience, Mythun enjoys putting out her weekly radio show in which she discusses deeply ingrained oppression in troll society accompanied by speculation as to where it came from. (lambda as wavelength indicator)

Perfecting an engine powered by nuclear fusion so she can take trolls off-planet without the Condesce’s say-so. This has resulted in a number of explosions that have been only somewhat dampened by water and significantly more dampened because Gl’bgolyb uses a mild scream to neutralize the blasts. She doesn’t try as much anymore; too many rustbloods die when she makes mistakes. (lambda as a sensor in an internal combustion engine, as the rocket used to launch Japan’s first orbital satellite, and something about Black Mesa?)

I’m so proud of her… These are all really good interests. She should probably be interested in like planetary establishments in general (the uppercase Lambda is utilized in determining whether or not something qualifies as a planet). This next one doesn’t d irectly relate to the lambda, so take these suggestions with a grain of salt, but just having her be interested in critical theory might be a good idea. Just so she’s like, a little more ready to Do the establishing off-planet societies for people she saves, if she can save them.

Design time!:

Tiara: I wanted to integrate the sign right into the gold just because I didn’t want to rely too strongly on the Feferi school of tiara design. 

Hair: I adjusted her hairline a little. It felt weird going back behind the fin like that with no sideburn at all... So I gave her some scraggly shaved edges to match her eyebrows. 

Eyes & Mouth & Piercings: She was looking a little wall-eyed, so I fixed that. I gave her some tooth definition. I also made her lip and fin piercing more prominent- I had to squint to tell they were even there at first. 

Symbol: I was agonizing over what to do with it until I realized that just... just adding a line... I can just add a line. 

Leggings: I didn’t want to leave them flat black, so I edited them into two colors from a recently proposed lesbian flag. These colors specifically represent gender non-conformity and love&sex. 

Shoes: I loved what you did with her nails so much that I had to replicate it with her shoestrings. 

Very solid design, very solid character, gay/10. 

-CD

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 7 (6 of 6)

Well, it’s taken just as many months as there are seasons of it, but at last we come to the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Episode 25: All Good Things…

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Captain Picard inexplicably finds his mind jumping among three points in time: the present (stardate 47988); just prior to the starship USS Enterprise-D's first mission during the episode "Encounter at Farpoint", seven years earlier; and over twenty-five years into the future, where an aged Picard has retired to the family vineyard in La Barre, France. These jumps occur without warning, and the resulting discontinuity in Picard's behaviour leaves him and those around him confused and concerned about his mental health. This is especially true in the future time-period where Picard has been diagnosed with a mental illness.

 In the present, Picard is ordered to take the Enterprise to the edge of the Romulan Neutral Zone to investigate a spatial anomaly. In the future, he convinces his ex-wife, Dr. Beverly Picard, to take him on the USS Pasteur to find the anomaly. In the past, despite having Enterprise's mission to Farpoint Station cancelled by Starfleet to investigate the anomaly, Picard insists on continuing, believing the impending encounter with the omnipotent being Q to be more important. After reaching the place where he had first encountered Q and finding nothing there, Picard enters his ready room, only to find himself in Q's courtroom. Q reveals that the trial that had begun seven years ago, had never concluded, and the current situation is humanity's last chance to prove themselves to the Q Continuum, but secretly reveals that he himself is the cause of Picard's time jumping. Q challenges Picard to solve the mystery of the anomaly, cryptically stating that Picard will destroy humanity.

 As Picard arrives at the anomaly in all three time periods, he discovers that the anomaly is much larger in the past, but does not exist at all in the future. As the past and present Enterprises scan the anomaly with inverse tachyon pulse beams, the Pasteur is attacked by Klingon ships, but the crew is saved due to the timely arrival of the Enterprise under the command of Admiral William Riker. Q once again appears to Picard and takes him to Earth 3.5 billion years ago, where the anomaly, growing larger as it moves backwards in time, has taken over the whole of the Alpha Quadrant and has prevented the formation of life on Earth. When Picard returns to the future, he discovers the anomaly has appeared, created as a result of his orders, and the tachyon pulses from the three eras are sustaining it. Data and Geordi determine that they can stop the anomaly by having all three Enterprises fly into the centre of it and create static warp shells. Picard relays the orders to each Enterprise. Each ship suffers catastrophic damage, with Q telling the future Picard that "all good things must come to an end" just before the future Enterprise explodes.

 Picard finds himself facing Q in the courtroom as before. Q congratulates Picard for being able to realise the paradox, which is proof that humanity can still evolve, much to the surprise of the Q Continuum. Q admits to helping Picard to solve it with the time jumping since he was the one that put them in this situation, and then goes on to explain that the anomaly has been stopped and that his past and present have been restored. He then withdraws from the courtroom and bids farewell to Picard by saying "See you...out there". Picard then returns to the Enterprise of the present, no longer jumping through time. He is returned to the moment his time jumping began, and consequently deduces he is the only one to retain any memory of the alternate timeline he experienced.

 As the senior staff plays their regular poker game, they reflect on the details of the future the captain related to prevent them from drifting apart. For the first time, Picard decides to join the game, expressing regret he had not done so before and being reminded that he was always welcome.

Review:

While I know this series finale got a lot of rave reviews at the time, I struggle to find myself agreeing with them.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very good episode and delivers a decent final televised adventure for the TNG crew.  However, to my mind the best final episodes are just that; final.  Some aspect that sustained the show has to go in a way that means it couldn’t continue even if you wanted it to.  In the world of Trek, DS9 would do something like this by splitting up the main cast, keeping only a handful on the space station while others left, and Voyager does it by ending the journey that is the crux of that show.  Other examples of definitive endings in series finales include Friends, Frasier, M*A*S*H and even some animated shows like Transformers: Prime.

 That being said, TNG was forced to make do with a less-than-final finale because it was about to take over the cinematic side of the Trek franchise, so there were limits on how much stuff could be ended. As a result, we instead get an attempt to bring the show ‘full circle’ by doing a time-hopping Q-related finale that includes the pilot episode era as part of it.  This allows for the return of Denise Crosby as Natasha Yar for a final time, and also brings by Colm Meaney as Miles O’Brien despite him being a series regular on DS9 at that point.  Both give great last performances on the TNG franchise, as does De Lancie as Q, though he does later reprise the role in Voyager.

 Aside from the relative lack of finality in this final episode, a few other bits bother me as well.  First of all, we once again see the Worf-Troi romance trotted out, and it’s played well for what little we see of it, but again by the end of the episode it’s snuffed out by some excuse.  I can’t believe that even here, at the finale, there was no push to get that romance into canon and not have it be a parallel timeline or a psychic illusion.  In many ways, this is where the films and spin-off shows surpass the TNG series; they don’t hide away from shaking up the status quo or creating long-lasting changes rather than a bunch of continuity-lacking interchangeable one-off episodes.

