#uhhh significant damage

[megsdoodletag]

in case ya'll were wondering how zenos and jali get along post-liminal space. it's like this.

[gubbles-owo]

So Manticore's paradox simulation, from what I can gather, is designed around using her S2 (Toxic Overload). But for shits and giggles I wanted to see if I could clear it with S1 (Scorpion Venom) instead. And-- because this wasn't unnecessarily painful enough-- without her passive slow module either. And I found a goddamned way.

This took three hours of strategizing, experimentation, and practice to get down consistently. I ain't a high-level Arknights player by any stretch of the imagination, so perhaps this isn't all impressive, but fuck you I'm still proud of it!! Below the cut, if you wish, join me on an unnecessarily detailed journey of pain, trials, insight, and growth. Spoilers for Manticore's paradox sim, obviously, so if you're looking to go into that fresh then uhhh dont watch the video come back to this later or smth teehee

So first, Manticore's skills: her S2 slows down attack speed, but stuns any enemies it hits (that is to say, anyone unlucky enough to be in her range). The slowdown may seem like a detriment, but when you consider that the wind up takes about the same time as she idly goes invisible, and that she gets a significant attack boost on her first fit when cloaked-- that's a hell of a damage boost. On the other hand, her S1 is more passive. Whenever she hits something in her range, it gets slowed for some time. At full mastery 3, the length of the slow equals her attack interval, which equates to a constant slow on an enemy as long as she can keep hitting em. Her module stacks on a passive slow to ANYTHING in her range. WITHOUT hitting it. This helps her S2 be a bit more effective as she can pool up more victims within her reach, and amplifies the effect of S1 to get enemies reeaall sluggish. It also just flat out boosts her attack and defense. So of course we are not going to use it here. For funsies! With that out of the way, let's get a sense of what we're dealing with here.

Upon starting the mission, Cuora (our spunky little tank turtle) is immediately bound by this slippery sack of shitsuck right here:

Doesn't even walk in or anything, just poofs in out of nowhere and kicks down your turtle. What an asshole. Anyway operators who are bound or stunned cannot block incoming enemies. As you will swiftly learn, this is a problem. Because these two slobbering snifflepricks will charge in to ruin your day.

These are not good boys. They are bad boys. Rancid, even. If you don't act quickly, these two will breeze past your sole point of defense and end your run like 10 seconds in. Amiya and Haze, your two provided casters, can take care of them if you place them cleverly and quickly. But it leaves them poorly equipped to deal with the rest of the fodder that comes rolling in shortly thereafter. This is like, just my flawed observation based on experience, but I believe the intention here is to equip Manticore's S2 and place her in this spot first thing:

Fire off her skill as soon as it's ready and it'll break the enemy caster out of its bind, just in time for Cuora to recover and block the incoming dogs. Now there is a small chance you're grabbing your screen and violently shaking it while screaming "bUt WhAt AbOuT tHe StUn GeNeRaToR!?!?" to which I say: yes, you can use it to stop the dogs in their tracks without using Manticore! It's the second thing I did when playing this sim for the first time. Ah, yet this is but a devious trap. Because there's a big surprise waiting for you 'til the very end!! :D

ouguhghh right in the dick yeeaahhhhh so there's this massive malignant amalgamation of mud (and/or rock). And it will cock-sock u straight into hell! "No big deal, Cuora can heal with her sk-" she is locked into S1 in this scenario. +50% defense, that's it. If Manticore can no longer stun this thing out of attacking, Cuora WILL go down, it's just a matter of when. So we'll have to figure out how to work around this inevitability. Even with Manticore's stun, you're going to need to save that stun box for this part too. Perhaps there's a way around this, but from all of my experimentation, you just do not have the DPS or slow to afford it. I cannot tell you how many runs died with just a teensy tiny imperceptible little sliver of its health slipping past my defenses.

Come on. You can't even SEE its health. That bar is EMPTY and nothing can convince me otherwise. This is already getting pretty long here, so I'll just do a quick walkthrough of the final run, and explain some of the rationale behind it on the way. So without further ado,

the strateyg

To start things off, we deploy Amiya first.

The dogs aren't a problem quite yet, so we want to focus on getting rid of shibari slut here as quickly as possible. Amiya's skill charges with each hit she lands, so the windup time is pretty damn good. Much faster than Haze's. And speaking of Haze, I played around a lot with who to deploy here. Originally I tried to get Haze in place to sap most of this caster's health, but uhhh

yeeeeaaaahhhh so Haze's skill here really ain't great for tanking damage. I was so goddamn confused as to why she was dropping dead so quickly, as the caster one-shots her, until I finally noticed the "-75% max HP" in the skill description. rip. So for a few reasons, survivability included, Amiya gets deployed for the opener. This positioning leaves the bottom lane wide open, and we've got two snarling problems heading up from south-side. So we deploy Manticore as soon as we've got the DP.

(NOTE: Manticore here is a pitiful potential 2, but that does lower her DP cost to 19. This is probably still doable with her base cost of 20? Haven't tested it tho) This position not only lets her get a full 3-long coverage on both exit lanes, but also covers five tiles total on the lower path. This is critical for slowing down the dogs here in time for Steward to take care of em. Once the caster finally frees the turtle, they start hitting Amiya. Hard. But don't fret, once he rounds the corner he'll start targeting Manticore (i think) instead. Bnnuy is left with little health, but this isn't a problem as we'll soon see. Once the enemy caster targets whoever else it's safe to deploy our last caster. Go Haze!

Provided you didn't deploy her too early, she should survive the last few caster attacks just fine. So one of the key things to do here is to retreat Amiya as soon as the enemy caster is defeated. We'll need her later, but in the meantime, the team of Haze + Manticore + Cuora can make quick work of the flood of incoming fodder. And good lord is there a lot of fucking fodder.

It's scary, but don't panic. Take hold of my hands. Look into my eyes. Everything will be okay. I promise. The primary thing we have to watch out here is for the first red uhhh pirate (???) that comes down from the top lane. Haze's skill needs to be activated once he's in range or else he'll leak right on through to the exit. Aside from this, this section doesn't require much action. srsly tho they look like pirate hats and u cannot convince me otherwise If we retreated her quickly enough at the start, Amiya should be ready to get back in action just in time for Mudrock's pet rock to show up.

Look at that. TACTICAL RETREAT to achieve a particular setup later. Who would've thought? And FACING HER BACKWARDS. She covers a whooping six tiles that this mud glob slowly meanders through, and she's gonna need all of them to kill this thing in time. I am so fcukign smar t. From here it's pretty simple, but strenuous: fire Amiya's skill as soon as muddy gets in her lower range. Fire Haze's skill similarly. Pray. Let Cuora get hit once, then slap the stun box before the 2nd punch so Warfarin can heal her, let Cuora take the third before activating her defense skill. Then uhhh watch as she perishes under the next punch anyways cause idk? Warfarin was quick enough in earlier iterations of this strategy but apparently not the final one? Whatever, it's fine, the thing crumbles and we win!