 Second, the episode is all very much ‘crisis of the moment’ and doesn’t explore any issues or develop any of the characters. Granted, it’s a series finale and so there’s less room for anything in that line, but that’s what Trek should be wherever it can, and I might be wrong but Voyager manages it within its own finale. Also, you wouldn’t expect the finale of a sit-com to avoid making you laugh, you wouldn’t expect the finale of a crime show to be devoid of a crime to solve, so why make a Trek finale that isn’t doing at least one of the two things that properly defines Trek?

 Finally, much as I enjoy seeing Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, I felt that the finale should have been more evenly focused across the cast.  So much of what goes on centres on Picard that you don’t feel like TV audiences are getting a chance to say a proper farewell to every character in the main cast. This is something I’m sure DS9 and Voyager must have picked up on, because my recollection is that their finales spread the focus a bit more widely (especially DS9 due to the plethora of secondary recurring characters that show had).  So, all in all, a good finale but not the best, something that I’m sure the films will compensate for.  On balance, I give ‘All Good Things’ 7 out of 10.

[talesofealdancynedom]

Patrick, riding his familiar Orion, in fairy robes; As baby of the family, the first illustration must be at maximum cute.

Tale 18: Patrick Monabellan & the Paladins (chapter 1 - Wolf Boy 1/4) part 3. Stories of True Love

none

Emilia had always joked, with no ill intent, that her fourth child was not a boy, but the family dog. Patrick was the worst child of the lot. If a dog did it, he did it smarter. Starting at the age of three, he did everything from: fetch, howl, growl, play tag, hide and seek, wiggle when excited, chew things, eat things he shouldn’t, have heightened senses, often went on all fours, and never grew out of any of it. He was an excellent puzzle solver and tracker. Patrick was also strong and energetic, but otherwise grumpy, and gave the most talk back out of the four children. Even then, Patrick would find joy in guarding and snuggling all three of his big sisters, and his parents. It was equally annoying and adorable. This simple fact kept him alive most days.

Patrick’s father became King Mage in magic school, or perhaps before; it was unclear. This meant Morgan was prophesized to have one child for each quadrant of the table of fours; the ancient diagram that showed all magic correlation. Morgan and Emilia would have one child for each season, and a Beast King of fey that belonged in that season, was the one to name them. The chance to name one of the four children, was a privilege the King’s quarreled over. Morgan was like there brother now, and names are important to fey. Patrick’s older sisters were housed by the Stag, then the Dragon, then the Raven Kingdoms, as the table went from spring, to summer, then fall. Until the year ended, when finally, winter came around. No one was more excited to the child of winter as Emilia; She had always wanted a boy, as a chip off the old block. As in a son that was as adorable as his father.

When Patrick was born, He was everything their family wished for. If not removed surgically a little earlier than expected; just as his father. To the horror of the nursing staff, the Wolf King came directly to the NICU to name him. This Wolf king was not the original one, that had won the chance to name a King Mage’s children; but the previous Wolf King’s eldest prince, Eobreth. Morgan’s best, and first, fey friend. To say the least, they knew each other’s life stories well. As wolf king, he had many of the values his fey kingdom: leadership, bravery, strength, and loyalty. Emilia and Morgan anticipated their son would be named something along those line. But the Wolf King knew human’s, and Morgan, better than the other beast kings; He didn’t want Patrick to have a heroic or symbolic name. He wanted to choose one that would be meaningful to Morgan specifically. Eobreth named Patrick after his great grandfather, who’s early death at the hands of magic conflict, shaped Morgan’s life. Patrick was lovingly place in the Wolf Kingdom house, reserved for the first kings of the Far North: Monabellan. As Patrick grew, he turned out to be proud of his relationship with the wolf kingdom, and its heroism. Patrick acted like a wolf, and became a master of winter magic from the moment he could count. As if Eobreth gave him more than just a name.

Patrick’s fairy robes where the same as the Wolf Kingdom’s royalty. All fairy robes the Fairy King makes, to protect her magic human friends, are fashioned after the fey kingdom that the mage is housed in. But far less fassionable. Patrick’s special protective garbs, were gray with white fur lining, and armored sleeves, hide pants, furred gloves, and moccasin boots. And no wolf housed mage’s robes were complete without the trademark wolf eared hood on it. He looked like winter itself when he wore them. Complementing the fairness, he got from his mother; he almost glowed in the moonlight.

By school age, Patrick summoned a familiar for a ‘pack mate.’ Patrick’s familiar was a white wolf that aged with him, named Orion. Speaking of heroes and winters nights. When people asked Patrick what job he wanted, as many adults do to instill unrealistic expectations of life in children, his answer was always gold. Raised on the epicenter of a magic forest ,Tiberius Gate, and passionate about protecting people, Patrick had no doubt what he wanted to be. Unlike the other kids in primary public school, his answer was not ‘a wolf’, ‘a doctor’, ‘a herpetologist,’ nor ‘a wizard’. Instead, Patrick would exclaim:

“I’M GOING TO BE THE BEST PALADIN IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, OF A MAGIC FOREST!” Every single time. Maybe it was his enthusiasm, or perhaps the obviousness of the answer. Either way it was a charming in a genuine joy, and ‘plausible but highly unlikely’, sort of way.

Like many mages before him, Patrick was on a mission to be his best magical self. A mythical detective, RPG Private I, wizard cop; he knew what he was about. Justice. But living on Tiberius Gate, and dipping in magery, meant he would not be accepted into the paladin academy; in which entry was competitive. The only school that accepted or taught mages, was the local Pepperidge academy for international and troubled youth. Because of Morgan’s career in restoring and translating historical magic, and opening Tiberius Gate, Pepperidge became the only school that had the necessary resources to teach mages. Even if mages weren’t as taboo as when Morgan was a boy, mages were still misunderstood. No school would take in wielders of old magic, nor teach magery. Nevertheless, Patrick had stars in his eyes, which stemmed from growing up watching Melida Daigendun and Amadeus Rosethorn, a head paladin and personal protector, respectively. They were both also close family friends, who were mages, that constantly visited. Patrick got to hear about the most exciting tales from them both of them. Amadeus may of favoured Patrick’s older sister Calliope, but this didn’t deter Patrick from making him an idol. The additional tales of other paladins in the journals Morgan would read at bedtime, inspired him with their bravery and magical quests.

Using magical to help and protect what one loves, is the solid foundation for making a passionate paladin. Patrick’s eyes sparkled at the mere mention or sight of one. And it inspired people to aid him in achieving his goal. However, given he was a mage, not even Melida could pull strings to get Patrick into the paladin academy. Patrick’s talents, given to him by birth, hindered his chances of becoming a decorated paladin. Even if he would make a great asset to the field. Amadeus assured him that a pompous school, was not the only path to becoming a talented guardian of magic; siting his study at Pepperidge academy, and the demoted Kent Summorhind, who went to the paladin academy. Patrick, however, was too young at the time to be comforted by such fact; He was focused on how unfair it was, that people rejected him because he was born a little more affectionate toward magic.