Since Manticore can no longer stun in this run, we use her to simply assist by slowing down the fodder-- enough to hold off the full firepower of a caster for later use. And once we do re-establish our full DPS, our favorite scorpion gal slows down the big tanky thing for as long as possible, stalling enough to slay it just in time-- even with our sole defender having been pummeled into dust. What a fuckin' run. Soooo yEAH, I'm still figuring out the whole "strategy" thing, but it was real fun to attempt a little self-imposed challenge run that I wasn't even sure was doable in the first place. There were several points I was sure it wasn't, but I wound up figuring something out after fucking around and finding out. Could it be further improved and optimized? Probably. But three hours working out the thing and an equivalent amt of time just writing out this damn thing, im gonna go lay down instead anyway uhhh manticore best arlknight gril send tweet

[sliver-ofstraw]

So uhhh...

So there was like, this ancient, right. Something-something- Symphony. Been wiping useless stuff and that happened to be there, so yeah, only remember that part of the name.

Anyway, they've.. really hated the absolute hell out of ascension as a concept and also iterators apparently. Their whole mentality's like, that one "stop building iterators" meme - assuming you've seen it - except if that meme had "and therefore clearly we need to blow them all up" at the end.

Soo yup, that goof goes around trying to fuck iterators up or something, generally via causing significant internal structural damage. Council on a local gal - named Panicking Static - decide that's fucked up and they need to come up with something to stop Symphony. PS's admin, who's like, part of that, sits around, decides everyone else's ideas are too tame for what the dumbass's been doing, so he rotates over to PS to talk to her specifically about it, because.. why not, i guess. Static immediately suggests iterator-ifying Symphony, since apparently according to her that would be funny, admin fella agrees and yeeeah.

Don't know the precise details of this specific chunk, but apparently he's managed to get himself appointed as the admin of some other ongoing random iterator project nearby, basically nicking himself a where-to-shove-symphony-later place.

Anyway Symphony meanwhile learns them PS residents want to fuck them over, gets mad and infiltrates the city and later her superstructure. Static and her goof of an admin take that as a free opportunity, and while Symphony goes around doing their thing, Static gets a random axon to stab them and inject them with... a thing - something along the lines of a ridiculous amount of nanobots, if i recall correctly - that'd basically slowly and painfully - because these two aren't normal - reconstruct Symphony's entire flipping body into uhhh.. your generic suspiciously ancient-shaped iterator puppet. Immediately after that they lock Symphony up in a random portion of PS's can they couldn't just escape out of, and i guess they just stared at em as the funny happened.

Then while Symphony was just straight up unconscious after that entire process, the two shoved em into that work-in-progress superstructure and called it a day, i suppose.

..Also they casually renamed them into Major Inconvenience so nobody suspects anything much. And didn't install anything that'd allow them to actually communicate, via broadcast or not, once again for pretty much the same reasons.

so overalll... yup. That happened. And i uh, may or may not have viewed several private broadcasts to nick most of the information.

..I swear, it's almost like my local group and the whole area we're sat in has all the least normal events going on.

This broadcast frequency didn't show this in my inbox. Sorry.

What a normal event for sure. I'd be interested in hearing more bizarre stories in the future if you have any!

[ovyy-pvcure]

I've been left under stimulated again so even though the post didn't reach enough notes I'll still post the writing critique but I won't tag it. @furudolove was too curious and I'm too attached to the itch of the compliant to leave it unaddressed.

Ok, so background: the protagonist of the work in question is isekai'd to a fantastical game-like world with 3 other randos who are of no significance to this post. Our protagonist meets someone who agrees to be his teammate since due to the rules and restrictions of the (game) world he's found himself in can't meaningfully do damage (and the prior person who held his position gave it a bad name by terrorizing the kingdom [for all that slavery they were doing] so he's hard up for options). This person then gets the protagonist drunk steals his stuff and makes...claims against him. Brushing quickly past how I feel about that development our protagonist is left penniless lacking in allies and basicially helpless until he's approached by a slaver and decides to buy a 10 year old girl to fight for him since slaves can't lie to their master...because of magicial shock tattoos. Because our protagonist has lost his faith in others unless he can magicially compel their obedience (I mean he takes the nice male slave owner at his word but whatever) and this is NOT my compliant. This is clearly set up to be the protagonist's flaws making decisions that he knows are wrong, but gives in to due to weakness.

Earlier I said the fantasy world our protagonist got transported to is game-like and the important parts for understanding where I'm going with this is: this world has explicit exp, levels, upgrading weapons oh and when the race of people that little girl is levels up they physically mature. Like a pokemon except it's a shivering malnourished child who's obidence is kept via constant threat of inescapable electric torture. Look, I agreed not to complain about the protagonist owning a slave thing on the face of it I'm not here to downplay it.

All that background out of the way and with the understanding that slavery is morally wrong and the protagonist's growth should be measured by his ability to place trust in people without needing to hold all of the power and the author does the worst thing possible for the narrative: textual justification of slavery in-universe. Specifically the existence of Slave Experience and The Slave Shield which both give notable consistent passive boons to uhhh...human property. This singular writing choice in my mind entirely undercuts any defence of the series as it serves to entrench both the protagonist and the fanbase to defend slavery.

This is not a hypothetical either there are many online discussions where fans of the series will point out that these boons are why the protagonist needs to keep his slaves, and keep feeding and being a positive face. To. Slavery. To the machine of the slave trade. Worse, it means the protagonist not only doesn't have to cooperate with other independent individuals but only on his group of literal slaves for which he's rewarded his growth as a person in the narrative be damned.

Slavery was either never going to be an issue the author wanted to tackle or it became the series' "gimmick" as a "dark subversive isekai" and got stapled to it forever and so it got justified. Celeberated. Benefical actually to the slaves who grow up overnight to be nubile women who the protagonist personally raised just how he wanted before marrying her in the end. Just be a Good Slave Owner and reap endless benefits as the world distorts to justify your obsessive controlling misanthropy lest the teenage boys projecting onto the protagonist think they need to grow the fuck up and trust another person.

[slocumjoe]

Heacanons uhhh

I hc that Sosu, provided they don't have radiation damage, is "immune" to feral ghouls, aka they don't get attacked, and this stems from another hc I have

Which is that feral ghouls can't see or hear, the radiation damage is too bad so they're like bats now, in a sense. Very loosely like bats. Nothing like bats at all. But what I mean is that while they don't see or hear, they do sense radiation

Humans and gen 3 synths both have like, permanent radiation, that's how they've grown a very slight immunity toward it, but this signals to the ferals that they're food because they aren't other ghouls

Non-feral ghouls have enough radiation to be considered one of them, so they don't get attacked

But Sosu? They have none. Or at least not enough to be noticed by the ferals, they're basically invisible to them till they take radiation damage

Does it make sense? Probably not, but my Sosu's got that feral immunityyy

🦂

anon i need you to understand, this is a significant point in my dumbass self indulgent au with radiation magic, so seeing another (presumably) human person say the same thing is like YES IM NOT CRAZY

Sole being Pre-War is NOT explored enough. Some people think they'd be extra sick, since they aren't used to the air and radiation everywhere. Some people think they'd be considered an entirely different species, like a genuine Precursor/ancestor race. Most people dislike the premise and disregard it.

Idk man, I just want to see Sole walk through hordes of ferals just fine while Danse loses his shit

[hotsugarbyglassanimals]

i think beastars would've worked way better if the desire to eat the meat of herbivores by hunting them down and killing them wasn't inherent to all carnivores and wasn't this like... weird uncontrollable urge. as a story that muses on what would happen if an animal society with parallels to ours existed, its an interesting concept but it falls apart -really- fast when people attempt to compare it to the racial dynamics of our reality (the author heavily advises against this, but I think it's a significant issue if people continue to think of it this way regardless of her intent). and it also falls apart when considering something like harm reduction and rehabilitation. with the latter point i would chalk that up to an issue of execution and lack of understanding on the author's part

god this post is so much longer than I thought it'd be uhhh

carnivores viewing herbivores as a potential food source is something that's considered inherent to being a carnivore. Not the craving for meat or adequate sustenance, but viewing another sentient living being as food which i think is a significant difference. It's treated as a matter of fact within the text and isn't disputed in any real way. In fact, a lot of the really ... "questionable" (understatement) societal dynamics are presented as like. just being the way things are with characters accepting it without any real heavy objection to it in some instances (there is a specific story in beast complex I'm thinking about right now). Haven't even touched upon the gender bioessentialism but maybe I'll get to that in another post

There's a strange sort of Both Ways dynamic between carnivores and herbivores where herbivores have the significant disadvantage in physical strength but outnumber carnivores by a large margin. Herbivores are also significantly more represented in some career prospects while carnivores have to follow social rules to be as non-threatening as possible. (As a note female carnivores are presented as straight up not being as dangerous or aggressive as the male ones. and while there are ones that predated on herbivores they're portrayed as mentally unwell or manipulative, or in some cases their predation has a twinge of sexuality to it... male carnivores generally are portrayed with a bout maliciousness in their predator instincts until they receive treatment and "go back to normal")

Let me summarize what I think wouldve been far more interesting to consider: how punitive justice doesn't work to prevent crime and doesn't stop people from repeating crimes, how people who lack resources are driven to desperation and how that can enable them to commit violent acts, how oppression isn't born out of fear of the oppressed group but rather a means of seeking domination over the oppressed group.

I really hesitate to put carnivores in the role of an oppressed group and with what i can gather from beastars I'm starting to think that was avoided on purpose, but I'd have to reread it in order to give a better analysis

I think it'd be interesting overall if the issue was that carnivores aren't getting enough sustenance and in turn are quite malnourished. Maybe they didn't eat meat of herbivores but instead the meat of non-sentient fish, but that was viewed as a slippery slope that leads to eating herbivores. Stuff like synthetic meat or anything resembling meat (and like the manga, stuff like bugs not counting) was banned. So even though fish meat would be a worthwhile option to consider, it is still illegal due to moral views despite the illegality causing far more damage to society as a whole. This could Still be like, not ideal in a story sense I feel like but as beastars exist right now it's much more concerning

I've read the entire manga and yes I know fish meat was considered a solution at the end but the whole thing was so fuckin flimsy that it felt like a bandaid solution to the problems that were portrayed in the beginning

[amuseoffirebane]

LifeintheBigTop

whenitrains

thebaby

uwu *happy cattish loaf* hope you are warm; this winter crazy!

LifeintheBigTop was I think my first attempt at figuring out Taps' life as a carny, so early in fact I still hadn't looked up the difference between a traveling carnival/midway and a circus. Actually most of what's written here is fleshing out the dynamic of two side characters, Morgan and Hinge:

Morgan spotted him as he approached, scowling over the bandana he’d tied around his face. He was seated on a stool half sunk into the mud outside his tent, and in front of him sat a coughing combustion engine, belching black smoke. Morgan reached down and shut off the fuel valve.

“I can’t believe this bullshit,” the human mechanic snarled, yanking the bandana down so he could speak clearer. “Does that asshole think I don’t goddamn sleep? I’ve barely gotten through the scrap he ordered before this crap engine!” He stood and wiped the oil off his gloves onto his apron, stepping around the engine. Hinge was silent. “Well, find somewhere to put it down,” Morgan said, turning and disappearing into his tent. The slit at the front was barely high enough to allow Hinge to step though, so he ducked as he shouldered through, always wary of knocking the tents down. Morgan was looking critically at the bigger of his two workbenches and after a pause began to clear it off. “And don’t go anywhere, I’ll need you to carry stuff over.”

Hinge found a spot that was just uncluttered enough for the box to fit and set it down. There was a lip where the top hadn’t been nailed flush to the sides; Hinge lifted a single, wide finger and began to pry it open. Morgan paused, looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and his lip curled.

“I don’t think I gave you permission to open it yet,” Morgan said snidely.

Hinge didn’t say anything, but he turned his head to glower at Morgan. Then in one fluid motion, he ripped the box open, splintered wood flying into the air. Morgan huffed, unrattled, and continued clearing space.

WhenItRains can actually be read here! It’s not exactly canon anymore, I haven’t figured out how I want to rework these elements-- I think the water damage actually happens during the carny years, which come after the stint with the Aldenbergs-- but it introduced the idea of Taps’ having incurred significant damage to his legs at one point.

TheBaby... this is when Taps’ family is still together, living in the Bettencourt theater, and uhhh tw for pregnancy not-going-well things:

[...] the hallway door creaked loudly. Everyone sat up at attention and stared as Mrs. Bettencourt stood in the door fame, one hand on the doorknob, one hand on her belly.

“Hello, children,” she said weakly, looking at them without focus. “Are you having a good night?”

“Yes, Mrs. Bettencourt,” they replied out of sync, some more surprised than the others. Mrs. Bettencourt rarely came down to their room and never without her husband. She vaguely nodded her head as they responded, stepping into the room. Her head turned and she stared at herself in the mirror as she approached.

“I have that glow about me, don’t I?” Mrs. Bettencourt asked. “That mother’s glow.” In reality, she was dreadfully pale, her veins visible on her hands and a feverish puffiness to her eyes. The four seated Stars stood as she neared and paused, turning from the mirror and looking to one, then another, then to Ivory, who stood closest.

“You girls are very lucky,” Mrs. Bettencourt said. She lifted a hand and stroked it down Ivory’s face. Red was left where her fingers touched. “So very lucky. No one will ever make you mothers.”

[mlplovelight]

Ch. 10 - Quite a Day

Quite a day, huh APPLEJACK?

Getting to know Twilight was a blast, seeing so many familiar faces return to Ponyville was a treat, and heavens know getting cider with your pals is always a grand ol’ time.