Paladins are not defined by their magic, but that they protect and fight with it, and for it. Though ‘mage’ meant dark and dangerous to many, all magic professions were originally all occupied, and invented by, mages. Modern wizardry had a specific mage to thank; a warlock named Helram Monafyra. He left recipes, instructions, and wands, that allowed common men who loved magic, to love it the way mages do. This was lost and forgotten with time. The stigma around mages still made it hard for attitudes to change. Even though in reality, mages are like magic, and magic is neutral. Mages, though wielding greater spells of old, were not dangerous in nature. Wizards and common folk on the other hand, are not inherently magic; they are people. Whether or not humans are inherently good, bad, both, or neither, is debatable; but not for mages and magic. Magic is not aligned to any side, it only is. Thus, all the problems, stigmas and fears of magic that exist, are the result of wizards; not mages or fey. Giving wizards wands is one of the most heated debates in magic history, ever since Morgan shared it with the world. Was Helrem right or wrong, for wanting to share his adoration and abilities? Or was the road to misfortune paved with good intentions? Was it Helrem’s inventions, or human nature, that caused the downfall of mages and murder of fey?

Patrick mulled over the stigma of fey and mages by wizards. In pepperidge, all three were the same. Yet, outside of home, it mattered. Patrick knew why, but resented it. Unable to go to his dream school, and settling for the local school like his parents and siblings, he became a lonely broken mage. No one warmed to his wolf like nature, and powerful winter magic. After years of everyone telling him he could be as good a paladin as any, without a fancy education, Patrick was still stung by how the circumstances of his birth meant there was even a difference. No amount of perfect grades or constant training could fix that.

In need of work after graduation, Patrick listened to every conversation his family had, for clues for finding his post to guard. Even if he looked like he wasn’t listening, or couldn’t hear; Patrick’s senses were keen, and his will strong. When his eldest sister, Cadence, came home, she said she was moving outside Grand Snow; The magic forest of the Dragon Gate. Her husband said his father could use some help. This was Ouroboros Blacneadre, was the mage of the Dragon Gate, and a school friend of Patrick’s father; and he needed a little extra magic assistance. Patrick thought it odd, as Ouroboros’s wife was Saianne Healpenbroc, was also a mage; but he was not going to pass by an opportunity like that. Perhaps Grand Snow needed a next generation mage, now that Cadence was gone. Patrick, immediately volunteered. He was unlicensed, having not had an apprenticeship, and he didn’t care: It was a magic forest in need of protecting! Patrick left off to the mountains of the Westlands, to be a real paladin. The valuable heritage village at the peaks of a magic forest, was lost in time, and worth preserving. Patrick had read and heard of it many journals and from many friends. He was excited to see it. The Quarantine, paperwork, and long train ride would be worth it.

NEXT--->

[junker-town]

Bracketology 2020: What the NCAA tournament looks like as we flip to March

UCLA was 9-9 on January 19th. Today, the Bruins are 19-11 and the Pac-12’s auto bid holder in this projection. | Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Two weeks from right now we will have a real bracket. There’s still much to be decided in that time.

Thanks to further (and hopefully forgotten, knock on wood) technological challenges, it’s been nearly a week since I updated the 2020 NCAA Tournament’s projected field of 68. But now that the month of madness has finally arrived, it’s time to pick up the pace. And considering the number of changes in this Monday bracket compared to last Tuesday’s and what’s still to come between now and March 15th, we are in for a wild two weeks.

While the four No. 1 seeds are the same as they seemingly ever were — Kansas (Midwest), Baylor (South), Gonzaga (West) and San Diego State (East) — seed lines two through four saw significant movement, with two new four seeds and a trio of other moves. At the bottom of the at-large pool, there are two new at-larges and a new Pac-12 leader, surging UCLA, whose case I discussed last week.

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Seton Hall has 10 Quadrant 1 wins, which is just one fewer than No. 1 overall seed Kansas.

This week’s two seed line is composed solely of conference leaders — Dayton (Atlantic 10, East), Florida State (ACC, Midwest), Seton Hall (Big East, South) and Maryland (Big Ten, West). The Pirates, winners of their last three to sit at 21-7 overall and already guaranteed a share of the Big East title, replace Duke, who fell all the way down to seed line No. 4 after losing a 113-101 double-overtime shootout at Wake Forest and a 52-50 rock fight at Virginia.

Creighton, who still has a shot at stealing the Big East Tournament’s No. 1 seed from Seton Hall, remains stuck on the third seed line nationally following Sunday’s surprising blowout loss at St. John’s. The Bluejays are slotted in the Midwest with Villanova (East), Louisville (South) and SEC champion Kentucky (West) rounding out the No. 3s. Aforementioned Duke (East) leads off the four line, joined by holdover Oregon (West) and newcomers Michigan State (South) and Iowa (Midwest). The Spartans and Hawkeyes replace a Penn State squad that has dropped three of its last four, including a Saturday loss in Iowa City, and a Colorado outfit that lost to both California and Stanford this week.

After today’s full bracket and rundown, I’ll take a look at the bubble picture and a couple of other teams that suddenly joined UCLA in making a late push toward a bid.

Today’s full seed list

1. Midwest Region (Indianapolis, Indiana)

Omaha, Nebraska (Fri./Sun.)

1. Kansas (Big 12) vs. *16. Robert Morris (NEC)/North Carolina A&T (MEAC) ↑8. Virginia vs. 9. Saint Mary’s

Sacramento, California (Fri./Sun.)

↑5. Butler vs. *12. UCLA (Pac-12) ↑4. Iowa vs. 13. Stephen F. Austin (Southland)

St. Louis, Missouri (Thu./Sat.)

6. BYU vs. 11. Stanford 3. Creighton vs. 14. UC Irvine (Big West)

Tampa, Florida (Thu./Sat.)

7. Marquette vs. *10. Oklahoma ↑2. Florida State (ACC) vs. 15. Montana (Big Sky)

4. East Region (New York, New York)

Sacramento (Fri./Sun.)

1. San Diego State (MW) vs. ↓16. Little Rock (Sun Belt) ↓8. Arizona vs. 9. Florida

Tampa (Thu./Sat.)

↑5. Ohio State vs. 12. Yale (Ivy) ↓4. Duke vs. 13. Vermont (Amer. East)

Albany, New York (Thu./Sat.)

↑6. Wisconsin vs. ↓11. Utah State/Wichita State 3. Villanova vs. 14. Hofstra (CAA)

Cleveland, Ohio (Fri./Sun.)

↓7. West Virginia vs. *10. USC 2. Dayton (A 10) vs. 15. Wright State (Horizon)

2. South Region (Houston, Texas)

St. Louis (Thu./Sat.)

1. Baylor vs. *16. Siena (MAAC)/Prairie View A&M (SWAC) 8. Illinois vs. ↓9. Arizona State

Omaha (Fri./Sun.)

↑5. Auburn vs. 12. Northern Iowa (MVC) ↑4. Michigan State vs. 13. Akron (MAC)

Cleveland (Fri./Sun.)

6. Michigan vs. 11. ETSU (SoCon) 3. Louisville vs. 14. New Mexico State (WAC)

Albany (Thu./Sat.)

↑7. LSU vs. 10. Indiana ↑2. Seton Hall (Big East) vs. 15. Colgate (Patriot)

3. West Region (Los Angeles, California)

Spokane, Washington (Thu./Sat.)

1. Gonzaga (WCC) vs. 16. Radford (Big South) ↓8. Texas Tech vs. 9. Xavier

Spokane (Thu./Sat.)

↓5. Penn State vs. 12. Liberty (ASUN) 4. Oregon vs. 13. North Texas (C-USA)

Greensboro, North Carolina (Fri./Sun.)

↓6. Colorado vs. ↓↑11. Rutgers/Cincinnati ↑3. Kentucky (SEC) vs. *14. Belmont (OVC)

Greensboro (Fri./Sun.)

↑7. Houston (American) vs. 10. Providence 2. Maryland (Big Ten) vs. *15. North Dakota State (Summit)

Rundown

Bids by Conference: 10 Big Ten, 7 Big East, 7 Pac-12, 5 Big 12, 4 ACC, 4 SEC, 3 AAC, 3 WCC, 2 MW, 23 one-bid conferences

Last Four Byes: Oklahoma, USC, Indiana, Stanford Last Four IN: Rutgers, Utah State, Cincinnati, Wichita State First Four OUT: NC State, Texas, Richmond, Mississippi State Next Four OUT: Rhode Island, Arkansas, Purdue, Clemson

Lowest-Ranked NET At-Large: Indiana (54) Highest-Ranked NET Exclusion: Purdue (35)

New Today (7/68): Belmont, North Dakota State, Oklahoma, Robert Morris, Siena, UCLA, USC Leaving Today: Arkansas, Austin Peay, NC State, Rhode Island, St. Francis (Pa.), Saint Peter’s, South Dakota State

Bracket Notes

BYU is a true No. 5 in the seed list; however, it was difficult to place the Cougars in the bracket while following bracketing rules and keeping them in Thursday/Saturday sites. So, I swapped them with the top No. 6, Butler, a result that would allow the Bulldogs to play in the Midwest regional mere miles from their Indianapolis campus.

With conference tournaments beginning tomorrow with the Atlantic Sun quarterfinals, determining each league’s automatic bid holder has become a simpler task. For now, the holder of the No. 1 seed for each conference gets the nod. If these teams are eliminated over the next two weeks, the highest-remaining seed receives the bid until an actual trophy is awarded.

The top-two Elite Eight matchups would start with Gonzaga-Maryland in Los Angeles, with Kansas-Florida State wrapping Saturday up in Indianapolis. Sunday would likely begin with San Diego State-Dayton in New York and conclude with Baylor-Seton Hall in Houston. (Isn’t that an unusual group of regional finals?)

Texas and Clemson are not quite back yet

On Monday, Texas won its third consecutive game, knocking off a West Virginia club that’s slid from a top four seed to a seven today. That result got me to put the Longhorns back on my radar. On Saturday, Shaka Smart’s squad won its fourth straight, impressively winning at Texas Tech, 68-58. Ranked 59th in the NET on Monday morning and sitting at 18-11 overall with a 4-7 record in Quadrant 1 games, Texas is knocking on the door of a bid — the second team out as of this morning. Their most important remaining game before the Big 12 Tournament is set for tomorrow night at Oklahoma, who is back in the field following wins over ... Texas Tech and West Virginia. (USC is the other new at-large entrant, thanks to a sweep of Arizona and Arizona State.) If the Longhorns win that one, they could very well be on the right side of the bubble in my Wednesday update, particularly as the two teams ahead of them, Cincinnati and Wichita State from the American Athletic, are both on thin ice at the moment.

Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

Clemson has been great against quality teams at home, but the Tigers’ inconsistency might cost them.

Clemson is another team that earned a fresh look for today, thanks to a controversial 70-69 home win over Florida State on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers are now 15-13 overall with three wins against the NET’s top 15, as they’ve defeated the Seminoles, Louisville and Duke — all at Littlejohn Coliseum. However, Brad Brownell’s club has been maddeningly inconsistent, even at home, where Clemson has lost to Notre Dame, Yale, South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Miami. Add in road losses to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest and it’s no surprise the Tigers are 73rd in the NET at the moment. With a trip to Blacksburg and home game against the Yellow Jackets remaining, it’s possible Clemson heads to the ACC Tournament with a 17-13 record. However, the Tigers are going to have to beat at least one of the conference’s four likely NCAA squads (the top three plus Virginia) to earn a bid.

Finally, it was a rough weekend for mid-major at-large contenders. While it’s still highly likely the West Coast Conference will place three teams in the field, the Mountain West is barely a two-bid league at the moment and the Atlantic 10 is down to just Dayton.

Starting out West, Utah State is currently the third-to-last team in following 66-64 loss at New Mexico on Saturday night. And guess what? If the Lobos defeat San Jose State in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament on Wednesday, they’ll meet the Aggies in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Utah State’s early neutral-court victories over LSU and Florida might not mean much if the final impression the Aggies leave for the Selection Committee is consecutive losses to a seventh-place New Mexico squad.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island fell out of the field following Sunday’s 72-62 home loss to Saint Louis. The Rams have dropped three of their last five, though they’ll have an opportunity to get back on the right side of the bubble when Dayton visits Kingston on Wednesday night. While Rhode Island’s earlier home victories over Alabama and Providence are helpful, neither matches a potential win over the Flyers, particularly with Dayton still perfect in conference play.

This week, I’ll have morning bubble updates on Wednesday and Thursday, recapping the previous nights’ action, and a full look at the lock and bubble picture on Friday. In the meantime, you can check out TV previews and conference tournament coverage on Blogging the Bracket and listen to my bracketology interviews on the College Basketball Coast to Coast podcast and SB Nation Radio’s Pushing the Odds with Matt Perrault.

[j-t-k-moved]

I've finally done it. I've finished my Trollsona. Me as a Troll. This took much more effort than I thought it would be tbh. Anyway this is gonna be a long post tbh. Also if you wanna like draw my trollsona pls do

Name: Scmare Ttieer [Seh-mar Tear] Origin of her name is unknown.

Age: 7.85 Alternian Sweeps [17 Human Earth Years]

Height: 5'6 feet tall. [Not including horns which are around a foot long]

Eyes: |See picture 5|

Gender: Female

BloodColour: Sapphire Blue |See picture 2|

Theme: Space

Quote From Her: "id rather StAy NEUTRAL on thE SituAtion. lEss ChAnCE of ConfRontAtion."

Symbol: |See picture 6|

Lusus: She didn't fully know what it was. It was a strange creature, not related to any of her interest or any creatures located on Alternia. She cared for it all the same.

Weapon: Double ended scythe |See picture 4| [Weapon is around 4 feet long]

Clothing: Black tank top coated in small white specs (represents stars), her symbol on the shirt in her blood colour. Sapphire blue button up over shirt. Black mid thigh shorts. Black boots.

Hair: Thick black hair. Rests just on her shoulders. Usually up in a high ponytail with a Sapphire blue bow.