You’re still buzzin’ from all the social interaction as you say goodnight to Sweetcream Scoops and Berryshine, and it’s still pretty early in the night so you decide to swing by Cherry Spices’ place to see if she’s still up to talkin’ to you about her expedition. Hopefully she’s not too mad about you being late!

Cherry Spices has a humble wee villa by the river, so it’s an easy matter of followin’ the water to get to her, and you find her sitting outside the villa. You’re relieved that she’s still up and about tonight, and her eyes light up as she sees you approach, which puts yer mind at ease even more.

“Applejack, you absolute doll!” Cherry Spices cheers as she embraces you in a big hug, rockin’ you back and forth. “I’m so glad you made it!”

“Sorry I’m late,” you say bashfully, rubbing the back of your neck.

“Pffft, water under the bridge, sweetheart,” Cherry Spices scoffs, and then points at the nearby bridge. “You see that? Exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Hehe, I appreciate it,” you say with a bright smile. “So what’s up? You told me you were plannin’ on goin’ into the dungeon in the scrapyard, but that place is locked up tighter than a rattlesnake with uhhh, with uh some kinda thing. Y’know what I’m tryna say here?”

“I do, and I understand your skepticism,” Cherry Spices hums. “But I’ve assembled a crack team of scholars, demolition experts, and muscle. If we can’t make it into that dungeon, well then I’m afraid nopony can.”

“Demolition experts, huh?” you narrow your eyes and puff up your cheeks. “Cherry, I sure hope you ain’t thinkin’ of causin’ too much trouble in them ruins.”

“Not at all!” Cherry exclaims, holding her head up high. “In fact, our main demolitions expert is ALSO our main scholar. She’s a very thorough and historically minded pony, specializing in clearing away dangerous or obstructive debris without damaging the relevant historically significant artifacts. You should see her in action, she’s quite the miracle worker.”

“Anypony I know?” you ask curiously, already intrigued to meet this so-called miracle worker.

“Her name’s Firecracker Burst,” Cherry Spices says, and you give a helpless shrug. Doesn’t ring a bell. “I’ve worked with her a few times, I know she’s good. I’d say you two would get along famously, but she’s a rather introverted sort so social interaction isn’t exactly her forte. But she gets the job done, and that’s what counts.”

“Sounds like you got all yer ducks in a row,” you say happily, feeling quite impressed at Cherry Spices’ organizational efforts. “What do you even need me for?”

“Nopony knows this town or those ruins like you,” Cherry Spices says, putting her hoof underneath your chin and lifting your head up a bit. “And I know you are very meticulous about doing things the proper way, so as not to cause friction with the spirits that linger in the area. I’d like you to guide us through the ruins so that we can get this done with as little fuss as possible.”

“Aw, shucks, I appreciate—“

“But more importantly,” Cherry Spices puts her hoof over your lips and smiles at you, “if we can unlock this dungeon, this is going to be the gold rush of a lifetime. You’ve worked hard, Applejack. Harder than anypony I’ve met. You deserve to be a part of this big break.”

“Th-thank you, Cherry Spices,” you mumble awkwardly, your cheeks burnin’ at like a hundred degrees. It feels good to be praised for your hard work, but for her to lay it on so thick is kinda embarrassing, but like in a nice way. “I—I dunno what to say.”

“Say you’ll help us,” Cherry Spices says with a bright smile.

“Yeah, of course,” you nod confidently. “I mean, I was gonna help ya even before you said all that nice stuff about me.”

“Excellent!” Cherry Spices cheers and grabs you by the hooves. “I knew I could count on you, my sweet doll!”

Your face turns all red again; you’re not sure how to feel about all her affectionate pet names, other than that you are maybe a little too lesbian to just be called a ‘sweet doll’ by a beautiful woman.

“I am trying not to get my hopes up TOO high,” Cherry explains, “but I feel like unlocking the secrets of the dungeon will play a big part in understanding the true mystery of Old Equestria. The power of alicorn magic.”

“Alicorn magic?” you ask blankly, and your mind immediately turns to Emerald Ray. She claimed to be an alicorn herself, and you thought she was just pullin’ yer leg, but the more you think about it… the less sure you are. “Isn’t that stuff… I dunno, wasn’t it all like smoke and mirror stuff from back in those days?”

“I’m surprised to hear you say something so off the mark, dear,” Cherry Spices arches an eyebrow at you, and now you feel like you’ve been put on the spot.

“Well, I just mean that—“

“The alicorns shaped the landscape of Equestria as we know it,” Cherry explains passionately, and you elect to just let her talk over you, since you apparently have no idea what you’re talking about. “True, their power seems a bit hard to believe when placed against the rather humble magic of earth ponies, but they were very much real.

“And I believe the secrets of their power aren’t as long forgotten as many ponies believe.”

“What makes you say that?” you ask curiously.

“I’ve traveled many places, Applejack,” Cherry Spices continues, her passion only intensifying, “and I’ve heard many rumors of winged ponies who live in cities that fly through the air, of ponies with magic horns hiding deep within the forests.”

“You really believe all that stuff?” you ask, kicking your hoof in the dirt. “About pegasi and unicorns still bein’ real, and living out there in hiding? Seems a little farfetched, don’t it?”

“I’m surprised a historically minded pony like you DOESN’T believe,” Cherry says. “You’ve seen the art and writing in Old Equestria, you know that pegasi and unicorns must have existed once. What makes you think they’re not still out there?”

“I guess it’s just that, if they ARE out there, then the world is a lot bigger than I always thought it was,” you say bashfully, sitting down on your haunches and hanging your head shamefully. “And that’s scary, to think there’s a whole world out there and I understand so little of it.”

“Applejack,” Cherry Spices tilts up your head, holding her hoof gently under your chin, “if we are able to unlock the secrets of this dungeon, the world is about to get a whole lot bigger. I need you to be prepared for that.”

You don’t know what to say. You want to be helpful to Cherry Spices and her expedition, and you want things to go well for her, but… well, you already said it yourself. It’s scary to think there’s a whole world out there. The world outside your hometown could be so very big, and you are just one little pony.

“That’s a beautiful piece of jewelry you’ve got on,” Cherry Spices says.

“Oh, this?” you ask, jingling the Friendship Bracelet. “A friend helped me make it.”

“That cute little purple thing, right?” Cherry asks with a knowing grin.

“Heh, yep,” you nod. “Twilight Sparkle. She seems like a real sweetheart.”

“Always warms my heart to hear about you making new friends,” Cherry Spices smiles, and then her ears perk up and she taps her cheek. “Oh! Speaking of friends, have you seen Daisy Dreams?”

“I ran into her this morning, yeah,” you say. “Why do you ask?”

“Watch out for her, will you?” Cherry Spices says coldly. “She’s up to something sketchy. I think she might be smuggling a pony.”

“EXCUSE ME?” you exclaim, taking a step backwards in shock. “Cherry, you can’t just accuse someone of smuggling a pony!”