Interest: Fiduspawn, singing, reading, drawing, crafting, astronomy and dancing

Dislikes: Confrontation, large groups of people, loud noises, herself

Face: Round in shape. Scar across the bridge of her nose. Square thick glasses covering her eyes. Only make up being some black eye liner |See in picture 5|

Body: Chubby body. Muffin top stomach with thick thighs and arms. Stretch marks on stomach and thighs. Weight is probably around 195 pounds.

Horns: |See picture 3|

Teeth: |See picture 1|

Powers: Aura reading, The ability to perceive energy fields surrounding people, places and things. If she focuses hard enough on person she can see colours surrounding their body. These colours can mean multiple things, from how they're feeling to if that person is inherently evil or good.

Troll Tag: dysfunctionalCosmos

Typing Quirk: Capitalizes letters that are in her first name (except when she types her actual name). But when it comes to the word "Neutral" she caps the whole word. Uses & instead of the word 'And' [Sample of a message she has sent. To whom is unknown:

gREEtingS & SAlutAtionS, My nAME iS Scmare Ttieer. It'S niCE to MEEt you. So uM...i dont hAvE MuCh tiME i nEEd to go finiSh SoME tRAining todAy. My LuSuS will SquAwk At ME if i dont, MAinly bEcAuSE i fEEd hiM AftER & will foRgEt to if i dont tRAin. I hopE wE cAn MEEt AgAin... ]

Hemoloyalty: She does not treat trolls of lower blood caste any worse than she would treat a troll of a high blood caste. Though, she does understand her place on the hemospectrum and that unless she wants to get culled she needs to show respect to highbloods. Describes it as being neutral, even though she doesnt approve of the way low bloods are viewed.

Hive: A very simple Hive, even if a bit futuristic looking.. Made of metal, the whole hive in a circular shape. An observatory located right in the middle of the building on the roof. Used for her interest in studying space.

Respiteblock: Messy room with clothes and tools on the floor. Posters of movies and videogames on the walls, along with some of her shitty drawings. Husktop located on a desk in the back of the room. Recuperacoon is located in a far right corner by a window.

Quadrants: None of hers are filled [Unless you count my self shipping, which can be explained elsewhere]

Ancestor: WIP |Will add link when she is finished|

Dancestor: WIP |Will add link when she is finished|

Basic Personality: [For this I have answered 20 questions to help you understand her personality. Hopefully this helps everyone get a clear grasp on what she's like. Since she is me anyway]

1: Is the character generally approachable or does she keep to herself? Why? A: She usually keeps to herself though she's not completely unapproachable. She finds approaching others to be difficult and usually waits for someone else to make the first move.

2: Is the character a hard-worker, or does she take it easy? Does this nature vary for any particular activity? A: Despite being a blueblood she more of a take it easy kinda troll. Though when she puts her mind to something she can work hard and get it done. Of course if she likes the activity, she is more likely to finish it quickly.

3: Does the character give plain answers to others or is she mysterious? A: Plain answers. She prefers to get to the point of what she means.

4: How does the character feel about pets? How about wild animals? Does she have a favorite animal/pet? A: She loves animals. Though she's afraid to go around them due to her strength. Being a blue blood she had a great amount of strength and hasn't learned to control it well. She worries she will hurt the animals and admires them from afar. She doesn't have a favourite as of now.

5: What is the character's religion? Is the character very religious? How does she show it/observe his religion? A: She is questioning her religious beliefs. She cant decide if she believes in a higher being, or if she thinks that too far fetched.

6: How does the character feel about the local ruler? A: She prefers not to take a stance, she doesn't love or hate them.

7: Does the character have any off-putting habits? A: She has a habit of biting her nails as well as biting skin off her lip. Only does this when nervous or bored.

8: What does the character do to relax? A: To relax she will read or sing. These activities calm her nerves the most.

9: Does the character have any unusual voice or speech pattern? A: Besides her typing quirk she doesn't have much trouble speaking clearly. Sometimes she can be too loud when excited about something, or too quiet when upset. She also tends to ramble when talking online and in person.

10: Why was the character given the name she has? A: She doesn't know where her name comes from or what it means. She believes there is no definition for her name, and that it is just a name unlike how other trolls names have meaning. She quit looking for a answer to it long ago.

11: Does the character have a nickname? What is the source of the nickname? Is it flattering or not? How does she react to it? A: Not being the most social Troll in public, she doesn't have many friends to give her nicknames. She was once called Krem online before and found it cute. So if she were to want to be called anything besides her name it would be Krem.

12: Has the character had issues with the law? A: She has never gone against the law. She doesn't like confrontation. Though she might end up having to.

13: Was there something unusual about her childhood? A: Besides her strange Lusus nothing was too weird for her at least.

14: Does the character have a mentor? A: She would consider her mentor her Lusus.

15: Does the character have a scar or some mark? What was the cause? A: The most obvious scar Is the one she has across the bridge of her nose. She got it when she built her first robot that ended up attacking her and cutting her nose. Smaller scars litter her body from accidents when building.

16: What does she consider her greatest achievement? A: Even though the robot attacked her, she considered it her greatest achievement. It was strong, hard to destroy and packed a punch. She was young when she made it, 4 sweeps, and to build something so sturdy at a young age surprised her.

17: Is she able to kill? Under what circumstances does she find killing to be acceptable or unacceptable? A: She is very much able to kill. But she only sees it fit if it is in self defense. She will not attack unless attacked first.

18: Does she believe in the existence of soul mates and/or true love? A: She does, she believes even the most evil people have one.

19: How honest is she about her thoughts and feelings A: She tries to keep a lot of her feelings to herself in fear of being judged. Opening up emotionally like that is hard for her.

20: Does she care what others think of her? A: She does, she finds herself getting nervous out in public. Thinking other Trolls are judging her.

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The next part is a story the explains her background leading to present time.  Backstory Time.

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[BS] You: Be the strange girls Trollsona  ======>

 You are now, Scmare Ttieer

You enjoy SINGING, DANCING, ASTRONOMY, CRAFTING, READING, DRAWING and a Alternia game called FIDUSPAWN. You are a quiet Troll, even if sometimes you enjoy BREAKING things loudly, who keeps your nose in your own business but opening up when you become close friends with someone. Close enough to fill the Moirail quadrant at the least.

You were hatched on the 9th bilunar perigee of the 1st dark season. Skipping your blurry wiggler days, you were chosen by a strange Lusus after passing your trials. You and your custodian then proceeded to build a secluded hive made of metal in a circular shape.

 You spent most of your younger days learning to build and studying outer space. Your fascination with planets and beings outside of your world was never disturbed by your Lusus, so you learned quickly that there was other life forms out there besides Trolls. You vaguely know of a Alien species called 'Humans' but have not gotten far in your studies.

 Next to that, You tried to learn how to control your strength and violent thoughts. As a blue blood, you has a incredible amount of strength even if your body doesn't look like it. You once busted a hole in the wall of your Hive that took you days to fix (your repair skill were still in development). Being in your blood caste, these things were expected of you, you were to become a solider after all.

 You don't know if you wants that though.