“You think I make that claim lightly, Applejack?” Cherry glares at you, her tone as firm as a solid stone. “Daisy Dreams, bless her heart, is a business rival, so I always need to keep some kind of eye on her. But my birds in her organization are being bizarrely mum about her recent activities.

“There are only a few things that would cause them to be so tight-lipped, even to me, and other factors at play make me believe it’s pony smuggling. Likely some kind of criminal hired her services to transport them from one place to another under the radar.”

“That’s… quite a claim,” you say flatly. Your mind immediately goes to the giant suitcase Daisy Dreams was traveling with, the one that was conspicuously pony-sized.

There’s no way, it couldn’t be… could it? Nah, no shot. Now you’re just being completely paranoid!

“Whatever she’s up to, I don’t like it,” Cherry Spices sighs and shakes her head. “But I’ve got my hooves full with this expedition, so Daisy Dreams’ mysterious goings-on will have to wait.”

“I see,” suddenly you’re not feelin’ so well. “I think I’m gonna go turn in for the night, Cherry. It’s gettin’ late. I’ll talk to you tomorrow about the expedition, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Cherry Spices nods. “I can count on you to come with, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” you force a slight smile, for your own sake as much as for Cherry’s. “Goodnight, Cherry Spices.”

“Goodnight, Applejack,” she says sweetly. “Pleasant dreams.”

You walk away from the conversation feeling dizzy. There’s a lot to unpack there, kinda like there would be a lot to unpack from a suitcase that is conspicuously the size of a pony!

No, don’t start going there. You got no reason or basis to be worried about Daisy Dreams, she’s a sweet pony who wouldn’t get involved with messed up stuff like smuggling criminals back and forth.

…

But maybe it wouldn’t hurt to just go check up on her. Or at the very least, give her a head’s up that Cherry Spices has an eye on her. That sounds like somethin’ a friend would do.

You head on over to Daisy Dreams’ place, she owns a little warehouse on the northern side of town. The perfect place to hide a smuggled pony—no, stop that! You’re gonna be cool about this and not get all paranoid and freaked out!

Daisy Dreams is a nice gal, and you trust her. Which is exactly what makes it so scary to imagine that she might be up to no good, cuz if you trust her and she’s a bad pony, what does that make YOU?

You note that you are not doing a very good job at being cool about this.

You knock at the door of Daisy Dreams’ warehouse, your heart pounding in your ears. You sit there in silence, wondering what you’re even doing here. You feel completely insane, about to ask a friend such a drastic, accusatory, and downright ludicrous question.

You’re just about ready to pack up and leave, when the door opens and Daisy Dreams walks outside, a kind smile on her face. She looks exhausted, as she often does, but you can tell she’s trying her best.

If you’re gonna broach this topic, Applejack, you need to do it with some sense of tact and dignity.

“Oh! Hello, Applejack,” Daisy Dreams says. “What can I—“

“Are you smugglin’ ponies?” you blurt out. “Cherry Spices said you might be.”

Absolute dead silence.

“Ehhhh, e-excuse me?” Daisy Dreams laughs awkwardly, and you shamefully bury your face in your hooves.

“I’m sorry, Daisy Dreams, I dunno what I was thinkin’,” you shake your head and mutter into your hooves. “My brain is all screwed up on account of me bein’ stupid.”

“Uh, what did Cherry Spices say to you exactly?” Daisy Dreams asks.

“She said you were up to somethin’ sketchy,” you explain, “and that her people in your group weren’t tellin’ her anything.”

“So she DOES have people in my group,” Daisy Dreams mutters, tapping her chin. She turns back to you and lets out a slight laugh. “But what made her, or you, think I was smuggling ponies? My business is in collecting scrap, same as yours.”

“C-cuz you got… that big suitcase, it’s like… pony size.”

The more you speak, the more stupid you sound.

“Oh, is that all?” Daisy Dreams laughs. “That’s for hauling scrap, duh. I don’t have a lot of horsepower, so I gotta lug a lot of the loot around myself. I need a big pack so I can carry as much as possible.”

“Yeah,” you sigh and hang your head, feeling equal parts relieved and humiliated. “OF COURSE that’s what it was. I’m so sorry, Daisy Dreams, I dunno what came over me.”

“It’s okay, Applejack,” Daisy Dreams chuckles. “I know that talking to Cherry Spices can be intoxicating, she could get a pony to believe the sky is red.”

“You can say that again,” you say, and you and Daisy share a good laugh.

“Hey Daisy, who you talking to?!” suddenly a bright pink pony you’ve never seen before comes bouncing out of Daisy Dreams’ warehouse, a big smile on her face. Your eyes widen at the sight of her, and your jaw drops.

“Pinkie Pie! I told you to stay inside!” Daisy Dreams chastises the pink pony with a shrill whisper, but you barely hear it; you’re completely taken aback by the appendages flared out on either side of the pink pony’s barrel.

This pony has WINGS.

[blujayonthewing]

thinkin about cats today

[viktoriakomova]

You get rhabdo from trauma to muscles (usually crush injuries) and a CK of less than 1000 just goes away by itself. If it's greater than that, you give IV fluids to prevent damage to the kidneys but there HAS to be damage to the kidneys along with CK rise (typically > 5000) to diagnose rhabdo. And rhado is there either or it's not, it can't be mild. The upper limit of normal CK is 320. 500 CK indicates significant exercise but its NOT rhabdo. I wouldnt even expect this mistake from a med student

This is so embarrassing for all them (except Riley herself) tbh lol jesus

I wasn’t expecting like Official Lab Results to be released but I had no idea how much higher the numbers on those blood results had to be for a rhabdo dx. Like, an entire order of magnitude higher? Helloooo? So it’s not even like a gray area/cusp kind of thing?

Another question I have (trusting you to answer back because you sound like you know several medical science facts): how quickly do those numbers fluctuate? Is the fact that the samples were taken right after her 4-hr morning practice significant, as opposed to if they were taken later in the evening, or right before her afternoon practice following 4 hrs of rest after the morning? Or is it a more stable level that goes up and down gradually?

Also MH is either equally stupid (or just has been operating entirely within that fucked up subculture for too long to hear how she and others sound) for thinking “mild rhabdo” sounded less severe than “overtraining” 🤡

In this instance I don’t actually blame the gymternet for leaping to conclusions because when we first got that news and I looked it up, I was stunned at how severe the muscle tissue breakdown needs to be for that. Like you said, it’s like “muscles crushed by several tons of force in a car accident” levels. And “mild” absolutely sounded like Maggie trying to downplay something that’s like a legitimate medical crisis. Idk why she even elaborated at all. I get that post-2016 there has been a push for transparency but when you are essentially putting out inaccurate info about an athlete’s medical problems/history, that’s uhhh. Not good either lol.