 You always had a strange opinion on the hemospecturm. After studying the history of your Dancestor and Ancestor you learned of the ways they reacted to it. You try to incorporate both of their ways into you view, in hopes of doing what they failed at, which was not dying because you have a opinion. Because of this you remain what you call 'Neutral'

 This means you are trying not to pick a side, in hopes of avoiding confrontation which could end in death on either side. You don't like treating low bloods like they are lesser than you, you never even called another troll a low blood. You also understands that going against a high blood could end in a culling, so you don't speak against them.

 The whole thing is confusing, even for you. Why can't you just make up your mind and fight for what you believe in! Well that's the thing you don't want to fight. Maybe one day you'll figure it all out, you are only 7 sweeps old after all.

  At  4 sweeps though, you made a robot. Your first one. You don't remember what its exact purpose was, but it definitely wasn't to attack you like it did. Which is how you got the scar across your nose. You had won the fight with a bit of damage, your Lusii didn't seem Impressed though.

 That was basically all of your past, building, training to control violent tendencies, doing activities you liked. Your Lusus was your only friend for a while, before you got into the online world one sweep ago. Talking to other Trolls is a lot easier when your behind a husktop. You mainly just play games and maybe have a conversation or two with some others playing with you.

 Even gained the nickname 'Krem' from someone you once talked with. You can't remember who it was or where the name came from, but ...you liked it.

 Now a days you haven't been online much. You'll be a adult soon, become a solider like your supposed you. You might skip out on that though.

 In case of the inevitable to try to go out more, to make friends but its not working. Its not just that you're shy and have anxiety (it mainly is though), its also becase of your Aura reading abilities. Because of this hard to explain power you can tell if a person if bad or good. Angry or happy. You tend to stay away from the Trolls with bad auras.

 Its also takes a lot of focus (since you have trouble focusing on anything for a long time in the first place) to see someone's Aura. So when they catch you starring at them its hard to talk to them after wards and explain why you were looking at them like you were trying not to explode.

 Anyway that's all there really is to say about you. Not too special you see. You live a simple life which is what you wanted. You hope it can stay simple.

 [BS] You: Quit being the Trollsona and go back to scrolling

[ceruleantrolls]

Therapists and pales-for-hire: they aren't the same

As written by Noru. Not sure if it's an actual article or just one his blog posts. 

The terms I used in the title are, in fact, in themselves partially wrong. Therapy is a broad term, and can refer to quadrants therapy, counseling, social workers, etc., but for simplicity’s sake, the kind of therapy that we will mostly be talking about is the kind where you talk one-on-one to a qualified psychotherapist, though there will be some overlap with: Counselling (similar to psychotherapy, but for a much shorter time and for more short-term or skin-deep problems, as opposed to longstanding psychological issues), and psychiatry (medical professionals who are qualified to diagnose mental health conditions and disorders and prescribe medication, and sometimes still provide psychotherapy, but not often).

Pales-for-hire, as I call them -- the more popular term as I've heard it is palewhore, but that label is derogatory and, quite frankly, a rude way to refer to someone you've just paid to pretend to be your moirail for 45 minutes -- are, as I've just mentioned, people who you pay to receive the pale experience, as it were.

The key difference between the two is that one of them is a qualified professional, and the other is not. This isn't to say that hiring a PFH (as I’ll now call them, since pales-for-hire is a mouthful) can’t be beneficial to your mental health, or that they don't know what they’re doing. To explain, I've heard some say that a PFH is just a cheap brand of therapist, which is true if you consider painkillers to be a cheap brand of actual prescribed medication. I'm guessing you don't, but if you do, I demand that you immediately book a doctor’s appointment, if you can afford it; if not, ring me up and I will personally give you financial assistance because you might have a whole host of horrible health problems lying dormant that could be prevented just by telling your doctor you've had a pain in your gut that might be, I don't know, a kidney stone or something that definitely can't be solved by painkillers.

Anyway, a PFH can help you sometimes, the same way a painkiller can alleviate symptoms of an illness. We've established that. This is especially the case if your problem is only temporary, like a breakup that makes you feel like you really need a hug, or you got fired and need a good papping before you go nuts and kill your git of a boss. If you have a long-term problem or mental health problems, however, the PFH is probably not equipped in the slightest to help you deal with that, just as painkillers will not cure a disease.

Remember, to become a therapist you need at least a masters degree, but to become a PFH you do not, and there are some people who are so ill-informed about mental health issues they might actually make your problems worse. Ever had a friend who told you to deal with your problems by telling you to just ‘cheer up, frowny face’? That's the kind of person you might encounter while paying for a PFH’s services. While they may be naturally empathetic and excellent shooshpappers, they simply aren't qualified to help you with your depression or PTSD, or any of the more ‘complicated’ diagnoses like schizophrenia or autism spectrum disorder.

Similarly, there are services that you should not ever expect your therapist to provide that a PFH can. You can ask your therapist to be open about themselves and tell you things about their personal life if they are relevant, and you can ask them to adopt a casual tone and vocabulary when talking to you so they seem less imposing, but therapists are not your friends, let alone your moirail. Neither are PFHs, technically, but you pay them for the illusion that they are, whereas with therapists you should always be aware that the person is no more your friend than your doctor is, unless you don't have a doctor, in which case I refer you to my third paragraph again.

Furthermore, while you can cry and feel free to be as open about yourself as you want in therapy, like you might tell your doctor about the rash you have in a very strange place, it's inappropriate to sit down with your therapist on a pile of cushions and hug them for an extended length of time. That kind of physical contact is simply not appropriate -- not for you, and not for the therapist. In fact, getting personally involved with your patient is against the law and if your therapist starts entangling themselves in quadrants or quadrant-like behaviour with you, that is enough grounds for you to at least change to another therapist.

Think of it this way: if your therapist started flirting with you in a session, would it be appropriate behaviour? No. Then it is the same thing with papping and other related behaviors. The relationship between patient and therapist is supposed to be focused entirely on working through the patient’s issues, and the anything the therapist does should be in pursuit of that goal and not of their own desires. The therapist can be a blank slate for you to throw words at, or a friendly presence through which you work out your personal problems, but they are not actually your friend (though they should like you or at least be neutral about you; if they don't, it probably won't be very beneficial for you to work with them.)

To summarise:

PFHs are helpful sometimes, but are not a long-term solution if you have long-term problems or actual mental health issues, and are not qualified to help you with (or diagnose you with, or provide prescriptions for) your mental health problems. That is the job of a therapist (or, with regard to diagnosis and prescription, a psychiatrist). They are somewhat similar to counsellors, except they are not qualified professionals but are the person to look for if you need something similar to a moirail at that point in your life;

Therapists have degrees and are qualified to handle your bigger problems or your mental health issues -- they know the techniques and have the background knowledge to do so -- and are the only ones able to refer you to psychiatrists as to get you prescription drugs should you need them, but are not your friends or moirails and should be treated accordingly.