But because of this, I kind of feel like it’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation, because if they had been cagey about explaining why she was not going to worlds, everyone would be screaming coverup. And stuff like this, plus stuff like Simone being honest about what was going on in Tokyo, is a challenging dilemma. I don’t think we as fans are owed any of these details, but I certainly understand why we feel like absence of an explanation is fishy.

In the Marta Era, if either of these had happened, they would have been withdrawn BUT it would be blamed on some physical injury. And honestly, I sometimes think I would rather have it that way…? By the time worlds or the Olympics come around, they basically ALL have some injury or nagging overuse injury/aggravation that is a very valid reason not to compete, but they are typically expected to push through it anyway. I appreciate greater transparency and not feeling like what’s really going on is something that needs to be hidden or something to be ashamed of, and I especially appreciate what Simone did in terms of mental health being a legitimate ailment too, but at the same time I’m like….. nobody NEEDS to know my business just because I’m an elite athlete lol leave me alone

[asknarashikari]

Me: Ohma Zi-O... Ohma Zi-O: What a nice place you got here. Technology so advance that it seems like magic. A filled with decadence. Such a foolish waste of tech. Hiding this from the world and universe. Why not share it with the universe? Me: Yeah... I had to hide this place. In the wrong hands... blah blah blah... yeah I get it. I don't trust anyone with my tech. Let alone someone discovering the amount of science and magic I had to put together. It's too advacne for the puny mind of mortals. Ohma Zi-O: All this tech and power you wield... yet you hold with such tight hands and refrain yourself from going all out. Me: Big responsibilities.

Meanwhile in the distant.

Sougo: I wonder what are they are talking about? Woz: Uhhh... something about advance tech and big responsibilities. You know the typical "If in the wrong hands" kind of stuff or "Why not share this with everyone." Sougo: What a cliché. Tsukuyomi: Yep. Typical cliché. Geiz: At least one thing is for sure... He's not bothering us. Tsukuyomi: Who? Geiz: Ohma Zi-O.

Ohma Zi-O: You maybe a bit decadent but somethings are holding you back. 3 Spouses and many children. They are you're weakness as well as this place. *Opens a portal* You are a very cautious god and a more or less admirable person, nonetheless. I bid thee farewell. *leaves*

Tsukasa: OH COME ON! That was just a TALK-NO-JUTSU with each other. I want to see the universe splitting brawl. Emu and Shinnosuke: *punches him in the guts and uppercuts him* Tsukasa: *KO* Emu: We don't need the Multiverse shattering again. Shinnosuke: We just need everything to lay back, okay.

Sorry, Mama Emu, Papa Shinnosuke, I'm with Tsukasa on this one. If I get told my significant other and my children are weaknesses I would chase the bastard to the ends of the multiverse and kick their ass. Probably not bad enough to shatter the fabric of reality... maybe some minor damage :P

I've been told I'm rather scary when I really get mad XD

[staggeringsmite]

Psssssst hi arlowe. First off, amazing campaign you're running, it's been super entertaining to hear about and so id love to pick your brain a little bit if you're cool with that. I've been dying to ask, what are the ashari like in ehas? It's been mentioned that thi and aierdyn left the earth ashari to go on an aramente, but not what that dangerous mission is, so I don't even know if that's something the rest of the party knows yet or not.? Also, what the heck is a secha consort? 👀👀👀

hi jen!! thank you for keeping up w our silly little (emotional, potentially lethal, "shrimp cruelty" menaceful) overall rollercoaster of a campaign thus far <33

AND FOR THE LORE QUESTIONS!!! for reference in terms of ashari and calamity lore, the bones of what one might know from a certain ttrpg show and dm are there but i've chopped it all up and done what i want to with the concepts and history of Oyoia because some of it was bad and boring and i don't like it and also i wanted to <3 who's gonna stop me <3

i promise the tangent i'm about to go on is relevant. mostly. this got long <3

knowledge of extraplanar cosmology is only culturally understood through myth -- the plane that oyoia is on has been shunted out of the great wheel alongside the four elemental planes -- basically no connection to other planes such as the feywild, somewhat accessible travel to the different planes of elemental chaos at the locations the ashari tend to which are spread across the world

the earth ashari and the blooming scar/scar of life which they tend are located on the continent of ehas where the campaign thus far primarily takes place. ehas was decimated by a long civil war in recent history, leaving two significant areas of the map practically uninhabitable to humanoids due to caustic and reckless magic use (which feeds into the culturally low magic/disdain and fear of magic present in the social aspect of the campaign) -- these being: the frigid bog (which is still highly dangerous but passable through as the party has successfully done, if you kind of know what you're doing) and the wastemarsh

the earth ashari and the blooming scar are located pretty centrally in the area that is now the wastemarsh. the wastemarsh is, think magically radioactive. during the war with the sundering of this area, many earth ashari were displaced, fleeing to other areass of ehas, oyoia, or through the scar of life into the plane of elemental earth, and many more died. the scar itself sustained damage enough to where the majority of the earth ashari's resources have gone into keeping it barely a flicker and have not had access through to the other side since the war ended (it has been. a long time. enough for thi and aierdyn to grow up with their parents having grown up in these conditions, possibly their grandparents too. which is why they've set out to do something about it). the other resources go towards survival. the rest of ehas in the modern day is under the general impression that the wastemarsh is uninhabited, the earth ashari are not a household name and are held within memory to very few, those who know of them likely assuming they have scattered, the blooming scar lost with them. hence the disconnect from the rest of ehas.

cateri is the current keeper of life, arriving home from her aramente to be leader to a decimated land and a scared people, to take over the scar just as it was dying out due to the war of the hollow lands. she is one of the oldest living people likely in the world, as she has not chosen another to undertake the aramente and attempt to be her successor since. in fact, few people of the younger generation even really know what the aramente is, as there is also little connection to the other ashari settlements.

"but wait? isn't aierdyn on the aramente??" well, you see. aierdyn doesn't Really know what the aramente is, and cateri certainly didn't choose her to go on it, but she knows that it's important and involves uhhh, talking to the other ashari, who haven't helped them, which they're mad about, and also that things desperately need to change, that none of them know how much longer they can really sustain themselves like this. so aierdyn got up and told thi "i'm going on the aramente" and thi was like "okay, i'm coming with you" and neither of them really know what that means. they just know it means their home is counting on them to bring back something that will help.