Therapy, all its associated branches, and PFHs are both valuable services that can help an individual, but confusing the two can lead to more harm than good. Additionally, these services are looked down upon by the government for showing ‘weakness' or being ‘unnecessary’, but these are falsehoods propagated by a government that encourages mental instability in those of higher hues and dismisses the problems of mid and lower hues, which only makes an already chaotic and frightening world even more so. You should never be ashamed for having flaws and weakness, and NEVER ashamed of mental health problems or disorders, and if you ever seek help -- whether it is through the temporary balm of a PFH, or the professional help of a psychotherapist -- know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing so. 

[caepaecaesurae]

> Caefora: Separate

caepaecaesurae > A sudden, weird, wrenching sense of loss -- and a weird hollow sensation, that at least slightly evens out.  Where once there was Mostly Cae, now there is a back-to-normal Lurky instead. > ..and Caesurae's mind is quiet. > He blinks several imes, woken up from a sound sleep, looking up at the canopies of a strange bed. sugary-empress >Condy startles. What's going on? Where's that person she was? She's supposed to be more... >When she wakes up more fully, she figures it out. It's Tuesday, and all good things must end. "Good ewvening, sweetness~" >Fuck! "Gods dammit, yoar not efin in t)(ere and I'm still doing it!~" caepaecaesurae > He burst out laughing, flopping backwards, a hand dropping to cover his forehead. "You're wvelcome!"

sugary-empress >She sighs and shakes her head. "I can't believe you're t)(e worst, and also contagious~" caepaecaesurae "It's my one flawv." sugary-empress "As far as singular flaws go, being t)(e worst is a pretty bad one~" >Condy has the correct number of boobs and her hair is right again, but still. She'll miss Cae. Having a reasonable person in one's pan is helpful. "You need to be getting back... Some)(ow~ Water we gonna do aboat t)(at?~" >She doubts she's allowed to know how to get there. caepaecaesurae > He blew out a breath, hand unconsciously dropping to lay across hic chest, which was Flat.  ...  He sat there a moment, then looked puzzled, then headrattled and adjusted his bracers.  Then he suddenly had a nice modest set himself.  It was boob time.  Fuck the uniboob.  The fake gold boob was probably laying somewhere around. "...I imagine I'll go to a neutral spot, maybe those backup coordinates wve wvere givwen, and then ask a quadrant mate to pick me up." "Givwen your leavwe, of course." sugary-empress >Condy will have that gold boob framed and hung somewhere as a memory of their time together. >Hm. "Given my leave, dear?~ W)(at do you mean?~" >It's unclear from her tone if the question is sincere or not. caepaecaesurae > That kind of thinking is exactly why Cae still has a ratty old shower curtain Nadaya gave him. caepaecaesurae > He seemed relaxed still.  "WVell, I'm your guest here, it seems polite to ask." caepaecaesurae > He tried to remember what her favorite food was and the memory just wasn't...There.  Hm.  They'd definitely split apart again.  ...He produced a small tray of chocolate-coated berries from nothing, set it down between them, and snacked on one. sugary-empress >She waves a hand dismissively. "Na)(, bro~ I mean, I~ didn't kidnap you, but you were still basically kidnapped, you didn't detide to come over or anyfin~" >She grins a little sharply. "Plus, if people only left w)(en t)(ey )(ad perfis)(ion, I'd still be evil~" >She snags a strawberry. Mmm, food. Things taste different as a full trickster, no concepts of things being too sweet or differing tastes to get in the way. "Yoar free to go w)(enebber~ caepaecaesurae > He decides to actively gloss over any potentially-threatening parts of that and focus on the parts he likes.  "Sounds like a plan.  ....Hn, wve made a lot of parting gifts, I'll havwe to be creativwe wvhen gifting you things nowv." caepaecaesurae "..I think I'll head out either before breakfast or after -- Any preference?  I'm here anywvays." sugary-empress ")(ave breakfast )(ere, sugarplum~ I'll call in a sl-- servant, w)(at do you want?~" >They aren't slaves anymore, they really aren't, but hey, old habits. "Y'know I kinda figured t)(is was gonna end badly, like ebberyone else's did, and I'm glad it didn't!~" caepaecaesurae "Thanks for not kicking me out immediately,"  He glanced over with a wry grin, scratching his chin.  "..A sandwvich maybe?  BLT?"  He hazarded. "I guess it's just our luck that wve aren't that incompatible -- My sympathies on havwing to deal wvith an Ampora for a wveek." sugary-empress "We can manage t)(at, cupcake~ Oh, I would never!~" >Well... She can think of a couple situations where she would do that. "I would usually not~ Yea)(, it's good luck t)(at we're moderately bros, and also uncomfortably similar~ And of course, I'm sorry you needed to deal wit)( my w)(ole nonsense, I'm normally better at not feeling negative emotions!~" caepaecaesurae > He rolled his eyes and rubbed at his cheek.  "I don't think you're the one that wvas bringing us dowvn, there.  You knowv my stance on that sort of thing." sugary-empress "It was dolp)(initely a little of bot)(, t)(e Sal fin really t)(rew me off~" >A servant appears at Condy's summons, seemingly unfazed by the sight of the two of them in bed together. Condy orders french toast and hot chocolate, lets Cae order, then dismisses the servant. "You're an interesting guy to be, you know~" caepaecaesurae "WVell, at least you havwe some time to think about the Sal thing before dealing wvith it nowv.  ...Best of luck," he sounded honestly sympathetic.  He was also good at casually ignoring servants as if they weren't there.  It was polite, eye contact from highbloods was scary. "I imagine it must havwe been quite the change." sugary-empress "O)(, I'm not gonna deal wit)( it in any way, I'm )(oping it's done now~" >The eye contact thing was definitely true. Condy may be less... playful... now, but being singled out for personal attention from her or one of her friends is historically not good. "It was!~ You're very reasonable, and full of anxiety, and gods awful at s)(aring t)(at kinda fin~" caepaecaesurae "That is one wvay of dealing wvith it," he mused.  "...I'm glad I wvas reasonable at least.  The anxiety is ah --  I'm wvorking on it still." "... I havwe no excuse not to talk to Dee left."  Nosewrinkle. sugary-empress "No, you've got no excuse, and if you don't I'm going to need to bully you into it! T)(at's a sweet troll wit)( no reason to use it against you, so any paranoia is unfounded, and it'll make your conversoceans more pleasant!" >Condy is Frowning Sternly, which she never does, but it doesn't last. "Talking is important, you mysterious secretive nerd~" "No, you've got no excuse, and if you don't I'm going to need to bully you into it! T)(at's a sweet troll wit)( no reason to use it against you, so any paranoia is unfounded, and it'll make your conversoceans more pleasant!" >Condy is Frowning Sternly, which she never does, but it doesn't last. "Talking is important, you mysterious secretive nerd~" caepaecaesurae > His eyebrows lifted as she went on, and he leaned slightly away -- not in fear, but as if blown literally away by the force of her opinion. "--It's not paranoia, I just.. don't WVant to, I don't like talking about things." "I don't like being wveak, and if I don't Admit it .." sugary-empress "-Ebberyfin you do is at least a LITTL-E bit aboat paranoia~" >She shared that brain for a week, so she's definitely more qualified than him to say that, clearly. She sighs. "I know, dear, I really really know, but it's dumb!~ Your pan is working against you improving your life, and I know it's not some massive fin, but also, it kind of is!~" caepaecaesurae "WVell, I mean,"  He couldn't Entirely contest that, so he swapped to another subject.  Any subject that no one managed to get him to lose counted as a win after they'd forgotten about it, right? ...Finding another subject was taking a moment. caepaecaesurae "It's so stupid that they'd havwe to tiptoe," he floundered. sugary-empress "No, it's not, but even if it was, life is full of stuff bulls)(it t)(at you do becod you love someone, and or want to be considered a decent person~" caepaecaesurae "I don't wvant to need them to do that," sugary-empress "And asking t)(at someone not randomly mention t)(eir ass)(ole in conversation isn't asking t)(em to tiptoe~" caepaecaesurae Dramatic Eyeroll. "That depends on the person, unfortunately." sugary-empress >Condy dramatically eyerolls right back! "Yoar only unreasonable aboat your own fins, w)(ic)( makes sense, ebberyone is, but still, it's like, dude~" caepaecaesurae > He sighed deeply and flopped backwards, resting the back of his arm on his forehead again. "I'll--Look, /today/ I havwe other things to wvorry about, wvith getting back into my univwerse and dealing wvith wvhatevwer safety measures they wvant and all that." "But i'll get around to it," caepaecaesurae "And they'll be nagging me too," sugary-empress "W)(at will you )(ave tomorrow, )(m?~" >Well, they will nag, at least that's true. Siiigh. "It's a good fin I adore you, becod you're annoying~" >It isn't said with any malice, just affection. caepaecaesurae > He blushed despite himself, which set off a bit of the bioluminescense. "WVell, at least I havwe that then." sugary-empress >Oh no, that's cute... >The food arrives just in time, and Condy digs into some huge pieces of French toast dusted with powdered sugar. It prevents her from needing to say anything about that, but she does speak after a couple bites. "I'm gonna bug you if you don't do t)(e fin, you know~" caepaecaesurae > He accepted the food with an absent thankful nod for the servant -- positive aknowledgement, without any personal identification.  ..and pressed a hand to his cheek for a moment, shaking his head. "..I appreciate that, thank you.  I'll be doing it." sugary-empress "I know you will, eventually!~ I believe in you~" >No more gross friendship emotions, only food now. caepaecaesurae "Should I bother changing my vwent blog passwvord?  I imagine our social circles wvould be distressed if I didn't."  It was currently pumpernickel.  He'd been vaguely hungry when he made it. sugary-empress "Mm, feel free if you'd like, I wouldn't c)(ange mine except t)(at Nadaya )(as it now~ I know )(e was one of t)(e people w)(o read my vent and passed it around t)(at one time~" >Her password was redbloodvelvet, for similar reasons. "O)(, and tell basically ebberyone you know to c)(ange t)(eirs, I'm sure t)(ey know, but still~" caepaecaesurae He grimaced his sympathy, nodding, and starting in on his sandwich.  "I wvill.  It's almost tempting to make a second vwent blog for those that don't get along wvith my current friends, but that's probably a bit much." sugary-empress "T)(at is definitely a bit muc)(, it's also t)(e most you t)(ing I've ebber )(eard~" caepaecaesurae He sighed.  "They can't all be wvinners.  It's atrocious that I can't talk openly anywvhere though." sugary-empress "Always feel free to glub at me, babe, I know it's not t)(e same as doing it to an audience, but still~ I'm sorry, t)(oug)(, s)(it sucks~" caepaecaesurae > Sigh, nom.  "I wvill, thank you." "I'll pull through just fine, I knowv it's not like it's a hemoflip and I'm not fearing for my life outside of edge case scenarios like this wveek, it's just frustrating sometimes." sugary-empress ")(ow often are your edge case scenarios, my dear?~" >She isn't THAT concerned, really, she isn't, it's just that she likes him and he deserves only great things! caepaecaesurae > He shrugged, chuffing softly, and focusing on a bite of sandwich for a bit.  "...swveeply, biswveeply, in that range.  It might cool dowvn as wve all get used to one another."  Or heat up as tensions rose, or stay exactly as it was, who knew.  But probably that first one. caepaecaesurae "...And it's nevwer something that wvould... compromise my contingency plans to stick around, thusfar.  Mostly."  He shook his head.  "Price of doing business I think." sugary-empress "Good, good. People I like can't die, I don't like it. Besides, those are pretty solid stats, dear. You're incredibly c)(arming, clearly, but we knew t)(at." caepaecaesurae Another of those little grins.  "I don't like it wvhen people I like die either.  Take care of yourself best you can, alright?" caepaecaesurae > He let out a breath, and ran his hand through his hair.  "..I do my best.  I'll...see howv wvell I can do." sugary-empress ")(m... Well, I'm awful at making good decisions, but I'm )(istorically amazing at being alive, so I guess it's a tossup~" >She pats him on the shoulder. "You'll do just fine~" caepaecaesurae "Improvwisation counts for a fair bit, as wvell evwidenced by Nadaya," he mused.  The pat earned her a smaller smile. sugary-empress "I sink Nadaya is proof t)(at even an unrealized )(ope aspect is fucking amazing, actually, but I get your point~" >You finally finish your french toast, and busy yourself with wiping the powdered sugar up with your finger and licking it off. "T)(anks for being so cool aboat ebberyfin~" caepaecaesurae His mouth opened and he paused that way, before hesitantly nodding.  "...True, there is that." "..Thanks back at you.  Sorry for all the second-hand ah.  /Fuss/.  From my clade.  I'll see wvhat I can do to put them at ease tonight." sugary-empress "No need to apologize, I understand~ I even understand it from t)(eir points of view, I'm just a delicate w)(iney flower~ T)(ey'll be )(appy to )(ave you back!~" caepaecaesurae "WVell, I think wve're all a bit delicate wvhen it comes to being personally threatened.  And they wvill." He shook his head.  "..I'm glad this doesn't havwe to be some big production." Today at 7:44 PM sugary-empress "I'm glad as well, sugar~" >She beams at him. What a good dude. "Are you ready to go?~ Is it time?~" caepaecaesurae He grinned back at her and rubbed his head.  "Guess so.  Can someone showv me to the pad?  I think wve alwvays teleported..." sugary-empress "I will, sweetfins~" >She got out of bed and led the way to the nearest transportalizer, not far from her room. It should probably be farther, for security reasons, but it's so convenient... "Let me know if you need anyfin atoll!~" caepaecaesurae > Especially considering she could teleport.. "I wvill.  Thank you."  Best not to spoil the moment.  He followed. When they finally reached the pad, he started typing in numbers and gave her one last smile and a wink. sugary-empress >Wink and fingerguns! caepaecaesurae > Wry grin, fingergun, and port out. (( that's /so fucking corny/ XD )) sugary-empress >They're both fucking nerds. caepaecaesurae > Yeup.