"why haven't the other ashari helped???" that is a mystery yet unknown to my players, so alas i must keep my mouth closed :))

basically, aierdyn doesn't know a lot about the aramente, thi doesn't either but knows a little more (thinks that aierdyn was chosen by cateri, even though she wasn't), and the rest of the party don't know yet that that's what thi and aierdyn are doing! angry knows that they're "out here to try and help their home" -- basically when this comes out it's difficult for the rest of the party to truly grasp the significance of the aramente, but it'll either be like 1) you know this is really important to them or on a high enough history check 2) you know that historically this is a really important undertaking, but you don't really know what it is about. fun soup of being on this journey but not actually knowing what to do there surely this won't have consequences!! [i know, and the players meta wise somewhat know that the aramente involves selecting the next leader for a particular ashari, by traveling the world, gaining wisdom and skills, and eventually undertaking trials at all the other ashari tribes for approval -- it's a process that in its long history is very understandable and respectable if one turns back on and it's not at all frowned upon to be selected for it, get out there and realize that you don't think you are cut out for the responsibility, in fact that's the most responsible thing that you can do BUT!! no one but me knows what it's really like and about anymore in the modern time of the campaign since no one from the earth ashari has undertaken it since cateri teehee >:) ]

as for the secha consort, modern day ehas has rebuilt itself into six large city-states, with no overarching governance between them, and villages/towns coming and going in quick succession everywhere else. and then there's the secha consort! it's a community not large or respected enough to be considered a city-state by the other six, but with a prominent enough collective identity, population, and footprint to exist in a sort of in between, well-established but not well-connected within ehas itself, territory. while the rest of ehas in general is more concerned with survival and sustainability through wealth for themselves with the war at their grandparent's backs: the secha consort is a collection of people concerned with history, the arts, and cultural preservation after experiencing the loss of much of it. it began during the war with a network of people collecting their family's letters, of wartime accounts, other letters, drawings, photos, paintings, and generally anything of historical or artistic value at great fire risk, trying to keep these safe -- with the survivors of this network coming together in the aftermath to sort through the pieces.

it's disjointed, not truly governed (doesn't want to be), and still trying to find its place in the world. among its primary establishments there is a grand library and expanding art museum, a monestary, a few magical research facilities, and many interfaith temples. people of a likeminded nature flocked and built up the community around it--leaders of the library/monasteries/temples come together when they need to but overall focus on their own jobs instead of trying to form a "proper" government. while the secha consort does not have good relations with any city-state of ehas, they do have international connections and are one of the only groups that know of the earth ashari. they don't have the resources or stability to send people into the wastemarsh to help but have been the point of contact for any earth ashari who have left the wastemarsh in recent history based on the path most people travel and also being known for it after a little while. so, while thi and aierdyn don't know much about the world beyond the wastemarsh, going to the secha consort for help starting the aramente was one of the only concrete parts of their plan (and then they did a ton of illegal magic, but mx. iseda the head librarian didn't mind but had to keep up appearances so gave them a slap on the wrist "community service" asking for their help in searching for one of their important employees who went missing w the promise to in return reach out to the other ashari about their travels for the aramente and oops that's how they wound up in the frigid bog w gunmetal group and party convergence happened).

[sbuggbot]

23 for the steamworld ask game mainly because im curious about umeko :)

Okay it's kind of been a while since I talked much about her, especially on here. I've sort of been taking a break from making SteamWorld stuff and a few new fans have shown up so YEET

ok where do I start...? (this is probably going to be disorganized because talking about my OCs doesn't come easily to me)

She's an OC from before Quest, back around the Behemoth fight. She was part of the Temperance of Lux Ultima, just like Orik and Gilgamech were. Archery was her field although she could hold her own in closer quarters. She's confident in her skills and lets them speak for themselves.

She takes very, very good care of her equipment. Her bow is not a toy; do not dry fire it. She'll probably deck you at best. I never remember to draw it, but she has a scar/mark on her cheek near her eye from a bow exploding when she tried using it. In addition, there's definitely wear on her from shooting - sort of a notch into the first and middle fingers of one hand from drawing it and scuffs on the opposing wrist from string slap.

She's lived in Alyshidia her whole life and grew up thoroughly bilingual. I haven't really developed her family but she had a younger sister. (She dogsat for her a time or two and things roughly went like this. Orik might be a little wary around dogs but he can warm up to a very good boy/girl with some help.)

She's claustrophobic; her trigger specifically is getting into a tight space and not being able to get back out or getting trapped.

oh and she married Orik (and like. his only significant romantic relationship. He doesn't open up in that manner easily at all and he didn't want to try again after her.) She and Orik were really close and had a very strong bond. (uhhh I just blanked out on how to describe relationships/dynamics you'll have to ask me again later when I’m not trying to do everything at once)

Following the aftermath of the fight with the Behemoth (which she wasn't a part of; it had been considered but Orik didn't think he'd be able to keep a grip on himself if something were to happen to her during the fight), Orik was badly injured and well. Almost Died. His arm and shoulder were permanently damaged and only worked a little bit, and Orik's steam pipe (aka the main thing he uses to not overheat) had gotten clawed off. She helped out a lot while he recovered and adjusted to what his new normal was.

But at some point while taking care of Orik, she contracted some then-unknown disease and it went largely unnoticed until it got bad enough to actually start affecting her. Between its progression and how little was known about the condition there wasn't a way to stop it, let alone reverse the damage it was doing. Eventually her insides kind of just... broke apart.

(Orik and Umeko held each other together through it but he didn't take her death very well at all. Depression got very out of hand, I'll say that much here)

HOLY CRAP THIS TOOK A LONG TIME TO WRITE OUT

[magicstar16]

My Fnf headcanons cause I’m bored

GFs real name is Daughter dearest. Girlfriend is her stage name

Daddy dearest and mommy mearest’s names however, are just stage names. They just suck at naming things, think asgore from undertale. When gf was born they were all like “Uhhh what should we name her? Well she’s our daughter so uhhh let’s name her daughter. Sounds good!”

Girlfriend isn’t much better since she literally decided that her stage name “Girlfriend” since her boyfriend’s name is literally “Boyfriend”

Boyfriend is half Japanese, his full name is Boyfriend Hatsune.

Boyfriend’s dad is Japanese and worked with Crypton future media while Miku was still in development and wanted to care for miku as he would his own child. Hence the name “Hatsune Miku”

Bf’s dad really wanted a daughter, okay?

Miku is adopted into the family and she still visits

Boyfriend can not speak much Japanese. All he knows are some basic phrases he learned from Miku. Bf’s siblings either all have some variant of “Miku” for their names ( because gimmicks) or some variant of the word “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” or have some kind of music name

Mom: Waifuko Hatsune or Harmony Hatsune

Dad: Husbandoro Hatsune or Edemu Hatsune (As in EDM, commonly the type of music vocaloids are used in) or Gogaku Hatsune ( gogaku is traditional Japanese court music)

Boyfriend: boyfriend Hatsune or Song Hatsune

Big brother: kareshi Hatsune or Requiem Hatsune

(If you saw the files you know why I chose requiem for the song based name)

Big sister: kanojo Hatsune or Melody Hatsune

Older bro (I cannot stress enough that big brother and older bro are two different characters) S.O

(Significant other) Hatsune or Rap Hatsune

Ritz the rat doesn’t follow this rule because he’s adopted, but his full name is ritz Hatsune

Baby blue brother: Ao Hatsune or lullabio Hatsune (lullabio as in lullaby. Also I’m not gonna give a baby a relationship based name because I find that creepy)

Baby blue brother wasn’t planned

Baby blue is taken care of by a nanny since literally everyone in the family has a music career and is too busy to take care of him

Baby blue brother is a music prodigy which is why he can sing and rap in the baby blue brother mod

Boyfriend is kind of jealous because not only is he no longer the one of the youngest but this little shit is a music prodigy and will likely outshine him one day

They grow closer during the events of the Baby blue vs bob week

Bob is actually an eldritch abomination and is one of the most powerful characters in the universe of Fnf.

Shaggy actually can’t use 100% of his power since he’s using that power to not age. If he uses that power he will grow into his actual age ( his 70s) ( I just really want shaggy to be nerfed somehow okay?! He triggers my “nerf this” gamer instincts) (also since shaggy is in an Fnf mod this technically counts as an Fnf headcanon)

Selever is currently questioning his sexuality and is experimenting by flirting with others and putting up a “Casanova” type personality. Ruv and rasazy see through this and think that he’s making life harder for himself but they also think it’s kinda funny so they sometimes joke about it. Ruv occasionally even makes dad jokes about it

Ruv: son, i need you to be straight with me. Although considering it’s you that’s like asking the sun to stop rising and setting every day

Selever: OMG DAAAAAAAAAAD!

The fact that so many characters in Fnf are hot does not help

Rasazy is either the holder of her family’s only brain cell or is completely in “No thoughts, head empty” mode, there is no in between

Rasazy has noise powers like her dad, but they don’t activate when she’s singing, only when screaming, so when she was a baby ruv and sarv ended up paying a lot of property damage bills.

Pico’s now taking assassination attempts to pay for therapy. Because of this, he started getting a little desperate, which is why he took daddy dearest’s deal to kill BF, even though they are EX’s and (apparently) ended things on good terms.

Monster has been repeatedly sued by Neil cicierga’s agents for identity theft or stealing ideas due to, you know, his incredible similarities to lemon demon.

Monster won every case and is now very good friends with Neil cicierga. They go out for tea and discuss song ideas.

Monster once tried to steal Christmas after watching the grinch and many grinch parodies. Skid caught him trying to steal their Christmas tree and monster ended up doing the spooky dance with skid. Lila ended up calling the police and monster was imprisoned for breaking and entering.

Neil bailed him out

Monster now lives in the week 2 haunted house and is visited by skid and pump. He was basically added to skid and pump’s collection of horrifying monster friends to do the spooky dance with.

Monster has actually become kind of protective of the spooky kids. (Which is why he song battles you in week 2. Also cause he thought it looked fun and he was bored.) Monster once saw the hatzgang bullying the spooky kids

After monster witnessed that, the hatzgang went missing for three days.

When they came back, they were unable to answer any questions from police.

Long story short, Robert immediately goes into fight or flight mode whenever he sees a beaver eating potato chips, Ross will never look at ABBA music the same way again, and Roy now gets flashbacks whenever he hears the phrase “Spaghetti with cucumbers”.

They refuse to disclose what happened, claiming that they can’t say for their own safety.

[ouchpiece]

The human body can take a lot of weight before it’s crushed to bits. It all depends on the distribution of weight, musculature, fat and health of the person, surface they’re on, et cetera. The general agreement I can see is that it takes about 300 kilograms to start cracking bones when it’s just sitting on the body and not being dropped or anything. Usopp is already super hurt, but theoretically Miss Valentine could sit on you like this for your fetish without long-term damage to your body, though I can’t recommend it.

This, though. It might take a minute to actually break through bones and start liquefying organs, but in very little time with that weight focused all on your lower torso, you may not die but you’ll be permanently paralyzed and require significant medical help to digest food and get rid of waste.

Actually, uhhh...

Is she sitting on his dick? Is Miss Valentine cock and ball torturing Usopp to the point that he has nothing left to bring home to Kaya? I guess they call her Valentine because she’s into some really dangerous kinks.

[writedisaster]

        uhhh I guess I should probably talk about... the whole thing that drove the last rift between Lip and their family.  tw: queerphobia, child abuse, break of trust, brief mention of suicide / overdose, homelessness, addiction.  honestly this is just a really heavy one, guys.  tl;dr at bottom.

        Growing up, Lip never quite fit in the closet, despite their best efforts.  Which is a large part of the reason they were always the least favorite child, even before the attack.  However, there was just enough plausible deniability that Lip, although subjected to all kinds of homophobic and transphobic rhetoric at home, was never sent to conversion therapy.

        When they were 15, Phoebe caught them trying on her dresses.  If their parents knew, it would absolutely be the last straw for them, and Phoebe and Lip both knew it.  Lip begged her not to tell, and she promised she would keep their secret forever.  At the time, Phoebe was 16 and quietly struggling to come to terms with her own queer identity, though she didn’t exactly realize it yet.

        Phoebe kept Lip’s secret, along with every other fucking secret that came with existing in the Benning family, for a while.  Two years, more or less.  But in the spring after she turned 18, as mom and dad were going after her for not getting into the school they wanted for her, she told them what she’d seen.

        Up until that point, Fiona had been weirdly convinced that Lip was 100% cishet, that all their ~*~little quirks~*~ were just signs of them being a sensitive, artistic soul.  And anyways, they’d grow out of it any day now.  She was terrible to them in her own way, but she was also the reason that Ford hadn’t shipped them off to camp years earlier. But trying on Phoebe’s dresses was a transgression even Fiona couldn’t ignore.

        Honestly, Fiona took the revelation worse than Ford did.  Ford was hateful, but it wasn’t like this was all that significant an escalation in his eyes, cuz he’d known.  But for Fiona, it was like she had personally been betrayed by her own child.  In her eyes, Lip had taken advantage of all the love and tolerance and second chances she’d offered him, only to turn around to be someone she couldn’t approve of.  She was the one who dragged them into the bathroom and cut off all their hair.  (An incident that makes up about 40% of the reason Lip is so weird about having their hair pulled or handled.)  Later, Fiona would agree, tearfully, that she should have known.

        That same night, Ford and Fiona made plans to get Lip to a gay-away camp, and Lip ran away from home for good.  In earlier days, they might have gone to Ash’s house as a safe place to stay, but their relationship had deteriorated to the point where Ash and safety no longer felt like compatible concepts.  Instead, they headed into the heart of the city.

        Before they went, they stole an entire bottle of sleeping pills from the cabinet.  They didn’t have any intention of overdosing, but they wanted their family- especially Phoebe- to think they might.  It was a cruel and spiteful thing to do, but it was a cruel situation to be in.

        This was the start of, to put it lightly, a Very Rough Time in Lip’s life.  They were on and off the streets for years.  Without stable housing and without a decent support system, their self-destructive behaviors took root into addiction- and it was not an addiction they were approaching safely.  It’s honestly sheer luck they survived this period at all, and there were several occasions where they very nearly didn’t.

        tl;dr:  Phoebe outed Lip to their parents when they were 17, shit at home got very bad very fast, Lip ran away (and staged it to look as if they planned to commit suicide) and never came back.  a lot of serious and lasting damage was done.